SACW | Dec 24-26, 2009 / Pakistan Judiciary / Nepal: Militarisation; witch hunts / Kashmir Autonomy? / India: Guns or Butter ; Patriarchy and the Power of the Uniform?
Harsh Kapoor
aiindex at gmail.com
Sat Dec 26 04:34:45 CST 2009
South Asia Citizens Wire | December 24-26, 2009 | Dispatch No. 2679 -
Year 12 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] Pakistan: Pause, sirs, and ponder (I.A. Rehman)
- Bill to prevent domestic violence lapses (Amir Wasim)
[2] Nepal: Neighbours with each other to militarise the Nepali state
(CK Lal)
- Nepal: UN human rights official voices concern about
promotion of army officer
- Witch-hunts: Medieval barbarity continues to blight the
landscape of New Nepal (Mallika Aryal)
[3] India Administered Kashmir: Fate of working groups (Editorial,
Kashmir Times)
[4] Pakistan - India: A Letter to the Editor (Karamat Ali)
[5] India: Guns or Butter?
- An Evaluation of India’s Defence Expenditure (Pavan Nair)
- Will My Fast Against Violence and Dispossesion Help the
Adivasis? (A Letter from Himanshu Kumar)
- India: 'Corporate Crimes and Environmental plunder' Press
Release by Champa – the Amiya and B.G.Rao Foundation
- State-sponsored lawlessness at Narayanpatna (Javed Iqbal)
- Stop torture and arbitrary arrests of peace activists and
human rights defenders in Chhattisgarh (Press Release, Amnesty
International)
- Chidambaram to attend Dantewada public hearing
- Should We Have Talked to the Chhattisgarhi Mother? (Somnath
Mukherji)
- Terrified villagers seek solace in ‘IDs’ (Sahar Khan in
Dantewada)
- Tribals fear being caught in assault on Bastar Maoists
[6] India: Impunity for Men in Uniform
(i) Ten reasons why criminals in khaki get away (Siddharth
Varadarajan)
(ii) Rape of the law - State machinery has failed to act
(Kuldip Nayar)
(iii) Editorial: Justice Interrupted
(iv) Shopian: Manufacturing a Suitable Story(IWIJ)
[7] India: Resources For Secular Activists
(i) BJP: Is it a new chapter? ()
(ii) That Big Dalit Party and its politics of forging
alliances with the Hindutva forces (Badri Narayan)
[8] Announcements:
(i) Solidarity Vigil to commemorate the beginning of the
indefinite fast by Himanshu ji of Vanvasi Chetna Ashram (Delhi, 26
December 2009)
(ii) India-Pakistan Conference: Roadmap Towards Peace (New
Delhi, 10-12 January 2010)
_____
[1] Pakistan:
dawn, 24 December 2009
PAUSE, SIRS, AND PONDER
by I.A. Rehman
The fact that in its response to the Supreme Court judgment of Dec 16
the nation is divided cannot be denied, and prudence demands that the
causes of this division should not be brushed aside without careful
scrutiny.
A large section of society believes that Pakistan has become a
corruption-free entity and a judicially controlled democracy while a
none-too-small section feels deeply hurt. Much can be said for and
against both sides.
The hailers are largely guided by their desire to wipe off the shame
of becoming one of the most corrupt states in the world. They appear
full of zeal for righteousness. However, they will do their cause
enormous harm if they fall for the universally repudiated view that
the ends always justify the means. The people of Pakistan paid a
heavy price for taking this route when they welcomed the usurpation
of power by Ayub Khan, Ziaul Haq and Pervez Musharraf.
The wailers are largely moved by the apparent setback to their group.
They think the law has been used for a political purpose. They have
strong memories of the Tamizuddin and Nusrat Bhutto cases and the
judgment against Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. They could be wrong. However,
they will do themselves enormous harm if they appear to be defending
corrupt persons or practices.
Somewhere between the two extremes stand those who wish to make sure
that good intentions do not lead to the dreaded hell. Some of them
have a longer record of denouncing corrupt rulers and condemning the
NRO than the born-yesterday anti-vice squad. They believe the NRO was
a bad law, that it should not have been made, that no one claiming
public support should have sought to benefit from it and that those
who made this obnoxious law as well as its beneficiaries should pay
for their lapses.
According to them the Supreme Court verdict has two parts: one
dealing with the NRO, the other with broader themes. They have no
quarrel with the first part. They only want to have their fears of
the long-term implications of some of the assumptions underlying the
court order duly and properly addressed.
The NRO was such an easy target that a single shot (Articles 4, 8 and
25 of the constitution) was enough to demolish it. A fusillade from
heavy cannons (Articles 62 (f), 63 (i and p), 89, 175, and 227) has
created problems.
The clauses of Articles 62 and 63 cited now constitute part of Ziaul
Haq’s arbitrary amendments. They have never been debated by a
representative assembly and have been consistently denounced by
democratic opinion. It has often been said that the legislatures have
not touched them. But this argument should be examined in the context
of the circumstances in which the post-Zia assemblies have been
elected and the conditions under which the democratic regimes have
been allowed to function. Invoking Ziaul Haq’s interpolations in the
1973 constitution, whose revival in its original form is the battle
cry of all democratic parties, is like quoting a PCO judge’s ruling
before today’s independent judiciary.
Further, reference has again been made to the 'salient features of
the constitution, i.e., independence of the judiciary, federalism,
parliamentary form of government blended with Islamic provisions' and
'no change in the basic features of the constitution is possible
through amendment'. The argument was last heard in May 2000 when 12
judges of the Supreme Court had not only upheld the Pervez Musharraf
coup of October 1999 but also allowed him the power to amend the
constitution.
Now, the debate over certain parts of a national constitution being
outside parliament’s authority to amend them has been going on in
Pakistan, India and Bangladesh for over 40 years (Indian Supreme
Court verdicts of 1967, 1973 and 1975; Pakistan Supreme Court
verdicts of 1963, 1997 and 2000). Professor Conrad, the German
scholar who has done much to promote this principle, has succinctly
put it thus: 'Any amending body organised within the statutory
scheme, howsoever verbally unlimited its power, cannot by its very
structure change the fundamental pillars supporting its
constitutional authority.'
An essential question is: are courts the sole forum for determining
the basic or fundamental or salient features of a constitution? In
many countries (including Canada, Germany and India) the provisions
that cannot be routinely amended by parliament are identified in the
constitution itself. This is an issue that calls for a thorough debate.
In any case the issue before the Supreme Court was not an amendment
to the constitution that would have attracted the basic features
theory. The issue before it was an ordinary presidential ordinance.
And for laws and ordinances that conflict with the constitution clear
remedies are available.
By invoking Article 227 in the present case the Supreme Court seems
to have put Islamic injunctions in command of the whole constitution.
Quite a few lawyers argue that this amounts to overruling the
court’s judgments in the Hakim Khan (1992) and Kaneez Fatima (1993)
cases.
The position as far as a lay writer can understand is this: the power
to strike down a law for being repugnant to Islamic injunctions lies
with the Federal Shariat Court and no other court. Article 227 only
allows the Council of Islamic Ideology to recommend changes in laws
on the ground of repugnancy to Islam. The article does not empower
any forum to strike down any law. When 17 judges of the highest court
invest Article 227 with the power to nullify a law it could amount to
constitution-making. It is necessary to dispel the fears that the
courts could start striking down any law they consider violative of
Islamic injunctions.
