SACW | Sept. 8-10, 2007

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire | September 8-10, 2007 | 
Dispatch No. 2446 - Year 10 running


[1] Sri Lanka:
     (i) Elementary, my dear President (Sanjana Hattotuwa)
     (ii) Government Responsibility Not to Put its 
Citizens at Risk (National Peace Council)
[2] Pakistan:
    (i) A chat with well-known human rights 
activist Asma Jehangir on politics in Pakistan 
(Nirupama Subramanian)
    (ii) Pakistan crisis 'hits army morale' (Ahmed Rashid)
[3] Looking Backwards: 1947 and After (Mahmud Rahman)
[4] India's Foreign Policy : Shifts and the 
Calculus of Power  (Kamal mitra Chenoy and 
Anuradha m Chenoy)
[5] India: Pilgrims as hooligans (Ravinder Kaur)
[6] India: Babri Mosque Demolition - Cracks In 
The Liberhan Commission (Chander Suta Dogra)
[7] Hearts and minds - On Parvez Sharma's film about gay Muslims (Jeremy Kay)
[8] Upcoming events:
(i) Documentary Film Screening: 'Resisting 
Coastal Invasion' by KP Sasi (Bangalore, 10 
September 2007) 
(ii) Convention on "Development and Displacement" 
(New Delhi, 11 September 2007)
(iii) Build-up Seminar leading to Youth 
Convention for North Gujarat (Ahmedabad, 16 
September 2007)
(iv) Lecture by Robert Frykenberg "Hindutva as a 
Political Religion" (Uppsala, 9 October 2007)
(v) Lecture by Pervez Hoodbhoy "The 
Talibanization of South Asia: Can it Be Stopped?" 
(Chicago, 31 October 2007)

______


[1]  SRI LANKA

(i)

Montage Vol 1 Issue 9 (September 2007)
published by Counterpoint

ELEMENTARY, MY DEAR PRESIDENT

by Sanjana Hattotuwa

The tragedy of Sri Lanka today is such that the 
government's shrill response to the assessment of 
Sri Lanka's dire humanitarian and human rights 
situation by Sir John Holmes, 
Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs 
and Emergency Relief Coordinator was, 
regrettably, expected - only the degree of the 
petulance was surprising. While the Government's 
war efforts continue apace and North-bound, its 
interest in strengthening and securing human 
rights mechanisms continues to wane.

That this erosion in human rights mechanisms in 
Sri Lanka is taking place with near total 
impunity and in the full glare of international 
actors poses significant challenges for conflict 
transformation. It is argued that the most 
virulent of criticism against NGOs, INGOs, 
humanitarian organizations including the UN and 
international human rights organizations are 
aimed at a local vote base and often only finds 
expression in the vernacular. However, it is also 
evident that calling senior international 
diplomats terrorists in the pay of the LTTE is a 
telling indicator of the complete waste of any 
engagement with this Government on matters 
related to democratic governance, fundamental 
rights and a political settlement to the 
conflict. There is quite simply no one in this 
Government, from the President down, capable of 
or interested in comprehending or responding to 
urgent and significant concerns expressed by 
those interested in strengthening human rights. 
But that's not entirely correct - there is 
certainly a response to criticism of the 
government, but it is one of vehement denial, 
vicious abuse and inane blather. This histrionic 
behaviour is debilitating our democracy. It also 
comprehensively negates well into the future our 
ability to engage in any meaningful conflict 
transformation that goes beyond simplistic black 
and white definitions of and solutions to 
terrorism. Adept war strategists they may be, but 
Mahinda Rajapaksa and his government (well, 
brothers) have as much chance of bringing peace 
and defeating terrorism in Sri Lanka as the Bush 
administration has in Iraq. Both Presidents may 
repeatedly claim to have won the war against 
their respective enemy, yet both are a fount of 
terror themselves. 

In The War as We Saw It, a recent article on Iraq 
in the NY Times coincidentally co-authored by a 
Sri Lankan born US Army Specialist stated,  In a 
lawless environment where men with guns rule the 
streets, engaging in the banalities of life has 
become a death-defying act. Four years into our 
occupation, we have failed on every promise, 
while we have substituted Baath Party tyranny 
with a tyranny of Islamist, militia and criminal 
violence. When the primary preoccupation of 
average Iraqis is when and how they are likely to 
be killed, we can hardly feel smug as we hand out 
care packages. As an Iraqi man told us a few days 
ago with deep resignation, "We need security, not 
free food." Clearly, this resonates with the 
wretched life of many communities in the 
embattled North and East of Sri Lanka and even 
those elsewhere in the country. Two years into 
our own war against terror, all we have to show 
is a fear psychosis and a growing sense of 
anxiety across the country on account of real, 
perceived and fabricated terrorist threats. 
Images of the SL Army in Toppigala perhaps 
purposefully resembling Liberty Leading the 
People by Delacroix and the iconic Joe Rosanthal 
photo of the flag-raising atop Mount Suribachi at 
the end of the Second World War were used in a 
media blitz by the government to demonstrate its 
prowess at waging and winning the war against the 
LTTE. Problem is, Toppigala isn't a symbol of 
liberation or a marker of the establishment of 
freedom and security in the East. At best, it was 
a significant military victory unattainable were 
it not for the paramilitary support of someone 
who is a living embodiment of an antithesis to 
democratic governance. But democracy in Sri Lanka 
is withering on the vine and not just in the 
East. The recent reports by COPE suggest that 
corruption is endemic and the mismanagement of 
public finances rife. However, meaningful 
investigations in bribery and corruption are 
stalled. At the time of writing, the rupee has 
depreciated against the US dollar 13 times in a 
row. News of the purchase of an Aston Martin DB9 
for 45 million rupees by the son of a politician 
is front page news. The APRC, a mechanism that 
this government assured us would deliver a 
political blueprint for the resolution of the 
ethnic conflict, is suspended. People go missing 
and some turn up dead in mass graves. These are 
wretchedly familiar issues of a breakdown in law, 
governance and democracy with significant impact 
on peacebuilding in Sri Lanka. 

And what does the international community have to 
say about all this? Clearly, they have a vested 
interest in securing a lasting peace, but save 
for high profile parachute missions and the 
occasional statement of the Donor Co-Chairs in 
response to a particularly egregious incident, 
statement or development in the peace process, 
they are largely ineffectual. The language of 
diplomacy debars the fullest expression of what 
they may feel and think, but their seeming 
inability to check the actions of the government 
and that of Karuna and the LTTE points to serious 
questions on the role of donors and multi-lateral 
organisations in supporting peacebuilding in Sri 
Lanka. The typical vocabulary of the 
international community (urge parties, deep 
concern, call upon parties to resume talks, 
immediately halt hostilities) is increasingly 
unable to capture the extremely disturbing timbre 
of a democracy in rapid decay. And while 
statements such as those made by Sir John Holmes, 
reports by Human Rights Watch and campaigns by 
Amnesty International invariably help bring to 
light the problems within Sri Lanka to a global 
stage, this attention is short-lived and global 
compassion for a population roughly equal to 
Mumbai of no real strategic interest to the rest 
of the world increasingly difficult to sustain.

This author was recently in conversation with a 
close friend who was nearly gang-raped by 
Sudanese militia whilst managing the operations 
of a humanitarian relief camp. The stories she 
had to say of the utter chaos and senseless 
violence clearly demonstrate that Sri Lanka is no 
Sudan, Iraq or Afghanistan.

Sri Lanka is not a failed State, at least, not 
yet. Its unswerving rootedness to the political 
idea of the State as it is presently constituted 
and governed gives it a strength that is 
ironically deeply challenging to those who 
propose a radical revisioning of our constitution 
and mechanisms of governance. 

