SACW | June 1-4, 2009 / Sri Lanka: After War / Pakistan: Job for Secularists / Kashmir AFSPA / Bangladesh, India: Gender / US: Christian Taliban
Harsh Kapoor
aiindex at gmail.com
Wed Jun 3 20:00:58 CDT 2009
South Asia Citizens Wire | June 1-4, 2009 | Dispatch No. 2631 - 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: Media again under threat (Editorial, Daily Mirror)
- A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission
- SAFMA, SAMC condemn attack on SL journo
- Sinhala Ultra-nationalists Threat Letter to Centre for Policy
Alternatives (CPA)
- Taking Forward the Struggle for Equality, Justice and Democracy
in Sri Lanka (Rohini Hensman)
- Letter from a Tamil in North-East Sri Lanka (in EPW)
- Aid workers forced to leave Sri Lanka under strict new visa
rules undefined (Jeremy Page)
- The idealist I once knew became the Tamils' Pol Pot (N Ram)
[2] Bangladesh: Questioning the assumptions that underpin our
national conversation on gender (Naeem Mohaiemen)
[3] Pakistan: Window of opportunity (Farhat Taj)
[4] India: Outrage in Kashmir and Omar's about turn on AFSPA
(Editorial, Kashmir Times)
- India looking at dialogue option on Pakistan again (Siddharth
Varadarajan)
[5] India: Is Sikhism succumbing to fundamentalism? (Sathnam Sanghera)
[6] India: India's missing women (Pamela Philipose)
- Courting Anger (Editorial, The Telegraph)
- No Woman, No Cry (Hemchhaya De)
[7] Miscellanea:
- USA: Violent Campaign of the Anti Abortionist Christian Taliban
- A compilation of selected commentary & reports (siawi.org)
- Clinics in the Cross Hairs (Editorial, Washington Post)
- Lessons from Tiananmen (Ian Buruma)
- Spanish Civil War volunteers are granted citizenship 70 years on
(Deborah Haynes)
[8] Announcements:
(i) Public Discussion: Internationalising Caste - Everybody's Issue?
Or Nobody's Issue? (New Delhi, 4 June 2008)
(ii) Workshop: Religious Cultures in South Asia, c. 1500-1800
(Oxford, 5-6 June 2009)
(iii) Public Forum: Struggles for Land, Livelihood and Life in India
(Vancouver, June 21, 2009)
_____
[1] Sri Lanka:
Daily Mirror, 3 June 2009
EDITORIAL : MEDIA AGAIN UNDER THREAT
The dastardly attack on the General Secretary of Sri Lanka Working
Journalists Association Poddala Jayantha, on Monday has again sent
shock waves around the media circles. Abducted by an unknown group
late afternoon on Monday as he was on his way home, he was later
found beaten and left on the road side by some people. Admitted to
the ICU, he was later declared out of danger.
A known advocate of media freedom, Jayantha’s attackers did not only
inhumanely beat up an unarmed journalist, but also poses a greater
threat to free expression in the country.
The manner in which half his beard was shaved off and then brutally
beaten up, is a crude reminder of the punishments meted out by the
insurgents in the 1989 era. Such attacks are neither welcome nor
healthy for a country rising from the ashes of war. These attacks can
only have a negative impact towards the normalization process that
the country seemed poised for as the government announced the end of
a three decade old war last month.
It is still not clear if Monday’s attack is an isolated one or part
of a line of attacks that the media has continued to experience over
a period of time. The number of journalists killed, attacked or
threatened out of the country during the last few years is
significant. It is not a number a democratic society can be proud of.
Only independent investigations in to all these cases can bring light
to this growing trend and where the threat emanates from, and thereby
eliminate those unfairly accused.
The Media Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa yesterday assured that
investigations in to this particular attack, has already begun, and
that the government will bring the findings before the media as soon
as possible. It would be to the government’s credit if this could be
accomplished without delay and the fears growing within the media
eliminated.
Certainly, many hold their reservations about the manner in which
certain media organizations have carried out their duties in a manner
threatening the war effort of the government.
It is also no secret that the government had aired its own
reservations against such individuals and organizations. However the
fact remains that if the security establishments have any evidence
against any journalists or media organizations, then they must allow
for justice to take its course.
The longer these accusations are levelled without sufficient
investigation, the more difficult it will be for them to gain any
credibility. Mere accusations that remain unsubstantiated, would
prove a serious hindrance to the process of democracy the government
claim it remains committed to.
The need for investigations in to these kinds of attacks and punitive
measures against culprits becomes all the more important given the
international pressures against the government at this juncture.
Being at the receiving end of numerous counts of human rights
violations, the government only loses the moral high ground it
desperately needs to fight these claims, by allowing such attacks to
go unchecked.
The responsibility of the government to create an environment
conducive for an independent media, is paramount if Sri Lanka is to
gain the real benefits of peace.
No society threatened against listening to constructive criticism,
and learning to appreciate the voices of dissent, can hope to progress.
Creating such a mature society would prove fruitful to the
government, more so than ever; as it begins a discussion on allowing
all communities equal rights.
The wider the rights to free expression allowed, the more viable the
outcome of a debate on a political solution enjoyed by all.
The hopes resting on the Rajapaksa regime to create such a society
are large, and the benefits to the country’s future growth immense.
The faster the government is able to arrest this unhealthy trend, the
greater its chances of maintaining the goodwill it had won over the
largest percentage of the population ever in the history of this
country.
o o o
http://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2009statements/2059/
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AHRC-STM-125-2009
June 2, 2009
A STATEMENT BY THE ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
SRI LANKA: Journalist attacked – a civil society organisation
threatened and a provocative campaign against freedom of expression
continues
Poddal Jayantha was abducted yesterday (June 1), and was later found
with head and leg injuries. He is now undergoing treatment in a
hospital.
Mr. Jayantha is the General Secretary of the Working Journalists
Association and there were earlier attempts to abduct him from his
home which he narrowly escaped due to the intervention of family
members and neighbours.
This latest attack comes in the wake of a provocative campaign in
which the army commander, as well as the Inspector General of Police,
has made incendiary remarks which link the critics of the government
to the LTTE. Both television and media publicity has been given over
to allegations that some journalists have been in the pay of the
LTTE. However, no names have been revealed and no cases filed. Such
remarks have ignited some groups who, in a situation of euphoria
created after the assassination of the LTTE leaders, are being
permitted to engage in acts of violence against anyone that is
identified as unpatriotic.
At the same time of the attack on Mr. Jayantha, a group of journalist
was talking to the president of Sri Lanka complaining about the
attacks on the media. The President was then informed of the attack
on Mr. Jayantha and his response to the news was to call upon the
Inspector General of Police and request investigations. This is a
typical response of the president after any attack on journalists.
While he makes a public relations gesture of disassociating himself
with the attacks and calling for investigations he has failed, so
far, to send a strong message as the head of the state to the armed
forces and the police to stop the campaign against journalists. The
result is that his public statement condemning the attacks is not
taken seriously by the law enforcement agencies or by the public.
Tacit encouragement for provocative campaigns and attacks on the
media and all others who freely express their views continue unabated.
There is a permissive atmosphere to engage in acts of violence. The
jubilation over the assassination of the LTTE leaders is now being
manipulated to silence all dissent, particularly that in the south.
Provocative posters against the leader of the opposition asking him
to leave the country are being exhibited in Colombo and given wide
publicity by the state media. The posters read, ‘Back Biter get out!’
and are accompanied by the opposition leader’s photographs. The
accusation aims to attribute the source of the criticism made by the
United Nations and other countries about alleged human rights abuses
in Sri Lanka to the opposition leader. All criticism against human
rights abuses in Sri Lanka is being portrayed as unpatriotic actions
deserving serious punishment which implies attacks similar to that
suffered by Mr. Jayantha.
Meanwhile, the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA), a well known
civil society organisation based in Colombo, received a warning
letter from a group calling itself Sri Lankans Affectionate towards
the Motherland, referring to the CPA and other organisations as
conspirators who will be watched. The organisation was asked to close
their office throughout the entire week parallel to the dates of
honouring the warriors. The organisation was also asked to display a
banner bestowing ‘your honour’ to the warriors; it was asked to
donate Rs. 1,000,000/= to honour the warriors. Furthermore, the
letter stated, "You should certainly stop all the programmes
conducted by your institute which are detrimental to the sovereignty,
unitary nature and dignity of this country". The letter ends with the
following note: "Let us destroy conspirators. Let us march forward
fearlessly. Let us protect Mother Lanka."
