*SPAM* SACW | May 7-8, 2007 | Nepal: Child Soldiers / Pakistan: Veil over reason / India: Intimidation of MF Hussain; Godmen - Conmen ; secular agenda; BJP; UK: creationism
Harsh Kapoor
aiindex at mnet.fr
Tue May 8 09:08:51 CDT 2007
South Asia Citizens Wire | May 7-8, 2007 | Dispatch No. 2401 - Year 9
[1] Nepal: Maoists Should Release Child Soldiers Now (Human Rights Watch)
[2] Pakistan:
- Dark Ages (Editorial, The News)
- The veil question (Editorial, Dawn)
[3] India: Even a peace march is a crime in Kashmir (Edit, Kashmir Times)
[4] India: The 'moral police' and courts harass India's Picasso
- Statement Supporting MF Hussain (Apoorvanand, Shabnam Hashmi)
- Press Conference by Artists on M.F.Husain (Sahmat)
- Husain a soft target? (CNN IBN)
- Of Husain, hate and harassment (Editorial, The Hindu)
- Beyond Law (Editorial, The Telegraph)
[5] India: God Men - Con Men Stories
(i) Hindutva godmen exposed as money launderers (John Dayal)
(ii) Southern seer turns dirty money holy, says no sin (CNN IBN)
(iii) Money Launderer Leads Ram Temple Trust (CNN IBN)
(iv) Scam at South Asia's Most Popular Sufi Shrine (Yoginder Sikand)
[6] India: Is Secularism Out of the Agenda? (Sadia Dehlvi)
[7] India: BJP's CD calls for a bolder response (J. Sri Raman)
[8] UK: Science and fiction (James Randerson)
[9] Panel Discussion Restoring Democracy and
Rule of Law in Gujarat (Ahmedabad ,May 10)
____
[1]
Human Rights Watch
[Press Release]
NEPAL: MAOISTS SHOULD RELEASE CHILD SOLDIERS NOW
New Minister for Children Urged to Act
(New York, May 8, 2007) - Nepal's Maoist armed
forces should immediately release all children
from their forces, including thousands of child
soldiers held for months in cantonment sites in
Nepal, Human Rights Watch said today.
Human Rights Watch in a letter today urged the
new Minister of Women, Children and Social
Welfare, Khadga Bahadur Bishwakarma, to secure
the Maoists' cooperation with the United Nations
and child protection agencies to allow children
to return home without further delay. Bishwakarma
is also a member of the central committee of the
Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-Maoist).
Of more than 30,000 Maoist cadres registered in
the cantonment sites created under Nepal's
Comprehensive Peace Agreement, an estimated 6,000
to 9,000 are believed to be children under the
age of 18.
"There's no excuse for letting children languish
in cantonment sites month after month," said Jo
Becker, children's advocate at Human Rights
Watch. "Under the terms of Nepal's peace
agreement, these children should be released
immediately so they can enter rehabilitation
programs, get back into school, and rejoin their
families."
The November 2006 peace agreement between the
Nepalese government and the Maoists specifically
prohibits the enlistment or use of children under
the age of 18, and specifies that such children
should be immediately "rescued" and provided with
rehabilitation services.
The Human Rights Watch letter noted that
Bishwakarma attended a February conference in
Paris, where representatives from 58 states
committed themselves to putting an end to the
unlawful recruitment and use of children in armed
conflicts. At the conference, governments agreed
to support and apply new guidelines, known as the
"Paris Principles," for protecting children from
recruitment and providing assistance to those who
have already been involved with armed forces or
groups.
"Minister Bishwakarma should work with the
Maoists to implement the commitments that have
been made," said Becker. Human Rights Watch also
noted its deep concern at credible reports that
children continue to be recruited by Maoist
forces in various parts of the country.
In the February 2007 report, "Children in the
Ranks: The Maoists' Use of Child Soldiers in
Nepal," Human Rights Watch documented how
children as young as 14 served on the front
lines, received weapons training, and carried out
crucial military and logistical support duties
for the Maoists. The report also documented
ongoing recruitment of children by the Maoists
even after the signing of the peace agreement.
A December 2006 report by the United Nations
secretary-general to the UN Security Council
specifically recommended that the Maoists should
immediately end the use of children and cease any
new recruitment of children. It said the Maoists
should immediately engage with the UN country
team in Nepal for an action plan to ensure
transparent procedures for the release and
verification of all children within the Maoist
armed forces and all other CPN-Maoist-affiliated
organizations.
______
[2]
The News
May 8, 200è
Editorial
THE DARK AGES
Though the string of targeted bombings of CD and
barber shops, as well as a girls' school in
Charsadda and Mardan on Friday did not claim any
lives, it is something that is most worrying. The
attacks give the impression as if large parts of
the NWFP had fallen to Taliban sympathisers and
that the provincial government was either unable
to or chose not to do anything to take these
vigilantes to task. The bombings in Charsadda and
Mardan are part of a calculated and larger goal,
to eliminate the presence of 'western' and
'morally corrupt' practices through terrorising
and intimidating the general public. In short, it
is part of the drive to Talibanise Pakistani
society. And for those behind it, Friday's
attacks will come as an unmitigated success. Now,
the government's assertion that the people of
Pakistan do not support such a notion, even if
true, is, in the end, inconsequential because
regardless of whether or not people support it,
shopkeepers and customers alike are going to be
too afraid to continue in their 'liberal' (which
means selling music CDs or musical ring tones for
mobile phones) ways if such incidents continue.
