SACW | 18 March 2005

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire   | 18 March,  2005
via:  www.sacw.net

[1]  Bangladesh: Violence against Ahmadiyyas
- Ahmadiyyas slate signboard change of mosque
- Men who peddle bigotry (Editorial, New Age)
- Siege of Ahmadiyas (Editorial, The Independent)
- Anti-Ahmadiyya Campaign - Cops help Bogra bigots pull down mosque signboard
[2]  Tsunami Victims' Perceptions of the Proposed 
Buffer Zone and its Implications in Eastern Sri 
Lanka (N. Shanmugaratnam)
[3]  Pakistan - India: Fishermen's solidarity
[4]  Pakistan:  Bigotry and hate compounded (Kamran Shafi)
[5]  India: Maligning the Left (Praful Bidwai)
[6]  US: Text of resolution In The House of 
Representatives re conduct of Chief Minister 
Narendra Modi
[7] Mass Mobilization Against Narendra Modi - the 
Butcher of Gujarat (New York City, 20 March 2005)
[8] Conference on Struggle for Democratic 
Republic in Nepal (New Delhi, 19 March 2005)


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

[1]

The Daily Star (Bangladesh)
March 18, 2005

AHMADIYYAS SLATE SIGNBOARD CHANGE OF MOSQUE
Our Correspondent, Bogra
Law enforcers once again hung a discriminatory 
signboard at the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat Complex 
on March 15 at Seuzgari area in the district, the 
Ahmadiyyas alleged at a press conference at the 
complex yesterday.

The sign reads, 'This is the Kadiani Upashanaloy 
in Bogra: Muslims, don't be confused into 
considering it a mosque.'

Demanding immediate intervention to remove the 
signboard, Khandaker Azmal Haque, the Bogra 
district unit president of the Ahmadiyya Jamaat, 
said his community has been threatened by the 
incident.

In a written speech, Azmal said the law enforcers 
bowed down to the pressure of a group of 
religious fanatics and illegally hung the 
signboard on the Ahmadiyya Complex wall on March 
11.

"This has seriously hit at the religious feelings 
of the Ahmadiyyas," he said. Some unknown people, 
however, removed the signboard in the darkness of 
the same night on March 11.

Azmal Haque further alleged that the signboard 
was hung despite police presence. Those who came 
there by a microbus and a motor cycle in 
plainclothes after hanging the signboard said 
they were police. On-duty police later identified 
them.

The police barred the Ahmadiyyas when they wanted 
to remove the signboard, but the police said, 
"This cannot be removed now. Measures will be 
taken according to the decision of the higher 
authorities."

Uttarbanga Missionary Maolana Bashirur Rahman and 
local Moallim Ehteshamul Bashir claimed that the 
Ahmadiyya Jamaat was established in Bogra back in 
1914 and that the Ahmadiyyas have been going to 
the mosque since its establishment in 1962.

o o o o

New Age (Bangladesh)
March 13, 2005

Editorial

MEN WHO PEDDLE BIGOTRY

There is a clear and present danger to the state, 
posed by men who have patently taken it upon 
themselves to define religion for the country. 
The more worrying part of the story is that some 
elements of the administration, especially 
sections of the police, appear to be involved in 
the process. The outrageous manner in which some 
policemen appeased a band of fanatics in Bogra on 
Friday by agreeing to put up a sign designed by 
the bigots on an Ahmadiyya mosque speaks of 
something sinister that may be at work. It should 
have been the job of the law enforcers to do what 
they were supposed to do, which is to enforce the 
law. Instead, what they were doing in Bogra was 
to add fuel to the fire by clearly violating the 
rights of the Ahmadiyya community. The question 
here is not one of who is or is not a Muslim. It 
is one of a silent, peaceful body of worshippers 
being made the target of unprovoked attacks by 
religious fanatics whose motives are obviously 
the creation of a law and order situation in the 
country. It is such motives which have been 
condoned by the Bogra police. It should now be 
for the government, here in Dhaka, to come forth 
with an explanation of why the police in Bogra 
chose to act in a way that was a clear 
demonstration of partisanship in favour of a 
frenzied band of men.
    And that surely is not the end of the story. 
Here in the capital itself, a concerted campaign 
appears to be going on under the aegis of the 
self-styled Khatme Nabuwat Movement. It has all 
along been known that the outfit has been 
whipping up communal sentiment against the 
Ahmadiyyas all over the country in the last few 
months. But what occurred in Dhaka on Friday is 
clearly a portent of danger. The khatib of Baitul 
Mukarram, the national mosque, has now made his 
position clear. He has opined that the Ahmadiyyas 
be declared non-Muslims. Under what law and by 
what right he has chosen to act the way he did 
remains unclear. But for the country as a whole, 
it is a clear provocation on his and his 
followers part. It is morally indefensible that 
men who seek, publicly, to plunge the country 
into religious or communal disorder should be at 
the helm of such significant organisations or 
places of worship as Baitul Mukarram. In effect, 
what the khatib has done is to send out the very 
bad message that a mosque, a place where the 
glory of the Almighty is praised and His 
blessings sought, can at the whims of individuals 
be turned into a platform for religious and 
political chaos. The khatib and his friends went 
even further by making it clear that they will 
not abide by any ruling by the highest judiciary 
of the land on the issue of the Ahmadiyyas. That 
is not only outrageous but a plain and clear 
threat to the authority of the state and the 
supremacy of the law. No government with even a 
minimum of self-esteem can afford to look away 
from such manifestly bad behaviour on the part of 
individuals, no matter how well-placed or 
influential these individuals might be. We 
therefore ask that the authorities, particularly 
at the ministry of home, deal swiftly with the 
matter.
    In a country already gasping for breath 
because of the endless convulsions caused by its 
disorderly politics, it should not be expected 
that we can shield ourselves from new trouble. 
But to prevent such a situation, it is important 
that those who are fishing in troubled waters and 
right now these are all people clamouring for 
action against the Ahmadiyyas are dealt with 
sternly, in that exemplary sort of way. Anyone in 
the administration seen to be condoning the 
actions of these bigots ought to be penalised in 
the larger interest of the country s future.

