SACW - 17 April 2012 | Will Pakistan - India become normal neighbours ?/ Sri Lanka: Reviving The Left? / Stop Violence in the name of religion / Hang death penalty / Nuclear power vs natural justice / Bahrain: Freedom Not Death For Defender Al-Khawaja /

[Harsh Kapoor]

    South Asia Citizens Wire - 17 April 2012 - No. 2741
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Contents:

1. When Manmohan Singh comes to Islamabad (Pervez Hoodbhoy)
2. Sri Lanka: Reviving The Left? Frontline Socialist Party Launched (Niel Wijethilaka and K. Govindan) 
3. India - Bangladesh: Souls reunite on border 
4. Pakistan: Connivance at a cost (Raza Rumi)
5. Pakistan: Live and Let Live: Stop Violence in the name of religion - Signature Campaign in Karachi
6. India: Recent content from Communalism Watch
7. India: Punjab: Mixing religion with politics (Kuldip Nayar)
8. India: Divided and Distinct - Caste and class in politics (Andre Beteille)
9. India: Intimidation of anti - nuclear activists continues  
10. Nuclear power vs natural justice (Praful Bidwai)
11. India: A New Opening For Abolition of Death Penalty? (Rajindar Sachar)
12. India: Hang death penalty (Babu Gogineni)
13. India: Microfinance for profit (Cedric Gouverneur)

International: 
14. Bahrain: Freedom Not Death For Defender Al-Khawaja ! (A call from the international network Secularism Is A Women’s Issue (siawi.org)
15. For secular Moroccans, prayer broadcast is wake-up call (Omar Brousky)
16. US scientists campaign for veto of 'Monkey Bill' on creationism in Tennessee (Rosa Prince)
17. Announcements:
(i) Bombay/Mumbai Stories: Films about Gender, Labor, and the Politics of Visibility (New York, April 23, April 25, 2012)
(ii) Manto Centenary Events (New York, 11-15 May 2012)


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1. WHEN MANMOHAN SINGH COMES TO ISLAMABAD
by Pervez Hoodbhoy
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(The Express Tribune, April 15, 2012)

The coincidence between President Asif Ali Zardari's sprint to Delhi last week, and the $10 million head-money on Hafiz Saeed announced by the US could be purely accidental. But this action certainly refocused Indian attention on the alleged Mumbai attack planner, who heads the pantheon of jihadi "heroes" that now freely parades across Pakistan. In such circumstances, holding the olive branch before PM Manmohan Singh surely required guts. The scepticism to Zardari in India was, of course, predictable.

It is easy to pooh-pooh the visit. Mr Zardari is not a popular president or a clean one, and the PPP is unlikely to survive the elections scheduled in a few months from now. Plus, he wields no power on issues that India considers critical: nuclear weapons, Kashmir, and Afghanistan. Most importantly, he can do nothing to rein in the anti-India jihadist network, a matter that belongs squarely to the army's domain. Moving against Hafiz Saeed is not an option. Zardari cannot forget Memogate - which he somehow survived but Ambassador Husain Haqqani did not.

And yet, a weak and embattled government did something refreshingly good for the country. According India, the MFN status for trade and related commercial activity is sure to be a game-changer that could bring peace and prosperity to the region.Ignoring the angry howls of the Difah-e-Pakistan crowd, the government for once listened to the country's majority - most Pakistanis do want trade with India even though they consider it a threat.

Still better news is that the Zardari-Singh joint communique says "practical, pragmatic" solutions will be sought for disputes. Showing his willingness to put Mumbai 2008 on the back-burner, Singh accepted Zardari's invitation to Islamabad. This is exactly the way it should be; frequent high-level meetings are the best confidence-building measures.

But what should the two sides talk about? Surely, there are many issues but here are the top five on which progress is both necessary and, more importantly, possible.

First, let both countries agree to immediately vacate the killing ice fields of Siachen. This insane war at 22,000 feet has claimed hundreds of lives on both sides; 138 Pakistani soldiers and civilian contractors are still being searched for after a mountain of snow crashed on them last week. Maintaining control over a system of Himalayan glaciers has come at a dreadful cost to human lives and resources, and has also irreversibly polluted a pristinely pure environment. But to what end? There are no minerals in Siachen; not even a blade of grass can grow there. This is just a stupid battle between two monster-sized national egos.

Second, let them talk about water - seriously. But please have the Pakistani side well-prepared for solid technical discussions. This means having real experts with facts at their fingertips. They must know about spillway design, sediment control, DSLs, drawdowns, sluicing, etc. I have seen too many duffers represent our side at Pakistan-India meetings where water inevitably comes up. Their lack of knowledge becomes painfully apparent and the Indians start smirking.

In water matters geography has favoured India; every upper riparian state can control outflows and India could be potentially unfair to Pakistan. But, although there are frequent allegations to this effect, are they really correct? The Indus Waters Treaty, negotiated in 1960, has so far kept matters on an even keel; neutral experts have adjudicated complaints received from Pakistan. Water has therefore not been a strong reason for war until now. But this stability may be drawing to an end because both countries - Pakistan more so than India - are becoming water stressed. Rising populations would strain resources even if the other country did not exist. Therefore, sensible and well-informed high-level discussions are critical.

Third, do away with the absurd and provocative daily flag ceremonies at Wagah. Instead, let the leaders talk about how ordinary people can travel more easily across the border. This is a natural right, and a step towards real peace. If you travel to the other side and see that people there have greater likeliness to you than anywhere else in the world, the urge to go to war diminishes. Yet, for a Pakistani to get an Indian visa, or an Indian to get a Pakistani one, is presently an ordeal.

Fourth, Pakistan and India have technical issues regarding trade and transit rights that need discussion. Although Pakistan has finally granted MFN status to India, the real dividend will come if non-tariff barriers are removed and bank transfers are allowed. There are estimates that Pakistan-India trade could rise to an awesome $8 billion per year. To achieve this goal, the onus lies on India.

Fifth: let them talk about exchanging academics, both teachers and students, between the two countries. Pakistan is starved of good teachers in almost every field, especially at the higher levels of education. The Higher Education Commission's plan to bring in university teachers from overseas has flopped. A breakthrough is only possible if Indian teachers could be brought to Pakistan. Indians would find it easier to adapt to local ways and customs than others. Plus, they would have smaller salary expectations than most others. The huge pool of strong Indian candidates could be used to Pakistan's advantage - we could pick the best teachers and researchers, and those most likely to make a positive impact on our system.

The above list has two deliberate omissions. The first is terrorism, which will displease the Indian side. But this matter lies beyond what any elected national leader in Pakistan can do; basically it is for the Pakistan Army to rethink its goals. In all likelihood, change will only come when the internal costs of maintaining strategic jihadist assets become too large. The present informal truce is unlikely to last forever, and jihadists could be attacking their handlers once again in the not-too-distant future.

The second omission is Kashmir, which displeases the Pakistani side. But, given the tortured history of Pakistan-India conflict on this conflict, it is difficult to imagine that progress is possible. Pragmatism therefore requires keeping the conflict on the backburner instead of demanding an instant solution. For now, it is more important that Pakistan and India become normal neighbours and deal with their disputes reasonably.


