South Asia Citizens Wire | 22 October, 2004 via: www.sacw.net
[Interruption Notice: Please Note, SACW dispatches will remain interrupted between the period October 23 - October 29/30, 2004]
[1] Pakistan: Two editorial from Daily Times
- Can the King's League be the Quaid's League?
- Our reactive extremism and Islamabad's defensive 'enlightened moderation'
[2] Bangladesh: Deafening silence (Zafar Sobhan)
[3] India : Dec 13, 2001 Case - A wife's appeal for justice (Tabassum)
[4] India: Beyond the Census: Sensible Uses of Social Statistics (Satish Deshpande)
[5] India: Hindutva at Work !
a) VHP holds 'trishul diksha' in Rajasthan
b) Bajrangis bag a `degree'
c) Another film in trouble with up Sainiks
d) New chief Advani's not-so new plan: bond with Sangh, raise Italy
e) Dissolution of riot enquiry sparks row in Rajasthan
[6] Upcoming event : 'The Final Solution' Film and discussion with Director Rakesh Sharma (Wellesley College, Massachusetts October 30, 2004)
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[1]
The Daily Star - October 22, 2004 | Editorial
CAN THE KING'S LEAGUE BE THE QUAID'S LEAGUE?
Mr Minoo Bhandara, a minority National Assembly member from the King's League has done a laudable deed. Last Tuesday, he stood up and asked the house to adopt a resolution to include the Quaid-e-Azam's famous speech of August 11, 1947, in the academic curricula of the country. At the time Mr Bhandara spoke on the issue, the opposition, including the six-party religious alliance, the Mutahidda Majlis-e-Amal, was absent from the house, having earlier boycotted the session. While Mr Bhandara's passionate speech did not evoke much emotion in the house, mercifully the League members decided to go along with him and the resolution was carried. The resolution is not binding on the government but to the extent that a parliamentary reference has been made to the Quaid's speech for once is in itself very refreshing. As Mr Bhandara noted, the state, over the past thirty years, has even sought to censor the Quaid's speech.
But even as we hail this development, it brings back painful memories of the time the League, then under prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan, chose to pass an Objectives Resolution that opened up the constitution to the mischief later carried out by General Zia ul Haq. Even today, we have as our minister for religious affairs General Zia's son who has chosen repeatedly to create confusion and cast doubts on the intentions of the government to carry out the necessary reforms.
The irony is that in making the August 11 speech and setting down the principle of confining religion to the personal sphere, the Quaid was in fact putting forth the 'objectives' of the new state of Pakistan. Even at the time of debating the Objectives Resolution, it was the minority members of the assembly who objected to the conception of the new state on the basis of religion. Reading their speeches today one can see how prescient they were. Again, it has taken a non-Muslim Pakistani to point to the absolute necessity of redirecting this state. The King's League lays claim to being the true Quaid League. We would expect it to prove to this country that it can carry forward that enlightened legacy.
Alas. There is more disappointment in store for us. Mr Bhandara has formally complained of a breach of his privilege and that of the house because PTV blacked out news of the resolution in its major news bulletins of the day. The Khabarnama of October 19, he claims, did not telecast this enormous decision of the Assembly, nor deemed it fit to make any mention at all. He has therefore moved the secretary of the National Assembly to take up his privilege motion on October 22 or 23.
General Pervez Musharraf spares no moment to talk about an "enlightened, moderate" Pakistan. There can be no better document for him to get legitimacy from for this sensible and belated enterprise than the Quaid's speech. We also have an enlightened prime minister in the saddle now. It would be only appropriate for this government to immediately act on the resolution and insert the speech in school syllabi. Our students, raised on heavy doses of distorted history, need to know the truth.
Yet, we are sceptical because we are not sure whether the actions of this government will ever be able to match its rhetoric. Certainly, if PTV's atrocious outlook on the issue is a pointer, we are far from getting there. It would be interesting to know who took the decision to censor the news and why such a person is still entrusted to watch over the interests of enlightened moderation. *
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Daily Times - October 20, 2004 | Editorial
Our reactive extremism and Islamabad's defensive 'enlightened moderation'
According to news reports, a Christian family was forced in August this year to leave its house in Wah Cantt in Punjab for fear of violence after an 11-year-old girl of the family accidentally threw a copy of the Holy Quran in the trash-can. The family of Tasneem Dean, a boiler engineer, left the Asifabad locality of Wah Cantt after an 'agreement' between the local Saint Thomas Catholic Church and the khateeb of Central Lala Rukh Mosque, Maulana Muhammad Ishaq. This was done in collaboration with local administration and police officials for the safety of the family because the local people had threatened to burn down their house.
