SACW | Jan. 13, 2007
Harsh Kapoor
aiindex at mnet.fr
Fri Jan 12 19:50:32 CST 2007
South Asia Citizens Wire | January 13, 2007 | Dispatch No. 2347 - Year 8
[1] Pakistan: A slide into disaster? (I. A. Rehman)
[2] Islamism and expediency in Bangladesh (Delwar Hussain)
[3] India's Second-class Citizens (Akash Bisht)
[4] India: Hindutva @ work
(i) Saffron namaskar - Impart education, not
mumbo-jumbo (editorial, The Tribune)
(ii) Rewriting Rajasthan's history important: RSS
[5] India: Army lands in row over Baba
[6] Upcoming Events:
(i) Workshop on Right To Information Act (New Delhi, 13 January)
(ii) Citizens' Dharna for the release of
activists and students in West Bengal jails (New
Delhi, 13 January)
(iii) Seminar: Social Justice and Reservation: A
Review of the Findings of the Sachar Commission
(Trissur, 14 January)
(iv) No Death Penalty For Afzal Guru! Picket Of
The Indian High Commission, (London, 26 January
(v) South Asia at the Crossroads monthly
discussions by Ceras (Montreal, starting 21
january 2007)
____
[1]
Dawn
January 11, 2007
A SLIDE INTO DISASTER?
by I. A. Rehman
'FAILURE to elect my supporters will plunge
Pakistan into darkness,' General Pervez Musharraf
is reported to have proclaimed the other day. The
warning seems to be on a par with one of the
best-known French contributions to the world's
political thesaurus - "After us, the deluge."
The cynics who are likely to observe that a
people who have been in darkness for as long as
they can remember might not pay any heed to this
warning must be ignored because such a statement
from the head of an apparently unshakeable regime
should not be taken lightly.
The followers about whose election President
Musharraf seemed concerned, however, do not
appear worried about losing. Indeed they have
never sounded so confident as now. They are
gloating over the disarray in the opposition
ranks. The MMA's climb-down on the question of
quitting the assemblies in protest against the
passage of the Protection of Women Act and other
matters has caused much visible delight in the
official camp.
Reports of disagreement between the People's
Party and the PML-N over relationship with
religio-political groups and participation or
otherwise in polls if held while General
Musharraf continues as both president and the
chief of the army staff have also added to the
ruling party's confidence. The strong men
occupying the office of chief minister in the two
larger provinces of the country are already using
the many tricks in their bags to queer the
electoral pitch in favour of their courtiers and
hangers-on. Why then a note of uncertainty about
the outcome of the general election?
It is possible that the reference to the king's
men's failure to get elected is merely a tactical
move, an insurance against post-election clamour
about engineered results. A party that goes into
an election without denying the possibility of
its defeat can attribute its eventual triumph to
effective canvassing and its popularity. It will
also enable the government to dismiss any
post-election allegations of rigging as a matter
of opposition's habit of always citing rigging as
the cause of its electoral defeat.
The president's warning does not make sense in
the context of declarations made by the regime's
spokespersons. According to them, nothing can
prevent General Musharraf from winning a fresh
five-year term in office and retaining his
uniform too. If that projection is correct, then
the regime has nothing to fear. Even if the
president's followers do not win a majority in
parliament, the possibility of a repetition of
2002, when PML-Q won over enough opposition
parliamentarians to become a majority party in
the National Assembly, cannot be ruled out.
Further, in the scheme of governance developed
over the past few years elected representatives
are unlikely to present a meaningful challenge to
an all-powerful chief executive.
If the opposition parties do succeed in winning a
majority or a sizeable number of seats in the
Parliament - neither possibility can be ruled out
- that will be wholly to the good of the country.
Assuming that General Pervez Musharraf would
still be keen to stay in the Presidency, a new
formula for sharing power will be unavoidable,
something that PML-Q has not had the courage so
far to attempt. It may then not be possible to
resist the pressure, both domestic and
international, for open and transparent
governance and for moving towards civilian
political stewardship of national affairs.
The most dangerous post-election scenario will be
a complete success of the PML-Q commandos'
operation to secure a heavy mandate for their
party. Such an outcome, howsoever secured, will
make the post-election government even more
impervious to the opposition point of view than
even the present regime. The government will be
as handicapped in the matter of offering good
governance to the people as was the Ayub regime
after the second parliamentary election under the
system of so-called basic democracy.
In the earlier election, the followers of Field
Marshal Ayub Khan had not been able to prevent
the election of a good number of politicians who
did not see eye to eye with the president. As a
result, the government was obliged to offer
accommodation to its critics. Under pressure from
a dynamic opposition the constitution was quickly
amended and the law on political parties
radically changed.
During the second parliamentary election of the
Ayub period the ruling party adopted the policy
of marginalising the opposition through every
conceivable form of electoral manipulation and
the regime became totally free of opposition
advice. Backed by an overwhelmingly supportive
parliament the Ayub government became insensitive
to any sane counsel.
Between January 1965, when Field Marshal Ayub
Khan managed to win a new term for himself as
president, and March 1969, when he abdicated in
favour of the army chief, Pakistan suffered one
grievous setback after another. The 1965 conflict
with India brought disaster to Pakistan on more
than one count. On the one hand, Pakistan's moral
standing on the Kashmir issue was compromised
and, on the other hand, East Bengal population's
alienation from the state acquired a definite
direction. Above all, the government's incapacity
to overcome the consequences of lopsided economic
policies and its decision to subject the state to
another spell of military rule inexorably led to
Pakistan's disintegration in 1971.
