South Asia Citizens Wire | July 01-03, 2007 | Dispatch No. 2427 - Year 9 [1] Pakistan: Ideals and expediency (Muneer A. Malik) [2] Nepal's Upcoming Elections - Full speed ahead (Editorial, Nepali Times) [3] Britain isn't worthy of Rushdie (Tarek Fatah) [4] India: Kashmir at tipping point again? (Muzamil Jaleel) [5] India: Alarming Notes From The Underground (Anuradha Chenoy) [6] India: In Security Obsessed Chattissgarh - A People's Doctor in Prison (i) Arrest of paediatrician and human rights activist Binayak Sen (Anand Zachariah and Sara Bhattacharji) (ii) This Is Not A Story About Binayak Sen (Subhash Gatade) [7] India: Statement on USS Nimitz by Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace [8] New Publication: The Evolution and History of Human Populations In South Asia [9] Announcements: (i) Two exhibitions on the great uprising of 1857 (New Delhi, 3 July - 29 July 2007) (ii) National Students' Festival for Peace, Justice and Communal Harmony (Ahmedabad, July 6-8, 2007)
_______ [1] Dawn June 27, 2007 IDEALS AND EXPEDIENCY by Muneer A. Malik IN my first article about the current lawyers' movement, I had countered skeptics convinced of its ultimate futility by reminding them that the longest journey starts with a single step. Now, as the movement grows from strength to strength; as hundreds of thousands of people turn up to show their support from Abbottabad to Lahore, Peshawar to Chakwal; as an increasingly desperate regime seeks refuge behind the corps commanders, I have still not been approached by any intermediary seeking to broker a compromise. To save everyone's time, let me make the bar's position absolutely clear. The demands of the bar are non-negotiable and brook no compromise. This is because of the inherent nature of this movement. To begin with, what are the objectives of our movement? Firstly, it is about changing the mindsets of our people. Throughout our history, the masses have viewed the bureaucracy, the military and the judiciary as part of the same ruling elite, cooperating with each other to subjugate the people. The minds of the masses have been inoculated against the concept of true justice. We were taught obedience at the cost of our liberty and independence. This mindset is a hangover from our colonial past. These institutions were created by the British as a means of controlling the civilian populace. They were manned by Englishmen from the same background taught to venerate the same ideal - the preservation of the Raj. Judges and ICS officers were not meant to empower the masses and improve their lot, they were there to keep the peace so the British could continue, unhindered, with their commercial exploitation and empire building. Likewise, the army's primary role was internal not external. Their job was to quell local rebellions that could threaten British dominance. Alas! This role remains the same. Decentralisation and separation of powers were never on the agenda. When a few thousand Englishmen set out to establish total control over a land of three hundred million people, any localised pockets of power could have proved fatal. A division of powers between the different institutions of state would be suicidal. Our fight is for a separation of powers, for constitutionalism, for the principle that all men are equal before the law and for the ideal that the pen is mightier than the sword. Thus the DC ruled his district (with the willing cooperation of the local elite, the feudal lords) with a free hand and without any constraints. His basic job was to keep the people quiet and subservient to imperial dictates. If populist leaders, like Muhammad Ali Jinnah, B.G. Tilak or M.K. Gandhi, became too noisy, he knew he could always call upon his willing brothers in the judiciary to convict them for sedition or banish them from the practice of law. If matters went further, the likes of General Dyer would bail him out by shooting a few hundred natives for the restoration of 'peace'. The supposed impartiality and independence of judges in the colonial era is a complete myth. Of course, they were neutral when deciding land disputes between two natives. But when the interests of the Raj were at stake, when the interests of the people collided with those of their colonial masters, they never let their government down.Unfortunately, our nation's independence and the departure of the British did not bring their system of governance to an end. Rather, a 'coloured' ruling establishment quietly stepped into the shoes of their departing masters and adopted their practices and beliefs. After all, it was more civilised to be an Englishman, notwithstanding that you were not admitted to their clubs unless you served as a waiter. As a result, concepts such as the rule of law or the independence of the judiciary never took root in the minds of our people. We were never convinced that the judiciary's true function was to guard the rights of the people and to protect the masses from oppression. The first aim of our struggle is to change those beliefs. We seek to convince the masses that the courts are not there only to adjudicate property disputes between rich landowners or the competing commercial interests of multinational corporations, but that a truly independent judiciary will allow the common man to realise his fundamental rights. That judges with security of tenure will be fearless enough to administer true justice. That such judges will protect them from the abusive exercise of power by the wadera, the 'seth' or the SHO. We seek to inculcate the belief that laws are not meant to be jealously preserved in jurisprudential tomes but to be applied, by activist judges, for the protection of the common man, and that the rule of law is an idea worth fighting for. To do so, we have to change the mindset of our judges about their true duties and functions. This is our second aim. For too long they have functioned as if they were part of our military-bureaucracy, and now the plundering capitalist (the attempted sale of the Steel Mills being a case in point), establishment. They need to realise that they are no longer part of a foreign force seeking to forcibly impose its will upon the people. They need to end their alienation from the masses and align themselves with the wishes of the people. Why is it that Justice M.R. Kayani considered it acceptable to contest elections and become president of the Civil Servants of Pakistan Association while he was sitting on the bench of the high court, particularly when the major