South Asia Citizens Wire | December 24-25, 2007 | Dispatch No. 2480 - Year 10 running
[1] Women's demands for justice in Sri Lanka (Kishali Pinto Jayawardena) [2] Pakistan's Tyranny Continues (Aitzaz Ahsan) [3] India: Preventing A Dangerous Arms Race - Say no to star wars! (Praful Bidwai) [4] India: Comments on the electoral victory of Hindutva Right BJP in Gujarat Assembly Elections of Dec 2007 (i) Modi's Victory: Portents for Indian Democracy (Ram Puniyani) (ii) Gujarat Assembly Elections of December 2007 : Some Facts (Shabnam Hashmi) (iii) Give or Take A Pinch of Saffron (Mahesh Rangarajan) [5] South Asia's cynical about human rights (Ratna Kapur) [6] Book Review: Outside the heterosexual norm (Suguna Ramanathan) ______ [1] Sunday Times Sunday December 23, 2007 WOMEN'S DEMANDS FOR JUSTICE IN SRI LANKA by Kishali Pinto Jayawardena Securing justice for women whose lives have been destroyed by conflict is an insuperably difficult question in Sri Lanka. The tactic resorted by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in using women as suicide bombers following thorough mental and physical indoctrination, has resulted in women of Tamil ethnicity being placed in the centre of the storm as it were. This week, the newspapers reported the extraordinary story of Nalini, accused number one in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination who had just completed her three year long Masters' course in computer applications from the Indira Gandhi Open University from the special camp for women in the Vellore prison. Nalini's story and the plight of others The picture attached to the news story showed a fair, sharp featured woman who, on a cursory glance, appears to be as far distanced from a possible suicide bomber as can be. Yet Nalini was the 'back-up human bomb' (as the news story went), in case Dhanu the woman who activated herself, thereby killing Gandhi, failed for whatever reason. Nalini's aptitude for her studies has apparently been marked; she could well be among the first batch of convicts to receive a post graduate degree and attend a convocation for that purpose. The questions therefore are complex and countless but some predominate; namely in what way can these aggressively competing stories of one personality be reconciled? How many more women have undergone and are yet undergoing Nalini's plight, caught up in the mindless terror tactics of the LTTE who do not hesitate to use even disabled women to engage in self immolation as was evidenced just a few weeks back in the attack on EPDP politician Douglas Devananda? For women generally of Tamil ethnicity who belong to the marginalized category, living in Sri Lanka is a stupendously high risk proposition. Used mercilessly by the LTTE on the one hand, they are also subjected to physical and sexual harassment by state actors, particularly soldiers and police officers in areas of the conflict as well as in the capital. The directive requiring female officers to be present for the purpose of frisking women at checkpoints is not uniformly followed and failure to comply with this directive does not lead to any consequences. An earlier proposal that women and children's desks should be established in police stations in conflict areas, headed by female personnel who have the language skills needed to deal with complaints and the training needed to handle cases of sexual violence and other forms of gender-based violence and who work together with local citizens' committees has also been limited to verbiage only. Impunity for perpetrators of sexual violence Indeed, widespread impunity that continues to be enjoyed by perpetrators of rape and other forms of violence committed against such women provides strong evidence of systematic discrimination. The consequences of this impunity are devastating for individual victims who are effectively denied access to criminal and civil remedies including reparations. Instead, at the most, perpetrators are transferred away from their stations. In most cases, witness intimidation results in the collapse of the case half way through the trial. The basic requirements of prosecution of rape cases including medical examinations are often subverted. One classic example of this was in the Vijayakala Nanthakumar and Sivamani Weerakoon case which arose out of an incident in Uppukulam in March 2001 when the two women were allegedly raped by members of the Mannar police's Counter-Subversive Unit (CSU). Despite the initial report of the District Medical Officer to the magistrate that he had examined the women and that there was no evidence of rape, there was a further examination later due to public outrage and an appeal made by the Bishop of Mannar. The victims then stated that they had not been subjected to any medical examination and further, that they had been threatened by the police not to consent to an examination or provide any evidence to the magistrate concerning the torture. The second examination, eighteen days after the alleged rape, concluded that there were several injuries consistent with the allegations of torture. Police investigations commenced and twelve police officers and two navy officers were arrested. However, in a pattern symptomatic of these cases, the accused were later released on bail. Other common patterns were evidenced. The trial was fixed not in Vavuniya but in Anuradhapura at the request of the accused. Indictment was filed, (after the women moved the Supreme Court on a rights violation), only years later against three CSU police officers and nine Navy officers in the Anuradhapura High Court. This trial is still pending. After being constantly threatened and intimidated, the women (who were stubborn for many years in their desire to see justice done) have now succumbed to the pressure with one victim fleeing to India. Ineffective judicial interventions This is just one case which is indicative of the general pattern. While impunity continues for members of the forces who engage in blatantly unconstitutional actions under the PTA and Emergency Regulations, interventions by the courts have not been able to stem a change of the general pattern of impunity behind which members of the forces take refuge for their actions. Such interventions have been able to correct injustices only in very exceptional situations which are more the exception rather than the rule. The Krishanthi Kumarasamy case some years back, where the rape and murder of a fifteen year old school girl and the subsequent murder of her mother, brother and neighbour who went in search of her, by eight soldiers and one policeman on