SACW | Sept. 17-19, 2006 | Sri Lanka War Cycle / Visa Free South Asia / State dept should'nt meet Hindutva boss / Passport denial to Kashmir Activist

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire | September 17-19, 2006 | Dispatch No. 2290

[1]  Sri Lanka: War and learning from our mistakes (Rohini Hensman)
[2]  A report from 2nd Visa-free and Peaceful South Asia Convention,
Lahore
[3] US: South Asian American Organizations urge State Department to cancel
meeting with Hindutva leader - A Press Release
[4]  India: Denial of passport for Kashmir 
Activist to go and receive a Human Rights Prize 
in France - Action Alert
[5]  Upcoming Events: 
     (i) Pakistan: Jashan-e-Indus Delta 
(Kharochhan Tar, Thatta Sindh 22 Sept 2006)
     (ii) India: Meeting on Land Distribution, 
Slum Demolitions & People (New Delhi, 23 Sept 
2006)
     (iii) India: Invitation: Narmada Bachao 
Andolan celebrating satyagraha amidst torture 
(23-24 Sept)
___


[1] 

The Island
11 September 2006


WAR AND LEARNING FROM OUR MISTAKES

by Rohini Hensman

The murder of Kethesh Loganathan marked the first anniversary of the death
of the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement (CFA), which occurred when Lakshman
Kadirgamar was assassinated. In retrospect, it should be clear that the
murder of Kadirgamar was the first shot in the Fourth Eelam War. Since
then, there has been a return to full-scale hostilities. Muslims, Tamils
and Sinhalese have been killed in large numbers, lakhs of people have been
displaced, ugly war crimes are routinely perpetrated by all the armed
parties. Who is to blame for this situation? And how can we escape from
the seemingly endless cycle of war, ceasefire, and then more war?

The LTTE and its Tamil Supporters

The LTTE was never serious about peace, but wanted to use the last
ceasefire, like previous ones, to re-arm itself and murder Tamil
dissidents and critics. In other words, they signed the ceasefire only in
order to be able to wage war more ruthlessly at a later date. They
themselves have made it clear that they will not stop fighting until they
have established their totalitarian rule in a separate state of Tamil
Eelam. Nor can the LTTE act otherwise, at least so long as Prabakaran is
at its head. He has sent so many thousands of Tamils to their deaths in
the name of Eelam that he cannot withdraw from that goal without the risk
of being lynched by his own followers.

This must be kept in mind for future reference. At the moment, the LTTE
does not seem to be interested in a cessation of hostilities, but it is
likely that at some point they will again want a ceasefire. The recent ban
by the EU, and action against their proxies in the US, Canada and
elsewhere, should be welcomed, because they have increased the chances of
the LTTE returning to the negotiating table sooner rather than later.

When such a desire is demonstrated by the LTTE, it should be taken as an
opportunity to negotiate a new ceasefire which includes watertight human
rights guarantees. It must be emphasised that negotiating a new CFA is the
only way to compel the LTTE to accept an international human rights
monitoring mission; maintaining the fiction that the old CFA is still
alive merely allows them to continue violating human rights with impunity.

A new CFA, while essential for stopping the carnage and displacement, is
only part of the peace process. A more important part is the discussion of
a permanent solution to the ongoing strife, which should include all
political parties and civil society groups, especially representatives of
Muslims. Paradoxically, the peace process in this sense can continue even
during the fighting; the war must not be allowed to be used as an excuse
to stop discussions on state reform.

Tamil supporters of the LTTE, including those in Tamil Nadu like MDMK
leader Vaiko, are among the worst enemies of the Tamil people of Sri
Lanka. They support an organisation that has been wiping out all that is
best in Tamil culture in Sri Lanka, and decimating the most distinguished
leaders of the community; an organisation that is responsible for bringing
war and death to Tamil people desperate for peace. The ban on the LTTE
helps the Tamil people by weakening one of their worst oppressors. Helping
to marginalise the LTTE politically is an important way to help the
beleaguered Tamil people of Sri Lanka. However, the LTTE has allies who
helped to start the war, and they, too, must be identified and
marginalised politically, if we are not to repeat the same mistakes.

The UNF Government, Norwegians and SLMM

The other parties to the 2002 CFA should share responsibility for the
current bloodbath. They designed, signed and implemented a ceasefire that
catered to the LTTE agenda of preparing for war. The way in which the
Nordic monitors carried out their mandate created a climate of impunity
which paved the way for the current wave of war crimes by the government
forces.

