SACW Jan 20-21, 2011 | Fascism Unlimited / Nuclear Free Jaitapur / Daniel Pearl / Binayak Sen appeal / Patriarchy n impunity/ Memorial for Bharati

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire -  Dispatch No. 2701 - January 20-21, 2011
From: sacw.net

[1]  Seeking unlimited happiness (Jawed Naqvi)
[2]  Combat religious extremism across South Asia : Resolution at People’s SAARC Condemns The Murder of Salman Taseer
[3] Pakistan: Turning villains into heroes (Manzur Ejaz)
   - Is a reversal possible? (Naeem Sadiq)
[4] India Justice to Dr. Binayak Sen: Appeal to the President of India from TISS 
[5] India: Why We Oppose the Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project - A Letter to the Chief Minister by activists in Maharashtra
[6] The Truth Left Behind: Inside the Kidnapping and Murder of Daniel Pearl (Asra Q. Nomani and Barbara Feinman Todd)
[7] India must wave impunity and allow the British police to proceed against its male chauvinist diplomat
[8] Announcements:
  (i) Memorial Meeting for Com. Bharati Roychowdhury (New Delhi, 21 January 2011)
  (ii) Selected events at Jaipur Literature Festival  on 21st and 23 January 2011
- Two Nations, Two Narratives Muneeza Shamsie in conversation with Urvashi Butalia - 21 January 2011
- Empowering Women’s Voices: Perspectives, Strategies & Ground Reality - 21 January 2011
- Vidya Shah: Women on Record – Indian Vocals: at Lit Fest n Jaipur -  23 January 2011
 (iii) 6 Short Films and Conversation with Ali Kapadia Karachi, 26 January 2011)
  (iv) State convention of Pakistan- India People's Forum for Peace and Democracy -Delhi Chapter ( New Delhi, 29 January 2011)

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[1]    SEEKING UNLIMITED HAPPINESS

        by Jawed Naqvi

Dawn, 20 January 2011

Jared Lee Loughner killed six Americans and left Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords fighting for her life in Tucson.

His motives are variously given as drug-related lunacy and links with America’s Christian Right, of which Republican politician Sarah Palin is deemed an icon. A copy of Mein Kampf was recovered from his belongings.

Malik Mumtaz Qadri killed Pakistan politician Salman Taseer in a similarly unequal contest between a liberal worldview and zealotry that claims a divine alibi. In India, Swami Asimanand, a self-confessed guru of Hindutva terrorists that wreaked havoc across the country and blamed it on Muslims, is in jail.

Clearly, religious revivalism is a global scourge and there isn’t much on the horizon to lend hope to its quarries. If change is likely it seems it has to come from within the extremist heap. And this is where Asimanand — whose name translates as ‘unlimited happiness’ — could show us a way out. Of the three killers I have cited, he is alone in expressing regret.

And it is not any ordinary regret at the sight of blood one may have spilt. The saffron-clad swami has followed a tradition of many a contrite ancient Indian sage who left crime to become symbols of their enlightened faith. Valmiki was a highway robber before he wrote the Ramayan. His words became Sanskrit’s first shlokas. Angulimaal was a killer before he became a follower of Buddha. However, Asimanand’s reported confessions have enormous political implications for immediate purposes.

In his confession before a magistrate, which makes it admissible evidence, he gave a heart-tugging account of how a Muslim boy who was with him in jail changed his thinking. The boy, Kaleem, had been tortured by police as a suspect in the bombing of a mosque in Hyderabad. When Asimanand heard his story from the boy who would otherwise ply him with tea and refreshments in prison, he was moved to tears.

And he decided to confess to his role in the bombings that were undertaken in revenge against Muslim terrorists that had harmed Hindu temples. Asimanand’s statement has blown the lid off the seamier side of Hindutva, an ideology favoured by many from India’s middle classes as an expression of nationalist fervour. He twisted the knife further by shooting off letters to the presidents of India and Pakistan, advising them on how they could benefit from his decision to own up. The undelivered letter to President Asif Zardari has a telling irony. It reads thus:

“The President, Islamabad, Pakistan, Dec 20, 2010,

“SUB: Request for chance to reform Hafiz Saeed and other terrorists in Pakistan.

“Dear Sir,

“I am Swami Asimananda. I am the one who had organised and motivated persons to blast Samjhauta Express and other places because I was angry about jihadi attacks on Hindu temples.

“After my arrest, when I was in jail, one Muslim boy Kaleem was very kind to me in Hyderabad. After some time, I asked him why he was inside jail, and he told me that he was earlier wrongly arrested and tortured by Hyderabad police in connection with Mecca Masjid bomb blast. This pierced my conscience. It transformed me.

“The man who has every reason to hate me, showed me love. After all, he had been made to suffer for my work. I understood that love between two human beings is more powerful than the hatred between two communities. I decided on prayashchit and told this to the CBI when they took me in their custody. They told me that we cannot do anything about prayashchit, only the court can. So, I told them to take me to the court in that case. After that, I told the judge the truth.

“Before the criminal legal system hangs me, I want an opportunity to transform/reform Hafiz Saeed, Mullah Omar and other jihadi terrorist leaders and jihadi terrorist in Pakistan. Either you can send them to me, or you can ask the Indian government to send me to you.

“Yours truly

“Swami Asimananda, Chanchalaguda Jail, Hyderabad”

Will Asimanand’s confession make a difference to the worldview of the likes of Hafiz Saeed or for that matter Mumtaz Qadri? My instinct is it may not. And yet there is no harm in replicating the Indian example. For starters, put Qadri and people with his tendencies in a prison cell with Christians, Hindus, etc. Let them come face to face with each other. Let Aasia Bibi write a letter to Qadri and append Asimanand’s confessions to it. No harm trying.

Which brings me to the politics of aggressive religious revivalism. In the Indian and Pakistani examples, we find a heavy dose of the state guiding the upsurge. The role of intelligence agencies is all too well known. In the American example author F. William Engdahl has claimed that one of the most significant transformations of American domestic politics came over the decades since the early 1970s, when George H.W. Bush was the head of the CIA.

