SACW | August 23-24, 2007 | Sri Lanka Saga of War and Peace / Pakistan under siege / Indo Us Nuclear Deal / Police Reforms in Bangladesh and India / Kerala's Hindu right and Muslim right at work

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire | August 23-24, 2007 | Dispatch No. 2439 - Year 9


[1] Sri Lanka:  A report on War and Peace in 
Mutur and the East (Coalition of Muslims and 
Tamils for Peace and
Coexistence)
[2] Pakistan Under Siege (Zia Mian)
[3] Bangladesh: Draft police ordinance - Hold 
public discourse before adoption (Editorial, 
Daily Star)
[4] India - US Nuclear Deal:
   (i) Statement by Medha Patkar, Aruna Roy and 
Sandeep Pandey on the Indo-US Nuclear Deal
   (ii) Dr Heckle & Mr Hyde (AG Noorani)
[5] India: Taslima, Hussein and Liberal Ethos (Ram Puniyani)
[6] India: Despite resistance, women's groups are 
challenging the country's catcalling culture 
(Benjamin Siegel)
[7] India: Hindu Right and Muslim Right at work in Kerala !
     (i) Withdraw Award For Hussain: Hindu Aikya Vedi
     (ii) Boys, girls can't share bench: Kerala Muslim morality cops (Rajeev P)
[8] India:  Police Reforms at Sixty (Ajay K Mehra)
[9] India: Menon Committee Report on the criminal justice system
[10] Announcements:
   (i) Convention on Srikrishna Commission Report (New Delhi, 25 August 2007)
   (ii) The International day of Disappeared (Srinagar, 30 August 2007)
______


[1]

REMEMBERING MUTUR, 2006
THE CONTINUING SAGA OF WAR AND PEACE IN THE EAST

by Coalition of Muslims and Tamils for Peace and Coexistence (CMTPC)
August 2007


July 2006. LTTE closes the sluice gates of Marvil 
Aru and triggers the War for Water, locking all 
of the societies in the region, Muslim, Tamil and 
Sinhala in the grips of an escalating and brutal 
ethnic war. So much water has passed under the 
bridge since then. The war spread down the 
eastern coast from Mutur to Thoppigala, between 
the government forces and the LTTE. That the war 
re-commenced over water signifies one of the 
crucial aspects of the current war, control of 
water, land and territory. It has a significance 
that goes far beyond that of military 
confrontation, military losses or gains for 
either party; goes in fact far beyond the need 
for a return to normalcy as proclaimed by state 
agencies.

Water turns to blood in this bloody war. The 
resurgence of full scale war in 2006, after a 
lapse of four years, brings on so much untold 
loss and dislocation to the people and polities 
of the region. Mutur and the surrounding regions 
turned into battlefield overnight: the artillery 
attacks against the Muslim and Tamil residents of 
Mutur, the killing of fleeing Muslims at 
Kinanthimunai, the cold blooded murder of 17 ACF 
workers in Mutur purportedly by the Armed forces, 
the mortar attack on the camp in Kathiravelli, 
the exodus of the entire populations of Sampur, 
Mutur, Verugal, Vakarai, Vavunatheevu  in quick 
succession. The war for the largely Tamil 
residents of Eastern Mutur began before with the 
aerial bombardments from April 2006.

In the narrative of the state, there is a linear 
story of the unending victories of its armed 
forces along the eastern coast, from Marvil Aru 
to Mutur, Sampur to Vakarai, Kokkadichcholai to 
Thoppigala. In a seemingly opposing narrative, 
the LTTE narrates the story of a suicidal 
politics that is not only plunging its own cadres 
and supporters into a permanent state of 
meaningless defiance, but also taking the people 
of the east, along with them.  But we seek to 
tell the tale of the people now, however partial 
might that story be.

HIS-tory of the state: the war of conquest

Overnight, the Eastern Region became a  battle 
field, turning the land and its people inside 
out, as fighting forces moved across the land, 
using communities as human shields, be it in 
Mutur or Vakarai as the LTTE did, or bombing them 
into displacement and submission, as the 
government did in Sampur and Vaharai. The 
disingenuous claims of both sides that they were 
fighting a humanitarian war became clear as 
civilians were called upon to sacrifice their 
lives, homes and livelihoods for the great and 
rival causes of Sovereignty and 
Self-Determination. The government's military 
blitzkrieg was accompanied by a propaganda 
machinery that has sought to minimize, deny and 
ridicule human rights abuses. "No civilians died 
in military operations" thundered the Defence 
Secretary and brother of the President in January 
2007; thus, officially no civilian was killed. 
Nature rained down upon the eastern territory, 
bullets, mortars and claymore mines, bringing on 
a number of deaths from 'natural' causes 
Victimized communities are being forced to 
narrate officially sanctioned versions of 
history. This is nothing new, especially in the 
North and East, where internecine conflicts and 
the brutalization of the Tamil-speaking 
communities by Tamil militancy are phenomena only 
hinted at or spoken of in whispers. Today, elated 
by 'victories' won on the ground, and driven by a 
need to consolidate the advantages gained by the 
military expeditions on the political front, the 
government has embarked on a programme of 
justifying its military action and the ensuing 
violence in the name of sovereignty and the 
liberation of land and its people.

There are other stories to narrate. But there is 
no room for these stories in the heavily 
masculine discourse of territorial conquest. 
Instead these stories that people have to tell 
can have a life only in the nooks and crannies of 
the official versions. We turn to the untold 
stories of a large number of Muslims of Mutur who 
have suffered in silence these long 12 months. 
While the community has been 'liberated' from the 
clutches of the LTTE, they are still to reap any 
benefits from that liberation. On the contrary, 
they are left with a continuing sense of loss, 
deprivation, and dispossession. Although the 
community lost more than 50 persons in artillery 
attacks of that time, they are unable to speak 
out. They cannot speak because they fear for 
their lives. When they do speak about it, Muslim 
ministers chastise them for bringing up these 
violations, arguing against such expressions of 
protest at a time when there is compensation and 
assistance to be claimed. A watchful army 
presence makes it dangerous to speak out. The 
community is both baffled and alarmed by the 
increasing powers of the police in the region. 
The police in Mutur took a sudden interest in 
investigating the events of August last year by 
calling on a community leader claiming that they 
were investigating these incidents ¯that these 
investigations immediately followed a public 
meeting organized for the Commission of 
Investigation in April this year makes one wonder 
about the motive behind this visit: was it a 
characteristically superficial and belated 
attempt on the part of the police to investigate 
the violations of last year; or an attempt at 
coercing the community into silence through 
intimidation? The presence of military officers 
and representatives of the Attorney General's 
Department at the COI meeting in Mutur exposed 
the victims and witnesses of the incidents last 
year to potential intimidation by the 
perpetrators of these crimes. This also 
demonstrates the impracticability of the much 
talked about victims and witnesses protection 
mechanism initiated by the COI.

The bitter fruits of liberation

So much has happened and yet so little has 
changed. The military liberation has brought 
about a certain kind of peace to the region: a 
peace where the large guns including the dreaded 
multi-barrel rocket launchers are silent at least 
in much of the eastern territory. The repeated 
waves of displacement that characterized all of 
2006 and the beginning of this year seem to have 
ceased now. There is an abatement in the 
frequency and high levels of killings as well, 
especially in comparison with  August 2006; 
Sinhala Communities are far more secure from 
attacks by the LTTE, its massacres and its 
artillery fire. The Muslim Community has a reason 
to be grateful as the LTTE's taxation and brutal 
dominance has seemingly lifted. The Tamil 
community has been liberated from the LTTE's 
vicious control of its resources. So the 
liberation has brought some relief and it is now 
the turn of the communities in the North to deal 
with the daily barrage of artillery and 
multi-barrel rocket launchers.

But beyond the rhetoric of liberation and the 
appearance of security, violence, violations and 
a growing sense of  fear pervades the East. 
'Normalcy' has been restored at the point of the 
gun. But there are memories that haunt the dreams 
of the people making them fear for their future. 
Memories of how the Muslim and Tamil communities 
were forcibly resettled haunt the people; of how 
when those displaced from Mutur to Kinniya, were 
forced to sleep out on the road when the 
authorities, in their attempts to resettle the 
people, closed down the welfare centres and 
locked the people out during the holy month of 
Ramadan; of how the displaced from Vaharai, were 
caught unawares in their daily activities of camp 
life when the army came with buses to take them 
back home to make a case for 'liberation'. The 
government is determined to rid itself of the 
international embarrassment of displacement; once 
displaced people are resettled they stop being a 
statistic, they stop being a problem.

