SACW - 15 July 2017 | Afghanistan: Political storm / Pakistan: Lala Rukh Passes; Calibri font threat to Govt / Sri Lanka: Buddhism / India: Lynch Mobs / China: Liu Xiaobo Dies / Nuclear weapons ban treaty

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire - 15 July 2017 - No. 2943 
[via South Asia Citizens Web - sacw.net since 1996]

Contents:
1. Pakistan: Feminist Artist Lala Rukh Passes Away
2. China: The Passion of Liu Xiaobo | Perry Link
3. India: Statement by Academics, Artists and Cultural Activists condemning the censorship of Amartya Sen Film
4. India: In the Name of Cow: Lynching and More Lynching's | Ram Puniyani
5. India: Here's how schools of faith, mobiles are radicalising Kashmir | Aarti Tikoo Singh
6. India: Statements by Peace and Secular activists on Amarnath Pilgrim's Killing in Kashmir valley
7. India - Violence in 24 Parganas: Competing communalisms
8. India: Audio Recording from Historians Discussion on Two books by Audrey Truschke
9. India: Domestic Work - A Cartoon by Nala Ponnappa
10. India: NREGA Sangharsh Morcha condemns the continuous harassment of Sanjay Sahni and other members of SPSS in Muzaffarpur 
11. India: Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace (CNDP) Welcomes the Adoption of the ’Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons’ by the UN on July 7 2017
12. After the nuclear weapons ban treaty: A new disarmament politics | Zia Mian 
13. Recent on Communalism Watch:
 - The Dangers of a Restless Mob [Awaara bheed ke khatre] | Harishankar Parsai
 - India: A Crisis Of Male Identity and Communal / gender violence (Satyam Viswanathan)
 - India will ring in its 70th anniversary of independence as a modern
 - India: All India Students' Federation (AISF) and All India Youth Federation (AIYF) on 15,000-km march for 'secularism' (15 July - 12 Sept)
 - India - Hindutva Terror: Swami Parmatamanand, Chhattisgarh Sanskrit Board chairman wants cow vigilantes honoured
 - India's prejudced minds - NEFOMA — an umbrella body of resident welfare associations in Noida and Greater Noida — issued a statement about the “terror of Bangladeshis in Noida”
 - India: Bajrang Dal activists threaten to take law into their hands if Amarnath attack is not avenged
 - India: The Struggle of ‘D' Voters in BJP’s Assam
 - India: Press statement by Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy (IMSD) condemning dastardly attack on Amarnath yatris
 - Publication announcement: The Political Economy of Beef Ban (edited by Binu Mathew)
 - Now CPM get into sharia compliant Islamic banking in Kerala (Asianet Newsable)
 - Announcement: 27 August, 2017 - Say No To Hatred - 100+ protests, events, actions across Delhi #Notinmyname
 - India: Statement by Not In My Name Campaign Delhi on the killing of Amarnath Yatris and and call for a vigil to mourn the dead (New Delhi, Jantar Mantar on 11 July at 7:00PM)
 - Fiddling with facts and history | Jawed Naqvi
 - India: Sahkar Bharati, the cooperative arm of RSS to take part in cooperative bodies’ elections
 - Anti-minority violence in India is significant not principally because of its scale but because of the processes engendering it (Praveen Swami)
 - India: Violence in 24 Parganas - Villagers Say Rioters Came From 'Outside' On Motorcyles
 - Hindutva for Zionism - Narendra Modi's visit to Israel (Manini Chatterjee)
 - India: The moral coarseness of our public culture | Rajeev Bhargava
 - Those who sow Hindu terror will reap Muslim terror | SA Aiyar
::: URLs & FULL TEXT :::
14. China, Turkey, Kashmir -  some URLs for news and commentary
15. Political storm brews in Afghanistan as officials from ethnic minorities break with president, call for reforms and protests | Pamela Constable
16. The Calibri Font Is Threatening to Bring Down Pakistan’s Government | Omer Benjakob
17. Sri Lanka:  New Constitution - New clause to safeguard Buddhism
18. Pakistan: ‘Next generation of militants may emerge from academic | Imtiaz Ali
19. India: Nothing learnt from history | Harini Nagendra
20. India: Women can’t ask for condoms, no to ‘intercourse’: What’s wrong with censor board | Sanjukta Sharma
21. Firebrand Hindu Cleric Ascends India’s Political Ladder | Ellen Barry and Suhasini Raj
22. The silence of the Azan | Saba Naqvi
23. Inside South Kashmir, a Year after Burhan Wani's Death | Rahul Pandita
24. Three deaths: More than a personal loss | Prabhat Patnaik
25. I thought India invited me to show its support for democracy. How wrong I was | Pavin Chachavalpongpun 
26. China: Democratic Voice Liu Xiaobo Dies in Custody | Human Rights Watch
27. UK: East London mosque has filed formal complaint about CEMB to Pride
28. Why street protests are good for you | Alexander Gilmour

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1. PAKISTAN: FEMINIST ARTIST LALA RUKH PASSES AWAY
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Born in Lahore in 1948, Lala Rukh was for decades an active member of the Women’s Action Forum (WAF) — one of South Asia’s most significant platforms for women’s rights.
http://sacw.net/article13370.html

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2. CHINA: THE PASSION OF LIU XIAOBO | Perry Link
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On July 13, 2017, the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and well known dissident Liu Xiaobo died from complications of liver cancer in a Shenyang hospital in Liaoning Province while being guarded by state security
http://sacw.net/article13384.html

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3. INDIA: STATEMENT BY ACADEMICS, ARTISTS AND CULTURAL ACTIVISTS CONDEMNING THE CENSORSHIP OF AMARTYA SEN FILM
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We are shocked and angered by the recent Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) demand that certain words be excised from a film based on the work of the Nobel laureate economist Amartya Sen.
http://sacw.net/article13379.html

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4. INDIA: IN THE NAME OF COW: LYNCHING AND MORE LYNCHING'S | Ram Puniyani
========================================
The lynching of Junaid (June 2017) in the outskirts of Delhi, in a train, did come as a saturation point in the conscience of large sections of society. To express their anguish people came to streets in great number in a largely spontaneous protest, ‘Not in My name'.
http://sacw.net/article13381.html

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5. INDIA: HERE'S HOW SCHOOLS OF FAITH, MOBILES ARE RADICALISING KASHMIR | Aarti Tikoo Singh
========================================
Last month, in a south Kashmir mosque, a fiery cleric in his raucous voice and shrill cries, defended former Hizbul commander Zakir Musa's call for Islamic jihad. For the first time, a cleric, using his religious pedestal, was exhorting his audience to support Kashmir's most wanted terrorist who recently aligned ideologically with al Qaeda. The audio recording of Mufti Shabir Ahmad Qasmi's incendiary speech was widely circulated on instant online messaging platforms in the valley.
http://sacw.net/article13380.html

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6. INDIA: STATEMENTS BY PEACE AND SECULAR ACTIVISTS ON AMARNATH PILGRIM'S KILLING IN KASHMIR VALLEY
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India: Statement by Peace Activists Condemning Attack in Kashmir on Pilgrims on Amarnath Yatra
We strongly condemn the firing on the bus carrying Amarnath Yatris which ended in the tragic death of seven pilgrims and injury to 18 others.
http://sacw.net/article13377.html

India: People's Alliance for Secularism Condemns Amarnath Pilgrim's Killing in Kashmir valley
People's Alliance for Democracy and Secularism condemns the killing of Amarnath pilgrims near Anantnag in Kashmir valley. This heinous crime has come at especially sensitive time for Kashmir and the rest of India. There is a real danger that in the aftermath of this attack both Kashmir and the rest of India get sucked into a vicious cycle of violence against innocent citizens.
http://sacw.net/article13378.html
  
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7. INDIA - VIOLENCE IN 24 PARGANAS: COMPETING COMMUNALISMS
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The recent unhindered violence at Baduria and adjoining Basirhat in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district was reportedly perpetrated by Muslim mobs, protesting against an objectionable post denigrating Islam, its Prophet and holy place by a Hindu teenager from the area. The violence not only weakens the democratic-secular narrative against rising Hindutva violence on Muslims, Christians and Dalits but also provides the RSS another opportunity to pose as the defender of “persecuted” Hindus.
http://sacw.net/article13375.html

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8. INDIA: AUDIO RECORDING FROM HISTORIANS DISCUSSION ON TWO BOOKS BY AUDREY TRUSCHKE
========================================
Two books by Audrey Truschke under discussion - Aurangzeb: The Man and The Myth (New Delhi: Sage, 2017) and Culture of Encounters: Sanskrit at the Mughal Court (Gurgaon: Allen Lane, 2016)
Discussants: Prof. Farhat Hasan, University of Delhi; Prof. Sunil Kumar, University of Delhi; and Prof. Najaf Haider, Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. Chair: Prof. Upinder Singh, University of Delhi At India International Centre, New Delhi on 12 July 2017
http://sacw.net/article13383.html

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9. INDIA: DOMESTIC WORK - A CARTOON BY NALA PONNAPPA
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http://sacw.net/article13374.html

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10. INDIA: NREGA SANGHARSH MORCHA CONDEMNS THE CONTINUOUS HARASSMENT OF SANJAY SAHNI AND OTHER MEMBERS OF SPSS IN MUZAFFARPUR 
========================================
http://sacw.net/article13376.html

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11. INDIA: COALITION FOR NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT AND PEACE (CNDP) WELCOMES THE ADOPTION OF THE ’TREATY ON THE PROHIBITION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS’ BY THE UN ON JULY 7 2017
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The CNDP hereby joins the various streams of global peace movements striving for complete abolition of nuclear weapons from the face of the planet in heartily welcoming the adoption of the ’Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons’ by the UN with 122 nations voting for the motion and one (Netherlands, a NATO member) voting against and another one (Singapore) abstaining.
http://sacw.net/article13373.html

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12. AFTER THE NUCLEAR WEAPONS BAN TREATY: A NEW DISARMAMENT POLITICS | Zia Mian
========================================
A treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons was adopted by an overwhelming vote and met with loud cheers this week at the United Nations. More than 70 years in the making, the treaty offers widely agreed principles, commitments, and mechanisms for ending the nuclear weapons age. Getting here was not easy, and achieving nuclear disarmament will still be a long struggle. But the new treaty creates space and means for a creative new disarmament politics based on law and ethics and democracy that go beyond well-trodden debates on the dangers and costs of nuclear weapons and traditional practices of arms control based on step-by-step reductions that limit only the size of arsenals.
http://sacw.net/article13371.html

========================================
13. RECENT ON COMMUNALISM WATCH:
======================================== 
 - The Dangers of a Restless Mob [Awaara bheed ke khatre] | Harishankar Parsai
 - India: A Crisis Of Male Identity and Communal / gender violence (Satyam Viswanathan)
 - India will ring in its 70th anniversary of independence as a modern
 - India: All India Students' Federation (AISF) and All India Youth Federation (AIYF) on 15,000-km march for 'secularism' (15 July - 12 Sept)
 - India - Hindutva Terror: Swami Parmatamanand, Chhattisgarh Sanskrit Board chairman wants cow vigilantes honoured
 - India's prejudced minds - NEFOMA — an umbrella body of resident welfare associations in Noida and Greater Noida — issued a statement about the “terror of Bangladeshis in Noida”
 - India: Bajrang Dal activists threaten to take law into their hands if Amarnath attack is not avenged
 - India: The Struggle of ‘D' Voters in BJP’s Assam
 - India: Press statement by Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy (IMSD) condemning dastardly attack on Amarnath yatris
 - Publication announcement: The Political Economy of Beef Ban (edited by Binu Mathew)
 - Now CPM get into sharia compliant Islamic banking in Kerala (Asianet Newsable)
 - Announcement: 27 August, 2017 - Say No To Hatred - 100+ protests, events, actions across Delhi #Notinmyname
 - Cattle slaughter ban stayed by Supreme Court of India
 - India: Statement by Not In My Name Campaign Delhi on the killing of Amarnath Yatris and and call for a vigil to mourn the dead (New Delhi, Jantar Mantar on 11 July at 7:00PM)
 - Fiddling with facts and history | Jawed Naqvi
 - India: Sahkar Bharati, the cooperative arm of RSS to take part in cooperative bodies’ elections
 - Anti-minority violence in India is significant not principally because of its scale but because of the processes engendering it (Praveen Swami)
 - India: Violence in 24 Parganas - Villagers Say Rioters Came From 'Outside' On Motorcyles
 - India: BJP leader Nupur Sharma booked for sharing fake image of West Bengal violence
 - India - violence in 24 Parganas: online profiles of people engaged in communal propaganda, fake posts (report in TOI)
 - India: Minority bias a myth - Interview Mahua Moitra is general secretary of West Bengal Trinamool Congress
 - Hindutva for Zionism - Narendra Modi's visit to Israel (Manini Chatterjee)
 - India: The moral coarseness of our public culture | Rajeev Bhargava
 - Those who sow Hindu terror will reap Muslim terror | SA Aiyar

