Harsh Kapoor
Fri, 12 Jan 2007 17:57:28 -0800
South Asia Citizens Wire | January 13, 2007 | Dispatch No. 2347 - Year 8 [1] Pakistan: A slide into disaster? (I. A. Rehman) [2] Islamism and expediency in Bangladesh (Delwar Hussain) [3] India's Second-class Citizens (Akash Bisht) [4] India: Hindutva @ work (i) Saffron namaskar - Impart education, not mumbo-jumbo (editorial, The Tribune) (ii) Rewriting Rajasthan's history important: RSS [5] India: Army lands in row over Baba [6] Upcoming Events: (i) Workshop on Right To Information Act (New Delhi, 13 January) (ii) Citizens' Dharna for the release of activists and students in West Bengal jails (New Delhi, 13 January) (iii) Seminar: Social Justice and Reservation: A Review of the Findings of the Sachar Commission (Trissur, 14 January) (iv) No Death Penalty For Afzal Guru! Picket Of The Indian High Commission, (London, 26 January (v) South Asia at the Crossroads monthly discussions by Ceras (Montreal, starting 21 january 2007) ____ [1] Dawn January 11, 2007 A SLIDE INTO DISASTER? by I. A. Rehman 'FAILURE to elect my supporters will plunge Pakistan into darkness,' General Pervez Musharraf is reported to have proclaimed the other day. The warning seems to be on a par with one of the best-known French contributions to the world's political thesaurus - "After us, the deluge." The cynics who are likely to observe that a people who have been in darkness for as long as they can remember might not pay any heed to this warning must be ignored because such a statement from the head of an apparently unshakeable regime should not be taken lightly. The followers about whose election President Musharraf seemed concerned, however, do not appear worried about losing. Indeed they have never sounded so confident as now. They are gloating over the disarray in the opposition ranks. The MMA's climb-down on the question of quitting the assemblies in protest against the passage of the Protection of Women Act and other matters has caused much visible delight in the official camp. Reports of disagreement between the People's Party and the PML-N over relationship with religio-political groups and participation or otherwise in polls if held while General Musharraf continues as both president and the chief of the army staff have also added to the ruling party's confidence. The strong men occupying the office of chief minister in the two larger provinces of the country are already using the many tricks in their bags to queer the electoral pitch in favour of their courtiers and hangers-on. Why then a note of uncertainty about the outcome of the general election? It is possible that the reference to the king's men's failure to get elected is merely a tactical move, an insurance against post-election clamour about engineered results. A party that goes into an election without denying the possibility of its defeat can attribute its eventual triumph to effective canvassing and its popularity. It will also enable the government to dismiss any post-election allegations of rigging as a matter of opposition's habit of always citing rigging as the cause of its electoral defeat. The president's warning does not make sense in the context of declarations made by the regime's spokespersons. According to them, nothing can prevent General Musharraf from winning a fresh five-year term in office and retaining his uniform too. If that projection is correct, then the regime has nothing to fear. Even if the president's followers do not win a majority in parliament, the possibility of a repetition of 2002, when PML-Q won over enough opposition parliamentarians to become a majority party in the National Assembly, cannot be ruled out. Further, in the scheme of governance developed over the past few years elected representatives are unlikely to present a meaningful challenge to an all-powerful chief executive. If the opposition parties do succeed in winning a majority or a sizeable number of seats in the Parliament - neither possibility can be ruled out - that will be wholly to the good of the country. Assuming that General Pervez Musharraf would still be keen to stay in the Presidency, a new formula for sharing power will be unavoidable, something that PML-Q has not had the courage so far to attempt. It may then not be possible to resist the pressure, both domestic and international, for open and transparent governance and for moving towards civilian political stewardship of national affairs. The most dangerous post-election scenario will be a complete success of the PML-Q commandos' operation to secure a heavy mandate for their party. Such an outcome, howsoever secured, will make the post-election government even more impervious to the opposition point of view than even the present regime. The government will be as handicapped in the matter of offering good governance to the people as was the Ayub regime after the second parliamentary election under the system of so-called basic democracy. In the earlier election, the followers of Field Marshal Ayub Khan had not been able to prevent the election of a good number of politicians who did not see eye to eye with the president. As a result, the government was obliged to offer accommodation to its critics. Under pressure from a dynamic opposition the constitution was quickly amended and the law on political parties radically changed. During the second parliamentary election of the Ayub period the ruling party adopted the policy of marginalising the opposition through every conceivable form of electoral manipulation and the regime became totally free of opposition advice. Backed by an overwhelmingly supportive parliament the Ayub government became insensitive to any sane counsel. Between January 1965, when Field Marshal Ayub Khan managed to win a new term for himself as president, and March 1969, when he abdicated in favour of the army chief, Pakistan suffered one grievous setback after another. The 1965 conflict with India brought disaster to Pakistan on more than one count. On the one hand, Pakistan's moral standing on the Kashmir issue was compromised and, on the other hand, East Bengal population's alienation from the state acquired a definite direction. Above all, the government's incapacity to overcome the consequences of lopsided economic policies and its