SACW | Jan 5-10, 2010 / Bangladesh Contradiction Over Secularism / Sri Lanka Elections / Pakhtun diaspora / Pakistan-India: The difficult road to peace / India: Price of Militarisation and Security / Homophobia
Harsh Kapoor
aiindex at gmail.com
Sat Jan 9 21:33:51 CST 2010
South Asia Citizens Wire | January 5-10, 2010 | Dispatch No. 2682 -
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] Bangladesh, Pakistan and India through a lens (Kamila Shamsie)
[2] Bangladesh: The Move to Keep Some of Religion Out of Politics -
Reports and Commentary
- Bismillah' and Islam as state religion to stay (Hasan Jahid
Tusher)
- Dithering And Contradiction Over Secularism (Editorial, New Age)
- Return to Roots (Editorial, The Telegraph)
- Religion in politics (Dawn Editorial)
[3] Sri Lanka: These candidates are largely to blame for destroying
our people (Suren Surendiran)
+ Sri Lanka's displaced Tamils - A market-based solution
[4] Pakistan: Pakhtun diaspora - irresponsible and insensitive
(Farhat Taj)
[5] Pakistan - India: The difficult road to peace (Abbas Rashid)
[6] India: Price of Militarisation and Security
(i) Signal from Lal Chowk (Kashmir Times)
(ii) Conduct worthy of a police state (Siddharth Varadarajan)
(iii) Suppression of Civil and Political Rights in Chhattisgarh
(iv) Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Association - Appeal For Support
[7] India: Fear of Police / Creation of States Along Ethnic Lines /
Shared Living / Homophobia
(i) Voting in Maoist Land (Jean Drèze)
(ii) India: The Gods Who Failed (Sumanta Sen)
(iii) India: Songs of shared living (Harsh Mander)
(iv) Out of The Colonial Closet, But Still Thinking ’Inside The
Box’ (Ratna Kapur)
_____
[1] BANGLADESH, PAKISTAN AND INDIA THROUGH A LENS
by Kamila Shamsie
(The Guardian, 6 January 2010)
A major new exhibition of photographs from Bangladesh , Pakistan and
India leaves novelist Kamila Shamsie troubled, captivated – and
wanting more
So much for the post-national, globalised world. Looking through
hundreds of photographs from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, which
will go on show at the Whitechapel Gallery in London this month, I
find myself unable to follow the curators' lead. Wisely, they have
chosen to group the images thematically, rather than according to
nationality; but almost immediately I am looking hungrily for
Pakistan (my homeland), largely ignoring India, and pausing longest
at pictures of Bangladesh from 1971, the year in which it ceased to
be East Pakistan.
It isn't that I don't find anything of interest in India or in
photographs of it. But of the three nations, India has always been
the most visually reproduced; many of the photographs taken there
feel over-familiar. This is not the over-familiarity of a scene I've
personally witnessed or inhabited: it is the compositions or the
subject matter or sometimes the photograph itself that I feel I've
seen time and time again. There is Gandhi stepping out of that train;
there are the Mumbai boys leaping into a body of water on a hot day;
there is the movie poster in the style of movie posters.
It is something of a surprise to find how intent I am on tracking
down pictures of Pakistan. I have spent the greater part of my life
there and will be returning shortly, but neither homesickness nor
estrangement lie behind my wanting to see more. It is the role of
photographs themselves in Pakistan that may serve as explanation.
There is still very little appreciation of photo-graphy as an art
form, so pictures tend to fall into three categories: private
celebrations, news – and cricket. I have seen countless pictures of
weddings, of burning buses, of a fast bowler winding his arm over his
shoulder at the end of his run-up. Life's more quotidian details
occur away from the lens, and so feel unacknowledged. Pakistan is a
nation tremendously poor at acknowledging what goes on when it comes
to individual lives, and bad at acknowledging the sweep of its own
history. Great areas of the past and present remain away from the
nation's gaze.
If there is one period in history from which Pakistan most adamantly
averts its eyes, it is 1971. That year, Pakistan ceased to be a
nation with two wings, and the state of Bangladesh came into being.
And so I turn to the Bangladeshi photographers in order to fix my
gaze on that blood-soaked epoch. I don't even realise I'm doing this,
at first. I think I'm looking at a man's head, cast in marble; the
sculpture is cheek-down amid a cluster of stones, almost camouflaged
by them. Then I read the caption: "Dismembered head of an
intellectual killed 14 December 1971 by local collaborators of
Pakistani army. Bangladesh." It is extraordinarily eerie, and sad.
There are other pictures of that period, too. Many, if not all, will
probably be familiar to anyone from Bangladesh; none are part of
Pakistan's consciousness.
Pakistan's erasure of its own muddled history is the subject of Bani
Abidi's witty series of photographs, The Ghost of Mohammad Bin Qasim.
In the nation's attempt to create an official history, which focuses
on Muslims in the subcontinent (rather than Pakistan's geographical
boundaries), the Arab general Bin Qasim (712 AD) was lauded for being
the first Muslim to successfully lead a military campaign in India –
even though he did little to consolidate his position. In Abidi's
photographs, a man in Arab dress is shot at different locations in
Karachi, including the mausoleum of the nation's secular founder,
Mohammad Ali Jinnah. The man is clearly Photoshopped in, deliberately
so: he represents the attempt to graft a false history on to
Pakistan, linking it to the Wahhabism of Saudi Arabia.
While Abidi's work asks the viewer to engage with history and
politics, there are others that draw a more visceral response.
Mohammad Arif Ali's photograph of rain in Lahore captures the size
and force of raindrops during the monsoons; the vivid colours at the
edge of the frame also evoke how startlingly rinsed of dust the whole
world looks. The boy darting out into the downpour, ahead of a line
of traffic, his shalwar kameez plastered to his skin, is both lord of
the world and a tiny creature, in danger of being crushed. It brings
a familiar world vividly to mind. And yet, of course, exactly this
scene could be played out – and photographed – in Delhi or Dhaka.
It is foolish of me to think of it as quintessentially Pakistani.
Sometimes these countries are three; sometimes one: the movement
between three distinct nations and one region is impossible to pin down.
Away from the pictures of 1971, the Bangladeshi images are both
unfamiliar (Munem Wasif's picture of a Burmese worker struggling
through bushes in Bangladesh) and familiar: notably, Abir Abdullah's
Women Working in Old Dhaka, which shows two women making chapatis
together, though their positioning suggests distance rather than
camaraderie. Is their lack of proximity a consequence of class or
personality?
I turn back to the pictures of India and am almost immediately struck
by Ram Rahman's Young Wrestlers, Delhi: two boys, each wearing a pair
of briefs. It is mystifying that I didn't notice before how one of
them stares assertively at the camera, his muscles relaxed, in the
most casual of poses. The other's eyes are unsure, his muscles
tensed, he is trying to suck in his stomach and puff up his chest,
and there is a rip, it seems, in his briefs. The boys are touching
but it's clear they aren't friends – not at the moment, at least. I
worry for the tensed boy. He is going to lose his wrestling match; he
is going to lose it badly.
And then there is Anay Mann's picture of a breastfeeding woman with
headphones over her ears: she looks wary, her head angled away from
the camera. Is there someone in the room, just out of the camera's
reach? Or has she retreated into her own thoughts? And why is it that
children's toys can add such menace to a picture, as is the case with
the yellow smiling object, its head bobbing, at the edge of the image?
I would see this exhibition differently if it were in Karachi. Or
Mumbai. Or Dhaka. In London, I am so far removed from these
landscapes I'm aware of the photographs' "otherness". But there's
also this: any kind of simultaneous engagement between these three
nations, with so much in common and so much that sets them apart, is
almost unheard of within the subcontinent itself. In Karachi, Dhaka
or Mumbai, I would spend a very long time watching people look at
these photographs. How we see ourselves; how we see each other –
these two questions would be politically charged where they are not
here. Strange that, only 63 years after the Raj, London should seem
such a historically neutral venue, comparatively speaking.