The attempt to impose the ridiculous and backward
precepts of religious fanaticism is underway in
many areas of Pakistan -- whether it is
preventing barbers from shaving beards in FATA,
or telling people in Swat not to inoculate their
children because that would be giving in to a
"US-Jewish conspiracy to make Muslims sterile" or
the stick-wielding burqa militia a la Lal
Masjid/Jamia Hafsa who have vowed to cleanse the
federal capital, indeed the whole country, of
brothels and related vices. Of course, the
campaign has taken the rather pernicious form of
naming the homes of otherwise innocent people as
brothels and also has a dangerous sectarian
undertone.
What will it take for the government to act
against such fanatics and extremists? It is all
well and good to publicly rail against them and
to ask civil society to resist extremism --
something that the president seems to have made a
habit of -- but people can only do so much,
especially when the government is not interested
in rising to the challenge and when progressive
political parties have been neutered in their
ability to stand up to the obscurantists. In this
particular case, it may be argued that since the
MMA is in power in NWFP, the atmosphere created
by its government is conducive to the spread of
extremism and intolerance. As a matter of fact,
the NWFP government's credibility would be
bolstered if it manages to check this growing
Talibanisation since not doing so would mean
condoning criminal and violent behaviour. Action
against fanatics is essential to send a strong
message to them that they cannot go about forcing
their flawed and pernicious interpretation of
religion on everybody else. Or else we should not
complain as the nation continues to slide into
the Dark Ages.
o o o
Dawn
May 8, 2007
Editorial
THE VEIL QUESTION
GIRLS at a government secondary school in Mardan
are finding it hard to pursue their education. In
the last two months, the school's administration
has been asking them to don the burqa in response
to anonymous letters threatening to destroy the
school if the girls do not adhere to Islamic ways
of dressing. The school initially shut down after
receiving the letter but then restarted classes,
except that it began asking girls to veil
themselves - and many are unhappy about it. One
sympathises with the school administration which
clearly felt that if it ignored the threat, it
would be jeopardising the students' safety. This
explains why the majority of parents have agreed
to comply; they are equally fearful of the
militants, aware of the kind of damage these
elements can cause. However, giving in to the
extremists is no solution. But because the
administration caved in, the militants have been
emboldened. According to a report on Sunday,
girls' schools have received similar threats in
Peshawar. This is a disturbing development that
calls for the government's immediate attention.
It cannot allow a group of thugs to take the law
into their own hands in the name of religion.
The district nazim of Mardan says that the police
and the intelligence agencies have been unable to
trace the men behind the threats. This may be
true but if the school is being provided
security, as is claimed, then there is no need
for the girls to be forced to wear the veil. The
nazim denies that anyone is being forced to wear
the veil but girls say they are fined if they do
not wear the burqa. It is important that the
administration refuses to be browbeaten into
succumbing to threats. The veil is a matter of
personal choice and even religious scholars will
agree that it cannot be forced on anyone.
______
[3]
Kashmir Times
May 7, 2007
Editorial
Subverting peace process
EVEN PEACE MARCH IS A CRIME IN KASHMIR
The arrest of Yasin Malik on Saturday while he
was on his way to Daksum, Kokernag and then later
his release in Srinagar was obviously an outright
attempt to prevent the Jammu and Kashmir
Liberation Front (JKLF) leader from going ahead
with his Safar-e-Azadi aimed at garnering
physical support of the people for the inclusion
of Kashmiris in the resolution of Kashmir
dispute. Yasin was forced to suspend the safar
that was scheduled to start from Daksum, Kokernag
and in the next few months would have reached
every village and town of the Valley, where he
was to address the public to seek support for the
Kashmiris involvement in the resolution of the
dispute. The manner in which the authorities
decided to crackdown on the JKLF by arresting its
chief and his associates and seizing the vehicle,
that the leader was going to use for his journey
to cover far flung villages of the Valley spread
over several months, is an ugly manifestation of
the repressive tactics used by the state to
scuttle any kind of dissent. In fact, the
incident actually vindicates the stand of the
Kashmiri separatist leaders that India is
maintaining a rigid posture and also about the
inherent flaws in the ongoing peace process that
debilitates any inclusion of the people of
Kashmir, other than those who agree with New
Delhi, in either a dialogue or the peace process.
The incident betrays the bitter and unfortunate
reality that there are vested interests on both
sides of the India-Pakistan border who either do
not want any peace in the region or hope to come
with a deal that can be bilaterally negotiated
between India and Pakistan without the
involvement of the alienated people. Earlier, a
week ago, several Hurriyat (G) leaders were
arrested under Public Safety Act, and Syed Ali
Shah Geelani placed under house arrest on an
absolutely frivolous charge blown out of
proportion by a section of the media. Not only
was Geelani prevented from holding a press
conference, his house was also raided under the
pretext of a crackdown in the area he lives in.
Both these incidents symbolize the repression let
loose by the Indian state in Jammu and Kashmir.
Though the stance of the separatist leadership
stands vindicated, it is not really reason to
celebrate for at stake is the future of lakhs of
people of this state, for which they are being
denied the right to decide. In fact, these
incidents have not only exposed the hollow claims
of both New Delhi and the state government
regarding peace process, they are also indicators
that the government is in no mood to either
respect civil liberties of the people or allow
them space to air a viewpoint different than the
state's view. On the one hand, the government
claims to rope in separatists by handing them
invites for a round table conference that is
essentially meant for mainstream politicians who
have no grudge against the state and on the other
it prevents the separatists from reaching out to
the public. In fact, the round table conferences
have been used by New Delhi as opportunities to
demonise the separatist leadership and brand them
as rigid, without acknowledging the basic
inherent flaws in such events, and to put up a
show of generosity and flexibility before the
world community. But truth speaks otherwise. The
fact is that the separatists, far from being
invited for a genuine dialogue, are not even
being allowed to move freely or carry forward any
peaceful movement to be heard.