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2. SRI LANKA: REVIVING THE LEFT? FRONTLINE SOCIALIST PARTY LAUNCHED
by Niel Wijethilaka and K. Govindan
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sacw.net

Colombo -- 14.04.2012

More than 5,000 people packed Colombo’s Sugathadasa stadium for the inaugural conference of the Peratugami Samajawadi Pakshaya (Frontline Socialist Party – FSP) on 9 April 2012. Most were members and sympathisers of this new Left party – a breakaway from the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (Peoples’ Liberation Front – JVP); but many representatives of other radical Left parties, Left intellectuals, and progressive social activists were also in attendance. The emergence and consolidation of the FSP is an important and hopeful development for the revival of peoples’ movements in Sri Lanka in the post-war era, following decades of retreat of the labour and left movements.
http://www.sacw.net/article2633.html

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3. INDIA - BANGLADESH: SOULS REUNITE ON BORDER
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Daily Star, April 16, 2012
Front Page
Souls reunite on border
Barbed-wire fence fails to separate their on Nabobarsho
Bangalees divided by barbed wire fences between Bangladesh and India throng the Omarkhana border in Panchagarh on Pahela Baishakh and exchange greetings and gifts. 
http://www.thedailystar.net/photo/2012/04/16/2012-04-16__front02.jpg
Photo: STARQuamrul Islam Rubaiyat, Thakurgaon

They were neither dressed in bright, colourful clothes nor singing Rabindranath Tagore's ageless Esho he Baishakh in celebration of the Bangla New Year. Their day did not start with a platter of Panta bhat and fried Hilsa fish, the most sought-after menu of urban people on Pahela Baishakh.
But all the faces were glowing with happiness.
With the first sun of 1419 rising on the horizon, a feeling of joy swept over them at the thought of meeting those from whom they were separated by a man-made border.
It was at Omarkhana border in Panchagarh sadar upazila on Saturday, the first day of Baishakh. Thousands of Bangla-speaking people had a get-together from two sides of the fence, though only for four hours from noon.
Scorching heat or barbed wires could not spoil the reunion.
People from different districts of Bangladesh and India, especially those who cannot afford to visit their relatives on the other side through legal procedure, gathered on the Indo-Bangla border.
They talked and exchanged foods, cigarettes, pens, clothes, towels and of course friendly greetings. Many failed to fight back tears seeing their kin.
Those who came here on Saturday said as residents of one country before 1947 and creation of India and Pakistan, people of the region were related in various ways.
One of them is Dharmakanta Roy. Resident of a village in Panchagarh, the 75-year-old saw his daughter Shuryamukhi Roy, 55, who lives in Bhimvita village of Jalpaiguri, India, after around 14 years.
Aisha Begum, 56, of Domer upazila in Nilphamari came to meet her brothers and sisters, all living in the neighbouring country. “I talked with them face to face. Though it was for a while, I'm happy… very happy,” she said.
Nurul Haque Prodhan, 60, of Jhotiakhali village at Shiliguri sub-division in India saw his nephew Golam Rabbani, 45, who lives in Notun Bosti village, Panchagarh. “I was waiting for the day all through the year,” he said.
Ananta Roy, 35, of Shiliguri in India came to meet his father while Ananta Bala, 32, of Farabari village in Thakurgaon to see her siblings living in Jalpaiguri.
Some were frustrated, failing to find their relatives.
Keshab Kumar Roy, 38, of Shakoya village in Panchagarh came to see his elder sister Koruna Rani, 52, of Holdibari village in Jalpaiguri. But she was not found.
Showing some gifts, including saree, and some food items, he told The Daily Star, “If I could give these, she would've become very happy”.
Mithu Roy is president of Rajganj Thana committee of Congress party, Jalpaiguri. “Following the 1947 partition, relatives of many became residents of a different country. I'm one of them,” he said.
He urged both Border Guard Bangladesh and Indian Border Security Force to allow the reunion on Pahela Baishakh every year.
Major Ahmed, deputy commanding officer for 18 BGB Battalion, said, “We made the arrangement through discussion with the BSF and local administration of the both countries.”
Preferring not to be named, two members of Khalpara BSF Battalion said the arrangement was made unofficially, considering public sentiment.
On Saturday, similar reunion was held in Dabri-Betna border area under Haripur upazila, Thakurgaon from 8:30am to 2:30pm, BGB and local sources said. 

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4. PAKISTAN: CONNIVANCE AT A COST
by Raza Rumi
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The News on Sunday, 15 April 2012

Targeted killings of Shias this time is not business-as-usual. It follows the pattern that is evident countrywide and it is linked to the Taliban finding new havens and areas of control
By Raza Rumi

It seems that Pakistan is heading towards another purge — this time a violent process of cleansing the Shia population. There is a mysterious wave of terrorism that is killing Hazara population on a daily basis in Balochistan, Shias in Gilgit-Baltistan, Kurram Agency and elsewhere.

In the last one-month, dozens of Shias have been targeted and killed as if Pakistan was a medieval land, practicing witch-hunting. The ‘banned’ organisations have taken responsibility for most of the attacks in Balochistan.

The case of Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), on the other hand, has faced a virtual media blackout. Not long ago, GB was touted as the fifth province but when it comes to the vital question to protecting its population, the state is miserably failing.

The most gruesome incident took place when 15 passengers of the Shia community were taken off the buses in Chilas, Diamer district, and shot. People from the region say that GB is under attack by the Taliban insurgents from Malakand division and Waziristan. The Darel and Chilas Valleys provide them refuge. The stronghold of Salafis and Wahabis on Pakistan’s Afghan and, consequently, Taliban policy cannot be delinked from the ongoing massacre.

GB is a plural society where Muslims from different sects — Shia, Ismaili and Nurbakhshis and Sunnis — have coexisted for long. Sectarian tensions started in the area during Gen Zia’s rule when militant organisations such as Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan were formed and nurtured.

But the targeted killings of Shias this time is not business-as-usual. It follows the pattern that is evident countrywide and it is linked to the Taliban finding new havens and areas of control. Such was the mayhem in GB that the cellular services were down and a whole region was cut off from the rest of the country. Curfew was in place for days and the local population continues to live in fear of violence. Most notably, the Shias of the area are under attack.

In the tribal areas, Parachinar has also witnessed the re-emergence of sectarian tensions and Talibanisation in recent years. In 2008, the local Sunni population sided with the Taliban and laid siege to an enclave of Shiites in the area. Subsequently, Shia residents fled to the city of Peshawar.

Since then, the Taliban have been successful in exploiting the generations-old sectarian conflict in the region as a way of challenging the government’s writ in the Kurram agency. The spillover of the Talibanisation has also been witnessed in the settled district of Hangu in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

Parachinar’s Shiite population has been subjected to abductions, violence and murder. Sunnis perceived as being too friendly to the Shias have also been targeted. Reports of Shia militias have also appeared in the media in retaliation to the attacks by the Taliban.

The efforts of Pakistani state to use religion to construct a national identity have come home to roost. Since the 1950s, the textbooks and public education were used to develop a non-inclusive identity; and glorification of historical characters who hated Shiaism such as Shah Walliullah and Emperor Aurangzeb.

The sectarian decrees of apostasy against the Shias of Pakistan in the ‘90s cited such religious figures to justify their pedigree. Zia proceeded to impose a rigid interpretation of Islamic law on Pakistan, in part to legitimise his illegal rule and in part as a result of his own ideological inclinations. A gradual movement from the more tolerant, pluralist expression of religion to a more austere and puritanical Deobandi Islam had already begun in the country earlier.

I have written elsewhere on how the Deobandi creed was further strengthened with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the advent of the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979. Afghanistan had always practised the Deobandi variant of Fiqh Hanafia and the ‘jihad’ against the Soviet Union increased the charisma of the Deobandi seminary. The geopolitics of Shia-Sunni tensions in the Middle East after the Iranian revolution also added to the hardening of religious identities.

The strategy of using Deobandi militia proxies in Kashmir further alienated the Barelvis. Barelvi mosques began to be forcibly taken over by Deobandis with state patronage. Today, bolstered by the support lent to them by the Saudis and radicalised further by the presence of Al Qaeda commanders of the likes of Al Zawahiri and their Salafi teaching, the Deobandis dominate the ideological landscape of Pakistan.

Al Qaeda continued to operate from the Pak-Afghan border despite the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, and its leadership found safe havens in Pakistan. Although over the years Bin Laden and his partners were successful in creating a structure in Afghanistan and Pakistan that attracted young recruits, it was never established as a cohesive network. Instead, Al Qaeda continues to operate like a “venture capital firm”, providing funding, contacts, and expert advice to militants from all over the Islamic world. In Pakistan, Al Qaeda is known to have links with the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan and several other extremist groups.

The Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (LJ) is the new ally of Al Qaeda; and the mayhem caused by this network indicates that its demise as touted by the global pundits is far from true.

We are gradually moving towards the term ‘genocide’ when it relates to the Shia population. Of course, the term genocide has legal implications and well defined parameters. But there is a ‘cleansing’ of sorts underway in the case of Hazara. Indeed, the term ‘sectarianism’ that has been in currency is now outdated for the largely one-sided attack on Pakistani Shias.

