South Asia Citizens Wire - 23 March 2013 - No. 2778 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contents: * Pakistan: The missing democrats * Sri Lanka: Militarisation has become normalised and entrenched * Life in a Nepali Workers' Labour Camp in Qatar * ACHR Report on Detention, Torture and Execution of Children in India's conflict zones * Patricia M. Thornton: On Chinese Communist Party organized non-governmental organizations (PONGOs) * Myanmar: Authorities must protect communities at risk of violence - Amnesty International * India: Impending Threat by Corporate Sector, Middle Class and Communalism to Our Political System * Maldives: Horror in paradise - a 15-year-old rape survivor has been sentenced to be whipped 100 times in public! * Future trajectories for BRICS * A New Intifada in Kashmir? Arundhati Roy & Sanjay Kak on the World's Most Densely Militarized Area * India: KKNPP 3 & 4 Announcement - a Cruel Joke on Indians and Our Democracy * WGHR urges the Government of India to Vote in favor of the Resolution on Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council * Call for support : Justice for Suja Jones and Child X * For Chinese workers the right to strike is an academic issue * Echoes of Koodankulam Women * The Muslim Brotherhood has shown its contempt for Egypt's women * India: Brutal Attack by Bihar Police on Primary Teachers Peaceful Demonstration * Make Indo-Pak Relations Mutually Beneficial * Pakistan's utter failure to deal with extremist attacks against religious minorities and aid workers * Pakistan - Bangladesh: Two wings and a prayer * India: Right to Food Campaign Rejects National Food Security Bill passed by the Cabinet * India: Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor not about development but resource grab and corporate profit : Press release from a citizens groups meet * Pakistan: Bias in the textbooks and education - report on a meeting in Karachi * Full Audio: 'Trajectories of Fascism: The Extreme-Right Movements in India and Elsewhere' a lecture by Jairus Banaji * Full Programme: The Delhi Historical Materialism Conference - "New Cultures of the Left" (JNU, 3-5 April 2013) * India: Report and Film on Commercial Surrogacy * India: Time for You to Move on, Mr. Narayanasamy! * Kamayani Bali Mahabal: Open letter to Chief Justice Bombay High Court on Fraud Nirmal Baba * Shahbag or Badami Bagh * The Ethics of Alliance and Solidarity: An Exchange Between Rafia Zakaria and Meredith Tax * Pakistan: Women Action Forum (WAF) Statement Following The Attack On Shia Residents Of Abbas Colony, Karachi * India: Press Statement by BGPMUS-BGPSSS 15-03-2013 * Implementation of LLRC Recommendations on Land in North and East — Statement by Peoples Alliance for Right to Land Sri Lanka 15 March 2013 * Javed Jahangir: Silence speaks volumes * Sanjay Kak: The Apparatus - Laying bare the State's terrifying impunity in Kashmir * Pakistan: Civil society condemns target killing of Parveen Rehman, calls for urgent action by the state to protect citizens ======================================== PAKISTAN: THE MISSING DEMOCRATS by Christophe Jaffrelot ======================================== The main challenge before the country's politicians is to infuse more substance into the framework of a parliamentary democracy. If they don't, and if they remain part of a corrupt establishment cut off from the masses, they may prepare the ground for the Islamists' revolutionary discourse and seal the fate, not only of the regime, but also of the cohesion of Pakistan's society. http://www.sacw.net/article4024.html ======================================== SRI LANKA: MILITARISATION HAS BECOME NORMALISED AND ENTRENCHED by Ambika Satkunanathan ======================================== Is it possible to secure the dignity, rights and well-being of a conflict-affected population by incorporating them into a military juggernaut that has quickly grown to dominate all spheres of life? http://www.sacw.net/article4023.html ======================================== LIFE IN A NEPALI WORKERS' LABOUR CAMP IN QATAR by Tristan Brusle ======================================== The lives of nearly one million migrants in Qatar are in a ‘state of exception' (Agamben). Distanced from mainstream society, they live in labour camps situated in desolate areas. In a space designed to render low qualified migrants invisible, Nepalese people are among those who try to make theirs a temporary place. http://www.sacw.net/article4021.html ======================================== ACHR REPORT ON DETENTION, TORTURE AND EXECUTION OF CHILDREN IN INDIA'S CONFLICT ZONES ======================================== first ever report on the state of juvenile justice in conflict afflicted districts of India http://www.sacw.net/article4020.html ======================================== Patricia M. Thornton: On Chinese Communist Party organized non-governmental organizations (PONGOs) ======================================== Article in The China Quarterly / Volume 213 / March 2013, pp 1-18 http://www.sacw.net/article4019.html ======================================== MYANMAR: AUTHORITIES MUST PROTECT COMMUNITIES AT RISK OF VIOLENCE - AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL ======================================== Statement by Amnesty International: On Wednesday 20 March, violent clashes broke out between Muslim and Buddhist communities in Meiktila, a town in Myanmar's Mandalay Division http://www.sacw.net/article4018.html ======================================== INDIA: IMPENDING THREAT BY CORPORATE SECTOR, MIDDLE CLASS AND COMMUNALISM TO OUR POLITICAL SYSTEM by V.K. Tripathi ======================================== Ever since UPA II assumed power, corporate sector and middle classes are on the offensive against the government. The media owned by the former is aggressively pursuing this design, and the ideological organization of these classes, the RSS (with all its wings) is waging a viscous countrywide communal campaign. It is not only the Congress and its allies that are under threat, the entire political system is in danger. http://www.sacw.net/article4016.html ======================================== Maldives: Horror in paradise - a 15-year-old rape survivor has been sentenced to be whipped 100 times in public! ======================================== Online petition on Avaaz - Let's put an end to this lunacy by hitting the Maldives government where it hurts: the tourism industry. http://www.sacw.net/article4015.html ======================================== FUTURE TRAJECTORIES FOR BRICS by Achin Vanaik ======================================== Can BRICS emerge as a collective that will reject the current neoliberal order and seek to promote a much more social welfarist form of capitalist development – one that might at least unleash a dynamic much more conducive to the emergence of more progressive social and political forces whose pressures are from below? http://www.sacw.net/article4014.html ======================================== A NEW INTIFADA IN KASHMIR? ARUNDHATI ROY & SANJAY KAK ON THE WORLD'S MOST DENSELY MILITARIZED AREA ======================================== We continue our conversation with acclaimed author Arundhati Roy by discussing the overlooked conflict in Kashmir, the center of a decades-long dispute between India and Pakistan. Roy joins us along with Sanjay Kak, a New Delhi-based documentary filmmaker whose most recent film is "Jashn-e-Azadi," or "How We Celebrate Freedom," and who is the author of the book, "Until My Freedom Has Come: The New Intifada in Kashmir." Discussing India's military involvement in Kashmir, Roy says: "It's such a morally reprehensible thing to be living in a country that is doing this to a people and everyone is keeping quiet about it. ... What they are doing to people is terrible." http://www.sacw.net/article4013.html ======================================== INDIA: KKNPP 3 & 4 ANNOUNCEMENT - A CRUEL JOKE ON INDIANS AND OUR DEMOCRACY Press Release by PMANE ======================================== The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) has approved the proposal to grant administrative and financial sanction for constructing units 3 & 4 at the Koodankulam site. This sounds like a practical joke being played on the people of India even as the KKNPP units 1 & 2 are born still with all kinds of leaks, repairs, technical problems and low quality parts and equipment. http://www.sacw.net/article4012.html ======================================== WGHR URGES THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO VOTE IN FAVOR OF THE RESOLUTION ON SRI LANKA AT THE UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL ======================================== The Working Group on Human Rights in India and the UN (WGHR), New Delhi, in a letter to the Minister of External Affairs, Mr. Salman Khurshid, urged the Government of India to vote in favor of the Sri Lanka resolution at the current session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC). http://www.sacw.net/article4011.html ======================================== Call for support : Justice for Suja Jones and Child X ======================================== we call on women and human rights organisations to join us and widely support our solidarity campaign for justice for Suja Jones and Child X. We request all to endorse and sign our call for solidarity http://www.sacw.net/article4010.html ======================================== FOR CHINESE WORKERS THE RIGHT TO STRIKE IS AN ACADEMIC ISSUE ======================================== The right to strike came up again during the annual parliamentary gathering in Beijing last week. Ge Jianxiong, head of Fudan University Library, suggested that the right to strike be restored to the Chinese constitution, telling the Financial Times that strikes were an effective way of defending workers' rights, and should be legally protected. Two years ago, Guangzhou businessman and national legislator, Zeng Qinghong, made a similar proposal to the National People's Congress. Zeng was well (...) http://www.sacw.net/article3992.html ======================================== ECHOES OF KOODANKULAM WOMEN ======================================== The book has come out as the result of all the ongoing struggles that had been going on from 1989 onwards in the districts of Thirunelveli and Nagercoil. S.P.Udayakumar who is the leading light of the struggle has done the introduction, and it is enriched with Lalitha Ramdas, Green Peace International Chair Person doing the foreward and Vandana Shiva' s afterword. The full book which has 125 pages, is brought out with direct and indirect interviews done by Anitha, over the last two years 2011-12, and during her visits to the place, to stay with the women to share comfort and solidarity. http://www.sacw.net/article4008.html ======================================== The Muslim Brotherhood has shown its contempt for Egypt's women ======================================== In rejecting a draft UN declaration calling for an end to violence against women, the organisation's blatant misogyny is exposed http://www.sacw.net/article4005.html ======================================== INDIA: BRUTAL ATTACK BY BIHAR POLICE ON PRIMARY TEACHERS PEACEFUL DEMONSTRATION ======================================== Statement by All India Forum For Right To Education on 7 March 2013: The AIF-RTE strongly condemns the brutal assault using water cannon, tear gas and lathicharge, by the Bihar police against thousands of contractual and Panchayati Raj institution appointed primary teachers as they protested near the Assembly on March 5, 2013. Over 25,000 teachers, including women, had marched from Gandhi Maidan and were peacefully demonstrating when the unprovoked attack occurred at 3.30 p.m. http://www.sacw.net/article4004.html ======================================== MAKE INDO-PAK RELATIONS MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL by Rajindar Sachar ======================================== An innocuous private visit by Pakistan prime Minister and his family to India to pay homage to one of the most revered shrine of Sufi Saint Khwaja Mahinuddin Hassan Chisti, was bungled so badly by the pusillanimous attitude of Indian government and the deliberate ranting of the mischievous Anti-Pakistan lobby. http://www.sacw.net/article4003.html ======================================== PAKISTAN'S UTTER FAILURE TO DEAL WITH EXTREMIST ATTACKS AGAINST RELIGIOUS MINORITIES AND AID WORKERS ======================================== This spring was supposed to open a new chapter in Pakistan's tenuous embrace of inclusive democracy. At midnight on March 17, following constitutional rules, the Pakistan government of Asif Ali Zardari stepped down and the national assembly was dissolved, in preparation for national elections in May, which will mark the first time the country passes from one elected leadership to another. And yet a terrifying escalation of extremist attacks against religious minorities and aid workers since the start of the year has shown the government and the security forces' utter failure to deal with a festering culture of intolerance. http://www.sacw.net/article4001.html ======================================== PAKISTAN - BANGLADESH: TWO WINGS AND A PRAYER J. Rahman ======================================== Ask for a piece on Pakistan and Bangladesh during December and you're likely to get something about the 1971 wars — note the plural, because the eastern part of the subcontinent simultaneously experienced an inter-ethnic civil war and ethno-communal cleansing, genocide, inter-state conventional war and a war of national liberation, all climaxing in the crisp Bengali winter of 1971. Naeem Mohaiemen's seven part series is an example, covering many aspects of that fateful year. Let (...) http://www.sacw.net/article3998.html ======================================== INDIA: RIGHT TO FOOD CAMPAIGN REJECTS NATIONAL FOOD SECURITY BILL PASSED BY THE CABINET ======================================== More than 500 people of the Right to Food Campaign sitting at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi rejected the National Food Security Bill 2013 which was passed by the cabinet of the UPA Government today evening and will now be placed in the Parliament in this