Yet revision our state of affairs we must. Rarely 
has democracy resulted in a President and 
government so ill fit to govern a country. A 
Defence Secretary who indulges in death threats 
against Editors, a hawkish President utterly 
disinterested in human rights, Cabinet Minister 
and senior MPs in government who repeatedly, in 
the open and with total impunity, call for the 
suppression of democratic dissent, threaten 
journalists and gag the growth of the freedom of 
expression, a Minister of Highways with a 
penchant for unravelling in a single egregious 
statement years of diplomatic finesse in handling 
international affairs, a Defence Spokesperson who 
regularly lambasts media and NGOs for criticising 
the government and a Minister of Health who made 
some shockingly impolitic remarks at a recently 
concluded international conference on HIV/AIDS 
demonstrate the abominable farce that passes as 
government and governance in Sri Lanka today. 
Coupled with a Chief of Police who justifies the 
eviction of hundreds of Tamil civilians from 
Colombo and a Sinhala media in the South that 
supinely toes the line of the Government, what 
you have is a government, a President and 
moreover, a larger framework of governance that 
cannot even attempt to envision or articulate 
seriously ideas for conflict transformation and a 
permanent political settlement to Sri Lanka's 
violent ethnic conflict.  It is also the case 
that with each professed inanity, this Government 
further erodes the already dwindling of Foreign 
Direct Investment and bi-lateral aid.

We may be a long way from becoming a Sudan or 
Iraq, but we are with equal certainty a long way 
off from the real and meaningful practice of 
democratic governance. With the root causes of 
terrorism unaddressed, a war effort sans a 
political process to address legitimate Tamil 
grievances and a regime under fire from local and 
international rights activists, Sri Lanka faces 
even darker days ahead. It is our shared 
challenge to win this war against terrorism and 
at the same time ensure that in doing so we do 
not ourselves become a mirror image of what we 
are fighting against. Further, a shared belief 
that it is only in and through democracy that 
peace can be attained and sustained is what must 
make us appreciate all the more the urgent need 
to hold to account a government and armed groups 
that stand opposed to us.


  There is no alternative.

(ii)

National Peace Council
of Sri Lanka
12/14 Purana Vihara Road
Colombo 6
Tel: 2818344, 2854127, 2819064
Tel/Fax:2819064
  E Mail: npc at sltnet.lk
Internet: www.peace-srilanka.org

07.09.07

Media Release 1

GOVERNMENT RESPONSIBILITY NOT TO PUT ITS CITIZENS AT RISK

The high cost paid by the civilian population due 
to the latest of the ongoing series of military 
confrontations between the government and LTTE is 
highlighted by the recent incidents that have 
taken place in Silavathurai in the northern 
Mannar district. Over 4000 people have been 
displaced and 20 have been killed, including 
several, including women and children, fleeing 
the area in roadside claymore mine explosion.

The government has justified its military 
operations in the Silavathurai area as being in 
the nature of a humanitarian operation. This is 
similar to the language used by the government a 
year ago when it sent in the army to open the 
irrigation sluice gates at Mavil Aru in the east 
that had been shut by the LTTE. Government 
spokespersons have said they will continue to 
prosecute the war against the LTTE in the north 
in the same manner as it did earlier in the east.

One of the features of the eastern military 
operations that is being repeated in the northern 
campaign has been the utilization of the air 
force to bomb LTTE targets. As aerial bombing 
could kill civilians and induce them to flee 
their homes this is not acceptable under 
International Humanitarian Law.  This war 
strategy takes its greatest toll on the very 
people whom the government claims to wish to 
liberate and rescue from the LTTE.
The current military operations in the north are 
likely to have the same adverse consequences on 
the civilian population in the north as they have 
had in the east. The likely scenario is the 
displacement of thousands of people from their 
homes, the destruction of many homes, total 
disruption of their day to day lives and 
continued militarization. Given the governmentís 
sovereign responsibility not to put its own 
citizens at undue risk, the government must 
resist the temptation to continue its military 
campaign and seek an alternative.

The National Peace Council calls on the 
government and LTTE to cease their military 
campaigns and start a process of dialogue aimed 
at securing lasting peace through a democratic 
political solution that all communities can 
accept. We urge the government to provide 
leadership to the stalled All Party process of 
finding a viable political solution by presenting 
its own problem solving stance and convincing all 
parties of its sincerity.

Media Release 2

Situation of Civilian Population in Jaffna Continues to Deteriorate

The abnormal conditions in Jaffna make it unlike 
any other part of Sri Lanka.There is no road link 
to Jaffna with the closure of the A9 Highway. 
Those fortunate to travel by air are photographed 
and given Temporary Entry Permits after being 
photographed. On the return journey they 
surrender these permits and are photographed 
again before they board the return flight. While 
in Jaffna they are checked often and while many 
soldiers display courtesy towards civilians there 
are others who experience undue harassment.

There is also a continuing shortage of foodstuffs 
and other essentials for living. There are 
constraints on livelihoods, especially fishing. 
In addition, abductions, killings and arrests are 
regular features even during curfew hours and in 
places designated as high security zones. 
According to Amnesty International over 20 people 
disappeared in August alone.The culprits are not 
found. These are some of the concerns of the 
people that the government needs to give its 
priority attention to and speedily resolve.

The implementation of new security regulations is 
adding to the abnormal conditions under which the 
people are being compelled to live. The new 
regulations require all residents of Jaffna above 
the age of 10 to obtain special military identity 
cards. The people are expected to carry these 
identity cards with them at all times in addition 
to their national identity cards. There is also a 
new requirement of family registration which 
includes children to obtain photographs, fill in 
registration forms and obtain certification from 
relevant government officials. Mobile phones and 
bicycles also need to be registered. The 
logistical and financial expenses of these 
exercises are considerable, especially as 
documents have not been provided in the Tamil 
language.

The burden placed on families to ensure that 
their young children carry their military 
identity cards with them is an indication of the 
militarization of society that has resulted from 
the government's strategy.  The administration of 
Jaffna is increasingly under the military instead 
of civil administrators. The National Peace 
Council calls on the government to reassess its 
current strategy of governance in Jaffna and 
place more emphasis on civil administration 
rather than military administration which appears 
to be giving priority to security concerns rather 
than the rights and well being of the people. 
This strategy will in no way contribute to 
winning the hearts and minds of civilians living 
in Jaffna.


Executive Director
On behalf of the Governing Council

______


[2]  PAKISTAN

(i)

Magazine Section / The Hindu
September 09, 2007 

'WE HAVE TO REMAIN THE WATCHDOGS'

Nirupama Subramanian

A free-wheeling chat with well-known human rights 
activist Asma Jehangir on politics in Pakistan.

I think the message coming out of this is that 
the political leadership is out of touch with 
reality. No one can deny that on the streets of 
Pakistan, people were asking Musharraf to go. 
There were slogans against military in politics. 
There was complete clarity in that movement.

Photo: PTI

Fearless voice: Asma Jehangir is a campaigner for democracy in her country.

Asma Jehangir, Supreme Court lawyer and 
chairperson of the independent Human Rights 
Commission of Pakistan, is internationally 
renowned as a tireless activist of the rights of 
women, children and religious minorities; a 
fearless voice against military rule and a dogged 
campaigner for democracy in her country.

In an interview with The Hindu's Pakistan 
correspondent, the Lahore-based Jehangir presents 
her assessment of the complex and difficult 
political situation in Pakistan. Exceprts:

Let's start with the deal between Benazir Bhutto 
and President Pervez Musharraf. How do you see 
these talks between the leader of the Pakistan 
People's Party, the largest democratic political 
opposition party, and a military ruler?

A dialogue is always positive, and if it is 
transparent, and it's for a principle, then I 
believe that it is absolutely essential. But the 
way this whole dialogue has been handled - I 
would prefer not to call it a deal and I hope it 
does not end as one - is the secrecy of it; the 
objective of it.