 -> available via: http://communalism.blogspot.com/
 
::: URLs & FULL TEXT :::
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14. CHINA, TURKEY, KASHMIR -  URLS TO NEWS AND COMMENTARY
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Nobel Peace Prize committee chief says China has rejected her visa application
Berit Reiss-Andersen has sought the permit to attend activist Liu Xiobo’s funeral
https://scroll.in/latest/843821/nobel-peace-prize-committee-chief-says-china-has-rejected-her-visa-application

One year after the failed coup in Turkey, the crackdown continues
Mass jailings and sackings and the suspension of the rule of law by President Erdoğan have deepened Turkey’s divisions
by Kareem Shaheen
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/14/one-year-after-the-failed-coup-in-turkey-the-crackdown-continues

India: Can Mehbooba Mufti build on the Justice Nazki compensation order?
by Ravi Nair
To bind a person to a jeep and parade him over a distance to make an example out of him for deterring stone-pelters violates Article 147 and would constitute a grave breach of the Geneva Convention.
http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/amarnath-yatra-attack-can-mehbooba-mufti-build-on-the-justice-bilal-nazki-jammu-kashmir-shrc-farooq-ahmad-dar-human-shield-compensation-order-4749536/

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15. POLITICAL STORM BREWS IN AFGHANISTAN AS OFFICIALS FROM ETHNIC MINORITIES BREAK WITH PRESIDENT, CALL FOR REFORMS AND PROTESTS | Pamela Constable
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(The Washington Post -  July 1, 2017)

KABUL — Leaders of Afghanistan’s three major ethnic minority political parties, all of whom hold senior positions in the government, announced from Turkey Saturday that they have formed a coalition to save Afghanistan from chaos, issued a list of demands for reforms by President Ashraf Ghani, and vowed to hold mass protests unless they are met. 

The stunning development followed weeks of gathering political turmoil and public unrest after a devastating terrorist bombing in the capital on May 31. It brought together a group of powerful ex-militia leaders, once rivals in a civil war, in an extraordinary alliance that could present Ghani and his shaky government with its most serious challenge since taking office in 2014.

The group’s statement was issued from Ankara, where Abdurrashid Dostom, an ethnic Uzbek strongman who is still technically first vice president in the Ghani government, moved recently on grounds of ill health despite being under investigation in Kabul for sexual assault against an elderly political rival. Dostom’s aides circulated the statement on social media.

The other leaders — Mohammed Atta Noor, an ethnic Tajik and provincial governor; Mohammed Mohaqeq, an ethnic Hazara leader and deputy to the government’s chief executive; and Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani, a member of Noor’s Jamaat-e-Islami party — have been visiting Dostom in the past week for a family wedding in the lavish home where he has often lived in periods of exile.

[The West is indifferent to Afghanistan and Iraq’s world of terror]
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, right, shakes hands with Abdullah Abdullah, the nation’s chief executive, as they arrive for the NATO summit in Warsaw on July 9, 2016. (Kacper Pempel/Reuters)

The group, calling itself the Coalition for the Salvation of Afghanistan, said their aim was to “prevent the collapse of the government, avoid chaos and restore public trust.” They demanded that Ghani devolve power to cabinet ministries and provinces, stop “overreaching” his authority for personal motives, schedule long-promised elections, and obey the constitution and the law. It also called for Dostom’s full authority to be restored and a government attack against him to be investigated.

Ghani’s office responded coolly and calmly to the provocative salvo. Presidential spokesman Shahhussain Murtazawi told news outlets that the government “welcomes any move” that contributes to national interests, but he noted that the individuals leading the coalition are “involved in the government” and thus also “accountable for its shortcomings.” If the group has “any alternative plans for overcoming the current situation,” he said, “they should share them.”

There was no comment from the office of Abdullah Abdullah, the chief executive officer who has been estranged from Ghani for many months. Abdullah, from the Jamaat-e-Islami party, has disappointed party figures such as Noor for making too many concessions to Ghani in an effort to keep the struggling government afloat.

A variety of political figures and observers reacted skeptically to the news, suggesting that the ethnic minority leaders, all of whom have had differences with Ghani while in office, may be less interested in government reforms than in using a period of public anger and unhappiness to press for political advantage. They also noted that Ghani, an ethnic Pashtun, has been criticized for concentrating power in the hands of his ethnic and tribal allies and marginalizing other ethnic groups.

A spokesman for Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the Pashtun former fugitive warlord who returned to Kabul recently in a peace deal with Ghani, said the new coalition seemed “suspicious” and might be more interested in “personal demands” than public ones. “Why have they been silent for so long?” asked the spokesman, Kareem Amin. “You can’t be inside the system and criticize it too. “

Hekmatyar, in a separate statement Saturday, called on all Afghans to unite and support the Ghani government at a time of crisis. The country is suffering from high unemployment and a protracted insurgent conflict. The May 31 bombing was a major blow to the nation’s confidence in its rulers.

It was unclear whether the ethnic opposition leaders, who have called for city-wide demonstrations starting Monday, would be able to draw much support from the protesters that filled the streets of Kabul for most of June after the huge bombing and several subsequent violent incidents.

[In Kabul, anger against Afghan government touches off deadly street clashes]

The groups erected tent colonies on major streets where speakers demanded change night after night. The tents were dismantled by security forces on June 20, but protest groups vowed to return to the streets in force after Ramadan and Eid, the Muslim fasting month and holiday that ended this week.

But although many of the protesters’ demands were similar to those listed by the ethnic leaders, the composition and tone of their impromptu movement, called “Uprising for Change,” was completely different. A mix of students, academics, liberal activists and women’s groups, as well as families of bomb victims, they called mainly for justice, security and more responsive governance.

The most strident voice in the new coalition has been that of Noor, a wealthy northern governor who until recently was negotiating with Ghani to obtain a greater share of power. During the fraud-plagued 2014 elections, which both Abdullah and Ghani claimed to have won, Noor threatened to create violent unrest if Ghani was declared the winner.

Last week, delivering a message to a large crowd at the end of Ramadan in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif, Noor warned that if Ghani did not meet the group’s demands, “we will come by the thousands and thousands to Kabul.” Sources in the security community said the group planned to gather its forces in several suburban locations and march to the presidential palace.

Walid Sharif contributed to this report.

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16. THE CALIBRI FONT IS THREATENING TO BRING DOWN PAKISTAN’S GOVERNMENT | Omer Benjakob
========================================
(Haaretz,  July 13, 2017)
Wikipedia finds itself at center of the controversy because its entry on the font suggests a key document is fake

Wikipedia’s editors voted Tuesday to take the drastic step of locking the online encyclopedia’s article about the Calibri font. The reason: It is at the heart of a massive scandal that began in Panama and could end up toppling the Pakistani government.

The so-called “Calibri controversy” (or #FontGate as it is being dubbed online) began after the Panama Papers leak in 2016, when a trove of documents belonging to the Mossack Fonseca law firm revealed a complex web of offshore holdings by the world’s political and financial elite.

Among those caught in the net was a firm linked to Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s daughter, Maryam Nawaz, prompting the country’s top court to form an investigative committee.

On Monday, Pakistan’s Joint Investigation Team (JTI) published its report into Maryam Nawaz’s holdings and made a startling revelation: Nawaz did disclose her ties to the firm, called Nielsen and Nescoll Ltd.

There was only one problem. According to local reports, the probe found that Nawaz’s 2006 declaration regarding the firm was typed in Calibri – a font that was only made publicly available in 2007, raising suspicions that the documents were forged.

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As a result, local media and political wonks rushed to Wikipedia to discover the truth behind the claim – and some, possibly overly eager to defend their prime minister, even attempted to change the article’s content to claim that Calibri was available as early as 2004.

The font, at least according to Wikipedia, was indeed developed in 2004, but only went public with the launch of Microsoft Vista and Microsoft Office 2007, where the sans-serif typeface was to become the word processing giant’s default font.

Since Monday, when the report was released, over 60,000 people visited the relatively low-traffic article every day.

While Wikipedia is famous for its reluctance to impose restrictions on the collective editing process that makes it unique, locking articles to anonymous edits is a possibility. However, this is usually reserved for extremely controversial topics like Donald Trump, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the prophet Mohammed.

After the publication of the JIT report, Wikipedia administrators and editors began the process of nominating and then voting in favor of temporarily locking the article.

Saqib Quyyam, a prominent Wikipedia editor in Pakistan who first pushed the ban, told Haaretz that following the report's release there were numerous attempts to edit the page. "I was trying to remove the unverified information being added by anonymous people inside and outside of Pakistan. I nominated the page to be locked down due to the dispute," he explained.

“Please do not let people edit this font [page] as people are trying to save a corrupt political party on corruption charges by changing this entry,” one user wrote in defending the lock.

“It’s rare that a Wiki article gets directly embroiled in an international-level political scandal,” wrote another user who supported the lock. “The speed and efficiency with which this article was protected and its integrity preserved by the Admins is an example and proof that the Wiki model works,” they added.

Indeed, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has recently announced plans to expand the Wikipedia model to news production, with the new WikiTribune project expected to launch later this year.
read more: http://www.haaretz.com/world-news/1.801006

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17. SRI LANKA:  NEW CONSTITUTION: NEW CLAUSE TO SAFEGUARD BUDDHISM
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Daily Mirror, 9 July 2017)

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said on Saturday he would come up with a new proposal shortly to include provisions in the Constitution that would prohibit Governments from interfering with internal matters of three main Buddhist Chapters.

The Prime Minister said this at the opening of the Weli Maluwa at Ruwan Weliseya in Anuradhapura over the weekend.

“I will come up with proposal to include a clause in the Constitution that the Government cannot get involved in deciding on the matters relating to the three Nikayas, followed by Sri Lankan Buddhists."

He added that Therawada Buddhism had suffered during the reign of King Mahasen, where the Maha Vihara in Anuradhapura was destroyed by the Vaithullayas, while killing some monks. The Vaithulayas were controlling Abhayagiriya and Jethawanarama temples at that time. It was these monks of Maha Vihara, who spread the Therawada Buddhism to several countries such as Laos and Thailand.

The Premier pointed out that after the division another generation of monks had to be brought down from Thailand and set up the Asgiriya and Malwatte Chapters. Later those who ruled this country decided to safeguard all the Chapters and made the Government bound by the Constitution to safeguard Buddhism.

“However, this tradition was broken by the rulers of this country around five years ago. The Mahanayake was threatened by them as he allowed one of their opponents to hold a Pooja at Dalada Maligawa. They threatened to divide the Malwatte Chapter and set up another Chapter.

“They went on to the extent of constructing a Stupa taller than Ruwan Weliseya in Anuradhapura, which is not possible as per the traditions, norms and beliefs. These rulers are bound by the tradition to tender an apology to the Mahanayake of Malwatte Chapter and to sweep the premises of Ruwan Weliseya and other sacred places of worship in repentance,” he added.

He said he would bring in a clause to the new Constitution under which government intervention in deciding on the composition of the three chapters would be prohibited. (Yohan Perera)

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18. PAKISTAN: ‘NEXT GENERATION OF MILITANTS MAY EMERGE FROM ACADEMIC | Imtiaz Ali
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(Dawn, Dawn, July 13, 2017)

KARACHI: Leading academicians have called for a coordinated and strong policy to check extremism that they believe is no more limited to conventional madressahs (seminaries) but can now be found in reputed public and private educational institutions, negating the ‘myth’ that radicalisation is linked with poverty and illiteracy.

They expressed these views at a seminar titled ‘Growing radicalisation in educational institutions’, which was organised by the Sindh police’s Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) at the Central Police Office on Wednesday. 

They sought immediate guidelines from every concerned segment of society including law enforcement and intelligence agencies to build a counter-narrative against extremism, which was fast attracting the educated youth of the province.

Vice chancellors and other officials of around 40 varsities, both private and public, attended the seminar.

The law enforcers and academics agreed to set up vigilance committees, enhancing surveillance, organising seminars at varsity auditoriums to sensitise the faculty members and students. They also promised to take up ‘practical issues’ with higher authorities.

    Officials of CTD, 40 varsities exchange views on radicalisation

“Radicalisation [is] growing at academic institutes with the CTD assessing that the next generation of militants [is] more likely to have university education rather than a madressah background,” said Additional IG Dr Sanaullah Abbasi who heads the CTD in Sindh.

