SACW | 18 Sept. 2005 [Pakistan - India : Violence, sexism, Militarisation ]

[sacw]

South Asia Citizens Wire  | 18 September,  2005


[1]  Pakistan: Sectarian violence in Quetta (Edit., Dawn)
[2]  Pakistan: NGOs slam president's remarks to Washington Post (Daily Times)
[3]  India: Beware of what you wear! (Editorial, The Hindu)
[4]  The Course of Naxalism - Violence, Peace and Democracy in India 
(Manoranjan Mohanty)
[5]  60th anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Special Issue, 2005 - Peace Now
[6]  India Pakistan Arms Race and Militarisation Watch Compilation # 
156 (17 September,  2005)

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[1]


Dawn
September 17, 2005
Editorial

SECTARIAN VIOLENCE IN QUETTA
OVER 20 people have so far been detained in Quetta in raids conducted 
by the police after a spate of killings brought tension to a city all 
too familiar with the menace of sectarianism. The latest incidents 
sparked protests after three members belonging to the Shia community 
were killed within a span of a few days. Police arrested three men 
belonging to two banned militant groups and raids are continuing in 
an effort to nab other suspects. No city is immune today from 
sectarian violence and Quetta is no exception having witnessed some 
horrific acts of violence. In July 2003, two suicide bombers blew 
themselves up in an imambargah, followed the next year by another 
suicide attack on a procession during Muharram which killed 42 people 
and injured over 100. This year, two suicide bombers believed to have 
been planning an attack during an Ashura procession blew themselves 
up during a police shootout which mercifully foiled their plan. 
Recently, Gilgit in the Northern Areas has also witnessed a spate of 
violence which resulted in 10 deaths.
The men behind such heinous crimes are known to belong to some 
outlawed extremist groups which are reportedly recruiting suicide 
bombers in an effort to spread terror. The crackdown on militants 
which began in July resulted in over 300 arrests and closure of 
offices that were functioning under different names. However, the 
Quetta example demonstrates how these militants are continuing with 
their activities. The Balochistan government for its part has said 
that it will not tolerate such acts of terrorism and has ordered the 
transfer of senior police officials, ostensibly because of their 
inability to handle the situation effectively. The immediate concern 
is to restore calm and a semblance of law and order in Quetta so that 
people feel safe. In conducting raids, the police must exercise 
restraint, while ensuring that those detained are swiftly prosecuted.


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[2]

[PHOTOGRAPH OF PROTESTERS AT A RALLY IN KARACHI. (AFP)
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050917/images/17mush.jpg ]

o o o

Daily Times 18 September 2005

[PAKISTAN] NGOS SLAM PRESIDENT'S REMARKS TO WP

Staff Report
LAHORE: As Pakistanis we feel embarrassed and angry at the shameful 
statement made by President General Musharraf to the Washington Post 
about women rape victims, said a joint statement by several civil 
society groups and non-government organisations on Saturday.
The Pakistan-India People's Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD), 
Women's Action Forum (WAF), Aurat Foundation (AF), Action Aid, Hawwa 
Associates, Pattan, Rozan and Sungi issued the statement.
The statement said the president's statement was "an unworthy 
opinion" and did not befit the Pakistani head of state. It said that 
the statement humiliates victims of violence and also highlighted all 
Pakistani women as contemptible. "Ironically it also shows to the 
world why organisations like ours have to make so much effort and 
noise to get some justice for these women," it added.
"Where the president is so openly contemptuous about the honesty of 
rape victims, the state machinery gets these signals and acts 
accordingly," said the statement. It added that NGOs reaffirmed their 
commitment to fight for the elimination of violence against women and 
social reform.


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[3]

The Hindu
September 17, 2005

Editorials

BEWARE OF WHAT YOU WEAR!

In imposing on students a dress code that proscribes jeans, T-shirts, 
sleeveless tops, and tight-fitting outfits, the Anna University has 
taken to an extreme a narrow-minded notion of discipline on the 
campuses of engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu. Vice Chancellor D. 
Viswanathan, in a fit of puritanical vigour, has also wielded the axe 
on film-based cultural events in colleges, in line with the illiberal 
cultural streak of certain regional political parties. Further, the 
banning directive of the university to all the affiliated colleges 
covers any use of mobile phones on campuses. The shallow reasoning 
behind such moral policing is that certain forms detract from the 
seriousness of academic pursuits; and that mobile phones, especially 
camera phones, create problems on campuses, `distracting' students 
from what they should be doing. But as students' organisations, 
especially the Students' Federation of India, have pointed out, the 
dress code is clearly aimed at women, who are seen as `provoking' 
unwanted male attention because of what they wear. Such obscurantism 
is not a far cry from the `fatwas' pronounced by certain mullahs 
against Sania Mirza's tennis-wear. It is also of a piece with the 
mindset that blames incidents of rape and sexual harassment on the 
victims. Recently, students of Delhi University organised protests 
after a college vice-principal demanded a ban on `revealing' wear. 
Shockingly, the demand for a dress code for women students, which was 
endorsed by several college authorities, came within a month of a 
university student being abducted and raped in South Delhi. Not 
surprisingly, students and women's organisations have become deeply 
suspicious of attempts by Anna University to pass off the dress code 
as a step taken in their interest.