The sticking point in this incident was that the law-enforcement authority, the local Muslim clergy and the Church were all agreed that no deliberate offence had been caused by the child. No case for desecration of the Holy Quran was registered against the family of Mr Dean and, if the police had had their way, an apology would have been sufficient. But the local population of mostly unlettered people was aroused by a woman who had gone to the waste disposal and started shouting. It developed that Mr Dean, the Christian, had an interest in inter-religious studies and had inherited the Holy Quran from his Christian father. Once the local mosque authority and the church recognised that, they were satisfied that there was no case under the Penal Code. Why did Mr Dean then move out of Wah?
We should go into this matter because Mr Dean could be hounded also in the next town to which he has moved. When asked why he had agreed to leave his home in Wah Cantt, he pointed to the Pushtun and Afghan migrants living in the locality who had been alerted by mischief mongers to the job of hounding him. The original population did not react after they were informed of the details of the case, but the newly arrived groups of Pathans and Afghans came around and threatened to burn down his house and possibly kill his family. The enraged groups convinced the local administration, the local khateeb and the local Catholic church that Mr Dean and his family had to leave. To give authenticity to the 'agreement' reached with the fleeing Christian family, the local Punjab MPA also affixed his signature to it.
If the administration in Wah thinks it has resolved a grave issue to the satisfaction of all parties, it is gravely mistaken. Once again the authorities have succumbed to the pressure of the unenlightened and the immoderate, once again the law has been flouted and once again innocent citizens have been made to suffer on account of their faith. The obligation to protect citizens against religious extremism has been dodged once again and the slogan of 'enlightened moderation' adopted by General Pervez Musharraf and the PML government has once again been betrayed. If this single case is considered insufficient evidence to prove the uselessness of General Musharraf's slogan, let us take a look at the life sentence handed down on Tuesday by an additional sessions judge in Lahore to another person charged with 'desecrating' the Holy Quran. The evidence was allegedly flimsy but the lower court judge was so overpowered by the extremism of the local opinion that he sent the man in for the maximum punishment.
There was much reactive extremism in Pakistan's past when our governments were not telling the world that they were determined to inculcate 'enlightened moderation' among the people. In 1997, the twin villages of Shantinagar-Tibba Colony, 12 kilometres east of Khanewal, Multan Division, were looted and burnt by 20,000 Muslim citizens and 500 policemen. The police first evacuated the Christian population of 15,000, then helped the raiders use battle-field explosives to blow up their houses and property. When no one from the president of Pakistan to the Inspector General of Punjab Police reacted to the biggest act of destruction in 50 years, the Christian youth took out processions in Rawalpindi and Karachi and were fired upon by the police in the latter city. The youth in Lahore was asked by their elders to refrain from protesting.
Shantinagar was destroyed by the Sipah-e-Sahaba and the organs of the Pakistani State in tandem because there was hardly any difference in outlook between the two allies. But today, President Musharraf's government pretends to stand apart from the fanatics and the extremists. Yet every other day, people go on a rampage after 'discovering' a leaf or two of the Holy Quran on the road. They stop the traffic, burn tyres and destroy public property to express their 'grief' because that has been allowed to become a ritual. State functionaries and politicians are keen to identify themselves with the vandals rather than hold them accountable under law. What is the difference between past governments and the 'enlightened' and 'moderate' government of General Pervez Musharraf today? Shouldn't Islamabad worry about its rhetoric and do something to spread the message against extremism more effectively?
One very effective way of reaching out to the people, instead of exposing them to slogans they don't understand, is to discuss the subject frankly. If you simply say pur-etedaal roshan khayali, the extremist will shoot back the remark that Islam is already that, so 'say something new'. Obviously the thing to do on the state-owned media at least is to go into the details of the religious extremism that has brought Pakistan dangerously close to what the Afghanistan of Taliban was before the world thought it necessary to destroy the government of Mullah Umar. It is time to discuss the flaws of the blasphemy law and the law pertaining to the desecration of the Holy Quran without caring to 'balance the debate' between the extremists and the 'apologists' for moderation. In the realm of human rights, you don't do what the people want, you educate the people to respect the law and, if necessary, you use the organs of the state to do that effectively and unapologetically. Is anyone in Islamabad listening? *
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[2]
The Daily Star - October 22, 2004 | Editorial
Straight talk DEAFENING SILENCE Zafar Sobhan
The recent attack by ruling party activists on a public meeting held jointly by the Jatiya Oikya Mancha and Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh at Rangpur Town Hall heralds a new low for the government.
