SACW - 9 Sept 2016 | Sri Lanka: Envoy attacked / Pakistan: Honour killings law swept under the rug / Bangladesh: Law on Sheikh Mujib's honour & 1971 history? / India: Hindutva's science envy; Go for constitutional guarantees, not readings of religion; Criticising the government is not sedition / why so few female UN peacekeepers? / 'Britain and the Wars in Vietnam

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire - 9 Sept 2016 - No. 2908 
[via South Asia Citizens Web - sacw.net since 1996]

Contents:
1. Bangladesh: Must laws protect Sheikh Mujib's honour and 1971 history? | Afsan Chowdhury
2. Pakistan: Where is the law? | Bina Shah
3. Pakistan: The crisis of Mohajir identity | Harris Khalique
4. India: SAHMAT Statement on NBT's Withdrawal of Bipan Chandra's Book
5. India: Hindutva's science envy | Meera Nanda
6. When words of mere gratitude put Ramya's patriotism at stake | Shazman Shariff
7. A taste of Stalinism - The expulsion of Ritwik Ghatak from the Communist Party of India
8. India - Kashmir: End of an Era of September 8, 1982 | Nyla Ali Khan
9. Recent On Communalism Watch:
  - India: Nathuram Godse never left RSS, says his family
  - India: L.S. Hardenia's article on Godse and RSS
  - India: Report on The murders of Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare and MM Kalburgi by Anosh Malekar
  - India: Sanjay Tikoo interview - 'We Fear For the 400 Kashmiri Pandit Families in South Kashmir'
  - Bangladesh: ISB planned jihad from Panchagarh
  - India: Muzaffarnagar, three years later (Harsh Mander)
  - India: RSS Has Shot Itself In The Foot By Taking Rahul Gandhi To Court: Ashis Nandy
  - India: In Chhattisgarh, Hindutva Groups Use Pro-Adivasi Laws For Communal Ends
  - India: Former Gen sec of CPI(M) says BJP authoritarian not fascist and no need to have allies to take them on
  - India: In wake of attacks, RSS shakhas see sudden disappearance of Dalits
  - India: monk's speech in the Assembly fundamentally violated the Constitutional requirement to separate religion from politics - Letters to the Editor
  - NMML in Delhi is becoming a propaganda space for the Hindutva right - yet another seminar on Deen Dayal Upadhyaya the RSS man
  - India - No dresspassing: Skimpy skirts and baggy shorts both must toe the hemline (Bachi Karkaria)
 
::: URLs & FULL TEXT :::
10. It’s culture, not religion | Masuda Bhatti
11. The Double Life of Development: Empowerment, USAID and the Maoist Uprising in Nepal | Dinesh Paudel
12. Pakistan: School security | Madeeha Ansari 
13. India: Apex court reminds all that criticising the government is not sedition or even defamation | Editorial, The Times of India
14. Sri Lankan High Commissioner Ansar discharged from hospital after treatment of injuries
15. India: Only the constitution - Muslim women must count on its guarantees, not readings of religion | Razia Patel
16. Apar Gupta reflects on the Nanavati case and what lessons it may still have for us
17. Canada: Academics rally for Homa Hoodfar, held in Iranian prison
18. Turkey: Academics for Peace: Urgent Call for Solidarity
19. War disproportionately affects women, so why so few female peacekeepers? | Fiona Hodgson
20. Brazil’s Political and Economic Crisis Threatens the Legitimacy of the Country’s Democracy | Mark Weisbrot
21. U.N. Chief Presses to Unlock Mystery of Dag Hammarskjold’s Death | Alan Cowell
22. Kate Imy on Gerald Prenderghast’s 'Britain and the Wars in Vietnam'


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1. BANGLADESH: MUST LAWS PROTECT SHEIKH MUJIB'S HONOUR AND 1971 HISTORY? | Afsan Chowdhury
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A law is being passed to regulate the online world and prevent abuse of the internet. Many use it to commit criminal acts, harass, intimidate and blackmail, particularly women. This is a good step and the authorities should be congratulated. The punishments are also more moderate and sensible than before. This is all good. However, the proposed law also makes it a criminal offense to “say anything negatively or propagate against Bangabandhu and the 1971 war”.
http://sacw.net/article12934.html

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2. PAKISTAN: WHERE IS THE LAW? | Bina Shah
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The issue of ‘honour' killings has been swept under the rug
http://sacw.net/article12936.html

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3. PAKISTAN: THE CRISIS OF MOHAJIR IDENTITY | Harris Khalique
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over a few generations, it became difficult for people to call the children of those who had migrated from heartland India ‘Hindustani' – as Hindustan was the name for India. The term ‘Mohajir' gained more currency to describe these immigrants and their children.
http://sacw.net/article12935.html

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4. India: SAHMAT Statement on NBT's Withdrawal of Bipan Chandra's Book
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We have been shocked to learn that the very National Book Trust over which he had presided, has revoked the reprint order for the Hindi version of his book, Communalism - a Primer; and it is reported that the English and Urdu versions of the book are also being withdrawn.
http://sacw.net/article12931.html

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5. INDIA: HINDUTVA'S SCIENCE ENVY | Meera Nanda
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Claiming an organic unity between the Vedic world view and modern science has been the agenda of Hindu nationalists from the very start. If modern science is nothing more than a minor tributary flowing into the ocean of Vedic spiritual science known to our rishis, it is Western science and scientists who should feel Veda envy.
http://sacw.net/article12924.html

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6. WHEN WORDS OF MERE GRATITUDE PUT RAMYA'S PATRIOTISM AT STAKE | Shazman Shariff
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When unnecessary negativity forces its way into rare show of amiability, the Indo-Pak strife gets further stimulated and the dismal scenario is promoted to higher limits where germination of any act of goodwill is obstructed.
http://sacw.net/article12923.html

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7. A TASTE OF STALINISM - THE EXPULSION OF RITWIK GHATAK FROM THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA
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“In the middle of June of 1954, I suddenly came to know from some of my Cell comrades that a Party commission had been set up to investigate my conduct. I also learned…that twenty-three “charges” had been brought against me…”
http://sacw.net/article12929.html

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8. INDIA - KASHMIR: END OF AN ERA OF SEPTEMBER 8, 1982 | Nyla Ali Khan
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I learned that Grandfather had breathed his last on the evening of September 8, 1982. I interject personal memories into the political and historical narrative, inviting biographical interpretation.
http://sacw.net/article12932.html
  
