SACW | April 26-28, 2009 / Price of War / Asghar Khan / Set Binayak Sen free / Indus Valley Symbols

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire | April-26-28, 2009 | Dispatch No. 2619 -  
Year 11 running
From: www.sacw.net

[1] Sri Lanka's war - Dark victory (The Economist)
   + We cannot ignore Sri Lanka (Brad Adams)
   + Advantages of the US proposal to end war in Sri Lanka (Jehan  
Perera)
[2] Pakistan:  NWFP - Taliban shave men for listening to music in  
Buner (Dawn)
   + Ardeshir Cowasjee on words of wisdom by Air Marshal Asghar Khan
   + External red herrings and state abdication (Daily Times Edit)
   + Minorities under threat (Daily Times Edit)
[3] India Administered Kashmir: Politics of Human Rights Abuses  
(Anuradha Bhasin Jamwal)
[4] India: Chattissgarh - The Continued Incarceration of a Human  
Rights Crusader
   - Prisoner of conscience (Anand Patwardhan)
   - Set Binayak Sen free now (Siddharth Varadarajan)
[5] India's Elections:
   -  India's election : The untouchable and the unattainable
   - Election Commission and Changing Contours of Politics (Manjari  
Katju)
   - The poor also crave an English education (Dipankar Gupta)
   - Classical Dancer Campaigns As 'People's Candidate' in India  
(Rama Lakshmi)
[6] India: Legal and Illegal
   - 'Ensure undertrials don't languish in jails' (Shamim Modi)
   - Spreading Menace (S. Dorairaj)
[7] India: Victory for Secular Activists Demanding a Fuller Inquiry  
on the Role of Top Authorities during Gujarat 2002 Communal Violence
  - CNN-IBN TV report on SC order to probe Modi's and other officials  
role & Gujarat Pogrom 2002
  - The Supreme Court Order to Probe Modi is A Ray of Hope for  
victims of 2002 Gujarat Carnage . . .
  - India's Supreme Courts orders investigation on role of Narendra  
Modi during Gujarat pogrom of 2002
[8] Refutation of Spurious Claims Re Indus Valley Symbols
   - Refutation of Invented Claims Regarding Indus Script (Steve  
Farmer, Richard Sproat, and Michael Witzel)
   - Indus Valley symbols linked to language (report in The Hindu)


_____


[1] Sri Lanka:


SRI LANKA'S WAR - DARK VICTORY
http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13527366


The Guardian
27 April 2009

WE CANNOT IGNORE SRI LANKA

Instead of applying pressure, the international community has  
dithered over Sri Lanka. As a result, civilians continue to die

by Brad Adams

War is an exquisite breeding ground for euphemism. In Sri Lanka, a  
government announced "no-fire zone" in the northeast of the country  
is instead one of the most dangerous places on earth. Advertised as a  
place where trapped civilians could flee to safety from fighting  
between the army and the Tamil Tigers, this tiny strip of land has  
become a killing ground where the Tigers – facing defeat in their 25  
year war for independence – use tens of thousands of Tamil civilians  
as human shields, physically preventing them from escaping to safety,  
while the Sri Lankan army shells the area with devastating consequences.

It is a scene out of Dante's Inferno. Heroic doctors short of  
supplies tend to hundreds of shell-shocked wounded, who lie on the  
ground in open air "hospitals," often caked in dirt and soaked in  
blood. Parents wail and children wander around dazed. The lucky ones  
receive emergency care, though sometimes this has meant amputations  
without anaesthetics. Victims have described shells or rocket  
propelled grenades landing while they slept.

One witness told us at Human Rights Watch that while he and hundreds  
of civilians were waiting in line near a food distribution centre,  
four or five artillery shells hit the area, killing at least 13  
civilians immediately and wounding over 50 others. A doctor who  
examined the site two hours after the attack said that the shells  
were 120mm rounds and appeared to have been fired from Sri Lankan  
army positions to the south.

The Sri Lankan government has angrily denied reports that it has used  
artillery and other heavy weapons to attack the "no-fire zone." Yet  
today President Mahinda Rajapaksa's office announced that it had  
instructed the army to stop what it claimed it had not been doing:  
"Our security forces have been instructed to end the use of heavy  
calibre guns, combat aircraft and aerial weapons which could cause  
civilian casualties." At the same time, the government again refused  
calls by the US, UK, and others for a pause in the fighting. More  
unnecessary suffering will be the result.

The UN estimates that since January more than 6,400 civilians have  
died and almost 15,000 have been injured. But the figure could be  
much higher, as the government has refused to allow independent  
observers into the area "for their own safety." In a rare statement,  
the director of operations for the International Committee of the Red  
Cross said last week that he could not recall a situation in recent  
years as painful and extreme.

You might have expected that governments around the world would have  
done all they could to alleviate so much pain and suffering. Not a  
bit of it. The UN security council has done virtually nothing. With  
their veto power, China and Russia have blocked any concerted council  
action or pressure. Instead of acting, council members have spent a  
great deal of time wrangling over whether to hold private briefings  
on Sri Lanka in the UN's basement – which would make the meeting  
unofficial – or in regular council rooms.

And what of the UN Human Rights Council? There has been no special  
session demanding an end to the atrocities, no special envoy sent to  
warn of the risk of prosecutions if war crimes are committed. The  
reality is that although human rights and humanitarian organisations,  
together with some courageous diplomats and UN officials have been  
warning for months that the situation would reach this stage,  
governments have ignored them. The cost in civilian lives and  
suffering has been enormous.

This week, David Miliband, the foreign secretary, will travel to  
Colombo with the French and Swedish foreign ministers. The Sri Lankan  
government, riding high as the end of the Tigers' military campaign  
appears imminent, will remain obstinate, claiming that it is a  
democracy fighting terrorism and must be allowed to finish the Tigers  
off. But the message to Colombo must be clear. There will be a  
reckoning. Investigations into the conduct of the conflict by both  
sides will take place. The truth will come out. A commission of  
inquiry will be established. Tamils streaming out of the conflict  
area can no longer be treated as criminals and held in detention  
camps indefinitely. Humanitarian aid and independent observers must  
be allowed in immediately. And there must be no retribution, as Sri  
Lanka's defence secretary has suggested, against those considered  
disloyal to the government.

There is still time for the members of the UN security council and  
other countries to put people over political gamesmanship and allow  
the UN to finally bring its full and collective weight to protect  
some of the world's most vulnerable people. There is still time for  
the Sri Lankan government to show some respect for the rule of law,  
some tolerance towards critical voices from the Tamil community, and  
a vision for a political settlement that would make Tamils believe  
that Sri Lanka is also their country.

o o o

New Age
April 28, 2009

ADVANTAGES OF THE US PROPOSAL TO END WAR IN SRI LANKA

At the present time, the Sri Lankan government’s position is that the  
LTTE should surrender unconditionally, with no guarantees for their  
future. As there is so much hostility against the LTTE in Sri Lanka,  
especially against its leadership who are wanted for many criminal  
charges, they will have doubts about their safety if they surrender  
unconditionally to the Sri Lankan authorities,
writes Jehan Perera from Colombo


THE government’s victory at the Western Provincial Council election  
would add to its confidence that it is proceeding on the popular path  
with regards to the war in the north. At these elections, the ruling  
alliance secured 65 per cent of the popular vote, which is a huge  
margin of victory. During the election campaign, President Mahinda  
Rajapaksa repeatedly called on the electorate to vote for the  
government and thereby give a message to the international community  
that it backed the government’s actions to defeat the LTTE. With this  
latest manifestation of electoral popularity, the government may  
believe it is well positioned to carry on with its military offensive  
designed to retake the last remaining LTTE-controlled territory in  
the north.
    The government’s appeal to the electorate has come in the context  
of international pressures on it due to the high civilian toll that  
has resulted from the continuing military operations in the north.  
The international media has cited figures from the UN sources that  
claim that as many as 20,000 civilians have been either killed or  
injured in the fighting in the north over the past four months alone,  
of which about a third have been reported killed. There appears to be  
intense pressure on the government from the United Nations and  
powerful countries such as India and the United States for a  
ceasefire in the north that would provide a respite to the remaining  
civilian population still trapped in the LTTE-controlled territory.  
Such a ceasefire would invariably provide a respite to the LTTE as  
well, which is fighting a rearguard action to delay its inevitable  
defeat on the military battlefield.
    The United Nations is now pressurising the government to accept a  
humanitarian fact-finding mission to the northern battle zone which  
has shrunk to a mere eight square kilometres, but one which continues  
to be densely populated by displaced civilians forced into that area  
by the fighting and by the LTTE. While the government claims that  
only 10-15,000 civilians are still remaining in the area, other  
sources put the figure at several multiples of that number. The  
breakout of more than 100,000 civilians held by the LTTE from that  
area in the past week made international media headlines. It also  
increased the anticipation that a quick end to the protracted battle  
was near at hand, as it meant that the human shield for the LTTE was  
significantly reduced.

