SACW | 22 Oct 2004

[sacw]

South Asia Citizens Wire   |  22 October,  2004
via:  www.sacw.net

[Interruption Notice: Please Note, SACW dispatches will remain 
interrupted between the period October 23 - October 29/30, 2004]

[1] Pakistan:  Two editorial from Daily Times
  - Can the King's League be the Quaid's League?
  - Our reactive extremism and Islamabad's defensive 'enlightened moderation'
[2] Bangladesh:  Deafening silence (Zafar Sobhan)
[3] India : Dec 13, 2001 Case - A wife's appeal for justice (Tabassum)
[4] India: Beyond the Census: Sensible Uses of Social Statistics 
(Satish Deshpande)
[5] India: Hindutva at Work !
a) VHP holds 'trishul diksha' in Rajasthan
b) Bajrangis bag a `degree'
c) Another film in trouble with up Sainiks
d) New chief Advani's not-so new plan: bond with Sangh, raise Italy
e) Dissolution of riot enquiry sparks row in Rajasthan
[6] Upcoming event : 'The Final Solution' Film and discussion with 
Director Rakesh Sharma (Wellesley  College, Massachusetts October 30, 
2004)


--------------

[1]

The Daily Star - October 22, 2004 | Editorial

CAN THE KING'S LEAGUE BE THE QUAID'S LEAGUE?

Mr Minoo Bhandara, a minority National Assembly member from the 
King's League has done a laudable deed. Last Tuesday, he stood up and 
asked the house to adopt a resolution to include the Quaid-e-Azam's 
famous speech of August 11, 1947, in the academic curricula of the 
country. At the time Mr Bhandara spoke on the issue, the opposition, 
including the six-party religious alliance, the Mutahidda 
Majlis-e-Amal, was absent from the house, having earlier boycotted 
the session. While Mr Bhandara's passionate speech did not evoke much 
emotion in the house, mercifully the League members decided to go 
along with him and the resolution was carried. The resolution is not 
binding on the government but to the extent that a parliamentary 
reference has been made to the Quaid's speech for once is in itself 
very refreshing. As Mr Bhandara noted, the state, over the past 
thirty years, has even sought to censor the Quaid's speech.
But even as we hail this development, it brings back painful memories 
of the time the League, then under prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan, 
chose to pass an Objectives Resolution that opened up the 
constitution to the mischief later carried out by General Zia ul Haq. 
Even today, we have as our minister for religious affairs General 
Zia's son who has chosen repeatedly to create confusion and cast 
doubts on the intentions of the government to carry out the necessary 
reforms.
The irony is that in making the August 11 speech and setting down the 
principle of confining religion to the personal sphere, the Quaid was 
in fact putting forth the 'objectives' of the new state of Pakistan. 
Even at the time of debating the Objectives Resolution, it was the 
minority members of the assembly who objected to the conception of 
the new state on the basis of religion. Reading their speeches today 
one can see how prescient they were. Again, it has taken a non-Muslim 
Pakistani to point to the absolute necessity of redirecting this 
state. The King's League lays claim to being the true Quaid League. 
We would expect it to prove to this country that it can carry forward 
that enlightened legacy.
Alas. There is more disappointment in store for us. Mr Bhandara has 
formally complained of a breach of his privilege and that of the 
house because PTV blacked out news of the resolution in its major 
news bulletins of the day. The Khabarnama of October 19, he claims, 
did not telecast this enormous decision of the Assembly, nor deemed 
it fit to make any mention at all. He has therefore moved the 
secretary of the National Assembly to take up his privilege motion on 
October 22 or 23.
General Pervez Musharraf spares no moment to talk about an 
"enlightened, moderate" Pakistan. There can be no better document for 
him to get legitimacy from for this sensible and belated enterprise 
than the Quaid's speech. We also have an enlightened prime minister 
in the saddle now. It would be only appropriate for this government 
to immediately act on the resolution and insert the speech in school 
syllabi. Our students, raised on heavy doses of distorted history, 
need to know the truth.
Yet, we are sceptical because we are not sure whether the actions of 
this government will ever be able to match its rhetoric. Certainly, 
if PTV's atrocious outlook on the issue is a pointer, we are far from 
getting there. It would be interesting to know who took the decision 
to censor the news and why such a person is still entrusted to watch 
over the interests of enlightened moderation. *


o o o o


Daily Times  - October 20, 2004  |  Editorial

Our reactive extremism and Islamabad's defensive 'enlightened moderation'

According to news reports, a Christian family was forced in August 
this year to leave its house in Wah Cantt in Punjab for fear of 
violence after an 11-year-old girl of the family accidentally threw a 
copy of the Holy Quran in the trash-can. The family of Tasneem Dean, 
a boiler engineer, left the Asifabad locality of Wah Cantt after an 
'agreement' between the local Saint Thomas Catholic Church and the 
khateeb of Central Lala Rukh Mosque, Maulana Muhammad Ishaq. This was 
done in collaboration with local administration and police officials 
for the safety of the family because the local people had threatened 
to burn down their house.