Today's Pakistan is by no means strong enough to
survive a heavy mandate for the present ruling
coalition in the coming general election. It may
be true that Pakistan faces the danger of
entering a darker age, but whether one is moving
into darkness or whether one is moving out of
darkness depends on the choice of direction.
Politicians who have no use for history often
defend their misadventures by claiming to be
better or cleverer than their vanquished
predecessors, and Islamabad's present gurus may
be similarly comforting themselves. In that case,
they will be guilty of ignoring the fact that
whenever a majoritarian state has been deprived
of effective opposition, it has courted
irremediable disaster. Such a regime quickly
acquires notions of its infallibility, tends to
read in the people's apathy and their
acquiescence with whatever is ordained by the
chamber of power is proof of its popularity and
correctness both. It also loses its capacity to
alter its course.
If the Musharraf government is really interested
in preventing Pakistan from a future that will be
worse than its present, it should call a halt to
the PML (Q) mandarins' campaign to win more
parliamentary seats than they deserve to do in a
free, fair and democratically appropriate
election.
The requisites of a fair election have been
identified. The country must have, sooner rather
than later, a new, independent and multi-member
election commission, and the controversies over
arbitrary changes in constituencies and
preparation of electoral lists should be resolved
through an all-party consensus. No election will
be considered fair if any leader of a political
party is not allowed to lead his/her party in the
electoral contest, nor will any set-up under the
presidentship of General Musharraf will be
accepted as a neutral caretaker regime.
Incidentally, barely a couple of decades after
Madame de Pompadour talked of the deluge, her
prophecy did come true in the form of the French
Revolution and the flood of blood that followed
it. Sometimes those who try to save themselves by
conjuring up before their people the spectre of
apocalypse are eventually found to have paved the
way to the dreade
_____
[2]
Open Democracy
11 January 2007
ISLAMISM AND EXPEDIENCY IN BANGLADESH
by Delwar Hussain
The way Bangladesh's secular parties and leaders
conduct politics is fuelling Islamist extremism
and destabilising democracy, reports Delwar
Hussain. The long-term damage done to the
secular project over the years is evident in the
fact that its self-declared champion is doing
nothing to uphold it. As power is transferred -
from Zia to Ershad to Khaleda to Hasina - the
Islamist project gets stronger and stronger. The
logic is that the next election - whenever it is
held - will bring the Islamists to power,
regardless of who becomes prime minister. The
Islamists were once seen as being against
Bangladesh itself, anti-national; then as
important power-brokers in the country's
politics; today, they are on the point of being
crowned kings.
About the Author: Delwar Hussain is a working for
a PhD at the London School of Economics. His
most recent article published in Open Democracy
was, "Bangladeshis in east London: from secular
politics to Islam". Where he Hussain charts a
long-term shift from secular leftism to Islamism
among the poor Bangladeshis in East London
The general election in Bangladesh scheduled for
22 January 2007, already surrounded by bitter
political dispute, has been thrown further into
doubt by the declaration of a state of national
emergency on 11 January. The country's president,
Iajuddin Ahmed, prepares to address the nation
after several weeks of mass protest and blockades
by the government's opponents who seek to have
the election postponed. The long-standing doubts
over the fairness of the poll and the legitimacy
of the institutions that will oversee it have
thus exploded into a wider national crisis.
A new phase has opened in Bangladesh's stormy
political trajectory since 2001, a period
dominated by the polarisation between the ruling,
centre-right Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)
and the opposition, centre-left Awami League
(AWL). Behind the street barricades and the
decisions of state, however, is a far larger
story than the nature of the next government and
the identity of the prime minister. For the
underlying dynamics of Bangladeshi politics
suggest the slow rise of Islamism towards
political power.
Indeed, it is all too tempting to predict that -
unless there is a rapid and unforeseen change -
the outcome of the election (if indeed it takes
place) will be less significant in statistical
terms than as the culmination of the politics of
expediency that has dominated the last six years.
In that case, the real losers will be the 140
million people of the country and with them, the
ideals of secularism and socialism on which the
country was established in 1971. The winner,
almost regardless of the results, will be the
burgeoning Islamist parties which are unremitting
in their ideological drive to establish an
Islamic state refounded on sharia law.
A new order in waiting
The election victory of the BNP in 2001 was
secured in partnership with the ardently
fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and the
Islami Oikka Jote (IOJ). Since then, these
parties have been working to advance their
ideological objectives; a task strengthened by
popular antagonism to the wars in Afghanistan and
Iraq, the shadow of an increasingly Hindu
fundamentalist India, and the widening gap
between the haves and the have-nots in Bangladesh
itself.
However, the politics of expediency - a
combination of violence, greed and opportunism -
that taints the two major parties is arguably an
equally important factor in the slow Islamisation
of the country.
In December 2006, the Awami League announced that
it had accepted the Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish
(BKM), an Islamist party led by Shaikul Hadith
Azizul Haq as one of its partners. As part of
their joint memorandum of understanding, the AWL
(led by Sheikh Hasina) has agreed to the BKM's
four key demands in the event of an opposition
victory:
*"certified" alem (Islamic clerics) will have the
right to issue fatwa (Islamic religious edicts)
*the parliament in Dhaka will impose a bar on
enacting any law that goes against Quranic values
*the parliament can initiate recognition of the
degrees awarded by Qaumi madrasa
*the parliament can implement a ban on any form
of criticism of the Prophet Mohammed, including
accepting that he is the last and the most
supreme prophet.
