SACW | July 13-14, 2008 / School Not Missiles / Delink Shrines from State / Hate speech
Harsh Kapoor
aiindex at gmail.com
Sun Jul 13 21:53:33 CDT 2008
South Asia Citizens Wire | July 13-14 , 2008 |
Dispatch No. 2539 - Year 10 running
[1] Sr Lanka: A Mirror to Look at Our Collective
Face: July Notes on A Sinhala Play (Liyanage
Amarakeerthi)
[2] Pakistan:
(i) Pakistan's deal with the devil (Walter Mayr)
(ii) It Takes a School, Not Missiles (Nicholas D. Kristof)
(iii) www.karachikids.com/
[3] Indian Kashmir:
(i) No Heroes In Jammu & Kashmir - The Amarnath
crisis takes its toll (Praful Bidwai)
(ii) Why is a Shrine a Cause Celebre? - The
Kashmir Chiaroscuro (Farzana Versey )
(iii) Delink Shrines from Govt Say Prominent Kashmiris
[4] Changing interpretations of early Indian history (Upinder Singh)
[5] India:
- 'Hate speech provisions have almost become a dead letter'
- US Lawmaker, Human Rights group urge the
US State Department for Modi visa denial
[6] India's Unlikely Obama: American Style
Election Campaign Tech to sell LK Advani (Rama
Lakshmi)
[7] Joint Press Statement by Women's Organizations on Amar Singh's Remark
______
[1]
The Island
12 July 2008
A MIRROR TO LOOK AT OUR COLLECTIVE FACE: July Notes on A Sinhala Play
by Liyanage Amarakeerthi
As it is believed in government circles, the end
to the war is just around the corner. That is, by
defeating the LTTE military wing. If that reality
comes about, it will force a paradigm shift in
Sri Lankan politics by creating opportunities for
Tamil people to rally around moderate leaders
among themselves. The LTTE knows this, that is
why it has been eliminating almost all moderate
leaders within the Tamil community. In case of
its military defeat, it does not want anybody to
usher in a new era with a totally new kind of
approach.
It does not want anybody to come up with new
ideas, new angles of vision. So, if all the
moderate and intellectual politicians among the
Tamils could be killed, there will be a cultural
wasteland which can assure the rise of LTTE- type
ideologies. When the war enters its final phase
the LTTE will accelerate killing moderate Tamil
leaders hoping that next generation will also
produce leaders no different from Prabhakaran. As
Major General Sarath Fonseka recently argued,
LTTE violence will continue as isolated and
random attacks even after its 'armed forces' are
totally destroyed. These isolated attacks will
target moderate Tamil leaders while the LTTE buys
time to regroup its armed forces.
What this means is that the cycle of violence is
not going to end after the capture of
Kilinochchi. Can we in the South help Tamils to
come up with a totally new kind of politics after
the bloody era of the LTTE? Yes we can. But we
have to learn to accept that the 'totally new'
post-LTTE Tamil politics cannot be something
dictated by us, in the South.
In order for us to usher in a new era, we must be
dialogic--in the broadest sense of the word. May
be it is little bit too early to talk of a
post-LTTE era. Perhaps, it is better to be too
soon rather than to be too late. Running the risk
of being too wishful, I want to reflect on what
the post-LTTE era would be like.For a post-LTTE
era to be meaningful, we must be able to get rid
of the very structures that created an
organisation like the LTTE. We will be happy
without Prabhakaran but we all will be happier
without the economic, political and ideological
structures that created a man like him. It is
ironic that Buddhism, which is so good at
explaining the violence hidden in what is taken
to be 'self'- both in a personal and cultural
sense- has not been able to help us imagine a
fundamentally new and peaceful Sri Lanka.
Perhaps, there is no better time for this kind of
reflection than the month of July- the fatal
month during which the South fell from grace 25
years ago. I was 14 then, old enough to remember
how Tamil houses of my village were burning one
morning. Yet, the burden on my conscience is bit
less since no Tamil was killed in that village.
Those people were wise, and they fled before the
killers could get to them! And some of us saved
the life of one man, whom we called "Master
Mama." But one of the richest men in a group of
villages, including ours ,lost his coconut and
coir mills just because he was Tamil. Our
villages, however, deserve some credit: that man
could become 'one of the richest' among us in
spite of being Tamil. Many Sinhala men and women
worked for him. Some Sinhalese managed his
business. Years later, when I visited the village
which my family left in 1983, I could hardly
recognise the place; Maheswari Stores of Ramayya
mudalali once stood at Welipillewa, Digalla-
about four miles north of Kuliyapitiya. By then
Sinhalese businessmen had acquired uncle
Ramayya's property.
Ramayya was the first to bring a television set
to our village. That was in 1980. He kindly
allowed us village kids to watch the wonder that
was TV in his large living room. Three years
later, some men, perhaps the parents of those
little TV-fans, broke into his house, not to
watch the big TV but to take it away. Dr. Dayan
Jayatilleka was correct in his great piece in
Midweek Review, 09/07: to say that the culprits
of '83 riots were government- sponsored thugs is
self-deceiving. 'Normal' Sinhala Buddhists and
Christians became goons overnight- may be just
for a night. Ideologies do such things to people
all over the world.
Our South, their North?
Our South can change the culture of their North
by admitting that LTTE in part was produced by
us. The discourse on conflict resolution has a
useful expression: "structural violence." It is
the violence built into or inherent in our
societies and cultures. The ways we eat, live and
do politics in the South could be predicated upon
structures that create violence for others in
other areas. Colombo-centered and
Sinhala-centered political and economic
structures are such that they marginalize many
other areas irrespective of the ethnicities of
the people in those parts. The problem of unequal
distribution is not always ethnically defined.
But it sometime is. Nearly fifty years ago, Franz
Fanon and Aime Cesire(and others) showed us that
the realities of a white worker and a black
worker were not the same even if they both happen
to be 'workers' in a same kind of factory. In a
white-dominated world, a white worker can easily
be 'superior' to a non-white one in most
contexts. That kind of violence against non-white
workers is built into the very structures of
colonialism- an era Fanon and Cesire were writing
about in their master works 'The Wretched of the
Earth' and 'A Discourse on Colonialism'.
I am not claiming that Sri Lanka's North is under
direct colonial rule of the South. At the same
time I cannot disclaim that the way the South
behaves towards the North contains in itself a
certain form of structural violence. Even after
the war ends hopefully next year as our leaders
predict, the structural violence will not cease
to exist. It is a kind of violence which is
difficult to see. To see it and to accept its
existence one needs a great deal of cultural
self-criticism. If not based upon such
self-criticism no solution will be long lasting.
This is something that teachers of engaged
Buddhism ,such as Thich Nhat Hanh and Sulak
Sivaraksa, have been arguing for years.
Self and self-criticism
Cultural self-criticism: well, we hardly do it
these days. When the war ends in the North, and
when we look into the long term future of
post-LTTE Sri Lanka, the South also must be
prepared to take a good look at itself. A
society's best opportunity for cultural
reflection is provided by the art it creates. It
is a mirror in which we look at our collective
face. In our times, that mirror is literature,
theatre and cinema. Last few years, we in the
South did not like that mirror. In fact we hated
it. We called our best filmmakers, "traitors." I
have not seen all of those "anti-nationalistic"
movies. But ones I saw, such as Prasanna
Vithanage's Purahanda Kaluwara, are modern
classics of which the nation should be proud.
Hopefully, when the war ends we will regain our
sanity to see those great works of art as what
they really are.
Rajitha Dissanayake's new play Apahu Herenna Be
(No Return), seems to ask us in the South to look
back at ourselves. The play is set in a media
monitoring centre- an arm of the state,
controlling the flow of information: the centre
decides what get transmitted as news and what is
to be presented as "truth." Media truths are not
free floating ones that are out there. They are
truths manufactured and adorned by those who hold
power. Therefore, mass media truths are often
beautiful caskets in which to smuggle dominant
ideologies. This is not something new. It happens
everywhere, and it only grew into epic
proportions with the origin of mass media. People
like Noam Chomskey have written a good deal about
this. The task of the true artist is to see
through these ideologies and hold them at bay
without letting them make the entire nation blind.
Sinhala artistes, however, hardly pay attention
to how dominant truths are made and presented as
the Truth.
Dissanayake's play takes a peek behind the closed
doors of institutions that make truths. It also
attempts look into the inner lives of the makers
of such truths. And the play becomes a microcosm
of Sri Lanka's South and its middle class life.
While the entire South is embedded in bipolar
discourse on war and peace, many middle class
opportunists masquerade as saviours of the nation
and make tons of quick cash. We all know how
often the big chairs of state media are
rearranged: they kill each other to be best to
please their bosses by producing truths that make
least harm to the status quo. In Dissanayake's
play a young intellectual, a PhD from an American
university, comes home to serve the nation. He
joins the media monitoring centre only to learn
his intellectual ideals and integrity have no
place there. When he tries to breathe some
dignity into the centre he is called "Western",
"anti-nationalist", "traitor", "pro-American",
"NGO" and the like. In fact, Dissanayake shows us
that those who call those names are the real
traitors of the nation. Obsessed with the war and
other popular rhetoric, the nation has no time to
look back at itself. Great is the time for
opportunists and they are after money, houses
from government housing schemes, nice cars and,
of course, women.
