SECULARISM, DEMOCRACY, HUMAN RIGHTS AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

INSAF Bulletin 107 March 2011
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).

WORKERS DRAW THE LINE IN WISCONSIN

Aongus Ó Murchadha

Wisconsin saw its biggest labor rally in memory Tuesday as an angry crowd estimated at as many as 20,000 turned out to oppose Republican Governor Scott Walker’s efforts to gut public-sector unions of their bargaining power, break them financially and force workers to pay for the state budget deficit.

IMF on the Middle East

(The New York Times, February 23, 2011)

“Less than 2 weeks ago the IMF’s executive board, its highest body, assessed a North African country’s economy and commended its government for its “ambitious reform agenda.”

THE DANGER OF FUNDAMENTALISM TO SOUTH ASIA

Daya Varma and Vinod Mubayi

The murder of Salman Taseer, the governor of the Punjab province of Pakistan, by his bodyguard is generally seen as a Pakistani phenomenon. Because the killer was the bodyguard of the Governor, some commentators have likened it to the assassination of Indira Gandhi because in her case also the assassin was her bodyguard. But that similarity is superficial. In political terms, the murder of Salman Taseer is more like the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi by the Hindu zealot Nathuram Godse. In both cases, religious extremists were the murderers.

THE PROBLEM WITH PAKISTAN

Vaqar Ahmed

The problems that Pakistan faces today are a direct and logical consequence of the basis of the creation of the country.

PAKISTAN: THE MURDER OF LIBERAL THOUGHT AND TOLERANCE

Kiran Omar

The barrage of bullets that fatally ripped through the body of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer murdered more than a political and public figure. They rent apart the lingering myth that space still existed in Pakistan for liberal thought, religious tolerance and inclusive politics.

HOW CAN THE PAKISTANI LEFT BECOME RELEVANT?

Pervez Hoodbhoy

Pakistani society owes much to numerous progressive left-wing individuals, as well as small groups. They unionized industrial and railway workers, helped peasants organize against powerful landlords, inspired Pakistan’s minority provinces to demand their rights, set standards of writing and journalism, and raised voices for peace and against militarism. Often this was at enormous personal cost. Leaders and workers belonging to worker and student groups have been targeted, victimized, beaten, and sometimes killed.

But the truth must be the told secular, liberal, and left groupings has never had a national presence in Pakistan and, even at their peak during the 1970’s, could not muster even a fraction of the street power of the Islamic or mainstream parties.

ARE ZIA’S MONSTERS DEVOURING PAKISTAN?

Kaleem Kawaja

General Zia ul Haq was one of the presidents of Pakistan in the mid 1970s to mid 1980s. That was also the Ronald Regan era in US and the era of the soviet occupation and war in Afghanistan. Zia collaborated fully with Regan and the US military machine to use the Pakistani soil to bring in huge supplies of arms to help Afghans fight the soviets. Together Regan and Zia encouraged religious militancy in NWFP and in Afghanistan, using and exploiting Islam to fight the soviet war machine. Many a Muslims in Pakistan were radicalized using Islam for this purpose. After the soviets left Afghanistan, US also pulled out of the war ravaged Afghanistan and left it to internal civil wars among Afghan factions that lasted over a decade, literally destroying Afghanistan.

LOOK AT PAKISTAN AND BE HAPPY

Dipankar Gupta

Our grief at Salman Taseer’s assassination has a schadenfreude aspect to it. We are sad that a brave man died unjustly, but we are happy this happened to our neighbor next door. True, Taseer was part of the establishment, but he had a change of heart when it came to the blasphemy law.

DEMOCRATS TO THE RESCUE

Dipankar Gupta

When Binayak Sen was arrested it gave a much-needed boost to the Maoists. As they advocate violence to achieve their ends, it is like oxygen for them every time the state commits a travesty of justice. It is worth remembering that armed movements, of whatever variety, have succeeded only in autocratic, dictatorial and monarchical states, but never in democratic ones.

SWAMI, SANGH AND TERROR LINKS

Ram Puniyani

Investigating acts of terrorism have multiple complex issues as things are mired in secrecy. To add to the problem is the mindset of investigating authorities and those in power. The acts of terror, which have been inflicted on the country, have been mainly attributed to the Jehadi Terror and mostly the theory which has been guiding the police authorities has been to work on this understanding.

NEPAL: IDENTITY POLITICS AND FEDERALISM

Federal restructuring of the state has emerged as a major demand of ethnic and regional activists in Nepal. The debate about it is extremely politicized. Federalism is not simply the decentralization of political power; it has become a powerful symbol for a wider agenda of inclusion, which encompasses other institutional reforms to guarantee ethnic proportional representation and a redefinition of Nepali nationalism to recognize the country’s ethnic and cultural diversity.

MAOISTS IN NEPAL: THE DIFFERENCES WITHIN

Prashant Jha

At a recent meeting, the Maoists expressed their commitment to peace and the constitutional process but also decided to prepare for a revolt.

UNEQUAL INDIA-NEPAL ACCORDS NEED TO BE RENEGOTIATED

Shirish B Pradhan

Nepal Maoist chief Prachanda sought to allay India’s concerns that his party was strongly anti-Indian, but underlined that the two countries need to redefine the ‘unequal’ accords of the past given the dramatic changes of the past few years.

SHARING SHOULDERS

(Daya Varma, Pervez Hoodbhoy and Vinod Mubayi)

CORRESPONDENCE

PEOPLE’S SAARC CONFERENCE CONDEMNS MURDER OF SALMAN TASSER

A resolution condemning murder of Salman Taseer Shaheed by a religious extremist was unanimously adopted during Peoples SAARC meeting/conference in Dhaka on January 18-19, 2011.

SUPREME COURT FOR RELIEF OF VICTIMS OF SALWA JUDUM, SECURITY FORCES OR NAXALITES

(Source: SACW January 18, 20111; abridged)

Justices Sudershan Reddy and SS Nijjar responded to the petition by Senior Counsel, Mr. Ashok Desai, and ordered the Chhattisgarh government to vacate security forces from all educational institutions, disband Salwa Judum camps and offer relief to all victims of the violence regardless of perpetrator.

GET RID OF ILLEGAL SHRINES: SUPREME COURT TO STATES

Bhadra Sinha

Taking exception to states’ dilly-dallying on the removal of illegal religious structures, the Supreme Court threatened to summon the respective chief secretaries if they failed to comply with directions to remove or relocate places of worship built on public land.

HUMAN RIGHTS HELP FROM UNLIKELY SOURCES

According to a news item in the Times of India (Jan 23, 2011), a seven-member delegation of the European Union has requested permission to watch the trial of Binayak Sen at the Chhatisgarh High Court. The decision of the High Court to allow these observers is yet not known. BJP MP Ram Jethmelani is appearing on behalf of Binayak Sen.

CHRISTIAN COUNCIL SATISFIED WITH VERDICT FOR KILLERS OF GRAHAM STAINES

The decision of the Supreme Court of India on January 22, 2011 to uphold the life imprisonment of Dara Singh and his accomplice Mahendra Hembram convicted of killing Graham Staines and his two young sons in January 1999 has been welcomed by the All India Christian Council.

(Based on an item by John Dayal)

PROTEST DEMANDING RELEASE OF MUSLIMS HELD IN MALEGOUN JAIL

More than 40 Muslim organization held a protest meeting at Azad Maidan, Mumbai demanding release of all Muslim youth held in Malegoun jail on charges of bomb blasts in the wake of confession by Swamy Asmanad in front of Delhi judge.Speakers included Abu Asim Azmi (MLA) Samajwadi Party, Amjed Ullah Khan Corporator MBT party, Sheik Abdul Kaleem (who was arrested in Mecca Masjid Blast), Moulana Syed Khaled Ashrafi, Moulana Mastakim Ahsan Azmi (Jamat Ulema,Maharastra), Nazir Md Madoo (Amir Jamaat E Islami,Maharastra)and Moulana Syed Ather Ali

IN DEFENCE OF ARUNDHATI ROY: DEMAND TO UPHOLD FREE SPEECH AND EXPRESSION

Statement by Academics and Activists from India and Abroad

We condemn the demand of the BJP to take the strongest possible action against Arundhati Roy for her seditious comments at the seminar, Azadi: The only way held in New Delhi, October 21, 2010.

BANGLADESH: THE ILLEGAL ARREST OF LABOR RIGHTS ACTIVIST

William Gomes

Dhaka: Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), the Bangladesh’s Military Intelligence is behind the arrest of labor rights activist Moshrefa Mishu, a leftist political activist and President of the Garment Workers Unity Forum (GWUF), a labor rights organization of the readymade garment factories of the country. Confined in Dhaka Medical Hospital (DHMC) by highly armed police officials Moshrefa Mishu exposed the horrific torture description the in several undercover interviews to Srilanka guardian.

FIRST MUSLIM ARRESTED AFTER MECCA MASJID BLAST RELEASED ON BAIL

Abdul Kareem released on bail in crime No: 658 of 2010 of Kushaiguda Police Station. He furnished sureties of Twenty thousand rupees. He was earlier arrested after Mecca Masjid blast and tortured in private farm house.

GUJARAT GOVERNMENT AFTER HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS

PUCL (People’s Union for Civil Liberties) strongly condemns Gujarat Government’s campaign of calumny against and attempt to frame under false charges human rights defender Teesta Setlavad, of Citizens of Justice and Peace, lawyer M.M. Tirmizi, victims survivors of Lunwada massacre and media person Rahul Singh for exposing Gujarat Police’s callousness and cruelty in the Lunwada massacre and mass burial case.

KABIR FESTIVAL HELD IN MUMBAI

To honour the great medieval poet and saint Kabir, a nine day long festival from January 14 to 23 was organized in Mumbai.

INDIAN PRIME MINISTER SLEEPS WHILE THE COUNTRY DRFITS INTO ANARCHY

Daya Varma

According to news reports (January 24, 2011), Maharashtra police arrested hotel managers who did not inform the police about hosting foreign delegates attending a Women’s Conference organized by Illina Sen, wife of Dr. Binayak Sen at the Mahatma Gandhi International Hindi University at Wardha. The police used an archaic law, the Foreigners Act of 1946, to harass Illina Sen as well.

TOTAL CAPITULATION

Tariq Ali

The ‘Palestine Papers’ being published this week by al-Jazeera confirm in every detail what many Palestinians have suspected for a long time: their leaders have been collaborating in the most shameful fashion with Israel and the United States. Their grovelling is described in grim detail. The process, though few accepted it at the time, began with the much-trumpeted Oslo Accords, described by Edward Said in the LRB at the time as a ‘Palestinian Versailles’. Even he would have been taken aback by the sheer scale of what the PLO leadership agreed to surrender: virtually everything except their own salaries. Their weaknesses, inadequacies and cravenness are now in the public domain.

SUCCESSFUL JOURNEY OF THE ASIA TO GAZA SOLIDARITY CARAVAN

From Rajghat in Delhi, through Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Lebanon and Syria. The caravan, in its journey of over 7000 km, collected $1 million worth of aid supplies including four ambulances, medical supplies and essential food supplies.

CHINA BRICS UP AFRICA

(Abridged from an article by M K Bhadrakumar, a career diplomat and supplied by Prof Sam Noumoff)

There can be no two opinions that Beijing made a smart move. Its decision to anoint South Africa as a new member of BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) will be projected as based on economic grounds, but there are any number of other dimensions.

