SACW | July 5-6, 2008 / Going MAD: Ten Years of the Bomb in South Asia / War and Emergency / Challenging Communalists
Harsh Kapoor
aiindex at gmail.com
Sat Jul 5 22:53:03 CDT 2008
South Asia Citizens Wire | July 5-6 , 2008 |
Dispatch No. 2535 - Year 10 running
[1] Nepal: We belong together (edit, Nepali Times)
[2] Sri Lanka: War without end (Euan Ferguson)
[3] Going MAD: Ten Years of the Bomb in South Asia (Zia Mian, M V Ramana)
[4] The unnoticed emergency - How Bangladesh's
generals get away with it (Edit, The Economist)
+ Debunking the 'NASA' doomsday climate
prediction for Bangladesh (M Monirul Qader Mirza)
[5] Kashmir:
(i) Peace, not ceasefire (Muzamil Jaleel)
(ii) Challenging Communal Mayhem in Jammu
(a) Civil Society members need to come out of
their shells (Edit, Kashmir Times)
(b) Jammu needs us (Rekha Chowdhary)
(c) A CNN IBN Video Report - July 06, 2008
[6] India: Blowing up a silly question (Indrajit Hazra)
[7] India: Strong message to the intolerant (Editorial)
[8] India: Repeal the law - Discrimination
against sexuality minorities must end (Deccan
Herald)
[9] India: Muslims reject Darul's conversion fatwa (Rohit Karir)
[10] British Muslims For Secular Democracy
Reaction to Lord Philip's Views About The
Incorporation Of Sharia Law In Britain
______
[1]
Nepali Times
04 JULY 2008 - 10 JULY 2008
WE BELONG TOGETHER
Assamese music teacher Meera Thapa was singing at
a concert in Kathmandu last week when, in the
middle of an old song by Tara Debi, she burst
into tears.
Meera Thapa is a third-generation Nepali, born in
Digboi, educated in Shillong and mentored by
diaspora poet-musician Hari Bhakta Katuwal. Her
Bengali is more fluent than her Nepali and she
seldom comes to Nepal.
Yet, while singing at Paleti on Friday, when she
got to the part where the lyrics go 'if there is
a heaven on earth, it is my motherland...', Meera
Thapa could not control the emotions that welled
up in her soul.
Wherever we may be, however much removed by time
and distance from the land of our ancestors,
there is a Nepali-ness that binds us. It is an
emotional bond that is perhaps best expressed in
poetry or song. Much more than a sense of shared
history, more than the language, religion and
festivals, beyond the artificial icons of
nationhood, Mt Everest, Lumbini and the danfe, or
even the now-defunct monarchy, a togetherness
unites the Nepali world.
Meera Thapa's tears signified a pure and intense
emotional attachment to the land of her
forebears. What was remarkable was that this
sense of belonging hadn't diminished with
separation, nor with the passage of generations.
Five Nepali migrant workers-a Madhesi, a
Janajati, a Chhetri, a Bahun and a Dalit-have
jointly set up a literary society in the UAE.
They meet regularly for gazal readings. The
message in their poetry and song is always: why,
if the rest of the world sees us as just Nepalis,
do we look for differences among us?
It is the tragedy of our times that the post-2006
identity politics is over-correcting past
injustices and taking us down the path of
ethno-chauvinism. While compensating for historic
exclusion, we want to enforce even worse
intolerance.
We have to pull ourselves out of the quagmire.
Today's prolonged political paralysis does not
help. It is bringing out all kinds of demons in
us. There is a danger the Madhes-Pahad gap will
widen if the political tug-o-war in Kathmandu
tempts the Maoists to project themselves as the
protectors of the Pahad against those espousing a
united Madhes.
The Madhes needs autonomy, but not at the expense
of other Tarai dwellers. Its ethno-separatist
slogans threaten our infant republic because it
would set a precedence for every other grouping
for an unviable 'homeland'.
Let's not get into who came here first. Learn
from countries in our region which have suffered
decades of civil war when they opened that can of
worms. Except for the Tarai aborigines, we all
came from somewhere else.
We all share a Nepali identity and Nepali space.
If someone like Meera Thapa, who doesn't even
live here, feels she belongs, why don't we?
______
[2]
The Observer,
June 29, 2008
WAR WITHOUT END
The last time he visited Sri Lanka, it was two
days after the Boxing Day tsunami had struck. Yet
among the devastation, a shaky ceasefire between
Tamil rebels and government forces seemed to
offer a glimmer of hope. So what went wrong? Euan
Ferguson returns to find an island paradise once
again torn apart by conflict
by Euan Ferguson
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jun/29/srilanka
______
[3]
South Asians Against Nukes - 6 July 2008
GOING MAD: TEN YEARS OF THE BOMB IN SOUTH ASIA
by Zia Mian, M V Ramana
(Economic and Political Weekly, June 28, 2008)
India and Pakistan have been talking peace since
2003, yet they have continued to expand their
nuclear arsenals. This suggests a failure both of
imagination and of political will to seriously
engage with the nuclear danger. The peace process
does not seem to recognise the fact that since
the two countries conducted their nuclear tests
in 1998 there has been a war and a major military
crisis, both prominently featuring nuclear
threats. Nuclear denial in south Asia is not a
symptom of inattention, or passivity in the face
of an overwhelming problem. It is deliberate
blindness to the contradiction between word and
deed. India and Pakistan talk of peace while
pouring scarce resources into developing their
nuclear arsenals, the infrastructure for
producing and using them, and doctrines aimed at
fighting a nuclear war.
[. . .]