duty at the Chemmani check point, resulted in the conviction of some junior army officers but this remains a unique case which has not been replicated in many other similar instances. In some instances, women have been fortunate enough to obtain justice from the Supreme Court but these too, have been few and far inbetween. In August 2001, the case filed by Yogalingam Vijitha of Paruthiyadaippu, Kayts, against the Reserve Sub Inspector of Police, Police Station, Negombo and six others (SC FR No. 186/2001, SCM 23.8.2002) was a case in point where the Supreme Court ordered compensation and costs to be paid to a Tamil woman who had been arrested, detained and brutally tortured. The Court pointed out thus; 'As Athukorala J in Sudath Silva Vs Kodituwakku 1987 2 SLR 119 observed 'the facts of this case has revealed disturbing features regarding third degree methods adopted by certain police officers on suspects held in police custody. Such methods can only be described as barbaric, savage and inhuman. They are most revolting and offend one's sense of human decency and dignity .." The Attorney General was also directed to consider taking steps under the Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment Or Punishment Act No. 22 of 1994 against the respondent police officers and any others who are responsible for the acts of torture perpetrated on the victim. To the best of my knowledge, this has not yet happened. The lack of seriousness in which Act No. 22 of 1994 has been utilised with regard to members of the armed forces and police who commit serious human rights violations remains a problem. Urgent Concerns In the light of the above, there is an urgent need for a legal process geared towards dealing with the violations of the rights of life and liberty of women during the conflict, which would put into place strong structures of witness protection and examine current legal obstacles that impede such a process. In this context again, we are not being apprised of the contents of the proposed Witness Protection Bill in its final version and stay in continued apprehension of another 'half baked' law, akin to the recently passed so called International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Act which indeed, shames the very Covenant itself from which it is so presumptuous as to borrow its long title. Meanwhile, none of the proposals put forward by the major parties in Sri Lanka have recognised this issue as being of primary concern. Instead, if at all, the focus has been in increasing women's representation in the political process which as laudable as it may be, does not go far enough to recognize the many faceted problem of women in conflict and examine their demands for justice. Guaranteeing of joint ownership rights in land where state lands are concerned and the devoting of special attention and staff to issues affecting women such as the clearing of land, rebuilding damaged houses and practical livelihood challenges facing the numerous female headed households, also remain of paramount importance. ______ [2] New York Times December 23, 2007 PAKISTAN'S TYRANNY CONTINUES by Aitzaz Ahsan Lahore, Pakistan THE chief justice of Pakistan's Supreme Court, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, and his family have been detained in their house, barricaded in with barbed wire and surrounded by police officers in riot gear since Nov. 3. Phone lines have been cut and jammers have been installed all around the house to disable cellphones. And the United States doesn't seem to care about any of that. The chief justice is not the only person who has been detained. All of his colleagues who, having sworn to protect, uphold and defend the Constitution, refused to take a new oath prescribed by President Pervez Musharraf as chief of the army remain confined to their homes with their family members. The chief justice's lawyers are also in detention, initially in such medieval conditions that two of them were hospitalized, one with renal failure. As the chief justice's lead counsel, I, too, was held without charge - first in solitary confinement for three weeks and subsequently under house arrest. Last Thursday morning, I was released to celebrate the Id holidays. But that evening, driving to Islamabad to say prayers at Faisal Mosque, my family and I were surrounded at a rest stop by policemen with guns cocked and I was dragged off and thrown into the back of a police van. After a long and harrowing drive along back roads, I was returned home and to house arrest. Every day, thousands of lawyers and members of the civil society striving for a liberal and tolerant society in Pakistan demonstrate on the streets. They are bludgeoned by the regime's brutal police and paramilitary units. Yet they come out again the next day. People in the United States wonder why extremist militants in Pakistan are winning. What they should ask is why does President Musharraf have so little respect for civil society - and why does he essentially have the backing of American officials? The White House and State Department briefings on Pakistan ignore the removal of the justices and all these detentions. Meanwhile, lawyers, bar associations and institutes of law around the world have taken note of this brave movement for due process and constitutionalism. They have displayed their solidarity for the lawyers of Pakistan. These include, in the United States alone, the American Bar Association , state and local bars stretching from New York and New Jersey to Louisiana, Ohio and California, and citadels of legal education like Harvard and Yale Law Schools. The detained chief justice continues to receive enormous recognition and acknowledgment. Harvard Law School has conferred on him its highest award, placing him on the same pedestal as Nelson Mandela and the legal team that argued Brown v. Board of Education. The National Law Journal has anointed him its lawyer of the year. The New York City Bar Association has admitted him as a rare honorary member. Despite all this, the Musharraf regime shows no sign of relenting. But for how long? How long can the chief justice and his colleagues be kept in confinement? How long can the leaders of the lawyers' movement be detained? They will all be out one day. And they will neither be silent nor still. They will recount the brutal treatment meted out to them for seeking the establishment of a tolerant, democratic, liberal and plural political system in Pakistan. They will state how the writ of habeas corpus was denied to them by the arbitrary and unconstitutional firing of Supreme and High Court