SACW | 20 April 2005
sacw
aiindex at mnet.fr
Tue Apr 19 16:48:28 PDT 2005
South Asia Citizens Wire | 20 April, 2005
[In Solidarity with the Indo Pak Citizens March for Peace >
http://march4peace.blogspot.com/ ]
[1] Pakistan - India:
- India-Pakistan joint peace march: 22 Indians arrive today in
Pakistan (Waqar Gillani)
- President Musharraf's two victories - on points ( M.B. Naqvi)
- US equations with India and Pakistan - Two pipelines, two dilemmas
(M B Naqvi)
- India, Pakistan Take A Big Stride Forward (Praful Bidwai)
- Crossing The Peace Bridge - The bus is a historic success (Praful Bidwai)
[2] India: Tunami - Hit areas being saffronised (K.Jayaprakash)
[3] Upcoming events:
(i) JAC demo against threats, attacks and harassment to women by some
extremists in the name of religion (Karachi, April 20, 2005)
(ii) Kashmir Solidarity Day (Bombay, 20 April 2005)
(iii) Lecture: "Nepal - The Completion of a Coup?" by Chitra K.
Tiwari (Montreal, May 15, 2005)
--------------
[1] [ Pakistan - India ]
Daily Times - April 20, 2005
INDIA-PAKISTAN JOINT PEACE MARCH: 22 INDIANS ARRIVE TODAY IN PAKISTAN
BY WAQAR GILLANI
LAHORE: As part of an India-Pakistan joint peace march from the
shrine of Saint Nizamudidn Aulia in New Delhi to the shrine of Saint
Bahauddin Zakariya in Multan, 22 Indians will cross into Pakistan at
Wagah today (Wednesday).
The Indians will be accompanied by nine Pakistanis who had crossed
into India last week for the march. The walk was contrived by an
informal alliance of non-government organisations, including the
Pakistan Peace Coalition and the National Alliance of Peoples'
Movements in India. Originally, 180 people were scheduled to
participate in it. It will continue till May 11.
The Joint Action Committee for Peoples' Rights, an alliance of over
30 NGOs in Lahore, on Tuesday chalked out a plan to receive the
delegates at Wagah. It has also planned their activities for the
three days they will stay in the city.
The group will walk to Shalimar Garden on Wednesday before wrapping
up for the day. On April 21, they will reach the Lahore High Court
and on March 22 they will leave for Multan via the Grand Trunk Road.
The peace activists have been invited to two dinners, one by the
South Asia Free Media Association (SAFMA) and the other by the Lahore
University of Management Sciences (LUMS).
Karamat Ali of the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education & Research
(PILER), one of the main organisers, told Daily Times that the
Indians were originally denied visas. "They were only given
permission to enter Pakistan after intervention by the federal
interior minister," he said
The Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi granted visas to just 22
of the 140 people who applied, he said. The Indian group is led by Dr
Sandeep Panda[y].
Dr Panda[y], who is from Lucknow, proposed the march plan during a
joint convention of the Pakistan-India Peoples' Forum for Peace and
Democracy (PIPFPD) at Karachi in 2003.
o o o o
PRESIDENT MUSHARRAF'S TWO VICTORIES - ON POINTS
By M.B. Naqvi
[April 19, Karachi]
April 16 saw two victories of President Pervez Musharraf - partial
and questionable from common man's viewpoint. His cricket diplomacy
has succeeded and the Indians decided to make the most of the
occasion - pushing forward their own agenda, especially over what
Pakistan calls the core issue: Kashmir. By laying down the outer
parameters of negotiations on Kashmir - India will never accept a
change in political boundaries in Kashmir while being ready to
discuss the subject - the Congress government negotiators have
ensured that what will be discussed is more Confidence Building
Measures in Kashmir, making the Line of Actual Control into a soft
border. But Pakistan is going to call the further negotiations on
Kashmir as its own - and its patron, US' - victory. But more on that
presently.
The second was the substantial success in negotiations with Pakistan
Peoples Party also became apparent that day when Asif Ali Zardari, a
PPP leader, landed safely in Lahore but was not allowed to meet PPP
workers and sympathizers. The latter were prevented by force from
giving him a rousing reception and taking him to his Lahore Bilawal
House in a rally. The Musharraf-created Authority drew a line at
public reception and the rally. That was that. The General was laying
down the outer limits of how far can the Army-PPP rapprochement go.
