Founding Editor: Daya Varma (1929-2015)
Editors: Vinod Mubayi (New York) and Raza Mir (New Jersey).
Editorial Board: Ram Puniyani and Irfan Engineer (Mumbai); Pervez Hoodbhoy (Islamabad); Dolores Chew (Montreal); Vamsi Vakulabharanam (Amherst); Ajay Bhardwaj (Vancouver).
Circulation/website: Feroz Mehdi (On behalf of Alternatives, Montreal).
TREASURE OF FAITH: HOARDS OF WEALTH IN PADMNABH TEMPLE
Ram Puniyani
In the book “The Art and Science of Healing Since Antiquity”, Daya Varma wrote: “Fueling the popular and erroneous perception that the West in materialistic and the East, particularly India, is spiritualistic, most god men and women happen to be of Indian origin. But for whatever reason these spiritualists prefer to operate in the United States of America. In this article Ram Puniyani shows how the wealth of these god men is far beyond what one could imagine. Read more…
ARMING TRIBALS AGAINST NAXALS UNCONSTITUTIONAL: SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
Text of the Supreme Court Order of 5 July 2011 in the Salwa Judum (in Chhattisgarh) Case Writ Petition (Civil) No(S). 250 Of 2007 | Nandini Sundar & Ors. Versus State Of Chhattisgarh. Read more…
BANGLADESH: AWAMI LEAGUE CHOOSES TO BE A SLAVE, NOT MASTER, OF HISTORY
(Editorial: New Age, 30 June 2011: source South Asia Citizens Wire – 4 July 2011 – No. 2719)
The passage of the 15th amendment to the constitution in parliament on Thursday marks a sad episode in the political history of Bangladesh. By pushing the amendment through, the ruling Awami League officially completed its deviation from the spirit of the liberation war and bracketed itself with all those that it has consistently castigated as forces opposed to the spirit of liberation. Read more…
MAKE HEALTHCARE A LEGAL ENTITLEMENT, SAYS BINAYAK SEN
(The Hindu, June 23, 2011)
New Delhi: Human rights activist Binayak Sen called for making healthcare a legal entitlement for all. Read more…
ALMOST 70 % INDIANS LIVE IN RURAL AREAS
PTI
Nearly 70 per cent of the country’s population lives in rural areas where, for the first time since independence, the overall growth rate of population has sharply declined, according to the latest Census. Read more…
SANSAD NEWS RELEASE JULY 25, 2011
South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy (SANSAD) held its Annual General Meeting in Vancouver, BC, on July 17, 2011, elected a board with representation from the entire South Asian region and adopted resolutions pertaining to people’s struggles and human rights on the subcontinent and Canada. Read more…
FIRST BILINGUAL LITERARY (URDU-HINDI) POETRY RECITATION AT EMBASSY OF INDIA IN WASHINGTON
Zafar Iqbal (Washington, DC)
Zafar Iqbal and his associates have been organizing programs symbolizing the historic cultural links between Hindus and Muslims in India for quite some time. Here he provides some details of a successful Urdu-Hindi poetry recital in America’s capital city, Washington. Read more…
CHINA IS BUILDING A BETTER FUTURE FOR ALL
Wen Jiabao (Speech of China’s Prime Minister in London; 27 Jun 2011)
Wen Jiabao: “Since the process of reform and opening-up began in China, people outside the country have seen the development and changes there in different ways. There is also an intense interest in our future path. On my visit to London, I wish to take the opportunity to address this subject.“ Read more…
60TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE LIBERATION OF TIBET
William Dere
Tibet is the stick with which China is hammered again and again not only by allies of Dalai Lama but by all human rights activists why are dying to see Tibetans revive their feudal culture as they wish. India facilitated the exodus of Tibetans as can be seen in Dharamsala. But there is another reality to Tibet and in the life of Tibetans in the words of the Chinese Vice-President. What is it? Read more…
KARNATAKA FARCE: BJP’S COMPLICITY IN CORRUPTION AND CORPORATE PLUNDER
ML Update
Even as the BJP’s Karnataka Government completed three years, and the Centre once again rejected the Karnataka Governor’s recommendation for imposition of Central rule in the state, a new act in BJP’s Karnataka drama is unfolding once more. The BJP’s topmost leadership is in the middle of a public spat over which of them is responsible for patronizing the powerful Karnataka Ministers and notorious mining mafia: the ‘Bellary brothers’. Read more…
CANADA MUST STOP PROTECTING ASBESTOS INDUSTRY
Kathleen Ruff
Canada is planning to export asbestos to India despite overwhelming evidence about its debilitating effects on health. As to be expected the buyers (India) and sellers (Canada) can always find some experts who would vouch for the safety of this dangerous chemical. Read more…
TOWARDS A RIOT FREE INDIA
Ram Puniyani
India is planning to introduce a bill to end communal violence. It is a good development. However the proposed draft is weak in some aspects. Here is an outline of the nature of the debate. Read more…
BOOK REVIEW: THE FAKIR
Author Sunil Gangopadhyay (Translated from Bengali by Monabi Mitra) [New Delhi: Harper Perennial, 2010]
Reviewed by Yoginder Sikand
Indian history is replete with stories of fiercely iconoclastic rebels who, refusing to be bound by the strictures and prejudices of religious orthodoxy, bravely denounced social convention in their quest for spiritual transcendence and social equality. One such figure was the late nineteenth century Bengali poet-rebel Lalan Fakir. Defying the logic of the conservative society in which he was born by insisting that he was neither Hindu nor Muslim and announcing that he cared nothing whatsoever for hierarchies of caste and class, Lalan Fakir was, by all counts, an amazingly charismatic revolutionary who sought to preach a human-centric understanding of the transcendent, one that was rooted in the struggles of the poor and oppressed for their true humanization. Read more…
BOOK REVIEW: THE RED MARKET
Michiko Kakutani
Whereas black markets trade in illegal goods like guns and drugs, the “red market,” the journalist Scott Carney says in his revealing if somewhat scattershot new book, trades in human flesh — in kidneys and other organs, in human corneas, blood, bones and eggs. Many of the real-life examples he cites in this chilling volume cannot help but remind the reader of a horror movie, or of Kazuo Ishiguro’s devastating dystopian novel “Never Let Me Go” (2005), in which we learn that a group of children are clones who have been raised to “donate” replacement body parts. Read more…
MEXICO-US BORDER- BUILDING A CULTURE OF CROSS-BORDER SOLIDARITY
David Bacon
Editor’s Note: This is the first installment of a series on border solidarity by journalist and immigration activist David Bacon. This article and subsequent installments were originally published in the Institute for Transnational Social Change’s report Building a Culture of Cross-Border Solidarity. Read more…
UPA’S MISPLACED PRIORITIES
Daya Varma and Vinod Mubayi
The performance of the UPA in its second term of government seems to be far worse than in the first term. Although the leadership has not talked much lately about the Maoist “threat”, which is any case more a symptom than a cause, the government has not taken any steps to address the plight of Adivasis, tribals and forest dwellers, whose only friends seem to be the Maoists. BJP-led governments in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh and their allied regimes in Orissa and even Bihar are doing whatever they want to, while the Congress leaders are indulging in paying homage to obscurantist, fundamentalist and religious bigots. Read more…
BABA RAMDEV’S ANTI CORRUPTION FAST: NEW FACE OF COMMUNAL POLITICS
Ram Puniyani
Since this article was written, Baba Ramdev has given up his fast. He promised to fast until death if his demands are not met, but being too coward to die, found some alibi. From time to time India produces great men and women but also from time to time it produces great crooks. Baba Ramdev is the latest fraud who combines everything despicable into one person. People who assembled around Ramdev in the anticorruption fast are like people who assembled in Ayodhya to demolish the Babri Masjid. In both cases the bone-less government allowed the assembly but used its baton in the wrong one. Read more…
PAKISTAN AFTER OSAMA
Pervez Hoodbhoy
The killing of Osama bin Laden could provide Pakistan an opportunity to reverse its downward slide, though changing course will not be easy. The country must decide whether to decisively confront Islamist violence, or continue with the military’s current policy of supporting jihadi militants with one hand even as it slaps them with the other. Read more…
NEPAL’S BALANCE OF FORCES AND THE FUTURE OF PEOPLES LIBERATION ARMY
Peter Tobin
Democracy and Class Struggle published this report from Peter Tobin, a correspondent who is currently in Nepal. It offers background and analysis of extremely important controversies that have sharpened within Nepal, and within that country’s revolutionary Maoist forces, the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). The original piece assumes a great deal of knowledge about Nepal (and its political acronyms), so we have inserted brief explanations [in brackets] at appropriate places. Read more…
RAMDEV’S NON-PROFIT OUTFITS FACE PROBE IN THE US
Iftikhar Gilani
From the view point of medical ethics, every single concoction that Ramdev’s pharmacy makes and sells is a fraud and in many countries would be treated as an unethical, if not a criminal act. Because many others do things like what Baba Ramdev does, it is ignored on technical grounds. But for a person who makes false threats of fast unto death against some kind of corruption, his shady charity but otherwise a business has come to light as this article in Tehelka shows. Read more…
FORBESGANJ FIRING: POLICE KILLED WOMEN, INFANT FROM POINTBLANK
Mumtaz Alam Falahi
In December 2010 Samata Party, a traditional ally of Bhartiya Janata Party, came to power in Bihar with overwhelming majority. Installing its leader Nitish Kumar as the Chief Minister and ending the long rule of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) of Lalu Yadav. Whatever other mistakes Lalu Yadav might have committed, he ensured the safety of Muslims. This is not so under Nitish Kumar as apparent from the brutality against a group of Muslims. Read more…
2002 RIOTS IN GUAJARAT: ANOTHER POLICE OFFICER BLAMES MODI
Meghdoot Sharon, Gaurav Shah, CNN-IBN
Yet another top police officer in Gujarat has gone public, raising questions over the conduct of the Gujarat police force in controlling the communal riots in 2002. Retired Gujarat Director General of Police RN Bhattacharya has said that there was a feeling among officers that the lower rank officials had failed to safeguard the rights of the citizens. Read more…
OBITUARY: M.F. HUSAIN: VICTIM OF INTOLERANCE
Ram Puniyani
On 9th June 2011, M.F. Husain breathed his last in a London Hospital, and was later buried in the cemetery in London as per his wish that he should be buried at a place of his death. The most celebrated painter of India, more Indian than any of his detractors died, away from his home, due to self imposed exile. This self imposed exile was due to the threats of Hindu fundamentalists. The renowned painter called by many as Picasso of India, had the fate similar to that of Picasso, who also went into self exile in the regime of Fascist Franco of Spain. Read more…
M F HUSAIN: WHEN THE NATION LOSES ITS OWN NARRATIVE
Sadanand Menon
The moment of M F Husain’s death is sombre and we could do with a serious self-evaluation of where we stand with respect to our arts. The hounding out of a 90-year-old painter who was constantly striving to make us look at ourselves from a multi-cultural, secular, syncretic perspective, and our failure to ensure his return before he passed away five years later, should worry us about where we are heading as a nation. The fact that India could not see itself through the eyes of Husain and, instead, interpreted his epiphanic invocation and celebration of our civilisational diversity as something narrow and divisive, points to the rapid thickening and blocking of our national arteries, constricting the openness we so hypocritically assume as our cultural credo and hastening the spread of iron in the soul. Read more…
M.F. HUSAIN 95 ARTIST: India’s Most Prominent Painter Was Hounded by Hindu Fundamentalist
Muneeza Naqvi
Excerpts
“Husain had lived in Dubai since 2006 after receiving death threats from Hindu hard-liners in India for a nude painting of a woman shaped like India’s map, often described as Mother India in popular arts…” Read more…
CPI(ML) MOURNS THE PASSING OF M F HUSAIN
(Liberation News Service June 10, 2011)
MF Husain’s death at the age of 96 has robbed the world and India of a towering artist. All his life, he never stopped painting, and he acquired international renown as a modern painter with a distinctive style. Read more…
OBITUARY: ROSALYN S. YALOW (Nobel Medical Physicist, Dies at 89)
Denise Gellene
Rosalyn S. Yalow, a medical physicist who persisted in entering a field largely reserved for men to become only the second woman to earn a Nobel Prize in Medicine, died on Monday in the Bronx, where she had lived most of her life. She was 89. Read more…
WEST BENGAL ELECTIONS: ANOTHER SETBACK FOR INDIAN COMMUNIST MOVEMENT
Daya Varma
After over 30 years of continuous rule in West Bengal, the Left Front (LF) led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPM was defeated in the May 2011 Assembly elections; it had 235 seats in 2006 and won only 62 in 2011. As expected, the victor Mamata Banerjee is jubilant. But others, especially independent leftists and Naxalite parties are jubilant too and that reveals the state of the left in India more than the jubilation in the ranks of Trinamool Congress of Mamata Banerjee. This is because a setback in any communist formation can never be a harbinger of the blossoming of another.
ANNIVERSARY: WHAT IF PAKISTAN DID NOT HAVE THE BOMB?
Pervez Hoodbhoy
Could the Bomb really have saved Pakistan in 1971? Can it do so now? Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan has spent the last few years confined by the Pakistan Army to one of his palatial Islamabad residences where he whiles away his days writing weekly columns in newspapers. This venerable metallurgist, who claims paternity rights over Pakistan’s bomb, says it alone saves Pakistan. In a recent article, he wistfully wrote: “If we had had nuclear capability before 1971, we would not have lost half of our country – present-day Bangladesh – after disgraceful defeat.”
