South Asia Citizens Wire - Dispatch #1 | 23 Dec., 2004 via: www.sacw.net
[1] India-Pakistan Peace Precious, Not Easy (Praful Bidwai) [2] Pakistan: Holier than thou (Razi Azmi) [3] India: A Bill of her own? Proposed amendments to the Hindu Succession Act aren't enough (Bina Agarwal) [4] UK / India: In support of Gurpreet Kaur: When individuals become threat to the community (V.B.Rawat) [5] Upcoming events : (i) IHEU 16th World Congress on Separation of Religion and State (Paris, 5th July -7th July 2005) (ii) International Seminar on 'Situating History of Environment: The Territory of Historians of Environment' (Calcutta, March 3-5, 2005) -------------- [1] Inter Press Service December 22, 2004 CHALLENGES 2004-2005: India-Pakistan Peace Precious, Not Easy By Praful Bidwai NEW DELHI, Dec 22 (IPS) - A year after India and Pakistan launched their first serious attempt at a bilateral dialogue after their 1998 nuclear blasts and two major military crises, the prospect of success looks tantalisingly close and yet uphill in the last stretch. Both Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf will have to struggle hard to overcome long-standing obstacles and achieve tangible results in 2005. Unlike in February 1999, when former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee rode the bus to Lahore, or in 2001 when he met Musharraf in Agra at an unsuccessful summit, the bilateral discussions this time around have been more structured, systematic and better prepared. The past aside, public opinion in both countries also favours reconciliation -overwhelmingly. The top leaders of the two neighbouring countries have also got to know each other reasonably closely. And the Pakistani establishment has shed much of its initial prejudice against Manmohan Singh, whose sober style seemed a contrast to Vajpayee's. And yet, going by the multiple rounds of talks held at various levels so far, the going will not be easy. All that India and Pakistan have managed to achieve over the past year is to restore communication links, including air, bus and train services ruptured after a December 2001 terrorist attack on India's Parliament. Although they agreed in June to reopen their consulates in Karachi and Mumbai, little progress has been made on this. Also, there seems to be some stagnation over trade and economic cooperation - in particular proposed energy links through an overland gas pipeline from Iran to India via Pakistan. It is only in respect of liberal visa regimes, and greater freedom for people to travel (by no means without restrictions or limits on the number of cities to be visited) that there has been substantial progress. But even this is reversible. On the two thorny issues - Kashmir and nuclear weapons - there has been no forward movement. But the two states have at least agreed to discuss Kashmir - for the first time ever. Yet India and Pakistan still remain stuck without any agreement on what seems to be an important confidence-building measure (CBM) - namely the launching of a bus service between Srinagar in Indian Kashmir and Muzafarabad in the Pakistani-controlled part. Various mutual suspicious and divergent perceptions have been responsible for the slow progress. Pakistan believes India is using CBMs, of which it has proposed over 70, as a substitute for a purposive and earnest discussion of Kashmir. India believes that Pakistan is dragging its feet on the bus route and on economic cooperation because it wants New Delhi to acknowledge the ''centrality'' of the Kashmir issue and address it first. India accuses Pakistan of a single-minded obsession with Kashmir. Policy-makers in both countries continue to suspect each other's sincerity even as regards Siachen, a high-altitude glacier in disputed Kashmir, where India and Pakistan have waged a costly and counterproductive war for two decades. The absurdity of the Siachen conflict, the world's highest-altitude war, is that retaining or extending the territory has no strategic value or implications for either India or Pakistan. Both governments seem hell-bent on blowing up hundreds of millions of dollars a year and losing scores of soldiers, largely to frostbite, rather than reaching a rational settlement or a minimally agreed mutual withdrawal. ''Siachen and other boundary disputes can be successfully and quickly addressed,'' says Kamal Mitra Chenoy, a professor at the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. ''But for that, Pakistan must feel reassured that India will put Kashmir on the negotiating table.'' The Manmohan Singh government has indeed agreed to discuss the Kashmir ''issue'' - it refuses to call it ''dispute'' - as part of a package of talks on eight subjects. But it is not clear how far it is prepared to go and what its bottom-line is. In a considered statement, Singh recently ruled out any re-drawing of borders and also the further partition of India-Pakistan along religious lines. India would probably be prepared to go to exceptional lengths in granting autonomy to its part of Kashmir and allowing a "soft border" with a