SACW | Jan. 20-22, 2008 / Sri Lanka citizens on Ceasefire Abrogation / Bangladesh universities and dissent (Rehman Sobhan) / India: Bilkis Bano and Trial of Gujarat riot cases; attack on NDTV

Harsh Kapoor aiindex at gmail.com
Mon Jan 21 18:49:43 CST 2008


South Asia Citizens Wire | January 20-22, 2008 | 
Dispatch No. 2491 - Year 10 running

[1] Sri Lanka: Joint Statement by citizens groups re - Ceasefire Abrogation
[2] Bangladesh: The universities and dissent: 
Some cautionary lessons (Rehman Sobhan)
[3] Pakistan Has Paid Dearly For America's Most 
Generous And Tragic Patronage (Roger Morris)
[4] India: The battle Justice for victims of 2002 
pogrom in Gujarat  - The Bilkis Bano Case: 
Editorials and reports
   - Bilkis by example (Editorial, Indian Express)
   - The first step (Editorial , Daily News and Analysis)
   - I stand vindicated: Bilkis Bano (Aarti Dhar)
   - Trial of Gujarat riot cases going nowhere (Gyanant Singh)
[5] India: Hindutva Fundamentalists attack 
offices of TV network over MF Hussain
   - Hindu fundamentalists attack NDTV office [in Ahmedabad]
   - NDTV's Bhopal office attacked
   - Attack on NDTV reflects 'fascist raj' in Gujarat: Activists
   - Press Release by Prashant
[6] India: Modi, The  Greatest  National  Security Threat (I.K.Shukla)
[7] India - Madhya Pradesh: Teachers say yes to 
sex education, despite opposition BJP govt 
(Rasheed Kidwai)
[8] Announcements:
   (i) Remembering Ismail Gulgee (Karachi, 24 january 2008)
   (ii) Public Meeting on 60th Year of Gandhi's 
Martydom (Ahmedabad, 30 January 2008)

______


[1] SRI LANKA:

Please find below a joint statement by the 
Association of War Affected Women, Centre for 
Society and Religion, Centre for Human Rights and 
Development, Colombo, Centre for Policy 
Alternatives, Christian Alliance for Social 
Action, Consortium for Humanitarian Agencies, 
Equal Ground, Sri Lanka, INFORM, Home for Human 
Rights, Colombo, Human Development Organization, 
Kandy, Human Rights Resource Center, Kandy, 
International Centre for Ethnic Studies - 
Colombo, International Movement Against 
Discrimination and Racism, Law & Society Trust, 
Mothers and Daughters of Lanka, Mannar Women for 
Human Rights and Democracy, Muslim Information 
Centre - Sri Lanka, Muslim Women's Research and 
Action Forum, National Peace Council of Sri 
Lanka, Rights Now Collective for Democracy, 
Setik, Kandy

[18 January 2008]

Joint Statement

ABROGATION OF CEASEFIRE AGREEMENT WILL ESCALATE SPIRAL OF VIOLENCE

The government's decision to abrogate the 
Norwegian-facilitated Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) 
signed with the LTTE in 2002 is a matter of the 
gravest concern to the undersigned civil society 
organisations. Truces historically tend not to 
last long unless they culminate in a negotiated 
peace agreement. Unfortunately, the conflicting 
parties were not willing to negotiate a political 
solution using the point of entry to the peace 
process provided by the CFA that the government, 
the LTTE, and the people of Sri Lanka could build 
on. Instead of such negotiations, for the past 
two years the government and LTTE vocally 
supported a ceasefire but actually engaged in a 
high level of hostilities tantamount to war, 
including mounting human rights violations, the 
overrunning of forward defence lines, capture of 
territory, artillery, sea and air bombing, and 
the large scale displacement of people.

The signing of the CFA brought numerous benefits 
to the citizens of Sri Lanka. It ushered in a 
period of relative peace, allowing civilians 
directly affected by the conflict the opportunity 
to re-build their lives, homes and livelihoods. 
With the CFA, civilians from either side of the 
no man's land could freely travel and feel 
relatively safe from the threat of war. The 'no 
war' no peace' scenario that was a direct result 
of the CFA created not only the conditions for 
negotiations between the Government and the LTTE, 
but also an environment conducive for increased 
economic growth and external assistance to Sri 
Lanka as a whole.

As civil society organisations deeply concerned 
about peace and human rights we all supported the 
CFA. We were, however deeply concerned by the 
violations of the CFA, the violations of human 
rights and incidents of violence committed during 
this period; hence we saw the need for 
significant improvements on the CFA and its 
implementation. With the increasing violence and 
distrust that followed the collapse of peace 
talks, the parties came to recognize the need for 
the CFA to be strengthened and even amended, but 
were unable to come to agreement or to cease the 
bloodshed, resulting in a crisis of violence.

The government's decision to abrogate the CFA 
follows repeated demands by the JVP and other 
nationalist parties for its abrogation. 
Government members have said that the peace 
process and political talks will continue with 
non-LTTE Tamil parties. While there is a clear 
need to make political negotiations to find a 
settlement to the ethnic conflict more inclusive 
by including non-LTTE Tamil parties in political 
talks, it cannot be done at the cost of 
eliminating the LTTE from the dialogue. The 
danger inherent in the government's position, 
especially in the event of a total rejection of 
the past peace process with the LTTE, is that it 
is paving the way for a fight to the finish where 
the costs can be very high, success is not 
guaranteed, and no fall back position will be 
available.

We regret that the role played by the Sri Lanka 
Monitoring Mission (SLMM) established under the 
CFA has also come to an end with the abrogation 
of the Ceasefire Agreement. Although the 
international monitors of the SLMM were unable to 
prevent all acts of war and human rights 
violations from taking place, we recognize that 
the SLMM was a crucial third party that was able 
to be physically present in the conflict zones, 
record incidents, and report them to the 
conflicting parties and the international 
community. The presence of the SLMM deterred 
further violence and violations and the SLMM's 
removal now puts the populations in both the 
North and the South more at risk. The Government 
rejection of a UN Human Rights field presence, 
the inability of the Commission of Inquiry (COI) 
and the International Independent Group of 
Eminent Persons (IIGEP) to make meaningful 
progress in discharging their mandates, and the 
inability of the National Human Rights Commission 
to fulfill its mandate and duties, combine to 
place respect for human rights in Sri Lanka in 
further jeopardy.

The abrogation of the CFA in the present 
circumstances will deprive the hapless civilians 
within the conflict zones of a credible authority 
to lodge complaints. This will also mean that it 
will be more difficult for individual incidents 
to be neutrally reported and verified, thus 
making it easier for armed actors to deny 
grievous violations and acts of violence. This 
gap will constrain the work of human rights and 
peace groups who have been pressing the 
conflicting parties to address the issues of 
impunity and end the violations of human rights. 
It may also lead to the exaggeration of incidents 
as each of the warring parties seeks to blame the 
other, making identifying the truth that much 
more elusive.

