SACW | Oct. 16-18, 2007

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire | October 16-18, 2007 | 
Dispatch No. 2461 - Year 10 running

[1] UK - Bangladesh: The outrage economy (Monica Ali)
[2] Sri Lanka:
      (i) The 'human rights phobia' / Protect us 
from the protectors (Editorial, The Nation)
     (ii)  A Humble Appeal by Muttur Muslims (Muttur People's Forum)
[3] Pakistans diverse cultures - Crisis of governance (Balraj Puri)
[4] India: Concerned Citizen's Open Letter to 
Sonia Gandhi - Is the Congress Willing to Admit 
Mass Murderers?
[5] India: The Nowhere People (Harsh Mander)
[6] India: Calcutta Murder for Inter Religious Marriage: Commentary
(i) Love and be Damned (Ram Puniyani)
(ii) Hide Your Love Away (Rajashri Dasgupta)
(iii) Blood On The Tracks (Editorial,The Times of India)
(iv) Young love, old rules (Editorial, The Telegraph)
(v) Rizwan was hounded to death for daring to 
marry for love. Calcutta weeps for him. (Jaideep 
Mazumdar)
[7] Book review: To Be A Feminist by Vasudha Joshi
[8] Announcements:
(i) A public conversation with Altamash Kamal:. . 
. Pakistan's Minefield of Nuclear Weapons 
(Karachi, 20 October 2007)
(ii) Book Release:  Alternative Economic Survey, 
India 2006-2007 (New Delhi, 22 October 2007)

______


The Guardian
October 13, 2007

The outrage economy

There were threats of demonstrations, book 
burnings and even violence among some members of 
the Bangladeshi community. But was the 
controversy surrounding the filming of Brick Lane 
as heated as the media suggested? Not at all, 
writes author Monica Ali


[. . .]

Reading through the press cuttings from July and 
August 2006, it strikes me that there are a 
number of issues to unpack regarding this 
"controversy". The first is the nature of the 
press coverage. In January, as a patron of the 
building, I attended the opening of the Attlee 
Youth and Community Centre just behind Brick 
Lane. One of the photographers there said that he 
had covered the demonstration against the filming 
in July and that he'd had to "get in very tight" 
in order to take photos, there had been so few 
people taking part.

As seems to be the way with these things, press 
coverage began (in this newspaper) with the 
reporting of the views of a couple of 
self-appointed "community leaders". I love it 
when a journalist does this. I think of him 
stumbling around Tower Hamlets, waving a notebook 
and echoing the old colonial cry from down the 
ages: take me to your leader.

There were promises of large demonstrations, book 
burnings and thinly veiled threats of violence. 
"Young people are getting very involved with this 
campaign," one so-called leader enthused. "They 
will blockade the area and guard our streets. Of 
course, they will not do anything unless we tell 
them to, but I warn you they are not as peaceful 
as me."

What began in the Guardian spiralled, and made it 
onto BBC television news. But for all the 
attempts to inflame the situation, nothing much 
happened. One friend who went along to observe 
later told me that the demonstrators had been 
outnumbered by members of the press. The Guardian 
reported the next day that the march "drew no 
more than two women and 70 older men. [Even this 
number may have been inflated.] Threats of 
violence and book-burning failed to materialise."

Commentators were quick to seize on this damp 
squib, and Rachel Cooke, writing in the Observer, 
seemed to sum up the new mood: "The press must 
stop acting like a pair of bellows in such 
matters: inviting offence might make for a juicy 
row, but it also leads to censorship." Sunny 
Hundal of Asians in Media pointed out that the 
initial reporting had not been balanced, failing 
to mention that around 1,000 locals had queued up 
hoping to be cast as extras in the film - hardly 
a resounding rejection of the project.


[. . .] .

· Brick Lane premieres at the London Film 
Festival on October 26. It opens on general 
release on November 16

Full Text at: http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,2189640,00.html


______



[2]

The Nation
October 14, 2007

Editorial
THE 'HUMAN RIGHTS PHOBIA'

Recent times have seen a great number of high 
profile visits by United Nations officials to Sri 
Lanka, in order to monitor the "human rights" 
situation in the country. Correctly or otherwise 
the government and its many supporting agencies 
such as the Peace Secretariat have begun to view 
these emissaries with much suspicion and scorn. 
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human 
Rights, Louise Arbour who is currently in the 
country has become the latest victim of the 
'Human Rights Phobia' of the government. She and 
others like her are being viewed as agents of the 
terrorist,( with one government minister going to 
the extent of calling a UN agent that), and 
adhering only to basic standards when protecting 
human rights, as an impediment, in the fight 
against the LTTE.

The government, unfortunately sees protection of 
human rights as an obstacle in their proclaimed 
fight against terrorism, and is baffled by the 
double standards expressed by some of the 
champions of this cause, who themselves are 
carrying out a brutal war in Iraq, against 
international sanction, and torturing terror 
suspects with impunity in Abu Ghraib and 
Guantanamo Bay. This attitude is tragic, 
particularly considering the many positive 
strides made by the Sri Lankan military towards 
the end of the 1990's, in instilling in their 
personnel the importance of protecting human 
rights',when fighting a terrorist organisation 
that relies on the support of a community.

If the Sri Lankan government is to prevent the 
adverse impacts of international opinion turning 
against her, and ensuring success in the fight 
against the LTTE, there are two fundamental 
realities that policymakers, bureaucrats and 
diplomats should come to terms with. Firstly, the 
world is an unfair place. Expecting it to be fair 
by Sri Lanka then is a luxury, we would be better 
off striving to gain, rather than making a demand 
when dealing with global partners. Yes, the 
standards that apply to the superpowers do not 
apply to third world countries such as ours. Yes, 
Americans can torture terror suspects and keep 
them in detention for indefinite periods without 
trial. Yes, what is good for the goose should be 
good for the gander. Yet, that is not the way the 
world works and the sooner our leaders realise 
it, the better for our people. Such thinking is 
not only naïve, it is damaging in the long run, 
when we find our interests threatened on every 
front.

The second fundamental reality which the 
government should realise is, that protecting the 
human rights of our own people, is in the best 
interest of Sri Lanka. Stopping extra judicial 
killings, arbitrary arrests, abductions by 
security forces personnel and basic measures to 
preserve the dignity of every Sri Lankan, does 
not take much more than political will and 
military discipline to achieve.

Sri Lanka needs to play this international game 
in an intelligent manner rather than charging 
like a bull in a China shop, every single time 
someone talks about human rights. We need to 
address the concerns of the international 
community rather than question their right to 
express those concerns. If the Sri Lankan 
government is serious about its, 'let us handle 
our own matters' rhetoric that it spouts at world 
leaders and visiting envoys, it needs to 'walk 
the talk', and take some steps towards resolving 
issues that have been far too critical to ignore 
for so long a time.

Let us show the Arbours, Holmes and Rocks and 
many others likely to visit this island from time 
to time, that we are as interested in protecting 
our people's rights as much as they are. Let us 
give the international community reason to 
believe that Sri Lanka is a responsible global 
partner they can work with, rather than a rogue 
state that needs to be brought to book. Let us at 
least now cure ourselves of this Human Rights 
Phobia, which will invariably lead this country 
into isolation in a globalised world.

****

PROTECT US FROM THE PROTECTORS

War and economy might take pride of place in the 
national consciousness, mostly because it 
directly affects our bellies. But having said 
that, it is also true that as a nation, it is 
importantly to be alive to some of the other 
terrible things that continue to ail our little 
island home, even though they might not be as 
interesting to talk about or as relevant to us in 
our day to day lives.

Last week's brutal killing of an inmate of the 
Modara prison, rings alarm bells and brings this 
fact home to us again. On a search for evidence 
in the murder case, prison guards and police 
escorted the inmate so he could point out the 
hiding place of the weapon used in the murder and 
when the suspect attempted to use a pistol found 
in the area to shoot officers, the police shot 
him dead. The question that begs answer is why 
the police resorted to a fatal gunshot instead of 
attempting to shoot the inmate on the leg or 
elsewhere to immobilise him until they could 
regain control of his movements. No doubt the 
police had its reasons, but there is no question 
that such ad hoc actions warrant investigation 
and if deemed necessary, punishment.

