SACW | Sept 7-8, 2008 / Islamisation: Pakistan - Bangladesh / Indo US Blow to Non-Proliferation

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire | Sept 7-8, 2008 | Dispatch No. 2563 - Year  
10 running

[1] Pakistan:
(i) Asif Ali Zardari: the godfather as president (Tariq Ali)
(ii) Pakistan's westward drift (Pervez Hoodbhoy)
[2] Proscribing Islamist politics in Bangladesh: lessons from and for  
Pakistan (Taj Hashmi)
[3] Indo US Nuclear Deal: America Arm Twists its way in Obtaining a  
Waiver for India
(i) Nuclear Waiver - Blow to Non-Proliferation (Praful Bidwai)
(ii) NSG Creates a Gaping Hole in the NPT (Abolition 2000)
(iii) 'Sortir du nucleaire' denonces the support by French  
authorities to the Indo US accord (Communique de Presse)
[4] India: Anti Christian Attacks in Karnataka  (Message from Shabnam  
Hashmi)
[5] India:  Cracking down on ‘violations of moral code’ in Dakshina  
Kannada (Sudipto Mondal)
[6] Steamy TV in India tests the limits of sex taboos (Gethin  
Chamberlain)
[7] Book Review: Nature of Threat to Indian Democracy (Ram Puniyani)
[8] India: Knot Easy (Editorial, Times of India)

______


[1]  PAKISTAN

(i)

The Guardian
September 7, 2008

ASIF ALI ZARDARI: THE GODFATHER AS PRESIDENT
He may be a pliant partner for the west, but with his record of  
corruption, Zardari is the worst possible choice for Pakistan

by Tariq Ali


Asif Ali Zardari – singled out by fate to become Benazir Bhutto's  
husband and who, subsequently, did everything he could to prevent  
himself from being returned to obscurity – is about to become the new  
President of Pakistan. Oily-mouthed hangers-on, never in short supply  
in Pakistan, will orchestrate a few celebratory shows and the ready  
tongues of old cronies (some now appointed ambassadors to western  
capitals) will speak of how democracy has been enhanced. Zardari's  
close circle of friends, with whom he shared the spoils of power the  
last time around and who have remained loyal, refusing all  
inducements to turn state's evidence in the corrruption cases against  
him, will also be delighted. Small wonder then that definitions of  
democracy in Pakistan differ from person to person.
There will be no expressions of joy on the streets to mark the  
transference of power from a moth-eaten general to a worm-eaten  
politician. The affection felt in some quarters for the Bhutto family  
is non-transferable. If Benazir were still alive, Zardari would not  
have been given any official post. She had been considering two other  
senior politicians for the presidency. Had she been more  
democratically inclined she would never have treated her political  
party so scornfully, reducing it to the status of a family heirloom,  
bequeathed to her son, with her husband as the regent till the boy  
came of age.

This, and this alone, has aided Zardari's rise to the top. He was  
disliked by many of his wife's closest supporters in the People's  
Party (or the Bhutto Family Party, as it is referred to by  
disaffected members) even when she was alive. They blamed his greed  
and godfatherish behaviour to explain her fall from power on two  
previous occasions, which I always thought was slightly unfair. She  
knew. It was a joint enterprise. She was never one to regard politics  
alone as the consuming passion of her life and always envied the  
lifestyle and social behaviour of the very rich. And he was shameless  
in his endeavours to achieve that status.

Today, he is the second richest person in the country, with estates  
and bank accounts littered on many continents, including a mansion in  
Surrey worth several million. Many of Benazir's inner circle,  
sidelined by the new boss (Zardari did rub their noses in excrement  
by having his apolitical sister elected from Larkana, hitherto a  
pocket borough of the Bhutto family) actively hate him. Benazir's  
uncle, Mumtaz Bhutto (head of the clan) has sharply denounced him.  
Some even encourage the grotesque view that he was in some way  
responsible for her death. This is foolish. He is only trying to  
fulfill her legacy. He was certainly charged with ordering the murder  
of his brother-in-law, Murtaza Bhutto, when Benazir was prime  
minister, but the case was never tried. Characteristically, one of  
Zardari's first acts after his party's victory in the February polls  
was to appoint Shoaib Suddle, the senior police officer connected to  
the Murtaza Bhutto ambush and killing, as the boss of the Federal  
Intelligence Agency. Loyalty is always repaid in full.

In the country at large, his standing, always low, has sunk still  
further. The majority of Pakistan's 190 million citizens may be poor,  
illiterate or semi-literate, but their instincts are usually sound.  
An opinion poll carried out by the New America Foundation some months  
ago revealed Zardari's approval ratings at a low ebb – less than 14%.  
These figures confirm the view that he is the worst possible slice of  
Pakistan's crumbly nationhood. The people has had no say in his  
election. parliamentary cabals have already determined the result. I  
do not take too seriously the recent revelation that a psychiatrist  
had pronounced him suffering from acute dementia, incapable of  
recognising his children due to a chronic loss of memory. This was,  
as is known, designed for the courtroom had he been prosecuted in  
London or Geneva for large-scale money-laundering and corruption. All  
that is in abeyance now, since he has been elevated into a crucial  
figure in the "war on terror".

A small mystery remained. Why did the US suddenly withdraw support  
from General Musharraf? An answer was provided on August 26 by Helene  
Cooper and Mark Mazzetti in the New York Times. The State Department,  
according to this report, was not in favour of an undignified and  
hasty departure, but unknown to them a hardcore neocon faction led by  
Zalmay Khalilzad, the US ambassador to the Security Council, was busy  
advising Asif Zardari in secret and helping him plan the campaign to  
oust the general:

     "Mr Khalilzad had spoken by telephone with Mr Zardari, the  
leader of the Pakistan Peoples party, several times a week for the  
past month until he was confronted about the unauthorised contacts, a  
senior United States official said, "Can I ask what sort of 'advice  
and help' you are providing?" … Mr. Boucher wrote in an angry email  
message to Mr Khalilzad. "What sort of channel is this? Governmental,  
private, personal?" Copies of the message were sent to others at the  
highest levels of the State Department; the message was provided to  
the New York Times by an administration official who had received a  
copy."

Khalilzad is an inveterate factionalist and a master of intrigue.  
Having implanted Hamid Karzai in Kabul (with dire results as many in  
Washington now admit), he had been livid with Musharraf for refusing  
to give 100% support to his Afghan protege. Khalilzad now saw an  
opportunity to punish Musharraf and simultaneously try and create a  
Pakistani equivalent of Karzai.

Zardari fitted the bill. He is perfectly suited to being a total  
creature of Washington. The Swiss government helpfully decided to  
release millions of dollars from Zardari's bank accounts that had,  
till now, been frozen due to the pending corruption cases. Like his  
late wife, Zardari, too, is now being laundered, just like the money  
he made when last in office as minister for investment. This weakness  
will make him a pliant president of Pakistan.

The majority of the population is deeply hostile to the US/Nato  
presence in Afghanistan. Almost 80% favour a negotiated settlement  
and withdrawal of all foreign troops. Three days ago, a team of US  
commandos entered Pakistan "in search of terrorists" and 20 innocents  
were killed. Zardari was being tested. But if he permits US troops to  
enter the frontier province on "search-and-destroy" missions his  
career will be short-lived and the military will return in some shape  
or form. The High Command cannot afford to ignore the growing anger  
within its junior ranks at being forced to kill their own people.

The president of Pakistan was designed in the 1972 constitution as an  
ornamental figure. Military dictators subverted and altered the  
constitution to their advantage. Will Zardari revert to his late  
father-in-law's constitution or preserve its existing powers?

The country desperately needs a president capable of exercizing some  
moral authority and serving as the conscience of the country. The  
banished chief justice, Iftikhar Chaudhry, automatically comes to  
mind, as do the figures of Imran Khan and IA Rehman (the chairman of  
the Human Rights Commission), but the governing elite and its self- 
serving backers in Washington have always been blind to the real  
needs of this country. They should be careful. The sparks flying  
across the Afghan border might ignite a fire that is difficult to  
control.

