South Asia Citizens Wire | May 2-4, 2007 | Dispatch No. 2399 - Year 9 [1] Sri Lanka: Warning Signs that Democratic Space is Threatened (National Peace Council) [2] Bangladesh: Freedom from fear (Zafar Sobhan) [3] Pakistan: Keep religion at bay - letters - Conversion of [Karachi's] Nisar Shaheed Park into Lal Masjid (Naeem Sadiq) - No to Ninja Nuisance - A Letter to the Editor (Isa Daudpota) [4] Indian Army and the Peace Process in Kashmir (Ram Puniyani) [5] India: Learning To Speak Caste (Satish Deshpande) [6] India: Predator State (Editorial, Hindustan Times) [7] India: We need to talk about narcoanalysis (Sriram Lakshman) [8] India: In the wake of Nandigram A call by concerned citizens for A People's Convention
____ [1] National Peace Council of Sri Lanka 12/14 Purana Vihara Road Colombo 6 Tel: 2818344, 2854127, 2819064 Tel/Fax:2819064 E Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Internet: www.peace-srilanka.org 04.05.07 Media Release WARNING SIGNS THAT DEMOCRATIC SPACE IS THREATENED The deterioration in the security situation has had a catastrophic impact on substantial sections of the civilian population, especially those living in the north and east. In this context the government has recently decided to vest powers of the police with the military.President Mahinda Rajapaksa has issued a gazette notification that the armed forces are expected to perform the functions of the police. The National Peace Council is extremely concerned with this latest development. We are apprehensive that this government decision will send wrong signals and lead to an aggravation of the hardships faced by the civilian population. The new regulations come at a time when there are reports of violations of human rights by both police and military personnel. According to preliminary findings announced by a civic group, PAFFREL, which is working together with the Human Rights Commission and the Police, about 30 police and military personnel are among 452 persons arrested in connection with human rights abuses, including abduction, disappearances and murders. The National Peace Council believes that these findings reiterate the importance of restoring the integrity of law and order processes in the country. One positive initiative by the government that we welcome has been the order of the Defence Secretary to the security forces that they should strictly follow guidelines that respect human rights in making arrests and detentions. However, the vesting of police functions in the armed forces can negate this positive order. The police function is a civilian one, and the military is not trained in police methods of dealing with disturbances to law and order. This decision can also send wrong signals to the security forces, and to local and international society regarding the direction of the government. There is an urgent need for the government to demonstrate clear political will in regard to law and order processes if it is to retain the confidence of the civilian population that it is not taking the country on a journey to anarchy and to the breakdown of democratic governance. This past week has seen the assassination of yet another journalist in Jaffna, belonging to the Uthayan newspaper and threats to stop work that are being levelled against NGOs in the name of the TMVP (Karuna group), which TMVP spokespersons deny making. It is incumbent on the government to take these complaints seriously and to take measures to apprehend the culprits so that faith in the democratic institutions of the country may be on the path to restoration. Executive Director On behalf of the Governing Council _____ [2] The Daily Star May 04, 2007 FREEDOM FROM FEAR by Zafar Sobhan What was the worst thing about pre-January 11 Bangla-desh? Different people will have different answers to this question: some would point to the unbridled corruption that reached its tentacles into every corner of the country's affairs, some would say that it was the culture of complete lack of transparency and accountability. Some others might suggest the absence of any kind of rule of law which meant that the powerful could do whatever they wanted with virtual impunity. Then again, some might point to the lack of opportunities or the government's inability to (or unwillingness) to focus on the concerns of the poor. I would suggest that the worst aspect of pre-January 11 Bangladesh -- and a failing that encompasses many of the above complaints (many of which are inter-connected) -- can be classified under the rubric of lack of human security. Human security, which can also be understood as freedom from fear, has two components. The first is a simple law and order equation: Can the government of the day ensure my safety and security from non-state actors? However, far more salient is the second component of human security: Can the government of the day ensure my safety and security from the state (or its representatives) itself? In the context of Bangladesh, this is an especially relevant question, as the bulk of the insecurity that everyday men and women have had to suffer through the years has come at the hands of representatives of the state. In other words, it is not so much non-state actors but state actors that we need protection from -- i.e. from the police, from Rab, and even when it is non-state actors (e.g. common criminals or mastans) the bulk of the threat comes from those who are politically connected, which again implicates state actors. Similarly, the nexus between criminals and the police and the courts is again a function of the individual being persecuted by the state's actions and inactions. To me, human security is the bare minimum. The absolute minimum I expect from any government is that it keeps me safe and protects my security. Specifically, I would expect that it keep me safe from its own clutches. This, to me, is the over-riding responsibility of a government. If it cannot keep me safe from non-state actors, then, at the very least, I should not have to worry about my safety at the hands of state actors. Nor do I think that this is an elite/urban concern. Indeed, I would argue that this concern is heightened the further down the social and economic ladder you go. The less money and status you have, the more vulnerable you are, both to common or garden crooks and also to persecution at the hands of the authorities. You are more likely to have to pay tolls and extortions, to have to worry about physical and sexual assault, and will have even less ability to access the courts and police stations to seek redress for your grievances. Human security is the corner-stone of existence. If we can be secure in our person and effects, then the rest will follow. If we are not secure in our person and properties, then everything else is evanescent and ephemeral, everything we have can be taken away from us