ANNOUNCEMENT

The Mahanirban Calcutta Research Group (CRG or the Calcutta Research Group) in collaboration with various other institutions has held in the in the last six years three critical studies conferences. The first conference held in 2005 was on What is Autonomy? The second conference held in 2007 was on Spheres of Justice . The third conference held in 2009 was on Empires, States, and Migration . The aim of these exchanges of ideas and scholarly works has been to promote critical thinking on issues affecting our lives. These exchanges have been inter-disciplinary, intense, and directed towards new thinking and ideas.

OBITUARY: KANDALA GOPALSWAMY KANNABIRAN (1929-2010)

Personal memories of the man by Vithal Rajan

An obit that would do justice to this Just Man would occupy a fair-sized book. I am sure a compilation in memoriam’ will be attempted soon by learned people, who worked for him, and alongside him. I was a bystander most of the time, and I can offer only a few personal glimpses of a man, whose name and fame and work filled over three decades of India’s human rights struggle. He was lean, taut, and spry, and his commitment to universal justice blazed forth as from a pulsar. But at other moments he was a genial companion, learned and impish in turns, with an ineradicable sense of humour even about what he held sacred his work and an ever-green childlike romantic ideal till the very end of days.

K.G. KANNABIRAN, INDIA’S “LEADING CIVIL LIBERTIES LAWYER FOR THE LAST FOUR DECADES”

Many of Kannabiran’s writings are collected in a 2004 book, The Wages of Impunity: Power, Justice and Human Rights. His funeral was conducted quietly soon after he passed away, as his wife, Vasanth Kannabiran, explained in a guest post on Kafila:

Hopefully the New Year would be better than the last one!

A LAND OF POVERTY GOVERNED BY POLICE AND JUDGES

Daya Varma and Vinod Mubayi

India impresses visitors and its residents differently. Despite evidence of modern development, what is still unique about India is the pervasiveness of corruption, poverty, police atrocities, a reliance on judges for exercising executive functions, as well as a steady march of majority religious symbols into what were hitherto secular spaces.

BINAYAK SEN, THE STATE AND THE COURTS

Dr. Binayak Sen is a devoted paediatrician and human rights activist. He was particularly concerned with the health and social status of Adivasis in Chhattisgarh, the Indian state ruled by the Hindu chauvinist party Bhartiya Janata Dal (BJP); the area is also a hotbed of Maoist activity. He was unjustly arrested a few years ago for allegedly supporting Maoists; after incarceration he was released on bail. His case came up for trial and the court found him guilty of sedition. He has now been sentenced to life imprisonment. There is an outcry against this unjust sentencing of Sen. Read the following articles – Editors

FINAL STATEMENT OF BINAYAK SEN

I am a trained medical doctor with a specialization in child health. I completed my MBBS from the Christian Medical College, Vellore in 1972, and completed studies leading to the award of the degree of MD (Pediatrics) of the Madras University, from the same institution in 1976. After this, I joined the faculty of the Centre for Social Medicine and Community Health at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi and worked there for two years, before leaving to join a field based health program at the Friends Rural Centre, Rasulia in Hoshangabad, MP. During the two years I worked there, I worked intensively in the diagnosis and treatment of Tuberculosis and understood many of the social and economic causes of disease. I was also strongly influenced by the work of Marjorie Sykes, the biographer of Mahatma Gandhi, who lived at the Rasulia centre at that time.

BINAYAK CONVICTED – SENTENCE STILL TO BE PRONOUNCED

Kavita Srivastava

By now you all must have got to know about the conviction of Dr. Binayak Sen u/s of 120(B), 124(A) of the IPC and 1,2,3,5, Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act and Sec 39 (2) of the UAPA (2004 amended).

SEDITION DECISION ‘MISUSE’ OF LAWS

Amartya Sen

I am very upset about the court decision in Chhattisgarh about Binayak Sen. It is a huge perversion of our system of justice, and particularly of the laws concerning sedition. It’s not at all clear, to start with, that the thing he has been exactly accused of — of passing letters — has been really proved beyond doubt.

PRESS RELEASE BY PUCL ON DR. BINAYAK SEN’S CONVICTION

Delhi/ Raipur (24th December, 2010)

The People’s Union for Civil Liberties is deeply disappointed at the miscarriage of justice reflected in the judgement of Raipur Additional District and Sessions Judge B. P Verma sentencing our National Vice President Dr. Binayak Sen to life imprisonment under charges of sedition 124 (A) of the IPC read with conspiracy (120-B IPC) along with convicting him concurrently u/s 8-(1), (2), (3) and (5) of the Chhattisgarh Vishesh Jan Suraksha Adhiniyam,2005 (Chhattisgarh Special Public Safety Act, 2005) and u/sec 39 (2) of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 2004 (amended).

INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS AND COMMUNALISM

Ram Puniyani

Although Indian National Congress which led the struggle for India’s independence is a secular party, it has failed to live up to its ideals more than once. The article below gives a good account of failings and accomplishments of Congress as far as communalism is concerned.

REPORT OF A SYMPOSIUM ON AYODHYA JUDGMENT

Teesta Setalvad

The September 30 2010 verdict in the Babri Masjid-Ramjanmabhoomi case, that began as a dispute over a title suit but escalated into a full blown politico-religious conflict— one that legitimized the criminal assault on a 450 plus year old mosque as also targeted minority life and property— has raised serious issues for the future of Indian democracy given the fact that the verdict was disproportionately based on issues of contested faith and disputed histories.

FOR A PROGRESSIVE PAKISTAN, AGAINST THEOCRACY, FOR PLURALISM, FOR EQUALITY & JUSTICE

(Source: Association for Communal Harmony in Asia, December 25, 2010)

AKA & LEGAL FRATERNITIES OF INDIA, PAKISTAN JOIN HANDS FOR PEACE

Aman Ki Asha

(Source: Association for Communal Harmony in Asia, December 25, 2010)

SOLIDARITY CARAVAN FROM INDIA TO PALESTINE

Gautam Mody

A solidarity Caravan composed of delegates from several Asian countries left New Delhi on 2 December and is expected to reaching Gaza on December 27, 2010. While so far the Caravan has received rousing reception from India to Syria, the clash point near Gaza still has to come.

DO SUPPORTERS OF NOBEL WINNER LIU XIAOBO REALLY KNOW WHAT HE STANDS FOR?

Barry Sautman and Yan Hairong

While opposing jailing of 2010 Peace Nobel Prize winner Liu Xiaobo by the Chinese authorities, the author of the article castigates both the Nobel Committee for its arbitrariness and the recipient of the Prize for his war-mongering and anti-China position.

RUSSIA HAILS U.S. SENATE’S RATIFICATION OF NEW START

(Circulated by Sukla Sen)

Moscow, December 23, 2010 (Xinhua) — Russian President Dmitry Medvedev welcomed

the ratification of the new Russia-U.S. strategic arms reduction treaty (START) by the U.S. Senate, said the Russian presidential press secretary.

DEMOCRACY WITH CHINESE CHARACTERISTICS

Sam Noumoff

China is at a critical stage with respect to democracy and human rights. We are producing this article by a well-known China observer because of the importance of this question, the outcome of which is bound to have significant effect not only in China but in the entire Asia and the world.

OBITUARY: BHAGWAN DAS: 1927-2010

Vijay Prashad

Bhagwan Das (The historian of ‘his people’). His life was given over to the fight against caste and untouchability, and towards the promotion of Buddhism.

OBITUARY: CATHERINE POTTER: 1957-2010

The accomplished Montreal-based Basuri player Catherine Potter, a student of Hariprashad Chaurasia, was a part of CERAS and Kabir Cultural Center and a friend of South Asia. She used to participate in activities of these organization and had volunteered for fund raising to help Pakistan flood victims. In her death, the South Asian community lost a friend and supporter. We produce an Obit written for the local news paper Gazette. Another lengthier Obit written by Philip Fine of Montreal was published in the Canadian national newspaper Globe and Mail of December 23, 2010. Ed.

ARUNDHATI ROY ON KASHMIR

Daya Varma and Vinod Mubayi

Arundhati Roy’s pronouncement “Kashmir has never been an integral part of India” is a non-sequitur. Historically, India was understood as a geographic construct. It emerged as a unitary nation-state under British rule. Kashmir was then as much a part of India as any of the other 500-odd princely states. Even under various past empires, ranging from Ashoka to Akbar to Bahadur Shah Zafar, there was never any doubt that Kashmir belonged to what was considered India.

BIHAR ELECTIONS SET A NEW PARADIGM IN INDIA’S PARLIAMENTARY POLITICS

Daya Varma

In the recently concluded Bihar Assembly elections, Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) [JDU] bagged 115 of the 243 seats and its partner Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) won 91 seats. Thus JDU-BJP alliance won 206 incomparably ahead of Lalu Yadav’s. 22 and Congress’s four seats. JDU-BJP are part of the National Democratic Alliance, which ruled India for five years with Vajpayee is the Prime Minister.

DRONES: THEIRS AND OURS

Pervez Hoodbhoy

Vocal as they are about being bombed from the sky, most Pakistanis – including many on the Left – suddenly lose their voice when it comes to the human (Muslim) drone.

A SUMMER OF CRUEL MONSOONS, INTOLERANCE AND SMALL TRIUMPHS

Kiran Omar

Monsoons, normally a relief in South Asia, brought unprecedented devastation in Pakistan this year. The response of the Pakistan government was slow and sporadic.

INDIA NOT SHINING FOR WOMEN; RANKED 112/134 IN GLOBAL GENDER GAP REPORT

Here comes another report that shames India. The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2010 says India’s position is abysmal. Out of 134 countries surveyed, India is among the lowest ranked countries at the 112th position, with a score of 0.6155. The index ranks 134 economies according to the size of the gaps between men and women.

AYODHYA VERDICT 2010: WHITHER INDIAN CONSTITUTION!

Ram Puniyani

The verdict given by Lucknow bench of Allahabad high court (Sept 2010) has been a landmark of sorts. On one hand it is culmination of the process of demolition of Babri Masjid, now that illegal act of demolition has got a legal sanction. On the other this judgment is the one based on every other consideration than the legal one. It has no rooting in the values of Indian Constitution, no guidance from the directive principles of the Constitution and no grounding in the law of the land.

THE DEITIES WE CREATE

Badri Raina

India is a land of deities and new ones created as needed.

CHRISTIANS VILLAGERS FORCED TO LIVE AS HINDUS

John Dayal

Persecution of Christians by Hindutva zealots continues. This saga of Christians in Orissa is based on the Report of a Fact Finding group of Activists on the Social and Economical Boycott of Christians in the Kandhamal district.

MARXISTS NOT AGAINST MARKET, FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT (FDI): KARAT

CPM leader attributes the dichotomy between the policies in states where it is power such as West Bengal and Kerala and for the rest of the country to lack of autonomy for provincial governments.

DISASTROUS POLICY OF INJECTABLE CONTRACEPTIVES FOR RURAL INDIA

Shree Mulay

The decision of the Health Ministry of India to support injectable contraceptives in rural India is fraught with serious health risks.

RAJAPAKSA’S SECOND TERM AS PRESIDENT

Daya Varma

Having militarily annihilated LTTE and won presidential and parliamentary election, the Sri Lankan President is promising to embark on a comprehensive policy to deal with all problems facing his country including the Tamil question.

INDIRA GANDHI PEACE PRIZE FOR OUTGOING BRAZILIAN PRESIDENT

An international jury presided by Dr. Manmohan Singh has decided to award Indira Gandhi Peace Prize to former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva. INSAF Bulletin welcomes this decision. Brazil has made great strides both in economic development and governance under the leadership of Lula.

