SACW | May 15, 2007 | Bangladesh emergency / South Asian Pasts / India: Freedom of Expression ; communal danger in Goa; Encounter killings; Arrest of Dr Binayak Sen; Hashimpura
Harsh Kapoor
aiindex at mnet.fr
Tue May 15 05:05:25 CDT 2007
South Asia Citizens Wire | May 15, 2007 | Dispatch No. 2405 - Year 9
[1] Bangladesh: 120 days of emergency - Odhikar - Press Release
[2] Present's Tresspass on South Asian Pasts (Sajid Huq)
[3] In Defence of Intellectual and Artistic Freedom in (or on) South Asia
- Will they blow up Khajuraho? (Peter Ronald DeSouza)
- Abandoned to the mob (Rekha Rodwittiya)
- The colour of intolerance (Hindustan Times Editorial)
[4] India: Tolerance begins in the classroom (C.P. Bhambhri)
[5] India - Goa: Do not ignore the communal agenda in Margao
[6] India: Encounter killings for aam aadmi? (T K Arun)
[7] India: PUDR Press Release on the Arrest of
Dr. Binayak Sen, Gen. Sec. PUCL, Chhattisgarh
[8] India: Hashimpura killings 20 years on, the
ongoing struggle for justice (newsreport)
[10] The Sufi Sell-Out (Farzana Versey)
____
[1]
12th May 2007
Press Release by Odhikar, Dhaka, Bangladesh
89 reportedly killed and number of incidents of
intimidation of human rights defenders during 120
days of emergency
A state of emergency was proclaimed by the
President on 11 January 2007. From 12 January to
11 May 2007, during 120 days of emergency, the
human rights situation is presented below:
During the reporting period a total of 89 persons
have been allegedly killed during operation by
law enforcement personnel and 1,75,435 were
reported arrested (this figure includes general
arrests, i.e., arrestees for violations of the
law). Of the 89 people who were reported to have
been killed, 49 persons were the victims of
activities by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB),
23 by Police, 7 by Joint Forces, 6 by the Army,
and 3 by the Navy. One was reported killed by the
officers of the Department of Narcotics Control.
Of those 89 people who were allegedly killed by
law enforcement agencies, 47 were killed in
crossfire by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB).
Two were arrested by RAB and later died in the
hospital. It has also been reported that 12 were
killed by Police crossfire and that police
tortured 5 to death, 3 were shot dead by them, 1
died in police custody, 2 died in hospital after
their arrest by police. 4 were reportedly killed
due to torture by Army, while 1 died while trying
to escape from the army van. Another 1 died in
hospital after being arrested by the army. 3 were
reported to have been tortured to death by Navy.
3 were reported to have been tortured to death by
Joint Forces while 1 was allegedly killed by
Joint Forces in crossfire. 1 who was arrested by
Joint Forces reportedly died in the hospital
while 1 allegedly jumped off a six storied
building and died while in their custody. 1 was
arrested by Joint Forces and died in the Police
Station and another 1 was reported killed by the
officers of Department of Narcotics Control.
It was reported that of the 89 persons, 8 were
from BNP, 4 from Awami League, 6 from Purbo
Banglar Communist Party (Jonojuddho), 4 from
Purbo Banglar Communist Party, 3 from Purbo
Banglar Communist Party (Red Flag), 2 from
Biplobi Communist Party,1 from New Biplobi
Communist Party, 2 from Gono Mukti Fouz,1 from
Jatiyo Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) 3 from Sromojibi
Mukti Andolon, 4 were from Shorbohara Party, 1
was a freedom fighter, 1 was an indigenous
leader, 1 was reported as an “extremist”.
Members of other groups were also among those
allegedly killed, namely: 3 from Gangchil Bahini,
1 from Masim Bahini, 1 from Hazi Bahini and 1
from Salam Bahini. Three suspected arms
smugglers, 2 alleged muggers, 1 was an alleged
gambler, 2 alleged drug peddlers, 10 alleged
dacoits, 17 alleged criminals were also among
those reported killed.
Apart from the above, others allegedly killed
included 2 farmers, 1 businessman, 1 police
informer (source), 1 bus driver (according to his
family source), 1 detained bus driver and 1 was a
person whose profession was unknown.
Odhikar seeks inquiries into all the
above-mentioned extra judicial killings and that
the results of such inquiries are made public so
that violators are brought to justice. Odhikar is
also cautiously observing the condition and
position of the freedom fighter Gazi Golam
Dastagir, Quamrul Huda and other persons who are
now traceless after being arrested or picked by
law enforcement agencies.
Odhikar also expresses grave concern regarding
the atrocities perpetrated on the jute mill
workers of Khalishpur, Khulna who went on strike
to demand their unpaid wages and urges the
release of the arrested workers and withdrawal of
cases against them. The organisation also
expresses its concern regarding the atrocities on
the young students of Khalishpur who expressed
solidarity with the jute mill workers.
It further expresses its concern on the slum
eviction drives that occurred before any creation
of habitation facilities for the poor slum
dwellers by the state, as per judicial
pronouncement.
