SACW | Oct. 30 - Nov. 1, 2006 |
Harsh Kapoor
aiindex at mnet.fr
Tue Oct 31 17:58:16 CST 2006
South Asia Citizens Wire | October 30 - November 1, 2006 | Dispatch
No. 2315 - Year 8
INTERRUPTION NOTICE: Please note there will be no SACW dispatches
during the period 2 to 16 November 2006.
[1] Balochistan: Pakistan's Nuclear Wasteland Up in Arms (Ahmar Mustikhan)
[2] Pakistan: [Protection of Women Bill] Hanging in the balance (Edit., Dawn)
[3] Pakistan and South Asia: Abolish death penalty now! (I. A. Rehman)
[4] India: 'Karva Chauth' Capitalism (Mohan Rao)
[5] India: Making Space for Feminist Social Critique in Contemporary
Kerala (J Devika, Mini Sukumar)
[6] India: Prison is the only place where Muslims are
over-represented (Seema Chishti)
[7] India, Orissa: Kashipur - An Enquiry into Mining and Human
Rights Violations
[8] India Pakistan Arms Race and Militarisation Watch No 165
[9] Upcoming Events:
(i) India Social Forum (New Delhi, 9-13 Nov)
(ii) Summit of the Powerless (New Delhi, 20-21 Nov)
(iii) Exhibit: Native women of South India Puspamala and Clare
Arni (New York, 10 Nov - Dec 23)
____
[1]
Environment News Service
27 October 2006
BALOCHISTAN: PAKISTAN'S NUCLEAR WASTELAND UP IN ARMS
by Ahmar Mustikhan
LEXINGTON PARK, Maryland, October 27, 2006 (ENS) - As a Buddhist who
believes in Gandhi's philosophy of non-violence - an eye for an eye
will make the whole world blind - I am at a loss to understand how to
get peace, freedom and environmental justice without bloodshed for my
ancestral land - Balochistan.
My people are extremely poor, they have one of the highest levels of
illiteracy anywhere in the world and as a nation they are stateless,
with a significant chunk of the population still nomadic. In their
psyche and political outlook, they resemble the Kurds further to the
West, who also are stateless.
Living in the opulence of the United States, I shudder to think about
the abject poverty of the people of Balochistan despite the richness
of their land in southwestern Pakistan. The majority is suffering
from malnutrition, and many of the Baloch folks in the countryside
have never watched television.
Yet the land is rich in mineral resources. Just last week the Voice
of America announced the world's fifth largest gold and copper
reserves were discovered in the Chagai District, on the Afghan border.
Chagai is the nation's nuclear testing ground. On May 28, 1998,
Pakistan conducted five nuclear tests at Chagai. Generals of the
Pakistan Army used Chagai though they very well understand the
sentiments of the local Baloch population against Pakistan.
Chagai
Residents of the arid Chagai District lack electricity and other
basic services. (Photo courtesy Islamic Relief)
Though no scientific evaluation was ever carried out on the specific
effects of the nuclear tests on the local populace, there were news
reports of an unusually high number of deaths of both camels and
nomads.
Baloch locals allege that the nuclear tests have devastated the
ecology of the area and their fruits do not taste as sweet as they
used to prior to the nuclear tests. Water has been contaminated by
radiation caused by the nuclear tests, press reports have suggested,
saying that skin diseases, and mental and physical disorders have
been recorded in Chagai and surrounding areas.
Most Americans seem never to have heard the name Balochistan, a Texas
sized region divided among Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan. Some who
have heard the name mispronounce the "ch" in Balochistan as "k,"
though it should be pronounced like the "ch" in the word China.
Still, Balochistan is a vast territory - 43 percent of Pakistan's
land mass - and it is very rich in oil and gas. According to Frederic
Grare, a Balochistan expert at the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace, Balochistan has an estimated 19 trillion cubic
feet of natural gas reserves and six trillion barrels of oil reserves
both on-shore and off-shore.
The area under Pakistani army occupation is slightly bigger than New
Mexico. The area under Iranian mullahs is the size of Nevada, and
that under Afghan control is the size of West Virginia. The total
Baloch population in these areas is eight million, and seven million
Baloch live elsewhere in the world.
Since 1980s, several hundred Baloch have made North America their home.
leaders
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and U.S. President George W. Bush
shake hands for the cameras September 22, 2006 in the East Room of
the White House. (Photo by Eric Draper courtesy The White House)
On September 22 when Pakistani dictator-turned-president Pervez
Musharraf was visiting President George W. Bush at the White House
for promotion of his book, "In the Line of Fire," I stood outside the
building and showed my five fingers as his black limo entered the
president's official residence. I showed him five fingers, which
means "Get Lost," for the harm that the Pakistan Army had done at
Chagai.
A severe drought descended on the region after the May 28, 1998
nuclear tests, sending tribesmen to relief camps. Sardar Akhtar
Mengal, a former chief minister, insisted the drought had a
connection to the nuclear explosions.
"Even in the world's top industrialized countries, any atomic blast
is never entirely safe," Mengal told this correspondent at the time.
"How can these blasts be safe in Pakistan or India?"
With most of the world and the U.S. media focused on the disaster in
Iraq, a war that has claimed thousands of lives in Balochistan has
been ignored. The Baloch call it the Fifth War of Independence. For
almost six decades, the cries of anguish of the Baloch people as they
struggle to become masters of their own destiny have gone unheard.
Over the years, 10,000 Baloch tribesmen and 3,000 Pakistani soldiers
have been killed.
