|
|
|
|
This Bulletin is being relayed to you as a part of ACHA's South Asian community service program. It is sent out on the first Wednesday of each month. It goes to individuals in Arab Emirates, Australia, Canada, India, Kenyya, New Zealand, Pakistan, Singapore, Sweden, U.K., and USA, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Please let us know (pritamr@open.org), if you want to have your name removed from our email distribution list. Also, please let us know if someone should be added to the list. Comments, letters to editor, and short articles are also welcome and can be sent to the same address. ACHA Bulletin consists primarily of material selected from the printed and the electronic media. It aims to highlight the news of peace and harmony, to shed light on issues of concern to South Asians, and to bring together information of general interest. It is edited by Pritam K. Rohila, Ph.D. Its editorials and the selection of its material are his sole responsibility and do not necessarily represent the views of or an endorsement by any other Director, or member of ACHA or Dr. Ingrid H. Shafer, who has graciously donated space for it on her server and is volunteering her time to maintain our Web Page. ACHA is a non-profit, non-political organization, which is dedicated to promote peace and harmony among South Asians regardless of where they live. For more information about ACHA and comments about ACHA Bulletin, please contact us at by telephone at 503-362-4635, or 503-658-4715, or by email at <pritamr@open.org>, or visit our Web Page at http://ecumene.org/ACHA/ACHA.htm.
ACHA BULLETIN 11/3/99 Change of Governments in India and Pakistan (Next issue on 12/1/99) CONTENTS
CONTENTS Greetings
HAPPY DIWALI! HAPPY GURU NANAK'S BIRTHDAY! HAPPY THANKSGIVING! * I celebrate the sacredness and diversity of all people (From Daily Word <www. dailyword.org>) When I look at a loved one, I may remember that I am looking at a magnificent creation of the Creator. Yet when I meet strangers, do I allow that same awareness of their sacredness to be a part of our meeting? Do I realize that when I am in a crowd, I am surrounded by creations of God? From this moment forward, I will let my awareness of God soar as I acknowledge the sacredness of each person. I am fascinated by the diversity of God's creativity. The color and texture, the talent and abilities of humankind are glorious examples of the power and creativity of God being brought into visibility. I make a commitment to celebrate my sacredness and the sacredness of all people by infusing my thoughts, words, and actions with love and acceptance. * Change of governments in India and Pakistan by Pritam K. Rohila, Ph.D. October 1999 has seen a change of governments in the two largest countries of South Asia, within a few days of each other. Regardless of the means of change, the changes are quite significant. The change in Pakistan, as recently pointed out by Philip Bowring ("A
flawed democracy failed to hold Pakistan together," October 16, 1999, International
Herald Tribune, Paris, France) reflects two fundamental flaws in Pakistani
democracy: "First, the elite has failed to agree on the rules of the game.
This has meant not merely the use of extra-parliamentary methods against
opponents. It is reflected in the clashes between the prime minister and
the president, the executive and the judiciary, the center and the provinces.
Strains between power centers take place everywhere, but they have been
especially destabilizing in Pakistan... Second, democracy has failed to
undermine the grip of feudalism on rural Pakistan and to invest scarce
government resources in areas such as
We lament the change in Pakistan from democracy to dictatorship. History teaches us that it is impossible to make dictatorships accountable and that it is typically hard to make them go away when they are no longer needed. Also, frequent interventions by the military in civil affairs of Pakistan have not been beneficial to the health of the country in the past. We know that dictators may start by using power for the sake of people's welfare. But after some time, they start using power for its own sake. Also dictators tend to attract yes-men around them. Therefore, it becomes almost impossible for them to get accurate information on which they can base their actions. Power has a corrupting effect on people and as someone has said, "Absolute power corrupts absolutely." Dictatorship corrupts the governed as well. Fear of punishment instead of good citizenship becomes the major motivator of their behavior. But now that it has happened, we should not make the task of the new government more difficult with condemnations, and threats of aid-cuts, international sanctions and expulsion from international organizations. These measures will only deprive the government from other parts of the world and various international bodies of an opportunity to exert benevolent influence on the affairs of the country. Also they will deprive Pakistan of the resources it urgently needs to meet the basic needs of its people. Besides, isolation and frustration may drive the new government to desperation which may have harmful consequences on its people and its neighbors. Pakistanis all over the world, in and outside Pakistan, are waking up to what has been fundamentally wrong with their past governments. Groups like National Council of Pakistan Peace Coalition, Pakistan National Reconciliation, Pakistanis for Peace & Alternative Development, Pakistan Human Rights Watch, Organization For South Asian Peace, Reform Movement are being or have been formed for this purpose. Let us hope such groups will keep a close watch on the new government and will let not stray too far from its stated objectives. In India although the change of government came by constitutional means, its nature is a matter of serious concern to all people interested in secularism, peace and democracy. The change is likely to strengthen majority fundamentalism. As a reaction, minority fundamentalism can worsen and divisive-ness of the society may increase. Hawkishness against the neighboring will probably prosper which can threaten peace and stability in South Asia. Also it is likely to force everyone to spend more resources on arms rather than development. Already tensions between Hindus and Muslims are increasing. Anti-Christian activities have reached a crescendo. The Pope is being asked to apologize for the actions of the Portugese kings. A few fundamentalistic Hindu organizations have started taking control of some India's basic institutions like education. Text books are being "Hindu-ised. In post-Kargil hoopla, military budgets are increasing. We are pleased to note that the Indian voter is getting wiser. Also
organizations like Alliance for a Secular Democratic South Asia, Centre
for Study of Society And Secularism, Citizens Forum, DalitUSA, EKTA,
India Policy Discussion Group, International Center for Peace Initiatives,
Lokshahi Hakk Sanghatana, Lokshahi Manch, Sahmat. South Asia Forum for
Human Rights, and
Bibliography (The text can also be obtained by email from us). 1. Text of the October 17, 1999 speech of the Chief Executive of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf <www. informationtimes.com>,<www.dawn.com> 2. The Genteel General. By Tony Clifton Newsweek International, November 1, 1999 3. Pakistan coup d'etat. By Yvette Claire Rosser, Via Harsh Kapoor <aiindex@mnet.fr>
5. What army should do now written? By Raza Kazim with an introduction by Farrukh M Khan <farukhm @brain.net.pk> 6. A Flawed Democracy Failed to Hold Pakistan Together. By Philip Bowring, International Herald Tribune, Paris, Saturday, October 16, 1999 7. The Saffron Agenda. By Harsh Sethi, The Hindustan Times, October 21, 1999 8. A Saffron Enterprise Courtesy Mamatadi, By Sanghamitra Chakraborty, The Times of India, October, 19, 1999 * September 26, Dhaka, Bangladesh: " I will remain firm in my belief
and commitment to peace, and will rise to call for any help I might offer
to establish peace anywhere," Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina,
the joint winner of the UNESCO PEACE PRIZE for 1998, told 50,000 people
gathered at reception organized in her honor at Paltan Maidan by
the ruling Awami League. The prize recognized her for the December 1997
treaty with tribal rebels of Chittagong Hill Tracts. The treaty ended a
25-year insurgency in the 5,500 square-mile area bordering India and Myanmar.
