SACW | 3 Jan 2005

sacw aiindex at mnet.fr
Mon Jan 3 01:56:15 CST 2005


South Asia Citizens Wire   | 3 Jan.,  2005
via:  www.sacw.net

[1] Bangladesh:  Ahmadiyya Books - HC asks govt why ban should not be illegal
[2] Pakistan:  Prejudice without pride (Angela Williams)
[3] Pakistan: An interview with Sheema Kermani
[4] India: Sikh Temples ban girls in jeans
[5] India: Communal Riots - 2004 (Asghar Ali Engineer)
[6] S. Asia: 'Nature does not respect the egos of 
nation states.' (Edit, Times of India)
[7] Announcements :
- Call for Papers "Towards Global Labour History: New Comparisons"



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

[1]


The Daily Star
January 03, 2005

AHMADIYYA BOOKS
HC ASKS GOVT WHY BAN SHOULD NOT BE ILLEGAL
Staff Correspondent
The High Court yesterday issued rule on the 
government for its ban on the Ahmadiyya 
publications and stayed the ban for another three 
weeks.

The court asked the government to reply why the 
government order banning Ahmadiyya publications, 
sale, distribution and preservation would not be 
declared illegal for being violative to the 
constitution and fundamental rights of the 
community.

The respondents -- the home secretary, senior 
assistant secretary of the home ministry, 
inspector general of police and deputy controller 
of Bangladesh Press (BG Press) -- will have to 
reply to the court in two weeks.

A High Court Division bench comprising Justice MA 
Matin and Justice AFM Abdur Rahman passed the 
order after hearing yesterday.

Operatives of some anti-Ahmadiyya Islamist groups 
gathered in and around the courtroom during the 
hearing and told the press that they would file 
separate petitions for vacating the stay order 
and discharging the rule.

The HC vacation bench of Justice ABM Khairul 
Haque on December 21 stayed the ban until 
resumption of the court after winter vacation 
following a petition filed by six civil society 
groups and a member of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat, 
Bangladesh (AMJB).

The court had also ordered the government not to 
publish any gazette on the ban.

The petitioners are AK Rezaul Karim, an AMJB 
member and former deputy general manager of 
Bangladesh Bank, Odhikar, Sammilito Samajik 
Andolon, Ain O Salish Kendra, Karmojibi Nari, 
Jatiyo Ainjibi Parishad and Nijera Kori.

In his submission yesterday morning, counsel for 
the petitioners Dr Kamal Hossain said the 
Ahmadiyyas are living in the country for about a 
century and carrying out publication, sale and 
distribution of their publications for many years 
in Bangladesh without any disturbance and in full 
knowledge of the government.

No-one ever made any objection that the 
publications hurt religious sentiment of any 
community until certain vested interest groups 
led by Khatme Nabuwat started deliberately 
creating a climate of vilification against the 
Ahmadiyyas and got the order issued to fulfil 
their political gain, he said.

A vested quarter is involved in it, not all 
Muslims of the country, Dr Kamal said.

"Since the ban, Khatme Nabuawat and its 
affiliated bodies including Amra Dhakabashi have 
been carrying out attacks on the Ahmadiyya 
community in the name of implementation of the 
impugned order."

The ban is an infringement on the fundamental 
rights enshrined in the constitution, the counsel 
maintained.

The government has to mention the words and 
sentences (of the Ahmadiyya publications) that 
resulted in the banning of the publications, Dr 
Kamal said, adding that the government did not 
even publish a gazette notification on the order.

He also mentioned that the government placed a 
report before the UN General Assembly on 
September 16, 2004 stating that the rights of the 
followers of all religions including the 
Ahmadiyya sect are well protected in Bangladesh.

During the hearing, ABM Nurul Islam, an advocate 
of the Supreme Court, urged the court again to 
appoint him the amicus curiae, but the court did 
not respond.

As he told the court that the government had 
already published gazette notification on the 
ban, the court, adjourning the hearing until 
noon, asked the attorney general's office to 
inform the court about the matter.

When the hearing resumed at noon, Additional 
Attorney General Fida M Kamal told the court that 
he had received no instructions from the 
government on the matter.

The court later passed the stay order and issued the rule.

Advocate Salahuddin Ahmad, Barrister Sara Hossain 
and Barrister Tanjib-ul Alam assisted Dr Kamal 
Hossain while Assistant Attorney General Razik Al 
Jalil assisted Fida Kamal.

Abdul Hannan Al Hadi, a leader of the 
anti-Ahmadiyya group Hifazate Khatme Nabuwat 
Andolon, told The Daily Star after yesterday's 
order, "We're shocked at the court order. We'll 
form a movement against it."

"Islamist organisations will file two separate 
petitions against today's order," he said.

The government, on January 8, banned Ahmadiyya 
publications amid agitation by anti-Ahmadiyya 
zealots spearheaded by some leaders of Islamic 
Oikya Jote, a constituent of the ruling BNP-led 
alliance.


