Harsh Kapoor
Thu, 04 Sep 2003 18:25:20 -0700
[1.] Pakistan - India: Respective Nuclear officials give spiel on Bomb throwing (M.B. Naqvi) [2.] Pakistan Commission on Status of Women recommends repeal of Hudood Law [3.] A Questionable Alliance: Israel and India (Zahir Janmohamed) [4.] Bangladesh: Move on to tap phone calls, bust e-mails [5.] Kashmiris main party to dispute: HR groups [6.] Sharon's Upcoming tour to India: - BJP's Favourite West Asian: Ariel Sharon has actually done what they dream of doing (Mani Shankar Aiyar) (Indian Express, September 05, 2003) - Cancel the Sharon visit! (Praful Bidwai) [7.] India: Rights Activists & Witnesses at Risk in Gujarat : Reports [8.] India: Bombay, Peace work & Anti communalism . . . [9.] India: Gas as TV: Religion a huge hit on TV once more! [10.] Book Announcement: Khaki and the Ethnic Violence in India: Army, Police and Paramilitary Forces During Communal Riots by Omar Khalidi [11.] Events: Open Space Seminar Series' for September 2003 (New Delhi)
Strangely enough, the top nuclear authorities of Pakistan and India, reconstituted under advice from the Americans, have met in Islamabad and New Delhi at about the same time last week. While the fact of the Indian meetings is known here, little else is known as to what the Indian nuclear authorities may have discussed or planned. But what Pakistan's Nuclear Command Authority (NCA), presided over by President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, did has been disclosed in a terse military communiqué.
It is all about war. Those who thought that the mushroom clouds that seem to be lowering over Pakistan and India have gone away were rather premature in their conclusion. These clouds lower, lift and some times move toward the horizon. Currently they are not lowering but are not absent either.
The fact has to be faced that no bases for peace between India and Pakistan have been found and far too much of rather well based mistrust characterizes the two governments' thinking and dealings with each other. No responsible citizen can remain unmindful of what might yet happen.
It is a truism to say that the use of atomic weapons is madness whoever starts it. But both sides have an experience of the year 2002's military standoff that shows that both sides were ready to use these weapons. It is necessary to attend to this problem.
Pakistan's Nuclear Command Authority is its latest acquisition over which the government is rather proud of. Some people here think that Pakistan's NCA is a little more advanced than what obtains in India. But the statement means nothing because little is known about India or for that matter Pakistan's nuclear supreme command authority.
In the words of military communiqué: Pakistan's 'nuclear programme has matured over the years' and would continue to receive top national priority. Secondly, Pakistan 'will continue to consolidate its minimum deterrent needs'. Thirdly, there will be no delay 'in qualitative up gradation of the nuclear deterrent when necessary' and which 'would fortify national security'.
The conclusion that can safely be drawn and the communiqué asserts that 'no freeze or rollback of the nuclear programme can be visualized and "all talk of it has been termed by President Musharraf as irrelevant, outdated and totally false"'. Finally, 'the NCA reviewed progress of the strategic programme and expressed complete satisfaction "with the operational readiness of the Strategic Forces and the pace of development work"'.
It is reasonable to suppose that when and if the Indian Army's public relations outfit, whatever it is called, discloses what the top Indian nuclear Authority said and did would be couched in the same terms to what Pakistan's military has used. Indians too are sure to assert, as Pakistan has done, that they have no intention of running an arms race. It would also echo the Pakistani statement, in similar words again, about India's 'strong non-proliferation record and would reaffirm their commitment to universal non-proliferation goals' --- as Pakistan's military communiqué has put it.
Let ordinary citizens not forget that it is all about possible war by those who have to fight --- on both sides. The implication of these things must be digested. The military authorities in all the countries are supposed to prepare for war and be ready for it all the time. It so happens that India and Pakistan are in a state when a hot war is about to begin, not to mention the 56 years of their cold war. No peace has been made in the current 14-15 years old phase. Nor are the two talking about their disputes. There were a few attempts and negotiations such as in 1997. But nothing came of them. Meantime a Pakistan- supported Jihad in Indian-controlled Kashmir has led first to a freeze and then apparently to the cold and hard feeling in India that there is perhaps no option but to go to war.
In a background of this kind when both countries went overtly nuclear in 1998, the Vajpayee government thought it better to make a big effort at peace making with the famous Bus journey. But that elicited the Kargil response. The whole peace effort failed and its resuscitation at Agra failed too.