The problem is, there is no one left to take appropriate action.
The Constitutional Council is defunct and the 
National Police Commission has been relegated to 
the fringes of governance, despite the fact that 
the 17th Amendment to the constitution stipulates 
that these vital commissions were to be the 
safeguards for the people, against the abuse of 
state power. Every government conveniently 
ignores these commissions, making political 
appointments hither and thither without a second 
thought, resulting in a kind of abuse that is 
both shameful and degrading in a country that 
prides itself on being a vibrant democracy. The 
National Police Commission has been charged with 
promotions, senior appointments and

Sri Lanka's leaders and its state agencies have 
proven time and again that some of the greatest 
threats to the citizenry come from those charged 
with our protection. This is why, as a conscious 
citizenry and one committed to the cause of 
democracy, the time has come to demand the 
implementation of the 17th Amendment. It is time 
to challenge this government, legally if 
necessary, on why the constitution is being 
crassly violated. Sri Lanka has reached a stage 
when the public need to start taking affirmative 
action to right the many wrongs prevalent in 
society. Public interest litigation, civil 
disobedience and mass mobilisation are surely 
reserved for moments such as this. Obviously, 
nothing much can be expected of our leaders. Then 
lest we get swept away in the tide of ineffiency 
and blatant corruption, let us rise to the 
occasion - and soon.

o o o

(ii)

A HUMBLE APPEAL BY MUTTUR MUSLIMS

October 2007

Although Muttur is a multi ethnic and multi 
cultural division in the Trincomalee district, 
Muslims are the majority. In the past Muslims 
have lived with other ethnic groups, mainly the 
Tamils and adopted a peaceful approach even 
though they have been victimised several times.

The exodus from Muttur in August 4th 2006 due to 
shelling from both sides resulted in the masses 
of Muttur camping in Kantalai. After 33 days the 
armed forces made the people return to Muttur, 
not heeding the will of the people who refused to 
go back due to the volatile situation. It is one 
year since the return of the people of Muttur and 
the situation in Muttur has not yet come back to 
normalcy.

The plight of livelihood is pitiful due to the 
restrictions by the armed forces. During the 
period dominated by the LTTE there was some 
flexibility and the people were able to carry on 
with their income generation activities. After 
the so called Liberation of the Eastern Province 
people are compelled to abandon their livelihood 
activities due to the dominant iron fist of the 
administration of the 'liberated' areas by the 
armed forces.

Security

The so called victory of the Government in the 
east is not a victory for the people of the east. 
Several sentry points crowd the streets of Mutur. 
Some of the houses of the people have to be 
sacrificed to the armed forces to camp up. The 
"Karuna Faction" adds to this misery by bringing 
their enemies to Muttur and killing them in the 
areas where the Muslims live.

Fishing

Fishing is one of the major sources of income in 
Muttur. More than 2,400 families depend on 
fishing. Fishermen in Muttur depend mostly on 
deep see fishing (outer harbour)

After the eastern victory His Excellency the 
President ordered all restrictions on deep sea 
fishing to be removed completely, yet the 
security forces have been restricting deep sea 
fishing. Only a distance of two kilo meters is 
permitted for fishing by the forces. As a result 
the fishermen's families face severe hardships, 
malnourishment and other problems. The deep sea 
fishing materials and machinery given by INGOs 
are abandoned on the sea shore. The fundamental 
rights of the people for earning their livelihood 
are violated.

The plight of these fisher folk who do not 
receive relief items or any compensation is 
dismal. There is no exposure to the prevailing 
ground situation thus the people outside Muttur 
and the international community are kept in the 
dark.

What is deplorable here is that the Sinhalese 
fishermen are permitted deep sea fishing by the 
Navy. This is high discrimination by the 
authorities. The prohibition of fishing in Muttur 
due to the Government's alleged "Trincomalee 
Metro Urban Development Project" is complete 
disadvantage for the minority people of the area.

The Navy is currently directing the Muttur Muslim 
fishermen to fish in the Elekandhe area which 
belongs to the Tamil people. By doing this the 
government is trying to create problems between 
Tamil and Muslim communities. The Navy is 
deliberating to meet out harsh operations against 
the innocent fishermen to achieve their goals.

Agriculture

Although there was flexibility in their 
domination at sea during the last few decades the 
LTTE has been very bitter on land. Paddy fields 
harvested by the Muslims were burned down and the 
farmers were gunned down in their fields and 
there have been outbreaks of ethnic violence 
during harvest time. As a result thousands of 
acres of cultivation lands were dominantly 
cultivated by the LTTE.
Animal husbandry is another major mainstay of 
Muttur. The Muttur Muslims lost thousands of 
cattle and acres of grasslands to the LTTE. The 
people became abject to extreme poverty suddenly.

After the so called liberation the government is 
constructing alternative roads through the 
cultivation lands of the farmers. Government has 
failed to make any replacement of lands or even 
compensate the already poor farmers. Authority is 
being used without the consent of these farmers 
on such projects. Added to this indecency the 
Sinhalese Home Guards with the support of the 
Army grab the tractors owned by Muslim farmers 
and use for cultivation in their own fields. This 
is the state sponsored open terrorism here in 
Muttur now.

Forest collecting

Another main source of livelihood by the 
marginalized community in Muttur is living in the 
resources of the surrounding forest such as 
firewood, honey etc. During the last 25 years 
this means of livelihood was in the hands of the 
LTTE who were threatening by levy and also due to 
the risk of murder and kidnapping in the forests.

With the so called victory of the east the poor 
people anticipated free movement and normalcy 
instead they are driven away by security forces, 
as such these poor people have become subject to 
continuous poverty as they are compelled to 
purchase these forest products from other 
districts.

Rehabilitation and density

Since 1983, 14 Muslim villagers were dominated by 
the LTTE. For e.g. in 1985 people in Arafat Nagar 
were driven away by the LTTE. However after the 
so called victory of the east after 22 years when 
the people tried to resettle in Arafat Nagar they 
were driven away by the army stating it to be a 
High Security Zone.
The Navy base in Thaqwa Nagar has expanded by way 
of a dispensary, nursery school, play ground and 
public road by utilizing the resources of 14 
village families who are eventually displaced by 
this.

Our community has suffered much due to the war 
and the tsunami. We lost 306 people in the 
tsunami of December 26 2004 and 1,426 were 
rendered homeless. Of the 426 houses destroyed 
only 391 have been rebuilt. Almost three years 
after the tsunami 35 families are still waiting 
for a house. Due to the recent fighting in Mutur 
in August 2006 117 houses were damaged by the 
shelling. The partially damaged houses are being 
repaired after INGOs provided assistance but the 
completely destroyed houses have not still been 
re-built.

Due to the waves of displacement Muttur is facing 
high density in population. This causes 
infectious disease, polluted well water and also 
tensions and disputes. There could be more 
long-term problems if the people from the 
surrounding villages are not allowed to resettle 
in their own homes and villages.

Sinhalistion

The tsunami reconstruction is not still complete 
35 families are homeless. To aggravate this 
situation the government agent of Trincomalee has 
directed the Muttur Divisional Secretary to 
distribute lands which was allocated to build the 
houses for the Muslim tsunami victims to the 
Sinhalese people who were not affected by the 
tsunami. Moreover the Sinhalese people acquired 
another land (PMB land) which is allocated to 
tsunami victims with the support of the armed 
forces. In the meantime 1117 houses had been 
destroyed by the shelling of both warring parties 
in August 2006 when army was attempting to set up 
camps at Uppukkachimadu. There were many protest 
campaigns by the citizens but was thwarted by the 
iron fists of the army.

The Moonang Kattai (Third Mile Post) hill is the 
place where all communities engage in (stone 
breaking) quarrying. The Government Agent of 
Trincomalee suddenly prohibited the breaking of 
stones from this hill citing that that there is a 
Buddhist emblem on this hill. But there is no 
archaeological evidence to prove it. More than 
420 families who earn their livelihood by 
quarrying are affected by this ban. 
Reconstruction of houses of tsunami and war 
victims and of roads depends on the stones from 
this hill. The Government Agent has instructed 
the people to purchase stones from Kantalai.

The price of one heap of stone in Muttur is Rs 
2600.- while the price of one heap of stone from 
Kantalai is Rs. 7,000.-  This we feel is the 
initiative to draw back the Muttur Muslims 
economy and develop a "Sinhala Economy".

As the Government Agent is a former army general 
of the eastern command, the minority civil 
officers are desperate. In short the Eastern 
liberation of the government does not bring any 
harmony for Muslims. Contrasting discriminations 
increases day by day.

This means, the people of the area are riddled 
from one domination to another domination.

Our Appeal

Our Appeal to the international community is to 
listen to the grievances of the Muttur people and 
help us to overcome the silent suffering over the 
years. The following factors need deep 
consideration and understanding to promote the 
peace building process in this Muttur area.

* Take steps to re-settle the people driven out of their original homes.

* Pressurize the government to stop land 
acquisition on the pretext of High Security Zone, 
Holy Lands and Marine Security Zone.

* Promote deep sea fishing, animal husbandry, 
agriculture, forest collection and business 
without discrimination to the Muslims and Tamils.

* Advice Government to avoid erecting Buddhist 
statues on Jabal Nagar Mountain and other places 
which are not Buddhist areas.

* We urge the international community to 
intervene and prevent another civil unrest in the 
country due to ethnic discrimination

* To lobby for participation of Muslims as a 
separate party in the future Peace talks with the 
Government and the LTTE for promoting permanent 
and genuine Peace in Sri Lanka.


Muttur People's Forum


______


[3]

Deccan Herald
October 16, 2007

PAKISTANS DIVERSE CULTURES - CRISIS OF GOVERNANCE
by Balraj Puri

The root cause of existing discontent in Pakistan 
is the present unitary form of government.