    Indian position
    HOWEVER, the hopes of a quick and clean conclusion to the war  
have failed to materialise. Stories have emerged of heavy civilian  
casualties that have accompanied the military action that paved the  
way for the breakout of the civilians. The remaining LTTE-controlled  
territory may have shrunk to a tiny pocket compared to what the LTTE  
once controlled. But the relatively large number of civilians still  
trapped inside has prevented the Sri Lankan military from fully  
utilising its superior numbers and firepower to wipe out the  
remaining LTTE cadre and their leadership holed up in that area. Any  
UN mission into that area would also necessarily imply a temporary  
ceasefire or another humanitarian pause which could be advantageous  
to the LTTE, which the government is resisting.
    From the government’s perspective an equally, if not more,  
worrisome concern would be the reaction of the Indian government to  
the ongoing military operations. The Indian general elections are in  
full swing and the vote in the state of Tamil Nadu which will be held  
within a fortnight can be decisive to the fate of the Indian  
government. As a result, the Indian government appears very keen, if  
not determined, to ensure that an acceptable solution to the Sri  
Lankan conflict is secured prior to that crucial election in Tamil  
Nadu. The Sri Lankan conflict is now getting top attention from the  
Indian media. India’s home minister P Chidambaram who is himself  
fighting for a parliamentary seat from Tamil Nadu has declared that  
‘it is no more a question of please or requests but India insists  
that this war should stop and the rehabilitation of civilians should  
start.’
    The Indian government has been issuing many statements in the  
recent past. Chidambaram’s statement followed the recent visit to Sri  
Lanka of two top Indian officials. It is difficult to know whether  
this statement was simply meant for domestic purposes or is indeed an  
ultimatum to the Sri Lankan government. Nonetheless, the Sri Lankan  
government needs to take its giant neighbour’s concerns seriously,  
especially as the present Indian government has shown a cooperative  
attitude to Sri Lanka and resisted nationalist demands from Tamil  
Nadu politicians.
    In this context, the Sri Lankan government needs to seriously  
consider the US proposal that the LTTE should be permitted to  
surrender to a third party. This proposal has been taken up by the  
donor co-chairs that include the European Union, Japan and Norway. On  
behalf of the group, the US State Department spokesman Robert Wood  
has said, ‘We urge the Tamil Tigers to lay down arms to a neutral  
third party. We also the urge the government of Sri Lanka to offer  
amnesty to most Tamil Tigers and to devise a clear resettlement plan  
and to open the way for political dialogue.’

    US responsibility
    THIS US-led proposal is worth considering for several reasons.  
First, it implies a US responsibility to facilitate the LTTE’s  
surrender. As a responsible world power, the United States will not  
be making internationally publicised proposals on matters that mean  
life and death to thousands without working through the possible  
implications of those proposals. The Sri Lankan government needs to  
consider requesting the United States to spell out the modalities of  
its proposal, which could include safe passage abroad for the LTTE  
leadership, which the Sri Lankan government might not be prepared to  
accept. The media reports also do not indicate who the US State  
Department believes might be the third party and how the LTTE might  
be persuaded to accept the US-led proposal.
    A second important reason to consider the US-led proposal is to  
ward off possible legal challenges in international courts that stem  
from the civilian casualties in the recent military operations.  
Already, the UN Human Rights Commissioner Navineethan Pillai has  
accused the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE of engaging in actions  
that could be construed as war crimes. This charge has been echoed  
and reiterated by reputed international human rights organisations,  
including the Amnesty International and the Human Rights Watch. The  
international experience of leaders who were popular with the  
majority section of their own people, but were judged harshly by the  
courts of international justice, would serve as a caution that  
winning elections is not always a protection.
    At the present time, the Sri Lankan government’s position is that  
the LTTE should surrender unconditionally, with no guarantees for  
their future. As there is so much hostility against the LTTE in Sri  
Lanka, especially against its leadership who are wanted for many  
criminal charges, they will have doubts about their safety if they  
surrender unconditionally to the Sri Lankan authorities. In seeking a  
way out of the humanitarian imbroglio in the north, the guideline to  
follow would be President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s assurance to the people  
during the presidential election campaign of 2005 that he would  
secure peace with dignity.
    The LTTE’s failure to convert their military strength into  
political bargaining power in the 2002 peace process is chiefly  
responsible for their predicament today. The LTTE refused to listen  
to the voices of moderation and hard headedly and hard heartedly  
tried to get everything they wanted with the result that they are now  
getting almost nothing. It has been said by the wise people of old  
that there is a danger of becoming like the thing we hate. The Sri  
Lankan government needs to consider further exploring the US-led  
proposal to bring the war to an end without incurring any more  
casualties, and by ensuring peace with dignity for all.
    Jehan Perera is media director of the National Peace Council in  
Colombo, Sri Lanka. jehanpc at sltnet.lk


_____


[2]  Pakistan:

Dawn

NWFP: Taliban shave men for listening to music in Buner

Sunday, 26 Apr, 2009 | 02:39 PM PST |

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/e38cec004de2281dafb7bfeaf4e31a87/ 
barber.jpg?MOD=AJPERES
The Taliban have also warned people against shaving their beards.  
Here a barber stands by a ‘do not shave’ warning written by militants  
in the front window of his shop in Buner—AFP

PESHAWAR: Taliban militants in Buner district shaved the heads and  
moustaches of four Pakistani men as punishment for listening to  
music, one of the men said Sunday.

Although Taliban and local officials said the fighters retreated from  
Buner by Saturday, local members of the movement remain. Residents  
said many fighters were still present in the hilly outskirts of the  
district.

In one incident late Saturday, Taliban hardliners shaved the heads  
and moustaches of four men for listening to music, a young man from  
Buner told AFP by telephone, requesting not to be identified.

‘I was with three other friends in my car, listening to music when  
armed Taliban stopped us and, after smashing cassettes and the  
cassette player, they shaved half our heads and moustaches,’ he said.

‘The Taliban also beat us and asked us not to listen to music ever  
again,’ said the terrified man.

Local police said they had no information about the incident.

The victim said neither he nor his friends lodged a complaint with  
police, as this would have been ‘useless.’

‘It might have annoyed the Taliban further and I fear for my life,’  
the man said.

Residents in Mingora, the main town in Swat, said Taliban posters had  
been put up in streets and markets ordering women not to go shopping.  
The posters had appeared after the Taliban’s controversial agreement  
with the government to enforce Islamic law in the region.

‘We will take action against women who go out shopping in the markets  
and any shopkeeper seen dealing with women shoppers will be dealt  
with severely,’ read the poster from the Swat branch of Tehrik-i- 
Taliban.

‘The peace agreement does not mean that obscenity should be re-born,’  
it added.

Extremist Taliban consider it ‘obscene’ for women to leave their  
homes, and ban females from venturing out in public without an  
immediate male relative — namely a father, brother, son or husband.

