SACW | Sept. 21-22, 2007
Harsh Kapoor
aiindex at mnet.fr
Fri Sep 21 21:06:46 CDT 2007
South Asia Citizens Wire | September 21-22, 2007
| Dispatch No. 2451 - Year 10 running
[1] Nepal: Communal Violence
(i) Concerned Citizens' - Press Release on the Events in Kapilvastu
(ii) Wake up, prime minister - A look at
Kathmandu's antics from Kapilbastu (Kanak Mani
Dixit)
(iii) Violence in a vacuum (CK Lal)
[2] Pakistan: What became of police officials
allegedly involved in Murtaza Bhutto's murder?
(Fatima Bhutto)
[3] Bangladesh: Limits of satire (Mahmud Rahman)
[4] India - Sethusamudram project: Spineless
secular govt retreats when fundamentalists invoke
mythology
(i) Trumped by a Religious Myth (Praful Bidwai)
(ii) Don't Mix Myth And History (Harbans Mukhia)
[5] India: Equal Opportunity Commission - Is It
Desirable? (Asghar Ali Engineer)
[6] India: No freedom of religion for Muslims in Goa? (Vidyadhar Gadgil)
[7] India: Assault on freedom of expression - A press release by SAHMAT
[8] India: Artists Stand Up For Secularism - Refuse Gujarat Govt Award
(i) Day after Aditi Mangaldas refuses award, her function venue cancelled
(ii) Gujarat: Prominent artists reject awards
[9] India - Police reform and Justice:
- Reform the police mindset (Ajay K Mehra)
- Supreme Court Dismisses Review Petitions on Police Reform
- In India, Rough Justice Of The Mob (Ruth David)
- Waiting For Justice, Hashimpura
- Hashimpura: 20 years later, accused cops
yet to face action (Seema Chishti)
______
[1] NEPAL - COMMUNAL VIOLENCE:
(i)
CONCERNED CITIZENS' - PRESS RELEASE ON THE EVENTS IN KAPILVASTU
We the undersigned demand the government to
immediately set up a special ask force in order
to control the violence that has erupted in
Kapilvastu District since 16 September, to
protect the lives of citizens, and to maintain
communal harmony. We believe that there is a need
for such a task force to immediateiy start work
in the district.
The violence and arson that started with the
killing on Sunday of the Loktantrik Madheshi
Morcha leader Mohit Khan represent a tragic
evolution in national public life. We believe
that the preoccupation of the past few days with
national-level politics has kept the capital city
from comprehending the extent of the damage in
Kapilvastu.
Though we have the figure of 18 confirmed deaths,
the actual number of fatalities and disappeared
is not known in the situation obtaining. It has
not been possible for relief workers to go far
beyond the highway to gather details or to
provide assistance. If the situation is not
addressed effectively, the communal discord that
has erupted in parts of Kapilvastu could well
travel to other parts.
To this day, depending on the place, individuals
from one community are continuing to attack the
property of members of another community. The
neglect of the national government, the
negligence of the district adminstration, and the
inaction of the security forces has been
responsible for the deteriorating state of
affairs.
The tragic events of Kapilvastu, we believe, can
affect communal harmony nationwide, and also
cause a negative impact internationally. In our
considered opinion, the local administrtion is
not capable of controlling the situation, and we
have also found a grave lack in how the political
parties have addressed the situation.
It is for the reasons listed above that we have
called for the immediate formation and activation
of a special task force for Kapilvastu, which
will work on a) investgation, b) distribution of
relief, and c) controlling the situation and
restoring normalcy in the district.
20 September 2007
Signatories:
Dr. Gaurishanker Lal Das
Sushil Pyakurel
Kanak Mani Dixit
Kundan Aryal
o o o
Nepali Times
21 September 07 - 27 September 07
WAKE UP, PRIME MINISTER
A look at Kathmandu's antics from Kapilbastu
ANALYSIS by Kanak Mani Dixit
KAPILBASTU - Seen from this troubled corner of
Nepal, where there has been a massive loss of
life and property since Sunday, the resignation
drama being played out in Kathmandu is
scandalous. The irresponsibility and
self-absorption of the Maoist organisation is
astounding.
Nepal is now a hotbed of a score of mutinies, and
the Maoist attitude is bound to embolden radicals
and opportunists everywhere. It will sideline the
moderates trying their best to fight the tide of
populist mobilisation and inter-community strife.
The state administration is quite absent and
civil society is just navel-gazing as the country
burns.
By resigning from an unstable interim government,
Pushpa Kamal Dahal has actually emboldened the
king. The Nepal Army, unreformed for having
carried on a dirty war on behalf of Gyanendra, is
eagerly waiting for another opportunity to
'serve'. We can thank Mr Dahal for this renewed
ambition.
The Maoists had little thought for the rest of
the country as they sought to tackle their
internal contradictions, the push of hardliners
within, and an expected humiliation in November
polls. Having failed to train the cadre for
pluralistic politics over the previous 18 months,
the Maoists seemed willing to reverse their
journey into open politics as defined by the
12-point agreement.
But despite the harsh words from the Khula Manch
on Tuesday, the Maoists do not in fact have a
Plan B. After all, the 'people's war' was
abandoned because it was not working, and a
return to the jungle will not be sustainable. The
world community would turn quite unsympathetic,
all-powerful India would not be amused, but most
importantly an alert populace would not take to
renewed rebellion as meekly as in the past.
For a while, it seemed the Maoists were willing
to abandon their entire future because of
momentary panic over expected election results.
But the moderates at the helm know that in that
direction lie fragmentation, dissipation and
oblivion. All sensible citizens hope the Maoists
will remain united, the party that will fight
(peacefully) for the underclass as the political
spectrum evolves.
Fortunately, the word out of Baluwatar is that
the comrades might have pulled back from the
brink. Forced to the wall by hardliners during
the recent plenum, accused of having given up on
the revolution, Mr Dahal needed to roar
convincingly and threaten all manner of dire
visitations.
Even as the Maoists sent in their papers,
however, they didn't reject the comprehensive
peace accord or the Interim Constitution. They
remain in the interim parliament and their
fighters are in the cantonments. As we went to
press on Thursday afternoon, Girija Prasad
Koirala had not accepted the resignations.
Much of what's in the Maoist 22-point demands is
the result of governmental apathy and must be
addressed urgently. But with the Maoists shifting
goalposts, the UML and NC were not in a position
to trust the two main political demands for 'full
proportional' elections and immediate declaration
of a republic. The Maoists could have called off
the polls after parliament adopted a republic
resolution.
The Maoists may be satisfied with a declaration
on a republic to be passed by the interim
legislature. That would be the compromise
acceptable to all and would in fact reflect the
overall evolved stance regarding kingship. On the
other hand, the formal goodbye to Nepal's
historical monarchy would be left to a sovereign,
elected, Constituent Assembly.
Tuesday's Maoist shock treatment may have some
side benefits. Koirala could wake up to the call
for a more process-oriented peace where decisions
are less ad-hoc and personalised with delegation
of authority and better communication partners in
government, especially Madhab Kumar Nepal.
Koirala will be a failure as statesman if he
cannot control the country's drift. It takes
gross negligence for a country such as this to be
so fragmented. The Maoists can take part of the
blame, but so must the prime minister. He must
wake up to immediately to restore law and order,
provide services to the people and give all of us
the sense that there is a government.
o o o
Nepali Times
21 September 07 - 27 September 07
VIOLENCE IN A VACUUM
Weak government is leading to an acceptance of violence
by CK Lal
It was only when the Maoists walked out of the
coalition cabinet on Tuesday that the seven party
alliance woke up from is collective reverie. The
NC swiftly remembered the Maoists weren't just
another junior partner in the ruling alliance.
The UML was jolted out of its apathy and
inaction. Other parties realised the fragility of
the peace process.
Backroom negotiations began immediately to patch
things up. If Krishna Bahadur Mahara and his
comrades return to Singha Darbar soon, this drama
will have served its purpose. But all this only
distracted us from the crisis in Kapilbastu,
Rupandehi and Nawalparasi.