But the people remember and have a story to tell. 
The resettled communities are highly vulnerable. 
They have lost so much, their tools, fertile 
land, cattle, a monsoon season; they face severe 
military restrictions on carrying out the tasks 
of their livelihood. For instance, the fishermen 
of Mutur have their access to the sea restricted 
to a mere 2 km from the shore from the previous 
350 km, after the declaration of special zones by 
the security, following liberation. The loss of 
deep sea fishing takes a toll on the income of 
the community and leads to over fishing in the 
restricted coastal waters. From the communities 
of Vaharai and Vavunatheevu, there is only 
silence. They cannot speak of losses, of houses 
looted or cattle disappeared, land mines or other 
abuses.  Resettlements of the people have taken 
place in blatant disregard of UN and other 
international standards. The growing silence of 
humanitarian agencies and donors cannot be 
ignored as they have increasingly danced to the 
tune of the government and proved unwilling to 
take it on even when it is clear that the massive 
resettlement drives are in contravention of the 
principles that supposedly guide these agencies 
and their work.  Humanitarian agencies have 
become blind to the forcible resettlement of 
entire displaced communities, who have to 
confront the security forces responsible for 
carrying out the resettlement and the threat of 
having their rations cut if they refuse to 
resettle. Certification of areas as safe from 
mines is highly questionable and not necessarily 
in line with the standards set by the National 
Steering Committee on Mine Action. The de-miners 
of the Sri Lankan Army are forced to work long 
hours and it is unclear whether the mandatory 
random checking to be carried out by the UNDP 
de-miners is as random as it is supposed to be. 
People in parts of Vellaveli, Vaharai and 
Pattipalai DS divisions were settled before 
clearance certifications had been obtained by the 
GA. The untold story of the displaced  who have 
been shut out from their homes is another serious 
matter. Other communities that live in fear and 
displacement will soon be forced back to their 
homes as a result of the closing down of welfare 
camps or the cutting off of rations.
‘Liberation' has not brought an end to security 
threats to the civilian populations, especially 
for Tamils. The goni billa (hooded ghost) has 
returned. In cordon and search operations in 
Trincomalee there is often a figure, wearing a 
hood, who accompanies the security force units 
and whose job it is to identify suspected LTTE 
members and supporters. With just one nod an 
individual becomes a suspect. The returnees to 
Eachalampattu transported via Vaharai  had to 
undergo this goni billa treatment. At the Verugal 
crossing, a hooded man sat in a building 
identifying mostly young men who were then taken 
into the building where they were interrogated, 
photographed and then released. While the 
security forces need to conduct their security 
and surveillance work to prevent LTTE 
infiltration, for the affected civilian 
population the sense of fear and insecurity is 
intense.  There are reports of human rights 
violations from Western Batticaloa including 
killings of civilians. In one incident a woman 
was killed and her chest had multiple stab 
wounds. The fighting is over we are told, but the 
spectre of counter-terrorism and insurgency 
continues to haunt the people of the Eastern 
Province.

Land of milk and honey: militarization of the state and territory

The promised freedom of liberation rings false as 
new configurations of political alliances are 
being formed, replacing the dominance of the old, 
that of the LTTE in particular. The new alliance 
of the government and the Karuna faction is 
militaristic in character. Civil administration 
in the region is characterized by the high 
percent of military personnel holding important 
positions within it. To begin with, the Governor 
of the Eastern Province is Rear Admiral Mohan 
Wijewickrema. The current GA too is from the 
Armed Forces, Major General (Retired) T.T.R. De 
Silva. There is a proposal for a mandatory 
military or police presence in village 
development committees. One might argue that, in 
fairness to the government, the current security 
situation demands a military scrutiny of civil 
administration; but militarization of civil 
administration will have grave short and long 
term repercussions.   If the State fails to 
recognize the sense of fear and discrimination it 
is creating among the people it will drive the 
Tamil population straight into the arms of the 
LTTE.  The people in the region are discovering 
for themselves the implications of these moves. 
As the D.S. of Mutur discovered recently, there 
is a price to be paid for increased ‘security'. 
The D.S. was in a meeting with a military 
officer, which kept being interrupted by repeated 
phone calls.  Annoyed no end by this, the officer 
disconnected the phone and humiliated the D.S. in 
front of his staff. Subsequently on the 18th of 
July, the state run television, which has become, 
at the moment, purely a voice of propaganda for 
the government, in its programme, 
'Medayamatapera,' ran a story claiming that this 
particular D.S. was the only one among the 
District Secretaries not following the 
President's orders. There is wide spread rumour 
that this D.S would be replaced by a Sinhala 
person, lending credence to the belief that these 
events are being orchestrated by the government 
to turn the region into a Sinhala dominant area, 
serving the hegemonic interests of the state. 
Such steps to 'Sinhalize' the administration 
coupled with the moves to militarize civil 
administration are greeted by minority 
communities with a great deal of trepidation. 
These crude attempts at colonizing 
administration, with military personnel and 
others serving the interests of a partial and 
biased state are going to prove 
counter-productive for the state as it will pit 
minority communities against its control and 
persuasion.

In the east, the minority communities, 
particularly the Tamil and Muslim communities are 
under siege from the military apparatus of the 
TMVP. The TMVP has not only taken over the LTTE's 
political offices in the East but has also been 
given the license to carry guns, which they tout 
openly, terrorizing the civilian population in 
their own efforts at 'governance,' through force 
and through taxation. The snarling tiger symbol 
might have been replaced by a singing fish, but 
the Tiger has not changed its stripes. Karuna, 
like the LTTE, continues to engage, with the 
government's endorsement this time round, in the 
heinous practice of child recruitment and other 
human rights abuses. It is widely alleged to be 
involved in murders in the region and elsewhere. 
Rumours abound of the splintering and re-uniting 
of factions of the Karuna Group, in fact 
re-tracing the steps of the divisive and brutal 
Tamil militant groups that preceded it, 
increasing fears of further blood shed and 
internecine warfare. Civilians are forced to pay 
'tax' to TMVP representatives who demand that no 
one should speak about it, especially to other 
TMVP members. The local TMVP representatives act 
like war lords, without any mechanism to ensure 
accountability. It is  reported  that members of 
the TMVP  will also take on the task of policing 
the East both officially and unofficially. This 
contradicts the government's avowed commitment to 
restoring democracy and re-enfranchising its 
people. The government may need the assistance of 
Karuna to keep the LTTE out. It may have used the 
Karuna Group to flush the enemy out; in the 
meantime, Karuna may be dependent on government 
forces for his survival. Such a deadly struggle 
for survival and security, waged over the heads 
of ordinary people, does not bode well for 
democracy in the region at all.  In this climate 
of repression and military dominance, one has 
little hope that the Karuna group will shed its 
'stripes', and contest the election with a 
commitment to transform itself into a legitimate 
democratic body. The elections to come will be 
the ultimate test for the government to prove its 
commitment to the restoration of normalcy, 
democracy and peace. But we fear. We fear a 
repetition of the 2004 general elections where 
candidates and supporters were intimidated into 
submission or were killed. For the Muslim 
community, the elections may mean facing the 
'wrath' of yet another Tamil politico-militant 
group, determined to assert its hegemony in the 
east.  Currently, the TMVP is trying to 
demonstrate its strength by assisting Tamils to 
resettle and relocate, including in areas where 
ownership is contested between the Tamil and 
Muslim Communities such as the Aryampathy D.S. 
division. There has been little response from 
Muslim politicians who fiercely defend the 
government in public and whisper their fears in 
private. Post-liberation housing and resettlement 
could well become the arena for conflict between 
the three ethnic communities as the State, Armed 
Groups and Ministers, all, try to assert the 
different communities' claims to land.

Tigers and Lions: the prognosis for peace

The violence in the East is not over yet. The 
LTTE has withdrawn, into their pockets of jungle 
and into the civilian population, after creating 
all the damage they can. All the communities of 
the East fear the havoc they could wreak in their 
attempts to demonstrate their strength and 
destabilize the East. The killing of the Eastern 
Provincial Secretary Herath Abeyweera was a show 
of their continued presence and a clear signal to 
all those purported 'collaborators' with the 
state. Thwarted and cornered, its only weapon is 
that of striking out at the civilian populations 
in the east in order to create both instability 
and to exacerbate ethnic hostility.  And on the 
ground, people continue to experience various 
violations. We continue to fear.  For a movement 
that is weak, its power lies solely in its 
capacity to create instability and cause further 
suffering to the people
But the dominant feeling of insecurity has 
multiple origins and arises partly from the 
collapse of responsible and accountable 
governance as well. When the government 
unabashedly indulges in defensive and misleading 
accounts, the trust one would normally place on 
responsible state agencies is severely 
undermined. On June 28th, four Muslims were 
killed in Polonnaruwa (Palliyagodelle) reportedly 
by the army. The Media Centre for National 
Security initially claimed that they were LTTE 
cadres and displayed their bodies, alongside 
suicide capsules and weapons. Later it released a 
story claiming that these four Muslim persons had 
been killed by terrorists. Nothing more was heard 
of the (four or eleven) dead LTTE cadres. 
Similarly, on May 13th, the Buddhist priest of 
Sri Pabbattharamaya temple, Ven. Handungamage 
Nadadarathane Thero Moraweva was shot dead which 
was condemned by the President and the National 
Bhikku Front. Later a fellow monk revealed to the 
media it was a soldier who had shot him.  Again, 
nothing more from the President or from other 
state agencies.

