SACW | June 4-5, 2007

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire | June 4-5, 2007 | Dispatch No. 2415 - Year 9

[1]  Pakistan: Shrinking Freedom of Expression
     (i) Statement of Support for Dr Ayesha 
Siddiqa (Academics and other professionals)
     (ii) Electronic media muffled in Pakistan + 
the text of the PEMRA (Amendment) Ordinance 2007
[2] Bangladesh: Where do we go from here? (Rehman Sobhan)
[3] India - Kashmir:  Refugees living in J&K : A human problem (Balraj Puri)
[4] India:  Counterfeit Encounters and the 'Nation' (Harsh Mander)
[5] India: 
     (i) Gujarat: Symptoms of Hindu Nation (Ram Puniyani)
    (ii)  Life miserable in Gujarat relief 
colonies: court panel (News report in The Hindu)
    (iii) Restoring Democracy in Gujarat (Shabnam Hashmi)
[6]  Announcements:
  (i)  Public Discussion: Fake Encounters - The 
Indian State's Only Response to Political Dissent?
      (New Delhi, 5 June 2007)
  (ii) Meeting in memory of Sanjay Sangvai (Bombay, 12 June 2007)

______


[1]   PAKISTAN: SHRINKING FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION


(i)

Dear media colleagues and friends

Academics and other professionals in the US, UK, 
Holland, France, Canada, Pakistan and India, 
including well known professors Howard Zinn, 
Ayesha Jalal, Shahla Haeri, Shahnaz Rouse and 
Phillip Oldenburg, have expressed grave concern 
about the interference of Dr Ayesha Siddiqa's 
recently published 'Military Inc.: Inside 
Pakistan's Military Economy' in Pakistan, and the 
threats and intimidation she faces.

Please publish, broadcast, disseminate, as you 
see fit (text & endorsements below).

thank you
beena sarwar
Cambridge, MA

o o

June 3, 2007

STATEMENT OF SUPPORT FOR DR AYESHA SIDDIQA

Interference with the book launch in Islamabad on 
Friday of the distinguished Pakistani scholar Dr 
Ayesha Siddiqa's 'Military Inc.: Inside 
Pakistan's Military Economy' gives us grave 
concern.

Although Dr Siddiqa was able to use the office of 
a non-government organization after hotels 
refused to provide a venue, her phone service has 
subsequently been repeatedly disrupted as she 
gave interviews and she has told the Committee to 
Protect Journalists and others that she feels 
increasingly isolated and physically threatened.
On Saturday, plainclothes "Special Branch" agents 
visited her home town Khanqah Sharif near 
Bahalwapur and questioned her employees about Dr. 
Siddiqa, her husband and property.

We urge the Pakistan government not to curb 
academic freedom. At a time when Pakistan faces 
an internal political crisis and a dangerous 
regional security situation the need for 
information and free expression of ideas only 
increases. Dr. Siddiqa has produced thorough
research on important topics that can inform open 
debate by all Pakistanis, and indeed others 
around the world. She and her work should be 
defended, not threatened or suppressed.  The 
following academics and professionals around the 
world endorse this statement:


1.	Hassan Abbas, Research Fellow, Kennedy School of Government,
Harvard University, U.S.A.
2.	Tahira Abdullah, researcher, development worker Islamabad, Pakistan
3.	Syed Adeeb, journalist &  President of the Human Rights Foundation
(HRF), U.S.A.
4.	Nasir Ahmad MD., FRCS.,FACs,    Chief of Otolaryngology /Head &
Neck Surgery, Hurley Medical Center, Flint, Michigan, U.S.A.
5.	Salman Ahmad, UN Special Representative, New York, U.S.A.
6.	Ishtiaq Ahmed, Professor, Department of Political Science,
Stockholm University, Sweden
7.	Imtiaz Ali, International Knight Fellow, Stanford University, U.S.A.
8.	Kamran Asdar Ali, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Middle East
Studies
and Asian Studies. University of Texas, Austin
9.	Omar Ali MD, Assistant Professor of Pediatric Endocrinology,
Medical College of Wisconsin, U.S.A.
10.	Dr Arif Alvi, Central Vice President, Tehreek-e-Insaf, Pakistan
11.	Amin Ansari, CEO IT company, Lahore, Pakistan
12.	Shaheryar Azhar, moderator, The Forum, 1175 New York, U.S.A.
13.	Cassandra Balchin, Director, L.A.W.S. (Legal Awareness, Women &
Society), U.K.
14.	Akshay Bakaya, Institut National des Langues et Civilisations
Orientales, Paris, France
15.	Julia Bard, writer and editor, Member of the National Union of
Journalists
London, U.K.
16.	Amna Buttar, MD, President, Asian American Network Against Abuse
of Human Rights, Middleton, WI, U.S.A.
17.	Walter Crump, Commonwealth School, Boston, MA, U.S.A.
18.	S.M.A. Ehtisham MD, Bath NY, U.S.A.
19.	Drs Khalid Hameed Farooqi, journalist and researcher, Holland
20.	Asim Ghani, journalist, Karachi, Pakistan
21.	Frederic Grare, Visiting Scholar, Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace, U.S.A.
22.	Shahla Haeri, Director, Women's Studies Program & Associate
Professor of Anthropology, Boston University, MA, U.S.A.
23.	Zahra Shahid Hussain, educatioinst, political analyst, Karachi, U.S.A.
24.	Zaffar Iqbal, MD & ANAA Board Member, Kingman AZ, U.S.A.
25.	Ayesha Jalal, Professor of History, Tufts University, MA, U.S.A.
26.	Ruchir Joshi, film maker and writer, New Delhi, India
27.	Kalim Irfani, M.D., Pediatrics, Scarsdale, NY, U.S.A.
28.	Dr Mahjabeen Islam, Medical Director, Comprehensive Addiction
Services & Odyssey Hospice, Toledo, Ohio, U.S.A.
29.	Harsh Kapoor, coordinator, South Asia Citizens Web & 'India
Pakistan Arms race and Militarisation Watch', France
30.	Mohmmad Arshad Khan, Society for Social Justice and Developement
Pakistan, Sialkot
31.	Waqas Khwaja, Associate Professor and Chair, English Department
Agnes Scott College, Decatur, GA, U.S.A.
32.	Zaheer A. Kidvai, Education Technology Consultant, Karachi, Pakistan
33.	Syeda Masood, Kennedy School of Government â*™08, Harvard
University, U.S.A.
34.	Andy McCord, freelance writer, past fellow of the Fulbright
program in Pakistan and India, & of the U.S. National Endowment for
the Humanities, New York, U.S.A.
35.	Anita Mehta, Fellow, The Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Study,
Harvard University, U.S.A.
36.	Zubeida Mustafa, journalist, Karachi, Pakistan
37.	Maniza Naqvi, author/development specialist, Washington DC, U.S.A.
38.	Akbar Noman, Senior Fellow, Initiative for Policy Dialogue,
Columbia University
New York, NY, U.S.A.
39.	Philip Oldenburg, Independent Scholar, New York, U.S.A.
40.	Emran Qureshi, Wertheim Fellow, Labor & Worklife Program at
Harvard Law School, U.S.A.
41.	Omar Qureshi, History Department, The Brearley School, New York,
U.S.A.
42.	Jamil Rashid, Professor: Social Sciences, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
43.	Jeff Redding, Oscar M. Ruebhausen Fellow in Law, Yale Law School,
New Haven, U.S.A.
44.	David Rosenberg, teacher and writer, Member of the National Union
of teachers
London, U.K.
45.	Shahnaz Rouse, Professor of Sociology, Sarah Lawrence College, New
York
46.	Gita Sahgal, film maker and writer, U.K.
47.	Beena Sarwar, journalist & Fellow, Carr Center for Human Rights
Policy, Harvard University, U.S.A.
48.	Malik Sarwar, Senior Vice President, Permal Group, NY, U.S.A.
49.	Najmi Sarwar, Vice President Citibank, Executive Director
Developments In Literacy, New York, U.S.A.
50.	Sehba Sarwar, Founding Director, Voices Breaking Boundaries,
Houston, U.S.A.
51.	Mohsin Sayeed, journalist, Karachi, Pakistan
52.	Shaheen Sehbai, media professional, Washington, DC, U.S.A.
53.	Dr. Subir Sinha, Department of Development Studies, SOAS,  London,
U.K.
54.	Nandini Sundar, Professor, Department of Sociology, Delhi School
of Economics
University of Delhi, India
55.	Mohammad Taqi ,MD, Asst. Prof. of Medicine, University of Florida,
Gainesville, & President, American Pakistani Physicians for Justice
and Democracy (APPJD), U.S.A.
56.	John Trumpbour, Research Director, Labor & Worklife Program,
Harvard Law School, U.S.A.
57.	Dr. Rashmi Varma, Department of English, University of Warwick,
Coventry,
U.K.
58.	Rafia Zakaria J.D, Indiana University, Department of Political
Science, U.S.A.
59.	Howard Zinn, Professor Emeritus, Boston University, U.S.A.

