SACW | June 23-24, 2007

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire | June 23-24, 2007 | Dispatch No. 2423 - Year 9

[1]  Afghanistan: Return of the Taliban (Hamida Ghafour)
[2]  Pakistan:
   (i)  An Open Letter To The CEC
   (ii) An identity under scrutiny (Jessica Stern)
   (iii) Of fairer sex and 'straight' ideology (Jassna Javed)
   (iv) First things first (Aneela Z. Babar)
[3]  Salman Rushdie is not the problem. Muslims are (Irshad Manji)
[4]  India: Condoms and Conservatives
     (i) Rubber stamped
     (ii) Moral Vibes (Editorial, Times of India)
    (iii)  Sex Toys Figure In Ancient Texts Too (Avijit Ghosh)
    (iv) A Controversial Condom in the Land of the Kama Sutra (Emil Steiner)
[5] India: Practice of Veiling among the Hindu's 
- contrary to claims by Pratibha Patil
[7] USA: Activists push Hollywood, Florida to 
dissociating from event involving Hindutva leader
[8] Announcements:
      Call for papers!!!   Post-Exotic India: A New Narrative in Making


______

[1]


The Guardian
June 4, 2007

RETURN OF THE TALIBAN

No one in Afghanistan wants to be on the losing 
side when Mullah Omar's men ride back into town 
on their motorcycles.

by Hamida Ghafour

When I lived in Kabul a couple of years ago, it 
seemed unimaginable that the Taliban could 
return. The regime was considered a spent force 
and generally disliked by Afghans. Mullah Omar 
gathered his associates, told them they were on 
their own and fled on his motorcycle.

Today there are reports of Taliban attacks as 
close as two hours from the capital. Nato's 
forces are getting hammered in the south by an 
astonishingly strong insurgency. Suicide bombs, 
utterly alien to the Afghan fighting culture, are 
now common.

At the same time, Nato air strikes are hitting 
innocent civilians and increasing the 
population's resentment against the western 
armies. In this mess, there is talk of making a 
deal with the Taliban leadership, whoever they 
may be, in a bid to bring peace to the south. 
This is a dangerous idea.

It is worth considering that the Taliban are also 
responsible for the torture and killing of Afghan 
civilians. This is no government-in-waiting. This 
is no popular resistance movement such as the 
Soviet forces faced in the 1980s. This is a 
brutal and nasty insurgency in which Afghans 
accused of spying are beheaded, doctors are 
assassinated and aid workers kidnapped.

I was in Ottawa recently speaking to a civil 
servant involved in the Afghan mission. She told 
me with some frustration that the Canadians 
opened a clinic hospital just outside Kandahar 
city, with the local tribal chief's blessing. His 
son was sick and was treated by Canadian doctors. 
Almost as soon as it opened the clinic was burned 
down and the tribal chief killed. The message was 
clear: do not co-operate with any western force - 
on pain of death.

The statistics bear this out. In the first seven 
months of 2006, there were 202 recorded attacks 
on schools across the country. In the same time 
period, 600 civilians were killed or wounded. In 
about 70% of the cases, the attacks were linked 
to the Taliban. This figure comes from the 
respected Afghan Independent Human Rights 
Commission.

The strategy seems clear: to isolate Afghans from 
their government in Kabul. If it looks like their 
own government cannot provide for them, Afghans 
will turn to the Taliban. The targets of the 
insurgency are deliberate. There is even a guide, 
called the Leyeha given out to Taliban fighters 
which sanctions the killing of anyone seen to 
cooperate with outsiders and destruction of 
roads, bridges and dams.

This is an old strategy. In the days of the 
Russian occupation, the countryside's guerrilla 
leaders were given arms and funds to isolate the 
communist government in Kabul. Then, in the early 
1990s, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia helped the 
Taliban rise to power by again, putting pressure 
on Kabul.

In the post-Taliban era it was never going to be 
easy for a government to put together such a 
fractured state. For centuries Afghans have 
survived invasions by knowing just when to switch 
to the winning side. It is simple pragmatism.

There is a growing feeling that maybe Nato and 
America are not going to stay for long. If the 
west abandons its Afghanistan project, no one 
wants to face the repercussion of being on the 
losing side when the Taliban ride back into town 
on their motorcycles.

How on earth has the south deteriorated so much? 
Sadly, it is because the west has allowed it to 
happen. President Hamid Karzai, Afghans and aid 
workers have repeatedly called for more 
peacekeepers for the last five years.

There have been warning signs the Taliban were 
re-grouping. In 2004 I met a couple of tribal 
elders from a district in Zabul province who had 
come to Kabul to plea for help because the 
Taliban had taken over five districts. They shut 
down the schools and no one could go out at 
night, they told me.

But it was not until 2006 - five years after the 
regime fell - that Canadians and British deployed 
a large number of troops to the south.

In those five years the south and east were left 
lawless for Taliban leaders to re-group and drug 
traffickers to move in. As a result, there has 
been little development of the economy. Many of 
the Taliban's fighters are opportunists. Honest 
civilians can expect a monthly salary of $50. A 
Talib fighter can earn up to $700. According to 
Amnesty International, the funds for the 
insurgency are coming from the region but also 
perhaps wealthy Arabs in the Gulf states.

In this so-called "war on terror" it is Afghan 
civilians who are paying the price. They are 
caught - not only between Nato's clumsy air 
strikes which kill innocent families, but Taliban 
terrorists who are determined to turn the country 
into a pitiless theocracy once again.

______


[2]  PAKISTAN:

(i)

The Free and Fair Election Network
June 22, 2007

ECP Decisive Actions Needed To Increase Voter Numbers

FAFEN SENDS AN OPEN LETTER TO THE CEC


ISLAMABAD: The Free and Fair Election Network 
(FAFEN) has called upon Chief Election 
Commissioner Justice (Retd) Qazi Muhammad Farooq 
to take immediate measures to bridge the gap 
between the 18-year-old or above population and 
the number of voters registered on the draft 
electoral rolls currently on public display 
throughout the country.

"Millions of voters who are not on the draft 
electoral rolls need to be registered in order to 
conduct a credible election. The Chief Election 
Commissioner (CEC) must take a decisive action to 
rectify the situation either through an executive 
order or by seeking support from legislature or 
the President," reads an open letter sent to the 
CEC by FAFEN. 

FAFEN, in its letter, suggests that every citizen 
who has been issued a Computerized National 
Identity Card (CNIC) and is on the NADRA rolls 
must automatically be included on the electoral 
rolls. "The objective should be to enable as many 
people as possible to vote in the upcoming 
election."