Such a policy is not only detrimental to the
interests of peace but also carries the potential
of provoking more violence. It also indicates the
remote possibility of peoples' alienation dying
down. Such incidents will only further add to the
existing alienation and are also likely to induce
the graph of skepticism in the minds of the
people to go up. This may obviously portend ill
for both peace process and for resolution of
Kashmir issue. It is basic common sense that
there can be no lasting peace in Kashmir, which
is interlinked with the peace in South Asian
region, without the involvement of the people.
The more the people are shunned and if the
leaders, who represent the aspirations of a large
chunk of the masses, are dealt with such
repression, we don't have much to expect from the
ongoing peace process. The government must
reverse this policy immediately and not only
allow separatists to carry on with their peaceful
protests and campaigns but also invite them to
the negotiating table.
_____
[4] [ India: The 'moral police' and courts harass India's Picasso]
STATEMENT SUPPORTING MF HUSSAIN
The news of a notice of attachment of the
property owned by M. F. Husain in the wake of his
non appearance before the court of the Special
judicial magistrate K.S. Shukla of Haridwar has
left us aghast. That the court has declared him a
proclaimed offender and ordered his immediate
arrest is even more worrying. This notice is the
latest in the series of attacks against Husain we
have been witnessing since 1996. The action of
the Haridwar Court is in utter disregard of the
decision of the supreme Court of India clubbing
all the cases lodged with an intent to harass
Husain in different places of India.
We take this opportunity to denounce the
directive of the Home Ministry of the UPA
government to the Delhi Police and Mumbai Police
to take appropriate action against Husain as the
officials of the Ministry think that his works
create hatred and enmity between communities.
This proclamation by the Home Ministry is
horrendous. It also speaks volumes about the
intellectual level of the top level officials who
are running this country.
We appeal to the Supreme court of India to annul
the notice issued by the Haridwar court and
demand the 'secular' government of the UPA to
scrap its green signal to the Delhi and Mumbai
Police allowing them to prosecute Hussain and
ensure a safe and honorable return to India for
M.F. Husain.
signed by
Apoorvanand
Shabnam Hashmi
[and others]
http://communalism.blogspot.com/2007/05/public-statement-supporting-mf-hussain.html
o o o
SAHMAT
8, Vithalbhai Patel House,
Rafi Marg,New Delhi-110001
Telephone- 23711276/ 23351424
e-mail-sahmat @ vsnl.com
PRESS CONFERENCE BY ARTISTS ON M.F.HUSAIN
To
The Chief Reporter,
Dear Sir/Madam,
A Press Conference is being held on Wednesday,
May 9, 2007 at 4.00pm at the Press Club of India
to discuss the issues involved in the cases
against artist M.F.Husain.
Vivan Sundaram, Saeed Mirza, M.K.Raina and Rajiv
Dhawan will address the Conference.
Please assign a reporter/cameraman/photographer to cover the Conference.
Ram Rahman
For SAHMAT
o o o Reports and Editorials o o o
CNN IBN
May 08, 2007
INDIA 360: HUSAIN A SOFT TARGET?
BRUSH WITH TROUBLE: At 92 years, painter MF
Husain is a veteran when it comes to
controversies on the canvas.
New Delhi: India is a democracy but when it comes
to the fundamental rights of artistic expression,
we seem to run out of space. The 'moral police'
of India slams M F Husain for painting nude
pictures of Hindu Gods. A court has ordered
attaching his properties in Mumbai for not
appearing in the case filed against him for
offending religious sentiments.
At 92 years, painter MF Husain is a veteran when
it comes to controversies on the canvas. There
are groups that want him beheaded, his eyes
gouged and his hands chopped. He even has a
reward on his head, quite literally. In fact
there are five cases going on against just one of
his paintings.
As India acquires more material wealth are we
experiencing poverty of artistic expression? On
CNN-IBN India 360 M F Husain's counsel Akhil
Sibal, Former Chairperson, National Commission
for Women Poornima Advani and artist Jitish
Kallat debated the issue.
Mumbai property of M F Husain attached: Is the painter a soft target?
The current legal mess surrounding the painter
dates back to February last year when this
depiction of 'Bharat Mata' in the nude was
brought up for an online auction.
Following protests from certain right-wing groups
the painting was immediately withdrawn and
criminal complaints were filed against Husain in
Indore and Rajkot courts alleging that the
painter had "hurt the sentiments of Indians".
* The Hindu Personal Law Board announced a Rs
51 crore reward for beheading him.
* A local leader in Gujarat promised one kg
of gold to anyone who gouged out the painter's
eyes.
* In Madhya Pradesh, an ex-Congress party
leader offered nearly 20,000 euros to the person
who would chop off Husain's hands
* In 1996 Husain's alleged 'obscene'
portrayal of the Hindu goddesses Saraswati, Durga
and Draupadi came under attack from Hindu groups
* Bajrang Dal activists ransacked the
artist's Mumbai home in 1998 over a painting
titled 'Sita Rescued' which depicted a naked Sita
riding on the tail of Hanuman.
* Though several cases were filed against the
painter for allegedly hurting religious
sentiments they were collectively dismissed by
Delhi High Court in 2004.
* Not just the Hindu groups, an Islamic
organisation All India Ulema Council filed a
complaint with the Mumbai police against Husain
for his using a song Noorun-ala-Noor in his film
Meenaxi. The clerics said the words used in the
song are actually taken from a religious hymn
which defines the persona of Prophet Mohammed.