o o o

(ii)

ELECTRONIC MEDIA MUFFLED IN PAKISTAN

The government empowered the Pakistan Electronic 
Media Regulatory Authority on 4th of June 2007 to 
take stern punitive actions against any broadcast 
media for violation of its rules.

President Gen Pervez Musharraf has promulgated 
the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory 
Authority Amendment Ordinance 2007, which will 
come into effect immediately. According to 
details issued by Law and Justice Secretary 
Mansoor Ahmed, the ordinance would be called the 
PEMRA (Amendment) Ordinance 2007.

The president has tightened the regulation of the 
media under the ordinance. He has made a raft of 
amendments to the regulations governing the 
electronic media, including private television 
channels that the general has accused of 
anti-government bias. The ordinance says 
authorities can seal the premises of broadcasters 
or suspend distributors breaking the law, and 
raises possible fines for violations from 1 
million rupees ($16,665) to 10 million rupees 
($166,650).

FOLLOWING IS THE TEXT OF THE PEMRA (AMENDMENT) ORDINANCE 2007:

Ordinance No. XXVI of 2007. An ordinance to 
further amend the Pakistan Electronic Media 
Regulatory Authority Ordinance, 2002.

WHEREAS it is expedient to further to amend the 
Pakistan Media Regulatory Authority Ordinance, 
2002 (XIII of 2002), for the purposes hereinafter 
appearing;

AND WHEREAS the National Assembly is not in 
session and circumstances exist which render it 
necessary to take immediate action; NOW, 
THEREFORE, in the exercise of the powers 
conferred by clause (1) of Article 89 of the 
Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 
the President is pleased to make and promulgate 
the following Ordinance:-

1. Short title, extent and commencement.- (1) 
This Ordinance may be called the Pakistan 
Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Amendment) 
Ordinance, 2007. (2) It shall come into force at 
once.

2. Amendment of section 2, Ordinance XIII of 
2002:- In the Pakistan Electronic Media 
Regulatory Authority Ordinance, 2002 (XIII of 
2002), Hereunder referred to as the said 
Ordinance, in section 2,-

(a) in clause (ha) for the letters "DTH" the letters and commas "DTH,

IPTV, Mobile TV" shall be substituted; and

(b) for clause (j) the following shall be substituted, namely:-

(j)- "Frequency" means the frequency of the 
electromagnetic waves measured in Hertz and used 
for transmission;".

3. Amendment of section 4, Ordinance XIII of 
2002.- In the said Ordinance, in section 4, 
sub-section (3) shall be omitted.

4. Amendment of section 20, Ordinance XIII of 
2002.- In the said Ordinance, in section 20, in 
clause (d), after the word "rules" the words "and 
regulations" shall be inserted.

5. Amendment of section 23, Ordinance XIII of 
2002. In the said Ordinance, in section 23, in 
sub-section (2) in the proviso, for the word 
"fare" the word "Fair" shall be substituted.

6. Amendment of Section 25, Ordinance XIII of 
2002.- In the said Ordinance, in section 25, in 
clause e(d), after the word "organization" the 
words "including any foreign non-governmental 
organization" shall be added.

7. Amendment of section 27, Ordinance XIII of 
2002.- In the said Ordinance, in section 27,-

(a) for the word "therefore," the word "therefor" shall be substituted; and

(b) after the word "operator" the words "or owner" shall be inserted.

8. Amendment of section 28, Ordinance XIII of 
2002.- In the said Ordinance, in section 28, in 
the marginal note, of the section for the word 
"of" the word "by" shall be substituted.

9. Amendment of section 29, Ordinance XIII of 
2002,- In the said Ordinance, in section 29,-

(a) in sub-section (5), the proviso, for the full 
stop, at the end, a colon shall be substituted 
and thereafter the following further proviso 
shall be added, namely:-

"Provided further that he Authority or the 
Chairman may seize a broadcast or distribution 
service equipment or seal the premises, which is 
operating illegally or in contravention of orders 
passed under section 30."; and

(b) in sub-section (6), for the word "one" a word "ten" shall be substituted.

10. Amendment of section 30, Ordinance XIII of 
2002.- In the said Ordinance, in section 30,-

(a) in sub section (1),-

(i) in clause (b), for the colon, at the end, a 
full stop shall be substituted; and (ii) the 
proviso shall be omitted.

(b) in sub-section (3) the comma and word ", suspended" shall be omitted; and

(c) after sub-section (3) following new sub-section shall be added, namely:-

"(4) License of a broadcast media may be 
suspended on any of the grounds specified in 
sub-section (1), by a duly constituted committee 
comprising members of the Authority."

11. Insertion of section 39A, Ordinance XIII of 
2002.- In the said Ordinance, after section 39, 
the following new section shall be inserted, 
namely:-

"39A. Power of the Authority to make regulations.