decision to subject the state to another spell of military rule inexorably led to Pakistan's disintegration in 1971. Today's Pakistan is by no means strong enough to survive a heavy mandate for the present ruling coalition in the coming general election. It may be true that Pakistan faces the danger of entering a darker age, but whether one is moving into darkness or whether one is moving out of darkness depends on the choice of direction. Politicians who have no use for history often defend their misadventures by claiming to be better or cleverer than their vanquished predecessors, and Islamabad's present gurus may be similarly comforting themselves. In that case, they will be guilty of ignoring the fact that whenever a majoritarian state has been deprived of effective opposition, it has courted irremediable disaster. Such a regime quickly acquires notions of its infallibility, tends to read in the people's apathy and their acquiescence with whatever is ordained by the chamber of power is proof of its popularity and correctness both. It also loses its capacity to alter its course. If the Musharraf government is really interested in preventing Pakistan from a future that will be worse than its present, it should call a halt to the PML (Q) mandarins' campaign to win more parliamentary seats than they deserve to do in a free, fair and democratically appropriate election. The requisites of a fair election have been identified. The country must have, sooner rather than later, a new, independent and multi-member election commission, and the controversies over arbitrary changes in constituencies and preparation of electoral lists should be resolved through an all-party consensus. No election will be considered fair if any leader of a political party is not allowed to lead his/her party in the electoral contest, nor will any set-up under the presidentship of General Musharraf will be accepted as a neutral caretaker regime. Incidentally, barely a couple of decades after Madame de Pompadour talked of the deluge, her prophecy did come true in the form of the French Revolution and the flood of blood that followed it. Sometimes those who try to save themselves by conjuring up before their people the spectre of apocalypse are eventually found to have paved the way to the dreade _____ [2] Open Democracy 11 January 2007 ISLAMISM AND EXPEDIENCY IN BANGLADESH by Delwar Hussain The way Bangladesh's secular parties and leaders conduct politics is fuelling Islamist extremism and destabilising democracy, reports Delwar Hussain. The long-term damage done to the secular project over the years is evident in the fact that its self-declared champion is doing nothing to uphold it. As power is transferred - from Zia to Ershad to Khaleda to Hasina - the Islamist project gets stronger and stronger. The logic is that the next election - whenever it is held - will bring the Islamists to power, regardless of who becomes prime minister. The Islamists were once seen as being against Bangladesh itself, anti-national; then as important power-brokers in the country's politics; today, they are on the point of being crowned kings. About the Author: Delwar Hussain is a working for a PhD at the London School of Economics. His most recent article published in Open Democracy was, "Bangladeshis in east London: from secular politics to Islam". Where he Hussain charts a long-term shift from secular leftism to Islamism among the poor Bangladeshis in East London The general election in Bangladesh scheduled for 22 January 2007, already surrounded by bitter political dispute, has been thrown further into doubt by the declaration of a state of national emergency on 11 January. The country's president, Iajuddin Ahmed, prepares to address the nation after several weeks of mass protest and blockades by the government's opponents who seek to have the election postponed. The long-standing doubts over the fairness of the poll and the legitimacy of the institutions that will oversee it have thus exploded into a wider national crisis. A new phase has opened in Bangladesh's stormy political trajectory since 2001, a period dominated by the polarisation between the ruling, centre-right Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the opposition, centre-left Awami League (AWL). Behind the street barricades and the decisions of state, however, is a far larger story than the nature of the next government and the identity of the prime minister. For the underlying dynamics of Bangladeshi politics suggest the slow rise of Islamism towards political power. Indeed, it is all too tempting to predict that - unless there is a rapid and unforeseen change - the outcome of the election (if indeed it takes place) will be less significant in statistical terms than as the culmination of the politics of expediency that has dominated the last six years. In that case, the real losers will be the 140 million people of the country and with them, the ideals of secularism and socialism on which the country was established in 1971. The winner, almost regardless of the results, will be the burgeoning Islamist parties which are unremitting in their ideological drive to establish an Islamic state refounded on sharia law. A new order in waiting The election victory of the BNP in 2001 was secured in partnership with the ardently fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and the Islami Oikka Jote (IOJ). Since then, these parties have been working to advance their ideological objectives; a task strengthened by popular antagonism to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the shadow of an increasingly Hindu fundamentalist India, and the widening gap between the haves and the have-nots in Bangladesh itself. However, the politics of expediency - a combination of violence, greed and opportunism - that taints the two major parties is arguably an equally important factor in the slow Islamisation of the country. In December 2006, the Awami League announced that it had accepted the Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish (BKM), an Islamist party led by Shaikul Hadith Azizul Haq as one of its partners. As part of their joint memorandum of understanding, the AWL (led by Sheikh Hasina) has agreed to the BKM's four key demands in the event of an opposition