SACW | Feb 24, 2007

Harsh Kapoor aiindex at mnet.fr
Fri Feb 23 21:45:38 CST 2007


South Asia Citizens Wire  | February 24, 2007 | Dispatch No. 2365 - Year 9


[1]  Pakistan: NWFP's Mad Mullahs are public a health hazard:
      - Debilitating scaremongering (Edit, Khaleej Times )
      - Murdered for fighting polio (Edit, The News)
      - Fighting polio on two fronts (Edit, Dawn)
[2]  Pakistan: Pakistan elections - Who to vote and why?  (M.B. Naqvi)
[3]  Sri Lanka:   Two Decades of War;  Five Years 
of Ceasefire Agreement;  What Next? (NPC)
[4]  Pakistan - India: Crafting an opportunity for peace (Praful Bidwai)
[5]  India: Kashmir Solidarity Committee and APDP 
Hold Day long protest Rally in Delhi
[6]  Publication announcement: booklet (in Hindi) 
on the Hindutva leader Yogi Adityanath in Eastern 
UP (Subhash Gatade)
[7]  Public events: National Culture versus 
Cultural Nationalism /  Media of the Public 
Sphere versus
Media of the Marketplace (New Delhi, 24 Feb 2007)
[8]  India: Peace March from Ayodhya to Magahar (7th - 14th March 2007)
[9]  Call for entries Voices from the Waters 2007 
- 2nd International Film Festival on Water

____


[1]


Khaleej Times Online
16 February 2007

EDITORIAL

DEBILITATING SCAREMONGERING

THE news that parents disallowed approximately 
24,000 children in northern Pakistan to be 
administered polio vaccines last month on 
hard-line religious grounds is disturbing and 
needs immediate attention.

The refusal seems to stem from some radical 
clerics' propaganda that the vaccine is an 
American plot to sterilise Pakistan's coming 
generations. In addition to highlighting these 
clerics' hold and influence in some of Pakistan's 
far-flung areas, this development should also 
prompt a serious investigation into other 
realities influencing this malaise.

A clear pattern reveals itself upon close 
examination. It comes as little surprise that 
both the rise in recorded polio cases as well as 
the support for the clerics' stance are 
concentrated in the frontier province. And there 
too, the higher percentage is in the bordering 
areas with Afghanistan, the troublesome area 
widely blamed for harbouring Taleban remnants and 
abetting terrorist activity.

As Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf has 
repeatedly implied, the only credible cure for 
indoctrination instilled hatred and ignorance can 
come from targeting the root, basic causes of the 
problem. These are the very places where careful 
and deliberate indoctrination was carried out, 
backed by domestic and international agencies, to 
produce warrior-cleric prototypes which proved 
successful in generating the storm that flushed 
the Soviets out of Afghanistan.

The haste with which the US abandoned the region 
once its purpose was served left a discomforting 
vacuum inside Afghanistan which automatically 
became these experimental jihadists' next target. 
And to ensure they survive and thrive, they set 
up institutions within themselves that guarantee 
self-perpetuation of their extremist dogma.

The West's attention didn't return to this area 
till the venom they gave root to eventually came 
to haunt them in their own home. And as their 
fearsome-to-all military might continues to fail 
in delivering the death blow, they are finding 
out a complex web of international proportions 
that has already been put in place by these 
apparently little-knowing self-styled clerics. 
Notably, they have evolved into a complex, 
uncompromising entity, with little scope or 
appreciation for modern enlightenment.

The polio-vaccination-refusal is just one aspect 
of their detrimental, regressive philosophy. To 
counter it, the authorities need to seriously put 
together knowledge-based educational programmes. 
They must also realise that their recent approach 
of subduing these extremist people has only added 
fuel to their debilitating scaremongering fire.


The News
February 17, 2007
Editorial

MURDERED FOR FIGHTING POLIO

It started as another of those "conspiracy 
theories" -- in this case the firm belief among 
clerics in Bajaur Agency that the drops of polio 
vaccine given to infants were actually part of a 
western plot to reduce the population of Muslims. 
On Friday it ended up with the meticulously 
planned murder of a surgeon promoting an 
anti-polio campaign. Dr Abdul Ghani Khan was 
returning to the agency's headquarter, Khaar, 
when his official vehicle in which he and a group 
of health workers were travelling was blown up by 
an improvised explosive device; ironically, the 
same IED used by the Iraqi resistance against US 
occupation forces. Three of his colleagues were 
wounded in the blast. Dr Abdul Ghani seems to 
have been an activist against a disease that 
mostly strikes young children (Franklin D 
Roosevelt was one of the rare cases of adults 
contracting polio). The doctor's only fault seems 
to have been to try and convince the agency's 
residents to participate in the government's 
anti-polio vaccination campaign, for the sake and 
future of their children. However, this seemed to 
have been too much for the obscurantists and 
extremists in the area who obviously saw what the 
good doctor was doing as something that 
necessitated the taking of his life.

The ludicrousness of this paranoia is borne by 
the fact that in the past few years, because of 
these drops, the number of polio cases has gone 
down dramatically in Pakistan, one of only about 
half-a-dozen countries in Asia and Africa where 
the disease hasn't been wiped out. Equally 
dramatic, of course, has been the rise in the 
country's population. At the time of the 
secession of East Pakistan, the combined 
population of the wings was about 100 million; 35 
years later what was then West Pakistan is 
bursting at its seams with more than 150 million 
people. But that's what the conservative elements 
want anyway. "A person is born with one stomach," 
they point out, despite the rampant unemployment 
"and two hands to earn with".