Asif remains undismayed and will carry on with talks with the
General's men. That is a .75 victory: the remaining .25 per cent
marks will have to go to PPP and its top leader Benazir Bhutto who
has remained persistent in relying on American good offices and
abhorring the idea of taking to the streets. PPP seems set to provide
the fourth PM to the General-President, may be BB herself.
The net result of Musharraf's three day Delhi visit is that the two
powers will continue to discuss Kashmir virtually ad nauseam,
irrespective of any results, though Kashmir-related CBMs will
continue to be proposed and implemented. For practical purposes that
is a solution of sorts for the problem. For the rest more
communication links between the two countries, including
Munabao-Khokrapar rail link, will be opened, especially in J and K
State. Consulate Generals in Karachi and Mumbai will probably be
reopened. Relaxation of the visa regime does not seem to be on the
cards. It will thus be a controlled relaxation.
Taking up the first success first, a few quick points can be made.
This deal on LOC was available to Pakistan all these years since the
Shimla Accord of July 1972. Why was not the opportunity seized that
could have come Pakistan's way anytime it showed its readiness to
accept all the implications of Shimla agreement. Feeling inferior in
armaments, Islamabad stayed quiet for 18 years. It can now be seen
that it was creating a deterrence to India in the interval during
which conditions in Indian-Administered Kashmir ripened for Pakistan
to play a part; by 1989-90 conditions in IAK became conducive for a
Pak role: Latter's putative nuclear deterrent had, in Gen. Aslma
Beg's words, come in operation by roughly 1987; Kashmiris had
launched a protest movement against India's misrule and rigging of
elections. This gave Pakistan an opening. It manoeuvred and helped
convert that peaceful and secular movement for self determination
(basically for independence) into an Islamic Jihad by infiltrating
armed Jihadists, the veterans of Afghan Jihad, into IAK.
Aslam Beg was right up to a point. India did stay deterred for over a
decade; by stretching Vajpayee's Lahore visit by bus could be taken
as consciously being deterred. Kargil and Islamic militants' alleged
Delhi attack on Dec 13, 2001 brought on an undeclared change in
India's nuclear doctrine. It threatened to invade Pakistan in Jan
2002, its much vaunted nukes notwithstanding. It was a threat that
was credible to friend and foe alike. Superficially the Indians
showed a readiness to let Pakistan use its nukes first. It would then
wipe out the seven or eight urban-industrial centres of Pakistan from
the face of the earth. It is not hard to see what was the meaning of
the threat: it actually involved using nukes first. For, no power in
its senses would let another nation nuke its territory first and only
later will it move. That strains credibility of the 'no first use'
idea. It seems nonsense.
Although, the Kashmir Jihad has continued after a fashion in its own
momentum, Pakistan had washed its hands off it in Sept 2002 to end
the 10 month long eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation. Heavens be
praised that some one blinked first to ward off the implied nuclear
threat to Pakistan. One is simply not directly concerned with what
might have happened in, or to, India, through one hates the idea of
nuclear destruction of even Indian cities where many decent people
live. But what is relevant here is the denouement of Jihad: Kashmiris
are not an inch closer to their Azadi after having buried up to 70 or
80 thousand youngmen and a horrendous loss of limbs and property. If
their peaceful political movement 1989 had been left alone, the
Kashmiris would certainly have gained something more than what is on
offer today - and no more than a few thousand would have gone to jail.
One hates to quote oneself. It is bad form. But the Pakistani
generals could have read any of one's columns dealing with problems
created by Indo-Pakistan nukes after May 1998. In each of them one
concluded that the competitive explosions of that year have frozen
the Kashmir issue dead. Neither side can threaten the use of force on
Kashmir. A war between the two is now impossible until one is willing
to countenance a totally unacceptable form of destruction on both
sides. No cause is worth that kind of destruction. Happily the two
major governments in South Asia have now begun proceeding on a more
realistic bases over contentious issues, no matter how they have
arrived at this commonsense view.
As for PPP-Musharraf talks the outside parameters have been agreed.
Should the agreement finally go through, the Army-created system of
governance - that is acceptable to the US at least until 200 - has
also been accepted by Benazir; the terms are likely to include her
own Prime Ministership while President Musharraf not only stays with
his powers but PPP is impliedly promising to uphold them, including
being ready to suppress those who oppose them. Her situation after
the agreement is implemented will be similar to that of Mr. Shaukat
Hussain today.