_____
[2] Bangladesh: Move to Keep Some of Religion Out of Politics -
Reports and Commentary
'BISMILLAH' AND ISLAM AS STATE RELIGION TO STAY
PM tells 14-party meet
by Hasan Jahid Tusher
(The Daily Star, January 6, 2010, Front Page)
The words “Bismillah-Ar-Rahman-Ar-Rahim” in the preamble to the
constitution and declaration of Islam as state religion will remain
as they are, since they reflect the beliefs of the people, Prime
Minister Sheikh Hasina said yesterday.
She was meeting 14-party leaders at her official residence Jamuna. It
was the first such meeting since the Awami League-led grand alliance
came to office in January last year.
Hasina, also president of AL and chief of the 14-party combine,
however said the spirit of the original constitution would be
restored with inclusion of the High Court verdict that declared
illegal the fifth amendment, said meeting sources.
On the issue of Bismillah and Islam in the constitution, she told the
leaders they must accept the reality.
The matter came up when an alliance leader suggested that the 1972
constitution be restored to uphold secularism.
The fifth amendment incorporated “Bismillah-Ar-Rahman-Ar-Rahim (In
the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful) into the preamble
and the eighth amendment gave Islam the status of state religion.
The Supreme Court on Sunday vacated its stay on the HC verdict on the
fifth amendment, which legitimises the regimes between August 15,
1975, and April 9, 1979.
At yesterday's meeting, the prime minister stressed the need for
strengthening the 14-party coalition, formed during the BNP-Jamaat
coalition rule.
She endorsed the alliance leaders' proposal for holding meetings of
the combine regularly.
Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, AL presidium member and deputy leader of the
House, was made coordinator of the coalition.
The leaders resolved to bring the war criminals to book as early as
possible, and to help the government achieve its goals.
Briefing newsmen afterwards, AL General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam
said they have decided to meet regularly from now on.
The top leaders of the coalition discussed the government's
activities in last one year. They praised the way Hasina has been
leading the government, added Ashraf, also LGRD and cooperatives
minister.
Later, the prime minister hosted a dinner for the alliance leaders to
mark the occasion of the grand alliance's one year in office.
Those present included JP leaders HM Ershad, Rawshan Ershad, Anisul
Islam Mahmud, Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu and Ruhul Amin Hawlader, Worker
Party President Rashed Khan Menon, General Secretary Bimal Biswas,
Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal President Hasanul Haque Inu, General
Secretary Syed Zafar Sazzad, Samyabadi Dal President Dilip Barua,
Islami Oikya Jote Chairman Misbaur Rahman Chowdhury and Islamic Front
Bangladesh leader Shaikh Khandaker Golam Mowla.
o o o
DITHERING AND CONTRADICTION OVER SECULARISM
Editorial, New Age, 6 January 2009
LAW minister Shafique Ahmed, it seems, wants it both ways – to have
the cake of secularism and to eat it as well. If inconsistency and
contradiction are misleading for the people, they are more so when
they come from the ministerial level. The minister did not use the
term secularism but he said religion-based political parties should
cease to exist if the 5th amendment to the constitution were finally
invalidated by the Supreme Court. He also said Islam would remain the
state religion and Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim would be on top of the
constitution’s preamble. He said this at a media briefing as
reported in New Age on Tuesday. The minister, or any individual, may
say anything but to make sense of contradictory statements is another
matter, and here the minister is outlining state policy.
If Islam is retained as state religion then religion-based
politics will be automatic, as well as rightful. There is no dearth
of people in this country who will argue that since Islam is the
state religion no other party except Islam-based party shall have any
place in the country’s politics. This they will affirm even if
secularism returns; they may even say with that singular mastery of
disputation and prevarication witnessed before, that secularism may
be alright but as far as politics is concerned it has to be religion-
based. If the 5th amendment is invalidated and the 1972 constitution
is revived then the four state principles will be consecrated again.
The four state principles include secularism and socialism. Observing
the politics of the last two decades it is difficult to believe the
ruling Awami League is still firmly wedded to socialism. The party
has discarded the socialist ideology long ago and has wittingly or
unwittingly come under the umbrella of big money and the donor agencies.
The contradictory policy statement set us wondering as to which
direction the ruling party is taking. If the ruling party is serious
about restoring secularism and socialism then it should not gamble on
court verdict for it, instead it should strengthen the party on an
ideological basis. Establishment of secularism and socialism are a
matter of arduous political struggle; no court will offer these on a
platter. Its present absolute majority presents an opportunity for
Awami League. It can initiate the political and legislative steps to
democratise our system and restore the principles and values of the
liberation war.
o o o
RETURN TO ROOTS
Editorial, The Telegraph, January 8 , 2010
A nation’s search for identity may not begin and end in a written
constitution. But a country’s constitution is meant to capture the
collective wish of its people. The legal battle in Bangladesh to
restore the word, “secularism”, in the constitution is only
superficially a political issue; at stake is the bigger question of
what kind of a nation-state it hopes to evolve into. At its birth as
a new nation, Bangladesh aspired to be a secular, democratic
republic. When the fifth amendment to the constitution dropped the
word “secularism”, it reflected more the politics of the
government of the day than the wishes of the people. Opponents of the
new move to restore the word in the constitution now make the same
complaint. The two main political parties in Bangladesh — the Awami
League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party — agree on almost
nothing. Worse, almost everything is given a partisan twist. But the
country’s liberation war left no room for doubt that secular
nationalism was its prime mover. The move to restore “secularism”
in the constitution should thus be seen as an attempt to return to
the spirit of both the original constitution and Bangladeshi
nationalism.
More troublesome for the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina Wajed, could
be the move to ban religion-based parties. Her opponents would try to
exploit the issue in order to recover lost ground. But Ms Wajed’s
massive victory in the last elections reflected a popular anger
against parties and leaders who sought to ruin Bangladesh’s secular
polity. In a country where Muslims form nearly 90 per cent of the
population, the majority religion cannot be in any real danger. To
argue that a ban on religion-based parties poses a threat to Islam in
Bangladesh is no more than familiar political rhetoric. Bangladeshis
cannot be unaware that the making of a modern nation has much to do
with the separation of State from religion. In fact, many of the
country’s problems in recent years resulted from the way some
political parties abused the people’s religious sentiments for
narrow partisan gains. Some of these parties even sought to use
religion to try and obliterate the nationalism that gave birth to the
nation. The rise of religious fundamentalism and the resultant
violence were also a direct outcome of religion-based politics. The
return to secularism will not solve all of Bangladesh’s problems,
but it can better safeguard its fledgling democratic polity.
o o o
RELIGION IN POLITICS
Dawn Editorial
Friday, 08 Jan, 2010
Supporters of political party Jamaat-e-Islami carry party flags while
rallying through the streets of Karachi. – Photo by Reuters.
In a move aimed at reviving the spirit of Bangladesh’s original 1972
constitution which barred religion in politics, the Bangladesh
Supreme Court recently lifted a four-year stay on an earlier ruling.
As a result, the country’s dozens of Islamic political parties can
no longer campaign under the banner of religion, and are likely to be
forced to drop the religious reference from their names. The court
declared as void ab initio the relevant fifth amendment to the
constitution, which was carried out in 1979 during a Bangladesh
Nationalist Party government. It allowed religion-based politics —
which then flourished.
Given that Bangladesh has amongst the world’s largest Muslim
populations, this is a quantum leap forward. The court decision, if
upheld during appeals, will affect scores of powerful political
parties and their voters, including the BNP now in the opposition.
Yet it is worth noting that the verdict does not affect Islam’s
constitutional status as the state religion or religious text that
was incorporated in the constitution. Implicit, therefore, is the
recognition that whatever the dominant religion, the business of the
state and politics must be conducted independently; and that far from
yielding benefits in terms of just and legitimate governance, the
confluence of religion and politics can wreak havoc on a country’s
political fabric.
