*SPAM* SACW | May 7-8, 2007 | Nepal: Child Soldiers / Pakistan: Veil over reason / India: Intimidation of MF Hussain; Godmen - Conmen ; secular agenda; BJP; UK: creationism

Harsh Kapoor aiindex at mnet.fr
Tue May 8 09:08:51 CDT 2007


South Asia Citizens Wire  | May 7-8, 2007 | Dispatch No. 2401 - Year 9

[1]  Nepal: Maoists Should Release Child Soldiers Now (Human Rights Watch)
[2]  Pakistan:
       - Dark Ages (Editorial, The News)
       - The veil question (Editorial, Dawn)
[3]  India: Even a peace march is a crime in Kashmir (Edit, Kashmir Times)
[4]  India:  The 'moral police' and courts harass India's Picasso
     - Statement Supporting MF Hussain (Apoorvanand, Shabnam Hashmi)
     - Press Conference by Artists on M.F.Husain (Sahmat)
     - Husain a soft target? (CNN IBN)
     - Of Husain, hate and harassment (Editorial, The Hindu)
     - Beyond Law (Editorial, The Telegraph)
[5]   India: God Men - Con Men Stories
       (i) Hindutva godmen exposed as money launderers (John Dayal)
      (ii) Southern seer turns dirty money holy, says no sin (CNN IBN)
      (iii) Money Launderer Leads Ram Temple Trust  (CNN IBN)
      (iv)   Scam at South Asia's Most Popular Sufi Shrine (Yoginder Sikand)
[6]  India: Is Secularism Out of the Agenda? (Sadia Dehlvi)
[7]  India: BJP's CD calls for a bolder response (J. Sri Raman)
[8]  UK: Science and fiction (James Randerson)
[9]  Panel Discussion Restoring Democracy and 
Rule of Law in Gujarat (Ahmedabad ,May 10)

____



[1]

Human Rights Watch
[Press Release]

NEPAL: MAOISTS SHOULD RELEASE CHILD SOLDIERS NOW
New Minister for Children Urged to Act

(New York, May 8, 2007) - Nepal's Maoist armed 
forces should immediately release all children 
from their forces, including thousands of child 
soldiers held for months in cantonment sites in 
Nepal, Human Rights Watch said today.
Human Rights Watch in a letter today urged the 
new Minister of Women, Children and Social 
Welfare, Khadga Bahadur Bishwakarma, to secure 
the Maoists' cooperation with the United Nations 
and child protection agencies to allow children 
to return home without further delay. Bishwakarma 
is also a member of the central committee of the 
Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-Maoist). 

Of more than 30,000 Maoist cadres registered in 
the cantonment sites created under Nepal's 
Comprehensive Peace Agreement, an estimated 6,000 
to 9,000 are believed to be children under the 
age of 18. 

"There's no excuse for letting children languish 
in cantonment sites month after month," said Jo 
Becker, children's advocate at Human Rights 
Watch. "Under the terms of Nepal's peace 
agreement, these children should be released 
immediately so they can enter rehabilitation 
programs, get back into school, and rejoin their 
families." 

The November 2006 peace agreement between the 
Nepalese government and the Maoists specifically 
prohibits the enlistment or use of children under 
the age of 18, and specifies that such children 
should be immediately "rescued" and provided with 
rehabilitation services. 

The Human Rights Watch letter noted that 
Bishwakarma attended a February conference in 
Paris, where representatives from 58 states 
committed themselves to putting an end to the 
unlawful recruitment and use of children in armed 
conflicts. At the conference, governments agreed 
to support and apply new guidelines, known as the 
"Paris Principles," for protecting children from 
recruitment and providing assistance to those who 
have already been involved with armed forces or 
groups. 

"Minister Bishwakarma should work with the 
Maoists to implement the commitments that have 
been made," said Becker. Human Rights Watch also 
noted its deep concern at credible reports that 
children continue to be recruited by Maoist 
forces in various parts of the country. 

In the February 2007 report, "Children in the 
Ranks: The Maoists' Use of Child Soldiers in 
Nepal," Human Rights Watch documented how 
children as young as 14 served on the front 
lines, received weapons training, and carried out 
crucial military and logistical support duties 
for the Maoists. The report also documented 
ongoing recruitment of children by the Maoists 
even after the signing of the peace agreement. 

A December 2006 report by the United Nations 
secretary-general to the UN Security Council 
specifically recommended that the Maoists should 
immediately end the use of children and cease any 
new recruitment of children. It said the Maoists 
should immediately engage with the UN country 
team in Nepal for an action plan to ensure 
transparent procedures for the release and 
verification of all children within the Maoist 
armed forces and all other CPN-Maoist-affiliated 
organizations.


______


[2]


The News
May 8, 200è

Editorial

THE DARK AGES

Though the string of targeted bombings of CD and 
barber shops, as well as a girls' school in 
Charsadda and Mardan on Friday did not claim any 
lives, it is something that is most worrying. The 
attacks give the impression as if large parts of 
the NWFP had fallen to Taliban sympathisers and 
that the provincial government was either unable 
to or chose not to do anything to take these 
vigilantes to task. The bombings in Charsadda and 
Mardan are part of a calculated and larger goal, 
to eliminate the presence of 'western' and 
'morally corrupt' practices through terrorising 
and intimidating the general public. In short, it 
is part of the drive to Talibanise Pakistani 
society. And for those behind it, Friday's 
attacks will come as an unmitigated success. Now, 
the government's assertion that the people of 
Pakistan do not support such a notion, even if 
true, is, in the end, inconsequential because 
regardless of whether or not people support it, 
shopkeepers and customers alike are going to be 
too afraid to continue in their 'liberal' (which 
means selling music CDs or musical ring tones for 
mobile phones) ways if such incidents continue.

