SACW | 30 Jan. 2006 | Pakistan: Bigots, Punishments in Law; South Asian Parliament; India: Women unsafe in Kerala, Gujarat - A March Against Violence

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire  | 30 January, 2006 | Dispatch No. 2213


[1] Pakistan: Frontier verdict [Dangerous Punishments] (Edit, Dawn)
[2] Pakistan: Foil the bigots (Irfan Husain)
[3] For a genuine South Asian parliament (Jawed Naqvi)
[4] India: Literate and educated - But how safe are women in Kerala?
(Shashi Tharoor)
[5] Cambodia: Coming to Terms with a Disturbing Past (Sanjib Baruah)
[6] Book Review: Free expression: No offence meant (Anita Joshua)
[7] Light  a  Diya / Candle  for Gandhiji's  Gujarat
A Silent March Against Violence, for Peace & Justice


____________________________________


[1]

Dawn (Pakistan)
January 29, 2006
Editorial

FRONTIER VERDICT

THE verdict by an additional district and sessions judge in Peshawar
ordering the amputation of the hand and foot of a person convicted of
robbery will only serve to embolden the extremists in the country. The
judge delivered his verdict after finding the accused guilty of robbery
at a bus stop and stealing over Rs 300,000 from a passerby. The court
has also jailed the man for five years and fined him Rs 30,000. The fact
is that the handing down of such a punishment would not be possible were
it not for Gen Ziaul Haq’s so-called Islamization and the introduction
of the discriminatory Hudood ordinances. Of course, one is not trying to
defend the robber here but to point out that the punishment should be
commensurate with the crime and also not be of a kind that it disables
the perpetrator for life.

While handling such cases, it should be noted that the fundamental
principle of the Islamic legal system is justice combined with
compassion. Besides, the enforcement of Hudood punishments presupposes
the existence of an Islamic society based on economic and social
equality and justice. A mere enforcement of the penal part of Islam
while ignoring the fundamentals of a welfare state amounts to a negation
of all that Islam stands for. Such punishments, as experience shows, are
never implemented, but they make world headlines and add to a distortion
of the image of Pakistan and of what Islam is all about. The verdict has
to be confirmed by the Federal Shariat Court and hopefully it will be
changed in favour of a more humane form of punishment, as has happened
on several occasions in the past when similar punishments were handed
down by lower court judges. That still does not take away from the fact
that there really is no place in this day and age for such punishments
to be on our statute books.


____



[2]


Dawn
January 28, 2006

FOIL THE BIGOTS

By Irfan Husain

IN most countries, a marathon race would merit a few paragraphs in the
sports or city pages. Here, the entire nation waits with bated breath to
see what the mullahs of the MMA will do to disrupt the event in Lahore
on Sunday.

The Punjab chief minister has tried to reach a compromise, but for some
reason, orthodox elements are up in arms over the prospect of a race in
which men and women run together. And yet, as a columnist pointed out in
a Karachi daily, millions of men and women perform the Haj together
every year. So what, readers may well ask, is the big deal?

A few months ago, these same extremists broke up a marathon in
Gujranwala. More recently, a similar event was disrupted by the Punjab
police, with Asma Jehangir, the gutsy lawyer and human rights activist,
being roughed up and her clothes ripped. What is it about women
participating in a foot race that so upsets men, particularly those with
long beards? Who reserved the roads of our country for the exclusive use
of men?

Actually, the marathon has become a symbol of the struggle between the
forces of moderation and darkness. The religious right has become so
used to bullying the government of the day and civil society into
getting its way that it is determined to disrupt the Lahore marathon.
And successive governments have failed to call the mullahs’ bluff.
Indeed, giving in to their most outlandish demands has become a habit.

Take President Musharraf’s abject surrender last year over the issue of
a column for religion in the new passports as an example. After the
government had announced that the machine-readable passports would not
contain this column to bring Pakistan into line with international
norms, the mullahs raised a hue and cry and threatened to lay siege to
Islamabad. After promising to hold firm, Gen Musharaf caved in and now
the new passports contain the entry for religion.