It spawned a deliberate manipulation of significant segments of the population, most of them undoubtedly sincere, believing people, around the ideology of `born-again` evangelical Christian fundamentalism to create something that became known as the Christian Right.

If religious bigotry has political roots, what are its economic beliefs? Going by the praise that leading Indian tycoons Ratan Tata and Mukesh Ambani lavished on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi last week, there is an economic basis to bigotry. Modi is widely believed to have been a close associate of Asimanand. Their idea of unlimited happiness may have sprung a yawning gap though.

The writer is Dawn’s correspondent in Delhi.

[also available at: http://www.sacw.net/article1873.html]

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[2]  combat religious extremism across South Asia

http://www.sacw.net/article1874.html 

A resolution was presented to condemn the murder of Salman Taseer Shaheed, during Peoples SAARC meeting/conference in Dhaka on January 18-19 th, 2011 . Resolution was unanimously adopted by the house. Please find attached the names of the signatories and scanned copy  of the original resolution and signatures

RESOLUTION TO CONDEMN THE MURDER OF SALMAN TASEER

We the development practitioners, political workers, civil society leaders, representatives of social movements, peace and human rights activists, writers, journalists and concerned citizens of South Asia and the participants of Conference on ‘Envisioning New South Asia: People’s Perspectives, 18-19 January, 2011, Dhaka, Bangladesh condemn the brutal murder of Salman Taseer, governor of Punjab, Pakistan, by a religious extremist and demand that the culprit should be brought to justice immediately and the government of Pakistan and other states of South Asian region should stop using communalism and religious fundamentalism to persecute religious and ethnic minorities to divide and rule the peace loving progressive and secular peoples of the region.

Country
Name of the signatory

Pakistan
Karamat Ali

Maldives
Latheff Mohamed

Srilanka
Mohammad Maruf

India
Meena Rukmini Menon

India
Jatin Babu Desai

India
Lalita Ramdas

India
Kamla Bhasin

Nepal
Sarba Raj Khadka

Nepal
Netra Prasad Timsina

Nepal
Rachita Sharma Dhungel

Manila [The Philippines]
Jenina Joy Chavez

Pakistan
Farrukh Sohail Goindi

Pakistan
Zulfiqar Ali Halepoto

Pakistan
Mohamed Ilyas

Pakistan
Hasil Khan Bizenjo

Pakistan
Mohammed Aslam Meraj

Pakistan
Najma Sadiq

Pakistan
Zahida Parveen Detho

Pakistan
Sharafat Ali

Pakistan
Nadeem Ashraf

Pakistan
Shaikh Asad Rehman

India
Kamal Aron Mitra Chenoy

India
Neera Chandhoke

India
Babulal Sharma

Srilanka
Sunila Abhey Sekhara

India
Ashok Ghosh Chowdhury

India
Roma Malik

Nepal
Kapil Shrestha

Nepal
Gopal Krishna Siwakoti

Nepal
Liladhar Upadhyaya

Nepal
Bushnu Pukar Shrestha

Afganistan
Raz Mohd Dalili

India
Gautam Mody

India
Dr.Amrita Chhachhi

India
Anil Kumar Chaudhury

Nepal
Dinesh Mani Tripathi

o o o

Daily Times
January 20, 2011

Democratisation of state urged to combat religious extremism

* Experts say income inequality, control of resources by rich, rise of corporate interest adding new tensions to region

DHAKA: Speakers at the People’s SAARC seminar on Wednesday laid emphasis on increasing democratisation of the state to combat growing religious extremism.

They also stressed on creating a SAARC parliamentarian forum to bring the legislators from all countries together to envision a common future of the region. They said the situation in the South Asian countries was deteriorating with a large number of people resorting to violence and extremism after being devastated in socio-political life dominated by the elite.

Income inequality, control of economic resources by the rich and the rise of corporate interest dominating the state institutions were adding new tensions which destabilised nations, and greedy politicians were exploiting the situation to perpetuate their power, they added. They feared the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan might lead to Balkanisation of the region, including India.

Former Indian naval chief, M Ramdas, said of $1,200 billion arms trade last year, 30 percent went to India, followed by 14-15 percent purchases made by Pakistan.

He said the region must try to thwart external influences to avoid destabilisation and the countries should allow domestic forces play their role to bring prosperity to the poor and marginalised people.

Speakers also stressed on remodelling the education system to induce the spirit of democracy and secularism so that the madrassa education and its impacts on younger minds could be minimised. New Age editor Nurul Kabir said secularism and an equitable distribution of wealth could provide the basis of a sustainable state. He pointed out democratic tolerance and pluralism could only satisfy the need of the nation state. “It may also provide the basis of a South Asian union,” he added.

Some participants stressed that governments guarantee constitutional rights to tribal people so that the majority in a society could not exploit their situation and force them into taking extremist stands.

They said state should become people centric to support its citizens as only this could safeguard peace and stability in all SAARC countries. Kamal Chenoy, Hasil Bizenjo, Bishunu Shrestha, Muhammad Lateef, Lalitha Ramdas, Karamat Ali, Rezaul Karim Chowdhury, Netra Timsina, Najma Sadeq and others spoke on the occasion.


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[3]  Pakistan:

Daily Times, 19 January 2011

TURNING VILLAINS INTO HEROES 

by Dr Manzur Ejaz

The JI is the mother of religious terrorism in Pakistan. It is the only party that has ideologues, strategists and operators. The JI knows how to, directly or indirectly, use the religious parties to its advantage

When killer Mumtaz Malik Qadri was shooting at Governor Salmaan Taseer (shaheed) his security colleagues remained mere spectators. After committing this act he was safely handed over to the police. After a few minutes, his confession statement was leaked to the media. Up until then the media was using the word “martyred” for Governor Taseer but after his confession statement was whipped up by everyone, suddenly the words “assassinated” and “killed” replaced martyred, and the killer was declared a “ghazi”. In no time the killer was being compared with Ilm Din who had been praised by Allama Mohammad Iqbal and defended by Mohammad Ali Jinnah in court. In short, the martyred was turned into a villain, and a killer into a ghazi.