“The recent cases of Noreen Leghari and Saad Aziz gave credence to this theory,” he added.

Dr Abbasi said the seminar was meant to start a discussion between varsity administrations and law enforcers to identify problem areas related to youth radicalisation and to see what possible solutions can be adopted. 

The CTD chief said there’s a need to sensitise academic institutes about the gravity of the problem.

“Small pockets of radicalisation [are] emerging in academic institutes,” said another CTD officer Munir Ahmed Shaikh.

Citing the case of Noreen Leghari who was radicalised through ‘social media’, the CTD SSP Operations said the varsity administration later told them that they had “detected certain behavioural changes” among several girls of the medical university, as a group of 10 to 15 girls used to attend ‘dars’ in ‘isolation’.

“There [is] a thin line between preaching and radicalisation,” observed Mr Shaikh.

CTD’s SSP (Intelligence) Omar Shahid Hamid said the department had assessed that youths that had been radicalised at academic institutes were “sophisticated and trained”.

“Radicalisation is growing and we fear that the militants are more likely to emerge from secular academic institutes,” said the CTD officer.

Mr Hamid cited the case of a 31-year-old man who studied at the prestigious Karachi Grammar School (KGS), graduated from LUMS and later on started teaching at the KGS. He was radicalised to the extent that he went to Waziristan, where he got injured in a drone strike. “Now he’s working on de-radicalisation after realising the horrible consequences,” he added.

A global agenda

CTD officer Raja Umar Khattab said radicalised youths of certain seminaries tended to indulge in sectarian violence or go to ‘jihad’ in Afghanistan but certain youths of academic institutes had a global agenda and they wanted to fight wars.

Citing the case of Saad Aziz and 19 other cases of radicalised youths, Mr Khattab disclosed that their parents knew of their drift towards extremism but they did not inform law enforcers. He said some educated and rich youths of Defence, Gulshan, Gulistan-i-Jauhar and Nazimabad were joining the global militant outfit, Islamic State group.

Referring to the case of a private university teacher who trained his son and other close relatives to prepare improvised explosive devices (IEDs), he said that faculty member became a ‘most wanted’ person.

Mr Khattab also cited another case of a faculty member of an academic institute in Clifton who radicalised one youth there.

CTD officer Mazhar Mashwani gave the example of an NED graduate who was radicalised and highlighted the need for strict surveillance at academic institutes.

VC Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University Lyari, Akhtar Baloch underlined the importance of adopting ‘counter-narrative’ to address the militancy issue. He regretted that the society was ‘militarised’ by eliminating liberal and progressive forces during the past 30-40 years through a particular narrative.

KASBIT Director Prof Mohammad Raees said radicalisation on campus was a ‘social phenomenon.’

Acting VC of DUET Dr Roshan Rashidi questioned the role of 10-12 intelligence agencies’ personnel operating at each varsity if they could not detect militancy there.

Pro-VC of NED University Dr Mohammad Tufail said identifying behavioural changes among the students was not ‘possible’ for them, because they were not trained for this. However, he said they were ready to cooperate with law enforcers and train people.

An official of LUMHS said after the Noreen case, they were monitoring students but the issuance of show-cause notice or strict disciplinary action could be counter-productive. He said they had recently noticed a change in behaviour of six girl students and informed their parents about their possible radicalisation.

Director of the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University, Nawabshah, Roshan Ali Siyal said they had set up a vigilance team after the APS tragedy in Peshawar and tended to call parents if any student was found having strange behaviour.

MUET registrar Dr Abdul Waheed Umrani observed: “We cannot mitigate the problem but we can prevent militancy with the help of government and law enforcers.”Chairman of Sindh University’s Criminology Department Nabi Bux Narejo said the faculty did not consider fighting terror or extremism as their ‘domain’, because VCs were not ready for it and they had no access to law enforcers; besides there were issues of lack of funding or lack of any such post at academic institutes to keep watch on militancy.Director of the People’s Medical University, Nawabshah, Mohammad Salih said agencies’ personnel were ‘interfering’ in their administration and financial affairs but they were not playing their role to prevent militancy on campus.An official of Bahria University, Commander Naveed, said they were observing activities of students and sent them to counselling cell if any behavioural change was observed among them.

Besides, they had restricted entry of guests or outsiders into the varsity.Pro-vice chancellor of the Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur, Dr Noor Ahmed Shaikh proposed seeking help of psychiatrists to monitor activities of students and involving the HEC in this regard.

========================================
19. INDIA: NOTHING LEARNT FROM HISTORY | Harini Nagendra
========================================
(The Hindu - July 04, 2017)

Raising the Sardar Sarovar dam to its full height will result in more large-scale submergence of habitations

Since Independence, between 25 and 60 million people have been displaced from their homes and uprooted for India’s development projects. Most end up living in abysmal poverty and deprivation. That we do not even know the exact numbers of those affected — in a country that prizes bureaucratic record keeping — is a clear indication of the callous disregard we have for these lives.

Disregarding years of sustained non-violent protest and an iconic mass movement that drew national and global attention, the Narmada Control Authority decided on June 17, 2017 to raise the height of the Sardar Sarovar dam to its full height, by ordering the closure of 30 gates. It was announced in time with the arrival of the monsoon. Once the dam is at its full height, it will submerge one town and at least 176 villages, displace close to 20,000 families, flood productive agricultural land, and destroy hundreds of acres of biodiverse forest. Proponents argue that (someone else’s) sacrifice is essential for (their) development. They tout the benefits: the dam will generate hydro-energy, extend irrigation and bring drinking water to drought-affected, arid areas of Rajasthan and Gujarat. But beyond the hype, the facts are in question. Ecologists, hydrologists, economists and engineers have produced detailed documentation that brings into doubt the claims of water provisioning, economic growth and safety made by the project.

Choked with silt

Siltation is one of the biggest challenges faced by dams worldwide, and constitutes one of the biggest challenges to the long-term success of this dam. The steep slopes of the Narmada valley are prone to erosion: they have been protected so far because of the dense forests that line the sides of the valley. Once these trees are lost, soil from the denuded slopes will flow unchecked into the river, turning the water muddy. The Central Water Commission’s 2015 compendium on siltation of India’s reservoirs reports alarming figures. For instance, in 85% of India’s dams, the actual rates of siltation are higher than those anticipated during their design. An alarming one in four dams has sedimentation rates more than five times as high as expected! Siltation is most rapid in the early years after dam construction and quickly begins to take effect. The problems are likely to be especially severe for giant dams such as the Sardar Sarovar, which cannot be easily desilted. Apart from directly reducing water storage capacity, siltation also decreases water capacity due to increased evaporation loss. As a result, the capacity to generate hydropower is affected. A dam choked with silt creates a river prone to risky situations of potential flooding in the backwaters.

A poor record

Compensation to the displaced, when given, has often come in the form of land unsuitable for farming or living, located either on riverbeds at the risk of flooding, or in rocky areas which cannot be ploughed. Resettlement sites lack basic facilities: no wells, drinking water pipelines, or grazing land for cattle, let alone schools or road facilities. The poor track record of the past is clear. Despite this, tens of thousands of additional households are now being asked to rely on resettlement without an adequately provisioned place to move. This leaves the once self-reliant people of the valley with no option but to work as daily wage labour and crowd into urban slums — often to be resettled again for other developmental or smart city projects.
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The thirsty river
 
The Narmada valley is one of the most fertile ecosystems in India, brimming with biodiversity, and with abundant fish, birds and trees. The dams along the Narmada have changed this, blocking normal water flow, leading to downstream habitat change and impacting biodiversity. The Narmada estuary, where the river meets the sea, has become increasingly saline because of the decrease in fresh water flow after the dams came up. Fish catch of some species has now declined by as much as 75%, signalling the almost complete collapse of the once famous fishing industry. Thousands of commercial and subsistence fishermen affected by this change are not classified as dam-affected though. Neither are the people who and industries which depended on the once-abundant supply of fresh water in the delta. (Water has now suddenly turned saline even to the depth of borewells.) Neither will the invisible tribal communities who depend on the lush forests of the valley — forests that will now be submerged. Only those who can produce evidence of losing homes or agricultural plots are counted as “project-affected”, and can lay claim to compensation.

There has to be a clear, transparent public accounting of livelihoods lost and jobs created, of profits accrued at the expense of great misery and injustice. For who are we to decide who wins and who loses? Large dams have forced the displacement of millions of India’s small farmers and landless peasants from across the country, forcing them into urban slums and shanties, breaking apart families and sending them into a downward spiral of degradation and penury. The tragedy of the Sardar Sarovar Project is that it has failed to learn from history, condemning tens of thousands more to the same fate.

Harini Nagendra is a Professor of Sustainability at Azim Premji University

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20. INDIA: WOMEN CAN’T ASK FOR CONDOMS, NO TO ‘INTERCOURSE’: WHAT’S WRONG WITH CENSOR BOARD
BY SANJUKTA SHARMA
========================================
(Hindustan Times - July 03, 2017)

Cinema is always the soft target. Censorship is an old gag in India; under this BJP regime, voices against it are louder than ever before. No sensible mind in the government would likely find any artistic or cerebral match in the CBFC chief Pahlaj Nihalani, director of asinine Bollywood films in the 1970s and 1980s

The theatrical release of Alankrita Shrivastava’s Lipstick Under My Burkha should encourage Hindi film-makers to recognise that sexual women can make good cinema. Hindi cinema has left the vamp and the virgin behind. Through the noughties and beyond, we have been seeing heroines who live in with boyfriends, who work at offices and run businesses and fiefdoms. But in almost all these films, they transform to human equivalents of ductile dolls at the exact sequence in which a song plays (nowadays in the background) and they fall in love. With a man. Yash Raj Films’ Daawat-e-Ishq (2014) is an example.

But Lipstick Under My Burkha is important for another big reason. It is a free speech milestone in India.

Twelve years ago, Maqbool Fida Husain left India. In a country that has always treated the art gallery as a rarefied, air-conditioned echo chamber best left to the elite, Husain was known to everyone. The supreme colourist, the most famous Indian modern artist, stunned the philistine and the aesthete alike. He died in London in 2011, having maintained that he was always an Indian artist and an Indian patriot. The truth is, he had no choice but to leave India. The Hindu establishment, through the Shiv Sena, its most potent vehicle in the 1990s and early 2000s, virtually hounded him out of the country. He painted Saraswati nude, he made Bharat mata trivial — there were such allegations against the artist, which became court cases Husain had no patience, will or temperament to fight for years.

Like then, India is still using Section 295 (A) and Section 153 (A) of the Constitution to justify offence and demand cuts, bans and serial silencing of artistic voice in cinema and art. Both these sections allow punishment of imprisonment or fine for “deliberate and malicious acts” that insult religious beliefs of any class of citizens. Section 153 (A) extends the purview of the offended: Offence can be on grounds of “race, place of birth, residence, language, caste or community or any other ground whatsoever”, which may encourage feelings of hatred or animosity. The easily offended Indian, in most cases, a Hindu, has used these two archaic sections of the Constitution freely and gleefully.

Cinema is always the soft target. Censorship is an old gag in India; under this BJP regime, voices against it are louder than ever before. One of this government’s contributions to the arts is appointing primitive minds to helm State-sponsored organisations like the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). No sensible mind in the government would likely find any artistic or cerebral match in the CBFC chief Pahlaj Nihalani, director of asinine Bollywood films in the 1970s and 1980s.

Culture for this State is largely indigenous art forms, and the need to save them, rather than promote voices that shatter tastes and traditions. This position is perfectly in harmony with the ‘escapist entertainment’ that majority of India believes films should be.
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Nihalani now wants the word ‘intercourse’ cut from the trailer of Shah Rukh Khan’s next film, Imtiaz Ali’s Jab Harry met Sejal. He wants 1 lakh votes from 36-year-old Indians and above. Not from unmarried people, and not on social media.

Shrivastava made her battles with the CBFC a selling point for her film Lipstick Under My Burkha, which Ekta Kapoor’s Alt Entertainment is releasing in theatres on July 21 after the Film Certificate Appellate Tribunal ordered that the film be granted an ‘A’ certificate with some cuts and reducing of the duration of sex scenes. The film’s second trailer has the hook: A victim that is finally triumphant.

Ratna Pathak Shah, Konkona Sensharma, Aahana Kumra and Plabita Borthakur play the lead roles of women in a small town. They have secret desires — the character Sensharma plays, of a burkha-clad woman, asks for topis at a chemist. How dare a Muslim woman stifled under a burkha ask for a condom? Nihalani ordered a ban on the film because he thought was too “lady-oriented”.

