SACW | Oct 10-13, 2009 / Fundamentalists in Maldives / K Balagopal Archive / SAF Peace Festival / Human Security vs Security Mania
Harsh Kapoor
aiindex at gmail.com
Mon Oct 12 19:50:44 CDT 2009
South Asia Citizens Wire | October 10-13, 2009 | Dispatch No. 2660 -
Year 12 running
From: www.sacw.net
SACW DISPATCHES ARE BEING INTERRUPTED FOR A TWO WEEK PERIOD;
DISPATCHES WILL RESUME ON THE 1st OF NOVEMBER 2009
[ 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: Human Rights
- Press release from Centre for Policy Alternatives Regarding
Death Threats To its Director
- Shirking a moral duty to Sri Lanka (Suren Surendiran)
[2] Save the Maldives from fundamentalists (Maryam Omidi)
[3] Pakistan: Interpreting the GHQ attack (Editorial, Daily Times)
[4] India: Remembering K Balagopal - Memorial / Web archive /
Educational and Activist space on Human rights issues
[4] India: Human Security vs Security Mania
- A nutrition scheme held hostage by contractors (Biraj Patnaik)
- Spooks want govt to block Skype (Mohua Chatterjee)
- Of real-time intelligence and common sense (Jawed Naqvi)
- The Government’s "Offensive" Is a Formula for Bloodshed and
Injustice (Campaign for Survival and Dignity)
[5] India: Resources For Secular Activists
(i) Gujarat: Brutal attack on former mayor of Vadodara (Anhad Press
Release)
+ Systematic discrimination oozing out of the pores in Gujarat
(Shabnam Hashmi)
+ Police Continues Illegal Detentions and Torture in Gujarat
(Anhad)
(ii) Maharashtra:
- Hate politics in Sangli
- RSS, “Shastra Puja” [Arms Worship] and and offences under
Arms Act
(iii) Jinnah's case for a supreme court (A.G. Noorani)
[6] India: Human Security vs Security Mania
- A Nutrition Scheme Held Hostage By Contractors (Biraj Patnaik)
- Spooks Want Govt To Block Skype (Mohua Chatterjee)
- Of Real-Time Intelligence And Common Sense (Jawed Naqvi)
- The Government’s "Offensive" Is a Formula for Bloodshed and
Injustice (Campaign for Survival and Dignity)
[7] Upcoming events:
(i) South Asia Foundation Peace Festival 2009 (Amritsar - Wagah -
Preet Nagar, 10th to 23rd October 2009)
(ii) Meeto Memorial Award for Young South Asians (New Delhi, 14
October, 2009)
_____
[1] Sri Lanka
PRESS RELEASE FROM CENTRE FOR POLICY ALTERNATIVES REGARDING DEATH
THREATS TO ITS DIRECTOR
http://tt.ly/33
SHIRKING A MORAL DUTY TO SRI LANKA
by Suren Surendiran (guardian.co.uk, 8 October 2009)
http://tt.ly/34
_____
[2] Maldives:
The Guardian
28 September 2009
SAVE THE MALDIVES FROM FUNDAMENTALISTS
An Islamic scholar is facing flak for not wearing the right beard. We
must not let Wahhabism suffocate this island nation's identity
by Maryam Omidi
On his recent visit to the Maldives, Salih Yucel, a Turkish Islamic
scholar and lecturer at Monash University in Australia, was rejected
by his fellow Muslims who deemed his beard too short and his trousers
too long for him to be a bona fide Muslim. The response to the former
imam came as no surprise, being symptomatic of the puritanical
Wahhabism taking root in the Indian Ocean archipelago, a favourite
haunt of honeymooners and A-list celebrities.
The country's legislative architecture entrenches this intolerance,
in a constitution that recognises only Muslims as citizens and a
Religious Unity Act that stringently demarcates the type of Islam to
be practised. Nor are the country's non-Muslim expatriates, largely
Buddhist Sri Lankans and Hindu Indians, permitted to practise their
faiths in public as all places of worship apart from mosques are
banned. The intolerance does not end here: for Wahhabis, even other
Muslims, such as Shias and Sufis, are apostates.
The onset of Wahhabism in the country can be linked to a rise of the
ultraconservative ideology in the region, above all in Pakistan,
where many Maldivians travel for a free education at one of its
madrasas. While the teachings at the vast majority of these
institutions are benign, there are those, financed by Saudi Arabia,
that serve as conduits for the Wahhabi ideology.
