SACW | 30-31 Dec. 2005

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire | 30-31 December, 2005 | Dispatch No. 2194


[1] Bangladesh: Josh Tones & Suicide Bombers (Naeem Mohaiemen)
[2] Bangladesh: India Celebrates an Illusory 'Victory' (J. Sri Raman)
[3] Pakistan: Thinking of the Quaid (Anwar Syed)
[4] India: Will There be Singing in the Dark Times? (Shabnam Hashmi) +
News from Anhad
[5] India: A question of faith Religious fanatics trying to stop
inter-religious marriages (Paarth Joshi)
[6] India - Chattisgarh: Alert from Human rights activists
[7] Resource: 100 nonviolent ways to register protest without resorting
to violence and threats


___


[1]

Daily Star (Bangladesh)
December 29, 2005

JOSH TONES & SUICIDE BOMBERS
by Naeem Mohaiemen

"Because of the prohibition of all organisations in opposition to the
"party" of the Shah, the opposition tended to gather in the mosques.
This is particularly so for the peasant, the middle class, and even
for the merchant class opposition to the regime of the Shah.  Because
of the failures of the Communist Party and radicals, even to attempt
to organise opposition within the ranks of the [Iranian] working
class, discontent surfaced at the mosques. Radical sermons were
preached, which though cloudy and nebulous, were interpreted by the
masses in their own fashion." - Ted Grant, February 9, 1979


Violence-- nihilistic and escalating-- is not new to our society which
has oscillated between dictatorship and democracy for 34 years.  But
the nature (suicide bombers) and the source (militant Islamist groups)
are perceived to be a "new equation".  Evidence points to groups like
JMB, but some parts of the puzzle remain unresolved.  I abhor paranoid
conspiracy theories, but the current crisis will not end with mass
arrests and confessions from "JMB cadres".  The real puppet-masters
remain hidden.

At the same time, responsible activists cannot engage in these debates
for too long-- because we quickly discover that our government is
using the "hidden forces" theory as a justification for inaction.  In
the interest of pushing this administration to do something, anything,
focus has to remain on the factors that are visible and in our
control.  That is to say: militant groups, unmonitored funding, arms
smuggling, and madrasa education curriculum and post-madrasa
unemployment.

Pause for a second to consider the psychology of the suicide bombers.
Regardless of who has trained them, on an individual level they have
rejected the escalating "modernity" project represented by the
mushrooming of an aggressive consumerist culture (or you could argue
consumerism has rejected them).  The militant recruits can't afford to
drink Coke, have Josh ring tones, buy bar-coded fruit at Agora or wear
jeans from Westecs.  Within their violent, anarchic program (what
Tariq Ali calls "Islamo-anarchists") is also fury at an economic
system that has left them behind.

It is tempting to dismiss militants as "mindless robots."  On December
23d, I was with a group of activists who were witness to the latest
anti-Ahmadiya rallies by the (now divided) Khatme Nabuwat.  It was
easy to comfort ourselves by looking at the faces and categorizing
them as bribed or coerced.  But what about those who truly believe
they are in a war against jahiliya, represented by today's Bangladesh?
  Mere patronizing or stereotyping is not enough to deal with this
growing faction.  These groups are getting stronger precisely because
we have provided no alternative.  However JMB, Khatme Nabuwat, Harkat-
ul-Jihad, Amra Dhakabashi, Allahr Dal, Lashkar e Taiba or other groups
have sprung up (external funding, internal manipulation, neglect by
government, ex-Shibir cadres who move on to more radical groups), we
need to look at the failure of secular and/or left politics that has
led to young, angry, poor men looking for answers elsewhere.

The rise of Political Islam is filling the vacuum left by the collapse
of progressive politics.  Today's left is toothless and fossilized (go
to any party meeting and survey the average age of the room).  For
angry young men who want to fight an unjust society, the only
remaining destination seems to be Political Islam.  And for those who
are impatient even with Jamaat's methodical Islamization program,
militant groups offer armed uprisings to speed up the arrival of the
Caliphate.