They objected using the same lines to describe
the beauty of a woman in the film. A miffed
Husain promptly withdrew the screening of the
film from theatres across the country.
o o o
The Hindu
May 8, 2007
Editorial
OF HUSAIN, HATE AND HARASSMENT
There is something terribly amiss about a social
order that coerces a law-abiding 91-year-old
artist - India's most celebrated painter - into
leaving the country because of harassment by rank
communalists and moral vigilantes. There is also
something lopsided about the priorities of a
criminal justice system that orders the
attachment of his properties when cases against
hardened criminals drag on interminably.
Formally, the circumstances that led the Mumbai
police to paste an attachment notice outside M.F.
Husain's Cuffe Parade residence have the stamp of
due legal process - a petition before a Haridwar
court, the issue of summons and non-bailable
warrants, proclaiming the accused as an
`absconder,' and an order to attach his property
under Section 83 of the Code of Criminal
Procedure, 1973. The outrageousness of all this
becomes plain when one considers the nature of
the painter's so-called offence. The case in
Haridwar relates to a tired and hollow
controversy - the alleged `obscenity' of a couple
of his works. Now that the police have discovered
that the house is no more in Mr. Husain's name,
the elements of tragic-comedy seem complete.
It is astonishing that an artist of the stature,
integrity, and secular spirit of Mr. Husain
continues to be harassed by malicious litigation.
These cases, usually filed under Sections 153-A
(promoting enmity) and 295-A (outraging religious
feelings) of the Indian Penal Code, are but the
legal face of a violent and orchestrated campaign
waged by fundamentalist elements against
creativity. Over the last few years, these
fanatics have threatened the artist, ransacked
his house, and defaced his paintings.
Surprisingly, instead of upholding the
fundamental right to freedom of expression, some
lower courts have been extraordinarily tolerant
in entertaining the vexatious complaints. By
doing so, they have unwittingly provided a handle
to the enemies of cultural freedom and liberal
thought. There is little doubt that the criminal
cases against Mr. Husain will fail. But the
mischief-makers may have already succeeded -
because the process has become the punishment,
especially for a nonagenarian free spirit.
o o o
The Telegraph
May 8, 2007
Editorial
BEYOND LAW
The meaningfulness of law resides in the
appropriateness of its application. But this set
of rules - founded on ideals of reason and
fairness - that is intended to protect the
innocent and the powerless, can be turned on its
head in a jiffy if the wielder of law so wishes.
Applied in areas that do not fall strictly within
its purview, or applied in anger, the process of
law appears trivial, while delaying the delivery
of justice in urgent cases by distracting
attention from the main work of the courts. The
justice system is hardly dignified, for example,
by its unremitting pursuit of Maqbool Fida
Husain, an artist who has brought honour to
India, and who now, at over ninety, is unable to
return to his country because he drew Hindu
goddesses without clothes. His failure to respond
to court summons has culminated in an order from
a Hardwar court to attach his property in Mumbai.
It is not just a question of confusing aesthetics
with morality or religion. What is disconcerting
is the repeated reflection of Indian society's
most retrogressive and divisive sentiments in
some of the decisions of the courts. Artistic
freedom is not the only ideal that is in danger,
but all kinds of behaviour perceived as
non-conformist can and do become legally
vulnerable. At these moments, it would seem that
there is no distinction between disapproval from
certain sections of society and the law. There
are warrants against Richard Gere and Shilpa
Shetty for a public kiss, because a magistrate in
Jaipur decided that the kiss was "sexually
erotic". Nothing can better represent the
institutional articulation of the country's
nervously eager muddle-headedness regarding sex
and the 'evil' Western influence. A plural
society which is out of its depth in its own
plurality is a sorry sight, but the law going
beyond its purview by presupposing rules of
conduct argues a graver lack of balance. That
lack is visible not just among aggressive culture
police, or hyper-sensitive community leaders, or
fire-breathing 'nationalists', but elsewhere as
well. The driver and guard of a local train can
now be penalized for having asked for the
credentials of a magistrate who decided to ride
in the driver's cabin. It is not reason or
fairness, but the hurt sensibilities of an
individual or group, that can prick the law into
action. Perhaps it is time the chief justice of
India put in a word to remind everyone what the
law represents.
_____
[5]
[GOD MEN - CON MEN Stories]
(i)
Godmen exposed as money launderers
Tax experts say Parivar gets 3 million US dollars a year from US, UK,
Europe
New Delhi, Sunday, May 5, 2007
India's hyper nationalist Hindutva Parivar's
saffron clad 'Saint" leaders have been deeply
embarrassed by sting operation exposes
linking them to massive currency frauds,
laundering of tainted money and tax evasion, all
crimes under Indian law
.
Among them are senior bearded 'Swamis' who led
the Ram Janmabhumi movement which demolished the
Babri Mosque in Ajodhya, leading to nation wide
violence which still continues sporadically in
Hindu-Muslim clashes and anti-Muslim pogroms such
as in Gujarat in 2002. Retired tax and revenue
officials told the CNN-IBN news cannel, which
co-authored the sting operation with a private
group called Cobra Post, that leaders of the
Hindutva Parivar have through bogus trusts
received over 3 Billion US dollars annually since
the movement began.
This translates into something like 15,000 crone
Indian rupees a year, much more than moneys
received through legitimate banking channels by
other religious groups. Officers told the news
channel that many of these sadhus, men and
women, had also received huge tracts of valuable
land in urban areas and prime hill resort towns
in the name of their charitable trusts, or for
themselves. This munificence was shown by state
governments then ruled by the Bharatiya Janata
Parity, the political face of the Sangh Parivar.
Several Congress governments and chief ministers
are also known to have had a soft corner for
these Swamis, who have a powerful
political footprint in India.