In fact, when the British granted independence to India and Pakistan
on August 14, 1947 Balochistan got its independence as a separate
entity from Pakistan as it was never a part of the British Indian
Empire. Both houses of the Balochistan Parliament unanimously
rejected the idea of joining Pakistan.
Still, under threat of being arrested by Pakistan Army as some of his
ancestors had been arrested during the British era, Balochistan ruler
Mir Ahmedyar Khan signed an Instrument of Accession on March 27, 1948
with Pakistan's founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah. Under that agreement,
Balochistan did exist as an independent nation on the map of the
world for seven-and-half months. Even that controversial accession
document promised semi-sovereignty to Balochistan, now governed as a
province of Pakistan.
A grand Baloch jirga, or assembly, decided last month to approach the
International Court of Justice at The Hague to force Pakistan to
honor its commitments under the 1948 Instruments of Accession.
Against the backdrop of this forced annexation, Pakistan's nuclear
testing in Balochistan appears even more sinister.
Baloch
A Baloch tribesman (Photo courtesy Government of Pakistan)
The Baloch complain they are being "Red Indianized."
They compare their situation to what happened when the United States
broke the Treaty of Ruby Valley and took a huge chunk of Western
Shoshone Indian land to turn it into the Nevada Nuclear Test Site.
The Shoshone now call themselves "the most bombed nation on earth."
Numbering less than five million in Pakistan-controlled Balochistan,
the Baloch fear if Islamabad's plans of transferring the ethnic
Punjabi population from the north are not checked, the demography of
their land would be altered for good in no time and they would be
marginalized much like the Native Americans in the United States.
girl
The next generation of Baloch people in the Chagai District, like
this little girl, will grow up with a nuclear test site in their back
yard. (Photo courtesy Islamic Relief)
The Baloch feel the "trail of tears," a phrase used by the Cherokee
people to describe their forcible relocation from western Georgia to
Oklahoma in 1838, is being re-enacted today in Balochistan.
J. Robert Oppenheimer, the key scientist who ran the Manhattan
Project which created the first atomic bomb, said after the first
explosion, "We knew the world not be the same... a few people cried,
most people were silent."
In the same way on May 28, 1998, I cried my heart out on learning
about the nuclear blasts in Chagai. I mean the forcible and illegal
annexation of Balochistan, the looting of Baloch resources at the
point of gun, the killing of the people and finally the destruction
of their land.
For international expediencies, these injustices and the
environmental rape perpetrated on Balochistan have been forgotten.
Even the danger Pakistan's armaments pose to the world, and to the
United States in particular, has been glossed over.
map
Map showing the location of Pakistan's nuclear test site in the
Chagai District of Balochistan.
J. George Pikas, recently wrote in a letter to the "Wall Street
Journal" that, "Pakistan is for sale to the highest bidder and is
cleverly walking the line between the Taliban, Osama, China, Iran,
the U.S. and India - quite a mix."
Pikas wrote, "One can agree that the general [Musharraf] is the only
thing standing in the way of an Islamic takeover of Pakistan but he
won't be there very long, and Pakistan's nuclear arsenal may then
fall into the hands of 'raving Islamic fanatics.'"
To make the American public aware of this ongoing conflict in a
strategic area at the hub of South Asia and Middle East, Baloch
activists have joined hands with concerned Americans to form the
American Friends of Balochistan.
I helped form the organization and two of its points are of
particular interest to me. One calls for winding up of Pakistan's
nuclear program. As the mission statement of the American Friends of
Balochistan says, "Nuclear testing on the soil of Balochistan as
practiced by Pakistan is against the wishes of its people and must
stop."
The second point calls for making Pakistan's nuclear facilities
compliant with International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards. "At the
least, the Chagai nuclear test range should be opened for
international inspections," the American Friends of Balochistan urges
in its mission statement.
The Baloch deplore lack of Western interest in their plight. Said
Professor Dr. Sabir Badalkhan, a Baloch expert on folklore who now
lives in Naples, Italy, "The West has no idea of what it means to be
occupied by others, not being able to speak in your language, wear
your national dress, celebrate your national days, commemorate the
days of your national heroes, read and learn about your national land
and feel proud, or sometimes be ashamed, of your forerunners."
{Ahmar Mustikhan can be contacted at ahmar_reporter at yahoo.com}
_____
Dawn
October 30, 2006
Editorial
Hanging in the balance
THE fate of the Protection of Women Bill continues to hang in the
balance. The bill was introduced by the government in the National
Assembly more than two months ago to bring about amendments in the
Hudood Ordinances. These were ostensibly designed to do away with the
provisions which make women vulnerable to injustice of the worst
kind. Any law which equates rape with adultery and allows the victim
to be punished and provides an opening for the police to abuse the
provision is a bad law and needs to be either repealed or amended.
The bill has undergone drafting and redrafting a number of times and
has been debated by a parliamentary select committee and another
extra-parliamentary body of religious leaders in a bid to produce a
consensus but to no avail. Last week, the women's development
minister had promised to have the bill adopted in the next session of
the Assembly. Will the minister succeed this time remains a big
question.