Besides, the matter is not one of law alone, it is essentially
political. The 'salient features of the constitution' theory has no
answer for conflicts between these features — between a
parliamentary form of government and Islamic injunctions, for
instance. And what will happen to the independence of the judiciary
if one accepts the view propounded by many Islamic scholars that in
an Islamic order the ameer is the head of all state organs — the
executive, the legislature and the judiciary?
One cannot forget the case started by Mr Kaikaus, a former Supreme
Court judge, in a Shariat appellate bench but which was dismissed by
the Federal Shariat Court on a technical ground. He appealed to the
bench but withdrew his plea because he did not think the judges on it
were Muslims! Mr Kaikaus had branded the parliamentary form of
government, the system of elections, and the existence of political
parties as un-Islamic! Fears of many such cases coming up are not
groundless. The people of Pakistan have every right to ask whether
Ziaul Haq’s agenda has been revived.
o o o
dawn, 25 December, 2009
BILL TO PREVENT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE LAPSES
by Amir Wasim
ISLAMABAD: A good piece of legislation that the National Assembly
passed with a rare unanimity in August to protect women and children
from domestic violence could not become a law because the government
seemingly lost sight of it.
The Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Bill, which was
aimed at fighting the curse through quick criminal trials and a chain
of protection committees and protection officers, was passed by the
National Assembly on Aug 4.
Under Article 70 of the Constitution, the government was required to
get the bill passed through the upper house and to make it a law
within 90 days of its receipt.
After its passage in the National Assembly amid cheers from all sides
of the house, the bill was sent to the Senate, which made it a part
of the agenda on Oct 5. However, when the bill was moved in the
Senate, Mohammad Khan Sheerani, of the JUI-F, raised some objections,
leading to deferment of hearing. However, the government slept on the
matter and now the bill has lapsed.
Now the government will have to get the bill passed again from both
the houses, but only after the approval of yet-to-be-constituted
mediation committee comprising members of both the houses.
Article 70(3) of the Constitution states: ‘Where a bill is referred
to the Mediation Committee under clause (2), the Mediation Committee
shall, within ninety days, formulate an agreed Bill which is likely
to be passed by both Houses of the Majlis-i-Shoora (Parliament) and
place the agreed Bill separately before each House, and if both the
Houses pass the Bill, it shall be presented to the President for
assent.’
It is interesting to note that Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had
himself spoken on this bill on the floor of the house and termed it a
big achievement of his government.
He declared that the bill had been moved in pursuance of the
guidelines of the late party chairperson, Benazir Bhutto.
After passage of the bill, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Babar Awan
had congratulated all parties for approving the legislation.
The comprehensive 28-clause bill, which was first moved in August
last year, and apparently went through a thorough vetting by an 18-
member house Standing Committee on Women Development, was piloted by
an activist of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party Yasmeen Rahman,
with a party veteran Shakeela Khanum Rashid, and Chaudhry Mohammad
Birjees Tahir of the Pakistan Muslim League-N as co-sponsors.
Ms Rehman said it was ‘unfortunate’ that the government could not
get the bill passed through the Senate despite the fact that it had
unanimously been passed by the lower house. She said that she was not
aware if the speaker had constituted the mediation committee, adding
that she would soon raise the matter with Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza.
ACTIVISTS ANGERED: Women rights activists also showed their concern
over the government’s failure to get the bill passed from the upper
house.
Dr Fouzia Saeed, a leading civil society activist, expressed
disappointment and criticised the government for letting the bill
lapse only because of the objection raised by just one member. She
said it was after 62 years that a bill providing protection to women
and children had been initiated. She said as they were fighting
Taliban, there was a need to show ‘some progressiveness’.
Another woman activist, Dr Farzana Bari said it was sad that the
government was not serious in resolving women and children’s issues.
She said it seemed that it would take years to change the mindset of
those sitting at the helm of affairs.
The bill proposed payment of monetary and other relief to aggrieved
persons through protection orders, whose violators will be punished
with jail terms and fines. The money collected from fines will be
paid to sufferers.
The National Assembly Standing Committee on Women Development, in its
meeting on Thursday, also showed ‘grave concern’ over the
government’s failure to place the bill within the stipulated time
and held the ministry of parliamentary affairs responsible for this
lapse.
According to the bill, domestic violence includes – but is not
limited to – ‘all intentional acts of gender-based or other
physical or psychological abuse committed by an accused against
women, children or other vulnerable persons, with whom the accused
person is or has been in a domestic relationship’.
The bill gives an aggrieved person the right to approach a first
class magistrate’s court personally with an application or through
another authorised person and the court must fix a hearing within
three days and give a decision within 30 days.
The court’s protection orders could prohibit an accused from
committing or aiding or abetting domestic violence, dispossessing an
aggrieved person of household, give monetary relief to meet expenses
and losses as well as for maintenance.
_____
[2] Nepal:
Nepali Times, 11 Dec 2009 - 17 Dec 2009
FRIENDS LIKE THESE
With our friends homing in on security, Nepali democracy really will
have to be home-grown
by CK Lal
NEPAL ARMY
Chief of Army Staff Chhatra Man Singh Gurung is on an official visit
to India where he was conferred Honourary Rank of General of Indian
Army this week.
The Joint Secretary of India's external affairs ministry Satish Mehta
has decided that an army airstrip at Surkhet and the resumption of
non-lethal military supplies are the two most important needs of
Nepal. Chief of Army Staff Chhatra Man Singh Gurung is leaving today
for India for a week-long visit. For the Indian security
establishment, the imperilled peace process of Nepal has suddenly
become a low-priority issue. Security cooperation rather than
political interactions is going to be the focus of Indo-Nepal
relations in the coming days.
These days, few Nepali politicians can access top-rung Indian
leaders. They have to go through featherweight politicos like D.P.
Tripathi, who was here some time ago to bolster the resolve of the
anti-Maoist coalition in Singh Darbar.
Officers of the Nepal Army, however, can boast of high-profile batch
mates from Sandhurst, West Point or the Indian Military Academy at
Dehradun. General Gurung is an alumnus of the latter and will be
attending a graduation ceremony there during his visit, but he will
also have a crucial meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's
national security advisor M.K. Narayanan.
Meanwhile, the Chinese sent a team under Gen Shu Yu Tai, its deputy
force commander in Tibet, to assess ways of enhancing military
assistance. Another Chinese team is likely to arrive soon to discuss
the modalities of improving security along the 1400km Nepal-Tibet
border, much of which remains impassable throughout the year anyway.
The agenda for Premier Madhav Kumar Nepal's scheduled visit to
Beijing from December 26 is thus more or less set: there may be some
development assistance thrown in to sweeten the deal, but he will be
asked to accept security assistance first and foremost.
With friendly neighbours like these competing with each other to
militarise the Nepali state, democrats and peaceniks in Nepal need no
enemies. But that doesn't mean they don't have to contend with more
friendly advice from further afield; everyone seems to have designs
for the vulnerable, geopolitically strategic state of Nepal.
The Eurozone is still a marginal player in global affairs, often
playing second fiddle to Uncle Sam. But individual European countries
wield considerable clout in the capital cities of the Third World,
where the academic elite and the INGO/NGO sector are important actors
in national politics.