Full Text: http://www.s-asians-against-nukes.org/2008/ziaramanajune08.html
______
[4] BANGLADESH:
(i)
The Economist
July 2, 2008
THE UNNOTICED EMERGENCY
How Bangladesh's generals get away with it
IN TERMS of foreign press coverage per head of
population, probably no country in the world gets
as raw a deal as Bangladesh. It has some 150m
people. Yet if it features in the international
media it tends to be either as the scene of an
appalling natural disaster-flood or cyclone-or as
the crucible for one of the great experiments in
microcredit.
Its politics tend to be ignored. This is
surprising, since it is a bastion of moderate
Islam, which, like other moderate Muslim
countries, such as Pakistan and Indonesia, has
been prey to an extremist fringe.
India accuses it of harbouring groups plotting
secession in its north-eastern states and, at
times, of training terrorists who mount attacks
elsewhere in India.
AFP Prisoners are transported to jail in Dhaka
Outside the subcontinent, however, few pay much
attention. This is just as well for the "interim"
administration, which took power in January 2007
with the backing of the army. The state of
emergency it imposed then is still in force. This
has allowed for some outrageous abuses.
According to Odhikar, a Bangladeshi human-rights
group, 68 people died in extrajudicial killings
(often called "crossfire") in the first half of
this year. Torture is endemic. The government
also quietly adopted a new counter-terrorism
ordinance last month, without debate. Human
Rights Watch, a research and lobbying group, says
it violates fundamental freedoms.
Last month, after the breakdown of talks between
the government and the political parties on the
election promised for December, about 28,000
political activists were detained. The country's
68 prisons are designed to hold 27,368 people,
but they were crammed with 87,579 prisoners in
late June, according to the government. Some
convicted prisoners are being freed prematurely
to make room for these unconnected-and
uncharged-political detainees.
There two main reasons why all this is so widely
overlooked. The first is that when the army
intervened in January 2007, most Bangladeshis
were relieved (as were aid donors). The two main
political parties-the Bangladesh Nationalist
Party (BNP) and the Awami League-seemed incapable
of managing an orderly transfer of power. So the
voices that might draw attention to the
government's abuses have been muted.
Secondly, the previous, BNP-led, government did
not like the foreign press, and made it very hard
for journalists to visit. It succeeded in
removing Bangladesh from the international news
agenda.
A modest attempt to draw attention to
Bangladesh's predicament was staged on June 27th
in the unlikely setting of the House of Lords in
London. In the Moses Room, dwarfed by the huge
painting of the Old Testament prophet bringing
God's laws down from the top of the mountain,
Lord Avebury, a British peer, chaired a seminar
on "political dialogue and the way forward to
elections" in Bangladesh.
Since Britain is both the former colonial power
and has around 250,000 citizens of Bangladeshi
origin, it is not surprising that its
parliamentarians should take an interest in the
country. Indeed, it is perhaps more surprising
that the seminar was sparsely attended.
One speaker, Saber Hossain Chowdhury, an Awami
League leader, professed to see light at the end
of the tunnel. The League is about to re-enter
talks with the government. There seems a good
chance that local and parliamentary elections
will proceed.
It is hard, however, to see how they can be free
or fair, while emergency rule in still in place.
The seminar adopted a unanimous resolution
calling for an immediate end to the state of
emergency.
Naturally, this was not widely reported.
o o o
(ii)
New Age
July 5, 2008
DEBUNKING THE 'NASA' DOOMSDAY CLIMATE PREDICTION FOR BANGLADESH
The 25-metre sea level rise is inappropriately
cited in the UK's Independent newspaper in the
name of NASA and certainly entire Bangladesh is
not going under water by the end of this century,
writes Dr M Monirul Qader Mirza
BANGLADESH is a flat deltaic country where 80 per
cent of the elevations are less than 12 metres
above sea level. Terrain of the coastal southern
Bangladesh is mostly at sea level. Because of the
geographical setting and physical
characteristics, the country is regularly
inundated by riverine to coastal flooding. Under
the future climate change regime, the country
will be highly vulnerable to sea level rise,
intense cyclones and storm surge flooding. A
recent special report by Johann Hari - titled
Bangladesh is set to disappear under the waves by
the end of the century and published in the
British daily Independent, has drawn significant
attention around the world. It has particularly
sent a shockwave among the people, scientists and
policymakers in Bangladesh and overseas. However,
will Bangladesh completely disappear under water
by 2100, as claimed in the Independent citing the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration of
the United States? This issue deserves discussion
in the context of the findings of the Fourth
Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change, which was released in 2007,
and the scientific developments that have taken
place since the release of the IPCC report.
Causes of sea level rise
Sea level varies from temporal to spatial
scales. For the inhabitants of the coastal area,
relative sea level - the level of the sea surface
in relation to land - is important. Relative sea
level can change by vertical movement of the land
or changes in the level of ocean surface itself.
Vertical movement can occur due to tectonic
activities and balance between deltaic subsidence
caused by massive weight of sediments, and the
accretion of land as additional sediments are
deposited in the coastal areas. Changes in sea
surface topography can occur at the very shortest
time-scales due to tidal and meteorological
phenomena.
Sea level changes are recorded by tide gauges.
The relative sea level at a gauge may show
long-term changes due to the vertical motion of
the gauge, circulation of the ocean or changes in
global volume of the ocean which is caused by
melting of land ice masses and warming of the
ocean and its thermal expansion. In the context
of greenhouse effect, the ocean, as well as land
is warming up. As the ocean warms, the density of
water would decrease and its volume would
increase. This is termed 'oceanic thermal
expansion'. There are three uncertainties to
ascertain the rate of thermal expansion. They are
changes in the heating of the climate system, the
sensitivity of climate and the rate of heat
uptake by the oceans.
