SACW | Jan 11-16, 2010 / India Pakistan: Peace Conference Declaration / Religion and State / Human rights / Survivors of Communal Violence Under Threat
Harsh Kapoor
aiindex at gmail.com
Sat Jan 16 01:15:35 CST 2010
South Asia Citizens Wire | January 11-16, 2010 | Dispatch No. 2683 -
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 ]
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[1] Text of Final Declaration from India Pakistan Conference -– A
Road map towards Peace
- Media bartering professional ethics for ultra nationalism
hurting people in both India & Pakistan (Kashmir Times)
[2] Pakistan: Religion and the state (Iqbal Ahmad Khan)
- Lethal patronage (Editorial, The News)
[3] South East Asia / Sri Lanka: Church attacks surfacing culture of
rising intolerance (Lynn Ockersz)
[4] India: Impunity for Men in Uniform & Violence Against Women
- The Buck Stops Here (Anuradha Bhasin Jamwal)
- High Courts Must Check Rogue Police (Rajeev Dhavan)
- Interview with Brinda Karat
[5] India: Chhatisgarh
- An Open Letter To The Prime Minister (PUDR)
- A conversation with Sudha Bhardwaj (Jyoti Punwani)
[6] India: Resources For Secular Activists
(i) Survivors of Communal Violence In Kandhamal Under The
Threat of Evacuation For Third Time (KP Sasi)
(ii) No astrology here please: Bangalore University to govt
(Kaushik Chakravarthy)
(iii) Book Review: The anatomy of communal riots (J. Sri Raman)
(iv) The Godman in Trouble (Khushwant Singh)
[9] Announcements:
(i) Digital Sorcery (Karachi, 16 January 2010)
(ii) Ahimsa Day Lectures-II (New Delhi, 29 January 2010)
(iii) 3rd National Convention on Judicial Accountability and
Reforms (New Delhi, February 2010)
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[1] Pakistan-India:
http://www.sacw.net/article1322.html
DECLARATION
India Pakistan Conference -– A Road map towards Peace
India International Centre, New Delhi
10th — 12th January, 2010
The discussions in the India-Pakistan Conference: A Road map towards
Peace over the last three days have shown how far the public
sentiment in both India and Pakistan is inclined towards peace. The
participating organizations from both sides of the border represent a
vast constituency which is ready to work towards building enduring
and sustainable peace between the two countries.
We believe there is a real window of opportunity today, which must
not be wasted. These ideas are presented here in a sincere effort to
develop friendship and cooperation between the two countries.
This conference is not a stand alone event. The participants resolve
to work in groups on each of the areas that were identified in the
sessions, to further the gains of the conference.
ROAD MAP TOWARDS PEACE:
1) Peace Dialogue.
a. Resumption of dialogue and the composite peace process. Once
resumed, dialogue should be uninterrupted and uninterruptible,
whatever the twists and turns in the relations between the two
countries may be.
b. Consider a suitable location near the border where the talks will
be held at regular intervals.
c. The contents and outcomes of the talks should be as transparent as
possible, so that there is accountability to the people of both
countries.
d. There should be coordination amongst the various ministries of the
government of India involved and concerned with India-Pakistan
relations and policy.
e. There must be no militarist/chauvinist statements from political
or military leadership of the two countries.
f. Confidence Building Measures: Items long awaiting solution like
Siachin, Sir Creek, Wullar Barrage need to be settled immediately.
g. Demilitarize the border between India and Pakistan.
2) Terrorism.
a. Both countries should work together to counter terrorism and
fundamentalism which are common challenges.
b. Set up joint mechanisms, and share intelligence and related
information within the framework of the 1987 SAARC convention on
combating terrorism.
3) Economic Cooperation:
a. Free flow of goods and commodities, encouragement of joint
business initiatives.
b. India must unilaterally open the borders to further facilitate
border trade.
c. Build cooperation on the existing women led initiatives.
d. India must take initiative to build the trade between the two
countries and with the rest of South Asia.
e. Ease customs and tariff procedures, and issuing of business visas.
f. Free movement for migrant workers.
g. Try to formulate a joint economic partnership agreement between
India and Pakistan.
h. Set up more branches of more Indian and Pakistani banks and
financial institutions in each others’ territories.
i. Collaborative approaches on issues relating to WTO and
international trade.
4) Kashmir.
a. Since this is a core issue there must a genuine and urgent effort
to find solutions.
b. Firstly both India and Pakistan must jointly agree to de-
militarize Jammu & Kashmir. The Indian government should repeal the
Armed forces Special Powers Act.
c. Withdrawal of troops and punishment of those guilty of crimes
against people.
d. Strengthening of democratic institutions and establish an
independent tribunal to ensure Article 370 for Kashmir. Reinstate
Article 370 in its original form as a step towards building
confidence and goodwill.
e. Allow Kashmiris to live and work in Pakistan if they wish.
f. Protect the interests of minorities in J&K. Take the opinions and
aspirations of people in all areas in J&K when working out solutions.
5) Media, Information and Culture
a. There has to be a self censorship stop hate speech, war mongering
in the media
b. The flow of information, software, know-how, knowledge should be
opened up.
c. Import of books, periodicals, newspapers should be permitted
without impediment.
d. Meeting of senior editors should be held, in effort to lead media
away from jingoism.
e. Media houses should be allowed to station journalists in each
others capitals without difficulty
f. Cultural exchange must be freely allowed and encouraged between
the two countries.
g. Education: Revision of curricula in both countries to encourage
friendship, not hate.
6) Visa regime.
a. Visa free South Asia: The possibility of a visa free regime has
been often discussed but not operationalised. Stringent scrutiny can
be done without undue restrictiveness.
b. Opening of consulates in all the major cities of both the countries.
c. Special facilities for senior citizens and children below 12 years.
d. Free exchange of scholars, students and technical experts.
7) Nuclear disarmament: Roll back on the nuclear program in both
countries to establish a nuclear free South Asia and cooperate
jointly towards global disarmament.
8) National and ethnic question.
a. Since this is an important and extremely sensitive question in
South Asia, attempts to be made in both countries to find solutions
to conflicts around these questions, involving all parties in the
dispute.
b. Facilitate the coming together of academia and civil society to
build a better understanding and possible consensus on this issue.
c. Create space for national and other minorities in all parts of
India and Pakistan.
9) Water resources.
a. Joint management of water resources.
b. Revisit the Indus Water Treaty in the light of new factors like
climate change and its implications based on the principles of
equitable sharing rather than division of waters.
c. Ways need to be explored to optimize use and distribution of
waters and energy for benefit of the people of both countries.
10) Military and Defense
a. Reduce military spending by at least 10% per year, and divert the
savings to the social and development sector
b. In order to reduce tensions, it is important that military
commanders of both countries meet and interact, as part of the peace
dialogue.
c. Joint patrol of borders.
d. Change the beating retreat ceremony at the Wagah border to reflect
peace, not conflict.
11) Climate Change:
a. Start common initiatives to adapt to the common challenges of
climate change.
b. Cooperation in international negotiations and at SAARC.
c. Joint approaches towards transfer of technology on renewable
energy, adaptation and mitigation. India should assist Pakistan to
develop a low carbon strategy and facilitate the transfer of
regenerative technologies to Pakistan strengthen regional cooperation
based on the SAARC charter and its conventions.
d. Conduct joint research on ecological and climate related issues
12) Siachen Glacier must become a zone of peace: it should be
evacuated of army presence altogether. This is important for both for
reasons of environmental and also for the sake of soldiers.
13) SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation): Work
together to strengthen regional cooperation based on the SAARC
charter and its conventions.
14) Human Rights:
a. Release of all fisherfolk currently detained in Indian and
Pakistani jails. Stop arresting fisherfolk who stray into the other
country’s territorial waters.
b. Release of all political prisoners who have served their term.
Review of cases to see that innocents who have strayed over the land
border are released.
c. See that the lives and properties of human rights defenders are
protected. Punish those guilty of torture, rape, plunder in the name
of security, counter terror, war.