This sector may be naturally more comfortable with the suave social
elite than with the rustic political class. The problem arises when
opinion leaders begin to play favourites with the transfer and
promotion of officers in the Nepal Police or the Nepal Army at the
instigation of their sponsors at various aid agencies. Playing
politics with the defence establishment is a bigger cause for concern
than even militarisation.
Till the early 1960s, the India Desk at the State Department in
Washington looked after its interests - meagre as they were back then
- in Nepal. With Af-Pak emerging as a global hotspot, the concept of
the India Desk may yet see a revival. But if the experiences of the
past are anything to go by, there is nothing to cheer in the decision
of the Embassy of the United States in Nepal to develop American
Centers in four different towns in the country. Intelligence
gathering rather than strengthening of democracy will probably be
their priority.
It seems Nepalis will have to learn the ropes of democracy on their
own. All foreign aid is invariably aimed at strengthening the
establishment, of which the military is the most prominent part.
Hillary Clinton affirmed this viewpoint by vowing to restore American
leadership through a 'smart power' mix of diplomacy and defence at
her Senate confirmation as the US Secretary of State earlier this year.
Meanwhile, the queues at the KFC and Pizza Hut outlets, to say
nothing of the booming sales of Coke and Pepsi, will ensure that
Americans taxpayers needn't worry about the source of funds that go
in the name of aid to Nepal.
o o o
From UN News Center
NEPAL: UN HUMAN RIGHTS OFFICIAL VOICES CONCERN ABOUT PROMOTION OF
ARMY OFFICER
[Richard Bennett of the human rights office (OHCHR) in Nepal (file
Photo)]
25 December 2009 – A top United Nations official in Nepal today
expressed serious reservations over the controversial promotion of a
military General with ties to breaches of human rights to be second-
in-command in Nepal's army.
The Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal (OHCHR-
Nepal), noted widespread oppostion to Major General Toran Jung
Bahadur Singh taking the step up to Lieutenant General.
OHCHR issued a report in 2006 on its investigation into torture,
arbitrary detention and disappearances carried out at Maharajgunj
Barracks, which was under the control of a battalion led by Maj.-Gen.
Singh in 2003-04 during the conflict between Government forces and
Maoists.
The report concluded that Maj.-Gen. Singh “knew or ought to have
known about these actions,” and recommended the suspension from
official duties of those potentially connected to the human rights
abuses, either directly or indirectly through command, pending the
investigation.
“Those implicated in human rights violations committed by members of
the 10th Brigade in 2003 and in 2004, when General Singh was in
command, should not be promoted pending completion of a full,
transparent and impartial investigation,” said Representative of
OHCHR-Nepal Richard Bennett.
“This would enhance, not diminish, the prestige of the Nepal Army at
home and abroad,” added Mr. Bennett.
o o o
Nepali Times,
25 Dec 2009 - 31 Dec 2009
WITCH-HUNTS: MEDIEVAL BARBARITY CONTINUES TO BLIGHT THE LANDSCAPE OF
NEW NEPAL
by Mallika Aryal
http://www.nepalitimes.com/issue/2009/12/26/INTERESTINGTIMES/16636
_____
[3] India Administered Kashmir:
Kashmir Times
25 December 2009
Editorial
FATE OF WORKING GROUPS
It betrays non-seriousness of the centre
Justice Sagheer Ahmed's act of forwarding the report of prime
minister's Working Group on Centre-State relations, he was heading,
to chief minister Omar Abdullah instead of the prime minister
signifies not just an aberration. Rather it exposes the non-
seriousness of the Centre in showing some interest in the report.
This has already been manifested in the non-implementation of the
recommendations of the reports of the other four working groups,
which have been gathering dust for quite some time in the prime
minister's office. Even though the working groups were part of an
initiative taken by the Centre and comprised mainly of a cross
section of mainstream parties and groups from the state, essentially
headed by people of eminence and repute from outside the state, none
of the reports have been taken up seriously till date. From the day
that they were submitted to the prime minister till now, they have
simply been bolted up and forgotten about. The latest one, mired in
mystery and controversy, is just another one of those that more or
less follows the official line and is ambiguous to the core. The
manner in which it superficially treats questions of Autonomy and
Article 370, stating that this can be decided or left to the people
or the Prime Minister, it only leaves room for interpretation. This
should have been best suited to the Centre but it never did show much
interest in the fifth working group right from the very beginning
with delayed meetings, or those that never took place, leading to
this report, finally surfacing in a mysterious manner. Even the
members of this working group have been in the dark about the outcome
of the report and recommendations all along. The group that was set
up in 2006 along with the other four groups had not even met in two
years. That the Centre had something to do with the delay in the
meetings or the confusion that persisted is obvious from the fact
that the meetings were to be arranged through New Delhi. Another
stumbling block was the different members pulling in different
directions and the final recommendations characterised by so much
ambiguity are also a pointer in the direction, having sought to
reconcile so many dissenting voices - ranging from demand for
abrogation of Article 370 to autonomy or self-rule. The
recommendations have finally suggested that all these ticklish issues
are best left to the people of Jammu and Kashmir to debate and decide.
While it would be interesting to know who, what and why these
meetings were stalled, it would be more revealing to understand the
politics behind freezing the reports of all the working groups, four
of which were submitted to the prime minister long back. The reports
of the four working groups on strengthening relations across the Line
of Control, Confidence building measures across segments of the
society in the state and Economic development and Good governance
have been lying with the prime minister since 2007. However, there
has not been much headway even though they were much in tune with the
official line and well within the framework of the Indian
constitution, which has been the parroted stance of the establishment
in New Delhi. A year later, the government even set up a high-level
committee headed by the union home secretary for examining the
recommendations of the four groups. There has been no movement since
then. Though, the recommendations are limited, they are nonetheless
significant in terms of offering equitable development with greater
accountability as also cleaner and good administration. If
implemented in their proper spirit, the reports on facilitating co-
operation across the Line of Control and confidence building
measures, will to a great deal provide a conducive atmosphere for a
genuine peace process. Relaxation on the movement across Line of
Control and the CBMs like reduction of armed forces and revocation of
draconian laws as suggested by the working group would give the
people a natural sense of belonging and arrest the trend of their
growing alienation. It is not known why the government is dragging
feet over an initiative it started on its own. None of the working
groups have suggested any major radical concessions. But the
recommendations, if implemented, can still be a small step in the
right direction. Centre must, therefore in the larger interests,
begin some basic spade work on the basis of these reports.
_____
[4] Pakistan - India: Letter to the Editor
To
The Editor
Times of India
Dear Sir,
Ref. my interview by Mohammed Wajihuddin (TOI 13.12.09) as printed
is regretably a distortion of what I had said. First of all the
reporter had promised to show the draft of the interview before
publication. He failed to honour that committment. The interview
attributes statements to me out of context, selects half a sentence I
made and adds the reporter’s own opinions as quotes from me. This is
unethical journalism. Specifically the interview misrepresents my
views which were focused on the prevaling socio economic and
political situation in South Asia and the need for regional
cooperation to tackle the common issues of poverty and terrorism.