For years, Swat was a popular ski resort frequented by Westerners but  
the Pakistani government effectively lost control of the mountainous  
district after the violent Taliban campaign to enforce Sharia law.

o o o

Dawn

  WISE WORDS FROM AN OLD WARRIOR

by Ardeshir Cowasjee
26 Apr, 2009 | 03:01 AM PST

Ardeshir Cowasjee quotes words of wisdom by Air Marshal Asghar Khan.

Air Marshal Asghar Khan, once, long ago, in what were the ‘good old  
days,’ was the world’s youngest chief of an air force, Pakistan’s air  
force, which he led with distinction.

Following his retirement, he involved himself in politics and formed  
his own party in 1972 which he led from the front. Those who joined  
him and then left for greener pastures would fill the pages of a  
present-day Pakistani who’s who. His participation in the uprising  
against Zulfikar Ali Bhutto landed him in jail for a few months in  
early 1977. Later, for his opposition to the rule of President Gen  
Ziaul Haq he spent 1,603 days under house arrest at his home in  
Abbottabad. Undeterred, he pressed on, and by 1994, tired and  
disillusioned, ended his political life.

But inactivity did not follow — he travels and frequently speaks. On  
April 20, he came to Karachi to address the Jinnah Society and there  
is much that was said by this wise man, who has seen it all, that  
deserves reproduction.

He asked what we have done to Jinnah’s Pakistan since his death, and  
then gave the answers: ‘The first blow to his vision of Pakistan was  
the so-called ‘Objectives Resolution’ passed within six months of his  
death. This turned Pakistan into an Islamic state which was not the  
vision of the founder of this country. Jinnah had said very clearly  
that the state would not interfere in religious matters. This  
departure from the concept that the creator of this country had about  
Pakistan has led us rapidly to the state of civil war we are in  
today. Initially it started with Shia-Sunni killings, and now we have  
the emergence of a band of fanatics who appear bent on destroying the  
Pakistan that Jinnah built.

‘In encouraging this, the United States and Ziaul Haq played a major  
role in mobilising the youth of the NWFP against the Soviet Union in  
the 1980s. Having become the ‘most dangerous country in the world’,  
Pakistan is also known as one of the half a dozen most corrupt  
nations. To be successful in politics in Pakistan you have to fool  
the people, and most of those who have succeeded in getting into  
power have done this successfully. Pakistan has the distinction of  
being led at different times by acknowledged criminals of world fame.’

He then dwelt on a subject that is mightily agitating the rest of the  
world in these times of troubles in which we now find ourselves, but  
which is largely ignored by both leadership and people who tend to  
brush off the dangers posed. ‘If Pakistan survives this kind of so- 
called popular leadership, there is another more serious threat to  
its existence. That is the pride we take in being a nuclear power.  
Ever since Pakistan started to arm itself with nuclear weapons, I  
have spoken and written against it because I believe that rather than  
strengthening Pakistan’s defence it endangers its safety and survival.

‘From the Jan 31, 2009 issue of The Economist, in an article entitled  
‘Losing their way’, we learn that the United Kingdom is equipped at  
great cost to fight a nuclear war, whereas it should be preparing to  
fight a conventional war. If this is true of the UK it is more so of  
Pakistan. The cost of acquiring nuclear capability by Pakistan has  
not been made public but it has surely increased the defence budget  
manifold, at great cost to the national exchequer. This has, in turn,  
increased the miseries of the people.

‘The UK’s defence budget is half that of its budget for education and  
about one third of its health budget. In Pakistan the expenditure on  
defence is many times the country’s expenditure on both education and  
health. If the amount spent on the nuclear programme had been spent  
on education, the country would not have been at the mercy of the  
Taliban as it is today. This criminal misuse of national resources  
has cost the country dearly.

‘Until recently when the so-called Taliban became a problem, our  
defence expenditure was meant only to meet a threat from India. The  
fact is that in the last 60 years of our existence, India has not  
started hostilities against Pakistan unless provoked to do so, or  
until we created conditions, as we did in 1971 in East Pakistan, for  
India to interfere militarily….

‘Pakistan’s nuclear capability, by our own admission, is ‘India- 
specific’. India can justify its nuclear capability for different  
reasons. It has experienced hostilities with China, and is aspiring  
to be one of the permanent members of the Security Council, for which  
it feels that being a nuclear power would be a qualification. Its  
size, population, location and resources should, it could argue,  
entitle it to be a permanent member of the Security Council.  
Moreover, its relations with the United States and the latter’s  
desire to balance China’s influence and power in Asia is likely to  
assure for it the support of the United States and the western world….

‘If we did not have nuclear weapons, declared ourselves to be a non- 
nuclear state, and opened ourselves to international inspection,  
there would be no possibility of India or any other country using  
nuclear weapons against us…. [W]e should therefore prepare only for a  
conventional war. Wisdom demands that we stop planning for a nuclear  
war which, unless we start one, we will not have to fight. It is both  
unwise and unnecessary to prepare for the ‘wrong war’ which could  
destroy us even without fighting one.

‘In the last 60 years, self-serving politicians have exploited our  
emotional people for their own political advancement and have led the  
nation to a situation that does not serve the interests of the  
country and could result in its destruction.’

Now, if all that we read and hear carries weight, our self-serving  
politicians are leading us by the nose down a dark alleyway and may  
well succeed in bringing this country to its knees. Given the  
inactivity and relaxed attitude of army and government in the face of  
the advancing horde (to many of us the enemy at the gates), the world  
is justified in fearing that our nuclear assets may go astray — as  
indeed are we citizens who must be imbued with the same fears until  
those on top lower their raised hands, control or eliminate the  
invaders, and come to the rescue of their country.

o o o

Daily Times
April 24, 2009	


EDITORIAL: EXTERNAL RED HERRINGS AND STATE ABDICATION

The Interior Adviser, Mr Rehman Malik, repeated himself at the Senate  
Wednesday when he claimed that India was involved in fomenting  
trouble in Balochistan with the help of the Kabul government, but his  
addition of “some hostile agencies” along with India might mean  
others like Uzbekistan, Iran and the CIA. Far away in Washington,  
speaking at the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the US Secretary of  
State, Ms Hilary Clinton, bemoaned the abdication of Pakistan in the  
face of a dangerously expanding hold of the Taliban over Pakistani  
territory.

As expected, many TV channel hosts were greatly offended Thursday  
morning at Ms Clinton’s use of the word “abdication” and stressed  
that this was “blatant interference” in the internal affairs of  
Pakistan. But this sounded a little incongruous when some other  
channels reported the presence of “foreigners” in Buner, the district  
that the Taliban have taken over and have no intention of giving up.  
But in the National Assembly, the JUIF chief, Maulana Fazlur Rehman,  
said something even more incongruous: “You talk about Swat and Buner,  
but according to my information, the Taliban have reached Kala Dhaka  
and Tarbela. And if they continue advancing, there will be only the  
Margalla Hills between them and the federal capital”.

Right next to Islamabad, in Rawalpindi, our army chief General Ashfaq  
Kayani was (reportedly) telling the visiting US Joint Chiefs of Staff  
chairman, Admiral Mike Mullen, that the CIA drones must be stopped  
and that the two sides must develop trust to be on the same page  
about the Taliban. Unfortunately, the truth is that trust is lost not  
only with the US but with the entire world including the crucial  
regional neighbours who are now gearing up to secure themselves if  
Pakistan goes to pieces. In the middle of all this arrives the  
scandalous report that a retired major — who began activity when he  
was still in service — was kidnapping for ransom to finance a warlord  
in South Waziristan.

Everybody knows what is happening, but everyone has a different  
solution to the problem. Regrettably, however, the bigger consensus  
is for a solution that will probably harm Pakistan even more. Maulana  
Fazlur Rehman apparently made an anti-Taliban statement when he said  
they were about to enter Islamabad, but his solution was: “get out of  
the war on terror and the Taliban will automatically go away”. Imran  
Khan wrote a special article on Thursday asking Pakistan to leave the  
war on terror to solve the problem. The two say the same thing but  
cannot convince us of the halcyon days they think will descend on  
Pakistan after their solution is applied.