(India West <www.indiawest.com>)
*Military coup in pakistan: why we shouldn't gloat? by Praful Bidwai (Via South Asia Citizens Web Dispatch <aiindex@mnet.fr>) If there were a nuclear Doomsday Clock for India and Pakistan, we would have to advance its hands by two minutes. After the Pakistan coup d'etat, it would show three minutes to midnight. The clock, whose concept was invented by peace-minded atomic scientists to warn humanity of the gravest threat to its existence, has registered many nasty advances since 1974 in South Asia, especially with the nuclear tests. Kargil took it forward by two minutes: India and Pakistan exchanged veiled nuclear threats at least 13 times during the conflict. With the coup, a crucial assumption about the low likelihood of an India-Pakistan nuclear exchange has broken down namely, the integrity of the establishments of the two countries and their ability to take rational decisions about the life and death of millions of people. The coup has exposed the fragility of the Pakistan establishment. Generals who can plot against one another (as ISI chief Khwaja Zia-ud-din did against Gen Pervez Musharraf) and overthrow elected government, can also overturn norms of rational conduct. They can invent threats, panic, or pull the nuclear trigger to assert national pride, or in pre-emptive self-defence. This should induce salutary sobriety in Indian responses to the events in Pakistan. Instead, our policy-makers and -shapers have gloated over them, indulged in self-congratulation over the strength of Indian democracy, and ridiculed Pakistan and its people. Beneath their declared willingness to deal maturely with all regimes in Pakistan, whether civilian or military, lurk many Indian suspicions and calculations. The main calculation is how to use Pakistan's present crisis to court Washington through slogans such as fighting cross-border terrorism. Our Foreign Office did India no credit by pooh-poohing Pakistan's unilateral
troop withdrawal from the international border, and summarily rejecting
its offer of an unconditional, results-oriented dialogue. In today's situation,
tension defusion and dialogue resumption are so important that it really
does not matter whether Gen Musharraf's intentions are sincere, or whether
the pullback extends to the LoC in Kashmir. Any pullback is unreservedly
welcome and in our own interest. New Delhi would
Some of our Pakistan-baiting analysts have argued that the coup is no big deal: military rule is the normal or natural state of Pakistan, and the army merely acted as the guardian of the Two-Nation Theory. This analysis ignores the many steps wobbling, and indecisive, yet definite and numerous that Pakistan has taken towards democratisation during the past decade. It makes light of the evolution of civil society: 1999 is not 1958 or 1977. The analysis portrays misgovernance as fundamental failure of democracy itself. Rather than deal with the roots of the crisis in leadership failure, it makes sweeping generalisations about the unviability of the Pakistani state. This view is mistaken. It assumes that once a state is founded on religious identity, it is doomed to remain so forever. Historically, this is belied not just in Christian or Buddhist societies, which have evolved into broadly secular systems, but also in Muslim Iran, Iraq or Turkey. Iran is an excellent contemporary example. Twenty years after the Islamic Revolution, it is transiting towards a pluralist, liberal democracy. A usual premise beneath Pakistan's unviability is that Islam and democracy are mutually incompatible. This is communal nonsense. Secular democracy is not about capturing a particular religion in politics, but about basic separation between all religions and politics. If mainly Muslim Turkey or Bangladesh can sustain democracy, so can Pakistan. In Pakistan, the army did not intervene because Mr Sharif was jeopardising
the Two-Nation Theory. A different conflict was at work. Mr Sharif tampered
with the military line of command, creating resentment. This surfaced during
Kargil. His decision to withdraw the mujahideen further sharpened
The backdrop to all this was Mr Sharif's 31 months-long feudal-style rule, which lost him all credibility. Mr Sharif undermined all institutions and made a mockery of governance. His Cabinet did not meet for a whole year. The National Assembly did not pass a single legislation under his rule. Crony capitalism reached new heights as the economy went into a tailspin. The breakdown of public services was total. The army was drafted to collect electricity and water bills. Little wonder, then, that three-fourths of Pakistanis polled by Gallup shed no tears for Mr Sharif, although three-fifths want civilian democracy. Pakistan's 140 million people have lost democratic rights, the Constitution stands suspended, and the military is back overtly interfering in public life after 12 years. Pakistan seethes with severe economic inequalities and low growth, intense regional-ethnic tensions and rising fundamentalism. Both the Pakistan People's Party and Muslim League have been tried twice, and found wanting. There is no democratic alternative on the horizon. Theses recent events are a terrible setback for the Pakistani people. We must sympathise and solidarise with them. The Pakistan crisis comes in conjunction with the swearing in of a hardline right-wing government in India, and a global setback to nuclear disarmament. Mr Vajpayee belongs to a viscerally anti-Pakistan political current which believes in Akhand Bharat. Such currents in India and Pakistan have fomented exclusivist nationalism, militarism and jingoism. These, in turn, promote mutual hostility. This vicious cycle is part of what is the worlds longest-lasting hot-cold war. It must be broken. The BJP-led government is least equipped and least willing to do so. After the 1998 nuclear watershed, India-Pakistan relations have decisively changed. Two months ago, India ignited a new nuclear arms race by publishing a draft nuclear doctrine, which calls for a huge, open-ended, triadic arsenal. Pakistan will try to match this. Even China is re-evaluating its nuclear posture. All this is likely to further stoke militarism in the region. Global developments have been equally dismal, especially the U.S. Senate's rejection of the CTBT. The treaty cannot come into force for a couple of years. This takes the pressure off India and Pakistan to sign it. Although the CTBT does not prevent nuclear weapons manufacture, it will create conditions conducive to restraint. Absent restraint, India and Pakistan will persist with their nuclear preparations. The CTBT failure signifies a larger setback under the Republican Right. The whole agenda of nuclear arms reduction is liable to suffer, and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (which bans full-scale Star Wars) get jeopardised. This could lead to a collapse of the post Cold-War momentum in favour of nuclear abolition. This will strengthen hardline mindsets everywhere, including South Asia. All this underscores the perils of India's myopic and mean-spirited
