South Asia Citizens Wire | November 24, 2006 | Dispatch No. 2323 - Year 8
[1] India and Pakistan: Inimical co-existence (M B Naqvi) [2] Operation Recovery and the abduction of women and children during the Partition riots (Kamla Patel) [3] India: The Indian Left's tightrope act (Praful Bidwai) [4] Shazia's week (Shazia Mirza) [5] India: Goodbye, Bangalore - The pain of parting with the familiar (The Economist) [6] India: Complaint against the illegal detention and torture of Afzal Khan in Chhattisgarh [7] Book Review: Letting silence speak (Karen Herland) [8] Upcoming Events: Theatre films . . . (New Delhi 25th & 26th November) ____ [1] Deccan Herald 24 November 2006 INDIA AND PAKISTAN: INIMICAL CO-EXISTENCE by M B Naqvi The prize for becoming friends is progressive enrichment of common people in both the countries. Optimists' hopes will soar: foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan have met in a 'good atmosphere'; another round of Composite Dialogue will go forward. No breakthrough has been made in finding a solution to any of the problems thrown into the foreign secretaries' basket of course. But the promise of a joint mechanism to fight terrorism is going to be built. There is a promise of some more Confidence Building Measures (CBM) to be agreed upon. That is about all. For realists, there was no basis for hoping that the two nuclear powers are going to bury the past and at least cease being each other's designated enemy. Indeed, that is not even being discussed. There is no thought of reconciling with each other and building a progressive friendship between them. What the two foreign secretaries are engaged in is writing ground rules for two inimical powers to co-exist peacefully. The two will remain unfriendly powers vis-à-vis each other; only, they will not hopefully remain on hair-trigger alert where nukes are concerned. Will the CBMs ensure a certain amount of maturity of not firing off the nuclear-tipped missile(s) on the first rumour of the enemy's launch? The plain answer is no. There will be no time to think or verify or talk to one's counterpart on phones. The enemy missile will take four to five minutes to hit its target. No government or Command Control System can be mature enough to sift a rumour, a malfunctioning radar or even a big bird in the given time. Pakistan wanted the resolution of the disputes between the two countries as the master CBM. Common sense accepts the proposition. But common sense is not welcome when national security experts are in discussion. Existence of disputes over territory or water generally define stable non-friendly relationships between neighbouring states; without disputes the animosities cannot endure for long. Political and economic dynamics of the inimical relations between India and Pakistan has given birth to pressure groups that over time have become vested interests. Modern armed forces require a lot of high-tech equipment that is extremely expensive. Exporters of such hardware are prepared to offer attractive kickbacks, going in some cases to 12-14 per cent of total cost. Kickbacks are the main for ultimate decision-makers. But modern procedures - committees that examine general characteristics of what or which equipment to import, technical committees and bureaucrats who assess various proposals etc - means a crowd of civil and military officers and politicians who have to be kept in good humour through kickbacks or other benefits. Hardware producers spend a lot of money on PR through their local representatives. Parties thrown by indenters of military equipment are the most riotous. Hundreds of millions of dollars are thus spent for each major contract. Recipients are also many, among whom may be some writers or journalists. This gentry is important and claims to be more patriotic than most others. Their incomes, importance and influence depend on the constant growth, in numbers and equipment upgradation, of the military establishment. Their politics is based on their economic and social interests. They habitually take a hardline and advocate ever greater militarisation for their country. As it happens even greater militarisation requires a credible enemy. Pakistan and India are the most credible enemies to each other. Hence, a non-stop arms race in all departments of military preparedness has gone on that provides income and satisfaction to local versions of industrial-military complexes. An example is ready at hand. A week ago Pakistan FM Kasuri said that the two countries are quite close to resolving the Siachin dispute. Indian security wallahs mobilised their heaviest guns and have in effect told Premier Manmohan Singh not to resolve this dispute in a manner that is against India's national interests. Serving generals have pitched in to virtually oppose a solution except on maximalist terms. What is surprising is that serving generals are advising in public their Prime Minister not to do this or that which normally is no business of theirs. How come they even visualise their PM doing something against national interests? No other case of the kind seems to have happened in India before. Could it be that the disease that Pakistan Army contracted is beginning to afflict Indian military too? Relations between India and Pakistan cannot long remain like those of two distant powers; they have far too much in common: