SACW | May 21-24, 2009 / Sri Lanka Appeal / Displaced from Swat/Buner / Gujarat on trial / Demolition of Gandhian space / Abuse of workers rights / Left must rethink
Harsh Kapoor
aiindex at gmail.com
Sun May 24 05:59:28 CDT 2009
South Asia Citizens Wire | May 21-24, 2009 | Dispatch No. 2627 - Year
11 running
From: www.sacw.net
[ SACW Dispatches for 2009-2010 are dedicated to the memory of Dr.
Sudarshan Punhani (1933-2009), husband of Professor Tamara Zakon and
a comrade and friend of Daya Varma ]
____
[1] Sri Lanka: Putting our own house in order (Kishali Pinto
Jayawardene)
- Sri Lanka: Special Session of the UN Human Rights Council -
Urgent Appeal to Indian Govt. and members of Parliament
[2] Pakistan: Refugees from Swat/Buner - observations from a field
trip (Pervez Hoodbhoy)
- More mines (Editorial, The News)
- Allah Hafiz to Khuda Hafiz (Nadeem F. Paracha)
- Karachi’s ethnic faultlines widen (Nirupama Subramanian)
[3] India: Why Fool Yourselves? - Introspection may help the CPI(M)
recognize a harsh truth (Ashok Mitra)
[4] India: Gujarat on trial (Editorial, Communalism Combat)
[5] India: Two Sides To Democracy - The demolition of a Gandhian
ashram in Chhattisgarh (Ramachandra Guha)
[6] India: The Defeat of Divisive Forces in General Elections May
2009 - Statement by All India Secular Forum
[7] UAE - South Asia: Protect Workers from Abuses by Labor
Agencies, Construction Firms (Human Rights Watch)
[8] Announcements:
- Public Forum: People Solidarity Creating Real "Hope" And "Change"
For Pakistan (Surrey, BC, Canada, 30 May 2009)
_____
[1] Sri Lanka:
The Sunday Times, May 24, 2009
PUTTING OUR OWN HOUSE IN ORDER
by Kishali Pinto Jayawardene
This week, one of the more absurd spectacles that I was unfortunately
privy to was the sight of a portly and pompous gentleman apparently
representing a 'Sinhala Association' overseas, who when interviewed
on a foreign news channel, held forth on his version as to why the
Tamils in Sri Lanka had been agitating for increased rights during
the past three decades. According to him, this was purely because the
Tamils in South India had embarked on a separate Tamil State, which
struggle had spilled over to the northern and eastern parts of Sri
Lanka. This was (predictably) a prelude to the interviewee being
mercilessly lambasted - if not ridiculed - by a remarkably well
informed news anchor who engaged in a rebuttal that left his helpless
target gasping for air.
In another unsettling interview, an ambassador refused to concede
that there had been any substantial problems affecting the Tamil
people since independence, foolishly pointing to, (of all things),
provisions relating to recognition of Tamil as an official language
in the Constitution. Here again, when immediately refuted by the
argument that this is a theoretical provision that has been
disregarded in practice for countless years, which fact has been
recognised even by governments, this ambassador was left looking
equally and hilariously nonplussed.
Need for skilled diplomatic representation
This led me to wonder whether, in effect, such idiotic gentlemen are
employed for the express purpose of subjecting Sri Lanka and the
Sinhalese people to extreme disparagement when, this is exactly the
time for quite the contrary to be evidenced. Sri Lanka needs skilled
and sophisticated arguments from its diplomatic missions overseas and
from those purporting to represent the country to make the argument
towards reconciliation genuinely and sincerely.
The country does not need diplomatic nincompoops with only their ill
assumed pomposity to cover their absence of capacity and skill. It is
true that the arguments made by the pro-LTTE diaspora are equally
absurd at times and those arguments, on the occasions that I have
seen them being articulated, have been met with similarly strong
rebuttals from the news anchors. However, the point is that, we can
ill afford to have the official representatives of this country in
particular, descending to the propaganda depths of others. Equally,
we need to stop our denigration of foreign news channels and instead,
(at least now), learn to use them more effectively in the case that
Sri Lanka makes in regard to itself in the world.
Justice as differentiated from reconstruction
This is at the minimum. Far more is, of course, required to dent the
increasingly shrill cry that is being made internationally against
this country. On Monday, a special session of the United Nations
Human Rights Council meets to consider Sri Lanka in what is an
unprecedented step. The government is currently making its call for
funds towards reconstruction and rehabilitation but the question is
however as to whether this, by itself will suffice to re-amalgamate
the Tamil people within our country and within our community. What
about the question of justice for the extreme human rights violations
that they have suffered? In what manner are we going to secure their
demands for justice? In what manner are we going to ensure that these
violations will never happen again?
The 2006 Udalagama Commission has turned out, as predicted by many of
us at the start itself, to be a completely farcical exercise, its
purposes far from securing accountability or justice for the victims
in the several cases that it had been authorized to investigate.
For that matter, not only the minorities but the majority community
needs the Rule of Law to be restored in Sri Lanka equally urgently.
As has been pointed out time and time again in this column, justice
is not limited to the ethnic minorities alone. It is not only the
Tamils and Muslims who have suffered at the hands of the State.
Instead, as our history shows (and regardless of pompous and ostrich-
lie individuals who prefer to believe otherwise), the Sinhalese
people have also been subjected to similar indignities. These need to
be addressed collectively and wholeheartedly.
Imperative changes that need to be made
We need to see the emergency law consigned to the dustbin and the
normal law restored in relation to every aspect of our law
enforcement process. We need to see immediate improvement in our
legal and investigative processes in relation to grave human rights
violations.
For years, a hostile prosecutorial/legal system has led to victims of
human rights violations being penalized at all stages of the process,
from the very first instance of lodging a first information in the
police station to the protracted and intensely adversarial nature of
legal proceedings, resulting in many witnesses being coerced/
compelled to change their testimony which again reinforces the cycle
of impunity that prevails.
The killing of witnesses has been a persistent feature of the
country's troubled criminal justice system for many years. The
prosecutorial/judicial process itself is problematic; the lack of
political will to prosecute grave human rights violations and the
lack of will to convict is clearly evidenced. This needs to change.
Justice needs to be according to law
It is a trite proposition that justice must be done according to the
law. We need to depart from the thinking that 'anything goes' when
fighting the enemy and that strict standards of accountability should
not be imposed on police officers and armed forces personnel.
This rationale applies with even greater force to the prosecution of
human rights abuses occurring during the North/East conflict. Indeed,
the most persecuted and the most marginalised are the civilian
victims of the North/East conflict who are traumatized at all points
of the legal process; from the commonly prevalent transfer of cases
from local courts to judicial forums situated in predominantly
majority provinces or the capital to painfully protracted legal
proceedings which they are required to attend despite financial/
social hardships, (with many of them living in refugee camps), and
the generally insensitive manner in which the prosecutorial/legal
system responds to their plight. This needs to change. Reforms to the
country's criminal law and procedure need to be effected and
implemented.