LETTER: Random thoughts

Have just been through the new INSAF Bulletin (No 103, November, 2010).. Liked your (Vinod Mubayi’s) article on Shiv Sena. The present generation needs to be reminded of the original motivations and the types of groups that formed the Sena- especially the fact that political patronage was given to them to counter the trade unions. Reminds one of Sanjay Gandhi’s buildup of Bhindranwale, to counter the Akalis.

REVIEW: DELHI-6 AND THE BATTLE FOR INDIA

Chinmoy Banerjee

Delhi-6 by Rakesh Omprakash Mehra (2009) is an example of the new globalized Indian cinema, otherwise known as “Bollywood,” at its best. It is popular and puzzling, conventional and sophisticated, providing all the satisfactions of contemporary Bombay cinema, including technical slickness and the integration of the diaspora within it as subject and audience and yet remaining multilayered and critical. It carries different messages at the same time so that it might be received differently by different reception communities: it uses the conventions of popular cinema in a self-conscious way and places a layer of signification for those who wish to see it through the gap created by the self-consciousness. As such it runs the risk of puzzling and disappointing a section of the audience it addresses that fail to respond to the challenge of seeing it through the breaks in the conventional surface it artfully constructs. Addressing a heterogeneous audience within India and the diaspora, such films take the risk of falling between two stools—and are often attacked from both sides– but their success exceeds their share of the market.

OBITUARY: RAM NARESH RAM (1923-2010)

Veteran leader of historic struggles in Bhojpur, Central Committee Member and leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) CPI(ML)’s legislative group in the Bihar Assembly from 1995-2010, Comrade Ram Naresh Ram passed away around 4 pm in Patna Medical College Hospital (PMCH), Patna, where had been in a coma and battling a cerebral stroke for the past several days. 87-year old Comrade Ram Naresh Ram, popularly known as ‘Parasji,’ is among the tallest leaders of the revolutionary struggle and is an icon for the downtrodden and oppressed people, not only of Bhojpur and Bihar but the whole country.

VICTOR KIERNAN (1913-2009)

Prakash Karat

Victor Kiernan lived in India from 1938 to 1946. It may be true as Eric Hobsbawm has said that “Unexpectedly India drew him away for several years from the major themes on which his reputation will probably rest”.

UNDER ATTACK: INDIA NOT MISTRY!

Daya Varma

The recent attack on writer Rohinton Mistry is part of a grand design to transform India into a Hindu fascist state.

SHIV SENA – FROM LUMPENS TO FASCIST POLITICAL FORCE

Vinod Mubayi

Starting as Maratha chauvinist outfit, Shiv Sena has emerged as a fascist political force threatening the very existence of a secular India.

AYODHYA VERDICT: IMPLICATIONS FOR INDIAN DEMOCRACY

Ranu Jain

We released a special issue of INSAF Bulletin on October 15; the article below deals with socio-political implication of the Ayodhya verdict, not specifically covered by any of the articles produced in that Special issue.

PAKISTAN FEELS US HAS LET IT DOWN

Khaleeq Kiani

The USA is a friend of Israel and no other country, but it takes time for most countries to find that out. Pakistan is discovering nothing new.

SEIZE THE DAY

Suhas Chakma

India has so far been the most important neighbour of Nepal. The proposed visit by Indian Foreign Minister to Nepal has the potential of both solving the problem or complicating it.

AFGHANISTAN: NINE YEARS AFTER US INVASION: 4.9 MILLION DEAD

Dr Gideon Polya

As of 7 October 2010, the 9th Anniversary of the US invasion of Afghanistan , the human cost of the Afghan War has been estimated as about 4.9 million violent deaths or non-violent avoidable deaths from Occupier-imposed deprivation. A detailed and documented Afghan War Human Cost Fact Sheet has been prepared to assist humane public discussion of the ongoing, US Alliance-imposed Afghan Holocaust and Afghan Genocide that has now reached the dimensions of the WW2 Jewish Holocaust (5-6 million dead, 1 in 6 dying from deprivation).

TWO YEARS ON, MUMBAI IS MARGINALIZING MUSLIMS

Shobhaa De

Marginalization of Muslims has steadily increased since 1947. The more prosperous a state become the more widespread becomes this marginalization, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka…. How it affects different levels of social institutions?

MAJOR POLITICAL PARTIES FAIL TO REPRESENT DALIT CAUSE

Staff Reporter (The Hindu, September 27, 2010)

MADURAI: Dalit movements and major political parties in the State are deviating from highlighting the issues affecting Dalits and have largely failed to represent them on many major issues in the recent past, said Dalit Gnanasekaran, founder, Dalit Liberation Movement.

AN EVENTFUL JOURNEY TO MANIPUR

John Dayal

A brief history of religious realignment in Manipur.

THE GREAT INDIAN PSYCHOTHERAPY

Chetan Bhagat

The author raises the socio-cultural factor in the state of affairs in India.

OBAMA SHOULD PAY HOMAGE TO AMBEDKAR

Kancha Ilaiah and Joseph D’Souza

A similar appeal has been issued by John Dayal of Indian Christian Council. Why it is important and important for Obama to pay respects to Dr. Ambedkar?

TOUCH THE HEART OF INDIA

Suzy Livingstone, Surrey

Dalit women on the march.

CPM RECAPTURES LALGARH

Bappa Datta

CPM seems to have recovered in Lalgarh. Has it?

KARNATAKA, JHARKHAND, BIHAR: BJP’S SORDID SAGA OF OPPORTUNISM

The story of a Party with a Difference, the story of Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP). The more BJP degenerates the more India benefits.

BOOK REVIEW

QAIDI NO. 100 BHARATI ZINDAN MAI MERE SHAB-O-ROZ KI RUDAD

(Prisoner Number 100: The Story of My Ordeal in an Indian Prison)

Author: Anjum Zamrud Habib

AND THE PEACE PRIZE GOES TO…A WARMONGER: Liu Xiaobo isn’t such a nice guy after all

Ted Sprague

“War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.”

THE 2010 NOBEL PRIZE IN MEDICINE: Today In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), Tomorrow Botox?

Daya Varma

Eighty-five year old British Doctor, Robert Edwards was awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize for the development of IVF therapy in humans. His achievements have made it possible to treat infertility. It is the other side of contraceptives used by a bigger population. There were rumours that Gregory Goodwin Pincus, who introduced oral contraceptive would get the Nobel Prize but he did not and died in 1967.

LAUNCHING OF THE ASIA TO GAZA CARAVAN

500 civil resisters from 17 Asian countries are marching to Gaza to end the illegal Israeli Siege!

AYODHYA VERDICT: A POLITICAL DECISION

Daya Varma and Vinod Mubayi

Eighteen years after the 350-year old Babri Masjid was reduced to rubble by marauding Hindu zealots, the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court pronounced it’s much awaited verdict today.

APPEAL FOR PEACE

The Ramjanmabhoomi- Babri Masjid Title Suit verdict may be delivered soon. The Babri Masjid demolition has been a vexed issue which led to communal violence and tension for over two decades between the two communities.

NO GAMES IS A GOOD GAME—PERHAPS?

Daya Varma and Vinod Mubayi

The fiasco surrounding the Commonwealth games scheduled to start on October 4 at New Delhi is obvious; consequences might not be all that bad.

COMMONWEALTH GAMES IN DELHI

Yaaminey Mubayi

The shame of hosting Commonwealth games.

COMMONWEALTH GAMES FIASCO EXPOSES INEFFICIENCY AND CORRUPTION IN THE INDIAN GOVERNMENT

Kaleem Kawaja

The shame of hosting Commonwealth games.

AYODHYA: IS A SOLUTION POSSIBLE?

K.N. Panikkar

It should be clear to everyone, most of all to the judges who ordered the judgment deferred, that if the issue has defied a solution for a hundred years, no miracle is likely in less than a week.

A LANDMARK VERDICT

Kuldip Nayar

It was a laudable judgment of the Supreme Court which upheld the right of Indian Muslims to inherit the property that their fathers and forefathers had left behind before migrating to Pakistan.

NEPAL MAOISTS TO BUILD A NEW POLITICAL MAINSTREAM

(Nepal News)

By withdrawing from the race to Prime Minister’s position, the Nepal Maoist leader Pushpa Dahal takes a step to resolve the political crisis in his country.

PAKISTAN’S UNIVERSITIES – FROM BOOM TO BUST

Pervez Hoodbhoy

Upset by drastic budget cuts imposed by the finance ministry, the vice-chancellors of 71 public sector universities are threatening to resign en-bloc. They rightly say that development projects are grounded, bills unpaid, and some buildings only half-constructed. Paying teacher salaries is also at risk. But a cash-strapped government retorts that its number-one priority is dealing with the flood devastation. It says it cannot afford the inflated budgets of previous years.

ISLAMIC IDENTITY IN SECULAR INDIA

Asghar Ali Engineer

Democratic polity in a multi-religious, multi-caste and multi-cultural country is based, more often than not, on identities. It is of course very complex issue which needs discussion and proper analysis. In any polity based on votes identity plays an important role. Identity can be divided into pre-mordial and acquired. Acquired identity is always post-natal and does not generate powerful emotions as primordial one does. One chooses acquired identity but not identity by birth.

PROMOTING GENDER-JUST ISLAM: INSIGHTS FROM THE INDIAN CONTEXT

Yoginder Sikand

Whether the gender inequality among Muslims is integral to Islam or other factors has been much debated. Here the author tackles this important issue

LEGITIMISING FUNDAMENTALISM

K.N. Panikkar

A highly irrational act — of sacking the lecturer whose hand was brutally hacked — is sought to be imbued with legal respectability and given a communal character.

CORDOBA HOUSE, QURAN BURNING AND CLASH OF CIVILIZATION

Irfan Engineer

The proposed construction of a mosque-cum-community centre, ‘Cordoba House’, in Lower Manhattan in New York has generated a lot of controversy. The Centre is just a few blocks away from the Ground Zero. Rick A Lazio, a former Congressman from Long Island is making the project a focus of his candidacy for Governorship from the Republican Party. Lazio has alleged in his campaign addresses that the Cordoba House project is not only being insensitive but also being offensive to the victims of 9/11. Cordoba House project is led by Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf. Lazio has also been questioning the source of funds for the construction of the Cordoba House.

A STATEMENT ON DENIAL OF DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS TO KASHMIR PEOPLE

Joint Statement by Pakistan-India Peoples’ Forum for Peace & Democracy on the denial of democratic right to protest and killings by the Indian security forces in Kashmir.

VERDICT ON SHOOTING DEATHS AT VIENNA SIKH TEMPLE

(Sent by Jai Birdi)

Vienna, Sep 28 (DPA) Six radical Sikh men received heavy prison sentences Tuesday in Vienna for their involvement in the killing of a senior Indian sect leader last year in Austria’s capital, media reported.

IS AHMADINEJAD EXPLOITING THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY’S ANXIETIES?

Kaleem Kawaja

Making bold controversial statements is one way of drawing attention and many leaders have used it. Kaleem Kawaja examines the legitimacy of the pronouncements of the Iranian President Ahmadinejad.

BOOK: MALEGAON TO AJMER, THE TRAIL OF TERROR

Author: Ram Puniyani

PRAYERS AND CANDLE LIGHT VIGILS

For Communal Harmony in the Country and Just Peace in Jammu & Kashmir (October 2, 6 to 7 pm)

ACHA PEACE STARS OF 2010

Upon nomination by their colleagues and admirers, the Association for Communal Harmony in Asia (ACHA) has decided to honor Dr. Mohammad Arif, Jatin Desai, Ashfaq Fateh, Faisal Khan, Dilafrose Qazi and Awais Sheikh, all peace and harmony activists from India and Pakistan, with the ACHA Peace Star Award 2010.