o o o o

The Independent (Bangladesh)
March 13, 2005

Editorial

SIEGE OF AHMADIYAS

It was a demonstration of bigotry and militancy 
at their worst, with the police showing great 
indulgence to the lathi-wielding mobsters. The 
International Khatme Nabuwat, Bangladesh had 
declared their plan to besiege the Ahamadiya 
Muslim Jamaat Complex, and they almost had their 
way. Unable to control the militant marchers who 
were creating a fearsome atmosphere by menacingly 
blandishing clubs and shouting incendiary 
slogans, the police chose the course of 
appeasement and themselves hung upon the Ahmadiya 
Complex the signboard the militants were carrying 
which read 'A place of worship of the Qadiyanis 
in Bogra town: No Muslim should be misled into 
considering it a mosque'. Police had to make more 
ignoble concessions, like a promise to seize all 
Ahmadiya publications banned by the government.

This was a show of force by a fanatical mob 
against a minority. A flagrant violation of human 
rights with the police acting as willing tool for 
the trouble makers. The police force in this 
country, it is found, does not have a moment's 
hesitation in quelling down and dispersing all 
lawful political processions and rallies of the 
opposition parties even at the cost of inflicting 
heavy casualties. But here it was a case of 
incitement to public disorder under the cloak of 
religion. No true religion, much less Islam, can 
permit this kind intimidation of a minority and 
creation of civic turmoil. The police, indeed, 
far from dispersing the violent agitators even 
seemed to play into their hands, doing their 
bidding and promising them more. Only because the 
agitators had mustered a vast and aggressive 
crowd? The duty of the police is to protect the 
human rights of citizens, particularly of those 
who are weak; the police are not expected to be 
overawed by a show of force. Such concessions by 
the police in the wrong place may prove to be the 
thin end of the wedge and they may find it all 
the harder to enforce the law in the future. The 
police must be made accountable.

The Ahmadiya issue was unknown in this country. 
It was alien to the reality of the country and 
the temperament of its people. Who have planted 
this cactus in our soil and with what motive must 
be investigated. Dragging the state into the 
Ahmadiya controversy and making it a partisan 
will not help to strengthen national unity. And 
the Khatib of Baitul Mokarram mosque, who is paid 
from public exchequer, is adding fuel to the fire 
through his irresponsible statements.

o o o o

The Daily Star  (Bangladesh)
March 12, 2005

ANTI-AHMADIYYA CAMPAIGN
COPS HELP BOGRA BIGOTS PULL DOWN MOSQUE SIGNBOARD
Our Correspondent, Bogra
Anti-Ahmadiyya bigots, backed by police, 
yesterday forcibly hung a signboard reading "A 
place of worship of the Kadianis in Bogra Town; 
no Muslim should be deceived into considering it 
a mosque" on an Ahmadiyya mosque at Seuzgari of 
Bogra.

About 10-12 thousand zealots of the International 
Khatme Nabuwat Movement after Juma prayers 
yesterday gathered in the town and held a meeting 
followed by a rally that continued till 4:00pm.

Rods in hand, the religious fanatics marched 
towards the Ahmadiyya mosque. When police 
intercepted the procession at Seuzgari, the 
Khatme Nabuwat leaders demanded that the police 
search the mosque and hand over the Ahmadiyya 
publications to them. They also asked the police 
to replace the existing signboard reading 
'Ahmadiyya mosque' by the one brought by them.

Police agreed and took five Nabuwat leaders to 
the mosque. Members of the Ahmadiyya community 
led by Abdul Awal Khan protested the move and 
engaged in an altercation with the police.

At about 6:00pm, Additional Superintended of 
Police Zakir Hossain ordered his men to replace 
the Ahmadiyya signboard with the Nabuwat one.

Following the incident, the Ahmadiyyas held a 
press conference protesting the replacement of 
the signboard.