similarly autonomous part of Pakistani Kashmir. On the other hand, Musharraf has urged that various ''options'' be considered, including treating the old state of Jammu and Kashmir as comprising seven distinct regions and then ''demilitarising'' each. So far, there has been no meeting ground on these ideas, but once formal, and especially back-channel, discussions get going, there could be some progress. The critical intermediate issue is whether each of the two governments shows the imagination needed to trigger progress in the short run. One test of this will lie on the issue of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus route, and of the identity documents to be carried on it. Talks on this have not progressed because India would like passengers to have an ordinary national passport, although the visa/residence permit may not be stamped on it. Pakistan, by contrast, would like entirely different identity papers, which are Kashmir- specific. But if the bus gets going, many proposals for cross-border trade, family meetings, a postal service and others can come up for discussion. If the bus proposal, made in October 2003, fails, despair and disappointment will follow, affecting the prospect for reconciliation. Nonetheless, whatever happens on the Kashmir ''issue'', one thing remains clear -- India and Pakistan cannot achieve a sustainable, durable peace unless they grapple with the issue of nuclear weapons. ''So long as the nuclear shadow looms over the subcontinent, it will remain a potential site for serious militaryconflict and a nuclear confrontation,'' says Karamat Ali of the Pakistan Peace Coalition. ''Kashmir is the most obvious flashpoint for a nuclear catastrophe, but there could be others too - a land war where Indian troops enter the Pakistani Punjab. Besides, a nuclear attack could happen out of accident or without authorisation,'' he told IPS. India and Pakistan have so far refused to address the nuclear weapons issue seriously by negotiating risk-reduction or restraint measures. Both the Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace (India), and Pakistan Peace Coalition have urged the two governments to enter into an important agreement not to deploy nuclear weapons and to keep warheads separated from nuclear-capable missiles. Both peace groups also want New Delhi and Islamabad to negotiate a moratorium on missile test-flights, to last between one to three years. Sadly, both countries have made little momentum in that direction. But simply wishing away the nuclear problem will not do. If India and Pakistan want real peace, not cosmetic cessation of hostilities, they will have to grapple with thorny issues. (END/2004) ______ [2] The Daily Times December 23, 2004 Thinking Aloud HOLIER THAN THOU By Razi Azmi By claiming that cases of sexual abuse of minors by religious teachers need not be made public, our religious affairs minister effectively gave the maulvis a collective certificate of past and future good conduct. Moreover, it guaranteed any transgressors immunity from public scrutiny. All this in a country where such incidents of abuse are rather widespread Sexual abuse of children is a detestable social crime. When committed by men of religion, whether priests, monks or maulvis, it is particularly revolting, for they claim - and by virtue of their vocation, are expected - to occupy a much higher moral plane than the rest of society. Sexual crimes against children are rarely reported in our country; when reported, rarely discussed and when discussed, never adequately. It was, therefore, quite refreshing to hear a Pakistani minister of religious affairs, albeit a junior one, inform the Senate on December 10 that the "police are investigating 500 cases of alleged child abuse implicating maulvis". Not surprisingly, the MMA senators attacked the minister for a statement of fact and demanded an apology. To his credit, the minister refused to apologise. But if one was hoping that the government now intended to be open about sexual abuse of children, it didn't take long to be disappointed. Within a few days, the Minister of Religious Affairs, the venerable Ijazul Haq, categorically reaffirmed the continuation of the time-honoured policy of "see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil" insofar as the maulvis are concerned. "Talking to a congregation of ulema and mashaikh, Mr Haq regretted that such a controversy had been initiated and declared that clerics are not given to exploiting children, sexually or otherwise. However, he is also reported to have said that if someone does do some such thing, there is no need to make it public." The minister, then, has given the maulvis a collective certificate of past and future good conduct, when there is nothing to suggest that their moral standards are any better (or worse) than the rest of society, and also guaranteed any transgressors immunity from public scrutiny. Indeed, there is sufficient anecdotal and published evidence to suggest that sexual abuse of children by religious teachers is rather widespread. The issue of