Currently, there are calls for inquiries and investigations to be
conducted internationally to ascertain the crimes that had been
committed during the conflict. Surely the best way to meet these
calls is to put in order our own domestic systems of justice that
have irrefutably been shown to be non functional rather (indeed) than
dysfunctional. This is the best way that President Mahinda Rajapaksa
would be able to show that his rhetoric in his Victory Day speech
that he would protect the Tamil people (and that indeed, there would
be henceforth no reference to the term 'minorities'), is translated
to actual reality.
o o o
http://www.sacw.net/article927.html
SRI LANKA: SPECIAL SESSION OF THE UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL - URGENT
APPEAL TO INDIAN GOVT. AND MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT
May 24, 2009
Dear Colleagues and Fellow Women and Men Human Rights Defenders,
I am sending you attached below a very urgent appeal that is to call
upon the Government of India as well as all political parties within
the country and their newly elected Members of Parliament to take a
position during the upcoming Special Session of the UN Human Rights
Council that is to be held in early next week on 26th May, 2009. Many
of you were party to the world wide appeal that was sent by Forum
Asia as a result of which this appeal for a Special Session was
finalized and is to be soon convened.
The appeal specifically requests the Government of India to stand
independently and raise the issue that will bolster its image in the
world wide community rather than what it has actually been doing. I
would greatly appreciate your immediate action although today is a
Sunday and kindly request you to pass this on to as many colleagues
as possible so that this reaches he corridors of power as early as
possible.
Kindly do make it a point to send us copies of your communications
for passing it on to our colleagues from Forum Asia in Geneva.
With kind regards and best wishes and in solidarity,
Henri Tiphagne
URGENT APPEAL TO THE NEWLY ELECTED GOVERNMENT IN INDIA
24th May 2009
Hon'ble Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh,
Hon'ble Chairperson of the UPA, Ms. Sonia Gandhi,
Hon'ble Mr. S.M. Krishna, External Affairs Minister,
Hon'ble General Secretary of the AICC, Mr. Rahul Gandhi,
All leaders of National and Regional Political parties and
All the newly elected Members of the Indian Parliament,
As human rights defenders concerned about the human rights situation
in Sri Lanka, we are gravely concerned that the government of India
has extended its support to the government of Sri Lanka at the
Special Session of the UN Human Rights Council convened on May 26,
2009 to discuss the emerging humanitarian and human rights situation
in Sri Lanka.
The decision of the President of the Human rights Council to call
this Special Session was based on a call by 17 members of the
Council: Argentina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Chile, France,
Germany, Italy, Mauritius, Mexico, Netherlands, Republic of Korea,
Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom and Uruguay.
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia,
Finland, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg,
Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Sweden signed on to the
call as Observer States of the Council.
The 'conclusion' of the military offensive in the north of the island
has sharpened concerns around the world with regard to the protection
of civilians in the context of the conflict. The present situation
calls for urgent and immediate responses to the humanitarian needs of
the over 300,000 people who have been displaced as a consequence of
the recent fighting, as well as for protection of their human rights.
The continuing denial of access to the most recent zones of conflict
to international humanitarian agencies places the lives of those
civilians who remain trapped within these areas at risk. According to
available information, there are still civilians stranded in the
conflict-affected areas and monitored evacuation is essential.
Restrictions imposed on media and on civil society actors with regard
to travel to the conflict-affected areas and to the IDP camps housing
the most recently displaced means that independent investigation into
allegations of gross violations of human rights and of war crimes
remains impossible. Conditions within the camps remain far below
acceptable standards, with shortages of essential items. The
conditions in which IDPs are reaching the camps, with infected
wounds, dehydration and malnutrition being rampant among them, call
for specialized and emergency care. On April 27, Vavuniya Magistrate
Alexraja registered the deaths of 14 elderly persons in one camp
(Chettikulam) on one day alone, which he attributed to malnutrition.
Restriction of access to humanitarian agencies, the provision of
security by the military and the presence of armed paramilitaries
within the camps all lead to an environment of fear and anxiety and
heighten concerns regarding the safety and security of the IDPs.
While we appreciate the security concerns voiced by the government,
we reiterate that these considerations cannot be allowed to lead to
human rights abuses such as abduction, disappearance, arbitrary
detention and summary execution.
For example, on Wednesday May 20, there were reports of the removal
of over 500 boys between the ages of 11 and 17 from the IDP camp at
Manik Farm to the camp at Nellikulam Technical College, causing great
anxiety to their parents and family members.
The continuing intimidation of human rights defenders, media persons
and critics of the military resolution of the conflict and the
labeling of them as being 'anti-national' stifles the expression of
concerns regarding the humanitarian crisis in the north.
The prolonged detention of the 3 doctors from the Vanni - Thangamuttu
Sathyamoorhty, Thurairaja Varatharajan and V. Sanmugaraja - who are
accused of providing information regarding the situation inside the
conflict zone as well as the expulsion of journalists constitute
violations of the freedom of expression and opinion that have dire
consequences especially in a context in which transparency and
accountability become of paramount importance. The Resolution tabled
for the Special Session on May 26 by the government of Sri Lanka with
the support of the government of India and several other governments
that are members of the Human Rights Council seeks to underplay the
critical situation and instead focuses on calling on the
international community to extend financial assistance to the
government.
Despite all reports from the UN and other international agencies
regarding the poor conditions in the camps, the lack of security of
IDPs and the denial of access to the camps to humanitarian agencies,
the Resolution 'Commends the measures taken by the Government of Sri
Lanka to address the urgent needs of the IDPs and 'Welcomes the
continued cooperation between the Government of Sri Lanka and
relevant UN agencies and other humanitarian organizations'.
We urge the government of India to consider the humanitarian
implications of allowing the government of Sri Lanka to avoid any
reaffirmation of its obligations to treat the Tamil community of Sri
Lanka, and in particular those who have been most affected by the
recent conflict, as full citizens. The Special Session on the 26th
May should not be perceived either as a mechanism for negative
criticisms of the government of Sri Lanka or as an arena in which the
government of Sri Lanka can be permitted to evade its obligations
under international human rights and humanitarian law. Rather it
should provide a forum for all governments including the government
of India to enter into a dialogue with the government of Sri Lanka
regarding the following:
* Cooperation with the UN and other international and national
humanitarian agencies to ensure unrestricted access to the IDP camps
for the recently displaced, and to facilitate provision of the
immediate physical, medical and psychological needs of the IDPs, in
keeping with the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement and
respecting the freedom of movement and expression of the IDP
communities;
* Special attention to IDP groups with special needs and vulnerable
sectors of the IDP community such as the elderly, pregnant and
lactating women, infants and children without adult accompaniment;
* Respect for international humanitarian norms and cooperation with
international agencies to ensure the safe evacuation of all remaining
civilians, former combatants who are hors de combat and the wounded
from the recent conflict zones;
* Creation of a centralized data base of all those detained by the
state during the past months, including those LTTE cadre and members
of their families who have surrendered to the security forces, and to
ensure access to these detainees by the ICRC. Family members of all
detained persons should be informed as to the whereabouts of their
detained relatives and special arrangements should be made for the
security and care of detained women and children;
* Creation of a central list of all places of detention being
presently utilized by the security forces and intelligence agencies and
ensure access to these detention sites and to the detainees by the ICRC;
* Creation of a centralized data base of all those IDPs presently
living in camps and receiving medical treatment in hospitals in order
to facilitate family reunification and ensure that international and
national humanitarian agencies have access to this information. The
Special Session could also propose to the government of Sri Lanka
some issues that require medium and long-term attention:
§ the need to gather a team of local and international forensic
experts accompanied by independent observers to travel to the
conflict zones of the Vanni to investigate allegations of war crimes
attacks on civilians and on wounded combatants and surrendees.