Wahhabism, a back to basics Islam, states adherents must follow the
way of the Prophet Muhammad and his disciples to the letter. The
result has been a doctrinaire outlook among devotees and a
repudiation of the Maldives' historically moderate past.
As with other countries in the region such as Pakistan and
Afghanistan, Islam in the Maldives was suffused with elements of
Sufism; further, unique to the island nation are the influences
absorbed from its Buddhist past. But today, a conflict between these
traditions and calls for greater orthodoxy is palpable.
Many pin the upsurge in radicalism on former president Maumoon Abdul
Gayoom, an Egyptian-educated scholar, who according to one
journalist, brought Islam to the forefront of the nation's identity
at the expense of other cultural attributes. The upshot has been the
destruction of indigenous Islam in the Maldives and a cultural
identity crisis.
The losers in this formerly matriarchal society have been women and
girls. A groundswell of devotion over recent years has led to the
number of headscarves worn soaring, though often through social
pressure rather than piety.
More recently, families refusing to send their daughters to school or
vaccinate their children, while uncommon, are beginning to worry the
authorities. More alarming are reports about men keeping underage
girls as concubines to have sex with when their wives are
menstruating. Although yet to be verified, the reports have moved the
Maldivian president Mohamed Nasheed to call for an investigation.
While the Ministry of Islamic Affairs denounced concubinage as un-
Islamic, for many it was a nod to the practice of taking slave-girls
as concubines during the prophet's time.
In July, I wrote an article about the gender disparity in issuing
punishments for those convicted of premarital sex, for which the
sentence under sharia law is 100 lashes. While pregnancy incriminates
women, men deny their involvement in the act and get off scot-free.
Latest statistics from 2006 revealed that out of 184 people sentenced
to the punishment, 146 were women. The article and Amnesty
International's consequent call for a moratorium on flogging led to
protests demanding my deportation and the resignations of the foreign
minister, an MP and the Maldivian high commissioner to the UK, all of
whom I quoted in the article.
What the protests underscored was the absence of a public space for
religious debate. While a predominantly moderate sentiment may still
exist, the few bold enough to ask questions are labelled un-Islamic
or worse still, intimidated into silence. A recent announcement by
the minister of Islamic affairs that only scholars well-versed in the
Qur'an should speak about religion affairs tightened the screws further.
The rise of Wahhabism is one of the many challenges the fledging
democracy has to face. Although led by a young, liberal president,
the coalition government's failure to encourage dialogue on religion
has precluded the possibility of alternative narratives taking hold.
The government's ambitions to reappropriate its heritage through the
restoration of its Buddhist sites and the introduction of Maldivian
history in schools may be one antidote. Another lies in the country's
largely young population. While outwardly at least devotion has
rocketed, behind closed doors, many young people hunger for an
Islamic reformation. The question is, who will dare to lead the way?
_____
[3] Pakistan:
Daily Times
October 12, 2009
EDITORIAL: Interpreting the GHQ attack
The Saturday attack on the General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi
martyred a number of military personnel including a Brigadier and
Lieutenant-Colonel. The army reacted swiftly, killing four of the
terrorists and locating their safe house in a nearby suburban
settlement. While this was going on, five terrorists managed to get
into a security building and held hostage more than 40 personnel
including civilians. The operation, launched in two phases got all
the hostages released except three who got killed; four terrorists
were killed while their leader was arrested. The attacking force lost
four personnel.
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed the act and named the
“group” that had undertaken it: Amjad Farooqi Group. A member of the
group reportedly demanded that the government stop the military
operation in the Tribal Areas, hold former General Pervez Musharraf
accountable for his actions, force Blackwater US private security
firm to leave the country; shut down all western non-governmental
organisations (NGOs), and release detained Taliban. Al Qaeda had
earlier named the killers of khassadars in Khyber after its founder,
Abdullah Azzam.
Amjad Farooqi was a terrorist affiliated with Al Qaeda through Sipah-
e-Sahaba and Jaish-e-Muhammad. He was involved in the attempt on the
life of General Musharraf, the beheading of the American journalist
Daniel Pearl, and the bombing of a church in Islamabad. He was killed
in 2004 in Sindh. The Al Qaeda link was disclosed after his death.
His handler was the Libyan Abu Faraj al-Libi, who had replaced the
planner of 9/11, Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, as Al Qaeda commander in
Pakistan, after the latter’s arrest.