Dissanayake started out as 'an artistic'
playwright valuing the aesthetic over the
political and social. In his last couple of
plays, he attempted to be an interventionist, and
this play, No Return, is a severe indictment of
Sri Lanka's South and its inability for self-
criticism. The play is not necessarily a critique
of the state; it is a critique all of us in the
South. When the war ends in the North, South
needs to critically understand itself. In
contrast to many recent Sinhala language novels,
movies and dramas, which took to
self-aggrandisement and self-veneration, No
Return returns to true prowess of art. Its minor
infelicities aside, Dissanayake's new play, the
sixth in his career, deserves our attention
because it is timely and attempts to get all of
us into a kind of critical mode which is
essential when we reorganise ourselves in a
post-LTTE and post-Sinhala supremacist world.
(The writer is a senior lecturer at the
Department of Sinhala, Peradeniya University)
_____
[2]
Der Spiegel
7 July 2008
PAKISTAN'S DEAL WITH THE DEVIL
Beheadings, martial law, kidnappings: The Taliban
is making its presence felt at the gates of one
of Pakistan's biggest cities.
by Walter Mayr
July 8, 2008 | PESHAWAR, Pakistan --
Der Speigel The situation changed overnight in
Peshawar. The villas in the posh suburb of
Hayatabad, hidden behind acacias, palms and
oleander bushes, are now directly on the front
line. The Pakistani security forces have declared
war on the Muslim fundamentalists who are said to
have taken up positions in the immediate vicinity.
Eight armored vehicles belonging to the Pakistani
Frontier Corps stand ready to move out in the
courtyard of Peshawar's Beaconhouse School.
Riflemen are positioned behind sandbagged
emplacements at strategically important
intersections. Pakistani anti-terror units and
paramilitary forces in black uniforms are on
patrol in the area, their submachine guns at the
ready.
But where is the enemy? Outside the city, in the
direction of the Khyber Pass, the sound of
exploding heavy artillery rounds can be heard
every few seconds.
Roger Sarfaraz listens as the monotonous
recurrence of muffled detonations keeps breaking
the silence of an oppressively hot summer day. He
is standing on the edge of Hayatabad and looks
like someone who could tell you right down to the
last decimal point what this war is costing him.
This smart-looking, athletically built man
wearing a Playboy T-shirt is a real estate agent.
With property prices currently at around $315 per
square meter in the suddenly embattled
development, a secure environment has to be part
of the deal. Several years ago, a security wall
was built around the settlement -- a
three-meter-high concrete wall capped off with
barbed wire. It was originally intended to
protect the Hayatabad's well-off inhabitants from
undesired contact with their neighbors -- people
from the tribal areas of the Northwest Frontier
Province whose mud houses can be seen from here.
The Empire of the Taliban
Now, in addition to the wall, three Pashtuns from
the paramilitary Frontier Corps stand guard on
the demarcation line with Chinese-made grenade
launchers shouldered and ready to fire. But like
the concrete wall and the barbed wire, they won't
be able to do much to stem the tide of onrushing
Taliban forces. The fighters from the tribal
areas have no need to climb over the wall. They
simply drive their SUVs and pickups in on the
main road -- direct from the empire of the
Taliban.
What the inhabitants of Hayatabad know about the
world that exists just a stone's throw away from
them is what they read in the newspapers or are
told on television: that black-bearded, kaftaned
mullahs preach to their disciples the need to
wage war to defend the strict moral code of
Islamic fundamentalism or that "spies" are
beheaded with butcher knives, tribal elders shot,
and infidels persecuted barbarically.
Still, the Pakistani government didn't get around
to ordering troops into Peshawar to counteract
the threat until the very end of June. By then,
the rich suburb of Hayatabad had long since
become a testing ground for the Islamists'
advance. Last November a suicide bomber blew
himself up outside the home of former Political
Affairs Minister Amir Muqam after being stopped
at the gate by security personnel. Four people
were killed in the attack -- and since then the
settlement has been on the alert.
Now, though, the bearded Taliban come into town
in broad daylight, crowded together in the beds
of their pickup trucks. After repeated
hit-and-run raids, including the abduction of
half a dozen prostitutes, this rich section of
town has grabbed headlines in the press as a
"kidnappers' paradise."
Massive Pressure
Real estate agent Roger Sarafaz's brother was
abducted by the Taliban just a few days ago.
Together with 16 other hostages, all of them
members of Pakistan's Christian minority, he was
dragged off to the tribal areas, where he was
beaten with rifle butts until he was unconscious.
He was released only after massive pressure was
brought to bear on the Taliban, not least of all
by Western players. Since then the Pakistani
government has been carrying out a military
operation aimed at putting a stop to brazen
attacks of this kind by the ethnic Pashtun
fundamentalists who are at home in the regions
along the border close to the Khyber Pass.
Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province has a
population of 21 million. It's the country's
Achilles' heel and one of the burdens left behind
by British colonial rule. In 1893 the British
drew the Durand Line dividing what was then
British India from Afghanistan. Since 1947, the
line has been the internationally recognized
border between Afghanistan and Pakistan -- but it
also goes right through the middle of the Pashtun
tribal areas. East of the Khyber Pass up to the
outskirts of the city of Peshawar the effects of
the British Raj live on -- Pakistani law is not
recognized in the "ilaka ghair," or the "land of
the lawless," as the tribal areas are known.
For centuries decisions on right and wrong have
been made here by a "jirga," a council of tribal
elders -- an institution that is today monitored
by a "political agent" appointed by the Pakistani
government. At least that was the case until the
Taliban began seeking refuge in Pakistan in 2001.
Mehmood Shah, Pakistan's former security chief in
the tribal areas, refers to this as the "human
fallout" of the war against Afghanistan.
The radical Islamic militants who fled across the
border found everything they needed for a new
beginning -- brothers in arms from the time when
they were allied against the Soviet regime in
Afghanistan, a large supply of madrasa students
who were now without jobs and a small group of
"Maliks," tribal elders who were paid for their
loyalty to the military regime of General Pervez
Musharraf. The Taliban cut into the traditional
structures of Pashtun society like a sharp ax
into soft wood.
The fact that the backward region between the
Khyber Pass and the banks of the Indus has become
a focus of worldwide attention has to do with the
fact that the Pakistani government has finally
started its military operations there. And with
the growing impatience of the U.S.
administration, given its conviction that the
al-Qaida leadership is holed up somewhere in the
tribal areas. The trail Osama bin Laden and his
accomplices have left behind in the service of
jihad reaches all the way to Hayatabad.
The One-Armed Sheik
Take the case of Algerian-born Sheik Abu Suleiman
al-Jaziri, for instance. The May 14 death of this
key strategist for al-Qaida missions around the
world went largely unnoticed. He died on
Pakistani soil along with 13 others in the rubble
of a house that belonged to a former Taliban
minister. A U.S. drone fired the missiles that
took them out.
The one-armed sheik had been known to the
authorities in Peshawar for a long time.
According to the Pakistani secret service
Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), a house
registered in his name in Hayatabad was occupied
in 1986 by an inconspicuous but very wealthy
guest from Saudi Arabia -- Osama bin Laden. It
was during a time when an international Islamic
resistance force was gathering to fight the
godless Soviets in neighboring Afghanistan.
It was also in Peshawar, on August 11, 1988, that al-Qaida was established.
An Incubator of Radical Islamists
It's not difficult to follow the threads spun by
al-Qaida since then to the spider web of terror
we have today. At the end of June video footage
went around the world showing two Afghans who had
been sentenced to death as "American spies." One
of them was forced to kneel and then was beheaded
while surrounded by a crowd of cheering Taliban.
What was not mentioned was who the alleged spies
were said to have betrayed -- al-Qaida's Sheik
Abu Suleiman.
It seems to be only gradually dawning on the
Pakistanis just what the full meaning is of their
"pact with the devil," as some observers have
called it -- one entered into with the full
support of the secret service, the army and the
government. More than a thousand members of the
Pakistani armed forces have been killed in the
tribal areas since 2001. Eighteen police officers
have recently lost their lives in clashes on the
outskirts of Peshawar. Suicide attacks and
summary executions have become common
occurrences. And jihadists have been blowing up
schools at the rate of two a day.
As usual, Pakistan's political leaders are
standing next to this powder keg with a fuse in
one hand and a fire extinguisher in the other.
There is currently talk of negotiating with the
Taliban and of using force only as a last resort.
Media-friendly mullahs are allowed to give
television interviews before they -- having been
given plenty of warning of a pending military
raid -- flee into the mountains.
According to retired general Talal Masood, who
served as a field officer during the military
dictatorship of Zia ul-Haq and later as an
advisor to Benazir Bhutto, the army -- despite
the iron grip it has often had on the country
since independence -- has suffered considerable
damage to its reputation as a result of its
constant interference in government affairs. He
says the armed forces are holding back now and
that the new government is too preoccupied with
itself, leaving the Taliban to do pretty much as
it pleases: "A small group of extremists is
holding an entire country hostage," he says.