We are dismayed and deeply concerned at the 
situation in the country at the beginning of the 
New Year which has included the assassinations of 
parliamentarians, fierce fighting in the north 
and the displacement of civilians, and now the 
abrogation of the CFA and the negation of the 
institutions it set up. We hope that this period 
of war and terror will soon come to an end, and 
reason and concern for human rights takes the 
conflicting parties back to the negotiating table 
and to end all armed hostilities, political 
assassinations and other criminal acts. We urge 
all members of the international community who 
have been engaged in the advancement of peace 
through a negotiated settlement in Sri Lanka to 
stand by us at this difficult moment in our 
history and to use whatever modes of intervention 
they feel are appropriate to impress upon the 
government, the LTTE and all political actors in 
Sri Lanka the need to abandon the path of war and 
to return to a peace process immediately.

Association of War Affected Women
Centre for Society and Religion
Centre for Human Rights and Development, Colombo
Centre for Policy Alternatives
Christian Alliance for Social Action
Consortium for Humanitarian Agencies
Equal Ground, Sri Lanka
INFORM
Home for Human Rights, Colombo
Human Development Organization, Kandy
Human Rights Resource Center, Kandy
International Centre for Ethnic Studies- Colombo
International Movement Against Discrimination and Racism
Law & Society Trust
Mothers and Daughters of Lanka
Mannar Women for Human Rights and Democracy
Muslim Information Centre  Sri Lanka
Muslim Women's Research and Action Forum
National Peace Council of Sri Lanka
Rights Now Collective for Democracy
Setik, Kandy

______


[2]  BANGLADESH:

The Daily star
January 22, 2008

THE UNIVERSITIES AND DISSENT: SOME CAUTIONARY LESSONS

by Rehman Sobhan

HOPEFULLY, by the time this article appears in 
print good sense will have prevailed and the 
teachers and students of Dhaka University will 
have been released from jail. I am writing this 
in anticipation that some lessons have been 
learnt and that such a pointless and regrettable 
episode will not repeat itself during the 
remaining tenure of the caretaker government 
(CTG).

Since most, if not all, members of the CTG have 
been students at Dhaka University they should 
know something about the climate of dissent, 
which characterises universities in general and 
Dhaka University in particular. Universities are 
a place where young and old think, argue and 
periodically disagree with the established order.

In the turbulent history of the subcontinent, 
political movements have been incubated in the 
universities, and the campus has been a source of 
resistance to established authority. From the 
Language Movement to the Liberation War Dhaka 
University has been at the vanguard of resistance 
to the suppression of democratic rights. Such 
movements have periodically invoked official 
repression (1952), regime inspired violence 
(1960s) and, eventually, the prelude to the 
genocide of 1971.

A politically conscious and articulate university 
campus is an integral feature of a strong civil 
society. Politics on the campus has, thus, been 
an essential instrument in the democratic 
struggle of South Asia, and particularly in 
Bengal. The university or college campus brings 
together a small but more politically conscious 
segment of the population in one place, which 
facilitates collective action.

This is advantageous for political activism, 
particularly where political parties command 
limited organisational reach, as tends to be the 
case in many Third World countries. I remember 
making this same, rather unoriginal observation, 
when I was invited in 1961 to give evidence 
before the Justice Hamoodur Rahman Commission on 
the university system in Pakistan. The good 
justice was particularly exercised by the 
salience of politics in Dhaka University, but 
surprisingly appeared to lack any understanding 
of the dynamics of politics in East Bengal.

The Commission's report inspired the government 
of East Pakistan to pass an order barring 
university teachers from participating in 
politics. This order was challenged in the East 
Pakistan High Court by Professor Abdur Razzaq, 
one of Dhaka University's must venerated 
teachers. His case was argued by Pakistan's most 
eminent jurist, A.K. Brohi, assisted by Dr. Kamal 
Hossain as his junior, before a Bench presided 
over by Justice Mahbub Murshed, which eventually 
upheld the right of university teachers to 
participate in politics. Teachers such as myself 
became a beneficiary of this judgement. 
Otherwise, we might have had to choose between 
our careers at Dhaka University and our right to 
exercise dissent.

It is unthinkable that teachers or students in 
Dhaka, or any other, university would not 
regularly express themselves on the political 
issue of the day. As a young teacher of Dhaka 
University, I was one of these who expressed 
himself through writings in the media or in 
various academic and public fora, on a variety of 
subjects of a political nature. My views were 
rarely to the taste of successive regimes in 
Pakistan.

My first paper on two economies, which has since 
earned me some notoriety, was presented when I 
was a 26 years old teacher at Dhaka University, 
at a seminar in Lahore in October 1961, convened 
by the Bureau of National Reconstruction. 
Pakistan was then experiencing its first exposure 
to Martial Law under Field Marshal Ayub Khan. My 
session was chaired by a judge of the West 
Pakistan High Court, who was appalled by my 
implied assault on the integrity of Pakistan, and 
by the concluding suggestion that if nothing was 
done to correct the deprivation of East Pakistan, 
two economies may end up as two nations. The 
justice enquired from a friend who had 
accompanied me to the meeting as to whether I was 
aware that Pakistan was under Martial Law and 
that my speech were potentially treasonable!

Those of us teachers at Dhaka University in the 
1960's, who expressed themselves on public 
issues, were rarely conscious of the consequences 
of our writings and utterances. We were, thus, 
honoured by recognition in the intelligence files 
of the Home Department. But I was never invested 
with the privilege of being arrested, in spite of 
my rather well publicised writings and utterances 
against the policies of the government. Nor were 
any other university teachers arrested during the 
two tenures of Martial Law, and even during the 
notoriously oppressive regime of Governor Momen 
Khan in the 1960s.

Indeed, since the arrest of Professors Munier 
Chowdhury, Muzzafer Ahmed Chowdhury and others in 
the wake of the 1952 Language Movement, no 
university teacher, to the best of my knowledge, 
was arrested by the government of Pakistan; 
although NSF hoodlums, patronised by the Monem 
Khan regime and the Vice Chancellor of Dhaka 
University, severely assaulted Dr. Abu Mahmood, 
Chairman of the Department of Economics and 
Professor Shamsuzzoha was killed in a firing at 
Rajshahi University during the movement against 
the Ayub regime in 1969.

The most conspicuous attempt to arrest teachers 
and eventually murder them began with the 
genocide initiated by the Pakistani army in March 
1971. After all my confrontations with successive 
regimes in Pakistan, from 1961 to 1971, the first 
time anyone came to arrest me was on the 
afternoon of March 27, 1971, when a squad of the 
Pakistan army, led by a Col. Saeeduddin, who had 
earlier arrested Bangabandhu from his home in 
Road No. 32 on the night of March 25, come to my 
Gulshan residence to take me away to the 
cantonment.

As evidence came in of the massacre at Dhaka 
University I had been advised by friends to leave 
my residence that morning, after the curfew had 
been lifted. Had the Pakistan army come for me 24 
hours earlier they would have found me at home, 
along with every other teacher of Dhaka 
University. None of us, even at that late hour, 
thought we might be detained, let alone subjected 
to execution, which awaited Professors Guha 
Thakurta, G.C. Deb, Maniruzzaman and others, who 
were all staying at home in their campus flats, 
as the genocide unfolded around them. Some other 
teachers of Dhaka University, who stayed on at 
campus during 1971, were picked up by the 
Pakistan military or their local collaborators, 
and a number of these teachers never returned 
home alive.

