South Asia Citizens Wire | 17-18 June, 2006 | Dispatch No. 2260
[1] Sri Lanka: New Phase of Civilian Killing Must Be Stopped (National Peace Council) [2] Pakistan's Rot Has World Bank Roots (Peter Bosshard and Shannon Lawrence) [3] Pakistan - India Peace Talk: No progress on the ground (M B Naqvi) [4] India: Shades of Hindutva - Congress and BJP are two sides of same coin (Edit., Kashmir Times) [5] India: NPMHR appeals for an organized and persistent resistance against AFSPA [6] The Love Song of History - the secular legacy of India's oral tradition (Madanjeet Singh) [7] Book Review: 'Anthems of Resistance: A Celebration of Urdu Poetry', Ali Husain Mir and Raza Mir [8] A mega rally by Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum in Karachi on June 19, 2006 ___ [1] National Peace Council of Sri Lanka 12/14 Purana Vihara Road Colombo 6, Sri Lanka 16.06.06 Media Release NEW PHASE OF CIVILIAN KILLING MUST BE STOPPED FORTHWITH The crisis in Sri Lanka has reached a new phase with the targeting of civilians for large scale killing and the accompanying denial of responsibility for such atrocities. The claymore mine attack on a civilian bus in Anuradhapura, suspected to be by the LTTE, killed over 60 adults and children and injured over 70 others. This incident is a grievous escalation of an already terrible conflict in which civilian casualties have been overtaking those of armed combatants. The National Peace Council condemns this attack and condoles with the bereaved families of the victims. We condemn all actions that lead to civilian casualties. A strategy of targeting civilians cannot be justified under any circumstance and is morally reprehensible. In the immediate aftermath of this attack, the government has sent its air force to bomb targets in the LTTE-controlled areas. A strategy of retaliation may not only cause serious damage to those who are locked in combat, but also to innocent civilians, and will do little to address the root causes that led to the conflict. On the other hand, a bold and non-violent political initiative may generate a positive response which will help move the country out of its tragic and doomed path. NPC appeals to the government and LTTE to be mindful of the sufferings that are being heaped upon the people, and not to abdicate their responsibilities by them. Even as our country continues to slide worse towards a war-like situation, with tragic events that must shock our conscience, we believe it is time to pause, and to re-think, what path we as a nation must take. The European Union and the donor Co-Chairs have recently issued statements that contain guidelines for a successful peace process. We call on the two parties to immediately meet with each other at the negotiating table with a vision for a shared future rather than on a battlefield in which innocent civilians are being called upon to pay the greater price. Executive Director On behalf of the Governing Council _____ [2] Far Eastern Economic Review May 2006 PAKISTAN'S ROT HAS WORLD BANK ROOTS By Peter Bosshard and Shannon Lawrence After closely following the script of his predecessor for almost a year, the new World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz recently revealed his own vision for the embattled development institution. Identifying corruption as the single largest obstacle to development, he increased the budget of the bank's investigative unit, and held up loans to India, Bangladesh, Kenya and Chad because of corruption concerns. "This is about making sure that the bank's resources go to the poor and don't end up in the wrong pockets," Mr. Wolfowitz told US News & World Report. "It is about fighting poverty." Critics have long accused the bank and other donors of turning a blind eye to the leakage of development funds, leaving corrupt contractors and officials flush with cash, governments saddled with "white elephant" projects and odious debt, poor people devoid of essential services, and the environment unprotected. The World Bank began to address the "cancer of corruption" under former President James Wolfensohn, and Paul Wolfowitz's pledge to "move from talking about corruption to dealing with corruption" is welcome. Yet the world's largest development institution still attempts to treat the symptoms and not the cause of the disease. In fact, the bank's current lending strategies might even be fueling the corruption epidemic. Just as the bank vows to get tough on corruption, it has simultaneously announced a big increase in its support for infrastructure, the sector perceived to be the most corrupt globally according to NGO Transparency International. Water, energy, transport and other public works projects are attractive targets for corrupt contractors and bribe-takers due to their complexity, capital intensity, price-tag, and the number of public and private players involved. Approximately half of the World Bank anticorruption unit's investigations that led to specific corrective actions were linked to infrastructure projects. Massive, centrally planned and financed construction projects are particularly prone to corruption. Unless corruption is checked in the earliest stages of the planning process, corrupt politicians, and construction companies will favor large-scale projects to address a country's infrastructure needs. Development efforts can only be effective if they reflect a country's own priorities. The World Bank has acknowledged the importance of "country ownership" in recent years. Yet it has tended to equate country ownership with government ownership, and government ownership with ownership by finance and infrastructure ministries. The bank has limited the opportunities for civil society input in the development of infrastructure strategies, and cut down the preparation time for infrastructure projects. Combined, the bank's push into infrastructure, the emphasis on government ownership and the limited accountability to civil society are creating large opportunities for corruption in a sector in which graft is already endemic. If the World Bank does not address the incentives for corruption upstream, fighting graft in individual contracts will be a losing battle. Pakistan's Experience The Indus Basin Irrigation System, the world's largest water-diversion scheme with more than 1.6 million kilometers of watercourses in Pakistan, is a