Sea level changes in the recent past
According to the IPCC, the instrumental record
of modern sea level changes shows evidence for
onset of sea level rise during the 19th century.
Estimates for the 20th century show that global
average sea level rose at a rate of about 1.7mm
per year. Satellite observations available since
the early 1990s provide more accurate sea level
data with nearly global coverage. This
decade-long satellite altimetry dataset shows,
since 1993 sea level has been rising at a rate of
around 3mm per year, significantly higher than
the previous half century. However, sea level is
not rising uniformly around the world. In some
regions, rates are up to several times the global
mean rise, while in other regions sea level is
falling. For the past decade, sea level rise
shows the highest magnitude in the western
Pacific and eastern Indian oceans. Sea level rise
in some tidal stations in the Bangladesh coasts
are: Hiron Point - 4mm per year; Char Changa -
6mm per year and Cox's Bazar - 7.8 mm per year,
as reported by the SAARC Meteorological Centre in
Dhaka. Regional variability of the rates of sea
level is due mostly to non-uniform changes in
temperature and salinity and related to changes
in ocean circulation.
What factors contributed to the observed sea
level rise? As per the IPCC's Fourth Assessment
Report, among the measurable factors, melting
glaciers and ice caps were found to be the
largest contributor, for example, from 1961-2003,
their contribution was estimated to be 28 per
cent followed by thermal expansion (23 per cent).
But for the decade 1993-2003, contribution of
thermal expansion was much larger (52 per cent).
Future sea level projections of the IPCC
In its Fourth Assessment Report, the IPCC
projected that global sea level rise by 2100
would be in the range of 18cm to 59cm depending
on a range of greenhouse gas emission scenarios.
This full range of projection is relative to
1980-1999 and excluded of carbon-cycle feedback
and future rapid dynamical change in ice flow
because of lack of published literature. This is
an emerging science. However, the NASA scientist
Dr James Hansen (http ://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/)
disagrees with the IPCC findings and said it had
addressed 'a portion of the problem'.
2100: the doomsday for Bangladesh?
The Independent article is partly based on two
recent publications of Dr Hansen where he
discussed the limitations of the IPCC's business
as usual projection of sea level rise. According
to him, the most important left out component of
sea level rise was contributions from the
disintegration of ice sheets in Greenland and
West Antarctica. But the IPCC in its Fourth
Assessment Report considered 0.1 to 0.2 metre
additional sea level rise for the ice sheet
melting. However, this has not been explicitly
integrated in its sea level rise projections. Dr
Hansen's concerns have been addressed differently
by the IPCC as it states, 'Larger values cannot
be excluded, but understanding of these effects
is too limited to assess their likelihood or
provide a best estimate or an upper bound for sea
level rise.'
According to Dr Hansen, the past warming of
0.7oC already produces large amount of summer
melt on Greenland and West Antarctica. He
iterates, 'Global warming of several more
degrees, with its polar amplification, would have
both Greenland and West Antarctica bathed in
summer melt for extended melt seasons.' Dr Hansen
further says that until the past few years,
contribution from the ice sheet disintegration
was insignificant, but it has doubled in the past
one decade (1995-2005) and close to 1mm per year.
So if 10mm or 1cm contribution from the ice
sheets for the decade 2005-2015 doubles in every
decade, by 2100 sea level rise only from the
melting of ice sheets would be 5 metres. This
estimate is only based on an assumption and there
is no concrete reasoning to back it up. In this
regard, Dr Hansen says, 'Of course, I cannot
prove that my choice of a ten-year doubling time
for non-linear response is accurate, but I am
confident that provides a far better estimate
than a linear response for the ice sheet
component of sea level rise under BAU [business
as usual] scenario.' We need at least two more
decades of observational data from Greenland and
West Antarctica to verify Dr Hansen's 'ten-year
doubling' hypothesis.
The scary part of the Independent article was
25-meter sea level rise and complete
disappearance of Bangladesh from the world map.
Mr Hari wrote: 'Šand found that many
climatologists think the IPCC is way too
optimistic about Bangladesh. I turned to
Professor James Hansen, the director of NASA's
Goddard Institute for Space Studies, whose
climate calculations have proved to be more
accurate than anybody else's. He believes the
melting of the Greenland ice cap being picked up
his satellite today, now, suggests we are facing
a 25-metre rise in sea levels this century-which
would drown Bangladesh entirely.' Note that the
IPCC in its report has not considered Bangladesh
exclusively although it has appeared in many
instances because of special geophysical
characteristics of the country and its future
vulnerability to climate change and sea level
rise.
In my long association with the IPCC, I have
not come across any literature that has
particularly projected a 25-metre sea level rise
by 2100. Therefore, I decided to verify it with
Dr Hansen and sent him an email on June 26 and he
was very kind to write back a day later. He
replied: 'I have made no such projection,
although the long-term response to 2-3oC warming
would probably be a sea level rise of that order
- it is hard to say how much would occur by 2100
- it could be a few metres.' This long-term
timeline is debatable, may be thousands of years.
So the 25-metre sea level rise is inappropriately
cited in the Independent in the name of NASA and
certainly entire Bangladesh is not going under
water by the end of this century.
Sea level rise: implications for Bangladesh
Because of the flatness of the country, for
any given magnitude of future sea level rise, the
impacts could be devastating. The IPCC's Third
Assessment Report published in 2001 projected 11
per cent inundation for a 45cm sea level rise.
