SACW | Sept. 2-4, 2007
Harsh Kapoor
aiindex at mnet.fr
Tue Sep 4 03:41:38 CDT 2007
South Asia Citizens Wire | September 2-4, 2007 | Dispatch No. 2444 - Year 9
[1] Impunity for enforced disappearances in Asia
Pacific Region must end (Amnesty International)
[2] Nepal:
(i) A Citizens Declaration for Human Rights and Rejecting Violence
(ii) Nepal's Tricky Transition (Kunda Dixit)
[3] Pakistan [General Musharraf and Benazir
Bhutto]: Sinking together? (Tariq Ali)
[4] India: Mad and Hyderabad (Editorial, The Economist)
[5] Why We Oppose The Indo-U.S. Military Ties
(Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, Howard Zinn, et.al)
[6] India: An Appeal For Frontier Weekly
[7] India: Security at what cost? (Garimella Subramaniam)
[8] Letter to the Editor DAWN (Mukul Dube)
[9] Book of Note: Loving Women - Being Lesbian
and Unprivileged in India by Maya Sharma
[10] Announcements:
(i) People's Convention On Salwa Judum: Civil
war in Chhattisgarh (New Delhi, 4 September 2007)
(ii) Bombay Riots of 1992-93 a public hearing (Bombay, 5 September 2007)
(iii) 20th European Conference on Modern South
Asian Studies (Manchester, July 2008)
______
[1]
Amnesty International
Public Statement
AI Index: ASA 01/007/2007 (Public)
News Service No: 167
30 August 2007
IMPUNITY FOR ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES IN ASIA PACIFIC REGION MUST END
Thousands of people remain victims of enforced
disappearance in the Asia Pacific region. Marking
today's annual commemoration of the Day of the
Disappeared, Amnesty International calls urgently
for an end to this atrocious practise, which
constitutes a grave human rights violation and a
crime under international law.
The suffering of victims and their families
continues unabated. In the vast majority of cases
that have taken place over decades in the region,
investigations have not been conducted and the
whereabouts of victims remain unknown. Amnesty
International believes that the continuing
failure of states to investigate enforced
disappearances and abductions could pave the way
for an increase of these human rights violations
in the future.
Amnesty International calls on governments in the
Asia Pacific region to investigate all cases of
enforced disappearance in their country, and to
ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice.
Victims or the families of victims of enforced
disappearance must be assured full reparation for
their suffering in each case.
To this end, the organization today puts a
spotlight on enforced disappearances and
abductions in a selection of Asia Pacific states
including India (Jammu and Kashmir), Pakistan,
the Philippines, Nepal, North Korea, Sri Lanka
and Thailand.
India (Jammu and Kashmir)
According to the Government of Jammu and Kashmir,
almost 4,000 people have disappeared since the
onset of armed conflict across the state in 1989.
However, the Association of Parents of
Disappeared Persons believes the true figure to
be between 8,000 - 10,000. The majority of those
who have disappeared are young men, but people of
all ages, professions and backgrounds have been
victims, many of whom have no connection with
armed opposition groups operating in Jammu and
Kashmir. Despite promises from the newly elected
state authorities in 2002 that perpetrators of
human rights abuses would be prosecuted, and from
the central government in June 2006 that there
would be zero tolerance of human rights
violations committed by security forces in Jammu
and Kashmir, only a fraction of enforced
disappearance cases have been investigated.
Amnesty International notes a pledge by the state
government that the State Human Rights Commission
(SHRC) would investigate all enforced
disappearances. However the SHRC remains unable
to order prosecutions against members of the
security forces without prior sanction from the
Home Ministry of the Indian Government. In August
2006, outstanding concerns over the existing
powers of the SHRC and its ability to effectively
investigate enforced disappearances were further
heightened when its chairperson resigned over the
"non-serious" attitude of the state government
towards addressing human rights violations.
Unresolved enforced disappearances are not
restricted to Jammu and Kashmir. In India,
disappearances were regularly reported in Punjab
during the period of violent political opposition
between the mid-1980s to mid-1990s, and have also
been reported from the North East region of India.
Nepal
Amnesty International is concerned by hundreds of
enforced disappearances that took place during
the ten year conflict between the government of
Nepal and the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist
(CPN-M) which ended in 2006. Earlier this year
the International Committee of the Red Cross in
Nepal listed more than 800 people whose
whereabouts remain unknown at the hands of both
the government and the CPN-M.
While Amnesty International recognises that the
government of Nepal is seeking input from civil
society on a draft bill for the establishment of
a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to address
past abuses, Amnesty International has
highlighted grave concerns with the bill. These
include provisions that may allow amnesties to be
granted to perpetrators of crimes under
international law, including hundreds of cases of
enforced disappearance. The Peace Agreement
signed by the government and CPN-M in November
2006 included a pledge to publicize the
whereabouts of victims of enforced disappearances
within 60 days, however this has not yet been
fulfilled.
