SACW | Jan.27-28, 2007
Harsh Kapoor
aiindex at mnet.fr
Sat Jan 27 17:45:04 CST 2007
South Asia Citizens Wire | January 27-28, 2007 | Dispatch No. 2354 - Year 8
[1] Pakistan : The question of death penalty (Editorial, Dawn)
[2] Pakistan's Missing Persons (Irfan Husain)
[3] CPJ Urges Bangladesh To Rescind Emergency Media Rules
[4] India: A Convention of the Internally
Displaced in Gujarat (Ahmedabad, February 1,2007)
[5] UK: Press Release - India's 'war on terror'
No death penalty for Afzal Guru! (SASG)
[6] India: Blood Brothers, Blood Money (Mihir Srivastava and Harinder Baweja)
[7] India: Trial and terror (Editorial, Hindustan Times)
[8] India: Crushed by state power, justice eludes many (Neelesh Misra)
[9] India: Ban on Parzania - Online Petition
[10] China's Test May Make India a Star Wars Satellite (J. Sri Raman)
[11] Dharna Against Forced Displacement in Singur (New Delhi, 29 January 2007)
____
[1]
Dawn
27 January 2007
Editorial
THE QUESTION OF DEATH PENALTY
THE HRCP's advice to the government to adopt a
moratorium on the death penalty deserves positive
consideration. Over 85 countries have already
abolished capital punishment. All of them have
done so on grounds of humanistic principles.
Regrettably, Pakistan does not belong to that
camp. Not being a signatory to the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Islamabad
probably thinks it is exempt from the norms
recognised by international law. But legally a
state cannot ignore practices and laws that
govern the policies of the international
community. In fact, the data provided by the HRCP
reflects poorly on Pakistan. In 2005, 361 people
were sentenced to death in the country and at
present there are 7,400 prisoners on the death
row. In a country where human dignity and
fundamental rights are at a discount, the human
rights argument may not carry much weight.
There is another convincing and weighty point of
view put forward by the HRCP and other human
rights activists that must be heeded. As pointed
out by them, our judicial system suffers from so
many basic flaws that the chances of there being
a miscarriage of justice are immense. One does
not have to be reminded of the brutalities of the
police which often result in extracting false
confessions from prisoners who might actually be
innocent. Similarly, the investigation
methodology is very faulty and very often the
police fail to make a strong case for the
prosecution. In such circumstances, can one be
certain that a person held to be guilty and
awarded the death sentence, has actually
committed the crime? With death penalty being an
irreversible measure, would any judge with a
little conscience adjudge him guilty if there is
doubt about his crime? A person wrongly adjudged
guilty can be provided redress any time if he has
not been sent to the gallows. Such cases of
abortion of justice have other repercussions as
well that are best avoided. The use of terror and
force by the state cannot be justified on any
ground. The best option would be to replace the
death penalty with life imprisonment or put a
moratorium on capital punishment until the
government makes up its mind on the issue.
______
[2]
opendemocracy.net/
24 January 2007
PAKISTAN'S MISSING PERSONS
by Irfan Husain
The Pakistani state's kidnapping of its critics
is eroding its own foundations, says Irfan Husain.
On 29 December 2006, a photograph made the front
pages of most Pakistani dailies, shocking a
violence-hardened nation. It showed a young man
with his baggy shalwar pulled down around his
ankles, being beaten on the legs and buttocks by
the Islamabad police.
Mahmood Masood's crime was to accompany a small
group of protestors as they marched towards army
headquarters to give the vice chief of army staff
a petition. This demanded the release of their
relatives allegedly being held by military
intelligence agencies.
For months now, Pakistani newspapers have been
reporting on the phenomenon of "missing" citizens
from all four provinces. In December, the supreme
court took up forty-five cases, and directed the
Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) agency to
produce them. Although this elite spy outfit had
been denying that it had abducted anybody,
twenty-one individuals were released. In Sindh
alone, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan
(HRCP) has documented 400 cases.
An everyday event
Here are two typical cases. The first (recounted
by a nephew, Khuda Bux) is of Moula Bux, who was
returning home from a court appearance in Sehwan
Sharif, Sindh province, on 10 July 2006, riding
on the pillion seat of a relative's motorcycle,
when they were intercepted by a blue Toyota
Corolla. The car had no number-plates, and
contained four uniformed policemen.
The cops dragged Moula Bux into the car and drove
off. He has not been seen since. His wife, three
sons and a daughter are frantic. Relatives have
been going from police stations to government
offices, trying to find out where he is.
Initially, the police refused to register a case,
but were forced to do so in November on a
supreme-court directive.
The second case is of Abid Raza Zaidi, who is
more fortunate. He was kept in safe houses, moved
around blindfolded, and tortured for four months
until he was released recently. A PhD student at
Karachi University, he tells of being transported
by train, plane and car. He has no idea where he
was taken. He was suspended upside down over an
open sewer, and had his head lowered repeatedly
into the foul water below. This is a variation of
the American technique known as "waterboarding".
To this day, he has no idea why he was picked up.
His is one of seventy such abductions reported in
Karachi alone.
Into the void
On 3 December, Ghulam Mohammad Baloch was forced
into a police van in Lyari. Witnesses say there
were a number of police officers present,
including a DSP and an SHO. On 7 December, the
Sindh high court issued notices to the police and
several intelligence agencies, directing them to
produce Baloch. Nobody has thus far accepted
responsibility for this kidnapping.