What is the objective?

To those of us who have been at the forefront of 
a movement that wants democracy, we feel this 
dialogue actually gave the army another lifeline. 
The lawyers' movement (for the restoration of 
Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary) made Musharraf 
feel vulnerable for the first time and to take 
advantage of that would have been correct, but in 
a different way.

Had the political parties all got together and 
said, 'General, you are vulnerable, you have seen 
that people do not like army rule. Let's sit down 
and talk about exit of the army', I think people 
would have welcomed that.

But the manner in which this has been conducted, 
the fact that the ISI chief was the political 
broker in London does not augur well. Benazir has 
just given a statement that even Nelson Mandela 
had negotiations with the apartheid regime. I 
hope she will reread her history.

Nelson Mandela came to negotiations after he had 
broken the apartheid system. He was saying 'now 
that we have broken your back, how are you 
willing to hand over power'. Here, it is, 'now 
that the lawyers have broken your back, how are 
we willing to adjust with each other'. It 
demoralised those who were asking for the army to 
stay away from politics.

Is this a message that the army's role in 
politics is here to stay and the political 
parties have to adjust to it?

I think the message coming out of this is that 
the political leadership is out of touch with 
reality. No one can deny that on the streets of 
Pakistan, people were asking Musharraf to go. 
There were slogans against military in politics. 
There was complete clarity in that movement.

There is an argument that such an understanding 
(between Benazir and Gen. Musharraf) is required 
to prevent chaos; that "undiluted democracy" will 
lead to all sorts of forces rushing inŠ

There is that thinking. But, at the end of it, 
the argument is that a partnership between the 
military and civilians has never sustained 
itself. So what kind of partnership are you 
asking for?

Nothing (that was tried before) worked. Second 
thing is that there are moments in history; here 
is a moment when people in Pakistan have 
categorically said they are willing to come out 
and sacrifice. We have never before heard this 
kind of resentment against the military. This is 
a changed Pakistan. The mood has changed. You've 
never seen the judiciary take on the executive in 
this manner.

Do you not believe Benazir when she says that 
what she is doing is for democracy; that she is 
stripping a military ruler of all his powers, his 
uniform; that this is the best transition to a 
full democracy?

I have no reason to disbelieve her. But I think 
she's being unrealistic if she thinks she can do 
it. And regardless of how laudable her reasons, 
there is a manner of doing it.

When there have to be negotiations, it must be 
between politicians. It cannot be with ISI 
chiefs, or high ranking bureaucrats. The whole 
manner of the negotiations shows who is in 
control and who wants to be in control.

It is unrealistic to think that Musharraf would 
have negotiations with People's Party for giving 
up power. Why would he not want to have it with 
the people of Pakistan? If he is sincere about 
giving up, he can do it on television.

Is Nawaz Sharif the only politician now who 
understands the mood of the people? He seems to 
be saying all the right things.

Politicians always say the right things. We have 
to test them. I believe that activists and civil 
society in Pakistan have a very long struggle 
ahead. We have to constantly remain the watchdogs.

What does Nawaz Sharif's proposed return augur for Pakistan?

If he comes, we would all welcome it. The 
politicians of Pakistan have a role to play here.

But he's not a liberal politician. He is a 
religious conservative. He did not particularly 
like a free media; his civil liberties record was 
poor.

Yes, Nawaz had a dreadful record of human rights. 
And his understanding of the issues involved is 
rather bleak.

So why would you welcome him?

The reason I would welcome him is that I think 
the political leadership needs to be here, and we 
can challenge a political leadership.

In her elements: Asma Jehangir at an anti-war demonstration. Photo: AFP

The very fact that democracy is acceptable to 
people is not because you get pure leadership but 
that the system has its own dynamics.

If there are free and fair elections, and 
anti-Americanism is going to be big factor, do 
you think it could end up strengthening the hands 
of the religious extremists?

Anti-Americanism will be a factor but I certainly 
do not believe that, despite what the Americans 
have done, people are going to stake their lives 
on religious extremism just because they hate the 
Americans. They love themselves far more. 
Pakistan is very different to other Muslim 
countries.

I don't fear that through a ballot, you will have 
religious militant extremists coming in. But if 
you don't have a ballot, there is far more danger 
of this happening.

You were critical of the way the government handled the Lal Masjid issueŠ

It was not easy for the Human Rights Commission 
to take this stand on the Lal Masjid because many 
of our members are confirmed radical secularists 
and we have been against religious extremism, 
terrorism and militancy.

But we believe that if government can use 
excessive force against anyone, they can use it 
for us as well tomorrow.

Well, the government also tried negotiations and 
agreements in the Federally Administered Tribal 
Areas, but that has not worked either.

I don't want to sound negative at all. To combat 
terrorism is in the interests of Pakistan; it is 
crucial for Pakistan. But as an informed citizen, 
I do not know what is happening in FATA.

So it is very difficult for me to make a judgment 
whether they are doing it the right way or not.

I can only say that I know that children and 
women have been killed. I know there has been no 
enquiry. I know this is not a transparent 
operation. I also know that political parties are 
not allowed to have any activities in FATA.

You are actually depoliticising the place and 
pushing the population into the lap of anyone 
there who is able to organise them.

I, as a citizen, can only see that terrorism in 
my country has expanded rather than reduced since 
Musharraf took over, and since September 11. We 
did not have the kind of Talibanisation in Swat 
and Dir and Mardan, and in FATA, even in pockets 
of Balochistan.

There were people saying after 9/11 that this may 
be a blessing in disguise for us. But it 
certainly has not been so far.

It did help to dismantle some camps that were 
operating cross-border in KashmirŠ

It may have helped India but my first concern is 
about my own country, my own people.

Looking back at eight years under Musharraf, 
would you give him credit for anything?

If a Prime Minister does his duty, are you going 
to give him credit for it? I would give credit to 
somebody who has done something positive, for the 
well being of the people. I don't give anybody 
credit for not killing me.

What Musharraf's government has done that needs 
credit is that he did pass the Women's Protection 
Law. It was not passed in the way we would have 
liked it, but it was a step in the right 
direction. Musharraf's government put one-third 
women in the National Assembly. That is something 
we will give him credit for. But I will not give 
him credit for not beating him up.

What about the whole television, private news channels boom?

It was already in the pipeline. And Musharraf did 
not lock it, for whatever reasons.

Do you think any of the others would have made an 
effort to restore Katas Raj (a historic Hindu 
temple in Punjab province)?

These are patchwork. There is a dual policy. You 
cannot wish away things simply by making a 
speech. There has to be hard work behind these 
words. We find a huge gap between what Musharraf 
says and what he does.

Excuse my saying so, people outside Pakistan 
really do appreciate the Musharraf government a 
lot and find that he is extremely liberal. Those 
who have been victims of the wrath of this 
government do not think of him as liberal.

In this last month, there has been a lot of talk 
about 60 years, comparing India and Pakistan. And 
many commentators have raised questions about the 
future of Pakistan. How do you see it?

I would say that Pakistan survives because of the 
energy and the resilience of the people.

The leadership, particularly the military 
leadership - and this is something that people 
have now recognised - has committed mistake upon 
mistake. The country broke up because of them; 
the economy is in a mess because of them; wars 
with India happened because of them; tensions 
with Afghanistan are because of themŠ They are 
the ones who insisted on recognising the Taliban; 
they are the ones who later gave protection to 
Taliban; they are the ones who created divisions 
between the provinces.

The economy is not a mess. Seven per cent growthŠ

Seven per cent growthŠ we can see where that is 
going; to the cronies of the military and the 
military itself. The military is training civil 
servants and the police, they are heading health, 
education and humanitarian initiatives here. And 
nothing works; that is the best part of it.