We need to ask why our clerics are so fond of raising pointless
non-issues that have no bearing on the problems we face today. Why are
they so insistent on dragging Pakistan back to the medieval era? The
truth is that their mindset has not progressed much beyond the 7th
century. Uneducated and ill-informed, they are incapable of discussing
contemporary issues intelligently. Hence they keep bringing up archaic,
irrelevant matters that only serve to confuse and confound.

Afghanistan under the Taliban is a case in point. The only education (if
one can call it that) these backward tribal villagers received was at
madressahs run by Pakistani religious parties. When they gained power,
their only agenda was to further ‘Islamize’ an overwhelmingly Muslim
country. Incapable of discussing the real issues of poverty, health and
education, they based their rule on the length of men’s beards. Their
reign was marked by a comprehensive ban on fun. Public executions and
flogging were the only entertainment. Women were forbidden to study or
work. And this is the role model many of our mullahs would like us to
follow.

In other Muslim countries, there is a certain amount of scholarship and
intellectual rigour associated with seminaries that is lacking here. In
Pakistan, Islam has been reduced to a set of do’s and don’ts — and
mostly the latter. The spiritual element has been completely removed.
How many of our self-appointed religious leaders practise the love,
humanity, tolerance and peace that are at the heart of all major religions?

To a great extent, the politicization of religion has caused the
confusion we see around us today. When semi-literate mullahs drive the
national agenda, we are obviously not going to debate the great issues
of the day. Inevitably, the public discourse will be dumbed down to the
level we have reached: can male technicians X-ray female patients?
Should women be allowed to run in a marathon? Did human beings actually
reach the surface of the moon, or was this great achievement actually
faked by the American government?

These trivial controversies divert us from addressing the real problems.
Thus, education remains neglected, partly because the mullahs will not
permit a meaningful overhaul of the curricula. On university campuses,
youth wings of religious parties routinely disrupt any attempt at
creativity. And mullahs on TV reinforce the image of a backward,
benighted nation. For instance, a medical student recently called one of
these shows for advice: could she put off fasting in Ramadan because of
her final examinations, and make up the missed fasts later? No way,
answered the mullah-in-the-box. However, he assured her that while she
was fasting, she would be inspired to perform better.

Fundamentalists seem to have problems with women who have nothing to do
with religion. Several non-Muslim societies have similar macho
attitudes, but do not necessarily insist that this attempt to dominate
women has religious sanction or sanctity. But in many Muslim countries,
largely illiterate communities are still in thrall to equally uneducated
mullahs who misinterpret the holy texts in order to cement male
dominance over women. In many cases, religion is cited to strengthen
backward social customs.

Obviously, the status quo suits the religious right very well. In
Pakistan, they have been constantly pushing their agenda with great
success. There is a popular misconception that the Islamization of
Pakistan started with general Zia. In reality, religious parties, most
notably the Jamaat-e-Islami, have been pressuring every government since
the creation of Pakistan to further their cause. And with varying
degrees, most governments have succumbed.

Of course, it was Zia’s hateful dictatorship that saw the rapid
acceleration of the process. There was no aspect of public life that was
too insignificant for him to intervene in. For example, in 1979, an
official order instructed all city governments to immediately demolish
all public urinals as it was considered unIslamic for men to urinate
standing up. This forced millions of men to relieve themselves against
walls.

These are the inanities we have been reduced to, thanks to our backward
mullahs. Year by year, we are being pushed backwards, and liberal
elements are being further marginalized. Despite this shrinkage of space
for free expression and thought, our fundamentalists are not satisfied
and keep pushing. Unfortunately, even secular leaders like President
Musharraf have not had the courage of their convictions.

In this environment of repression and hypocrisy, it is even more
important for the people of Lahore to turn up in large numbers and foil
the fundamentalists.