The then Union Government of Prime Minister Atal
Behari Vajpayee refused to take actions against
such trusts. The government of Prime Minister Man
Mohan Singh, a collation of the Congress, and
Socialist parties supported by the Marxists, has
now promised it will take action under the law.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader has called the
expose - made by Hindu
journalists and for news groups controlled by
practicing Hindu media and business persons - as
a conspiracy against Hindus in India.
The following are some excerpts of the video tape
in which one Hindutva leader is seen openly
discussing commissions he wants for
laundering money. The bearded, saffron clad Swami
is identified as Guruvayur Surya Nambudiri Swami
is famous for his prophecies in South India.
o o o
Southern seer turns dirty money holy, says no sin
Swami's aide [to the under cover sting media persons]: Guruji wants to
know what his share is. For instance, if you give Rs 1 lakh in black
to the Trust, how much would be returned, and what percentage do you
expect?
CNN-IBN: Swamiji may decide according to prevalent rates.
[The reporters say Rs 10 crore of black money had to be converted into
white money. Tough negotiations followed.]
Swami's aide: Guruji says that his ashram has a clean reputation for
the last 25 years. If someone were to find out about our work, we
would have to pay tax.
CNN-IBN: What do you want?
Swamiji: 25 per cent.
Swami's aide: At least 25 per cent.
CNN-IBN: Let us also make some profit out of this.
Swami's aide: You asked for 10 per cent, Swamiji put it at 25.
CNN-IBN: Let's close the deal at 15 per cent.
Swami's aide: 20 is final.
CNN-IBN: We are also agreed at 20 per cent.
Swami's aide: Is 20 fine?
Swami: Done.
CNN-IBN: We are supposed to pay the amount in black on behalf of the
company.
Swami's aide: But you'll have to make the payment in Chennai.
[Payments in Chennai and in hard cash]
Swami's aide: Ensure payment in Rs 1000 rupee notes.
CNN-IBN: That won't be a problem.
Swami's aide: When do you want to convert the money?
CNN-IBN: Within 15 days.
Swami's aide: If you want a cheque, then you will have to wait for at
least a month.
The transaction would take a month, CNN IBN was told. As the Swami-and
his aide duo would need time to arrange fake bills and receipts.
Swami's aide: Swamiji says that if you give Rs 10 crore then after a
month.
CNN-IBN: You will return Rs 8 crore by cheque.
Swami's aide: We will return it by cheque so that we may get time to
circulate the funds to avoid taxes. We will return Rs 8 crore to you.
Inform us of the next deal.
[http://www.ibnlive.com/news/india/05_2007/southern-seer-turns-dirty-
money-holy-says-no-sin-39851.html#]
o o o
(iii)
MONEY LAUNDERER LEADS RAM TEMPLE TRUST
CNN-IBN
Posted Sunday , May 06, 2007 at 11:05
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/money-launderer-leads-ram-temple-trust/39845-3.html
o o o
(iv)
SCAM AT SOUTH ASIA'S MOST POPULAR SUFI SHRINE
by Yoginder Sikand [May 7, 2007]
The shrine of the renowned twelfth century
Chishti mystic Hazrat Khwaja Moinduddin Chishti
in Ajmer in the Indian state of Rajasthan is one
of the most renowned and revered Sufi dargahs in
all of South Asia. Every year, hundreds of
thousands of pilgrims-Muslims, Hindus and
Sikhs-visit the shrine. Donations to the shrine
from pilgrims run into several million rupees
annually. This precisely is the cause for a
raging controversy involving leading members of
the Dargah Committee and a group of Muslim social
activists who have recently issued a report on
the alleged financial bungling and mismanagement
at the shrine. The seven-member group constituted
an inquiry committee after the Ministry of
Minority Affairs received what the committee says
were 'hundreds of complaints' as well as a Public
Interest Litigation filed by an NGO in the Delhi
High Court about financial misdoings at the
shrine.
Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti is known for
having led a simple and austere life. He is said
to have donated to the poor whatever he received
from people who came to visit him. For this he
earned the sobriquet Gharib Nawaz or 'helper of
the poor'. This, the report says, is in complete
contrast to what several members of the committee
appointed to manage his shrine are today up to.
As any visitor to the shrine will attest, for
many custodians of the shrine their work is
actually a flourishing business, pestering
pilgrims for donations the moment they step
inside the precincts of the dargah.
The inquiry committee report relates numerous
instances of financial mismanagement at the
shrine. It refers to allegations against the
President of the Dargah Committee, Peerzada
Shibli Qasim, who has been accused of corruption
relating to collection of donations in the name
of the shrine and of misusing the dargah's
guesthouse for his family. He is also alleged of
allowing a liquor shop to continue to function in
the premises of the Dargah Committee.
Interestingly, four of his colleagues in the
Dargah Committee, Mansoor Ali Lalli, Shaukat Ali
Ansari, Abdul Wahid and Kadar Bhai Wadiwala,
lodged a complaint last year accusing him of
having filed a writ petition in the Rajasthan
High Court without their consent against the
Ministry of Minority Affairs for allegedly not
taking the permission of the Dargah Committee for
the appointment of the Nazim of manager. For that
the amount settled by the lawyer was Rs. 34,600,
of which he is said to have taken took Rs.
15,000/- in advance. The four members wanted that
this amount be recovered from Qasim. Qasim also
claims that he has been running a dargah school
till, but he has not disclosed the exact amount
spent on this as per the Act 36 of the Dargah Act
of 1955.