The Authority may by notification in the official 
Gazette, make regulations, not inconsistent with 
this Ordinance and the rules made thereunder, to 
provide for all matters for which provisions is 
necessary or expedient for carrying out the 
purpose of this Ordinance."

______


[2]

Forum
June 2007

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

Rehman Sobhan examines the implications for the 
country of Prof. Yunus's decision to retreat from 
the political stage

The precipitate withdrawal by Prof. Muhammad 
Yunus from the political arena was an unexpected 
as was his announcement of launching a party. The 
emphasis is on the word precipitate since neither 
decision was necessarily surprising. His decision 
to enter politics originated in a generally felt 
need for an alternative to the political duopoly 
which had contributed to Bangladesh's 
malfunctioning democracy. His withdrawal 
originated in his disappointment at the failure 
of members of civil and political society to 
immediately join him on his political platform.

Had Yunus launched his foray into politics with 
more caution and planning he would not have had 
to depend on such instantaneous responses to his 
initiative. If he was seeking to bring in a new 
constituency of activists from civil society to 
join him in politics, he should have been aware 
that this class would react with caution. Most of 
them are not professional politicians, they have 
livelihoods, organizations to run, family 
responsibilities and expectations for the future. 
It is no accident that they have sat on the 
side-lines of politics for so long, limiting 
their activism to seminars, statements, and the 
occasional street rally. For them to cross the 
line into full-scale political activism involves 
an existential decision which is not made so 
readily.

The fact that Yunus was willing to cross this 
line, giving up his international celebrity 
status where he regularly meets with monarchs and 
presidents around the world and to separate 
himself from the Grameen organization which he 
has built with his sweat and blood into a 
Nobel-worthy institution, was indeed a major 
decision. He may have naturally expected that if 
he was willing to make such a major sacrifice, 
lesser mortals should have been willing to make 
their own sacrifices.

However, human logic does not work that way. 
Yunus has already achieved everything. If his 
political venture goes wrong he will still be a 
global celebrity with the added recognition that 
he tried his best to introduce a new political 
culture into Bangladesh. His associates may not 
be able to return to their old lives so easily 
and so had to compute their costs and benefits 
from political activism more carefully. In due 
course, some and eventually many among civil 
society may have joined Yunus, but this decision 
would have taken time, depending on who else was 
taking the first step across the line and the 
political impact of the new party.

Yunus also expected some political activists from 
the existing political parties to join him. There 
is a considerable disillusionment within the 
mainstream political parties with the leadership, 
and apprehension that reform within the parties 
would not be possible without democratizing the 
party's decision making process. In such 
circumstances at least some members of these 
parties were not averse to exploring new options. 
Some of these smaller parties and their leaders 
may also have looked for a new political rallying 
point with an inspirational leader such as Yunus 
or may have sought to build political alliances 
with his party. Some of these parties have, for 
some time, been clamoring for a third force in 
Bangladesh politics.

However, politicians are political animals. They 
understand success and are less prone to quixotic 
gestures. If the new party was a going concern 
they would be more inclined to review their 
options. They would also like to know more about 
the future of the mainstream parties and the 
scope for reform as well as political 
realignments within these parties. To form the 
new party has political costs which could only be 
borne if the eventual benefits of accessing power 
would be seen as within the realms of the 
feasible.

In such circumstances, the notion that political 
activists of diverse times would instantly rally 
to him was quite an unreasonable expectation on 
the part of Yunus. More to the point few people, 
whether from civil society or the existing 
political parties, would respond to Yunus without 
being presented with a clearer idea of where 
Yunus was coming from and where he was going.

In Bangladesh's political culture, fantasy plays 
a big part and everyone is free to invent or 
imagine all sorts of conspiracies. Yunus, as with 
any other political figure, would thus have 
needed to persuade people that he is his own man 
with his own agenda. One way for Yunus to 
establish his bona-fides would have been to sit 
with various constituencies in civil society -- 
human rights activists, women's groups, workers 
and peasant organizations, professional bodies 
and with ordinary citizens' groups around the 
country, to share their concerns about the 
nation, discuss their ideas for change, and 
discern their expectations from a new party.

In turn, Yunus would have needed to spell out his 
own vision for the future, and how he hoped to 
operationalize his vision into concrete solutions 
for problems facing the country within a 
time-bound context. He would have to spell out 
the nature of the party he hoped to organize, and 
the sort of people he expected to join the party. 
Through such an interactive process, he would 
expect to project his own agenda, mobilize 
support, recruit members and gradually build a 
national organization. Such a process would take 
time, pain, sweat, and disappointments. It would 
involve mistakes, but above all, it would 
generate knowledge, and experience, the most 
important capital needed to build a new party. I 
am not privy to the specific motives which 
persuaded Yunus to withdraw from politics so it 
would not be appropriate for me to pass judgment 
on the wisdom of his decision.

However, his departure leaves Bangladesh politics 
with the same political vacuum which has 
incubated festering problems which continue to 
demand resolution. This is not to suggest that 
Yunus and his party were the answer to these 
problems and may indeed have been still-born. But 
we have to recognize that we are in this crisis 
because our mainstream political parties have, 
over successive regimes, failed to meet the 
expectations of their voters and have, instead, 
left us mired in a swamp of corruption, violence, 
and malgovernance, from which the nation needs to 
escape.

It is clear from history, our own and from that 
of other countries, that military rule is no 
answer to a nation's problems. All political 
reforms have to be democratically mandated or 
they cannot be sustained. In the absence of any 
political alternative, we have to ask ourselves 
whether our major parties are in a position to 
regenerate themselves.

For example, can the BNP aspire to reform the 
party within the present dynastic leadership 
structure, or indeed are the very structures of 
the party corroded and its leaders too committed 
to their own aggrandizement to reconfigure the 
party. What we are learning every day about the 
functioning of the BNP, particularly during its 
recent tenure in office, suggests that a 
significant part of its leadership and echelons 
below them conceive of politics exclusively as an 
instrument for personal gain.

In the case of the Awami League, current 
realities demonstrate that as long as Sheikh 
Hasina chooses to remain in politics she is 
likely to remain the undisputed leader of the 
party. So the question to be answered is whether 
Sheikh Hasina herself recognizes that there is a 
need for reform in her party and whether she is 
willing to initiate such a process in 
collaboration with her colleagues.

Some concrete initiatives for reform urgently 
demanded from the Awami League leaders would 
include the democratization of the party, making 
its finances transparent, ensuring that 
candidates with a record of service to the party 
and a clean image are nominated, while musclemen 
within the party or those with only their wealth 
to recommend them are marginalized. Some of these 
actions such as choosing clean candidates and 
marginalizing mastaans need to be made part of 
the agenda of all parties otherwise the Awami 
League would feel politically disadvantaged.