The BKM has nominated five prospective candidates
for government positions; of these, two are
veterans of the Soviet-Afghan war and one
supports a Taliban-style regime in Bangladesh.
All have been high-ranking members of the banned
extremist organisation Harkat-ul Jihad al-Islami
which has been waging a war to establish Islamic
hukumat (rule) in Bangladesh.
One of these, Maulana Habibur Rahman, the
principal of a madrasa, is standing in the
constituency Sylhet-6 (Biyanibazar province),
where many British Bangladeshis originate from.
His opponents accuse him of involvement in
several bomb blasts in Sylhet, including the one
in May 2004 where the British high commissioner
to the country, Anwar Choudhury - himself a
British Bangladeshi - was nearly killed.
All these demands have been on the agendas of
every rightwing extremist party in the country
for a very long time. Now, as part of its bid for
power, the AWL - albeit in an election it is
determined to prevent happening - has suddenly
acquiesced to them. Even the JI, which had fought
against the liberation of the country and is
today implicated in the rise of Islamist
militancy and violence, had not managed to
achieve what the AWL has agreed to. The decision
means in effect that the country is a few steps
away from introducing a process whose ultimate
outcome will be an Islamic State of Bangladesh.
The announcement of the pact was made on 24
December 2006, the same day Hasina was
entertaining a group of Bengali Christians in her
home. She made no mention of the pact, but
reasserted the party's scripturally-based
"commitment to secularism" argument and called on
every citizen irrespective of their caste and
creed to work to build a secular country. She
also added - in what apparently was not a
Christmas joke - that "the BNP-Jamaat alliance
use religion as a tool of political gains, but
the Awami League believes in secularism".
The agreement runs profoundly against the AWL's
belief in religion-free politics, an ideology
which Hasina's father, Sheikh Mujib had enshrined
in Bangladesh's first constitution. It also
breaks with the rest of the coalition partners'
agreement to eliminate religious bigotry and
communalism.
Three of the BKM's demands are a particular cause for worry.
The right to issue fatwa by alem who operate by
Islamic law represents the creation of a parallel
legal system to the existing, state one. Some
years ago, the high court upheld a case brought
by human-rights groups opposed to an earlier
effort to establish this right. The groups argued
that fatwa were biased against women, ethnic and
religious minorities and secular organisations.
An influential report by the legal aid
organisation Ain O Salish Kendra in 1997 stated
that "fatwas were issued sentencing women to
whipping, stoning, social boycott etc. All these
resulted in murder, suicide, physical assault,
harassment (and) humiliation".
Islamist groups responded to the verdict by
gathering under the banner of an "Islamic law
implementation committee", which called for the
judges who made the decision to be hanged; a
cancellation of the verdict; and a ban on NGO
activities. The committee was led by Shaikhul
Hadith Azizul Haq, now leader of the BKM. In
Dhaka, the committee attempted to block a rally
by women's organisations supporting the
anti-fatwa ruling; during the confrontation, a
policeman was murdered inside a mosque.
Shaikhul Hadith Azizul Haq, then chairman of the
Islami Oikka Jote, was arrested for the murder.
Altogether ten people were killed and over 200
injured during the month-long protests. The party
in power at that time, and which oversaw and
initiated the prohibition of fatwa, was the AWL.
The violence ended after the supreme court
suspended the verdict for an indefinite period.
The result was predictable: a report from the
United States state department estimates that
thirty-five fatwa were issued during 2005.
A minority under pressure
The implementation of a ban on any form of
criticism of Mohammed and of laws that contravene
Quranic values is a way of using law to forbid
and punish blasphemy. But there is particular
aspect to such repressive efforts in Bangladesh,
which are specifically aimed against the
Ahmadiyya community: a sect of Islam whose
members are persecuted in Bangladesh.
The Ahmadiyyas do not believe that Mohammed is
the final messenger of Allah - a view that
Islamist groups (including the Jamaat and the
IOJ, organised with others under the banner of
the Khatame Nabuwat Movement) find abhorrent. In
line with a ruling in Pakistan, they demand the
Ahmadiyyas be declared non-Muslim. The community
has been attacked with relative impunity, and
these attacks are on a rising trend since the
2001 election.
Amnesty International has repeatedly raised
concerns about the safety of the Ahmadiyyas in
Bangladesh. The incidents it cites include the
killing of an Ahmadi preacher, vandalism against
their mosques, the illegal house arrest of Ahmadi
villagers, street agitations against Ahmadis, and
the waves of "hate speech" and public rallies
calling for the declaration of Ahmadis as
non-Muslims.
The BNP government, seeking to preserve the
relationship with its extremist partners, has
done very little to protect the Ahmadiyyas during
its tenure. In 2004, it even initiated a ban on
all Ahmadi publications, though currently its
implementation is suspended by the high court. By
entering into the pact with the BKM, the AWL has
reproduced a political anti-Ahmadiyya agenda,
further stigmatising and threatening an already
vulnerable community.
The new kings
The BNP and the AWL are alike at the root of the
politics of expediency, and share responsibility
for its persistence in Bangladesh. The problem
began soon after independence when (in 1975)
Sheikh Mujib was assassinated and power seized by
a military dictatorship. The military elite
sought to consolidate its position and gain
much-needed political legitimacy by turning to
the Islamist groups - especially as a
counterweight to the AWL's secular, socialist
ideals.
General Zia ur-Rahman's BNP party removed
secularism from the constitution and replaced it
with "... absolute faith and trust in the
almighty Allah". He also inserted
Bismillah-ar-rahman-ar-rahim (In the name of
Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful) into this
foundational document.