The violence that erupted in the aftermath of
murder of Abdul Moid Khan has already claimed 12
lives, the whereabouts of hundreds are unknown,
thousands are taking shelter at temporary camps
in Gorusinghe. While all this was happening, the
party leaders in Kathmandu were playing musical
chairs. Until Thursday morning, no prominent
politician has deemed it fit to visit the
riot-affected region and offer sympathy and
relief to victims of violence.
Khan was related to the alleged gangster and late
parliamentarian Mirza Dilsad Beg, and had been
used by almost all political parties. He headed
the anti-Maoist vigilante group, was associated
with the NC and was active in the MJF. He may
have been eliminated by criminal gangs operating
from across the border. It could have been the
Maoists. Or maybe Hindutva elements.
Whoever killed Khan, it wouldn't have been a
cause for a communal flare-up had the local
administration responded quickly. The backlash in
Rupandehi could have been avoided with a little
foresight and preparation. Local administrations
in Nepal have never been known for their capacity
for emergency response. But the utter failure of
the law and order machinery in the country over
last few months, through Lahan, Nepalganj, Gaur,
and now Kapilbastu, is a national disgrace.
Preoccupied with multiple crises, the prime
minister is unable to pay attention to details.
Home Minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula lacks
stature to inspire a demoralised police force.
But there is more to frequent violent eruptions
than mere failure of policing. It somehow seems
that violence has become the normal method of
articulating grievances against the state.
Part of the blame for making violence respectable
must be laid at the doors of the Maoist
leadership. When ends justify means, anything
goes and morality is the first casualty. Maoists
argue that they had the right to raise arms
against the state because it was not to their
liking. Since revolution isn't a tea-party,
victimisation of innocents was unavoidable.
Jaikrishna Goit and Jwala Singh are speaking the
same language that was once taught to them by
Mohan Baidya.
Violence is also more likely when there is a
widespread belief that state institutions with a
legal monopoly over coercive force are weak or
partisan. When a government is perceived to be
both, risks of lawlessness are much higher.
Unfortunately, most Nepalis don't identify
themselves with the machinery of the government
that supposedly exists to protect, support and
serve the people.
There never was much faith in the impartiality of
officers. Now even their competence has come
under a cloud. So, everybody is taking the law
into their own hands. Fragile inter-community
relations in the tarai show that donor-inspired
NGOs have failed to function as forums of social
aggregation. In times of crisis, DINGOs are no
match even to much-maligned bourgeois initiatives
such as Rotary, Lions, Jaycees and Chambers of
Commerce and Industry. The role must be filled by
genuine civil society, trade unions,
community-based organisations and voluntary
groups to counter the culture of violence.
The best respect we can pay to the victims of
last week's violence is to help create a culture
of tolerance, empathy and peace. Pious words, but
then what are the heavens for?
______
[2]
<http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=72888>
The News
20 September 2007
WHAT BECAME OF POLICE OFFICIALS ALLEGEDLY INVOLVED IN MURTAZA BHUTTO'S MURDER?
by Fatima Bhutto
KARACHI: On September 20, 11 years ago, Mir
Murtaza Bhutto, my father and an elected member
of the parliament, was returning home from a
public meeting on the outskirts of Karachi. He
was accompanied by Ashiq Jatoi, Sattar Rajpar,
Shajad Haider Ghakro, Rahim Brohi, Yar Mohammad
Baloch, and Wajahat Jokhio.
My family and I were not the only ones waiting
for my father. There were 70 to 100 police
officers placed yards away from our 70 Clifton
residence, including several high-level police
officials. Some of the officers were in sniper
positions in the nearby trees. The streetlights
had been shut, the roads cordoned off, and the
guards of the nearby embassies were told to leave
their posts and retreat within their premises.
As the car carrying my father approached our
house, they were stopped by a police contingent.
When my father exited the car, the police opened
fire. All of the seven men were fatally wounded.
My father was shot several times, but the shot
that killed him was fired execution style on his
neck. Ashiq Jatoi was also shot at point blank
range at the back of his head. The victims were
left to bleed without any medical attention - the
aim was murder, after all- under the eyes and
ears of the police officers for half-an-hour to
45 minutes. All of the seven men were then taken
to different locations, none to emergency
hospitals.
My father was taken to Mideast, a dispensary. I
lost my father at midnight that night.
Benazir Zardari was the prime minister at the
time. Her government did not arrest any of the
police officers. Her government chose to arrest
all the survivors and witnesses, two of whom died
mysteriously in police custody. The police
remained free.
In time, they were honourably reinstated to their
positions and duly and doubly promoted. The
tribunal set up to investigate my father's murder
concluded that the assassination could not have
taken place 'without approval from the highest
level of government'. We know what the highest
level of government was then and where the
highest level of government is today but on this,
the eleventh anniversary of my father's
assassination, I want to talk about the
senior-most police officers responsible for the
murder and the various ways in which they were
rewarded for their role in the elimination of Mir
Murtaza Bhutto.
All these men placed themselves at the scene of
the murder. All of these men claimed there was an
encounter; the tribunal concluded forensically
that there was no such thing. It was an
assassination. Here are the facts.
Shoaib Suddle was the deputy inspector-general
(DIG) of Karachi at the time of the killing; he
was one of the most senior officers at the scene
of the crime. In the run-up to the American
invasion of Afghanistan, he was promoted to
inspector-general (IG) and shifted to Balochistan
where he could facilitate Operation Enduring
Freedom. Mr Suddle was on the fast track for
promotion and after he had secured the Wild West
for the Americans, he was made director-general
of the National Police Academy (NPA) where he
chaired the Police Reforms Committee. Shoaib
Suddle, a man charged with murder, handled the
police reforms. He is currently heading the
committee of the NPA that deals with crimes
against women.
Wajid Durrani, alleged to be the coordinator of
the assassination, was the senior superintendent
of police (SSP) District South, Karachi, at the
time of the killing. Mr Durrani, another
upstanding member of the police force, was
promoted to additional deputy inspector-general
(ADIG). You may remember him from recent news
headlines; he is now the DIG Traffic of Karachi
and is being taken to task over some recent
traffic jams. How just.
Rai Tahir, who stopped the car and allegedly gave
the signal to fire once my father exited the
vehicle, was the assistant superintendent of
police (ASP) in Clifton in 1996. He was promoted
to district police officer (DPO) and moved to the
Punjab, where he remains today.
Shahid Hayat was another ASP from the Saddar
district. He was promoted to ADIG, then DPO
Thatta, and is now prowling Jinnah airport as the
Deputy Director of Federal Investigation Agency
(FIA). He handles immigration and passport
control.
Agha Jamil was the station house officer (SHO) of
the Napier police station in Karachi and was
later promoted to work under his old comrade at
the traffic department as a deputy superintendent
(DSP).
If this reads like a laundry list of police corruption, that's because it is.
Shakaib Qureshi was the Superintendent of the
Police in Saddar. Mr. Qureshi absconded from the
country illegally and now lives in London. He is
alleged to have been involved in the killing of
Ashiq Jatoi, who died with a point blank shot to
the back of his head. He is currently working as
a lawyer in the offices of Clifford Chance, a
firm which calls itself a 'truly global' law firm
and counts as its values 'ambition, commitment,
quality, and community'. Shakaib Qureshi has
never returned to Pakistan to face the charges
against him; not everyone is fortunate enough to
have deals crafted in their honour.
Masood Sharif was the director-general of the
Intelligence Bureau, which reported directly to
the office of the prime minister. In Pakistan,
'police intelligence' and 'law and order' are
uniquely ironic oxymoron. Mr Sharif, once he was
honourably absolved of any guilt by the police
department in an internal review, retired from
his post. He was not promoted as such, but Mr
Sharif was absolutely rewarded. He was given a
position on the Central Committee of Benazir
Zardari's PPP. Only the chairperson of the party,
in this case Mrs Zardari, can induct people into
the hallowed and honourable Central Committee.
These are not the only men complicit in the
murder; they're just the big guns (no pun).
These facts are all a matter of public record.
