SACW | 31 Jan. 2006 | Tariq Ali Interview; Pakistan survival; Letter on Srilanka; India: Terror by Sangh thugs; Fast for Kashmir; S Asia as peace zone

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire  | 31 January, 2006 | Dispatch No. 2214


[1] Interview with Tariq Ali (Himal South Asian)
[2] Putting together a survival kit for Pakistan (MB Naqvi)
[3] Letter to Commissioner Ferrero-Waldner on Sri Lanka
[4] India: Government must act as Christians reel under'January of
Terror' by Sangh thugs, communalised police (John Dayal)
[5] New additions at www.sacw.net:
* Indifference, impotence, and intolerance: transnational Bangladeshis
in India by Sujata Ramachandran
* India: Parliament Under Social Watch - Representation, Accountability
And Governance by Ajay K. Mehra
[6] India: Fast Organized at Rajghat in Support of Kashmiri People
[7] Call For Papers "South Asia as a Zone of Peace"
Literary Association of Nepal, Kathmandu
[8] Zubaan Books at the World Book Fair in Delhi

____________________________________


[1]

Himal South Asian
January 2006

INTERVIEW WITH TARIQ ALI


Tariq Ali, editor of the New Left Review, is a leading intellectual and
a veteran political activist. A forceful critic of imperialism,
religious fundamentalism and, in recent times, the 'war on terror', Ali
has consistently sought to expose structures of power and dominance. He
has written over a dozen books including, Can Pakistan survive, The
Nehrus and the Gandhis, Pakistan: Military rule or people’s power, The
Clash of Fundamentalism, Bush in Babylon: The Recolonisation of Iraq.

The grandson of a prominent politician of Punjab, Ali became interested
in public issues early in life. Banned from participating in student
politics in 1960s by the Pakistani military dictatorship, he moved to
Britain to study politics, philosophy and economics at Oxford. His
interest in political activism grew and, in 1965, he was elected the
president of the Oxford University Students' Union. Three years later,
Ali led a massive protest march in central London to oppose the American
intervention in Vietnam.

With his continuing opposition to ‘global imperialism,’ Ali remains the
most prominent figure of the anti-war movement in Britain. He is the
vice-president of the Stop the War Coalition, whose call for protests
prior to the Iraq invasion saw more than one and half million people on
the streets of London. This was the biggest demonstration in the history
of Britain.

Ali’s recent book Rough Music: Blair/Bombs/Baghdad/London/Terror was
written in response to the political crisis in Britain following the
Iraq war and the July terror attacks in London. With three of the four
bombers of Pakistani descent, Britain's 1.6 million Muslims, of which
two-thirds are of Southasian origin, have increasingly become the focus
of political discourse - their loyalties under the scanner, their rights
curbed.

Tariq Ali spoke to Subindra Bogati at his London residence about a range
of issues including repercussions of the London bombings, the Iraq war
and resistance, Iran, and the Kashmir issue.

Persons of Pakistani descent are believed to have been involved in the
carnage. What will be the repercussion on Islam and Muslims of
Southasian origin?
Well, I don’t think the London bombing has too much to do with Islam.
They were carried out by young Muslims. As one of the suspects who was
arrested in Italy confessed, when they were thinking about actions like
this, they were not reading the Holy Quran or theology but were watching
the tapes of what Americans had done to the Iraqi town of Fallujah. And
they were watching the deaths of innocents in Iraq brought about by the
result of the British and American occupation in Iraq. That is what
motivated them.

Everyone knows the London bombings were a direct result of Blair’s
decision to go to war in Iraq. Blair’s re-election in Britain made these
young people completely desperate and crazy. They carried out this act
of senseless carnage to show their anger and ended up taking the lives
of many innocent civilians as well as their own.

After 9/11 and London bombings, some Western commentators and scholars
are arguing that Islam as a religion is fundamentalist.
The notion that there is a problem within Islam, I find unacceptable.
The real problem is with groups that US worked with, bred and cared for,
and broke with after the first Gulf War. Of course, I totally disagree
with Osama Bin Laden and others like him. You have to study what they
say. And what they say is their fight with United States began after
America sent troops to occupy Saudi Arabia after the Gulf War. That is
when the problem began. So, it is a political problem. They use Islamic
theology and Islamic teachings as a mask to fulfill their political aims.

How will the violent and non-violent resistance in Iraq affect the
future of the US occupation?
First and foremost, it is the armed resistance that has made the
occupation untenable. If there had been no resistance to the occupation
of a sovereign independent Arab country, the West would have got a big
victory and probably gone on to invade other countries, or used the
occupation of Iraq as a pressure mechanism to bring about regime change
elsewhere. That has failed. Then, you have growing political resistance
by trade unionists, by ordinary people who don’t like the occupation and
who also want to bring an end to the violence.