Previously letters were sent by an organisation calling itself the
Mahason Balakaya, the Battalion of the Ghosts of Death, making
similar threats to human rights organisations and lawyers.
All these activities are being done with the full knowledge of the
government. As mentioned above, high ranking state officers and
leaders of the forces, including the police, are among those who are
taking an active part in these campaigns. Under these circumstances
many groups such as covert police units, military cells or criminals
can attack whoever they chose to.
In the recent times no similar incidents have lead to any serious
investigations or prosecutions because the investigating capacity of
the police has been paralysed by political interference. The lack of
investigations is used as an excuse; it is said that the lack of
evidence is the reason for not prosecuting cases. At the Human Rights
Council, Sri Lanka claimed that it has a functioning system of the
administration of justice. This, however, is far from the truth. The
system is entirely dysfunctional because of political interference.
What is prevailing in the country today is the situation where every
type of lawlessness is possible.
The Sri Lankan government lacks the capacity to investigate due to
politicisation and lacks the political will to enforce rule of law.
Under these circumstances the citizens have no way to protect
themselves. The groups that face the greatest danger naturally under
these circumstances are those who express their views. Thus, the
media and every other form of opposition are under enormous threat.
An extraordinary situation of violence is likely to develop,
particularly in the south mobilised directly or indirectly by the
ruling party itself with the support of some leaders of the armed
forces and the police.
The citizens and the international community need to alert themselves
to the dangerous situation that is developing and take whatever steps
that are needed to avert this danger.
o o o
SOUTH ASIAN MEDIA NET
SAFMA, SAMC condemn attack on SL journo
Wednesday, June 03,2009
LAHORE: The South Asia Media Commission (SAMC) and the South Asian
Free Media Association (SAFMA) on Tuesday strongly criticised an
assault on a prominent Sri Lankan journalist, Poddala Jayantha.
Poddala, the general secretary of the Sri Lanka Working Journalists'
Association and a member of the Free Media Movement (FMM), received
injuries to his head, chest and legs when six assailants ambushed him
on his way home.
The unidentified attackers dragged Poddala into their car and
abandoned him near a hospital after beating him up. They also cut his
beard and hair.
SAFMA Secretary General Imtiaz Alam and SAMC Secretary General Najam
Sethi condemned the incident and called it a blatant violation of
freedom of expression and independence of the media.
After the official end of hostilities between the Tamil Tigers and
the government, the focus must now be on solving the long-standing
issue of media freedom, Alam and Sethi said in a joint statement.
The incident is the second major attack on journalists following the
killing of Lasantha Wickrematunga, a leading Sri Lankan journalist,
on January 8.
Both Alam and Sethi said the situation for journalists in Sri Lanka
had worsened following the end of the almost 30-year-long civil war
and was threatening independent journalists like Poddala and
institutions like the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA).
Media organisations called upon Colombo to make an impartial inquiry
into the matter and end the culture of impunity. They also appealed
to the Sri Lankan government to make war zones accessible to the
media for impartial reporting.
o o o
Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA)
CPA received this letter on 1st June 2009 via the post. The scanned
Sinhala original is available as a PDF to download, along with the
English translation.
###
NOTICE TO THE TRAITORS (DESHADROHIS)
The wretched war that lasted throughout 30 years has now come to an
end. Blood thirsty wicked terrorists were finished from this country.
That happened in such a way that even their carcass didn’t mix with
the Sri Lankan ( Lak Polawa ) soil. That is through the dedication of
the present government, fearless military commanders and heroic
warriors born in our motherland. And also, through the sacrifice of
their bones, flesh and streams of blood. Furthermore, this was
achieved by defeating the activities of the wretched traitors like
you who commit evil things against “Mother Lanka”.
Even though the terrorism is now over we have been observing the
behaviour of people like you who were dependent on them, and who
appeared for them. We know that you have got furious of this
marvelous victory of our motherland. And also we know about the
conspiracies you engage in, even at the moment, in alliance with the
International. When the entire country was enjoying the bliss of
liberating the motherland you did not even hoist the National flag.
Now you (Thopa) also must get together for bestowing the honor for
the warriors.
Parallel to “Ranaviru Upahara” (Honoring the Warriors) celebration
you must,
* Throughout that week you should close down all the places of your
institute, which has become a bane to the entire country, and should
display the National flag and also display a banner bestowing your
honor to the warriors (Ranaviru).
* You should donate One Million rupees to the “Api Venuven Api”
account as an honor to those Warriors who were lost to the motherland
and who got disabled due to your traitorous course of action.
* Furthermore, you should certainly stop all the programmes conducted
by your institute which are detrimental to the Sovereignty, Unitary
nature, and Dignity of this country.
* Stop abetting Terrorism and Separatism.
We are carefully watching your course of action in the future as well.
Let us destroy the conspirators. Let us march forward fearlessly. Let
us protect Mother Lanka.
Sri Lankans affectionate towards the Motherland
o o o
TAKING FORWARD THE STRUGGLE FOR EQUALITY, JUSTICE AND DEMOCRACY IN
SRI LANKA
by Rohini Hensman (sacw.net, June 3, 2009)
http://www.sacw.net/article942.html
LETTER FROM A TAMIL IN NORTH-EAST SRI LANKA
by a Correspondent (The Economic and Political Weekly, May 30 - June
05, 2009)
http://www.epw.in/epw/uploads/articles/13561.pdf
AID WORKERS FORCED TO LEAVE SRI LANKA UNDER STRICT NEW VISA RULES
UNDEFINED
Jeremy Page, South Asia Correspondent (The Times, June 3, 2009)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6418015.ece
THE IDEALIST I ONCE KNEW BECAME THE TAMILS' POL POT
by N Ram (The Guardian, 1 June 2009)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jun/01/sri-lanka-
prabhakaran-tamil-tigers
______
[2] Bangladesh:
Forum, May, 2009
WHY SHOULD I BE 'MODEST'?
Naeem Mohaiemen questions the assumptions that underpin our national
conversation on gender
Event, record, reaction, and then, meta-discussion. On the surface,
Ey Poth Amadero is a standard-issue feminist event. Organised by
Drishtipat, modeled after Take Back the Night, a rally for safe space
for women on the street. With a police permit, a meeting spot,
printed banners, designated march route. A polite event, no
provocation, nothing out of control. Not Run Lola Run, more a gentle
walk.
At the post-march concert, musician Anusheh diverted from this
script. Onstage she said into the mike: "If men keep pinching us,
women may start pinching back." This fragment of the speech was
captured on ZI's mobile phone camera and posted on Facebook --
generating a forum discussion on Anusheh's "eye for an eye.”
SH writes: "If some dog bites someone, you don't advise them to bite
back. Those who do eve teasing are mentally sick, they need to be
sent to a correction facility."
Then AK adds: "[Anusheh], when you are on a stage and delivering
something other than a baby, you should be more careful for your
words ..."
NK, the first female voice on this forum, disagrees: "Label 'mentally
sick' in itself gives men a way out: that it is an illness and so
beyond their control."
SH responds: "Not only woman, any decent person may feel shy to
protest, considering that the protest may create an odd scene."
Now NK loses her temper: "Where is this man SH from? Does he live in
Bangladesh? Why on earth should anyone 'feel shy because it will
create an odd scene'?"
Things are getting personal, and perhaps NK is blending male voices
on the forum with street abusers. These men posting here are
sympathetic, feminists. Perhaps just a question of language?
But AK also loses his cool in response: "Where is this woman NK from?
Amsterdam? Tell her that no one is begging for her patience."
Later he realises the problematic parts of his outburst. The comment
reappears with 'Amsterdam' deleted, but 'this woman' is still there.
Forum discussions aside, you never faced Diane DiMassa's comic book
character Hothead Paisan. Out to smash patriarchy with hammer and
scissors. Yelling at the street thug: "Consider yourself stopped!" --
and then proceeding to make it happen. That, you would have found
"unreasonable."
More power to the unreasonable.
More men arrive. HK writes: "Women must be brave enough to reject
socially acceptable notions of propriety and shame and mount acts of
resistance that will force men and the society at large to recognise
them as beings who are owners of their own bodies, who will not
accept being violated."