§ the need to engage in a multi-partisan process to ensure equitable
and just processes of reconstruction and rehabilitation;
§ the need for a consultative and participatory process that includes
civil society as well as national and international agencies to
facilitate resettlement in a manner that guarantees re-integration of
communities and reconstruction of livelihoods in a framework that
respects human rights and human dignity;
§ consensus on the part of the government of Sri Lanka regarding
modalities for demobilisation of LTTE cadres to ensure international
verification of laying down of weapons and the protection of former
combatants who have surrendered as governed by the Rules of War and
Geneva Conventions.
It is in particular imperative that the Session addresses issues of
access of humanitarian agencies to the IDP camps, which is imperative
for ensuring the treatment of IDPs in keeping with international
standards. The establishing of data bases on IDPs, surrendees and
detainees is critical to combat the allegations that there have been
disappearances while IDPs were fleeing the fighting in the past two
months right up to the present.
Access of independent observers - journalists, humanitarian actors,
human rights defenders - to the conflict-affected areas can help in
gathering accurate documentation regarding the situation on the
ground in the past weeks of the conflict and help the government of
Sri Lanka and the international community to resolve the spate of
allegations and counter-allegations regarding human rights violations
and war crimes.
As Sri Lanka's closest neighbor, India bears a special responsibility
towards all peace loving citizens of Sri Lanka, of India and of the
world to ensure that this Special Session leads to an improvement of
the conditions on the ground for all those affected by the recent
conflict and prepares the ground for a long-term political solution.
This is to be sent by each one of you urgently to: (Kindly do mark a
copy to me henri at pwtn.org for our records to be sent to Forum Asia in
Geneva)
1. Dr. Manmohan Singh, the Hon'ble Prime Minister of India
( manmohan at sansad.nic.in )
2. Ms. Sonia Gandhi, the Chairperson of the UPA and the President of
the Congress Party, (soniagandhi at sansad.nic.in )
3. Mr. S.M. Krishna , the Hon'ble Minister of External Affairs
( diream at mea.gov.in, pseam at mea.gov.in )
4. Mr. Rahul Gandhi, the General Secretary of the Congress Party
( office at rahulgandhi.in )
5. The Presidents, Chairpersons and General Secretary of all National
and Regional Political Parties
6. All the newly elected Members of Parliament
____
[2] Pakistan:
From: Pervez Hoodbhoy
Date: Fri, May 22, 2009 at 9:04 AM
SUBJECT: REFUGEES FROM SWAT/BUNER - OBSERVATIONS FROM YESTERDAY'S VISIT
The QAU physics faculty and students took a bus of relief supplies to
areas around Mardan for refugees from Swat, Buner, Dir. The money for
the supplies came mainly from student and teacher donations, and some
from the Eqbal Ahmad Foundation.
Some quick observations:
1. There are several tent cities along the Islamabad-Swabi-Mardan
stretch.
It is said that about 2 million people have been displaced. We spent
some time in one of them (Sheikh Yasin Camp) but decided against
depositing our precious supplies there. Every NGO in the world,
Islamic and secular, seems to be in the camps. Yes, this is a real
struggle for hearts and minds that will determine the future
direction of the war—and everyone knows it. A strong army presence in
this particular camp helps assure a moderately fair distribution
mechanism, maintain law and order, and deal with Taliban elements who
may have infiltrated the refugees. I had a chat with tough machine
gun-toting junior officers who suggested that we go to places that
have received no aid rather than in their camp. Good advice.
2. Subsequently, we spent our day searching for the neediest of the
needy.
Eventually we deposited our supplies in 3 different places: a village
where refugee families had been allowed temporary residence in hujras
(Pashtuns are incredibly hospitable people). Then, a sugar cane
research institute whose residential quarters had been occupied by
refugees, and two public schools where refugee families are living in
classrooms.
3. Swat refugees told us that they had fled both because of Taliban
atrocities and army action (F-16’s, tank and mortar shellings). Many
blamed the Taliban for their predicament, but said they actually fled
because of the military action. Nevertheless, perhaps out of fear of
talking to strangers like us, they were not prepared to condemn
either side.
4. Comparing the Pakistani state’s tardy and inadequate response to
the 2005 earthquake and this man-made catastrophe, I feel that
everyone is higher on the learning curve. This time around, both the
state and civil society have acted much quicker. This is the good news.
5. The bad news is that Swat, Buner, Dir, etc. are drowning in children.
Every family to which we supplied provisions had 7 or more children.
One man scratched his head - he thought he had 16 or 17 kids, but
could not quite remember. In the school-housed community of 300
refugees, housed at 40 per classroom, 4 kids had been born in the
last 20 days, and more were on the way. If this pace continues, the
world will run out of oxygen. Girls upto 7-8 years run around like
normal kids. But after that age, they totally disappear. In this
horrible heat (40C, it was relatively cool today), it must be a
double hell to be a refugee girl and then be confined to a tent or
room with 20 others. Unless Pashtoons repudiate the toxic mix of
religion and tribal culture that oppresses their womenfolk, they will
be miserable in perpetuity even without external enemies. And they
will be the cause of endless miseries to others as well.
Pervez Hoodbhoy
Chairman, Department of Physics
Quaid-e-Azam University
Islamabad, Pakistan
Phone: 92-51-9064-2125 (Off), 260-1108 (Off)
o o o
The News, May 23, 2009
EDITORIAL: MORE MINES
The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), a Geneva-based
network of over 1,400 NGO in 90 countries, has condemned the laying
of anti-personnel landmines in Mingora. According to Human Rights
Watch (HRW), a New York-based human rights monitoring group, local
people have witnessed the Taliban laying mines in heavily populated
areas of the principal city of Swat. The devices, which have now been
banned by 156 countries around the world, target civilians. They
often maim by blowing away limbs, or causing other horrendous
injuries. Pakistan remains one of the 39 nations yet to ratify the
1997 Mine Ban Treaty. The situation in Mingora is a reminder of why
we need to do so, and to destroy the vast stockpiles of mines that
still exist in our country. More continue to be manufactured.
To try and prevent civilians being hit by the mines, possibly as they
attempt to flee Swat, a local organization is to begin an awareness-
raising campaign. There is no knowing if this will be enough to
prevent casualties. The desperate situation in Swat means people are
anxious to reach safer places and this adds to the risks they face.
The federal cabinet had too been warned earlier of mines being laid
by the Taliban. If any doubts still exist, this act exposes them as a
true force of evil. There is an urgent need to use all means
possible, including radio and television to warn people of the
dangers. Attempts to de-mine the area, with the help of local people
aware of where the mines may have been placed, too need to be begun
so that people can be spared still greater suffering in a war that
has already taken a huge toll on the lives and welfare of non-
combatants caught up in it through no fault of their own.
o o o
Dawn, 24 May, 2009
ALLAH HAFIZ TO KHUDA HAFIZ
by Nadeem F. Paracha
The first time Allah Hafiz was used in public was in 1985 when a
famous TV host, a frequent sight on PTV during the Zia era, signed
off her otherwise secular show with a firm ‘Allah Hafiz.’
As most Pakistanis over the ages of six and seven would remember,
before the now ubiquitous ‘Allah Hafiz’ came ‘Khuda Hafiz’.