Thank goodness, "the west" -- the World Health 
Organisation, to be specific -- eradicated 
smallpox 30 years ago around the globe. At that 
time Pakistan was incomparably open-minded and 
tolerant, and far more peaceful, in relation to 
what it is these days, because the influence of 
the clerics had been minimal. If smallpox were 
still a threat now, doctors like Dr Ghani would 
have been accused by the fanatics of injecting 
"family-planning medicine" into people's arms -- 
at the behest of the west. As for the west, how 
did it eliminate polio in its own countries if 
not through the same vaccine that is supposedly 
poisoning our infants? Whichever way one looks at 
it, the Bajaur clerics' attitude towards polio is 
laughable. Incidentally, Khaar, the Agency's 
chief town, is the very place where barbers have 
been recently banned from shaving men. But it's a 
grave matter now, with members of the fanatical 
fringe murdering and maiming healers doing their 
duty. The government will have to take effective 
action to trace the murderers of Dr Abdul Ghani. 
But first it should make the safety of those 
conducting the new campaign absolutely certain.


Dawn
23 February 2007

Editorial

FIGHTING POLIO ON TWO FRONTS

THE MMA government in the NWFP has to step in and 
stop certain clerics' drivel on the polio 
vaccination or run the risk of facing a serious 
health crisis they may find difficult to deal 
with. Already their inaction has cost lives -- 39 
polio cases were reported last year in the 
province. But the incidence of the disease cannot 
be brought down without dealing with the vicious 
campaign of falsehood and canard being carried 
out by a section of the clerics bent on 
frustrating the anti-polio drive. Having access 
to illegal radio stations to spew their venom, 
such elements are determined to go to any extent 
to stop the spread of what they call the "infidel 
vaccine". The killing of a doctor earlier this 
week in Bajaur is proof of their viciousness. And 
now a cleric in a village in Swat is preaching 
that Islam prohibits finding a cure for a disease 
before its outbreak in the form of an epidemic 
and that those who die in an outbreak are 
martyrs. Such ludicrous claims have produced 
expected results: during an anti-polio campaign 
on Wednesday and Thursday in Swat, some refused 
to have their children vaccinated. It is 
difficult to reason with such illiterate fanatics 
but the government will have to find a way to win 
over support in favour of an enlightened view of 
things. As it is, health officials in certain 
areas have postponed the anti-polio campaign for 
security reasons after the doctor's death in 
Bajaur. If put off indefinitely, this could have 
disastrous effects.

The authorities cannot allow clerics to hijack a 
public campaign and jeopardise children's health 
and well-being in the process. They have a 
responsibility to contain the polio virus and 
must press ahead with the goal of a polio-free 
Pakistan. Each time a polio case is detected, it 
is a reminder of the government's failure to 
implement a comprehensive strategy to wipe out 
the disease. A more effective approach is needed 
to achieve the goal.


______


[2]