There is an ironic parallel between racial profiling of Western
Muslims after 9/11, and our own profiling of Muslim militants.
Bearded men in crowded public spaces seem to be cause for immediate
alarm these days, as at a recent Public Library film screening where a
musolli wandered in while looking for the namaj ghor.  While we
support law enforcement stopping militant groups, we must also make
sure human rights are not violated in this process.  If we start
brutalizing every madrasa  student as "the other", we will only drive
them further into the arms of the militant groups.  I was relieved
that recent police action prevented Khatme Nabuwat from attacking the
Ahmadiya mosque.  At the same time, I worry that photos of Khatme
workers being beaten by police (like the bloody photo Inqilab printed)
will make them martyrs and attract new recruits.  It is worth
remembering how the Egyptian state's brutal repression of Muslim
Brotherhood gave them hero status and increased their support.  We
must firmly stop violent militant groups, but we also have to make
sure that our actions don't result in these groups getting sympathetic
support.

On the surface, it appears that "mainstream" Islamist parties like
Jamaat are hurt by all this.  In the past, they always had to deal
with the taint of 1971.  But as time passes and memories fade (aided
by an official policy of erasure), the rajakar label has lost edge as
a political weapon.  Today's Jamaat is well on its way to rebranding
itself as a "moderate Muslim party."  But, the theory goes, if
bombings discredit Islamist politics Jamaat will pay the price at
polls.  But is that really true?  Note how carefully Jamaat, through
its political apparatus, and affiliated satellites like the Baitul
Mokarram khatib, has spoken out against bombings.  On a recent Friday,
I found myself in the middle of a rally coming out from Katabon
mosque.  Post-Jumma prayer musollis raised loud chants: "bombaji kore
jara/islamer shotru thara" (those who throw bombs/are enemies of
islam).  An emboldened Jamaat just held a mammoth anti-bombing rally
in Paltan, advertised by rickshaw mikes blaring "Jamaat e Islami
Jindabad!"

So now we have "factions" within Political Islam: you have Jamaat
positioning itself as "good Islam" to differentiate from the "bad
Islam" of the militant groups.  The ground beneath our feet has
shifted dramatically.  All debate is happening within the paradigm of
Islamist politics.  Even secular politicians now feel obliged to quote
from the Quran and say, "bombers are doing un-Islamic things".  So
militant groups have already succeeded-- the terrain has transformed
to one where political rhetoric is confined within the Islamic
framework.  If Islamist politics is the all-encompassing box, the JMB
bombings can benefit Jamaat as the "moderate" Islamists that speak
"against" bombings.  Recall a time in the near past when Jamaat meant
Shibir which meant rajakar, rog-kata and ramda.  Now all those
signifiers of violence and intolerance have been neatly transferred
from Jamaat to groups like JMB.  Even the anti-Ahmadiya movement,
which was Jamaat's first success in 1950s Pakistan, is now linked to
Khatme.  Jamaat's militant, street action model of the past has now
been taken up by newer groups, and they are free to reinvent
themselves as "tolerant democrats"!

As the debate bounces between "good" and "bad" Islam and the left
fades out, the politics of economic justice have been obliterated.  To
give only one example, thousands of workers were fired when Adamjee
Jute Mills closed down, but newspapers were dominated by debates over
Arabization of Zia airport, French hijab ban, Ahmadiya Muslims, and
Guantanamo Quran desecration.

In the middle of an unprecedented crisis, we are still stuck with the
motifs of hartals, statements, blame games, and stalled
investigations.  BNP is already cornered by the current situation, but
AL doesn't understand that if the country collapses, they won't be
able to run it either.  If a third force emerges that no one can
predict or control, Bangladesh could turn into an international war
zone.  Unless we wake up to the need for national unity to stop the
militant groups, even this far-fetched scenario could come true.  If
that happens, we will be living in a country where all the wrangling
about strikes, parliament boycott, and caretaker government will seem
like relics of a more innocent time.

Naeem Mohaiemen is director of DisappearedInAmerica.org, a film/art
installation by a group of artist-activists on post 9/11 civil
liberties of Western Muslims.


____



[2]

truthout.org
26 December 2005

BANGLADESH: INDIA CELEBRATES AN ILLUSORY 'VICTORY'
by J. Sri Raman

India's tourist literature may talk of Mahatma Gandhi, Gautam
Buddha and their messages of peace. Neither of the country's two main
political parties, however, prides itself on any contribution to the
cause of peace. Quite to the contrary.