A Dangerous Lack of Focus
Indeed, political Islamabad does not give the
impression that Pakistan is currently facing one
of the deepest crises in its history. Asif Ali
Zardari, co-chairman of the Pakistan People's
Party and widower of Benazir Bhutto, Nawaz
Sharif, the political head of the Pakistan Muslim
League, and President Pervez Musharraf seem more
interested in settling old scores.
For a country under attack from the Taliban, it
seems a dangerous lack of focus.
The power vacuum has been an invitation to the
fundamentalists, and they are responding by
advancing ever further into the border regions.
They have moved down from the mountains and
toward Peshawar, bringing pious messages and
undisguised threats.
The Taliban already come and go with perfect ease
in Peshawar. They rely on their pin-prick
tactics: here a threatening letter to a CD
dealer; there a brief visit to a Sufi shrine
where Allah is worshipped with undue pomp; now
and then a black veil painted over a woman's face
on advertising posters -- all of which generates
a tangible fear that the Taliban may soon arrive
in force.
There is a certain irony in the fact that Islam
is being reinvented in Peshawar, of all places.
Two thousand years ago, the city was the center
of the Buddhist empire known as Gandhara.
Alexander the Great also swept through the
region. But in addition to the irony is the
danger. A tendency in the city toward
submissiveness could win out in the end. As one
politician from the Pakistan People's Party put
it: "I'm afraid that when the time comes, the
inhabitants will simply go out and welcome the
Taliban."
Things haven't gone that far yet, though. Daily
life continues as though nothing has happened --
including on narrow streets deep inside the
bazaar where traders, black marketeers, and
rumormongers are on their home ground, where
spices and trinkets, gold and silk are bought and
sold in the daily hustle and bustle. Nisar Ahmad,
the spokesman for the business owners in the
Saddar Bazaar, who himself sells lipstick and
women's apparel, promises on his honor that he
hasn't yet received any threats from the Taliban.
But why has he recently started pulling the
shoulder sash, veil-like, across the entire face
of his store window dummies? "Just a precaution,"
Ahmad says.
At the Afghan market closer to the tribal areas,
things have evolved a bit further. In addition to
those clandestinely selling weapons, drugs and
whiskey, a number of merchants made their living
with the open sale of pornography. Sex films
copied onto Chinese CDs were sold for 15 rupees
apiece, the equivalent of 15 cents. The price for
these films has since doubled and now they are
kept hidden under the counter. The films that are
officially for sale are of the kind used to
prepare volunteers for jihad. They show, for
instance, the Taliban beheading "traitors" who
are restrained in straitjackets. Or a teenage boy
being prepared over a period of weeks for his big
day -- his being sworn in by experienced fighters
wearing black hoods reminiscent of the Ku Klux
Klan; an otherworldly smile when he sees
explosive charges that have been wired together;
and finally the ball of fire that consumes an
American Humvee in Afghanistan when the boy
detonates the bomb that was mounted in his Toyota
pickup.
Paradise Is Near
The final scene of the film shows the face of the
young martyr suspended together with clouds in
the sky. A white dove takes to the wing. Paradise
is near. A message shown in the final sequence
says: "This is an example for you to follow."
According to sources in Pakistan's academic
circles, the worse prospects become for the
future of young people and the more illiteracy
there is, the more young men will be willing to
volunteer to become jihadists. Indeed, on a
recent morning in Akora Khattak, a dusty little
town 29 miles to the southeast of Peshawar, a
group of nine-year-olds from the Waziristan
tribal area were standing outside in the summer
heat at the infamous Darul Uloom Haqqania
madrasa, which in Pakistan is also known as the
"University of Jihad." They call out to passersby
with a childlike mixture of pride and defiance:
"We are Taliban! We are mujahedin! "We are
al-Qaida!"
Some 4,000 students are instructed here free of
charge and, on graduation, are awarded
government-recognized qualifications. It's not
clear where the money comes from to support the
school. The training its students receive is, on
the other hand, very clear. The madrasa, run by
Sami ul-Haq -- often referred to as the "Father
of the Taliban" -- is seen as an incubator of
radical Islamists.
Earlier this decade, the school even granted an
honorary degree to Afghan Taliban leader Mullah
Omar. It is the only honorary degree ever
bestowed by Darul Uloom Haqqania, but Sami ul-Haq
says it was nothing more than the recognition of
a person with special qualities -- exactly as is
done in all cultures. "We honored Mullah Omar for
his contribution to peace, just like your
universities did with Mother Teresa," he says.
"Fight Against the American Occupiers"
Is the call for jihad against America and its
allies justified? "As justified as the one
against the Russians," Sami ul-Haq growls. Do
prospective suicide bombers ask him if the Koran
provides a basis for their actions? "Am I a mufti
that I have to give them advice?" the Islamic
scholar bellows. "They make their own choice to
fight against the American occupiers."
In the seventh year of the war in Afghanistan
anti-Americanism is stronger than ever. Hamid
Mir, the country's most popular journalist and
the only person in the world to have interviewed
Osama bin Laden after September 11, 2001, says:
"We didn't have any suicide bombers before 2001.
We were doing fairly well economically. But then
General Musharraf gave in to the Americans -- who
have always supported dictators in Pakistan."
From an American perspective Pakistan was little
more than a set of map coordinates that deserved
attention for three reasons: It borders on
Afghanistan; it's engaged in a smoldering
conflict with a nuclear-armed India over Kashmir;
and it possesses nuclear weapons of its own and
has passed its technology on to "rogue states."
Washington's announcement that it intends to
triple its financial assistance for civilian
projects would seem to be a signal that for the
first time a proud Pakistan is going to be taken
seriously on its own merits.
But this turnaround could be coming too late for
many people. For instance, for those hundreds of
thousands of people in the tribal areas who may
be followers or potential followers of bearded
mullahs -- such as former fitness trainer
Baitullah Mehsud in Waziristan, former bus driver
Mangal Bagh from the Khyber Pass area, and ski
lift assistant Mullah Fazlullah in the Swat
Valley.
Most of the children who live in the tribal areas
have no conception of the world that exists
beyond the concrete wall in Hayatabad. All they
know are their own rules and their own
convictions, and now they want to take these with
them into the cities.
The roads leading from the tribal areas into
Peshawar are still blocked. Word is that the
military operation is to be continued for the
time being. The death toll among the Taliban is
reported to be high. But clashes with Pakistani
troops aren't the reason. Since taking refuge in
the valleys and mountains of the tribal areas,
the Taliban have been fighting among themselves.
They have decided to wait a while before they return to the city.
Translated from the German by Larry Fischer
(ii)
The New York Times
13 July 2008
IT TAKES A SCHOOL, NOT MISSILES
by Nicholas D. Kristof
Since 9/11, Westerners have tried two approaches
to fight terrorism in Pakistan, President Bush's
and Greg Mortenson's.
Mr. Bush has focused on military force and
provided more than $10 billion - an extraordinary
sum in the foreign-aid world - to the highly
unpopular government of President Pervez
Musharraf. This approach has failed: the backlash
has radicalized Pakistan's tribal areas so that
they now nurture terrorists in ways that they
never did before 9/11.
Mr. Mortenson, a frumpy, genial man from Montana,
takes a diametrically opposite approach, and he
has spent less than one-ten-thousandth as much as
the Bush administration. He builds schools in
isolated parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan,
working closely with Muslim clerics and even
praying with them at times.
The only thing that Mr. Mortenson blows up are
boulders that fall onto remote roads and block
access to his schools.
Mr. Mortenson has become a legend in the region,
his picture sometimes dangling like a talisman
from rearview mirrors, and his work has struck a
chord in America as well. His superb book about
his schools, "Three Cups of Tea," came out in
2006 and initially wasn't reviewed by most major
newspapers. Yet propelled by word of mouth, the
book became a publishing sensation: it has spent
the last 74 weeks on the paperback best-seller
list, regularly in the No. 1 spot.
Now Mr. Mortenson is fending off several dozen
film offers. "My concern is that a movie might
endanger the well-being of our students," he
explains.
Mr. Mortenson found his calling in 1993 after he
failed in an attempt to climb K2, a Himalayan
peak, and stumbled weakly into a poor Muslim
village. The peasants nursed him back to health,
and he promised to repay them by building the
village a school.
Scrounging the money was a nightmare - his 580
fund-raising letters to prominent people
generated one check, from Tom Brokaw - and Mr.
Mortenson ended up selling his beloved climbing
equipment and car. But when the school was built,
he kept going. Now his aid group, the Central
Asia Institute, has 74 schools in operation. His
focus is educating girls.
To get a school, villagers must provide the land
and the labor to assure a local "buy-in," and so
far the Taliban have not bothered his schools.
One anti-American mob rampaged through Baharak,
Afghanistan, attacking aid groups - but stopped
at the school that local people had just built
with Mr. Mortenson. "This is our school," the mob
leaders decided, and they left it intact.