Curiosity impels people to ask about the not-so
hidden hand, the highest level of government, so
I will answer. Asif Zardari, lifelong senator and
current PPP poster boy, now lives in New York
City in the Trump Towers apartment complex on
Fifth Avenue with his dog Maximillian. In a
somewhat magical move, he has been given a
position on the board of the Oxonian Society,
Oxford University's networking organization. The
president of the Oxonian society, a gentleman
named Joe Pascal (joe at oxoniansociety.com),
introduced Mr Zardari, who joins CEOs, captains
of industry, and Rhodes scholars, as a 'Pakistani
political prisoner'. Someone ought to write to Mr
Pascal (joe at oxoniansociety.com) and tell him that
murder cases, narcotics cases, and corruption
cases worth billions of dollars do not make a
Nelson Mandela. I know I will
(joe at oxoniansociety.com). Mrs Zardari resides
between London and Dubai. She plans to return to
Pakistan in one month's time and be hailed as
your next prime minister and Gen Musharraf's new
best friend. Mrs. Zardari is currently being
tried in a Swiss court for corruption. There is
also a case in Spain's courts against her for
corruption - the evidence was unearthed after the
Spanish police were following paper trails after
the 2004 Madrid bombings and came across some
suspicious looking accounts belonging to Mrs
Zardari. Mrs Zardari has numerous corruption
cases lodged against her in her own country.
There have been allegations that she and her
partner stole $1.5 to 2 billion from the
Pakistani treasury. She's on her way back for
round three.
Eleven years later and none of the above police
officers were removed from their posts of duty.
None of the above police officers upheld their
sworn duty, which is to safeguard and protect the
citizens of this country from harm.
Eleven years later they have all been rewarded for their role in the murder.
Eleven years later we have a court case in which
the defence shows no interest because they have
no fear that they'll ever face punishment for
their crimes - how many men and women were
murdered in extra-judicial killings in Karachi
from 1993-1996? Thousands. Check the records.
My father is only one of those victims. They have
killed many more and gotten away with it and they
will kill many more so long as violence is
politically rewarded and injustice is tolerated
by the highest levels of the government.
______
[3]
www.mahmudrahman.com
19 September 2007
LIMITS OF SATIRE
by Mahmud Rahman
On Tuesday, September 18, Arifur Rahman, a
20-year old, was picked up from his Uttara
residence, interrogated by police intelligence,
and then sent to jail. His offense? He was the
author of a cartoon that appeared in Alpin, the
weekly satire supplement to Prothom Alo, the
largest circulation Bangla newspaper in
Bangladesh . The sub-editor responsible for Alpin
was fired from his job.
The government banned the edition of Alpin and
the Law Advisor told a gathering that included
members of the Islamic Oikyo Jote, an Islamist
political party, that there was a conspiracy to
destabilize the government.
The implication was clear: Arifur Rahman was part of such a conspiracy.
The actions against Alpin and Arifur Rahman have
been justified on the grounds that the cartoon
offended the religious sentiments of Muslims.
Why are we a people so prone to exaggerate? So
ready to create storms in a teacup? Anyone who
lives here knows how small our teacups are.
When Prothom Alo, in its Tuesday morning edition,
asked forgiveness for the cartoon, condemning it
as unacceptable, I wondered what cartoon they
were referring to. On Monday morning I'd read
Alpin and tossed it into my pile of old
newspapers. No cartoon in that issue had struck
me as outrageous.
So I went back to pick up my issue of Alpin.
Perhaps I violated the ban order against the
magazine by doing so. Perhaps my duty, under the
law, was to hoist the magazine with rubber
gloves, put it in a polythene bag, and deliver it
to the nearest police station.
When I re-read the cartoon, I remembered laughing
at it. But I don't remember thinking it so
humorous that I forwarded it to friends, what you
usually do with jokes that you really really find
funny.
I can't reproduce the cartoon -- after all, it is
banned. But here's the exchange it depicts. A
tall man in a cap asks a young boy holding a cat,
"What is your name?" The kid says, "Babu." The
man says, "You're supposed to say Mohammed before
a name." And he asks the boy again, "What is your
father's name?" The boy says, "Mohammed Abbu."
Then pointing at the cat, the man asks, "What's
that in your hands?" You can guess the rest.
The same day Prothom Alo retracted its cartoon,
it carried a column by Syed Abul Maksud. In one
section, he remembers the time in the 1980s when
camels first appeared in Dhaka . They were kept
in a field in Kalabagan. It seems hundreds of
believers showed up there to collect the urine of
the camels and take it home with them. They
apparently believed that the camels came from
Arabia and since Arabia was the land of Mohammed
, the camel urine must carry Allah's blessings.
Then the news came out that the camels came not
from Arabia but from Pakistan . That didn't deter
the faithful. After all, Pakistan is to the west
too, not far from Arabia . Finally it was
revealed the camels really came from Rajasthan in
India . Evidently Shamsur Rahman and others wrote
in the press that time that we have retreated
into the Middle Ages.
As this cartoon controversy shows, we are still there.
The newspapers print the names of leaders of
Islamic political parties claiming the cartoon
insults religious sensibility. They apparently
find it blasphemous.
But even if you're a believer, examine the
cartoon. It's not about Islam or Mohammed.
Instead the cartoon depicts a certain sort of
believer and shows a child's bemusement at that
sort of believer. Muslims around the world have
many, many names, yet there is a certain kind of
believer here that a true Muslim name must have
Mohammed before it. The cartoonist didn't invent
this kind of believer - they exist in our society.
It's a strange business, this charge that the
cartoon insults the religious sensibilities of
Muslims. Two things occur to me.
One. Is the belief of the faithful so weak that
this cartoon poking fun at a kind of murkho
believer can shake it? If so, the faithful should
be advised to not read satirical magazines. Or
newspapers. They are bound to find many things
there that might disturb their faith.
And if Prothom Alo really believes what it
admitted, then it should realize that it
regularly prints many things that offend the
sensibilities of some believer or other. The
columnist who mentioned the camel story - he
should go. Perhaps he already has. Many
columnists that used to write regular columns no
longer seem to have a place in the newspaper. And
what about all those photos of women showing
skin? Maria Sharapova should go. I'd never seen
the lady until I came to Dhaka . I'm sure for
every person who buys the newspaper for those
photos, there's someone else who's offended.
Perhaps even the same person.
Two. Many heinous acts are committed by people
using the name of religion. We became independent
in a war that Pakistan conducted in the name of
defending Islam. And how many politicians are
sitting in jail today accused of looting and
corruption who repeatedly went to perform Hajj
and Umrao at Mecca ? In fact the very leaders of
the Islamic Oikyo Jote who met with the Law
Advisor to demand harsh punishment for the
cartoon were part of the same government that set
world records in corruption. That government
mouthed religious words more than any other
government in our history.
One would think that the deeds of such people who
commit crimes while mouthing religious words does
more harm to religious sensibilities. But we
don't see the Islamists ever claiming that.
This isn't the only example here of an odd sort
of faith. Take the greeting Allah Hafez that
seems to have become so beloved by some people
here. I remember hearing it first on a Bangladesh
Biman flight in 1995. I wondered then where it
came from.
It turns out it is not even a result of
Bangladeshi Muslim creativity. It was imported
from Pakistan .
Many Muslims have for long been saying goodbye
with "Khoda Hafez." The greeting is Persian in
origin and has a long history in the
subcontinent. Some geniuses in Pakistan one day
realized that Khoda is Persian. Believing that
Arabic is God's closest language -- ignoring what
this means about a universal being reigning over
a planet rich with hundreds of languages -- they
changed Khoda to Allah. But they kept Hafiz, the
other half of the greeting, in Persian. Now we
have a half Arabic, half Persian greeting. These
geniuses in Pakistan also did not seem to realize
that Allah is not a word unique to Muslims. I
understand that Allah is simply Arabic for God.
Arabs who believe in some sort of God call that
deity Allah, whether they are Christian or Muslim
or something else.
And what of our 'moderate Muslim' liberals? Faced
with the first blast from the self-appointed
guardians of faith, they caved in. Shame on
Prothom Alo. Either they are too worried about
drops in their circulation or they really believe
in their actions. In either case, they have
stepped away from the fight against ignorance or
the need to defend freedom of the press. They
have put their feet on a slippery slope. Now
watch what new demands come their way.