Punjab had warned of the impending attack on the GHQ as early as July
15 this year, and had named Lashkar-Jhangvi and Jaish-e-Muhammad
whose terrorists “would be dressed in military uniforms” and would be
carrying specific weapons. Again, it was South Punjab which was in
focus and, against all assertions to the contrary, this time counter-
intelligence was clearly effective against the terrorists. How else
can one judge counter-intelligence if not from this forewarning that
even named the outfits? If this tip-off was ignored, it can only mean
that there is “denial” somewhere of there being terrorist trouble in
South Punjab.
Most attacks in and around Islamabad, including the one on Marriott
Hotel, have been traced to South Punjab. Today, in the so-called
Seraiki Belt, no one dare speak against the erstwhile jihadi
organisation now clearly aligned with Al Qaeda. The government stance
is that the leader of Jaish-e-Muhammad, Maulana Masood Azhar, is not
to be found, but the foreign press has reported his presence in
Bahawalpur with new training facilities for his terrorists in the
nearby desert.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik says the deed is done by terrorists
aligned with Al Qaeda, but he also adds some other connections that
introduce breaches of logic that only he can understand. He says the
terrorists are working for their foreign masters against the
integrity of Pakistan. “Foreign masters” have been named by others as
India and the US. Unless explained more fully, this means that India
and the US are paying Al Qaeda — which Mr Malik says runs the TTP —
to wreck Pakistan.
The US is keen that Pakistan help it catch Osama bin Laden and
destroy the safe havens of Al Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan. It
is simply not logical that it should fund Al Qaeda to destroy
Pakistan. India has been hit by the “minions” of Al Qaeda and is
challenging Pakistan to take action against certain organisations the
Punjab CID has named in connection with the latest GHQ hit. Many TV
commentators angrily assert that a reference to them in the Kerry-
Lugar Bill was inserted by the Indian lobby in Washington.
An entire international community that includes the US, India and
China, wants Pakistan to take the battle to the “GHQ of the Taliban”
in South Waziristan. The Pakistan army has blockaded the area and
made initial moves to open the way for a ground assault. This attack,
from what it appears, is likely to hasten the process and we should
expect the forces to start moving on the ground by the end of this
month. In any case, the army knows that as winter approaches, the
operation may well be delayed beyond March-April in 2010 and that
could give the other side time to reorganise and consolidate.
The NWFP government wants the attack on South Waziristan to proceed
and wants Punjab to clear its southern region of old jihadis now
aligned with Al Qaeda terrorists. Clearing South Punjab is important
because at this stage it does not require more than local police
intelligence and a combined police and paramilitary operation against
specific targets. As for how effective local intelligence can be is
clear from the forewarning about the attack that did materialise. *
_____
[4] India: REMEMBERING K BALAGOPAL - MEMORIAL / WEB ARCHIVE /
EDUCATIONAL AND ACTIVIST SPACE ON HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES
http://balagopal.org
_____
[5] India: Resources Secular Activists
(i) GUJARAT: BRUTAL ATTACK ON FORMER MAYOR OF VADODARA
(11 october, Anhad Press Release)
http://www.anhadin.net/article91.html
SYSTEMATIC DISCRIMINATION OOZING OUT OF THE PORES IN GUJARAT
Muslim families forced out; Police repression, Digging and demolition
of graves in Dahod district
10 October, by Shabnam Hashmi
http://www.anhadin.net/article90.html
POLICE CONTINUES ILLEGAL DETENTIONS AND TORTURE IN GUJARAT
29 September
http://www.anhadin.net/article87.html
o o o
(ii) HATE POLITICS IN SANGLI
http://communalism.blogspot.com/2009/10/hate-politics-in-sangli-in-
shadow-of.html
RSS, “SHASTRA PUJA” [ARMS WORSHIP] AND AND OFFENCES UNDER ARMS ACT
http://communalism.blogspot.com/2009/10/rss-shastra-puja-and-and-
offences-under.html
o o o
(iii) JINNAH'S CASE FOR A SUPREME COURT
by A.G. Noorani
Had Indians united in support of a final court of appeal in 1921,
moves for reform of personal laws of Hindus and Muslims would have
accelerated.
http://www.flonnet.com/stories/20091023262108100.htm
_____
[6] India: Human Security vs Security Mania
A NUTRITION SCHEME HELD HOSTAGE BY CONTRACTORS
by Biraj Patnaik
THERE has been an animated debate in the past three years over the
supply of food in the ICDS (Integrated Child Development Services)
programme. Supplementary nutrition has been provided to all children
under the age of six since the inception of the programme more than
three decades ago. This was done with the recognition that the
nutrition gap (between what children should be consuming every day
and what they actually have) is more than 500 calories. This is one
of the reasons for the high incidence of child malnutrition in India:
46 per cent. This is double the malnutrition rate of sub-Saharan
Africa, and has registered a mere 1 per cent decline between 1999 and
2006. The fact that this rate of child malnutrition persists in the
second fastest growing economy makes it all the more inexcusable.