     The leaders of the far-right Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have left
no one in doubt about this. The primary and proudest achievement of the
BJP-led government under former-Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee,
according to them, lay in the Pokharan nuclear-weapon tests. They are
convinced that they can silence any critic questioning the party's
commitment to the country's cause by citing the tests, and the status
these are supposed to have conferred on India.

     The Congress Party, heading the current coalition government in New
Delhi, finds their counter in the Bangladesh war of 1971. They hail the
liberation of Bangladesh, achieved largely by India under former-Prime
Minister Indira Gandhi, as a feat of the kind the party's political foes
can never boast of.

     What is more, each of the parties acknowledges the "achievement" of
the other. Stray voices from within the Congress might have mildly
protested Pokharan, but the party as a whole and their government today
only proclaim their resolve to pursue the path of nuclear armament. The
BJP and their associates have been even more effusive in acknowledging
their worthy adversary's role in the war of three decades ago.

     Vajpayee himself, at that time, famously hailed Indira as "Durga"
(the demon-slaying deity of the Hindu pantheon), though he has since
been denying the statement in vain. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
(RSS), patriarch of the far-right "parivar" ("family"), with the BJP as
its political front, has been even less restrained and more rapturous in
its praise of the former prime minister on this count.

     The left and liberal sections of opinion in India, too, supported
the war then as a "liberation struggle." All the more so because the
Richard Nixon regime of the US at the time was tilting toward Pakistan
and against India and Bangladesh as a continuation of its cold war in
the region. Many here saw the revolt of then-East Pakistan as a welcome
rejection of religion-based nationhood.

     Ironically today, it is religious-communal fascism in India that
pays the most fervent tributes to Indira for "breaking Pakistan," as the
RSS puts it. And it is religious fundamentalism that is increasingly on
the rampage in Bangladesh.

     On December 16, the government of India celebrated the "Vijay
Divas" (Victory Day) in commemoration of the conclusion of the
Bangladesh war with the Pakistani forces' surrender to the triumphant
Indian army. The BJP registered a token protest against the government
for not celebrating with equal pomp the July 26 anniversary of the
Kargil victory, achieved under Vajpayee against Pakistani intruders in
the Himalayan region; and Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee proffered
the technical explanation that Bangladesh was a "declared war" while
Kargil was not. The matter ended there with the BJP preferring not to
press their point.

     The more noteworthy point, however, was the absence of any public
enthusiasm over the Bangladesh anniversary. The political evolution of
India's eastern neighbor has done nothing to enthuse the people,
especially as they have been exposed to far-right propaganda about the
dire threat from Bangladeshi "infiltrators" to the country's security
and demography.

     Developments in Bangladesh over the last decade, and more
particularly in the recent past, have only helped to strengthen the
propagandists' divisive politics. The growth of "jehadi" fundamentalism,
by all accounts, has been phenomenal in that country ever since
President George Bush embarked on a war against it in Afghanistan and
elsewhere.

     We have talked, in these columns before, of the several incidents
of terrorism to shake Bangladesh over the past two years. These include
the series of grenade blasts in Dhaka on August 21, 2004, and the 400
explosions in 63 district centers across the country almost a year
later. This month alone, killings of several judges and lawyers,
indicted by terrorists on charges of not implementing the Islamic law,
have been reported along with an open extremist threat to eliminate
women - even non-Muslim ones - not wearing veils.

     The terrorist politics have led to an anti-India tirade as well,
which sections of Bangladeshi media deplore as a "diversionary tactic."
The government of India and its security and intelligence agencies,
however, cannot claim to have given no cause for complaints. They could
have certainly avoided the 100-round exchange of fire on August between
Indian and Bangladeshi forces across a fenced border, which triggered
grave apprehensions all over the region.

     Involved in all of this are more than India-Bangladesh relations.
The far-right campaign against Bangladeshi "infiltrators," strengthened
anew by every successive terrorist strike across India's eastern border,
is easily convertible into one against "Islam." It can thus serve to
scuttle as well the India-Pakistan peace process, which the BJP cannot
otherwise oppose, having initiated it during the Vajpayee days as a
post-Pokharan ploy to prove their peaceable intentions.
     A freelance journalist and a peace activist of India, J. Sri Raman
is the author of Flashpoint (Common Courage Press, USA). He is a regular
contributor to t r u t h o u t.