According to Sajid Baloch, a relative, 6,000
Balochis (Baluchis) have disappeared over the
last couple of years. Most people, especially in
rural Balochistan (Baluchistan), have never heard
of the HRCP, and therefore do not report these
disappearances.
Apparently, reports of such incidents have
skyrocketed after 9/11. Almost invariably, the
police and intelligence agencies deny any hand in
these disappearances. And when the victims do
return, most of them are too scared by threats to
report their experiences to the media, or to go
to court. In any case, most of them are
blindfolded during their captivity, and cannot
prove who had kidnapped them.
Pakistan's prime minister Shaukat Aziz was asked
to comment on the brutal incident involving the
public thrashing of Mahmood Masood. Demonstrating
a breathtaking degree of insensitivity, he
advised the relatives of the missing people not
to take to the streets, but to "observe
protocol". He forgot that in most cases, families
have spent months going to police stations,
hospitals and courts in an effort to secure the
release of their loved ones, and to find out
where they are being kept. What "protocol" are
they supposed to follow after exhausting all
legal avenues?
It is clear that these cases of kidnapping and
torture are part of a covert state policy. There
are just too many men disappearing for this to be
a random crime-wave.
Saleem Baloch, an office-bearer of the Jamhoori
Watan Party (JWP), told reporters at a press
conference on 20 December at the HRCP office of
being kidnapped in March 2006, having being
released a few days earlier. During his
eight-month ordeal, Baloch came across many other
Balochis in similar illegal confinement.
The Balochi factor
It appears that the uprising in Balochistan is
the cause of many of these covert operations.
Unable to produce any evidence that would stand
up in court, the government is resorting to these
methods to obtain information, and to punish
people they think might be connected to Balochi
nationalist organisations, most notably the
Baloch Liberation Army (BLA). By resorting to
these tactics, Pervez Musharraf's government is
taking a page out of the American torture manual:
Washington's policy of covert rendition and its
hellhole in Guantánamo Bay are clearly the models
here.
But apart from suspected Baloch nationalists,
other people have fallen victim to this policy.
Moula Bux was an activist who sought a semblance
of a fair deal for his people as gas was being
pumped out from their land. In a letter addressed
to the managing director of ENI, a multinational
exploiting the local gasfield, Bux wrote in
January 2004:
"(1) That in Gas Field's plant as yet has not
appointed any single said original area
inhabitant [sic];
(2) That as by Company constructed road and
Plant have not yet paid any remuneration amounts
as in this respect faced losses by land owners
[sic];
(3) That small small work and contracts were awarded to outsiders... [sic]"
I have no idea if Moula Bux's agitation for local
rights was responsible for his disappearance. But
his family is convinced that this is the only
possible explanation as he was not involved in
any other kind of activity that could justify
what happened to him.
The HRCP also has records of twenty young Shi'a
men who have been abducted. Again, their families
insist they were not involved in any subversive
activities. By behaving like those they seek to
defeat (nationalists, extremists), government
functionaries are only strengthening resistance
to a rule that is being increasingly viewed as
illegal.
If the state does not follow the rule of law, how
can it expect others to do so? So while the
temptation to lash out at its perceived enemies
might be great, by placing itself above the law,
this Pakistani government is eroding the very
foundations of the state.
(Irfan Husain is a columnist with Dawn newspaper in Pakistan.)
______
[3]
Committee to Protect Journalists
330 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001 USA
Phone: (212) 465-1004 Fax: (212) 465-9568
Web: www.cpj.org
CPJ URGES BANGLADESH TO RESCIND EMERGENCY MEDIA RULES
New York, January 26, 2007-The Committee to
Protect Journalists is greatly concerned about
new regulations imposed by the Bangladeshi
interim government that severely restrict news
reporting. The Emergency Powers Rules of 2007,
announced on Thursday, restrict press coverage of
political news and set penalties of up to five
years in prison for violations.
The new rules aim at a wide range of political
activities. Those dealing specifically with media
allow the government to ban or censor print and
broadcast news about rallies and other political
activities that it deems "provocative or
harmful." Under the rules, the government can
seize printed material and confiscate printing
presses and broadcast equipment. The government
also has power under the regulations to censor or
block news transmitted in any form.
"These rules give authorities sweeping powers of
censorship that will deprive Bangladeshi citizens
of independent information at this critical time
of political upheaval," said Joel Simon, CPJ's
executive director. "We call on the interim
government to rescind these repressive rules
immediately."
Bangladesh has been embroiled in political
turmoil since October, when Prime Minister
Khaleda Zia's administration came to an end in
the run-up to constitutionally mandated
elections. Voting had been scheduled for this
week but was postponed when opposition parties
protested irregularities. President Iajuddin
Ahmed stepped down as leader of the caretaker
government and declared a state of emergency on
January 11, following bitter clashes between
supporters of the two major rival parties.
The regulations took effect today and will remain
in force until the government lifts the state of
emergency, according to Thursday's announcement.
CPJ is a New York-based, independent, nonprofit
organization that works to safeguard press
freedom worldwide. For more information, visit
www.cpj.org.