The mischief lies in the very nature of the atomic weapons. Conceived, brought into being and nurtured in secrecy and deceit, they promote ill feelings and mistrust in any two rival nations. For, no one can be trusted with nuclear weapons pointing at one's vital targets. These are weapons of doom. As it happens, each of the two has atomic weapons mounted on missiles, or can be so mounted quickly enough. These aim at the other country's soft civic targets. While this array of deadly weapons on both sides is praised and kept up-dated --- which is another name for continuing the arms race despite the disclaimer --- who can trust the other.
What this progress report seems to show, if it is that, is that the two governments remain set on a course that can not but lead to war. Isn't that an overstatement? It is not because no bases for peace making are under examination or negotiation. The very idea of negotiations is being debated: whether it would be politic to talk at this stage or to do so after a given interval.
Meantime the real bone of contention, the armed insurgency in Indian-controlled Kashmir, seems to have gotten worse lately. Pakistan authorities claimed that this is despite them and not because of them. Whether the Indian authorities bought it is not quite certain. There is a definite worsening of the situation between the two countries. The so called normalisation process that had followed the famous Srinagar gesture by Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee has distinctly slowed down, even if it has not been reversed.
This is the background in which the two sides, in terms of old idiom, are polishing their buttons and keeping the power dry. Who can start moves toward peace when and how is not clear. But one point can be made as a result of the experience of summer 2002. At that time war fears were common; it was supposed to be touch and go. But no war actually took place. This is significant. The Americans are supposed to have intervened to cool both sides down and at any rate Pakistan's President promised to stop any infiltration into Indian-controlled Kashmir if it was still taking place.
This was claimed to be due ultimately to the presence of nuclear weapons on both sides. The Indian President conceded the point made by Musharraf that the presence of nuclear weapons averted the war. But there are other aspects of the year 2002 experience. But going into them in detail would be an arcane matter. At any rate, that is for experts and political scientists to explore and draw conclusions from them. All that can be said in a general sort of way is that the war threat was real and that war was likely to have erupted despite the presence of nuclear weapons. There must have been other matters and considerations that may have contributed to the ultimate denouement of no-war-no-peace. It would help the cause of peace immensely if the people were to research the year 2002 experiences.
The Daily Times [ Pakistan] September 05, 2003
The National Commission on the Status of Women under the chairmanship of Justice Majida Rizvi has once again recommended that the Hudood Law be repealed as it degraded women, deprived them of their full rights and made the law of evidence iniquitous. Two members of the Commission - one of them is understandably Dr S.M. Zaman from the Council of Islamic Ideology - have not agreed to the recommendations as against 16 members who have backed them. The Commission was given the task of improving the status of women in Pakistan in May 2002. Its chairman says: "For the last more than two decades women have been the worst victims of this most unscrupulous legislation by the then military regime". The Commission has recommended not only the repeal of the Hudood laws but also repeal of sections of the Penal Code that carry enabling provisions. The Commission's report will go before the National Assembly where, needless to say, it will be torn to shreds. The opposition there is combined and is subservient to the strong clerical presence forming the spearhead of the PPP and the PML-N whose leaders are in exile. The MMA will have none of it and therefore the Jamali government might decide to shelve it and not cause more fireballs to be thrown on his already overcrowded plate of unresolved issues. The PPP will be embarrassed because a similar commission was set up by it in 1994 under Justice Nasir Aslam Zahid but whose recommendations had landed before the next party in power, the PML-N, who did not even acknowledge that they existed. Looking at this situation, one of the members of the Commission has wisely stated that General Musharraf, instead of forming another Commission, should have quietly implemented the recommendations of the earlier Commission and made the whole thing a part of his famous LFO. The 1997 recommendation came out of a Commission set up by the PPP government. Before that a kind of jurisprudence was established on them by Begum Zari Sarfaraz who was made to head the Commission by General Zia. The pile on the 'rejected' shelf of the concerned ministry grows by another inch in 2003. Let us look at what the earlier commissions demanded. The most unjust provisions against women exist within the ambit of Criminal Law because under it women attract the mischief of the FIR. In cases where a woman is witness to murder, her testimony is half that of a man's under 'hadd'. If the same case is heard under 'tazir', the judge can impose maximum punishment without reducing her testimony to half. Logic (qiyas) and 'ihsan' (human sympathy) say that 'tazir' is a better mode of Islamic adjudication than 'hadd' wherein the judge is bound by the law of 'shahadat' (witness) and can't use his discretion to maintain justice. If a woman is raped she is under obligation to bring four male pious eye-witnesses to prove her charge. Rape is equated with fornication whereunder Islam wants to prevent wrongful accusation. If the victim