Pakistan would do well to dwell on this. Religion, when enmeshed with
politics, can deepen polarities and derail the examination of issues
from the perspective of logic and the aggregate national benefit. We
have seen, for example, how politics and state policies underpinned
by religious diktat can lead to laws that are discriminatory and can
be used as tools for victimisation. The Qisas and Diyat Act, the
Hudood and the blasphemy laws are cases in point. At the very least,
a political fabric woven from religion will either dismiss minorities
and their rights, or polarise politics between dominant and minority
religions. Pakistan made the state the custodian of religion through
the 1949 Objectives Resolution, which was later made the preamble to
the constitution by the Zulfikar Ali Bhutto government and added as
an annex by Ziaul Haq. Although religious parties have not
historically fared well in elections, Pakistan’s politics have, over
successive decades, been coloured by religion. The separation of
religion and politics will, of course, neither automatically ensure
justice nor guard against the misuse of religion. But it can be a
first step towards delineating the private and public spheres. This
may be a good time to revisit Mr Jinnah’s 1947 address to
Pakistan’s first constituent assembly, when he eloquently stated
that religion had nothing to do with the business of the state.
_____
[3] Sri Lanka: Elections
THESE CANDIDATES ARE LARGELY TO BLAME FOR DESTROYING OUR PEOPLE
by Suren Surendiran
(The Independent, 7 January 2010)
As far as we Tamils are concerned, this is not the right time for any
sort of election, regardless of who the candidates are.
Those in the traditional homeland are still recovering from the woes
of the war; there has been no time for proper healing, rehabilitation
or reconstruction. Most do not know where their loved ones are and
whether they are still living or dead. They live in fear under a
heavy military presence, with restricted freedom of movement.
Related articles
Out in eastern Sri Lanka, Tamils suffer a continued armed
paramilitary presence, and daily human rights violations that are
perpetrated with impunity and with no independent investigation of
these crimes. In the rest of the country, Tamils are forced to carry
identity documents and are the only community compelled to register
themselves with the local police.
If you were forced to choose between General Sarath Fonseka and
President Mahinda Rajapaksa, then the former military chief is
definitely the lesser of the two evils. But should the Tamils be
backing him as their candidate in the upcoming election? I don't
think so. General Fonseka, like the President, is implicated in war
crimes and crimes against humanity. These two men were largely
responsible for the deaths of our Tamil kith and kin and for the
destruction of our homeland in the island of Sri Lanka.
They should be brought to court to answer for their crimes and, given
that, I believe it is morally and ethically impossible to throw one's
support behind either of these candidates.
During the past 62 years since independence, successive governments
of Sri Lanka have signed many pacts and agreements with Tamils with
and without international sponsorship. All of them, without
exception, have been abrogated unilaterally on the government side.
We Tamils want a candidate who accepts that the Tamils have
legitimate grievances and political aspirations, stands for justice,
and works for the resolution for the political problem through
genuine negotiations. If someone meets these criteria, then we Tamils
will support him or her, regardless of ethnicity.
Previous ballots have always been rigged by government sponsors,
bringing injustices to the people of the island, particularly the
Tamils. The international community should monitor this election
closely.
Suren Surendiran is a Tamil activist based in London
o o o
SRI LANKA'S DISPLACED TAMILS - A MARKET-BASED SOLUTION
Dec 30th 2009 | VAVUNIYA
From The Economist print edition
Eking a living from handouts
SQUATTING under an umbrella bearing an EU logo, a woman in a faded
sari dips into her blue UNICEF bag and pulls out two towels, some
toothbrushes and toothpaste, sanitary napkins and a small bottle of
disinfectant. She is soon ringed by hagglers wanting her paltry wares
for even less than the pittance she asks. Another woman clambers from
a bus lugging a sack of flour donated by the World Food Programme.
She jostles for space among the throngs of internally displaced
Tamils peddling their rations near the hospital in Vavuniya in the
north of Sri Lanka. Just months ago, many of them were treated here
for injuries sustained as the Sri Lankan army defeated Tamil Tiger
rebels.
After the rout of the Tigers in May, nearly 300,000 Tamils who fled
the fighting were fenced inside sprawling camps near Vavuniya. After
concerted foreign pressure the government opened the camps on
December 1st. It was also swayed by the need for Tamil votes in the
hotly contested presidential election to be held on January 26th.
Almost at once dozens of displaced civilians started taking their
staple dry rations to town. They sell lentils, wheat-flour, parboiled
rice, curry powders, chickpeas and toiletries. There are mosquito
nets and cloth nappies, tea, slippers and even a vegetable grater.
Traders are arriving from other parts of the country. Prices are at
wholesale levels or below, and one says she had heard she could get
things cheap for her grocery shop. Some of the poorer camp inmates
make money from occasional odd jobs and manual labour. But there is
too little work to go around. So selling the rations seems the
natural thing to do—not, one adds earnestly, that they are given too
much. Rather, it is the only way to earn money to pay for other needs.
Vavuniya may soon lose its pavement hawkers, however. President
Mahinda Rajapaksa has promised to resettle all displaced civilians in
their home villages by January 31st. His main electoral challenger is
his former army commander, Sarath Fonseka. They will split the vote
of the Sinhalese majority. So both need to court minorities, notably
the Tamils.
U.L.M. Haldeen, of the Ministry of Resettlement, says hundreds of
families have already been taken back to their villages and given tin
roofing sheets, a cash grant and cooking utensils to help them
rebuild their lives. He says only 101,113 of the 300,000 remain in
camps, and denies allegations that the displaced are being quietly
moved into other temporary housing, as the government flounders
around in search of a coherent resettlement plan.
Many of the displaced show no interest in the election. One says he
will vote, but only because it means he can visit his village.
Another stares back blankly when asked if she knows the candidates.
No idea, she says, distracted by a uniformed policeman who wants to
buy a mosquito net. His small change matters more than the would-be
presidents’ promises.
_____
[4] PAKISTAN: PAKHTUN DIASPORA - IRRESPONSIBLE AND INSENSITIVE
by Farhat Taj
(Daily Times, January 9, 2010)
Rich Arabs in the Middle East are ‘earning’ a place in paradise in
the life hereafter through never ending generous donations to the
Taliban and the madrassas producing foot soldiers and a jihadi
mindset on the Pakhtun land. They do not even care to consider that
their ‘pursuit’ of a place in paradise is causing so much death
and destruction
This column is about the lack of action of the Pakhtun diaspora on
its most important role in the cultural, economic, social and
political survival of their ethnic brothers and sisters in their
native land. I am referring to generous donations that the Pakhtun
diasporic communities in North America, Europe and the Middle East
can and should contribute to counter the Taliban and Talibanisation
in the Pakhtunkhwa province and FATA. This is the most vital role
that the diaspora must play in the war on terror on the Pakhtun land,
but so far it has badly failed to deliver in this regard.
I travelled across the Pakhtunkhwa province and in FATA to meet the
leaders and members of anti-Taliban peace committees and lashkars
(volunteer armies) formed by the peace committee to protect their
villages against the Taliban onslaught. All the peace committees and
lashkar members complained of acute shortage of financial resources
in their anti-Taliban resistance. In most cases, the peace committees
and lashkars are helping themselves, i.e. the local people are
putting whatever meagre financial resources they might have to
finance their resistance. There is simply no one to financially
support their resistance, including, of course, the government of
Pakistan.