General Pervez Musharraf's landslide victory in 
Pakistan's presidential election on October 6, in 
fact, exposes his many weaknesses. Firstly it was 
preceded by resignations of members of the main 
Opposition parties from the national and 
provincial assembly which comprised the electoral 
college and boycotted by his potential ally 
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) members. Secondly 
the election is subject to the final verdict of 
the Supreme Court. Thirdly the election has been 
greeted by mass protests in the country.

Musharraf owes his continuation in power mainly 
on US support for his role as a "strategic ally" 
in its war against terror, which had its origins 
in Afghanistan. There were two main premises of 
US policy in Pakistan. First, terrorism can be 
combated with armed force alone. Second moderate 
and liberal Muslims should be mobilised to 
isolate them from the influence of Islamic 
extremists. General Musharraf who was the 
military chief and claimed to be a moderate, was 
considered an ideal person to play both these 
roles. His limitations on both the counts have by 
now been exposed.

The military not only failed to contain terrorism 
within the borders of Afghanistan but also could 
not prevent it from spreading to adjoining areas 
of Pakistan among its  frontier province, 
Baloachistan, Wazirstan and the tribal belt.

Musharraf also lost support of the liberal 
Muslims when be dismissed Chief Justice of the 
Supreme Court, Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhary. The 
widespread protests against this action led by 
the legal community and the civil society forced 
Musharraf to revoke his decision and this 
demonstrated the strength of liberal Muslims. 
Only the Muhajir community in Karachi showed a 
face of resistance against these protests.

The Army, which was Musharrarf's main source of 
strength, mainly comprises Punjabis and 
Pushtoons. Both communities were alienated from 
him, Punjabis, particularly after Justice 
Choudhary's dismissal and Pushtoons on account of 
repression they faced by the army in pursuing 
terrorists among them. That forced Musharraf to 
fall back upon his own community of Muhajirs who 
are numerically a smaller community.

It was amidst such a developing vacuum that 
former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharief thought it 
fit to jump in and return to Pakistan and try to 
symbolise the discontent of his countrymen. His 
broad alliance includes Muttihida Majlis-e-Amal 
(MMA), a religious outfit. Whether he should have 
preferred jail over exile in Saudi hospitably is 
a matter of strategy of which he must have 
considered the pros and cons. And whenever he 
decides to return and face the wrath of 
Musharraf, supposing he still remains in power 
then, he is unlikely to have lost all the 
popularity he has earned.

The US preferrs an alliance between Benazir 
Bhutto and Musharraf to strengthen the moderate 
forces in Pakistan. After their talks, she 
distanced her party from Nawaz Sharief. She 
demanded that the General shed his army uniform 
as a face saving device before sharing power with 
him. Though he was willing to get the law banning 
a third term for Prime Ministers to enable her 
assume that office, he agreed to shed his uniform 
only after the election to presidency.

To become an ally of Musharraf under these 
circumstances would have reduced her popularity 
further. Her decision to land in Karachi on 
October 18 again shows that she wants a safe 
landing. In other words, she is banking on the 
support of Sindhis and Muhajirs, who have moved 
closer to each other due to recent developments.

The alliance between these two communities would 
be further strengthened if a power sharing 
agreement between her and Musharraf works.

Firstly it must be realised that a single party 
or a single alliance of parties cannot satisfy 
all aspirations of all the people. A multi-party 
system can do it better and also provide 
democratic channels of discontent. Secondly 
moderate and extremist forms of discontent that 
we are witnessing in Pakistan are symptoms and 
not the cause. Discontent can take moderate or 
extremist form depending on which outlet is 
available to the people. The real need is, 
therefore, to go to the root cause of discontent.

The root cause of discontent in Pakistan to my 
mind is the present unitary form of government. 
If the Pushtoon and Balochi ethnic urges had been 
recognised by granting them some sort of 
autonomy, they might not have resorted to 
terrorism. A federal Pakistan where all provices 
have adequate autonomy and appropriate 
institutional arrangements are provided to each 
ethnic group including Muhajirs, Saraikis and 
tribal communities, it might pave the path 
towards a democratic and liberal Pakistan as also 
ensure its integrity. Let leaders of Pakistan and 
its friends ponder over this hypothesis and work 
out its implications.

______


[4]

October 14, 2007

OPEN LETTER

IS THE CONGRESS WILLING TO ADMIT MASS MURDERERS? 
What a Cynical Eid Gift for India's Largest 
Minority!!!

To,

Smt Sonia Gandhi
President
Congress (I)

Dear Smt Gandhi,

We the undersigned write this letter with anguish 
and concern. It also reiterates our earlier 
concerns express at the time, in Maharashtra, not 
so long ago, that your party cheerfully welcomed 
the vanguard of hate and divisive politics in the 
personas of Sanjay Nirupam and thereafter, 
Narayan Rane. We had also written to you at that 
time.

Ma'am, the repeated efforts of some senior 
Congressmen to exact a win in Gujarat by not 
standing for any ideology of the erstwhile 
Congress but to resort to cheap short term gains 
by admitting even those men who served Shri Modi 
well in 2002 in leading the communal carnage 
against the state's Muslims. (Senior Congress 
leaders have reportedly stated that since hard 
core Shiv Sainiks have been welcomed with open 
arms in Maharashtra why cannot the Congress not 
open its arms to mass murderers like Shri Gordhan 
Zadaphiya?) . Mr Zadaphiya was at the forefront 
of the mass carnages against minorities in the 
city of Ahmedabad and as home minister 
responsible for the shameful state complicity in 
the genocidal carnage all over the state.

We the undersigned do not believe that you, the 
seasoned politician that you are, have not been 
aware of these brazen moves even within high 
levels of the Congress party. We hope and wish to 
believe that you personally at least do not share 
this rather opportunistic brand of politics. We 
urge that you speak out, unequivocally on this 
issue secularism and moral principle just as 
strongly as y ou have on others. We would not 
like to believe that secularism is a private 
concern that can only be voiced behind closed 
doors. It needs to find centre stage on the 
campaign arena in Gujarat.

In hope, and in anticipation,

Teesta Setalvad, Vijay Tendulkar, Prasad Chacko, 
Fr Cedric Prakash, Alyque Padamsee, Rahul Bose, 
Hanif Lakdawala, Javed Anand, Persis Ginwalla, 
Avinash Kumar, Rakesh Sharma, Jimmy C. Dabhi, 
S.J., Anand Patwardhan, Harsh Mander, Ajay Bhatt, 
Avani Parekh-Bhatt, Akhil Paul, Ashok Gupta, 
Jitesh Odedra, Wilfred D'Costa, Ram Punyani, 
Kiran Chhokar, Anand Mazgaonkar, Swati Desai, 
Sheba George, Vijay Parmar, Vijayprakash Jani, 
Javed Ameer, Navdeep Mathur, Shruti Upadhyaya, 
Atul Raval, Ashfaq Mohammed, Bharat Jhalla, 
Sushila Prajapati, Bharat Parmar, Khalid 
Chaudhary, Beena Jadav, Rais Khan Pathan

______


[5]

Hindustan Times
October 16, 2007

THE NOWHERE PEOPLE

by Harsh Mander

Forgotten by their governments and their people, 
tens of thousands of people who were uprooted 
from their homes and villages by waves of ethnic 
violence are living hopeless lives in makeshift 
camps in Assam for more than a decade. In a 
region that has near-fatally imploded with the 
politics of competing persecutions, as oppressed 
groups arm and organise themselves to drive away 
other wretched and deprived people, in pursuit of 
dangerous, impossible (and unconstitutional) 
aspirations of ethnically cleansed homelands. 
Their plight is aggravated by bankrupt and 
opportunistic politics and state policy, and 
equivocal rationalisations by civilian observers. 
In the past, strife in the region was manifested 
in clashes between armed groups and security 
forces of the state. Since the 1980s, 
dispossessed people have increasingly turned 
against each other. In battles between indigenous 
inhabitants and settlers, many of the region's 
poorest people are living out their lives in 
fear, confined to camps, people who no one wants 
and who have nowhere to go.

The camps in the Bodo heartland of Kokrajhar and 
Bongaigaon are of people of East Bengali Muslim 
and Jharkhandi tribal origin. They were driven 
out of the villages, which they shared with 
indigenous Bodo people in surrounding hills and 
forests, in a series of attacks and slaughters in 
the 1990s. Today, an estimated 50,000 people, of 
whom a third are children, still live in camps, 
surviving on erratic supplies of rice rations for 
registered camp dwellers for ten days a month. 
They are unable to return to their lands and 
homes, boycotted from seeking work and attacked 
if they stray back to indigenous habitations.