Tariq Ali's latest book, The Duel: Pakistan on the Flightpath of  
American Power, will be published by Simon and Schuster on September 15


o o o

(ii)

Himal South Asian
September 2008


PAKISTAN'S WESTWARD DRIFT
by Pervez Hoodbhoy

The drift is not geophysical, but cultural.

‘Alif’ is for Allah
‘Bay’ is for bundooq (gun)
‘Hay’ is for hijab
‘Jeem’ is for jihad
‘Tay’ is for takrao (collision)
‘Zal’ is for zunoob (sin)

For three decades, deep tectonic forces have been silently tearing  
Pakistan away from the Subcontinent and driving it towards the  
Arabian Peninsula. This continental drift is not geophysical but  
cultural, driven by a belief that Pakistan must exchange its  
Southasian identity for an Arab-Muslim one. Grain by grain, the  
desert sands of Saudi Arabia are replacing the alluvium that had  
nurtured Muslim culture in the Indian Subcontinent for over a  
thousand years. A stern, unyielding version of Islam – Wahhabism – is  
replacing the kinder, gentler Islam of the Sufis and saints.

This drift is by design. Twenty-five years ago, the Pakistani state  
pushed Islam onto its people. Prayers in government departments were  
deemed compulsory; floggings were carried out publicly; punishments  
were meted out to those who did not fast during Ramadan; selection  
for academic posts required that the candidates demonstrate knowledge  
of Islamic teachings, and the jihad was emphasised as essential for  
every Muslim. Today, such government intervention is no longer needed  
due to the spontaneous groundswell of Islamic zeal. The notion of an  
Islamic state – as yet in some amorphous and diffused form – is more  
popular than ever before, as people look desperately for miracles to  
rescue a failing state. Across the country, there has been a  
spectacular increase in the power and prestige of the clerics,  
attendance in mosques, home prayer meetings (dars and zikr),  
observance of special religious festivals, and fasting during Ramadan.

Villages have changed drastically, driven in part by Pakistani  
workers returning from Arab countries. Many village mosques are now  
giant madrassas that propagate hard-line Salafi and Deobandi beliefs  
through oversized loudspeakers. They are bitterly opposed to  
Barelvis, Shias and other Muslims who they do not consider to be  
Muslims. Punjabis, who were far more liberal towards women than were  
the Pashtuns, are now beginning to embrace the line of thought  
resembling that of the Taliban. Hanafi law (from one of the four  
schools of thought or jurisprudence within Sunni Islam) has begun to  
prevail over tradition and civil law.

Among the Pakistani lower-middle and middle classes lurks a grim and  
humourless Saudi-inspired revivalist movement (which can be called  
‘Saudi-isation’) that frowns upon every form of joyous expression.  
Lacking any positive connection to culture and knowledge, it seeks to  
eliminate ‘corruption’ by strictly regulating cultural life and  
seizing absolute control of the education system. “Classical music is  
on its last legs in Pakistan; the sarangi and vichtarveena are  
completely dead,” laments Mohammad Shehzad, a student of music.  
Indeed, teaching music in public universities is vehemently opposed  
by students of the Islami Jamaat-e-Talaba, religious fundamentalists  
who consider music haram. Kathak dancing, once popular among the  
Muslim elite of India, has no teachers left in Pakistan, and the  
feature films produced in the country are of next to no consequence.  
Meanwhile the Pakistani elites, disconnected from the rest of the  
population, comfortably live their lives through their vicarious  
proximity to the West.

School militarism
More than a quarter-century after the state-sponsored Islamisation of  
the country, the state in Pakistan is itself under attack from  
religious militants, and rival Islamic groups battle each other with  
heavy weapons. Ironically, the same army – whose men were recruited  
under the banner of jihad, and which saw itself as the fighting arm  
of Islam – today stands accused of betrayal, and is targeted by  
Islamist suicide bombers on an almost daily basis. The militancy that  
bedevils Pakistan is by no means confined to the tribal areas; it  
breeds feverishly in the cities as well. Pakistan’s self-inflicted  
suffering comes from an education system that propagates the jihad  
culture, which ceaselessly demands that Islam be understood as a  
complete code of life, designed to create in the minds of the school  
child a sense of siege and embattlement.

The process begins early. For example, the government-approved  
curriculum of a Class V Social Studies textbook prescribes that the  
child should be able to “Make speeches on Jehad and Shahadat”, and  
“Understand Hindu-Muslim differences and the resultant need for  
Pakistan.” The material placed before the Pakistani schoolchild has  
remained largely unchanged even after the attacks of 11 September  
2001, which led to Pakistan’s abrupt desertion of the Taliban and the  
slackening of the Kashmir jihad. Indeed, for all the talk of  
‘enlightened moderation’, then-General Pervez Musharraf’s educational  
curriculum, passed down with some dilution from the time of Zia ul- 
Haq, was far from enlightening. Fearful of taking on powerful  
religious forces, every incumbent government has refused to take a  
position on the curriculum. Thus, successive administrations have  
quietly allowed the young minds to be moulded by fanatics.

As such, the promotion of militarism in Pakistan’s schools, colleges  
and universities has had a profound effect on young people. Militant  
jihad has become a part of the culture in college and university  
campuses, with armed groups inviting students for jihad in Kashmir  
and Afghanistan. The primary vehicle for ‘Saudi-ising’ Pakistan’s  
education has been the madrassa. During the war against the Soviet  
occupation of Afghanistan, madrassas provided the US-Saudi-Pakistan  
alliance that recruits needed for fighting a ‘holy’ war. Earlier on,  
this role had been limited to turning out the occasional Islamic  
scholar, using a curriculum dating back to the 11th century with  
minor subsequent revisions. The principal function of the madrassas  
had been to produce imams and muezzins for mosques.

The Afghan jihad changed everything. Under Zia, with active  
assistance from Saudi Arabia, madrassas sprang up across the length  
and breadth of Pakistan, and now number about 22,000. The free room,  
board and supplies provided to students has always constituted a key  
part of the appeal to join these madrassas. But the desire of parents  
across the country for their children to be ‘disciplined’, and to be  
given a thorough ‘Islamic’ education, is also a major contributing  
factor.

One of the chief goals of the Islamists is to bring about a complete  
separation of the sexes, the consequences of which have been  
catastrophic. Take the tragic example of the stampede in a madrassa  
in Karachi in April 2006, in which 21 women and eight children were  
crushed to death, and scores more injured; all the while, male  
rescuers were prevented from assisting. Likewise, after the October  
2005 earthquake, as this writer walked through the destroyed city of  
Balakot, a student of the Frontier Medical College described how he  
and his male colleagues were stopped by religious elders from digging  
out injured girls from under the rubble of their school building.

The drive to segregate the sexes is now also influencing educated  
women. Vigorous proselytisers of this message, such as Farhat Hashmi  
– one of the most influential contemporary Muslim scholars, or ulema,  
particularly in Pakistan, the UK and the US – have become massively  
successful, and have been catapulted to heights of fame and fortune.  
Two decades ago, the fully veiled student was a rarity on any  
university or college campus in Pakistan. Abaya was once an unknown  
word in Urdu, but today many shops in Islamabad specialise in these  
dreary robes, which cover the entire body except the face, feet and  
hands. At colleges and universities across Pakistan, female students  
are today seeking the anonymity of the burqa, outnumbering their  
sisters who still dare to show their faces.

The immediate future of Pakistan looks grim, as increasing numbers of  
mullahs are creating cults around themselves and seizing control over  
the minds of their worshippers. In the tribal areas, a string of new  
Islamist leaders have suddenly emerged – Baituallah Mehsud,  
Fazlullah, Mangal Bagh and Haji Namdar among others – feeding on the  
environment of poverty, deprivation, lack of justice, and extreme  
disparities in wealth.

