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).
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.
PAKISTAN: ORGAN DONATION LAW
Countries of the South have become a haven for rich patients of the north and south; organs are bought from the poor to be inserted into the rich. This makes the poor of India and Pakistan more vulnerable to exploitation because technical facilities and expertise for organ transplant exist there. Many attempts have been made to remedy the situation. Will the new Law in Pakistan prove adequate in safeguarding the poor from being exploited?
COMMENT ON PAKISTANI ORGAN DONATION LAW
Amalorpavanathan Joseph
It seems that the Pakistani law is largely based on the Indian Model. The fear is that the infirmities of the Indian model may get reflected in the Pakistan Act too.
SRI LANKA: THOUSANDS OF TAMILS STILL IN DETENTION CAMPS
Subash Somachandran & Kamal Rasenthiran
Tens of thousands of Tamil civilians, who fled the fighting in the final days of the military’s offensive against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), remain in squalid detention camps in northern Sri Lanka. The official total is 106,000, with around 80,000 people still in the Manik Farm camps near the town of Vavuniya.
BANGLADESH: WHOSE EKUSHEY, WHOSE BLOOD?
Naeem Mohaiemen
Land grab is more than corporate deal; it is an act of powerful against powerless. Force substitutes for compensation in Bangladesh.
NEPAL: MAOIST CC FAILS TO PICK NEW MEMBERS
The central committee (CC) meeting of the main opposition party Unified CPN (Maoist) failed to take decision on proposed expansion of the party’s CC, politburo and standing committee (SC) on Tuesday as well.
ANNOUNCEMENT: CELEBRATING DIVERSITY
Anhad is planning to organize a cultural program- ‘Celebrating Diversity’ in Mumbai on March 6, 2010 at the St Andrews College Auditorium, Bandra.
INTERNATIONAL: ISRAEL
Editors, INSAF Bulletin
From time to time, INSAF Bulletin carries articles of political significance dealing with issues in other parts of the world besides South Asia.
ISRAEL: NOT A JEWISH STATE, A ZIONIST STATE [Extracts]
Akiva Orr
The Zionist movement and its State—ISRAEL, do not represent the Jewish people. They never did. They represent a particular trend within the Jewish people, namely—the nationalist trend. To find out whether Israel is a Jewish State or a Zionist State one need only ask any religious Orthodox Jew anywhere. His answer will be unambiguous: a Jewish State must be ruled by Jewish religious law—“Halakha.” Israel is not ruled by “Halakha” laws, but by secular laws. Therefore Israel is not a Jewish State. The fact that it provides refuge to Jews does not make it a Jewish State. Zionism and Judaism are different entities. They have contradictory qualities.
OBITUARY: NIHAR MUKHERJEE (1920-2010)
Gopal Kundu
Comrade Nihar Mukherjee, General Secretary, SUCI (Socialist Unity Center of India)-Communist, a great revolutionary, freedom fighter and comrade-in-arms of Comrade Shibdas Ghosh, Founder General Secretary of the Party, after prolonged illness, breathed his last on 18 February, 2010 at 11 p.m. at the Calcutta Heart Clinic & Hospital. He was suffering from, among other serious ailments, sepsis with multi-organ failure, COPD and Parkinsonism. Comrade Mukherjee was 90.
JYOTI BASU (8 JULY 1914 – 17 JANUARY 2010): A COMMUNIST OF AND FOR THE NEW ERA
Vinod Mubayi and Daya Varma
Jyoti Basu, the most respected leader of the communists in India, passed away recently.
JYOTI BASU: MASTER OF THE POLITICS OF FEASIBILITY
Ashok Mitra
[A younger comrade, pays homage to Jyoti Basu, a leader who died with his faith in the historical process unimpaired.]
Farewell to a comrade by one of the highly respected communists, Ashok Mitra, who had been associated with Jyoti Basu’s party for a long time.
JYOTI BASU: CASKET OF POWER, CASCADE OF PEOPLE
Unceasing flow to pay homage, followed by crack of rifles: The last journey of Jyoti Basu
Manini Chatterjee
A moving account of the final farewell to a great leader of India.
A TRIBUTE TO JYOTI BASU
Javed Akhtar is the foremost lyricist of India and Jagjit Singh is an accomplished musician. Listen to their tribute to Jyoti Basu…
INDIA: WHY ARE SOME LEADERS PLAYING GAMES WITH MUSLIMS?
Kaleem Kawaja
Sixty years after independence one of the ongoing tragedies of the Muslims of India is that some of their own leaders, activists and intelligentsia are continuing to play games with them. It is well known that in today’s Indian Muslim community the record of building institutions, spreading education, developing socioeconomic programs to help the impoverished community climb out of its backwardness is very dismal.
PAKISTAN-INDIA: ANGER SANS REASON
I.A. Rehman
(Photo by Akhtar Soomro of Reuters of protesters burning an effigy of Indian Premier League (IPL) Chairman Lalit Modi in Karachi, not reproduced)
One wonders as to how long it will take India and Pakistan to start regretting their part in the affair of the so-called Indian Premier League’s snub to Pakistani cricketers, for neither party can claim to have reason on its side.
SRI LANKA: THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION 2010 IN SRI LANKA AND THE PEOPLE
(Statement of the Ceylon Mercantile Industrial and General Workers Union-CMU: From The Sunday Island, January 17, 2010) Abridged
Abolition of Executive Presidency has been a longtime demand in Sri Lanka. The current President Rajapakse has called for new elections without dealing with this matter and without addressing the national question of Tamils and Muslims of his country. [As of January 28, the news is that Mahinda Rajapakse has been re-elected but, as happened in Zimbabwe, there is serious dispute and army is on alert].