Benazir and PPP, in the light of the experience of their two terms in
office in 1990s, is that they accept the supremacy of IMF-WB advice
in economic policy-making without question then and will do so again;
in politics she has allowed the Army to run foreign policy and
security matters to her own exclusion; she accepted Army's supremacy
- what with Eighth Amendment infested constitution and meekly
accepting the summary sacking of herself as PM twice. She accepted
the military's supremacy then and seems to be willing to accept that
now. So what is the difference between Messrs Shujaat Hussain and
Shaukat Aziz, on one hand, and Benazir and Asif, on the other? She
has to show the reason to 150 million Pakistanis why should she be
preferred over Shaukat Aziz, Shujaat Hussain and Mir Zafrullah Jamali
and indeed over the general who matters. As for the enlightened
moderation, PPP's record in office gives no indication of these fine
qualities.
o o o o
Deccan Herald - April 20, 2005
US EQUATIONS WITH INDIA AND PAKISTAN
TWO PIPELINES, TWO DILEMMAS
By M B Naqvi
Both India and Pakistan are keen to come closer to America but can
they pay the political price for it?
The US and China sent their Number Two personages to South Asia
recently, seeking strategic partnership with both India and Pakistan
in recent weeks. Both leaders received a yes answer from Islamabad as
well as New Delhi. But the backdrop of strategic competition between
the US and China is obvious enough. Will this Sino-US rivalry not
create dilemmas for Pakistan as well as India?
The problem that may first occasion such dilemmas is predictable:
There are two proposals of gas pipelines from Turkmenistan and Iran
to Pakistan and India respectively. American oil company UNOCAL wants
to transport gas from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan to Gawadar
port in Pakistan. This is clearly an American-sponsored project and
the names of such luminaries as Condoleezza Rice, Zalmay Khalilzad,
and the current Afghan President Hamid Karzai were associated with
UNOCAL for executing the project before they became a part of the
American administration while Karzai has become Afghanistan's
President.
The other project of the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline has been
approved by all the three parties. India's Petroleum Minister would
visit Pakistan next month. This project has made the US unhappy
because it wants to isolate Iran and pressurise it on the nukes'
issue. So much so that Rice herself expressed opposition to this
project on Indian soil.
Apropos the expected conflicting pulls of the US and China, there was
a tripartite meeting in Islamabad just the other day comprising
Ministers from Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan. These
Ministers gave a strong push to the Turkmenistan project. Afghanistan
gave an assurance of providing adequate security to the pipeline.
Pakistan was always ame-nable to that idea. Since the US stands
behind the project, it looks as if progress on this particular
project is likely to be fast. The American and the Afghans are quite
upbeat about the possibility of Afghanistan being tranquil enough to
permit this project, though there are doubts.
What significance is to be attached to the Turkmenistan project?
Doubtless Turkmenistan, and Afghanistan and the US are keen that this
project be implemented and not the Iranian gas pipeline to India.
That makes Pakistan's role crucial: would it still go along with Iran
and India against the US advice?
The US has reasons to oppose the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline
because it would mean stable exports of Iranian hydrocarbons that
will strengthen Iran economically. The fact that Pakistan was the
host for this tripartite conference with Turkmenistan and Afghanistan
sh-ows that Pakistan seems to be going along with the American wishes
far more enthusiastically than the Iranian pipeline. Can it be said
it is less than enthusiastic about the Iranian pipeline project?
Pakistan has always opted for Americans, working closely with it on
all significant issues for decades. Its image has been one of an US
satellite.
Main questions arise about India. Indo-US relations are excellent and
expanding fast and of course the Americans are going to give India
dual-use technology, latest military hardware and reactors'
technology. The American intention of making India a great global
military power is well-known. Would not Indian foreign policy be
compatible with the American line? As it is, Americans are popular in
India; the latter's 350 million strong middle class loves America. So
does the Indian business community. Indian businesses see their
future in the emerging globalised world as an OECD like country.
But there is another side to it. Indian foreign policy has been
fiercely independent. Jawaharlal Nehru had helped found the
Afro-Asian and later the Non-Aligned Movement, and was a respected
third world leader. He had refused to align himself either with the
West or the Soviet Union in their titanic cold war. That tradition
may still have life in it.
The Indian foreign policy's second strand was to spread the
anti-nuclear mov-ement globally. India was long a champion of a
non-nuclear wo-rld. It was also the mainstay of the global
anti-nuclear movements. Can the Congress Government follow
enthusiastic pro-American policies as the BJP could? The Congress is
certainly not anti-US. But to align itself uncritically with the US
the way Pakistan did and as indeed is now so aligned, may not be easy
for India. It is psychologically not easy for Congressmen to give up
the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline.
