SACW | August 10-11, 2007
Harsh Kapoor
aiindex at mnet.fr
Fri Aug 10 19:51:43 CDT 2007
South Asia Citizens Wire | August 10-11, 2007 | Dispatch No. 2433 - Year 9
[1] Pakistan: Underdeveloped at 60! (I. A. Rehman)
[2] Sri Lanka: Return to War: Human Rights Under Siege (Human Rights Watch)
[3] It was like seeing Kashmir in Washington (Z G Muhammad)
[4] India: Appeal: Save Gandhian institute from takeover by RSS
[5] 'Soon India's jails will be choc-a-block with Muslims' (Jawed Naqvi)
[6] India: The Muslim right's latest assault on
Taslima Nasreen: reports, statements and opinions
(i) Taslima Nasreen attacked in Hyderabad during book launch
(ii) Andhra MLAs lead mob attack on Taslima
(iii) Sahmat Press Statement to Condemn Attack on Tasleema Nasreen
(iv) The secular silence (Barkha Dutt)
[7] India: Riots and bomb blasts: Two faces of justice (Teesta Setalvad)
[8] India: Now, Do Something (Editorial, The Times of India)
[9] Announcements:
(i) Zuban announces Partition & "dark side of
independence" events (New Delhi, 14 August 2007
to August 2008)
(ii) SANSAD Public Forum - India and Pakistan:
Sixty Years Later (Burnaby, 11 August
(iii) On Partition and birth of Pakistan
-"Shanaakht - The Identity Project" a Festival
(Karachi, 11-14 August 2007)
(iv) Day Long Interactive Session on 'Role of
Youth in Social Change' (Ahmedabad, 12 August
2007)
(v) Open Invitation To Artists - 60 One-minute
Film Commissions - 360º Britain India Pakistan
(2007-2010)
______
[1]
Dawn
August 09, 2007
UNDERDEVELOPED AT 60!
by I. A. Rehman
FREEDOM, even when limited and facile, is a
thousand times preferable to bondage, and there
can be no reservation on thanksgiving by the
Pakistani people on their state's 60th birth
anniversary. The feeling of jubilation could,
however, have been infinitely stronger if it were
possible to dismiss the thought of Pakistan's
being an under-developed collectivity even at the
age of 60.
Statisticians, especially those who cook up
figures for official reports, will disagree and
protest. They have for long maintained that
Pakistan is a rapidly developing country and
should soon join the developed elite. This claim
is based on the rate of GDP growth, the
burgeoning numbers of cell phones and automobiles
in the country, the mushrooming of high-rise
plazas and the presence of rich and powerful
rulers. Perhaps Islamabad's role in fighting
terrorists by subduing large parts of the
country's population will also be cited as
evidence of success in achieving development
goals.
Regardless of the value one may put on these
indicators of development, we are concerned here
with three main indicators of under-development.
These are: a lack of maturity in the collective's
thinking, a high level of poverty in the country,
and the people's exclusion from decision-making.
The assumption here is that besides computation
of material progress, development must be
measured by a country's ability to take
decisions, especially on critical issues, that
prove to be wise, timely, and in public interest;
by guarantees of a decent and fulsome standard of
living for all citizens, especially the poorest
and the weakest among them; and by the
opportunities the people have of contributing to
decisions affecting their lives, both
individually and collectively. Pakistan tests
positive on all three of the indicators of
under-development.
The grievous setbacks and debilitating crises
Pakistan has had to face over the past six
decades make a pretty long list. The more
consequential are: failure to realise for nine
years the most vital need for a constitution for
the new sate and the compulsions of a democratic,
federal and equitable constitution till today;
use of unfair means to escape democratic
obligations and frequent resort to force to
suppress the aspirations of the federating units,
especially of the majority population in East
Bengal; deliberate and hypocritical exploitation
of belief for narrow political interests; neglect
of permanent neighbours for the sake of distant,
temporary and fickle-minded patrons; reliance on
profitless borrowing and disregard for national
human capital; and, finally, an incredibly strong
devotion to a praetorian polity.
Throughout the years of independence the people
have paid heavily for the collective's lack of
capacity to wisely deal with critical issues, to
address crises before they become irresoluble.
The most frightening aspect of reality today is
our apparently firm resolve to prove that the
mindset governing Pakistan's actions and
behaviour betrays not only a state of
under-development but also suicidal traits of a
most dangerous variety.
Nearly 40 per cent of the population of Pakistan
lives in abject poverty. What makes the situation
more unbearable is that while efforts to enable
the poor to move out of the abyss of dehumanized
existence have had limited effect, attempts
continue to be made to inflate success in
fighting poverty by debating and controverting
the size of the wretched population. As it is,
the criteria used to determine the number of the
absolute poor seems quite inadequate.
If lack of opportunity to realise oneself and
denial of basic freedoms and fundamental rights
are taken into account as determinants of
poverty, and there is no earthly reason why these
matters should be ignored, an overwhelming
majority of the population is likely to be
classified as poor. That is under-development
writ large and bold.
The least controversial fact about Pakistan is a
progressive reduction over the decades of the
people's say in the management of the collective.
We began with rule by representatives elected on
a narrow franchise and in a pre-Pakistan context.
They were inherently incapable of respecting the
aspirations of the people, of acting as a
responsible outfit. Adult franchise came in 1951
and with it the tradition of avoiding elections
or fudging them if they had to be held.
Either way the people's sovereign rights came
under the axe. A decade after the people had
created Pakistan by their democratic choice, they
were told they were incapable of democratic
management of their affairs. For seven years the
country suffered the ignominy of living under a
constitution 'given' by a single man at his
discretion. What has followed, except for a short
interlude, is autocracy under different masks.
A little deliberation will reveal that the third
factor of under-development mentioned above,
namely, the exclusion of the people from
decision-making, has been the most decisive cause
of Pakistan's unending travail. In almost all
crises the state's destiny was in the hands of
small groups whose claims to represent the people
could convince their members only or in the hands
of individuals who could not even make such
claims.
The collective mind's lack of maturity in the
face of crises could possibly have been overcome
if larger bodies of citizens had been taken into
confidence. In that event a search for strategies
to fight poverty might have begun in the 1950's
and not forty years later. An enquiry into the
people's exclusion from decision-making is
necessary because Pakistan's future will not be
any better than its past unless matters begin to
be decided by the will of the people.
The myth relied upon by the advocates and
apologists of autocracy is that the people have
no understanding and tradition of democratic
politics and therefore the maximum concession to
them can be guided/controlled democracy. But the
statement that Pakistan did not have an
indigenous tradition of parliamentary democracy
that was sought to be implanted here is more true
about the traditional ruling elite, both of its
civilian and military wings included, than about
the masses.
It is this ruling elite that has consistently
been found wanting in ability to base decisions
on public consensus, partly because of its
incapacity to appreciate the dynamics of a
democratic process and partly out of fear of
losing not only its material possessions and
privileges but also, and more importantly, its
monopoly over power.
A common reason advanced by the country's
permanent establishment for curtailing and
shutting off the process of reference to the
people is that they lack formal education.
Statements to this effect are quite shamelessly
made by the establishment's theorists without any
hint of remorse at its own culpability in the
matter.
Nobody will deny the part education can play in
helping a society manage its affairs. From
measuring land and collection of taxes to
building of roads and dams and generation of
electricity, to running of hospitals and
parliament's secretariat you need adequately
educated and trained professionals. But politics,
especially democratic politics, is a matter of
making choices on the basis of people's needs so
as to ensure the greatest good of the greatest
number. No formal education is required for
making such choices, as we shall presently see.