Authorities in certain colleges in Tamil Nadu adopt bizarre methods 
such as fining students for talking to those of the opposite sex, and 
cutting down trees on the campus to remove any sense of privacy for 
students outside the classroom. These taboos, far from creating a 
congenial atmosphere for students, entrench deep-seated complexes and 
insecurities among young men and heighten the feeling of 
vulnerability among young women. While a mobile phone, like any other 
instrument, could be subject to misuse, the authorities should have 
considered sensible restrictions on their use rather than go for an 
unenforceable ban. Surely, engineering students should not be asked 
to view technology as a threat. The blanket ban on film-based 
cultural programmes smacks of a politically charged diktat. 
Unfortunately, many colleges, which otherwise have been quick to 
protest against any encroachment of their domain by the university, 
have welcomed Dr. Viswanathan's diktat; for some of them, it provides 
a cloak of legitimacy for their illiberal ways. Such absurd bans and 
restrictions on adult students are likely to be tested in court. They 
certainly have no place in a liberal and progressive modern 
educational environment.



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[3]

September 17, 2005

For more information, contact: info at stopfundinghate.org

GIVE WELL, GIVE WISELY!
CSFH Urges Responsible Giving in the Wake of Hurricane Katrina

The Campaign to Stop Funding Hate (CSFH) stands in solidarity
with all those who have suffered an immeasurable loss of life,
property, and livelihood in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. We
recognize that while the initial disaster was caused by a
force of nature, the devastation and loss of life have been
intensely exacerbated by the racist negligence of the US
administration, which does not appear to care for the
country's poor and marginalized communities. Once again, the
conflicts that underlie American society stand fundamentally
exposed while the actions of those in power reiterate that the
issues of race, class and gender continue to place people in
hierarchies that determine their value to the system.
President Bush holidayed while New Orleans drowned, the
director of FEMA sought to place the blame on the victims of
the hurricane suggesting that they should have left for safer
places (ignoring the fact that those who stayed mostly did so
because they had no option), while Rep. Baker of Baton Rouge
was reported as telling lobbyists (Wall Street Journal
Washington wire): "We finally cleaned up public housing in New
Orleans. We couldn't do it, but God did it."

We are heartened by the fact that millions of people across
the United States have rallied to support those affected by
the floods, reminding us that despite being ruled by a racist
and war-mongering government, we are still bound together by
our common humanity. We at CSFH commit ourselves to
contributing to the efforts all across the US and the world to
provide relief to the victims of the Katrina disaster.

While it is difficult at moments like this to raise a critical
voice, especially against those who claim to be involved in
the task of helping the victims, we would like to place on
record our concerns about some troubling aspects of the relief
and rehabilitation efforts.

1.      CSFH has, in the past, pointed out the ways in which
natural disasters have opportunistically been used by
sectarian groups (especially those exploiting religious
sentiments) to create long-term polarizations in society. This
case is no different. We find the prominent role being played
by organizations such as Pat Robertson's Operation Blessing to
be extremely disturbing. Notwithstanding the fact that
Robertson has been exposed in the recent past for using funds
collected for refugee relief in Africa to further his own
diamond mining operations, this organization has been actively
promoted by the U.S. state and is listed as one of the major
charities endorsed by FEMA for the Katrina relief operations.

2.      For those who have been following the rise of
religious fundamentalism in India, this unapologetic promotion
of a sectarian religious organization by the avowedly secular
Bush administration reflects the strategy used by similar
groups following natural disasters in India. In the aftermath
of the Gujarat earthquake in 2000, the federal government of
India and the state government of Gujarat (at that time, both
ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party) used the 'opportunity' of
relief work to promote the operation of the Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS; the violent and sectarian Hindutva
organization) and its service wing, Sewa Bharati. More
recently, the RSS along with its fronts in the US and UK (the
IDRF, Sewa USA, Sewa UK and Sewa International) rode the
tsunami to consolidate their presence in the affected areas.