victory: *"certified" alem (Islamic clerics) will have the right to issue fatwa (Islamic religious edicts) *the parliament in Dhaka will impose a bar on enacting any law that goes against Quranic values *the parliament can initiate recognition of the degrees awarded by Qaumi madrasa *the parliament can implement a ban on any form of criticism of the Prophet Mohammed, including accepting that he is the last and the most supreme prophet. The BKM has nominated five prospective candidates for government positions; of these, two are veterans of the Soviet-Afghan war and one supports a Taliban-style regime in Bangladesh. All have been high-ranking members of the banned extremist organisation Harkat-ul Jihad al-Islami which has been waging a war to establish Islamic hukumat (rule) in Bangladesh. One of these, Maulana Habibur Rahman, the principal of a madrasa, is standing in the constituency Sylhet-6 (Biyanibazar province), where many British Bangladeshis originate from. His opponents accuse him of involvement in several bomb blasts in Sylhet, including the one in May 2004 where the British high commissioner to the country, Anwar Choudhury - himself a British Bangladeshi - was nearly killed. All these demands have been on the agendas of every rightwing extremist party in the country for a very long time. Now, as part of its bid for power, the AWL - albeit in an election it is determined to prevent happening - has suddenly acquiesced to them. Even the JI, which had fought against the liberation of the country and is today implicated in the rise of Islamist militancy and violence, had not managed to achieve what the AWL has agreed to. The decision means in effect that the country is a few steps away from introducing a process whose ultimate outcome will be an Islamic State of Bangladesh. The announcement of the pact was made on 24 December 2006, the same day Hasina was entertaining a group of Bengali Christians in her home. She made no mention of the pact, but reasserted the party's scripturally-based "commitment to secularism" argument and called on every citizen irrespective of their caste and creed to work to build a secular country. She also added - in what apparently was not a Christmas joke - that "the BNP-Jamaat alliance use religion as a tool of political gains, but the Awami League believes in secularism". The agreement runs profoundly against the AWL's belief in religion-free politics, an ideology which Hasina's father, Sheikh Mujib had enshrined in Bangladesh's first constitution. It also breaks with the rest of the coalition partners' agreement to eliminate religious bigotry and communalism. Three of the BKM's demands are a particular cause for worry. The right to issue fatwa by alem who operate by Islamic law represents the creation of a parallel legal system to the existing, state one. Some years ago, the high court upheld a case brought by human-rights groups opposed to an earlier effort to establish this right. The groups argued that fatwa were biased against women, ethnic and religious minorities and secular organisations. An influential report by the legal aid organisation Ain O Salish Kendra in 1997 stated that "fatwas were issued sentencing women to whipping, stoning, social boycott etc. All these resulted in murder, suicide, physical assault, harassment (and) humiliation". Islamist groups responded to the verdict by gathering under the banner of an "Islamic law implementation committee", which called for the judges who made the decision to be hanged; a cancellation of the verdict; and a ban on NGO activities. The committee was led by Shaikhul Hadith Azizul Haq, now leader of the BKM. In Dhaka, the committee attempted to block a rally by women's organisations supporting the anti-fatwa ruling; during the confrontation, a policeman was murdered inside a mosque. Shaikhul Hadith Azizul Haq, then chairman of the Islami Oikka Jote, was arrested for the murder. Altogether ten people were killed and over 200 injured during the month-long protests. The party in power at that time, and which oversaw and initiated the prohibition of fatwa, was the AWL. The violence ended after the supreme court suspended the verdict for an indefinite period. The result was predictable: a report from the United States state department estimates that thirty-five fatwa were issued during 2005. A minority under pressure The implementation of a ban on any form of criticism of Mohammed and of laws that contravene Quranic values is a way of using law to forbid and punish blasphemy. But there is particular aspect to such repressive efforts in Bangladesh, which are specifically aimed against the Ahmadiyya community: a sect of Islam whose members are persecuted in Bangladesh. The Ahmadiyyas do not believe that Mohammed is the final messenger of Allah - a view that Islamist groups (including the Jamaat and the IOJ, organised with others under the banner of the Khatame Nabuwat Movement) find abhorrent. In line with a ruling in Pakistan, they demand the Ahmadiyyas be declared non-Muslim. The community has been attacked with relative impunity, and these attacks are on a rising trend since the 2001 election. Amnesty International has repeatedly raised concerns about the safety of the Ahmadiyyas in Bangladesh. The incidents it cites include the killing of an Ahmadi preacher, vandalism against their mosques, the illegal house arrest of Ahmadi villagers, street agitations against Ahmadis, and the waves of "hate speech" and public rallies calling for the declaration of Ahmadis as non-Muslims. The BNP government, seeking to preserve the relationship with its extremist partners, has done very little to protect the Ahmadiyyas during its tenure. In 2004, it even initiated a ban on all Ahmadi publications, though currently its implementation is suspended by the high court. By entering into the pact with the BKM, the AWL has reproduced a political anti-Ahmadiyya agenda, further stigmatising and threatening an already vulnerable community. The new kings The BNP and the AWL are alike at the root of the politics of expediency, and share responsibility for its persistence in Bangladesh. The problem began soon after independence when (in 1975) Sheikh Mujib was assassinated and power seized by a military dictatorship. The military elite sought to