[. . .]
Pakistan
Several hundred enforced disappearances have
taken place in Pakistan in the context of the
'war on terror' since 2002. An apparent
indifference shown by the state authorities to
the enforced disappearance of alleged terror
suspects has also been displayed in relation to
disappearances of alleged 'political dissidents',
especially in Balochistan and Sindh provinces.
As a result of repeated protests and petitions in
courts by families of the disappeared, and action
by the Supreme Court, the government has
acknowledged the custody of dozens of alleged
terror suspects, but the whereabouts of the
majority of those missing remains unknown. The
authorities, particularly the intelligence
agencies, continue to flout judicial orders
issued to produce the detainees before the courts.
Press reports indicate some 100 missing persons
out of more than 250 cases submitted to the
Supreme Court have either been traced or
released. However most of those released have
been intimidated into silence about their ordeal,
while those found in custody have had criminal
charges filed against them. Many detainees in
Pakistan have reported being tortured and
otherwise ill-treated while subject to enforced
disappearance. Amnesty International believes
that all officials - including police and
intelligence agencies - responsible for illegal
confinement, enforced disappearances and torture,
must be held to account.
[ . . .]
Sri Lanka
Amnesty International has documented a worrying
increase in enforced disappearances in Sri Lanka
in recent months, with at least 21 people
reportedly disappeared in August in Jaffna
district alone. The increase reflects a worsening
pattern, with the National Human Rights
Commission of Sri Lanka reporting that hundreds
of people have disappeared nationwide since
January 2007, in addition to at least 1,000 in
2006. Unlawful killings, abductions and enforced
disappearance of civilians are now daily
occurrences. An extremely small proportion of
these human rights violations have preceded to
trial or conviction of perpetrators.
More than 5,700 outstanding cases of enforced
disappearances in Sri Lanka are being reviewed by
the United Nations Working Group on Enforced and
Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID). Many cases of
enforced disappearances in Sri Lanka implicate
security forces, while others implicate armed
groups including the Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam (LTTE) and the Karuna group. Amnesty
International urges the government of Sri Lanka
to urgently ratify the UN Convention to Prevent
Enforced Disappearances, and to invite WGEID to
visit the country and to implement its previous
recommendations.
[. . .].
Public Document
****************************************
For more information please call Amnesty
International's press office in London, UK, on
+44 20 7413 5566
Amnesty International, 1 Easton St., London WC1X
0DW. web: http://www.amnesty.org
______
[2] NEPAL:
(i) DECLARATION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AND REJECTING VIOLENCE
3 September 2007:
We condemn in the strongest terms the serial bomb
blasts that rocked Kathmandu yesterday, the
second of September. The targetting of innocent
civilians is unacceptable under any circumstance.
We believe this premeditated crime cannot stop
the Nepali people's journey towards the
Constituent Assembly. We request the entire
political world as well as the eight-party
government not to be diverted by heinous events
such as these, and to unite for the holding of
elections on 22 November. Violence to achieve
whichever goal is unacceptable, and we ask the
government to use all means at its command to
ensure that the type of violence we experienced
yesterday in the capital is not repeated.
Birendra Prasad Mishra
Daman Nath Dhungana
Gaurishanker Lal Das
Kanak Mani Dixit
Krishna Pahadi
Kundan Aryal
Padmaratna Tuladhar
Purushottam Dahal
Shambhu Thapa
Shyam Shrestha
Tikaram Bhattarai
o o o
(ii)
Wall Street Journal
September 4, 2007
NEPAL'S TRICKY TRANSITION
by Kunda Dixit
The three bombs that exploded in Katmandu on
Sunday were just the latest in a series of
reminders that Nepal's transition to democracy
will not be easy. While ethnic organizations like
the Terai Army -- the group claiming
responsibility for Sunday's attacks -- step up
their demands for recognition, the friction
between Nepal's political parties is also heating
up.
With parliamentary elections set for Nov. 22,
tensions are rising between the Maoists and the
democratic Seven Party Alliance, and within the
Maoist party itself. Ever since the Maoist rebels
sided with the democratic parties in a nonviolent
uprising to successfully force King Gyanendra to
restore democracy in April 2006, it has been a
tricky transition for the battle-hardened former
guerrillas. In the past year, the alliance of
seven political parties and the Maoists have
forged an interim constitution; the underground
rebels have been brought into a transition
parliament; and four Maoist ministers serve in
the current government.