FAFEN says that such out of box options are 
required to be considered in view of serious 
flaws in the implementation of the ongoing 
process of the display of draft electoral rolls, 
as indicated by its findings from the first week 
of data collection at 1,037 Display Centres by 
its 750 observers throughout the country. Some of 
these problems could be addressed in the 
remaining days of the display period that will 
end on July 3, 2007.

According to FAFEN findings, 88.0% of ECP Display 
Centre Information Officers (DCIOs) mistakenly 
believe that "it is necessary" for citizens to 
bring their CNIC/NIC cards to the Display Center 
in order to register to vote. Many eligible 
voters who cannot provide a photocopy of their 
NIC/CNIC card are being turned away from Display 
Centres by the DCIOs. 

However, the ECP Manual of Instructions for 
Display Centre Information Officers (page 6, 
English version) states clearly that a citizen 
must provide their CNIC/NIC number, but "it is 
not required that a citizen bring his or her 
CNIC/NIC to the Display Centre". A citizen must 
have their CNIC/NIC number with them in order to 
get registered.

Moreover, 86.5% of DCIOs believe wrongly that a 
judicial Revising Authority (RA) will "hold a 
hearing for every person who files a form to add 
their name to the electoral roll". Citizens are 
being informed by DCIOs that they must attend a 
hearing in another location at a later date, an 
additional step that is deterring many people 
from completing the voter registration process. 
However, the ECP Manual of Instruction (page 7, 
English version) states that DCI Os should 
instead inform citizens that their "claim for 
inclusion [on the electoral roll] will be 
reviewed in a summary inquiry by a Revising 
Authority who is a judge" and "The Revising 
Authority may call the citizen to a hearing if 
he/she is not satisfied with the claim for 
inclusion".

Similarly, only 0.4% of DCIOs are female and 
there are no separate areas at any of the Display 
Centres for female eligible voters to receive 
assistance in order to fill out the necessary ECP 
form to add their names to the electoral roll. 
The lack of female DCIOs and separate Display 
Centres for women is inexcusable given that the 
percentage of registered women voters on the new 
electoral roll is significantly decreased from 
the percentage who were registered on the 
previous voters' list, and given the fact that 
cultural factors will prevent many women from 
receiving assistance from a male DCIO to fill out 
their forms for inclusion as voters. 

Additionally, 29.8% of DCIOs reported that they 
received no training at all, and an additional 
7.2% (for a total of 36%) said they were "not 
satisfied" with the training they received. The 
ECP has a responsibility to train fully the 
personnel who are serving the public in Display 
Centres during a process of such national 
importance and priority.

As many as 31.9% of DCIOs are "not satisfied with 
the security arrangements" at their Display 
Centers, and 14.2% DCIOs have no "cell phone or 
other way to call for help" if there is a 
problem. Election security is of vital importance 
and should have been given much more attention, 
given historical experience of electoral 
intimidation in some locations including reent 
by-elections in Karachi, Jamshoro, Bannu, and 
Jhang observed by FAFEN and given the current 
tense (and sometimes violent) political 
environment.

FAFEN urges the CEC to issue an immediate 
instruction/ clarification to all DCIOs through 
the Assistant Election Commissioners (AEC s), 
Registration Officers (ROs), and Assistant 
Registration Officers (AROs) to allow eligible 
voters to fill out ECP Form IV for inclusion on 
the electoral roll even if they do not have their 
CNIC/NIC with them, as long as they have their 
CNIC/NIC number.

Moreover, DCIOs must also be instructed to tell 
eligible voters that a Revising Authority might 
call them for a hearing about their request for 
inclusion on the electoral roll, but that 
Revising Authorities will review the requests 
with a summary inquiry that in most cases will 
not require a hearing.

Extension in the outreach of Display Centres is 
also required, particularly to female eligible 
voters. This can be done by recruiting and 
training urgently as many female DCIOs as 
possible, establishing separate Women's Display 
Centres, and making some male and female DCIOs 
mobile.

At the same time the ECP needs to put in place 
effective monitoring mechanisms now and during 
the elections to alert it to problems in 
electoral administration in a timely and 
effective way, potentially engaging civil society 
in this effort.

o o o

About FAFEN:

The Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) is a 
coalition of thirty leading Pakistani civil 
society organizations. It was established in 2006 
to observe the election process, educate voters, 
and advocate for electoral and democratic reform.

Afreina Noor.
Network Coordinator
FAFEN Secretariat
#5, Street 58, F-10/3
Islamabad.
Phone:
051-2299 494, 051-2211 875
Cell: 0307 554 1742
Fax: 051-2291 547
URL:    <http://www.fafen.org/>www.fafen.org  


o o o

(ii)

Dawn
June 21, 2007

AN IDENTITY UNDER SCRUTINY

by Jessica Stern

Having lived more than half his life as a man, 
choosing his behaviour and changing his body to 
show the world the man he feels himself to be, 
Shumail Raj is trying to be what most men want to 
be - an honest man

Shumail Raj and Shehzina Tariq have become the 
centre of a tragedy known throughout Pakistan and 
the world. Who are they? Eight months ago, 
Shumail and Shehzina were married in a ceremony 
that Shehzina describes as "a love marriage." But 
since their story became public, they have been 
called every sort of name by reporters, lawyers, 
comedians, by people in the street.

Press reports refer to them as a "she-couple", a 
"same-sex couple", and as two "girls" or 
"lesbians." Their union has been dismissed as the 
country's first same-sex marriage. Yet Shehzina 
Tariq has stated clearly "We are not homosexual". 
Everyone, it seems, gets to say who they are - 
except the two themselves.

Instead, as a result of saying what they feel 
themselves to be, they have found themselves in 
conflict with the law. On May 28, they were 
sentenced to three years' imprisonment for 
perjuring themselves - for having told the Lahore 
High Court that Shumail Raj was a man.

A court-appointed panel of medical examiners had 
to be called in to settle the issue of legal 
identity. It was more important to identify the 
history behind Shumail Raj's full beard and 
masculine build than to recognise his right to 
privacy, his dignity and self-respect.

The prosecution of the couple and their 
humiliating depiction in the media has overlooked 
vital facts. Everyone has a biological sex, the 
body they are born with. However, everybody also 
has a sense of the self which transcends the 
body. Without that sense we are more than just 
what we are given, we would have no clothes, no 
jewellery, no hairstyles. We would practice no 
artifice upon ourselves. We would take no joy in 
making ourselves look beautiful or strong by our 
own standards, patterning our looks on others or 
choosing a different guise or style.

Beyond biological sex, there is gender. 
Biological sex means how we classify bodies as 
male or female, based on factors such as 
hormones, chromosomes, and internal and external 
organs. Gender describes not what is "male" or 
"female," but what is "masculine" or "feminine" 
--- what different societies consider to be such; 
what individuals feel to be such. Everyone has an 
individual experience of how "masculine" or 
"feminine" they are. Some feel their inner selves 
to be different from how their bodies are 
categorised.