consolidate its position and gain much-needed political legitimacy by turning to the Islamist groups - especially as a counterweight to the AWL's secular, socialist ideals. General Zia ur-Rahman's BNP party removed secularism from the constitution and replaced it with "... absolute faith and trust in the almighty Allah". He also inserted Bismillah-ar-rahman-ar-rahim (In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful) into this foundational document. Zia encouraged the return by stealth of what are euphemistically called "the anti-liberation forces", members of the JI, back into power. These were the very same people that Zia himself had fought against in the war of liberation a few years earlier. General Ershad also responded to mounting opposition and popular uprisings against his rule (1982-90) by amending the constitution to declare Islam the state religion. Democracy returned in 1991 but unfortunately this did not stem the tide of political opportunism. Both parties have sought the support of the Islamists (in particular the Jamaat), either to help form a government or to topple a democratically elected one. Following the 2001 BNP-JI-IOJ coalition victory, the country witnessed a spate of systematic attacks on minority communities. During the coalition's tenure, some commentators have characterised Bangladesh as a possible "next Afghanistan". Such fears were increased in August 2005, when 500 home-made bombs exploded across the country in a series of coordinated explosions. In order to protect the alliance, and continue in government, the BNP prime minister Khaleda Zia, (General Zia's widow) accused the AWL of responsibility for this and the other atrocities taking place across the country. Minority groups and other coalition partners are in uproar and feel abandoned by the AWL's decision to endorse Islamist demands. One coalition partner said the deal will "destroy the country's democratic and progressive spirit and will encourage militancy". The English-language Daily Star newspaper argued the deal has "laid the foundation of destruction of our constitution, our legal system and our way of life. In fact, it is a blueprint for a different Bangladesh, not the one we have now and not the one for which millions died". In response, the AWL has been quick to resort to damage limitation. Its general secretary Abdul Jalil reiterated the party's "commitment to secularism". He has stated that this relationship with the BKM is crucially not a binding agreement but a "memorandum of agreement" and "an understanding based on an election strategy." The cost of power-games This last comment goes to the heart of the problem. The AWL may believe that the agreement with the BKM is nothing but a clever if dangerous game designed to hoodwink the Islamist vote-bank, an attempt to split the numbers who overwhelmingly vote for the BNP-JI-IOJ coalition. The party possibly has no intention of actually fulfilling any of the BKM's demands. In short, this can be understood as an example of the marriage of expediency and crude unprincipled politics which characterises the establishment parties in Bangladesh. But while the AWL tries to orchestrate extremist opinion, it is also taking for granted the minorities and the secularists, confident that it "owns" their votes. As one Dhaka-based commentator said, the tragedy for minorities and the left in Bangladesh is that they get the long pole from both ends: attacked, raped and looted by BNP thugs and Islamists for voting AWL, then abandoned by the AWL in its bid to gain power. Over the years, the result of this kind of arrogance is that the Islamist agenda has trickled, drop by drop, into mainstream politics - to the extent that it is becoming hard to tell the difference between the mainstream parties and their extremist partners. The consequences of this kind of degradation in democratic politics can be fatal. A cartoon in a national newspaper is suggestive: it depicts Sheikh Hasina feeding milk and bananas to a snake (wearing a mosque-hat) coiled around her. The snake is no longer interested in the food. The long-term damage done to the secular project over the years is evident in the fact that its self-declared champion is doing nothing to uphold it. As power is transferred - from Zia to Ershad to Khaleda to Hasina - the Islamist project gets stronger and stronger. The logic is that the next election - whenever it is held - will bring the Islamists to power, regardless of who becomes prime minister. The Islamists were once seen as being against Bangladesh itself, anti-national; then as important power-brokers in the country's politics; today, they are on the point of being crowned kings. _____ [3] Hard News January 2007 SECOND-CLASS CITIZENS Two high-profile official committees discover how Indian Muslims in Gujarat, exiled and condemned, have been effectively ghettoised Akash Bisht Delhi Four years have passed since the state-sponsored Gujarat carnage shook the entire nation, leaving hundreds dead and lakhs displaced and brutalised, but till this day many of the survivors of the post-Godhra killings have not found their way back home. These exiled 'second-class citizens' are living in inhuman conditions in make-shift camps and are deprived of basic amenities, like potable water, sanitary facilities, street lights, schools, banks, public transport and primary healthcare centres. Recent visits by members of the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) and a Parliamentary committee revealed the pathetic state of more than 5,000 Muslim families living in these sub-human camps in Ahmedabad and Sabarkantha districts of Gujarat. Both the 'secular' Left-backed UPA regime and the Narendra Modi-led BJP government, which tacitly and overtly backed the genocide, seem to have left the people to their fate, and rather intentionally. Living in 10 x 10 rooms with large families to support, basic civic amenities are denied to the people of these colonies. An NCM team, comprising Michael P Pinto, Zoya Hasan, Dileep Padgaonkar and A Banerji, visited the 'relief camps' and noted that the roads that lead to these colonies are non-existent. They also came to know how two boys drowned in the water collected at a road near a village during the last monsoon. The team also