Well articulated. I step in and point to AK's phrasing of "delivering
a baby" as sexist language, ironically on an anti-sexism forum. But
I'm nit-picking. Do we have to be that careful among allies and
fellow travelers? Well, Facebook is an open forum. So we don't always
know where people stand. Not every "friend" is a close friend,
sometimes they are a politeness "accept." Accidentally sexist
language is still worth debating.
ACK talks about confronting a harasser and being scolded: "[The
harasser] was thotomoto. I noticed a half-grin on my mother's face,
even though later on she semi-scolded me, saying it's inappropriate
for women to make such a scene in public. Come on it's the 21st
century -- is the woman's role *still* to be unseen and unheard, and
to take crap from hormone-charged men?"
Susan Faludi said in 1992: "Whenever women protest their treatment
it's either written off as hysteria or it's, 'Oh, stop complaining.
Stop being a nag. Stop whining. Stop sulking.'"
But I had to take time out from this facebook debate to consider
Anusheh's statement. Well, no, perhaps "pinch back" was not the
wisest advice. But isn't it interesting to note how much energy is
burnt discussing that one careless phrasing, rather than the issue at
hand. Most cases of sexual harassment in Bangladesh are man-on-woman,
but why so much enthusiasm for condemning Anusheh's comment, which
refers to a social phenomenon that is rare (woman-on-man violence)?
The vast majority of violent attacks are on women by their domestic
partners, the majority of groping and speech assaults are by men on
the street.
So why are we still talking about Anusheh?
For Ey Poth, a series of op-eds were also published. Shabnam Nadiya's
personal, angry, narrative inspired an old gentleman to write in. He
had always wanted to take his grand-daughter to physical defense
classes, and now he wanted to fund a karate school for girls. I
smiled. He was not advocating the reverse chimti, but rather, girls
get tough, fight back against the predator. Self-defense.
The language of support often comes with a "but." Yes, we support
your right to walk freely on streets, but you "must" be modest in
clothing as well. Otherwise you are "provoking it." The oldest form
of blaming the victim. On Uttorshuri blog, a very strong defense of
women's rights still included this instruction: "Women need to be
able to operate in this society openly without fear, harassment and
intimidation. But at the same time -- there needs to be a reciprocity
of respecting the societal norms."
What societal norms? The author explained further: "You cannot expect
to walk the streets of Dhaka in mini-skirt." But wait, what an absurd
strawman argument: who is walking in mini-skirts? Anyway, we can't
allow this to get flattened into that hoary debate on "modest"
clothing. Which always ends in one destination: the woman's fault.
Sermons that talk about women as "temptation," and underneath a
fantasy about women as objects for conquest or protection (from who?
you? themselves?).
Shilo Shiv Suleiman
It's never about what a woman wears. Whatever I wear is my business
-- nothing I wear gives you the right to touch me in any fashion.
When we look at sexual harassment, sexual assault, rape, wife
beating, and a host of other man-on-woman violences, the issue is
male power and aggression, coupled with the male gaze. Susan Kappeler
said: "The root problem of men's relations with women, is the way men
see women, is seeing."1
During the 2000 New Year celebrations, a woman was semi-stripped on
the Dhaka University campus. Along with the chorus of cries against
the "louts" ("lower class," never in our family, of course), there
were aggressive judgments against the victim. Why was she on campus,
even accompanied by friends, at midnight? Doesn't she know our
society? In the end, it was her fault, for not staying indoors, for
not being more invisible.
By 2009, many more women are out at night, by necessity of work, or
because public spaces have become more open. But if something happens
again today, the same line will come out. What was she doing out at
night? Why was she there? Why was she dressed like that? Why this,
why that?
When confronted, eve-teasers often say: "She was asking for it."
Blank Noise Project is one among many groups formed in India to fight
back against eve-teasing, which has become an epidemic in Indian
cities where women are joining the workforce. Among their many public
art projects, the simplest and most effective one is the t-shirt that
states: "I Never Ask For It."
Fatima Mernissi, analysing modernising Moroccan society, highlights
new economic frictions that aggravate male-aggression tendencies.
Women are in public space in unprecedented numbers because they are
working, a transition that is not always welcomed by men.
"Women's increasing encroachment into traditionally male spaces
greatly intensifies the sexual aspect of any encounter between men
and women, especially in the urban centres ...When women go to work
they are not only trespassing in the universe of the umma but are
also competing with their former masters, men, for the scarce
available jobs."2
Let us circle back to the blogger who called teasers "dogs" and
"mentally sick." This distancing device let's all other men of the
hook. So it's not us after all, just a few bad men, right? Social
pressure, sexist work environments, compliant state, the patriarchy
framework, none of it is to blame? Nothing to fix on the systemic
level, no laws or legislation needed? Just lock up a few bad seeds.
And the bad ones are always, we are told, "lower class," "chotolok,"
"basti type."
Neat, convenient, and untrue. In 1998, India was rocked by the Rupan
Bajaj vs K.P.S. Gill case. Gill was director general of Punjab
Police, and a national hero for his role in anti-terrorism cases such
as Operation Black Thunder. But a fearless Bajaj family took him to
the highest court, over drunken sexual groping of Mrs. Bajaj at a
posh party. According to reports, this was a long-standing habit of
Gill, but no one had dared cross the powerful official. The Supreme
Court ruling of three months rigorous imprisonment stunned civil
society. Because Gill was a hero, "one of us."
As Kalpana and Vasanth Kannabiran pointed out: "The concern was that
of the middle and/or upper-class man who identified himself, in his
vulnerability and temptation, totally with Gill, even while setting
himself apart from the 'pathological bottom pinchers in public
buses', the 'riff raff,' the nameless faceless man on the street.
This identification and this opposition essentially had to do with
class."3
The faceless man comes into focus through cases like this, and the
net gets uncomfortably wider. It can and has been many of us. And it
isn't just about street groping. It's in offices, factories, venues,
and most insidiously, homes. So many people hear of a case of wife
beating, hostile factory floor, office sexual innuendo, invasive
photography, phone stalking, and then casually make excuses. O to
sherokom chelei na. Bhodro ghor theke. It can't be true. She must
have done something first. Or she's being hysterical.
Or maybe she was being unreasonable. Fed up and fighting back.
1. The Pornography of Representation, Cambridge, 1986.
2. The Meaning of Spatial Boundaries, Beyond The Veil, Al Saqi Books,
1987.
3. De-Eroticizing Assault: Essays on Modesty, Honour & Power, Street
Press, 2002.
Naeem Mohaiemen works on art and technology projects.
______
[3] Pakistan:
The News
June 4, 2009
WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY
by Farhat Taj
About 2.7 million people have been internally displaced from Malakand
Division due to the ongoing operation against the Taliban terrorists.
According to the estimate of AIRRA about 80 percent of the IDP's have
been accommodated by relatives, friends and complete strangers in
Swabi, Mardan, Nowshehra, Charsada and Peshawar, in their houses and
hujras (guest houses) according to the Pakhtoon tradition of
hospitality. Some have gone to relatives and friends in other parts
of Pakistan. Only about 20 percent of the IDPs are in the camps made
by the government. This is a humanitarian crisis of biblical scale,
but it contains an opportunity for moderate and secularism-oriented
political parties, like the PPP and the ANP, to establish and
strengthen their bonds with people. They can certainly avail this
opportunity if they reach out to them with their full district
organisational strength and with the spirit to snatch the political
space occupied by the pro-Taliban terrorists religious groups through
humanitarian work.
The performance of both the PPP and ANP as political parties in terms
of extending a helping hand to the IDPs is not up to the mark up
until now. The information secretary of the PPP even issued an
extremely irresponsible statement in this context. She said: ''We do
not want the IDPs to spread all over the country as we are still
facing trouble caused by the permission given to Afghan refugees of
yesteryears to stay anywhere. Can we afford to repeat the same
experience?" How could she equate the Afghan refugee with the IDP's
who are citizens of Pakistan! Fauzia Wahab must know that Pakhtoon
workers of the PPP have scarified lives in the party's struggle for
democracy. The PPP is rooted among the Pakhtoons and the party has
committed workers among them, and there are jiyalas among the IDPs as
well. Similarly, the ANP tainted its secular credentials by imposing
the so called Nizam-e-Adal Regulation on the people of Malakand.