can't prove rape she is punished under 'qazf' (wrongful accusation). This really means that a raped woman is ill-advised to make an accusation under the Zina Ordinance. The Supreme Court is on record as saying that 95 per cent of the cases thus brought against women are finally decided in their favour but the movement of the case from the lower courts to the Supreme Court takes years during which the accused woman suffers. In one 'thana' prison (Karachi South) earlier examined, 80 per cent of the imprisoned women were facing charges under the Zina Ordinance. Most cases pertained to marriage of choice which the accusing party wanted to undo through the Zina Ordinance. The police exploited the FIR and hunted the lawfully married woman down under the assumption of Islamic justice. The Hudood Laws "were conceived and drafted in haste and are not in conformity with the injunctions of Islam". 'Tazir', which is bound by Qanoon-e-Shahadat (1984), is applicable to all laws. Financial support is possible to the divorced woman under the Quranic injunction: 'For divorced women a provision in kindness: a duty for those who ward off evil' (2:241). This provision was supported during General Zia's Islamic dictatorship by an Islamic scholar of note, Rafiullah Shehab. The point has been forcefully made by Pakistan leading lawyer Ms Rashida Patel in her recent book 'Woman versus Man: Socio-Legal Gender Inequality in Pakistan'. The relevant 'ayat' compensates for the totally un-Quranic way the husband is allowed under Islam to divorce his wife with three simultaneous pronouncements of 'talaq'. The state should also stop the current malpractice in the courts to demand evidence from women asking for 'khula' (divorce), which the Quran forbids. 'Ijtehad' on two well-known Quranic references to polygamy, including the one which says, 'Ye are never able to be fair and just as between women even if it is your ardent desire', (Nisa:129) is urgently needed. This interpretation has been made the basis of the ban on polygamy in Tunisia and Turkey. The 'ulema' in parliament will start fuming and will treat the Commission Report as 'haram' because they don't believe in studying the ground facts. They never study social statistics and have absolutely no idea of the extent of injustice that these laws have exposed the poor female population to. *
ISLAMABAD, 3 September 2003 - A government-appointed commission in Pakistan called yesterday for the abolition of laws that rights activists say discriminate against women.
The Islamic Hudood Ordinances were passed in 1979 under the rule of Gen. Ziaul Haq and cover a range of crimes.
One of the most controversial provisions states that a woman must have four male witnesses to prove rape, or face a charge of adultery herself. Men and women found guilty of adultery face stoning to death or 100 lashes.
"We have come to the conclusion that these laws should be repealed altogether," Majida Razvi, chairwoman of the National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) told Reuters by telephone from the southern city of Karachi.
Razvi, a former judge, said the commission was preparing a report based on its recommendations, which would urge the government to conduct a public and parliamentary debate before passing new laws.
The Hudood laws have long been opposed by political parties, civil rights and women's groups, who argue that rape and violence against women have soared since they were passed. But successive governments have failed to change the laws because of stiff opposition from powerful conservative groups, who have traditionally been close allies of the military in Pakistan.
Nilofar Bakhtiar, adviser to the prime minister on women's development, said the government would take action after receiving the report.
"We have asked them to expedite it because we also want to do something about it," she told Reuters, without elaborating.
According to the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, there were 2,200 women in prison in the country in 2001-2002, most of whom were either awaiting trial or had been convicted under the Hudood laws.
The Jewish Week [USA] 29 August 2003
Jews And India: Troubling Ties Zahir Janmohamed
In a December 2002 poll in the Times of India, 400 students from India's most prestigious colleges were asked to select the ideal leader India needs most. Independence leader and spiritual icon Mahatma Gandhi led with 23 percent. Current Prime Minister Vajpayee finished second with 20 percent. In third place, with 17 percent, was Adolf Hitler.
One respondent, 18-year-old Phalguni Das of the National College in Bombay, said: "[Hitler] may not have been the best of human beings, but he possessed high leadership qualities. He had the unique ability to make people follow him forcibly and nearly conquered the world."
When we look at government-issued textbooks in India, these results should not surprise us. In a Standard 9 textbook for the western state of Gujarat, Hitler is cited as a man who gave "race pride" to his people. There is no mention of his ghastly treatment of Jews. In the chapter "Problems of the Country," the first subsection is entitled "Minorities" in which Muslims, Jews and Christians are called "foreigners in India."
One would imagine that the Jewish community, which historically faced persecution, would distance itself from the Indian government because of its vilification of minorities. Instead, the first-ever joint Capitol Hill forum was held last month, sponsored by the U.S. Indian Political Action Committee, or USINPAC, the American Jewish Committee and the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee. The event featured nearly a dozen members of Congress, diplomats from the Indian and Israeli embassies, and political activists from both communities speaking about the "symbiotic," "intrinsic" and "unique" nature of Jewish-Indian relations, namely a deep concern about militant Muslims.
Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.) seemed to summarize the binding issue of the evening (and perhaps of the alliance): "We are drawn together by mindless, vicious, fanatic Islamic terrorism," he said. (Numerous speakers used the words "Muslim" and "terrorist" interchangeably.)
The common bond between these two nations, Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-Queens/L.I.) said, was that Israel is "surrounded by 120 million Muslims" while "India has 120 millions Muslims [within]."
These comments, however, contradict B. Raman, an Indian intelligence officer, who earlier boasted that not a single Muslim from India has been linked to al-Qaeda, Hamas or any of the other terrorist organizations that threaten the West.
While the event purported to speak for all Indians, none of the speakers mentioned issues that concern many Indians: AIDS, malnutrition, employment, basic human rights and education.
As Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon prepares to visit India in early September, it should be noted that improving relations between Jews and Indians is crucial. Both peoples, after all, have been victims of vicious terrorism over the past few years. But Jews should be mindful of the realities of the situation in India.
Over the past few years, for example, the ruling BJP party has aggressively pushed its agenda of "Hindutva." The ideology, a distortion of the tolerant ethos of Hinduism, seeks to create a Hindu state in India in which minorities, including Jews, are forced to live as second-class citizens because they believe in a religion that was founded outside of India.
In forming their alliance with India and its diasporic community, many Jewish organizations unfortunately have only reached out to unrepresentative, radicalized groups like USINPAC that are too willing to ignore Hindutva's challenge to Indian democracy. The vast majority of Indians - be they Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Muslims or Parsees - are secular and progressive and reject such myopic and intolerant visions of India.
When India's Deputy Prime Minister Advani came to the United States in June, the AJCommittee hosted a dinner in his honor. A spokesman for the Israeli embassy, Mark Regev, said his country maintained close ties with Advani because "he is a man of great power."
But Advani "represents a group of organizations that have the ultimate aim of turning India into a Hindu state," according to Smita Narula, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch.
"To achieve those ends they have encouraged extreme violence," Narula said. "It's been harmful not only to Muslims and Christians, but for the population as a whole and for the country's secular, democratic fiber."
Advani also has a track record of endorsing anti-Semitic Indian organizations and leaders recruiting and training proponents of hard-line Hindu nationalism.
One of the organization's pioneering ideologues, Veer Savarkar, endorsed the Nazis' persecution of German Jews. Rather than distance himself from Savarkar, Advani unveiled his portrait last February in the central hall of New Delhi's parliament.
The Jewish community has, commendably, supported and championed human rights and civil liberties in the U.S. As Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon visits India, Jews should pressure their leaders to form alliances with Indians who symbolize India's democratic and pluralistic ethos. Aligning with hard-liners like Advani only enforces the intolerance that Jews and Indians should be fighting.
Zahir Janmohamed is writing a book about the rise of religious violence in South Asia.
The Daily Star [Dhaka, Bangladesh] September 04, 2003
A move is underway to amend the Bangladesh Telecommunication Act 2001, allowing intelligence agencies to breach privacy of individuals by tapping telephone calls and busting e-mails, sources said.
A leading intelligence agency backed by others has initiated the move and convinced the relevant ministries to amend the act, paving the way for gross breach of privacy, sources said.
The agencies also want access to the subscribers' database of all fixed phone and cellular phone service providers and the Internet service providers (ISPs).
The telecoms act stipulates that breaching individual privacy by eavesdropping on telephone conversations between two persons is a punishable offence as it infringes on civil rights.
Although security agencies cannot legally eavesdrop on telephone conversations, allegations have long been there that they monitor and tap telephone calls illegally. But at present, they cannot use the information derived by such means as evidence in a court of law.
However, after its amendment, the intelligence agencies will be able to manoeuvre freely to listen to individual telephone calls, read e-mails and produce tapped and e-mailed messages before the court as evidence.
Section 71 of the telecoms act describes penalty for eavesdropping on telephone conversations: "A person commits an offence, if he intentionally listens to a telephone conversation between two other persons, and for such offence, he shall be liable to be sentenced to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding 50 thousand taka or both."
Sources said security agencies have been able to persuade the Prime Minister's Office to bring changes to the telecoms act, citing the rise of terrorist activities in Bangladesh and September 11 terror attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York, US.
The agencies also convinced the Ministry of Post and Telecommu-nications (MoPT) to bring some changes to the telecoms law. The ministry recently held a series of meetings with the Ministry of Law and Bangladesh Telecommuni-cations Regulatory Commission (BTRC).
The BTRC has already prepared a draft outlining changes asked for by the security agencies on instruction of the law ministry.