Some general remarks were made about the elitist nature of all South
Asian states, the fact that all governments use various
justifications to get out of agreements, the discriminatory aspects
in most South Asian constitutions and the importance of making them
accountable to citizens - I did not talk about any specific country
or any one individual only as attributed by the reporter. The
reporter has twisted my statements and missed the main point I made
about the escalation of militarisation, military expenditures and
dependence on the US and the detrimental effects of this in the
region. Finally I spoke about the SAARC Convention on Terrorism 1987
and the need for regional cooperation through creation of a joint
mechanism for investigation and proscecution of terrorists in a South
Asian Court of Justice. As a Pakistani enagaged for many years in
building peace between India and Pakistan I had expected a level of
maturity and political awareness from a reporter from your newspaper.
I wish to state strongly that this interview is a distortion of my
views and politics and a trivialisation of very serious issues
affecting the South Asian region.
Karamat Ali
_____
[5] India: Guns or Butter?
EPW, December 19 - December 25, 2009
AN EVALUATION OF INDIA’S DEFENCE EXPENDITURE
by Pavan Nair
http://www.epw.in/epw/uploads/articles/14265.pdf
o o o
INDIA: WILL MY FAST AGAINST VIOLENCE AND DISPOSSESION HELP THE ADIVASIS?
http://www.sacw.net/article1306.html
From: vcadantewada ashram
Date: Thu, Dec 24, 2009 at 8:18 PM
Subject: UPWAAS
In a country ,where most Adivasi men women and children suffer from
chronic hunger, and are often starved, hunger can hardly be a form of
protest. I can only express solidarity with their sufferings. So as I
decide to go on voluntary self purificatory fast as long as my
strength permits. I am not protesting, but requesting all of us to
look inwards and seek justice in our own eyes.
The administration, organizations and individuals at all layers
should ask themselves whether it is justified in repressing violently
and detaining forcibly in camps and/or forcing them to flee to
jungles or to other states to save their lives and livelihood,
without meeting their minimal requirement of resettlement back in
their villages, a requirement recognized by the supreme court.
Is the desire to be resettled back in their own villages a crime?
Maoists should ask themselves whether resort to violence can improve
the conditions of adivasis without drawing them into the killings and
sufferings of a civil war among our own people. Violence breeds
violence and spirals into a situation which goes totally out of
control. This applies both to the government and to the Maoists
irrespective of their intentions.
The large mining corporate's should ask themselves whether profit and
more profit is all that matters irrespective of the suffering they
bring to the people. They should ask themselves how many people they
have dispossessed and displaced without their consent in our democracy.
Finally, this is the time for me to introspect through this fast on
the right path, because my actions so far have not helped the
Adivasis with whom I share only a little their daily suffering.
Himanshu
9425260031
o o o
INDIA: CORPORATE CRIMES AND ENVIRONMENTAL PLUNDER
Press Release by Champa – the Amiya and B.G.Rao Foundation
http://www.sacw.net/article1305.html
PRESS RELEASE
The Madhu Koda* episode is just the tip of an iceberg. In Karnataka,
Andhra Pradesh, Orissa private mining companies enjoy vast illegal
mining empires – and the corporate loot of resources is closely
linked to political power. Meanwhile, resistance by Adivasi people –
at Kalinganagar, Niyamgiri and Narayanpatna – has been met with
savage repression and police firings. This offensive has intensified
with the ongoing Central Government military offensive, ostensibly
aimed at ‘Maoists’, but in fact clearing the way for mining
operations
At a meeting held on 17 December, 2009 at the Indian Law Institute,
organized by Champa – the Amiya and B.G.Rao Foundation, Samarendra
Das,activist, film-maker and researcher, laid bare the destruction of
the adivasi communities livelihood as well as environment as a result
of unscrupulous plunder by the mining companies in collusion with
Central and State Governments.
The meeting began with the screening of “Wira Pdika” (Earthworm
and Company-man) about the struggle of the Adivasi Dongria Kondh and
Majhi Kondh communities against eviction to pave the way for British
MNC Vedanta’s mining operations.
The film screening was followed by a talk by Mr. Das on Mining Policy
and corporate plunder. The talk was chaired by Professor Amit Bhaduri.
Samendra Das traced the shifts in India’s mining policies. The New
Mineral Policy (NMP) 1993, he said, began paving the way for
increased control of private corporations over India’s mineral
resources. The latest NMP 2008 has opened up the mining sector
completely – allowing for 100% FDI in mining. Das pointed out that
such a policy flew in the face of government claims of
‘development’ – since the mineral resources are looted by
private corporations while the lives and livelihoods of Adivasi
people are devastated. He also presented documentary evidence of
the ‘hijack of people’s struggles by a corporate cartel’ of the
plundering corporations, international fund banks and some NGOs;
whereby the latter are paid huge amounts to subvert anti-mining
movements.
He showed reports brought out by consultants like Pricewaterhouse
Coopers anticipating people’s resistance to mining landgrab, that
proposed ‘corporate partnerships’ to hijack movements with
propaganda about Corporate Social Responsibility. For instance, he
emphasized that ‘International Watch’ received Rs.22 crore to
create a ‘pro-Posco’ mood in the face of the people’s movement
against the Korean steel company Posco’s land grab in Jagat
singhpur, Orissa. He also showed how Action Aid was part of a
corporate partnership – ‘Partners in Change’ funded by Ford
Foundation (which in turn is headed by someone who used to head the
Aluminium Corporation of America (ALCOA)) – claiming to stand for
‘pro-poor corporate responsibility’. While the mining companies
indulge in illegal mining, land grab and devastation of livelihood
and environment, such corporate cartels attempt to mask the mining
companies’ role with talk of ‘CSR’.
In the case of Vedanta’s landgrab in the Niyamgiri hills he showed
how a similar role had been played by corporate partnerships like
Business Partners for Development. The latter, funded by the World
Bank and DFID has changed its name to Building Partnerships for
Development, after its infamous role in Colombia and Orissa too, was
exposed.
He showed how in platforms like the Indo-US Business Forum, leading
mining CEOs like Guy Elliot advise Indian planners and leaders to
change India’s “mining code” in order to open it up. He
emphasized that mining policy cannot be seen only as a “dig and
sell” activity, since its externality costs are extremely high, and
so are its long term costs in terms of impact on future generations,
land and livelihood. Home Minister P Chidambaram has been on the
Board of Directors of Vedanta, and as a UPA Minister, he is pushing
such pro-corporate policies, including the latest war on people.
Chairing the meeting, Prof. Amit Bhaduri said that the corporate grab
of land and resources in the poorest districts in the country
represented “internal colonization”.
At the end, the consensus of the meeting was the mining resources of
the country should be utilized to subserve the internal and local
needs of the people, rather than allowing the corporations to grab
the said resources for their profit-making at the expense of
people’s interests.
N.D. Pancholi
Convenor,
Champa – the Amiya and B.G.Rao Foundation
Note added by sacw.net [* Madhu Koda the former chief minister of the
state of Jharkhand, has been arrested on charges of being the kingpin
multi million dollar mine lease scandal. Mining rights in the mineral-
rich Jharkhand were granted by the Koda government to powerful
private companies who paid massive bribes.]
o o o
express Buzz
24 December 2009
STATE-SPONSORED LAWLESSNESS AT NARAYANPATNA
by Javed Iqbal
After the November 20 police firing at Narayanpatna, Orissa, which
left two tribals dead and many injured, the situation has not only
turned grim for the adivasis but a media blackout is helping to hide
the complete militarisation of the area.