The Universal Declaration of Human rights states 
"all people are born free and equal in dignity 
and rights" and "recognition as a person before 
the law" is a basic human right. The law should 
not condemn you because you seek to have your 
identity recognised. Its purpose should be to 
uphold an individual's fundamental human rights, 
and respect and protect personal identity, 
dignity and freedom.

Courts from Europe to Brazil to Egypt have upheld 
the right of people to have the genders they live 
in recognised by the law. In Egypt this legal 
finding was upheld by a fatwa from the sheikh of 
Al Azhar.

Human rights also include the right to health. 
The World Health Organisation (WHO), the United 
Nations' coordinating authority for health, 
observes that transgender people - people whose 
gendered selves are different from their bodies - 
experience "a desire to live and be accepted as a 
member of the opposite sex, usually accompanied 
by a sense of discomfort with, or 
inappropriateness of, one's anatomic sex." Their 
health and well-being depend on their being cared 
for and recognised as who they feel themselves to 
be.

The imprisonment of Shumail Raj and Shehzina 
Tariq sends the message that people born female 
have no right to call themselves male, even when 
that is how they see themselves. Shumail Raj may 
have been born female, but he underwent two 
surgeries to alter his gender, the first at the 
age of 16. He intends to go abroad for the third 
surgery that he feels would complete his growth 
into a man.

Now 31, Shumail has lived more than half his life 
as a man, choosing his behaviour and changing his 
body to show the world the man he feels himself 
to be. Shumail Raj is not a perjurer - nor is 
Shehzina Tariq. He is trying to be what most men 
want to be, an honest man.

The writer is a researcher with the New York-based Human Rights Watch.


o o o

(iii)
The News
June 19, 2007

OF FAIRER SEX AND 'STRAIGHT' IDEOLOGY
by Jassna Javed

The sexuality debate and the issue of same-sex 
marriages is a developing area of family law in 
various jurisdictions abroad. In December 2005, 
the South African constitutional court declared 
the absence of a facility to allow same-sex 
marriages as offensive to the country's 
constitution because it amounted to a denial of 
equal protection under the law. The result was 
the adoption of legislation in November 2006 
allowing same-sex couples to be able to marry. In 
Canada, the Canadian Supreme Court held that the 
existing common law definition of marriage which 
is confined to 'union for life between a man and 
a woman' could no longer stand because it 
offended against the Canadian Charter of Rights 
and Freedoms that guarantees equality 
irrespective of sexual orientation. The result 
was that the same-sex marriages were legalized 
federally in Canada in July 2005. Even before 
that, Spain, a country with a high percentage of 
Catholics, became the third country in the world 
to pass legislation legalizing same-sex 
marriages, the first two being Holland in 2001 
and Belgium in January 2003.

The issue has arisen in our part of the globe 
with the episode of Shumail Raj and Shahzina 
Tariq. There are no reliable figures of 
homosexuals in Pakistan but the issue is 
certainly not the first of its kind although it 
is probably the first one to hit the attention of 
the media after Justice Khawaja Muhammad Sharif 
of the Lahore High Court sent the same sex couple 
to separate jails for three years on perjury 
charges. The couple has avowed that they are not 
homosexuals but rather share a passionate bonding 
with each other provoked by, what the same-sex 
couple regards, a non-discursive and profoundly 
negating ritual of arranged marriage. The 
implications of this inferno are rooted in the 
censorial, negative power of patriarchal violence 
that is so adamantly embedded yet conveniently 
denied.

Individual autonomy, independence, 
self-sufficiency, self-rule, freedom and 
self-determination are laudable aspirations for 
any society that regards the welfare of 
individuals seriously. These fundamental values 
have been discussed by many influential legal and 
moral philosophers from John Locke to Kant to 
Rawls. The "self" that often desires to be 
autonomous, is socially constructed. It is a 
hybrid of culture, tradition, religion, morals, 
and power. When this "self" takes the form of a 
female gender, particularly in our country and 
those others that share similar cultural values 
and traditions, this social construct becomes an 
amalgam of all the above but most importantly 
patriarchy, and to some extent, misogynist 
experience. Women like men are autonomous 
individuals but women's independence is 
marginalized due to the negativity of a genre of 
patriarchal power unleashed in our legal space.

Although many philosophers assume that to be 
human is to be in some sense autonomous, women 
are far from being autonomous. In fact they are 
profoundly relational. The degree of autonomy is 
usually measured by the amount of choice and 
power that one has. Power and choice are 
necessary for the exercise of real autonomy. 
However, due to the biological, reproductive role 
of women, they are largely rendered 
non-autonomous.

When a woman is pregnant, her physical being 
embraces the embryonic life of another, and thus 
she experiences a shared physical identity with 
herself and her fetus. Robin West, a prominent 
feminist of this era, takes on this stance to 
explain the counter-autonomous experience of 
women. When a woman shares her physical identity 
with another life developing inside her, her 
autonomy is largely undermined. When she becomes 
a mother and shares the emotional and 
psychological bond with her infant, her autonomy 
becomes tied to the infant once again. Because 
women are burdened materially with the dependency 
of the fetus upon them (although no doubt they 
are emotionally and psychologically enriched with 
this bond) they tend to rely more on 
relationships with others from whom they can 
derive the material strength and power to nurture 
the infant who ultimately depends on them. Thus a 
woman's biological role is inherently 
counter-autonomous.

However, it is not only the biological aspect of 
a woman's physical being that makes her 
non-autonomous, it is also the social, political 
and legal victimization caused by the pervasive 
patriarchal institution, the compulsory 
heterosexuality, the institution of arranged 
marriage, forced romance, and the censorship in 
many cultures that gives birth to and nurture 
woman to woman bonding and redirect the young 
girl's emotional and sentimental identification 
toward men. This construction of the woman bond 
is thus largely the result of pervasive and 
universal institution of patriarchy that 
trivializes women, suppresses them, and 
ultimately some emotionally weaker ones seek 
refuge by unionizing with the same-sex. 
Patriarchy is like a Trojan horse which brings 
with it the evils of dehumanization of women, 
subordination, objectification, sexism and it 
marginalizes, trivializes, silences and threatens 
their existence in this patriarchal world.

There is considerable potential in this theory if 
one is inquisitive to delve into the whole 
sexuality debate and dig out the reasons for some 
people's so-called "deviant" behaviour. From the 
diagnosis of homosexuality as a psychological 
disorder in 1970's, to it being considered a 
disease, then a mere perversion, then 
'paraphilia' or the sexual disorder, a 'third 
sex', and finally the present classification as a 
separate sexual orientation, we have been 
confronted with various theories and explanations 
by sexologists and psychologists regarding 
homosexuality.