You must be thinking how all this happened so quickly, as if the angels themselves were directing the TV channels. Divine inspiration cannot explain the turn of the media. However, this rhetoric can be attributed to organised groups — agencies or operators of political parties and terrorist groups — deputed to take care of the media. Such elements use all kinds of methods like threats and enticements to force the media to use their language. The Salmaan Taseer case shows very well how the planners quickly got hold of Qadri’s confession and put it all over the media.

Salmaan Taseer’s martyrdom reminds me of the early 1970 period of Punjab University (PU). Then the Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba (IJT) was testing its initial model of Islamisation in PU, which was later implemented in the rest of the country by various religious and political parties. Incidentally, members of the IJT have penetrated many political parties, particularly the PML-N, MQM and some others. The etymology of religious terrorism is very different in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from Punjab where the IJT’s PU model is self-evident. This is one of the reasons why 90 percent of blasphemy cases have been registered in Punjab where the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and IJT are most powerful.

I vividly remember how the IJT used to plan before terrorising a student or a teacher. For example, a night before action they would prepare posters condemning the ‘surkha ghunda gardi’ (terrorism of the Left). They would then assign people to go to the police station to file a report against the Left. It was rumoured in those days that the JI managed to have their chosen police officers employed in the Wahdat Colony police station, which covered the university’s jurisdiction. The next day, within minutes, after breaking the bones of some of its opposing students or insulting a teacher, they would put up these posters on every wall of the university. In no time, a police report would be filed and the police would be moved to arrest the victims. Sometimes press statements about the incidents were sent to the media even before the action. This is how methodically the JI, through the IJT, terrorised the left-liberal students and teachers.

Now review the chronology of events on the day Salmaan Taseer was martyred in this backdrop. You will see that it was all pre-planned. The planners knew how the governor was going to be gunned down, how the killer would be handed over to the police and how his confession statement was to reach the media. It seems that the planners had prepared teams to manipulate the media through threats or enticement. Without planning, media portrayal does not get reversed so quickly.

The JI is the mother of religious terrorism in Pakistan. It is the only party that has ideologues, strategists and operators. The JI knows how to, directly or indirectly, use the religious parties to its advantage. The JI has done most of its experimentation in PU and other educational institutions.

When the JI was convinced that the agenda of Islamisation was getting weaker because of Taliban suicide bombings killing thousands of innocent people, it started the campaign against drone attacks and in favour of Aafia Siddiqui. Aafia was chosen because she was a soft image — a mother of little children who had been maliciously kidnapped. The JI did not undertake a similar campaign for Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad because he would not have been a proper image to provoke Pakistanis. He was a healthy young male for whom winning mass sympathies was not easy.

Now look at the cases of Aafia Siddiqui and Faisal Shahzad. Both were American citizens and prosecuted in the US like all other citizens who commit crimes. Aafia Siddiqui damaged her case through her statements in court, showing that she was a member of al Qaeda. However, her case was presented in Pakistan as if she was a Pakistani citizen who had been kidnapped and brought to the US for prosecution. The people running the ‘Free Aafia Campaign’ were shrewd and knew that there was no way that the US government could pressurise the judiciary to get her out. Only President Obama could have pardoned her but that would have been political suicide for the Democrats.

Our prime minister did not prove to be very sharp-witted when he appealed to the US to free Aafia Siddiqui. He did not know that, by appealing for Ms Siddiqui, he was justifying a future Aafia named Mumtaz Malik Qadri. If Aafia Siddiqui was turned into a heroine, then Qadri could have wished to become a ghazi without much trouble.

The ‘Free Aafia Siddiqui Campaign’ was meant to provide political cover for the Taliban and create an atmosphere in which crimes can be committed in the name of religion without any repercussions. For Mumtaz Malik Qadri, breaking the law was not a serious matter in such an atmosphere.


o o o


The News International, January 20, 2011

IS A REVERSAL POSSIBLE?

by Naeem Sadiq

Those who killed Salmaan Taseer and those who instigated, justified or celebrated this madness can only be described as religious fanatics, bigoted extremists or intolerant fascists. Those opposing this mindset are often referred to as liberal, progressive, moderate and tolerant. This apparently sharp socio-religious divide seems to be widening rapidly and may well become a battle for Pakistan itself.

But is this divide real? Or does it only reflect two attitudes of irrationality, apparently contradictory but actually complementary to each other, both ultimately supporting extremism, militancy and use of religion as a tool for gaining or retaining political power? Is it possible that the rise of religious fanaticism in Pakistan is in fact a creation and a mirror image of the attitudes and actions of its own ruling elite? Is it possible that the space now occupied by the rightwing militancy was deliberately legislated, to fool the masses, appease the clergy and strengthen the power base of the rulers? Is it possible that the "liberal progressives," through apathy and silence, may have made the largest contribution to the creation of the tyranny of the bigots today?

There are at least four key, and difficult, issues that ought to be addressed if we wish to see an end to this cancerous strife plaguing our society. As a first step, the state must get rid of its obsession for creating legislation intended to appease the clergy. While this constitutionalised religiosity has done nothing to improve the society even by an iota, it has created alarming new opportunities for confusion and conflict.

It all began when the First Constituent Assembly ignored the Quaid-e-Azam's speech of Aug 11, 1947, and instead opted for the Objectives Resolution. From then onwards, there was no looking back. In 1974, ours became the only parliament in the world to assume the divine right of deciding whether or not a citizen was in fact a Muslim. A new definition of who is a Muslim was legislated.

Our clueless parliaments, often consisting of tax evaders and fake degree-holders, even foreign nationals, ought to refrain from making laws that interpret, define or dictate citizens in matters of religion.