Majoritarianism and Hegemony:  the quest for land

We narrate not only to re-member; but to make 
sense of what is happening in the east today and 
in the entire country. The ethnic conflict is 
taking on a new form on the ground in the East as 
ethnic polities contest ownership of the land. 
The State has revealed its Sinhala nationalist 
agenda through its approach to the land issue 
under cover of development, national security and 
protecting the environment and cultural heritage.
Sampur has been declared a High Security Zone, 
out of bounds for civilians. There is no 
resettlement in the area.  The residents are 
awaiting news of their fate, as it is still 
unclear as to whether they will all be denied the 
right to resettle in their homes and reclaim 
their property or be forced into new locations 
such as Raalkulli. A Government that claimed to 
fight a war to liberate the Tamil people from the 
yoke of the LTTE seems to have forgotten its own 
avowals; its motivation for liberation seemingly 
lies in consolidating its own repressive rule. 
The cruel fate of the people of Sampur, who are 
still waiting to claim their right to return and 
re-build their lives makes clear that the Tamil 
people will not find the security and justice 
they seek under this current administration which 
has blatantly disregarded their rights, wishes 
and needs.
The eviction of 251 resettled farmers from Arafa 
Nagar on 10th, August, without prior notice by 
the military, demonstrates that it is not purely 
security concerns that keep the Tamils out of 
their lands. Such actions lead us to believe that 
at least in some instances obstacles placed in 
the way of resettlement are prompted more by 
ethnic considerations and than by security 
safeguards. These Muslim families with permission 
from the then
military commander began cultivation in March 
2007. On the 10th, of this month, the military 
commanded the families to move out, placed a 
board at the entrance of the village stating that 
the area was a HSZ and that anyone who entered 
would be shot. Though negotiations are under way 
over this controversy, we learn that the area has 
been fenced off and the people are allowed only 
to cultivate and not re-settle on the land. The
Muslim community continues to live in a state of 
anxiety and vulnerability, reliant on the whims 
and fancies of the military. According to a 
recent newspaper report (Daily Mirror), the 
President's brother Basil Rajapakse had informed 
a Muslim delegation that met with him to raise 
concerns about Arafa Nagar and other instances of 
dispossession, that he would look into the matter 
and that the government had initiated a dialogue 
with the World Bank to procure compensation for 
those affected by the conflict. This raises the 
question about the role of donors and 
international agencies in developing the East – 
will they help in the re-drawing of 'ethnic' 
boundaries and the shifting of populations too?

Under the guise of national security -  of 
protecting Trincomalee Harbour, the government 
has made plans for the development of 
Trincomalee. One of its development plans is to 
build a coal power station in Sampur, even though 
the Indian engineers, who were to be engaged in 
the project, have rejected the suitability of the 
site. The development of Trincomalee is important 
but it is increasingly clear that this is a 
development programme that pays little attention 
to local communities, and instead is formulated 
toward enticing big business. Local communities 
have been re-grafted onto the plan and shifted 
whenever they are ‘in the way.' A massive highway 
has been constructed by the army, cutting across 
many paddy fields in Kinanthimunai, Perumpathu 
and Vellalanwetai. There is little evidence that 
any proper procedure was followed in acquiring 
this agricultural land. The farmers had no 
intimation of what was going on for they had been 
barred from entering their villages by the 
military as the area has been declared a HSZ.

Furthermore, it seems that as a part of these 
developments a new and trustworthy work force and 
new communities (read Sinhala) will be moved into 
Trincomalee, dramatically impacting on the 
demography and the ethnic balance in the 
Trincomalee District. Already local communities 
are expressing fears that their areas are being 
marginalized and their needs and rights are being 
ignored in the proposed development plans. In the 
political climate that has evolved out of the 
ethnic conflict, where development has been 
deployed as a tool for advantaging one community 
over another, be it land colonization schemes or 
the Mahaweli Project, and thereby impacting, 
sometimes intentionally, on population ratios and 
patterns of distribution of ethno-political 
communities, this current development plan for 
Trincomalee or the soon to be unveiled Eastern 
Development Plan is viewed with deep mistrust. 
This concern of minority communities needs to be 
addressed and their fears allayed as speedily as 
possible.
Like in Pottuvil, where the Muslim community is 
facing a four pronged strategy to reclaim land 
through violence, national security, the 
protection of religious and cultural heritage and 
environmental conservation, the Tamil and Muslim 
Community seem to face similar threats in the 
region of Trincomalee. As a part of the BOI, 
Trincomalee Development Plan, a nature park is to 
be established in the district. In Seenanveli, 
north of Illankaiturai Muhattuvaram, a HSZ and a 
special fishing zone are being imposed on the 
inhabitants of the area. The residents,  most of 
them  Tamils of Veddha descent, from about 8 
villages, have been transported and virtually 
dumped in the open. They are prevented from going 
home on the pretext of landmines while their 
meagre possessions have been reportedly looted by 
'Sinhalese' from the Mahindapura colony, acting 
in cooperation with the Army. The army is also 
engaged in constructing a Buddhist Temple, 
Samudragiri Vihara, in Seenanveli.

There have been recent efforts to claim a stone 
quarry site, the hill area of 3rd mile post in 
Jabal Nagar, by the archaeological department, 
despite the fact that this very archaeological 
department had, twice in the past, carried out 
investigations and found nothing to prove by way 
of any existence of ancient Buddhist ruins. While 
the state is seemingly concerned about preserving 
'ancient' history, the livelihood of people 
currently living in the region, of around 400 
Tamil and Muslim families in Mutur, is being 
destroyed. There are also plans underway to 
settle some Sinhala families on a land that was 
allocated for about 60 tsunami-affected families 
of Mutur. 'Emergency  Architects' were  given the 
contract to build houses in this area, but we 
hear that  2 ½ acres of this land called 'theatre 
land' has been fenced off and claimed by a group 
of Sinhalese, who had not been affected by the 
tsunami, with help of military, police and a 
Viharathipathy.

July and August: a time to mourn
July and August have always been times of 
significant development in Sri Lanka's history. 
In these months we commemorate a number of 
critical events that dramatically altered and 
darkened the course of our history; events that 
we want to forget and to ignore. It is the 24th 
year since Black July – the state-sponsored 
pogrom against Tamil civilians which to this day 
is remembered mainly by its victims and some 
concerned civil society groups, while the 
mainstream media, general society and political 
leadership try to distance themselves from 
playing any part in remembering those dark days. 
Or it is remembered ironically as a month 
necessitating heightened security, particularly 
in Colombo as fears of LTTE attacks in the city 
intensify. The commemorations by the forces of 
death, however continue with Jaffna and Vavuniya 
once again becoming a killing field, with the 
government forces, the LTTE, the Karuna Group and 
other paramilitary forces acting out, determined 
to eliminate an entire generation of Tamil youth. 
During Black July, in the Wanni, the LTTE 
celebrated its festival of death in a roll call 
of the Maveerars.  Its commemoratory events have 
no space for the ordinariness of life: lives of 
these ‘matryrs' who also died as daughters, sons, 
brothers and sisters.  There is no space within 
the stranglehold of the LTTE for the ‘civilian' 
to mourn her brethren.  At Independence Square on 
July 19, when the Government celebrated its 
military conquests and extolled the virtues of 
the armed struggle, there was no space to talk of 
the cost, no time to talk of reconciliation, no 
need to talk of human suffering, no reason to 
acknowledge the civilian casualties of this 
military campaign.

July 2007 marked the 50th anniversary of the 
Bandaranaike-Chelvanayagam Pact and the 20th 
anniversary of the Indo-Sri Lanka Peace 
Agreement, both audacious, if inherently flawed 
efforts, that could have succeeded if there had 
been a genuine political will to push them 
through. Instead the duplicitous and cowardly 
politics of the Sinhala political leadership of 
the time – S.W.R.D Bandaraniake and J.R. 
Jayawardena – ensured that the agreement would be 
undermined and destroyed. We see this subversive 
and destructive tendency at play in the 
manipulative strategies of the current 
Government, which called for an All Party 
Conference to arrive at a Southern Consensus and 
has at the same time done its best to undercut 
those self same efforts. We previously lodged our 
protest at the regressive SLFP proposals that 
completely undermined all efforts at peace 
building and made a mockery of the intelligence 
and experience that has gone into previous 
attempts at negotiated settlements and of the 
tragic sacrifices made by people like Neelan 
Thiruchelvam, Kethesh Loganathan, Lakshman 
Kadirgamar, and so many other less prominent 
people, all of whom died in the name of peace and 
amity. It was in the months of July and August 
that these Neelan, Kethesh and Lakshman 
Kadirgamar were assassinated. We pray that this 
year we will not have to mourn another important 
figure. While we might contest and not agree with 
their politics or policies, in their lives they 
sought to bring about a peaceful and just 
resolution to the ethnic conflict through debate 
and discussion; their murders represent a 
decimation of Tamil society and intelligentsia by 
a group, the LTTE, that is paranoid and power 
hungry, and has failed to understand the 
irreparable damage it has caused to Tamil society 
through its violence and its failure to commit 
itself to negotiations. While Minister Tissa 
Vitharana struggles to bring a consensus-document 
to the table, the government too compliant to 
supposed Sinhala-Buddhist interests, seems more 
interested in it as a device to present its peace 
making credentials to the international community 
rather than as a genuine effort to create a 
national consensus. We hope that Minister 
Vitharana and his committee will be supported in 
the defiant stand they have adopted and hope that 
the media will support them in their efforts, 
affirming the values of social justice and 
harmony, ethnic and otherwise.

The time has come for the government to stand 
high and clear above narrow ethnic or chauvinist 
interests and affirm its commitment to peace, 
where there is justice for all communities, 
inculcating in all of the peoples, a sense of 
belonging. The choice is not just between war and 
peace, but also between justice, democracy, a 
soul searching exploration on the part of 
dominant groups into the causes of the conflict 
on one side and continued violence and 
instability on the other. Our concerns about the 
east and the simmering situation prevalent there, 
in the wake of liberation, should be a wake up 
call for all those concerned about the future of 
this country.