The attempt to impose the ridiculous and backward 
precepts of religious fanaticism is underway in 
many areas of Pakistan -- whether it is 
preventing barbers from shaving beards in FATA, 
or telling people in Swat not to inoculate their 
children because that would be giving in to a 
"US-Jewish conspiracy to make Muslims sterile" or 
the stick-wielding burqa militia a la Lal 
Masjid/Jamia Hafsa who have vowed to cleanse the 
federal capital, indeed the whole country, of 
brothels and related vices. Of course, the 
campaign has taken the rather pernicious form of 
naming the homes of otherwise innocent people as 
brothels and also has a dangerous sectarian 
undertone.

What will it take for the government to act 
against such fanatics and extremists? It is all 
well and good to publicly rail against them and 
to ask civil society to resist extremism -- 
something that the president seems to have made a 
habit of -- but people can only do so much, 
especially when the government is not interested 
in rising to the challenge and when progressive 
political parties have been neutered in their 
ability to stand up to the obscurantists. In this 
particular case, it may be argued that since the 
MMA is in power in NWFP, the atmosphere created 
by its government is conducive to the spread of 
extremism and intolerance. As a matter of fact, 
the NWFP government's credibility would be 
bolstered if it manages to check this growing 
Talibanisation since not doing so would mean 
condoning criminal and violent behaviour. Action 
against fanatics is essential to send a strong 
message to them that they cannot go about forcing 
their flawed and pernicious interpretation of 
religion on everybody else. Or else we should not 
complain as the nation continues to slide into 
the Dark Ages.


o o o

Dawn
May 8, 2007

Editorial

THE VEIL QUESTION

GIRLS at a government secondary school in Mardan 
are finding it hard to pursue their education. In 
the last two months, the school's administration 
has been asking them to don the burqa in response 
to anonymous letters threatening to destroy the 
school if the girls do not adhere to Islamic ways 
of dressing. The school initially shut down after 
receiving the letter but then restarted classes, 
except that it began asking girls to veil 
themselves - and many are unhappy about it. One 
sympathises with the school administration which 
clearly felt that if it ignored the threat, it 
would be jeopardising the students' safety. This 
explains why the majority of parents have agreed 
to comply; they are equally fearful of the 
militants, aware of the kind of damage these 
elements can cause. However, giving in to the 
extremists is no solution. But because the 
administration caved in, the militants have been 
emboldened. According to a report on Sunday, 
girls' schools have received similar threats in 
Peshawar. This is a disturbing development that 
calls for the government's immediate attention. 
It cannot allow a group of thugs to take the law 
into their own hands in the name of religion.

The district nazim of Mardan says that the police 
and the intelligence agencies have been unable to 
trace the men behind the threats. This may be 
true but if the school is being provided 
security, as is claimed, then there is no need 
for the girls to be forced to wear the veil. The 
nazim denies that anyone is being forced to wear 
the veil but girls say they are fined if they do 
not wear the burqa. It is important that the 
administration refuses to be browbeaten into 
succumbing to threats. The veil is a matter of 
personal choice and even religious scholars will 
agree that it cannot be forced on anyone.

______


[3]

Kashmir Times
May 7, 2007
Editorial

Subverting peace process
EVEN PEACE MARCH IS A CRIME IN KASHMIR

The arrest of Yasin Malik on Saturday while he 
was on his way to Daksum, Kokernag and then later 
his release in Srinagar was obviously an outright 
attempt to prevent the Jammu and Kashmir 
Liberation Front (JKLF) leader from going ahead 
with his Safar-e-Azadi aimed at garnering 
physical support of the people for the inclusion 
of Kashmiris in the resolution of Kashmir 
dispute. Yasin was forced to suspend the safar 
that was scheduled to start from Daksum, Kokernag 
and in the next few months would have reached 
every village and town of the Valley, where he 
was to address the public to seek support for the 
Kashmiris involvement in the resolution of the 
dispute. The manner in which the authorities 
decided to crackdown on the JKLF by arresting its 
chief and his associates and seizing the vehicle, 
that the leader was going to use for his journey 
to cover far flung villages of the Valley spread 
over several months, is an ugly manifestation of 
the repressive tactics used by the state to 
scuttle any kind of dissent. In fact, the 
incident actually vindicates the stand of the 
Kashmiri separatist leaders that India is 
maintaining a rigid posture and also about the 
inherent flaws in the ongoing peace process that 
debilitates any inclusion of the people of 
Kashmir, other than those who agree with New 
Delhi, in either a dialogue or the peace process. 
The incident betrays the bitter and unfortunate 
reality that there are vested interests on both 
sides of the India-Pakistan border who either do 
not want any peace in the region or hope to come 
with a deal that can be bilaterally negotiated 
between India and Pakistan without the 
involvement of the alienated people. Earlier, a 
week ago, several Hurriyat (G) leaders were 
arrested under Public Safety Act, and Syed Ali 
Shah Geelani placed under house arrest on an 
absolutely frivolous charge blown out of 
proportion by a section of the media. Not only 
was Geelani prevented from holding a press 
conference, his house was also raided under the 
pretext of a crackdown in the area he lives in.

Both these incidents symbolize the repression let 
loose by the Indian state in Jammu and Kashmir. 
Though the stance of the separatist leadership 
stands vindicated, it is not really reason to 
celebrate for at stake is the future of lakhs of 
people of this state, for which they are being 
denied the right to decide. In fact, these 
incidents have not only exposed the hollow claims 
of both New Delhi and the state government 
regarding peace process, they are also indicators 
that the government is in no mood to either 
respect civil liberties of the people or allow 
them space to air a viewpoint different than the 
state's view. On the one hand, the government 
claims to rope in separatists by handing them 
invites for a round table conference that is 
essentially meant for mainstream politicians who 
have no grudge against the state and on the other 
it prevents the separatists from reaching out to 
the public. In fact, the round table conferences 
have been used by New Delhi as opportunities to 
demonise the separatist leadership and brand them 
as rigid, without acknowledging the basic 
inherent flaws in such events, and to put up a 
show of generosity and flexibility before the 
world community. But truth speaks otherwise. The 
fact is that the separatists, far from being 
invited for a genuine dialogue, are not even 
being allowed to move freely or carry forward any 
peaceful movement to be heard.
Such a policy is not only detrimental to the 
interests of peace but also carries the potential 
of provoking more violence. It also indicates the 
remote possibility of peoples' alienation dying 
down. Such incidents will only further add to the 
existing alienation and are also likely to induce 
the graph of skepticism in the minds of the 
people to go up. This may obviously portend ill 
for both peace process and for resolution of 
Kashmir issue. It is basic common sense that 
there can be no lasting peace in Kashmir, which 
is interlinked with the peace in South Asian 
region, without the involvement of the people. 
The more the people are shunned and if the 
leaders, who represent the aspirations of a large 
chunk of the masses, are dealt with such 
repression, we don't have much to expect from the 
ongoing peace process. The government must 
reverse this policy immediately and not only 
allow separatists to carry on with their peaceful 
protests and campaigns but also invite them to 
the negotiating table.