Odhikar condemns the action taken by the joint
forces regarding the picking up of journalist
Tasneem Khalil for questioning, regarding a
report published in his personal blog about the
human rights situation in Bangladesh. This is,
however, not the only act of intimidation
(against human rights defenders) carried out by
the joint forces/armed forces in recent times.
Odhikar conducted two facts-finding missions
regarding the killings of Ward Commissioner Dulal
of Charfashaion Upazila (20 February 2007) and
Farid (21 March 2007) of Tazumuddin upazilla of
Bhola under custody of local naval force. The
copies of the reports were submitted to the Chief
of Naval Staff for information, enquiry and
necessary action. Odhikar’s Acting Director ASM
Nasiruddin Elan was taken to the Naval
Headquarter on 3 May 2007 where captain Zubayer,
Director Naval Intelligence with his 3 other
associates intimidated and harassed him for
preparing those reports and threatened him with
death.
Odhikar condemns such threats and intimidation
and seeks punishment of the persons involved. It
also urges the government to create a congenial
environment for Human Rights Defenders who
constantly work to defend the human rights of the
oppressed and marginalized people, irrespective
of opinion and who act as potential watch dog
groups.
Odhikar has prepared this report on the basis of
11 national dailies and its own fact-finding
reports, based on reports published in national
dailies.
______
[2]
The Progressive Bangladesh
28 April 2007
PRESENT'S TRESSPASS ON SOUTH ASIAN PASTS
by Sajid Huq
History, or rather, the space of history writing,
often becomes the battle-ground for competing
visions of a nation.
Aryans and Indians
In the case of Indian history, many historians,
many of whom work out of Indian or American or
British universities often find themselves in an
inevitable dialog with present political concerns.
It is often the case that the most ancient of
histories are ones with the greatest relevance to
present political concerns. This can happen when
nationalists start looking back to define a
nation and explain roots of a people. For
example, the questions of whether the Aryans (by
extension, Hindus) were indigenous to India
becomes important for Hindutva folks (Hindu
Nationalists who call for a "Hindu India")
because much of their nationalist ideology rest
on the assumption that Hinduism in native to
South Asian soil while Islam is foreign. Never
mind that the overwhelming majority of India's
Muslims are converts. Some of this historical
rhetoric that drove people to destroy the Babri
Masjid and dismember entire Indian Muslim
populations in Ayodhya in 1992, rested on the
flimsiest archaeological and numismatic evidence.
That Ayodhya where the Babri Masjid stood was the
birth place of Ram, the Hindu God, was first
claimed in literary sources, and also greatly
circulated the British colonial state, as one
among myriad strategies of "Divide and Rule."
The other area of controversy in Indian history
writing has to do with the period of Muslim rule
in the subcontinent. Debates rage over how
benevolent and tolerant Muslim rulers were to the
South Asian masses. On the one hand you have
modern-day secularists propelled by the Nehruvian
dream who highlight the tolerance of Emperor
Akbar, his love for his Rajput wife, his
concoction of a new religion despite protests
from Muslim orthodoxy, the fusion of the "Indic"
and the "Islamicate" in Indian cuisine, music and
architecture and so on. On the other hand, you
have badla-minded folks, with an axe to grind to
undo what they see as historical wrongs, ranging
from destruction of Hindu temples by Muslim
rulers to Aurangzeb's persecution of certain
Hindus and Sikhs.
Turks and Pakistanis
History writing has also attracted controversy in
Pakistan. After General Zia came to power, at a
time when Islamism of a certain conservative kind
was flourishing all over from Egypt to Iran to
Afghanistan, new syllabi were devised to provide
historical depth to Pakistan's Islamic
nationalism. In Pakistani school textbooks, the
1965 war against India became absorbed into
chapters on Islamic history and written alongside
great battles in early Islam.
Pakistani school children were encouraged to
understand their heritage as not one that was
Indic, but one that was continuous with 10-11th
century CE Turks in South Asia. Ridiculous but
unsurprising then is President Pervez Musharraf's
claim in his recently published, highly
self-congratulatory autobiography, that both the
Urdu language as well as Pakistani cuisine have
evolved out of Turkish counterparts; completely
ignoring their more substantial similarities with
languages and cuisines South Asian.
Hanadars and Razakars in Bangladesh
Image
History told in terracotta. Kantaji's Temple, Dinajpur. Photo (c) Ahmed Sharif
Historiography in Bangladesh has also drawn
attention of late among secular circles, and
rightly so. A certain politicization has crept in
unnoticed. After a conversation with Dr.
Muntassir Mamoon, a popular Bangladeshi
intellectual, greatly harangued by student wings
of the ruling coalition, I confirmed that
references to the word "Rajakar" are being
dropped from secondary school history textbooks.
"Rajakar" ("Razakar" in Persian) was a term used
to describe loyalists of the Pakistani state who
were against the creation of Bangladesh.
Moreover, the chapter that describes atrocities
committed during '71 on the Dhaka University
campus, have dropped mention of Jagannath Hall.
Curiously, Jagannath Hall was the site of the
largest massacre of DU students, a largely Hindu
dormitory. The new set of authors have also
dropped Sheikh Mujib's adornment of
"Bongobondhu." And if one compares the older
school history texts before and after the ruling
Jama'at-BNP cartel - instances of mention of
Mujib has dropped noticeably. Furthermore, as Dr.