OBITUARY: Allen Dale June 1919-2010

Alan Turing’s accomplishments in deciphering the German enigma and transmission of messages by the US army in Navajo language, which could not be interpreted by the Japanese, are credited with many successes of the Allied forces during World War II. Ed.

APPEAL FOR PAKISTAN FLOOD RELIEF

Editors, INSAF Bulletin

The magnitude of the disaster which has befallen the hapless people of Pakistan requires all people of South Asia to do what they can to minimize the effect of this tragedy. Come together and donate generously!

THE GROUND-ZERO ISLAMIC CENTER: POLITICS OF ISLAMOPHOBIA

Vinod Mubayi

Historically, economic hard times in America have frequently been accompanied by attempts to blame and scapegoat ethnic minorities for the real problems people face. This is amplified in an election year where politicians posture endlessly to stoke prejudices as a way of igniting their own campaigns. It is not where the Islamic center is proposed to be built-rather it is the very idea of an Islamic center- that has stirred up this hornets’ nest.

COLOR OF TERROR: SAFFRON, GREEN OR BLACK?

Ram Puniyani

Can terror be assigned a color associated with a certain religion? Lately India is witnessing terrorist acts being committed by extreme right-wing Hindu organizations.

COMRADE, WHITHER GOEST THOU?

By editor, Kancha Ilaiah

INSAF Bulletin is reproducing this article by the well-known commentator Kancha Ilaiah to initiate a discussion on the current status of the Indian communist movement and its splintered condition. While we do not necessarily endorse the positions the author takes in this piece, we feel that he has raised some important questions regarding the lack of unity in the communist movement, a condition that has persisted for over 40 years and shows no signs of abating despite the many changes in the national and international environment. INSAF Bulletin has consistently pleaded for a United Communist Party in India.

WOMAN JUDGES AND SHARIA

Asghar Ali Engineer

Although two women judges have been appointed in Malaysia in the Sharia court, a restriction has been imposed on their powers. The author argues that these restrictions are not in accord with the Quran or the Sunnah.

ENLIGHTENED UNIVERSITIES SHOULDN’T ALLOW NINJAS ON CAMPUSES

Hameed Khan

Shouldn’t enlightened universities require that for proper communication in public a woman’s face should be visible?

STATE COMPLICITY AND IMPUNITY RULE AS JUSTICE IS DENIED TO VICTIMS OF KANDHAMAL

National Peoples’ Tribunal on Kandhamal (Press Release; August 24, 2010)

The National People’s Tribunal on Kandhamal Violence against Christians recommends a number of steps in order to bestow justice on the victims of communal violence in Kandhamal district of Orissa state.

THE TERM ‘HINDU TERRORISM’ IS A MISNOMER

Ram Puniyani

When many acts of terror by people like Pragya Singh Thakur and Dayanand Pandey, etc. are coming to fore, it is essential that the reckless arrest of innocent Muslim youth must be stopped and real culprits be punished.

BE YOUR FATHER’S SON: An open letter to Amitabh Bachchan

Najid Hussain

The celebrated Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan is a man of many ambitions. He was a favorite of Indira Gandhi and then patronized Mulayam Singh Yadav of Samajwadi Party. Lately he agreed to promote himself by working for Narendra Modi, the Gujarat Chief Minister who masterminded the massacre of Muslims in 2002. A victim of that tragedy appeals to him to be true to the legacy of his secular father, an eminent poet, and desist from serving Modi.

KASHMIR BURNING: New Delhi watches silently as the valley slowly but steadily slips into anarchy

Tapan Bose

From the ramparts of the Red Fort, celebrating the 64th anniversary of India’s Independence, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, offered to hold dialogue with the agitating youth of Kashmir if they “abjured violence”. Justice demands that “Azaadi” be granted to people of the valley.

CANADA MUST RESPECT THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF REFUGEES

SANSAD News Release: August 17, 2010

Four hundred and ninety-two Tamil men, women, and children, including some pregnant women have arrived in Vancouver, BC, after several months on the sea aboard the modified cargo ship, Sun Sea. They are victims of violence and deserve to be granted refugee status.

BANGLADESH COURT BANS RELIGION IN POLITICS

(Thursday, July 29th, 2010)

Bangladesh’s Supreme Court has reinstated a ban on Islamic political parties after striking down a key constitutional amendment, law minister Shafiq Ahmed told media on Thursday. It is a very desirable step.

STALEMATE IN NEPAL: DAHAL RULES OUT WITHDRAWAL OF CANDIDACY

Nepal News (Wednesday, 25 August 2010)

The United Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) [UCPN (Maoist)] seems to lack unanimity on the issue of resolving the issue of a Prime Minister in Nepal.

CONDITION OF CHILDREN WORLDWIDE

COVA (Confederation of Voluntary Associations)

According to UNICEF, 24,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.”

ANNOUNCEMENT

ASSOCIATION OF INDIAN MUSLIMS OF AMERICA (AIM)

Cordially Invites You to Celebrate

E I D – MILAN and AIM’s SILVER JUBILEE

INSAF BULLETIN at 100!

Daya Varma and Vinod Mubayi

INSAF Bulletin was started as an organ of the International South Asia Forum (INSAF), which was founded at a Conference at Montreal on September 4-5, 1999, attended by over 125 delegates. The purpose of INSAF was to act as a coordinator of many existing South Asian organizations, to promote secularism, democracy and above all friendship among all countries of South Asia, particularly between India and Pakistan. The rise of Hindu fundamentalism in India starting with the agitation leading to the demolition of the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya in December 1992, and increasing tension between India and Pakistan, were recognized as key hurdles to the peace and prosperity of South Asia; this has determined the underlying theme of INSAF Bulletin. Although INSAF as an organization ceased to exist shortly after its Second Conference in Vancouver held on August 10-11, 2001, INSAF Bulletin has attempted to fulfill the mandate of the founding organization.

BACK TO THE PEOPLE

I.A. Rehman

The goodwill laboriously built up on the eve of the Indian foreign minister’s visit to Pakistan has gone up in smoke. Honeyed homilies have been lost in a trail of acrimonious utterances. The losers again are the luckless people of the two countries.

GUJARAT: MAKING OF A FASCIST STATE

Ram Puniyani

The Gujarat Chief Minister engineered the massacre of the Muslims following the Godhra episode in which a number of passengers in a train were burnt to death. In the meantime, Muslim holy places and Sufi shrines are being damaged. Taking advantage of the anti-Maoist crusade of the Indian government, Gujarat government has found a new way of harassing human rights activists. As we watch Gujarat is being turned into a fascist state.

Nepal: IN SEARCH OF A PRIME MINISTER

Daya Varma

Abbreviations: Nepali Congress (NC); Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist) (CPN-UML); United Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) UCPN (M); United Democratic Madesi Front (UDMF); Janadhikar Forum; In general, Madesi parties represent Nepalese of Indian origin mainly in the Terai region.

COW IN CONTEMPORARY POLITICAL CHESSBOARD

Ram Puniyani

The sacred cow symbolism has been a running theme of Hindutva forces for a long time. It achieved legal status when the Hindutva Party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power as is the case in Karnataka now. This divination of cow is essentially an anti-Muslim, anti-poor and anti-Christian move while at the same time it stirs Hindu chauvinism all over the country.

STATE RELIGION AND SOCIAL REFORMS

Asghar Ali Engineer

No one will dispute the fact that social reforms are urgently needed with breath taking changes taking place all around in our society. But two questions become important in this respect: 1) what is the role of state and 2) what is the role of religion? There are people who insist that state should play an active role and usher in these reforms. Secondly there are people who think religion can hardly be helpful and instead it becomes an obstacle in social change.

MINORITIES, MULTICULTURALISM AND THE SECULAR INDIAN CONSTITUTION

Irfan Engineer

Secularism is understood differently by different analysts. We are not examining different concepts of secularism in this paper. However, one of the tests of secularism is the status of minorities and the treatment meted out to them by the state. The Part I of this paper in examines the concepts of minorities and their aspirations and rights. Part II of the paper will examine various provisions of the Indian Constitution and the state of minorities.

PEACE IN KASHMIR

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

This article represents a view of one of the well-known and distinguished leaders of the Muslim community in India. We are making it available to the INSAF Bulletin readership in the interests of providing information about the different voices and opinions within the community, not because the editors agree with or endorse every statement that Maulana Sahib makes in his article. The author of the article argues that Muslims should make a realistic decision to end the Kashmir crisis for their own good and for the good of India. According to the author confrontational attitude is a dead end approach.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Books

SAFHR WEB-PAGE ON SRI LANKA

Tapan Bose

I request you to look it up and give us your suggestions and advice for improving the page. www.safhr.org/srilanka

JUSTFIED BUT MISPLACED ANGER AT BHOPAL JUDGEMENT

Daya Varma

On December 3, 1984, Bhopal became the site of the world’s worst industrial disaster. The question is: should India at all entertain hazardous industries. If the answer is yes, then what should be done to minimize the chances of disaster? And what should be done to minimize the suffering of the survivors and the families of the dead?

ISRAELI APARTHEID: SUSTAINED INTERNATIONAL SANCTIONS NEEDED

Vinod Mubayi

A sustained world-wide campaign of boycott, divestment, and sanctions aimed at Israel is needed, just as it was in apartheid South Africa, to end the many decades long oppression of Palestinians by the State of Israel. [Also see article by Pervez Hoodbhoy in this issue]

International: THE FLOTILLA MASSACRE: WHY?

Pervez Hoodbhoy

It seems there is no crime beyond the reach of Israeli state, which killed nine peace activists trying to deliver humanitarian aid to Palestinians locked in Gaza. [Also see second article on Israel]

GHETTOES IN THE MAKING

Ram Puniyani

As per the report in a section of media recently (November 2009) UK based Muslim charities have warned the Muslims living in the relief colonies set up in the wake of Gujarat carnage, that they must abide with a code of conduct, no TV, no music, education only in Madrassa, particular type of cap and beard for men, hijab for women, etc. If these are not adhered to the Charity threatened that they will stop supporting the relief work. At the same time the members of Tablighi Jamat insisted on the similar lines, ‘Islamic Behavior’ or else! The Muslims living in these colonies are living a wretched life, totally bereft of any support from state and boycotted by the society at large.

KASHMIRIYAT REVISITED

Ram Puniyani

One of the consequences of the violent movement in Kashmir was the exodus of Pandits from the valley to Delhi and other parts and the decimation of the cultural life of Kashmir. They have been living as refugees ever since. The recent visit of a big number of Pandits to the valley and the welcome they received is a heartening development.

INDIAN MUSLIMS – PROBLEMS AND VOTING PATTERN

Asghar Ali Engineer

Prior to the formation of the Left Front government in West Bengal, communal riots between Hindus and Muslims plagued that region. The Left government put an end to it and was generally supported by Muslims. For reasons analyzed in this article, there has been significant erosion in the Muslim support for the Left Front.

PROJECTING RETROGRADE FATWAS: REINFORCING STEREOTYPES

Ram Puniyani

Fatwas by Muslim clerics is routine. Although these do not play a decisive role in the conduct of India’s Muslim population, the media highlights some, which are decidedly unfair, and ignores others, which have larger implications. For example, the media sensationalized a fatwa against Muslim women working at public places and ignored the one against resort to terrorism. Why?