In the long term, Pakistan’s future will be determined by the  
ideological and political battle between citizens who want an  
Islamist theocratic state, and citizens who want a modern Islamic  
republic. It may yet be possible to roll back the Islamist laws and  
institutions that have corroded Pakistani society for over 30 years,  
and defeat the ‘holy’ warriors. However, this can only happen if  
Pakistan’s elected leaders acquire the trust of the citizens. To do  
this, political parties, government officials and, yes, even generals  
will have to embrace democracy, in both word and deed.

Pervez Hoodbhoy is a physicist at Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad.


______


[2]

New Age
September 8, 2008

PROSCRIBING ISLAMIST POLITICS IN BANGLADESH: LESSONS FROM AND FOR  
PAKISTAN

All democratic and secular Bangladeshis should come forward demanding  
the immediate de-registration of all religion-oriented parties. Civil  
society has to play an important role in this regard as some of the  
leading ‘secular nationalist’ political parties are still going  
around with Islamists, weighing in the ‘vote bank’ potential of the  
Islamist groups,
writes Taj Hashmi


CONTRARY to what Indian nationalist Gopal Krishna Gokhale (1866-1915)  
is said to have observed, ‘What Bengal thinks today, India thinks  
tomorrow.’ In view of the ongoing and least expected  
‘Pakistanisation’ of Bangladesh, one may rephrase the statement as,  
‘What Pakistan thinks today, Bangladesh thinks tomorrow.’ It is  
beyond the comprehension of many analysts and scholars that a country  
created in the name of Bengali nationalism, democracy and secularism,  
within five years of its inception adopted Islamism and autocracy  
turning away from the last vestiges of secularism, democracy and the  
rule of law.
    The growing menace of Islamism and state-sponsored Islamisation  
has been wrecking havoc to Pakistan’s economy and socio-political  
structure, at times making experts and laymen wonder if the country  
has already become a ‘failed state’ or on the verge of becoming one.  
The situation in Bangladesh, an erstwhile Pakistani province, is  
slightly different in this regard as Islamists do not pose any  
impending threat of taking over parts of the country, as in Pakistan.
    Nonetheless, it has also inherited Islamism as a legacy of the  
past; Islamist terrorism, including suicide attacks, is no longer an  
unfamiliar phenomenon in Bangladesh; Islam-oriented parties have  
become decisive factors in forming governments. While overt or covert  
martial law has become normative, with periodic interregnums of  
dynastic civil oligarchies a la Pakistan, Islamism and state- 
sponsored cosmetic Islamisation of the polity have remained well- 
entrenched since late 1975.
    One may attribute these phenomena to the failure of the welfare  
state, not that different from what has happened in Algeria, Egypt,  
Afghanistan and Sudan, among other Muslim countries. Nevertheless, we  
need other explanations as to why not only the crest-fallen masses  
have been drawn to Islamism (considered an alternative to the  
‘failed’ secular ideologies of democracy, nationalism and national- 
socialism by many), but also the bulk of political and intellectual  
elite, including some hitherto-radical leftists.
    As poverty, bad governance and the ‘Global Jihad’ breed Islamist  
nihilism, so is illegitimate rulers’ exploiting religious sentiments  
of the people with a view to legitimising their rule with state- 
sponsored Islamisation. Islamisation of the polity out of sheer  
political expediency, in the long run, could be disastrous for the  
polity as we find out in Pakistan, and on a minuscule level, in  
Bangladesh. What was once beyond one’s imagination that Bangladesh, a  
country created in the name of secular nationalism, would one day  
adopt Islam as its ‘state religion’, and pro-Pakistani Islamist  
political parties would play important role in running the polity, is  
a reality now.
    However, despite the abysmally poor state of affairs in regard to  
governance and overall well-being of the people, there is a faint  
hope that Bangladesh will eventually reduce the level of Islamist  
obscurantism and insurgency in the near future. One is hoping against  
hope in view of the latest development in the country. The so-called  
neutral caretaker government is contemplating some bold steps towards  
curtailing the influence of Islamist political parties.
    As reported in the media, the caretaker government is  
contemplating on imposing a ban on all religion-based political  
parties in accordance with the 1972 Constitution. It is indeed  
heartening that the provisions of the latest Representation of the  
People Order stipulate that ‘a political party shall not be qualified  
for registration if any discrimination regarding religion, race,  
caste, language or sex is apparent in its constitution’. Since  
Islamist parties allow membership exclusively to ‘religious Muslims’,  
the RPO, in accordance with the constitution, may legitimately de- 
register all religion-based parties.
    In view of the above, as Bangladesh have lessons to learn from  
the Pakistani experience that unbridled growth of Islamism and even  
worse, state-sponsored Islamisation of the polity, can be disastrous  
in the long run; similarly Pakistan may learn from the example of  
Bangladesh, where the government is thinking about proscribing  
Islamist political parties as a step towards containing, if not  
eliminating, Islamism. A successful deregistration of all Islamist  
political parties, especially the well-organised and well-funded  
Jamaat-e-Islami in Bangladesh, would be a good example for Pakistan  
and other countries confronting similar Islamist menace. This would  
also demolish the myth that Islamisation of a polity is not  
reversible. We once nourished similar view about communism.
    There is no reason to be complacent about allowing the so-called  
‘constitutional’ and ‘non-violent’ Islamist parties like the Jamaat,  
Muslim Brotherhood and their likes. Although apparently they look  
different from al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami, the  
Taliban and similar Islamist outfits, there is no reason to assume  
that the Jamaat and Brotherhood believe in democracy and peaceful  
coexistence with liberal Muslims and non-Muslims. These proto-fascist  
organisations are committed to installing Islamist governments  
throughout the Muslim World by gradually infiltrating into every  
level of the polity, finally to takeover by violent means.
    Let us hope Bangladesh will make an important breakthrough in de- 
legitimising Islamism by de-registering all Islam-oriented political  
parties as the first step. All democratic and secular Bangladeshis  
should come forward demanding the immediate de-registration of all  
religion-oriented parties. Civil society has to play an important  
role in this regard as some of the leading ‘secular nationalist’  
political parties are still going around with Islamists, weighing in  
the ‘vote bank’ potential of the Islamist groups. Then again,  
Bangladesh alone cannot de-legitimise Islamism in the country. Since  
deregistration of the various Islamist parties would be a major step  
towards their elimination process, countries and international donors  
can play a vital role in this regard. Having enough leverage to  
influence the policymakers in the country, they should press them  
hard to implement the proposed deregistration order vis-à-vis the  
Islamist parties.
    Conversely, if Bangladesh fails to contain the so-called  
‘constitutional and democratic’ Islamist parties along with the  
clandestine Islamist ones now, under this unique military-backed  
caretaker government, the forthcoming elected government (in the  
event of elections taking place by December) is least likely to  
succeed in this regard irrespective of which party or coalition comes  
to power. Firstly, the major political parties in the country want to  
appease the Jamaat and similar Islamist groups out of political  
expediency; and secondly, the prevalent Islamisation of the polity  
mainly due to bad governance, corruption and patronage of Islamism by  
various governments in the last 30-odd years, Islamism has its  
special niche in the body politic of Bangladesh. In sum, we must  
realise what Islamist quagmire Pakistan has fallen into due to sheer  
negligence of the menace in its formative phase and the various  
governments’ flirting with the Jamaat and its likes since the 1970s.  
Bangladesh government’s success in deregistering Islamist parties  
would be a positive example for others, signalling a major victory in  
the ‘war on terror’.

    Taj Hashmi is a professor of security studies at Asia-Pacific  
Centre for Security Studies, Hawaii.