Jalal Alamgir has pointed out in a newspaper
article, the Pakistani Army instead of being
called just that, is referred to as "Hanadar
Bahini," a nameless, near meaningless entity
without any national affiliation.
The Invisible Author
At this point, one might ask if this
politicization of textbook history writing is
inevitable. While it is always difficult to make
a case for inevitability of any kind,
politicization of textbook histories is much
larger than only a South Asian phenomenon. It
happens in the West as well, with treatment of
Native American histories in the American context
and colonialism in the British context. This is
because textbook history writing is as much a
project of nation-building as it is of educating.
In order to advance a certain nationalist strand,
whether leftist, religious or otherwise, there is
always politics involved. There are politics
involved with not just how histories are revised,
and stories retold, but also in the politics of
mention - what gets mentioned and what omitted.
It is often said that a mark of a good novel is
its ability to dissociate itself from its author,
so the story appears authorless. Curiously, this
authorless-ness is also a feature of textbooks.
Unlike other forms of historical literature,
academic or popular, textbook seldom come to
their readers with their authorial identities
emblazoned on their covers. This gives them an
air of objectivity, like a book of rules of
mathematics or laws of physics. This
authorless-ness endows textbooks with an air of
scientific objectivity, as if its histories are
unquestionable "facts" uncolored by the
subjectivity of an author. Of course, this facade
only serves to further a nationalist project.
However, if one were to expand the notion of "the
author," one might begin to see that the author
of history textbooks is none other than the state
itself.
______
[3] www.sacw.net >
In Defence of Intellectual and Artistic Freedom
in (or on) South Asia
http://www.sacw.net/FreeExpAndFundos/index.html
o o o
Indian Express
May 15, 2007
WILL THEY BLOW UP KHAJURAHO?
by Peter Ronald DeSouza
A society that fails to protect its freedoms will
be denuded of its life force. The vandalism at MS
University in Baroda is yet another portent
The essence of a free society is its ability to
encourage dissent against all authority -
political, academic, religious or cultural. On
May 11, the television pictures from the
University of Baroda showed us the face of
tyranny. That Sangh Parivar goons who stormed and
vandalised the exhibition of art work put up by a
student at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the MS
University at Baroda, could then speak with such
confidence to television cameras is shocking. It
tells us not just that they do not fear the wrath
of the law, and that they believe censorship is
acceptable in the service of a cause, but also
that they are certain that their actions would
meet with social approval. So did the Taliban.
There are five aspects of the episode that need
our immediate attention. It should not be seen as
an isolated incident, posing no challenge to our
robust culture of freedom, but should instead be
regarded as yet another example, together with
the threats against M.F. Husain and Shilpa
Shetty, of a growing fanaticism. The vandals seem
emboldened by our collective inertia. As all
vandals always are.
The first aspect, therefore, that should merit
our attention is to recognise that the vandalism
took place not just in the university but in the
classroom or art studio. This is disturbing
because a university is a sacred place where,
according to convention, even the police do not
enter unless permitted by the vice chancellor. In
a university it is the classroom, or the art
studio in this case, which is the sanctum
sanctorum. Here even another teacher does not
enter when a class is in progress, because it is
the place where a teacher and her student
together explore the universe of knowledge. This
relationship of teacher and student is
inviolable. Interference in the classroom, by
another who has no legal basis to be there, is a
violation of the freedom of the teacher and the
student. If this is violated with impunity then
that society is truly damned. Imagine interfering
with Dronacharya.
The second aspect of concern is the arrest of the
student. His only crime was to create works of
art that were objectionable to the vandals. Where
in the Constitution is creating a work of art,
which is to be judged by teachers in the fine
arts faculty of a university, a crime? Where in
the Constitution is it acceptable to keep an
artist in jail for four days just because he has
submitted his work for evaluation by his
teachers? Are not the real violaters of the
Constitution, the vandals and the police?
The third aspect is the suspension by the
university of the acting dean of the faculty for
permitting, against the vice-chancellor's
instructions, a protest exhibition by students
mounted in response to the arrest - an exhibition
of art erotica in the Indian tradition. If
peaceful protest is proscribed in a university,
and an exhibition of Indian art erotica banned,
then are we not moving towards a society where
Khajuraho and Konark may be blown up by mortars
because they are considered objectionable, where
the Kama Sutra will be banned because it is too
explicit? The dean was right in ignoring the VC's
order. The VC was wrong to give such an order. He
has no place in a university. In fact by his
order he has earned a place among the vandals.
The fourth aspect is the role of the pro-VC, who
along with the university engineer, personally
removed the art exhibits and sealed the
department. This is deplorable. It is indeed a
sad day when a pro-VC, entrusted with the duty of
protecting the university and nurturing the next
generation of artists, acts as a member of the
vandal brigade. How far have we fallen? The enemy
of freedom now seems to be within us.
The fifth aspect concerns the actions of the
police. This is the most alarming aspect. While
one rotten university administration can be
isolated and contained by a healthy society, and
one faulty order reversed by a vigilant academic
community, how does one deal with the lawless
guardians of the law? Only the other custodians
of the Constitution can stop the grim slide into
what the former attorney general termed the
talibanisation of the Indian mind.
