The new strategy is to give some provocation or another to manipulate violent
incidents as recently in the Punjab or in Karnataka and other states . The
solution is to inform people not to react to provocation and incitement and to
remain focussed on priority and essential issues ,as the objective is to
divide misusing religion , though essentially problems of all citizens are the
same depending on the productive group to which they belong .
For example small farmers were affected as a whole group irrespective of their
religious affiliation throughout the country whether in Punjab or Karnataka or
elsewhere
Almost two years ago we had brutal attacks on Christians who were tribals in
Orissa , again for divide and rule even though the issues facing the tribal
people are the same irrespective of which religion to which they belong .
In fact the tribal people form an entire group by themselves sociologically and
culturally , of course practices and customs vary from one geographical region
to another . Their Forest lands and produce were colonized under colonial rule
by the Forest Acts , an example of confiscation of property of the tribals by
the EAST INDIA COMPANY . The report of the Ministry of Rural Development of the
Government of India now refers to ongoing seizure of tribal land by companies
in what is now being referred to by the Home Ministry as the Maoist/Naxalite
belt ,where the Salwa Judum according to this government report was funded by
Companies to blunt resistance to their land seizures of hundreds of villages
for mineral rich land .
----- Original Message -----
From: Niloufer Bhagwat
To: [email protected]
Sent: Thursday, March 04, 2010 3:43 PM
Subject: Re: [humanrights-movement:2299] FACT FINDING ON INCIDENTS IN PUNJAB
Thank you Kamayani for this report .
A prima facie conclusion is that to divide people wherever possible , to
strengthen the case for violent solutions and fascist methodology and
propaganda , attacks are taking place on the poorer classes of Dalit and
Minority groups of whom a large section are sociologically originally dalits
or other backward class groups . This is to consolidate support for fascist
groups or so called secular parties in fact representing Corporate groups
national and international who gather support citing these attacks , to present
the people with limited electoral choices .
This will not suceed as from region to region the feeling is growing that the
upper caste/class groups are behind this violence as there is no attempt to
prevent or control it . Moreover our country being as diverse as it is ,
monolithic organizations of any religious or caste group will be repelled and
seen for what they are .
In this context a retired Police Officer , a former Deputy Commissioner of
Police Mr. Y.C.Pawar has clearly stated on Times Now during the course of a
panel discussion on 3rd March 2010 on the use of the underworld in Mumbai ,
that without covert political support and the support of police agencies
criminilized groups cannot operate.
Even in the context of 9/11 in the USA , strategic experts from Europe opined
that it was obvious that such false flage operations could not be staged
without the support of Intelligence and security agencies in charge of internal
and external security . While engineering and technical experts have questioned
the official version of events .
We are actually facing a situation when all institutions are under attack .
The Constitution , the Legal system , the Judiciary , the Police among several
other institutions from fascist organizations operating from within the system
and from outside , assissted by corrupt and covert forces to strangle
democratic functioning and dissent , including police investigation as was
clear from the assassination of Jt. Commissioner of Police Mr. Hemant Karkare
and Mr. Kamte along with 12 other policemen to foster terror and to assist in
the total financialization of the economic system to the detriment of
livelihoods and the survival of citizens .
The pattern being adopted is on the lines of the US and UK economies now
facing SOVEREIGN DEBT DEFALUT except that in our case it is not even an
independent operation but " Recolonization " of course with internal
collaboration , hence even for investigation of cases we have the FBI among
other agencies called in .
For the seizure of resources and its implications for India , we have to
recall the East India Company among other companies who held sway over India
before we declared ourselves a Republic . The WTO is a world trade order which
gives primacy to companies over the well being of societies . A Company as we
understand it is an economic and profit oriented artificial legal entity with
limited liability without HEAD OR HEART . WHEREAS A POLITICAL SOCIETY NEEDS
NURTURING , PRIVATE COMPANIES IF IN CONTROL OF THE POLICIES OF GOVERNMENT
EVEN RESORT TO WAR AND DESTRUCTION IF THE BALANCE SHEET REQUIRES IT AND
POLICIES DO NOT IMPOSE ANY AUTO LIMITATIONS ON PROFITS .