Their silence over LTTE killings of Tamils, conscription of children and
driving away Muslims and Sinhalese as part of its ethnic cleansing
campaign makes their protests against government killings of Tamils, and
Sinhala chauvinist ethnic cleansing drives, sound hypocritical. Human
rights, after all, are supposed to be protected without discrimination,
and those who condone violations by one party forfeit their moral right to
condemn violations by another. Statements by Erik Solheim and others that
it is the EU ban on the LTTE that has led to the current violence stand
history on its head: it was, on the contrary, LTTE intransigence that led
to the EU ban.

If the right of LTTE cadre to enter government-controlled areas had been
made conditional to their obtaining a clean chit on human rights
violations from an independent and impartial monitoring mission, Lakshman
Kadirgamar, Kethesh Loganathan, and hundreds of other Tamil peacemakers
would still have been alive today, thousands of children conscripted by
the LTTE at home with their families, and Sri Lanka without war. Such a
clause must be incorporated into any new CFA.

By their own admission, the Nordic monitors have outlived their
usefulness. The LTTE’s insistence that EU members among them should
withdraw has halved their strength. Ineffective in protecting human rights
at the best of times, they are now completely useless during fierce
fighting. In any case, the CFA they brokered was torn up by the LTTE a
year ago, and is now being trampled by all the armed parties.

The UNP leadership is doubly to blame for the current war, because they
blocked earlier efforts to arrive at a workable devolution proposal
instead of participating in the discussions in good faith. If they do the
same again, they deserve to be thrown into the dustbin of history. The
statements by some leaders that they are ready to support a political
solution are a hopeful sign.

NGO and Sinhalese Liberal Supporters of LTTE Claims

Sinhalese liberals and NGOs that supported the LTTE’s claim to be sole
representative of the Tamils of Sri Lanka deliberately turned a blind eye
to the fact that the LTTE sought to establish itself in this position by
killing off all rivals and critics. They thus became accomplices in the
murder of Kethesh and hundreds of others who were fighting for peace with
dignity for Tamils within a united Sri Lanka. The greatest irony is that
while claiming to act in the interest of peace, they assisted in the
brutal extermination of a large number of Tamil peacemakers.

Like the Norwegian mediators and the SLMM, they are also guilty of
ignoring the very existence of the Muslims of the North and East, and
refusing to acknowledge the horrific atrocities this community has been
subjected to by the LTTE. They participated in establishing a culture in
which the human rights of Tamils and Muslims could be violated with
impunity. Thus, part of the blame for the hundreds of Muslims and Tamils
being killed today, falls on these people.
If they are genuinely interested in a just and durable peace, they need to
reconsider their cavalier attitude. If they oppose the ban on the LTTE by
various governments and are silent about its abuses of human and
democratic rights, they cannot hope to be taken seriously when they
denounce similar abuses by government forces. Only those who stand up for
human rights, regardless of who is violating them, can apply pressure on
the government in this situation.

Sinhala Chauvinist Allies of the LTTE

Sinhala chauvinists were in the past responsible for the creation of the
LTTE, and today play a key role in giving it credibility. Sinhala
nationalists in the Defence Ministry and the JVP and JHU have been doing
their best to help the LTTE try to justify its claim that Tamils are
oppressed by the state in Sri Lanka, and there is no alternative to
separation. In the current circumstances, they are the biggest obstacle to
political defeat of the LTTE and to a durable peace.
The role of President Mahinda Rajapakse is unclear. If he himself is not a
Sinhala chauvinist hardliner, as many journalists describe him, then he is
a weak president unable to control his hardline supporters. If Sinhala
nationalists who kept a low profile during the Kumaratunga presidency are
now crawling out of the gutters in large numbers, it is because they see
him as giving them the green light to proceed with their violent and
undemocratic agenda. Various war crimes such as rape, torture,
disappearances and extrajudicial killings have come to tarnish the image
of his government.

If he is uncomfortable with the image of a war-monger, he must ensure that
all those who are guilty of intentional attacks on Tamil and Muslim
civilians are arrested, tried, convicted and put behind bars, and provide
full compensation to the victims or their relatives. If Tamil and Muslim
civilians have accidentally suffered in the course of attacks on the LTTE,
he must apologise to them and compensate them too for their losses,
guaranteeing their security and providing assistance for rebuilding their
devastated lives. If all this were being done in a credible manner, the
government would not be arresting Tamil refugees fleeing to Tamil Nadu,
nor compelling Muslim refugees to return to Muttur and Thoppur, because
the conditions for a voluntary return of refugees to their homes would
have been created.