The governor, as visitor of the university, must,
in the strongest possible terms, reprimand and
censure the vice chancellor and pro-vice
chancellor. The governor must summon the director
general of police and seek from him an
explanation for the police action. The Supreme
Court must do what it did in the case of the
non-implementation of the ICDS scheme, and summon
suo moto all the directors general of police, of
all the states, and instruct them to curb such
vandalism that is growing across the country. It
is from the new frontiers which the artist scales
that new ideas come. The artist must be
protected. The artist must be honoured. We must
do it for our own sake.
The writer is senior fellow, CSDS, Delhi
o o o
Indian Express
May 15, 2007
ABANDONED TO THE MOB
Rekha Rodwittiya
Educators and administrators in a university must
safeguard the autonomy of its students
The Serbo-Croatian writer, Danilo Kis, said that
art is the terrain where you are absolutely free
and where you can explore all life's beauties and
life's vices without being punished. This should
be what we expect within a democratic society.
However, in today's India the freedom of
expression is being systematically curtailed.
Fundamentalist agencies have taken it upon
themselves to become the moral custodians of
cultural propriety.
The appalling invasion by BJP activists into the
Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Baroda
during their internal examination evaluation of
the art work of students, is unlawful and must be
strongly condemned by all who value democracy. If
we allow this atrocity to go un-protested we will
be giving over our educational institutions to
the dictates of conservative agendas and to those
who desire to sabotage India's pluralism.
I am an alumnus of the Faculty of Fine Arts of
Baroda. It is at this art college that I was
trained to experiment, challenge, dialogue,
critique and learn through the diversity of
attitudes explored. An art college must provide
an environment that is unfettered by prejudice or
bias. It is the educators and administrators of
these educational institutions who must protect
the neutrality and freedom of the students.
I would compare an educational institution to a
family. It is the space where through nurturing
by elders, one grows to become an informed and
articulate individual. It is here where one
should expect never to be betrayed nor abandoned.
It is therefore outrageous that the authorities
have chosen to side with the perpetrators of
violence and oppression, instead of defending the
unlawful arrest of Chandramohan Srilamantula, an
MA student in the print making department.
What becomes farcical is the subsequent
suspension of Dr Shivaji Panikkar, a renowned art
historian who contributes immense value as a
teacher in the Fine Arts Faculty. His
contribution has impacted contemporary Indian art
history. It is shameful that he has been treated
so shabbily by the university authorities.
Be forewarned, when civil liberties are so
blatantly trampled upon and the ranting of
fundamentalists becomes the rule of law, then
none of us are safe any more. Freedom is not a
seven-letter word in a game of scrabble. It is a
constitutional right that is and must be held
sacred within a democratic nation and be upheld
as the birthright of every citizen. We are fast
heading towards a system where all the voices of
dissent will be stifled. It is happening to
someone else today. It may be your turn tomorrow.
The writer is an alumnus of MS University of Baroda
o o o
Hindustan Times
14 May 2007
Editorial
THE COLOUR OF INTOLERANCE
Forget the (unresolvable) debate about what is
obscene and what isn't for a moment. Also hold on
to all that intricate talk of putting things -
works of art or otherwise - in the right context.
Chandramohan, an art student from Maharaja
Sayajirao University at Baroda, was held in
police custody for six days for painting
allegedly obscene works as part of an
examination. And who was it that decided that
Chandramohan was guilty of 'offending
sensibilities'? Not the university officials or
teachers. Not the police. It was a self-appointed
arbiter of aesthetics, Niraj Jain, a BJP leader
whom very few people had heard of until last
Sunday when he led a mob inside the university
premises to attack the exhibited works. Instead
of charging Mr Jain with trespassing and
disrupting the peace of the university, the
police arrested Chandramohan who was released on
bail only on Monday. Moral policing is no longer
only about hunting down 'degenerates'; it is now
also about breaking down the precious divide
between the private and the public.
It is ironic that the BJP and the VHP activists
responsible for the Kafkaesque situation that
Chandramohan finds himself in are being protected
by a state government machinery that, one would
have thought, finds it reprehensible to be
compared to Taliban mullahs. But it isn't the
lumpen rightwing activists alone who are
responsible for destroying a citizen's private
space. The Maharaja Sayajirao University
authorities have readily crawled when they were
asked to bend. The Vice-Chancellor not only
complied with Mr Jain's 'objections', but
actually apologised to him for allowing 'such
paintings' to be put up in the university. To add
insult to injury, the dean of the fine arts
faculty was suspended for lending support to the
students. This is much more than a case of
institutions buckling under state-sanctioned
bullying. It is more an example of the rights of
institutional privacy crumpling after someone has
rushed in and said, 'Boo!'
There has been much disquiet of late because of
moralists scurrying about. But despite the
presence of the publicity-seeking self-righteous,
we thankfully don't have our very own Spanish
Inquisition. As a nation, we may not be
completely chalta hai when it comes to various
kinds of culture or behaviour, but we are also
not the kind to invade private spaces and start
searching under people's mattresses. Our problem
lies elsewhere: not having the courage to tell
the complete stranger that what is under people's
mattresses is none of his business. In other
words, we must start asserting - and thereby
valuing - our individualities.