at a moment's notice. So, when I look at the current government, this is the question I ask: Are we now more secure then we were before January 11? And in judging what comes after the current dispensation, the question that I would ask is the same: Will we be more secure than we were before January 11? What kind of security should we expect and demand from our government? The security that we will not be killed in cross-fire. The security that we will not be subjected to any extra-judicial punishment. The security that we will not be subject to arbitrary arrest. The security that we will not have to worry about being disappeared. These kinds of abuses were routine prior to January 11, and to the extent that they are still happening and that they may still continue in the future, are serious cause for concern. Freedom from fear is the most important of freedoms.If you don't have that, you don't have anything. No freedom of the press -- who would dare criticize the government in such a climate? No accountability -- how can one begin to petition for redress if such petitioning earns one a one-way ticket to the slammer? No peace of mind -- how can we enjoy anything if we are constantly looking over our shoulders or weighing every word, wondering whether this will lead to a phone call or a late night visit from the authorities?. So, whatever we do and whatever else is going on, I would suggest that the most important task before the interim government is to remove this uncertainty and fear from the air. If that were done, then the benefits -- to the country, to the individual, and to the government -- would be incalculable. At a very basic level, creating a climate of security, free from fear, is simply the right thing to do, and the benefits are self-evident. Life without security is no life. But, beyond that, the pragmatic benefits for the country would be immense. Think of the creative energy that would be unleashed if the people of Bangladesh were able to feel fully secure in their persons and properties. Think of the knock-on effect to the economy if people didn't have to fear repercussions for whistle-blowing or uncovering corruption. So let's judge this current interim government by how successfully it is able to create this atmosphere -- and let us look at any future government according to the same lights. If they succeed in ensuring our security and freeing us from fear, then I will think that maybe, at long last, we are getting somewhere as a nation. But if they do not, and all we can look forward to are more years of looking over our shoulders, then it isn't entirely apparent to me how this would be different from where we were on January 10. Zafar Sobhan is Assistant Editor, The Daily Star. _____ [3] [TWO LETTERS FROM PAKISTAN] From: Beena Issues [ groups.yahoo.com/group/beena-issues/ ] 2 May 2007 [i] From Naeem Sadiq in Karachi: "You may send this letter directly to DHA, at the given address, obtaining signatures from those who agree." To Administrator, Defence Hofficers Housing Authority 2-B, East Street, Phase 1, DHA, Karachi. CONVERSION OF NISAR SHAHEED PARK INTO LAL MASJID. True to the Mulla-military cooperative tradition, the DHA has gone out of its way to squeeze mosques at places where they have no business to be. Nisar Shaheed was one very good park, till the DHA management installed a mosque within its four walls. It was originally a small prayer area, which gradually (just like the Islamabad Lal Masjid), expanded into a larger place , got cemented, and provided with 'wuzu' areas and loud speakers. The mosque was not a part of the original design of the park and was made illegally to appease one section of people. Those who go the Park to spend some relaxed and quiet time find it increasingly difficult to do so any more. Specially between 7pm and 9pm which is the peak time for walkers and joggers, the areas and tracks around the mosque are taken over by dozens of 'Nimazis', obstructing those who are engaged in their regular exercise. Would the DHA allow similar loud speaker operated separate religious congregations for those who belong to other sects or other religions. Does the DHA not know that there are four other mosques located all around the park, and therefore there is no need of allowing loud speakers and religious congregations inside this park. The DHA, unless it intentionally wishes to create a Jamia Hafsa like situation, would be well advised to take some immediate actions. It could stop all religious congregations in the park premises, prohibit the use of loud speakers, and ensure that park is used only for the purpose it was built for. [ii] Letter to the Editor by Isa Daudpota (would love to know which paper prints this and with what changes - bs) NO TO NINJA NUISANCE My eighty year old Lahori aunt and the country's police force have one thing in common. My gynecologist aunt refuses to employ any staff in her clinic who wears a hijab, let alone the face-hiding Ninja headgear, which is becoming increasingly common in our cities. Patients need to communicate unambiguously with their care-givers -would you like a Ninja peering down your mouth or another orifice, or asking you questions muffled by a face-clinging fabric? Lone Ranger had his day. Today the police refuse talking to masked men. They sometimes even haul up those who drive in cars with privacy preserving dark glasses. In our fear-laced times you need to know exactly whom you are talking to. The same concern applies to educational institutions where it becomes impossible to communicate with Ninja female students with blinking eyes. This is made worse when the lecturer too adopts this garb. While a hijab maybe recommended according to some religious interpretations as a means of maintaining personal modesty, the Ninja version of it isn't! Thus the paragons of modernism in the Ministry of Education and the Higher Education Commission should issue orders banning the masked headgear in all education institutions. As for the militant women in places such as Jamia Hafsa the solution is clear. If they stopped being supported by government agencies, they could be flushed out by means commonly known. A more humane way is to show them a better alternative: have the Aabpara Community Center located near their madrassa offer good discounted food, show interesting enlightening films, free internet access and classes in modern thought. Also teach skills, which get them employed in a worldly job. Pakistan's dilemma is clear-cut though: it cannot rest in peace until religion remains mixed up with the workings of the state. It is time that those who gain international publicity using the slogans of modernism show their concern by stamping out the menace of the Ninjas. Such hypocrites refuse to even voice their concern in unambiguous terms. Q. Isa Daudpota Islamabad ______ [4] Issues in