15) Joint India Pakistan committees must be set up on :
a. Kashmir
b. Hate speech
c. Human rights
d. Distribution of water resources
e. Prisoners
f. Military expenditure
g. CBMs
o o o
Kashmir Times
January 14, 2010
Editorial
MEDIA AS A VILLAIN
Bartering professional ethics for ultra nationalism hurting people in
both India & Pakistan
The outreach of media in present day world has made it a double-edged
weapon for the society. It can-and does- cut both ways, with equal
ease. Societies across the globe have been benefiting as well as
suffering on this account, almost as much as due to various other
reasons. It is this aspect of the media's prowess that was put under
spotlight at the concluding session of the three-day India-Pakistan
conference in New Delhi on Tuesday. Jammu and Kashmir has mostly been
at the receiving end of this game right from 1947. Many of its
present troubles could perhaps have been averted if only the media
had played fair. Instead, professional obligations continue to be
sacrificed for other motives, mistakenly or otherwise. Cumulative
impact of this unhealthy role of the media in general is reflected in
gradual loss of its credibility which, otherwise, ought to have
increased with the expansion of its reach. Renowned film maker Mahesh
Bhat put his finger at the right spot when he questioned the ethical
legitimacy of a section of the Indian and Pakistani media in
championing the cause of peace and amity even while acting as agents
of animosity and conflict. The tragedy is that the media, blinded by
its brazen partiality, accepts without question what suits its
jingoist mindset but refuses to see any merit in the counter view
point. Barring a few exceptions, media personnel are overwhelmed by
ultra nationalistic fervour that runs across polity in the two
neighbouring countries. Everything is seen and projected in black and
white, something like George W Bush's pernicious 'either you are with
us or against us'. There is hardly any effort, if at all, towards
objective analysis of facts. Primary reason for this jaundiced
approach is the neglect of media's primary responsibility to ferret
out and report facts as they are and not as the biased media would
like to see them. Selective approach to truth runs across the line
right up to conclusion of media projection.
Media frenzy in India and Pakistan does not take too long to expose
itself. An incident here or there brings it out in all its ugliness.
If one were to go by the line being pursued by the media across the
borders, the only solution to the bilateral problems between India
and Pakistan is the elimination of the 'other', depending on which
side of the border one happens to be. Untruth is usually purveyed
without even the minimum scrutiny so long as it serves someone's pre-
conceived notion. Reporting of 'facts' by the media is usually
coloured in one or other. There is unabashed partisanship in
treatment of what is otherwise a known fact. If an atrocity takes
place in Kashmir it is generally reported and commented upon
differently from how exactly similar situation in other parts of the
country are reported. The media, in this process, has proved itself
to be nothing more than an extension of the establishment. There are
very few exceptions to this general rule and often enough they fail
to find adequate means of expression particularly over the vastly
influential electronic media. News anchors sitting in closed studios
feel free to become judgemental about events, issues and
personalities without having any background knowledge. Quite often
some of them go to the extent of making a fool of themselves, knowing
that they have the backing of the establishment to protect their
position.
Negative impact of the media's role has been coming into sharper
focus over the past one year after the November 2008 Mumbai attacks.
All lines of distinction between the responsibility of disseminating
truth and reporting verified facts and purveying blatant untruth and
propaganda have got virtually obliterated. It is now a no hold barred
game in both the countries. A crop of pseudo experts and analysts has
mushroomed in India and Pakistan to obfuscate reality and undermine
genuine national interest by pursuing their partisan lines without
compunction. Attempts at building up mob frenzy instead of helping in
calming the atmosphere have become a habit. Added to this is the
arrogance with which opponents are sought to be brow beaten by
labelling them for their inconvenient views based on truth and reality.
So long as truth and reality continue to be sacrificed and
objectivity remains a dirty word for the men and women manning media
in the two countries there is hardly any scope for media playing any
role other than acting destructive agent of this establishment or
that. This role of the media runs counter to the well known urges and
aspirations of teeming millions on this subcontinent. For the media
to play any positive effective role it has to cast away its
villainous image and present itself as a hero desired for its qualities.
_____
[2] Pakistan
Dawn, 11 January 2010
RELIGION AND THE STATE
by Iqbal Ahmad Khan
IT is not merely in Pakistan that the judiciary has adopted an
uncharacteristically activist role; in other countries of South Asia
too it is involved in charting new courses.
A decision taken by the Bangladesh Supreme Court a few days ago could
have far-reaching consequences for the country’s politics, society
and the constitution.
In fact, even beyond the shores of Bangladesh the decision could
revive the contentious debate on the role of religion in the affairs
of the state.
The Bangladesh Supreme Court recently lifted its five-year old stay
order on a landmark high court verdict declaring as illegal and
unconstitutional the Fifth Amendment to the country’s constitution.
The amendment had legitimised all governments that had been in power
from August 1975 till April 1979 following the assassination of
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on Aug 15, 1975.
This included the government of Maj Gen Ziaur Rahman, the husband of
Begum Khaleda Zia, chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party
(the BNP) and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed’s main political
rival. The amendment replaced the principle of secularism enshrined
in the constitution with that of ‘absolute trust and faith in the
Almighty Allah’ as the basis of all actions.
Gen Ziaur Rehman also did away with the constitutional provisions
prohibiting the formation of communal parties and associations. A
series of constitutional amendments elevated the influence of Islam
on Bangladeshi politics and society. The words Bismillahir Rahmanir
Rahim were incorporated in the preface to the constitution. At a
later date, during the rule of another general Islam was declared as
the state religion. At no time, however, was the name of the country
changed to incorporate ‘Islamic’ in the title.
The Awami League government’s move which led to the supreme court’s
lifting of the stay order is a continuation of the long-standing
political rivalry between the incumbent Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
and leader of the opposition Begum Khaleda Zia. Dynastic battles
aside, if the supreme court reconfirms its decision (BNP has decided
to challenge it), the implementation of the high court verdict could
be the harbinger of a paradigm shift in the country’s political and
social discourse.
According to the Bangladesh law minister the ruling means that the
principle of secularism would be reintroduced in the constitution,
all religion-based political parties would have to remove the word
‘Islam’ from the names of their parties and the use of faith will not
be allowed during electioneering.
Apprehensive of a backlash, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina held the
assurance that the words Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim would remain in
the preamble to the constitution as also the declaration of Islam as
the state religion.
The territory comprising Bangladesh was once a part of Pakistan.
There were more Muslims within its borders than in the western wing
of the country. Yet, this religious bond was not enough to keep the
two together.
The separation was traumatic. It was accompanied by death and
destruction. The religious political parties in erstwhile East
Pakistan were opposed to the creation of Bangladesh. Perhaps this was
one factor which prompted the founding fathers to incorporate the
principles of secularism, democracy and nationalism in the constitution.
Interestingly, prominent Muslim religious parties were also opposed
to the idea of Pakistan and to the movement that led to its
establishment. They forbade their followers from joining the struggle
on the grounds that it was secular in character and led by western
educated liberal secularists. In particular, they resented Quaid-i-
Azam’s frequent pronouncements which left no doubt that he considered
religion as something personal and not the business of the state.
In his famous address of Aug 11, 1947 to the Constituent Assembly of
Pakistan the Quaid showed them the way forward. He said, “You are
free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your
mosques or to any other place of worship in this state of Pakistan.
You may belong to any religion or caste or creed — that has nothing
to do with the business of the state…. You will find that in course
of time Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be
Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal
faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of
the state.”
The Quaid never referred to Pakistan as the Islamic Republic.
It did not take the religious lobby too long to collude with civil
and military officials to have the name of the country changed from
the Republic of Pakistan to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. It
worked hand in glove with the military dictatorship in the brutal
crackdown in East Pakistan. It became another military dictator’s
handmaiden in an attempt to establish a theocratic-authoritarian
state in Pakistan, completely at variance with the teachings of the
father of the nation.