There are reports that around 73 adivasis and members of the Chasi
Mulia Adivasi Sangh have been beaten and arrested. While the jailer
of Koraput was instructed not to allow the detainees to meet anyone,
their lawyer, Nihar Ranjan Patnaik, claims that around 15 of the
arrested are minors. Considering they are in Koraput jail, it is a
violation of the Juvenile Justice Act for minors are meant to be held
in a juvenile remand home.
Added to this was the recent attack on the all-India, all-women fact-
finding team by the newly formed ‘Shanti Committee’ with the
alleged patronage of the police.
The Shanti Committee itself consists of non-tribals such as the
Sondis and Patnaiks and includes numerous Schedule Caste members of
the Dom and Paidi Castes. It was formed to curtail the growing
influence of the Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangh which reclaimed vast areas
of Fifth Schedule land from them. The burning of the homes of the
Dalits by CMAS activists had taken place in the villages of
Padapader, Tolagoomandi and Upurgoomandi in May this year. The
administration had provided the displaced with makeshift shelters,
and after the November 20 firing, there are only 329 Harijans out of
674 Harijans displaced at the shelter.
The liquor prohibition diktat of the CMAS had also seriously hampered
the liquor mafia whose stranglehold over the Narayanpatna tribals had
all but vanished. There are reports that the liquor mafia has
reclaimed lost territory in Narayanpatna after the firing, after
which the Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangh was suppressed and their members
went into hiding.
When it came to the fact-finding team, the Shanti Committee was wary
of the intentions of the fact-finding team, believing that they were
there in support of the Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangh. Superintendent of
Police, Koraput, Deepak Chouhan Kumar, had no sympathy for the fact-
finding team, “We didn’t beat this ‘so-called’ fact-finding
team, we protected them from the mob.” The activists on the other
hand claim that the mob was instigated by the police. Yet their case
is not an isolated incident. There are many other activists and party
workers who have been beaten, harassed, arrested and killed at
Narayanpatna. A few members of the CPI (ML) (Liberation) and the
Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee who openly support the CMAS
were beaten while returning from the funeral of the adivasis killed
in the firing.
Tapan Mishra, an activist, who is associated with the CMAS, and is an
official member of the legal CPI (ML) (Kanu Sanyal group), was
arrested under Section 121 (waging war against the state) and 124A
(sedition). Amnesty International has already condemned his arrest
and called for his unconditional release stating that he has no links
with the Maoists and he was only arrested after it became known that
he accompanied a seven member fact-finding team to Narayanpatna.
Along with him, a member of the legal UCCRI (ML) (Unity Centre of
Communist Revolution in India), was also arrested.
The deceased adivasis themselves were activists. K. Singanna was one
of the leaders of the Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangh and was allegedly
shot ten times in the back. On the day of the shooting, it was
alleged that the adivasis had gathered to protest the mistreatment of
adivasi women that was taking place during combing operations.
The police claimed that they had fired in self-defence after the
adivasis tried to seize weapons. The local press was only allowed
into the area, some two hours later. And when they arrived, they
found the camp shot full of arrows. Interestingly, the police had
also barged into adivasi homes and confiscated traditional weapons
during their combing operations.
Yet the murder of activists is not new to Narayanpatna. On May 9,
2008, Narayan Hareka was allegedly murdered on the outskirts of
Narayanpatna. The police claimed he was killed in an accident while
his wife and his colleagues believe he was murdered.
His body was found brutally disfigured — his eye had been gouged
out, his neck was gashed and his hand was smashed in multiple places.
He was alive when they first found him but beyond recognition. He was
taken to the local PHC around 8 p.m. but he had to be referred to
Vishakapatnam. Yet the journey only commenced after a long delay
around 11 p.m. Narayan Hareka died just 20 km from the PHC.
As an activist from the Kondh tribe, he struggled against the illegal
liquor trade, land alienation of the tribals, the debt trap and he
was, during his last few days, investigating irregularities in the
implementation of NREGs. It was no secret that Hareka had made a lot
of enemies amongst the powerful. Yet it was always the debt trap that
led to the growing resentment between tribals and non-tribals at
Narayanpatna. It was well known that the tribals often found
themselves addicted to liquor, and would end up parting with their
lands and their freedom to cover the debts that alcohol had brought
on to them. Bonded labour was not a secret in Narayanpatna. Nachika
Linga, leader of the Charsi Mulia Adivasi Sangh, himself was a bonded
labourer who used to receive around Rs. 60 a year, just ten years ago.
When it came to legal or illegal acquisition of tribal land by the
non-tribals, the Joint Commissioner (Settlements) was instructed to
receive complaints regarding irregularities in the earlier 1961
settlement. However, no one approached him. He instead recommended
that the adivasis take the matter to court. The recommendations were
accepted by the collector who had informed the lawyer Nihar Ranjan
Patnaik, president of the Bar Association, Koraput, to take up the
matter.
However, he’s not able to visit the Tehsildar at Narayanpatna to
collect land records considering allegations that his life is in
danger. He is instead dealing with a flood of cases regarding the
arrest of many activists and villagers from Narayanpatna.
Adding to the woes of the tribals and non-tribals, is the threat of
rotting paddy as there is no one there to harvest it. Both the
collector and the sub-collector have made numerous visits to the area
to assess the situation.
Oddly, the Shanti Committee even called for the suspension of the
collector of Koraput for his close association with the adivasis
after the CMAS had burnt down their homes in May. Some have gone so
far to condemn the fact that he speaks Jatapur, the local dialect.
The collector, Gadhadhar Parida, had initially brought both
communities together for a hearing after the initial burning of the
village of Padepadar. He was eventually transferred for a period of
four months during the elections, when the situation had escalated
beyond reconciliation.
“90 per cent of the people of Narayanpatna are tribals, and I’m
not supposed to listen their grievances? And if I don’t who will?”
he asked in his office on the day of the attack on the fact-finding
committee.
Addressing the socio-economic causes is now more difficult and many
activists have raised the alarm concerning mass atrocities. The
Maoists too have called for punishment to the parties concerned.
In a letter written to the press, Comrade Rumal, of the CPI (Maoist)
Malkangiri Divisional Committee, has called for a ‘death sentence’
to be delivered to the MLAs and MPs of Malkangiri and Koraput if the
atrocities did not stop.
Many observers believe this is just another attempt by the Maoists to
hijack a people’s movement. Similarly, observers find that the story
that the CMAS is a Maoist-front, suspect, while Pramod Samantaraya,
an award-winning journalist of Dhariti newspaper, an Oriya Daily, has
his own idea.
“Whether they’re supported by the Maoists or not, it’s
irrelevant,” he says, “their grievances are all too real. What
some people in the state want to do is to brand them as a Maoist
front so that they can deal with the movement militarily.” Yet the
police can justify their reason for a presence in the area.
Nine security personnel were killed in an IED blast at nearby
Bandhugaun on June 18.
The explosives used were allegedly the same explosives stolen from
the Nalco raid on April 12, that left nine CISF personnel and five
Maoists dead.