If the wrongs of the Hudood Ordinances - basically the product of the
perverse thinking of a military dictator - are to be righted, the
ideal measure would be to repeal them and restore the legal
provisions for the punishment of rape under the PCC as they were
before 1979. This, unfortunately, seems to be beyond the government's
capacity, given its political strategy of not provoking the religious
parties. The MMA clerics have adopted such a rigid and unreasonable
position on the bill that the government would find it difficult to
win their support. It is plain that the debate on the Protection of
Women Bill has a strong political dimension and its religious
interpretation is being used by the MMA merely for its political ends
and to promote its narrow-minded misogynism. It is intriguing why the
government, whose head claims to be moderate and enlightened, does
not go ahead with the revised draft that has the approval of the PPPP
and the MQM as well. The backing of these parties would ensure the
passage of the bill even if the MMA opposes it. It is, however,
widely suspected in parliamentary circles that many members of the
ruling party who are supporters of General Ziaul Haq are not in
favour of the Hudood laws being softened in any way. This in itself
does not explain the prevaricating approach of the government on the
women's bill when it is known to bring its members in line when
voting for an issue it considers vital.
In spite of President Musharraf's statements projecting himself as a
champion of women's rights, it seems his government does not consider
this issue important enough to go ahead and pass this bill. For the
time being he has managed to reassure his western backers that he is
not such an anti-woman tyrant as the human rights activists have made
him out to be. It seems he will let the matter rest there until the
tyranny of the Hudood laws comes under the spotlight again. One only
hopes that the ordinance of July 16 making the offences under the
Hudood laws bailable will not be allowed to lapse on November 16, as
it would in normal course. If the Protection of Women Bill fails to
be adopted, the government would do well to revalidate the July
ordinance.
_____
[3]
Dawn
October 20, 2006
ABOLISH DEATH PENALTY NOW!
by I. A. Rehman
LAHORE, Oct 19: The time to abolish death penalty not only in
Pakistan but in the whole of South Asia has come. Any delay in taking
this long overdue step may not only cause extinction of more lives
without justification, the governments in the region may increase the
number of many insoluble problems they are facing. The urgency of
action in this matter is underlined by the following instances:
The execution of Mohammad Afzal Guru, a Kashmiri sentenced to death
on the charge of conspiring to attack the Indian parliament in
December 2001, has been fixed for October 20, 2006. (He may well have
been hanged by the time these lines appear in print). While pleading
for clemency in this case, Indian human rights activists have
advanced several cogent arguments. They have pointed out that the
Supreme Court of India noted there was no direct evidence of his
involvement or of his belonging to any terrorist outfit and that he
has been convicted and sentenced purely on the basis of
circumstantial evidence. Important figures in Jammu and Kashmir
including its former chief minister have pleaded clemency and warned
of serious consequences if Mohammad Afzal is hanged. However,
partisan statements apart, judicial error cannot be ruled out.
A British national, Mirza Tahir Hussain, whose death sentence has
been upheld by the Supreme Court of Pakistan, is scheduled to be
hanged. The British prime minister has deemed it prudent to warn
Pakistan of serious repercussions if the convict is hanged while the
British crown prince is on a visit to this country. This is no time
to inform Mr Blair that murder by state under the cover of death
penalty laws is condemnable even when committed out of royal sight.
What is important at the moment is the fact that the convict's trial
has invited serious criticism and the refusal of victim's family to
forgive him is alleged to have been secured under duress. In this
case too, judicial error cannot be ruled out.
Sheikh Omar Saeed, described as the principal accused in the Daniel
Pearl murder case, was sentenced to death quite some time ago. Appeal
proceedings in the Sindh High Court have been frozen as hearing has
been continually postponed from one date to another. Now the
Americans have started saying that Omar Saeed did not behead Daniel
Pearl and that another person, who is already in their custody, was
responsible for the foul deed. Now, who in today's Pakistan will
reject American testimony?
Recently, the Supreme Court took notice of a case in which five
innocent persons were arrested on the charge of abducting and
murdering a woman who was enjoying the security of a prison in
Gujrat. The accused suffered imprisonment for nearly five years
before the trial court discharged them. They were lucky. If they
could be arrested on the charge of killing a woman who was very much
alive, the possibility of their being sentenced to death could not be
ruled out. This is one of the many cases that prove how easy it is in
Pakistan to try people on murder charge.
Some time ago, a couple of young labourers were charged with
murdering a retired official in Lahore. They confessed to the crime.
After some time, they were released when the police found the real
killer. When asked by their elders as to why they had confessed to a
crime they had not committed, they said: "If you had been there in
our place, you would have confessed to all the murders reported in
the city over the past three years."
Let it be said at the outset that the attack on the Indian parliament
was a most heinous act of unpardonable criminality and the brutal
beheading of Daniel Pearl cannot be condoned by any rational being.
Those responsible for such horrible crimes must be punished, but only
those who can be proved guilty beyond a shadow of doubt and that too
through a judicial process that is not only just but is also
perceived to be just. Besides, punishment for even the most heinous
crime cannot be as offensive to contemporary human sensibility as
death penalty has become.
All these cases strengthen the argument that in countries where the
judicial process is prone to errors, death penalty should not be
imposed. The reason is obvious: the execution of a person cannot be
reversed and no system of justice can be forgiven for allowing the
state to take the life of persons who are innocent or whose crime is
not proved beyond the shadow of doubt.
Pakistan has attracted serious criticism from the international legal
community and human rights activists for increasing the offences for
which death sentence can be awarded, and this is contrary to the
worldwide trend towards reducing capital offences and abolition of
death penalty. At the time of independence, death sentence could be
awarded only for treason and murder. Now several more offences such
as purveying narcotics, blasphemy, abduction for ransom and gang
rape, also carry the punishment of death. Thus the number of people
who are awarded death sentence in Pakistan every year is in the
neighbourhood of 550 - an intolerably high figure.