The sticking point in this incident was that the law-enforcement 
authority, the local Muslim clergy and the Church were all agreed 
that no deliberate offence had been caused by the child. No case for 
desecration of the Holy Quran was registered against the family of Mr 
Dean and, if the police had had their way, an apology would have been 
sufficient. But the local population of mostly unlettered people was 
aroused by a woman who had gone to the waste disposal and started 
shouting. It developed that Mr Dean, the Christian, had an interest 
in inter-religious studies and had inherited the Holy Quran from his 
Christian father. Once the local mosque authority and the church 
recognised that, they were satisfied that there was no case under the 
Penal Code. Why did Mr Dean then move out of Wah?

We should go into this matter because Mr Dean could be hounded also 
in the next town to which he has moved. When asked why he had agreed 
to leave his home in Wah Cantt, he pointed to the Pushtun and Afghan 
migrants living in the locality who had been alerted by mischief 
mongers to the job of hounding him. The original population did not 
react after they were informed of the details of the case, but the 
newly arrived groups of Pathans and Afghans came around and 
threatened to burn down his house and possibly kill his family. The 
enraged groups convinced the local administration, the local khateeb 
and the local Catholic church that Mr Dean and his family had to 
leave. To give authenticity to the 'agreement' reached with the 
fleeing Christian family, the local Punjab MPA also affixed his 
signature to it.

If the administration in Wah thinks it has resolved a grave issue to 
the satisfaction of all parties, it is gravely mistaken. Once again 
the authorities have succumbed to the pressure of the unenlightened 
and the immoderate, once again the law has been flouted and once 
again innocent citizens have been made to suffer on account of their 
faith. The obligation to protect citizens against religious extremism 
has been dodged once again and the slogan of 'enlightened moderation' 
adopted by General Pervez Musharraf and the PML government has once 
again been betrayed. If this single case is considered insufficient 
evidence to prove the uselessness of General Musharraf's slogan, let 
us take a look at the life sentence handed down on Tuesday by an 
additional sessions judge in Lahore to another person charged with 
'desecrating' the Holy Quran. The evidence was allegedly flimsy but 
the lower court judge was so overpowered by the extremism of the 
local opinion that he sent the man in for the maximum punishment.

There was much reactive extremism in Pakistan's past when our 
governments were not telling the world that they were determined to 
inculcate 'enlightened moderation' among the people. In 1997, the 
twin villages of Shantinagar-Tibba Colony, 12 kilometres east of 
Khanewal, Multan Division, were looted and burnt by 20,000 Muslim 
citizens and 500 policemen. The police first evacuated the Christian 
population of 15,000, then helped the raiders use battle-field 
explosives to blow up their houses and property. When no one from the 
president of Pakistan to the Inspector General of Punjab Police 
reacted to the biggest act of destruction in 50 years, the Christian 
youth took out processions in Rawalpindi and Karachi and were fired 
upon by the police in the latter city. The youth in Lahore was asked 
by their elders to refrain from protesting.

Shantinagar was destroyed by the Sipah-e-Sahaba and the organs of the 
Pakistani State in tandem because there was hardly any difference in 
outlook between the two allies. But today, President Musharraf's 
government pretends to stand apart from the fanatics and the 
extremists. Yet every other day, people go on a rampage after 
'discovering' a leaf or two of the Holy Quran on the road. They stop 
the traffic, burn tyres and destroy public property to express their 
'grief' because that has been allowed to become a ritual. State 
functionaries and politicians are keen to identify themselves with 
the vandals rather than hold them accountable under law. What is the 
difference between past governments and the 'enlightened' and 
'moderate' government of General Pervez Musharraf today? Shouldn't 
Islamabad worry about its rhetoric and do something to spread the 
message against extremism more effectively?

One very effective way of reaching out to the people, instead of 
exposing them to slogans they don't understand, is to discuss the 
subject frankly. If you simply say pur-etedaal roshan khayali, the 
extremist will shoot back the remark that Islam is already that, so 
'say something new'. Obviously the thing to do on the state-owned 
media at least is to go into the details of the religious extremism 
that has brought Pakistan dangerously close to what the Afghanistan 
of Taliban was before the world thought it necessary to destroy the 
government of Mullah Umar. It is time to discuss the flaws of the 
blasphemy law and the law pertaining to the desecration of the Holy 
Quran without caring to 'balance the debate' between the extremists 
and the 'apologists' for moderation. In the realm of human rights, 
you don't do what the people want, you educate the people to respect 
the law and, if necessary, you use the organs of the state to do that 
effectively and unapologetically. Is anyone in Islamabad listening? *

______


[2]

The Daily Star - October 22, 2004 | Editorial

Straight talk
DEAFENING SILENCE
Zafar Sobhan

The recent attack by ruling party activists on a public meeting held 
jointly by the Jatiya Oikya Mancha and Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh at 
Rangpur Town Hall heralds a new low for the government.

