South Asia Citizens Wire | 04 March, 2005 via: www.sacw.net [1] Nepal: Censorship and attacks on journalists worsen - IFJ report [2] Plight of the stranded Pakistanis in Bangladesh (Mahfuzur Rahman) [3] Bangladesh: A Marriage of Convenience (Ahmede Hussain) [4] India: Three Years After Genocide in Gujarat (Asghar Ali Engineer) [5] India: Cop Nails Gujarat Lie - Tape transcripts by Tehelka [6] Announcements: (i) Oppose the Relentless Mining of People's Resources - Sit in (New Delhi, March 4-5) (ii) 'U-Special ' A new bookstore at Delhi University (iii) India Pakistan Arms Race and Militarisation Watch Compilation # 150 (iv) "Re-take of Amrita" : Photographs by Vivan Sundaram (Chicago, March 4 - April 23)
-------------- [1] Media Release: Nepal 3 March 2005 NEPAL: CENSORSHIP AND ATTACKS ON JOURNALISTS WORSEN - IFJ REPORT Censorship and attacks on journalists were getting worse as the Nepal coup moved into its fifth week, the International Federation of Journalists said today at the release of their report on Nepal: Coups, Kings and Censorship. Just this week, the regime has released new regulations prohibiting the media from disseminating any information or publishing news related to security matters without obtaining prior information from the security forces. This appears to follow the widespread reporting by the Kathmandu media of the Maoist looting and burning of a Television Nepal program centre in the west of the country. The new regulations coincide with reports of increased violent attacks on the media by security forces. Journalists have been held and interrogated or beaten for their reporting. In once instance, a Nepal TV reporter was beaten for photographing bodies of soldiers killed in a Maoist attack. Newspaper reports also suggest that curfews are being imposed in some districts. The IFJ report arose from an urgent mission of inquiry to Nepal by its President Christopher Warren and IFJ South Asia Program Manager Laxmi Murthy. The mission was made possible with the support of International Media Support. The mission followed the coup by King Gyanendra on February 1 which suspended almost all fundamental human rights, including freedom of the press and expression. As a result, journalists are increasingly finding themselves trapped between a resurgent Maoist rebellion and the security forces. In the report, the IFJ calls on the international community to pressure the coup leaders to immediately restore democracy by suspending military aid and carefully consider all direct government-to-government aid. The report finds that: · 11 journalists have been detained for more than 48 hours since the coup, with three still being held and about a hundred in hiding or exile · censorship of the media has reached unacceptable levels, with newspapers prevented from reporting the political events surrounding the coup · the Nepali people have been denied access to information by the banning of news on FM radio · about half of all publications have ceased publication, particularly outside the Kathmandu valley · Hundreds of journalists have already lost their jobs, with many more at risk “Despite all this, journalists are fighting back,” Warren said. “They are attempting to keep their communities informed of these momentous events, even to the extent of publishing an underground newspaper,” he said. “During the visit, we were constantly impressed by the strength and solidarity shown by Nepali journalists – to each other and to a free press.” The mission also found freedom of association under threat, with the Federation of Nepalese Journalists pressured over its campaign to sustain press freedom. Trade union rights have also been suspended, with senior trade union leaders from the Nepal Trade Union Congress in jail. Click here to read the report online: <http://www.ifj.org/gifs/Nepal%20coups%20kings%20and%20censorship.pdf>http://www.ifj.org/gifs/Nepal%20coups%20kings%20and%20censorshippdf For more information on the Nepal Crisis and to view the report see <http://www.ifj-asia.org/nepalcrisis>www.ifj-asia.org/nepalcrisis ______ [2] The New Nation - March 3, 2005 PLIGHT OF THE STRANDED PAKISTANIS IN BANGLADESH By Mahfuzur Rahman Over 2.5 lakh stranded Pakistanis living in 66 camps across Bangladesh are the world's most forgotten refugees. The plight of the refugees - better known as Biharis worsens each day. Even though they are without a homeland, neither the United Nations nor the International Red Cross and Crescent Society recognise them as refugees. Bangladesh can ill afford these refugees but yet it has been taking care of these people for nearly three decades. The burden is becoming too much for Bangladesh to bear. "...the stranded Pakistanis have