The ceasefire has held, the peace process is on
track and the country is preparing for the polls
in November that will elect an assembly to draft
a new constitution. For the first time in Nepal's
history, the elections will be on a
mixed-proportional system, so traditionally
marginalized ethnic groups and castes will have
some representation. That all this has been
achieved with little bloodshed is remarkable.
But Nepal is not out of the woods yet, and these
accomplishments are looking increasingly tenuous.
There has been an eruption of demands for
political representation from a whole section of
Nepalis who have historically been left out of
the governance structure: indigenous groups,
underprivileged castes and the Madhesi people of
the Terai Plains along the Indian border. Good
news came for the latter group last week, when
the Madhesi finally signed a peace agreement with
the government that will grant the group greater
economic and political rights. But talks with
other groups are ongoing, but haven't made a
breakthrough yet. As Sunday's explosions
demonstrate, the violence in the plains could
easily spiral out of control, even forcing a
cancellation of elections and taking the country
back to war.
Internal divisions within the Maoist camp are
also deepening. Many are convinced that the
former armed rebels haven't really changed their
spots, and still want to turn Nepal into a
totalitarian people's republic. While that may be
the goal of the hardliners in the party, the
moderate leadership seems to want a transition to
parliamentary politics. The question is, can they
endure pressure from hardliners?
The Maoist leader, Chairman Prachanda, faces
mounting pressure from radicals who blame him for
"abandoning the revolution." As if to appease the
hardliners he presented a list of 22 demands on
Aug. 24 that he said had to be fulfilled before
elections. These include parliament declaring
Nepal a republic before polls and conducting
elections under full proportional representation.
Critics say the Maoists are nervous that they
will lose badly in elections, and are using these
unrealistic demands to either scuttle or postpone
polls. They have threatened to launch a
nationwide street-based uprising starting this
month unless these demands are met. The Maoists
are also using their affiliated trade unions and
student organizations to pressure foreign
investors, local companies and media. Businessmen
complain that extortion and threats are worse now
than during the conflict years.
The resurgence of Maoist hardliners is rooted in
the rift that began when the Maoists agreed to
lay down arms and enter mainstream politics in
November last year. At that time, Maoist
leadership made this choice because they knew
they could not win militarily and because Nepal's
two big neighbors, India and China, would never
tolerate a Maoist government in Nepal. India has
its own Maoist problem and China is embarrassed
that the Great Helmsman is staging a second
coming next door. But not everyone agreed:
Guerrilla commanders felt a victory was within
reach, and the international Maoist solidarity
movement -- which has always seen Nepal as a
vanguard of world revolution -- has been sharply
critical of the Nepali comrades for rushing to
shake hands with the enemy.
The prospect of unrest in the run-up to the
election has everybody worried. The United
Nations Mission in Nepal, which is supposed to
supervise and monitor elections, is concerned
about the security situation. U.N.
Under-Secretary General for Political Affairs
Lynn Pascoe left with a positive assessment of
the atmosphere for elections after a visit Aug.
19. But it would be easy for those who don't want
elections (royalists, Madhesi militants and even
Maoist hardliners) to foment trouble in the next
two months. Except for the moderate leftist
communists, the Unified Marxist-Leninist party,
no other party has bothered to start campaigning
yet. Mainstream parties are behaving as
fecklessly as they always did, and this gives the
king and other reactionaries the chance to plot a
comeback.
However, these elections are the only way Nepal
can emerge from a messy transition and build on
the dramatic and peaceful state transformation of
the past year. A new constitution would restore
democratic legitimacy and bring forth a new set
of young leaders. And that is the best guarantee
of long-term stability and development for
Nepal's 27 million people.
Mr. Dixit is the editor and publisher of the
Nepali Times newspaper in Katmandu. His latest
book is "A People War" (Nepa-laya, 2006).
______
[3]
The Guardian
August 30, 2007
SINKING TOGETHER?
President Musharraf is isolated and unpopular,
but the notion that Bhutto can deal with the
Taliban more effectively is risible.
by Tariq Ali
For a politician whose sycophantic colleagues
boast that she is closer to the pulse of the
people than any of her rivals, Benazir Bhutto's
decision to do a deal with Pakistan's uniformed
president indicates the exact opposite. She is
sadly out of touch. General Musharraf is now
deeply unpopular here. It is not often that one
can actually observe power draining away from a
political leader. And the lifeline being thrown
to him in the shape of an over-blown Benazir
might sink together with him.
An indication that she was not completely unaware
of this came a few days ago when she declared
that her decision was "approved" by the
"international community" always a code-word for
Washington) and the Pakistan army (well, yes). In
short, Pakistani public opinion was irrelevant.