The government must formalise its relationship with Karuna by wresting
guarantees of human rights from the outfit so that its large number of
human rights violations will cease to be. And it must proceed firmly and
rapidly with plans to move towards maximum devolution within a united -
not unitary - state.

As head of state and the armed forces, the President cannot evade
responsibility for the crimes committed by his armed forces and allies.
Sinhala chauvinists must realise that Sri Lanka is not situated on some
other planet and therefore its government is subject to international
humanitarian and human rights laws. It is the President’s and government’s
duty to implement such laws.

International actors who have proscribed the LTTE can help in this regard.
As a matter of urgency, they should ensure that a UN-sponsored human
rights monitoring mission, which several human rights bodies - including
those of the UN - have called for, will be set up in Sri Lanka. They
should pressure the government to accept and cooperate with this mission,
which should threaten sanctions as a deterrent. The refusal of the LTTE to
cooperate with such a mission is not an excuse for the government to do
the same. They should also pressure the government to move more rapidly
towards state reforms. However, in the final analysis it is only the
Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka who can ensure the marginalisation of
Sinhala chauvinists claiming to act in their interests. They need to stage
demonstrations calling for the protection of Tamil and Muslim civilians.

They need to demand an independent and impartial international human
rights monitoring mission. They should recall that the last time they
allowed large-scale state violations of the human rights of Tamils in the
1980s, tens of thousands of Sinhalese were the next to be killed. They
need to demonstrate in front of JVP and JHU headquarters, threatening that
not a single Sinhalese will vote for them if they block progress towards
devolution and peace. They need to call on the President to bring them
peace as he promised.

Finally, it would help if journalists stopped insulting Marx and Marxism
by referring to the JVP as 'Marxist'. Their Sinhala nationalism is more
akin to the National Socialism of the Nazi Party than the internationalism
of Marxism, which calls upon workers to unite irrespective of their
ethnicity, language, religion or nationality. Genuine Marxism can be part
of the solution to the current crisis.

Lessons for the Future

Our country is in a mess right now: there is no doubt about that. But this
is partly because we did not learn from our mistakes in the past. If we do
so at least now, and ensure that they are not repeated, we can break the
sinister cycle (of war, ceasefire, and then more war). The majority of
people in Sri Lanka, from all communities, would be in favour of a
democratic solution to the current conflict.

If we ensure that their will prevails, by marginalising hardline Sinhala
and Tamil nationalists, there is still hope for the future.


_____


[2] 

FAST FOR A VISA FREE AND PEACEFUL SOUTH ASIA
     - Report from 2nd Visa-free and Peaceful South Asia Convention,
Lahore, Pakistan (September 17-18, 2006)

	Today activists of Pakistan and India, for the first time in
the history of Pakistan will jointly fast (sit on hunger strike) at
Lahore Press Club to demand for a South Asia in which citizens are
allowed to freely move across borders of countries without any
requirement of passports or visas and in which there are no dangerous
weapons like nuclear weapons and land mines. We feel that only under
such circumstances South Asia will get an opportunity to develop into
a strong economic union which will pave the way for betterment of
citizens of all countries. The precious resources now going into arms
race will be spent on useful and necessary services like education
and health care for all.

	History proves that arms do not provide any security at all.
On the other hand they increase our insecurity, further fuelling
another round of arms race. True security can be derived only from a
relationship based on complete mutual trust. Such is the kind of
security atmosphere that we would like to create in South Asia. Be
creating hurdles in the way of citizens desiring to travel between
Pakistan and India we violate the basic human rights of people.
People have a right to travel across borders to see friends,
relatives, religious places and attend events. But a meaningless set
of rules, some beyond comprehension of ordinary human beings, and
arbitrary manner of decision taking subjects citizens to humiliation
and harassment. This time a 12 year old girl from India Sara Jamal
was given visa without her mother being given clearance to travel to
Pakistan. How do we expect a 12 year old girl to travel on her own?
Is there any meaning in subjecting out citizens to this mindless
bureaucracy? It is time we remove all travel restrictions and allow
citizens of Pakistan and India a porous border, which happens to be
the most popular demand of people on both sides.

	This is the second such fast in the history of the sub-
continent. Last year on 9th August, Nagasaki Day, 40 citizens from
Pakistan joined their Indian counterparts to observe a one day fast
at Rajghat, Mahatma Gandhi's samadhi in New Delhi, for a visa free
and peaceful South Asia. This followed the Delhi to Multan Peace
March from 23rd March to 11th May, 2005, the first time in the
history of sub-continent when Indians and Pakistanis walked together
on streets of both countries to demand peace and friendship between
the two countries.