prominent example of how corruption pervades economic development and distorts the priorities of infrastructure investment. This project also shows how the World Bank's business model and development paradigm encourage rather than counteract corruption. For five decades, Pakistan's irrigation system has been shaped by the World Bank's approach to water infrastructure. In the 1950s, the bank brokered a water treaty between India and Pakistan and helped devise the policies and institutions of Pakistan's water sector in a series of master plans and reports. It has since loaned almost $20 billion (in 2005 prices) for related projects. The Indus Basin Irrigation System is a central planner's dream turned concrete. Its cornerstone, the Tarbela Dam, was the largest man-made structure on earth at the time of its construction, but it is just one of 19 dams that block and divert the basin's mighty rivers. Large canals, drainage highways and more than 100,000 distributaries crisscross the Indus basin. Today, the Indus Basin Irrigation System serves an area the size of Bangladesh, and generates more than one-fourth of Pakistan's electric power. Yet the system is in deep crisis. The irrigation network operates extremely inefficiently and sedimentation is rapidly reducing the capacity of its reservoirs. More than 60% of the irrigation water is lost from the canal head to the root zone, and then more is wasted on thirsty crops such as sugar cane that are not suited to the arid region. Average crop yields are much lower than in neighboring India. Moreover, the construction of reservoirs and canals caused the forcible displacement of more than 200,000 people in Pakistan. Decades after they were moved, thousands of families are still living in misery. A report prepared for the World Bank argues that the lack of replacement land and corruption in the system are "creating extreme hardship for people." Pakistan's irrigation network has always served a privileged elite at the expense of the poor. World Bank and government programs have consistently favored feudal landowners. When the irrigation system was established, the government failed to recognize the land rights of the original inhabitants and allotted irrigated plots to rich landowners and military personnel. While large and very large farmers control 66% of all agricultural land in Pakistan, almost half of the rural households own no land. A World Bank evaluation noted in 1996 that the bank "provided large and unnecessary transfers of public resources to some of the rural elite." The collateral damage continues downstream. The Indus Basin Irrigation System starves areas of Sindh Province-and particularly the Indus Delta-of water. And because the sediment trapped in the reservoirs does not replenish the delta, close to 5,000 square kilometers of farm land have already been lost to the sea. Meanwhile, salt water is intruding 100 kilometers upstream in the Indus. While the downstream areas suffer from a water shortage, wasteful water use is wreaking environmental havoc in the command area. Overirrigation and inadequate drainage have caused the water table to rise across a large area. As a result, about 60% of all farm plots in Sindh are plagued by waterlogging and salinity. Pakistan's water sector, like many of those around the world, is fraught with large- and small-scale corruption. According to a 2003 survey by Transparency International, Pakistan's Water and Power Development Agency is perceived to be the second most corrupt institution in the country. Close to half of the more than 31,000 complaints received by Pakistan's anticorruption ombudsman in 2002 were related to this one institution. As the World Bank's 2005 Pakistan water strategy admits, top positions in the country's water bureaucracy are sold at a high price. Corruption works in a variety of ways in Pakistan's water sector. Officials need to recoup the investments in their positions in the form of kickbacks. They do so primarily through projects that serve construction companies and large landowners, not through improved maintenance programs and low-cost projects that serve the poor. This is why the water bureaucracy, as the World Bank puts it, suffers from a "build-neglect-rebuild" syndrome, and "has yet to make the vital mental transition from that of a builder to that of a manager." Many officials in Pakistan's water sector also allocate irrigation water to the highest briber and not necessarily the most needy or productive farmers. "Payments to irrigation officials to ensure the delivery of sanctioned water supplies were reported as routine and endemic" the World Bank found in 2002. Corruption is allowed to blossom because Pakistan's water sector lacks transparency and accountability. The water allocations on all levels of the irrigation system are for example not disclosed to the public. The World Bank concludes: "In the shadows of discretion and lack of accountability, of course, lurk all sorts of interests-of powerful people who manipulate the system for their ends, and of those in the bureaucracy who serve them and are rewarded for this service." An Alternative Brick-and-mortar investments in centrally managed dams and canals are not the only way to address Pakistan's water and energy needs. Because the existing infrastructure is not being properly maintained and so much water is being wasted, the efficiency of the irrigation system could be greatly increased. Plugging the leaks of the existing system is environmentally more benign than building new dams and canals. It is also more economical. A World Bank evaluation found in 1996 that water conservation measures saved more water than the largest new dam in Pakistan's investment program could have stored, and at one-fifth the cost. The Asian Development Bank estimates that an additional 4.7 million acre-feet of water could be provided either by conservation measures at a cost of $1.7 billion, or by a new dam with a price tag of $4.5 billion. Decentralized and nonstructural solutions to Pakistan's water crisis also exist. The Indus Valley has huge groundwater reservoirs, which could store many times as much water as all future dams. Recharging these reservoirs would require more sustainable flood management practices which allow the Indus to overflow its banks temporarily rather than confine it within massive