It has become dysfunctional, the place. 
Musharraf's devolution plan has come to naught. 
The police does not work.

Unfortunately even the military does not work. In 
a country where 150 soldiers have been kidnapped 
and there is no sense of urgency, it's amazing, 
and depressing. Parliament does not work here; 
the judiciary was scandalous prior to the chief 
justice movement.

So what is working? Private schools? That's it.

What is your prediction for the coming days?

It's very difficult to predict what may happen. 
And I'm not saying that if tomorrow general 
elections are held free and fair, which I doubt 
will be done, that we will suddenly become 
worthy, and we will change course immediately.

We have a long way to go, but we have to give it 
direction, and we cannot do it with the military 
telling us how to lay down our policy.


o o o

(ii)

BBC News
6 September 2007

PAKISTAN CRISIS 'HITS ARMY MORALE'

by Ahmed Rashid, Lahore

Protests against Gen Musharraf
'There is widespread public anger against the army'
Ahmed Rashid, guest journalist and writer on 
Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia, reflects 
on mounting political drama and militancy in 
Pakistan.

Pakistan's worst ever political crisis that has 
divided the nation also appears to be having a 
dramatic impact on the morale of Pakistani troops 
on the Afghan-Pakistan border who are engaged in 
the "war on terror" and fighting the Taleban.

Talebanisation along Pakistan's border regions 
has escalated even more rapidly since the 
political crisis began.

As people flee their villages to escape armed 
extremists, the state has been unable to protect 
the population and is rapidly losing credibility 
and authority.

Moreover, the army's insistence that a 
pro-Taleban Islamic party once again be part of 
any future government that may emerge after 
expected general elections will only lead to a 
further lessening of state control, an increase 
in the pace of Talebanisation and further 
divisions in the nation.

'Terrorism Central'

The surrender of an estimated 280 soldiers, 
including a colonel and nine other officers, on 
30 August in South Waziristan to just a few score 
Taleban fighters who blocked their supply convoy 
on the road to the main town of Wana shocked the 
nation.

People have lost faith in the political system 
and in the army's attempts to concoct a new one

Send us your views

The Pakistani Taleban, ostensibly belonging to 
the group led by Baitullah Mahsud, persuaded the 
troops to surrender without firing a single shot. 
The group comprised more than a dozen mid-ranking 
officers, including a colonel.

The militants then split the soldiers into groups 
and took them into the high mountains as hostages 
- much as the Afghan Taleban did six weeks 
earlier near Ghazni to a group of 23 South 
Koreans who were subsequently freed.

A jirga of tribal elders who met the Pakistani 
Taleban for two days returned empty handed. The 
Taleban demanded the release of 10 of their 
prisoners held by the government and insisted 
upon all troops leaving the 
Federally-Administered Tribal Area or Fata, which 
comprises the seven tribal agencies.

After the hostage-taking, the government arrested 
100 Mahsud tribesmen - but was quickly forced to 
free them in order to appease the militants.

The army attempted to cover up the disaster by 
making conflicting statements, none of which 
appeared logical and all of which were 
contradicted by the militants and local tribal 
elders.

The government has banned all journalists from 
the region since 2004 so real information is 
sparse.

Pakistani soldier searching man in North Waziristan
Pakistani soldiers have been kidnapped in the border region

In case anyone doubted the militants' intentions, 
10 Frontier Corps paramilitary soldiers and a 
major were kidnapped in Fata's Mohmand agency on 
1 September, while two deadly suicide bombings 
killed several soldiers in Bajaur agency on the 
same day.

After a US intelligence estimate in mid-July that 
South and North Waziristan had become Terrorism 
Central and were the headquarters for al-Qaeda 
and the Taleban, President Pervez Musharraf sent 
20,000 troops into the region breaking a 
ceasefire and a troop withdrawal treaty agreement 
the army had signed with the Pakistani Taleban in 
2005.

Widespread anger

The Pakistani Taleban are now demanding the army returns to the status quo.

But that is impossible with the Americans 
breathing down Gen Musharraf's neck and 
threatening to attack al-Qaeda hideouts in Fata 
if the army does not move first. However, that is 
looking increasingly difficult.

Many of the army and Frontier Corp personnel 
serving in Fata are Pashtuns, the ethnic group 
that lives on both sides of the border and from 
which the Taleban in both countries originate. 
Pakistani Pashtun soldiers are now loathe to fire 
upon their fellow Pashtuns.

The last time the army attacked Fata in 2004 more 
than 700 soldiers were killed and dozens of 
Pashtun soldiers and Frontier Corp men deserted, 
while some army helicopter pilots refused to bomb 
their own fellow citizens. As a result, Gen 
Musharraf was forced to do a deal with the 
militants that took the troops out of Fata - much 
to the chagrin of the American forces based in 
Afghanistan.

This time the situation is much more serious.

Apart from the Taleban there is widespread public 
anger against the army which could make the loss 
of morale amongst the troops much more serious. 
People have lost faith in the political system 
and in the army's attempts to concoct a new one.

Map
In such a political vacuum it is only natural 
that extremism should grow and the Pakistani 
Taleban face only a modicum of resistance from 
the military.

Gen Musharraf has failed to convince the general 
public that the struggle against extremism is not 
just President Bush's war, but a struggle that 
all fair-minded Pakistanis must wage.

In the meantime, the army is insisting that 
Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who leads the Jamiat 
Ulema-i-Islam (JUI), be part of any future 
government, whether it is led by Benazir Bhutto 
or the ruling Pakistan Muslim League.

The JUI has been the mainstay for the revival of 
the Taleban in both Pakistan and Afghanistan.

With supervision from Pakistan's intelligence 
services, thousands of JUI-run madrassas in 
Balochistan and North West Frontier Province have 
provided shelter to tens of thousands of 
extremists from both sides of the border.

Wider tragedy

As long as the JUI is a part of any future 
Pakistani government it is impossible to imagine 
how that government will be able to move against 
the Taleban.

Thus, by insisting that the JUI does become part 
of a future government, the army appears to be 
directly boosting the fortunes of the Afghan 
Taleban, even as Pakistani Taleban kidnap or kill 
Pakistani troops.

This is only part of a wider tragedy that is a 
result of eight years of military rule when Gen 
Musharraf appeared to be running with the hares 
and hunting with the hounds - following a deeply 
contradictory policy course that has now caught 
up with him and helped plunge the country into 
its present chaos.

Ahmed Rashid is a Pakistani journalist based in 
Lahore. He is the author of three books including 
Taliban and, most recently, Jihad. He has covered 
Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia for the 
past 25 years and also writes for the Far Eastern 
Economic Review, the Daily Telegraph and The Wall 
Street Journal.


______



[3]

Daily Star
8 September 2007

LOOKING BACKWARDS: 1947 AND AFTER

by Mahmud Rahman

When the white crescent on green flag was hoisted 
in Dhaka, as the Raj took leave, I was yet to be 
born. The only family story I have heard of that 
day is that my Dada -- really my Nana, my 
mother's father -- lit a cigarette. He was not a 
smoker.

Lighting a cigarette can have different meanings. 
Some smoke to calm their nerves. Some light up 
after they make love. I was never a habitual 
smoker. Now and then I smoked with friends, 
enjoying their company. One winter I even tried 
cigarettes to ward off cold.

For my grandfather, it was an act of celebration.

There would have been others that day smoking 
with different feelings. For many, their lives 
turned upside down, that day was not a happy one.

I was born in Dhaka seven years after Dada's cigarette became ash.

My hometown, in that first decade after 1947, saw 
a new mix. Houses of many Hindu residents, with 
deep roots in the city, emptied out as the 
families felt pressures, hot and cold, to leave 
for India. Some of those houses, and other newly 
built ones, such as Azimpur Colony, were filled 
by Muslims coming across the new border. White 
men vacated positions of authority. Poorer 
migrants from Bihar streamed in.