According to the report, Abdul Aleem, the deputy
manager or Naib Nazim of the Dargah Committee, is
alleged to have consistently issued money to
various members of the Committee 'in a manner
most unprofessional' and 'without proper vouchers
or stamped papers'. He claims to be engaged in
social work by running a computer centre, a
school and a langar or free community kitchen,
but, the report says, he did not divulge the
budget for these activities. Allegations have
also been leveled against him of permitting the
khuddam or traditional custodians of the shrine
to encroach on the dargah premises, including in
the main courtyard of the shrine.
Shaukat Ali Ansari, proprietor of a
gun-manufacturing factory, is another member of
the Dargah Committee. The inquiry committee found
that he has been occupying a flat in the dargah
for more than a year, where he has arranged for
the sons of his friend to stay, without clearing
the dues. The committee also found that 'he had
no answer to the heaps of pages written against
his scams at the Waqf Board or concerning the
dargah' except denying these charges. Thus, for
instance, Babu Lal Singharia, ex-M.L.A. from
Kekdi, claims that Ansari had appropriated more
some 1.7 lakh rupees. Jas Raj, President of the
Ajmer District Congress Committee and former
M.L.A., accused Ansari of having 'illegally
grabbed the chairmanship of Rajasthan Waqf Board'
and 'frittering away the Waqf land, including
many graveyards'. The report mentions Haji Qayyum
Khan, former M.L.A., who has alleged that Ansari
'has regularly been misappropriating Waqf Board
funds'. These include withdrawal of a fixed
deposit of a whopping sum of almost 20 lakh
rupees, leasing Waqf property at the Imambara in
Mount Abu by taking fifteen lakh rupees as bribe
and parting with two lakh rupees for election
purposes. Haji Qayyum Khan has also leveled
charges against Ansari for the death of six
persons. The President of the All-India Jamaat-e
Qureish, Fazl-e-Karim Qureshi, refers to 'umpteen
cases of misappropriation of funds' while Ansari
served as Chairman of the Rajasthan Waqf Board
between 1991 and 1998, including having allegedly
taken some 22 lakh rupees from workers for their
appointment.
The inquiry committee raises questions regarding
Dargah Committee member Abdul Kadir Wadiwala, who
has been accused by Jas Raj, ex-MLA, of misusing
a sum of more than 1.75 lakh rupees and of not
paying rent for the guest house of the dargah for
almost six years. The Muslim Ekta Manch , a local
civil society organization, has claimed that that
Wadiwala has collected several lakh rupees in the
name of the dargah, which he has invested in his
own business.
[. . .]
http://communalism.blogspot.com/2007/05/scam-at-south-asias-most-popular-sufi.html
_____
[6]
Hindustan Times
May 06, 2007
IS SECULARISM OUT OF THE AGENDA?
by Sadia Dehlvi
Each time the Hindutva genie threatens to emerge
from the bottle, tormenting images of hatred,
persecution and violence come to the fore. The
controversial BJP election CD contains narrative
and visuals of terrorism, cow slaughter, of
Muslim men delighting over deceiving innocent
Hindu girls into marriage and producing a litter
(pillas) of 35 from five marriages.
Along with chants of Jai Sri Ram, the mission
statement is to save the Hindu dharma from the
Islamisation of India with a resolve to rid the
country of traitors. The kind of nationalism it
perpetuates is rooted in resentment against
Muslim rule and Muslims whom they view as settler
colonisers. The evident goal of Hindutva is to
institutionalise the notion of the Hindu rashtra.
The toxic content of the CD simultaneously seeks
to induce a paranoia of insecurity among the
majority and appeals to the most banal emotive
instincts of an illiterate electorate.
In a 1961 address to the AICC, Nehru held that
communalism of the majority is far more dangerous
than the communalism of the minority. Not
condoning the latter, he stated, "When minority
communities are communal you can see that and
understand it. But the communalism of a majority
is apt to be taken for nationalism." When the
majority portray themselves as the sole
nationalists, the strength of Hindutva has been
effectual in sidelining the nationalism of Nehru,
Gandhi and Ambedkar.
If Muslim appeasement myths were true, the social
and political realities of the minority would
speak differently. The painful truth is that the
story of Indian Muslims has been scripted by the
broader Hindutva agenda. With minority rights
remaining on the outside of integrated
development policies, Muslims today are sitting
on the edge of the Indian frame. If communal
agendas continue unchecked and secular tempers
not developed, India's largest single minority
will fall out of the picture completely.
The spiritual tenets of Hinduism are peaceful and
celebrate diversity and inclusion, whereas
Hindutva is a warped nationalist ideology rooted
in the politics of intolerance. One would like to
believe that brand Hindutva of the BJP has
exhausted itself and the electorate has learned
to choose development over the politics of
intolerance. The sheer knowledge that parties
flaunting divisive agendas remain a vital force
striving for central authority is terrifying.
It is equally disheartening and worrisome that
instead of a renewed pledge to secularism, Rahul
Gandhi testifies that his family was responsible
for the breakup of Pakistan. When young leaders
whom you would have thought had their heart in
the right place need to address jingoistic
national chauvinism, one must acknowledge the
deep rot in our political system and raise
serious questions.
Whatever the political necessity of the moment,
we cannot allow space for the creation of Muslim
demons or Hindu triumphs. Hindu-Muslim unity, the
defining factor of Indian secularism, is under
grave threat. Constant vigilance is required if
we are genuine about putting brakes on the
acceleration of religious divides.
Does the Congress need the malice of the BJP to
hand out its own ideas of secularism? Is the
prescription of banning political parties good
enough or will they emerge stronger with new
identities? Narasimha Rao dismissed four state
governments after the Babri Masjid tragedy that
eventually led the perpetrators of the crime to
victory at the Centre.