The franchise for the elections of 1945-46 that
clinched the argument in favour of Pakistan was
extremely limited. All the voters had not had the
benefit of formal education. Many among them -
owners of property, tax-payers, ex-servicemen -
were illiterate. Yet they were considered
sufficiently qualified to join the most momentous
consultative process in the history of British
India.
Much before these elections the Quaid-i-Azam had
been demanding a plebiscite to determine Indian
Muslims' support for the demand for Pakistan on
the basis of a broader franchise, that is, he
wanted more uneducated people to be brought into
decision-making (because all the 'educated' were
voters already).
After partition, plebiscite was demanded to
decide Kashmir's future, although a vast majority
of the people to be consulted was uneducated.
Above all, none among Pakistan's rulers whose
decisions over six decades have been held to lack
maturity of mind was uneducated. No, Pakistan's
trials as a consequence of the exclusion of the
masses from decision-making cannot be ascribed to
their low educational achievements..
Instead, the people have been unable to
participate in decision-making, thus condemning
the state to be governed by an immature elite and
condemning themselves to poverty, because the
social structures established before independence
were not conducive to democratic governance. And
all governments have been guilty of failing to
demolish the socio-economic barriers to the
people's empowerment, though a few of them did
try to tinker with them. The largest groups of
people barred from decision-making councils are:
peasants (including their womenfolk), women
(outside the agriculture sector), and working
people (industrial and trade employees, workers
in the informal sector, and self-employed hordes).
Taken together they constitute an overwhelming
majority of the people. They are not incapable of
contributing positively to decision-making
institutions and processes, but they have been
prevented from doing so by
socio-economic-cultural constraints. Where do
these large chunks of population stand 60 years
after independence?
* Pakistan was an agricultural country to begin
with. The share of agriculture to GDP may have
fallen sharply but a majority of the population
still depends on it. The state has largely been
concerned with raising agricultural output and to
some extent with marketing. The rights of the
tillers were half-heartedly addressed vide three
inadequate and insincerely implemented land
reform packages. Despite the fact that the ILO
Convention on farm workers' right to form trade
unions was ratified before independence, the
state has not encouraged peasant mobilisation.
The bonded haris in Sindh and at some places in
Punjab and the Frontier may present extreme
instances of exploitation but tillers of the soil
by and large are not free anywhere in the country
in social and political terms. All women in
peasant families are exploited even more than
their men. To a large extent, the nature of
tenant-landowner relationship and the social
resourcelessness of the small proprietor bar the
peasantry from entering the area of
decision-making.
* Pakistan's women outside the farming sector
have an impressive record of struggle and success
but the beneficiaries of their achievements in
the political (seats in elective bodies) and the
service sectors (jobs in government and private
establishments) constitute a small percentage of
their total number. The feudal, male patriarchs
continue to decide whether a girl can go to
school or an adult woman can choose her spouse.
Their right to inheritance is disputed, to say
nothing of their broader right to economic
independence. Across a large part of the country
they are not allowed freedom of vote and many of
those elected to local councils are not permitted
to perform their functions. It can safely be
asserted that a vast majority of women continue
to be excluded from decision-making.
* The plight of Pakistan's working people is
particularly pathetic because theoretically they
are supposed to be freer agents than peasants and
women. They are not. Since 1959, when the Ayub
regime began the series of anti-labour policies,
and right upto the Industrial Relations Ordinance
of 2002, labour has been progressively stripped
of the rights it had won after nearly two
centuries of struggle.
The right to unionise and the rights of organised
workers both have been curtailed. Partly under
pressure of economic needs and partly because of
union leaders' short-sightedness, the working
people have opted out or have been pushed out of
decision-making processes.
What has been discussed here is not Pakistan's
past, the subject is future. The issue is major
obstacles to genuine development. Pakistan will
remain an underdeveloped nation with an immature
mindset in command so long as its peasants remain
bonded to absentee landlords (or corporate
barons), its women remain in the clutches of male
feudal tormentors, and its working people are
left to rot as galley-slaves of merciless
exploiters.
______
[2]
Human Rights Watch Press Release
SRI LANKA: GOVERNMENT ABUSES INTENSIFY
Killings, Abductions and Displacement Soar as Impunity Reigns
(New York, August 6, 2007) – The Sri Lankan
government is responsible for unlawful killings,
enforced disappearances and other serious human
rights violations since the resumption of major
hostilities with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam (LTTE) last year, Human Rights Watch said
in a report released today.
Human Rights Watch documented a dramatic increase
in abuses by government forces over the past 18
months, and called on the country's donors and
concerned governments to support a United Nations
monitoring mission in Sri Lanka.
The LTTE, an armed Tamil secessionist group, is
responsible for serious crimes such as targeted
civilian killings, extortion and the use of child
soldiers, which Human Rights Watch has repeatedly
documented and condemned.
The new 129-page report, "Return to War: Human
Rights Under Siege," uses accounts by victims and
eyewitnesses to document the shocking increase in
violations by government forces. Ethnic Tamils
have borne the brunt of these violations, the
report said, but members of the Muslim and
majority Sinhalese population are not immune to
government abuse.
"The Sri Lankan government has apparently given
its security forces a green light to use ‘dirty
war' tactics," said Brad Adams, Asia director at
Human Rights Watch. "Abuses by the LTTE are no
excuse for the government's campaign of killings,
‘disappearances' and forced returns of the
displaced."
A 2002 ceasefire agreement between the government
and the LTTE technically remains in force, but
major hostilities resumed in mid-2006. President
Mahinda Rajapaksa and his brother, Defense
Secretary Gothabaya Rajapaksa, have pursued
military operations in the country's north and
east, with little regard for the security of the
civilian population, Human Rights Watch said.
Security forces have subjected civilians to
indiscriminate attacks and impeded the delivery
of humanitarian aid. Some 315,000 people have had
to flee their homes due to fighting since August
2006, the vast majority Tamils and Muslims. About
100,000 were displaced in March alone.
Government authorities have forced some to return
to areas that remained insecure.
Human Rights Watch documented a disturbing rise
in abductions and "disappearances" over the past
one-and-a-half years. More than 1,100 new cases
were reported between January 2006 and June 2007,
the vast majority of them Tamils. While the LTTE
has long been responsible for abductions, the
majority of recent "disappearances" implicate
government forces or armed groups acting with
governmental complicity.
On the northern Jaffna peninsula alone, an area
under strict military control, more than 800
people were reported missing between December
2005 and April 2007, 241 of whom were
subsequently found. In the vast majority of
cases, witnesses and family members allege that
security forces were involved or implicated in
the abduction.
In August 2006, the government reintroduced
Emergency Regulations, which criminalize a range
of peaceful activities protected under Sri Lankan
and international law. The government has used
the regulations to prosecute political opponents
and members of the media.
The report documents the deterioration of media
freedom in Sri Lanka, where 11 media workers have
been killed since August 2005. Tamil journalists
in particular work under severe threat from both
the LTTE and government, but the government has
also pressured Sinhala-language outlets that
present critical news and views.
The government has tried to silence those who
question or criticize its approach to the armed
conflict or its human rights record. It has
dismissed peaceful critics as "traitors,"
"terrorist sympathizers," and "supporters of the
LTTE."
"The government is using its conflict with the
LTTE and the rhetoric of counterterrorism to
suppress dissent in Sri Lanka," said Adams. "This
is an extremely disturbing turn in a country with
a long tradition of free speech even during times
of conflict."
