SACW | Sept. 11, 2008 / Nepal Peace / Pakistan Justice / Kashmir - Investigate violations by Security Forces
Harsh Kapoor
aiindex at gmail.com
Thu Sep 11 06:31:47 CDT 2008
South Asia Citizens Wire | Sept 11, 2008 | Dispatch No. 2565 - Year
11 running
[1] Nepal: Remarkable peace (Ian Martin)
[2] Pakistan:
(i) For justice & democracy (I. A. Rehman)
(ii) People of Bangladeshi Descent Struggling To Survive (Jan
Khaskheli)
[3] India Administered Kashmir:
(i) Press Release: Calling for an Investigation into Security Forces
Killing and Injuring Civilians in India-Administered Kashmir (,
Angana Chatterji )
(ii) Kashmir Press Release by Janahastakshep, PUCL and PUDR
[4] Condemnation of NSG Waiver to India from its nuclear trade rules
(CNDP press Release)
[5] India: Don't spook them (A G Noorani)
[6] Child malnutrition is an old stain on a new India (Henry Chu)
[7] India: Hindutva Goons Vandalize Paintings exhibition in Delhi
[8] Announcements:
(i) Protest Rally of 50 years of AFSPA (New Delhi, 11 September 2008)
(ii) Drik Anniversary and seminar 'Looking Back,' (Dhaka, 11
September 2008 )
(iii) Conference Experience of Hate and Cultures of Violence(New
Delhi, 11-12 September 2008)
______
[1]
Nepali Times
5-11 September 2008
REMARKABLE PEACE
Nepalis mustn't be made to wait for a new constitution to see real
improvement in their lives
by Ian Martin
Nepal's unique peace process has rarely gained outside attention
since the guns fell silent two years ago. Yet, amid too many
continuing conflicts and failing peace processes around the world, a
success story deserves to be recognised and supported.
I came to Nepal in mid-2005, when human rights violations committed
by both sides in the armed conflict, together with Gyanendra's
crackdown on democratic rights as he seized absolute power, led the
international community to support a monitoring presence from the
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
With no end in sight to a war with thousands of civilian victims, and
democracy far off on the horizon, nobody could have foreseen how
Nepal's people would express their demand for peace and change.
The turning point was the April 2006 people's movement, when hundreds
of thousands took to the streets for 19 successive days. The king was
compelled to hand power back to the political parties, while a peace
agreement emerged that ended the conflict, bringing the Maoists into
an interim parliament and government, and promising elections to a
Constituent Assembly.
The people's movement also took the lid off social pressures often
disregarded by Nepal's elites. Although established as a unitary
Hindu kingdom, with politics directed from the Himalayan foothills,
today around half the population live in the fertile southern plains
and more than one third are from over 50 indigenous, largely non-
Hindu communities. Others are also historically marginalised from the
social and political life of the nation, notably the Dalits.
For these groups, the restoration of democracy was a step toward
social transformation, enabling them to participate more equally in
the life of the country. Along with the success of socially diverse
candidates fielded by the Maoists, the Constituent Assembly that was
elected in April represents an unprecedented array of marginalised
groups.
Women, too, had been almost invisible in political life?and, indeed,
in the peace process. Now nearly one third of the Constituent
Assembly's members are women?the highest proportion in South Asia and
fourteenth place in the world for nationally elected bodies.
The challenges facing Prime Minister Dahal, the coalition government
and the Constituent Assembly, are immense and trust is fragile. The
NC, for example, has chosen to remain in opposition, dubious of the
Maoists' commitment to democratic politics.
Nowhere in the world has the transformation of an armed insurgent
group into a peaceful political movement been so quick or easy.
The Maoists enter the government still with their own army?confined
to cantonments, with their weapons stored under UN monitoring?and a
YCL that has persistently acted outside the law. Commitments to
resolve the future of the Maoist combatants, along with what the
peace agreements call the 'democratisation' of the state army, must
now be implemented.
But the biggest challenges go to the roots of the insurgency:
poverty, injustice, and discrimination. One cost of the conflict has
been the retreat of local governance and arrested development in a
desperately poor country.
Expectations are high among diverse groups for greater control of
their lives and resources. But what federalism will mean in practice,
taking account of the geographic and ethnic peculiarities of Nepal,
remains elusive and potentially divisive. Reaching a national
consensus will be a formidable task for the Constituent Assembly, and
meanwhile the Nepali people cannot be expected to wait patiently
until a new constitution is drafted to see real improvement in their
daily lives.
But there is reason to be hopeful. Nepal's peace process has been
truly indigenous: it has not been mediated or managed by any external
party. The UN has encouraged and facilitated the process?through good
offices during the last years of the conflict, human rights
monitoring, assistance to the election, and monitoring arms and
armies during the transition.
The Maoist and non-Maoist parties have asked the UN to maintain a
political presence while the issue of the former combatants is
resolved, and we stand ready to support peace-building, recovery and
long-term development. But the world, too, must be generous and
steady in assisting Nepal to sustain the still fragile success of a
remarkable peace process.
Project Syndicate
Ian Martin is the United Nations Secretary-General's Special
Representative in Nepal.
______
[2]
Dawn
11 September 2008
FOR JUSTICE & DEMOCRACY
by I. A. Rehman
THE new establishment’s decision not to restore some of the sidelined
judges has brought smiles to some faces and disappointment to many more.
Both reactions are bad for democracy’s fresh experiment. If anybody
is celebrating his success in getting the better of some judges-under-
restraint and dividing the lawyers he is perhaps unable to comprehend
the consequences of relying on chicanery. If lawyers, civil society
activists and individual citizens are already feeling frustrated, the
process of democratisation could be arrested.
One hopes there is still time to respect the demands of democracy,
the rule of law and fair play and restore all the judges dropped on
Nov 3, 2007.