_____



[3]  NUCLEAR WHEELER DEALERS ARE HAPPY AS AMERICA ARM TWISTS ITS WAY  
IN OBTAINING A WAIVER FOR INDIA

(i)

Inter Press Service - September 8, 2008

INDIA/US:  NUCLEAR WAIVER - BLOW TO NON-PROLIFERATION
Analysis by Praful Bidwai*

NEW DELHI, Sep 8 (IPS) - The special waiver granted to India by the  
Nuclear Suppliers' Group (NSG) from its nuclear trade rules is being  
seen as a massive setback to the cause of global nuclear non- 
proliferation and disarmament.

The NSG's waiver will allow India to resume nuclear commerce with the  
rest of the world with very few restrictions although India is not a  
signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and has  
refused to accede to any other agreement for preventing the spread  
of, reducing the numbers of, or abolishing nuclear weapons.

The 45-nation conglomerate, a private arrangement set up after  
India's first nuclear weapons explosion in 1974, turned a full circle  
at its special meeting in Vienna, on the weekend, the second one in a  
fortnight, held at the behest of the United States.

The NSG was originally established "to ensure that nuclear trade for  
peaceful purposes does not contribute to the proliferation of nuclear  
weapons or other nuclear explosive devices".

But it has now done the very opposite by agreeing to the exceptional  
waiver for India as part of New Delhi's controversial nuclear  
cooperation deal with the U.S. inked three years ago.

Washington hailed the waiver as "historic" and one that would boost  
nuclear non-proliferation, while New Delhi described the deal as an  
"important step" towards meeting the challenges of climate change and  
sustainable development.

Clearly though, the waiver only became possible because of the strong- 
arm methods used by the U.S. to bludgeon dissenting NSG members into  
agreeing to the exemption text it had drafted in consultation with  
India.

Contrary to the claim that the waiver, and more generally, the U.S.- 
India nuclear deal, will bring India into the global "non- 
proliferation mainstream" or promote nuclear restraint on India's  
part, it will allow India to expand its nuclear weapons arsenal and  
encourage a nuclear arms race in Asia, particularly in the volatile  
South Asian subcontinent, where Pakistan emerged as India's nuclear  
rival 10 years ago.

The special waiver has been roundly criticised by nuclear disarmament  
and peace groups throughout the world, including in India.

The waiver, says the U.S.-India Deal Working Group of the disarmament  
network ‘ABOLITION 2000’, comprising more than 2,000 peace groups  
worldwide, "creates a dangerous distinction between 'good'  
proliferators and 'bad' proliferators and sends out misleading  
signals to the international community..."

"The exemption" it adds, "will not bring India further into  
conformity with the non-proliferation behaviour expected of the  
member-states of the NPT."

Barring the exceptional situation in which India might conduct  
another nuclear test, the NSG imposes no significant conditions on  
nuclear trade with India. Even this condition is not stated up-front,  
and is mentioned in reference to a general statement by India's  
Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Sep. 5, in which he reiterated  
India's unilateral and voluntary moratorium on nuclear testing and  
its non-proliferation commitments.

But a voluntary moratorium can be lifted easily and unilaterally. In  
any case, it falls short of a legally binding commitment not to test.

India had insisted on a "clean and unconditional" waiver from the  
NSG, and has very nearly secured it, thanks to the indulgence of the  
U.S., which proposed the deal in the first place and lobbied hard and  
furiously for it.

With the waiver under its belt, India can proceed to import uranium  
fuel, of which it is running short, and a range of other nuclear  
materials, equipment and technologies for its civilian nuclear  
programme. But it can divert domestic uranium exclusively for weapons  
purposes.

"Under the U.S.-India nuclear deal, India signed an agreement to  
separate its military nuclear facilities from civilian installations  
and subject some of the latter to safeguards under the International  
Atomic Energy Agency," says Achin Vanaik, head of the department of  
political science at Delhi University, and a national coordination  
committee member of the Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace  
(India).

According to Vanaik, India will only put 14 of its 22 operating or  
planned civilian nuclear reactors under IAEA safeguards, which are  
meant to ensure that no nuclear material from them is diverted to  
military purposes. ''But it can use the remaining eight reactors to  
produce as much plutonium as it likes for its weapons programme."

According to a report prepared by independent scientists and experts  
for the International Panel on Fissile Materials two years ago, these  
eight reactors alone can yield fuel for as many as 40 Nagasaki-type  
bombs every year.

In addition, India can produce more bomb fuel from its dedicated  
military nuclear facilities and fast-breeder reactors, which it can  
maintain and expand.

India accepts no limits or restrictions on the size of its nuclear  
arsenal and has an ambitious nuclear doctrine under which it  
continues to stockpile fissile material for weapons use.

The NSG has all but put its imprimatur on India's nuclear activities  
which would allow it to expand its arsenal of mass-destruction  
weapons and thus set a negative example for the rest of the world, in  
particular, wannabe atomic states.

In the process, says Daryl F. Kimball of the Arms Control Association  
(U.S.), the NSG has undermined "efforts to contain Iran's and North  
Korea's nuclear programmes, and it will make it nearly impossible to  
win support for much-needed measures to strengthen the NPT" at its  
next review conference due in 2010.

The waiver may weaken and harm the NPT itself by aiding the  
acquisition of nuclear weapons by a country not recognised by it as a  
nuclear weapons-state, which it explicitly prohibits. Effectively, it  
expands the Nuclear Club to include a member which has refused to  
sign the treaty.

Within the NSG, there was a great deal of resistance to the waiver.  
An earlier meeting of the group, on Aug. 21-22, failed to produce a  
consensus -- necessary for any decision to go through.

The resistance was led by six "like-minded" countries --Austria,  
Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and Switzerland --  
which argued that India must accept three conditions in order to  
resume nuclear trade.

These included a periodic review of compliance with India's non- 
proliferation pledges, exclusion from trade of sensitive technologies  
such as uranium enrichment and spent fuel reprocessing, and cessation  
of nuclear commerce in case India tests.

In the event, India only accepted the first condition and doggedly  
refused to go beyond reiterating its unilateral moratorium on testing.

However, on the second day of the NSG meeting, Foreign Minister  
Mukherjee made a general statement saying that India is opposed to  
nuclear proliferation, does not subscribe to an arms race, and will  
behave responsibly as a nuclear weapons-state.

"The statement was inane and dishonest because India initiated and  
has sustained a nuclear arms race in South Asia," says M.V. Ramana  
from the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in the Environment and  
Development, Banagalore. "It is really a sad commentary on the state  
of debate at the NSG if such statements actually create what was  
described by the U.S. delegate as a 'positive momentum'..."

Eventually, the "positive result" in the form of the waiver was  
achieved after Mukherjee's statement effectively split the "like- 
minded" group and led to the desertion of the Netherlands, Norway and  
Switzerland on the evening of Sep. 5.

Behind the change was crude pressure, blackmail and induced fear of  
"isolation" on account of antagonising the "emerging power" that is  
India. The topmost leaders of the U.S., India and their allies worked  
the telephone lines to mount this pressure.

Kimball said that ‘’it appears as if George Bush and his team engaged  
in some nasty threats, misinformation about positions, and  
intimidation, to wear down the core six members … and their allies.  
You have to assume the conversations among foreign ministers,  
presidents, and prime ministers didn't focus on the policy and non- 
proliferation issues, but raw politics".

"Another factor,’’ Kimball added, ‘’was the role of Germany,  
ostensibly the NSG chair. At this meeting, the Germans apparently sat  
on their thumbs and let the Americans run the show and keep asking  
for more consultations despite the remaining differences. A more  
competent and less biased chair would have provided more balance and  
would have adjourned the meeting Friday night when it was clear there  
was still disagreement on some fundamental issues..."

China briefly emerged as a supporter of the Group of Six, when it  
asked that the waiver decision not be rushed. But, say Indian media  
reports, a critically timed telephone call from Bush to Chinese  
president Hu Jintao did the trick and China quickly fell in line.