justices. They will spell out precisely how one man set aside a Constitution under the pretext of an "emergency," arrested the judges, packed the judiciary, "amended" the Constitution by a personal decree and then "restored" it to the acclaim of London and Washington. They will, of course, speak then. But others are speaking now. The parliamentary elections scheduled for Jan. 8 have already been rigged, they are saying. The election commission and the caretaker cabinet are overtly partisan. The judiciary is entirely hand-picked. State resources are being spent on preselected candidates. There is a deafening uproar even though the independent news media in Pakistan are completely gagged. Can there even be an election in this environment? Are they being heard? I'm afraid not. Aitzaz Ahsan, a former minister of the interior and of law and justice, is the president of the Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan. ______ [3] 24 December 2007 PREVENTING A DANGEROUS ARMS RACE Say no to star wars! by Praful Bidwai Among the many dubious ideas that former United States President Ronald Reagan embraced, two were particularly dangerous. The first was that "a limited nuclear war" with the former Soviet Union could be fought and won. The second held that the US could reliably secure itself against nuclear weapons, those ultimate instruments of mass destruction, by building Star Wars-style ballistic missile defence (BMD), which uses space-based and high-tech devices. BMD would detect launches of the enemy's nuclear-tipped missiles using satellites and radars, and then intercept and destroy them.. This would not only take the sting out of a deadly threat; it would render the adversary's nuclear deterrent useless. If the US took the lead in BMD-for which it alone had the necessary financial and technological resources in the early 1980s-it would acquire supreme, ultimate military supremacy, including both the "freedom to attack" an adversary with nuclear weapons, and "freedom from attack" by his weapons. Peace-minded scientists and citizens criticised these ideas, and argued that they would create insecurity globally. For instance, a "limited nuclear war", in which only about 100 of the world's then-existing arsenal of 70,000 nuclear weapons were used, would create a huge cloud of chemical soot and smoke that would block sunlight for years. This would lead to a prolonged "nuclear winter". Global food production would fall, and forestry would be devastated, creating climate havoc, food insecurity and large-scale hunger. Peace activists publicised the dangers of "limited nuclear war". Even Hollywood made films like The Day After on this. The awareness fused into the great global peace movement of the 1980s, which opposed the deployment of new NATO missiles in Western Europe. Reagan eventually abandoned "limited nuclear war" and opened negotiations with the former USSR, which produced the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty of 1987, the world's only agreement to dismantle a whole class of weapons. Under it, 2,700 missiles, with a range between 500 and 5,500 km, and their nuclear warheads, would be destroyed in a verifiable manner. However, Reagan never fully gave up on BMD. The US continued to work on projects to develop a broad range of missile-launch detection technologies and missile-interception capabilities. Some $120 billion was spent on BMD by the mid-1990s to develop rudimentary technologies to engage ballistic missiles in all phases of their flight: soon after takeoff (boost phase), at the height of their trajectory (midcourse), and as they descend (terminal phase). Reagan's successors, including Democrats, didn't stop this although they desisted from moving towards actual BMD deployment. They respected the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty of 1972 signed with the USSR, which prohibits such deployment. Things changed with Mr George W. Bush's election as US President. In May 2001, he announced that he would proceed towards the deployment of a national shield against about 100-120 missiles. In 2002, the US withdrew from the ABM Treaty, giving its Missile Defence Agency (MDA) a free hand to move forward on BMD and space-based weapons, including powerful lasers, kinetic energy (hit-to-kill) weapons and advanced target-tracking satellites. The world was dismayed and horrified at this revival of Star Wars. But India, which had for decades opposed Star Wars and the militarisation of space, warmly welcomed Mr Bush's announcement. Indeed, the then Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh (of the Bharatiya Janata Party), surprised America's own allies, by being the first leader anywhere to welcome it. India is now pursuing BMD-replicating the US's follies, as we see below. The US's missile defence programme isn't confined to its borders and is setting off new international rivalries. The MDA has built two major bases in Alaska and California for missile interceptors. Their cost, $26 billion, equals India's entire annual military spending. The US is planning to spend $250 billion to beef up BMD over the next two decades. It's also building a smaller theatre missile defence system in northeast Asia in collaboration with Japan. The US has just announced the construction of a BMD programme in central Europe, with radars in the Czech Republic and a $3.5 billion interceptor base in Poland with 10 rockets. Washington claims that this is aimed at guarding against possible missile strikes from "rogue" nations like Iran. But Russia believes the BMD shield is meant to undermine its nuclear deterrent, and has threatened to target these sites with its intercontinental ballistic missiles. BMD is upsetting security calculations globally. The ABM Treaty was based on the recognition that BMD deployment would introduce uncertainty about the workability of nuclear deterrence, the doctrine on which all nuclear weapons-states (NWSs) ostensibly base their security. Nuclear deterrence assumes that NWSs won't attack each other because they know their adversary can retaliate and inflict "unacceptable damage" upon them. This is supposed to create a "balance of terror"-and hence security. Nuclear deterrence is flawed because it makes unrealistic assumptions about transparency, rules out accidents or miscalculations, and demands entirely rational and cool-headed conduct on the part of fallible, panic-prone decision-makers. It cannot be the basis of a sustainable, rational, long-term approach to security, although it can provide some short-term stability. BMD undermines even limited stability