A team of Ekattorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee 
led by Justice KM Sobhan reached Bogra the day 
before yesterday, in the wake of the bigots' 
threat to replace the signboard of the Ahmadiyya 
mosque.

At the press conference, Sobhan said the police 
action was against the country's constitution. He 
said they will hold a meeting in Dhaka and 
declare their next course of programme against 
the move of Khatme Nabuwat.

Meanwhile, Khatme Nabuwat leaders said they will 
go for a movement against the government if the 
Ahmadiyyas are not declared non-Muslims by 
passing a law in parliament by December 22. They 
also said Khatme Nabuwat will hold a grand rally 
in Dhaka on December 23 if their demand is not met.
Two policemen, on behalf of religious fanatics, 
fix a signboard on the wall of an Ahmadiyya 
mosque at Seuzgari in Bogra yesterday dubbing the 
building as a 'place of worship of Kadianis', who 
it says are non-Muslims. PHOTO: STAR

_____

[2]

sacw.net - March 18, 2005

TSUNAMI VICTIMS' PERCEPTIONS OF THE PROPOSED 
BUFFER ZONE AND ITS IMPLICATIONS IN EASTERN SRI 
LANKA
N. Shanmugaratnam

http://www.sacw.net/free/SriLankaTsunami_Reflections.pdf

_____


[3]

Dawn
07 March 2005

FISHERMEN'S SOLIDARITY

KARACHI, March 6: The Indian fisherfolk 
organization, National Fish Workers Forum (NFWF), 
and Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) have decided 
to initiate a joint struggle in Pakistan and 
India for the freedom of the arrested fishermen 
of both sides.
According to the PFF Spokesman, in response to 
the PFF appeals to the heads of states and 
governments of Pakistan and India as well as 
letters and e-mails to civil society 
organizations of the world regarding the 
continuous arrests and detention of Pakistani and 
Indian fishermen, on Thursday the NFWF leader Mr 
Praimgi Khokhri talked to the PFF Chairperson 
Mohammed Ali Shah over telephone.
The Indian fisherfolk leader expressed his 
gratitude towards the PFF leader for initiating a 
vigorous struggle in Pakistan for the freedom of 
Pakistani and Indian fishermen and discussed the 
issue of the arrested fishermen in detail.
Both the leaders agreed on the point to jointly 
carry out this struggle in both Pakistan and 
India. In this connection, on the complaint of 
Mohammed Ali Shah that Pakistani fishermen in 
India were facing inhuman treatment, Mr Khokhri 
assured the PFF chief that he would visit the 
prisoners in Jam Nagar Jail.-PPI


_____


[4]


The News International
March 18, 2005

BIGOTRY AND HATE COMPOUNDED

Kamran Shafi

Far more than the fact that the Lahore High Court 
acquitted the convicted rapists and their 
henchmen who allegedly raped or caused the rape 
of Mukhtaran Mai (for the Honourable Court must 
have had excellent reasons for its decision), the 
glaring fact that the police, now unfettered by 
any magisterial control did not properly 
investigate the case and present the evidence in 
a manner that would have ensured proper 
prosecution should be a matter of great concern 
to the powers that be, specially the General 
himself.

That IS the problem, no matter how eloquently 
General Naqvi waxes about the devolution plan 
being the "saviour" of this hapless country. The 
plain fact of the matter is that the people are 
now left at the mercy of powerful political 
families who have established a stranglehold over 
their districts, and a police force that is known 
far and wide for as a ruthless band of brigands. 
Notice ANY police vehicle, save those of the 
burra sahibs, and those that travel in it; go to 
any police station. You will not have seen a more 
unkempt, frightening, and sinister looking bunch 
in your lives. Giving this lot complete hold over 
people's lives is something that should never, 
ever, have happened.

What should be of the utmost worry to anyone who 
has anything to do with the present regime is the 
flippancy with which this whole sad and sordid 
Mukhtaran Mai case, or shall we call it scandal, 
was handled. They should know that this is one 
more rather long nail in the coffin of Pakistan's 
"soft image" that the government spokesmen are 
bending every sinew to project. Soft image, eh? 
With the newspapers carrying new and ever newer 
stories of extreme and cruel violence towards 
women with the State looking on with benign 
disinterest, what sort of "soft" image can you 
project?

Anyone heard of Honey, the Christian girl who 
married a Muslim in Multan with the clear 
understanding that she would retain her religion 
and about the husband changing his mind and 
forcing the girl to convert? And that when Honey 
refused to become a Muslim, he tore off her 
clothes, and assaulted her publicly with steel 
implements with such ferocity and beastliness 
that her genitals are now permanently damaged? 
Anyone heard of this case? There is no news of 
any action taken by the police in this instance.