However, reform is not just about process, it is 
also about what a party has to offer in order to 
earn public confidence. Thus, the Awami League 
has to also rediscover its sense of mission as a 
party. The party has a long history, which has 
associated it with all the major democratic 
struggles in Bangladesh, of which the liberation 
struggle was its most defining moment. The 
struggles demanded a close bond between the party 
and the people.

Yet many of the problems afflicting the Awami 
League originate in its distancing itself from 
the very social forces which sustained it and 
from the constituencies of the deprived who once 
invested their faith in the party. By trying to 
appear as all things to all people the Awami 
League of today appears to have lost its sense of 
purpose and in many areas appears 
indistinguishable from its principal opponent. 
This has led it into a variety of political 
compromises with political forces which are 
totally inimical to what the Awami League once 
stood for. The party thus needs to rethink where 
it came from and where it intends to take the 
country.

In rethinking its mission, the Awami League needs 
to reach out to its old constituencies and to 
seek out new social forces, which have, in recent 
years, contributed to what is positive in the 
country. Its old support bases, long abandoned by 
the Awami League, include the class of small 
entrepreneurs, who remain neglected by every 
government, the working class who were always a 
source of strength for Bangabandhu, but are now 
an abandoned constituency, and the small farmers 
who have tripled our food production, but under 
donor pressure been starved of resources and 
victimized by policy.

New forces which remain ignored by all parties 
and demand attention include the youth, most of 
whom remain undereducated and unprepared for the 
market so they are now a fertile recruiting 
ground for criminal gangs and mastaan politics. 
Bangladesh today has bred a class of creative, 
honest, non-defaulting, tax paying entrepreneurs 
who have led our export boom and could provide a 
new generation of entrepreneurs to accelerate our 
growth. This class desperately needs a political 
home which the Awami League can provide. New 
constituencies are to be found among women of all 
classes but particularly the micro-credit 
borrowers and garment workers who have 
demonstrated their worth to the economy. 
Similarly, large numbers of workers scattered 
across the country remain an important resource 
along with the educated professional classes who 
need to be better utilized.

If such constituencies are to be mobilized, the 
Awami League will have to fashion concrete 
policies and programs which are responsive to the 
needs of these constituencies and beyond them to 
the voters. These commitments cannot be perceived 
as electoral slogans but must be made credible 
through well-thought out time bound programs. To 
develop such a forward-looking agenda, the Awami 
League should initiate its own reform process in 
consultation with civil society, drawing upon the 
services of various think tanks and professional 
organizations such as the Bangladesh Economic 
Association. To do so the party will have to move 
beyond its core of party faithful and broaden its 
reach.

If the Awami League fails to visibly engage 
itself in such a process of regeneration, can a 
new third force emerge in response to the hunger 
for political change? I personally see no real 
prospect in the next two years for such a force, 
capable of actually organizing itself and winning 
an election in 2008, emerging in the political 
arena. I could be wrong. After all, nature abhors 
a vacuum and so there will always be some attempt 
to respond to the popular demand for reform.

Without a third force or credible move for reform 
in the mainstream political parties which can 
respond to this universally felt need for change, 
Bangladesh could move into a period of deep 
uncertainty. All the effort to structure a free 
and fair election, eradicate corruption, and 
overhaul the administration, could all unravel 
during the post-electoral period without a 
credible commitment from all contesting parties 
to sustain these reforms.

This could set up another round of 
confrontational politics, which will take us back 
to where we started from at the beginning of this 
year. They say history repeats itself, first as 
tragedy then as farce. My fear is that the next 
phase of tragedy may be too protracted and 
painful for us to enjoy the farce.

Rehman Sobhan is Chairman, Editorial Board, Forum.

______


[3]

Deccan Herald
June 4, 2007

REFUGEES LIVING IN J&K : A HUMAN PROBLEM
Each category of migrants has its specific 
problems which call for different solutions at 
differnt situations, writes Balraj Puri.

A fierce controversy is raging in Jammu & Kashmir 
over the issue of refugees/migrants in the state, 
often taking a regional or communal form. Does 
anybody engaged in this controversy know how many 
refugees and migrants are in the state? Bulk of 
these refugees reside in Jammu region. What are 
the categories to which they belong? What 
precisely are their respective problems and 
solutions thereof? The issue was raised in the 
report of the working group on "confidence 
building measures across segments of society" in 
J&K presented at the third Roundtable Conference 
in New Delhi on April 24. It just mentioned 
problems of some of them without suggesting the 
solution.

For instance, the group recommended that the 
rights of Kashmiri Pandit migrants to return to 
the places of their original residence should be 
recognised and a comprehensive package devised in 
consultation with their representatives. The 
Pandit representatives at the conference 
protested against this recommendation. They asked 
why should their right to return need recognition 
and why did not the working group consult their 
representatives to devise a package.

Kashmiri Pandits are a very vocal community and 
have raised their problems at international fora. 
Moreover, there is no controversy about their 
right to return. Nor do they lack sympathy of 
their Muslim brethren in Kashmir valley. But the 
same cannot be said about refugees in Jammu from 
other areas.

The working group has taken notice of the 
refugees, who came from West Pakistan and 
recommends that the problem of their state 
subject status should be settled once for all. 
But it avoids any discussion on how to settle 
this issue and their other problems. Similarly, 
it mentions in passing the issue of full 
rehabilitation of refugees after the wars with 
Pakistan in 1965 and 1971.

But, most glaring omission in the report is total 
ignorance of the refugees from Pak-administered 
part of the state who are by far largest in 
number. Around 42,000 families were officially 
registered. Unlike refugees in Punjab, their 
claims for the properties left behind were not 
registered and they received no compensation for 
them, on the specious plea that Pakistan 
(Kashmir) was a part of India and they would be 
rehabilitated there when it would be liberated. 
But after 60 years, this plea hardly has of any 
meaning.

Some of them belonging to rural areas, have been 
settled temporarily on the land of Muslim 
evacuees. Under the Evacuee Property Act, the 
evacuees who return could claim their property. 
But the limitation period is 12 years. As this 
period is long over, no such claims can be 
entertained. Moreover, most of the evacuees have 
acquired Pakistan citizenship hence no more 
entitled to be the state subjects.

As far as registering the claims of refugees from 
West Pakistan, there is absolutely no 
justification for treating them differently from 
refugees from Pakistan settled elsewhere in 
India. Whether they should be given permanent 
citizen's rights can be decided when tempers cool 
down. It may, however, be mentioned that total 
number of their families was 3,000 and they are 
Scheduled Castes. Even making allowance for 
increase in their number, their number is too 
insignificant to affect the demographic 
composition of the state.

A large number of people migrated from villages 
on the border and Line of Control during firing 
from the other side till a cease fire was 
announced in 2003. Some of them were advised to 
vacate their lands by the Army to enable it to 
lay mines on the border. According to a statement 
of the Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, their 
number totalled 1.50 lakh.