The honorable thing for the newspaper to do, if
they really wanted to recognize the opinion of
the critics, would have been to publish their
statement explaining why they found the cartoon
offensive. The critics should have had to
explain, not simply assert. And they needed to
give it as their opinion and not something in the
name of multitudes or an entire religion.
The honorable thing for the government would have
been to ignore the affair as unworthy of official
attention, urge the hotheads to calm down, and
leave the matter, if it deserved, as something
that can be debated in the press, without resort
to bans and arrests.
The last word: Arifur Rahman deserves to be freed.
______
[4] India - Sethusamudram project: Spineless
secular govt retreats when fundamentalists invoke
mythology
(i)
The News International
September 22, 2007
TRUMPED BY A RELIGIOUS MYTH
by Praful Bidwai
India's United Progressive Alliance came to power
in 2004 on a secular platform. But it has now
beaten an ignominious retreat on the Ram Setu
(Adam's Bridge) issue pertaining to the proposed
Sethusamudram ship-canal project in the Palk
Straits by caving in to the Sangh Parivar.
Having told the Supreme Court through an
affidavit filed by the Archaeological Survey of
India (ASI) that there is no clinching evidence
that the shoal/sandbar structure in the Gulf of
Mannar was built by Lord Rama's followers, it
executed a U-turn as soon as it sensed that the
Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bharatiya Janata Party
might exploit it by misconstruing it as
"anti-Hindu."
The Sangh Parivar contends that the affidavit
denies Ram's existence and constitutes
"blasphemy" and an "insult to the Hindus." As L K
Advani claimed, "the government has sought to
negate all that the Hindus consider sacred Š and
wounded the very idea of India."
Following media spin, some secular liberals too
wrongly described the affidavit as overreaching
or tactless because it callously "denies Ram's
existence, goes beyond saying that the Setu is a
natural formation, and comments on the
historicity of sacred texts like the Ramayana and
Tulasidas's Ramacharitamanas.
However, a close look shows that the affidavit
merely rejects the view that such texts are an
incontrovertible historical record which proves
that the Setu is a man-made structure. The ASI
had to say this because the communal petitioners
moving the court relied primarily on the Ramayana
and Ramacharitamanas as clinching evidence that
the Setu was man-made.
Leaving that contention unrefuted would have
meant giving in to the idea that faith must
always trump history, archaeology, even geology
-- which explains the existence of natural
formations like Adam's Bridge -- and accepting
that the project must be scrapped because of
myths and scriptures, not fact.
Yet, the affidavit is extremely deferential to
the scriptures: "The ASI is aware of and duly
respects the deep religious import bestowed upon
these texts by the Hindu community across the
globeŠ" Yet, it argues that no material evidence,
such as human remains or other artefacts, has
been discovered at the site, which would
corroborate the mythological account.
It also quotes studies by the Space Applications
Centre, Ahmedabad, which "conclusively" show that
the Setu formation is purely natural, and says
that the imagery collected by the US National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
cannot be interpreted as "proof" of a man-made
structure. NASA itself has clarified that remote
visual images cannot prove or disprove this.
Historians also concur that the Setu cannot be
considered a man-made entity because no material
evidence to authenticate this has been found.
That's not all. A Geological Survey of India
study around Adam's Bridge, based on drilling
holes into submerged rocks, also found "no
evidence" of man-made structures. It revealed
three cycles of sedimentation of clay, limestone
and sandstone -- a natural phenomenon which
occurred thousands of years before humans settled
in peninsular India.
The ASI succinctly summarised all this. It could
have been more diplomatic in wording its
affidavit. But it's doubtful if that would have
satisfied those opposing the project on grounds
not amenable to reason or scientific debate.
Yet, the mere threat of an agitation by the Sangh
Parivar against disturbing the Setu through the
canal project so unnerved the government that it
abjectly apologised for the affidavit. Law
Minister H R Bhardwaj said: "Lord Rama is an
integral part of Indian culture and ethos Š and
cannot be a matter of debate Š His existence
can't be put to the testŠ The whole world exists
because of Rama."
Bhardwaj got melodramatically poetic: "Just as
the Himalayas are the Himalayas, the Ganga is the
Ganga, Rama is RamaŠ It's a question of faith.
There is no requirement of proof" for such faith.
The same Bhardwaj was minister of state for law
in the mid-1980s, and advised Rajiv Gandhi to
commit two acts of "appeasement" within one
month: first, open the gates of the Babri Masjid
and trigger a communal mobilisation, and second,
amend laws to annul the Shah Bano verdict. These
disastrous moves alienated the Congress from both
communities, and ensured the BJP's meteoric rise
from a mere two Lok Sabha seats in 1984 to 89 in
1989. The rest is history.
Last week too, the UPA cravenly capitulated to
the VHP-BJP's bullying, without making even token
criticism of their gross distortion of the ASI
affidavit. Instead, it started looking for
scapegoats within -- the ASI's senior directors
and Culture Minister Ambika Soni. All that made
the UPA change its mind was a few VHP marches in
one day!
The UPA's disgraceful U-turn buoyed up the Sangh
Parivar, which has been in ideological and
organisational disarray, as evidenced by new
power struggles within the BJP, and growing
tensions between it and the VHP/RSS.
It's a sign of the relative acceptance that
soft-Hindutva continues to enjoy among the Indian
elite that the UPA's appeasement of the Parivar
has attracted very little criticism from the
mainstream media. Perhaps many liberals felt
relieved that the UPA quickly defused the crisis
by withdrawing the ASI affidavit, thus preventing
another hysterical mobilisation on a
religious-political issue.
Whatever the reason, such passivity doesn't bode well for Indian society.
Three conclusions follow. First, this episode
demonstrates the UPA's weak-kneed response to
majoritarian communalism rather than the strength
of the popular sentiment on the Ram Setu issue,
which is, if anything, diffuse. The UPA simply
didn't have the stomach to assert the relevant
scientific-historical arguments in self-defence.
By caving in to the Parivar, it legitimised the
communal claim that there's an overwhelming
"Hindu sentiment" on the Ram Setu.
In reality, the Hindus are an extraordinarily
complex, large and diverse community. Hindu myths
and legends about Rama and Ravana differ widely
not just between the North and the South, but
within the regions too. Any view that
artificially homogenises this diversity distorts
reality.
Indeed, it's doubtful if many devout Hindus even
know about the Setu -- just as most of them
probably hadn't even heard of Ram Janmabhoomi
until the Sangh Parivar launched its agitation
after the Babri Masjid's gates had been unlocked.
In any case, one doesn't have to believe in the
Setu's historicity to be a good Hindu.
Second, it's simply false to argue that to be
"authentic," Indian secularism must be rooted in
the culture of the religious majority, and that
such culture must include myths and scriptures,
while excluding archaeology, history and science.
Secularism involves the basic separation of
religion and politics. In the Indian case,
secularism derives as much from universal
citizenship cutting across religious lines, as
from the imperative of tolerance and
inter-communal harmony.
Finally, by capitulating to the Parivar, the UPA
has violated the Constitutional mandate to uphold
secular values and not to privilege a particular
religion or belief system. This mandate is part
of the Basic Structure of the Indian
Constitution. It dictates that decisions about
development projects should be taken on social,
environmental and economic grounds, not
mythological ones.
Each time the Indian state bends to
fundamentalist pressure, it compromises itself,
and allows public reason to be trumped by
religious belief or private prejudice. This isn't
the mark of a society that aspires to modernity,
tolerance and pluralism.
The writer is a Delhi-based researcher, peace and
human rights activist, and former newspaper
editor.
o o o
(ii)
The Times of India
21 September 2007
DON'T MIX MYTH AND HISTORY
by Harbans Mukhia
In some ways the controversy about whether Ram
actually existed or is a character imagined in a
work of fiction takes us back to debates on
history in the 19th and a major part of the 20th
century. Then the positivist school saw history
as an exact science, or at least as having
pretensions of being an exact science. It was
based on the assumption that the facts of history
were as precise and objective as those of the
natural sciences and were capable of yielding as
unambiguous a meaning. In so doing history was
set apart, even set in opposition, to mythology
which had no basis as an objective reality.