sexual abuse of children in mosques and madrassas should merit particular attention, because of the large number of children in the country who attend these institutions for religious instruction. It is a matter of great concern for two reasons: firstly, the maulvis have access to boys and girls in very large numbers from a very early age; and secondly, because religious teachers are held in such awe and respect by the parents that children are more likely to surrender to their sexual demands and refrain from reporting abuse for fear of not being believed. Earlier this year, a lay board set up by Catholic bishops in the US to help restore trust in the church reported that over the past five decades 4 percent of priests, or about 4,400, were accused of abusing 10,667 minors. Americans have been shocked by the scale of child abuse by Catholic priests exposed over the past two years as well as by a pattern of secrecy and cover-up. It has forced the church to institute a policy of "zero tolerance" and forced other religious groups also to strengthen their procedures, but a recent poll shows 75 percent of American Catholics still believe leaders are doing "a bad job". In an article published in Canada in 1999, Kathy Blair wrote: "Not so long ago, it seems that clergy sex offenders could abuse their victims with near impunity. Clergy were respected pillars of their community and their young charges could hardly imagine naming them as sexual offenders. ... Times have changed. Canadian churches, including the Anglican Church, have all had to face up to the painful reality that sexual misconduct has been, if not rampant within the church, certainly far from unheard of." Last year, Australia's governor general, Peter Hollingworth, resigned in ignominy because of "claims that he had failed to deal properly with child sexual assault allegations [against a priest] during his period as Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane". Commenting on the resignation, Bob Carr, the premier of New South Wales, Australia's most populous state, said: "It has affirmed the community resolve ... not to coddle the perpetrators [of child sexual abuse] no matter what their circumstances." Western Christianity has taken drastic steps to reform, including heavy pay-outs to past victims, sacking and prosecution of offending priests, introducing strict guidelines to prevent future abuse, and taking collective responsibility. Despite rigidly adhering to the principles of individual liberty and respect for personal privacy, most Western countries keep convicted paedophiles under long-term monitoring and many, including the US, UK, Australia and Canada, are close to creating national sex offender registries. Teachers and other officials who are likely to come into contact with children in course of their duties are carefully screened to ensure that they do not pose a risk to these children. In some Pakistani madrassas, 'wayward' children are known to be kept in chains, sometimes with parental consent. In the rare event of a case of child sexual abuse being reported, it is standard practice to mount pressure on the aggrieved parents, who usually hail from the poorer segments of society, to withdraw the charges. Recently, some teachers of a Peshawar government school were merely transferred to other schools after it was revealed that they had long been involved in sexual abuse of students. At about the same time, the family of a five-year old boy who had been sexually assaulted by the maulvi of a mosque in Lahore was pressurised to withdraw the case even though the investigation and DNA tests had conclusively identified the culprit. A story in the Telegraph of February 8, describes in painful detail the case of 16-year-old Abid Tanoli who is recovering from an acid attack which all but destroyed both his eyes and left his face horribly disfigured. He was punished for refusing, about two year ago, to have sex with his teacher at a religious school in a lower middle-class neighbourhood in Karachi. Despite tremendous pressure, his father is pressing charges. The maulvi and his two accomplices have been arrested. According to concerned lawyers and social workers, the sexual abuse of children is not uncommon in Pakistan, especially in the segregated surroundings of the country's estimated 20,000 religious schools, but cases involving maulvis are rarely - if ever - exposed. Zia Ahmed Awan, the president of Madadgaar, a joint project of LHRLA (Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid) and the UNICEF, is quoted as saying that "they are either hushed up and sorted out within the confines of school, or parents are pressured not to report the incident to the media as it would give religion a bad name". This is in keeping with our pervasive avoidance of washing dirty linen in public, thereby helping to perpetuate social evils. It also conforms to the tradition of sanctifying religion to the extent that we are not even prepared to take the first indispensable step - namely, openness - to protect our children from abuse by people who