_____


[4] [ India:  The 'moral police' and courts harass India's Picasso]


STATEMENT SUPPORTING MF HUSSAIN

The news of a notice of attachment of the 
property owned by M. F. Husain in the wake of his 
non appearance before the court of the Special 
judicial magistrate K.S. Shukla of Haridwar   has 
left us aghast. That the court has declared him a 
proclaimed offender   and ordered his immediate 
arrest is even more worrying. This notice is the 
latest in the series of attacks against Husain we 
have been witnessing since 1996. The action of 
the Haridwar Court is in utter  disregard  of the 
decision of the supreme Court of India clubbing 
all the cases lodged with an intent to harass 
Husain in different places of India.

We take this opportunity to denounce the 
directive of the Home Ministry of the UPA 
government to the Delhi Police and Mumbai Police 
to take appropriate action against Husain as the 
officials of the Ministry think that his works 
create hatred and enmity between communities. 
This proclamation by the Home Ministry is 
horrendous. It also speaks volumes about the 
intellectual level of the top level officials who 
are running this country.

We appeal to the Supreme court of India to annul 
the notice issued by the Haridwar court  and 
demand the 'secular' government of the UPA to 
scrap its green signal to the Delhi and Mumbai 
Police allowing them to prosecute Hussain and 
ensure a safe and honorable return to India for 
M.F. Husain.

signed by
Apoorvanand
Shabnam Hashmi
[and others]
http://communalism.blogspot.com/2007/05/public-statement-supporting-mf-hussain.html


o o o

SAHMAT
8, Vithalbhai Patel House,
Rafi Marg,New Delhi-110001
Telephone- 23711276/ 23351424
e-mail-sahmat @ vsnl.com

PRESS CONFERENCE BY ARTISTS ON M.F.HUSAIN


To
The Chief Reporter,

Dear Sir/Madam,

A Press Conference is being held on Wednesday, 
May 9, 2007 at 4.00pm at the Press Club of India 
to discuss the issues involved in the cases 
against artist M.F.Husain.

Vivan Sundaram, Saeed Mirza, M.K.Raina and Rajiv 
Dhawan will address the Conference.

Please assign a reporter/cameraman/photographer to cover the Conference.

Ram Rahman
For SAHMAT


o o o  Reports and Editorials   o o o

CNN IBN
May 08, 2007

INDIA 360: HUSAIN A SOFT TARGET?

BRUSH WITH TROUBLE: At 92 years, painter MF 
Husain is a veteran when it comes to 
controversies on the canvas.
          
New Delhi: India is a democracy but when it comes 
to the fundamental rights of artistic expression, 
we seem to run out of space. The 'moral police' 
of India slams M F Husain for painting nude 
pictures of Hindu Gods. A court has ordered 
attaching his properties in Mumbai for not 
appearing in the case filed against him for 
offending religious sentiments.

At 92 years, painter MF Husain is a veteran when 
it comes to controversies on the canvas. There 
are groups that want him beheaded, his eyes 
gouged and his hands chopped. He even has a 
reward on his head, quite literally. In fact 
there are five cases going on against just one of 
his paintings.

As India acquires more material wealth are we 
experiencing poverty of artistic expression? On 
CNN-IBN India 360 M F Husain's counsel Akhil 
Sibal, Former Chairperson, National Commission 
for Women Poornima Advani and artist Jitish 
Kallat debated the issue.

Mumbai property of M F Husain attached: Is the painter a soft target?

The current legal mess surrounding the painter 
dates back to February last year when this 
depiction of 'Bharat Mata' in the nude was 
brought up for an online auction.

Following protests from certain right-wing groups 
the painting was immediately withdrawn and 
criminal complaints were filed against Husain in 
Indore and Rajkot courts alleging that the 
painter had "hurt the sentiments of Indians".

     * The Hindu Personal Law Board announced a Rs 
51 crore reward for beheading him.

     * A local leader in Gujarat promised one kg 
of gold to anyone who gouged out the painter's 
eyes.

     * In Madhya Pradesh, an ex-Congress party 
leader offered nearly 20,000 euros to the person 
who would chop off Husain's hands

     * In 1996 Husain's alleged 'obscene' 
portrayal of the Hindu goddesses Saraswati, Durga 
and Draupadi came under attack from Hindu groups

     * Bajrang Dal activists ransacked the 
artist's Mumbai home in 1998 over a painting 
titled 'Sita Rescued' which depicted a naked Sita 
riding on the tail of Hanuman.

     * Though several cases were filed against the 
painter for allegedly hurting religious 
sentiments they were collectively dismissed by 
Delhi High Court in 2004.