BHAGWAN SATYA SAI: FAITH MARGINALIZES REASON
Ram Puniyani
India is the richest source of god men and women. Although most of them bless America, Satya Sai Baba controlled the world from his Indian base. His following was so huge that Indian Prime Minister and the Congress leader Sonia Gandhi made a trip to pay their last respects. Here Ram Puniyani examines this phenomenon.
MADHYA PRADESH: SHADOWS OF HINDU RASHTRA
Ram Puniyani
Madhya Pradesh is being ruled by the BJP Government from last several years. This is one state where BJP and its erstwhile avatar, Bharatiya Jansangh had a good deal of following in the past also. During last few years one has seen with the BJP Government in the saddle, the state is imposing the norms which are intimidating to minorities, the BJP associates have become more assertive, state is promoting the outright Hindu culture, and it is also the place where the terror component of RSS affiliates has been having its dens at various places in the state.
NEPAL: NEED FOR WORKABLE COMPROMISE
Prashant Jha
The next few days will offer an opportunity to Nepal’s political class to re-engineer the political consensus that has been missing since the 2008 elections. The latest news is that a compromise has been reached that will allow the current Constituent Assembly to complete the task of writing the Constitution.
THE CURIOUS CASE OF OSAMA BIN LADEN
Pervez Hoodbhoy
Osama bin Laden, the figurehead king of al Qaeda, is gone. His hosts are still rubbing their eyes and wondering how it all happened. Although scooped up from Pakistani soil, shot in the head and then buried at sea, the event was not announced by General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani or by President Asif Ali Zardari. Instead, it was the president of the United States of America who told the world that bin Laden’s body was in the custody of US forces.
OSMA bin LADEN
Javed Anand
Behind the ugly reality there’s poetic justice. Osama bin Laden was finally bearded in the world’s most happening terror den: Pakistan. Osama is no more but who does not know that the cult of violence that he practiced and preached in Islam’s name is alive and kicking in Pakistan like nowhere else. This column, however, is about Osama’s unintended gift to post-9/11 Islam.
TROUBLE BREWS AT EFLU OVER BEEF IN MENU
(TNN | May 3, 2011)
Hyderabad: The beef row on English and Foreign Languages University (Eflu) campus intensified on Monday. While Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) activists maintained that they would attack anyone who cooks beef on campus, a large group of students lead by Dalit Adivasi Bahujan Minority Students’ Association (DABMSA) and Telangana Students’ Association, said that they will continue the agitation till beef gets accepted in the hostel food guide.
A CASE FOR BEEF EATING
Sadanand
Beef was on the menu of Vedic Savarnas (Brahmin, Kshatriya and Vaishya). They even ate venison, horse (Ashwamedh Yagna), fowls, and other animals, which were first offered as sacrifice (Naivedya) to Vedic deities.
A LIST OF DALIT STUDENTS COMMITTING SUICIDE IN LAST FOUR YEARS IN INDIA’S PREMIER INSTITUTIONS
Anoop Kumar
Here is the list of the Dalit students who have committed suicide in last four years.
VETERAN INDO-CANADIAN MPS DEFEATED IN PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS
Daya Varma
The parliamentary elections in Canada were held on May 2, 2011. The incumbent conservative Prime Minister who had been leading a minority government for seven years finally won a majority. More South Asian candidates contested this election than ever before. In general candidates of the New Democratic Party (NDP) have left orientation; candidates of the other two parties, Conservatives and Liberal, have no defined politics.
WE DEMAND A PERMANENT BAN ON ENDOSULFAN IN INDIA
(Press release: 27 April 2011)
Many pesticides are dangerous and Endosulfan tops the list. Why is it allowed in India when it has been banned in many countries?
IS THE REPORT OF THE UNSG’S PANEL OF EXPERTS A CONSPIRACY AND OBSTACLE TO RECONCILIATION?
Statement by concerned Christians on UN panel on accountability in Sri Lanka
Monday 25 April 2011 (South Asia Citizens Web)
In the past weeks, we as Christians have been reflecting on the torture, killing of Jesus by the rulers of that time, with complicity of high priests of the time, due to Jesus’s efforts to stand by the poor and oppressed and bring them good news of liberation. Our reflections had been taking into account the situation in our country today and we had noted the controversy surrounding the report of the panel of experts of the UN Secretary General related to the war in Sri Lanka.
INDIAN JAMAAT-E-ISLAMI FINALLY DISCARDS ITS LONGSTANDING PRETENCE OF BEING A BENIGN RELIGIO-CULTURAL ORGANISATION
Sahil Khan
Late last week, amidst much fanfare, a new political party, styling itself the ‘Welfare Party of India’, was launched in New Delhi. It is the brainchild of India’s foremost Islamist outfit, the Jamaat-e Islami Hind, and most of its top office-bearers are senior Jamaat leaders. Politics is, however, not new to the Jamaat at all, for the Jamaat’s ideology is itself based on a distinctly political interpretation of Islam. It is premised on the centrality of the notion of the ‘Islamic state’, without which, it insists, Islam is ‘incomplete’. Bringing the whole world under the rule of such a state or states, styled as the Caliphate, is central to the Jamaat’s vision of Islam.
INVITATION TO A CONSULTATION ON THE PREVENTION OF COMMUNAL AND TARGETTED VIOLENCE BILL
(30 May, Monday, J.P.Naik Bhavan, Kalina Campus, 3-6.30 p.m.)
BOOK REVIEW: PEOPLE WITHOUT HISTORY: INDIA’S MUSLIM GHETTOS
Authors: Jeremy Seabrook & Imran Ahmed Siddiqui
Published by: Navayana Publishing, New Delhi, 2011 (Pages: 257; Price: Rs. 295
Reviewed by: Yoginder Sikand, NewAgeIslam.com
BOOK REVIEW: GOLDHAGEN’S INSINCERE ATTEMPT TO EXPLAIN ELIMINATIONIST POLICY
Dr. Habib Siddiqui (26 April, 2011; Countercurrents.org)
Book Review: Worse Than War by Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, Public Affairs, New York (2009), First edition, 658 pages.
HISTORY AND HEARTBREAK: THE LETTERS OF ROSA LUXEMBURG
Vivian Gornick
Rosa Luxemburg was an exemplary revolutionary. Many feel if her ways were followed the atrocities committed by Stalin would not have happened. Lenin disagreed with almost everything Rosa Luxemburg said and yet in defending her he invoked the Russian Fable “Eagles may at times fly lower than hens, but hens can never rise to the height of eagles.” This note by Gornick on Luxemburg is not only historically important, but relevant now in the present political context.
PUBLIC MEETING ON KASHMIR
June 3, 2011 (15.00-19.00 h) at Dy Speaker Hall (Constitution Club) Rafi Marg, New Delhi.
An attempt to understand and share the grief
INSAF BULLETIN SALUTES MAY DAY 20011!
It is125th Anniversary of the International Workers’ Day.
Into the streets May First!
Alfred Hayes
IS LOKPAL THE ANSWER TO CORRUPTION?
Vinod Mubayi
The issue of corruption has caused an unprecedented upheaval among the middle classes in India. Is an unelected all-powerful Lokpal the answer?
AT THE RISK OF HERESY: WHY I AM NOT CELEBRATING WITH ANNA HAZARE
Sidhabrata Sengupta
The Jan Lokpal Bill engineered by Anna Hazare, a former army man turned Gandhian, ostensibly to put an end to corruption in India has generated enough euphoria in India to draw such comments as second struggle for independence. The author of this article is sceptical about this bill and its impact.
GANDHI, HAZARE AND FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION
Asghar Ali Engineer
Anna Hazare is emerging as another Gandhi and he is not only in every newspaper but also on almost every page of every newspaper for making UPA Government to accept his demand to draft Lok Pal Bill with real teeth eighth members of civil society on the drafting panel. The UPA Government had no other course but to accept Hazare’s demand after having been exposed in several matters of corruption.
ASSAM: ALIENATING THE NATIVES
Ram Puniyani
In the recently concluded assembly elections in Assam (March-April 2011), one of the issues which was whipped up by BJP was about the Bengali speaking people especially the Muslims of Assam. Most of the Bengali speaking Muslims are projected to be from Bangladesh, and the communal parties and groups are using this myth to enhance their political capital, which is mostly based on spreading hate against minorities and bringing to fore the issues related to identity. In different parts of India also, the issue of Bengali Muslims has been raised too often. The Bengali speaking Muslims, Bangladeshis and also those from West Bengal, are projected to be Bangladeshis, and are presented to be threat to security. This point was raised time and over again in the acts of terror committed in recent years by the gang of Sadhvi Prgaya Singh Thakur to Aseemanand types belonging to Abhinav Bharat, Sanatan Sansthan etc. Many a time Bangladeshi groups were named in these acts of terror done by Hindutva groups and their connection with local Bangladeshis was propagated to the hilt. In Assam the issue of Bengali speaking Muslims has been brought up time and over again and this point has also been used at the time of elections to polarize the communities along religious lines.
MADHYA PRADESH: SHADOWS OF HINDU RASHTRA
Ram Puniyani
Madhya Pradesh is being ruled by the BJP Government from last several years. This is one state where BJP and its erstwhile avatar, Bhartiya Jansangh had a good deal of following in the past also. During last few years one has seen with the BJP Government in the saddle, the state is imposing the norms which are intimidating to minorities, the BJP associates have become more assertive, state is promoting the outright Hindu culture, and it is also the place where the terror component of RSS affiliates has been having its dens at various places in the state.
MOHALI MAGIC SHOULD BE SUSTAINED TILL ALL ISSUES [BETWEEN INDIA AND PAKISTAN] ARE RESOLVED
(Press release)
We, the peace activists and citizens of Pakistan and India welcome the very positive statements of the Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan issued from Mohali on the side lines of the Cricket World Cup Semi Final played on 30th March 2011.
NEPAL MAOIST AND INDIA BHAI-BHAI, SAYS SHARMA
http://www.nepalnews.com/archive/2011/apr/apr19/news16.php
United Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) [UCPN-M] spokesperson Dina Nath Sharma has said his party is in favor of further improving the already ‘cordial ties’ with India.
NEPAL MAOIST LEADER DAHAL SWINGS BACK TO PEACE, CONSTITUTION
Supplied Professor Sam Noumoff and Sam Boskey
Kathmandu, April 20: Ditching the official party line of revolt, Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has swung back to the line of peace and constitution floated by Vice-chairman Dr Baburam Bhattarai.
THE CONTINUED SHOCKING SAGA OF INDIA’S MISSING GIRLS
Shree Mulay
The census data from India released on March 31, 2011 show that the sex ratio amongst 0-6 year-olds has steadily declined to the lowest level since independence, standing at an average of 917 females per 1000 males, a shameful record for a country that claims to be the new emerging powerhouse amongst nations.
ON THE CONCATENATION IN THE ARAB WORLD
Perry Anderson
The Arab revolt of 2011 belongs to a rare class of historical events: a concatenation of political upheavals, one detonating the other, across an entire region of the world. There have been only three prior instances—the Hispanic American Wars of Liberation that began in 1810 and ended in 1825; the European revolutions of 1848–49; and the fall of the regimes in the Soviet bloc, 1989–91. Each of these was historically specific to its time and place, as the chain of explosions in the Arab world will be. None lasted less than two years. Since the match was first lit in Tunisia this December, with the flames spreading to Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, Libya, Oman, Jordan, Syria, no more than three months have passed; any prediction of its outcomes would be premature. The most radical of the trio of earlier upheavals ended in complete defeat by 1852. The other two triumphed, though the fruits of victory were often bitter: certainly, far from the hopes of a Bolívar or a Bohley. The ultimate fate of the Arab revolt could resemble either pattern. But it is just as likely to be sui generis.
WHO OWNS THE WORLD?
Noam Chomsky
The democracy uprising in the Arab world has been a spectacular display of courage, dedication, and commitment by popular forces – coinciding, fortuitously, with a remarkable uprising of tens of thousands in support of working people and democracy in Madison, Wisconsin, and other US cities. If the trajectories of revolt in Cairo and Madison intersected, however, they were headed in opposite directions: in Cairo toward gaining elementary rights denied by the dictatorship, in Madison towards defending rights that had been won in long and hard struggles and are now under severe attack.
BINAYAK SEN RELEASED ON BAIL
Aman Sethi
“I know in my heart that I never betrayed the people of this country”
EX-GUJARAT POLICE CHIEF COMMENDS BHATT’S AFFIDAVIT AGAINST MODI
Indian Express.com: Posted online: Fri Apr 22 2011, 17:33 hrs
Ahmedabad: Former Gujarat Director General of Police R B Sreekumar on Thursday commended fellow police officer Sanjiv Bhatt for implicating Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the 2002 Godhra riots.
DISMAYED AT HAZARE’S PRAISE FOR NARENDRA MODI
Dear Annaji
We are deeply shocked by your endorsement of Narendra Modi’s rural development. There has been little or no rural development in ths state.
DALIT LEADER UDIT RAJ FORMS ANTI-MAYAWATI PLATFORM IN UP
Vikas Pathak
With Uttar Pradesh (UP) elections approaching, there are distinct signs of an attempt from within Dalits to break Mayawati’s vote bank. Earlier this week, Dalit activist Udit Raj floated a platform, Upekshit Dalit Mahapanchayat, in the state to mobilise support from Scheduled Castes other than Mayawati’s caste of Jatavs, adding he was open to the idea of the platform developing into a political party.