portion of his duties involved the judicial review of the wrongful acts of civil servants? It was not because of any particular lack of integrity on his part. Rather, he was known as an outspoken and honest judge. It is simply the pernicious elitism that pervades our entire judiciary that leads them to ally themselves with the ruling classes rather than with the masses. Our judges can easily identify with the causes of senior government officials but not those of a 'kissan'. That is exactly why I call for a Supreme Court of the People of Pakistan. Why is it that high court and Supreme Court judges consider it perfectly acceptable to lunch in elitist clubs and exchange views with industrialists, government ministers and advisers, bureaucrats et al, but shy away from sharing a cup of tea with the labourer or political worker at a trade union function? Does this not distort their perception about the needs and aspirations of the people of Pakistan? The visit of the governor of Sindh - fresh from his debriefing in London - to the Sindh High Court is illuminating. Eyebrows were raised when seven honourable judges examining the May 12 tragedy refused to meet him and he was told that there could be no discussion on that issue. Why should there have been even an iota of surprise? The government of Sindh, and the party to which the governor belongs, had been directly implicated in the tragedy of May 12. I say that at the risk of my life and that of my children. Would there have been any astonishment if any judge refused to entertain a common litigant who wanted to have a cup of tea in the judge's chamber and discuss the facts of his case? The commendable behaviour of the Sindh High Court judges was newsworthy because too often in the past our judges have fallen short of this standard of rectitude when it comes to the power elite. The idea that judges interpret the law in splendid isolation strictly in accordance with recognised and time-tested legal doctrines is entirely fallacious. Our Supreme Court has repeatedly pointed out that the Constitution is an organic document and needs continuous reinterpretation in light of changing times and needs. So who will inform them about the changing needs of the hour? Must it be the generals, the industrialists and the bureaucrats? Take the example of the reviled doctrine of necessity. Blatantly illegal and unconstitutional acts were repeatedly justified by our Supreme Court on the basis that they were necessary for survival of the nation. And who was the spokesman for the nation? The generals. Why can't the needs of the nation be determined by directly listening to the voice of the nation? Why must the doctrine of necessity always be employed in favour of the military-bureaucracy establishment? Can it never be used in the other direction - to force a general (even if he has invented a specious legal cover for his actions) to respect the legitimate desires and aspirations of the people? I recall discussing this issue with the late Justice Dorab Patel. A splendidly honest man, he felt compelled, nevertheless, to defend his brethren. He justified previous judicial decisions based on expediency on the grounds that they were made by a few old men left alone in face of the entire army's might. This movement seeks to reassure our judges that they are not alone. If they choose to do the right thing, the whole legal community and the entire nation will turn out in their support. The learned Chief Justice is no charismatic politician. His speeches, on purely legal issues, do not enthral the nation. But when hundreds of thousands of people stand all day in Lahore's scorching heat and brave all night Faisalabad's thunderstorms waiting to catch a glimpse of him, they do so to salute the courage of the man. They do so to show their support for a judge who dares to say 'no'. Our aim is to instil that courage in every judge throughout the land. Our aim is to illuminate a path that leads beyond the Maulvi Tamizuddin, Dosso, Nusrat Bhutto and Zafar Ali Shah cases. Our third objective is to restore civilian supremacy in Pakistan. We are no longer prepared to live under the barrel of the gun. Those guns and their wielders must return to their rightful positions; facing outwards at the frontiers of our land. The people will rule themselves. Of course, our elected politicians will make mistakes, both honest and dishonest, and there will be misrule. But the court of accountability must be 170 million Pakistanis and not nine corps commanders. Elected governments must complete their tenure and face up to their failures at the time of polling instead of being handed a convenient excuse by their forced ouster at the hands of the military. Fourthly, our aim is to strengthen all the institutions of our state; the executive, the legislature, the judiciary as well as the media. Only by strengthening these pillars and strictly enforcing the limits on their separate powers in accordance with the Constitution can we protect ourselves from tyranny and secure the rule of law. Only then can we rid ourselves of the inequities of the past. To achieve these goals, we welcome the support of every segment of civil society; the media as well as labour unions, NGOs as well as political parties. But our demands are non-negotiable. We will not sacrifice our principles at the altar of expediency. Any dialogue with the establishment can only begin after they take steps that concretely display their commitment to these principles. Our history is replete with tragic compromises. We don't need to go too far. The Zafar Ali Shah case was a compromise by the judiciary. Musharraf's military takeover was legitimised in exchange for a promise that elections would be held and a civilian government installed within three years. Five years have passed since those elections, but all power still rests with Musharraf and his corps commanders rather than with the prime minister and his cabinet. On March 9, 2007, while cabinet ministers hunkered under their beds, the ISI, MI and IB chiefs wreaked havoc. The Seventeenth Amendment was a compromise by the politicians. Musharraf was allowed to continue as president despite his uniform in exchange for, essentially, a verbal promise that he would shed it in a year. Characteristically, he reneged and four years later he was donning the same uniform when he attempted to fire the Chief Justice. No amount of apology, no matter how sincere, will bring back lost times and opportunities. For once in our history, people from every