by creating dangerous security illusions-and new asymmetries and dangers. Globally, BMD is certain to trigger off a qualitatively new arms race, besides the existing nuclear and conventional arms races. And it's bound to lead to the militarisation and weaponisation of space. Ethically, the human race has no business to place armaments in space. And strategically, such militarisation will prove extremely destabilising. At the present level of technology, BMD cannot provide even remotely reliable defence against missiles. It's near-impossible to hit a bullet travelling at 24,000 kmph with another bullet travelling at the same speed with any certainty. Even cloud cover can cripple the system. The existing interceptors have had too many failures. Independent scientists say they are losers from a physics standpoint. Although the MDA claims that 29 of is 37 midcourse and terminal interceptor tests have been "successful", experts from the highly regarded US-based Union of Concerned Scientists question this and argue that most of the tests involve a degree of "rigging" like giving the interceptors advance warning. More important, any number of countermeasures can neutralise BMD, including cheap decoys like balloons. The system cannot discriminate between real and fake targets. Similarly, real warheads can be made to resemble decoys by being enclosed in radar-reflecting balloons. Besides, electronic and infrared jamming measures can also be used. These are inexpensive and can be mastered by the 30-odd countries which have missile programmes. In the last analysis, an adversary can "overwhelm" BMD simply by deploying a large number of missiles. BMD can of course be improved. But that'll require something like a Second Manhattan Project (which pioneered nuclear weapons). Yet, despite BMD's poor efficacy, "the Star Wars infection", or an obsessive search to acquire anti-missile technologies, has spread to Russia, China, India-and even Japan, which conducted a interception test on December 18. Earlier, on December 6, India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) fired a fully solid interceptor to destroy a Prithvi missile launched five minutes earlier. In November 2006, the DRDO had successfully used a modified Prithvi to intercept another Prithvi. It boasts that its interceptor is superior to the US-developed "Patriot" PAC-3 missile. Further, it claims it can develop a fully indigenous missile defence shield in three years. These claims must be taken with more than a pinch of salt-and not just because Israeli radars were used in the latest test. The DRDO hasn't demonstrated that it has the software to calculate the attacking missile's course from radar or satellite data and that its system can handle attacks by multiple missiles. It's doubtful if the DRDO can tackle the four categories of Pakistani missiles which are all nuclear-capable, with a range between 350 and 1,100 km. The DRDO's record inspires no confidence whatever. All its major projects, including the Main Battle Tank, Light Combat Aircraft, and Advanced Technology Vessel (nuclear-powered submarine) have failed in some measure or other-sinking thousands of crores. Its missile programme too has run into serious difficulties. The delayed Agni series has proved only half-reliable. Akash has drained Rs 500 crores, but hasn't yet proved fit. Nor has the anti-tank Nag. However, it's even more important to recognise that BMD is strategically of dubious value, as well as destabilising and harmful to regional security. Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee admitted as much October when he ruled out joining the US-led BMD programme. The DRDO seems to be working at odds with this view. India must not waste its scarce resources on Star Wars and BMD. We already spend too much on the military in relation to health, education and social security. BMD will further distort our priorities-without producing tangible benefits. We must put an end to these fancy-and dangerous-programmes before they become entrenched and get the better of us. ______ [4] Comments on the electoral victory of Hindu Nationalist BJP in Gujarat Assembly Elections of Dec 2007 (i) December 23, 2007 MODI'S VICTORY: PORTENTS FOR INDIAN DEMOCRACY by Ram Puniyani Surpassing many predictions, Modi did very well in the recently held assembly elections, (Dec. 2007) bringing his victory tally to the one close to post carnage elections of 2002. While 2002 elections were preceded by an unprecedented polarization of the society, in the current one it appeared as if there are many a factors which will go against Modi, the internal dissidents, the incumbency factor, the efforts of secular groups and slightly better efforts by Congress. This gave the impression that the results will be touch and go, but they turned out to be similar to the previous one giving him a massive mandate. This makes many a things clear for us. One, the polarization has seeped in very deep in the Gujarat society. The observation is that after every communal-violence, the major player of the violence, in this case, RSS affiliate, BJP, becomes stronger. In this electiona also, as was the case in the last elections, BJPs performance has been best where the carnage was maximum. In other parts of the country the polarization is reaching towards the critical line from where the rupture in fabric of society becomes irreversible. It seems that it has already become so in Gujarat. Gujarat which began as a Hindu Rashtra laboratory seems to be turning in to a factory of Hindu rashtra. One of the major success of RSS combine has been that it has been able to propagate successfully that Hindu Rashra is for the benefit of all the Hindus, there is a struggle between Hindu and Muslim interests, RSS is on the side of Hindus, while others are against the interests of Hindus. The real fact is that in the name of Hinduism, RSS is merely playing with the identity of Hindus and enhancing an agenda which is against the social transformation of caste and gender, which is against the interests of majority of Hindus. Further it has succeeded in instilling the fear of Muslims in the majority community. The formula used is that all terrorists are Muslims, baying for the blood of Hindus and RSS combine is their only savior. The propaganda is that while so many terror attacks are taking place all over the country, the Hindus in Gujarat are safe due to Modi/BJP/RSS. The fact is in during NDA regime and also during the rule of Modi major terror attacks have taken place including the attack on parliament and Akshardham. This, so called attitude towards