The agencies want a change in the subsection of Section 30 of the telecoms act, which deals with protection of privacy of telecommunications, by incorporating the words, put here in italics: "to ensure protection of the privacy of telecommunications; subject to the national security laws".
"In fact, the telecoms ministry and telecoms watchdog are under pressure from the security agencies, which are pressing for the changes in the name of state security," a senior government official said on condition of anonymity.
The security agencies have also asked for an amendment to Section 5. According to them, it should read, "Notwithstanding any contrary provisions of any other law, subject to the provisions of national security law, the provisions of this Act shall have effect", instead of "Notwithstanding any contrary provisions of any other law, the provisions of this act shall have effect."
"Providing such opportunity to intelligence agencies means putting them above law," said Barrister Tanjibul Alam of Dr Kamal Hossain & Associates, a law firm. Tanjibul is one of the solicitors to have prepared the original act as consultant.
"There will be no privacy of individuals if the law is amended according to the desire of the security agencies," a civil society activist said.
A civil rights activist said if the secret agencies have the amendments they want in place "this will make the country a police state".
The proposed amendments are in violation of the independence of the BTRC, Tanjibul observed.
Most of the protection of privacy under Section 30 of the telecommunications act will be curtailed in the name of national security, which is a vague term, said Tanjibul.
It will also undermine the purpose of the telecoms act, which was envisaged establishing an independent commission for development and efficient regulation of telecoms system and telecoms services in Bangladesh and for the transfer of the powers and functions of the post and telecommunications ministry to the BTRC.
The telecoms policy was enacted in parliament in 1998 and the telecoms act was passed in 2001.
Kashmiris main party to dispute: HR groups THE KASHMIR TIMES [ WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 03, 2003 01:55:28 AM ]
SRINAGAR: The joint fact finding committee of three human rights groups in the country have urged India and Pakistan to recognise that people of the state are the primary party to the Kashmir dispute and the issue should be resolved with their participation and to their satisfaction.
The committee of Association for Democratic Rights, Punjab, Human Rights Forum, Andhra Pradesh and Organisation for Protection of Democratic Rights, it is pertinent to mention, toured the state in May this year and have compiled the human rights situation here in a booklet entitled "Kashmir - An Enquiry Into The Healing Touch".
Discussing various formulas that are being put forth for its resolution, the report finalised by the committee, said important than these formulas is to let people of the state express their choice.
Reacting to the last assembly elections, the report said, voting was hardly as much as people in India "believe". "It was motivated by a desire to bring in governance having concern for people's basic needs and rights", the enquiry finds out.
To the contrary, the report said, it is an article of faith in India that the elections were free and fair, that people braved the threat of militants and rejected Hurriet's boycott call, and that voting signifies rejection of the politics of separatism.
At the same time, the report added, there was just 28 percent voting in Kashmir "which is certainly more than in the previous elections but much less than what is regarded as average voting in the country".
The report said Kashmir dispute is not a dispute because Pakistan disputes the accesion, but because people of Kashmir and to some extent the other parts of J&K dispute it. It demanded the people of the state should have the first and last say in its resolution - "being the primary party".
"The need to restore primary party to its rightful status cannot be ignored and the beginning may be made be letting the world know what the primary party thinks of the proposed talks", it said.
The report also said there is little faith in the state in the sincerity of "India and Pakistan - India in particular, in resolving the issue". "People are aware of the real possibility that the two countries may decide to divide J&K among themselves without regard for the wishes of people of the state. This is greeted with the mixture of resentment and resignation", it said.
The three groups in its report said it the territory of people from the state and it is for them to decide its future. "We have no desire to declare a formula, but wish to insist that people should be represented in any talks between the two countries and that resolution should be to their satisfaction", the report said.
Referring to several formulas, it said, one suggests conversion of LoC into permanent border. "It would mean a permanent division of people who are culturally, linguistically and ethnically very close to each other. The valley, Rajouri, Poonch, Doda and Muzaffarabad fits in this description and nobody has right to divide people permanently without their consent", it said.
About Sikender Hayyat Khan's (PoK prime minister) suggestion of accepting Chenab river as the boundary between two countries, the report said, it is not an ideal dividing line as Akhnoor with cent percent Hindu population would go to Pakistan and Kishtwar and Bhaderwah with Muslim majority would go to India. The unanimous view in valley, on the other hand, is "in favour of inddependence".
Referring to another proposal called "Clinton formula", the report said, it suggets granting Kashmir valley self-rule under joint supervision of India and Pakistan and partitioning the rest of two parts of J&K between the two countries. "Why Kashmiris should suffer this imposition merely to satisgy the egoistic sensibilities of these two countries is beyond comprehension", the committee observes.