He of course meant the film had deracinated female sexual perverts who had no business pursuing their desires. Let’s watch the film and decide.

Sanjukta Sharma is a Mumbai-based writer and critic, and former editor of Mint Lounge

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21. FIREBRAND HINDU CLERIC ASCENDS INDIA’S POLITICAL LADDER
by Ellen Barry and Suhasini Raj
========================================
(The New York Times - July 12, 2017)
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/12/world/asia/india-yogi-adityanath-bjp-modi.html?emc=eta1&_r=0

 LUCKNOW, India — A Hindu warrior-priest has been chosen to rule India’s most populous state, and the cable news channels cannot get enough of him. Yogi, as everyone calls him, is so ascetic and incorruptible that he doesn’t use air-conditioners, they say. Yogi sleeps on a hard mattress on the floor. Yogi sometimes eats only an apple for dinner.

But the taproot of Yogi Adityanath’s popularity is in a more ominous place. As leader of a temple known for its militant Hindu supremacist tradition, he built an army of youths intent on avenging historic wrongs by Muslims, whom he has called “a crop of two-legged animals that has to be stopped.” At one rally he cried out, “We are all preparing for religious war!”

Adityanath (pronounced Ah-DIT-ya-nath) was an astonishing choice by Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, who came into office three years ago promising to usher India into a new age of development and economic growth, and playing down any far-right Hindu agenda. But a populist drive to transform India into a “Hindu nation” has drowned out Mr. Modi’s development agenda, shrinking the economic and social space for the country’s 170 million Muslims.

Few decisions in Indian politics matter more than the selection of the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, because the post is seen as a springboard for future prime ministers. At the age of 45, the diminutive, baby-faced Adityanath is receiving the kind of career-making attention that projects an Indian politician toward higher office.

“He is automatically on anybody’s list as a potential contender to succeed Modi,” said Sadanand Dhume, an India specialist at the American Enterprise Institute. “They have normalized someone who, three years ago, was considered too extreme to be minister of state for textiles. Everything has been normalized so quickly.”

Adityanath did not respond to repeated requests for comment for this article.

In March, when the Bharatiya Janata Party won a landslide electoral victory in Uttar Pradesh, political prognosticators expected Mr. Modi to make a safe choice — Manoj Sinha, a cabinet minister known for his diligence and loyalty to the party. On the morning of the announcement, an honor guard had been arranged outside his village.

But by midmorning, it was clear that something unusual was going on. A chartered flight had been sent to pick up Adityanath and take him to Delhi for a meeting with Amit Shah, the party president. At 6 p.m. the party announced it had appointed him as minister, sending a ripple of shock through India’s political class.

They were shocked because Adityanath is a radical, but also because he is ambitious, even rebellious. As recently as January, he walked out of the party’s executive meeting, reportedly because he was not allowed to speak. Mr. Modi is not known to have much tolerance for rivals.

The appointment “invests a certain amount of power in Yogi Adityanath that cannot be easily taken away,” said Ashutosh Varshney, a professor of political science and international studies at Brown University.

“Modi has been either unwilling to stop his rise, or unable to stop his rise,” he said.

As a young man, Adityanath’s passion was politics, not religion. One of seven children born to a forest ranger, Adityanath, born Ajay Singh Bisht, found his vocation in college as an activist in the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a right-wing Hindu organization.

He was so engrossed in the group’s work that the first two or three times he was summoned by a distant relative, the head priest of the Gorakhnath Temple, he “could not find the time,” he has said.

But religion and politics were fast converging. Gorakhnath Temple had a tradition of militancy: Digvijay Nath, the head priest until 1969, was arrested for exhorting Hindu militants to kill Mahatma Gandhi days before he was shot. His successor, Mahant Avaidyanath, urged Hindu mobs in 1992 to tear down a 16th-century mosque and build a temple there, setting off some of the bloodiest religious riots in India’s recent history.
Photo
Members of the Hindu Yuva Vahini, or Hindu Youth Brigade, a vigilante organization, at a rally in Unnao, India. Credit Cathal McNaughton/Reuters

When Adityanath announced his intention to join the temple, his father, Anand Singh Bisht, forbade it, he said in an interview. But Adityanath left anyway. Years later, Mr. Bisht burst into tears at the memory.

Mr. Bisht did not learn that his son had become a monk until four months after the fact, he said. Mr. Bisht rushed to see his son at the temple, and found him transformed, his head shaven and his ear pierced in a painful ceremony.

“I said, ‘Son, what have you done?’ I was shocked,” he said. “That was my child’s desire and so he was there. Then I gave my permission to go ahead. I had no choice.”

Adityanath won a seat in Parliament, the first of five consecutive terms. Among his advantages was a new group he had formed: the Hindu Yuva Vahini, or Hindu Youth Brigade, a vigilante organization. The volunteers, now organized to the village level and said by leaders to number 250,000, show up in force where Muslims are rumored to be bothering Hindus.

Vijay Yadav, 21, a volunteer lounging at Gorakhnath Temple in Gorakhpur on a recent day, said he had recently mobilized 60 or 70 young men to beat a Muslim accused of cow slaughter. They stopped, he said, only because the police intervened.

“All the Hindus got together and the first slap was given by me,” he said proudly. “If they do something wrong, fear is what works best. If you do something wrong, we will stop you. If you talk too much, we will kill you. This is our saying for Muslims.”

During the first five years after the vigilante group was formed, 22 religious clashes broke out in the districts surrounding Gorakhpur, a city in Uttar Pradesh, in many cases with Adityanath’s encouragement, said Manoj Singh, a journalist. In 2007, Adityanath was arrested as he led a procession toward neighborhoods seething with religious tension.

Even then, Mr. Singh recalled, the officer who arrested Adityanath stopped first to touch his feet as a gesture of reverence.

Adityanath was released after 11 days, but the arrest seemed to jolt him. He became more cautious, no longer directly leading followers into religious confrontations, Mr. Singh said.

For India’s frenetic 24-hour cable television world, Adityanath’s first months as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh were a windfall. Arriving in Lucknow, a city weary of a corrupt bureaucracy, he projected a refreshing toughness and austerity. He warned officials that they would be expected to work 18 to 20 hours a day if they were to keep their jobs, and inspectors and bureaucrats were said to be too afraid to ask for bribes.

His first orders were unabashedly populist. The police were dispatched in “anti-Romeo squads” to detain youths suspected of harassing women. Inspectors shut down dozens of meat-processing plants, a major source of revenue for area Muslims, for regulatory problems.

Vishal Pratap Singh, a Lucknow-based television journalist, noted that Adityanath was a “totally changed man on camera,” careful to avoid comments offensive to Muslims.

Still, Mr. Singh said, his ratings are sky-high, and the reason is obvious.

“Like Modi, he speaks for the Hindus,” he said. “Within his heart, he is a totally anti-Muslim person. That is the reason he is so likable.”
Photo
A closed slaughterhouse in Uttar Pradesh. The Indian government has banned the sale of cows and buffaloes for slaughter in a move to protect animals considered holy by many Hindus. Credit Rajesh Kumar Singh/Associated Press

Political observers in Delhi are watching him as one might watch an audition. Journalists filed reports of his first 100 days last week, and some were lukewarm, noting his failure to contain violent crime.

Neerja Chowdhury, an analyst, said Adityanath has two years to establish himself as an effective administrator.

“Remember, he is 20 years younger than Modi, and he is a known doer, so if he manages to deliver on some fronts, he would then become a possible candidate” in 2024, she said.

“India is moving right,” she added. “Whether India moves further right, and Modi begins to be looked upon as a moderate, I think that only time will tell.”

Adityanath may be interested in rebranding himself a mainstream politician, but his followers in the vigilante group do not all agree.

During the days after the election, some 5,000 men came forward to join the organization every day, prompting organizers to stop accepting applicants, said P. K. Mall, the group’s general secretary.

Sonu Yadav, 24, of Gorakhpur, who has served in the group for five years, said he had been disappointed by Mr. Modi’s tenure.

“We voted for Modi because Yogi endorsed him, but we are disillusioned,” he said. He went on to refer to the 2002 riots in the state Mr. Modi led, which his critics say he allowed to rage for several days, leading to more than 1,000 deaths.

“All of us in our colony felt that Modi would allow us to kill Muslims,” he said. “Muslims were scared. But nothing happened. When Yogi became chief minister, they were scared again.”

Mr. Modi has denied any wrongdoing, and Supreme Court panels have rejected petitions to prosecute Mr. Modi in the riots for lack of evidence.

For now, as Adityanath establishes a more mainstream reputation, Mr. Yadav and his friends have been told by their group’s leadership to cease all violent activities and instead perform community service. Vijay Yadav, Sonu’s friend, openly chafed at the new orders.

“This thing is going on in Yogi’s head that my shirt should not get a stain,” he said. “I couldn’t care less for his stained shirt. I can’t do good work and avoid getting a stain.”

He noted, by way of example, the recent beating death of a 62-year-old Muslim man whom vigilantes abducted and interrogated about a neighbor’s alleged love affair with a Hindu girl.

Vijay Yadav’s comment on the man’s death was a local proverb: “Along with the wheat,” he said, “small insects will get crushed.”

A version of this article appears in print on July 13, 2017, on Page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: Anti-Muslim Venom Fuels Rise to Power in India.

========================================
22. THE SILENCE OF THE AZAN | Saba Naqvi
========================================
(The Tribune, July 2, 2017)

There is good patriotism that fundamentally draws from humanitarian values distinct from the hysterical invoking of nationalism


THE smartest quip I heard last week was about the ghost of Mohandas Gandhi calling up Narendra Modi after he heard the prime minister of India in 2017 condemn the lynching of human beings and invoke Gandhi’s name to do so. The ghost then tells him, one Gujarati to the other, beta Narendrabhai please, NotInMyName….  

In February 2013, along with several other Indians, some of whom are celebrities, I attended the Karachi literature festival. A modest event was scheduled around my first book, In Good Faith that is a journey across India in search of syncretistic traditions. It’s the sort of theme that actually sold a few copies in Pakistan (possibly making me guilty of treachery under the new norms that govern our country). 

What struck me then is how traumatized a certain type of Pakistani (who would be called pseudo secular or pseudo liberal were they Indian today) was by the many jolts that doctrines of hate were giving their country. Karachi is routinely visited by horrendous violence and even as the festival ended, there was curfew in the city as protests broke out after a massacre of Hazara Shias in Quetta (death toll 89). The road to the airport was blocked and some international visitors had to leave with security escort. 

Writers at the venue -- and Pakistan has produced an outstanding crop of novelists writing in English such as Mohammed Hanif, Mohsin Hamid, Nadeem Aslam and Kamila Shamsie who were present at the lit fest -- spoke of their “collective misery”.

But what really remained with me was the opening ceremony of the festival as it included a dance-drama called Tagore. Gurudev’s poem Where the Mind is Without Fear was recited to a dance. Included in the drama was a rendition of Mahatma Gandhi’s favourite bhajan, ‘Raghupati Raghav Rajaram, patita paavana Sitaram, Ishwar Allah tero naam.... I had one of those moments of quiet pride standing there in Karachi. 

There is good patriotism that fundamentally draws from humanitarian values distinct from the hysterical invoking of nationalism to damn other people. George Orwell, who damns the nationalist narrative more effectively in the classic 1984 (written in 1949) than any writer has done, was a quintessential Englishman to the very end. I mention Karachi because, it’s been suggested that somehow the #NotInMyName campaign “defamed” India because some people in Karachi wanted to hold a similar event, linking it up to their own traumas such as the lynching of young student Mashal Khan. 

Bad times do bring out the best in the human spirit. The NotInMyName Campaign and citizens protests that took place in several Indian cities came from that sort of emotion. Initiated by a facebook post by an independent film-maker, it struck a chord. Whether the PM spoke out as a result of the citizens’ campaign or bad press in the West, I do not know. I will just admit that by the time he did, I was ready to weep with relief, fall at his feet and say thank you. That’s how desperate one has been feeling about the targeted attack on a particular community. And the scary silence about it. It’s not a distant fear; it’s closing in on those of us who live in areas with a sizeable Muslim population. For nearly a decade now, I’ve lived not far from the Qutub Minar in an area that is part slum, part middle class buildings. There are glorious monuments of the Delhi sultanate period, some maintained, others encroached on. It’s a chaotic area dotted with temples, madarsas, mosques, garbage dumps. 