Ajmal Kasab has deposed — hopefully, falsely — before a Mumbai court  
that his gang of terrorists was trained by Lashkar-e Tayba at Sarai  
Alamgir in Punjab under the supervision of an army brigadier. India  
will not talk because it is certain that Pakistan will not punish its  
“non-state actors” now under trial. Again, rather unfortunately, the  
world goes with India because it doesn’t equate India’s unprovable  
“funded” interference in Balochistan with Pakistan’s proven practice  
of sending in non-state actors who get caught. Accusations of  
external interference therefore sound like a colossal red herring. In  
fact, this is not the time for isolating Pakistan in the world but  
for being “introverted” on our domestic terrorism with whatever help  
we can get from the international community. *

SECOND EDITORIAL: MINORITIES UNDER THREAT

Sarjani Town in Karachi was a scene of violence Wednesday. This is  
worrisome because the target there was the Christian community,  
Pakistan’s largest minority population. Confrontation between the  
Christians and the Pashtuns took place after the town walls were  
splashed with graffiti asking the Christians to embrace Islam or give  
jiziya. A church wall carried pro-Taliban slogans such as “Taliban  
zindabad”, “Islam zindabad”, “Christians Islam qabool karo”, etc.

Understandably, many scared Christians came out of their homes and  
protested, chanting counter-slogans like “Taliban murdabad”, “ANP  
murdabad” and “Pashtun murdabad”. They also set ablaze some shops  
belonging to the Pashtuns after which there was an exchange of fire,  
wounding one Pashtun and four Christians.

All this was expected to happen. It is a miracle that politicians  
never accept that they are wrong when they falsify the situation on  
the ground. Karachi is the most glaring example. What has happened in  
Sarjani Town was anticipated by Lawrence John Saldanha, Archbishop of  
Lahore and President Pakistan Catholic Bishops Conference, who sent a  
number of letters to the leaders of the country on April 16, 2009. He  
also wrote to the Prime Minister and the President of Pakistan:

“As the killing machine of terror in the name of religion continues  
with impunity, the small communities of Hindus, Sikhs and Christians  
in the NWFP are forced into unemployment, intimidation and migration.  
Statues of Buddha were mutilated, whereas St Mary’s School, Convent,  
and Chapel at Sangota (Swat) were bombed to the ground. The Don Bosco  
School at Bannu has also been the target of bombing. Christian, Hindu  
and Sikh families in Dara Adam Khel in 2008 and recently Non-Muslims  
in Orakzai Agency have been forced to evacuate as jiziya was imposed  
on them by the Taliban”.

Father Saldanha also wrote to the MQM chief Mr Altaf Hussain,  
thanking him for opposing the Nizam-e Adl Regulation in Swat, the  
valley where all the Christian charities have been gutted by the  
local warlord. Kalyan Singh Kalyan, secretary general of the Guru  
Nanak Ji mission, who looks after Gurdwara Dera Sahib in Lahore, has  
gone repeatedly to the tribal areas to get his Sikh co-religionists  
released for money, but now he is helpless in the face of crores of  
rupees demanded as jiziya in Orakzai.

When nations fall to internecine bloodletting, the minorities get  
annihilated in the crossfire. They also become a target for the  
narrow-minded who look for opportunities of violence. What has begun  
in Karachi may spread throughout Pakistan. There are two million  
Christians in Pakistan and they haven’t run away over the past half- 
century because they are too poor to do that. After being cruelly  
targeted by the Blasphemy Law, they now face perhaps the most  
dangerous moment of their lives. Can the government save them? Can  
the government and the army save the state of Pakistan?

_____


[3] India Administered Kashmir: Human rights abuse and AFSPA have  
become convenient tools for politicking


Kashmir Times
26 April 2009

POLITICS OF HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES

by Anuradha Bhasin Jamwal

If noises could move the world, the human rights scenario of Jammu  
and Kashmir would have long been over, and at least more than half  
the security troops deployed here would have been sent packing back  
into their barracks. At least for the last over six years, since  
Peoples Democratic Party reaped the benefit of its success story  
weaved on the edifice of rhetoric of human rights, the political  
parties in this state, barring some exception, have realised the  
power of talking about something that is so close to the hearts of  
the people, especially those from the Valley and other highly  
militancy affected and militarised zones. Unlike about a decade ago  
when the noises about human rights were the sole patent right of the  
separatists or of the human rights activists, the mainstream parties  
have joined the chorous, vying with each other in a bid to prove  
their humanist credentials first rather than their patriotism and  
loyalty to New Delhi.

There is no relaxation from this increasing vigilance against human  
rights abuse and prevalence of draconian laws like Armed Forces  
Special Powers Act, the inspiration coming to each only after tasting  
the bitter pill of 'defeat' or being out of power. If PDP's verve  
stemmed from New Delhi's denial to back its government after three  
years of heading the Cong-PDP coalition that came to power in 2002,  
National Conference owes its zeal primarily to the major set back  
that the party received in 2002, its leader now in the chief  
minister's saddle having lost his own seat at that time. It should be  
good when everybody is more or less talking about the same thing,  
especially if that is what mirrors the aspirations of the people in  
majority areas of Jammu and Kashmir. After all, intellectuals and  
civil society members have also been saying more or less the same  
thing. Human rights groups and even the Working Group created by no  
less than the prime minister himself have echoed the same demand. But  
loud political voices can be more counter productive especially when  
they are used less as display of humanism and more as tools for  
scoring brownie points. Besides, where are the much needed creative  
and credible ideas on how to go about these things?

It may be wishful thinking for any political group, in or out of  
power, that AFSPA would be revoked and troops trimmed down. The  
present chief minister Omar Abdullah's contention that this would be  
revoked as and when situation is conducive for the same may be fodder  
only for the na‹ve. Even a kindergarten child would know that such  
ambiguity is only a pretext to buy some time and credibility. Equally  
bizarre is his promise that at least some aspects of the AFSPA will  
be amended. Since when does he or any establishment in Jammu and  
Kashmir have the autonomy to deal with something that Centre imposes?  
He need not look very far back to realise the absolute brute control  
that New Delhi exercises in this state. Is it too difficult for him  
to recall recommendations of a Working Group on human rights, which  
included among other things revocation of AFSPA, are gathering dust  
in the corridors of power in Delhi for no apparent reason at all.  
Perhaps, he should even have taken a cue from the experience of his  
political adversary Mufti Mohd. Sayeed, who began raking up the issue  
of disproportionate size of troops soon after he lost his chair as  
chief minister. It started as a campaign against demilitarisation,  
almost like a do or die slogan with the added embellishment of threat  
to withdraw support to the Congress government in power at that time;  
but strangely it ended up with the whimper of troops relocation which  
is more or less a normal procedure with cosmetic shifting of troops  
from one area to another. That Mufti's PDP had to tone down its  
rhetoric and forget all about pulling the rug was evident of the  
absolutism of His Master's voice, which Omar may have to heed  
equally, if not more.

Both of them must be aware that if either of them, during their  
respective tenures, either silently or noisily did manage to ensure  
shifting of troops from one civilian area to another; this 'symbolic  
gesture' never became the norm. It just became an event to play to  
their respective galleries or at best scored them some points in  
their report cards. Human rights abuse and AFSPA have become  
convenient tools for politicking. Had there been sincerity, loud  
noises would have long back been replaced by efforts to evolve a  
strategy against these phenomenons. Sadly, politicking has got the  
better of both vision and consequently credibility.


_____


[4]  INDIA: CHATTISSGARH - THE CONTINUED INCARCERATION OF A HUMAN  
RIGHTS CRUSADER


The Times of India, 27 April 2009

PRISONER OF CONSCIENCE

by Anand Patwardhan

May 14 this year will mark an ignominious date for Indian democracy  
the start of the third straight year of Binayak Sen’s incarceration  
in a Chhattisgarh jail. I wonder if there are words left to describe  
this travesty. What is left to say that has not been said?