It is possible to argue that the leaders of the lawyers’ movement and
the political factions trying to run ahead of them are not entirely
blameless. They could not have believed that the mass support
mobilised by them would be strong enough to bring the regime to its
knees. Perhaps they could not or did not have the time to decide
whether their agitation was in the nature of a trade union strike or
a political movement for change.
If the former was the case the risk in stretching the struggle beyond
the endurance of the judges and lawyers should not have been ignored.
In such struggles it is crucial to assess when the agitation should
be wound up and inflexibility replaced with pragmatism. If the
agitation fell in the second category then the strategy recommended
for long-term political movements should have been adopted — and in
this there is room neither for short-period ultimatums nor for
promising success within days.
But the independence of the judiciary is not a matter that concerns
lawyers alone; it touches on some fundamental requisites of a
democratic state. The foremost argument in support of restoration of
the judges is the absolute need to undo the effects of the extra-
constitutional proclamation of Nov 3, 2007. The lawyers’ demands and
constitutional propriety apart, this was a part of the people’s
verdict on Feb 18 as the electorate rejected not only Gen Musharraf’s
front men but also all that he had done to extend his reign.
It is unfair to say that the people did not vote for the judiciary’s
independence, because among the factors contributing to their
alienation from the Musharraf regime, the sack of the judiciary
figured at the top.
The argument that the proclamation of Nov 3 and actions taken
thereunder were validated by a de facto judicial authority is
manifestly untenable. The plea for the restoration of judges is at a
par with the consensus-backed resolve to revive the 1973
Constitution. The latter demand has never been rejected on the ground
that the arbitrary changes in it have been upheld by one set of
judges after another. The reason is that in a democratic dispensation
the people have the right to lay down the basic law that the
judiciary is only authorised to interpret.
Also fruitless are references to the judiciary’s past sins and its
subservience to dictators. The argument that the judiciary’s past
stands in the way of doing justice to victims of autocracy fails on
three counts. First, the judges are being punished for breaking from
an ugly tradition and not for upholding it. Secondly, the way to
prevent the judiciary from sinning is to respect its independence.
Thirdly, making the restoration of judges subject to the whims of the
executive will amount to making them subservient to the latter.
That the changes effected in the judiciary after Nov 3, though
lacking in constitutional sanction, pose a problem is not disputed.
But the impossibility of finding a way out has not been demonstrated.
The point that actions of extra-constitutional regimes cannot be
selectively addressed is valid. But this view only reinforces the
case for reviewing all arbitrary legislation since 1958 to date along
with the revival of the 1973 Constitution.
It is essential that the government pays serious attention to the
consequences of its refusal to restore all the judges. The people
believe that the moral high ground is occupied by the judges who only
did what had been expected of them since 1954. Not restoring some of
them will cause deep fissures in the judiciary — there will be judges
who were retained by Musharraf, judges appointed after Nov 3, judges
chosen to rejoin the Bench, and judges marked out for ditching.
Differences of opinion on points of law make a judiciary strong but
one cannot say the same about it if many of the judges consider
themselves as carrying a heavy moral handicap.
Also, it is impossible to justify the exclusion of judges from the
pledge to heal wounds. The judges issue has become a big sore. A
large number of people have made significant sacrifices for the cause
of the judiciary’s independence. Their feelings of betrayal will
cause dangerous tensions in democratic lobbies.
The incipient cold war between the main erstwhile coalition partners
is developing into a confrontation that could consume all their
energies. The exigencies of power politics will distract attention
from the all-important task of democratic consolidation. And this at
a time when the multi-dimensional crisis of the state demands the
greatest possible harmony among all political actors.
Moreover, the frustration that is likely to be caused to lawyers in
particular and civil society in general, should not be disregarded.
Theirs has been an exceptionally healthy movement. Its cause ranks
higher and nobler than the stature and interest of the principal
players. It roused a sizeable segment of civil society. As a non-
violent, non-communal and pluralist movement it has set standards for
public interest agitation and that are worthy of emulation. It has
demonstrated possibilities of forging unity among the federating
units through common struggles. Above all, this movement has helped
the people rediscover their potential as agents of change.
The message that is being sent to the people is that whatever the
nature of the regime they are not going to be allowed to contribute
to governance, to the dispensation of justice or the formulation of
policies that will affect them and the generations to come. This will
increase apathy among some of the activists and push others into
extremist camps. Eventually public discourse will peter out into a
babble over trivialities and the people’s democratic instincts will
shrivel into nothingness.
Dynamic civil society movements provide healthy blood to all human
collectives. A government that deliberately ignores this principle
can have no claim to being considered democratic or modern. Or even
civil.
o o o
(ii)
The News, 6 September 2008
PEOPLE OF BANGLADESHI DESCENT STRUGGLING TO SURVIVE
by Jan Khaskheli
9/6/2008
Karachi
Well off families opt for hiring of cooks who are of a Bangladeshi
descent as they are famous for maintaining the quality while
preparing exclusive and scrumptious delicacies.
Giving a brief history of this tradition, the activists reveal that
Hindu Pundits long ago prepared a technique through research by
adopting traditional methods of cooking food while giving special
attention to health safety and required nutrition.
The Muslims of Bengal followed the same method and prepared even more
delicious food in accordance with health and safety, reveal activists
working for communities comprising people of Bangladeshi descent.
Therefore, the parliamentarians, businessmen, landlords and other
well-to-do families hire people of Bangladeshi descent at their
residences in the city and their villages as cooks and chefs, who
prepare food according to the body’s requirement.
However, speaking about the living conditions of the community,
activists reveal that the people of Bangladeshi descent do not enjoy
political rights in Pakistan. A fact which can be gauged from their
long term work experiences in the same places. Activists claim that
the people of Bangladeshi descent are fully aware that if they commit
a crime or are found guilty in any such wrongdoing they will be
punished and nobody would come for their rescue in this country.
Mohammed Hussain Shaikh, a social activist struggling for protecting
the rights of the community, explains, “ The endless fear created by
the government organisations in the name of registering ‘aliens’ has
forced most people of Bengali descent residing here to become united.”