3.      Organizations such as IDRF, Sewa International, Vishwa
Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS), which
are part of the violent, hate-mongering Hindutva network are
also appealing for the donation of funds for the cause of
hurricane relief. Given the history of these organizations,
their agenda deserves careful scrutiny.

4.      It is also unfortunate that this tragedy is being
exploited by disaster-profiteers among U.S. corporations, just
as war-profiteers are reaping the benefits of the war on Iraq
(with in fact some of the same culprits such as Halliburton
and Bechtel growing rich from both disasters).

The Campaign to Stop Funding Hate wishes to place on record
its opposition to organizations that promote hatred in the US,
India or other parts of the world. It demands that FEMA stop
endorsing groups like Operation Blessing and asks socially
responsible groups to ensure that charity inflow is duly
monitored so that relief organizations are held accountable
for the ways in which funds are being spent. We urge donors to
make an informed decision about how they want their
contributions channeled and ask all those committed to broad
values of secularism, pluralism and justice to oppose the
forces that use the pretext of relief operations to further
their sectarian agendas.

THE CAMPAIGN TO STOP FUNDING HATE [http://www.stopfundinghate.org]

______


[4]

Himal South Asian
(Kathmandu) vol.18 no.2 ( September-October 2005 )

THE COURSE OF NAXALISM
VIOLENCE, PEACE AND DEMOCRACY IN INDIA

By Manoranjan Mohanty

    The ban on the CPI-Maoists was re-imposed on 17 August 2005 by the 
government of Andhra Pradesh following the killing of an MLA C Narsi 
Reddy and eight others in Narayanpet in  Mehboobnagar district 
allegedly by the Maoists. The incident was particularly significant 
because the attackers who came on motor cycles showered bullets at a 
public function  and it involved a senior leader of the ruling 
Congress  party besides the  municipal commissioner of the town, and 
the MLA's son among others. The ban was proclaimed as having the 
concurrence of the central government whose spokesperson described it 
as a decision on a state subject, namely, law and order, under the 
Indian Constitution. It was good to see the reference to the 
Constitution of India, however opportunistically it might come. The 
fact is that the Centre was closely coordinating the anti-naxalite 
operations throughout the country and in this case Union Home 
Minister Shivraj Patil had assured all support for the measures taken 
by the Andhra Chief Minister.
    The AP government ban order under the AP Public Security Act of 
1992 listed seven mass organizations of workers, peasants, youth, 
students and writers associated with the Maoist party : RYL ( Radical 
Youth League ), RSU ( Radical Students Union ), AIRSF ( All India 
Revolutionary Students Federation), Rythu Coolie Sangham or the 
agricultural workers organisation, Singareni Karmika Sangham which is 
a powerful trade union in the collieries, Viplava Karmika Sangham, 
another trade union and the RWA ( Revolutionary Writers Association 
popularly known by its Telugu acronym Virasam ) ).  Interestingly 
enough, Jana Natya Mandali , the widely popular  people's theatre 
group led by the legendary poet-singer Gaddar is not included in this 
list, though it might come into it subsequently. The famous poet, P 
Vara Vara Rao and writer G Kalyan Rao, leaders of  RWA and who were 
the emissaries named by the Maoist party in the peace negotiations 
-Gaddar was the other emissary-  have been arrested. They had 
resigned from that role in April 2005 expressing futility of their 
role in view of the growing repressive measures by the state. The 
women's organization is also excluded from the list. More than the 
ban on the party it is the banning of the mass programmes of these 
organizations which will have serious repercussions on the ground. 
These organizations have widespread membership with regular 
programmes and publications.