On the other hand, religious groups, including the banned ones, are
much more active in helping the IDPs than the PPP and ANP. The
workers of the religious groups give a food pack and also a lecture
on how 'the brutal army and the PPP government have rendered the
people homeless to please the US. The banners of the religious groups
in the camps openly ask for the operation to be stopped. The PPP and
ANP must immediately reach out to the IDPs to out manoeuvre the pro-
Taliban religious groups and parties. The pro-violent jihad right
wingers have mobilised their entire machinery to convert at least
some among the devastated IDPs into suicide bombers. Both the PPP and
ANP have the potential to foil the design of the religious groups.
The PPP and ANP must immediately mobilise their district-level party
organisations in Mardan, Swabi, Peshaswar, Nowshera and all other
districts where the IDPs have come. Both parties have thousands of
committed workers in those districts. They all must be mobilised to
reach out to the IDPs in camps as well as those staying in schools,
and with people in hujras and homes with appropriate help and
support. This is something that the two parties have not been able to
do up until now.
The two parties must immediately mobilise their overseas branches to
collect donations to finance the work of the district-level
organisations of the parties. There is an active PPP branch in
Norway. I have talked to them. They told me they would be ready to
collect the donations to facilitate the relief work of PPP districts
organisations in Pakistan, if they are directed by the PPP
authorities in Pakistan. I understand most overseas branches of the
PPP and ANP would be ready for the task, if directed by the parties'
authorities in Pakistan.
In this context too the two parties must move to challenge the
monopoly of the Pakistani religious groups and parties on the
donations of the expat Pakistanis. The religious parties have close
contacts with Pakistani mosques abroad. There is an institutional
structure in place through which the mosques collect donations from
Pakistanis abroad and send to the parties in Pakistan to finance
their work. The Jamaat-e-Islami is linked with Islamic cultural
centres all over the world and Minhajul Quran has its Idara-e-
Minhajul Quran around the globe. As far as I understand, most of the
expat Pakistani never know where the money donated by them to the two
mosques is used. Both Idara-e-Minhajul Quran and Islamic Cultural
Centres claim that the donations are used to facilitate the
humanitarian work of the parties in Pakistan. But this is certainly
not so simple. The Jamaat's tenuous but live links with Al Qaeda and
other jihadi groups are well-documented and it is in that context
where the misuse of the money sent by the overseas Pakistanis lies.
This is the space that both the PPP and ANP must retake from the
religious parties. The two must fully involve their district-level
organisation, in collaboration with the parties overseas branches, in
bringing some normalcy in the lives of the IDPs. This will strengthen
the ties of the parties with the people and reduce the influence of
the religious groups through humanitarian work. This may be important
for making Pakistan peaceful, democratic and free of religious
extremism.
The people of Pakistan have two enemies--the Taliban and
Talibanisation. To deal with the former is the job of our soldiers
and policemen and to control the latter is the duty of the political
parties, like the PPP, the ANP and even the PML-N. The soldiers and
policemen are magnificently performing their job. They are giving up
their lives every day to eliminate the Taliban evil. If the political
parties did not perform their job, in the near future we will have
the Taliban eliminated by our brave security forces, but the
Talibanization will loom large. I would request the leaderships of
the PPP, ANP and PML-N to mobilise their grassroots-level workers to
help the IDPs and do not leave the field open to the pro-Taliban
religious parties and groups, who have by now mastered the "art" of
exploiting human sufferings for the realisation of their militant
version of Islam.
______
[4] India:
Kashmir Times
June 2, 2009
Editorial
OMAR'S ABOUT TURN ON AFSPA
Shopian outrage once again reveals rulers' insensitivity towards
human life
The outrage in Shopian provides an eerie backdrop to chief minister,
Omar Abdullah's backtracking on his commitment to ensure revocation
of the draconian Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) 'after the
elections.' Going by the official version of his statement in this
regard, on Sunday, he has virtually washed his hands off the demand,
after meeting the Prime Minister and the union home minister in
Delhi. Tragic irony is that while Omar was allowing himself to be
persuaded to step back from his demand in Delhi's corridors of power
people in his own state were mourning and protesting against yet
another outrageous consequence of prolonging the AFSPA. Two young
women in Shopian were allegedly raped and murdered, sending shock
waves across length and breadth of Kashmir Valley. Protestors in
Shopian and adjoining areas have alleged that the two women who had
gone to visit their orchard had been waylaid, molested and killed by
security forces personnel deployed along the route taken by the two
victims. In a situation like this, as has also been the case in one
or the other area of Kashmir, it is the perception that matters and
influences the course of events on the ground. It is not that the
Shopian incident is a rare occurrence or that the apprehensions being
expressed by the relatives of the two victims as well as by the
protestors sympathising with them are being voiced for the first time.
A string of quite recent incidents, resulting in killing of innocent
persons allegedly by security forces personnel, like that in
Baramulla, Pulwama and Srinagar districts in the past few weeks,
leads directly to the inevitable conclusion that disproportionately
excessive deployment coupled with licence-to-kill is bound to result
in grave human rights abuses. It clearly proves the point that all
this talk about sanctity of human life and human rights is utter
nonsense. One had expected a youngman of Omar Abdullah's frame of
mind to realise its bloody implications and try to seek a remedy.
During the recent Lok Sabha polls, union home minister P Chidambaram
visited Kashmir and soon after the chief minister reiterated his
assurance that the AFSPA would be lifted after the polls. And here he
is taking a U-turn and coming forth with the sham suggestion that the
AFSPA should be 'amended'. It needs no great intelligence to decipher
what it all adds up to. The chief minister's about turn clearly
suggests continuation of the draconian measure with or without some
window dressing. Omar should muster moral courage to admit that he,
like his predecessors, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Mufti Mohammad Sayeed,
cannot imperil his throne by persisting with his demand for
abrogation of the AFSPA in Kashmir. There is no big deal in what he
is now trying to tell us that the act should be amended. This demand
has been there for many years and the people in Manipur have
sacrificed a lot to support it from time to time.
The question is that in Kashmir there is a situation in which the
continuation of the AFSPA along with disproportionately excessive
deployment of forces is taking a heavy toll of human lives. How do
the chief minister and his myopic masters there in Delhi expect the
ground situation to normalise in Kashmir? People acted in good faith
by participating in two rounds of recent elections with the hope that
their miseries would get mitigated.
The latest incident, in Shopian, underlines the need for immediate
appropriate response to the goodwill invested by the people via the
elections. Omar may be younger than his predecessors but he is
turning out to be no different from any of them when it comes to
providing a humane dispensation and showing greater sensitivity
towards those who had reposed trust in his leadership. This state of
affairs is perhaps what fits Ghulam Nabi Azad's favourite expression
that 'for too long the people of Kashmir have been duped by hollow
slogans and false promises'. History has gifted a chance to Omar to
prove that he was different. But his statement on Sunday belies this
expectation as much as it provides a frightening backdrop to the
bloody drama in Shopian.
o o o
The Hindu, 4 June 2009
INDIA LOOKING AT DIALOGUE OPTION ON PAKISTAN AGAIN
by Siddharth Varadarajan
One big concern for Indian policymakers is the U.S. attitude
New Delhi: Notwithstanding the Lahore High Court decision to release
Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed from house arrest this
week, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and External Affairs Minister
S.M. Krishna have begun the process of reviewing India’s diplomatic
options vis-À-vis Pakistan.
In particular, the big question being examined is how viable and
desirable the strategy of suspending dialogue with Pakistan still is
in the face of the increasingly fragmented nature of political
authority in that country and the mounting perception worldwide that
India needs to engage with its neighbour. “We should not negotiate
out of fear but we should not fear negotiations either,” a well-
placed source told The Hindu on Wednesday morning while providing a
foretaste of the different options now under consideration at the
highest levels of the government
[. . .]
http://www.hindu.com/2009/06/04/stories/2009060452971000.htm
_____
[5] India & Diaspora:
From The Times
June 2, 2009
IS SIKHISM SUCCUMBING TO FUNDAMENTALISM?
The fatal shooting at a Sikh temple in Austria shows up an ugly
schism in a religion built on monotheism and equality
by Sathnam Sanghera
There were riots across northern India last week after a shooting at
a Sikh temple in Austria resulted in the death of a sect leader and,
given that Punjabi culture is something I bang on about on occasion,
it wasn’t surprising, I suppose, that a couple of news producers
rang, asking me to put the disturbances into context.
