South Asia Citizens Wire - Dispatch #1 | 30 June - 1 July, 2004 via: www.sacw.net
[1] Bangladesh: How dare the recalcitrant mullahs offer their fatwa against three very bright professors of DU? (A.H. Jaffor Ullah)
[2] Teesta Setalvad chosen for Human Rights award
[3] Speeding The Indo-Pak Peace Process - Nuclear CBMs aren't enough (Praful Bidwa)i
[4] An Encounter - Fake or Real ? (N.D.Pancholi)
Resources: New Books / Upcoming events
[5] India - Gujarat: Anhad, Prashant, Pratham , Darpana and Youth for Peace a day of direct mass contact for communal harmony (Ahmedabad, July 1, 2004)
[6] Social Scientist, / Sahmat Convention on 'India: An Economic Agenda for 2004' (New Delhi, July 5)
[7] Book Excerpts: 'A to Z of Jihadi Organizations in Pakistan By Muhammad Amir Rana'
[8] Book Blurb: 'Healing Streams: Bringing Hope in the Aftermath of Violence By Sushobha Barve'
[9] Film Screening and Discussion: Kashmir- What Does The Future Hold (London, 6 July)
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[1]
[Posted on the 'mukto-mona' list Date: Wed Jun 30, 2004 5:24 am Subject: Recalcitrant mullahs and their fatwa against 3 DU professors
How dare the recalcitrant mullahs offer their fatwa against three very bright professors of DU?
By A.H. Jaffor Ullah
Things are for sure out of kilter in Bangladesh. Or else, how dare a bunch of obscure kathmullahs, muftis, and "practitioners of Islam" offer their fatwa against three very bright professors of Dhaka University? It is an insult to every sensible citizens of this impoverished nation of 140 million. The good sense has taken the back seat, undoubtedly.
The Internet was abuzz on June 29, 2004, when a barrage of e-mails crisscrossed the globe to reach many of us while bringing the ominous news. Many a newspaper in Bangladesh printed the news of the sensational fatwa in the front page to emphasize the gravity of the situation.
One leading English news daily from Dhaka blurted out, "Islamist zealots have issued death sentence to three noted professors of Dhaka University (DU) accusing them of running anti-Islamic propaganda in the country."
The three senior professors against whom the fatwa of death was announced are: Prof Muntasir Mamun of history department, Prof Humayun Azad of Bangla department and Prof MM Akash of economics department. I personally met Prof. M.M. Akash during 1998-99 when he visited the University of New Orleans. Once I told him about the danger that is lurking ahead due to rife Islamization of Bangladesh. Professor Akash was least perturbed by all this baneful development. He reasoned as follows, "The Jamaat hardly gets any vote; people don't trust them." I was adamant as I told him, "You wait and see what is in store for Bangladesh." After receiving this pernicious fatwa Professor Akash will have his second thought, I recon.
A confederacy of Islamic dunces comprising of Maulana Zakaria, Maulana Ekaedullah, Maulana Keramat Ali, Maulana Abdul Jabbar, Mufti Saleh Ahmed and Maulana Mufti Kudrat-e-Elahi gave the fatwa in a meeting that supposedly took place in DU's Arts Building at 10:00 am on June 26, 2004. A day later, a group claiming to be comprised of The Nastik Murtaad Resistance Committee and Muslim Millat Sha'riah Council started sending faxed message to various newspapers publicizing the fatwa. They wrote, "If the three professors don't redeem themselves by September this year, they will be killed."
All people should take this death threat very seriously. The government should have reacted instantaneously by condemning the fatwa against the three professors. But three days have passed by and we are yet to see any reaction from the government. What does this mean? It has not escaped anyone's attention that whatever the Islamists in Bangladesh do, the government remains reticent for quite a while. When the donor nations break the silence and ask the government some tough question about the wrongdoings of the Islamists, only then they break their silence but even then the reaction is all but a whimper.
In March and April 2004, in western districts of Bangladesh a man by the moniker "Bangla Bhai" and his group of Islamists unleashed a rein of terror while killing dozens of people. The government did not react at all while newspapers published color photographs of this "revolutionary" fundamentalist renegade along with some short interviews. The police were sidelined through order from Dhaka as "Bangla Bhai" and his cohorts rampaged the western districts. Now there is no trace of this man. He disappeared into the thin air a la Houdini's vanishing act! As a team of American investigators went to the western district to gather information about "Bangla Bhai," they were told that no such person had ever existed in that locality. The villagers are now manning the area looking for communists. The Americans won't mind the villagers' activity because in this post Cold War days, the Bangalees are still fighting the communists to maintain the Pax Americana.
Under these circumstances, nothing good could be expected from the four-party coalition government because of undue influence of Islamists over the Khaleda Zia Administration. Therefore, the civil society should come into the defense of the three "condemned" professors. At stake here is the civil rights of the professors. Lest we forget, Bangladesh's constitution gives personal freedom to the citizens to practice their own religion. If anyone wants to extol the virtue of secularism, then why should that bother the mullahs and muftis? In what way our majority religion is in danger. The mullahs and their cohorts have invoked a fourteen hundred year old dictum that tells the faithfuls how to take care of the dissidents. These practitioners of religion have all but forgotten that we live in the dawn of a new millennium. For haven's sake Bangladesh is not an Islamic country; at least not at this very moment. If the obscurantists want to offer fatwa, they had better change the constitution of Bangladesh.