New Phase of confrontation

The ban per se would not have been all that significant for the 
CPI-Maoist  like its former avatars People's War Group (PWG) and the 
Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) was already functioning as an 
underground party. The leaders of CPI-Maoists and the CPI-ML 
Janashakthi who had come to Hyderabad  for the peace talks  in 
October 2004 had come from the forests and gone back there after ten 
days of open presence including four days of peace talks. Incidents 
of killing such as this one were exceptional, but not altogether 
unprecedented. Every time the police killed some important leaders of 
the Maoist party the latter declared their intention to take revenge. 
But this time the ban represented crystallization of a new phase of 
the confrontation between the naxalite movement and the Indian state. 
It came after the chances of resumption of the peace talks had 
effectively disappeared and the police operations for killing the 
Maoist leaders and cadres, and harassing and capturing sympathizers 
had intensified. The Maoists too had resumed retaliatory action by 
kidnapping and killing police informers. Above all, the initiatives 
of the mediators, the Committee of Concerned Citizens (CCC) had got 
little response from either the government or the Maoist Party in the 
recent months. The civil society had pinned enormous hopes on the CCC 
initiative about the prospect of a second round of talks so that the 
intensifying climate of violence could be reversed. This decision to 
reimpose the ban showed the determination of the government to 
overcome civil society pressures and resume its armed operations to 
suppress the naxalite movement. In fact, the AP government decision 
was condemned by most of the political parties including the allies 
of the Congress , the  TRS ( Telengana Rajya Samithi ), Mazlis, CPI 
and CPI-M. Only the Telugu Desham Party and the BJP suppored the ban 
saying that it was wrong on the part of the Congress government to 
let the ban lapse in July 2004 to begin with.
The new phase of confrontation was  indicated also by the all India 
coordination of anti-naxalite operations  recently reinforced by the 
Union Home Ministry. On 30 July 2005  in  the meeting  of Chief 
Ministers and the Director Generals of Police from nine States where 
the naxalites were active a Task Force was set up to launch joint 
operations. A plan of action was announced which  declared a policy 
of "zero tolerance" towards the Maoists. Earlier on 12 July the Tamil 
Nadu government had banned the Maoist Party. The  Karnataka 
government had already launched joint operations with the AP police 
leading to the killing of  Saketh Ranjan, the editor of the RSU 
journal and many top  PWG leaders from AP .
    Paradoxically, the resumption of the ban reflected the admission 
of failure of the Indian state to tackle the challenge of the 
naxalite movement during the past thirty eight years. That the state 
response had to be again based mainly upon bans, combing operations 
in villages and forests and encounter killings rather than taking up 
the issues which gave rise to the phenomenon testified to the fact of 
survival capacity and spread of the naxalite movement in vast regions 
of India. Until recently it was hoped that the new regime in India 
led by the Congress, and the new Congress government in AP which came 
to power after people rejected Chandra Babu Naidu's repressive regime 
would adopt a political approach to the  Maoist challenge rather than 
treat it merely as terrorist violence.