Haji Malik, the assassinated leader of the anti-Taliban lashkar in
Adezai in rural Peshawar, told me (when I met him before his targeted
killing) that he had spent his lifelong savings, Rs 200,000, on an
anti-Taliban lashkar. He informed me that he made that money in his
property dealing business. He said that he now kept requesting his
friends, relatives and fellow villagers to keep supporting the
lashkar with whatever they could. Haji Malik first gave his lifelong
savings and then his life in the anti-Taliban resistance. This is the
situation of almost all anti-Taliban peace committees and lashkars
all over Pakhtunkhwa province and FATA. Several lashkar leaders
informed me that many members of their lashkars have lost lives in
armed clashes with the Taliban and there is just no one to take care
of their families. For the government of Pakistan, they complained,
these widows and orphans just do not exist. Nobody else from outside
their villages comes forward to help either. I also met several
family members of the martyred lashkar people. Many, if not most of
them, need immediate and sustainable financial help for expenditure
related to subsistence, utility bills, children’s education and
healthcare of ailing relatives, especially children and the elderly.
Media, state institutions and school curricula in Pakistan have
constructed a discourse of violence, religiosity and cultural
rigidity around the Pakhtun culture for the state’s jihadi pursuit
in line with foreign policy objectives. The construction now misleads
people all over the world about the Pakhtun culture and people. The
Aryana Institute for Regional Research and Advocacy (AIRRA) is the
first Pakhtun think tank that has taken upon itself the
responsibility to challenge the fabricated notions about the Pakhtun
culture. The diasporic communities have recognised the work of AIRRA
through e-mails of appreciation, but AIRRA’s work is greatly
hampered by financial constraints. It is under-staffed and lacks even
basic resources. A small core group of researchers and activists run
this think tank on a voluntary basis. This means the time they should
be giving to their families or career promotion is given to AIRRA.
More than once the authorities cut off the electricity supply to
AIRRA due to non-payment of the utility bills. AIRRA’s core group
members keep this think tank going through small but regular
financial contributions. These members also have families to
maintain. Above all, they are not rich people and like ordinary
Pakistanis struggle with the ever rising inflation in Pakistan. These
members will continue to support AIRRA as much as they can, but I
wish to remind the Pakhtun diasporic communities that this is not how
institutions are established, especially an institution that
challenges the stereotypes and fabrications accepted as reality by
people around the world. Thus there must be sustainable financial
support to keep such institutions working towards a greater cause.
The Bacha Khan Education Foundation (BKEF) is another such venture
that has embarked upon educating the next generation of the Pakhtuns
on progressive lines, besides carrying out projects in culture
revival and youth development. Though the diaspora was quite prompt
in responding to its needs, the BKEF still needs substantial
financial resources to expand its operations vertically and
horizontally.
On the other hand, the forces of darkness that are hell bent on the
destruction of the Pakhtun culture have overflowing financial
resources. Rich Arabs in the Middle East are ‘earning’ a place in
paradise in the life hereafter through never ending generous
donations to the Taliban and the madrassas producing foot soldiers
and a jihadi mindset on the Pakhtun land. They do not even care to
consider that their ‘pursuit’ of a place in paradise is causing so
much death and destruction. Intelligence agencies are also financing
the activities of the religious forces. In this situation, where
should AIRRA, BKEF and the anti-Taliban lashkars go for financial
help? Should they expect Allah to send them money from the skies?
Only the diasporic communities are in a position to help.
Unfortunately, the diasporic communities have failed to show
considerable performance in this regard.
The Pakhtun diasporic communities are engaged in discussions over
what is happening in the war on terror. They offer suggestions and
solutions on how the Pakhtun should deal with the situation. I do not
wish to question their right to freedom of expression, but I would
like to remind them that the most important help they could offer is
through financial contributions to the lashkars, BKEF and AIRRA. They
do not need advice and suggestions; they are on the ground facing the
dangerous situation every moment of their lives. They know better
than the diasporic communities how to deal with the situation.
There are individual Pakhtuns abroad who do send donations, but this
is just not enough. The financial help must not be a one-off. AIRRA,
BKEF and the anti-Taliban lashkars need constant, consistent and
sustainable supply of financial resources. The Pakhtun diasporic
communities are in a good position to provide this. I would request
every affluent Pakhtun abroad to donate at least $ 10 per month to
support the anti-Taliban lashkars, the widows and orphans of the
lashkars’ shuhada (martyrs), AIRRA and BKEF. This small amount would
not make any difference to the affluent Pakhtuns abroad, but it will
definitely make a big difference in the performance of the receivers
and bring some normalcy in the lives of the lashkars’ widows and
orphans.
This war against Talibanisation and the Taliban is an all-out war. It
has to be fought on three most important fronts: one, on the
mountains, in the deserts, forests, fields and streets — the
lashkars are doing it; two, on an ideological front, both AIRRA and
BKEF are doing that; and three, on the financial front. This front is
defenceless up until now and massively affecting the efforts of the
other two fronts. The affluent diaspora must take care of that front.
It is their responsibility and they must not run away from it.
The anti-Taliban lashkars, BKEF and AIRRA will continue their
resistance against the Taliban and Talibanisation even if the
sustainable financial contributions never come from the diaspora. But
if they lose, if the forces of darkness ever succeed in eliminating
the Pakhtun culture with the 7th century Arab tribal culture, future
historians will also hold the inaction of the diaspora responsible
for the cultural catastrophe. Many lashkar people and the core
members of AIRRA hold even today the diaspora responsible for making
their struggle difficult through their lack of financial support.
I would also request the non-Pakhtun fellow Pakistanis to support the
anti-Taliban struggle of the Pakhtun with generous donations in their
own self-interest, if not for moral reasons. The non-Pakhtun cultures
will be next in line for elimination if the international forces of
jihad manage to annihilate the Pakhtun culture.
_____
[5] PAKISTAN - INDIA : THE DIFFICULT ROAD TO PEACE
by Abbas Rashid
(Daily Times, January 09, 2010)
There is need for some caution given a regional situation that is
less than stable. To that extent a special responsibility devolves on
the political leadership in India and Pakistan to stay the course,
notwithstanding the bitter legacy of the past and the many obstacles
in the way of achieving peace
A recent poll carried out in Pakistan and India has yet again
confirmed that despite the mutual grievances and setbacks to the
process in recent years, the great majority in both countries remains
committed to peace. It is at the leadership level that things become
more complex. It is nearly six months since the meeting between the
Pakistani and Indian prime ministers in Sharm el-Sheikh on the
sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in July 2009. The
agreement to de-link the resumption of the dialogue from the issue of
terrorism, recognised as a threat to both countries, was swiftly put
aside as Manmohan Singh came under pressure not only from the BJP-led
opposition but also his colleagues in the Congress party. The
‘concessions’ to Pakistan were deemed unacceptable and charges of
a sell-out flew thick and fast.
Nevertheless, there have been some positive developments as well.
Significantly, for instance, India has withdrawn some 30,000 troops
from Kashmir, at least half of them in the last year. It is fair to
say that by itself this may not mean much given the approximately
half a million military and paramilitary forces estimated to be
deployed in the area. However, this development should be viewed in
conjunction with the opening of what appears to be an attempt at a
serious dialogue between the central government of India and the
Kashmiri groups that have struggled for the rights of Kashmiris over
two decades. How it fares remains to be seen. Leaving aside the
elements expected to subvert the process of seeking a solution
acceptable to all, other developments regularly vitiate the
atmosphere, making progress more difficult.
Consider, for example, the bolt from the blue delivered last November
by none other than the Indian army chief about the possibility of a
limited conventional war between the two countries under a ‘nuclear
overhang’. It was a highly irresponsible statement and not one for
him to make, in any case. It did not help that on our media it was
more than once articulated as ‘limited nuclear war’ by talk show
hosts and guests, underlining the need for a greater sense of
responsibility and professionalism on the part of the media. More
recently, at the end of December, he thought it fit to speak about
the capability of the Indian military to fight a two-front war
simultaneously against Pakistan and China. The reaction from the
Pakistani side was predictable, with both the political and military
leadership responding in no uncertain terms to the provocation. But
the question is, why does the Indian army chief continue to make such
statements? Clearly these are not an individual’s random
pronouncements and more likely the articulation of a hard line
sentiment within the military.