Many bloggers in the social media have denounced the use of term sectarianism for the current spate of killings. But the term sectarian is also used to define what happens when large sections of society are brainwashed with a sectarian worldview, i.e. Wahabi-Salafi version, courtesy the generous grants by Middle Eastern countries to Pakistani madrassas.

Pakistan has the second-highest Shia population in the world and to witness this slaughter amid a dark, culpable silence is deeply disturbing to say the least. If Shia killing is an offshoot of a state policy, then it needs to be challenged by the intelligentsia and the media. The political parties must not be silent about it as they have been. The deepening divisions within the society and continued legitimisation of Shia killing at the subaltern level by militant organisations, is a trend which will destroy Pakistan.

Sectarian organisations like the SSP/Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat continue to operate out of brick and mortar offices in the Punjab with impunity. The state should disband all armed militias and militant organisations under Article 246 of the constitution. Existing bans on sectarian organisations like the SSP should be strictly enforced.

The government should publicise evidence of sectarian organisations’ involvement in violent or criminal activities. Laws against hate speech should be strictly implemented. Jihadi publications supporting supra-state ideologies and sectarian agendas should be banned and the license of such publications should be revoked.

Human Rights groups have already recommended that the government officials and politicians accused of maintaining links with sectarian organisations should be investigated and, if found guilty, should be prosecuted. The government should ensure a competent prosecution team for those being tried for sectarian violence. The security of lawyers and judges who oversee sectarian cases should also be ensured. We need witness protection programmes in the larger context of counter-terrorism efforts of the state.

Most importantly, Pakistani state policy of allowing space for militant organisations needs a serious overhaul. The militarisation of Pakistani society and the havoc wreaked by rogue ‘strategic assets’ on the country should be evidence enough that the state cannot continue to support militant organisations at the cost of dividing Pakistani society.

The provincial governments which have all the legal powers must now clean up the Pakistan Studies and Islamic studies textbooks of all contents that promote sectarianism or spread hatred.

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5. PAKISTAN: LIVE AND LET LIVE: STOP VIOLENCE IN THE NAME OF RELIGION - SIGNATURE CAMPAIGN IN KARACHI
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http://www.sacw.net/article2635.html

Dear friends,
Recently, Our friends and fellow Pakistani citizens initiated online petitions and wrote to the relevant authorities to protest the hate campaign and violence against Ahmadis specially by members of the so-called Difa-e-Pakistan Council, target-killing of Shias and other acts of violence in the name of religion.

Incidents where people are stopped, identified and killed for their religious beliefs are increasing in Pakistan, the only country where it's a crime for Ahmadis to practice their religion. Forced conversions, attacks on Christian churches and false cases under blasphemy laws (including against Muslims of various sects) are becoming more and more common. The space for free practice of religion and civil public discourse is shrinking.

It is high time for Pakistanis to unite and raise collective voice against these trends before it's too late. We must act NOW! We need to follow up the letter campaigns with a more visible public action. We need to make concrete, consistent and focused attempts for our survival, and consolidate the struggle to take our country back. Every little step counts, every effort will bring us together and will provide likeminded peoples an opportunity to unite.

In this spirit, Citizens for Democracy (CFD) is responding to the call of another public signature campaign and performance by the citizens of Karachi on Saturday, April 14, 2012 in front of Bagh Ibn-e-Qasim/opp. Park Towers, Clifton, Karachi. The theme is Live and let Live: Stop violence in the name of religion

Program schedule:
Signature Campaign:  12pm - 6pm
Mural Drawing:   4-5pm
Performance by Tehrik-e-Niswan (Hum Rokaen Gay):  5-6pm.

You are requested to please respond to this call, join us, invite friends and help spread the word.

Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/217777031655890/
Those who can't attend can sign the petition here: http://www.change.org/petitions/prime-minister-of-pakistan-live-and-let-live-stop-violence-in-the-name-of-religion

Letter Text:

April 14, 2012

To: Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr. Yusuf Raza Gilani
Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Ch. Nisar Ali Khan 

Dear Sirs, 

Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah told the nation in his speech to the Constituent Assembly on Aug 11, 1947 that "You are free; you are free to go to your temples. You are free to go to your mosques or to any other places of worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion, caste or creed --that has nothing to do with the business of the State." Sadly, this nation is today witnessing calls to demolish places of worships, killings and abduction in the name of religion, abductions and forced conversions (particularly of the Hindu community in Sindh) and a flood of hate mongering activities.

We urge you to intervene and stop the killing of Pakistan's religious communities, specifically target killings those belonging to the Sunni (Barelvi), Shia (including Hazara) and Ahmadi communities who are facing a virtual genocide simply for following their religious beliefs and practices.

The attacks on the 12 Rabiul Awal processions cities around Pakistan are evidence of the menace of bigotry and intolerance, as are the target killings of Shias and Ahmadis. The government must act with all its might to put a stop to this. This needs to be done NOW.

1. We strongly condemn these threats of violence and urge the establishment of a code of ethics across the board that prohibits any religious or political party supporting those who victimize others.

2. The Government must ensure that the banned terrorist organizations are not able to operate, spread hatred and harm or threaten peaceful citizens.

3. The Government, both at the Federal and Provincial levels, must take immediate action against violence, threats and intimidation, especially those in the name of religion.

4. There is urgent need to institute a witness protection plan; the police must be empowered, enabled and de-politicized in order to act against those who violate basic human rights and engage in criminal acts in Pakistan.

5. The government must employ the full force of the law to ensure that no one attacks or threatens members of any community simply for following their religious beliefs and practices.

We hope that the government and all political parties will wake up to the growing evil of intolerance and bigotry that is fast turning into a monster and act up before it eats up the very foundations of our society.
Best Regards

-- 
Blog: www.citizensfordemocracy.wordpress.com | Twitter @cfdpk | facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cfd.pakistan

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6. RECENT CONTENT FROM COMMUNALISM WATCH
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‘Beef festival' melee at Osmania University, Hyderabad
http://communalism.blogspot.in/2012/04/beef-festival-melee-at-osmania.html

Mumbai’s communal violence examined: the simmer and spurt of past unrest; the open wounds of the last 20 years
http://communalism.blogspot.in/2012/04/mumbais-communal-violence-examined.html

How the Ban on the RSS Was Lifted
by Rakesh Ankit
http://communalism.blogspot.in/2012/04/how-ban-on-rss-was-lifted.html

A textbook in Bangalore University undergraduate syllabi under attack by right wing students' organisation
http://communalism.blogspot.in/2012/04/textbook-in-bangalore-university.html

Gujarat: The Rioters Next Door
http://communalism.blogspot.in/2012/04/gujarat-rioters-next-door.html

MNS brand of politics haunts Mumbai
http://communalism.blogspot.in/2012/04/mns-brand-of-politics-haunts-mumbai.html

The BJP Tidal Wave in Goa
by Frederick Noronha
http://communalism.blogspot.in/2012/04/bjp-tidal-wave-in-goa_16.html

Modi and responsibility - Peter Ronald deSouza 
http://communalism.blogspot.in/2012/04/modi-and-responsibility-peter-ronald.html

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7.  INDIA: PUNJAB: MIXING RELIGION WITH POLITICS
by Kuldip Nayar
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(gulf news, April 7, 2012)

The Badal government in India's Punjab state has displayed its communal leanings in the handling of the Rajoana clemency case unrest in the state

    By Kuldip Nayar, Special to Gulf News
At the height of an Akali agitation in the eighties, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, then out of office, reached Delhi under the guise of a truck driver and burnt a copy of the Indian constitution. He personally did not agree with his Akali party's fiat but went along with the decision as a disciplined soldier. Subsequently, he regretted his act of burning.

I don't know whether Badal has felt the same way after filing a mercy petition to the president on the clemency of Balwant Singh Rajoana who has been sentenced to death. The Punjab and Haryana High Court has adjudged him an accomplice in the murder of former chief minister Beant Singh. Mixing religion with politics has been the bane of Akalis. But I thought they had come out of their contradictory position. The manner in which the party and the government connived in the ‘unrest' in the state a few days ago indicates that the passion of religion still has the better of the community.

Most unfortunate was the role of the Akal Thakt. It is a highly respected seat of Sikhs and many others in the country look up to it with prayers on their lips. Its hukamnama (order to the Sikhs) on the clemency of Rajoana meets the norms of religious assertion but mocks the laws and courts in the country. The decision was not political but it conveyed the impression that the highest religious authority of the Sikhs could have a perspective that went against the ethos of democratic secular society. The twin principle of "miri piri" (polity and clergy) does not fit into religious fervour.