However, the inundated area may be doubled for a
1-metre rise. Another study conducted by the
Institute for Water Modelling, Dhaka shows
intrusion of seawater up to Chandpur, about 80km
upstream from the estuary. With a 32cm sea level
rise, 84 per cent of Sundarban, a UNESCO world
heritage site, would be deeply inundated by 2050
and the entire Sundarban may be lost for about
one-metre rise. In Bangladesh, impacts of sea
level rise on land and water, crops, livestock,
human health and livelihood would be significant.
It is, therefore, necessary to formulate and
implement appropriate adaptation measures under a
long perspective plan.
Dr M Monirul Qader Mirza is currently with the
Adaptation and Impacts Research Division,
Environment Canada and the Department of Physical
and Environmental Sciences, University of
Toronto. He acted as coordinating lead author of
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change of
the United Nations, winner of the Nobel Peace
Prize in 2007. Views presented are those of the
writer's.
______
[5]
Kashmir:
(i)
Indian Express, July 05, 2008
PEACE, NOT CEASEFIRE
by Muzamil Jaleel
This spring had brought a new season of peace
and prosperity to Kashmir. The tourism industry
was blossoming with nine to eleven thousand
arrivals daily. Violence was substantially down.
The separatist leadership was demoralised and
divided. Mainstream political activity was at its
peak in the anticipation that the 2008 assembly
polls would finally shift the centre in Kashmir
politics.
In fact, Hurriyat hardliner Syed Ali Shah
Geelani's poll boycott looked absurd. He was
alone even in the separatist camp and the
moderates had decided not to run an anti-election
campaign. Still half a year away, the elections
had become a popular topic everywhere. Unlike the
1996 and 2002 polls, the discussion was not about
voter turnout but instead intricate analyses of
the anticipated contests. Everything was going
according to plan: the Centre had stopped
mentioning the separatist leadership even
occasionally. The peace process now revolved
around government-sponsored working groups alone.
Kashmir had even shifted away from the larger
Indo-Pak discourse where the new Pak leadership
had publicly abandoned the centrality of Kashmir
to Islamabad's relationship with New Delhi.
Then came the transfer of 40 acres of forest land
to the Amarnath Shrine Board. First, there were a
few routine political statements, opposing the
government move. And then, the entire Valley rose
in protest, bringing life to a sudden halt.
Hundreds of thousands came out on the streets.
There were processions. There was violence too
but, this time, stones had replaced bullets.
These protests, however, were spontaneous, taking
even astute observers by surprise.
Suddenly, the situation in Kashmir was
reminiscent of the turbulent '90s. Interestingly,
those protesting were not divided by class,
ideology or party affiliation: they were just
very angry young people. The stone-pelting,
slogan-shouting first ranks were formed of young
men between 15 and 25. Even larger protests -
some of 50,000 people - took place in remote
rural areas that had been quiet for years,
including in places with a traditionally close
relationship with the army.
What happened might be surprising, but not really
unexpected. Everyone was positive about the
situation on the ground: New Delhi, Pakistan and
the state government. The moderate agenda of the
Hurriyat and that of the PDP were beginning to
overlap; the Congress was obsessed with
"development", and the 2008 polls were expected
to provide closure. Moderate separatists had lost
much relevance, waiting indefinitely for the
invitation to a second round of talks after the
big photo-op. The mistake lay in assuming that
the declining credibility of the separatist
leadership implied a decline in separatist
sentiment as well.
While the government had been expecting that the
calm would automatically heal the wounds of 18
years, Kashmir was silently waiting for a
concrete mechanism to bring closure to its pain.
The expose of mass graves in Baramulla and
Kupwara had once again strengthened the demand
that thousands of families here still need
answers and it is the government's responsibility
to make it possible. Two years of a substantial
calm had provided the government with enough time
to think and come up with a concrete plan to
address the demands of justice. This would have
provided a base for a real political process on
the ground based on a true engagement rather than
a game of dialogue, revolving around mutual
gimmickry. The only unambiguous aspect of New
Delhi's Kashmir policy has been to delay
confronting real problems, and now Islamabad too
has taken a similar line. Still, the presence and
strength of security forces was never made
proportional to the declining graph of violence
or the security establishment's own assessment of
the militant presence on the ground.
Though the emotive issue of land ownership acted
as the trigger, the real reason for mass anger is
the perception that the political status quo is
being traded officially as a permanent solution
to the conflict. This uprising should have
established before those formulating Kashmir
policy in New Delhi and Islamabad that the
Kashmir problem has its epicentre primarily in
Kashmir, and so a solution will come only out of
Kashmir. The obsession to look for answers in
Islamabad, or through engaging a Kashmiri
leadership closer to Pakistan, will never help
resolve anything on the ground. The complexion of
the protestors, especially their age group, their
anger and their motivation, is itself a new
phenomenon. It is a new and harsh reality that
needs to be immediately understood so that we do
not encounter another wave of thousands of angry
young men taking to Kalashnikovs. This nine-day
uprising has been a wake-up call: absence of war
does not necessarily mean peace; and unless the
issue is resolved permanently, we will always get
the feel of a temporary ceasefire.
o o o
(ii) CHALLENGING COMMUNAL MAYHEM IN JAMMU
(a)
Kashmir Times
July 4, 2008
Sanity should prevail
CIVIL SOCIETY MEMBERS NEED TO COME OUT OF THEIR SHELLS
Looking at the way things are flaring up in Jammu
region, tensions persisting despite the
imposition of curfew in many places, the
immediate need is to douse these flames of
communal and regional hatred that are vitiating
the atmosphere. What may have essentially began
from Jammu is now trickling down to other parts
of the region, unusually even affecting villages
and towns. There is particular concern about
Doda, Bhaderwah and Kishtwar, where regional and
religious lines get blurred in a delicate balance
of demographics. The campaign to vitiate the
atmosphere was indeed started by fringe elements
but with the government dragging feet over any
decision on the Amarnath land transfer initially,
these elements had ample time to organise
themselves and sell their propaganda and package
of myths to the people of Jammu region. The
damage has been done and cannot be undone by any
political discourse, at least for the moment.