I declined because: (a) as a community we are only just learning to
talk about ourselves, and too often any kind of commentary is taken
as criticism; (b) commenting about religion is a dangerous business
when people are being killed and one has absolutely no theological
authority; (c) I feel about broadcasting the way many feel about
general anaesthetic (you should do it only when you absolutely need
to); but mainly because (d) it’s quite hard to explain what Sikhism
actually stands for.
You see, one of the founding principles of the monotheistic religion,
established in the late 15th century by Guru Nanak, was opposition to
Hinduism’s oppressive caste system. Yet the world’s fifth largest
organised religion has a caste system of its own, with differences
between Jat Sikhs (a group that I belong to and which makes up about
two thirds of Sikh society) and non-Jat castes, such as the
Ramgarhias, remaining a source of political, social and religious
tension.
Even in Britain you’ll find different Sikh temples belonging to
different groups on the same road, and — according to some media
reports last week, many of them disputed by the groups involved — the
violence in Austria was sparked after orthodox Sikhs from one caste
objected to preachers from another caste being disrespectful towards
the Sikh Holy Book.
Related Links
* Riots after Sikh guru shot dead in Vienna
* From Punjab to Putney: the rise of British Sikhism
Also, officially, Sikhs don’t worship human beings, since Guru Gobind
Singh, the tenth Sikh guru, named Guru Granth Sahib, the Holy Book,
as his successor. But certain Sikh sects do believe in living human
gurus, some mainstream Sikh families revere spiritual figures and
ancestors, and — according to some media reports, again disputed by
the groups involved — the violence in Austria was sparked when
members of a certain sect gave the Guru Granth Sahib pride of place
next to photographs and idols of their own human “gurus”.
Then there’s the issue of booze. Officially, Sikhs don’t drink, and
some families don’t even allow alcohol to be kept in their houses.
But as the academics Gurharpal Singh and Darshan Singh Tatla point
out in Sikhs in Britain: The Making of a Community: “Consumption of
alcohol has always been high among Sikhs, with the per capita rate
among Sikhs of Punjab among the highest in the world” and “a
particularly distinctive feature of British Sikh society today” being
“the high rate of alcoholism among males . . . Consumption rates are
higher than in any other ethnic minority and in the white community.”
There are other contradictions. Sikhs are meant to adopt the name
“Singh”, meaning “lion”, as a way of encouraging equality (one’s
caste can often be identified by a surname), but many of us use it
only as a middle name. The Gurus declared men and women to be equal,
but Punjabi culture is highly patriarchal. Sikhism is the only major
world religion that acknowledges that other religions are a valid way
of reaching God, but some believers risk being disowned for marrying
outside of their religion.
Also, Sikhs, partly as a result of having no clergy (the idea is that
everyone can be directly in touch with God without priests) and
partly as a result of factionalism, have never been very good at
building institutions to represent them, and yet have had great
success campaigning on issues such as the right to wear the turban,
so much so that Sikhs can legally ride a motorbike with a turban
instead of a helmet. When, the other week, the police announced that
they were developing a bulletproof turban, apart from a few tiresome
jokes about the “turbanator”, there were almost no objections from
any quarters. Imagine the fuss there would have been if the religious
headwear in question had been a burka.
And if there is anything that epitomises the fluidity of Sikhism, it
is the turban. Long hair, beards and colourful headwear are
synonymous with the religion — I kept my own hair unshorn until the
age of 14 — but if you ask any Sikh why they keep their hair uncut,
they will give you a different answer.
Some say that it’s a way of showing respect for the God-given form;
some that it is a way of expressing love for God (like a married
person would wear a wedding ring); some link it to intelligence,
health and spirituality; some say that Guru Gobind Singh made the
keeping of unshorn hair mandatory to give Sikhs a binding identity.
There are others who will argue that long hair isn’t actually
necessary to be a Sikh.
In fact, a great many Sikhs, if not the majority, don’t have long
hair and don’t sport turbans. And those with turbans are not
necessarily hugely religious: I know one turbaned man who runs that
most un-Sikh of things, an English pub; another who started wearing a
turban simply because he had developed a bald patch; another who is
actually an atheist.
As it happens, I don’t think that these ambiguities are necessarily a
problem. Such issues crop up with all organised religions, and for
me, and I am a believer, the massive variation in observance is
appealing, as you’re basically left to define your own religiosity.
Not least, it’s an expression of another of Sikhism’s fundamental
teachings, that empty ritual is meaningless, and it ensures that
believers concentrate on the things that really matter, namely “Nam
simran” (meditation on and awareness of God) and “Sewa” (community
service).
But the concerning thing about last week’s events is that we seem to
have another contradiction developing. This most modern and liberal
of world religions, which allows its believers to develop their own
relationship with God, is developing a fundamentalist streak, with
certain people determined to tell others what to believe and how to
believe it, under pain of death if necessary.
_____
[6] India:
The New Nation
June 4, 2009
INDIA'S MISSING WOMEN
by Pamela Philipose
Indian elections have always thrown up its share of curiosities. Take
one that emerged in the searing summer of 1991, as the country
prepared to face a general election. A certain Suman Lata constituted
the Akhil Bharatiya Mahila Dal and promoted it as India's "first and
only women's party". She, rather courageously, expressed her
intention to field 400 candidates. History was not been kind to Suman
Lata's party. It sank without a trace.
Quixotic though this move may seem the unhappy fate of Suman Lata's
party does point to a serious flaw in the world's largest democracy:
Roughly half its population - 48.26 per cent of Indians to be precise
- still remains poorly represented in mainstream politics.
It is 57 years since post-independent India had its first tryst with
a general election. Today, as the country heads for its 15th Lok
Sabha election, several of its most important political parties are
either headed by women or have vocal women leaders, yet women have
never constituted more than 10 per cent of the Lower House of
Parliament.
In 2004, when the last general election took place, 44 women became
parliamentarians. This is the exact same number that was returned 20
years earlier in the 1984 election! If we are to go further back in
time, this figure appears even more insignificant. In the 1937
elections held under the Government of India Act, which had
reservations for women, 80 women were elected to power.
The bald truth is that in post-Independent India, women have never
been able to breach the 10 per cent mark in terms of parliamentary
representation. It should, therefore, surprise nobody that
'democratic' India - with a rank of 105 out of 135 countries - fares
far worse than its neighbours, Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan in
terms of parliamentary representation for women, according to 2009
figures compiled by the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
What accounts for the paradox of having so many women leading parties
but few actually representing parties in Parliament? According to
Sanjay Kumar, psephologist and fellow at the Centre for the Study of
Developing Societies, New Delhi, "The plain truth is that political
parties in the country have always chosen to privilege male political
aspirants over female ones. Not enough tickets are given to women."
The number of women given tickets across political parties has
actually declined from 247 in the 13th General Elections to 177 in
the 14th General Elections. Important parties such as the Congress
and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which have always claimed that they
are committed to women's empowerment, have invariably let women down
when it came to handing them tickets. Take the Congress's record in
the polls to the six state assemblies late last year: In Delhi, eight
out of 70 candidates; in Chhattisgarh, 10 out of 90; in Madhya
Pradesh 29 out of 230. The coming General Elections are not going to
witness any radical changes in this pattern, going by all available
evidence.
Political parties cite "winnability" as their argument for why women
don't get tickets. But counters political scientist Zoya Hasan, the
author of the recent 'Politics of Inclusion: Castes, Minorities and
Affirmative Action', "The winnability factor is more a presumption
than anything else. Going by whatever analyses that have been done,
it is simply not true that women fare worse than men in Indian
elections do. In fact, in India, where most people vote for parties
rather than individuals, it follows that if successful parties field
women they would win."
She points to the poor record of the CPI (M) on this score despite
having an articulate Brinda Karat vociferously pushing for better
political representation for women. "In the 2004 elections, it was
clear that the party would do well. So what prevented it from
distributing tickets to women?" asks Dr Hasan. The real issue, she
states, is that women lack networks and financial muscle. At a time
when standing for a Lok Sabha election would entail amounts that are
anything over Rs 100 million (US$1=Rs 51.2), women may find it more
difficult to raise funds of this magnitude. The other factor that Dr
Hasan underlines is the lack of public visibility. "You just don't
have enough women in organisational positions within parties and even
women leaders themselves don't promote women," she says.
According to Surat-based political analyst, Dr Ghanshyam Shah, a
retired professor of the Social Sciences, this is because political
parties don't consider women's empowerment a priority issue. He says,
"There is only rhetoric about it and little intent. Nothing
exemplifies this better than the treatment accorded to the Women's
Bill."