Another factor that has made death penalty even more objectionable is
the operation of the Qisas and Diyat law since 1990. Murderers who
are rich enough to buy forgiveness from the families of their victims
or are powerful enough to terrorise the latter into forgiving them
have been walking out of prison unscathed. Thus, the law on death
penalty in Pakistan is attracting more and more stigma as a pro-rich
and pro-gangster measure.
Pakistan has regrettably ignored the Second Optional Protocol to the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which aims at
the abolition of death penalty. The protocol is rooted in the belief
that "abolition of death penalty contributes to the enhancement of
human dignity and progressive development of human rights". It also
reaffirms the fact that the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights strongly suggests abolition of death penalty.
Unfortunately, the Government of Pakistan is still afraid of signing
the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and its non-ratification
is a convenient excuse for not looking at the protocol. However,
non-ratification of an international instrument does not completely
free a state of its obligations under it as a signatory to the UN
charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
It is no secret that Pakistani community's appetite for murder by
state has been whetted by the process of brutalisation initiated by
the authoritarian regime in the seventies. Yet, there are
organisations, such as Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, which
have consistently demanded an end to death penalty on the ground
that, possibilities of mistake apart, the ends of justice are not met
by taking life or revenge for a criminal act that no one can commit
while sane and in view of the evidence that death sentence is no
deterrent to crime.
One may also point out that the demand for abolishing death penalty
has not been raised by undesirable NGOs alone. One of the first
persons to make this demand in early fifties was Mr A.K. Brohi, the
law wizard of his time whose patriotism and devotion to sacred
cultural norms even General Ziaul Haq would have vouched for.
It is certainly time that Pakistan took a look at the worldwide
movement against the death penalty regime. In 1863, Venezuela, the
country Mr Chavez has helped us discover, was the only state to have
abolished the capital punishment. Other countries were slow to join
the Latin American pioneer and by 1970 their number had risen to 13
only. The enforcement of the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
in 1976 and the adoption of the Second Optional Protocol in 1989
persuaded many countries to stop killing human beings on state
account. Their number rose from 23 in 1980 to 46 in 1990, to 75 in
2000 and to 85 in 2005.
Thus, the demand for abolition of death penalty is not only justified
in terms of state interest, it is also endorsed by experience of
contemporary communities and lessons of respect for human dignity
that humankind has learnt after ages of struggle for truth and
justice.
_____
[4]
The Times of India
31 Oct, 2006
KARVA CHAUTH CAPITALISM
by Mohan Rao
There has been a steady decline in India's overall sex ratio (SR)
over the 20th century. The 1975 Report of the Committee of the Status
of Women drew attention to the fact that while the 1901 census showed
972 females per thousand males, this had declined steadily to 946 in
1951, 941 in 1961, and 930 in 1971.
The 1981 census, however, threw up a happy figure of 934 females per
thousand males. The 1991 figure however put paid to this optimism -
it revealed a further decline to 927.
Demographers now accept that the 1981 figure was caused by
significant under-counting of females due to a decline in the quality
of the 1971 census.
They are agreed that the 1991 and 2001 censuses are free from this
infirmity. This is to say that the 2001 census figures, of 933
females per thousand males, are real and indicative of an improvement
in the overall survival of females.
The SR could turn feminine simply because more men than women have
migrated. But the juvenile or child sex ratio (CSR) is not subject to
this limitation. Despite the slight overall improvement in the SR,
CSR in India as a whole has declined significantly - from 945 in 1991
to 927 in 2001.
The decline in the CSR has been notable in Himachal Pradesh (897),
Punjab (793), Chandigarh (845), Haryana (820) and Delhi (865), the
classical region of the north and west referred to as the Bermuda
triangle for missing females.
In these states the number of female children per thousand male
children in the 0-6 age group declined by more than 50 between 1991
and 2001.
Gujarat (929) and Maharashtra (946), the more developed states by all
conventional indices, have unfortunately joined this group.
Something entirely new, going beyond the traditional cultural
arguments, is afoot, as anti-female attitudes spread to new regions
and new communities, armed with technology and aggression.
Sanskritisation does not explain this process. The explanation that
Hindus need sons to cremate their fathers runs aground, as
substantial sections of Hindus, particularly lower castes, bury their
dead, and it is these communities that have seen substantial declines
in CSR and masculinisation of sex ratio at birth (SRB).
The decline in CSR and masculinisation of SRB has spread to regions
and populations hitherto considered immune, namely states of the
south and west and populations of SCs and STs, as these get
increasingly neo-Brahminised, or North-Indianised.
In Kerala, SRB has masculinised from 105.5 males for every 100
females in 1981-90 to 107.1 in 1996-98. The decline is marked in more
developed regions, and in more literate and better-off social groups.
So much rubbish, then, on education as female empowerment. What we
have then is 'karva chauth capitalism' - a conjunction of
consumerism, anti-feminism and Hindutva in a time of globalisation.
In India, a figure of 105 male births for 100 female births is
considered the norm. How-ever, SRB estimates for 1998 reveal an
all-India figure of 111 males per 100 females, indicative of
sex-selective abortion (SSA) of females.
Figures above this national average of the SRB are seen in Gujarat
(113.9), Haryana (123.3), Punjab (122.8), Rajasthan (114.8) and Uttar
Pradesh (118).
Scholars have drawn attention to imbrication of Brahminical marriage
patterns among other castes and the spread of dowry.