     * Not just the Hindu groups, an Islamic 
organisation All India Ulema Council filed a 
complaint with the Mumbai police against Husain 
for his using a song Noorun-ala-Noor in his film 
Meenaxi. The clerics said the words used in the 
song are actually taken from a religious hymn 
which defines the persona of Prophet Mohammed. 
They objected using the same lines to describe 
the beauty of a woman in the film. A miffed 
Husain promptly withdrew the screening of the 
film from theatres across the country.

o o o

The Hindu
May 8, 2007

Editorial

OF HUSAIN, HATE AND HARASSMENT

There is something terribly amiss about a social 
order that coerces a law-abiding 91-year-old 
artist - India's most celebrated painter - into 
leaving the country because of harassment by rank 
communalists and moral vigilantes. There is also 
something lopsided about the priorities of a 
criminal justice system that orders the 
attachment of his properties when cases against 
hardened criminals drag on interminably. 
Formally, the circumstances that led the Mumbai 
police to paste an attachment notice outside M.F. 
Husain's Cuffe Parade residence have the stamp of 
due legal process - a petition before a Haridwar 
court, the issue of summons and non-bailable 
warrants, proclaiming the accused as an 
`absconder,' and an order to attach his property 
under Section 83 of the Code of Criminal 
Procedure, 1973. The outrageousness of all this 
becomes plain when one considers the nature of 
the painter's so-called offence. The case in 
Haridwar relates to a tired and hollow 
controversy - the alleged `obscenity' of a couple 
of his works. Now that the police have discovered 
that the house is no more in Mr. Husain's name, 
the elements of tragic-comedy seem complete.

It is astonishing that an artist of the stature, 
integrity, and secular spirit of Mr. Husain 
continues to be harassed by malicious litigation. 
These cases, usually filed under Sections 153-A 
(promoting enmity) and 295-A (outraging religious 
feelings) of the Indian Penal Code, are but the 
legal face of a violent and orchestrated campaign 
waged by fundamentalist elements against 
creativity. Over the last few years, these 
fanatics have threatened the artist, ransacked 
his house, and defaced his paintings. 
Surprisingly, instead of upholding the 
fundamental right to freedom of expression, some 
lower courts have been extraordinarily tolerant 
in entertaining the vexatious complaints. By 
doing so, they have unwittingly provided a handle 
to the enemies of cultural freedom and liberal 
thought. There is little doubt that the criminal 
cases against Mr. Husain will fail. But the 
mischief-makers may have already succeeded - 
because the process has become the punishment, 
especially for a nonagenarian free spirit.

o o o

The Telegraph
May 8, 2007

Editorial
BEYOND LAW

The meaningfulness of law resides in the 
appropriateness of its application. But this set 
of rules - founded on ideals of reason and 
fairness - that is intended to protect the 
innocent and the powerless, can be turned on its 
head in a jiffy if the wielder of law so wishes. 
Applied in areas that do not fall strictly within 
its purview, or applied in anger, the process of 
law appears trivial, while delaying the delivery 
of justice in urgent cases by distracting 
attention from the main work of the courts. The 
justice system is hardly dignified, for example, 
by its unremitting pursuit of Maqbool Fida 
Husain, an artist who has brought honour to 
India, and who now, at over ninety, is unable to 
return to his country because he drew Hindu 
goddesses without clothes. His failure to respond 
to court summons has culminated in an order from 
a Hardwar court to attach his property in Mumbai.

It is not just a question of confusing aesthetics 
with morality or religion. What is disconcerting 
is the repeated reflection of Indian society's 
most retrogressive and divisive sentiments in 
some of the decisions of the courts. Artistic 
freedom is not the only ideal that is in danger, 
but all kinds of behaviour perceived as 
non-conformist can and do become legally 
vulnerable. At these moments, it would seem that 
there is no distinction between disapproval from 
certain sections of society and the law. There 
are warrants against Richard Gere and Shilpa 
Shetty for a public kiss, because a magistrate in 
Jaipur decided that the kiss was "sexually 
erotic". Nothing can better represent the 
institutional articulation of the country's 
nervously eager muddle-headedness regarding sex 
and the 'evil' Western influence. A plural 
society which is out of its depth in its own 
plurality is a sorry sight, but the law going 
beyond its purview by presupposing rules of 
conduct argues a graver lack of balance. That 
lack is visible not just among aggressive culture 
police, or hyper-sensitive community leaders, or 
fire-breathing 'nationalists', but elsewhere as 
well. The driver and guard of a local train can 
now be penalized for having asked for the 
credentials of a magistrate who decided to ride 
in the driver's cabin. It is not reason or 
fairness, but the hurt sensibilities of an 
individual or group, that can prick the law into 
action. Perhaps it is time the chief justice of 
India put in a word to remind everyone what the 
law represents.


_____


[5]

[GOD MEN - CON MEN Stories]

(i)

Godmen exposed as money launderers
Tax experts say Parivar gets 3 million US dollars a year from US, UK,
Europe

New Delhi, Sunday, May 5, 2007

India's hyper nationalist Hindutva Parivar's 
saffron clad 'Saint" leaders have been deeply 
embarrassed by sting operation exposes
linking them to massive currency frauds, 
laundering of tainted money and  tax evasion, all 
crimes under Indian law
.
Among them are senior bearded 'Swamis' who led 
the Ram Janmabhumi movement which demolished the 
Babri Mosque in Ajodhya, leading to nation wide 
violence which still continues sporadically in 
Hindu-Muslim clashes and anti-Muslim pogroms such 
as in Gujarat in 2002. Retired tax and revenue 
officials told the CNN-IBN news cannel, which 
co-authored the sting operation with a private 
group called Cobra Post, that leaders of the 
Hindutva Parivar have through bogus trusts 
received over 3 Billion US dollars annually since 
the movement began.
This translates into something like 15,000 crone 
Indian rupees a year, much more than moneys 
received through legitimate banking channels by 
other religious groups. Officers told the news 
channel that many of these  sadhus, men and 
women, had also received huge tracts of valuable 
land in urban areas and prime hill resort towns 
in the name of their charitable trusts, or for 
themselves. This munificence was shown by state 
governments then ruled by the Bharatiya Janata 
Parity, the political face of the Sangh Parivar. 
Several Congress governments and chief ministers 
are also known to have had a soft corner for 
these Swamis, who have a powerful
political footprint in India.
The then Union Government of Prime Minister Atal 
Behari Vajpayee refused to take actions against 
such trusts. The government of Prime Minister Man 
Mohan Singh, a collation of the Congress, and 
Socialist parties supported by the Marxists, has 
now promised it will take action under the law. 
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader has called the 
expose - made by Hindu
journalists and for news groups controlled by 
practicing Hindu media and business persons - as 
a conspiracy against Hindus in India.
The following are some excerpts of the video tape 
in which one Hindutva leader is seen openly 
discussing commissions he wants for
laundering money. The bearded, saffron clad Swami 
is identified as Guruvayur Surya Nambudiri Swami 
is famous for his prophecies in South India.