A Company under constitutional and legal regulation of its financial and
economic structure with limitations on overall accumulation can be an
instrument of production .In political control it devastates whole countries ,
regions and in two World Wars millions were killed . In the Second World War
over 75 million . Therefore the Constitution of India in the Directive
Principles of State Policy required restrictions on access to financial
resources as those who framed the Constitution were aware that Corporate rule
led to fascism in Europe with world wide destruction of several regions .
We face the same situation to-day all over the world and even worse as
weapons have been advanced and perfected to kill humanity .
Unregulated control over the financial and productive resources of society
with Companies and Financiers as the arbiters destroys societies which economic
history teaches us . It is necessary for us to make a study of the US and UK
economies among others with special reference to financialization and
unemployment .
Even Azim Premji highlighted on BBC ,in a panel that major private companies
it was well known could not cater to employment as that was not feasible given
the economies of scale and not their priority . If this is so then what is the
alternative before Companies and Financiers other than unregulated sway of the
Indian economy and for that purpose DIVIDE AND RULE .
Niloufer Bhagwat
----- Original Message -----
From: Kamayani
Sent: Tuesday, March 02, 2010 10:49 PM
Subject: [humanrights-movement:2299] FACT FINDING ON INCIDENTS IN PUNJAB
REPORT OF THE ALL INDIA CHRISTIAN COUNCIL FACT FINDING TEAM
ON INCIDENTS IN BATALA AND OTHER AREAS OF PUNJAB
18-21 FEBRUARY 2010
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ISSUED ON MARCH 2, 2010
NOTE: The full fact finding report is available from aicc Delhi office:
[email protected]
Attempted Murders
The Punjab police are hiding the fact that Sangh Parivar-led hoodlums in
Batala, Punjab tried to burn five Christians alive. The Christians were from
two families who live in the Church of North India’s historic Church of the
Epiphany compound built in 1865. Batala is a small business town in Punjab’s
Gurdaspur district. On February 20th, the CNI church was set on fire and all
its furniture burnt. Attempts were made to destroy a nearby Salvation Army
church, raised in 1958, where the pastor was seriously injured. “We pleaded
with the police to help, but they did not,” said the Pastor, Maj. Gurnam Singh.
Even as the larger group of attackers focused on burning the CNI church, a
group of men armed with sticks and rods, and came to the CNI Deacon’s house.
The deacon, Victor Gill, and his wife Parveen, hid themselves under the bed.
The assailants damaged the doors, tried to enter the room forcibly, and told
the couple they would be burnt alive if they did not come out. Meanwhile, at a
second CNI house, the group overturned a scooter, took out the petrol, and
doused teacher Christopher Morris and his daughter Daisy with the fuel while
the mother, Usha, cringed in their home. They tried to set the two on fire, but
the matchbox had also been soaked in the petrol and despite three attempts to
strike a match, the matchsticks would not ignite saving the family from being
burnt alive. The police were watching. The fire brigade came later but was
blocked by a mob for quite some time.
Police Bias
No police report has been filed on the attempted murders even as the top
police and administrative officers enforced a one sided “peace accord” on the
local Christian leadership. Christians were instructed not to press for charges
immediately so that a number of Christian youth who were arrested – together
with a few Hindu men – could be released. The strategy of the assailants was
eerily reminiscent of what was practiced and perfected against churches in
Orissa in 2008. Police forcibly cleaned up the Church of the Epiphany. They
removed burnt furniture and made the presbyter whitewash the walls to remove
traces of fuel oil used in the blaze. This was done before a formal enquiry
could be conducted by the government.
Background on Violence
The Christians, all of them of Dalit origin, were trying to enforce a
closure or "bandh" in Batala markets to protest a blasphemous picture of Jesus
Christ holding a can of beer in one hand a lit cigarette in another which
appeared on roadside banners to celebrate the Hindu "Ram Nauvmi" festival. The
banners were sponsored by a coalition of local political, media and business
leaders, together with the trading community which is almost entirely Hindu.
The Sangh Parivar reacted to the Christian protest by mobilising
shopkeepers and youth in attacks that left many injured, two churches damaged,
and clergy traumatised. We noted that local shopkeepers routinely enforce
closures e.g. a bandh during the last week of February to protest the execution
of two Sikhs by the Taliban in Pakistan.
