SACW | 9 Nov 2004

[sacw]

South Asia Citizens Wire   |  9 November,  2004
via:  www.sacw.net

[1] Under Bush II, South Asia Could Be Worse Off (Praful Bidwai)
[2] India:  Outsourcing of the struggle against fascism (Jawed Naqvi)
[3] India: Press Release - Citizens for Justice and Peace Approaches 
Apex Court for Top-Level Investigation into Zahira Shaikh's Retraction
[4] India: Protecting Witnesses (Editorial  -The Hindu)
[5] India: Justice: The Weight on Her Shoulders (Bina Srinivasan)
[6] India: Maharashtra Election Verdict: Another showdown for 
Hindutva (Vinod Mubayi)
[7] [India's Atomic Energy Act - 1962] The Hazardous Mix: A Peculiar 
Act and The Perilous Energy
(S. P. Udayakumar)
[8] Human Rights Watch Letter to the European Union Regarding the 
EU-India Summit


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

[1]

[November 6, 2004]

U.S. ELECTION:
UNDER BUSH II, SOUTH ASIA COULD BE WORSE OFF
By Praful Bidwai*

*President George W Bush's victory in a wrenchingly polarised and
ideologically charged election will have a big negative impact on South
Asia, one of the world's most volatile regions.

NEW DELHI, Nov. 5 (IPS) - * Strong evidence of divisiveness has already
appeared in India, where the business class and the power elite have
generally welcomed Bush's victory - and the stock market rose 1.5
percent on announcement of the results Thursday morning - while a
majority of the population probably feels disappointed with the outcome.

Under Bush's second term, the United States' relations with India and
Pakistan, South Asia's largest states, are likely to undergo significant
change. Some of the smaller states, especially Nepal and Sri Lanka, will
be affected too.

Ironically, the result could be radically different from the myopic
calculus of many conservative and right-wing Indian commentators. This
calculus, propagated through numerous articles speculating over the U.S.
election outcome holds that a Democratic administration would be bad for
India, while Bush's would be good: John Kerry would have preached the
non-proliferation gospel and opposed outsourcing, affecting India's
booming call centres.

The reality could be far more complex.

Similarly, analysts in Pakistan, who are pleased at the Republican
administration's initiative to upgrade relations with Islamabad after
September 2001, and the warm personal relations between Bush and General
Pervez Musharraf, might find that their celebration of Bush's victory is
premature.

Washington might mount more pressure on Pakistan both on dismantling the
'jihadi' support structure, and for more disclosures about the nuclear
black market run by Dr. A.Q. Khan - the so-called father of Pakistan's
atomic programme.

The impact of a new Bush administration on South Asia will be
transmitted through ''external'' factors such as changes in the
international order, weakening of multilateral institutions and
aggravation of the Middle East crisis. Also, more directly, the impact
will be felt through changes in Washington's relations with individual
countries.

Precisely because Bush's foreign policy platform is heavily influenced
by the neo-conservatives, there is likely to be a hardening of the U.S,
posture on ''pre - emptive'' wars, campaigns against terrorism, and
''rogue states'', including North Korea and Iran.

The United States' increased belligerence and its pursuit of Empire will
tend to legitimise the use of military force as the preferred method of
dealing with conflicts. In the long run, this spells a radical
right-wing restructuring of the post-World War II global order, in which
multilateral institutions, in particular the United Nations, could be
the greatest loser.

And most South Asian states will be harmed by this.

A weakening of multilateral institutions will shrink the space for
diplomatic manoeuvre available to the region's governments. India will
find it hard to keep its commitment, made explicit by the Manmohan Singh
government, to return to its ''traditional'' foreign policy, in
departure from the recent obsession with the U.S., and with an emphasis
on multi-polarity, non-alignment, and a balanced, peaceful global order.

No amount of fancy footwork may reconcile that commitment with the
imperatives of building a ''strategic partnership'' with an increasingly
unilateralist and imperious United States.

Similarly, Pakistan - whose utility to Washington as an ally against
al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden has lost its immediacy now that the
election is over - might come under renewed pressure to decisively end
its patronage of 'jihadi' groups. The intensity of pressure will depend
to an extent on the emerging India-U.S. relationship and on the
situation in Kashmir. To that extent, an India-Pakistan peace offers the
best protection against an overweening Washington.

Now however, a new actor has now emerged in the US-India-Pakistan
triangle. This is the 1.9 million-strong Non-Resident Indian (NRI)
community in the U.S. These Indian-Americans, America's richest ethnic
group, are more prosperous than the average American, with a 46 per cent
higher median family income.

They are largely comprised of successful professionals like computer
engineers, doctors and business executives, concentrated in big cities.
These NRIs are also social conservatives, and have increasing sympathy
for Bush's religious agenda and opposition to abortion, gay rights and
gun control.