______


[2]

Foreign Policy In Focus
August 22, 2007

PAKISTAN UNDER SIEGE

by Zia Mian


Pakistan is 60 years old. For over 40 years of 
its life, it has been ruled directly or 
indirectly by its army. Each cycle of military 
rule has left the country in desperate crisis.

The rule of General Pervez Musharraf, who seized 
power in 1999, has been no different. Beset on 
all sides, he now seeks, with American help, to 
ride out the storm and stay in power.

Down this path lies even greater disaster.
Origins of Failure

Pakistan's leaders have failed it from the 
beginning. At independence, its founding father, 
Mohammad Ali Jinnah, adopted the British colonial 
title and powers of governor-general. He died 
within a year, leaving no clear vision of the 
country's identity or future, no broad-based, 
cohesive, national political party or movement to 
guide it, no tradition of democracy. Pakistan 
fell into the hands of a civil service and army 
that knew only colonial habits.

There were four governor-generals and seven prime 
ministers in the first 10 years, rising and 
falling through palace intrigues, but all 
powerless in the end. Pakistan could not even 
create a constitution. Then, in 1958, came the 
first military coup. General Ayub Khan told the 
country the army had no choice. There was, he 
said, "total administrative, economic, political 
and moral chaos" brought about "by self-seekers, 
who in the garb of political leaders, have 
ravaged the country."

General Ayub Khan ruled for a decade. His two 
goals were strengthening the army and modernizing 
of the society and economy. The General 
negotiated a close military alliance with the 
United States, which was looking for Cold War 
clients around the world. American dollars, 
weapons, advisors, and ideas poured into 
Pakistan. The result was the 1965 war with India, 
wrenching social change, and grievous inequality. 
By the end of his rule, it was said that 22 
families controlled two-thirds of Pakistani 
industry and an even larger share of its banking 
and insurance sector.

Eventually, the people rose in revolt. The 
demands for representation were greatest in East 
Pakistan, home to the majority of Pakistan's 
people. Elections were held and a nationalist 
party from the East emerged victorious, but the 
army and its political allies were mostly from 
West Pakistan and would have none of it. The army 
went to war against its own people. There were 
appalling massacres. In 1971, with help from 
India, East Pakistan broke free and became 
Bangladesh.
Lost Generation

The army relinquished power in the West. But the 
new civilian leader, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, lacked 
a democratic temperament, and treated opposition 
as threat. He nationalized large sectors of the 
economy, further strengthening already 
unaccountable bureaucrats, doled out government 
jobs to his followers, established Pakistan's 
nuclear weapons program, and refined the practice 
of buying public support by appeasing the mullahs.

In 1977, the army took back control, and executed 
Bhutto. The new ruler, General Zia ul Haq, sought 
to Islamize Pakistan. He introduced religious 
laws, courts, and taxes, supported radical 
Islamist madrassas (seminaries) and political 
parties, and altered school textbooks to promote 
a conservative Islamic nationalism. Work on the 
bomb proceeded apace.

The United States turned a blind eye to both the 
dictatorship and the bomb. It poured billions of 
dollars into Pakistan to buy support for a war 
against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. The 
Pakistan army trained and armed Islamic militants 
from around the world, with American money, and 
sent them across the border to fight godless 
communism. The jihad was born.

General Zia died in a mysterious plane crash in 
1988, and the Soviet Union admitted defeat and 
left Afghanistan. Elections were held, only to 
have the army become the power behind the throne. 
America re-discovered that Pakistan was building 
the bomb, and imposed sanctions. It was too late.

The new crop of leaders, including Bhutto's 
daughter, Benazir, descended into corruption and 
intrigue, each seeking the army's help to take 
office. There were nine prime ministers in 10 
years. Some actively courted the mullahs, none 
tried to undo the Islamic order created by 
General Zia. A generation was abandoned to 
intolerance, violence, and radical Islam.

The army demanded the lion's share of national 
resources. The politicians paid up, even though 
the economy crumbled and one-third of Pakistanis 
fell below the poverty line. The army continued 
to dominate foreign policy. It helped create, 
train, arm, and lead the Taliban to power in 
Afghanistan. The goal was to create a client 
regime and secure Pakistan's western borders. The 
people of Afghanistan paid a terrible price.

A similar strategy was tried in Kashmir. Pakistan 
organized and armed Islamist fighters and sent 
them to battle. Kashmiris, who have struggled for 
decades for the right to decide their own future 
free from Indian rule, found themselves trapped 
between the violence unleashed by Indian armed 
forces and Pakistan-backed militants.

Amid the chaos, in 1998, India and then Pakistan 
tested nuclear weapons and a year later went to 
war. Both sides hurled nuclear threats. 
Pakistan's elected politicians went along, 
claiming credit at every opportunity.
The Musharraf Era

There were few protests when the army, led by 
General Pervez Musharraf, seized power in 1999. 
"The armed forces have no intention to stay in 
charge longer than is absolutely necessary to 
pave the way for true democracy to flourish," he 
promised. Instead, he rigged elections and made a 
deal with Islamist political parties willing to 
support him as president.

After the September 11 attacks, the United States 
dropped its opposition to General Musharraf. It 
needed Pakistan's support for another American 
war. Money poured in (over $10 billion so far), 
and demands for a return to democracy disappeared.

After the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, 
many Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters fled across 
the border to Pakistan's tribal areas where they 
have reconstituted themselves. Under U.S. 
pressure, the Pakistan army has tried to go into 
the tribal border areas to show they are tackling 
the Taliban and al-Qaeda there. They have met 
resistance. Also, there are many in the army who 
do not want to fight what they see as an American 
war. The army has resorted to missile attacks 
from aircraft, helicopter gun ships, and 
artillery. As civilian casualties have grown, 
local people have turned against the army, and 
some have joined the militants.

The al-Qaeda and Taliban influence has started to 
spread from the remote border areas to larger 
towns and even major cities in the two border 
provinces. These militants have made common cause 
with local Islamist groups, who find recruits in 
Pakistan's countless madrassas and its many 
Islamic political parties. Militants have 
attacked soldiers, policemen, local officials, 
ordinary people, and national leaders, including 
Musharraf. Suicide bombings have claimed hundreds 
of lives across the country.

Islamist fighters have taken over whole villages. 
Emulating the Taliban, they repress women, close 
girls' schools, attack DVD and music shops, 
destroy TVs, and demand men grow beards and go to 
the mosque. The movement has spread even to the 
capital. For six months, Islamist students and 
fighters occupied a mosque in Islamabad and set 
up their own court. The government sat by until 
forced to act by national and international 
pressure. The bloody storming of the mosque 
served only to fuel the militancy and enrage 
public opinion.

Sectarian violence has accompanied the rise of 
the militant Islamists. Armed Sunni groups, some 
linked to major political parties, have attacked 
Shias and religious minorities with abandon. 
Hundreds have died. Even though the groups are 
banned, they operate with impunity, their leaders 
appearing in public.

The Islamists are not the only armed resistance 
to the state. There is an insurgency in 
Pakistan's largest province, Baluchistan, fuelled 
by demands for greater autonomy and control over 
their natural resources. It is a longstanding 
grievance. The Pakistani army crushed the latest 
in a series of four insurgencies. Baluch groups 
have obstructed and attacked gas facilities, gas 
and oil pipelines, electricity transmission 
towers, and train tracks. They have also targeted 
foreign companies seeking to explore new gas 
fields in the province and working on other 
development projects there. They have also called 
protests and strikes.
The Democratic Challenge

The army's effort to confront Islamists and 
Baluch insurgents has created its own crisis. 
Over the past few years, the government has taken 
into custody hundreds of people and, after they 
"disappeared," denied ever having arrested them. 
Their families found an ally in the chief justice 
of Pakistan's Supreme Court. He has demanded that 
the government produce the missing people in 
court. General Musharraf responded by firing the 
chief justice. Musharraf's greater fear is that 
an activist court would block his effort to 
continue in power as president.

There was a national movement for the 
reinstatement of the chief justice. Judges 
resigned, lawyers went on strike, and police 
attacked demonstrations by lawyers outside the 
Supreme Court. Across the country, large crowds 
gathered to hear and support the chief justice. 
The Supreme Court declared that the chief justice 
must be reinstated. Musharraf had to concede 
defeat.

The Court is now hearing the cases of the missing 
people. The government has produced some and 
dragged its feet on others. The chief justice has 
threatened to jail a senior law enforcement 
official and summon the chiefs of Pakistan's 
armed forces if the government will not produce 
the people in court. As elections loom, and 
Musharraf seeks to retain power, the Court has 
already begun to hear appeals on voter 
registration.

Some hope that restoring a semblance of democracy 
could turn the tide against the Islamists and 
reduce the nuclear danger. Musharraf, with U.S. 
help, is trying to cobble together a deal to stay 
in power. He is considering dumping his Islamist 
allies in exchange for support from Benazir 
Bhutto, who would be cleared of the corruption 
charges that she fled and allowed to return from 
exile. It will not be enough.

In the Musharraf years, the army has consolidated 
its power in new ways. Generals rule provinces, 
run government ministries, administer 
universities, and manage national companies. The 
army's business interests now span banking and 
insurance, cement and fertilizer, electricity and 
sugar, corn and corn flakes. They will not give 
this up without a fight.