People in the Western media talk about a specific situation where Shias
and Sunnis are trying to divide Iraq into narrow religious ethnic
groups. But it is important to remember that the Shia community in Iraq,
which is very large and comprises 60 to 65 per cent of the population,
has always been divided politically. They don’t agree with each other.
One faction of the Shias is manipulated by Tehran and does their
bidding, while you have other large groups of Shias who are
independent-minded and call themselves Iraqi nationalists. In my
opinion, once foreign troops are withdrawn, we will be able to gauge the
strength of different factions of Iraq is.

My big fear is that the Kurdish tribal leaders will sell themselves out,
which they have done so often in the past. Iraqi Kurdistan would then,
effectively become an Israeli-American protectorate used as a base to
exercise and exert pressure in the region.

There is a fear that if the troops are withdrawn, there will be a civil
war in Iraq.
I don’t accept this. The foreign troops are creating these conditions.
The longer they stay, the worse the situation will become.

Would you speculate that the US is gearing up for an assault on Iran?
I don’t think the US can invade Iran and if it does it would suffer a
big defeat. Firstly, the Iranian army is not like the Iraqi army, which
was weakened by years of sanctions. It has got a strong fighting force.
Secondly, an American invasion of Iran would stir up Iranian nationalism
and even the people who are at the moment depoliticised would find this
unacceptable. Thirdly, the US simply doesn’t have enough troops on the
ground to invade a second country because volunteers to the American
army have completely dried up. If they want to invade another country,
they will have to introduce conscription, something that will be
unacceptable to the people of the United States. Fourthly, I doubt the
US Congress would go along with another war.

All the US can do in Iran is a surgical bombing strike against the
Iranian nuclear reactor. And that would stir up further anger across the
region, for people will see the double standards - why is Israel allowed
to have nuclear weapons but not Iran?

There is an additional point. Without Iranian support, the US could not
have occupied Afghanistan and Iraq. The Iranian mullahs did not oppose
the US intervention in the region. Their people in Iraq and Afghanistan
collaborated with the Americans.
So, an invasion of Iran would surely unscramble Iraq and Afghanistan.

How have you taken the Indian vote in the IAEA against Iran?
I think the Indian political and business elite, or important sections
of it, is on its knees before the American empire. We know there are
differences within the Indian government. Natwar Singh has been sacked
because he is the one hostile to the Iraq war; he was the one who was in
favor of Iran. Manmohan Singh is a weak political leader and in thrall
of Western financial institutions.

The fact that India is going in this direction is extremely disturbing
because it could play such a big role with its independence. It is very
unfortunate that the Americans think they can use India and Southasia as
a region against China when the need arises. In my opinion, all the
Southasian countries should refuse to play this role, one that has been
played by Pakistan for most of its existence. When India starts to do
this as well, one feels a deep sense of shame.

Do you buy the argument that identity is playing an important role in
making Southasia a troubled zone?
I don’t think it is a question of identity. I think it is essentially a
question of big political errors and how to come to terms with them. We
see the unfinished business of the partition of India. That is what
Kashmir is. We have to try and find a way of solving this problem in a
way that is in the interest of Kashmiris. I don’t really care what Delhi
or Islamabad think. We must seek what the Kashmiri people want. Do they
have the right to determine their own future or not, that is the
question. No one cares about them and this is the most ignored struggle
in the world.

What can be a peaceful and negotiated settlement to the Kashmir issue?
The solution to Kashmir is a unified autonomous Kashmir. They don’t want
their own army or anything like that. They don’t want to be an
independent state. They just want to be left alone. The best way is to
leave them alone within the framework of a Southasian union, with
Pakistan and India as guarantors of autonomy, and China too if
necessary. One has to think in these broad terms and outgrow the
situation created in 1997.

It is said that the Kashmir issue is being hijacked by a jehadi agenda.
I don’t think so. The jehadis were basically armed and funded by the
Pakistani Inter Services Intelligence (ISI). When they want to stop the
tap, the funds and arms will stop. They can stop the whole thing and we
have seen this happening when they tried it.

Jehadi Islamists are created by states. Without the support of a state,
they cannot exist. The Saudi state supported them, then the Pakistani
state supported them in Afghanistan and in Kashmir, and the American
state supported them in Afghanistan.

India has got a long-term strategy, which is to incorporate Kashmir and
make it a part of India against the will of the population. India must
stop behaving like a colonial power in Kashmir and the brutality, rapes,
and killings must end. The Pakistanis have no long-term strategy at all
- all they think about is their own interest not that of Kashmiris.
Kashmiris do not want to be pawns of either New Delhi or Islamabad. This
became very clear yet again after the recent earthquake. When people of
both sides try to meet each other, the Pakistani troops opened fire on them.