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9. RECENT ON COMMUNALISM WATCH:
======================================== 
  - India: Nathuram Godse never left RSS, says his family
  - India: L.S. Hardenia's article on Godse and RSS
  - India: Report on The murders of Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare and MM Kalburgi by Anosh Malekar
  - India: Sanjay Tikoo interview - 'We Fear For the 400 Kashmiri Pandit Families in South Kashmir'
  - Bangladesh: ISB planned jihad from Panchagarh
  - India: Muzaffarnagar, three years later (Harsh Mander)
  - India: RSS Has Shot Itself In The Foot By Taking Rahul Gandhi To Court: Ashis Nandy
  - India: In Chhattisgarh, Hindutva Groups Use Pro-Adivasi Laws For Communal Ends
  - India: Former Gen sec of CPI(M) says BJP authoritarian not fascist and no need to have allies to take them on
  - India: In wake of attacks, RSS shakhas see sudden disappearance of Dalits
  - India: monk's speech in the Assembly fundamentally violated the Constitutional requirement to separate religion from politics - Letters to the Editor
  - NMML in Delhi is becoming a propaganda space for the Hindutva right - yet another seminar on Deen Dayal Upadhyaya the RSS man
  - India - No dresspassing: Skimpy skirts and baggy shorts both must toe the hemline (Bachi Karkaria)
  - India: Is the Congress moving towards soft Hindutva to woo the state of UP?
  - India: Is there a Hindutva connection ? Doctor Hid Huge Stash Of Weapons At Raipur, Chhattisgarh
  - India: The success of Rana Ayyub’s book, ‘Gujarat Files: Anatomy of a Cover Up’, is the result of single-minded determination (Priya Ramani)
  - India: The Dangerous Precedent Of A Guru Preaching To The House (Brinda Karat)
  - Bangladesh upholds Islamist tycoon’s death sentence
  - India: Beef Eating Brahmins (D. N. Jha)
  - India: Why Kalburgi Was Killed (Seema Chishti)
 
 -> available via: http://communalism.blogspot.com/
 
::: URLs & FULL TEXT :::

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10. IT’S CULTURE, NOT RELIGION
by Masuda Bhatti
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(Dhaka Tribune - September 04, 2016)

A lot of things are omitted from the UK’s Islamic education of Bengalis /REUTERS
Someone needs to bridge this gap

This was at least 15 years ago: An East London theatre was about to stage a drama about conflict in the community, especially the dilemma of Bangladeshi youngsters. Without even knowing what was in the plot, the whole community stood against it.

Somehow, a rumour was spread that Bangladeshi youngsters were involved in drugs, and a lot of abortions were undertaken among Bangladeshi teenage girls. A renowned Bangladeshi playwright wrote the play, and I was among the actors who were cast in it. I personally knew that no such hint about Bangladeshi youth was part of the script.

However, it was about a family where both the parents did not speak English and were suffering from the nostalgia of their Bangladeshi village past. The teenage daughter was in total cultural shock, and she was searching for her identity in many ways, one of which was taking drugs in a shadowy East London alleyway.

It was the mosques of that area which started persuading those who attended Friday prayers to protest, saying that if the drama took place then it would bring shame to the community. And, God forbid, if the mainstream media found out about it, then there would a huge outcry.

The local theatre refused to take the booking for the play, and it never happened.

Tower Hamlets in London underwent many renovation programs and had put an enormous amount of money into a face-lift for the area.

Has anything changed since the drama fiasco?

Some months ago, while two Bangladeshi teenagers and one Somali girl flew to Syria to become “jihadi brides,” I was trying to see the community’s response. Surprisingly, I found the community is still in denial when it comes to opening up to the mainstream media.

    Bangladeshi youth should have been immersed in British culture as they were born and schooled there. Sadly, they do not really have a culture as such: They were taught that Islam is their culture, whereas there is a gulf between the culture of Islam and Bengali culture

No one had stood up and said, yes, the issue of religious fundamentalism exists in our community and we are ready to tackle this with the help of others. Rather, the community leaders started throwing dirt at the media and bringing the old race card into play by saying they have been racially harassed, marginalised, and so on. I can recall the UK 2005 election, when Oona King, the then Labour MP, was narrowly defeated by George Galloway who was playing the religious card according to the community’s needs.

Ms King was not allowed to go to the mosque to conduct her campaign, whereas Mr Galloway used to attend prayers every Friday in the local mosques and his followers used to distribute his leaflets. He was even allowed to deliver a speech in the sermons of Friday prayers. I would not be surprised to see the same old religious game being played in the coming elections.

I still see how Bangladeshi youngsters are in the same cultural dynamics and their parents are in the same denial phase as they were 15 years ago.

How come a community has not seen significant changes in a time span of almost two decades, even with the third generation Bangladeshi immigrants in the role of leadership in the community, at least in theory? Then why have they not been able to make any changes in the community?

Bangladeshi youth in London have not had any deep connections with the villages of Bangladesh nor the culture of Bangladesh. Bangladeshi youth should have been immersed in British culture, as they were born and schooled there.

Sadly, they do not really have a culture as such: They were taught that Islam is their culture, whereas there is a gulf between the culture of Islam and Bengali culture.

Are the culture of Saudi Arabia and the culture of Somalia the same? No, they are not, but both countries are Islamic. I strongly believe that problem lies here, in the culture, combining a respective culture with religion.

Bangladeshi culture has a long history of secular influence. Bangladesh fought a bloody war of independence based on this secularism against Pakistani aggression which was carried out in the name of Islam. Thus, in the mainstream Bangladeshi diaspora, the struggle to keep religion apart from the cultural arena is still real.

But in the UK, that is absent on the surface and there are groups who are working hard to establish an Islamic cultural colony.  They are from various parts of the Islamic world, but their community in Britain works like a cult or more like underground communist parties.

All the mosque committees in Britain (even in Europe) are dominated by them, and they make sure that their realm is upheld everywhere. A normal boy or girl from a Muslim family is obliged to go to the mosque after school to learn Arabic, and this is mandatory in most cases.

While the kids from other religions enjoy playing outside or participating in after-school activities, the kids from Muslim communities are at the mosque learning a language which they hardly need in their practical lives.

Moreover, they just learn it to read the Holy Qur’an. The mullahs at the mosque make sure that those kids are taught Islamic rules well, rules which are often described as a culture of “ours.”

But the fact remains that these kids belong to the Bangladeshi, Pakistani, or Somali community, and all of these countries have their own strong cultural background. Parents are not keen to teach their kids about their own culture; instead they depend on these mullahs to teach their children about religion and culture.

At the end, these kids come out with their heads full of religious dos and don’ts, and achieve inaccurate perceptions of non-Muslim culture. For such reasons, they cannot resist the call of groups like IS. This folly of the Bengali community is still a taboo and no one dares to talk about it — anyone doing so could be a target, for being anti-religion. If anyone falls into that category by accident then that is the end of his/her life. The community will not only cast them out, but their lives will also be under continuous threat.

So who will take the risk of being the bridge between culture and religion? After all, the universal attitude is to deny the facts and carry on with utmost hypocrisy.

No matter whether you are a person or a community or a state, to survive, you have to put a lid on truth or you are not fit for this millennium.