The Women's Bill - reserving 33 per cent of seats in the Parliament
and state assemblies for women - has been hanging fire since 1997
thanks to the dogged opposition mounted by male MPs from a few
regional parties. They argued that it would only empower elite women
at the cost of men representing Other Backward Classes (OBCs). In
2008, the Bill was introduced in the Upper House of Parliament (Rajya
Sabha) after women Members of Parliament (MPs) formed a human chain
around the law minister to enable him to do this. But the big
question is whether it will get passed in the Lower House and become
the law of the land.
Dr Shah dismisses the argument that the Bill will only see power
being transferred to elite women, as mere hypocrisy. "There is
provision within the Bill to reserve seats for SCs/STs. In any case,
what is stopping political parties from giving tickets to lower caste
women and those from OBCs?" he asks.
In 1993, India enacted the 93rd and 94th Constitutional Amendments,
reserving 33 per cent of seats in local bodies for women.
Today, the symbolic and actual value of having more than a million
women preside over Panchayati Raj institutions is the best argument
for why reservations for women is the only way to address the poor
representation of women in the Parliament and state assemblies. There
are innumerable examples of the transformative character of having
more women as lawmakers. The case of Rwanda, where women legislators
ensured the passing of a law protecting victims of sexual abuse, an
issue their male counterparts may have considered a waste of time, is
cited.
Meanwhile, in India, voices demanding the Women's Bill are getting
louder. In the Women's Charter, which was part of the All India
People's Manifesto initiative promoted by the 'Wada Na Todo Abhiyan'
after consultations with more than 230,000 people in 100
parliamentary constituencies, the enactment of the Women's Bill
emerged as a key demand. Several women's groups have also made the
same demand in a Women's Charter that was released recently in New
Delhi.
As Delhi-based political scientist Neera Chandoke has argued in
'Challenges to Democracy In India', "Democracy is much more than a
system whereby citizens elect and dismiss their representatives.
Democracy is about assuring freedom and equality to all citizens in
their everyday life, so that they can develop their capacities."
Indian democracy continues to be diminished by the fact that women's
political empowerment in the country remains an unfinished agenda.
o o o
The Telegraph
June 4, 2009
Editorial
COURTING ANGER
The Indian practice of killing wives or daughters-in-law or driving
them to suicide is flourishing. The count is going up, not down: from
2005 to 2007, deaths for dowry have gone up from over 6,000 to over
8,000. Every right-thinking citizen would be horrified by not just
the statistics but by the increase in violence as well, and wonder
how this rising tide of domestic murder can be stemmed. Exactly this
horror and concern seems to lie behind the remarks emanating from the
Supreme Court bench that refused the bail plea of an accused in a
bride-burning case. The judges made clear that pouring kerosene over
a woman to burn her is a “barbaric” act, unfit for civilized people.
The court’s sharp remarks implied that it was death, not a life
sentence, that such offenders deserved. Given the increase in the
crime, the remarks seem to suggest, capital punishment alone would be
a possible deterrent.
Without questioning for a moment the rightness of sentiment behind
the court’s remarks, it is possible to feel deeply uncomfortable
about them. A court’s pronouncement represents the balance imaged in
the concept of justice; it cannot afford to be touched by anger. In
times such as the present, when most institutions are blamed for acts
of excess or impropriety, the court is especially important as a
symbol of balance. The legal process, which culminates, ideally, in a
punishment befitting the crime, is a fundamental requirement of
civilized life. Since everyone has a right to be legally tried, it is
the only bulwark against a violent ethos of public revenge and
oppression. The court represents society’s agreements about the
punishments regarding each category of crime. It is an impersonal
institution that channels society’s constructive sentiments into law
and procedure. Even its rhetoric is impersonal, neutral, it cannot
afford to seem intemperate. Even a touch of personal ire in a
judicial pronouncement can cause alarm, for the balance between
sentiment and legality is strenuously achieved. While India does have
capital punishment, it is used with great restraint. To mention it
with reference to an offender already sentenced to life imprisonment
in order to emphasize the brutal nature of his crime seems
unnecessary. The man is already paying for his crime according to the
law. The denial of bail should be enough to drive home the gravity of
his deed.
o o o
The Telegraph
June 3, 2009
NO WOMAN, NO CRY
More and more women are turning to the Domestic Violence Act, even
though it continues to be hamstrung by a lack of adequate resources.
Hemchhaya De reports
Saira, 25, saw her dreams coming true when she moved to Mumbai from
Calcutta after her marriage. But after a few months, trouble started
brewing in her marital life. When she became pregnant, her husband
asked her to abort the foetus. Or else, he said, he would divorce
her. Saira obliged.
But this was not the end of her plight. When she became pregnant
again, she was made to undergo an abortion one more time. Then, after
she became pregnant for the third time, her husband asked her to move
to her parents’ home in Calcutta and get an abortion done once again.
Her parents’ pleas to their son-in-law to let Saira return to her
marital home fell on deaf ears.
Saira has decided to file a case against her husband under the
Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act. Despite the trauma
she has been subjected to, the 25-year-old doesn’t want her marriage
to break up and wants to move back to her Mumbai home.
Rita, 26, doesn’t want a divorce either. She just wants her husband
and in-laws to recognise her right to stay in her marital home. Both
she and her husband are doctors. She has to live through mental
torture from her in-laws who never fail to point out that it’s their
home and she has to either abide by their rules or move out. Yet her
husband doesn’t want to live away from his parents. Rita has sought
legal counselling and filed a case under the Domestic Violence Act.
Seema, who’s in her late 50s, is also planning to file a case under
the Act against her husband who has just retired from work. Her
husband bought a flat after retirement, but he locked it up and told
his wife that they didn’t need such a big flat. He rented a room in a
building and asked her to shift there. Seema has been staying there
on her own. Her husband never visits her; nor does he allow her
access to the new flat, which she co-owns.
Saira, Rita and Seema are potential beneficiaries of a landmark
section of the Domestic Violence Act, which came into effect in 2006.
Section 17 (1) of the Act says, “Notwithstanding anything contained
in any other law for the time being in force, every woman in a
domestic relationship shall have the right to reside in the shared
household, whether or not she has any right, title or beneficial
interest in the same.”
Thanks to efforts made by non governmental organisations, women
activists and lawyers, awareness of the Act is spreading slowly but
steadily across some parts of the country.
“The Domestic Violence Act is a path-breaking law in many respects.
It recognises several forms of domestic violence — physical torture,
mental torture and, more importantly, economic violence,” says
Manabendra Mandal, executive director, Socio-legal Aid Research and
Training Centre (SLARTC), Calcutta, one of the 11 ‘service providers’
in the state. Under the law, service providers are tasked with
helping victims of domestic violence with legal aid, temporary
shelter and medical and financial assistance.
Mandal reveals that over the past few months they have been
increasingly receiving cases filed under the Act, either from
protection officers or from district magistrates.
The law stipulates that a state government is to appoint a required
number of protection officers for each district in the state. They
can be either government employees or members of NGOs with a minimum
experience of three years in the social sector. For instance, there
are two protection officers for Calcutta while there is one officer
for each of the other districts. Among other things, protection
officers are required to help the magistrate in discharging his
duties as specified under the Act, receive complaints of domestic
violence, take preventive or emergency action and facilitate the
aggrieved person’s access to legal processes and other services. A
woman can approach a protection officer in her district directly with
her complaint.
Though activists argue that the law is still hamstrung by the lack of
an adequate number of protection officers and service providers,
others say that even then there has been a marked increase in the
number of cases registered under the Act. Says Moushumi Kundu,
protection officer, Hooghly district, “There is definitely a lot more
awareness now about the law even in the rural pockets of my district,
thanks mainly to awareness campaigns carried out by some NGOs.” Kundu
reveals that about six months ago, there was only one registered case
in the Serampore subdivision of Hooghly. But now the number is 20.
“On an average, we have around 250 registered cases under this Act in
Hooghly alone. The number can vary from one district to another. But
in most places the number is more or less the same.”
Data collected through various sources show that there are now 15,320
cases registered under the Domestic Violence Act in India. That
figure may look encouraging, showing as it does that more and more
women are coming forward to avail of this law. But activists feel
that this does not really amount to progress. “This is nothing if we
consider that women account for as much as 50 per cent of the our
billion-strong population,” says Ranjana Kumari, director, Centre for
Social Research (CSR), New Delhi. She adds that the funds allocated
for implementing the Act are still very meagre in many states. “In
states like Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, it’s as little as Rs 3-4 lakh
per annum. Andhra Pradesh has the highest allocation — Rs 10 crore,”
she says.