In our country, by accepting the monopolizing 
wisdom of our ancestors and showing our 
indifference to delve into the intricate details 
pertaining to custom, tradition, and the laws of 
heaven, we have buried the spirit of questioning. 
The awareness and an attempt to find a rational 
eye in every decision, doctrine, and dogma at the 
bare minimum flourish debate, and promote speech 
and expression. If we are not scared of losing 
our religious and social significance by debating 
publicly issues of sexual orientation, gender and 
sexuality, questioning our beliefs will lead to 
more clarity and less confusion rather than what 
some of us perceive to be sacrilegious.

The aim of free speech, as enshrined in Article 
19 of our constitution, is to protect a 
marketplace of ideas. Avoiding the suppression of 
the exchange of ideas and chilling speech forms 
an integral part of the individual's right to 
freedom of expression. If one assumes arguably 
that law is a form of a social control and crime 
is 'a revolt against the social order', as 
Nietzsche put it, the judiciary and officials who 
apply sanctions whenever this social order is 
breached would obviously act in ways that 
reinforces the 'norm' or the status-quo, which is 
largely homophobic. The logical conclusion of 
concentrating more power in the state apparatus 
to chill speech regarding sexual orientation is 
to reinforce this homophobia.

Perhaps the most powerful weapon in the state's 
arsenal is to declare these 'deviants' as 
criminals since they act in a way that goes 
against the conformity with the herd. However, 
legislative or judicial suppression might not be 
the right or the only answer to the popular 
philosophy which stigmatizes homosexuals as 
"deviant" when they dare to come out of the 
closet. We really need to find avenues and forums 
to discuss, without anxiety, fear or contempt for 
homosexuals, the present heterosexual hegemony 
and the 'straight' ideology with a focus on "more 
speech" through education and media.

The writer is an advocate and has degrees from 
Yale Law School and the University of London.

o o o

(iv)

The Post
4 June 2007

FIRST THINGS FIRST

Dr. Aneela Z. Babar

A friend who is coordinating Samar Minallah's 
visit to Washington (DC) to receive the Perdita 
Huston Award (Minallah has won the 2007 Perdita 
Huston Activist for Human Rights - the Award 
itself was established in 2002 to celebrate the 
work of Perdita Huston, and to recognize the life 
and work of outstanding advocates for women's 
rights in the developing world) wrote a worried 
note yesterday when she read in a column of mine 
of the furor an inadvertent hug on the part of 
Nilofar Bakhtiar had caused in Pakistan. The 
friend wrote a worried note back on her website: 
After hearing that Nilofar had to resign I called 
DC and made sure that everyone there was aware 
that they were in no way to touch Samar. I asked 
that everyone attending be sent a memo, in case 
someone unknowilngly patted Samar on the back or 
God forbid gave her a hug. To which I had to 
write back that considering we are living in the 
interesting times of Shumail R and Shahzina, she 
should make sure no one hugs Samar. Surely no one 
wants to give more grist to our judicial mills 
and have some overzealous person in Lahore filing 
a case that a woman in Washington DC 'aspiring 
towards' and/or 'masquerading' as a man wanted to 
hug Samar. In short, please don't hug us, we are 
Pakistani.

Marriages are a tricky business to comment on, 
and far be it for me to venture on what 
constitutes a good one or a bad one. But it 
becomes particualrly problematic when we have to 
define what constitutes them - is it a marriage 
of minds, are they decided on planes divine, does 
it concern matters of a union of the flesh, the 
soul? I don't have the text for Justice Khwaja 
Muhammad Sharif's judgement on the issue, but I 
understand that it pertained more to matters of 
perjury, of falsifying accounts, of impersonating 
as a man in matters legal than the issue of what 
constitutes a marriage. And probably the learned 
judge was wise not to step in that minefield, of 
not deliberating on the definition of marriage in 
Pakistan, for that would have opened a Pandora's 
Box which would not have suited those who 
comprise the 'moral brigade' and pride themselves 
as the custodians of matters cultural and 
traditional in Pakistan. By defining who can 
enter into and what conditions rule a marriage, I 
am sure our learned courts would have to give a 
ruling on the legality of marriages between women 
and the Quran (I am sure certain very respectable 
families in Sindh who form a power 
religio-political nexus in Sindh would like to 
share their views on this issue), minor girls 
traded to settle blood disputes, instances when 
both parties know that the "bride" in question 
will not be enjoying that status but is rather an 
individual against whom the aggrieved party can 
direct their ire and vengance. In many cases she 
is kept as a reminder of the loss their family 
has suffered, a living punching bag, and if she 
is very lucky, cheap domestic labour. Then we 
also have the instances of forcible divorces in 
case a set of wata satta marriages (exchange 
marriages) breaks down, which any day can be 
gauged by the plethora of questions on any given 
day in advice columns in our daily newspapers. 
What say of the sanctity of the institution of 
marriage in that case? Negotiating a relationship 
is difficult as it is, but imagine the scenario 
of when any typical day there are four people 
walking the tight-rope of your relationship, you, 
your spouse, your brother and sister-in-law - one 
false step and everyone comes falling off. And I 
need not get into the details of the countless 
cases where women are treated as chattel, forced 
to marry their rapists, pay off gambling debts 
(Shahzina's case one instance), keep a promise an 
elder had made, marrying a brother-in-law who is 
still a minor to keep property/children together. 
In all these cases what can still hold as a good 
marriage (Pakistani or otherwise) and should be 
allowed under any concept of justice and leading 
a good meaningful life (which should be a basic 
human right for any person, even if perchance 
they happen to be Pakistani; our nationality 
shouldn't by definition preclude us from aspiring 
to happiness, no matter what our President has 
told us).

Huma Yusuf writing elsewhere on this particualr 
issue has brought up the 'first things first' 
mentality in Pakistan which she understands is 
behind our belief, albeit flawed, that we should 
deal with fundamental issues - democracy, 
terrorism, poverty, illiteracy, Kashmir, nukes, 
and land reforms before getting matters of social 
justice and debatable issues like this particular 
relationship resolved. Yusuf does plead to civil 
society in Pakistan to not shy away from their 
responsibilities, particularly since we are 
members of a global village and to understand 
that the issue can be (and I join her in this) 
the harbinger of a meaningful social revolution 
in Pakistan, but I would like to turn her use of 
the phrase "first things first", which for many 
is problematic 'around'. Let us continue to have 
a policy of "first things first" in Pakistan, but 
apply it for all the contentious definitions of 
marriage that parade in Pakistan. Let our 
honorable judiciary and civil society in Pakistan 
do away with the contentious definitions of civil 
unions in Pakistan that I have listed, where 
women are victimized and where in more cases 
parties have turned to the legislature and 
judiciary to rescue women out of a situation 
which they do not recognize as a marriage but 
have been gagged in the name of maintaining 
tradition and cultural pride. Resolve that and 
then deem yourself fit to decide in a situation 
where two partners who were happy in their union 
and had approached you to protect their 
relationship are concerned.