My immediate family, on both my father and 
mother's sides, was not much affected. My 
father's roots were in rural Chandpur, my 
mother's in Bikrampur and Narayanganj. My older 
siblings, the children of my mother's first 
husband, had relatives in Pirojpur. We were solid 
Bangals from East Bengal. My father, mother, and 
older siblings' father -- they had settled in 
Dhaka in the '30s or early '40s.

Each had spent time in what was now West Bengal. 
Stories from that other side trickled down in 
conversation. They recalled a life splashed with 
a bit of romance.

In his late teens, my father jumped on boats, 
first to Rangoon, then to Calcutta. The capital 
of Bengal must have seduced him more; he returned 
there for college. He joined the Calcutta Police. 
In 1942, he quit and moved to Dhaka. In his 
twilight years, I asked him why. He said he 
didn't like it there any more. Perhaps it was 
desher taan, the desire for closeness with the 
delta of his childhood. Or he might have felt 
tremors from the volatile mix then churning in 
Calcutta: the pressures on the police from the 
Quit India movement and communal tensions 
swirling in the air. He alluded to resentments 
among colleagues. Meanwhile his heart had found 
other attractions: designing boats, tinkering 
with cars, and the desire to try his hand at 
business.

In my childhood, he spoke of life in a metropolis 
far more glamorous than the small town that the 
Dhaka of that time. This would be confirmed from 
the Calcutta Statesman that we received until 
Pakistan banned Indian periodicals. I learned to 
read English from that paper.

My mother's family had lived across Bengal since 
Dada worked as a school inspector. In her 
stories, one place stood out: Darjeeling. As a 
child, she spent some seasons in that hill 
station, and she spoke of cold and snow, as well 
as the joys of being a Bluebird and being a 
princess in a school pageant. Just as we received 
The Statesman, my Nanibari just up the road read 
the Calcutta Ultorroth. This monthly was popular 
for cinema news and carried an entire novel in 
each issue.

Both my father and grandfather marked Pakistan's 
birth by starting businesses. My father launched 
Pak Motors, a car dealership. The name would 
later attach itself to the local bus stop, 
becoming today's Bangla Motors after 1971. My 
grandfather opened Azad Pharmacy.

With the names they chose, both men appear to 
have welcomed Pakistan. My grandfather chose 
Azad, ('freedom' in Urdu), a word popular at that 
time. My father chose Pak, though not quite 
Pakistan.

The opening of businesses by two Bengali Muslim 
middle class men signalled that they, like others 
in their class, recognized in that moment an 
opportunity.

Both businesses collapsed within a few years. 
Neither man had the mettle for business. In the 
end, both ended up renting storefronts. The 
rentier mentality afflicted the Bengali middle 
class, a group not quite ready for the rigours of 
capitalist enterprise. Though not as bad, it's 
still around.

Still, the two men and their families would 
prosper in the coming years. To some extent, to 
people of this class, Azadi did deliver.

Of course 14 August 1947 was not just a day 
marked with promise. Though officially it was 
independence, we knew it as Partition.

The background to Partition was marked by 
distrust and hostility that exploded into 
unspeakable violence between Hindus and Muslims 
who had long lived side by side. There would 
continue to be riots afterwards, big ones in 1950 
and 1965. A vivid image from that later one stays 
in my mind: Hindu families running through our 
neighbourhood with mattresses on their heads.

I grew up in a household free of communal 
feeling. While I can't be certain of adult 
conversations, I do not recall hearing words 
hateful toward Hindus, or for that matter, anyone 
with different beliefs. My parents shared other 
prejudices of the Bengali middle class, but our 
doors were open to people of other faiths. I 
recall an Ihudi man visiting our house, though no 
one else seems to remember him. Our first doctor 
was Horsho Babu. Nibaron and his fellow 
carpenters built boats, windows, and doors. An 
Anglo-Indian lady Mrs Ellis tutored me in 
English. The larger neighbourhood itself was 
mixed. The land where the Sonargaon Hotel stands 
today was home to a community of Hindu potters. A 
cremation ghat was right across the road, along 
the khal that has been filled up. It was probably 
during the 1965 riot that Hindus left.

For sure, there are believers without communal 
prejudices, but in our home I feel communal 
feeling was absent because religion itself played 
a minimal role. My father's religious practice 
was limited to taking us to annual Eid prayers, 
sacrificing a cow or goat on Kurbani, and buying 
lamps and sparklers for Shab-e-Barat. When I 
reached my teens, my father stopped going to Eid 
prayers. I was relieved since my world outlook 
was then being shaped by a new arrival into the 
house: Unwin paperbacks carrying Bertrand 
Russell's sceptical philosophy.

My mother was slightly more religious, but she 
didn't pray much until later in life. She fasted 
a few times. We were free to join or not. Early 
on, she hired Shiraj Munshi from the nearby 
mosque to provide us with Arabic lessons. But 
soon Shiraj Munshi was wandering the streets 
naked. He suffered from schizophrenia and was 
packed off to Pabna Mental Hospital. When he 
returned, the cycle repeated. Our lessons ended. 
I find it curious that rote memorization of a 
language I did not comprehend still left me with 
one sura imprinted in my brain. Yet despite 
almost having been a math major, I can stare at 
an equation today with no idea how to solve it. 
The brain works in mysterious ways.

My mother was influenced by her father, a 
practicing man of faith. But she filtered out the 
narrowness of his beliefs. In the late 1960s he 
published a book of his travels to Turkey and 
England where he visited his sons. I doubt I read 
the book. In 1965 he had thrown me out of his 
house for wearing a badge supporting Fatima 
Jinnah, the opposition candidate against then 
president Ayub Khan. I returned only when my 
grandmother insisted. About twelve years ago, I 
opened Dada's book, only to be horrified by its 
contents. It was filled with vitriol against 
Hindus and Jews.

My father and Dada were almost of the same 
generation. I wonder how they were shaped so 
differently in their religious and communal 
attitudes. Both came of age in the village. What 
was there in their surroundings that fed 
different spirits? Both worked for the colonial 
government, sharing a loyalist attitude towards 
the Raj. What was there in their work and social 
experiences that led to divergent attitudes? They 
are both dead now. My interest in their makeup 
came too late to probe how they were formed in 
the first half of the 20th century.

Even though 1947 did not directly shake up our 
family, that time saw choices outside that would 
affect our family in the years to come.

After Partition, a young man migrated from the UP 
to accept a teaching job in Dhaka University. He 
was interested in delta landforms. His family 
stayed in India, though after his move a few came 
to East Bengal. The young man did not move 
because he believed in a Muslim state. His 
political leanings were secular and he would 
sympathize with the language movement.

In the mid-50s, my oldest sister became his 
student. Later they married. At the wedding a 
band played the shenai. This would be the first 
'mixed' marriage in our family. My Dulabhai came 
from a Shia family and he spoke Urdu and English. 
The couple built a close relationship negotiating 
differences in culture and language. During the 
decade that followed, they spent several years in 
the U.S. Their two children were born there.

In March 1969 he died of a heart attack in Dhaka. 
Later that year, my sister emigrated to the U.S. 
with her children. They had planned to move when 
Dulabhai was alive. This was a decision driven by 
opportunity, but in the atmosphere of rising 
nationalism, with the possibility of its edges 
turning ugly -- a lesson absorbed during 
Partition -- there was also worry about the space 
for their family in the uncertain future. The 
children would grow up as Americans, and to the 
extent they look at their roots here, they 
consider themselves more South Asian than 
anything else. Perfectly understandable.

The late 60s brought two newcomers into the 
family. Two older brothers married women with 
either roots or relatives in West Bengal.