Nature of the Maoist Challenge

	The Common Minimum Programme (CMP)  which the United 
Progressive Alliance ( UPA)  adopted in May 2004 when it came to 
power supported by the Left parties had an important perspective 
statement on the naxalite challenge. The relevant paragraph was 
listed under the section on Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes 
thus emphasising that this movement was essentially connected with 
the problems of the socially oppressed sections of Indian society. It 
said: The UPA is concerned with the growth of extremist violence and 
other forms of terrorist activity in different states. This is not 
merely a law and order problem, but a deeper socio-economic issue 
which will be addressed more meaningfully than has been the case so 
far. Fake encounters will not be permitted. While referring to 
extremist violence and terrorist activity the declaration that it 
would be treated differently from the way it was treated by earlier 
regimes, particularly by the BJP-led  NDA  with L K Advani as Home 
Minister and especially by the Chandra Babu Naidu government in 
Andhra,  had created hopes for a new approach to the naxalite 
challenge.
	The deeper socio-economic issues  that the CMP  mentioned 
need to be recalled in the context of understanding the Maoist 
challenge in India. The movement originated on issues of agrarian 
transformation, especially on the problems of the landless and the 
small peasants. The resistance to landlords in naxalbari in West 
Bengal in defense of land  by the tillers  in May 1967 which invited 
police firing  was the start of the movement in India giving the name 
to the phenomenon in Indian politics.  The movement underwent much 
churning in the succeeding decades organisationally and politically. 
But the focus on agrarian revolution has remained until today. That 
land reforms have disappeared from the Indian policy making in the 
age of economic liberalization and rural development programmes have 
focused on integrating the rural economy with the global market have 
kept the naxalite agenda relevant for the rural poor. The 
anti-poverty programmes such as the Food-for-Work programme of the 
NDA regime or the recently enacted  legislation on hundred days 
Employment Guarante Programme under the UPA still do not meet the 
basic demand for land rights in rural India. The rise of backward 
castes to power in Bihar, UP and elsewhere have had a paradoxical 
effect on freezing land relations, though they may have democratized 
certain aspects of Indian polity.
	Naxalite movement in India is mostly active in the tribal 
areas  spread from Bihar to Andhra Pradesh and Maharastra covering 
parts of Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh and Orissa, Tamil 
Nadu and Karnataka. It is not only the hilly terrain that has been 
chosen by the Naxalites to operate, but their conscious decision to 
take up the issues affecting the tribal people of India who are among 
the most exploited in society. India's development process has led to 
commercialization of forest resources reducing the traditional access 
of tribal people to forest produce. Alienation of tribal land to 
non-tribals has been a steady trend despite legal restrictions to the 
contrary. The mining - based industries and the construction of big 
dams have caused massive displacement of the tribals besides 
destroying their natural environment. The government programmes of 
tribal development have mainly created a new elite in tribal areas 
while high magnitude of poverty and distress migration persists.  The 
recent bill safeguarding land rights introduced by the UPA regime 
seems to be too little that has come too late. The naxalites have put 
forward an agenda of tribal self-determination asserting the rights 
of tribals over local resources and have put the government officials 
and forest contractors in the tribal areas under constant alert. The 
extension of Panchayati Raj to tribal areas giving greater power to 
the tribal village assembly is only a small measure though in the 
right direction. Unless structural measures are undertaken restoring 
tribal rights over land and forest Panchayati Raj would  continue to 
be manipulated by the local elite. The AP government's decision to 
have a special tribal battalion of some 1200 men, a 'Girijan 
Greyhound" to fight the naxalites is indicative of the approach 
guiding the present policy.
  During the 1980s the naxalites linked themselves up with the 
nationality struggles in northeastern India, Jammu and Kashmir, 
Chhatishgarh, Jharkhand , Tamil Nadu and other places. It had serious 
effects on both - the agrarian movements as well as the autonomy 
movements. Each had to be seen as more complex struggles involving 
class and nationality, as well as caste and gender. This involved 
making choices  about supporting autonomy movements led by the 
bourgeoisie such as in case of Telugu Desham and Asom Gana Parishad 
or Akali Dal in Punjab  and DMK in Tamil Nadu . The subsequent 
formation of the smaller states of Chhatisgarh, Jharkhand and 
Uttaranchal was a welcome step, but they were conceded keeping the 
power structure in tact. So the nationality struggles in these areas 
continue as integral part of the agrarian and the broader democratic 
struggle. Interestingly, the government understood this link up only 
as a terrorist network for training, supply of weapons and 
coordination against state operations among  militants of all kinds 
ranging from Kashmir to ULFA and NSCN and LTTE.
During the nineties the Indian politics and economy experienced major 
interventions with globalization on the one hand and communal 
politics on the other. The Gujarat riots of 2002 symbolised the 
magnitude of this dangerous trend.   The processes of privatization 
of public enterprises, retrenchment of workers continued unabated in 
the recent years. Only in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections the BJP-led 
NDA formation lost power as did the reform-centric Chandra Babu 
Naidu, the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. While the ruling 
parties, especially, the BJP and Congress and their allies were fully 
committed to the agenda of globalization the CPI and CPI-M tried to 
kept the critique alive on behalf  of the workers, the lower middle 
classes and the rural poor who suffered tremendously in the process 
of economic reforms. But the main resistance to globalization was put 
forth by the naxalites. This was evident during the Mumbai Resistance 
in January 2004 which was a parallel event with the vastly bigger 
event the World Social Forum. The WSF was not considered as an 
adequate anti-imperialist campaign by the People's War Group and some 
other naxalite groups who together with some socialist and Gandhian 
groups had come together at the Mumbai Resistance. It should be noted 
that some naxalite groups including the CPI-ML (Liberation ) had 
taken part in the WSF. In view of the growing collaboration between 
the government of India and the US government at a time when the US 
invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq had met with continuing resistance 
the stress on anti-imperialism was considered paramount .
  	Thus the naxalite challenge  rests upon the issues of 
agrarian transformation, tribal people's rights, nationality movement 
and resisting imperialism and globalization adding up to an 
integrated programme of what they characterize as  people's 
democratic revolution to change the nature of the Indian state.
Because of the issues that they pursue they have a social base which 
sustains them despite a variety of repressive measures pursued by the 
Indian state. In fact, the movement has spread to new areas such as 
southern  districts of Orissa and West Bengal as well as parts of UP 
and Rajasthan during the past decade. Moreover, the naxalite movement 
as a whole has many streams and taken together they have a presence 
in all parts of the country. Of them the two major streams are the 
CPI(ML)-Liberation which participates in electoral politics and the 
CPI(Maoist) which pursues armed struggle. The former has a strong 
base in Bihar and it has had seven to ten MLAs in the Bihar Assembly. 
It has an all India organization with state units and an active trade 
union and a women's organization. Its powerful student wing, AISA has 
often won the leadership at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New 
Delhi. The CPI (Maoist) which came into being with the merger of 
People's War Group and MCC in October 2004 had earlier taken into its 
fold the Party Unity of Bihar region. Liberation condemns the PWG as 
left adventurists pursuing squad actions and inviting state 
repression. The Maoists dismiss them as revisionists taking the same 
path as the CPI-Mwhich has remained in power in West Bengal since 
1977.  These two formations are so hostile that they rarely come 
together to fight any issue. Between them are placed a number of 
other naxalite groups such as Janashakti which has worked together 
with the Maoist party in the peace talks in AP, the CPI-ML (New 
Democracy ) which has been active in Jharkhand and Assam and lately 
in Punjab abd Orissa on tribal and workers issues, the CPI-ML ( 
Provisional Committee ) which is ostensibly trying to bring the 
various groups together.
   	The pre-organisational character of the naxalite movement 
that was evident in the 1970s - about which I wrote in my book, 
Revolutionary Violence (1977), still persists to some extent and 
therefore  the movement remains mainly as an ideological force in 
Indian politics. But the two main formations have emerged as 
organized parties. So when their organizational networks and leaders 
are subject to attacks by the state agencies they do undergo 
substantial losses. But their ideological appeal remains rooted in 
the concrete conditions of people's problems. The question is why has 
the spiral of violence and counter-violence by the naxalites and the 
state agencies  gone on.