"This was a triumph of crass power politics," says Vanaik. "It is sad  
and profoundly disturbing that nobody resisted U.S. or Indian  
pressure and stood up for elementary principles in a group where even  
a single member could have blocked the waiver. India's 'victory' is  
founded on crude muscle power and cynicism, and negates rational,  
democratic decision-making based on a commitment to making the world  
a safer place."

(*IPS correspondent Praful Bidwai is a noted peace activist and co- 
founder of the Movement in India for Nuclear Disarmament (MIND),  
based in New Delhi.)

o o o

(ii)

NSG Creates a Gaping Hole in the NPT

The US-India Deal Working Group of the international disarmament  
network, ABOLITION 2000(1), deplores the decision of the 45-nation  
Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) to approve a special exemption for  
India from its nuclear trade rules.

The exemption will allow India to participate in international  
nuclear trade, but, contrary to the claims of its advocates, it will  
not bring India further into conformity with the nonproliferation  
behavior expected of the member states of the nuclear Non- 
Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Unlike 178 other countries, India has not signed the Comprehensive  
Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). It continues to produce fissile material and  
expand its nuclear arsenal. As one of only three states never to have  
signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), it has not made a legally- 
binding commitment to achieve nuclear disarmament, and it refuses to  
allow comprehensive, full-scope International Atomic Energy Agency  
(IAEA) safeguards.

The decision by these 45 states creates a dangerous distinction  
between "good" proliferators and "bad" proliferators and sends out  
misleading signals to the international community with regard to NPT  
norms. Furthermore, it was inappropriate for the member states of the  
NSG to take it upon themselves to make a decision on this matter for  
the 140-plus other members of the NPT.

A handful of countries sought to prevent this decision, but they were  
subjected to intense pressure by the US, India and other states. As  
Jayantha Dhanapala, former United Nations Under-Secretary-General  
(1998-2003) and President of the 1995 NPT Review and Extension  
Conference, said in an appeal issued via the US-India Deal Working  
Group on September 6 before the NSG's decision,

"Brutal and unconscionable pressure has been exerted on the few  
countries who opposed the US-India draft at the Nuclear Suppliers  
Group (NSG) meeting in Vienna..."

Ambassador Dhanapala appealed to these countries and to all others in  
the NSG "to remain faithful to the principles of the NPT in the face  
of nuclear weapons states interests and the commercial profit motives  
of nuclear te! chnology and materials exporters."

He said, "A gaping hole is being created in the NPT, which Israel and  
Pakistan will drive through unless the US Congress or a new US  
Administration revise the proposed deal ensuring the survival of the  
NPT beyond 2010."

We are shocked that no governments had the courage to remain faithful  
to the last, to defend the nuclear non-proliferation system, which is  
under threat from so many quarters. The NSG operates by consensus, so  
any one of these governments could have blocked the deal.

We fear that the world could live to regret the day when no  
government had the courage to block this foolish initiative of US  
President George Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The  
NSG's decision did not make the task of creating a world without  
nuclear weapons any easier. Nevertheless, the determination of the  
nuclear Abolition movement remains firm. We will not be distracted  
from our vision.

(1) ABOLITION 2000 is a network of over 2000 organizations in more  
than 90 countries world wide working for a global treaty to eliminate  
nuclear weapons. The US-India Working Group was established at  
ABOLITION 2000's Annual General Meeting held during the May 2007 NPT  
PrepCom in Vienna.

Contact:
Philip White
Coordinator, ABOLITION 2000 US-India Nuclear Deal Working Group
International Liaison Officer, Citizens' Nuclear Information Center,  
Tokyo
Office: +81-3-3357-3800

o o o

(iii)

Communiqués de presse

samedi 6 septembre 2008

Prolifération ! "Sortir du nucléaire" dénonce le soutien des  
autorités françaises à l’accord Inde/USA

Prolifération / Réunion du Groupe des fournisseurs nucléaires - Le  
Réseau "Sortir du nucléaire" dénonce le soutien des autorités  
françaises à l’accord Inde/USA

Le Réseau "Sortir du nucléaire" a écrit à MM Sarkozy et Fillon pour  
les mettre devant leurs responsabilités

Le Réseau "Sortir du nucléaire" dénonce le soutien apporté par les  
autorités françaises, lors de la réunion à Vienne les 4 et 5  
septembre 2008 du Groupe des fournisseurs nucléaires, à l’accord  
nucléaire Inde/USA. En effet, cet accord bafoue ouvertement toutes  
les règles de non-prolifération et, de fait, donne de parfaits  
prétextes à l’Iran ou tout autre pays qui tente, ouvertement ou  
secrètement, d’accéder à l’arme atomique.

Le Réseau "Sortir du nucléaire" a écrit lundi 18 août 2008 à MM  
Sarkozy (Président de la République) et Fillon (Premier ministre)  
pour les mettre devant leurs responsabilités avant la réunion  
cruciale du Groupe des fournisseurs nucléaires (ou Nuclear Suppliers  
Group, soit NSG), qui rassemble les 45 pays fournisseurs  
d’équipements nucléaires.

Lors de cette réunion, le NSG doit se prononcer sur des dérogations  
qui permettraient l’entrée en vigueur de l’accord nucléaire, dit  
"Accord 123", signé en juillet 2007 par l’Inde et les USA. Cet accord  
prévoit en particulier la vente à l’Inde de technologies et de  
matières nucléaires, et ce en contradiction totale avec les règles  
internationales de non prolifération. Il est d’ailleurs tout à fait  
incroyable que, le 1er août 2008, l’AIEA (Agence internationale de  
l’énergie atomique) ait elle-même validé, en contradiction totale  
avec sa mission de lutte contre la prolifération, des dérogations  
permettant l’entrée en vigueur de l’Accord 123.

Il est d’ailleurs tout à fait édifiant de rappeler que c’est après le  
premier essai atomique réalisé par l’Inde en 1974 que le Groupe des  
fournisseurs nucléaires s’est créé afin d’isoler les Etats non  
signataires du Traité de non prolifération (TNP), à commencer bien  
sûr… par l’Inde. L’Accord 123, qui ne se justifie pourtant pas plus  
en 2008 qu’en 1974, prévoit d’ailleurs que l’AIEA n’inspectera en  
Inde… que les installations nucléaires qui ne servent pas à  
l’élaboration d’armes atomiques.

Il est avéré que c’est pour de simples raisons mercantiles que les  
USA veulent valider l’Accord 123 et que, de même, c’est dans l’espoir  
dérisoire de voir Areva vendre du nucléaire à l’Inde que MM Sarkozy  
et Fillon soutiennent les dérogations étudiées par le NSG. Cette  
position est d’autant plus injustifiable que c’est sous prétexte de  
lutter contre la prolifération que MM Sarkozy et Fillon dénoncent le  
programme nucléaire iranien. Il n’est pas acceptable de tenir un  
double langage et d’accorder aux uns ce qui est refusé aux autres.

Lien permanent vers ce communiqué :
http://www.sortirdunucleaire.org/actualites/communiques/affiche.php? 
aff=448



_____


[4]

URGENT ATTENTION REQUIRED

September 7, 2008

  Dear All,

Today morning 20kms from Devangere, Karnataka a Church was attacked  
and burnt down.

  I had reported the following incidents to various people in the  
central government but nothing seems to be moving to sop the madness  
in Karnataka. Please act, do whatever you can to pressurise the  
central Govt to move before it also becomes a situation like Orissa.