Returning to Samar Minallah's news, it is a 
matter of pride to learn that some of us refuse 
to be intimidated by the sheer enormity of the 
task ahead as we turn to confront all the hurdles 
that impede Pakistani women to operate as full 
citizens in their country. Minallah through her 
endeavour Ethnomedia has been involved in a 
public advocacy programme against many of the 
horrific crimes committed in the name of honour. 
Swara, best translated as "compensatory 
marriages", is just one of them. I am quoting 
here from the letter of recommendation for the 
Perdita Huston award to explain what issues her 
win raises. "From such cases as two minor girls 
being given away as compensation against 11 
stolen buffaloes, or the case of a religious 
scholar solemnizing a marriage of a one month-old 
girl to a one year-old boy to end an age old 
dispute after a tribal Jirga's verdict, are hard 
to imagine, but are a daily reality of the world 
that Samar lives in. Though un-Islamic and 
illegal, this century's old customs take 
precedence over local jurisprudence and are 
backed by some politicians who do not wish to 
upset their constituents...fifty other similar 
cases of girls from different parts of the 
country given as compensation have been averted 
with Samar's dedicated work taking each 
individual case as far as the Supreme Court of 
Pakistan. One of the journalists that helped 
highlight the incident through different forms of 
media has been missing since thenŠIn the case 
that Samar was fighting (pro bono) for the girls 
aged 2, 3, 5 and 6, she challenged the decision 
taken by a feudal lord. Despite the risk to her 
life she bravely continues to advocate and defend 
girls who may never even know her."

First things first, Justice Khwaja, and then 
comment on what constitutes a marriage.

The writer is a freelance columnist with a background in academe


______


[3]


The Times (UK)
June 21, 2007

SALMAN RUSHDIE IS NOT THE PROBLEM. MUSLIMS ARE
In a battle between flaming fundamentalists and 
mute moderates, who do you think is going to win?

by Irshad Manji

Growing up in Vancouver, I attended an Islamic 
school every Saturday. There, I learned that Jews 
cannot be trusted because they worship "moolah, 
not Allah," meaning money, not God. According to 
my teacher, every last Jew is consumed with 
business.

But looking around my neighbourhood, I noticed 
that most of the new business signs featured 
Asian languages: Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, 
Korean, Hindi, Punjabi and plenty of Urdu. Not 
Hebrew. Urdu, which is spoken throughout Pakistan.

That reality check made me ask: What if my 
religious school is not educating me? What if it 
is indoctrinating me?

I am reminded of this question thanks to the news 
that Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses 
and ten other works of fiction, will be knighted 
by the Queen of England. On Monday, Pakistan's 
religious affairs minister said that in light of 
how Rushdie has blasphemed Islam with provocative 
literature, it is understandable why angry 
Muslims would commit suicide bombings over his 
knighthood.

Members of Parliament, as well as the Pakistani 
government, amplified the condemnation of 
Britain, feeding cries of offense to Muslim 
sensibilities from Europe to Asia.

As a Muslim, you better believe I am offended - by these absurd reactions.

I am offended that it is not the first time 
honours from the West have met with vitriol and 
violence. In 1979, Pakistani physicist Abdus 
Salam became the first Muslim to win the Nobel 
Prize in science. He began his acceptance speech 
with a verse from the Quran.

Salam's country ought to have celebrated him. 
Instead, rioters tried to prevent him from 
re-entering the country. Parliament even declared 
him a "non-Muslim" because he belonged to a 
religious minority. His name continues to be 
controversial, invoked by state authorities in 
hushed tones.

I am offended that every year, there are more 
women killed in Pakistan for allegedly violating 
their family's honour than there are detainees at 
Guantanamo Bay. Muslims have rightly denounced 
the mistreatment of Guantanamo prisoners. But 
where is our outrage over the murder of many more 
Muslims at the hands of our own?

I am offended that in April, mullahs at an 
extreme mosque in Pakistan issued a fatwa against 
hugging. The country's female tourism minister 
had embraced - or, depending on the account you 
follow, accepted a congratulatory pat from - her 
skydiving instructor after she successfully 
jumped in a French fundraiser for the victims of 
the 2005 Pakistan earthquake. Clerics announced 
her act of touching another man to be "a great 
sin." They demanded she be fired.

I am offended by their fatwa proclaiming that 
women should stay at home and remain covered at 
all times. I am offended that they have bullied 
music store owners and video vendors into closing 
shop. I am offended that the government tiptoes 
around their craziness because these clerics 
threaten suicide attacks if confronted.

I am offended that on Sunday, at least 35 Muslims 
in Kabul were blown to bits by other Muslims and 
on Tuesday, 87 more in Baghdad by Islamic 
"insurgents", with no official statement from 
Pakistan to deplore these assaults on fellow 
believers. I am offended that amid the 
internecine carnage, a professed atheist named 
Salman Rushdie tops the to-do list.

Above all, I am offended that so many other 
Muslims are not offended enough to demonstrate 
widely against God's self-appointed ambassadors. 
We complain to the world that Islam is being 
exploited by fundamentalists, yet when reckoning 
with the opportunity to resist their clamour en 
masse, we fall curiously silent. In a battle 
between flaming fundamentalists and mute 
moderates, who do you think is going to win?

I am not saying that standing up to intimidation 
is easy. This past spring, the Muslim world made 
it that much more difficult. A 56-member council 
of Islamic countries pushed the UN Human Rights 
Council to adopt a resolution against the 
"defamation of religion". Pakistan led the 
charge. Focused on Islam rather than on faith in 
general, the resolution allows repressive regimes 
to squelch freedom of conscience further - and to 
do so in the guise of international law.

On occasion, though, the people of Pakistan show 
that they do not have to be muzzled by clerics 
and politicians. Last year, civil society groups 
vocally challenged a set of anti-female laws, 
three decades old and supposedly based on the 
Quran. Their religiously respectful approach 
prompted even mullahs to hint that these laws are 
man-made, not God-given.

This month, too, Pakistanis forced their 
government to lift restrictions on the press. No 
wonder my own book, translated into Urdu and 
posted on my website, is being downloaded in 
droves. Religious authorities will not let it be 
sold in the markets. But they cannot stop 
Pakistanis - or other Muslims - from satiating a 
genuine hunger for ideas.

In that spirit, it is high time to "ban" 
hypocrisy under the banner of Islam. Salman 
Rushdie is not the problem. Muslims are.