languages, religions, races, cultures, history and sources of water. There is a choice before the leadership of the two countries: they can either remain enemies - with frequent wars as a likelihood that will tend to become nuclear - or to overcome the resistance of ultra patriots and consciously seek to become friends from the present ambivalent condition. The prize for becoming friends that cooperate is progressive enrichment of common people in both the countries, while the cost of continued hostility will be poverty and the vulnerability of being nuked. Let a clear-headed choice be made. _____ [2] http://membres.lycos.fr/sacw/article.php3?id_article=34 (Dawn November 19, 2006) CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE A FIRST-HAND ACCOUNT OF OPERATION RECOVERY AND THE CAMPS SET UP IN PAKISTAN AND INDIA FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN ABDUCTED DURING THE PARTITION RIOTS Kamla Patel describes the chaos of Partition and the plight of people torn between two countries Miyanwali District in Pakistan is the last district of Punjab, right on the border. It was relatively difficult to make arrangements for the recovery of women in this district. Even before Partition, abduction of women often took place there. Keeping in mind the local conditions, an elderly, khadi-clad woman social worker was sent there for this purpose. But despite her enthusiasm and ability, the work could not be carried out satisfactorily. Lists of abducted women were given to the police. In most cases, the word 'non-traceable' was written against the names and the lists returned. Although we knew that the police were avoiding their duty, there was nothing one could do to amend their ways. As a result, the social worker felt she was wasting her time and began a fast. The Indian army unit posted at Miyanwali informed me of this by a wireless message. I did not think it was proper to fast in dealing with the police of a foreign country. I called up Mridulaben in Delhi and sought her advice. She consulted the high ranking officers of this department, as also Rameshwari Nehru, the president of the committee, and returned my call within an hour, asking me to go to Miyanwali and persuade this lady to give up her fast. I was also asked to discuss how to proceed with our work with the local officials there. With an army officer, I left for Miyanwali early next morning. It was evening by the time I arrived there. With a great deal of effort I made "Mataji" take some food. It was the third day of her fast. I suggested that she should come back with me to Lahore for a while, and she agreed to do so. The next day, the local police officers arranged a meeting, at which we discussed how to carry on our work. As we were about to part, one police officer suggested that I should go with him to see the places around that area and I gladly accepted. Before Partition, this officer had often visited Mumbai to see his relatives there and we talked of this on the way. While returning, he stopped his vehicle at a well and said, "Innumerable Hindu women of this area jumped into this 'sinful' well to save their honour. The whole well was full of the dead bodies of such women. You have come all this way from a far away place like Mumbai to recover abducted women, running such risks, whereas we were unable to protect the sisters and daughters of our own town. Not only that, but we have been tainted in a way which can never be cleansed of the sin of abducting the sisters and daughters of our town. What evil impressions will we leave behind in history!" In telling me this, his voice became choked and his eyes were full of tears. I caught a glimpse of a sensitive soul behind a police officer's uniform. At first, I thought that he must be a refugee from UP or Bihar, and hence he was so sympathetic towards Hindus. However, during our conversation, I learnt that he belonged to Punjab. He had not suffered any personal loss at the time of Partition, but in the village where he had grown up, most of his childhood friends were Hindus. At great personal risk he had taken many of them and helped them go across the border to the camps there. He had kept in safe custody many of the valuables belonging to these Hindus, so that he could return them to their rightful owners. He told me that after most of his friends had left, although he was living amongst his own people, he felt a sense of loneliness. No one knew whether his real mother was still alive ... No one even knew her full name. Where should one look for her? And what would be the plight of this child if she could not be traced? In the course of my work, I came across many officers and social workers. Some of their personalities left a brief impression on my mind, which was soon erased. While the impression made by some others lasted a long time. Amongst all these persons, this officer whom I happened to meet only once - the sorrowful expression on his face is etched on my mind after the lapse of such a long period of time. While returning from Miyanwali, we stopped at Sargodha and spent so much time in discussing the arrangements with the authorities of the camp that I was forced to spend the night there, and decided to leave in the morning. The next day, the Pakistani police brought a young boy, three or four years old to our camp. The child was overawed, and he had been crying so much that