terrorists is projected by RSS combine as Nationalism. Nationalism as such should mean sticking to the values of freedom movement and Indian constitution. The second illusion created is that of progress of Gujarat. As such Gujarat was already amongst the leading developing states. Now it is being presented that all this is due to Modi. Goebells is being beaten hollow in the techniques of innovating the propaganda techniques. Sometimes what matters is not the truth but as to what is propagated and made a part of social psyche. One cannot but draw many analogies from Hitler who went on to create a fascist state, and in due course do away with the democracy. This also led to the disintegration of Germany and its terrible defeat the World War II, rupturing the German national fabric. There also, one saw the charisma of one person overshadowing the party. There also the polarization was brought in and sustained by targeting one after the other community or social group. In Gujarat one sees the targeting of Muslims followed by the Christians. What will follow next will unfold shortly? The only difference between the German and Gujarat analogy is that in Germany the nation came under the impact of the fascist boots at a rapid pace in most of the parts of the state, while here the trishuls are marching at different pace in different states. In Gujarat the RSS agenda seems to have come close to the peak, while in other states, the march is on and is in different stages of intimidation of democracy. The journey of Hindutva fascism in Gujarat began with the anti dalit riots of 1980-81, followed by anti OBC riots of 1986. Both these crystallized the support base of Hindutva, the upper caste, affluent sections. The NRI Gujaratis, the money order senders, played no mean role in consolidating the native fascism. The alienated NRI Gujaratis fed the local divisive politics with dollars and pounds, aggravating the divisive politics. Conscious social engineering was deployed to co-opt Adivasis and dalits into the Hindutva fold from late 1980s. For co-opting Adiviais, Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram campaigned against the miniscule Christian missionaries and attacked the tiny Christian community. For co-opting other deprived sections, including dalits, intense religiosity was promoted, Pandurnag Shstri, Asaram Bapu and Morari Bapu etc. ploughed the ground for BJP to reap the harvest. Section of urban people saw the benefits of the type of intimidation brought in by RSS affiliate politics. While Muslims and Christians were directly hit the major goal was to subdue the dalts and Adivasis, to ensure that they remain where they are, that the status quo is maintained. With Ram temple movement, the polarization along religious lines went on deepening. The state sponsored genocide on the pretext of Godhra sealed the issue. The laboratory took clear shape, all necessary instruments in place. The experiment began. Carnage was conducted with RSS affiliates playing the coordinating role. No rehabilitation for the carnage victims, no justice for those who suffered violence and then their gradual marginalization from social sphere. The relegating of Muslims minority as second class citizens has become an established fact and a section of Muslims even started the campaign to reconcile to their changed status. A large section of Muslims saw that the only alternative for them is to be on the bent knees, to join in the victory celebration of the murderer-in-chief of the genocide, which led to their miseries. Yes life has to go on irrespective! Some sheep are beginning to cultivate the illusion that wolf is their savior. The indirect fall out of this was the eventual ghettoization of the community in Gujarat and its fall out all over the country was in the form of widening gulf between religious communities. It set rolling the similar phenomenon all over the country. While electorally BJP sounds weak at all India level, the seeds of communal politics and polarization have been sown all over. While comparing the BJP/RSS politics with fascism in the decades of 1990 one was hard pressed to explain the absence of a charismatic leader at the national level at that time. Classically fascist movement has to have a charismatic leader at the helm. While Advani was spearheading Hindutva agenda and Vajpayee was wearing the liberal mask very cleverly, none of them had the requisite charisma to send the crowd into frenzy to call for the extra judicial killing of a criminal. Modi has filled the gap and that too very effectively. Not only he is getting away with justifying the fake encounter, he is able to project it as a sign of bravery and courage. With observations of Gujarat poll, with the type of charisma, which Modi has cultivated, the analogy with Modi-Hitler, Hindutva-Fascism is more or less complete. History does not repeat it self in the same manner. In Germany Fascism rode all over Germany with uniform speed, with speed which was blinding, and went on to target Jews to begin with. RSS, the patriarch of all Hindu right wing organizations, began in 1925; it is from 1980s that is has been able to actualize its political agenda in a serious way. While Modi's victory will pave the way for total abolition of liberal space in Gujarat, the party, BJP, has already been overshadowed by one supreme leader. Those dissatisfied with him are shown the door. The plight of minorities and weaker section is going to be worse. A section of affluent middle class will shine while the majority deprived sections' voices will be put under the carpet in the name of Gauravi Gujarat, under the slogan of development. And of course development will never reach them. At national level, the rising communal forces will derive encouragement from this and in other states like Karnataka; BJP will try with stronger assertion. The BJP ruled states will strongly implement the Hindutva agenda i.e. emotive, anti minority and anti poor policies in a more systematic way. Modi's victory is a warning signal of transition of sub critical fascism, transcending the critical line to strangulate democratic values in an ideological form all over the country. The disarray in the BJP will give way to strong optimism, to strive for power at center. All this may take place sooner than later if the secular movements do not wake up and broaden their reach. Even today those standing for secular values are much more in number and strength than those who have came under the spell of divisive forces, communal forces. The point is can they come together to ensure that the country does go