On Binayak’s behalf, writers, poets, judges, lawyers, doctors, human  
rights workers and trade unionists have spoken out from across India  
and the globe. Former Supreme Court justice Krishna Iyer, former US  
attorney general Ramsey Clark, Noam Chomsky and 22 Nobel laureates  
are amongst the thousands who grace this impressive list, but so far  
it has all been to no avail.

For those who may not recall, let me set out a chronology. Binayak is  
a paeditrician, a gold medallist who eschewed a lucrative urban  
practice to work amongst the poorest in central India. When i met him  
in the mid-80s he had helped build a workers’ hospital for the  
Chhattisgarh Mines Workers’ Samiti led by the legendary Shankar Guha  
Niyogi. Niyogi and his team were not ordinary trade unionists but  
visionaries for whom a workers’ union went beyond wage struggles to  
health care, education, even cinema literacy and, of course, fighting  
the scourge of alcoholism that inevitably afflicts the unorganised.  
Niyogi was murdered in 1991.

The liquor mafia was blamed but it is commonly understood that they  
were merely the medium and that the real killers were politicians  
aligned to industrialists for whom a union that could not be co-opted  
had to be crushed.

Niyogi’s murder was followed by widespread repression. As big money  
entered the mineral-rich region, Adivasis found themselves displaced  
from their lands. A section joined the Naxalite movement, which in  
turn spawned greater repression.

Binayak continued his medical work but also began to document human  
rights violations in his capacity as secretary of the Peoples’ Union  
for Civil Liberties, an organisation founded by Jayaprakash Narayan  
in 1977. More specifically he wrote against the Salwa Judum  
operation, through which the state armed and trained local Adivasis  
as a vigilante militia to fight other Adivasis who had joined the  
Naxalites, resulting in a brutal civil war.

On a visit to jail, Binayak came across an ailing elderly man,  
Narayan Sanyal, and began medically treating him. Later this became  
the trigger for his persecution. Binayak was suddenly accused of  
carrying letters to and from Sanyal, who was accused of being a  
Naxalite, even though each jail visit was made under strict scrutiny.  
Binayak was in Kolkata when he learned about the warrant for his  
arrest. He insisted on travelling back to Chhattisgarh to clear his  
name, which is certainly not an act of a guilty man. But guilty or  
not, two precious years have been snatched from him, just as surely  
as he was snatched from the marginalised people he so dedicatedly  
served.

Meanwhile the official case against Binayak is falling apart. Of the  
83 listed prosecution witnesses, 16 were dropped and six declared  
hostile by the prosecutors themselves, while 61 others have deposed  
without corroborating any of the accusations against him. Why is this  
man still in jail and denied bail? Is it because no one dares admit  
he was innocent to start with?

On March 16 this year, a group of 50 satyagrahis from across India  
marched to the central jail in Raipur, demanding Binayak’s release.  
We were arrested and set free. The following week a second batch of  
satyagrahis did the same. This action has been taken each Monday for  
almost two months now. What more can we do? How much louder can we  
shout?

But shout we must. At Binayak’s trial we learned he is suffering from  
heart disease. A court-appointed doctor recommended that he be  
shifted to Vellore for a possible angioplasty or bypass. An RTI query  
has shockingly revealed a month later that the police are  
unconstitutionally insisting that Binayak be treated in Chhattisgarh.  
Should Binayak, who lost his liberty to an arbitrary state, be forced  
to trust the same agency with his life? India is a signatory to the  
International Human Rights Covenant. By definition its human rights  
activists must be protected. It is our democracy that is on trial.

The writer is a Delhi-based film-maker.


o o o

The Hindu
April 27, 2009

SET BINAYAK SEN FREE NOW

by Siddharth Varadarajan

Alongside the arming of private militias, the jailing of a human  
rights defender for two years on trumped up charges is proof that  
there is no rule of law in Chhattisgarh.

Every criminal case is unique but there is something truly peculiar  
about the fate of Dr. Binayak Sen. While politicians, film stars,  
gangsters and businessmen accused or convicted of heinous offences  
like manslaughter, rioting and possession of firearms seem to have no  
trouble getting bail, the gentle doctor is considered such a  
dangerous criminal that he has been held in jail for two years on a  
far less serious charge.

Arraigned under Chhattisgarh’s draconian Public Security Act, Dr.  
Sen, who is also the national vice-president of the Peoples Union for  
Civil Liberties, has repeatedly been denied bail by the trial court  
and High Court. Regrettably, the Supreme Court too rejected his  
special leave petition for bail in December 2007. Binayak’s trial is  
now underway.

As per the original chargesheet, 83 witnesses were meant to depose  
against him. Of these, six were declared hostile by the state and 16  
were dropped while the remaining 61 testified in court. However, none  
has corroborated the prosecution case that Dr. Sen delivered a letter  
from Maoist leader Narayan Sanyal, whom he used to visit in Raipur  
jail in his capacity as doctor and civil libertarian, to some wider  
Naxalite network.

Be that as it may, are there valid grounds for refusing Binayak bail?  
No. For one, he is not a flight risk, a fact he demonstrated at the  
outset by turning himself in when he heard during a visit to Kolkata  
that the Chhattisgarh authorities were looking for him. The second  
reason bail is sometimes denied is the fear that an under-trial might  
use his liberty to influence witnesses. But there are no more  
witnesses left for Dr. Sen to suborn. Of course, sensing the collapse  
of its flimsy case, the police say they will produce more witnesses.

But it is evident that this is just a tactic to punish the victim  
through process since the evidence on the basis of which the original  
arrest was made was clearly insufficient to sustain a conviction.

If there are no valid reasons to deny bail, the fact that Dr. Sen in  
a heart patient who is being deliberately denied proper medical care  
at a facility in which he has confidence means any delay in his  
release may prove fatal to his health. In February, Dr. Sen noticed  
the onset of symptoms of heart disease but the authorities ignored  
his pleas for help. His wife, Ilina Sen, then asked the court to send  
him for treatment to a hospital of his choice, as envisaged by the  
Prisoners Act. Dr. Sen conveyed that he would like to be treated at  
CMC Vellore, where he had studied and in whose doctors he had full  
faith. On February 20, the trial judge ordered the prison authorities  
to get the opinion of a medical board on Binayak’s heart condition.

Despite being examined at Raipur district hospital, no treatment was  
offered and Binayak had to move the court again. The judge  
subsequently ordered that he be examined in Raipur by any doctor he  
wanted, who, in turn, would decide on onward referral to CMC Vellore.

On March 25, Binayak was examined by a doctor of his choice in the  
presence of Ilina Sen. The doctor diagnosed him with Coronary Artery  
Disease and referred him to Vellore for an angiography to be followed  
by angioplasty or bypass surgery. A copy of the prescription was  
handed over to Ms. Sen but no action has been taken because the Jail  
Superintendent procured another note from the doctor in which he said  
angiography facilities were available in Raipur and that Vellore was  
mentioned only because Binayak wanted to go there. On the basis of  
this note, the authorities are insisting Binayak be treated in  
Raipur, something he is rightfully refusing since he has begun to  
fear the worst about the police’s intentions.

The Supreme Court is already seized with another grave matter from  
Chhattisgarh – the extra-legal depredations of the state-sponsored  
Salwa Judum in a PIL filed by Nandini Sundar and others. In their  
obiter, the learned judges have said it is not permissible for the  
state to arm private citizens to commit crimes like murder and arson.

More than one lakh adivasis have been displaced by the Salwa Judum.

Far from heeding the apex court’s warning, the BJP, in its election  
manifesto, has promised “the ‘Chhattisgarh Model’ will be used for  
counter-Maoist operations” elsewhere in the country.