The recently held SAARC summit in Dhaka agreed to include China as an
observer. There are discussions about including China in SAARC while
Afghanistan has already been made a full-fledged member. What is your
opinion on this?
Including China in a Southasian union is foolish. China is also a state
power. There is a Chinese commonwealth, which includes Taiwan and all
these places. You can trade with them; a strong Southasian union of
course would be friendly with China. A link between Southasian Union and
China would create the largest economic entity in the world. So, I am in
favor of that but I think we should not fall in the trap of European
Union which has overly expanded itself to an extent that it has become
irrelevant as a politically entity. I would like the Southasian union to
be not just an economic union but also a political entity acting in the
interest of people of Southasia. As far as Afghanistan is concerned, it
should, of course, be part of SAARC, provided it is not occupied by
foreign troops. So, certainly Afghanistan, but China no.

How do you see the Southasia of the future?
I have been arguing for some time now that what we need in Southasia is
a Southasian union, based loosely on the model of the European Union.
Such a union should include free movement across borders, free trade
with each other, cultural contacts and a Commission of Southasia. This
centralised Commission, where views of all countries are reflected
through their representatives, would then deal with other parts of the
world as a collective unit in the interest of Southasia. This union will
include India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and possibly Burma
if it wanted to.

It would be possible to solve the two intractable problems of Southasia
- Kashmir and the Tamil region in Sri Lanka - within the Southasian
union in a manner that would not challenge the sovereignty of each
country but would nonetheless create a larger entity in the region.
Within this framework, Kashmir and the Tamil region could be given their
autonomy, guaranteed by all the powers of the Southasian union.

This is also in the interest of the business elites of the region
because what they want is peace leading to prosperity. But it is
something that is prevented from happening by strong vested interests in
all the countries. In Pakistan, for example, if the army agreed to this,
it would reduce its own power because the first fallout of such a
framework would be a reduction in the scale of military expenditures, a
reduction in their crazy spending on nuclear weapons, and the creation
of a society in which something is done for the poor.

When I was in Pakistan recently following the earthquake, it was
completely impossible for me to understand the nature of the regime
which can’t rush to the help of its people even though it wants to. In
other words, Pakistan has never created the social infrastructure in
ordinary times to help the poor. So, how could we expect to do this in
times of crisis? It can be done and it would be easy to do it, in my
opinion, by creating a framework of a Southasian Union where countries
reduce or cut down on military expenditures and invest resources elsewhere.


____



[2]


PUTTING TOGETHER A SURVIVAL KIT FOR PAKISTAN

by M.B. Naqvi (30 January 2006, Karachi)


Look at what is happening in Sindh. The decibal of nationalist rhetoric
is rising and sounds irreconcilable; the loudest is the new entrant to
nationalist ranks: Muttaheda Qaumi Movement. Authority, having
penetrated and bought many of their leaders, treats them with benign
neglect. Nationalists roar against the "agencies", the crucial part of
uniformed bureaucracy and the latter smiles. But this may be hubris born
of success the Army has had in keeping all major departments of public
life subordinated all these years. But the Army shouldn't forget the
very real and pervasive unrest among Sindhis who want to break the bonds
that are keeping them tethered to an oppressive and uncaring system and
a constitution that denies them their due. The dynamics of politics,
especially in conjunction with foreign policy's vicissitudes, can
produce alarming situations.

Balochistan is aflame in more than merely metaphorical sense. Indeed
there are several separate flames. Let's take the brightest first:
whether or not the Balochistan Liberation Army exists, a struggle with
rifles and rocket launchers is being waged against Pakistan Army and its
subsidiary: the Frontier Constabulary. It is a serious affair.
Authority's habitually maladroit reactions face a serious challenge from
all Baloch (and Pushtoon) Nationalists for a radical change. Doubtless,
these inchoate forces cannot defeat Pakistan Army with its modern
weapons. But is that all to sustain complacency in the Pak Army in the
face of flares ups in Kohlu, Kahan, Sui and Dera Bugti?  Can they see no
worrying possibilities as a result of the vicissitudes of international
politics?

The second Baloch force causing trouble and worry comprises Taliban and
their friends, with or without al Qaeda cooperation. Taliban show two
faces: They are making life difficult for American, NATO and Afghan
forces. Whether there is still some support and guidance from their old
mentors inside Pak Army, as the American media allege, they are one of
several nemesises of Karzai regime. Their second face is one of the
decimaters of the Kafars within: the Shias. Both faces of Taliban are
familiar and equally dangerous. Pakistan military, the only policy
makers in Pakistan, should organize war games on and about Balochistan
with its minerals' strategic value in mind. If it does, it may hear
scenarios that will dent its sangfroid.