I always heard the Azan in my neighbourhood. The ramzan of 2017 was the first when the call to prayer is no longer being broadcast, at least not in my ear-shot. The madarsa near my home stopped its broadcast several months ago, as they now just want to keep their head low, and be as invisible as is possible for groups of boys wearing little skull caps. I had gone to speak to the Imam last year requesting him to keep the volume down for the morning Azan during Ramzan as many non-Muslims get disturbed. This year there was no need: no Azan is broadcast, morning, afternoon, evening.

Today morning, during my walk, four little kids with the sweetest faces came up to me with a grin to ask for money. I asked their names: Muskaan, Fatima, Abrar and Anjali, ages three to eight, whose parents worked as labourers in a nearby slum. When I asked where they emerged from, they pointed to a small temple inside the park. They said they play there sometimes. In the past I would have seen it as an example of intertwined lives, but now I am worried if the pujari knows that three of the kids are Muslims. Perhaps they are taking a risk, I thought. They are innocent children not yet aware of their religious identity.

Because of my fears I shall investigate the matter tomorrow morning. Perhaps I am wrong and the pujari is a man with an open heart. Meanwhile, I’ve promised the children presents so they will be there. Jul 2, 2017, 12:55 AM; last updated: Jul 2, 2017, 12:55 AM (IST) Saba Naqvi MOCKINGBIRD Saba Naqvi The silence of the Azan Saba Naqvi There is good patriotism that fundamentally draws from humanitarian values distinct from the hysterical invoking of nationalism 210 SHARES Share to Facebook FacebookShare to Twitter TwitterShare to Google+ Google+Share to Email EmailShare to Print Print Also in this section Yes, I refuse to kill… THE smartest quip I heard last week was about the ghost of Mohandas Gandhi calling up Narendra Modi after he heard the prime minister of India in 2017 condemn the lynching of human beings and invoke Gandhi’s name to do so. The ghost then tells him, one Gujarati to the other, beta Narendrabhai please, NotInMyName…. In February 2013, along with several other Indians, some of whom are celebrities, I attended the Karachi literature festival. A modest event was scheduled around my first book, In Good Faith that is a journey across India in search of syncretistic traditions. It’s the sort of theme that actually sold a few copies in Pakistan (possibly making me guilty of treachery under the new norms that govern our country). What struck me then is how traumatized a certain type of Pakistani (who would be called pseudo secular or pseudo liberal were they Indian today) was by the many jolts that doctrines of hate were giving their country. Karachi is routinely visited by horrendous violence and even as the festival ended, there was curfew in the city as protests broke out after a massacre of Hazara Shias in Quetta (death toll 89). The road to the airport was blocked and some international visitors had to leave with security escort. Writers at the venue -- and Pakistan has produced an outstanding crop of novelists writing in English such as Mohammed Hanif, Mohsin Hamid, Nadeem Aslam and Kamila Shamsie who were present at the lit fest -- spoke of their “collective misery”. But what really remained with me was the opening ceremony of the festival as it included a dance-drama called Tagore. Gurudev’s poem Where the Mind is Without Fear was recited to a dance. Included in the drama was a rendition of Mahatma Gandhi’s favourite bhajan, ‘Raghupati Raghav Rajaram, patita paavana Sitaram, Ishwar Allah tero naam.... I had one of those moments of quiet pride standing there in Karachi. There is good patriotism that fundamentally draws from humanitarian values distinct from the hysterical invoking of nationalism to damn other people. George Orwell, who damns the nationalist narrative more effectively in the classic 1984 (written in 1949) than any writer has done, was a quintessential Englishman to the very end. I mention Karachi because, it’s been suggested that somehow the #NotInMyName campaign “defamed” India because some people in Karachi wanted to hold a similar event, linking it up to their own traumas such as the lynching of young student Mashal Khan. Bad times do bring out the best in the human spirit. The NotInMyName Campaign and citizens protests that took place in several Indian cities came from that sort of emotion. Initiated by a facebook post by an independent film-maker, it struck a chord. Whether the PM spoke out as a result of the citizens’ campaign or bad press in the West, I do not know. I will just admit that by the time he did, I was ready to weep with relief, fall at his feet and say thank you. That’s how desperate one has been feeling about the targeted attack on a particular community. And the scary silence about it. It’s not a distant fear; it’s closing in on those of us who live in areas with a sizeable Muslim population. For nearly a decade now, I’ve lived not far from the Qutub Minar in an area that is part slum, part middle class buildings. There are glorious monuments of the Delhi sultanate period, some maintained, others encroached on. It’s a chaotic area dotted with temples, madarsas, mosques, garbage dumps. I always heard the Azan in my neighbourhood. The ramzan of 2017 was the first when the call to prayer is no longer being broadcast, at least not in my ear-shot. The madarsa near my home stopped its broadcast several months ago, as they now just want to keep their head low, and be as invisible as is possible for groups of boys wearing little skull caps. I had gone to speak to the Imam last year requesting him to keep the volume down for the morning Azan during Ramzan as many non-Muslims get disturbed. This year there was no need: no Azan is broadcast, morning, afternoon, evening. Today morning, during my walk, four little kids with the sweetest faces came up to me with a grin to ask for money. I asked their names: Muskaan, Fatima, Abrar and Anjali, ages three to eight, whose parents worked as labourers in a nearby slum. When I asked where they emerged from, they pointed to a small temple inside the park. They said they play there sometimes. In the past I would have seen it as an example of intertwined lives, but now I am worried if the pujari knows that three of the kids are Muslims. Perhaps they are taking a risk, I thought. They are innocent children not yet aware of their religious identity. Because of my fears I shall investigate the matter tomorrow morning. Perhaps I am wrong and the pujari is a man with an open heart. Meanwhile, I’ve promised the children presents so they will be there. 

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23. INSIDE SOUTH KASHMIR, A YEAR AFTER BURHAN WANI'S DEATH by Rahul Pandita
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(open magazine - july 7, 2017)

THE SUN HAS come out in Kashmir after two days of intermittent rain, and in its luminosity, the anti- India slogans painted in bold letters along roads in Kulgam are clearly visible. Slogans against India and its security forces are not new in Kashmir. But in Kulgam and its neighbouring districts of Shopian and Pulwama, there are so many of them that it gives the impression of an area under siege. Like most of rural Kashmir, Kulgam, around 70 km south of Srinagar, is beautiful. With orchards laden with apples, vast paddy fields, lush green meadows, springs, and a tributary of Jhelum River flowing through it, Kulgam looks like a slice of paradise. But today, it is a place at war. In 2008, it was declared ‘militancy free’; in 2017, however, it would be suicidal for a policeman to venture out without protection. The orchards have turned into sanctuaries for militants—mostly local men in their twenties. In video clips and pictures shot on smartphones, they are seen smiling, eating food, offering namaaz, and fooling around with their guns. Many among their ranks are dead, killed in ones and twos in recent encounters with the police. They are poorly trained, but it doesn’t take much to open fire with an AK-47 rifle. A group of them did that on June 16th, killing six policemen in the closeby Anantnag district. They were led by a local militant commander, Bashir Lashkari. On July 1st, Lashkari, who dropped out of school after Class 3, was trapped in a house along with one of his accomplices and killed. A video circulated on WhatsApp groups afterwards shows him making meatballs for a feast. An AK-47 rifle by his side, he chuckles while talking to someone: “What do you know,” he says, “I am a cook.”

For the police, locating and ‘eliminating’ the likes of Lashkari is not all that difficult. The challenge, they say, is to shut what a senior police officer terms a ‘floodgate”—of young men getting radicalised and joining militancy. For that to happen, they say, it is important to press for law and order that spiralled out of control after the death of the militant commander Burhan Wani on July 8th last year. Ever since, this part of Kashmir has seen relentless violence by locals, many among who are now extremely radicalised. Egged on by militants and buoyed by lawlessness after Wani’s death, they have been coming out in large numbers to pelt stones at security forces engaged in operations against militants holed up in houses, helping them escape in many instances. Such mobilisations at encounter sites tend to happen quickly. Voice messages sent via WhatsApp urge people to come out in droves and foil operations. Dozens of these had to be abandoned over the past year in the wake of relentless attacks by civilian crowds. But now, the police have decided not to withdraw from such action at any cost, and wrest control from militants and their sympathisers. “The law and order problem in Kashmir is all militant-driven. And it will now be dealt with accordingly. There will be no let up,” says Munir Khan, who took over as Kashmir’s Inspector General of Police in May. The new security paradigm means that there are frequent encounters with militants, and that cordon-and-search operations take place almost every day.

In Hatipora, in Kulgam, a team of the police’s elite unit, Special Operations Group (SOG), and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), led by the SOG’s head of operations in this area, enters an orchard patch for a SADO (search and destroy operation). Hatipora is a militant hotbed. According to the police, there are many drug addicts in this area who do not work at all and have turned into what they call ‘chronic stone pelters’. Such men are just a step away from becoming militants. Illegal sand mining is rampant, beyond which many locals in the area do nothing except indulge in violence against the police and aid militants, who use a section of the orchard as a transit route. Somewhere along the path is a ravine where they hide before venturing out.

The team enters stealthily, spreading out in a V shape once in. There could be militants inside, says the operations head. But after an hour’s search, no ‘contact’ with militants happens. “But that does not mean they are not around. So operations like these will continue,” he says.

Before the SADO, one of the police officers, in charge of a sensitive area nearby, had been playing a game on his mobile phone as he awaited the return of his bulletproof jeep that his men had taken for refuelling. The sound effects of the game were very different from the sounds he usually got to hear. He tried to smile as he spoke, though it did not come easily to him. There was a rawness about him, which he tried to hide behind the calm of his voice—even his “nonsense” and “bullshit” seemed measured, like a doctor telling a patient how he is going to use chemotherapy to kill his cancerous cells.

The man had not gone home for two years. He said he spoke to his son every morning before school. As always, he’d tell him he was busy—fighting a war he thought he and his colleagues had won long ago. But it had come back, and with a vengeance, after Burhan Wani’s death. This too shall pass, he said. He may live or die, he added, but the fight would go on. “See, I don’t care whether India gives me a medal or not,” he said, “I am a religious person and I am fighting a jihad against terrorism. I am a mujahid, I am a hero.” He was ready for the possibility of death, a thought that must have gone through his mind several times. “I will get replaced even before I am buried. Even my wife will replace me. Except for one’s parents, one is replaceable.”

    When a local policeman dies in the line of duty, even his neighbours are reluctant to attend his funeral, says a non-Kashmiri police officer serving in the Valley

A SENIOR POLICE OFFICER who has served in both the state’s south and north often compares Kashmir to a tuberculosis patient who left his treatment midway because he thought he had gotten better. The ‘relapse’ had occurred before Burhan Wani’s death, the officer says. But this time, it seemed to be more vengeful. In 1990, when insurgency erupted in the Valley, the Indian state had slipped into a temporary coma of sorts. The local administration, including the police, had been rendered ineffective. But by the late 90s, the situation had been brought under control. By the mid-2000s, Kashmir had almost begun to look normal. The state police was at the forefront of this war, developing intelligence networks, conducting operations, getting killed in the line of duty. Many among the local population saw them as ‘traitors’ fighting militants for the ‘enemy’. “See, if I die here, I will be celebrated as a hero back home. But today, if a local policeman dies in the line of duty, even his neighbours will be reluctant to attend his funeral,” says a non-Kashmiri police officer serving in the Valley. The police manage to do their job, thanks to the likes of Constable Showkat Bhat, who died while rescuing a CRPF officer from a 2006 suicide attack on Srinagar’s Standard Hotel. The police have produced brilliant surveillance geeks like Sub-Inspector Altaf, nicknamed ‘Laptop’, who helped neutralise the Hizbul Mujahideen network in Kashmir—he died in a trap laid for him by terrorists in 2015. It was due to police efforts that many locals were weaned away from militancy. But mehmaani mujahid (foreign terrorists) took over the reins of operations; it is they who launched most attacks against security forces in the Valley, including suicide strikes. The last ‘big’ Kashmiri militant commander happened to be Hizbul Mujahideen’s Sohail Faisal, who was killed in an Army operation in 2006 in South Kashmir’s Bijbehara. He had spent around 15 years in Pakistan. After him, all field commanders in the Valley were foreigners. In 2011, Lashkar-e-Toiba’s top commander in the south, Abdul Rehman, was killed in a gun battle with security forces. A few weeks prior, Lashkar’s North Kashmir commander, Abdullah Ooni was killed in Sopore. Ooni was involved in several deadly ambushes against security forces and had established a strong base in Sopore. Five months later, the police also got his deputy, Abu Badr.