Where have we come to as a country when an ex-president and an 
ex-foreign minister, both of whom have devoted decades of their life 
to the country, can be pelted with refuse by hooligans allied to the 
government, and have to be protected from physical harm by their own 
supporters?

The recent initiative jointly announced by the two doctors to tour 
the country and solicit the opinion of the general public with a view 
to preparing a "people's manifesto" is one of the more positive 
developments in Bangladeshi politics of late.

The initiative was a welcome change from politics as usual on a 
number of levels. In the first place, the concept of actually 
soliciting the views of the public and listening to their concerns is 
a novel idea that the ruling alliance, and indeed, the main 
opposition, would do well to consider.

Politics in Bangladesh has long been a top-down process, dominated by 
the leadership of the main political parties, with the less 
influential members of the parties, to say nothing of the actual 
electorate, rarely consulted as to their opinions or aspirations.

The importance of the initiative to make politics a more 
participatory and inclusive process and to listen to the voices of 
the long-suffering people of the country cannot be stressed enough.

In addition, the fact that the two doctors are erstwhile political 
rivals, and have entered into no electoral alliance, but are willing 
and able to join together for a programme that both believe in, is 
also a welcome change from the partisan division that mars the 
politics in this country.

This willingness to reach across the aisle to create alliances and 
unity where possible is the kind of forward thinking that the country 
needs at this time of extreme polarisation, and stands in stark 
contrast to the bitter enmity and no-holds-barred rhetoric of the 
main political parties.

The listening tour kicked off in Dinajpur and proved to be an 
immediate success. People responded enthusiastically to the novel 
spectacle of two such eminent political personalities actually asking 
them what they thought and what their ideas were, and the feedback 
from the first meeting showed that not only are ordinary people fully 
cognisant of the troubles that the nation faces, but that they also 
have an eloquent grasp of possible solutions.

The second such meeting was scheduled to take place at Rangpur Town 
Hall, and this is where trouble erupted.

That the attack on the meeting was pre-meditated and accomplished 
with the collusion of the local authorities can be inferred from the 
fact that the police deployed in and outside the hall didn't raise a 
finger to thwart the assault or to help protect the safety of those 
being attacked. It was left to the supporters of the leaders on-stage 
to usher them to safety.

Coincidentally, perhaps, the local superintendent of police claimed 
to be sick and the deputy commissioner was also unavailable on the 
day, so that blame for the failure of security could be deflected.

Nearly as bad as the actual violence, which left thirty people 
injured, some severely, was the pelting of the dais with shoes, 
sandals, and rotten eggs. This kind of disgraceful conduct goes 
beyond any bounds of decency and shames us all.

However, even worse is the fact that the assailants also 
indiscriminately beat up the audience members who were there merely 
to express their opinions and to attempt to participate in the 
political process. The message from Tuesday's attack was that the 
general public should open their mouth and speak about their 
dissatisfactions and frustrations, only at their own risk.

It is one thing (not to say that it is acceptable) to target your 
political opponents. It is quite another thing when the government 
unleashes its fury on ordinary citizens -- like it did with the two 
rounds of mass arrests this year that put thousands behind bars -- 
and it seems to have made the same mistake in Rangpur.

It seems as though the government no longer cares about its standing 
with the public. This is a worrisome development from a government 
that has hitherto drawn its power from its popular mandate.

The government's increasing contempt for the public manifests itself 
in other troubling ways. The main evidence for this contempt is the 
abandon with which the government apparently feels free to deny 
things that everyone knows to be true.

When the government states that the attack in Rangpur was not carried 
out by its cadres -- although the identity of the attackers has been 
comprehensively established by credible witness accounts -- it is 
tantamount to insulting the intelligence of the public.

This is the government's stock in trade. The unacceptable -- be it 
mass arrests or attacks on political opponents -- followed by 
bare-faced denial. The government has been so mendacious in its 
public pronouncements during the last three years that it simply does 
not have any credibility left.

The worst thing is that the government no longer seems to even care. 
It no longer seems to see fit to even pretend to have faith in 
democracy and in the opinion of the public.

What conclusion are we to draw from this?

But despite its discouraging record thus far, I will continue to 
expect and demand the highest standards from the government that 
Bangladeshis democratically elected in 2001. I will continue to 
expect that it uphold law and order and the ideals of democracy.

I will continue to expect that the government not act in an unlawful 
manner and that it respect the rule of law. I will continue to expect 
that the government acknowledge its missteps and take responsibility 
for its actions.