I strictly recall that in January 2001, two Supreme Court justices in Bangladesh have given their verdict that there is no place for fatwa in this nation. Simply put; fatwa is beyond the realm of law. Immediately, some zealots offer fatwa to declare the two respected judges to be murtaad or apostates. The government of Bangladesh then headed by Sheikh Hasina just sat quietly without bringing the fatwa-givers to justice. In other words, the government does think that these are pranks. Likewise, the Khaleda Zia Administration will also do nothing against the mullahs and muftis who offered their fatwa against the three professors.
My fervent request to the government is the following: please arrest these bunch of mullahs; let the law of the land work unhindered. These mullahs have violated the civil rights of three professors' and they should have to pay for their infraction of law. Bangladesh is still governed by a set of civil laws that are not in conflict with the constitution of the nation.
As I see it, the mullahs in question are in violation of the law. They should be apprehended right away; and the law should run its course with due diligence.
(Dr. A.H. Jaffor Ullah, a researcher and scientist, writes from New Orleans, USA)
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[2]
http://www.vigilindia.org
Vigil India Movement, 61, Charles Campbell Road, Cox Town, Bangalore
M. A. THOMAS NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD 2004 FOR Ms. TEESTA SETALVAD
Ms. Teesta Setalvad who fought fearlessly for the rights of victims of the Gujarat carnage, which led to the historic verdict of the Supreme Court in the Best Bakery case, has been selected for the prestigious M. A. Thomas National Human Rights Award for the year 2004.
The Award was instituted by Vigil India Movement in 1994 in memory of its founder-president Rev. Dr. M. A. Thomas, a leading Human Rights activist, with the intention to honour and recognize individuals or organizations who have made significant contributions in the field of Human Rights. The award consists of a cash prize of Rupees One lakh and a citation.
Ms. Teesta Setalvad was chosen unanimously by a three-member jury consisting of Justice N. D. Venkatesh, former Judge, High Court of Karnataka, Dr. M. S. Thimmappa, Vice Chancellor of Bangalore University and Dr. M. J. Joseph, Director of the Ecumenical Christian Centre. Ms. Teesta Setalvad was chosen from among 315 nominees before the Jury. The Award will be presented to Ms. Teesta Setalvad at a function in Bangalore in the first week of September.
Ms. Teesta Setalvad, a Mumbai-based journalist and human rights defender, is the recipient of several national and international awards including Rajiv Gandhi Sadbhavna Award, Nuremberg International Human Rights Award, Pax Christi International Human Rights Award, PUCL Award for Human Rights Journalism, etc. She is the co-editor of Communalism Combat and the Secretary of Citizens for Justice and Peace, an NGO fighting for the rights of the victims of Gujarat and Godhra violence.
Ms. Teesta Setalvad has rendered an outstanding service to the protection of human rights and upholding of the rule of law in the country in the context of the mass violence in Gujarat. She has been at the forefront of several campaigns for the defense of democracy and human rights. She has in particular gone to great lengths to ensure justice for the victims of communal violence during the Bombay riots and later in Gujarat.
The previous awardees are: Mr. Harsh Mander, Dr. H. Sudarshan, Justice V. M. Tarkunde, Ms. Medha Patkar, Justice V. R. Krishna Iyer, Mr. Ravi Nair, Ms. Malladi Subbamma, Mr. Balraj Puri, Dr. C.T. Kurien and People's Union for Civil Liberties.
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[3]
The Praful Bidwai Column June 28, 2004
Speeding The Indo-Pak Peace Process Nuclear CBMs aren't enough
By Praful Bidwai
Dispelling fears that it would be stalled, the India-Pakistan dialogue process has got off the mark within barely a month of the swearing-in of the Manmohan Singh government in New Delhi. Sustained preparations preceded the take-off. Besides a reported "secret" meeting between National Security Advisers J.N. Dixit and Tariq Aziz, there were at least three telephonic conversations between Foreign Ministers Natwar Singh and Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri in the past fortnight. Then came the June 20 agreement on nuclear confidence-building measures (CBMs). This was followed by a meeting between the two Foreign Ministers in China over a "working lunch" in a "very cordial, friendly and warm atmosphere". Their "chemistry" was "pretty good". After assessing "the progress on all aspect of bilateral relations including Jammu and Kashmir", and implementation of the dialogue framework, they described the result as "positive" and "productive".
Clearly, both governments have decided to impart a serious momentum to the dialogue process leading to formal ministerial-level discussions in August. The Foreign Secretaries' meeting should see progress towards a comprehensive dialogue on a range of issues. Both governments want the next summit-level talks to be a success; they are agreed that they can't afford a failure. This should put at rest fears, especially in Pakistan, that the United Progressive Alliance government would not have the same commitment to seeking reconciliation with Pakistan as Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee's regime.