Much of the political leadership of the state,
having miserably bungled on the issue right from
the day one of the controversy, has already
failed. It is best for them to at least shut up
and stop petty politicking and mud slinging for
now. The rest are busy trying to cash in on the
religious sentiments of the people, flared up by
continuous over-dosage of myths, and vitiating
the atmosphere. This is no trivial matter and
neither an occasion to wait and watch. The
violent protests cannot simply be crushed with an
iron hand and clamping up of curfews and other
restrictions, even if incidents of unprovoked
firing and highhandedness by police and the CRPF
are contained fully. The imposition of
restrictions itself has not been able to curb the
acts of the violent protestors, many of whom are
managing to violate curfew orders and even resort
to hooliganism and vandalism even as the innocent
masses are huddled indoors and facing the brunt
of the curfew restrictions. In such a scenario
where almost every part of the region is becoming
vulnerable, security is of paramount concern and
the violent mobs must be contained. This effort
has to be coupled with voices of sanity, a task
that cannot be accomplished without secular and
credible civil society members coming forward and
making an appeal to the people for maintaining
communal amity. The message should go down to the
people, who are mainly reeling under panic,
confusion and insecurity at the moment or dealing
with their pent up anger against the State, that
it is important not to further vitiate the
atmosphere or play into the hands of vested
interests and political parties who have fanned
the fires of communal and regional polarisation.
Given the tense situation, the administration
could facilitate the movement of such civil
society members, rather than creating hurdles.
Similar voices of sanity should also prevail in
the Valley, which has returned to normalcy after
the agitation, for the very simple logic that
voices in one region have an impact in the other
part of the state. The gravity of the situation
should not be undermined. If Jammu is in flames,
this has long term repercussions, which may of
course not be positive, not just for the region
but the entire state, hampering in many ways the
Kashmir situation as also the day to day life of
the people. It has to be dealt with by people who
are staunch believers of communal harmony and
wish to maintain the secular traditions of the
state. They must rise up to the occasion. Viewing
the nation wide bandh call by the Sangh Parivar
on Thursday and the announcement of their
elaborate programme against the revocation of
Amarnath Board land transfer order, it is clear
that the flare up in Jammu is instigated from
outside by vested interests who may continue to
fan these fires for their vote bank politics. But
this fact should in no way compel anyone to sit
back and simply wait for the calamity to fall.
Things in Jammu are still not beyond control.
Indigenous efforts have to begin immediately, if
we want to save the situation.
(b)
Kashmir Times
July 4, 2008
JAMMU NEEDS US
by Rekha Chowdhary
I am writing this column as a Jammuite and
through it appealing to my fellow citizens to
take up the responsibility at this crucial
juncture - to take forward the tradition of
plurality, communal amity and secular ethos that
this region is known for. I apologise for writing
this column in a more personal manner - but it is
the only way that I can reach out to the people
who may be swayed by emotions and may face the
danger of falling prey to the polarised and
divisive politics at this point of time.
I also want to reach out and appeal to those who
understand the danger of the polarisation, but
feel too marginalised to intervene and are
waiting for trouble to subside. I want to tell
them how their silence is as criminal as the
frenzy of the communal voices.
So much is happening in the name of Jammu. So
much is being said as to what Jammu is and what
Jammu wants. I also want to intervene in the name
of Jammu, Jammu that I have come to appreciate
over the years!
Honestly speaking it took me time to develop my
appreciation for what Jammu is. But once I
developed this appreciation, I have been talking
about Jammu at all the places where my profession
has taken me - in Delhi and other parts of India
and outside India. I have been giving examples as
to how Jammu represents a marvel in the present
day world inflicted by communal and cultural
polarisation. In the seminars where 'diversity'
is being talked about a desired value, where
plurality and multiculturalism have been
discovered as the theoretical answers to the
problem of polarisation - I have been making a
point as to how Jammu is the best example of
diversity and plurality. That plurality here is
not a 'desired' value but a 'lived' reality. It
is not a theoretical construct, nor an ideal - it
is the way we live. Plurality is writ large on
the day-to-day existence of this region.
Though it is the state as a whole that represents
an example of plurality, yet within the State
also, it is Jammu where plurality is reflected in
its best dimensions. Seen from the perspective of
religious composition, languages spoken or
cultural reflections Jammu is heterogeneous at
all counts. Heterogeneity has contributed to the
richness of this region. Apart from the fact that
different religious and cultural groups live side
by side, there is so much that has evolved as
'mixed living' and 'shared spaces'. I experience
this mixed living on every day basis in the
University that I work and the class that I
teach. It is pleasure to see the students of any
of the two MA classes - representing so much
diversity - not only identified in terms of being
Hindus and Muslims but also in terms of their
cultural, linguistic, tribal and caste identity.
What gives me greater pleasure though is the
comfort with which they deal with each other's
difference. Difference of religion or of culture
or language does not give them a sense of danger
and does not invoke in them a sense of suspicion
about the 'other'.
This sense of comfort about living with each
other, despite the differences, is not exclusive
to the University students. The scenario that I
reflected about University, can be replicated
anywhere else in the region. There is so much of
'otherness' around us that we are not ghettoised
in our compartmentalised lives. Diversity and
plurality is all the time making us familiar with
the reality of the others - other religions,
other cultures, other languages, other tribes,
other kinds of people.
It is this plural reality and this comfort of
living with each other that makes Jammu unique.