Human Rights Watch found that the Karuna group, a
Tamil armed group that split from the LTTE in
2004 and now cooperates with Sri Lankan forces
against the LTTE, continues to abduct and
forcibly recruit children and young men into its
force with the complicity or acquiescence of the
Sri Lankan government. UNICEF has documented 145
cases of recruitment and re-recruitment of
children by the Karuna group since December 2006,
and
the real number is most likely higher.
The Karuna group has also kidnapped for ransom
scores of Tamil businessmen in Batticaloa,
Vavuniya, and the capital Colombo. Despite
repeated promises to investigate state complicity
in Karuna group abductions, the government has
thus far not indicated that it has taken any
steps to investigate, and the abductions have
continued unabated.
In a January 2007 report, Human Rights Watch
documented the pattern of Karuna abductions with
the complicity or willful blindness of the Sri
Lankan government.
Impunity for human rights violations by
government security forces, long a problem in Sri
Lanka, remains a disturbing norm. As the conflict
intensifies and government forces are implicated
in a longer list of abuses, the government has
displayed a clear unwillingness to hold
accountable those responsible for serious
violations.
A Presidential Commission of Inquiry created in
2006 to examine specific cases of serious human
rights abuse by the government and the LTTE has
proven inadequate to handle the deteriorating
human rights situation in the country, the report
concludes. The commission seems an effort to
stave off domestic and international criticism
rather than a sincere attempt to promote
accountability and to deter future abuse.
"The government has repeatedly promised to end
and investigate abuses, but has shown a lack of
political will to take effective steps," Adams
said. "Government institutions have proven
unable or unwilling to deal with the scale and
intensity of abuse."
Human Rights Watch called on Sri Lanka's
international donors to use their leverage with
both the government and the LTTE to encourage
respect for international law, including the
protection of civilians during hostilities.
International aid is one lever, and governments
such as the United Kingdom and Germany have
recently elected to limit aid until government
practices improve.
Concerned states should also work within the
United Nations Human Rights Council to initiate
and support strong Council resolutions on Sri
Lanka to encourage a change in practices of both
the government and the LTTE, the report said.
Most importantly, concerned countries and the Sri
Lankan government should work to establish a UN
human rights monitoring mission in Sri Lanka with
a mandate to monitor, investigate and report on
abuses by the government, the LTTE and the Karuna
group.
"A UN human rights monitoring mission in Sri
Lanka would help protect civilians, end impunity
and promote a resolution to the conflict that
respects human rights," Adams said.
o o o
Full text of the report 'Return to War: Human Rights Under Siege'.
is available at:
http://hrw.org/reports/2007/srilanka0807/
______
[3]
IT WAS LIKE SEEING KASHMIR IN WASHINGTON
by Z G Muhammad
30 July 2007
It was the day of Kashmir in the Capitol Hill
Washington D.C. Congressmen, academics,
attorneys, columnists, professionals and
journalists had gathered in the Rayburn House
office Building, just few hundred yards from the
centre of global power the White House to debate
on innovative methods for resolving the Kashmir
dispute. It was seventh conference organized by
the Association of Humanitarian Lawyers and
Kashmir Centre of the Kashmiri American Council.
Twelve important Congressmen associated with
South-Asia policy making were the key speakers in
the Conference and many others participated in
the deliberations. The Congressmen Joseph Pitts,
Dana Rohrabacher, Mike Honda, Danny Davis, Nick
Rahall, Tom Davis, Dan Burton, Jim Mc'
Dermorit belonging to both Democratic and
Republican parties who were the speakers in the
morning session of the two day conference seemed
all expressed their urgency for resolution of
Kashmir problem as it continued to be a
flashpoint in the South-Asian nation.
It was an amazing experience to hear these
American Congressmen in as much as their intimate
knowledge about the genesis of the Kashmir
problem and the situation as obtains in the State
was concerned. Clarity of their ideas about the
Kashmir situation was suggestive that many of
them had far deeper understanding about finding a
lasting solution to this problem than many
Kashmir leaders who are lost in the maze of
borrowed ideas. Star speaker in the conference
was not a Kashmir leader or intellectual from
either side of the Ceasefire Line but a young
woman Bengali scholar and researcher Prof. Angana
Chatterji from California Institute Studies. Her
presentation not only exuded impartiality and
objectivity but incisiveness. Her study was not
based on archival materials but her in-depth
study of situation of human rights, plight of
women and children in Kupwara districts during
June 2007. The details in the presentation made
by the Indian scholar with a strong background
were so amazing that it would dwarf any scholar
and social scientist in the Kashmir University.
The ongoing India-Pakistan peace process remained
main focus of majority of the scholars and
intellectuals who made their presentation in the
conference but the theme song that emerged from
most of them was that for 'lasting peace between
two countries Kashmir solution is sine qua non.
Some new dimensions of the Kashmir dispute
hitherto to unknown were the thrust areas of some
of the presentations made in the conference.
Prof. Robert G Wirsing of Asia-Pacific Centre for
Security Studies Honloloulu, Hawaii in his
presentation titled Kashmir Resolution: A River
Runs Through It, came up with a newer dimension
of 'water' that would possibly more significant
role in India-Pakistan Kashmir policy. In his
4931 word presentation has come up with a thesis
as how rivers having their origin in Kashmir
would play a significant role in coming years in
India and Pakistan relations. One may not agree
with the ideas put forth by Prof. Wirsing about
Kashmir problem but it would not be at the same
time fair to him not to deliberate upon his point
of view that 'nevertheless water's exclusion from
any plan of conflict resolution pertaining to the
India-Pakistan dispute over Kashmir would kill
the plan at its birth.' It may not have even
crossed India-Pakistan foreign affairs experts
that the 'water resources issues were moving
rapidly to the centre-stage in the India-Pakistan
bilateral relations.'
One may not agree with American scholar that
ignoring importance of 'water resources'
connectivity to Kashmir dispute would be
'self-defeating.' And his assertion that 'unless
river resources are given their due, Kashmir's
political liberation and peaceful development
will remain permanently elusive' but it should
engage the attention of academics, scholars and
politicians in Kashmir to prevent this dimension
taking over the fundamental issue thus delaying
further a peaceful settlement of the dispute.
There was an important message for India and
Pakistan leadership in the presentation made by
Dr. Rodeny W. Jones of Policy Architects
International Reston that 'Kashmir conflict has
had deleterious effects on both Pakistan's and
India's society at large'. Dr. Jones was not
alone in his assertions that 'for a genuine and
lasting peace in the region the Kashmiris had to
be integrally linked in the out come of the
settlement process' but this assertion in fact
provide rhythm and heart beat to the Conference
in the capital of the only super-power.
It was a conference distinct from previous ones
not because of there being hardly any politician
of consequences in India and Pakistan but for the
larger presence of United States Congressmen from
different parts from different states with
diverse opinions on other matters but surprising
converging at one point that the resolution of
Kashmir problem was not only in the interests of
India and Pakistan but in the interest of the
United States in South Asian region. It was not
only American opinion that found a place in the
conference but India's divergent views on
Kashmir were also sufficiently articulated by Dr.
Ved Partap Vedik Chairman Council for Indian
Foreign Policy and Columnist Praful Bidwai
columnist and scholar. Dr. Vediak known for his
proximity with corridors of power in New Delhi
sounded more eloquent on third option than on the
importance of CBMS between India and Pakistan for
third option. The Pakistan's point of view was
conspicuous by the absence of Ambassador of
Pakistan in Washington Mahmud Ali Durrani in the
Conference despite being listed in the work
schedule of the conference at a higher place.