Mr. Mortenson has had setbacks, including being
kidnapped for eight days in Pakistan's wild
Waziristan region. It would be naïve to think
that a few dozen schools will turn the tide in
Afghanistan or Pakistan.
Still, he notes that the Taliban recruits the
poor and illiterate, and he also argues that when
women are educated they are more likely to
restrain their sons. Five of his teachers are
former Taliban, and he says it was their mothers
who persuaded them to leave the Taliban; that is
one reason he is passionate about educating girls.
So I have this fantasy: Suppose that the United
States focused less on blowing things up in
Pakistan's tribal areas and more on working
through local aid groups to build schools,
simultaneously cutting tariffs on Pakistani and
Afghan manufactured exports. There would be no
immediate payback, but a better-educated and more
economically vibrant Pakistan would probably be
more resistant to extremism.
"Schools are a much more effective bang for the
buck than missiles or chasing some Taliban around
the country," says Mr. Mortenson, who is an Army
veteran.
Each Tomahawk missile that the United States
fires in Afghanistan costs at least $500,000.
That's enough for local aid groups to build more
than 20 schools, and in the long run those
schools probably do more to destroy the Taliban.
The Pentagon, which has a much better
appreciation for the limits of military power
than the Bush administration as a whole, placed
large orders for "Three Cups of Tea" and invited
Mr. Mortenson to speak.
"I am convinced that the long-term solution to
terrorism in general, and Afghanistan
specifically, is education," Lt. Col. Christopher
Kolenda, who works on the Afghan front lines,
said in an e-mail in which he raved about Mr.
Mortenson's work. "The conflict here will not be
won with bombs but with books. ... The thirst for
education here is palpable."
Military force is essential in Afghanistan to
combat the Taliban. But over time, in Pakistan
and Afghanistan alike, the best tonic against
militant fundamentalism will be education and
economic opportunity.
So a lone Montanan staying at the cheapest guest
houses has done more to advance U.S. interests in
the region than the entire military and foreign
policy apparatus of the Bush administration.
I invite you to comment on this column on my
blog, www.nytimes.com/ontheground, and join me on
Facebook at www.facebook.com/kristof.
o o o
(iii)
The Karachi Kids
http://www.karachikids.com/
______
[3]
Kashmir Times
July 14, 2008
No Heroes In Jammu & Kashmir
THE AMARNATH CRISIS TAKES ITS TOLL
by Praful Bidwai
After putting a brave face on the crisis
confronting his government following the
withdrawal of the People's Democratic Party from
the Congress party-led ruling coalition on June
28, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi
Azad has thrown in the towel. Rather than go
through the vote of confidence he himself tabled,
Mr Azad submitted his resignation to Governor N N
Vohra.
Evidently, despite his confidence that he would
win the vote, Mr Azad failed to engineer enough
abstentions in the legislative Assembly by PDP
dissidents and other potential defectors, which
alone could have enabled the Congress and its
allies (with 42 seats in the 89-member House) to
fight off the 47 seat-strong opposition and
survive in power till the Assembly elections are
held in October.
The fall of the Congress-PDP coalition
government, the first of its kind in J & K, is a
setback to the cause of moderation and political
reconciliation in the long-troubled and restive
state. This is only one of the many casualties
extracted by the crisis over the transfer of
forest land to Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB),
and the violent protests the transfer and its
reversal by Governor Vohra generated both in J &
K and in the rest of India.
The crisis has taken an even greater toll in the
form of a collapse of the political normalisation
process and an eclipse of the internal peace
process in Kashmir. This may lead to a revival of
militant separatism and a general shift towards
intolerance and assertion of religion-based or
communal identities.
The gains of the past six years-a substantial
decline in violence by jehadi separatists and by
the security forces, a revival of the economy, a
boom in the tourist industry, increasing
isolation of strident extremism, and a general
acceptance of mainstream political activity and
electoral politics-are now in jeopardy.
In Kashmir, the biggest winners from the crisis
are the Hurriyat hardliners led by Syed Ali Shah
Geelani, who until recently got completely
isolated thanks to his extremist positions. No
less important gainers are the leaders of the
moderate Hurriyat, led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq,
who have moved from near-isolation and
irrelevance to prominence through their staunch
opposition to the land transfer on the ground
that it would bring about a demographic
transformation of the Valley. The two Hurriyat
factions are now discussing unification.
Nationally, the greatest gainer is the Bharatiya
Janata Party, which has cynically exploited the
return of the land to the Forest Department to
foment violent Hindu-communal protests in
different parts of the country. The death-toll
from the protests has already crossed the
double-digit mark.
There are no heroes, only villains, in the entire
SASB land transfer drama. The greatest villain is
unquestionably former Governor Lt-General SK
Sinha, a BJP appointee, who just days before his
retirement on June 4 ordered the state government
to transfer 100 acres of forest land to the Board
of which is the president. The land was to be
used to provide temporary accommodation to
pilgrims to the Amarnath shrine, where an a
stalactite of ice forms in a cave. The land
transfer was manifestly illegal and violated the
Forest Conservation Act.
Gen Sinha has over the years systematically
encouraged pilgrimage to this ecologically
fragile area at an altitude of 10,000 feet,
carved out a new route through the mountains,
promoted all kinds of tourist facilities
including a helicopter service, and extended the
duration of the yatra from four weeks to eight
weeks every year-although the ice lingam lasts
for only one month. The result has been a
severalfold increase in the number of pilgrims to
four lakhs, with huge environmental destruction
and mounds of polluting waste.
The state forest minister, who belongs to the
PDP, went along with all this, including the land
transfer. Also complicit was Deputy Chief
Minister Muzaffar Baig, of the PDP The PDP
falsely claimed that it had been blackmailed into
agreeing to the transfer by the Congress which
threatened to block the rebuilding of the old
Mughal Road, to connect the Valley to the Muslim
areas of Rajori and Poonch. When the news of the
transfer leaked out, and protests erupted, the
PDP executed a U-turn and presented itself as a
helpless victim.
The Congress should have removed Gen Sinha long
ago, but didn't. It succumbed to his unreasonable
pressure while ignoring the Forest Act, and was
guilty of venality and blatant manipulation of
the state machinery. Such venality contributed in
the past to the alienation of the Kashmiri people
from the Indian state, and created a cesspool of
grievances and injustices, which the separatists
used to their own advantage with help from
Pakistan's secret agencies.
No less culpable was the National Conference,
whose leader, Dr Farooq Abdullah, established the
SASB in 2000, thus taking the pilgrimage's charge
away from the Muslim family which had discovered
the cave in the 1850s and looked after it ever
since. This was a case of the government wantonly
interfering with what had been a worthy instance
of spontaneous Hindu-Muslim harmony and
cooperation-and then messing things up.
When protests erupted in the Valley over the land
transfer, Hurriyat leaders jumped into the fray.
They had been marginalised ever since Gen Pervez
Musharraf moved away from the azadi agenda and
proposed autonomy for the different regions of
J&K without redrawing borders. In recent weeks,
they had even come around to a position of not
opposing and boycotting the coming Assembly
elections, unlike in the past.
Rather than make a gesture of generosity to
religious Hindus, in keeping with Kashmir's
syncretic culture, the Hurriyat leadrers and JKLF
chief Yasin Malik falsely depicted the land
transfer as a means of forcibly settling Hindus
in the Valley and an assault on the Kashmiri
identity. This was patently absurd given the tiny
size of the plot and the makeshift prefabricated
structures being erected on it.
They gave a religious-communal colour to the
issue by deliberately organising processions to
and from the Jama Masjid and the Hazratbal
shrine. This falsified their claim to the
"nationalist" mantle. They also tried to present
the protests as spontaneous eruptions of popular
anger against India's Kashmir policy and the
heavy presence of security forces. They maligned
the peace process itself as a way of perpetuating
the Kashmir status quo. This was the Hurriyat's
way of regaining its lost relevance.
In reality, the protests were driven by the same
narrow-minded and parochial motives as were
evident in the earlier mob violence over the "sex
scandal" issue, in which vigilante squads went on
the rampage and burnt down the house of a woman
suspected to be responsible for it. The protests
caused great hardship to the public by disrupting
the movement of essential supplies, including
food and fuel.
The Valley protests polarised opinion in J & K
and were replicated like a mirror-image in the
Jammu region under the leadership of the BJP. The
BJP, true to type, has instigated violent
protests in many other parts of India by drumming
up its favourite but utterly fraudulent slogan of
"Muslim appeasement" and "anti-Hindu prejudice"
on the part the United Progressive Alliance. This
is infusing sectarian divisiveness and communal
poison into religious beliefs and rituals.
All this can only help the Valley's hardline
separatists revive the jehadi militancy which has
been on the wane and lost its popular appeal.
Separatists are no longer able to recruit cadres.
But if the present polarisation continues, the
danger is that this might change and Kashmir
could return to the rule of the gun-with
disastrous consequences for all of South Asia.