The mood among sections of the street - I am
currently in Lahore - is summed up in a cruel
taunt: "People's Party de ballay, ballay / ade
kanjar, ade dallay" (Marvel at the People Party /
half-whore and half-pimp). This is slightly
unfair and could apply to all the Muslim Leagues
as well. The fact is that people are disgusted
with politics and see politicians as crooks out
to make money and feed the greed of the networks
they patronise and which double up as useful vote
banks.
But it should be acknowledged that Benazir
Bhutto's approach is not the result of a sudden
illumination. There is a twisted continuity here.
When the general seized power in 1999 and toppled
the Sharif brothers (then Benazir's detested
rivals), she welcomed the coup and nurtured hopes
of a ministerial post. When no invitations were
forthcoming, she would turn up at the desk of a
junior in the South Asian section of the State
Department, pleading for a job. Instead the
military charged her and her husband with graft
and corruption. The evidence was overwhelming.
She decided to stay in exile.
In March this year, Musharraf's decision to sack
Iftikhar Hussein Chaudhry, the turbulent chief
justice of the Supreme Court, backfired
unexpectedly and sensationally . Tens of
thousands of lawyers protested and took to the
streets, demanding his immediate reinstatement.
Political and social activists of almost every
political hue joined them and a country usually
depicted abroad as a den of bearded extremists on
the verge of seizing power was suddenly
witnessing an amazing constitutional struggle
that had nothing to do with religion. Even the
cynics were moved to see lawyers insisting on a
rigid separation of powers.
The use of force by Musharraf's supporters in
Karachi who opened fire and killed peaceful
demonstrators created a further backlash against
the regime. The Supreme Court voted unanimously
to re-instate their chief. The general was
becoming increasingly isolated.
The politicians who surrounded him pleaded for a
state of emergency or even a new declaration of
martial law, but according to many sources here
in Pakistan the joint chiefs said that the
military was too over-committed on the western
frontier to police the rest of the country, which
was a nice way of saying "No". With this route
blocked, Washington now insisted on a deal with
Ms Bhutto. The inner preoccupation to which she
was a prey (power at any cost and the withdrawal
of corruption charges) prevented her, I think,
from having complete control of herself.
The Bush administration, which has brokered this
deal, is basically ignorant of Pakistani
politics. To isolate the Sharif brothers instead
of including them in the "secular package" will
drive them in the other direction. Nawaz Sharif
is posing as a man of principle, forgetting how
under his watch Muslim League thugs raided the
Supreme Court and journalists were harassed and
locked up. Memories are always short here and the
fact the Sharif refused to negotiate with
Musharraf has made him more popular in the
country.
The notion that Bhutto can succeed in dealing
with the Taliban more effectively than the
general is risible, as Kamran Nazeer has already
pointed out on Cif. Every time innocents are
killed in bombing raids in Afghanistan or
Pakistan increases support for the Taliban
increases. Militants now control or dominate
Tank, parts of Swat, North and South Waziristan,
Dir, and Kohat inside Pakistan. The solution is
political, not military. Killing more people will
not help and there have been cases of soldiers
refusing to fire on fellow-Muslims and junior
officers taking early retirement after a tour of
the duty on the Pak-Afghan border.
Pakistan being Pakistan, many observers are
convinced that even if the deal is consummated it
will be of short duration.
______
[4]
The Economist
August 30th 2007
INDIA: MAD AND HYDERABAD
Aug 30th 2007 | DELHI
Nameless, ruthless and pointless
IT IS a strange terrorist who prefers to remain
anonymous. Yet this seems to be the signature of
the bombers who, every few months for the past
few years, have exploded crude bombs in India's
cities. The latest blasts were in pleasant
southern Hyderabad on August 25th. In quick
succession, explosions in a park during a laser
show and at a crowded food-stall killed 43 people
and injured scores. Another 19 bombs were
discovered planted around Hyderabad, and made
safe. The government of Andhra Pradesh, of which
Hyderabad is the capital, leapt to blame the
customary suspects: "terrorist organisations
based in Bangladesh and Pakistan".
EPA Too much to mourn
It may be right. Informed sources accuse Shahid
Bilal, a Bangladeshi Islamist, of orchestrating
the bombing. Mr Bilal leads a Pakistan-based
militant group, called Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami,
that has fought Indian troops in
Indian-controlled Kashmir. In May he was alleged
to have been involved in another bombing in
Hyderabad, that killed 11 people.
Then again, maybe not. Indian officials,
especially at the state level, tend to blame
terrorist atrocities on the neighbours without
much, or any, evidence. So it was in February,
after a bomb killed 68 people on a train in
Haryana in the north. Yet no claims of
responsibility, compelling evidence or
significant arrests have ensued.
One possible reason for the culprits' coyness is
that they are indeed friends of Pakistan. With
Pakistan currently struggling to stay friends
with America and make friends with India, it may
have ordered its former-or present-proxies not to
cause it too much trouble.