____


[3]

Dawn
December 25, 2005

THINKING OF THE QUAID

By Anwar Syed

“YOU are free, you are free to go to your temples. You are free to go to
your mosques or to any other place of worship in this state of
Pakistan.” This is the assurance the founder of our country, Mohammad
Ali Jinnah, our Quaid-i-Azam, gave all of us —Muslims, Hindus,
Christians, Zoroastrians, and others — in his address to the Constituent
Assembly on August 11, 1947.

Can there be doubt that he would have been deeply embarrassed,
anguished, even incensed had he been present to see what some of his
people did in Sangla Hill on November 12, 2005? A Muslim lost money to a
Christian in a game of cards, went to the local prayer leader, and
accused his “playmate” of blasphemy. The following morning a mob of
professedly outraged Muslims attacked and broke up three churches, a
convent for nuns, a missionary school, a hostel, and homes belonging to
local Christians. They burned down or otherwise destroyed books,
pictures, relics, and furniture.

Christian leaders have called upon General Pervez Musharraf to order a
judicial inquiry and award “exemplary” punishment to the perpetrators.
What could the punishments be for vandalism committed by a frenzied mob
incited by the so-called “defenders” of the faith? Looking for the
culprits would be like looking for a needle in the proverbial haystack.
Yet the fact remains that the emotional hurt and physical damage done to
a small and helpless minority is enormous and a way to right this
despicable wrong must be found. Someone has to make restitution. It
won’t be the culprits.

Who then? I submit that Muslims as a community must accept
responsibility and comfort and compensate our grieving Christian
fellow-citizens. I do not mean that the government of Pakistan, or the
Punjab government, should make good the loss. Muslims, as individuals
and as a community, must do it, for only then will their minds and souls
be cleansed; only then will they realize that the wrong done in Sangla
Hill must never be allowed again.

I should like to report that two leading women among Muslims of
Pakistani origin in northern Virginia (US) have launched a vigorous, and
apparently successful, campaign to raise funds for rebuilding or
repairing the Christian places of worship in Sangla Hill. Their effort
is commendable, but it cannot move the hearts and minds of Muslims
living in Pakistan. The latter must also do something of the same order,
and on a much larger scale. Let the call go out from Qazi Husain Ahmad,
Maulana Fazlur Rehman, other MMA leaders, Mr Altaf Hussain, Mr Nawaz
Sharif, and Ms Benazir Bhutto that Pakistani Muslims are honour bound to
give funds and personal service in aid of the Christians in Sangla Hill.
They owe decent respect and affection, and equal rights, to all minority
groups. This is what the Quaid-i-Azam would have expected of them.

I should now like to turn, on this 129th anniversary of the
Quaid-i-Azam’s birth, first to an overview of his personality, and then
to certain aspects of his political ethic. Based upon several dozen
recollections and analyses of his person and politics, presented at an
international congress of scholars in December 1976, I am able to offer
the following summation.

He was: handsome, elegant, eloquent, wealthy, shrewd, prudent, and
frugal; proud, assertive, wilful; grave, disciplined, orderly, and
persevering; competent organizer, skilful negotiator, able tactician,
master of detail; unselfish, honest, incorruptible; rational, logical;
given to the rule of law; covenant keeper; dedicated to his people’s
welfare.

Most of these characterizations are self-explanatory, and not all of
them are equally relevant to the making of a great leader. The people of
Pakistan hold him in the highest esteem not because he was, among other
things, eloquent, handsome, or elegant. He remains their ideal because
of his unwavering commitment to probity in personal and public
transactions, a balancing of the mutual obligations of the individual
and the community, and primacy of the common good, the public interest,
over the personal interests of policy-makers and influencers.

Let us begin with his view of the ends of public power. The function of
the state, he believed, is not merely to maintain order that enables
individuals freely to make and pursue their choices. It is also to build
a good society, which is held together not only by relationships of
interdependence based on contracts, but also by bonds of mutual
affection and brotherhood.