in the direction being asserted by Modi/BJP/RSS type politics? Need that the vision of founding fathers of India is brought back to the social and political arena, that pluralism, justice and harmony is made the central focus of our movement. o o o (ii) www.anhadin.net GUJARAT ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS OF DECEMBER 2007 : SOME FACTS 'In a democracy an electoral defeat is always a sobering moment, but it would be doubly counter-productive for the Congress and the other secular forces to feel overawed by Narendra Modi's victory. . . . the Sunday win does not necessarily endow any kind of ideological legitimacy to Mr. Modi's voice nor does it provide a licence to communal forces or even political respectability to his message outside of Gujarat.' Harish Khare, The Hindu December 24, 2007 Dear Friends, Pasting below a break up of votes from 33 Gujarat constituencies. While the whole media except a handful of journalists is under the spell of Modi's magic it is important to register the fact that e.g. In Gandhinagar though 81864 people voted for BJP and they won the seat, there are 78116 people who voted against BJP and Modi. Not everyone is under his spell in Gujarat. He has won the seats and will have the whole administration in his hand to stifle any dissent but the struggle against the undemocratic, fascist regime will continue. . . . Shabnam Hashmi December 24, 2007 New Delhi READ FULL TEXT AT: http://www.anhadin.net/article32.html o o o (iii) The Telegraph December 25 , 2007 GIVE OR TAKE A PINCH OF SAFFRON Narendra Modi used the old cards of Gujarati asmita and Hindutva, but the Congress failed to capitalize on his weaknesses and lost the game along the way, writes Mahesh Rangarajan The author teaches history at the University of Delhi The electoral triumph of the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party in Gujarat has, of course, silenced all critics and left the chief opposition party searching for fresh options in the run-up to the general elections due in the summer of 2009. But it did a lot more than just these two things. Unlike in 2002, there were no riots to sharply polarize voters on sectarian lines. Again, the Congress's poll campaign was led by Sonia Gandhi and backed up by her son, Rahul, but it failed to revive the fortunes of the Congress. In the end, the results were remarkably similar to the last three times the BJP won in the state. Yet, the picture conceals more than it reveals. The Congress's tally was lower than 91, the number of assembly segments in which it led during the general elections of 2004. It did recover from adversity in the seats reserved for the scheduled tribes, dropping only 10 of the 26 reserved seats. The recovery in the central Gujarat belt famous for the Amul movement put the party ahead in its traditional bastion. Here, and here alone, the kshatriya-Other Backward Classes card so reliable in the past played out well for the Congress. But the larger map was different shades of saffron. Many observers including this writer had seen hopes of change due to a rural-versus-urban divide. Yet, the result humbled all, observer and pollster alike. The one region that was the hotbed of rebellion, Saurashtra, saw all but one BJP rebel bite the dust. Elsewhere as well, the ruling party made up for losses, such as among the adivasis and in the central region. The most significant was the region of north Gujarat where the BJP won handily. The Mehsana district, for instance, saw a clean sweep. The temptation to ascribe the victory to a last minute polarization is tempting enough. There is indeed some truth in the assertion. The persona of Narendra Modi, ubiquitous mask and all, dwarfed all other contenders. At times, he seemed like the sole candidate for his party in all the 182 seats. The Congress fell prey to Modi's expert play of the card of regional pride. In manner more befitting of the late M.G. Ramachandran in Tamil Nadu or N.T. Rama Rao in Andhra Pradesh, Modi cashed in on a fierce regional pride, repeatedly giving voters a sense of being put in the dock. He began with the litany of complaints about himself being the target. But he conveyed to the voters the feeling that it was they, their state, their culture and their language which were at stake. The solution he provided was simple enough: just vote for the lotus symbol. This they did. The Congress was on the defensive on the riots. It fielded only six Muslims. It could easily have joined forces with the group of BJP rebels, which included figures like Dhirubhai Gajera in Surat, a veteran of the BJP's front organizations. The Congress's state unit never bothered to issue joint statements on matters ideological. The party sought to paint itself a paler shade of saffron and lost the game somewhere along the way. The direct attacks on the chief minister and his functionaries were a godsend. The term, maut ke saudagar, and the issue of the encounter death of Sohrabbudin were used for all they were worth. The Congress had begun on a defensive note, but then it went on the attack. Next, it seemed to hesitate and spoke in more than one voice. In doing so, it ceded ground to the veteran campaigner, Narendra Modi. The development card did not work except in Modi's favour. It is here that the economic upturn in both agriculture and manufacturing needs to be given credit for the BJP victory, though a large part of this was because of cyclical changes beyond his control. In 2002, the cotton textile industry was in crisis. Three years of drought had crippled farm output. Recession hit manufacturing in Gujarat hard. The complete reverse obtained in 2007. Good monsoons helped agriculture. More important, the manufacturing boom created jobs in smaller towns and cities. Steel pipes from Anjar in Kutch and Ajanta locks, a company owned by a Patidar family, are symbols of that revival. The Jyotigram scheme helped supply 24-hour power to households. There are also signs that it helped diamond polishing factories and flour mills to move to smaller centres, thus dispersing jobs. The closure of units was real, but more jobs were being created as production got decentralized. These developments may not be akin to the big poster investments as in the refineries and in petrochemicals, but they made all the difference. Nothing else can explain why the town-country continuum outweighed the rural-urban divide. In the plains at least, check dams and metal-topped roads that connected the villages met long-term needs. These were the result of concerted policy decisions of the state government. Again, in line with