The state in Pakistan has virtually surrendered its fundamental responsibility, which is to protect the life and liberty of its citizens. "If your life is at risk, it is better that you leave the country," is the advice given by the federal interior minister to someone who has been publicly threatened. The second essential requirement to reverse this militant madness is for the state to firmly resolve to protect its citizens, regardless of their respective faiths or backgrounds. Not a single perpetrator was punished, for example, after eight Christians were burnt alive in Gojra or 86 Ahmadis gunned down in Lahore.

Was it not for the state to apprehend the "imam" in Peshawar who announced a reward for the killing of Aasiya Bibi, the Christian woman charged with blasphemy? Clerics of this or that sect or religious school of thought have regularly and publicly been declaring members of other sects or persuasions "wajibul qatl" (deserving of murder), and this has been going on for years. These and hundreds of other such incidents are a result of incitements from the pulpit, with citizens being asked to take the law into their own hands. These incitements have been conveniently ignored by the state machinery.

The third step necessary for a change is to reform or neutralise the country's rich and powerful elite - which has also become its biggest curse and roadblock to progress. This community is the largest law-breaking, militant, selfish and irrational segment of Pakistan's society. In Karachi alone, this category of urban militants drives thousands of illegal vehicles displaying fake number plates, or none at all.

Their vehicles are loaded with illegal weapons and private goons. Their obscenely lavish weddings play night long music at a volume before which even the cleric's loudspeaker is a whisper. Their indulgence in New Year's Eve's aerial firing would put FATA tribesmen to shame.

With its powerful contacts, this class managed to receive a staggering 139,000 arms licenses since the present government came to power. Of these, 39,000 licenses were issued for prohibited bore weapons such as Kalashnikovs, G3s and Uzis, mostly on the direct orders of the prime minister and the minister of state for the interior. Pakistan has no chance to counter the radicals when its so-called secular or liberal parties are led by such a corrupt, militant, and incompetent ruling class.

Finally, the refusal of both the state and its more privileged classes to comprehend that Pakistan can never be a tolerant and peaceful country while its 170 million people are neglected, uneducated and unemployed, whose lifestyle in so many cases may only be marginally better than that of cavemen. The children joining religious schools are provided boarding and lodging in this world and a promise of still better rewards in the next world. The state, on the other hand, has little idea of how many functional schools it has or what goes on inside them.

Pakistan would do well to begin its battle for restoration of its society's tolerance and moderation by turning the focus on the lives and the wellbeing of its forgotten ordinary citizens.

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[4] India:

The Guardian, 19 January 2011

INDIA MUST FACE UP TO HINDU TERRORISM

India's anti-minorities bias is so strong that it has failed to acknowledge the threat posed by Hindu radicalism

by Kapil Komireddi

For far too long, the enduring response of the Indian establishment to Hindu nationalists has rarely surpassed mild scorn. Their organised violent eruptions across the country – slaughtering Muslims and Christians, destroying their places of worship, cutting open pregnant wombs – never seemed sufficient enough to the state to cast them as a meaningful threat to India's national security.

But the recently leaked confession of a repentant Hindu priest, Swami Aseemanand, confirms what India's security establishment should have uncovered: a series of blasts between 2006 and 2008 were carried out by Hindu outfits. The attacks targeted a predominantly Muslim town and places of Muslim worship elsewhere. Their victims were primarily Muslim. Yet the reflexive reaction of the police was to round up young Muslim men, torture them, extract confessions and declare the cases solved.

Pundits now conduct cautious enquiries on television. Does this revelation mean India is now under attack by "Hindu terrorism"? But to treat this as a new phenomenon is to overlook the bulky corpus of terrorist violence in India that has its roots in explicitly Hindu-political grievances. Why is the attack on a Jewish centre in Mumbai by Pakistani gunmen an example of "Islamic terrorism", but the slaughter of a thousand Muslims by sword-wielding Hindus in Gujarat in 2002 not proof of "Hindu terrorism", particularly when the purpose of the violence was to establish an Hindu state in India? How do we describe attacks on churches, the kidnappings of pastors, the burning to death of a missionary? What do we make of the war-cry pehle kasai, phir isai: first the butchers (Muslims), then the Christians? What has prompted this debate over "Hindu terrorism" is not Aseemanand's confession: it is the fact that, in carrying out their violence, his accomplices appropriated methods which, in popular imagination, have become associated exclusively with Islamic terrorism. Detonating bombs in crowded areas: isn't that what Muslims do?

It is when you look at the reactions to non-Hindu extremism that you absorb how strongly majoritarian assumptions inform the state and society's conduct in India. In 2002, the Indian government banned the radical Muslim group Simi (Students' Islamic Movement of India) citing the group's charter, which seeks to establish sharia rule in India, and the terror charges some of its members were facing. But the Hindu radical outfit RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or the National Volunteer Corps) remains open for business – even though it campaigns, very openly, for a Hindu state in India, and its members incite and perpetrate violence against Muslim and Christian minorities. Mahatma Gandhi's assassin was a member of the RSS, as are Aseemanand and his confreres. To get an idea of which of the two groups poses a more immediate threat to India, consider this: the government that banned Simi was headed by the BJP, the political wing of the RSS.

The principal cause of Hindu radicalism, much like its Muslim counterpart in Pakistan, is the partition of India in 1947. The departing British hacked India apart to accommodate the Muslim League's demand for an exclusive homeland for the subcontinent's Muslims – and so, the Hindu nationalist logic runs, the territory that remained should logically be identified as the land of Hindus. If Pakistan's Muslim majoritarianism crystallised around the bogey of "Hindu raj", the Hindu nationalist project thrives by casting the burden of partition on India's Muslim minorities – fifth columnists whose coreligionists tore India apart by claiming, in spite of a millennium-long sojourn in India, to be foreigners by virtue of their faith.