______
[4]
THE UPROOTED
CAUGHT BETWEEN EXISTENCE AND DENIAL
A Convention of the Internally Displaced in Gujarat
February 1,2007
Heerak Mahotsav Hall
Gujarat Vidyapeeth
Ahmedabad, Gujarat
Organized by : Aantarik Visthapit Hak Rakshak Samiti
Nearly five years to the carnage in Gujarat in
2002, the wounds refuse to heal. And the battle
against collective, national amnesia must
continue. It bears repeating that this was a
massacre unprecedented in independent India. For
it was a massacre openly led by the State against
its own citizens, which left over 2000 dead and
lakhs displaced, terrorized, and scarred. At a
conservative estimate, well over 300 women were
sexually brutalized in horrific ways, raped and
killed in full public view. This was an attempt
to annihilate Hindutva's 'constructed enemy', the
Muslim, physically and symbolically, as person,
citizen and community. The constitutional promise
of India lay in tatters. And so long as justice
eludes the survivors, so long as their scars
remain unacknowledged, and the State does not
come forward with reparations for harms inflicted
on scores of innocents, that constitutional
promise remains violated.
Even as people's struggle seeking justice for the
death of loved ones occasionally enters public
consciousness, what has remained hidden from view
for five years, is the slow death inflicted upon
the scores of internally displaced Muslims -
people who fled their homes, villages and towns
at the height of the violence in 2002 and have
never been able to return.
Some families returned to their original places
of residence, many condemned to a life of
permanent compromise and second-class
citizenship. Numerous cases were reported of
Muslims being "allowed" to return only if they
withdrew legal cases, stopped using loudspeakers
for the azaan, quietly moved out of certain
businesses, and basically learned to live with
downcast eyes. Many of these compromises were
brokered by public officials carrying out the
State's mandate of forcing 'normalcy' and
creating an illusion of public order.
Many families, however, were never able to
return. Today these internally displaced families
number approximately 5000. Even as the nation
appears to have moved on in these five years, and
public imagination is apparently occupied with
other pressing matters, these people are still
surviving in no-man's land, caught between
existence and denial. They live in makeshift
colonies hastily constructed by NGOs and
community organization, on the outskirts of towns
and villages, both literally and symbolically, on
the margins of society. Their futures are
uncertain.
Thousands of these families are gathering in
Ahmedabad on February 1, 2007 to ask for
acknowledgment as internally displaced people, to
tell the world that they exist and to demand
recognition, reparation and rehabilitation from
the Indian State.
In the space of a few months( December
2006-January 2007), several colonies that house
survivors have formed committees of the
internally displaced (Antarik Visthapit Samitis).
Each district has formed a coordination committee
and a State coordination forum has been formed.
SCHEDULE FOR THE CONVENTION
10.00-1.00 ARRIVAL AND LUNCH
1.00-5.00- CONVENTION
5.00- CLOSING
THE INTERNALLY DISPLACED PEOPLE (TOTAL 8-10 ON
EACH THEME) WILL DEPOSE (5 MINUTES EACH) ON THE
FOLLOWING THEMES IN FRONT OF A PANEL. EACH
SESSION WILL BE CONDUCTED BY SENIOR ACTIVISTS:
1. WOMEN AND INTERNALLY DISPLACED
2. ATTEMPT TO RETURN
3. SITES AND SERVICES, INFRASTRUCTURE
4. LIVLIHOOD AND INTERNALLY DISPLACED
5. DISCRIMINATION, EXCLUSION AND ECONOMIC BOYCOTT
6. POLICE INTIMIDATION AND INTERNALLY DISPLACED
7. CHILDREN, YOUTH AND INTERNALLY DISPLACED
EFFORTS TOWARDS RECOGNISING THE STATUS OF INTERNALLY DISPLACED
CHARTER OF DEMANDS
RESPONSE FROM THE PANEL
PANEL MEMBERS
SYEDA HAMEED, MEMBER PLANNING COMMISSION
DILIP PADGAONKAR, MEMBER NATIONAL MINORITY COMMISSION
JUSTICE RA MEHTA
REPRESENTATIVE FROM NHRC
MEDIA REPRESENTATIVE
MAHESH BHATT- TO BE CONFIRMED
To be released at the convention
The Uprooted: Caught between Existence and Denial
A Document on the State of the Internally Displaced in Gujarat
Published by Centre for Social Justice & Anhad
5 years of Gujarat Genocide 2002-2007
Contents
1. Introduction
2. Excerpts from the 'Status Report on
Rehabilitation of Victims of Communal Violence
in
Gujarat', October 2005
3. The Unseen Existence - A Photo Essay
4. The Complaint on Internal Displacement Submitted to the NCM
5. Reports of the NCM visit to Gujarat
6. Excerpts from the Recommendations made to the Prime Minister
7. Select Media Reports on the Issue
8. The UN Guiding Principles on Internal
Displacement, which provide a framework to
articulate demands, accepted by all well meaning
nation states including India
9. Survey of the Internally Displaced Colonies
SUGGESTED CONTRIBUTION: RS. 150 / US $ 10
Pages: 124
BOOK YOUR COPIES IN ADVANCE.
Anhad
23, Canning Lane, New Delhi-110001
Tel-23070740/ 23070722
e-mail: <mailto:anhad.delhi at gmail.com>anhad.delhi at gmail.com
______
[5]
Date: Sat, 27 Jan 2007 09:35:07 +0000
Subject: PRESS RELEASE India's 'war on terror' No death penalty for Afzal Guru!
PRESS RELEASE
LONDON PROTEST DEMANDS THAT THE INDIAN PRESIDENT
REVOKES THE DEATH PENALTY ON AFZAL GURU
On Friday, 26 January, India's Republic Day, more
than 50 people gathered in a vocal protest
against the death penalty faced by Afzal Guru,
one of the accused in the attack on the Indian
parliament in 2001. They handed in a letter
addressed to the President of India and signed by
British MPs Jeremy Corbyn, Roger Godsiff and John
Mcdonnell and several South Asian community
organisations, including South Asia Solidarity
Group, South Asian Alliance, 1857 Committee,
Asian Women Unite, Association of British
Kashmiris, and the Anti-Mangla Dam Association.