By the way, what is this thing that some people 
have for other people's genitals? If readers will 
recall, the Northern Alliance's victorious march 
into Kabul saw many ministrations such as the one 
mentioned above, only the victims were Taliban or 
their supporters, men in this case, and the 
implements were sharp knives. Indeed, the world 
media was full of gory pictures in living colour: 
one showing a poor victim on his knees pleading 
for mercy, the next showing his dead body, naked 
from the waist down, the shirt bloody at the 
front. Indeed, when it was decided by the powers 
(that be to this day) to get rid of Dr. 
Najibullah who was in the United Nation's 
protection at the time, mark, the Taliban did 
exact same to him and to his poor brother before 
hanging them both with electric poles just 
outside the UN Compound in Kabul. So what is it?

And yes, brutality against minorities, the latest 
being the Ismailis, or Aga Khanis, who are now 
the target of clerics banded together under an 
organisation called Difa-e-Islam Mahaz, an 
alliance of 22 'religious' organisations. This 
lot want a fatwa from Islamic scholars to declare 
Aga Khanis 'kafir', like the Ahmedis before them, 
triggered by the efforts of the Aga Khan 
Examination Board to introduce syllabi that are 
not hate-filled and just plain lies such as the 
present one being taught in our State schools. 
The AKEB we must note was given a charter by the 
sitting government of the General himself, and 
was ratified by this same parliament he is so 
proud of.

Remember too, that this move to have Ismailis 
declared non-Muslim (i.e., Kafir) was first 
threatened by the Chief of the Jamaat-i-Islami, 
Qazi Hussain Ahmed in Karachi many months ago. As 
a direct result of which, his storm-troops, the 
IJT, vandalised, firebombed, and destroyed some 
philanthropic operations of the Aga Khan 
Foundation. What we must remember also, is that 
Qazi Sahib and his party are a most important 
part of the conglomerate of Mullahs, the MMA, who 
are allies of the present regime in parliament, 
their anti-government feints being just that: 
feints.

The point being that the fault for all the 
illegal and extreme steps that the extremists are 
taking rests with the government. The point being 
that if the regime of the General was even 
halfway serious about the loudly exclaimed 
"enlightened moderation", it would bestir itself 
and do something rather than just exude hot air 
now and again, mainly for Western (read American) 
consumption. We should recall that no action was 
ever taken against the arsonists who attacked the 
AKF installations in Karachi. Little wonder that 
the obscurantists are striving for ever higher 
levels of bigotry and hate.

The General must realise that no matter how 
"tight" he and Dubya are; the final arbiters of 
what happens in Pakistan will always be the 
people of the country. He must immediately order 
steps to stop the extremists in their tracks 
otherwise we should all come to grief sooner than 
we think.

Bushism of the week: "See, we love - we love 
freedom. That's what they didn't understand. They 
hate things; we love things. They act out of 
hatred; we don't seek revenge, we seek justice 
out of love" - President George W. Bush, Oklahoma 
City; August 29, 2002.

The writer is a retired army officer and a freelance columnist

_____


[5]


March 25, 2005

Frontline Column: Beyond the Obvious

Praful Bidwai

MALIGNING THE LEFT

The Left parties are under unprecedentedly 
vicious attacks from the corporate media driven 
by an evangelical obsession with "free-market" 
agendas and Social-Darwinist prejudices. 
Censorship of radical ideas and the witchhunt of 
the Left spells bad news for the future of our 
public debate.


A new form of McCarthyism is becoming fashionable 
in the Indian media-one which paints the Left 
parties as the worst villains of politics and the 
principal obstacle to India's growth and 
progress. Unlike the original anti-Communist 
crusade of United States Senator Joseph McCarthy 
in the early Cold War years, the present campaign 
is not centred on the "external" or international 
links of Left-wing intellectuals and 
progressives-then, allegedly, with the demonic 
Soviet Union.

Rather, it bashes the Left for pursuing allegedly 
retrograde economic and social agendas, opposing 
neoliberal globalisation and indiscriminate 
liberalisation, demanding increased social sector 
spending, and for espousing an essentially 
Nehruvian emphasis on distributive justice, and 
equity and balance between regions and classes.

In the tawdry, extremely shallow, semi-literate, 
tabloid-style journalism that has become the norm 
within the corporate media, it is rare to see 
even the Left's official policy statements being 
reported without derogatory adjectives and 
outright distortion. Unlike the Hindu Right, 
towards which the media is forever deferential, 
the "comrades" always come in for abuse and 
slander-often even for arguing a coherent 
position on, say, secularism in education, 
solidly rooted in the bedrock principles of the 
Constitution.

Vile, unsubstantiated and often downright 
concocted stories about sympathisers of the Left 
working in league with the Forces of Darkness to 
subvert institutions have become routine. 
Television anchors innocent of the history of 
ideas blithely introduce critics of such diverse 
things as militarism, rampant consumerism and 
corporate criminality as "Leftists"-whose views 
must be discounted for that very reason.

Recently, a major newspaper ran a series of 
wish-list features on the Budget, including one 
by a Jawaharlal Nehru University economist, among 
many corporate bigwigs, bankers, etc. He was 
singled out as a "Left-leaning economist". The 
appellation "Right-leaning" or "conservative" is 
never used for other contributors. This is a 
classic form of typecasting "suspects" and 
creating prejudice-a characteristic of 
McCarthyism.