The Pakistan's view point was however presented
by grand daughter of famous Kashmir historian and
journalist Muhammad Din Fauq Dr. Attiya
Inyatullah Chairperson of Pakistan Muslim League
Foreign Affairs Committee.
Notwithstanding her presentation revolving around
the CBMS she very vehemently pleaded for the
implementation of the United Nation's Security
Council Resolutions on Kashmir and saw that the
best settlement of the Kashmir issue rested in
these resolution. It was not only host of the
Conference Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai but even the
co-host Dr. Karen Parker chairperson of
Association of Humanitarian lawyers who very
strongly advocated for Right to
Self-Determination. He seemed highly objective in
his statement that any peace process on fragile
platform was bound to collapse if wishes of the
people of Kashmir are not respected. And any
process that is designed to sidetrack the United
Nations will not only prove to be an exercise in
futility but can also cause incalculable human
and political damage.How better the conference is
going to help the US policy planner to reassess
its Kashmir policy and de-link it from its
nuclear interests in India will be too early to
say. The presence of members of many think tanks
in the Conference taking profuse notes was an
indicator about the renewed interests of the
United States in Kashmir outside its growing
equation with India.
(Send your views at zahidgm at hotmail.com)
______
[4]
APPEAL: SAVE GANDHIAN INSTITUTE FROM TAKEOVER BY RSS
The Sangh Parivar has been trying to takeover the
Gandhian Institute of Studies in Rajghat,
Varanasi for some time through an expelled
employee of the Institute Smt. Kusum Lata Kedia.
The Institute was founded by late Jayaprakash
Narayan (JP) in 1960 with the purpose of building
a closer relationship between grassroots
movements and academia so that both would benefit
from each other. The land was given on lease by
Sarva Sewa Sangh and support for construction
provided by U.P. Gandhi Smarak Nidhi. JP ran the
Institute without any government support from its
inception till 1977. It was only during the
Janata Party regime that it was decided that
Institute would meet its running expenses with
support from ICSSR and the UP Government.
K.L. Kedia, with affiliations to RSS, joined the
Institute and initiated the downfall of this
prestigious Institute. She had to be expelled
from the Institute in 2002 by its Board of
Management after recommendations given in by a
committee headed by late Usha Mehta, on
disciplinary grounds. However, she schemed with
then HRD minister Murali Manohar Joshi and got
the funds from ICSSR to the Institute stopped.
She got herself declared as the 'acting director'
by the ICSSR. It was when she had started abusing
the Institute's property that a dharna was
organized by the Board of Management, now headed
by legendary Gandhian Acharya Ramamurti, in 2003
to ask the administration to step in to prevent
her from doing so. The local administration put a
lock on the main building. Meanwhile, she
continued to occupy the director's residence.
With the coming into power of Congress led
government at the centre, funds from ICSSR
resumed. Arjun Singh described this as a 'test
case' for freeing an academic institution from
saffronization. Sarva Sewa Sangh allowed the
Institute to function from its adjacent premises
with a Professor of BHU, Prof. Dipak Malik as its
new Director and Muniza Rafiq Khan as its acting
Registrar. However, the Mulayam Singh government
was unable to get the Institute begin functioning
from its main premises. In fact, a minister in
his government, Omprakash Singh, was instrumental
in getting the application for renewal of
registration of the Society which runs the
Institute rejected.
With the coming of Mayawati Govt. we expected
quite rightfully that it will announce final exit
of the RSS led conspiracy managed by Ms.
K.L. Kedia but in a queer turn of events here too
a former RSS functionary and currently higher
education minister Rakesh Dhar Tripathi a close
disciple of Murli Manohar Joshi taking pretext of
a District Court order while the case is already
subjudice in the High Court at Allahabad has
forced the Principal Secretary, Education, UP
Government, to form a committee headed by K.L.
Kedia, who was given the highest honour in the
Sangh Parivar "Hedgewar Award," to oversee the
running of the Gandhian Institute of Studies. The
rest of the committee is also packed with people
close to RSS. This is an ill omen for newly
formed Govt. in U. P. where RSS infiltrators are
trying to sabotage the agenda of the newly
elected Govt.
This is a momentary defeat for the Gandhian and
secular community in saving the Institute from
falling into the hands of Sangh Parivar which has
been responsible for Gandhi's murder as well as
assault on his ideology from time to time.
Gandhian Institute of Studies must be saved from
takeover by RSS. It has to be restored to its
original mission as envisioned by JP.
Please call the UP C.M. at 0522-2236181, 2239296
(o), 2236761, 2750458 (h) or send a fax at
0522-2223000 to register your protest.
Akhil Bhart Sarva Seva Sangh, Gandhian Institute
of Studies, Lok Vidya, Sarnath Varanasi, Prarana
Kala Manch, Asmita, Mahila Chetana Samiti, Lok
Samiti, VISION, Manawa Adhikar Jan-Nigarani
Samiti, Path, Mitra, Varanasi.
Gandhi Smarak Nidhi, New Delhi Gandhi Smarak
Nidhi, Uttar Pradesh Shram Bharti, Khadigram,
Jamui (Bihar) Asha Parivar, Lucknow.
National Alliance of People's Movement
Center for Study of Society and Secularism, Mumbai
Gandhi Peace Foundation, New Delhi
AIPSO, Uttar Pradesh
Ramanand Pustakalay, Aazamgarh
Sajha Sanskriti Manch, Samanvaya,
______
[5]
DAWN
August 06, 2007
'SOON INDIA'S JAILS WILL BE CHOC-A-BLOCK WITH MUSLIMS'
by Jawed Naqvi
TV JOURNALIST Sagarika Ghose said those worried
words in a column last week. She was referring to
a controversial verdict in which a hundred
persons were handed stiff sentences, including
death, by an anti-terror judge for alleged
involvement in a string of blasts, which killed
257 people in Mumbai in 1993.
It must be a record of sorts. Of the 123 actually
accused, 100 were sentenced, 12 to death, 20
given life terms, 15 of them with rigorous
imprisonment. And what are the names of those who
will die? The question was vestigial. Ghose and a
majority of Indians who have followed the murky
trial know the answer. In her own words: "Among
others, Memon, Turk, Tarani, Shaikh, Mukadam,
Ghansar, Malik, Pawle, and Khan. What are the
names of those who will serve life terms with RI?
Among others, Shaikh, Khairulla, Qureshi, Memon,
Rehman and Kadar. In the 1998 Coimbatore blast
verdict this week, the main accused Abdul Nazar
Mahdani has been acquitted, but SA Basha, founder
of al-Umma has been found guilty, along with 157
others. Muslim after Muslim has stepped up to be
convicted and sentenced. Soon India's jails will
be choc-a-block with Muslims."
One of the convicts in the Mumbai case was
popular film star Sanjay Dutt. He got six years
RI, admittedly for possessing a gun to protect
himself from a nightmarish communal carnage,
which preceded the blasts. Shiv Sena hordes and
policemen owing allegiance to their leaders had
summarily killed most of the 900, mostly Muslims.
The Justice Srikrishna Commission investigated
the carnage and specifically named 31 policemen
and Shiv Sena activists, all based on eye-witness
accounts. It was to be in vain.
Ghose has written a brave column. She knows the
consequences. "To voice any doubts about the long
delayed (blasts) trial is considered
'anti-national', 'unpatriotic' or
'pseudo-secular'." Yet she and senior lawyers she
has quoted have cast doubt on the blast case and
how it is a shame on the judiciary. "How can
justice be thoroughly done through the mountains
of documentation, the sheer bulk of facts and
contradictions, the long delayed trial and lapses
in human memory that must have faced poor Justice
PD Kode?" Lawyers have called the case a
"mistrial" and a case of "playing to the gallery".