I have provided this short bio-history to educate 
contemporary readers and policymakers to the fact 
that upto March 26, 1971, the ground rules of an 
autocratic and oppressive regime, twice operating 
under Martial Law, left university teachers 
immune from arrest. This awareness invested 
teachers with a false sense of security upto that 
fateful night in March 1971, which cost some of 
them their lives. 98% of teachers at Dhaka and 
other universities at that time and even today do 
not say anything, or say little to generate 
sleeplessness amongst our rulers.

The few who did speak out with varying degrees of 
provocativeness were never deemed to be a 
sufficient threat to the state to warrant their 
detention. The carrot rather then the stick was 
always seen by the Pakistan government as a more 
effective weapon to deal with teachers. This 
suggests that our Pakistani rulers had a greater 
sense of their own power to be unduly disturbed 
by the writings of academics. It may not have 
been very flattering to the sense of self-esteem 
of young firebrand teachers who spoke our mind, 
that we were never deemed worthy of arrest.

The ruling elite reckoned correctly that the real 
challenge to their power always originated from 
the political parties whose leaders and workers 
were periodically subjected to detention and 
other acts of oppression.

This tradition of dealing with university 
teachers as licensed critics, who could be denied 
the carrot but rarely exposed to the stick, was 
perpetuated in post-liberation Bangladesh under 
the militarised regimes of Ziaur Rhaman and H M 
Ershad, as well as the political regimes, so that 
few if any teachers were exposed to arrest 
throughout this period. This history of the 
treatment of teachers under various regimes does 
not imply that such regimes were paragons of 
liberalism, but reflects on their notions of 
threat perception.

It is argued that it was only when the regime 
really felt threatened, such as by a national 
uprising, where even teachers were seen as part 
of a wider political struggle as in 1971, that 
pro-active university teachers lost their sense 
of immunity from arrest. When a regime feels 
compelled to arrest teachers it, thus, reflects 
on their own sense of self-assurance and 
indicates the weakness rather than the strength 
of the regime.

Today, when teachers are being arrested, perhaps 
for the first time since 1952, is their rhetoric 
more incendiary than those of the teachers of the 
1960s, '70s, '80s and '90s? Have our teachers 
graduated from talkers and scribblers into 
political organisers capable of instigating acts 
of violence by their students or anyone else?

With all due respect to their oratorical and 
literary skills, the evidence filed against the 
teachers currently in detention, suggests not. 
All that the teachers are accused of was speaking 
out against Emergency Rule. If it is a crime, 
which warranted arrest, to speak against Martial 
Law, or the incumbency of a particular regime, I 
would have spent quite a few years of my teaching 
career in the 1960s, in detention.

Certainly, in the 1960s students came to me for 
guidance on how they should argue their case 
politically against the undemocratic and 
militarised ruling junta's from West Pakistan. I 
offered such advise freely to the students. But 
neither did I suggest nor was I asked, how to 
organise violent dissent against the regime of 
the day for the simple reason that I lacked 
competence in this area, no matter how many books 
I had read by Chairman Mao and Che Guevara on the 
mechanics of armed struggle.

Again, I doubt if those teachers in detention 
today have offered or were requested by their 
students to offer, advise on making firebombs or 
the technology of stone throwing. In such 
circumstance, to criminalise university teachers 
for voicing dissent, whatever may be the 
prevailing laws, appears to be not only unwise 
but impolitic and could prove costly to the CTG 
in the days ahead.

There is much that is wrong with our universities 
today. Student politics has been largely held 
captive by leaders who function more as armed 
businessmen and janissaries for their favoured 
political party rather than as political 
activists serving a cause. The tradition of 
student leadership set by Abdur Razzaq, Sirajul 
Alam Khan, Rashed Khan Menon, Motia Chowdhury, 
Tofail Ahmed, Mujahidul Islam Selim and many 
others like them, which empowered the students of 
Dhaka University to play a vanguard role in 
democratic politics, may be much weaker today. 
But there are many students today who are also 
aware of the state affairs in the country, have 
strong views and emotions on various subjects 
and, when offered the opportunity or given a 
provocation, are likely to express themselves on 
such issues in a variety of ways, mostly but not 
always, peacefully.

In the same way, the partisanisation of the 
teaching community may have perpetuated their 
political divisions, compromised the 
professionalism of the recruitment and career 
advancement process of the teachers, and impacted 
adversely on the quality of public education. As 
part of this partisanisation of the campus, some 
university teachers may have identified 
themselves with one or another political party. 
But it would be wrong to believe that all 
teachers have politically affiliated themselves 
for career advancement.

Many have chosen political sides out of strongly 
felt political feelings, which reflect the 
ideological fault lines which today divide the 
Bangladesh polity. Most teachers, however, do not 
have clear political affiliations though many do 
have political views and will occasionally 
express them where the occasion demands. In such 
circumstances, it is best to recognise the campus 
as an arena where dissent will be registered by 
teachers and students. Some of this dissent may 
be motivated or instigated from outside the 
campus. But much dissent will be spontaneous, 
originating in genuine grievances, whether 
indigenous to campus affairs or inspired by 
outside events. This space for dissent within the 
campus should always be left open, lest such 
voices go underground and engage themselves in 
rather more sinister forms of resistance.

In spite of the best efforts of the CTG 
Bangladesh continues to face a variety of 
problems, such as rising prices, power shortages, 
even corruption, which will extend beyond the 
capacity and tenure of the CTG to resolve. The 
longer they stay in office the more political 
decisions will have to be taken by them. It will, 
therefore, be sensible for the CTG to recognise 
that in the days ahead, public dissatisfaction 
will be voiced on the persistence of such 
problems and the political implications of their 
actions. Some of this discontent will spill over 
into dissent on the campus. It will be a measure 
of the maturity of the CTG as to how it handles 
such dissent.

It is hoped that Emergency Powers will be lifted 
soon so that dissent may be openly expressed 
without invoking official wrath. However, even if 
Emergency Powers prevail, it should not be 
misused to suppress expressions of dissent, in 
print or vocally, particularly if registered 
in-house or on-campus and is peacefully 
manifested.

Regimes, which engage in political actions cannot 
expect to be immune from criticism or to be held 
accountable for their acts of commission or 
omission. An effective system of governance needs 
to ensure that all governments, whether elected 
or unelected, permanent or interim, civilian or 
militarised, always remain exposed to such 
challenges otherwise a nation degenerates into 
mal-governance and eventually tyranny.


Professor Rehman Sobhan is Chairman, Centre for Policy Dialogue.


______


[3]

War in Context, January 17, 2008

PAKISTAN HAS PAID DEARLY FOR AMERICA'S MOST GENEROUS AND TRAGIC PATRONAGE

by Roger Morris

Benazir Bhutto was a precocious 23-year-old in 
1976 when she noticed Army Chief of Staff 
Mohammed Zia ul-Haq come and go at the office of 
her father, Pakistani prime minister Zulfikar Ali 
Bhutto. "A short, nervous, ineffectual-looking 
man," she remembered the general, "whose pomaded 
hair was parted in the middle and lacquered to 
his head." Along with the hair, Gen. Zia's thick 
mustache and diffident manner seemed to Islamabad 
politicians a Punjabi version of English comedian 
Terry Thomas. "Bhutto's butler" they called him.