____


[3]

Dawn
January 30, 2006

FOR A GENUINE SOUTH ASIAN PARLIAMENT

by Jawed Naqvi

POPULAR leftist icon Tariq Ali was speaking in Delhi this past week to
audiences of slum-dwellers, academics, factory workers and communist
leaders. He addressed an anti-imperialist rally in the company of
Prakash Karat, the CPI-M’s phlegmatic general secretary. He forcefully
spoke in his Punjabi-accented Urdu to a sizeable rally about the growing
resistance to American hegemony in Latin America, about the pivotal role
played by Cuba in creating an alternative political space right in the
backyard of the United States itself.

The audiences savoured his stories of the resistance under way in Latin
America. He recalled how Cuba had dispatched 14,000 doctors in one go to
Venezuela to set up people’s health infrastructures in the neighbouring
country and how Venezuela had made available its enormous oil resources
to Cuba and others in the region to sideline American domination of
their economies.

The story of an old Venezuelan woman was a tear-jerker. When the middle
class, nudged by Washington, appeared to be plotting against Chavez, and
the economy was sinking into a serious crisis, Chavez undertook a tour
of townships on the outskirts of Caracas. An old woman accosted the
president, took him to her small rundown house where she was cooking a
paltry meal.

“Chavez,” she told her president, “I have burnt my chairs for fuel,
tomorrow it would be the table. I have two or three wooden doors in the
house that would be enough fuel for the next several days. We’ll look
after ourselves, so that you don’t get deterred from your mission to
usher a new dawn for our people.”

The encounter gave the president some badly needed courage at a rare
time when he was feeling truly low, Ali said, quoting from his numerous
visits to Venezuela. The stories seemed so far away from South Asia’s
own completely different kind of engagement with the United States, and
yet the message was enticing enough to probe a salvage operation.

The opportunity came with one of Ali’s favourite ideas that came up at
an informal chat with students and teachers at Delhi University when he
dwelled on his dream of a South Asian union. This was perhaps the most
tricky part of his lecture tour not only because even Tariq Ali didn’t
seem to have a very clear answer to a student’s question: “How is your
concept of a South Asian union different from the idea of Akhand Bharat,
which the rightwing Hindus want?”

Tariq Ali tends to get impatient with those who come in the way of his
brilliant flourishes. On this occasion he managed to mumble something to
the effect that Muslims would be safe under such a union, which they
would be denied under Hindutva. But clearly the problem was more
complex. It was not just about exhorting the two biggest countries of
the region with an emotional appeal to pare down their defence budgets
so as to be able to spend more on education, health and other urgent
needs of their peoples.

The question that troubled his listeners really had more to do with the
fear of a union that didn’t in any basic way alter the picture for any
of the countries, much less for their people. Imagine a pact, as one
history lecturer observed at the end of Tariq Ali’s talk, with rightward
leaning governments of South Asia, all fighting their versions of
terrorism under American tutelage, would such a union not be tantamount
to a veritable axis? The nightmarish prospect was too disconcerting to
persist with the debate.

In other words, the fact that not much bonhomie exists in today’s
circumstances between the states of South Asia, should be seen with
considerable relief. For who would want Indian troops to be summoned to
help Pakistani garrisons in Balochistan, or who would welcome Pakistani
commandoes taking potshots at Naxalite insurgents in the heartland of
India? Or who would want both the countries joining hands to bail out
the authoritarian monarch of Nepal, as they seem so eager to do, in a
bloody anti-Maoist operation?

So basically, any idea of a confederation of South Asian countries is
viable if the member states first become reasonably agreeable
democracies. At this point someone mentioned Arundhati Roy’s idea of a
parallel parliament for India, which could be replicated at a South
Asian level.

Roy had first presented the idea at a lecture in Aligarh in April 2004.
She had appealed to India’s grassroots workers, struggling across the
country, to unite. She had urged ‘single-issue’ resistance movements to
become more involved with each other’s issues. “Many non-violent
resistance movements fighting isolated, single-issue battles across the
country have realized that their kind of special interest politics which
had its time and place, is no longer enough. That they feel cornered and
ineffectual is not good enough reason to abandon non-violent resistance
as a strategy,” Roy declared.