Where have we come to as a country when an ex-president and an ex-foreign minister, both of whom have devoted decades of their life to the country, can be pelted with refuse by hooligans allied to the government, and have to be protected from physical harm by their own supporters?
The recent initiative jointly announced by the two doctors to tour the country and solicit the opinion of the general public with a view to preparing a "people's manifesto" is one of the more positive developments in Bangladeshi politics of late.
The initiative was a welcome change from politics as usual on a number of levels. In the first place, the concept of actually soliciting the views of the public and listening to their concerns is a novel idea that the ruling alliance, and indeed, the main opposition, would do well to consider.
Politics in Bangladesh has long been a top-down process, dominated by the leadership of the main political parties, with the less influential members of the parties, to say nothing of the actual electorate, rarely consulted as to their opinions or aspirations.
The importance of the initiative to make politics a more participatory and inclusive process and to listen to the voices of the long-suffering people of the country cannot be stressed enough.
In addition, the fact that the two doctors are erstwhile political rivals, and have entered into no electoral alliance, but are willing and able to join together for a programme that both believe in, is also a welcome change from the partisan division that mars the politics in this country.
This willingness to reach across the aisle to create alliances and unity where possible is the kind of forward thinking that the country needs at this time of extreme polarisation, and stands in stark contrast to the bitter enmity and no-holds-barred rhetoric of the main political parties.
The listening tour kicked off in Dinajpur and proved to be an immediate success. People responded enthusiastically to the novel spectacle of two such eminent political personalities actually asking them what they thought and what their ideas were, and the feedback from the first meeting showed that not only are ordinary people fully cognisant of the troubles that the nation faces, but that they also have an eloquent grasp of possible solutions.
The second such meeting was scheduled to take place at Rangpur Town Hall, and this is where trouble erupted.
That the attack on the meeting was pre-meditated and accomplished with the collusion of the local authorities can be inferred from the fact that the police deployed in and outside the hall didn't raise a finger to thwart the assault or to help protect the safety of those being attacked. It was left to the supporters of the leaders on-stage to usher them to safety.
Coincidentally, perhaps, the local superintendent of police claimed to be sick and the deputy commissioner was also unavailable on the day, so that blame for the failure of security could be deflected.
Nearly as bad as the actual violence, which left thirty people injured, some severely, was the pelting of the dais with shoes, sandals, and rotten eggs. This kind of disgraceful conduct goes beyond any bounds of decency and shames us all.
However, even worse is the fact that the assailants also indiscriminately beat up the audience members who were there merely to express their opinions and to attempt to participate in the political process. The message from Tuesday's attack was that the general public should open their mouth and speak about their dissatisfactions and frustrations, only at their own risk.
It is one thing (not to say that it is acceptable) to target your political opponents. It is quite another thing when the government unleashes its fury on ordinary citizens -- like it did with the two rounds of mass arrests this year that put thousands behind bars -- and it seems to have made the same mistake in Rangpur.
It seems as though the government no longer cares about its standing with the public. This is a worrisome development from a government that has hitherto drawn its power from its popular mandate.
The government's increasing contempt for the public manifests itself in other troubling ways. The main evidence for this contempt is the abandon with which the government apparently feels free to deny things that everyone knows to be true.
When the government states that the attack in Rangpur was not carried out by its cadres -- although the identity of the attackers has been comprehensively established by credible witness accounts -- it is tantamount to insulting the intelligence of the public.
This is the government's stock in trade. The unacceptable -- be it mass arrests or attacks on political opponents -- followed by bare-faced denial. The government has been so mendacious in its public pronouncements during the last three years that it simply does not have any credibility left.
The worst thing is that the government no longer seems to even care. It no longer seems to see fit to even pretend to have faith in democracy and in the opinion of the public.
What conclusion are we to draw from this?
But despite its discouraging record thus far, I will continue to expect and demand the highest standards from the government that Bangladeshis democratically elected in 2001. I will continue to expect that it uphold law and order and the ideals of democracy.
I will continue to expect that the government not act in an unlawful manner and that it respect the rule of law. I will continue to expect that the government acknowledge its missteps and take responsibility for its actions.