BJP's Favourite West Asian: Ariel Sharon has actually done what they dream of doing Mani Shankar Aiyar (Indian Express, September 05, 2003) http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=30920
Cancel the Sharon visit! Praful Bidwai (rediff.com, September 03, 2003) http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/sep/03praful.htm
Indian Express, September 05, 2003 BEST BAKERY [Case] : Can't comply with SC order: Gujarat Express News Service New Delhi, September 4: The Gujarat government has said it is ''rather impossible to comply fully'' with the Supreme Court's directions to protect witnesses in riot cases in the wake of the Best Bakery controversy.
In its counter affidavit to the petition filed by the NHRC, the state urged the apex court to modify its order of August 8 as it is ''extremely difficult'' to provide ''full and complete protection'' to the witnesses, their families and relatives.
The state had claimed in its counter affidavit on Monday that it had ''complied'' with the court's directions and offered protection to 1,187 witnesses in the nine serious cases shortlisted by the NHRC. But it asserted that most of those witnesses had refused to accept protection for the time being and instead asked to be provided the same at a later stage.
As regards the Best Bakery case, the Narendra Modi government has asserted that no witness ''had complained to police or the state government about threat or coercion extended to them.'' [...]. [FULL TEXT AT: http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=30951 ]
ahmedabad.com [India], 1 Sep 2003 3 ASSISTING ZAHIRA FACE THREAT CALLS Three persons assisting Zahira Sheikh, the prime witness in the Best Bakery case, have sought the Supreme Court help in asking the state government to provide armed protection to them as they "apprehend serious threat to their lives".
Mumbai-based human right activist Teesta Setalvad, Gujarat high court advocate Suhel Tirmizi and city-based social worker Raees Khan Azeezkhan Pathan, filed a special leave petition on Monday in the court of Chief Justice of the Apex Court V.N. Khare, justice Ashok Bhan and justice S.P. Sinha claiming that their life is under threat for their involvement in the Best Bakery case.
Advocate Shanti Bhushan moved the petition on behalf of Citizens for Justice and Peace , hearing of which has been scheduled on September 12. The Supreme Court had recently directed the state government to furnish documents of major riot cases in the state and ensure the safety of witnesses.
Monday's petition states that the trio involved in the protection and rehabilitation of Zahira Sheikh in Mumbai have been receiving threatening calls over the phone in the last fortnight. The petition states that Ms Setalvad has been threatened of dire consequences if she continues to provide legal aid and pursue the Best Bakery case.
The petition further claims that Mr Pathan was gheraoed and threatened by a mob owing allegiance to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal on August 29 when he was escorting witnesses of Gulbarg Society massacre to the Justice Nanavati and Justice Shah Inquiry Commission where the latter were to depose. The petitioners stated that despite an application filed by them on August 20 seeking urgent police protection, no police cover has been provided to them.
Best Bakery case: Protect witnesses, says Amnesty TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 03, 2003 08:52:03 PM ]
NEW DELHI: Amnesty International has expressed concern for the safety of human rights activists Teesta Setalvad, Rais Khan Azzezkhan Pathan and Suhel Tirmizi, who are working on behalf of key witnesses of Best Bakery case Zahira Sheikh and Sehruneesa Sheikh.
According to Amnesty, the three activists have received telephone threats from annonymous callers, warning them that their lives would be in danger if they continue to work on behalf of the victims of communal violence, particularly those affected in the Best Bakery case, in which 14 people were killed.
Amnesty has alleged that on August 29 while Pathan was escorting witnesses to a hearing of the commission of inquiry into the violence in Gujarat, in Ahmedabad he was surrounded and physically threatened by a group of supporters of right-wing Hindu political groups.
AI in a statement also said that despite repeated requests for police protection made to the Gujarat government, there has been no response. On September 1, the three activists have filed an application in the Supreme Court requesting protection.
Three human rights activists have moved the Supreme Court seeking protection following threats to their persons for working on behalf of the victims of communal violence in Gujarat.
Mumbai Newsline / The Indian Express August 27, 2003
Creativity & Community Express News Service Mumbai, August 26: Writers, actors, artists and people born to creativity are writing their own politics-that of love and peace. Communalism is no more than a force to fight against
Conjugal harmony A brahmin boy and Muslim girl elope in Mani Ratnam's Bombay. In real life, Bollywood may not indulge in theatrics, but believes in communal conjugal bliss.
Sunil and Nargis Dutt, Shashi and Jennifer Kapoor, Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak Shah, Salim-Salma-Helen, Shah Rukh and Gauri Khan, Hrithik Roshan and Suzanne Khan, Saif Ali Khan and Amrita Singh, Arbaaz Khan and Malaika Arora, Arjun Rampal and Mehr Jesia-just some industry names who saw the person and not the creed.