Writing in the Sunday Express, respected
journalist Maseeh Rehman recalled how several
members of the convicted Memon family had in fact
returned from Karachi, where they had reportedly
fled, to prove their innocence. The father of
Tiger Memon, the man who actually masterminded
the blasts, was livid over the cold-blooded
murder of fellow Indians by his son.
Rehman was the chief correspondent for India
Today in Mumbai when the blasts occurred. He
recalls how Tiger Memon, who had fled to Dubai
had become an outcast in his own family after
they learnt of his involvement in the serial
blasts. "After the bombings, Tiger turned
evasive, and it gradually dawned on them that the
reports from Mumbai were true - a Memon was
behind the outrage.
"This provoked father Abdul Razzak to physically
thrash Tiger in front of the others soon after
they landed in Karachi. The strongly built,
hot-tempered Tiger took the beating quietly (just
as he later accepted their decision to return to
India), though, as Yakub said in court, Tiger
warned him: "Tum Gandhiwadi ban ke ja rahe ho,
lekin wahan atankwadi qarar kiye jayo ge (You are
going as a Gandhian, but over there you will be
labelled a terrorist)." The upshot is that Yakub
Memon faces the hangman's noose for keeping his
faith in India's fabled democracy and judiciary.
A dozen death sentences in one trial is not a
joke. Has India become a more bloody-minded state
than its founders had envisaged? An Indian judge
perhaps sought to correct this nagging perception
in his own awkward way. He had to order the
deportation of a suspect wanted by the British
police for raping and killing an English girl.
The judge set an implausible condition. The
deportation, he declared, should not lead to the
man's execution in UK! Now either the judge is
not aware that unlike India, Britain abolished
the last remnants of death penalty in 1998, or
the reports quoting his condition for deportation
were wrong.
Actually, there is a persistent trend
internationally to abolish the death penalty and
India is among the countries that retain it. A
pity in Gandhi's land. Studies cited by Amnesty
International suggest that death penalty is more
likely to be imposed on those who are poorer,
less educated and belong to the marginalised
segments of society. Moreover, since death
penalty is irrevocable, there is an inherent risk
of error in its application.
In the 1983 India's Supreme Court ruled that the
death penalty can only be applied in the "rarest
of rare" cases. Since this is not further defined
and no clear guidelines exist, the use of capital
penalty is largely dependent on the
interpretation of this phrase by individual
judges.
There is room for bias too. Indian authorities
have opposed the death penalty in some cases but
condoned it in others. In 2004, the government
requested mercy for Indian national Ayodhya
Prasad Chaubey, who was executed in Indonesia on
August 5, 2004 on drug-trafficking charges, but
the government is understood to have condoned
other executions of Indian citizens.
Even more seriously, Amnesty says the number of
executions carried out in India is unknown. PUDR,
an Indian human rights group, called on the
government in 2005 to make public all information
on executions since independence in 1947. Indian
media have reported that there have been 55
executions since independence. PUDR has
challenged this figure, stating that according to
a 1967 Law Commission report, at least 1,422
people were executed between 1953 and 1963. Who
were these people? It would be interesting to
find out.
There is no consistency across Indian states with
regard to disclosure of death penalty statistics.
The Delhi Deputy Director General of Prisons
stated it was not "in the public interest" to
publish such figures. Well-known death sentences
in India are of persons convicted of
assassinating major political leaders, as in the
killings of Mahatma Gandhi, Indira Gandhi and
Rajiv Gandhi, or for crimes under 'terrorist'
laws, as in the attack on the Indian Parliament
in 2001. These sentences were by their nature
very well known throughout the country but
hundreds of other sentences have been awarded
without considerable attention.
The recently published legal casebook, Can
Society Escape the NooseŠ? The Death Penalty in
India, contends that of the thousands of murders
committed each year in India, it is the poor and
underprivileged and persons belonging to minority
groups who eventually receive the death sentence
and are executed for their crimes.
The point raised by Sagarika Ghose appears to
blend with the overall state of affairs. But
neither she nor Maseeh Rehman seemed to be
perturbed by the fact that India is a rare
democracy to retain capital punishment. Even its
mistaken role model in the controversial war on
terrorism - Israel - had declared capital
punishment illegal way back in 1954.
The important question raised by Ghose about the
inequality of justice and implied communal bias
can be addressed without being bloody-minded in
our own version of retribution. She herself asks:
"As Muslim after Muslim has walked to his death,
as 'terrorist' after 'terrorist' has been taken
away for life, what about the Hindu mobs and
Hindu police officers who were named and indicted
by the Justice Srikrishna Commission that
inquired into the bloodcurdling 1992-93 riots of
Mumbai in which 900 died?" It's a valid question.
Justice Srikrishna indicts 31 "trigger-happy"
policemen: among others, the names here are
sub-inspector Vasant Madhukar More, police
inspectors Patankar and Wahule, Jt Commissoner of
Police RD Tyagi, not to mention political names
like Gopinath Munde, Madhukar Sarpotdar and Ram
Naik of the BJP, all accused of inciting mobs.
Aren't riots too not an act of terror? A
terrorist is defined as one who kills innocent
civilians for a political purpose. So aren't
those Hindu rioters too not 'terrorists' and
shouldn't they too face the same law as Muslim
'terrorists'? To answer the key question raised
by Ghose, yes, riots too are an act of terror.
But can they be addressed by spilling more blood
even if by supposedly legal means?
______
[6] INDIA: THE MUSLIM RIGHT'S LATEST ASSAULT ON
TASLIMA NASREEN: REPORTS, STATEMENTS AND OPINIONS
(i)
The Times of India
9 August 2007
TASLIMA NASREEN ATTACKED IN HYDERABAD DURING BOOK LAUNCH
HYDERABAD: Taslima Nasreen, the controversial
Bangladeshi novelist, was attacked on Thursday by
Majid-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (MIM) activists in
Hyderabad Press club.
The attack took place during the launch of her latest book.
TV grabs showed MIM activists throwing chairs at the controversial writer.
However, no injuries have been reported. The
police and journalists came to her rescue and
avoided any major mishap.
Taslima is facing fatwas which were issued
against her for her radical views against Islam.
The author has been living in India due to
Islamic backlash in her native country.
o o o
(ii)
CNN-IBN
August 09, 2007 at 14:13
ANDHRA MLA's LEAD MOB ATTACK ON TASLIMA
Hyderabad: Local political activists in Hyderabad
on Thursday attacked the car of author Taslima
Nasreen when she was attending the book release
of the Telugu translation of her latest novel
Shodh.
A group of 20 MIM workers, led by MLAs Afsar
Khan, Ahmed Pasha and Mozum Khan, stormed the
Press Club premises and raised slogans against
the author.
At the concluding session of the book release,
the MIM activists barged into the conference
hall, attacked the press photographers, damaged
the furniture and glass panes and some of them
reached the dais and roughed up the novelist.
The police later took the legislators and their supporters into custody.
Later on, she was safely escorted to the airport
with the help of journalists and the organisers
of the function.
Nasreen is a controversial figure in the world of
Literature. Her books Lajja and Dwikhondito are
banned in Bangladesh.
Nasreen talks about the torture of Hindu
minorities in Bangladesh. She has been living in
exile for more than 10 years now.
o o o
(iii)
SAHMAT
8, Vithalbhai Patel House, Rafi Marg
New Delhi-110001, India
Tel- 23711276/ 23351424
e-mail-sahmat at vsnl.com
9.8.2007
PRESS STATEMENT TO CONDEMN ATTACK ON TASLEEMA NASREEN
SAHMAT strongly condemns the violent attack on
Bangladeshi Novelist Tasleema Nasreen in
Hyderabad on August 8, 2007 at a function to
release the Telugu translation of the novelist's
latest novel Shodh.