It should come as no surprise that violence and intolerance go hand  
in hand. Salwa Judum is the most dangerous aspect of the ‘Chhatisgarh  
model’ but the persecution of Dr. Binayak Sen, the intimidation of  
the local media and the refusal to tolerate the opposition of  
adivasis to the land grabbing agenda of corporate giants are also  
part of this ‘model’. When the executive is bent on subverting rights  
guaranteed by the Constitution, the judiciary has an obligation to  
act. Putting a stop to Salwa Judum and releasing Binayak are two  
remedies that are urgently required.

_____


[5] India's Elections:


INDIA'S ELECTION - THE UNTOUCHABLE AND THE UNATTAINABLE
http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13497128


ELECTION COMMISSION AND CHANGING CONTOURS OF POLITICS
by Manjari Katju
http://www.epw.in/uploads/articles/13419.pdf


Mail Today
April 23, 2009

THE POOR ALSO CRAVE AN ENGLISH EDUCATION
by Dipankar Gupta

Mulayam Singh Yadav’s animosity towards English is not just  
hypocritical, but cruel too. By advocating this step he is kicking  
millions of poor villagers in the stomach. His hypocrisy is  
transparent: according to a news report, his elder son has a degree  
from an Australian university and the younger is studying management  
in UK. But there is something deeper and more devious that escapes  
attention. By rubbishing English, Mulayam is taking away that one  
tool kit rural millions have for escaping eternal poverty.

Attacks against English language education are based on the falsehood  
that it is only the rich who send their children to private schools.  
A study conducted by the University of Maryland that covered 36,700  
children proved conclusively that at least 20 per cent of rural  
families in India send their little ones to private schools. Why?  
Because they hope that at the end of the day they would read English  
better and do their sums quicker.
The same study found that 66 per cent of students in private  
educational establishments could read a simple sentence with ease,  
but the proportion was only 49 when it came to government schools,  
where it is all Hindi, or a regional language. Interestingly, only in  
Kerala and Maharashtra children perform equally irrespective of the  
kind of school they go to. Interestingly again, neither Kerala nor  
Maharashtra ever raised the anti- English bogey. In fact, the Shiv  
Sena chief, Bal Thackeray, insisted that Marathis should make sure  
that their children learn English in order to combat the hated South  
Indians in the Mumbai job market.
A second falsehood must also be laid to rest. It is not as if only  
rich parents send their children to private schools. Once again,  
rural India will correct this perception. I have come across three  
families in east UP who are officially Below the Poverty Line (BPL),  
but whose children go to private schools. These private schools are  
not spiffy affairs. The poor kids who go there may have spindly legs  
and concave chests, but they wear a uniform with a string tie to  
signify their private school status.

WOGs

This emulation of prosperous private schools is quite pathetic at one  
level, but it also expresses burning ambition. Some village schools  
charge only about Rs. 50 per month and are located in three run down  
rooms. But they teach English and Mathematics, and their teachers  
turn up even though their wages are a fraction of what government  
school masters get.
Why do these poor families send their children to private schools?  
Simple.
They have stars in their eyes and hope that their young will one day  
lead a life after poverty. They want their children to learn English  
so that they can aspire to a regular job, perhaps even a white collar  
one.
Though many of them are illiterates themselves, they don’t want their  
kids to share the same fate. So up, scrub and off they go every  
morning dragging their thin legs and satchels to a private school. So  
if Mulayam were to scrap English he would hurt the rural poor more  
than anybody else.
In this sense, Mulayam is a petty autocrat of the kind found in  
traditional India.
In the old days, village oligarchs disapproved of the poor who nursed  
educational ambitions. They feared that this was just the beginning,  
for they would then demand a better deal out of life as well.
This would alter power relations and shake the foundations of a  
closed and unchanging economy.
When the poor seek English education it is not because they want to  
rattle off Shakespeare or Milton.
For them English is little other than a useful technical skill. The  
reason why Mulayam Singh Yadav cannot be Ram Manohar Lohia is because  
times have changed. In Lohia’s days, English language carried with it  
a cultural baggage which drew attention to our colonial past. English  
meant not just grammar and syntax, but also the accent with which it  
was spoken. English signified a certain lifestyle where knives, forks  
and sherry glasses were essential fixtures on the dining table. An  
English educated person was a WOG, or a Westernised Oriental Gentleman.

Workers

English education today is not about being a cultivated WOG. Without  
English one’s career in a technologically driven world wouldn’t budge  
from the village doorstep. English is now shorn of much of its  
cultural swagger and comes through as an acquisition much like  
mathematics or physics.
When poor villagers send their children to private schools they are  
not thinking of Wordsworth, nor also of Anglicised table manners, or  
of artful turns on the dance floor. They only want their kids to  
leave the village and wriggle out of its all encompassing drudgery.  
What is wrong with such an ambition? Even in elite private schools  
today, there isn’t as much emphasis in producing WOGS as there was in  
Lohia’s time. Many senior executives in transnational companies have  
no WOG pretensions either. A large number of them have come to the  
top because they are technically qualified though they would be ill  
at ease with a knife and fork.
What matters most on today’s road to success is how well one can work  
a computer and stay abreast with knowledge developments worldwide.  
For this it is essential to learn English and be proficient in it.

Being a WOG is no longer a necessary, or even desirable,  
qualification. That may have been true in Lohia’s time, but not now.
Mulayam Singh is clearly out of step. The urban English educated  
elite will only point out his hypocrisy, but his most ardent critics,  
his most hated enemies, his most unrelenting opponents will be the  
rural poor. They will not trumpet their antipathy to Mulayam, but  
will silently walk away from him. Sometimes perhaps to no avail, for  
governments are all powerful.

Several schools in Karnataka were permanently shut by the state  
government for teaching English.
This, in spite of the fact that poor families who sent their children  
there strongly protested against this move.
There is, however, a certain rationality, if one could use the term,  
behind Mulayam’s opposition to English.

Politicians

If villagers get educated en masse, and find jobs by virtue of their  
qualifications and skills, then the politics of reservation will ring  
hollow from within. It is no coincidence that the passion with which  
reservationists articulate their programme is directly related to  
their disinterest in improving educational standards in schools at  
all levels.
This is precisely what has driven 40 per cent of all school going  
children in the country to opt for private tuition, over and above  
whatever education they formally receive.
If English is inaccessible to the rural poor, then the better off  
among the OBCs will constitute an exclusive group. The poorer members  
of their castes will not make the grade for how many of them can  
afford even those rural private schools.

This would allow the elite few to stand tall on the hunched shoulders  
of the many. These prosperous OBCs can now look into IIT and IIM  
campuses, aspire for jobs in Infosys, and not expect any competition.  
As long as their poor caste brethren can be boxed into inferior  
schools, their future is secure. They have a readymade rationale to  
milk the system in perpetuity.
Mulayam is therefore not just a hypocrite. He is a deliberate enemy  
of the poor.
The writer teaches sociology at the Jawaharlal Nehru University

o o o

CLASSICAL DANCER CAMPAIGNS AS 'PEOPLE'S CANDIDATE' IN INDIA

by Rama Lakshmi
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, April 22, 2009

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/21/ 
AR2009042103620.html?hpid=sec-world

_____


[6] India - Legal and Illegal: Reform the (legal) Prisons and Get rid  
of illegal kangaroo courts


  The Times of India

'ENSURE UNDERTRIALS DON'T LANGUISH IN JAILS'
10 Apr 2009, 0010 hrs IST

Shamim Modi is a leader of Samajwadi Jan Parishad and works on civil  
rights issues, especially among tribals in Madhya Pradesh. She
spoke to Dwaipayan Ghosh about the need for prison reforms:

You have been vocal recently about the urgent need for prison  
reforms. What really spurred you to take up this issue?

Every undertrial is innocent until proven guilty. However, in India,  
my own experience shows that you are treated as an offender even  
before the court formally declares you so. Every citizen has some  
fundamental rights, prisoners are no different. But here it is as if  
prisoners are to be treated as sub-humans. Someone has to speak for  
them.

Could you elaborate about the condition of women prisoners?