Then there are migrants from militancy affected 
parts of Jammu region who are put up in temporary 
shelters around Jammu city. They were not 
registered as migrants and given much relief as 
the government felt that it might encourage more 
migration from those areas. As the violence has 
considerably come down in districts of Doda, 
Rajouri and Poonch as compared to the valley, the 
government should consider the case for their 
return in stages with adequate compensation and 
means to resettle there.

Finally, while the case of Kashmiri Pandit 
migrants with 33,000 registered families is 
widely debated, the case of 1,600 Muslim and 
1,656 Sikh registered families who had to migrate 
from Kashmir valley in 1990 due to insecurity has 
been completely ignored. The Muslim migrants felt 
threatened on account of their political beliefs. 
They are not vocal in raising their problems as 
they apprehend reprisals on their relatives left 
behind.

Each category of migrants have its specific 
problems which call for different solutions. But 
first of all a thorough study is needed to know 
the exact situation. If the government is not 
interested or is unable to do that, some NGOs and 
research scholars should undertake the task in an 
objective and impartial  manner. After all, it 
relates to a population which almost equals the 
permanently settled persons in Jammu and is one 
of the major causes of regional discontent. It 
would not be an exaggeration to call Jammu, a 
land of migrants.

Above all, the political leaders should be able 
to rise above partisan and regional or religious 
considerations and treat a human problem which 
essentially it is. It does not speak well of the 
political health of the state that almost all 
parties of Kashmir, whether mainstream or 
separatist, are on one side of the fence while 
all Jammu-based leaders  are on the other side on 
this issue.

______


[4]

Hindustan Times
13 June, 2007

COUNTERFEIT ENCOUNTERS AND THE 'NATION'

by Harsh Mander

The current wave of outrage in the country over 
the horrific murders by the men in khaki in 
Gujarat is likely to be transient, a passing 
squall. The dust that it raises will rapidly 
settle, and we will forget, in the same way as we 
have expelled from memory so many similar 
inequities of the recent past: the women who 
stripped themselves naked in anguish in Manipur 
to protest the violations of security forces, the 
staged killings of innocents as militants in 
Kashmir, the mass cremations of thousands of 
young men who were abducted by the police and 
later dubbed Khalistani extremists in Punjab in 
the troubled eighties, counterfeit encounter 
killings of alleged Naxalite sympathisers in 
backwaters of rural ferment and oppression for 
decades in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Chatisgarh, 
and bogus encounters of alleged terrorists in the 
country's capital, to name just a few. Even less 
do we even register the routine killings of the 
poorest tribals or dalits after torture and 
extortion in rural police outposts, or numerous 
judicial commissions of enquiry that testify to 
the open participation of men in uniform in the 
slaughter of minorities in communal riots.

The Central Bureau of Investigation, in 1996, 
submitted a report to the Supreme Court that 
established that in just three crematoria of 
Amritsar, as many as 2097 illegal cremations were 
carried out by security forces between 1984 and 
1995.  An independent human rights investigation 
established that illegal disposal of bodies by 
security forces were not confined to three 
crematoria of Amritsar. Disappearances occurred 
in all districts of Punjab. In nearly 60 per cent 
of the cases, the persons who 'disappeared' was 
subsequently reported to have died in police 
'encounters'. The victims included doctors, 
lawyers, journalists, students, businessmen, even 
government civil and police employees. In over 25 
per cent if the cases, the police not only took 
away the victim; it also destroyed, damaged or 
confiscated family property. In an equal number, 
police abducted and killed more than one member 
of the same family. The police routinely refused 
to inform the victims' families, and extorted 
money from them.

The Supreme Court referred the matter to the 
National Human Rights Commission, and did nothing 
when the Commission took a minimalist 
interpretation of its ambit. After around ten 
years of tortuous proceedings, pursued resolutely 
by brave and devastated families of the victims 
and supported by dedicated human rights defenders 
like Indira Jaising, Ram Narayan Kumar and Ashok 
Agrawaal, the Commission refused in the end to 
hold any officer or agency accountable for the 
violations, and declined to investigate 
disappearances, extra-judicial executions, 
custodial deaths and illegal cremations 
throughout Punjab.

In Andhra Pradesh, again for a decade, a 
committee of concerned citizens convened by SR 
Sankaran, have tirelessly pressed for the 
deployment of moral, democratic and legal 
instruments to try to stem the unending brutal 
spiral of violence that has seized many 
impoverished districts of Telengana. They observe 
that the State continues to portray the Naxalite 
movement as a law and order problem, and refuses 
to recognise it as an expression of people's 
aspirations to a life of dignity and equality. 
The State response remains violent, including 
physically liquidating hundreds, mainly youth, in 
encounters. The committee finds that these 
'encounter killings are not isolated aberrations 
or unintended transgressions of law by individual 
police personnel' but is in fact a deliberate 
system response of the State to crush a complex 
societal problem through indiscriminate killings. 
It concludes that 'encounters introduce terror as 
a component of governance and erode its very 
democratic essence'.

But there are few to heed these voices of 
humanity. In Gujarat, in response to a question 
from a member of the assembly, as many as 21 
encounter killings by the state police were 
reported between 2003 and 2006. But the list 
submitted by the Gujarat government did not 
include the names of Sohrabuddin and Kauserbi, 
which is a grave breach of privilege. A 
deliberate murky cloud of official secrecy 
continues to cloud the numbers and circumstances 
of encounter deaths by the Gujarat State police.

However, even this limited official report again 
raises disturbing questions. Six of those killed 
were already in police custody, and it is 
incredible that they could possess firearms in 
custody to warrant killing by the police in self 
defence. In one case, the police claim that two 
policemen fired six rounds to kill a man with a 
dummy revolver. In no case was there a post 
mortem, or the statutory magisterial enquiry. 
There are no materials to even subsequently 
justify the inference that they were terrorists 
or grave offenders. All these facts were brought 
to the notice of the Supreme Court in a petition 
earlier this year by BG Verghese and lawyer Nitya 
Ramakrishnan, but the court did not find enough 
basis to order an enquiry into the encounter 
killings.

Each nation must strike a fine ethical and 
political balance between protecting its security 
and the rights of its people. In India, the 
choice of the executive, and even the judiciary, 
have tilted mostly in favour of permitting the 
uniformed forces to break the law of the land 
with impunity, even to kill, especially in times 
of perceived threats to national integrity - 
cheered along by most segments of the middle 
classes. Policemen themselves often claim that 
are motivated by a higher love for the nation. 
Many are, but not those who kill unarmed people 
in defiance of the law of the land. KPS Gill, who 
led the security forces in Punjab in the decisive 
'bullet for bullet' bloody combat against 
militancy of the late 1980s, describes his forces 
as men who 'fight and die for India' and 'who 
risked their lives in defence of the State'. The 
disgraced Gujarat police officer Vanjara also 
fashions his encounter killings as 'deshbhakti' 
(patriotism), and claims that with his arrest, 
'the battle lines are drawn', presumably in his 
war against the Muslim community, which is of 
course viciously demonised as terrorists 
implacably unfaithful to their motherland. LK 
Advani as the Union Home Minister in 2001 
announced in Punjab that his government was 
'contemplating steps to provide legal protection 
and relief to the personnel of the security 
forces facing prosecution for alleged excesses 
during anti-insurgency operations' in Punjab, 
Kashmir and the north-east.