Matters are worse in the opinion columns. Any 
Tom, Dick and Harry can cavalierly attack a 
serious social scientist, like, say, Jean Dreze 
(co-author of Amartya Sen) by branding him a 
jholawalah and accusing him of indulging in 
"Lies, Near Lies and Falsehoods" about India's 
employment scenario. In the editorial pages, 
writers make forced attempts at humour through 
captions like "Left Baggage" and "Left Out".

Here is a sample from recent editorials: "The 
Left's advocacy of a high corporate tax is 
antediluvian." (The "high" is 35 or 40 percent, 
not 70 or 90 percent. The premise here is that 
taxing corporate profits is evil in itself.) 
Again, "the most extraordinary anomaly Š is the 
beliefŠ that throwing enough public money at a 
social problem will solve it. Leftists are 
monarchs of this madness. (Emphasis added.) Thus 
their pre-budget demand for an extra Rs 50,000 
crore to 'implement the common minimum 
programme'Š"

Along with the Communist Parties, the corporate 
media also targets members of the UPA National 
Advisory Council. On President Kalam's February 
25 address to Parliament, an editorial entitled 
"Added Nauseam" commented: "ŠFebruary 25 was to 
be the jholawalah's day out. This hyper-activist 
breed stormed policymaking war rooms ever since a 
polyvalent entity called the National Advisory 
Council morphed into the UPA's conscience-keeper. 
Dr Kalam, accordingly, unveiled a soliloquy 
straight out of the NAC brain-barnŠ. Like last 
year, Šthere was something in it for everybody, 
except anybody with the misfortune of being 
fortunate."

As for the idea that Rs 50,000 crores, or 1.5 
percent of GDP, should be allocated to the social 
sector, another newspaper commented: "[T]he Left 
has presented Šits list of demands. As usual, 
they are well-meaning and true to the rhetoric 
expected of the Left. And that, precisely is the 
problem; the ways and means proposed to raise the 
additional funds will be acceptable only to the 
ideologically straitjacketed. The Left wants the 
FM to withdraw tax exemptions for corporates to 
fund social sector initiatives Š"

Then, it goes on to advise the Left: it "has to 
stop seeing a red rag in private capital. 
Instead, it should encourage it, while ensuring 
that proper regulations and mechanisms are in 
place." And it concludes in a burst of philistine 
opportunism: "It is not heresy in the Marxist 
tradition to tailor ideology to suit the 
requirements of the time, especially when such 
changes could fetch political dividends!"

As the Budget approached, the anti-Left campaign 
got hysterical. The lead story featuring The 
Economic Survey in a major paper read: "Jump Red 
Light, Zoom Ahead". Another paper ran a comment 
piece: "The Left wants the country in a 
doghouse." The writer takes the Left to task for 
speaking its mind, unlike, say, the "tactful" 
Chandrababu Naidu. After condemning the Left's 
candour, he says: "Such conduct is indefensible. 
Worse, its foundation is an economic thesis that 
would have been a joke (emphasis added) had the 
Left not insisted it was dead serious."

The same author in another piece that day argues 
against "a cess on alcohol and cigarettes to fund 
social sector programmes" because that is 
"iniquitous" and "awful economics"; "it distorts 
the revenue-expenditure system"-an argument that 
even the most committed Western Right-wingers US 
discarded long ago. Even more specious is the 
plea that the government should not spend very 
much on "education and health" because, such 
"allocations in general are either not fully 
spent or wasted"!

Another major newspaper captioned its story thus: 
"Survey: All is not lost in Red corner". It 
deplores the Left's "autarkic, tax-and-spend" 
economics and predicts: "the Left's main crib 
could be about the Survey's coolness towards the 
controversial and possibly costly Employment 
Guarantee law."
Attacking the Left has meant minimising the 
importance of major issues like health. Take 
patents and the likely impact of drug monopolies 
on healthcare. Even The New York Times wrote a 
double-length editorial on why India should amend 
the recent Patents Ordinance and protect its 
people's access to health-rather than cave in to 
WTO and multinational pressure. Barring a 
handful, no major Indian daily has raised a 
serious debate on this life-and-death issue-so 
supremely important is compliance with the WTO 
and enhance India's attraction as an "investment 
destination". Many papers support the Ordinance 
as worthy.

It is as if much of the Indian media lived in a 
time-warp. It gravitates towards worship of the 
market just as the rest of the world recoils from 
the injustices of corporate globalisation and old 
orthodoxies break down (as Joseph Stiglitz's 
recent work demonstrates). In reality, the 
time-warp is an interest-warp: gross 
disproportion between the interests of the elite, 
which the media identifies with, and the Indian 
people, with whom it has only a distant 
relationship.

The UPA government has by no means played a 
neutral role in this media-based campaign. Its 
bureaucrats and ministers have fed stories 
assailing even mildly Nehruvian proposals as 
outmoded, obsolete and outlandish. That's how the 
government has justified the new Patents 
Ordinance and the need for a new labour law 
regime which will destroy the hard-earned gains 
of working people and allow, for instance, a 
72-hour week! This is described as creation of 
"quality jobs"!