Let me start from the beginning. As soon as a woman is arrested and  
brought to jail, the jail staff is supposed to check the inmate. That  
definitely is the law. However, the manner in which it is conducted  
is shocking. You are manhandled with at least two women guards  
pouncing on you. They will then instigate fellow cellmates to  
mistreat you. In a way, even before you have spent an hour inside the  
jail complex, you are scared to death. The prison system is supposed  
to reform people, it is not meant to condemn someone for life.

It is a shame that even in this 21st century, the jail authorities  
can't even provide clean sanitaryware to prisoners. When i was  
arrested recently on unsubstantiated charges and lodged in  
Hoshangabad jail, i came across a woman who was arrested when she was  
one-month pregnant. Her child is now two years old. She is still  
undergoing trial. The child has never stepped outside the jail. Till  
today, he receives a packet of milk that is not even boiled. The  
inmates used chappatis to boil the milk and feed the child. Is this  
how you take care of a child who is in prison for no fault of his?  
The condition of those women facing mental trauma is the worst.  
Branded "mad'', they are left at a corner only for other inmates to  
hurl abuses. Doctors are never to be found inside the jail complex.

What are your proposals to bring about change in prisons?

First, we need to ensure that undertrials do not languish in jails  
for petty crimes. They should get bail fast. There can be no quick- 
fix solution to this problem. We need to constitute expert committees  
to look into the problems of each jail. It should involve all  
stakeholders. Just like the concept of juvenile homes, we can have  
SOS villages where a child, a young woman and an aged lady can stay  
together. It would come close to forming a family. These are  
suggestions. But more than anything else, the jail staff must be  
educated. They must learn to be receptive to the needs of the prisoners.

o o o


Frontline
April 11-24, 2009

SPREADING MENACE

by S. Dorairaj

The system of dispensing ‘justice’ through kangaroo courts continues  
in rural and urban Tamil Nadu despite court directives to end the  
practice.

A. Manoharan and his wife, Vanitha, who, along with their two  
daughters, have been ostracised from their hamlet, Panaiyur  
Periakuppam in Kancheepuram district, by the “meenavar” panchayat, a  
kangaroo court, over a land dispute. The Madras High Court ordered  
police protection to the family, but they continue to live in fear.


The Madras High Court has again come down heavily on the katta  
panchayats (kangaroo courts) operating in different parts of Tamil  
Nadu. Through an order on December 19, 2008, it directed the  
authorities concerned to take effective steps to curb the activities  
of these extrajudicial bodies.

Earlier, the court had passed judgments in two other cases, on April  
8, 2004, and July 5, 2005, against katta panchayats, which throw a  
challenge to law-enforcing agencies and the administration. They work  
in different names and forms.

The High Court, in its latest order, flayed the meenavar  
(fishermen’s) panchayat of Panaiyur Periakuppam hamlet in  
Kancheepuram district for issuing a fiat excommunicating a family  
following a land dispute.

As per the court’s direction to provide protection to the  
“excommunicated” family, the police entered the hamlet inhabited by  
255 fishermen’s families on December 20, 2008. More than three months  
after the court’s verdict, an eerie silence prevails in the hamlet  
located 100 km from Chennai.

A. Manoharan, head of the ostracised family, told Frontline on March  
13 that he lived in perpetual fear though the kattapanchayatdars were  
lying low owing to the police presence in the hamlet. “We don’t know  
how long we can withstand this humiliation. Even on the day after the  
High Court passed its order, a gang instigated by the panchayat  
stormed my residence, forcing us to put up a grill door to protect  
ourselves. If this can happen to a comparatively well-off person like  
me, imagine the plight of poor fishermen. I am afraid I shall be  
forced to leave this place with my wife and two daughters if the  
police protection is withdrawn,” he said.

Recounting the unpleasant developments, Manoharan, a former member of  
the meenavar panchayat, said trouble started in January last year  
with the panchayat laying claim to a portion of the 3.2 acres of land  
owned by his father-in-law N. Krishnan in the village, on the pretext  
of providing access to the burial ground. According to him, the  
fishermen’s panchayat also laid down several conditions on the family  
for its continued stay there.

According to him, Krishnan was not only prevented from entering the  
village but also asked to hand over possession of a portion of the  
disputed land to the panchayat. They had sought an apology from  
Manoharan’s wife, Vanitha, for lodging a complaint with the police  
alleging that functionaries of the panchayat were threatening her  
family with excommunication if a solution was not found to the land  
issue. She was also barred from meeting her father.

As Manoharan and his wife did not budge, the panchayat made a public  
announcement to residents of the hamlet that no one should  
communicate with or help the family, including the children. Those  
who violated the decision would be excommunicated and a fine of Rs. 
10,000 would be imposed on them, it said. Close on the heels of the  
announcement, miscreants went on the rampage at the coconut grove  
owned by Manoharan, destroying coconuts.

But the functionaries of the meenavar panchayat do not seem to have  
realised that they had acted against the laws of the land. They  
argued that this was not the first time that the panchayat had taken  
such strong action. Years ago, it gave a verdict in a family dispute,  
making an elderly person crawl around the local temple several times,  
recalled an office-bearer of the panchayat. The 11-member panchayat  
took decisions only to safeguard the interests of the residents, he  
said. He claimed that it had played a proactive role in providing  
them relief in times of crisis.

Dubbing the meenavar panchayat a katta panchayat, the court referred  
to the report of the Kancheepuram district Superintendent of Police,  
which admitted the existence of such extrajudicial bodies in all the  
fishing hamlets in the State and submitted that “they are enquiring  
into minor delinquencies and imposing fines”.

While passing the order, Justice N. Paul Vasanthakumar also observed  
that the report of the police officer “clearly establishes the fact  
that goondaism by katta panchayats continues in the State of Tamil  
Nadu”.

Pervasive influence

Interaction with leaders of political parties, activists of human  
rights organisations, lawyers and police officials reveal that the  
illegal system has its pervasive influence in almost all sectors and  
in rural and urban areas.

With economic and social relations in the rural areas undergoing a  
transformation, even the traditional oor (community) panchayats in  
several villages have started losing their importance. In some  
villages, where remnants of these still exist, their composition has  
changed drastically and they have been reduced to kangaroo courts  
controlled by self-styled village heads assisted by their henchmen.  
In some places they control the village’s resources too. They  
continue to award punishments while settling family, civil and  
monetary disputes.

Only a couple of years ago, functionaries of the Tamil Nadu Village  
Panchayat Presidents’ Federation pointed out that the katta panchayat  
system existed in 30 per cent of the 12,618 villages in the State.

Incidentally, these extrajudicial agencies have features that are  
strikingly similar to the khap panchayats of Haryana insofar as  
issuing fatwas and awarding punishments such as fines and social  
boycotts. The attempt in both cases is to silence the new social  
forces that have risen from among the deprived sections of society,  
women and Dalits and are challenging status quoist forces.  
Predictably, women are kept away from these kangaroo courts.

Justice M. Karpagavinayagam, in his landmark judgment in Rajendran vs  
The State in April 2004, observed that many actions taken by the  
katta panchayat “result in deprivation of social status, access to  
basic facilities like food, water and shelter, denial of cultural  
facilities like common worship, access to religious events, etc., and  
denial of economic opportunities like employment, finances, etc. As  
such, these would constitute violation of human rights guaranteed.”

The punishment awarded on August 3, 2003, by the katta panchayat to  
the two victims – both women – in this case exposed the crude nature  
of these medieval institutions. An employee of the Telecom  
Department, along with her mother, was summoned by six panchayatdars  
of Valayapatti village in Tiruchi district and ordered to pay a fine  
of Rs.50,000 for not complying with their direction to her to join  
her husband. The panchayatdars also made the victims prostrate before  
them repeatedly from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. to reduce the quantum of fine.

S.R. Jangid, Commissioner of Police, Suburban Chennai, is of the view  
that one reason for the mushrooming of katta panchayats is the  
escalating land prices in urban areas. The illegal arbitration was  
restricted by and large to land transactions initially. Gradually it  
extended to the settlement of any dispute, he said.