Technically it is possible for both the pipelines to be laid. India
can also buy gas or may be oil at Gawadar from UNOCAL. The Iranians
can continue supplying gas to India directly while even more gas can
be transported to India from Gawadar. The Indian demand is likely to
be large enough to take in supplies from both sources.
But the real question is: Can India be as pro-American as America
wants it to be? American diplomacy is making a mighty heave for
dominating Central Asia. America needs India's cooperation, with the
two pooling their political resources in Central Asia. Can India go
that far?
India has to think of its growing relations with China. The obvious
effort is to cooperate with China comprehensively. India is unlikely
to give up at least the appearances of non-alignment. The American
thrust in Central Asia is to pre-empt the Chinese influence. India
cannot simultaneously march with the US and China in Central Asia.
Americans can be trusted to make demands that are incompatible with
non-alignment before it delivers key goodies. Delivery generally
follows compliance.
Doubtless, both India and Pakistan are happy to come closer to the
US. But are they ready to pay the expected political price? This
price can be in terms of domestic political difficulties, especially
for Pakistan, and also in terms of the image abroad. Being closely
aligned with America means running the risk of becoming isolated from
what is the third world.
o o o o
Inter Press Service - April 18 2005
POLITICS: INDIA, PAKISTAN TAKE A BIG STRIDE FORWARD
Analysis - By Praful Bidwai
NEW DELHI, Apr 18 (IPS) - Barely 10 days after launching a landmark
bus service connecting the two divided parts of Kashmir, India and
Pakistan Monday took a giant stride forward by declaring that the
peace process between them is ''irreversible'' and will be pursued
sincerely and purposefully.
This is the cheerful outcome of a three-day hurricane-speed
visit to India by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, which was
originally proposed as a trip to watch an India-Pakistan cricket
match.
New Delhi and Islamabad - and the citizens of India and Pakistan
- both made big gains by agreeing to more confidence-building
measures and steps ''to enhance interaction and cooperation across
the LoC [Line of Control in Kashmir], including agreed points for
divided families, trade, pilgrimages and cultural interaction.''
But overshadowing all other issues is their commitment to
discuss the highly contentious issue of Jammu and Kashmir ''in a
sincere and purposeful and forward-looking manner for a final
settlement''. This is a significant departure from the stated
positions of the two governments on Kashmir.
They have held just one tentative round of talks on Kashmir,
outlining their concerns but reaching no agreement. In public, Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh has ruled out any redrawing of boundaries.
Musharraf has, equally, rejected conversion of the 740-kilometer LoC
into a permanent international border. But they have now agreed to
discuss the issue with a view to reconciling differences.
With this, Musharraf has succeeded in doing what he has long
wanted to do - put the Kashmir issue on the negotiating table as a
top priority. The Indian side, for its part, gained a good deal
by highlighting its own concerns: about terrorism sponsored by
Pakistan, especially in Indian Kashmir, and taking up other
contentious issues along with Kashmir for simultaneous discussion,
including trade and economic cooperation. It has also persuaded
Musharraf that there cannot be a rigid time frame for resolving the
Kashmir issue.
India and Pakistan are now moving, in General Musharraf's words,
''from conflict management to conflict resolution.'' This
''win-win'' deal has generated unprecedented hope in both Pakistan
and India. There is optimism that the half century-long hot-cold war
between the two now-nuclear rivals can end, leading to a lasting
peace.
The India-Pakistan ''joint statement'' issued at the end of
Musharraf's visit recognises that a ''historic opportunity'' has
been ''created by the improved environment in relations'' between
India and Pakistan since they broke the ice last January and began a
bilateral dialogue. The dialogue has been sustained by ''the
overwhelming desire of the peoples of the two countries for durable
peace'' and by civil society initiatives, making the peace process
irreversible. The public mood in both countries today is
radically different from that which marked Musharraf's last visit to
India in July 2001, when he held an official summit meeting in Agra
with former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.
The Agra summit was a disaster. The two governments could not
even agree to a joint statement. Mutual suspicions ran high in both
countries. There was a wide gap in perception about each other's
sincerity about making peace after the mid-sized military conflict
they fought two years earlier at Kargil in Kashmir -- as nuclear
weapons-states.
Terrorism was growing in India, particularly in Kashmir, as was
popular alienation from the Indian state and its use of repression
against movements for secession, autonomy or independence. Neither
India nor Pakistan believed it could dissuade the other from using
coercion and covert action. Today, hope is in the air. And both
sides are willing to trust and cooperate with each other.