Even "sources close to Manmohan Singh" have 
briefed the media to sow anti-Left prejudice. A 
report based on such briefing (The Telegraph, Feb 
24) says that Singh would handle the Left on the 
firm belief that the "'world' expects India to 
emerge as a second 'Asian tiger' which can 
countervail ChinaŠ But this is not possible even 
half way unless we get the infrastructure in 
place" for which neoliberal reforms, including 
foreign investment, are essential.

The report goes on: "The most charitable view the 
Prime Minister's Office is willing to take of the 
Left's stand against reforms is 'it is a part of 
the internal power struggle' within the CPM. 'The 
CPM and the BJP are facing a similar crisis of a 
generational shift from the old guard to the 
newer leaders. The newer leaders are basically 
bureaucrats who were created by the (party) 
system and not by people. By raising economic 
issues, they hope to create a mass base for 
themselves,' the source said." This bizarre 
argument wholly misses the point that there is a 
strong consensus on economic policy not just 
among the Left's new-generation leaders, but the 
bulk of its cadres.

The present Left-bashing campaign is different 
from the crusade launched in the 1980s by people 
like Arun Shourie, who focused on the Left's 
alleged lack of patriotism or vilely accused it 
of collaborating with the British.

Today's campaign blames the Left for just the 
opposite, for being nationalist in the sense of 
defending popular sovereignty against predatory 
globalisation. The Left is a villain because it 
does not suborn livelihoods and people's rights 
to the needs of corporate capitalism and argues 
for equity, compassion and popular empowerment 
and links these to growth.

Worse, the Left is equated, of all things, with 
the Hindu Right-in particular, the RSS and the 
Swadeshi Jagran Manch which too oppose some 
neoliberal policies inconsistently, and from a 
parochial viewpoint shaped by predatory domestic 
interests like traders and monopolistic 
industries which fear competition. The sources of 
the two currents' opposition are considered 
identical: anti-modernism, xenophobia, hatred of 
all that is foreign, dogma springing from 
profound irrationalism, and an obsession with 
protecting "vested interests".

Nothing could be further for the truth. The 
Indian Left, especially the Communist parties, 
are rooted in a intellectual tradition that is 
committedly modernist, solidly internationalist 
and robustly rationalist-the precise opposite of 
what the Hindu Right represents, with its 
obscurantism, false religiosity, and exclusivism. 
As the culture critic Frederick Jameson has said, 
Marxists swim as easily as fish in the sea of 
modernity.

The range of concepts encompassed by the old 
slogans of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity remains 
central to the Left's agenda. India's Communist 
parties have survived the demise of the Soviet 
Union fairly gracefully because they freed 
themselves from certain dogmas and undertook some 
innovation (not enough, one might argue), and 
because they are deeply rooted in this society. 
Their policies have evolved through a live 
relationship with underprivileged people and 
their struggle for justice and equality.

The Left's radicalism of course demarcates it 
from liberalism, but the two share a great deal 
in common-unlike the religious Right or other 
species of conservatism. The Left and the 
liberals both derive their foundational values 
from the Enlightenment, itself understood 
critically and with its limitations. The Left's 
project seeks social emancipation and freedom 
from exploitation so that a compassionate, humane 
and just world can be constructed, an open 
society where equality rules at some basic level.

The collectivism of the Left is qualitatively 
different from the collectivism of millenarian 
religious movements or extreme Right-wingers 
(e.g. fascists). The latter only grudgingly grant 
(limited) space to individual freedoms. The 
contemporary Left's collectivism is not only 
accommodative; it recognises and values 
individual rights and seeks to enhance and extend 
them through the fulfilment of the larger social 
objectives of equality and justice.

The bulk of those who attack the Left have no 
comprehension of, even acquaintance with, its 
intellectual roots. Even less do they understand 
the Left's historic contribution to building 
institutions and values which even enlightened 
liberals cherish, such as freedom from bondage, 
universal suffrage, representative democracy, 
dignity of the human person (and of labour), 
gender equality, sexual freedom, social security, 
etc. These did not materialise through the 
charity of benevolent rulers, but were the 
creation of long and bitter struggles of working 
people, of which the Left was a crucial, and 
often a leading, component.

Not just ignorance, but authoritarian intolerance 
and Social-Darwinist callousness towards the 
underprivileged, are central to the neoliberal 
Right's critique of the Left. In a deeply 
hierarchical and unequal society like India, 
where the vast majority of people live at or just 
above subsistence level, the Right's agenda of 
necessity acquires an anti-democratic character. 
It is only through repressive laws, miseducation, 
media manipulation and ritual perpetuation of 
hierarchy that an elite minority can impose its 
will on the majority and push through its narrow 
agendas.