“In an interesting development, while the number of cases registered
under the Domestic Violence Act is on the rise, there may be a
decline in the number of cases being registered under Section 498A of
the IPC in some states. (Section 498A is a criminal law to punish
dowry offenders.) Of course, this can also imply that the police are
not discharging their duties properly in 498A cases,” says Soumya
Bhaumick, consultant, CSR.
But though the Domestic Violence Act seems to be helping women, some
point out that it is early days yet. Flavia Agnes, lawyer and women’s
activist associated with a Mumbai-based women’s organisation called
Majlis, cautions against media hype over the Act. “It’s true that
many NGOs are raising awareness among victims. But this awareness is
not really getting translated into more judicial orders,” she says.
The appointment of protection officers is also erratic, she says. “In
states like Maharashtra, the appointment of protection officers is
quite irregular.”
Majlis activists will organise a workshop for women lawyers and
service providers in Mumbai this week to do a reality check on the
implementation of the Domestic Violence Act. The Centre for Social
Research will also take part in a training programme for service
providers in Calcutta.
Clearly, this is one law that needs to be constantly monitored at the
implementation level to make sure that women can root out violence
from their homes.
_____
[7] MISCELLANEA:
Why they assassinated the Kansas Doctor George Tiller?
USA: VIOLENT CAMPAIGN OF THE ANTI ABORTIONIST CHRISTIAN TALIBAN: A
compilation of selected commentary & reports
http://www.siawi.org/article773.html
o o o
Washington Post
June 3, 2009
Editorial
CLINICS IN THE CROSS HAIRS
After an abortion provider's killing, a need for greater security
GEORGE TILLER knew the danger of providing late-term abortions. His
home was picketed, his office was blown up and in 1993 he was shot in
both arms by an anti-abortion zealot. He never considered stopping
his work, because he knew there were women who needed his help. His
murder is a tragedy for his family, his patients and his profession.
It should serve as a wake-up call that more must be done to ensure
that women have access to this legal procedure.
Mr. Tiller was shot to death Sunday as he handed out bulletins in his
Kansas church and as his wife sang in the choir. Yesterday,
authorities charged Scott Roeder with first-degree murder, and they
are investigating what have been described as his virulent anti-
abortion views. Mr. Tiller is the fourth abortion provider to be
killed since 1993; the attacks he and his Wichita clinic endured are
not isolated events. The National Abortion Federation has catalogued
6,143 such incidents of violence in the United States and Canada
between 1977 and 2009, including arson, bombings and butyric acid
attacks.
It is unclear how this violence has affected decisions by health-care
providers. What is known is that the number of places where women can
go for abortions has been declining since 1982. About one-third of
women live in a county with no abortion providers, reports the
Guttmacher Institute, and as a result a growing number of women have
difficulty receiving the services in a timely manner.
The vast majority of abortions are performed in free-standing clinics
like that run by Mr. Tiller. Very few are performed in hospitals -- a
sign that mainline medicine is not living up to its responsibility.
What has been overlooked since Mr. Tiller's appalling murder is what
will happen to women who need his services. Mr. Tiller was one of the
few doctors who performed abortions in the third trimester, and the
stories of these women are heartbreaking because, in large measure,
they desperately wanted children but were dealing with something gone
horribly awry in their pregnancies.
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. is offering U.S. Marshals Service
protection for abortion clinics and the doctors who staff them. It's
the right call, but one that underscores the urgency of coming up
with better solutions for the delivery of abortion services.
o o o
The Guardian, 3 June 2009
LESSONS FROM TIANANMEN
The best way to remember those who died in the Tiananmen massacre is
to reaffirm the Chinese people's right to civil liberties
by Ian Buruma
It is a chilling thought that exactly 20 years after the "Tiananmen
massacre" few young citizens of the People's Republic of China have
much idea of what happened on that occasion. Many unarmed Chinese
citizens were killed by People's Liberation Army troops on June 4,
1989, not only in the vicinity of Tiananmen Square, but in cities all
over China. Most were not students, who started the peaceful
demonstrations against corruption and autocracy, but ordinary
workers, the sort of people a Communist Party ought to be standing up
for.
Young people don't know, because most parents have shut up about it,
lest they get themselves and their children in trouble, and because
the subject is never mentioned in the official Chinese media; it is a
taboo. Websites mentioning the events of 1989 are closed down. Emails
are intercepted. People who still insist on talking about it in
public are frequently arrested.
Zhao Ziyang was general secretary of the Communist party in 1989.
Although no democrat himself, his sympathies were with the student
demonstrators. Because he opposed the hardliners in his own
government, he was put under house arrest until his death in 2005,
and his memoirs had to be smuggled out of the country on cassettes,
disguised as Peking Opera recordings. They have just been published
in English and Chinese, but cannot be legally distributed in China.
Zhao's book will doubtlessly inspire more debates on what lessons we
should draw from "June Fourth". These are necessary debates. If only
they could take place in China. One strong school of thought that
emerged almost as soon as the killing began in 1989, is that the more
radical student leaders had been reckless. It should have been clear
to them that a violent crackdown was inevitable. By provoking the
regime, the students derailed any chance of slow political reform,
which their more moderate elders had carefully set in train.
Indeed, so proponents of this school often add, China was not yet
ready for democracy. And mass demonstrations certainly were not going
to achieve it. Indeed, the radical student leaders had no more
understanding of democracy than the Communist leaders they opposed.
Life in the capital, and many Chinese cities, had been severely
disrupted. The Chinese government was heavy-handed, to be sure, but
had a perfect right to restore order in the streets.
If the student leaders had really wanted to take over the government,
and use violence to do so, this theory would be convincing. Violent
revolutions are rarely followed by liberal regimes. There is,
however, no evidence that even the most radical students ever had
such ambitions, and the demonstrations had been entirely peaceful.
All the demonstrators had asked for was free speech, dialogue with
the government, independent unions, and an end to official corruption.
As to whether the demonstrations were doomed to end in failure and
bloodshed, this too is easy to say in hindsight. History may never
repeat itself precisely, but certain patterns can be discerned.
Demonstrations alone almost never topple a regime, but they can do so
in combination with other political shifts, which can happen
suddenly. When East Germans protested against their Communist
autocrats in 1989, they were not assured of success either. Indeed,
some party bosses wanted to bring out the tanks, just like their
comrades in Beijing. But when Mikhail Gorbachev refused to support a
German crackdown, a mixture of overwhelming public protest and
government bungling brought down the Berlin Wall.
South Korean students filling the streets of Seoul in 1986 could not
have ended the authoritarian military government either. Again, it
was a combination of events – pressure from the US, the impending
Olympic Games, and the presence of plausible opposition politicians –
that did it.
The students on Tiananmen Square could not have known what was going
on inside the closed Communist regime. There were serious splits, but
no one could have known exactly what the end results would be. In the
event, Zhao Ziyang's conciliatory approach, which might have led to
concessions, which in turn might have opened possibilities for a more
open political system, lost out. Hardliners, who refused to give up
their monopoly on power, won.
Would Zhao have prevailed, had the students retreated? Unlikely. In
any case, it was not the place of the students, or the workers who
supported them, to back any particular faction in the government.
They lacked the authority. They were not politicians. All they asked
for was more freedom. And this should be the main lesson to draw from
those spring days in Beijing, and Shanghai, and Guangzhou, and many
other places: Chinese have as much right as any other people to speak
freely, without fear of arrest, to elect their own leaders, and to
have laws that apply to everyone, even to the leaders themselves.
On 4 June, 1989, thousands of Chinese were killed for demanding less
than that. The best way to remember them is to reaffirm their right
to liberties that millions of people, in the west, and in many parts
of Asia, take for granted. The worst way is to blame a few students
who insisted on that right until it was too late.
Ian Buruma's latest book is The China Lover
o o o
From The Times
May 26, 2009
SPANISH CIVIL WAR VOLUNTEERS ARE GRANTED CITIZENSHIP 70 YEARS ON
Deborah Haynes, Defence Correspondent
They were the men and women who gave up comfortable lives to fight
fascists in a foreign land. Mustered into a ragtag band of soldiers,
they crouched at barricades all across the Spanish countryside
challenging the marauding forces of General Franco.