______

[2]

Daily Times
January 03, 2005

AT HOME ABROAD: Prejudice without pride
Angela Williams

Five years ago, with the approach of a new 
millennium, my husband and I were thinking of 
spending New Year's Eve in Agra; what more 
magical way to see in the special New Year than 
with the Taj Mahal as a shimmering backdrop!
Our eight-year-old daughter couldn't have been 
more horrified. 'But we can't go there! That's in 
India! What would all my friends say? Well, I'm 
not going!'
So we went to a party in Essex.
But where had this strange stuff come from? As a 
Londoner, and a bit of a pain-in-the-neck English 
language pedant, I keep my prejudices simple: 
right-wingers of any nationality, American 
right-wingers in particular, and those who sound 
like Americans for no good reason. So those were 
the prejudices inherited from the mother's side! 
The father is a highly educated Jat (if that's 
not a contradiction in terms, which I often feel 
it may well be. I would use the term oxymoron, 
but readers may imagine that I'm being more 
offensive than I intend.) Anyway, he is an 
intellectual, not noted for bias or bigotry. So 
that lets us off the hook as the culprits behind 
this foaming anti-Indianism of our beloved 
firstborn. (I hasten to add that we have utilised 
the intervening five years to detox our child, so 
that she is now the product one would expect!)
Which only leaves little school friends and, 
therefore, Pakistani society as a whole, as the 
responsible party for inculcating this odious 
prejudice in one so young. Now, with the easing 
of tension across the border, and the clean, 
fresh air of friendship and co-operation between 
India and Pakistan, wouldn't it be nice to 
imagine that the decades-old hatred of our 
next-door-neighbour was soon to be a thing of the 
past! Progressive Pakistani schools and colleges 
are in touch with their Indian counterparts, 
organising trips to India, and international 
events to foster understanding, friendship and 
mutual respect. The Rafi Peer Festival, as 
always, (God bless those Peerzadas), included 
wonderful performances from across the border, as 
well as from around the globe. Things are 
certainly improving by leaps and bounds, but it 
will take a few generations, I fear, for the 
deep-rooted religious prejudices to be healed.
Despite Quaid-e-Azam's oft repeated assertion 
that religion was nothing to do with the business 
of the State, that Pakistanis were free to go to 
their mosques, their temples or any other place 
of worship, I must say that, in the 20 years I 
have lived in Pakistan, I have yet to see any 
Pakistani freely going to his/her temple. (Maybe 
I wasn't looking in the right direction for 20 
years.) It is a sad thing that the man whose 
image appears on all banknotes and graces the 
walls of all government buildings, is so 
shamefully disregarded in this matter. No wonder 
his daughter can hardly bear to set foot in the 
country her father founded!
But we can always hope, we can pray, we can 
teach, and we can keep on teaching until 
justifiable pride replaces foul prejudice.
The writer is the Academic Co-ordinator and a 
founder of Bloomfield Hall Schools. She has been 
teaching in Lahore for the past 20 years and has 
directed numerous highly acclaimed stage plays.

______


[3]

The Times of India
December 10, 2004

CULTURE AS POLITICS
[AN INTERVIEW WITH SHEEMA KERMANI]

Is there space for Indian classical dance on public platforms in Pakistan?

The present situation is slightly better than 
before. However, what is still needed to hold 
public performances is a no-objection certificate 
(NOC). Although, in a private capacity, there are 
possibilities of performances and a couple of 
dancers have emerged on the scene. But, there is 
no government support and Indian classical dance 
is still markedly considered as an Indian or 
Hindu art form. Since 1980, we, a group of women, 
have founded Tehrik-e-Niswan to continue my 
activity.

What is the activity of Tehrik-e-Niswan?

Tehrik means movement and Niswan means women. It 
was formed at a time when the highly 
discriminatory and anti-women laws were being 
passed. A group of women, including myself, felt 
that women's rights had to be defended and we 
held the first all-women's conference in Karachi 
in 1981 which was attended by women from all 
sections of Pakistani society. Since then, we 
function as a cultural action group, using the 
medium of performing arts, dance, drama and 
music, to bring the message of awareness and 
consciousness about women's rights. We feel that 
the first step to attain women's rights ought to 
be the comprehension and understanding of their 
problems and bring about an awareness of their 
rights. In this regard, we try to employ artistic 
means like theatre, dance, video and film, 
firstly because our society is largely illiterate 
and, therefore, lectures, seminars, and so on 
have limited use, and secondly, the struggle for 
women's rights has to be conducted not only at 
the legal and political level, but also at the 
level of emotional and artistic responses and 
values.

What sort of problems did you face from the 
clergy and the martial law administration during 
Zia-ul-Haq's time? Has the situation changed 
since then?