Even though it seems that the government is either unwilling or unable to provide us with even a modicum of good governance, that even the smallest sign of democratic dissent will not be tolerated, and that government spokesmen will come out and say that black is white and night is day without the slightest semblance of shame or thought that they might be held accountable for their falsehoods -- I will continue to expect and demand better.
But I also expect more from my fellow countrymen and women.
How is it that we are not more shocked by this latest evidence of lawlessness on the part of ruling alliance cadres? How is it that we do not cringe inside when we hear senior members of the government deny responsibility for actions that we -- and they -- know full well were committed by their cadres? How is it that we can sit silent and turn a blind eye when the government that we democratically elected goes about dismantling democracy?
Surely most people who support the government do so because they thought that it would provide good governance and would protect democratic institutions.
Surely most people who support the government do so because of their belief in the four-party alliance's ability to manage the economy and not because of their approval for stomach-churning attacks on its opponents.
Surely most people who support the government feel that these kinds of heavy-handed and repressive measures only diminish the government's credibility and do disservice to those many government officials who are working conscientiously and selflessly for the betterment of the nation.
So where then is the outcry when the government oversteps the bounds of decency and acts in a manner that demeans its own ideals and shames us as a nation?
Is this where we have come to -- that we are no longer even shocked or shamed by the kind of incivility that was on display in Rangpur?
Has it come to this? At long last have we -- as a nation -- no sense of decency left?
Zafar Sobhan is an Assistant Editor of The Daily Star.
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[3]
Kashmir Times - 21 October 2004
A WIFE'S APPEAL FOR JUSTICE
I am the wife of Mohammad Afzal, the man accused of conspiring to attack the Indian Parliament on December 13, 2001. Afzal has been condemned to death by the Sessions Court Judge, S N Dhingra and his death sentence has been confirmed by the Hon'ble High Court of Delhi. Now the case has come up before the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India.
All over India people have condemned the attack on Parliament. And I agree that it was a terrorist attack and must be condemned. However, it is also important that the people accused of such a serious crime be given a fair trial and their story be fully heard before they are punished. I believe that no one has heard my husband's story and he has so far never been represented in the court properly.
I appeal to you to hear our story and then decide for yourselves whether justice has teen done. Afzal and my story is the story of many young Kashmiri couples. Our story represents the tragedy facing our people.
In 1990 Afzal was attracted to the movement led by the JKLF, like thousands of other youth. He went to Pakistan for training and stayed there for a little while. However, he was disillusioned by the differences between different groups and he did not support pro-Pakistani groups. He stayed there only three months without getting any training. Afzal returned to Kashmir and he went to Delhi to pursue his studies. He always wanted to study and before he joined the movement he was doing his MBBS.
My husband wanted to return to normal life and with that intention he surrendered to the BSF. The BSF Commandant refused to give him his certificate till he had motivated two others to surrender. And Afzal motivated two other militants to surrender. He was given a certificate stating that he was a surrendered militant. You will not perhaps realise that it is very difficult to live as a surrendered militant in Kashmir but he decided to live with his family in Kashmir. In 1997 he started a small business of medicines and surgical instruments in Kashmir. The next year we were married. He was 28 years old and I was 18 years.
Throughout the period that we lived in Kashmir the Indian security forces continuously harassed Afzal and told him to spy on people they suspected of being militants. One Major Ram Mohan Roy of 22 Rashtriya Rifles tortured Afzal and gave him electric shocks in his private parts. He was humiliated and abused.
The Indian security forces used to regularly take Afzal to their camps and torture him. They wanted to extract information from him. One night the Indian security forces came to our home and abused all of us and took away Afzal to their camp; another time he was taken to the STF (State Task Force) camp Palhalan Pattan.
Some days later they took him to the Humhama STF camp. In that camp the officers, DSP Vinay Gupta and DSP Darinder Singh demanded Rs one lakh. We are not a rich family and we had to sell everything, including the little gold I got on my marriage to save Afzal from the torture.
Afzal was kept in freezing water and petrol was put into his anus. One officer Shanti Singh hanged my husband upside down for hours naked and in the cold. They gave electric shocks in his penis and he had to have treatment for days.
You will think that Afzal must be involved in some militant activities that is why the security forces were torturing him to extract information. But you must understand the situation in Kashmir, every man, woman and child has some information on the movement even if they are not involved. By making people into informers they turn brother against brother, wife against husband and children against parents. Afzal wanted to live quietly with his family but the STF would not allow him.