SUPREME COURT ASKS TAMIL NADU TO GET RID OF TWO-TUMBLER SYSTEM
Rakesh Bhatnagar
An archaic social malpractice by adhering to the two tumblers system to discriminate between people from the “upper” and “lower caste” may be on its way out if Tamil Nadu government abide by the Supreme Court’s latest verdict.
CITIZEN’S INITIATIVE FOR PEACE (CIP) PROTESTS BANNING OF GANDHI BOOK
(Press Release: Supplied by Sukla Sen)
The Citizens’ Initiative for Peace (CIP), Mumbai is quite dismayed at the reported moves of the Maharashtra government to ban the book ‘Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and his Struggle with India’ authored by Joseph Lelyveld, apparently based on secondhand sources viz. reviews of the same carried by some newspapers.
KANNADA VERSION OF THE BOOK ‘WOMEN’S MOVEMENT AND COMMUNIST PARTY’
The Kanaada version of the English booklet ‘Women’s Movement and Communist Party’ titled as ‘Mahila Chaluvali Mattu Communist Paksha’ was released at a study camp organized by the Communist Party of India (ML)-Liberation on April 9 and 10. The booklet was translated by N Divakar, PUCL, with a remarks from Professor Laxminarayana and was released on 10 by E Rati Rao, Vice-President of AIPWA (All India Progressive Women’s Association).
(ML Update, 19-25 April, 2011).
IRAN IS TOP OF THE WORLD IN SCIENCE GROWTH
Andy Coghlan
Which country’s scientific output rose 18-fold between 1996 and 2008, from 736 published papers to 13,238? The answer – Iran – might surprise many people, especially in the western nations used to leading science. Iran has the fastest rate of increase in scientific publication in the world.
“BULLAH”
Written by: ‘Shahid Nadeem’
Directed by: ‘Madeeha Gauhar’
Presented by: Ajoka Theatre in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism – Khyber Pakhtonkhawa presents
On 1st May 2011 at 5:30pm at Nishtar Hall, Peshawar:
OBITUARY: MANNING MARABLE (1950-2011)
Sekhar Ramakrishnan
Manning Marable, a Marxist scholar, who recently completed a new biography of Malcolm X that is said to challenge popular images of Malcolm, died yesterday, apparently from complications related to his longstanding battle with sarcoidosis and perhaps with the lung transplant he got last year. As an aside, something for Amal and Karunakaran to think about as they evolve guidelines for organ transplantation in Tamil Nadu – even though Marable lived for less than a year after receiving his double-lung transplant, the world is a much better place for his having had the few months to complete his book, which is likely to be very influential.
MALCOLM X SCHOLAR MANNING MARABLE DIES AT 60
Cristian Salazar (Guardian April 2, 2011)
New York (AP) – Manning Marable, an influential historian whose forthcoming Malcolm X biography could revise perceptions of the slain civil rights leader, died Friday, just days before the book described as his life’s work was to be released. He was 60.
JAPAN UPDATE MARCH 30, 2011
Editors
As INSAF Bulletin goes to distribution, the nuclear plant crisis at Fukushima in Japan, precipitated by the massive earthquake followed by a huge tsunami, is still unfolding; reactor cores at two units in the six-unit facility and some of the pools in which the spent fuel rods are held, have not completely stabilized to a point where the emergency can be declared at an end.
WHAT CAN SOUTH ASIA LEARN FROM JAPAN’S BEST-CASE RESPONSE TO A WORST-CASE DISASTER?
Sekhar Ramakrishnan
The uncertain situation with Fukushima nuclear plant precipitated by a big earthquake and Tsunami is of concern to humanity. What happened, what has been done and what are the lessons of this disaster? Here is one view on the subject.
INDIAN UNION BUDGET 2011-12: MISSING BIG OPPORTUNITIES WHILE FAVOURING BUSINESS
Arun Kumar
The Indian Union budget presented by the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on February 27, 2011 has not received as much attention as it deserves. Does the budget address the question of poverty? Economist Arun Kumar provides a detailed analysis.
ADVANI AND MODI – THE REAL CULPRITS ESCAPING THE LAW
Asghar Ali Engineer
More than 100 innocent persons were arrested after burning of S-6 in Godhra on 27th February 2002 which in turn followed demolition of Babri Masjid on 6th December 1992. The man mainly responsible for the former was Mr. L.K.Advani who, to fulfill his ambition for power raised the slogan ‘mandir wahin banayenge’ and played with the religious sentiments of common Hindus and our secular state looked the other way. The man responsible for the later was Narendra Modi, who exploited burning of S-6 in Godhra to retain his power which otherwise he was sure to loose. And both these worthies of BJP brought utter shame to our secular tradition and secular philosophy.
GODHRA VERDICT: WHITHER JUSTICE? Need for a CBI Investigation
Ram Puniyani
Contrary to the overwhelming evidence against a Muslim conspiracy to set afire the S-6 railway Coach at Godra, the Session’s court accepts the theory advocated by the Gujarat government. Naturally there is a demand for enquiry into the episode. On the other hand, regardless of who set the coach afire, the government of Narendra Modi must be treated as guilty in the indiscriminate massacre of innocent Muslims.
MYTH OF VIBRANT GUJARAT
Ram Puniyani
Nearly nine years after the carnage of Gujarat (Feb 2011), a perception has been created that Gujarat is developing with rapid strides, there is all peace and harmony and minorities are happy. Like ‘Shining India’ a word has been coined, ‘Vibrant Gujarat’.
SANGH PARIVAR AND NEW CONTRADICTIONS
Vikhar Ahmed Syeed
Interview with French social scientist Christophe Jafferlot (Frontline March 12-25, 2011)
BABA RAMDEV: YOGI OR COMMISSAR?
Ram Puniyani
God men like Baba Ramdev reflect the degeneration of Indian society and perhaps other societies. In his book “The Art and Science of Healing Since Antiquity (Xilbris: Bloomington, IN, USA), the author Daya Varma deals with the booming industry of providing health and wealth by men like Baba Ramdev and others. Here Ram Puniyani presents a timely exposure of nefarious and yet popular characters like Baba Ram Dev.
MUSLIM AND CHRISTIAN DALITS: Victims of Religious Apartheid Sanctioned by the State
Yoginder Sikand
While many traditionally deprived sections of Indian people have been given certain privileges in independent India, Christian and Muslim Dalits have been denied the provision of reservations. Who is behind this injustice to a select section of the population? Yoginder Sikand, an authority on the problems faced by Muslims in India and elsewhere analyzes the background to discrimination against this section.
SUCCESSFUL VISIT OF INDIAN PEACE DELEGATION TO PAKISTAN
A report on the visit of an Indian peace delegation to Pakistan and the warm welcome it received.
CONSENSUS AMONG THE THREE MAIN PARTIES IN NEPAL
Nepal news: March 10, 2011
The three major parties – UCPN (Maoist), Nepali Congress and CPN (UML) – have agreed to prepare the modality of the integration of Maoist combatants within five days and complete the integration process before the promulgation of the new constitution.
VIEW FROM THE UK (GOING CRITICAL): how the Fukushima disaster taught me to stop worrying and embrace nuclear power
George Monbiot
You will not be surprised to hear that the events in Japan have changed my view of nuclear power. You will be surprised to hear how they have changed it. As a result of the disaster at Fukushima, I am no longer nuclear-neutral. I now support the technology.
FROM THE ARAB WORLD TO LATIN AMERICA
Santiago Alba Rico Alma Allende
We have the impression that a great worldwide liberation process may be aborted by the unappeasable ferocity of Gaddafi, U.S. interventionism, and a lack of foresight in Latin America.
WISCONSIN DEATH TRIP: The plan to steal everything and sell the people into slavery
Michael Hudson and Jeffrey Sommers
The Wisconsin Republican Governor Scott Walker is at war against the workers and ordinary citizens aside being outrageously anti-democratic. Here two eminent political economists analyze the latest development.
TRIBUTE TO KARL MARX
Daya Varma
Faced with recurrent economic crises, characteristic of capitalist economy but certainly not the crisis of capitalism as Sami Amin puts it, eminent economists and the so-called bourgeois press has discovered the relevance of Marxism in understanding why things are as they are. Paradoxically they are more truthful in their analysis of Marx than many Marxist political parties.
Obituary:Alberto Granado Jiménez (1923-2011)
Javier Galeano (Associated Press)
HAVANA — Alberto Granado Jiménez, the Argentine biochemist who accompanied the young Che Guevara on his formative odyssey across South America, died here on Saturday. He was 88. This journey is portrayed in the beautiful movie “Motorcycle Diary”.
THE ARAB UPRISINGS: A SINGLE SPARK CAN LIGHT A PRAIRIE FIRE
Vinod Mubayi
When Mao Zedong invoked the ancient Chinese saying to describe the situation prevailing in rural China in 1930, no one would or could have predicted then how aptly it would apply to the events unfolding across the Arab world over 80 years later. Today, February 25, 2011, as these lines are being written, the Libyan dictator Qaddafi appears to be about to become the third “Supreme Leader” to be ousted, following the fall of dictatorships in Tunisia and Egypt.
THE PERPLEXING CASE OF RAYMOND DAVIS – THE GREAT GAME REVISITED?
Kiran Omar
A perplexing and puzzling drama is being played out in the Pakistani and international media, the stakes of which are high – US/Pakistan bilateral relationship. At the heart of this puzzle is one Raymond Davis, a “consultant/contractor” attached or contracted to the US diplomatic mission in Pakistan. To date his exact official designation at said mission is unclear and his job description and area of operation/expertise ambiguous.
HONESTY IS INDIVISIBLE
Arun Kumar
Illegality in India touches every economic activity. It is both systemic and systematic. The Indian ruling class faced its severest crisis of credibility in 2010. Its past caught up with it and skeletons and scams were spilling out of its closets. The scams have a symbiotic relationship with the black economy. The number of scams is growing and so is the size of the black economy, which has reached a mind-boggling level of 50 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product, that is, it annually generates Rs.33 lakh crore [1 lakh=100,000; 1 crore= 10 million; US$1= approx 50 IRs] in black income. While the 1980s saw eight major scams, in the period between 1991 and 1996 there were 26 and during 2005-08, there were around 150.
NEW DEAL, NEW PRIME MINISTER AND OLD PROBLEMS IN NEPAL
Daya Varma
Jhalanath Khanal, the leader of the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist) [CPN-UML] became the new Prime Minister of Nepal after receiving support from the United Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) [UCPNM]. The deal between the leaders of the two communist parties was okayed by Deuba, the leader of the Nepal Congress. Indeed Deuba urged the two parties to settle their disputes and provide formal shape to the government and start drafting the constitution drafting and expediting peace processes.
GUJARAT CARNAGE; MODI AND SPECIAL INVESTIGATION TEAM (SIT)
Ram Puniyani
There was a massacre of Muslims in Gujarat in 2002. Narendra Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat at that time. Yet there are agencies in India which find that Modi is not responsible for open brutality against the citizens of a minority community in his state.
BACK HOME IN GODHRA AFTER NINE YEARS OF TORMENT
Basant Rawat
Over time many accused of setting the railway coach afire in Gujarat have been found innocent; this shows the arbitrariness of Gujarat authorities against Muslims.
THE SUPREME COURT ON CONFESSION DURING POLICE CUSTODY: The case of ARUPBHUYAN and the State of Assam
(Courtesy, Kavita Srivatava of PUCL, supplied by Sandeep)
According to the judgment by the Supreme Court of India, all confessions during police custody are obtained through torture and hence invalid.
THE BULLET AND THE ELEPHANT EXPRESS
Raja Murthy
While China has begun to earn billions of dollars exporting high-speed bullet train technology to the United States and Europe, the struggle of Indian Railways to manage its financial woes and modernization delays serves as a stark contrast between the operators of the world’s two largest railway networks.
THE FIRST LESSON FROM THE EGYPTIAN REVOLUTION
Salwa Ismail
It remains too early to draw out all of the lessons of the Egyptian revolution. However, given what has been achieved so far, Egyptians can offer the world a first lesson from their revolution. Undoubtedly, there will be other lessons to be learned especially as the process of revolutionary change continues.
NEW CHALLENGES FOR CHINA
(China Daily 15 February 2011)
The article reflects on scenario when China’s development plants are unable to have cheap labor, as will also happen in India if addresses the question of rural development and mass poverty.
BOOK REVIEW: JIMMY THE TERRORIST
Sensitively crafted and deeply evocative, Jimmy the Terrorist is about the best novel I have read on the unenviable predicament of Muslims in current times. It describes remarkably realistically, and without being preachy, sensationalist or apologetic, the painful dilemmas that vast numbers of Muslims are today faced with in the wake of mounting Islamophobia and increasing anti-Muslim prejudice, on the one hand, and radicalism and hatred in the name of Islam, on the other.
FORTY NOBEL LAUREATES APPEAL FOR THE RELEASE OF DR. BINAYAK SEN
It must be a great solace to Dr. Sen that forty of world’s top scientists are on his side while uneducated government and judges are bent upon keeping him in jail.
FAIZ ON GANDHI
(Faiz A. Faiz’ editorial of the Pakistan Times dated Feb 2, 1948. Original title was: Long Live Gandhiji. Faiz’z birth centenary is being observed this year in both Pakistan and India; supplied by Anand Patwardhan.)
MD. SALMAN DISCHARGED FROM THE 2008 DELHI BLASTS CASE!
Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Association (5th February 2011)
Show me the evidence, says Judge: The Prosecution is able to produce none!