My younger bhabi, with roots in 24 Parganas, 
introduced us to shuddho Bangla. Until then we'd 
happily conversed in our Bangal dialect. My bhabi 
was appalled at how we spoke. I learned to code 
switch, speaking shuddho with her and Bangal 
otherwise. Without her, I doubt I would have 
absorbed shuddho Bangla into my tongue. Today the 
awe of a 14-year old facing a pretty bhabi is 
long gone, so when we meet now I insist on 
speaking our 'uncivilized' dialect. She isn't so 
amused.

My older bhabi came from Chittagong, with roots 
in Shahzadpur, but she had relatives who chose to 
stay in India. In 1971, that connection proved to 
be a lifeline.

Today the legacy of 1947 we recall most is that 
freedom from the Raj brought new shackles. The 
groundwork was laid for another clash, this time 
a war.

With the crackdown on 25 March 1971, my oldest 
brother rebelled inside the army. The Pakistan 
military picked up my bhabi with her two infant 
children. They were held in Dhaka cantonment, 
later released into my Dada's house. From there, 
they fled to Agartala and later joined her 
relatives in Calcutta.

In April many of us took refuge in Dada's village 
in Bikrampur. Later another brother and I escaped 
to Agartala. While he joined the Mukti Bahini, I 
went to Calcutta. Even before my older brother's 
family arrived, I was welcomed by my bhabi's 
relatives into their Park Circus home.

Though not as bad as the camps, life was 
difficult for most refugees who arrived in 
Calcutta. I recall the trials faced by my 
friends. Housing was scarce. Even when they found 
a room, there was no place to take a bath. I am 
eternally grateful that a family connection gave 
me a place to sleep, eat, shower, and enjoy new 
friendships. The circumstances that brought me 
there were tragic, but otherwise I may never have 
met these generous people. Through them, and 
others in the neighbourhood, the world of 
Calcutta and India opened up to me.

Calcutta was my first big city experience, and I 
was spoiled for life. I was delighted to see 
women on the streets in a way that didn't exist 
in Dhaka back then. I don't know how we behaved, 
but the male gaze there didn't seem to have that 
starved edge that is still prevalent in Dhaka.

In so many ways Calcutta was kind to us. Though I 
would only live there for six months, this city, 
once home to my father for sixteen years, became 
a sort of home to me. I have only visited twice 
since the war, and yet each time, I find comfort 
there. Perhaps another reason is that I fell in 
love there for the first time -- though in 
typical Bengali fashion, I never found the 
courage to voice it.

We would return to a free but ravaged Bangladesh. 
Many, especially Hindus, returned to find their 
homes looted. Some never returned.

This should have been the last time that people 
here would be forced out for religion. 
Unfortunately it was not to be. To our shame, we 
could not guarantee security to the Hindus among 
us. The Pakistani Enemy Property Act would stay 
under a new name, there would be riots again, and 
with Islam declared the state religion, 
minorities would find themselves second-class 
citizens. Confronted by those who swagger that 
this is Muslim Bangla, Hindus still feel 
pressures to leave.

With liberation we undid the new chains imposed 
on us, removing one hateful legacy of 1947. When 
will we put behind us that other legacy of 
Partition that still sees some people forced out 
carrying memories of neighbours turning on them 
in hate?

It would help if we talked about it more. When 
the 60th anniversary of that day just came by, we 
acted as if August 1947 only mattered to India 
and Pakistan, not to us. How so far from the 
truth.

Mahmud Rahman is a Bangladeshi-American writer 
currently on an extended visit to Dhaka.


______


[4]

Economic and Political Weekly
September 1-7, 2007

INDIA'S FOREIGN POLICY : SHIFTS AND THE CALCULUS OF POWER

India's foreign policy is witnessing dramatic 
shifts. The traditional practice of non-alignment 
and the multipolar concept are being replaced by 
new agreements that will lead to military 
alignments with the United States. India is 
moving away from the large formations of the 
non-aligned movement to smaller alliances like 
the India-Brazil-South Africa alliance. This 
would completely shift the strategic environment 
of the south Asian region and have a global 
impact. The Indo-US Defence Framework and the 123 
Agreements are steps in this direction. These 
agreements curb India's independent foreign 
policy and entail increased militarisation, 
greater threat perceptions and instability. 

by Kamal mitra Chenoy and Anuradha m Chenoy

http://www.epw.org.in/uploads/articles/10980.pdf

______


[5]


The Times of India
10 September 2007

PILGRIMS AS HOOLIGANS

by Ravinder Kaur

While Anjolie Ela Menon celebrated the kavadiyas 
in San Francisco through her painting 
appropriately titled Yatra, these very pilgrims 
held Indian cities to ransom.

The pilgrimage of the kavadiyas, followers of 
Shiva, originates primarily in Uttar Pradesh, 
Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Delhi.

The pilgrims travel to Haridwar or Gaumukh and 
bring Ganga water to be offered at the Augharnath 
mandir in Meerut city, Pura Mahadev in Baghpat or 
at any Shiva mandir in the pilgrim's village or 
hometown. The pilgrimage comes to an end on 
Mahashivratri when the shivalingam is worshipped 
by pouring holy Ganga water over it. This water 
may also be used for other purification rituals.

What is worrisome is the transformed nature of 
the pilgrimage and of the pilgrims. What was 
earlier a phenomenon of true piety - bringing 
holy Ganga water down from the Himalayas to 
fulfil personal vows - has today turned into a 
mass, organi-sed pilgrimage with more unsavoury 
aspects than sacredness attached to it.

Even 10 years ago, a kavadiya was a lone pilgrim, 
followed perhaps by another one at a distance of 
several miles. He would usually be barefoot, 
carrying the kavad, a pole slung across the 
shoulders from which vessels containing the holy 
water were suspended. He would walk his way to 
the source of the water and walk back to his 
home, shunning transportation and pampering en 
route.

Modern-day kavadiyas travel in groups, are fed 
and feted by numerous people looking to earn 
religious merit on the cheap. If you can't do it 
yourself, at least feed someone who is making 
this supposedly arduous journey.

The new kavadiyas are full of sound and fury, 
ruling the roads for several days, blocking 
highways and traffic and disrupting the life of 
ordinary citizens. Garish stalls blocking 
sidewalks are set up on the roadsides for the 
night rest and revelry of the kavadiyas; they 
depart in the morning leaving behind large mounds 
of garbage.

These smart, new pilgrims, dressed in loud 
saffron gear and toting cellphones, are happy to 
travel in hired trucks, yelling and screaming 
like Hanuman's army.

Schools in Meerut were closed for six days, as 
the city was held to siege by movement of 
kavadiyas from Haridwar into the city. There was 
arson and looting in parts of north India.

The increased militancy of these kavadiyas is 
akin to that of the Ram bhakts who pulled the 
Babri masjid down and participated in Godhra-type 
carnages. Most kavadiyas are young men. Is it not 
surprising that increasingly large numbers of 
such men are able to take almost a month off from 
whatever productive activity they pursue? Most of 
them are likely to be unemployed rural and 
semi-urban youth.

The holiness of the task to be undertaken allows 
them to obtain the permission of parents and 
provides them with an opportunity to create a 
sense of self-worth. However, the lack of any 
real piety turns this exercise into a kind of 
militant flaunting of religious identity. The 
likelihood of its being exploited by Bajrang Dal 
type of communal armies aimed at other religious 
minorities cannot be discounted.

In towns of north India, the traditional patrons 
of mass religion, of Ramlilas and other religious 
functions, have been the trader class and more 
recently politicians. They are also the sponsors 
of large-scale feasting of kavadiyas. Most 
kavadiyas seem to be OBC or Dalit men. For many 
such youngsters, the path towards upward 
acceptance into mainstream upper caste Hinduism 
has been through association with one or the 
other of the central deities of classical 
Hinduism, Shiva and Hanuman.

