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).
INDIAN ELECTIONS – STABLE GOVERNMENT EMERGES WHILE LEFT IS SCATTERED
Vinod Mubayi
Defying all projections of a hung parliament and a multitude of names as potential Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh has become the Prime Minister of India for a second term. Fortunately, BJP and, unfortunately, the Left, especially CPM suffered a decline in their representation. The Third Front floated by the Left really came third, managing to get measly 70-odd seats. The dedicated cadres of the left parties constitute the strongest and most steadfast bulwark against the danger of right-wing Hindu communalism; they have to take some resolute steps to change the course taken by the present leadership of CPM.
WOULD THE END OF THE TRAGIC 26 YEARS BE THE BEGINNING OF SUNSHINE IN SRI LANKA?
Daya Varma
The secessionist movement in Sri Lanka led by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) came to a bitter end on May 17, 2009 with the death of its leader Prabhakaran. Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa being deified as a god by Sinhalese Sri Lankans to the horror of Tamils must take steps for immediate rehabilitation of hundreds of thousands of Tamil civilians displaced by the conflict and guarantee them equal rights with Sinhalese if he longs for a long-term peace and prosperity in Sri Lanka.
PRACHANDA OUTMANOUVERED – IS HE ALSO OVERPOWERED?
Daya Varma and Vinod Mubayi
Assumption of the office of Prime Minister of Nepal by Prachanda, the leader of United Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), [UCPN(M)], was greeted by democratic forces the world over; his resignation following insubordination by the Army Chief and the support to this act by the ceremonial President is, on one hand, a matter of great discontent and surprise, and on the other hand, quite worrisome because in a way it is a coup. What went behind closed doors within and outside Nepal to precipitate this development, which installed Madhav Kumar Nepal of the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist) [CPN-UML] as the Prime Minister with the support of the Nepalese Congress, is nothing but dirty politics. Have the Maoists been defeated in the end game? Or will they re-emerge with popular support?
BROKEN DEALS, SHATTERED PEACE AND LOOKING AT AN UNCLEAR FUTURE – EVENTFUL APRIL IN PAKISTAN
Kiran Omar
As was expected the controversial Peace Deal between the Taliban and the government came to an end in Swat valley, which has become a war zone within the boundaries of Pakistan. An estimated 2.5 million people have been displaced, the largest internal displacement since the division of the subcontinent into India and Pakistan in 1947. The plight of these refugees needs urgent help from all quarters. At the same time the government and military must ensure the routing-out of the Taliban if the country has to march on the path of economic growth and prosperity.
THE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION OF PAKISTAN FOR A CRASH PLAN FOR IDPS
Press Release, May 2009
Lahore: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has called upon the federal government to immediately set up a special task force to implement a crash plan for extending relief to the large number of people displaced in the ongoing conflict in the country’s northern part. In a statement issued today, the commission said:
THE STRUGGLE FOR EQUALITY, JUSTICE AND DEMOCRACY IN SRI LANKA
Rohini Hensman
LTTE established its claim to be the sole voice of Tamils in Sri Lanka by liquidating dissenters and became the mirror image of Sinhala fascist politics. Following the defeat of LTTE, the Rajapaksa regime is sliding into the same totalitarianism which gave rise to the conflict in the first place. At this time, the most urgent priority is to ensure fundamental rights of all the civilians displaced by the war. A credible long-term political solution would need to abolish the Executive Presidency and special place for Buddhism in the Constitution; ensure real parity for Sinhala and Tamil; put in place a Bill of Rights that rules out discrimination in all parts of the island and guarantees fundamental rights to all its citizens.
TALIBAN’S TERROR-JIZYA ON SIKHS
Ram Puniyani
The brutality of Talibans in Swat valley and other parts of Pakistan is no more limited to innocent Muslims belonging to different sub-sect of Islam; it now includes imposition of Jizya, on non Muslims, Sikhs. The failure to pay the full Jizya has caused havoc among the Sikh community. Taliban say they are imposing Jizya as per the tenets of Islam; are they?
INDIAN MUSLIM LEADERS CONDEMN THE MISTREATMENT OF SIKHS IN NWFP/PAKISTAN
Submitted by Kaleem Kawaja
We, religious, political and community leaders of the Indian Muslims, are alarmed at the reports coming out of Pakistan’s tribal areas about the Pakistani Taliban’s kidnapping, extortion of huge amounts of money from their Sikh compatriots as “Jizya” and demolition of the houses and shops of those who fail to pay the demanded sums.