What has changed since Agra? Besides personal chemistry between
Musharraf and Indian leaders, a number of developments have
occurred. The most important is the terrorist attacks of Sept.
11, 2001 that decisively altered the status of Pakistan as the
principal source of support for the Taliban and Osama bin Laden-style
jihadi fundamentalism, to an ally in the fight against terrorism.
The United States has exercised a great deal of pressure on Pakistan
to dismantle its elaborate covert network of support to Islamic
militants in Afghanistan and Kashmir.
No less important was Musharraf's realisation that in post-9/11,
it would be impossible to sustain a link between militant Islamic
organisations and the state. He thus decided to put Pakistan back on
the road to moderation and modernity, which brought him face-to-face
with Islamic extremists in the country. He is now a targeted man -
the narrow escape in an assassination attempt in December 2003 just
shows how close the president came to death's door.
At the end of 2002, there was also a largely legitimate and
fair (although not quite free) election to the legislature of Indian
Kashmir. This produced a coalition government, which advocates
reconciliation and peace between different political currents.
Meanwhile, the All-Parties Hurriyat Conference, which represents
secessionist leaders in Indian Kashmir, itself split. The majority
faction welcomes the India-Pakistan peace process, but has a
confused attitude towards holding a dialogue with India (but not with
Pakistan). This has eroded its credibility.
In addition, as Musharraf himself told editors on Monday,
economics has now displaced geopolitics as the determinant of a
country's status and its relations with others in today's world.
India's recent heightened economic profile has helped underscore the
potential benefit for Pakistan through increased cooperation and
trade with its neighbour. Above all, there has been a major
change in public opinion in both countries owing to increased
people-to-people contacts, resumption of sporting ties suspended for
years, and travel across the border by diverse groups of people.
In 2002, as a million soldiers were eyeball-to-eyeball at the
border for 10 months, there was virtually no movement of civilians.
Over the past year, by contrast, between 8,000 and 10,000 people from
each country have crossed the border to visit relatives, attend
conferences, or do plain tourism. There has been an explosion of
cultural contacts and collaboration between the two countries'
flourishing commercial film industries. Hundreds of Pakistanis have
visited India for medical treatment, whose quality is relatively
high, but cost low.
All this has changed mindsets, especially since the dialogue
process was formally launched in January 2004, leading to scores of
confidence-building measures and enhanced people-to- people
interaction.
This constitutes real progress and gives room for hope. But it won't
be easy for India and Pakistan to crack the Kashmir nut. Their
leaders will have to try exceptionally hard to reconcile mutual
differences and rival claims, so that their contested borders
eventually become ''irrelevant''. Carrying the opposition,
especially diehard conservatives, with such a compromise formula
will be even tougher.
All this will demand public education and imaginative
strategising, as well as great political skill. But it is worth the
effort. (END/IPS/AP/WD/IP/PB/SI/05)
o o o o
Praful Bidwai Column
April 18, 2005
--
CROSSING THE PEACE BRIDGE
THE BUS IS A HISTORIC SUCCESS
By Praful Bidwai
April 7, 2005 will go down as a glorious day in South Asian history,
when India and Pakistan took a momentous step towards peace by
launching the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service across the Line of
Control in Kashmir. The bus is without doubt the single greatest
confidence-building measure (CBM) the two governments have
implemented since their dialogue process began 15 months ago. It
holds the potential to open up new avenues of cooperation and lead to
a peace which ends the continuous, bitter 58 year-long hot-cold war
the two rivals have fought-at an enormous cost to their peoples'
welfare.
Symbolically, the bus has brought calm and peace to the very road
along which the Pakistan-sponsored "tribal invasion" of Kashmir took
place in 1947, igniting the first war between the two newly
independent states. But the significance of the bus goes beyond mere
symbolism. At the substantive level, too, it is the result of, and
will contribute further to, the powerful and growing urge for peace
and reconciliation amongst Indian and Pakistani citizens, and
especially the Kashmiri people. It will facilitate contact and
interaction, including trade, between Kashmiris divided by the LoC.
Its operation will entail unprecedented cooperation between the
Indian and Pakistani governments, including a coordinated effort
against the tiny minority of fanatical militants who have threatened
to turn the bus into "a coffin".
One only wishes the Kashmiri people had been given a more prominent
role in the launching of the bus service and that India's national
leaders and Kashmiri politicians hadn't hogged all the limelight.