General Muhammad Zia-Ul-HaqThen, suddenly, in 
July 1977, Gen. Zia was no longer amusing when 
his junta arrested Mr. Bhutto and his cabinet, 
and imposed martial law. There followed more than 
a decade of military tyranny as Pakistan became, 
in Salman Rushdie's phrase, "a nightmarish land." 
That era and its sequels would be the setting of 
Benazir Bhutto's political career, climaxing in 
her assassination Dec. 27. She was emblematic of 
her country's nightmare, and of the tortuous role 
the United States played in it. It is a history - 
forgotten, denied - that haunts us all.

Benazir was a year old in 1954 as Washington 
adopted Pakistan as its Cold War client, 
lavishing the first of what would be billions of 
dollars on a military that by the end of the 
1950s seized power amid the country's chronic 
poverty and hostility with India. It was cozy, 
enduring patronage. Pentagon and CIA men shared 
with their Pakistani peers an occupational 
contempt for non-alignment and the hindrance of 
democratic politics.

By 1959, the CIA had stationed an agent in 
Karachi to advise Pakistani generals on public 
relations practices that would be enabling 
military dictatorships to claim legitimacy nearly 
a half-century later.

Zulfikar Ali BhuttoCanny, charismatic, 
irrepressibly ambitious, U.S.- and 
Oxford-educated Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was a young 
civilian minister for the junta in the 1960s, 
veering between complicity and enmity with the 
generals in the tangled pattern of Pakistan's 
civilian-military politics. He then was an 
occasional nemesis of Washington, courting 
Communist China, fiercely bellicose on Kashmir 
and India. Breaking with the junta and founding 
his Pakistan Peoples Party in 1967, he inherited 
power in the 1971 breakaway of Bangladesh, when 
not even the U.S. could save the generals from 
the toll of secession, genocide, and another lost 
war with India.

While Benazir was driving her yellow MG at 
Radcliffe and Oxford, her father moved to restore 
his truncated nation and, in the process, seeded 
much of the 21st century predicament in South 
Asia - often in collusion with a heedless 
Washington. Grateful for Pakistan's role as 
go-between in their 1971 opening to China, U.S. 
president Richard Nixon and secretary of state 
Henry Kissinger joined and financed Mr. Bhutto in 
his covert intervention against an Afghan regime 
he claimed was a pawn for Soviet expansion to the 
Arabian Sea and a menace to Pakistan's 
ever-unruly northwest with its Afghan-kindred 
tribes. In 1973-75 they secretly mounted attacks 
in the Hindu Kush by radical Islamic Afghan 
exiles - whose anti-Western politics, terrorist 
tactics, and control by Pakistan prefigured the 
mujahedeen and Taliban years before the 1979 
Russian invasion, the Afghan civil war, al-Qaeda 
and 9/11.

Meanwhile, in January 1972, under an awning on 
the broad lawn of an estate in Multan - an 
ancient city of Sufi shrines known as Pakistan's 
"second heart" - Mr. Bhutto secretly gathered 70 
of the country's finest scientists and asked them 
to build a nuclear bomb. "They responded," said 
one, "enthusiastically." For years, Washington 
would look the other way. His foes sneered at Mr. 
Bhutto as the "Raja of Larkana," after his estate 
in the Sind where he and his daughter would be 
buried. Both were seigniorial in their politics, 
the PPP family chattel, inherited now by 
Benazir's son, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. "Our 
feudals," a CIA agent called them. But unlike 
Benazir, her father was a reformer as well as 
demagogue, nationalizing exploitative industries, 
insurance companies, and exclusive private 
schools, giving the poorest farmers tax relief 
and fixing ceilings on land ownership.

Despite periodic repression and no little 
corruption in his ranks, his constitution in 1973 
recognized Islam as the national religion while 
establishing a parliamentary system to evolve 
into a secular democracy. He freed Pakistan from 
the fine-print fetters of the Commonwealth, 
negotiated the Simla Agreement with India 
accepting the line of control in Kashmir, 
recognized Bangladesh and, by 1977, was making 
peace with Afghanistan. It all won popular 
support - but challenged the oligarchy, religious 
right, and allies of both in the military, 
Pakistan's ruling triad. Gen. Zia's coup came 
with sanction from those forces - and, 
ultimately, Washington.

After a show trial, they hanged Mr. Bhutto at 
dawn at the old Rawalpindi prison, not far from 
where his daughter was murdered three decades 
later. The U.S. embassy referred to it delicately 
as "resolving the Bhutto problem," and the 
American media made its peace with the winner; 
Newsweek taken with Gen. Zia's "brooding eyes," 
the Los Angeles Times finding him "low-key, 
direct, and polite," an "incredibly canny man" 
who "talks with quiet sincerity about his 
country's problems" - the latter the Times and 
others didn't bother to explore. Gen. Zia was no 
stranger to the Pentagon and CIA, files plump 
with his 1950s study in the U.S. as a young 
officer, at the Command and General Staff School 
at Fort Leavenworth in 1964, and in highly secret 
Pentagon "command courses" not long before he 
seized power. Like most of his predecessors and 
successors, the pomaded general was, to some, 
Washington's creature.

Two days after the April 1979 Bhutto hanging, 
U.S. president Jimmy Carter's advisers formally 
approved a major covert intervention using the 
client Afghan religious radicals against the new 
Communist regime in Afghanistan - this, eight 
months before the Soviet invasion that the 
U.S.-armed and Pakistani-controlled insurgency 
was designed, in part, to provoke. The ensuing 
enormity came to seem familiar, though distorted 
to parody by versions like Charlie Wilson's War 
and its Hollywood gloss. Hundreds of millions, 
ultimately billions, poured into the mujahedeen 
with their rampant drug trade and fulmination of 
al-Qaeda; Washington's unstinting support of Gen. 
Zia, with more winking at his nuclear arsenal, 
and with as much as half the U.S. money siphoned 
off by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, 
the notorious ISI already a state-within-a-state 
and now dominant in a black economy that eclipsed 
the open one. When he was assassinated in 1988 in 
the crash of Pak One, Gen. Zia was returning from 
a demonstration of a faulty tank the Pentagon was 
typically keen to sell him, and in tête-à-tête 
with a U.S. ambassador who knew him when he was 
still "Bhutto's butler."

Benazir BhuttoBenazir Bhutto now joined the 
story, though in ugly anticlimax. While the 
CIA-Zia combine conducted its Afghan war and 
associated trade over the 1980s, she worked 
tirelessly as her father's chosen successor. This 
included building furtive ties to the Americans, 
the CIA covering its bets with subsidies to Ms. 
Bhutto, some no doubt recycled in paying for her 
Washington lobbyists.