become a burden for us...our people do not accept them either. Absence of proper initiative from the government is an impediment to the process of solving this longstanding humanitarian problem," former President HM Ershad was quoted by a study conducted by NewsNetwork. The camps where these stranded people are staying over three decades are the classic examples of subhuman living that has hardly any difference with animal life. Dingy and stinky atmosphere, merger of both water and sewerage lines, lack of latrines and clean water are constant threats to health. Fever, diarrhoea and other diseases are common phenomenona in the camp life. Malnutrition of children in absence of proper food and medicine threatens their usual physical growth on one hand and absence of education turns them into dark generation on the other. There is no maternity care for mothers and no healthcare for elderly people. Each family has been given one room -- 6 feet by 6 feet. But who wants to know that these families have grown in size over the years. Sometimes, 10 people live in one room, spanning three generations. The question of privacy never comes. Some of the camps at Mohammadpur and Adamjee have become crime valleys. Theft, mugging, trafficking in drugs and prostitution continue with the placid support of local influential people, police and goons. Outsiders have easy access to these camps and get involved in criminal activities like selling drugs, illegal weapons and prostitution. Life in the camps is fraught with insecurity, threat of vandalism and physical violence. At Mohammadpur and Mirpur camps, there were some incidents of murders for various reasons. One such murder took place at Mohammadpur Geneva Camp in July 2004 when a video shop owner was slaughtered in broad daylight. Most of the men from the camps work as rickshaw-pullers, technicians, drivers, tailors, cooks and weavers. Mirpur Banarasi saree is all their contribution to the wedding market. Women work in garment factories and as domestic helps. Another acute problem being faced by these stranded people is frequent moves of eviction from their camps by vested interest groups, local politicians and musclemen who sometimes enjoy the support of the local administration. Since the cost of lands in Mirpur, Mohammadpur, Narayanganj, Syedpur or Chittagong where these people living has increased manifold, the rich people with the help of musclemen want to grab these lands to make housing plots or build multistoried buildings. Sometimes the greedy people make arson attacks on the camps in a bid to evict them. Sometimes they apply force to displace them to clear the lands in violation of previous decisions or orders of the government. Consequently, the leaders of stranded Pakistanis are to frequently move to court, seeking justice. Many cases against the evictions are lying in the higher courts for disposal. However, they keep on living in their camps by getting temporary court injunctions and by overcoming many odds and obstacles. What is the underlying reason behind the stalled repatriation of these stranded Pakistanis? As per a tripartite agreement signed by India, Bangladesh and Pakistan in 1974, all the remaining Pakistanis staying in camps were to be taken back by Pakistan. Since the repatriation process got stalled, late President Ziaul Huq, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and incumbent President Pervez Musharraf never declined to accept these Pakistanis. Instead Nawaz and Musharraf made categorical assurances to the governments in Dhaka for initiating the process of repatriation. Some may point their finger to the "Mohajir (Bihari) problem" in Karachi as Sindhis do not accept them in their province. But perceiving this reality, the Pakistan government built tin-shed houses at Mia Chunnu in Punjab for their rehabilitation with financial support from Saudi-based voluntary organisation Rabita-al-Alam-al Islami. Former Pak Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif when he was the Punjab Chief Minister said, "I, on behalf of the people of Punjab, urge to accommodate in Punjab all the Pakistanis presently stranded in Bangladesh. However, for obvious reasons the responsibility to arrange funds for their repatriation and resettlement is of the federal government (of Pakistan)." After assuming office of the Pakistan Prime Minister, Sharif had assured both the Bangladesh government and the SPGRC delegation, led by Nasim Khan, of taking back their citizens. Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf during his official visit to Bangladesh also gave assurance to Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's government to take up this humanitarian issue on priority basis, but no initiative is still in sight. If the question of fund for repatriation and rehabilitation comes, it is not insoluble. It is understood that already there is some substantial fund raised for this purpose was learnt to have been deposited in a Pakistani bank (perhaps Habib Bank). Initiative could be taken easily to raise required fund from international voluntary organisations that are spending billions of dollars for humanitarian causes across the world. If the problem lies in the mindset of Pakistani politicians, then it needs to be solved by Pakistani politicians themselves. If Pakistan could show its magnanimity by giving shelter to refugees from different countries, including Afghanistan, why it would not take its own people to their homeland and ensure their legitimate rights to end their ordeal in camp life? Dr Hossain, who signed the India, Bangladesh and Pakistan tripartite agreement in Delhi on April 9, 1974 was quoted by the study as saying, "There should be a meaningful discussion aimed at resolving this humanitarian problem. We had made a framework to repatriate the remaining non-Bengalis. Perhaps, the two governments do not give sufficient priority to solve this problem." ______ [3] Star Weekend Magazine March 4 , 2005 | [The Daily Star - Dhaka] Perspective A MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE The government woke up from a long slumber last week. In the wake of widespread local and international criticisms, it banned Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB) and Jama'atul Mujaheedin Bangladesh (JMB), and arrested four leaders of the banned groups. What took the government so long? With the shadows of its two fundamentalist allies pulling strings from behind, how capable is the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) to rein in these militant outfits? Ahmede Hussain The BNP's reliance on religion as a political tool to gain popular support dates back to its birth. Born in the cantonment by a military ruler, the party gave shelter to a wide array of politicians. In fact Gen Ziaur Rahman's BNP was a classic example of unity of the opposites. From frustrated Maoists to dormant fundamentalists, the party had a place for practically each and everyone who sought its shelter. That stance was hardly changed when the party surprised everyone by winning the 1991 general elections. As far as the paradigm of votes was concerned, 1991's general elections had shown that it would never go to power alone without the help of the religious elements of the society. The Awami League, BNP's archrival, which was deemed to win the elections, soon followed the BNP's path. The party had always boasted on its secular credentials; but at the first party conference immediately after the defeat, the AL dropped socialism from its party manifesto; and Sheikh Hasina, the party leader started to wear a head-scarf, apparently to become more Islamic than her BNP counterpart. To shrug off the centre-left brand that the party had been wearing since its formation around 50 years ago, the party made an alliance with the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh (JI). In a move that irked most of its secular supporters, the AL even launched simultaneous programmes with the JI, who only a year ago had been a political pariah. The AL eventually dumped Jamaat, and the party, which won 18 seats in the previous elections, did not fare well-- with every party fighting its own war, the JI only bagged two seats. That disaster taught the JI a harsh lesson: Without the help of BNP, the party would not be able to proceed further. The BNP, on the other hand, which failed to get even the expected number of seats, had learnt something that is no less jarring for its polity. The BNP can lose JI's friendship only at its peril; thus a life-long marriage of convenience was born. In the general elections that followed the AL tasted the most humiliating defeat in its political history in the hands of the BNP-JI led Four-Party Alliance. Immediately after coming back to power, riding on an electoral landslide, the Alliance blamed the opposition for the bomb blasts that had rocked the country during the AL's five-year term in office. In fact from the very first such blast, because of its sheer political insecurity, the BNP have been blaming the AL for hatching a conspiracy to tarnish the country's image in the eyes of the donors. It remained conspicuously silent when newspaper reports suggested that a section of BNP members had been giving shelter to Bangla Bhai, the so-called operations commander of the recently banned JMJB. The party broke the silence at times only to deny the existence of the group. Arrests, meanwhile, went