noticed that the residents had no means of earning livelihood to support their families. Many of these residents were artisans, industrialists and self-employed traders, who now face organised discrimination by their old clients, Hindutva supporters, the local administration and police; they find it extremely difficult to earn even a meagre income to support their large families in a state where their isolation and condemnation is absolute, relentless and precise. The NCM team witnessed abject poverty in these camps and discovered that but for a few houses, most of them had little except bare minimum bedding and utensils. "Most of the residents of these colonies had no ration cards and the ones that were issued by the government were of the Above Poverty Line (APL) category, instead of the Below Poverty Line (BPL) category," revealed A Banerji, joint secretary in the NCM. The residents have little source of income and are forced to buy food grains at much higher rates. The BJP government has done nothing to help out these victims, many of whom went through personal tragedies and deaths, and who have been now dumped to fend for themselves. Ironically, the NCM, in its report, revealed that not a single colony was constructed by the state government, nor was any land allotted to these families, while, earlier last year, the Modi regime returned Rs 19 crore to the centre, stating that all the relief work across the state for riot victims had been done. The NCM team found out that the government did not rehabilitate those who could not return to their homes after the killings. All of them, predictably, are Muslims. The residents complained of inadequate compensation; a maximum compensation of Rs 10,000 was given to them. Muslim organisations and NGOs took up their cause and bought land for these displaced people at high commercial rates. But due to deliberate lack of support from a biased and compromised state government, these organisations have not been able to provide the basic amenities and livelihood options in these colonies. The report read, "The implications that this has for the security and well being of civil society as a whole are extremely serious." The state government came under fire from the Parliamentary committee for its failure to rehabilitate victims of the post-Godhra killings and found that the BJP-led regime was stunningly indifferent to the plight of the people who had been displaced en masse after the blood bath of 2002 in Gujarat. The members of the committee claimed that the riot victims are being ghettoised and forced to live in pitiable surroundings. The committee also requested the centre to intervene to help the victims and criticised the Gujarat government for surrendering Rs 19 crore out of the Rs 150 crore that the Centre had given to the state for rehabilitation of the survivors. Residents of these colonies also spoke to the respective committees about the atmosphere of insecurity in which they are being forced to live. "The team received several complaints about the hostile attitude of the police towards the residents of these colonies or their representatives who have taken up their problems with relevant authorities" read the NCM report. Narrating his story, Sheikh Naushad Rasol, in a public meeting held in New Delhi, said, "My entire family is living in a very small room and there are many other families that don't have even this. Muslims in Gujarat are in a terrified state and are living with the stigma of being Muslims. We are not given any jobs and eventually it's our women who are cleaning utensils in houses for a paltry sum of Rs 200 to support their families." One of Gujarat's biggest garbage dumps is just outside Ahmedabad and right next to Citizen Nagar, a colony constructed for the survivors of the Naroda Patiya carnage. This colony is home to several epidemics that haunt the residents. But, most of these displaced families still believe it is much safer to stay in these camps rather than returning to their homes. "Children are being forced to leave schools and are constantly asked by their classmates and teachers to leave India and go to Pakistan. Abdul, an engineer by profession before the genocide, is now selling toys, as nobody is ready to offer him a job because of his Muslim identity," informed journalist Dionne Bunsha in a public meeting to relaunch her book on Gujarat: Scarred. Bunsha also mentioned how fundamentalists, like VHP leader Babu Bajrangi, one of the accused in the killings, are openly terrorising the minorities by training people in shooting, judo and martial arts and organising vicious propaganda attacks. He recently led a violent campaign to beat up couples in parks and especially targeted Muslims. Numerous signboards welcoming Hindus to the 'Hindurashtra' can be seen all over the place, as if Gujarat is a 'Hindu republic' outside secular India. Narrating an incident, Bunsha informed that a Hindu girl married to a Muslim was forced to abort her child and the boy was brutally beaten up by VHP activists. However, the report brought out by the NCM and the Parliamentary committee only highlights the problem in some parts of Gujarat. "They surveyed only a few areas and could bring forward issues pertaining only to these families while there are many other areas and families in Gujarat that are facing similar issues. The numbers are much higher than the count of 5,000 that is being put forward by these committees. One has to visit entire Gujarat to assess the real situation and see the deadly plight of hundreds of people who have been forced to be condemned in sub-human ghettos," revealed Father Cedric Prakash, director of an NGO, Prashant, who recently won the 'Minorities Rights Award' for his work in favour of human rights in the country. The state government seems uninterested in lending a helping hand to these riot victims. However, the central government is likely to announce a relief package for the victims of Gujarat violence in line with the compensation awarded to the 1984 riot victims. This move will definitely come as relief for several families, which have received hardly any support from the Gujarat government despite suffering loss of their members and friends and property. But the real question that should still haunt the minds of the minorities in Gujarat is how will the central government put an end to the trauma and stigma faced by Indian Muslims for being patriotic Indian citizens in the saffronised, Hindutva state of Narendra Modi's BJP-led Gujarat. ______ [4] Hindutwa @ work: (i) The Tribune 12 January 2006 Editorial SAFFRON NAMASKAR IMPART EDUCATION, NOT MUMBO-JUMBO THE Madhya Pradesh Government, doubtless, accords the highest priority to schools and colleges - though not for education. Schools seem to have become the ruling BJP's favourite playground for sectarian political games. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan's government first claimed national attention when it ordered that singing Vande Mataram would be compulsory in educational institutions. Now, in his zeal to popularise yoga, the Chief Minister has decreed that from January 25 surya namaskar will be compulsory in all government schools and colleges in the state. Predictably, this has given rise to opposition, especially from Muslim organisations, which have said that their children would not submit to this. The state of education in Madhya Pradesh, as in several other parts of the country, is hardly enviable. There are schools with teachers, but no students; and schools with students and no teachers. Even as there are schools in search of both teachers and students, there are no schools in many places where they are needed. The problem is not only one of infrastructure and resources but also motivating enrolment and attendance. This is challenge enough for any government serious about ensuring education for all. Far from addressing this, the MP government seems to be doing its best to drive students away from educational institutions. Schools and colleges should confine themselves to educational and relevant extra-curricular activities. Programmes in the interests of the students' health are desirable, but to exploit this for insidiously pursuing a saffron agenda and extending state patronage to yoga gurus is not the job of a government. Educational institutions should stick to education in the strictest sense of the term and foster an inclusive and secularist culture. Muslim organisations would also serve the community and the country better by not rising to such baits that are calculated to communalise education. The government order makes no sense when surya namaskar is compulsory for the institutions but not the students. While Muslims can exercise the choice, the government should revoke the order if only to avoid another imposition on teachers and administrators. o o o http://in.rediff.com/news/2007/jan/03rss.htm Rediff.com Rewriting Rajasthan's history important: RSS January 03, 2007 18:34 IST Brushing aside Congress' apprehension of Hindutva agenda in the academic curriculum, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on Wednesday hailed Rajasthan's Bharatiya Janata Party government for its move to rewrite the state's history. It said that the move would delete 'unscrupulous facts' mentioned in textbooks against heroes and leaders. "History books need improvement and correction as there are a number of citiations where Maharana Pratap, Guru Govind Singh and ex-rulers are being misquoted or defamed in the school and college curriculum," RSS' kshetriya seva pramukh Moolchand Soni told reporters. RSS has constituted a committee called the Itihas Sankalan Samiti in the state and at the central level and the Rajasthan government's steps towards a campaign on Apni Dharti, Apne Log (our land, our people) was in the right direction, he said. The Congress alleged on Tuesday that the ruling BJP was trying to tamper with historical facts of the state in a bid to enforce its Hindutva agenda. "The re-writing of history of Rajasthan's villages is irrelevant and unauthentic. We will not let the state became a testing laboratory for Hindutva agenda," state Congress chief B D Kalla said in a statement. Rajasthan's Education Minister G S Tiwari announced on Sunday that his department would soon compile historical and cultural facts related to over 41,000 villages for new textbooks. © Copyright 2007 PTI. _____ [5] The Telegraph January 04, 2007 ARMY LANDS IN ROW OVER BABA Our Correspondent Baba Harbhajan Singh: Service to be terminated? Gangtok, Jan. 3: The Indian Army's decision not to allow offerings and donations at Baba Harbhajan Singh Mandir near Nathu-la has provoked angry response from devotees. "The decision will hurt the sentiments of those who go there to offer prayers," said Sunil Periwal, a businessman from Gangtok, after an unfulfilling visit to the temple yesterday. Baba Mandir, located on the road to Kupup near Nathu-la in East Sikkim, is a popular tourist destination-cum-pilgrim centre for its association with the legend of Harbhajan Singh, a soldier of the 23rd Punjab Regiment who died while on duty in the late 60s. It is widely believed that even after his death, Baba continued to guard the border at night and look after the men on patrol. At present an honorary captain on extension (he is past the retirement age), Baba continues to feature on the payroll of the army, and is even granted annual leave from September to November. The temple is maintained by the Indian Army, which has a substantial presence in the area located close to the Chinese border. Devotees have even suggested that the army hand over the responsibility to a managing committee comprising civilians, the kind of arrangement that exists in Hanuman tok, another temple located above Gangtok. Though the ban has reportedly been in place since last week, no official explanation has been forthcoming from the army as to why the decision was taken. When The Telegraph contacted senior army officers posted in the area, they refused to comment on the matter but admitted that the orders had come from highest ranks. Meanwhile, even the weekly bhandara (feast), normally held on Tuesdays and Sundays, has been stopped. One possible reason behind the decision is the legal suit filed in a Punjab court in September last year by one Pyare Singh, a former subedar in the Indian Army and a close relative of Baba. Singh accused the army of propagating superstitious belief among the public by treating Baba like a person who is alive. He reported that even now two army jawans