The immediate history of the demise of Khuda Hafiz can be traced back
to a mere six to seven years in the past. It was in Karachi some time
in 2002 when a series of banners started appearing across Sharea
Faisal. Each banner had two messages. The first one advised Pakistani
Muslims to stop addressing God by the informal ‘Tu’ and instead
address him as ‘Aap’ (the respectful way of saying ‘you’ in Urdu).
The second message advised Pakistanis to replace the term Khuda Hafiz
with Allah Hafiz.
The banners were produced and installed by Islamic organisations
associated with a famous mosque in Karachi. Ever since the 1980s,
this institution had been a bastion of leading puritanical doctrines
of Islam. Many of the institution’s scholars were, in one way or the
other, also related to the Islamic intelligentsia sympathetic to the
Taliban version of political Islam and of other similar
fundamentalist outfits.
However, one just cannot study the Allah Hafiz phenomenon through
what happened in 2002. This phenomenon has a direct link with the
disastrous history of cultural casualties Pakistan has steadily been
suffering for over thirty years now. Beyond the 2002 banner incident,
whose two messages were then duly taken up by a series of Tableeghi
Jamaat personnel and as well as trendsetting living room Islamic
evangelists, a lot of groundwork had already taken place to
culturally convert the largely pluralistic and religiously tolerant
milieu of Pakistan into a singular concentration of Muslims following
the “correct” version of Islam.
The overriding reasons for this were foremost political, as General
Ziaul Haq and his politico-religious cohorts went about setting up
madressahs in an attempt to harden the otherwise softer strain of
faith that a majority of Pakistanis followed so they could be
prepared for the grand ‘Afghan jihad’ against the atheistic Soviet
Union with a somewhat literalist and highly politicised version of
Islam. The above process not only politically radicalised sections of
Pakistani society, its impact was apparent on culture at large as well.
For example, as bars and cinemas started closing down, young men and
women, who had found space in these places to simply meet up, were
forced to move to shady cafes, restaurants and parks which, by the
mid-1980s, too started to be visited by cops and fanatical moral
squads called the ‘Allah Tigers’, who ran around harassing couples in
these spaces, scolding them for going against Islam, or, on most
occasions, simply extorting money from the shaken couples through
blackmail.
Then, getting a blanket ideological and judicial cover by the Zia
dictatorship, the cops started to harass almost any couple riding a
motorbike, a car or simply sitting at the beach. Without even asking
whether the woman was the guy’s sister or mother (on many occasions
they were!), the cops asked for the couples’ marriage certificate!
Failing to produce one (which in most cases they couldn’t), hefty
sums of money were extorted as the couples were threatened to be sent
to jail under the dreadful Hudood Ordinances. The same one the
Musharraf government eventually scrapped.
Some of these horrendous practices were duly stopped during the
Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif governments in the 1990s, but the cat
had long been set among the pigeons. Encouraged by their initial
successes in the 1980s, Islamist culture-evangelists became a lot
more aggressive in the 1990s. Drawing room and TV evangelists went
about attempting to construct a “true” Islamic society, and at least
one of their prescriptions was to replace the commonly used Khuda
Hafiz with Allah Hafiz.
This was done because these crusading men and women believed that
once they had convinced numerous Pakistanis to follow the faith by
adorning a long beard and hijab, the words Khuda Hafiz would not seem
appropriate coming out from the mouths of such Islamic-looking folks.
They believed that Khuda can mean any God, whereas the Muslims’ God
was Allah. Some observers suggest that since many non-Muslims
residing in Pakistan too had started to use Khuda Hafiz, this
incensed the crusaders who thought that non-Muslim Pakistanis were
trying to adopt Islamic gestures only to pollute them. The first time
Allah Hafiz was used in public was in 1985 when a famous TV host, a
frequent sight on PTV during the Zia era, signed off her otherwise
secular show with a firm ‘Allah Hafiz.’ However, even though some
Islamic preachers continued the trend in the 1990s, it did not
trickle down to the mainstream until the early 2000s. As society
continued to collapse inwards — especially the urban middle class —
the term Allah Hafiz started being used as if Pakistanis had always
said Allah Hafiz.
So much so that today, if you are to bid farewell by saying Khuda
Hafiz, you will either generate curious facial responses, or worse,
get a short lecture on why you should always say Allah Hafiz instead
— a clear case of glorified cultural isolationism to ‘protect’ one’s
comfort zone of myopia from the influential and uncontrollable trends
of universal pluralism?
I’m afraid this is the case.
o o o
SEE ALSO:
KARACHI’S ETHNIC FAULTLINES WIDEN
by Nirupama Subramanian
http://www.hindu.com/2009/05/24/stories/2009052455951400.htm
_____
[3] India: Reflections on The Left's Performance in National Elections
The Telegraph
May 22 , 2009
WHY FOOL YOURSELVES? - Introspection may help the CPI(M) recognize a
harsh truth
Cutting Corners - Ashok Mitra
In a country where three-quarters of the population are poor by any
criterion, and at least one-quarter live below the level of
subsistence, the Left cannot but be acutely relevant. What is perhaps
of equal relevance is an adequate parliamentary presence on their
behalf; otherwise the victims of persistent deprivation may seek
advice and counsel from such armed bands as are roaming the forests
of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. The extremely poor performance of the
Left in the Lok Sabha polls — the number of Left members of
parliament has shrunk from 60 to less than 25 — should in fact be a
matter for concern.
The heartland of India has of course always eluded the Left; its
inability to cope with the class-caste dichotomy is well known. The
Left influence has mostly remained confined to Kerala and West
Bengal. In both these states, they have fared badly in the just-
concluded elections. In Kerala, the electorate is in the habit of
switching its loyalty from the Congress-led United Democratic Front
to the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front
from one election to the next; the support for the two fronts is also
so tautly balanced that a marginal shift in the voting pattern
results in an inordinately big shift in the number of seats won or
lost. This has happened this time too: it is well on the cards that,
come the next election season, the Left will recover lost ground.
The circumstances are qualitatively different in West Bengal. On
March 13 last, this column had occasion to let drop the following
comment: “The prospect of the Left in the impending Lok Sabha polls
seems somewhat dicey, but not on account of the Congress and the
famous lady coming together. The determining factor is going to be
the degree of erosion of the CPI(M)’s mass base in the course of the
past two-and-a-half years, which might amount to five per cent or
more.” The poll outcome has vindicated the prognosis.
The Left debacle in the state has nothing to do with the coming
together of the Congress and the Trinamul Congress. In constituency
after constituency, the Left Front has lost simply because of a
substantial swing against it, often to the extent of more than five
per cent; in pockets where the issue of land acquisition had a direct
bearing on the life and living of the local populace, the swing has
been as much as 15 to 20 per cent. The parliamentary election was
converted by general consensus into a straightforward referendum on
the Left Front administration’s performance in the state. The verdict
could not have been more clear-cut, with the electorate expressing
its deep lack of confidence in the state government. It is the same
electorate which had, in May 2006, reinstalled the front in power for
the seventh successive time; the front had then captured 235 out of a
total of 294 seats in the state assembly. An extraordinary reversal
of fortune has come about in the course of a bare three years.
For supporters and devotees of the Left Front, to turn a Nelson’s eye
to the reality of things will be self-defeating. The disappointing
poll performance, a front spokesman has reportedly suggested, is a by-
product of the national wave in favour of the Congress. The swing
towards the Congress across the country is, however, barely two per
cent, the shift of votes against the Left Front in West Bengal
averages to around six per cent.