The disastrous outcome of this lethal combination has been the
destruction of democracy and the proliferation of violent extremism.
At the social level it has bred intolerance, rigidity and an anti-
modernist sentiment. In combination these trends are feverishly
straining at the seams of the state.
Jinnah and the other leaders of the freedom movement were wise men.
They were also realistic and pragmatic. They understood what would
work in a pluralistic and diverse society which formed the Pakistani
nation. Instead of paying heed to their advice we courted misery
(Ashura and Lakki Marwat bloodbaths) by succumbing to the agenda of
religious bigots and anti-democratic forces. It is still not too late
to redeem ourselves.
The writer is a former high commissioner to Bangladesh.
ghazalakhan27 at hotmail.com
o o o
The News,
16 January 2010
Editorial : LETHAL PATRONAGE
What is the point of having firearms legislation if the prime
minister and the minister of state for the interior drive a coach and
horses through it merely to gratify the wishes of their political
cronies? Since the last week of March 2008 more than 38,800 people
have been issued with licences for prohibited bore weapons –
Kalashnikovs and Uzis, for instance – mostly on the direct order of
these two office-holders. There has been no police check or any sort
of verification of the necessity for the issuance of the licences to
the applicants. To further add to the pool of unmonitored weapons in
the country, at least 100,000 licences for non-prohibited bore
weapons were issued in the same period. You want to (legally) get
yourself a weapon? No problem. Find a member of the National Assembly
or the Senate with connections to the prime minister or the minister
of state for the interior, grease some palms with silver and quick as
a flash – a gun licence. Not only is this good news for the
applicant, it is even better news for the gun traders. Sources within
the small-arms traders group suggest that they have benefited to the
tune of Rs20bn since March 2008; the product of the profligate
issuance of licences.
Taking the figures together we get at least 138,800 new weapons
legally in circulation courtesy of the current government in the 21
months since it took office. This raises questions not only about
where these guns come from as they are not all the product of the
armourers in NWFP, but the wisdom of using weapons licences as a
means of political patronage. Does it really make any kind of sense
to allow 25 licences per year of prohibited weapons and 20 licences
per month for non-prohibited bores to every single member of the
National Assembly? The prime minister has further broadened his
patronage of the arms industry by extending the permission to members
of provincial assemblies – who have a miserly five prohibited bore
licenses at their discretion every year. Extrapolating the figures
only for the National Assembly to the five-year life of a government
we see that 41,875 prohibited bore weapons licences may be issued;
and 403,200 non-prohibited bore licences. What a magnificent
achievement. The government is apparently unable to heat, light,
water or otherwise maintain the infrastructure of the nation, but it
will have weaponised it to the tune of at least another half-million
guns by the time of the next election. Why bother with licensing
anyway – just give everybody a gun, dispense with a judicial process
and the police force and let's just shoot it out on a daily basis. It
would solve the population control problem at a stroke. Your call, Mr
Prime Minister.
_____
[3] Sri Lanka:
The Island, 15 January 2010
CHURCH ATTACKS SURFACING CULTURE OF RISING INTOLERANCE
by Lynn Ockersz
At one time the economic performances of the majority of the
countries of South East Asia were so exemplary that these countries
were appreciatively nicknamed the ‘Leaping Tigers’ by an awe-struck
world. Even Sri Lanka was anxious to follow their lead in all matters
economic and drew considerable inspiration from these ‘Newly
Industrializing Countries’, as they were then labeled, in its
economic liberalization efforts of the latter half of the century past.
Then the dazzling performance bubble burst most unexpectedly, it
seemed. The South East Asian currency crisis of the late nineties,
which also marked the initial stirrings of the global economic
recession, exposed the flimsy foundations on which the ‘Miracle
Economies’ of South East Asia were based. To be sure, these
economies, though badly jolted, managed to survive the currency
crisis but the fundamental vulnerability of these market-based
economies was exposed. As never before, the risks of being overly
external-oriented and of giving prime place to speculative capital,
were underlined.
The seeming explosive emergence of religion-based violence in
Malaysia over the past few days proves that things have never been
the same for at least some of these South East Asian countries. The
ruling UMNO coalition in the times of former charismatic Malaysian
Premier Mahathir Bin Mohammed, was a veritable uniting umbrella for
the country’s ethnic groups. Any efforts at identifying Malaysia too
closely with the majority ethnic Malays, who are mostly of the Moslem
faith, were deftly defused. As in the case of Singapore, the
destabilizing impact of ethnic and religious tensions was
insightfully grasped by the then rulers.
However, the current spate of attacks on Christian churches in
Malaysia, while pointing to rising economic pressures and shrinking
material opportunities among sections of the general populace,
signifies also expanding internal political space for the assertion
of majoritarian extremism. Apparently, the negative impact of the
global economic recession is combining with ethnic chauvinism among
sections of the power elite, to breed religion-based violence in
Malaysia. In short, driven mainly by external factors, some sections
of the people are regarding each other with suspicion and hostility.
Minority religionists are becoming the target of political forces
which are intent on breeding religious tensions and violence with a
view to consolidating their support bases.
The things seemingly at issue in the current wave of religious
friction in Malaysia, which does not have the backing of the
Malaysian state, need to be seen as the proverbial ‘trigger’ factors
in the bout of violent religious intolerance gripping parts of the
country. The heated debate over the use of a form of address in
religious texts, for instance, is only the ‘symptom’ of the
‘disease’, which cannot be diagnosed without reference to the
external factors just outlined.
The problem of rising religious tensions needs to be countenanced
also in Algeria at present and in Egypt. Here too Christians are
reportedly the target. It is not clear whether an economic backdrop
exists to the ‘troubles’ in the latter states too, but it is plain to
see that the internal space for the unleashing of violence of this
kind is expanding in these countries which are marked by a degree of
religious plurality.
It could very well be that the US’ seemingly interminable ‘war
against terror’ is helping to unleash religious tensions in these
states in view of the fact that the Al-Qaeda is associating itself
with Islam. This line of probing needs to pursued by the US to arrive
at an accurate assessment of the full costs of its ‘war’.
Unfortunately, there is a tendency among those political forces which
are opposed to the West, the world over, to identify Christian
communities anywhere with the dominant powers of the West and this
way of looking at the issue tends to have serious implications for
national unity, integration and law and order in those parts of the
Third World where a Western military presence in particular exists.
However, if a state is staking a claim to a democratic identity,
religious intolerance and violence could in no way be tolerated by
the rulers concerned. The Malaysian state, for instance, could in no
circumstances put-up with violence against Christian churches. The
violence has to be put down and the offenders brought to justice.
As has been pointed out by this columnist before, it is a lack of
democratic development that provides the fertile ground for the
perpetration of religion-based violence. It could not be emphasized
enough that religion and the state should be rigorously separated if
religious extremism is not to be offered an opportunity to flourish.
In other words, there could be no democracy without secularism and
secularism is the hallmark of democratic development.
Ideally, political parties laying claim to democratic credentials,
need to not only swear by secularism but also steer clear of
political forces espousing religious chauvinism and intolerance. If
religious friction has shown a tendency to make its presence felt in
Sri Lanka in recent times, for instance, it is because some major
political parties have found it opportune to form alliances with
parties peddling religious chauvinism. This amounts to eroding the
purportedly democratic basis of the Lankan state.
The religion-based violence in Malaysia proves that countries
claiming to be democratic cannot remain complacent about their level
of democratic development, if indeed there has been any development
of the sort. What needs to be constantly aimed at is the increasing
accommodation of all cultural groups within a country and their
steady empowerment. The latter is another essential indicator of
democratic development.
There is no way in which a pluralistic country could thrive, in the
absence of a programme to increasingly usher in democracy, in the
sense the term is understood here. As Sri Lanka has bitterly learnt,
development of any kind is unthinkable without peace and peace in the
fullest sense of the word is not possible if minority communities do
not feel at home in the country of their birth.