Masuda Bhatti is a poet and columnist.

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11. THE DOUBLE LIFE OF DEVELOPMENT: EMPOWERMENT, USAID AND THE MAOIST UPRISING IN NEPAL
by Dinesh Paudel
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Development and Change, Volume 47, Issue 5
September 2016
Pages 1025–1050

ABSTRACT

The geographies of developmental empowerment and subaltern rebellion have unexpectedly overlapped and expanded rapidly in recent years, especially in peasant societies in the global South. By examining the relationship between the long history of development programmes and the emergence of the Maoist revolution in Nepal in the 1990s, this article demonstrates how developmental ideas, particularly the notion of empowerment, can be articulated politically. The author argues that development has a double life in which development subjectivities are reproduced through the simultaneous processes of enrolment and othering, generating the conditions of subordination for development's own reproduction. Development can generate the possibility of rebellion by creating negative consciousness of the process of othering. This article contributes to the growing literature on rebellion and development by showing how development, while striving for hegemony, continuously produces fissures in geographically specific ways that can become portals for the emergence of rebellious possibilities.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/dech.12262/abstract

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12. PAKISTAN: SCHOOL SECURITY
by Madeeha Ansari 
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(Dawn - August 28, 2016)

The writer works for a children’s non-profit organisation.

IT has been more than a year since the disturbing images of teachers shouldering rifles and holding semi-automatic pistols were published, and the debate raged over allowing weapons in KP schools. Now, the director general for private schools in Sindh has issued a 16-point set of guidelines, once more raising questions about what it means to be a teacher in a fragile state.

Already, there is a high burden of responsibility for being a teacher in a city like Karachi. In a recent event in the city, one social enterprise showcased its work with children from schools beyond the parameters of Clifton and Defence.

Through drama, satire and the spoken word, the young people delivered powerful messages about how they saw their country and the direction it is taking. The overwhelming themes chosen by middle-schoolers from Lyari were gun violence, gang culture and organised crime. The nonchalance with which the children portrayed these as part of their everyday reality was chilling.

If anything, the challenge for a teacher would be to present alternative ideals, and to counter hyper-masculine concepts of power in a city that has slung violence across its shoulder for decades. Might is right, when the cellphone snatcher — or the feudal prince’s guard — has a gun.
Pakistan’s children know that education is under siege.

Not that the phenomenon of urban violence is specific to Karachi — globally, recorded deaths due to lethal violence and ‘intentional homicide’ are far higher than those due to direct conflict. Now, the situation is becoming more complex. The danger of organised criminal violence merging with militancy spilling over from other parts of the country poses new threats, and puts schools at particular risk.

The new guidelines for private schools call for an increase in physical security, vetting of all teaching and non-teaching personnel by the police, scrutiny of pick-and-drop processes and close communication with security and health service providers. All these appear necessary in the climate of uncertainty, though they will impact the culture of schools and the experience of education. The 15th point calls for training of teaching and non-teaching staff in the use of weapons, by Rangers and police.

Such an exercise would mean pushing the country further down a path where roles are confused and ideals distorted. If the teacher is meant to be a role model, putting a gun in his or her hand would mean not just legitimising violence, but also glorifying it in the students’ eyes. And, it is an announcement of lack of confidence in Karachi’s security apparatus. Already, Rangers have disproportionate powers. If anything, there needs to be training and strengthening of the police, whose job it is to protect students and teachers.

Of course, schools and authorities need to take every step possible to ensure that children are safe. However, it is important to know good practices from detrimental ones.

Let’s go back to the Safe Schools Initiative guidelines shared in February 2015. As far as the role of school personnel is concerned, it was recommended that staff be trained as ‘school safety officers’ who were not to man the gates, but to be trained in evacuation procedures and communication with security officials and local authorities. It was recommended that more security guards be recruited as per need, “However, it should be noted that visibly armed protection at schools has been shown to negatively impact learning.”

So, according to best practices, even security guards are not to display weapons in a conspicuous manner that affects the school environment. In reality, every child in Pakistan is aware that education is under siege. It takes one look at the snipers atop heavily fortified schools to realise that there is a new normal. Temporary school closure is taken as a matter of course by preschoolers as well as high-school students, and events involving large gatherings of students may be cancelled without much ado.

The role of educators needs to be to reshape this new normal. It takes strength to keep one’s eyes on a higher goal, and brook disruptions because in the bigger picture, the school experience should not be dominated by hysteria. On one hand, physical security needs to be guaranteed in collaboration with police and Rangers, with school staff being aware of safety protocols. On the other, this should mean that teachers can concentrate on the task of protecting and nurturing young minds, so that in a distant dream, the themes chosen by children for school plays can be different.

The director general has warned that there will be consequences for schools that do not act upon the guidelines. It would be wise for parents, staff and administrators to think through the consequences for those that do.

The writer works for a children’s non-profit organisation.

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13. INDIA: APEX COURT REMINDS ALL THAT CRITICISING THE GOVERNMENT IS NOT SEDITION OR EVEN DEFAMATION
Editorial, The Times of India
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(The Times of India 7 September 2016 Editorial)

It should not have needed reminding but the Supreme Court has reminded all authorities that criticising the government is not an offence under the sedition law, or even the defamation law. While hearing a petition on gross abuse of sedition law to stifle dissent, the court suggested that constables, magistrates and others brush up on the guidelines framed by a constitution bench in the 1962 Kedar Nath Singh vs State of Bihar case, which are clear that sedition law is applicable only when there is violence or proven incitement to violence.

This reminder became necessary because of the way in which sedition charges are plentifully and carelessly bandied about – in diverse cases such as student protests at JNU or a Kashmir debate organised by Amnesty or praise for the people of Pakistan by former Congress MP Ramya. Governments of all hues stand guilty of misusing this law to counter both serious dissent and silly slogans. Minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju told Parliament that the definition of sedition in the IPC is so wide that anybody who speaks against the government can be booked for this charge, punishable with imprisonment for life.

Criminal defamation is likewise abused to muzzle ‘offending’ views in arbitrary ways. Both sedition and criminal defamation are basically colonial era gags that are a misfit in modern India. India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, had found the sedition law to be “‘highly objectionable and obnoxious” while advocating the need to get rid of it way back in 1951. Seven decades on, let’s just do it. And also make defamation a civil, not a criminal offence. Both these laws are having a chilling effect on our democracy.

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14. SRI LANKAN HIGH COMMISSIONER ANSAR DISCHARGED FROM HOSPITAL AFTER TREATMENT OF INJURIES
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(The Sunday Times [Sri Lanka] -6 September 2016)

Sri Lanka's High Commissioner in Malaysia Ibrahim Ansar has been discharged from hospital after treatment for injuries sustained in a violent attack launched on him within the country's international airport, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said. 