Making political capital

What happened in Punjab during the agitation over the clemency of Rajaona reminds me of the lawless and brutal days which the state went through some years ago. Once again the message of the recent happening is that a few determined people, fired by religious fanaticism, could dictate an agenda which made Punjab an uncertain state. The nation heaved a sigh of relief when the fire of extremism was extinguished in Punjab and it began to live like a normal Indian state three decades ago.

A similar kind of indignation swept through Tamil Nadu when Nalini, a culprit in the Rajiv Gandhi murder case, had served her life sentence and was ready to be released. Even the state assembly passed a resolution for clemency. Sonia Gandhi's family too did not oppose the clemency. But since the release went against the spirit of the judgement she was kept in jail along with three others. Yet the state did not witness the stir which Punjab did, nor did any party make political capital out of it as the Akali party did.

I personally think that hanging should be dropped from the statute book because it is medieval in practice. Some 125 countries in the world have done away with the death sentence. India too was following the practice till a few years ago, without specifically saying so. Even the Supreme Court endorsed it by underlining in a judgment that hanging should take place in the "rarest of rare" cases. But surely, the result was to the contrary. The statistics show that the cases of death penalty were the highest in the five years following the Supreme Court's advice.

There is no go from a parliament act to stop the hanging. It is time that the political parties in the country paid serious attention to the proposal. The sentence should be for life, meaning thereby that the guilty should not be released till his death. Alternatively, we can adopt the practice followed in America where the court gives a sentence for 40, 50 or 80 years. In any case, the sentence of hanging is reprehensible and should stop.

Yet the existing law has to prevail till the abolition of hanging. What I saw in Punjab was not the protest against death sentence but defiance. True, the situation would have taken an ugly turn if Rajoana's execution had taken place. The five-star facilities provided to Bibi Jagir Kaur, once a minister but now a convict, in jail takes the cake.

The point at issue is not whether Rajoana should be given clemency— a petition is pending before the president of India — but whether the pressure and the violence threats should be used to get a favourable decision. When the state government itself becomes partisan, it sends out a wrong signal. It was alarming to find a few officials at Gurdaspur, a city in Punjab, not rising to the occasion and putting down a communal riot firmly. That the government suspended or transferred them shows that it woke up to its duties. But then the damage had been done.

What hurts me more than anything else is the attitude of the Punjab chief minister. How could he file the clemency petition when Rajoana does not want clemency, as he has said in writing?

It is another matter that Rajoana should not be hanged because the death sentence is an outdated practice which the country should have abandoned long ago. The Badal government, I am afraid, has only proved that when the option is between religion and politics, it opts for the first. That the BJP is an integral part of the Punjab government does not surprise me because it too mixes religion with politics when it suits the party.
 
Kuldip Nayar is a former Indian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and a former Rajya Sabha member.

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8. INDIA: DIVIDED AND DISTINCT - CASTE AND CLASS IN POLITICS
by Andre Beteille
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(The Telegraph, April 10 , 2012)
 
It has now become a part of the conventional wisdom that caste is the pre-eminent feature of our public life. Discussions in the media of the electoral process or of cabinet formation cannot proceed without entering into calculations regarding the alliances and rivalries between castes, sub-castes and groups of castes. A major change came about when the communist parties began to demand special consideration for certain castes and communities in the name of social justice.

Many reasons have been put forward to account for the continued ascendance of caste in political life. It is not as if caste played no part in politics in the past, but people then did not speak as openly about its salience there, except perhaps in a few southern states as they do everywhere today. I do not wish to enter here into all the reasons behind the continuing, if not increasing, importance of caste. What I wish to do, instead, is to make the simple point that the ascendance of caste politics has been accompanied by the decline of class politics. The Communist Parties may continue to show reverence to Marx and Lenin, but when it comes to gathering electoral support, they have learnt to fall in line with the other parties, and to go by caste rather than class.

Some Left intellectuals say that they have not really given up their commitment to class, but that in India caste is the form taken by class. This was not the original position of the Communist Party at the time of Independence or of either of its two main branches until the Emergency of 1975-77 or what followed thereafter. The idea that caste is the form taken in India by class was created by Rammanohar Lohia and promoted by his followers in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, including B.P. Mandal. It is difficult if not impossible to reconcile such a view with the theories of society and politics that derive their inspiration from Marx or Lenin.

Left intellectuals have always taken pride in the belief that the regeneration of a nation can be successful only if it is based on a proper theory of society and politics. Marx had developed with great care a particular theory of social structure, social conflict and social change. The conflict of classes had a central place in this theory and the concept of class was defined in a particular way. The Marxists were not the only people who spoke or wrote about class, but they took care to define class in such a way that it made the polarization of classes appear inevitable. Marx believed and persuaded generations of his followers in different parts of the world to believe that the differentiation and polarization of the bourgeoisie and the proletariat were the ineluctable tendency of capitalist society. This tendency would ensure that each class acquired a more and more distinct identity in opposition to its counterpart.

It is not that Marx was not aware of the presence of more than two classes in even the most advanced capitalist societies in his time, or of divisions based on religion and language in them. But the other classes were regarded as ‘intermediate’ or ‘transitional’ classes whose significance would decline in comparison with the two ‘basic classes’. Likewise, the divisions of religion and language would lose their force in the face of the basic class divisions.

Throughout the 20th century, class divisions as envisioned by the Marxists came to be overshadowed by stratification on the basis of occupation, education and income. Inequalities did not disappear, but they came to be structured differently from what had been anticipated. The polarization into two great classes has not taken place and looks less and less likely to take place in the foreseeable future. The conflicts that show little signs of dying down are those among groups based on religion, language and other communities of birth. It is becoming increasingly difficult to disguise them as forms of class conflict. But if class politics has failed to materialize, it does not follow that we have to set our hearts and minds on caste politics.

The failure of class politics to materialize is not unique to India. The fortunes of the British Labour Party from the beginning of the 20th century to its end show us why the use of class for mobilizing electoral support provides diminishing returns. The Labour Party was established as a political party in 1900 with the specific objective of promoting the interests of the working class when that class had, or appeared to have, a distinct identity and a definite interest. As the boundaries between the working class and the middle class — or between blue-collar and black-coated workers — became increasingly porous and vague, the working class lost its character as a distinctive political force. It was left to Tony Blair to declare at the end of the 20th century that his party would have a dim future if it failed to discard the pretence that it had an elective affinity with any single class in society. In our country, the pith and substance of class politics has been abandoned by the major Communist parties although its rhetoric has been adapted to the use of caste politics.

In India, using caste as a proxy for class acts to the detriment of the truly disadvantaged and to the advantage of the middle class. Today every caste is differentiated in terms of income, occupation and education, and every bloc of castes has its own middle class which, like the middle class everywhere, looks to its own particular interest first before looking to the general interest. The advantage of using the language of class even while electoral support is gathered by appealing to the loyalties of caste is that it enables the middle-class leaders of the socially disadvantaged castes to take the moral high ground and to put their upper-caste counterparts on the back foot.

The fact that class divisions did not lead to the kind of political polarization anticipated by Marx in the 19th century does not mean that we can turn our backs on the very substantial economic inequalities that continue to exist between individuals and households. These inequalities are perhaps larger and more extreme in our society than in any other society of the present or the past. It is important to recognize that they might increase even while the social and political disparities between groups become smaller. The compulsions of electoral politics are one thing, and formulating policies that will seriously address the needs of the vast numbers of individuals suffering from poverty, hunger, malnutrition, ill health and illiteracy is another.

Democracy would not work at all if leaders of political parties took no account of the calculation of electoral advantage. But it cannot work well if they pay attention to nothing else. The English language very wisely makes a distinction between ‘politics’ and ‘policy’. They may be related but they are not one and the same. No doubt policy has to be formulated and implemented in and through the turbulence of politics. But we must not allow the requirements of policy to be overturned at every step by the demands of electoral politics.