In a way non-violent resistance had atrophied into feel-good political
theatre, which at its most successful offered a photo opportunity for
the media, and at its least successful, was simply ignored.

“The ‘Ngo’isation of civil society initiatives is taking us in exactly
the opposite direction. It’s de-politicising us, making us dependent on
aid and handouts. We need to re-imagine the meaning of civil
disobedience,” Roy had appealed.

“Perhaps we need an elected shadow parliament outside the Lok Sabha,
without whose support and affirmation parliament cannot easily function.
A shadow parliament that keeps up an underground drumbeat, that shares
intelligence and information (all of which is increasingly unavailable
in the mainstream media).

“Fearlessly, but non-violently we must disable the working parts of this
machine that is consuming us.” It is this parliament that could
replicate itself in other countries of South Asia and then strike a bond
with each other at the grassroots. Tariq Ali’s dream may yet be
fulfilled. Roy was there to listen to him last week. Now it’s his turn
to listen to her.


____



[4]


Magazine Section / The Hindu

    THE SHASHI THAROOR COLUMN

    Looking beyond the backwaters


Literate and educated: But how safe are women in Kerala? Photo: Vipin
Chandran

FEW articles of mine have provoked such a storm of a reaction from
Keralites as my piece on Kerala's women ("Kalyanikutty's Kerala",
Magazine, November 6, 2005). Strikingly, the letters I received came not
from the usual sources — outraged chauvinists rising to defend their
homeland from insults real and imagined — but rather from the opposite:
disillusioned Malayalis attacking their own state's prevailing culture
in relation to women.

Unsafe

Two of these stand out. The poet Thachom Poyil Rajeevan puts it bluntly:
"It's true that Kerala women can read and write (and) are doing better
than Bihari women or the women in the neighbouring states in the
professional and social spheres. There may be pilots, doctors,
ambassadors, and Supreme Court judges among them. But they cannot come
out of their houses after six in the evening. If anyone dares to do so,
she is not safe outside in the dark. Any man she comes upon on the way
is a potential intruder into her modesty. I don't know whether women in
Bihar face a similar threat in public places. But I have seen girls in
Madurai Kamaraj University in Tamil Nadu walk fearlessly and safely to
hostels late at night after completing their work in libraries and
laboratories. Yet I cannot expect (to see) a girl after six or seven on
the campus of the university where I work. I have seen many Malayali
women walk with confidence in Bangalore, Mumbai and New Delhi. But when
they come to Calicut or Trichur, they become timid. Kalyanikuttys," he
concludes, "despite all their claims to literacy and empowerment, are
not safe in their home state."

That is a sad enough indictment coming from a man, but even more searing
are the words of a Malayali woman reader, Prema Nair. "Oh dear, oh
dear!!" she begins. "Are you one of those who have seen everything
through the tinted lens of the acclaimed `Kerala model'? Nobody is
disputing the favourable development and lifestyle indicators this state
has, but please do not confuse well-being with an empowered and
independent sense of being. Do we not often also confuse literacy with
education?"

Fair point, Ms. Nair. She goes on to assail what she ironically calls
the "other glories" of Kerala — of a state where women become regular
victims of dowry harassment ("unlike in the north of India, this is
prolonged mental harassment leading to suicides") and of domestic
violence (she cites scholarly studies from INCLEN and Sakhi confirming
the "increasing and alarming rise of domestic violence" in Kerala).
"Yes," Prema Nair goes on, "animated arguments are a regular feature of
daily life in Kerala. But what happens after? Political parties and
politicians play their games; women suffer. The elected women
representatives are expected to toe the party line; women's concerns are
always given a back seat, except when it can be a means of increasing
votes. Women's groups and the autonomous women's network have to
consistently intervene (with) regular gender-sensitising and training
programmes (in order to) support women and equip them to withstand this
masculinisation of public spaces."