The privileged positions of power were exploited
in the frenzied and psychopathic violence of the
Gujarat riots of 2002. The savagery left intense
scars on the Muslim psyche and India's largest
religious minority negotiated its existence among
society and state with a wounded spirit.
When the BJP was in power, a camouflaged Hindutva
furthered its agenda through various cultural and
educational organisations. Strident Hinduism
gained respectability in media, academia and the
film world with sworn secularists discovering
concealed virtues in the party. The damage is not
irreparable but the internecine conflict between
secular forces makes the restoration process
messy and complex.
Can we, the people of India, allow ourselves to
be continuously bitten by the lurking venomous
snake or can we collectively strive to crush its
head forever? The change can be brought only
through judicial, bureaucratic and parliamentary
resolves. The question is that does any political
party have the genuine will, integrity or the
strategy to mobilise the masses against such
rapturous forces?
Secularism is not just about giving a fair deal
to the Muslims but a democratic ideology for an
empowerment for all backward classes. If
constitutional ideals are to succeed, someone has
to take the lead in organising secular forces and
allowing for cherished values to become immune to
the clashes of power. Ideologically, culturally
and intellectually, the resistance to communalism
has to be fought on a war footing, or else we
will succumb to its malignancy.
History will then see India as a failed secular state.
_____
[7]
The Tribune
May 5, 2007
Not by de-recognition
BJP'S CD CALLS FOR A BOLDER RESPONSE
by J. Sri Raman
TO derecognise or not to derecognise - that is
not the question. It, certainly, is not the real
issue raised by the infamous compact disc (CD),
which records the unwritten manifesto of the
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the ongoing
Assembly elections in the country's most populous
and therefore politically most important State of
Uttar Pradesh.
At the time of writing, the Election Commission
has reserved its ruling on the issue. It has done
so after hearing the legal luminaries doubling as
the leaders of the BJP and the Congress, besides
others. The former, who leave all crude
propaganda to compact discs and similar other
devices, have taken a lofty stand against the
commission deciding questions of ideology like
secularism. They have also taken the technical
plea that a party cannot be derecognised for such
a minor delinquency as violation of the
non-enforceable model code of conduct. The
Congress, for its part, has combined its demand
for derecognition of its main rival at the
national level to one for a public apology for
the offending disc.
The contents of the disc, meanwhile, have
received far wider dissemination than the cadre
of the BJP and the "parivar" (the far-right
"family") could have given them in the sprawling
State. For those who take an elevated view of our
electoral exercises and disregard sordid details
such as found in reports on the disc, it presents
issues of fundamental importance to the party in
a dramatic format.
It depicts the threat from a terrorist minority
in diverse and dire forms. Without mumbling about
"members of a certain community", as
"pseudo-secularists" may do, the disc has
identifiable Muslims impersonating Hindus and
committing heinous crimes and sins like killing
cows and stealing girls of the majority
community. It also talks of the Muslims engaging
in rapid reproduction in order to reduce the
Hindus to a minority. And, of course, it tags
them as the "terrorists" who
threaten India.
Given the poisonous potency of the package, the
mention of the Babri Masjid demolition would
appear to be its only milk-and-water part. The
immediate response of the BJP to the revelation
of the contents of the CD, released officially,
was to disown it and attribute it to outside
conspirators. After its chief-ministerial
candidate, Mr. Kalyan Singh, spoke up in defence
of the disc ("nothing wrong with it"), the party
has also moved to the aggressive mode. Elder
non-statesman L. K. Advani even saw "an
Emergency-type situation" developing as a result
of the demand for action on the disc!
The party-political debate may continue until the
cows come home (unless ambushed by those minority
miscreants). Some of the basic facts about the
BJP's poll propaganda, however, are yet to figure
in the debate, and unlikely to do so.
The first of these facts is that the disc really
says nothing different or new. It only uses a new
technology to repeat the traditional poll-time
message of the "parivar". No reporter, who has
covered any election campaign of the BJP or its
parent Jan Sangh at the grassroots, can really be
shocked at the electronic version of the same.
Election after election, strident calls for arms
against the "enemies within" have been issued in
street-corner rallies, without provoking so much
as a mention of any model code of conduct.
Another basic fact, which media apologists for
the BJP are trying hard to fudge, is that the
disc's contents are not just a crude version of
the party's policies. A "liberal vision of
democracy", according to this line of defence,
demands that the disgust at the disc should not
be allowed to obfuscate the serious issues it
poses, even if in an inelegant manner. The
argument cannot be more absurd.
It is the party's policy, its propaganda that
represents a crude distortion - or
communalisation - of serious issues before the
country. Nobody can deny, for example, that
terrorism is indeed a serious issue, but it is
only communalised when presented as nothing but a
product of pampered "minorityism". Even cow
protection can be propagated as the need to
preserve milch cattle, as done by Mahatma Gandhi
who blamed Indians as a whole for neglecting this
national resource. Or it can be communalised, as
done by the disc and devotees of Godse, by
portraying the Muslims as indulging in a massacre
of cows just for some "jihadi" fun.
(It is hard to see any serious issue behind the
dramatic scene in the disc that depicts some
Muslims having non-"jihadi" fun with a Hindu
girl. But, the party propagandists may see it as
the "masala", the spice, needed to sell the
party's serious message.")
Just as the medium is the message in modern
advertising, crudity is indeed the content of
such propaganda. What devices like this disc are
designed to promote is a debate that generates
not mere heat, but murderous hate. The BJP
remembers how the Babri Masjid demolition and its
bloody trail helped transform it from a
two-member party in the Lok Sabha into the main
Opposition. The party is also proud of the way it
used a pogrom to polarise the vote and score a
major electoral victory in Mr Narendra Modi's
Gujarat. It is trying a similar track in UP.