If the question is posed to a historian or an
archaeologist whether Ram actually existed as a
historical figure and whether events narrated in
the epic Ramayana are to be treated on a par with
objective facts, the answer would be a resounding
no. The Archaeological Survey of India's famous
paragraph submitted in its report to the Supreme
Court cannot be faulted on this count.
Historians and archaeologists look for a certain
kind of evidence such as historical chronicles,
epigraphs, coins and monuments and have a close
look at the chronological proximity of the
evidence to the events to which they bear
witness. The further a piece of evidence from the
event is located, the less its value. No evidence
of this nature would testify to the historical
existence of the figures and events described in
epics, just as names, persons, events described
in a novel, however realistic, are still
imaginary.
However, does it imply that mythology, epics and
novels are to be dismissed as unreflective of any
kind of reality because the nature of historical
evidence does not bear out their existence? Under
positivist assumptions, yes. But then positivism
itself is far from being the ultimate truth and
has suffered severe questioning in recent
decades. Mythology, fiction, poetry and paintings
relate to a different genre of reality, that
could for convenience be grouped under culture,
of which religion also becomes an important
segment, even as the two are far from being
synonymous.
In that sense culture and mythology too acquire
the characteristics of an objective social
reality, which governs our attitudes and
behaviour. The cultural presence of Ram in India
is quite beyond measure in terms of objective
history.
Even those of us who are devout atheists do not
forget to light the lamps on the night of Diwali
when the mythological Ram returned from his
imaginary exile of 14 years, however we might
explain it. The stories from the Ramayana,
Mahabharata and various other mythological
sources imbibed in our childhood remain part of
our cultural subconscious, even when we turn away
from them in defence of our atheism.
It is also true that there is not one story of
Ram and his exile, but several. We only have to
see Paula Richman's marvellous book, The Many
Ramayanas, to appreciate the diversities in the
tale. However, the treatment of Ram as a
mythological, rather than a historical figure,
does not in any way undermine his cultural
presence in people's lives.
We just have to look around and see the
variations of Ram attached to the names of
persons, mostly of men, but often also of women,
to make a quick assessment of the enormity of his
cultural presence. If he were indeed a historical
figure, ruling over a minor regional kingdom in
Ayodhya, Ram would probably have been relegated
to a footnote in a history of the region and
forgotten.
Should then this enormous cultural presence of
Ram be treated as evidence that the so-called Ram
Setu across the sea was actually built by his
vanar sena? That would hardly be a tenable
inference. For, mythology by its very nature is
not evidence of historical artefacts, just as the
notion of a pushpak vimana in the
Ramayana is hardly evidence of a flourishing
aircraft industry in the time of Ram. How does
the secular Indian state handle issues of this
nature? Here it becomes entirely a political
question, completely independent of the issues of
Ram's historicity or otherwise. One political
party, when in power, sanctions the canal project
with great fanfare; out of power it smells an
opportunity to get rid of its present doldrums,
rattle the government and create a popular wave
in its favour. All it needs to do is to stage a
few demonstrations and TV channels and newspapers
lap them up.
The Indian electorate has shown on several
occasions that it is not willing to be swayed by
issues of this nature. Remember the defeat of the
BJP in the Hindi belt in the wake of the
demolition of the Babri masjid? If the UPA
government has the will to call the sangh
parivar's bluff on Ram Setu, it could still go
ahead with the project after satisfying the
Supreme Court. But the government went down on
its knees even as the first few pictures of a few
score protestors appeared on the TV screens. It
was Indian democracy at its worst.
(The writer was a professor of history at JNU.)
______
[5]
Secular Perspective
September 16-30, 2007
EQUAL OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION - IS IT DESIRABLE?
by Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer
The Sacchar Committee Report also recommends
setting up of an equal opportunity commission to
redress many of grievances minority community
has. The Report says, " The Committee recommends
that an Equal opportunity Commission (EOC) should
be constituted to look into the grievances of the
deprived groups."
Explaining the need for such a commission the
Report says, "It is wrong to assume that there is
an inevitable conflict between the interests of
majority and minority communities in the country.
This is flawed reasoning and assumption." It
further continues, "Deprivation, poverty and
discrimination may exist among all SRCs
socio-religious categories) although in different
proportions. But the fact of belonging to a
minority community has, it cannot be denied, an
in-built sensitivity to discrimination. This
sensitivity is natural and may exist among
religious minorities in any country."
The Report, therefore, goes on to say,
Recognizing this reality is not pandering to the
minorities, nor sniping at the majority. This
recognition is only an acceptance of reality --
It is in that context that the Committee
recommends that an Equal Opportunity Commission
(EOC) should be constituted by the government to
look into the grievances of the deprived groups."
The Sacchar Committee derives its model from U.K.
which has Race Relations Act, 1976. "While
providing a redressal mechanism for different
types of discrimination, this will give a further
re-assurance to the minorities that any unfair
action against them will invite vigilance of law."
The Sacchar Committee Report, however, does not
go into details of nature and structure of EOC.
It has left it to be worked out by the government
and its machinery. The Committee has also not
thrown any light as to how will it differ from
National Minorities Commission (NMC) in function
as well as in structure. It is also not clear
whether both i.e. EOC and NMC will exist together.
We can meanwhile make some suggestions in this
respect. NMC, everyone knows, is hardly effective
and has not succeeded in achieving its purpose.
Its reports are not even tabled in Parliament and
these reports are in no way binding to the
Government of India. The people do not even come
to know when the NMC submitted its report and
what are its contents. Its reports are not even
properly publicized.
Equal Opportunity Commission, on the other hand,
as its name itself indicates can be very
effective legal instrument to ensure that
minorities should be ensured equal opportunities
along with the majority in the country. In
democracy all citizens, irrespective of their
caste or creed or sex should have equal
opportunities and our Constitution clearly
provides for equal opportunities but it has never
been observed in practice.
Despite constitutional provisions blatant
discrimination has been practiced against
minorities. And NMC is also toothless tiger and
is unable to check these discriminatory practices
in society. And in order for minorities to have
sense of fair play and be sure of inclusiveness,
EOC is badly needed indeed.
With greater literacy and awareness minorities
are becoming more and more demanding and
assertive of their rights. No democratically
elected government can be insensitive to these
demands. The universities are also starting new
departments on exclusion and inclusion so that
students can be sensitized to neglect of
minorities and lower castes. This will further
enhance awareness among minorities of being
excluded from developmental processes.
India's fast growing economy is throwing up great
deal of opportunities for jobs and
entrepreneurship and if certain sections of
population feels left out it can give rise to
acute social tensions. These tensions can be
smoothened out only if the aggrieved people have
legal tool available to them to get their
grievances redressed. It would have been much
better if Sacchar Committee had spelled out as to
what could be structure of the EOC. But we can
say it would be an effective legal tool available
to aggrieved minority person or persons for
redressal of any grievance.
Besides U.K's Race Relations Act several other
countries also have such legal instruments
available like the USA. The US has Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission. If it is
proved that a minority person has been
discriminated against in employment, he/she can
complain and an investigation will be ordered and
if discrimination is proved, he/she will be
awarded due compensation.
It will be interesting to quote from Section 10
of EEOC. The African Americans, Hispaniacs and
others are paid less than what white persons get
for the same job. Median earnings for African
Americans working at full time jobs were 75.9% of
the medians for whites. The median earnings of
Hispaniacs were 65.9% of the medians for whites
and 86.8% of the median African Americans. There
is also evidence that median earnings for
individuals with disabilities are significantly
lower than median earnings for individuals
without disabilities.
Thus it can be seen that there is concrete
measurement of discrimination in employment which
the equal opportunity in employment commission is
supposed to redress. Similarly if a particular
community or caste is left out in employment
opportunities legal redressal could be ensured
through such commissions. It is a well-known fact
that minorities are being discriminated against
in employment of all categories from highest to
the lowest.
It is also a known fact that Muslims and lower
castes are not able to find accommodation in
housing societies in big cities like Mumbai.