A faked killing is not an aberration of a few 
runaway miscreant police officers; it is an 
integral if shadowy element of the system itself, 
one in which the State eliminates people outside 
the process of the law, as an instrument to tame 
civic dissent. These bullets indeed crush with 
State terror and lawlessness, the weakest and 
most disenfranchised of our people, particularly 
if they are restive - religious and ethnic 
minorities, dalits and tribal people, 
agricultural workers and slum dwellers. These are 
the very people who are excluded from that 
'nation' which the trigger-happy police forces 
claim to defend.   

We may forget and move on, but for those loved 
ones were felled by furtive bullets fired by 
agents of a democratic State that functions 
lawlessly, there will be no closure or healing. 
They may never have even seen the bodies of their 
loved ones, and the dead have no opportunity to 
defend their honour. It is only truth, however 
ugly, told with unflinching honesty, which would 
heal their unassuaged agony. For this to happen, 
the leaders, the courts and the people of this 
land need to stand tall on the side of justice. 
No State is genuinely secure of foundations of 
injustice.


______


[5]

(i)

Issues in Secular Politics
June June 2007 I

GUJARAT: SYMPTOMS OF HINDU NATION

by Ram Puniyani

Chandra Mohan, a gifted art student of the 
faculty of arts of Sayajirao Giakwad University, 
Baroda had to be in jail for five days (May 2007) 
for the 'crime' of painting an assignment for his 
degree. The problem was that the painting he made 
was not to the liking of the BJP camp. When the 
display of the paintings was going on for 
assessment by the teachers, BJP leader, Neeraj 
Jain attacked the exhibition with his band of 
supporters. The police put Chandra Mohan behind 
the bars, Neeraj Jain, who had violated the law 
by entering the university came out with a sense 
of pride for saving, protecting the honor of 'his 
religion' or a religion, which is the base of his 
party. As the matters unfolded the students of 
the University peacefully protested against this 
breach of their right to learn and against the 
false implication of one of their fellow students 
by the barbarians in the garb of religion. The 
Vice Chancellor of Baroda university, Manoj Soni 
who is wedded to the politics of the ruling BJP 
and more particularly to Narendra Modi, gave 
orders that the demonstration by students should 
not be permitted. The Dean of Arts faculty, a 
renowned art historian felt it is too much to 
stifle the student's right for peaceful protest, 
permitted them the protest, and he was suspended. 
To add salt to the injury the pro-Vice Chancellor 
got the display of students paintings removed 
from the spot where they were protesting.

In the bizarre happenings at one of the most 
prestigious Universities of the state of Gujarat, 
the culprit was projected as the hero by the 
ruling BJP, while those who were merely doing 
their academic explorations, something for which 
universities are meant for, found themselves 
either behind the bars or suspended from their 
job. Interestingly Neeraj Jain of BJP is one of 
the accused in the Gujarat carnage of 2002 and 
Soni, VC is one of the Modi acolytes, a symptom 
of rot which has set in to the educational system 
of Gujarat. A small but dominant section of 
population in Gujarat upholds the actions of VC 
and arrest of student artist and suspension of 
Dean of arts faculty.

In another incident, in order to prevent the CBI 
inquiry into the cold blooded murder of 
Soharabuddin, by a team of police officials led 
by the Modi favorite Vanzara, the murder of 
Soharabuddin's wife Kausar Bano and Tulsiram 
Prajapati, the police informer, the Gujarat 
Government admitted that its police officials 
have committed the crime. Vanzara, who today owns 
the properties running into millions, was 
showered with rose petals by the section of 
people when he was being taken to be produced in 
the court.

Just a moth ago the, the film which sensitively 
portrays the Gujarat carnage, Perzania, which was 
duly cleared by the censor board, was not 
screened by the owners of cine theaters because 
of the fear that their theaters may be damaged by 
the goons, wearing saffron clothes. Similarly 
another film Faana was not released in Gujarat on 
similar grounds as the theater owners feared that 
people are opposed to Aamir Khan, who had openly 
sympathized with Narmada Bachao Andolan and the 
cause of those displaced by the dam. It is 
interesting that in most of the incidents there 
is a blatant tendency to suppress the basic 
democratic norm and the level of apparent 
acceptance for such acts from the dominant 
section of society is very high.

It is not that Gujarat is the only state with 
such violations of democratic and civic norms. 
There are gradations of these patterns, from the 
mild violations to the severe ones like those 
cited above. And surely as far as the gross 
violations and that too the one's related to 
minority community are concerned, Gujarat is the 
worst state without any shadow of doubt. In other 
BJP ruled states like MP, Rajasthan and 
Chattisgarhg also, the violations are of severe 
degree, still they do not match with the ones in 
Gujarat. In Gujarat, at all the levels from top 
to bottom and in most of the arenas of social and 
political life one can see the intense aggression 
of oppressive religion based ideology, opposing 
the little and big issues where the freedom of 
expression or democratic rights of people are 
concerned.

From these instances various things become more 
than clear. To begin with the state machinery, 
the educational institutions are heavily 
communalized. This Vice Chancellor, who normally 
should have protected the student of his 
University for fulfilling the academic 
obligation, but chose to let the police arrest 
his own student, is a comparatively young faculty 
who has been elevated to the highest level of the 
academic prestige because he wrote a book in 
defense of Modi in Gujarat genocide. The rot in 
the educational system, the infiltration of 
communal elements in the positions of power is 
more than obvious from the case of Mr. Soni.

Police acting as an onlooker and arresting the 
student, the victim, and letting the culprits 
take the law in their hands is reflective of the 
communal mind set and the type of instructions 
they must be getting from the top leadership. The 
attack by these goons and their defense by a 
section on the ground that 'our sentiments are 
hurt' show the type of communal common sense 
prevalent in the state.

What is new about Soharabuddin's killing? So many 
fake encounters, so many high handed acts of law 
breaking by those supposed to be upholders of 
law. So many such incidents in so many other 
states. The striking features of this encounter 
killing are that, one, not only the criminal but 
his wife was also killed in cold blood. Secondly, 
the pretext of terrorists coming to kill Modi, 
the Hindu Hriday Samrat (emperor of Hindu Hearts) 
has been used to eliminate people once again. And 
three, the honor showered on Vanzara, have we 
heard before that these 'criminal in khaki' 
having patronage of those in the seats of power 
are showered with rose petals while being taken 
to the court? That's what Gujarat is becoming, 
thoroughly communalized, the communal common 
sense being the dominant thought pattern of 
sections of society, and politics strongly under 
the sway of RSS ideology.