Yet, the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus became possible because the two
countries' leaders exhibited an unusual degree of political decency,
maturity and flexibility by reconciling their sharp differences over
the documents to be carried by the passengers. Their determination
was put to the test for more than a year. However, the real credit
for the success goes to the people of Kashmir, and their aspiration
to be associated with the dialogue process between New Delhi and
Islamabad. The bus represents a reassertion of their shared heritage
and common identity. It offers them a unique opportunity to deepen
their mutual interaction.
That's why all political currents in Kashmir, barring fringe groups
of extremists, unreservedly welcomed the bus and celebrated its first
journey. Even National Conference leader Omar Abdullah, who rarely
misses a chance to criticise the Mufti Mohammed Saeed government,
enthusiastically joined the Chief Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh and Ms
Sonia Gandhi in flagging off the first bus. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, the
chairperson of the moderate faction of the All Parties Hurriyat
Conference, says he would like to lead a delegation of separatists
across the LoC on the bus.
The practical significance of the bus goes well beyond reuniting
Kashmiri families divided by the LoC. Their number is relatively
small-a few thousand-and only a fraction of the number of divided
families from Punjab, pre-Partition Uttar Pradesh or Sindh. The
people of Pakistani Kashmir are ethnically, culturally and
linguistically different from those of the Kashmir Valley. They have
much more in common with people who live in the border areas of J&K
like Uri, Rajouri, Poonch and Karnah and speak the Pahari dialect.
This is close to Punjabi, not Kashmiri. The Mirpuris and the Valley
Kashmiris share much less in common in language, food or customs
than, say, Hindu, Sikh and Muslim Punjabis or Sindhis do.
The fortnightly bus service will carry only 720 people from Srinagar
to Muzaffarabad in a whole year-a small number compared to the
Delhi-Lahore bus across the Wagah border. However, that does not
diminish the importance of the bus as a bridge between the two parts
of Kashmir or as a facilitator of Pakistan-India people-to-people
interaction and trade. Many fruit-growers from the Valley, who
annually produce 1.3 million tonnes of fruit worth Rs 1,500 crores,
are hoping the bus will open up a trade link to the Pakistani, and
eventually, the Central Asian and Gulf market.
If it is successful, the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus will trigger
demands for other road links-between Rawlakote and Poonch, and
Sialkot and Jammu/Suchetgarh. There's every likelihood that the
Kashmiri people will embrace the idea of India-Pakistan rapprochement
and peace with the same enthusiasm with which the peoples of the two
Punjabs have already done-as the recent visits of their Chief
Ministers, the holding of a Punjabi literary conference, and high
Pakistani attendance at the Chandigarh cricket match all showed.
The official responses to the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus were
noticeably different. India gave it top priority and a high profile
through a major ceremony attended by the Prime Minister Singh and Ms
Sonia Gandhi-despite militant attacks and planting of explosives
along the road. Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz was meant to
flag off the bus from the reverse direction, but cancelled the plan,
leaving the job to "Azad Kashmir" Chief Minister Sikandar Hayat Khan.
Earlier, Pakistan had poured cold water over the request by a number
of Indian Kashmiri leaders, including Deputy Chief Minister Mangat
Ram Sharma, People's Democratic Party leader Mehbooba Mufti and
CPI(M) MLA Yusuf Tarigami, to take the first bus. It said the bus
service was primarily meant for divided Kashmiri families. It has
since said it would allow leaders from Indian Kashmir in if New Delhi
allows Hurriyat office-bearers to take the bus to Pakistan. There are
fears in Islamabad that India will use the bus as a substitute for
substantive talks on the "core-issue" of Kashmir. India must allay
these fears by fulfilling its promise to negotiate a solution to the
Kashmir issue with the utmost earnestness and in the same
accommodative spirit it showed in regard to the bus.
The Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus has had a three-fold impact. For one,
it has strengthened the forces of peace and reconciliation on both
sides of the LoC and in the two Kashmirs, as well as the
determination of Kashmiris to make a success of it. To them, the bus
represents a tangible triumph of peaceful and non-violent approaches
to resolving conflicts-long after violent and fanatical approaches
have proved bankrupt.
For another, the bus has isolated extremists (who oppose the bus)
from the overwhelming majority of people (who strongly support it).
The four obscure jehadi militant groups which threatened the bus and
claimed responsibility for setting fire to the Tourist Reception
Centre in Srinagar are only one component of this extremism. The
other component is formed by individuals like Jamaat-e-Islami chief
Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Dukhtaran-e-Millat leader Asiya Andrabi,
who says the bus is a "sell-out" and that Pakistan has "betrayed the
Kashmiris," like it did the Taliban in Afghanistan.