embankments. Farmers still irrigate thousands of square kilometers of land through traditional techniques outside the modern canal system, and without support from the government or World Bank. Rainwater harvesting and simple, affordable treadle pumps provide a steady supply of water to farmers, without the added costs of bribes for water officials or diesel pumps. Drip irrigation kits apply water directly to the roots rather than the furrows, and use only half as much irrigation water in the process. An innovative way of planting rice without standing water (called the System of Rice Intensification) allows rice-a particularly thirsty crop-to be grown using only half the amount of water, while also boosting harvests. Such soft approaches have been adopted with good success around the world, and are being introduced in Pakistan. Shifting control over water resources from bureaucrats and absentee landlords to poor farmers would ensure a more economic use of water, reduce poverty, and protect the environment at the same time. In 2003, the World Bank argued that a "genuine paradigm shift" emphasizing the proper management of water resources rather than new infrastructure was needed in Pakistan. Yet a new water strategy which the Bank proposed for the country in September 2005 does not reflect this paradigm shift. It asserts that "Pakistan has to invest, and invest soon, in costly and contentious new dams." The strategy recognizes the potential for efficiency gains, but does not address the maintenance gap in the water sector, and the serious social and environmental impacts of the current approach. In January 2006, General Musharraf announced that his government would start construction of the Bhasha and Kalabagh Dams by 2016. The two dams will cost more than $20 billion, will displace an estimated 160,000 people, and will further reduce downstream flows. The World Bank prepared its new water sector strategy for Pakistan without any input from civil society. It argued that "while all voices must be heard, much greater weight must be given to the voices of those who have responsibility and face the voters, and less to those who are self-appointed or who represent small special interests." This is a remarkable statement in a country that is marred by corruption, in which top government positions are for sale, and which is run by a self-appointed military ruler. Why are governments and the World Bank so obviously flouting the lessons of the past? The bank has always been good at evaluating its own performance, but bad at incorporating the lessons from such evaluations. Bank managers frequently spoke out against corruption in development projects even before Paul Wolfowitz took the helm. Yet its institutional self-interests reinforce the interests of corrupt borrowers and contractors in various ways. The bank covers its administrative costs from the profits it makes by lending to middle-income countries. It is forced to keep up lending to such countries in order to sustain its own business model. Middle-income countries can raise capital on the private market, and the World Bank is forced to keep its lending costs low so it is not out-competed by private banks. It is easier and cheaper for the bank to invest in large brick-and-mortar projects than to process loans for small, decentralized irrigation schemes, or for cheap but institutionally complex programs to improve the maintenance of existing infrastructure. The interests of the World Bank's member governments are well aligned with the institution's bureaucratic self-interests. Northern governments favor loans that pay for the contracts of international consultants and construction companies. Borrowing governments favor bulky projects that yield ribbon-cutting opportunities and political prestige, support centralized bureaucracies, and offer spoils for patronage. The bank's institutional self-interests translate into an incentive structure which rewards staff for pushing money out of the door quickly, and not for achieving lasting developing impacts. One more proof that the World Bank undermines its own development objectives and its efforts to fight corruption: The author of its new strategy for Pakistan's water sector has just been promoted by President Wolfowitz to become the country director for Brazil. Mr. Bosshard is policy director of International Rivers Network. Ms. Lawrence is international policy analyst at Environmental Defense. _____ [3] Deccan Herald June 17, 2006 NO PROGRESS ON THE GROUND By M B Naqvi New Delhi and Islamabad have to change their mindsets towards each other for promotion of peaceful relations Two and a half years have elapsed since Pakistan and India have been busy trying to improve mutual ties. There is certainly a noticeable relaxation in atmospherics created by emotive governmental pronouncements. But insofar as the hard issues that require to be settled are concerned, there have been absolutely no progress, not even on supposedly minor ones. Things on the ground are exactly as they were in January 2004. The occasion for this comment is two statements made by two important officials: Mr MK Naraynan, India's National Security Advisor, has said that Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh might not visit Pakistan this year. He gave the reason that terrorism emanating from Pakistan is causing trouble in India and unless Pakistan does something significant to stop this, India's Prime Minister can scarcely be expected to visit Pakistan. After all he wants to visit to do something. If he cannot achieve solid results - on any of the eight recognised disputes - what will be the point of his visit. The second statement was made by Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee of the Pakistan armed forces. Addressing senior military officers in Islamabad recently that the Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) which are being agreed to, do not amount too much; the real issue is Kashmir and unless India is ready to do something to move the dialogue forward, the entire effort is futile. On the Pakistan side there has been a division of work. The President has been airing, from time to time, various ideas on a Kashmir solution. Some of them were based on American experts' thinking with inputs from both India and Pakistan. And he is still at it. But he took good care of making