o o o

Southern seer turns dirty money holy, says no sin

Swami's aide [to the under cover sting media persons]: Guruji wants to
know what his share is. For instance, if you give Rs 1 lakh in black
to the Trust, how much would be returned, and what percentage do you
expect?

CNN-IBN: Swamiji may decide according to prevalent rates.

[The reporters say Rs 10 crore of black money had to be converted into
white money. Tough negotiations followed.]

Swami's aide: Guruji says that his ashram has a clean reputation for
the last 25 years. If someone were to find out about our work, we
would have to pay tax.

CNN-IBN: What do you want?

Swamiji: 25 per cent.

Swami's aide: At least 25 per cent.

CNN-IBN: Let us also make some profit out of this.

Swami's aide: You asked for 10 per cent, Swamiji put it at 25.

CNN-IBN: Let's close the deal at 15 per cent.

Swami's aide: 20 is final.

CNN-IBN: We are also agreed at 20 per cent.

Swami's aide: Is 20 fine?

Swami: Done.

CNN-IBN: We are supposed to pay the amount in black on behalf of the
company.

Swami's aide: But you'll have to make the payment in Chennai.

[Payments in Chennai and in hard cash]

Swami's aide: Ensure payment in Rs 1000 rupee notes.

CNN-IBN: That won't be a problem.

Swami's aide: When do you want to convert the money?

CNN-IBN: Within 15 days.

Swami's aide: If you want a cheque, then you will have to wait for at
least a month.

The transaction would take a month, CNN IBN was told. As the Swami-and
his aide duo would need time to arrange fake bills and receipts.

Swami's aide: Swamiji says that if you give Rs 10 crore then after a
month.

CNN-IBN: You will return Rs 8 crore by cheque.

Swami's aide: We will return it by cheque so that we may get time to
circulate the funds to avoid taxes. We will return Rs 8 crore to you.
Inform us of the next deal.

[http://www.ibnlive.com/news/india/05_2007/southern-seer-turns-dirty-
money-holy-says-no-sin-39851.html#]

o o o

(iii)

  MONEY LAUNDERER LEADS RAM TEMPLE TRUST
CNN-IBN
Posted Sunday , May 06, 2007 at 11:05
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/money-launderer-leads-ram-temple-trust/39845-3.html

o o o

(iv)


SCAM AT SOUTH ASIA'S MOST POPULAR SUFI SHRINE

by Yoginder Sikand [May 7, 2007]

The shrine of the renowned twelfth century 
Chishti mystic Hazrat Khwaja Moinduddin Chishti 
in Ajmer in the Indian state of Rajasthan is one 
of the most renowned and revered Sufi dargahs in 
all of South Asia. Every year, hundreds of 
thousands of pilgrims-Muslims, Hindus and 
Sikhs-visit the shrine. Donations to the shrine 
from pilgrims run into several million rupees 
annually. This precisely is the cause for a 
raging controversy involving leading members of 
the Dargah Committee and a group of Muslim social 
activists who have recently issued a report on 
the alleged financial bungling and mismanagement 
at the shrine. The seven-member group constituted 
an inquiry committee after the Ministry of 
Minority Affairs received what the committee says 
were 'hundreds of complaints' as well as a Public 
Interest Litigation filed by an NGO in the Delhi 
High Court about financial misdoings at the 
shrine.

Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti is known for 
having led a simple and austere life. He is said 
to have donated to the poor whatever he received 
from people who came to visit him. For this he 
earned the sobriquet Gharib Nawaz or 'helper of 
the poor'. This, the report says, is in complete 
contrast to what several members of the committee 
appointed to manage his shrine are today up to. 
As any visitor to the shrine will attest, for 
many custodians of the shrine their work is 
actually a flourishing business, pestering 
pilgrims for donations the moment they step 
inside the precincts of the dargah.

The inquiry committee report relates numerous 
instances of financial mismanagement at the 
shrine. It refers to allegations against the 
President of the Dargah Committee, Peerzada 
Shibli Qasim, who has been accused of corruption 
relating to collection of donations in the name 
of the shrine and of misusing the dargah's 
guesthouse for his family. He is also alleged of 
allowing a liquor shop to continue to function in 
the premises of the Dargah Committee. 
Interestingly, four of his colleagues in the 
Dargah Committee, Mansoor Ali Lalli, Shaukat Ali 
Ansari, Abdul Wahid and Kadar Bhai Wadiwala, 
lodged a complaint last year accusing him of 
having filed a writ petition in the Rajasthan 
High Court without their consent against the 
Ministry of Minority Affairs for allegedly not 
taking the permission of the Dargah Committee for 
the appointment of the Nazim of manager. For that 
the amount settled by the lawyer was Rs. 34,600, 
of which he is said to have taken took Rs. 
15,000/- in advance. The four members wanted that 
this amount be recovered from Qasim. Qasim also 
claims that he has been running a dargah school 
till, but he has not disclosed the exact amount 
spent on this as per the Act 36 of the Dargah Act 
of 1955.