Violence and Peace in Democracy

   	The plea that there is no place for violence in a democracy 
is a desirable norm for seeking peaceful constitutional response to 
fulfil people's aspirations. But when the coercive power of the state 
is used to defend the interest of the rich and the powerful or to 
eliminate resistance to injustice the same can be a hollow claim. 
Social violence has grown in India with landlords' armies in Bihar, 
factional murders in AP's Rayalseema ( an MLA was murdered last April 
by a rival gang ), and upper caste atrocities on dalits- to mention a 
few instances. Police has supplied arms to the  surrendered naxalites 
ostensibly for self-defence, but they too are part of the police 
operations . ( In Andhra a teachers federation leader was hacked to 
death  a few days after the killing of Narsi Reddy for which a new 
outfit called Narsi Cobra claimed the responsibility. )  Democracy is 
indeed meant for bringing about peaceful change through people's 
representatives. But power structures in society do not allow that 
easily to happen.  The democratic rights groups of India have been 
pointing this out for over three decades now, especially after the 
fundamental rights were suspended in India during the Emergency in 
1975-77.  The state response to the naxalite movement was to capture 
and kill them  by  staging false 'encounters'. Human rights groups 
such as APCLC, PUDR and PUCL investigated many such incidents in AP, 
Bihar and elsewhere and have demanded that there should be rule of 
law applied to all such cases and they should be tried according to 
law rather than be eliminated. The same has been the case in Jammu 
and Kashmir and the northeast as well. When the  state itself 
violates the constitutional obligations and the law with impunity 
then violation of law and civic norms becomes widespread. Observe the 
rule of law, respect human rights and seriously attend to the issues 
which the naxalites have raised - this  is the  response advocated by 
human rights activists.
    	When the talks between the Maoists and the AP government took 
place in October as a result of a three year long initiative and 
protracted negotiations by the CCC led by S R Sankaran, the legendary 
former civil servant (who was among the kidnapped victims  by the PWG 
some years ago ) two things were clear. One was the acknowledgement 
by the state that the naxalite movement was not just a law and order 
problem, but it had socio-economic roots that could be discussed as 
steps towards reducing violence. Second, it was brought home to the 
Maoists to recognize that the realm of the present Indian state did 
provide some space for socio-economic change despite its class 
character and if that was made to work need for resort to armed 
struggle may be reviewed. In fact on this basis there was a 
'ceasefire' for more than six months in the state of Andhra Pradesh 
and common people were spared the dual pressures of violence from the 
naxalites as well as the police. These historic talks showed that 
dialogue was an essential element of democracy through which each 
side was called upon to recognize truth of a situation. In these 
peace talks Indian democratic opinion saw prospects of mutual 
appreciation of each other's positions in the spirit of "truth and 
reconciliation". Like in case of the Naga peace talks, the talks 
between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government or the IRA and the 
British government which have led to ceasefire and progress in 
negotiations over contentious issues, in this case too prospects of 
dialogue  leading to suspension of armed action by the police and the 
Maoists and concrete measures for the poor looked very much possible 
in the public  mind. But there were elements in the political circles 
and the police locally and nationally who considered it as 'soft' 
policy which would strengthen the naxalites in case the state relaxed 
its strategy. In other words, the UPA's statement in CMP was not the 
overall perspective guiding state policy.
The peace talks and the press interviews  confronted the Maoists with 
many issues raised by democratic rights groups  in the recent years. 
Did the Maoists respect the norms of  revolutionary violence when 
common people were subjected to killings and torture by them or 
public property was destroyed/?  How did they explain individual 
annihilations by small squads?  Did it reflect the Maoist norm of 
mass line ? On the issue of armed struggle the naxalite movement 
remains sharply divided in contemporary India. The CPI-Maoists have a 
People's Geurilla Liberation Army mostly armed by weapons seized from 
police stations, some of which are sophisticated modern weapons such 
as AK-47 rifles and other country made weapons. Their small 
formations confront the police and para-military forces such as the 
Central Reserve Police Force  and Indo-Tibetan Border force - Tibet 
border being peaceful today thanks to India-China normalization 
taking advantage of the jungle terrain and popular support.  How 
effective their armed resistance to the armed strength of the Indian 
state can be remains a major question.
  Did the Maoists also reflect upper caste attitude and behaviour in 
their political practice ? On this issue a section of the PWG had 
come out of the party some years ago. How far were they concerned 