If the army chief’s statements were meant to encourage a hardening
of positions on this side of the border, then to an extent that
objective may have been met. In a meeting of the Defence Committee of
the Cabinet earlier this week it was agreed between the civilian and
military leadership that a soft approach towards India was
unwarranted. The statement by President Asif Zardari declaring that
Pakistan was ready to fight India for a thousand years for Kashmir
was widely in evidence in the Indian and Pakistani media. But then
there was also in his speech the reminder that in using that phrase,
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had never meant to rule out negotiations. Indeed
the Simla Agreement followed in due course. It could well be then
that much of the tough rhetoric on both sides can be largely put down
to posturing. But there is need for some caution given a regional
situation that is less than stable. To that extent a special
responsibility devolves on the political leadership in India and
Pakistan to stay the course, notwithstanding the bitter legacy of the
past and the many obstacles in the way of achieving peace.
The media too needs to play a supportive role rather than focusing
disproportionately on the negative aspects, and resist the temptation
of playing to the gallery. The South Asian Free Media Association
(SAFMA) has been doing useful work in this context for some years now
by facilitating extensive interaction between media persons belonging
to the region, not least those from India and Pakistan. This has
contributed to greater sensitivity to each other’s perspectives and
concerns. But there is obviously a long way to go as was so clearly
depicted by the media coverage in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror
attacks of November 2008. In that context it is certainly good news
that two large media groups in Pakistan and India have joined hands
in a commitment to work for peace between the two countries. Both
have extensive outreach and can also help in setting the tone for
many others in the media whose role has not been particularly helpful.
_____
[6] India: Price of Militarisation and Security
(i) SIGNAL FROM LAL CHOWK
Violent attacks inhuman but so is excessive militarisation
(Editorial, Kashmir Times, 8 January 2009)
The attack by suspected Fidayeen in Srinagar's busy Lal Chowk in
broad daylight is not only shocking; it is an act that must be
condemned unequivocally by all sane elements since violent acts,
especially those that jeopardise the lives of innocent unarmed
civilians, is a major crime against humanity. Distinction needs to be
drawn between revolutionary acts and inhuman acts. Wednesday's action
packed drama in Lal Chowk unfortunately falls in the second category,
leaving one cop dead and 26 people including some women and a child
injured. Though many of those injured are reported to have been
wounded in the cross-firing between the holed up militants and the
security forces, the former are mainly responsible for having
selected a heavily crowded area with several shops, hotels and
offices in the vicinity that made the lives of the civilians
vulnerable. Any loss of life must be condemned by all right thinking
persons and cannot be wrongly deemed as a victory over the security
forces dotting the landscape of Jammu and Kashmir. Certainly, while
the heavy and disproportionate presence of troops must be challenged
and contested, a recourse to peaceful methods is the best option. At
the same time, the heinous act of choosing to attack one of the
busiest areas in the summer capital of the state should not be made
an excuse by those in power or the security agencies to jump to the
conclusion that time is not ripe for the forces to be withdrawn or
trimmed in size or revoke draconian laws like Armed Forces Special
Powers Act that give the uniformed personnel unlimited freedom to
indulge in atrocities. The very argument can be easily turned around
to challenge the utility of their enormously alarming presence
despite which such acts have taken place.
More importantly, if excessive militarisation is so crucial for
averting possibility of incidents of arson by armed insurgents, there
is hardly any logic in making this principle exclusive to Jammu and
Kashmir where the incidents of arson and attacks by militants in
recent years have been far lesser than those elsewhere in the
country. Mumbai's 26/11 attacks more than a year ago were far more
shocking, pointing out to greater security lapse. Then the country's
largest business hub should have been equally militarised. Taj Hotel,
it's 'symbol of pride' should by now have reserved a section of its
premises for the paramilitary troops to ensure the safety and
security of the place. Reports have pointed out to the significant
rise in the number of militants operating in some parts of the
country including the big metropolitan cities. If these reports, also
endorsed officially, are indeed authentic, then these areas should
also be militarised on the pattern that Jammu and Kashmir has been
done. Why should the latter alone be singled out to earn the
distinction of the highly militarised zones in not just the country
but the entire world. Infact, official figures indicate a downward
sling in militancy in Jammu and Kashmir in recent years. So there is
all the more reason for the troops to be shifted out, or atleast
pushed back to their barracks. It is common knowledge that the higher
presence of troops in civilian areas, rather than becoming a
deterrent for militants is an open invitation and provocation for
attacks.
The Lal Chowk area too is highly infested with presence of all kinds
of troops, their armed vehicles and fortress like bunkers and thus an
easy cause for provocation. Keeping all these basic facts in mind,
Wednesday's incident should not inspire anyone to make the obnoxious
presumption that the forces need to stay put in Jammu and Kashmir so
that incidents like these can be avoided. For one, despite the huge
presence of troops this incident did take place. Secondly, such a
major attack in Kashmir Valley by militants has come after almost two
years. By any standards the frequency of major militancy related
attacks in other parts of the country, including bigger cities, is
much higher. If the logic is to prevent such attacks, that happen
once in two or three years, from taking place, there is nothing more
absurd than that. So what is the point in holding the entire state
hostage to such massive militarisation, that is not only causing
major inconvenience, hitting socio-economic lives of the people but
also resulting in large scale violation of human rights? Infact
withdrawal of forces and actions like revoking AFSPA and PSA will
cause lesser provocation for such attacks, both in the shorter and
the long run. More significantly, it will help in winning over the
confidence of the alienated people and pave way for both dialogue and
also arrest the trend of accelerating the process of turning Jammu
and Kashmir into a fertile ground for provoking youth to resort to
violent means to oppose such a vast military occupation.
o o o
(ii) CONDUCT WORTHY OF A POLICE STATE
by Siddharth Varadarajan
(The Hindu, January 9, 2010)
The peremptory deportation of a Nepali student from India and the
unlawful detention of a tribal woman shot by the police in
Chhattisgarh raise troubling questions about the power of our
‘national security’ apparatus.
The Indian Constitution and various laws framed under it grant the
Indian state and its agencies enormous power to regulate the movement
of persons, especially when the bogey of national security is raised.
These powers include the preventive detention of citizens under one
pretext or the other and, under the Foreigners Act, the summary
deportation of foreign nationals, including those that have legally
entered the country and have not violated the laws of the land in any
way. Indian nationals who are unable to prove their citizenship to
the satisfaction of the police are also subject to summary
deportation, without the automatic right to be heard by a court.
Implicit in the grant of such extraordinary powers in a democracy is
the understanding that the exercise of authority will be governed by
reason and justice in the broadest possible sense. When these
principles are jettisoned, arbitrariness and abuse of power become
the norm, exposing, under the brittle veneer of democratic paint, the
ugly face of a police state answerable to no one other than itself.
Nitu Singh, a young woman from Nepal, is a final year student at the
prestigious Film and Television Institute of India at Pune. On the
night of December 5, 2009, the city police landed up at the FTII
hostel without any warrant or paperwork, took her into custody,
gathered her personal effects and moved her to Mumbai, from where she
was deported to Kathmandu the next day.
The only reason cited by the Pune police was that Ms. Singh had
indulged in “anti-national activities”. No detail of these alleged
activities was provided, no mention was made of which Indian laws she
had violated and no attempt was made to substantiate the charges. The
Indian Express, which broke the story, quoted Ravindra Sengaonkar,
the city’s Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Branch), as
saying: “Nitu Singh was deported to Nepal because she was found to
be involved in anti-national activities. It was a high-level secret
operation which our team completed successfully in quick time… We
are not supposed to share details. The case is high-profile and
various investigative agencies are involved.”
Whatever the nature of her “anti-India activities”, one thing is
clear: they were not serious enough to warrant the filing of criminal
charges. So why was she deported?