Mr Ansar was punched and kicked repeatedly by a group of men in full view of CCTV cameras inside a restricted, staff-only area of the airport. The spokesman said he and others from the Sri Lankan High Commission were trying to exit the airport after dropping off some visiting Sri Lankan VIPs. They had seen several groups of people lying in wait throughout the airport and were trying to find a safe way out. 

However, they were spotted by a group that pursued them. In desperation, Mr Ansar had fled into an area marked staff-only where he was subjected to the vicious attack. It also remains a question how high-security CCTV footage recorded by the airport authorities was released to the public so quickly after the incident, which took place on Sunday afternoon. Towards the end, the 59-second shot also shows one of the men videoing the attack on High Commissioner. 

The Sri Lanka Government has expressed strong displeasure at the Government of Malaysia for failing to provide protection to the High Commissioner amidst three days of protests by pro-LTTE demonstrators. Sri Lanka's Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the High Commissioner to the Ministry Foreign Affairs on Monday to express condemnation of the assault. 

The Foreign Secretary expressed disappointment that the Malaysian authorities had failed to provide necessary protection to Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner despite the High Commission bringing to the notice of relevant Malaysian authorities, the need for such protection, in the face of mounting protests especially in the last few days.

Five men have now been arrested while Malaysian police are in the lookout for another four. The High Commissioner's mobile phone was found in the possession of one of the perpetrators, who had been released by police shortly after the incident.  

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15. ONLY THE CONSTITUTION: MUSLIM WOMEN MUST COUNT ON ITS GUARANTEES, NOT READINGS OF RELIGION
by Razia Patel
========================================
(The Indian Express - September 9, 2016)

Razia Patel Muslims are failing to assert the real essence of Islam, which is very progressive as far as the rights of women are concerned.

Syeda Hameed has written an article titled ‘Just keep the faith’ (IE, August 30) regarding the Mumbai High Court’s judgement allowing the entry of women into the Haji Ali dargah. The main argument in this article can be summarised thus: Islam, as a religion, provides enough progressive reasons to allow women to enter the mazar, which could have been used to support the decision, but the judgement invokes articles of the Indian constitution while supporting the logic behind the verdict. In her own words, she is “pained” to see this.

According to her, Muslims are failing to assert the real essence of Islam, which is very progressive as far as the rights of women are concerned. This logic, if extended, leads to the conclusion that all the issues of Muslim women should be resolved within “Islam” and there is no need to go to constitutional courts .

One can choose whether or not to go to courts of law to get justice, but once you opt to go there, you must bear in mind that the courts are established to safeguard the fundamental rights provided by the constitution and not according to any religion.
×

The philosophy in this article, in essence, emphasises that “our religion” provides all the freedom and values of equality to women and the masses should be taken back to “real” religious values. However, it must be noted that the ground realities are very different. The common Muslim woman has suffered hugely from religious traditions and dictates and has resorted to Indian courts to seek justice even if she happened to be alone in this struggle. For all such people who seek justice, thanks to the visionary makers of our constitutions like B.R. Ambedkar and others, it is only the Indian Constitution that has proven to be helpful. The constitution has been the sole support for them so far.

Undoubtedly, there are lacunae in the existing system — such as delays and high costs — which need to be addressed. Instead of fighting for these, we see that some women’s NGOs like the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan, following the same logic as Syeda Hameed, have been engaged in opening sharia courts for women and training women qazis all over the country. While conducting a nationwide survey for a national fellowship, I had asked women “Insaaf kahan se chahiye? Jamaat se ya court se?” (Where do you want justice from? Religion or the courts?) In reply, most of the women very clearly stated “Court se”.

With regard to the point about the “real interpretation of Islam”, in reality, there are various strong, deep-rooted religious institutions and authorities with national and international sanction, who have been conferred with the right to interpret the religion. Such authorities are so strong within the community that the interpretations by other so-called progressive social academics do not make any impact. On the other hand, the Indian Constitution provides a legitimate state supported framework for deprived communities and individuals to assert their struggle for human rights.

Based on these values and rights enshrined in the constitution, many other exploited groups in India have fought for their rights and have been successful in most cases. However, in the case of Muslim women who seek justice from courts of law, intellectuals are pushing them back to religion repeatedly. The same phenomenon is observed with initiatives like sharia courts and mahila qazis. In 1986, Shah Bano fought in a court of law to assert her right to receive maintenance. The government of the time crushed this effort by changing the constitution following the demands of religious leaders.

The path of women’s liberation is through the values enshrined in the Indian Constitution. It is unfortunate that rather than leading the community towards absolute human rights, intellectuals are making the situation for the community worse by resorting to the logic of a religious framework.

After Independence, the Indian masses have experienced liberation by adopting a progressive constitution in 1949 that proclaims the values of equality and justice. Since then, all Indian communities have embarked on their struggle to assert the same. Muslims too are entitled to enjoy this citizenship with equal rights. Religious frameworks are always subjected to many conflicting interpretations and Muslim women cannot risk the chance that only the progressive interpretation will prevail. The only guarantee for her is the clear provisions of the constitution safeguarding her rights. We all need to insist on adhering to the constitutional framework, instead, as a guideline for future struggle.

The writer is head of the minority cell at the centre for educational studies in Indian Institute of Education, Pune

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16. TEACHINGS FROM A TRIAL
- Apar Gupta reflects on the Nanavati case and what lessons it may still have for us
========================================
(The Telegraph - 7 Sept 2016)

Time gifts us clarity though reflection. Half a century may seem sufficient to dull passions but even today public memory of the Nanavati case continues to tilt objectivity towards emotion. A part of this can be fastened onto movie depictions that bear little responsibility for factual accuracy. However, in public discussion, there is not much distinction between the Nanavati case and the Nanavati movie (Rustom). Such a merger is unfortunate given the legacy of the case and the focus it brings to deficiencies in the legal system. 

Decades after the Supreme Court convicted Commander Kawas Manekshaw Nanavati for the murder of his wife’s paramour, Prem Ahuja, the case continues to raise questions on the proper role of media trials, and secondly the fairness of a justice system that fosters gender inequality within legal codes.

Continuing concerns on media trials

It is easy to hate a tabloid. Cheap, sensationalist, read in secret and with guilt. But the tabloid also speaks the popular voice and during the pendency of the Nanavati case it even helped define it. Through the pages of the Bombay-based weekly publication, Blitz, an entire campaign was carried out to secure Nanavati’s acquittal. 

Such an acquittal came through a jury only to be reversed by the Bombay High Court and then confirmed by the Supreme Court. 

Many commentators say the entire incident contributed to the abolition of jury trials in India. This presumes a systemic shift in adjudication premised on the ability of media to influence members of a jury more immediately than a judge trained in law to appreciate facts. It is, hence, natural to expect media trials to no longer influence court verdicts or do so only to a limited extent. This, for various reason, remains an aspiration.