According to the report, Abdul Aleem, the deputy 
manager or Naib Nazim of the Dargah Committee, is 
alleged to have consistently issued money to 
various members of the Committee 'in a manner 
most unprofessional' and 'without proper vouchers 
or stamped papers'. He claims to be engaged in 
social work by running a computer centre, a 
school and a langar or free community kitchen, 
but, the report says, he did not divulge the 
budget for these activities. Allegations have 
also been leveled against him of permitting the 
khuddam or traditional custodians of the shrine 
to encroach on the dargah premises, including in 
the main courtyard of the shrine.

Shaukat Ali Ansari, proprietor of a 
gun-manufacturing factory, is another member of 
the Dargah Committee. The inquiry committee found 
that he has been occupying a flat in the dargah 
for more than a year, where he has arranged for 
the sons of his friend to stay, without clearing 
the dues. The committee also found that 'he had 
no answer to the heaps of pages written against 
his scams at the Waqf Board or concerning the 
dargah' except denying these charges. Thus, for 
instance, Babu Lal Singharia, ex-M.L.A. from 
Kekdi, claims that Ansari had appropriated more 
some 1.7 lakh rupees. Jas Raj, President of the 
Ajmer District Congress Committee and former 
M.L.A., accused Ansari of having 'illegally 
grabbed the chairmanship of Rajasthan Waqf Board' 
and 'frittering away the Waqf land, including 
many graveyards'. The report mentions Haji Qayyum 
Khan, former M.L.A., who has alleged that Ansari 
'has regularly been misappropriating Waqf Board 
funds'. These include withdrawal of a fixed 
deposit of a whopping sum of almost 20 lakh 
rupees, leasing Waqf property at the Imambara in 
Mount Abu by taking fifteen lakh rupees as bribe 
and parting with two lakh rupees for election 
purposes. Haji Qayyum Khan has also leveled 
charges against Ansari for the death of six 
persons. The President of the All-India Jamaat-e 
Qureish, Fazl-e-Karim Qureshi, refers to 'umpteen 
cases of misappropriation of funds' while Ansari 
served as Chairman of the Rajasthan Waqf Board 
between 1991 and 1998, including having allegedly 
taken some 22 lakh rupees from workers for their 
appointment.

The inquiry committee raises questions regarding 
Dargah Committee member Abdul Kadir Wadiwala, who 
has been accused by Jas Raj, ex-MLA, of misusing 
a sum of more than 1.75 lakh rupees and of not 
paying rent for the guest house of the dargah for 
almost six years. The Muslim Ekta Manch , a local 
civil society organization, has claimed that that 
Wadiwala has collected several lakh rupees in the 
name of the dargah, which he has invested in his 
own business.
[. . .]
http://communalism.blogspot.com/2007/05/scam-at-south-asias-most-popular-sufi.html


_____


[6]

Hindustan Times
May 06, 2007

IS SECULARISM OUT OF THE AGENDA?

by Sadia Dehlvi

Each time the Hindutva genie threatens to emerge 
from the bottle, tormenting images of hatred, 
persecution and violence come to the fore. The 
controversial BJP election CD contains narrative 
and visuals of terrorism, cow slaughter, of 
Muslim men delighting over deceiving innocent 
Hindu girls into marriage and producing a litter 
(pillas) of 35 from five marriages.

Along with chants of Jai Sri Ram, the mission 
statement is to save the Hindu dharma from the 
Islamisation of India with a resolve to rid the 
country of traitors. The kind of nationalism it 
perpetuates is rooted in resentment against 
Muslim rule and Muslims whom they view as settler 
colonisers. The evident goal of Hindutva is to 
institutionalise the notion of the Hindu rashtra. 
The toxic content of the CD simultaneously seeks 
to induce a paranoia of insecurity among the 
majority and appeals to the most banal emotive 
instincts of an illiterate electorate.

In a 1961 address to the AICC, Nehru held that 
communalism of the majority is far more dangerous 
than the communalism of the minority. Not 
condoning the latter, he stated, "When minority 
communities are communal you can see that and 
understand it. But the communalism of a majority 
is apt to be taken for nationalism." When the 
majority portray themselves as the sole 
nationalists, the strength of Hindutva has been 
effectual in sidelining the nationalism of Nehru, 
Gandhi and Ambedkar.

If Muslim appeasement myths were true, the social 
and political realities of the minority would 
speak differently. The painful truth is that the 
story of Indian Muslims has been scripted by the 
broader Hindutva agenda. With minority rights 
remaining on the outside of integrated 
development policies, Muslims today are sitting 
on the edge of the Indian frame. If communal 
agendas continue unchecked and secular tempers 
not developed, India's largest single minority 
will fall out of the picture completely.

The spiritual tenets of Hinduism are peaceful and 
celebrate diversity and inclusion, whereas 
Hindutva is a warped nationalist ideology rooted 
in the politics of intolerance. One would like to 
believe that brand Hindutva of the BJP has 
exhausted itself and the electorate has learned 
to choose development over the politics of 
intolerance. The sheer knowledge that parties 
flaunting divisive agendas remain a vital force 
striving for central authority is terrifying.

It is equally disheartening and worrisome that 
instead of a renewed pledge to secularism, Rahul 
Gandhi testifies that his family was responsible 
for the breakup of Pakistan. When young leaders 
whom you would have thought had their heart in 
the right place need to address jingoistic 
national chauvinism, one must acknowledge the 
deep rot in our political system and raise 
serious questions.

Whatever the political necessity of the moment, 
we cannot allow space for the creation of Muslim 
demons or Hindu triumphs. Hindu-Muslim unity, the 
defining factor of Indian secularism, is under 
grave threat. Constant vigilance is required if 
we are genuine about putting brakes on the 
acceleration of religious divides.

Does the Congress need the malice of the BJP to 
hand out its own ideas of secularism? Is the 
prescription of banning political parties good 
enough or will they emerge stronger with new 
identities? Narasimha Rao dismissed four state 
governments after the Babri Masjid tragedy that 
eventually led the perpetrators of the crime to 
victory at the Centre.