______
[4]
Indian Express
May 14, 2007
TOLERANCE BEGINS IN THE CLASSROOM
by C.P. Bhambhri
It has been empirically verified that a child is
likely to develop a healthy attitude of tolerance
if he or she studies in a school where children
of diverse socio-cultural and socio-religious
groups are fully represented. The opposite is
also true. Schools that are socially and
culturally exclusivist are likely to lead to
tendencies of social exclusivism in the children
studying in these institutions. It is not without
reason, therefore, that the RSS and other Hindu
fundamentalist organisations are engaged in
establishing thousands of shishu niketans in the
country with a view to inculcating the values of
Hindutva among children, or that the Muslim
clergy maintains that Muslim children must study
in madrassas.
The so-called elite doesn't understand this. It
demands the "modernisation" of madrassa
education, when it should be demanding its
abolition. The basic issue is not just the
modernisation of shishu mandirs or madrassas. The
source of the problem is the interpretation of
Articles 25 and 26 of the Constitution because
"the right to profess, practice and propagate
religion" has been extended to the right to
establish exclusivist educational institutions.
Under the impact of social reformer Jyotiba
Phule, the British government in the 1930s
insisted that dalit students be compulsorily
admitted in schools meant exclusively for Hindu
upper-caste communities and a confidential report
by the commissioner to the Bombay governor
mentioned that caste Hindu teachers were
resisting the entry of a few dalit students.
Further, in the land of 'Periyar', dalit children
in a school cannot share a glass of drinking
water with the children of the dominant Backward
Castes.
Vijay Tendulkar once wrote a powerful story about
his experiences of studying in a school which had
stereotyped Muslim children as "butchers" and
"killers" of cows and animals. If this is the
reality in government schools, you can only
imagine the situation in shishu mandirs and
madrassas. Cultural pluralism can never survive
such a setting. It is never too late to mend
matters and ensure that our schools impart a
secular education that recognises the
multicultural and multi-religious traditions of
India. The crux of the issue is that if children
are exposed to high doses of Islamic theology or
Hindu mythology by teachers who are, in reality,
religious preachers, the future of secularism is
doomed.
_____
[5]
Gomantak Times, Editorial, 12/5/2007
DANGEROUS DIMENSION
Do not ignore the communal agenda in Margao
Last year in March, the state witnessed its first
communal attack in Curchorem and Sanvordem when a
mob ran riot smashing shops, houses and vehicles
belonging to the Muslim community. The attack was
vicious and determined and only property of local
Muslims was attacked. The madness went on for two
days until it was brought under control by jawans
of the CRPF and the local police. The events
shattered the communal harmony tag that Goa wore
so proudly on its shoulder. Then and even now
political parties and leaders tried to play down
the communal attack as an aberration, a rare
case, something that would not repeat itself.
Really speaking, the Congress wanted to forget
the Curchorem-Sanvordem attack because it was
found wanting in handling the situation. A
magesterial enquiry was conducted, but instead of
acting on the recommendations made by the
magistrate, the entire report has been swept
under the carpet. The result: another riot-like
situation has erupted in Margao on the flimsy
ground of eve-teasing and assault. We maintain
that eve-teasing and assault are offences that
should be taken congisance of by the police and
the state. At the same time we do not subscribe
to the tactics adopted by the vendors in closing
down the commercial capital of
the state.
Was this the first and only eve-teasing incident
in the new market? Was it the first assault in
the state of Goa that people were shocked into
downing their shutters? Just like the
Curchorem-Sanvordem attack, the near riot-like
situation in Margao was also well-orchestrated by
a political party with communal lineage. Would
the reaction of the vendors and their communal
political bosses have been the same if Rajesh
Kunkolienkar was attacked by a group belonging to
the majority community? Would their reaction be
the same if a Muslim girl was eve-teased? Would
the reaction be the same if Digambar Kamat and
Babu Azgaonkar were still in the BJP. Who were
they trying to fool? The slogans shouted by the
mob were a dead give-away of who was behind the
unrest in Margao. This is not an insider-outsider
issue. This is a blatant attempt to polarise
voters of the Margao constitutency with the hope
of unseating Kamat. The very fact that it yelled
slogans against
Kamat and Luizinho Faleiro of where the
sympathies of the vendors and their political
bosses lie.
Those who believe that Goa will continue to
remain an oasis of communal harmony are living in
a fool's paradise. Sanvordem-Curchorem was the
first indication of what some political parties
will do forward their
agenda of hate. Margao is the new laboratory for
another communal experiment. With elections due
to be held on June 2, the voters of Margao will
have to decide which way they wish to go-down the
communal path which is fraught with hate, fear,
violence and intolerance, or on the road to
secularism. We do agree that the situation in
Margao does not compare with what happened in the
aftermath of the demolition of the Babri Masjid
or the Godhra train burning. Those were horrific
and mind-numbing milestones in India history. In
Goa though, the question is, should we act now or
wait for a conflagartion to spur us into action?