Increased availability of new technologies, from the relatively rare
methods of enrichment of male sperm to selection of male embryos for
implantation along with the now ubiquitous ultrasound machines used
for sex selection, have provided new and more widespread means to SSA.
General Electric and Wipro, distributors of ultrasounds in India,
have sold a disproportionate number in northern and western states,
precisely the areas that have revealed a precipitous decline in CSR.
These technologies are often marketed to doctors with loans from GE
Capital. All religious fundamentalisms write their writs on the
bodies of women.
Since the 1990s we have seen, in India as in many other parts of the
globe, a sharp increase in violent crimes against women.
There has been an increase in violence against Dalit women, and a
rise in so-called honour killings, especially in the same areas of
north and west India that have also seen an increase of SSA.
A sharp increase in dowry deaths has also been documented in these
regions. Indeed, new forms of dowry, new forms of crass
commercialism, and the disappearance of girl children, appear to go
together, as patriarchy and 'karva chauth capitalism' intersect.
Some of these areas have also seen import of women for marriage:
Haryanvi men marrying Assamese women, men in UP importing brides from
West Bengal, and men in Rajasthan importing brides from Andhra
Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
Extreme poverty among groups giving away daughters, along with the
low sex ratio in groups importing such brides, are seen as crucial
factors explaining the increase of such marriages over the last
decade.
In Haryana, where it is reported that girls are brought in from as
far away as Orissa and Bangladesh, such girls are apparently referred
to as lesser wives.
The lesser wives, it is reported, are sometimes married to more than
one lesser husband, who due to relative poverty and lack of brides,
cannot obtain a bride of his caste.
Thus, we witness the emergence of new forms of sex slavery, along
with polyandry, which apparently claims the sanctity of tradition.
The writer is with Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health,
JNU.
_____
[5]
Economic and Political Weekly
October 21, 2006
MAKING SPACE FOR FEMINIST SOCIAL - CRITIQUE IN CONTEMPORARY KERALA
by J Devika, Mini Sukumar
Women's literary writing in Kerala has gained a fairly wide market.
Even as younger
women authors have succeeded in breaking earlier stereotypes and frameworks of
depiction,the category of 'pennezhuthu' has come to be questioned as
a defining term that
limits, instead of enabling. Incisive feminist critiques of
contemporary patriarchy now
drawupon a variety of disciplines, with the result that long held
notions defining
Malayaleewomanhoodare being questioned with increasing regularity.
Concomitantly,
stereotypedframeworks and the pulls of the market continue to
exercise a powerful
influence. It makesit all the more necessary to foster independent
initiatives in feminist
knowledge generation in Kerala. "Women's Imprint", a women's
publishing venture in
Malayalam is involved in such efforts to help create new networks of
resistance and towards
ensuring that gender remains a contested category in public debate.
http://www.epw.org.in/showArticles.php?root=2006&leaf=10&filename=10687&filetype=pdf
_____
[6]
Indian Express
October 29, 2006
THE MISSING MUSLIM PART III
PRISON IS THE ONLY PLACE WHERE MUSLIMS ARE OVER-REPRESENTED
by Seema Chishti
Muslim percentage of inmates in jails in states as high as their
share in population; in many states, including Gujarat, Maharashtra,
Jharkhand, Karnataka, it's even higher: Sachar panel data
New Delhi, October 28:In sharp contrast to education and employment,
where their share is way, way below their share of the population,
Muslims have a disproportionately high representation when it comes
to being in prison.
In fact, in many states, Muslims even make up a higher percentage of
the population in jail than they do outside.
This statistic, a key finding of the Prime Minister-appointed Justice
Rajinder Sachar committee - which is looking into the status of
Muslims nationwide - has major social and political implications.
Such a high figure of incarceration, experts say, means further
marginalisation of the community, deepening prejudice and distrust.
While there is no break-up of the nature of the crime for which these
inmates have been imprisoned, sources said the total number of
inmates surveyed is 102,652 and a majority of them are not in for
terrorism.
A dozen states with significant Muslim population shares were asked
to furnish statistics on the number of Muslims in prison, convicted
and under-trials. West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Andhra
Pradesh have not reported back to the committee on this so the data
available is only for eight states that did.
Incidentally, West Bengal, UP and Bihar, as was first reported in The
Indian Express this week, rank at the bottom when it comes to
representation of Muslims in Government employment, including state
public sector undertakings and the lower judiciary.
Data accessed by The Sunday Express shows that when it comes to
Muslims in the prison population, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Kerala are
the most disproportionate.
* In Maharashtra, the percentage of Muslim jail inmates in all
categories (see chart) is way above their share in the population
(Muslim share in population is 10.6%, share in the total prison
inmates is 32.4%.
* When it comes to those in prison for less than a year, Muslims
contribute 40.6% of all prisoners in Maharashtra.
* In Gujarat, the percentage of Muslims in the state is just 9.06%
but they make up over a quarter of all jail inmates.
* Assam, the second highest Muslim populated state in the country,
after J&K, has 30.9% Muslims, and here, the percentage of Muslim jail
inmates is 28.1.
* Even Karnataka, which did relatively better than other states in
providing jobs to Muslims, shows the same trend: 17.5% of its jail
inmates are Muslim as compared with 12.23% of its population.
The debate over these numbers is a complex one. Says Prakash Singh,
the former Director General of the Border Security Force and whose
PIL prompted the Supreme Court to press for police reforms last
month: "There is unjust suspicion against the police. In cases of
terror attacks or communal riots, if the police goes after the
perpetrators of the violence, and they happen to be mostly Muslim,
you cannot, in the name of secularism, expect the police to act in
proportion to their population."