Also uncertain is what the bombers might be
hoping to achieve: an end to the peace process
between India and Pakistan; or perhaps to commit
just enough murder against an old enemy to keep
their networks alive. Either way, the violence is
worrying for India. The attacks tend to reveal
the ineptitude of the police. They also serve as
an unwelcome reminder that India-a new favourite
with foreign investors-is a violent place. In
each of the past two years, according to American
government figures, India lost around 1,300 lives
to terrorism, putting it second only to Iraq.
Most of these deaths were in its north-eastern
and eastern states, wracked by nationalist and
Maoist insurgencies. Hyderabad is different. It
is a centre of the burgeoning computer-services
and pharmaceuticals industries that have lured
foreign investors and driven India's recent boom.
It is not known what role India's 150m Muslims,
who include 40% of Hyderabad's population, play
in the violence. Probably a supporting one at
most. But that could change. India's Muslims have
long suffered politically inspired communal
violence and casual discrimination. Were they
ever to become seriously riled, India would have
a problem indeed.
______
[5]
The Hindu
September 03, 2007
WHY WE OPPOSE THE INDO-U.S. MILITARY TIES
Since the 1990s, the U.S. government made
overtures to the Indian Government for a military
alliance. When the Bush administration came to
power it wanted India to be a part of its missile
defence shield. Since 9/11, the Indian and U.S.
navies and Special Forces have conducted a number
of joint exercises in the Indian Ocean and in the
hills of India's Northeast. U.S. State Department
official Christian Rocca said (in 2002),
"Military-to-military cooperation is now
producing tangible progress towards [the]
objective [of] strategic, diplomatic and
political cooperation as well as sound economic
ties."
The Indo-U.S. Bilateral Nuclear Cooperation
Agreement (2007) is the capstone of this new
strategic alliance, driven by geopolitical and
military concerns.
We oppose the deal for three related reasons:
(1) The deal is another attempt by the Bush
administration to weaken the framework of
international law. The administration's disregard
for the Kyoto protocols on climate change, for
the International Criminal Court, for the G eneva
Conventions, for the United Nations, and [so] on,
is well known. India refused to sign the
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1968 because,
it claimed, the NPT put into place a hierarchy
between nuclear weapons states and non-nuclear
weapons states. There was no demand for universal
nuclear disarmament. Neither the U.S. nor any
other state is in legitimate possession of
nuclear weapons. Now the U.S. government is
playing kingmaker, pretending that it is in a
lawful position to welcome India into the nuclear
weapons club. India's nuclear history is similar
to that of Iran, but that Iran signed the NPT,
and yet the Bush administration, with contempt
for reason and international law, makes a deal
with one country and demonises another. The deal
will do nothing for the pressing question of
universal disarmament.
(2) The deal will intensify the instability of
the South Asian subcontinent. Over the past few
years, the Indian and Pakistani governments have
made strides toward easing the tensions between
the two countries. People-to-people cont acts
have increased and the governments are in
discussion over the many outstanding issues that
divide the two states. One of the means to build
confidence in the region was the creation of a
natural gas pipeline from Iran through Pakistan
into India. The "peace pipeline" would have tied
the region together and raised the stakes for
negotiations over belligerence. The Bush
administration offered India nuclear power in
exchange for Iranian gas as part of its plan to
isolate Iran. The peace pipeline is a casualty of
this agreement. In addition, the nuclear deal
does nothing to hamper the Indian nuclear weapons
sector, whose growth will fuel an arms race with
Islamabad and Beijing.
(3) The deal is intended as a part of the Bush
administration's wish to isolate Iran. It is by
now clear that the U.S. "coerced" India's votes
at the International Atomic Energy Agency
meetings of September 2 005 and February 2006.
The pressure to end the "peace pipeline" is
another indicator of how this deal is directed
against Iran. But principally, the U.S. Congress
passed the Hyde Act in 2006 that specifically
demanded that the U.S. government "secure India's
full and active participation in United States
efforts to dissuade, isolate, and if necessary,
sanction and contain Iran for its efforts to
acquire weapons of mass destruction."
The U.S. Congress gets a chance to weigh in on
this deal after the IAEA and the Nuclear
Suppliers Group vet it. We urge the U.S.
population to reject this agreement. There are
better ways to go forward, such as the need for
global nuclear disarmament, and we hope that
Congress will put us on those more rational
tracks.
Noam Chomsky, author, Failed States: The Abuse of
Power and the Assault on Democracy.
Naomi Klein, author, The Shock Doctrine: the rise of Disaster Capitalism.
Howard Zinn, author, A Power Governments Cannot Suppress.