Ironically, NRIs have traditionally been Democratic supporters and many
have raised funds for the Clinton and Gore campaigns.

But, in recent years, social conservatism, and upward mobility, combined
with a rightward shift in U.S. society, have driven a sizeable minority
of NRIs towards the Republicans. (One Republican NRI has just been
elected to Congress from Louisiana.)

This group will want to give U.S.-India relations a strong military and
business footing, and thus magnify pressures for right-wing economic
policies. The NRI lobby has strong sympathies for the Hindu right and is
viscerally hostile to Pakistan. This, too, will influence U.S. policy
decisions and how Washington relates to South Asia.

Under the triumphalist Republicans, the Iraq conflict is likely to get
bloodier and more intractable. This could generate renewed pressure on
India and Pakistan to send troops to Iraq. In the past, both states
resisted U.S. pressure, citing adverse domestic opinion. They will now
find it harder to do so.

Iran, too, could confront India and Pakistan with new problems if Bush
decides to adopt an aggressive posture with regard to Tehran's uranium
enrichment programme, which it claims, is solely meant for peaceful
purposes. A U.S. confrontation with Iran will highlight the global issue
of nuclear proliferation and India and Pakistan's vulnerability to
pressure for nuclear restraint.

This could more than compensate for the gains the Indian (and Pakistani)
elite sees from the Republican administration's relaxed or indulgent
attitude towards their nuclear weapons and missile programmes.

India has excellent relations with Iran and has not criticised its
nuclear programme. The two have worked closely in Afghanistan, where
they both backed the largely non-Pashtun Northern Alliance. An
adversarial relationship or outright hostility between Washington and
Tehran will make it hard for New Delhi to follow an independent policy
for the Middle East -- in particular Iran.

Sunni Pakistan is not exactly a close ally of Shia Iran. But a military
confrontation between the U.S. (or Israel) and Iran will provoke popular
protests in Pakistan: Iran is a neighbour, as well as Islamic.

Bush's victory may have military implications too, especially in Nepal,
affected by a Maoist insurgency, and in Sri Lanka, where there is a
fragile peace process between the government and the Tamil minority. In
Nepal, the U.S. has encouraged a heavy hand to deal with the Maoists as
if they were just a terrorist group. Washington has recently sold arms
to the government.

The U.S. has again put the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eeelam on the
''terrorist'' list. This may have long-term implications for the peace
process in Sri Lanka. (END/2004)


______


[2]