his eyes were swollen and he could hardly speak. We put toys before him and offered him sweets, but despite this he did not stop crying. He just nodded his head in reply to each question. All of us decided that I should take him with me to the Lahore camp. As there were other small children there, he might easily get along with them and play. After a few hours, I left for Lahore taking the little boy with me. After getting into the car, for a few moments he was happy, but then again he reverted to his former state. During the eight-hour car journey, he just kept crying, and when he was tired of crying, he fell asleep for a while, but as soon as he woke up, he began crying again. On returning to the camp, I asked the lady in charge to look after the boy. But as I was involved in other work, I forgot all about him. After about three days, the lady in charge told me that she felt that this boy was a Muslim. "He says his name is Latif. However, he does not know his parents' names. He does play with other children, but somehow in his pattern of behaviour or in the way he acts and talks, there are no signs of his being a Hindu child." Since the Pakistani police had brought him over, there was no possibility of such a mistake. Nevertheless, we decided that we should be in no hurry to send him to Jalandhar. After a few days his so-called grandparents came over, and we called Latif to meet them. Latif embraced his grandmother. All three of them had tears in their eyes. The grandfather said, "Latif is the son of our daughter. His mother died when he was very small, and since then he has been living with us. No one knows the whereabouts of his father. After the death of his mother, his father has not even once come to see him. Our daughter was our only child, and we are passing our days in bringing up her son." We felt that the grandfather was telling the truth. But the child having once come to our camp, we could not entrust him to his grandparents without the permission of the Pakistani police. I explained this to his grandparents, and told them that we could not send him back with them. His case would have to be presented before the tribunal. And "if the tribunal is convinced that this boy belongs to you, they will hand him over to you." The boy's grandmother requested me to allow her to stay in the camp, but I could not agree, as this was against the rules. They stayed somewhere else in Lahore, and until the next tribunal came to visit Latif every day. The grandparents were present when the tribunal met. The police officers of both the countries were not convinced by what they told them. Latif's name was not in the Indian list but the police in Sargodha had, on their own, brought this boy over. Both members of the tribunal felt that the police could not make such a mistake. The tribunal postponed its decision on this case, and decided to call the Sargodha police at the next sitting. The police officers of Sargodha were present at the next meeting. We were all taken aback at the facts they disclosed. Latif's grandparents were called to give their testimony, and they were unable to stand up to the questioning of the tribunal. Finally, they had to come out with the true facts. According to the grandfather's statement, they had only one child - a daughter. Even after many years of marriage, she was childless. A neighbour, a Hindu artisan, had three children. The old man's daughter used to look after the neighbour's youngest child right from his infancy and showered affection on him as if he was her own son. Latif was both handsome and healthy. When he was hardly two years old, his father died. It fell upon the widowed mother to look after and bring up three children. Little Latif stayed more and more with his foster mother, and the latter took on all the responsibility of bringing him up. When riots broke out in Punjab, people of the minority community began running hither and thither seeking safety. Latif's mother also began to make arrangements to go away to a Hindu refugee camp with her neighbours. Before leaving, she told the Muslim neighbour's family that she would like to leave Latif with them. "You have brought him up, and he has become a part of your family. I have no idea where I shall go with little children and what will be our condition. If we can settle down somewhere, I shall come over to fetch Latif, and I am quite confident that if I cannot come to fetch him, you will bring him up as your own child." She left after a couple of days. There was no way in which they could get any news about her. Latif never missed his mother, and was happily growing up. Since infancy, he regarded his foster mother as his own mother. It was difficult not to believe that ever since his birth, a queer turn of fate awaited him. After about six months their daughter, his foster mother, brought him to visit them. There she fell ill with pneumonia and died. At the time of her death, she entrusted Latif to her parents and said, "Please regard Latif as my own son and give to him whatever belongs to me as well as whatever property or wealth you own. This is my last wish." The grandparents showered the child with affection and brought him up according to their daughter's dying wishes, and with time their love for the child grew. They were so engrossed in bringing up Latif, that it compensated for the loss of their own