Providing recognition to an unfulfilled ideal, the 200th Report of the Law Commission of India suggests various amendments to the Contempt of Courts Act. Principally, by making a court’s power wider to prevent and punish publications. 

One of its influential prescriptions was to make the power to prevent publication start from the point of arrest by the police rather than when the case subsequently enters court. The implication of this change would be that the court would be empowered to prevent media reports made immediately on arrest that may damage the defence of an accused.
At the same time, censorship of the press should be proportional and legitimate to securing the rights of the accused. Anuj Bhuwania, who has written on the nature and effect of media trials, argues that the intent of wishing away and censoring the media should not be applied in all circumstances. 

On the contrary, according to Bhuwania, “The incarceration of the accused while the case is still being adjudicated leaves them with limited resources to fight such cases in the court of public opinion… Often, access to the media, even if limited, enables the accused to give their side of the story.” 

Today, reasoned policy prescriptions that would balance the rights of the press and the accused exist on record, but not in law.

Patriarchy, thy name is law

While it is a legal cliché that procedure is the handmaiden of justice, without form there cannot be substance. A good example is the Limitation Act, 1963, that provides specific periods within which civil cases should be filed. The principle of law is that private rights if left unenforced are lost with time. This law provides a curious type of cases a period of limitation of a year. The category provided under Article 77 of the Limitation Act reads: “for compensation for loss of service occasioned by the seduction of the plaintiff’s servant or daughter”. 

Hence, if a person’s daughter is seduced, the resulting financial loss should be claimed within a year. The same applies to servants, also going on to imply that a person’s daughter is the same as a servant. Also implying both are considered property and not human beings. 

It must be mentioned that the law of limitation is not some obscure statute but is used every moment a civil case is filed in a court in India. Given its status as dominant civil statute one feels an acute loss of words.

The law of limitation does not stand in isolation. The Nanavati case, if reviewed dispassionately, can be characterised as an honour killing — enabled to an extent by law. Aarti Sethi draws this link by stating the case, “is a double-bind where the law and its opposite, the violation of the law, have to be followed at the same time. The commander turns himself in because while recognising he has broken the law which says he must not kill, he has stayed true to an ideal which says he must protect his honour...” 

Sethi further puts forward two powerful critiques to buttress her point on the discriminatory treatment in law to women. The first relates to the excuse of sudden and grave provocation that is recognised for instances when culpable homicide may not amount to murder. She states that such an excuse may be more naturally availed by a man for murdering an adulterous wife, than by a wife for murdering an abusive husband.

Sethi’s second critique is more certain and focuses on the existence of Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, that punishes adultery. The provision applies to a man who has sexual relations with the wife of another man without his consent. It presumes the absence of agency of a married woman, and the man who seduces her as being solely responsible. Positions inconsistent with modern liberal values. It also leads to an argument that such a criminal sanction of the law legitimises the three shots fired by Nanavati into the chest of Prem Ahuja. 

This provision has over the years been criticised and its repeal has been advocated repeatedly. Again, this remains on the statute books.

We live in times when public commentary is regularly directed against the judiciary. But the Nanavati case is an example where it withstood all public pressure and sidestepped discriminatory legal codes. Problems continue to exist on both and it is the legislature that is to blame even today for failing to correct them. 

Fifty-five years is a long time to consider and change — the form, substance and even the clichés of law.

The author practises law in New Delhi

========================================
17. CANADA: ACADEMICS RALLY FOR HOMA HOODFAR, HELD IN IRANIAN PRISON
========================================
(The Toronto Star)

Homa Hoodfar, who taught at Montreal’s Concordia University, being held at Tehran’s Evin prison and reports suggest health is deteriorating.

By The Canadian Press
Wed., Sept. 7, 2016

MONTREAL — A group of Montreal academics is urging governments to get involved to secure the freedom of a Canadian-Iranian professor jailed in Iran.
Homa Hoodfar, who taught at Concordia University, is being held at Tehran’s notorious Evin prison and recent reports suggest her health is deteriorating.
Hoodfar is being held on what supporters and family call trumped-up charges of collaboration with a hostile government and propaganda against the state.
Professors at Concordia say some 5,000 academics worldwide have signed a petition in support of Hoodfar and that academics rallied outside the Iranian Embassy in Dublin today.
Kimberley Manning of Concordia’s Simone de Beauvoir Institute told a news conference today that is the first of several actions intended to ratchet up the pressure on Iran.
Hoodfar, a 65-year-old retired anthropology professor, was born in Iran but has lived in Montreal for 30 years.
She is known for her research on Muslim women in various regions of the world.
Her family has said she travelled to Iran in February to see family and conduct academic research.
Hoodfar was initially arrested in March, shortly before she was to return home.
She was released on bail but was rearrested June 6.

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18. TURKEY: ACADEMICS FOR PEACE: URGENT CALL FOR SOLIDARITY
========================================

Urgent Call for Solidarity!

Members of “Academics for Peace” and Education and Science Workers Union (Eğitim-SEN) have been removed from their positions in public higher education institutions permanently!

In January 2016, 2,218 scholars from Turkey signed a petition titled “We will not be a party to this crime,” also known as the Peace Petition. Since then the signatories (“Academics for Peace”) have been subject to heavy pressure and persecution. Hundreds of them have faced criminal and disciplinary investigations, custody, imprisonment, or violent threats. Several academics have been dismissed or suspended, some were forced to resign or leave the country. 

Turkey experienced a failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016, and the Turkish government holds the religious group led by the US resident cleric Fethullah Gülen responsible. After the coup attempt, the Government and university administrations have continued targeting the Academics for Peace with the pretext of purging Gülen affiliated individuals from public service. 

The latest mass purge came late at night on Thursday, September 1, 2016 via a cabinet decree within the context of the state of emergency rule. More than 41 Peace Petition signatories were deemed “supporters of terrorism” and banned from public service, alongside more than 40,000 public service employees. Note that many of the signatories have already been under administrative investigations for signing the Peace Petition for months, without a conclusion. The dismissal of the signatories overnight with a fait accompli of a State of Emergency decree is a serious violation of their basic human right to fair trial and due process. Dismissed under the conditions of state of emergency, they will neither be able to appeal the decision nor work in public sector for a lifetime; their passports will also be revoked. 

This latest attempt to purge Academics for Peace by linking them to coup plotters is outrageous and unacceptable. Government of Turkey is taking advantage of the State of Emergency rule to crack down all critical voices, including those who have no relation to the Gülen organization or the coup attempt. We urgently demand that our colleagues get reinstated to their positions and have their employee rights fully restored.

Please disseminate our call for solidarity in your networks. Ask your college, university, professional organization, or union to publish a statement in support of academics in Turkey, and send it to government and university officials in Turkey.    