It is hard to compress the complexities of NWFP politics by one who sits
so physically far from it. But Afghanistan abuts even more on NWFP (or
rather Pakhtunkhawa) than on Balochistan. One emerging reality is the
evolution of a mindset that results from the confluence of two
notionally-related streams of thought: Taliban and al Qaeda. Current
politics of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal is only slightly a moderate version
of the mindset that mainly rules Pakhtunkhawa and is also in an unavowed
alliance with Pak Army. The more extremist force is fighting a slow
intensity insurgency against Pak Army - and Pakistan - that is so much
in the news and is making Americans exasperated enough to violate
Pakistan's sovereignty by what is hot pursuit inside Pakistan. Americans
not only refuse to apologise, they seem to be claiming the right to what
may be hot pursuit at will into Pakistan in days to come.

Eggheads in Pak Army should objectively assess the true state of
Pakistan's relationship with the US. The Americans are 100 per cent
serious about hunting down both Taliban and al Qaeda wherever they may
be hiding. Pakistan in Americans eyes - if Pakistanis remove their
blinkers from their eyes - is working both sides of the street; official
Pakistan is trying to hunt with the American hound and run with the
Islamicist hare. This is an inherently unstable and dangerous state of
affairs. Should there be properly conducted war games on NWFP, may be
the same as for Balochistan, troubling scenarios would emerge.

Pakhtunkhawa is also home to secular Pushtoon nationalists. They were
eclipsed by MMA in 2002 polls thanks to the magic comprising Musharraf
regime's role in the creation of MMA and the "agencies". Most war
gamers, one ventures to predict, would recommend another really free
election without the political magic of 2002 polls being employed. The
outlook will be different then.

No one has ever taken the trouble to investigate what ails the Northern
Areas. Why cant the Shias and Sunnis live together as brothers, the way
they have lived since centuries. Who is breaking peace? Is it not a fact
that most people there want normal civic rights and self-government? Who
opposes it and why? Who is deflecting attention? Why major opposition
parties do not investigate the troubled politics of NAs. Indeed a
non-official panel of independent jurists, columnists, intellectuals and
noted writers should be constituted by some NGO with funding from small,
distant powers who are not part of the renewed Great Game in Central
Asia. Parallel investigations by several panels will speedily bring out
the sifted facts. That will also underline the reforms Pakistan needs.

Talking about Azad Kashmir is hard and also easy. It is straightforward:
give to Azad Kashmir what Islamabad wants for Indian-controlled Kashmir:
a measure of self-determination through a free election and investing
more powers in the regional government. Factually, Islamabad is not sure
of what it may demand, or agree to, vis-à-vis Indian-controlled Kashmir.
However, remembering a few facts will be useful.

Original Pakistan demand was to hold a free plebiscite as a preliminary
to its joining Pakistan. No clear commitment is available about what
amount of autonomy will Islamabad give to Srinagar government. Will that
government be like Azad Kashmir's or something like Quetta or Peshawar?
Neither does one know what Pakistan has in mind for Jammu or Ladakh
areas. It is clear that these will never form part of Pakistan. Since
Pakistanis go on insisting on a change in Kashmir Valley's status, they
should renounce claim over Jammu and Ladakh. Additionally, show in
practice in Muzaffarabad what they actually intend for the Srinagar
authorities. Today's over-centralised military regime is an argument
against Kashmiris joining Pakistan - where democracy is for ever
subordinated to the Army.

As for Punjab, things seem to be very congenial for the Army. Today,
Islamabad policies have 2007 election in view. Next year is significant
for both national election and for President Pervez Musharraf's
re-election. There is another decision that is due in October that year:
whether Mr. Musharraf will demit the office of Chief of Army Staff or
will he soldier on in uniform. KBD was a bait to Punjabi voters. That
has made Musharraf the cynasure of Punjabi eyes, or so it seems. Once
elections are over, all dams will take their place on the plate of Mr.
Shaukat Aziz. "Agencies" appear to be sanguine about Punjab voting as
Musharraf desires - for Q League.

Pakistan political life is splintered along provincial lines. The fact
that should occupy all minds is how have we reached the present pass.
Doubtless Pak Army's rise to become a politically decisive factor goes
back to 1950s. It has subjugated all departments of public life ever
since, except for a brief interlude (1971-1977) due to special
circumstances of 1971. Let's think of what can happen as a result of
this permanent Army-controlled policy-making

The Army is unlikely to let go its stranglehold on the government and
economy. This will go on infuriating all ethnic nationalists. At some
stage, Army, a Colossus, will clash mightily with variously combined
nationalists. Army thinks it can put down this challenge. Nationalists
rely on the maxim that a nation so deeply divided and afflicted with
conflict invites foreign intervention. That is the context of mentioning
1971.


____


[3]  LETTER TO COMMISSIONER FERRERO-WALDNER ON SRI LANKA

http://www.sajjadkarim.org.uk/articles/10.html


Written by Sajjad Karim MEP on Mon 23rd Jan 2006

Dear Commissioner Ferrero-Waldner,

I am writing to follow-up on a question I posed to the Commission in
Parliamentary Question Time, on Tuesday 17 January 2006, regarding the
current state of the peace process in Sri Lanka. I understand that you
were unable to attend this session, due to other commitments, and
appreciate the answer provided by your colleague, Commissioner Kovacs.
However, as Mr Kovacs was unable to provide a full and detailed response
to the supplementary question I posed, I would like to take the
opportunity to outline my concerns to you and look forward to receiving
a detailed response.