While the acts of attacking cinema theaters, 
attacking art exhibitions, stopping musical 
concerts has been heard before as an occasional 
phenomenon, now this intolerance is becoming 
systematically ingrained in Gujarat. That's what 
makes Gujarat different from large parts of the 
country, some of which are definitely on pursuing 
what we can call as 'Gujarat course' but the 
critical limits have not been reached there.

At different level, one can note two systems off 
law in Gujarat, minorities neither get nor can 
hope to get justice after violence, and relief is 
a distant dream. The transmigration within the 
city, Hindu area, Muslim area, and the emotional 
and physical borders separating the different 
communities and the communal wedge is deepening 
by the day. The schools are becoming set more 
along religious lines than the previous mixed 
character where diverse children come together 
and have an inherent understanding and respect 
for the other. The legal system is becoming more 
and more insular to the anguish of minority 
community. The minorities have been relegated to 
the second class status, no ban loans to them, no 
telephone connections at times. An analogy with 
Hitler's Germany has more than just the germ of 
truth. While at surface, Gujarat as the state 
seems to be focusing on development, the 'we have 
taught them a lesson' is the undercurrent 
thinking amongst dominant majority community.

Gujarat is being ruled by the BJP Government from 
over a decade. The RSS combine is having a field 
day, using government facilities and machinery to 
co-opt the Adivasi, through Shabri Kumbhs. Other 
programs, social engineering for inclusion of 
dalits and exclusion of Muslims and Christians 
are under full flow. The progressive, liberal 
sections of society are feeling the heat of 
political intimidation. While many of them are 
holding aloft the torch of democracy, the broad 
layers of civil society has to come forward with 
courage and conviction for democratic values and 
the principles of Indian Constitution. Though 
few, they are the hope for return of democracy in 
Gujarat. Whether the electoral arithmetic will 
help them restore democracy are a million vote 
questions? Despite internal dissentions the RSS 
combine is clearly behind Modi/BJP as far as 
electoral arithmetic goes. The terrifying vision 
of RSS ideologues is coming to fruition in this 
Hindu Rashtra in one state. The question is how 
fast other states, more so the BJP ruled one's or 
the one's where BJP is ruling in alliances, will 
go in this direction? More than that the question 
is can the democracy be saved in Gujarat? If some 
novice doubted the Fascist analogy with the 
communal politics, that should become as clear as 
he crystal. Politics in the name of religions or 
race does lead to a fascist state, and the only 
difference in Hitler, Taliban and BJP is the 
degree of crudeness and the use of terminology, 
the content remains the same.

o o o

The Hindu
June 5, 2007

  LIFE MISERABLE IN GUJARAT RELIEF COLONIES: COURT PANEL

Legal Correspondent

30,000 persons are facing acute food and 
livelihood distress; government "apathetic"

# None of 81 colonies was set up or assisted by State government
# It misrepresented facts, denying existence of colonies

New Delhi: A Supreme Court-appointed committee 
has found that 4,545 families comprising around 
30,000 persons affected by the post-Godhra riots 
are still living in difficult and pathetic 
conditions in 81 relief colonies across Gujarat 
with acute problems in getting food and 
livelihood security.

In its report, N.C. Saxena, heading the committee 
of court commissioners, said: "None of the 
colonies was set up or assisted by the State 
government. Only five of the 81 colonies had 
government or government recognised schools, and 
only four served mid-day meals to children." Of 
the five schools, which had centres under the 
Integrated Child Development Scheme, four served 
supplementary nutrition to children and the 
other, to nursing and expectant mothers. After 
scrutinising the report, a vacation Bench 
consisting of Justices Arijit Pasayat and D.K. 
Jain on Monday posted the case for further 
hearing after the summer vacation. The court is 
monitoring the ICDS and other Centrally- 
sponsored schemes in various States. The report 
said the commissioners received disturbing 
information on acute food and livelihood distress 
of the internally displaced people in Gujarat. It 
was brought to their notice that the government 
was not carrying out the court directions.

In response to the committee's letter seeking 
details, the government said there were no relief 
colonies of the people displaced by the 2002 
violence. Three members deputed by the National 
Commission for Minorities in October 2006 visited 
17 relief colonies and observed the difficulties 
faced by the residents, Dr. Saxena said.

The commission, in its report,said, "The violence 
put an end to the means of livelihood [of the 
residents in the relief colonies] since their old 
clients were unwilling to use their services. The 
impression the team received is that very few of 
them were employed in service."

Directions violated

Dr. Saxena said the commission report clearly 
established that the government had 
misrepresented the situation to the 
court-appointed commissioners by denying the 
existence of these colonies. "It also established 
prima facie evidence of the fact that the 
directions of the court with regard to food and 
employment schemes were being violated."

Dr. Saxena said, "My colleagues completed a full 
survey" and found "only three colonies had PDS 
shops, and only 725 out of the 4,545 families 
were recognised as below poverty line, although 
their poverty as internally displaced persons 
facing an economic boycott was acute."

Shocked at the condition of the people in these 
colonies, the report suggested that a contempt 
notice be issued to the Chief Secretary and other 
officials for misrepresenting facts and 
furnishing incomplete and inaccurate information 
to the commissioners.

"All families who continue to live in relief 
colonies must be given Antyodaya cards, as 
internally displaced persons who lost all their 
belongings, face fear and economic boycott and 
are too afraid to return to their original homes; 
primary schools with mid-day meals should be 
opened in all 81 relief colonies immediately and 
they should have fully functioning ICDS centres 
and PDS shops should be opened in all colonies 
where these are not available within a distance 
of three km," says the report.

o o o

(iii)

RESTORING DEMOCRACY IN GUJARAT

Dear friends,

         I shifted to Gujarat for a period of 
eight months in March, 2007 with the aim of 
mounting various campaigns for restoring 
democracy in Gujarat. In January, 2007 , Manan ( 
a young anhad activist based in gujarat) and I 
travelled across Gujarat meeting hundreds of 
organisations and individuals requesting them to 
be part of a resistance movement . The reaction 
which I clearly saw on people's faces was :Are 
you mad? What has always given me the strength to 
fight against the forces of hatred is a visual 
from the film 'the dark times' by Gauhar Raza, 
where at the peak of fascism someone had the 
courage to put a big cross on a bench where it 
was written in German, No jews allowed. The 
person who must have put a cross on that was not 
doing it because he or she was confident of 
defeating Hitler but because even in dark times a 
resistance must be put up.

Anhad as the first step defying the unofficial 
ban announced and screened Parzania at  an open 
public screening on April 23, 2004 ( 450 youth 
and others).

Anhad has trained three cultural troupes . ANHAD 
YOUTH KARWAN (THREE KARWANS) WILL TRAVELS ACROSS 
GUJARAT

EXHIBITIONS, INTERACTIONS, DEBATES, DISCUSSIONS, 
FILM SCREENINGS, STREET PLAYS, SONGS

JUNE 4, 2007 TO AUGUST 31, 2007

[. . .]