More absurd than other arguments in defence of
the disc and the BJP is the claim that equates
such a rude, utterly uncultured campaign with
"cultural nationalism". If the disc has little to
do with culture, the divisive propaganda has even
less to do with a nationalism that sees a need
for the Indian people's unity. The
anti-minorityism that finds an obscene display in
the disc is actually a policy against the
interests of India's majority in any but the
sectarian, religious sense.
It is a doubtful if the disc will lead to the
BJP's de-recognition. Even if the party faces
some other legal action, it will have little
effect on the electoral campaigns of the
"parivar". Mr Balasaheb Thackeray of the Shiv
Sena was disenfranchised for six years for his
communally inflammatory speeches during a
Maharashtra Assembly byelection campaign in 1987.
Can anyone claim that this turned the Fuehrer of
the country's financial capital into a
practitioner of more tolerant politics?
Not legal derecognition of the party, but a clear
political recognition of its ideological
character is what the contents of the BJP's disc
call for. No such recognition is evident, alas,
in the Congress counter-campaign, the main
highlight of which in UP has been a bratty boast
about a former Prime Minister's role in "breaking
Pakistan".
______
[8]
The Guardian
May 4, 2007
SCIENCE AND FICTION
David Cameron's ambiguity about creationism
provides yet another example of politicians
taking the benefits of science without defending
its principles.
James Randerson
David Cameron found himself in very hot water
this week with leading scientists following
comments he made on Friday hinting that schools
could be given more flexibility to teach
creationism in science lessons. The comments
themselves were meant to be a clarification of
Tory policy (is there such a thing?) in the face
of an embarrassing gaff by the Conservative Welsh
assembly candidate for Clwyd West, Darren Millar.
He reportedly told a hustings in Ruthin that
homosexuality was a sin - comments he later
denied. But there was more on creationism. A
party spokesperson later clarified his
contribution thus:
"Darren said that teachers in faith schools
should be given flexibility to include the
teaching of creationism in science lessons
alongside Darwinism."
That is the sort of stuff that makes most
scientists' blood boil, but Mr Cameron did not
appear to appreciate that fully. When asked about
the issue he said on Friday: "Personally I don't
support the teaching of creationism," but he
added, "I'm a great believer that we need to
trust schools and governors of schools to get
these things right and I think that's the right
approach." He said he advocated a "more devolved
system" for deciding what schools were allowed to
teach.
The reaction from scientists has been predictably
brutal. Steve Jones, the evolutionary biologist
at University College London and distinguished
popular science author said:
"They need to devolve some management to
schools. I think most people would agree with
that. But you can't devolve the truth. Something
is either true or it's not and creationism is not.
"If somebody demanded the right to teach in
mathematics lessons that 2 and 2 are 5 on faith
grounds they would be laughed out of court ... by
having this taught in science lessons they are
damaging science it's as simple as that."
The developmental biologist Lewis Wolpert, also at UCL said:
"I am shocked that Cameron agrees that
creationism can be taught in science lessons.
Creationism is not science and is purely
religious faith. There is zero evidence for it.
We must oppose this. Next the students will be
taught that the world was created in six days."
In the face of this barrage, Mr Cameron's office
"clarified" again. Would the Tories allow faith
schools to teach creationism in science lessons?
"No, I don't think we would. Basically, we think
creationism has got its place as part of a
religious curriculum, but not as part of a
science curriculum."
Reassuring perhaps, but Cameron's ambiguity is
yet more evidence of politicians wanting to take
the benefits of science without defending its
principles. Despite talk in November of his
Damascene conversion to science, Tony Blair and
his government have been guilty of using science
when it suits them, but abandoning it when it
doesn't. One extraordinary decision was the move
by the government agency that licenses new
medicines to allow homeopathic remedies to be
licensed without clinical trial data - thus
putting magic water on a par with traditional
evidence-based medicine.
And in November, the parliamentary science and
technology committee produced a highly critical
report on government use of science in
policy-making. It said there was too much
cherry-picking of data to validate policy rather
than an honest discussion of the evidence. It
called for a "re-engineering" of the government's
approach to science.
Mr Blair also displayed the same unconcerned
attitude to the threat to science posed by
teaching creationism. In an interview with New
Scientist magazine in November he said he thought
the threat was "hugely exaggerated". He added,
"If I notice creationism becoming the mainstream
of the education system in this country then
that's the time to start worrying." Most
scientists would rightly be horrified if the
debate reached that stage before the prime
minister decided to take notice.
If Mr Cameron and the next occupant of No 10
Downing Street want to demonstrate that they
really understand this issue they must make clear
their unequivocal opposition to any religious
interference in the school science curriculum.
They should also take steps to restrict, rather
than increase, the flexibility that religious
schools have over the curriculum they teach. The
benefits from science will only come in future if
politicians defend it now. That means saying what
is science and what is not.
______
[9 ] Events;
ANHAD INVITES YOU TO A PANEL DISCUSSION
RESTORING DEMOCRACY AND RULE OF LAW IN GUJARAT
Speakers:
P.G.J. Nampoothiri - Special Rapporteur, National
Human Rights Commission (Retd), Former
Director-General of Police, Gujarat
R. B. Sreekumar, Former Additional Director-General of Police, Gujarat
Jhanvi Andharia, Social Activist
Chaired by: Prof. Iftikhar Ahmad, academician
Date: May 10, 2007 Time: 6pm-8pm
Venue: Open Air Theatre, Behavioural Science
Centre Lawns, St Xavier's College Campus,
Navrangpura, Ahmedabad
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
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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