The time is also ripe for moderate opinion within religious groups to
openly and unambiguously denounce religious extremism and violence.
They need to play a key role in alienating democratic and moderate
opinion, which is usually in the majority, from extremist fringe groups.
_____
[4] Impunity for Men in Uniform & Violence Against Women
Kashmir Times
10 December 2009
THE BUCK STOPS HERE
By Anuradha Bhasin Jamwal
The government is finally getting its act together. Seemingly so,
after much noises over the Ruchika molestation case that has rightly
set the media activism into motion and awakened the nation's
conscience. DGP Rathore would finally be stripped off his medals.
Cases of sexual abuse are being dug out from long lost debris to nail
people like supercop K.P.S Gill and many others charged of violating
the dignity of women during their tenures in power, though political
bigwigs still comprising a special class of privileged people are
still being let off the hook. The country's legislature is getting
busy crafting a new law to equate sexual abuse and rape, to make laws
against such violations more effective. So if the present tempo
continues, things are indeed headed in the right direction with
everybody hoping that the buck does not simply stop at the Ruchika
case but many victims of sexual violence who have been denied justice
for years get some reprieve. At least hopes are finally afloat!
But what about the hundreds of allegations of human rights abuse by
people in power, and the mighty powerful men in uniform in Jammu and
Kashmir during the last two decades. Will anyone bother to speak up
for them? Will the media, rather than playing to the official tune in
these cases, also begin to show some activism? Will parliamentarians
instead of going into complete denial or ignorance also begin using
their lung power to bring at least a fraction of the cases from Jammu
and Kashmir into limelight? After all, there is a long history of
cases of sexual abuse by, among others, the security agencies, those
who enjoy unlimited powers and unquestioned impunity. Starting from
the first ever publicised case of mass gangrapes of Konanposhpora,
Jammu and Kashmir's conflict has been littered with cases where
women's bodies have become instruments in the hands of the key
players - militant organisations on one side and security agencies on
the other. At a time, when there is a nationwide debate on how to
nail culprits who have abused their positions of power to wreck havoc
on poor victimised women and to escape punishment, why should Kashmir
be excluded. In Kashmir, it is not only high top ranking officials
who enjoy impunity, even an ordinary constable or soldier gets enough
protection to evade any legal punishment for all his acts of
omission. So why should conflict zones like Kashmir, or north-east be
singled out when it comes to justice. Do the suddenly sensitised
media, intellectuals, leaders and citizens of this country not treat
these conflict zones as part of the country? Or does their misplaced
sense of 'nationalism' allow them to believe that it is alright to
violate the rights of the women who can easily be branded 'anti-
nationals'? Or in a country that takes great pride in its democratic
principles of equality, is it simply the case of some being more
equal than others? Interesting, when a large section of Indians would
love to say that Kashmir is an integral part of India.
There is much in common between the Ruchika molestation case and
several cases of sexual abuse and rapes in Kashmir. The perpetrators
are often the men in authority and the denial of justice is a
prolonged saga of harassment to victims, their families and
supporters with large doses of character assassination through multi-
layered concocted lies and rumours. The pictures of innocence
personified Ruchika have shaken the entire nation. There are many
such innocent faces in Kashmir. One among them was Asiya with her
ambitious dreams. She was just two years older than Ruchika, when she
was sexually assaulted and brutally murdered in Shopian. For seven
months investigating agencies have only done their best in hushing up
the case. Why is a nation that is moved by Ruchika case happily
convinced with a packet of lies and the incredible theory of drowning
in ankle deep water in the case of Asiya and her sister-in-law? The
Shopian case is only one of the many. But justice in this one, on the
patterns of Ruchika case, or any other could atleast be exemplary,
reassuring Kashmiris that they too can receive justice.
o o o
Mail Today
11 January 2009
HIGH COURTS MUST CHECK ROGUE POLICE
by Rajeev Dhavan
Given the history of abuse of power by senior policemen only a
systematic effort can succeed
POLICEMEN who turn criminals are not ordinary criminals. As soon as
they move to the ‘dark side’ they build social and political
impunities for themselves. Fellow policemen support them. Politicians
of various complexions protect them. Rank and file policemen act as
their thugs. Other thugs are at their beck and call. Real cases
against them are ignored. Fake cases are registered by them to
ensnare whoever they want. Beyond the bent policeman lies the police
‘don’ who kills with impunity, appropriates at will and inflicts
vengeance with ferocity.
The real problem with the Rathore case is that India does not have
effective processes to deal with the powerful policeman. Their tribe
is increasing. Anti-terrorist campaigns are making terrorists in
their own cause. The list is increasing: ADGP Sumedh Saini made
members of the Kumar family, disappear.
The other brother, Ashish (a client and friend) has knocked on the
highest and lowest courts for justice without success. After nine
years IG R.K. Sharma was sentenced for killing journalist Shivani
Bhatnagar (another friend). In Rajasthan, DIG Tandon is accused of
raping a tribal. Pradeep Sharma responsible for 107 encounter deaths
is now held for a fake encounter.
Misdeeds
Without activist- media campaigns ( as in the Jessica Lal, Nitish
Katara and Priyadarshini Mattoo cases) these are bound to fail. Such
campaigns are not trial by media and should not be treated as
contempt of court. A popular cry for justice is not populist justice.
Let us turn to the Rathore case. Ruchika loved tennis.
Rathore was a big shot in the Lawn Tennis Association.
In August 1990 he ensnared and molested Ruchika. Reported to Home
Secretary Duggal, Rathore decided to wreak vengeance. On August 17,
1990, Rathore’s hoodlums made slogans against poor Ruchika and
smashed the panes of her house. When the government decided to
register an FIR in 1992 against Rathore, the next victim was Ashu
( Ruchika’s brother). Arrested in false cases of car theft in October
1993, he was detained, beaten, made to sign confessional statements
and taken to Ruchika to remind her of what would befall her family.
Ruchika was expelled from school apparently at Rathore’s instance.
Unable to stand the humiliation, embarrassment and pain, on December
28, 1993, Ruchika committed suicide.
The postmortem was deliberately botched up. No real investigation
took place. Within a month, in January 1994, charges against Rathore
were dropped! After three recommendations for action between 1990 and
1992, no departmental action was taken against him. It took till
August 21, 1999, for Ruchika’s friend Aradhana to secure an order for
a CBI inquiry from the Punjab and Haryana ( P& H) High Court.
CBI officer R. M. Singh is now willing to reveal how Rathore tried to
pressurise the CBI. Two years later the CBI recommended Rathore’s
removal. This was not done! He retired as DGP in 2002! The CBI
chargesheeted him in December 1999 for outraging and insulting a
woman’s modesty. The charge of ‘ abetment of suicide’ was quashed by
the P& H High Court and the Supreme Court! Effectively, he was found
guilty of flirtation in December 2009 — fined Rs 1,000 and sentenced
to six months rigorous imprisonment and allowed bail! The law tries
the crime not the criminal. Thus, Rathore is portrayed as having
committed a number of individual smaller crimes with the real and
full story missing. It is like looking at still photographs instead
of a cinematographic depiction of evil. Between 1999 and 2000,
Rathore was successfully charged only with flirtation.
Was that all that Rathore did? Under public pressure, in 2009- 2010
he was charged with filing false cases against Ruchika’s brother
Ashu, fabricating a false post mortem for Ruchika and abetment of her
suicide.
Already rejected up to the Supreme Court in 2002, the abetment charge
will be difficult to reopen. What is missing from the legal response
is his alleged systematic harassment of Ruchika and her family,
sending goondas to her home, securing her expulsion from school,
targeting Ashu, interfering with the police and CBI investigation,
victimisation — for almost 20 years with a smile on his face. On
January 8, 2010, the HC refused to grant bail.
The smile has gone to gleam in jail unless the Supreme Court decides
otherwise.