Till a few years ago, the entire supplementary nutrition programme
was borne by the state government. States were, therefore, given the
freedom to decide on the mode of procurement and distribution of food
in the ICDS centres. Barring a few notable exceptions, most states
used private contractors to procure and distribute food. The quality
was greatly compromised and more often than not food did not reach
the ICDS centres. It was well known that contracts were given to
private players who greased the system. The politician-bureaucrat
contractor nexus was established. This led to the Supreme Court
order of October 7, 2004, banning the participation of private
contractors in the programme and directing that funds for
supplementary nutrition be given to mahila mandals, women’s selfhelp
groups and village communities. The logic of the move was fairly
simple. Feeding children was not rocket science, and surely
communities would be able to provide hot, cooked meals to children.
Besides, decentralization of the funds would allow communities to
keep a closer watch on the food being provided at the ICDS centres,
and, indeed, increase their participation in the programme. It would
also allow communities to make culturally appropriate food choices.
In any case, a hot, cooked meal was already being provided in
government and government- aided primary schools on the directions of
the Supreme Court. It could be replicated in ICDS.
The Supreme Court order was deeply resisted by the political class
cutting across party lines as well as by the vested interests within
the bureaucracy. Universalization of ICDS has doubled the number of
ICDS centres across the country. This has also substantially
increased the budget allocated to supplementary feeding, thereby
increasing the stakes in the programme for vested interests.
For the past three years, the Supreme Court commissioners’ office and
the Right To Food campaign have been persuading state governments to
effectively decentralize the funds for the supplementary nutrition
programme. The Supreme Court has also passed interim orders to ensure
compliance. Despite unambiguous orders from the Supreme Court and a
Cabinet decision in 2009, many states continue to use contractors for
providing supplementary nutrition. These states include Gujarat,
Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Nagaland and Madhya Pradesh. In many states
where provisioning of meals has been delegated to village self-help
groups, the problems of giving them money on time and clearing their
dues remain the biggest bottlenecks. Ensuring decentralization in the
spirit of the Supreme Court orders remains a significant challenge
for ICDS.
(The author is principal adviser to the Commissioners of the Supreme
Court in the Right To Food case) —CSE/Down To Earth Feature Service
o o o
SPOOKS WANT GOVT TO BLOCK SKYPE
by Mohua Chatterjee, TNN 3 October 2009
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/india/Spooks-want-govt-to-
block-Skype/articleshow/5082066.cms
NEW DELHI: Intelligence agencies have asked the government to
consider blocking Skype as operators of the popular global VoIP
(Voice over Internet Protocol) engine are refusing to share the
encryption code that prevents Indian investigators from intercepting
conversations of suspected terrorists.
The Cabinet Committee on Security has accepted the recommendation in
principle but has not set a date for initiating action. The urgency
to track Skype calls stems from the fact that terrorists -- as the
26/11 attacks in Mumbai showed -- are increasingly using VoIP
services. The shift to VoIP has been prompted by the growing ability
of intelligence agencies to intercept mobile and other calls.
Like the BlackBerry service, VoIP operators send their signals under
a specific code which makes it difficult for others to decipher.
Sources said Skype has shared its encryption code with the US, China
and other governments but is refusing to accept similar Indian requests.
Since Skype is not registered here, Indian authorities have been
forced to mull the drastic option of blocking its gateways here.
This, however, may not be entirely effective as Skype can route
traffic through other service providers. The agencies feel blocking
the gateways will at least serve as a signal to local service
providers against carrying traffic from Skype or any other similar
service provider which does not share the encryption code with the
government.
Sections 4 and 5 of the Telegraph Act gives government the right to
grant licence for any kind of telephony and also the right to
intercept. Last year, government amended Section 69 of the
Information Technology Act to empower itself to take over servers of
Net and telecom service providers and demand the encryption code.
This may still be no remedy against recalcitrant overseas service
providers who usually have their servers abroad. Last year, the
government had a similar run-in with Canada's Research in Motion,
BlackBerry makers and service providers, and the UAE-based satphone
operator Thuraya.