According to him the government looks at all the people of
Bangladeshi descent in the same light despite the fact that several
families have been here long before the separation of East Pakistan.
“My family had migrated to Karachi in the search of livelihood in
1965 when both the East and West Pakistan were combined. I was born
in 1969 and raised here in Moosa Colony, Liaquatabad Town,” expressed
Shaikh.
Quoting the speech of the late Prime Minister, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto,
Shaikh commented that Bhutto announced an official pardon for Bengali
speaking people and stated that those who want to stay should be
provided a citizenship equally while those who want to migrate should
be allowed to do so officially, there will be no restrictions for the
Bengali-speaking people living here as they are innocent and our
brethren.”
“Despite this we are being humiliated at our workplaces, homes and
streets and being treated like aliens, behaviour which must be
condemned”, he reacted.
He said when a male is arrested by a certain law enforcement agency
his family goes through a traumatic experience. Women are forced to
beg and children sometimes take shelter in criminal activities to
meet the domestic requirements.
“We believe that we are Pakistanis now. We celebrate the national and
religious days with the similar spirit. Then why is this ill
treatment being meted out to us? Why doesn’t the government recognise
us and issue a permanent citizenship. What more do we need to do, to
prove that we are Pakistanis?” he lamented.
Shaikh added that it seems as if the National Aliens Registration
Authority (Nara) and Bangladesh Cell have been set up to keep the
people of Bengali descent under pressure, depriving poor workers of
their wages, arresting our youth on their way home and releasing them
after acquiring bribe money.
More than 80 per cent of the community people depend on fishing. The
men go to open sea while women peel shrimps at the shed in the
Machhar Colony, while other Bengali people work for garment factories.
The activists complain that the local fishermen do not recognise the
community as their own despite the fact that they have been
associated with fishing for generations.
Hussain Shaikh claims that there are three million people of
Bangladeshi descent living in different areas of the city, including
Machhar Colony, Orangi Town, Noorani Basti of Korangi, Burmy Colony,
Bilal Colony Landhi, Moosa Colony, Mujahid Colony, Ziaul Haq Colony,
Lasi Goth, Ali Akbar Shah Goth, Ibrahim Hyderi, Ali Goth, Jumma Goth
and Abbasi Nagar.
The Pakistanis of Bangladeshi descent speak the same language with
different dialects. For instance, he said people called Burmese here
are not from Burma, but due to their dissimilar dialect they are
known as Burmese.
However, Shaikh explained that they are fighting the war of survival
here, as everybody feels insecure. Therefore, the community is unable
to continue their ancestral traditions. Long ago our elders used to
sing Bengali wedding songs that have almost disappeared now. The
community, Shaikh explained has adopted a new culture.
Speaking about their ideologies and beliefs, activists explain that
the people of Bangladeshi descent use their own intelligence instead
of following instructions blindly. The members of the same family
might not necessarily have the same opinion on any given matter.
Their inability to follow instructions and using their own creativity
is in their blood, they justified.
The community arranges marriages of their members at an early age,
which some times causes separations within a few years.
After an engagement the community spends two-three months in
celebrating the wedding. They bring the bride to the groom’s house
where a religious leader solemnises a Nikah in the presence of family
friends and relatives of both the sides. Subsequently, the community
artistes perform Indian, Pakistani and Bangladesh films’ songs,
portraying the culture of three neighbouring countries.
______
[3] India-Administered Kashmir
(i)
URGENT/Calling for an Investigation into Security Forces Killing and
Injuring Civilians in India-Administered Kashmir
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE/September 11, 2008
To: The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Killings, Summary or Arbitrary
Executions, Dr. Philip Alston
C/o OHCHR-UNOG, 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
From: Dr. Angana Chatterji
Associate Professor, Anthropology, California Institute of Integral
Studies, San Francisco, United States
Office: 001-415.575.6119, Mobile: 001-415.640.4013, E-mail:
achatterji at ciis.edu
Letter of Appeal Re. Cases of Security Forces Killing and Injuring
Civilians
The following dossier was submitted to the Office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Special Rapporteur on
Extrajudicial Killings, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, requesting
an investigation into the matter.
This dossier documents a list of 51/52 civilians reportedly killed by
Indian military and paramilitary forces; and a list of reported
attacks on medical facilities, personnel, and vehicles, which, in one
instance, noted below, led to the death of a patient.
The information below pertains to the period August 11-27, 2008, and
was compiled and corroborated on September 04, 2008. In addition,
another death, which took place on September 06, 2008, is included
below, and this information submitted separately to the Special
Rapporteur's office. The dossier is based on secondary and archival
research, substantiated through personal communication with concerned
citizens, journalists, and human rights activists in Kashmir, and
from accounts published in print and electronic media, cited in
endnotes. Where such information is available, next of kin have been
listed. In certain instances, where people have been reported dead
and are unnamed, it has been so stated. This appeal was compiled and
filed with assistance from human rights advocates and research
associates who elected to remain anonymous.
The PDF document with endnotes can be found at the South Asia
Citizens Web:
http://www.sacw.net/mrel/kshsept08.pdf
o o o
(ii)
PRESS RELEASE
At a public meeting organized in Delhi by Janahastakshep, PUCL and
PUDR on 9th September, speakers stressed that respecting the right of
self-determination was the only way forward. It was the opinion of
the speakers at the meeting that the agreement reached between the
Jammu based agitation and the Indian government, through its
Governor, is an appeasement of the Hindutva forces and singularly
fails to follow the recommendations of the Nitish Sengupta Committee
(1996) which had proposed curtailment of the Amarnath Yatra to 30
days and restricting the number of yatris to one lakh. This
appeasement was compounded by the blood-letting in valley resulting
in death of 50 and injury to more than 2000 persons. Moreover,
repression is back in vogue with security forces singling out local
leaders in the villages with arrests, beating, booking some under
preventive detention act of J&K, Public Safety Act, and filing of
more than 250 cases. In contrast, as part of the agreement with the
agitators in Jammu persons charged with various violent acts have
been allowed to go scot free and may in fact, as part of the deal
struck, be provided with compensation. It was the considered
opinion of almost all speakers that there was no basis to support
Indian state's approach of military suppression accompanied by
politics of manipulation and empty promises or though an election
process which severely lacks credibility.