Well, in the late 50s, one Ghanshyam and his wife 
from Calcutta were invited by Suhrawardy, then 
prime minister of Pakistan, to set up a dance and 
music academy in Karachi. During the 60s, in 
Pakistan, there were more than a couple of dance 
schools and many dancers who were performing as 
well as teaching. In the early 80s. General Zia 
banned dance on all official media and on stage. 
The problems were such that actually one was not 
able to even advertise a dance performance. The 
NOC ['No Objection Certificate'] stated that 
dancing, nudity, obscenity were not allowed, 
dresses of only Pakistani origin were permitted 
and so on. Often the clergy sent me threats and 
to the venues where the performances were held. 
This was when all the dancers left the country. I 
was the only dancer who stayed on and continued 
to defy the ban by continuing to perform and to 
teach.

How do you artistically express contemporary 
ideas through the medium of classical dance?

I think art is a reflection of society, of its 
values and its life, and if an artist is aware 
and a thinking being, then she or he cannot 
possibly be cut off from contemporary concerns. 
These concerns are then reflected in the work 
because they are part of the life of the artist. 
Despite the censor that still exists, performing 
arts like theatre and dance enjoy, however, a 
relative freedom over state-controlled media such 
as radio and television. Besides, performing arts 
have a singular adaptability to the given 
circumstances and can be put up with very meagre 
resources.

How do you relate your activity of dance to your 
activity to strengthen women's rights in 
Pakistan? Or are they separate activities for you?

No, they are not separate activities. For me 
dance is very much related to the women's 
movement. Both the artistes and women are 
oppressed. The issue of a woman's body, how it is 
looked upon, and the taboos linked to it -- these 
are important and integral aspects of the women's 
movement. As soon as a girl starts growing up she 
is told to feel ashamed of her body, to hide it. 
Through dance we learn to straighten and 
strengthen our spine - hold our shoulders back, 
and this instils confidence and a feeling of 
dignity which empowers the woman in the process.

What would be the role of the artistes of 
Pakistan and India for ameliorating the relations 
between the two countries?

I believe that art and artistes are not bound by 
language barriers or by religious differences. 
Art tells the truth and for me art is secular; 
there is no such thing as Hindu dance or Hindu 
music and Islamic dance or Islamic music just as 
there is no such thing as Hindu bomb or Muslim 
bomb. The bomb does not discriminate before it 
destroys! Besides, I believe that the people of 
India and Pakistan share a common history, a 
common heritage and if we as artistes can try to 
explore our commonalities and similarities rather 
than our differences, I am sure we can live in 
greater harmony with each other.


______


[4]

Deccan Herald
January 03, 2005

GURUDWARAS BAN GIRLS IN JEANS
Ranchi, DHNS:

The Singhbhum unit of Central Gurudwara Prabandak 
Committee (CGPC) has banned the entry of jeans 
and trouser clad girls into gurudwaras.

CGPC President Shailendra Singh, issuing letter 
to all city based gurudwaras has asked them to 
form a Mahila Manch to keep vigil on the girls 
visiting the gurudwaras.

The decision follows the appeal by the 
ex-Jathedaar of Jatth Dum Duma shrine in Punjab, 
Kewal Singh, to women to be culture-conscious and 
not get swayed by western culture.

Justifying the decision, a Sikh priest said here 
that girls play a vital role in the making of the 
society. "A girl once after becoming a mother has 
to guide their children, make them follow the 
rules and regulations of the society. But nothing 
great can be expected from a girl in this regard 
if she is not conscious about the dressing sense. 
After all we have to see that they mature as a 
responsible person of the society," the Sikh 
priest said.

However, girls have expressed their unhappiness 
over the decision. Religion is one thing and 
personal life is other is the common refrain.

______


[5]

Secular Perspective
January 1-15, 2004

COMMUNAL RIOTS - 2004

Asghar Ali Engineer

Like the year 2003, 2004 also did not witness any 
major riot. In fact the Gujarat carnage of 2002 
was so traumatic that it may take sometime for 
the country to see communal violence on such 
scale. It is well known fact that major communal 
riot cannot take place without planning and 
organised efforts. The Gujarat carnage would not 
have been possible without BJPs and Gujarat 
Government’s involvement. Of course it cost the 
BJP dearly and one of the reasons of loosing the 
Lok Sabha elections in 2004 was the Gujarat 
carnage as admitted by no less a person than 
A.B.Vajpayee, the BJP Prime Minster. Thus for the 
time being the BJP dare not involve in organising 
rioting on such major scale.