segment of civil society, judges and politicians alike, need to stand up for ideals and eschew the culture of deal-making. The struggle is not for tawdry offices and superficial power; it is about principles. If we can maintain our united commitment to these principles, we shall triumph and overwhelm all opposition. But if we fail to learn from history, we will be condemned to relive it. The writer is president of the Supreme Court Bar Association. ______ [2] Nepali Times 29 June 07 - 05 July 07 Editorial FULL SPEED AHEAD Prime Minister Girijababu wanted the polls to be held on Monday, 26 November. Chief Election Commissioner Bhoj Rajji thought Friday the 23rd would be more appropriate. Ignoring both suggestions, the cabinet picked Thursday, 22 November. Superstition may have had something to do with the date. Thursday is dedicated to Brihaspati, a sage worshipped for his sagacity towards rebels. What better day to let Maoists test their strength in free and fair elections? The hue and cry over YCL excesses has been largely justified. But it requires more than media rebukes to counter the Red Guard menace in the coming months. The district administration needs to be energised and the morale of Nepal Police boosted. This may necessitate a change of leadership in the Home Ministry right away. Creating faith in the machinery of the government is the best antidote to Maoist vigilante prosecution and kangaroo justice. Engaging rebellious groups in meaningful negotiations, through intermediaries if necessary, needs top priority of the political leadership. It will be difficult to conduct peaceful polls without at least the passive acquiescence of armed groups creating mayhem in the madhes. It's getting late for the political parties to launch a full-scale political mobilisation. Political training for party officials, voter education and consensus-building are all fine and dandy but there is no substitute to a door-to-door electoral campaign. The monsoon isn't the best time to venture into Nepali countryside, but urban-dwellers have no rice planting to do. We can't put this forcefully enough: parties have to go back to their voters, ask their forgiveness, promise to mend their ways, and show that they are serious about building the future. The Nepali people have been duped so often in the past that they will need some convincing to accept that the November polls are for real. While the election juggernaut moves full speed ahead, a perceptible improvement in service delivery is necessary. It shouldn't be too difficult to augment water supply, reduce blackout hours, repair roads, or crackdown on crime. Reducing the petroleum shortage is urgent to restore faith in the system. In the countryside, the people don't expect change overnight. But they want to see a sign that there is a change in attitude among Kathmandu-based politicos. Mainstreaming the Maoists and addressing the concerns of the marginalised is essential, as is law and order. But what the people need the most is at least the perception that the elections will mean an improvement in their lives and the lives of their children. ______ [3] National Post, Toronto 28 June 2007 BRITAIN ISN'T WORTHY OF RUSHDIE by Tarek Fatah Sunday, Oct. 1, 1989 was a typically chilly morning in London. That did not dampen the enthusiasm of thousands of angry British Muslims who were heading toward the Royal Albert Hall to hear a South African orator, Ahmed Deedat, rip into Salman Rushdie for writing The Satanic Verses. Nearly 6,000 men, some bussed in from as far as Birmingham, jammed the hall. What happened at the start of the event tells us a lot about the Rushdie saga, which it seems, will not die until the man they now call Sir Salman is sent to his death. The first speaker read a piece from Rushdie's Satanic Verses and asked The audience how many were familiar with that passage or had read the book. Only one person raised his hand. One man out of 6,000! They had come to demand the banning of The Satanic Verses, but had not read the book. That has been the story of the Rushdie affair for the last 18 years. If Rushdie had intended to defame Islam, his naysayers have helped him do so. Now he has been given a knighthood by the Queen for his life's work as a writer, and parts of the Islamic world are revisiting the rage from 1989. Many are familiar with comments by Ijaz ul-Haq, the Religious Affairs Minister of Pakistan, justifying suicide attacks against Rushdie because he had "insulted Islam." But an equally repugnant threat from the Speaker of the legislative assembly of the Pakistani province of Punjab has gone largely unnoticed. The Speaker, Chaudhry Mohammad Afzal Sahi, while presiding over the legislature, said he would kill Salman Rushdie if he came face to face with him. This is standard and predictable fare. What has changed, however, between 1989 and today is the impact these extremists have had on the U.K. In 1989 politicians of all stripes stood up to defend Rushdie; this time the response has been at best cowardly, and at worst an attempt to appease the Islamists. Members of Britain's Parliament representing large Muslim populations were the first to surrender any sense of dignity or self-respect. The Cabinet minister Jack Straw, still smarting from the reactions to his remarks on the Burqa, cozied up to his Islamist constituents. He cast doubt on the value of knighting Rushdie, by mocking the author's literary worth. He was quoted as saying, "I'm afraid I found his books rather difficult and I've never managed to get to the end of any of them...I'm afraid his writing has defeated me." A Conservative MP, Stewart Jackson, launched a furious attack on Rushdie, suggesting the knighthood had "threatened anti-terrorism co-operation." Jackson did not disclose the fact that in the last election, he had narrowly defeated the Labour candidate and on the night of his victory had said he had won by "gaining the trust of a large percentage of the city's Muslim population." Jackson, who leads the Friends of Islam group, also questioned the merits of Rushdie1s literary worth, saying his books are "rubbish." Not to be outdone in this clamour to appease the Islamist vote bank, the Liberal-Democrats' Shirley Williams went on BBC's Question Time to condemn the government for honouring the novelist, without a word of protest against the goons issuing the death threats. In London, Lord Ahmed, Britain's first Muslim peer, said he had been appalled by the award to a man he accused of having "blood on his