Medea Benjamin, Global Exchange and Code Pink.
Judith LeBlanc, Co-Chair, United for Peace and Justice.
Mike Davis, author, Buda's Wagon: A Brief History of the Car Bomb.
John Bellamy Foster, Editor, Monthly Review.
Vijay Prashad, author, The Darker Nations: A
People's History of the Third World.
______
[6] AN APPEAL FOR FRONTIER
Frontier is at a crossroads. After 39 years of
continuous circulation without any break, the
Weekly, founded and edited by Samar Sen till his
death in August 1987, faces a severe crisis
created in the main by political and ideological
vacuum both at home and abroad, and its
inevitable impact on Frontier's specific
readership. Frontier finds it increasingly
difficult to survive in a hostile atmosphere as
any voice of dissent against the establishment
and status quoism is seen as dangerous. Frontier,
in essence, is the voice of the voiceless.
As for its infrastructure, it has been in
precarious condition ever since its inception in
1968. At no point of time it could muster more
than its shoestring budget and make a major
breakthrough in financial matters. Having spent
39 years on sublet basis and fighting a number of
court cases all these years, Frontier is now in a
positiion to deal with the landlord directly if
requisite money [rent arrears, interest,court
fines etc. amounting to Rs. 5 lakhs] is paid to
the landlord. Also, the very old and delapidated
building urgently needs repairs requiring another
Rs. 3 lakhs. Incidentally the entire first floor
is now in Frontier's possession. Presently for
Frontier's own computer set-up and skilled
personnel - administrative and editorial - a
reasonable fund is desperately needed to make its
renovation plan successful.
A review of Frontier's role in the most
tumultuous years during the last four decades
suggests that it is not impossible for the new
generation of readers to continue the legacy of
Samar Sen, without the weekly compromising its
basic principles which make it so different from
others. Today Frontier is looking for the next
generation of readers. All things considered, it
has been felt that a reserve fund to the tune of
at least Rs. 10 lakhs be raised within a short
period to make Frontier economically viable.
We, therefore, request our friends, well-wishers,
subscribers and contributors to donate generously
so that Frontier hits its target as soon as
possible.
Signatories to the Appeal:
Mahasveta Devi, Dr Robi Chakravarti,
Ranganayakamma, Paresh Chattopadhaya, Ranjit Sau,
T. Vijayendra, Vir Bharat Talwar, Partha
Chatterjee, Madhusudan Pal, Timir Basu,
I.K.Shukla, Abhijit Ghosh-Dastidar.
[All remittances - Cheque/Draft/MO to Frontier, 61 Mott Lane,
Kolkata-700 013, India].
______
[7]
The Hindu
August 22, 2007
SECURITY AT WHAT COST?
by Garimella Subramaniam
Chhattisgarh's Special Public Security Act under fire.
Chhattisgarh's champion of rural public health
and civil liberties, Binayak Sen, has been
incarcerated in Raipur's Central Jail for over
three months. His detention under the draconian
Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act (CSPSA)
2005 brings into focus the government's dangerous
strategy of countering Maoist insurgency with
state-sponsored private armed militias, with
grave implications for the exercise of
fundamental rights.
The immediate provocation for the judicial remand
of this medical missionary, of no religious
denomination, on May 14 was the campaign he led
to spotlight the killing last March of seven
adivasis in Bastar. But the arrest is part of a
pattern of repression by the Raman Singh
government to quell democratic opposition to
plans for large scale acquisition of the
mineral-rich tribal land.
No incriminating evidence
It took the police over two months and repeated
adjournments from the courts to file a charge
sheet. Even so, the voluminous document fails to
provide any incriminating evidence against Dr.
Sen. Allusion to his many authorised visits to
the jail to counsel undertrials - in his capacity
as State general secretary of the People's Union
for Civil Liberties - is a case in point. The
High Court, while rejecting the police demand for
remanding Dr. Sen to the custody of the
investigating agencies, denied him bail.
The Salwa Judum, a voluntary association of
land-owners and contractors backed by the state,
has, since 2005, unleashed a reign of terror.
Thousands of adivasis have been removed from more
than 600 villages in Dantewada district alone.
The National Commission for Women and other
independent fact-finding teams have highlighted
the atrocities committed by Salwa Judum,
including assaults on and killing of women,
torching of houses, and extortion of illegal levy
from passing vehicles.
A public interest litigation filed in this
connection has alleged a complete breakdown of
the civil administration and sought the Supreme
Court's intervention for the restoration of the
rule of law. Eminent personalities, including
Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, renowned social
critic Noam Chomsky, and Booker-Prize winning
author Arundhati Roy, have rallied behind Dr. Sen.