Thousands died and the survivors returned to countries suspicious of
their socialist sympathies. Now, more than seven decades after Franco
conquered republican forces in the Spanish Civil War, their efforts
are being recognised.
The gesture is too late for most, but next month Spain will give
passports to the surviving members of the International Brigades.
Seven British pensioners are due to accept their citizenship at the
Spanish Embassy in London on June 9. An eighth, Les Gibson, 96,
declined because of poor health, and the offer came too late for Jack
Jones, the union leader, and Bob Doyle, both prominent brigade
fighters who died this year.
Jack Edwards, 95, who gave up selling newspapers in his native
Liverpool in 1937 to sneak into Spain via bus and boat, said that he
was “elated” at the Spanish recognition.
Times Archive, 1938: Hard fighting at the Battle of Ebro
Severe fighting continued as squadrons of Nationalist aeroplanes
bombed Republican positions
Mr Edwards, who was shot in the leg during his service, said that
despite the hardships he had seen and experienced, he had no regrets.
“You were fighting for rights. You were fighting for something you
believed in.”
The Spanish Cabinet overcame political sensitivities in the autumn to
implement legislation passed in 2007 that granted citizenship to
volunteers who arrived from more than 50 countries between 1936 and
1939 to combat the rebel fascist forces. Only a few hundred of the
estimated 35,000 men and women remain alive to benefit from the
citizenship offer.
The conflict, in which half a million people died, remains a painful
period in Spain’s history. It began when General Francisco Franco,
with support from Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, challenged the
republican government in a military uprising. Spain split between
republicans and the fascists in a bloody clash of principles that
ended in a fascist victory.
The persecution of anyone with republican leanings continued until
Franco’s death in 1975 and it is only in the past decade that
discussion of the conflict and its aftermath has become acceptable in
Spain.
When the war broke out, Britain and France chose not to help Spain
because they were uncomfortable with Madrid’s close friendship with
communist Moscow.
Dismayed at the decision, an unlikely group of activists took matters
into their own hands. About 2,300 men and women, including trade
unionists from Liverpool, Jews from London, a smattering of
university-educated poets, and members of the IRA caught boats to
France, from where they were helped across the border. Volunteers
from countries such as the United States, Canada, Poland and the
Soviet Union also joined the fight. Most had minimal, if any,
military training and all were poorly equipped. They formed the
International Brigades, united under the battle cry “No pasaran —
they shall not pass.
Deployed to towns and villages along the front line, the amateur
soldiers, dressed in khaki trousers and shirts with a soft hat, dug
in alongside the Spanish republican army to face the rebels.
Thousands died, including 525 Britons. Chaotic scenes of machinegun
fire, explosions and the ominous drone of German bombers are captured
in a number of books, poems and films. George Orwell, who was shot in
the neck while serving for an anti-Stalinist communist party rather
than the International Brigades, wrote of his experiences in Homage
to Catalonia.
Eventually, the might of the rebels with their German and Italian
backers was too great. The end came when Juan Negrin, Spain’s
republican Prime Minister, told the League of Nations on September
21, 1938, that the International Brigades must leave, in the futile
hope that the rebels’ foreign supporters would also depart. Defeated
and despondent, many left, though others were kept as prisoners of war.
Not everyone who participated was motivated by anti-fascism. Thomas
Watters, a bus driver in Glasgow, ferried wounded republicans from
the front line as part of the Scottish Ambulance Unit. “I’m not
interested in politics,” said Mr Watters, 96, who is due to receive a
Spanish passport next month. “I wanted to help people.”
The other veterans are Lou Kenton, 101; Sam Lesser, 95; Joseph Khan,
94; Paddy Cochrane, 96, from Ireland; and Penny Feiwel, 100.
CIVIL WAR FACTS
Historians estimate that about 500,000 people died in the war
Despite other European powers signing non-intervention pact, about
40,000 foreigners went to Spain to fight for the republicans
Germany and Italy ignored the agreement and sent troops to help
Franco. Moscow provided supplies to government forces
The International Brigades suffered 5,000 fatalities, including 2,000
Germans, 1,000 French, 900 Americans and over 500 Britons
The factions executed 120,000 people during the war. The victors put
100,000 to death afterwards
Sources: The Spanish Civil War, Spartacus, Times Archive
_____
[8] Announcements:
(i)
CACIM (www.cacim.net) and Navayana (navayana.org/) invite you to a
public discussion on
INTERNATIONALISING CASTE - EVERYBODY'S ISSUE? OR NOBODY'S ISSUE?
June 4, Thursday, 2009 | 3.30 - 6.30 pm, India Social Institute
(www.isidelhi.org.in), New Delhi
--
(ii)
Oxford Early Modern South Asia Workshop
Faculty of Oriental Studies and Asian Studies Centre, St Antony's
College
Religious Cultures in South Asia, c. 1500-1800
5-6 June 2009, Dahrendorf Room, St Antony’s College
Registration and enquiries: jennifer.griffiths @ sant.ox.ac.uk, tel.
01865-274559
--
(iii)
A SANSAD Forum
STRUGGLES FOR LAND, LIVELIHOOD AND LIFE IN INDIA:
A View of Imperialism and Neo-liberalism from Orissa
Sunday, June 21, 2009
2:00 p.m.
Room A. 136 A, Langara College
100 West 49th Avenue, Vancouver
Aided by the wholesome adoption of the Neo-liberal agenda by the
Indian state, the many-pronged penetration of Imperialism is now
present in every sector of Indian econmy, every aspect of society and
polity, and also in the defence-military establishment.
The focus of this Forum is however on only one aspect of this
phenomenon: the large scale acquisition of hundreds of thousands of
hectares of agricultural land; either for building mega projects, or
for setting up Special Economic Zones - to serve the local and/or
multinational big capital. Large scale resistance of peasants and
tribal people are breaking up all over India, often met with severe
state repression.
The Forum will attempt to examine these by paying a close attention
to one region, the resource rich State of Orissa. Very many national
and multinational corporations are waiting in the wings. It is also
in Orissa (ruled by the Hindutava forces of BJP) that genocidal
attacks on the Christian community took place last year. Thousands of
affected families are still unable to return to their homes and hearth.
Panelists
** Dr. Hari Sharma, Imperialism and India, an Update and a Brief
Overview
** Dr. Manoranjan Mohanty, People's Movement Against Neo-Liberalism
and Imperialism: A View from Orissa
** Dr. Bidyut Mohanty, Right to Livelihood from a Gender Perspective
** Mr. David Pugh, Peasant Displacements in India: Encountering State
Power in Orissa
Speakers:
Dr. Hari Sharma, Professor Emeritus of Sociology, SFU, and President,
South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy (SANSAD)
Dr. Manoranjan Mohanty, Retired Head, Department of Political
Science, University of Delhi. Presently, Visiting Professor, Global
and International Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara
Dr. Bidyut Mohanty, Head, Women's Studies Department, Institute of
Social Sciences, New Delhi, Presently, Visiting Professor, Global and
International Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara
As a husband-wife team Drs. Manoranjan and Bidyut Mohanty
are orginally from Orissa, and have been very actively involved there
with the people's resistance movements.
Mr. David Pugh, a School Teacher, San Fracisco, California. On behalf
of International League of People's Struggles, Mr. Pugh travelled to
India to investigate the phenonomenon of massive displacements of
peasants from their land and livelihood, and had an unforgetable
encounter with the Orissa police.
Additional Forum
Monday, June 22, 2009
2:00 p.m.
F125 - Centre for Indo Canadian Studies, University House
University of the Fraser Valley, Abbotsford BC
Organized by
South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy (SANSAD)
Endorsed and Supported by
Department of Sociology, Langara College, Vancouver; Centre for the
Indo-Canadian Studies, University of the Fraser Valley, Abbotsford;
Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Simon Fraser University,
Institute for the Humanities, SFU; School for International Studies,
SFU; and Simon Fraser Public Interest Research Group (SFPIRG)
for further information, contact:
Chin Banerjee, 604-421-6752; Harjap Grewal, 778-552-2099; Hari
Sharma, 604-420-2972
For the Program in Abbotsford: Dr. Satwinder Bains, 1-604-854-4547
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
S o u t h A s i a C i t i z e n s W i r e
Buzz for secularism, on the dangers of fundamentalism(s), on
matters of peace and democratisation in South
Asia. An offshoot of South Asia Citizens Web: www.sacw.net/
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