The letter pointed out there is no direct
evidence against Afzal Guru, and he is known not
to have injured or harmed anyone. Also that the
Courts have found that the investigating agencies
deliberately fabricated evidence and forged
documents against him and others accused.
The letter urged the President to use his
prerogative of exercising clemency and revoking
the death sentence.
Slogans and placards at the picket drew attention
to the fact that Afzal , a Kashmiri was
repeatedly and brutally tortured and forced to
confess to a crime he did not commit. (For
details see his wife Tabassum's letter:
http://justiceforafzalguru.org/background/tabassum.html
)He has also been the target of a hostile media
campaign in India. The protesters drew parallels
with the US and Britain's 'war on terror' and the
treatment of prisoners in Abu Ghraib
Currently Afzal is in Tihar prison where even
after enormous efforts by his campaign he is
being denied basic rights - 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.
SIGN THE ONLINE PETITION AT: http://www.petitiononline.com/CMAG/petition.html
Further details: South Asia Solidarity Group
sasg at southasiasolidarity.org
_____
[6]
Tehelka
Februray 03 , 2007
BLOOD BROTHERS, BLOOD MONEY
Aijaz and Yasin Guru smelt opportunity when their
brother Afzal Guru was sentenced to death in the
Parliament attack case. Mihir Srivastava and
Harinder Baweja report on how they got rich
collecting money in Afzal's name
Behind Afzal: Protests in Srinagar against Afzal's death sentence
The voice from the street in Kashmir is near
unanimous. Spare Afzal Guru the death sentence or
the Valley will go up in flames because a dead
Afzal will emerge as a potent symbol of
separatism. The voices, ironically, straddle the
deep political divide and include the major
mainstream parties as well as the sloganeering
secessionists. In fact, if there is one thing
that the ruling Congress and the hardline
Hurriyat leaders agree on, it is this - that
President APJ Abdul Kalam grant clemency to the
man sentenced to the gallows by the Supreme Court
for his involvement in the conspiracy that led to
the dramatic day-light attack on Parliament on
December 13, 2001.
All shades of political opinion - barring the bjp
which is clamouring for an early execution -
reflect one common concern: Afzal's hanging will
only further alienate the Kashmiris.
Encashing 'Martyrdom': Yasin and Aijaz
After Afzal's wife made a statement that no one
had helped her, leaders from the Valley called to
say that they had given money to the brothers.
They stood exposed
The voices favouring clemency are shrill, even
hysterical. Former National Conference (nc) Chief
Minister Farooq Abdullah makes a grim forecast,
saying, "Go right ahead and hang him. It will
destroy relations between Hindus and Muslims and
the entire nation will go up in flames. Hanging
Afzal will make him a hero for centuries." His
son, Omar Abdullah who now heads the party says,
"Our efforts are currently focused on restoring
the atmosphere of peace and security in the
state. Afzal's execution has the potential to
make matters worse." Mehbooba Mufti, President of
the Peoples Democratic Party, a member of the
ruling coalition, agrees, as does the Congress,
its coalition partner. Says Abdul Ghani Vakil,
the Congress vice president, "The Central
government has always been very generous when it
comes to making concessions to Kashmir. So it
would be good if they respect the public
sentiment in Kashmir and grant pardon to Afzal."
The public sentiment that Vakil talks about has
been tested on the ground. The Valley has seen
bandhs, violent protests, processions and
teargassing. Kashmir always treads a thin line
between peace and violence and the protest
against Afzal's hanging has drawn thousands out
of their homes. The demand varies from granting
outright pardon to Afzal, to the Hurriyat
Conference's Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq saying
that he be given clemency on humanitarian
grounds. Even the cpi(m)'s Yusuf Tarigami says,
"The need now is for the peace process to go
ahead and not be disrupted."
Rank Opportunist: Aijaz Guru
Leaders of all shades in Kashmir agreed to
having paid money to Aijaz and Yasin in the
belief that it would be used for Afzal's legal aid
Yet, in the midst of this overwhelming support
for clemency, Tehelka has unearthed a horrifying
fact. A fact as stunning as it is disgusting.
Even as ordinary Kashmiris step out of the safety
of their homes to join the clemency processions,
Afzal's own family is split right down the
middle. Tabassum, Afzal's wife has returned to
her parents' home in Baramulla, 60 km north of
Srinagar, from her in-laws house in village
Doabgah in Sopore. The reason - instead of
helping her in her fight for clemency, Afzal's
brother Aijaz Guru is using the death sentence to
earn quick bucks for himself.
Instead of joining the battle for clemency, Aijaz
and Yasin Guru, brother of co-accused Shaukat
Guru who has been sentenced for ten years by the
Supreme Court in the attack on Parliament, have
been approaching Hurriyat Conference leaders and
asking for funds in the name of "legal aid".
Aijaz told Tehelka that he had not once visited
Afzal in all the six years that he has been on
death row - from the trial court right up to the
Supreme Court which upheld the sentence. His
sudden trips to individual Hurriyat leaders are
also a bit odd considering the fact that he
swears to hating Afzal from the core of his
heart. "I use to love him more than my son but I
hate him so much now, I can't even begin to tell
you,'' he says in a startling revelation.