Nitu Singh is the wife of Amaresh Singh, a member of Nepal’s
Constituent Assembly. He has also served as an interlocutor between
the Nepali Congress, which is his own party, the United Communist
Party of Nepal (Maoist), and the Government of India, a process in
which India’s external intelligence agency, RAW, has been deeply
involved.
According to women’s activists in Pune who have taken up her case,
Nitu’s deportation was engineered by her husband, from whom she had
grown estranged over the past year or so. On his part, Amaresh has
denied playing any role in the entire affair.
Of all the issues this deportation involves, the state of the Singh
marriage need not detain us. Husbands and wives fight all the time.
When global travel is involved, marital disputes can take on very
complex dimensions. But what is unusual is the speed with which
Nitu’s expulsion from India took place and the “national
security” grounds invoked by the authorities. Despite the enormous
latitude granted to the police by Section 3 (2) (c) of the Foreigners
Act, foreign nationals are usually deported from India (a) if they
are illegal migrants, (b) if they have overstayed their visa, (c) if
they have finished serving their sentence for any crime they might
have been convicted of, or (d) if their presence in the country is
deemed by a minister to be prejudicial to public order. In most
cases, the process of deportation is so leisurely that some of those
targeted even manage to bring their case before a court, or to
escape, as the three Pakistanis who relieved themselves of their
police escort in Delhi did last week.
In Nitu Singh’s case, however, none of the usual grounds for
deportation obtain. That is why those who took the decision to deport
her chose “anti-national activities” as the reason. They gambled
on the fact that the smokescreen of national security is usually a
thick enough deterrent to ward off troublesome questions. While the
S.P.S. Rathore case has taught us that no abuse of law or process is
beyond the local constabulary, it is hard to imagine the Pune police
dreaming up this deportation on their own steam. Indeed, Mr.
Sengaonkar gave the game away by speaking of a “high level”
operation and the involvement of other agencies. Since the Ministry
of Home Affairs under P. Chidambaram has ordered a probe into this
matter, one can safely assume that the “agencies” involved are not
those that report to the MHA.
In a speech last month, Mr. Chidamabaram drew attention to the fact
that several agencies involved in counter-terrorism report not to him
but to the Cabinet Secretariat, the Prime Minister’s Office, and the
National Security Advisor. Among these are RAW, the Aviation Research
Centre and the National Technical Research Organisation. Could one of
those agencies have been involved in the deportation? If so, who
within the national security establishment decided Nitu Singh was
engaging in “anti-national activities” and what evidence do they
have to substantiate the charge? Was Amaresh Singh able to influence
this process in any way? These are the questions the Home Minister
will hopefully ask as he seeks to get to the bottom of a case that
makes India look more like a banana republic than a democracy with
rule of law.
If the power to expel a foreigner can be exercised so arbitrarily,
this is because the power to prevent the movement of citizens within
the country is subject to the same degree of caprice and contempt for
the rule of law.
A young Adivasi woman named Sambho Sodi who was injured in police
firing in Dantewada last year was prevented by the Chhattisgarh
police from travelling to Delhi last week for medical treatment to
her wounded leg. The grounds for her detention were that the police
needed to record her statement about the incident in which she
alleges the security forces fired upon unarmed civilians near Gompad
village on October 1, 2009. The police, which claimed the Gompad
shooting was part of an anti-Naxalite operation, had all the time in
the world to record her statement but chose not to do so as long as
she was in Dantewada. But the day she needed to travel to Delhi for
treatment, they compelled her to get down from the vehicle she was
travelling in and took her in for questioning, prompting her
colleagues and friends to urgently move the Supreme Court.
On January 7, the Supreme Court ordered the State of Chhatisgarh
“not to interfere in any manner whatsoever” with Ms. Sodi coming
to Delhi for her medical treatment and to not “create any obstacle
in her way”. At the time of going to press, however, activists
handling her case said the police had still not cleared her departure
for Delhi. Chhattisgarh has become one of India’s most notorious
“no rights” zones, where state-supported vigilantes in the name of
Salwa Judum and ‘Special Police Officers’ are free to attack those
who are critical of the actions of the security forces. As matters
stand, the Chhattisgarh government is already in violation of Supreme
Court orders on the rehabilitation of Adivasis displaced by the Salwa
Judum. How long the state police will prevent Ms. Sodi from
travelling to Delhi remains to be seen.
In their own way, Nitu Singh and Shambho Sodi are both victims of a
security establishment which operates on the penumbra of legality and
whose forays to the dark side frequently remain unseen and unheard.
Rare are the moments when we get to shine the light on them, rarer
still the times when senior ministers undertake to right a wrong. The
media and the judiciary must make the most of these opportunities.
o o o
[ Related Material:
Shock and fear in FTII
FTII student Nitu Singh’s deportation is full of holes. She is
married to influential Nepali politician Amresh Singh. She had told
city cops that he abused her and may ‘kidnap’ her. Nitu’s
deportation is a conspiracy, say FTII students
http://tinyurl.com/yac74og
It’s a conspiracy by husband: AIDWA
by Siddhesh Inamdar
http://www.hindu.com/2010/01/02/stories/2010010253091200.htm
Help Nitu complete studies, Brinda urges Chidambaram
http://www.hindu.com/2010/01/03/stories/2010010360410800.htm ]
o o o
(iii)
http://www.sacw.net/article1321.html
Press Release
Date: 8th January 2010
SUPPRESSION OF CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS IN CHHATTISGARH
Peace can be possible only through nonviolent means and democratic
development
The fascist rule of BJP in Chhattisgarh has witnessed the systematic
suppression of civil and democratic rights in the state with the
rulers resorting to violence and repression as the only means of
dealing with violence. Two days ago in Dantewada, a group of
activists representing various peoples' movements belonging to NAPM,
PUCL, etc. were confronted by a mob brought in from Kasauli Relief
Camp by an organization called Ma Danteshwari Swabhiman Manch which
is essentially a new version of Salwa Judum. Kopa Kunjam was not
allowed to meet the activists, cameras of media persons from outside
were snatched and they were then themselves slapped with charges of
stealing the camera of local journalists and most importantly Shodi
Shambo is not being allowed to travel to Delhi for important surgery
at St. Steven's Hospital. These are some examples of violations of
basic rights of people guaranteed under the Constitution.
The State Government has blatantly violated all democratic values and
made a mockery of the law of the land. Labeling activists of Gandhian-
Socialist leanings as Naxal sympathizers is a blatant attempt to
cover up the human rights violations of the State security forces and
allow the State to act in a high handed manner.
We believe that the current State strategy of countering Naxal
violence with more violence has led to a disastrous spiral in the
growth of violence, the price of which is borne primarily by
adivasis. Another aspect of the State's strategy is to displace
adivasis from their villages, divest them of their rights over
natural resources, only to make way for privatization and
corporatization of their resources.
Himanshu Kumar of the Vanvasi Chetana Ashram, who was implementing
the government's own socio-development programs and welfare schemes,
is being harassed for questioning this mindless violence and for the
far-reaching awareness he has raised against the state security
apparatus' human rights violations. This type of vicious
intimidation is a mockery of basic civil rights. Vanvasi Chetna
Ashram's 17 years of work is primarily constructive in nature, and it
is the responsibility of the Chhattisgarh Government to create a
conducive atmosphere for him to continue his work in Bastar and
facilitate the same, so that the displaced adivasis are rehabilitated
and their lives can return back to normalcy.
We want to state clearly that we are neither Naxal sympathizers, nor
do we support any of their acts of violence. The maligning of our
character and the false accusations against us are simply
distractions from the real issues. We do endorse the issues and
concerns raised by Naxalites even though we do not support their means.
We demand that the provisions of Fifth Schedule be implemented in
Chhattisgarh, the long-time adivasis' dream of the right of self rule
is actualized as per PESA Act, 1996, and the adivasis held up in the
Government camps are allowed to return to their villages, their
rights over natural resources restored, they receive a fair share of
the benefits of development with full protection of their civil
rights and finally they should have a participatory role in the
process of development with the State Government as the guarantor and
facilitator of the same.