It is reported that around 20 MIM workers led by
MLAs Afsar Khan, Ahmad Pasha and Mozum Khan
stormed the Press Club premises and raised
slogans against the author. They attacked her
with bouquets, flower pots and virtually anything
they could lay their hands on at the concluding
session of the book release.
Tasleema Nasreen has been a target of attack from
fundamentalist forces both in India and
Bangladesh and SAHMAT has always defended her
freedom of expression.
We appeal to the democratic minded people in
India to join in the condemnation of such attacks
and isolate those who preach intolerance and
violence.
Ram Rahman
M.K.Raina
o o o
(iv)
Hindustan Times
August 10, 2007
THE SECULAR SILENCE
by Barkha Dutt
Where are the placard-waving protestors this
time? What happened to the street marches, the
irate editorials and the lament for creative
freedom? Does our outrage choose sides this
selectively? Three legislators and a sundry
assortment of political workers from a right wing
Muslim party force their way inside the Press
Club of Hyderabad, assault Bangladeshi author
Taslima Nasreen, vandalise the venue, and then
defiantly refuse to apologise, because after all
they were God's own warriors, or so they claim.
And yet, apart from the media's clichéd fallback
on interviews with the usual array of "moderate"
Muslims, there's no real evidence of anger or
disgust.
So, does the fight against fundamentalism go into
battle mode only when the enemy is the Hindu
Right?
Yaqoob Qureshi or Akbaruddin Owaisi are no
different from Praveen Togadia or Bal Thackeray.
All of them represent the dangerous politics of
intolerance and bigotry.
This isn't really about the author or her
literary worth. Every time that zealots clash
with the zany and Religion and Freedom take
opposite positions across the trenches, the issue
becomes larger than the individual. So, yes,
perhaps Taslima Nasreen is a somewhat overrated
writer, more famous for her contrarian politics
than her turn of phrase. And yes, there are those
who argue, with good reason, that she is shrill,
clamorous of attention and somewhat obsessed with
writing kiss-and-tell accounts of her sexual
history. But none of that is really the point.
At the heart of the matter is a larger debate on
whether political correctness has twisted our
response to the principle of individual liberty.
Have our politicians in particular been shaped by
a kind of hypocrisy that makes their utterances
on creative freedom just humbug and little else?
To compare the difference, think back to how the
secular and liberal establishment reacted when
goons from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang
Dal attacked the faculty of arts in Vadodara. A
young student was arrested for painting Jesus
Christ and Lord Vishnu in a style that employed
sexually explicit visual metaphors. The dean of
the school was suspended, but no action was taken
against those who trespassed the university,
infiltrated a private exhibition and used brute
force to gag artistic expression. The opposition
and outcry at that time was spontaneous, vocal
and unrelenting. Most of us protested against the
idea of fettering imagination with do's and
don'ts. We didn't really care or even know
whether the art in question was of a commendable
quality. It's the principle we stood up for.
Yes, fear and repression may be permanent
citizens in Narendra Modi's Gujarat. But the fact
is that this attack on Taslima Nasreen doesn't
get to be played by different rules just because
it took place on Congress turf or because the mob
was led by Muslims instead of Hindus. The two
incidents are inarguably mirror images of each
other. Like in Gujarat, here too, the
perpetrators of violence are not just out of
jail, they have already issued fresh threats to
the writer to get out of India or face the
consequences. If a political party was seen to
sanction the assault on art in Gujarat, in this
case the mobsters belong to a political party
that is an ally of the UPA at the centre. Yes,
unlike the BJP, which was brazen enough to defend
the use of violence in Gujarat, the Congress and
the Left have been quick with their condemnation.
But over the years both parties have tiptoed
their way around the many issues that Taslima
Nasreen represents. They have looked for covert
exits from the controversies that trail her and
have sometimes succumbed when it all gets too hot
to handle. The UPA, for example, seems unable to
decide whether Taslima Nasreen should get
permission for long-term residency in India. For
now, she survives on a piecemeal arrangement
whereby she counts on a six monthly extension of
her visa (the latest extension was announced on
the same day she was assaulted.) And it was the
'progressive' Marxist-ruled state of West Bengal
that first banned her autobiography in 2003
because it feared that the book "slandered Islam
and would incite communal violence." The Chief
Minister, known for his love of literature said
he reached the decision after he himself read the
book "several times over." The state unit of the
Congress branded the book a "piece of
pornography," and supported the ban. Ironically,
but not surprisingly, the only party that called
the censorship of Nasreen's work "undemocratic"
was the BJP. A party that has unapologetically
hounded artist M.F. Husain out of India for
"hurting Hindu sentiments" saw no contradiction
in suddenly playing the torchbearer for artistic
liberty.
But this is exactly what happens when political
double standards define the clash between
religious sensitivities and democratic rights. We
have seen the hypocrisy play out before when a
state Minister in Uttar Pradesh called for the
controversial Danish cartoonist's head and even
announced a bounty of Rs 50 crore for whoever
delivered it to him. The man in question (Haji
Yaqoob Qureshi) is no longer a minister after the
change of regime in the state, but is still an
elected member of the assembly and seems to face
neither political nor social ostracisation. And
in keeping with the pattern, his party, the
self-appointed messiahs of Muslims in UP has gone
as far as defending the outrageous and obnoxious
behaviour of the MLAs in Andhra Pradesh.
As far as I'm concerned, Qureshi or Akbaruddin
Owaisi (the Hyderabad MLA who led the attack on
Taslima) are no different from Praveen Togadia or
Bal Thackeray. All of them represent the
dangerous politics of intolerance and bigotry.
The fact that some of them have popular support
doesn't give them legitimacy; it makes them even
more frightening and insidious. And to treat them
differently is to embolden intolerance on either
side.
So, protest peacefully by all means against the
writings of Taslima Nasreen. Let there even be a
genuine debate over whether India should get
entangled in giving her political asylum. After
all, the right to dissent is as sacred as the
right to express. Call her lowbrow, offensive,
inflammatory and an incendiary agent if that's
what you think she is. But draw the line at both
assault and censorship.
And let's make sure we tell those who treat human
beings like fatwa fodder that they have no place
in a truly secular society.
Barkha Dutt is Managing Editor, NDTV 24x7
______
[7]
Deccan Herald
August 10, 2007
RIOTS AND BOMB BLASTS: TWO FACES OF JUSTICE
by Teesta Setalvad
The uncomfortable reality of discriminatory
justice has raised its ugly head in riot cases.
Acknowledgement, remorse, justice and
reconciliation are the accepted steps required
for collective healing when wounds of an
indescribable nature have been inflicted on a
whole population.
In Gujarat, five years after independent India's
worst genocide, there has been little or no
acknowledgement of the crimes and no question
therefore of any expression of remorse by
perpetrators and masterminds. Justice, except in
a few isolated cases, dodges Gujarat's survivors.
It must, therefore, be a while before we talk of
reconciliation.
In the midst of the struggle for reparation and
justice, this year brings an electoral battle to
the battered state.
In the past few months, Chief Minister Narendra
Modi has utilised most of his energies and much
of the taxpayer's money to sell the "normalcy"
jingle and the "vibrant Gujarat" pipe-dream. But,
the aura around Modi appears a trifle less
bright, a little less shining.