daughter. The old man had a house and some land. He tilled the soil with his own hands and they lived off the produce of their land. However, Latif was an eyesore for the old man's brother and nephews. They realised the possibility of Latif inheriting what could have been theirs. However, there was nothing they could do about it. When the recovery of abducted women and children began, they seized the opportunity of getting rid of Latif for good. They informed the nearest police station that Latif was a Hindu child; and they must have done everything they possibly could to convince the police that this Kafir child should be sent across to India at the earliest opportunity. And that is how the police brought Latif over to our camp. For the tribunal, this was an absolutely clear case. As Latif was a Hindu, he should be sent to India. There was no need to give any further thought to the matter. Latif's so-called grandparents' entreating eyes were staring at me. Latif was sitting in his grandmother's lap, with his arms around her neck. I wondered if we had any right to deny him this comfort and safety? No one knew whether his real mother was still alive, and if so where she was now? No one even knew her full name. Where should one look for her? And what would be the plight of this child if she could not be traced? Tears filled my eyes at the thought of the kind of upbringing he would have at the camp, devoid of love and care. I requested the tribunal to postpone their verdict on this case to the following day, but the tribunal was hardly going to give in to my request. As it had been proved that Latif was a Hindu boy, there was no compelling reason for the decision to be postponed until the following day. Having clearly read the expression on my face, one of the members of the tribunal gently told me in English, "Do not get carried away by emotions. Our decisions have to be taken keeping in mind the rules that have been framed by way of an understanding between the two countries". I kept control over myself with much difficulty and said, "That may well be so, but no rule would be violated if the verdict in this case is not given today". The tribunal finally accepted my request, and took up other matters. I could not pay any attention to them. My mind was in a state of utter commotion. Why should I be a party to this decision whereby an innocent child was being uprooted from the possibility of a secure life that had been destined for him - and dispatched to an uncertain dark future of life in a camp? His mother had entrusted the child to this family after much thought and care. He had neither been snatched away from anyone, nor had he been abducted by force. Neither I, nor anyone else, had the right to snatch away someone who had been carefully entrusted to a deserving family. Excerpted with permission from Torn from the Roots: A Partition Memoir By Kamla Patel Translated by Uma Randeria Women Unlimited, K-36, Hauz Khas Enclave, Ground Floor, New Delhi 110 016, India ISBN 81-88965-27-8 236pp. Indian Rs350 Kamla Patel (1912-1992) was a participant in Gandhi's civil disobedience movement and constructive programme. After 1947, she was invited by Mridula Sarabhai to join the Organisation for Recovery of Abducted Women Uma Randeria, one of the translators of The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi from Gujarati into English, has translated several short-story collections from Russian and Bengali into Gujarati _____ [3] The News International Nov 3, 2006 THE INDIAN LEFT'S TIGHTROPE ACT by Praful Bidwai The writer, a former newspaper editor, is a researcher and peace and human-rights activist based in Delhi As foreign secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan approach, a remarkably hawkish lobby is emerging in India which opposes any reconciliation between the two governments. This vocal lobby, consisting of former Indian high commissioners to Pakistan (G Parthasarathy and Satish Chandra) and intelligence chiefs (B Raman and A K Doval) would like to hold up progress in bilateral relations until Islamabad delivers on its "anti-terrorism" commitment to the hawks' satisfaction. It blames Pakistani agencies for the recent terrorist attacks in India. The Bharatiya Janata Party is backing this lobby increasingly overtly. Even yesterday's Hindutva doves like Atal Behari Vajpayee have joined the hawkish chorus. Besides the civil society-based peace movement, the only resolute and consistent opposition to the hawks comes from the organised Indian Left, comprising the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Communist Party of India, the Revolutionary Socialist Party and the Forward Block. It is important to understand the Left's positions and its dilemmas in dealing with the ruling United Progressive Alliance which it supports from the outside. The Left is unhappy that the UPA has not fulfilled the promises of its own National Common Minimum Programme. The NCMP promised to "pursue an independent foreign policy and promote [global] multipolarity." But it has tailed the United States and supported unipolarity. Its economic and social policies also seriously deviate from the NCMP's promise of egalitarian development and re-assertion of secularism. The UPA won the 2004 elections because the public was disgusted with the BJP's sectarian and communally divisive politics--revealed starkly in the Gujarat carnage of 2002. The electorate also felt insulted at the ludicrous "India Shining" campaign. Yet, the UPA hasn't implemented its mandate. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh hasn't even once reiterated the UPA's commitment to secure justice for the Gujarat victims, tens of thousands of whom remain refugees in their own land. The UPA has passively watched Narendra Milosevic Modi's sabotage of the criminal justice process in Gujarat. Barring the National Rural Employment Guarantee and Right to Information Acts, the Alliance hasn't imparted substance to its social and economic promises. (Even on the RTI, it's dragging its feet.) The UPA's overall economic policy isn't sharply distinguishable from the BJP's. This highlights the Left parties' predicament. They have acquired unprecedented relevance. In Parliament, they have grown to the highest-ever figure of 61 MPs. They are acknowledged even by conservative politicians as the UPA's "conscience-keepers". Yet, their well-considered pleas on food security, labour laws, urban planning, and the rights to education and healthcare are ignored. The UPA's policies on rehabilitation, affirmative action, tribal rights, etc. differ sharply from theirs. Nevertheless, the Left cannot withdraw support to the UPA and risk the BJP's return. It must perform a tightrope walk and continually mount pressure on the UPA through dialogue, advocacy, lobbying and protests. This difficult exercise also carries an additional cost--subordinating the Left's core concerns, programmes and organisational priorities to the task of keeping the BJP out of power. It's therefore appropriate that the CPI and the CPI (M) are undertaking "serious introspection" on their functioning and internal structures. Such reflection is indispensable if the Left is to preserve its distinctive political identity. The Left, despite its weaknesses, has played a uniquely worthy and irreplaceable role in India--as the voice of the underprivileged, as a force for democratisation and for extension of freedom, and as a repository of progressive ideas. If the Left didn't exist, we would have to invent it! Three questions demand the Left's serious reflection. Is it setting an example of good governance in West Bengal and Kerala, which is worthy of emulation? How can it achieve a major objective it set itself decades ago--namely, build/rebuild a base in the Hindi belt? And what's its strategy for expanding its political reach and inducting new cadres? The first question calls for candid answers. In West Bengal, the Left is drifting Rightwards. It has revived the state's long-stagnant economy--but at an onerous cost to its own integrity and its image among the underprivileged. As Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said in July, he's essentially following a "capitalist model." This model is based upon accumulation by dispossession and impoverishment of the poor, through cleansing cities of slumdwellers and creating special economic zones with tax-breaks or dilution of labour laws. Although the Left's base in Bengal has widened, it's shifting. An April 2006 poll showed a five per cent adverse swing in its support among the poor, and a 17 to 18 per cent gain among the rich. Kerala is different. There, the Left parties have recovered their base among the poor and religious minorities. They even defeated the Muslim League in Muslim-dominated Malappuram. The Kerala problem is essentially internal to the CPI (M): a rift between the V S Achuthanandan and Pinarayi Vijayan factions. Achuthanandan's elevation as CM, albeit without control over portfolios like Home, has left his rivals fuming--and plotting. The factionalism extends to governmental decision-making too. Take the Hindi belt. The CPI was once formidably strong in Bihar and in central and eastern Uttar Pradesh. But it suffered massive haemorrhage in Bihar. In UP, its entire unit was swallowed by the Samajwadi Party. The CPI is slowly rebuilding its base in these states. The CPI (M) has had no major Hindi-speaking base, but is seeking small gains through temporary alliances with Centrist leaders. This brings it into a clash with the CPI. The two shouldn't drift apart; they should move towards unification. Their original programmatic differences have become irrelevant. They share each other's theoretical understanding, doctrine and practice. The Left does face an uphill task in the Hindi belt given the hardening of caste politics, especially in UP. It cannot possibly relate to caste like other parties, without abandoning its distinctive class-oriented approach. The Left must also develop a credible strategy of self-rejuvenation and expansion. As of now, the CPI (M) has 9.5 lakh members and the CPI nearly 6 lakhs. Their membership has grown by 8 to 10 per cent over the past two years. This is impressive when seen against the decline of Communist parties the world over after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It speaks to the Indian CPs' resilience. After stagnation between the mid-1990s and 2002, the CPI has made impressive membership gains, especially in Kerala and Bengal. But 18 per cent of its members don't renew their membership. The CPI (M) too suffers from significant non-renewal, especially in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The primary reason why the Left parties have not grown