Mistake
How does one get justice against pathologically vindictive police
officers like Rathore and Saini who commit not one but several
crimes? The answer lies in examining the process and not just the
event. Indian public interest law has an answer. In December 2000,
the P& H High Court itself took suo motu notice, of Rathore’s
vengeance against Ruchika’s brother Ashu. On July 5, 2002, they asked
district judge, Patiala to examine Ashu’s victimisation.
This would have Xrayed Rathore’s misdeeds.
But on May 6, 2005, the Supreme Court through Justice Sabharwal made
an egregious mistake and stopped the High Court proceeding. Justice
Sabharwal, one of the finest judges in the Supreme Court ( whatever
anyone else may think) simply lost the plot in this case. It was
wrong to recommend bit- by- bit justice against a policeman who used
the police and hoodlums to wreak harassment and crimes against a
family who dared oppose him. Examining the process would reveal the
full story.
This valuable opportunity to investigate a mass crime with its full
contents was lost.
In my view, even now no independent investigation can take place
unless it is effectively monitored by the High Court or the Supreme
Court. Rathore has the protection of IAS and IPS officers; and of
politicians and Chief Ministers.
In the Hawala case ( 1998), the Supreme Court ensured the process of
Hawala transactions was properly investigated. In the Noida case
after several years of monitoring, the case against Neera Yadav
proceeded to trial. Noida’s favoured allotments for 10 years were
screened. This is what was begun by the High Court in 2002 for
Rathore, but stopped after three years by the Supreme Court itself.
Probe
One can only urge the Supreme Court to follow the Hawala– Noida
example to supervise investigation against Rathore. Years ago, the
Supreme Court would not have hesitated to do this. Today the judicial
colossus, like Atlas, shrugs its shoulders.
The fulcrum around which this problem rotates is to work out a
response to dealing with the police as criminals. India needs a good
honest police. We know how brutal the police can be. Chhattisgarh
police have gone berserk in punishing peaceful activists.
But where the police turn gangsters a new method of monitored
investigation by courts is necessary and proper. It is fit for the
Chief Justice of India to set up a process for Rathore’s unrepentant
violation of due process and human rights.
Law minister Moily’s faith in fast track courts as a complete answer
in this case is exasperating. Fast track courts can only process what
is fed to them. For the future specifically, in the long term
substantive offences on police misbehaviour and independent
investigation processes are necessary.
In the Rathore case itself, his entire term of office from 1990 needs
to be Xrayed for systematic abuses of power. This is equally true for
his colleague, Saini. This will reveal far more than is known today.
Rathore’s smile has gone. That is not enough. He needs to be exposed
and punished according to law under the vigilant eye of the high
court or the Supreme Court.
The writer is a Supreme Court lawyer
o o o
Frontline
J anuary 1 6 - 2 9 , 2 0 1 0
INTERVIEW WITH BRINDA KARAT, Rajya Sabha member and vice-president,
AIDWA.
http://www.frontline.in/stories/20100129270201200.htm
_____
[5] INDIA: CHHATISGARH - AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER
[14 January 2010]
Dear Mr Prime Minister
With great dismay we want to bring to your notice the rapid breakdown
of constitutional order in Chhattisgarh since November 2009. You must
be aware that since the year 2005, the Dantewada district of this
state has witnessed intensified conflict between state and the CPI
(Maoist). In course of this conflict, more than 600 villages have
been uprooted leading to forced displacement of lakhs of adivasis.
The Chhattisgarh administration has also enlisted the support of the
controversial Salwa Judum ‘andolan’ to counter the CPI (Maoist),
besides appointing thousands of Special Police Offices (SPOs). The
sequence of events since November 2009 underlines a comprehensive
breakdown of the rule of law and pulverization of democratic space in
Chhattisgarh. We therefore urge you to take note of the following:
The Case of Sodi Sambo
* On October 1, 2009, there was an alleged incident of killings
by police and SPOs in Gompad village, Dantewada, described by the
district SP as an ‘encounter’ to a broad based fact finding team
including the Peoples Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR, Delhi) and
the Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL, Chhattisgarh), Action
Aid and Vanvasi Chetna Ashram (Dantewada) etc. Sodi Sambo is one of
the victims and witnesses of the Gompad killings and a petitioner in
Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 103 of 2009 in the Supreme Court.
* On January 3, 2010, when Sambo was on her way to Delhi for
treatment of her leg which had been shot, she was taken away by the
police. This despite the fact that Sambo is innocent and faces no
criminal charges/despite the police declaration that there are no
charges against her.
* On January 5, the police informed the press that SP Dantewada
had received a complaint from some “relative” of Sambo that Himanshu
Kumar of VCA had ‘abducted’ Sambo. Significantly, Himanshu Kumar is
petitioner no.1 in the writ petition filed against the Dantewada
police, in the Supreme Court.
* On January 6, the PUCL and PUDR filed an application in the
Supreme Court that the Petitioner No. 13 in the Criminal Writ
Petition No. 103 of 2009, Sodi Sambo, was being intimidated to coerce
her into withdrawing her petition. The petition prayed that she be
permitted to come to Delhi to continue her treatment at the St.
Stephens Hospital and that the state bears her expenses for the same.
All this while, Sambo was kept in a hospital in Jagdalpur where the
treatment required for her leg was not available. Even the
journalists from Indian Express and Tehelka were prevented from
meeting her.
* On January 7, the Supreme Court ordered the State of
Chhattisgarh to not prevent Sodi Sambo from travelling to Delhi for
medical treatment at St. Stephens Hospital at her own cost. The
National Alliance for People’s Movement (NAPM) team met the SP
Dantewada so they could meet and escort Sambo to Delhi. They were
brusquely told not to interfere and that the Petitioner Organization,
PUCL or others will not be permitted to have any role in this regard.
The model argument for denying access to her has been that as a
witness, she needs to be protected from anybody influencing her.
Ironically, Sambo is being ‘protected’ by the same police that she
alleges are responsible for her injuries. Sambo has now been shifted
to AIIMS in Delhi by the Chhattisgarh government. Sambo’s lawyer has
also not been allowed to meet her. Why is the Chhattisgarh government
so wary of anybody meeting Sambo? Is it because she is a witness to
the state’s excesses on adivasis which has been continuously going on
for the past four years?
Targeting of Vanvasi Chetna Ashram
* We would also like to bring to your notice the reprehensible
harassment of civil rights and democratic spaces, like the Vanvasi
Chetna Ashram (VCA), in Chattisgarh. The VCA, led by Gandhian
Himanshu Kumar, has been raising and documenting the atrocities on
innocent adivasis by state forces on the pretext of fighting Naxals
in Dantewada. Himanshu had planned a padyatra beginning December 14,
2009, to be followed by a saytagraha and a jan sunvai (public
hearing), for which Home minister P.Chidambaram had agreed to come.
He was denied permission for the padyatra and satyagraha in
Dantewada. A national team of women traveling to participate in the
programme were stopped in Raipur, humiliated and finally not allowed
to reach Dantewada. On December10, 2009 (Human Right Day), one of the
VCA’s main activists, Kopa Kunjam, was picked up along with lawyer
Alban Toppo. While Alban was let off after some beating, Kopa was
slammed with murder charges and still languishes in jail. Another VCA
activist, Sukhnath, has been falsely implicated and booked under
Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act (CSPSA). Earlier in May,
2009, VCA premises were demolished bypassing legal procedures. VCA
was asked to vacate the rented accommodation as the landlord was
under pressure from the administration to do so. The VCA has now been
blacklisted by the Chhattisgarh administration.
Rape and Intimidation of Women of Samsetti Village
* Four adivasi girls from Samsetti village, Sukma block of
Dantewada, were raped by Special Police Officers (SPO) two years ago.
The issue was brought to light by the magazine Tehelka and Himanshu
Kumar’s sustained efforts helped registration of a rape case in
Bilaspur High Court in March 2009, even as the police refused to file
FIRs. These women were picked up by the same SPOs when their cases
were to come up for hearing in the courts on December, 10. They were
beaten, illegally kept at the police station for five days and their
thumb imprints taken on a blank sheet to say that Himanshu Kumar had
pressurized them to level false charges of rape.