After all, the very first bounty on Rushdie's 
head was worth £1 million. It increased to £1.25 
million; then higher. The chief benefactor, 
Iran's government, claimed to have profitably 
invested the principal. Hence the rising value of 
the reward. Looks like Jews are not the only 
people handy at business.

A Senior Fellow with the European Foundation for 
Democracy, Irshad Manji is creator of the new 
documentary Faith Without Fear and author of The 
Trouble with Islam Today: A Wake-Up Call for 
Honesty and Change

______

[4]

INDIA: CONDOMS AND CONSERVATIVES

(i)

Indian Express
June 23, 2007

Editorial

RUBBER STAMPED

Will our netas let us mind our own business and 
pleasure? Even if condoms vibrate

  At a time when the upcoming race for president 
has stretched the party-political lines 
especially tight and clear in the capital, a rare 
consensus is unfolding in Madhya Pradesh. "Sex 
toys can have serious repercussions on the Indian 
way of life," says BJP leader and state PWD and 
IT minister Kailash Vijayavargia in a three-page 
letter to the prime minister. It is

"... bound to have a harmful effect, especially 
on youngsters", chimed state CPM secretary 
Bahadur Singh Dhakad. Undoubtedly, the local 
Congress notable has also made a statement to the 
same effect. All parties are united in their 
demand for an immediate prime ministerial ban on 
a ribbed condom with a vibrating ring marketed by 
the government-owned Hindustan Latex Ltd.

Parties across the political spectrum have shown 
this meeting of minds earlier. Invariably, it has 
been on issues of "morality", of protecting 
"India's culture and tradition" supposedly under 
siege. There was the unanimity on the banning of 
dance bars in Mumbai. There was the complicit 
acceptance of a move by a secular government to 
ban a book for allegedly offending the sentiments 
of those who revere Shivaji. Earlier, a 
resounding silence followed lumpen rage against 
film actress Khushboo after her statement on 
pre-marital sex. There has been silence, again, 
by all parties whenever the I&B minister presumed 
to decide what can or cannot be construed as 
healthy viewing for adult Indian audiences and 
chopped and banned television programmes and even 
whole channels. We've had ample warnings of this 
cross-party restrictiveness.

Yet the Madhya Pradesh controversy is worryingly 
instructive. It shows us that the fight against 
the 'moral police' is not out there, against a 
clearly identifiable enemy. The moral police is 
often an agreeable animal of every political 
persuasion, waiting to strike, catch us unawares. 
The condom marketed by Hindustan Latex is not the 
issue, though the government-owned enterprise 
deserves commendation for its show of marketing 
verve and imagination. The point is, we need to 
tell our political parties that we can mind our 
own business, and pleasure.

editor at expressindia.com

o o o

Times of India
23 June, 2007

Editorial

MORAL VIBES

A minister in Madhya Pradesh is not quite kicked 
about a particular condom being marketed by 
government-owned Hindustan Latex Limited. So much 
so that he has written to the PMO to intervene 
and ban the controversial brand. The condom in 
question goes by the name Crezendo. The 
minister's objection is that it is ribbed and 
comes fitted with a vibrator ring. This, 
according to him, makes it a sex toy and 
therefore against Indian tradition. The rationale 
is that condoms are fine as long as they are used 
for protection, but not if they promote sex for 
pleasure. This is a truly baffling instance of 
political opportunism in the name of Indian 
culture.

Predictably, the fuss created by the minister has 
instigated politicians from the Congress and CPM 
as well to hop on to the bandwagon. When it comes 
to championing the collective morality of the 
country, it's a competitive field: There's little 
that separates politicians of different hues. 
However, their arguments stand on a shaky wicket 
and the concern is misplaced. Even a cursory 
glance at ancient texts and statuary in India 
gives lie to the claim that sex for recreation is 
not in keeping with Indian tradition and culture.

What seems to have peeved the protestors is that 
the company marketing the condoms is 
government-owned. It does not stand to reason 
that Hindustan Latex can market other speciality 
condoms - coloured and textured - but not go a 
step further. Why? Texture is also meant to aid 
pleasure. A company must be free to innovate its 
product line if it feels there is a need to do 
so. Whether it is government-owned or private is 
immaterial. Hindustan Latex has been registering 
a slowdown in profits owing to competition from 
other brands. If value-adding to its existing 
products can help arrest the slide, so be it.

Condoms are an essential weapon in our battle 
against AIDS and other sexually-transmitted 
diseases. They are equally important in promoting 
effective birth control as well as family 
welfare. The experience of health workers has 
been that men, especially in rural areas and 
small towns, are resistant to using condoms. This 
reluctance to use protection increases the risk 
factor and makes women particularly vulnerable. 
It is imperative that all attempts are made to 
popularise the use of condoms and promote safe 
sex. To that end, it is welcome that companies 
come up with innovative ideas to market condoms. 
It is ironic that while government is running a 
high-decibel multimedia campaign to promote the 
use of condoms, self-appointed custodians of 
Indian culture are hell-bent on playing 
spoilsport. If only the repercussions were not 
grave, one could call the fracas outright stupid.

o o o

(iii)

Times of India
23 June, 2007

SEX TOYS FIGURE IN ANCIENT TEXTS TOO

by Avijit Ghosh

NEW DELHI: These days condoms are a source of 
unending worry for Madhya Pradesh PWD minister 
Vijayvargiya and his political friends in the 
state. Especially, if they come with a vibrating 
ring. Then, he feels, the condom metamorphoses 
into a sex toy. "And sex toys," says the 
minister, "can have serious repercussions on the 
Indian way of life."

Celebrated historical texts suggest otherwise. 
Vatsyayana's 4th century AD compilation Kama 
Sutra, the world's oldest tome on sex and its 
pleasures, is peppered with so many details of 
sex toys that one begins to wonder if it was a 
small-scale industry in ancient India.

The section titled Aupanishadika (occult 
practices) talks about various kinds of apadravya 
(apparatus) used for sexual intercourse. These 
dildos or sex aids were made of wooden, rubber, 
gold, silver, copper, ivory, even horn. At one 
place, the Kama sutra also says that when men 
have no sex partner, they satisfy themselves 
"with dolls."

The book provides graphic details of the shapes 
and sizes of the sex toys ranging from a rounded 
stick to a curved stick in the shape of a mortar, 
from an object shaped like a flower bud to 
elephant's trunk. The text even talks about 
artificial sex organs made of "hollowed out 
pumpkins" and "bamboos moistened with oil and 
ointment."

The MP minister seems to be arguing against sex 
as pleasure. "The government should promote 
family planning and not something that is meant 
to give your partner pleasure," he says. By this 
logic even dotted or flavoured condoms should not 
be promoted by government.