At a Bengali Muslim camp in Salabila, for 
instance, we found people barely surviving in 
flimsy thatch hovels that are flooded with water 
when it rains; what passes for a school is a 
thatched roof held up by wooden stumps with only 
one untrained teacher paid a thousand rupees 
monthly. There are no markers of even elementary 
citizenship: no mid-day meals, no pre-school 
feeding centres, no ration shops, no health 
centres and no pensions for the aged. The mosque 
where a few devout men were offering prayers is 
the humblest I have seen anywhere, just straw 
walls and an uncovered earth floor. A silence 
shrouds the sombre reality of many girls and 
women trafficked to other parts of the country, 
as the only option of shameful survival. A young 
man who grew up in the camps mourned, "We have 
lost 14 years of our lives. It is like living in 
a jail. We too have dreams for our futures, but 
how can we ever fulfil them?" An elder testifies: 
"The government assures us that they will do 
something for us every few years, then nothing 
happens." He adds sadly but truthfully, "People 
do not want us anywhere."

Conditions at the Deosri Santhal camp of 
descendants of 19th century tea garden workers 
from central India in the foothills of Bhutan are 
no better. The ethnic central Indian tribal 
people (locally called adivasis, to contrast them 
from the indigenous tribal people) were driven 
out by in 1996 from villages they had peacefully 
shared for generations with Bodo, Bengali Muslim 
and Nepali residents. They were attacked one 
night with guns and knives by their Bodo 
neighbours, and their homes and houses burnt 
down. Like the Muslim settlers, few had legal 
titles to the lands they cultivated, since land 
records in the region are perfunctorily 
maintained. The lands they cultivated are now 
occupied by indigenous tribal people. They too 
survive only on occasional rice doles (only for 
duly registered camp residents) and on dwindling 
hope. Even today, years later, they are fearful 
to stray too far from the camp, and young men 
take turns to stand vigil every night to protect 
their settlements from attacks. They have long 
lost all contact with their original villages in 
Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. Assam is the only 
home they have ever known. Yet, it is not 
accepted to be their 'homeland': militants want 
only to see them gone, and the state government, 
in a political alliance with the leadership of 
the Bodo Autonomous Council, looks the other way.

Assam through its history has been welcoming to 
migrants from South-East Asia and other parts of 
India. But after its annexation to British 
colonial authority in the 19th century, migration 
increased manifold as an integral part of 
colonial economic interests. Adivasi families 
from Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh migrated in tens 
of thousands to power the tea gardens, and with 
the railways, East Bengali landless and poor 
peasants driven by land hunger penetrated the 
forested interiors of inner Assam. They were far 
more experienced agriculturists than the 
indigenous Bodos, who still relied on 
slash-and-burn cultivation. In post-colonial 
India, Assam became the increasingly less 
welcoming home for large numbers of East Bengali 
political and economic refugees. Today, as 
pointed out by scholar Monirul Hussain, Assam has 
gradually morphed from a major host of displaced 
people to a major generator of displacement 
fuelled by conflict. Large numbers subsist in 
state-sponsored relief camps for long years, 
deprived of basic life supports and public 
amenities, and with little hope or real support 
to return.

Although the largest majority of East Bengali 
Muslims migrated to Assam in pre-colonial times, 
the continued migration due to poverty after 
Independence has been misused to fuel 
chauvinistic hatred against the whole community. 
Thousands were killed at the peak of the 
'anti-foreigners' agitation from 1979 to 1985 in 
organised slaughters. in one of the most brutal 
forgotten communal massacres in India, in Nellie 
in 1983, more than two thousand lives were taken. 
Its survivors are still haunted by the savagery 
of the attack a quarter century later.

But the militant Bodo agitation from 1987 was 
originally not targeted against the East Bengali 
Muslims: it saw them as allies in a fight against 
the dominant Hindu Asamiya people. The situation 
changed in 1993 when the government brokered the 
Bodo accord, which watered down the demand for 
Bodo self-determination, but laid down that only 
settlements with populations of more than 50 per 
cent Bodo people would be included in Bodoland. 
The die was thus cast by state policy itself for 
violent ethnic cleansing.

The local militants organised themselves to drive 
out the settlers. In 1993 itself, the Muslims 
were killed and their homes looted and burnt. The 
terrified survivors went to camps that were to be 
their homes for years. Attacks were launched 
against the adivasis in 1996, and at its peak 
around three lakh people were displaced by the 
violence. In 1997, some returned, but returned 
after fresh clashes in 1997. In 2000, the Muslims 
were forced to vacate their camps, but were 
subject to attacks and set up their own camps, on 
the side of the National Highway, or on private 
land. That is where they continue until today.

The Assam government says it can do nothing for 
the people in camps, who must return to their 
homes from where they were expelled. The 
displaced people plead that to return is to live 
daily in the shadow of fear of the assured next 
attack, by a people determined to reclaim their 
'homeland' from the settlers, spurred by the Bodo 
accord which recklessly incentivised such 
'cleansing'.

These are just some of India's 'nowhere people'. 
Unwanted, they live without hope or rights only 
because of their ethnicity or faith. The country 
needs urgently to redeem to them its pledge of a 
secular democratic constitution.

Harsh Mander is Convenor, Aman Biradari

______


[5]  Calcutta Murder for Inter Religious Marriage: Commentary

(i)

Issues in Secular Politics
October II 2007

LOVE AND BE DAMNED

by Ram Puniyani

When Rizanwanur Rahman, a graphic designer, was 
found dead on the railway tracks of Kolkata, the 
police chief without 'wasting' any time, 
instantly proclaimed that it is a case of 
suicide. He had no  patience to go through the 
proper investigation, postmortem report etc. This 
raised many a questions about the motives behind 
his immediate reaction. as the circumstances of 
his death raised a lot of questions at various 
levels.

The back ground of the incident is very tragic. 
Rizwan was coming from the slums, got trained as 
a graphic designer and later married his love 
Priyanka Todi, daughter of the owner of Lux 
undergarment enterprise, which specializes in 
marketing, aandar ki baat, an empire worth over 
two hundred crores.  After their marriage the 
police intervened, summoned Rizwan, and commented 
that it is a marriage of unequals and that it is 
natural for Priyanka's father to be upset. 
Rizwan and his friend Sadiq, the witness to their 
marriage, were intimidated repeatedly by the 
police.  Rizwan approached Association for 
Protection of Democratic Rights and was to meet 
them in the evening.  But that meeting did not 
take place as he was found dead on the railway 
tracks. Just prior to this, police told the 
couple that Priyanka should go back to her 
fathers house, she should go back for a week, 
after which police will ensure that she will come 
back. The couple refused. When all these 
intimidatory tactics of police failed they 
threatened that either Priyanaka goes to her 
fathers house or they will arrest Rizwan on the 
charges of abduction and theft. This prompted 
Priynaka to go to her fathers house after which 
she became non-contactable for her husband. As 
per the law police are to provide protection to 
such couples, thats another side of the story.

To add salt to the injury the women's commission 
of West Bengal visited Prinaka Todi, at her her 
fathers place. Priyanka apparently told the 
commission that she wants to avoid the media 
glare and wants to get over this past. Also that 
she has not been pressured into to any statement.

It is not for nothing that they say, truth us 
stranger than fiction. There can be some obvious 
other interpretations of the same incident. That 
the powerful industrialist happens to be close to 
the police chief adds a minor angle to the story 
as any way such powerful people can generate 
their own mechanism to have their way. Whether 
Rizwan was murdered or committed suicide needs a 
deeper investigation, that Priyanka might have 
given this statement under the duress of her 
father needs to be delved a bit more. Is it 
something like the case of Zaheera Shiekh, after 
the Best bakery burning, disowning her statements 
under allurement and pressure both. One will like 
to know if Priyanak has given the statement 
without the blackmail from the family and police 
or is it what she really feels. All this needs a 
serious investigation. So far the 'progressive' 
West Bengal Government's attitude competes with 
the attitude of the administration of Narendra 
Modi and many others, as far as giving justice to 
the victims is concerned.

We are living in strange times. We have a 
democratic constitution. Incidentally the legal 
position on such cases of choosing one's life 
partner against parents wishes, was elaborated in 
one Supreme Court judgment.  On July 7, 2006, the 
S C ruled emphatically that there can be no bar 
on inter-caste or inter-religious marriages. 
Those who harass, threaten or subject such a 
couple have to be prosecuted. In the case 
pertaining to Lata Singh SC observed, "This is a 
free and democratic country,and once a person 
becomes a major, he or she can marry whomsoever 
he/she likes".

Parents despite their disagreement have no right 
or authority on the decision of the adult 
children.  Maximum they can do is to cut off 
social relations with the couple. By now the 
cases of married couples being threatened, and 
tortured in various ways are too numerous. The 
society continues to be gripped by the gender 
hierarchical notion that a girl cannot make her 
own choice in the matters of marriage. The 
patriarchal father is the one who calculates the 
caste, religion, and social hierarchy before 
'giving' his daughter. And this position of women 
is best exemplified in Kanyadaan (gift of 
daughter) in Hindu marriage ritual.  In other 
religious customs also similar things prevail, 
'giving away the bride'. In Pakistan, the society 
is in the grip of similar hierarchical notion and 
many a times when the girl makes her choice and 
marries according to that, she is killed by her 
own relatives, and the 'nice sounding' but 
atrocious words is prefixed to that, 'honor 
killing! 'Honor' for the family, death for the 
girl!