hands." Not satisfied with his vitriol, Lord Ahmed, who had no hesitation accepting membership of the House of Lords, compared the knighthood of Rushdie to the honouring of the 9/11 terrorists. One would have expected the British government to haul in the Pakistani and Iranian ambassadors and protest the criminal death threats against a British knight, Sir Salman. But no. The British establishment had neither the integrity nor the resolve to stand up to the bullies. Instead, British ambassadors were hauled in to hear protests by Iranian and Pakistani officials. It is time that the world recognized that the threat to Salman Rushdie is not just to him, but to all of us. And it is not just the Islamists who need to be condemned, but also the flaccid British response to these would-be murderers. A country that has to apologize and bend over backward to distance itself from the person it seeks to honour, is not worthy of having a knight called Sir Salman. My message to Salman Rushdie is that he should say to the Queen, "Thanks, but no thanks." [Tarek Fatah is founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress and is author of Chasing a Mirage: An Islamic State or a State of Islam, to be published by John Wiley & Sons in 2008] ______ [4] Indian Express July 03, 2007 KASHMIR AT TIPPING POINT AGAIN? by Muzamil Jaleel Last Tuesday was a tumultuous day in Bandipore, a little valley on the banks of Wular lake in north Kashmir. Two incidents took place here in a matter of a few hours which together may symbolise the beginning of a new paradigm shift in J&K. They signal a renewed phase of violence with the sluggish peace process. Two men from a local Rashtriya Rifles unit barged into a house in a small neighbourhood of Gurjjars in Kunan village. They were in plainclothes and carried a grenade. The family alleged that the two had asked the male members to leave and then attempted to rape their daughter. The family raised an alarm and, within minutes, the entire village encircled the house. The angry villagers overpowered the two armymen and started thrashing them. Their faces were then blackened and they were taken in a procession to Bandipore market. This is one of the first incidents since militancy began in Kashmir in 1990 of common people taking the law into their own hands. Interestingly, the villagers didn't even mask their faces. A few miles away, an interesting incident was taking place around the same time in another village. The villagers were returning to their homes after burying a local boy who had joined the militants recently and was killed in an encounter with the army. A group of separatist leaders from the moderate Hurriyat faction had come to join the funeral ceremony. But as soon as they started addressing the villagers, there were angry shouts from the crowd. The Hurriyat leaders were told to stop "doing business on dead bodies". The incident indicated that this village, known for its separatist leanings, had transcended another fear. The two incidents have no apparent connection but they clearly suggest that the silent majority, driven by desperation, is beginning to assert itself. This may well signify a shift in the Valley, where the situation is once again getting fraught. The UPA government at the Centre has not done anything tangible to sustain the tempo of the few confidence-building measures on the ground, like the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus or direct talks with Kashmiri separatist groups. As for Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, he is clearly feeling the pressure of losing out to the hawks and has started drifting towards hardline posturing as well. Meanwhile, the Peoples Conference leader, Sajjad Lone, has exploded something of a political bombshell by talking about the "opt out option" - making the district a unit for the internal reorganisation of the state. This new formula has come as a direct response to the demand for a separate state of Jammu, raised by the Jammu Mukti Morcha, a group which has the overt and covert support of the BJP and Congress. Lone's salvo is popular in the Valley and other Muslim-dominated regions of the state where people constantly complain of discrimination in development projects and in getting administrative jobs. In fact, the Centre's dialogue process with Srinagar does not include a single separatist leader. The only direct measure the Centre has taken to push its peace process forward was to hold a few working group meetings. Not only was the political representation in these meetings inadequate, the government is being extremely tardy in implementing its recommendations. The Centre's manner of handling this process has added to this new disenchantment. A few months ago, when the PDP had threatened to walk out of the ruling J&K coalition, demanding troop withdrawal from the state, the Centre intervened and framed a high-level committee led by Defence Minister A.K. Antony to investigate the feasibility of a troop cut on the ground. But before the committee started its work and arrived at a conclusion, the defence minister publicly ruled out even a modest cut in troops. The unexpected intervention of J&K Governor, Lt Gen (retd) S.K. Sinha in the debate, did not help. He termed the PDP's demand as "obnoxious". >From all indications it does seem that the period of relative tranquillity that saw Kashmir move towards peace may well be coming to an end. It is a fact that the infiltration levels have come down to an all-time low - seen as a fall-out of the Indo-Pak peace process. However, the sudden increase in activity across the LoC and a spurt of violence in the frontier district of Kupwara suggests the Pakistan establishment seems to have turned on the tap again. The security agencies say that more than 200 militants have already entered Kupwara district alone, even as a dozen infiltration bids were foiled along the LoC in the districts of Kupwara and Baramulla recently. Kashmir has entered a critical phase and if immediate measures are not taken to push the Indo-Pak peace process forward, with visible outcomes on the ground, there is every likelihood that the earlier atmosphere of hope will be soon be overtaken by renewed bloodshed. ______ [5] The Telegraph June 28, 2007 ALARMING NOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND The use of maximum force in dealing with the Naxalite menace is destined to fail unless it is backed by constructive development that involves the local population, writes Anuradha Chenoy The author