The minister's worries on the social effect of 
such toys seem to be misplaced. Several Indian 
texts show that sexual love was both art and 
sport in the ancient period.

Set in Benaras, Damodargupta's 8th century AD 
long poem Kuttanimata (The advice of a courtesan) 
devotes a number of pages on how to win hearts 
and bodies of young men.

Ram Nath Jha, who teaches in Special Centre for 
Sanskrit Studies, JNU, says that even ancient 
philosophical treatises such as Swaminarayan 
Bhashya's comments on Sankhyakarika (12 century 
AD) and Mathara Vritti (between 6th-8 century 
AD), a major text in Sankhya philosophy talk of 
sex as a pleasure provider.

Jha quotes from Bhashya: Upatisthate 
vishayopabhogartham tadupastham 
anandagrahanalingam bhavati (The sex organ 
produces pleasure through experiencing objects; 
therefore, it is a sign of the atma). Jha says 
people have stopped reading original texts.

"Which is why they talk like this," he says. 
However, Kumkum Roy, who teaches ancient India in 
JNU, offers a different twist to the debate. She 
admits that means of enhancing sexual pleasures 
are discussed in ancient Indian texts. "But," she 
points out, "the notion of sexual pleasure in 
these texts was not universal. They were 
primarily meant for men belonging to dominant 
elite groups."

o o o

Washington Post

A CONTROVERSIAL CONDOM IN THE LAND OF THE KAMA SUTRA
Does the 'Crezendo' Violate Indian Law?

By Emil Steiner |  June 21, 2007

Few medical ethics debates have the potential to 
touch so many people as the one now going on in 
India over a tiny plastic ring called the 
Crezendo.

The Crezendo, a condom with a battery-powered 
vibrating ring attached, has sent shockwaves 
through the world's second-largest country, where 
contraception is encouraged but sex toys and 
pornography are forbidden. In the state of Madhya 
Pradesh, conservative Hindus are particularly 
disturbed by the device, which they say is 
nothing more than a vibrator.

Adding to their outrage is the fact that a 
government-owned company is involved in marketing 
it. Madhya Pradesh's minister for road and 
energy, Kailash Vijayvargiya, told the BBC that 
the government's job "is to promote family 
planning and population control measures rather 
than market products for sexual pleasure."

But a spokesman for Crezendo's manufacturer, 
Hindustan Latex Ltd., explained that the product 
"was launched with the primary objective of 
addressing a fall in condom usage... A major 
reason cited by users was the lack of pleasure 
when using condoms." As a result, for the past 
three months, some Indians have been safely 
experiencing "ultimate pleasure" for about a 
dollar per use, while others have taken to the 
streets in protest.

India has its own standards for what is and isn't 
appropriate -- just ask Richard Gere -- and while 
it may be hard to believe that the country that 
came up with The Kama Sutra could be so prudish 
when it comes to sex toys, that really isn't what 
this debate is about. The question is really how 
those standards affect India's ability to improve 
public health. Or, to put it another way: Does 
decency mandate throwing out the erotic bubble 
bath with the baby?



______


[5]

[India's presidential candidate Pratibha Patil 
recently triggered a controversy by saying that 
the 'ghoongat' (veiling among Hindu Women) was 
born to protect Hindu women from Mughal invaders. 
Such claims have gained popular currency in India 
due to systematic propaganda by the Hindu right 
which tends to blame - the Mughals for the 
arrival of veiling in India. Historians in India 
have for long years challenged such suggestions. 
See below extract ]

from :

VEILING OF WOMEN IN THE BRAHMANIC RELIGION
by Thanabalu Kalimuthu

(courtesy Prof. D.N. Jha)

"Bhavabhuti in his Mahaviracharita gives a clear 
vivid evidence of purda. When Rama sees 
Parasurama coming towards him, he directs his 
consort Sita, 'Dear one, he is our elder, 
therefore turn aside and veil yourself' [Mvir.Ch. 
Act II, p.71] [1200, p.70].

"The Kalibhana grant also tells us that the women 
of the royal household observed purda in Orissa 
[1200, p.70] [In.H.Qu. XX (1944) p.242].

"Vachaspati tells us that women of good families 
did not come without a veil in public [Vach.] 
[1200, p.70].

"Some women were so much devoted to their 
husbands that they would not even look at the Sun 
regarding him as a parapurusa. If the servants 
were found seeing the faces of queens, they 
feared punishment. [Sis. XII.20.17] [1200 p.70].

"The free mixing of men and women was considered 
bad in Sriharsha's works [Nais.Ch. XV.3] [1200, 
p.70].

"'Harsha's [1099-1101] [Lohara dynasty] coins 
[depict] a half cross-legged goddess [and] a veil 
appears on the head ' -- [Coin.39]."


______


[6]  
http://communalism.blogspot.com/2007/06/thanks-to-campaigning-city-of-hollywood.html

IMC-USA commends the City of Hollywood, Florida 
for officially dissociating from Sadhvi 
Ritambhara Event


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 23, 2007

Indian Muslim Council-USA, an advocacy group 
working towards protecting and promoting the 
pluralist and tolerant values of the Indian 
society along with a broad-based alliance 
representing Hindu, Christian and Muslim 
communities as well as organizations of secular 
persuasion commend the City of Hollywood, Florida 
for distancing itself from an event honoring 
Sadhvi Ritambhara.

This announcement comes in the wake of a 
concerted campaign by Indian Americans of various 
background protesting the City of Hollywood's 
'sponsorship' of the event on Saturday June 23rd.

Ms. Ritambhara is a leading member of Vishwa 
Hindu Parishad, a militant organization that has 
been implicated in promoting hatred and violence 
against Muslims, Christians and other cultural 
and religious minorities in India. Ms. Ritambhara 
is currently under-trial for her role in the 
Babri Mosque demolition case. On December 6, 
1992, she incited an armed Hindu mob to tear down 
the 16th century Babri Mosque in Ayodhya, India, 
in violation of the order of the Indian Supreme 
Court. She further incited Hindu mobs to attack 
Muslims leading to over 3000 deaths in December 
1992 and January 1993.

Shrikumar Poddar, the Hindu spiritual leader of 
Vaishnava Center for Enlightenment, Lansing, MI 
said, "Sadhvi Ritambhara is the anti-thesis of 
Hinduism, always speaking ill of other faiths, I 
wonder how the State Department issues visa to 
such promoters of hatred".

The officials at the City of Hollywood were 
educated by the callers about the deplorable 
record of Ms. Ritambhara and were surprised to 
learn that the organizers had quoted City of 
Hollywood, Florida as one of the sponsors of the 
event. The City immediately demanded and received 
a written apology from the organizers of the 
event.