As this Column has argued, there is across-the-broad support in both countries for a dialogue for peace and reconciliation. Civil society solidly favours it. In India, many UPA constituents and supporters have always been keen on it. Some of them took sober positions when the NDA, including Mr Vajpayee, was hysterically threatening Pakistan with an "aar-paar ki ladai" (battle to the finish), and had declared peaceful co-existence with it virtually impossible. The resumption of the peace process is good news indeed.
Amidst these hope-bearing developments, it might seem somewhat off-key to sound a note of caution. Yet, that has become necessary after the nuclear CBMs agreement. The measures, it must be stressed at the outset, are welcome even though half of them restate what was agreed in Lahore in 1999. They put the issue of nuclear risk-reduction on the negotiating table and promote a degree of transparency, itself a rare commodity in the subcontinent. South Asia would be worse off without the CBMs.
However, the CBMs are modest and hesitant, and may prove inadequate in reducing the nuclear danger in our tension-ridden region. It would be a grave error to celebrate the CBM agreement as a way of stabilising the strategic balance between India and Pakistan. They don't even establish any kind of "control" over the nuclear "genie" they unleashed in 1998. Contrary to exuberant claims, the two nuclear "twins" have not learnt how "to tango" happily-in sane and secure ways.
First, the positive side. Pakistan and India have reiconfirmed the agreement evolved in Lahore-1999 to notify each other in advance of impending missile test-flights, and to continue with their "unilateral" moratoria on nuclear test explosions. Besides, they will establish a "dedicated and secure" hotline between their Foreign Secretaries and upgrade the existing hotline between their Directors-General of Military Operations, which functions somewhat erratically. Secondly, they will "work towards concluding an agreement with technical parameters on pre-notification of flight-testing of missiles". In plain English, they will furnish to each other details on the timing of their missile test-flights and flight-paths. This will mark a minor improvement on the practice followed even before the 1998 blasts.
However, these are, strictly speaking, not confidence-building but transparency measures. They cannot generate confidence that India and Pakistan are really moving towards a restraint regime which will substantially reduce and eventually eliminate the nuclear danger. The hotline between the two Foreign Secretaries will doubtless help clear some misunderstandings, especially in crises. But these officers are not the key decision-makers in nuclear-military matters. They can at best act as conveyors of information and facilitators of decision-making by the political leadership. (In Pakistan, the military leadership.) This arrangement might discourage "loudspeaker diplomacy"-in favour of quiet consultations. But it cannot be a substitute for genuine nuclear risk-reduction measures (NRRMs).
I have three simple reasons for saying so. First, the grave nuclear danger that India-Pakistan face is that of potential use of nuclear weapons, whether by intent or accident. This danger is not imaginary. The two came close to the brink of a nuclear confrontation at least three times since 1998: over Kargil (when Pakistan apparently got its nuclear-tipped missiles ready), and in January and June 2002, when one million soldiers eyeballed one another. The only way of reducing this danger is to agree to non-deployment of nuclear weapons-by keeping nuclear warheads separated from delivery systems (missiles, aircraft, ships, etc.). Once nuclear weapons are deployed in the field, there is a definite risk that they might be used-unauthorisedly, unintentionally, or by design. The two governments should have agreed to non-deployment at least for one to three years. They didn't.
Second, there is an urgent need to halt the twin nuclear and missile arms races between India and Pakistan. Once medium- and long-range missiles are fully developed and deployed, the likelihood of their use becomes high-unacceptably high in South Asia. This is because there is little strategic distance between India and Pakistan. Missile flight-time between some of their major cities is as little as 3 to 8 minutes-too little to clear misperceptions, prevent unauthorised use, or take other corrective action before disaster strikes.
Logically, India and Pakistan should have frozen missile development through a moratorium on further test-flights for, say, two to three years. This could have been done without compromising security. But they failed to negotiate this. Even worse, the agreed nuclear-test moratorium clause takes away with one hand what the other hand has given. The test ban will hold-"unless, in exercise of national sovereignty, [either state] decides that extraordinary events have jeopardised its supreme interests". This qualification is fatal.
Third, the two states should have agreed to measures to address four specific risks highlighted by peace activists: use of nuclear weapons through miscalculation because of faulty information processing or technologies; unauthorised use of nuclear weapons by "rogue" groups or fanatics; accidents, such as fires and explosions near nuclear weapons; and rumours of imminent use and the resultant panic response, including panic reactions in crowed urban centres. They did none of this. There have been serious accidents in both countries' military installations and nuclear facilities, including scores of aircraft crashes, fires, and adventurist actions by commanders. Good NRRMs must address these risks-for instance, by making authorisation procedures transparent, and by installing systems to detect preparations for unwarranted launches. The two failed to negotiate or agree to such NRRMs.
The result is a very inadequate set of steps that do not reduce nuclear dangers much. This inadequacy's roots lie in two assumptions: first, that "deterrence", including hair-trigger readiness, is more important than safety; and secondly, that nuclear weapons possession "constitutes a factor for stability". The first assumption is dangerously untenable in the India-Pakistan context, marked by a history of war, strategic miscalculation and volatility-making for inherent instability during their 57 year-long hot-cold war. The second is falsified by experience. Nuclear weapons have not promoted stability in South Asia. Rather, they have been immensely destabilising. Their possession has encouraged nuclear sabre-rattling and adventurism. Kargil would not have happened without the belief among Pakistani generals that nuclear weapons provide them a secure shield for armed incursion.