By contrast, the majority faction of the Hurriyat has further
mellowed its stand. It has long been reluctant to meet Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh even during his visits to the Valley. Now, under the
impact of the bus, it's planning to seek a meeting with him as well
as with President Pervez Musharraf when he visits India. Mr Geelani
stands marginalised because of his deeply unreasonable and sectarian
opposition to the bus. The bus is thus changing political equations
for the better.
Yet another positive effect of the bus was the joint Hindu-Muslim
celebration of Navaratra at an old Durga Temple in Srinagar-for the
first time in 15 years. Among the participants were Chief Minister
Sayeed, three of his Cabinet ministers, and Democratic Freedom Party
leader Shabir Ahmad Shah.
For a third, the bus has forced the Indian and Pakistani governments
to come together to combat jehadi militants who threaten to blow it
up. This collaboration between rival governments, which have long
stalked each other to the point of using militant groups to cause
mayhem, is itself noteworthy and deserving of unstinted support.
The underlying premise on which their cooperative effort is founded
is even more welcome. This, quite simply, holds that the militants
represent nobody in Kashmir. They cannot even remotely claim to be
speaking for a significant section of Kashmiri opinion. Anyone can
get hold of a gun in Kashmir and command the power to create chaos,
fear and disorder. But they count for nothing as far as public
opinion goes.
Travelling by the bus has imposed an unfair and onerous burden upon
the Kashmiri people. The first batch of Indian passengers had to take
huge risks. Three of them got off the bus at the last moment,
reducing the total number to 19, which is 10 short of that cleared by
Islamabad. Ordinary people should not have to become martyrs or easy
targets for fundamentalist jehadis. So both us citizens and our
governments must do all they can to change this-not just by providing
security to passengers, but by discrediting the very idea that the
bus is a legitimate target.
Finally, the bus should and can contribute to a larger objective:
free unobstructed movement of people across the border and resolution
of all major outstanding issues between India and Pakistan, however
contentious. Lasting peace between the two is the key to South Asia's
future as a modern, pluralist and prosperous region which is home to
almost a fifth of humanity.-end-
______
[2]
Indian Express - April.17,2005
TUNAMI - HIT AREAS BEING SAFFRONISED
by K.Jayaprakash
Alappuzha,April 16; Tsunami has changed the political landscape
aswell of the most devasted Arattupuzha and Alappad panchayaths in
the State.with a well -designed roadmap ,the R.S.S has been
succesfully safronising the CPM ruled Arattupuzha in Alappuzha
District and the Congress - controlled Alappad in Kollam district
Seva Bharathi,the social service wing of R S S ,has alraedy opened
its wing of the it`s two karyalayas in Arattupuzha and another two in
Alappad,so far an alien land for the saffron ideology.The RSS has
appointed four top Swayamsevaks to control and co ordianate the
functioning of the Seva bharathio karyalayams and openend the
alappuzha district in kayamkulam for the effective monitoring of the
karyalayams at Arattupuzha
The RSS is planning mega schemems for these two panchayaths.Top RSS
sources told this paper that in both panchayathsit would set up
cultural and educational centers for students and youths on the
proper path.The women in the are will be trained to engage in self -
employment ventures .It will also deploy more medical personal at
it`s mediacal camps being run in this areas.Houses will be built and
fishing craft and fishing gears will be distributed
Soureces said that 2000 sq fett cultural centre in Arattupuzha would
be constructed soon and an individual in this area has alraedy agreed
to donate the required land.The schemes were formally announced at
afunction attended by Viswa hindu Parishath all-India working
president Ashok Singhal last week.He distributed five fishing
craft,net and yamaha engines at the function
The sevabharathi swung into action in both panchayaths on the day
they were hit by the Tidal waves .While the political parties
including the CPM and the NGOs retreated after the first few
weeks "services " the seva bharathi activists continue their
services .They still distribute food products in these ares,ensure
medical camps to help the needy,conduct classes for students and help
reconstruct even the small family- owned temples damaged in the
Tsunami.The RSS has deployed 100 swayamsevaks each in these two
panchayaths to carry out these services
This has really helped the RSS make in roads in to the are,A large
number of people ,especially youths are actively assosiating with the
SevaBharathi activities.R.Prakash,Chairman of Intiative for
Dalit,Adivasi Devolopment and Studies-kerala(IDADS-KERALA) observes
that there was agood flow even from the Dalit communities to the RSS
in the area.RSS sources said that nearly 1,500 persons had
participated in the march by it to the Alappuzha collectrote a couple
of weeks ago through it had expected only 400 to 500 persons
But it feared that the changing socio- political equations in the
area are creating communal tension.The Christaian organisations also
are trying to get a footing in the area.Nearly 27 Christaian
organisations have been permitted to construct houses in the
Arattupuzha panchayaths.The RSS says that the housing project is a
carrot with which the christaian organisations will entice the people
in to their fold. R.Prakash ,working among the Dalits in the
panchayaths ,says that communal tensions is palpable even now in the
areas.