Indian agencies are also keeping their fingers crossed, not sure
whether the department of telecom -- with a stake in sectoral growth
-- would like to lean on VoIP service providers on the issue of
sharing encryption code. Besides, there's also a feeling that the
government would be wary of people's response to the snapping of
Skype. The free service is used by a vast majority of urban middle
class Indians for communicating with families and friends spread
across the world.
Last year, TRAI had sent a recommendation (with data from 2007), that
Skype and Goggle should be asked to pay a licence fee, after being
brought within the licence regime. However, government turned it down
saying they were not based in India.
o o o
Dawn
21 September, 2009
OF REAL-TIME INTELLIGENCE AND COMMON SENSE
by Jawed Naqvi
A worrying topic of discussion gleaned from a slew at a western
diplomat’s reception last week concerned security for the
Commonwealth Games to be staged in Delhi in November 2010. The
proposed Commonwealth Foreign Ministers’ Meeting and the Ministerial
Meeting on Terrorism to be held on the margins of the UN General
Assembly session on Thursday underscored the urgency of it.
His colleagues from the post-colonial club will closely question
Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna over a range of security-related
aspects of the Games, for which construction work is under way at a
feverish pace in Delhi. Recent memory about security for sporting
events is not flattering. Acts of terrorism with roots in Pakistan
have shaken sports bodies in India and Pakistan alike. A few teams
from Commonwealth countries were forced to stay away from India. Also
Indian cricketers played abroad because enough security was not
available to them. The Lahore attack on Sri Lankan cricketers and its
fallout on the sporting calendar of Pakistan are all too well known.
Now unconfirmed Indian reports are quoting the Israelis as warning of
more attacks in the near future by religious extremists from
Pakistan, with or without logistical support from their Indian
partners. Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, (the key
spokesperson in Agra) is to hold a mandated but what also looks like
a grudging meeting with her Pakistani counterpart in New York some
time this week. She made pre-departure remarks to the effect that the
peace process would not move if Pakistan did not address India’s
concerns with terrorism from its soil.
There is only one way to address the problem — shared intelligence.
India and Pakistan will have to cooperate in very new ways to
confront the very new challenges they face together. Israelis and
others have come to be mistakenly regarded as veritable super sleuths
in South Asia because India and Pakistan will not share vital
information with each other, which they will readily provide to
anyone else.
The Sharm al Shaikh agreement of July 16 between the prime ministers
of India and Pakistan tried to address precisely this mistrust. “Both
leaders agreed that the two countries will share real-time, credible
and actionable information on any future terrorist threats,” their
joint statement said. I can’t detect a single devious intent in this.
There should be no doubt that real-time intelligence will be vital to
host the Games with any degree of assurance for security, not for the
participants alone but for the visitors.
It is the flip side of this vital step we have to worry about. Seldom
are happy tidings for peace seen as equally good news for the
intelligence communities of any two hostile powers. They stand to
lose most from any sensible people-friendly rapprochement. Similarly
upset would be their quislings in the media.
Barring a few notable exceptions, it was the media on both sides that
played less than a constructive role following the terror assault on
Mumbai. If the Indian TV channels had their way – going by what some
of their leading star analysts said – India should be under military
rule in cahoots with big corporate houses, led by Ratan Tata. This
was the sum and substance of TV discussions in the wake of the Mumbai
terror. Parliament would be suspended indefinitely and the dogs of
war would be let loose not only on Pakistan, but also more viciously
against dissenters at home.
It is axiomatic that the media’s prowess can shore up democracy but
less discussed is the reality that it can also turn reasonably
agreeable countries into a Murdochian nightmare. It was none other
than rightwing media, not without the standard underhand support from
their intelligence minders that went to town over totally fabricated
news of Chinese incursions into Indian territory. It took a loud
public reprimand from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and a flat denial
of the reports by the Indian army chief to stall Rupert Murdoch’s
protégés from wreaking havoc.
The Sharm al Shaikh meeting was a milestone in recent efforts by the
two countries to tame their intelligence beasts. The issue of
Balochistan could never have been included in their joint statement
otherwise. However, rather than preparing their units to carry out
the wishes of the political leadership, the intelligence-media duo in
both countries has been seeking to queer the pitch for the people’s
representatives. The entire debate in parliament and in the media has
skirted the crucial paragraphs of Sharm al Shaikh. They focussed on
the emotional appeal of Balochistan and Kashmir instead. The facts
were to the contrary.
“Both leaders agreed that terrorism is the main threat to both
countries. Both leaders affirmed their resolve to fight terrorism and
to cooperate with each other to this end.” What could be more
transparent an undertaking against terrorism?