With Gen. Zia's murder, she was ready and, like 
her father, inherited power in a moment of the 
military's division. But her tenures as prime 
minister in 1988-90 and again in 1993-96 were 
hobbled by the massive power of the ISI, old 
habits of repression, including the murder of her 
own dissident brother, and blatant looting by her 
circle, not least by her husband Asif Zardari. 
Failure and corruption went unrelieved by any 
reforms approaching her father's. It stood to be 
repeated had Ms. Bhutto held power again - the 
ISI manacling along with her own corruption - and 
is in the wings now with Mr. Zardari's regency 
over the PPP.

Like her father, like Gen. Zia her nemesis, she 
was partly America's creature as well, inserted 
by the Bush administration, with the blessing of 
congressional Democrats, to shore up Pakistani 
President Pervez Musharraf with some coalition 
manqué appeasing enough of the crowd as well as 
the triad. As always, there was even an underside 
to Ms. Bhutto's vaunted defiance of the Islamic 
radicals; her own regimes had been instrumental 
in the rise of the Afghan Taliban and given to 
quiet accommodation and sharing of spoils with 
the internal Pakistani zealots.

She was dead only days when it became clear that 
the tragedy of her last 30 years would continue. 
In a U.S. presidential campaign that, otherwise, 
blares change, no candidate dares to change this 
most disastrous, most bipartisan, most bigoted of 
foreign policies, in which America's meddling was 
so malignant and its ultimate control so 
illusory. In Pakistan, the old politics go on, 
including the security of the nuclear arms. None 
of the ruling triad wants that horror unleashed. 
The losers, as always, will be the more than 
hundred million Pakistanis in abject want or on 
the edge - the historic disgrace of the world's 
longest running military despotism, and of 
America's most generous and tragic patronage.

If only they buried in the Sind, along with 
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and his beloved daughter, 
that sordid past. For now, we can only follow the 
poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz: "We will inter hope with 
appropriate mourning Š Every gate of prayer 
throughout heaven is slammed shut today."

© Roger Morris

______


[4]  INDIA: THE BATTLE JUSTICE FOR VICTIMS OF 2002 POGROM IN GUJARAT 

THE BILKIS BANO CASE: EDITORIALS AND REPORTS


Indian Express
January 21, 2008
Editorial

BILKIS BY EXAMPLE

Justice is on the anvil in a high profile Gujarat 
riots case; but this story is not over yet.

The Indian Express

: When the quantum of punishment is announced 
today in a special court in Mumbai, the Bilkis 
Bano case will reach a just closure. This is a 
rare moment. The gangrape of the pregnant Bilkis 
Bano as she fled her riot-torn village in March 
2002 and the murder of her baby daughter along 
with other relatives had become a symbol in at 
least two ways - of the brutal nature of the 
crimes committed in the days following the 
gruesome torching of Sabarmati Express at Godhra; 
and of the deliberate obstruction of justice by 
agencies of the state in its aftermath, 
especially the Gujarat police. That this case has 
finally reached a conclusion and 12 accused have 
been convicted, including a police officer, 
raises a larger hope: surely, justice in other 
cases of Gujarat 2002 cannot be far behind.

The fact that justice has been done in this case 
is not just a testament to the terrific courage 
and unwavering resolve of Bilkis Bano. In 
different ways, the system rose to the challenge. 
Confronted with evidence that a free and fair 
trial would not be possible in Gujarat, due to 
intimidation of victims for instance, the Supreme 
Court of India shifted the trial to Mumbai in 
August 2004 - the second case to be transferred 
to Maharashtra. In turn, the CBI, called in to 
take over investigations in 2003 following Bano's 
petition in the SC, has shown a marvelous 
tenacity in a case in which it had to literally 
unearth justice. Its investigations led it to 
exhume bodies from riverine graves in Dahod - the 
heads had been removed so that the victims could 
not be identified. At every step, it had to 
contend with the clear complicity of the local 
police in tampering with the evidence and case 
records.

Yet even in this heartening moment, it is 
necessary to point out that so much more needs to 
be done. One, the onus is on the Modi 
administration to reassure Muslim families in 
Randhikpur and Devgadh Baria - most of the 
convicted belong to Randhikpur, and Bano and many 
riot victims live in a colony in Devgadh Baria - 
that the state will not allow any disruption of 
peace in the verdict's aftermath. Two, while the 
verdict in Mumbai is welcome, the question will 
not go away: when will it be possible to ensure 
that Gujarat is also a safe place for justice for 
the victims of 2002?

editor at expressindia.com

o o o

Daily News and Analysis
January 20, 2008

Editorial

THE FIRST STEP

The decision by the special CBI court on Friday 
to convict 12 persons accused in what has become 
known as the Bilkis Bano case will set a welcome 
precedent for the other riot cases across the 
country.

Bano was one of the victims of the 2002 Gujarat 
riots and had asked the Supreme Court to move the 
case out of Gujarat because she did not expect 
justice in her state. The apex court  shifted the 
case to Mumbai.

The first step to justice has come almost six 
years after the incident in March 2002 when 17 
members of her family were attacked, and eight 
were killed and six went missing.

Bano herself, who was five months pregnant at the 
time, was gang-raped. The attackers were all 
neighbours and people from the village.

There are several issues which have to be 
examined here. The first, obviously, is that it 
takes far too much time for riot victims - as for 
anyone else - to get justice in this country.

Many of the accused in riots cases have never 
been brought to book and many have died on the 
way. In the case of the Gujarat riots, six years 
after the event, we have only received the first 
convictions on Friday.

As many times as it has been said before, it 
bears repeating that little justice has been 
given to the victims of the anti-Sikh riots in 
Delhi in 1984 and of course, the Bombay riots of 
1992 and '93. In Bombay, the irony is greater - 
the bomb blasts of March 1993, a consequence of 
the riots, have seen the accused getting 
sentenced, but the riot cases have gone nowhere.

Even Bilkis Bano is only one of the innumerable 
victims of the Gujarat  riots who are awaiting 
justice.

The other issue is the tendency in this country 
to try and push riots cases under the carpet. The 
general idea is that to push for justice will be 
to open up old wounds, which are best left to 
heal quietly by themselves.

This is specious logic which could be applied to 
all court cases, since many of them have to do 
with "old wounds". This logic when it comes to 
riots is even dangerous.

Often, when the victims are minorities, the idea 
of being oppressed gains greater ground.

The most important issue, however, is one of rule 
of law and justice for all. Politicians have to 
understand that when they win elections and form 
governments they have to uphold the Constitution.

That this case was taken out of that state into 
Maharashtra proves that the apex court was 
questioning the then Gujarat government's 
commitment to justice. There are questions here 
which all elected governments must answer.

o o o

The Hindu
Jan 22, 2008

I STAND VINDICATED: BILKIS BANO

by Aarti Dhar

"The judgment does not mean end of hatred. But it 
does mean that somewhere justice can prevail"

- Photo: R.V. Moorthy

SEEKS PROTECTION: Bilkis Bano at a press conference in New Delhi on Monday.

NEW DELHI: Bilkis Bano, who was gang-raped and 
was witness to the killing of 14 members of her 
family during the Gujarat riots in 2002, fears 
for her life even after 11 of the accused were 
sentenced to life and one to three years of 
rigorous imprisonment by a Mumbai court on Monday.