If we ignore the warning signs in Margao, we will
be doing so at our own peril. With the
demographics of Goa undergoing a subtle change,
we might be condemned to witness another riot
sooner than later.
_____
[6]
Economic Times
May 11, 2007
ENCOUNTER KILLINGS FOR AAM AADMI?
by T K Arun
Fake encounters in which policemen bump off
people in cold blood and claim the killing
happened in self-defence, during the course of an
encounter, meet with universal disapproval. Most
people would be happy if there were no encounter
killings.
But the open adulation that some 'encounter
specialists' have received in some places is
proof enough that some, at least, believe that
such killings are being done in defence of
ordinary, law-abiding people, that the policemen
who do these deeds are compelled to take the law
into their own hands because of a dysfunctional
legal system.
Such tolerance or even defence of encounter
killings is deeply flawed. Encounter killings are
antithetical to democracy and threaten the life
and liberty of the ordinary, law-abiding people
for whose alleged protection the encounter
specialists take their extreme steps.
In a primitive society, might is right. Might
rules. In a modern democracy, what is right has
been codified into law, based on the collective
wisdom as to what is right. The use of force
cannot, should not, subvert collectively
sanctioned norms as to what constitutes right.
The idea is to remove the use of force or the
threat of use of force as a factor in normal
interaction between people.
The only people who are authorised to use force
are the police, to control, on behalf of the
collective, those who violate or subvert
collectively sanctioned norms of right and wrong.
And the use of force by the police is itself
regulated by law and supervised by elected
representatives of the collective.
If the police start preying on ordinary people
outside the due process of law, that would
represent breakdown of democracy. Those who are
targeted would have to take up arms in
self-defence. This would lead to anarchy and even
civil war.
So what are the police to do, if the due process
of law has become so dysfunctional as to become
useless in checking the violation of law? What is
wrong if they themselves step outside the
dysfunctional legal framework to punish the
criminals whom the dysfunctional legal system
permits to roam free?
What is wrong is that there is no institutional
mechanism to ensure that those killed would only
be criminals who would deserve the death penalty
if the legal system were indeed functional.
And invariably, the absence of such an
institutional barrier would pave the way for
state-sponsored slaughter of Muslims in Gujarat,
of subaltern protesters labelled as Naxalites in
Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh, of
rivals of politically well-connected gang leaders
in Mumbai and of just about anyone in Kashmir.
Encounter killings, in short, have to be located
in their political context. The political context
in Gujarat is an ongoing, state-sponsored attempt
to subjugate the Muslim community.
In eastern Uttar Pradesh, as some of ET's
reporters who went there to cover the assembly
elections discovered, the forest department is
wont to notify revenue villages as forest land,
evict the residents and re-notify the land as
revenue villages, so that forest officials could
make money in choosing who could re-settle the
land.
In Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, parts of Orissa,
Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, the distribution of
social and political power is so skewed as to
render constitutional guarantees of right to life
and liberty meaningless.
When the state is allowed to use unchecked
violence in such situations, the disempowered end
up at the receiving end. Their only recourse
would be to take up arms themselves. Naxalites
offer them a ready platform. This sets off a
vicious cycle of violence.
The way out is not to organise some other members
of the landless into armed appendages of the
police and make sections of the subaltern fight
one another. The Salwa Judum should be disbanded
immediately.
But what is the way out? There is none that
preserves the existing unequal distribution of
political and social power. The local elite have
a major stake in preserving that social order.
But how does it benefit globalising India to have
150 out of 593 districts to be officially
classified as Naxalite-affected, so that the
extreme oppression of the local subaltern can be
prolonged for the sake of the local elite?
Liberal democracy has no room for such extremely
unequal distribution of social and political
power. The only way out of Naxalite violence is
through transformative politics in the
Naxalite-affected areas that will enrich Indian
democracy as a whole. Mere policing, however
ruthless, will only create more Naxalites. The
more ruthless the policing, the more numerous the
potential rebels.
Transformative politics, of course, is easier
said than done. And this has to be tackled by
political parties rather than by the government.
But there is some vital action that the state can
and must take. That is to straighten out the
legal system, whose dysfunctionality provides the
excuse for extra-constitutional use of force.
To begin with, the government can appoint say,
10,000 judges across the country at all levels of
the judiciary - not merely to fill vacancies but
also to create new posts of judges, again at all
levels.
India needs a legal system that will dispose of
any case in about a year's time. This calls for
additional personnel, which can be deployed and
financed out of court fees, procedural reform to
end arbitrary, endless postponement of hearings,
and extensive use of information technology to
sort cases by settled principles of law so as to
facilitate speedy verdicts.
There is little justification for the government
not acting on this front with determination.
Disposal of court cases within a year would
indeed make a great Independence day promise from
a prime minister. And once made good, it would
transform society for the better.
As an interim measure, the government could set
up special courts to fast track cases against
those in public life. This will help clean up
politics, deterring criminals from seeking
political office and ridding political office of
criminals.
Till these reforms materialise, the police have
to work within the law, however dysfunctional the
legal system. Those police officers who still
deliver meaningful results within the existing
constraints - we still have many of them - are
the true heroes, not trigger-happy henchmen of
the powers that be.