For the army, the outside world appears 
threatening too. As India's economy grows and it 
increases military spending in leaps and bounds, 
Pakistan's army looks for ways to keep up. With 
the United States cultivating a new strategic 
relationship with India, the army fears losing 
its oldest ally. It worries how it will sustain 
its nuclear, missile and conventional weapons 
arms race with India. The army must extract yet 
more from Pakistan's economy. A civilian 
government rule will not be allowed to challenge 
these priorities.

Military rule and puppet politicians have brought 
Pakistan to its present dreadful state. Rather 
than keeping Musharraf in power, the world must 
demand that Pakistan's army yield control over 
government and economy once and for all. Only a 
freely elected and representative government that 
can actually make decisions can pursue economic 
development as if people mattered, confront the 
Islamists, and make peace with India.

Zia Mian is a physicist with the Program on 
Science and Global Security at the Woodrow Wilson 
School of Public and International Affairs at 
Princeton University and a columnist for Foreign 
Policy In Focus (online at www.fpif.org). An 
earlier version of this piece appeared in The 
Philadelphia Inquirer.

______


[3]

The Daily star
August 14, 2007
  	 
Editorial

DRAFT POLICE ORDINANCE
HOLD PUBLIC DISCOURSE BEFORE ADOPTION

A roundtable arranged by this newspaper on the 
Bangladesh Draft Police Ordinance 2007 on 
Saturday highlighted some important police reform 
issues in the country. An observation of the 
draft ordinance reveals some features that call 
for closer scrutiny. There are certain details 
that need to be worked on in the larger interest 
of putting in place an efficient and well-meaning 
police force. Among those details is the very 
great necessity of reconditioning the police to 
an atmosphere where it will stay free of 
political influence. There are, of course, 
provisions in the draft to that effect that are 
surely laudable. How effective those provisions 
will be depends on how foolproof a strong police 
administration sans political interference is 
finally put in place.

A positive aspect of the draft ordinance relates 
to the idea of the Police Complaints Commission. 
Such a body will afford citizens an opportunity 
to air their grievances with a view to securing 
justice. However, there is an absolute need to 
ensure that complainants' identity is protected 
in order for them not to be subjected to 
harassment and other forms of persecution once 
they have lodged their complaints. Nothing can be 
more damaging than the spectacle of a complainant 
becoming a victim of a system intended to doing 
good. Then comes the matter of the constitution 
of a Police Commission. The proposed composition 
of the commission seems weighted in favour of the 
government and ruling party. If such a step is 
taken, it could defeat the very objective of the 
police reforms we are talking about. That is why 
it is important that some leverage in 
decision-making be given to independent members 
drawn from other sectors of society. One hardly 
needs to emphasise the fact that the bureaucracy 
might not look kindly on the reform process which 
could dilute their control over the police. Any 
attempt to scuttle it needs to be guarded against.

The draft ordinance has not clearly delineated 
the provisions relating to a decentralisation of 
the police. In order to bring about quality and 
efficiency in the service, a devolution of 
authority from the top to the lower rungs of the 
police administration as well as a definition of 
powers enjoyed by police personnel away from 
headquarters are an imperative not to be ignored. 
Finally, in the larger interest of the nation and 
in view of the need for a purposeful police 
system, the draft police ordinance must be put 
through a national consultative process before it 
is adopted. This can be done through eliciting 
the opinions of experts, politicians, civil 
society members and the like and thereby 
associating them in the reform of the police 
administration.

______


[4]  The India - US Nuclear Deal:

(i)
August 22, 2007

STATEMENT BY MEDHA PATKAR, ARUNA ROY AND SANDEEP PANDEY ON THE INDO-US NUCLEAR
DEAL

	The India - US Nuclear Deal: Need for all 
citizens to question and speak out against a deal 
that is against national security and 
sovereignty, and takes us further down the path 
of environmentally disastrous nuclear energy.

Stop the UPA from proceeding before a public debate.

Much has been said and written about the India-US 
Nuclear Deal; beginning with the statement issued 
by many eminent nuclear scientists soon after the 
talks on the deal began between India and US 
governments. Public fora and People's 
organisations such as Campaign for Nuclear 
Disarmament and Peace called it anti-Sovereignty. 
Today when it is seen as an issue of conflict 
between the UPA and its Left front allies, we as 
representatives of people's movements must 
re-iterate our stand, which is that the deal is 
not just anti-democratic but against peace, and 
against environmentally sustainable energy 
generation and self-reliant economic development.

The Left front is questioning the fact that such 
an international deal with significant 
implications is imposed on the Indian people and 
Parliament, with no public debate and 
consultation in India. While US Congress took a 
year and a half to discuss the proposed change in 
the US laws, permitting nuclear commerce with 
India, the process in India has been totally 
undemocratic.

The deal is part of a successful attempt by the 
United States to build a strategic relationship 
with India, in confronting the rising capitalist 
challenge from China where India will be used as 
its client in the region.  Directly or 
indirectly, the US will also enter the Indian 
sub-continent, to manage intra-regional, 
inter-country relations. This whole process is 
likely to escalate the arms race between Pakistan 
and India, sabotaging the India-Pakistan peace 
process. How can we ignore that fact the US sells 
arms to both India and Pakistan?

The agreement also facilitates a full-fledged 
international exchange of nuclear fuel and 
technology with insufficient caution and control. 
There will no doubt be a corporate rush to 
extract, export and misuse nuclear fuel and 
technology, and it will be very difficult to 
prevent misuse even for the arms trade. Highly 
superficial clauses don't instill any confidence 
against such a possibility.
However, our basic objections to this deal stem 
from our opposition to the production and use of 
both nuclear weapons and nuclear energy. The 
irreversible dangers of radioactivity and its 
ongoing impact on health, water, and the 
environment are factors that are being summarily 
dismissed in an irresponsible manner. The whole 
cycle of nuclear production beginning with 
uranium mining, is fraught with catastrophic 
dangers, and as a nation we cannot use the 
decisions of another country as justification for 
our own. Places like Jaduguda in Jharkhand, Kota 
and Pokhran in Rajasthan, have already 
demonstrated the ongoing dangers of nuclear use 
to the common citizen.

We, in India, have inherited rich renewable 
sources of energy, which are environmentally 
benign and abundantly available. The solar, wind, 
and ocean waves along with human power need to be 
fully tapped and put to use with people's 
control. Appropriate technology, research and 
development for production of cheaper equipment 
and tools, need to be combined with just 
distribution, for the right priorities. There is 
no political will for this in the ruling 
establishment. Estimates show that India can 
generate far more energy through alternative, 
environmentally sound sources. The nuclear energy 
option should be put up for widespread public 
debate giving citizens a full opportunity to make 
an informed choice.

This deal however raises questions beyond nuclear 
energy opening up large spaces for US government 
and corporate control in India. This, no doubt, 
is a symbol of imperialism already demonstrated 
through the Iraq war and the obvious links of US 
policy with corporate control over resources. 
With unbound exchange of information, data and 
material, knowledge and technology the dominant 
global power is all set to encroach upon Indian 
reserves and impinge upon our sovereignty. The 
deal ensures supply of sufficient nuclear 
material to nuclear reactors in India for the 
next 40 years, but the precautionary agreements 
to negotiations and consultations are only 
promises for the future. All this is subject to 
approvals and conditions to be monitored by the 
US Congress, while sidelining the Indian 
parliament.
The UPA government is proving to be increasingly 
submissive to the exploitation of our resources, 
knowledge and cheap labour by commercial 
interests and corporate interests. The BJP and 
its allies are also in the power game, using 
capitalist forces for support. The Left has 
raised an important issue using their bargaining 
power. Non-party people's formations may not have 
the power in parliament, but we have an important 
set of issues that need to be considered.
The Indian Constitution which allows deal such as 
this, as well as international treaties and 
agreements to be reached without democratic 
consultation, needs an amendment to make public 
debate and referendums mandatory and 
pre-conditional. We need an approval from the 
Indian electorate before we agree to sign the 
agreement.


Sandeep Pandey
A-893, Indira Nagar, Lucknow-226016, Telephone: 0522-2016612, 2347265,
(Arundhati Dhuru), e-mail: ashaashram at yahoo.com

Aruna Roy
MKSS Village Devdungri, Post Barar, Rajsamand District -313341, Rajasthan,
e-mail: arunaroy at gmail.com, mkssrajasthan at gmail.com

Medha Patkar
C/o Chemical Mazdoor Sabha, First Floor, Haji Habib Building, Naigaon Cross
Road, Dadar(E), Mumbai, India, Telephone: 022-24150529,
e-mail: nba.medha at gmail.com

o o o

(ii)

Hindustan Times
August 22, 2007

DR HECKLE & MR HYDE

by AG Noorani

The Hyde Act was enacted by the US Congress in 
December explicitly to promote 'nuclear 
cooperation' between India and the US and enable 
them to sign an agreement under Section 123 of 
the Atomic Energy Act, 1954. It is highly 
significant that the Agreement does not mention 
the Hyde Act at all. This is all the more so 
because it mentions other documents such as the 
Indo-US Joint Statement of July 18, 2005, 
repeatedly; the IAEA's statute, its document on 
'The Physical Protection of Nuclear Material and 
Nuclear Facilities' and the convention on the 
'Physical protection of Nuclear Material'. These 
are international instruments accepted by both 
sides. References to them constitute, in legal 
parlance, incorporation into the agreement by 
reference. In contrast, India is not bound by the 
Hyde Act, which is why the agreement does not 
refer to it even once. The omission is deliberate 
and of legal consequence.