The real downside of the CBMs is that India and Pakistan are anxious to appear "responsible" nuclear weapons-states so they get to keep their nuclear weapons. That's why there isn't a single word about nuclear disarmament in the agreement, not even as a long-term goal. Equally important is the clause jointly calling for "regular working-level meetings to be held among all nuclear powers to discuss issues of common concern", and also for "bilateral consultations" on "security and non-proliferation issues within the context of negotiations Š in multilateral fora." In other words, India and Pakistan want a place in the Global Nuclear Club-itself the greatest danger to world security. They have no intention of promoting regional nuclear restraint or global disarmament. But we should know better. True safety and security lies in the total elimination of nuclear weapons. NRRMs are best a transitional step to that goal.
One final word. Experience everywhere shows that CBMs and their verification don't create trust. Rather, it is the pre-disposition to trust that guarantees that CBMs will work effectively and promote greater trust. For instance, India and Pakistan agreed to conventional CBMs in the early 1990s-such as prior warning of large-scale military exercises near the border and a commitment not to violate each other's airspace. These CBMs were not adhered to because there was no pre-disposition to trust; mistrust and hostility prevailed. Now that a more favourable climate exists, thanks to the peace process, India and Pakistan should have aimed high. They didn't. Their CBMs could fall below the critical threshold.-end-
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[4]
June 29, 2004
AN ENCOUNTER - Fake or Real ?
by N.D.Pancholi
People at large are finding it difficult to believe the version of the Gujrat Police regarding the recent encounter near Ahmedabad on 15th June,04 in which they claimed to have gunned down four Lakshare Toiaba terrorists who were said to be on a mission to kill Gujrat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. It appears to be a fake encounter but the Gujrat police is feeding media day in and day out with new pieces of evidence against the dead accused to convince the people about the genuineness of its action. However the police has been trying to divert attention of the people from the main issue.
. The main issue is whether it was necessary to kill them ñeven if it is assumed that they had terrorists links ? If they really belonged to a dangerous terrorist organization , was it not necessary for the police to arrest them alive - so that the whole conspiracy could be unearthed ? According to the police the accused were under the surveillance of the police for the last about six months ñand in such a situation it was not difficult for the police to nab them alive. According to police version it were the accused who were the first to start firing at the police party and the latter fired only in retaliation. The surprise is that there was no scratch to any policeman while all the four accused were killed when the police fired in reply ñ even the 18 year old girl student Ishrat who did not fire any shot ! The argument of the police -that they were saved because they hid themselves behind their vehicle, is not convincing. If the dead accused were dangerous terrorists and if they were on such a gruesome mission, they could be in possession of more destructive lethal weapons like bombs, grenades or rocket launcher or any other explosive material against which even their vehicle could not provide them any protective cover. What precautions policemen had taken to save themselves against explosives, if any? Or did the police already know that the accused did not have any explosive with them or that they would not use the same if they had ?
Gujrat police has been trying to dig out lot of evidence against the dead accused and present the same to the media but there is no explanation as to why it did not make any attempt to catch the accused alive, and if such an attempt was made, what was the nature of such attempt and as to why it failed! After perusing the sequence of events, it appears that the four dead accused were already in the custody of the police for about 2/3 days before the incident, and on the night of 15th June they were taken to a lonely place and killed by staging a fake encounter where there was no public eye witness.
If any person is killed by another person, it is an un-natural death and comes under the category of ëculpable homicideí as defined under section 299 of the Indian Penal Code and it is an offence punishable with life imprisonment. If it is proved that the concerned policemen intentionally killed the said persons, then it is murder and punishable with death penalty. In any case the cause of such un-natural death has to be investigated ñit does not matter whether the death is caused by an ordinary person or by a policeman. The person causing the un-natural death of another person can save himself from the charge of homicide only when he is able to prove that he had to kill the concerned person in self-defence and that there was no other alternative. An un-natural death has to be investigated. For example, if an husband comes to the police station and reports that his wife had committed suicide, it becomes the duty of the Incharge of the police station to find out whether it was a suicide or a murder. Similarly if some policemen reports to the police station that they had to kill some accused in an encounter, in such a situation it also becomes the duty of the Station House Officer to investigate whether it was a real encounter or whether the policemen have committed the offence of murder. The police cannot make a presumption without investigation that causing of death by the bullet of the police is not an offence. These deaths should be investigated by some other reliable department. The report of this investigation has to be sent to the magistrate who has to examine such reports thoroughly to find out whether the investigation has been done properly and honestly or whether the report is only an eye-wash to protect the guilty police officers. The magistrate may accept the report or disagree with it and may call for further investigation. This procedure is part of the Criminal Procedure Code and the policemen do not posseess any special privilege to avoid this procedure. Only after going through this procedure it can be said whether the encounter was real or fake. But the Gujrat police and administration are already claiming that the encounter was real - though the prescribed procedure has not been followed. According to the aforesaid report of the National Human Rights Commission ì there is also a general feeling that most of the encounters are fake. It is therefore , in public interest, that the conduct of the police involved is subjected to proper scrutiny by investigation.î
Those who have been dealing with the complaints of human rights violations by the police and security forces, and making investigations into them, especially the human-rights activists , know how the police fabricates evidence to hide its criminal actions. It has been found out that in most of the cases of the alleged ìencountersî the victims are already in the illegal custody of the police before such incident and they are tortured to write and sign various documents against themselves during this period of illegal confinement. In most of the cases it is the police who fabricates forged driving license, ration cards and passports in their names and lateron produce such documents in evidence in the Courts against the accused. The police also gives the accused several names like ìTariq alias Rana alias Dilshad etc. etc.î which are invented by the police itself. Weapons and explosives are also planted on them. E-mail accounts are also opened in their names or pseuodonames. Witnesses are set up and tutored to give false evidence. Misleading stories about the accused/victims are spread through the media during investigation to prejudice the people against them.