I am already feeling the tell-tale symptoms of male inadequacy, but Ms.
Nair goes on: "Isn't this the very State that produced the infamous sex
rackets, or should we look the other way? Isn't this God's own country
and the devil's own people who waltz their way into organised sex-racket
gangs (a special feature of Kerala, by the way) victimising teenage
girls, luring them into jobs and then sexually exploiting them? This is
done by the VIPs... politicians, civil service officials, businessmen,
film stars. Along with the distinction of having women `doctors, pilots,
supreme court justices, ambassadors of India', we also have the women of
Suryanelly, the Ice Cream parlour sex racket in Kozhikode, the Vithura
sex racket in Kiliroor; the list is endless."

Driving the point home

And Prema Nair drives the point home: "Isn't this the Sate where rape
happens to a six-month-old baby girl as well as to an 80-year-old female
corpse? Isn't this the State where the latest sex racket victim breathed
her last in a private nursing home, under very suspicious circumstances?
Isn't this the State where one of the latest sex racket victim's
brothers killed her, and gave the reason as `honour killing' (that is
another first for Kerala, or maybe not?) Or maybe we should just look
the other way; away from the muddy fields to the beautiful backwaters.
After all isn't that what we see when we just pass by?"

Citing my reference to the longer life spans of girls born in Kerala,
Prema Nair argues that fewer girls are being born now, since studies
have shown a declining female birth rate.

My other points also get short shrift: "Oh, she `makes the decisions',
yet she cannot choose her own contraceptive. And when she works (`men's
work' maybe) she gets paid less than men do. What about the high rate of
dowry here, in all communities — one of the highest in the country?
`Enlightened modern figure' who stoops to be trampled? Have we missed
something here...?"

I clearly have. "Dear Mr. Shashi Tharoor," Prema Nair concludes, "We are
proud of you. But please do get your facts and fiction right, sir — or
Kalyanikutty would get angry, for she does know how to read."

She does indeed. I am suitably chastened. But at least I was right about
one thing. You can always trust a Kerala woman to put you in your place
for praising the lot of Kerala women!

____


[5]

The Telegraph (Calcutta)
January 18 2006

   COMING TO TERMS WITH A DISTURBING PAST

   Sanjib Baruah

   Ordinary Cambodians as well as members of the international community
have mixed feelings about the trial of the surviving Khmer Rouge leaders
beginning this year, writes Sanjib Baruah The author is visiting
professor, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi.