Academics for Peace

Contact Information for Your Reference:

Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım
Office of Prime Minister
Basbakanlik
06573 Ankara, Turkey
Administrative Aide, Ozel Kalem Mudurlugu Fax: ++90 312 403 62 82
Public Relations Department Fax: ++ 90 312 422 26 67
binali.yildirim at tbmm.gov.tr 

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Cumhurbaşkanı (President of Turkey) 
cumhurbaskanligi at tccb.gov.tr 

İsmail Kahraman 
Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi Başkanı (President of the Turkish National Grand Assembly) 
ismail.Kahraman at tbmm.gov.tr

Bekir Bozdağ 
Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Adalet Bakanı (Justice Minister of the Republic of Turkey)
Bekir.Bozdag at tbmm.gov.tr
info at adalet.gov.tr

Yekta Saraç 
Türkiye Yüksek Öğretim Kurulu (YÖK) Başkanı (President of the Council of Higher Education)
cohe at yok.gov.tr
011 90 312 266 47 59

Serdar Kılıç 
Turkish Ambassador to the United States
Fax: +1 202 612 67 44
embassy.washingtondc at mfa.gov.tr

İsmet Yılmaz
Milli Eğitim Bakanı (Minister of National Education) 
Atatürk Bulvarı No: 98 06650 Bakanlıklar Ankara, Turkey 
Fax: +90 312 4188289, +90 (312) 417 70 27
ismet.yilmaz at tbmm.org.tr 

========================================
19. WAR DISPROPORTIONATELY AFFECTS WOMEN, SO WHY SO FEW FEMALE PEACEKEEPERS?
by Fiona Hodgson
========================================
(The Guardian - 7 September 2016)

At London’s UN peacekeeping summit, leaders must pledge to involve more women in peace operations and ensure their protection in warzones

Lady Hodgson is chair of the advisory board of Gender Action for Peace and Security

As atrocities mount in South Sudan, with reports of government and non-government soldiers killing and raping, the UK is preparing to send peacekeeping troops there. How will the UN peacekeeping summit, hosted this week in London, make maintaining peace and security more effective, in particular the protection of women and girls?

Globally, there are 16 UN peacekeeping operations. They cover some of the world’s most unstable and violent countries. The UK wields influence at the UN security council in developing mission mandates, and is the fifth largest financial contributor to UN peacekeeping.
Women must be at the peace table for a chance of ending war in Syria


In 2015, the British military committed to “conduct operations to restore peace and stability” and double the number of personnel contributed by the UK (336 as of 31 July 2016). The military also emphasised that the UK would champion reform to increase the efficiency and impact of UN engagement, as well as setting up a cross-Whitehall joint UN peacekeeping policy unit.

As evidenced in countries like Iraq and Libya, regime change can be achieved, but attaining peace afterwards can be elusive. Too often, the post-conflict phase spirals down into a situation of lawlessness, lack of governance and corruption. There is a tendency for violence, including sexual violence, to become endemic, leaving a large number of citizens still at risk.

Peace and security mean different things to different parts of the population. For some it may mean an end to armed hostility and opportunities for formal government power. But for women and girls it may mean being able to walk down the street without being attacked or raped, and having access to legal redress when threatened or beaten behind closed doors.

Current conflicts disproportionately affect women. It is conservatively estimated that 70% of those killed in today’s conflicts are civilians, many of them women and children, who become especially vulnerable when law and order break down. There are also documented incidents of UN peacekeepers perpetrating sexual violence, and recent reports of peacekeepers standing by as women are raped. Yet security for everyone is a vital part of any peacekeeping operation.

The impact of conflict on women was recognised 16 years ago with the adoption of UN security council resolution 1325. The resolution called for measures including the presence of women at the peace table. Yet women in war-torn countries remain mostly ignored, despite research showing that, where women are included, the likelihood of achieving peace is much higher.

A UN peacekeeper from Romania. Research shows that peace is likelier to be achieved when women are included in peace-building measures. Photograph: Martine Perret/UN Photo

The UK was one of the first countries to sign up to resolution 1325 and adopt a national action plan. By the 15th anniversary last year, 55 countries had committed to the measure and others had pledged to do so. Our military have been making strides to engage on this agenda. The preventing sexual violence initiative, launched by William Hague and Angelina Jolie, and now led in government by Foreign Office minister Lady Anelay, has also highlighted the extent of women’s disempowerment in conflict and post-conflict countries.
Analysis Women still face a fight for recognition in war and peace
Liz Ford: A UN resolution passed 15 years ago has had little impact on improving women’s safety or including them in peace-building

In some countries there is a taboo about women talking to men outside their families, which makes it impossible for male soldiers to communicate directly with them. Yet speaking to women is vital if they are to protect them properly and understand the threats they face. Any peacekeeping force must contain women, and to achieve this the UN must create a formal mechanism that ensures female peacekeepers are deployed to engage with local communities.

The need to ensure countries emerging from conflict can create long-term stability has never been greater. As well as ensuring that women are well-represented at the conference, both on peace-building panels and among the audience, we need:

    Concrete targets on increasing women in peace operations.
    A formal mechanism for peacekeepers to connect with NGOs and organisations representing women’s rights.
    A commitment to resourcing gender analysis among peacekeeping operations to understand what local women are experiencing.
    Accountability for crimes by peacekeepers.

Last year, during celebrations at the UN to mark the 15th anniversary of resolution 1325, the UK pledged to include support for women at all UK peace-building events. Let us hope that this will be translated into action. The summit offers the UK a golden opportunity to influence the agenda and to create positive change in the way the UN addresses peacekeeping, especially civilian protection.

========================================
20. BRAZIL’S POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC CRISIS THREATENS THE LEGITIMACY OF THE COUNTRY’S DEMOCRACY
by Mark Weisbrot
========================================
(The Hill, August 30, 2016)

On April 17, the Brazilian lower house of Congress voted to impeach President Dilma Rousseff, who was elected in 2010 and re-elected at the end of 2014. It was a garish spectacle, with one right-wing deputy dedicating his vote to the colonel who headed a torture unit during the dictatorship. One of its torture victims was the president herself.

The deputy’s dedication was a grim reminder that Brazil has emerged from dictatorship just 30 years ago, and that its democracy is perhaps less developed than many people assume. More reminders would soon spring forth like mushrooms in a rain-soaked field. Leaked telephone transcripts revealed that leaders of the impeachment effort were trying to remove President Rousseff in order to stop the investigation into their own corruption. This led to the resignation of three ministers in the new cabinet appointed by the interim president, Michel Temer; but 15 of the original 23 ministers he appointed were reportedly under investigation, as well as the majority of the Congress itself.

Then on June 2, Temer himself was convicted of campaign finance violations and banned from seeking office for eight years. New scandals involving interim and pro-impeachment officials emerged nearly every week.