response to Gen Musharraf's offer of unconditional dialogue. India
is missing the chance to effect mutual disengagement. Pakistan is bursting
with tension. It is in India's own long-term interest that it does not
disintegrate. We do not want a Nuclear Somalia at our doorstep. Making
a dialogue conditional upon withdrawal of support to cross-border terrorism
is a retreat from the Lahore process. Questioning Pakistan's intentions
on
Our policy-makers are today repeating the grave error they committed for one and a half decades by refusing nuclear restraint talks with Pakistan. They branded all its seven different proposals on this as insincere. Their calculation today is a devious one. Some of them see in the coup an opportunity to trap Washington in its own rhetoric of democracy and raise the pitch of cross-border terrorism. New Delhi is looking at Pakistan through the prism of Indo-U.S. relations, thanks to its deplorable agenda of establishing an exclusive strategic relationship with Washington. This diverts attention from our democratic priorities. Given our institutional
erosion, corruption in public life, growing elitism in economy and society,
and subversion of norms of Cabinet functioning, our democracy too has become
vulnerable. Its health, while far better than that of Pakistan's, cannot
be taken for granted. Democracy has to be nurtured carefully. We should
not be smug about it. The main reason the Indian military has not
meddled with civilian authority is not that this society is inherently
resistant to militarism, or that its army comes from a different tradition
than Pakistan's. Our military understood long ago as did the rest of our
Establishment that in a plural, diverse society, you
We must remember and Pakistan is an extreme-case reminder that democracy is not about elections and majority rule alone. It also involves fundamental liberties and freedoms, legal entitlements, robust representative institutions, separation of powers between them, free debate, an unshackled media, and institutionalised mechanisms to promote accountability. When these are weakened, democracy can erode, even collapse. * Why did the BJP succeed? by K. N. Panikkar (Via South Asia Citizens Web Dispatch <http: //www.mnet.fr/aiindex> A fractured mandate again, even if the National Democratic Alliance
led by the Bharatiya Janata Party has mustered enough support to form a
government. No single party has got a majority, either in terms of votes
or seats. While the BJP has just about maintained its earlier strength,
the Congress has
The BJPís success in this election is mainly due to its coalition strategy. After the election of 1996, it was generally held that the era of a single party government is over and the future lies with coalitions based on a reconfiguration of political forces. The only party, which appears to have taken this lesson seriously, is the BJP. Given its communal ideological commitment and its active participation in the demolition of the Babri Masjid the BJP was not able to gather enough support to remain in power in 1996. As L.K. Advani recently confessed, the BJP then realised that it can not come to power without incorporating the regional parties into its support base. It therefore cobbled up an alliance of eighteen parties in 1998 and twenty-four in 99-- although they had nothing in common ideologically and programmatically-- by putting on the back-burner its controversial Hindutva agenda. This strategy has yielded rich dividends in this election, as the NDA has managed to gain a comfortable majority, thanks to the performance of the allies. More than one-third of the seats of the NDA is their contribution, most of them in single digit. Rather than the charisma of Atal Behare Vajpayee it is the Vaikos, Ramadosses, Chautalas and Abdullas who made the success of the BJP possible. The critics of the BJP, particularly of the Left and secular, might decry this opportunistic strategy, but for the BJP the proof of the pudding is in eating it. The BJP leadership has shown enough resilience to compromise the present to ensure the future. In contrast the Congress refused to come to terms with the present; instead it chose to cling to the past. It suffered from an exaggerated sense of self-importance and a misplaced trust in its nationalist legacy. It failed to realise that except in a few states the party machinery has corroded, no leadership worth the name existed and that its social base has considerably shrunk. These can hardly be recreated overnight as evidenced by the election results. The sympathetic crowds, which thronged the meetings of Sonia Gandhi, were not translated into votes primarily because the party did not have the machinery to do so. Some of its good candidates, like Manmohan Singh in Delhi, lost to relatively insignificant nominees of the BJP. Unlike the BJP the Congress wrongly read the political present. It actually lost the election when it failed to provide an alternative after the fall of the BJP government. This failure was mainly due to a miscalculation of its potential. The only way the Congress could have made a come back was through a coalition government for which several political formations had pledged support. Without seriously pursuing it and declining support to a Left led government the Congress insisted on a single party government, failing which it opted for an election. The unexpected and impressive success in the assembly elections in Delhi, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh was perhaps the main factor, which influenced this rather intransigent and politically unwise decision. The Congress thus lost an opportunity to bring the secular forces together. As a consequence the Congress faced the election without any allies, except the highly tainted parties like AIDMK and RJD which instead of advancing its electoral prospects proved to be counter productive. Given the quick changes of government due to the failure of coalitions the Congress hoped to romp home on the plank of stability and single party rule. But a party riven with dissension and desertion could not enthuse such a confidence in the electorate. What actually sealed the fate of the Congress was the lack of allies in a fractured polity in which small parties wielded decisive power in several areas. Many of them are individual based parties without any clear-cut ideological moorings and therefore could be part of any political formation. While the BJP went out of its way to mop them up the Congress did not try to bring even the like minded parties to its fold. The success of the BJP to a large measure is rooted in the failure of the third front to posit a viable alternative to both the Congress and the BJP at the national level. Much before the elections the third front had already disintegrated. The united front