   The very ordinariness of S-21 makes it hard to let go of the haunting
images that would stay in any visitor’s mind. Tucked away in a quiet
residential part of Cambodia’s capital city, Phnom Penh, S-21 was Khmer
Rouge’s secret prison where some of the major purges by its cadre took
place. Inside this complex, more than 14,000 so-called enemies of the
revolution were questioned, tortured and made to confess to
counter-revolutionary crimes between 1976 and 1979. When the Khmer Rouge
regime was toppled by the Vietnamese army in 1979, only seven prisoners
were found alive.
   S-21 was once a school. But the Khmer Rouge had little use for school
buildings, especially those in a modern city. So they used the complex
as a secret prison. While a wall of corrugated iron sheets and barbed
wires surrounded the complex those days, today it looks like a school
once again and even has its old playground restored. It is now called
the Tuol Sleng Museum of Genocidal Crimes.
   The Khmer Rouge secret police were meticulous record-keepers. Each
prisoner was photographed — sometimes before and after torture — and
complete resumes were prepared till the date of the arrest. These
pictures and records are on display at the museum.
   Rows and rows of black and white photographs — of people young and
old, men and women — stare at the visitors. They include workers,
peasants, engineers, professors, students, teachers, ministers and
diplomats.
   The forced confessions and bureaucratic forms, with details of the
‘counter-revolutionary crimes’ and the methods used for torturing and
executing prisoners, are all part of the museum’s archives. One can also
see the classrooms that were turned into cells, rusted iron beds, iron
bars and chains with which the prisoners were shackled, and the
instruments that were used to torture them. There are even biographies
and photographs of the prison staff.
   The museum houses only a small part of the evidence of the brutality
of the Khmer Rouge regime. An estimated 1.7 million people died of
starvation, forced labour, disease or execution in Cambodia’s “killing
fields”. Yet efforts to try and punish the Khmer Rouge leaders have
moved painfully slowly.
   The regime ended more than a quarter century ago in 1979. Its leader,
Pol Pot, died in 1998. The former head of state, Khieu Samphan, and
former foreign minister, Ieng Sary live freely in Cambodia. Samphan even
writes books and gives interviews to the foreign media. However, a few
leaders, notably Ta Mok, the one-legged Khmer Rouge military chief, and
Kang Khek Lu, better known as Duch, the head of S-21, are under arrest.
   Now it finally looks as if the long-awaited trial would start in the
New Year. There are now laws in place outlining the rules and procedures
of the ‘extraordinary chambers’. An agreement between the Cambodian
government and the United Nations provides the modalities for
cooperation. There will be a Trial Chamber, composed of three Cambodian
judges and two international judges, and a Supreme Court Chamber that
will have four Cambodian judges and three international judges. Cambodia
would appoint the five international judges from among at least seven
nominees of the UN secretary-general. The UN has already prepared a list
of individuals for appointment as judges.
   For a while there was some uncertainty about the finances, but the
matter has been substantially resolved. Most of the $56 million budgeted
for three years of the extraordinary chambers will come from abroad.
Member states of the UN have pledged almost $43 million from the budget
of the parent organization. The pledges vary from one country to
another. For instance, Japan has pledged $21 million, France $4.8
million and the United Kingdom $ 2.9 million. The Republic of Korea has
promised $150,000 while Luxembourg has pitched in with $66,000. While
the United States of America has spent millions towards documentation
and research, it has not pledged money to finance the trial, apparently
because of “legislative restraints”. The Cambodian side, however, is
still substantially short of the funds needed to pay for its share of
the budget.
   But there is little enthusiasm among ordinary Cambodians about the
trial. During my visit in December 2005, I found that more foreigners
are interested in the trial than the Cambodians themselves. Few believe
that the trial will take place before the aging Khmer Rouge leaders are
all dead.
   Yet the request for international assistance for this trial came from
the Cambodian government. In 1997, it wrote to the UN secretary-general,
requesting his assistance in bringing to justice “those persons
responsible for the genocide and crimes against humanity”. Cambodia,
said the government, “does not have the resources or expertise to
conduct this very important procedure.”
   But, during the past few years, the negotiations often got bogged
down over differences on the relative weight of Cambodian versus
international rules and procedures and on who would pay for the trial.
The UN sought guarantees that those indicted would be arrested; that
there would be no amnesties or pardons; there would be independent,
international prosecutors; and the foreign judges would be in the
majority. In early 2002, the UN even pulled out from the negotiations to
protest against Cambodian intransigence. The former prime minister of
India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, had, at that time, pledged Indian support
for a trial and an appointment of an Indian judge in the event of a UN
withdrawal.
   The protracted negotiations reflect the compulsions of both domestic
Cambodian politics and the ambivalence of key countries. The Cambodian
prime minister, Hun Sen, is a savvy politician who was a junior
commander in the Khmer Rouge. Even though he himself has asked for the
trial and for UN assistance, he is strongly guided by his own political
agenda. He has publicly urged the world to pay attention to achieving
“peace, national reconciliation, national unity, economic development
and reducing poverty” in Cambodia rather than the Khmer Rouge trial. He
is reluctant to commit Cambodian resources to the trial. Cambodia, he
said, can only offer the meeting hall and can pay for the water and
electricity and security. Those who want an international trial, he
said, have to pay for it.
   There is also ambivalence on the part of the key international
players. While many American politicians and activists support the
trial, officially, Washington is also wary about re-opening old wounds.
After all, US support for the Lon Nol regime and the bombing of Cambodia
provided the background for the Khmer Rouge’s road to power. During the
Eighties, the US supported the Khmer Rouge-dominated coalition and
helped the group occupy the Cambodian seat at the UN.
   Yet unlike in many other countries that have gone through similar
experiences, Cambodians make no attempt to deny or minimize the Khmer
Rouge killings. The Tuol Sleng Museum is an ample illustration of this,
even though there is some discomfort about the fact that it was the
Vietnamese who made it into a museum.
   The sheer ordinariness of S-21 is perhaps reflective of Cambodian
conditions. Very little attention has been paid on appropriate
curatorial practices for displaying such a gruesome ‘exhibit’.
Confessions extracted from prisoners, for instance, can be seen lying
around on tables gathering dust. Yet no expert design or contemporary
curatorial practice could have stood better testimony to what Hannah
Arendt calls the banality of evil.
   The coming $56 million trial is sure to bring many globe-trotting
tribunal watchers to Cambodia. It is a pity though that the
international community could not come up with a better way of bringing
the Khmer Rouge leaders to justice — one that was more in tune with
Cambodian conditions, and their way of coming to terms with the past.