Deccan Herald
23 February 2007


PAKISTAN ELECTIONS
WHO TO VOTE AND WHY?
by M.B. Naqvi

Election campaigning has begun. Everyone has to 
choose which party to vote. This should be 
examined carefully in the light of the problems 
facing Pakistan.
Army's domination of Pakistan state and politics 
is the biggest problem. Criterion for public 
policy-making has become Army's corporate 
interests. Democracy being advertised by the 
military is deceptive. It is a military regime 
masquerading as democracy. It is a one man show.
Unless the army is ousted from politics, 
democratic governance, vital for tackling the 
myriad problems facing Pakistan, will continue 
eluding. Who can forget poverty of and squalour 
around, a third of Pakistanis? Unemployment - 
structural, seasonal and temporary - is 
widespread. Democracy and Pakistan economy have 
supposedly taken off. But they enrich only 10 to 
15 per cent of people. The rest face problems in 
making two ends meet.
Apart from masses' poverty and prosperity of just 
15 per cent, proper education and healthcare are 
not available to most Pakistanis. Haphazardly 
throwing some money at these problems does not 
expand and improve social infrastructure. What is 
needed is well-conceived economic plans to be 
executed by professionals for achieving intended 
results. The need of the hour is for parties and 
candidates to propose concrete ideas on the kind 
of development they aim at.
It does not signify whether poverty is 23 per 
cent or 33 per cent or 43 per cent. Sure, 
determine it. For the whole answer, look at how 
do large sections live in inhygienic conditions, 
ramshackle houses with uncertain incomes while 
prices go on spiralling. First priority has to be 
development. But what kind of development is 
needed? Benefits of development have to be 
distributed more equitably. Indeed those who are 
below the povertyline must be brought above it 
within a specified time, without forgetting to 
reduce the miseries of those who are just above 
the povertyline. Poverty has to be eliminated, 
not alleviated by, by ensuring jobs or some 
social security. This is the touchstone to judge 
all parties.
Islamabad's foreign policy also is controversial 
while national horizon remains clouded. 
Afghanistan's troubles have traveled to 
Pakistan's western regions, particularly FATA and 
in Balochistan. Also on the horizon is a possible 
war against Iran. Should that happen, as Prime 
Minister Aziz has said, 'it would be disastrous 
for the region'. Pakistanis need to adopt a 
position on the geo-strategic aims of the US in 
Asia. That will say what do we do about them. 
Should Pakistan remain a non-Nato ally of the US 
and a participant in Terror War? It is a fateful 
question. Can an alternative political leadership 
not suggest ways of withdrawing from that high 
risk course? Let others have this honour. 
Pakistan should be content to focus on look into 
its own problems and set its own house in order 
so that those people are benefitted who are in 
need.
Another problem is headaches. All Muslim League 
governments since 1949 have relied on Islamic 
rhetoric. They wanted an Islamic state that would 
also be modern while contributing toward Ummah's 
progress. This prospect excited Islamic scholars: 
some came forward with concepts of Islamic State 
or Nizam-e-Islam and today there is an alliance 
of six religious parties, MMA selling the idea. 
It seeks vote in Islam's name. Should Pakistanis 
vote for the Islamic State because most 
Pakistanis are Muslims? And would not Islamic 
State or Nizam-e-Islam be a copy of Mullah 
Muhammad Umar's Caliphate in Afghanistan. Will 
watering it down suffice? No modern person, 
Muslim or not, is likely to opt for that.
Today the most powerful party, the Pakistan 
military, is represented by President General 
Pervez Musharraf. He has collected a band of 
renegades and turncoats from other parties and 
calls it Muslim League (Q). What the latter wants 
is to re-elect Gen Pervez Musharraf, still on 
active service, through the existing Assemblies. 
For the rest, its programme is to carry on what 
Mr. Shaukat Aziz began as Finance Minister. If 
Pakistanis are satisfied with what he has 
achieved, PML (Q) candidates in large numbers 
will be returned.
What about the two major opposition parties: 
Benazir Bhutto's PPP and Mian Nawaz Sharif's PML 
(N)? The larger Benazir PPP may get more votes 
because it can still cash in on the memory of 
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and the party the PPP was. 
This memory has not vanished, though it is faded 
for many. It is a different kettle of fish now. 
It is more pro-American than General Musharraf, 
if possible. Coming to power again, it will 
pursue Shaukat Aziz's policies, perhaps a little 
less coherently. What its social policies will be 
is foreseeable. It is feudal dominated; will 
accommodate all the moneybags; and let common 
man's exploitation go on as hitherto. Perhaps its 
rhetoric of democracy and peoples power would be 
a shade more shrill than of PML (Q) or even PML 
(N)'s, though it will happily let Army what it 
wants.
Nawaz Sharif's PML (N) is intensely 
anti-Musharraf and gives an erroneous impression 
of being anti-Army. It is not anti-Army. It will 
render unto Caesar what is Caesar's, so long as 
the Caesar is not Gen Musharraf. In economic 
policies it do not differ much from PML (Q)'s. 
Its foreign policy would also be more or less the 
same as PML (Q)'s or Musharraf's. In short, there 
is not much difference between any of the three 
major parties over what matters.
The issue of democracy needs special treatment. 
The democracies Pakistan has seen were in 1947, 
after 1971 and post-1988 era. These were 
over-centralised governments that claimed to be 
federal. The federation was however defective. 
The provincial governments are more or less 
powerless, dependent on the Centre for money and 
on major policies. All significant decisions were 
made by Centre's top man.
Consequently, three separate regional or ethnic 
nationalisms have flourished: There is the 
Pushtoon nationalism in NWFP in two versions: a 
secular Pushtoon nationalism of ANP, PMAP and 
others and the Pushtoon nationalism of various 
Islamic militants and Taliban themselves. The 
latter has mixed Islam with a dash of Pushtoon 
nationalism.
Balochistan sports three nationalisms: first is 
the secular Baloch nationalism, totally 
unalloyed. The murder of Akbar Bugti and the 
manner of it have given a boost to its 
insurgency. The second is Taliban and is what it 
is in NWFP. The third is purely secular Pushtoon 
nationalism of Mehmood Achakzai's party. On the 
whole, Balochistan is in the grip of two low 
level but continuous insurgencies, the potential 
of which are generally underrated by Islamabad.
Background comprises widespread poverty. Few see 
Pakistan's enumerated problems being solved soon. 
Army's control of state structure exacerbates 
every alarming problem. Militarised governance is 
the worst way of tackling (a) major structural 
problems, (b) ideology's ugly progeny of 
terrorism, (c) ethnic rebellion-in-the-making in 
Sindh steady, if also low-level insurgency in 
Balochistan, and (d) increasing lawlessness 
almost everywhere. If Pakistanis let Army rule 
indefinitely, future of Pakistan will be dark 
indeed.
It is remarkable that there is no left-of-centre 
or left party. True, a large number of left 
groups exist as a statistic. In terms of 
influence, there is little to note. Abid Hasan 
Manto has been forming a left alliance of all the 
small groups and individuals. Will he be able to 
muster a force that can be an alternative 
leadership? It needs to provide a manifesto of 
how it would solve the issues enumerated here.
*(The author is a senior Pakistani journalist based at Karachi).



______


[3]

National Peace Council
of Sri Lanka
12/14 Purana Vihara Road
Colombo 6

Internet:  
<http://www.peace-srilanka.org/>www.peace-srilanka.<http://www.peace-srilanka.org/>org



22.02.07


MEDIA RELEASE

TWO DECADES OF WAR;  FIVE YEARS OF CEASEFIRE AGREEMENT;  WHAT NEXT?