	On this occasion, popular singer from Hyderabad, Andhra
Pradesh, Ghazal Srinivas has brought with him a musical album
prepared by him during the India Pakistan Peace March last year. This
CD called `Shanti Yatra' is also being released today. We are also
honoured to have amongst us today another prominent singer Seema
Sehgal, originally from Jammu & Kashmir, who has produced albums on
the poetry of Ali Sardar Jafri and Alama Iqbal dedicated to India
Pakistan peace and friendship. We hope that musical contributions
today by Seema Sehgal and Ghazal Srinivas will cement the relations
between people of the two countries so that we will never go back on
the path to peace.

	We appeal to common citizens of the sub-continent to join and
strengthen the movement for a visa free and peaceful South Asia.

Dated: 17th September, 2005

Saeeda Diep & Sandeep Pandey


______



[3]

For Immediate Release
Contact: Dr. Hyder Khan (443) 927 9039
Friday, September 1st, 2006

---------------
South Asian American Organizations urge US State Department to cancel
meeting with Ram Madhav
Groups deplore the meeting will grant legitimacy to RSS and its militant
ideology
---------------

Several South Asian American organizations have expressed astonishment and
registered protest at the reported impending meeting between State
Department officials and Ram Madhav, the official spokesperson of Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Deploring the fact that the US Department of State
is granting unprecedented legitimacy to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
(RSS) and its militant ideology by providing a forum for its spokesman, Ram
Madhav, it is asking the State Department to refuse such a meeting.

RSS is an organization inspired and modeled on the Italian fascists and the
Nazis [1], that has been responsible since its inception in 1925 for
propagating a politics of hate and violence against non-Hindu minorities
(mostly Muslims and Christians) [2], most recently evident in the massacre
of 2,000 Muslims in Gujarat [3,4,5], and historically implicated in the
assassination of Gandhi in 1950 [6]. Founded with the sole purpose of
establishing a theocratic Hindu state, RSS advocates for the forced
assimilation of minorities and non-Hindu groups into adopting a Hindu
culture and the annihilation of those who resist. As an organization, the
RSS is elusive and shadowy: it is fully open only to upper caste Hindu
males; it maintains no membership records (thus resisting criminal charges
more than once); it has no bank accounts and pays no income tax. Golwalkar,
an early political visionary who shaped the RSS, explicitly endorsed
Hitler's campaign against the Jews in Germany by calling it a form of "race
pride" India should emulate. As a hardened RSS ideologue, Mr. Madhav is on
record as a key representative of RSS positions. For instance, his recent
warning of the "very grave threat" posed by the rising Muslim population and
similar scaremongering against Muslims by his colleagues is very reminiscent
of the Nazi-era witch-hunt of Jews [9].

The US State Department is well aware of RSS's history, that RSS along with
its sister organizations in the Sangh Parivar like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad
(VHP) and the Bajrang Dal, has been responsible for the most reprehensible
forms of communal violence and political manipulations seen in India. All of
the State Departments annual International Religious Freedom Reports since
2001 [7]  and almost all of its annual Country Reports on Human Rights
Practices since 1999 [8] have cited RSS for violence against Muslims and
Christians and/or condemned RSSs public stand curbing religious freedom for
minorities in India.

Given this background, the coalition fails to understand how the US State
Department officials may benefit by meeting Mr. Madhav. Just as the State
Department would not lend legitimacy to spokespersons for US
racist/supremacist organizations, it should not to be legitimizing the RSS
and its functionaries by holding this meeting.

In this context, we urge the US State Department to not meet Ram Madhav and
avoid legitimizing the RSS in any way.

Many of the organizations currently protesting Ram Madhav's meeting with US
State Department officials had come together last year to form the Coalition
Against Genocide, a group of over 40 organizations that launched a concerted
campaign to protest Mr. Modi's scheduled visit to the US in 2005 [10]. The
coalition welcomed the US State Department's denial of Modi's diplomatic
visa as well as the revocation of his existing tourist/ business visa under
the Immigration and Nationality Act. Section 212 (a) (2) (g) which makes any
foreign government official who was responsible for or directly carried out,
at any time, particularly severe violations of religious freedom" ineligible
for a visa to the United States [11].