experiment of 1996 was short-lived. Its demise was largely pre-determined by the historic blunder of the Left not accepting the primeministership and was hastened by the infighting among the constituents of the front. The BJPís grand design of coalition took shape from the ashes of the united front. But for that it would not have progressed much further than the 1996 position. Ironically the third front committed to defeat the Hindu communalism has actually facilitated its success. Yet the third front still commands a political space as evident from the outcome of this election. The former partners of the third front, now dispersed in different camps, have done exceptionally well. Most of them like TDP, DMK, SP and RJD have gained success on their own strength and not riding piggyback either on the BJP or the Congress. If anything, the latter have gained from the influence of the former. For instance, but for the support of TDP and DMK the BJP would have drawn almost a blank in Andhra and Tamilnadu. The election therefore affords an important lesson: the mobilisation of Left-secular- democratic forces is still possible, provided there is a will to do so. The BJP's rise to power is clearly not on its own social and political support. Neither its organisation- al strength nor the popularity of Atal Behare Vajpayee would have ensured its success. What enabled the success of the BJP is mainly the lack of political vision of social democrats. When the Hindutva agenda unfolds itself in the coming years they are likely to rue their unprincipled collaboration. For, this time around, the hidden agenda of the BJP is not likely to remain very much hidden. * Social security for all Indians Edited by Wouter Van Ginnekan, published by Oxford, Rs 425 ( From a review by Murari Mohan Mukherjee in the Teleghraph 10/16/99. Via South Asia Citizens Web Dispatch aiindex@mnet.fr). Social Security for All Indians analyses how social security can be extended to all Indians, especially women and workers in the unorganized sector. Divided in two parts with eight papers, the book focusses on the contributions made by various labour groups and non-governmental organizations in the unorganized sector. It the impact of the National Social Assistance Programme, and discusses various dimensions of the problem of extending social insurance schemes in cases of ailments, maternity, old age and work related injuries. It presents a study of some social assistance schemes sponsored by government and non-government organizations in Gujarat, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh. It suggests ways to achieve greater social security coverage.* The Kargil war by Praveen Swami, ISBN: 8187496045, published by LeftWord Books (leftword @vsnl.com), Paperback, 111 pp, List price: Rs 60.00 (Review by Subir Ghosh in The Reviewer <http://members.rediff.com/thereviewer/> Via Communalism Watch and Governance Monitor <http: //www.saccer.org>) Few short-fought wars have evoked so much of heat, debate and self-criticism
(read, justified criticism of the party/parties at the helm of affairs)
as the Kargil War did this summer. That too in the
This ephemeral conflict has been discussed threadbare in virtually all
fora -- print, television, radio. The points of view and assessments of
both the government as well as its critics, particularly the latter, has
varied. Every other day, this publication or the other is out with an expose
of how the Neroesque Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led ragtag coalition
government disregarded initial warnings
Political parties and their lackeys in power in both countries whipped up pseudo-nationalistic passions. Without mindless nationalistic frenzy obviously you cannot drive young men to the battlefront to get themselves killed all in the name of the country and its god. Nuclear power or not, Pakistan could not get away with it because it had been wrong on the first count -- it was guilty. The moment it realised that international opinion was not working in its favour, much as it would have liked to on the Kashmir count, it only needed a formal push into go scurrying back. So when Bill Clinton asked the Nawaz Sharif government to behave itself, its army left Indian territory with its tail between its legs. The ultra-nationalist coalition in New Delhi cried "victory!" and burst out in a frenetic exposition of jingoistic celebrations. And lost in the rubble-rousing was the real issue — that of Kashmir. Pakistan has never been reconcile itself to the fact that it did not get Kashmir after the British partitioned and left India. The former may have lost one battle and war after another, but the Kashmir issue has always remained internationalised. In fact, the very first of the skirmishes in 1947-48 ended with the United Nations Security Council brokered a ceasefire agreement. As per the resolution of the council (passed on August 13, 1948), once the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan had certified that Pakistani tribesmen and troops had withdrawn, India would withdraw all troops from the state, save a minimum force needed to maintain law and order. The last clause of the resolution mandated that the future of Jammu and Kashmir would be decided "in accordance with the will of the people." Somewhere down the line in ochlocratic democracies the people always
get forgotten. Just as Pakistan never withdrew all its troops, India too
never gave the people a chance to voice their choice. While Pakistan remained
more obsessed with possessing Kashmir than the development of its own people
and successfully and successively failing to coerce the international community
into poking its nose in Indo-Pak bilateral issues (meaning, Kashmir), the
Indian establishment led by Jawaharlal Nehru seemed content on letting
Sheikh Abdullah take a vice-like grip on the Muslim-majority state headed
till the other day by a Hindu king. Pakistan's diplomatic adventures drew
blanks, while the paradise-on-earth Kashmir raked in millions every year
for the Indian tourism industry. Everything was fine. So what went wrong
in the Eighties that saw the birth of insurgency and the unabated rise
Interpretations offered are many. The reasons why it did too are many. But one explanation that has more to do with the state of the Indian polity than with the pernicious machinations of Pakistan in making militancy work in its own favour, is the one that Praveen Swami makes in his relatively-brief, lucid and sufficiently dialectical appraisal of the changing socio-political scenario in India and its immediate and inevitable effect on the Kashmir tangle. Not so much internationally, but more on its cascading effect on a secessionist tendency that had more to do with religion than with nationalism. Swami covered the Kargil conflict for his magazine, Frontline. His 100-page
analysis of the summer war is not one made by a new-to-Kashmir journalist
who made hay while the Kargil heights raged.