February 22, 2007 marked the fifth anniversary of 
the Ceasefire Agreement between the Government of 
Sri Lanka and the LTTE.  The Ceasefire Agreement 
helped to bring the two decade long war against 
the LTTE to an end.  But today it is in shambles. 
The death toll over the past year has been in the 
region of 4,000 which exceeds the average in the 
two decades that preceded the CFA of 2002.  There 
are large scale internal displacements of people, 
political assassinations, disappearances, 
abductions, a climate of impunity and forcible 
recruitment of children and adults for combat, 
air strikes and battlefield deaths. Sri Lanka has 
become internationally noted for the human rights 
violations taking place at the present time 
despite efforts to downplay their seriousness.

In this context the National Peace Council is 
encouraged by the response of civil society 
networks from all parts of the country, 
represented by 350 leaders, who yesterday 
attended a peace symposium on the theme of "Two 
Decades of War; Five Years of Ceasefire 
Agreement; What Next?"  Representatives of the 
four religions and civil society groups spoke of 
the need for a political solution rather than a 
military solution.  In addition, Ambassadors from 
Norway, the United States and Japan, and High 
Commissioners of Canada and Australia took part 
in the event and demonstrated international 
solidarity with the call of civil society for 
negotiations, peace and political reform.

The key ideas that were expressed included 
expediting the political proposals of the All 
Party Representatives Committee, honouring the 
mandate of the International Independent Group of 
Eminent Persons who are observers to the 
Presidential Commission to investigate Serious 
Human Rights Violations, and to resume 
government-LTTE peace talks.  We are pleased that 
the government and opposition political parties 
sent their political representatives who also 
addressed the gathering in accordance with the 
spirit of the symposium.

The peace symposium showed that civil society is 
ready to take up the challenge of working for 
peace, reconciliation and a new political 
framework at the local level inspired by the 
values of multi-culturalism and with respect for 
diversity.  We regret that in recent times peace 
events have been the target of hostility and 
violence by nationalist and pro-war groups with 
close links to those in power.  The National 
Peace Council calls on the government and LTTE to 
provide civil society with a conducive 
environment and encouragement to take the 
messages from the peace symposium to the larger 
society and thereby help to extricate the country 
from the trap of violence and warfare.


Executive Director
On behalf of the Governing Council

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Ceasefire Agreement signed between the 
Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers 
of Tamil Eelam on 22 February 2002 brought 
dividends of peace, some of which the National 
Peace Council gives below.


Ceasefire Dividends

*  Save Lives
The war stopped, and with it the associated 
destruction of life and property. On the basis 
that an average of 3,000 to 4,000 persons die in 
each year of war, the first four years of the CFA 
would have saved between 12,000 to 16,000 lives.

*  Free of Fear
Over 2 million people living in the north and 
east could once again feel free of the scourge of 
war that had been fought in their midst. 
Elsewhere in the country also, particularly in 
Colombo, people could be free of the tension of 
bombs and military action.

*  Reduced Suspicion
With the end of fighting, the relations between 
the ethnic communities improved, as there was no 
need to view each other with suspicion. Tens of 
thousands of people engaged in internal tourism 
travelling from south to north and east, and vice 
versa. People went freely on religious 
pilgrimages to places that had been sealed off to 
them by years of war.

*  Resettlement
Resettlement of over 300,000 internally displaced 
persons took place. Some of these people had been 
living in welfare centres for over 10 to 15 years.

*  Open Roads
Roads connecting the north and south, east and 
west, were re-opened. All roads in Colombo that 
had been closed to traffic due to security 
considerations, and created inconvenience to 
travellers, were also re-opened.  Economic 
productivity losses due to security checks and 
road closures were eliminated. There was faster 
movement of containers and other traffic on the 
road. 

*   Open Markets
  The opening of roads also provided greater 
market access to produce from the north and east 
and stimulated markets for goods produced in the 
south to go north. This meant better business for 
the companies selling in the domestic market.The 
north and east were integrated with the economy 
in the south for the mutual benefit of both 
regions and to their people raising their incomes.

*   Reviving North East
Large extents of land that were not cultivated in 
the North and East due to the dislocation caused 
by the war and the insecurity became used for 
economically productive purposes once again. 
Infrastructure, such as telephones and 
electricity supply, were restored to the north 
and east. 

*   Record Tourism
Tourism which had fallen to low levels due to war 
doubled to the more than half a million, 
stimulating the entire industry and the 
livelihoods of those living in the tourist belt.

*  Economic Growth
The economy revived from negative growth of minus 
0.5 percent in 2001 to an average of 5 to 6 
percent. In the north east, the annual growth 
figures reached 12 percent.  Central Bank figures 
also show that by 2005, the gross domestic 
product of Sri Lanka rose by 18 percent over 
2002.  The per capita income went up from US 
dollars 870 to 1197 in 2005, making Sri Lanka a 
middle income country, rather than a poor country.

*  Increased Foreign Aid
USD 4.5 billion was pledged at the Tokyo Donor 
conference in 2003, which demonstrated the strong 
support of the international community for the 
restoration of peace in Sri Lanka.  The interest 
in greater direct foreign investment that would 
stimulate economic growth also increased.

*   Peace Work
The Government, LTTE and Muslim Peace 
Secretariats were established. 
Peaceorganisations and other civicorganisations 
were able to work without interruptions and 
threats and build bridges between the ethnic 
communities.
Media especially the state media played a very 
positive role in terms of building peace and 
reconciliation between people.

*   Government-LTTE Relations
Relations between the government and LTTE 
improved and leading members of each side, 
including government ministers and LTTE leaders, 
met frequently in Colombo and Kilinochchi.

*  Human Rights
The Prevention of Terrorism Act which had been 
internationally condemned, and which led to many 
human rights abuses was suspended.  Sri Lanka's 
human rights record improved, and the country 
came to be seen internationally as a success 
story in conflict resolution.