Dr. Sen has for three decades been at the
forefront of unravelling the connections between
endemic poverty, disease, food security, and
macro-economic policies. Elements of the
alternative model he pioneered include advocacy
of oral medication over intra-muscular
injections, a validated mechanism for timely
diagnosis of malaria and tuberculosis, and supply
of low-cost medicines. This distinguished alumnus
of the Christian Medical College, Vellore, served
on the official committee for the 'Mitanin'
programme to train 60,000 women health workers,
launched by the previous Ajit Jogi government.
Recent events are a fallout of the overtly
political character of Dr. Sen's social activism.
For example, he challenged the CSPSA even before
it received presidential assent. The High Court
dismissed his petition; but to him, that outcome
only underlined the need to raise public
awareness about the arbitrary law.
The State can, for instance, declare any
organisation as unlawful without specifying
reasons and slap a three-year sentence on its
members. It can dub routine acts of free
expression and association as unlawful activities
and pronounce a seven-year imprisonment on those
that it disapproves of. As the Commonwealth Human
Rights Initiative points out, the two-year
sentence under the CSPSA for protecting members
of an unlawful organisation can be used to harass
persons who are forced to shelter to armed groups.
Political parties of the Left and democratic
mainstream, including the Congress and the
Communist parties, have called for the
Chhattisgarh law to be scrapped and, by
implication, for Dr. Sen's release.
______
[8]
[Kamila Shamsie's "How Pakistanis See India" was
carried in South Asia Citizens Wire | August 31 -
September 1, 2007]
o o o
Letter to the Editor DAWN
3 September 2007
In "How Pakistanis See India" ('Dawn', 23 August
2007), Kamila Shamsie strangely fails to make the
connection between two matters she raises. So
long as the two countries compete in the area of
missiles, they will also tend to outdo each other
in attaining ever greater poverty.
Mukul Dube
______
[9]
Biblio
May - June 2007
The Story of A Silence
Loving Women: Being Lesbian and Unprivileged in India
By Maya Sharma
Yoda Press, New Delhi, 2006, 191 pp., Rs 245
ISBN 81-903634-1-7
by: Arvind Narrain
This book is in many ways historic-the first to
deal with the lives of poor women who love other
women, the first to interrogate the feminist
movement from within on the nature of its (at
best) ambivalent support for lesbian women and
the first to provide a loving and sustained
engagement with the lives of lesbian women from
'unprivileged' back-grounds. By doing so it is a
fitting riposte to BJP leader L.K. Advani's
charge that a "theme such as lesbianism does not
fit in the Indian atmosphere".
By excavating the stories of Menaka and Payal,
Rekha and Dolly, Guddi and Aasu and many others,
Maya Sharma tells the story of a silence. By
reading between the lines, by determinedly
following up on leads, by asking questions which
her respondents are shocked are even being asked,
and by gently coaxing them to share there life
stories, Sharma's account leaves us agreeing with
her that, "it is humbling to interact with such
heroism, which will never be celebrated, but
instead battles daily with the constant threat of
being disgraced, ostracized or even killed."[. .
.].
______
[10] Announcements:
(i)
Please find below an invitation to a public
meeting being organised on salwa judum by the
Campaign for Peace and Justice in Chattisgarh,
taking place tomorrow at Hindi Bhavan, New Delhi.
The convention will start at 2 pm and is expected
to run until 5:30 or so.
Campaign for Peace and Justice in Chhattisgarh
Invites you to a
PEOPLE'S CONVENTION ON SALWA JUDUM: CIVIL WAR IN CHHATTISGARH
4th September 2007, 2 p.m. onwards
At
Hindi Bhawan, Vishnu Digambar Marg, New Delhi
(Near Gandhi Peace Foundation, ITO)
Programme details:
Film screening:
India's Hidden War
Dir:James Brabazon
Voices from Dantewada:
Himanshu Kumar (Vanvasi Chetana Ashram, Dantewada)
Kawasi Lakhma (MLA, Konta)
Manish Kunjam (ex-MLA and Gen.Sec, Adivasi Mahasabha),
Šand others
Discussion with Journalists and Members of Parliament:
Ajit Jogi (ex-Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh)
Sandeep Dikshit (Member of Parliament, Delhi)
Other Members of Parliament Š
Please find the background and detailed programme schedule attached
We look forward to your participation.
In Solidarity,
Campaign for Peace and Justice in Chhattisgarh
Background:
In the summer of 2005, news reports started
appearing of a 'spontaneous', 'self-initiated','
peaceful', 'people's movement' in Dantewada
district of Chhattisgarh against the Naxalites,
known as the Salwa Judum. The district
administration claims that upset with the Maoist
strike call on collecting tendu leaves and
opposition to development works like road
construction and grain levies, people in some 200
villages began mobilizing against the Maoists,
going on processions and holding meetings.