Another explanation proffered for the front’s debacle actually runs
along communal lines. The poll reversal has occurred allegedly on
account of the minority community voting solidly against the Left.
This alibi, too, does not hold water. There is hardly any difference
between the voting pattern in the Muslim-dominated constituencies in
Murshidabad and that in Bankura where the minority community has a
low presence. (Not that Muslims in the state do not have genuine
reasons to feel unhappy with the front government. Leave aside the
controversy over the Sachar committee report, the home department of
the state administration has been enthusiastically endorsing the
Bharatiya Janata Party line on supposed infiltration from Bangladesh
and supposed goings-on in the madrasas.)
It will not do to run away from the crux of the matter. The main poll
issue in West Bengal was the state government’s policy of capitalist
industrial growth; events in Singur and Nandigram were offshoots of
that policy. Many sections, including staunch long-time supporters of
the Left cause, had been shocked by the cynical nonchalance initially
exhibited by the state government on police firing on women and
children in Nandigram. A series of other faux pas was committed in
its wake, including the messy affair of the Tata small car project.
The electorate reached its conclusion on the government’s putting all
its eggs in the Nano basket. Once the Tatas departed, the state
administration was dubbed not only insensitive, but incompetent as
well. Questions have continued to be raised one after another: was it
really necessary to take over fertile land at Singur, why could not
the Tatas be prevailed upon to choose an alternative site, why did
not the state government apply adequate pressure on the United
Progressive Alliance regime in New Delhi — which was assumed to
depend upon Left support for survival — to pass the necessary
legislation so that land belonging to closed factories could be taken
over to locate new industries? And why the state government was
reluctant to lobby earnestly in the national capital for adequate
resources from centrally controlled public financial institutions to
the state exchequer, which could have ensured industrial expansion in
the public domain itself — whether this reluctance was merely due to
lack of resources or because of a deeper ideological reason such as a
loss of faith in socialistic precepts and practices.
A number of other unsavoury facts also need to be laid bare. A state
government does not have too much of funds or other spoils to
distribute. But in a milieu where feudal elements co-inhabit with the
petit bourgeoisie, persons in a position to dispense only little
favours can also attract fair-weather friends and gather sycophants
around them. Concentric circles of favour-rendering develop fast.
Merit necessarily takes a backseat in official decisions. Corruption,
never mind how small-scale, creeps in. Nepotism, sprouting at the
top, gradually infects descending rungs of administration, including
the panchayats. Much of all this has taken place of late within the
precincts of the Left regime. The net effect is a steep decline in
the quality of governance. The fall in efficiency is illustrated by
the inept handling of programmes like the rural employment guarantee
scheme. To make things worse, all this has been accompanied by a kind
of hauteur which goes ill with radical commitment.
Those organizing protests and agitations against the Left Front
regime — and who have succeeded in bringing state administration to a
virtual standstill — are of course no lily-white species. They
include a fair proportion of crooks, knaves and opportunists. But the
voters did not sit in judgment on them. they voted against the Left
Front; whom they voted for was of secondary concern.
The CPI(M) still has, in the state, within its fold, thousands of
sincere, selfless and dedicated workers and followers. A large number
of them are unhappy at the way the state administration conducted
itself in recent years, but the lopsided discipline of democratic
centralism has kept them silent. Suggestions from outside — even from
friendly sources — are generally not welcome in the party. An
organizational structure of this nature does not allow scope for
continuous appraisal and re-appraisal of policies and programmes;
those within the set-up are apparently satisfied taking each other’s
washing. On the other hand, if the status quo continues, the
consequences of the doings of the government the party controls in
West Bengal will have to be borne by radical-minded millions strewn
across the nation.
There is a school of thought that the Left Front regime should redo
its arithmetic, correct some of the mistakes it had committed and use
the two years before the scheduled assembly poll to stage a recovery.
However, in the absence of a tranquil atmosphere, none of this will
be achievable; the formidable lady will not grant the front that
tranquillity. Her minions can be expected to be permanently on the
streets till the Left regime is reduced to a totally helpless and
bewildered state. It will then stand even more discredited than what
it is today.
Does it not make more sense for the front ministry to remit office
immediately, seeking forgiveness from the people for the hurt it has
caused to their hopes and sentiments? Some of the front’s disaffected
flock are likely to return to the fold following such a gesture. The
lady too will have nothing to rail against any more. Should she,
through New Delhi’s dispensation, attain her ambition to rule the
state, the people would be provided an opportunity to assess
objectively persons, parties and programmes.
Withdrawal from office will assist the CPI(M) to attempt a new
beginning in the state. It will also help it to shed some of the
dross it has accumulated in recent times as well as some of the
superciliousness creeping in at the top. A season of introspection
could also persuade the party’s state leadership to take cognizance
of a harsh truth: acknowledge that the slogan of development is no
substitute for ideology; it only spawns an attitude of mind which
places self-seeking on a pedestal and acts as breeding ground for an
apolitical generation which either does not care to vote or decides
that if capitalist growth is what is aimed at, it is more appropriate
to vote for an unabashed capitalist party than for a confused Left.
_____
[4] India: Justice for Victims of the Gujarat Pogrom of 2002
Communalism Combat, May 2009
Editorial
GUJARAT ON TRIAL
An order and a judgement of the Supreme Court – in quick succession,
on April 27 and May 1 – both pertaining to the genocide in Gujarat in
2002, together constitute a defining moment for the judicial process
in the Narendra Modi-ruled state.
In May 2002 Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) had filed a petition
in the apex court arguing that given the overwhelming evidence of
police complicity in the state-sponsored carnage, to prevent further
subversion of the justice process at least the major carnage cases
must be investigated by an independent agency. Fifteen months later,
the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) asked for transfer of
these trials outside the state. CJP intervened, filing over 65
affidavits exposing shocking subversion of the law. In November 2003,
in the midst of hearing the NHRC/CJP petitions in the Best Bakery
case, the Supreme Court stayed trial of the other massacre cases. In
addition, CJP’s original petition asking for reinvestigation was
clubbed with the NHRC matter.
In 2008 the apex court appointed a Special Investigation Team (SIT)
headed by RK Raghavan, a retired director of the CBI, to probe into
nine major massacre cases. The investigation has among other things
led to the arrest in February-March 2009 of Dr Maya Kodnani, a
minister in the Modi cabinet, Dr Jaideep Patel, a top VHP leader, and
Valsad deputy superintendent of police, Kiritsinh Erda, on charges
including attempt to murder and bid to destroy evidence. Kodnani and
Patel were named by victim survivors in 12 FIRs in 2002 but very soon
their names were surreptitiously dropped. Clubbing FIRs, dropping the
names of influential accused, appointing public prosecutors who are
members of the BJP; these are just some of the devious ploys at work
in Gujarat.
The enormous import of the apex court’s ruling concerning the day-to-
day trial of the nine massacre cases in Gujarat lies in the fact that
it has effectively put the entire justice system in Gujarat on trial.