_____
[7]
People's Union for Democratic Rights
CONDEMN ARREST OF DR. BINAYAK SEN
OPPOSE ATTACK ON PEOPLES UNION FOR CIVIL LIBERTIES, CHHATISGARH
Press Release issued on 13th May 2007
We, the following Civil and Democratic Rights
organizations, strongly condemn the arrest of Dr.
Binayak Sen, General Secretary, PUCL
(Chhattisgarh) and Vice President, PUCL
(National) under the draconian Unlawful
Activities (Prevention) Act, 2004 and
Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act 2006.
Dr. Sen is a very well respected civil rights
activist of long standing who has the rare
ability to integrate his medical profession with
his activism. He had come to Bilaspur today to
attend his clinic and was informed by the City
SP, Bilaspur to reach the local thana for
recording of statement. When he reached the
thana, he was arrested.
The arrest of Dr. Binayak Sen has come after a
week long false charges by the SP Raipur that Dr.
Binayak Sen is a Naxalite. In the last few days,
the police had made similar public statements
against some other PUCL (Chhattisgarh) activists
and democratic rights activists including Ms.
Rashmi Dwivedi and Mr. Gautam Bandopadyay.
Arresting of civil and democratic rights
activists is neither new nor original. The
experience of various Civil Rights organizations
including the Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties
Committee over the last two decades is enough
proof of how the state has attacked those who
have questioned the state and exposed the truth
behind fake encounters, disappearances and rapes
that form an integral part of the operations of
state forces. In the present context, it is well
known that the Chhattisgarh Government has been
indulging in the most brazen brutality in the
adivasi areas of the State to suppress the Maoist
movement. Dr. Sen's untiring work in documenting
the atrocities and violations committed by the
state forces in the guise of the Salwa Judum has
earned him the ire of the police. PUCL,
Chhattisgarh and other democratic activists have
been raising their voice and campaigning against
these illegal and inhuman practices, and for this
service to democracy, the familiar allegation of
being a 'Maoist' is made against them.
When the UAPA was amended in 2004 after the
repeal of POTA and when the Chhatisgarh Special
Public Security Act was enacted in 2006, we
expressed the apprehension that it would be used
against democratic movements and activists, and
the apprehension has been proved right.
We condemn the arrest of Dr. Sen and demand his
immediate and unconditional release.
1. K. Balagopal, General Secretary, Human Rights Forum, Andhra Pradesh.
2 G.K.Ramaswamy, Convenor, Peoples Democratic Forum, Karnataka
3 Nagraj Adve, Secretary, Peoples Union for Democratic Rights, Delhi
4 D. Suresh Kumar, Joint Secretary, Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee
5 Sujato Bhadra, Secretariat Member,
Association for the Protection of Democratic
Rights, West Bengal
Attached : PDF file containing the following:
1. Joint Press Release from Civil Liberties Organisations
2. Press Release from Peoples Union for Democratic Rights, Delhi
3. Appeal From Chhattisgarh PUCL
4. Press Release from Chhattisgarh PUCL
5. Chhattisgarh PUCL statement on fake encounters
6. Open Letter from the Brother of Dr. Binayak Sen
7. Bio-data of Dr. Binayak Sen
___________________________________________________________________________
Who is Dr. Binayak Sen?
Dr. Binayak Sen is a very well known person and
highly respected both in Chhattisgarh and
elsewhere. As a medical doctor, Dr Sen has been
actively involved in reaching health care to the
poorest people as well as monitoring the health
and nutrition status of the people of
Chhattisgarh. Dr Sen helped to set up the
Chhttisgarh Mukti Morcha's Shaheed Hospital a
pioneering effort to effort to set up a health
programme and hospital owned and operated by a
workers' organization for the benefit of the
common people Besides being actively associated
with the Shaheed Hospital, Dr Sen is a very well
respected member of Jan Swasthya Sahyog which is
committed to developing a low-cost, effective,
community health programme in the tribal and
rural areas of Bilaspur district of Chhattisgarh.
He was also a member of the state advisory
committee set up to pilot the community based
health worker programme across Chhattisgarh
that later became well known as the Mitanin
programme. He also gives his services to a weekly
clinic in a tribal community in Dhamtari district.
As General Secreatary of the Chhattisgarh PUCL,
he has helped to organize numerous fact finding
campaigns into human rights violations in the
state including custody deaths, fake
encounters, hunger deaths, dysentery epidemics,
malnutrition, and other similar violations. In
recent times has worked intensively to bring
large scale oppression and malgovernance within
the so called Salwa Judoom in Dantewara to
national and international attention. Dr. Sen has
regularly spoken to the local and national media
on these issues.
Dr Sen has been contributing theoretical papers
to books and journals on public health .He was
the recipient in 2004 of the Paul Harrison
award for lifetime work medical Care in the
service of Humanity, an award given annually
by the Christian Medical College Vellore to one
of its alumni
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Peoples Union For Democratic Rights, Delhi (India)
(Peoples Union For Democratic Rights is a Delhi based organisation,
fighting for peoples rights in India for more than twenty five years now)
_____
[8]
on the ongoing struggle for justice, by the
families of the Hashimpura killings by the UP
PAC, in May 1987. For the last 20 years they have
been challenging the impunity enjoyed by the
Police.
http://communalism.blogspot.com/2007/05/hashimpura-20-years-on-justice-still.html
_____
[9]
Asian Age
May 15, 2007
The Sufi Sell-Out
by Farzana Versey
Are you a Sufi?" he had asked. "You can say
that," I replied rather shamelessly. Since I was
not in the flush of youth I could not claim to be
a Marxist, so Sufism seemed like a safe bet.