use their religious authority for their nefarious deeds. ______ [3] Indian Express December 23, 2004 A BILL OF HER OWN? PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO THE HINDU SUCCESSION ACT AREN'T RADICAL ENOUGH By Bina Agarwal The government's intent of amending the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 (HSA) towards gender equality is heartening. But the proposed amendments are inadequate. The Hindu Succession (Amendment) Bill 2004, introduced in Rajya Sabha on December 20, if enacted, will leave untouched a major source of inequality: rights in agricultural land. While enhancing a daughter's share in a man's joint family property it will reduce the shares of other Class I heirs such as his widow and mother. It will also leave intact the man's right to will away his share and disinherit female heirs. It will thus be a lost opportunity for comprehensive amendment. For gender equality, we need to bring agricultural land on par with other property, abolish joint family property and partially restrict testation. The unamended HSA 1956 contains two explicit sources of gender inequality and one implicit one. One, the Act, Section 4(2), exempts significant interests in agricultural land: it leaves untouched provisions of tenurial laws concerning the fixation of ceilings, fragmentation of agricultural holdings or devolution of tenancy rights in such holdings. Hence, interests in tenancy land devolve according to the order of devolution specified in the tenurial laws, which vary by state. In the southern and most of the central and eastern states, these laws are silent on devolution, so inheritance can be assumed to follow the HSA. In a few states, the tenurial laws specify that the HSA or the ''personal law'' will apply. But, in the northwestern states of Haryana, Punjab, HP, Delhi, UP and J&K, the tenurial laws do specify the order of devolution and these are highly gender unequal. Here primacy is given (as under the ancient Mitakshara system) to male lineal descendants in the male line of descent and women come very low in the order of heirs. Also, a woman gets only a limited estate and loses the land if she remarries (as widow) or fails to cultivate it for a year or two. Moreover, in UP and Delhi, a ''tenant'' is defined so broadly that this unequal order of devolution covers all agricultural land. Two, females have rights to smaller property shares than males. Under the HSA (excepting Hindu matrilineal communities), the separate property of a Hindu male dying intestate devolves, in the first instance, equally on his sons, daughters, widow and mother (plus specified heirs of predeceased sons or daughters). If previously governed under the Dayabhaga system, this rule applies also to ancestral property. But, if previously governed by Mitakshara, the concept of joint family property is retained. In the deceased man's ''notional'' share in the Mitakshara coparcenary, sons, daughters, widow and mother (and other Class I heirs) are entitled to equal shares. But sons, as coparceners, also have a direct right by birth to an independent share in the joint family property, in addition to their shares in their father's portion; while female heirs (daughter, widow, mother) have a right only in the deceased man's ''notional'' portion. Also, sons can demand partition of the Mitakshara coparcenary while the women cannot. Hence even to get their part of the ''notional'' share, women have to await partition by males. Moreover, a man can convert any part of his separate property into coparcenary property, which can further reduce women's inheritance. Three, the Act gives a person unrestricted testamentary rights over his/her property. In practice, the provision can be used to disinherit female heirs. Since the HSA 1956 was passed, five states have amended it. Maharashtra, Karnataka, TN and AP have included daughters as coparceners in joint family property, while Kerala has abolished joint family property altogether. No state has amended the provisos on agricultural land. The 2004 Bill follows the route of the Maharashtra et al amendments. It does not address the HSA's gender inequalities comprehensively. First it will not redress inequality in agricultural land - the most important form of rural property. As I have argued in my book, A Field of One's Own, gender equality in agricultural land can reduce not just a woman's but her whole family's risk of poverty, increase her livelihood options, enhance prospects of child survival, education and health, reduce domestic violence and empower women. It is therefore critical that in amending the HSA, all agricultural holdings be brought within the Act's purview. (Also, at the state level, amending tenurial laws to remove gender discriminatory devolution rules is imperative.) Second, the 2004 Bill favours some women over others. On the positive side, the amendments will increase the shares of daughters who are unmarried when the amendments come into effect and in the long run increase the shares of all daughters. It will also give daughters direct rights in some