POLICE FIRING IN DHULIA (Maharashtra) ON MAY 6, 2010

An Enquiry into the Dhulia incident of May 12, 2010 in which many Muslims were arrested and Muslim property was damaged reveals an in-built prejudice on the part of Police against Muslims.

TERRORISM AND GANDHIAN NON-VIOLENCE

Asghar Ali Engineer

Recent terroristic attacks by Maoists in India and jihadis in Pakistan and the violence world over raise the question of the relevance of Gandhian teaching and practice and the lack of compliance of it by many who claim to be Gandhian. Violence has different forms and this article presents an in-depth analysis of factors leading to persistence of violence and the need for activists like Gandhi.

Pakistan: A MURDEROUS MINDSET

Huma Yusuf

In a forthright and bold analysis, the author contends that Pakistanis are collectively complicit in the brutal attack on Ahmadis in a mosque by allowing the persistence of religious bigotry as justifiable defense of Islam.

Nepal: POLITICAL PARTIES DEMAND COMMITMENT TO PLEURALISM FROM MAOISTS

Kamal Dev Bhattarai

Although the United Communist Party of Nepal (UCPN)-Maoists has incorporated various provisions of parliamentary democracy in its constitution, its stand on pluralism is not sufficiently forthright. Other political parties of Nepal have expressed their concern on this matter.

Nepal: THREE-POINT PACT ENDS STALEMATE

Himalayan News Service (May 29, 2010)

The Constituent Assembly (CA) was elected in the first general election in Nepal in April 2008 with CPN (Maoists) winning the most seats. Much has happened since then but the mandate of the CA has not been completed and its term was coming to an end, which would have caused a major crisis. At the last minute the major parties (Maoists, UML and Congress) reached an agreement to extend the term of CA.

India: THE FUND OF GOODWILL FOR THE TRIBAL PEOPLE

Dr. B.D. Sharma, the former Commissioner for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes appeals to the President of India to redress the needs of the Tribal people.

Canada: CANADIAN GOVERNMENT APOLOGIZES FOR AIR INDIA TRAGEDY

The Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologizes to the families of the victims of terrorist bombing of Air India flight which claimed the lives of the all the passengers and the crew totaling 329.

International: PROTEST AGAINST ISRAELI HIGH HANDEDNESS IN INDIA

(FOIL-News Report)

Sentiments against Israeli belligerence are not receding in fact growing with the time. Mumbai residents join the series of Protest happening all over the world against the Killing of 19 Innocent Peace loving civilians. CPI ML, Bharat Bacho Andolan, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind and SIO on Thursday hold a Protest near Churchgate Railway station in South Mumbai.

OBITUARY: JOAN HINTON, PHYSICIST WHO CHOSE CHINA OVER ATOM BOMB, IS DEAD AT 88

William Grimes

Joan Hinton, a physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project, which developed the atom bomb, but spent most of her life as a committed Maoist working on dairy farms in China, died on Tuesday in Beijing. She was 88. The cause has not yet been determined, but she had an abdominal aneurysm, her son Bill Engst said.

THE STATE OF INDIAN MUSLIMS: DOES ANY ONE CARE?

Daya Varma

It is only natural that all institutions of a country or the world, all political parties and all women and men of conscience carry a bias which identifies problems not on the basis of their relative relevance but because of identity with self. In the case of India, it is the Muslims who do not qualify for any concern by the political parties including the communist parties, human rights activists, left intellectuals, journalists and above all Muslims themselves.

UPA- ONE YEAR AFTER RETURN TO POWER

Ram Puniyani

This May 2010, UPA completed its one year in the seat of power for the second term. Now it is being christened as UPA II and political pundits are evaluating its performance on various scales of performance, foreign policy, economic performance, farmer’s suicides, foreign affairs etc. One point which, does not find much mention while evaluating its performance, is the plight of minorities during this year.

SRI LANKA: EDITORIAL NEW DEMOCRACY

The chauvinistic ruling class which caused the war, led it to victory and cares little for the disastrous consequences of the war is back in the saddle. Likewise, the Tamil political leaders who led the Tamil people towards loss of life and property and disablement are back in their parliamentary seats. Muslim and Hill Country Tamil nationalist leaders, who get elected to parliament for their own advancement and not that of the people, too have returned to parliament.

NEPAL: COMMUNIST PARTY OF NEPAL (United Marxist-Leninist) PROPOSES POLITICAL ROADMAP

Amid deepening political crisis, the ruling CPN-UML has come up with a roadmap for the future political course.

NEPAL: PUSHPA KUMAR DAHAL DAHAL FORGING NEXT STRATEGIC MOVE

Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Chairman, United Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) (UCPN-Maoist) has been staying at Dwarika Resort, Dhulikhel, to write a political document to be presented at the party central committee meeting. Accompanied by his aides and security guards, Dahal reached the resort at 10 in the morning and has been busy with analyzing the yearlong performance of the party and future course of action.

NEPAL: CHINA AND THE WEST STEP INTO NEPAL CRISIS

Peter Lee

The abrupt curtailment on May 7 of the bandh or general strike in Kathmandu called by the United Communist Party Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-M) seemed to demonstrate the limits of the Maoists’ popular support. However, this apparent setback reflects a deal to smooth the Maoists’ re-entry into Nepal’s government as China and Western powers try to bring an end to months of unproductive and potentially violent deadlock. Beijing looks forward to the formation of a consensus government incorporating the Maoists and responsive to China’s concerns.

India, on the other hand, must ponder if it is ready to resign itself to the loss of a compliant if ineffectual client regime in Kathmandu.

INDIA: DELAYED WAKING UP: TERRORISM INVESTIGATIONS

Ram Puniyani

The Ajmer bomb blasts took place on 11th October 2007; these took place inside the holy Shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti, killing two people. In the wake of this the central Home minister, in his standard statement said that this is the handiwork of HUJI and Lashkar-e-Tayyaba type groups who are indulging in these activities and this is aimed to disrupt the communal harmony in the country.

PAKISTAN-USA: “WHY FAISAL SHAHZAD BOMBED TIMES SQUARE”

Pervez Hoodbhoy

The man who tried to set off a car bomb in Times Square was a Pakistani. Why is this unsurprising? Answer: because when you hold a burning match to a gasoline tank, the laws of chemistry demand combustion. As anti-American lava spews uninterrupted from the fiery volcanoes of Pakistan’s private television channels and newspapers, a collective psychosis grips the country’s youth. Murderous intent follows with the conviction that the US is responsible for all ills, both in Pakistan and the world of Islam.

PAKISTAN: A MIRACLE IN CHAKWAL?

Pervez Hoodbhoy

The sudden appearance of Prophet Mohammed’s (PBUH) alleged footprint in the sleepy village of Dharabi near Chakwal has sent a wave of religious excitement across Pakistan. At a three-hour drive from Islamabad, Dharabi is now attracting tens of thousands of visitors from Swat to Karachi.

IDENTITY, INDIAN POLITICS AND CASTE CENSUS

Asghar Ali Engineer

The Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has assured the parliament that caste will be included in the current census. This was after Yadav leaders and OBC members of Parliament raised the issue and there was heated debate. The question arises why is it or is not necessary to include caste in counting people of India. Apart from caste even religion has not been included which also raises doubts in the minds of minorities. Maulana Madani, a Muslim leader and Rajya Sabha member has threatened to launch an agitation if column of religion is not included in the census form.

INTERNATIONAL: THE PAST IS IN THE FUTURE

Sam Noumoff

One of the remarkable features of China is that she has served as a magnet for a wide variety of foreigners over the centuries, from those who came to save their souls, to those who came in the expectation of enormous profit to those who came seeing China’s misery as a call to the human struggle for liberation.

LIVING TOGETHER SEPARATELY: GHETTOIZATION OF INDIAN MUSLIMS

Ather Farouqui

With the spectre of communalism raising its ugly head all across the country, Muslim ghettoization is emerging as a grave and complex problem that requires urgently to be addressed. It has a decisive bearing on communalism. Unfortunately, it has not drawn the attention it deserves.

INDIA-PAKISTAN: THE IMPORTANCE OF HINDU-MUSLIM DIALOGUE

Maulana Waris Mazhari

Hindus and Muslims have been living together in India for over a thousand years. Yet, they are still plagued by misunderstandings about each other and mutual hatred. A principal reason for this is that they have not sought to understand each other sincerely. Undoubtedly, there have been individuals among them who were deeply conscious of, and strongly opposed to, the enormous gulf that divides them, and they tried, in their own ways, to transform this hatred into dialogue and reconciliation. However, in the face of stiff opposition, their efforts did not yield much fruit.

ANNOUNCEMENT: CAMPAIGN RESERVATION EXPRESS

INSAF Bulletin

SALUTES THE HISTORIC MAY 1, THE INTERNATIONAL WORKERS’ DAY!

DANTEWADA MASSACRE AND INDIAN MAOISTS: SOME REFLECTIONS

Vinod Mubayi and Daya Varma

The Dantewada massacre executed by the CPI (Maoist) highlights the contradictions latent in Indian society. Various descriptions of the CPI (Maoist) philosophy and reasons underlying their actions have appeared over the last few years; the Maoist violence has an appearance of a qualitatively different character, characteristic of movements like LTTE in Sri Lanka and Tehrik-e-Taliban in Pakistan. What is the essence of the Maoist movement and what is its future?

NARENDRA MODI: TRAVAILS OF TRAVEL ABROAD

Ram Puniyani

As big corporations of India embrace Narendra Modi as a man of action and foresight, men and governments of conscience around the world find him, and rightly so, as a despicable person patterned on Hitlerite ideology.

RESERVATIONS: DILEMMAS GALORE

Ram Puniyani

The Indian Parliament passed a law assuring a minimum of 30 percent reservation in elected offices for women. However, many political formations in India and naturally religious bigots find it would encroach upon their spheres of electoral control. The issue is not complex but it has become so.

Pakistan: THE BARBARITY THAT KNOWS NO END – MULTIPLE BLASTS SHAKE LAHORE

Kiran Omar

This piece on bomb blasts in Lahore was to appear in April issue of the Bulletin. However, with the April Bulletin dedicated to the memory of Hari Sharma, Kanu Sanyal and G.P. Koirala, it is being produced in May. It is a sad story of mindless killing not new to Pakistan but somewhat new for Lahore.

REINVENTING PAKISTAN

Pervez Hoodbhoy

It’s March 23, Pakistan Day, and time for the usual flag-waving. But let’s face it: things have not gone well for Pakistan. It has been a state since 1947 but is still not a nation. Missing is a strong common identity, mental makeup, shared sense of history, and common goals. The failure to effectively integrate flows from inequalities of wealth and opportunity, absence of effective democracy, and a dysfunctional legal system.

Pakistan: BEHEADING ISLAM IN PESHAWAR

Dr. Shah Alam Khan

The author argues that by beheading two innocent Sikhs in Peshawar for money, Pakistan, the Talibans are attacking Islam.

INTERVIEW WITH RENOWNED ARTIST M.F. HUSAIN ON ETHOS OF HINDUISM

This interview of Hussain, by Shoma Chaudhury from Tehelka Magazine, is dedicated to all those who claim MF Hussain hates Hinduism!

India: CPM ‘BESIEGED’ IN BENGAL, KARAT TELLS TOP HISTORIAN

‘One of the three developments that surprised me was “the collapse of the CPM (Communist Party of India- Marxist) in West Bengal, which I really wouldn’t have expected.” Eric Hobsbawm.