Others say poverty is one main factor behind this trend. According to
the Sachar committee findings, the poverty level in Muslims in urban
areas is as high as 44% compared to the national figure of 28%.
Says former bureaucrat and now Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat
Habibullah: "The higher numbers of Muslims in jails is also a
reflection of the fact that Muslims are poorer generally and are more
likely to get picked on by the police because they are easy prey due
to fewer entitlements. Prejudice against them also exists but gets
compounded because of their poverty."
For former member of Parliament Syed Shahabuddin, who is also
president of Muslim organisation Majlis-e-Mushawarat, there is a
parallel here between Muslims in India and African Americans in the
United States.
"Muslims are very well represented in marginal professions, like
cinema and the media, and also in goonda-gardi, as they have no
openings in formal jobs," he says.
"What are they supposed to do? They, therefore, end up in police
stations more frequently and get involved in things they should not
be involved in. It's like the African-Americans in the US. Their
proportionate share in jails is much more than their population
share. With less opportunities, crime is a vocation."
Shahabuddin also attributes the high Muslim prison figures to what he
calls bias in the police and the inaccessibility to legal aid. "The
belief that Muslims are terrorists is only a product of the
anti-Muslim bias the police have. If Muslims are involved, they pick
up ten in place of one. Invariably, they make arrests when not
necessary, and eventually, they cannot prove the cases."
_____
[7]
INDIAN PEOPLE'S TRIBUNAL
ON ENVIRONMENT AND HUMAN RIGHTS ( IPT)
PRESS RELEASE
October 14, 2006
Subject: Release of IPT Report on
Kashipur: An Enquiry into Mining and Human Rights Violations
in Kashipur, Orissa
An eight member multidisciplinary panel of the Indian People's
Tribunal headed by Justice S. N. Bhargava (Former Chief Justice
Sikkim High Court) enquired into alleged human rights and environment
violations created by a bauxite-mining project proposed by Utkal
Aluminum International, Ltd. (UAIL) in the Baphlimali Hills, located
in Kashipur Block, Rayagada District of Orissa. Members accompanying
Justice Bhargava were Mr. Dilip Singh Bhuria (Former Chairperson of
the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes),
Prof. Ram Dayal Munda (Former Vice Chancellor, Ranchi University),
Dr. Illina Sen (Women's Studies Department in Mahatma Ghandhi
International Hindi University, Wardha), V.T. Padmanabhan
(Environmental Scientist at BIRSA Ranchi), Mr. K. Balagopal
(Secretary, Human Rights Forum, A.P.), Professor S. Parasuraman
(Director, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai) and Mr. Sagar
Dhara (Environmental Scientist and Analyst).
The terms of reference for the enquiry were: a) to assess the
project's potential effect on the lives, livelihoods and culture of
the local people; b) to assess the potential environmental impact of
the mine and the alumina plant; and c) to assess the claims of state
repression.
The Panel members visited Kucheaipadar and conducted spot visits to
Lanjigarh where Vedanta is operating to understand the impact that
such a project could have. The panel also received testimonies from
the local adivasis who would be affected by the coming up of the UAIL
Project. Taking into account their testimonies, the testimonies of
experts and the responses furnished by various ministries to letters
sent under the Right to Information Act by IPT - the panel would
like to recommend that the Government of Orissa abandon the UAIL
project with immediate effect.
The Panel investigated specifically into opposition by the local
people, the majority of whom are Scheduled tribes and found that
their voices are being met by repressive measures in the form of
large scale arrests, disruption of public meetings by force, violent
beatings to disperse gatherings, official encouragement to the
employment of private goons by UAIL, midnight raids by the police,
unmitigated violence on women and children. Deposing before the
Tribunal Bhagban Majhi stated "Instead of answering our concerns,
they are replying with bullets and lathis. What is even more
shocking is that even minors like Pradip Majhi (aged 14) who deposed
before the Tribunal spoke of being physically stripped and humiliated
by the Police.
The granting of a mining lease to UAIL, a non-tribal entity, by the
State Government of Orissa, is in flagrant violation of
Constitutional mandates that have been upheld by the Supreme Court in
Samatha v. State of Andhra Pradesh. Other constitutional provisions
like the Panchayats Extension to the Scheduled Areas Act, (PESA)1996,
as well as state provisions like the Orissa Scheduled Areas Transfer
of Immovable Property Act, 1956, which protect the Adivasi
community's right to land and other natural resources have also been
unlawfully overridden.
From the investigations it is also clear that UAIL's mining lease
appears to have expired and the validity of the original lease, which
was obtained prior to the granting of environmental clearance, is
under scrutiny. UAIL's mining lease expired in 2000 and there is no
indication that the company was granted a renewal lease from the
Ministry of Mines. The original lease was granted in 1995, and was
only valid for five years, whether or not the project operations
managed to commence within that period.
The Government of Orissa and UAIL have failed to conduct a local
consultation and obtain local consent for the project as stipulated
under the provisions of the Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas
Act, 1996 and the Orissa Scheduled Areas Transfer of Immovable
Property Act (1956). Locals like Shankar Prasad Muduli expressed
their concern to the Tribunal by saying: If the company comes up we
will lose thousands and thousands of acres of cultivable land and be
reduced to beggars. That's the reason why we won't allow our land to
be destroyed. Indications from UAIL that they have in fact obtained
local consent were discounted by credible testimony before the
Tribunal.