Even though it seems that the government is either unwilling or 
unable to provide us with even a modicum of good governance, that 
even the smallest sign of democratic dissent will not be tolerated, 
and that government spokesmen will come out and say that black is 
white and night is day without the slightest semblance of shame or 
thought that they might be held accountable for their falsehoods -- I 
will continue to expect and demand better.

But I also expect more from my fellow countrymen and women.

How is it that we are not more shocked by this latest evidence of 
lawlessness on the part of ruling alliance cadres? How is it that we 
do not cringe inside when we hear senior members of the government 
deny responsibility for actions that we -- and they -- know full well 
were committed by their cadres? How is it that we can sit silent and 
turn a blind eye when the government that we democratically elected 
goes about dismantling democracy?

Surely most people who support the government do so because they 
thought that it would provide good governance and would protect 
democratic institutions.

Surely most people who support the government do so because of their 
belief in the four-party alliance's ability to manage the economy and 
not because of their approval for stomach-churning attacks on its 
opponents.

Surely most people who support the government feel that these kinds 
of heavy-handed and repressive measures only diminish the 
government's credibility and do disservice to those many government 
officials who are working conscientiously and selflessly for the 
betterment of the nation.

So where then is the outcry when the government oversteps the bounds 
of decency and acts in a manner that demeans its own ideals and 
shames us as a nation?

Is this where we have come to -- that we are no longer even shocked 
or shamed by the kind of incivility that was on display in Rangpur?

Has it come to this? At long last have we -- as a nation -- no sense 
of decency left?


Zafar Sobhan is an Assistant Editor of The Daily Star.

______



[3]

Kashmir Times - 21 October 2004

A WIFE'S APPEAL FOR JUSTICE

I am the wife of Mohammad Afzal, the man accused of conspiring to 
attack the Indian Parliament on December 13, 2001. Afzal has been 
condemned to death by the Sessions Court Judge, S N Dhingra and his 
death sentence has been confirmed by the Hon'ble High Court of Delhi. 
Now the case has come up before the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India.

All over India people have condemned the attack on Parliament. And I 
agree that it was a terrorist attack and must be condemned. However, 
it is also important that the people accused of such a serious crime 
be given a fair trial and their story be fully heard before they are 
punished. I believe that no one has heard my husband's story and he 
has so far never been represented in the court properly.

I appeal to you to hear our story and then decide for yourselves 
whether justice has teen done. Afzal and my story is the story of 
many young Kashmiri couples. Our story represents the tragedy facing 
our people.

In 1990 Afzal was attracted to the movement led by the JKLF, like 
thousands of other youth. He went to Pakistan for training and stayed 
there for a little while. However, he was disillusioned by the 
differences between different groups and he did not support 
pro-Pakistani groups. He stayed there only three months without 
getting any training. Afzal returned to Kashmir and he went to Delhi 
to pursue his studies. He always wanted to study and before he joined 
the movement he was doing his MBBS.

My husband wanted to return to normal life and with that intention he 
surrendered to the BSF. The BSF Commandant refused to give him his 
certificate till he had motivated two others to surrender. And Afzal 
motivated two other militants to surrender. He was given a 
certificate stating that he was a surrendered militant. You will not 
perhaps realise that it is very difficult to live as a surrendered 
militant in Kashmir but he decided to live with his family in 
Kashmir. In 1997 he started a small business of medicines and 
surgical instruments in Kashmir. The next year we were married. He 
was 28 years old and I was 18 years.

Throughout the period that we lived in Kashmir the Indian security 
forces continuously harassed Afzal and told him to spy on people they 
suspected of being militants. One Major Ram Mohan Roy of 22 Rashtriya 
Rifles tortured Afzal and gave him electric shocks in his private 
parts. He was humiliated and abused.

The Indian security forces used to regularly take Afzal to their 
camps and torture him. They wanted to extract information from him. 
One night the Indian security forces came to our home and abused all 
of us and took away Afzal to their camp; another time he was taken to 
the STF (State Task Force) camp Palhalan Pattan.

Some days later they took him to the Humhama STF camp. In that camp 
the officers, DSP Vinay Gupta and DSP Darinder Singh demanded Rs one 
lakh. We are not a rich family and we had to sell everything, 
including the little gold I got on my marriage to save Afzal from the 
torture.

Afzal was kept in freezing water and petrol was put into his anus. 
One officer Shanti Singh hanged my husband upside down for hours 
naked and in the cold. They gave electric shocks in his penis and he 
had to have treatment for days.

You will think that Afzal must be involved in some militant 
activities that is why the security forces were torturing him to 
extract information. But you must understand the situation in 
Kashmir, every man, woman and child has some information on the 
movement even if they are not involved. By making people into 
informers they turn brother against brother, wife against husband and 
children against parents. Afzal wanted to live quietly with his 
family but the STF would not allow him.