Where Does Sri Lanka Go From Here?


______


[4]

The News
February 24, 2007

CRAFTING AN OPPORTUNITY FOR PEACE
by Praful Bidwai

All well-wishers of the India-Pakistan peace 
process must breathe a sigh of relief that the 
gruesome and condemnable bomb explosions on the 
Samjhauta Express near Panipat haven't disrupted 
the bilateral dialogue or led to mutual 
recrimination and finger-pointing by the leaders 
and officials of the two countries. As such, the 
attackers' principal objective has been soundly 
defeated.

There can be little doubt that the bomb attack 
was motivated by a terrorist design to torpedo 
the ongoing India-Pakistan dialogue. Nothing else 
can better explain its timing, which in all 
probability was calculated to coincide with 
Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood 
Kasuri's visit to India.

This fits into a well-established pattern of 
terrorists timing their acts to coincide with 
foreign dignitaries' visits. For instance, 35 
Sikhs were massacred at Chittisinghpura in 
Kashmir just before President Clinton's visit to 
India in 2000. And in 2002, Kashmiri leader Abdul 
Ghani Lone was assassinated a day ahead of Prime 
Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's visit to 
Islamabad.

Three things make the Samjhota Express bombings 
special. First, like in Malegaon last year, a 
rare instance, a majority of those killed in the 
terrorist attack on Indian soil were Muslims. 
Second, this is the first time that Indian and 
Pakistani citizens have been attacked together. 
Third, it's no longer India alone that can raise 
questions about terrorism. Pakistan too can 
legitimately ask questions about terrorism 
against its citizens and about the adequacy of 
safety measures on the train.

Unfortunate as it was, the incident compelled the 
two governments to respond quickly. And respond 
they did--positively and remarkably maturely. 
Both condemned the attack sincerely and 
spontaneously. India set up a counter at Lahore 
to issue special visas to the victims' relatives. 
Although the Indian response in furnishing the 
victims' names was slow, its pace wasn't 
determined by bad faith.

Despite some unfortunate bickering over 
airlifting the injured, and disputes about the 
Indian authorities' access to the injured 
survivors, the two governments' overall conduct 
stands in sharp contrast to how they behaved 
after last July's bombings in Mumbai.

Kasuri's visit succeeded in kicking off the 
fourth round of the "composite dialogue" between 
the two foreign secretaries, starting March 13 
and 14. Besides the nuclear risk-reduction 
agreement, there was also some progress in 
resolving the issue of prisoners, and in putting 
diverse issues on the agenda, including visa 
liberalisation and cooperation in education, 
information technology, tourism and 
telecommunications.

However, perhaps even more important than such 
incremental progress was the confident optimism 
exuded by both sides about a possible resolution 
of the Kashmir issue. Kasuri emphasised the 
importance of building a strong consensus on the 
contours of a likely solution. At a reception at 
the Pakistan high commissioner's residence, he 
appealed to the media to help build such a 
consensus.

"There is no way that an issue as important as 
Jammu and Kashmir can be resolved by the prime 
minister of India and the president of Pakistan 
unless we can carry the opposition, the media and 
the people with us", he said.

Kasuri also told Hurriyat leaders that India and 
Pakistan were on "the same wavelength" on 
Kashmir. To a group of journalists, he said, "the 
only reason" why the two governments have not 
made the outline of a likely solution public is 
that "we have to struggle hard to reach some sort 
of conclusion before we can sell it to our 
respective countriesŠ it will be a very hard 
sell."

The two countries' leaders should soon start 
consultations with diverse political groups to 
generate a working consensus on a Kashmir 
solution. This won't be easy. There are groups in 
both which oppose the dialogue process and any 
resolution of the Kashmir issue that involves 
give-and-take. Among them are terrorists driven 
by religious fanaticism.

Pakistan's jihadi militants regard both President 
Pervez Musharraf and Indian leaders as "enemies". 
They have repeatedly targeted Pakistani leaders, 
including Musharraf, in as-yet-unsuccessful 
assassination attempts.

In India, a fanatical fringe of Hindu 
nationalists allied to the Bharatiya Janata Party 
also opposes the peace process. Among them is the 
notoriously communal Bajrang Dal. The Dal 
recently announced the formation of a "suicide 
squad", which would target "jihadi terrorists". 
In general, the sangh parivar remains lukewarm to 
India-Pakistan reconciliation.

Extremist groups external to South Asia may also 
play an aggravating role. The subcontinent has 
recently become more vulnerable to terrorism 
because of growing volatility in Afghanistan and 
rising tensions in West Asia, in particular, the 
stepping up of the United States' offensive 
against Iran and Iraq's insurgents.

However, a major advance could have been made in 
promoting a climate conducive to such a 
breakthrough had India and Pakistan agreed to a 
joint investigation of the Panipat attack. This 
was indeed the sense and the mandate of their 
Havana declaration of last September: to create 
an "institutional mechanism to identify and 
implement counter-terrorism initiatives and 
investigations."

India for the moment has ruled this out. It will 
investigate the crime "as per the law of the 
land". However, it will share the information it 
unearths through the Joint Mechanism against 
Terrorism, for which a meeting has been set for 
March 6.

This need not be the end of the story. It is in 
India's own interest to investigate the Panipat 
episode and other terrorist attacks jointly with 
Pakistan. It should pursue this in the coming 
weeks and months.