However, this picture of the Salwa Judum is far
from accurate. The fact is that the Salwa Judum
is being led by sections of local elites,
contractors and traders, that it is officially
part of the official anti-naxal initiatives,
being actively supported by the Chhattisgarh
Government. Far from being a peaceful campaign,
Salwa Judum 'activists' are armed with guns,
lathis, axes, bows and arrows. Up to January
2007, 4048 "Special Police Officers" (SPOs) had
been appointed by the Government under the
Chhattisgarh Police Regulations. They actively
participate in the Salwa Judum and are given
military and weapons training by the security
forces as part of an official plan to create a
civil vigilante structure parallel to that of the
Naxalites.
Though exact figures are not known, over the last
two years, atleast 1, 00,000 people have been
displaced and the lives of at least 3, 00,000
people from at least 644 "liberated villages" has
been completely disrupted, because of Salwa
Judum. People are forcibly picked up from their
villages and are confined into 'relief camps',
where they face acute shortage of food, water and
other basic amenities. The condition of several
thousands who have been forced to migrate to
neighbouring states and districts is even worse.
All those villages which have not come into camps
are deemed "Maoists" villages and denied all
health, education and other facilities, including
access to markets. A large number of people have
thus been denied their fundamental rights.
There has been a complete breakdown of civil
administration and the rule of law in Dantewada
district and Salwa Judum 'activists' have become
vigilantes who assert the right to control,
intimidate and punish anyone they consider to be
a suspected Naxalite. Cases of murder, loot,
arson, rape and other violence and atrocities by
Salwa Judum go unreported. The Government does
not accept responsibility for the actions of the
Salwa Judum 'activists', it sponsors, encourages,
promotes and assures them full state protection
and grants them impunity to operate as an
extra-legal authority within the district.
The Government's only response to Maoist
insurgency has been to militatrise; step up
police operations and to pit civilians, in the
name of Salwa Judum, against Maoists and against
each other. By resorting to such measures, the
government has seriously challenged the efficacy
of democratic and constitutional means of finding
solutions to people's problems. It has completely
failed to address the root of the discontent, the
deprivation and alienation of Adivasis, which
form basis of the Maoist foothold in Dantewara.
Even according to states government's own
figures, Salwa Judum has only intensified the
conflict.
About CPJC:
The Campaign for Peace and Justice in
Chhattisgarh is a campaign group formed by
individuals and organisations who are deeply
concerned about the flagrant violation of human
rights going on in Chhattisgarh in the name of
fighting "internal terrorism". We are extremely
concerned by the violence unleashed by the state
backed Salwa Judum which has pushed Chhattisgarh
into a civil war situation and the repressive
Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act, 2005
which is being used to crush all voices of
dissent in the state.
Contact us:
Email: cpjcindia at gmail.com; Website: www.cpjc.wordpress.com
Pravin Mote: 09313879073; Goldy George:
09958313838; Sridevi Panikkar: 09868099304;
--
(ii)
Dear Friends
Professor Zoya Hasan, Member, National Minorities
Commission informs us that the commission members
are pursuing the issue of Mumbai Violence, 92-93.
They are trying to take up the case for
implementation of recommendations of Shrikrishna
Commission. In this context the Commission
members are visiting Mumbai.
They will have a public hearing of victims, the
activists and concerned citizens, on 5th
September, at Sayahdri Malabar Hills [Bombay], at
2.30 PM. The commission will meet the Chief
Minister on 6th September.
This is to request that all those concerned please come over for the hearing.
Thanks and best wishes
Ram Puniyani
EKTA, Committee for Communal Amity
--
(iii)
20th European Conference on Modern South Asian Studies (ECMSAS)
School of Arts, Histories and Cultures, The
University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
The 20th European Conference on Modern South
Asian Studies (ECMSAS), [is] to be held in
Manchester from 8-11 July 2008. The ECMSAS is the
largest gathering of South Asia oriented
researchers in Europe, covering all fields from
the humanities and social sciences to technology,
natural sciences and medicine. The conference is
held biannually under the aegis of the European
Association of South Asian Studies (EASAS)
[www.easas.org], a professional, non-profit
organisation of scholars engaged in research and
teaching concerning South Asia with regard to all
periods and fields of study. The objectives of
EASAS are to support and promote South Asian
Studies in all countries of Europe."
URL http://www.arts.manchester.ac.uk/ecmsas/
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
Buzz for secularism, on the dangers of fundamentalism(s), on
matters of peace and democratisation in South
Asia. SACW is an independent & non-profit
citizens wire service run since 1998 by South
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SACW archive is available at: http://insaf.net/pipermail/sacw_insaf.net/
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