Zia encouraged the return by stealth of what are
euphemistically called "the anti-liberation
forces", members of the JI, back into power.
These were the very same people that Zia himself
had fought against in the war of liberation a few
years earlier. General Ershad also responded to
mounting opposition and popular uprisings against
his rule (1982-90) by amending the constitution
to declare Islam the state religion.
Democracy returned in 1991 but unfortunately this
did not stem the tide of political opportunism.
Both parties have sought the support of the
Islamists (in particular the Jamaat), either to
help form a government or to topple a
democratically elected one. Following the 2001
BNP-JI-IOJ coalition victory, the country
witnessed a spate of systematic attacks on
minority communities.
During the coalition's tenure, some commentators
have characterised Bangladesh as a possible "next
Afghanistan". Such fears were increased in August
2005, when 500 home-made bombs exploded across
the country in a series of coordinated
explosions. In order to protect the alliance, and
continue in government, the BNP prime minister
Khaleda Zia, (General Zia's widow) accused the
AWL of responsibility for this and the other
atrocities taking place across the country.
Minority groups and other coalition partners are
in uproar and feel abandoned by the AWL's
decision to endorse Islamist demands. One
coalition partner said the deal will "destroy the
country's democratic and progressive spirit and
will encourage militancy". The English-language
Daily Star newspaper argued the deal has "laid
the foundation of destruction of our
constitution, our legal system and our way of
life. In fact, it is a blueprint for a different
Bangladesh, not the one we have now and not the
one for which millions died".
In response, the AWL has been quick to resort to
damage limitation. Its general secretary Abdul
Jalil reiterated the party's "commitment to
secularism". He has stated that this relationship
with the BKM is crucially not a binding agreement
but a "memorandum of agreement" and "an
understanding based on an election strategy."
The cost of power-games
This last comment goes to the heart of the
problem. The AWL may believe that the agreement
with the BKM is nothing but a clever if dangerous
game designed to hoodwink the Islamist vote-bank,
an attempt to split the numbers who
overwhelmingly vote for the BNP-JI-IOJ coalition.
The party possibly has no intention of actually
fulfilling any of the BKM's demands. In short,
this can be understood as an example of the
marriage of expediency and crude unprincipled
politics which characterises the establishment
parties in Bangladesh.
But while the AWL tries to orchestrate extremist
opinion, it is also taking for granted the
minorities and the secularists, confident that it
"owns" their votes. As one Dhaka-based
commentator said, the tragedy for minorities and
the left in Bangladesh is that they get the long
pole from both ends: attacked, raped and looted
by BNP thugs and Islamists for voting AWL, then
abandoned by the AWL in its bid to gain power.
Over the years, the result of this kind of
arrogance is that the Islamist agenda has
trickled, drop by drop, into mainstream politics
- to the extent that it is becoming hard to tell
the difference between the mainstream parties and
their extremist partners. The consequences of
this kind of degradation in democratic politics
can be fatal. A cartoon in a national newspaper
is suggestive: it depicts Sheikh Hasina feeding
milk and bananas to a snake (wearing a
mosque-hat) coiled around her. The snake is no
longer interested in the food.
The long-term damage done to the secular project
over the years is evident in the fact that its
self-declared champion is doing nothing to uphold
it. As power is transferred - from Zia to Ershad
to Khaleda to Hasina - the Islamist project gets
stronger and stronger. The logic is that the next
election - whenever it is held - will bring the
Islamists to power, regardless of who becomes
prime minister. The Islamists were once seen as
being against Bangladesh itself, anti-national;
then as important power-brokers in the country's
politics; today, they are on the point of being
crowned kings.
_____
[3]
Hard News
January 2007
SECOND-CLASS CITIZENS
Two high-profile official committees discover how
Indian Muslims in Gujarat, exiled and condemned,
have been effectively ghettoised
Akash Bisht Delhi
Four years have passed since the state-sponsored
Gujarat carnage shook the entire nation, leaving
hundreds dead and lakhs displaced and brutalised,
but till this day many of the survivors of the
post-Godhra killings have not found their way
back home. These exiled 'second-class citizens'
are living in inhuman conditions in make-shift
camps and are deprived of basic amenities, like
potable water, sanitary facilities, street
lights, schools, banks, public transport and
primary healthcare centres. Recent visits by
members of the National Commission for Minorities
(NCM) and a Parliamentary committee revealed the
pathetic state of more than 5,000 Muslim families
living in these sub-human camps in Ahmedabad and
Sabarkantha districts of Gujarat. Both the
'secular' Left-backed UPA regime and the Narendra
Modi-led BJP government, which tacitly and
overtly backed the genocide, seem to have left
the people to their fate, and rather
intentionally.
Living in 10 x 10 rooms with large families to
support, basic civic amenities are denied to the
people of these colonies. An NCM team, comprising
Michael P Pinto, Zoya Hasan, Dileep Padgaonkar
and A Banerji, visited the 'relief camps' and
noted that the roads that lead to these colonies
are non-existent. They also came to know how two
boys drowned in the water collected at a road
near a village during the last monsoon. The team
also noticed that the residents had no means of
earning livelihood to support their families.
Many of these residents were artisans,
industrialists and self-employed traders, who now
face organised discrimination by their old
clients, Hindutva supporters, the local
administration and police; they find it extremely
difficult to earn even a meagre income to support
their large families in a state where their
isolation and condemnation is absolute,
relentless and precise.