Similarly at Bandugaum, the Maoists have killed Bhogi Ramesh of
Kattulapet village, Bijoy Pigal of Sulupolamada village and Balram
Sahukar from Nellawadi village over the last year and a half. In
neighbouring Khumbari, they also killed Patra Khosla from Bagam
village. In all the cases, the victims were described as police
informers. In two cases the villagers were killed in completely
arbitrary circumstances — without any knowledge of the allegations
against them.
o o o
See Also:
Stop torture and arbitrary arrests of peace activists and human
rights defenders in Chhattisgarh (Amnesty International Press Release)
http://www.sacw.net/article1302.html
CBI files chargesheet against 18 cops in Dehra Dun 'fake encounter'
http://tinyurl.com/ykh83oy
Chidambaram to attend Dantewada public hearing
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091117/jsp/frontpage/story_11749605.jsp
Should We Have Talked to the Chhattisgarhi Mother?
by Somnath Mukherji
http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article1759.html
Terrified villagers seek solace in ‘IDs’
by Sahar Khan in Dantewada
Tribals fear being caught in assault on Bastar Maoists
http://epaper.mailtoday.in/epaperhome.aspx?issue=16112009
Radio Documentary: Maoist India: The search for economic justice
http://tinyurl.com/ygzltrq
_____
[6] India: Patriarchy and the Power of the Uniform?
The Hindu
December 25, 2009
TEN REASONS WHY CRIMINALS IN KHAKI GET AWAY
by Siddharth Varadarajan
Former Haryana DGP S.P.S. Rathore and his advocate wife Abha Rathore
coming out of special CBI court on Monday. Photo: Akhilesh Kumar
Behind every man like S.P.S. Rathore who abuses his authority stand
the generals and footsoldiers who help and support him. We need to
take them all down.
S.P.S. Rathore, the criminal former top cop of Haryana, may appear
alone today but we must never forget that he was able to get away
with the sexual molestation of a young child and the illegal
harassment of her family for 19 years because he had hundreds of men
who supported him in his effort to evade justice.
The fact that these men – fellow police officers, bureaucrats,
politicians, lawyers, judges, school administrators – were willing
to bend the system to accommodate a man accused of molesting a minor
speaks volumes for the moral impoverishment of our establishment and
country. Decent societies shun those involved in sexual offences
against children. Even criminals jailed for ‘ordinary’ crimes like
murder treat those serving time for molesting children as beyond the
pale. But in India, men like Rathore have their uses for their
masters, so the system circles its wagons and protects them.
The CBI’s appeal may lead to the enhancement of Rathore’s sentence
and perhaps even the slapping of abetment to suicide charges, since
his young victim killed herself to put an end to the criminal
intimidation her family was being subjected to by Rathore and his
men. But the systemic rot which the case has exposed will not be
remedied unless sustained public pressure is put on Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh and Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram, two men who
have it in their power to push for simple remedies in the way the
Indian law enforcement and justice delivery system works.
First, abolish the need for official, i.e. political sanction to
prosecute bureaucrats, policemen and security forces personnel when
they are accused of committing crimes. The original intent behind
this built-in stay-out-of-jail card was to protect state
functionaries from acts done in the course of discharging their
duties in good faith. Somewhere along the line, this has come to mean
protecting our custodians of law and order when they murder innocent
civilians (eg. the infamous Panchalthan case in Kashmir where the
trial of army men indicted by the CBI for murdering five villagers in
2000 still cannot take place because the Central government will not
grant permission), or assault or molest women and children. No
civilised, democratic society grants such impunity. It is disgusting
to see former officials and bureaucrats from Haryana saying how they
had wanted Rathore prosecuted but were prevented from doing so
because of pressure. Such officials should either be made formally to
testify in a criminal case against the politicians who so pressured
them or they should themselves be hauled up for perverting the course
of justice.
Second, stop talking about how making the police and army answerable
to the law will somehow demoralise their morale. Does anybody care
about the morale of ordinary citizens any more? Or the morale of
upright police and army officers, who do not think it is right for
their colleagues to be able to get away with criminal acts?
Third, bring an end to the cosy relationship between the police and
politicians. Rathore was protected by four chief ministers of
Haryana. He served them and they served him by ensuring his
unfettered rise. It is absurd that the Indian Police is still
governed by a colonial-era Act dating back to 1861. A number of
commissions have made recommendations for reforming the police over
the years; but no government or political party wants to give up its
ability to use and misuse the police for their own benefit.
Fourth, ensure that police officers who abuse their authority and
engage in mala fide prosecutions are dismissed from service and
sentenced to jail for a long period of time. Mr. Chidambaram should
use the considerable resources at his command to find out who were
the policemen involved in filing 11 bogus cases against the teenaged
brother of the young girl Rathore molested. He should then make sure
criminal proceedings are initiated against all of them. The message
must go out to every policeman in the country: If you abuse the law
at the behest of a superior, you will suffer legal consequences.
Fifth, ensure that criminal charges against law enforcement personnel
are fast-tracked as a matter of routine so that a powerful defendant
is not able to use his position to delay proceedings the way Rathore
did for years on end. The destruction or disappearance of material
evidence in such cases must be treated as a grave offence with strict
criminal liability imposed on the individual responsible for breaking
the chain of custody.
Sixth, empower the National Human Rights Commission with teeth so
that police departments and state governments cannot brush aside
their orders as happened in the Rathore case. This would also require
appointing to the NHRC women and men who have a proven record of
defending human rights in their professional life, something that is
done today only in the breach. The attitude of the Manmohan Singh
government to this commission and others like the National Commission
for Women (NCW) and National Commission for Minorities is shocking.
Vacancies are not filled for months on end.
Seventh, ensure the early enactment of pending legislation broadening
the ambit of sexual crimes, including sexual crimes against children.
Between rape, defined as forced penetrative sex, and the vague,
Victorian-era crime of ‘outraging the modesty of a woman’, the
Indian Penal Code recognises no other form of sexual violence. As a
result, all forms of sexual molestation and assault short of rape
attract fairly lenient punishment, of the kind Rathore got. In his
case, the judge did not even hand down the maximum sentence, citing
concerns for the criminal’s age. Sadly, he did not take into account
the age of the victim and neither does the IPC, which fails to
distinguish between ‘outraging the modesty’ of an adult woman and
a young child.
A draft law changing these provisions and bringing India into line
with the rest of the modern world has been pending with the NCW and
Law Ministry for years. Perhaps the government may now be shamed into
pushing it through Parliament at the earliest.
Eighth, take steps to introduce a system of protection of witnesses
and complainants. The fate that the family of Rathore’s young victim
had to endure is testament to the fact that people who seek justice
in India do so at their own peril.
Ninth, ensure that robust interrogation techniques like narco-
analysis, which are routinely used against other alleged criminals,
are also employed against police officers accused of crimes.
Tenth, the media and the higher judiciary must also turn the light
inward and ask themselves whether they were also derelict in their
duty. The Rathore case did not attract the kind of constant media
attention it deserved, nor do other cases involving serving police
officers accused of crimes against women, workers, peasants and
minorities. As for the upper courts, their record is too patchy to
inspire confidence. It was, after all, the high court which chose to
disregard the CBI’s request for including abetment to suicide charges.
o o o
The Tribune
25 January 2009
RAPE OF THE LAW
STATE MACHINERY HAS FAILED TO ACT
by Kuldip Nayar
India is not a banana republic. But certain incidents indicate that
the country is rapidly forfeiting the right to be counted among the
civilized nations. Take the rape of a Russian girl in Goa. Shanta Ram
Naik, a member of the Rajya Sabha, the House which sets tone to
public debates, wants a different treatment of the rape cases in
which women move around with strangers after midnight. The member
expressed no regret for the rape because the Russian girl was outside
her place past 12 at night.