Pointing out that it was the responsibility of 
the State to ensure her security, Ms Bano said 
here on Monday that she would appeal against the 
acquittal of five policemen and two doctors in 
the case.

"I stand vindicated. This judgment does not mean 
the end of hatred. But it does mean that 
somewhere justice can prevail. This judgment is a 
victory not only for me but for all innocent 
Muslim who were massacred and the women whose 
bodies were violated only because, like me, they 
were Muslims," she said at a press conference.

She lived in fear for the past six years, 
shuttling from one place to another with her 
children to protect them from the "hatred that 
still exists in the hearts and minds of the 
people." She received threats from unknown 
people, continued to do so even after the court 
judgment and feared going back to Gujarat.

"I do not want to tell anyone where I was all 
these years or where I am staying now and under 
whose protection," she said in reply to a 
question.According to Ms. Bano, the conviction 
was a victory because no one could now deny what 
happened to women in Gujarat in those "terrible 
days and nights."

That sexual violence was used as a weapon against 
them had been proved. "I pray that the people of 
Gujarat will some day be able to live without the 
stigma of that violence and hatred, and will root 
it out from the State that still remains my home."
"Officials remain free"

Ms Bano expressed anger that the officials, who 
emboldened, encouraged and protected the 
criminals to destroy an entire community, still 
remained free and unblemished.

"It is the job of the State to protect me and if 
the Gujarat government has to prove that it did 
not encourage the riots, it should appeal against 
the acquittal of its officers and doctors." 
However, she pointed out that this was just one 
among thousands of cases, many of which had not 
even reached a courtroom.

o o o

Mail Today
21 January 2008

TRIAL OF GUJARAT RIOT CASES GOING NOWHERE
17 cases pending, including killings at Naroda Patia

by Gyanant Singh in New Delhi

The Bilkis Bano and Best Bakery cases ended in 
convictions in Mumbai. But at least 17 other 
cases relating to the 2002 Gujarat riots are 
still gathering dust.

The Supreme Court, which had ordered retrial in 
the Best Bakery case and transfer of the Bilkis 
Bano case, has yet to decide the fate of cases 
filed for eight major incidents during the 
infamous post-Godhra riots.

Trial in most of the 17 cases has been pending 
over the past four years when the apex court 
stayed proceedings following allegations of 
complicity of the state government in the riots. 
The court had stayed trial in 10 cases in 
November 2003 and some others in August 2004 on 
petitions seeking transfer of the cases outside 
Gujarat.

Even after six years, trial in most of the cases 
that relate to murderous attacks in Gulberg 
Housing Society, Naroda Patia, Ode and Sardarpura 
are pending.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and 
the Citizens for Justice and Peace, an NGO, had 
moved the court for transfer of the cases and 
re-investigation to ensure a fair trial. The NHRC 
has sought transfer of 13 cases. The state 
government, however, has been contending that a 
case cannot be transferred on mere apprehensions 
of unfair trial.
Teesta Setalvad, who has been pursuing the cases, 
said the delay was harming evidence. Last year, 
the matter was listed once on May 7 after amicus 
curiae Harish Salve filed written submissions.
[. . . ]
http://communalism.blogspot.com/2008/01/trial-of-gujarat-riot-cases-going.html

______


[5]  INDIA: FUNDAMENTALISTS ATTACK OFFICES OF TV NETWORKED OVER MF HUSSAIN


ndtv.com
HINDU FUNDAMENTALISTS ATTACK NDTV OFFICE

Joydeep Ray
Saturday, January 19, 2008 (Ahmedabad)
Intolerance is one of the dangers of journalism 
in India. Today, NDTV's office in Ahmedabad was 
smashed by hockey stick wielding goondas of a 
right wing Hindu fundamentalist group.

The attack has been criticised across the 
country. The Shiv Sena, which has been involved 
in similar attacks elsewhere, denies that they 
were involved in any way.

Members of the Hindu Samrajya Sena group forced 
their way in and beat two employees with hockey 
sticks and steel pipes.

They broke all the furniture, doors, windows, 
airconditioners, computers, phones, television 
sets and technical equipment.

After this they put up posters and banners, 
proclaiming NDTV anti-national and a traitor 
because the channel ran an opinion poll, asking 
who should be awarded the Bharat Ratna. One of 
the choices was painter M F Husain.

NDTV called the police and even the commissioner 
of Police. But no one showed up for one hour, 
even though the NDTV office is just 15 minutes 
away from the police station.

Finally, the home minister promised action. 
''This is very wrong. I condemn the attack. The 
police are investigating. Strict action will be 
taken,'' said Amit Shah, Gujarat Home Minister.

Two days before the attack, Hindu Samrajya Sena 
chief Ashok Sharma had visited the office, 
warning it not to run anything on Husain.

After the attack, he called the office and 
claimed responsibility for the incident, but said 
he himself was not present during the attack. His 
group has been involved in earlier attacks.

In 2000, they vandalised a multiplex in 
Gandhinagar, which was screening Husain's film 
Gaja Gamini.

They joined the Bajrang Dal in the attack on M S 
University, where an art students paintings at an 
in-house exhibition were destroyed because they 
were considered obscene.

Sharma has been known to be close to VHP and Bajrang Dal leaders.

Shiv Sena, also known to have attacked M F Husain 
shows, has however denied any involvement this 
time.

''If Shiv Sena had to attack the office, it would 
do so under its own name, not under an alibi. 
Although the Sena did protest against an M F 
Husain exhibition in Delhi, we had nothing to do 
with the Ahmedabad attack. But neither the print 
media nor the electronic media should glorify M F 
Husain,'' said Sanjay Raut, editor, Saamna.

Meanwhile, the Congress, the Left and media leaders have condemned the attack.

The police still haven't found the main accused 
Ashok Sharma, though they have raided his home 
and office.


o o o

NDTV'S BHOPAL OFFICE ATTACKED
NDTV Correspondent
Sunday, January 20, 2008 (Bhopal)
Hours after the right wing activists vandalised 
the NDTV office in Ahmedabad on Saturday, the 
Bhopal office was attacked late on the same night 
by unidentified persons.
The office was attacked with stones and 
windowpanes were broken. The culprits fled the 
scene after creating a ruckus.
The attackers fled when the security guard came 
out but no one could be identified.

o o o

ATTACK ON NDTV REFLECTS 'FASCIST RAJ' IN GUJARAT: ACTIVISTS

Express news service
Posted online: Sunday , January 20, 2008 at 02:36:01

Ahmedabad, January 19 Coming down heavily on 
those involved in the attack on the office of 
NDTV news channel here on Saturday, human rights 
activists and Gandhians said that the incident 
reflects the "fascist raj" in the state.

Reacting to the incident provoked by an SMS poll, 
which has controversial painter MF Hussain in the 
list of contenders for the Bharat Ratna Award, 
noted Gandhian and rights activist Chunibhai 
Viadya said, "Fascism can't be justified under 
any circumstances because it is against the 
interest of society at large in the long run."

"Violence in the name of religion either by 
Muslims attacking Tasleema Nasreen or Salman 
Rushdie, or leaders of Hindu Samrajya Sena 
attacking NDTV's office can't be justified," he 
said. "What they have done is no Hinduism; it is 
simple fanaticism."