The NCM team witnessed abject poverty in these
camps and discovered that but for a few houses,
most of them had little except bare minimum
bedding and utensils. "Most of the residents of
these colonies had no ration cards and the ones
that were issued by the government were of the
Above Poverty Line (APL) category, instead of the
Below Poverty Line (BPL) category," revealed A
Banerji, joint secretary in the NCM. The
residents have little source of income and are
forced to buy food grains at much higher rates.
The BJP government has done nothing to help out
these victims, many of whom went through personal
tragedies and deaths, and who have been now
dumped to fend for themselves.
Ironically, the NCM, in its report, revealed that
not a single colony was constructed by the state
government, nor was any land allotted to these
families, while, earlier last year, the Modi
regime returned Rs 19 crore to the centre,
stating that all the relief work across the state
for riot victims had been done. The NCM team
found out that the government did not
rehabilitate those who could not return to their
homes after the killings. All of them,
predictably, are Muslims.
The residents complained of inadequate
compensation; a maximum compensation of Rs 10,000
was given to them. Muslim organisations and NGOs
took up their cause and bought land for these
displaced people at high commercial rates. But
due to deliberate lack of support from a biased
and compromised state government, these
organisations have not been able to provide the
basic amenities and livelihood options in these
colonies. The report read, "The implications that
this has for the security and well being of civil
society as a whole are extremely serious."
The state government came under fire from the
Parliamentary committee for its failure to
rehabilitate victims of the post-Godhra killings
and found that the BJP-led regime was stunningly
indifferent to the plight of the people who had
been displaced en masse after the blood bath of
2002 in Gujarat. The members of the committee
claimed that the riot victims are being
ghettoised and forced to live in pitiable
surroundings. The committee also requested the
centre to intervene to help the victims and
criticised the Gujarat government for
surrendering Rs 19 crore out of the Rs 150 crore
that the Centre had given to the state for
rehabilitation of the survivors.
Residents of these colonies also spoke to the
respective committees about the atmosphere of
insecurity in which they are being forced to
live. "The team received several complaints about
the hostile attitude of the police towards the
residents of these colonies or their
representatives who have taken up their problems
with relevant authoritiesŠ" read the NCM report.
Narrating his story, Sheikh Naushad Rasol, in a
public meeting held in New Delhi, said, "My
entire family is living in a very small room and
there are many other families that don't have
even this. Muslims in Gujarat are in a terrified
state and are living with the stigma of being
Muslims. We are not given any jobs and eventually
it's our women who are cleaning utensils in
houses for a paltry sum of Rs 200 to support
their families."
One of Gujarat's biggest garbage dumps is just
outside Ahmedabad and right next to Citizen
Nagar, a colony constructed for the survivors of
the Naroda Patiya carnage. This colony is home to
several epidemics that haunt the residents. But,
most of these displaced families still believe it
is much safer to stay in these camps rather than
returning to their homes.
"Children are being forced to leave schools and
are constantly asked by their classmates and
teachers to leave India and go to Pakistan.
Abdul, an engineer by profession before the
genocide, is now selling toys, as nobody is ready
to offer him a job because of his Muslim
identity," informed journalist Dionne Bunsha in a
public meeting to relaunch her book on Gujarat:
Scarred. Bunsha also mentioned how
fundamentalists, like VHP leader Babu Bajrangi,
one of the accused in the killings, are openly
terrorising the minorities by training people in
shooting, judo and martial arts and organising
vicious propaganda attacks. He recently led a
violent campaign to beat up couples in parks and
especially targeted Muslims. Numerous signboards
welcoming Hindus to the 'Hindurashtra' can be
seen all over the place, as if Gujarat is a
'Hindu republic' outside secular India. Narrating
an incident, Bunsha informed that a Hindu girl
married to a Muslim was forced to abort her child
and the boy was brutally beaten up by VHP
activists.
However, the report brought out by the NCM and
the Parliamentary committee only highlights the
problem in some parts of Gujarat. "They surveyed
only a few areas and could bring forward issues
pertaining only to these families while there are
many other areas and families in Gujarat that are
facing similar issues. The numbers are much
higher than the count of 5,000 that is being put
forward by these committees. One has to visit
entire Gujarat to assess the real situation and
see the deadly plight of hundreds of people who
have been forced to be condemned in sub-human
ghettos," revealed Father Cedric Prakash,
director of an NGO, Prashant, who recently won
the 'Minorities Rights Award' for his work in
favour of human rights in the country.
The state government seems uninterested in
lending a helping hand to these riot victims.
However, the central government is likely to
announce a relief package for the victims of
Gujarat violence in line with the compensation
awarded to the 1984 riot victims. This move will
definitely come as relief for several families,
which have received hardly any support from the
Gujarat government despite suffering loss of
their members and friends and property. But the
real question that should still haunt the minds
of the minorities in Gujarat is how will the
central government put an end to the trauma and
stigma faced by Indian Muslims for being
patriotic Indian citizens in the saffronised,
Hindutva state of Narendra Modi's BJP-led Gujarat.
______
[4] Hindutwa @ work:
(i)
The Tribune
12 January 2006
Editorial
SAFFRON NAMASKAR
IMPART EDUCATION, NOT MUMBO-JUMBO
THE Madhya Pradesh Government, doubtless, accords
the highest priority to schools and colleges -
though not for education. Schools seem to have
become the ruling BJP's favourite playground for
sectarian political games. Chief Minister Shivraj
Singh Chauhan's government first claimed national
attention when it ordered that singing Vande
Mataram would be compulsory in educational
institutions. Now, in his zeal to popularise
yoga, the Chief Minister has decreed that from
January 25 surya namaskar will be compulsory in
all government schools and colleges in the state.