Although there is corruption within all the parties, including Dilma’s Workers’ Party (PT), the deep irony is that the corrupt officials trying to topple her presidency have not presented any charges or evidence of corrupt practices on her part. Rather she is being impeached for an accounting practice that other presidents, and many governors, have used. And on July 14, the federal prosecutor assigned to the case concluded that it was not even a crime.

But the prosecutor’s conclusion appears to have been ignored, and a final vote by the Senate on Dilma’s presidency is expected within the coming days. No wonder many Brazilians consider the whole process a coup d’état — and not just against a president but against democracy itself. There have been continuing protests since the impeachment, with some spilling over into the Rio Olympics.

One of the first acts of the interim government was to appoint a cabinet of all rich white males, in a country where the majority are women and more than half identify as Black or mixed race. Then, they abolished the ministry of women, racial equality, and human rights.

Dilma would probably never have been vulnerable to this attack if not for the economy being immersed in its worst recession in more than 25 years. The PT was first elected in 2002, with President Lula da Silva, and from 2003 to 2013 poverty was reduced by 55 percent, and extreme poverty by 65 percent. Growth in income per person was three times the size as during the previous government, the real (inflation-adjusted) minimum wage doubled, and income inequality was reduced. Unemployment hit record lows.

But toward the end of 2010, Dilma’s government began a series of measures that slowed the economy, just as the global economy was running into headwinds. Budget tightening, sharp cuts in public investment, and increases in interest rates over the next few years would eventually push the economy into recession by the beginning of 2015. Under pressure from big banks and most of the media (which have long been staunch opponents of the PT), she adopted further austerity measures after her re-election in October 2015. The recession deepened.

Dilma has offered a constitutional way out of the political crisis: a plebiscite on whether to hold early presidential elections. If six of the Senators who voted last week to move forward with her trial were to agree, and vote against convicting Dilma for something that was not a crime, this could be arranged. This is what needs to happen.

Then Dilma should get to work in reviving the economy. The austerity was a mistake. For a country like Brazil, the binding constraint on any stimulus program is the balance of payments: they must have enough foreign exchange reserves to be able to pay for rising imports as the economy returns to growth. But Brazil has about $370 billion in international reserves, which is much more than enough.

The crowning irony is that the interim government intends to double down on austerity and cuts in social spending and public investment. The rationale, as usual, is that this will inspire investor confidence, despite its negative impact on economic growth. We have seen this movie a lot in recent years: e.g., in the eurozone since 2010.

And we have seen much worse in Brazil before the first Workers’ Party president, Lula da Silva, took office in 2003. In the 22 years prior (1980–2002), income per person barely grew, at just 4.3 percent over the whole period. It was an unprecedented economic failure, especially as compared to the prior 20 years (1960–1980), which had cumulative growth of more than 120 percent. If Dilma is ousted and the new, unelected government commits itself to the failed economic strategy of the “lost decades,” it could be a long time before the majority of Brazilians recover the living standards that they reached a couple of years ago.

Mark Weisbrot is Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C. and president of Just Foreign Policy. He is also the author of the new book Failed: What the "Experts" Got Wrong About the Global Economy (Oxford University Press, 2015).

CEPR is an independent, nonpartisan think tank that was established to promote democratic debate on the most important economic and social issues that affect people's lives.
CEPR's Advisory Board includes Nobel Laureate economists Robert Solow and Joseph Stiglitz; Janet Gornick, Professor at the CUNY Graduate Center and Director of the Luxembourg Income Study; and Richard Freeman, Professor of Economics at Harvard University.

========================================
21. U.N. CHIEF PRESSES TO UNLOCK MYSTERY OF DAG HAMMARSKJOLD’S DEATH
by Alan Cowell
========================================
(The New York Times, Sept. 6, 2016

The site of the plane crash that killed Dag Hammarskjold in a forest near Ndola, in what was then called Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia, in September 1961. Credit Associated Press

LONDON — A few days from now, the anniversary of one of the most enduring international mysteries will slide by, hardly likely to be marked by those in Britain and the United States accused of withholding the secret clues to its resolution.

On the night of Sept. 17-18, 1961, an airplane carrying Dag Hammarskjold, the United Nations secretary general, crashed near the airport in Ndola in what was then called Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia. Mr. Hammarskjold was on a mission to end a secessionist war next door in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo. All 16 people aboard the plane perished.

Read the original New York Times article on the plane crash here.

Since then, a succession of inquiries have suggested that pilot error was what one investigator called the “default explanation.” But the supposition was never conclusively proved, while other theories — including the possibility that Mr. Hammarskjold’s DC-6B was brought down — have never been definitively ruled out.

That enigmatic stalemate seemed destined to persist as Britain and the United States stonewalled requests by the current secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, to divulge sensitive material.

But in recent weeks there have been signs that, in the closing days of his second and final term, Mr. Ban is still seeking to illuminate the destiny of his distant predecessor. He is pressing for the appointment of “an eminent person or persons” to review what has become a steady stream of potential evidence about the events of September 1961, in or over the woodlands outside Ndola.

One of the clues relates to “Operation Celeste,” described in an article in Foreign Policy magazine last month as a plot by “an apartheid-era South African paramilitary organization that was backed by the C.I.A., British intelligence and a Belgian mining company.” All three shared an aversion to Mr. Hammarskjold’s vision of a unified Congo.

The shadowy outfit was known as the South African Institute of Maritime Research. Word of the purported conspiracy first surfaced in 1998 in a file of documents unearthed by South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

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22. KATE IMY ON GERALD PRENDERGHAST’S 'BRITAIN AND THE WARS IN VIETNAM'
========================================
 Gerald Prenderghast. Britain and the Wars in Vietnam: The Supply of Troops, Arms and Intelligence, 1945-1975. Jefferson: McFarland, 2015. 328 pp. $49.95 (paper), ISBN 978-0-7864-9924-3.

Reviewed by Kate Imy (Rutgers)
Published on H-Asia (September, 2016)
Commissioned by Sumit Guha

After the Second World War, the British Empire faced near bankruptcy, anticolonial activism, and wartime allies who hoped to rebuild or expand their nations and empires. Meanwhile, Britain was in the best position to fill the political vacuum left by the defeat of the Japanese Empire in a region that Britain would define and regulate as “Southeast Asia.” Facing its own need to scale back militarily, the British Empire still wanted to take a leading role in a newly emerging global order but lacked the strength or resources to make it possible. As a result, British participation in globalization after the Second World War in some cases became less about direct military intervention than strategic diplomatic positioning—carefully using and maneuvering allies in directions that were favorable to imperial and national goals. In so doing, Britain became a key player and influential member in a number of imperial, national, and global conflicts in Vietnam.