Shabnam Hashmi

Davangere:

The Christian community especially the Pastors have been at the  
receiving end of a relentless campaign of hate and misinformation  
carried out by two Hindu fundamentalist groups, Hindu Jagran Vedike  
and Sriram Sene in Davangere. What is also important is the complete  
failure of the local police station, K.T.J. Nagar police station, and  
their superiors to maintain law and order by taking action against  
these groups and persons. Their role has been very partisan and in  
total support to these groups and persons. This support of the police  
has given the members of the Hindu Jagran Vedike and Sriram Sene the  
licence to torment, verbally and physically abuse and violently beat  
up members of the Christian community and their pastors, and to  
criminally trespass into and damage the churches there. Sadly even  
the district administration, it appears, is also supporting these  
groups and persons. All this in the name of supposed false conversions.

There have been about 50 incidents of violence against the community  
here. Swamis and others frm these two groups have held dharnas  
outside the churches, prevented Christians from going in, disupted  
prayer services, beaten up members of the congregation and the  
Pastors, stoned churches, etc. All this while the police provides  
cover and support to the miscreants. The police has gone to the  
extent to file several false cases against the Pastors due to which  
they are forced to run from court to court for bail. Further in a  
"Police Notice" dated 30.08.2008 issued by Police Sub-Inspector,  
K.T.J. Nagar Police Station it has directed that all the Churches  
should be immediately shut down since they apparently did not have  
requisite documents. The Tahsildar has issued notices to them under  
Section 311 CrPC as well.

Christian institutions across the state and country were closed for a  
day on 29th August as a mark of protest against the violation of  
human rights of the marginalized communities in Orissa.

The Minister for Primary and Secondary Education, Government of  
Karnataka immediately condemned this act and isued the following  
statement that was reported in the front page of The Hindu, 30th Aug  
2008 where he had said: "It is wrong to close schools without getting  
permission from the educational authorities concerned.  I have  
directed the Deputy Directors of Public Instruction to initiate  
action against the protesting Catholic Schools in their jurisdiction  
over the unauthorized holiday granted by them on Friday.  The DDPIs  
would serve notices to them seeking an explanation.  As the Education  
Minister, I am concerned over the violation of norms in this regard.   
It is the duty of these schools to inform the Government and also  
take its permission to declare holiday as most of these schools are  
either receiving government grants or have obtained clearances from  
the Government to run their institutions".

Some  educational institutions in Mangalore, Davangere and Shimoga,  
were attacked on 30th August, and Priests and Nuns were harassed in a  
violent and forcible manner by the Hindu right wing groups.


______


[5]


The Hindu
September 07, 2008

CRACKING DOWN ON ‘VIOLATIONS OF MORAL CODE’ IN DAKSHINA KANNADA

by Sudipto Mondal

In most cases, young men and women have been targeted

— file Photo: K.R. Deepak

Watched: Young people such as these have become victims of the  
vigorously enforced ‘moral code’ in Dakshina Kannada.

MANGALORE: Self-appointed vigilante groups are cracking down on those  
“violating the moral code” in Dakshina Kannada district. Records with  
the district police that The Hindu had access to show that since the  
third week of July there have been 10 instances of these groups  
punishing individuals whom they perceived as having violated the  
moral code.

Hindutva organisations such as the Bajrang Dal, a Christian  
organisation Social Action Committee, as well as certain individuals  
who were formerly with the Karnataka Forum for Dignity (KFD), have  
been involved in these incidents.

In most of the incidents the groups have targeted young men and women  
from different communities who were interacting with each other. In  
one case, a young woman was attacked because she went to the house of  
a young woman from a different community.

The Bajrang Dal has claimed responsibility for seven of these  
incidents. , The district head of the organisation, Sudarshan  
Moodabidri, claimed that the outfit had “solved” over 200 cases in  
the last two months where Hindus were “caught” committing the  
“immoral” act of interacting with members of other communities.

Mr. Moodabidri said, “Sometimes it becomes necessary to use force.  
Fear of such action should deter such misadventures. Girls reform  
themselves once they are thrashed and humiliated in public, but boys  
are tougher to control.”

The Social Action Committee carried out a “joint operation” with  
Bajrang Dal activists in the city in one instance. “We will carry out  
more such strikes,” its president Deepak D’Mello told The Hindu.

Former activists of the KFD have been linked to two such cases. The  
organisation’s president Abdul Aziz said that the acts were committed  
by delinquent members and distanced KFD from the issue. He confirmed  
that the organisation was against inter-community relationships but  
was averse to using force.

The latest incident occurred on September 2 at Vittla in Bantwal  
taluk where activists of the Bajrang Dal assaulted a couple,  
Roopashree and Vikhar Ahmed, and paraded them in public. The same  
afternoon, over 60 km away in Puttur taluk, Bajrang Dal activists  
stormed the house of Ayesha as her friend Divya was visiting her.

On September 1, Sugandhi and her three friends, Raghav, Anil and  
Rasheed, were assaulted by Bajrang Dal activists when they were at a  
hotel in the heart of Mangalore city. On August 24, Deepa and her  
fiancé Abdul Waheed were dragged out of a bus at a junction in the  
city and assaulted by Bajrang Dal activists.

On the afternoon of August 23, Bajrang Dal activists assaulted and  
abused classmates Julia, Robert, Waheed, Abdul and Sunil because they  
were found laughing and talking loudly in a public place.

On August 22, activists of the Bajrang Dal and the Social Action  
Committee carried out the “joint operation” against Mohammed and his  
classmate Catherine. On August 18, activists claiming to be from the  
KFD assaulted Dinesh and his friend Afshan at a remote village 25 km  
from the city. They were assaulted because Dinesh had brought  
medicines for Afshan who was suffering from malaria.

On August 8, activists of the Bajrang Dal assaulted Syed, Zulfikar  
and Ameen with soda bottles and hooks in a bus in the heart of the  
city because they had carried school bags belonging to a group of  
Hindu girls.

On July 27, activists claiming to be from the KFD attacked Govind, an  
autorickshaw driver at a village over 25 km from Mangalore because he  
often ferried his neighbours Uzma and Shaheen in his auto. On July  
16, Rehman was heard talking and laughing loudly at a public place  
with his two friends Uma and Bhavya. They were assaulted and abused  
by Bajrang Dal activists.

Superintendent of Police N. Sateesh Kumar said, “This is a social  
issue. Resistance to such divisive forces should come from within the  
community. In cases where there have been assaults we have taken the  
necessary action.”

(Names of the victims have been changed to protect their identity)


______


[6]


The Observer,
August 24 2008

STEAMY TV IN INDIA TESTS THE LIMITS OF SEX TABOOS
Channels threatened with a ban after a raunchy reality TV hit sparks  
a debate on censorship

by Gethin Chamberlain in Delhi

In a country where public discussion of sex remains taboo, but where  
a wet sari scene is regarded as an essential part of a Bollywood  
movie, the job of the censor was never going to be an easy one.

But India's moral guardians appear to have lost patience with three  
of the country's most popular television channels, accusing them of  
violating strict broadcasting guidelines and prompting a national  
debate over censorship and how far the country is prepared to let  
standards change.

The networks' crimes were diverse; MTV India was hit with what is  
known as a 'show cause' notice for allegedly denigrating women in its  
reality show Splitsvilla, while news channel IBN-7 was accused of  
'encouraging superstition' by reporting that the gods Lord Ram and  
Hanuman had appeared in a ball of fire in Malaysia. Meanwhile,  
Headlines Today, another news channel, raised hackles for celebrating  
the 62nd anniversary of the invention of the bikini in a report  
branded 'objectionable and indecent'.

All three have been given 15 days by the government's Information and  
Broadcasting Ministry to justify their actions. If their explanations  
are not accepted, they could be taken off the air or forced to run  
grovelling apologies on screen. Last year a fashion channel was  
temporarily closed down after it was judged to have stepped over the  
line.

Opponents of censorship are bewildered by the arbitrary nature of the  
bans. Praful Bidwai, a political commentator and human rights  
activist, said the Indian state was naturally prone to censorship.  
'Their motto is, if in doubt, ban it,' he said. 'It is outrageous in  
some respects, but the bureaucracy is so bloody-minded. There is a  
lot of prudery and hypocrisy in this society. Until a few years ago  
even a kiss was banned in Indian films, and there was a commission of  
inquiry to decide whether kissing was part of Indian culture.'