It is for this reason that both in 2003 and 2004 
we do not find any major sustained communal 
violence except for riots in which couple of 
lives were lost. It is interesting to note that 
for last few years Western zone of the country 
i.e. Gujarat and Maharashtra have mostly 
witnessed communal violence. Gujarat still 
remains communally sensitive and without major 
de-communalising campaigns (and there is no such 
possibility as long as the BJP is in power in 
Gujarat) Gujarat will remain communally highly 
sensitive. Maharashtra too is quite communally 
sensitive next to Gujarat. Though there is 
Congress-NCP secular alliance in Maharashtra, 
there are no serious efforts to ideologically 
fight the Shiv Sena-BJP combine. Shiv Sena-BJP 
though it failed to come to power in the last 
state assembly election, it continues to wield 
ideological influence.

Thus the first communal clash in 2004 took place 
in Vadodra, Gujarat. Due to a cycle mishap the 
two groups belonging to Hindu and Muslim 
community clashed with each other and started 
pelting stones at each other on 6th January in 
Sajaynagar, Tsiwadi. According to the Police 
Commissioner Sudhir Kumar Sinha when the SRP 
personnel tried to control the mob, it was 
attacked. The SRP Jawan then fired two rounds in 
the air. SRP Jawans were injured in the stone 
throwing.

Then on 8th January 7 persons were injured in two 
of them seriously, in a group clash at 
Jalgaon-Jamod Tehsil in Buldana district of 
Maharashtra. A minor incident involving a cyclist 
and a truck driver escalated into a major clash 
between Hindus and Muslims. Senior police and 
revenue officials rushed to the spot and 
controlled the situation.

In M.P. state elections had taken place in 
December 2003 and the BJP had won. The BJP is 
trying to Hinduise tribals in Jhabua and other 
tribal belts of M.P. in order to win their 
political support. It had campaigned in a major 
way in Jhabua district, which is adjacent to 
Gujarat state. Thus Jhabua became communally 
quite sensitive. Thus communal clashes took place 
in Jhabua district between Bheels and Christians 
on 17th January. Actually Bhils attacked 
Christian Missionaries and killed one person.

Communal tension was on the rise for last few 
months, following the decision of the RSS-VHP 
cadres to prevent religious conversions by 
Christian missionaries. Backers of the latter, 
belonging to the ferocious Bhil tribe, struck 
back on Friday night with bows and arrows in the 
Alirajpur area killing one person (unofficially 
three), injuring over a dozen, and setting a few 
vehicles and buildings ablaze. It was alleged 
that the most serious incident had occurred when 
a religious procession of Sadhvis attached to a 
Hindu Saint Asaram Bapu at Amkhunt village was 
attacked and the women manhandled. The Sadhvis 
were distributing religious literature when the 
surprise attack occurred.

Earlier a 9-year-old girl was raped and murdered 
and her body found in a toilet inside a 
missionary school it had raised communal 
temperature as some Christians were suspected to 
have done that. But it was a false rumour and 
Chief Minister Uma Bharti herself confirmed that 
the culprit arrested had no connection with the 
church. It seems the religious literature being 
distributed was not innocuous and likely to have 
provoked some Christians. Chief Minister assured 
that the Christian missionaries working in the 
area would receive full protection.

It was again Godhra in Gujarat that a communal 
incident took place on 18th February in which six 
persons were injured, including a police 
sub-inspector and two constables when members of 
minority community and the police clashed in this 
sensitive town. The flare-up comes barely 10 days 
before the Sabarmati Express incident two years 
ago. It all started during police operation to 
arrest Salim Paanwala, one of the main accused in 
the Sabarmati train carnage from Umar Masjid in 
Saat Pul area. The locals alleged that the cops 
misbehaved with them, beating them up and 
ransacking their houses. One Amin Guri sustained 
serious injuries and was shifted to SSG Hospital 
in Vadodra for treatment. Two other civilians 
injured in the incident were identified as Rafiq 
and Yaqub. According to the SP. Police more than 
35 persons were arrested. Though situation was 
under control, additional forces were deployed to 
maintain law and order. Paanwala was absconding 
and on being tipped police came to arrest him and 
this incident took place. Among those beaten up 
by the police was Husaina Farooq Jiteli, a 
six-month pregnant woman. She told the cops hit 
me on the abdomen when I resisted my husband’s 
arrest. The house of Kasimbibi adjoining the 
mosque was ransacked. “My two sons had just 
returned from the mosque when the police broke 
open the door and began beating up them”, she 
said.

Ujjain in M.P. witnessed communal incidents on 
22nd February as M.P. under BJP rule has become 
more communally sensitive. The state under the 
BJP was experiencing more and more communal 
incidents. On 22 February two groups clashed on 
the question of removing illegal shops in front 
of a mosque after which 7 areas came under 
curfew. These shops were being removed for 
facilitating Mahakumbh Mela. In these clashes 10 
persons including I.G. police Sarabjit Singh were 
injured. The police used lathicharge, tear gas 
shells and water cannon to control the clashing 
groups. More than 57 persons were arrested. About 
200 Muslims who had taken refuge inside the 
mosque were transported to safe places.