his Prime Minister say, sotto voce, that unless Kashmir is solved the dialogue cannot really yield results. This time round the President has made the second senior most General to articulate the same idea. It is time to judge. The two governments have so far given their peoples a number of CBMs to play with. To repeat, there has been no real progress. The situation needs to be faced both by Pakistan and India with realism. Political parties too have to realise that further negotiations within this framework will be fruitless. Although one has always stood for an Indo-Pakistan friendship based on a thorough going reconciliation covering the entire South Asia, hard realities of inter-state situation makes one pessimistic. Let's try and move the compass. Two solid and antagonist state apparatuses, with powerful vested interest in Indo-Pak hostility, have grown up. Each has conflicting core issues or botttomlines. While each pursues power, vis-à-vis each other, the chances of the two security establishments settling down to a friendly co-existence are next to nil. Substance of two national efforts involves collision. A real change requires qualitatively different national aims. Unless the main purpose of national endeavour in both countries changes achieving easily verifiable improvements in the way the two people live and work in villages, towns and city mohallahs, nothing substantial will change. But if the quality of politics changes in both countries, the sky will be the limit to their cooperation and coming together. But that sounds utopian. But that is the only way forward. Perhaps reasons should be adduced to why current realism will end in a blind alley. One reason is that no one has realised the mischief that the nuclear weapons are playing. The two governments do not know, or acknowledge, that two antagonistic deterrents sitting cheek by jowl cannot long accept any nuclear restraint regime. Look, there have three rounds of negotiations by the Foreign Secretaries to roughhew even an MOU on the restraint subject, let alone a proper treaty. Fact is the two countries are engaged in a fierce and comprehensive arms race. The race is on to increase and improve conventional and nuclear weapons and their delivery vehicles. Why else are constant missile experiments being made? Second fact is neither establishment can acquiesce in the other's Bomb; it simply must not be. A factoid is that the only likely use of nuclear weapons by India or Pakistan can only be on each other's territory. All else is fluff. So long as the two governments evade the issue and cover it up with deceptive words, things would not move forward. Kashmir is moving into this league. India's bottomline is that its sovereignty over the Kashmir valley remains unalloyed. Few are deceived by beautiful words. Pakistan has actually agreed to this but its backwoodsmen apparently inside the Army would seem to demand something more than mere words, CBMs buses and more travel etc. They want some role across the Line of Control whether or not they would extend similar facilities to Indian forces on this side of the Line of Control. It is an emotive issue. Indians cannot conceive of a future without the Kashmir Valley being safely inside India. Pakistani hardliners apparently cannot conceive a future without the Kashmir Valley becoming free of Indian control. All one can say is that new thinking is needed. _____ [4] Kashmir Times June 17, 2006 Editorial SHADES OF HINDUTVA CONGRESS AND BJP ARE TWO SIDES OF SAME COIN The tone and tenor of their utterances may appear different and their actions may vary but both the ruling Congress, professing to be the champion of secularism and opposition BJP, wearing a secular mask, speak the same language and act in a similar manner. There is a thin dividing line between the two parties with one symbolising soft Hindutva and the other presenting aggressive saffron face. This was evident in Gujarat during the post Godhra carnage and subsequently during the assembly elections there where the Congress while attacking BJP was apologetic about the anti-Muslim mayhem organised and perpetrated by the Modi-led BJP government. During that period the Congress leaders and rank and file failed to come out openly against the acts and designs of the saffron brigade. This very face of the Congress is also visible in Jammu and Kashmir where the leaders and workers of the two parties speak the same language in different tones. The two parties may be opposing each other for political power but on the ideological front they differ only in the shade. Take the latest case of the murderous utterances of the BJP leaders during their sinister "Save Doda" a euphemism for "Save BJP", agitation launched in Jammu for the past few days. When lunatic fanatics of the parivar offered a cash award for any one killing a militant, an open call for a civil war on communal lines, the Congress leaders failed to rise to the occasion and come out openly to mobilise the public opinion against the saffron brigade and expose their nefarious designs. Only two days after such treacherous utterances by the BJP leaders the chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad came out with a mild denunciation with the State government willy nilly registering an FIR against them and a down-graded Congress minister raising his feeble voice against such utterances. Since then not a single Congress leader has come out openly to condemn the BJP game plan and fight out their pernicious ideology and programme. There are instances where the Congress leaders have exposed their Hindutva character by speaking the parivar's language even in more aggressive manner. How would one term the speeches of the Congress member of Lok Sabha from Udhampur-Doda constituency in Parliament, at the roundtable conference and in public rallies when he tried to outdo the saffron brigade. The latest case in point is the utterances of none other than the Union minister of state for home Jaiprakash Jaiswal during his visit to Jammu on Thursday. Instead of coming out vehemently against the BJP demand for arming the civilians (nee Hindus) in Doda to fight out the militants (nee Muslims) he appeared apologetic about the sinister suggestion. In a way he did not disapprove the demand for arming civilians but only pointed out that such arms would not be provided