are deputed to accompany Baba to his hometown in Punjab, while special vehicles are hired to take him to the New Jalpaiguri station and train reservations are made for the onward and return journeys. The court has asked the army to respond to the charges. _____ Upcoming Events: (i) WORKSHOP ON RIGHT TO INFORMATION ACT Time: 11 AM, Saturday, 13 January 2007 Venue: Manoranjan Kaksha Delhi Administration Flats Timparpur, Delhi 110054 Hope your participation will help us to understand the issue in a better way. In case you find any difficulty please call @ +91 9811 972 872. The nearest Metro Station is Vishwvidyalaya (Delhi University) Since 13 January is a holiday many of you can manage to attend the same. Warm Regards safar team http://www.safarindia.zoomshare.com o o o (ii) Say no to Political Witch hunt! Say no to the gagging of political opponents! Join Citizens' Dharna To Demand the release of activists and students in West Bengal jails Manjusha (Residents' Commissioner's Office, West Bengal State Emporium, Baba Kharak Singh Marg, Connaught Place) 12:00 Noon - 3:00 pm Saturday, 13th January 2007 On 4th January, a six-member fact-finding team travelling to Nandigram was arrested at Tekhali Bazar. The team included veteran communist leader Sankar Mitra and two students, Jitendra Kumar of Jamia Millia Islamia of Delhi, and Malay Tiwari of Jadavpur University. The team members were implicated in blatantly false charges under sections 147, 148, 149, 341, 323, 325, 307, 186, 353, 332, 333, 337, 338, 427, 435, 379, 2527 (involving attempt to murder, arson, arms act and inciting violence) of IPC. They are being held in judicial custody. Further, on 9 th January, eleven more students from Jadavpur University and Presidency College participating in demonstrations (protesting the violence in Nandigram in which seven peasants were killed) at the CPI (M) state head quarters were also arrested. Demands will be made from the West Bengal Governor for the immediate and unconditional release of students arrested and held under false charges in the state for protesting land acquisition and killing of innocent persons in Nandigram, West Bengal. Please forward this mail to others and inform them about it. Regards, Radhika Menon, 9868038981 o o o (iii) SEMINAR SOCIAL JUSTICE AND RESERVATION: A REVIEW OF THE FINDINGS OF THE SACHAR COMMISSION 14th January, 2007 Commencement: 9 A.M. Venue: Love Shore Inn Auditorium, Thrissur Inauguration by: Dr. K.N. Pannikkar Forum for Faith and Fraternity Vanchinad Residency, Post Box 4239 Kaloor, Cochin - 682 017 Tel: 0484 6529815. E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Dear Sir/Madam, Even five decades after independence, equal opportunity and social justice remain elusive dreams for a large section of the population. An ideology founded upon social justice, matched by political will, remain the inevitable instruments to drive and sustain democracy. The backwardness of a significant segment of the majority community, and almost the entire Muslim minority, in diverse walks of life must come to an end. Left uncorrected, this could become a challenge and threat not only to our social security, nation building, and democratic system but also to our cultural heritage. Time and again indications of this danger have surfaced in different parts of the nation. A year ago, the Prime Minister of India set up a seven-member commission, with Justice Rajindar Sachar as the chairman, to examine the nature and extent of the socio-economic and educational deprivation of the Indian Muslim community, and to suggest possible correctives. Muslims constitute fifteen percent of the Indian population. The Sachar Commission Report, and the studies and reports of other commissions and agencies in the past, confirm the appalling condition of the community in social, economic and educational terms. The development and progress of the nation cannot be carried forward meaningfully, without addressing this issue. The restoration of equity must be adopted as a national agenda. Governmental agencies, social scientists and non-governmental agencies must work together to formulate and implement remedial policies. In the national interests, the majority community must extend wholesome support to such initiatives. The Forum for Faith and Fraternity, FFF or 3F in popular parlance, is a Muslim cultural organization based in Ernakulam. During the sitting of the Sachar Commission in Kerala, a representative group including members of the executive committee of the Forum led by Prof. K.M.Bahavuddin submitted a memorandum with extensive statistical and survey documentation on the plight of Indian Muslims in general, and Kerala Muslims in particular. The study report of the Sachar commission was submitted to the parliament a few weeks ago. Social scientists, political parties, community leaders and the media are already engaged in an exercise to comprehend and assess the findings and observations of the Commission. The Forum joins the public debate with a one-day Seminar. The Seminar will take place on Sunday, 14-01-2007 at the Love Shore Inn Auditorium located near the Railway Station, Trichur. Topic: Social Justice and Reservation: A Review of the Findings of the Sachar Commission. We request your participation, with your friends, in the Seminar and your involvement in the follow-up discussion. Adv. A.Y.Khalid Dr. K.K.Usman Chairman, Secretary, Organizing Committee, Trichur Forum for Faith and Fraternity PROGRAMME Registration Khirat Welcome : Adv. A.Y. Khalid Address by the Chairperson : K.V.Mohamed Zakeer. Inauguration : Dr. K.N. Panikkar Papers 1. Sri. K.E.N.Kunjahammed : Social Justice in a Plural Society 2. Dr. K.K.Rahulan : The Ideology of Reservation 3. Prof. T.B. Vijayakumar : The History of Social Backwardness and its Present Context 4. Dr. K.K. Usman : The Findings of the Sachar Commission 5. M.R. Sudesh : Reservation and the Creamy Layer 6. Dr. M. Kabir : Status of the Muslims in Kerala- the Myth and the Reality Lunch : 1 P.M. to 2 P.M. Discussion : 2 P.M. to 4 P.M. Moderators : Prof. K.M. Bahavuddin, Dr. N.A. Karim Vote of thanks : V.A. Mohamed Ashrof FORUM FOR FAITH AND FRATERNITY VANCHINAD RESIDENCY POST BOX 4239 KOCHI 682017 o o o (iv) TORTURE, LIES AND A FABRICATED CONFESSION: NO DEATH PENALTY FOR