In many parts of the country especially north 
India the caste panchayats have been deciding the 
fate of such couples, they are forced to 
separate, the girl being asked to tie rakhi on 
her husbands wrist. The boy or couple being 
killed at times and in the worst of the cases the 
girl being raped on the dictates of the panchayat 
have also been reported. This trend cuts across 
different religious communities and has most to 
do with the prevalence of gender hierarchy. Other 
hierarchical notions, that of economic class, 
caste angles also get thrown in. With the rise in 
religion based politics and the retrograde social 
values, rise in such cases abound. No wonder that 
worst such case is seen in Gujarat, the Hindu 
rashtra, being ruled by RSS combine from last 
decade or so. Here there is one Babu Bajrangi, 
whose major 'religious task' is to beat up the 
couples sitting in parks. Further the couples who 
have married despite their caste differences, are 
bashed up by this ardent associate of RSS 
combine. He does wield lot of patronage from the 
powers that be, and has tired to break many a 
marriages. In the same Gujarat many an attacks on 
Muslim minority were engineered, on the ground 
that Muslim boys are marrying Hindu girls.

In tune with this are many fatwas, where some 
elements decide the fate of couples in love, or 
those who have married. Cases of same Gotra 
(clan) marriage being subjected to the wrath of 
the community also abound.

The prevalence of these feudal hierarchical 
notions and values are far and wide. Here the 
women is regarded as the embodiment of family and 
community honor. She is not only regarded as the 
property of men, her life is controlled by the 
men in different degrees. Women being the carrier 
of community honor is also painfully seen during 
the communal violence, when the women from the 
'other community' are subjected to ignominies and 
violation of the worst type. With coming of 
democratic norms the equality of women is 
accepted at formal level. The process of 
secularization and womens own struggle ensures 
the transition form formal to substantive 
equality. It is a process of struggle. The 
sectarian politics, in the name of religion or 
race puts the brakes on this process. The 
ascendancy of these trends retards the process of 
transformation towards relations of equality. 
Fascism, Hitler, also assigned a particular role 
to women, that of a life revolving around Kitchen 
Church and Children. The Muslim fundamentalists, 
Talibans, Maulana Maududi and the Hindutva 
streams also give the secondary subordinate 
position to women.

In India this process of secularization, 
transformation in caste and gender relations 
towards the one of equality, was fairly well on 
its way till the decades of 80s, when the rise of 
communalism has put severe brakes on this 
process. What is surprising is that even in West 
Bengal, which is ruled by the Left front Govt., 
the matters don't seem to be much different. In 
Rizwans case while the human tragedy is of 
mammoth scale, the intolerance of high and mighty 
is very intimidating. The collusion of state 
machinery with the mighty gives dangerous signal 
for democratic polity. Here the mighty, a Hindu 
trader/industrialist, presumably upper caste, 
exercises his worst possible trait, in the 
pursuit of patriarchal controls over his 
daughter. Rizwan coming from the background of 
average to low economic status and coming from 
the 'other religion' has been his nemesis. It is 
reflections of our times that the retrograde 
social values are on the upswing and WB is no 
exception to this down hill journey. The left 
front rule does deserve the credit for operation 
Barga, but the cultural scene seems to be no 
different from the other places. Communalization 
of social psyche is similar to the other places 
in the country. On the front of communalism, the 
only credit which can be given to LF government 
is absence of communal violence. But absence of 
violence does not mean that communalism is not 
there or that the social common sense and the 
social norms are any better.

How many more Rizwans will be sacrificed on the alter of the family honor?


(ii)

The Times of India
4 Oct 2007

HIDE YOUR LOVE AWAY

by Rajashri Dasgupta

Rizwanur Rehman's charming smile refuses to fade 
from people's memory. After his body was found on 
September 21 on train tracks in the heart of 
Kolkata, there have been numerous candlelight 
vigils, angry protests and demonstrations 
demanding the truth about his death.

While his family suspects that Rizwanur was 
murdered, the police commissioner shrugged away 
his death as a "simple case of suicide" even 
before the post-mortem was complete.

Whatever the truth, Rizwanur's tragic death, the 
trauma of his wife Priyanka and brutal 
interference by the police reflects the daily 
struggle of lovers who defy tradition and resist 
authority to marry persons of their choice.

Theirs was a romance that defied all socially appropriate norms.

While Rizwanur was a Muslim who had struggled 
from the slums of Tiljala to become a graphic 
designer and teacher, his 23-year-old wife, 
Priyanka Todi is a Hindu and belongs to the Rs 
200-crore-plus Lux hosiery andar-ki-baat-hai 
business family.

The couple's crime was the assertion of their 
choice, which was seen as a direct attack on 
parental authority, community, social norms and 
religious beliefs.

The story of Priyanka-Rizwanur is the eternal 
tale of young couples trapped between their 
desire, the rights guaranteed by the law and 
their socio-cultural reality. It is about how the 
family, community and state agencies like the 
police treat love as a criminal activity and 
young lovers as criminals.

In the last few years there has been a growing 
concern about the violence -- popularly called 
"honour killings" -- which couples face when they 
marry of their own choice or have a relationship.

Since marriage is the only socially sanctioned 
sexual relationship, the display of romantic love 
and desire by couples like Priyanka-Rizwan's is 
seen to bring "shame" on "family honour" since it 
does not follow the norms of class, religion and 
caste. Those who breach the social arrangement 
face disapproval, stiff resistance, violence -- 
and even death.

Rural north India is replete with cases of crimes 
committed against "love marriage" couples, 
ranging from their being hounded out of the 
village, the wife being forced to tie a rakhi on 
her husband or the couple being hanged to death. 
Urban India is not very different.

As Dinanath Bhaskar, chairperson of the scheduled 
caste/scheduled tribes commission, Uttar Pradesh, 
puts it: "For
inter-caste and religious love affairs to 
crystallise into marriage and then for the couple 
to survive, they require three Ms, money, muscle 
power and manpower".

The comment reflects the yawning gap between the 
written law and social reality.

On July 7, 2006, the Supreme Court ruled that 
there can be no bar on inter-caste or 
inter-religious marriages. Anyone who harasses, 
threatens or subjects such a couple to acts of 
violence will be prosecuted. SC observed in Lata 
Singh's case, "This is a free and democratic 
country, and once a person becomes a major he or 
she can marry whomsoever he/she likes".

If the parents of the boy or girl did not approve 
of the marriage, the court stated, the most they 
can do is to cut off social relations.

Ironically, criminal law, intended to protect 
women from forced marriages, is used against 
consenting couples. The natal family in 
consultation with the police and lawyers invoke 
laws on rape, abduction and kidnapping to 
criminalise love and frame the boy.

According to the chief counsellor, National 
Commission for Women, almost half of the 
"kidnapping and abduction" charges filed by 
parents in "love cases" are false.

The assumption of the police and parents is that 
an adult woman is incapable of choosing her own 
partner -- even though she can vote and decide 
the future of the country -- and must therefore 
be coaxed, coerced or emotionally blackmailed to 
do her father's bidding.

The police actively participates in maintaining 
orthodox beliefs in the name of upholding 
culture. Senior officers are unmindful of the 
fact that their attitude violates state law and 
human rights.

Following Rizwanur's death, the police 
commissioner justified Todis' opposition to 
Priyanka's marriage as "natural" and questioned 
the desirability of relationships in which 
"financial and social status" do not match. He 
ended the press conference by asserting that the 
police would handle similar cases 
"professionally" -- in the same fashion -- in the 
future.

The 'professionalism' with which the Kolkata 
police handled the Rizwanur-Priyanka case smacks 
of its class, social and communal bias. It ends 
up making marriages from personal choice look 
like an illegal activity.

The couple had married under the Special Marriage 
Act and on August 30, fearing harassment by the 
Todis, sought police protection in writing.

Instead of helping the couple, senior officers 
summoned them thrice to the police headquarters 
within a week of their marriage to "persuade" 
Priyanka to return to her parents and harassed 
Rizwanur. She finally agreed to go to her family 
for a week after the police threatened to arrest 
Rizwanur for abduction and theft. A few days 
later, Rizwanur was found dead on the tracks.

Perhaps the three Ms have become essential for 
love to survive even in a Left, progressive state 
like West Bengal.

(The writer is a Kolkata-based freelance journalist.)


(iii)

The Times of India
16 Oct 2007

EDITORIAL  - BLOOD ON THE TRACKS

West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb 
Bhattacharjee on Saturday met Rizwanur Rahman's 
family. This is a welcome, though belated, move. 
Rizwanur, 23, was found dead next to train tracks 
on September 21. His untimely death might have 
become a footnote if it were not for his marriage 
to Priyanka Todi, daughter of a Kolkata-based 
hosiery magnate, three weeks earlier. We don't 
know whether Rizwanur was murdered, but there is 
enough evidence that the Kolkata police had been 
harassing him ever since he dared to cross the 
religious divide to marry a Hindu girl, that too 
from a wealthy family.