The patron saint of akhadas and body builders is 
Hanuman; that of the trishul-wielders is often 
Shiva, the destroyer. There is great scope for 
exploiting such followers for religious vendettas 
apart from the nuisance they pose through 
violating civic space and facilities. We should 
rethink our patronage of kavadiyas before we face 
violence of an uncontrollable sort.

(The writer teaches at the department of 
humanities and social sciences, IIT, Delhi.)


______


[6]

Outlook
Magazine | Sep 17, 2007

EXCLUSIVE: BABRI DEMOLITION: LIBERHAN COMMISSION
Cracks In The Commission
Advani's role begets differences within ...

by Chander Suta Dogra

To charge or not to charge Advani.... That is the 
question that's still vexing India's 
longest-running commission of inquiry in 
independent India-the Liberhan 
Commission-appointed 10 days after the Babri 
Masjid was demolished on December 6, 1992. Even 
as a TV channel suggested that the report is in 
the final stages and ready to be submitted by 
October-end, Outlook has come to know of serious 
differences emerging between the commission's 
counsel Anupam Gupta and Justice M.S. Liberhan 
over the role of the chief protagonist of the 
Ayodhya movement, L.K. Advani. Last week, the 
commission got its 41st-and possibly 
last-extension amidst speculation that only 
lesser figures like Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma 
Bharati and Vinay Katiyar may be indicted, and 
Advani may be let off lightly.

Not just Advani's role, Justice Liberhan and 
Gupta are also said to be in disagreement over 
whether the final report should at all analyse 
the ideological and historical aspects of the 
movement which led to the Babri denouement. This 
disaffection between the duo came to light 
following media reports (widely believed to have 
been sourced from Justice Liberhan himself) that 
the commission's statement was likely to dismiss 
Advani's role as "largely peripheral".

Gupta, the commission's counsel since 1999, is 
now at pains to distance himself from the report 
if its contents are indeed like what has been 
reported in a section of the media (see 
interview). He may be the commission's second 
counsel, but it was only after Gupta came on 
board that the decision to examine the top BJP 
and RSS leadership was taken. Till that time, the 
commission had examined just the journalists 
present at Ayodhya at the time of the demolition, 
some middle-ranking UP officials, and a few 
politicians. Gupta's combative and prolonged 
examination of top parivar leaders like Advani, 
Uma Bharati, M.M. Joshi, K.S. Sudershan and 
Kalyan Singh, besides the then PM P.V. Narasimha 
Rao, did much to enhance the credibility of the 
commission as also raise expectations that its 
report would be hard-hitting. It was also widely 
believed in official and legal circles that Gupta 
would have a major role in the writing of the 
report, as he had managed to get his way in 
expanding the scope of the inquiry and steered 
much of the conduct of the probe. This has 
evidently not come to pass.

When Outlook contacted him, Justice Liberhan 
refused to offer any comments on his report. He 
did, however, say that he is anxious to bring it 
out as soon as possible which could be anytime 
during the current extension of two months which 
ends on October 31.

However, the news that Advani may get off cheap 
while others would be indicted has succeeded in 
stirring up a hornet's nest, as many parivar and 
BJP leaders linked to the Ayodhya movement are 
making their displeasure evident. Katiyar has 
said that the Liberhan Commission should not have 
been set up in the first place and that its 
report was pointless. Uma Bharati, also present 
in Ayodhya on the day of the demolition, is more 
categoric. She told Outlook: "Nobody was 
responsible for the events of December 6 except 
the people who were present at Ayodhya. We were 
all responsible for creating the sentiment that 
led to the demolition and that includes L.K. 
Advani and Uma Bharati. I don't feel guilty and I 
am prepared to hang for it."

What took the commission 15 years to conclude its 
work? Initially, it was bogged down by inadequate 
infrastructure.Then, Justice Liberhan was posted 
first to Tamil Nadu as the chief justice of the 
Madras high court and later to the Andhra Pradesh 
high court, both tenures distancing him from the 
commission's headquarters in Delhi.

Work began in earnest only in 2000 when the 
parivar leadership began to be examined in a 
series of widely reported sittings. Advani, for 
instance, was examined over 10 sittings spread 
over almost a year. His deposition is 191 pages 
long. The last one to be examined was Kalyan 
Singh in 2004-2005. His testimony was crucial 
because despite being the UP CM then, he had been 
evading the commission. The government has so far 
spent Rs 7.17 crore on the commission. It has had 
325 sittings during which over 100 witnesses were 
examined.

If some view the inordinate delay in bringing out 
the commission's report as indefensible, for 
others its efforts of the last 15 years will be 
the most detailed official analysis of the 
Hindutva movement. The question to ask, though, 
is: Will the final report of the Liberhan 
Commission actually make use of the huge mass of 
evidence and testimonies it has collected over 
the years? And will it be objective enough to 
indict all those who were guilty?


______


[7]

The Guardian
September 6, 2007

HEARTS AND MINDS
A controversial film about gay Muslims is more a 
labour of love than a call to arms, finds Jeremy 
Kay


Early on in the More4 documentary A Jihad for 
Love, which receives its much anticipated world 
premiere at the Toronto International Film 
festival on Sunday, a Muslim man and his two 
daughters are enjoying a coastal drive in South 
Africa. It's a happy scene, yet the easy banter 
belies the hardship this family has endured. The 
man, Mushin Hendricks, is a former imam who was 
cast out by his community when he declared his 
homosexuality. The girls' mother has since 
remarried, and when Hendricks asks them what they 
would do if he were arrested, the answer comes 
without hesitation. The elder child, combining 
filial love with the lessons of her Islamic 
education, says she would ask that officials 
spare him a protracted death by stoning, and kill 
him with the first rock.

Article continues
Dignity and despair are woven tightly together in 
A Jihad for Love, a six-year endeavour by Indian 
film-maker Parvez Sharma that explores Islam and 
homosexuality. Without a distributor in the US, 
the film is one of the hottest tickets at the 
festival, and nobody knows what will happen at 
the first public screening. The film-makers are 
hoping it will be received respectfully and 
inspire an open-minded dialogue. That would 
certainly accord with Sharma's approach in making 
the $2m documentary, which eschews the 
shock-and-awe school of investigative reporting 
in favour of a compassionate portrait of devout 
Muslims struggling to reconcile their faith and 
sexuality.

"All the people in my film are coming out as 
Muslims," says the 34-year-old film-maker. "Islam 
is the heart of this film. They are proud to be 
gay, but fundamentally they're coming out as 
Muslims and saying they're as Muslim as anybody 
else, and their Islam is as true and fundamental 
as anybody else's."

Each of the men and women profiled in A Jihad for 
Love is courageous, defiant and resourceful. 
Mazen was one of the Cairo 52, a group arrested 
in May 2001 aboard a floating gay nightclub on 
the Nile. He was beaten, forced to stand trial 
twice on "habitual debauchery" charges, and 
sentenced to a total of four years in prison, 
where he was raped. He eventually moved to Paris, 
where we see him no longer afraid to reveal his 
face, making friends, moving into his own flat, 
and calling his mother in Egypt to say he misses 
her.

Maryam is a Moroccan lesbian in Paris whose lover 
lives in Egypt. The teachings of her faith mean 
she still believes she deserves to be punished 
for her sexuality, and it was only recently that 
she was able to use the term "lesbian" for the 
first time. "Each of the characters you see on 
the screen had to negotiate that relationship 
with the camera," Sharma says. "It has taken me 
years to get to know them and earn their trust."

Sharma himself had a secular upbringing in India, 
where "Islam was all around me". As a gay man, he 
was acutely aware of his country's stance on 
homosexuality. "And as long as I wasn't marching 
around and proclaiming it, things were fine. 
India is a culture that tolerates same-sex 
behaviour between men and women, but it can't be 
in-your-face."