In 2015, another dreaded Pakistani terrorist, Abu Qasim was killed in an encounter with the police. Qasim was a part of the Lashkar squad that had carried out an attack in 2013 on an Army convoy in Srinagar’s Hyderpora in which eight soldiers lost their lives. He was killed three weeks after he had laid the trap that killed Altaf ‘Laptop’.

But while the police were trying hard to contain militancy, the Kashmiri leadership only seemed interested in playing politics. In 2002, after Mufti Mohammed Sayeed became Chief Minister, he spoke of disbanding the SOG. He said that people were tired of barricades and crackdowns and they required a healing touch. “Which was all right,” says a senior police officer, “except that in the process, a message was conveyed as if the police force were the state’s illegitimate child.” The SOG continues its work even now, but more like a kind of phantom force. Senior police officers speak of their helplessness when men serving in the SOG come to them and say that they feel like orphans since they are not even supposed to take the name of their unit. “It is a shame. Police from states like Gujarat and Maharashtra have come here and learned from us. But we are supposed to use faux names such as ‘task force,’” says an officer who has served with the SOG. “The irony is,” says another officer, “we are all SOG in the sense that we have to work like them; otherwise we can’t win this war.”

The hypocrisy is evident in how some politicians who cry hoarse over the SOG’s existence demand that only its men be assigned to their own security. “In their uniforms, the SOG personnel look more impressive and deadly,” says a senior police officer. Another officer remembers how the wife of a senior minister thrice requested a change of guards at their house. “When it happened the third time, I called her and asked her the reason. She said: ‘I am very scared of local boys; will you send Hindu boys from Jammu?’” he recalls (SOG has men from all over the state).

It is the same hypocrisy that resulted in the police taking a step back after current Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said in a statement after Burhan Wani’s killing that it would have been better had he been caught instead of shot. “Here we are, engaged in deadly combat with militants, and she tells us what we should have done,” says a police officer.

    Senior policemen speak of how a collective failure of all state organs enabled militancy to be revived. They point at how laws turned ineffective when it came to dealing with militant sympathisers

It is this chameleon politics that has resulted in a surge of violence in the state’s south. Police sources say that after Mufti Mohammed Sayeed came to power in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2015, they came under pressure from the government to halt anti-militant operations. “It came to a point where we were told that the militants don’t trouble us, [so] let us not trouble them,” says a senior police officer. The political interference resulted in the removal of security pickets at crucial points between villages and localities in the south, which is a stronghold of Sayeed’s People’s Democratic Party (PDP). “Once a bunker is removed, it is not easy to put it back,” says the officer.

The officer who has served in the south says all the young males he detained for stone pelting had accessed Islamic State’s online magazine Dabiq on their cellphones.

The situation took a dire turn after Wani’s death. Security forces even stopped venturing into some areas, leave alone conducting operations. “In Kulgam, operations have resumed almost after a gap of 18 months or so. In Shopian and Pulwama, the situation was more or less the same. Imagine the time we lost,” says the officer.

Senior police personnel speak of how a collective failure of all state organs enabled militancy to be revived. They point at how laws turned ineffective when it came to dealing with militant sympathisers in these areas. “I would arrest a stone-pelter, only to watch him be set free after ten days. Sometimes we got so frustrated, we would ask the judge to at least book him on charges of eve-teasing so that he stays in jail for slightly longer,” says an officer.

The police lay out the following trajectory for militant sympathisers turning into militants: out of sympathy, the man begins to first pelt stones. When the law fails to check him, he gets emboldened and becomes a chronic stone-pelter. Sources say that militants keep tabs on such men and approach them to join the militant fold. In the last few years, the law has failed to prevent this. For instance, a stone-pelter is supposed to sign an executive bond in front of a magistrate which makes it binding on him to pay a fine if he repeats his offence. But for repeat offenders, this was not being followed at all. The police cite the example of Tauseef Wani, a 28-year-old man who was killed during clashes that broke out in Pulwama to save two militants hiding in a house on June 22th. Tauseef died due to a direct hit from a teargas shell. He was detained twice in 2010 and 2016 for stone pelting and had ten cases registered against him. But he never stayed in jail for more than six months. “The main dilemma is ‘What are we?’ We keep oscillating. Are we here to fight militancy or behave like the hospitality and protocol department of the state?” asks a senior police officer.

Now, in Kulgam, the police have started using Bad Character Surveillance Act, which gives quasi-judicial powers to district police chiefs against stone-pelters and militant sympathisers. Once booked under this law, an offender has to disclose his movement outside his village, any violation of which lands him in jail. “It has worked well so far,” says Shridhar Patil, Kulgam’s superintendent of police, “we even had families approaching us whose wards were drug abusers and pelted stones. We have sent two such cases to the de-addiction centre in Srinagar.”

The police will also very soon make its writ run large by putting up posters of wanted militants next to every anti-India slogan on walls and shop shutters. “The new militants have no central command. They are more like criminals who engage in senseless violence. They are facing a crunch of weapons and money, and we will catch up with them all in the next few months,” says Swayam Prakash Pani, South Kashmir’s deputy inspector general of police.

The police are now finally gaining an upper hand. But somewhere in the middle of this war, there is also anger among the police at how the Indian state is treating them. Since 1989, the Union Home Ministry has spent over Rs 4,596 crore under ‘Security Related Expenditure’ (SRE) on the Kashmir Police. But till the killing of six policemen on June 16th, many police stations in the south did not even have bulletproof vehicles (they have been promised now). “Those who are prepared to die for India’s flag are treated shabbily even by the Indian state,” says a police officer.

The state policemen have no parity at death with a jawan from a Central police force. There are hardly any medical facilities for him. Senior police officers rue that if one of their men gets injured, he cannot even be sent to the local hospital, as he may get lynched there. If he has to be sent outside Kashmir for the treatment of grave injuries, it is a time-consuming process: the district police chief has to write to the police headquarters, which then writes to the health department, which must then seek the advice of the state home department. The police have long been asking for at least two trauma centres, one in the north and another in south. “There have been times when we have spent money from our own pockets for the special treatment of injured policemen,” says a senior police officer. An SOG head constable Open spoke to takes home a salary of Rs 38,000. He has served for 20 years and has taken part in most of the encounters against militants in the last few months. He gets a risk allowance of Rs 70. “Special police units working in insurgency areas all over India get at least 40 per cent extra as a salary component. In Kashmir, we get nothing,” says a police officer. Many policemen expressed their resentment in June when they were asked to contribute a day’s salary to a martyrs welfare fund. “Are we mercenaries?” asked a policemen posted in district police lines in Srinagar, “it is the government’s duty to ensure our welfare.”

Police sources speak of how SRE funds have become the ‘oxygen cylinder’ for the state and how many have invented brazen methods to access this money. Last year, the police decided to stop renting 20 huts on the Amarnath Yatra route as they usually did every year for their senior cadre. “We were gheraoed by the staff of Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Development Corporation who said they had not even been paid salaries since we did not take the huts on rent,” says a police officer. He gives an example of how SRE funds are misused: a man joins a political party and then approaches his district police chief for security. He is provided with two special police officers (SPOs). Then he says he has no place for them, so the police construct an outhouse in his property for his SPOs. After a while, he disconnects his own electricity connection and begins to draw from the outhouse, which gets free power from the government. After a while, he goes to the district commissioner and says the SPOs have damaged his property and asks for a rent assessment. Then he starts getting paid for the space given to SPOs.

In 2006, according to a police source in Pulwama, the then district SSP asked one of his deputies to call all men he had at his disposal. The next morning, he found only 12 men waiting for him. The source says the SSP drove in his car to the boundary of his district, followed by a Tata 407 truck. From there, he made a U- turn, picking up police guards from spots where he thought they were not required. He found that some guards had been posted on bridges. For the night, they would go to accommodations next to bridges which they had rented for which the government was paying. By the time he returned to his office, the strength of men had increased from 12 to 50.

In North Kashmir, thankfully, the situation is much better. Here, the number of foreign terrorists is higher than local militants. There are about 70 Pakistani terrorists while the number of locals is only seven. “We don’t let them rest here,” says Imtiyaz Mir, SSP, Baramulla. “They are under tremendous pressure to turn North into South. But we are taking cognisance of every small matter,” says Nitish Kumar, IGP, North.

IN THE RAIN, Srinagar city looks worthy of a dirge. On the road from the airport, paramilitary soldiers stand on duty; in their raincoats and knee and elbow pads, they look like scarecrows. Everyone appears on edge all the time. When they get stuck in traffic jams, the soldiers standing with their machine guns atop trucks become more alert. On FM radio, a woman caller calls a cleric, asking him if it is okay to lie down after breaking a Ramzaan fast at iftaar. Sirens wail past as the muezzins call from mosques. There is a cement ad which speaks of a ‘mazboot buniyaad’ (strong foundation) for Kashmir and then breaks into an ad for a dialysis centre. Local newspapers are full of patients requiring critical treatment for various diseases, mostly kidney failure.

A young girl, from top to bottom in an abaya, steals a conversation with a boy in school uniform half hiding behind a tree. Under her grey overalls, the girl wears shiny red sandals. An apparently mad man, of which there are many in Kashmir, looks at them and mumbles. A senior cop in north Kashmir calls it the phenomenon of maet aab—of the mad waters of Kashmir. He narrates a story of how a husband asked his wife not to drink water from the river the next day since doing so would turn a person mad. But the next morning, everyone around them had consumed that water and gone mad. In that madness, they attacked her. In a moment of desperation, the husband advised that she drink the water too and turn mad.

It is this madness with which a crowd caught hold of a police officer at Srinagar’s Jama Masjid and lynched him. Police intercepts of militant calls shows them speaking calmly about cordons outside and how they are prepared to meet what is destined for them. The same madness makes some believe that the 2014 floods came because a family in the city’s posh Rajbagh locality insisted on celebrating the birthday of their dog.

The police officer who has not been home for two years says it is all “nonsense” and “bullshit”. He says the game in Kashmir is one of respect and honour. “When the youngsters realise there is more respect in being a policeman than a militant, they will opt for the police,” he says. “How will that happen? When one of us dies, let my DGP lead the procession. It will all turn from that moment.”

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24. THREE DEATHS: MORE THAN A PERSONAL LOSS
Prabhat Patnaik
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(The Telegraph - 12 July 2017)

When one reaches a certain age, one has to steel oneself to the idea of hearing periodically the news of one's friends passing away. But when the passing of several friends gets concentrated within a very short span of time - each of them a brilliant person whose loss the country, not just one personally, can ill-afford - and when their deaths, by modern-day standards, are premature, then such news becomes difficult to bear. Three such outstanding individuals passed away in the course of the last six or seven weeks. I received the news of each passing with a shock; together they were overwhelming.

The first loss was of Arup Mullick, an outstanding economist and a brilliant teacher who had been for long a professor at Calcutta University. He influenced several generations of students and contributed greatly to upholding the high academic standards of that university. Arup was undoubtedly, in my view, the clearest-thinking economist of my generation. Not a person who wrote a great deal, he had a razor-sharp intellect that could dissect and assess the academic work of others with great acuity. I recollect one telling incident.

It must have been 1978 or thereabouts. A seminar was being held at the Centre for the Study of Social Sciences, Calcutta, on Indian industry. I was presenting a paper and Arup was the discussant. Seminars in Calcutta those days, unlike what I find now, used to draw the entire galaxy of academics of the city belonging not just to the discipline concerned, but also to kindred disciplines. So, the hall was packed with great minds, and I, then a young man, was naturally quite nervous. At the end of my presentation, I could clearly see that I had not succeeded in making myself intelligible to anyone in the audience. In fact, the overwhelming feeling in the audience was that I had made some elementary logical errors and had generally made a fool of myself.

It was at that point that Arup as the discussant spoke. Before making any critical comments, he presented, as is customary, the gist of my paper. He did it so beautifully that literally everybody came to see what I was trying to argue. Immediately after Arup had spoken, we broke for tea, and during the break the pervasive talk was about how great Arup's paper had been. I must confess that my relief and gratitude at having my paper explained to the audience, and being saved from the ignominy of being labelled an utterly confused person, were not unmixed with a certain chagrin that Arup was being applauded for his presentation of what, after all, had been my paper!

We have a situation in our country where formal, rigorous and sui generis analysis (as opposed to models borrowed from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank), as the basis for economic policy discussions, is fast disappearing. Policy discussions are getting to be analytically uninformed, while whatever rigorous analysis gets undertaken is increasingly in the nature of arid formalism. In this context, Arup's loss to our intellectual life is enormous.