A special responsibility now devolves on Governor
Vohra to use all the contacts he cultivated as
the Centre's special envoy for the Kashmir
dialogue. He must employ his considerable
experience as a former Home Secretary and all his
skills of persuasion to pacify and stabilise the
situation in Kashmir by acting transparently in
good faith. In particular, he must activate and
accelerate the deliberations of the five Working
Groups set up at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's
initiative in 2006.
These Groups are meant to deal with improving the
Centre's relations with the state, furthering
relations across the Line of Control (LoC),
giving a boost to J & K's economic development,
rehabilitating the destitute families of
militants and reviewing the cases of detainees,
and ensuring good governance.
However, it won't be enough to resume the
domestic peace process alone. India must pursue
the new round of dialogue with Pakistan, launched
late last month with the visit of Foreign
Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi to New Delhi. In
particular, the two governments must quickly
resolve the Siachen and Sir Creek disputes,
liberalise visa regimes and expand economic
cooperation. That's the best way of bringing
Pakistan on board and neutralising militant
separatism in Kashmir.
o o o
counterpunch.org
J u l y 1 2 / 1 3 , 2 0 0 8
WHY IS A SHRINE A CAUSE CELEBRE?
THE KASHMIR CHIAROSCURO
b y Farzana Versey
Kashmir has been suffering for almost 20 years
due to what is dismissively referred to as
"insurgency". It did not need a phallic symbol
that turns to ice in a cave and has religious
significance to further become a hotbed for
political machinations.
Several thousand feet high up in the bosom of the
Himalayas, devotees have been visiting the cave
every year on a pilgrimage to watch this amazing
sight where Lord Shiva is said to appear. The
pilgrimage has been taking place for 150 years.
This year, before it could begin, the Congress
government decided to transfer the adjoining land
to the Shree Amarnath Shrine Board with the
understanding that they would not construct
permanent structures and only provide temporary
sheds and facilities for the visitors.
The People's Democratic Party (PDP) removed its
support to the Congress, and the National
Conference, the Opposition, protested. The land
allocation was cancelled just as soon as it was
made. Jammu burned. The rightwing Hindu parties
created havoc in other states - public property
was destroyed, civilians injured in firing.
Instead of seeking a vote of confidence, the
chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad resigned but not
before informing the media that his decision to
give the land was an administrative issue and in
the national interest.
Why is the Congress suddenly interested in toilet
facilities and how have sleeping bags become a
matter of national interest?
Why did the National Conference protest? Wasn't
its leader Omar Abdullah who asked the Centre to
provide insurance facilities for foreign tourists?
Why did the PDP that has been talking about the
Sufi heritage of Kashmir object?
The worst form of politics is being played out
and the ones who are being maligned are the
mullahs by bigots in sophisticated clothing. Take
Francois Gautier. Sitting in Paris, this French
journalist, much in the manner of Koenraad Elst,
has been fanning the fires of the intellectual
elite. He talks about Kashmir being the seat of
Shaivism where yoga was practised for thousands
of years and many saints attained nirvana,
self-realisation.
If he put that glass of Chardonnay down, he might
like to understand that while we must respect
history (more appropriately, mythology in this
case), we cannot relive it. He shows his complete
confusion when he says, "Millions of devotees
have flocked to Amarnath over the centuries-and
Muslims from Kashmir should show them generosity,
because in India, although Muslims have been a
minority since the beginning, Hindus have always
respected the religion of Islam. Indeed, Muslims
in India have had a freedom that Hindus or
Christians do not enjoy in Saudi Arabia or
Pakistan."
The pilgrims have been visiting every year, so
there is no question about showing generosity. As
regards Hindus respecting Islam, for one who is
obsessive about what happened thousands of years
ago, a decade or so is of no consequence. He
forgets the Bombay riots, the Gujarat riots, the
undertrials in prisons. He also forgets that both
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are Islamic nations, in
that their constitution is not obscure about
this. If, as in Pakistan, someone gets elected to
a position in the government or
government-affiliated body, she/he has to take
the oath of office in the name of Allah. It is
clear. Therefore, the polity is not striving for
'equality'.
India is a secular democratic republic and
therefore what Muslims or any other minority
groups get is a matter of right and not a result
of anybody's generosity.
Monsieur Gautier appears to be in a pugnacious
mood when he questions, "Perhaps our outrageously
petty minded and self righteous Muslim leaders of
Kashmir will tell us what the only Muslim
majority state in India does in return for the
Hindu pilgrims in Kashmir?"
When the land transfer order was revoked, it was
the Jammu and Kashmir Waqf Board, the custodian
of the shrine, which insisted that no political
speeches would be allowed at the thanksgiving
planned at the Hazratbal shrine.
One report stated that for the first time in the
troubled history of the state, the anti-riot
Rapid Action Force (RAF) was asked to step in as
violent protests spread.
While Islamic fundamentalism is supposed to have
caused the problems this time and the government
is said to have copped out to cater to the Muslim
vote bank, no one seems to realise that people
continue to be killed in the Valley. Since most
Hindus have left, it has got to be Muslims dying.
So, why is this happening? Why are innocents
being arrested in a Muslim-majority state? What
special provisions are made for those civilians
who continue to live in the Valley and cannot
even go to the local mosque let alone a
pilgrimage?
In 2003, when 24 Pandits were shot dead in the
hamlet of Nadimarg, BJP leader L.K.Advani was at
the scene of the carnage almost immediately after
a special 90-minute meeting was held to discuss a
"healing touch policy". Rs. 1 lakh compensation
was offered on the spot. Security was beefed up
for the 28 survivors and in other areas as well
where the minorities lived. Did no one notice
that the last rites were performed by their
Muslim neighbours?
A year prior to that the then prime minister,
Atal Behari Vajpayee, who took one month to visit
Gujarat after the establishment-buffered riots
and killings, made a trip to Jammu and Kashmir
within a week following the terrorist attack on
the Kaluchak security camp.
One police officer told Human Rights Watch/Asia,
"The government has recruited criminals who loot
and steal and extort and these criminals are
living in security force camps. This is the third
force-the renegades. It is completely true that
they exist...It is 100 percent true that police
investigate crimes, arrest individuals and then
the army interferes and lets them go so they can
work with the army as renegade forces."
Are only Hindu religious places threatened?
Wasn't it a Muslim who blew up the
Charar-e-Sharif? Had the Kashmiri Pandits stayed
back they might have no doubt been under threat
from terrorists as are the rest. But no Kashmiri
Pandit has ever been arrested by government
organisations. Therefore, it is unfortunate that
such groups make it seem like the local
population has talked about the extermination of
Hindus.
When a delegation of them visited Srinagar in
2005, Syed Ali Shah Geelani of the hardliner
faction of the Hurriyat Conference had observed,
"The government will not take the Kashmiri
Pandits back. They (the government) have made the
Pandits a museum piece so that they are able to
show any foreign dignitary visiting the valley
that look what has happened to our people by
militancy".
While we blame the Valley population for wanting
a separate identity, the Panun Kashmir movement
blatantly propagates its own separatist ideology
and as early as 1991, two years after the real
trouble started in Kashmir, it talked about its
determination "to carve out a union territory on
the soil of Kashmir". They say they will act as a
"buffer against the export of jihad into India"
and yet they have been asking for a separation on
the basis of their religious identity.
The Kashmir issue has from the very beginning
been about self-determination and not religion,
much as the Palestine issue. However, in the past
few years, ever since Hindu fundamentalists have
begun to assert themselves with greater
vehemence, a transformation has taken place.
Now, there are objections being raised about
"tens of thousands of mosques" being built by
Indian Muslims returning from the Gulf. No
figures are provided. Those returning from the
UAE have indeed built lavish homes, often
kitschy. That is the only appalling aspect.
On the other hand, Hindu refugees from Kashmir
are being rehabilitated by the state government
in 'safe zones'. To demand more in the name of
integration, a Pandit group has asked for
reservation of three seats in the assembly and
one in Parliament for the community.
This news does not get prominence. It is the
state government that is taking the initiative.
So where are the safe zones for the other
Kashmiris? Where are the reservations for those
who lead unprotected lives?
Geelani had once said: "When one of our study
groups started work to compile the death toll,
they were jailed."
Now the battle is between calling the
establishments "Indian agents" and "Pakistani
agents". Mirwaiz Omar Farooq has often been asked
why the separatist organisations do not contest
elections. Everyone knows about the low turnout
at such polls. Besides, how involved would the
Hurriyat itself be in an election process where
the state machinery would be working against it?
The government is smart about playing one group
against the other, which is the reason there is
factionalism. When Abdul Ghani Lone was killed,
the government moaned for the "moderate voice",
although he had made it clear that he had no
truck with the Indian government. Why was his
security cut down by half? How many times did our
government sit and discuss issues with the "lone
moderate voice" of Kashmir? Was this just a way
to create a cleavage among those who fight for
the spoils of unsolicited martyrdom?
Is religion being made the new martyr in the
state? By suggesting that they have been excluded
from negotiations on Kashmir, the Hindu groups
are being tutored to make it into a communal
problem. They are playing into the hands of
politicians who do not wish to solve the Kashmir
issue. This is their cash cow.