Prakash Karat, whom I respect, is wrong in 
holding that "to say that the Hyde Act is not 
binding to (sic) India is irrelevant. The point 
is that it is binding on the US." The real point 
is that it is binding on the US alone. "The text 
states that 'national laws' will prevail." This 
is a serious factual error. It states no such 
thing anywhere. 'National laws' are mentioned 
thrice. Article 2.1 says, "Each party shall 
implement this Agreement in accordance with its 
respective applicable treaties, national laws, 
regulations, and licence requirement concerning 
the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes." 
The words are used ejusdem generis (of the same 
kind). Generically grouped, each category 
acquires colour from the rest and from the 
context. They relate to implementation of precise 
undertakings recorded in the accord. Article 2.1 
cannot be used to nullify them, bringing Mr Hyde 
by the back door. Indeed, under Article 5.6 (a) 
the US "is committed to seeking agreement from 
the US Congress to amend its domestic laws" in 
order to ensure for India "assured and full 
access to fuel for its reactors".

The omission of any reference to the Hyde Act is 
striking because in one particular respect, the 
accord explicitly invokes 'national laws' as a 
bar to "the transfer of any information regarding 
matters outside the scope of this Agreement", 
which their own laws bar them from transferring.

Article 16.4 clinches the matter. "This Agreement 
shall be implemented in good faith and in 
accordance with the principles of international 
law". Article 27 of the Vienna Convention on the 
Law of Treaties only restates a settled principle 
of the law. "A party may not invoke the 
provisions of its internal law as justification 
for its failure to perform a treaty." More, 
Article 14.3 says that no breach of the accord 
would be considered "material" unless it meets 
the test of the Vienna Convention.

Article 2.4 affirms that agreement will not 
"affect the unsafeguarded nuclear activities of 
either party" or interfere with "military nuclear 
facilities" built "independent of this Agreement 
for their own purposes".

The US Congress Acts read like political 
manifestoes - the Cuban Democracy Act, 1992, the 
Iran and Libya Sanctions Act, 1996, and the Iraq 
Liberation Act, 1998.

The Hyde Act, true to form, sets out in Section 
102 'the sense of Congress' in 13 propositions. 
Section 103 has 16 "Statements of Policy". The 
Almighty was content with ten. Iran figures in 
them. So do China and Pakistan along with India 
for securing "a moratorium on the production of 
fissile material for nuclear explosive purpose". 
This has not caused any panic in Beijing. If we 
are to get hysterical over such non-legislative 
inanities, we might as well stop dealings with 
the US.

Presidential excesses - passing off treaties as 
executive agreements to avoid ratification by the 
Senate - led to congressional overreach. In 1967, 
Congress asserted that "the executive and 
legislative benches of the United States 
government have joint responsibility and 
authority to formulate the foreign policy of the 
United States."

In 1830, Andrew Jackson made the first statement 
while signing his assent to a Bill to indicate 
how he would implement it. The first 42 
Presidents used it fewer than 600 times.

George W Bush made more than 800 signing 
statements in the first six years of his 
Presidency. The Supreme Court's reliance on them 
has been "sporadic and unpredictable". A Bill in 
Congress on "Presidential Signing Statements" 
(2006) bars courts from relying on them, yet 
asserts its right to inform them of its 
intentions underlying the Act.

Must we get involved in this crazy situation? 
President Bush's signing statement on the Hyde 
Act, on December 18, 2006, is beyond reproach. It 
is pro-India. He said he was not bound by the 
'statements of policy' in Section 103, nor by a 
provision that barred transfer to India of an 
item contrary to a guideline of the Nuclear 
Suppliers Group; and he would construe sections 
which require him to furnish information about 
India in a manner consistent with his "authority 
to control and protect information that could 
impair foreign relations, national security", 
etc. This constitutes the President's commitment 
to India as well.

Understandably, while we assert that we are not 
concerned with the Hyde Act, US spokesmen affirm 
a duty to abide by it. Both are right. Besides 
the Act, the agreement is silent on testing. We 
have agreed to differ. Consider the realities. 
Even if there was no agreement or the Act, 
nuclear tests would have entailed consequences - 
as in 1974 and 1998. The BJP regime came close to 
signing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) 
then. We do not intend presently to conduct 
tests. Nor have we given up the right to do so. 
The US knows that and is prepared to go along 
while it can. When we conduct the tests, we will 
also have the clout to terminate the Agreement 
under Article 14. Even then the parties "agree to 
take into account whether the circumstances that 
may lead to termination cessation resulted from a 
party's serious concern about a changed security 
environment or as a response to similar actions 
by other States which could impact national 
security". This applies to both sides, if India 
conducts any tests.

The US Under-Secretary of State,  Nicholas Burns, 
said on July 27, "the fact is also that we hope 
and trust that it won't be necessary for India to 
test in the future". The US's right to return of 
supplied material "is preserved for the worst 
case hypothetical event in the future".

On the same day, National Security Advisor MK 
Narayanan said that both sides understood "the 
limits of flexibility and how far we can go" 
while Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon said, 
"It is for them to understand whether this 
agreement meets their laws or not. It is not for 
us to interpret their law," and vice versa.

The concerns concerning the creeping Indo-US 
military relationship are legitimate. Neither 
ground justifies withdrawal of the Left's support 
to the UPA, which, however, should allay the 
disquiet on both grounds. A mechanism comprising 
leaders on both sides, with the aid of 
professionals, should be set up, so that as 
Prakash Karat puts it, "the doubts are clarified 
and the implications of the Hyde Act evaluated".

At the end, a White Paper should follow. The IAEA 
and NSG talks can proceed. The net result will 
speak for itself. Maar se pehle tauba is wasteful.

______


[5]

Issues in Secular Politics
August 2007  II  

TASLIMA, HUSSEIN AND LIBERAL ETHOS

by Ram Puniyani

The reaction to the attack on Taslima Nasreen in 
Hyderabad, where she came for release of Telugu 
version of her book Lajja, (9th August 2007), led 
by three MLAs of MIM party of Owaisi came as a 
jolt to the liberal human values, to the values 
which Koran preaches and to the democratic 
liberal values which we cherish.

A section of Urdu media glorified the attack and 
chided the attackers for not going further than 
just throwing flowers and bouquets at her. The 
moderate and liberal section of Muslims strongly 
condemned the attack as reflected in the letters 
to the editors of major national dailies, the 
statements issued by various Muslim groups and 
the articles of prominent Muslim thinkers. From 
amongst the Hindu groups not much was heard. BJP, 
which has been ‘defending' the rights of Taslima 
with great amount of zeal, as witnessed earlier 
at the time of ban of her books by Bangla Desh 
Government and West Bengal Government t did not 
come out with any statement. One presumes the 
BJP, in tune with its political contingency would 
have been strongly defending her. For parties 
like BJP the matters are simple, if someone is 
criticizing Islam and Muslims, defend them loudly 
and if the same thing is happening to the 
artists, who use Hindu motifs, imprison them as 
in the case of Baroda arts student Chandra Mohan 
or hound them out of the country as in the case 
of M.F. Hussein. The double standards driven by 
political goals are so clear that they do not 
call for any discussion.

The problem comes with the liberal secularists, 
who are the favorite whipping boys/girls of right 
wingers as well as those pretending to be liberal 
but are getting slowing bitten by sting of 
communal thinking in the face of global 
ascendance of anti Muslim and anti Islam feeling. 
Leading columnists are questioning as to where 
are these banner wielding groups and where is 
there writing condemning the attack on Taslima. 
Factually speaking this observation is only 
partly true. One witnessed that in one of the 
less publicized morcha the democratic groups and 
individuals marched in Hyderabad itself 
condemning the attack on Taslima.  Also by now 
enough statements are already out criticizing the 
fanatic elements who insulted the brave 
Bangladeshi writer. Also some liberal groups are 
not only demanding the arrest of those MLAs, who 
tried to attack her, but also that they should be 
disqualified from the legislature. As such there 
is a deliberate ploy to project that those 
struggling for secular values are partial to 
Muslims and that they criticize only the Hindus 
While the Hindutva elements go to any length to 
abuse them and to assert that they are anti 
Hindus, even the liberal sounding voices are very 
critical of their efforts. This is even used as 
explanation for the anti minority pogroms by the 
followers of RSS ideology. Atal Bihari Vajpayee 
explained the Gujarat genocide by stating that 
since the secular elements and minorities did not 
condemn enough the incident of Godhra the Hindu 
anger came out in the form of this carnage.

This was a lie of highest order. Within hours of 
train burning the well planned pogrom was 
unleashed. In the mayhem created by the violence, 
the statements, the protests condemning Godhra 
were subdued and ‘under projected'. Why this 
impression, that secularists are soft towards the 
Muslims and are anti-Hindus? The major question 
here is how do you quantify the condemnation? By 
the protest marches, statements, articles and 
letters to the editors. Now the social activists 
have always a problem that their events are not 
covered properly, the peace making efforts do not 
have much news value, while violence and 
sensationalism takes all the banner headlines. If 
one does a serious media exercise and adds up the 
unpublished articles, how does one trace them, 
statements and letters one should not be 
surprised that reaction is quite close to equal. 
But here what is visible is what is reported, and 
in this the secularists are on the receiving end 
as far as projection of their events is concerned.