The circumstances surrounding Rizwanur's death 
are a stark reminder that marriages across 
religion and caste are still unacceptable in 
India, even in supposedly progressive cities like 
Kolkata. Honour killings of couples who 
transgress social boundaries still happen, 
particularly in north India. Harassment of 
couples who marry against their family's wishes 
is depressingly frequent. A worrying feature is 
the role of the police who often slap charges of 
rape, abduction and kidnapping against the groom 
in such cases.

In Rizwanur's case, the Kolkata police have not 
acted any differently. Before his death, Rizwanur 
handed over a statement to human rights 
organisations with details of how the police, 
including two IPS officers of deputy commissioner 
rank, had threatened him and his newly-wed wife. 
Kolkata police commissioner Prasun Mukherjee, 
too, has come off poorly. Soon after Rizwanur's 
death, he dismissed it as a "simple case of 
suicide". He even suggested that the police were 
bound to intervene in a marriage where the 
families were against it, conveniently ignoring 
the fact that both the persons involved here were 
adults. Rizwanur's death provides yet another 
example of the police's unhealthy proximity with 
social elites. It is the job of the police to 
maintain a detached character for the good of the 
people. But all over India, policemen are seen as 
being close to the political and social power 
centres, so much so that senior appointments are 
almost never made without the assent of the 
ruling party.

The only bright spot in the Rizwanur episode is 
the sustained pressure put by civil society on 
the West Bengal government to identify the 
guilty. At present, there is a judicial as well 
as a CID probe being conducted into

Rizwanur's death. The only way some credibility 
can be recovered by law-enforcing agencies would 
be to punish those responsible - however well 
connected they might be - for snuffing out a 
young life.


(iv)


The Telegraph
October 07, 2007

YOUNG LOVE, OLD RULES
Marriages based on caste, class and creed are 
still the norm. The society is fundamentalist at 
a basic level

Muslim boy meets Marwari girl. They fall in love. 
The girl's family is vehemently opposed to the 
match. Boy and girl get married and the couple 
move into the boy's house. When pleas and threats 
fail to bring the girl back home, her father 
calls the cops and ensures that she is sent back 
to her parents for seven days. Ten days later, 
the boy is found dead near the railway tracks.

The tragic end to the Rizwanur Rahman-Priyanka 
Todi affair has once again highlighted the 
insurmountable barriers that often come to the 
surface in the case of mixed marriages. Even in 
these "progressive" times, when matrimonial sites 
use the word extensively, and in a "progressive" 
city like Calcutta. Study what you want to, but 
marry whom we want you to - remains the parental 
diktat. Or at least someone whom we will approve 
of. And most children obey their parents. Few 
defy norms, like Rizwanur and Priyanka, and if 
they do, they pay a price.

In the Marwari community, the rules are strict. 
"There is an unwritten law that the marriage of a 
Marwari boy or girl outside the community is 
sacrilege. If a girl marries outside the 
community it sometimes becomes a matter of honour 
for the parents," says Ravi Santhalia, a Marwari 
businessman from Lake Town. Priyanka studying 
computer graphics was fine; but she could not 
fall in love and marry her teacher. The community 
largely feels that the way the Todis dealt with 
the marriage is unacceptable, but it does not 
mean that it is ready to accept marrying a Muslim.

It is wrong, however, to think that Marwaris 
alone resist the idea - it's the same for all 
communities, including "liberal", educated 
Bengali Hindus. "The Rizwanur incident is the 
result of a clash between progressive and 
conservative values, which is present in every 
society. In this case the approach has been 
arrogant and inhumane," says Prabha Khaitan, 
social worker and author. "But this attitude is 
not peculiar to one community."

The limit

While Paroma Bhattacharya (name changed), an IT 
professional, and Rahil Mirza (name changed), an 
engineer, both 27 years old, were just friends, 
the two families would visit each other on social 
occasions and celebrate festivals together. But 
everything changed when word was out that they 
were in love and wanted to get married. Each 
family accused the other of trying to lure their 
child. Paroma and Rahil now meet in secret 
without the knowledge of their parents.

"Romantic marriages are still not the norm in our 
society. One can find hordes of advertisements 
for negotiated marriages based on caste and class 
and at some basic level the society is still 
fundamentalist. This is why such marriages become 
an issue," says sociologist Bula Bhadra.

The money factor

Rizwanur had committed a double crime - he not 
only belonged to a different community but also 
to a poorer class (as a computer graphics 
teacher, he earned Rs 10,000 per month; Ashok, 
Priyanka's father, is the owner of Lux Cozi, a Rs 
200-crore company). Though even Bollywood has to 
admit that inter-community marriages, such as the 
Hindu-Muslim marriage in Bombay or the 
Gujarati-Tamil marriage in Ek Duje Ke Liye, are 
problematic, mainstream Indian films are often 
based on the poor-boy-meets-rich-girl theme and 
they usually live happily ever after. Real life 
seems to be different.

In urban societies, after the religious divide, 
it's possibly the money factor that matters most. 
It is not known what the Todis found more 
objectionable about Rizwanur - his religion or 
his class. "Religion is not the only problem. We 
are also extremely class conscious, which adds to 
the whole issue," feels Bhadra.

"Most parents want their daughter to marry into a 
household more affluent than theirs. Especially 
because the social status and nature of the 
household endorses their social status," says 
Mudar Patherya, a communication consultant.

He should know. Mudar did not have to suffer 
Rizwanur's fate, but had acted similarly. A 
devout Muslim, he married Shalini, a Hindu girl, 
and faced huge opposition from the girl's family. 
It was not just on the basis of religion, but 
also because of the difference in economic 
background. "When I got married in 1993, we faced 
opposition, especially because of the 
repercussions of the communal riots on the Babri 
Masjid issue. But the difference in our economic 
background was also a reason," he says.

With religion and socio-economic status, caste 
and region play an important role for an 
overwhelming majority.

What keeps it going

The Indian sense of tradition. Matrimonial 
columns in newspapers, even those which come with 
the tag of "caste no bar", mention the 
candidate's caste. The "cosmopolitan" ads hardly 
come with the declaration "religion no bar". It 
is either Naidu parents looking for a bride or a 
Baidya girl looking for a groom.

A matrimonial column will have categories on the 
basis of language, religion, age, caste, 
community and profession. The search engines of 
portals like shaadi.com and bharatmatrimony ask 
the user to enter whether it is a bride or a 
groom one is searching for, the age of the 
candidate and the community, with options such as 
- Hindu: Assamese, Hindu: Bengali, Muslim: Shia, 
Muslim: Sunni, Christian: Protestant, Christian: 
Born again. There are even categories like 
"spiritual".

Online message boards on marriage as an 
institution have various responses from young 
Indians, and most of them are conservative.

"We spoil our tradition if we marry outside our 
community," is one of the responses on a message 
board on rediff.com that deals with the issue of 
marrying outside the community.

Another post on the board reads: "Inter-religion 
marriage - not good between certain communities; 
inter-caste marriage - up to the individualŠ. 
religion is a dicey thing.... You will lose 
everything, your roots, and your anchor in the 
form of your family and your identity. Don't do 
it.... Some communities have never come to accept 
individual choices, it is better to stay away 
from themŠ inter-caste marriage is fine as long 
as both the boy and girl are okay with it."

Differences in tastes, customs, value system, are 
raised as reasons why inter-community marriages 
should still be considered taboo.

Social repercussions

Parental opposition alone does not make life 
difficult for the younger generation trying to 
break out of conservative norms. "It becomes 
difficult for other brothers and sisters of that 
girl to get a match in the community," feels 
Santhalia. Both the communities also consider 
children of the couple outsiders.

There are very few support systems in place for 
such couples. Apart from problems such as not 
getting places to rent, they also lack a platform 
where they can be heard.

"There is definitely a lack of dedicated forums 
for such cases, though many of them go to women's 
organisations and other local organisations," 
feels Nilanjana Gupta, a coordinator of an NGO 
called Saman that has dealt with cases of 
inter-caste and inter-religion marriages.

It is not just marriage that is underlined by 
communal and caste-based differences - these are 
deep-rooted beliefs that are part and parcel of 
the Indian society, feels Gupta. "Platforms for 
interactions between different communities are 
still not readily available. As a result biases 
regarding different communities exist," she says.

There is a ray of hope, feel some. Response to 
inter-caste or inter-community marriages is not 
all negative, feels Gupta. "There is a problem 
regarding social acceptance by family and 
neighbours, but it is not always the case," says 
Gupta. Initial resistance often gives way to 
acceptance, once parents see that their children 
are happy and Mudar and Shalini are an example.

"We have been accepted not only by the immediate 
family but by the extended family as well," says 
Mudar. He and Shalini started the candlelight 
vigil outside St Xavier's College for Rizwanur, 
as a symbol of protest on behalf of the residents 
of the city.

But it is difficult to feel hopeful while the 
banality of Rizwanur's death stalks the city 
every moment.