Timeline
16-17 February -- people noticed Jesus Christ image on banners, newspapers,
posters
18 February -- Jalandhar protests; two people arrested for printing posters
19 February -- road protests in various villages, violence in Majitha
20 February -- Batala churches burnt; widespread violence
21 February -- police firing on Christian protesters in Tibbar village and
others places; many arrested, injured; peace accord reached in Batala
22 February -- curfew partially lifted
23 February -- curfew completely lifted
Police Reaction
The police force was outnumbered and looked on during the violence. Despite
intelligence reports of the Christian anger and the Hindutva plans to
counterattack, the sub-divisional magistrate of Batala, Mr. Rahul Chaba, PCS,
said he could not enforce a quick curfew until late on 20 February 2010 because
most of the police force were sent to the Pakistani border nearby where Union
Home Minister P. Chidambaram inaugurated a defence outpost. By the time the
police returned and a curfew was imposed, violence had already occurred. The
curfew was relaxed on 22 February 2010.
Results of Violence and Political Reaction
On February 21st, protest rallies were held across the western districts of
Punjab and in Chandigarh against the desecration of the churches. There were
reports of police who broke up protest meetings in villages with lathi charges
and indiscriminate arrests. At present, there are no Christians or Hindus in
police custody barring the printer and publisher of the banners.
On February 23rd, Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Prakash Singh Badal assured
the aicc delegation’s head, Dr. John Dayal, aicc Secretary General and member,
National Integration Council, that he viewed the matter seriously and has
ordered officials to unravel the “entire conspiracy”. Dr. Dayal demanded a
judicial enquiry into the incidents during the meeting.
Part of Larger Religious Discrimination in Punjab
At the last meeting of the National Integration Council in New Delhi on 13
October 2008 chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Dr. Dayal had personally
briefed Mr. Badal on the tension brewing in the rural districts of western
Punjab where tens of thousands of Christians, most of them of Dalit origin,
live and are suffering from caste oppression and attacks on their freedom of
religion. Church meetings are routinely denied permission, for example, and
caste epithets are used against the Christians. The chief minister had promised
to have the situation investigated and remedial action taken.
The recent incidents also exposed the utter lack of Christian
representation among the Punjab government. Less than half a dozen Christian
leaders, many of them related to each other, hold positions in the Akali Dal,
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the Indian National Congress. They have
little connection with the masses living in villages, slums and poorly
constructed ghettos outside some villages. Most live in shadow of mansions
owned by local Jat Sikhs with relatives living abroad or the trading classes.
Class and caste barriers are clearly evident. In some villages, we were shocked
to find Dalit Christian working under bonded labour conditions with family in
brick kilns, and many employed in the fields during the sowing or harvesting
season where they compete with cheaper labour from Bihar. The exception is
Christians who have risen to high positions in academics, the military, and the
Church, with one becoming a CNI bishop some years ago.
Punjab’s Christian population is around 300,000, about 1.2% of the state
population, mostly concentrated in Amritsar and villages in west Punjab. The
government is Akali-BJP coalition elected in February 2007.
Fact Finding Team Composition
The fact finding team included: Dr. John Dayal; Rev. Madhu Chandra, aicc
Regional Secretary, Delhi; M. Adeeb, Human Rights Law Network lawyer; and Mr.
Marang Hansda, aicc assistant. They visited Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Amritsar, and
Gurdaspur districts, including villages deep in the rural hinterland from 22 to
25 February 2010, and Chandigarh.
-----------------
Kamayani Bali Mahabal
The world does not need a war against ‘terrorism’, it needs a culture of
peace based on human rights for all.
-- Irene Khan
www.otherindia.org
www.binayaksen.net
www.phm-india.org
I carry a torch in one hand
And a bucket of water in the other:
With these things I am going to set fire to Heaven
And put out the flames of Hell
So that voyagers to God can rip the veils
And see the real goal.......
Rabia (Rabi'a Al-'Adawiyya)
--
"After a war, the silencing of arms is not enough. Peace means respecting
all rights. You can’t respect one of them and violate the others. When a
society doesn’t respect the rights of its citizens, it undermines peace and
leads it back to war.”
-- Maria Julia Hernandez
www.otherindia.org
www.binayaksen.net
www.phm-india.org
www.phmovement.org
www.ifhhro.org
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