on. Local police made some significant breakthroughs and the arrestees, who confessed carrying out a number of terrorist acts, were granted bail. In the wake of a barrage of international criticisms, the prime minister ordered Bangla Bhai's arrest a few months ago. But the police have so far failed to nab the notorious criminal, who allegedly in connivance with some local BNP leaders, has established a reign of terror in northern districts of the country. That double standard got a jolt last week when the government was excluded from a conference on "Good governance" jointly organised by the European Union, the World Bank and the US State Department. While the exclusion came as a slap in the face for the Alliance, M Saifur Rahman, the finance minister, cried innocence. "If there is a meeting on Bangladesh's development process, this should be held in Bangladesh. We are a sovereign country," he told journalists a day before the conference begun. Ironically the government started to clamp down on the JMJB and JIB from the day the Washington meet began. Four leaders of JMJB, JIB and Ahale Hadith Bangladesh (AHM) were arrested on February 24 in a pre-dawn raid across the country. Both the JMJB and JIB were banned; and the press note that followed blamed the groups for carrying out some of the blasts that took place in the country in the last 10 years. The Finance Minister's claptrap, meanwhile, has remained as vigorous as ever. Even the day his government slapped a ban on the JMJB and JIB, Saifur termed the newspaper reports on Bangla Bhai and cronies as "foul propaganda". Immediately after the February 23 arrest, reports on these extremist groups started to flood the front pages of different local dailies. Eleven more activists of the banned outfits were arrested in Dinajpur and the police seized bomb-making materials, printers, acid, electric wires and batteries. (From left to right) Begum Khaleda Zia, Motiur Rahman Nizami and Sheikh Hasina. Both the BNP and AL formed alliances with the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh (JI). The BNP's two religious partners in the alliance have reacted sharply to the clamp down. Of them, Fazlul Haque Amini, leader of Islami Oikko Jote (IOJ), a small constituent in the Alliance, said, "There is a conspiracy going on to prevent Islamic revolution in the name of taming Islamic militancy". Maulana Abdur Rob Yousufi, general secretary of a faction of the IOJ) goes further. Asked to give his reaction about the banning, Yousufi told the BBC's Bangla service, "There is no Islamic militant organisation in the country." The JI has remained dead-against the idea of a crackdown. "The government has launched the crackdown in the line with the US. The main opposition has also provoked the donor agencies to take anti-Bangladesh and anti-Islamic stance," JI MP Mufti Abdus Sattar Akon told the Daily Star. Chances are high that the BNP's new-found zeal will die down when the attention of local and international media shifts to a different issue. Many observers have termed it as eyewash while the others want to wait and see if the BNP will walk down a path it has never taken before. If the party does change its attitude towards the issue of religious extremism, it will mark a major shift in the BNP's one-and-half decade old history. With the next general elections getting closer, only time will tell if the BNP is capable of taking a U-turn. ______ [4] THREE YEARS AFTER GENOCIDE IN GUJARAT Asghar Ali Engineer (Secular Perspective March 1-15, 2005) It was on 28 February 2002 three years before that genocide of Muslims started in Gujarat a day after train burning incident in Godhra on 27th February 2002, a day earlier. Every sensible person had condemned what happened at Godhra though it was far from clear as to who was responsible for train burning. Now the U.C.Banerjee report indicates that it was accidental fire which started from inside the compartment. However, Narendra Modi, the Gujarat Chief Minister, a hardcore RSS man, asserted that it was done by Muslims to massacre the Ramsevaks and justified the genocide in Gujarat on Newton’s law of action-reaction. It is now well known that he had instructed top police officials in a meeting in Gandhinagar on 27th evening not to interfere with what rioters do on the streets next day. Harin Pandya, the assassinated minister of Narendra Modi Cabinet testified this before People’s inquiry Commission and also told his father what Narendra Modi had instructed police officers on 27th February. Harin Pandya’s father testified before the Nanavati Commission. Thus complicity of the Gujarat Government in supporting the genocide is hardly in doubt. By any account