(Those wanting to volunteer for the candle-light 
vigil can call 9874304494 or email 
justizforriz at gmail.com)


(v)

Outlook Magazine| Oct 22, 2007

CALCUTTA RIZWAN MURDER - RUN, RABBIT RUN...

Rizwan was hounded to death for daring to marry 
for love. Calcutta weeps for him.

by Jaideep Mazumdar
Fifteen summers ago, a 15-year-old student of St 
Lawrence School in Calcutta earned kudos for his 
superb direction of a short play on inter-faith 
love. After facing the usual trials and 
tribulations, the play's protagonists 'lived 
happily ever after'. Fifteen years later, having 
fallen in love and married a girl from another 
faith, Rizwanur Rehman realised that real life 
can be cruelly different. A police force acting 
at the behest of his rich father-in-law ensured 
that Rizwan and his new bride Priyanka's love 
story ended in tragedy.

Rizwan's mysterious death, followed by highly 
offensive statements by Calcuttta's police chief, 
have sparked unprecedented outrage, galvanised 
the citizenry to stage daily protest rallies and 
candle-light vigils, triggered SMS and web 
campaigns and an outpouring of condemnation and 
anger against the police and Chief Minister 
Buddhadeb Bhattacharya. Criminal Investigation 
Department (CID) and judicial probes ordered by 
an embattled Buddhadeb have failed to placate 
protesters, who are demanding a CBI investigation 
and stern punishment to the police officers 
instrumental in separating the couple.

There was no reason for this 
poor-boy-meets-rich-girl story to play out the 
way it did. Rizwan, from a poor Muslim family, 
was educated, intelligent, hardworking and 
decent. A topper in school, he did his 
undergraduate course in English at St Xavier's 
College. His father, a Grade IV employee with a 
small private firm, had passed away by then and 
Rizwan used to give private tuitions to fund his 
education. After graduation, he completed a 
course in graphic designing and became a graphic 
design teacher at a popular software education 
centre.

Friends, teachers, colleagues, students and 
neighbours all remember Rizwan as an outstanding 
human being-his wit and charm made him utterly 
lovable, they say. They refuse to believe, as the 
police claim, that he committed suicide. Rizwan 
and Priyanka fell in love, but kept their affair 
secret till they got married on August 18 this 
year under the Special Marriage Act. Priyanka was 
aware of Rizwan's humble background, having 
visited his home thrice before the marriage. She 
left home on August 31 and shifted to Rizwan's 
place before informing her father, Ashok Todi, 
owner of the Rs 200-crore Lux Cozi hosiery brand, 
about her marriage and her decision to live with 
her husband and in-laws.

That was when all hell broke loose. Todi, along 
with relatives, and some employees of his company 
rushed to the Rehmans' small Tiljala Lane flat in 
the Muslim-dominated Park Circus area. "He stayed 
here the whole night trying to convince his 
daughter to end the marriage," Rizwan's elder 
brother Rukban told Outlook. "He threatened and 
pleaded with Priyanka to return home, but she 
refused. He was here for nearly 12 hours and went 
away angry the next morning, before threatening 
Rizwan with dire consequences," recalled Rukban. 
Before going to the Rehman house, Todi had 
approached the local Karaya police station to 
intervene. But the cops, having learnt that 
Rizwan (30) and Priyanka (23) were adults and had 
married of their own free will, refused to step 
in, especially at the orders of their boss-the 
Calcutta police deputy commissioner (south) Jawed 
Shamim-reputed to be an honest, upright officer.

Having been rebuffed by the local police, Todi 
decided to approach Police Commissioner Prasun 
Mukherjee. He asked his business associate 
Snehasish Ganguly (elder brother of cricketer 
Sourav Ganguly) to get him an appointment with 
Mukherjee. Snehashish, an office-bearer of the 
Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) of which 
Mukherjee is the president, took Todi along to 
meet the police chief. Mukherjee directed Todi to 
deputy commissioner (headquarters) Gyanwant Singh 
who, in turn, referred him to deputy commissioner 
(detective department) Ajoy Kumar.Todi filed two 
false complaints, the first saying his daughter 
was missing and the second accusing Rizwan of 
abduction and wrongful confinement. The police 
officers got into the act, summoning the couple 
to Lalbazar Police Headquarters thrice, 
'counselling' Priyanka to go back to her parents 
while threatening and abusing Rizwan. Ultimately, 
on September 8, Kumar told Rizwan that he would 
be arrested on the basis of Todi's complaint if 
Priyanka didn't return to her parents' plush, 
three-storied Salt Lake residence.

Faced with this, Priyanka agreed, but not before 
getting two written assurances from her uncle 
Anil Saraogi (who was present in the police 
officer's chamber)-that she would be allowed to 
return after a week and that Rizwan wouldn't be 
threatened or harmed during this period. Kumar 
stood guarantee to these assurances. That was the 
last the two saw of each other. They kept in 
touch over the phone, but only till September 11. 
After that, all calls Rizwan made to his wife and 
father-in-law went unanswered. Meanwhile, the 
city police continued to threaten Rizwan's friend 
Sadique Hossain, a witness to the marriage, 
telling him he would be framed in a murder charge 
if he didn't state that Rizwanur forced Priyanka 
into marriage. Hossain went to inspector general 
of police (enforcement branch) Nazrul Islam to 
complain. While he was in Islam's chamber, a 
sub-inspector named Krishnendu Das called Hossain 
on his cellphone to threaten him. Islam heard the 
threats, and on identifying himself, was told by 
Das that he was acting on orders. That was 
exactly what Das and his immediate boss, 
assistant commissioner Sukanti Chakraborty, told 
their CID interrogators later.

Fearing for his life and suspecting that his wife 
was being held prisoner, Rizwan approached a 
human rights body, the Association for Protection 
of Democratic Rights (APDR) with a written 
complaint detailing police harassment against him 
and his friends. "I had detailed discussions with 
Rizwan and he was prepared to fight the police 
and his in-laws to get his wife back. He was cool 
and determined," APDR secretary Sujato Bhadra 
told Outlook. Bhadra scheduled a meeting with 
officers at Lalbazar for September 21 afternoon 
and Rizwan promised to accompany him. "At about 7 
am that day (Sep 21)," recalls Rizwan's brother 
Rukban, "my brother received a phone call that 
was traced to a PCO booth at Lake Town. He went 
out immediately, saying he'd be back in two 
hours." At 10.11 am, Rizwan called up Bhadra to 
confirm that he would meet him in front of 
Lalbazar that afternoon.

Around 10.30 am, Rizwan's body was discovered on 
the railway tracks about 15 minutes' walking 
distance from the Lake Town PCO. The nature of 
his injuries and the way the body was lying on 
the tracks have strengthened the conviction of 
many that he was murdered.

Park Circus erupted in riots the next day, and 
the day after, Mukherjee's intemperate comments 
fuelled people's anger further. Asserting that 
Rizwan had committed suicide, Mukherjee defended 
the Todis: "After taking care of their daughter 
for 23 years, if the family finds she has left 
them to start a new life with an unknown youth, 
parents cannot accept it. The reaction of the 
Todi family was natural.... They reacted because 
Rizwan's social and financial status didn't match 
theirs." Mukherjee added the police have dealt 
with such cases in a "similar manner" and would 
continue to do so. His comments have evoked 
widespread condemnation-from former CMs 
Siddhartha Shankar Ray and Jyoti Basu, senior 
cabinet ministers, former police chiefs and 
intellectuals to thousands of ordinary people-and 
strengthened the suspicion that the police acted 
at Todi's behest.

Todi, a small-time trader from the Marwari hub of 
Barabazar till a decade ago, was hugely 
successful over the past few years after he set 
up his hosiery unit.He was arrested as the 
kingpin of a cricket betting racket in the 
mid-'90s, but released without charges. Many 
people, including state transport minister Subhas 
Chakraborty, have demanded a probe into the 
Todis' rise. Public works minister Kshiti Goswami 
has alleged that Todi financed police 
commissioner Prasun Mukherjee's campaign for the 
CAB president's post. Todi did in fact sponsor a 
musical soiree at Lalbazar Police HQ earlier this 
year, and donated 800 T-shirts to the city cops 
during an anti-drug rally a few months ago.

Some of the public anger against the police chief 
has found its way to the CM as well, since he 
backed Mukherjee against Jagmohan Dalmiya in the 
CAB elections. Suspicions have also grown about a 
'cover-up job' being ordered from the top. "Our 
government's actions till now inspire little 
confidence. Injustice has been done to Rizwan, 
and we're not appearing to do justice now. The 
judicial probe will only put this case in cold 
storage," Chakraborty told Outlook.