In a country like India, the natural centre of 
gravity of politics clearly lies in the 
Left-of-Centre space of the spectrum. The actual 
political centre is determined by the correlation 
of various forces and can shift as easily to the 
Right as to the Left. That happened for about 15 
years during the period of Hindutva's ascendancy. 
NDA rule combined Hindu nationalism with economic 
neoliberalism.

That political spell was broken nine months ago 
but the ideological hold of neoliberalism over 
the elite remains unbroken. It knows nothing 
represents its own interests better than 
neoliberal ideas. Neoliberalism has produced a 
burgeoning middle class that has all but 
intellectually, psychologically and morally 
seceded from the people. A large section of the 
Indian media represents and seeks to reflect this 
very elite's aspirations and ambitions-and its 
corrosive insensitivity to ordinary people. The 
processes of media corporatisation and 
Murdochisation have accentuated this.

Leading media institutions now see themselves as 
the ideological outriders of neoliberal 
globalisation. However, performing this role 
necessarily means censoring, suppressing or 
lampooning critical and serious thinking which 
interrogates "free-market" ideas, and 
discrediting concerns such as balanced 
development, distributive justice and equality. 
Without the full articulation of such concerns, 
there can be no corrective to the distorting and 
disruptive processes under way in this society, 
with its growing economic dualism and widening 
regional imbalances. Nor can there be a quality 
debate on public policy.

Lack of debate spells degradation of democracy, 
no less. But perhaps, low-intensity or tokenist 
democracy is precisely what our strutting, 
arrogant and supremely callous elite wants. The 
public stand warned.-end--


______


[6]

[Text of Resolution  - Condemning the conduct of 
Chief Minister Narendra Modi for his actions to
incite religious persecution and urging the United States to condemn all
violations of religious freedom in... (Introduced in House) ]

HRES 156 IH

109th CONGRESS

1st Session

H. RES. 156

Condemning the conduct of Chief Minister Narendra Modi for his actions to
incite religious persecution and urging the United States to condemn all
violations of religious freedom in India.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 15, 2005
Mr. CONYERS submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the
Committee on International Relations

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

RESOLUTION

Condemning the conduct of Chief Minister Narendra Modi for his actions to
incite religious persecution and urging the United States to condemn all
violations of religious freedom in India.

Whereas India is the largest democracy in the world, with a Constitution
that protects religious freedom and the fundamental rights of all citizens;

Whereas the United States appreciates the commitment of India's present
government to preserving pluralism and religious diversity in India;

Whereas Narendra Modi is the Chief Minister of Gujarat, a Western Indian
state, and a member of a Hindu religious party known as the `Baratiya Janata
Party' (BJP), who is responsible for the law and 
order and all administrative work
within the Gujarat state;

Whereas the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom
(USCIRF) has confirmed in its May 2004 report that since the political
party of Chief Minister Modi took office in 1998, there have been `hundreds of
attacks on Christian leaders, worshipers, and 
churches throughout India,' including
killings, torture, rape and harassment of church staff, destruction of
church property, and disruption of church events;

Whereas the USCIRF has confirmed in its May 2004 report that the state
government in Gujarat led by Chief Minister Modi has been widely accused of
being reluctant to bring the perpetrators of the killings of Muslims and
non-Hindus to justice;

Whereas the Supreme Court of India has reported that those arrested in
connection with the bombings and retaliatory attacks on Hindus in India
have claimed that they carried out their actions `in revenge for the
state-assisted killings of Muslims in Gujarat';

Whereas the Supreme Court of India has admonished Chief Minister Modi and
other government authorities in the State of Gujarat for their complacency and
actions in connection with the attacks on non-Hindu groups;

Whereas India's National Human Rights Commission, an official body, found
evidence of premeditation in the killings of non-Hindu groups, complicity
by Gujarat state government officials, and police inaction in the midst of
attacks on Muslims and Christians in India;

Whereas the United States Department of State has discussed in one of its
reports the role of Chief Minister Modi and his government in promoting
attitudes of racial supremacy, racial hatred, and the legacy of Nazism
through his government's support of school 
textbooks in which Nazism is glorified;

Whereas the United States Department of State has found that Chief Minister
Modi revised the text of high school social studies textbooks in Gujarat
schools to describe the `charismatic personality' of `Hitler the Supremo',
and the `achievements' of Nazism at great length, while failing to acknowledge
the Nazi extermination policies, the concentration camps, and the religious
persecution that occurred under the Nazi regime;

Whereas in section 2(2) of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998
(22 U.S.C. 6401(2)), Congress made the following finding: `Freedom of religious
belief and practice is a universal human right and fundamental freedom
articulated in numerous international instruments, including the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights, the Helsinki Accords, the 
Declaration on the Elimination of All
Forms of Intolerance and Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief, the United
Nations Charter, and the European Convention for the Protection of Human
Rights and Fundamental Freedoms'; and

Whereas such conduct by such a high ranking foreign official undermines
internationally recognized fundamental human rights and the directives of
Congress under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998: Now
therefore,
be it

Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) condemns the conduct of Chief Minister Narendra Modi for condoning or
inciting bigotry and intolerance against any religious group in India,
including people of the Christian and Islamic faiths; and

(2) urges the United States--
(A) to condemn violations of religious freedom; and

(B) to promote and assist other governments in the promotion of the
fundamental right to freedom of religion.