it was the most horrible massacre of innocent citizens belonging to minority community in Gujarat in the post-independence period. The only other parallel is anti-Sikh riots of 1984. The BJP had often boasted that no communal riots take place when it is in power. And Gujarat saw one of the worst genocide of Muslims when it was in power with great majority in the Gujarat Assembly. What was worse that even then Prime Minister Shri. A.B.Vajpayee justified the massacre saying that had Muslims condemned Godhra incident enough, such a massacre in Gujarat would not have taken place. Though Mr. Vajpayee had reminded Modi of his ‘Rajdharma’ also (though without taking any action against him), he is too well-known for his flip flops. Mr. L.K.Advani, the then Home Minister, even gave clean chit to Narendra Modi that he has ‘maintained’ law and order in Gujarat effectively after the Godhra incident. Thus if the top functionaries of the Government of India were backing Narendra Modi why should he not have done what he did. So much for BJP’s claim of maintaining communal peace when in power. What is worse, the victims of the worst massacre in Gujarat could not hope for any justice. Modi even tried to wind up all relief camps, something which had never happened before. His administration even threatened to cut off water and food grains supply if the relief camps were not wound up. He had no mercy for the victims of brutal violence. And all this in the land of Gandhi who lived and died for peace and communal harmony. All the institutions of the state – legislative, executive, and judiciary have been communalised. Who then could come to the rescue of the poor victims? Both bureaucracy and police were deeply affected (with honourable exceptions). The Amnesty international impartial keepers of the rule of law has also recently compiled the report “India – Justice the Victim – Gujarat State fails to Protect Women from Violence.” It has been compiled in 2005 and released just a month ago. Like other reports on Gujarat genocide it makes horrible reading. The genocide in Gujarat was not only failure of law and order. It would be understatement to say so. It was deliberate and planned genocide. The Amnesty Report under the title “Police connivance in the violence” says, However, police not only withheld assistance” and then quotes Concerned Citizen’s Tribunal, “Worse still [than the failure to prevent violence] is the evidence of their [the police force’s] active connivance and brutality, their indulgence in vulgar and obscene conduct against women and children in full public view. It is as if, instead of impartial keepers of the rule of law, they were part of the Hindutva brigade targeting helpless Muslims.” Further the Amnesty report states, “Local inquiry reports list testimonies of police providing diesel from their official vehicles to burn down Muslim homes. Similarly witnesses told the Nanavati–Shah Commission that the Rapid Action Force had supplied petrol from their official vehicles to the mob to set ablaze houses belonging to the minority community. Another witness told the Commission in Ahmedabad that a police inspector encouraged the mob to attack the Muslims in her area. “The inspector directed that petrol be taken from his vehicle and it was used by the mob to set our society on fire.’” *It should be noted that the Rapid Action Force had been specially set up by the Home Ministry at the Centre to control communal violence. It has been set up out of CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) which generally had good reputation in controlling communal violence. And earlier it had established good name in several other riots by handling them efficiently. In Gujarat under the surcharged communal atmosphere even RAF was communalised – a matter of great shame for it. Its fair name was tainted. The police behaviour is not surprising if we keep in mind that many officers of Gujarat police force are reportedly members of Hindu right wing organisations and in their actions may have sought to further the objectives of those organisations rather than impartially carry on their professional duties, remarks Amnesty International report. This by itself is highly objectionable that members of police force be members of such rightwing organisations but in Gujarat such things are not only permissible but even desirable and hence one finds complicity of the police in such flagrant manner. In any other civilised society police officers will be dismissed if they join any such force. Independence of police from all such political outfits is an essential requirement. The other horrifying aspect of the Gujarat carnage was violence against and rape of women. It