more rapidly in the Hindi belt despite agrarian distress, unemployment and frustration among the youth is their "image burden". They're seen as belonging to a long-bygone era of statism and public sector unions. This image must be corrected. The Left must reassert its relevance in contemporary terms--as a force immersed in a democratic culture, with one of the longest international histories of working a parliamentary system. The Left parties must develop innovative solutions to today's problems by putting flesh-and-blood people before capital. They must formulate alternatives in health, education, housing, water and electricity supply, and in macroeconomic policy. Only thus can they implement their agendas of secularism, justice and social cohesion and contribute to India-Pakistan reconciliation. _____ [4] The New Statesman 27th November 2006 SHAZIA'S WEEK Shazia Mirza Monday To India in the luggage hold, to do a sex-free show in a democracy that is not what it might seem More from this section [Columns] This week I flew to India. The British Council does not have much money, and flew me in economy on Air India - the equivalent of the luggage hold on easyJet. The only consolation is that the Air India stewards can string a sentence together and do not have orange faces. These days my mum worries about me flying. She encourages me to fly by Pakistan International Airlines or Emirates because, as she puts it: "They're not going to blow up their own." At the airport the security was as tight as at Tesco. I followed Indians who had been on holiday in England. They were carrying large tins of Quality Street. I find it endearing when other cultures aspire to everything that is British, and assume that because something is British it must be good. Even Spam and Milton Keynes. In the reception of my hotel, there were TV screens showing Bollywood movies - scantily clad Indian women in shorts and bras, dancing around trees, with hairy men groping them in the wind. How liberal and open-minded India seemed. But it dawned on me that India had never come across stand-up comedy before. They had slapstick but stand-up, as we know it, was unknown to them. I wasn't worried because I've performed in Germany where people's sense of humour is still in development. I did a photo shoot for Elle by the hotel's magnificently sized pool. I said it would be nice to go for a swim later, but was told that was "only for white women from abroad". Asian women did not expose themselves in public. But hadn't I just seen a half-naked woman on MTV being groped by Shahrukh Khan? This was an omen of double standards to come. My first show was in Café Mocha, Mumbai. My backstage area was a 500-degrees open kitchen with chapattis flying across the room. There were 1,000 people in a 200-seater venue. People were hanging from windows, sitting on top of each other on the floor. They laughed at everything except sex. When I mentioned the word vagina (I was discussing The Vagina Monologues), the men looked disgusted and the women gasped, and then laughed like drains. Any reference to sex - and believe me there weren't many - was met with embarrassment. I was annoyed, so I said: "I don't know why there seems to be this reaction every time I mention sex. Your overpopulation is not due to the Immaculate Conception and you are doing it more than anyone else in the world." That night the British Council called me to say that the café in Pune where I was performing the next night was threatening to cancel. "They are scared people will get upset and they will lose their licence." The council's director said he wouldn't be surprised if the moral police came to arrest me. This was equivalent to Lenny Bruce in the early 1960s. I have never had this problem before, not even in Bradford. I was asked to "tone down" my show by removing the words "vagina" and "sex". I have never been asked to do this before. I was also asked to remove my section on "death threats". I refused, but agreed to "tone it down". Lastly, I was told to go on stage before my show in Pune and make a "disclaimer", which would go as follows: "I have been told by the management of Mocha Café to tell you - the audience - that anything I say tonight is my own view, about my own subject matter, and any offence caused has nothing to do with Mocha Café." The audience laughed hysterically when I said: "I have never been asked to apologise for something that I have not yet said or done, or any offence not yet caused before a show." India is a democracy, but not a liberal democracy. Any kind of repression evokes extremes of behaviour and that's why words such as vagina and sex are forbidden. India is not ready for this yet. I can't wait till Puppetry of the Penis tours India. _____ [5] The Economist Nov 9th 2006 GOODBYE, BANGALORE THE PAIN OF PARTING WITH THE FAMILIAR WELCOME to Bengalooru, garden city of India, capital of Karnataka state; city of exotic temples, of Haider Ali and his son, the "Tiger of Mysore"; city of software, technology parks, cyber cafés and globalisation at its most glamorous; city, above all, of cooked beans. And, at the same time, goodbye Bangalore, boring colonial cantonment whose name failed to honour the kind old woman who plumped up a hungry 14th-century king with a small bean feast. Following the examples of Bombay, Madras and Calcutta, Bangalore has rebranded