Does the hatred have something to do with the
fact that his mercenary motives have been found
out. That Afzal's wife is now willing to spill
the beans when she says, "Aijaz and Yasin have
collected five to seven lakh and invested the
money in property. Not a paisa has been given to
me." None of the money being collected in the
name of clemency has been shared with Tabassum
who has been fighting the battle, right from the
time that the case was being heard in the lower
court, until now, when the clemency petition was
handed over by her to President Kalam.
Tabassum says her conscience did not allow her to
go out with a begging bowl. "I did not collect
any money for Afzal Sahib. Mera zamir nahin kehta
(my conscience didn't permit). Afzal will not
like it. Aijaz sahib and Yasin wanted to collect
money and I told them that I did not like the
idea of collecting money. I told them, if you
have to collect money then take a big basket and
beg in the street."
Tabassum told Tehelka that she discovered the
whole business of Aijaz-Yasin money-collection
drive when she made a statement in Kashmir that
all those leaders who were now pleading for
clemency had not once come forward to help her
when she needed it most. This statement from
Afzal's wife made headlines in the Valley papers
and it was then that the Hurriyat leaders started
calling her to say that they had actually helped
out and had in fact given money to Aijaz and
Yasin. "After my statement, many leaders called
me and told that that they all gave money to
Yasin. Vo phir nange ho gaye (they then stood
exposed). They collected lakhs and kept it. They
used this money to buy property," Tabassum says.
She alleges that Yasin bought land in Mundi,
Sopore with the money. "The whole racket is the
handiwork of Shaukat's brother Yasin. He is with
Aijaz. Yasin is the mind behind Aijaz," she says.
This fact was not hard to verify. When Tehelka
went to meet Aijaz, Yasin was present there too.
Asked about the Hurriyat leaders' assertions that
they had personally paid money to the duo, they
bluntly denied having taken money from anyone in
the name of Afzal's death sentence.
But their claims fell flat when leaders of all
shades in Kashmir agreed on record to having paid
money to Aijaz and Yasin in the belief that it
would be used as legal aid for Afzal. Mirwaiz
Omar Farooq, Chairman, Hurriyat Conference
categorically stated that it was not Afzal's wife
but his brother and Yasin who had visited
Hurriyat leaders, individually, to collect money.
In other words, the Hurriyat was not approached
as the conglomerate of different parties that it
is, but its leaders were asked for money
individually. "His (Afzal's) brother has been in
touch with us. In fact he is in touch with every
party, and leaders at individual levels. We have
all helped him whenever we can. This has been
happening since the time the case was in the
court. Everybody has helped him whether it is
Geelani sahib or Shabir Shah."
It is a classic case of money being made by
marketing the miseries of those on the death row
or in prison. Senior Hurriyat leader, Professor
Abdul Ghani Bhat had this to say about Yasin: "Do
you know, Yasin is a teacher. He is very well
paid. But he would almost behave like a beggar
asking for money." He pointed that the lust for
money has eclipsed the whole struggle in the
Valley.
"Vice is tied to the tail of money. In Kashmir,
the movement has got suppressed in the three
ways. One: the whole movement has been
communalised. Two: it has been commercialised.
Three: it has been criminalised." Aijaz and Yasin
are no exception he explained. The Mirwaiz
explained another facet of the mania for money:
"You do not know how much incentive they
(security forces) get for catching guns.
Therefore, every time, the same guns are
recovered from different militants."
Self-Proclaimed Terrorist's Terror: DSP Devinder Singh
Afzal's wife moved out of her in-laws' house.
Instead of helping her fight for clemency, Aijaz
was busy making money
People's Conference chairman Bilal Ghani Lone
also confirmed that Yasin had approached him for
money. "Yasin also came to me. I and my brother
Sajjad were together at that time and we both
helped him," he said. Another leader, Shabir
Shah, acknowledged that he too had extended help.
"These kinds of things keep happening. These
things have happened and I am aware of it. But I
would want you to ask these questions to the
family. Ask them what role I played? What help I
extended to them," he says.
When Aijaz and Yasin were confronted with these
questions they were outraged. "Who told you
this?" Yasin asked. "These are baseless
allegations." They were baffled when told that
different Hurriyat leaders have confirmed this on
record.
Aijaz reacted by saying: "Jinke pass karoron
arbon pade hain unse koi hisaab nahin mangta
hai... boltain hain aap ne paisa khayaa hai. Ye
baat to aamne-saamne hoti hai Š Agar aap Hurriyat
valon ke upar se aadhe ghante ko security hata
len Kashmir ke log unki chamdi kheench lenge
(Those who have crores of rupee, no one asks them
to account for their wealth. These same people
say you (referring to self) embezzled money. Such
things should be discussed in the presence of
both parties Š If you remove security from
Hurriyat leader for half an hour, the people of
Kashmir will flay them."
Yasin concurs, saying: "Baat aisi hui ki Hurriyat
valon ke pass koi agenda nahin hai. Kabhi iske
saath hain kabhi uske saath hain, kabhi India ke
saath hain kabhi Pakistan ke saath hain. Hum log
sidhe-sadhe log hain. Ab ye bol rahen hain ki
humne Yasin ko paise diye. Agar koi bhi Hurriyat
vala bole ki Yasin ne paise liye hain to main
bolunga kab diye. Humare pas to itne resources
bhi nahin hain ki truck chhura len. (Fact is,
that Hurriyat is left with no issue. Sometimes,
they are on the side of India, sometimes they
speak for Pakistan. We are straightforward
people. If Hurriyat says we have taken money, I
will say where is the money. We could not even
release our truck from the police)."