was as if rape of all human values. Under the title “Violence Against Women” the Amnesty report says that in all violence communal, racist or ethnic violence against women is specific one. The report says, “In one of the earlier incidents of violence in Gujarat or other parts of the country had sexual violence against girls and women, committed in public, been such a key feature.” The report says that they (women) became victims of grave abuses because their identities as both women and Muslims intersected. For right wing Hindus attacking the Muslim minority, Muslim women became the hated symbols of the community, which they sought to threaten, humiliate, hurt and destroy. The women, even if not direct victims of assault and rape suffer most emotionally and psychologically, as they have to care and nurture families torn apart by violence and mayhem. In Gujarat, women were subjected to large scale sexual abuse, apart from physical violence. The cases of Kausar Bano and Bilquis Begum are most talked about. Kausar Bano in Naroda Patia locality of Ahmedabad worst affected by communal frenzy, was eight month pregnant. Her abdomen was split open, the foetus extracted and killed. Such brutalities were unheard of in the history of communal violence in India. Bilqis Begum is another case in point from Randhikpur village of Dahod district. She was six months pregnant and gang raped by the VHP hooligans and nine of her relatives were killed before her eyes. She was taken as dead by the mobsters but she fortunately survived to tell her story. The police officers and doctors also became part of this abominable crime. They added and abetted. And these were not isolated cases. According to Amnesty report several hundred Muslim girls and women were reportedly stripped and dragged naked before their own families and thousands of violent Hindu attackers who taunted and insulted them with obscene words and threatened them with rape and murder. They were then raped, often gang- raped, beaten with sticks or trishuls and swords, had breast cut off and wombs slashed open by swords and rods violently pushed into their vaginas before a large number of them were cut into pieces or burned to death. What was worse, due to state complicity in all this, the victims had no way to get justice within the state of Gujarat. The Supreme Court had to intervene and transfer the cases out of the state and these cases are now going on in the state of Maharashtra. More than 3000 cases closed by the state police for ‘want of evidence’ had to be reopened as per directive of the Supreme Court. The Bilqis Bano case was one of them. The CBI was asked to take over these cases. These helpless victims had otherwise totally despaired. The lower judiciary was totally communalised and higher judiciary in Gujarat is also partly contaminated with communal ideologies. What was more shocking was that the state appointed prosecutors were members of VHP. How on earth could these victims ever get any justice? We must remember all this not for promoting any negative feeling but so that such things are not repeated in future in India. It would keep us reminding that when communal and fascist forces come to power what happens to our country. The fight against communal forces should go on through democratic methods. They must be isolated and weakened. Intolerance and hatred can never be part of democratic culture. Democracy thrives only when culture of peace and tolerance prevails. There is great need in democracy for a vibrant and healthy civil society. Such a society can be born only out of well informed and committed citizens. (Centre for Study of Society and Secularsim, Mumbai) ______ [5] [The full text of 4 detailed reports in the form of tape transcripts from Tehelka the investigative paper, are available in public interest on SACW's communalism blog . The original Tehelka reports are only available to its subscribers at the URL: http://www.tehelka.com/story_main11.asp?filename=ts031205Cop_Nails.asp ] Tehelka - March 12, 2005 COP NAILS GUJARAT LIE Gujarat Home Secretary and the government pleader wanted Additional Director General of the state police RB Sreekumar to conceal the truth from the Nanavati-Shah Commission inquiring into the 2002 genocide. The top cop taped the conversation. Hartos Singh Bal and Mahesh Lunga got the tapes. Their report [...]