After graduating from university in India and 
working at the Star News channel/NDTV in Asia and 
the BBC, he arrived in the UK to study for his 
masters degree - he holds three - in broadcast 
journalism at the University of Wales. Then he 
moved to the east coast of the US in late 2000, 
and everything changed. "My whole religious 
identity and the colour of my skin became an 
issue," Sharma says. "After 9/11, I was caught up 
in a climate that made gay Muslims like me a 
triple minority: we were facing condemnation for 
being gay as we had done from our own 
communities; we were targeted and ostracised 
because of the way we looked; and even within gay 
communities, we were regarded as exotic outsiders.

"Those forces came together and I felt a 
tremendous sense of responsibility to start a 
discussion of Islam that hadn't been heard 
before. I feel I was called upon to make this 
film. This was very necessary for my being a 
Muslim and a gay man."

Sharma compiled 400 hours of footage from a dozen 
countries ranging from Iraq to Pakistan to the 
UK. The nature of the work placed him at 
considerable personal risk. He adopted hardcore 
guerrilla film-making tactics, pretending to be a 
tourist in one country, a worker for an Aids 
charity in another. Wherever he went, he asked 
friends to keep copies of footage and destroy the 
tapes once he had successfully smuggled the 
masters out of the country.

Sharma admits he thought long and hard about the 
title of the film, and is very clear about its 
message. "A very loud minority has hijacked my 
religion and its pulpits. To see Islam depicted 
every day as a faith of violence is very 
frustrating to me. It's something many Muslims 
face today: do they go with the Islam being 
preached by a violent minority, or do we seek the 
fundamentals of this religion, in which we are 
taught not to harm any human life? Jihad 
represents a life struggle, and I call myself a 
jihadi with pride, and so do all the others in 
this film. Our struggle is one of faith and 
understanding".

· A Jihad for Love will receive its UK premiere 
at the Sheffield Documentary festival, which runs 
from November 7-11.

______



[8] UPCOMING EVENTS ANNOUNCEMENTS:

(i)  Notification from Environment Support Group - Bangalore

We invite you to a screening and discussion of the documentary film

RESISTING COASTAL INVASION
(English, 52 mins)

Directed by K P SASI

After the screening the discussion will be initiated by
T. Peter, President KSMTF & Secretary NFF
and Gilbert, Tamilnadu, Pondicherry Fisherpeople's Forum/National
Campaign against CMZ

Venue: Ashirwad, Opp. State Bank of India, St. Mark's Road,
Bangalore
Time: 6.00 pm
Date: September 10, 2007 (Monday)



----

(ii)

CONVENTION ON "DEVELOPMENT AND DISPLACEMENT"

Dear friends,

You are cordially invited to a convention on 
'Development and Displacement' to be held on 11 
September 2007 from 1 p.m. onwards in Room No. 
22, Arts Faculty, North Campus, Delhi University. 
The convention is being organised by Perspectives 
- a non-funded independent research group started 
by some students and teachers of Delhi University 
in February 2007.

Eminent economist Prof. Amit Bhaduri will release 
a book by Perspectives "Abandoned: Development 
and Displacement" in English and Hindi and will 
deliver a lecture on "Reexamining Development". 
The Convention will have speakers from Orissa 
(which has been the site for many 
anti-displacement struggles) and the Narmada 
Bachao Andolan. Various aspects of displacement 
such as slum demolitions and SEZs will also be 
covered. A documentary film made by Perspectives 
on the issue will also be screened.

We feel that displacement - the loss of land and 
livelihood - is one of the most important 
questions facing the people in the country today. 
It is intrinsically linked with the present model 
of development. We hope that you will help us in 
bringing this issue into the mainstream by 
attending the event.

Date: 11 September 2007
Time: 1 p.m. onwards
Venue: Room No. 22, Arts Faculty, North Campus, Delhi University

For further details of the convention, the 
participant speakers and organisations, the 
program schedule and about Perspectives, please 
find the brochure attached.

  Thanking you
With warm regards
Perspectives

____


(iii)

Dear All,

Approximately 30 organizations met in Himmat 
Nagar on September 1, 2007 to discuss the 
possibility of organizing a YOUTH CONVENTION FOR 
NORTH GUJARAT.

It was decided to organize Lokshahi Bachao Yuva 
Sammelan on Sunday, September 23, 2007 at Auction 
Yard, Khetiwadi Uttpan Bazar, near Vaishali 
Cinema. Moripora, Himmat Nagar, Sabarkantha

We tried to contact as many organizations as we 
could over the phone and e-mails, especially 
those who are working in North Gujarat. The 
following organizations agreed to participate: 
Names in Alphabetic order- ALL INDIA QUAMI MAHAZ, 
Aman samudaya, ANANDI, ANHAD, ASHADEEP, AVHRS, 
Banaskantha Dalit Sangathan, DISHA, Koshish 
sanstha, Lok seva yuva trust, NAVSARJAN, 
Parishram sanstha, Sabar ekta manch , Shree 
sanskar seva sangh, Shree sarvoday kelavni 
mandal, SNEH SAMUDAYA,Urjaghar(manav kalyan 
trust),UTTHAN,YUV SHAKTI, Adivasi Sarvangin Vikas 
Sangh, adivasi mahila vikas trust

The Yuva sammelan will discuss four major themes as under:

       One
a.                    What is Democracy? 
Democratic Values as enshrined in the Indian 
Constitution.
b.                   Assault on Constitutional Values in Gujarat

Two
a.                    Democracy and State's 
Responsibility towards the Marginalized Sections
b.                   Status of Tribals, Dalits and Minorities in Gujarat

Three
a.                    Democracy and Women's Rights
b.                   Status of Women in Gujarat

Four
a.                    Democracy and Globalisation
b.                   The Myth of Vibrant Gujarat

The pre-lunch session will be addressed by only 
youth in the age group of 18-30.

1.       Every participating organization would 
suggest speakers on four broad themes listed 
above. Every theme will have two aspects: the 
first theoretical, covering general idea of the 
topic and second aspect will talk about the 
ground reality in Gujarat. One speaker will cover 
only one aspect of the topic.

2.	All the speakers whose names are 
nominated will come and speak at a seminar on 
September 16, 2007 in Ahmedabad at the Dalal 
Hall, Near Paldi Charrasta, Opp Zaveri Hall from 
10am to 5pm. From all those who speaker best 
speakers will be selected to address the Yuva 
Sammelan.

I am writing to invite you and your organization 
to JOIN the Yuva Sammelan, to attend the seminar 
on 16th and to nominate young speakers on above 
topics to come to the seminar and if selected 
then speak at the Youth Convention on September 
23rd, 2007.

The September 16, 2006 seminar is not an 
examination for the speakers but an attempt to 
groom young leaders and to encourage the youth to 
question and think .

I will not be in Gujarat this week due to prior 
commitments and not near any net connection. You 
may contact the Anhad office- 25500844 and talk 
to Sanjay, Dev or Manisha.

Attaching the poster and leaflet. In case you 
want to distribute the leaflets please contact 
Anhad.

Sincerely

Shabnam Hashmi

_____


(iv) 

Professor Emeritus Robert Eric Frykenberg from 
University of Wisconsin, Madison, will lecture in 
Uppsala University on "Hindutva as a Political 
Religion", on Tuesday 9 October 2007

------

(v)

The 2007-08 South Asia Seminar series and the 
World Beyond the Headlines Series present: Pervez 
Hoodbhoy "The Talibanization of South Asia: Can 
it Be Stopped?"

Oct 31 [2007], 12:00am - 1:30pm
International House, 1414 E. 59th St, Chicago, IL 60637, United States


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

Buzz for secularism, on the dangers of fundamentalism(s), on
matters of peace and democratisation in South
Asia. SACW is an independent & non-profit
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