Dawn - November 8, 2004

OUTSOURCING OF THE STRUGGLE AGAINST FASCISM

By Jawed Naqvi

Teesta Setalvad is a committed and brave social activist. She has 
been fighting for the victims of the Gujarat pogrom of 2002, for 
their legal protection, for their security and honour against 
difficult odds. She runs an NGO called Citizens for Justice and Peace 
(CJP) and publishes from Mumbai, the hub of Bal Thackeray's unruly 
Shiv Sena gang, an incisive journal called Combat Communalism that 
tracks and debates issues of religious and ethnic bigotry in India.
Teesta was betrayed recently by Zahira Sheikh, the woman who was 
supposed to be the star witness in what is known as the Best Bakery 
massacre in Vadodara in which 14 people were hacked to death. Zahira 
organized a press conference in Vadodara last week where she accused 
Teesta of using threats to force her to identify some of those 
accused in the massacre before a special court in Mumbai.
Zahira has refused to name the men, claiming that she was tutored to 
makes false claims about certain characters belonging to the 
Bharatiya Janata Party. Not only that; Teesta was a threat to her 
life, according to the newly "awakened" Zahira who had once earlier 
retracted her charges and then claimed it was because she feared for 
her life.
It was thanks to Teesta's unflagging efforts that the Supreme Court 
of India had the trial shifted to Maharashtra.
Earlier in the week, deposing before the special court, 19-year old 
Raees Khan Pathan had identified five persons as members of the group 
that attacked the Best Bakery in Vadodara on March 1, 2002, and 
killed 14 people.
Pathan, who used to prepare biscuits at the bakery, walked up to the 
accused and identified Sanabhai Baria, Dinesh Rajbhar, Suresh Vasava, 
Pankaj Gosai and Shailesh Tadvi. The first witness, Toufel Ahmed, had 
earlier identified Baria, Rajbhar and Vasava and four others as the 
men who had attacked the bakery during the riots in Gujarat.
At that time defence lawyer Adhik Shirodkar alleged that someone was 
helping the witnesses with their testimonies. "Someone has been 
telling them to add things," he said. Zahira's claim appeared to 
vindicate the fears expressed by the defence.
The news of Zahira's recanting was flashed, discussed and chewed to 
pulp by the time it reached Congress Party president Sonia Gandhi. Ms 
Gandhi was attending an iftar party at Prime Minister Manmohan 
Singh's residence when a journalist asked her if she was aware of 
what had happened with Teesta. A visibly shocked Ms Gandhi said that 
she was horrified by the news. However, a lawyer MP of the Congress 
Party, who acts as the party spokesman, advised her to keep a low 
profile on the issue till "all the facts were known", whatever that 
means.
In the meantime, the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, the ideological 
fountainhead of the BJP, ideology, had put up the news of Zahira 
Sheikh's press conference on its website within minutes of the event. 
It had also got Panun Kashmir, a Hindutva organization working in 
Kashmir, to demand punishment for Teesta, preferably with 
imprisonment. The next day Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, an 
RSS man, demanded a probe into the functioning of NGOs in Gujarat.
In Mumbai, meanwhile, another set of social activists has been 
assisting Bilkis Yakoob Rasool alias Bilkis Banu in her efforts to 
get justice. Fellow villagers in the state-sponsored orgy of violence 
had raped her when she was five months pregnant. In the violence, she 
lost 14 relatives, including her three-year-old child, mother and two 
sisters.
And there is Rehana Vora who has been adopted by yet another NGO. She 
too is a key witness to a massacre, this one in Ode village in the 
Anand district of Gujarat, in which 27 persons were killed on March 
1, 2002.
According to an interview she gave in June, Rehana was threatened 
periodically with dire consequences by the accused, all of whom were 
out on bail at that time. She was even offered a bribe of Rs 2.5 
million to keep her mouth shut, she said. But that has only 
strengthened her resolve to fight on. At least that is how it has 
looked so far.
With no witness protection programme worth the name or any political 
campaign to help the victims, NGOs represent the main hope for these 
helpless women and men. They provide psychological counselling and 
material succour to countless survivors, many of whom have lost most 
if not all their family members. Others have lost their meagre 
economic support system and are still trying to recover from the 
trauma of being abused by the state and its agencies.
Across India, NGOs are engaged in a wide range of difficult tasks - 
whether it is on the right to information, girl child rights, basic 
education, health or communal harmony or even fighting for the 
helpless poor who have been thrown out of their homes by the building 
of a dam or because of the clearing of forests.
But if the assumption is right that the RSS, the BJP and their other 
offshoots represent nascent forms of fascism, then the NGOs, no 
matter how well meaning, cannot carry on the fight by themselves.
As Teesta must have realized, her grit and determination to fight 
communalism cannot be a substitute for a political movement against 
fascism. And that political movement seems to have been outsourced 
for the moment to well-meaning, but eventually helpless NGOs.
The legal battle against Nazi Germany could begin only after Adolf 
Hitler's forces were overwhelmed with an all out-war against his 
ideology and muscle-power. To fight Indian fascism through tedious 
and uncertain court battles - be it in Ayodhya or in Gujarat, is to 
play on a turf on which the nefarious ideology thrives. Hitler, it 
must be remembered, made nearly 400 changes to the legal statues of 
the Third Reich before he targeted the Jews. That is the stark lesson 
of the Zahira episode for the secular parties of India.


______



[3]

November 6, 2004

Press Release

CITIZENS FOR JUSTICE AND PEACE APPROACHES APEX COURT FOR TOP-LEVEL 
INVESTIGATION INTO ZAHIRA SHAIKH'S RETRACTION

On November 6, 2004, the Citizens for Justice and Peace and through 
it's secretary Teesta Setalvad filed an application in the Supreme 
Court asking for high-level probe (by the Hon Court or the CBI) into 
the circumstances behind which prime witness Zahira Shaikh retracted 
her statement at a press conference in which the Vadodara police that 
is the prosecuting agency in the retrial actually played a part in 
the events. The application was filed on November 6, 2004.

The application states that, "It has been due to the intervention of 
this Hon'ble Court in the "Best Bakery Case". It was on the Citizens 
for Justice and Peace assurance of support that Zahira Shaikh and her 
family moved to Mumbai (Citizens for Justice and Peace has since been 
looking after all their financial and security needs) and in early 
July 2003, she told a hugely attended press conference why they were 
forced to lie before the court earlier and why they wanted a retrial 
of the Best Bakery Case outside Gujarat. The Secretary, Citizens for 
Justice and Peace escorted Zahira Shaikh to Delhi for a full-bench 
hearing before the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on July 
11, 2003. It was thereafter that the NHRC decided on its rare step of 
filing an appeal in this Hon'ble Court endorsing Zahira's plea for a 
retrial outside Gujarat. Besides the NHRC and Citizens for Justice 
and Peace and Zahira Shaikh also filed a separate appeal before this 
Hon'ble Court, which has now been tagged with the NHRC petition."