itself, taking the local name for "city of cooked beans". Will it catch on? Yes, in the end it probably will, just as Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata are slowly taking hold. Sign-writers and printers will be glad of the new business, politicians will claim a blow against British cultural enslavement and a victory for authenticity (though that story about the old woman and the king may be tosh), but many others will give a weary sigh. So many places change their names, and so often. They have every right to do so, of course, and it seems discourteous not to use their new names if they expressly ask you to. That is why The Economist adopts Myanmar, Côte d'Ivoire, Kyrgyzstan, Timor-Leste and now Bengalooru (see article) too. But it rankles, for several reasons. First, the changes, which are nearly always politically inspired, often seem to annoy the locals as much as anyone else. Many Indians, surprised to be told their place names were inappropriate, still talk about Bombay and Calcutta as though nothing had changed. The people of St Petersburg have had to endure first Petrograd and then Leningrad before reclaiming their city's pre-1914 name. The Congolese were startled one day to be told that their country, its main river and the currency would all be called Zaire. After 26 years they got their old name back. Something similar happened in Cambodia, when the ghastly Khmers Rouges imposed Kampuchea. Some of these new names do not seem very authentic, or even very new: Côte d'Ivoire is just the French for Ivory Coast and Timor-Leste the Portuguese for East Timor. Beijing is merely a rendering of the Mandarin pronunciation of Peking, just as Guangzhou is the Mandarin for Canton, though it might be more correct, if localism is all, to call it by its Cantonese name. Kamptee, a town in central India that some root-seekers call by its "aboriginal" name Kamthi, is actually named after Camp T, set up by the East India Company. Zaire was not an African name but a Portuguese corruption of one. Still, some changes have logic on their side-Lake Nyasa, which to the locals meant Lake Lake, is more sensibly now called Lake Malawi-and others have long since ceased to jar. To insist on calling Thailand Siam, Sri Lanka Ceylon or Zambia Northern Rhodesia would be eccentric. This is another argument for using the names that governments request, even if those governments are not democratic. America resists Myanmar, which has not been approved "by any sitting legislature in Burma", but is apparently untroubled by Beijing or Belarus. The whiff of outsaucing Yet many languages have their own words for foreign places, words resonant with associations of travel, history or romance. It seems a pity to lose them. Wasn't Sir John Moore buried after Corunna, not A (or La) Coruña? Weren't Rose Macaulay's towers in Trebizond, not Trabzon? Should the Lady with the Lamp really have been christened Firenze Nightingale? Was Chamberlain shamed at München? After eating chicken à la Kyiv? And even if you pronounce it My-yorker, isn't the island Majorca, not Mallorca? Only English-speakers, it seems, are expected to kowtow to name-changers' whims. No one berates the French for Pékin, Le Caire and Edimbourg, the Italians for Ucraina, Città del Messico and Pechino, or the Germans for Kapstadt, Singapur and Temeschburg. Dear Name-Changer, feel free to adopt any moniker you fancy, but do not hector others if they jib. A city of beans by any other name will smell as sweet, or beany. _____ [6] To The Chairperson National Human Rights Commission,Faridkot House, Copernicus Marg, New Delhi Sub: Complaint against the illegal detention and torture of Afzal Khan, a correspondent of HindSat News paper based in Bhopalpatnam, District Dantewada on 15 November 2006 Dear Sir I am writing to seek immidate interntion of National Human Rights Commission against the illegal detention and torture of Afzal Khan, a correspondent of HindSat News paper based in Bhopalpatnam, District Dantewada on 15 November 2006. According to Afzal on the evening of 15th November Salwa Judum reached Bhopalpatnam. He with his brother Zahir Khan ( reporter Jansatta) and few more reporters were called by leaders of Salwa Judum including Budhram Rana and Hanif Khan. Salwa Judum leaders accused them of helping the Sarpanchs who went to Raipur few days back to request Govt to stop Salwa Judum entering their area.Afzal told the leaders that they should check with the Sarpanchs when they are back whether they helped them to go to Raipur or not. After that they were asked to go after threatening "not to repeat same acts".After sometime Afzal was called again. This time he was asked to witness the Putla Dahan ( effigy burning) of anti Salwa Judum leaders. During this function he was again asked similar questions by the SPOs and blamed for writing anti Salwa Judum news. Afzal told them that "today is the first day of Salwa Judum in Bhopalpatnam area, so how come I may be writing against Salwa Judum ?The reports about our representatives not wanting Salwa Judum was written by reporters from Raipur".But SPOs were not happy with the reply and Afzal was taken inside a room and was badly beaten up. In the process he has fractured two of his fingers.Afzal is frightened to go to file an FIR. " They have threatened to kill my entire family if I complain against them", Afzal told. Afzal