WORKERS DRAW THE LINE IN WISCONSIN
Aongus Ó Murchadha
Wisconsin saw its biggest labor rally in memory Tuesday as an angry crowd estimated at as many as 20,000 turned out to oppose Republican Governor Scott Walker’s efforts to gut public-sector unions of their bargaining power, break them financially and force workers to pay for the state budget deficit.
IMF on the Middle East
(The New York Times, February 23, 2011)
“Less than 2 weeks ago the IMF’s executive board, its highest body, assessed a North African country’s economy and commended its government for its “ambitious reform agenda.”
THE DANGER OF FUNDAMENTALISM TO SOUTH ASIA
Daya Varma and Vinod Mubayi
The murder of Salman Taseer, the governor of the Punjab province of Pakistan, by his bodyguard is generally seen as a Pakistani phenomenon. Because the killer was the bodyguard of the Governor, some commentators have likened it to the assassination of Indira Gandhi because in her case also the assassin was her bodyguard. But that similarity is superficial. In political terms, the murder of Salman Taseer is more like the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi by the Hindu zealot Nathuram Godse. In both cases, religious extremists were the murderers.
THE PROBLEM WITH PAKISTAN
Vaqar Ahmed
The problems that Pakistan faces today are a direct and logical consequence of the basis of the creation of the country.
PAKISTAN: THE MURDER OF LIBERAL THOUGHT AND TOLERANCE
Kiran Omar
The barrage of bullets that fatally ripped through the body of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer murdered more than a political and public figure. They rent apart the lingering myth that space still existed in Pakistan for liberal thought, religious tolerance and inclusive politics.
HOW CAN THE PAKISTANI LEFT BECOME RELEVANT?
Pervez Hoodbhoy
Pakistani society owes much to numerous progressive left-wing individuals, as well as small groups. They unionized industrial and railway workers, helped peasants organize against powerful landlords, inspired Pakistan’s minority provinces to demand their rights, set standards of writing and journalism, and raised voices for peace and against militarism. Often this was at enormous personal cost. Leaders and workers belonging to worker and student groups have been targeted, victimized, beaten, and sometimes killed.
But the truth must be the told secular, liberal, and left groupings has never had a national presence in Pakistan and, even at their peak during the 1970’s, could not muster even a fraction of the street power of the Islamic or mainstream parties.
ARE ZIA’S MONSTERS DEVOURING PAKISTAN?
Kaleem Kawaja
General Zia ul Haq was one of the presidents of Pakistan in the mid 1970s to mid 1980s. That was also the Ronald Regan era in US and the era of the soviet occupation and war in Afghanistan. Zia collaborated fully with Regan and the US military machine to use the Pakistani soil to bring in huge supplies of arms to help Afghans fight the soviets. Together Regan and Zia encouraged religious militancy in NWFP and in Afghanistan, using and exploiting Islam to fight the soviet war machine. Many a Muslims in Pakistan were radicalized using Islam for this purpose. After the soviets left Afghanistan, US also pulled out of the war ravaged Afghanistan and left it to internal civil wars among Afghan factions that lasted over a decade, literally destroying Afghanistan.
LOOK AT PAKISTAN AND BE HAPPY
Dipankar Gupta
Our grief at Salman Taseer’s assassination has a schadenfreude aspect to it. We are sad that a brave man died unjustly, but we are happy this happened to our neighbor next door. True, Taseer was part of the establishment, but he had a change of heart when it came to the blasphemy law.
DEMOCRATS TO THE RESCUE
Dipankar Gupta
When Binayak Sen was arrested it gave a much-needed boost to the Maoists. As they advocate violence to achieve their ends, it is like oxygen for them every time the state commits a travesty of justice. It is worth remembering that armed movements, of whatever variety, have succeeded only in autocratic, dictatorial and monarchical states, but never in democratic ones.
SWAMI, SANGH AND TERROR LINKS
Ram Puniyani
Investigating acts of terrorism have multiple complex issues as things are mired in secrecy. To add to the problem is the mindset of investigating authorities and those in power. The acts of terror, which have been inflicted on the country, have been mainly attributed to the Jehadi Terror and mostly the theory which has been guiding the police authorities has been to work on this understanding.
NEPAL: IDENTITY POLITICS AND FEDERALISM
Federal restructuring of the state has emerged as a major demand of ethnic and regional activists in Nepal. The debate about it is extremely politicized. Federalism is not simply the decentralization of political power; it has become a powerful symbol for a wider agenda of inclusion, which encompasses other institutional reforms to guarantee ethnic proportional representation and a redefinition of Nepali nationalism to recognize the country’s ethnic and cultural diversity.
MAOISTS IN NEPAL: THE DIFFERENCES WITHIN
Prashant Jha
At a recent meeting, the Maoists expressed their commitment to peace and the constitutional process but also decided to prepare for a revolt.
UNEQUAL INDIA-NEPAL ACCORDS NEED TO BE RENEGOTIATED
Shirish B Pradhan
Nepal Maoist chief Prachanda sought to allay India’s concerns that his party was strongly anti-Indian, but underlined that the two countries need to redefine the ‘unequal’ accords of the past given the dramatic changes of the past few years.
SHARING SHOULDERS
(Daya Varma, Pervez Hoodbhoy and Vinod Mubayi)
CORRESPONDENCE
PEOPLE’S SAARC CONFERENCE CONDEMNS MURDER OF SALMAN TASSER
A resolution condemning murder of Salman Taseer Shaheed by a religious extremist was unanimously adopted during Peoples SAARC meeting/conference in Dhaka on January 18-19, 2011.
SUPREME COURT FOR RELIEF OF VICTIMS OF SALWA JUDUM, SECURITY FORCES OR NAXALITES
(Source: SACW January 18, 20111; abridged)
Justices Sudershan Reddy and SS Nijjar responded to the petition by Senior Counsel, Mr. Ashok Desai, and ordered the Chhattisgarh government to vacate security forces from all educational institutions, disband Salwa Judum camps and offer relief to all victims of the violence regardless of perpetrator.
GET RID OF ILLEGAL SHRINES: SUPREME COURT TO STATES
Bhadra Sinha
Taking exception to states’ dilly-dallying on the removal of illegal religious structures, the Supreme Court threatened to summon the respective chief secretaries if they failed to comply with directions to remove or relocate places of worship built on public land.
HUMAN RIGHTS HELP FROM UNLIKELY SOURCES
According to a news item in the Times of India (Jan 23, 2011), a seven-member delegation of the European Union has requested permission to watch the trial of Binayak Sen at the Chhatisgarh High Court. The decision of the High Court to allow these observers is yet not known. BJP MP Ram Jethmelani is appearing on behalf of Binayak Sen.
CHRISTIAN COUNCIL SATISFIED WITH VERDICT FOR KILLERS OF GRAHAM STAINES
The decision of the Supreme Court of India on January 22, 2011 to uphold the life imprisonment of Dara Singh and his accomplice Mahendra Hembram convicted of killing Graham Staines and his two young sons in January 1999 has been welcomed by the All India Christian Council.
(Based on an item by John Dayal)
PROTEST DEMANDING RELEASE OF MUSLIMS HELD IN MALEGOUN JAIL
More than 40 Muslim organization held a protest meeting at Azad Maidan, Mumbai demanding release of all Muslim youth held in Malegoun jail on charges of bomb blasts in the wake of confession by Swamy Asmanad in front of Delhi judge.Speakers included Abu Asim Azmi (MLA) Samajwadi Party, Amjed Ullah Khan Corporator MBT party, Sheik Abdul Kaleem (who was arrested in Mecca Masjid Blast), Moulana Syed Khaled Ashrafi, Moulana Mastakim Ahsan Azmi (Jamat Ulema,Maharastra), Nazir Md Madoo (Amir Jamaat E Islami,Maharastra)and Moulana Syed Ather Ali
IN DEFENCE OF ARUNDHATI ROY: DEMAND TO UPHOLD FREE SPEECH AND EXPRESSION
Statement by Academics and Activists from India and Abroad
We condemn the demand of the BJP to take the strongest possible action against Arundhati Roy for her seditious comments at the seminar, Azadi: The only way held in New Delhi, October 21, 2010.
BANGLADESH: THE ILLEGAL ARREST OF LABOR RIGHTS ACTIVIST
William Gomes
Dhaka: Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), the Bangladesh’s Military Intelligence is behind the arrest of labor rights activist Moshrefa Mishu, a leftist political activist and President of the Garment Workers Unity Forum (GWUF), a labor rights organization of the readymade garment factories of the country. Confined in Dhaka Medical Hospital (DHMC) by highly armed police officials Moshrefa Mishu exposed the horrific torture description the in several undercover interviews to Srilanka guardian.
FIRST MUSLIM ARRESTED AFTER MECCA MASJID BLAST RELEASED ON BAIL
Abdul Kareem released on bail in crime No: 658 of 2010 of Kushaiguda Police Station. He furnished sureties of Twenty thousand rupees. He was earlier arrested after Mecca Masjid blast and tortured in private farm house.
GUJARAT GOVERNMENT AFTER HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS
PUCL (People’s Union for Civil Liberties) strongly condemns Gujarat Government’s campaign of calumny against and attempt to frame under false charges human rights defender Teesta Setlavad, of Citizens of Justice and Peace, lawyer M.M. Tirmizi, victims survivors of Lunwada massacre and media person Rahul Singh for exposing Gujarat Police’s callousness and cruelty in the Lunwada massacre and mass burial case.
KABIR FESTIVAL HELD IN MUMBAI
To honour the great medieval poet and saint Kabir, a nine day long festival from January 14 to 23 was organized in Mumbai.
INDIAN PRIME MINISTER SLEEPS WHILE THE COUNTRY DRFITS INTO ANARCHY
Daya Varma
According to news reports (January 24, 2011), Maharashtra police arrested hotel managers who did not inform the police about hosting foreign delegates attending a Women’s Conference organized by Illina Sen, wife of Dr. Binayak Sen at the Mahatma Gandhi International Hindi University at Wardha. The police used an archaic law, the Foreigners Act of 1946, to harass Illina Sen as well.
TOTAL CAPITULATION
Tariq Ali
The ‘Palestine Papers’ being published this week by al-Jazeera confirm in every detail what many Palestinians have suspected for a long time: their leaders have been collaborating in the most shameful fashion with Israel and the United States. Their grovelling is described in grim detail. The process, though few accepted it at the time, began with the much-trumpeted Oslo Accords, described by Edward Said in the LRB at the time as a ‘Palestinian Versailles’. Even he would have been taken aback by the sheer scale of what the PLO leadership agreed to surrender: virtually everything except their own salaries. Their weaknesses, inadequacies and cravenness are now in the public domain.
SUCCESSFUL JOURNEY OF THE ASIA TO GAZA SOLIDARITY CARAVAN
From Rajghat in Delhi, through Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Lebanon and Syria. The caravan, in its journey of over 7000 km, collected $1 million worth of aid supplies including four ambulances, medical supplies and essential food supplies.
CHINA BRICS UP AFRICA
(Abridged from an article by M K Bhadrakumar, a career diplomat and supplied by Prof Sam Noumoff)
There can be no two opinions that Beijing made a smart move. Its decision to anoint South Africa as a new member of BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) will be projected as based on economic grounds, but there are any number of other dimensions.
ANNOUNCEMENT
The Mahanirban Calcutta Research Group (CRG or the Calcutta Research Group) in collaboration with various other institutions has held in the in the last six years three critical studies conferences. The first conference held in 2005 was on What is Autonomy? The second conference held in 2007 was on Spheres of Justice . The third conference held in 2009 was on Empires, States, and Migration . The aim of these exchanges of ideas and scholarly works has been to promote critical thinking on issues affecting our lives. These exchanges have been inter-disciplinary, intense, and directed towards new thinking and ideas.
OBITUARY: KANDALA GOPALSWAMY KANNABIRAN (1929-2010)
Personal memories of the man by Vithal Rajan
An obit that would do justice to this Just Man would occupy a fair-sized book. I am sure a compilation in memoriam’ will be attempted soon by learned people, who worked for him, and alongside him. I was a bystander most of the time, and I can offer only a few personal glimpses of a man, whose name and fame and work filled over three decades of India’s human rights struggle. He was lean, taut, and spry, and his commitment to universal justice blazed forth as from a pulsar. But at other moments he was a genial companion, learned and impish in turns, with an ineradicable sense of humour even about what he held sacred his work and an ever-green childlike romantic ideal till the very end of days.
K.G. KANNABIRAN, INDIA’S “LEADING CIVIL LIBERTIES LAWYER FOR THE LAST FOUR DECADES”
Many of Kannabiran’s writings are collected in a 2004 book, The Wages of Impunity: Power, Justice and Human Rights. His funeral was conducted quietly soon after he passed away, as his wife, Vasanth Kannabiran, explained in a guest post on Kafila:
Hopefully the New Year would be better than the last one!
A LAND OF POVERTY GOVERNED BY POLICE AND JUDGES
Daya Varma and Vinod Mubayi
India impresses visitors and its residents differently. Despite evidence of modern development, what is still unique about India is the pervasiveness of corruption, poverty, police atrocities, a reliance on judges for exercising executive functions, as well as a steady march of majority religious symbols into what were hitherto secular spaces.