Electoral predictions apart, what are the issues
that will be brought before the electorate, an
autocratic chief minister and his failed
electoral promises on the development front or
the fallout of post independent India's worst
genocidal violence?
Will and can the issues of mass murder,
mutilation and gender violence be issues that
resonate in mainstream politics? Will issues of
impunity to mass crime figure not just in party
manifestos but action plans for governance?
Will the rule of law and good governance be the
stuff that the Gujarat 2007 state election
campaign is made of?
This could well be a pipe-dream. Switch to nearby
Maharashtra, where in 1992-1993, after the Babri
Masjid demolition, a communal pogrom led by the
Shiv Sena ripped Mumbai of its essence, its
cosmopolitan fabric.
Two years later, the perpetrators, the Shiv
Sena-BJP romped home to a calculated electoral
victory, riding high on hatred and division among
the people. Two governments have since come to
power, in 1999 and 2004, both "secular," and a
combination of the Congress and the NCP who
promised punishment of the guilty but failed to
deliver.
In February 1998, when the SS-BJP government was
in power that Justice B N Srikrishna submitted
his historic report on the Bombay violence,
making detailed recommendations for punitive
actions and remedial measures.
It was expected that the perpetrators, the SS-BJP
would junk the report but what of the "secular"
parties who promised its implementation?
Perpetrators have not been punished and memories
of the pogrom lie buried.
In stark contrast, the system has meted out harsh
punishment if not speedy justice to those
convicted of "involvement" in various degrees in
the serial blasts of 1993. 64-year-old Zehbunissa
Qazi given five years for keeping a "bag"
unknowingly. Eleven accused have been given death
penalties normally a sentence meted out in the
"rarest of the rare cases."
The soul of Mumbai was forever scarred with the
brute mob violence that held us to ransom from
December 8 to January 20, 1993. Mobs stalked
streets that were likened to Nazi Germany. The
Mumbai police connived with mobsters in mass
arson, murder and even rape. Worse still, our
political leaders watched as Mumbai burned.
Justice Srikrishna, who conducted an official
probe into the violence, had this to say, "One
common link between the riotsŠ and bomb blasts of
12th March 1993 appears to be that the former
appear to have been a causative factor for the
latterŠ
The serial bomb blasts were a reaction to the
totality of events at Ayodhya and Mumbai in
December 1992 and January 1993Š..The resentment
against the government and the police among a
large body of Muslim youth was exploited by
Pakistan-aided anti-national elements...The
common link between the riots and the blasts was
that of cause and effect."
Justice Srikrishna, had recommended stringent
action against the criminals, in and out of
uniform. Despite assurances in public and
statements in court, the state of Maharashtra has
failed to deliver. Using the Right to Information
Act, the author of this article, accessed
detailed information from the state home
department and the police on case by case details.
They reveal a shocking state of affairs. Of the
31 policemen recommended for prosecution by the
judge, one was dismissed, the rest escaped
lightly, many being promoted. Political bigwigs
from the Sena named as leading the mobs to
killing and arson have been allowed by a
convenient political arrangement, to go scot free.
The convictions, many extremely harsh, to the
accused in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case are seen
as a form of redress for the 200 families who
lost dear ones in the serial blasts - a message
that the Indian system delivers justice if
delayed to some for crimes of brutality. The
uncomfortable reality of discriminatory justice
has, however, raised its ugly head. Each of those
accused of the Mumbai 1992-1993 pogrom roamed
free, escaping arrest or getting uncontested bail.
The bomb terror of March 12, 1993 must be
recalled with the same horror as the mob terror
of December 6, 1992 in Ayodhya that unleashed
premeditated violence in Mumbai and many other
parts of the country, resulting in the loss of
hundreds of lives all over the country. The cause
as much as the effect must be rehauled and firmly
located in public memory.
(The writer is co-editor, Communalism Combat.)
______
[8]
The Times of India
10 August 2007
EDITORIAL: NOW, DO SOMETHING
The Maharashtra chief minister has promised to
reopen the riots cases mentioned in the Justice
Srikrishna Commission report. It is a welcome
step, even if similar promises have been made in
the past. Chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh is
under pressure to act since the Supreme Court has
asked a groups of NGOs to file an affidavit on
the lapses of the state government in
implementing the report. Predictably, Shiv Sena
has warned that reopening the cases will be
treated as an attack on Hindus.
Justice Srikrishna, who investigated the riots in
Mumbai after the demolition of Babri masjid, held
many Sena leaders guilty of rioting. Srikrishna
alleged that Bal Thackeray acted like a veteran
general and directed Sena cadre to attack
Muslims. The commission also held Sena leaders
like Madhukar Sarpotdar guilty of inciting and
aiding rioters. No action has so far been taken
against these leaders. The move to revisit the
Srikrishna report will necessitate filing fresh
cases against Sena and BJP politicians. With the
apex court on its heels, the Maharashtra
government may not be able to avoid action for
long.
The Sena argument that action on riots cases
amounts to injustice against Hindus and
appeasement of Muslims is perverse. The riots
were a criminal act - much as the blasts that
followed were - which resulted in the death of
more than 900 people. The perpetrators of the
crime, including in this case politicians and
policemen, have to be punished. The threat of mob
violence in the event of action against Sena
leaders should not become an excuse for inaction.
The government can plead the strictures of the
apex court as cover. The message should go out
that no individual is above the law or can evoke
the threat of mob fury to evade the law. This
applies to the policemen indicted by Srikrishna
and later exonerated after departmental
inquiries. Charges against them should be freshly
probed, perhaps by a central agency. It is
appalling that none of the 31 police officials
hauled up by the commission was convicted.
Now that many of the guilty in the Mumbai blasts
cases have been convicted, and rightly so, the
government can move towards closure by acting on
the Srikrishna commission report. Mumbai, the
country's financial capital and arguably its
premier city, cannot live with the perception
that it allows lawless mobs to get away with
murder.
______
[9] Announcements:
(i)
From: Zubaan Books <contact at zubaanbooks.com>
Hello Everyone!
[. . .]
We're approaching the 60th anniversary of India's
Independence as well as the Partition of India.
As an event, Partition remains seminal in the
history of the subcontinent, and its legacies are
still present in daily life, in culture and in
politics not only in India but also in Pakistan
and Bangladesh. In many ways, however, in all
three countries, it has taken historians and
ordinary people some time to come to grips with
the traumatic history of violence and dislocation
of Partition. Because it has been seen as the
"dark side of independence" Partition and its
human histories have not, until recently,
received much attention. While its political
history has received considerable attention, its
human histories have been relatively neglected.
Even when the fiftieth anniversary of Partition
took place a decade ago, little was done to mark
that time.
To mark this history, Zubaan, the Heinrich Boll
Foundation, Max Mueller Bhavan, and the India
Habitat Centre, are organizing a year-long
programme of lectures, dialogues, and readings
from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. These will
take place at the India Habitat Centre every
month, starting in August 2007, and will go on
for a full year.
The inaugural event of the series entitled
Partition: The Long Shadow will take place at
6:00 pm on 14 August 2007 in the Stein Auditorium
at India Habitat Centre.
The following is the sequence of events:
Readings by Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhter
The two well-known actors will read from stories/
plays of several authors who wrote on the
Partition. The readings from the works of Anis
Kidwai, Kishen Chander and others will be in
Urdu, Hindi and English.
Story telling by Dastaan Goi
Mahmood Farooqui and Danish Husain, story-tellers
in their own right, will re-create the lost era
and art of story-telling.