____


[6]

Literary Review, The Hindu - 29 Jan 2006

FREE EXPRESSION: NO OFFENCE MEANT

By Anita Joshua


Free Expression is No Offence, edited by Lisa Appignanesi, English PEN
Book & Penguin, £4.50.

IN 2004, 996 writers worldwide were in prison for their writing. The
Bible in translation was banned by the Synod of Canterbury in the 15th
Century. A sample of the papal indexes of forbidden books. Mark Twain's
Huckleberry Finn was removed from classes in various U.S. schools in
1995. These are just a few nuggets of information that one comes across
in the collection of essays christened Free Expression is No Offence.

Brought out by Penguin in its 70th year, the collection has been put
together by English PEN, a key constituent of an international
organisation that champions freedom of expression the world over, and
"the right of writers, artists and indeed anyone to say whatever they
feel without fear of persecution or penalty".

Written in the backdrop of the new world order that has come to be
post-9/11, some of the articles included in this collection are an
immediate response to the British Labour Government's law criminalising
"religious hatred". The PEN view is that it "serves as a sanction for
censorship of a kind which would constrain writers and impoverish our
cultural life. Rather than averting intolerance, it would encourage the
culture of intolerance that already exists in all religions".

Included are articles by Salman Rushdie — himself a victim of religious
intolerance — Monica Ali, Hari Kunzru, Hanif Kureishi and Gurpreet Kaur
Bhatti, whose play "Behzti" had to be closed after running to packed
houses at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre in the wake of violent
protests by Sikhs. While the articles present a collage of insights on
the issue of freedom of expression — particularly, the competing
freedoms of imagination and religion — the "Editor's Preface" and the
chapter, "Bannings, Burnings and Suppressions", provide information on
proscribed literature.

____


[7]

LIGHT  A  DIYA / CANDLE  FOR GANDHIJI'S  GUJARAT

A SILENT MARCH AGAINST VIOLENCE, FOR PEACE & JUSTICE

Ever since Gandhiji was shot dead on January 30, 1948, meaningless
violence and intimidation in the name of faith continues to rage our
precious sub-continent. Gujarat is no exception. Citizens of Gujarat,
who have contributed richly and worldwide to the culture of
intermingling, tolerance, growth and progress believe in an inclusive
Gujarat, India and the world and stand against the prevalent culture of
intimidation, violence and threat. The rule of law is the first victim
and in such circumstances, no citizen is safe.