Then the statement added: “Prime Minister Singh reiterated the need
to bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks to justice. Prime
Minister Gilani assured that Pakistan will do everything in its power
in this regard. He said that Pakistan has provided an updated status
dossier on the investigations of the Mumbai attacks and had sought
additional information/evidence. Prime Minister Singh said that the
dossier is being reviewed.” There is a problem with this paragraph.
It shows a palpable lack of transparency on both sides. We don’t know
what clinching evidence there is to nail Hafiz Saeed in the Mumbai
attack. At an ideological level people like Hafiz Saeed should be
incarcerated without a second thought for spewing hatred against
different communities, including some sects of Muslims as well. But
it seems to me that linking Hafiz Saeed to Mumbai is rooted in deep
intelligence gathered by sources – human and technical – and the
Indian side may be reluctant to share it with Pakistan.
This quandary is not unusual. In his insightful book published way
before the Mumbai attack – Open Secrets, India’s Intelligence
Unveiled – former joint director of India’s Intelligence Bureau (IB)
Maloy Krishna Dhar has indicated where could be going wrong. “A
counter-intelligence case is different from a criminal case,” Dhar
wrote. “It examines the probable threads of connectivity and
establishes a pattern to prove that certain external forces have
tried to penetrate the secrets of the nation. Prosecution under
Official Secrets Act is different in nature from prosecution under
penal laws.”
It is a worthwhile conjecture that the nature of evidence against
Hafiz Saeed in the Mumbai attack is good enough to get him convicted
as in an open and shut case but how do we place that evidence before
a Pakistani judge! In other words all the facts generated from the
investigations cannot be revealed to the public, much less to the
ISI, a rival intelligence agency. Such deep-rooted mistrust has to be
addressed to counter the serious challenge to our security. In the
absence of a transparent effort to catch the culprits after 9/11, the
American intelligence community and their conniving political patrons
created the Guantanamo Bay. Is that the way forward for South Asia?
It seems to me that not all is lost on the India-Pakistan front. We
have reason to take heart from a small under-published news report
last week, which says that India has agreed to share partial
intelligence on the November 26 attack with Pakistan. This could be
the beginning of a qualitatively new relationship between the two
countries. I remember a former envoy to Islamabad known for his
hawkish views on Pakistan scoffing at the idea of sharing real-time
intelligence with the ISI.
His argument was that such intelligence sharing would be misused by
Pakistan. “If we tell them about a boat landing in Gujarat, they
would then shift the venue to Goa or Kerala,” he had protested. That
risk is there. On the other hand, as the prime minister of India is
used to saying so often, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
Former Pakistani national security advisor Mahmood Ali Durrani had
suggested during his recent trip to India that the intelligence
chiefs of the two countries should start meeting. I too believe there
is no other way. This is what common sense dictates and this is what
the Commonwealth foreign ministers might wish to hear from India in
New York. The two spy chiefs could begin right away by outwitting
each other in a harmless way, by becoming the first to dispatch Eid
greetings. There will be no losers in this contest. That’s what
common sense dictates.
o o o
sacw.net
A PRETEXT TO IMPOSE BRUTAL REPRESSION: THE GOVERNMENT’S "OFFENSIVE"
IS A FORMULA FOR BLOODSHED AND INJUSTICE
by Campaign for Survival and Dignity
The Campaign for Survival and Dignity, a national platform of adivasi
and forest dwellers’ mass organisations from ten States,
unequivocally condemns the reported plans for a military “offensive”
by the government in the country’s major forest and tribal areas.
FULL TEXT AT: http://www.sacw.net/article1184.html
_____
[7] UPCOMING EVENTS
(i) SOUTH ASIA FOUNDATION PEACE FESTIVAL 2009
(Amritsar - Wagah - Preet Nagar, 10th to 23rd October 2009)
South Asia Foundation 2009 Peace Festival
in partnership with Saanjh
supported by ICCR, NAPA, NSD, PUNARJYOT, Rafi Peer Theatre Workshop,
Gurubakhsh Singh Nanak Singh Foundation Federal Ministry for European
& International Affairs (Austria)
See full programme brochure at: http://www.sacw.net/article1183.html
o o o
(ii) MEETO MEMORIAL AWARD FOR YOUNG SOUTH ASIANS
Invitation to the presentation of the award on 14 October, 2009 (New
Delhi)
http://www.sacw.net/article1182.html
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
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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