Witness protection should be the responsibility of the Gujarat
government. But the apex court has shifted this responsibility on to
the SIT. The Gujarat government is not free to appoint public
prosecutors; it can only do so in consultation with the SIT, the
latter having the final say. Even the chief justice of the Gujarat
high court has been asked to ensure that judges for the nine trials
are carefully selected. The SIT is to keep the Supreme Court
regularly posted on the progress of the trials. To top it all, there
is the caveat that the NHRC/CJP prayer for a trial of these cases
outside Gujarat, as in the Best Bakery and the Bilkees Bano case, has
not been rejected but is held in abeyance.
If this judgement charts new territory in the history of communal
carnage in India, far more historic is the court’s order to the SIT
to investigate the role of 63 accused in the Zakiya Jaffri/CJP
petition, including Chief Minister Modi, a dozen top politicians who
were in Modi’s cabinet in 2006 (when the Zakiya Jaffri/CJP petitions
were filed; four of them still are), top bureaucrats and police
officers.
If ever the history of India’s recurring communal carnage, and the
role of the criminal justice system in punishing the guilty, is
written, high praise must be reserved for Justice Arijit Pasayat who
retired from the Supreme Court on May 10. It was he who wrote the
April 2004 judgement upholding the Zahira Shaikh/CJP petition for the
transfer out of Gujarat and retrial of the Best Bakery case in
Mumbai. It was Justice Pasayat who, in the same judgement, had
referred to Modi as a "modern-day Nero". It was he who, as part of a
three-member Supreme Court bench, issued the order on April 27 for
the SIT to probe into the role of 63 top BJP politicians, IAS and IPS
officers in Gujarat. And it was he who wrote the judgement of May 1,
directing day-to-day trial of the nine massacre cases under the
watchful eye of an adequately empowered SIT.
Even the best among judges are constrained by the evidence placed
before them. The state of Gujarat – whose constitutional obligation
it is to ensure the rule of law, protect life and property, prosecute
the guilty – has only compounded its crime of sponsoring the 2002
genocide by its shameful Operation Cover-up ever since. Given this
grim backdrop, we salute outstanding police officers like RB
Sreekumar and Rahul Sharma whose depositions before the Nanavati-Shah
Commission form part of the damning and overwhelming evidence that
enabled the order and the ruling of the apex court.
Having said all this, in this defining moment we remain acutely
conscious of the fact that the trials in Modi’s Gujarat are still
ahead of us. In the tortuous battle to come we are also aware of the
paradox that while the SIT has been asked to shoulder a historic
burden, one of its five members – Shivanand Jha – is among the 63
accused. How the anomaly of an accused also being the investigator is
resolved remains to be seen.
– EDITORS
(Disclosure: Teesta Setalvad is secretary and trustee of CJP; Javed
Anand is a CJP trustee.)
_____
[5] India: The demolition of a Gandhian ashram in Chhattisgarh
The Telegraph, 24 May 2009
TWO SIDES TO DEMOCRACY - THE DEMOLITION OF A GANDHIAN ASHRAM IN
CHHATTISGARH
by Ramachandra Guha
In the early hours of May 17, while the rest of India was asleep
after an election conducted honestly and won fairly, a massive
contingent of police and paramilitary descended on a Gandhian ashram
in the interior of Chhattisgarh. They woke up the sleeping social
workers, and gave them exactly one hour to pack their belongings. The
Gandhians were then escorted outside the ashram that had been their
home, thus making way for the bulldozers that had been sent to
demolish it. The machines were supervised by some 500 men in uniform,
variously owing allegiance to the Central Reserve Police Force and
the Chhattisgarh state police. Over the course of that Sunday, as the
rest of India was considering the consequences of the election just
held, the Vanvasi Chetna Ashram in Dantewada was razed to the ground.
The office, the training hall, the staff quarters, even the tubewells
— nothing was spared.
In the summer of 2006, I had myself eaten several meals in that
ashram in Dantewada. Its founder, Himanshu, is a sharp-eyed, well-
built, and forever smiling man in his late forties. Originally from
Meerut, he was inspired by Vinoba Bhave and Nirmala Deshpande to
devote his life to the adivasis of central India. In 1992, he moved
with his wife to Dantewada to fulfil his calling. He recruited a
group of local boys and girls, and with their assistance worked on
bringing education and healthcare to the adivasis.
By the time I visited the Vanvasi Chetna Ashram, it had established a
solid presence in the district. Its campus lay in the little village
of Kanwalnar, about 10 miles from Dantewada town. Ringed by mango
trees, the ashram contained a set of low, modest buildings where the
members lived. From this home in the forest they ventured out into
the surrounding countryside, to work among the Gonds and Koyas and
Murias of the district.
The activities of the Vanvasi Chetna Ashram would be reckoned by most
people in most times to be uncontroversial. But these are dangerous
times in Dantewada, with a civil war raging between Maoist
revolutionaries and a vigilante group promoted by the state
administration and known as Salwa Judum. In this war, the tribals are
caught in-between — so are Gandhian social workers. No one living in
the district of Dantewada is now allowed to be neutral, to condemn
even-handedly the barbaric acts of the Naxalites as well as the
barbaric acts of the Salwa Judum.
As a consequence of the civil war, more than 50,000 tribals in
Dantewada have been uprooted from their homes. Some left voluntarily;
while many others were forcibly displaced by the Salwa Judum or by
the Maoists. These refugees live in camps strung along the main road,
in leaking and unstable tents, and without proper access to food,
water, and means of employment. Many victims of the civil war fled
across the border to Andhra Pradesh, where they live in equally
pathetic conditions.
After months of living in this way, some tribals asked that they be
allowed to return to their villages, so that they could live in their
own homes, and close to their lands and their livestock. While the
state wanted them to stay on in the camps, the villagers were
encouraged to go back by the Vanvasi Chetna Ashram. Thus Himanshu and
his co-workers set about rehabilitating those adivasis who wished to
have no more of life in the camps.
The pretext behind the demolition of the Vanvasi Chetna Ashram is
that the campus has ‘encroached’ on government forest land. The
Gandhians, on the other hand, insist that they built on revenue land
acquired legally and with permission from the local panchayat. The
case is currently being heard in the local courts. Rather than await
the court’s verdict, the district authorities uniliaterally chose to
demolish the ashram, in what is very clearly an act of vindictive
retaliation against the refusal by these Gandhians to wholly condone
the support to the Salwa Judum of the Chhattisgarh state government.
As it happened, four students from the Indian Institute of Science in
Bangalore were visiting Dantewada on the weekend of 16/17 May. They
were thus eye-witnesses to the ashram’s demolition. One scholar I
spoke to said that the sub-divisional magistrate directing the
operations, Ankit Anand, was particularly belligerent. When a student
weakly protested, Anand commanded the police to have him silenced.
The boy was taken away, beaten up, and asked to confess that the good
Gandhian Himanshu was (a) an agent of the Naxalites; and (b) running
a prostitution racket.
It was surely not an accident that the state of Chhattisgarh chose
the very weekend that the election results were being declared to
carry out this savage act of retribution. Who, at a time like this,
would care about a violation of democracy in a remote and
inaccessible corner of the country while the world was celebrating
the victory of democracy in India as a whole? For this writer, the
juxtaposition of these two events was powerfully symbolic. For I have
long argued that India is a ‘50-50’ democracy. In the formal,
institutional sense of holding fair elections contested by many
parties, allowing freedom of movement for its citizens, and nurturing
a free press, India is indeed democratic. But in other respects, it
falls short of the democratic ideal. Kin and caste play far too
important a part in politics and governance. Levels of corruption
among politicians and officials are unacceptably high. The autonomy
of the judiciary is somewhat compromised. The use of force by the
State is often capricious and arbitrary.