property which the father cannot will away. But the amendments will decrease the shares of other Class I female heirs, such as the man's widow and mother, since the coparcenary share of the deceased male from whom they inherit will decline. In other words, while the amendments will reduce inequality between sons and daughters on some counts, they will increase inequality between daughters and other women on the same counts. In this sense, the proposed amendments are flawed. A more egalitarian step would be to abolish joint family property, as in Kerala. Third, the 2004 Bill retains unrestricted rights to testation. Restricting testamentary rights to, say, half or two-thirds of the property, as found in some other jural systems in India and Europe, would be a step in the right direction. The 2004 Bill is based on the recommendations of the Law Commission's 174th Report 2000, and reproduces its shortcomings. In 1999, the Law Commission had fielded a questionnaire to NGOs and experts, soliciting responses to alternative proposals for amendments, such as whether or not to bring all agricultural land under the HSA, and whether to abolish joint family property altogether or make daughters coparceners on the same basis as sons - 81 per cent of the responses favoured bringing gender equality in the inheritance of agricultural land and a substantial percentage supported the abolition of joint family property. But on both counts the Commission took the conservative route. It did not touch agricultural land and only recommended making daughters coparceners. These weaknesses went unnoticed by women's groups. However, if the 2004 Bill is debated in Parliament (and I hope it will be) it provides a window of opportunity for women's groups to mobilise and ask for a more comprehensive amendment than the Bill proposes, one that brings all property, including agricultural land, on par, abolishes joint family property, and partially restricts testation. The writer is professor of economics, Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi ______ [4] [In support of Gurpreet Kaur] SACW 23 Dec 2004 WHEN INDIVIDUALS BECOME THREAT TO THE COMMUNITY By V.B.Rawat Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti's play 'Behzti' has become the latest act of vandalism by the Sikh community in London, where she face threat by the community leaders for bringing 'disrepute' to the community. Over-hyped and over patriotic non residents must be feeling as if it is a conspiracy against the 'great' 'Indian' culture but the fact is it reduces them to jokers and not more than that. Why Sikhs feel offended on a play. They can also make their own play and glorify their acts, which rightfully they have been doing. But who gave some of them the authority to decide what people should watch and what not. It is not necessary for all of us to agree to what Gurpreet say through her play but it is equally important to give her freedom to express her creativity. After all, she come from the community and might have seen some of the acts by certain individuals who she later on converted into her play. Sikkhism is a dynamic religion founded by Guru Nanak. Most of the time, I ask this question to my Sikh friends as why Sikkhism was formed. And not all of them reply in the same way what the Hindutva's philosophers have been claiming during the past few years 'that Sikkhism was created to defend Hinduism'. It is a notorious answer to the things which they don't want to unfold. Guru Nanak was one of the most revolutionary philosophers of his time who had known like the Buddha the dangers of a 'brahmanical' system and therefore asked people to believe in equality and get rid of superstitions and rituals, which were hallmark of the system that time. Sikh community worked hard and was a network itself. Punjab became one of the prosperous states of the country and its people started migrating to west. Some through legal means and other through 'sam-dam-dand-bheda'. Many travel agents had bumpy crops in cities like Jullandhur and Ludhiana to advise people about visa, passport and travel. The community prospered around the religion, which was hijacked by the religious leadership in the name of politics with 'spiritualism'. Most of these religio-political leaders had vast empire of business under their name and if they are caught then it become threat to the community. It is not unusual for them to have money and empire for in this age of globalisation, religiousity is being marketed fantastically through the TV channels and newspapers and any one who challenges this becomes a villain. We have a Shankaracharya who is still behind the bar chairing over an empire for over 5000 crore rupees. We have many Imams running their religious institutions for crores of rupees. And there is the same dominance of the religious leaders of other community. Point here not to say that they all are detrimental to our health but simply because they chant Granth Sahib or Ramcharit Manasa or Quran does not make them 'honorable'. We have been victim of this fundamentalist secularism