Despite their differences, both India and 
Pakistan have a stake in taking on fanatical 
groups. If their leaders are wise, they would 
stop looking for villains exclusively across the 
border and treating each other's agencies as the 
prime suspects in any terrorist attack, unless 
they have hard evidence.

Instead, they should look for ways of working 
together against terrorist groups. Such 
cooperation will be far more valuable than 
incremental confidence-building measures. There 
are two areas where cooperation would be 
especially fruitful: beefing up security 
arrangements at the air, road and rail 
transportation facilities that link the two 
countries, and exchanging intelligence on 
terrorist groups.

Last Sunday's train attack exposed major flaws in 
the security arrangements at the Old Delhi 
railway station, from where the Samjhauta Express 
runs non-stop to the border. India has done well 
to urgently institute 10 different measures to 
beef up security at Old Delhi, with thorough 
baggage checks, secure gates at the platform, dog 
squads, etc.

An impartial and comprehensive probe into the 
train bombings will lay the basis for future 
cooperation on anti-terrorism operations through 
exchange of intelligence on different 
organisations active on both sides of the border.

However, this will demand a paradigm shift in the 
way India and Pakistan look at security and 
conceptualise terrorism. They will have to view 
each other in fundamentally different, 
non-adversarial, ways. India will have to abandon 
the Islamophobic view its core security 
establishment takes of terrorism. And Pakistan 
must rein in its secret agencies and end covert 
support for jihadi militants.

Such a paradigm shift will be stiffly resisted by 
the security establishments in both countries. 
But their political leaders must seize the 
initiative and move from evidence-sharing to 
substantive cooperation. One can only hope they 
muster the courage to turn the tragic bombing 
episode into an opportunity for peace.

______


[5]

Alternative India Index
http://membres.lycos.fr/sacw/spip.php?article65

o o

23 Feb 2007

KASHMIR SOLIDARITY COMMITTEE AGAINST 
DISAPPEARANCES AND HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN 
JAMMU AND KASHMIR & IN
SUPPORT OF THE FAMILIES OF THE VICTIMS OF THE DISAPPEARED

Programme of Public Hearings, Hunger Strike & 
University/College Meetings of Association of the 
Parents of the Disappeared: Delhi Feb 20-21, 
2007  

Family members of the 'Missing' came to the 
national capital Delhi, to awaken the Moral 
Conscience of the Indian People to the heinous, 
widespread and arbitrary practice of 
'disappearances' by the security forces in Jammu 
and Kashmir where the operation of the Armed 
Forces Special Powers Act has produced a culture 
of impunity.  

There were wives, daughters, fathers and sons of 
the 'Missing', 57 members of the Association of 
the Parents of the Disappeared (APDP), including 
four family members of the five 'missing', whose 
bodies exhumed this February, were mute witnesses 
to the systemic cold blooded killings of ordinary 
civilians, abducted and branded as terrorists to 
secure 'kill list' awards.

In Jantar Mantar, the site of democratic protest 
in Delhi, on February 22nd, Praveena Ahangar, the 
convener of APDP, along with 56 other family 
members of the 'disappeared' sat on hunger 
strike. It was a day of testimonies full of 
anguish, about the 'missing' and the failure of 
the democratic institutions of the state to 
deliver justice to people who are the state's 
citizens. In August 1990, Parveena Ahangar's 
eldest son Javed Ahangar was picked up be the 
security forces. Over these years of tireless 
search for her son in jails across India and in 
the Courts, she has identified the army unit, the 
three officers who took away her son "but to no 
avail. " The army says the officers have retired. 
They don't know where to find them".  As if they 
do not receive a pension."  Her appeal was simple 
and poingnant- "If they are alive, let us meet 
them. if they're dead give us their bodies. " At 
her side was the JKLF leader Yasin Malik, who 
over the last few years, has embraced  Gandhian 
style politics of protest. What does he say to 
those who ask - did he do the right thing to give 
up the gun, when all around him human rights 
violations continue? " I think I have defeated 
the Indian state morally, spiritually and 
ethically. All those people and institutions for 
which India is known all over the world, they 
support the moral truth of our cause today". 

There many voices from the academia, lawyers, 
doctors, media, social activists, women's groups 
who came in solidarity with the grieving victims 
of violence and arbitrary and systematic abuse of 
law. There was Prof Uma Chakravarti who asserted 
that "these cold-blooded killings are conscious 
acts and not accidents or 'collateral damage' 
where arms are planted on ordinary civilians to 
make the encounters appear genuine. Take the 
recent case of the 'Ganderbal killings' have been 
given false identities as "Pakistani Militants" 
by the RR, J & K police and the CRPF.  She called 
for the setting up of a Commission on 
Disappearances. Others Like Navsharan Kaur, 
alluded to the massive disappearances in Punjab 
that was exposed in the Cremations case, and 
lawyer Vrinda Grover drew attention to the 
Hashimpura killings and the fight for justice . 
It was an occasion for those who for year have 
been working in support of  Kashmiris, like Syeda 
Hameed, Sheeba Chacchi, Kamla Bhasin, Iffat,   to 
express solidarity. 

There was Sampat Prakash, Vice President NTUI and 
former President J&K State Employees Federation, 
who lamented the fact that opposite the 'dhrana' 
site of the APDP, a Kashmiri Pandit organization 
instead of joining in solidarity was raising 
slogans. He blamed Kashmir's Governors Jagmohan 
and Girish Saxena for poisoning Kashmir's 
communal harmony. In particular, he singled out 
the Special Task Force in promoting a 'catch and 
kill' policy'. 