I thought Goa Chief Minister Digambar Kamat would have taken Naik to
task. But nothing like that happened. Instead, the Chief Minister
said that a girl who went out with a man at night was asking for
something like rape. He did not care for the impression he was
creating through his statement inside India and in foreign countries.
Asked about the action his government would take against the member,
the Chief Minister said: “Let the Russian government write to me.”
Yet his police has been trying to bribe the girl repeatedly. The last
offer made to her was Rs. 15 lakh.
Congress Foreign Minister S.M.Krishna had no word of condemnation
either. He merely said: “Foreigners should be more careful.” I do
not know whether the Minister for Tourism would agree with the
Foreign Minister. But how does Goa expect foreigners or, for that
matter, Indians to visit the place where one of the ministers of the
state says that Goa is the “rape capital of the world.”
The incident prompted Moscow’s Consul General in Mumbai, Alexander
Mantytsky, to write to the Indian authorities about the concern he
felt on behalf of his nation.
According to one estimate, the Russians make up about 40,000 of the
400,000 international tourists who visit Goa every year.
Sabina Martins, who runs the NGO, Bailancho Saad, has let the cat out
of the bag when she says: “No longer does tourism advertisements
talk about the natural beauty or the hospitable nature of the state.
It is now promoted along the ‘wine, women and song’ line, which is
different from the local culture.”
What has shocked me the most is the silence of Sonia Gandhi, the
Congress president. She is probably busy calculating what political
repercussion the action against the accused, John Fernandes, a
heavyweight in the state, would have on the Congress government in Goa.
True, the party rule hangs in balance because the revolt of a few
members can make the government fall or bring the opposition to
power. But is this what counts ultimately? No morality, only politics!
A television network has asked for three days in a row why no action
has been taken against the rapist. Some Parliament members have also
posed the same question to the government. But it has preferred to
remain silent.
The question is whether the state machinery has any responsibility to
pursue the case where a rape has been committed. The accused may be
let off or there may be nothing proved against him. But how can the
police, looking after the law and order machinery, sit silent? It is
apparent that political pressure can let off
the rapists.
This is confirmed by a case in Haryana. After 19 years, a special
court of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has sentenced
former state Director General of Police SPS Rathore to six months’
imprisonment and fined Rs 1,000. He was accused of molesting a 14-
year-old girl. It is a travesty of justice that the police Director
General gets only six months in prison. The court is not to blame for
a light sentence because the CBI, for obvious reasons, refused to
charge the DGP for the real crime. The FIR was filed nine years after
the molestation and that too was changed to a memorandum. The
pressure used can well be imagined. Still the state government found
Rathore so useful, then IG, that he was promoted after four years of
his committing the crime.
How powerful was Rathore can be judged from the fact that goons were
placed outside the victim’s house to accost and harass her whenever
she stepped out. Her house was pelted with stones, smattering the
windows.
Three years later she consumed insecticide and died a day later. Her
father sold the house in Panchkula, near Chandigarh, and went to
Kolkata. Two brothers of the victim faced 11 cooked-up cases which
went on for years before they were acquitted.
The mother says in a statement: “We were threatened when we filed a
memorandum against Rathore for exemplary punishment.” But Rathore
was given a bail even for the light imprisonment. The entire police
system in Haryana and the CBI, which played with the investigation
have to be cleaned up.
Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal can appoint
a special team to reinvestigate the case. The Supreme Court did so in
the case of Gujarat where it found the judgment was not correct.
It is time that the government introduces the much-awaited police
reforms and overhauls the judicial system. How can a case of
molestation against a former DGP go on for 19 years? All those
ministers, bureaucrats and police officials who are responsible for
the cover-up should be brought to justice.
Let this be a test case to punish even the highest in the country.
After knowing the details, the nation feels abhorred and inaction
would look like a compromise with pressure and power.
(iii)
The Times of India
24 December 2009
EDITORIAL: JUSTICE INTERRUPTED
If ever there was a travesty of justice this was it. Former Haryana
inspector-general of police, S P S Rathore, has got away with a six-
month
sentence and a fine of Rs 1,000 for molesting a teenager, Ruchika
Girhotra, who was driven to commit suicide three years later. What's
more the sentence by the special court was handed 19 years after the
molestation incident took place.
The details of the case are by now well known. What bears repetition
however is the way the victim herself, her family and later the
couple responsible for pursuing justice Anand and Madhu Parkash,
parents of Ruchika's best friend and key witness Aradhana were
systematically harassed. The victim was not only suspended by the
state tennis association, she was later thrown out of her school. The
situation was such that the Parkashes filed a petition before the
court alleging harassment by goons under Rathore's pay.
The story of people in powerful places trying to suppress evidence or
abort justice is sickeningly familiar. How often have we seen
politicians or senior government officials using their clout to
subvert justice? What was slightly different here was that the victim
was a budding tennis player and the accused the president of the
state lawn tennis association, something that exposed the seamier
side of the way sports is run in India.
But this case isn't just about subversion of justice. It's also about
gaps in our laws. Shockingly the Indian Penal Code, in large parts a
relic of the colonial times, has no special provisions for child
victims of sexual molestation. The Law Commission had spotted this
and recommended in 2000 a provision recognising and punishing child
abuse with imprisonment up to seven years. But nearly a decade has
passed and nothing has been done.
The gaps in the law meant that at worst Rathore could get a prison
term of up to two years under existing provisions in the IPC for
sexual harassment. But he got away with even milder punishment. This
case yet again highlights the need for speedy dispensation of justice
and protection for the victim and key witnesses.
More importantly it highlights the urgency of drafting legal
provisions to treat abuse of children as a special category and to
penalise it stringently. Until that happens we might continue to see
tragedies of the sort that forced a teenager to take her life, and
for monsters who molest children to roam free.
o o o
SEE ALSO:
A report on Shopian cover up in Kashmir by the Independent Women’s
Initiative for Justice in (IWIJ)
SHOPIAN: MANUFACTURING A SUITABLE STORY
http://www.sacw.net/article1286.html
_____
[7] India: Resources For Secular Activists
i) Deccan Herald
25 December 2009
IS IT A NEW CHAPTER?
by Kuldip Nayar
The BJP’s mentor, the RSS, should learn a lesson from our
neighbouring country. Religion does not unify a country, pluralism does.
This was like searching for a needle in the haystack. I was looking
for a word of remorse or regret in the reams of statements by the BJP
on the Liberhan Commission’s report on demolition of the Babri
masjid and on the stepping down of L K Advani from the office of
opposition leader in the Lok Sabha. But I was disappointed.
Not that I was expecting a change of heart in the party. Yet I
imagined that some leaders, at least from among the young who are
supposed to have taken over the reins of the party, would feel sorry
for the masjid’s destruction and the killing of hundreds in the
wake. It would have sent a message that the BJP was trying to shake
off its past and paving a new path of conciliation and consensus.