is professor, School of International Studies, JNU Parallel force The districts of Jharkhand and Chattisgarh, known as the Naxal-affected belts, are areas where the scheduled tribes and castes make up more than 60 per cent of the population. Poverty is endemic in this region. The government is carrying out two types of development. The first is based on industries, mining and commercialization, and the second is linked with the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, the mid-day meal scheme and primary education. As far as the Naxal problem is concerned, the policy is to use 'maximum force'. Which of these development models and policies is working is a critical question for the future of these states and their people. The first developmental policy regarding the increase of private investment and ownership in mining, forestry, and so on is not new. This type of development was the initial reason behind the alienation of tribals since they saw their communal methods of ownership and freedom being curtailed. As large areas are cordoned off to make mines, large dams and special economic zones, tribals are displaced and turned into migrant labour. Tribal customs, like the making of local brew from Mahua trees, have been banned and foreign liquor shops have come up. The Naxalites have thrived in such an iniquitous environment. The second developmental model, connected with social and economic schemes, is becoming increasingly popular, although it is using only 25-30 per cent of its capacity. Recent surveys by the Right to Food Group have revealed many problems with these schemes which need correction to make them effective and beneficial to more people. Yet, these schemes work in the 'Naxal-affected' areas and because of their popularity even the Naxals support these programmes, testifying to their importance. The government argues that Naxals "impede development". But when development is positive and supported at the ground level, anyone wanting political legitimacy is forced to support it. The Naxals work on small-time development issues like running some schools, health centres, dams, foodgrain banks, and so on. This gives them local level support, without which they would not be able to survive. The Maoists levy taxes and extort money from contractors and the locals for such work and for procuring the wide range of weapons that they possess. The level of support to Naxals in Jharkhand, where they are fast spreading, however varies. In areas where the local population sees that significant efforts are being made by the government for improvement, the Naxals are not popular. Who would want to go to a Naxal school if the government school functioned? But in most places people are fed up with the police. Villagers say that if the Naxals come at night and want to be fed, the police invariably turn up next morning and want to be bribed. The choice then is between the "Maowadi and Khaowadi". Anyone interested in these areas, from the local member of parliament or that of the state legislature, to contractors and businessmen, has to have some alliance with the Maoists. How else would elections be held? And how else would contracts be completed? The Naxals argue, "In our zones, anyone can pass through if their identity is clear." Maoists, in fact, no longer believe in 'liberated zones' but in 'zones of influence', where they co-exist with others and where they have parallel judicial and executive structures - the jan adalat (peoples' court) and their militia that executes. The smallest unit is the two-man village unit; then there is the area secretary and the area commander. Area decisions are taken together by the area commander and secretary. The sub-zonal committee is overseen by the zonal committee and the zonal commander. They are assisted by a local guerilla squad and a special guerilla squad. Leaders and guerilla squads do not comprise all locals. They can be from any other region. The entire party is underground. It is known that women have functioned as supporters, couriers and leaders, but very few come up for the 'risky work'. The women's organization, the Nari Mukti Sangh, functions at all levels, including in the armed squad, where women get full military training. Most women join this movement because of poverty and some because of ideology. The major work of politicization is undertaken by them. The police have little knowledge of the functioning, except when Naxals are caught and then named 'commander', whatever their real status. Thus the local people often suffer police brutalities as there is little to distinguish between them and the Maoists. This is especially so in Jharkhand, where the Naxals are more local. In the meantime, the police have killed hundreds of alleged Naxalites in 'encounters'. They do not allow first information reports to be registered and give no compensation to families. The fear of the contesting militia has divided villages and caused fear and internal displacement, forcing villagers to evacuate their houses and camps, leading to unending personal tragedies. Like the special security forces created earlier to deal with insurgency in the North-east and in Kashmir, the Salwa Judam was created in Chattisgarh. This government-sponsored force of well-armed local volunteers comprises former insurgents and the local youth. This state-armed unofficial militia has caused much harm and turned more people towards insurgency. It has helped militarize the society, where children now dream of guns, and the use of force is the accepted method of negotiation. This militia is unable to distinguish between ordinary civilians and insurgents. They see the entire community as 'enemy', similar to the 'bounty killers' who are used in all local disputes. Many human rights groups have recorded the excesses of this militia. Such reports, however, have been ignored. Instead, journalists and activists have been branded as 'sympathizers'. Meanwhile, the Salwa Judam model is being copied in other areas like Jharkhand, where the Nagrik Rakshak Samiti or Narsu has been working along the same lines and all local sources testify to its unpopularity and criminality. Maximum force has been officially justified because of the killing and looting by the Naxals. Local officials say that once Naxals are caught, torture is essential to extract information. Figures, however, show that the number of Naxal-related incidents has not decreased, rather the number of human rights violations by both sides have significantly