Even in safe and (mostly) peaceable places like my hometown,
Bangalore, one can occasionally encounter the dark side of Indian
democracy — as in tax officials who take bribes, or politicians who
fill in common waterbodies and sell them to private builders. But it
is in the conflict zones of Kashmir, the Northeast, and central
India, that the State shows itself at its most unappealing. To be
sure, there are extenuating circumstances, such as separatist
movements and revolutionary struggles. But to explain is not to
apologize. One must condemn the violence used by the Naxalites and by
the Kashmiri insurgents. One must yet insist that the Indian State,
our State, be held to a higher order of morality and accountability.
Over the past few years, the government of Chhattisgarh has had a
particularly undistinguished record in this respect. The burning of
adivasi villages under the government-sponsored Salwa Judum has been
documented in a series of independent reports. Then there is the
unconscionable incarceration without bail of the respected social
worker and doctor, Binayak Sen, on the very flimsy charge of carrying
a letter from one Naxalite to another. Now comes this savage act of
retribution against a group of law-abiding, peace-loving, and utterly
non-violent Gandhians.
Supporters of the Chhattisgarh government deflect such criticism by
pointing to the fact that the chief minister of the state has won a
series of elections. But democracy does not begin and end with the
counting of votes. Those elected to political office are sworn to
uphold the rule of law, and to honour the ideals of the Indian
Constitution. This holds true at the national as well as provincial
levels. It applies equally to Congress-led governments as to
Bharatiya Janata Party-led ones. So long as incidents such as the
demolition of the Vanvasi Chetna Ashram occur and recur, India will
not count as much more than a 50 per cent democracy.
ramguha at hotmail.com
_____
[6] India: Statement by All India Secular Forum
http://communalism.blogspot.com/2009/05/defeat-of-communal-forces-
in-2009.html
All India Secular Forum
May 20 2009
The Defeat of Divisive Forces in General Elections May 2009
All India Secular Forum welcomes the people’s verdict in the 15th
Loksabha elections. We had given a call before the 15th Lok Sabha
elections held in April-May 2009 to defeat the communal forces. We
outlined the threat posed by communal forces to Indian democracy and
plural values of the nation. We are extremely happy that the communal
forces have been defeated by the people of India. We hope that UPA is
not only able to give stable government, but also ensure good
governance, social justice and strengthening diversity. We are aware
that many a tasks need to be urgently undertaken in the direction of
peace, justice and deepening of plural values. While the previous
Government did initiate some welcome moves, many of these remain
partly unfulfilled. More proactive measures are also needed to
strengthen the democratic and secular values of the country.
1. Proper rehabilitation of the victims of communal violence,
particularly in Gujarat and Kandhamal. Though 7 years have passed,
the victims of Gujarat carnage are living the life of neglect. The
compensation provided by Central Government has not been passed on to
the victims by the State Government headed by the Chief Minister
Narnedra Modi. In Kandhmal many victims are still not able to return
to their villages. Their compensation packages need to be delivered.
2. No justice worth the name has been done to the victims of communal
violence. The recommendations of Srikrishna Commission Report on
1992-93 communal riots in Mumbai has not been fully implemented, the
police and other perpetrators of the riots have not yet been booked.
In the case of Gujarat carnage, the Special Investigation Team
appointed by the Supreme Court is pursuing some of the cases,
however, with those who role in the riots is suspect and those who
are being investigated are occupying the seats of power while the
riot victims are suffering. It is imperative that the new Government
does all in its powers to ensure the deliverance of Justice. Same
applies to Kandhmal victims; the process of punishing the guilty has
not gone far. It must be done on urgent basis.
3. The Sachar Committee Report needs to be implemented in earnest.
The educational, economic and employment condition of the deprived
sections of minorities need to be taken up immediately and
discrimination against minorities in all forms needs to be
eliminated. On the lines of Special Component Plan for Scheduled
Castes, there should also be Special Component Plan within budget for
minorities with a parliamentary committee monitoring its implementation.
4. Foot lose communal outfits like the Bajrang Dal, Sri Ram Sene, and
the like, violate law with impunity in the name of religion and
vitiate the harmonious atmosphere by resorting to violence.
Activities of such organisations must be continuously monitored and
their illegal actions brought to book.
5. UPA, in consultation with the organisations working for peace and
harmony, should bring in legislation to prevent and control communal
violence.
6. Our education and text-books strengthen stereo-types, particularly
against minorities and women. Our education system and text-books
should reflect our diversity and multiculturalism. A commission of
enquiry under the Commission of Enquiry Act should be instituted to
go into the syllabi of the Saraswati Shishu Mandirs. Meanwhile,
the Central government should tell the state governments to
proscribe text books of Saraswati Shishu Mandirs which malign or
ridicule other religions or provoke hatred against Muslim rulers.
7. National Integration Council meetings must be called regularly and
more often than was done during the tenure of previous government and
its suggestions should be earnestly pursed.
8. The health of a democratic system should be judged by how secure
and dignified the minorities feel. On this scale of democratic
values, utmost efforts need to be undertaken. 9. The BJP and parent
organization have strengthened themselves by instigating provocation
around emotive issues. With their defeat they are likely to resort
to such things again. Values of living with diversity should be
rigorously promoted.
10. Ban on government employees participating in RSS activities
should be strictly adhered to.
11. Candidates having bias against minorities, dalits, women and
tribals should not find place in the state police forces and central
paramilitary organisations.
We earnestly hope that these measures will be implemented by one and
all.
L.S. Herdania Ram Puniyani
_____
[7] South Asia Migrant Workers in the UAE
Human Rights Watch - Press Release
May 19, 2009
UAE: Exploited Workers Building ‘Island of Happiness’
Guggenheim, Louvre, New York University, Other Projects Should
Protect Workers from Abuses by Labor Agencies, Construction Firms
"These international institutions need to show that they will
not tolerate or benefit from the gross exploitation of these migrant
workers...The vague assurances they've received from their
development partners are hollow substitutes for firm contractual
agreements that their projects will be different from business as
usual in Abu Dhabi."
Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director
(Abu Dhabi) - Thousands of South Asian migrant workers building a US
$27 billion island development in the United Arab Emirates face
severe exploitation and abuse, in some cases amounting to forced
labor, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Labor-
supply agencies, construction companies, and repressive laws are
responsible for the abuse.
The 80-page report, "‘The Island of Happiness': Exploitation of
Migrant Workers on Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi," found that while the
UAE government has moved to improve housing conditions and ensure the
timely payment of wages in recent years, many labor abuses remain
commonplace. International institutions planning to open branches on
the island - including the Guggenheim, New York University (NYU), and
the French Museum Agency (responsible for the Louvre Abu Dhabi) -
should urgently obtain enforceable contractual guarantees that
construction companies will protect workers' fundamental rights on
their projects, Human Rights Watch said.
"These international institutions need to show that they will not
tolerate or benefit from the gross exploitation of these migrant
workers," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa
director at Human Rights Watch. "The vague assurances they've
received from their development partners are hollow substitutes for
firm contractual agreements that their projects will be different
from business as usual in Abu Dhabi."
Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE, hopes to turn Saadiyat Island (the
"island of happiness") into an international tourist destination. The
low-lying island will have four museums and a performing arts center
designed by world-renowned architectural firms - including Ateliers
Jean Nouvel, Foster and Partners, and Gehry Partners - as well as a
campus of New York University, golf courses, hotels, and expensive
residences.
Workers from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and other South Asian
countries have been building the island's infrastructure since Abu
Dhabi formed the Tourism Development and Investment Company (TDIC) to
oversee the project in 2005. The museum is expected to open in 2013.
Based on interviews with migrant workers, and meetings with UAE and
French government officials, as well as officers of international
institutions and corporations with projects on the island, the Human
Rights Watch report documents a cycle of abuse that leaves migrant
workers deeply indebted, badly paid, and unable to stand up for their
rights or even quit their jobs.
The UAE government and the authorities responsible for developing
Saadiyat Island have failed to tackle the root causes of worker
abuse: unlawful recruiting fees, broken promises of wages, and a
sponsorship system that gives an employer virtually complete power
over his workers.
To obtain the visas needed to work in the UAE, nearly all workers
Human Rights Watch interviewed on Saadiyat Island paid hefty fees to
"labor-supply agencies" in their home countries that are contracted
to supply workers to construction companies in the UAE. Because the
agencies promised good terms of employment in the UAE, many workers
sold their homes or land or borrowed money at high rates of interest
to pay the agencies' fees. Upon arrival in the UAE, the indebted
workers - many of whom are illiterate - are required to sign
contracts with the construction companies on much worse terms than
they had been promised back home. Workers have virtually no recourse
against the agencies that cheated them with false promises of good
wages and exploitative recruiting fees.
UAE laws prohibit agencies from charging workers such fees. The
agencies are supposed to charge the companies, but the law is not
enforced. Further, there are no penalties if companies, pursuing
their own financial interests, knowingly work with agencies that make
workers pay the fees.
Workers face the choice of quitting their jobs while still owing
thousands of dollars for the unlawful recruiting fees, or continuing
to work in exploitative conditions. Virtually all complained of low
pay and poor-quality healthcare. Nor can workers effectively demand
better pay or living conditions, because UAE laws do not protect the
basic rights to form unions, bargain collectively, or strike.
Instead, the UAE's "sponsorship" system gives employers nearly
absolute control over the workers' lawful employment and presence in
the country, with visas tied to individual employers. All workers
said that when they arrived in the UAE, their employers had
confiscated their passports. Employers can move to revoke the visa of
a worker who quits, leading to deportation.
Some workers reported conditions that amount to forced labor: their
employer threatened to fine them heavily if they tried to quit before
they had worked for two years, which effectively confined them to the
"island of happiness." Workers are generally not aware of their
rights and are afraid of expressing grievances, and independent and
effective monitoring is lacking.
"The museums and NYU should insist that their local development
partners guarantee workers' basic rights, which at minimum should
include reimbursement for unlawful recruiting fees, official
contracts in their native language signed prior to their arrival, and
the right to strike and bargain collectively," said Whitson. "And
they should insist on independent third-party monitoring of their
projects, and impose meaningful penalties for violations."
Research on Saadiyat Island did show that authorities have taken some
positive steps. Although workers' accommodations were still under
construction when Human Rights Watch visited the island, they
appeared to be relatively hygienic and not overcrowded. TDIC, the
government-owned company overseeing the island's development, has
sought contractual guarantees from construction companies that they
will not confiscate workers' passports, use forced labor, or commit
other abuses.
Human Rights Watch contacted the construction companies,
architectural firms, and international institutions working on the
island to alert them to the need to take steps to ensure workers on
their projects are not abused. Many did not reply to our letters.
Among the Guggenheim, New York University, and the French Museum
Agency (responsible for the Louvre Abu Dhabi project), only the
Agency has taken any steps to seek meaningful contractual guarantees
from TDIC to allow independent monitoring of workers' rights, but
even the Agency's contract lacks guarantees or provisions allowing it
to enforce workers' rights.
_____
[8] Announcements:
BUILDING PEOPLE TO PEOPLE SOLIDARITY CREATING REAL "HOPE" AND
"CHANGE" FOR PAKISTAN
PUBLIC FORUM AND DISCUSSION
************************************************************
SATURDAY, MAY 30th, 2009
2 pm - 5 pm
Newton Library
13795 - 70th Ave, Surrey [British Columbia, Canada]
Light refreshments provided
Free Event
************************************************************
Join us for a public forum and interactive discussion on what the
future holds for Pakistan.
ORGANIZED BY:
Fraser Valley Peace Council, Siraat Collective and Pakistan Action
Network (www.pakaction.org)
SPEAKERS:
Haider Nizamani, Sunera Thobani, Huma Dar
"If they snatch my ink and pen, I should not complain,
For I have dipped my fingers in the blood of my heart.
I should not complain, Even if they seal my tongue,
For every ring of my chain is a tongue ready to speak"
(Faiz Ahmed Faiz)
Media headlines and pundits have been inundating us with images of
Pakistan as a nation on the brink of disaster. Pakistan is facing
many critical issues: the expansion of the U.S. led War on Terror
into Pakistan with continued drone attacks, Obama's AF-PAK strategy,
the government's deal in Swat, the rise of religious extremism and a
majority of the population living in poverty without access to basic
human rights.
Yet there is also another Pakistan, one in which one of the most
vibrant struggles for democracy and rule of law has recently resulted
in victory, where poets, lawyers, activists, journalists and other
Pakistanis are forging movements of resistance against U.S
imperialism, religious extremism and injustice.
In this context, what does the future hold for Pakistan? Speakers
will discuss the various issues facing Pakistan and provide an
analysis and framework for what we can do as concerned members of the
public to contribute to building a movement for justice and peace in
Pakistan.
SPEAKERS:
Haider Nizamani is a Lecturer in Political Science at UBC. His
specialization is in the fields of International Politics, Security
Studies and South Asian Politics. Dr Nizamani authored a book "The
Roots of Rhetoric: Politics of Nuclear Weapons in India and
Pakistan". His other publication is "Limits of Dissent A Comparative
Study of Dissident Voices in the nuclear Discourse of India and
Pakistan" Contemporary South Asia, 7.3 Autumn 1998. He also
contributes to Pakistan's leading English newspapers on national
security and political issues.
Sunera Thobani is a professor with the Centre for Research in Women's
Studies and Gender Relations at UBC. She is past president of the
National Action Committee on the Status of Women (NAC), Canada's
largest feminist organization. Dr. Thobani's tenure at the NAC was
characterized by a commitment to making the politics of anti-racism
central to the women's movement. Her research focuses on
globalization, citizenship, migration, race, and gender relations.
Her current projects include "Gender, Globalization, and
International Conflict: Representation of Women in the Print Media"
and "Television Representations of Women and the War on Terrorism."
Huma Dar is a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Theatre and Film Studies
Department at the University of British Columbia. Her work is focused
on the intersections and co-formations of gender, religion, class,
caste, sexuality, regional, national, and transnational politics of
South Asia, specifically analyzing the cinematic, literary, and other
cultural texts of the region. Dar has been a President of the
Executive Board of Directors of Narika - a South Asian women's
organization that runs an anti-domestic violence helpline in
Berkeley, CA.
For more information:
email: pakact at gmail.com
phone: 604-613-0735
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=75989338957
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South Asia Citizens Wire
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