Mumbai has been ghettoized and polarised in terms
of 'castes and communities. Muslims find it
nearly impossible to find accommodation in upper
caste Hindu localities.
USA has a law to that effect too. The sec. 805.
{42 U.S.C. 3605} Discrimination in Residential
Real Estate-Related Transactions. (a) it shall be
unlawful for any person or other entity whose
business includes engaging in residential real
estate-related transactions to discriminate
against any person in making available such
transaction, or in the terms or conditions,
because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap,
familial status, or national origin.
(b) It defines "residential real estate-related
transaction which includes making or purchasing
loans or providing other financial assistance for
purchasing, improving, repairing, or maintaining
a dwelling or secured by residential real estate.
India is far from such legislations. It is a
well-known fact that Muslims and Dalits find it
extremely difficult to secure bank loans or loans
from any housing agencies. They are not
considered as credit worthy at all and
authorities demand collaterals as guarantee
though they know the economically weaker sections
cannot provide such collaterals. Though Sacchar
Committee has recommended that Muslims be made
available bank loans but even Reserve Bank and
State Banks are resisting such demands.
Denmark too which has been recently in news for
notorious cartoon controversy, has provisions for
eradication of religion or race based
discriminations. The Board for Ethnic Equality
monitors Danish legislation, and the
Documentation and Advisory Center on Racial
Discrimination assists individual victims of
racial and religious discrimination.
The Danish Parliament approved the first
prohibition against hate speech in 1939, however,
the wording was changed in 1971 in connection to
the ratification of the UN Convention on the
Elimination of All forms of Racial Discrimination
(ICERD). Also, in 1971, the Act on Racial
Discrimination was passed by Parliament, stating
that a person commits a punishable offence if,
while performing occupational or non-profit
activities, he refuses to serve person the same
conditions as others, due to that persons' race,
color national or ethnic origin, or creed. The
maximum penalty was specified as being a fine or
simple detention or imprisonment for up to six
months.
European countries are facing problems of racial
or religious discrimination as people of Asia and
Africa have been migrating to these countries in
post-colonial era and they are legislating to
ward off such discriminations. In India it is not
the question of migration from other countries
but minorities of Indian origin which have been
living for centuries along with the majority
community.
In a democracy such discriminatory practices
cannot go on without creating serious political
problems. The very fact that government of India
had to appoint the Sacchar Committee to go into
problems of Muslims proves this. But it should
not remain mere elections gimmick but its
recommendation should be concretely implemented
to give substantial relief to minority community.
Of all the recommendations constitution of EOC
seems to be most urgent with proper legal powers
for the commission so that all discriminatory
practices against Muslims get minimized.
(Centre for Study of Society and Secularism, Mumbai.
E-mail: csss at mtnl.net.in)
______
[6]
Gomantak Times (Panjim)
21 September 2007
NO FREEDOM OF RELIGION FOR MUSLIMS IN GOA?
by Vidyadhar Gadgil
The Constitution of India has enshrined the Right
to Freedom of Religion as one of the fundamental
rights. This right, covered in Articles 25-28,
provides religious freedom to all citizens of
India. All religions are equal before the state
and citizens are free to preach, practice and
propagate any religion of their choice.
Do we have genuine freedom of religion in Goa
today? An objective look would show even the
least discerning observer that this fundamental
right is indeed available to the citizens in
Goa-if they are Hindus or Christians! If they are
Muslims, on the other hand, this right is being
systematically denied to them. This pattern has
become particularly obvious in South Goa, where
in numerous cases the right of Muslims to
practice their faith is sought to be denied to
them. The attempts to thwart the fundamental
rights of Muslims have included cases where they
have been denied the permission for a burial
ground, those where they are prevented from
praying in their own premises, and others where
they are not allowed to build structures for
religious education.
The most notorious case, in Guddemol, led to the
first organised communal violence in Goa in March
2006. The Muslim community in Guddemol had built
a structure to be used as a madrasa where
religious education could be imparted to the
children of the community. It was alleged that
this structure was illegal, and that it was
actually meant to be a masjid. The Sanvordem
panchayat ordered that it be demolished, in
response to which the Muslim community obtained a
stay order from the Director of Panchayats.
Despite this, the structure was attacked and
damaged. A rightful and perfectly legal protest
by the Muslims of Goa at this act was construed
as 'provocation', and communal violence was
instigated by means of systematic
rumour-mongering.
The whole issue was sought to be diverted into an
argument on the legality of the structure. There
has been no protest about the 'illegal' temple
within a stone's throw of the 'disputed
structure' -- after all this temple is a place
of worship of Hindus. Goa is dotted with legally
dubious religious structures of all religious
communities, but it is only the Muslim structures
that are targeted.
Today the position in the Guddemol case is that
the Director of Panchayats has ruled in favour of
the Muslim community, and ordered that the
structure be repaired at the cost of the
respondents. But the Muslims of Guddemol, living
in an atmosphere of fear and intimidation, are
scared to pursue the matter, fearing reprisals.
Similar events have been unfolding all over Goa.
Recently, there have been two major disputes, one
in Curtorim and one in Chinchinim. In Curtorim, a
Muslim garage owner and his Muslim employees were
saying their prayers in the garage, as the
nearest mosque is a considerable distance away.
The MLA of Curtorim, Reginaldo Lourenco, saw fit
to march to the garage with fifty supporters in
tow, alleging that an attempt was being made to
construct a mosque. After protracted
negotiations, the garage owner was forced to
agree that only his workers would be allowed to
say their prayers in the garage, and that no
'outsiders' would be permitted.
Nearly every Hindu and Christian house in Goa has
a shrine or altar of some kind where prayers are
said. The owner of the house can, of course, pray
there with whomsoever he wants. But when Muslims
do the same thing, there is a furore and the
Muslims are forced into a patently unfair
agreement.
In Chinchinim, prayers were being said in a house
owned by a Muslim organisation. It did not take
long for various allegations to surface, and
tension began to rise. The issue is hanging fire
at this very moment, and politicians are rushing
to fish in these troubled waters.
In another outrageous case, the legitimate demand
of the Muslims of Margao and South Goa for a
burial ground, in addition to the current one
(which is grossly inadequate to meet the demand),
is being denied. There can hardly be a more basic
right than disposal of the dead according to the
tenets of one's faith. But bad luck-these are
Muslims! The CM of Goa, Digambar Kamat, had even
promised in his 2004 election manifesto that he
would provide a burial ground to the Muslim
community. They have knocked on every door to get
this demand fulfilled, but there is no
discernible progress to date.
The Hindu right-wing is quick to jump on every
attempt by the Muslim community to assert their
religious rights. A fear psychosis about mosques
has systematically been created-the chief of the
RSS in Goa, Subhash Velingkar, wrote just a few
days after the Sanvordem-Curchorem communal
violence that all mosques are repositories of
illegal weapons!
Unfortunately, the Christian community is also
falling prey to such a mentality. The so-called
'global war on terror' is being waged by the US
President, George Bush, as if it were a war on
Islam and Muslims. This kind of thinking has
influenced the Christian community and turned
them against Muslims, to the extent that in many
cases Christians have been at the forefront of
attempts to deny Muslims their religious rights
in Goa.
Freedom of religion means nothing if it does not
mean the right to practice one's faith without
fear. It has no substance if all attempts to
acquire the facilities and spaces for this
practice are systematically denied. In such a
situation, what conclusion can a beleagured
community come to when they see other communities
getting away with the most blatant illegalities
in the name of religion, and their own legal
attempts thwarted at every turn? Can they really
be blamed if they feel discriminated against and
resentful?
It is high time that the Government of Goa comes
out with a clear policy which ensures that all
communities are allowed to practice their
religion without fear, and ensures that land and
facilities are made available to all legitimate
claimants for this purpose, without
discrimination against any particular community.
If one group is denied its basic rights, we are
all the losers.