The communalising of politics and society in Jammu and Kashmir did not happen perchance. While Pakistan's interference and intervention did play its bit, the accentuating of the situation could not have taken place had it not been for the rise and rise of the Hindu Right elsewhere in India. Just as the growth of the Hindu Right was a fallout of the vacillating secularism practised by the Congress till the Eighties, the alienation of the Indian Muslim too was a result of the communal ardour generated by the Hindus. It set the stage for future sporadic and orchestrated Hindu-Muslim riots in India in general. It did more than that in Jammu and Kashmir -- it sowed the seeds of hatred in a secessionist tendency that increasingly found more justification in religion than in nationalism. The dividing line vanished sometime as well. After drilling holes in the Kargil theories and justifications of the Indian government, Swami probes deeper. He says though empirical evidence is hard to come by, the transformation of Muslim identity in Kashmir offers a rich terrain for study. The systematic displacement from the school education system of the state's languages by Urdu, a project ironically sponsored by the state government itself, has led to a creation of two generations of Muslims who cannot read their own language. Jammu and Kashmir has no newspapers in Kashmiri, and a declining body of new literature. The rise of Hindutva has made Kashmir's Muslims more sensitive to developments
in the rest of India than at any time in the past. Swami says if terrorists
have taken to shooting girls clad in jeans or to
In the name of religion by R.Ram, Published by EKTA, 1999, Rs. 5, Pages 20. The booklet discusses the issue of forced conversions to Christianity in India. It points out that most of the inquiry commission reports show the phenomenon of forced conversions is more of a myth than a fact, and whatever preaching and propagation of Christianity is going on is very much within the limits of constitutional freedom. The book also outlines the Anti-Christian violence in India and the forces behind it. * The Freedom Movement and the RSS: A story of betrayal by Shamsul Islam
(English and Hindi Editions), 1999, Rs. 5 ($3). Available from Joshi--Adhikari
Institute Of Social Studies, 14, Janpath,
Rashtriya Sawyam Sewak Sangh (RSS), the fountainhead of Vishwa Hindu Parishad(VHP), Bajrang Dal(BD), Hindu Jagran Manch(HJM) and such other rabid communal organizations, claims to be the greatest embodiment of nationalism in the country today. There has been a concerted attempt to market it as being synonymous with patriotism in India. It is also a fact, though that the claims of the RSS in this regard have always been challenged by individuals and organizations who were in the thick of struggle of the Freedom Movement against the British rule. There is no dearth of writings exposing the negative role of the RSS during the Freedom Struggle. However, this booklet is the first attempt to collect facts of the Freedom
Movement era from the documents of the RSS itself. It has been the intention
of the author that the documents of the RSS should speak themselves instead
of others commenting on its role in the Freedom Movement. This booklet
is going to shock surely those who believe that the organizations like
RSS played any role in securing freedom of August 15, 1947. They will hear
from the horse's mouth that not only a silence
In this booklet a unique method of thematic indexing of the available
RSS literature, pertaining generally to that period was adopted. For the
purpose of Thematic Indexing the literature was studied keeping in view
certain themes relevant for this study. For instance we looked for references
where the RSS might have given a call to the British rulers to leave India
or supported the fight of the revolutionaries against the British imperialists
or written something on events which proved to be
* Kashmir by Dr. Majid, England Let me at the outset pledge cooperation from myself and OSAP ( Organization for South Asian Peace) which is Leeds-based and has a very pro-active peace agenda. It is concentrating in the first instance on the Kashmir conflict. Kashmir is in our opinion the linchpin of peace for the subcontinent and the most intractable of problem. We will keep you informed about the activities we get involved with, just now we are preparing for a seminar on Kashmir at the \Bradford University and we enclose in our enclosure some of the papers we hope will be presented . We have invited contribution of chapters from various academics to complete the book 'Towards Peace in Kashmir". We congratulate you for the very valuable work you are doing and please do consider as a part of your great effort for t the noble cause of peace. * Pope's visit to India by Ram Puniyani, India In anticipation of POPE's forthcoming visit, various organisations affiliated to Sangh Parivar have started to put different demands on the Pope. Their demands are-Pope should apologise for the conversions which have taken place in India, and that he should say that all religions are equal, and that he should apologise for this, that and the other event of the past. They also assert that India is tolerant and peace loving and that Hinduism is tolerant as it does not believe in proselytization and that India has given shelter to people from all faiths and regions. To tell Pope to stop conversions is externalising an internal phenomenon. Conversions have taken place in Indian society mainly due to the Brahminical exclusionism and social neglect of weaker sections of society. And Swami Vivekanand sums it up very well in the context of conversions to Islam, says Swamiji "Why amongst the poor of India so many are Mohammedans? It is nonsense to say that they were converted by the sword, it was to gain liberty