session. http://www.sacw.net/article4000.html ======================================== INDIA: DELHI-MUMBAI INDUSTRIAL CORRIDOR NOT ABOUT DEVELOPMENT BUT RESOURCE GRAB AND CORPORATE PROFIT : PRESS RELEASE FROM A CITIZENS GROUPS MEET ======================================== The (Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor) DMIC Virodhi Sangharsh Yatra culminated today with the National Convention on the DMIC – Facts and Myths to share new information gathered enroute the Yatra, analyse outcomes and devise a strategy for further action, and was attended by activists, supporters and experts. http://www.sacw.net/article3999.html ======================================== PAKISTAN: BIAS IN THE TEXTBOOKS AND EDUCATION - REPORT ON A MEETING IN KARACHI ======================================== KARACHI: Intellectuals from a number of fields came together to point out the horrifying prejudices found in text books in Pakistan at a talk on ‘Biases in Textbooks and Education Policy' organised by the National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP) [on 18 March 2013] http://www.sacw.net/article3995.html ======================================== FULL AUDIO: 'TRAJECTORIES OF FASCISM: THE EXTREME-RIGHT MOVEMENTS IN INDIA AND ELSEWHERE' A LECTURE BY JAIRUS BANAJI ======================================== Fifth Walter Sisulu Memorial Lecture - 'Trajectories of Fascism: The Extreme-Right Movements in India and Elsewhere' was delivered by Professor Jairus Banaji at the Edward Said Hall, in Jamia Milia Islamia University, Delhi on 18 March 2013. The lecture was organised by the Nelson Mandela Centre for Peace & Conflict Resolution at the Jamia Milia Islamia University. http://www.sacw.net/article3994.html ======================================== FULL PROGRAMME: THE DELHI HISTORICAL MATERIALISM CONFERENCE - "NEW CULTURES OF THE LEFT" (JNU, 3-5 APRIL 2013) ======================================== PDF file with full programme details of the three day Historical Materialism Conference being held in Delhi from 3rd - 5th the April in JNU, Delhi. http://www.sacw.net/article3976.html SEE ALSO: Posters for Historical Materialism Conference Delhi, 3-5 April 2013 http://www.sacw.net/article3983.html ======================================== INDIA: REPORT AND FILM ON COMMERCIAL SURROGACY ======================================== 'Birthing a Market', a report on the study on commercial surrogacy undertaken by Sama. The study analyses the perspectives of various actors, surrogates, agents, doctors and commissioning parent, involved in the industry and the arrangements to establish the position of the surrogate in the arrangement as well as the logics driving the industry. The research was conducted in Delhi and Punjab and captures the variations in the industry across the regions. The study does a careful analysis of the medical practice and the interests that influence it. http://www.sacw.net/article3952.html ======================================== INDIA: TIME FOR YOU TO MOVE ON, MR. NARAYANASAMY! ======================================== The parallels between the functioning of the Government of Japan (GoJ) pre and post Fukushima and the Government of India (GoI) are uncanny as are the similarities between the functioning of TEPCO and NPCIL as well as that of the regulators. http://www.sacw.net/article3961.html ======================================== INDIA: KAMAYANI BALI MAHABAL: OPEN LETTER TO CHIEF JUSTICE BOMBAY HIGH COURT ON FRAUD NIRMAL BABA ======================================== I write to you as a Citizen Of India under my fundamental duty , mentioned in Article 51-A of the Indian constitution for developing the scientific temper, and voicing against superstition, and blind beliefs. http://www.sacw.net/article3960.html ======================================== SHAHBAG OR BADAMI BAGH by Afiya Shehrbano ======================================== On Sunday March 9, two kinds of protests were held in Karachi in close vicinity to each other. One was a protest against the recent mob attack on the Christians of Badami Bagh, Lahore. The other was a much larger one led by the Jamaat-e-Islami (Pakistan) to protest the indictment of Jamaat-e-Islami (Bangladesh) war criminals of 1971 and the treatment of its activists by the Bangladesh government, judiciary and the police in the aftermath of the Shahbag movement against the Islamists in Dhaka. ======================================== THE ETHICS OF ALLIANCE AND SOLIDARITY: AN EXCHANGE BETWEEN RAFIA ZAKARIA AND MEREDITH TAX ======================================== The following is an exchange based on a recent article “An Expedient Alliance? The Muslim Right and The Anglo-American Left,” by Meredith Tax (Dissent, February 26, 2013 -> http://tinyurl.com/arubude). http://www.sacw.net/article3958.html ======================================== PAKISTAN: WOMEN ACTION FORUM (WAF) STATEMENT FOLLOWING THE ATTACK ON SHIA RESIDENTS OF ABBAS COLONY, KARACHI ======================================== On International Women's Day, Women's Action Forum stands in solidarity with all sectarian and religious minorities against terrorist groups. WAF condemns all extremist, armed militant forces that invoke religion as their ideological justification for mass killings, terrorist attacks and brutalities against citizens of Pakistan. http://www.sacw.net/article3957.html ======================================== INDIA: PRESS STATEMENT BY BGPMUS-BGPSSS 15-03-2013 ======================================== Responding to criticism about the brazen manner in which the Italian Government had reneged on the commitment made to the Supreme Court of India, Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh stated in Parliament on 13.03.2013 that: “Our government has… insisted that the Italian authorities respect the undertakings they have given to the Hon'ble Supreme Court and return the two accused persons to stand trial in India. If they do not keep their word there will be consequences for our relations with Italy.” While this purported resolve on the part of the Government of India (GOI) is wholly welcome, it is, however, doubtful if the GOI would actually take all necessary steps to ensure the return of the said accused to India in the light of the GOI's shameful past record in this regard. http://www.sacw.net/article3956.html ======================================== IMPLEMENTATION OF LLRC RECOMMENDATIONS ON LAND IN NORTH AND EAST — STATEMENT BY PEOPLES ALLIANCE FOR RIGHT TO LAND SRI LANKA 15 MARCH 2013 ======================================== This note prepared by the Peoples' Alliance for Right to Land (PARL) Sri Lanka – a network of civil society organisations and individuals campaigning on issues of land-grabs and landlessness across Sri Lanka – highlights through selected case-studies from the North and East, the lack of respect for the final recommendations of the presidential Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) on issues of land in the context of return and resettlement. http://www.sacw.net/article3955.html ======================================== BANGLADESH: JAVED JAHANGIR: SILENCE SPEAKS VOLUMES ======================================== The Western media's selective reporting of Bangladesh's Shahbagh movement obscures its significance and meaning. http://www.sacw.net/article3950.html ======================================== SANJAY KAK: THE APPARATUS - LAYING BARE THE STATE'S TERRIFYING IMPUNITY IN KASHMIR ======================================== A YOUNG KASHMIRI MAN is working in his father's paddy field, bare-chested in the humid late summer, his strong body glistening with exertion. His mother and sisters work alongside, knee-deep in water. Let's just imagine that they're humming a tune off a nearby transistor radio. That's how the story, which I first heard almost exactly ten years back, begins—Soon an army jeep, closely followed by a truck, pulls up on the road next to their fields. The men inside appear to watch for some time. Then half a dozen armed soldiers step out briskly, and walk towards the family. There may have been an exchange of words, though later no one can confirm what was said. http://www.sacw.net/article3942.html ======================================== PAKISTAN: CIVIL SOCIETY CONDEMNS TARGET KILLING OF PARVEEN REHMAN, CALLS FOR URGENT ACTION BY THE STATE TO PROTECT CITIZENS ======================================== KARACHI, March 14, 2013: Leading civil society organizations of Pakistan have expressed shock and profound grief at the brutal target killing of Director of the Organi Pilot Project (OPP) Ms. Parveen Rehman by terrorists near her office on Wednesday evening. http://www.sacw.net/article3947.html ========================================= INDIA: RECENT POSTS ON COMMUNALISM WATCH http://communalism.blogspot.in/ ========================================= India Rightwing thugs of Shiv Sena disrupt performance by Pakistani singer in Delhi http://communalism.blogspot.in/2013/03/india-rightwing-thugs-of-shiv-sena.html India: Judicial opinions on Hindu religion and Hindutva http://communalism.blogspot.in/2013/03/india-judicial-opinions-on-hindu.html India: Delhi Police tried to shield accused of 1984 riots http://communalism.blogspot.in/2013/03/india-delhi-police-tried-to-shield.html _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ South Asia Citizens Wire Buzz for secularism, on the dangers of fundamentalism(s), on matters of peace and democratisation in South Asia. Newsletter of South Asia Citizens Web: www.sacw.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