______
[7]
ASSAULT ON FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
SAHMAT
8, Vithalbhai Patel House, Rafi Marg
New Delhi-110001
Telephone- 23711276/ 23351424
e-mail-sahmat at vsnl.com
21.9.2007
PRESS STATEMENT
The Delhi High Court decision to sentence the
journalists of Midday newspaper to four months
imprisonment after holding them guilty for
contempt of court raises very serious questions.
The story for which the court has found them
guilty was regarding the professional misconduct
of former Chief Justice of India, Y K Sabharwal.
The Constitution of India provides for a
fundamental right of expression to all citizens
of the country, which is applicable to the media
as well. The High Court decision to sentence the
journalists for contempt has to be viewed in this
perspective.
Anybody who has held a public office is
accountable, no matter how powerful the
individual maybe.
Doubts on several judgements given by former
Chief Justice, Y K Sabharwal, have been raised by
eminent jurists, who have demanded a thorough
probe so that the truth could be brought before
the people of the country. This demand should be
supported by all democratic minded people in the
country.
Some of the judgements under discussion given by
Mr Sabharwal have affected lakhs of people, one
such instance being the order on sealing of shops
and commercial establishments being run from
residential areas in Delhi.
For a healthy functioning of democratic
institutions, any assault on freedom of
expression should be resisted.
Rajan Prasad
For SAHMAT
______
[8]
ARTISTS STAND UP FOR SECULARISM - REFUSE GUJARAT GOVT AWARD. GOVT STRIKES BACK
(i)
Expressindia.com
DAY AFTER ADITI MANGALDAS REFUSES AWARD, HER FUNCTION VENUE CANCELLED
Syed Khalique Ahmed
Posted online: Friday , September 21, 2007 at 12:00:00
Updated: Friday , September 21, 2007 at 01:16:34
Ahmedabad, September 20 THE Agricultural Produce
Marketing Committee in Himmatnagar, which comes
under the state's Cooperative department, has
cancelled the permission granted to an NGO to
hold a function that was to be inaugurated with
the dance performance of Aditi Mangaldas. The
move comes after the Kathak exponent turned down
an award offer from the Gujarat Sangeet Natak
Academy, saying the state government was
indulging in divisive activities.
Mangaldas, who has been living in New Delhi after
completing her Bachelor of Science from St.
Xavier's College here, was invited to perform at
a Yuva Sammelan on September 23 at Himmatnagar.
The sammelan was being organised by NGO Act Now
for Harmony and Democracy (ANHAD).
ANHAD's Shabnam Hashmi confirmed that the venue
had been cancelled, though she did not say if the
cancellation had anything to do with refusal of
Mangaldas to accept the state award. Sources,
however, said after Mangaldas publicly refused to
accept the award, the political bosses in
Gandhinagar asked the cooperative officials to
cancel the venue of the programme where she was
to perform.
Having brought up and studied in Gujarat, the
danseuse has been coming to the state for
performances regularly. When asked if she would
perform at the Yuva Sammelan, she said over phone
from New Delhi: "It will all depend on the
organisers. I will consult Hashmi and then
decide."
She said an award is the most emotional and proud
moment for an artiste, "but as an artist I feel I
had to say no because the state government
offering the award was indulging in divisive
activities".
"So many people were killed and thousands of
others displaced under the existing dispensation.
My conscience did not allow me to receive the
award," she said.
Trained by Pandit Birju Maharaj, Mangaldas has
got support from celebrated dancer Mallika
Sarabhai and well known artist Fr. Poothokaren
Rappai. Sarabhai emailed to Mangaldas on Thursday
congratulating her on her brave act of refusing
the award offer. "I am delighted because there
are very few people who stand up against the
injustices of the Gujarat government," she said.
Mallika wrote she had been leading a lonely life
for the last six years after she came out in the
open to defend the Constitution of India which
was being trampled upon in Gujarat. "But I will
continue to defend the constitutional rights no
matter how much sacrifice I will have to do," she
added.
Fr. Rappai, director of Gurjarvani, described
Mangaldas' stand as "a positive and bold action".
He said Mangaldas was quite right in turning down
the award because the policies of the state
government were not in consonance with the values
for which the academy stood.
While Gujarat Natak Academy secretary Manoj
Shukla could not be contacted for comments,
sources in the academy said Mangaldas' name had
been recommended by an Ahmedabad-based Kathak
dancer and the proposal was cleared by a senior
official of the Sports, Youth and Cultural
Activities department.
o o o
(ii)
NDTV
GUJARAT: PROMINENT ARTISTS REJECT AWARDS
Richa Lakhera
Friday, September 21, 2007 (Ahmedabad)
Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi is now
pitted against artistes. In a major snub to the
Modi government, two well-known artists have
turned down state honours as a show of protest.
Dance artist Astad Deboo has rejected the Gujarat
Sangeet Natak Akademy Award. The Padmashree
winner turned down the honour saying that
accepting the award would mean going against his
secular ideals.
Earlier, Kathak dancer Aditi Mangaldas has turned
down the state Sangeet Natak academy's Gaurav
Puraskar.
''I am unable to accept this award because I do
not believe in the policies of the current
government in Gujarat and its actions. Since the
award is given by the state government, I cannot,
accept it. Art is all encompassing and it
obliterates all divisions. It removes our
self-made, self-imposed barriers of caste, class,
language and community,'' said Aditi Mangaldas,
Kathak Dancer.
''There was Hitler and nazi before. Times have
changed but apparently not in Gujarat. The state
is bent on muzzling anyone who does not agree
with them. This is the only way we can protest.
When I spoke against Modi government's
anti-Muslim policies my project was canned. This
has to stop,'' said Parthiv Shah, Graphic artist.
For artists and cultural figures, it's a fight for freedom of expression.
First, it was the ban on Rahul Dholakia's film
Parzania based on the Gujarat riots in February.
Then came the harassment of students at
Vadodara's art college.
Some years ago, dancer Mallika Sarabhai
complained of victimisation by the Modi
government for leading a campaign against the
post-Godhra riots.
''There was Hitler and Nazi before. Times have
changed but apparently not in Gujarat. The state
is bent on muzzling anyone who does not agree
with them. This is the only way we can protest.
When I spoke against Modi government's
anti-Muslim policies my project was canned. This
has to stop,'' said Rahul Dholakia, Director,
Parzania.
For a community seething with resentment, the
refusal to accept state honours is a powerful
message and this could just be the beginning.
Performing artists, academics art lovers and
activists in Gujarat are united in their protests
but is the government listening?
______
[9]
Times of India (Delhi)
September 20 2007
REFORM THE POLICE MINDSET
by Ajay K Mehra
The police in India have never faltered in
stealing the media limelight for the wrong
reasons. Punjab Police director general S S Virk
was arrested in a disproportionate assets case.
Mayawati suspended 18 senior policemen for being
involved in a recruitment scam during her
predecessor Mulayam Singh Yadav's regime and
sacked over 10,000 constables. Incidents of mob
violence point to sharply declining police
efficiency. Be it a case of macro-policing or one
of day-to-day maintenance of public order, the
police face the flak.
While attacking the police for inefficiency
and corruption, the larger issue of police
reforms is often overlooked. The current
discourse on police reforms has not been sparked
off by the government or by popular demand, but
by two retired police officers (Prakash Singh and
N K Singh) and a retired civilian and consumer
rights activist (late H D Shourie). They filed a
writ petition in the Supreme Court in 1996 for
putting police reforms on a fast track. The
judicial verdict in 2006 sets a deadline and
parameters for police reforms. That police
reforms still flounder shows the vested interests
at work within the police, bureaucracy and
political set-up.
Policing can be sensitive, at times thorny, in
a populous, diverse, volatile and democratising
society like ours. Traditional social hierarchies
are under attack. These hierarchies are reflected
in the attitudes and work culture within the
bureaucracy, particularly where power is
explicitly involved. The top-level bureaucracy,
in both the civil service and police, has been
experiencing a change in its social base. At the
intermediate and lower levels of police
organisation, where training lacks intensity,
sensitivity and professionalism and is compounded
by arduous (even hazardous) work schedule and
inhuman working conditions, social transformation
has a particularly adverse impact. It makes the
police corrupt, insensitive, inhuman, inefficient
and brutal.