from Zamindars and priests (Collected works, vol 8,page 330).The number of adivasis who have taken to Christianity is again to embrace a faith in order to enhance ones' social situation. To claim that ours' is the only tolerant religion is the highest form of intolerance. Most of the religious traditions all over the world have recognised the existence of different traditions in different parts of the world, and the 'inclusionist' traditions have tried to spread to others by propagating. Thats how King Ashok sent his preachers to all parts of the world to spread Buddhism. Hindu traditions can be divided in to inclusionist tolerant traditions like Bhakti, Ajivikas, Charvak, Nath, Siddha, Kabir and many others which did try to preach thier understanding to others, while the major intolerant Hindu tradition Brahminism, has been exclusionist and so the elite upper caste strived to keep the 'others' i.e. low caste, out from the pale of mainstream social life. As far the fact that India has given shelter to different faiths and people, so have other countries also, otherwise you would not have seen Buddhism in most of the parts of the world and people of Indian origin scattered in different parts of the world, where they prosper in the greener pastures. As far as the tensions created, due to spread of Christianity; one should
note Christianity has been spreading in India from last many centuries,
but the anti Christian violence is of fairly recent origin as the repository
of "Hate Ideology' Sangh Parivar has taken it upon itself to create hatred
in society in the name of religion the sad out come of which has been witnessed
in India starting from Gandhi
* For a special thematic issue, IN MEMORY OF NEELAN TIRUCHELVAM: MINORITY RIGHTS IN SOUTH ASIA. Contemporary South Asia (CSA) is soliciting submissions by 2/1/2000. Papers may examine any aspect pertaining to the current state of minority rights in the region by drawing upon new empirical research and/or fresh theoretical approaches. Papers giving a comparative perspective of minority rights issues in two or more South Asian countries of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, and Maldives are particularly welcome. (Selected papers also may be published in an edited book.) Tiruchelvam, lawyer, academic, politician, human rights activist and a member of the International Editorial Board of (CSA) since its inception in 1992, was assassinated on 29 July 1999. His lifelong work for the promotion of non-violent and constitutional solutions to minority and human rights grievances began as a law student at the universities of Ceylon and Harvard, respectively. Along with developing his legal career at Tiruchelvam Associates, Neelan enjoyed prestigious academic appointments including a Fulbright fellowship in Sri Lanka and the US. At home, he helped draft the District Development Council law before entering parliament in 1983 as a Tamil United Liberation Front representative. Later, Neelan was part of the think tank behind the 1987 Indo-Sri Lankan Accord and played a key role in the 1995 constitutional reform and devolution program of the Chandrika Kumaratunga administration. Outside the government, he founded and directed the International Centre for Ethnic Studies (Colombo) dedicated to promoting non-violent solutions to ethnic conflict. Abroad, he served as a member of member of international observer and expert missions to Pakistan, Chile, Kazakhstan, Ethiopia and South Africa and, in 1999, was elected chair of the human rights organization, Minority Rights Group International (London). At the time of his death, Neelan was working on a government program of major constitutional reform, including an Equal Opportunity law seeking to end social and gender discrimination, and was shortly to take up a visiting professorship at Harvard this autumn. More info from Dr Apurba Kundu, Co-Editor, Contemporary South Asia, Department of Applied Social Sciences, University of Bradford, Bradford BD7 1DP, UK, Tel +44-(0)1274-235-046, Fax +44-(0)1274-235-295, Email a.kundu@bradford. ac.uk> (Via South Asia Citizens Web Dispatch<aiindex@mnet.fr>) * November 6, Newark, CA, USA: INTERNATIONAL MUSHAIRA organized by Aligarh Muslim University Alumni Association at 6:00 p.m., at 5774 Mowry School Road. More info from 925.736.4566 or 650.574.5814. * November 7, Hayward, CA, USA: PANDIT JASRAJ in concert with Samir Chatterjee on tabla, presented by Child Relief and You (CRY) at 6:30 p.m., Chabot College Auditorium, 25555 Hesperian Bvd. Tickets at $15-$50. More info from 408.363.1443. * November 7, Portland, OR, USA: SOUTH INDIAN VOCALIST Nityashree
Mahadevan. A Kalakendra presentation at 4 p.m. at Evans Auditorium,
Lewis and Clark college. Tickets ($12 advance/$15 at the door from FASTIXX
outlets. More info from <www.kalakendra.org>
* November 10, Southbank, VIC, Australia: ISLAMIC ART & ARCHITECTURE OF THE DECCAN, SOUTHERN INDIA, a Classical Asian Art Lecture Series lecture by George Michell, 6:15 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. at CUB Malthouse-The Tower, More info from 613.9650.0998 or kater@ asiasoc.org.au. * November 12, Portland, OR, USA: SITAR RECITAL by Pandit Ravi Shankar & Anoushka Shankar, a presentation of Oregon Symphony and Rasika, at 7:30 p.m., at Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. Tickets $18.75-$50. More info from <www.rasika.org>. * November 13, Seattle, WA, USA: VEENA CONCERT by Dr. K.S. Subramanian, with Sudakar Subramanyam on the Mridangam. A Ragmala presentation at 7:30 p.m. in Kane Hall, Room 210, U.W. Campus. Admission by voluntary donation. More info from South Asian Studies Center at 206.522.0084 or <sascuw @u.washington.edu>. * November 14, Berkeley, CA, USA: IMAGING SOUND: MUSIC IN INDIAN PAINTINGS, a lecture by ethnomusiclologist and University of California professor