All members of the Pakistani national community are brothers unto one
another regardless of the religion to which they belong. This community
is a historic, corporate entity that connects the present generations
with those who are now gone and those who are still to come. It is an
organic community whose parts are linked together in their health and
well-being, and whose togetherness is enlivened by the warmth of solidarity.

As the Quaid-i-Azam saw it, brotherhood requires implementing the values
of equality and social justice. In addition to equality before law and
that of opportunity, it includes society’s obligation to narrow the gap
between the rich and the poor, and to ensure that none would go without
access to the basic necessities of life. Since brotherhood necessarily
implies caring, the rich cannot say that they owe the poor nothing.
Brotherhood must mean then that as one member of the community advances
to a higher level of competence or prosperity, he takes others along
with him on the same road. They may not all advance to the same extent,
but sharing of a lifting experience has taken place, bringing all
participants closer together.

In his post-independence speeches he urged his listeners in Quetta,
Sibi, Peshawar, and elsewhere to subordinate their sectional interests
to the larger national interest. Local attachments need not be
abandoned, but what is the value of a part, he asked, except within the
whole? This was a call for harmonizing local and national identities,
but it did not imply that the locality would do all the giving. The
national community owed obligations to regions and sections. The parts
might not have value except within the whole, but the whole could not
flourish if the parts languished. They must have their due and feel that
justice reigned if they were to honour the whole.

The Quaid-i-Azam undertook to implement these requisites of national
integrity. He told the people in Balochistan (for whose welfare he, as
governor general, carried a special responsibility) that he wanted their
area to have the status of a province as quickly as possible, and that
in the meantime he would associate their representatives or notables
with plans for their social and economic development. In the same vein
he assured an audience in Peshawar that his government would want the
“sons of the soil” to occupy higher-ranking posts in the provincial and
central governments for which they were qualified. The people of all
provinces of Pakistan must have their share of the advantages generated
by public policy.

A good society must strive to be just, which meant living according to
law and doing away with exploitation. Graft and “jobbery” were wicked
because they involved taking something to which one was not entitled
and, by the same token, depriving someone of that to which he had a
right. He admonished that public officials in Pakistan were to serve the
people towards whom they should be warm, kind, and befriending, not
arrogant.

Civil servants, he said, must resist the pressure that politicians might
bring to bear upon them to promote their personal and partisan ends.
They owed loyalty to the state, not to any individual politician or
party. Governments were made and unmade, ministers came and went away,
but civil servants remained, which meant that they carried a heavy
responsibility for safeguarding the public interest. Resistance to
pressure might involve hazards to their careers, but they must do their
duty fearlessly, and if sacrifices had to be made in the process, they
should be willing to make them in order to make Pakistan the state of
“our dreams.”

The people were entitled to a say in their governance. They could put a
party in power and they could dismiss it. Their government must be
responsive to their needs and aspirations. But once again he asked for a
balancing of rights and obligations. The people had rights but so did
the government. Both were entitled to be dealt with according to law.
The “sovereign” people must learn that they had no right to act as a
violent mob. Having put a government in place, they must let it govern.
They should not try to impose their will on it, from one day to the
next, by unlawful means.

No government worthy of the name could tolerate mob rule. He asked his
people to introduce elements of moderation and balance in their lives
and in their politics. Honest criticism of the government was
appropriate when deserved, but the people must also understand the
government’s limitations. And there would be nothing wrong with a word
of appreciation and praise when their government and public officials
did well.

The people of Pakistan celebrate the birthday of the Quaid-i-Azam to the
point where a great many of them do not want to hear that,
notwithstanding his many virtues, he was also capable of error. But they
have, at the same time, chosen to ignore his advice in each one of the
above-mentioned particulars. Are we then to say that his coming among us
had all been in vain? I don’t think so. Gandhi in India, Thomas
Jefferson in America, and the founding fathers of numerous modern states
have likewise been ignored by many among their succeeding generations.

This is a fate that has befallen even some of the prophets. The
optimists among us, especially those who speak in the hope of improving
minds, must be grateful to God that they have someone like the
Quaid-i-Azam to whose words and actions they can point as a torch that
shows the right path to those who would seek it. And who is to say that
such seekers will never increase?

The writer is professor emeritus of political science at the University
of Massachusetts, Amherst, US.