Secular Politics May 2007 I ARMY AND THE PEACE PROCESS IN KASHMIR by Ram Puniyani Mufti Mohammad Sayeed of People's Democratic Party, the party ruling in alliance with Congress in Kashmir, recently called for demilitarization of the state and withdrawal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (April 2007). This demand was looked at with great amount of skepticism on the ground that how can we control the armed militancy in the state without the army presence and the special act to back that up. It is noteworthy that since the last elections when the electoral process was more democratic than the earlier one's, there is reduction in the overall militant actions in the state. It is also worth noticing that the atmosphere for dialogue and the amity within communities is better than before. Surely it is comparatively more representative character of this government, which has improved the situation. The question is, is it army, which can end the militancy, or is it the democratic character of the government and the keenness for dialogue with the disgruntled elements, which can further improve the situation. To begin with let's realize that army is trained to deal with 'enemy armies', enemies only , its functioning is totally authoritarian and it has its own methods very different from the civic norms of a democratic society. It is all right that an army is deployed in some area for a short while, but a prolonged deployment of the army creates further problems and civilian life suffers a set back which tantamount to loss of trust in the ruling government, alienation of people and further boost to the phenomenon which bring in militancy in the first place. As such Kashmir has been in the news most of the times for last few decades but unfortunately for the wrong reasons. On one hand we have the militancy, military's heavy handed actions, fake encounters, missing young men, half widows and streaks of blood on the greens of the valley, on the other there are efforts to bring in peace through dialogues and still on the other we have the gross misrepresentation of the events of Kashmir to communalize the mass consciousness'. Communal elements have presented it as a Hindu-Muslim problem and have propagated that events in Kashmir are one more example of 'Muslim separatism', while the real issue relates to the historical roots, the regional power equations and the ethnic identity of Kashmir. The debate on the efforts to bring in amity in the valley needs to be seen in the historical genesis of the issue and complexities of the present, the changing tilt of US with the aim to bring peace in the bullet torn edifice of the society. Also mistakes of the past need to be shunned if we aspire for the harmony and justice. With India's independence the Princely states were given three options, one to merge with India, two to merge with Pakistan and three to remain independent. While most of the princely states merged with India or Pakistan, the king of Kashmir, Hari Singh decided to remain independent on the ground that his 'Hindu' Kingdom cannot merge with secular India. While the king was Hindu, majority of populating of Kashmir was Muslim. Pundit Perm Nath Dogra, of Praja Parishad, the precursor of BJP, Bharatiya Jansangh, endorsed his stand. Later Hari Singh offered standstill agreement to both India and Pakistan. As per this some state functions were to be shared with Pakistan and India. India rejected the offer; Pakistan accepted it and its postal department started serving Jammu and Kashmir. When Pakistan army, dressed as tribal attacked Kashmir, the people of Kashmir did not want to merge with Pakistan and accordingly the President of National Conference, Sheikh Abdullah and representative of Maharaja Harisingh went to Delhi to urge upon the Indian Government to send the army to Kashmir to quell the Pakistani aggression. As at that time, Kashmir was not part of India, Indian Government did not accept this request. The negotiations to help Kashmir resulted in the treaty of accession according to which Kashmir was to have total autonomy barring in the matters of defense, external affairs, communication and currency. Kashmir was to have its own Constitution, with Sadr-e-Riyasat and Prime Minster. It is on these terms that Indian army went to Kashmir to quell the Pakistani aggression. Indian army stalled the Pakistani army, but by that time Pakistani army had occupied nearly one third of Kashmir. The matter was taken to United Nations, where it was resolved that plebiscite will be held, to ascertain the wishes of Kashmiri people, after Pakistani and Indian armies withdraw from Kashmir. Neither of the armies withdrew and no plebiscite took place. The elections held in Kashmir led to the victory of National Conference and Sheikh Abdullah was chosen the Prime Minister of Kashmir. The major achievement of Sheikh Abdullah was land reforms without any compensation to the landlords. As such Kashmir was a society, which stood on the foundation of Sufi Islam, values of Vedant and Buddhism. These are the ingredients of Kashmiriyat. After the Kashmiri assembly came to take charge of things, the ultra nationalists and Hindu communalists in India started the campaign for abolition of the clauses of autonomy of Kashmir, demanding its total merger with India. The pressure of this 'forcible integration of Kashmir' led to a discomfort amongst the people of Kashmir, and Sheikh Abdullah voiced his concern that Indian Government is going back from its earlier promise. With his statement calling for respect of treaty of accession, he was dubbed as anti Nationalist and was put behind the bars. His imprisonment may be amongst one of the few cases of imprisonment of an elected chief of the state. His imprisonment was the first act due to which the process of alienation began in Kashmir. This alienation was aggravated further by the political parties in power in Center trying to impose their agenda of power sharing with the National Conference. The rigging of elections was a regular phenomenon in Kashmir. With this the alienation of Kashmiri youth turned in to militancy, duly supported by Pakistan, which in turn was backed by the US. The local militants were joined in by the one's trained in Pakistan and later joined by the Al Qaeda elements. The militancy in Kashmir initially was not based on communal ground and Kashmiriyat remained the overarching goal. In the decades of 80s the militancy did assume communal color, targeting the Kashmiri Pundits. Jag Mohan intensified the problem by encouraging the Pundits to leave the valley on the plea that every Kashmiri Muslim is a terrorist and Pundits face the physical threat. Hanging of Maqbool Butt and rigging of elections worsened the problem giving a further boost to separatist tendencies in the valley. The issue was communalized in the country by