with the rights of the dalits and other backward classes in their 
political programmes ? In the 1990s after the upper castes opposed 
reservation for backward classes the Maoists  spearheaded the 
campaigns for dalit and OBC rights in many parts of India. But the 
cast issue is still not fully integrated with the class understanding 
of politics. Similarly, feminists have pointed out the prevalence of 
patriarchal values and behaviour in the Maoist parties.  Some women 
comrades have dislosed the sexual  harassment they have been 
subjected to.  Moreover, their women's organizations have not been on 
the forefront of the variety of women's struggles which have active 
in contemporary India. One can generally raise the question as to 
whether the naxalites have dialectically integrated class, caste and 
gender any better than the rest of the Indian communists whose record 
on this question still remains frustratingly low.
       Human rights activists have also asked whether they  practiced 
democracy and  civil liberties within their movement which should be 
an embryo of their ideal society.  Factionalism and splits have 
famously characterized the naxalite movement  leading to the 
existence of over two dozen groups at one time. Were they guilty of 
sectarian politics rather than following politics of united front? 
There was a time the intolerance of divergent opinion was so stark 
that it led to killings - something that seems to have come down in 
the recent years. The mechanical understanding of revisionism and 
dogmatism to which all differences are reduced  remains an easy habit 
among the communist groups.  The revolutionary tradition of 
inner-party democracy and minority accepting the decision by majority 
while the latter respected the point of view of the minority  seemed 
to be a fragile heritage. ( Though recent examples of the CPI-M not 
joining the UPA government due to a majority decision and the 
differences within the CPN (Maoist) leadership having been resolved 
by the minority accepting the majority decision were exceptions.)
Common people whose cause the naxalites claim to take up have 
day-to-day  livelihood  issues of making a living out of agriculture 
and forestry, of finding water for their fields, access to affordable 
credit, finding market for their produce and finding ways and means 
to make education and health accessible the peasants and tribals. In 
the formulation of political strategy such day-to-day issues do not 
seem to figure prominently among the Maoists. Many of these are 
dismissed as 'reformism', 'welfare work' or even NGO action. That 
constructive programme formed an integral part of revolutionary 
strategy together with cultural and educational work besides 
political and military tasks seems to have gone to the background In 
the recent years the naxalites have tried to answer some of these 
issues, but not entirely satisfactorily.
The issue of revolutionary creativity - the ability to assess the 
emerging environment- national, local and global and respond to the 
challenges of the time and adjusting to the changing situation while 
pursuing ideological goals still remains a challenge for the naxalite 
movement in India. Learning lessons not only from Chinese and 
Vietnamese revolutions but also from Philippines, Nicaragua, Peru, 
Venezuela where the experiences have been very different  was equally 
important. The case of the Nepalese revolution was also unique in 
many respects. Revolutionary creativity summed up Maoism then as well 
as now. They are learning it the hard way.
  India's naxalite movement  continues to spread despite suffering 
losses of cadre and operational areas from time to time.  This is 
because they represent a powerful challenge to the existing political 
economy, especially in the phase of capitalist globalization. To cope 
with this challenge the democratic forces must pressurize the state 
authorities to return to a political approach, stop treating it as a 
law and order problem and respond to the issues of the poor. The 
ground created by the peace talks 2004 has now collapsed. The AP 
government as well as the Centre now demand that the Maoists lay down 
arms before resuming talks. The policy-makers  are now guided by an 
unified understanding of global terrorism and hence formulating a 
strategy of counter-terrorism with more or less US software and 
Israeli hardware with Indian brands added. This strategy cannot see 
the difference between  the CPI(Maoist) operating in Andhra and Bihar 
from the CPN ( Maoist ) currently leading a nationalist agrarian 
armed struggle  against the autocratic monarchy in Nepal. No doubt, 
they are revolutionary communists in solidarity with one another in 
fighting imperialism , but they are fighting different battles  in 
their own countries. After all they are Maoists who believed that the 
greatest lesson from Mao's leadership of the Chinese revolution was 
that people of a country must formulate their own strategy derived 
from their unique local conditions. Leaders of the Indian state need 
to look at the ground reality a little more deeply, comprehend the 
nature of the Maoist challenge and address the socio-economic issues 
so that another spiral of intensified violence in India can be 
avoided and prospects of peace and democracy enhanced.