____


[4]   (The news from Anhad follow the below Article)

o o o

   WILL THERE BE SINGING IN THE DARK TIMES?
      The officer dealing with the widow pension scheme at the Dept of
Women and Child Development had a look at the form and said:  bring your
income certificate, high school certificate, birth certificate, proof of
residence, ration card, your son’s birth certificate, your daughter’s
birth certificate, copy of the FIR, admission slip of the Civil
hospital, post mortem report, pm noc, deceased birth certificate,
deceased proof of residence at the time of death, deceased proof of work
place, his death certificate, his school certificate, his birth
certificate.

   Naseem Bano’s husband Kalimuddin was killed in Naroda Patia in 2002
when the frenzied VHP mobs attacked and rampaged the whole area.  Naseem
witnessed the killing and the burning . Naseem was narrating her plight
at the Jan Sunvayee ( People’s Tribunal) organized by Aman Samudaya.

   When Beena from Aman Samudaya rang me up about a fortnight ago asking
me to be on the panel as a jury member I had really no idea what I was
saying yes to. It was in the middle of a lot of work and for me Beena’s
insistance that it was very important and that I had to be there was
enough to agree to it.

   Naseem ran from pillar to post trying to collect the documents. She
managed to get some but from where was she to get a work certificate
when her husband was a daily wager, how could she obtain his birth
certificate, she had seen him being killed, his burnt body was perhaps
taken to the civil hospital by the police, there was no way she could
get the certificate from the Civil Hospital, despite all her plies
Kalimuddin’s name remained in the list of the missing so a death
certificate was also impossible to obtain. A missing person is declared
dead only after 7 years.

   Naseem has a 5 year old son and a 6 year old daughter. She is herself
a matriculate.

   Sairaben is 55 years old, with one 20 year old daughter. Miseries and
hardships  have aged her so much that with her wrinkled face she looked
over 70. Her husband Abdul Qadir was killed in front of her her eyes by
the VHP goons in 2002. His stomach was slit open and intestines taken
out. Sairabi’s eyes wander off when she talks about the day. She is very
frail and short.

   Dayaben, Jasodaben Rathore, Suhanaben, Achchi Apa, Lalitaben Parmar,
Mubeena, Qaiser Jahan all came one by one and narrated their plight.
They are all widows. Most of the Muslim women who came had lost their
husband’s during the 2002 carnage and in most cases of the Hindu widows
it was either a natural death or an accident.

   The pension scheme did not discriminate between destitute women. A
pension of 500 rupees was given to widows, single destitute women,
single disabled women provided they were able to fulfill the formalities
of producing various certificates and filling the forms which itself is
an arduous task.

   Gujarat Government’s resolution No.- 102003-96 stopped this meager
amount to 500 rupees per month to the distressed women. The vibrant
Gujarat could not afford to continue supporting its most marginalized
section of the society. Sitting in Delhi one is shocked to see the
amount of money that is wasted almost every month in promoting Modi
through full page advertisements in all national dailies amounting to
crore of rupees.

   The present resolution also changed the definition of the destitute
woman. It excludes divorcees, unmarried single women, disabled women
from the scheme. The scheme now offers a meager amount as assistance to
train the widows and assumes that they would self employ themselves.

   Mubeena who is HIV positive lost her husband and two of her sons. Her
third son who lives with her is also HIV positive. Like Naseem bano she
has also been running from office to office in the hope that someday she
might start getting the pension.

   Sitting at Mehdi Nawaz Hall in Paldi, Ahmedabad a few days ago I
heard stories of more than 50 women. Apart from the sad stories of their
lives a number of strange facts came out. A number of 2002 carnage
victims narrated that the administration refuses to issue birth
certificate of the children who were born in the relief camps, atleast
seven women who saw their husband’s being killed in front of their eyes
still have their names on the missing list and hence no death
certificate and no compensation. Most of the Hindu women who were
receiving the pension before the present order came into effect talked
of corruption and harassment by the officials.

   The only hope was the resolve by the women to fight for justice.