Meanwhile, the 18-hour candle-light vigil on the 
pavement outside St Xavier's College on Park 
Street gathered momentum, with swelling crowds 
writing messages and poems, vowing to fight for 
justice. "It's as if Calcutta is reaffirming its 
identity as a cosmopolitan, tolerant, inclusive 
city," comments sociologist Bratati Gupta. 
"Rizwan is like our boy-next-door who has worked 
hard to rise in life, is the sort of young man 
who is an ideal for every middle-class family. 
That he has been so grossly wronged by the 
moneyed and the powerful is something Calcuttans 
can't digest, and they feel personally 
responsible for ensuring justice." Every day, 
scores of people cutting across religious, age 
and class barriers visit the Rehmans. Rizwan's 
mother Kishwar Jahan tells them to ensure that no 
other mother suffers the tragedy of her son being 
killed for falling in love. And that she won't be 
cooking his favourite biriyani every Sunday. 
Outside, neighbours say they won't be celebrating 
Eid or Durga Puja this year. Nor, for that 
matter, will many others in Calcutta.


© Outlook Publishing (India) Private Limited

______


[6]


______


[7]  BOOK REVIEW:

Economic and Political Weekly
13 October 2007

TO BE A FEMINIST

by Vasudha Joshi

Feminism as Experience, Thoughts and Narratives 
by Neera Desai;  
Sparrow, Mumbai, 2006;  
pp 456, contribution price Rs 250,
hardbound.


How is feminist consciousness constructed? What 
makes women participate in a feminist movement? 
How is theory in women's studies linked with 
praxis? These are some important questions which 
have prompted the project on which this book is 
based. Women activists from Gujarat and 
Maharashtra present their answers to these 
questions on the basis of their own life and 
work.  The editorial introduction and concluding 
remarks by the author serve to contextualise the 
personal narratives. The result is  an important, 
interesting albeit long-winded book which was 20 
years in the making. 

It began with a University Grants Commission 
(UGC) research project under taken in 1986. 
Though the project report was submitted in 1994, 
the author carried out additional research to put 
the present volume together. More than a hundred 
women were contacted for their narratives; the 
stories of 90 were written after interviewing 
them and then they were pared down to the 24 
presented here. Even then they run into more than 
300 pages.

The narrators are women activists (many do not 
accept the label "feminist") from different 
fields of academics and research, creative 
writing, professions of law and journalism, 
autonomous groups and left political parties. The 
oldest among them is   Hansa Mehta (born in 1897) 
and the youngest is 36 years old. Most of them 
are   fairly well known and the author is 
personally acquainted with them. There are   no 
rural or dalit women here nor are there any 
representatives of non-left parties.  Of course, 
the book does not claim to represent all shades 
of opinion and activism in the women's movement. 
It starts with four introductory chapters dealing 
with  different definitions and meanings of 
feminism, the idea of feminist consciousness, a 
brief review of the women's movement in the 
country. Notes and references and a list of all 
90 interviewees with their birth dates, place and 
area of work are given at the end.

The women's movement in the country goes back to 
the 1930s while the feminist movement is only 
three decades old.  Feminism maintains that the 
causes of women's oppression in society are many 
but the basic cause is only one, viz, patriarchy. 
This is unacceptable to the older activists and 
many senior researchers.  Indian  women's 
movement has been a part of larger struggles and 
women activists want to subsume their struggle in 
some grand design such as socialism, class 
struggle, ecological sustenance. The women's 
movement has grown through stages of 
participation in the freedom movement, students' 
agitations in Gujarat and Bihar, anti-price rise 
agitation in Maharashtra in the 1970s. However, a 
careful delineation of personal and public 
domains has been tacitly made in the movement. 
The feminist movement, on the other hand, has 
stressed the interconnection between the two and 
has raised issues of rape, domestic violence, 
sati, widows and deserted women, informal work of 
women including that of sex workers   and bar 
dancers. Autonomous groups, women's studies 
centres and parallel media units have been 
instrumental in raising these concerns. The 
strain between the women's movement and feminism 
has always been present. 

The feminist movement in the country has been 
attacked on all sides. The right fears that it 
would destabilise family and social life while 
the left fears that the working class and its 
political parties would be destabilised. Centrist 
parties have hollowed the movement by co-opting 
its programmes and slogans and subverting them. 
The movement has not quite recovered from the 
bombshell of reservation for women in panchayati 
raj institutions. Dominance of non-governmental 
organisations (NGOs) or "NGOisation", communal 
backlash, celebration of feminine attributes and 
sexuality, the careerism of youth, erosion of the 
welfare state - these are other attacks which 
have caused severe setbacks and splintering of 
the movement while its beginning was marked by a 
lot of enthusiasm and activity. Therefore most of 
the narrators  look back on the past with 
fondness but are disillusioned with the present 
and hesitant and weary of  the future. Still, all 
are certain that the movement, however fragile 
and fragmented, is important and has given 
meaning to their lives.

First hand adverse experience of patriarchy and 
exposure to wider movements, particularly the 
international feminist movement turn out to be 
the major factors leading to feminist 
consciousness in these narratives. Then come 
education and family background. By and large, 
families have been supportive of these brave 
women who have charted their own paths. Only a 
few have had to stage a struggle with in the 
family. The importance of exposure to western 
feminist ideas is going to strengthen the 
oft-repeated (but insignificant) charge of the 
movement's detractors that the roots and concerns 
of the movement are western, not indigenous.

Personal vs Political

We need to ask at this juncture: is there 
anything at all like women's consciousness?

Events since the 1990s have proved that notions 
of such a consciousness or of sisterhood/the 
feminine principle are a myth  and women do not 
go beyond the barriers of family, religion, caste 
and class.  Feminist consciousness remains 
confined to a few, educated women or those who 
have personally faced abuse. The book makes this 
point but in passing; it does not dwell on it.
The role of personal experience has been played 
down in many of the narratives.  The older 
activists have shunned personal articulation. 
Almost all the narratives are  very cautious and 
understandably so.  The personal is political but 
revealing personal details is always fraught with 
a lot of problems. One has to only imagine what 
the response of male activists would  have been 
to such a project. And yet, the narratives of 
Vidya Bal and Flavia Agnes stand out for their 
sincerity as well as restraint.

Autobiographies of women have been a  solid 
strength of Marathi literature because of the 
honesty and  transparent writing. However, 
autobiographies are subject-driven while the 
present narratives are researcher-driven and 
consequently their rating goes down. The women's 
movement has given a lot of importance to oral 
history. With low level of literacy, education 
and little access to means of written expression 
of the subordinate/ marginalised groups, oral 
history is an important research tool in 
subaltern studies.  Though women and under 
privileged, these narrators hardly belong to this 
bracket.  Therefore the author should have given 
more details about the interviews she conducted 
and how much  probing, digging, and editing were 
necessary to bring out this material. Her close 
associates Rohini Gawankar and Usha Thakkar have 
recently edited a collection of women activists' 
writings in Marathi. It will be interesting to 
compare these two  volumes for their similarities 
and dissimilarities. 

The collection of narratives in the present 
volume leans too much on the side of the older 
generation of activists. Autonomous groups have 
been under represented though   they are the ones 
who raise important issues. The narrations would 
definitely have been enriched by the inclusion of 
say, Sonal Shukla, Chhaya Datar, Neelam Gorhe, 
Sumitra Bhave and at least a representative of 
the Shetkari Sanghatana (Saroj Kashikar perhaps) 
which raised, for the first time, the issue of 
inclusion of women's names in landed property 
deals. (Significantly, all four activists above 
were interviewed for this project. Their omission 
from the list of 24 makes me curious.)

The past, particularly the 1980s and 1990s, has 
been given a lot of importance here. The current 
situation, in comparison, has received scant 
attention. With globalisation, ascendancy of 
market forces and general disarray of all 
movements seeking to go beyond the status quo, it 
is very important to understand the current 
situation. On the whole however, the book is a 
welcome addition to the literature on the women's 
movement in the country.



______



[8] Announcements:

(i)

Compelling Conversations 2: A Random Walk Through 
Pakistan's Minefield of Nuclear Weapons

Pakistan's nuclear weapons program has taken a 
life of its own. Should there be a limit to how 
many nukes we need, and if so what's the magic 
number? Join us at T2F for a conversation with 
Dr. Altamash Kamal.

Dr Altamash Kamal is a reformed nuclear engineer 
who became a technology entrepreneur. He did his 
Undergraduate work at London University and 
Graduate work at MIT.

Date: Saturday, 20th October 2007
Time: 7:00 pm
Minimum Donation: Whatever you like

Venue: The Second Floor
6-C, Prime Point Building, Phase 7, Khayaban-e-Ittehad, DHA, Karachi
Phone: 538-9273 | 0300-823-0276 | <mailto:info at t2f.biz>info at t2f.biz
Map: <http://www.t2f.biz/location>http://www.t2f.biz/location

o o o

(ii)

Alternative Survey Group
Rajendra Prasad Academy
Daanish Books

Cordially invite you to release of

Alternative Economic Survey, India 2006-2007
Pampering Corporates Pauperizing Masses

22 October 2007, 4:30 PM
Conference Hall, Rajendra Bhavan
Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg (Opp. Gandhi Peace Foundation)
New Delhi
RSVP
Alternative Survey Group
9868204457, 26741587,  9811970163, 9871433606
Anil Mishra, Rajendra Prasad Academy
9871401535
Dhruva Narayan, Daanish Books
9868543637, 9868242343

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