to the civilians at " the behest of BJP " adding that this would be done if the people and the State government so demanded. Jaiswal was not opposed to the arming of civilians in principle but only said that " it is the prerogative of the district administration and not of the BJP, if we feel the need and district administration in concurrence with the State government puts up a demand then we will certainly oblige". It is not the absurd demand of arming one section against the other that is objectionable but a matter of who gets the credit. What a perverted logic? It is not only on the question of dealing with the situation in Doda or elsewhere in Jammu and Kashmir but on all major policy matters that the Congress has either overtly and covertly endorsed the BJP stance or it failed to come out openly to condemn their ideology and programme and mobilise their rank and file to ideologically oppose the saffron brigade. Even on the question of defending Article 370 the Congress attitude is quite lukewarm. Not a single Congress leader has come out publicly to condemn the demand for abrogation of Article 370, being raised loudly by the leaders of BJP and other parivar outfits for the past few days. Intriguingly none has so far reacted even to the pernicious suggestion of the BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi for changing the demographic character of the State by allowing people from outside the State settling in Jammu and Kashmir. That the Congress is not prepared to displease upper caste Hindu communal and casteist sentiments was also evident during the recent anti-reservation agitation launched by these sections. With a few exceptions like the Union HRD minister Arjun Singh the Congress leaders and activists failed to raise their voice against the agitators and come out openly in defence of the quota for OBCs, dalits and scheduled tribes. The Congress may try to beat the BJP in the power game but it is not prepared to fight out the saffron brigade ideologically. _____ [5] Naga Peoples Movement for Human Rights PB# 718, II Floor K.N.Sekhose Complex, Near Hotel Fira, Jail Colony Kohima, 797001 Nagaland http// www.npmhr.org NPMHR appeals for an organized and persistent resistance against AFSPA Dimapur, 14 June 2006 The Naga Peoples Movement for Human Rights (NPMHR) condemns the position of the Government of India for extension of 'Disturbed Areas Act' and rejection of the just demand for repealing the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA); one of the most inhumane law ever legislated across the world reflecting India's enduring democratic deficit. NPMHR consider this imposition of martial law provision on the Nagas and other struggling communities, denying them of their basic human dignity under the pretense of 'protecting territorial integrity and promoting national security' by democratic India, as a serious threat to world peace and security. The ancestry of the imposition of this AFSPA by the then newly Independent India (supplanting the former British colonial policy under which it suffered immensely), has been that of the campaign to suppress the Naga national movement in the 1950's by brute military force through its manipulative propaganda of quelling 'a few misguided Naga tribesmen' on its frontiers. Despite the Government of India entering a formal ceasefire with the Naga resistance since 1997 and 'the recognition of the unique history and situation of the Nagas', the political process has not made significant progress so far. In this prolonged process of 'talking about talks', the Government of India has launched its massive 'psychological warfare' programme to further confuse and divide the people, leading to increasing bloodshed amongst the Nagas. NPMHR cautioned the Naga public to be careful about the questionable developmental packages dole out by the Indian military through its various civic contact programs under 'Operation Good Samaritan'. Under any Government the role of the military is to protect national interest/borders through search, identify and destruction of the enemy but not development which is the realm of the executive. Naga Public should remember the many decades of bloodbath in Naga homeland and be farsighted about its role in peace building process where many vested interests forces are out to 'win the hearts and mind' of the common people to limit our potential as a struggling nation. NPMHR holds Government of India wholly responsible for the continuing cases of killings of civilians and clashes amongst the armed cadres. Even with the existence of a loose ceasefire monitoring mechanism and rising demands for amendment in the ground rules for effective enforcement, Government of India deliberately continues to ignore the efficient implementation of the ceasefire ground rules exacerbating the tension and multiplying the casualties among the Nagas. India will have no moral standing in the international community to speak and claim itself as the largest democratic country while these genocidal policies continues to be perpetrated in its so called backyard occupied north east and the Naga homeland. NPMHR considers India's quest for positions in international forum such as UN Council of Human rights and the UN Security Council as serious deception due to its dismal human rights record in Naga homeland and possesses grave threat to minority and indigenous peoples struggling for basic human security and the recognition of their right to self determination. NPMHR demands that India ratify the Rome statute on the International Criminal Court (ICC) with universal jurisdiction over cases of genocide, crime against humanity, war crimes, torture, extrajudicial executions and disappearance; which will strengthen her assertion as a functional democracy to maintain accountability and transparency towards its commitment to the various international Human rights treaties it had ratified so far. The AFSPA promotes impunity by allowing torture, extrajudicial executions and disappearance, besides many other forms of human rights violations leaving behind a huge 'Accountability gap' leading to destruction of our common humanity and dignity. NPMHR appeals to the Government of India to demonstrate sincerity and commitment to the Indo-Naga peace process by repealing the draconian Armed Forces Special Powers Act and restoration