in India where the religious heads have got immunity from the state. If some religious gurus are appeased, it is considered that the entire community's problems are resolved. And interestingly most of these religious gurus are not interested in any of reforms with in the community. Those who talk of reforms are under the threat in most of the communities. It was so difficult for us to fight against the big elite Sikh class which has brutally oppressed the Dalits in Shaheed Udham Singh Nagar. We know it well that the Uttaranchal state has been under the Congress regime and no body would like to be seen as anti Sikh while the issue there was no anti Sikh. Issue was to restore the land rights to the landless Dalits whose land was acquired illegally. Punjab despite all its good ness has many negative things. I am sure no body would mind it saying that the cases of 'koodimar' ( killing girls in womb) are on the rise. Despite all talks of equality and prosperity, why has Punjab fallen far behind rest of the country in the sex ratio? Punjab's political leaders as well as social activists would not answer these socially important issues. In fact, in a recent trip to Amritsar, I came across such issues speaking to a large segments of the people. Yet, most of the people living in the villages were asking for more education for girls and boys, they were equally unhappy with the presentation of Sikh culture through the soft porn music videos. " Is it our culture', said most of them, we used to respect women and they are presenting her just as a show peace. I am not sure how many of us remember that a few years back one of the topmost leader of the Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee was charged for the alleged murder of her daughter because it was said that the daughter was in love with a boy of her choice and the mother did not like it and it is alleged that she got her killed. Punjab is a 'Balle-Balle' land but at the same point of time violence against women are on the rise in the state. The Sikh as a community looks versatile and have progressed but there is a need for them to take the issue of women's and Dalits rights seriously and don't dump it as an issue against them. About two years back, Talhan village in Jullandhar district saw dangerous caste rights. A large number of Mazhabis, who have migrated to Europe and US became a challenge to upper caste Jat Sikhs. They now had equal amount of money and wanted to be part of the Sikh mainstream. Their effort to get elected at the local Gurudwara Prabhandhak Committee was met with violent protest. For many days Talhan became a caste identity for the upper caste Sikhs who hammered the Dalits. Ironically both the Congress and Akalis represent the hardcore interest groups the upper caste Sikhs. Is it not tragic that Sikkhism which was founded on the basis of anti caste feeling has become victim of the same higherarchical system which the bramins inflicted on India? This year was the four hundredth year of Sikhism. Punjab and rest of the country celebrated this with great fan fare. The government of India had already allotted huge sum of money for the celebrations. Right from president Kalam to Chief Minister Amrinder Singh to Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Adwani, every one was present in the ceremony. Nobody ever raised a question as what was the fault of Sonia Gandhi for not being invited there but it is here lies the bias against women. Sonia did not raise the issue nor did the local Congress because ultimately they don't want to challenge the religious authority of the religious leadership of the Sikhs which did not feel bad of not inviting one of the important political leaders of the country whose party is in power not at the center but at the state also. One Dalit civil servant was very unhappy at this event in Chandigarh when he asked me why this kind of hoopla there? Have we asked where is the money being used and for whose sake? Can these leaders give us account of what has happened with this money? Why should the state patronize them with its fund meant for the poor? Do poor not live in Punjab? Did we ask what was their condition? Hopefully, we will realize that behind Punjab's prosperity, a lot is the hardwork of Dalits and backward communities from Bihar and Uttar-Pradesh.. Has anything been done for their welfare. Two years back when the Delhi government made it mandatory for wearing helmet by the pillion riders in the two wheelers, the Sikh religious leaders protested that it hurt their religious sentiments. Therefore to save itself from the criticism from other quarters, the government allowed the women pillion riders to be without helmet while Sikh men don't wear it. Why? I am sure if helmet was that blasphemous, Navjot Singh Siddhu and Maninder Singh should not have worn it facing Imran Khan or Malcom Marshal at the cricket field. Such kind of spineless act of the state has been enormous in our country where they stop short of acting under the garb of 'hurting' religious sentiments and hence state become virtually