Instead, there was defiance and justification of demolition in the
observations that the BJP leaders made. Remorse was needed, not to
humiliate the BJP but to let it realise that a society, founded on
the spirit of accommodation, expected the wrong-doers to make amends.
Advani has gone to the extent of saying that the high mark in his
political career was the ‘rath yatra’ from the Somnath temple to
Ayodhya where the Babri masjid stood till Dec 6, 1992. Still the din
raised by the BJP and other leaders of the Sangh Parivar cannot drown
the charge that they are responsible for the destruction and the
death right up to Mumbai where scores were killed in early 1993.
The Liberhan Commission has named Advani as one of the 64 accomplices
in the destruction of the masjid. There is nothing to ensure that
action will be taken against any one of them. What should the nation
infer if they get away with all that they did?
Sushma Swaraj has replaced Advani as leader of the opposition in the
Lok Sabha. The change of personalities does not usher a new chapter,
the change of policies does. The BJP has given no evidence to suggest
that it has jettisoned its communal agenda or that it has distanced
from the fanatic RSS which has imposed its trusted man, Nitin
Gadkari, as the party’s head in place of Rajnath Singh. It is the
same old wine of the RSS prowess in a new bottle.
In the face of the Congress party’s arrogance, the BJP can attract
support provided it does not follow the Hindutva line. At present,
the BJP is part of the mob which is out to destroy the country’s
ethos of pluralism. It has no faith even in India’s constitution,
which consecrates secularism in the preamble itself.
No punitive action
The Manmohan Singh government has placed before parliament the
Action Taken Report (ART) on the Liberhan Commission’s findings.
But, shockingly, the government does not contemplate any punitive
action against those who planned and pulled down the masjid.
True, Justice Liberhan did something unpardonable when he took 17
years to submit the report which also has some howlers. The BJP only
concentrated on those to defend itself. But the verbal mistakes do
not falsify the fact of demolition.
No doubt, the Muslim community would feel betrayed if the 64 people
named by the commission go scot-free after what they have done. But
the nation on the whole would equally be horrified if the guilty are
not punished. The majesty of law would come down tumbling. And
communalists would have a shot in their arm.
It is already a bad scenario which the country faces. The killing of
3,000 Sikhs at Delhi in 1984, nearly 100 Christians in Orissa two
years ago and some 2,000 Muslims in Gujarat in 2002 has disfigured
Indians image as a pluralistic society. In fact, the message going
around is that the minorities are not safe. On top of it, if there is
no action on the Liberhan Commission’s recommendations, India may
damage its secular credentials beyond repair.
That the BJP is a rightist party is understandable. The Congress is
more or less the same. What is not acceptable is the BJP’s communal
approach because it poses a threat to the very idea of India, the
concept of unity and secularism. The RSS, the BJP’s mentor, should
learn a lesson from the neighbouring country. Religion does not unify
the country, pluralism does.
The pull of religion could not check the Bangladeshis separating from
Pakistan because the Urdu speaking west Pakistanis did not
accommodate the language, Bengali. The LTTE was a product of the
Sinhalese inability to cope with the Tamil identity in Sri Lanka than
that of the Tigers assertion. When the BJP ruled the country for six
years, it kept aside its agenda of mandir.
The party can begin a new chapter only if it stops using religion for
achieving its political ends. When the BJP stands in the way of
punishment to the culprits in Gujarat or those who demolished the
Babri masjid, the party only proves that it prefers wallowing in the
waters of bigotry and communalism to seeking the secure shores of
secularism. The day the people see that the BJP has stopped mixing
religion with politics, they will consider that the party has begun a
new chapter.
o o o
BSP AND ITS POLITICS OF FORGING ALLIANCES WITH THE HINDUTVA FORCES
by Badri Narayan
http://tinyurl.com/yetshsl
_____
[8] Announcements:
(i) Dear Friends
Delhi Solidarity Group and AID- NCR is organizing a candle-light
vigil on 26th December in Delhi, to commemorate the beginning of the
indefinite fast by Himanshu ji of Vanvasi Chetna Ashram, in protest
of Operation Green Hunt and the state violence used against the
residents of Dantewada especially in the course of their attempt to
organize a padyatra, satyagraha and Jan Sunwai.
Himanshuji is sitting on the indefinite fast with clear sets of
'wishes'
1. Stop displacement of tribals from the region; create a terror free
atmosphere to bring back all the people people who have fled to the
neighbouring states (AP) and to the jungles
2. Immediate implementation of the Superme Court order dated 17/10/2008
3. Immediate release of VCA activists Kopa and Sukhnath
Please extend your solidarity and support for him and the residents
of Dantewada in standing up against state violence, by attending in
large numbers and passing on the word to as many people as you can.
We will provide some candles, but any signs and slogans relevant to
this issue of war against people are welcome.
Date- 26th December ( Saturday)
Place ----IIT Flyover, [New Delhi]
Time-6 pm,
National Alliance of Peoples' Movements (NAPM)
o o o
(ii) India-Pakistan Conference: Roadmap towards Peace, 10-12 Jan
2010, Delhi
Dear Friends,
Greetings!
A number of organizations in India have got together with eminent
persons to organize an India-Pakistan Conference: A Road Map towards
Peace at the India International Center (IIC) from 10-12 January 2010.
Both India and Pakistan have, for the last 62 years, seen many ups
and downs in bilateral relations and talk. But the current phase of
composite dialogue was significant. Four rounds had been completed,
and the 5th round was in progress. The last year’s attacks on Mumbai
completely hijacked this scenario and brought the relationship
between the two countries to breakdown point. This was further
intensified by the war hysteria whipped up by the religious right
wing in both the countries.
Ever since the Indian Government announced a pause on the dialogue
following the 26/11 attacks, people in both countries who are
desirous of peace, have been trying to convince their respective
governments to make serious attempts to restart the dialogue. The
dialogue is important because another war between the two countries
has to be avoided at all costs. War can destroy the fragile economic
and political stability in the South Asian region as a whole, with
disastrous consequences for the common people. The dialogue is
important because it helps us sort out our problems peacefully.
There is an urgent need for peace movements, democratic minded
citizens, political parties and progressive sections of the
governments of the two countries to come together to evolve an agenda
and a road map for peace, and to build pressure on the governments of
both countries.
Eminent speakers like Sherry Rehman, Asma Jehangir, Najam Sethi,
Ayesha Siddiqua, I.A. Rehman from Pakistan and Kuldip Nayar, Salman
Haider, Admiral Ramdas, Mahesh Bhatt, Aijaz Ahmed, Muchkund Dubey and
various others have confirmed their participation in this Conference.
Participants coming from outside Delhi should write to Sonila on
sonila at focusweb.org confirming their participation and requisition
for accommodation. We have made some modest accommodation arrangement
on twin sharing basis. It will be available on first come first serve
base. There is no registration fee.
Please note that Delhi will be cold in January
We would be sending out the programme schedule soon.
We hope that you will make it convenient to attend what is a very
important event in the present scenario in the region.
Thanks,
Organizations which are part of the initiative: SANGAT, Focus on the
Global South, India; Centre for Policy Analysis, ANHAD, Peace Mumbai,
COVA, SAHR and others.
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
South Asia Citizens Wire
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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