The meeting was held against the background of over two month long
agitation and counter agitation in Kashmir and Jammu which brought
home Indian state's precarious hold over J&K. In just four days on
August 11-14 Indian security forces shot dead thirty two people in
Kashmir valley. The Valley saw lakhs of people coming out to protest
against the blockade and for their inalienable right to exercise the
right of self-determination. The people of the state groan under
draconian laws like AFSPA, Disturbed Areas Act, PSA etc and unarmed
people are fired upon. Despite the unprecedented violence against the
protestors in Kashmir their quest for 'azadi' from Indian Union
remained non-violent.
In contrast the agitation in Jammu, spearheaded by BJP and Congress,
conducted what is essentially an anti-Muslim agitation. There was
competition between the two leading parties in harnessing majority
Hindu chauvinism. Their top leaders in Jammu participated in
blockade while the Congress led UPA went into a denial mode on the
fact of blockade despite extensive proof of the same. The economic
blockade which severely affected the life in the valley imperiled the
right to life of people in the valley. The message conveyed was that
Indian State was unmindful of even the physical well-being of the
people in Kashmir.
Speakers at the meeting stressed that erosion of Article 370 along
with India and Pakistan resiling from their commitment to refer the
matter to the people of J&K has been a major reason for the
irresolution of the dispute for over 61 years. They also opined that
massive and peaceful outpouring on the streets of Srinagar and
elsewhere in Kashmir ought to be met with meaningful political
dialogue. For this dialogue to be meaningful it ought to revolve
around the right of self-determination of the people of J&K.
The prominent speakers who spoke in the meeting were:
Arundhati Roy, Prem Shankar Jha, Javeed Naqvi, Sanjay Kak, Dr. Aparna
- CPI(ML) New Democracy, G.N. Saibaba - Revolutionary Democratic
Front, Retd. Juctice Rajinder Sachar - People's Union for Civil
Liberties, Gautam Navlakha - People's Union for Democratic Rights,
S.A.R. Geelani - Commitee for Release of Political Prisoners
Janahastakshep, PUCL and PUDR (Delhi)
9th September, 2008
______
[4]
CONDEMN THE NSG DECISION
TO APPROVE SPECIAL EXEMPTION FOR INDIA FROM ITS NUCLEAR TRADE RULES.
STATEMENT BY COALITION FOR NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT AND PEACE - CNDP
The decision of the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) to
approve a special exemption for India from its nuclear trade rules
deserves to be condemned as strongly as the Indo-US nuclear deal and
for the same reasons. The Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace
(CNDP) continues to oppose the deal as it undermines the prospects of
global nuclear disarmament, promotes the cause of nuclear militarism
and nuclear-weapon build-up in India, threatens to intensify the arms
race between India and Pakistan , carries forward the perilous US-
India "strategic partnership", and seriously distorts India's energy
priorities.The NSG decision is a major step towards operationalising
the deal, which while serving vested interests, both political and
corporate, would clearly raise the likelihood of a global/regional
apocalypse and is even otherwise detrimental to the interests of
people of India.
As a group committed to nuclear disarmament, the CNDP condemns the
NSG decision as well as the means – the use of diplomatic threats and
brute coercive power – adopted to reach this decision. The CNDP also
finds the statement by Pranab Mukherjee on September 5, which is
credited with having secured the consent of some of the initially
dissenting members of the NSG, including Austria, Ireland and New
Zealand, deeply hypocritical. More so, as his reiteration of India's
commitment to "a voluntary, unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing"
completely dodges the issue of Indian Prime Minister's categorical
assertion in the Indian parliament in his concluding reply to the
debate on confidence motion as recently as on July 22 last: "I
confirm that there is nothing in these agreements which prevents us
from further nuclear tests if warranted by our national security
concerns". If it is to be sincere, the claim that India does "not
subscribe to any arms race, including a nuclear arms race" means that
the country should commit to not manufacturing any more nuclear
weapons, to ceasing the production of plutonium and Highly Enriched
Uranium, stopping the construction and plans for deployment of a
nuclear submarine, and not developing longer range missiles. The CNDP
calls upon India to adopt all of these measures immediately as a part
of a larger effort to further global nuclear disarmament.
Signed /-
Admiral Ramdas, Sukla Sen and J. Sriraman
Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace – CNDP
A – 124 / 6, 1st Floor, Katwaria Sarai
New Delhi – 110016,
telefax - 011-26517814
e mail – cndpindia at gmail.com
______
[5]
DON'T SPOOK THEM
by A G Noorani
(The Times of India, 28 Aug 2008)
The government's sweeping gag on retired members of the Intelligence
Bureau and RAW is an assault on press freedom and a violation of the
citizens' right to know.
The Intelligence Organisations (Restriction of Rights) Act, 1985 bars
serving intelligence officials from communicating with the press or
publishing any material except with the prior permission of their
superior. If the ban is to be extended to retired members of these
bodies, legislation was necessary. It cannot be done by an executive
order.
The fundamental right to freedom of speech, which includes the right
to know, is not absolute. But the state can impose only "reasonable
restrictions" on the right on grounds specified in Article 19(2) and
only by "law" and not by an executive fiat.
The grounds are "the sovereignty and integrity of India, the secu-
rity of the state, friendly relations with foreign states, public
order, decency or morality or in relation to contempt of court,
defamation or incitement to an offence".
The gag has been imposed through an amendment to the Central Civil
Services (Pension) Rules, 1972. It is unconstitutional for two
reasons. It does not cover members of the armed forces, civil
servants and ministers who are no less privy to "sensitive" information.