Shabnam Hashmi

o o o

Dear Friends,

   January 1, 2006- We are happy to announce that Human Rights Law
Network and Anhad are starting a regular office in Srinagar from January
1, 2006. While HRLN would be providing legal aid related to all major
social issues. Anhad would be starting long term work in a few villages
in Tangdar/ Uri . Anhad would also be engaged in organising seminars,
workshops, cultural events etc specially targetting students and youth.
Tanveer and Amjad two young volunteers who have been associated with
Youth for Peace for the past two years would be looking after Anhad
activitites in Kashmir. HRLN would have a team of 5-6 advocates in the
Srinagar office. A team to provide legal aid to the earth quake victims
who have not received compensation has already left today for Tangdar.
The decision was taken after a very successful two day seminar organised
in collaboration with the Kashmir University on December 26-27, 2005.

   January 3, 2005- Release of a Report on Dangs by the Fact Finding
Team representing over 15 organisations

   January 5, 2005- Release of a detailed Critique of  the Communal
Violence (Prevention, Control And Rehabilitation Of Victims) Bill, 2005

   January 26-27, 2006, - National Consultation on Communalism- New Delhi

   March 1, 2006- A Tribute to Wali Gujarati, Ahmedabad


____


[5]


The Times of India

A QUESTION OF FAITH
by Paarth Joshi
[ Wednesday, December 28, 2005 08:50:47 pm TIMES NEWS NETWORK ]

Religious fanatics are at it again- trying to stop inter-community
marriages.

Last week, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad called a bandh in Karjan, a town
near Vadodara. The reason: a boy from the Muslim community had eloped
and married a Hindu girl.

The marriage angered the girl's family and they set off to make sure the
boy 'divorced' their daughter. But, it only made news when a few
religious fanatics joined the procession to protect their religion by
stating that the "trend of inter religious marriages," must be stopped.

Yes, we are talking of India, apparently the world's largest secular,
multi cultural, democratic nation. And yes we are talking 2005 and not
1895 here!

And so, we asked a few couples who had committed the 'sin' of marrying
each other even though their religions were apparently not 'compatible',
about the effects of such statements on society.

Nuzhat and Amar Desai, who recently celebrated their 24th wedding
anniversary, are predictably upset. "Such statements are irrational and
instigate ill feelings among communities...

We've lived happily as a couple for such a long time without any
problems. Love and marriage are very personal issues where no
interference from fanatics should be entertained," says Nuzhat, a teacher.

Shafi and Meena Sheikh, who've been married for three years too feel
that one shouldn't pay any heed to such incidents. "Marriage is an
institution which makes one happy.

It's all about adjustment with the other person. What could be a better
way to forget differences and live happily?" says Shafi.

But when it comes to the younger generation, such incidents only make
them fearful. Anita Shah and Sadaf Vohra are in a relationship for a
year but they're not sure of marriage.

"Such incidents only help strengthen orthodox mind-sets. I don't know
whether I'll be able to marry Sadaf, maybe we would just end up as good
friends," says Anita.

A lesson to be learnt from those who've already walked the path?

(Names have been changed to protect identities)


____


[6]


   Chattisgarh Lok  Swatantrya  Sangathan (PUCL)
   (A-26Surya Apartments, Katora Talab, Raipur, C.G. 492001. Ph.
–0771-2422875) e mail- sbinayak at gmail.com


   PRESS RELEASE       29.12.05.

   The   Chhattissgarh PUCL  has received today a letter from the
Secretary,  Chhattisgarh State Committee, CPI (Maoist).The letter says
that  a senior leader   and member of the central committee of the  CPI
(Maoist)  who had come to Raipur for treatment ,has suddenly disappeared
on the evening of 28.12.05.There is a strong possibility that he has
been apprehended by the police and put under arrest.

   The PUCL   feels that, in the event of arrest,  given the fact that
this  has been kept secret, there is a serious threat to the life  of
the arrested person. We wish to bring this incident to the notice of the
public and the state authorities  in order to safeguard the human rights
of the arrested person.

   ( Dr  Binayak  Sen),

   General Secretary.


   For Urgent Attention

   Peoples Union for Democratic Rights


   Dated: 29.12.2005
   Press Release


   We have received information from PUCL Chhatisgarh about a CPI
(Maoist) leader and Central Committee member, Mr. Bijoy alias Prasad
having disappeared from Raipur since the evening of 28.12.2005, where he
had gone for treatment.