of democratic space to Nagas and other struggling communities. How can structures of violence coexist with the genuine commitment in the search for peace, unless those structures are dismantled? Is the Government of India ruling the Nagas through their free express informed consent or imposing their authority by substituting the powers of the state through repression and manipulation, for the consent of the people? India's governing of Naga homeland has so far relied on a system of repressive legislation overseen by a complaint judiciary and enforced by (its) military forces. Without scrapping this anti-democratic legislation from the statute books, there is no hope for dignified survival and unless Government of India listens to the common cry of the people and constructively creates space for democratic values to re-emerge, it is tantamount to diminishing its own avowed principles of participatory democracy and non-violence. NPMHR asserts that if Nagas continues to be excluded from a rights-creating process, the only way to realize more attention and understanding will 'depend on our organized and persistent acts of defiance and resistance to this annihilation processes'. NPMHR appeal to the Naga Public, solidarity groups in India and the international community to rise up against this anti-peoples legislation for the larger interest of just peace and global security as 'violation of human rights in any part of the world is a threat to the human race as a whole and protection and promotion of human rights is the concern for all'. Nepuni Piku Secretary General, NPMHR ____ [6] Tehelka June 24 , 2006 The Love Song of History UNESCO goodwill ambassador Madanjeet Singh traces the secular legacy of India's oral tradition IT WAS in Kashmir that I first became aware of the prevailing influence of oral folk culture in India. There, I met Aasi, the 'coolie poet', an illiterate Muslim labourer in Srinagar. His secular poetry had inspired all communities, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and Christians, to form a cultural front against the kabaili (tribal) invaders who attacked the valley in 1948 soon after partition. He was a devotee of Kashmir's patron Sufi saint, Hazrat Nuruddin Nurani and often went to pray in his shrine - one floor used as a temple, the other as a mosque. Many Kashmiri poets like Lalla and Lal Ded (14th century), were women, who wrote poems about Shiva. Hubb Khatun (16th century) and Arani-mal (18th century) were famous for their love lyrics. And a lot of poetic literature by Muslims in Kashmiri betrays strong Hindu influences. Aasi's poetry took the form of verses intoned as if part of a Vedic ritual. The Vedas (c.1500-1200 bc) are inherently secular. They extolled Nature deities such as Agni (fire), Surya (sun), Usha (the dawn) and Indra (rain and storm). This liturgical corpus preserved orally and handed down through generations. The addition of rhythm and beat aided memorisation, and thus music, became an integral part of this oral tradition, which resonates throughout Indian folk culture now. South Asian folk music and dance are predominantly secular as the oral traditions derive from animistic cultures, which've been preserved by tribal communities. The adivasis of central and eastern India (Murias, Bhils, Gonds, Juangs and Santhals) are the most uninhibited in their song and dance. Bauls, the lonely wandering minstrels of Bengal, do not belong to any religious denomination. They believe in the religion of 'humanity' and roam endlessly seeking the 'Supreme Being' within, through music, devotion and love. Be it Bhangra, the male harvest dance of Punjab, the Rajasthani ghoomar, the Lambadi gypsy women of Andhra Pradesh, or the kolyacha dance indigenous to the Konkan coast, the variety of ritualistic folk dances in India are all inherently secular. Many also have magical significance and are connected with ancient cults. The karakam dance of Tamil Nadu is mainly performed at an annual festival in front of the image of Mariyammai (the goddess of pestilence) to deter her from unleashing an epidemic. Kathakali, indigenous to southwestern India, takes its subject matter from the Ramayana, the Maha-bharata, and Saiva literature. The faces of the dancers are made-up elaborately to look like painted masks. Masked dances, in fact, are among the most ancient of cultural objects. The Himalayan region is known for its fantastic masked dancers. In Ladakh, dancers impersonate yaks with men mounted on their back. In sada tapa tsen, men wear gorgeous brocades and long tunics with wide flapping sleeves. Skulls arranged as a diadem are a prominent feature of their grotesquely grinning wooden masks, representing spirits of the other world. The chhau, a unique form in Bihar, have masks with predominantly human features slightly modified to suggest the element they portray - rainbows, night, flowers. Their serene expressions painted in simple, flat colours differ radically from the elaborate makeup of kathakali, or the exaggerated ghoulishness of the Noh and Kandyan masks. In Kerala, the Therayattam festival is held to propitiate gods and demons. Dancers in awe-inspiring costumes and hideous masks, enact weird rituals before the village shrine. In Madhya Pradesh, men and women of the Muria tribe, perform the bison horn dance. Wearing horned headdresses with a tall tuft of feathers and a fringe of cowry shells over their faces, the men carry a log-shaped drum around their necks. The women, their heads surmounted by solid-brass chaplets and their breasts covered with heavy metal necklaces, carry sticks in their right hands like drum majorettes. About a 100 performers dance at a time. The 'bisons' attack each other, spearing up leaves with their horns and chasing the female dancers in a dynamic interpretation of nature's mating season. The all-embracing character of this folk culture comes into focus as it travels around the world, blending with the mythology, history and geography of different countries. Until recently, it was marvellous to see the Mahabharata and the Ramayana played by Indonesian Muslims at the roadside. So also the Wayang puppet theatre, where the master puppeteer enacted characters from great Indian epics, interwoven with indigenous myths, while singers and musicians play melodies on local bronze instruments and beat on gamelan drums. Folk