It, therefore, violates the fundamental right to equality. It
violates, no less, the right to freedom of speech which members of
the IB & RAW possess and, relatedly, the citizens' right to know.
The gag comes close on the heels of Major General V K Singh's book on
RAW for which the CBI has chargesheeted him. It amends the pension
rules in two ways. By imposing a ban and requiring a written
undertaking when the official retires. They are almost identically
worded.
A former member of the two services shall not, without the prior
approval of a competent authority, "make any publication... Relating
to sensitive information the disclosure of which would prejudice the
sovereignty and integrity of India, the security,
strategic, scientific or economic interests of the state or in
relation with a foreign state, or which would lead to incitement of
an offence".
This is far too wide. No time limit is prescribed. It binds the
official for the rest of his life. "Publication" includes press and
TV interviews. "Information" includes "opinion, advice" held or
acquired while in service. Branch of the undertaking would be
regarded as "grave misconduct" entailing reduction or withdrawal of
pension.
The state already has ample power to prosecute offenders under the
Official Secrets Act, 1923. But, with the Right to Information Act
the courts cannot reject the defence of disclosure in the public
interest.
The ban and its companion under-taking bypass the law and make the
govern-ment judge in its own cause. The reasonableness of a
restriction on freedom of speech is entirely for the courts to
decide, not the government.
But the undertaking lists the seven grounds and adds these lethal
words: "I further agree that in the event of any failure of the above
undertaking by me, the decision of the government as to whether it
was likely to prejudicially affect any of the seven aspects stated
above shall be binding on me".
In law this is utterly worthless. The Supreme Court has ruled
repeatedly that the fundamental rights simply cannot be waived.
Exclude the waiver and the ban would still be void because it is an
unreasonable restriction on free speech. It lacks balance and is far
too wide. Restrictions may not be "imposed beyond the strict
requirement of public need".
The ban applies to statements of facts and opinions, not only to
classified documents. A government embarrassed by the official's
article on foreign policy will be free to penalise him. No curb can
protect a state against the honest whistle-blower.
The Pentagon Papers were stolen property. Yet, the US Supreme Court
ruled against their suppression because "paramount among the
responsibilities of a free press is the duty to prevent any part of
the government from deceiving the people".
Inscribed on a wall in the CIA's headquarters are the words from the
Bible: "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you
free". The IB and RAW might inscribe these words at some prominent
place in their heavily-guarded offices.
(The writer is a Mumbai-based lawyer.)
______
[6]
Los Angeles Times
Child malnutrition is an old stain on a new India
Half of young Indians are malnourished. In a nation seen as a rising
power, combating the problem 'has not been a policy priority . . .
for the last 40 years,' a U.N. expert says.
by Henry Chu, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
August 24, 2008
SARAIYA, INDIA -- Sitting in the basket of a hanging scale, 20-month-
old Deep Kumar epitomizes the silent but monumental crisis gripping
this country: The needle stops at 14 pounds.
A healthy child his age ought to weigh nearly twice as much. But very
little about Deep is healthy. Whereas a normal toddler would run
around, the boy seems to struggle to keep his stunted frame sitting
upright. His limbs are pitifully thin, the bones within as fragile as
glass.
These are classic signs of severe malnutrition, and they are branded
on the wasted bodies of millions of youngsters across India.
Astonishingly, an estimated 40% of all the world's severely
malnourished children younger than 5 live in this country, a dark
stain on the record of a nation that touts its high rate of economic
growth and fancies itself a rising power.
Soaring food prices and ineffectual government threaten to push that
figure even higher. Officials are beginning to wake up to the
magnitude of the emergency, as experts warn of grave consequences for
the future of India's economic boom if the state fails to improve the
well-being of its youngest citizens.
Already, the proportion of malnourished children is several times
greater than in China, Asia's other developing giant, and double the
rate found in most countries of sub-Saharan Africa.
"This is a stunning fact," said Abhijit Banerjee, a professor of
economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who has
studied the problem.
To its credit, India has in the last several decades succeeded in
warding off the specter of famine that regularly haunted the
subcontinent well into the 20th century. As a result of better
farming techniques and food-security policies, mass starvation is no
longer the dread concern it once was.
But that achievement, as well as the recent euphoria over India's
rapid economic expansion, has obscured the government's failure to
help provide its people, particularly the young, with the nutrients
needed to build healthy, productive lives.
Many officials were shocked when a 2005-06 government study revealed
hardly any progress in reducing child malnutrition over the last
decade and a half -- exactly when the Indian economy was exploding
and attracting international attention.
"This has not been a policy priority for this country for the last 40
years," said Victor M. Aguayo, chief of child nutrition and
development at the United Nations Children's Fund office in New
Delhi. "There was an underlying assumption that as soon as economic
growth takes place, this will vanish. So let's focus on economic
growth; let's focus on getting rich."
Instead, India's performance in combating child malnutrition has been
worse than that of other countries with similar economic conditions.
Close to half of all young children in India -- or a staggering 60
million -- are malnourished. Only Bangladesh and Nepal have a higher
percentage of underweight children.
In a speech last year, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
acknowledged the gravity of the situation, calling it a "national
shame."
"We cannot deny that it is a crisis," said Loveleen Kacker, a senior
official at the central Ministry for Women and Child Development.
"Maybe we didn't treat it like a crisis earlier, which we should
have. Then we would have taken corrective steps much earlier than
now. And what we're thinking of doing now we should've started 10
years back."
The World Bank estimates that malnutrition and its negative effects
on health and productivity cost India as much as 3% of GDP a year.
Beyond the economic fallout is the damage to India's image and
credibility as it tries to assert itself as an important player on
the world stage.
"It's not nice to want to have an international role and then find
that you're having to defend such an indefensible position," Kacker
said.
Just why malnutrition remains such a stubborn problem here is due to
a constellation of causes that tend to reinforce and aggravate each
other, creating "the perfect storm of risk factors," as Aguayo put it.