I understand that Sri Lanka is a personal priority of yours and find
your dedication to making progress on this issue commendable. It is an
issue which I find myself becoming more and more involved in as it finds
parallels with the work that I have done, for instance, on Kashmir and
Israel-Palestine. It is also an issue, which has captured the attention
of my constituents and I now receive weekly correspondence from
activists and campaigners from all sides of this multi-faceted conflict.

The destruction wrought by the December 2004 tsunami, grabbed the
attention of the world and put Sri Lanka firmly on the socio-political
radar. Reconstruction work continues to take place, but not at a pace to
match the needs of those affected. Nearly a year on, government
bureaucracies and delays in international financing have left most of
the displaced still in temporary shelters. These efforts have also been
clearly hampered by a worsening human rights situation in Sri Lanka and
a succession of political killings that by June had reached the alarming
level of one per day. The EU must engage all parties on a humanitarian
level and put pressure on both main parties to declare a moratorium on
the violence for the duration of the reconstruction process and the LTTE
to abstain from the threat of war as a negotiating tactic.

Many feel that the post-tsunami political environment offered a unique
opportunity for peace building and reconciliation, for those most
affected by the country's protracted civil war. This opportunity seems
to have been wasted as sectarian interests hijacked aid distribution
mechanisms, compromising the modest successes of the post-tsunami
recovery and rehabilitation effort. The Post-tsunami Operations
Management Structure seemed flawed from the outset by the failure to
address the diverse needs and aspirations of all affected communities,
particularly those of the Muslim community and Eastern Tamils. Nearly
half the victims of the tsunami were Muslims, yet they were not a full
party to the negotiations of the Joint Mechanism. The Tamils cannot be
regarded as synonymous with the LTTE and consulting the LTTE does not
equate to consulting the Tamils of the North and East. This is a crucial
error in the light of reported complaints by tsunami-affected Tamils in
the North that they have not been receiving the aid collected on their
behalf by the LTTE.

I welcome the Commission's pledge to develop an alternative base to
deliver reconstruction to the north and east to compensate for the
absence of consensus between the key players. First and foremost in this
endeavour must be an effort to obtain assurances and commitment, from
all parties, for the protection the civil and political rights of all
individuals and political organizations working in the reconstruction
effort and respect for the right to free expression and free
association. More specifically, any new scheme must recognise and
rectify the shortcomings of the Joint Mechanism. Certain protections for
the Muslim community are currently in place, through a process by which
decisions can be challenged. However, the interests of the Eastern
Tamils are not similarly protected. Tamils in the East have increasingly
taken an independent stand against the northern LTTE, at great risks to
their lives. This protection for these marginalised and disenfranchised
communities needs to be strengthened through offering them a much more
active and consultative role, which will simultaneously act as a
confidence building measure as we try to move forward with the peace
process. There must be guarantees that any new scheme for post-tsunami
assistance will not become yet another vehicle for repression and
exploitation.

Contrary to early predictions from NGOs, following the tsunami, the
LTTE's practice of recruiting child soldiers decreased during the first
half of 2005. However, the practice increased significantly in the later
part of the year, with UNICEF recording over 483 cases of child
recruitment, 139 of which were in July alone. Bearing in mind these
disturbing statistics and, as the Austrian Presidency has highlighted,
the priority in EU human rights policy is the protection of advocates of
human rights and of children in armed conflicts, notably the
implementation of the EU Guidelines in this regard, the EU must do all
it can to reinforce the 2003 action plan, signed by the LTTE and the Sri
Lankan government, and see to it that the LTTE abide by their agreement
to release children from its forces.

As the Commission points out, "what we are seeing now is a dangerous
spiral." Aside from the military losses sustained by the Sri Lankan
Government, which the Commissioner outlined in his initial response to
me, an estimated 200 Tamils have been killed for apparent political
reasons and, as of September 2005, the SLMM had received 1,466 reports
of abductions, 641 of which it recorded as violations of the Cease-Fire
Agreement. In this context, many human rights defenders, particularly
Tamils in the North and East have been forced to stop work, or going
underground. Support for human rights defenders is a long established
element of the European Union's human rights external relations policy.
In the EU's Guidelines in this area, it states that "it is important to
ensure the safety and protect the rights of human rights defenders." In
this light, does the Commission have any concrete proposals to ensure
that the individuals and organisations, who are risking their lives to
raise human rights issues at the grassroots of Sri Lankan society, will
be protected in the current, violent, political climate?