Vadodra in Gujarat again witnessed communal 
violence on 27th February in which three persons 
were killed and 13 others were injured. The 
violence erupted after the Tazia procession was 
stoned in Bavamanpura area. One person was beaten 
to death. Paresh Pushwani when he was travelling 
on scooter was attacked by a mob of 200 persons. 
He succumbed to his injuries in the hospital. One 
another person was hit by the police bullet and 
one person was stabbed to death. Thirteen persons 
injured included four police personnel in stone 
pelting. Nagin Parmar and Chotalal Borsi were 
attacked by sharp weapons by a mob in Paginate 
area of which Borsi succumbed to his injuries. On 
29th February one person was stabbed to death 
again in Panigate area. But police refused to 
accept it as a communal incident and ascribed it 
to personal quarrel.

On the eve of Moharram small incidents took place 
in several towns on 2nd March in India. Moradabad 
in U.P. witnessed stone throwing, one person was 
stabbed in Baroda, Gujarat, ships were closed in 
Ajmer in Rajasthan. In Pratapgarh one laundry was 
set on fire. In Barida Muslims decided not to 
take out Tazia procession to maintain peace in 
the city. Baroda again witnessed violence on 4th 
March when one more person was stabbed in 
Yaqutpura area. There were incidents of stone 
throwing between two communities in Yaqutpura, 
Fatehpura and other areas. More than 5 persons 
were injured including two policemen. Police 
resorted to firing in the air to disperse the mob.

After Moharram Holi festival on 7th March became 
an occasion for communal clashes in Darvha town 
of Yeotmal district in Maharashtra. Curfew had to 
be imposed after 16 persons were injured. 
Violence broke out when coloured powder fell 
incidentally on the mosque. And 24 persons were 
injured when clashes broke out in Sikandrabad 
locality of Allahabad in U.P. when minority 
community members objected to Holi revellers 
passing through a particular lane. Two groups 
pelted stones at each other damaging many shops 
and vehicles in the area.

Ahmadnagar in Maharashtra experienced communal 
violence on 7th March when a Shiv Sena MLA was 
arrested for provoking violence on 3rd March. 
Ahmadnagar had witnessed communal violence on 
10th of Moharram (3rd March) and next day i.e. on 
4th March Chitre Road, Sarjepura, Tillikot, 
Milindnagar and Delegate areas Muslim shops were 
attacked, burnt and looted. The violence 
continued for more than five days. Though Muslims 
were main victims the police arrested many Muslim 
youths. Muslims were greatly upset due to alleged 
partial role of the police.

Bhavnagar in Gujarat came under pall of communal 
violence after one person was stabbed on 4th 
March at midnight. More than six persons were 
injured including a woman in these communal 
clashes. This happened when one group tried to 
stop another group from taking out religious 
procession. The police also recovered body of a 9 
year old child with injuries on its body but it 
was not clear whether he was killed in communal 
incident.

One person was killed in Chirli village of 
Gwalior in M.P. on 7th March on the occasion of 
Holi and 23 were injured of whom many were 
critical. The clashes between Hindus and Muslims 
started when Holi revellers threw colour on some 
Muslims. Knives and other weapons were freely 
used during the clashes.

Baroda was under spell of communal violence yet 
again on 4th May when 5 persons were injured in 
walled city when the two groups clashed with each 
other. The police was forced to lathicharge, then 
used teargas shells and then fired in the air 
when a mob attacked a house. The mob damaged two 
vehicles in Chabuksawar Mohalla and Pancholi 
area. Two persons were arrested for resorting to 
violence. Two injured youth were taken to 
hospital of which one was in critical condition. 
His name was Shahnawaz Qureshi. The police fired 
two rounds but no one was injured. The clashes 
broke out after two persons quarrelled on the 
question of parking their vehicles.             

Next communal disturbances took place at Chita 
Camp, Trombay in Eastern suburbs of Mumbai on 7th 
May. Police sources said that trouble began 
following an altercation between members of the 
minority community and devotees of who were 
participating in a procession taken out from 
Mariamma temple in Cheetah Camp. Some members of 
the minority community objected to the procession 
being carried out late in the night in front of 
the mosque. They objected to the playing of 
drums. Some one threw stones on the procession 
and devotees retaliated. Temples and mosques are 
situated closed to each other. Next day there was 
stoning at the time of Friday prayers. The police 
lathi charged and brought the situation under 
control at midnight. Eighteen persons including 
several policemen were injured.

Next rioting broke out again in Gujarat in 
Savarkundla Town of Amreli district on 14th May. 
A police head constable Abdul Sattar Baloch 
stabbed one Sukhabhai from the Koli community. He 
later succumbed to his injuries and people 
returning from his funeral procession began to 
stone Muslim houses and set a truck ablaze. 
Curfew was imposed. Sukhabhai was stabbed during 
cricket match. He died one week after that. The 
communal disturbances broke out after his death.