We strongly assert a need for the State to initiate dialogue with
those in armed struggle in Chhattisgarh and other states. There is
already an appeal issued by a number of eminent persons of the
country to both the State government and the various struggle groups.
We all are willing to join as peaceful peoples' movements and
witnesses. However, the major move has to be by the State announcing
their willingness and both the sides responding by declaring a
moratorium on violence, even if temporarily.
Meanwhile we also expect an alliance of the people organizations
belonging to the third category from within Chhattisgarh to take the
lead and not only involve the adivasis and majority of the peace-
loving people of the state, but also the concerned citizens across
the country in a dialogue and debate on peaceful, equitable and just
development in the region. We all will follow their advice and also
do whatever possible from wherever we are .
Janak Lal Thakur, Former MLA and Chattisgarh Mukti Morcha,
Medha Patkar, National Alliance of People's Movements, NAPM,
Sandeep Pandey, National Alliance of People's Movements,
Kavita Srivastav, People's Union for Civil Liberties,
Kamayani Bali Mahabal, Committee for Release of Binayak Sen Mumbai,
Retd. Major-General Sudhir Vombatkare, Mysore, NAPM Karnataka
Kusum Karnik, Adivasi Ekjut Sanghatana
Gabrielle Dietrich , Penn Urimai Iyakkam (Tamil Nadu),
Priyanka Borpujari, Mumbai,
Satyendra Bordoloi, Mumbai
Suresh Kumar, Hyderabad, AID-India
Sherebanu Frosh, Delhi Forum,
Gangesh, NAPM - UP
Vijendra, National Centre for Advocacy Studies and PUCL, Raipur
Abu Bakr, Lucknow,
Srinivasan, Tamil Nadu,
Rachna Dhingra, Bhopal ,
Madhuresh Kumar, NAPM Delhi and Delhi Solidarity Group and others.
Madhumita
Dutta, The Other Media
Hazra Bi, Archana, Chennai ,
Piyush Manush, Transport Workers Union, Salem
o o o
(iv)
JAMIA TEACHERS’ SOLIDARITY ASSOCIATION
APPEAL FOR SUPPORT
Dear Friends,
Jamia Teachers' Solidarity Association has been running a campaign on
the issue of Batla House 'encounter' and the subsequent arrests of
youth whom the Delhi Police alleged to be terrorists. JTSA has
exposed the various discrepancies and loopholes in the police
version, compiled in its report, 'Encounter' at Batla House:
Unanswered Questions. The report can be accessed from the JTSA's
website. Please check the URL: http://www.teacherssolidarity.org/ A
Hindi edition of the report is also now available. While we have
been leading a public demand for judicial probe into the 'encounter'-
the need for an independent and fair probe is only reinforced by the
recent revelations that Ishrat Jehan and Sohrabuddin in Gujarat were
killed in cold blood by the Gujarat Police-the UPA government at the
Centre and the Congress government in Delhi have persistently
stonewalled all such demands. One year on, the trials-of the five
arrested youth, two of them students of Jamia Millia Islamia-are only
just beginning. After the various state police departments cut a
sorry figure when they came up with their own list of terror
'masterminds', the move has been to implicate these arrested youth in
bomb blasts across the country. Moreover, separate FIRs and charge-
sheets have been filed for every single bomb blast, even in the same
city. This means that there will nearly 20 trials in Ahmedabad, five
in Delhi and so on. In practical terms, it means that the trials will
last for years. Worse still, the charge-sheets in Gujarat have been
provided in Gujarati-thus placing the burden of translation on the
families of the accused and escalating the legal expenses.
JTSA is committed to ensuring the best legal recourse to the accused,
as indeed should all citizens who believe in justice, truth and
democracy. We appeal to you to support JTSA's public campaigns and
assist in the legal battle by contributing to our STRUGGLE
FUND. Contributions can be made through cheque/ Demand Draft drawn in
favour of Jamia Teachers' Solidarity Association, and posted to 15-D,
DDA Flats, Sarai Jullena, New Delhi 110 025. Please send us your full
address to enable us to send you a receipt. We would be grateful if
you could email us at info.jtsa at gmail.com when you send us your
contribution.
In Solidarity
Manisha Sethi, Adeel Mehdi, Ghazi Shahnawaz, Ahmed Sohaib,
Sanghamitra Misra, Anwar Alam, Azra Razzak, Farah Farooqi, Amabarien
Al Qadar, Haris ul Haq, Shakeb Ahmed, Tanweer Fazal and others.
_____
[7] India: Fear of Police / Creation of States on Ethnic Lines /
Shared Living / Homophobia
(i) VOTING IN MAOIST LAND
by Jean Drèze
(Magazine Section, The Hindu, Jan 10, 2010)
Why do poor people in rural areas vote when they know the whole
system is against them? JEAN DRÈZE talks to some voters and observes
the voting process during the recent Assembly elections in Latehar
district, Jharkhand, and comes away with some pointers...
At one booth (Rankikalan, Booth No. 69) a BJP activist was trying to
influence voters before they entered the booth, under the guise of
helping them.
Photos: Mithilesh Kumar
A surprising show of faith:Voters at the Tumbagara Booth, Latehar.
Latehar district in Jharkhand is one of India's so-called “Maoist-
infested” areas, where people are said to live at the mercy of
Naxalite terrorists. On the surface, it is quite peaceful. I have
never felt unsafe when I moved about rural areas of Latehar over the
years. But the stillness is deceptive. Over time, one learns to feel
the heavy yoke of structural violence under which people live:
economic exploitation, social discrimination, police repression, and
so on. Most of the time, the violence does not surface, because
people learn to stay in their place. But if they step out of line,
there is swift repression: beatings, arrests, false cases, even
killings if need be. Maoism is the least of people's fears. But they
live in dread of the police, the court, the forest officer, the
“security forces”, and other arms of the State.
I was curious to see how voting takes place in these areas, so I
spent a day in Latehar on October 18, the last day of the Assembly
elections in Jharkhand. I went around half a dozen villages and
booths of Manika Block, with two accredited observers.
Election day was an occasion of sorts in the area. People headed for
the booths in large numbers. The voter turnout rate was around 60 per
cent, a respectable figure by international standards. Most people
were quite disciplined, and queued patiently at the booths.
Massive security arrangements were in place. On the main road to
Daltonganj, for miles on end, there was an army jawanin full battle
gear every 20 metres or so. In the interior villages, every booth was
heavily guarded. But people were moving about in groups, so they were
not afraid of the “forces”. Nor did we see any sign of the army or
police interfering with the election process.
Procedures observed
I was impressed with the administrative preparations that had been
made. Voter ID cards (with photograph) had been distributed in
advance, and reams of matching identity slips were ready at each
booth. The prescribed procedures seemed to be observed. Voters were
allowed one at a time into the booth, and the anonymity of their vote
was respected. We did not witness any incident of rowdiness or
disruptive behaviour.
However, we did observe some serious irregularities. For instance, at
one booth (Rankikalan, Booth No. 69) a BJP activist was trying to
influence voters before they entered the booth, under the guise of
helping them. And we found no active booth after 2 p.m., even though
the official timings stretched to 3 p.m. The departing officials
claimed that voting was “over”, but what about people's right to
vote after 2 p.m. if they so wish? On my way back to Daltonganj, I
also met a young man who claimed that when he reached the polling
booth, he was told that someone had already voted under his name.
This was an isolated but disturbing sign of the fact that the system
may not be as fool-proof as it looks. Having said this, considering
that this is one of India's most troubled areas, in a state where all
semblance of a functioning administration has virtually disappeared,
the entire operation looked reasonably credible.