increased. Further, if the incidents and violations decrease in one area they simultaneously increase in another. For example, incidents of Naxalite strikes have gone down in Andhra Pradesh, but if nine out of 16 districts were affected in Chattisgarh, 18 out of 22 districts are affected in Jharkhand today. In these circumstances, the schemes like the NREGA are all the more important. Yet they are still to be fully implemented. The Right to Food group witnessed that while there was increasing awareness of the act, the staff to implement it was still inadequate. There were delays in wage payments, there was lack of institutional arrangements (for example, Jharkhand has no panchayat elections), a monitoring system and accountability. The outcome is thus already quite clear. People support ideas that benefit them and involve them. The idea of development based on human rights has become rooted in the minds of the people. To deny this is to lead to more conflict on all sides. ______ [6] [India: Binayak Sen is a celebrated people's doctor who deserves the highest honour for his long years of service of the underprivileged has been imprisoned on trumped up charges. The security hawks who run the show in Chhattissgarh have been petitioned by concerned citizens and human rights activists from all over India and with growing support internationally. -- see articles below.-SACW Editor ] o o o (i) The Lancet 30 June 2007 ARREST OF PAEDIATRICIAN AND HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST BINAYAK SEN by Anand Zachariah and Sara Bhattacharji We are writing to make known to the international medical community the shocking imprisonment of Binayak Sen on May 14, 2007, in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh. A well known paediatrician and public-health specialist, Sen's is a rare example of the cost of involvement in civil rights activism by physicians. He is being charged by the local police with illicit communication with Maoists in custody. After a distinguished academic career at Christian Medical College, Vellore, during his undergraduate and postgraduate training, Sen joined the faculty of the Centre for Social Medicine and Public Health at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi (1976-78). For the past 30 years, Sen has been developing models of primary health in Madhya Pradesh and subsequently in the new state of Chhattisgarh. He is well known for setting up a self-funded cooperative hospital for mine workers, the Shaheed hospital, and he had a significant role in evolving the statewide "Mitanin" programme of training community health workers. In 2004, the Christian Medical College conferred on him the Paul Harrison Award-the highest recognition accorded to an alumnus for distinguished work in rural areas. Apart from these socially relevant health-care activities, what sets Sen apart has been his deep commitment to the defence of civil liberties, including fact-finding missions into human rights violations such as custodial deaths, extra-judicial killings by state police, and hunger deaths in remote and politically turbulent communities. In recent times, he has worked ceaselessly to focus national and international attention on large-scale oppression and malgovernance within the Salwa Judoom (which has become a kind of non-state militia) in the Dantewara district of Chhattisgarh. He has given leadership to the nationwide People's Union for Civil Liberties as General Secretary in Chhattisgarh and as Vice President at the national level. Sen is a man of impeccable integrity, self-denial, and peace who has worked steadfastly for the rights and wellbeing of ordinary people, particularly the tribals. We feel that the allegations of unlawful activities on his part are aimed at silencing an inconvenient voice in defence of the oppressed. The Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act, 2005, under which he is imprisoned, permits arbitrary detention with no remedy of appeal or review for a maximum period of imprisonment of 7 years for any expression or act which the state may deem as disturbing public order. The repressive features of this law make us concerned about his safety and wellbeing. We urge the international medical community to raise their voice to demand the release of this distinguished doctor and civil rights activist. We are colleagues of Binayak Sen. o o o (ii) THIS IS NOT A STORY ABOUT BINAYAK SEN by Subhash Gatade This is not a story of the fifty plus Children's doctor Binayak Sen from Raipur, Chattisgarh who is at present languishing in jail under draconian provisions of a law which has declared him a 'terrorist' because he had the courage to speak truth to power. This is not meant to be a story of two young daughters of this man who are eagerly waiting for their father who is one of their closest friends and with whom they have shared all secrets of the world. This is not a story of Illina, whose companionship with Binayak exceeds more than three decades, and who recently penned down her experiences at the jail gate, where ordinary people - who want to have a glimpse of their near and dear ones lodged in the jail - are even robbed of their last Penny by the custodians of law and order. This is also not a story of those kids from nearby villages who joined a protest demonstration held in Raipur to express their bewilderment over the arrest of their doctoruncle who use to tell them interesting stories when he could find some free time at the community clinics. This is also not meant to tell you my first meeting with this gem of a man way back in 1981 in Dalli Rajhara, District Durg where the legendary Shankar Guha Niyogi had charted a new path in worker's struggle and where the idea to start a Shahid Hospital - a hospital started by workers of the mines for the other toiling masses of the area - was germinating then. This is also not a story of the institution called Vellore Medical College which felt honoured to have produced a student of such calibre and felicitated him for his conscious decision to work for the poor and downtrodden. This is also not a story of the manner in which ex-students of this college who are spread in different parts of the world have taken the initiative to mobilise the medical community of the world to tell the powers that be that the proper place for a children's doctor should be among childern and their parents and not the confines of a jail. This is also not a story of the work Dr Sen did as an adviser to the community health scheme of the state