The Panel is convinced that the bauxite-mining project proposed by
UAIL will have adverse environmental and health effects: water
sources and agricultural land will be contaminated by toxic wastes,
grasslands and forest land will be destroyed, and pollution including
the release of cancerous gases that will create a health hazard for
those living in proximity of the alumina refinery. Further the
location of the mine in the Eastern ghats will cause irreversible
loss of plant genetic material and biodiversity of this region.
Further, the Government of Orissa has no binding Relief &
Rehabilitation (R & R) policy nor a good record of enforcing R & R
packages. Also, the R & R package offered by UAIL is grossly
inadequate. Compensation offered under the Land Acquisition Act for
agricultural and homestead lands and the resettlement and
rehabilitation project is inadequate to the deprivation that adivasi
communities will face if the project is allowed to proceed. It also
appears that compensation is being offered only to those who are able
to establish titles to their land. The rehabilitation package
excludes those who work for wages and those who depend on common
property resources. The testimonies received by the IPT panel clearly
show that the relevant authorities are using force and intimidation
to coerce people into relocating and accepting the rehabilitation
package.
Finally, the UAIL project will threaten local adivasi communities by
radically altering their livelihood options, agrarian lifestyles,
cultures, and identities. There appear to be no benefits arising from
the project for local adivasi communities, despite the Government
of Orissa and UAIL's claims that the project will lead to development
and provide jobs. The evidence to substantiate this has been detailed
in the IPT report
Tribunal Recommendations
Given the findings of this report, the Tribunal would like to issue
the following recommendations.
The Government of Orissa and the Central Government should
immediately take all necessary steps to halt the UAIL project in
Kashipur, based on the illegalities and social and environmental
consequences outlined in detail in this report.
Environment
7 The Orissa State Pollution Control Board and the Ministry of
Environment and Forests revoke "consent for establishment" and
environmental clearances issued so far to UAIL;
7 Put all environmental applications and orders passed for this
project the public domain;
7 Order UAIL to cease all work on plant construction and mine opening;
7 Conduct an inquiry into the capacity of the Orissa State
Pollution Control Board to assess and prevent violations of state and
national pollution standards, and if the OSPCB is found to be
deficient, it should be reconstituted into an effective monitoring
and enforcement body.
State Repression
7 Order the immediate withdrawal of paramilitary units and
reduce police units to pre-1992 levels;
7 Take punitive action against police responsible for the death
of three unarmed civilians in the Maikanch incident;
7 Conduct an inquiry and take action against officials who have
violated national and state laws;
7 Immediately release those charged with false crimes and drop
all outstanding warrants;
7 Provide protection for peaceful assemblies, rallies, and
demonstrations organized by local groups;
7 Provide redressal for those who suffered at the hands of
police and paramilitary forces.
Illegal Seizure of Land
7 The Government of India should desist all efforts to
'denotify' tribes in Kashipur and other resource rich areas around
the country;
7 The Government of Orissa should declare all land acquisition
by UAIL to date null and void;
7 The Government of India and the State Government of Orissa
should enforce legislation and constitutional provisions preventing
the transfer of tribal lands to non-tribal entities;
7 The Government of Orissa should ensure that private companies
provide information about proposed projects in writing, and in a
language intelligible to the local people, well in advance of
conducting public consultations;
7 The Government of India and Orissa should demand that UAIL
produce written proof of consent for the project from the relevant
Gram Sabhas. For this, it is essential to hold free and fair Gram
Sabhas without the presence of police and only after providing all
information about the project, like proposals and possible
consequences etc.
7 During this process representatives of civil society and NHRC
should be invited as observers.
R & R Package
7 Restrain the Company officials and representatives from
intimidating and implicating people into submission.
7 The Government of India must ensure that R & R packages
compensate for both physical and non-physical assets, as well as
damage to assets due to pollution or other environmental factors;
7 The Government of India must provide legal representatives to
safeguard the interest of DPs and PAPs during negotiations involving
the terms of R & R packages;
7 The Government of India must ensure that all R & R packages
are in writing and legally binding on the parties involved;
7 DPs and PAPs must be identified and compensated according to
the most recent demographic data and a survey most be conducted to
ensure that all villages and habitations in the affected area are
properly identified and registered by the relevant government
authorities.
Mining and Displacement
7 The Government of Orissa must commission an independent
economic study of the viability of the UAIL project;
7 The Government of Orissa must conduct a thorough study of the
economic, social and environmental effects of mining projects and
large-scale displacement within the region.
For further details or clarifications contact the IPT secretariat:
Maya Nair/ Deepika D'Souza at +91 22 23439651/ 23436692/ (0) 98672
42514/ (0) 98200 39557
SECRETARIAT
Indian People's Tribunal (Mumbai) 4th Floor, CVOD Jain School 84
Samuel Street Dongri,
Mumbai 400 009 Tel: 022 - 23439651/ 23436692
Indian People's Tribunal (Delhi) 3rd Floor, 65, Masjid Road,
Jungpura, New Delhi
Tel: 011 - 24379855 / 24379856
_____
[8]
INDIA PAKISTAN ARMS RACE AND MILITARISATION WATCH
Compilation (October 31, 2006)
Year Seven, No 165
URL: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IPARMW/message/176
_____
[9] Upcoming Events
(i)
An overview of scheduled events at the INDIA SOCIAL FORUM - 9 to 13
November 2006, New Delhi
http://www.sacw.net/free/eventsISF2006.pdf
o o o
For the full official programme and related information on the Indian
Social Forum go to the India Social Forum Web site
http://www.wsfindia.org/
___
(ii)
Tehelka is organising a Summit of the Powerless on 20 and 21 November
2006 at Dr MA Ansari Auditorium, Jamia Milia Islamia University, New Delhi.
http://www.summitofthepowerless.net/summit_registration.asp
For details visit www.summitofthepowerless.net. Given below is an
introductory note and the tentative schedule.
o o o o o
SUMMIT OF THE POWERLESS
India is going through a period of great change and great upheaval. At
such a time, it has become crucial to ensure that voices across the
country are heard, and people are given a chance to participate in the
future being newly moulded for them -- people whose lives are impacted
daily by the decisions the powerful make.