Manoranjan Mohanty is  Professor of Political Science ( Retd), 
University of Delhi and Visiting Professor, Institute of Human 
Development, New Delhi. His publications include Revolutionary 
Violence: Study of the Maoist Movement in India ( 1977),  People's 
Rights ( Coed, 1998 ) and Class ,Caste, Gender ( Ed, 2004 )


______


[5]


PEACE NOW
JOURNAL OF INDIA'S COALITION FOR NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT AND PEACE
  60TH ANNIVERSARY OF HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI SPECIAL ISSUE, 2005
http://www.cndpindia.org/peace-now!/PN-hiroshima-spl05.pdf


______


[6]

India Pakistan Arms Race and Militarisation Watch Compilation # 156
(17 September,  2005)

Contents
=========================================
1  Dark clouds on the Indo-Pakistani horizon (M B Naqvi)
2  US salvoes across South Asia (Kaushik Kapisthalam)
3  Why do nations want nuclear weapons? (Ahmad Faruqui)
4  Birthday gift to President Musharraf: Rashid: 1st cruise missile 
tested (Daily Times)
5  Test will maintain arms balance in region: Musharraf
6  Pakistan developing longer-range cruise missile: official
7  Limited War Under the Nuclear Umbrella and its Implications for 
South Asia (Khurshid Khan)
8  Gunning for peace in South Asia (Siddharth Srivastava)
9  Asia's missiles strike at the heart (Sudha Ramachandran)
10 F-16 Sale To Pakistan Highlights US Policy Contradiction (Farhan Bokhari)
11 Pakistan to get 'largest supply' of F-16s: official
12 PAF being equipped with state-of-the-art technology: Aziz
13 Pakistan: Military Land-Grab (Amir Mir)
14  India: Budget 2005-06: Spending on Military and Police - No 
Budget Constraint (RUPE)
15  Pentagon gets set to grab piece of Delhi pie (Sujan Dutta)
16 Sri Lanka:  The death of a ceasefire agreement (Rohini Hensman)
17  The dodgy underbelly of India's war on terror (Siddharth Varadarajan)
18 Jammu and Kashmir: Guns out number patients in mother and child hospital
19  Spy Villages - Flies On The Wall (Chander Suta Dogra)
20 India-US Relations: Significance of Framework Agreement on Defence 
(Achin Vanaik)
21 India Becomes Developing World's Top Arms Buyer
22 Indo-Israel arms deals are worth Rs 11,880Cr
23 India Taps France and Other Countries in Drive to Modernize its 
Military (VOA)
24 India Joint venture for maintaining Russian defence equipment 
(Sandeep Dikshit)
25 Russia, India sign US$350m defense deal
26 New Indian Procurement Rules Stress Offsets, Strategic 
Relationships (Pulkit Singh)
27 US General to India: Make up your mind on missile policy (Shiv Aroor)
28 India:  Media Trials and Courtroom Tribulations : Conduct of the 
Media with  Regard to the Trial of the Accused in the '13th December 
: Attack on Parliament' Case - 2001 - 2005 (Shuddhabrata Sengupta)
29. Hiroshima Memories Don't Deter South Asia's Hawks (J. Sri Raman)
30  Indo US Nuclear Accord: Feeding The Nuclear Fire (Zia Mian, M V Ramana)

URL: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IPARMW/message/167


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