Nepal: MAIN PARTIES PLEDGE ‘PACKAGE SOLUTION’ IN NEXT MEETING

The much anticipated meeting of the High Level Political Mechanism (HLPM) on April 21, 2010 failed to arrive at any decision to resolve the protracted political impasse, but leaders claimed they would reach a broad understanding at the next meeting of the mechanism slated for April 24.

THE POLITICAL CULTURE OF FASCISM

Jairus Banaji

The author rejects Comintern’s (equivalent of Communist International) understanding of the political basis of fascism as articulated by Georgi Dimitroff in his book “The United Front.” He dwells on alternative views expressed by Wilhelm Reich and Arthur Rosenberg, one a committed socialist and other a committed communist, who analyze the factors behind the mass base of fascism. In a way it is the latter analysis and not the Comintern’s analysis, which corresponds to what is happening in India under the leadership of RSS.

ARUNDHATI ROY AND HER SLEEPWALK IN THE “RED CORRIDOR”

Soumitra Ghosh

Indian activist Arundhati Roy, the spokesperson for a section of left intellectuals, recently wrote an article in the Indian magazine Outlook narrating her exciting experience of meeting Maoists in their heartland. This article and the next article in this issue of the Bulletin examine the source of her delirium.

MOONWALKING WITH THE COMRADES

Anirban Gupta Nigam

The similarity in the title of this and the preceding article could not be accidental, rather these titles reflect the essence of Arundhati Roy’s travel diary in the Outlook magazine. She wrote for an effect. The preceding article and this one examine the nature of that effect.

INDIA WORKSHOP AT MIT: CHALLENGES TO SECULARISM AND RULE OF LAW IN INDIA

Kaleem Kawaja

Over 150 people gather at MIT Campus, Cambridge, MA, USA to listen to top academics and law makers analyze the causes and effects of violence in India challenging its secularism.

TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY CONVENTION OF SADBHAV MISSION, MARYLAND, USA

Draft Resolution

Sadbhav Mission holds an annual convention in the Washington area of the USA; its focus has been secularism and communal harmony. The Convention felt that Indian democracy has taken a severe blow in the last 25 years. To find out what went wrong and why and what to do.

PAKISTAN PRESIDENT SIGNS 18TH CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT BILL INTO LAW

ISLAMABAD, April 19 (APP) – President Asif Ali Zardari Monday gave assent to the landmark 18th Constitutional Amendment bill making it a law, that reduces President’s powers to sack prime minister and dissolve the parliament. President Zardari signed the historic document at a grand ceremony at the Aiwan-e-Sadr, which was witnessed by top political figures of the country, that rid the Constitution of all undemocratic clauses inserted into it by successive dictators. “Let no one think of subverting the Constitution,” the President said in his address.

SRI Lanka: INDIAN VISA IN JAFFNA

COLOMBO: The Indian government will open a visa application collection center in Jaffna on 5th May, the Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Ashok K. Kantha said a short while ago while delivering the address as the chief guest of the Jaffna trade fair. With the opening of the new office Jaffna residents will be able to collect and handover their visa applications in Jaffna instead of traveling to Colombo.

SRI LANKA WOOS INDIAN TOURISTS

COLOMBO: A year after the defeat of Tamil rebels who had made parts of Sri Lanka a no-go area, the island hopes to entice tens of thousands of tourists to places that appear in one of Asia’s most celebrated religious sagas.

THIRD INTERNATIONAL PEACE FESTIVAL 2010

The event will include eminent singers from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, poetry readings, audio-visual presentations and speeches from the South Asian and Canadian community leaders. More than 500 participants are expected to take part in this event.

A JOURNEY ACROSS INDIA: IN SUPPORT OF THE WOMEN’S RESERVATION BILL

Shabnam Hashmi

After 14 years of struggle the Rajya Sabha finally passed the Women’s Reservation Bill on March 9, 2010.

THIS ISSUE OF INSAF BULLETIN IS DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF HARI SHARMA, THE FIRST PRESIDENT OF INSAF

HARI SHARMA: 1934-2010

It is with deepest sorrow that we announce the death of our friend and comrade, Hari Prakash Sharma, on March 16 following a prolonged battle with cancer. Hari took his last breath at his home of 42 years at Burnaby (a suburb of Vancouver), British Columbia, surrounded by his comrades Harinder Mahil, Raj Chouhan, and Chin Banerjee. All of them had come together in 1976 to form the Vancouver Chapter of the Indian People’s Association in North America (IPANA), which had been founded by Hari and many others at a meeting in Montreal in 1975.

ALTERNATIVES

On behalf of Alternatives and Alternatives International I extend my heartfelt condolences to all his family, friends and comrades. His passing away is a great loss to us and to the cause of secularism. He will be fondly remembered as a comrade and a friend.

ASSOCIATION OF INDIAN MUSLIMS OF AMERICA

Hari Sharma’s legacy will continue to guide us for a long time as we struggle against bigotry and injustice and try to serve the cause of peace.

BRITISH COLUMBIA SENIORS SHANTHI NILAYAM (LET SENIORS GLOW)

We are deeply saddened on the demise of our dear friend, mentor and above all a leader from whom the Tamil community derived strength and encouragement throughout their struggle for emancipation and deliverance from oppression.

CANADA-PHILIPPINES SOLIDARITY ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND MIGRANTS BC

We members of the Canada-Philippines Solidarity on Human Rights and Migrants B.C., extend our condolences to the family of Dr. Hari Sharma, to his comrades and to the South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy (SANSAD) on his passing away.

COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MARXIST-LENINIST) PCC (NEW DEMOCRACY)

The Provisional Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) dips its red banner in memory of Comrade Hari P. Sharma. He passed away leaving behind many comrades, friends and well-wishers all over the world on 17 March 2010. He was 75 years old at the time of his death.

CERAS (SOUTH ASIA RESEARCH AND RESOURCE CENTER, MONTREAL)

CERAS mourns the passing of Hari Sharma and offers condolences to his comrades, friends and family. Many of us in CERAS had a long association with Hari and worked with him in many organizations and coalitions dedicated to democracy for all in India, the Indian sub-continent and many parts of the world.

FRASER VALLEY PEACE COUNCIL

Dear friends and supporters, Compassionate academic Scholar, left wing intellectual, civil rights activist, a great human being, and an undefeated political leader Hari Sharma was defeated yesterday by aching cancer disease at the age of 75.

INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE OF PEOPLES’ STRUGGLE

As chairperson of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle and on my personal behalf, I wish to convey most heartfelt condolences to the family, comrades and friends of Prof. Dt. Hari Sharma on his passing away.

SOUTH ASIAN WOMEN’S COMMUNITY CENTRE

Please except our deepest condolences. I am very sad to hear the death of Hari Sharma. I had the honour to meet with him in two different occasions in Montreal.

HARI SHARMA: OBITUARIES FROM INDIVIDUALS

This section contains obituaries sent by individuals arranged in alphabetical order. (ed)

Kanu Sanyal (1932-2010): The architect of Naxalbari Peasant Uprising and of the Rectification Attempts

Daya Varma

The political foundation of the Naxalbari Peasant uprising of 1967, the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution initiated by the Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party Mao Zedong, crumbled a long time ago. The architect of Naxalbari, Kanu Sanyal (Krishna Kumar Sanyal), died 43 years later on March 23. He did not die daydreaming of the success of Naxalbari. Hopefully, he died dreaming, nevertheless, for a bright future for the masses of India.

OBITUARY: Comrade Kanu Sanyal (1932-2010)

Santosh Rana

The CPI(ML) PCC dips its red banner in memory of comrade Kanu Sanyal, the legendary leader of Naxalbari peasant uprising. Com Kanu Sanyal expired on 23 March, 2010.

OBITUARY: Girija Prasad Koirala (1925-2010)

Baburam Bhattarai

An era in Nepali politics has come to an end with the sad demise of Girija Prasad Koirala on March 20. It is a great loss to the anti-monarchy democratic movement in the country. Starting as a militant trade union leader in the late 1940s during the Rana autocracy GPK devoted his whole life to the liberal democratic cause through the subsequent Shah autocracy to the final republican democratic era inaugurated in 2008. Perceived as a staunch anti-communist during most of his political life, he played a leading role in forging an anti-monarchy united front with the Maoist revolutionaries to usher in a republican set-up and died as a patron deity in the fragmented political firmament of Nepal. Hence, this heartfelt tribute from a Maoist communist.

MIT CONFERENCE – CHALLENGES TO SECULARISM AND RULE OF LAW IN INDIA

A Workshop Sponsored by the Program in Human Rights & Justice, Center for International Studies Massachusetts Institute of Technology April 9, 10, 2010

INDIA: COMMUNAL VIOLENCE BILL- HOW USEFUL TO VICTIMS?

Asghar Ali Engineer

The Government has got clearance from the Cabinet for introducing the Communal Violence Bill in the coming session of parliament. The Bill was drafted originally in 2005 after the 2004 elections in view of the Gujarat carnage of 2002 under the BJP Government headed by Narendra Modi. It was because of Gujarat carnage that Muslims voted for the Congress massively as a result of which NDA was defeated. Will this new Bill guarantee the safety and well-being of India’s Muslims?

INDIA: CAN THE IDEA OF INDIA PASS THE THACKERAY TEST?

Siddharth Varadarajan

The Centre and the Maharashtra government must make it clear to the Shiv Sena that they will not be allowed to engage in “goondaism” as a political technique.

BRUTAL ATTACKS ON PROTESTERS

Mahuva area in Bhavnagar district has among the most fertile lands in Gujarat. Unlike most of Gujarat and especially Saurashtra region farmers grow three crops, and exports mangoes, coconuts and other fruits. Moreover, the numerous onion dehydrating plants & cotton gins provide employment to at least 10 000 people. That is the region the Government hardsells as the ‘silver corridor’ of industrial development.

INDIA: RSS HOPES TO WOO YOUTH WITH 1 LAKH TEACHING JOBS

Piyush Srivastava

The RSS has discovered a new way to deal with the problem of the youth’s lack of interest in its activities – woo them with employment opportunities. Danger ahead!

MUMBAI BOOK CLUB BREAKS UP A CLOISTERED ROUTINE

Taran N. Khan

In a women’s reading club in the northern part of Mumbai, members cast off their burkas and tackle the literary merits of the author-of-the-month. For many, it’s a rare chance to break the cloistered domestic routine.

INDIA-PAKISTAN RELATIONS: ENGAGING PAKISTAN

Praful Bidwai

India must open a broad-horizon dialogue with Pakistan on all issues including Afghanistan to achieve real progress in bilateral relations.

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.

INDIAN MAOISTS ON THE VERGE OF VICTORY – WHO ARE THEY DEFEATING?

Daya Varma

The Adivasis.are neither the poorest of the poor of India nor a significant fraction of the country’s rural poor. By focusing on the Adivasis, the Maoists have garnered widespread support among the liberal left, the social activists and the ex-Naxalites. The sum total of all this does not threaten the Indian state but rather the Indian communist movement.

WHAT IS AT STAKE IN NEPAL?

Daya Varma

Recent protests on the streets of Nepal led by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), ostensibly demanding civilian supremacy are in essence intended to ensure the integration of the cadres of the Peoples Liberation Army into the main Armed Forces of Nepal.