For all the saffron calumny, it is impossible to find a community more emphatically committed to India than its Muslims. India's Hindus never had to make a choice. The Muslims did. Consider what an ordinary Muslim family in 1947 would have had to deal with: terrified by the violence that the partition had unleashed, their coreligionists were fleeing in the millions to Pakistan; Hindu and Sikh fanatics were actively seeking out Muslims for slaughter and rape; the possibility of being betrayed by neighbours and friends was far from remote. Sardar Patel, the second most powerful functionary in the Indian government, was openly hostile to Muslims – hostility which no doubt would have been seen by many Hindus as tacit endorsement of their actions. Amidst all this, the sole authoritative source of reassurance would have been the distant pledges of a better tomorrow by Jawaharlal Nehru. The Muslims who remained, who refused to vacate the hell that was India despite the blandishments of paradise next door in Pakistan, affirmed their faith in India with their lives.

After all this, it is staggering that the Hindu right gets away so easily by routinely humiliating Indian Muslims. From demographics to diet, personal laws to places of worship, Muslims are suspect in everything they do. Adding a dash of foreign authority, glamour and fuel to this unbridled bigotry is the lavatorial "scholarship" of frustrated European converts to Hinduism such as François Gautier and Koenraad Elst. Misfits in their own societies, they have flourished by exploiting communal tensions in a miserably poor country. What the Muslims did to Hindus was worse than the Jewish Holocaust explains one, while the other warns Hindus that they are being outbred by Muslims. The JNU historian Tanika Sarkar was perhaps right in identifying "penis envy and anxiety about emasculation" among the principal reasons for anti-Muslim bigotry.

The Indian state has failed appallingly in its obligations to Muslim citizens. There are 150 million Muslims in India, but as the government's own figures show, only 4% are graduates, 5% have public employment, an overwhelming majority remain locked out of public institutions, and their access to government loans and education is severely restricted. If this institutional exclusion should breed resentment, and the resentment produce violence, no one will hesitate to call it another instance of Islamic terrorism. But when self-pitying Hindus massacre minorities and detonate bombs in the midst of Muslim crowds, we are expected to be polite. No, let us call it what it actually is: Hindu terrorism.

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[4]  Justice to Dr. Binayak Sen: Appeal from TISS

From: Anjali Monteiro 
Date: Wed, Jan 19, 2011 at 10:06 AM

Dear all,
Please find below the text of the appeal sent yesterday by the faculty, staff and students of TISS to the President of India and other concerned officials on the Binayak Sen case. Please publicise and circulate. We also appeal to those in  educational and other institutions to take up similar campaigns.
Thanks,
Anjali Monteiro


APPEAL TO THE HONOURABLE PRESIDENT OF INDIA
from the Students, Staff and Faculty of Tata Institute of Social Sciences

JUSTICE TO DR. BINAYAK SEN

We the undersigned faculty, staff and students of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences would like to express our dismay at and protest against the grave miscarriage of justice that has resulted in the sentence of life imprisonment to noted doctor and human rights activist Dr Binayak Sen by a Raipur Sessions Court on charges of sedition and aiding a banned organization under Section 39 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act  2004 (UAPA) and Section 8 of the Chhatisgarh Special Public Security Act, 2005 (CSPSA). The sentence puts to question both the credibility of our judicial system and the democratic character of our country.

It is clear from the trial proceedings that the charges against Dr.Binayak Sen are baseless, unsubstantiated and the evidence highly questionable. The use of the UAPA and CSPSA to imprison for life one of India's most committed social activists who has dedicated his life to the cause of the marginalised is indeed reprehensible.  The hallmark of a democratic nation is to guarantee freedom of expression to its citizens. Dr. Binayak Sen campaigned actively against Salwa Judum, a vigilante force, and against the destruction of the lives and livelihoods of tribals in the region. Instead of addressing the challenges of the still unfulfilled constitutional rights of the tribal population especially the protection guaranteed under the Fifth Schedule and PESA that are crucial pre-requistes in order for them to lead a a peaceful and conflict-free existence , the State has punished Dr. Sen who has served the tribal people of Chattisgarh against tremendous odds for decades. In fact, the charges against Dr. Sen appear to have been motivated by the desire to silence his tireless documentation and exposure of human rights abuses. Dr. Binayak Sen is being used as an example to silence other dissenting voices against the unjust development paradigm and armed state oppression as manifested through Operation Greenhunt not only in Chhattisgarh but also in other tribal tracts in the country where a similar situation exists.

Anti-people laws such as the CSPSA and the UAPA, which have been used to incarcerate not only Dr. Binayak Sen but also many tribals should be repealed. Justice should be done to Dr. Sen and hundreds of others languishing in prison on similar charges. The archaic colonial law on sedition has no place in a democratic nation and needs to be repealed.  We appeal to you to remedy the injustice so that citizens do not lose faith in the judiciary and our democracy lives up to its high promise.

Students, Staff and Faculty of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (List of Signatures Appended)

CC to:
The Hon’ble Chief Justice of India
The Hon’ble Chief Justice of Chhattisgarh High Court
Dr.  Manmohan Singh, Hon’ble Prime Minister
Shri. Veerappa Moily, Hon’ble Minister for Law and Judiciary
Shri. P. Chidambaram, Hon’ble Home Minister
Shri Raman Singh, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Chhatisgarh


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[5] India:  Anti Nuclear Campaign in Maharashtra

WHY WE OPPOSE THE JAITAPUR NUCLEAR POWER PROJECT
A Letter to the Chief Minister by social activists in Maharashtra
http://www.sacw.net/article1864.html

o o o

Janahit Seva Samiti, Madban 
Reg. No.: Maharashtra (3456) / Ratnagiri, Dt. 10.08.2007 
Reg. No.: F 3444 
At Post: Madban, Tal.: Rajapur, Dist.: Ratnagiri [India]

January 17, 2011

To, 
Mr. Prithviraj Chavan 
Hon’ble Chief Minister 
State of Maharashtra 
Mantralaya 
Mumbai 400 032

Re: Decision to Abstain from Attending the Meeting Called by you on January 18, 2011 – Our Position

Dear Sir,

The newspapers have reported that you have called a meeting on 18th January 2011 to address the ‘misconceptions’ and ‘apprehensions’ in the minds of the local residents. We wish to clarify at the outset that ever since the land acquisition process commenced in 2006 we have deeply studied the issues relating to the nuclear power project and our opposition to the project is firmly anchored in these scientific studies.