As the parties have announced their commitment to re-examine the
Cease-Fire Agreement, the Commission must take steps to strengthen
respect for it by all parties to the conflict. The deterioration of the
ceasefire can be traced to the withdrawal of the LTTE from formal talks
in April 2003. Following its withdrawal, the LTTE escalated its campaign
of political killings and insisted that negotiations resume on the basis
of its proposal for an interim administration. Had the peace talks
continued, the advisor on human rights to the peace process, Ian Martin,
would have presented a draft human rights agreement at the next session.
The absence of a concrete human rights agreement has been a fundamental
flaw in the Sri Lankan peace process and has allowed the escalation in
human rights violations during the ceasefire. Indeed, the large majority
of the ceasefire violations are human rights violations against
civilians. Such an agreement would be a critical step in ensuring the
rights to life and freedom of association that have been denied during
the conflict, but that could be respected by the warring parties to
demonstrate their commitment to peace. As the peace process moves
forward, past abuses and questions about impunity could be addressed. I
must take this opportunity to underscore the vital need for a Human
Rights Agreement that will put human rights back at the heart of this
peace process, which is facilitated by an independent monitoring mission
that compliments the agreement on the ground. Such a mission could be
led by the EU and should be empowered with enforcement mechanisms. To
me, this seems wholly in line with the more effective integration of
human rights into the EU's approach to crisis management situations,
which the Austrian Presidency has highlighted as one of its priorities
for the next six months.

Furthermore, this seventh session of talks was to "expand some
preliminary issues and a framework for political matters into a complete
plan" and move closer to discussing a permanent political solution
which, according to the Oslo agreements of 2002, committed the LTTE to
exploring a federal political solution. The LTTE has always avoided
redressing the root causes of the conflict. Instead, it has used the
threat of war to consolidate its control over the North and East and to
entrench its ad hoc and interim mechanisms. Similarly, the Government of
Sri Lanka has also failed to develop a consensus for a permanent
political solution. The international community's commitment to the
peace process and the principles underlying its support were stated in
the Tokyo Declaration of June 2003. However, neither the Sri Lankan
Government nor the international community have backed their commitment
with the political will necessary to ensure the Declaration's relevance
to the peace process. The breaks in the talks and the overall lack of
continuity in the peace process have undermined the confidence of
ordinary Sri Lankans and those communities that were not included in the
peace talks.

While ceasefires involve the armed parties, a peace process and a
permanent political solution must involve all the people of Sri Lanka.
It is therefore critical that any recalibration of the peace process
should seek the inclusion of all communities and political organisations
in Sri Lanka. The peace process will only be durable if all legitimate
stakeholders are involved, either directly or through a process of
consultations. This is of particular importance now there is vocal
opposition to the parties to the peace process and conditions ripen to
alienate further sections of the population.

This principle of inclusiveness should be extended to the international
supporters of the peace process, who need to abide by their support for
the Oslo Declaration and commitments to the Tokyo Declaration. It is
time for the Co-Chairs to transform their role through constructively
and critically engaging all parties. Democracy and human rights are the
twin pillars of any real and just peace. Possibly the most persistent
attack on democracy has been the LTTE's claim to "sole representation",
through which it refused any independent Tamil and Muslim participation
in the peace process. A major omission of the international community
was their reluctance to reject this undemocratic claim to sole
representation. I welcome your personal commitment to meet with Mr
Pirapaharan, but urge you also to meet with the leaders of other Tamil,
Muslim and Sinhala communities, who are in closer contact with the
people on a ground level. We must not underestimate the impact of
confidence-building measures, from the grassroots up, to compliment the
talks conducted by the key political actors.

Three and a half years ago the people of Sri Lanka were encouraged to
support the peace process because of the third party facilitation and
its internationalised character. After decades of conflict, ordinary Sri
Lankans were given a renewed hope that Sri Lanka would emerge from its
history of violence and militarisation. Now, as the EU, as Co-Chair,
reconsiders the peace process, I urge you to take my thoughts and ideas
on this issue into account and ensure that we move forward on the basis
of a principled peace process, which enshrines democracy and human rights.

I look forward to receiving your response and to building a closer
working relationship with you on this, and other issues of mutual interest.

Yours Sincerely,
Sajjad Karim MEP


____



[4]

INDIA: GOVERNMENT MUST TAKE ACTION AS CHRISTIANS REEL UNDER  'JANUARY OF
TERROR' BY SANGH THUGS, COMMUNALISED POLICE

Dr. John Dayal

Member: National Integration Council
Government of India

National President:  All India Catholic Union (Founded 1919)
Secretary General: All India Christian Council (Founded 1999)
President: United Christian Action, Delhi (Founded 1992)

505 Link, 18 IP Extension, Delhi 110092 India

31 January 2006

Press Statement

Indian Government must take action as Christians reel under  'January
of Terror' by Sangh thugs, communalised police


Dr John Dayal, Laity spokesman and Member, National Integration
Council, has made an urgent appeal to Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil
to take decisive steps to instill confidence in the Christian community
which is reeling under a combine of violence by Sangh parivar thugs and
elements of state police who have arrested and tortured preachers and
common people in several states.  The following is the text of Dr John
Dayal's statement:

"Dear Mr. Patil

Greetings on behalf of the Christian organisations I have the honour to
represent.