"I see you are not a typical Muslim," was the response.
Sufism, which is thought to be an offshoot of
Islam, is being used to temper the jihadi face of
the religion. This is most offensive. Has anyone
asked Hindus to follow the Brahmo Samaj or the
Bhakti movements only because some red-haired
Vanzara guy likes encounters of the thud kind?
Today, being a Sufi is like being a hippie. You
can get away with anything. It has become a
convenient cop-out for those who don't want to
identify with any religion. What does a statement
like "I do not believe in organised religion"
mean? Religion is about a belief system and there
is nothing like unorganised religion, though all
are often disorganised.
Then there are those who say they are "cultural
Muslims." This essentially means they greet you
with an "adaab," cook sevaiyaan, speak Bollywood
Urdu, enjoy a drink and the occasional "Sufi
mujra" and say things like, "Islam needs to
change with the times."
Their favourite calling card is Jalalludin Rumi,
the Sufi poet. And any singer who sounds like
s/he is gargling claims to believe in Sufism -
there is bhangra Sufi, Sufi pop. The Sufi rocks.
It is important to dress the part - unkempt
clothes, hair dishevelled and lust in the eyes.
This, we will be told, is lust for union with God.
Hindi cinema that is always quick on the uptake
has a surfeit of "Allah ke bande" and "Ya Ali"
stuff doing the rounds. The videos stick to the
spiritual quest by showing flying objects and
outstretched hands.
Now I hear that even Bahadur Shah Zafar is being
called a Sufi because he went to temples wearing
a tilak and sacred thread. Please! Sufism is not
about sightseeing trips to various god-houses.
There is a lot of self-righteous noise being made
because our government is not interested in
bringing his remains back to the country.
There is no reason to go on about his pining for
the soil of his birth; he is not here and to wake
up after all these years is obviously a new
liberal ploy. Amaresh Misra wrote recently, "If
brought to India, Zafar's remains would be turned
into a memorial which millions of ordinary Hindus
and Muslims would visit as a pilgrimage site Š
there will be a surge of emotions powerful enough
to wash away enmities. Zafar's mazaar would heal
the Hindu-Muslim divide. For the RSS this indeed
is a nightmare situation."
What a shallow reason. Or merely a way to hit
back at the saffron brigade? Hollow symbolic
gestures are unimportant, especially if they have
lost all validity. We do not need one more mazaar
that is politically-motivated.
Sufi tombs are big-time money spinners, anyway. I
finally made it to Ajmer from Jaipur. It had
taken me years to reach the Khwaja's sanctum. I
had begun to believe in this "bulaava nahin aaya"
thing. I had spoken with an elderly friend who is
deep into spiritualism. He said, "Baba will try
to see you do not reach there. It is to test you.
You have to take it as a challenge."
The idea that a "pir" who I had not said anything
against and who I was not planning to ask
anything from would want to test me was a
dampener. Sometimes it is best for an idea to
remain just that. Stepping out of the
air-conditioned comfort of the car, having
replenished myself with bottled water and organic
biscuits, I was thrust into the gullies where
every cute young boy claimed to be a Sufi. This
looked like a peek into a heaven where God has
promised one the best houris and ghilmans. I see
this as the true spirit of Islam - no sham of
renunciation, rather an acceptance of the good
things that we forgo on earth due to morality.
At the dargah, if you are not a head of state or
Katrina Kaif showing her legs, they assault you.
It is a package deal where you are not left
alone; a guide takes you around and decides where
you stand, where you throw the flowers - yes,
throw - and how long you pray. A few petals fell
on the floor and I was reprimanded for insulting
the blessings that were showered on me by a man
with grease on his palms.
"London se aaye hai?" he asked.
"No."
"America?"
"How is it important?"
"I can recognise people from all over the world.
You give what you want, I do not ask. I am a
Sufi."
"Me too," I declared with aplomb. I immensely
enjoy this "looking for the self" vanity. And God
is certainly not in the retail.
Every time I pass the Haji Ali dargah in Mumbai,
right in the middle of the vast expanse of water,
I do cast a glance in the direction. I feel
embarrassed sometimes, for although the white
structure stands beautifully, I know it is the
sea that I find beguiling, a sea that has
listened to many more of my cries and answered
many more of my whys.
"Kyon hifaazat hum aur ki dhoondhen
har nafas jab ki hai Khuda hafiz
chaahe rukhsat ho raah-e-ishq mein aql
ai 'Zafar' jaane do Khuda hafiz".
Farzana Versey can be contacted at kaaghaz.kalam at gmail.com
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
Buzz for secularism, on the dangers of fundamentalism(s), on
matters of peace and democratisation in South
Asia. SACW is an independent & non-profit
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