There are hundreds of Pakistani nationals who have been illegally residing in India. Their motives for such illegal stay may be the compulsion of earning their livelihood, marriage or relations or any other similar reason. Some of them might be involved some petty criminal activities like smuggling etc. They often change their names to hide their identities. Foreigners Registration Offices have lists of hundreds of such Pakistani nationals who entered India on valid visa but later on disappeared. In many cases police know about their whereabouts but due to corruption do not take any action against them. There are reasons to believe that such Pakistani nationals residing incognito are easily available to the police to stage false encounter and later on claim that the victim was Pakistani terrorist. None of the relatives or friends of such victim would come out in his support lest they should also be framed in the terrorist offence.
Human Rights organizations have exposed the falsehood of fake encounters from time to time. The National Human Rights Commission has emphasized the need to investigate such encounters in accordance with the established legal procedure. It should be a matter of serious concern for all that, generally, there is no serious investigation to find out whether such encounters are real or fake. Police investigation is devoted to only one aspect - to establish the guilt of the victims by hook or crook. The Commission has stated if required procedure for investigation is not followed with respect to police encounters, ìit would give licence to the Police to kill with impunity any citizen in the name of an encounter by just stating that he acted ëin the right of private defenceí or under section 46 of the Codeî. The Gujrat encounter strengthens the above apprehension of the National Human Rights Commission.
N.D.Pancholi is an Advocate and Vice-President of PUCL (Delhi)
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[5]
Date: Tue, 29 Jun 2004 10:28:32 +0100 (BST) From: Shabnam Hashmi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Dear Friends,
As you are aware July 1 is the day of martydom of Vasant Rao and Rajab Ali. Last year we had declared it as the day for Communal Harmony.
Movement for Secular Democracy every year observes the day in the morning , for which you must have already got the invite from MSD directly.
Anhad, Prashant, Pratham , Darpana and Youth for Peace invite you to a day of direct mass contact for communal harmony with people of Ahmedabad on July 1, 2004 .
500 volunteers would gather at 3.00pm at the at the Loyola School Auditorium , for about 40 minutes to pay tributes to the memory of Vasant and Rajab. We are in the process of finalising this 40mnt-1hr programme.
A specially designed calender-poster having a write-up on Vasant and Rajab and the yearly calender from July 1, 2004 to June 30, 2005 would be released.
After paying tributes to Vasant and Rajab, the volunteers would then go and distribute these calenders to students, youth, people in general, on the roads and in areas where they work.
We wanted to reach out to a large section but due to paucity of funds we have been able to print 20,000 calender-posters only. So each volunteer would take 40 calenders and while giving the calenders to each person, they would spend some time talking to them about the significance of the day as well as the need for communal harmony.
We hope you will actively participate and atleast some volunteers from your organisations would also take part in the event.
We would be grateful if we know the organisations who would be actively participating through their volunteers so that we might include their names in the press release.
Anhad and Prashant are doing the basic coordination. Pratham has involved almost 350 of its volunteers to take part in the event. Youth for Peace team from Delhi would also participate. Darpana, Prashant and Anhad and some friends are contributing towards the printing of the posters.
Hope to see you on July 1, 2004 both at the MDS programme in the morning as well as the afternoon event at Loyola.
with warm regards Shabnam Hashmi
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[6]
Social Scientist 35A/1,Shahpur Jat Near Asiad Village ,New Delhi-110049
SAHMAT 8, Vithalbhai Patel House, Rafi Marg,New Delhi-110001
e-mail-sahmat@ vsnl.com
29.6.2004
Dear friend,
The vote against the NDA government in the recent elections was also a rejection of the neo-liberal economic policies which have been in vogue for the last thirteen years and which the NDA in particular was pursuing relentlessly. The peoplesí verdict against neo-liberalism was scarcely surprising: the pursuit of these policies has led to a severe deflation of the economy, reducing the purchasing power in the hands of the rural population in particular; it has reduced per capita foodgrain absorption to levels prevailing at the beginning of the second world war; it has played havoc with the agrarian economy with extreme tangible consequences by way of mass suicides by farmers; it has aggravated greatly the problem of unemployment in both rural and urban India; and it has not only accentuated income inequalities but also handed over public assets to favoured private individuals at throwaway prices.