Bonnie C Wade at 3:00 p.m. at UC Berkeley's museum theater, 2626 Bankroft Way. More info from 510.642.8344. * November 19, Portland, OR, USA: CARNATIC VOCAL CLASSIC MUSIC by O. S. Thyagarajan, a Rasika presentation, at 8:00 p.m. at First Congregation Church, 1315 SW Broadway. Tickets at $12 ($15 at the door) from Fastixx. More info from <www.rasika.org>. * November 20, Portland, OR, USA: DEEWALI NITE, a presentation by Indian Cultural Association of an evening of dinner with light music, dance, Antakshri, and Bingo starting at 5:00 p.m.at Deb Fennel Auditorium Tigard High School, 9000 SW Durham Rd. Tickets at $10 ($15 for non-members) in advance from Fred Meyer Fastixx and some Indian stores. More info from <www.icaportland. org>. * Eugene, OR, USA: The HINDI/URDU self-instructional language course with Najia Hyder Ali serving as the 'native speaker informant' for the class. More info from <nhyder@darkwing. uoregon.edu>. (Most of the information in this section was compiled from recent issues of India West <www. indiawest.com> and Rediff on the NeT <www.rediff.com>) * The SUPREME COURT of India has started putting the daily and advance list of its cases on the Internet so that litigants across the country, without having to come to the Capital, can find out when their case will heard. * FESTIVALS OF NEPAL is the title of a CD recently released by Domo Records. The CD has innovative interpretations of traditional music by the popular group Sur Sudha made up of the Radio Nepal artists Prem Rana Autari, Bijada Vaidya and Surendra Shrestha. * The top 100 INDIAN-AMERICAN owned firms in the U.S. generated $2.2 billion and employed 21,000 people in 1998, according to the fourth annual ranking brought out be Ventures International, Inc. and the weekly India Abroad newspaper. * With an estimated 5.2 percent GDP in 1998, the South Asian region is the highest GROWING region, according the latest report by the World Bank. * ORG-MARG, a market research firm has estimated that color and black-and-white TELEVISION reaches 21 percent of rural Indian households and 15 percent of all rural people aged 12 years and above watch cable and satellite TV compared to just three percent in 1995. * Attorneys Andrew Kayshap (212.285.3025 ext 110) of the National Employment Law Project and Chaumtoli Huq (212.966.5932) of the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund have launched projects to assist low-income South Asians workers in New York area with their LEGAL problems. * India and Pakistan are home to the fastest growing CITIES in Asia. The annual growth is highest at 4.2 percent for Karachi and Mumbai, 3.8 for Delhi, according to the United Nations Environmental Program. * November 3, Seattle, WA, USA: THE WTO MEETING IN SEATTLE: DESIGNING THE NEW TRADE ROUND, a public lecture by Jagdish Bhagwati of Columbia University, jointly sponsored by the Department of Economics, GTTL, Jackson School of International Studies, and CIBER, UW. at 4:30 p.m, in Room 120, Kane Hall. * November 4, New York, NY, USA: HINDU TEMPLES IN VIETNAM: THE ANCIENT KINGDOM OF CHAMPA, an illustrated lecture by J. C. Sharma, Consul General of India in Chicago, at 6:30 p.m. at Asia Society, 725 Park Avenue (@70th) The talk is related to his book on the monuments of the ancient Hindu Kingdom of Champa, including the unique temples of Mi -Son, and the vibrant exchange of Indian and Southeast Asian cultures. Book signing and reception will follow. Tickets $10 ($7 for members). More info from (212) 517-ASIA or (212)288-6400. * November 3, 4, 5, Houston, TX, USA: INSPECTION 99, at NASA, Johnson Space Center, provides an opportunity to individuals to inspect and consider the commercial utilization of NASA developed technologies and processes in the fields of aeronautics and aviation; business management and workforce; engineering design and analysis; human factors; human life support and tools; induced environment test facilities; materials and manufacturing; measurement technologies and scientific instruments; medical/health care, networks and communication, power and propulsion; robotics, automation and virtual reality; technology commercialization; and training and education technologies. More info and registration from <http://inspection.jsc.nasa.gov/>. * November 8, New York, NY, USA: RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN INDIAN MARKETS AND THE DIRECTION OF REFORMS, a discussion with Devendra Raj Mehta, the current chairman of Securities and Exchange Board of India and the former Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India.A reception precedes the discussion. An Asia Society and South Asians in Finance (SAF) presentation, 6:30 - 8:00 p.m. at Asia Society, 725 Park Avenue(@70th) Tickets $20. More info from (212) 517-ASIA or (212)288-6400 * November 9, New York, NY, USA: MY OWN COUNTRY, a 1998, 106-minute t ells the tale of cultural identity and healing through the lives of eccentric patients suffering of AIDS up in the Smoky Mountains and the compassionate transformation of their Ethiopian-Indian doctor. A discussion with director Mira Nair follows the screening. Inspired by the powerful autobiography of Dr. Abraham Verghese, this event, a presentation of Asia Society & New York Women in Film and Television (NYWIFT) starts at 6:30 p.m. at Asia Society, 725 Park Avenue at 70th Street, NYC. Tickets at $15.00 ($10 for Asia Society and NYWIFT members) More info from 212-517-ASIA. * November 13, Fullerton, CA, USA: GAUTAM BUDDHA, a slide lecture by Dr. Jim Santucci at 1:30 p.m., at Fullerton Museum Center, 301 N Pomona Ave. Tickets at $3 ($2 students with ID). More info from 714.738.6545. * November 13-14, Portland, OR, USA: REHAN SABHAI KIRTAN, starting at 10:00 p.m. on November.13 and ending at 6:00 a.m. November 14, at Portland State University Campus Ministries 633 SW