also told that "Patel of Gullaguda was beaten up badly when he went to save a girl from his village being molested by Salwa Judum. He has got 11 stiches but police has refused to file his complaint". Afzal could not recount the Patel's name."Deputy Sarpanch of Tamlapalli Saddu and Hingaram of Gullapeta were also beaten up by Salwa Judum and police have refused to file their FIRs too". Afzal says "Kotwars from all the villages from this area were beaten up that day. The Salwa Judum members ate our chicken and goats and rampaged the whole area". While talking to FFDA, Afzal told that he has also injury on his head, and he has been threatened not to file any report with police and/or any where.In this context,I would like to request you to intervene and take following measures: * Direct the State government of Chhattisgarh to make an independent inquiry and report NHRC within four weeks time; * Direct the State government of Chhattisgarh to bring the perpetrators into the court of law; * Direct the State government of Chhattisgarh to prevent such attack on journalists and other fact-finders on Salw Judum; *Direct the Sate government of Chhattisgarh to pay interim compensation of INR 500000/- (five lakh) and immediate medical expenses; and * Take anyother measures that NHRC deems fit. With kind regards Sincerely Subash Mohapatra Forum for Fact-finding Documentation and Advocacy MIG-22, Sahayog Park (In Front of Back Gate of Prem Park), Mahaveer Nagar, P.O.:Ravigram, Raipur, Chhattisgarh 492 006, India _____ [7] Concordia Journal November 9 , 2006 | Vol. 2, No. 5 LETTING SILENCE SPEAK Karen Herland Jill Didur (English) with her new publication. In 1947, British colonialism ended in South East Asia and over 12 million people moved to and from the area, eventually settling into the modern nation-states of Pakistan and India, and what later became Bangladesh. The violence and upheaval of Partition, as these events have come to be known, included the abduction and sexual assault of 75,000 women, and, in some cases, their subsequent reunion with their families. This aspect of Partition is often absent from official accounts of the period. Historians have recently attempted to "recover" this chapter of history by using fictional narratives about the events. In Unsettling Partition: Literature, Gender and Memory, Jill Didur (English) turns her attention to the silence around those events and recent efforts to fill in its gaps through the study of literature and testimony reflecting on the upheaval that took place. Didur "unsettles" this direct reading of fiction and testimony as fact. "Some researchers seem to treat narratives about these experiences as a kind of substitute record of the period without taking into account the way language, social context and genre have shaped how these things are narrated," Didur said in a recent email interview. Unsettling Partition examines several fictional accounts and their "recovery" and interpretation, in order to redirect the discussion "away from a kind of blunt sociological reading of this material toward its literary qualities, which are equally politicized." In so doing, Didur inserts the question of gender. She argues that the silence can be read as a refusal of the view of women "as repositories of community and national identity [at the time of Partition, which] may have played into the targeting of women for violence." Didur conceded that this is not necessarily a popular interpretation. Her research project began with an interest in transnational and postcolonial culture that was supported by her participation in a cross-cultural exchange project in India before she began her graduate work at York University. At York, she found an interdisciplinary approach that reinforced her own interest in theory, literature and cultural studies. She began the work at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi through a Shastri research fellowship just prior to the fiftieth anniversary of India's independence. It was an excellent opportunity to consider the way the events in question were interpreted and retold. Unsettling Partition, published this year, enters a growing dialogue with creative writers, filmmakers and historians. Didur has also considered how translation has impacted the narratives. English is considered a default "link language" between various languages of the region. However, in one chapter, she explores how different translations of the short story "Lajwanti" present varying interpretations of the title character's behaviour. "It became clear to me that translations were adding another historical layer to how Partition history and memory were being commemorated." Didur, who came to Concordia in 1998, is on maternity leave. She has SHRCC and FQRSC funding to study contemporary South Asian writers and filmmakers and how the concept of Indian identity and secular discourse is constituted in the wake of Partition. _____ [8] Upcoming Events (i) Prithvi Theatre Festival in partnership with the Delhi Film Archive and Max Mueller Bhavan presents an array of Theatre films... at the: Max Mueller Bhavan, 3 Kasturba Gandhi Marg, New Delhi On 25th & 26th November 2006 ENTRY FREE, NO PASSES NEEDED for the Delhi Film Archive Rahul Roy / Kavita Joshi _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ 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