The peopleís preference for an alternative trajectory of development has found recognition in the Common Minimum Programme adopted by the UPA and supported by the Left. The basic feature of this Programme is an acceptance of the proposition that improving the living condition of the people is the responsibility of the State which has to start discharging it with immediate effect. If the State enfeebles itself by pursuing neo-liberal policies, then its culpability does not in any way get reduced. The Programme promises increased bank credit for rural areas, and an Employment Guarantee Scheme which is part of an alternative trajectory of development giving pride of place to agriculture.
If this Programme is to be translated into some real achievements for the people, then it is necessary to keep asserting its relevance against the predictable attacks on it by financial interests, by the other beneficiaries of the NDA dispensation, and by the votaries of neo-liberalism, especially those owing allegiance to the Fund-Bank ideology. It is also necessary to make concrete suggestions for the realization of the objectives of the Programme.
To this end the journal Social Scientist, in collaboration with Sahmat, is organizing a one-day Convention on July 5, starting at 10 a.m., at the Speakerís Hall, Constitution Club, New Delhi, on the theme 'India: An Economic Agenda for 2004'. The provisional list of speakers at the Convention includes Ashok Mitra, Amiya Bagchi, Utsa Patnaik, Madhura Swaminathan, Jayati Ghosh, C.P.Chandrasekhar, Ashok Rao, Sukhdeo Thorat and others. We shall be very grateful if you could attend the Convention and enrich it with your presence and participation.
With warm regards, Yours sincerely,
Prabhat Patnaik Rajen Prasad
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[7]
Dawn, June 27, 2004
EXCERPTS: For paradise in the next world By Muhammad Amir Rana
Muhammad Amir Rana traces the emergence of the jihadi organizations in Pakistan. He also talks to some young recruits about how they joined their groups.
The martyrdom of 30,000 Pakistanis in Afghanistan and Kashmir, 2,000 sectarian killings and the enthusiastic enrolment of 200,000 young men in various jihadi and sectarian organizations in the last two decades is the direct result of the jihadi culture prevailing in the country. A progeny of the Afghan war, this jihadi culture was strengthened by the revolution in Iran, nurtured by the Americans via 'Operation Cyclone', nourished by the extremist views and money of Osama bin Laden and came to fruition in the acts of the Taliban. Consequently, Pakistan found itself playing host to terrorism instead of acquiring either Kabul or Srinagar.
When Soviet forces entered Afghanistan, religious factions had already found a foothold in Pakistani politics by helping dismiss the democratically elected People's Party government of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in an undemocratic manner and installing a military dictator in its stead: a 'Mard-i-Momin' with his own religious agenda. The religious parties gained strength from the 'benevolence' of the United States which invited true believers from all over the world to unite against the threat of communism posed by the Soviet Union. Many religious leaders in Pakistan welcomed the call and, declaring the Afghan war to be a 'jihad', began to send young men to join the cause.
America began to invest heavily in the Afghan war. According to a disclosure by Zbigniew Bzerzinski on July 3, 1979, Jimmy Carter had set aside a secret fund of 500 million US dollars for this. A fund so secret that even the Congress knew nothing about it. The purpose of this fund, according to John Pilger, was to create a terrorist organization that encouraged and utilized Islamic extremism to undermine the Russian government in Central Asia.
The CIA called it "Operation Cyclone'' and in the following years four billion dollars were committed to its promotion that included the establishment of a large number of religious madressahs or schools in Pakistan. John Pilger also states that eager young men from Pakistan's religious parties were sent to espionage training centres run by the CIA in Virginia, where future Al Qaeda members received their training in terrorism while others were sent to the Islamic School of Brooklyn, New York, to study terrorist techniques under the very shadow of the World Trade Centre. In Pakistan, officers of the British MI6 and the local ISI played the role of 'teacher'.
The November-December 2000 issue of the American magazine Foreign Affairs published an article "The culture of jihad in Pakistan" by Jessica Stern. Referring to Milt Bearden, the chief of an American secret agency in Pakistan during 1986-1989, the article states that America and Saudi Arabia provided 3.5 billion dollars to Pakistan during the Afghan war and, along with drugs and arms, 'jihad' became an important business of this region.
During the Afghan war the Pakistani secret service agency, the ISI, was reorganized in the manner prescribed by 'Operation Cyclone'. The CIA and the ISI together controlled the Afghanistan war but the reorganization of the ISI resulted in serious damage to Pakistan ultimately. The ISI tightened its grip on matters of state and in the following years coerced democratically elected governments to function according to its agenda. Toppling and creating regimes became a pastime. During the 1988 general elections the grand alliance of religious parties, the IJI, mocked the Pakistan People's Party with "You lost Dhaka, we won Kabul". Even when the PPP came to power with its liberal leanings it could not change this policy. The Taliban experiment took shape during its rule and there was no change in either the Afghan or Kashmir policy. The ISI was not willing to compromise on any of these issues. In her first tenure as prime minister, when Benazir toured Muzzaffarabad, she was briefed by the ISI on the working of the organization called 'Hurriyat' in occupied Kashmir and requested to continue the policies of the previous government in this respect; a request that Benazir granted. Nobody had thought of challenging this jihadi role of the ISI prior to September 11.