Shekhar Reddy, writing on behalf of South Florida 
Hindu Association, apologized for the 
embarrassment caused to the City of Hollywood.

The organizations that participated in this campaign include:

Alliance for a Secular and Democratic South Asia
Association of Indian Muslims of America (AIM)
Dharma Megha
Federation of Indian American Christian 
Organizations of North America (FIACONA)
Friends of South Asia (FOSA)
Hindu Vaishnava Center for Enlightenment
Indian Muslim Council-USA (IMC-USA)
Indian Muslim Relief and Charities (IMRC)
India Foundation
Indian American Coalition for Pluralism (IACP)
Indian Christian Forum (ICF)
International Service Society
Muslim Youth Awareness Alliance (MYAA)
NRI Coalition for Social Justice
NRI's For Secular and Harmonious India (NRI-SAHI)
Seva International
Supporters of Human Rights in India (SHRI)
Vedanata Society of East Lansing
Washington Watch.


______


[7]    ANNOUNCEMENTS:


Call for papers!!!    Few Travel Grants for PhD Students!!!
                         
POST-EXOTIC INDIA: A NEW NARRATIVE IN MAKING


Graduate School of International Development, Roskilde University
& SASNET, Lund University
Two days Intensive PhD Workshop and Public Lectures, 26-27 September 2007

Organisers:	Ravinder Kaur, Laurids Lauridsen, 
Roskilde University and Staffan
Lindberg, Lund University

Venue:	Roskilde University

ETCS:	3 points


Background:
The 1990's economic liberalization programme in India is often seen as a sharp
turning point that transformed India from an aid recipient developing nation to
a fast growing global player. In less than two 
decades, India has become the new
Asian success story comparable to China. New global buzzwords - outsourcing,
call centers - have found inextricable Indian associations. In short, India
speaks and is spoken of in a new global language, the lexicon of which is
derived from its historic economic growth. The exotic - foreign, distant,
mysterious and veiled - produced through the oriental gaze no longer dominates
the Indian imagery. The post-exotic of 1990's seeks to produce a new narrative
of global India.

As India posts 9.4% growth rate for the first time in its 60 years of
Independence (1947-2007), an unprecedented public euphoria tinged with
scepticism seems to be fast gaining ground. The reasons for euphoria are
evident in the impressive statistics produced by the government that show high
growth, low inflation, large flows of foreign direct investments and ever
growing foreign exchange reserves. India has seemingly found a new comparative
frame vis-à-vis China – a global entity on fast track – unshackling it from its
historic 'other' Pakistan – one half of the Indo-Pak duo mired in regional
rivalry and conflict over Kashmir, low intensity conflicts and wars. In short,
India is on its way to become a global player with impeccable democratic
credentials, and a gigantic, prosperous middle class composed of highly
educated and competitive professionals.

The successive governments, since 1990's economic liberalisation, have tried to
capture the spirit of new India in catchphrases and slogans such as 'Shining
India' and 'Incredible India' to captivate people's imagination in India and
abroad.  These media driven campaigns have been received sceptically as they
gloss over uncomfortable facts of mass suicide deaths among farmers in, for
example Punjab, Karnataka and Maharashtra; growing rich/poor gaps; social
inequalities and falling levels in the human development index where India
ranks two notches below at 126 since 2004. Equally uncomfortable is the
occurrence of communal and caste conflicts that threaten to mar the euphoria
from time to time. Recently, violence erupted in Rajasthan over claims staked
by newly mobilised caste groups to the reservation quota; clashes took place in
Punjab where orthodox Sikhs, comprising of landed peasantry, took offence to
appropriation of Sikh revered symbols by a sect of low caste Sikhs and Hindus.
These events are neither isolated nor infrequent, rather fresh episodes in a
long history of inter-community violence, for instance the 2002 Gujarat
massacre that took hundreds of lives and triggered off spatial, social and
economic segregation of Hindus and Muslims.
The new Indian narratives emerge out of this 
tension between unfettered national
pride, spurred by economic success and global recognition, and deep discomfort
at premature celebrations by the prosperous and burgeoning middle class. At the
heart of this tension lies the struggle over representation of authentic India,
for instance, an early 20th C Gandhian vision -  "India lives in its villages"
–  that saw rural India as the definitive feature of the country; versus
outsourced call centre businesses in Gurgaon skycrapers and 'India's silicon
valley' in Bangalore that symbolise entrepreneurship, technological innovation
and global competition. Clearly, this historic tension has reached a defining
moment that is evident in the competing narratives.
This two day intensive workshop explores the 
post-exotic India through following
themes:

a.	processes and affects of 1991 economic liberalisation ,
b.	emergence of a vocal, mobile and astute middle class,
c.	global ambitions of India, and
d.	its regional implications in South Asia.

Invited Speakers:
Nicholas Dirks, Columbia University
Thomas Blom Hansen, Amsterdam University
Pritam Singh, Oxford Brookes,
Staffan Lindberg, Lund University
Ravinder Kaur, Roskilde University
Srirupa Roy, Amherst, USA, SSRC New York,
Nandini Gooptu, Queen Elizabeth House, Oxford,
Pamela Price, Oslo University
Anna Lindberg, Lund University
Arild Engelsen Ruud, Oslo University
Sten Waldmann, Uppsala University
Jørgen Dige Pedersen, Aarhus University


Structure of the workshop
The training course is structured around two elements:
Day 1: Presentations by the invited speakers, and
Day 2: Presentation of PhD-papers. The latter 
will take place in smaller groups.
There will be made plenty of time in the 
programme for discussion, in plenary as
well as in the small working groups. Each participant will write a 5 page paper
focussing on the following issues:
* Abstract or fundamental research question.
* Specific questions (argued in relation to fundamental research question).
* Data and fieldwork strategy.
* Fieldwork techniques.


Participation requirements:
The first day of the workshop is open to all. The 
second part of the workshop is
open to all PhD students upon application by July 
15th to <rkaur at ruc.dk>. A maximum
of 20 PhD students can participate in the work shop sessions. Each participant
must prepare a short paper (no more than five pages), presenting her/his
research design and setting, main questions regarding fieldwork and data
collection techniques. This text should be submitted to the organizers at
Inge at ruc.dk no later than August 15th. Ultimo August, information about working
group composition as well as the different papers will be circulated to the
participants. Participants in a working group are expected to have carefully
read and commented upon each of the fellow participants' texts. 15-20 minutes
will be given for each presentation in the working groups.

Funding Possibilities:
The Graduate School appreciates that the cost of participation may be
prohibitive to some students. We therefore offer two travel grants for students
who would otherwise be prevented from participating in the course. The
beneficiaries will be selected on merit. Application for the travel grant
should accompany the application for participation in the course and include a
letter of recommendation from the supervisor.



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

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