The privileged positions of power were exploited 
in the frenzied and psychopathic violence of the 
Gujarat riots of 2002. The savagery left intense 
scars on the Muslim psyche and India's largest 
religious minority negotiated its existence among 
society and state with a wounded spirit.

When the BJP was in power, a camouflaged Hindutva 
furthered its agenda through various cultural and 
educational organisations. Strident Hinduism 
gained respectability in media, academia and the 
film world with sworn secularists discovering 
concealed virtues in the party. The damage is not 
irreparable but the internecine conflict between 
secular forces makes the restoration process 
messy and complex.

Can we, the people of India, allow ourselves to 
be continuously bitten by the lurking venomous 
snake or can we collectively strive to crush its 
head forever? The change can be brought only 
through judicial, bureaucratic and parliamentary 
resolves. The question is that does any political 
party have the genuine will, integrity or the 
strategy to mobilise the masses against such 
rapturous forces?

Secularism is not just about giving a fair deal 
to the Muslims but a democratic ideology for an 
empowerment for all backward classes. If 
constitutional ideals are to succeed, someone has 
to take the lead in organising secular forces and 
allowing for cherished values to become immune to 
the clashes of power. Ideologically, culturally 
and intellectually, the resistance to communalism 
has to be fought on a war footing, or else we 
will succumb to its malignancy.

History will then see India as a failed secular state.


_____



[7]

The Tribune
May 5, 2007

Not by de-recognition
BJP'S CD CALLS FOR A BOLDER RESPONSE
by J. Sri Raman

TO derecognise or not to derecognise - that is 
not the question. It, certainly, is not the real 
issue raised by the infamous compact disc (CD), 
which records the unwritten manifesto of the 
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the ongoing 
Assembly elections in the country's most populous 
and therefore politically most important State of 
Uttar Pradesh.

At the time of writing, the Election Commission 
has reserved its ruling on the issue. It has done 
so after hearing the legal luminaries doubling as 
the leaders of the BJP and the Congress, besides 
others. The former, who leave all crude 
propaganda to compact discs and similar other 
devices, have taken a lofty stand against the 
commission deciding questions of ideology like 
secularism. They have also taken the technical 
plea that a party cannot be derecognised for such 
a minor delinquency as violation of the 
non-enforceable model code of conduct. The 
Congress, for its part, has combined its demand 
for derecognition of its main rival at the 
national level to one for a public apology for 
the offending disc.

The contents of the disc, meanwhile, have 
received far wider dissemination than the cadre 
of the BJP and the "parivar" (the far-right 
"family") could have given them in the sprawling 
State. For those who take an elevated view of our 
electoral exercises and disregard sordid details 
such as found in reports on the disc, it presents 
issues of fundamental importance to the party in 
a dramatic format.

It depicts the threat from a terrorist minority 
in diverse and dire forms. Without mumbling about 
"members of a certain community", as 
"pseudo-secularists" may do, the disc has 
identifiable Muslims impersonating Hindus and 
committing heinous crimes and sins like killing 
cows and stealing girls of the majority 
community. It also talks of the Muslims engaging 
in rapid reproduction in order to reduce the 
Hindus to a minority. And, of course, it tags 
them as the "terrorists" who
threaten India.

Given the poisonous potency of the package, the 
mention of the Babri Masjid demolition would 
appear to be its only milk-and-water part. The 
immediate response of the BJP to the revelation 
of the contents of the CD, released officially, 
was to disown it and attribute it to outside 
conspirators. After its chief-ministerial 
candidate, Mr. Kalyan Singh, spoke up in defence 
of the disc ("nothing wrong with it"), the party 
has also moved to the aggressive mode. Elder 
non-statesman L. K. Advani even saw "an 
Emergency-type situation" developing as a result 
of the demand for action on the disc!

The party-political debate may continue until the 
cows come home (unless ambushed by those minority 
miscreants). Some of the basic facts about the 
BJP's poll propaganda, however, are yet to figure 
in the debate, and unlikely to do so.

The first of these facts is that the disc really 
says nothing different or new. It only uses a new 
technology to repeat the traditional poll-time 
message of the "parivar". No reporter, who has 
covered any election campaign of the BJP or its 
parent Jan Sangh at the grassroots, can really be 
shocked at the electronic version of the same. 
Election after election, strident calls for arms 
against the "enemies within" have been issued in 
street-corner rallies, without provoking so much 
as a mention of any model code of conduct.

Another basic fact, which media apologists for 
the BJP are trying hard to fudge, is that the 
disc's contents are not just a crude version of 
the party's policies. A "liberal vision of 
democracy", according to this line of defence, 
demands that the disgust at the disc should not 
be allowed to obfuscate the serious issues it 
poses, even if in an inelegant manner. The 
argument cannot be more absurd.

It is the party's policy, its propaganda that 
represents a crude distortion - or 
communalisation - of serious issues before the 
country. Nobody can deny, for example, that 
terrorism is indeed a serious issue, but it is 
only communalised when presented as nothing but a 
product of pampered "minorityism". Even cow 
protection can be propagated as the need to 
preserve milch cattle, as done by Mahatma Gandhi 
who blamed Indians as a whole for neglecting this 
national resource. Or it can be communalised, as 
done by the disc and devotees of Godse, by 
portraying the Muslims as indulging in a massacre 
of cows just for some "jihadi" fun.

(It is hard to see any serious issue behind the 
dramatic scene in the disc that depicts some 
Muslims having non-"jihadi" fun with a Hindu 
girl. But, the party propagandists may see it as 
the "masala", the spice, needed to sell the 
party's serious message.")

Just as the medium is the message in modern 
advertising, crudity is indeed the content of 
such propaganda. What devices like this disc are 
designed to promote is a debate that generates 
not mere heat, but murderous hate. The BJP 
remembers how the Babri Masjid demolition and its 
bloody trail helped transform it from a 
two-member party in the Lok Sabha into the main 
Opposition. The party is also proud of the way it 
used a pogrom to polarise the vote and score a 
major electoral victory in Mr Narendra Modi's 
Gujarat. It is trying a similar track in UP.