Surprised perhaps by the charge that they had
taken money, Yasin continued to speak in his
defence: "How can you (or anyone) just say that
Shabir Shah gave Rs 50,000, or Geelani sahib (the
Hurriyat hardliner) gave two lakh or the Mirwaiz
gave Rs 10 lakh. Let them say that to us. Such
things are discussed face to face. Like you
(Tehelka) are asking us to our face."
On the face of it, there is a visible difference
in Aijaz's lifestyle. He lives in his own
bungalow in Baramulla while his brother and
mother live in their village home. Unlike Aijaz
who is running a sawmill even though he is an
employee with the state veterinary department,
his brother Hilal is a daily-wage labourer. And
quite unlike Hilal, Aijaz has just bought a new
car.
In the murky place that Kashmir has become, death
money has added yet another sordid chapter to the
state's bloody history.
_____
[7]
Hindustan Times
25 January 2007
Editorial
TRIAL AND TERROR
The story of Tariq Ahmad Dar is reminiscent of a
Kafkaesque nightmare where the victim is thrown
in jail twice in two countries on unsubstantiated
charges. The Kashmiri, who went to Bangladesh to
become a model and businessman, first attracted
the attention of the Bangladesh law enforcement
authorities who branded him an Indian spy and
imprisoned him for 40 days. On being released
after desperate efforts by his family, he came
back to India only to find the Intelligence
Bureau locking him up for 90 days on suspicion
that he was a militant. Nothing at all was found
against the young man whose plight this newspaper
highlighted last November. The only silver lining
in the cloud was that Mr Dar has been finally
freed.
For many, a brush with the law in India has
proved fatal. So-called encounter killings have
long been one of the preferred options for the
police when dealing with alleged terrorists. Two
innocent businessmen were shot dead in cold blood
in New Delhi in 1997 on suspicion that they were
terrorists. Similarly, two people were gunned
down by the Delhi Police in a shopping mall, in
what was described as a 'pre-emptive killing'. Of
course, encounter deaths and detention are par
for the course in Kashmir and in parts of the
North-east. All this shows that our law
enforcement agencies do not observe even the
standard protocol of producing evidence before
hauling someone off to the lock-up - or gunning
them down.
To kill someone on the suspicion that they may
carry out some subversive act is unheard of in
any civilised democracy. The worst part is that
the police and other law enforcement personnel
get away with such excesses, often under the
guise that they acted to preserve national
security. During the militancy years in Punjab,
scores of people vanished with no trial or even
questioning. The logic often trotted out by the
police and politicians was that a lengthy legal
procedure would enable anti-national elements to
get off the hook. So, the short-cut method was to
do away with them or lock them up and throw away
the key. The State cannot descend to such
methods. There is a due process of law and
everyone is entitled to it. Whenever any arm of
the State seeks to circumvent this, it should be
taken to task. Fortunately, today we have a far
more vigilant civil society than before and this
gives us hope that such violations will decrease
and ultimately end.
______
[8]
Hindustan Times
CRUSHED BY STATE POWER, JUSTICE ELUDES MANY
Neelesh Misra
New Delhi, January 25, 2007
S Nambinarayanan has never met Kashmiri model
Tariq Ahmad Dar - but in a way, they know each
other well. The top space scientist is still
seeking justice 13 years after police and
intelligence officials ruined his career by
calling him a spy and traitor.
Hundreds of miles to the south of the New Delhi
prison that Dar left on Thursday after police
dropped charges of terrorist links, Nambinarayan
and many others relived their similar pain, of
being framed under espionage and
terrorism-related laws. They were acquitted, but
lost much else.
"It has become very easy for the state to call
people spies and terrorists", said Kashmiri
journalist Iftikhar Gilani, who was jailed on
espionage charges for more than seven months, but
acquitted.
The false cases have cost people their careers,
life's savings, reputations and health. Friends
abandoned them. The media indicted them. But even
after being proved innocent, officials who
brought the false cases are rarely known to have
been punished.
"My entire life is ruined. But who cares for
this?" Nambinarayanan, who made a landmark
contribution to India's space research programme,
told the Hindustan Times from his
Thiruvananthapuram home. He was acquitted, but is
still wrapped up in litigation.
In his worst days, rickshaw-pullers would not even take him to a temple.
Nambinarayanan was granted an interim
compensation of Rs 10 lakh by the National Human
Rights Commission in 2001. But the Kerala
government is blocking the payment, and has gone
to court saying the police acted without malice.
He has separately sought damages of Rs 1 crore, a
case that is making tortuous progress.
Instead, the state government sued him for
criminal defamation for allegedly maligning the
reputation of the police, by saying in a
newspaper interview that he had "claimed
damages". When a court threw out the case after
four years and numerous hearings, the state has
gone in appeal.
"It is an unequal fight. But I have nothing more
to lose than what I already have", he said. "I
took heavy loans to fight the cases, and the
interest is piling up".
Many others have been similarly accused, but
"almost nobody files complaints and nobody seeks
damages", said lawyer VK Ohri, who successfully
defended journalist Gilani.
"Tariq Dar was lucky to get out of jail in three
months. There are so many others I met in prison
who are languishing endlessly on similar
charges", said Gilani. "They never get written
about".
Others have suffered in the past. Navy captain
B.K.Subbarao, accused of leaking nuclear secrets
and arrested in Mumbai, spent five years in
prison during which his son had to give up on his
chance to study at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, the family ran out of money, and
Subbarao finally studied law books in prison to
fight his own case. He got acquitted.