Toba Tek Singh, performed by the Ajoka Theatre group, Pakistan
This famous short play by Manto is about a
mentally challenged person who, when asked to
choose between India and Pakistan, chooses to
dies on the border of the two countries.
An exhibition of photographs by Margaret Bourke
White, sponsored by Roli Books, along with texts
from Khuswant Singh’s book Train to Pakistan will
also be on display.
As seating is limited, it will be on a first come
first served basis. Please come early - the doors
open at 5:30 pm. Passes are available at the
Zubaan office, Max Mueller Bhavanand the India
Habitat Centre.
The Partition Lecture Series will begin on August 17 with a lecture on
"The Contradictions of National Space: Contested
Legality and Citizenship Practices in
Post-Partition Northeast India"
by Dr Sanjib Baruah
at 6:30 pm, Gulmohar, India Habitat Centre
On the one hand, the new international border
dividing India and East Pakistan/Bangladesh is
seen as inviolable. On the other hand, the
partition could not change the position that the
region acquired in colonial times as a frontier.
The flow of people from one of the subcontinent’s
most densely populated areas, to a relatively
sparsely populated region open to new
settlements, could not suddenly be turned off.
The border remains extremely porous till this
day, and there is an extensive blurring between
citizens and non-citizens. Viewed through the
lenses of actual practice of citizenship, rather
than legal fictions, what we have in many parts
of Northeast India arguably, is a flexible
citizenship regime -- a flexible approach to
voting where people can vote despite
indeterminate citizenship status. Focusing on
Assam, the paper will examine the politics of how
this regime has come about.
For invitations to both the events, please get in
touch with Elsy at the Zubaan office.
Warm, good wishes
The Zubaan Team
o o o
(ii)
South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy
(SANSAD)
invites to you to a Public Forum
INDIA AND PAKISTAN: SIXTY YEARS LATER
To take stock. To see where the two countries are, where they are going.
What lies ahead for the people
The Quest for Democracy in Pakistan:
The American Shadow, Talibans, Lal Masjid,
the entrenched Military Establishment, and
President Parvez Musharraf's Options and Future
Discussion Facilitators
Mr. Naveed Waraich (Pres., Pakistan-Canada Cultural Association)
Dr. Haider Nizamani
Mr. Zahid Macdoom
India: Struggles for Sovereignty, Genuine Independence,
and People's Power
The Multitude of Modern "East India Companies", Nandigram and After
Discussion Faciltators
Mr. Harjap Grewal
Dr. Hari Sharma
Saturday, August 11, 2007
2:00 - 5:00 p.m.
Bonsor Recreation Complex (Arts Room)
6550 Bonsor Ave., Burnaby [Canada]
(near Metrotown, behind the Bay)
o o o
(iii)
To celebrate 60 years of our nation, The Citizens
Archive of Pakistan presents "Shanaakht - The
Identity Project". Shanaakht is a multimedia,
visual arts festival that documents and shares
the incredible experiences of partition and the
birth of Pakistan.
Shanaakht is a free festival that will unfold
over 4 days from the 11th to the 14th of August,
at the Arts Council, in the heart of old Karachi.
The festival features a photography exhibit by
Amean J and other well-known photographers,
theatrical performances by Sheema Kermani as well
as Anwar Maqsood and Moin Akhtar, discussions
about Pakistan's history with Ayesha Tammy Haq,
an interactive art exhibit created by VASL
featuring 16 prominent Pakistani artists,
audio/video booths for recording personal
narratives, murals depicting Pakistan's history,
and much more, including musical performances by
upcoming bands.
Venue: Arts Council of Pakistan [M.R.Kayani Road, Karachi]
Dates: 11th - 14th August 2007
Hours: 11 am - 8 pm
FREE and OPEN to the Public (Families Only)
All theatrical performances taking place in the
closed auditorium are free but with limited
seats. You can pick up your passes at the Arts
Council on the day of the performance between
11:00 am and 5:00 pm. Passes are available on a
first come, first served basis.
Download the Shanaakht Festival schedule from our
website: www.citizensarchive.org
o o o
(iv)
Anhad Yuva Manch
Invites you to a
Day Long Interactive Session
On the Topic: Role of Youth in Social Change
With Prof. Ram Puniyani
Date: Sunday August 12, 2007
Time: 10am to 6pm
Venue: Dalal Hall,Opp. Police Post, Paldi Char Rasta, Paldi, Ahmedabad
Please register your name if you want to attend
the programme at :
<mailto:anhadyuvamanch at gmail.com/>
anhadyuvamanch at gmail.com/ 079-25500844
Note: The programme is open and entry is free
but we will not be able to arrange for lunch for
those who do not register by August 10, 2007.
Dr Ram Puniyani is a medical doctor. He taught at
the IIT Mumbai as a Professor for over 20 years
before taking voluntary retirement. He is the
author of more than 20 books. He was awarded the
Maharshtra Foundation Award for Social Work.
o o o
(v)
motiroti
360º
Britain India Pakistan (2007-2010)
OPEN INVITATION TO ARTISTS
60 One-minute Film Commissions
360º is motiroti's three-year programme of
exchanges that will bring to light a rounded and
contemporary picture of the cultural dynamics
between Britain, India and Pakistan. Sixty films,
several international artists' residencies,
numerous publications and a new collaboration
will bring artists together, to excite
imaginations and explore the role that art can
play in shaping communication and insight, across
boundaries of culture and geography. 60x60 Secs
is the first project of this programme.
60x60 Secs
60 one-minute film commissions are offered to
sixty artists living in Britain, India and
Pakistan, who define themselves as coming from
the South Asian Diaspora. Both established and
emerging artists, working in a variety of mediums
and spanning a wide age range, are invited to
present their unique views on how their
identities are informed in an age of
globalisation.
Nila Madhab Panda and Shalalae Jamil, artists
specialising in new media from India and
Pakistan, are appointed as Creative Associates to
act as curators and mentors. They will be called
upon to build alliances and open up possibilities
for intercultural dialogue and engagement.
All sixty films will be launched and premiered in
Britain, and via the web in March 2008. Following
the launch 60x60 Secs will tour in all three
countries. These films will work as effectively
on TV as in digital arts festivals, in art
galleries or within shopping malls and feed into
the National Curriculum, translating equally well
in Delhi as they do in Lahore and London.
ARTISTS APPLICATION DEADLINE
Friday 14 September 2007
WHO CAN PARTICIPATE
Artists and filmmakers living in Britain, India
and Pakistan, who define themselves as coming
from the South Asian Diaspora and are interested
to unravel complex identities and stories, and in
the telling, to contribute and redefine cultures
that are evolving.
FURTHER INFORMATION
To download 360° Overview, 60x60 Secs Artists
Criteria and Application Form, please follow the
link:
http://www.motiroti.com/work/projects/current.php?data_id=61
For over ten years motiroti has made
internationally acclaimed and award winning art
that transforms relationships between people,
communities and spaces. The company works at the
forefront of ever-changing global social
realities, challenging and teasing perceptions of
artists, institutions and audiences alike.
www.motiroti.com
Ali Zaidi
Artistic Director
motiroti
1 Whitehorse Yard
78 Liverpool Road
London N1 0QD
UNITED KINGDOM
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
Buzz for secularism, on the dangers of fundamentalism(s), on
matters of peace and democratisation in South
Asia. SACW is an independent & non-profit
citizens wire service run since 1998 by South
Asia Citizens Web: www.sacw.net/
SACW archive is available at: http://insaf.net/pipermail/sacw_insaf.net/
DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed in materials carried in the posts do not
necessarily reflect the views of SACW compilers.
More information about the SACW
mailing list