. [ FULL TEXT AT URL: http://communalism.blogspot.com/2005/03/cop-nails-gujarat-lie-tape-transcripts.html ] ______ [6] [Announcements] (i) Please pass this info on, and post in on any relevant email networks that you may be a part of. Thank you. OPPOSE THE RELENTLESS MINING OF PEOPLE'S RESOURCES Friends, The people's resistance to large Indian and foreign mining companies has widened and deepened. Their experience and understanding is that even as companies, mining mafias and urban elites have benefited, people at large have only suffered the devastation of their livelihoods, environment and way of life. The state's only response to their resistance has been raw repression. Nearly fifteen years ago, Shankar Guha Niyogi was murdered and the Supreme Court has recently let the industrialists responsible scot-free. In Kashipur, Orissa, the police and paramilitary has over the last few weeks been attacking peaceful protestors, and detaining activists and supporters. Twenty people are still in custody. To demand that the police and paramilitary forces be withdrawn from these areas; that the killers of Niyogi be punished; that all mining MOUs be cancelled in Orissa, Chattisgarh, MP; that people regain control over their lives and their resources, a 2-day dharna is being held before Parliament by numerous activists from Chattisgarh, Orissa and MP. Please participate, and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with these movements and peoples. Come let us raise our voice together against the repression these movements face and against this anti-people development process. Programme; 4th March Dharna at Jantar Mantar, 11 am onwards Press Conference: 4 pm, Indian Women's Press Corps, 5 Windsor Place, Ashoka Road 5th March Dharna at Jantar Mantar continues, 10 am-6 pm Candlelight march to India Gate, 6 pm PSSP Chattisgarh Mukti Morcha Jan Sangharsh Morcha o o o o o (ii) 2 Mar 2005 16:57:42 +0530 Subject: The U-Special Dear Friend, The Independent Publishers' Group is delighted to announce the opening of a new bookshop, U-Special, on March 3, 2005, at 3 pm, at the University Students' Centre (opp. the Arts Faculty, adjacent to the Central Reference Library) Delhi University, North Campus. Named after the buses that students from all over the city take to get to their various colleges in Delhi University, U-Special is not only a bookshop, but a place which will host discussions, book events, readings and meetings with authors. It's the kind of happening book-place that Delhi University needs, offering books and periodicals, initially in English and Hindi, to students and faculty, as well as to residents and visitors in the University area. · U-Special has something for everyone: textbooks that students and faculty will need to use to study and teach, books that people will want to read for pleasure, entertainment and learning. · U-Special will be open throughout the year, six days a week, eight hours a day, but will remain closed on Sunday. · U-Special has been set up by the Independent Publishers' Group, a partnership project of twelve small and medium sized publishers and distributors based in Delhi. They are The Book Review Literary Trust, Tulika Books, Seagull Books, Leftword Books, Daanish Distributors, Rainbow Publishers, Women Unlimited, Zubaan, Three Essays Collective, Social Science Press, The Little Magazine and Samskriti. U-Special will, however, stock books from all publishers in Delhi and other parts of India, and will undertake to procure books both from within India and abroad, as quickly as possible. · U-Special offers to source and supply books to libraries within and outside Delhi University. · U-Special is the first bookshop of this kind in Delhi, and the IPG looks forward to setting up similar stores in other university areas in the city. U-Special is an exciting, new venture, providing a facility that Delhi University has not had so far: a much needed bookshop stocking not only textbooks but books for the general reader. We're banking on your support. The Independent Publishers' Group. c/o Tulika Books, 35A/1 Shahpur Jat, New Delhi 110049 Tel: 26497999, 26491448 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] and [EMAIL PROTECTED] ______ (iii) India Pakistan Arms Race and Militarisation Watch Compilation # 150 ( 01 March, 2005) URL: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IPARMW/message/161 Contents: 1 Our man sold secrets to Iran, admits Pakistan (Massoud Ansari) 2 Jack of Arms Trade in India and Pakistan (J. Sri Raman) 3 Pakistan in cash-for-arms offer (BBC) 4 Pakistan, Spain to boost defence ties (Dawn) 5 Pakistan feels alarmed by US talks with India on Patriot Missiles (Pakistan Times) 6 Anatomy of folly: not for robust souls (Ayaz Amir) 7 City life: Blood, sweat and fears (Declan Walsh) 8 The people's right to know (Editorial, The News) 9 Pakistan leaves arms calling card (Kaushik Kapisthalam) 10 U.S. Still Considering Sale of F-16 Jets To Pakistan (Rana Jawad) 11 Senior U.S., Pakistani officials enter arms talks including F-16 fighters (Sadaqat