victim of the religious heads. Hence Salman Rushdie's book is banned in India despite the fact that not many of them have heard about it. If you ban Salman Rushdie book and let Ambedkar publish the Riddles of Hinduism, then people like Arun Shourie are up in arm against what they term as appeasement. Hence this is a nexus in India. We carefully exchange such things to help each other without coming strongly. Is rule of law just for those who follow it? Will it take on those who don't believe in the democratic constitution and their only constitution is 'Gods word' whether it is Gita, Ramayana, Quarana, Bible or Granth Saheb. I am sure we will have to find answer to this whether we as a society can respect each other if we continue to be in the confine of those religious texts which don't matc h the modern civilization and which continue to justify irrationality. Can these text be changed according to time and need of human being or will they agree that all human being are equal irrespective of their caste, gender and religion. Now, these question may be intolerable for many of the friends but the fact is rather then sending hate mails and making protest, they better do some soul searching as why as a society we continue to feel threatened by a few individuals who dare to bare. Whether it is Taslima Nasreen or Salman Rushdie or Gurpreet Kaur or any other great souls like Burtrend Russell, Ambedkar and Periyar who exposed the anti people religious texts. But then one has to admit that a religious society cannot be expected to be rational as they move more on emotions. Only thing is that they should also make emotions about women and girl child. A Gurpreet Kaur cannot be dangerous to Sikh society, in fact allowing her to perform her play will make the Sikh community ponder over the problem it face today as well as prove that the community respect personal freedom of an artist. One certain play normally is based on individuals and cannot be termed as a blasphemous to the community while the act of a fe w 'champions' of community wisdom and freedom may definitely be termed as blasphemous if that hurt the author physically. It violates the basic human right of an individual to express her anger against certain event, which has touched her heart. One hope that the government of Britain will act fast on this matter and will not buckle under pressure from such people who make a mockery of international. Religious leaders in the garb of politicians should not be allowed to take every one for granted. Let the government provide full security to Gurpreet Kaur and reject those who want to fan religious fanaticism in the name of 'hurt' religious sentiments. ______ [5] ANNOUNCEMENTS: (i) IHEU 16th World Congress Tuesday 5th July to Thursday 7th July 2005, Paris SEPARATION OF RELIGION AND STATE 2005 marks the centenary of the 1905 French Law of Separation of Church and State. IHEU member organisation the Libre Pensée Française played a crucial role in achieving this landmark legislation. IHEU, the worldwide umbrella organisation for Humanism, and its French Member Organisation the Libre Pensée Française invite you to the World Humanist Congress, and to learn through interactive and plenary sessions about the world-wide Humanist movement, the challenges we face, and our success stories. Attend special sessions on Science and Secularism, on the European Union and on Women’s issues; learn about the IHEU’s IHEU-Appignani Humanist Center for Bioethics, about IHEU ‘s support to the development of Humanism world-wide, and much more! Compare notes, interact and exchange ideas with Humanist and Human Rights activists and leaders and opinion makers from around the world. The prestigious venues for the Congress include UNESCO headquarters, the Conseil Economique et Social, and the University of Sorbonne. Simultaneous interpretation in French and English for all plenary and other selected sessions. For full details and to register, visit www.iheu.org {www.iheu.org} or write to: La Libre Pensée Française 10–12 rue des Fossés Saint-Jacques, 75005 Paris, France Tel + 33 1 46 34 21 50 • Fax + 33 1 46 34 21 84 Email [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or IHEU, 1 Gower Street, London WC1E 6HD, United Kingdom Tel + 44 207 6313170 • Fax + 44 207 6313171 • [EMAIL PROTECTED] The Congress is supported by the French National Commission for UNESCO and organised by the Libre Pensée Française. ------------------------------------------------------------- IHEU World Congress and associated events in Paris, July 2005 Monday July 4th -- World Congress of Freethinkers Tuesday July 5th -- Plenary sessions of IHEU Congress Wednesday July 6th -- Parallel sessions and Workshops Thursday July 7th (morning) -- Plenary session of IHEU Congress Thursday July 7th (afternoon) & Friday July 8th -- IHEU General Assembly Friday July 8th – Thursday 14 July -- IHEYO Conf. on ‘Multiculturalism’ (See www.iheyo.org {www.iheyo.org}) ------------------------------------------------------------- For programme details and registration procedure, please