To give voice to this silent majority, to find creative responses to
some of the most difficult questions of our time, on November 20 -21
this year, Tehelka is hosting a visionary new forum: The Summit of the
Powerless.
The core idea of the Summit is to bring together the three key
stakeholders of a free society on to the same platform: money, power,
and people.
Political and business leaders wield enormous power and influence over
the lives of the poor. But in most forums, the converted talk to the
converted: the powerful to the rich; the powerless to the powerless.
The unique idea of the Summit is to create an environment where the
powerful will lend their ear to the powerless. The Summit seeks to
bring the powerful into a new context. A context visually,
emotionally, and conceptually constructed to be empathetic to the
powerless.
The agenda? Not just to air differences, but hunt for common ground.
The broad theme for this year's Summit is Two Indias, One Future.
Under this matrix, the Summit will discuss some of the most pressing
issues of our time: the role of the State; the farmer crisis; the gap
between rural and urban India; reservations; naxals; Kashmir; the
Northeast; land usage; and a vision for more equitable cities.
Every panel in the Summit will have two or more speakers each from the
grassroot, political, and corporate sectors. There will also be AVs
and personal narratives in every panel. More than 50 key human rights
activists, peoples' movement leaders, political, and corporate heads
have already confirmed participation. Recognising the importance of
such a forum, the President of India too has agreed to participate in
the Summit.
Apart from the panel discussions, many important conversations,
arguments, and linkages will be made possible by the Summit. It has
immense potential and provides an immense opportunity. (An agenda is
attached with this letter.)
Tehelka is inviting everybody working to create a more equitable and
humane world to attend the Summit. Do come and empower the Summit with
your presence.
If you can come, please register at www.summitofthepowerless.net
If you have any queries, please write to summit at tehelka.com
And do pass the word around.
Best wishes,
The Tehelka Team
DAY 1
Tarun Tejpal, Editor-in-Chief, Tehelka welcome address.
Outlines summit agenda
Keynote Address by the President of India
OPENING SESSION: Two Indias, One Future
Confirmed Speakers
Aruna Roy
Anna Hazare
Kamal Nath
Sitaram Yechury
LK Advani
Arun Maira
SESSION 1 a
Farmer Suicides: Urban India vs Rural India
Confirmed Speakers
Ajit Singh
Sachin Pilot
Rajiv Bakshi
Vandana Shiva
Mihir Shah
Kishore Tiwari
Sharad Pawar
Amrinder Singh
Devegowda
SESSION 1 b (simultaneous)
The Positive Model: Stories of Rural Success
Confirmed Speakers
Father Thomas Kocherry
Rajinder Singh
Prakash Amte
SESSION 2 a
Reservations: Inclusive Progress or the Death of Merit?
Confirmed Speakers
Yogendra Yadav
Kani Mozhi
Udit Raj
Arjun Singh
Arun Shourie
SESSION 2 b (simultaneous)
Equal Education: Excellence or Prejudice?
Confirmed Speakers
Anil Sadgopal
Ashok Aggarwal
Mushirul Hasan
Krishna Kumar
Parth J Shah
MUSICAL EVENING
Shubha Mudgal
Kailash Kher
Indian Ocean
Zahroor Sahin
DAY 2
Opening Session
The Indian State: Protector or Alienator?
Confirmed Speakers
Kapil Sibal
Ram Jethmalani
Praful Patel
Medha Patkar
Dipankar CPIML
SESSION 3 a
Naxals: Backlash of the Fourth World?
Confirmed Speakers
Sumanto Banerjee
Dilip Simeon
Dr Vara Vara Rao
Janak Lal Thakur
Manendra Karma
KPS Gill
SESSION 3 b (simultaneous)
Kashmir: External Hand or Internal Haemorrhage?
Confirmed Speakers
Wajahat Habibullah
Pervez Imroze
Omar Abdullah
Mehbooba Mufti
SESSION 4 a
The City and the Powerless
Confirmed Speakers
Charles Correa
KT Ravindran
Madhu Kishwar
A Jockin
Jaipal Reddy
Milind Deora
Vijaypat Singhania
Cyrus Gazdar
Rajeev Chandrashekhar
B S Nagesh
SESSION 4 b (simultaneous)
North East: On the Map, Off the Mind?
Confirmed Speakers
Wasbir Hussain
Patricia Mukhim
Lachit Bordoloi
SESSION 5 (Final)
Bollywood: Can cinema bridge the divide?
Prasoon Joshi
Sudhir Mishra
Rakeysh Mehra
Raveena Tandon
Anupam Kher
_____
(iii)
Exhibit:
NATIVE WOMEN OF SOUTH INDIA : MANNERS AND CUSTOMS
Puspamala N and Clare Arni
10 Nov - Dec 23
Bose Pacia
508 West 26th Street, 11th Floor
New York, New York
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
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/
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