On 15th May communal riots occurred in Gomtipur 
Ahmedabad. Eight persons were injured and more 
than 16 persons were arrested. The members of two 
communities clashed on the occasion of Ambedkar 
Jayanti. Two shops were also set ablaze by the 
rioters.

Meerut, a communally sensitive city in U.P. 
witnessed communal flare up on June 19 in which 
two persons were killed. The communal flare up 
took place after one Babi Gujar was killed on 
18th June and people returning from his funeral 
began to stone near an Eidgah. Communal violence 
intensified thereafter and one person was stabbed 
and one was killed by firing. Curfew was imposed 
in the Sardhana area of Meerut where disturbances 
broke out. The police sources said three persons 
were killed. Many were arrested. Curfew continued 
next day also and in all 48 persons were arrested.

Next Sanghavli village in Muzaffarnagar district 
in U.P. came under spell of communal violence on 
21 July in which one woman was killed and 20 
persons were injured. One Dalit girl two and half 
years old Shivani was knocked down by a car 
belonging to a Muslim. Thereupon Dalits attacked 
the Muslim locality and began to fire. The police 
on receiving information rushed to the scene and 
took injured to the district hospital where one 
woman Raghuviri succumbed to her injuries.

Gujarat continues to take cake in communal 
violence. Verawal in Gujarat witnessed communal 
frenzy on 26th July in which 2 persons were 
killed and 8 were injured. The violence between 
the two communities broke out on the question of 
eve teasing. A young Hussain Zair was killed in 
Taj Society when police opened fire to disperse 
rampaging mobs that resorted to heavy stone 
pelting and setting ablaze nearly 40 shops and as 
many vehicles, police said. Another person was 
stabbed to death in Jalaramnagar area and was 
brought dead to civil Hospital. The person could 
not be identified. Curfew was imposed but rioting 
was going on in some areas. The girl who was 
teased belonged to Kharva community and teaser 
was a Muslim boy.

Belgaum on border area of Karnataka and 
Maharashra witnessed communal clashes between the 
two communities in which about 50 persons 
including 20 women were injured in Durbar Gulli 
of the town. The injured had to be hospitalised. 
The Belgam Devathal had organised puja in all the 
city temples to mark the last Tuesday of Adhik 
mass. A large number of people thronged the 
temples. Some devotees began to throw turmeric 
powder at a temple in Durbara Gali as members of 
minority community were coming out after offering 
prayers from a mosque. Some people objected to 
turmeric powder being thrown and scuffles 
started. After the ritual persons from both the 
communities started pelting stones. Both the 
communities blamed the police for inaction. A 
year before also violence had broken out during 
the same ritual.

On 16th August Akola came to experience communal 
violence in which one person was killed and one 
was severely injured. During the celebration of 
independence day there was some quarrel between 
two groups and violence broke out. The person who 
died was identified as Rau. Six persons were 
arrested. This led to communal tension in the 
area.

On  15th August violence broke out in Petla in 
Anand district of Gujarat on the question of 
parking an Autorickshaw between two communities. 
The police had to resort to firing in which one 
person was injured and curfew had to be imposed. 
Many shops were set ablaze. To keep the situation 
under control additional police force was rushed 
to Anand.

On 7th August there were serious clashes between 
Hindus and Muslims in Akot of Akola district in 
Maharashtra in which 3 persons were injured. It 
started with a man being wounded by a scooter of 
another community. Stone throwing started after 
arguments between them. One car was also damaged. 
The police reached the spot swiftly and cooled 
the tempers with the help of social workers. Akot 
is a communal sensitive area so security was 
immediately beefed up.

Then on 29th August in Dekhar Gaon of Anjha 
Taluka in Mehsana district of Gujarat witnessed 
clashes between two communities in which more 
than 15 persons were injured of which two persons 
were in critical condition. The police reached 
the spot on time and brought the situation under 
control. According to the police a son of a 
retired police officer had gone to the village 
for Puja and clashed with persons of minority 
community and others got involved from both 
communities.

Jalna and Purna in Marathwada district of 
Parbhani in Maharashtra witnessed bomb blasts 
near a mosque after the Friday prayer on 27th 
August in which 23 persons praying in the mosque 
were seriously injured. The persons who threw 
bombs came on motorcycles and their faces were 
masked. Their identity could not be established 
immediately. Since it was on the eve of state 
elections it was suspected that communal forces 
tried to ignite communal violence to polarise 
Hindus and Muslims. The  department declared 
security alert throughout the State in view of 
these bomb attacks. Mr. Sharad Pawar, the NCP 
chief also warned in a press conference in 
Marathwada that communal mischief will not be 
tolerated. This bomb incident created an acute 
sense of insecurity among Muslims.

