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).
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.
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