music can be very contemporary and political. Folk songs can serve as chronicle, newspaper and agent of enculturation. In modern societies, folk music is perpetuated by ethnic and religious minorities, among whom it is thought to promote self-esteem and social solidarity. The web of these oral interactions laid the foundation of some of the most magnificent monuments worldwide. This is illustrated by a series of sun temples built on the premise of identical mythologies. Legend has it that Krishna's son, Samba cured his leprosy by spending 12 years in Mitrabana, the forest of Mitra, found on the bank of the river Chandrabrabha. Grateful, Samba built a great sun temple at Sambapura (modern day Multan in Pakistan). Long after the Multan shrine was destroyed, the Chandrabrabha myth was carried on the wings of traditional folklore. The legend spread as far as Indonesia where a 5th century inscription, attributed to Samba by the Indonesian king Purnavaman, mentions the river Chandraprabha. Curiously, the myth does not stop in Indonesia but returns to Konarak in India, where a magnificent 13th century Surya temple was built and the river Chandraprabha identified with a pool of water in a nearby forest called Mitrabana. Great works of art were also created by oral cultures. Having achieved Enlightenment, the Buddha (born c. 563 bc) travelled far preaching his secular message of 'religious agnosticism'. After his death (c. 483 bc), his followers propagated his Theravada doctrine as they built cave monasteries along the silk route. These 'cultural stopovers' became important adjuncts to the oral tradition and local scribes, painters and sculptors propagated the Buddha's message. The Jataka stories of the Ajanta cave paintings, in fact, are said to derive from another storehouse of Indian oral and intangible heritage - Panchatantra, Sanskrit for 'Five Chapters'. The original Sanskrit work, now lost, may have originated at any time between 100 bc and ad 500. The Persian royal physician, Burzo translated it into Pahlavi (Middle Persian) in the 6th century. Although this work is also lost, a Syriac translation has survived, together with the famous 8th century Arabic translation of Ibn al-Muqaffa known as Kalilah wa Dimnah after the two jackals that figure in the first story. The Arabic translation led on to various other versions, including a second Syriac translation and an 11th century version in Greek, the Stepha nites kai lehnelates, from which translations were made into Latin and various Slavic languages. The 17th century Turkish translation, the Hilmayunname, was based on a 15th century Persian version, the Anwar-e-Suhayli. In Europe, a version was written in Latin hexameters by the fabulist Baldo, probably in the 12th century, and in the 13th century, a Spanish translation was made on the orders of Alfonso X of Leon and Castile. It was the 12th century Hebrew version of Rabbi Joel, however, that became the source of most European versions. The Panchatantra stories also travelled to Indonesia through Old Javanese written literature and possibly through oral versions. At the turn of the millennium, South Asia's social, cultural and religious landscape underwent a radical transformation. The simple secular tenets of Theravada, conceived by the historical Buddha, were discarded for metaphysical notions of Mahayana and Vajrayana (Tantric) Buddhism and both were rejected by an increasingly aggressive Hindu orthodoxy. The common people felt left out by the Sanskrit curricula of the Gupta Empire, preferring the use of their own locally spoken languages. At the same time, a large number of Bhakti cults mushroomed around the mythology of Krishna, the 'black', the lover, the rebel. In southern India, the Alvar and Nayanar hymnists roamed the countryside from the 7th to the 10th century. However, it was not until Bhakti notions interacted with Sufism that a South Asian 'renaissance' flourished, inspiring superb poetry and literature in regional languages rather than Sanskrit. Foreign influences included the Sufi mysticism of Rabiah al-Adawiyah, an Iraqi woman from Basra, who died in 801 ad, as well as others from Egypt, Iran and Turkey. The Bhakti poet-saints hailed from all sections of society, ranging from mendicants like Namdev, Tukaram, Tulsidas, Surdas, Gorakhnath and Chandidas, to the Rajput princess of Jodhpur, Mira Bai. Mir Bulleh Shah (1680-1758) was among the great Punjabi Sufi poets of the Qadiri Shatari sect. He became the disciple of Inayat Shah, a low caste gardener, and was subsequently known as 'the sheikh of both worlds'. To accept a menial worker as his master in the social conditions of his times shook society to its core especially as he traced his descent from the Prophet Mohammad. Musicians invariably accompanied the poet-saints. Bala, a Hindu tabla player, and Mardana, a Muslim player of the string instrument rabab, invariably accompanied Nanak, the first guru of the Sikhs. Together, they reached as far as Mecca and Medina. The foundation stone of the holiest of Sikh shrines in Amritsar was laid by Mian Mir, a Sufi ascetic and its inner sanctum is named Harmandir after Shiva. One of the oldest Bengali books, Gorakhavijaya was written by Abd-ul-Karim. Muslims also authored many padyavalis, poems celebrating the love of Krishna and Radha. Bengali culture in particular emphasised the element of love, which changed the notion of asceticism to mysticism. Several religious sects attempted to harmonise Hindu and Muslim religious traditions at different levels. The story of the Rajput princess Padmavati, originally a romance, was beautifully recorded in Hindi by the 16thcentury Sufi poet Malik Muhammad Jayasi, and later by the 17th century Bengali Muslim poet Alaol. This tradition inspired modern poets such as Rabindranath Tagore and Mohammad Iqbal. The synthesis between Bhakti and Sufi elements also incorporated aspects from Buddhist literature, such as certain Ismaili texts like Umm al-kitab. The Kalachakra also speaks of Mecca and introduces Islamic formulas into mantras. This trend of religious syncretisation appears to have continued as late as the 19th century, when Raja Pratap Singh Judeo of Chhatarpur attempted to translate the Bhakti-Sufi spirit into temple architecture. In one temple (on the unesco list of culture heritage), the traditional domes on the top of a