In the past four years we have carefully read the writings of Dr. Kakodkar, S.K. Jain, Dr. Ravindra Kale and other proponents of the project. We have held discussions with NPCIL and AEC. We have discussed with nuclear scientists Dr. Surendra Gadekar and Dr. Sanghamitra Gadekar. We have studied the writings of nuclear experts Zia Mian, Elliot, Solomon, Flavin and Dr. Helen Caldicott, the discussions in ’Anuvivek’ by Dr. Dilip Kulkarni , and ’Anuurja: Bhram, Vastav aani Paryaya’, by Dr. Sulabha Brahme, and the writings of many other authors in the media before arriving at our conclusions. On the basis of all these materials we have arrived at the conclusion that Nuclear Energy is an unaffordable and unacceptable option whose costs far outweigh its benefits. Nuclear power has inherent safety, security and large scale environmental risks including extremely long term risks. It is extremely costly when all the costs are calculated. Due to the high cost and radioactive risk new nuclear plant construction has been halted in the US and most of Europe. Public opposition to nuclear power in Europe and the US has also been growing. This is why the western countries are trying to sell their reactors to India, China and S. Korea.

Despite years of research, there is no satisfactory technology even today for eliminating the high level radioactivity produced by nuclear reactors. There is no geological repository in existence anywhere in the world which can reliably and safely confine and contain these high level nuclear by-products for the enormous time period necessary to reduce the radioactivity to acceptable levels. Till today there is no scientific answer to the problem of disposal of nuclear waste and radioactive by-products of nuclear reactors.

Despite precautions numerous smaller scale accidents and incidents resulting in radioactive release have occurred in NPPs. The recent incident at Kaiga is just one example. Due to the possibility of accidents or incidents with extremely widespread damage the western power plant suppliers are demanding exemption from civil liability for the consequences of nuclear incidents.

Nuclear power is neither cheap, nor clean, nor safe. The irreversible long term damage from radioactivity will be a real risk for thousands of years. Therefore we have come to the firm conclusion that we cannot allow a nuclear power project at Madban/Jaitapur.

All four gram panchayats in the area have used their authority under the 73rd amendment to pass unanimous resolutions against the proposed JNPP. At the public hearing on May 16th 2010 objections were forcefully articulated by scientific experts. We along with the Konkan Bachao Samiti have had detailed discussions with the Minister of Environment and Forests, and technical experts of the NPCIL, NEERI and the AEC. These discussions have only confirmed and reinforced our conclusion that nuclear power is unaffordable, unacceptable, and fails a scientific cost-benefit analysis test.

Till today there has been no disclosure in the public domain about the capital costs of the project, nor the electricity tariff, which can be the basis of study and scrutiny. Most important till today there has been no consideration, leave alone approval of the design, operational safety, security and environmental risks of the project, its likely impact on the ecology and the livelihoods of the area by the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, and other authorities. The project is not shown on any development plan for Ratnagiri. In these circumstances we have decided not to participate in the proposed meeting on the 18th January 2011.

In addition to our fundamental opposition to nuclear power on the above grounds we have specific objections to the site selection. The Madban plateau is continuously experiencing numerous seismic tremors. Cracks have developed in several places. Water availability is the only criterion which is satisfied according to the criteria of the Vengurlekar Committee. The project will be in substantial violation of the CRZ restrictions, though technically exempted. While selecting this sensitive plateau scientific realities appear to have been ignored. The environmental consequences on the Konkan region of the network of high tension transmission towers needed to evacuate 10,000 MW of power have also not been considered.

Most importantly, the Madban plateau is an unique biodiversity ecological hot-spot, which is has to be preserved as a global natural treasure. “To describe this ecological treasure as a barren plateau is unscientific and a blatant lie, which however is digested by muddleheaded experts from Mumbai- and Delhi”- in these terms Dr. Madhav Gadgil has expressed his criticisms in an article which has appeared in Sakal 12th Nov 2010. The BNHS has also in its report stated that the JNPP will have an adverse impact on the biodiversity and the marine life due to the hot water discharges. The adverse impact on the marine life has also been acknowledged by the Minister of State for Environment and Forests Mr. Jairam Ramesh.

The construction of the jetty for building the JNPP will destroy the mangrove forests in and around the creeks. This will destroy the fish breeding grounds and reduce the fish populations. The passage of large sea vessels will destroy marine ecology. The daily intake of 5200 crore litres of water by the project will adversely impact on fish resources. The discharge of the same at a higher temperature will damage the prawn, mollusc and fish resources. There will be a 500 meter no fishing zone all around the project. Security requirements against possible terrorist attacks for the project will place further restrictions on the movement of boats and fishing vessels. All this will have severe adverse impact on the fishing communities in and around the project. There are nearly 7500 persons whose livelihood and survival directly depends on fishing will thus be immediately adversely affected even destroyed. To the south, the livelihood of around 5000 persons directly dependent on fishing for living in fishing villages of Katli, Ingalwadi, Jambhari will be adversely affected. The livelihoods of thousands more who work in the local fishing industry and trade will be devastated.

The current requirement of power of Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts is a mere 180 MW, against which 4663 MW of power plant capacity is currently already being exported from these two districts with a further increase of 600 MW in one or two months.

Since shortage of power is cited as the justification for this project we are enclosing a booklet on the alternatives before the country for electricity generation for your perusal.

You are aware that Konkan is the Kashmir of Maharashtra. Substantial employment can be created in industries based on the rich natural resources which do not destroy but preserve and develop the natural wealth. If fish resources are protected, fishing and industries around fish reprocessing can flourish. The working people of Konkan can live with dignity. The farmers, workers and fishing community of Konkan desire a nature conserving, viable and people-oriented development in the Konkan. What kind of development is desirable and what is not is outlined in the booklet that we are enclosing with this letter.