BINAYAK SEN, THE STATE AND THE COURTS
Dr. Binayak Sen is a devoted paediatrician and human rights activist. He was particularly concerned with the health and social status of Adivasis in Chhattisgarh, the Indian state ruled by the Hindu chauvinist party Bhartiya Janata Dal (BJP); the area is also a hotbed of Maoist activity. He was unjustly arrested a few years ago for allegedly supporting Maoists; after incarceration he was released on bail. His case came up for trial and the court found him guilty of sedition. He has now been sentenced to life imprisonment. There is an outcry against this unjust sentencing of Sen. Read the following articles – Editors
FINAL STATEMENT OF BINAYAK SEN
I am a trained medical doctor with a specialization in child health. I completed my MBBS from the Christian Medical College, Vellore in 1972, and completed studies leading to the award of the degree of MD (Pediatrics) of the Madras University, from the same institution in 1976. After this, I joined the faculty of the Centre for Social Medicine and Community Health at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi and worked there for two years, before leaving to join a field based health program at the Friends Rural Centre, Rasulia in Hoshangabad, MP. During the two years I worked there, I worked intensively in the diagnosis and treatment of Tuberculosis and understood many of the social and economic causes of disease. I was also strongly influenced by the work of Marjorie Sykes, the biographer of Mahatma Gandhi, who lived at the Rasulia centre at that time.
BINAYAK CONVICTED – SENTENCE STILL TO BE PRONOUNCED
Kavita Srivastava
By now you all must have got to know about the conviction of Dr. Binayak Sen u/s of 120(B), 124(A) of the IPC and 1,2,3,5, Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act and Sec 39 (2) of the UAPA (2004 amended).
SEDITION DECISION ‘MISUSE’ OF LAWS
Amartya Sen
I am very upset about the court decision in Chhattisgarh about Binayak Sen. It is a huge perversion of our system of justice, and particularly of the laws concerning sedition. It’s not at all clear, to start with, that the thing he has been exactly accused of — of passing letters — has been really proved beyond doubt.
PRESS RELEASE BY PUCL ON DR. BINAYAK SEN’S CONVICTION
Delhi/ Raipur (24th December, 2010)
The People’s Union for Civil Liberties is deeply disappointed at the miscarriage of justice reflected in the judgement of Raipur Additional District and Sessions Judge B. P Verma sentencing our National Vice President Dr. Binayak Sen to life imprisonment under charges of sedition 124 (A) of the IPC read with conspiracy (120-B IPC) along with convicting him concurrently u/s 8-(1), (2), (3) and (5) of the Chhattisgarh Vishesh Jan Suraksha Adhiniyam,2005 (Chhattisgarh Special Public Safety Act, 2005) and u/sec 39 (2) of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 2004 (amended).
INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS AND COMMUNALISM
Ram Puniyani
Although Indian National Congress which led the struggle for India’s independence is a secular party, it has failed to live up to its ideals more than once. The article below gives a good account of failings and accomplishments of Congress as far as communalism is concerned.
REPORT OF A SYMPOSIUM ON AYODHYA JUDGMENT
Teesta Setalvad
The September 30 2010 verdict in the Babri Masjid-Ramjanmabhoomi case, that began as a dispute over a title suit but escalated into a full blown politico-religious conflict— one that legitimized the criminal assault on a 450 plus year old mosque as also targeted minority life and property— has raised serious issues for the future of Indian democracy given the fact that the verdict was disproportionately based on issues of contested faith and disputed histories.
FOR A PROGRESSIVE PAKISTAN, AGAINST THEOCRACY, FOR PLURALISM, FOR EQUALITY & JUSTICE
(Source: Association for Communal Harmony in Asia, December 25, 2010)
AKA & LEGAL FRATERNITIES OF INDIA, PAKISTAN JOIN HANDS FOR PEACE
Aman Ki Asha
(Source: Association for Communal Harmony in Asia, December 25, 2010)
SOLIDARITY CARAVAN FROM INDIA TO PALESTINE
Gautam Mody
A solidarity Caravan composed of delegates from several Asian countries left New Delhi on 2 December and is expected to reaching Gaza on December 27, 2010. While so far the Caravan has received rousing reception from India to Syria, the clash point near Gaza still has to come.
DO SUPPORTERS OF NOBEL WINNER LIU XIAOBO REALLY KNOW WHAT HE STANDS FOR?
Barry Sautman and Yan Hairong
While opposing jailing of 2010 Peace Nobel Prize winner Liu Xiaobo by the Chinese authorities, the author of the article castigates both the Nobel Committee for its arbitrariness and the recipient of the Prize for his war-mongering and anti-China position.
RUSSIA HAILS U.S. SENATE’S RATIFICATION OF NEW START
(Circulated by Sukla Sen)
Moscow, December 23, 2010 (Xinhua) — Russian President Dmitry Medvedev welcomed
the ratification of the new Russia-U.S. strategic arms reduction treaty (START) by the U.S. Senate, said the Russian presidential press secretary.
DEMOCRACY WITH CHINESE CHARACTERISTICS
Sam Noumoff
China is at a critical stage with respect to democracy and human rights. We are producing this article by a well-known China observer because of the importance of this question, the outcome of which is bound to have significant effect not only in China but in the entire Asia and the world.
OBITUARY: BHAGWAN DAS: 1927-2010
Vijay Prashad
Bhagwan Das (The historian of ‘his people’). His life was given over to the fight against caste and untouchability, and towards the promotion of Buddhism.
OBITUARY: CATHERINE POTTER: 1957-2010
The accomplished Montreal-based Basuri player Catherine Potter, a student of Hariprashad Chaurasia, was a part of CERAS and Kabir Cultural Center and a friend of South Asia. She used to participate in activities of these organization and had volunteered for fund raising to help Pakistan flood victims. In her death, the South Asian community lost a friend and supporter. We produce an Obit written for the local news paper Gazette. Another lengthier Obit written by Philip Fine of Montreal was published in the Canadian national newspaper Globe and Mail of December 23, 2010. Ed.
ARUNDHATI ROY ON KASHMIR
Daya Varma and Vinod Mubayi
Arundhati Roy’s pronouncement “Kashmir has never been an integral part of India” is a non-sequitur. Historically, India was understood as a geographic construct. It emerged as a unitary nation-state under British rule. Kashmir was then as much a part of India as any of the other 500-odd princely states. Even under various past empires, ranging from Ashoka to Akbar to Bahadur Shah Zafar, there was never any doubt that Kashmir belonged to what was considered India.
BIHAR ELECTIONS SET A NEW PARADIGM IN INDIA’S PARLIAMENTARY POLITICS
Daya Varma
In the recently concluded Bihar Assembly elections, Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) [JDU] bagged 115 of the 243 seats and its partner Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) won 91 seats. Thus JDU-BJP alliance won 206 incomparably ahead of Lalu Yadav’s. 22 and Congress’s four seats. JDU-BJP are part of the National Democratic Alliance, which ruled India for five years with Vajpayee is the Prime Minister.
DRONES: THEIRS AND OURS
Pervez Hoodbhoy
Vocal as they are about being bombed from the sky, most Pakistanis – including many on the Left – suddenly lose their voice when it comes to the human (Muslim) drone.
A SUMMER OF CRUEL MONSOONS, INTOLERANCE AND SMALL TRIUMPHS
Kiran Omar
Monsoons, normally a relief in South Asia, brought unprecedented devastation in Pakistan this year. The response of the Pakistan government was slow and sporadic.
INDIA NOT SHINING FOR WOMEN; RANKED 112/134 IN GLOBAL GENDER GAP REPORT
Here comes another report that shames India. The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2010 says India’s position is abysmal. Out of 134 countries surveyed, India is among the lowest ranked countries at the 112th position, with a score of 0.6155. The index ranks 134 economies according to the size of the gaps between men and women.
AYODHYA VERDICT 2010: WHITHER INDIAN CONSTITUTION!
Ram Puniyani
The verdict given by Lucknow bench of Allahabad high court (Sept 2010) has been a landmark of sorts. On one hand it is culmination of the process of demolition of Babri Masjid, now that illegal act of demolition has got a legal sanction. On the other this judgment is the one based on every other consideration than the legal one. It has no rooting in the values of Indian Constitution, no guidance from the directive principles of the Constitution and no grounding in the law of the land.
THE DEITIES WE CREATE
Badri Raina
India is a land of deities and new ones created as needed.
CHRISTIANS VILLAGERS FORCED TO LIVE AS HINDUS
John Dayal
Persecution of Christians by Hindutva zealots continues. This saga of Christians in Orissa is based on the Report of a Fact Finding group of Activists on the Social and Economical Boycott of Christians in the Kandhamal district.
MARXISTS NOT AGAINST MARKET, FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT (FDI): KARAT
CPM leader attributes the dichotomy between the policies in states where it is power such as West Bengal and Kerala and for the rest of the country to lack of autonomy for provincial governments.
DISASTROUS POLICY OF INJECTABLE CONTRACEPTIVES FOR RURAL INDIA
Shree Mulay
The decision of the Health Ministry of India to support injectable contraceptives in rural India is fraught with serious health risks.
RAJAPAKSA’S SECOND TERM AS PRESIDENT
Daya Varma
Having militarily annihilated LTTE and won presidential and parliamentary election, the Sri Lankan President is promising to embark on a comprehensive policy to deal with all problems facing his country including the Tamil question.
INDIRA GANDHI PEACE PRIZE FOR OUTGOING BRAZILIAN PRESIDENT
An international jury presided by Dr. Manmohan Singh has decided to award Indira Gandhi Peace Prize to former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva. INSAF Bulletin welcomes this decision. Brazil has made great strides both in economic development and governance under the leadership of Lula.
LETTER: Random thoughts
Have just been through the new INSAF Bulletin (No 103, November, 2010).. Liked your (Vinod Mubayi’s) article on Shiv Sena. The present generation needs to be reminded of the original motivations and the types of groups that formed the Sena- especially the fact that political patronage was given to them to counter the trade unions. Reminds one of Sanjay Gandhi’s buildup of Bhindranwale, to counter the Akalis.
REVIEW: DELHI-6 AND THE BATTLE FOR INDIA
Chinmoy Banerjee
Delhi-6 by Rakesh Omprakash Mehra (2009) is an example of the new globalized Indian cinema, otherwise known as “Bollywood,” at its best. It is popular and puzzling, conventional and sophisticated, providing all the satisfactions of contemporary Bombay cinema, including technical slickness and the integration of the diaspora within it as subject and audience and yet remaining multilayered and critical. It carries different messages at the same time so that it might be received differently by different reception communities: it uses the conventions of popular cinema in a self-conscious way and places a layer of signification for those who wish to see it through the gap created by the self-consciousness. As such it runs the risk of puzzling and disappointing a section of the audience it addresses that fail to respond to the challenge of seeing it through the breaks in the conventional surface it artfully constructs. Addressing a heterogeneous audience within India and the diaspora, such films take the risk of falling between two stools—and are often attacked from both sides– but their success exceeds their share of the market.
OBITUARY: RAM NARESH RAM (1923-2010)
Veteran leader of historic struggles in Bhojpur, Central Committee Member and leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) CPI(ML)’s legislative group in the Bihar Assembly from 1995-2010, Comrade Ram Naresh Ram passed away around 4 pm in Patna Medical College Hospital (PMCH), Patna, where had been in a coma and battling a cerebral stroke for the past several days. 87-year old Comrade Ram Naresh Ram, popularly known as ‘Parasji,’ is among the tallest leaders of the revolutionary struggle and is an icon for the downtrodden and oppressed people, not only of Bhojpur and Bihar but the whole country.
VICTOR KIERNAN (1913-2009)
Prakash Karat
Victor Kiernan lived in India from 1938 to 1946. It may be true as Eric Hobsbawm has said that “Unexpectedly India drew him away for several years from the major themes on which his reputation will probably rest”.
UNDER ATTACK: INDIA NOT MISTRY!
Daya Varma
The recent attack on writer Rohinton Mistry is part of a grand design to transform India into a Hindu fascist state.
SHIV SENA – FROM LUMPENS TO FASCIST POLITICAL FORCE
Vinod Mubayi
Starting as Maratha chauvinist outfit, Shiv Sena has emerged as a fascist political force threatening the very existence of a secular India.
AYODHYA VERDICT: IMPLICATIONS FOR INDIAN DEMOCRACY
Ranu Jain
We released a special issue of INSAF Bulletin on October 15; the article below deals with socio-political implication of the Ayodhya verdict, not specifically covered by any of the articles produced in that Special issue.
PAKISTAN FEELS US HAS LET IT DOWN
Khaleeq Kiani
The USA is a friend of Israel and no other country, but it takes time for most countries to find that out. Pakistan is discovering nothing new.
SEIZE THE DAY
Suhas Chakma
India has so far been the most important neighbour of Nepal. The proposed visit by Indian Foreign Minister to Nepal has the potential of both solving the problem or complicating it.
AFGHANISTAN: NINE YEARS AFTER US INVASION: 4.9 MILLION DEAD
Dr Gideon Polya
As of 7 October 2010, the 9th Anniversary of the US invasion of Afghanistan , the human cost of the Afghan War has been estimated as about 4.9 million violent deaths or non-violent avoidable deaths from Occupier-imposed deprivation. A detailed and documented Afghan War Human Cost Fact Sheet has been prepared to assist humane public discussion of the ongoing, US Alliance-imposed Afghan Holocaust and Afghan Genocide that has now reached the dimensions of the WW2 Jewish Holocaust (5-6 million dead, 1 in 6 dying from deprivation).
TWO YEARS ON, MUMBAI IS MARGINALIZING MUSLIMS
Shobhaa De
Marginalization of Muslims has steadily increased since 1947. The more prosperous a state become the more widespread becomes this marginalization, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka…. How it affects different levels of social institutions?
MAJOR POLITICAL PARTIES FAIL TO REPRESENT DALIT CAUSE
Staff Reporter (The Hindu, September 27, 2010)
MADURAI: Dalit movements and major political parties in the State are deviating from highlighting the issues affecting Dalits and have largely failed to represent them on many major issues in the recent past, said Dalit Gnanasekaran, founder, Dalit Liberation Movement.