CITIES UNDER SIEGE – REVIVAL OF TERRORIST ATTACKS IN PAKISTAN

Kiran Omar

The Pakistan military’s campaign against the Taliban gave people a much needed respite. However, the Taliban are still considered by a substantial section of the population as fighters against foreign interference. The US drone attacks generate public anger against the US and the Pakistani civilian regime. The government’s inability to win public support has made Pakistan a nation of nebulous and uncertain identity.

PAKISTAN MUST ACCEPT INDIA’S OFFER OF PEACE

I.A. Rehman

Pakistan must give a positive response to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s offer of peace in the larger interest of winning the battle for democracy, tolerance and social justice as well as against terrorism in both countries.

THE SAUDI-ISATION OF PAKISTAN

Pervez Hoodbhoy

Contrary to the common belief in Pakistan that Islamic radicalism is only a regional problem and madrassas are the sole source of breeding jihadis, extremism is being bred at a ferocious rate in public and private schools, which may eventually lead to Pakistan’s demise as a nation state.

WILL THE MINDSET FROM THE PAST CHANGE?

Amit Bhaduri & Romila Thapar

Two eminent academics of India trace the place of Adivasis from ancient times to the present violent conflict involving the Adivasis, Maoists and the government and suggest dialog amongst the three parties as a way out of the present impasse.

INVADING THE SECULAR SPACE

Ram Puniyani

Gurus and Babas (god men) are being welcomed by state institutions in India. The living god Satya Sai Baba of Puthaparthi was recently invited by the Maharashtra Chief Minister designate, Ashok Chavan. This is in total violation of the secular constitution of the country, the consequences of which are grave for the country.

NEPAL: BHATTARAI ASSURES MAOISTS WILL NOT TAKE UP ARMS AGAIN

The Vice-Chairman of the United Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), Dr. Baburam Bhattarai recently told editors of major media outlets that resumption of armed struggle will only invite foreign intervention and make Nepal another Afghanistan.

SRI LANKA: AUTHORITARIANISM AND THE CONSTITUTION

Shanie / Notebook Of A Nobody

The authoritarianism in Sri Lanka is of recent origin. Former President Chandrika Kumaratunga was the only President with the vision and the courage to abolish the Executive Presidency. Constitutional reforms are needed as was done in India when Dr B R Ambedkar headed the drafting of the Constitution.

LIFE IS CHEAP IN BANGLADESH

Rater Zonaki

The state of emergency and the spate of political persecution ended after the elections in 2008 and yet the Directorate General of the Forces Intelligence, responsible for killing and torture of that period has the clout to threaten journalists against exposure of their sordid past.

DOUSING THE REICHSTAG FIRE

Jawed Naqvi

Poet and wit Asraar ul Haq Majaaz returned home one night to find policemen crawling all over his ancestral house in Lucknow. Family members looked distraught. Cupboards and lofts had been ransacked. A senior police officer, torch in hand, was trying to figure out who might have done it.

Majaaz thoroughly surveyed the situation from all possible angles that a tipsy man could. Then he buttoned his crumpled sherwani, stroked the ringlets in his hair thoughtfully, and proclaimed with an air of finality: ‘Ye to kisi chor ki harkat maaloom hoti hai.’ (This looks like the work of a thief!)

ASSOCIATION OF INDIAN MUSLIMS OF AMERICA HAILS LIEBERHAN REPORT

The Association of Indian Muslims of America (Silver Spring, MD, USA) thanks and congratulates Justice Lieberhan for a very fair and just enquiry and report on the demolition of the Babri mosque in 1992. We admire his courage in listing 68 individuals as directly responsible for this crime against the nation. Indeed some of them are very powerful people.

FIRST ANNIVERSARY IF THE TERRORIST ATTACK IN MUMBAI

The terrorist attack last November in Mumbai that left 163 people dead has evoked different kind of responses from within India and Pakistan as well as abroad. Some have compared it with 9/11 demanding US-type retaliation. Some have been sane asking for restraint. Some are simply shocked. Like the anniversary of the Babri Mosque demolition, the anniversary of the Mumbai terrorist attack has attracted numerous commentaries. Below is one from a Pakistani national living in the US whose emotional link with Mumbai is through daily stories narrated by her parents in Karachi.

BOOK REVIEW

FEMINISM IN ISLAM: SECULAR AND RELIGIOUS CONVERGENCES

by

Margot Badran

(Oneworld Publications, Oxford, 2009, pp.349)

Reviewed by: Yoginder Sikand

OBITUARY: MOHAMMAD BAQIR NAQVI (1928 -2009)

Tapan Kumar Bose

Mohammad Baqir Naqvi, a senior journalist, peace and human rights activist, died at a hospital in Karachi on November 7, 2009, Saturday afternoon. He was 81. He left behind his wife, two sons and a daughter.

OPERATION GREEN HUNT- INDIAN STATE AND MAOISTS: A DISCUSSION

INSAF Bulletin Editors

Operation Green Hunt is the name mentioned in the media to describe the forthcoming measures announced by the Central and State governments to suppress the armed groups belonging to CPI (Maoist) in the forested tribal belt stretching across the states of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Andhra, Bihar, West Bengal, and Maharashtra. A section of left intellectuals published a letter to the Indian Prime Minister asking the government to “negotiate” with the Maoists instead of conducting armed actions against them. This call was supported by activist public figures such as the writer Arundhati Roy and also by well-known intellectuals like Prof. Noam Chomsky.

THE ROOTS OF TERRORISM

I.A. Rehman

After a long lapse, Pakistan has waged a decisive war against Jihadi zealots. The author argues that it is life and death struggle for Pakistan. Notwithstanding the successes of Pakistani army in Swat valley and parts of Waziristan, a decisive victory has yet to be won.

COMMUNAL RECIPE

K.N. Panikkar

The turmoil within the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) is out of proportion to its electoral setback in the last parliamentary elections. What then is the reason for extraordinary steps being taken by phantom leadership? Professor Panikkar takes a historical look at various steps taken by BJP since its founding and concludes that BJP might be gearing up to becoming the champion of Hindutva fascism rather than accommodating the less committed leaders and members in its ranks. In short, BJP is to be free and frank instrument of implementing RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh) agenda.

ISLAM AND SOCIAL REFORMS

Asghar Ali Engineer

There have been repeated attempts at social reform within Islam and at each juncture traditional Ulama have opposed any reform which naturally threatens their hold on the community. The author, one of the most prominent scholars of Islam and protagonist of radical reforms within Islamic society, exposes the need for reform and challenges practices followed by traditional custodians of Islam.

IS IT A CRIME TO BE BORN A MUSLIM IN INDIA?

Ram Puniyani

The rising tide of communal violence from the decade of 1980 has consolidated the communal politics, politics in the name of religion. The party riding on the chariot of religious nationalism became the second largest party and tasted power at center for six long years and is now entrenched in a few states and knocking at the door of power in a few other states. The hope that its recent defeat in Lok Sabha elections will reduce the impact of communal politics in society or will ensure that all communities can breathe the air of civil rights and equal citizenship rights with ease, seems to be like distant drums!

RASHTRIYA SWAYAMSEWAK SANGH (RSS) AND MINORITIES

Ram Puniyani

The current supreme leader of RSS, Mohan Bhagwat contends that all Indian Muslims and Christians are converts from Hinduism, they should identify their interest in revivalism and strengthening of Hinduism. He conveniently forgets to add that since all Hindus were pagans at one time, they should undo Hinduism. Here the author discusses the implications of this new strategy of RSS.

THE NATIONAL MEET ON THE STATUS OF MUSLIMS IN CONTEMPORARY INDIA

(Released by Shabnam Hashmi on behalf of ANHAD and circulated by Harsh Kapoor)

The successful National gathering concludes that Muslims in contemporary India feel themselves to be second class citizens. The Summary makes meaningful and workable recommendations.

BLAST IN GOA

Ram Puniyani

Former Prime Minister Vajpayee once said that all Muslims are not terrorists but all terrorists are Muslims. His followers are proving him wrong as the bomb blast in Goa reveals.

THE ROAD AHEAD FOR INDIA AND PAKISTAN

Siddharth Varadarajan

In recent years many governments including India and Pakistan trained terrorists as instruments of their hidden plans but they eventually paid the price themselves. Here is how it has worked, explains noted journalist Varadarajan.

BROTHERS (also, sisters, ed.) IN ARMS?

Anand Swaroop Verma

Whether or not Nepalese Maoists apply Marxism in a creative way can be a matter of opinion but what is obvious is that there are fundamental differences in the thinking and practice of Nepalese and Indian Maoists. The author who had followed Nepalese revolution since its beginning explains why and how are two parties carrying the qualifying word Maoists differ; ‘also sisters’ in the title has been added by us.

THE GEO-POLITICS OF THE SRI LANKAN CIVIL WAR

Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya

Contrary to popular perception that the US and India must have helped Sri Lankan government defeat LTTE, this article provides evidence to the contrary. It argues that Sri Lanka army was assisted by Russia, China and Iran while the US and India were either neutral or favourable to the plight of Tamils.

VENKATRAMAN RAMAKRISHNAN AWARDED 2009 NOBEL PRIZE IN CHEMISTRY

Daya Varma and Vinod Mubayi

INSAF Bulletin hails the award of 2009 Chemistry Nobel Prize to India-born Ramakrishnan and commends him for his sympathies to Gujarat Muslims.

VENKATRAMAN RAMAKRISHNAN’S CONCERN FOR GUJARAT MUSLIMS

Sachin Sharma & Prashant Rupera

Vadodara: Venkatraman Ramakrishnan left Vadodara almost four decades ago. But, it’s a city he could never forget. From helping girls of the minority community affected in the 2002 riots to lecturing at the MS University, where he studied as an undergraduate, Venky has kept the links alive. He even inquires about the old servant at his house whenever he calls friends here.

DEMANDING ENQUIRY INTO BATLA HOUSE ‘ENCOUNTER’

Far too often the police in India arrests, tortures and even kills innocent citizens and pleads that all this happened during an encounter. The Batla House ‘Encounter’ which happened one year ago in Jamia University, New Delhi, is one example of atrocity against innocent Muslims.

THE POPULATION MYTH

George Monbiot

Nearly 200 years ago, a British clergy, Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834) conjectured that population grows geometrically while means of sustenance grow arithmetically; this implied that sooner than later there would be more people than there would be food to feed them. Both aspects of this conjecture have been proven wrong and yet the ghost of Malthus is invoked from time to time, invariably against the demography of developing countries. It has gone beyond sustenance. Now it is environmental disaster supposedly being caused by the growing population in developing countries. This article by Monbiot exposes the fallacy that the over population is the cause of the environmental problem.

“WAR ON TERROR”? NO. WAR IS TERROR

Jooneed Khan

Truth and Treason, the latest play by Rahul Varma, takes a so-called « mistake of war » in official and media parlance – a Canadian girl is shot by a US soldier at a check-point in Baghdad – and turns it into a tight and powerful reconstruction of the “mistake” that has been the “War on Iraq” itself. Ultimately, it suggests, all wars are mistakes.

CONFLICTS EXACT HIGH PRICE FROM SOUTH ASIAN ECONOMIES

Amin Ahmed

ISLAMABAD: South Asia suffers economically and socially because of conflicts between countries and within them, says a report by World Bank economists.

OBITUARY: K. BALAGOPAL (1957-2009)

Gilbert Sebastian

This condolence note for K. Balagopal, the eminent human rights activist expired at 57 from a cardiac arrest on 8 October 2009, is motivated by the feeling that the political man in Balagopal is often given a short shrift.