______
[3] [Announcements on Upcoming events ]
(i)
dear friends,
Pl. join us on below programme.
Joint Action Committee for peace and democracy (JAC) is holding a
demonstration against continued threats, attacks and harassment to
women by some extremist groups in the name of religion.
demonstration will be held on April 20, 2005, at 3:45 pm sharp in
front Karachi Press club.
hope all of u n ur friends would join us.
sincerly ur's
lala hassan pathan
karachi
o o o o o
(ii)
Kashmir Solidarity Day
April 20th, Opp. Eros theatre, Church Gate [Bombay] at 5.30 pm &
Candle light vigil at 6.30
The peace processes in Kashmir is suddenly in the front pages. The
people of Kashmir, torn between the two states of India and Pakistan
want their voice to be heard in any settlements regarding their
future. The last decades saw militancy and human rights violations.
About 70,000 Kashmiris were killed in militancy and counter militancy
operations. 15,000 women have become widows and thousands simply
disappeared.
For the last 16 years there is a permanent Section 144 applied all
through Kashmir and there are about a half a million Indian soldiers
in the villages and towns. The armed forces have special powers
according to the Armed Forces (Special Powers Act) to shoot any
person on mere suspicion and to destroy any property.
The Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society has given a call to
observe April 20th as Solidarity Day on the occasion of the first
death anniversary of Aasia Jeelani, a woman human rights activist,
who was martyred on 20th of April 2004 while she was monitoring the
elections in Lolab, Kupwara district of Kashmir.
In response to such a call, a public awareness program in form of a
solidarity is being held before Church Gate opp to Eros theatre, on
April 20th at 5.30 pm. The program will be followed by a candle light
vigil in memory of all those who are dead and disappeared. We request
your presence and solidarity to the people of Kashmir in their quest
for peace and justice.
Sincerely,
Krisna Kant (56058908)
Divya Iyer (98695-88813)
Joe Athialy (24931241, 98692-63407)
o o o o
(iii)
CERAS (South Asia Research and Resource Center) in Cooperation with
SAWCC (South Asian Women's Community Centre)
Present a Public Lecture
"NEPAL - The Completion of a Coup?"
Sunday, May 15, 5 pm, SAWCC, 1035 Rachel east, Montreal (corner of
Christophe-Colombe; METRO Mt-Royal and bus # 11)
Lecture by Dr. Chitra K. Tiwari
For further information: Tel. 485-9192, 346-9477, 276-3921
ALL WELCOME
Chitra K. Tiwari, Ph.D.
_________________________________________________________________________
Dr. Chitra K. Tiwari is a free-lance political analyst and
commentator of international affairs with a focus on South Asian
affairs. A former Assistant Professor of international affairs and
political science at Nepal's Tribhuvan University, Dr. Tiwari holds a
Ph.D. in international affairs and political science (1987) from the
George Washington University, Washington, D.C.
Dr. Tiwari has published many articles on comparative politics and
international relations in various scholarly international journals.
He is the co-author of Nepalese Political Behavior published from
Denmark (1994). At present he works on a free-lance basis as an
independent political analyst and contributes articles to The
Washington Times. He has appeared in several major radio and TV shows
in the world - BBC, Voice of America, NPR, ABC NEWS, White House
Chronicle, Democracy Now Radio and TV, Radio Australia, etc - as
commentator on political developments in Nepal.
He has also addressed the workshops and seminars as an expert
panelist to discuss Nepal's civil war at several universities and
think tanks in the United States and Canada - The Asia Society (New
York), The Heritage Foundation (Washington, D.C.), Cornell
University, Williams College, George Mason University, The American
University, Illinois State University, Simon Fraser University
(Vancouver, Canada). His special articles to The Washington Times
covers analysis of Maoist insurgency in Nepal. He has published
exclusive interviews of the Maoist leaders Prachanda and Dr. Baburam
Bhattarai for The Washington Times.
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
Buzz on the perils of fundamentalist politics, on matters of peace
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