The ISI and the governments under its influence did much to promote the jihadi culture in the country. 'Raw material' for jihad was acquired through two sources:
1 Religious madressahs
2 Government schools and colleges
To acquire the desired human resource, a large number of religious madressahs were established utilizing the Afghan war fund set up by the Americans. Parties organized on sectarian basis were used for this purpose and students from these madressahs played an important role in the war in Afghanistan. It is important to note here that prior to 1980 there were only 700 religious schools in Pakistan and their rate of growth only three per cent per annum that increased by 136 per cent by the end of 1986. Now there are 7,000 large religious madressahs in the country that award degrees equivalent to MA and PhD.
Most new madressahs were established in the NWFP, Southern Punjab and Karachi and have served as breeding grounds for jihadis. According to the renowned Azad Kashmiri scholar and intellectual, Syed Mehmud Azad, "maulvis (orthodox religious scholars) will only send their students for jihad if they have been promised ample recompense. Since the government could not send the regular army to Afghanistan, the students were handed over to the agencies by the thousands. The flows of money from the United States whet the agencies' appetite and more and new pastures were sought to sustain the trend. Kashmir proved fertile ground for their activities even though the maulvis were not interested in its liberation, then or now. Jihad has become a business well publicized by the press".
Another source of the jihadi manpower was found in student unions with a religious manifesto that had acquired a strong hold in schools and colleges. The list of martyrs of six jihadi organizations show that on the average five times as many students of regular institutions lost their lives than those coming from religious madressahs. Religious parties also used their regular members and the jobless for this purpose.
The ouster of the Soviet forces from Afghanistan should have signalled the completion of the American agenda in the region, but the resulting jihadi culture in Pakistan could not be brought to an end as this would mean that the Afghan jihad was not mandated by the shariah. Religious parties and madressahs continued to promote this culture with the blessing of the establishment.
* * * * *
Let us view some of the reasons given by mujahideen of Jaish-i- Mohammad for joining a jihadi organization. These were published in October 2001 in the Karachi edition of the fortnightly Jaish-i- Mohammad.
* My name is Mohammad Siddique and I belong to Takhla in the NWFP. I have completed high school and have also read the Quran. When I finished with my matriculation exams, a friend of mine gave me a cassette recording of the Jaish-i-Mohammad Ameer, Hazrat Maulana Mohammad Masood Azhar. The recording was about the Babri mosque and had such a profound effect on me that I decided to spend the rest of my life in jihad. I first went to madressah Khalid Zubair where I received preliminary training then, till recently, I was at madressah Ahmed Shaheed and will now proceed to Kashmir in a few days.
*My name is Shah Faisal and I am from District Shangla on the Swat border. I have read the Quran and completed my Matriculation after which I went to Karachi where we have a textile shop. There I used to read newspapers and magazines that described the atrocities being committed in Kashmir and decided that I should join the jihad and teach the infidels a few lessons. I then underwent training at madressah Ahmed Shaheed and will be going to Kashmir in a few days.
*My name is Zakaullah and I belong to Tehsil Mansehra Warkan. I studied up to the ninth grade after which I became a labourer. I always liked jihad and had read in books that martyrs went to heaven without questioning by God. We were sinners and I thought this was the only way to redemption and therefore I joined madressah Syed Ahmed Shaheed, Balakot.
* My name is Abdul Rehman and I come from an area near District Faisalabad. I am totally illiterate. I used to carry baskets in the wholesale vegetable market in Faisalabad, finding work wherever I could. Once, in the market there was a hotel serving food during Ramazan and people were blatantly dishonouring the sanctity of the holy month when mujahids from Harkatul Ansar reached the scene and immediately had the hotel stop serving food. They gave a long sermon that touched my heart and I decided to commit myself to jihad. I went to madressah Khalid Bin Walid and since then have been to many fronts and am on my way to Kashmir now.
*My name is Mohammad Naeem Siddiqui and I belong to District Mansehra. I cannot read or write. When I was very young the role of breadwinner fell on my shoulders and I left home to work as a labourer. I used to make tandoori bread for the students of Masjid Furqan in Islamabad and there I heard the Maulvi Sahib speak frequently about jihad. The sermons convinced me and when I listened to the cassette recording of Maulana Mohammad Masood Azhar about the Babri mosque I became determined to join the jihad. I took leave from Masjid Furqan and became a driver. When Hazrat Maulana Mohammad Masood Azhar came to Rawalpindi, I got to hear him live and my leanings towards jihad strengthened further. I used to frequent the Islamabad mosque where the mujahideen very often visited my mentor Maulana Siddique. By now the conditions of my household had also improved by the grace of God and I received training at madressah Syed Ahmed Shaheed. Now I am going to Kashmir.
*My name is Mohammad Yar Afghani; I belong to Gardez, Afghanistan and used to work in Jalalabad. From there I came to Peshawar and then accompanied a friend in search of work to Muzzaffarabad. As a child I had heard stories of jihad from my elders and was determined to participate in jihad when I grew up. One day I went to my friend Haq Nawaz Bhai and he told me that this world is finite and everyone must die, life after death is infinite therefore let us train for and join jihad. So I joined madressah Syed Ahmed Shaheed for training and am now going to Kashmir. If I am martyred, I have recorded a cassette of my poems please give that to my friend Haq Nawaz so that he remains in touch with the holy war.