On November 3, 2004, there appeared in the print media as well as the 
Bakery" trial by the present applicant. It has also been reported in 
the newspapers that she has been threatened and there was a "threat 
to her life" among other allegations against the Citizens for Justice 
and Peace and its office bearers in particularly against the 
applicant.

Hence in the interests of Justice and it the interests of free and 
fair trial the applicants have applied to the Supreme Court for 
directions that "an Independent Inquiry into the circumstances behind 
which Ms Zahira Shaikh has made unfortunate and utterly mala fide 
allegations against co-petitioner Teesta Setalvad, Secretary Citizens 
for Justice and Peace and hence put unto jeopardy the credibility of 
the justice system as a whole." The application also state that the 
Court should examined "the circumstances under which Ms. Shaikh 
called a press conference, the support she received in that time and 
the role of the Gujarat police in being silent spectators when their 
principal witness was going to turn hostile in a pending prosecution. 
Ideally, this application had to be moved the State of Gujarat, as it 
is their prosecution that has taken a major set back. Advocate Aparna 
Bhatt is the advocate for the applicant.

The application states that apart from being shocked and pained at 
the baseless allegations made against her, where on of the main 
witnesses has hurled allegations against the applicant, the timing of 
these allegations, made after three witnesses had deposed and 
identified accused in the re-trial in Mumbai itself makes the whole 
episode sordid and suspect.

The sudden retraction and baseless allegation made by a key witness 
in the "BEST Bakery" trial when three eye-witnesses who had never 
been given a chance to appear before the Vadodara court have deposed 
in the re-trial and actually identified accused gives remove for 
unfortunate suppositions and in fact casts a slur on Constitutional 
Bodies like the National Human Rights Commission and also the apex 
Court of the land, after the landmark in jugment of this Hon'ble 
Court in the present appeal.


Teesta Setalvad
Citizens for Justice and Peace
Nirant, Juhu Tara Road, Juhu, Mumbai - 400049
e-mail: cjp02in at yahoo.com

______


[4]

The Hindu
Nov 09, 2004
Editorial

PROTECTING WITNESSES

ZAHIRA SHEIKH'S FLIP-FLOPS may or may not have a bearing on the 
outcome of the Best Bakery case. But her shifting testimonies 
spotlight a larger issue - the urgent need to enact a comprehensive 
law on witness protection. The phenomenon of witnesses turning 
hostile during trial is not limited to high-profile cases such as 
Best Bakery, the BMW hit-and-run, and the Jessica Lal murder. It is a 
pervasive problem that has undermined public confidence in the 
criminal justice system and contributed to an abysmal rate of 
convictions in India. Successful law enforcement is predicated on the 
willingness of individuals to provide information and tender 
evidence. Experience around the world has shown that the extent of 
such willingness depends on the capacity of the state to protect 
people from threats and ensure their safety. The Supreme Court has 
stressed the importance of introducing a witness protection programme 
on a number of occasions, most recently in connection with the Best 
Bakery case. The Law Commission, which recently took up the subject 
suo motu because of its "immediate importance," has prepared a 
consultation paper on "Witness Identity Protection and Witness 
Protection Programmes." The object is to initiate public debate 
before drafting legislation.

Any comprehensive witness protection programme must have two distinct 
elements. First, it must have mechanisms to protect the physical 
safety and mental wellbeing of witnesses. The specific measures, 
based on risk assessment, are bound to vary from witness to witness. 
To be successful, these measures must be in force as long as needed. 
Further, the concept of personal protection must include the 
provision of funds to shift witnesses, when necessary, to a different 
location, and to maintain them there. The second and more problematic 
aspect of witness protection relates to the procedures for granting 
anonymity to witnesses. It is widely accepted that anonymity provides 
witnesses security to give evidence; in the absence of such security, 
vital information may not be forthcoming. However, as the Law 
Commission's consultation paper notes, it is important to strike a 
fine balance between "the need for anonymity of witnesses on the one 
hand and the rights of the accused, on the other." These rights 
include the right to an open trial, to cross-examine witnesses, and 
to know testimony details.

That justice should be meted out in open court is a fundamental 
principle of jurisprudence. However, most legal systems allow for 
exceptions to this rule where such waiver is necessary to achieve the 
ends of justice. For example, Indian criminal law provides for in 
camera trials for specific offences such as rape, and denies the 
accused the right to cross-examine a prosecution witness in certain 
exceptional circumstances. Special statutes dealing with terrorism, 
for example, the defunct Terrorism and Disruptive Activities 
(Prevention) Act and the recently repealed Prevention of Terrorism 
Act, permitted the identity of witnesses to remain a secret, the 
justification being that anonymity was required for the successful 
prosecution of those involved in terrorist offences. Different 
countries have variously addressed the conflict between the need to 
protect the identity of witnesses and the rights of the accused. 
While countries such as Australia have a comprehensive statute 
dealing with witness protection, the legal system in countries such 
as Canada allows non-disclosure of witnesses on a case-by-case basis. 
India has the dubious distinction of having no witness protection 
programme worth speaking about. The application filed by Teesta 
Setalvad in the apex court seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation 
inquiry into why Zahira changed her story offers yet another 
opportunity to bring effective witness protection on the national 
agenda.