In Khantalao, Bhandara Maharashtra communal 
violence broke out on 11 September on the 
question of land ownership and 20 persons were 
injured. Many shops were set ablaze. More than 60 
persons were arrested. The trouble broke out when 
Siv Sena and Bajrang Dal people gave a call for 
bandh to protest against a plot of land near a 
temple having been wrongfully occupied. The 
Shivsainiks soon became violent and began to 
attack minority community in which 20 persons 
were attacked. More than 35 places were set to 
fire. Curfew was clamped to control the situation

Muradabad in U.P. another communally sensitive 
place, saw communal disturbances on 15 September 
in which one person died. The problem began with 
dispute about the construction of a wall in the 
courtyard of a mosque. Stoning and firing took 
place between Hindus and Muslims and one person 
was killed and 18 persons were injured including 
two policemen. The members of two communities 
fought despite the presence of the police 
personnel.

Baroda again came under communal spell on 19th 
September in which six persons were injured when 
Ganesh Chaturthi procession was being taken out 
in the Panigate area which is hyper sensitive and 
witnesses communal violence repeatedly. The 
procession was passing through Dudhwala Mohalla 
of Panigate area.

Badohi in U.P. known for carpet weaving 
experienced communal violence on 24th October 
when idols of Goddess Durga were being taken out. 
It took violent turn when some slogans were 
raised during the procession of idols. The mob 
set afire several shops including an electronic 
shop on Chauri and Gyanpur Roads. About 24 
persons were injured. Rapid Action Force and 
additional police forces had to be deployed to 
control the situation. The mob also damaged buses 
and obstructed movement of trains on 
Bhadohi-Varanasi-Janghai route. 10 persons were 
arrested for rioting and violence.

In Padrona Qasba of Kushinagar, U.P. disturbances 
broke out on the question of hoisting a flag near 
the idol of Durga in which 25 persons were 
injured and 38 persons were arrested according to 
the police.

Bhopal in M.P. saw communal clashes in the 
Shahjahanabad Policethana area on 26th October in 
which one person died and one was critically 
injured. Curfew was clamped and judicial inquiry 
ordered. Deceased was identified as Jaiprakash. 
Two children quarrelled and their elders 
intervened leading to communal clash.

Zakaria Buder area in Mumbai witnessed communal 
violence on 1st November near Cottongreen station 
in which seven persons were injured. Trouble 
broke out when a fruit vendor Habibullah was 
beaten up by some youth from Ambewadi Chawl 
because of previous enmity. Habibullah’s friends 
intervened and two groups started pelting stones 
and threw bottles.

Silcher town in Assam also was rocked by communal 
violence on November 7 in which 50 shops 
belonging to minority community were burnt and 
looted and they sustained loss amounting to 
crores of rupees. It all started when police 
refused to give permission to take out a funeral 
procession of an employee who was murdered 
through minority locality. The mob went on 
rampage and curfew had to be imposed.

All the riots we have described above started 
with small incident which are quite common place 
but did not assume serious proportion and could 
be controlled easily as there was no intention by 
any communal party to exploit these incidents for 
engineering communal violence for political 
purposes. No major communal riot can take place 
without previous planning and providing 
infrastructure for the same. Any of these 
incidents could have assumed serious proportions 
if any communal party had intended to exploit it 
for their interests.

The major riots also start with small triggering 
incidents. In that case police is also under 
pressure not to act and let the violence spread. 
In post-Gujarat situation, the communal forces 
did not want to engineer any major riot and hence 
both in 2003 and 2004 we see only small communal 
incidents but no major and widespread communal 
violence. In all these instances the police could 
effectively control communal violence as they 
could act independently without any political 
pressure. If the police is under strict 
instruction not to allow communal incidents and 
politicians do not interfere no riot can continue 
beyond few hours. Widespread communal violence 
takes place not only by the connivance of 
unscrupulous politicians but by their complete 
involvement.

(Centre for Study of Society and Secularism
Mumbai:- 400 055, India)

_____


[6]

The Times of India
January 03, 2005  | Editorial

UNITY IN ADVERSITY
REGIONAL COOPERATION FOR DISASTER CONTROL

Do we always need to reinvent the wheel? The 
Indian scientific establishment may nod in the 
affirmative. In the years of the Cold War, when 
technology was a well-guarded secret of the 
developed world, it made sense to aspire to be 
self-reliant. Times have changed, for the better. 
As the world gets increasingly integrated, there 
isn't much scope - or hope - for pockets of 
isolation. It has been said that a tsunami 
warning system (TWS) would have helped to reduce 
the toll considerably in India. The TWS in the 
Pacific area has 26 states as members and 
monitors seismological and tidal stations in the 
Pacific basin to predict tsunamigenic quakes. 
Periodic warnings are issued to local, state and 
international subscribers. Tad Murty, a 
Canadian-Indian scientist, who has created a TWS 
for Canada, says the Indian government rebuffed 
his offers to create a similar system for the 
country, citing shortage of funds. New Delhi's 
decision may have also been influenced by the 
lack of data on tsunamis on Indian seas. It has 
been equally wishy-washy in the case of disasters 
that strike with regular frequency. It took many 
seasons of misery before we had proper 
cyclone-monitoring systems in place. States like 
Tamil Nadu, Orissa and West Bengal which are 
lashed every monsoon by killer winds and waves 
from the Bay of Bengal are yet to have cyclone 
shelters in place.