The second loss was of Basudev Chatterji, affectionately called Robi by everyone, who was a brilliant historian, a professor at Delhi University, an inspiring teacher, and at one time the chairman of the Indian Council of Historical Research. I had first met Robi when he had come to Cambridge to do his PhD and I was a junior member of the economics faculty there. He was some years my junior, and even though we had both studied at the same college in Delhi (St Stephen's), I had no recollection of him from college days. A skilled sitar player, having been trained by Pandit Uma Shankar Mishra, who was himself a disciple of Pandit Ravi Shankar, Robi was an utterly idiosyncratic character, and absolutely lovable.

He was iconoclastic but without a trace of malice. He had a wry and impish sense of humour that spared no one but was totally innocent. He was wholly committed to academic values and had a deep sense of respect for anyone who did serious academic work. He was a non-conformist who hated pretentiousness and cant, and poked fun at the Establishment. While his being appointed chairman of the ICHR was surprising for this reason (and indicates the respect with which he was held by the few cognoscenti among the decision-makers within the government of that time), his conduct as chairman, as one would expect, was completely free of any trace of officiousness, self-importance or arrogance. He remained the same old irreverent Robi even as chairman of ICHR, without, however, in any way, being slack in the performance of his duties. To say that Robi was free of any kind of opportunism would be an understatement: indeed, let alone pushing himself forward, he even lacked to a remarkable extent any instinct for self-preservation.

His academic work was formidable. His doctoral dissertation at Cambridge, published as Trade, Tariffs, and Empire: Lancashire and British Policy in India, 1919-1939, was a landmark in the history of colonialism. He was also the editor of one of the volumes of the 10-volume Towards Freedom project, which was initiated under the general editorship of Sarvepalli Gopal as an intellectual counter to the Transfer of Power volumes brought out from Britain after the documents of the period became public. Robi, if I am not mistaken, was the youngest of the editors, a tribute to the respect he commanded among historians.

It was typical of Robi that after relinquishing his position as the chairman of ICHR, he went and settled down in distant Guwahati, a city with which he had had no earlier ties, and led a rather reclusive life. He quietly passed away there, without even consenting to come to Delhi for treatment despite his family's urgings.

The third friend I have lost recently is Nirupam Sen, who passed away on July 2 in Delhi. Nirupam was two years my junior at St Stephen's, and even as an undergraduate had acquired a formidable reputation for his intellect and erudition. For some unfathomable reason, he did not become an academic but went into the foreign service instead. He was, when the world capitalist crisis began in 2008, India's permanent representative at the United Nations, and, along with the president of the general assembly at that time, Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann from Nicaragua, was keen to have the United Nations play a leading role in fashioning a new world order that they both thought should emerge out of the crisis. As Brockmann put it, instead of the G-7, or the G-20, it should be the G-192, that is the entire membership of the UN, which should decide on the new world order. The idea, needless to say, was scuttled at the initiative of the United States of America, and the world was back to having a few dictate terms to all, which Nirupam, an ardent anti-imperialist and champion of the non-aligned movement, had been strongly opposed to.

Nirupam carried forward his formidable knowledge and intellect to the task of diplomacy and, with his anti-imperialist views, was held in very high esteem by delegates from other third world countries, especially those from Africa and Latin America. I observed this myself when I was a part of a four-member group, which included Joseph Stiglitz, and which was invited by Brockmann to address the general assembly on what needed to be done in the wake of the crisis. After we had spoken, the delegates were supposed to respond to our remarks, and Nirupam naturally spoke on behalf of India. He made a characteristically learned and profound speech, invoking even concepts like John Keynes's "liquidity trap", though he was not a student of economics. At least half a dozen third world delegates who spoke after him, began their speeches with the remark: "After the Indian delegate has spoken, it is unnecessary for me to say anything more".

After retirement, Nirupam came back to settle down in Delhi and was a regular presence at all gatherings of the Left and progressive intelligentsia, especially at events organized by the Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust. His intellect, his absolute honesty, his commitment to democracy and the cause of building a humane society were an enormous source of inspiration to everybody actively engaged in the struggle against communal-fascism at this difficult juncture in our nation's life.

He would occasionally telephone me and we would have long conversations, discussing anything from an opinion piece in The Telegraph, to the latest issue of Frontline, to major events of the time like the Gaza blockade, or Brexit, or the election of Donald Trump. These conversations helped me greatly in forming my opinions. I shall, alas, no longer get those telephone calls.

The author is Professor Emeritus, Centre for Economic Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

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25. I THOUGHT INDIA INVITED ME TO SHOW ITS SUPPORT FOR DEMOCRACY. HOW WRONG I WAS.
by Pavin Chachavalpongpun 
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(The Washington Post - July 10, 2017)

As a Thai political dissident who lives in exile, I’m accustomed to being attacked by the authoritarian leaders of my own country. Now I find myself adjusting to a new variation on the theme: confronting an allegedly democratic government that is willing to do Bangkok’s dirty work for it.

Earlier this month, I was invited to attend the Delhi Dialogue, a discussion forum on a variety of issues between India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The organizers wanted me to discuss Thai-Indian relations and how they fit into the larger context of South and Southeast Asian politics. I had attended the event once before, many years ago.

My situation today, however, is rather different. In 2014, the Thai military seized power in a coup and immediately targeted me for my outspoken criticism of the monarchy. The coup organizers summoned me to have my attitude “adjusted” — their euphemism for interrogation. When I refused, the authorities issued a warrant for my arrest and revoked my passport. Luckily I was already living in Japan, so I decided to stay and apply for refugee status.

So when the Indians invited me to speak at the Delhi Dialogue again, I was convinced that they were aiming to highlight the importance of free speech, human rights and democracy. I was wrong.

I was supposed to speak at one of two events during the forum. Hours before the first one, the Thai Embassy in Delhi noticed my name on the schedule and expressed concerns to the Indian hosts. They were worried that I was going to speak critically of the junta. The Thai Foreign Ministry had assigned a deputy foreign minister, a junta appointee, to represent Thailand at the event. My attendance, it seems, would have “embarrassed” the Thai delegates.

Under pressure from the Thai Embassy, the organizers told me that my participation at the ministerial session was no longer welcome. In other words, having traveled to India, I was kicked out of the first day’s activities.

Stunned by the response from the Indian host, I decided to boycott the whole event and left Delhi abruptly (not least because I began to worry about my personal safety). I was used to being silenced by own government, but now I had been silenced by the same host that had invited me to the meeting in the first place.

To be honest, human rights, free speech and democracy have never held a prominent place in Thai-Indian relations. It is disappointing that India, which revels in its status as the world’s most populous democratic state, is now working closely with an illegitimate and un-elected government in Thailand.

Since the coup, India has said nothing about the military’s intervention in politics and the disruption of democracy. In fact, the Indian government has rolled out the red carpet to the coup-makers on several occasions. General Prayuth Chan-ocha, the Thai prime minister, paid his first visit to India in June 2016. The press release from the Indian government said, “Thailand is a trusted and valued friend, and one of our closest partners in Southeast Asia.”

India has been happy to lend its diplomatic support to Thai military leaders and is willing to turn a blind eye to the lack of democracy in Thailand in its pursuit of economic gain. Although India is not currently a major strategic partner, the Bangkok junta’s growing recognition of India’s emergence as a new regional power has contributed to a rapid upgrade of the relationship.

India is keen to compensate for the regional rise of China, a desire that informs Delhi’s “Look East” strategy. India has a clear need to maintain close ties with Thailand. But this has never been done in a way that adequately respects India’s democratic principles. Thailand is under military rule, which has crushed the country’s democratic aspirations. The lack of India’s commitment to democratic principles in its foreign policy is making life easy for the junta’s despotic regime.

Unfortunately, this is part of a broader global trend. India is not the only democratic state that openly helps authoritarian regimes to suppress their critics. The South Korean government has placed me on a blacklist. And the U.S. government accepted a request from the Thai junta to annul my passport.

The Trump administration is showing itself much less willing to accept political refugees, vividly demonstrating Washington’s dwindling commitment to humanitarian principles. India and South Korea are treating critical academics as outlaws. These supposedly democratic nations are turning a blind eye to authoritarianism to safeguard their own positions of power.

I know that my peculiar experience in India appears trivial when viewed against the background of the relations of two large countries. Yet what happened to me still says a great deal about some democracies’ waning commitment to the principles they claim to hold dear.

Pavin Chachavalpongpun is an associate professor at Kyoto University’s Center for Southeast Asian Studies.

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26. CHINA: DEMOCRATIC VOICE LIU XIAOBO DIES IN CUSTODY
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Human Rights Watch
July 13, 2017

Nobel Laureate’s Death Exposes Beijing’s Ruthlessness, But His Vision Lives On

(New York) – The death of Chinese dissident and public intellectual Liu Xiaobo, winner of the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize, lays bare the Chinese government’s ruthlessness toward peaceful proponents of human rights and democracy, Human Rights Watch said today. On July 13, 2017, Liu died from complications of liver cancer in a Shenyang hospital in Liaoning Province while being guarded by state security.

The last time a Nobel Peace laureate died in state custody was in 1938, when pacifist Carl von Ossietzky died of tuberculosis under guard in a hospital in Nazi Germany.

“Even as Liu Xiaobo’s illness worsened, the Chinese government continued to isolate him and his family, and denied him freely choosing his medical treatment,” said Sophie Richardson, China director. “The Chinese government’s arrogance, cruelty, and callousness are shocking – but Liu’s struggle for a rights-respecting, democratic China will live on.”

Liu Xiaobo, 61, was an outspoken critic of the Chinese government. A former professor of literature at Beijing Normal University, he wrote about Chinese society and culture with a focus on democracy and human rights. His first book and essays, known for their piecing critiques that challenged mainstream thought, were influential among intellectuals before he was imprisoned. He was jailed for 21 months after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre for his role in supporting students who had taken part in the peaceful protests. He was imprisoned again in a “Re-education through Labor” camp from 1996 to 1999 for criticizing China’s policies toward Taiwan and Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. Arrested in December 2008, Liu was sentenced in 2009 to 11 years in prison on “inciting subversion” charges for his involvement with Charter ’08, a political manifesto calling for political reforms in China. Liu served nearly eight years in a Liaoning prison until being transferred to the hospital in Shenyang in late June.

Liu was a recipient of numerous international awards. Human Rights Watch honored Liu with the 2010 Alison Des Forges Award for Extraordinary Activism for his fearless commitment to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly in China. In 2010, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize “for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China.” Neither Liu nor his wife, Liu Xia, were allowed to attend the ceremony. The Chinese government wrote to all diplomats in the Norwegian capital, warning them that there would be “consequences” if their governments showed support for Liu Xiaobo, whom Beijing called a “criminal.”

Very little is known about the conditions of Liu’s imprisonment. Although the authorities allowed his closest family, including Liu Xia, some visits, they silenced the family by holding Liu Xia under house arrest, where she has endured near-total isolation since 2010, and threatening and intimidating others. Liu Xiaobo’s brother-in-law, Liu Hui, was prosecuted in 2013 on questionable fraud charges, though later released on bail. The authorities should immediately and unconditionally release Liu Xia and allow her full freedom of movement, including to leave the country, if she wishes.

    The Chinese government’s arrogance, cruelty, and callousness are shocking – but Liu’s struggle for a rights-respecting, democratic China will live on. 

Sophie Richardson

China Director

On June 26, Liu Xiaobo’s lawyers informed the media that Liu had been “released on bail for medical treatment” and transferred from Jinzhou Prison to China Medical University No. 1 Affiliated Hospital in Liaoning Province to treat his late-stage liver cancer. Since then, the authorities have released some information about his medical condition. The hospital published online updates, the state press criticized him and his supporters in commentaries, and anonymous sources – believed to be the government – have released on the internet two videos showing Liu being given medical care in prison and Liu Xia and Liu Hui thanking the doctors. It is unclear whether they were aware of being filmed or had given consent to having the footage released.

Authorities closely guarded Liu throughout his hospitalization, such that it is difficult to verify the authenticity of any of the officially released information. He was admitted under a pseudonym, so that journalists and others were unable to locate him. Only Liu Xia, and possibly Liu Hui, were allowed to see him; police also kept them under control and barred them from contacting others.

The Chinese government only once allowed two independent doctors – one from the United States, the other from Germany – to have access to Liu on July 7. The doctors said Liu was “fit for travel,” contrary to the Chinese government’s previous position that he was too ill to travel abroad for treatment.

It is not known when or if Liu or his family were ever given details or full reports of his medical examinations, or the extent to which they were consulted in the matter.

Although China’s doctors offer medical services and check-ups in detention centers and prisons, the quality of care is often cursory at best. As Human Rights Watch reported in 2015, former detainees said that they or their family members were often ignored when they raised health complaints, and in some cases detainees died after a combination of prolonged neglect and denial of medical care.