BANGLADESH: RELIGION AND POLITICS
Huma Yusuf
Bangladesh’s Supreme Court has affirmed a ban on religion-based parties. While this could be in line with the founding principles of the country, it is feared that this might encourage illegal extremist fundamentalist activities as happened in Pakistan.
AFGHANISTAN: NEW WAVE OF WARLORDS BEDEVILS U.S.
(Submitted by Muhammad Anwar Pasha)
How a person one would never think of entering extremist politics has emerged as the prominent leader of Afghan resistance following the same method as the Taliban.
PAKISTAN: FIRST INTERNATIONAL WORKERS/PEASANTS CONFERENCE
Kiran Omar
Hopeful signs of unity among progressive formations in Pakistan.
NEPAL: NEPAL’S MAJOR PARTIES TO DECLARE HIGH-LEVEL POLITICAL MECHANISM
In what appeared to a major political breakthrough, the big three parties – Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) [CPN-Maoist), Nepali Congress (NC) and Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist) [CPN-UML]- announced the much talked about High Level Political Mechanism (HLPM).
THE NEW U.S. COUNTERINSURGENCY STARTEGY IN AFGHANISTAN; THE ROUTE TO SUCCESS OR ALICE IN WONDERLAND?
Sam Noumoff*
Confronted, as it was with the post invasion Iraq insurgency, which the U.S. and its accomplices in the “Coalition of the Willing” were utterly unprepared for, the U.S. military set out to develop a new strategic doctrine of counterinsurgency designed to meet the challenge. The architect of this new approach was General David Petraeus and the result was US Army Field Manual 3-24. As the approach has become the guiding force behind the current NATO strategy in Afghanistan it warrants very careful analysis.
IS AL QAEDA A CONSPIRACY AGAINST MUSLIMS ?
Kaleem Kawaja
Al Qaeda approach goes against the core principles of Islam and the 1400 year old ethos of the Muslim Ummah. The article analyzes how do five million ordinary Muslims of America react to it and how much harm can Al Qaeda inflict on Muslims.
WEARING BURQA WILL NOW BE A CRIME?
Asghar Ali Engineer
Burqa is the choice of the woman and/or the family. Either way, the state has no business legislating the use of a particular garment.
OBITUARY: HOWARD ZINN (1922-2010)
Historian who challenged the status quo
Mark Feeney
Howard Zinn, the Boston University historian and political activist who was an early opponent of US involvement in Vietnam and a leading faculty critic of Boston University president John Silber, died of a heart attack today in Santa Monica, California, where he was traveling, his family said. He was 87.
NEW YEARS GREETINGS!
SHOULD ADIVASIS CONTINUE TO LIVE IN FORESTS?
Daya Varma and Vinod Mubayi
All Indians were Adivasis living in jungles at some time in history; approximately 7 percent still do. Should not the government take appropriate steps to rehabilitate them before proceeding to exploit the mineral wealth of the forests, which should be treated as national property?
L.K.ADVANI AND THE MYTHOLOGY OF “SADNESS”: AN EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
Badri Raina
An eye-witness report by Journalist Ruchira Gupta about who did what including LK Advani during the demolition of the Babri does not appear in the Liberhan Report; yet what it reveals about senior leaders of the Bhartiya Janata Party should be an eye-opener.
LISTEN TO THE MUSLIM WOMAN’S VOICE
Zakia Soman
The endless plight of the Muslims of India since 1947 is creating a new category of Dalits.
IS THE CHECK IN THE MAIL? The confessions of a groveling Pakistani native orientalist
Pervez Hoodbhoy
Pervez Hoodbhoy is a fearless opponent of the Jihadi culture in Pakistan; and yet, maybe because of it, he is being maligned.
IN THE NAME OF RELIGION
Ghazi Salahuddin
This insane surge in terror bombings early this week is bound to prey on our minds. Yes, the instinctive response is likely to be that of utter dejection. Still, the situation calls for some soul-searching. This means we need to seriously examine our thoughts and feelings in the context of what is happening.
THE IMPACT OF WAR ON GLOBAL WARMING
Claudia Saba
The Copenhagen parley is ignoring the impact of wars on global warming. How serious it is?
NEPAL: Crisis Continues
Vinod Mubayi and Daya Varma
The Nepal crisis continues. Recent moves indicate a more active and larger role for the military in the politics of the country.
FRIENDS LIKE THESE
CK Lal
With our friends homing in on security, Nepali democracy really will have to be home-grown.
NEPAL: UN HUMAN RIGHTS OFFICIAL VOICES CONCERN ABOUT PROMOTION OF ARMY OFFICER
Richard Bennett of the human rights office (OHCHR) in Nepal (From UN News Center]
25 December 2009 – A top United Nations official in Nepal today expressed serious reservations over the controversial promotion of a military General with ties to breaches of human rights to be second- in-command in Nepal’s army.
GETTING OUT OF THE QUAGMIRE
Sukhdev Shah
As things have evolved over the past three years, Nepal has become a fertile ground for a military takeover of the government, independently or under the shadow of a constitutional authority. Such a possibility has been talked about in a limited circle but been forced open by a delegation of some Nepali Congress (NC) leaders who recently urged President Ram Baran Yadav to consider imposing President’s Rule to help restore peace and enable the Constituent Assembly (CA) to complete writing the constitution before the expiry of deadline in five months.