We recall your strong statement at the inaugural meeting of the
National Integration Council on 31 August 2005, on the Union
Government's resolve to curb and contain hate campaigns and violence
against religious minorities.  Steps taken by the Central government
including setting up of various Commissions gave us hope that the
Government was serious in restoring the confidence of the minorities
that had been so rudely shattered in the six years of the Bharatiya
Janata party regime in New Delhi.  We were conscious of the fact that
the BJP was still in control of many states - and the umber has grown
to include even Karnataka and Bihar now - but we had hoped the
Central promise of peace would carry weight.

The attack on the well beloved Catholic Scholar-Bishop Thomas Dabre of
Vasai Diocese, near Mumbai, has shocked our community which was already
reeling under the terror unleashed in the Dangs of Gujarat by the
Hindutva forces, assaults in Orissa and acts of terror in other states.
Bishop Dabre, children of the Suryodaya Ashram and the priests of the
area remain vulnerable even as he culprits, surely identified by now,
mock the police and the administration. Bishop Dabre, Fathers Oneil
Faroz, Philip Vaz and Andrew Rodrigues were inaugurating the Suryodaya
Ashram, a hostel for the tribal children in the Ghosali Village, Mukada
Taluka on January 29 at around 1.30 p.m. when they were attacked by a
hundred or more Bajrang Dal and Vanvasi Kalyan Parishad armed with
staves and rods. The local villagers, who repulsed the attack,
prevented a tragedy.

In Jhabua in Madhya Pradesh, on the eve of Republic Day, a prayer
meeting in Chapri village was attacked and two tribal pastors beaten up
by Policemen of the state government.  The pastors were later tortured
in the police station.

In Jabalpur in the same state, three leaders of the Church of Nazrene
were arrested on Republic Day, Thursday the 26th January 2006 allegedly
for forcibly converting tribals - while the city as indeed the rest
of the country was under absolute security blanket!!!

In Orissa which has seen other state violence against tribals,
Christians have been a particular target. In village Matiapara, under
Bari Police Station in district Jajpur, where a Christian was beaten up
and humiliated at the Matiapara market on 15 January. Later, a mob
armed with lathi and other weapon attacked the houses of the Christian
community. They were beaten up then their houses were ransacked and
then set on fire. The victims ran for their lives and took shelter at
the Bari Police Station.

In Andhra Pradesh on January 12, RSS workers attacked a pastor and four
others who were celebrating a birthday party in a house in Baswapur.
The Pastor and 5 others were injured in the violence.

Dear Home Minister, this is merely an illustrative list.

My own unofficial violence list for 2005 listed hundreds of cases. A
recent survey document released by the Madhya Pradesh Christian
Association and the National Forum for Reconciliation, Religious
Liberty and Social Justice, and conducted among 4,105 Christians
scattered in the districts of Ratlam, Indore, Dhar, Dewas and Jhabua,
revealed that poor, tribal Christians were the main target of violence.
It indicated that the reasons behind the growing insecurity among the
Christian community were communalism, apathy and corruption in the
state administration, especially the police. More than 68.2 percent of
Christians felt insecure in the state ruled by the BJP, 58.9 percent
feared an attack on them sometime in the future, and 63.4 percent held
the state administration and the police responsible for anti-Christian
violence.

Dear Sir, you will agree that urgent steps need to be taken to restore
confidence and check the actual violence. This requires sensitivity n
the part of both Centre and State governments.

The Centre must tell state governments it takes a most serious view of
such violence and will not hesitate initiating the sternest steps to
protect the helpless, the poor and the marginalized.  Of particular
worry is the communalisation of the police and their acting at the
behest of the Hindutva forces. Such policemen deserve to be weeded out
and criminal proceedings launched against them as a signal to all other
that the UPA government means business.


With personal regards


John Dayal"

____


[5] New additions at South Asia Citizens Web:

* INDIFFERENCE, IMPOTENCE, AND INTOLERANCE: TRANSNATIONAL BANGLADESHIS
IN INDIA
by Sujata Ramachandran (Global Migration Perspectives, September 2005)

URL:
http://www.sacw.net/borders/gcim.paper.bangladeshis-2.pdf

* INDIA: PARLIAMENT UNDER SOCIAL WATCH - REPRESENTATION, ACCOUNTABILITY
AND GOVERNANCE
by Ajay K. Mehra (in: Social Watch Report 2006)

URL:
www.sacw.net/free/Parl_SocWatch2006.doc


____


[6]


Dated: 30th January, 2006

FAST ORGANIZED AT RAJGHAT IN SUPPORT OF HUMAN RIGHTS OF KASHMIRI PEOPLE

A one day fast was  organized today at Rajghat, New Delhi in support of
the human rights of  Kashmiri people. Kashmiri people have been living
under terror, both inside and  outside of Kashmir. They are not treated
as equal citizens and are looked at  with suspicion. The relentless
propaganda against them equates Kashmiris with terrorists.