No one is interested in the Amarnath Yatra except
for electoral gains. The number of pilgrims has
increased from 12,000 in 1989 to 450,000 in 2005,
and is all set to cross 500,000 this year despite
the prevalence of militancy. These figures should
tell their own story. Kashmir wants
self-determination not a war with its own people.
o o o
The Hindu, July 14, 2008
'Strengthen peace, harmony in J&K'
Special Correspondent
Role of individuals, groups appreciated
"Delink religious bodies from government"
SRINAGAR: Members of civil society in Jammu and
Kashmir on Sunday called for sincere and
sustained efforts to bring people together for
peace and harmony in the State.
After two days of informal deliberations, a joint
statement issued by them said: "We, the members
of civil society in Jammu & Kashmir, put on
record our deep appreciation for the role played
by people during recent turmoil despite lapses on
part of our political leaders. In spite of
certain untoward incidents, it is heartening to
note the desire and commitment on part of the
people in general to maintain communal harmony.
We also appreciate the role of individuals,
groups and organisations which contributed
towards maintaining peace and harmony." They
called for delinking religious bodies from the
government and said, "we believe that in the long
run there should be least government and
political interference in all the religious
bodies. This will be in the larger interest of
people of J&K."
The signatories to the statement included Balraj
Puri, M. Ashraf, Mohammad Sayeed Malik, Kumar
Wanchoo, Noor A. Baba, Rekha Chowdhary, Indu
Kilam, Hameeda Naeem, Shujaat Bukhari, H.A.
Siddiqui, Prabodh Jamwal, Imtiaz Mir and Gautam
Ambardar.
______
[4]
The Hindu
June 30, 2008
CHANGING INTERPRETATIONS OF EARLY INDIAN HISTORY
by Upinder Singh
History is not one but many stories; only a few
of them have been written. The challenges to
build on the advances so far are many.
The historiography of ancient and early medieval
India reveals significant changes over time;
these can be understood against the background of
the political and intellectual contexts in which
they emerged and flourished. The various
'schools' of history writing are often presented
and understood in terms of one school making way
for the other in a neat, forward progression. The
reality is more complex. There was considerable
variety within the schools; some of them
co-existed in dialogue or conflict with one
another, and there are examples of writings that
go against the grain and do not fit into the
dominant historiographical trends of their time.
Antiquarians' domination
The 18th and 19th centuries were dominated by the
writings of European scholars, referred to as
Orientalists or Indologists, although they often
described themselves as 'antiquarians'. Many of
them worked for the East India Company or the
British Government of India. The founding of the
Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1784 provided an
institutional focus for scholars working in
fields such as textual study, epigraphy,
numismatics, and history. A major contribution of
the Indologists lay in their efforts to collect,
edit, and translate ancient texts. In this, they
depended heavily on information provided by
'native informants.' Indology soon spread beyond
the British empire and became a subject of study
in European universities.
Apart from the study of ancient texts, the 19th
century witnessed developments in epigraphy,
numismatics, archaeology, and the study of art
and architecture. The decipherment of Ashokan
Brahmi and Kharoshthi scripts were breakthroughs.
The analysis of coins contributed to the
construction of a framework of political history.
Officers of the Geological Survey discovered
prehistoric stone tools and laid the basis of
Indian prehistory. The Archaeological Survey of
India, established in 1871, has over the decades
made important contributions to unearthing and
analysing the material remains of India's past.
The contributions and breakthroughs of the 18th
and 19th centuries were rooted in a colonial
context, and this is evident in certain features
of Indological writing. The Brahmanical
perspective of ancient Sanskrit texts was often
uncritically taken as reflecting the Indian past.
Social and religious institutions and traditions
were critiqued from a Western viewpoint. Indian
society was presented as static, and its
political systems despotic, over the centuries.
Race, religion, and ethnicity were confused with
one another, and there was a tendency to
exaggerate the impact of foreign influence on
ancient India. This is when the classification of
the Indian past into Hindu, Muslim, and British
periods took root.
Indian scholars of the late 19th century and the
first half of the 20th century made major
contributions to constructing a connected
narrative of ancient India. These historians, who
wrote against the background of an emergent, and
later increasingly strong, national movement, are
generally referred to as Nationalist historians.
They wove together data from texts, inscriptions,
coins, and other material remains to show the
contours of the ancient Indian past.
Contributions were made in the field of political
history. South India was brought into the
narrative and the study of regional polities
progressed.
The nationalist tinge in these scholars' writings
can be seen in their insistence on the indigenous
roots of cultural developments. It is reflected
in their search for golden ages, which led to
their exalting the age of the Vedas and the Gupta
Empire. Non-monarchical polities were discovered
and celebrated to counter the idea that India had
never known anything but despotic rule. The
periodisation of the Indian past into Hindu,
Muslim, and British periods was, however,
retained. It coalesced with a communal tendency
to valorise the 'Hindu period' and to project the
advent of the Turks and Islam as a calamity and
tragedy.
The 1950s saw the emergence of Marxist
historiography, which went on to play an
influential role in the construction of the
history of ancient and early medieval India. In
the long run, the Marxist historians shifted the
focus from an event-centred history dominated by
political narrative to the delineation of social
and economic structures and processes, especially
those related to class stratification and
agrarian relations. Marxist historiography
contributed to uncovering the history of
non-elite groups, some of which had suffered
subordination and marginalisation.
While making these valuable interventions and
contributions, Marxist writings often tended to
work with unilinear historical models derived
from Western historical and anthropological
writings. Texts were sometimes read uncritically,
with insufficient attention paid to their
problematic chronology and peculiarities of
genre. Archaeological data were included, but the
basic framework of the historical narrative
remained text-centric. Initially, the focus on
class meant less attention to other bases of
social stratification such as caste and gender.
Religion and culture were sidelined, or
mechanically presented as reflections of
socio-economic structures.
Despite important differences, the major
historiographical schools shared similarities.
Certain tenets of these schools continue to
thrive. Some of the fundamental premises and
methods of Orientalist historiography still hold
their ground, and histories of Third World
countries such as India remain Eurocentric.
Appeals to the ancient and early medieval past
are often dictated by nationalist or communalist
agendas. Marxist historiography continues to be
an influential force in early Indian
historiography.
A critical understanding of historiography, one
that recognises the contributions and limitations
of past and present ideological and theoretical
frameworks, is essential to understanding where
the history of ancient and early medieval India
stands. However, the advances of the future are
likely to be the result of questioning and
thinking beyond the boundaries of existing
historiographical positions and methodologies.
History is not one but many stories; only a few
of them have been written. The challenges to
build on the advances so far are many. Currently,
there are two parallel images of ancient South
Asia - one based on literary sources, the other
on archaeology. Texts and archaeology generate
different sorts of historical narratives and
suggest different rhythms of cultural continuity,
transition, and change. Historians generally use
archaeological evidence selectively as a
corroborative source when it matches hypotheses
based on their interpretation of texts.
Archaeologists have not adequately explored the
historical implications of archaeological data.
Correlations between literature and archaeology
tend to be simplistic and devoid of reflection on
methodology. We need to consider whether, given
their inherent differences, textual and
archaeological evidence can be integrated, or
whether we should simply aim at juxtaposition.
The tradition of extracting supposedly
self-evident 'facts' from literary sources needs
to be replaced by an approach that is more
sensitive to their genre, texture, and cadence.
However, in view of the information and insights
offered by rapidly growing archaeological data,
historical narratives can no longer remain
text-centric. A more sophisticated approach
towards textual study has to be accompanied by an
incorporation of archaeological evidence. This
will lead to a more nuanced image of ancient
India. It will reveal the complexities and
diversities of cultural processes, and will
incorporate the ordinary and everyday into our
understanding of the ancient past.
Histories of early India should ideally represent
the various regions and communities of the
subcontinent in their diversity. However, while
the heartlands of great empires and kingdoms are
well represented, many regions are not. These
have to be brought in. Bringing more people into
history requires initiatives to uncover groups
that have been subordinated and marginalised.
This is not easy, given that a great proportion
of the source material available to historians
has been created by elite groups and reflects
their ideas and interests. Nevertheless, the past
of people who have been hidden from history has
to be uncovered and written, and these histories
must become an integral part of the narrative of
the ancient Indian past. Explorations of gender,
the family, and the household need to be pushed
further and have to become part of larger social
histories. Issues and institutions such as the
family, class, varna, and jati need long-term
perspectives, showing how the different bases of
social identity intersected and changed over time.
India's varied and complex cultural traditions
need attention. While these continue to be the
focus of research among scholars working in South
Asian studies, religious studies, and art history
departments abroad, they have in recent decades
remained somewhat marginal to mainstream
historical writing in India.