You should also know that the STF force is notorious in Kashmir for extorting money from the people and they have become so infamous that when Mufti Sayed became the Chief Minister he promised in his election manifesto to disband the entire force. The STF is known for human rights violations including killing people in their custody and brutal, senseless, inhuman torture.
It was under these conditions that forced Afzal to leave his home, family and settle in Delhi. He struggled hard to earn a living and he had decided to bring me and our four-year old son, Ghalib, to Delhi. Like any other family we dreamed of living together peacefully and bringing up our children, giving them a good education and seeing them grow up to be good human beings. That dream was cut short when once again the STF got hold of my husband in Delhi.
The STF told my husband to bring one man Mohammad to Delhi from Kashmir. He met Mohammad and one other man Tariq there at the STF camp. He did not know anything about the men and he had no idea why he was being asked to do the job. He has told all this to the court but the court chose to believe half his statement about bringing Mohammad but not the bit that he was told to do so by the STF.
There was no one to represent Afzal in the lower court. The court appointed a lawyer who never took instructions from Afzal, or cross examined the prosecution witnesses. That lawyer was communal and showed his hatred for my husband. When my husband told Judge Dhingra that he did not want that lawyer the judge ignored him. In fact my husband went totally undefended in the trial court. When ever my husband wished to say something the judge would not hear him out and the judge showed his communal bias in open court.
In the High Court one human rights lawyer offered to represent Afzal and my husband accepted. But instead of defending Afzal the lawyer began by asking the court not to hang Afzal but to kill him by a lethal injection. My husband never expressed any desire to die. He has maintained that he has been entrapped by the STF. My husband was shocked but he had no way of changing his lawyer while being locked up in the high security jail.
It was only after the High Court judgement was pronounced he got to know about the way the lawyer had represented him. Afzal refused to accept the same lawyer for his appeal in the Supreme Court. I had no way of getting Afzal a lawyer. I do not know anyone in Delhi. Finally Afzal wrote to the Defence Committee set up for Mr Geelani. I am annexing his letter. And the Defence Committee helped Afzal to get a senior lawyer, Mr Sushil Kumar. However, the Supreme Court cannot go into the evidence and so I do not know what will happen.
I appeal to you to ensure that my husband is not condemned to death and he is ensured a fair trial. Surely your conscience will not allow you to be a party to the death of a fellow human being who has not been represented in the court and who has not had a chance to tell his story? The police have made him falsely confess before the media even before the trial started. They humiliated him, beat him, tortured him and even urinated in his mouth. I feel deep shame to talk about these things in public but circumstances have forced me. It has taken a lot of courage for me to put all this on paper but I do so for the sake of my child who is now six years old.
Will you speak out at the injustice my husband has faced? Will you speak out on my behalf? I am of course fighting for my husband's life, for the life of my son's father. But I also speak as a Kashmiri woman who is losing faith in Indian democracy and its ability to be fair to Kashmiri Muslims.
*Tabassum Srinagar, September 2004.
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[4]
The Times of India - October 21, 2004 | Op-ed.
BEYOND THE CENSUS: SENSIBLE USES OF SOCIAL STATISTICS [ by Satish Deshpande ]
The controversy over categorisation of religious communities in the census reminds us that such data are actually about abstract entities not perceivable by the senses. We can know many individual members of large groups like 'Jains', 'children below six' or 'Scheduled Tribes' through direct experience or observation. But, however many such individuals we know, we can never have direct access to the abstract collectivity that represents the entire group.
Most people are unimpressed by the complexity of large collectivities - we simply think of them as a kind of person. Nor do we believe that they cannot be known directly, because we know a great deal about the collectivities we care about. In fact, we often seem to know more about abstract categories like 'Hindus' or 'Muslims' than we know about concrete persons like our neighbours or colleagues. We know their food, their customs and occupations, and just how kind, crafty, clean, lustful, lazy or pat-riotic they are. In short, we not only know that 'they are like that only' but also why. Such common sense works fine in stable times, because the power structure ensures that our prejudices match our social environment and therefore go unchallenged. But in turbulent times, political competition intensifies social friction and raises the stakes. When forced to defend our own knowledge claims or to challenge those of others, we are confronted by questions of evidence and the comparative advantages of different styles of argument. Censuses and surveys become critically important in this context because they provide knowledge acquired by the aggregation of systematically gathered evidence.