As author Bharathi Pradhan says in her book Colas, Cars and Communal Harmony, Bollywood flaunts its secular colours-it believes that religion is one.
When Gujarat burned, a section of the film fraternity decided to come forward for a public service message. They laid their identity in black and white and told the world how religion didn't matter. Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Ashutosh Gowariker, Abhishek Bachchan, Aparna Sen and Shabana Azmi proclaimed their identity through their nationality, not faith.
Among industry people who have gone beyond the odd public service message or song appearance are Javed Akhtar, Shabana Azmi and Mahesh Bhatt. They publicly condemn every communally-charged incident, work to bolster victims and spread peace.
Documentary film-makers, such as Anand Patwardhan in War and Peace, Father, Son and Holy War and Ram Ke Naam are statements against growing communalism, but he has had to stalk the courts to get them seen on national television. Ritesh Sinha's War Or Peace speaks of being born in bombs and riots. Teesta Setalvad, Suma Josson, Stalin-other film-makers who went out during the riots to capture atrocities and awaken consciences.
Art that cares WHILE a powerful blast shook the Gateway, an artist was busy hanging his solo exhibition at the Jehangir Art Gallery. Yashwant Deshmukh knew what it meant. ''In the face of such tragedy it was a difficult decision, but because Yashwant had put in such an effort, one didn't want him to feel deserted,'' says his dealer Janjri Trivedi.
Jayasri Burman also went ahead with her opening though gallery owner Shanti Chopra says, ''It was somber event.'' The Open Circle artist creative collective say it's too early to react to the blasts. ''What can one say about injustice?'' says Tushar Joag, a founder member. Artist Nalini Malani, who also shows with Open Circle, is dealing with the horror of the blasts, ''It's bound to surface in my work later,'' she says, applauding how the people came forward to help each other with blood donations. ''The city didn't just mourn the loss but was part of the process of reparation,''
Spotlight: final reactions After 13 blasts, two is child's play," shrugs ad guru Alyque Padamsee. Yet the '93 blasts led to very few plays on the subject. And Padamsee's production of Mahesh Dattani's Final Solutions was an exceptions. "I even encouraged backstage discussions with audiences," he recalls. But the past year has seen many plays on communal tension: Mahadevbhai, Black With 'Equal', Suman Aur Sana, Buhut Raat Ho Chali Hai, Raat, Danga.
"It's a result of the Gujarat carnage. That was a massacre," feels Padamsee, who adapted Romeo and Juliet into R & J , during'93 riots. Salim Arif believes it's the recurrence of violence that's disturbing. "I have to answer my son who watches TV," says the director of Kharaashein, based on Gulzar's riot-related stories. Padamsee is staging a performance based on Krishna Iyer's tribunal on Gujarat with Sita Thompson enacts "a dance of agony".
Peace Song The music fraternity isn't without loyalists either Vocalist Shubha Mudgal has been associated with music concerts that support peace and communal harmony, with a concert in Delhi in 1992.
Euphoria's Palash Sen reveals that he has penned a track on peace. ''I have a keen desire to work with Abida Parveen for this.'' He had earlier collaborated with an artiste across the border when he and Junoon joined hands in 2002 for a concert held in Delhi to build Indo-Pak relations.
The Bombay Rock Association also expressed a great desire to initiate a jam session to promote peace. ''Everyone's been affected by the bomb blasts and we want to do something to spread the message of freedom, peace, love and truth,'' says Sujeet Ramanna, President, Bombay Rock Association. Though no concrete plans for the music programme have been drawn up, Ramanna reveals that it's definitely on the charts.
Voices for peace For some, Monday's blasts acted as a catalyst, encouraging them to speak out for common good.
Javed Anand, editor of monthly magazine Communalism Combat, has been galvanised into hosting a meeting today. Prominent Muslim intellectuals like Hassan Kamal and Javed Akhtar will be attending this meet. ''An overwhelming number of Muslims are opposed to violence as they are the greatest victims of it,'' says Anand, adding, ''This meeting is a forum for them to speak out and to show that the common view of Muslims endorsing violence is wrong.''
''The Mumbaiites resilience is what persists even during troubled times,'' says historian Sharda Dwivedi. Novelist and critic Shanta Gokhale shares this opinion. ''I don't feel pessimistic, but believe in the will of people to put things right,'' she says. But she stresses the need for open dialogue and justice. ''People can find happiness even in the midst of poverty, but injustice is what frustrates people the most.''