Need to enlarge debate
There is a close relationship between history and
identity; the past has, therefore, always been
contested terrain. In contemporary India, the
ancient past is invoked in different ways in
political discourse, including propaganda with
chauvinistic or divisive agendas. There are
debates over the state's right to project and
propagate certain interpretations of the past
through school textbooks. Communities frequently
take offence at things written about them in
historians' scholarly writings. In such a charged
and intolerant atmosphere, there are several
dangers - of the deliberate manipulation and
distortion of the past to achieve political ends,
of historical hypotheses being judged on the
basis of their political implications rather than
academic merit, and of historians being
criticised for writing objective history. The
need to define and enlarge a liberal academic
space which nurtures level-headed dialogue and
debate has perhaps never been greater.
(This article is excerpted from the Introduction
of Upinder Singh's forthcoming book, A History of
Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone
Age to the 12th Century, Pearson Longman, Rs.
3,500.)
______
[5] TAKING ON THE THE HINDU RIGHT:
(i)
Times of India
Q&A: 'HATE SPEECH PROVISIONS HAVE ALMOST BECOME A DEAD LETTER'
14 July 2008, 0000 hrs IST
He was the counsel who, during cross-examination,
got Shiv Sena leader Madhukar Sarpotdar to
enunciate to the Srikrishna Commission the Sena
policy of retaliation during the 92-93 riots.
Yusuf Muchhala is the only lawyer of that time
still fighting in the Supreme Court to get the
commission report implemented, Muchhala speaks to
Jyoti Punwani:
What's the significance of this conviction?
For the first time, Shiv Sena leaders have been
convicted for hate speech. This is very important
because people who provoke riots normally go
scot-free. As it is riot convictions are very
rare, and they normally relate to acts of
violence at the street level. Those who provoke
violence normally remove themselves from the
scene and have the ability to escape
responsibility for the actual acts of violence.
The provisions of Section 153 A have almost
become a dead letter because the government lacks
the political will to go after those who create
enmity. For the first time, these sections have
been rightly invoked and conviction rendered on
the basis of evidence before the court.
Does this conviction change your perception of
the special courts set up exclusively for riot
cases?
So far as the courts are concerned, they decide
matters on the basis of evidence produced before
them. But my opinion on the political will to
prosecute the guilty of the riots remains
unchanged. In fact, this conviction - one of
three convictions amid 50 acquittals - proves the
rule.
A general impression is being created that this
conviction will please Muslims who are unhappy
about the 1993 bomb blast convictions.
It's wrong to assume that Muslims are unhappy
with the bomb blast judgment. If the evidence was
rightly weighed and the Supreme Court will decide
that in appeal the convictions were right too.
The bomb blasts were the misguided acts of a few
individuals to which the community was not a
party. At the community level, it was rightly
felt that while
the miscreants of the Muslim community were
rightly brought to book, why are the miscreants
of the other community, who had indulged in
equally heinous acts, not being punished? One
conviction is not enough to remove this feeling
of discrimination.
Both the Sena and the Congress government are
bound to use this case electorally.
Whatever political advantage politicians may take
from it does not mean that the guilty should not
be prosecuted. Whatever be the political fallout,
civil society must bear it. Mumbai has seen a
number of bomb blasts, but the aftermath of every
blast has shown that civil society has acquired
the maturity not to get divided on communal
lines, despite grave provocation.
----
(ii)
US LAWMAKER, HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP URGE THE US STATE
DEPARTMENT FOR MODI VISA DENIAL
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 13, 2008
The Coalition Against Genocide campaign gained
further momentum as a prominent US lawmaker and
an internationally acclaimed human rights group
joined the US Commission on International
Religious Freedom in urging the US State
Department for a visa ban on Gujarat Chief
Minister Narendra Modi.
In a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice, Congresswoman Betty McCollum (D-MN) has
asked for a repeat denial of visa to Narendra
Modi. "In light of Mr. Modi's long documented
record of violations of religious freedom in
India, I am writing to urge the Department of
State to deny Mr. Modi a visa to enter the United
States" said the letter dated July 8th 2008.
The letter also highlighted the many human rights
abuses of Modi's administration: "Since 2005,
Chief Minister Narendra Modi has continued to
violate the religious freedoms of not only Indian
Muslims, but also Christians. Mr. Modi has used
state police forces to routinely beat Christian
pastors and priests and to conduct extra-judicial
killings of Muslim youth. In addition, Mr. Modi
has interfered with the safe return of more than
100,000 people displaced from 2002 riots".
Congresswoman Betty McCollum is a senior
Democratic whip of the House Democratic Caucus
and a key figure in US foreign policy. She serves
on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the
State Department and Foreign Operations and the
House Oversight & Government Reforms Subcommittee
on National Security & Foreign Affairs.
In another blow to Modi's prospects of obtaining
a US visa, an internationally acclaimed human
rights group The Advocates for Human Rights also
wrote a letter to the US State Department. The
letter stated: "The violations of religious
freedom in which Mr. Modi took part were of the
gravest nature and his conduct falls precisely
within that contemplated as 'particularly severe
violations' by the International Religious
Freedom Act.". The letter further pointed out:
"The evidence against Mr. Modi indicates that he
is inadmissible to the United States under the
provisions of the International Religious Freedom
Act because as a foreign government official Mr.
Modi was directly responsible in particularly
serious violations of religious freedom. Denying
Mr. Modi a visa to enter the United States not
only will uphold the law but will send the
important message that Mr. Modi's reprehensible
statements, policies and actions are abhorrent to
the laws and values of the United States. We
respectfully request that your Office once again
deny Chief Minister Narendra Modi a visa to enter
our country".
The Advocates for Human Rights is an
internationally recognized human rights
organization specializing in investigative fact
finding, direct legal representation,
collaboration for education and training, and a
broad distribution of publications.
Last week, the US Commission on International
Religious Freedom issued an advisory asking the
US State Department to "reaffirm its past
decision" and "once again announce Modi's
ineligibility for a visa under the terms of the
INA".
"The inaction of Gujarat's government and police
force in the face of severe violence against
religious minorities is an inexcusable abuse of
international human rights obligations," said
Felice Gaer, the chairwoman of the USCIRF who
also directs the Jacob Blaustein Institute for
the Advancement of Human Rights of the American
Jewish Committee.
Noted human rights activist Ms. Teesta Setalvad
and retired Gujarat police official RB Sreekumar
are also concluding a US lecture tour organized
by members of the Coalition Against Genocide.
The Coalition Against Genocide includes a diverse
spectrum of organizations and individuals in the
United States and Canada that have come together
in response to the Gujarat genocide to demand
accountability and justice.
###
CONTACT:
Dr. Hari Sharma
Phone: 604-420-2972
Dr. Hyder Khan
Phone/Fax: 443 927 9039
Email: media at coalitionagainstgenocide.org
Website: http://coalitionagainstgenocide.org
List of organizations endorsing the Coalition Against Genocide campaign:
1.Alliance for a Secular and Democratic South Asia (ASDSA)
2.American Federation of Muslims of Indian Origin (AFMI)
3.Association of Indian Muslims of America (AIM)
4.Campaign to Stop Funding Hate (CSFH)
5.Coalition for a Secular and Democratic India (CSDI)
6.Dalit Freedom Network (DFN)
7.Dharma Megha Inc.
8.Friends of South Asia (FOSA)
9.Gujarati Muslim Association of America (GMAA)
10.India Development Society
11.India Foundation Inc.
12.Indian Buddhist Association
13.Indian Muslim Council-USA (IMC-USA)
14.Indian Muslim Educational Foundation of North America (IMEFNA)
15.Indian Muslim Relief & Charities (IMRC)
16.International Service Society
17.International South Asia Forum-NY (INSAF-NY)
18.Muslim Vohra Association
19.Muslim Youth Awareness Alliance (MYAA)
20.Non-Resident Indians for Secular and Harmonious India (NRI-SAHI)
21.Seva International
22.Sikh American Heritage Organization (SAHO)
23.South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy (SANSAD, Canada)
24.South Asian Progressive Action Collective (SAPAC)
25.Supporters of Human Rights in India (SHRI)
26.Vaishnava Center for Enlightenment
27.Vedanta Society of East Lansing
REFERENCES:
USCIRF Urges Denial of U.S. Visa to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi
http://coalitionagainstgenocide.org/press/uscirf.letter.08jul2008.php
Letter from Representative Betty McCollum to the US Department of State
http://coalitionagainstgenocide.org/press/mccollum.letter.08jul2008.php
Signed Letter:
http://coalitionagainstgenocide.org/press/mccollum.letter.08jul2008.pdf
______
[6]
The Washington Post
July 11, 2008
India's Unlikely Obama
HINDU NATIONALIST MODELS CAMPAIGN FOR PREMIER
AFTER U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE'S
L.K. Advani's advisers hope his message, like
Obama's, will resonate with voters' "hunger for
change." (By Pankaj Nangia -- Bloomberg News)
By Rama Lakshmi
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, July 11, 2008; Page A08
NEW DELHI -- An 81-year-old Hindu nationalist who
wants to become India's next prime minister has
chosen an unlikely model for his election
efforts, the Internet-based campaign of Sen.
Barack Obama.