presenting it as a Hindu India versus Muslims of Kashmir. The communal elements in the country made a heavy use of this issue to polarize the society. The response of Indian government was to go on increasing the presence of army in the valley. Today the number of military personnel is so heavy that the air is thick with intimidation of the army guns. The local Kashmiris are the victims of the acts of the militants and that of Indian army. Army treats most of the civilians as suspects. This alienation of local people and gross violation of human rights needs to be redressed. The restoration of part of democratic process during last elections has been a welcome sign. Any area under military presence cannot breath freely. Too many disappearances, senseless killings and the orphaned children tell the story of state of affairs in Kashmir. The confidence of local people has been shattered by this approach, which looks at Kashmir as the real estate to be acquired at any cost. Kashmir as the inseparable part of India on one hand and Kashmir a Muslim majority state cannot be part of India, these contrasting positions need to be countered to respect the autonomy and aspirations of Kashmiri people. That is the only way to restore the human rights and amity in the valley, which is being wounded by the guns of dissatisfaction and weapons trying to control the aspirations of people. Today the thinking on the Kashmir issue has to begin with the idea of respecting the wishes and well being of Kashmiri people, and to apply the soothing balm to the wounded psyche of average person in Kashmir. While dialogue with the dissident factions goes on we need to reduce the heavy-handed presence of army in the area. We also should register the fact that a long stay of army will affect the way of thinking of army itself. We have heard about the incidents like Chittsinghpura massacre of innocents at the hands of our own army, many an army personnel have tried to bake their own bread under the guise of their uniform. By winning over the trust of the people we can definitely reduce the intensity of militants' actions, and in due course bring in a more hospitable atmosphere. A long-term view of the matter is equally important. To begin with we need a social audit of the actions of army and to devise a mechanism where by armies actions are not arbitrary but are subject to civic scrutiny, and involvement of civilians and political representatives in the process of planning the actions of army. The over all improvement in the situation needs to be welcomed and path for further improvement sought in a proactive way. ______ [5] The Times of India 3 May, 2007 LEARNING TO SPEAK CASTE by Satish Deshpande That fount of all contemporary wisdom - the Internet - offers an involuntary but acute diagnosis of the predicament of caste via this feeble joke: India decides to send a 20-member space exploration team to the moon, and the caste quotas are decided immediately - six SCs, four STs, eight OBCs, and, if possible, two astronauts. While the intent of the joke is all too obvious, the unintended insight is in the fact that the 'astronauts' have no caste, but the 'reserved categories' have only their caste. The joke rightly assumes that although we tacitly know the caste of the astronauts, we agree that it is not relevant, only their qualifications ('astronaut') are. It also assumes, rightly again, that although we tacitly know that the 'reserved categories' would also have qualifications, we agree that they are not worth mentioning, only their caste is. In short, the joke knows exactly who 'we' are and who 'they' are and why the two can never mix. This, then, is the predicament of caste today: its invisibility - or persistent denial - in one context versus its hypervisibility - or constant invocation - in another. India is split into two irreconcilable parts. One part appears to be divesting itself of caste, having climbed on to a plateau of economic and educational security where the normal rules of the game are now in its favour. But the larger part of society is still heavily invested in caste, because it is trying to climb the steep slope of inherited disadvantage, and caste is the only lever it has to reduce the tilt of the playing field. These unequal and opposed parts are also mutually reinforcing in a strange way. It is as if each must weave what the other must unravel. How and why did we get here? Is there a way out? The first clue to how we got here is in the peculiarity of caste as an institution marked for abolition. Unlike religion or other aspects of traditional culture, there was nothing in caste that was thought to be worth preserving. Modern, progressive Indians could (at least in public) only desire 'the annihilation of caste', to use Babasaheb Ambedkar's passionate term. In the Nehru era this desire took the form of a public silence on caste. A caste-blind state refused to track the differential flow of the benefits of development. Under cover of this high-minded refusal, the upper castes proceeded to encash their inherited advantages and monopolise the spheres of urban privilege, particularly higher education. At the same time, attempts to mobilise lower caste identities were discredited as 'casteist'. A second clue is in the fact that 1947 was not a revolution but a transfer of power from the British to an Indian elite. What should have been a sharing of power among different social groups turned into a project of 'nation-building' controlled by the upper castes. The Dalit challenge was neutralised by the Poona Pact of 1932, an abject surrender - masterminded by a ruthless Mahatma - of Dalit claims to power-sharing in return for reservations as a sort of welfare programme. If the Dalits were 'constitutionalised', the Other Backward Classes were 'regionalised' in the Nehru era. After an abortive attempt with the First Backward Classes Commission, the OBC issue was banished from the Centre to the provinces. Here, the upper segments often became quite powerful as rural 'dominant castes' and were given subordinate roles in the 'Congress system'. But large lower segments comprising the artisanal castes stayed poor and powerless. Most importantly, urban OBCs remained economically and educationally much closer to the Dalits than to the upper castes. It is only after Mandal that both Dalits and backward castes have begun to speak the language of national power-sharing. Thus it is that six decades after the abolition of caste we have produced a national elite that is overwhelmingly upper caste. We know this but can't prove it because we have refused to collect data on caste. Despite having one of the world's most sophisticated statistical systems, we have been strangely reluctant to include social indicators. Barring exceptions, those who insist on keeping things this way are invariably from