You should also know that the STF force is notorious in Kashmir for 
extorting money from the people and they have become so infamous that 
when Mufti Sayed became the Chief Minister he promised in his 
election manifesto to disband the entire force. The STF is known for 
human rights violations including killing people in their custody and 
brutal, senseless, inhuman torture.

It was under these conditions that forced Afzal to leave his home, 
family and settle in Delhi. He struggled hard to earn a living and he 
had decided to bring me and our four-year old son, Ghalib, to Delhi. 
Like any other family we dreamed of living together peacefully and 
bringing up our children, giving them a good education and seeing 
them grow up to be good human beings. That dream was cut short when 
once again the STF got hold of my husband in Delhi.

The STF told my husband to bring one man Mohammad to Delhi from 
Kashmir. He met Mohammad and one other man Tariq there at the STF 
camp. He did not know anything about the men and he had no idea why 
he was being asked to do the job. He has told all this to the court 
but the court chose to believe half his statement about bringing 
Mohammad but not the bit that he was told to do so by the STF.

There was no one to represent Afzal in the lower court. The court 
appointed a lawyer who never took instructions from Afzal, or cross 
examined the prosecution witnesses. That lawyer was communal and 
showed his hatred for my husband. When my husband told Judge Dhingra 
that he did not want that lawyer the judge ignored him. In fact my 
husband went totally undefended in the trial court. When ever my 
husband wished to say something the judge would not hear him out and 
the judge showed his communal bias in open court.

In the High Court one human rights lawyer offered to represent Afzal 
and my husband accepted. But instead of defending Afzal the lawyer 
began by asking the court not to hang Afzal but to kill him by a 
lethal injection. My husband never expressed any desire to die. He 
has maintained that he has been entrapped by the STF. My husband was 
shocked but he had no way of changing his lawyer while being locked 
up in the high security jail.
It was only after the High Court judgement was pronounced he got to 
know about the way the lawyer had represented him. Afzal refused to 
accept the same lawyer for his appeal in the Supreme Court. I had no 
way of getting Afzal a lawyer. I do not know anyone in Delhi. Finally 
Afzal wrote to the Defence Committee set up for Mr Geelani. I am 
annexing his letter. And the Defence Committee helped Afzal to get a 
senior lawyer, Mr Sushil Kumar. However, the Supreme Court cannot go 
into the evidence and so I do not know what will happen.

I appeal to you to ensure that my husband is not condemned to death 
and he is ensured a fair trial. Surely your conscience will not allow 
you to be a party to the death of a fellow human being who has not 
been represented in the court and who has not had a chance to tell 
his story? The police have made him falsely confess before the media 
even before the trial started. They humiliated him, beat him, 
tortured him and even urinated in his mouth. I feel deep shame to 
talk about these things in public but circumstances have forced me. 
It has taken a lot of courage for me to put all this on paper but I 
do so for the sake of my child who is now six years old.

Will you speak out at the injustice my husband has faced? Will you 
speak out on my behalf? I am of course fighting for my husband's 
life, for the life of my son's father. But I also speak as a Kashmiri 
woman who is losing faith in Indian democracy and its ability to be 
fair to Kashmiri Muslims.

*Tabassum Srinagar, September 2004.


______


[4]

The Times of India - October 21, 2004 | Op-ed.

BEYOND THE CENSUS: SENSIBLE USES OF SOCIAL STATISTICS
[ by Satish Deshpande ]

The controversy over categorisation of religious communities in the 
census reminds us that such data are actually about abstract entities 
not perceivable by the senses. We can know many individual members of 
large groups like 'Jains', 'children below six' or 'Scheduled Tribes' 
through direct experience or observation. But, however many such 
individuals we know, we can never have direct access to the abstract 
collectivity that represents the entire group.

Most people are unimpressed by the complexity of large collectivities 
- we simply think of them as a kind of person. Nor do we believe that 
they cannot be known directly, because we know a great deal about the 
collectivities we care about. In fact, we often seem to know more 
about abstract categories like 'Hindus' or 'Muslims' than we know 
about concrete persons like our neighbours or colleagues. We know 
their food, their customs and occupations, and just how kind, crafty, 
clean, lustful, lazy or pat-riotic they are. In short, we not only 
know that 'they are like that only' but also why. Such common sense 
works fine in stable times, because the power structure ensures that 
our prejudices match our social environment and therefore go 
unchallenged. But in turbulent times, political competition 
intensifies social friction and raises the stakes. When forced to 
defend our own knowledge claims or to challenge those of others, we 
are confronted by questions of evidence and the comparative 
advantages of different styles of argument. Censuses and surveys 
become critically important in this context because they provide 
knowledge acquired by the aggregation of systematically gathered 
evidence.