AN EVENTFUL JOURNEY TO MANIPUR
John Dayal
A brief history of religious realignment in Manipur.
THE GREAT INDIAN PSYCHOTHERAPY
Chetan Bhagat
The author raises the socio-cultural factor in the state of affairs in India.
OBAMA SHOULD PAY HOMAGE TO AMBEDKAR
Kancha Ilaiah and Joseph D’Souza
A similar appeal has been issued by John Dayal of Indian Christian Council. Why it is important and important for Obama to pay respects to Dr. Ambedkar?
TOUCH THE HEART OF INDIA
Suzy Livingstone, Surrey
Dalit women on the march.
CPM RECAPTURES LALGARH
Bappa Datta
CPM seems to have recovered in Lalgarh. Has it?
KARNATAKA, JHARKHAND, BIHAR: BJP’S SORDID SAGA OF OPPORTUNISM
The story of a Party with a Difference, the story of Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP). The more BJP degenerates the more India benefits.
BOOK REVIEW
QAIDI NO. 100 BHARATI ZINDAN MAI MERE SHAB-O-ROZ KI RUDAD
(Prisoner Number 100: The Story of My Ordeal in an Indian Prison)
Author: Anjum Zamrud Habib
AND THE PEACE PRIZE GOES TO…A WARMONGER: Liu Xiaobo isn’t such a nice guy after all
Ted Sprague
“War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.”
THE 2010 NOBEL PRIZE IN MEDICINE: Today In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), Tomorrow Botox?
Daya Varma
Eighty-five year old British Doctor, Robert Edwards was awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize for the development of IVF therapy in humans. His achievements have made it possible to treat infertility. It is the other side of contraceptives used by a bigger population. There were rumours that Gregory Goodwin Pincus, who introduced oral contraceptive would get the Nobel Prize but he did not and died in 1967.
LAUNCHING OF THE ASIA TO GAZA CARAVAN
500 civil resisters from 17 Asian countries are marching to Gaza to end the illegal Israeli Siege!
AYODHYA VERDICT: A POLITICAL DECISION
Daya Varma and Vinod Mubayi
Eighteen years after the 350-year old Babri Masjid was reduced to rubble by marauding Hindu zealots, the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court pronounced it’s much awaited verdict today.
APPEAL FOR PEACE
The Ramjanmabhoomi- Babri Masjid Title Suit verdict may be delivered soon. The Babri Masjid demolition has been a vexed issue which led to communal violence and tension for over two decades between the two communities.
NO GAMES IS A GOOD GAME—PERHAPS?
Daya Varma and Vinod Mubayi
The fiasco surrounding the Commonwealth games scheduled to start on October 4 at New Delhi is obvious; consequences might not be all that bad.
COMMONWEALTH GAMES IN DELHI
Yaaminey Mubayi
The shame of hosting Commonwealth games.
COMMONWEALTH GAMES FIASCO EXPOSES INEFFICIENCY AND CORRUPTION IN THE INDIAN GOVERNMENT
Kaleem Kawaja
The shame of hosting Commonwealth games.
AYODHYA: IS A SOLUTION POSSIBLE?
K.N. Panikkar
It should be clear to everyone, most of all to the judges who ordered the judgment deferred, that if the issue has defied a solution for a hundred years, no miracle is likely in less than a week.
A LANDMARK VERDICT
Kuldip Nayar
It was a laudable judgment of the Supreme Court which upheld the right of Indian Muslims to inherit the property that their fathers and forefathers had left behind before migrating to Pakistan.
NEPAL MAOISTS TO BUILD A NEW POLITICAL MAINSTREAM
(Nepal News)
By withdrawing from the race to Prime Minister’s position, the Nepal Maoist leader Pushpa Dahal takes a step to resolve the political crisis in his country.
PAKISTAN’S UNIVERSITIES – FROM BOOM TO BUST
Pervez Hoodbhoy
Upset by drastic budget cuts imposed by the finance ministry, the vice-chancellors of 71 public sector universities are threatening to resign en-bloc. They rightly say that development projects are grounded, bills unpaid, and some buildings only half-constructed. Paying teacher salaries is also at risk. But a cash-strapped government retorts that its number-one priority is dealing with the flood devastation. It says it cannot afford the inflated budgets of previous years.
ISLAMIC IDENTITY IN SECULAR INDIA
Asghar Ali Engineer
Democratic polity in a multi-religious, multi-caste and multi-cultural country is based, more often than not, on identities. It is of course very complex issue which needs discussion and proper analysis. In any polity based on votes identity plays an important role. Identity can be divided into pre-mordial and acquired. Acquired identity is always post-natal and does not generate powerful emotions as primordial one does. One chooses acquired identity but not identity by birth.
PROMOTING GENDER-JUST ISLAM: INSIGHTS FROM THE INDIAN CONTEXT
Yoginder Sikand
Whether the gender inequality among Muslims is integral to Islam or other factors has been much debated. Here the author tackles this important issue
LEGITIMISING FUNDAMENTALISM
K.N. Panikkar
A highly irrational act — of sacking the lecturer whose hand was brutally hacked — is sought to be imbued with legal respectability and given a communal character.
CORDOBA HOUSE, QURAN BURNING AND CLASH OF CIVILIZATION
Irfan Engineer
The proposed construction of a mosque-cum-community centre, ‘Cordoba House’, in Lower Manhattan in New York has generated a lot of controversy. The Centre is just a few blocks away from the Ground Zero. Rick A Lazio, a former Congressman from Long Island is making the project a focus of his candidacy for Governorship from the Republican Party. Lazio has alleged in his campaign addresses that the Cordoba House project is not only being insensitive but also being offensive to the victims of 9/11. Cordoba House project is led by Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf. Lazio has also been questioning the source of funds for the construction of the Cordoba House.
A STATEMENT ON DENIAL OF DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS TO KASHMIR PEOPLE
Joint Statement by Pakistan-India Peoples’ Forum for Peace & Democracy on the denial of democratic right to protest and killings by the Indian security forces in Kashmir.
VERDICT ON SHOOTING DEATHS AT VIENNA SIKH TEMPLE
(Sent by Jai Birdi)
Vienna, Sep 28 (DPA) Six radical Sikh men received heavy prison sentences Tuesday in Vienna for their involvement in the killing of a senior Indian sect leader last year in Austria’s capital, media reported.
IS AHMADINEJAD EXPLOITING THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY’S ANXIETIES?
Kaleem Kawaja
Making bold controversial statements is one way of drawing attention and many leaders have used it. Kaleem Kawaja examines the legitimacy of the pronouncements of the Iranian President Ahmadinejad.
BOOK: MALEGAON TO AJMER, THE TRAIL OF TERROR
Author: Ram Puniyani
PRAYERS AND CANDLE LIGHT VIGILS
For Communal Harmony in the Country and Just Peace in Jammu & Kashmir (October 2, 6 to 7 pm)
ACHA PEACE STARS OF 2010
Upon nomination by their colleagues and admirers, the Association for Communal Harmony in Asia (ACHA) has decided to honor Dr. Mohammad Arif, Jatin Desai, Ashfaq Fateh, Faisal Khan, Dilafrose Qazi and Awais Sheikh, all peace and harmony activists from India and Pakistan, with the ACHA Peace Star Award 2010.
OBITUARY: Allen Dale June 1919-2010
Alan Turing’s accomplishments in deciphering the German enigma and transmission of messages by the US army in Navajo language, which could not be interpreted by the Japanese, are credited with many successes of the Allied forces during World War II. Ed.
APPEAL FOR PAKISTAN FLOOD RELIEF
Editors, INSAF Bulletin
The magnitude of the disaster which has befallen the hapless people of Pakistan requires all people of South Asia to do what they can to minimize the effect of this tragedy. Come together and donate generously!
THE GROUND-ZERO ISLAMIC CENTER: POLITICS OF ISLAMOPHOBIA
Vinod Mubayi
Historically, economic hard times in America have frequently been accompanied by attempts to blame and scapegoat ethnic minorities for the real problems people face. This is amplified in an election year where politicians posture endlessly to stoke prejudices as a way of igniting their own campaigns. It is not where the Islamic center is proposed to be built-rather it is the very idea of an Islamic center- that has stirred up this hornets’ nest.
COLOR OF TERROR: SAFFRON, GREEN OR BLACK?
Ram Puniyani
Can terror be assigned a color associated with a certain religion? Lately India is witnessing terrorist acts being committed by extreme right-wing Hindu organizations.
COMRADE, WHITHER GOEST THOU?
By editor, Kancha Ilaiah
INSAF Bulletin is reproducing this article by the well-known commentator Kancha Ilaiah to initiate a discussion on the current status of the Indian communist movement and its splintered condition. While we do not necessarily endorse the positions the author takes in this piece, we feel that he has raised some important questions regarding the lack of unity in the communist movement, a condition that has persisted for over 40 years and shows no signs of abating despite the many changes in the national and international environment. INSAF Bulletin has consistently pleaded for a United Communist Party in India.
WOMAN JUDGES AND SHARIA
Asghar Ali Engineer
Although two women judges have been appointed in Malaysia in the Sharia court, a restriction has been imposed on their powers. The author argues that these restrictions are not in accord with the Quran or the Sunnah.
ENLIGHTENED UNIVERSITIES SHOULDN’T ALLOW NINJAS ON CAMPUSES
Hameed Khan
Shouldn’t enlightened universities require that for proper communication in public a woman’s face should be visible?
STATE COMPLICITY AND IMPUNITY RULE AS JUSTICE IS DENIED TO VICTIMS OF KANDHAMAL
National Peoples’ Tribunal on Kandhamal (Press Release; August 24, 2010)
The National People’s Tribunal on Kandhamal Violence against Christians recommends a number of steps in order to bestow justice on the victims of communal violence in Kandhamal district of Orissa state.
THE TERM ‘HINDU TERRORISM’ IS A MISNOMER
Ram Puniyani
When many acts of terror by people like Pragya Singh Thakur and Dayanand Pandey, etc. are coming to fore, it is essential that the reckless arrest of innocent Muslim youth must be stopped and real culprits be punished.
BE YOUR FATHER’S SON: An open letter to Amitabh Bachchan
Najid Hussain
The celebrated Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan is a man of many ambitions. He was a favorite of Indira Gandhi and then patronized Mulayam Singh Yadav of Samajwadi Party. Lately he agreed to promote himself by working for Narendra Modi, the Gujarat Chief Minister who masterminded the massacre of Muslims in 2002. A victim of that tragedy appeals to him to be true to the legacy of his secular father, an eminent poet, and desist from serving Modi.
KASHMIR BURNING: New Delhi watches silently as the valley slowly but steadily slips into anarchy
Tapan Bose
From the ramparts of the Red Fort, celebrating the 64th anniversary of India’s Independence, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, offered to hold dialogue with the agitating youth of Kashmir if they “abjured violence”. Justice demands that “Azaadi” be granted to people of the valley.
CANADA MUST RESPECT THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF REFUGEES
SANSAD News Release: August 17, 2010
Four hundred and ninety-two Tamil men, women, and children, including some pregnant women have arrived in Vancouver, BC, after several months on the sea aboard the modified cargo ship, Sun Sea. They are victims of violence and deserve to be granted refugee status.
BANGLADESH COURT BANS RELIGION IN POLITICS
(Thursday, July 29th, 2010)
Bangladesh’s Supreme Court has reinstated a ban on Islamic political parties after striking down a key constitutional amendment, law minister Shafiq Ahmed told media on Thursday. It is a very desirable step.
STALEMATE IN NEPAL: DAHAL RULES OUT WITHDRAWAL OF CANDIDACY
Nepal News (Wednesday, 25 August 2010)
The United Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) [UCPN (Maoist)] seems to lack unanimity on the issue of resolving the issue of a Prime Minister in Nepal.
CONDITION OF CHILDREN WORLDWIDE
COVA (Confederation of Voluntary Associations)
According to UNICEF, 24,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.”
ANNOUNCEMENT
ASSOCIATION OF INDIAN MUSLIMS OF AMERICA (AIM)
Cordially Invites You to Celebrate
E I D – MILAN and AIM’s SILVER JUBILEE
INSAF BULLETIN at 100!
Daya Varma and Vinod Mubayi
INSAF Bulletin was started as an organ of the International South Asia Forum (INSAF), which was founded at a Conference at Montreal on September 4-5, 1999, attended by over 125 delegates. The purpose of INSAF was to act as a coordinator of many existing South Asian organizations, to promote secularism, democracy and above all friendship among all countries of South Asia, particularly between India and Pakistan. The rise of Hindu fundamentalism in India starting with the agitation leading to the demolition of the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya in December 1992, and increasing tension between India and Pakistan, were recognized as key hurdles to the peace and prosperity of South Asia; this has determined the underlying theme of INSAF Bulletin. Although INSAF as an organization ceased to exist shortly after its Second Conference in Vancouver held on August 10-11, 2001, INSAF Bulletin has attempted to fulfill the mandate of the founding organization.
BACK TO THE PEOPLE
I.A. Rehman
The goodwill laboriously built up on the eve of the Indian foreign minister’s visit to Pakistan has gone up in smoke. Honeyed homilies have been lost in a trail of acrimonious utterances. The losers again are the luckless people of the two countries.