The coalition is relieved to hear that the State Department has denied visas
to a number of BJP party functionaries to attend a recent conference in the
U.S. and has continued to stand by its decision to deny Narendra Modi's visa
to the U.S. The BJP in conjunction with the RSS orchestrated the violence
against the Muslim minority in Gujarat in 2002. We are therefore puzzled as
to why the State Department would choose to meet with the official
representative of such an extremist organization.

Two years ago, there were strong protests from professors as well as
students to Ram Madhav's invitation to talk at two US universities in the
Fall of 2004 [12,13].

List of endorsing organizations:
--------------------------------

Alliance of South Asians Taking Action (ASATA)
Association of Indian Muslims of America ( AIM )
Building Bridges of Understanding Coalition (BB)
Coalition for a Secular and Democratic India (CSDI)
Dalit Freedom Network (DFN)
Federation of Indian American Christian Organizations of North America
(FIACONA)
Friends Of South Asia (FOSA)
India Foundation
Indian Muslim Council-USA ( IMC - USA )
Indian Muslim Relief & Charities (IMRC)
International Service Society, Lansing , MI
Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights
Muslim Youth Awareness Alliance (MYAA)
Non Resident Indians For Secular & Democratic India ( NRI -SAHI)
Organizing Youth! (OY)
Policy Institute For Religion And State (PIFRAS)
South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy (SANSAD, Canada )
Supporters of Human Rights in India (SHRI)
Vaishnava Center for Enlightenment
Vedanta Society of East Lansing , MI


References:
-----------

See http://www.sacw.net/DC/CommunalismCollection/ArticlesArchive/casolari.pdf

"Members of the BJP, the RSS, and other affiliated organizations
(collectively known as the Sangh Parivar) have been implicated in incidents
of violence and discrimination against Christians and Muslims."  (See
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2002/18311.htm) 

See http://www.sabrang.com/srikrish/hinrole.htm

"The Hindu organizations most responsible for violence against Christians
are the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council, VHP), the Bajrang Dal,
and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (National Volunteer Corps, RSS).
According to a former RSS member, these groups cannot be divorced from the
ruling BJP party: "There is no difference between the BJP and RSS. BJP is
the body. RSS is the soul, and the Bajrang Dal is the hands for beating."
(See Human Rights Watch Report at 
http://www.hrw.org/press/1999/sep/christians.htm)

The groups most directly involved in the violence against Muslims include
the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council, VHP), the Bajrang Dal, the
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that heads
the Gujarat state government. Collectively, they are known as the sangh
parivar, or family of Hindu nationalist organizations. " (See Human Rights
Watch Report at http://www.hrw.org/press/2002/04/gujarat.htm) 

RSS & Mahatma Gandhi's Assassination (See http://www.sabrang.
com/cc/archive/ 2004/aug04/ cover3.html )

US Department of State International Religious Freedom Reports (India):
IRF 2005 http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2005/51618.htm 
IRF 2004 http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2004/35516.htm 
IRF 2003 http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2003/24470.htm  
IRF 2002 http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2002/14023.htm
IRF 2001 http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2001/5685.htm

US Department of State Country Report on Human Rights Practices (India):
HR 2005 http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61707.htm 

HR 2003 http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2003/27947.htm   

HR 2002 http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2002/18311.htm

HR 2001 http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2001/sa/8230.htm

HR 2000 http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2000/sa/717.htm

HR 1999 http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls//hrrpt/1999/438.htm

Venkaiah Naidu, the President of the Bharatiya Janata Party (political wing
of the RSS) said, "It is disturbing that Muslims now form 12.4% of the
population" and that this was "a cause of grave concern for all those who
think of India's unity and integrity in the long run."       (See
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/FI15Df02.html)

Issue of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's Visa Status, Statement by
David C. Mulford, U.S . Ambassador to India, New Delhi, India, March 21,
2005  (See http://www.state. gov/p/sca/ rls/rm/2005/ 43701.htm)

Issue of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's Visa Status, Statement by
David C. Mulford, U.S . Ambassador to India, New Delhi, India, March 21,
2005  (See http://www.state. gov/p/sca/ rls/rm/2005/ 43701.htm)
Hindu speaker creates controversy on campus (Oct 5, 2004, Daily Penn) (See
http://www.dailypen nsylvanian. com/vnews/ display.v/ ART/416241940878 4)  
Concerned academics protest Ram Madhav's talk at the University of
Pennsylvania, (See 
http://www.awaazsaw.org/weblog/2004_09_26_awaazlogarc.html#110475027900649777 
)