________


[7]

Mass Mobilization Against Narendra Modi - the Butcher of Gujarat

			SUNDAY MARCH 20 4:00 PM - 7:00 PM
		MADISON SQUARE Garden (7th Av and 31st Street) [New York City]

We appeal to all those committed to the survival of India as secular and
plural society to turn out in large numbers for this crucial
demonstration. The Modi tour of the USA is the first step in turning
India's most brutal fascist into a national leader. Come to Madison Sq
Garden on March 20th at 4:00 Pm. Stand Up Against the further spread of
violence and ahtred in India. For more information see:
www.coalitionagainstgenocide.org or the FAQ below.

The Coalition Against Genocide is a broad based coalition of more than 25
human rights, community, religious, youth and regional/linguistic
organizations. For more details of the demonstration call 917 232 8437 or
send email to: info at coalitionagainstgenocied.org.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Who is Narendra Modi?

Narendra Modi, is the chief architect of the genocidal violence of 2002 in
Gujarat, India where more than 2000 Muslims were killed, hundreds of women
and young girls were raped and more than 200,000 rendered homeless. These
were not "riots" like what other parts of India have experienced in the
past. This was a cleanly executed state sponsiored pogrom with Modi at the
helm of affairs. What makes this truly genocidal is that even after the
armed mobs stopped the violence continues as the muslim (and the christian
and secular hindu) communities are being continously harrassed and efforts
at rehabilitation of victims are being blocked at every level. To date in
large parts of Gujart an economic boycott of Muslim businesses (by which
we mean small roadside shops) continues. Not a single person has been
convicted for the crimes of 2002. Narendra Modi as Chief Minister of
Gujarat not only was central to the planning and execution of the
violence but continues to aid and abet the protection of the
perpetrators and ovesee a bureaucracy that blocks rehabilitation. (for
more info see www.coalitionagainstgenocide.org)

Why is this protest so important?

Modi has because of the pogrom he so successfully executed become the most
important leader of the neo-fascist Hindutva movement in India. The
Madison Sq garden event is key to an effort to rehabilitate his image and
thus project him as a national leader. To stop such legitimation and the
horrors that could bring in the future, we have our task cut out clearly:
stand up and be counted in the protest against Modi.

Is this a protest only for Indian/South Asians?

Of course as South Asians we must come out in large numbers. BUT, its not
for South Asians alone. Often, the politics of the "third world"  remains
at some distance from those of us here in the United States. It is our
responsibility to internationalize issues of emerging
fascism/fundamentalisms in all parts of the world. If we fail to do so,
and as these forces become stronger, the country/region tends to spin out
of control into civil war.  Destabilized countries are the best target for
US imperialism. We must act now and internatioalize these issues before it
comes back several years later as one more of "our problems."

What do you want us t do?

We are reaching out to you today to do the following:

1.	Mark your date books for March 20 2005 Sunday from
4:30 to 7:00 PM for a demo at the MSG. Reply to
coalitionagainstgenocide at gmail.com if you have an
extra minute to spare and confirm with us that you
will be there.

2.	Forward this message to as many lists and friends
as is possible. We hope u will pass it on to at least
five friends.

3.	Visit the coalition web site at
www.coalitionagainstgenocide.org to learn more. A
detailed list of links are available at the site on
this issue.

4.	If you have any additional resources ^÷ contacts
with the press, experience as a legal observer at
large demos or any other ideas please do contact us at
info at coalitionagainstgenocide.org

______


[8]


     INVITATION

India-Nepal People's Solidarity Forum invites you 
and your organisation to participate in a
Conference on Struggle for Democratic Republic in Nepal
to be held on 19th March 2005 from 9.30 am to 4.00 pm at
Rajendra Bhawan, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg (near ITO), New Delhi 110 002.

It shall be convenient if you intimate us about 
your and your organisation's participation in 
advance.

AISA - 9810357338, Anil Chamadia - 011-27853886, 
Anand Swarup Verma-9810720714, 
AIPRF-SFPR-011-27675001, Bigul Mazdoor 
Dasta-9871252120, Gautam Navlakha-9811153254, 
Krantikari Lok Adhikar Sangthan, Naujawan Bharat 
Sabha-20095015, Pankaj Singh-9810731911, Peoples 
Front-25269471, Yuva Bharat-9811949222, 
Sandhan-27872835


Contact Address:
Q-63, Sector 12, Noida-201301, E-mail: nepalbulletin at rediffmail.com


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

Buzz on the perils of fundamentalist politics, on 
matters of peace and democratisation in South 
Asia. SACW is an independent & non-profit 
citizens wire service run since 1998 by South 
Asia Citizens Web: www.sacw.net/
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DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed in materials carried in the posts do not
necessarily reflect the views of SACW compilers.