Predictably, this has given rise to opposition,
especially from Muslim organisations, which have
said that their children would not submit to this.
The state of education in Madhya Pradesh, as in
several other parts of the country, is hardly
enviable. There are schools with teachers, but no
students; and schools with students and no
teachers. Even as there are schools in search of
both teachers and students, there are no schools
in many places where they are needed. The problem
is not only one of infrastructure and resources
but also motivating enrolment and attendance.
This is challenge enough for any government
serious about ensuring education for all.
Far from addressing this, the MP government seems
to be doing its best to drive students away from
educational institutions. Schools and colleges
should confine themselves to educational and
relevant extra-curricular activities. Programmes
in the interests of the students' health are
desirable, but to exploit this for insidiously
pursuing a saffron agenda and extending state
patronage to yoga gurus is not the job of a
government. Educational institutions should stick
to education in the strictest sense of the term
and foster an inclusive and secularist culture.
Muslim organisations would also serve the
community and the country better by not rising to
such baits that are calculated to communalise
education. The government order makes no sense
when surya namaskar is compulsory for the
institutions but not the students. While Muslims
can exercise the choice, the government should
revoke the order if only to avoid another
imposition on teachers and administrators.
o o o
http://in.rediff.com/news/2007/jan/03rss.htm
Rediff.com
Rewriting Rajasthan's history important: RSS
January 03, 2007 18:34 IST
Brushing aside Congress' apprehension of Hindutva
agenda in the academic curriculum, the Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh on Wednesday hailed Rajasthan's
Bharatiya Janata Party government for its move to
rewrite the state's history.
It said that the move would delete 'unscrupulous
facts' mentioned in textbooks against heroes and
leaders.
"History books need improvement and correction as
there are a number of citiations where Maharana
Pratap, Guru Govind Singh and ex-rulers are being
misquoted or defamed in the school and college
curriculum," RSS' kshetriya seva pramukh
Moolchand Soni told reporters.
RSS has constituted a committee called the Itihas
Sankalan Samiti in the state and at the central
level and the Rajasthan government's steps
towards a campaign on Apni Dharti, Apne Log (our
land, our people) was in the right direction, he
said.
The Congress alleged on Tuesday that the ruling
BJP was trying to tamper with historical facts of
the state in a bid to enforce its Hindutva agenda.
"The re-writing of history of Rajasthan's
villages is irrelevant and unauthentic. We will
not let the state became a testing laboratory for
Hindutva agenda," state Congress chief B D Kalla
said in a statement.
Rajasthan's Education Minister G S Tiwari
announced on Sunday that his department would
soon compile historical and cultural facts
related to over 41,000 villages for new textbooks.
© Copyright 2007 PTI.
_____
[5]
The Telegraph
January 04, 2007
ARMY LANDS IN ROW OVER BABA
Our Correspondent
Baba Harbhajan Singh: Service to be terminated?
Gangtok, Jan. 3: The Indian Army's decision not
to allow offerings and donations at Baba
Harbhajan Singh Mandir near Nathu-la has provoked
angry response from devotees.
"The decision will hurt the sentiments of those
who go there to offer prayers," said Sunil
Periwal, a businessman from Gangtok, after an
unfulfilling visit to the temple yesterday.
Baba Mandir, located on the road to Kupup near
Nathu-la in East Sikkim, is a popular tourist
destination-cum-pilgrim centre for its
association with the legend of Harbhajan Singh, a
soldier of the 23rd Punjab Regiment who died
while on duty in the late 60s. It is widely
believed that even after his death, Baba
continued to guard the border at night and look
after the men on patrol. At present an honorary
captain on extension (he is past the retirement
age), Baba continues to feature on the payroll of
the army, and is even granted annual leave from
September to November.
The temple is maintained by the Indian Army,
which has a substantial presence in the area
located close to the Chinese border. Devotees
have even suggested that the army hand over the
responsibility to a managing committee comprising
civilians, the kind of arrangement that exists in
Hanuman tok, another temple located above Gangtok.
Though the ban has reportedly been in place since
last week, no official explanation has been
forthcoming from the army as to why the decision
was taken. When The Telegraph contacted senior
army officers posted in the area, they refused to
comment on the matter but admitted that the
orders had come from highest ranks.
Meanwhile, even the weekly bhandara (feast),
normally held on Tuesdays and Sundays, has been
stopped.
One possible reason behind the decision is the
legal suit filed in a Punjab court in September
last year by one Pyare Singh, a former subedar in
the Indian Army and a close relative of Baba.
Singh accused the army of propagating
superstitious belief among the public by treating
Baba like a person who is alive. He reported that
even now two army jawans are deputed to accompany
Baba to his hometown in Punjab, while special
vehicles are hired to take him to the New
Jalpaiguri station and train reservations are
made for the onward and return journeys.
The court has asked the army to respond to the charges.
_____
Upcoming Events:
(i)
WORKSHOP ON RIGHT TO INFORMATION ACT
Time: 11 AM,
Saturday, 13 January 2007
Venue: Manoranjan Kaksha
Delhi Administration Flats
Timparpur, Delhi 110054
Hope your participation will help us to
understand the issue in a better way. In case you
find any difficulty
please call @ +91 9811 972 872. The nearest Metro
Station is Vishwvidyalaya (Delhi University)
Since 13 January is a holiday many of you can manage to attend the same.