The special status of social scientific instruments like censuses and 
surveys is not necessarily decisive. We know they can make mistakes; 
they can also be biased or manipulated. They rarely produce 
conclusive, slam-dunk truths; in any case, political contests are 
rarely won by facts alone. Moreover, the census in particular has had 
a long and double-edged history. It has been a tool for efficient 
exploitation as well as public welfare. It has helped crystallise 
aggressive identities and also provides antidotes to their excesses. 
Despite all this, censuses and surveys have the advantage of open 
procedures of evidence gathering that allow for rational disputation. 
This is preferable to non-negotiable assertions backed by faith or 
violence, because the census can channel political passions into 
constructive debates on the merits of evidence.

This advantage of evidence-based argument must not be forgotten when 
evaluating well-intentioned demands for ending all community counts 
provoked by the unseemly quarrelling over the religion data of the 
2001 census. Here it is useful to ask a question highly recommended 
as an investigative tool by both Karl Marx and Sherlock Holmes: Who 
benefits?

While it is difficult to make a general case for banning social 
statistics, it is easy to identify the beneficiaries. The first to 
gain from the absence of census or survey data would be the Mullahs 
and the Modis, because they could then insist on their fanatical 
fantasies without the handicap of having to account for inconvenient 
evidence. Of course, they would lose the opportunity of capitalising 
on such data when it favours them, but this loss would be small 
because their basic style of argument is not evidence-based anyway. 
As their past record indicates, lack of evidence would not inhibit 
them from pressing their aggressive claims.
A second set of significant gainers will be those groups and 
communities who have been presented in unfavourable light by social 
statistics. For example, once we do away with statistics, no 
community need worry about, or feel challenged, by things like low 
literacy rates or alarming imba-lances in juvenile sex ratios. Apart 
from the communities themselves, relief from embarrassment and 
accountability will also be available to all those responsible for 
dealing with such social problems, especially politicians, 
bureaucrats and community leaders. Censoring social stats will also 
rob good performers of praise, but this won't matter much in what is 
mainly a blame game.

Excessive emphasis on population growth has obscured a third set of 
beneficiaries, namely social groups who have benefited 
disproportionately from development. This applies more to survey data 
from bodies like the National Sample Survey Organisation which show, 
for instance, that the upper castes in every religious community 
continue to be much better off than the lower castes, and that there 
are significant regional variations in caste inequalities. Once such 
data is banned, all privileged groups and regions can take pleasure 
in being simply and anonymously Indian; what is more, they can share 
this pleasure with the underprivileged. Although both sides can then 
press their claims unfettered by rules of evidence, the 
underprivileged would lose far more because the figures have tended 
to favour their cause.

It is more difficult to identify who actually benefits from the 
availability of social statistics, because the benefits are 
potential. The statistical visibility of an entitlement cannot 
guarantee that it will be honoured, but its invisibility usually 
guarantees that it will be dishonoured. That is why the general 
argument for social statistics is a negative but strong one: The 
claims and complaints of social groups must be addressed seriously if 
reasonable, and exposed if unreasonable. Their absence or suppression 
is sufficient to ensure failure in both.


______



[5]

[Hindutva at Work ! ]

a)

VHP HOLDS 'TRISHUL DIKSHA' IN RAJASTHAN :

Jaipur, Oct 21 : VHP today held a 'trishul diksha' in Rajasthan for 
the first time after the BJP government lifted the ban on trident 
distribution imposed by the previous Congress regime.
Tridents were distributed to about 325 VHP activists at a special 
function at Adarsh Vidhya Mandir in Sanganer.
Addressing the gathering, VHP leader Acharya Dharmendra said 
"'trishul' is a symbol of discipline, a matter of faith and religion 
and should not be attributed to any terror as misunderstood by the 
previous Congress government that banned it deliberately." The 
Vasundhara Raje government had, a few months ago, lifted the ban on 
trishul diksha under the Arms Act imposed by the previous Congress 
government. PTI

o  o  o

b)

The Hindu  Oct 20, 2004  |  Life Hyderabad

BAJRANGIS BAG A `DEGREE'

A GROUP of Bajrang Dal activists emerge from darkness and surround 
two `Pakistani militants' who are offering their prayers.

Bajrangis `shoot' the extremists at point-blank range.

With their mission having been accomplished, they holler "Kill the 
Pakistani dogs" and move on. In another mock drill, the youth wing of 
the Vishwa Hindu Parishad enacts a battle scene, improvising with 
lime (for smoke bombs!), and goes for a man-to-man fight with the 
imaginary Pakistani militant.

Wondering what's going on? Well, this was part of the valedictory 
ceremony of the Andhra Pradesh Bajrang Dal western wing's week-long 
training of over 100 youngsters from different parts of the State at 
Isnapur in Medak district. Tucked away from the hustle of the 
national highway, the vast playground of Manjeera Residential School 
was the perfect host for the youngsters. Apart from getting training 
in martial arts, the Bajrangis were face to face with lathis and guns.