Obstructing rights’ groups, researchers and journalists from
functioning in the state
* Two Professors from Delhi University, Nandini Sundar and
Ujjwal Kumar Singh who were in Dantewada from December 29-31, 2009,
were surrounded and trailed by armed SPOs throughout their visit.
Hotel owners denied them lodging at the behest of the Chhattisgarh
government and the Dantewada police.
* On January 5, 2010 Satyen Bordoloi and Priyanka Borpujari,
journalists from Bombay who had been highlighting violations by the
state and the VCA’s struggles in the print and electronic media,
Suresh Deepala, law student and AID volunteer from Hyderabad, and
Nishtha, a student of Tata Institute of Social Sciences, who were
visiting Himanshu for the jan sunwai, were surrounded by 25 armed
police and SPOs and prevented from leaving. They were assaulted and
their cameras taken away.
* On January 6, activists from NAPM including Medha Patkar and
Sandeep Pandey were assaulted by a mob brought in from Kasauli Relief
Camp by an organization called Maa Danteshwari Swabhiman Manch,
essentially a new version of Salwa Judum. Eggs and sewage were thrown
at the delegation. 25 to 30 adivasis who still dared to come for the
Jan Sunvai were also stopped, harassed and intimidated by the police.
There is an undeclared emergency in operation in Dantewada where
people are being denied access to the area and information, detained
illegally, implicated in false cases, threatened, tortured and
killed. The Home Minister, Mr. P. Chidambaram was apprised of the
problems but he has chosen to remain silent for in the war against
Naxals, everything seems fair to him. We would therefore like you to
ponder and answer if the tribal people of Dantewada are not citizens
of this country? Are they not supposed to have a say in the
development of this country? Why are they expected to keep quiet as
their resources, livelihoods and lives are snatched away to benefit a
few? How fair is the state’s strategy of displacing them and handing
over their natural resources to private corporations? Can all
opposition, including peaceful, Gandhian protests, to state policies
be declared Naxalite and thereby brushed aside? And finally, can we
in the name of fighting Naxalism put democracy and our constitution
to peril and is this the only answer that a state worthy of calling
itself a democracy has to such challenges?
It has also come to our knowledge that the combing operation in
Chhattisgarh has begun and security forces have entered the jungles
from Konta, the southernmost part of Chhattisgarh. This could not
have been done without the knowledge and approval of the Home
Ministry. It should also be noted that ‘Operation Greenhunt’ against
Maoists was disowned by your government but what we are seeing is its
surreptitious continuation without an official name. As the Prime
Minister of this country, we hope you will break your silence and
accept responsibility for the wrongs being committed in Chhattisgarh
and take immediate action to restore constitutional freedoms in the
state.
Sincerely
People’s Union for Democratic Rights, PUDR
o o o
The Times of India
'PUBLIC SECTOR CREATED CHHATTISGARH'S MIDDLE CLASS'
by Jyoti Punwani, TNN, 4 January 2010
Advocate Sudha Bharadwaj of the Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha and PUCL
talks to Jyoti Punwani about Chhattisgarh, where the Centre has
announced the start of its offensive against the Maoists:
What news of the offensive?
When Operation Green Hunt began in September, notice under Section 95
of the CrPC (which includes sedition) was served on newspapers for
publishing the Maoists' press releases, which said that the only
persons to have been killed by the security forces were ordinary
Adivasis. Over 100 journalists demonstrated in Jagdalpur saying that
in a conflict situation, we can't print only police handouts.
Journalists have been arrested under the State's Special Security
Act. For us, this new offensive is only an intensification of the
drive going on since 2005, to clear villages to facilitate a
corporate land grab, in the name of fighting insurgency.
Do all parties support this operation?
The CPI's Manish Kunjam has held massive Adivasi maha-sabhas against
the indiscriminate efforts by companies to acquire land. But these
have barely created a ripple in the administration. The Congress is
divided - while Mahendra Karma is the founder of Salwa Judum, Ajit
Jogi has questioned it. When Congress MLA Kawasi Lakhma objected to
the Singaram fake encounter in which 19 innocents were killed, the
district collector recommended that his security be withdrawn. A BJP
MLA alleged that most of the 79 so-called surrendered Naxalites
paraded by the police in 2007 were innocent peasants. Some were even
BJP cadres! But only a few were released. This refusal by the
administration to listen to dissent leaves the Adivasis helpless. It
makes it appear as if everyone is against them and on the side of the
companies. In fact, it is evident that the state is in the
stranglehold of the corporates. People objecting at environmental
clearance hearings are lathi-charged. Public hearings are held inside
police barricades. When gram sabhas refuse to give land, there's
compulsory land acquisition at gunpoint.
What's the space for non-mainstream political groups?
Everyone who works with the Adivasis or opposes the corporates is
harassed - freedom fighter Ram Kumar Agarwal, Gandhian Himanshu
Kumar, environmentalist Jayant Bohidar, Dr Binayak Sen. Every form of
dissent is being criminalised. Laws are supposed to define what is a
crime. Waging war against the state is a crime. But anyone who
protests against the administration is labelled a Naxal supporter.
This is McCarthyism.
Don't you want development?
The Bhilai Steel Plant also took away land and water, but it created
96,000 permanent jobs. Chhattisgarh's middle class is a creation of
the public sector. Today's mining companies give neither compensation
nor permanent jobs. Last year, the state's sponge iron plants were at
a standstill because they had to buy iron ore at Rs 5,800 a tonne.
But Japan gets it at Rs 400 from Bailadila mines. This is
imperialism, not development. We must be grateful to the Adivasis for
saving our resources from this loot.
_____
[6] India: Resources For Secular Activists
(i) SURVIVORS OF COMMUNAL VIOLENCE IN KANDHAMAL UNDER THE THREAT OF
EVACUATION FOR THIRD TIME
by KP Sasi
(Communalism Watch, 15 January 2009, (http://tinyurl.com/ye4ovhr))
Around 100 survivors of communal violence, who have been staying in
an abandoned NAC market complex at G. Udaygiri of Kandhamal district
after the forcible closure of relief camps by the government, have
been asked by the local administration to vacate the place. With the
news of visit of a European Commission team to the region, the
government have ordered to remove the people again as a part of its
attempt to project that government had brought back normalcy in
Kandhamal and violence affected people are living at their villages
peacefully without any threat.
‘The BDO has asked us to vacate immediately and if we refuse police
force will be used,’ said the worried survivors of Kandhamal
violence. When the violence broke out on August 23, 2008, they were
forced to leave their villages and their houses were burnt down. They
had to take shelter in relief camps, but they were forced to leave
from there also after the new BJD government come to power. Hence
they had taken shelter in the market complex like beggars.
‘Where can we go with these two babies?’ asked a crying mother Ms.
Menaka Nayak (25). Her youngest baby was born in the camp itself. ‘We
can not go back to our village, because they will not allow us to
live there if we do not convert to Hinduism. The government is not
prepared to provide security and necessary help. On top of it they
are trying to throw us out from here also’.
Mr. Moses Nayak, who has been prevented by the Hindu fundamentalists
to come back to his village Ratingia as he had refused to change his
religion unlike his two brothers, presently solely depends on daily
wage based labour works, has no other options than to stay here. An
elderly couple from R.Padikia village are also debarred to come back
to their ancestral land as they failed to present their two ‘pastor’
sons before the communally motivated village mobs.
Following the dreadful communal violence around twenty thousand
people have already migrated to different places outside Kandhamal.
There are another five thousand people, who neither can afford to go
outside nor can go back to their villages, living like refugees in
various places of their home district. Although the district
administration is claiming of ensuring security, peace and
rehabilitation to the survivors, the reality speaks of a different
story. The seventeen families from the villages such as R.Padikia,
Kutuluma, Loharingia,Kilakia, Jimmangia, Dakedi, Kiramah, Ratingia
staying in NAC market complex are virtually landless and legally not
entitled to claim their house damage compensation as they do not have
records of rights over the lands they used to have their houses since
generations. Whoever have RoR over their small patches of homestead
land, are debarred by fundamentalists to reconstruct their houses.