New Delhi should not take the entire load of 
putting systems in place to combat disasters. 
Apart from the enormous expenses that we will 
incur, it is also impossible to understand the 
vagaries of nature in isolation. Nature's 
vagaries have little respect for national 
boundaries. Cyclones batter Bangladesh as much as 
they do to Andhra Pradesh and Orissa. Quakes too 
have their own geographies, as do the floods of 
Himalayan rivers. What is needed is a concerted 
SAARC effort to set up disaster monitoring and 
management facilities. The SAARC charter cites 
science and technology and meteorology as core 
areas for cooperation. And wherever technology is 
already available - as in the case of the Pacific 
TWS - we should subscribe to it. New Delhi, being 
the bigger economic power, can take the lead in 
forging such partnerships. Institutions like the 
ISRO and the IMD should now look beyond Indian 
shores to create safety nets for the whole of 
South Asia. In this age of travellers - both 
people and capital - national interests can't be 
dictated by political geography. Nature does not 
respect the egos of nation states.


_____


[7]    [ANNOUNCEMENTS]

ASSOCIATION OF INDIAN LABOUR HISTORIANS
42 Deshbandhu Society, 15 Patparganj, Delhi 110092, India

International Institute of
Social History, Amsterdam

The South-South exchange
programme for research on
the history of development

Towards Global Labour History:
New Comparisons
An International Workshop organized by
Association of Indian Labour Historians (India) under the
SEPHIS Programme and the International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam
November 10-12, 2005 at Delhi (India)

CALL FOR PAPERS

The workshop is being held to discuss the 
possibility of a new framework for Global
labour history. There is an urgent need for 
reconstituting the older frameworks which
had evolved around fixed binaries of space, time 
and social relations. A more meaningful
way of comparison would be to focus on sites, 
forms and relations of labour that
habitually straddle the classical divides of 
labour history. Papers to be presented at the
workshop should focus on the following themes.

1) Legalities: For a new global labour history 
there is a need to rethink notions of
law, legality and labour moving beyond earlier 
distinctions between legal/illegal,
crime/labour, regulated/unregulated.

2) Mobility: With increasing attention now being 
paid to circular mobility, cross border
labour migration and the history of mobile work 
sites, mobility is brought back to
the centre of labouring experience.

3) Solidarities: Themes which transcend the organic models of community and
associational forms of class, comparisons of 
transient and temporary solidarities,
forms such as social networks forged at 
workplaces and neighborhoods at both the
global and the local level are expected to be 
dealt with in the papers under this rubric.

4) Relations of Gender: What seems important 
today is not just the visibility of
women and women's work, but the interrogation of received ideas such as male
working class formation and notions of 
masculinity implicit in traditional notions
of solidarity.

5) Multiplicity of Labouring Identities: The 
hyphenated identities such as homeworker,
peasant-worker, self-employed and 'labouring poor' - a term usually
reserved for the pre-industrial worker - have made a strong come back in recent
literature.

6) Impact of New Technology on Work: New technologies especially those based
on communications and information have deeply impacted labour relations. Both
dispersion and congregation of workforce is 
occurring specially in the new economy.
Are there historical parallels for the way these 
technologies have impacted work
relations?

Research Papers of publishable quality focusing 
on the above themes are invited from
young and established scholars located in the 
South (Asia, Africa, Latin America) and
in the North (Europe, America, Japan and 
Australia). Twenty-five papers (including six
from the North) will be chosen for presentation and intensive discussion in the
workshop. The papers should demonstrate the use of innovative methodology and
primary sources. Authors are invited to submit 
abstracts (in English) of no more than
600 words as well as academic curriculum vitae (maximum three pages). Proposals
must reach through email at the following address 
<ailh2004 at rediffmail.com> by 7
March, 2005. Final draft of selected papers 
(6000-7000 words) is due by 7 September,
2005 to ensure that airline tickets and other 
arrangements can be done in good time.
Association of Indian Labour Historians (AILH) 
will undertake to publish a selection
of suitably refereed papers soon after the workshop.

The organizers will cover travel costs and other 
participation expenses for successful
applicants. However, air-tickets will be issued 
only upon timely receipt of acceptable
papers, i.e. the paper submission deadline must be met.

Postal Address:
Association of Indian Labour Historians
42 Deshbandhu Society
15 Patparganj, Delhi - 110092
India
Phone: 91-11 2272 1744, 91-11 2273 3443
Additional information about the Workshop can be 
obtained via the SEPHIS website:
http://www.sephis.org

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

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