called 'Mitanin' nor a description of the program wherein he was awarded the prestigious Paul Harrison award for his commendable work in community health. This is also not a story of the appeal sent by world renowned individuals/activists like Noam Chomsky, Romila Thapar, Irfan Habib etc. who felt 'dismayed' at the 'continued detention of Sen' and who have demanded that all charges against Dr Sen be dropped immediately and he be released forthwith. Of course nor it is a report of the widening ambit of state harassment which today includes Illina Sen, Gautam Bandopadhyaya and Rashmi Dwivedi, Rajendra Sail - members of People's Union For Civil Liberties and other organisations who have refused to bow before the machinations of the state machinery. It is the same state machinery which has acquired the dracula like qualities of bumping off innocents and which did not have any qualms going to the ridiculous extent of arresting Dr Sen as an 'emissary of a naxalite' when the said meetings were held in the presence of police themselves. This is not a critique of the manner in which a broad section of the media preferred to toe the government line and putting all journalistic ethical norms to the winds presented sensational, juicy stories to demonise this ex-adviser to the state government on its community health schemes. This is also not a story of the frightening message on wireless sent by a Superintendent of Police stationed in one of those 'troubled districts' in Chattisgarh itself which clearly instructed the armed police to target journalists, individuals who seem to be overzealous about the question of human rights. This also does not deal with the so called Peace Campaign called Salwa Judum - where a section of the tribals have been armed at the behest of the government- who have become a law unto themselves, where they have been found to be burning villages and abusing their women. It also does not deal with the manner in which this 'Peace Campaign' has uprooted more than 40,000 villagers and placed them in camps along the road, reminding people of the failed strategic hamlets used by the US military in South Vietnam more than forty years ago. The following writeup does not intend to once again bring to the fore the grief of a mother called Madiyam Soni ( there are thousands of such women ) from a non-descript village Ponjer whose son's life was snuffed out by the security forces and whose body was found with similar eleven bodies at a place called Santoshpur much farther from her village. To be very frank all such insignificant sounding details about ordinary people's ordinary lives, their travails and tribulations, and the response of the powers that be towards their attempts to aspire for a normal life with dignity is not the crux of this writeup. One very well knows that neither do they carry any import for the custodians of this country nor the articulate sections of our society. Perhaps all such details from the hinterland of India are meaningless for the young generation also which is busy networking with friends from the other part of the globe thanks to the various websites which have sprung up. This is in fact a story of all those people who have rather stopped thinking about all these relevant things. This is in fact a story of the continuous bombardment of messages through various channels which has rather desensitised a greater lot among us towards the mundane looking sufferings of the people. This is in fact a story of the criminal silence which all such stories, reports normally encounter - may it be the declaration of a children's doctor as 'Public Enemy No. 1' or for that matter fake encounter killings in some hinterland of India . This is in fact a story of reassessing whose lives we should value and prioritize. This is in fact a story of getting ready to ask some discomforting questions about the system in which we live. Perhaps the need of the hour seems to be starting with a simple query : When would the two daughters meet their father ? ______ [7] South Asians Against Nukes June 28, 2007 URL: groups.yahoo.com/group/SAAN_/message/1052 o o o o June 30, 2007 12:08 PM STATEMENT ON USS NIMITZ BY COALITION FOR NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT AND PEACE (CNDP) We are distressed that the Indian government has granted permission to the United States aircraft carrier Nimitz to make a call at Chennai port for rest and recreation. The government claims that the nuclear-powered ship is "not known to be carrying nuclear weapons" on board, and hence that its call does not violate India's well-established, often-reiterated policy of disallowing foreign nuclear weapons into its territorial waters. This claim flies in the face of the U.S.'s well-reiterated policy to "neither deny nor confirm" the presence of nuclear weapons on its warships under any circumstances, and its standing instructions to military personnel. The fact that New Delhi has gratuitously granted this certificate to the U.S., when Washington itself does not do so, speaks poorly of our foreign and security policies. It also marks a reversal of Indias past policy opposing the transit of nuclear weapons in its neighbourhood and the U.S. base at Diego Garcia, and its demand for a Zone of Peace in the Indian Ocean. The contention that the visit of USS Nimitz should be condoned because 10 other nuclear-powered ships/submarines have visited Indian ports in recent years lacks logic. Such precedents cannot justify a policy violation. It is known that the nuclear weapons-states usually base some or all their nuclear warheads on nuclear-powered vessels. A visit to India of the Nimitz, one of two U.S. aircraft carriers recently mobilised in the Persian Gulf to threaten Iran, will send out a negative international signal in the context of the destabilisation of West Asia caused by the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Such "military interactions" point to an erosion of foreign policy independence and a departure from the United Progressive Alliance's promise to work for a balanced, multipolar world free of nuclear weapons. CNDP Statement Commitee Members, Achin Vanaik Chirstopher Fonseca Admiral Ramdas (Retd) Praful Bidwai Kamal Mitra Chenoy Prabir Purkayastha J.Sri Raman ______ [8] THE EVOLUTION AND HISTORY OF HUMAN POPULATIONS IN SOUTH ASIA Petraglia, Michael D.; Allchin, Bridget (Eds.) (Inter-disciplinary Studies in Archaeology, Biological Anthropology, Linguistics and Genetics) 2007, XIII, 464 p., Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4020-5561-4 http://www.springer.com/ Social Sciences / Anthropology & Archaeology Table of contents 1. Human Evolution and Culture Change in the Indian Subcontinent Michael D. Petraglia and Bridget Allchin Part I. Setting Foundations 2. Afro-Eurasian Mammalian Fauna and Early Hominin Dispersals Alan Turner and Hannah J. O'Regan 3. "Resource-Rich, Stone Poor": Early Hominin Land Use in Large River Systems of Northern India and Pakistan Robin Dennell 4. Toward Developing a Basin Model for Paleolithic Settlement of the Indian Subcontinent: Geodynamics, Monsoon Dynamics, Habitat Diversity and Dispersal Routes. Ravi Korisettar 5. The Acheulean of Peninsular India with Special Reference to the Hunsgi and Baichbal Valleys of the Lower Deccan K. Paddayya 6. Changing Trends in the Study of a Paleolithic Site in India: A Century of Research at Attirampakkam Shanti Pappu 7. Was Homo heidelbergensis in South Asia? A test using the Narmada fossil from Central India Sheela Athreya Part II. The Modern Scene 8. The Toba Supervolcanic Eruption: Tephra-Fall Deposits in India and Paleoanthropological Implications Sacha C. Jones 9. The Emergence of Modern Human Behavior in South Asia: A Review of the Current Evidence and Discussion of its Possible Implications Hannah V.A. James 10. Genetic evidence on modern human dispersals in South Asia: Y Chromosome and Mitochondrial DNA perspectives: The World through the eyes of two haploid genome. Phillip Endicott, Mait Metspalu and Toomas Kivisild 11. Crania diversity in South Asia relative to modern human dispersals and global patterns of human variation Jay T. Stock, Marta Mirazón Lahr and Samanti Kulatilake Part III. New Worlds in the Holocene 12. Interpreting Biological Diversity in South Asian Prehistory: Early Holocene Population Affinities and Subsistence Adaptations John R. Lukacs 13. Population Movements in the Indian Subcontinent during the Protohistoric Period: Physical Anthropological Assessment S.R. Walimbe 14. Foragers and Forager-Traders in South Asian Worlds: Some Thoughts from the Last 10,000 Years Kathleen D. Morrison 15. Anthropological, Historical, Archaeological and Genetic Perspectives on the Origins of Caste in South Asia Nicole L. Boivin 16. Language Families and Quantitative Methods in South Asia and Elsewhere April McMahon and Robert McMahon 17. Duality in Bos indicus mtDNA Diversity: Support for Geographical Complexity in Zebu Domestication David A. Magee, Hideyuki Mannen, Daniel G. Bradley 18. Non-Human Genetics, Agricultural Origins and Historical Linguistics in South Asia Dorian Q. Fuller Part IV. Concluding Remarks 19. Thoughts on The Evolution and History of Human Populations in South Asia Gregory L. Possehl ______ [9] ANNOUNCEMENTS: (i) Sahmat, The Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust has mounted two exhibitions on the great uprising of 1857. The exhibition in Hindi titled "Ajab Saal Tha Wo" and the English "Red the Earth" are being put up at Gandhi Smriti & Darshan Samiti at Birla House, Gandhi Smriti, 5 Tees January Marg, New Delhi-110011. Ph: 23012843; 23011480 The exhibitions will be on view from the 3rd of July to 29th July, 2007 from 10am to 5 pm (except Mondays). SAHMAT is remounting it's exhibition on 1857, RED THE EARTH, made for the 140th anniversary of the rebellion in 1997. Researched by historians Irfan Habib, the Late Ravinder Kumar, Amar Farooqui, Shireen Moosvi in collaboration with The Centre for Advanced History, AMU, Aligarh, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, Teen Murti, Delhi, ICHR, Delhi. The Visual material was researched by Ram Rahman, with generous help from Prof Narayani Gupta, Professor Jim Masselos, the Late Ravi Dayal, PK Shukla, BN Sahai and Dr SB Roy. The exhibition has been updated with extensive new material, some never seen in public for many years, including a rare photo of Rani Lakshmibai. Many of the proclamations which were issued during the rebellion are in the original and in translations. There is an entire section with maps and photographs on the destruction of Delhi by the British after their victory. o o o (ii) CREATING DEMOCRACY, CELEBRATING DIVERSITY July 6-8, 2007 Ahmedabad Anhad is organising a National Students' Festival for Peace, Justice and Communal Harmony from July 6th to 8th, 2007 in Ahmadabad. The festival is dedicated to the memory of Vasant Rav and Rajab Ali. Vasant and Rajab were two friends who were killed in 1946 on July 1 while trying to stop a riot in the Ahmadabad city. Anhad has been observing their martyrdom day as the Day for Communal Harmony every year since its inception in 2003. Anhad had announced a National Competition 'Creating Democracy, Celebrating Diversity' for media, film, school and college students in February 2007. The festival is showcasing the winning entries. A total of 60 paintings by school children, 80 poster designs and product designs ( t-shirts, mugs, book marks etc) will be displayed at the exhibition. 45 documentary films made by students from various media institutes of India will be screened. A set of new peace posters will be released on the ocassion. A Cd of new peace songs selected from different schools will also be released. This music cd will also contain a song: gar ho sake to ab koye shamma jalayeye. Indian Ocean's Rahul Ram has specially sung this song for the music cd. Shivji Panikkar will inaugurate the exhibition on July 6th at 10.30am at the Father Erviti Memorial Hall, St Xaviers' Social Service Society, Opp Loyola School, Naranpura, Ahmedabad. Shri Prakash Shah will preside and speak on the occasion. Nafisa Ali will inaugurate the Student's Film Festival on July 6th at 11.30 at the Diamond Jubilee Auditorium, Loyola Hall, St Xavier's High School Campus, Naranpura, Ahmedabad. Gagan Sethi will speak on the occasion. Documentary filmmakers Rakesh Sharma, Gauhar Raza and advertising professional Harsh Purohit (all three were part of the Jury) will give away the merit certificates at the Closing ceremony on July 8, 2007 at 4pm. You are most cordially invited to the Festival. The entry is free. We request all the organizations to encourage young activists to attend the festival. [See] The detailed programme [at : www.sacw.net/DC/CommunalismCollection/ArticlesArchive/Anhadstudentfestival.jpg ] Shabnam Hashmi/ Sanjay Sharma/ Manisha / Masooma / Ravi Anhad Collective Ahmedabad 25500844/ 25500772/ [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: http://insaf.net/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