_____


[4]

Avec nos meilleurs sentiments.
<http://www.idhbb.org/>I<http://www.idhbb.org/>NSTITUT 
DES DROITS DE L'HOMME DU BARREAU / HUMAN RIGHTS 
INSTITUTE OF THE BAR

http://www.idhbb.org e-mail : idhbb at idhbb.org
IDHBB - Maison de l'Avocat 18-20 Rue du Maréchal-Joffre 33000 BORDEAUX
Courrier du Président : 8, Place Saint-Christoly 33000 BORDEAUX


URGENT ALERT

Prohibition of a passport for Parvez IMROZ to go 
and receive  Human Rights Prize in France

In spite of several requests since July 2006, 
Indian authorities refuse to give a passport to 
M. Parvez Imroz, human rights Lawyer in Srinagar 
(Kashmir) who heads the J&K coalition of Civil 
Society, to go and receive in France the eleventh 
'Ludovic-Trarieux' Prize 2006.

The Prize created in 1984 is awarded every year 
to a lawyer, regardless of nationality or Bar, 
who, by his work, will have illustrated his 
activity or his suffering, the defence of human 
rights, of defence rights, the supremacy of law, 
the struggle against racism and intolerance in 
any form, jointly by the HUMAN RIGHTS 
INSTITUTES OF THE BAR OF BORDEAUX, OF BRUSSELS 
and of PARIS and the EUROPEAN BAR HUMAN RIGHTS 
INSTITUTE (IDHAE), after consulting humanitarian 
associations and NGOs.

The first winner of this Prize in 1985 was Nelson 
Mandela, then in jail. He was prevented to come 
in France to receive the Prize by the apartheid 
government of South Africa in 1985.

According to the rules of the award, the prize 
winner must attend the award ceremony, with takes 
plane in Bordeaux in the National School of the 
Magistra on Friday October 13th 2006 at 17 .30 
p.m.

The above Institutes and lawyers of the 
Bar protest against the fact that a 
great Democracy as India prevents Mr Parvez 
Imroz, lawyer in Srinagar, to come in France and 
receive the prestigious human rights Prize for a 
lawyer "Ludovic Trarieux" on October 13th.

They think that the denial of a passport would be 
an unfair attack against human rights and do hope 
that this refusal could be dropped.

Parvez Imroz is a human rights lawyer and a civil 
rights activist in Srinagar, the capital of Jammu 
and Kashmir. He graduated in Science from 
Srinagar in the year 1972 and then got his LLB 
degree at the Law College Aligarh Muslim 
University in 1975. Imroz joined the J&K High 
Court as a lawyer in 1978.  Since the end of the 
eighties, he has initiated and led campaigns for 
human rights in a context of grave violations, 
including killings, tortures and rapes, or forced 
"disappearances" with impunity. He is founder and 
President of the J&K Coalition of Civil Society 
(JKCCS) that works to build local alliances 
between Kashmiri civil society groups.

In response to the large volume of parents at the 
Jammu and Kashmir High court who were filing or 
pursuing habeas corpus petitions, Imroz founded 
in 1994 the Association of Parents of Disappeared 
Persons (APDP), which brings together hundreds of 
Kashmiri families whose members have been the 
victims of Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances 
(EID). The APDP is a collective campaigning 
organization that seeks truth and justice on this 
human rights issue in Kashmir. The APDP is not a 
human rights group but an association of those 
suffering by the State's tactics and they are 
campaigning for knowing the whereabouts of their 
missing relatives. Any person related to a victim 
of a disappearance could be a member of the 
association. The association has no political 
affiliations or political positions; it is an 
independent group seeking justice and information 
from the state.

Parvez Imroz has lost four colleagues in seven 
years at the hands of the security forces. 
Imroz's senior partner, H N Wanchoo, was 
assassinated in the early 1990s, and on April 12, 
1995, Parvez Imroz was shot when he was driving 
home after visiting a friend some eight 
kilometres from Srinagar. Two men armed with 
automatic weapons signalled him to stop. Imroz 
sped up, and as he passed beyond them he was hit 
in the upper left back. He lost control of the 
car and stopped in front of a mosque. Someone 
came out of the mosque and drove Imroz to the 
SMHS hospital. Fragments of AK-56 bullets were 
found in Imroz's upper back, and his left lung 
was damaged. After six days, Imroz was 
transferred to a hospital in Delhi, where he 
remained for fifteen days. When he returned to 
Srinagar, several militants of Hizb-ul Mujahedin 
apologized for shooting him, claiming that it was 
a case of mistaken identity. He was tempted to 
quit.