the creamy layer of the upper castes. Lately, they have begun to receive partial support from unexpected quarters - the creamy layers of the backwards and Dalits - who insist that caste is all important, but all other attributes (like income, wealth or education) are irrelevant. So we have a vocal group of urban upper castes, long accustomed to power in the public sphere, who wish caste to remain unspeakable. We also have an emergent lower caste mobilisation beginning to address the incompleteness of independence, who insist that caste alone - and nothing else - must be spoken. To find a way out, we have to resist the temptation of equating both groups and seeking the pleasures of even-handed liberal exasperation. The upper castes today are infinitely more powerful in the urban public sphere than the lower castes, and it is they who must first acknowledge caste. Once we sincerely recognise caste and begin to track it in the Census, in admission lists, national surveys and every relevant place, we will earn the moral and political right to begin contextualising caste in terms of its internal differentiations and specificities. Only then can we truly hope to abolish it. To annihilate caste we must first gather the courage to speak it. The writer teaches sociology in Delhi University ______ [6] Hindustan Times May 02, 2007 Editorial PREDATOR STATE Not too many patriotic tears are being shed after the 'encounter' killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and the brutal murder of his wife Kausar Bi in November 2005 have become public knowledge. Sheikh had a criminal record, while Kausar is being perceived as simply the wife of a man with a criminal record. And yet, the latest admission made by the Gujarat government that the two were indeed slain by the police is deeply worrying for a nation that prides itself on not being a banana republic. Matters relating to law and order cannot be left to extra-judicial methods not because of 'jholawalla' concerns but because such a Manichean approach can open up a Pandora's box where the guilty and the innocent are decided by parameters outside the law. It seems that this Dirty Harry-style vigilantism has already become a default position with DIG D.G. Vanzara telling his subordinates in the Gujarat Police that bumping off Sheikh was part of "patriotic work". What guarantee is there that innocents with no criminal links - like Kausar Bi - are not turned into statistics of success in the job of "fighting the enemies of the State"? Jurisprudence is made to follow certain norms for one overwhelming reason: so that there is a trail of accountability ensuring that the law is not made to serve personal whims and biases. Take the case of the trial of the five Britons accused of having links with the suicide bombers who bombed trains in London on July 7, 2005, and had plotted other attacks. They were sentenced to life after a three-year-long trial that involved 33,800 hours of painstakingly collected evidence. The crime for which the London jehadis were sentenced was serious enough for a lynch mob to be let loose without the State worrying too much about a public outcry. But that would mean unleashing violence on anyone even suspected of harbouring terrorist intentions. In India, the Gujarat case is just one of the many extra-judicial killings that we have come to know about. Sheikh and Kausar Bi were killed for being from a certain community. Whether in Kashmir or in Ansal Plaza in Delhi, the bodies of alleged 'militants' become trophies of success in a war against terrorism. The result of taking such an easy way out is that one does not need to be proved guilty any more to face the consequences of allegedly breaking the law. And this warped reasoning can apply to both a criminal like Sohrabuddin Sheikh as well as a law-abiding citizen like you. It won't make a difference. _____ [7] THE HINDU MAY 02, 2007 WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT NARCOANALYSIS BY SRIRAM LAKSHMAN Narcoanalysis is steadily being mainstreamed into investigations, court hearings, and laboratories in India. However, it raises serious scientific, legal, and ethical questions. These need to be addressed urgently before the practice spreads further. - PHOTO: By Special Arrangement A suspect is being ` narcoanalysed' in Bangalore in a 2004 double murder case. In the drug-induced state, she spoke about a knife and purse allegedly involved in the crime but neither was recovered by the police. The outcome: acquittal owing to a lack of evidence. The judge also ruled that the narcoanalysis report and videograph could be used only for investigative purposes and not to convict suspects. NARCOANALYSIS HAS become an increasingly, perhaps alarmingly, common term in India. It refers to the process of psychotherapy conducted on a subject by inducing a sleep-like state with the aid of barbiturates or other drugs. In a spate of high profile cases, such as those of the Nithari killers and the Mumbai train blasts, suspects have been whisked away to undergo an interview drugged with the barbiturate sodium pentothal. This practice has also garnered support from certain State governments as well as the judiciary. Politicians have fallen into the habit of hurling the term `narcoanalysis' at opponents. In 2006, Karnataka Congress leader H. Vishwanath suggested that Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy should undergo narcoanalysis in the Chenamma Trust bribery case. The Home Ministry's Directorate of Forensic Sciences plans to expand narcoanalysis facilities nationwide. It is not surprising then that there are about 300 people in the narcoanalysis queue at the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in Bangalore alone. It would appear that the narcoanalysis beast has acquired a life of its own. It is increasingly knocking at the doors of courts and finding ready acceptance as a device to get at the truth during police investigations, though its scientific basis and value are under strong challenge. It is for this reason that the scientific, legal, and evidentiary issues relevant to the narcoanalysis debate need to be critically discussed. Narcoanalysis is rarely used for therapeutic purposes today. The reliability of the practice has been questioned by leading psychiatric and forensic experts. Dr. P. Chandra Sekharan, the highly regarded former Director of the Forensic Sciences Department of Tamil Nadu, has characterised the practice as an unscientific, third-degree method of investigation. It is surely significant that while `truth serums' have been in use since the early part of the 20th century, they are not used in most developed countries today. During and after the War years, United States armed forces and intelligence agencies continued to experiment with truth drugs. The CIA has admitted to using these as part of