The author is Professor Emeritus of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics, and National Research Professor

[SEE RELATED:
Sasheej Hegde. Review of Rawat, Ramnarayan S., Reconsidering Untouchability: Chamars and Dalit History in North
India_. H-Asia, H-Net Reviews. April, 2012.
URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=34714 ]


=======================================
9. India: Intimidation of anti - nuclear activists continues
=======================================
http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/attempt-to-murder-case-registered-against-pmane-activists/986493.html

Attempt to murder case registered against PMANE activists
PTI | 09:04 PM,Apr 15,2012

Tirunelveli (TN), Apr 15 (PTI) Police has registered an attempt to murder case against People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy convenor S P Udhayakumar, who is spearheading the campaign against the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project, and his associates following a complaint by a panchayat president. A case was registered against Udhayakumar, his associate M Pushparayan and eight other PMANE activists after Idinthakarai panchayat president Sagaya Peklin Egecinec lodged a complaint alleging that a gang, "instigated by PMANE activists", had tried to attack her and her husband Sagayaraj last night. She claimed the activists had instigated the assailants to stop the panchyat from bringing a resolution in its council meeting for using special funds sanctioned by Tamil Nadu government for the development of the village. Two of the relatives of the panchayat president have been admitted to a hospital with injuries, police said. Cases were registered against the PMANE activists under various sections of IPC including 307 (attempt to murder). Seeking to end the impasse over the Koodankulam nuclear plant issue, the Tamil Nadu government had on March 19 given its nod to the controversial project and announced a Rs 500 crore special development package for the area where it is located. Following the announcement, Tirunelveli District Collector Selvaraj had asked the panchayat union presidents to come up with schemes for the development of the villages by convening a panchayat council and passing a resolution. However, PMANE activists are against the panchayat passing the resolution as they fear it would affect the movement against the nuclear plant, police said. The Regional Passport office in Madurai had on April 2 issued a notice to Udayakumar asking him to surrender his passport as 98 criminal cases are pending against him. Udayakumar had sent a legal notice to the Passport Officer against this.


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10. NUCLEAR POWER VS NATURAL JUSTICE
by Praful Bidwai
=======================================
Special to ‘Financial Chronicle’

Alarming disclosures are pouring in from Japan, which belie the official claim that the Fukushima Daiichi reactors have been in a state of “cold shutdown”. Radioactivity inside the Reactor 2 containment vessel has reached 73 sieverts per hour, which is 10 times higher than the fatal dose. Exposure to such high levels for just seven minutes would cause death.

The high radiation level, which makes it impossible for robots, endoscopes and other devices to function properly, has been attributed to the shallow level of coolant water—60 cm—in the vessel, instead of the required 4 metres. Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co is clueless as to the status of Reactors 1 and 3, which also suffered meltdowns, because there is no access to their insides. They could be even worse off, according to a BBC report.

Meanwhile, a Japanese expert committee has warned that a giant tsunami with a height of 34.4 metres could hit the country’s coast in the event of a magnitude 9.0 earthquake in the future. None of Japan’s nuclear power stations could withstand such a tsunami. This has heightened public concern about nuclear safety and strengthened the hands of the 84 percent of the Japanese people who now oppose nuclear power.

In contrast to Japan, India’s Department of Atomic Energy, and its subsidiary Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd, are blithely proceeding with a massive expansion of nuclear power generation even as they seek special exemptions under the Right to Information Act. They have proposed two amendments to the Act, which exempt sensitive information on radiation safety and commercially sensitive information on technology-holders, and to insulate the RTI Act from bodies to be created under the Nuclear Safety Regulatory Authority Bill to oversee nuclear facilities established for strategic and national defence purposes. Mercifully, Central Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi has forcefully rejected these proposals.

Even more pernicious are the nuclear establishment’s moves to bypass or violate safety procedures, including some laid down by the regulator, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board. NPCIL is rushing into commissioning the first reactor at Koodankulam, which was lying idle for more than four months. Prior to preparing it for fuel loading, the reactor should be put through another  “hot run”, similar to that in August/September, says former AERB chairman A Gopalakrishnan. In this operation, the core is loaded with dummy fuel and hot water is circulated through it at the same temperature as its operating level to check the integrity of its vessels, piping, valves, etc.

The AERB also mandates that an emergency evacuation drill be conducted in the Emergency Planning Zone (EPZ) covering a radius of 16 km from the plant, before the reactor is loaded with nuclear fuel. This is also demanded by those who sustained a six-months-long agitation against the plant before Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa cracked down on them, arresting more than 180, slapping sedition charges against activists, and harassing people for symbolic protests such as shutting down their grocery shops. There are no indications whatever that NPCIL will carry out such a drill, which would require the local people’s cooperation. 

Meanwhile, key documents, including guidelines on “Population Distribution and Analysis in Relation to Siting of Nuclear Power Plants” codenamed SG/S-9, have gone missing from the AERB’s website (http://www.aerb.gov.in, accessed April 2). There is compelling evidence that the Koodankulam plant doesn’t meet the AERB’s earlier stipulation that there must no population at all within a 1.5 km radius, and only a sparse population within a 1.5-to-5-km radius. Parts of Idinthakarai village, including a recently built tsunami relief colony, with a population of several thousands, are less than 1.5 away. This is visible to the naked eye. And at least 40,000 people live within a 5-km radius. As for the EPZ, no fewer than 100,000 live there.

If and how NPCIL could reconcile this reality with AERB guidelines, and whether the AERB grants it permission to proceed with the plant’s commissioning by bending the rules, remains unclear. What’s abundantly clear is that an independent agency must be asked to survey the actual population distribution, and ensure that the Board complies with its own rules before permitting fuel loading. If this requires judicial intervention, then so be it.

However, the DAE and NPCIL habitually behave as if they were a law unto themselves. The DAE routinely grants “in principle” approval to nuclear projects even before the site selection process is completed and the statutory environment clearance (EC) is granted by the Ministry of Environment and Forests. NPCIL then acquires land under the draconian Land Acquisition Act of 1894 without an EC. This has happened repeatedly. For instance, land was acquired for the Jaitapur plant in Maharashtra four years before it was granted an EC in a dubious manner.

NPCIL is doing the same thing with the 10,000 MW multi-reactor plant proposed at Kovvada in Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh, which is liable to affect 66 villages, 74,000 people and over 26,000 acres of agricultural land. As many as 3,500 people live within 1.5 km of the site. And another 30,000 people live in a 1.5-to-5 radius called Sterilised Zone. the EPZ. But pre-emptive land acquisition, like imposition of unsafe projects upon an unwilling people, violates natural justice. That’s nuclear power for you.

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11. INDIA: A NEW OPENING FOR ABOLITION DEATH PENALTY 
by Rajindar Sachar
=======================================

India is persisting in retaining death penalty notwithstanding that so far 139 countries, from all regions of the world, have abolished the death penalty and 150 have put a moratorium on death penalty.  UN has passed a resolution on 20th September, 2010 appealing to all nations to observe moratorium on death penalty if they are not agreeable to pass a legislation abolishing death penalty.  

Recently by a curious turn of events a slight clink seems to have crept in against a look like formidable wall of opposition to the abolition of death penalty.  I am referring to the case of Balwant Singh Rajoana who was awarded death penalty for assassination of the Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh in 1995.  Rajoana did not appeal against his conviction nor did he file a mercy petition before the President for commutation of his sentence.  High Court confirmed his death sentence in 2007.  

Badal Government did not take any interest in this case nor was this an issue in the recent election in Punjab.  But recently the Jathedars of the holy and universally respected Akal Takhat chose to give a Hukumnana to Badal to commute the sentence of Rajoana.  From press reports it appears that Rajoana made it clear that he was not asking for mercy and wanted to be hanged.  Why the Jathedars so acted is a matter which I am quite sure all well wishers and devotees of Akal Takhat will consider seriously considering that Punjab has witnessed disturbing scenes and lot of tension and even Police have had to intervene in some places.  

Obviously because of political compulsion the Punjab Chief Minister Badal met the President seeking mercy so as not to hang Rajoana and the execution has been stayed for the time being.  

Another petition filed in the Supreme Court as a PIL seeking mercy for Rajoana was dismissed by the Court observing that such a petition was not maintainable.  

I may make it clear that I am a confirmed believer in the abolition of death penalty.  I am pointing out only the convoluted action of Badal 

Government in acting in this manner rather than in the straight forward constitutional manner which is open to it.    