On July 18, 2001, Imroz realized his dream, in 
Srinagar; he laid the foundation stone of a 
monument built by the APDP, in memory of Kashmiri 
men who have gone missing in the past 12 years of 
violence. In less than eight-hours, Indian police 
razed the foundation.

Parvez Imroz did not resign and founded the 
Public Commission on Human Rights (PCHR) that 
works extensively on the documentation of human 
rights violations and the dissemination of the 
information through its monthly dossier 'The 
Informative Missive'. The PCHR also provides free 
legal assistance to the victims of human rights 
violations. The PCHR has published a 
comprehensive report on Human Rights situation in 
Kashmir, which includes the time period of last 
16 years. Besides documentation, the commission 
is providing free legal assistance to the victims 
of human rights violations. Thousands of victims 
have been benefited from the PCHR's free legal 
assistance.

Recently, in April 2003, Imroz organized a 
worldwide hunger strike, coordinated in different 
cities across the world, pressing for an end to 
disappearances, prosecution of perpetrators, and 
appointment of a commission to probe into all 
enforced disappearances. During the hunger strike 
the APDP received the letters of solidarity from 
the civil society groups from India and abroad.

In March 2004, the Association of Disappeared 
Persons organised a protest in Srinagar. Violent 
protest demonstrations followed alleged police 
high- handedness and over a dozen people, mostly 
women, were injured. Witnesses said that police 
targeted women in a procession by the 
APDP heading towards the office of the United 
Nations who were demanding for the fate of their 
relatives who had gone missing in police custody 
during the last 13 years. Soon after the 
procession started from the APDP office, police 
used force to disperse it. Over a dozen women and 
the APDP patron, Parvez Imroz, were injured. 
Later police arrested 10 women and Parvez Imroz 
and they remained in custody for 7 hours.

On April 30, 2005 Imroz came out with a statement 
that he is receiving death threats from 
an unidentified man he called a 
government-sponsored gunman who came to his house 
at Kralpora area and that the Indian army and the 
Jammu and Kashmir government are conspiring to 
kill him.


I<http://www.idhae.org/>NSTITUT DES DROITS DE 
L'HOMME DES AVOCATS EUROPEENS - EUROPEAN BAR 
HUMAN RIGHTS INSTITUTE 
<http://www.idhae.org/idhae-uk-index2.htm>ATTORNEY 
URGENT ALERT
Observatory without borders monitoring attacks 
against lawyers all around the world.

_____


[5] Upcoming Events:

(i)

Dear All

   Jashan-e-Indus Delta (Celebration)
  (On Friday, September 22, 2006 at Kharochan District Thatta)     

Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum [PFF] is a registered 
non government and non profit organization. Since 
its inception, it has been active in creating 
awareness, mobilization and community 
organization for protection and sustainable 
management of the fisheries and other community 
livelihoods through advocacy, partnerships, 
networking, participatory research, information 
dissemination and participatory community 
development processes in Pakistan.
   
Biodiversity of Indus delta, the lives and 
livelihood of the inhabitants solely depend on 
the water. Since the last decade or so the people 
of Indus Delta have been put in extremely 
terrible socio-economic condition due to the 
non-release of water downstream Kotri Barrage.

Due to Current flow of River Indus, this time 
Indus delta has received adequate water and as 
result the enthusiastic pleasure is worth 
noticing among the inhabitants of the deltaic 
region.

PFF and the people of Delta are equally 
enthralled with the joy caused by the advent of 
the water after prolonged time period.

Taking into account the environment of happiness, 
Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum and people of Indus 
delta are celebrating the Jashan-e-Indus Delta on 
Friday, 22nd of September, 2006 at 2:00 PM at 
Kharochhan Tar, Thatta Sindh.
(Initially the event was proposed to be 
celebrated on 10th of September and was postponed 
due to unfavorable weather conditions.) PFF has 
arranged for a vehicle to take you to the Venue 
of the Programme.

The vehicle will leave for Thatta at 10 AM, 22nd 
of September, 2006 from Karachi press club. If 
you wish to go by PFF-arranged vehicle, please 
contact (Ikramullah Maznani 03337065155 or in 
Office Nos.).
PFF wholeheartedly invites you to participate in this event.