its interrogation tactics. But a declassified CIA interrogation manual says that while truth drugs can be useful in overcoming resistance not dissolved by other methods, the actual content of what comes out during the interrogation can be "psychotic manifestations ... hallucinations, illusions, delusions or disorientation." At the 1977 U.S Senate hearings on its secret mind-control project, the CIA acknowledged that "no such magic brew as the popular notion of truth serum exists." Studies have shown that persons who make truthful confessions are those who were likely to confess had interrogators persisted with regular methods; and that persons who lie can continue to manifest a lie even under the influence of a so-called truth serum. Moreover, the investigator can induce and communicate his own thoughts and feelings to the suspect. The scientific literature indicates that if narcoanalysis has any extra-therapeutic uses, it may be in making a suspect feel that he has revealed more than he actually did. With repeated questioning, it may be possible to reduce ambiguities although these cannot be eliminated. Two objections Scientific scepticism and the absence of controlled studies have not deterred Indian investigating agencies from running to the FSL in Gandhinagar or, more likely, Bangalore - the narcoanalysis hub for various police departments across the country. FSL, Bangalore, conducts sodium pentothal narcoanalysis in conjunction with three other tests - psychological profiling, polygraph (`lie-detector') tests, and brain mapping. Polygraph tests, which one can learn to `pass' or `fail,' are used for screening and confirmation purposes only. Brain mapping, a premature if promising technique not entirely free from controversy itself, indicates whether a subject's brain stores experiential knowledge about a certain object. Narcoanalysis is used when investigators need oral elicitations from a suspect. For instance, if brain mapping indicates that the suspect stores information about a blue getaway car allegedly used in the crime, the narcoanalysis, according to the FSL, Bangalore, is used to provide information such as the number of the car, where it is parked, and so on. Dr. B.M. Mohan, Director of FSL, Bangalore, claims that he has data to prove his contention that narcoanalysis has a 96 to 97 per cent total success rate. Included in the definition of `total success rate' is the discovery of information that either triggers a relevant section of the law or may be cross verified with other tests (such as brain mapping). According to Dr. Mohan, findings that discredit narcoanalysis are usually based on studies of scopolamine and sodium amytal and are not applicable to sodium pentothal, which is used by the Indian laboratories. He adds that during narcoanalysis the tendency is to sleep if not questioned, rather than hallucinating or fantasising. There are two problems with this argument. Using sodium pentothal is not a new advance in narcoanalysis. Two experts at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore interviewed by The Hindu pointed out that internationally the psychological fraternity has used sodium pentothal for decades; and discontinued its use in all but the rarest cases, partly because there is no guarantee that the drug will elicit factually accurate information. Secondly, Dr. Mohan's contention that it is difficult to manifest fantasies in narcoanalysis is questionable. False memory is an extremely well-researched area according to Dr. Chittaranjan Andrade, a professor of psychopharmacology at NIMHANS. While patients under narcoanalysis may find it difficult to lie consciously depending on the depth of the narcoanalysis, they can say things that are not true and on the surface of their minds. Dr. Andrade explains the case of a suspect who is repeatedly accused of a crime during regular interrogation: "The same thing goes on during the narcoanalysis. He remembers `you've done this, you've done this.' He says, `I have done that.'" When science has outpaced the development of law or at` least the layperson's understanding of it, there are unavoidable complexities regarding what can be admitted as evidence in court. In the United States, where science often interfaces uncomfortably with the law, the Supreme Court offered four criteria, part of the Daubert Standard (1993), by which to judge the credibility of a scientific principle held by a minority of practitioners: hypothesis testing; peer review and publication; knowledge of error rates; and acceptability in the general scientific community. Pseudo-science We must give narcoanalysis its due and grant that it has provided valuable leads to the police in some instances. However, one swallow, or even many swallows in this case, do not a summer make. It is logically consistent for even a pseudo-science to produce reliable outcomes in particular cases. The overall reliability and science behind the practice can only be determined after statistical analysis of a sufficiently large sample. The irony of the situation we face in India is that the science behind narcoanalysis, as we know it, has not leapfrogged the courts by any stretch of imagination. The Bangalore research results and methods have been neither peer-reviewed nor published. Regarding publication of the data, Dr. Mohan says he will go public with the FSL data in three to four months (from March 2007) and is willing to debate its implications at international forums. But it is unlikely that studies based on some 300 criminal investigations will yield controlled experimental data. The feedback that goes into defining the success of the analysis is provided in part by police questionnaires. Here lurks a conflict of interest. Legal aspects There are other significant legal aspects to the narcoanalysis debate. In a 2006 judgment (Dinesh Dalmia v State), the Madras High Court held that subjecting an accused to narcoanalysis is not tantamount to testimony by compulsion. The court said about the accused: "he may be taken to the laboratory for such tests against his will, but the revelation during such tests is quite voluntary." There are two fallacies in this reasoning. First, if narcoanalysis is all that it is made out to be by the Bangalore FSL, the accused will involuntarily answer questions posed to him during the interview. The second fallacy is that it is incorrect to say that the accused is merely taken to the lab against his will. He is then injected with substances. The breaking of one's silence, at the time it is broken, is always technically `voluntary.' Similarly, it can be argued that after being subject to electric shocks, a subject `quite voluntarily' divulges information. But the act or threat of violence is where the element of coercion is housed. In narcoanalysis, the drug contained in the syringe is the element of