Delhi University's S.A.R.Geelani, who was 
wrongfully implicated in the Dec 13 Parliament 
'terrorist' attack, came and stayed in support. 
Kashmiri leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani was 
skeptical of the Indian government responding to 
their appeal. "This is not the first time women 
from Kashmir have come 
but those who are blinded 
with their power do not see the people at the 
margins".
Tapan Bose, filmmaker and human rights activist 
denounced the AFSPA which was based on the 
doctrine of use of maximum force and in violation 
of the fundamental right to life. He lashed out 
at the government reverting to the shameful 
system of bounty hunting, i.e. kill lists. Film 
maker Sonia Jabbar's concern, warmth and 
commitment in support of the struggle for truth 
and justice was the presiding spirit of the 
solidarity campaign.

Member of Rajya Sabha,  Ms. Nirmala Deshpande 
who had earlier hosted the visiting Kashmiris 
enabling them to meet some Parliamentarians, held 
out the promise of setting up a Parliamentary 
Committee on Disappearances. Eminent journalist 
Kuldip Nayar spoke of initiating an Eminent 
Persons investigation into human rights 
violations in Kashmir.

But above all the family members of the 
Disappeared touched the hearts of the students 
who came in large numbers. On February 19th and 
20th  the student associations of JNU, Delhi 
College of Social Work and Ramjas College Delhi 
University had organised interactions with 
students. Fathers, brothers, mothers, wives, 
sisters, holding photographs of their loved ones, 
had shared their anguish and their fears as they 
recounted details of how their family member had 
been arrested by security forces, and then been 
subjected to "enforced disapperearence'.  "Ever 
since the dead bodies of 5 innocent persons 
killed by the armed forces were exhumed in 
Kashmir, we have been living in fear that this is 
what may have happened to our children", said 
Praveen Ahangar. The emotionalism welled up when 
an old woman wept saying that she had 5 sons- "3 
were 'martyred' in the movement, 1 had 
"disappeared" and one remains at home harassed 
everyday by the security forces".

Ashok Aggarwal, Advocate, Supreme Court said that 
despite evidence being placed before the high 
court about these disappearance, no action had 
been taken. A legal aid group had undertaken an 
independent field based study of 200 habeas 
corpus petitions filed in the Courts in Kashmir 
documenting 79 disappearances and the absolute 
failure of the system to deliver justice. Prof 
Kamal Mitra Chenoy joined student leaders in 
condemning the culture of impunity.

The family members of the Disappeared have 
returned to Kashmir. There was no memorandum to 
the President because it has become an empty 
gesture. Instead they came and touched the moral 
fibre of so many and especially became a rally 
point for Kashmir students who found solidarity 
amongst colleagues.  There were those who 
disagreed, And they took their anger out in a 
physical attack on Yasin Mallik. As he was 
driving off with Sonia Jabbar to join the group 
at India Gate, a red Swift Car obstructed their 
path, and seizing the opportunity of their 
slowing down, hurled a bag at them. It was blue 
dye that spattered Yasin Malik, Sonia Jabbar and 
the car. Chanting "jai Shiv Sena", they 
assailants drove of.

The struggle against human rights violations and 
the culture of impunity that makes possible 
enforced disappearances continues. The 
government's investigation into the Ganderbal 
killings is to be welcome. It should be the 
beginning of a full-fledged enquiry into the 
systemic practice of disappearances.

For Kashmir Solidarity Committee
Tapan Bose, Bipin, Saurabh Bhattacharya, Ravi Himadri,
Vijayan M.J., Uma Chakravorty, Kamla Bhasin, Shabnam
Hashmi, Rita Manchanda, Richa Singh, Kamal Mitra
Chenoy, Deep Ranjani Rai, Iffat


[Release by]
Tapan Kumar Bose
   Email: tbose at safhr.com
   South Asia Forum for Human Rights
   3/23 Shree Darbar Tole, Patan Dhoka,
   (Near Lalitpur Zila Hulak Office)
   Lalitpur, NEPAL
   Tel: +977-1-5541026, Fax: +977-1-5527852

______


[6]

Publication Announcement:

A 64 page booklet in Hindi on the Hindutva 
fundamentalist leader Yogi Adityanath in Eastern 
UP

'YOGI PARIGHATNA :  POORVI UTTAR PRADESH MEIN HINDU RASHTRA KI DASTAK'
[YOGI PHENOMENON: HINDU RASHTRA IS KNOCKING ON THE DOOR OF EASTERN UP]

by Subhash Gatade

Booklet Series No 21  |  February 2007

Published by Institute for Social Democracy, New Delhi

A limited no of printed copies are available from

Institute for Social Democracy
Flat 110, Namberdar House
62 A Laxmi Market
Munirka, New Delhi - 110 067
notowar at rediffmail.com

THIS PUBLICATION IS AVAILABLE IN PDF FORMAT VIA SACW AT:
http://www.sacw.net/DC/CommunalismCollection/ArticlesArchive/Yogi_Phenomenon.pdf

______


[7]

SAHMAT,Social Scientist Conference INDIA 
INDEPENDENT: ECONOMICS, POLITICS, CULTURE Dates: 
22-24 February 2007
Venue: Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, Teen Murti, New Delhi

Day 3: 24 February                           
Session 1: 9.30 to 1 pm            National Culture versus Cultural Nationalism