It is this Jammu that I appreciate and this Jammu
that I want to stand for. And it is for this
Jammu that I am making appeal to all those who
have a strong sense of identification with Jammu
to stand up and say that we do not want Jammu to
be appropriated by one kind of voice and one kind
of representation.
The city of Jammu, which is facing the turbulence
the most, is as much an example of plurality as
the rest of the region. For decades now, it has
become home to anyone seeking shelter from the
troubled situations. Thus all kinds of people who
were displaced at one point of time or the other
since 1947 found refuge in this city - the reason
the city is called as a city of Refugees - the
1947 refugees from Pakistan and Pakistan
Administered Kashmir, the people living on the
borders and displaced during various wars, the
Kashmiri Pundits who faced exodus in 1990, the
people displaced from various militancy infested
parts of the region, so on and so forth. So
welcoming has been this city to the 'outsiders'
that lots of Punjabis shifted to this city during
the period when militancy was at its peak in
Punjab. Lots of Kashmiri Muslims have virtually
made this city as their second home and
constructed their houses here. The Jammu city has
absorbed all kinds of people and has expanded in
the process, not only physically but also in its
character - in its capacity of accommodation and
its tolerance of divergent cultures and
religions. Last two decades of conflict have
actually shown the vibrancy and the strength of
this city.
Ironically, the term 'Jammu' as it is used
represents both - the region as well as the city.
Seen from any angle, from the angle of the region
or form the angle of city, communal polarisation
does not define the life, society or the politics
of the state. There is a secular ethos that not
only prevails but which frustrates all attempts
to use the religious differences for creating
communally divided constituencies. It is this
secular ethos that has seen us through difficult
phases of militancy. It is this secular ethos
which has defeated all kinds of politics based on
communal division of the State.
Jammu does not stand for what is being projected
now - in the images that are being flashed all
over the country and the world - a communal
Jammu, a polarised Jammu, a chauvinistic Jammu.
Jammu stands for much more - for its
inter-community harmony, for its plurality and
for its mixed life, for its shared social and
political spaces and for its secular ethos.
It is the responsibility of all those who belong
to Jammu and who claim to identify with Jammu to
stand up and protect the image of Jammu. It is
not the time to sit quiet and watch. It is the
time to assert our conviction.
o o o
[See also:
A CNN IBN Video Report - Jul 06, 2008:
http://www.ibnlive.com/videos/68374/07_2008/30min_0507_3/30-minutes-land-an-emotive-issue-in-jk.html
]
_______
[6]
Hindustan Times, 22 June 2008
BLOWING UP A SILLY QUESTION
by Indrajit Hazra
I'm on holiday in Balasaheb Thackerayland, holed
up in the rather droll West End Hotel that is
bang opposite the Bombay Hospital and a stone's
throw away from the Gol Masjid. Rather
non-ominously between these two institutions is
the office of the Shiv Sena's trade union wing,
the Bharatiya Kamgar Sena. Hopefully, a few days
here will give me a deep insight into the New
Mumbai that is a lot less about Alyque Padamsee
and the hamster that's on his head, and more
about the city of the man who is increasingly
looking like a cross between Amitabh Bachchan and
V.S. Naipaul: Balasaheb Thackeray.
Just to reassure us that he is still a nasty
piece of work, Thackeray wrote an editorial last
week in the Shiv Sena's version of the New Yorker
about "the need of the hour is to plant a strong
bomb in Bangladeshi bastis that have mushroomed
in Thane and elsewhere in Maharashtra". Even as I
clutch on to my passport and fervently hope not
to mutter Bengali swear words each time I look at
the prices printed on the room service drinks
menu, it's something else that Balasaheb has
written that has got me thinking: the need for a
Hindu suicide bomber squad to combat Muslim
fundamentalism.
The Shiv Sena chief mentor was reacting to two
explosions last month in Vashi and Thane
reportedly directed against a Marathi play that
'made fun' of Hindu deities. The two
organisations suspected have denied that they
were behind the blasts. But it is this denial
that has cheesed off Balasaheb, who has called
the (thankfully ineffective) blast attempts
"ridiculous and stupid". So inside my hotel room
I've started thinking: But can there be good (by
which I mean successful) Hindu suicide bombers?
The Balasaheb's separation of suicide bombers
into 'Hindu' and 'Muslim' is really a red
herring. To blow oneself up - and, for that
matter, others - requires either an extreme cause
or a serious chemical imbalance in the brain. You
can be a Zoroastrian and have either of these
qualities and be the next Freddie Fidayeen if you
want to. And with no (real or made up) incentives
to go straight to paradise after pressing the
button, the notion of a Hindu suicide squad ready
to be trained and unleashed on the face of the
Earth looks rather remote.
Then there's the track record. The first decade
of the 20th century has been considered the most
'terroristic' in the history of India's struggle
for independence. And if one goes by inspiration,
the Bengal Bombers - led by the
revolutionary-turned-proto-Sri Sri Ravi Shankar,
Aurobindo Ghose - were the closest we ever came
to Balasaheb's 'Hindu fidayeen squad'. Even with
iconic chaps like Khudiram Bose and Prafulla
Chaki, both romanticised by Bengalis to this day
- and replicated in their own heads by
bomb-throwing cadres of West Bengal political
parties - the record is abysmal. Between 1906 and
1908, ten 'actions' were undertaken by the
al-Qaeda-like (non-centralised) Maniktola Secret
Society. Not one was successful. Five were
aborted because of failure of nerves or lack of
planning; four were failures because the
explosives wouldn't work; and one killed the
wrong target. Not totally unlike Balasaheb,
Aurobindo Ghose - full of Garibaldi-sh notions
and Hindu nationalistic-religious ideas inspired
by reading Bankimchandra - wanted terrorist
actions "to prepare the young men to have some
sort of military training, to kill and get
killed" before the imminent "open armed
revolution". It didn't happen.