So much for the good news. On a less cheerful note, most people's
vote seemed to be little more than a shot in the dark. At each booth,
I asked a few men and women who they had voted for and why. Most of
them were quite happy to tell me who they had voted for, but found it
difficult to explain why. “Someone told me to vote for the lantern,
so I voted for the lantern”, “I always vote for the hand”, and
“this candidate is from our area” are some examples of their
responses.
Focus on personalities
Most of the respondents were unable to relate the symbols to
political parties. They know about the flower, the lantern, the
banana, and so on (there were about 20 different symbols on the
machine), but ask them which party the lantern stands for and you are
unlikely to get the correct answer. I also noted with interest that
the voting machines don't mention any political parties. Against each
symbol is the name of the candidate, and nothing more. When most
people are unable to relate symbols to parties, as seemed to be the
case in Latehar, this arrangement reinforces the focus on
personalities at the expense of issues.
In larger villages on the main road, the situation was a little
different. There, the mainstream parties had conducted intensive
campaigns, and people's education levels were also higher. Some
voters there refused to tell me who they had voted for, arguing —
quite rightly — that it was a private matter. Others did tell me,
and were able to associate symbols with parties. Even there, however,
there was no evidence of specific parties being identified with
specific issues.
To understand how poor people vote in these areas, we must remember
that most of them live in a very hostile environment where the whole
system (the contractor, the landlord, the police, the BDO) is against
them. In this system, what people need is a “strong man” who can
help them to get things done and come to their rescue in times of
trouble. It may not matter much if that man (or woman) is corrupt, or
communal, or an opportunist. And it certainly does not matter much
that he or she belongs to the privileged classes. On the contrary, a
strong man, by definition, must be rich and powerful.
So how do people pick their preferred “strong man”? It's hard to
guess, based on a single day of observation. Some voters may identify
with the caste or community of a particular candidate, or with the
fact that she is “from our area” as one respondent told me. Some
were said to have been given liquor or money to vote for a particular
symbol. Some may have gone by rumours that so-and-so was the person
or symbol to vote for. And quite likely, many others just followed
the advice of someone who matters. It is these influential middlemen,
more than the voters themselves, who are wooed by the political parties.
A different candidate
All this helps to explain why Jitendra, a “different” candidate
who talks about people's rights and social justice, had a sad face on
October 18. Jitendra looks much like any other villager of the area,
and certainly not like an MLA or future MLA (no special outfit, no
gizmos, no bodyguards). He took a leading role in a successful
struggle against forced displacement in the area, and thought that
this would give him a good chance in the Assembly elections. Around
his own village, Jitendra had a lot of support, and many people were
voting for the banana. But beyond that, he didn't' seem to count for
much. His defeat was assured.
At the end of the day, I wondered why people vote at all. Knowing
that their own vote makes no difference, and that the whole system is
against them anyway, why do they bother? One answer is that they
clutch to the little they have — the faint hope that they can do
something to bring change into their circumstances. There are other
answers too. To some extent, it may be a form of “herd behaviour”.
Voting is also a social event of sorts — a distraction that brings
fleeting excitement in people's monotonous lives.
Yet another answer is that people think of voting as a collective
rather than an individual act. When they vote, they feel part of a
collective effort to back a particular candidate. This point was
vividly conveyed to me last year by a young man in Rewa (Madhya
Pradesh), who said: “had I voted for the flower while others in my
village voted for the hand, my vote would have been wasted”.
I believe that there is some truth in all these answers. And in a
sense, we don't really need an “explanation”: voting just requires
the sort of minimal public-spiritedness that is readily found in most
societies (with some pathological exceptions, such as the United
States where the odd act of voting is confined to a small minority).
In the evening I left for Ranchi by train from Daltonganj. Hordes of
loutish jawans were crowding the platform, waiting for the same
train. The brief moment when they had a specific duty, and strict
orders to behave themselves, seemed to be over. Seeing this, my
friend Shailendra, who was due to board the same train, decided to
catch the morning bus instead. I smiled at this panic reaction, but
understood it better when I saw the behaviour of the jawans on the
train. No wonder poor people live in fear of the security forces. One
of the jawans told me apologetically, “this is India”. I replied
“no my friend, this is the army”.
Professor Jean Drèze is now with the G.B. Pant Social Science
Institute, Allahabad.
o o o
(ii) INDIA: THE GODS WHO FAILED
by Sumanta Sen
(The Telegraph, December 2, 2009)
When it comes to tribals, the general tendency is to paint a picture
of sparsely clad, impoverished people exploited by outsiders in their
domain and so seething in anger. The picture may not be wholly
distorted, but most certainly is not complete. For, among the same
tribals, there are people who have made it good in the world and
often at the expense of others of their kind. This is so at
Jharkhand, which is now in the process of electing a new ministry
with the wretched of the earth in the Santhal Parganas, Singhbhum and
in other places where the Sorens, the Kodas and the Mahatos face
strong allegations of having built a different lifestyle out of
tainted money. Since the same problems plague tribals and non-tribals
alike, when discussing tribals, it is perhaps better to talk in terms
of class rather than ethnicity.
Unless this class distinction is stressed, that which should be a non-
issue becomes the dictating factor. In non-tribal areas of north
India, it is caste which causes the poor Brahmins or the Kshatriyas
to think of themselves as different from the poor Yadavs or the
Dalits. In tribal areas, ethnic affinity is actually a non-issue as
there can be no real affinity between the tribal who is well-off and
those whom he lords over. Unfortunately, no political party of any
relevance in Jharkhand has ever sought to highlight this for the
simple reason that the Jharkhand brand of politics does not allow
thoughts of class division to creep into the psyche. The Maoists
profess to pursue a different ideology but, in practice, they also
equate both classes as they go about their mission of filling their
coffers from all and sundry.
With all talks of class kept under wraps, and consequently all
references to personal misdeeds pushed under the carpet, a Madhu Koda
has no problems attracting huge crowds. Even his rivals avoid these
issues.
Chaos beckons
The Congress, having lent full support to Koda when he managed to
become the chief minister, and Koda having allegedly made his pile
when he was a minister of the Bharatiya Janata Party, it is natural
for the two parties to talk of other things. And Shibu Soren is still
known as Guruji for the image he has built for himself over the past
many years, his various acts of omission and commission
notwithstanding. Elsewhere in the country, the poor can no longer be
taken for a ride — they have started asking questions — but in
Jharkhand, their tribal allegiance prevents them from doing so.
For the most part, they are incapable of understanding that their
gods have failed them, and that those whom they thought of as
saviours are in league with the exploiters. There was no one to open
their eyes to the fact that the Jharkhand movement was being largely
sustained by the same section of businessmen and contractors who
helped the other side. If the betrayal had started with Jaipal Singh
Munda joining the Congress, none of the other leaders behaved
differently, betraying the spirit of the movement even while being a
part of it. And this is true not just of the leaders of the Jharkhand
Mukti Morcha but also of others who had promised a new deal.
Jharkhand, as also Chhattisgarh, perfectly exemplifies the reasons
why the creation of small states along ethnic lines is no guarantee
for overall satisfaction. There will always be those privileged by
circumstance of birth and education, and it is they who will rule the
roost. If Jharkhand today has become the happy hunting ground of the
Maoists, it is because of the collective failure of all the
contending parties. They are unlikely to usher in any change, and
there is every danger of the ordinary man deciding one day that the
democratic system holds no promise for him. Then it will be an
invitation to chaos.
o o o
(iii) INDIA: SONGS OF SHARED LIVING
by Harsh Mander
http://www.hindu.com/mag/2010/01/03/stories/2010010350170300.htm
(iv) OUT OF THE COLONIAL CLOSET, BUT STILL THINKING ’INSIDE THE
BOX’
by Ratna Kapur, in: NUJS Law Review, Vol 2, No.3, 2009
http://www.nujslawreview.org/articles2009vol2no3/ratna-kapur.pdf
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