Very few people were given compensation and again that amount was not
more than Rs.10, 000.
‘Even after seventeen months, there is no indication of justice for
the survivors of communal violence in Khandamal’, says Fr. Ajay,
Director, Jana Vikas, an leading NGO in Kandhamal who represents
National Centre for Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR) ‘There were 295
churches and 6,000 houses burnt down apart from schools, hospitals
and other institutions. The victims are none other than poor adivasis
and dalits. Urgent action is needed from the government to take care
of the needs of the refugees of communalism who have been reduced to
the level of beggars and second class citizens. This is not a matter
of charity, but a fundamental right enshrined in the constitution of
India’. The office building with other accessories belonging to Jana
Vikas was one of the first to be burnt down on 25th August 2008.
‘It appears that the existence of refugees of communalism is
threatening the image of the Orissa government’ says Dhirendra Panda,
well known secular activist from Orissa. ‘That is the reason why they
are trying to remove them instead of facilitating their security and
rightful restoration’.
Mr.Sarat Nayak from Dakedi, a landless labour who can not go back to
his village, complains of the indifference of the school authorities
to get his child admitted in any other school. It has been found a
numbers of children within age group of 5-14, who are staying in this
non-official camp, had to discontinue their studies and there is no
visible action by the local administration to bring back these
children to schools again.
Let alone other problems, now the first and foremost need is prevent
further evacuation of these hapless and hopeless adivasi and dalit
victims. Whatever may be the intention, excuses or explanations put
forth by the government, the reality is that one hundred victims of
communal violence will be thrown out on streets within a day or two.
Perhaps, the secular and human rights activists may respond.
Report by: K.P.Sasi, Film Maker
o o o
(ii)
Deccan Herald
11 January 2010
NO ASTROLOGY HERE PLEASE: BU TO GOVT
by Kaushik Chakravarthy, Bangalore:
Almost eight years ago the then Union Human Resource Development
Minister and BJP’s Hindutva stalwart Murli Manohar Joshi tried
introducing the so-called “Hindu science”, astrology, in colleges and
university syllabi across the country.
That move was aborted following a huge uproar. The stars clearly were
not with Joshi.
Likewise, rationalists in Bangalore University’s science faculty have
thwarted plans of the State BJP government to introduce astrology as
a course at both the undergraduate and post-graduate levels.
The heads of all science disciplines in the university unanimously
rejected the government’s plan to begin “Jyotish Shastra” as a
science, citing it as an “obscurantist and unscientific move”. The
decision to reject the proposal was taken at a meeting of the faculty
on January 6. The Yeddyurappa government’s academic horoscope now
reads: stars in retrograde.
Mooted by a former Cabinet minister, the government’s proposal to
start astrology as a science course was introduced last year and was
recommended for all central varsities in the state.
Sources at the department said the faculty of different departments
objected to the proposal on the ground that astrology as a subject
was a non-science and had not undergone enough scientific scrutiny.
The faculty’s approval is statutory under the Karnataka State
Universities Act 2000 and is critical in introducing new courses.
Only after a course is ratified by the faculty can it be presented to
the University Syndicate or, for that matter, the Academic Council
for approval.
The State Government’s plan is reminiscent of Joshi’s passionate move
to introduce “Jyotir Vigyan” or Vedic Astrology as an under-graduate
and post-graduate course. That could happen after a UGC committee
recommended introducing it as part of the BJP-led NDA government’s
decision to revive “ancient science”.
When scientists and academics scoffed at Joshi’s pursuit of the stars
and the cosmos and beyond, the proposal was given a quite burial.
Joshi’s bid to create generations of star gazers and soothsayers was
soundly and predictably thwarted.
Now, as if trying to send across a no-nonsense message to the State
Government, Bangalore University’s science faculty ratified
introducing six new courses, including a Bachelor of Science
programme, to promote pure science.
DH News Service
o o o
(iii) Book Review:
The Hindu
January 12, 2010
THE ANATOMY OF COMMUNAL RIOTS
by J. Sri Raman
If history repeats itself endlessly anywhere, every time as a
shameful tragedy, it is in India with its interminably recurring
"communal riots." The history of independent India started off with
bloody conflicts bearing this description, and the six decades and
more that have passed by witnessed hundreds of such episodes.
What are the factors and forces behind this phenomenon, which shows
no sign of fading away? Is there a way to fight these fires which
find us unprepared despite their frequency? Many pundits have
attempted an answer to these questions. Deserving of note is the
somewhat different response Prateep K. Lahiri has provided in this book.
Experience
Decoding Intolerance is different because it is more a product of
experience than of mere erudition. An officer of the Indian
Administrative Service in the Madhya Pradesh cadre, the author had an
encounter with communal riot at the start of his career — in Jabalpur
(1961). He went on to witness and work on similar law-and-order
problems of a socially lacerating kind. As Harsh Mander, a former IAS
officer who took on communal fascism after the Gujarat pogrom of
2002, says, Lahiri’s volume has the value of the views of “a capable,
and fair ‘insider’...who has handled...communal riots as a civil
servant.”
Lahiri begins by asking, as he should, what this “communalism” is.
Elsewhere, the term generally has a positive, communitarian import
and is sometimes understood as allegiance to an ethnic group. But, in
India, it has a different connotation, which had its origin in the
colonial regime and came into vogue in the aftermath of the ‘communal
award’ (announced in 1932) granting separate electorates to minority
religious communities. A divisive politics and ideology spoken in the
name of the majority religious community — the most dangerous
consequence of the divide-and-rule policy of the British masters —
has come to be seen as the primary meaning of “communalism” in
India’s political lexicon. Telling indeed is the observation (quoted
by the author) the war-time British Prime Minister Winston Churchill
made at a meeting of his Cabinet in February 1940: “...he did not
share the anxiety to encourage...unity between the Hindu and Muslim
communities...He regarded the Hindu-Muslim feud as the bulwark of
British rule in India.” This policy had the practical support of
political forces that saw the “feud” as their path to power in post-
Independence India. Lahiri cites approvingly historian Bipan
Chandra’s definition of communalism as “the belief that because a
group of people follow a particular religion they have… common
social, political and economic interests.” The far-right politics
seeking to propagate this belief, it follows, aims to make the people
forget their more concrete, class interests and fight among
themselves instead of their real, common enemy.
Image
More importantly, the author discusses the methods by which the far-
right has sought to build an unlovable image of India’s largest
minority among the majority community. Particularly notable is the
way he pulverises the far-right platform on the question of uniform
civil code. He demonstrates how unacceptable the demand can be even
to large sections of the diversified majority society, though he does
recognise the unhelpful role of the unreformed Muslim clerics.
Effectively exposed, too, is the alarmist propaganda that the growing
minority population poses a ‘demographic danger.’ The same point can
be made about the invidious attempt to make a bugbear of the
Bangladeshi “infiltrator.”
Lahiri records, and draws lessons from, four major riots besides the
Jabalpur incident. He notes that, of these conflagrations (in Indore,
Bhagalpur, Mumbai, and Gujarat in 1969, 1989, 1992-93, and 2002
respectively), the last three were sparked off by the Ayodhya
movement, of which its destructive “architects” claim to be proud
even today. In the concluding chapter, taking a “non-astrological
peep into the future,” he hopes that a “double-digit [economic]
growth” can mean the gradual decline of communal politics. It is hard
to share his optimism readily after the horrors witnessed in a
relatively developed Gujarat. There are few alternatives to a frontal
attack on the far-right and its communalist plank in the foreseeable
future.
The volume is different because it is more a product of experience
than of mere erudition.