The organisational reforms being mandated by
the apex court deserve serious thought. Important
as they are, without being backed by procedural
and attitudinal reforms, they may not serve the
desired purpose. Criminal justice reforms and
drafting of a new police Act are on the anvil,
but how they synergise with the judicially
mandated organisational reforms is unclear.
The emerging political elites have to come to
terms with police reforms. Police appointments by
Mulayam and their cancellation by Mayawati,
indicating a competitive politicisation of the
police, reflect the contrary - the rough edges
are only more pronounced.
A police, faced with challenges it is not
prepared to handle, is ambivalent, inefficient
and aggressive. Indeed, but for Punjab, where the
war on terrorism had its own distinctive
characteristics, the police in India have been
unequal to terrorist challenges. But India has
not yet settled whether the police or the army
are better suited to tackle terrorism.
Consequently, the police have not been trained
and equipped to handle the problem.
Naxalism has added a 'revolutionary' dimension
to the use of terror tactics in India where the
police are groping in the dark. Despite claims,
the Naxals always appear ahead of the police. Of
course, in Naxalism, as in terrorism, the police
have to identify targets with great sensitivity
and discretion, ensuring the safety of the civil
population. This is what training and
professionalism is all about.
The police have given rise to vigilantism in
several western countries in a different context,
leading to experimentation with community
policing. In India, vigilantism is a result of
breakdown in policing, leading to brutal mob
justice. The police are reduced to a spectator or
brute participant. Condemning the police will be
detracting from the issue of police reforms.
Internal security needs to be viewed from a
governance perspective. This calls for
attitudinal change within the police and in
society.
The writer is director, Centre for Public Affairs, Noida.
o o o
INDIA COURT DISMISSES REVIEW PETITIONS ON POLICE REFORM
Press Release
31 August 2007
Supreme Court Dismisses Review Petitions on
Police Reform: Compliance - the only option
An Update on the Prakash Singh Case
The Supreme Court dismissed review petitions by a
number of state governments as having no merit.
In doing this, the Court has upheld its
directives handed down in the judgment delivered
in the Prakash Singh case from 22 September last
year where the Court ordered governments to
comply with a set of 7 directives laying down
practical mechanisms to kick-start reform.
The Court's dismissal of review petitions from
Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Punjab, Maharashtra, Uttar
Pradesh and Karnataka should provide a
much-needed boost to police reform activities in
these states. This also sends a firm message to
the centre and other state governments that
compliance with the directives must be adhered to
without delay.
In dismissing the review petitions, the Court has
echoed the sentiments of civil society groups. In
recent months they have objected to their state
governments resisting the police reform process
through filing for review/modification of the
Court's directives. Civil society in several
states have considered legal action in the form
of writ petitions and counter affidavits to the
stance taken by their state governments.
"One wonders how much clearer it needs to be said
that the people of this country are desperate for
police reform. Reform means making the police
more accountable. It is regrettable that even the
states which are passing new police laws are
doing so in order to get out of obeying the
Court's directives. It shows a scorn for the
scheme that the Court has tried to bring in. What
the Court has directed is designed to make the
police more accountable as well as improve their
lot. And laws that are made deep inside
bureaucratic back rooms without wide public
consultation are destined to create worse
policing and much more misery for the ordinary
citizen," said Maja Daruwala, Director of the
Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative.
In addition to implementing the Supreme Court's
directives on police reform, many states are also
drafting new police laws. Meanwhile the public
awaits news of the Model Police Act 2006, which
was submitted to the Ministry of Home Affairs in
October 2006. If enacted, this Act would replace
the archaic and colonial Police Act of 1861,
which continues to govern policing in India.
For more information, contact:
Shobha Sharma
Access to Justice Team on 9871528562 or shobha at humanrightsinitiative
Aditi Dutta
9818216242 or Aditi at humanrightsinitiative
The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI)
is an independent, non-partisan, international
NGO working for the practical realization of
human rights in the countries of the Commonwealth.
o o o
Forbes
IN INDIA, ROUGH JUSTICE OF THE MOB
Ruth David, 09.03.07, 1:27 AM ET
MUMBAI -
Indian media brimmed over with news of street
violence last week. Rioters shut down Agra, the
home of the Taj Mahal; parents stoned a New Delhi
school where a teacher was accused of sexual
abuse; and in Bihar, angry bystanders and police
tortured a chain snatcher, raising concerns of a
breakdown in law and order in the world's most
populous democracy.
Mob violence is not a new phenomenon in a country
where the police are often perceived as corrupt
and ill-equipped to deal with citizens'
complaints in a timely fashion. But the incident
in the eastern state of Bihar especially raised
hackles: Television cameras captured a policeman
tying a young man's leg to his motorcycle and
then dragging him through the street.
In Agra, police imposed a curfew and shut down
the Taj Mahal for a day after hundreds of rioters
took to the streets and set vehicles ablaze
following the deaths of four Muslim men, who were
mowed down by a truck while on their way home
from a religious celebration. It was a heavy blow
for a city that depends on tourism, with hotels
and travel agents reporting cancellations.
In New Delhi, hundreds of parents attacked a
private school where a teacher was accused of
forcing female students into prostitution and to
act in pornographic films by sedating them,
filming them in compromising positions and then
blackmailing them. The teacher was caught on
camera in a television sting operation.
"India is a populous democracy, where people vent
grievances through street protests and
intimidation instead of constitutional
processes," says historian Ramachandra Guha,
author of India After Gandhi. "What happened in
Agra was a spontaneous response, and no
government whether in India or Britain or the
U.S. can control such demonstrations. But in
India it's a daily occurrence."
Guha accuses the government of allowing mob
violence, even when it's not spontaneous and is
instigated by political parties. He points to
incidents in the southern city of Hyderabad
earlier this month, when controversial author
Taslima Nasreen was attacked by politicians and
protesters.
Instead of arresting the visiting writer's
attackers, some of whom were elected members of
the state's legislative assembly, the police went
after the Bangladeshi writer-in-exile. They filed
a case that accused her of offending India's
minority Muslim population.
In the past, art galleries have been attacked
because artists painted Hindu goddesses in the
nude.
"These are worrying signs for the future of a
functioning democracy," Guha says.
However, in India, mob justice for petty
criminals can seem a more humane option than
sending them through the criminal justice system,
where the accused can languish in prison for
years before getting a trial, says Harish
Naraindas, a professor at Jawaharlal Nehru
University. Nearly 70% of jail inmates are
awaiting trial.
"If mob justice is not meted out too violently,
it may seem like a better option than sending a
petty criminal to prison. People in India are
also aware that the law is not a just, speedy
system. Most of them hence would rather pay a
bribe to a cop than let the law take its course,"
he says.
One of India's most respected cops, Kiran Bedi,
agrees with criticism. "Over the years, the
police force has been losing its effectiveness
and position in society, and has been on the
defensive. Therefore people fear the police less.
They feel even if they attack the police, they
will be able to get away. That's because you only
see the misdeeds of the police, no voice talking
for them."
But Bedi points out that constables, who account
for about 80% of the police force, get paid
miserable wages, are overworked and their welfare
is neglected by the state.
"A constable takes home an average of 5,000
rupees ($120) a month. A driver for a company
gets paid twice more than that. The police aren't
stakeholders in the system so they look out for
their own interests and try to make money on the
side, through corrupt measures," Bedi says.
And cops' problems don't end with state neglect.
In states where there are problems with
terrorists and radical regional movements like
the rebel communist Naxalites, the police are
overwhelmed in trying to deal with recurring
incidents of violence and terrorism, Bedi pointed
out. "But there is no substitute to policing for
internal security, because you can't privatize
law enforcement," says the senior cop.
But at the end of a week where the cops were in
the dock for dispensing their own version of
justice, Bedi's passionate defense of the police
may find less takers than usual.
© 2007 Forbes.com LLC All Rights Reserved
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o o o
WAITING FOR JUSTICE, HASHIMPURA
http://tinyurl.com/2t9e7y
HASHIMPURA: 20 YEARS LATER, ACCUSED COPS YET TO FACE ACTION
by Seema Chishti
http://tinyurl.com/2ur8o3
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
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