The shrinking area under cultivation owing to the non-profitability  
of agriculture against the backdrop of globalisation, the lack of  
alternative jobs and the escalating problem of unemployment in rural  
areas have contributed in a big way to the flourishing of katta  
panchayats and other anti-social activities, says K. Balakrishnan,  
general secretary of the Tamil Nadu Vivasayigal Sangam.

R. Nallakannu, veteran leader of the Communist Party of India and  
chairman of the central control commission of the party, is of the  
view that the erstwhile oor panchayats in villages have given way to  
katta panchayats run by persons who have close links with “dadas” and  
certain political bigwigs operating in cities and towns. Police  
intervention is totally absent whenever the kattapanchayatdars  
indulge in out-of-court arbitration, he says, and adds that the  
illegal system has percolated from the district and taluk  
headquarters to the villages now.

G. Ramakrishnan, Central Committee member of the Communist Party of  
India (Marxist), says the katta panchayats in rural areas are run by  
a combination of the rural rich, contractors and anti-social  
elements. The katta panchayat is used against people’s movements even  
as the law-enforcing authority turns a blind eye to it. In many  
cases, officials have been hand in glove with those running katta  
panchayats.

As in any other conflict, women and the weaker sections, including  
Dalits, bear the brunt of the onslaught of the katta panchayat. A two- 
pronged approach, combining political intervention and administrative  
measures, has to be adopted to counter the menace, he says.
Underworld link

In urban areas, the katta panchayat has assumed an entirely different  
role fostered by the politician-anti-social nexus, particularly in  
the wake of the real estate boom in recent years. In Chennai and  
other cities and major towns, they are run by underworld dons, who  
adopt strategies such as the forging of documents to resort to  
illegal arbitration and the intimidation and abduction of victims to  
deal with cases relating to property disputes, business rivalries and  
money transactions.

In Madurai and its suburbs, the menace has reached a level where  
property deals worth more than Rs.2 crore cannot be registered unless  
they are cleared by certain politically influential persons, claims  
S. Selva Gomathi, secretary of the human rights wing of the Society  
for Community Organisation Trust.

In certain areas katta panchayats are also run by political  
functionaries, mostly belonging to the ruling party because it is  
they who are powerful, have the protection of political godfathers,  
and have the tacit assistance of officials of the law-enforcing  
agencies, says Anita Tiphagne, a functionary of People’s Watch.  
According to her, “the katta panchayat does not follow any principle  
of the rule of law. It is, therefore, a system of justice delivery by  
the powerful using their power and very often silencing the powerless.”

The most dangerous aspect of the katta panchayat relates to caste  
discrimination, more particularly in villages in Madurai,  
Ramanthapuram, Pudukottai and Sivaganga districts, according to T.  
Lajapathiroy, joint secretary of the Madurai unit of the Lawyers for  
Human Rights. Persons belonging to traditionally powerful families of  
the dominant communities, who run the katta panchayat, issue fatwas  
prohibiting Dalits from purchasing land in some areas while in some  
other areas tenants are forced to leave the land they cultivate.

Citing an example in a village at Melur taluk in Madurai district, he  
says Dalits have been prevented from participating in the auction of  
temple land. “If any person violates the ‘fatwa’, his/her entire  
family will be excommunicated.”

He claims two Dalits of Thennagarampatti village were murdered in  
July 1992 for violating the panchayat’s order, and the Karur Sessions  
Court awarded double life imprisonment against 26 persons in the case  
in August 2008. According to a study done by Thamizmurasu, from 1983  
to 2007 a total of 27 Dalits were murdered in Madurai district alone  
for not honouring katta panchayat’s decisions, he says.

The cumbersome process of disposal of cases by courts is said to be a  
major factor contributing to the mushrooming of katta panchayats,  
which yield instant results. According to official sources, as many  
as 3.9 lakh civil cases and 36,000 criminal cases were pending in the  
Madras High Court. In the subordinate courts, the numbers as on  
December 31, 2007, were nearly five lakh civil cases and 4.30 lakh  
criminal cases.

Opinions differ on the question of adequacy of the laws to curb the  
katta panchayat menace. Justice Karpagavinayagam, in his judgment on  
April 8, 2004, said: “Having regard to the alarming situation, which  
is not controlled till now, it is proper for this court to suggest to  
the government that it would be advisable to issue an ordinance  
exclusively for eradicating the evil of katta panchayats.”

Senior advocate R.Vaigai, who was amicus curiae in the case,  
expressed the view that apart from the offences listed in the Indian  
Penal Code, “the other offences under the S.C./S.T. (Prevention of  
Atrocities) Act, 1989, and the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment  
on Women Act, 1998, also would get attracted, and if the government  
takes a view that no new ordinance is necessary, the officials can be  
directed to take action under the IPC as well as under the other Acts  
mentioned above”.

As the persons associated with the katta panchayat more often than  
not were officials of the State/local administration/police, they  
must be made aware of the provisions under which action can be taken  
against katta panchayats and that even a private party could not  
violate Articles 21, 23 and 25 of the Constitution and all were bound  
by Article 51-A, she had submitted then.

Jangid feels that amendments are needed to the property registration  
and rent control laws to prevent the registration of forged  
documents. Director General of Police K.P. Jain recently sent a  
circular to police officers listing 14 guidelines to be followed  
while dealing with disputes relating to land and money matters. The  
circular made it clear that katta panchayats should be dealt with  
severely.

As per the court’s direction, the then Chief Secretary to the Tamil  
Nadu government had sent separate letters to all departments in  
November 2003 stating that government servants should not be allowed  
to involve themselves in katta panchayats. In pursuance of that, the  
then Director General of Police sent letters to subordinate officers  
to take effective steps against katta panchayats by registering first  
information reports (FIRs).

A Division Bench of the High Court, comprising Markandey Katju and  
F.M. Ibrahim Kalifulla, giving its verdict in K. Gopal vs The State  
of Tamil Nadu on July 5, 2005, said: “In our opinion, katta  
panchayats could not flourish in the first place without the  
collusion of the police and other authorities, or by their turning a  
blind eye to these unlawful activities. If such unlawful,  
extraconstitutional activities are not put down with an iron hand,  
there will gradually be a collapse of law and order and democracy in  
the State. Hence we direct all the State authorities to take strong  
action in accordance with the law to put down these unlawful,  
hooligan activities which have mushroomed in several areas of the  
State of Tamil Nadu and institute criminal prosecution against those  
who are involved.”•

Copyright © 2009, Frontline.


_____


[7] VICTORY FOR SECULAR ACTIVISTS DEMANDING A FULLER INQUIRY ON THE  
ROLE OF TOP AUTHORITIES DURING GUJARAT 2002 COMMUNAL VIOLENCE


CNN-IBN TV report on SC order to probe Modi's and other officials  
role & Gujarat Pogrom 2002
http://communalism.blogspot.com/2009/04/cnn-ibn-tv-report-on-sc-order- 
to-probe.html

The Supreme Court Order to Probe Modi is A Ray of Hope for victims of  
2002 Gujarat Carnage . . .
http://communalism.blogspot.com/2009/04/supreme-court-order-to-probe- 
modi-is.html

India's Supreme Courts orders investigation on role of Narendra Modi  
during Gujarat pogrom of 2002
http://communalism.blogspot.com/2009/04/indias-supreme-courts- 
orders.html

______


[8] REFUTATION OF SPURIOUS CLAIMS RE INDUS VALLEY SYMBOLS

REFUTATION OF INVENTED CLAIMS REGARDING INDUS SCRIPT
by Steve Farmer, Richard Sproat, and Michael Witzel
http://www.sacw.net/article858.html


INDUS VALLEY SYMBOLS LINKED TO LANGUAGE
Harappan civilisation was indeed literate, says new study
http://www.hindu.com/2009/04/24/stories/2009042455732000.htm

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South Asia Citizens Wire
Buzz for secularism, on the dangers of fundamentalism(s), on
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