At root is the abject poverty so pervasive in India, where one-third
of the population of 1.1 billion squeaks by on less than $1 a day.
Another third makes do with $2 a day.
That deprivation can stack the cards against a child before he or she
is even born. Too many women here are underweight and undernourished
themselves, the major reason why 30% of Indian babies enter the world
weighing less than 5 1/2 pounds. Afterward, in the crucial first two
years of life, many children are fed sugary water, animal milk, rice
and other foods lacking the fat, protein and vitamins necessary for
proper physical and mental growth.
"Women too thin and anemic, giving birth to tiny babies, who are
poorly fed in the first two years of life: That's the synopsis of the
tragedy," Aguayo said. "India needs to break this intergenerational
cycle of malnutrition."
That cycle is plainly evident with 20-month-old Deep and his mother,
Bachiya Devi, here in the dirt-poor eastern state of Bihar, where the
proportion of malnourished children younger than 3 has actually
risen, not dropped, in recent years, from 54% to 58%.
Like her son's, Devi's arms are stick-thin, the bangles adorning them
sliding up and down with no resistance. The sinews of her neck
protrude, while her chest seems lost far below the folds of her
canary-yellow sari. Her careworn face suggests an age much older than
her 45 years.
With a blind husband who is unable to work, Devi depends on her
parents to help out with buying food. She reckons that 100 rupees a
day would be enough to guarantee two square meals for her husband,
herself and the three of their five children who live at home. But
from her modest vegetable stall she earns an average of 30 rupees a
day, the equivalent of 70 cents.
"There are four or five days a month when the pot doesn't boil and we
go hungry," Devi said. At home, little Deep, her youngest child and
only son, eats one roti, or piece of flatbread, a day, plus some rice
and occasionally some vegetables.
"I'm a poor woman," Devi said.
"What more can I afford?"
As she spoke, her sleeping son twitched fitfully on a bed in a
"nutrition rehabilitation center" here in Saraiya sponsored by
UNICEF, which in effect provides triage for the worst-hit.
The ward is a study in cheated childhood. Mumta, at 22 months, looks
less than half her age; her rib cage can be easily felt beneath her
clothes. Muskan, 1 1/2 , lies still under her mother's watchful gaze,
a blue hand towel covering nearly her entire body. Vikas, almost 4
and suffering from cerebral palsy, can barely sit up without help
from his gaunt mother, who is 45 and pregnant with her fifth child.
There are flickers of hope. After 10 days of eating nutrient-laden
eggs and other foods not available at home, Deep has gained almost a
pound and a bit more energy. Other children in the ward also exhibit
small signs of improvement.
All the youngsters are so chronically malnourished that they belong
to a category known as "severely wasted." India is home to 8 million
such cases needing immediate therapeutic feeding and treatment.
However, the government accepts no foreign food aid and has not
imported any of the high-energy, ready-to-eat food packets on the
market that can be administered to badly malnourished youngsters to
jump-start their recovery, Aguayo said. None of the country's
biotechnology firms -- among the most advanced in the world --
manufactures them, though the cost would probably be only about a
dollar a pound.
These triage packets would help the worst-off cases. But if India
fails to cut its overall rate of child malnutrition, experts warn, it
faces a future dragged down by an underproductive workforce and
ballooning numbers of malnourished youngsters.
As Farhat Saiyed, a nutritionist here in Bihar state, put it: "We are
entering a dangerous world."
______
[7]
The Hindu
September 10, 2008
New Delhi
PAINTINGS EXHIBITION VANDALISED
NEW DELHI: A group of hooligans vandalised a paintings exhibition
titled “Kamayani” by Manjit Singh at India Habitat Centre here on
Tuesday.
Over half-a-dozen persons donning saffron scarves stormed into the
exhibition hall and smashed the paintings and raised slogans. They
also manhandled Manjit Singh who had to be taken to the All-India
Institute of Medical Sciences. The miscreants fled before the private
security guards at India Habitat Centre could reach the spot.
A senior police officer said: “It is difficult to say which
organisation was behind the attack.”
According to Manjit Singh’s son Jasvinder, a couple of visitors had
made some adverse comments on the paintings in the visitors’ book on
Monday, saying the paintings were against Hindu culture.
The four-day exhibition was to end on Tuesday.
______
[8] Announcements:
(i)
The Final Protest Rally
On
Violence of the Invisible 9/11
50 years of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act
11 September 2008
At
11:00 am
From
Mandi House to Jantar Mantar
Organized by
AISA, Asha Parivar, The Othermedia, NAPM, Jagrati Mahila Sangathan,
INSAF, Reachout,
Human Right Alert and JMI
RSVP: Sreeprakash - +91-9871880686
Jyotilal - +91 – 981877688
Surjit - +91-9971842187
Rojio - +91-9990157785
Faisal - +91-9313106745
Onil - +91-9818781767
(Please endorse your organisation name for support)
- - -
(ii)
Dear friend,
Drik completes its 19th year on 4th September 2008 . We celebrate
this occasion by holding a discussion programme 'Looking Back,' on 11
September 2008 at 4.00 p.m., in which Drik's fellow compatriots and
well-wishers will take part.
Rashid Talukder, Naib Uddin Ahmed, Aftab Ahmed, Abdul Hamid Raihan
and Jalaluddin Haider, veteran war photographers of 1971, will speak
of their experiences to kindle memories, and to inspire us.
Do come, with friends.
Greetings
Drikbashi
Programme
4.05 Shahidul Alam : What is Drik and Why?
4.15 Exchanging ideas: Rashid Talukder and other war
photographers
4.40 Drik Last Year
4.55 'Amrao Manush': Street people seen through the eyes of photographer
5.05 Majority World: A power point presentation
5.15 ' Bangladesh 1971': Documentary on the UK Exhibition
We will have Iftar together.
Drik
House 58, Road 15A (New) 26 (Old), Dhanmondi R/A
Dhaka 1209, Bangladesh .