This diya (oil-lamp)/candle light march is a silent protest against
attempts to intimidate and harass peace loving citizens who work for
justice and harmony in the State. It is also a token protest to
highlight the fact that victims of the Gujarat carnage wait silently, in
peace, for justice. All over the state, Dalit and tribal protest is
being brutally stifled. In Dangs in southern Gujarat, a frightening
repeat of the 1998-1999 violent mobisation against a section of Dang is
is being systematically carried out. Gender driven violence continues
unabated all over the State with female foeticide ranking high as a
socially acceptable crime.

In spite of these ground-level realities, there is a desperate attempt
to project that all is well in Gujarat.

Four years after the carnage of 2002, we meet for this diya /candle
light protest to draw attention to the prevalent climate of threat,
intimidation and violence and to highlight the need for justice and peace.

We urge you  to  join  us  for  this  Silent  Candle  Light  procession
  on  January 30th 2006 from

6.00 pm. to 8.00 pm.

Date:     January 30, 2006

Time:   6.00 p.m.

Venue:    Sardar Baug, Opp. Roopalee Cinema, Ahmedabad

The march will end at Khamasa where there will be a short public meeting.

Spread the word around.  Get as many of your friends / colleagues and
other peace-loving citizens to join in this silent march.  (For those
participating, kindly bring along a candle and also banners / placards
with slogans / signs of / for Peace and also your organizational banner.

However, wherever you are -  in other parts of Gujarat, India or the
world - we invite you to join us by lighting a diya (oil lamp) / candle
on January 30th from 6.00 pm. to 8.00 pm. (1800 hrs to 2000 hrs) in
solidarity with all those suffering here and with a prayer that the
darkness of intimidation, hate and violence will soon end.

Swami Agnivesh, Valjibhai Patel (Council for Social Justice), Girish
Patel ( Lok Adhikar Sangh), Chunibhai Vaidya (Gujarat Lok Samiti),
Teesta Setalvad (Citizens for Justice and Peace), Ila Pathak (AWAG),
Cedric Prakash (Prashant), Sophia Khan (SAFR), Nandita Das (Activist),
Sheba George (SAHRWARU),  Victor Moses (St Xaviers Social Service
Society), Willy (INSAF), Pushpabehn Bhat (KHOJ), Rajendra Prasad
(SAHMAT), Dwarika Nath Rath (MSD), Erwin Lasrado (Ashadeep Youth
Centre), Meera - Rafi(CFD), Meena Jagtap (DASTAK), Antony Arulraj,
(Hotline-Delhi), Hanif Lakdawala (IFIE), Joe Mattam (Gujarat Vidya Deep,
Baroda), Mansukh Rathod (Dalit Yuva Vikas Sangthan -Rajkot), Dr. Suman
Sahai (Gene Campaign-Delhi), Dorothy Fernandes (Jan Kalyan Gramin Vikas
Samiti-Patna), N. Goashowraiah (DSSSK-Khammam), Stanny J (Legal Aid and
Human Rights Centre), Gazala Paul (SAMERTH), Sebastian Amal Raj
(Behavioral Science Centre), Ginny Shrivastava (Astha Sansthan), Ashoke
Chatterjee, P. K.Jose  (Bhagalpur Social Service Society), Nithiya
Sagayam (Justice & Peace Commission), Raju Deepti (Jeevantirth), Gratian
Vas (IGSSS), Director (Meerut Seva Samaj) and several other peace-loving
citizens and groups.



PRASHANT  -  A Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace
Street Address : Hill Nagar, Near Kamdhenu Hall, Drive-in Road,
Ahmedabad - 380052, Gujarat, India
Postal Address : P B 4050, Navrangpura PO, Ahmedabad - 380 009, Gujarat,
India

www.humanrightsindia.in

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

Buzz on the perils of fundamentalist politics, on
matters of peace and democratisation in South
Asia. SACW is an independent & non-profit
citizens wire service run since 1998 by South
Asia Citizens Web: www.sacw.net/
SACW archive is available at: bridget.jatol.com/pipermail/sacw_insaf.net/

DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed in materials carried in the posts do not
necessarily reflect the views of SACW compilers.