Regards

><(((º>`·.¸.·´¯`·..><(((º>`·.¸.·´¯`·...><(((º>

Muhammad Khan Jamali
Coordinator
Community Development
Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum
Sachal Hall Ibrahim Hydery, Bin Qasim Town
Karachi.

o o o

(ii)

People's Union for Democratic Rights, Delhi (PUDR)
invites you to a day-long

Dr. Ramanadham memorial meeting

ON

Land Distribution, Slum Demolitions & People

Saturday, 23 September 2006
Indian Social Institute, 10, Lodhi Road Institutional Area,
Near Sai Baba Temple

First Session: 10 a.m.

The session would focus on urban land distribution,
state policies including master plans and the
Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission

Speakers

Geeta Diwan Verma, Urban Planner
Amita Bhide, TISS, Mumbai
Lalitha Kamath, Bangalaore


Second Session: 2 p.m.

The session would go into the experience of slum 
demolitions and its impact on people.

Speakers

Lalit Batra, Researcher, Delhi
Ranjana Padhi, Activist, Delhi
Simpreet Singh, NAPM, Mumbai


o o o

(iii)

NARMADA BACHAO ANDOLAN

62, Mahatma Gandhi Road,
Badwani,
Madhya Pradesh - 451551
Tel: 07290-222464
Email: <mailto:badwani at narmada.org>badwani[at]narmada.org

AN INVITE FOR SATYAGRAHA - SAMAPAN: ITS CENTENARY 
CELEBRATION AMIDST THREATS AND TORTURE

· SEPTEMBER 23rd: CHIKHALDA (BADWANI) ·
SEPTEMBER 24th: CHIMALKHEDI (MAHARASHTRA)

Note change of dates due to SC hearing


Once again, the people of the Narmada valley 
extend to you an earnest invitation to come to 
the beautiful valley, now turning into a 
threatening grave. This time, it is the centenary 
of Satyagraha, which was first launched by 
Mahatma Gandhi on September 16th in South Africa, 
exactly 100 years ago.

In Narmada, this will be the 15th year since we 
began in 1991, in Manibeli. What a strength, and 
shockingly disturbing it is, to see Manibeli 
still continuing to fight for basic survival and 
fundamental rights. We hope you all haven't 
forgotten their struggle that has, till date, 
saved thickly populated communities of Nimad. 
Adivasi communities in Nandurbar district 
(Maharashtra), Jhabua district (Madhya Pradesh), 
some in Badwani and Dhar districts ( M.P.) have 
lost their land, their livelihood and are left 
landless, many having lost their shelter too. 
They need your solid support. Thousands of 
families in Nimad (the plains), farmers, 
laborers, fish workers, boatsmen, on the other 
hand, are still under threat. While they didn't 
get submerged this monsoon, the dam height 
stalled at 119 mts, BJP has begun its pressure 
tactics again! They are getting ready to push the 
dam to 122 mts.

Monsoon Satyagraha comes to an endŠIt witnessed 
more floods in Gujarat than anywhere else! Sardar 
Sarovar being filled upto 119 mts, Gujarat 
couldn't take the waters into the canals to save 
villages alongside. With all this, what adivasis 
have faced and are suffering of, we invite you to 
be with us, on September 23rdŠin Chikhalda, near 
Badwani, M.PŠ and on September 24th Š in 
Chimalkhedi, Maharashtra.

On the 23rd, fish workers and boatsmen, 
generations old communities in the river valley 
will have a Boats Rally beginning at 10 a.mŠto 
join Satyagraha conclusion at 1 p.m.

The next day i.e. on the 24th, we will proceed to 
Chimalkhedi togetherŠby road and crossing the 
river in a boatŠto the region where houses and 
fields, trees and forests is drowned, but not the 
struggle.

We would felicitate some of our years long 
supporters this timeŠ and would specially request 
the people's organizations to be with us. Eminent 
persons are invited too. Do spread the word, once 
you receive this.

How to reach?

For Badwani - reach Indore/Khandwa/Dhule/Vadodara 
and travel 4 to 5 hours by road. Overnight bus 
from Mumbai also. Reach on 22nd or 23rd early 
morning.

For Return - If in a hurry, can catch late night 
trains on 24th to Mumbai/Delhi from Vadodara, 
after the program in Chimalkhedi.

Welcome again.

Yours sincerely

Ashish Mandloi/ Chetan Salve/ Yogini Khanolkar/ Rohan Joshi/ Siyaram/
Umesh Patidar/ Vijay/ Kamla Yadav/ Mohan Patidar/ Shantilal Patodi/
Shannobhabhi/ Sajanbai/ Karan Yadav/ Devram Kanera/ Medha Patkar



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