MAHARAJ KAUL ((1940-2009): SOFT AS A LOTUS, HARD AS A ROCK

Ved Prakash Vatuk

On September 6, 2009 I got a call in the evening from my dearest friend Maharaj Kaul. He apologized to me for not responding to my phone messages left during that week. Finally he said, “I did not want to tell that I have been diagnosed with a liver cancer. I did not want to tell anyone and worry him/her. But now the time has come to transfer the responsibilities of running our organization India Relief and Education Fund. So I have to tell a few friends.”

OBITUARY: IBN-UL HASAN BASRU! (1943-2009)

Comrade Ibn-ul Hasan Basru, Central Committee member of the CPI(ML) and one of the leading lights of our party in Jharkhand. Comrade Basru, died of gall bladder cancer on 29 September 09 at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi.

DILEMMAS OF DEFEAT: WHITHER BJP?

Ram Puniyani

The poor performance of Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 15th Parliamentary elections in India held in May 2009 has triggered a lot of internal skirmishes in the party not the least important of which is the expulsion of its important leaders like Jaswant Singh, Arun Shouri, Yashwant Sinha and Sudheendra Kulkarni. Obviously this cleanup operation is being conducted on the orders of BJP’s ideological boss, the Hindu fascist outfit Rashtriya Swyamsewak Sangh (RSS). If so, should we expect a decline of BJP in the Indian political spectrum in the absence of a major crack in RSS?

MAULANA AZAD AND PARTITION

Asghar Ali Engineer

In the current debate on partition started by Jaswant Singh’s book every one is talking about the role of Jinnah, Nehru and Sardar Patel in partitioning of India but hardly anyone has mentioned what Maulana Azad, an important leader of Indian National Congress and an eminent scholar of Islam who held post of President of the Congress for six long years before partition, had done to avert partition.

JASWANT SINGH’S BOOK – AN EPIPHENOMENAL WORK

C.M. Naim

Any one who can write, can also write a book in history- what you write is a different matter. The aspiring Indian political leaders Jaswant Singh ventured to write a book on the dynamics of India’s partition in 1947; not knowing the complexity he resorted to plagiarism – not a little but a lot… as revealed in the article by Professor Naim.

INDIA’S NUCLEAR FIZZLE – WHAT SHOULD PAKISTAN DO?

Pervez Hoodbhoy

Prime Minister Vajpayee proudly smiled after India’s Pokhram nuclear explosion in 1998. But the exercise was no where close to success it claimed. India’s nuclear hawks want to improve upon it. Why?

CNDP WELCOMES OBAMA STANCE ON MISSILE DEFENSE PROGRAM

The US president announced to scrap that he Ballistic Missile Defense deployment in Eastern Europe. It has been welcomed by Russia and peace activists in India.

ISHRAT JAHAN: MURDER IN COLD BLOOD

Ram Puniyani

Ishrat Jahan’s murder in Gujarat is yet another instance of death during fake encounters of Muslim youth by Narendra Modi’s government.

MARGINALISATION AND DISCRIMINATION AGAINST THE MINORITIES: AN INTERVIEW WITH DR CHARLES AMJAD-ALI

Muhammad Badar Alam

The persecution of minority communities in Pakistan is increasing in intensity and vulgarity. It has become a matter of serious concern for the democratic forces in Pakistan. INSAF Bulletin had in the past highlighted this issue. Here we present an analysis of this unfortunate development by Professor Amjad-Ali.

THE SENTENCING J.S TISSAINAYAGAM: NOT IN MY NAME!

Sandun Ratnaweera

The war against Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), in which the Sinhalese government of Sri Lanka emerged victorious, was coupled with most arbitrary suppression of the freedom of press. Here is an example of how base are the actions of the government.

SWISS BANK ACCOUNTS: NEED TO DO MORE TO GET THE MONEY BACK

Arun Kumar

Switzerland banks are the most secretive and hence safest for the scoundrels of the world including from the USA and India. The US used its long arm to force Swiss banks to reveal the secret bank holdings of a number of Americans but refuses the same privilege to the government of India.

THE STORY OF MY SHOE

Mutadhar al-Zaidi

Mutadhar al-Zaidi is the person who introduced the culture of throwing shoes at filthy political leaders by his daring action when President Bush last visited Iraq. Al-Zaidi was arrested for this patriotic act of throwing his shoes at the US President . He has now been released and here is what he has to say about why he did what he did.

SANDWICHED BETWEEN EXTREME RIGHT AND LEFT, CAN OBAMA SURVIVE?

Daya Varma

Is President Obama being attacked from all sides only because of racism, as Ex-President Carter says, or, also because of his attempt to reverse Bush’s policies?

REFLECTIONS BY COMRADE FIDEL: THE SERIOUS OBAMA

Of all the left political figures, Fidel Castro, perhaps the most important of them all presents a realistic and somewhat positive assessment of President Obama.

OBITUARY: DORIS BRIN WALKER (1919-2009)

Marjorie Cohn

Doris “Dobby” Brin Walker, the first woman president of the National Lawyers Guild, died on August 13 at the age of 90. Doris was a brilliant lawyer and a tenacious defender of human rights. The only woman in her University of California Berkeley law school class, Doris defied the odds throughout her life, achieving significant victories for labor and political activists.

OBITUARY: FRANS MASANGO (1958-2009)

“We dip our revolutionary banner in honour of this distinguished cadre and a selfless combatant who sacrificed immensely to the democratic order we live in today..” The African National Congress (ANC) statement.

MUBAYI AND VARMA’S ARTICLE ON LALGARH EVOKES HARSH CRITICISM

Daya Varma and Vinod Mubayi

The August 2009 issue of INSAF Bulletin (#88) carried an article titled “Lalgarh, Maoist movement, and the left in India” by Vinod Mubayi and Daya Varma. Promptly we received two responses, one by Soumitra Bose and the other by Sivanandam Sivasegaram (reproduced here). We think both have passed judgment without justifying the bases of their views. We stand by what we wrote and we explain why?

THE SHAME THAT WAS GOJRA – UNPROVOKED ATTACKS ON CHRISTIAN MINORITIES

Kiran Omar

“The recent unprovoked attacks on Christian communities living in the Punjabi village of Gojra, have left the country and the international community reeling with shock and horror.” This is the opening sentence of Omar’s article.

ARTICLE IN KASHMIR TIMES BY CHANDER K. AZAD

Chander K. Das

“How Pakistan’s Qaid-e-Azam got Urdu-knowing Jagannath Azad to write the song.

A RESPONSE TO CHANDER K. AZAD’S ARTICLE ON JINNAH

Kaleem Kawaja

“In my opinion Jinnah was an excellent politician. So he played tricks like asking a Hindu to write Pakistan’s national anthem and making a statement that Pakistan will be a secular nation.” This is the first paragraph of Kawaja’s article.

ANOTHER RESPONSE TO CHANDER K. AZAD’S ARTICLE ON JINNAH

Daya Varma

While I fully share the sentiments expressed above by Kaleem Kawaja, I would like to add just two points. Personal convictions of Jinnah do not matter; his actions do.

BJP TAKES THE LEAD FROM CPM: EXPELS JASWANT SINGH

Daya Varma

About a year ago the leadership of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPM had expelled veteran communist leader Somnath Chatterjee for not resigning as the Speaker of the Parliament as ordered by its General Secretary Prakash Karat. Not to be shamed for being any less monolithic than CPM, Rajnath Singh, the President of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) expelled its leader Jaswant Singh for writing a book on the role of different leaders for the partition of India.

VICTIM AS THE CULPRIT

Ram Puniyani

Mumbai film actor Emraan Hashmi was not allowed to buy a house of his choice by the Housing Society. To add further insult, a complaint against him has been filed in the court by an activist of Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP).

SHIBLI NU’MANI AND NATIONAL POLITICS

Asghar Ali Engineer

My friend and noted Hindi writer Kamleshwar wrote an excellent novel Kitne Pakistan (How Many Pakistan?) and in that novel he counts Maulana Shibli No’mani as one of narrow minded Muslim. I told Kamleshwar he has done great injustice to Shibli.” These are the opening lines of Engineer’s article.

EMPEROR’S ISLAMOPHOBIA : Shah Rukh Khan Detained at US airport

Ram Puniyani

The Bollywood film icon Shah Rukh Khan was questioned for two hours at a New York airport. The Former Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam was treated like a commoner by the US based Airlines staff in his own country. They are both Indian citizens and Muslims and hence victims of American Islamophobia.

DEMAND FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF PRE-MATRIC SCHOLARSHIP SCHEME FOR MINORITIES

Vipin K. Tripathi

(The text of Tripathi’s letter to Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister of Gujarat)

“The Pre-Matric Scholarship Scheme for Minorities was launched by the Central Government on April 1, 2008. For Classes I-V, it provides maintenance allowance of Rs. 100 pm (for 10 months) where as for VI-X it provides admission fees actual up to Rs. 500 pa, tuition fees actual up to Rs. 350 pm (for 10 months) and the maintenance allowance of Rs. 100 pm (for 10 months). More than twenty states have implemented the scheme. Gujarat has not yet accepted it.” This is the opening paragraph of Tripathi’s letter to Modi.

NEPAL’S MAIN PARTIES FORM A TASKFORCE FOR POLITICAL MECHANISM

(August 1, 2009: nepalnews.com)

Top leaders of Nepali Congress (NC), Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist) or CPN-UML, and the United Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) or UCPN (M) have agreed to constitute a taskforce to finalize formation of political mechanism. The taskforce includes two persons from each party.

DO REVOLUTIONARIES KNOW AS MUCH AS THEY THINK THEY DO? THE CASE OF PRACHANDA

Daya Varma

Pushpa Kamal Dahal (Prachanda), the Chairman of the United Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) or CPN (Maoist) discloses in London how his party is doing the correct thing and how he has a correct vision of 21st century developments. Does he?

THE CONTINUED SAGA OF TAMILS IN SRI LANKA

(Editorial, New Democracy, Organ of the New Democratic Party of Sri Lanka, August 2009)

President Rajapakse of Sri Lanka had declared more than once that his war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was aimed to safeguard the interest of Tamils. Developments since the victory against LTTE reveal an opposite scenario.

MAKING SENSE OF RAVIDASIS: THE CASTE SYSTEM IN PUNJAB

S. Jodhka

This long, informative and well-researched article analyzes the caste structure among Sikhs in Punjab and attempts by the Sikh Dalits to address caste oppression.

FREEDOM – THROUGH EDUCATION

Jai Birdi

Jai Birdi writes: “If education is the first and prime most ingredient for social transformation and creating opportunities for dignity, advancement, and equality, the Surrey-based organization, Dalit Freedom Network (DFN), has found the right ingredient and has found a mission of creating a “more equal education system” in India.”

INDEPENDENCE DAY BI-LINGUAL POETRY RECITATION IN WASHINGTON

Submitted by Zafar Iqbal (Raabta.india@gmail.com)

“The future of Urdu and Hindi is tied together and both depend upon each other,” said Professor Asghar Wajahat at the third bi-lingual poetry recitation program held Sunday 16th August 2009 at the Montgomery County Executive Office Building in Rockville, Maryland. Professor Wajahat, a noted Hindi fiction writer and chairman of Hindi Department, Jamia Millia Islamia was presiding the bi-lingual “Yaum-e-Azadi” mushaira-kavi sammelan. The program, initiated by the Washington Aligarh Alumni Association (AAA) in 2007 to celebrate the independence of the Indian Subcontinent, this year was joined by the Metropolitan Washington chapter of the Global Organization of the People of Indian Origin (GOPIO).” First paragraph of Zafar’s report.

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