compulsion. The rest is technically voluntary. In 2004, the Bombay High Court ruled in the multi-crore-rupee fake stamp paper case that subjecting an accused to certain tests like narcoanalysis does not violate the fundamental right against self-incrimination. Article 20(3) of the Constitution guarantees this: "No person accused of any offence shall be compelled to be a witness against himself." Statements made under narcoanalysis are not admissible in evidence. However, recoveries resulting from such drugged interviews are admissible as corroborative evidence. This is, arguably, a roundabout way to subverting the right to silence - acquiring the information on where to find the weapon from the subject when, in his right senses, he would not turn witness against himself. Arguments have been made that narcoanalysis constitutes mental torture. It works by inhibiting the nervous system and thus lowering the subject's inhibitions. It is not difficult to interpret this as a physical violation of an individual's mind-space. The State police departments are responsible for generating demand for the process. The decision to conduct narcoanalysis is usually made by the Superintendent of Police or the Deputy Inspector General handling a case. A high-ranking official in the Karnataka Police told The Hindu that police departments in India have poor skills when it comes to collection, collation, and presentation of evidence before the courts. Consequently, when there is enormous pressure on a police department to solve a case, sending suspects to narcoanalysis not only buys time but also gives the impression that something concrete has been done about the case. Some officials connected to law enforcement argue that narcoanalysis can be of great use in instances where witnesses turned hostile; rape cases where issues of consent are being debated; and cases where the investigating officer is hard pressed for time or working to disrupt offences planned for the near future, including terrorist acts. Scope for abuse This ticking-bomb terrorist case argument has also cropped up frequently in the media after the 9/11 attacks. It has been championed by Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz, who argues for legitimising torture in select scenarios, for example when a hypothetical bomb is waiting to explode. There are many arguments against the selective use of normally banned cruel practices. Authorities are likely to abuse the power to decide which situations will warrant such exceptions, even when such extraordinary situations are explicitly laid out by law. It will be difficult to find a fool-proof way to determine which suspect is concealing information about a hypothetical bomb. It will often be impossible to know if there is a bomb ticking in the first place. These questions of discretion aside, when a country claims to be committed to human rights and against torture, one may ask if there can ever be a situation that warrants a deviation from its commitment to such principles. While the expert studies and court opinions available internationally have granted that there may be some use in narcoanalysis, the overwhelming evidence is that narcoanalysis is by no means a reliable science. In the face of a near-consensus internationally, one or two Indian forensic labs claim to have new evidence and studies claiming remarkable success rates for the process. They must now prove their claim that narcoanalysis is backed by sound science. In the absence of proof, narcoanalysis must necessarily be suspended, especially given its ethical and human rights implications. State governments need to work with the central authorities to enhance the investigative capabilities of their police departments. The police now hand over one of the most crucial parts of the investigation to a clinical psychologist conducting narcoanalysis. Interrogation is an art as well as a science. It takes enormous amounts of training and patience - skills evidently lacking in much of the police force and increasingly outsourced to Bangalore. The central government must make a clear policy stand on narcoanalysis - because what is at stake is India's commitment to individual freedoms and a clean criminal justice system. _____ [8] IN THE WAKE OF NANDIGRAM A call by concerned citizens A People's Convention in Kolkata, June 2-3, 2007 The valiant struggle of the peasantry in Nandigram against the acquisition of their land and homesteads for the proposed chemical hub SEZ has drawn nationwide attention. Despite the massacre of March 14 and the continuing reign of terror unleashed by the police and hired killers of the ruling party in the state, Nandigram has refused to surrender. On the contrary, it has sparked unprecedented mass protests across West Bengal and elsewhere. People's movements in various parts of the country against the forcible acquisition of farmlands, forests and other natural resource base of the poor in the name of SEZ and for the so-called industrial projects have also drawn inspiration and sustenance from Nandigram. No wonder, Nandigram has become a major focus of peoples resistance against the neo-liberal agenda that seeks to establish the hegemony of global corporate capitalism. Time is now ripe to bring all the people's resistance movements across the country together under one coordinating network. Towards this end, we are proposing a People's Convention, followed by a huge rally, in Kolkata on 2-3 June 2007 (before the onset of monsoon). We call upon all our friends in the people's movements and people's organisations, irrespective of political or ideological moorings, to come forward and actively participate in this programme. May the convention/rally become the launching pad for a united nationwide struggle against the government's land acquisition policy for SEZ and industrial projects. The convention/rally, and the countrywide movement to be launched from there, will be raising the following demands: 1. Scrap the SEZ policy that aims to set up extra-territorial authorities within the country and acquire huge tracts of farm and forest lands for the corporate capitalists while endangering the lives and livelihoods of millions. 2. Abolish or reformulate the colonial and draconian Land Acquisition Act of 1894 that served as the chief instrument of land acquisition. 3. The Chief Minister of West Bengal, who has owned up to the responsibility for the mass murders in Nandigram, must resign. Everyone who has had a hand in the Nandigram massacre, directly or indirectly, must be suitably punished. 