*My name is Mu'awiya and I belong to District Bagh in Azad Kashmir. I am seventeen years old and have studied up to the fourth grade in a school, then I learnt the Holy Quran by heart from madressah Ta'aleemul Quran Hanafiya Chattar # 2. I learnt fifteen chapters of the Quran at the mosque in my village then joined madressah Mahmood Ghaznavi for training. I joined jihad because of a sermon delivered by Ameer Muhtarim Hazrat Maulana Mohammad Masood Azhar at Bagh and am now going to Kashmir.
This is an account of the religious organizations in Pakistan waging 'jihad'. The book, first published in Urdu as Jihad-i-Kashmir-o-Afghanistan: Jihadi Tanzeemon aur Mazhabi Jama'aton ka Eik Ja'iza, gives comprehensive information about their goals, strategy, training, recruitment and affiliations, as well as their madressahs.
Maulvis will only send their students for jihad if they have been promised ample recompense. Since the government could not send the regular army to Afghanistan, the students were handed over to the agencies by the thousands. The flows of money from the United States whet the agencies' appetite and more and new pastures were sought to sustain the trend.
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Excerpted with permission from: A to Z of Jihadi Organizations in Pakistan
By Muhammad Amir Rana
Translated by Saba Ansari
Mashal, RB-5, 2nd Floor, Awami Complex, Usman Block, New Garden Town, Lahore-54600
Tel: 042-586 6859
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
592pp. Rs400
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[8]
Healing Streams: Bringing Hope in the Aftermath of Violence By Sushobha Barve
Published by Penguin Books India Price: Rs 295.00 ISBN: 0143029622 Edition: Paperback | 256 pages Classification: Non Fiction Published: 5/15/2003
Confronting the anger and bitterness in the aftermath of riots
On a train journey in 1984, Sushobha Barve watched in horror as two of her co-passengers were beaten up, set afire and left to die in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi's assassination. The nightmare of that journey led her to find ways of preventing such conflagrations and, where violence had already occurred, working towards alleviating the distress and sense of hopelessness that such events leave in their wake. It was an exploration that took her to Bhagalpur in 1989, Mumbai in 1992 and Ahmedabad in 2002, where some of the worst riots in post-Partition India had occurred.
Thrown into the middle of pitched battles and desperate attempts to save lives, she discovered a world of simmering bitterness and hatred, of lives reduced to utter despair by a few days of madness. She also discovered that her self-appointed task of preventing and alleviating distress required enormous fortitude and courage.
This account of her work with riot victims is an engrossing and topical book that addresses the reality that escapes the newspaper headlines, the suffering that continues long after the events themselves have dimmed from our memory. It is heartbreaking work but the rewards, for her as for the reader who follows her on this journey, are dazzling.In Mumbai she was among the first people to go to the riot-hit areas and meet the victims and give them solace. She witnessed first-hand the raw anger, bitterness and helplessness of people who had been cohabiting the same place seemingly in harmony for years but needing just the slightest provocation to break out in a mad frenzy to maim and kill. She explores how politicians and others instigated the riots and tried to hinder alert citizens trying to strengthen local networks against troublemakers. And describes other instances of cooperation-Hindu women masquerading as Muslims during curfew to collect shrouds from a mosque.
Barve and other volunteers addressed the immediate need which was to get the people to eschew violence. The longer-term exercise was to bring together two communities suspicious of each other but wanting to live in peace. This involved engaging the local people in building a preventive mechanism against the outbreak of violence in the future. The risks taken were many and at times they went horribly wrong as all they had to back them up was instinct and a resolve to maintain peace at all costs. But the rewards too were many and amazing friendships were formed between people who would normally not have interacted with each other.
Dwelling on the heavy price of violence and the importance of healing and reconciliation, Barve exhorts civil society to shake out of its apathy and to reach out to victims of mindless violence. For, all very often all that riot victims need is a willing and understaning ear to hear them out.
URL: www.penguinbooksindia.com
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[9]
KASHMIR- WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD
Tuesday 6 July, 6.00pm SOAS (G57), Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1 (Tube Russell Square)
What lies ahead for the people of Kashmir at this crucial point in the relationship between India and Pakistan? How can we support their struggles against ongoing human rights violations?
Film: PAPA 2 - the Indian government's detention centre in Kashmir. Dir. Gopal Menon 2002, 20 mins Followed by a discussion led by Najeeb Mubarki (SOAS/ South Asia Solidarity Group)
Details: South Asia Solidarity Group tel: 0207 267 0923
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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/
The complete SACW archive is available at: bridget.jatol.com/pipermail/sacw_insaf.net/
South Asia Counter Information Project a sister initiative, provides a partial back -up and archive for SACW: snipurl.com/sacip
See also associated site: www.s-asians-against-nukes.org
DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed in materials carried in the posts do not necessarily reflect the views of SACW compilers.
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