AFZAL GURU! PICKET OF THE INDIAN HIGH COMMISSION, Friday, 26 January 1.30pm-4.30pm India House, The Aldwych, London WC2 (nearest tube: Holborn) On December 13, 2001 the Indian parliament was attacked by five men. They were killed by the security forces but even today their identity remains a mystery. Three other men, who according to the police masterminded the attack, have also not been found. However, on 14 and 15 December, 2001 the investigating agencies together with the Special Cell of the Delhi Police picked up four persons, all Kashmiris, and charged them with the offence of conspiring to attack the parliament under India's notorious Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA). After a nationwide campaign for a fair trial, two of them, Syed Abdul Rahman Geelani and Navjot Sandhu who was jailed along with her newborn baby, have been acquitted of all charges, a third, the husband of Navjot Sandhu, has had his death sentence converted to ten years in prison. But the fourth Afzal Guru was due to be hanged on October 20, 2006. A stay on his execution has been obtained by the Save Afzal Campaign through a Mercy Petition, and he is now being held in Tihar jail in Delhi. But he is still facing a death sentence. Who is Afzal Guru? Afzal Guru was involved with the JKLF for only three months in 1990 when large numbers of Kashmiri youth were attracted to the movement. During these three months he neither received any training nor took part in any activities. For details see his wife Tabassum's letter: <http://justiceforafzalguru.org/background/tabassum.html>http://justiceforafzalguru.org/background/tabassum.html After he surrendered he was constantly picked up by security forces, asked to spy on people and also routinely tortured. He eventually decided to move to Delhi hoping to be left alone but even here the notorious Special Task Force caught up with him and continued to harass him. Afzal's trial His trial was a mockery of justice since he was denied an opportunity to defend himself - he did not even have a lawyer. Afzal was not involved in the actual attack on the Indian parliament and he did not kill or injure anybody and the Indian Supreme Court has ruled that there was no direct evidence against him, only circumstantial. However the court has sentenced him to death because in their words the "the collective conscience of the society will be satisfied if the capital punishment is awarded to the offender... The appellant, who is a surrendered militant is a menace to society and should become extinct." Abu Ghraib style torture and media collusion In the Special Cell of the Delhi police Afzal was kept naked for two days and beaten mercilessly - once by a man who later appeared as a prosecution witness; police officers urinated in his mouth saying 'This is the way you can break your Roza(fast)'. After he was tortured he was handcuffed and made to sit on a chair and forced to 'confess' at a media conference. But television broadcasts did not show the handcuffs and did not show the men who tortured and humiliated him. On the 15 and 16 of December 2006, New Delhi Television (NDTV) re-ran the 'confession' several times although they had been informed that by now that the Supreme Court of India had rejected it and the High Court had reprimanded the police for it. The programme was accompanied by remarks such as 'See how natural, how truthful, how fluent his statement appears' and 'Who can believe that such a statement can be given under torture'. They then invited viewers to act as a virtual lynch mob by soliciting SMS messages from them asking whether Afzal should be hanged in light of the tape telecast by them. Right-wing Hindu chauvinist forces of the Sangh Parivar have continually harassed members of Afzal's campaign while calling for Afzal to be hanged. Afzal Guru faces a death penalty although: There is no direct evidence against him and he is known not to have injured or harmed anyone The Courts have found that the investigating agencies deliberately fabricated evidence and forged documents against him and others accused. Currently Afzal is waiting for the results of a Mercy Petition but the decision of the courts is extremely uncertain. Even after enormous efforts by his campaign he is being denied basic rights in prison - he is not allowed to go out of doors for even half an hour of sunlight and the Red Cross who have access to Kashmiri prisoners have not been allowed to visit him. SAVE AFZAL GURU! Further details: 07814983105 [EMAIL PROTECTED] o o o (v) CERAS 2007 South Asia at the Crossroads monthly discussions - ALL invited. The discussions will be preceded by a detailed presentation or brief introductory comments. Participants are encouraged to inform themselves and participate actively in the discussion. 1st monthly discussion: Sunday 21 January 1-3pm South Asia at the Crossroads - India Presentation by Professor Mritiunjoy Mohnty, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta; Institut d'études internationales de montréal (UQAM) Venue: South Asian Women's Community Centre 1035 Rachel est (between Boyer and Christophe-Colomb) Metro Mt-Royal and bus # 11 [Montreal ] UPCOMING February: South Asia at the Crossroads - Bangladesh March: South Asia at the Crossroads - Muslims in India Five Years after Gujarat and in Light of the Findings of the Sachar Report April: South Asia at the Crossroads - Nepal - anniversary of democratic change May: South Asia at the Crossroads - Pakistan June: South Asia at the Crossroads - Sri Lanka July: South Asia at the Crossroads - Challenges Facing Communist Movements in South Asia Information: 514-938-3678 [EMAIL PROTECTED] _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ Buzz for secularism, on the dangers of fundamentalism(s), on matters of peace and democratisation in South Asia. SACW is an independent & non-profit citizens wire service run since 1998 by South Asia Citizens Web: www.sacw.net/ SACW archive is available at: bridget.jatol.com/pipermail/sacw_insaf.net/ DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed in materials carried in the posts do not necessarily reflect the views of SACW compilers. _______________________________________________ SACW mailing list SACW@insaf.net http://insaf.net/mailman/listinfo/sacw_insaf.net