shrine represent a Hindu shikara, a Buddhist stupa and the dome of a mosque. The raja wanted the shrine to be open for worship to everyone, irrespective of sex, class, caste or religion, much like the Sufi shrine in Kashmir, where one floor was used as a temple and the other as a mosque. The writer is Founder, South Asia Foundation and has written many books on heritage and culture _____ [7] Literary Review / The Hindu June 4, 2006 LITERARY HISTORY Aesthetics of resistance M. ASADUDDIN Anthems chronicles the achievements of the Urdu Progressive Writers' Movement. Anthems of Resistance: A Celebration of Urdu Poetry, Ali Husain Mir and Raza Mir, India Ink, Roli Books, 2006, p.xix + 248, Rs. 295. ART'S relationship with life has always remained a subject of fierce contention among writers and ideologues. In India, the debates about art for art's sake and "engaged' literature animated the literary scene in the 1930s and 40s. The Progressive Writers' Movement (PWM) that spearheaded this debate changed the complexion of literature in a couple of Indian languages, Urdu being the most prominent among them. Urdu poets had a dominant presence in the movement and the way they posited a radical aesthetics of resistance against oppressive hegemonies of all kinds had few parallels in South Asian literature. Some poems/ couplets swept a generation of readers off their feet, making poetry the most potent weapon in the process of social transformation. Good poetry has never been known to be didactic. However, some progressive poets, notably Faiz Ahmad Faiz, could blend ideology with poetry with such finesse, with such consummate artistry, that it has added charm to their art rather than resulting in the loss of depth or lyricism. The book under review chronicles the achievements of the PWM through the works of the more prominent among them. Divided into 11 chapters of moderate length, the book proceeds from a discussion of the theoretical/ideological issues to the exemplars of the ideology, always elucidating the points through a sumptuous sampling of verses both in original Urdu and in lucid English translation. Different responses The chapter on progressive aesthetic discusses the notion of people's art as propounded by Mayakovsky, Gorky and Mao. The response to such an aesthetic by Urdu poets has not been uniform, even though the broad principle that literature should engage with the plight of the marginalised was accepted by all. While many poets valorised content over form, others like Majrooh Sultanpuri and Kaifi Azmi worked within the form of traditional genres like the ghazal but extended the expressive possibilities of the form to convey revolutionary ideas. In several chapters the authors discuss the contributions made by stalwarts like Ali Sardar Jafri, Kaifi Azmi, Jaan Nisar Akhtar, Asrarul Haq Majaz and Makhdoom Mohiuddin. In the chapter, "Dream and Nightmare" they show how the robust and uncritical optimism shown by the progressives in a teleological notion of history and the liberating potential of modernity got a rude jolt when the apocalyptic moment of freedom and decolonisation of India was scarred by the worst form of fratricidal violence and genocide in the history of the subcontinent. Faiz's poem "Subh Azadi", beginning with Ye dagh dagh ujala ye shabgazida sehar, Majaz's Awara (though written much earlier) and Kaifi's "Mera Maazi mere kaandhe pe" demonstrate the Progressives' disillusionment with India's freedom and their ambivalent relationship with modernity. To the authors of this book, Sahir Ludhianvi is the best exemplar of progressive poetry and they substantiate their assertion through the film lyrics that he wrote over several decades. Urdu writers associated with the PWM had a marked presence in the Bombay film industry from the 1940s and this in no small measure accounts for the fact that the strand of progressive ideology runs as an undercurrent through the films then produced, before it gets dissipated by the widespread cynicism brought in by mounting corruption in public life. However, despite the constraints imposed by a new medium and the changing perceptions in the Mumbai film industry poets like Majrooh and Javed Akhtar managed to insert progressive elements in their lyrics. Akhtar's "Tarkash" has been taken up for detailed analysis by the authors to demonstrate the continuance and even reassertion of the progressive strand in Urdu poetry. The spirit survives The authors argue that though PWM lost steam for a number of reasons, the spirit of resistance still survives, which is notably visible in the strand of feminist Urdu poetry in Pakistan. They see it at work in the poetry of a radical and fiercely independent band of women poets like Fahmida Riyaz, Kishwar Naheed, Parvin Shakir and others who have been waging a fierce battle against patriarchy and the fascist tendencies of the oppressive military regimes in Pakistan. In recent years, we have had at least two critical accounts of the PWM, by Geeta Patel in her book on Miraji and Priyambada Gopal in her book on the literature of resistance, respectively. The authors of Anthems of Resistance, however, declare unabashedly that theirs is not a critical or dispassionate account. It is a celebration of the spirit of resistance encapsulated in a particular phase of Urdu poetry. The book has been successful in capturing the excitement and ebullience of that moment when, to quote Wordsworth in the context of the French Revolution, "Bliss was it then to be alive/ But to be young was very heaven!" _____ [8] In view of dismal conditions of basic facilities available to fishermen villages, threats to the livelihood of both coastal and inland fishing, the contract system on inland fishing, Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum is organizing a mega rally in Karachi on June 19, 2006 from Mazar-e-Quaid to Sindh Assembly Building at 11.00 am. _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ 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/ SACW archive is available at: bridget.jatol.com/pipermail/sacw_insaf.net/ DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed in materials carried in the posts do not necessarily reflect the views of SACW compilers. _______________________________________________ Sacw mailing list [email protected] http://insaf.net/mailman/listinfo/sacw_insaf.net