One also recalls that the right wing is always 
harsh to those taking secular stance. The Muslim 
right wingers were extremely harsh on the Muslims 
toeing secular line, and also on Gandhi, who was 
a secular to the core. Same way Hindu right wing 
criticized him for being soft to Muslims. Not 
only that one of them, Nathuam Godse killed 
Gandhi as Godse felt that Gandhi is soft to 
Muslims and so anti Hindu. 
One realizes that there is growing intolerance 
within the society and probably most of the 
sections are affected by it. The major example of 
that comes from comrades of West Bengal. Even 
they went on to ban Taslima's Dwikhandito, on the 
grounds of hurting of Bengali sentiments. This 
example apart as such the intolerance grows more 
amongst the threatened communities. This feeling 
of insecurity leads to conservative values and 
forms the base for the orthodoxy and right wing 
intolerant politics. The insecurity can be real 
or constructed, and both of them give rise to the 
retrograde narrow thinking. In Germany the 
insecurity amongst Jews was there for real. The 
success of Hitler was in the fact that he could 
make the majority feel that the miniscule 
minority of Jews, and than others, is a threat to 
them. So the German majority fell to most 
intolerant views and norms due to projected fear 
of the Jews.
In today's India, RSS-BJP's biggest success is 
that it has been able to manufacture insecurity 
amongst the majority, that the minorities, the 
Muslims, the Christians are posing a threat to 
Hindu religion.  Mumbai pogrom could be unleashed 
by Bal Thackeray as he succeeded in projecting 
that the Muslims are on the offensive and are a 
threat to Hindus. In Gujarat Modi succeeded in 
creating a sense of fear of Muslims amongst a 
section of Hindus, who than legitimized the 
carnage also. The violence does not take place in 
the vacuum it is the crystallization of Hate 
other ideas, precipitated due to some incidents 
presented in a particular way. So the aggressive 
intolerance exhibited in cases dealing with 
Hussein, Chandra Mohan, Deepa Mehta's attempt to 
make Water, attack on newspaper offices of 
Mahanagar and now on Outlook.

On the other hand the minority is gripped by the 
defensive intolerance, the intolerance which 
comes up due to their being bigger victims of the 
riots, due to their being sidetracked from the 
social and economic facilities in the society, 
due to their post carnage ghettoisation and all 
this resulting in relegating them to the status 
of second class citizens, by and by.

At no cost can any act of vandalism against our 
democratic freedom be exonerated. But the real 
fertile ground of minority fanaticism is created 
due to their feeling of insecurity. The real 
problem is the ascendance of politics deriving 
its legitimacy in the name of religion, this 
politics targeting the minorities and in turn 
creating responses which are deplorable to the 
highest order. In the face of the 'online 
auditing' by the liberal sounding voices, should 
the secularists put forward the balancing act? 
While major sections amongst secularists do hold 
that the fanaticism breeds fanaticism, all 
fanaticism are dangerous, the impact of this 
varies from place to place. It is also true that 
Islamic fanaticism has eaten up democracy in 
Pakistan, and that it is a bigger threat in 
liberal values in Pakistan. Hindu bigotry, the 
politics of Hindutva is the threat to Indian 
democracy.

It is also true that fanaticism constructed by 
the political streams rooting in the majority are 
the one's who matter more and need to be engaged 
seriously while the minority groups indulging in 
such insane, acts should be condemned equally, 
while trying to provide that community a physical 
security, the lack of which causes the closing in 
of minds, rising support for fanatic elements and 
the consequent acts like attacking Taslima.


______


[6]

The Christian Science Monitor
August 23, 2007

Fighting harassment on India's streets
DESPITE RESISTANCE, WOMEN'S GROUPS ARE 
CHALLENGING THE COUNTRY'S CATCALLING CULTURE.

by Benjamin Siegel

New Delhi - For artist Jasmeen Patheja, moving to 
the high-tech hub of Bangalore for college was an 
introduction to India's chic new cosmopolitanism. 
But the move also brought on something more 
regressive: the nightly catcalls of mirchi 
(chili) and tamatar (tomatoes) - food items being 
the common sexual taunts for women pedestrians.

"I found myself feeling more and more 
vulnerable," Ms. Patheja recalls. "And in 
addition to feeling angry and helpless, I 
wondered why I didn't get the support I needed 
when I was with friends."

Rather than ignore the taunts, Patheja channeled 
her frustration into founding the Blank Noise 
Project, one of several new Indian advocacy 
groups devoted to raising awareness about sexual 
harassment.

Last year, volunteers stenciled testimonies from 
harassment victims all over Connaught Place, New 
Delhi's central roundabout, and the group's blog 
posts candid photos of "eve-teasers" - the Indian 
euphemism for sexual harassers. Now, Patheja is 
collecting clothes that women were wearing when 
they were harassed, preparing to display the 
outfits en masse in major cities in hopes of 
confronting the notion that intimidated women 
"ask for it" by wearing provocative outfits.

The efforts of academics, women's groups, and 
artists like Patheja are raising major questions 
about gender issues and the need for safe public 
space in a country that's often preferred to 
ignore them. Amid India's booming economy and 
changing social atmosphere, most women still face 
taunts and groping on a near-daily basis.

Walks around town, even in the country's gleaming 
new offices and malls, are often fraught with 
unwelcome comments or advances. A permissive 
attitude toward "eve-teasing" has made change 
difficult, with offenders frequently dismissed as 
harmless or even justified, and run-down and 
often maze-like urban infrastructure can mean 
that many public spaces remain threatening for 
women.

For her part, Patheja's highly visible 
demonstrations have turned Blank Noise Project 
into one of India's most well-known - and perhaps 
most controversial - community-art projects. But 
other groups have taken a more systematic 
approach to advancing women's safety.

New Delhi-based Jagori has conducted 
comprehensive safety audits of the city's 
neighborhoods, and its new "SafeDelhi" campaign 
has set up kiosks and support lines to help women 
define and report sexual harassment. This year, 
the group distributed over 5,000 antiharassment 
stickers to rickshaw drivers, whose 
green-and-yellow three-wheelers are often 
intimidating vehicles for solo women.

When sociologist Shilpa Phadke helped start the 
academic Gender and Space Project in Mumbai 
(Bombay), she had not counted on a public 
advocacy role. But when an interview with a rail 
official led to his request for help in making 
stations less threatening for women, the 
Project's graduate students sprang into action, 
counting every broken light in 35 city stations.

In cities like Mumbai, Chennai, and Bangalore, 
women's self-defense classes have grown 
increasingly popular, with upper and middle-class 
women wait-listed for courses in karate and the 
Israeli martial art krav maga.

But for all the efforts being made to safeguard 
women against harassment, even the major statutes 
against sexual harassment in India have proven 
troublesome. Activists have been quick to point 
out that the laws against attacking the "modesty" 
of women do more to regulate women's behavior 
than safeguard their rights.

Pratiksha Baxi, an assistant professor at 
Jawaharlal Nehru University and one of India's 
foremost experts on sexual harassment, remains 
skeptical of the ordinances. "The provisions aim 
at regulating women's sexuality rather than 
protecting their autonomy or their right to be in 
public spaces without being harassed or raped," 
Ms. Baxi says.

For those who speak out against sexual harassment 
on India's streets, there is the knowledge that 
the consequences of protest have occasionally 
been deadly. Last year, the wife of a prominent 
Lucknow politician was shot when she tried to 
stop a group of men from harassing her 
daughter-in-law. In 2003, a Kolkata (Calcutta) 
police officer was beaten to death when he tried 
to stop five colleagues from harassing a woman 
who was riding a motorcycle.

And in spite of the increasing efforts to combat 
"eve-teasing," the onus is still largely on 
Indian women to restrict their own movement to 
avoid harassment. "I don't step out of the house 
alone after 9:30 [p.m.], if I can help it," says 
Suparna Kudesia, a 20-year-old education student 
from New Delhi, citing countless incidents of 
being flashed or groped.

"Even when there's no harassment, women are 
prepared for it," she says. "Having to be 
constantly on alert takes its toll."

Efforts of groups like the Blank Noise Project 
and Jagori are highlighting "eve-teasing's" 
pervasiveness. If public spaces are slowly 
growing less intimidating 60 years after 
independence, harassment remains a frustrating 
fact of life for Indian women.

"Things have gotten better and worse at the same 
time," says Ritambhara Mehta, a gregarious 
20-year-old political science student from New 
Delhi. Since her early teens, even a short ride 
has meant dealing with unwanted advances or 
comments.

"Sometimes it's easier to say something," she 
says, recalling the times when she's protested, 
"but sometimes, words don't come out." Despite 
some bad experiences, however, Ms. Mehta has 
resolved not to let herself be intimidated.

"For me," she adds, "not going out can't be the 
solution - if we all get scared and sit at home, 
nothing will change."

______


[7]   India:  Hindu Right and Muslim Right at work in Kerala !

(i)

The Hindu
August 22, 2007

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

WITHDRAW AWARD FOR HUSSAIN: HINDU AIKYA VEDI

Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Hindu Aikya Vedi has 
demanded that the State Government repeal the 
decision to award the Raja Ravi Varma prize 
comprising Rs.1.25 lakh to artiste M.F. Hussain.