______


[5]

Date: Sat, 06 Nov 2004 16:01:46 +0530

JUSTICE: THE WEIGHT ON HER SHOULDERS
by Bina Srinivasan

The Best Bakery case loomed large over the horizon a few months ago. 
It still does.

So do the 'cases' of a few other women who survived the Gujarat violence.

Gujarat 2002 meant a lot of different things to many different 
sections of people. I mean the state, the police, the politicians, 
the people, and above all, Muslim women and men. Two years later it 
is still as fresh, though going by local newspaper reports everybody 
wants to forget it and patch up as if nothing had ever happened.

Yet. Nobody ever forgets. Do they? Especially if the culprits are 
going about scot-free, as most of them are in circa 2004.

Zahira of the Best Bakery 'case' also now seems like a culprit. So 
the Muslim community in Baroda is burning effigies of her galore. 
Long live a political tradition.

I have a few questions to ask.

Why is it that in the aftermath of the violence in Gujarat the 
thinnest thread of hope of justice hinged largely on four women who 
had the courage to speak out? Zahira, xxx, xxx and xxx? Why?

When thousands of Muslim women and men met their gruesome deaths at 
the hands of tens of thousands of Hindus, when hundreds of Muslims 
were witness to the deaths of so many relatives and friends.

Why only these women?

And why don't we begin to see the continuities and the complicities 
of the powers that be with what happened?

On the one hand domestic violence is at a spectacular high in Gujarat 
as many studies will indicate, one of which I had also undertaken 
many years before I had even imagined Gujarat 2002 would have ever 
happened. So, Hindu, Muslim, Dalit and Christian women across the 
board in the marriageable and reproductive age group face horrendous 
violence and even possible death. The most popular form of death 
being, according to police reports, 'death due to stove bursts'. So 
you have hundreds of women, regardless of religion, languishing and 
then dying in state hospitals because of 'stove bursts'.

On the other hand is the fact that the sex ratio in Gujarat is 
nothing to boast of, and it is also nothing the state seems to be 
ashamed of. Specially now after the nationwide census has declared 
that the Muslim community is propagating at the rate that the Hindu 
right has always predicted: hum panch, hamare panch (we are five, and 
our twenty five').

Now, you will want to know, what is all this about? What is the 
connection between declining sex ratios and the violence against 
women? How does all this link up to Zahira, xxx, xxx, xxx?

It does, let me assure you.

High levels of domestic violence against women. High levels of public 
violence against Muslim women in Gujarat 2002. Public is the key 
word. Excuse the pun.

But it meant that Muslim women were raped by large numbers of men, 
and in front of large numbers of men. Don't get me wrong. Hindu women 
were also involved in this. Read the countless, said and unsaid 
testimonies of women in different parts of Baroda and Ahmedabad. But 
the spectacle was purely male. The sport was male, even if women 
participated it in spirit and action.

How do you juxtapose these facts? Women brutalised inside the house, 
across the board, female foeticide across the board (does not a 
dramatically declining sex ratio tell you that?), and women 
brutalised in the public realm. All women suspected of potential 
reproductive activity are potential targets in modern day Gujarat.

Now, this might seem like an exaggerated viewpoint. I am sure many of 
you will point this out to me. I just want you to look at the 
statistics. And if you want to refute me, you take the trouble to 
look at the police and hospital records. I am not going to do it for 
you. I have done it for too many years now.

All violence against women is sanctioned by society. Yet, of course, 
there is a difference between one kind of violence and another. One 
is sanctioned within the four walls of the home. Another is allowed 
outside.

Understand the difference.

In either case, breaking the quiet that shrouds the silence around 
violence against women is anathema. It breaks the myth of male 
protection, of female passivity. It breaks the myth of patriarchal 
norms, of the happiness of the status quo.

This brings me back to Zahira. She spoke out. And she withdrew. Like 
thousands of other women. Zahira does not deserve effigies.

She deserves a second look at the larger picture.

What happens to women surrounded by the community? In camp after camp 
I saw it in Ahmedabad. They gave in.

Zahira spoke out. In the face of grave danger she did it. Many of us 
grabbed at her words, her courage. It gave many of us the moral 
courage to go on. Good enough, I say.

Ok, she changed her mind. I don't know what made her change her mind. 
But I don't hate her because she did so. A heroine at a given moment 
in history. Then that history changed.

I don't know what made her do it. But then so did Shahbano, and so 
did MF Hussain.