Jan) 12 Pakistan to get $300m for military programmes (Dawn) 13 Pakistan seeks US help to stop alleged arms smuggling from Afghanistan 14 Making the police even less accountable (Afzal A Shigri) 15 The Patriot is coming (Farrukh Saleem) 16 Tehelka tapes: Maj Gen dismissed; gets RI 17 India takes its arms beefs to the UN (Ramtanu Maitra) 18 Re-victimising the victim (Praful Bidwai) 19 IB and RAW too play politics (Kuldip Nayar) 20 India, France begin joint naval exercises 21 1984 anti-Sikh riots were organised (Kuldip Nayar) 22 Victims of Armed Forces Act dub it a `black law' 23 Trigger-Happy - In India, heightened security tends to reduce civil liberties (Ashok Mitra) 24 India tests Akash missile 25 Tamil Nadu : STF to become jungle training school (V.S. Palaniappan) 26 India: Defence spending on the rise again (i) Toys for Boys (Editorial, The Times of India) (ii) India's military hungry for more (iii) Higher defence outlay likely (Sandeep Dikshit) (iv) Allocation for security up by Rs. 9,000 cr. (Vinay Kumar and Sandeep Dikshit) (v) India's defense spending to rise 8 percent (Rajesh Mahapatra) 27 US arms sales to India tripled in 2004 28 Missile shield heading for completion (Srinjoy Chowdhury) 29 Israeli firm to arm Sea Harriers with Derby missiles 30 India makes a play for F-16 fighters (Siddharth Srivastava) 31 Israel dumps Lakshya for US' free Chakor system 32 India Aims Defence Exports Of $130 Mn This Fiscal 33 India Eyes F-16 Fighter Purchase; U.S. Undecided 34 BEL begins export of Radars to Indonesia & Sudan 35 Mumbai underworld buys arms from abroad: police 36 Indian Hawk to fly at next aero show: 37 RAFAEL wins $25m Indian missile tender 38 Russia to Sell India Multiple-Launch Rocket Systems Worth $450M 39 India, Russia to Sign $450m Arms Deal 40 Indian Air Force To Buy 126 Multi-Role Planes 41 Cash-Strapped MiG Foresees On-Time Deliveries to India (Lyubov Pronina) 42 India preparing to test long-range missile 43 Astra missile to be tested this year (Sridhar K Chari) 44 Akash Seeks Piece Of Patriot Market (Vivek Raghuvanshi) 45 India Picks Israeli Missiles for Fighters (Vivek Raghuvanshi) 46 IAF for Su-30s to launch BrahMos (Shiv Aroor) 47 Kashmir bus route is a minefield [Bangladesh / Nepal ] 48 Bangladesh: (i) Brac, Grameen Bank under bomb attack (ii) Welcome move against extremists (Editorial - Daily Star) (iii) Jane's Report on Ctg Arms Haul 49 Nepal: Security Forces "Disappear" Hundreds of Civilians [INDIA PAKISTAN ARMS RACE & MILITARISATION WATCH A joint project of South Asia Citizens Web (www.sacw.net) and South Asians Against Nukes (www.s-asians-against-nukes.org) since November 1999.] o o o o o (iv) Walsh Gallery presents: "Re-take of Amrita" : Photographs by Vivan Sundaram MARCH 4 - APRIL 23 opening reception: March 4, 5-9 pm Vivan Sundaram has been one of India's premiere artists since the early 1960's. This exhibition examines the intersection of autobiography and history. Presented are a fifty-five piece photography series as well as a new media installation with a piano. In his photography series "Retake of Amrita", time and space are reinvented using intimate family photographs. Mr. Sundaram recombines two legendary figures (his aunt Amrita [Pritam] and her father Umrao) into fictitious, digitally manipulated settings. Sundaram's family members go through a time warp, appearing together despite the constraints of death and place. The show will run from March 4 through April 23. The opening reception is on Friday, March 4 from 5-9 p.m. Mr. Sundaram will be coming from Delhi for the opening reception. For more information: http://www.walshgallery.com/exhibitions.html or call 312.829.3312. WALSH GALLERY : 118 N. Peoria Street, F2 Chicago, IL 60607 [USA] _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ Buzz on the perils of fundamentalist politics, on matters of peace and democratisation in South Asia. SACW is an independent & non-profit citizens wire service run since 1998 by South Asia Citizens Web: www.sacw.net/ SACW archive is available at: bridget.jatol.com/pipermail/sacw_insaf.net/ Sister initiatives : South Asia Counter Information Project : snipurl.com/sacip South Asians Against Nukes: www.s-asians-against-nukes.org Communalism Watch: communalism.blogspot.com/ DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed in materials carried in the posts do not necessarily reflect the views of SACW compilers. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Help save the life of a child. Support St. Jude Children's Research Hospital's 'Thanks & Giving.' http://us.click.yahoo.com/mGEjbB/5WnJAA/E2hLAA/nJ9qlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! 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