Warm Regards
safar team
http://www.safarindia.zoomshare.com
o o o
(ii)
Say no to Political Witch hunt!
Say no to the gagging of political opponents!
Join Citizens' Dharna
To Demand the release of activists and students in West Bengal jails
Manjusha (Residents' Commissioner's Office, West
Bengal State Emporium, Baba Kharak Singh Marg,
Connaught Place)
12:00 Noon - 3:00 pm
Saturday, 13th January 2007
On 4th January, a six-member fact-finding team
travelling to Nandigram was arrested at Tekhali
Bazar. The team included veteran communist leader
Sankar Mitra and two students, Jitendra Kumar of
Jamia Millia Islamia of Delhi, and Malay Tiwari
of Jadavpur University. The team members were
implicated in blatantly false charges under
sections 147, 148, 149, 341, 323, 325, 307, 186,
353, 332, 333, 337, 338, 427, 435, 379, 2527
(involving attempt to murder, arson, arms act and
inciting violence) of IPC. They are being held in
judicial custody.
Further, on 9 th January, eleven more students
from Jadavpur University and Presidency College
participating in demonstrations (protesting the
violence in Nandigram in which seven peasants
were killed) at the CPI (M) state head quarters
were also arrested.
Demands will be made from the West Bengal
Governor for the immediate and unconditional
release of students arrested and held under false
charges in the state for protesting land
acquisition and killing of innocent persons in
Nandigram, West Bengal.
Please forward this mail to others and inform them about it.
Regards,
Radhika Menon,
9868038981
o o o
(iii)
SEMINAR
SOCIAL JUSTICE AND RESERVATION: A REVIEW OF THE
FINDINGS OF THE SACHAR COMMISSION
14th January, 2007
Commencement: 9 A.M.
Venue: Love Shore Inn Auditorium, Thrissur
Inauguration by: Dr. K.N. Pannikkar
Forum for Faith and Fraternity
Vanchinad Residency, Post Box – 4239
Kaloor, Cochin - 682 017
Tel: 0484 – 6529815. E-mail: fffkochi at yahoo.com
Dear Sir/Madam,
Even five decades after independence, equal
opportunity and social justice remain elusive
dreams for a large section of the population. An
ideology founded upon social justice, matched by
political will, remain the inevitable instruments
to drive and sustain democracy. The backwardness
of a significant segment of the majority
community, and almost the entire Muslim minority,
in diverse walks of life must come to an end.
Left uncorrected, this could become a challenge
and threat not only to our social security,
nation building, and democratic system but also
to our cultural heritage. Time and again
indications of this danger have surfaced in
different parts of the nation.
A year ago, the Prime Minister of India set up a
seven-member commission, with Justice Rajindar
Sachar as the chairman, to examine the nature and
extent of the socio-economic and educational
deprivation of the Indian Muslim community, and
to suggest possible correctives.
Muslims constitute fifteen percent of the Indian
population. The Sachar Commission Report, and the
studies and reports of other commissions and
agencies in the past, confirm the appalling
condition of the community in social, economic
and educational terms. The development and
progress of the nation cannot be carried forward
meaningfully, without addressing this issue. The
restoration of equity must be adopted as a
national agenda. Governmental agencies, social
scientists and non-governmental agencies must
work together to formulate and implement remedial
policies. In the national interests, the majority
community must extend wholesome support to such
initiatives.
The Forum for Faith and Fraternity, FFF or 3F in
popular parlance, is a Muslim cultural
organization based in Ernakulam. During the
sitting of the Sachar Commission in Kerala, a
representative group including members of the
executive committee of the Forum led by Prof.
K.M.Bahavuddin submitted a memorandum with
extensive statistical and survey documentation on
the plight of Indian Muslims in general, and
Kerala Muslims in particular.
The study report of the Sachar commission was
submitted to the parliament a few weeks ago.
Social scientists, political parties, community
leaders and the media are already engaged in an
exercise to comprehend and assess the findings
and observations of the Commission.
The Forum joins the public debate with a one-day
Seminar. The Seminar will take place on Sunday,
14-01-2007 at the Love Shore Inn Auditorium
located near the Railway Station, Trichur.
Topic: Social Justice and Reservation: A Review
of the Findings of the Sachar Commission.
We request your participation, with your friends,
in the Seminar and your involvement in the
follow-up discussion.
Adv. A.Y.Khalid
Dr. K.K.Usman
Chairman,
Secretary,
Organizing Committee, Trichur
Forum for Faith and Fraternity
PROGRAMME
Registration
Khirat
Welcome : Adv. A.Y. Khalid
Address by the Chairperson : K.V.Mohamed Zakeer.
Inauguration : Dr. K.N. Panikkar
Papers
1. Sri. K.E.N.Kunjahammed : Social Justice in a Plural Society
2. Dr. K.K.Rahulan : The Ideology of Reservation
3. Prof. T.B. Vijayakumar : The History
of Social Backwardness and its Present
Context
4. Dr. K.K. Usman : The Findings of the Sachar Commission
5. M.R. Sudesh : Reservation and the Creamy Layer
6. Dr. M. Kabir : Status
of the Muslims in Kerala- the Myth and the
Reality
Lunch : 1 P.M. to 2 P.M.
Discussion : 2 P.M. to 4 P.M.
Moderators : Prof. K.M. Bahavuddin, Dr. N.A. Karim
Vote of thanks : V.A. Mohamed Ashrof
FORUM FOR FAITH AND FRATERNITY
VANCHINAD RESIDENCY
POST BOX 4239
KOCHI 682017
o o o
(iv)
TORTURE, LIES AND A FABRICATED CONFESSION:
NO DEATH PENALTY FOR AFZAL GURU!