`Trishul' initiation!

At the end of the gruelling session, they were given `trishuls.' The 
ceremony was elaborate, with each trainee performing puja and 
receiving his trishul as a mark of completion of the course.

Addressing the Bajrangis, the national secretary of the VHP, Aravind 
Choutala, asked them to spread the message that meek would not be 
respected.

He pointed out that the youth must be strong and well trained to 
protect the nation and society from terrorists.

By J.B.S. Umanadh
in Medak



c)

Asian Age - October 21, 2004

BUNTY, BABLI DANCE INTO TROUBLE WITH UP SAINIKS
By Amita Verma

Lucknow, Oct. 21: Yashraj Films' latest venture, Bunty Aur Babli, 
starring Abhishek Bachchan and Rani Mukh-erjee, has run into trouble. 
The film, directed by Shaad Ali and currently being shot in Varanasi 
district, has earned the ire of local Shiv Sainiks who are visibly 
agitated over a song and dance sequence that was shot in the Sri 
Swaminath Akhara - a traditional gymnasium supposedly built by 
Tulsidas on the banks of the Ganga river at Assi Ghat.

The song sequence was being picturised on Rani Mukherjee in the 
akhara on Wednesday when some local youths entered and began 
exercising in the courtyard while the shooting of the dance sequence 
continued.

Later, local Shiv Sainiks, led by their district chief Ajay Chaubey, 
staged a demonstration to protest against shooting inside the akhara.

"According to tradition, women are not allowed to enter akharas, 
particularly when men are exercising in the gymnasium. The local 
administration, which is apparently working under political influence 
and is star-struck by the Bachchans, however, gave permission for the 
song to be shot inside the akhara, which is simply blasphemous. We 
are now demanding that the scenes shot inside the akhara be deleted 
from the film. If the director does not give us an assurance to this 
effect, we will not allow further shooting of the film. And if he 
does include the scenes despite an assurance, we will burn down 
theatres where the film will be screened," the Shiv Sena leader told 
The Asian Age on the telephone on Thursday.

The Shiv Sainiks are also enraged at the manner in which the film 
unit has converted the historic Nandlal Bajoria Sanskrit School into 
a cinema theatre with posters of Hunterwali pasted all over. "The 
school is built on land where Rani Laxmibai was born and we cannot 
allow the screening of a film like Hunterwali at this historic spot," 
said Mr Chaubey. The Shiv Sainiks met the district authorities on 
Thursday and handed over a memorandum listing their demands. The 
shooting of the film, however, continued uninterrupted on Thursday 
and additional security has been provided to the unit, particularly 
the stars, to prevent any untoward incident.

The shooting of Bunty Aur Babli began in Varanasi last week and 
superstar Amitabh Bachchan and Raj Babbar, who play character roles 
in the film, have already participated in the first shooting schedule.

According to sources, the local Shiv Sainiks were reportedly annoyed 
at the fact that they had been prevented from meeting the stars of 
the film, particularly Rani Mukherjee, who did not even respond to 
their requests for autographs and photographs. "They (Shiv Sainiks) 
are now using trivial excuses to mount pressure on the unit and 
harass the film stars. We will not succumb to their pressures and 
make sure that the shooting is not disturbed," said a senior district 
official.

It may be recalled that the "saffron cultural police" in Varanasi, 
which often calls itself the Kranti Shiv Sena, has disrupted 
shootings and screenings of several films on many occasions. The best 
known example is that of Deepa Mehta's Water, which had to be finally 
shelved when the local people in Varanasi resorted to violence, 
accusing the film's director and writer of distorting Hindu culture 
in her film.

The screening of Fire and Girlfriend also had to be stopped when Shiv 
Sainiks threatened to burn down theatres. Even a superhit film like 
Mohabbatein faced the people's wrath in Varanasi over the wrong 
recitation of the Gayatri Mantra in a scene.


d)

Indian Express - October 21, 2004
NEW CHIEF ADVANI'S NOT-SO NEW PLAN: BOND WITH SANGH, RAISE ITALY
Manini Chatterjee

NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 20: In a significant move aimed at re-establishing 
close ties with the RSS, newly appointed BJP chief L K Advani's first 
big outing after taking over will be to Nagpur. There, on Friday, he 
will meet top Sangh leaders at the RSS headquarters, including 
sarsanghchalak K Sudershan, and participate in the Vijaya Dashami 
programme, the most important event in the organisation's annual 
calendar.

It has been a long time since a BJP leader has visited Nagpur on the 
occasion of Vijaya Dashami-also the founding day of the RSS-and is 
particularly significant in view of the strained relations between 
Sudarshan and the BJP leadership, RSS sources said.