If the government is serious about having a frank dialogue with the activists and the people, certain minimum requirements should be observed. The discussion should take place not in Mumbai but nearby the project site. The organizations opposing the project should have the prerogative to choose their spokesmen and representatives. There should be sufficient time for preparing the discussions on a mutually agreed agenda. The common people should be allowed to participate in the discussion. The issues involved require a discussion of a full day or two days- they cannot be dealt with in a short 2 hour meeting. Only if these minimum requirements are met will it be possible to have a serious and meaningful discussion which is open and unbiased.

If the only purpose of the meeting is to clear our doubts, there is no need for such a meeting. If the meeting is called for any other reason, it is still not possible for us to participate in the current environment of police and state repression. Since the commencement of land acquisition in 2006 ban orders under sections 37(3) (1), 144 have been continuously promulgated in the area, to prevent our exercise of democratic rights. False cases have been foisted on activists. The whole area has been converted into a permanent police camp. Our daily life and livelihood has been rendered difficult, in fact impossible. Mr. Praveen Gavankar, who is a leader of the agitation, has had false cases registered against him and his bail applications have been opposed by the government, to keep imminent arrest as a hanging sword over his head. Peaceful citizens of Maharashtra are being treated as criminals. It is not possible to have a dialogue in these circumstances. We cannot think of discussions if the ban orders and false cases are not withdrawn.

However, if the government is prepared to reconsider the project with an open mind and announces so publicly, we are prepared to meet you for discussions anywhere and at any time.

Your government is trying to impose the project on us. We are determined to oppose it by a mass movement peacefully and democratically. We request you to recognize this democratic opposition, stop attempts to crush it by force, declare that the JNPP project is cancelled and allow us and the people of Maharashtra to live in peace and security.

Our demands:

1.	Cancel the Jaitapur Nuclear Project 
2.	Return the lands which have been forcibly acquired from us. 
3. Withdraw all police cases filed against the movement activists and also the ban orders and create a suitable environment for dialogue.

Your truly, 
For Janahit Seva Samiti, Madban

Sd/-

Praveen Gavankar, Shyamsundar Narvekar, Surfuddin Kazi, Amjad Borkar, Dr. Milind Desai, Rajan Wadekar, Ramesh Kajve, Shrikrishna Mayekar, Mangesh Kaskar, Bala Gavankar, Malik Gadkari, Sadat Habib, Ms. Manda Wadekar, Mrs.Ranjana Manjrekar

And

Konkan Bachao Samiti, Konkan Vinashakari Prakalp Virodhi Samiti, Maharashtra Macchhimar Kruti Samit, Ratnagiri Jilha Jagruk Manch Ratanagiri Dist, Madban-Mithgavhane-Jaitapur Sangharsh Samiti

======
[SEE RELATED MEDIA REPORTS]

Jaitapur: Villagers snub Maharashtra CM Chavan (CNN-IBN)
http://bit.ly/hlBBBb

Jaitapur hearing takes place without opponents
http://bit.ly/hRzQsD

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[6] THE TRUTH LEFT BEHIND: INSIDE THE KIDNAPPING AND MURDER OF DANIEL PEARL

The Pearl Project spent more than three years investigating the roles of 27 men linked to the 2002 kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl
By Asra Q. Nomani and Barbara Feinman Todd

http://treesaver.publicintegrity.org/daniel_pearl

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[7]  India Patriarchy an Internal Affair?


Decan Herald, 19 January 2011

Editorial

WAIVE IMMUNITY

''The diplomat should face the legal consequences.''

It is unfortunate that India has refused to waive the diplomatic immunity of senior diplomat Anil Verma posted in its High Commission in London. Verma is reported to have beaten up his wife severely. When police showed up at the couple’s home, he is reported to have claimed diplomatic immunity.

The British government asked New Delhi to waive his diplomatic immunity so that it could charge him for wife-beating. But Delhi turned down this request. It has recalled Verma. Verma is an IAS official who was on deputation in the London mission and it is likely that he will be sent back to his home cadre. However, he has committed a crime and should face the legal consequences for it. Why is the Indian government letting him off with a rap on the knuckles?

The ministry of external affairs is reportedly ‘deeply embarrassed.’ With the unsavoury incident hitting international headlines, officials were reportedly upset with the wife for going public on the matter. However, the government should be ashamed of its response to the incident. Its refusal to waive diplomatic immunity to a wife-beater is untenable.

There is little ambiguity over the fact that wife beating, whether in the UK or India, is a crime and merits punishment. There is simply no justification to go to Verma’s rescue. He has violated the law and the Indian government is embarrassing itself by allowing a wife-beater to get off the hook. It is undermining the image of its diplomatic corps overseas. It should be making clear to its diplomats that the highest standards of behaviour are expected of them. By letting Verma off lightly, it is encouraging others to misuse diplomatic immunity too.

Diplomats are provided with immunity from legal action in the country they serve so that they are able to carry out their duties effectively without fear of undue pressure from the host country. It is not meant to be used to protect those who engage in domestic violence, smuggling, drunken driving, human trafficking and so on. Yet several diplomats are misusing this privilege.

It is not diplomatic immunity that we must blame for the criminal actions of diplomats but the reluctance of governments to waive this immunity when their diplomats are found violating the law. India’s response has left it looking like it condones wife beating. Stern action against Verma will show that it does not tolerate misuse of diplomatic immunity.


_____


[6] Announcements:

(i) MEMORIAL MEETING FOR COM. BHARATI ROY CHOWDHURY AT 5:00PM AT JAWAHARLAL NEHRU NATIONAL YOUTH CENTRE

Com. Bharati Roychowdhury (25 October 1953 – 18 January 2011)


Com. Bharati Roychowdhury passed away on 18 January 2011. A meeting in the memory of Comrade Bharti will be jointly organised by Action India, NFFPFW and NTUI on 21 January, 2011, Friday in basement of Jawaharlal Nehru National Youth Centre, 219, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg, New Delhi (Adjacent to Gandhi Peace Foundation) from 5:00 pm.