Liu Xiaobo, one of the most outspoken critics of the Chinese government, was sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2009 for his involvement with Charter ’08, a manifesto calling for political reforms in China. Liu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010. 
Duty to Investigate Treatment

International standards set out that all death-in-custody cases should be subjected to “prompt, impartial and effective investigations into the circumstances and causes” of the death. As the United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions has noted, since there is a presumption of state responsibility due to the custodial setting and the government’s obligation to ensure and respect the right to life, the government has to affirmatively provide evidence to rebut the presumption of state responsibility. Absent proof that it is not responsible, the government has an obligation to provide reparations to the family of the deceased.

Beyond obligations to prosecute wrongful deaths, the authorities also need to take measures to prevent deaths in custody and respond effectively to the causes of death, including by ensuring proper oversight and adequate medical care to detainees. Families should have access to “all information relevant to the investigation,” and the government should release the results of the investigation in the form of a written report. In cases in which the “established investigative procedures are inadequate because of lack of expertise or impartiality” or where there are complaints from the family about these problems, the government should “pursue investigations through an independent commission of inquiry.”

Chinese authorities have in past years allowed at least two other prominent critics of the government to become gravely ill in detention and die there or in hospitals. In March 2014, Cao Shunli, an activist who had tried to participate in China’s Universal Periodic Review at the UN Human Rights Council, died in a Beijing hospital after being arbitrarily detained in September 2013. Her family members had repeatedly warned that she was becoming gravely ill, but authorities only transferred her when she fell into a coma. And in July 2015, Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, a revered Tibetan lama who was serving a life sentence for “inciting separation of the state” following a trial that fell far short of international standards, died in detention after months of increasingly serious allegations that his health was deteriorating.

Several governments – including the United States, Canada, France, Taiwan – publicly offered to host Liu for treatment, while others, including the European Union, the United Kingdom, and Germany, have made statements calling for his release and right to receive medical treatment at a place of his choosing. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, met with Chinese officials on June 30 to discuss the case.

“No government should let the death of Liu Xiaobo pass without challenging Beijing’s mistreatment of this critical voice for human rights, calling for Liu Xia’s freedom, and pressing for the release of all those wrongfully detained across China,” Richardson said. “Governments should send a clear message to Beijing that the principles to which Liu Xiaobo devoted his life will thrive after his tragic death.”

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27. UK: EAST LONDON MOSQUE HAS FILED FORMAL COMPLAINT ABOUT CEMB TO PRIDE
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https://www.ex-muslim.org.uk/east-london-mosque-has-filed-formal-complai nt-about-cemb-to-pride/

East London mosque has filed a f ormal complaint regarding the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain’s presence in Pride in London and stated that our placards, including “East London mosque incites murder of LGBT” were “inciting hatred against Muslims” and that the mosque had a “track record for challenging homophobia in East London”.

In fact, though, the very reason CEMB was at Pride was to combat hate and to highlight the 13 states under Islamic rule that kill gay men (14 if we include Daesh-held territories). We included placards on the East London mosque to bring attention to the fact that there are mosques here in Britain that promote the death penalty for homosexuality and apostasy.

As ex-Muslims, we are at risk from hate preachers that speak at some mosques and universities; our  gay members are at an increased risk.

The East London Mosque has a long history of hosting hate preachers who incite against blasphemers, apostates and homosexuals so we felt naming and shaming them was very apt.

In our experience, whenever incitement to hate and violence has been exposed, it is explained away as mere “theology”. Here, too, the East London Mosque spokesperson s ays: “Yes, there might be theological topics dealing with homosexuality in Islam, but that’s clearly very separate from promoting hatred and homophobia”.

We beg to differ.

Given the context of executions for homosexuality and apostasy in many countries and the threats, violence and shunning that ex-Muslims, including LGBT, face here in Britain, the hate preaching can be considered incitement to murder though it is ignored because it is done under the cover of the “right to religion”.

Moreover, the East London mosque is merely using double-speak. Their supposed “track record for challenging homophobia” only seems to extend to white gay men in East London and never to Muslim and ex-Muslim LGBT or LGBT persecuted outside of Britain in countries under Sharia.

This is because the mosque is part and parcel of the Islamist movement. The East London Mosque (and its affiliate, the London Muslim Centre) share the ideology of the Jamaat-e-Islami – the Salafis of South Asia so their promotion of an Islamist worldview that imposes the death penalty for homosexuality, apostasy and blasphemy is business as usual.

Why are we inciting hatred by exposing their incitement to murder?

And why is criticism of Islam off-limits?

Self-appointed “Muslim leaders” say our placards were “Islamophobic”.  But in our point of view, Islam, like all religions, is homophobic. Why is it not possible to say this without accusations of Islamophobia?

The only reasons our signs are seen to be “provocative” are because criticism of Islam is deemed to be impermissible, because there is the constant threat of violence by Islamists against ex-Muslims but also dissenting Muslims and others in order to silence and censor, and because criticism of Islam and Islamism is erroneously conflated with an attack on Muslims.

Pride is full of placards saying “God is Gay”, “Jesus had two fathers”, as well as those mocking the church and priests and pope, yet CEMB members hold signs saying “Allah is Gay” – as we did – and the police converge to attempt to remove them for causing “offence”.

Offence has become the catch-phrase to impose de facto blasphemy and apostasy laws here in Britain. Yet aren’t we all offended at least some of the time? Some of us are offended by religion but we don’t ask believers to stay away from Pride or stop praying because of it. Why is it that what offends us is irrelevant? Because we do not back our offence with threats and violence?

The politics of offence is a politics that rewards bullies and blames victims.

Critics say our presence in Pride is a provocation in the weeks following the attack at Finsbury Park. But why must our criticism be linked to an attack on a mosque? Did anyone tell those holding “Jesus had two fathers” signs that it was a provocation given that a priest was murdered in Normandy and Christians killed in Egypt? There is no connection, except of course it seems when it comes to Islam.

Believers are not told to stop any expression of their beliefs because of an attack on children at a concert in Manchester but our placards apparently have some link with an attack on Muslims and a mosque. Why?

This is the Islamist narrative that equates criticism with an attack on Muslims. Its aim is not to stop bigotry but to silence dissent.

And by the way, bigotry affects us too. We were Muslims once; our loved ones are Muslims. And fascists and bigots cannot tell any of us apart anyway. We all look the same to them.

But as a minority within a minority facing serious threats to our lives, shunning, ostracisation, discrimination (and that’s only in Britain), is it fair to ask us to remain silent because of other forms of persecution or bigotry? Why can we not confront racism AND homophobia, bigotry AND hatred against apostates, women, blasphemers… To do that, we have to be able to criticise the far-Right (including our far-Right – the Islamists) and religion and regressive beliefs.

We ex-Muslims, including LGBT ex-Muslims, are fighting for our lives. We too have the right to live, think and love as we choose. And to fight for that right, we have to be able to confront apostasy and blasphemy laws as well laws that criminalise and execute apostates, LGBT, and freethinkers.

We owe it ourselves but we also owe it to those living under Islamic rules who are in prison, on death row or being murdered by vigilantes for doing just that.

The right to religion is a basic human right that must be defended but what is often forgotten is that there is a corresponding right to be free from and to criticise religion. As long as we can be killed for being ex-Muslims, LGBT, apostates and blasphemers, we have a duty to speak up – especially for those who cannot.

****

As an aside, the Pride spokesperson has s aid that the East London mosque’s complaint has been referred to the community advisory board to assess whether CEMB can join Pride next year and added: “While our parade has always been a home to protest, which often means conflicting points of view, Pride must always be a movement of acceptance, diversity and unity. We will not tolerate Islamophobia.”

A note to Pride: There were for sure some Muslims who were offended by our presence and others who supported us, as there were some Christians who were offended by placards poking fun at Christianity and others who found them funny. This is what real diversity looks like.  For too long, self-appointed Islamists feigning to represent the “Muslim community” have stifled dissent via threats and accusations of offence and Islamophobia. CEMB has fought for ten years now to bring real diversity into the debate, which is a matter of life and death for many of us.

Criticism of Islam or Islamism is not anti-Muslim bigotry just as criticism of Christianity or the DUP is not anti-Christian bigotry. CEMB plans to be at Pride next year and every year and hopes the community advisory board sides with dissenters and those fighting for LGBT rights and not those inciting hatred against Muslim and ex-Muslim LGBT.

For those on the community advisory board who are interested in finding out more about the East London Mosque beyond the double-speak, there is a wealth of information on their links to Islamism and their incitement to violence, hate and yes murder:
 
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28. WHY STREET PROTESTS ARE GOOD FOR YOU
by Alexander Gilmour
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(Financial Times - July 7, 2017)

Peaceful marches can unite people, bring hope to communities — and lead to personal redemption

If our leaders keep upsetting everyone, mass protests will ensue. If they do, join them. A protest is a chance to express fellow feeling, to be neighbourly. It is an expression of hope too — you take to the streets because you believe change is possible.

For 15 years, I have protested fairly frequently. Two protests stand out, not for how they changed the world, but how they changed two participants.

Last summer, a friend admitted he had voted for Brexit. I was deeply shocked and he was mortified. His beef with the EU was its Common Agricultural Policy, he explained. Yet that wasn’t what did for him inside the voting booth. Rather, he had been suffering a small nervous breakdown on the day of the referendum and felt misanthropic. Hence his wicked behaviour. Now — like Oedipus after sleeping with his mother — he was choked by remorse. He was a husk.

I recommended the “March for Europe”, as penance, and gratefully he agreed. He still vehemently disliked the Common Agricultural Policy but, such was his depleted state, he was up for anything. And we went.

O, how a single day can improve a person! We marched from Hyde Park Corner to Parliament Square. It was sunny! There were happy throngs of liberal people holding placards. My guilty friend kept smiling. With each step, his soul felt lighter. And that night, he posted a little selfie on Facebook. In it, he was waving an EU flag. It was beautiful.

Nothing can compete with that rose-tinted day but seven years earlier, a different friend also had his entire life improved by a protest. This one was about the bankers and how their greed had destroyed Britain. And this one was violent.

I was desperate to protest, partly because I was upset with the bankers and partly because I was unemployed, which meant my days were free. I took a friend — an actor, not quite the marching sort, too stuffy really.

My friend wore his tweed jacket, which was what he wore when he tutored Latin when he wasn’t acting. Tweed must work well for Latin, but not for violent protests. He stood out like an angry wound.

A young reporter waylaid him outside the Bank of England. This man smelled a rat. He was certain my tweedy friend was in fact a banker spying on the seething proletariat. What did my friend make of these protests against his ghastly peers?

That was the first seismic moment.

    He had been squeezed in such a cauldron of skinny anarchists that his whole body was raised two feet off the ground . . . it was the last I saw of him that day

And we moved on. Threadneedle Street was packed and full of rage. Anarchists at one end, police at the other, flying bottles in between. First the anarchists all sat down. Then they broke the windows of RBS. And everyone was filming — protesters filming police, who were filming protesters filming them. It was like being trapped inside a strange movie.

With so many people, it was tricky to move and tricky to breathe and my friend and I were separated. I was somewhere, hoping not to get hit in the face by a missile, and he was somewhere else — on the brink of an epiphany.

And it happened.

I turned and there he was, looming above the masses, bellowing. He had been squeezed in such a cauldron of skinny anarchists that his whole body was raised two feet off the ground. Being a portly man and red in the face, this generated a spectacle. It was the last I saw of him that day.

Later on, I was “kettled”, which meant not being able to go home for many hours, finally being led off, arm-in-arm with a police constable. (The aim was to contain the protest and bore everyone into docile obedience, but it didn’t work. Instead, protesters set fire to bins and things and both sides kept charging. It became a battle. Someone died.)

But that’s not the point of this tale. The point is that my Latin friend is remarkably svelte these days and on the verge of TV stardom. He is much less stuffy, too. And I believe his day of protest inspired this transformation, specifically that moment when he discovered himself suspended helplessly yet gloriously above the mob, wearing his tweed jacket. For him, there was no turning back.

It is a lesson to us all. So, if in doubt, go on the march. Only the misanthrope stays at home and there’s every chance it will do you good. Besides, London — poor London — needs a dose of fellow feeling. March.

Alexander Gilmour is associate editor of House & Home; @AIMGilmour

Illustration by Cat O’Neil


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South Asia Citizens Wire
Buzz for secularism, on the dangers of fundamentalism(s), on
matters of peace and democratisation in South
Asia. Newsletter of South Asia Citizens Web: 
www.sacw.net/

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DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed in materials carried in the posts do not necessarily reflect the views of SACW compilers.
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