The special status of social scientific instruments like censuses and surveys is not necessarily decisive. We know they can make mistakes; they can also be biased or manipulated. They rarely produce conclusive, slam-dunk truths; in any case, political contests are rarely won by facts alone. Moreover, the census in particular has had a long and double-edged history. It has been a tool for efficient exploitation as well as public welfare. It has helped crystallise aggressive identities and also provides antidotes to their excesses. Despite all this, censuses and surveys have the advantage of open procedures of evidence gathering that allow for rational disputation. This is preferable to non-negotiable assertions backed by faith or violence, because the census can channel political passions into constructive debates on the merits of evidence.
This advantage of evidence-based argument must not be forgotten when evaluating well-intentioned demands for ending all community counts provoked by the unseemly quarrelling over the religion data of the 2001 census. Here it is useful to ask a question highly recommended as an investigative tool by both Karl Marx and Sherlock Holmes: Who benefits?
While it is difficult to make a general case for banning social statistics, it is easy to identify the beneficiaries. The first to gain from the absence of census or survey data would be the Mullahs and the Modis, because they could then insist on their fanatical fantasies without the handicap of having to account for inconvenient evidence. Of course, they would lose the opportunity of capitalising on such data when it favours them, but this loss would be small because their basic style of argument is not evidence-based anyway. As their past record indicates, lack of evidence would not inhibit them from pressing their aggressive claims.
A second set of significant gainers will be those groups and communities who have been presented in unfavourable light by social statistics. For example, once we do away with statistics, no community need worry about, or feel challenged, by things like low literacy rates or alarming imba-lances in juvenile sex ratios. Apart from the communities themselves, relief from embarrassment and accountability will also be available to all those responsible for dealing with such social problems, especially politicians, bureaucrats and community leaders. Censoring social stats will also rob good performers of praise, but this won't matter much in what is mainly a blame game.
Excessive emphasis on population growth has obscured a third set of beneficiaries, namely social groups who have benefited disproportionately from development. This applies more to survey data from bodies like the National Sample Survey Organisation which show, for instance, that the upper castes in every religious community continue to be much better off than the lower castes, and that there are significant regional variations in caste inequalities. Once such data is banned, all privileged groups and regions can take pleasure in being simply and anonymously Indian; what is more, they can share this pleasure with the underprivileged. Although both sides can then press their claims unfettered by rules of evidence, the underprivileged would lose far more because the figures have tended to favour their cause.
It is more difficult to identify who actually benefits from the availability of social statistics, because the benefits are potential. The statistical visibility of an entitlement cannot guarantee that it will be honoured, but its invisibility usually guarantees that it will be dishonoured. That is why the general argument for social statistics is a negative but strong one: The claims and complaints of social groups must be addressed seriously if reasonable, and exposed if unreasonable. Their absence or suppression is sufficient to ensure failure in both.
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[5]
[Hindutva at Work ! ]
a)
VHP HOLDS 'TRISHUL DIKSHA' IN RAJASTHAN :
Jaipur, Oct 21 : VHP today held a 'trishul diksha' in Rajasthan for the first time after the BJP government lifted the ban on trident distribution imposed by the previous Congress regime.
Tridents were distributed to about 325 VHP activists at a special function at Adarsh Vidhya Mandir in Sanganer.
Addressing the gathering, VHP leader Acharya Dharmendra said "'trishul' is a symbol of discipline, a matter of faith and religion and should not be attributed to any terror as misunderstood by the previous Congress government that banned it deliberately." The Vasundhara Raje government had, a few months ago, lifted the ban on trishul diksha under the Arms Act imposed by the previous Congress government. PTI
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b)
The Hindu Oct 20, 2004 | Life Hyderabad
BAJRANGIS BAG A `DEGREE'
A GROUP of Bajrang Dal activists emerge from darkness and surround two `Pakistani militants' who are offering their prayers.
Bajrangis `shoot' the extremists at point-blank range.
With their mission having been accomplished, they holler "Kill the Pakistani dogs" and move on. In another mock drill, the youth wing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad enacts a battle scene, improvising with lime (for smoke bombs!), and goes for a man-to-man fight with the imaginary Pakistani militant.
Wondering what's going on? Well, this was part of the valedictory ceremony of the Andhra Pradesh Bajrang Dal western wing's week-long training of over 100 youngsters from different parts of the State at Isnapur in Medak district. Tucked away from the hustle of the national highway, the vast playground of Manjeera Residential School was the perfect host for the youngsters. Apart from getting training in martial arts, the Bajrangis were face to face with lathis and guns.
`Trishul' initiation!