PICKET OF THE INDIAN HIGH COMMISSION,
Friday, 26 January 1.30pm-4.30pm
India House, The Aldwych, London WC2
(nearest tube: Holborn)
On December 13, 2001 the Indian parliament was
attacked by five men. They were killed by the
security forces but even today their identity
remains a mystery. Three other men, who according
to the police masterminded the attack, have also
not been found.
However, on 14 and 15 December, 2001 the
investigating agencies together with the Special
Cell of the Delhi Police picked up four persons,
all Kashmiris, and charged them with the offence
of conspiring to attack the parliament under
India's notorious Prevention of Terrorism Act
(POTA).
After a nationwide campaign for a fair trial, two
of them, Syed Abdul Rahman Geelani and Navjot
Sandhu who was jailed along with her newborn
baby, have been acquitted of all charges, a
third, the husband of Navjot Sandhu, has had his
death sentence converted to ten years in prison.
But the fourth Afzal Guru was due to be hanged on
October 20, 2006. A stay on his execution has
been obtained by the Save Afzal Campaign through
a Mercy Petition, and he is now being held in
Tihar jail in Delhi. But he is still facing a
death sentence.
Who is Afzal Guru?
Afzal Guru was involved with the JKLF for only
three months in 1990 when large numbers of
Kashmiri youth were attracted to the movement.
During these three months he neither received any
training nor took part in any activities. For
details see his wife Tabassum's letter:
<http://justiceforafzalguru.org/background/tabassum.html>http://justiceforafzalguru.org/background/tabassum.html
After he surrendered he was constantly picked up
by security forces, asked to spy on people and
also routinely tortured. He eventually decided to
move to Delhi hoping to be left alone but even
here the notorious Special Task Force caught up
with him and continued to harass him.
Afzal's trial
His trial was a mockery of justice since he was
denied an opportunity to defend himself - he did
not even have a lawyer. Afzal was not involved
in the actual attack on the Indian parliament and
he did not kill or injure anybody and the Indian
Supreme Court has ruled that there was no direct
evidence against him, only circumstantial.
However the court has sentenced him to death
because in their words the "the collective
conscience of the society will be satisfied if
the capital punishment is awarded to the
offender... The appellant, who is a surrendered
militant Š is a menace to society and should
become extinct."
Abu Ghraib style torture and media collusion
In the Special Cell of the Delhi police Afzal was
kept naked for two days and beaten mercilessly -
once by a man who later appeared as a prosecution
witness; police officers urinated in his mouth
saying 'This is the way you can break your
Roza(fast)'. After he was tortured he was
handcuffed and made to sit on a chair and forced
to 'confess' at a media conference. But
television broadcasts did not show the handcuffs
and did not show the men who tortured and
humiliated him. On the 15 and 16 of December
2006, New Delhi Television (NDTV) re-ran the
'confession' several times although they had been
informed that by now that the Supreme Court of
India had rejected it and the High Court had
reprimanded the police for it. The programme was
accompanied by remarks such as 'See how natural,
how truthful, how fluent his statement appears'
and 'Who can believe that such a statement can be
given under torture'. They then invited viewers
to act as a virtual lynch mob by soliciting SMS
messages from them asking whether Afzal should be
hanged in light of the tape telecast by them.
Right-wing Hindu chauvinist forces of the Sangh
Parivar have continually harassed members of
Afzal's campaign while calling for Afzal to be
hanged.
Afzal Guru faces a death penalty although:
There is no direct evidence against him and he is
known not to have injured or harmed anyone
The Courts have found that the investigating
agencies deliberately fabricated evidence and
forged documents against him and others accused.
Currently Afzal is waiting for the results of a
Mercy Petition but the decision of the courts is
extremely uncertain. Even after enormous efforts
by his campaign he is being denied basic rights
in prison - he is not allowed to go out of doors
for even half an hour of sunlight and the Red
Cross who have access to Kashmiri prisoners have
not been allowed to visit him.
SAVE AFZAL GURU!
Further details: 07814983105 sasg at southasiasolidarity.org
o o o
(v)
CERAS 2007
South Asia at the Crossroads
monthly discussions - ALL invited.
The discussions will be preceded by a detailed
presentation or brief introductory comments.
Participants are encouraged to inform themselves
and participate actively in the discussion.
1st monthly discussion:
Sunday 21 January 1-3pm
South Asia at the Crossroads - India
Presentation by Professor Mritiunjoy Mohnty, Indian Institute of Management
Calcutta; Institut d'études internationales de montréal (UQAM)
Venue: South Asian Women's Community Centre
1035 Rachel est (between Boyer and Christophe-Colomb)
Metro Mt-Royal and bus # 11 [Montreal ]
UPCOMING
February: South Asia at the Crossroads - Bangladesh
March: South Asia at the Crossroads - Muslims in
India Five Years after Gujarat and
in Light of the Findings of the Sachar Report
April: South Asia at the Crossroads - Nepal - anniversary of democratic change
May: South Asia at the Crossroads - Pakistan
June: South Asia at the Crossroads - Sri Lanka
July: South Asia at the Crossroads - Challenges Facing Communist Movements in
South Asia
Information: 514-938-3678
ceras at insaf.net
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
Buzz for secularism, on the dangers of fundamentalism(s), on
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Asia. SACW is an independent & non-profit
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