visit www.iheu.org {www.iheu.org} or email [EMAIL PROTECTED] ______ (ii) International Seminar on 'Situating History of Environment: The Territory of Historians of Environment', DRS Programme (Phase I), Department of History, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India, March 3-5, 2005 The Department of History, Jadavpur University, is organizing an International Seminar on 'Situating History of Environment: The Territory of Historians of Environment' in early March 2005. The study of environmental history has now become important as a natural and inevitable result of a perceived 'environmental crisis' in today's world. This perception has resulted in the development of a broad area called Environmental Studies. However, in view of the important role of the scientists in the emergence of Environmental Studies-and the subsequent contribution of scholars from diverse disciplinary backgrounds to this field-it has remained an open-ended subject. Within the field, 'environmental history' remains universally acknowledged as a critically important area of inquiry, but without well-defined disciplinary canons and methodological guidelines. It is strongly felt that only professional historians with the requisite methodological training will be able to (1) develop and define the agenda and disciplinary canons of this field of inquiry, and (2) historicise the present-day concerns and anxieties in the broad area of Environmental Studies. Unfortunately, no Department of History in India has come forward to undertake this task in a concerted and coordinated manner. This is the lacuna that the proposed International Seminar under the DRS project of the Department of History, Jadavpur University, seeks to fill in. This three-day international seminar on the state of art in the environmental History aims to bring together approximately 30 leading scholars sharing a common interest in the environmental history of South Asia and various parts of the world to deliberate on the subject. Sessions will include (this is subject to change) 1) Inaugural Session, the Keynote Address 2) Defining the Territory of Historians of Environment 3) Historiography 4) Methodology 4a) Development of Disciplines and Institutions with environmental concerns : Botany, Zoology, Geology, Marine Biology, Oceanography Geological Survey of India, Forest Research Institute, Zoological Survey of India, Botanical Survey of India, Horticultural Society of India, Meteorological Survey of India 5) Management of nature: evolving role of state and society through different periods of history a) Forestry, conservation, land-use and water resources b) Disease, sanitation and ecology c) Environment-oriented social movements-case-studies of tribal and other movements d) Environment and development in modern India e) The history of natural calamities and environmental disasters 6) History of environmental ideas in India a) The representations of nature and environment in literature and the arts b) Indigenous and colonial knowledge c) The historical evolution of environmental ethics d) Women and environment e) Human Rights and environment 7) Environmentalist Concerns in Plural Societies: A Comparative Study of India and the Wider World 8) Globalization and Environment 9) Rag Bag Provisional List of Speakers Mahesh Rangarajan (USA) Ramchandra Guha (Bangalore) Madhav Gadgil (Delhi) Richard Grove (USA) Vandana Shiva (USA) Arun Bandapadhyay (Calcutta) Deepak Kumar (Delhi) M.S. S. Pandyan Vinita Damodaran (Sussex) Subho Basu (USA) Suchibrata Sen (Santiniketan) Daniel Rycroft (Sussex) Karl Jacoby (USA) Rita Pumberton (West Indies) Lawrence Gundersen (USA) S. Sangwan Prabhu Mahapatra (Delhi) Kapil Kumar (Delhi) Y.Vaikuntham (Hyderabad) Adapa Satyanarayanan ( Hyderabad) Jorge Flores (Portugal) Kaushik Roy (Delhi) Sumit Guha (USA) Ravi Rajan (USA) Chetan Singh (Delhi) Aloke Ghosh (Kalyani) Amal Das (Kalyani) Arabinda Samanta (Burdwan) Dhirendra Dhangwal (Delhi) C.Rajendran (Calicut) David Hardiman (U.K.) Chhanda Chattapadhyay(Santiniketan) Ajay Singh Rawat (Nainital) The title and summary of the paper may kindly be sent to the following email address positively by February 5, 2005. [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] The full paper including standard end notes should be submitted at the Conference. This is the first circular of this International Conference on 'Situating History of Environment: The Territory of Historians of Environment'. The participants, whose papers will be accepted for presentation in the Conference will be offered local hospitality and transportation. However, international travel expenses have to be borne by the scholars themselves. For further information and registration please contact : Professor Ranjan Chakrabarti Department of History Jadavpur University Kolkata 700032 (India) Telefax 91-33-24146962 (O) Email [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ Buzz on the perils of fundamentalist politics, on matters of peace and democratisation in South Asia. 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