For a few months, a small team of political
strategists, computer specialists and management
graduates in New Delhi has been studying Obama's
speeches and slogans, Web site, campus outreach
and rhetoric of change.
"About 100 million first-time voters will enter
the election landscape next year. That is a
staggering number of young people. And the Indian
youth is impatient for change," said Sudheendra
Kulkarni, who heads up strategy for the campaign.
His candidate is L.K. Advani of the Bharatiya
Janata Party, or BJP, a nationalist group that
hopes to upset the ruling Congress party in
elections next May.
"We want to project the image of Advani around
the idea of change the same way that Obama's
message resonated with people's hunger for
change," Kulkarni said.
More than two-thirds of India's 1 billion-plus
people are younger than 35, making it one of the
youngest emerging economies in the world. Rising
income and aspirations, along with rapid
urbanization, are forcing political parties to
reimagine their old, top-down style of election
campaigning.
Even though India is a parliamentary system based
on the British model that stresses parties as
opposed to leaders, the BJP has found that in the
past few elections, personalized campaigns have
reaped better dividends and worked well with
young voters.
"Like the Obama brand, we need to create a buzz
around Advani-ji," said Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, a
BJP member of Parliament and a key campaign
official, attaching the Hindi honorific "ji" to
the veteran leader's name. Naqvi recently
returned from a leadership program at Yale
University with a notebook full of observations
from the presidential primaries.
The party predicts that, like in the Obama
campaign, technology will play a central role in
attracting the youth. It plans to use cellphones
and the Internet as important media of political
communication. India, with one of the world's
fastest-growing cellphone markets, now has 185
million subscribers; 5.5 million are added a
month.
In May, Kevin Bertram of Washington-based
Distributive Networks spoke at a packed
conference in New Delhi about his aggressive use
of text messaging in Obama's campaign.
Work on creating a Web site for Advani that is
similar to Obama's is also underway.
"Obama's site successfully created communities of
supporters and voters. It was used to call a
meeting of friends and plan events," said Prodyut
Bora, 33, head of the campaign's technology
initiative. "We would like the Advani portal to
enable millions of voters to connect with him and
with each other. This would encourage people to
become Advani's local campaigners."
Bora's team has uploaded several film clips from
Advani's political career onto YouTube and plans
to target social networking sites that young
people frequent, such as Orkut and Facebook. In
March, when Advani's memoir, "My Country, My
Life," was published, the party created a Web
site with reviews, videos and speeches. Campaign
managers hope the book will play the same role as
Obama's "The Audacity of Hope."
Advani's career in politics spans six decades; he
has served as a deputy prime minister.
In 1992, he and his strident Hindu chauvinistic
rhetoric were widely viewed as inspiring a mob to
demolish a 16th-century mosque, triggering a wave
of sectarian rioting. In recent years, he has
toned down his words and moved toward the center
to gain wider acceptance.
Some analysts find talk of the Obama campaign model for Advani odd.
"That particular campaign style worked for Obama
because he is a young, fresh-faced, charming man
who promises change. But Advani has too much
baggage, both good and bad, attached to him,"
said Ramachandra Guha, a political historian with
the New India Foundation, a Bangalore-based
research group. "It strains one's credulity to
imagine the austere, unsmiling Advani being
rebranded like Obama."
Another politician trying to woo the youth is the
37-year-old heir apparent of the Congress party's
ruling political dynasty, Rahul Gandhi. His
office said that while it, too, has "flooded" the
YouTube and Flickr Web sites with images of
Gandhi, such campaigns cannot go far in India,
where Web reach is limited and a quarter of the
population lives in poverty, according to
official estimates.
Bora agreed that 75 percent of the political
networking in India will have to be done offline.
The BJP began a series of programs in January
that it says are meant to instill a sense of
honor and responsibility in first-time voters.
The youth are given trendy wristbands that say,
"I am proud to be a first time voter."
"People ask me if we are adopting the Obama
campaign strategy for Advani-ji," Bora said. "My
answer is: 'Replication, no. Inspiration, yes.' "
ad_icon
The inspiration is flowing to the BJP office here
through many direct and indirect routes.
A month ago, Abhishek Kumar, an Indian-born
software engineer from Houston, e-mailed the BJP
about his volunteer work for Obama. He organized
American young people for the "Nation for Change"
rally in April and worked as a phone bank
officer. He sent a proposal to the Advani team
for drawing in young voters. The campaign team
has invited him to India for two months.
"I am not even an American citizen, and I cannot
vote," Kumar, 26, said from Houston. "But because
of my work, I feel that the Obama campaign is my
own campaign. That is the same feeling I want to
bring among the Indian youth for the Advani
campaign."
But perhaps the most enduring image that many
Indians have of Obama is a recently released
photograph of his personal luck charms. In the
collection there was a Hanuman figure, the Hindu
monkey god.
Immediately, a group of overjoyed priests at a
Hanuman temple here began performing an 11-day
ritual prayer for Obama's victory.
______
[7]
Date: 9th July, 2008
JOINT PRESS STATEMENT BY WOMEN'S ORGANIZATIONS ON AMAR SINGH'S REMARK
The widely reported remark made by Shri Amar
Singh using sexist language to describe meetings
between political leaders, is highly
objectionable, condemnable, and unacceptable. He
has been reported as using terms like
'suhaagraat' (wedding night) and 'balaatkar'
(rape) to refer to the meetings between Ms. Sonia
Gandhi, and leaders of other political parties.
It is quite shocking that a political leader can
make comments in such bad taste about political
relationships that involve a prominent woman
leader of the country. There are many women in
high political office and in the leadership of
various parties. Such remarks not only trivialize
their role, and insult the concerned individual,
but are demeaning to all women. Women's
organizations strongly condemn this remark, which
is totally unbefitting of a political leader
occupying a responsible position. We call upon
all democratic organizations and individuals to
condemn this kind of verbal abuse.
Since the remark referred to has not been denied
by Shri Amar Singh, we demand a retraction, and a
public apology.
Sudha Sundararaman (All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA)
Annie Raja (National Federation for Indian Women (NFIW)
Mohini Giri (Guild of Service (GOS)
Jyotsna Chatterjee Joint Women's Programme (JWP)
Kalpana David (Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA)
Mary John ( Centre for Women's Development Studies (CWDS)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
C/o. AIDWA, 121 Vithal Bhai Patel House, Rafi Marg, New Delhi-110 001
Tel: 011-23710476/ 23319566
STATEMENT BY AMAR SINGH
No hidden deal, we could have backed earlier: Amar Singh
Manish Chand
Sat, Jul 5 10:11 AM
New Delhi, July 5 (IANS) If the prime minister
had approached the Samajwadi Party (SP), it could
have backed the nuclear deal much earlier, party
leader Amar Singh said here while denying any
"hidden deal" with the government in return for
its support.
"There was no need for the prime minister to go
to parliament on the issue of the nuclear deal.
If he could have approached us and other
political parties and briefed us on the nuclear
deal, we could have supported it much before,"
Amar Singh told IANS when asked what made the SP
change its mind. "We are fully satisfied after
(former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam) told us the
deal was in national interest," a beaming Singh
remarked late Friday night. He has played a
stellar role in persuading his party - which has
39 MPs in the Lok Sabha - to rescue the deal
which was held hostage by the Left parties. In a
subtle critique of the Manmohan Singh
government's failure to forge political consensus
over the nuclear deal earlier, Amar Singh said
the government paid too much attention to the
Left parties and kept other important parties
like SP out of the loop over the nuclear deal.
"There is no deal within the deal. We have acted
solely in national interest," the SP leader said.
He also vehemently repudiated speculation about
the SP bargaining for some plum ministries with
the government in return for its support. "There
is no question of our participating in the
government towards the end of its term. We have
no selfish interest in supporting this deal,"
Singh insisted to IANS. Singh, however,
underlined that his party will continue to put
pressure on the government on the issue of price
rise which is severely hurting the common man.
The media-savvy SP general secretary, known for
his connections across the political spectrum and
corporate bigwigs, trashed Bahujan Samaj Party
leader Mayawati's attempt to give a Muslim spin
to the nuclear deal. "This is no Hindu or Muslim
deal. This is a national deal and it's in
national interest," Singh said. Uttar Pradesh
Chief Minister Mayawati had claimed that the
nuclear deal would spark a backlash from Muslims
due to American policies towards countries like
Iraq and Afghanistan. Singh was, however,
ambivalent when asked whether the present
understanding between the Congress and the SP
would translate into an electoral understanding.
The SP leader was touchy when asked about the new
bonhomie between his party and the Congress who
were seen as sworn rivals with a history of
bitter relations.
"When Prakash Karat goes to meet Sonia Gandhi,
it's called 'suhaag raat' (wedding night), but
when we go to meet Sonia Gandhi, it's called
'balaatkaar' (rape)," Singh said testily when
asked about the meeting between SP chief Mulayam
Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi and
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Friday.
The crucial meeting turned out to be a clincher
with the SP professing support to the government
over the nuclear deal if the Left lives up to its
threat of withdrawing support from the ruling
coalition.
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
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matters of peace and democratisation in South
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