The visit to Nagpur apart, Advani gave enough indication today that 
the party under his leadership would once again adopt a hardline 
"nation first" policy and beat back the "ideological assault" 
unleashed by the Left-backed UPA government.

Addressing his first formal press conference after taking over as 
president, Advani adopted an aggressive tone throughout and revived 
his 1980s era rhetoric against "pseudo secularism" and "minorityism."

He also raked up Sonia Gandhi's foreign origins issue while attacking 
the Congress party for being a national but "not a nationalist 
party." Elaborating, he said, "It is a sad irony , and a deeply 
worrying development, that the Congress party, which was in the 
forefront of India's freedom struggle, has surrendered itself to the 
care of a dynasty, now headed by a person of foreign origin. It is 
also evident in the unabashed manner in which it is compromising 
national interests through its perverse pursuit of pseudo-secularism."

Accusing the Congress party of turning a blind eye to the large-scale 
infiltration of Bangaldeshis to India "that could lead to the 
creation of a 'Third Islamic State''', he said the party's "vote-bank 
politics" was also evident from its insult to Savarkar and arrest of 
Uma Bharati.

He went on to say, ''In order to hide its craven dependence on 
pseudo-secularism, the Congress, along with its Communist allies, has 
mounted an unprecedented ideological offensive against the BJP. As 
the president of the Party, it shall be my endeavour to galvanise the 
BJP and effectively counter this ideological offensive."

Although he has taken over the reins of the party after its string of 
defeats (in UP, BJP candidates came fourth and fifth in a majority of 
the bypolls), Advani showed no signs of worry or regret.  [. . . ].
http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=57387

e)

ndtv.com

DISSOLUTION OF RIOT ENQUIRY SPARKS ROW IN RAJASTHAN

Rajan Mahan
Friday, October 8, 2004 (Jaipur):
The dissolution of a judicial commission investigating communal riots 
in a Rajasthan town has sparked off a major row.
Appointed by the previous Congress-government sate, the commission 
was probing the riots in Gangapur that left three people dead and 60 
injured in 2002.
The commission, headed by Justice Israni of the Rajasthan High Court, 
had examined and gathered evidence from 50 witnesses over the last 
two years.
Efforts wasted
But with the Vasundhara government scrapping it, all efforts have now 
gone to waste.
"Our report would have shown how the riots were caused and who was 
responsible for them and whether the police action in the case was 
justified. But now nothing will come out," said Justice Israni.
Tension had erupted in Gangapur when an angry mob refused to allow 
the Moharram procession to go past a temple in the town.
Violence, thereafter, had left three people dead and over 40 VHP and 
Bajrang Dal workers were arrested.
The Congress says scrapping the commission is a conspiracy to save 
the Sangh Parivar workers.
"The intention behind scrapping the commission is to save the VHP and 
Bajrang Dal workers against whom evidence had been collected. The 
Congress will write a letter to the President of India to oppose this 
move," said Suraj Khatri, Congress General Secretary, Rajasthan.
'Only option'
But the government says despite spending two years and Rs 50 lakh, 
the commission gave no report and dissolving it was the only option.
"Legal advice was taken before this decision was made. Whatever our 
government has done is according to rules as there was too much 
delay," said Amra Ram Chaudhary, Home Minister, Rajasthan.
Eighteen government officials, who testified, reportedly told the 
commission that it were VHP and Bajrang Dal workers who triggered the 
tensions in Gangapur.
While the commission has been scrapped at one stroke, the political 
row over it will linger on for a long time.


______


[6] Upcoming Event:

Wellesley College  Presents

THE FINAL SOLUTION -- A Film Featuring Families Caught Up In The 
Politics Of Hate
Film and discussion with Director Rakesh Sharma

*Best Documentary & Critics Choice, Hong Kong International Film Festival
*Wolfgang Staudte Award & Special Jury Award, Berlin International 
Film   Festival

Sponsored by The Womens' Studies Department, Wellesley Association 
for   South Asian Cultures, Advisor to Students of Asian Decent, Art 
and Art   History Department, Political Science Department, Committee 
Against  Racism   and Discrimination and the Committee for Lectures 
and Cultural Events

Date: Sat, Oct. 30th   Time: 4pm-6pm   Venue: PNW 212  [Wellesley   College]

The Final Solution examines the aftermath of the burning of Hindus on 
the   Sabarmati Express train at Godhra on February 27 2002. The film 
reveals   the reaction to the tragic incident in which hundreds of 
women were raped   and more than 2000 Muslims were murdered.
Rakesh Sharma, an independent documentary film maker, began his 
career in   1986 as an assistant director on Discovery of India. 
Sharma has won   numerous awards. His other widely appraised works 
include "Aftershocks:   the Rough Guide to Democracy".
Reception to follow. Free and Open to All.
For disability services contact Jim Wice-781 283 2434
questions-email sbaig at wellesley.edu


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