At the end of the gruelling session, they were given `trishuls.' The ceremony was elaborate, with each trainee performing puja and receiving his trishul as a mark of completion of the course.
Addressing the Bajrangis, the national secretary of the VHP, Aravind Choutala, asked them to spread the message that meek would not be respected.
He pointed out that the youth must be strong and well trained to protect the nation and society from terrorists.
By J.B.S. Umanadh in Medak
c)
Asian Age - October 21, 2004
BUNTY, BABLI DANCE INTO TROUBLE WITH UP SAINIKS By Amita Verma
Lucknow, Oct. 21: Yashraj Films' latest venture, Bunty Aur Babli, starring Abhishek Bachchan and Rani Mukh-erjee, has run into trouble. The film, directed by Shaad Ali and currently being shot in Varanasi district, has earned the ire of local Shiv Sainiks who are visibly agitated over a song and dance sequence that was shot in the Sri Swaminath Akhara - a traditional gymnasium supposedly built by Tulsidas on the banks of the Ganga river at Assi Ghat.
The song sequence was being picturised on Rani Mukherjee in the akhara on Wednesday when some local youths entered and began exercising in the courtyard while the shooting of the dance sequence continued.
Later, local Shiv Sainiks, led by their district chief Ajay Chaubey, staged a demonstration to protest against shooting inside the akhara.
"According to tradition, women are not allowed to enter akharas, particularly when men are exercising in the gymnasium. The local administration, which is apparently working under political influence and is star-struck by the Bachchans, however, gave permission for the song to be shot inside the akhara, which is simply blasphemous. We are now demanding that the scenes shot inside the akhara be deleted from the film. If the director does not give us an assurance to this effect, we will not allow further shooting of the film. And if he does include the scenes despite an assurance, we will burn down theatres where the film will be screened," the Shiv Sena leader told The Asian Age on the telephone on Thursday.
The Shiv Sainiks are also enraged at the manner in which the film unit has converted the historic Nandlal Bajoria Sanskrit School into a cinema theatre with posters of Hunterwali pasted all over. "The school is built on land where Rani Laxmibai was born and we cannot allow the screening of a film like Hunterwali at this historic spot," said Mr Chaubey. The Shiv Sainiks met the district authorities on Thursday and handed over a memorandum listing their demands. The shooting of the film, however, continued uninterrupted on Thursday and additional security has been provided to the unit, particularly the stars, to prevent any untoward incident.
The shooting of Bunty Aur Babli began in Varanasi last week and superstar Amitabh Bachchan and Raj Babbar, who play character roles in the film, have already participated in the first shooting schedule.
According to sources, the local Shiv Sainiks were reportedly annoyed at the fact that they had been prevented from meeting the stars of the film, particularly Rani Mukherjee, who did not even respond to their requests for autographs and photographs. "They (Shiv Sainiks) are now using trivial excuses to mount pressure on the unit and harass the film stars. We will not succumb to their pressures and make sure that the shooting is not disturbed," said a senior district official.
It may be recalled that the "saffron cultural police" in Varanasi, which often calls itself the Kranti Shiv Sena, has disrupted shootings and screenings of several films on many occasions. The best known example is that of Deepa Mehta's Water, which had to be finally shelved when the local people in Varanasi resorted to violence, accusing the film's director and writer of distorting Hindu culture in her film.
The screening of Fire and Girlfriend also had to be stopped when Shiv Sainiks threatened to burn down theatres. Even a superhit film like Mohabbatein faced the people's wrath in Varanasi over the wrong recitation of the Gayatri Mantra in a scene.
d)
Indian Express - October 21, 2004 NEW CHIEF ADVANI'S NOT-SO NEW PLAN: BOND WITH SANGH, RAISE ITALY Manini Chatterjee
NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 20: In a significant move aimed at re-establishing close ties with the RSS, newly appointed BJP chief L K Advani's first big outing after taking over will be to Nagpur. There, on Friday, he will meet top Sangh leaders at the RSS headquarters, including sarsanghchalak K Sudershan, and participate in the Vijaya Dashami programme, the most important event in the organisation's annual calendar.
It has been a long time since a BJP leader has visited Nagpur on the occasion of Vijaya Dashami-also the founding day of the RSS-and is particularly significant in view of the strained relations between Sudarshan and the BJP leadership, RSS sources said.
The visit to Nagpur apart, Advani gave enough indication today that the party under his leadership would once again adopt a hardline "nation first" policy and beat back the "ideological assault" unleashed by the Left-backed UPA government.