So, as far as Balasaheb's desire to see local
Hindu boys blowing themselves up into smithereens
by picking up tips from the existing (?) fidayeen
go, I think all this is the result of the Chief
Shiv Sainik being extremely bored. As am I, too
lazy to paint the town outside my hotel red, but
knowing that Subhas Chandra Bose was dead right
when he wrote in his 'Prison Diaries': "Those who
are considered good boys in society are in fact
nothing but eunuchs... The Bengali will never
become manly unless the so-called good boys are
totally uprooted from the West End Hotel." Oh,
all right. I made up that bit about the hotel.
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
______
[7]
(The Hindu, July 4, 2008)
STRONG MESSAGE TO THE INTOLERANT
Editorial
The Supreme Court's quashing of the summons
issued by a Gujarat court to political scientist
Ashis Nandy should send a strong message not just
to harassers of free speech, including intolerant
state governments, and religious and chauvinistic
groups, but to the lower judiciary as well. The
summons were issued on a first information report
(FIR) registered by the Gujarat police on the
basis of a complaint filed by a non-government
organisation that his analysis of the 2007
Gujarat elections published in The Times of India
in January tended to promote enmity among
different groups and was derogatory to the state
as a whole. The Supreme Court bench found that
Dr. Nandy's academic analysis was hardly the
incendiary material it was alleged to be and the
attempt to prosecute him was only a demonstration
of intolerance. This is the latest in a series of
court orders that have sought to protect writers,
artists, film makers, entertainers, and public
personalities from harassment through frivolous
cases filed by intolerant religious or regional
forces, self-proclaimed enforcers of morality,
and governments. In May, the Delhi High Court
quashed proceedings in three cases in which the
renowned painter M.F. Husain was charged with
painting Hindu gods and goddesses in an
objectionable manner. The Supreme Court itself
had earlier come to the rescue of Richard Gere,
who was sought to be arrested and prosecuted for
his demonstrative gesture of kissing Shilpa
Shetty.
That the Supreme Court and the high courts should
step in to prevent the harassment of writers and
creative artistes through the abuse of the legal
process is not a surprise. What is disquieting is
that despite repeated judicial pronouncements,
there seems to be no let-up in the attempts to
silence free speech and expression that some
group or the other finds objectionable. In part,
that is due to the overly broad interpretation by
the lower judiciary of what constitutes an
offence under Section 153-A of the Indian Penal
Code, which deals with writings and creative
activities that promote "disharmony or feelings
of enmity, hatred or ill will between different
religious, racial, language or regional groups,
or castes or communities." Often enough,
magistrates are persuaded by vocal and powerful
religious or chauvinistic groups playing upon
local sentiments to take up cases and issue
summons on the most frivolous grounds. They would
do well to heed the caution urged by the Delhi
High Court while quashing the cases against Mr.
Husain that they should strictly scrutinise
frivolous and vexatious complaints that impinge
on the basic freedom of an individual. The
intolerant need to be told clearly and firmly of
the level of tolerance called for in a democratic
society. While court orders in specific cases
illustrate what cannot be considered
objectionable, the Supreme Court in the case
relating to the film Ore Oru Gramathile had
adopted a broad standard that "the effect of the
words must be judged from the standards of
reasonable, strong-minded, firm and courageous
men, and not those of weak and vacillating minds,
nor of those who scent danger in every hostile
point of view." The permissive legal culture that
provides any bigot a forum to turn perfectly
acceptable speech or expression into a crime and
harass writers and creative artistes is clearly
in need of an attitudinal, if not structural,
overhaul
______
[8]
Deccan Herald
July 5, 2008
REPEAL THE LAW
DISCRIMINATION AGAINST SEXUALITY MINORITIES MUST END
There is an urgent need for India to halt
discrimination against sexuality minorities. This
was the main theme of rallies and processions in
three Indian cities last week to mark Rainbow
Pride Week, which commemorates riots that erupted
in New York when police raided a pub and arrested
several gays in 1969. The rallies in three
cities was an attempt by the community to have
their demands heard. They have called for repeal
of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which
criminalises homosexuality. The legislation
forbids "carnal intercourse against the order of
nature" and practice of unlawful sex is
punishable with a 10-year jail term and a fine.
Under the law, gay sex is bracketed with sex with
animals and pedophilia and classed as an
"unnatural" offense. It criminalises sexuality
minorities. This is an outdated and inhumane
piece of legislation, which needs to be repealed.
Some have argued that there is no need to change
the legislation as gays are not actually arrested
in the country and are allowed to lead the lives
of their choice quietly. This might be so. But by
making homosexuality illegal, gays are made
vulnerable to police harassment and blackmail.
They are forced to keep their sexual orientation
secret. This means that they are often unwilling
and unable to access information or medical
treatment for diseases like HIV/AIDS.
That many of those who participated in the
rallies in Bangalore, Delhi and Kolkata wore
masks and needed police protection from the
public indicates the extent of social prejudice
and discrimination that sexuality minorities face
in this country. Often families and friends too
are unsupportive, forcing them to lead double
lives. There have been instances of gays who,
unable to take the social ostracism and pressure,
take their own lives. They find it difficult to
find jobs or accommodation because society sees
them as as immoral.
There are a few groups and networks that are
working to provide support to lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender populations and to
articulate their problems. The rallies were part
of their effort to put forward their demands. But
the issues that were raised are ones that should
concern all those who believe in an egalitarian
world, where the rights of all minorities is
respected. It is time India ended its prejudice
against sexuality minorities.