Moderator: Sadanand Menon

                                                       Panelists:
                                                       Geeta Kapur
                                                       Prasanna
                                                       Kumar Shahni
                                                       Ram Rahman
                                                       Respondent:
                                                       M.K. Raina
                                                      
Session 2: 2 to 5.30 pm            Media of the Public Sphere versus
Media of the Marketplace

Moderator: Sashi Kumar

                                                       Panelists:
                                                       Siddharth Varadarajan
                                                       Rammanohar Reddy
                                                       Manini Chattterji
                                                       Shohini Ghosh

                                                       Respondent:
                                                       Sukumar Muralidharan


______


[8] 

Peace March from Ayodhya to Magahar
7th - 14th March 2007
---------------

KABIR SADBHAVNA MARCH
7th March to 14th March, 2007
Ayodhya to Magahar

In light of the worsening communal situation in 
eastern Uttar Pradesh, a communal harmony peace 
march is being planned from Ayodhya to Magahar. 
Lately, a number of communal incidents have taken 
place and it is quite clear that with the 
connivance of the Government in U.P., the 
communal forces are able to stoke communal 
feelings. With the impending assembly elections 
in U.P., the communal forces are once again 
adopting their strategy to polarize the Hindu 
votes by such incidents.

However, the people of U.P. and India have 
realized that these forces use the name of 
religion for their political vested interests and 
time and again resort to violence. The people 
have rejected this politics and will reject it 
once again.

The march will begin from Nishad Bhavan, Tedhi 
Bazar, Ayodhya on 7th March, 2007 at 10 am and 
end in Magahar on 14th March, 2007 at Kabir Math. 
Magahar is a place associated with Sant Kabir.

The Kabir Sadbhavna March will be led by Acharya 
Jugal Kishore Sharan Shashtri of Ayodhya and is 
being orgnanized by Ayodhya ki Awaz, People's 
Forum, Gorakhpur and Asha Parivar.

For more information contact:

Jugal Kishore Shashtri (9451730269), Keshav Chand 
(9839883518), Manoj Singh (9415282206), Faisal 
Khan (9313106745)

______


[9]


VOICES FROM THE WATERS 2007
2ND INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ON WATER

CALL FOR ENTRIES

Bangalore Film Society in collaboration with 
Water Journeys and CIEDS collective is organizing 
the second edition of the International Film 
Festival on Water titled ‘Voices from the Water 
2007’. The first edition of the festival was 
successfully held in April 2004 in Bangalore, 
India. The festival is a series of film 
screenings and conferences held over three days 
that aim to create general awareness and inspire 
dialogues among the general public on water- a 
precious, seamless natural resource that is 
becoming increasingly scarce and deviously 
comodified.

We invite you to be part of this event by 
contributing short, documentary and feature films 
(DVD/VCD formats) with English subtitles on water 
and related issues. Further, we would appreciate 
a preview copy of any films you would wish to 
send so that we may place them in one of the five 
categories of the festival, Water Scarcity, The 
Dams and the Displaced, Water Harvest, Water 
Struggles and Water and Life. We would duly 
acknowledge your participation. While there is no 
entry fee, ‘Voices From the Waters’ being a 
public awareness program, films for the festival 
will be short-listed by a committee composed of 
film-makers and social activists.

Should you need more information about us, please 
do get in touch with us. Deadline for entries is 
15th April, 2007.

Looking forward to your participation.

Thanking you,
Yours Sincerely,

BFS team

Contact:-

Siddharth Pillai,
33/1-9, Thyagaraja Layout,
Jai Bharath Nagar,
M.S. Nagar P.O.,
Bangalore- 560 033,
Karnataka,
India.
Tel: 91- 80- 25493705
Email: bfs at bgl.vsnl.net.in


Bangalore Film Society:-

Bangalore Film Society is a non profit membership 
based organization committed to explore the 
cultural politics and how it impacts and shapes 
the modern cultural practices, politics and 
social behaviour. We volunteer to screen feature 
and documentary films for the film society 
members, in colleges and institutions.  Our aim 
is to introduce the contemporary 
socio-political-cultural concerns through cinema 
among the youth and initiate discussions, as also 
to inculcate among the youth a deep sense of 
humanism, pluralism, and an appreciation of 
diversity. We also attempt to open up pluralist 
cultural spaces for progressive perspectives on 
notions of justice, rights, racial equality and 
so on to enable the participants to visualise 
images of – a world free from intolerance, 
violence and injustice.

Water Journeys:-

Water Journeys is to screen films on water 
issues, water struggles, water conservation and 
related issues in schools, colleges and 
communities to start a dialogue on the issue of 
control and use of water. It aims at networking 
with agencies involved in the protection and 
preservation of lakes, rivers and other water 
bodies.

CIEDS collective:-

CIEDS is a thirty-year-old organization that 
critiques the contemporary development paradigm 
which has created pockets of plenty and abysmal 
poverty across the globe. The homocentric 
development paradigm treats the earth as a 
commodity, which will have catastrophic effects 
on nature and the environment. We are already 
victims of such an approach. CIEDS in its 
involvement with present socio-political issues 
concerning women, tribals, Dalits, environment, 
culture and so on, attempts a nature-centric 
vision and sustainable development.

Campaign for the fundamental right to water,
C/o No.33/1-9, Thyagaraj Layout,
Jai Bharath Nagar,
Maruthisevanagar P.O, 
Bangalore-560 033.

"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water" - Loran Eisley

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

Buzz for secularism, on the dangers of fundamentalism(s), 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.




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