YOUNG STUDENTS/ ACTIVISTS WHO WANT TO GIVE TIME 
TO WORK AT ANHAD OFFICE AT AHMEDABAD.. LOGISTICS, 
ORGANISATION, RUNNING AROUND, CREATING CONCEPTS, 
DESIGNING, RESEARCH, WRITING AND MORE. YOUNG 
PEOPLE WHO CAN WORK ALMOST ROUND THE CLOCK IF THE 
NEED BE, CAN EAT ORDINARY FOOD, CAN SLEEP ON THE 
FLOOR AS WE HAVE NO BEDS IN THE OFFICE AND ARE 
NOT FUSSY ARE WELCOME. ALL WORK IS 100% VOLUNTARY

ACTIVISTS (ONLY EXPERIENCED) ARE WELCOME TO 
TRAVEL WITH KARWANS AT THEIR OWN EXPENSE.

WE NEED FUNDS TO SUPPORT THIS AND MORE WORK 
PLANNED OVER THE NEXT SIX MONTHS TOWARDS 
RESTORING DEMOCRACY IN GUJARAT.

SHABNAM HASHMI

[Full Test at: 
http://communalism.blogspot.com/2007/06/campaign-for-restoring-democracy-in.html 
]

______



[6] ANNOUNCEMENTS:

(i)

Jan Hastakshep and PUCL

(INVITE FOR DISCUSSION)

Dear Friend,

Jan Hastakshep, Campaign Against Fascist Designs 
and Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL ) 
strongly condemns the manner in which the Indian 
state has started using fake encounters and 
custodial killings as the sole means of curbing 
political dissent.

The Indian state, instead of engaging in dialogue 
with the people and making concrete and sincere 
attempts to understand the people's problems is 
using all means to curb any dissent that might 
emerge from the toiling masses. It is even more 
distressing to notice that a large part of this 
illegal violence by the state is being directed 
against the tribal poor and religious minorities.

To address this growing tide of illegal use of 
violence by states such as Gujarat, J&K, 
Chattisgarh and Delhi, Jan Hastakshep and PUCL 
are organizing a joint discussion at Gandhi Peace 
Foundation on the 5th of June, 2007 at 5.00 pm..


The expected speakers who will address the discussion are:

Mr. Manoj Mitta- Journalist
Ms. Nandita Haksar- Advocate
Mr. Gautam Navlakha- Civil      Rights Activist
Dr. Aparna - CPI      ML (ND)
Mr. Pancholi -Advocate
Ms. Shomona Khanna -Advocate

We request your presence for this discussion.


Regards,

Prof. N.K.Bhattacharya 	Pushkar Raj, secretary, PUCL

FAKE ENCOUNTERS: THE INDIAN STATE'S ONLY RESPONSE TO POLITICAL DISSENT?

Jan Hastakshep and PUCL are deeply concerned 
about the widespread encounter killings in 
different States in the country. Fake encounters 
which started in the seventies, as isolated and 
sporadic incidents, have assumed a systematic 
pattern in different States. In the seventies, 
encounter killings were mainly directed against 
Communist Revolutionaries. Civil Liberties 
Organizations raised their voice and reports such 
as the Tarkunde Committee on encounter killings 
in Andhra Pradesh and Punjab brought to light the 
manner in which the State apparatus indulged in 
the elimination of political activists in gross 
violation of the rule of law and fundamental 
rights guaranteed under the Constitution.

In the eighties and nineties again hundreds were 
eliminated in fake encounters by the security 
forces in the guise of bringing "peace" to Punjab 
and the North East, similarly, for the past 
twenty years, Jammu & Kashmir has witnessed 
thousands of cases where people are labeled 
militants and executed in fake encounters.

It is now an open fact that the armed forces are 
using "encounter" killings in the valley as a 
tool to counter political dissent. The democratic 
opinion in the country is strongly opposed to 
this approach because it is the absence of 
democratic rights in the valley which
leads to further spiraling violence. Peace can 
only be restored in the valley by ensuring Rule 
of Law and fulfilling the democratic aspirations 
of Kashmiris. "Encounter" killings on such 
massive scale have been made possible because 
there exists no mechanism to ensure
accountability in the functioning of the armed 
forces. Laws like the Jammu & Kashmir Disturbed 
Areas Act and the Armed Forces (Jammu & Kashmir) 
Special Powers Act have contributed to the 
functioning of the Army and Security Forces with 
impunity. Today, the courts are reluctant to 
bring the guilty to book because of the mistaken 
belief that violation of Human Rights is only a 
necessary corollary to bring about "peace" in the 
valley and any pro-active measures bringing about 
accountability may have a "demoralizing effect" 
on the security forces.

The response of the courts particularly to the 
Human Rights situation has been absolutely 
pathetic. A recent Supreme Court judgment on a 
J&K case concerning death in army custody has now 
shifted the burden of proof of innocence on the 
accused; while allowing the state to get away 
with false charge sheets, incomplete post mortem 
reports and "lost files," strikes the final nail 
in the coffin of any hope pf legal address.
The recent fake encounters in Gujarat and 
Chattisgarh add to the shameful list of excesses 
by the state even where Special Acts (such as 
J&KAFSPA and AFSPA) do not exist. Chattisgarh is 
now become infamous for its "Salwa Judum" the 
state sponsored anti tribal drive; while the 
state apparatus in Gujarat is daily worsening its 
already dismal record in human rights violations 
and fake encounters by openly targeting Muslims.

In Delhi there are many cases of fake encounters 
and custodial deaths. The recent custodial 
killing of a Muslim teacher in Sultanpuri is a 
case in point. It is time that the civil 
liberties movement and concerned individuals take 
an in-depth view on the entire issue of encounter 
killings. Extra judicial killings are fast 
becoming the accepted norms for state 
intervention in quelling dissent and Jan 
Hastakshep and PUCL believe that only a sustained 
democratic movement can deter the State apparatus 
acting with impunity


Jan Hastakshep,		PUCL

-

(ii)

Dear friends,

We have all been touched by Sanjay Sangvai's 
presence in this world. His passing away on the 
29th of May 2007 is something most of us find 
impossible to digest. He would not like us to 
mourn his absence - I am sure , but to get on 
with the work he wanted to accomplish.

So let us get to-gether on the 12th of June at 
6.00 p.m. at Rachna Sansad ( College of 
Architecture), Prabhadevi, Mumbai , to share our 
memories of a  most amazing human being and to 
rededicate ourselves with added vigour to a cause 
and a struggle that we are nowhere near winning.

Sanjay's family have agreed to be present.Do come 
with some thoughts on how we can keep Sanjay's 
work and spirit alive on a long term basis.

NAPM and Narmada Bachao Andolan - Bombay Support Group

Contact :
Vijaya Chauhan 9820236267
Pervin Jehangir 9820636335


_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

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