It is about being Muslim in a 'secular' country that decided to 
change colours. Surely we can do more than vilify her. Let us try and 
understand her .

And the bigger picture.

______


[6]


insaf	Bulletin [31]			November, 2004
International South Asia Forum
http://www.insaf.net

MAHARASHTRA ELECTION VERDICT: ANOTHER SHOWDOWN FOR HINDUTVA
Vinod Mubayi

The results of the elections in Maharashtra confirm that the BJP, the 
Shiv Sena, and other assorted hangers-on and followers of Hindutva 
are on a downward trajectory in public esteem and credibility.  There 
was every expectation prior to the election that the lackluster 
performance of the Congress-Nationalist Congress coalition government 
over the last 5 years would result in their losing power.

Economic growth in India's bellwether industrial state was tepid, the 
state debt had ballooned, and farmers unable to meet their debt 
obligations were reported to be committing suicide, just like in the 
neighboring state of Andhra Pradesh, a phenomenon that sank the 
Telugu Desam regime of Chandrababu Naidu earlier this year. The 
perception of misgovernance was enhanced by the mid-term ouster of 
Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and the resignation of the Deputy 
Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal in the Telgi stamp paper scandal. It 
was widely felt that anti-incumbency sentiment alone would dislodge 
the Congress-NCP coalition and reinstall the BJP-Shiv Sena combine in 
power.

The BJP's election chief, Pramod Mahajan, had devised another 
strategy, of encouraging Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party to split the 
Dalit-neo Buddhist vote that would ordinarily have gone to Congress 
or Congress allies in the hope that BSP would support the BJP-Shiv 
Sena coalition to come to power in the Assembly. BJP's icon of 
yesteryear, former Prime Minister Vajpayee, and the rabble-rousing 
Uma Bharati, were brought into the campaign.

But, in the end, the average voter had a different idea. Although the 
margins were close in several districts, the verdict was 
unmistakable; the people deemed the communal, Hindutva coalition a 
worse option than continuing with the secular Congress-NCP incumbent 
regime. This is a very hopeful sign that voters can now see through 
the largely media created hype of the "party of natural governance" 
as the BJP styled itself. The impact of the loss of the BJP-led NDA 
government at the Center is now beginning to be felt over the 
country. It portends further trouble for the BJP whose leaders are 
now rushing to Nagpur to get further instructions from their gurus in 
the RSS. In contrast, the Congress-led UPA at the Center has made a 
decent start generally, despite occasional hiccups and differences 
among the allies. 

Another hopeful sign is the steep decline, hopefully a signal of its 
eventual demise, of the thuggish Shiv Sena. Its leader, Bal 
Thackeray, in his latest rant after the election results were 
declared sounded more like Charlie Chaplin's "Great Dictator" than 
the Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler, a figure Thackeray has frequently admired 
in press interviews. The Sena rose to prominence on a one-point 
political program, sons-of-the-soil chauvinism of the Hindu 
Maharashtrian middle and lower middle class in cosmopolitan Bombay 
where the higher levels of industry and trade were dominated by the 
Parsis, Gujaratis, and Marwaris, white collar employment by Tamilian 
Brahmins and service sectors such as transport by Sikhs and Muslims. 
The Sena's cadres were largely drawn from Bombay's extensive 
underworld involved in smuggling, gambling, liquor and other rackets. 
Emotive rabble-rousing against migrants and "outsiders", plus a 
rent-a-thug policy allowed the Sena to acquire both resources and 
political power.

In the late 1960s and 70s, industrial capitalists used the Sena's 
cadres to destroy the Communist trade unions through violent attacks 
on and murders of individual trade union leaders like Krishna Desai. 
Earlier Congress governments in the state also cynically used the 
Sena's muscle power when it suited them at election time. Violent 
campaigns in the 1970s against "South Indians", called "Madrasis" in 
Bombay, including Malayali workers, Tamil white-collar workers in 
many public sector enterprises, riots on Maharashtra-Karnataka 
boundary issues, were followed by sustained violence against Muslims 
in the 1980s when Thackeray realized that while being anti-South 
Indian could gain him a following in Maharashtra, being anti-Muslim 
could make him an all-India leader.

Lately, the Sena also launched a violent campaign against North 
Indians, assaulting many young men from U.P. and Bihar who were 
coming to Bombay for recruitment into the Indian Railways, while 
continuing a high-decibel rant against Bangladeshi "infiltrators" and 
"Muslim terrorists" in general. Their defeat, even in their 
strongholds in Mumbai and in the Konkan areas, could either be a sign 
of organizational weakness, particularly after the succession 
struggle between Thackeray's son and nephew, or a sign of public 
weariness or both. Hopefully, a new and younger generation of 
Maharashtrian youth has sensed the emptiness and thuggishness behind 
the Sena's emotive appeals.