the chief-minister-driven tradition in southern India, these were directly overseen and driven by Narendra Modi. On voting day, and as became evident as the votes were being added up, these factors weighed well against the negatives. Too much weight was also given to conventional caste-based voting logic by players and observers of the political game. The loyalties of the Patels and the OBCs, kshatriyas and adivasis did and do matter. There is no question of them melting away But they have ceased to be the prime movers. The pull of regional sentiment meshed with the feel-good factor of an economy on the move is far more important today. There is little doubt that in the process, aspirations of the minorities occupied second spot. But here it can and should be argued that the Congress hardly took these up in any seriousness. The speeches of the party president were not backed by action on the ground. Nor did it try to rebuild a broad popular coalition to transcend the now dead KHAM (Kshatriya, Harijan, Adivasi, Muslim) of the Eighties. In fact, the results throw up an urgent question about the Congress's tradition that does not allow a genuine rooted regional leadership to come up, one that can take on Modi in the contest for the regional personality of Gujarat. Unless the party begins to ask how this can be done, it will not make much headway even in the future. Things never had looked as good for the Congress. Yet the dream of power proved elusive. A new factor in the equation was the Bahujan Samaj Party which contested all but 20 seats. It won none but ate away at votes in at least 50 seats and undercut the Congress in as many as 10. What made Vibrant Gujarat work where India Shining did not? One part of the answer lies in the central role of Gujarati asmita combined with a pretty blunt espousal of Hindutva. There is little doubt that in the post-Vajpayee era, the latter is back, if in a different form. But the larger picture is that in an era of economic reform, Gujarat does not fit any textbook model. Agriculture led the way in growth, and manufacture created jobs. Modi never spoke of IT. In Andhra Pradesh, N. Chandrababu Naidu always did. In Gujarat, rural roads, not highways, featured in the slogan. In a larger sense then, the stock response of "resurgent Hindutva versus revived pluralism" is not the only issue. That will ignore the economic dimension of the Gujarat electoral story. It is only by looking at both dimensions that those who disagree with Modi's vision of India will have to script a different story in the days ahead. Or else, he has crafted a victory that will reverberate well beyond Gandhingar. ______ [5] Indian Express December 25, 2007 SOUTH ASIA'S CYNICAL ABOUT HUMAN RIGHTS by Ratna Kapur Casting a glance across the South Asian region, social and political protests abound. States continue to oppress and exclude sections of their citizenry from political participation or use the very tools of law to justify incarceration in the name of national security. As Sri Lanka quietly slides back into civil war, Pakistan sets up a facade of democracy, Nepal remains paralysed by political equivocation, Burma silences its protesting monks and India still drags its heels over providing justice to Muslims in Gujarat and Sikhs in Delhi, the question arises as to why the region remains so afflicted by political instability, civil conflict and reactionary nationalism? Sixty years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, most countries in the region face serious instability, impunity and human rights abuses. There is no comprehensive explanation why compliance with human rights remains such an elusive possibility within our region. But there is no question that human rights advocates must take a moment to reflect on the ways in which human rights have at times been implicated in producing some of the harms we are witnessing today. When the US bombs Afghanistan partly in the name of women's rights, or proponents of Hindutva use equality rights discourse to attack special measures for Muslims, there is a need to interrogate how and why human rights are susceptible to promoting such agendas. Human rights constantly need to be addressed within the context in which they operate rather than be linked to some universal prescription to 'do good'. In countries such as India or Sri Lanka, the forces of reactionary nationalism have pushed in the direction of 'one nation, one people' to justify the incarceration, if not the extermination of those who refuse to comply with such a claim. In Sri Lanka, the Rajapaksa government has declared an all-out war against the LTTE and the elimination of its entire cadre. The government's hand is strengthened by the Buddhist Sinhalese nationalists. They have characterised any proposal for the opening of a full office by the High Commissioner for Human Rights as nothing more than foreign interference and an abrogation of Sri Lanka's sovereignty and national integrity. Politically, while the High Commissioner's visit in October to Sri Lanka marked a high water point in drawing attention to the impunity with which atrocities were being inflicted by all sides, the government failed to address the seriousness of these complaints in its watered-down proposal to simply chronicle abuses rather than effectively redress them. In Nepal, the failure of the Seven Party Alliance to ensure polls in November after the successful people's movement has dashed expectations for a stable democratic structure in the short term. Many issues thrown up by the decade-long armed conflict - which resulted in disappearances and human rights violations by all sides - remain unresolved. In Pakistan, a military dictatorship is attempting to refashion itself as a standard-bearer for democracy. Even while everyone recognises that in this instance the emperor has no clothes, Washington has declared Musharraf a true democrat. Meanwhile, the human rights violations of lawyers, the subordination of the judiciary, and the impunity with which the government conducts its affairs, has amplified the voice of religious fundamentalists, and shrunk the space for civil society. This does not bode well for any future progress on human rights in that country. While India stands firm in its commitment to the democratic process, the Sangh Parivar continues to attack special provisions for Muslims and appeasement as non-secular and violating constitutional commitments to equality. It is indeed a prime example of how rights can be used to advance non-progressive agendas and are not per se liberatory nor emancipatory. At the