I was glad to read in the press an official statement by the Shiromani Akali Dal the ruling party Government stating that it was against the death penalty “as it is the ultimate denial of human rights and it violates the right to life”.  If so I would suggest a straight constitutional method namely the Punjab Government should have a law passed by the Punjab Assembly amending the Indian Penal Code and providing that punishment for death will be life imprisonment instead of present death or imprisonment of life as provided in the Indian Penal Code. Our Constitution has concurrent list which enables both the Parliament and the State Assembly to pass legislation.  Entry No. 1 in the list includes all matters including the Indian Penal Code at the commencement of the Constitution.  Thus both the Centre and State can legislate and provide for various sentences under the Indian Penal Code.  Of course if the Punjab Government was to amend the Indian Penal Code for providing only imprisonment for life it may prima facie run counter to the Indian Penal Code but for such a situation Article 254 of the Constitution itself provides a remedy namely – that in such a case the State Law may be reserved for consideration of the President and if it has received his consent, that law shall prevail in that State.  The result will be that if Badal Government genuinely acts, Indian Penal Code will only provide for imprisonment  for  life  and  not death in the State of Punjab.  This will serve both the purpose of Rajoana not being hanged but also set a healthy precedent for the rest of the country to also abolish death penalty. 

It is thus clear that notwithstanding retention the death penalty in the Indian Penal Code a central legislation, Punjab Government can pass a law providing for only imprisonment of life under the Indian Penal Code and send it for approval to the President.  It will then be for the Centre to take the decision and if it is does not approve of the Punjab Government suggestion atleast Badal Government would be able to say that it  not only tried to lead in the field for human rights for  abolishing the death penalty but also in the process tried to avoid the execution of Rajoana.  
                                               
That states in our Constitution can take different views on the question of death penalty is not in doubt.  The example of USA is apposite.  The USA consists of 50 states.  While at the federal (i.e. central) level, imposition of death sentence has been upheld as a constitutionally valid punishment, 13 states as also the District of Columbia, have prohibited and banned death sentence.  

The vociferous opposition to abolition of death penalty springs from myth that  it  can  lead  to  increase  of  murders.  Facts  show  otherwise.  Thus, in 1945-50 the State of Travancore, which had no death penalty, had 962 murders whereas during 1950-55, when death sentence was introduced, there were 967 murders.

In Canada, after the abolition of death penalty in 1976, the homicide rate has declined.  In 2000, there were 542 homicides in Canada – 16 less than in 1998 and 159 less than in 1975 (one year prior to the abolition of capital punishment).

A survey conducted by the United Nations in 1988 concluded that research has failed to provide any evidence that executions have a greater deterrent effect than life imprisonment.

The Punjab Government should not have any second thought about the support both on moral and legal ground for the abolition of death penalty – in Gandhi’s India who said that “I cannot in all conscience agree to anyone being sent to the gallows, God alone can take life because he alone gives it”.  Similarly Dr. Ambedkar said , “I think that having regard to this fact, the proper thing for this country to do is to abolish the death sentence altogether”.  Similarly the socialist and leader Jai Parkash Narain said that, “…..death sentence is no remedy for such crimes.”  
The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour called the death penalty “….a sanction that should have no place in any society that claims to value human rights and the inviolability of the person”.

Will the Badal Government bring in the necessary amendment as mentioned above – if it does not it will expose it to the charge that all this drama of appealing to the President for mercy for Rajoana is a political gimmick and not any larger considerations of human right. 

Rajindar Sachar

Dated : 06/04/2012
New Delhi.

=======================================
12. INDIA: HANG DEATH PENALTY
by Babu Gogineni
======================================

Postnoon News | April 9, 2012

The Human Angle

Chandigarh Sessions Court’s instruction to the SP of Patiala Central Jail to implement the scheduled execution of Balwant Singh Rajoana on 31 March has revived the debate on the death penalty in India. Rajoana was the back-up human bomb when Punjab CM Beant Singh was assassinated in 1995. Rajoana never appealed for mercy, but clemency petitions filed by the Punjab government and by Sikh groups who consider the unrepentant Rajoana a living martyr to the cause of the Sikh nation have led to a further postponement of the execution.

While some political groups bay for the blood of convicts they dislike (Afzal Guru and Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab), and others ask for clemency for those they support (Sri Lankan assassins of Rajiv Gandhi — Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan), on 29 March the Supreme Court of India took notice of death row politics in the country and asked some uncomfortable questions as regards clemency petitions and procedures. This is of great significance as there are currently 18 clemency petitions with the President’s office and over 300 people are on death row in the country.

In India, the crimes of murder, gang robbery with murder, abetting the suicide of a child or insane person, waging war against the nation, abetting mutiny by a member of the armed forces and large scale narcotics trafficking are eligible for the death penalty. The SC which in 1983 instructed that the death penalty should be imposed only in the ‘rarest of rare’ cases has recently recommended the death penalty for police officials who stage false encounter killings and for those who commit honor killings.

Is the death penalty a moral abomination or an effective deterrent of violent crime? Is it better for society to incarcerate a dangerous criminal forever, or is the ultimate punishment more justified for heinous crimes? How safe are death penalty convictions?

Providing a backdrop to the death penalty debate in India was Amnesty International’s latest report on the global use of the death penalty in 2011. The report recorded the positive trend that only 20 of the world’s 198 countries carried out an execution in 2011; 96 countries did away with it while 34 countries have been abolitionist in practice by observing official or unofficial moratoria. India has been abolitionist — the last execution took place in 2004.

From a distance, it appears that the world is slowly moving towards a more civilised system of criminal justice. In 1971 the UN General Assembly called for a restriction on the number of offences for which the death penalty could be imposed, with a view to abolishing it altogether. This will of the global community was reiterated in 1977 and again in 2010 in UN Resolutions with ever growing support from member nations. Today, no country can become a member of the Council of Europe or of the European Union unless they abandon the death penalty. Some African countries like Angola, Djibouti, Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa have abolished capital punishment. Gabon is the latest to join their ranks.

From close, the picture is less attractive. India, along with the US, Saudi Arabia and China, did not support the UN resolutions and more than 60 per cent of the world’s population today lives in regimes where the death penalty is still legal — 18,750 people remain under sentence of death worldwide, and at least 676 people were executed in the year. These figures exclude the statistics for China which keeps executions secret, but is believed to execute thousands of people every year. A sharp rise in the use of the death penalty was noted specially in Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, who along with the US and China are the world’s top executioners.

Despite its wide spread use, can the death penalty ever be justified?

Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, that moral Magna Carta which sets universal standards for the global civilisation and in whose formulation India played an important role, affirms: No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The infliction of death as punishment is indeed a cruel and unusual form of punishment. It is in the spirit of retribution, not rehabilitation and militates against modern standards of justice.

From flaying alive to boiling in oil to the executioner’s axe, from the hangman’s noose to the lethal injection, the death penalty has seen many barbarous refinements, but has only inflicted pointless pain where a less severe punishment could have achieved the same purpose. As Victor Hugo pointed out, it is irrevocable, irreparable and indissoluble and hence has no place in human law. In Franz Kafka’s nameless Penal Colony the death machine kills the guard himself in the name of justice, in the same way that every death penalty kills our humanity and brutalises our society.

The time has come to hang the death penalty, not humans.

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13. INDIA: MICROFINANCE FOR PROFIT
by Cédric Gouverneur
======================================
Le Monde diplomatique -April 2012

Entrepreneurial investment turns to consumer loans
Microfinance for profit

Microfinance was meant to enable the poor to set up small businesses
and improve their lives. In India, it has become credit for consumer
goods, driving the poor into debt and profiting private loan companies
by Cédric Gouverneur
http://mondediplo.com/2012/04/10microfinance


INTERNATIONAL
======================================
14. BAHRAIN: FREEDOM NOT DEATH FOR DEFENDER AL-KHAWAJA ! (A call from the international network Secularism Is A Women’s Issue (siawi.org)
======================================
http://siawi.org/article3518.html

A call from the international  network
 Secularism Is A Women’s Issue (SIAWI)

 To the authorities in Bahrain and to Member-States of the European Union

April 15, 2012

The network Secularism Is A Women’s Issue demands the immediate release of human rights defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, detained and tortured, sentenced to life imprisonment in total disregard of his fundamental right to freedom of expression, on hunger strike for more than two months, and now risking death. His death in detention would be an assassination which the authorities of Bahrain would be entirely responsible for.

Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, aged 50, has dual citizenship from Denmark and Bahrain. Today, April 15, he has been on hunger strike for 65 days, as this is the only means left to him to protest the numerous violations of his rights since his arrest, in jail, in court and even in the military hospital where he was transfered on April 3 and where he is now detained.

 His human rights defender record is impeccable:
 Persecuted for his opinion in Bahrain, he spent twelve years in Denmark, from March 1989 to June 2001, ’with (his) wife and four brave daughters’, as he reminds the Danish Foreign Minister  in an open lettere dated February 14; this is where he was trained as a human rights defender and how he acquired Danish citizenship. He subsequently became the Director of the Bahrain Human Rights Organisation ( BHRO) based in Copenhagen. From 2002 to 2008, he was the Director of the Bahrein Center for Human Rights, and from August 2008 to February 2011, he was the MENA regional field coordinator for Frontline, the international foundation for the protection of human rights defenders based in Dublin, Ireland.

As women, we give special consideration to the fact that Abdulhadi A-Khawaja is also a women’s rights defender. Both his  daughters, Zainab and Maryam, are activists in human rights organisations, both are presently persecuted by the authorities, one facing numerous arrests, the other now in exile. This testifies to the high standard of universal humanist values their father raised them in.

 Back to Bahrain after a general amnesty, he is arrested on April 8, 2011. -Following a crackdown on a wide popular protest, he is ’severely beaten, arbitrarily detained, held in solitary confinement and subjected to torture for more than two months, brought before a military court on charges faked by the National Security Apparatus, and sentenced to life imprisonment’.
 In this above mentionned letter to the Danish Minister, he also denounces previous other violations of his rights: ’detained in 2004, severely beaten during peaceful protests in 2005 and 2006, subjected to unfair trials, travel ban and continuous defamation campaigns in official and semi official media’.

 The deterioration of the detained defender is as follows:
 Al-Khawaja was gravely tortured in detention. He was in very bad physical condition when he started his hunger strike,  on February 8, 2012.
 Since then, he was surviving on one liter of salted water with glucose a day.
 From the 10th of March, in protest against bad treatment, he puts an end to all forms of cooperation: he refuses any check ups.
 On March 14, he has already lost 25% of his weight.
 On April 2, his lawyers request his ’release pending court decision’. The court of Cassation refuses. The court also refuses to include BICI’s report  (Bharain Independant Commission of Inquiry )  in the case records. Al-Khawaja then calls his family and lawyer and informs them of his decision to stop intake of glucose.
 He is hospitalised on April 3.
 On April 4, he is completely unable to move, he has very low blood pressure and blood sugar.
 Since April 7, we know that he can hardly breathe. He told his wife about mistreatment from military hospital staff and the guards. He asks to be transferred to another hospital and threatens to stop drinking water if there is no change. He declared: ’I will not accept this. I lived free and proud outside your prison and I live free and proud inside’.

 On April 12, he was informed by doctors that his condition was very critical and that he may go into a coma. Photos show a man in highly distressed physical condition. He was put on a IV that kept him conscious, but doctor said hospital IV drip ’would not be enough to keep him alive’.

However, neither his family nor his lawyer were given permission to visit him. His wife, Khadija Al-Mussawi, confirms that he was allowed to make a brief call to his family -may be his last one - to inform them of his likely going soon into a coma, in exchange that he will drink a little water.

 National and international protests for his liberation  were numerous:
 On February 23, Al-Khawaja calls on EU Member-states  to stand up to their obligation to protect human rights defenders.
 On February 28, a sit-in is organized in Bahrain.
 On March 14, Bahrain starts a Twitter campaign.
 On April 8, thousands of protesters take to the streets in Bahrain to show support for the hunger stricker.
 His daughter Zainab is arrested and detained while trying to see her father in hospital on April 8.
 On April 14, a human chain is organized in front of the office of the United Nations in Beyrouth, Lebanon, and demands his release.

The UN Human Rights High Commissioner Bureau, Human Rights Watch, Frontline, Amnesty International, Human Rights First, the International Coalition of Women Human Rights Defenders which gathers together numerous human rights and women’s rights organisations, made pressing calls to the authorities in Bahrain.

Civil society in Europe, Asia and Africa are now mobilizing.

Meanwhile, Denmark officially demands Al-Khawaja’s transfer to Denmark ’on humanitarian grounds’: he would receive treatment not just for the effects of his hunger strike, but also for the consequences of tortures he was subjected to in detention. Denmark Ambassador in Bahrain was not allowed to visit him on April 8 and 9. Denmark Ambassador in Saudi Arabia, Christian Köningfeldt visited him for about twenty minutes on April 10; he confirms that Al-Khawaja was still conscious. On April 10, Denmark Prime Minister, Helle Thorning Schmidt confirmed during a press conference that : ’Denmark demands that Danish-Bahraini citizen and human rights activist Khawaja be freed’. On April 9, the Head of Foreign Ministry’s consular services, Ole Engberg Mikkelsen, confirmed that no official response was given yet: ’Unfortunately, there is not much time. It is a case where the clock is ticking’, he declared.

It is now most likely that Al-Khawaja will die in the coming days unless the authorities of Bahrain accept his being transferred to Denmark.

The international network  Secularism Is A Women’s Issue vigorously denounces this foreseeable murder and protests the fact that neither the UN Council of Human Rights nor EU member-states manage to obtain Al-Khawaja’s liberation at the earliest, as is their obligation under the ’Guidelines for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders’ they adopted. Al-Khawaja in his open letter to the Danish Foreign Minister stated: ’As a human rights defender, regardless of being a Danish citizen, I am entitled for protection by EU member-states in accordance with the EU Guidelines on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders around the world’.

Secularism Is A Women’s Issue insists on reminding the authorities in Bahrain that international laws, as well as universal humanist values and the religious principle of respect for human life  which Bahrain adheres to, all concur and agree on this issue.

Al-Khawaja must recieve treatment, keeping him in detention is a disguised death sentence.

 Secularism Is A Women’s Issue calls for a mass media campaign through the mobilisation of civil society organisations in the EU member-states in order to force the states to fulfill their obligations of defending those who defend rights. 
 Secularism Is A Women’s Issue also calls on the powerful women’s organisations and networks in Muslim countries for a wide mobilisation across continents.
Together, let’s snatch Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja’s life from the hands of its persecutors.

Before it is too late

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15. FOR SECULAR MOROCCANS, PRAYER BROADCAST IS WAKE-UP CALL
by Omar Brousky
======================================
Office: RABAT
12/04/2012 10:58 GMT
http://www.starafrica.com/en/news/detail-news/view/for-secular-moroccans-prayer-broadcast-227388.html

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16. US SCIENTISTS CAMPAIGN FOR VETO OF 'MONKEY BILL' ON CREATIONISM IN TENNESSEE
by Rosa Prince
======================================
(The Telegraph, UK)

Scientists are pleading with the governor of Tennessee to veto a proposed law known as the 'Monkey Bill' which would allow teachers to teach creationism in the classroom.

By Rosa Prince, New York

5:52PM BST 09 Apr 2012

The measure has already passed through the state's legislature, dominated by the conservative Tea Party wing of the Republican Party, and Governor Bill Haslam has until today to veto it.

If passed, Tennessee would become the second state after Louisiana to allow teachers to challenge the accepted science on evolution and climate change.

Critics say the law encourages the teaching of the theory of "intelligent design," which holds that a higher being must have been responsible for the development of all life forms.

Mr Haslam, who is also a Republican, has said that he will "probably" approve the bill, which will automatically become law if he does nothing.

It is nicknamed after the 1925 "Scopes Monkey Trial," which saw John Scopes, a Tennessee high school science teacher, charged with violating state law against teaching "that man has descended from a lower order of animals".

Under the terms of the proposed new law: "Teachers shall be permitted to help students understand, analyse, critique and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of existing scientific theories covered in the course being taught."

Bo Watson, a Republican senator who sponsored the Bill, said: "The idea behind this bill is that students should be encouraged to challenge current scientific thought and theory."