GUJARAT: MAKING OF A FASCIST STATE
Ram Puniyani
The Gujarat Chief Minister engineered the massacre of the Muslims following the Godhra episode in which a number of passengers in a train were burnt to death. In the meantime, Muslim holy places and Sufi shrines are being damaged. Taking advantage of the anti-Maoist crusade of the Indian government, Gujarat government has found a new way of harassing human rights activists. As we watch Gujarat is being turned into a fascist state.
Nepal: IN SEARCH OF A PRIME MINISTER
Daya Varma
Abbreviations: Nepali Congress (NC); Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist) (CPN-UML); United Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) UCPN (M); United Democratic Madesi Front (UDMF); Janadhikar Forum; In general, Madesi parties represent Nepalese of Indian origin mainly in the Terai region.
COW IN CONTEMPORARY POLITICAL CHESSBOARD
Ram Puniyani
The sacred cow symbolism has been a running theme of Hindutva forces for a long time. It achieved legal status when the Hindutva Party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power as is the case in Karnataka now. This divination of cow is essentially an anti-Muslim, anti-poor and anti-Christian move while at the same time it stirs Hindu chauvinism all over the country.
STATE RELIGION AND SOCIAL REFORMS
Asghar Ali Engineer
No one will dispute the fact that social reforms are urgently needed with breath taking changes taking place all around in our society. But two questions become important in this respect: 1) what is the role of state and 2) what is the role of religion? There are people who insist that state should play an active role and usher in these reforms. Secondly there are people who think religion can hardly be helpful and instead it becomes an obstacle in social change.
MINORITIES, MULTICULTURALISM AND THE SECULAR INDIAN CONSTITUTION
Irfan Engineer
Secularism is understood differently by different analysts. We are not examining different concepts of secularism in this paper. However, one of the tests of secularism is the status of minorities and the treatment meted out to them by the state. The Part I of this paper in examines the concepts of minorities and their aspirations and rights. Part II of the paper will examine various provisions of the Indian Constitution and the state of minorities.
PEACE IN KASHMIR
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
This article represents a view of one of the well-known and distinguished leaders of the Muslim community in India. We are making it available to the INSAF Bulletin readership in the interests of providing information about the different voices and opinions within the community, not because the editors agree with or endorse every statement that Maulana Sahib makes in his article. The author of the article argues that Muslims should make a realistic decision to end the Kashmir crisis for their own good and for the good of India. According to the author confrontational attitude is a dead end approach.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Books
SAFHR WEB-PAGE ON SRI LANKA
Tapan Bose
I request you to look it up and give us your suggestions and advice for improving the page. www.safhr.org/srilanka
JUSTFIED BUT MISPLACED ANGER AT BHOPAL JUDGEMENT
Daya Varma
On December 3, 1984, Bhopal became the site of the world’s worst industrial disaster. The question is: should India at all entertain hazardous industries. If the answer is yes, then what should be done to minimize the chances of disaster? And what should be done to minimize the suffering of the survivors and the families of the dead?
ISRAELI APARTHEID: SUSTAINED INTERNATIONAL SANCTIONS NEEDED
Vinod Mubayi
A sustained world-wide campaign of boycott, divestment, and sanctions aimed at Israel is needed, just as it was in apartheid South Africa, to end the many decades long oppression of Palestinians by the State of Israel. [Also see article by Pervez Hoodbhoy in this issue]
International: THE FLOTILLA MASSACRE: WHY?
Pervez Hoodbhoy
It seems there is no crime beyond the reach of Israeli state, which killed nine peace activists trying to deliver humanitarian aid to Palestinians locked in Gaza. [Also see second article on Israel]
GHETTOES IN THE MAKING
Ram Puniyani
As per the report in a section of media recently (November 2009) UK based Muslim charities have warned the Muslims living in the relief colonies set up in the wake of Gujarat carnage, that they must abide with a code of conduct, no TV, no music, education only in Madrassa, particular type of cap and beard for men, hijab for women, etc. If these are not adhered to the Charity threatened that they will stop supporting the relief work. At the same time the members of Tablighi Jamat insisted on the similar lines, ‘Islamic Behavior’ or else! The Muslims living in these colonies are living a wretched life, totally bereft of any support from state and boycotted by the society at large.
KASHMIRIYAT REVISITED
Ram Puniyani
One of the consequences of the violent movement in Kashmir was the exodus of Pandits from the valley to Delhi and other parts and the decimation of the cultural life of Kashmir. They have been living as refugees ever since. The recent visit of a big number of Pandits to the valley and the welcome they received is a heartening development.
INDIAN MUSLIMS – PROBLEMS AND VOTING PATTERN
Asghar Ali Engineer
Prior to the formation of the Left Front government in West Bengal, communal riots between Hindus and Muslims plagued that region. The Left government put an end to it and was generally supported by Muslims. For reasons analyzed in this article, there has been significant erosion in the Muslim support for the Left Front.
PROJECTING RETROGRADE FATWAS: REINFORCING STEREOTYPES
Ram Puniyani
Fatwas by Muslim clerics is routine. Although these do not play a decisive role in the conduct of India’s Muslim population, the media highlights some, which are decidedly unfair, and ignores others, which have larger implications. For example, the media sensationalized a fatwa against Muslim women working at public places and ignored the one against resort to terrorism. Why?
POLICE FIRING IN DHULIA (Maharashtra) ON MAY 6, 2010
An Enquiry into the Dhulia incident of May 12, 2010 in which many Muslims were arrested and Muslim property was damaged reveals an in-built prejudice on the part of Police against Muslims.
TERRORISM AND GANDHIAN NON-VIOLENCE
Asghar Ali Engineer
Recent terroristic attacks by Maoists in India and jihadis in Pakistan and the violence world over raise the question of the relevance of Gandhian teaching and practice and the lack of compliance of it by many who claim to be Gandhian. Violence has different forms and this article presents an in-depth analysis of factors leading to persistence of violence and the need for activists like Gandhi.
Pakistan: A MURDEROUS MINDSET
Huma Yusuf
In a forthright and bold analysis, the author contends that Pakistanis are collectively complicit in the brutal attack on Ahmadis in a mosque by allowing the persistence of religious bigotry as justifiable defense of Islam.
Nepal: POLITICAL PARTIES DEMAND COMMITMENT TO PLEURALISM FROM MAOISTS
Kamal Dev Bhattarai
Although the United Communist Party of Nepal (UCPN)-Maoists has incorporated various provisions of parliamentary democracy in its constitution, its stand on pluralism is not sufficiently forthright. Other political parties of Nepal have expressed their concern on this matter.
Nepal: THREE-POINT PACT ENDS STALEMATE
Himalayan News Service (May 29, 2010)
The Constituent Assembly (CA) was elected in the first general election in Nepal in April 2008 with CPN (Maoists) winning the most seats. Much has happened since then but the mandate of the CA has not been completed and its term was coming to an end, which would have caused a major crisis. At the last minute the major parties (Maoists, UML and Congress) reached an agreement to extend the term of CA.
India: THE FUND OF GOODWILL FOR THE TRIBAL PEOPLE
Dr. B.D. Sharma, the former Commissioner for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes appeals to the President of India to redress the needs of the Tribal people.
Canada: CANADIAN GOVERNMENT APOLOGIZES FOR AIR INDIA TRAGEDY
The Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologizes to the families of the victims of terrorist bombing of Air India flight which claimed the lives of the all the passengers and the crew totaling 329.
International: PROTEST AGAINST ISRAELI HIGH HANDEDNESS IN INDIA
(FOIL-News Report)
Sentiments against Israeli belligerence are not receding in fact growing with the time. Mumbai residents join the series of Protest happening all over the world against the Killing of 19 Innocent Peace loving civilians. CPI ML, Bharat Bacho Andolan, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind and SIO on Thursday hold a Protest near Churchgate Railway station in South Mumbai.
OBITUARY: JOAN HINTON, PHYSICIST WHO CHOSE CHINA OVER ATOM BOMB, IS DEAD AT 88
William Grimes
Joan Hinton, a physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project, which developed the atom bomb, but spent most of her life as a committed Maoist working on dairy farms in China, died on Tuesday in Beijing. She was 88. The cause has not yet been determined, but she had an abdominal aneurysm, her son Bill Engst said.
THE STATE OF INDIAN MUSLIMS: DOES ANY ONE CARE?
Daya Varma
It is only natural that all institutions of a country or the world, all political parties and all women and men of conscience carry a bias which identifies problems not on the basis of their relative relevance but because of identity with self. In the case of India, it is the Muslims who do not qualify for any concern by the political parties including the communist parties, human rights activists, left intellectuals, journalists and above all Muslims themselves.
UPA- ONE YEAR AFTER RETURN TO POWER
Ram Puniyani
This May 2010, UPA completed its one year in the seat of power for the second term. Now it is being christened as UPA II and political pundits are evaluating its performance on various scales of performance, foreign policy, economic performance, farmer’s suicides, foreign affairs etc. One point which, does not find much mention while evaluating its performance, is the plight of minorities during this year.
SRI LANKA: EDITORIAL NEW DEMOCRACY
The chauvinistic ruling class which caused the war, led it to victory and cares little for the disastrous consequences of the war is back in the saddle. Likewise, the Tamil political leaders who led the Tamil people towards loss of life and property and disablement are back in their parliamentary seats. Muslim and Hill Country Tamil nationalist leaders, who get elected to parliament for their own advancement and not that of the people, too have returned to parliament.
NEPAL: COMMUNIST PARTY OF NEPAL (United Marxist-Leninist) PROPOSES POLITICAL ROADMAP
Amid deepening political crisis, the ruling CPN-UML has come up with a roadmap for the future political course.
NEPAL: PUSHPA KUMAR DAHAL DAHAL FORGING NEXT STRATEGIC MOVE
Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Chairman, United Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) (UCPN-Maoist) has been staying at Dwarika Resort, Dhulikhel, to write a political document to be presented at the party central committee meeting. Accompanied by his aides and security guards, Dahal reached the resort at 10 in the morning and has been busy with analyzing the yearlong performance of the party and future course of action.
NEPAL: CHINA AND THE WEST STEP INTO NEPAL CRISIS
Peter Lee
The abrupt curtailment on May 7 of the bandh or general strike in Kathmandu called by the United Communist Party Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-M) seemed to demonstrate the limits of the Maoists’ popular support. However, this apparent setback reflects a deal to smooth the Maoists’ re-entry into Nepal’s government as China and Western powers try to bring an end to months of unproductive and potentially violent deadlock. Beijing looks forward to the formation of a consensus government incorporating the Maoists and responsive to China’s concerns.
India, on the other hand, must ponder if it is ready to resign itself to the loss of a compliant if ineffectual client regime in Kathmandu.
INDIA: DELAYED WAKING UP: TERRORISM INVESTIGATIONS
Ram Puniyani
The Ajmer bomb blasts took place on 11th October 2007; these took place inside the holy Shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti, killing two people. In the wake of this the central Home minister, in his standard statement said that this is the handiwork of HUJI and Lashkar-e-Tayyaba type groups who are indulging in these activities and this is aimed to disrupt the communal harmony in the country.
PAKISTAN-USA: “WHY FAISAL SHAHZAD BOMBED TIMES SQUARE”
Pervez Hoodbhoy
The man who tried to set off a car bomb in Times Square was a Pakistani. Why is this unsurprising? Answer: because when you hold a burning match to a gasoline tank, the laws of chemistry demand combustion. As anti-American lava spews uninterrupted from the fiery volcanoes of Pakistan’s private television channels and newspapers, a collective psychosis grips the country’s youth. Murderous intent follows with the conviction that the US is responsible for all ills, both in Pakistan and the world of Islam.
PAKISTAN: A MIRACLE IN CHAKWAL?
Pervez Hoodbhoy
The sudden appearance of Prophet Mohammed’s (PBUH) alleged footprint in the sleepy village of Dharabi near Chakwal has sent a wave of religious excitement across Pakistan. At a three-hour drive from Islamabad, Dharabi is now attracting tens of thousands of visitors from Swat to Karachi.
IDENTITY, INDIAN POLITICS AND CASTE CENSUS
Asghar Ali Engineer
The Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has assured the parliament that caste will be included in the current census. This was after Yadav leaders and OBC members of Parliament raised the issue and there was heated debate. The question arises why is it or is not necessary to include caste in counting people of India. Apart from caste even religion has not been included which also raises doubts in the minds of minorities. Maulana Madani, a Muslim leader and Rajya Sabha member has threatened to launch an agitation if column of religion is not included in the census form.
INTERNATIONAL: THE PAST IS IN THE FUTURE
Sam Noumoff
One of the remarkable features of China is that she has served as a magnet for a wide variety of foreigners over the centuries, from those who came to save their souls, to those who came in the expectation of enormous profit to those who came seeing China’s misery as a call to the human struggle for liberation.
LIVING TOGETHER SEPARATELY: GHETTOIZATION OF INDIAN MUSLIMS
Ather Farouqui
With the spectre of communalism raising its ugly head all across the country, Muslim ghettoization is emerging as a grave and complex problem that requires urgently to be addressed. It has a decisive bearing on communalism. Unfortunately, it has not drawn the attention it deserves.
INDIA-PAKISTAN: THE IMPORTANCE OF HINDU-MUSLIM DIALOGUE
Maulana Waris Mazhari
Hindus and Muslims have been living together in India for over a thousand years. Yet, they are still plagued by misunderstandings about each other and mutual hatred. A principal reason for this is that they have not sought to understand each other sincerely. Undoubtedly, there have been individuals among them who were deeply conscious of, and strongly opposed to, the enormous gulf that divides them, and they tried, in their own ways, to transform this hatred into dialogue and reconciliation. However, in the face of stiff opposition, their efforts did not yield much fruit.