Tel: 9120125, 8112954, 8123412
Fax: 9115044, Email: office at drik.net
- - -
(iii)
Dear Friends,
You are cordially invited to a two-day conference on "Experience of
Hate and Cultures of Violence" organized by the Centre for
Psychoanalytic Studies, University of Delhi, on the 11th and 12th of
September at India International Centre.
Regards,
Ashok Nagpal
Director, CPS &
Professor,
Department of Psychology,
University of Delhi,
Delhi-110007, India
Conference Schedule
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2008.
Registration: 9.30 am to 10.00 am
Inaugural Session
10.00 am: Welcome and Opening remarks Mallika Akbar & Ashok Nagpal
10:05 am: Inaugural Address Pavan Verma
10:20 am: Keynote Address: Thoughts on Hate and Violence Sudhir Kakar
First Session: Chair and Moderator: Richard Hertel
11: 00 am: Rage, Hate and Revenge: Individual and Group Perspectives
Salman
Akhtar
11:50 am: Discussion
12:00 pm: Tea
Second Session: Chair and Moderator: Arup Ghoshal
12:15 pm: Destruction of Culture, Destruction of Meaning and
Representation
Leopold Nosek
1:05 pm: Discussion
1:15 pm: Lunch
Third Session: Chair and Moderator: Salman Akhtar
2:15 pm: Panel Discussion: Hatred and Psychosocial Ramifications
to
4.00 pm M.J.Akbar, Leopold Nosek, Shobna Sonpar, Monisha Nayar &
Jane Warren
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2008
Fourth Session: Chair and Moderator: Monisha Nayar
10:00 am: The Making of a Terrorist: Some Psychosocial Speculations...
Stuart Twemlow
10:50 am: Discussion
Fifth Session: Chair and Moderator: Jane Warren
11:10 am: Unfolded Repetitive Cycle of Hatred, Violence and Hope: A
Reflection on the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict. Adib Jarrar
12:00 pm: Discussion
12:15 pm: Lunch
Final Session: Chair and Moderator: Sudhir Kakar
1:15 pm: Panel Discussion: Transformations of Hate in Clinical and
Social Contexts
Adib Jarrar, Honey Oberoi, Javed Alam, Salman Akhtar, Stuart Twemlow,
Richard Hertel,
2:45 pm : Concluding Remarks by Chair
Biography of speakers:
M.J. Akbar
Mobashar Jawed (MJ) Akbar is an eminent journalist. He has been the
editor-in-chief of several newspapers including The Asian Age,
Deccan Chronicle, Sunday, and The Telegraph. His books include Blood
Brothers, an exploration of the complex interface between Muslims and
Hindus over the last 150 years, The Shade of Swords: Jihad and the
Conflict between Islam & Christianity and a biography of Jawaharlal
Nehru: The Making of a Nation. Other books include Behind the Vale,
India: The Siege Within, Riot After Riot and a collection of his
articles, Byline.
Salman Akhtar
Salman Akhtar, M.D., is Professor of Psychiatry at Jefferson Medical
College and Training and Supervising Analyst at the Philadelphia
Psychoanalytic Institute. Dr. Akhtar is the recipient of the Journal
of the American Psychoanalytic Association's Award (1995) and the
Margaret Mahler Literature Prize (1996), and was named the1998
Clinician of the Year by IPTAR, New York. Dr. Salman Akhtar is the
author of numerous books, including New Clinical Realms: Pushing the
envelope of Theory and Technique, The Three Faces of Mourning:
Melancholia, Manic Defense, and Moving On, and Objects of Our Desire:
Exploring Our Intimate Connections with the Things Around Us. He is
also an author of Broken Structures: Severe Personality Disorders and
Their Treatment (1992) and Quest for Answers: A Primer for
Understanding and Treating Severe Personality Disorders (1995), as
well as five volumes of poetry. His more than 130 scientific
publications also include thirteen edited or co-edited books, and
extensive journal editing credits.
Javed Alam
Professor Javed Alam is currently the Chair person of the Indian
Council for Social Science Research. He has been a Professor of
Political Science at Himachal University, a Senior Fellow at the
Centre for the Study of Developing Societies and Centre for English
and Foreign Languages, Hyderabad. He has worked extensively on
Intergroup conflict from a perspective of Social Equity and Justice.
Arup Ghoshal
Arup Ghoshal is Professor & Head, Department of Applied Psychology,
University of Calcutta and Secretary of the Indian Psycho-analytical
Society. He is an active member of the Rehabilitation Council of
India that regulates the training policies and programmes in the
field of rehabilitation of persons with disabilities. Along with
being faculty at the Calcutta University, he also works as a
rehabilitation Psychologist.
Richard K. Hertel
Richard K. Hertel received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from The
University of Michigan. He is a graduate analyst of the Michigan
Psychoanalytic Institute. He is on the faculty of the University of
Michigan Psychiatry Department and the Michigan Psychoanalytic
Institute and is in private practice in Ann Arbor. Since 2004 he has
chaired a discussion group, "Trauma in the Transference" at the
American Psychoanalytic Association Bi-Annual meetings. In 2005 he
chaired an International Psychoanalytic Congress Panel entitled, "DID
and Trauma". He has two ongoing local discussion groups, one
concerning the psychotherapy process and one concerning "Trauma in
the Transference". Dr. Hertel also chaired a panel of the recent
International Psychoanalytic Congress meetings in Rio entitled
"Trauma and Dissociative States". He presented a paper, "Visual
Impairments and Emergent Character Defenses" at the Michigan State
Foundation
140th Annual Scientific Meeting in Troy, Michigan in 2005.