We demand that people of Kashmir be allowed the freedom to lead a  life
of human dignity and the blatant human rights violations, extortions and
  harassment that they are subjected to, especially in New Delhi on the
occasion  of days of national significance, like 15th August and 26th
January, must be stopped. We also demand that military must be withdrawn
from  Kashmir by both Governments of India and Pakistan. As a first step
the military  must be held accountable in Kashmir, in terms of keeping a
record of firing the  bullets, which presently they do not have to do.

In today’s fast people  from Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi,
Rajasthan and U.P.  participated and the fast was supported by Asha
Parivar, National Alliance of  People’s Movements, INSAF, PEACE, Lok Raj
Sangathan, Association for India’s  Development, Nature Human Centric
People’s Movement and All India Students’  Association. Prof. S.A.R.
Geelani, Prof. Ali Javed, Prof. V.K. Tripathi, Prof.  Nirmalangshu
Mukerjee, K.P. Shankaran were among the prominent citizens who  visited
the fast.


Gurudayal Singh Sheetal (Punjab), Faisal Khan & Rajeshwar (Delhi),
Krishan Gopal Mundra (Rajasthan), Prof. Ramneek Mohan & Rampal Dahiya
(Haryana), Prem Kumar & Sandeep Pandey (U.P.), Prakash Rao & Jasbir
(Lok Raj Sangathan, Delhi)
		
____


[7]

CALL FOR PAPERS "SOUTH ASIA AS A ZONE OF PEACE"
LITERARY ASSOCIATION OF NEPAL, KATHMANDU

March 1-2 (Wed-Thu) 2006
Deadline for abstracts: January 17, 2006
Deadline for full papers (of accepted abstracts): February 10, 2006
The Eighteenth Annual Conference of Literary Association of Nepal (LAN)
- March 1-2 (Wed-Thu) 2006

LAN would especially welcome the submission of abstracts on the politics
of the representation of violence in South Asian literature, history and
media and other social science subjects. The conference will focus on
the representations of conflict and its management between/among the
different ethnic communities or classes of people in a South Asian
country or between/among nations in South Asia.

Paper proposals may be both intra- and multi-disciplinary, addressing
the interconnected issues of ethnic conflict, ethnic cleansing, class
conflict, conflict management, communalism, genocide, dislocation and
migration, riots, dispute over territories and terrorism. We welcome an
exploration of comparative contexts with appropriate historical and
theoretical grounding. The following is a list of possible topics for
papers:

• Language of peace in the literatures and media of South Asia
• Language of regional conflicts in South Asian literature and media
• Representation of conflicts within a South Asian nation
• Problems in managing conflict in South Asia
• The problem of terrorism in South Asia and its representation
• Representation of the partition holocaust of 1947 and its implications
• Recent peace overtures between India and Pakistan at a time when a new
global order is being shaped for the twenty-first century
• Feminist and subaltern subjectivity of the on-going conflicts in
violence-prone South Asia.
• Tension between modernity and feudalism
• Representation of the trauma of the victims of violence in Bangladesh,
Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan or Srilanka
• Role of the geography of us versus them in impeding peace in South Asia
• Alleged outbreaks of genocidal violence in South Asia in recent years.
• Valorisation of violence after 9/11 and its implications for South Asia

Please submit 250-300-word proposals through e-mail to Dr. Beerendra
Pandey, Secretary, LAN at bpandeykpandey at yahoo.com 109/64 ‘Ka’ Madhya
Banehswar Kathmandu


____


[8]

ZUBAAN and YOUNG ZUBAAN

are pleased to welcome you to our stand at the

2006
WORLD BOOK FAIR
PRAGATI MAIDAN
NEW DELHI 110 002
 From 27 JANUARY to 4 FEBRUARY


WE ARE LOCATED IN
HALL 18
MEZZANINE
STANDS 470-474


All our new titles and a wide range of backlist titles from Zubaan and
Kali for Women
will be on display and sale.

Do come. We’d love to see you there!

The book fair is open every day from 11 am to 8 pm
Hall 18 is closest to Gates 7 and 8.
You need to climb a few stairs to get into the hall, but thereafter
there is a ramp and an escalator, and stairs.

Zubaan
An imprint of Kali for Women,
K-92, FF,
Hauz Khas Enclave,
New Delhi - 110016
INDIA
Website: wwww.zubaanbooks.com and www.youngzubaan.com


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

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