ANNOUNCEMENT: CAMPAIGN RESERVATION EXPRESS
INSAF Bulletin
SALUTES THE HISTORIC MAY 1, THE INTERNATIONAL WORKERS’ DAY!
DANTEWADA MASSACRE AND INDIAN MAOISTS: SOME REFLECTIONS
Vinod Mubayi and Daya Varma
The Dantewada massacre executed by the CPI (Maoist) highlights the contradictions latent in Indian society. Various descriptions of the CPI (Maoist) philosophy and reasons underlying their actions have appeared over the last few years; the Maoist violence has an appearance of a qualitatively different character, characteristic of movements like LTTE in Sri Lanka and Tehrik-e-Taliban in Pakistan. What is the essence of the Maoist movement and what is its future?
NARENDRA MODI: TRAVAILS OF TRAVEL ABROAD
Ram Puniyani
As big corporations of India embrace Narendra Modi as a man of action and foresight, men and governments of conscience around the world find him, and rightly so, as a despicable person patterned on Hitlerite ideology.
RESERVATIONS: DILEMMAS GALORE
Ram Puniyani
The Indian Parliament passed a law assuring a minimum of 30 percent reservation in elected offices for women. However, many political formations in India and naturally religious bigots find it would encroach upon their spheres of electoral control. The issue is not complex but it has become so.
Pakistan: THE BARBARITY THAT KNOWS NO END – MULTIPLE BLASTS SHAKE LAHORE
Kiran Omar
This piece on bomb blasts in Lahore was to appear in April issue of the Bulletin. However, with the April Bulletin dedicated to the memory of Hari Sharma, Kanu Sanyal and G.P. Koirala, it is being produced in May. It is a sad story of mindless killing not new to Pakistan but somewhat new for Lahore.
REINVENTING PAKISTAN
Pervez Hoodbhoy
It’s March 23, Pakistan Day, and time for the usual flag-waving. But let’s face it: things have not gone well for Pakistan. It has been a state since 1947 but is still not a nation. Missing is a strong common identity, mental makeup, shared sense of history, and common goals. The failure to effectively integrate flows from inequalities of wealth and opportunity, absence of effective democracy, and a dysfunctional legal system.
Pakistan: BEHEADING ISLAM IN PESHAWAR
Dr. Shah Alam Khan
The author argues that by beheading two innocent Sikhs in Peshawar for money, Pakistan, the Talibans are attacking Islam.
INTERVIEW WITH RENOWNED ARTIST M.F. HUSAIN ON ETHOS OF HINDUISM
This interview of Hussain, by Shoma Chaudhury from Tehelka Magazine, is dedicated to all those who claim MF Hussain hates Hinduism!
India: CPM ‘BESIEGED’ IN BENGAL, KARAT TELLS TOP HISTORIAN
‘One of the three developments that surprised me was “the collapse of the CPM (Communist Party of India- Marxist) in West Bengal, which I really wouldn’t have expected.” Eric Hobsbawm.
Nepal: MAIN PARTIES PLEDGE ‘PACKAGE SOLUTION’ IN NEXT MEETING
The much anticipated meeting of the High Level Political Mechanism (HLPM) on April 21, 2010 failed to arrive at any decision to resolve the protracted political impasse, but leaders claimed they would reach a broad understanding at the next meeting of the mechanism slated for April 24.
THE POLITICAL CULTURE OF FASCISM
Jairus Banaji
The author rejects Comintern’s (equivalent of Communist International) understanding of the political basis of fascism as articulated by Georgi Dimitroff in his book “The United Front.” He dwells on alternative views expressed by Wilhelm Reich and Arthur Rosenberg, one a committed socialist and other a committed communist, who analyze the factors behind the mass base of fascism. In a way it is the latter analysis and not the Comintern’s analysis, which corresponds to what is happening in India under the leadership of RSS.
ARUNDHATI ROY AND HER SLEEPWALK IN THE “RED CORRIDOR”
Soumitra Ghosh
Indian activist Arundhati Roy, the spokesperson for a section of left intellectuals, recently wrote an article in the Indian magazine Outlook narrating her exciting experience of meeting Maoists in their heartland. This article and the next article in this issue of the Bulletin examine the source of her delirium.
MOONWALKING WITH THE COMRADES
Anirban Gupta Nigam
The similarity in the title of this and the preceding article could not be accidental, rather these titles reflect the essence of Arundhati Roy’s travel diary in the Outlook magazine. She wrote for an effect. The preceding article and this one examine the nature of that effect.
INDIA WORKSHOP AT MIT: CHALLENGES TO SECULARISM AND RULE OF LAW IN INDIA
Kaleem Kawaja
Over 150 people gather at MIT Campus, Cambridge, MA, USA to listen to top academics and law makers analyze the causes and effects of violence in India challenging its secularism.
TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY CONVENTION OF SADBHAV MISSION, MARYLAND, USA
Draft Resolution
Sadbhav Mission holds an annual convention in the Washington area of the USA; its focus has been secularism and communal harmony. The Convention felt that Indian democracy has taken a severe blow in the last 25 years. To find out what went wrong and why and what to do.
PAKISTAN PRESIDENT SIGNS 18TH CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT BILL INTO LAW
ISLAMABAD, April 19 (APP) – President Asif Ali Zardari Monday gave assent to the landmark 18th Constitutional Amendment bill making it a law, that reduces President’s powers to sack prime minister and dissolve the parliament. President Zardari signed the historic document at a grand ceremony at the Aiwan-e-Sadr, which was witnessed by top political figures of the country, that rid the Constitution of all undemocratic clauses inserted into it by successive dictators. “Let no one think of subverting the Constitution,” the President said in his address.
SRI Lanka: INDIAN VISA IN JAFFNA
COLOMBO: The Indian government will open a visa application collection center in Jaffna on 5th May, the Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Ashok K. Kantha said a short while ago while delivering the address as the chief guest of the Jaffna trade fair. With the opening of the new office Jaffna residents will be able to collect and handover their visa applications in Jaffna instead of traveling to Colombo.
SRI LANKA WOOS INDIAN TOURISTS
COLOMBO: A year after the defeat of Tamil rebels who had made parts of Sri Lanka a no-go area, the island hopes to entice tens of thousands of tourists to places that appear in one of Asia’s most celebrated religious sagas.
THIRD INTERNATIONAL PEACE FESTIVAL 2010
The event will include eminent singers from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, poetry readings, audio-visual presentations and speeches from the South Asian and Canadian community leaders. More than 500 participants are expected to take part in this event.
A JOURNEY ACROSS INDIA: IN SUPPORT OF THE WOMEN’S RESERVATION BILL
Shabnam Hashmi
After 14 years of struggle the Rajya Sabha finally passed the Women’s Reservation Bill on March 9, 2010.
THIS ISSUE OF INSAF BULLETIN IS DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF HARI SHARMA, THE FIRST PRESIDENT OF INSAF
HARI SHARMA: 1934-2010
It is with deepest sorrow that we announce the death of our friend and comrade, Hari Prakash Sharma, on March 16 following a prolonged battle with cancer. Hari took his last breath at his home of 42 years at Burnaby (a suburb of Vancouver), British Columbia, surrounded by his comrades Harinder Mahil, Raj Chouhan, and Chin Banerjee. All of them had come together in 1976 to form the Vancouver Chapter of the Indian People’s Association in North America (IPANA), which had been founded by Hari and many others at a meeting in Montreal in 1975.
ALTERNATIVES
On behalf of Alternatives and Alternatives International I extend my heartfelt condolences to all his family, friends and comrades. His passing away is a great loss to us and to the cause of secularism. He will be fondly remembered as a comrade and a friend.
ASSOCIATION OF INDIAN MUSLIMS OF AMERICA
Hari Sharma’s legacy will continue to guide us for a long time as we struggle against bigotry and injustice and try to serve the cause of peace.
BRITISH COLUMBIA SENIORS SHANTHI NILAYAM (LET SENIORS GLOW)
We are deeply saddened on the demise of our dear friend, mentor and above all a leader from whom the Tamil community derived strength and encouragement throughout their struggle for emancipation and deliverance from oppression.
CANADA-PHILIPPINES SOLIDARITY ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND MIGRANTS BC
We members of the Canada-Philippines Solidarity on Human Rights and Migrants B.C., extend our condolences to the family of Dr. Hari Sharma, to his comrades and to the South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy (SANSAD) on his passing away.
COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MARXIST-LENINIST) PCC (NEW DEMOCRACY)
The Provisional Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) dips its red banner in memory of Comrade Hari P. Sharma. He passed away leaving behind many comrades, friends and well-wishers all over the world on 17 March 2010. He was 75 years old at the time of his death.
CERAS (SOUTH ASIA RESEARCH AND RESOURCE CENTER, MONTREAL)
CERAS mourns the passing of Hari Sharma and offers condolences to his comrades, friends and family. Many of us in CERAS had a long association with Hari and worked with him in many organizations and coalitions dedicated to democracy for all in India, the Indian sub-continent and many parts of the world.
FRASER VALLEY PEACE COUNCIL
Dear friends and supporters, Compassionate academic Scholar, left wing intellectual, civil rights activist, a great human being, and an undefeated political leader Hari Sharma was defeated yesterday by aching cancer disease at the age of 75.
INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE OF PEOPLES’ STRUGGLE
As chairperson of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle and on my personal behalf, I wish to convey most heartfelt condolences to the family, comrades and friends of Prof. Dt. Hari Sharma on his passing away.
SOUTH ASIAN WOMEN’S COMMUNITY CENTRE
Please except our deepest condolences. I am very sad to hear the death of Hari Sharma. I had the honour to meet with him in two different occasions in Montreal.
HARI SHARMA: OBITUARIES FROM INDIVIDUALS
This section contains obituaries sent by individuals arranged in alphabetical order. (ed)
Kanu Sanyal (1932-2010): The architect of Naxalbari Peasant Uprising and of the Rectification Attempts
Daya Varma
The political foundation of the Naxalbari Peasant uprising of 1967, the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution initiated by the Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party Mao Zedong, crumbled a long time ago. The architect of Naxalbari, Kanu Sanyal (Krishna Kumar Sanyal), died 43 years later on March 23. He did not die daydreaming of the success of Naxalbari. Hopefully, he died dreaming, nevertheless, for a bright future for the masses of India.
OBITUARY: Comrade Kanu Sanyal (1932-2010)
Santosh Rana
The CPI(ML) PCC dips its red banner in memory of comrade Kanu Sanyal, the legendary leader of Naxalbari peasant uprising. Com Kanu Sanyal expired on 23 March, 2010.
OBITUARY: Girija Prasad Koirala (1925-2010)
Baburam Bhattarai
An era in Nepali politics has come to an end with the sad demise of Girija Prasad Koirala on March 20. It is a great loss to the anti-monarchy democratic movement in the country. Starting as a militant trade union leader in the late 1940s during the Rana autocracy GPK devoted his whole life to the liberal democratic cause through the subsequent Shah autocracy to the final republican democratic era inaugurated in 2008. Perceived as a staunch anti-communist during most of his political life, he played a leading role in forging an anti-monarchy united front with the Maoist revolutionaries to usher in a republican set-up and died as a patron deity in the fragmented political firmament of Nepal. Hence, this heartfelt tribute from a Maoist communist.
MIT CONFERENCE – CHALLENGES TO SECULARISM AND RULE OF LAW IN INDIA
A Workshop Sponsored by the Program in Human Rights & Justice, Center for International Studies Massachusetts Institute of Technology April 9, 10, 2010
INDIA: COMMUNAL VIOLENCE BILL- HOW USEFUL TO VICTIMS?
Asghar Ali Engineer
The Government has got clearance from the Cabinet for introducing the Communal Violence Bill in the coming session of parliament. The Bill was drafted originally in 2005 after the 2004 elections in view of the Gujarat carnage of 2002 under the BJP Government headed by Narendra Modi. It was because of Gujarat carnage that Muslims voted for the Congress massively as a result of which NDA was defeated. Will this new Bill guarantee the safety and well-being of India’s Muslims?
INDIA: CAN THE IDEA OF INDIA PASS THE THACKERAY TEST?
Siddharth Varadarajan
The Centre and the Maharashtra government must make it clear to the Shiv Sena that they will not be allowed to engage in “goondaism” as a political technique.
BRUTAL ATTACKS ON PROTESTERS
Mahuva area in Bhavnagar district has among the most fertile lands in Gujarat. Unlike most of Gujarat and especially Saurashtra region farmers grow three crops, and exports mangoes, coconuts and other fruits. Moreover, the numerous onion dehydrating plants & cotton gins provide employment to at least 10 000 people. That is the region the Government hardsells as the ‘silver corridor’ of industrial development.
INDIA: RSS HOPES TO WOO YOUTH WITH 1 LAKH TEACHING JOBS
Piyush Srivastava
The RSS has discovered a new way to deal with the problem of the youth’s lack of interest in its activities – woo them with employment opportunities. Danger ahead!
MUMBAI BOOK CLUB BREAKS UP A CLOISTERED ROUTINE
Taran N. Khan
In a women’s reading club in the northern part of Mumbai, members cast off their burkas and tackle the literary merits of the author-of-the-month. For many, it’s a rare chance to break the cloistered domestic routine.
INDIA-PAKISTAN RELATIONS: ENGAGING PAKISTAN
Praful Bidwai
India must open a broad-horizon dialogue with Pakistan on all issues including Afghanistan to achieve real progress in bilateral relations.