Montgomery. Langar will be served all night. More info and directions from 503.222.5564 or <sarabjit1@hotmail.com>. * <www.popevisitsindia.com> is a website launched by the Catholic church in India to provide detaled information about the Pope's November 5-8 visit to the country. Also they have started another website <www.jesus2000india.org> which will include information on Christianity, the church, the Vatican and the pope from an Indian perspective. * http://jsis.artsci.washington.edu/programs/soasia/AIPS/aipshome.htm is the new website address of the American Institute of Pakistan Studies. The site includes information on the AIPS, its programs, news, and links to related sites. * <www.ins.usdoj.gov> is the website of U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (Telephone 800.870.3676). New York-based Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund encourage individuals holding GREEN CARDS without an expiration date to consider applying for U.S. citizenship, even though they are not required to do so or to renew the cards. Also they have informed that individuals who are at least 50 years old and have had a green card for at least 20 years, and those at least 55 years old and have held a green card for at least 15 years, may be entitled to an English language interpreter during the citizenship interview. *<www.webdunia.com> said to be the worlds' first internet portal in HINDI, was launched by Indore-based Suvi Information System in New Delhi on September 23, to provide to non-English speaking Indians internet services including chats and news. *<www.yatraindia.com> is said to be the first encyclopedic website on India including INFORMATION including 360 degree panoramic views about art, architecture, bazaars, festivals, hotels, industry, and religion. Currently the information is limited to Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh. * <www.yodlee.com> offers a way to manage and organize on a single page all of a computer user's PERSONAL DATA. *<www.britannica.com> is the newly retooled website of the 231-year-old company ENCYCLOPEDIA Britannica where anyone can browse its 22- volume set containing information about a-ak (an ancient East Asian music) to Zywiec (a town in Poland). * At <www.indiatogether.org/exchange/home.htm> India Together has put together a page full of information about the needs of DEVELOPMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS in India. This is the page for you, if you've ever thought to yourself "I wish there was something I could do to make things better in India, but I'm not sure what I could do." * <www.carnatic-music.com> is a website exclusively dedicated to Carnatic music. It has been launched by Satyam Computers. * <www.campusnavigator.com> provides tips useful in choice of a college. * November: 7 Diwali, 8 Goverdhan Puja/Vikram Samvat 2056, 9 Bhai Duj, 11 U.S Veterans Day/ France Armistice Day/Canada Remembrance Day, 23 Guru Nanak ‘s Birthday/Japan Labor Thanksgiving Day, 24 Guru Tegh Bahadur Martyrdom Day, 25 U.S. Thanksgiving Day *ARUN NETRAVALI, 53, a scientist who pioneered digital video research, will head Bell Laboratories, an organization with a $ 4 billion budget and which has generated over 30,000 inventions since its founding in 1925. He holds 60 patents andhas taught at some of America's best institutions including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Columbia University. His work on high-definition television at Lucent Technologies, earned him an Emmy Award last year. (From a story by Radhika R Shankar received via Dr. Jolly Rahman) * In recognition of her work to promote Indian culture HANNA PAULMANN, an office bearer of the German- Indian Friendship Society (Deutsche-Indische Gesschelshaft) was conferred this year's prestigious Gisela Bonn Award by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations in Germany. *On October 20, ASMA JEHANGIR, leader of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, and HINA JILANI, a leading Pakistan lawyer who heads Women Legal Aid Cell, along with three others, were recognized for risking their lives to defend rights of others at a star studded dinner hosted by the New York based Lawyers Committee for Human Rights. (From Dawn http://dawn.com, Via South Asia Citizens Web Dispatch <aiindex@mnet.fr>) * U.S. president Clinton appointed JAYKUMAR N. PATEL of Coral Springs, FL to the President's Committee on the National Medal of Science. * SYEDNA MOHAMMED BURHANUDDIN, the spiritual head of of the Dawoodi Bohras has been appointed chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University in Uttarpradesh, India. * KEWAL S. DHILON, Pepsi franchisee in Chandigarh, Punjab has been appointed an exclusive trade counselor in India by the state of Utah. It is the first time that an American state has opened a trade office in the country to promote bilateral trade. * A. M. AHMADI, the former chief justice of India has been named by U.N. human rights chief Mary Robinson to an international panel of experts to investigate atrocities in East Timor. * ZAKIR HUSSAIN, the popular tabla maestro of Indian origin, was awarded on September 28 in Washington, D.C., USA, the National Endowment for the Arts' 1999 National Heritage Fellowship. The award consisting of a framed certificate and $10,000 was given by the US first lady Hillary Clinton. VIRUS WARNINGS FOR YOUR COMPUTER * VIRUS WARNINGS from Breakaway Technologies - Support 1. Don not install any CELCOM Screen Saver. After it is
activated, the PC cannot boot up at all.
2. Do not accept the invitation of someone named <SandMan> to check out the web page at www.geocities.com/vienna/6318 This page hacks into your C:\drive. ******************************************************************************
Home | Activities
- Current | Awards | Board
of Directors | Bulletin
| Chapters
|