Email Neelesh Misra: neelesh.misra at hindustantimes.com
______
[9]
BAN ON PARZANIA - ONLINE PETITION
Dear friends,
The goondas of Bajrang Dal have succeeded in
twisting the arms of the cinema owners and ban
the release of Parzania in Gujarat. By doing this
they have made it clear that they will not allow
any discussion, debate or acceptance of the
carnage that tore up the people of Gujarat in
2002.
If you are as angry as we are with these threats
and hooliganism then PLEASE SIGN on the online
petition at:
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/Parzania/petition.html
Please do mention if you are from Gujarat.
DRISHTI is trying to organize special screenings
of this film and we need to know how many in
Gujarat will be willing to come.
PLEASE FORWARD TO ALL
In harmony,
Stalin K.
Co-founder & Director
DRISHTI - Media, Arts & Human Rights
103, Anand Hari Tower
Bodakdev, Ahmedabad 380054
TEL: +91-79-2685 1235 and 6661 4235
www.drishtimedia.org
_____
[10]
China's Test May Make India a Star Wars Satellite
by J. Sri Raman
truthout.org
26 January 2007
When China destroyed one of its own aging weather
satellites with a ground-based ballistic missile
on January 11, the media recorded a more than
mildly earthshaking event. The impact of the
event on South Asia, however, needs greater
notice than it has received.
The successful anti-satellite missile (ASAT) test
has sounded an alarm about a global arms race in
outer space. An important step towards the race
may be witnessed in China's immediate, southern
neighborhood. India's response to the test may
become part of a reckless reply from the US under
the George Bush administration to the apparently
unexpected Beijing move.
The official Indian response has been guarded.
The "security think-tank," known to speak for the
politically more circumspect establishment, has
greeted the test with a clear enough call for the
country moving for a closer tie-up with the
Bush-modified missile-defense program.
Officially, concern was voiced over the test,
with Indian Air Force chief S. P. Tyagi talking
of the major role for space "in all future wars"
and adding:
"If we have assets in space, somebody will try to
knock them off through hard kills or soft kills.
We must be ready for all this." Former chief
adviser to India's Defense Research and
Development Organization (DRDO) K. Santhanam was
more explicit: "China's ASAT test is definitely a
concern for all countries with satellite launch
capabilities. Satellites, after all, form an
important part of C3I (communications, command,
control and intelligence) systems."
The think-tank's point was made trenchantly in an
editorial of January 20 in the well-known daily
Indian Express, with National Security Advisory
Board member C. Raja Mohan as its Strategic
Affairs Editor. Said the paper: "Amidst the
emergence of a brash new space power in its
neighborhood, India can either respond with a
robust military space effort in collaboration
with the US or consign itself to the status of a
second-rate power in Asia."
The paper spelt out its meaning by voicing
outrage at past opposition to "offers from the
Bush administration to assist India in the
development of (its) missile development
program." Stating that "India needs partners in
space," the article added:
"It does not take a rocket scientist to figure
out that the US leads the list of such partners:"
Mainstream Indian media are assisting official
and crypto-official attempts at publicizing an
alleged commonalty of space security perceptions
and interests between India and the US. They are,
thus, making out a case for extending the
much-advertised US-India "strategic partnership"
to space.
Unnamed sources in the space research
establishment have been quoted as vouching that
India has the technology to build a
satellite-killer similar to China's, but vowing
that India won't "use its prowess for military
purposes." These sources also suggest that India,
too, like the US, has a policy and program that
accord military importance to its space assets.
The claim has been made in connection with
India's Cartosat-2 satellite, sent into space by
a polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV) on the
eve of China's ASAT test. With the launch of
January 10, say the sources, India's
satellite-based surveillance and reconnaissance
program is "finally heading towards completion."
The program, they add, "will allow India to keep
closer tabs on troop movements, missile silos,
military installations and airbases of
neighboring countries, as well as augment
surveillance over Indian airspace."
It needs to be noted that all the important
missiles tested by India are nuclear-capable.
Among missiles of a lesser range, Prithvi (Earth)
II (with a 250-km reach and a relatively light
payload) has been hailed as ideal for nuclear
missions. New Delhi has claimed that the Agni
(Fire) series of intermediate-range ballistic
missiles will only deliver conventional warheads.
Experts, however, say that the cost of any of
these missiles cannot be justified unless it is
used as a nuclear delivery vehicle.
Agni III, tested without success last July, has
long been projected as a deterrent against China.
With a range of over 3,000 kms, it is capable of
hitting Chinese cities, including Beijing and
Shanghai. The security think-tanks are silent on
any links between the failure of the test and the
flurry of "offers" from the Bush administration
to assist in India's missile program.
The idea of India's induction into the US missile
defense and theater defense is nothing new. The
first major indication of an attempt at US-India
"strategic partnership," in fact, came with
former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's warm
welcome to the missile programs of the Bush
administration. Appropriately, it came on the
third anniversary of India's nuclear weapons
tests, falling on May 11, 2001.
Vajpayee applauded "President Bush's vision of
nuclear disarmament" and read the missile-defense
programs as a move for "sharp reductions" in the
US nuclear arsenal. The two countries promptly
began talks on the proposal of an anti-missile
shield that was tabled by Washington.
Vajpayee's successor, Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh, has only carried the idea further. In my
Truthout report last July ("Star Wars" Premiers
in India!), I noted the next major move towards
missile defense and development cooperation. On
June 27, 2005, former US defense secretary Donald
Rumsfeld and India's former defense minister
Pranab Mukherjee signed a ten-year agreement
titled the New Framework for US-India Defense
Relationship (NFDR). The agreement has a
provision for India's induction into the
missile-defense program. The Bush administration
lured India into its global missile-defense (GMD)
program with the bait of a weapons system (PAC3)
that was bound to destabilize the subcontinent.