same time, the Left has lost the plot in its intransigent opposition to the nuclear deal. The deal promotes the human right to development and has the ability to transform the lives of the poor. The history of human rights has not been a long one towards progress. But the Janus-faced aspect of human rights needs to be acknowledged. While they can be used to advance equality, liberty and freedom, it is also at the same time informed by racial, religious and gender superiority, all of which are used to justify the exclusion of human rights protections to a host of people. The exclusive potential of human rights remains evident in all countries in our region. It is a site of power, where different visions of the world are being fought out. To cede this terrain would enable less progressive forces to define the meaning of human rights. It is a messy terrain, where ultimately mere good intentions do not always result in progressive ends, and where quite clearly virtue does not always move in the direction of the virtuous. The writer is director, Centre for Feminist Legal Research ______ [6] Book Review - The Hindu December 25, 2007 Outside the heterosexual norm THE PHOBIC AND THE EROTIC - The Politics of Sexualities in Contemporary India: Brinda Bose and Subhabrata Bhattacharyya - Editors; Seagull Books, 26, Circus Avenue, Kolkata-700017. Rs. 795. Suguna Ramanathan The fact that, when asked to review this book, I could not tell from the title what the subject matter would be, classing it in my mind vaguely with gender studies, is an indication of the general invisibility of dissenting sexualities in this country. The editors say they hope that this volume will inform, and help transform, society. Having read it through, I can vouch for the wealth of information and the very high level of academic discussion to be found here, which is not surprising considering the many well-known contributors to the study. Perspectives come from experts in economics, law, medicine, culture and politics. The fundamental issue under discussion is the status and identity rights of people with sexual orientations outside the heterosexual norm - gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgendered people, queers, kothis, hijras, pankhis, all categorised under the label as LGBT. The norm The screening of Deepa Mehta's Fire, while provoking outrage, also started a public debate starting December 1998, a debate that was stifled, as one contributor tells us, by the outbreak of the Kargil war and subsequent valorisation of male gallantry and valour. The Hindu Right saw the film as violating the sanctity of the Hindu family, claiming that same sex practices were imported from a hedonistic Western culture. It is interesting to note that Britain in its imperial heyday saw these precisely as importations from an effete and decadent East. More than one of the essayists adduces evidence from ancient texts to show that they were prevalent in ancient Greece as well as India. A continuous interrogation of the norm of heterosexuality runs like an underground stream through the study. Is it, Ranjita Biswas asks, pre-ordained? Or is it that the construction process is invisible? She asks pertinently whether, in the anxiety to keep the family unit as society's cornerstone, these are processes of fundamental repudiation (innate rejection) or repudiations of fundamental signifiers (marginalising of different but undeniable sexualities). Pramod Nayar notes that the ritualistic functions of hijras at marriages and births in our culture which rejects them suggest they are part of that very culture. Bandyopadhyay suggests that the homophobia about the 'other' different sexuality may well signify that that other is an unacknowledged part of self. Ruth Vanita writes of the disruptive effect of erotic love, so private and intense that it is indifferent to the outside world, and thus a threat to social institutions such as marriage. Locating the issue Other essays locate the issue in cultural and social spaces peculiar to their times. Leela Gandhi discusses both Empire and its antagonist as profoundly hetero-normative projects, expressive of a male signifying economy, and the homosexual dissidence that withheld consent to the imperial project. Dennis Altman in an essay titled "Sexuality and Globalisation" suggests that migration and the flow of labour and capital across the world today all affect sexuality profoundly and point (as do other contributors) to the fact that the AIDS/HIV phenomenon has made sexuality part of public debate. That sexual mores have always been part of the public domain is clear from Ratna Kapur's essay, which examines the legal lines drawn around 'right' sexual speech and behaviour and the responses to, for instance, Valentine's Day celebrations or the rape scenes in Bandit Queen. Arguing that there has been far too much censorship, she suggests that petitioning should move from simply the legal struggle to a wider mobilisation that takes on board the concerns of the queer community. Many contributors deal with the policing role of the state (an issue, one may recall, at the heart of Shakespeare's Measure for Measure). Many essayists point to Hindu mythology which suggests that sexuality is, to use Ranjita Biswas's phrase, "work in progress"; references to Shiva's role as Mohini and Ardhanarishwar, of Arjuna as Brahannala, of Amba as Shikhandi, occur in more than one essay. Representation Representation of the theme in the arts comprises a final section. Brinda Bose critiques Fire for suggesting that the women are drawn to each other out of expediency (no one else to love) rather than passionate choice. Hoshang Merchant writes sensitively of the poems of the gay poet Agha Shahid Ali from Kashmir. Georgina Maddox discusses the paintings of Bhupen Khakhar and Amrita Sher Gill and Shivani Mutneja the fables of Sunita Namjoshi. Sibaji Bandyopadhyay, in a fascinating essay called "Approaching the Present", full of digressions, takes us through Plato's Symposium, Sappho's lyrics, the Mahabharata and Manu with equal ease. The longest piece in the volume, it is a model of scholarship that keeps the reader fully engaged through its 70 pages. That cannot be said of the introduction, alas, where the writing is academic to the point of aridity. _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ Buzz for secularism, on the dangers of fundamentalism(s), 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: http://insaf.net/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 SACW@insaf.net http://insaf.net/mailman/listinfo/sacw_insaf.net