DECODING INTOLERANCE — Riots and the Emergence of Terrorism in India:
Prateep K. Lahiri; Lotus Collection, Roli Books, M-75, G. K. II
Market, New Delhi-110048. Rs. 395.
o o o
(iv)
The Telegraph
16 January 2010
THE GODMAN IN TROUBLE
by Khushwant Singh
As a one-time ardent watcher of television programmes on pravachans
delivered by our godmen and godwomen, I came to the conclusion that
most of them support right-wing Hindu political parties such as the
Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bharatiya Janata Party. Their support
of Hinduism is understandable, as all of them preach their own
versions of this religion. But their right-wing leaning is less
comprehensible. Some are outspoken in their support, others more
subtle. Amongst the outspoken supporters is Asaram Bapu, now in dire
trouble, charged with amassing property and abetting murders of his
detractors. I don’t know much about his past except that he is a
Sindhi settled in Ahmedabad, and at one time ran either a cycle
repairing shop or perhaps a chai stall. He found preaching religion
and goodness more profitable. He grew a long beard, wore loose white
robes and cultivated the benign image of a bapu. He gathered a large
number of admirers, built a large ashram with a temple and sponsored
educational institutions.
I watched Asaram Bapu many times: he attracted huge audiences,
composed largely of women, with a sprinkling of men. He could be
quite amusing at times with his mimicry. He occasionally broke into
songs in a totally unmelodious voice, but it did not seem to matter.
Once I noticed the rajmata of Gwalior sitting in the audience,
listening to him with rapt attention. Another time, it was Uma Bharti
in the front row. At the end of Bapu’s discourse, Bharti stood up and
said loudly in English: “Bapu, I love you.” Bapu beamed a rapturous
thank-you smile. I wonder if Bharti still loves Asaram Bapu as she
did a few years ago.
Love lost
Strong bonds
I often ask myself, “What is a truly integrated society?” I put our
own society through different tests to see if we, as a secular State,
are also integrated. When communal tensions are chronic and
periodically break out in violence, claims to be integrated sound
hollow. So do our displays of cordiality. We have non-Muslims
throwing iftar parties during Ramazan; we see them offering chaddars
at dargahs of Muslim saints and embracing one another on Id-ul-Fitr
and Bakri Id. We have Muslims celebrating Holi and Diwali by inviting
Hindu friends and offering them mithai.
I dismiss all these as politically motivated displays of open-
mindedness without any substance. I have come to the conclusion that
true integration is achieved only when people of different races,
religious beliefs, and castes, speaking different languages, marry
and there are no tensions created. Using this as criteria, I conclude
we are far from being an integrated society; every inter-religious
marriage is looked upon as a kind of battle here. If the boy
subscribes to one faith, the girl to another, the boy’s kinsmen
regard it as a victory; the girl’s kinsmen regard it as surrender. I
know of dozens of inter-faith marriages: Hindus and Sikhs married to
Muslims, Christians or Parsis. And also a large number of Muslim men
married to Hindu and Sikh women. In any case, if one or the other
party converts to the faith of the spouse, it makes a mockery of
religion. I regard conversions as demeaning to the dignity of the
person who converts.
The worst examples of the refusal to integrate can be witnessed in
the khap panchayats of Haryana. They are relics of the past when the
elders of a village, mostly illiterate peasants, sat round on their
charpoys smoking hookahs, and pronounced sentences against boys and
girls of different gotras getting married. Even today, such couples
are often exiled from their villages, declared outcasts and
occasionally murdered. What should rid society of these self-
appointed arbiters of matrimonial affairs? I am not sure if we can
abolish them through legal enactments. In any case, many legislators
depend on the votes of these rustics. Perhaps the best way to handle
them is through a massive media campaign exposing them to ridicule.
It will be worth trying because making Indians a truly integrated
people is a noble ambition.
_____
[8] Announcements:
(i) Digital Sorcery
Saturday, 16th January 2010 | 4:00 - 7:00 pm
Join us at T2F for a peek inside the world of Animation, Visual
Effects and Multishot Photography
Animation and Visual Effects is arguably the most rapidly evolving
industry in the world. From Star Wars to Avatar, visual effects have
come a long way. This fascinating session, conducted by Rehan Zia
will demonstrate how computer generated characters and visual effects
are combined seamlessly with live action film footage to take you
through magical environments, realms of mystical creatures, and the
ends of space.
Digital Multishot Photography techniques and their application to
computer generated images will also be discussed.
About Rehan Zia
Rehan Zia is an amateur photographer and Demonstrator in Computer
Animation and Digital Effects at the prestigious National Centre for
Computer Animation, Bournemouth University, U.K. He was responsible
for establishing and heading the Department of Media Studies at Iqra
University before leaving for the UK to pursue a Masters in Digital
Effects. He is also a moderator for www.cgexpanse.com, the Pakistani
Digital Artists Forum.
Rehan is starting his PhD (By Practice) in the same discipline and
wants to contribute as much as possible to academia and the local
industry during the course of his research.
Date: Saturday, 16th January 2010
Time: 4:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Minimum Donation: Anything you like. Please support our vision of
intellectual poverty alleviation by donating generously
Venue: T2F 2.0
10-C, Sunset Lane 5, Phase 2 Extension, DHA, Karachi
o o o
(ii)
Friday 29th Jan 2010, 11a.m - 1 p.m
IP College Auditorium
31 Shamnath Marg, Delhi - 110054
Metro: “Civil Lines” Indraprastha College
85th Anniversary Events
Ahimsa Day Lectures-II
Speakers:
11a.m - 12.30pm
Principal Babli Moitra Saraf
will preside
Purushottam Agrawal, writer, critic
Towards A Non-Violent Modernity
Amita Baviskar, sociologist
Good To Eat - Gandhi And The Ethics Of Food
Dilip Simeon, historian, historian
Gandhi’s Final Fast
Q & A / Discussion
12.30 - 1 p.m
Break
1 - 2 p.m
Documentary film on Gandhi’s Assassination
2 - 3 p.m
A DEATH FOR PEACE (2006)
by Arnaud Mandagaran
All are cordially invited
http://www.ahimsaonline.org/downloads/ahimsa-event-2010.pdf
o o o
(iii)
From: Judicial Reforms . <judicialreforms(at)gmail.com>
Dear friends,
You are aware that there have been several important developments
during the last year on matters relating to Judicial Accountability,
in particular, the issue of disclosure of assets by judges, the
judicial scandals relating to the Ghaziabad provident fund scam, the
Chandigarh cash-at-judges-door scam, the Justice Dinakaran
appointment controversy, etc. These and others have brought the issue
of Judicial Accountability centre stage. It has become an important
public issue discussed a good deal in the media. However, in order
for this to lead to the required reforms, one needs to bring focused
public pressure to bear on the government, members of parliament and
the judiciary.
In order to discuss the specific constitutional and legislative
amendments required in the system of appointments of judges and for
inquiring into complaints against judges and in order to decide our
Campaign strategy, the Campaign for Judicial Accountability and
Reform is organising the 3rd National Convention on Judicial
Accountability and Reforms. The convention will be held in the Main
Auditorium, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, Teen Murti House, New
Delhi, from 10a.m. – 6p.m. on the 6th of February 2010.
The focus of the convention will squarely be on appointments and
complaints against judges. This is an important convention at a very
critical juncture and if we adopt an effective Campaign strategy, it
can lead to important reforms in the system of appointments and
complaints.
As Shakespeare says, “There is a tide in the affairs of men, which
taken at the flood, leads on to fortune… And we must take the current
when it serves, or lose our ventures.”
Lets use this time of tide and take it to flood, taking the current
when it serves.
Several prominent persons who have been involved in and have been
speaking out on this issue will be present to address the convention.
We will soon be sending you the background paper and agenda for the
convention.
We invite you to attend this important convention along with relevant
members from your organizations. Please do send in your confirmations
by email or call us at (0)9958146804.
with warm regards,
Prashant Bhushan
Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reform,
Mobile: 9958146804
E-mail: judicialreforms(at)gmail.com
website: www.judicialreforms.org
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
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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