______
[9]
Mail Today
4 July 2008
MUSLIMS REJECT DARUL'S CONVERSION FATWA
by Rohit Karir in New Delhi
MUSLIMS from across the spectrum have rejected a
recent fatwa on conversion issued by the Deoband
seminary Dar- ul Uloom. The seminary's fatwa
questions the validity of love marriages in the
Muslim community where a girl or a boy from a
different religion converts to Islam for
matrimony. According to the 150- year- old
seminary's fatwa unit, such conversions are
against the Shariat. Mufti Ehsan Kazmi, the unit
head, had said, "If you're converting to Islam,
then it has to be based on grounds of faith and
not on emotional reasons. There should be no
compromises made on matters of faith." But most
Muslims are not buying the seminary's argument.
Maulana Ahmed Jameed Ilyasi, president of the All
India Organisations of Imams of Mosques, rejected
the fatwa, saying decrees such as these create
tension in society and within the community. "The
Dar- ul Uloom should not get involved in such
matters. There are, however, not too many cases
of conversions for the sake of marriage," the
Maulana said. The sentiment is shared across the
board. "Anybody can become a Muslim, even if it
is for marriage. Converting to Islam to get
married is nothing new. Fatwas like this are
regressive," filmmaker Muzaffar Ali said.
Bollywood actor Malaika Arora Khan, who married
Salman Khan's brother, Arbaaz, said the fatwa
does not reflect the majority opinion in the
community. "She did not convert to get married
and she's happy with the relationship," a source
said. Social activist Nafisa Ali -whose husband,
Colonel Pickles Sodhi, is a Sikh -said, "Who is
to decide the actual truth behind a person's
decision to convert for the sake of marriage? If
conversion is the price of staying together, such
a step should be thought through." Ilyasi said
the seminary should think before issuing such a
fatwa in the future. "If the two families agree
on conversion, then the Shariat isn't against
it," he argued. There have been past instances of
men converting to Islam. The most famous being
that of actor Dharmendra, who took this step
before marrying Hema Malini, to escape the charge
of bigamy.
______
[10]
BRITISH MUSLIMS FOR SECULAR DEMOCRACY (BMSD)
Press Release - 4th JULY 2008
British Muslims for Secular Democracy (BMSD) has
deep reservations about the comments made by Lord
Philips advocating for the incorporation of
Sharia law alongside Civil law in Britain. His
legal position and arguments of equality
notwithstanding, a move in this direction would
be detrimental to Muslims and to society as a
whole.
Lord Philips' has a particular view of Islamic
law and appears not to understand that there are
major differences over the interpretation and
implementation of Sharia amongst the various
schools of thought the Muslim world. Moreover,
British Muslims are not homogenous but diverse
with groups and individuals holding distinct
views on religious practice, cultural and social
customs based on their geographical and ethnic
backgrounds and their evolving European
identities. Therefore there is no single set of
Islamic laws that can be applied to every Muslim,
in order to govern their financial and civil
matters. Such an inclusion will also fail to
accommodate the minority sects within British
Muslim communities such as Shias and Ismailis who
are often deemed as non-Muslims by the hard-line
Sunni Islamic organisations operating within
Britain.
BMSD believes that the concept of parallel
justice systems, is, in effect, a denial of
inclusion and shared citizenship. The western
legal systems grant men and women equal rights
under a single set of rules.
Whereas some Islamic jurisprudence experts
promote Sharia rules that contravene the Human
Rights Act and civil liberties guaranteed under
the English laws, such as freedom of expression,
rights of women in cases of divorce, inheritance
and testimony in court.
Dr Shaaz Mahboob of BMSD said, "Lord Philips
makes generalised assumptions about the perceived
will of British Muslims. Incorporation of aspects
of Sharia law within the English legal system
will further segregate Muslim communities from
the mainstream. As result ordinary Muslims who
are content living under the umbrella of the
British justice system, are likely to come under
unnecessary pressure from self-appointed
religious representatives such as those from the
Sharia Council, Muslim Council of Britain and
Mosque Imams, to seek alternative avenues such as
the Shaira courts to settle their disputes. This
will only alienate communities and individuals
from each other and create barriers which harm
the social fabric of the society."
[End]
Notes to the editors:
1. BMSD is made up of a group of Muslim democrats
of diverse ethnic and social backgrounds, who
support a clear separation between religion and
the State.
2. BMSD's mission statement:
"To promote civic engagement, social inclusion,
responsible citizenship and good governance
particularly within constituent Muslim
communities of Britain; in order to build an
understanding of the shared values between all
citizens to enable them to live in an inclusive,
pluralist, secular and confident Britain."
3. BMSD claims no mandate or false representative
status. Our primary concern is democratic
engagement not detailed theological analysis or
debate. The level and depth of commitment to the
doctrinal core and orthodoxy of the faith varies
among Muslims as much as it does in members of
other faith groups. BMSD founders wish to create
a platform for alternative, diverse Muslim views,
essential for a progressive, multi-layered,
democratic identity that is not in conflict with
itself or fellow citizens.
4. For details please visit -http://www.bmsd.org.uk
5. For any further queries, please contact:
Dr Shaaz Mahboob on shaaz at bmsd.org.uk or 07961365751
Dr Ghayasuddin Siddiqui on drsiddiqui at talk21.com or 07860259289
Regards, Shaaz
Shaaz Mahboob (Dr)
Vice Chair, bmsd
m: +44(0)7884 473 491
e: shaaz at bmsd.org.uk
url: http://www.bmsd.org.uk
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