Gerald Prederghast’s recent study Britain and the Wars in Vietnam attempts to educate general readers with an interest in “the military, logistics and intelligence aspects of Britain’s involvement” (p. 1). He sets out, as explained in the preface, to understand “the part Britain played in the wars in Vietnam between 1945 and 1975.” He characterizes this role “first as peacekeepers after World War II, later as intermediaries in the French peace negotiations of 1954 and finally as allies to the Americans” (p. 1). Eighteen short chapters focus on different elements of the conflict, including different “wars,” to include “Britain’s War (1945-1946)” (chapter 1), “France’s War (1945-1954)” (chapter 3) and several categories of “America’s War” (chapters 4, 6, and 7). The chapters attempting to detail all French and American interests and activities leave little time to delve into the complex and ever-changing strategies of Europeans and Americans, while Britain fades into the background.

Later chapters bring Britain front and center by examining the British Army (chapter 10), Royal Navy (chapter 11), and Royal Air Force (chapter 12). Further chapters include brief summaries of the political objectives of several British prime ministers (chapter 8), the influence of British civilians (chapter 13), the sale of British weapons (pp. 14-15), and the interventions of British intelligence (chapter 16). One appealing feature of the text is that Prenderghast includes numerous pictures and tables that will be of interest to general enthusiasts of military history. However, one wishes that the images had been discussed at greater length or incorporated into the larger narrative. They tend to be illustrative of what is mentioned briefly in the text rather than analyzed as sources.

When Prenderghast touches upon the imperial dimensions of Britain’s role in the war the narrative offers some interesting food for thought. For example, he mentions that British officials trained American and South Vietnamese soldiers at the Malayan Jungle Warfare School (pp. 118, 225) while British firms sold weapons to and outfitted Australian and New Zealand troops (pp. 223-224). The British government even provided intelligence training to South Vietnamese agents in Singapore (p. 226) and used Hong Kong as a financial base (p. 223). Unfortunately, these elements are mentioned all too briefly. For example, Prenderghast makes little effort to situate the Jungle Warfare School in the contested environment of the anticommunist Malayan Emergency. Nor does he consider how Britain viewed its former dominions of Australia and New Zealand—former settler colonies and noteworthy commonwealth allies—in the larger scope of the transition from colonial to postcolonial world order.

A more rounded examination of Britain’s longer-term imperial and military goals and strategies would have added much to the discussion. The fact that Louis Mountbatten—who would go on to serve as the last viceroy of India and a chief overseer of the disastrous partition—was also on the scene in Vietnam as Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia immediately after the Second World War certainly opens the door for a more cogently argued imperial focus. An unwillingness to engage more fully with an imperial lens is most evident in an early discussion of the troops of the Indian Army. Prenderghast frequently, and erroneously, refers to these troops as “British” whenever they successfully carried out operations. By contrast, he specifically refers to them as “Indian” and “Gurkha” when they “dealt ruthlessly with their opposition” (p. 33). A more nuanced account might examine the fraught loyalties and difficult postwar choices of many South Asian troops. During the Second World War, the anticolonial Indian National Army attracted prisoners of war and deserters from the British Indian Army and aligned with Japanese forces in Southeast Asia. How, then, might Punjabi and Gurkha troops have viewed their participation in further conflicts, after years of active duty service and calls for independence in India? Prenderghast does not consider such questions, nor does he explore how and why the Gurkha troops who had served in the Indian Army continued to serve the British Empire in Malaysia, Singapore, and Hong Kong during the war in Vietnam and long after Indian independence.

A more diverse source base may have helped flesh out many of the parts of the book that seem underdeveloped. The vast majority of footnotes point to secondary source literature, which is cited at length. Yet some noteworthy works are omitted altogether. This includes Т. О. Smith’s Britain and the Origins of the Vietnam War (2007), which argues that Britain played an influential role in postwar order through the creation of the South East Asia Command, which set the course for ending communism through direct and indirect means. Meanwhile, Prenderghast cites other relevant works, such as Peter Busch’s All the Way With JFK? (2003), in select chapters (chapter 5), but he does not give serious thought to Busch’s argument. Busch examined Britain’s long-term and lasting interventions in Vietnam by influencing American policy through SEATO (South East Asia Treaty Organization), co-chairing the 1954 Geneva Conference on Indochina, which organized the withdrawal of French troops and established a ceasefire line between North and South at the 17th Parallel, and providing counterinsurgency through BRIAM (British advisory mission).

In addition to some limitations in secondary source engagement, the bulk of Prenderghast’s primary sources come from the UK National Archives, which leads to some puzzling oversimplification. For example, Prenderghast claims that “the response of ordinary South Vietnamese to the British troops occupying their country seems to have been a positive one,” yet his footnote points to a single British official report to validate this assertion (p. 33). While he includes quotations that characterize American actors as “infantile” (p. 8) or narrow-mindedly selfish, (p. 110), he gives British troops and officials the benefit of the doubt on almost all counts. He describes it as “accidental” when troops under British authority burn down civilian housing (p. 26). He even gives a free pass to top British officials, claiming that they were “in a position familiar to most British officers and soldiers in general—‘damned if he did and damned if he didn’t’” (p. 26). This optimistic refrain might be refreshing in its lack of condemnation if it had been applied to all of the actors in the story—the many diverse Vietnamese, French, American, and Japanese soldiers and civilians who similarly had to make difficult choices in a turbulent postwar world. Yet granting a free pass to “British officers and soldiers in general” is troubling, given the long and contested history of British imperial armies.

A more global and imperial lens would have been a major asset to Britain and the Wars in Vietnam. This would have likely prevented Prenderghast from opening his work with the claim that “Britain’s involvement in America’s Vietnam War” was “one of history’s minor myths” (p. 6). He drives this point home in his eighteenth and final chapter, which asks, “What Was British Involvement in Vietnam Between 1946 and 1973?” His response: “the real answer is: Not very much” (p. 225). This conclusion is likely to be unconvincing to scholars trained in British imperial history or in any of the imperial and colonial histories of the region. It is also misleading for general readers. Prenderghast’s work does point to many interesting aspects of the wars in Vietnam that would benefit from further research. Thorough engagement with archives in India, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, and Hong Kong would provide a more compelling portrait of the global and imperial dimensions of the conflict. In addition to the fact that imperial officials—including Mountbatten—served in multiple imperial locales, the strategies and prejudices of imperial rule often leant themselves to misunderstanding, maladministration, and a tendency to apply an inaccurate level of “sameness” to all colonial subjects. Meanwhile, the agendas of one colonial sphere were never isolated from the goals and interests of surrounding areas and empires. Without fully examining this imperial context, it can hardly be asserted that Britain’s role in Vietnam was largely a “myth.”


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South Asia Citizens Wire
Buzz for secularism, on the dangers of fundamentalism(s), on
matters of peace and democratisation in South
Asia. Newsletter of South Asia Citizens Web: 
www.sacw.net/

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DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed in materials carried in the posts do not necessarily reflect the views of SACW compilers.