Pointing out that the "culture of violence" has 
increased in the state in the last one decade, 
Vadodara-based human rights activist Rohit 
Prajapati said it was really shocking that the 
media and journalists have become a target of the 
fascist forces. "This is really very serious," he 
said.

Holding the state government responsible for 
recurrence of such violence activities, he said 
it would stop only if the government took firm 
steps against the accused persons. "But the 
government seems to be siding with such elements 
as happened in the case of Parzania and Fanaa 
movies, which could not be screened in Gujarat 
following threats from saffron outfits," he said.

Stating that the Constitution of India guarantees 
freedom of speech and expression to all the 
citizens and no one has the right to take the law 
in his own hands, Jesuit human rights activist 
Fr. Cedric Prakash appealed to the authorities to 
book those responsible for the incident to 
contain the "fascist and terrorist forces."

The president of the state unit of Peoples' Union 
for Civil Liberties, J S Bandukwala said, "The 
incident shows the fascist raj in Gujarat. If 
media offices are not safe, one can imagine the 
condition of minorities under (Narendra) Modi's 
rule."

"The attack is absolutely deplorable and 
condemnable," said Shabnam Hashmi of Act Now for 
Harmony and Democracy (ANHAD). Another activist 
Gagan Sethi termed it a "retrogressive step", 
adding, "we are entering a very bad time."

Gujarat Home Minister Amit Shah said the culprits 
have been identified and will be nabbed. 
Promising strict action against those involved in 
the ransacking of the channel's office, he said 
that the BJP government's policy is very clear 
that no one can take law in his hands.
     
o o o
         
Prashant   
. The Province Office for Integral Social Development of the Gujarat Jesuits
. A  Centre  for  Human  Rights, Justice  and  Peace

Post   Box   No.   4050,    Navrangpura, 
 Ahmedabad  380 009,    Gujarat,    India
Tel. :    +91 (079)  66522333,    2745 5913 
   .          Fax :   +91 (079)  2748 9018
  Mobile :   9824034536 .  
e-mail : sjprashant at gmail.com    .   www.humanrightsindia.in

PRESS RELEASE

The attack this morning, on the NDTV Office in 
Ahmedabad by a group of right-wing Hindu 
extremists, needs to be strongly condemned in no 
uncertain terms.

The Constitution of India guarantees freedom of 
speech and expression to all its citizens.   No 
one therefore has the right to take law and order 
into their own hands. 

We call upon the authorities in Gujarat to book 
those responsible for this attack immediately and 
to ensure that these fascist and terrorist forces 
are contained.

Fr. Cedric Prakash sj
Director
19 January 2008

______


[6] India - Gujarat:


MODI, THE  GREATEST  NATIONAL  SECURITY THREAT

by I.K.Shukla

In his Mumbai speech Jan.21 Benito NaMo Ghanchi 
alias Modi posed as a medieval warlord and 
excoriated "Delhi Sultanate". The speech is 
substantively much more than merely a reprobate 
demagogue's rant. It
should send chills down the spine of not just the 
minorities but also the entire nation. He would 
drag India back to medieval times while chanting 
"development, development". The ominous portent 
of his megalomania rings more sinister with 
Hindutva's Adolf AdVani in Delhi raring to become 
PM and impatient in the interim as a pretend PM.

Oddly, he faulted Cong-UPA for the heinous sins 
of "minority appeasement, vote bank politics, and 
soft approach on terrorism".  Ironically, he is 
wholly right, but without knowing in the least 
how or why. Yes, Congress has been persistently 
and preferentially appeasing not the sizeable 
national minorities, whether they be Dalits, 
Christians, Tribals or Muslims, but the 
loud-mouthed Hindu gangsters and hooligans, i.e., 
the saffronazis. As to the vote bank politics, it 
is not a Congress specialty. Its initial forays 
in the field were halting and half-hearted. But 
the viciously virulent strain of exclusive vote 
bank politics invented and inducted in the body 
politic of India, poisoning its arteries, is the 
solely distinctive achievement of Hindu fascism 
(cunningly called Hindu nationalism in the Indian 
media, a privilege ceded to no other community).

Soft- pedaling terrorism. This charge is as 
monumental as it is monstrously mendacious, 
characteristic of the trained and congenital 
liars constituting the seasoned and marinated 
rank and file of Hindu fascists. Really, 
Congress-UPA is guilty as charged. But the 
terrorists whom cravenly and treasonably Congress 
has coddled all these years are all the Hindu 
Taliban, saffron-soiled, who drenched India in 
blood repeatedly and remained unpunished, enabled 
thus to continue their crimes with impunity. It 
was a failure of grievous proportions not just of 
the Congress but also of the Indian state.  India 
as a nation state proved irresponsible and 
delinquent, and for all practical purposes, 
collaborative with the historical enemies of the 
nation. India seemed to have rewarded the 
terrorists instead of pillorying and quartering 
them.
What Modi touted as the best development model 
(out of the four that he dismissed as failures), 
apparently mandated by  5.5 crore Gujaratis, 
boils down to one word, genocide - mass murder, 
mass rape, mass arson, and mass thugee 
perpetrated on Muslims.  Besides "teaching them a 
lesson", the Butcher of Gujarat had laid out for 
the world to see in gory detail the mold and 
milieu of would be Hindu Rashtra, Gujarat being 
only the prime abattoir, the lab of "final 
solution".

The vitriol that runs in his arteries impelled 
him to call criticism of his crimes 
"mispropaganda". That is, he, the born liar and 
the inveterate lout, denied any wrong doing, any 
state-sponsored ethnocide and attendant horrors 
that he and his cohorts committed on the 
thousands of innocent Muslim men, women and 
children of Gujarat in 2002. Those murdered and 
flayed alive are certainly out of his chimerical 
5.5 crore Gujaratis whom he regards his 
collaborators in his brutal crimes, who crown him 
as a designer warlord, and carry him in a chariot 
supposedly in vogue in the middle ages.

The throwback to medieval horrors is a potent and 
pernicious part of Hindutva project. It is the 
fundamentalist call to savagery, the belligerent 
negation of the modern state, an atavistic 
repudiation of the multi-cultural nation, and the 
declaration of open war on India and its 
republican Constitution. That he has made his 
intent known can be useful only if New Delhi acts 
promptly to imprison him for treasonous sedition, 
for fomenting divisive turmoil and openly 
promising to cast the "Delhi Sultanate" in the 
bin.
He is, in fact, the real progeny of Babar who too 
had attacked Ibrahim Lodi of Delhi Sultanate. 
Babar was a "geographical" outsider, whereas Modi 
is a thorough outsider, a foreigner, in so far as 
India's cultural ethos and historical heritage 
are concerned. Modi is a bizarre and shameless 
outré. By no definition of Hinduism or Indian can 
Modi ever qualify as either (let him be a Guju). 
He must be immediately deprived of citizenship, 
the least that New Delhi, to prove its 
seriousness, must and can do. Remember, he fought 
the 2002 election in Gujarat against Gen. Pervez 
Musharraf. There was no meeting where he did not 
invoke him as his contender. And, his so-called 
5.5 crore Gujaratis swallowed it.