But the Congress has to be on guard and realize the significant 
amount of cleansing it has to do within its own house before the 
specters of the Shiv Sena and their clones and the votaries of 
Hindutva can be laid to rest. Pandering to outright Maharashtrian 
sub-nationalism by striking ultra-chauvinist postures and being 
complicit in historical falsification can extract a heavy toll. One 
example is the complete inability to permit even scholarly writing 
and debate on a Maharashtrian historical figure like Shivaji as 
witnessed by the shameful attack on the famous Bhandarkar Institute 
library in Pune where Congress cadres were also involved.

The other is the tailing behind BJP and Shiv Sena on the issue of 
Savarkar, the founder of Hindutva, the father of the two-nation 
theory long before Jinnah, and a key plotter in the assassination of 
Mahatma Gandhi who escaped being charged solely on a legal 
technicality, whose portrait now hangs in Parliament, courtesy of the 
former BJP regime, opposite that of Gandhi. Only Mani Shankar Aiyar, 
now a Minister in the Central Government, had the courage and good 
sense to call a spade a spade on the issue of Savarkar. But the 
leaders of the Maharashtra Congress ran away from the truth and tried 
to outdo the BJP-Sena chauvinists in their fealty to Savarkar. This 
approach will not pay dividends in the long run.

______


[7]

South Asians Against Nukes
November 7, 2004

o o o

[INDIA] THE HAZARDOUS MIX: A PECULIAR ACT AND THE PERILOUS ENERGY

by S. P. Udayakumar
(October 22, 2004)


Q: What is it that is benign in appearance but malignant in nature?

A: If cells, it is cancer. If law, it is Jim Crow legislation.

Both can hurt, harm and even kill if left unchallenged.


The Atomic Energy Act 1962 (33 of 1962) is supposed to serve a few 
specific purposes: enhancing the safety of the "ordinary citizens" of 
India; safeguarding India's natural resources and talents for the 
country's development; and controlling and using atomic energy for 
the welfare of Indians and for other peaceful uses.

In reality, this law has failed miserably on all counts. Instead, it 
is used for a few other anti-people purposes: to threaten the critics 
who disagree with the authoritarian Department of Atomic Energy 
(DAE); to undermine the democratic fabric of the Indian society, and 
soon to help private profiteers reap rich dividends at the cost of 
public safety and costs. [...]

[FULL TEXT AT: URL: 
http://www.s-asians-against-nukes.org/PMANE/spuk22oct2004.html ]


______


[8]

EU: Engage India on Human Rights

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH LETTER TO THE EUROPEAN UNION REGARDING THE EU-INDIA SUMMIT

November 8, 2004

To the European Union:  

We urge the European Union to use the occasion of the EU-India summit 
on November 8, 2004, in The Hague to increase its engagement with the 
Government of India on human rights issues. We believe that a 
dialogue built on mutual respect should involve not just economic 
concerns but also improvement of India's human rights record. This is 
important for the people of India, for India's neighbors, and for the 
developing world, given India's significance as a role model, and as 
a military and aid donor.

The new government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has taken some 
important positive steps with regard to respect for human rights. 
These include repeal of the oft-abused Prevention of Terrorism Act 
(POTA) and a re-evaluation of federal government educational policies 
that fostered communitarian resentments. Nevertheless, there is room 
for improvement, particularly in the protection of minority and 
marginalized groups such as Dalits and other lower-caste populations, 
religious minorities and tribal groups. The EU's increasing economic 
interactions with India should include calls for better equal 
opportunity policies. We also urge the EU to call for better justice 
mechanisms to curb impunity and prevent police abuse. Indian security 
forces continue to operate without adequate accountability, engaging 
in serious human rights abuses not just in conflict-zones such as 
Kashmir, but also when dealing with criminal suspects and detainees.

In order to help the EU-India dialogue, Human Rights Watch highlights 
the following areas of particular concern:  

Persistent discrimination against marginalized groups: The European 
Union should call upon India to implement legislation or enact new 
laws to end discrimination based on caste and religious grounds, and 
to vigorously enforce laws against discrimination in the private 
sector. Despite legislative measures to protect marginalized groups, 
caste, religious, or gender-based discrimination continues in 
practice. Local police often do not implement the special laws set up 
to protect Dalits and members of tribal groups. Women remain highly 
vulnerable to abuse, both inside and outside the household. 
Trafficking for sex slavery continues. While Indian law calls for 
affirmative action in government jobs, with increasing privatization, 
it is crucial for the European Union to encourage European companies 
operating in India to adopt equal opportunity policies that benefit 
Dalits, members of tribal groups, women and religious minorities.  