India has a contradictory attitude to sex and religion. Bollywood is  
all gyrating hips and seductive dances, with the wet sari scenes that  
leave very little to the imagination a must for many directors;  
pictures of scantily clad women and smouldering men adorn the pages  
of the daily papers. At the same time, religious imagery is  
ubiquitous and no car on India's roads is complete without a handful  
of icons on the dashboard.

Yet when television channels showed footage of the actor Richard Gere  
kissing Bollywood and reality TV star Shilpa Shetty in public last  
year, they were accused of committing an obscene act in public and  
effigies of the pair were burnt in the streets.

The latest clampdown comes at a time when reality TV shows have never  
been more popular in India. The Indian version of Big Brother - Bigg  
Boss - is drawing huge audiences. And despite - or maybe because of -  
India's reticence on the subject of sex, there is no question that  
the shows are deliberately pushing the boundaries. MTV's Splitsvilla  
show was certainly never going to win any prizes for good taste. The  
publicity shot for the show features two bare-chested hunks, bound in  
thick ropes and surrounded by a gaggle of nubile young women in  
various states of undress. One appears to be brandishing a riding crop.

Every week the women do battle for the attentions of the men,  
strategically deploying whatever assets nature has bestowed on them  
as they seek to gain the upper hand, whether that means belly dancing  
or giving the men a rub down in the hot tub. 'Splitsvilla - where  
love is war,' the slogan says, but it is the government that has now  
declared war on the show.

TV critic and media commentator Shailaja Bajpai said the notices  
issued to the channels were laughable. 'They think you can't have a  
woman on air looking like she's thinking about sex or might enjoy  
it,' she said. 'But the contradictions are something no one can  
reconcile.'

She said the problem was exacerbated by the lack of an independent  
regulator. 'Everyone is very against censorship but we don't have an  
independent body to adjudicate,' she said.

She suggested that the television channels were complicit in the  
current set-up and that they and the government favoured the status  
quo. 'You get the ministry coming out with these completely absurd  
judgments, banning them for a month and making them stand in the  
corner. But a non-regulated environment suits the channels too.'

Not everyone is upset by the ruling, though. Even Bidwai acknowledged  
that the television channels were their own worst enemies. 'Some of  
these channels are not doing a good job of reporting,' he said. 'When  
it comes to exaggerating the lurid aspects of a story, they can  
border on the pornographic.'

______


[7]

Book Review

NATURE OF THREAT TO INDIAN DEMOCRACY

by Ram Puniyani


(Book under review, Fascism and Communalism: Considerations-Sandeep  
Pendse, Center for Education and Documentation, Mumbai and Bangalore,  
cedbom at doccentre.com), pages-167, Rs. 240)


Those concerned about the rights of the weaker sections of society,  
those wanting to preserve the democratic space for the struggles of  
the exploited sections of society have been burning midnight oil to  
understand the turn of events from the decade of 1980s. How come the  
language of rights has been hijacked to the one of identity, how come  
the social movements have been pushed back and religious identity is  
ruling the roost? Yes, one is talking of the phenomenon of rise of  
RSS combine in the social space, the phenomenon, which started coming  
up by using Ram Temple issue and is currently riding on the chariot  
of Amarnath shrine and Ram Sethu! There have been multiple  
contributions trying to understand this RSS combine, what is it, a  
cultural phenomenon, a religious phenomenon or a political one. And  
if political, what type of politics does it represent. The book under  
review is one of this genre, which has been thoroughly researched and  
presented with clinical precision. Author's labor, depth of  
understanding on the issue is remarkable, despite the fact that he  
does leave out some of the major aspect of the phenomenon unaddressed.

What does the book argue? It takes the RSS combine head on and  
analyses it as a communal outfit, which had roots of Fascism and now  
its fascist fangs are trying to stifle the liberal space, and is  
manipulating the social culture in a retrograde manner to create a  
modern society with medieval values and social relations. The efforts  
of this combine has resulted in a social milieu in which, though the  
"Narendra Modi, Praveen Togadia brand of communalism may be deniable  
and unpopular but a soft Hindutva has become prevalent in the  
country. This soft Hindutva could be dangerous as it always harbored  
the possibility of ultimately being soft towards hard communalism  
too…" (P.1) One notices that the infiltration of RSS progeny in  
practically all areas of society and state structure has created a  
social common sense and orientation which already has the deeper  
elements of Hindu Nation. The orthodox, conservative social norms  
have got broad acceptability and this forms the base of the Right  
Wing Hindutva politics. By eighties the rise of newer middle classes  
and the accompanying values, created the ground for Rath yatra which  
was to be the nodal point for the rise of BJP from an obscure party  
to the major contender of political power in the times to come.

Advani led demolition of Babri mosque, as per him "a symbol of shame  
for Hindus", was followed by massive violence against Muslims and  
further culminated in the first major blasts in Mumbai. This also  
paved the way for BJP's coming to power a few years later. It put  
forward the concept of cultural nationalism, a form of elite Hindu  
nationalism, by passing the democratic Indian Nationalism, a product  
of freedom movement. This Hindu nationalism is a form of ethno-  
centric nationality based on mythical homogeneity, tilting towards  
race based nationalism. In fascism the divide is "…between republican  
democracy and narrow definitions of nationality and nationalism. Take  
Savarkar's attempt to define Hindu in terms of Pitrabhumi  
(fatherland) and punyabhumi, (holy land). The struggle is both to  
include and exclude. The ultimate identity for him is on the basis of  
'bonds of blood'." (p13) the idea is to include every one except  
Muslims and Christians, made sharply clear by RSS ideologue M.S.  
Golwalkar.

The demonization module developed by RSS and assisted globally by US  
imperialism is so widespread that today terrorism is supposed to be  
synonymous with Muslims and after every bomb blast many of them are  
picked up by police indiscriminately and tortured to no end. The  
'success' of RSS type politics can be gauzed by the fact that in the  
Hindu Rashtra of Gujarat, Muslims have been relegated to the status  
of second class citizens. This terrorism, whatever be its causes, has  
come as a great boon to the agenda of RSS as by now every act of  
terror, irrespective of the culprit, polarizes the community along  
religious lines. Pendse is on the dot when he points out that "RSS…  
saw itself as an ideological organization. Its aim always and quiet  
openly was the total reconstruction of the Indian society and  
creation of a new man. This aim was to be achieved in line with a  
Hindu ideal and a Hindu vision so that ultimately a Hindu nation  
should be created. This should not be confused with the aim of Hindu  
theocracy or a medieval regime based on Brahminical rituals. It is a  
dream akin to fascist vision of reconstruction of society. In all its  
aspects. The governmental power of BJP was for the RSS merely an  
instrument towards this aim."

RSS combine achieves it 'brilliantly' by a division of labor. RSS  
does the core planning, BJP is its political chessboard, VHP  
expresses religiosity in its blunt form and Bajrang dal acts as storm  
troopers. Pendse does well to include the life and style of party  
manager Pramod Mhajan, who was killed by his own brother, for reasons  
which could never be known, contrasting his life with the spartan  
life of a swayamsevak (RSS volunteer). How this political formation  
can fit different people and use them for its political agenda  
becomes clear from this.

The case of Gujarat, which was groomed as the ideal Hindu state, the  
first Hindu Rashtra, where the middle class, money order economy is  
paramount, the incident of Godhra while publicized as a pre planned  
attack by "Muslims" reminds one of the Reichstag fire, the date being  
the same, 27th Feb, may be just coincidental but it does indicates  
the methods of fascist politics, irrespective of the country where  
they come up.