Similarly, he insinuated in his Mumbai speech 
that money was being paid to "foreigners" (read, 
Sonia Gandhi). He forgot he had paid a humongous 
amount to foreigners to do his PR work, an 
American firm specializing in image make-over, 
whose clients included Pinochet, Somoza, etc. 
Modi chose well on whom to shower Indian money. 
He betrayed his biradari - the notorious 
dictators and bloodhounds.

As to his plea that the provenance of arms be 
investigated, use of government and banking 
channels by terrorist funds be stopped, use of 
communal networks for subversive activities be 
probed - who can disagree. But does he mean where 
daggers (trishuls) are manufactured, where 
saffronazi bomb- makers obtain explosive 
materials to make bombs (and get killed 
dutifully), who funds them via one of the 
numerous Hindutva fronts, how foreign and hawala 
money is helping communal fires rage incessantly 
across India? No, he preempts this inquiry 
against HinduTaliban by deflecting it towards the 
victims of Hindu fascism, the minorities, mostly 
the Muslims.

Modi must face trial for his innumerable crimes. 
Democratic legalism should not stand in the way 
of justice. He is guilty of crimes against 
humanity (Geneva Conventions), and crimes against 
the nation (Sedition, Terrorism).

After his provocative call to arms in Mumbai, 
unless UPA is waiting for the reprise of March on 
Rome, it should muzzle Modi immediately and, for 
his own good, slam him shut. To suffer him free 
even for a day would be inviting the destruction 
of India. India faces no bigger threat to is 
security. Meanwhile his citizenship must be 
rescinded, and he be given the chance to escape 
into exile and oblivion. Every patriot must 
demand his ouster.

20Jan.08

o o o
[See Related news report in the Press]

Indian Express
January 21, 2008
MODI POSES AS WARLORD, TARGETS 'DELHI SULTANATE'
Express News Service

Mumbai, January 20: Delivering his speech from 
atop a specially-designed chariot at Shivaji Park 
here on Sunday, Narendra Modi imagined himself as 
a medieval warlord taking on the might of - what 
he called - the Delhi Sultanate. Attacking the 
Congress-led UPA Government for minority 
appeasement, vote bank politics and a soft 
approach on terrorism, the Gujarat Chief Minister 
claimed that his victory will lead to the plank 
of development taking centrestage in electoral 
politics. He was addressing a rally at a 
felicitation programme organised by the Mumbai 
unit of the BJP.

______


[7]

The Telegraph
January 19 , 2008

NOD TO SEX EDUCATION

by Rasheed Kidwai

Bhopal, Jan. 18: Shivraj Singh Chauhan might 
disagree but 73 per cent teachers in Madhya 
Pradesh do not think sex lessons in school 
promote "indecency in the name of education".

A survey by the state chapter of the Voluntary 
Health Association of India has found that most 
schoolteachers want sex education re-introduced 
in the curriculum.

About 245 teachers across 120 government and 
private schools in Bhopal, Indore and Maheshwar 
districts have said sex education was essential 
for healthy growth and prevention of AIDS and 
unwanted pregnancy.

The survey questions the ban on sex studies in 
Madhya Pradesh schools since March 2006. Chauhan 
had then told Union HRD minister Arjun Singh he 
was withdrawing the lessons as they were 
spreading "indecency in the name of education".

The row began when a book, Flip Chart - printed 
by the National AIDS Control Organisation and 
Unicef - was distributed to some teachers 
involved with the Kishore Avastha Siksha, an 
awareness programme for adolescents.

The BJP regime had found illustrations of 
physical changes in male and female bodies from 
childhood to puberty to adulthood "offensive".

The Madhya Pradesh government was today unfazed 
by the call to revive the lessons.

"I have to study the findings minutely. Moreover, 
I must ascertain the motive for conducting such a 
survey," education minister Laxman Singh Gaud 
said.

The Madhya Pradesh health association director, 
Mukesh Sinha, said the motive was "advocacy" of 
people-centric policies for dynamic health 
planning and programmes.

"When we conducted the survey, we realised the 
earlier sex education programme's methodology was 
wrong. The whole focus was on promotion of 
condoms. What we suggest is a school health 
programme with focus on hygiene, nutrition and 
sex education. Abruptly calling it off is not 
sensible," Sinha said.

The association had conducted another survey last 
year in which over 60 per cent teenaged girls had 
said they were facing a "communication gap" with 
their parents because of shyness and fear. About 
80 per cent were unaware of physical changes in 
their bodies during adolescence.

As many as 47 per cent girls said they were 
sexually harassed outside their homes. Of them, 
53 per cent said they had never complained to 
their guardians about it.

______


[8] ANNOUNCEMENTS:

(i)

ISMAIL GULGEE
Born 6 October 1925, Peshawar
Died 19 December, 2007, Karachi

In Gulgee's tragic death, Pakistan has been 
deprived of one of its most prolific artists. 
Awarded the highest civilian awards, his 6 decade 
long career runs parallel to the creative history 
of Pakistan. Please join NuktaArt and t2f as we 
pay our condolences to his family and celebrate 
the spirit of his art.

Speakers: Mohammad Ali Siddiqui, Naz Ikramullah, 
Wahab Jaffar and Niilofur Farrukh

Date: Thursday, 24th January 2008

Time: 6:00 pm

Venue: The Second Floor/t2f
6-C, Prime Point Building, Phase 7, Khayaban-e-Ittehad, DHA, Karachi
Phone: 538-9273 | 0300-823-0276 | info at t2f.biz

o o o


WILL THERE BE SINGING IN THE DARK TIMES
YES, THERE WILL BE SINGING ABOUT THE DARK TIMES.   - BRECHT

Kya Zulmaton ke Daur Main Bhi Geet Gaye Jayenge?
Haan, Zulmaton ke Daur ke hi Geet Gaye Jayenge- Bertold Brecht


60th Year of Gandhi's Martydom

January 30, 2008

Public Meeting:  4pm-7pm

Music & Poetry: 7.30pm-9.00pm

Speakers: Cedric Prakash,  Digant Oza, Gagan 
Sethi, Ghanshyam Shah, Indu Kumar Jani, Ram 
Puniyani, Sofiya Khan, Uttam Parmar

Documentary: Zulmaton Ke Daur Main
Singer: Vidya Shah

Venue: Narottam Jhaveri Hall, Paldi, Ahmedabad

Organised by:

AISF, Aman Samudaya, Anhad, Apnu Mandal, BMMA 
(Gujarat Chapter), Gujarat Khet Vikas Parishad, 
Naya Marg, Niswan, People's Movement of India, 
Prashant, Vikas Parishad

Please pass on the information & collect 
programme leaflets for distribution from:

Anhad, 1914, Karanjwala Building, Opp Khanpur Darwaza, Ahmedabad
Tel- 079-25500844

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Buzz for secularism, on the dangers of fundamentalism(s), on
matters of peace and democratisation in South
Asia. SACW is an independent & non-profit
citizens wire service run since 1998 by South
Asia Citizens Web: www.sacw.net/
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