We noted then the irony of the Bush regime, which
prided itself as a promoter of the India Pakistan
peace process, taking a step that was bound to
trigger a fresh arms race in South Asia.
Considerations of peace in the region are not
likely to weigh any more heavily on Washington in
the present instance as well.
India's induction into the missile-defense
program will have even larger implications now.
It cannot remain unlinked to the US role as a
security guarantor for Taiwan - a role that
China's ASAT 1 test is seen to threaten seriously.
______
[11]
New York Times
January 26, 2007
Debate in India: Is Rule on Yoga Constitutional?
Students did breathing exercises in Madhya
Pradesh, an Indian state that wants to require a
yoga practice called the sun salutation. (Sanjeev
Gupta/European Pressphoto Agency)
By Somini Sengupta
NEW DELHI: Hollywood celebrities swear by it.
Yuppies the world over have fallen on their knees
to embrace it. Now, the question of whether
public school students in India should be
required to take up the sun salutation, or "surya
namaskar" as the common yoga exercise is known in
Sanskrit, has engendered a legal and political
dispute in this country, revealing lingering
questions about how secularism is practiced and
challenged in Indian politics.
At issue is a measure by the Hindu
nationalist-led government of the state of Madhya
Pradesh, in central India, that required public
school students to practice the sun salutation
and recite certain chants in Sanskrit during a
statewide function on Thursday. The state
government, controlled by the Bharatiya Janata
Party, said that it complied with a central
government policy to encourage yoga in schools
and that it was inspired by a recent visit from a
popular Hindu spiritual leader.
Muslim and Christian groups in the state took
issue not so much with the yoga exercise, but
with the chants, which they said were essentially
Hindu and in worship of the sun. They argued in
court on Wednesday that it violated the Indian
constitutional provision to separate religion and
state.
A state court ruled Wednesday that neither the
chants nor the sun salutation could be forced on
students. A state education official said by
telephone that five million children in Madhya
Pradesh voluntarily took part in the program on
Thursday, when the state government also
announced that it would incorporate lessons on
the importance of yoga into textbooks.
In a country that contains all of the world's
major religions (and several minor ones),
questions over the divide between state and
religion have come up from time to time, and just
as frequently have been obfuscated or at least
delicately massaged. The official list of Indian
holidays reflects a careful balance of holy days
of all the major religious groups; there are 15
religious holidays in all, along with 28 others
that Indians can opt to take.
Whether yoga is religious practice is, like
everything in this country, a matter of debate.
Some people note that its recitations sometimes
invoke Hindu gods, but others argue that its
physical exercises have nothing to do with Hindu
ritual. The Indian health minister, Anbumani
Ramadoss, last month floated the idea of
compulsory yoga in all government schools to
combat obesity.
Soma Vatsa contributed reporting.
_____
[12]
DHARNA AGAINST FORCED DISPLACEMENT IN SINGUR
The people's resistance to forced acquisition of
their lands by the Tatas at Singur has acquired a
new urgency with the Tatas performing a 'Bhoomi
Puja' even as Section 144 of the Cr.P.C. has been
imposed in the area to undermine collective
protest there. That section 144 needed to be
imposed itself is indicative of the wide
opposition to the project. The people's
resistance in Singur, along with the 'war-like'
situation prevailing in Nandigram, and the bitter
opposition to SEZs elsewhere in the country has
brought to the forefront, yet again, how
'development' is being rammed down the throats of
people it is supposed to benefit.
We are organizing a dharna in front of the office
of the Resident Commissioner, West Bengal
government, on Monday, 29 January 2007, at 3 pm
to:
PROTEST against the forced acquisition of land
and suppression of the democratic and
constituional rights of the people of Singur, the
complete lack of transparency and lack of consent
in the process of land acquisition, the
imposition of Section 144, the violence
perpetrated on resisters in Singur, the rape and
murder of Tapasi Mullick, and the huge tax
handouts to Tatas and industry in general; and
DEMAND an immediate stoppage of any further
construction of the Tata Motor Plant till lands
coercively acquired are returned to the people
and issues raised by the protesting people in
Singur are resolved.
This call for a dharna is being given by a number
of organizations, women's and democratic rights
groups, student bodies, unions, and individuals.
Please circulate this email widely, mobilize,
contact the Press, bring your songs and music,
and let us together raise our voice against this
development process that is actively undermining
the livelihoods and lives of sharecroppers,
adivasis, agrarian working women, the urban poor,
and dalits not only in Singur and Nandigram but
in many parts of the country.
Date: 29 January 2007, Monday
Time: 3 pm onwards
Venue: Office of the West Bengal Resident
Commissioner, West Bengal Emporium (near Shivaji
Stadium bus depot), Baba Kharak Singh Marg,
Connaught Place
Kashipur Solidarity Group, Delhi Solidarity
Group, AIFTU, Saheli, Lok Raj Sangathan and
others
For more information, contact Malavika
(9313900378), D. Manjit (9868471143), Vijayan
(9868165471), Nagraj Adve (26856749)
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
Buzz for secularism, on the dangers of fundamentalism(s), on
matters of peace and democratisation in South
Asia. SACW is an independent & non-profit
citizens wire service run since 1998 by South
Asia Citizens Web: www.sacw.net/
SACW archive is available at: bridget.jatol.com/pipermail/sacw_insaf.net/
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