4. Peoples institutions at the grassroots must be allowed the autonomy to act so that Nandigram can return to a life of peace and human dignity. In solidarity 1 A Sohaib Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi 2 Aditi Chowdhury Media Consultant, Kolkata 3 Aditya Nigam CSDS, Delhi 4 Ajaya Sahaya Sarvodaya Mandal, Delhi 5 AK Thakur Physician, Kolkata 6 Amar Kanwar Filmmaker, Delhi 7 Amarnath Freelance Journalist, Patna 8 Ambuj Sharma Punjab University, Chandigarh 9 Amit Bhaduri Economist, Delhi 10 Amit Sengupta Journalist, Delhi 11 Arun Kumar JNU, Delhi 12 Anand Kumar JNU, Delhi 13 Anil Chaudhary INSAF 14 Anjan Ghosh Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Kolkata 15 Apoorvanand Delhi University 16 Arshad Ajmal Lok Parishad, Patna 17 Arun Kanndal Lawyer, Chandigarh 18 Arundhati Roy Writer, Delhi 19 Aseem Shrivastava Delhi 20 Ashima Sahajpal Journalist, Chandigarh 21 Ashok Gurgaon 22 Ashok Choudhury NFFPFW, Saharanpur 23 Atmaram Chandigarh 24 Atul Kumar Singh JNU, Delhi 25 Azizur Rahman Azami JNU, Delhi 26 Basant K Chowdhary Advocate, Patna 27 Bhaskar Gupta Jadavpur University, Kolkata 28 Bhupinder Brar Teacher, Chandigarh 29 Bilash Sarkar Chatra-Chatri Sanhati, Kolkata 30 Chetan Premani Scientist, Chandigarh 31 Chitleen K Sethi Journalist, Chandigarh 32 Chitra Joshi Delhi University 33 Corinne Kumar El Taller International, Tunisia 34 Daljit Ami Filmmaker, Chandigarh 35 Debabrata Bandopadhyay Administrator, Operation Barga, Kolkata 36 Debal Deb Kolkata 37 Debarshi Das Punjab University, Chandigarh 38 Deepak Singh Punjab University, Chandigarh 39 Dhruva Narayan Daanish Books, Delhi 40 Dilip Bose 41 Dinesh Prasain JNU, Delhi 42 Dipanjan Roy Choudhury Retired Professor, Kolkata 43 Dipankar Chakraborty Editor, Aneek, Kolkata 44 Dithi Bhattacharya NTUI, Delhi 45 Divya Godara Lawyer, Haryana 46 Gadadhora Mahapatra JNU, Delhi 47 Gautam Bandopadhyay Nadi Ghati Bachao Manch, Raipur 48 Gautam Navlakha Delhi 49 Gautam Roy Journalist, Kolkata 50 Gopal Rai Teesra Swadhinata Sangharsh, Delhi 51 Hari P Sharma SANSAD 52 Harsh Dobhal Human Rights Law Network, Delhi 53 Harsh Sethi Seminar, Delhi 54 Hemaa Sharma Journalist, Chandigarh 55 IK Shukla Los Angeles, US 56 Inder Singh Scientist, Chandigarh 57 Iswar Chandra Naik JNU, Delhi 58 Jagdish Theatre, Chandigarh 59 Jai Sen CACIM, Delhi 60 Janaki Srinivasan Punjab University, Chandigarh 61 Jishnu Dasgupta Chatra-Chatri Sanhati, Kolkata 62 JN Bhartiya All-India Small & Medium Newspapers' Federation, Kanpur 63 Joginder Singh Toor Advocate, Chandigarh 64 Kabir Suman Journalist, Kolkata 65 Kanchi Kohli Kalpavriksh, Delhi 66 Kanihar Kant JNU, Delhi 67 Karan Bhardwaj Lawyer, Chandigarh 68 Kavita Srivastava PUCL, Rajasthan 69 KC Nahata Forum of Voters, Delhi 70 Krishna Ballabh Yadav Nawada, Bihar 71 Krishna Bandyopadhyay Khoj Akhon, Kolkata 72 Kuldeep Saxena Kanpur 73 Ladly Mukherjee Filmmaker, Kolkata 74 Lallan Baghel Punjab University, Chandigarh 75 Madhu Bhaduri Parivartan, Delhi 76 Madhuresh CACIM, Delhi 77 Mahasweta Devi Writer, Kolkata 78 Mamata Dash Delhi 79 Manisha Sethi Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi 80 Manju Menon Kalpavriksh, Delhi 81 Manoj Joseph ISI, Delhi 82 Medha Patkar NBA/NAPM 83 Meher Engineer Scientist, Kolkata 84 MK Vijayan Delhi Forum 85 MN Karna Ex-Vice-Chancellor, NEHU 86 Monohar Mouli Biswas Kolkata 87 Mukesh Sharma Bharati Vidya Sadan School, Gaziabad 88 Mukul Mangalik Delhi University 89 Mukul Sinha Advocate, Ahmedabad 90 Nabarun Bhattacharya Writer, Kolkata 91 Nabarun Roy Kolkata 92 Nabinananda Sen Calcutta University 93 Nadim Nikhat Centre for Social Justice, Ahmedabad 94 Nasiruddin Haider Khan Lucknow 95 Neetu Yuva Bharat, Delhi 96 Nirmalanshu Mukherjee Delhi University 97 Nisha Singh Delhi 98 Nivedita Menon Delhi University 99 Pampa Mukherjee Punjab University, Chandigarh 100 Parmod Kumari Journalist, Chandigarh 101 Parveen Lawyer, Punjab 102 Pavan Srivastava Ara, Bihar 103 PK Yadav JNU, Delhi 104 Praful Bidwai. Columnist, Delhi 105 Prafulla K Mishra Orissa Jan Sangharsha Morcha, Orissa 106 Prafulla Samantara Lokshakti Abhiyan, Orissa 107 Prakash Bikhoi Teesra Swadhinata Sangharsh, Delhi 108 Pramod Gupta Filmmaker, Kolkata 109 Pranab Kanti Basu Viswa Bharati University 110 Pranati Bhattacharya Calcutta University 111 Prashant Bhusan Advocate, Delhi 112 Premangshu Dasgupta Little Magazine Forum, Kolkata 113 Probal Dasgupta ISI, Kolkata 114 Rabi Shankar Prakrukrit Sampada Surakshya Parshad, Kashipur 115 Raimondo Bultrini La Republica, Italy 116 Rajeev Dhanda Punjab University, Chandigarh 117 Rajeev Godara Sampuran Kranti Manch, Haryana 118 Rajeev Mohan Saxena JNU, Delhi 119 Rakesh Rafiq Yuva Bharat, Delhi 120 Rakesh Raman Journalist, Delhi 121 Ramashray Prasad Singh PUCL President & Editor Manavadhikar Patrika, Begusarai 122 Ramesh K Pani Delhi 123 Ranjana Padhi Kashipur Solidarity, Delhi 124 Rohan D'Souza JNU, Delhi 125 RP Rai Delhi 126 Rukmini Sen NUJS, Kolkata 127 Rupesh Lok Parishad, Patna 128 Sachin Gautam Shakarpur, Delhi 129 Sahana Basavapatna The Other Media, Delhi 130 Sahayaraj ISI, Delhi 131 Sailen Bhattacharya PCC, CPI-ML, Kolkata 132 Salman Dube Noida 133 Samar Bagchi NAPM, Kolkata 134 Samir Amin Third World Forum, Dakar, Senegal 135 Samuel John People's Theatre, Sanrur 136 Sandeep Pandey ASHA, Lucknow 137 Sanjay Kak Filmmaker, Delhi 138 Santanu Basu Punjab University, Chandigarh 139 Santosh Kumar Singh Punjab University, Chandigarh 140 Santosh Rana PCC, CPI-ML 141 Satabdi Das AID-Awareness, Delhi 142 Satya Sivaraman Delhi 143 Shalina Mehta University Teacher, Chandigarh 144 Shalini Bhutani GRAIN, Delhi 145 Shukla Sen EKTA (Committee for Communal Amity), Mumbai 146 Simon Uchai Tripura Tribal Land Rights Restoration Campaign Committee, Agartala 147 SK Khosla Retd from Govt Service, Chandigarh 148 Sourabh Gupta Journalist, Chandigarh 149 SS Cheema Engineer, Chandigarh 150 Subhasis Mukherjee Calcutta University 151 Subrat Kumar Sahu TERI, Delhi 152 Suddhabrata Sengupta Sarai, Delhi 153 Sudeshna Bannerji Jadavpur University, Kolkata 154 Sukhdev Singh Kokri Kalam BKU, Punjab 155 Sumanta Banerjee Journalist, Dehradun 156 Sumit Chakravartty Editor, Mainstream, Delhi 157 Sumit Chowdhury Filmmaker, Kolkata 158 Sumit Sarkar Historian, Delhi 159 Sumit Sinha Bhumi Uchched Pratirodh Committee, Nandigram 160 Sunil K Singh Lawyer, Chandigarh 161 Sunil Sorabh Delhi 162 Sunita Das Aneek, Kolkata 163 Sunita Narayan Daanish Books, Delhi 164 Surendra Babu CACIM, Delhi 165 Surendra Mohan Socialist Front 166 Swami Prakash Pandey JNU, Delhi 167 Tanika Sarkar JNU, Delhi 168 Tanweer Fazal Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi 169 Tanya Chakravartty NFIW, Delhi 170 Tila Kumar Sociologist, Delhi School of Economics 171 Tripta Wahi Delhi University 172 Uma Chakravarty Historian, Delhi 173 Urmila Bahai Delhi 174 Utkarsh Kumar Sinha INSAF 175 Vaskar Nandy PCC, CPI-ML 176 Vijay Singh Editor, Revolutionary Democracy, Delhi 177 Vinay K Singh Rashtriya Swabhiman Andolan (Alakh Yatra), Patna 178 Vrajaindra Upadhyay IIT, Delhi 179 Vrinda Grover Advocate, Delhi _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ 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