   PUDR has recently highlighted the lawlessness with which state forces
have been conduting themselves in anti-naxalite operations in
Chhatisgarh. Tribals in Bastar are being killed by the security forces
and the dead bodies are being disposed off without even a record.

   Given this context we fear for the life of the 67 year old arrested
CPI (Maoist) leader.

   Peoples Union for Democratic Rights, Delhi (PUDR) therefore demands
that the Chhatisgarh state authorities respect the rule of law and
immediately announce the detention of the leader and register a formal
arrest.


Deepika Tandon
Secretary, PUDR


Peoples Union For Democratic Rights, Delhi (India)
(Peoples Union For Democratic Rights is a Delhi based organisation,
fighting for peoples rights in India for over twenty years now)

____


[7]

  (From Nepali Times, 23-29 December 2005)


100 nonviolent ways
There are effective methods to register protest without resorting to
violence and threats

Formal Statements
1. Public Speeches
2. Letters of opposition or support
3. Signed public statements
4. Declarations of indictment and intention
5. Group or mass petitions

Communications with a Wider Audience
6. Slogans, caricatures, and symbols
7. Banners, posters, and displayed communications
8. Leaflets, pamphlets, and books
9. Newspapers and journals

Group Representations
10. Deputations
11. Mock awards
12. Group lobbying
13. Picketing
14. Mock elections

Symbolic Public Acts
15. Displays of flags and symbolic colors
16. Wearing of symbols
17. Prayer and worship
18. Delivering symbolic objects
19. Protest disrobings
20. Destruction of own property
21. Symbolic lights
22. Displays of portraits
23. Paint as protest
24. New signs and names
25. Symbolic sounds
26. Rude gestures

Pressures on Individuals
27. “Haunting” officials
28. Taunting officials
29. Vigils

Drama and Music
30. Satire skits and pranks
31. Street theatre and singing

Honouring the Dead
32. Political mourning
33. Mock funerals
34. Demonstrative funerals
Public Assemblies
35. Assemblies of protest or support
36. Protest meetings
37. Teach-ins

Withdrawal and Renunciation
38. Walk-outs
39. Silence
40. Renouncing honours
41. Turning one’s back
42. Social boycott
43. Excommunication
44. Stay-at-home

Actions by Consumers
45. Consumer boycott
46. Policy of austerity
47. Rent withholding
48. Refusal to let or sell property
49. Lockout
50. Withdrawal of bank deposits
51. Refusal to pay fees, dues
52. Refusal to pay debt or interest
53. Severance of funds and credit

Symbolic Strikes
54. Lightning strike
55. Slowdown strike
56. Working-to-rule strike
57. Reporting “sick”
58. Strike by resignation
59. Limited strike
60. General strike
61. Economic shutdown

Rejection of Authority
62. Refusal of public support
63. Boycott of elections
64. Boycott of government- supported organizations
65. Refusal to accept appointed officials
66. Reluctant and slow compliance
67. Refusal to disperse

Action by Government Personnel
68. Selective refusal of assistance
69. Blocking of lines of command and information
70. Stalling and obstruction
71. Deliberate inefficiency and selective noncooperation
72. Quasi-legal delays
73. Noncooperation by constituent governmental units

Psychological Intervention
74. Self-exposure to the elements
75. Satyagrahic fast
76. Hunger strike
77. Nonviolent harassment

Physical Intervention
78. Sit-in
79. Stand-in
80. Ride-in
81. Wade-in
82. Pray-in
83. Nonviolent obstruction
84. Nonviolent occupation

Social Intervention
85. Overloading of facilities
86. Stall-in
87. Speak-in
88. Guerrilla theatre
89. Alternative social institutions
90. Alternative communication system
91. Dumping
92. Selective patronage
93. Alternative markets
94. Selective patronage

Political Intervention
95. Overloading of administrative systems
96. Disclosing identities of secret agents
97. Civil disobedience of “neutral laws”
98. Jail bharo
99. Work-on without collaboration
100. Parallel government

Excerpted from: The Politics of Nonviolent Action, Vol. 2: The Methods
of Nonviolent Action by
Gene Sharp
Porter Sargent Publishers, Boston, 1973
www.aeinstein.org

____



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Buzz on the perils of fundamentalist politics, on
matters of peace and democratisation in South
Asia. SACW is an independent & non-profit
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