Vedi State general secretaries Marad T. Suresh 
and E.S. Biju told reporters here on Tuesday that 
the Government should not present the award 
instituted in honour of an internationally 
reputed painter like Raja Ravi Varma to Mr. 
Hussain who had depicted Hindu gods and goddesses 
in bad light.

They accused Mr. Hussain of painting Saraswathi, 
Durga and Lord Ganesh in an offensive manner. The 
Government decision to present the prize to Mr. 
Hussain was an affront to Hindu religion. This 
would hurt religious sentiments and affect 
communal amity in the State, they said.

The Vedi decided to meet Chief Minister V.S. 
Achuthanandan and Minister for Culture M.A. Baby 
and demand to revoke the decision. If the 
Government decides to present the prize ignoring 
the warning, the Vedi will launch an agitation 
against the Government.

The Vedi, they said, had decided to observe a 
protest week from September 4 to 10.

It will also launch a signature campaign against the decision.

State working president K.N. Ravindranath, 
general secretary V.R.Sathyavan and district 
president Jyothindra Kumar were also present on 
the occasion.

o o o

(ii)

Indian Express
August 22, 2007

BOYS, GIRLS CAN'T SHARE BENCH: KERALA MUSLIM MORALITY COPS
by Rajeev P

Samastha Kerala Sunni Students Federation sends 
vigilante teams to check schools, prevent such 
'immoral, sexual anarchy'

Kochi, August 21: Allowing boys and girls in 
school to sit on the same bench while writing 
their exams could cause "breakdown of morality" 
leading to "total sexual anarchy". That's not 
from a Taliban missive. That's the pivot for a 
statewide agitation being planned by the student 
arm of Kerala's largest Muslim community 
organisation, the Samastha Kerala Jem-Iyyathul 
Ulema.

The Samastha Kerala Sunni Students Federation 
(SKSSF) has sent vigilante teams to look up 
schools promoting such "immoral activity". The 
next step, said SKSSF general secretary Nasser 
Faisi Koodathayi, would be to "persuade" parents 
to withdraw their children from such schools.

"How can the government encourage boys and girls 
to sit on the same bench? It is going to bring 
total sexual anarchy in Kerala. This is part of a 
hidden communist agenda," said Koodathayi.

But State Education Minister M A Baby maintained: 
"The government has made it very clear that there 
should be no gender discrimination of any kind in 
schools."

According to school principals, at the root of 
the conflict is a two-month-old order from the 
State Director Public Instruction (DPI), which 
quoted a court order prohibiting any kind of 
gender discrimination. In Kerala schools, the 
practice has always been to call out the names of 
the boys before those of the girls during a roll 
call, and even write the names of girls in red 
ink in the register, below those of the boys.

"All I did was follow the DPI order," said 
Geevarghese Panikker, headmaster of the Mar 
Gregarious Memorial High School in Kozhikode, who 
is facing SKSSF ire. A day after the exams began 
last week, SKSSF men trooped in to Panikker's 
room and warned him of dire consequences. They 
gave him a written "order", asking him to stop 
"mixing of the sexes on school benches" 
forthwith. By next morning, the town was full of 
posters condemning him.

"We could get into trouble with the education 
department and court if we violate the DPI 
directive. But we will have problems from the 
radicals if we don't segregate the sexes. So many 
of us continue to seat them separately, but 
mention otherwise on records," said another 
headmaster who did not want to be named.

Koodathayi said the mixing of genders was the 
second step in the "communist agenda", after the 
Left government decided to advance school timings 
from the current 10 am to 8 am _ which, he says, 
would prevent Muslim children from attending 
madrasas that function from 7 am to 9 am.

______


[8]

Mainstream, Vol XLV, No 35
18 August 2007

POLICE REFORMS AT SIXTY

by Ajay K Mehra

http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article286.html


______


[9] India:

The recently submitted Menon Committee Report on 
the criminal justice system is now available at : 
http://www.mha.nic.in/DraftPolicyPaperAug.pdf


______



[8] ANNOUNCEMENTS:

(i)

Convention on Srikrishna Commission Report 
-Saturday, 25th of August, 2pm - 6pm-At 
Muktadhara Auditorium, Banga Sanskriti Bhawan, 
18-19 Bhai Veer Singh Marg, New Delhi-110001 ( 
Near Gole Market)


SAHMAT / Communalism Combat - Saturday, 25th of August, 2007, 2pm - 6pm

JUSTICE NOW SRIKRISHNA COMMISSION REPORT BOMBAY RIOTS 1992-93

SAHMAT
8, Vithalbhai Patel House, Rafi Marg
  New Delhi-110001, India
Tel- 23711276/ 23351424
e-mail-sahmat at vsnl.com
22.8.2007

A CALL FOR EQUAL JUSTICE FOR BOMBAY 1993

SAHMAT and Communalism Combat invite you to 
attend a meeting to discuss the inaction against 
perpetrators of the riots in Bombay in 1992/93 
and the non-implementation of the Justice 
Srikrishna Commission recommendations. Speakers 
include Teesta Setalvad, Rajeev Dhavan, Mahesh 
Bhatt, Zoya Hasan, Farooq Mapker, Yusuf Muchala 
and also victims from Bombay.

The death penalties and other convictions awarded 
to the accused in the 1993 Bombay blasts case are 
a punishment, a form of redress for the 250 
families who lost dear ones in the serial blasts, 
and a message that the Indian system delivers 
justice for crimes, especially mass crimes of 
unspeakable brutality. But the bomb blasts of 
March 12, 1993 were only the external symptoms of 
a cancer that had gnawed away at Mumbai's vital 
organs with the abject failure of the state 
machinery to protect the city's Muslim population 
during the horrendous communal riots of December 
1992 and January 1993. More than three times as 
many Mumbaikars were killed in the riots that had 
preceded the bomb blasts but the lack of action 
against the perpetrators of the riots, who are 
named in the Srikrishna report, is clear evidence 
of the operation of a double standard of justice, 
one for the majority community and the other for 
the minorities. India and its institutions of 
democracy, executive, judiciary and legislature, 
need to reflect.

The bomb terror of March 12, 1993 must be 
recalled with the same horror as the mob terror 
of December 6, 1992 in Ayodhya, resulting in the 
loss of hundreds of lives all over the country. 
The causes of the blasts, too, must be revived in 
public memory. As the Srikrishna report observed: 
"The serial bomb blasts were a reaction to the 
totality of events at Ayodhya and Bombay in 
December 1992 and January 1993Š The common link 
between the riots and the blasts was that of 
cause and effect."

Information obtained under the Right to 
Information Act makes it clear that successive 
state governments, no matter what their political 
persuasion, have decided to shield the guilty. 
The motivations of the Bharatiya Janata Party and 
the Shiv Sena parties in refusing to implement 
the recommendations of the Srikrishna Commission 
are obvious:
among the individuals named in the report are 
several of their leaders and cadres, including 
Bal Thackeray, Manohar Joshi, Gopinath Munde and 
Madhukar Sarpotdar. What is more shocking is the 
role of the so-called secular parties.

Though the manifestos of both the Congress Party 
and the Nationalist Congress Party in 1999 and 
2004 promised to implement the recommendations of 
the report, these promises remain unfulfilled.

Vivan Sundaram, Ram Rahman, M.K.Raina

Saturday, 25th of August, 2pm - 6pm
At Muktadhara Auditorium, Banga Sanskriti Bhawan, 
18-19 Bhai Veer Singh Marg, New Delhi-110001 ( 
Near Gole Market)


o o o

(ii)


Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP)
Hyderpora Crossing
Oppisite Petrol Pump
Airport Road
Srinagar
phone: 0091 194 2100048 President
94194015876 Legal Advisor
9419403660 Spokesperson
email: apdpkmr at hotmail.com
Website:www.disappearancesinkashmir.org

18.08.2007

Dear Friends

The year 2007 is an important year for the global 
struggle against enforced disappearances. On 
February 6, 2007 the landmark International 
convention for the protection of all persons from 
enforced disappearance was signed in Paris. The 
convention declares enforced disappearance as a 
crime against humanity and states that "No one 
shall be subjected to Enforced Disappearances". 
It calls on states to define enforced 
disappearances as an offence in their own lands 
and stipulates that neither a state of war, 
internal political instability or public 
emergencies can be invoked by states to justify 
disappearances.  The new instrument also 
establishes the right of the victims to know the 
truth and to claim reparation for the harm 
inflicted on them. However eradicating the 
problem of disappearances is not only a matter of 
implementation of the legal provisions of the 
convention, but fundamentally a question of 
political will and commitment. Since the early's 
APDP and its members, collectively and 
individually, have been relentlessly struggling 
for justice and information on the whereabouts of 
the missing members of their families. Despite 
the Government's acknowledgement of more than 
3000 enforced disappearances in Jammu and Kashmir 
between the years 1990- 2002 , no action has been 
taken to address our demands.

On the occasion of the international day of the 
disappeared, 30th of August, APDP will remember 
those who have been made to disappear; we will 
also pay a tribute to the courage, pains and 
struggles of the families of the disappeared in 
demanding justice for their loved ones, for 
themselves and in voicing their protest against 
continuing disappearances. We invite you to join 
us in extending solidarity to the disappeared, 
and to the families have had to witness this 
crime against humanity. The quest of families in 
seeking answers and their protest against the 
culture of impunity commands admiration and 
support.

for Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons
(APDP)
Parveena Ahangar
President


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

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