More absurd than other arguments in defence of 
the disc and the BJP is the claim that equates 
such a rude, utterly uncultured campaign with 
"cultural nationalism". If the disc has little to 
do with culture, the divisive propaganda has even 
less to do with a nationalism that sees a need 
for the Indian people's unity. The 
anti-minorityism that finds an obscene display in 
the disc is actually a policy against the 
interests of India's majority in any but the 
sectarian, religious sense.

It is a doubtful if the disc will lead to the 
BJP's de-recognition. Even if the party faces 
some other legal action, it will have little 
effect on the electoral campaigns of the 
"parivar". Mr Balasaheb Thackeray of the Shiv 
Sena was disenfranchised for six years for his 
communally inflammatory speeches during a 
Maharashtra Assembly byelection campaign in 1987. 
Can anyone claim that this turned the Fuehrer of 
the country's financial capital into a 
practitioner of more tolerant politics?

Not legal derecognition of the party, but a clear 
political recognition of its ideological 
character is what the contents of the BJP's disc 
call for. No such recognition is evident, alas, 
in the Congress counter-campaign, the main 
highlight of which in UP has been a bratty boast 
about a former Prime Minister's role in "breaking 
Pakistan".

______


[8]


The Guardian
May 4, 2007

SCIENCE AND FICTION

David Cameron's ambiguity about creationism 
provides yet another example of politicians 
taking the benefits of science without defending 
its principles.
James Randerson

David Cameron found himself in very hot water 
this week with leading scientists following 
comments he made on Friday hinting that schools 
could be given more flexibility to teach 
creationism in science lessons. The comments 
themselves were meant to be a clarification of 
Tory policy (is there such a thing?) in the face 
of an embarrassing gaff by the Conservative Welsh 
assembly candidate for Clwyd West, Darren Millar. 
He reportedly told a hustings in Ruthin that 
homosexuality was a sin - comments he later 
denied. But there was more on creationism. A 
party spokesperson later clarified his 
contribution thus:

     "Darren said that teachers in faith schools 
should be given flexibility to include the 
teaching of creationism in science lessons 
alongside Darwinism."

That is the sort of stuff that makes most 
scientists' blood boil, but Mr Cameron did not 
appear to appreciate that fully. When asked about 
the issue he said on Friday: "Personally I don't 
support the teaching of creationism," but he 
added, "I'm a great believer that we need to 
trust schools and governors of schools to get 
these things right and I think that's the right 
approach." He said he advocated a "more devolved 
system" for deciding what schools were allowed to 
teach.

The reaction from scientists has been predictably 
brutal. Steve Jones, the evolutionary biologist 
at University College London and distinguished 
popular science author said:

     "They need to devolve some management to 
schools. I think most people would agree with 
that. But you can't devolve the truth. Something 
is either true or it's not and creationism is not.

     "If somebody demanded the right to teach in 
mathematics lessons that 2 and 2 are 5 on faith 
grounds they would be laughed out of court ... by 
having this taught in science lessons they are 
damaging science it's as simple as that."

The developmental biologist Lewis Wolpert, also at UCL said:

     "I am shocked that Cameron agrees that 
creationism can be taught in science lessons. 
Creationism is not science and is purely 
religious faith. There is zero evidence for it. 
We must oppose this. Next the students will be 
taught that the world was created in six days."

In the face of this barrage, Mr Cameron's office 
"clarified" again. Would the Tories allow faith 
schools to teach creationism in science lessons? 
"No, I don't think we would. Basically, we think 
creationism has got its place as part of a 
religious curriculum, but not as part of a 
science curriculum."

Reassuring perhaps, but Cameron's ambiguity is 
yet more evidence of politicians wanting to take 
the benefits of science without defending its 
principles. Despite talk in November of his 
Damascene conversion to science, Tony Blair and 
his government have been guilty of using science 
when it suits them, but abandoning it when it 
doesn't. One extraordinary decision was the move 
by the government agency that licenses new 
medicines to allow homeopathic remedies to be 
licensed without clinical trial data - thus 
putting magic water on a par with traditional 
evidence-based medicine.

And in November, the parliamentary science and 
technology committee produced a highly critical 
report on government use of science in 
policy-making. It said there was too much 
cherry-picking of data to validate policy rather 
than an honest discussion of the evidence. It 
called for a "re-engineering" of the government's 
approach to science.

Mr Blair also displayed the same unconcerned 
attitude to the threat to science posed by 
teaching creationism. In an interview with New 
Scientist magazine in November he said he thought 
the threat was "hugely exaggerated". He added, 
"If I notice creationism becoming the mainstream 
of the education system in this country then 
that's the time to start worrying." Most 
scientists would rightly be horrified if the 
debate reached that stage before the prime 
minister decided to take notice.

If Mr Cameron and the next occupant of No 10 
Downing Street want to demonstrate that they 
really understand this issue they must make clear 
their unequivocal opposition to any religious 
interference in the school science curriculum. 
They should also take steps to restrict, rather 
than increase, the flexibility that religious 
schools have over the curriculum they teach. The 
benefits from science will only come in future if 
politicians defend it now. That means saying what 
is science and what is not.


______


[9 ] Events;

ANHAD INVITES YOU TO A PANEL DISCUSSION
RESTORING DEMOCRACY AND RULE OF LAW IN GUJARAT

Speakers:

P.G.J. Nampoothiri - Special Rapporteur, National 
Human Rights Commission (Retd), Former 
Director-General of Police, Gujarat
R. B. Sreekumar, Former Additional Director-General of Police, Gujarat
Jhanvi Andharia, Social Activist

Chaired by: Prof. Iftikhar Ahmad, academician

Date: May 10, 2007 Time: 6pm-8pm

Venue: Open Air Theatre, Behavioural Science 
Centre Lawns, St Xavier's College Campus, 
Navrangpura, Ahmedabad


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

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
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