Anand also thinks that it is exceedingly important to act immediately, because ''two or three weeks later, the message will be lost and the cause forgotten.''
Sify.com, 04 Sep, 2003 Religion a huge hit on TV once more! http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=13242354
Khaki and the Ethnic Violence in India: Army, Police and Paramilitary Forces During Communal Riots
Paperback 81-88789-08-9 Rs.150 (India) $15.00 (overseas) Hardcover 81-88789-09-7 Rs.350 (India) $25.00 (overseas)
India's military, paramilitary, and the police constitute one of the largest security forces around the globe. Who constitutes these forces? What is the ethnic and religious background of these troops? Does the composition of these forces mirror the diversity of the Indian society? Have their composition undergone any change since Independence? Like other nations with ethno-religious diversity, India has experienced half a century of ethnic riots, massacres, even pogroms. What impact, if any does the ethnic and religious composition of the security personnel has on the ability of the state to prevent the occurrence of ethnic violence or to mitigate loss of lives and property once it occurs? Answers to these questions are critical to anyone interested in understanding the role of the state's most critical instrument of legitimate coercion - the security forces. This book provides the answers with precision and economy of words. In this respect Khaki and the Ethnic Violence in India simply has no rival.
Omar Khalidi is an independent scholar and a staff member of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. He was educated in India, Britain, and the United States. His research interests are in the sociology of politics, upward and downward economic mobility of ethnic groups, nationalism and diaspora. He is the author of 'Indian Muslims Since Independence', 1996, and edited 'Hyderabad: After the Fall', 1988, a collection of academic papers.
©2002-2003 Three Essays Collective http://66.51.111.239/indowindow/threeessays/title.php?bookid=11
Three Essays Collective 57-C, LIG Motia Khan New Delhi - 110 055 India
Are Other Worlds Possible ? Cultures of Politics and the World Social Forum
This is to remind / inform you of the programme of the ongoing 'Open Space Seminar Series' for the month of SEPTEMBER :
September 9, Tuesday : The WSF and Old vs New Politics : Parties, social movements, and civil groups Venue : Room No. 22, Arts Faculty, University of Delhi (North Campus) Time : 12 noon
Invited panellists : Mary John, Jawaharlal Nehru University Vinod Raina, Eklavya, Jubilee South, and All India People's Science Network Sitaram Yechury, Communist Party of India (Marxist) and perhaps one other panellist, + with Aditya Nigam, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, as Moderator
[Unfortunately one of the scheduled speakers has had to drop out, so we are looking for a suitable replacement.]
September 19, Friday : Empire 2 : Authoritarianism, Militarisation, & Nuclearisation : Questions of War, Peace, and Terror Venue : Auditorium, I P College, University of Delhi (North Campus) Time : 12 noon
Invited panellists : Rohini Hensman, journalist, activist, Sri Lanka Ashis Nandi, author, commentator, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi Achin Vanaik, journalist, commentator, and anti-nuclear activist, New Delhi
September 26, Tuesday : Contested Space ? The Forum as Space, the Forum as Movement Venue : Gargi College, University of Delhi (South Campus) Time : 12 noon
Invited panellists : Dinesh Abrol, Delhi Science Forum, Member WSF India Organising Committee, former coordinator, WSF India Programme Committee for ASF (2002-3) Ashok Bharti, Convenor, National Coordinator, National Conference of Dalit Organisations (NACDOR), and Member, Member WSF India Organising Committee Shalmali Guttal, Focus on the Global South, Bangkok and Bangalore Jai Sen, independent researcher and civil actor, New Delhi Kavita Srivastava, PUCL (People's Union for Civil Liberties), Rajasthan
+ with Razia Ismail Abbasi, India Alliance for Child Rights & Women's Coalition Programme Centre, as Moderator
Please do come ! And feel free to circulate this message widely and to encourage your associates and friends to also come.
As planned, we have now also published a Reader on the World Social Forum. This will be available at each session, or you can write or phone in to us, to request a copy.
Mukul Mangalik Jai Sen Madhuresh Kumar
Contact details for more information : Madhuresh Kumar and/or Jai Sen A-3 Defence Colony, New Delhi 110 024 Ph 011/5155 1521, 2433 2451 Eml <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
World Social Forum http://www.forumsocialmundial.org.br/home.asp
World Social Forum India www.wsfindia.org
WSF India Secretariat [EMAIL PROTECTED]
European Social Forum (Paris, November 12-16 2003) www.fse-esf.org
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.mnet.fr/aiindex). The complete SACW archive is available at: http://sacw.insaf.net
DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed in materials carried in the posts do not necessarily reflect the views of SACW compilers.
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