Bharati had been at the forefront of women's movements in the country since the 1970s, and also relentlessly fought from the front for the due rights of forest-dependent communities across the country.

Bharati had devoted herself to building peoples organizations and stood up for issues of justice and against exploitation for more than four decades, with little concern for her own needs or health. She had been tirelessly working to amplify the fragile and hapless voices in more than one way in demanding their rights whether it is women's movement, forest rights campaigns, or dalit rights campaigns across the country, defying every challenge that came in her way.

Bharati was not only a very dear friend of ours but also one who inspired many minds to choose the path of justice and equity. Bharati was 58 and for several years now she has suffered from diabetes and multiple renal failure. Despite enormous physical suffering until a few weeks ago she was still active in the struggle and had an indomitable spirit to struggle and live. Her health had deteriorated over the past few years, but she also fought very strongly there and never let her fragile health condition get in the way of her work.

In the past several years she was actively involved with Action India, a women's organisation in Delhi. Bharati was a founder of the Action India Women’s Programme.

In the afternoon, community workers, close colleagues will also come together to share and Remember Bharati’s contribution to Women’s Movement and celebrate memories of togetherness and shared struggles from 1976 to 2011.

She was the heart of Sabla Sangh and teacher and guide to community health workers. She was also closely involved in the creation of the National Forum of Forest People and Forest Workers. She was very actively involved in the discussions that led up to the building of the Grameen Mazdoor Union, NTUI’s affiliate in Uttar Pradesh

We will always remember her in every battle of working women we fight.

Gouri Choudhury 
Action India    

Ashok Choudhary       
NFFPFW

Ashim Roy   
NTUI       

Madhuresh
NAPM//Delhi Solidarity Group


(ii) Selected events at Jaipur Literature Festival  on 21st and 23 January 2011

21 January 2011
- Two Nations, Two Narratives
Muneeza Shamsie in conversation with Urvashi Butalia
2.30pm – 3.30pm - Mughal Tent, Durbal Hall , DSC Jaipur Literature Festival

- Empowering Women’s Voices: Perspectives, Strategies & Ground Reality
Kavita Srivastava, Mridula Behari, Shreela Flather & Surina Narula
6pm – 7pm - Durbal Hall , DSC Jaipur Literature Festival

23 January 2011
-  Vidya Shah: Women on Record – Indian Vocals
Women on Record highlights a significant moment in India’s cultural history and celebrates the contributions of women singers in the Gramophone era. The scripted performances use a multiplicity of media such as photography & video, to explore the world of performance and technology in early 20th century India. It is a multi-media experience which recreates the aesthetic ambiance of the time. Vidya Shah is a composer, musician, and writer. She is the Director of Women on Record and is the recipient of the Charles Wallace Award for 2010.
Time: 7-10pm - Music Stage - DSC Jaipur Literature Festival


(iii)  6 Short Films and Conversation with Ali Kapadia

Karachi, 26th January 2011 | 7:00 pm   | Venue: http://www.t2f.biz/category/location

Ali Kapadia is a San Francisco based Pakistani filmmaker who made his filmmaking debut in 2005 with a lego stop-motion animated music video named Maujo Mein. Ali has since worked on several short film projects and loves working in experimental mediums.


(iv) Pakistan- India People's Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD)
(Delhi Chapter)

Dear friend,

Greetings to all the members and friends of the PIPFPD in this New Year 2011. On behalf of the state executive, we wish you a meaningful year ahead. It is important that organizationally too, we start the year on a positive and affirmative note.

As you know, among the limited number of groups working with the specific objective of building peace between both countries and pushing the governments to allow people-to-people interaction and relationship building, Forum holds the key as the most participatory, democratic organisation - consisting of individuals, organisations, trade unions, people’s movements, etc from both countries. Hence, it is important and imperative that despite all our organisational difficulties and problems of the past few years, we must carry on with our collective goal and mission. The recently held National Convention of the India Chapter of PIPFPD (held at Jammu in the first week of December 2010) also affirmed this position and has encouraged and requested all its members to reactivate ourselves towards our common mission. It has elected a new Committee and new organisational leadership with this in mind.

As the NCR state executive, we are taking this opportunity to organize the next State Convention of PIPFPD Delhi Chapter. The Delhi State convention of the Forum is planned for the 29th of January at Indian Social Institute, (Behind Saibaba Mandir), Lodi Road, New Delhi from 2.00pm. The state committee has also decided to hold a seminar on ‘Pakistan & India: the different colours of terror and intolerance’ along with the state convention. The Seminar will end at 4.30 pm and we expect to hold organisational business including elections in the next hour and half.

The next Joint Convention of the Forum is scheduled to be held in the month of April 2011 in Uttar Pradesh, India. While many chapters, including the UP chapter are gearing up for the same, Delhi cannot be left behind and we need to organizationally play an important role. We request all members and friends of Forum to take the activities forward.  Towards this, it is important that all of us come together to discuss and plan. Kindly also make sure that your membership is updated and that you take initiative in enrolling new members, especially young friends to the Forum’s fold.

Visit Forum’s improved website: www.pipfpd.org. The membership form and other details are available there. Kindly contact the Delhi chapter representatives for any clarification or if you have any suggestions regarding the convention and seminar.

Expecting your participation and future co-operation.

With regards,

T.K John (Chairperson),                             Balraj Kumar (Secretary),             Haris Kidwai (Treasurer)

National Committee Members from Delhi:
Manoranjan Mohanty, Tapan K Bose, Vasanthi Raman, Ravi Hemadri & Vijayan MJ


PIPFPD Delhi State Secretariat: c/o Fr. TK John, Vidyajyothi, 23, Raj Niwas Marg, New Delhi – 110054


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