The European Union should extend all cooperation to the Indian 
government in its campaign against violence by extremist 
organizations like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad or the Rashtriya 
Swayamsevak Sangh. In a recent report, Discouraging Dissent, Human 
Rights Watch documented the attacks and intimidation of witnesses, 
lawyers and activists campaigning for the prosecution of those 
responsible for the Gujarat violence that resulted in the death and 
forced displacement of thousands of Muslims in 2002. Christians, 
particularly priests and nuns, continue to be attacked throughout the 
country. It is important to help the Indian government to bring to 
account those responsible for orchestrating violence against 
religious and ethnic minorities.  

Impunity of security forces: Indian security forces, including the 
military, paramilitary forces, and the police, routinely abuse human 
rights with impunity. The Indian federal government too often fails 
to prosecute army and paramilitary troops in a credible and 
transparent manner. The result has been an increase in serious 
violations throughout the country. In July, Manipur state witnessed 
unprecedented civilian protests against the Armed Forces Special 
Powers Act after army troops sexually assaulted and killed a woman in 
custody. In Kashmir, military, paramilitary, and police forces 
continue their practice of torturing detainees, leading to custodial 
killings. There has also been a nationwide rise in allegations of 
extrajudicial executions by security forces, who typically justify 
their actions by claiming to have killed suspects in an exchange of 
gunfire. The EU should offer the Indian government assistance for 
improving human rights training for its police forces and to 
implement judicial reforms. The EU should also urge the Indian 
government to ratify the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, 
Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

Continued misuse of counter-terrorism laws: Repeal of the Prevention 
of Terrorism Act (POTA) did not end the legal mechanisms that give 
security agencies unchecked powers of detention that often foster 
torture during interrogation. The European Union should recommend a 
comprehensive review of legislation that allows overbroad authority 
for law enforcement to infringe on civil liberties. Laws such as the 
National Security Act, the Disturbed Areas Act, the Armed Forces 
Special Powers Act or the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special 
Powers Act have spawned abuses in various parts of the country, 
including many deaths in custody and widespread allegations of 
torture. For instance in Kashmir and Manipur, people are held in army 
camps and barracks and routinely tortured before being released or 
sent to police custody in violation of local laws that require the 
armed forces to immediately hand over the detainees to the civilian 
police.  

Monitoring mechanisms: The National Human Rights Commission has 
emerged as one of the best such institutions and is a powerful means 
of protecting human rights. However, its capacity is limited because 
it is only allowed funding through government and is severely 
short-staffed. In addition, the Commission is not allowed to 
investigate abuses committed by the armed forces. The European Union 
should encourage India to further empower its NHRC and to create 
enforceable, transparent monitoring mechanisms that serve as a model 
for other countries where such institutions remain ineffective.

Failure to protect those affected by HIV/AIDS: Legislation is 
currently being drafted to end discrimination against those affected 
by HIV/AIDS, but unless properly implemented, people affected with 
HIV/AIDS will continue to be denied jobs, shelter, medical attention 
and access to education. In a recent report, Future Forsaken, Human 
Rights Watch documented discrimination faced by HIV+ children as well 
as children from families affected by AIDS. The European Union should 
support the Indian government's efforts to end the stigma and 
discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS in India through 
age-appropriate awareness and education campaigns. The European Union 
should also urge India to repeal section 377 of the Indian Penal 
code, which effectively criminalizes sex between men and is 
frequently used as justification for harassment of HIV/AIDS 
educators.  

Failure to protect the rights of children: Millions of children are 
going to work instead of learning at school. The European Union 
should ask the Indian government to protect children from engaging in 
the worst forms of child labor. Hundreds of thousands of children are 
bonded laborers who toil as virtual slaves, particularly in the silk 
industry. It is also important to encourage parents to send their 
children to school, but they can only do so when education is 
affordable and accessible. Currently almost half the children in 
India are out of school. Discrimination on the basis of caste and 
religion has to end in schools. India should be urged to ratify the 
1960 Convention Against Discrimination in Education.  

India's Role in the Region: As India increases its political and 
economic prominence in South Asia, the EU should encourage India to 
adopt policies that link human rights standards to aid. Increasingly, 
India has been providing significant amounts of financial and 
military aid to its smaller neighbors. For instance, India is the 
largest provider of military assistance to Nepal and should be 
encouraged call upon the Nepali government to comply with human 
rights obligations in its brutal civil war with Maoist insurgents. 
India should also be encouraged to use its evolving partnership with 
Burma to push for human rights and rule of law. India should also 
provide greater protection to Burmese refugees and economic migrants 
from Bangladesh.  

We believe that India's potential as a leading global power would be 
enhanced and strengthened by an explicit commitment to human rights. 
We request the EU to highlight these issues at the upcoming summit.

Yours sincerely,  

Brad Adams  
Executive Director, Asia Division

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

Buzz on the perils of fundamentalist politics, on matters of peace 
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