Addressing his first formal press conference after taking over as president, Advani adopted an aggressive tone throughout and revived his 1980s era rhetoric against "pseudo secularism" and "minorityism."
He also raked up Sonia Gandhi's foreign origins issue while attacking the Congress party for being a national but "not a nationalist party." Elaborating, he said, "It is a sad irony , and a deeply worrying development, that the Congress party, which was in the forefront of India's freedom struggle, has surrendered itself to the care of a dynasty, now headed by a person of foreign origin. It is also evident in the unabashed manner in which it is compromising national interests through its perverse pursuit of pseudo-secularism."
Accusing the Congress party of turning a blind eye to the large-scale infiltration of Bangaldeshis to India "that could lead to the creation of a 'Third Islamic State''', he said the party's "vote-bank politics" was also evident from its insult to Savarkar and arrest of Uma Bharati.
He went on to say, ''In order to hide its craven dependence on pseudo-secularism, the Congress, along with its Communist allies, has mounted an unprecedented ideological offensive against the BJP. As the president of the Party, it shall be my endeavour to galvanise the BJP and effectively counter this ideological offensive."
Although he has taken over the reins of the party after its string of defeats (in UP, BJP candidates came fourth and fifth in a majority of the bypolls), Advani showed no signs of worry or regret. [. . . ].
http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=57387
e)
ndtv.com
DISSOLUTION OF RIOT ENQUIRY SPARKS ROW IN RAJASTHAN
Rajan Mahan
Friday, October 8, 2004 (Jaipur):
The dissolution of a judicial commission investigating communal riots in a Rajasthan town has sparked off a major row.
Appointed by the previous Congress-government sate, the commission was probing the riots in Gangapur that left three people dead and 60 injured in 2002.
The commission, headed by Justice Israni of the Rajasthan High Court, had examined and gathered evidence from 50 witnesses over the last two years.
Efforts wasted
But with the Vasundhara government scrapping it, all efforts have now gone to waste.
"Our report would have shown how the riots were caused and who was responsible for them and whether the police action in the case was justified. But now nothing will come out," said Justice Israni.
Tension had erupted in Gangapur when an angry mob refused to allow the Moharram procession to go past a temple in the town.
Violence, thereafter, had left three people dead and over 40 VHP and Bajrang Dal workers were arrested.
The Congress says scrapping the commission is a conspiracy to save the Sangh Parivar workers.
"The intention behind scrapping the commission is to save the VHP and Bajrang Dal workers against whom evidence had been collected. The Congress will write a letter to the President of India to oppose this move," said Suraj Khatri, Congress General Secretary, Rajasthan.
'Only option'
But the government says despite spending two years and Rs 50 lakh, the commission gave no report and dissolving it was the only option.
"Legal advice was taken before this decision was made. Whatever our government has done is according to rules as there was too much delay," said Amra Ram Chaudhary, Home Minister, Rajasthan.
Eighteen government officials, who testified, reportedly told the commission that it were VHP and Bajrang Dal workers who triggered the tensions in Gangapur.
While the commission has been scrapped at one stroke, the political row over it will linger on for a long time.
______
[6] Upcoming Event:
Wellesley College Presents
THE FINAL SOLUTION -- A Film Featuring Families Caught Up In The Politics Of Hate
Film and discussion with Director Rakesh Sharma
*Best Documentary & Critics Choice, Hong Kong International Film Festival
*Wolfgang Staudte Award & Special Jury Award, Berlin International Film Festival
Sponsored by The Womens' Studies Department, Wellesley Association for South Asian Cultures, Advisor to Students of Asian Decent, Art and Art History Department, Political Science Department, Committee Against Racism and Discrimination and the Committee for Lectures and Cultural Events
Date: Sat, Oct. 30th Time: 4pm-6pm Venue: PNW 212 [Wellesley College]
The Final Solution examines the aftermath of the burning of Hindus on the Sabarmati Express train at Godhra on February 27 2002. The film reveals the reaction to the tragic incident in which hundreds of women were raped and more than 2000 Muslims were murdered.
Rakesh Sharma, an independent documentary film maker, began his career in 1986 as an assistant director on Discovery of India. Sharma has won numerous awards. His other widely appraised works include "Aftershocks: the Rough Guide to Democracy".
Reception to follow. Free and Open to All.
For disability services contact Jim Wice-781 283 2434
questions-email [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Buzz on the perils of fundamentalist politics, 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/
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