IT’S YET ANOTHER PAKISTANI NUCLEAR ANNIVERSARY TODAY
Pervez Hoodbhoy
Why do countries like Pakistan, North Korea, and India spend a fortune making nuclear bombs? They cannot compete with the US in nuclear arsenal. They key issue in North Korea is its dire poverty and autocratic rule. Pakistan is no better off with the nuclear bomb, which people in Balochistan, where it was tested, resent. Obviously nuclear bombs are exploded to whip up blind nationalism and demand some concessions from the western powers, perhaps monetary aid.
GUJARAT CARNAGE-ROLE OF NARENDRA MODI
Ram Puniyani
In the post Godhra violence, over 2000 innocent Muslims lost their lives. Most of the survivors have been degraded to the status of second class citizens. However, most of the perpetrators of violence have gone scot-free and many have moved upward. The efforts of the victims and human rights activists had yielded very few results. In this context, the direction of Apex court to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the role of Modi, his cabinet colleagues and other top functionaries of state and those involved in violence, has come as a sign of hope.
PRISONER OF CONSCIENCE: The incarnation of Dr. Binayak Sen
Anand Patwardhan
On May 14 this year Dr. Binayak Sen started his third year in Jail in Chhatisgarh state of India. Against this injustice, writers, poets, judges, lawyers, doctors, human rights workers, trade unionists, former Supreme Court justice Krishna Iyer, former US attorney general Ramsey Clark, Noam Chomsky and 22 Nobel laureates and thousands of people raised their voice, which were ignored by the authorities. Finally Dr. Sen has been granted bail and released from jail by the Supreme Court of India. Dr. Sen’s incarceration raises the fundamental question of the rights of citizens in world’s largest democracy. Patwardhan who made a documentary of the same name as the title of this article analyses the forces against and for democratic rights in India.
TWO SIDES TO DEMOCRACY – THE DEMOLITION OF A GANDHIAN ASHRAM
Ramachandra Guha
Not content with imprisonment of Dr. Binayak Sen and other violations of democratic rights of citizens, Chhatisgarh authorities demolished a Gandhi Ashram. What more can one expect?
HOW LONG WILL YOU RULE WITH OUR VOTES, AND WE WILL REMAIN DEPRIVED ?
Kaleem Kawaja
The 140 million strong India’s Muslim voters were wooed by various political parties during the recently concluded Parliamentary election. All parties treated them a little differently. BJP wanted them to consider themselves as “Mohammadiya Hindus”. The Congress party talked of giving equal rights to Muslims but took no steps to redress their injustices leading many commentators to proclaim that the difference between Congress and BJP is only slight.
THE BULLET CANNOT DEFEAT THE BALLOT
Kuldip Nayar
The veteran journalist analyses the fruitlessness of violent methods as opposed to democratic demands on a number of key issues in India.
THE POOR ALSO CRAVE AN ENGLISH EDUCATION
Dipankar Gupta
The author writes that Mulayam Singh Yadav’s animosity towards English is not just hypocritical, but cruel too and eventually would deprive the poor from sharing the fruits of any progress in India.
THE DEFEAT OF DIVISIVE FORCES IN MAY 2009 GENERAL ELECTIONS
All India Secular Forum
All India Secular Forum welcomes the people’s verdict in the 15th Lok Sabha elections.
LOOKING FORWARD TO PEACE AND PROGRESS
Ram Puniyani
The defeat of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the recent elections (May 2009) is a matter of great relief and hope for India. Why?
INDIAN MUSLIMS WELCOME THE ELECTION RESULTS
Submitted by Kaleem Kawaja
New Delhi, 16 May 2009: The All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat [umbrella body of Indian Muslim organizations] welcomed the mandate given by the people of India to the UPA in general and the Congress Party in particular.
STATEMENT OF PROGRESSIVE NEPALESE ON RECENT DEVELOPMENTS
Progressive Nepali Forum in Americas (PNEFA) reiterates its previous stand that President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav’s move has not only violated the constitution but also seriously undermined the legitimate mandate of a democratically elected civilian government in Nepal.
KARAT SINKS CPM AND CPI EN PASSE
Daya Varma
While the collapse of Soviet Union in 1989 did not shatter the Indian Communist movement, Prakash Karat, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPIM], has managed to accomplish this feat in just a few months; the burial was the just concluded 15th Parliamentary elections.
IS IT TIME TO HAVE A FRESH LOOK AT THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA?
Daya Varma
Does the ascendancy of Barrack Obama to the highest office in the US need a fresh look at our attitude towards the US?
RAVIDASSIS TO OBSERVE MAY 24 AS MARTYR’S DAY
(Press release)
Shri Guru Ravidass Sabha, Vancouver will observe may 24 every year as the martyr’s day in the memories of Sant Rama Nand Ji, who was assassinated in Vienna Austria on 24 of may 2009.