The Tennessee Science Teachers Association and the American Civil Liberties Union have both urged the governor to veto the bill, and thousands of people have signed a petition against it.

"Our fear is that there are communities across this state where schools are very small and one teacher is the science department, and they also happen to teach a Sunday school class, and this gives them permission to bring that into the classroom. It's a floodgate," said Becky Ashe, president of the Association.

In a letter to Tennessee legislators, the National Academy of Sciences said the bill would "miseducate students, harm the state's national reputation and weaken its efforts to compete in a science-driven global economy".

The Discovery Institute, which helped draw up the proposed legislation, said however that it "promotes good science education by protecting the academic freedom of science teachers to fully and objectively discuss controversial scientific topics, like evolution".

The US Supreme Court banned teachers from telling pupils that the theory of evolution is wrong in 1968, saying that to do so breached the principle of the separation of church and state.

In 1987, the Supreme Court ruled that the mandatory teaching of creationism was unconstitutional because it was illegal to advance a particular religion in schools.

[Related news]

TENNESSEE CREATIONIST BILL BECOMES LAW
Nature, 11 April 2012
http://www.nature.com/news/tennessee-monkey-bill-becomes-law-1.10423

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17. ANNOUNCEMENTS
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(i)  The Barnard Center for Research on Women presents
BOMBAY/MUMBAI STORIES: Films about Gender, Labor, and the Politics of Visibility
Two film screenings, followed by a discussion with the directors
Monday, April 23 and Wednesday, April 25

Bombay/Mumbai Stories explores questions of gender, labor, the politics of visibility, and subaltern public culture with Mumbai-based documentary film-makers Surabhi Sharma and Paromita Vohra.  This event is part of BCRW’s Transnational Feminisms Initiative. We are grateful for additional support from the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race, The Forum on Migration, MESAAS, The Institute for Comparative Literature and Society, and the Institute for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia. These screenings are in conjunction with the seminar “Bombay/Mumbai and Its Urban Imaginaries.”

Q2P 
screening & discussion with director Paromita Vohra
Date:  Apr 23, 2012 | 6:00PM 
Location:  Maison Francaise, Columbia University
Visit  http://bcrw.barnard.edu/event/q2p/

Paromita Vohra will explore gender, the city, and vulnerability with clips from select films, accompanied by a screening of her award-winning documentary Q2P. Q2P is a film about toilets and the city. It sifts through the dream of Mumbai as a future Shanghai and searches for public toilets, watching who has to queue to pee. As the film observes who has access to toilets and who doesn’t, we begin to also see the imagination of gender that underlies the city’s shape, the constantly shifting boundaries between public and private space; we learn of small acts of survival that people in the city’s bottom half cobble together and quixotic ideas of social change that thrive with mixed results; we hear the silence that surrounds toilets and sense how similar it is to the silence that surrounds inequality. The toilet becomes a riddle with many answers and some of those answers are questions—about gender, about class, about caste and most of all about space, urban development and the twisted myth of the global metropolis.

Paromita Vohra is a filmmaker and writer. Her films as director include Partners in Crime (2011), Morality TV and the Loving Jehad (2007), Where’s Sandra (2005), Work In Progress (2004),Cosmopolis: Two Tales of A City (2004), Unlimited Girls (2001), (Women’s News Award, Women’s International Film Festival, Seoul), A Woman’s Place (1998), and Annapurna: Goddess of Food (1995). Her films as writer include the feature Khamosh Pani (Best Film, Locarno Film Festival; Best Screenplay, Kara Film Festival); and the documentaries A Few Things I Know About Her (Silver Conch, MIFF and National Award, Best Film), If You Pause: In A Museum of Craft and Skin Deep. She teaches writing for film at various universities and writes a popular newspaper column in the Sunday Midday.

Jari Mari: Of Cloth and Other Stories
screening and discussion with director Surabhi Sharma
Date:  Apr 25, 2012 | 6:00PM
Location: Event Oval, The Diana Center, Barnard College

For more information, visit http://bcrw.barnard.edu/event/jari-mari-of-cloth-and-other-stories/

Surabhi Sharma will share her debut film, Jari Mari: Of Cloth and Other Stories, which documents narratives of gender and informal labor as these relate to the broader processes of deindustrialization.  Sharma will also share scenes from her latest work, Bidesia in Bombayya, a story of Bhojpuri music, migration and mobile phones. Migration is the predominant theme in the music, and the phone is a recurring motif. Mobile phones are also used to circulate the music. And it’s the only way to stay connected to the mothers and wives back home in the village. This film follows two singers in Mumbai who occupy extreme ends of the migrant worker’s vibrant music scene, a taxi-driver chasing his first record deal and Kalpana, the star of the industry.

Surabhi Sharma is an independent film maker. She studied film direction at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune, and made her first film in 2001. She has since produced six films including Aamkar [Turtle People] and Jahaji Music, which explores race, identity and Indian indenture as these are reflected in Caribbean music, as well as three video installations including, most recently, an installation for the Hongkong Bi-city Biennale of Urbanism and Architecture.

Surabhi’s films explore a range of subjects, including music and identity, labour and globalization and women’s health. Her films have been screened at various international festivals, and have been awarded at Film South Asia, Nepal; Karachi Film Festival, Pakistan; The Festival of Three Continents, Argentina; Indian Documentary Producers’ Association and Eco-cinema, Greece. Surabhi has written scripts and directed for telefilms and educational films. She has also taught as Visiting Faculty at a range of Institutes and film schools in India.

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(ii) 

If you're in New York in May, please do join us for these exciting conversations. You can check for updates and RSVP at
http://www.facebook.com/MantoCentenaryInNyc
 
MANTO CENTENARY IN NYC

Sa’adat Hasan Manto (b. May 11, 1912 d. January 18, 1955)

This year, 2012, marks the birth centenary of Sa'adat Hasan Manto, popularly recognized as one of the greatest Urdu short story writers of the twentieth century. Manto is also a deeply contradictory figure who has evoked strong reactions ranging from cult following to outright hostility. His bald sketches on the trauma, violence, and dehumanization of the Partition are justly celebrated today. At the same time, he has had an outsider status in the established literary histories of South Asia as he does not easily fit into conventional categories. His critiques of imperialism, his unabashed discussion of sexuality, his focus on the fringes of urban modernity, and his harsh exposés of the most celebrated film personalities of the 1930s and 40s, are not as widely discussed or circulated as they ought to be.
The Hindi and Urdu Programs at NYU, in conjunction with the Department of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, the Kevorkian Center, and the Institute for Public Knowledge are organizing an event to both celebrate and complicate these radical and polarizing aspects of Manto's work and legacy.

See below for event details.

Session I

“Main Chalta-Phirta Bambai Hoon”: Conversations on Manto’s  Bombay Writing

Join our speakers on Manto’s birthday as they digressively take up the provocations offered by Chughad (1948), a collection of his semi-autobiographical Bombay stories.  We will explore questions of alternative urban histories, the fraught work of translation, the literary radicalism of the Progressives, and mythic narratives around Bombay city, Manto, and the film industry.

Date: May 11, 2012 (Friday)
Time: 6pm – 9pm
Venue: Hagop Kevorkian Center, New York University (50 Washington Square
South, entrance on Sullivan Str.)

Keynote
Gyan Prakash, Dayton-Stockton Professor of History, Princeton University

Panelists

Bilal Hashmi, New York University
Ali Mir, William Paterson University
Matt Reeck,  New York-based translator and writer
Debashree Mukherjee, New York University
Richard Somers Delacy, Harvard University

Session II

"Rereading Manto's 'Letters to Uncle Sam' in Perilous Times"
A discussion of the contemporary relevance of Manto's pithy and irreverent "Letters to UncleSam" (1951-1954), with Pakistani activist Saadia Toor (College of Staten Island, CUNY) and New York-based translator Matt Reeck.
Date: May 15, 2012 (Tuesday)
Time: 6pm-8pm
Venue: Alwan for the Arts, 16 Beaver Street,  Manhattan

 Open to the Public

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Buzz for secularism, on the dangers of fundamentalism(s), on
matters of peace and democratisation in South
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DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed in materials carried in the posts do not necessarily reflect the views of SACW compilers.
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