Pendse does a brilliant job in bringing out the similarities and  
differences between the Delhi massacre of Sikhs in 1984 and the anti  
Muslim pogrom conducted by RSS combine in Gujarat. The argument  
proffered by RSS Combine and some others that Congress and BJP are  
two sides of the same coin, as Congress also massacred Sikhs, is well  
answered by him. He correctly points out that in case of anti Sikh  
pogrom, leaders of the government or the party did not justify the  
call for continuation of violence, administration did not participate  
in that, the government was surely guilty of confusion and inaction  
for two full days but Congress did not term the Sikh community as  
enemy community, and Congress did not initiate or continue any covert  
and overt communal campaign against this community.

While author tries to examine whether RSS combine is a Hindu communal  
organization or a fascist one, he totally ignores and bypasses the  
parameter of fundamentalism, which must be considered while trying to  
understand this organization. As a matter of fact there are various  
serious scholars like Achin Vanaik who characterize RSS combine more  
as a fundamentalist organization. This omission in otherwise sharply  
formulated arguments in the book is very jarring. He is precise in  
pointing out that its ideology is that of Hindu primacy and  
supremacy, its central credo is rejection of the idea of equality of  
all communities, pluralism and multiculturalism. It is reactionary  
because it rejects the class identity, sticking only to religious  
identity. Minority communalism is reactive and defensive and majority  
communalism is aggressive and has the traits of fascism. This is what  
Nehru pointed out while saying that while both communalisms are  
dangerous, the one of majority is more dangerous as it can manifest  
as nationalism and abolish democracy while minority communalism at  
worst can sound separatist. He harps more on ethnicity and imagined  
nationalism; how come RSS combine is fascist while harping mostly on  
religious identity! More is needed to elaborate his formulation on this.

Pendse's meticulous analysis fails to deal with gender and caste  
issues involved in the politics of Hindu right. He misspells Rashtra  
Sevika Samiti as Rashtriya Sevika samiti. It is symbolic. While men  
are nation themselves, women are mere servants of this Hindu nation.  
He should have explained why the word swayam is missing in women's  
organization? Of course he makes a correct point that since male  
swayamsevaks were expected to remain celibates, to have women amongst  
their midst would have distracted them from the 'noble goals' for  
which they were being groomed. As such the major cause of RSS, Muslim  
League type of formations coming up during freedom movement was that  
the upholders of feudal values of caste (dalits being the slaves tied  
to land) and gender inequality (women being property of men) were  
coming under threat due to the transformation of caste and gender  
relations which were integral part of the freedom movement. This does  
require a serious look in Indian context. If we see the rise of the  
Hindu right is preceded by the ascendance of dalits and women into  
the social space during the first three decades of the republic. The  
articulation of women's movement during the decade of seventies was  
one of the triggers for elite males to tilt towards this political  
tendency. The other factor being the dalits coming to occupy some  
positions in society. The major violence unleashed against Muslims  
and Christians by RSS combine was preceded by its anti dalit attacks  
in 1980 and against OBC in 1986, both mainly in Gujarat. It is the  
change of strategy which led it to use these dalits as their foot  
soldiers and attack the minorities, killing two (or more) birds with  
a single stone. Pendse, despite this limitation in his analysis, is  
at his brilliant best while elaborating the fascist traits of RSS. It  
is worth having a serious look at this section by all those who  
should make the strategies to promote human rights and strengthen  
democracy.

Secularism, its practice in India, had always been wrought with  
serious flaws, giving the ground to Advani's ilk to coin and  
popularize the word, pseudo secularism. As Nehru had correctly  
pointed out that his greatest problem is to walk-on the path of  
secular values, constitution's values, in a society in the grip of  
religion.  "The state in India did not remain resolutely separate and  
distant from religion. It only tried to remain 'neutral' in the sense  
of not playing any favorites and actually doting on all  
religions." (p.93) Only thing which can be added to this correct  
diagnosis is that since the society was mainly dominated by Hindu  
practices and the state machinery started getting infiltrated by  
communal elements, the Hindu practices started getting the official  
status, breaking coconut at inaugurations, pictures of Hindu deities  
in police stations and other official places and organization of  
Dashra pujas and Satyanaryan pujas in the public organizations became  
a norm at most of the places.

Author's observation that secularists are reactive and thus limit  
themselves, though correct does not give a total picture. Yes, they  
have failed to project that secularism is a desirable total  
alternative to the needs of the nation. What also needs to be added  
is that with the decline of Socialist states, decline of workers  
movement, and lack of coordination between different social  
movements, the projection and carrying out of struggle to preserve  
secular values has become difficult. There is hardly a broad  
realization about the threats of fascist communal politics, till  
quiet late. The secular elements have been protesting in the  
aftermath of the communal violence and then going to slumber as if  
the problem is over. The systematic outlining of the tasks for  
secular values in contemporary context, their necessity for the very  
preservation of human rights has not been realized. The result is  
that social movements working in different arenas of political life  
are focusing in their own area of specialization and the core aspect  
of preservation of democracy, secularism has been taken up only by a  
handful of activists, whose efforts are not more then a drop in the  
ocean. Spreading awareness about the myths based on history and  
contemporary issues does have crucial importance, all the same this  
is just the beginning of the work in this direction and miles more  
remain to be covered.

The questions raised in the book require broader debate and the need  
to take on the threats to our democracy is much more urgent than  
apparent from the efforts of the human rights activists. Whole  
progressive movement, has to gear up and ensure that warding off of  
the threat of communal fascism has to be the integral and core part  
of all the social movements, be they of the one's of dalits, workers,  
women, adivasis or religious minorities. The book not only  
meticulously outlines the threat this identity based politics poses  
but also raises questions; whose answers do have the potential of  
building a proper secular movement. Needless to say the human rights  
movements, democratic movement needs to engage with the issues raised  
in the book which surely is a result of painstaking work and  
qualifies as a significant contribution on the issue.

______


[8]

Times of India
25 August 2008

Editorial

KNOT EASY

When the Supreme Court recently turned down the divorce appeal of  
Narinder Kumar Verma — who has been separated from his wife for 16  
years — it made headlines. We would imagine that if a marriage had  
broken down, and the couple had stayed apart for more than a decade,  
getting a divorce shouldn't be difficult. However, the complex  
divorce laws in this country ensure that getting a divorce — when it  
is not mutually consensual — can be a knotty affair.

The Supreme Court delivered its verdict in accordance with the  
provisions of existing laws. It is not for us to comment on the  
merits of the case and the ruling. However, a few gratuitous comments  
that the judges made while passing the verdict — that Verma would  
have to live with a dead marriage if it was the will of God — are  
unwelcome. This is not the first time that judges adjudicating  
divorce proceedings in India have made value-laden observations.  
There have been cases in the past where judges have made  
sanctimonious comments about how couples must try to work out their  
differences and stay together. They have delivered sermons on the  
sanctity of marriage as an institution and expressed dismay at the  
erosion of values in Indian society. While the judges are entitled to  
their personal opinions on marriage and divorce, they must observe  
restraint in expressing them.

This particular case brings to the fore, once again, the issue of  
divorce in our society. There is no denying that divorce is more  
commonplace in contemporary Indian society than it ever was before.  
As Indians interact more with global ideas and markets, and with an  
increasing number of women becoming economically independent, there  
are complex social transformations taking place in society. There are  
some happy and some not-so-happy outcomes of this churn. Increasing  
instances of divorce must be seen in this context, not through any  
prism of morality alone.

There are different laws governing divorce for different religious  
groups, apart from the civil law in India. Some of the provisions of  
these laws have long passed their sell-by dates. More than half a  
century old, they are in urgent need of revision in keeping with  
changed social realities. For starters, it would help if our  
lawmakers simplified the various laws, brought about a semblance of  
uniformity and legislated changes that would make getting a divorce  
less cumbersome. In the end, it must be the couple alone that should  
take a call on whether or not to part ways. The government and courts  
must be no more than facilitators easing the way for the couple to  
take a decision.


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