Adib Jarrar
Adib Jarrar is a Palestinian independent organisational development
consultant and clinical psychologist based in Paris and working
internationally. Born and raised in Israel he pursued D.E.S.S. in
clinical psychology and psychopathology from the Université de
Franche Comté in Besançon, France. He is currently pursuing his
Doctorate in psychoanalysis and management. He has special interest
in the areas of conflict resolution, collective trauma work, the role
and impact of collective memories of atrocities on the psyche and
politics, identity and unresolved issues. He's associated with
Tavistock Group Relations model in Europe, the USA, Cuba, the
Caribbean, and Israel. For the last 3 years, Mr. Jarrar has divided
his time between Paris and East Jerusalem, providing consultation
work and training for Palestinian organisations. He is a Professional
Associate both with the Tavistock Institute and the Grubb Institute,
London, and is a member of the Board of Advisors for Treatment &
Rehabilitation Center for Victims of Torture (TRC), Ramallah, Palestine.
Sudhir Kakar
Sudhir Kakar is a psychoanalyst and writer based in Goa, India. Dr.
Sudhir Kakar is the author of numerous books, including the most
recent, Mad and Divine: Spirit and Psyche in the Modern World, The
Inner World, Shamans, Mystics, And Doctors, Tales of Love, Sex And
Danger, Intimate Relations, The Colors Of Violence, The Analyst And
The Mystic, The Indians and Culture And Psyche. Sudhir Kakar has been
a visiting Professor at several international universities. He is
currently Adjunct Professor of Leadership at INSEAD in Fontainbleau,
France and has received several distinguished honours at both the
national and international levels.
Monisha Nayar
Monisha Nayar, Ph.D. trained at Michigan Psychoanalytic Institute and
now practices in Philadelphia. She is presently the faculty member
at Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia. She is interested in issues
of cultural diversity, psychic trauma, neuropsychoanalysis and
transformations of play during child therapy and analysis. Dr. Nayar
works with individuals, couples and families and specializes in
rehabilitation of the neurologically impaired and trauma work. She
has written and presented on additional topics from a psychoanalytic
perspective, including the role of religious icons and mythological
figures as used within the context of traumatic experiences.
Leopold Nosek
Leopold Nosek, MD is a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst in Sao Paulo,
Brazil.. He has served as the President of the Brazilian
Psychoanalytic Society of Sao Paulo and as the President of the
Brazilian Psychoanalytic Federation. He has been active in the IPA
(International Psychoanalytical Association) and was a Member of its
House of Delegates. He was also the Editor of the IPA Newsletter, and
of the IDE Magazine of the Sao Paulo Psychoanalytical Society and of
several FEPAL publications. His papers have appeared in books and
journals in Portugese, English, and Spanish. He organized the exhibit
Freud: Conflict and Culture in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro and was
the Curator of the exhibits Psychoanalysis and Modernism in Brazil
and Freud and Judaism in these two cities. Dr. Nosek was a political
prisoner for 10 months in 1971 during the Brazilian military
dictatorship Among his recent publications is Terror in everyday
life: re-visiting Mr. Kurtz (2003).
Honey Oberoi
Honey Oberoi is a Reader in Psychology at the University of Delhi.
Her Phd on Lives in Exile: Tibetan Refugees and Their Inner World is
to be published shortly by Routledge. Her interests include
Psychoanalysis, Buddhism and Engaged Social Activism. She is
particularly interested in the development of a low cost
psychodynamic psychotherapy for India.
Shobna Sonpar
Shobna Sonpar has been a practicing clinical psychologist in Delhi.
She received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology (India) and did her
post-doctoral internship in counseling from University of California.
She was a lecturer in Clinical Psychology, Department of Psychiatry,
Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, Kathmandu, Nepal. She has
recently published Violent Activism: A Psychosocial study of ex
Militants in Jammu and Kashmir.
Pavan K. Varma
Pavan K. Varma, the eminent writer and diplomat, is currently the
Director General of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, New
Delhi. In addition to his diplomatic assignments in various
countries, including USA and Russia, he has also been High
Commissioner of India to Cyprus as well as Director of the Nehru
Centre in London. Pavan K. Varma has established a name for himself
as a writer of depth and insight. His first book was the highly
successful and critically applauded biography of the Urdu poet Mirza
Ghalib, Ghalib: The Man, The Times. His other books include the much-
discussed Havelis of Old Delhi, Krishna: The Playful Divine a book
on India 's most popular deity, and an epic poem on two of the
central characters of the Mahabharata, Yudhishtar and Draupadi. His
first book on a contemporary subject was the path-breaking The Great
Indian Middle Class. Translated into several Indian languages, the
book was an instant bestseller, and remains the focus of discussion
and debate even today. This book was followed by another successful
book Being Indian: The Truth About Why the 21st Century Will Be
India's. The Japanese, Spanish and French translations of this book
were very well-received, and a Portuguese version is on the way.
Being Indian has also had extremely successful runs in its Hindi and
Urdu editions; the book is currently being translated into Bengali.
2004 also saw the release of Love and Lust: An Anthology of Erotic
Literature from Ancient and Medieval India.
Stuart W. Twemlow
Dr. Stuart W. Twemlow is Professor of Psychiatry, Menninger Dept.
Psychiatry, Baylor School of Medicine, Houston, Texas and a faculty
member of the Houston-Galveston Psychoanalytic Institute. He is the
Medical Director of the HOPE unit for Treatment Refractory Adults at
the Menninger Clinic. He has co-edited a collection of articles on
analytic work with violence in the community: Analysts in the
Trenches: Streets, Schools & War Zones, and another entitled The
Future of Prejudice: Applications of Psychoanalytic Understanding
toward its Prevention. His latest book with Frank Sacco is entitled
Why School Antibullying Programs Don't Work Well. He is a founding
editor and Editor-in-Chief with Nadia Ramzy, PhD., of The
International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies, and is
President of The International Association for Applied Psychoanalytic
Studies. He has also co-authored a book on out-of-body and near-
death experiences entitled, With the Eyes of the Mind. Dr. Twemlow
has practiced meditation and the martial arts for over 40 years. He
practices and teaches meditation and black ink brush painting and has
exhibited, sold and published his brush paintings.
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
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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