SACW | 22 Jul 2004

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire    |  22 July,  2004
via:  www.sacw.net

[1] Pakistan: Correcting the State's 'ideological' past (Nasim Zehra)
[2] India: Beyond Ideology: The Case Against RSS Governors (Alok Rai )
[3] India: Whither Gender Parity?: Women And The 
Patriarchal Values Today (Ram Puniyani)
[4] India: Letter re textbooks by Asghar Ali 
Engineer to Chief Minister of UP State
[5] India: Men in khaki proudly wear Hindu identity on their sleeves ()
[6] India: Joshi 'forgets' to return ICHR's Freedom files
[7] India: Families of 'disappeared' persons seek justice
[8] Upcoming Talk: 'Shared Shrines and 
Inter-Communal Relations in Malerkotla, Punjab'. 
(New Delhi, 26 July)
[9] Panel Discussion: Ghaffar Khan: Non-Violent 
Badshah of the Pakhtuns (New Delhi, 24 July)


--------------


[1]

The News International
July 22, 2004

Correcting the State's 'ideological' past
by Nasim Zehra

On July 19th the Federal Minister for Education, 
Zubaida Jalal announced in the National Assembly 
that the government 'might' include in the 
curriculum, Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah's 
historic speech of August 11, 1947 made before 
the members of the Constitution Assembly. If 
carried through, this would be a significant 
departure from the Pakistani State's earlier 
policy. The State had ignored the speech, plus 
challenged its veracity. The key operational part 
of the speech read, "You are free to go to your 
temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to 
any other place of worship in this State of 
Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste 
or creed and that has nothing to do with the 
business of the State. You will find that in the 
course of time, Hindus will cease to be Hindus, 
Muslims will cease to be Muslims, not in the 
religious sense because that is the personal 
faith of each individual but in the political 
sense as citizen of the State."

MMA's parliamentary leader Qazi Hussain Ahmed did 
not oppose the inclusion of the speech. He, 
however, demanded inclusion of other speeches by 
the Quaid in the curriculum. That is political 
point scoring. Other speeches can be made 
available for students to read. The August 11 
speech is extraordinary. It enunciates the 
character of, and a vision for, a just Muslim 
State. It would treat all its citizens with 
equality.

These are corrective and alteration times for 
Pakistan. Not just of policies and institutions 
but also of something more fundamental; the 
State's own ideological moorings. The business of 
ideology in Pakistan has never been an easy one; 
as would have been the case for any State created 
in the name of religion and one that subsequently 
faced unending problems in state building, policy 
formulation and political evolution. The earliest 
warning on problems flowing from the State's 
adhoc approach to ideology was documented in the 
50s Munir Commission report. Tensions between 
religious parties, which had opposed the creation 
of Pakistan, and the State which constantly 
undermined the evolution of democracy and also 
leaned heavily on US support for its own stature, 
prevented an informed and conclusive debate on 
State ideology. In fact, the issues of 
manipulation of Constitution, army in politics, 
relationship between the federating units, a weak 
judiciary and spineless Election Commission and 
an ineffective police force, the unresolved 
Kashmir issue, abiding insecurity vis-a-vis 
India, the burning issue of Palestine and the 
alliance with the US, all influenced and 
distorted the debate on State and ideology.

The 70s power play between political parties and 
the State institutions again defined the debate 
and 'ideology' related decisions. The popularly 
elected, brilliant, yet blundering politician 
Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, when 
confronted with a religious party - dominated 
opposition nexus with the army, he sought refuge 
in quick fix 'ideological' steps. The Prime 
Minister under siege declared Qadianis as a 
religious minority, introduced the religion 
column in passports, announced ban on drinking 
and declared his intension to enforce Sharia. The 
problem was more with the way the politically 
hounded Bhutto clutched these 'ideological' 
measures for his survival, not the merits or 
demerits of these measures. Ideology was reduced 
to a tool for survival when the army-religious 
parties attacked Bhutto with 'ideological' 
weaponry. They promised to remove Bhutto and 
enforce the Sharia. Quaid-e-Azam's legitimate 
vision communicated in his August 11 speech was 
again trashed. Political and power compulsions 
were ascendant.

The 80s were much worse. Under General 
Zia-ul-Haq's military dictatorship the symbols of 
Islam were deployed for promoting, what the 
dictator and his cabal concluded was in 
Pakistan's national interest. After the 1979 
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, religious fervour 
and commitment were incorporated as important 
tools in the jointly authored US and Pakistan 
anti-Soviet policy. This incorporation led to the 
militarisation of the otherwise multidimensional 
concept of Jihad. The outcome was training and 
recruiting for the anti-Soviet international 
'jihad' students from the old and newly set up 
madrasas, the indoctrination of these young minds 
in the validity and piety of destruction of the 
'other' and the creation of an international 
Muslim brotherhood around the concept of armed 
jihad and sheer hatred against occupiers of 
Muslim lands (Afghanistan).

Clearly, in opting for this full-fledged 
partnership, the responsibility of the Pakistani 
State to protect the life, liberty and property 
of its own citizens, became secondary. Saudis, 
with their commitment to providing matching funds 
for this international 'jihad' and their own 
objective to stave off the political threat posed 
by the revolutionary Islamic Republic of Iran, 
lead to Saudi money pouring in to set up 
madrassas in Pakistan. These were to help promote 
the military objectives of the jihad and the 
anti-Iranian ideological objectives. What emerged 
as the Pakistan State's 'ideology' in the 
eighties was convenient, yet domestically 
destructive, which was largely reactive and 
highly militarised.

Significantly, the corollary to this ideology on 
the domestic front was Zia-ul-Haq's version of 
Islamisation of State-controlled institutions, 
including schools, judiciary, electronic media 
and even certain dimensions of the armed forces. 
The school curricula reflected intolerance and 
sectarianism, while also undermining the overall 
quality of the syllabus, highly controversial 
laws like the Hudood Ordinance, law of evidence 
and subsequently the Blasphemy Law were enacted. 
These mutilated the essence of justice and fair 
play promoted by Islam. In government offices 
women were instructed to cover their head and 
offerings of prayers was made obligatory.

As an extension of its international jihad 
policy, the State patronised, promoted and 
protected sectarian groups, who killed the 
innocent and unprotected, at will. This then was 
Pakistan's 'ideology' played out by the military 
dictator. His legacy was cancerous intolerance 
and a stifling hold of the State over the 
individual's personal matter of religion. Within 
sections of the armed forces too, a particular 
interpretation of religion was institutionalised. 
This was, as we subsequently discovered a 
dangerous addition, to the perfectly plausible 
supra-national Muslim consciousness that existed 
in the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of 
Pakistan. This new religious orientation 
undermined the lynchpin that holds together the 
armed forces - institutional discipline.

In the nineties, despite civilian rule, this 
brand of Islamisation was not substantively 
reviewed. The military still controlled and 
influenced, directly and through its alliance 
with religious parties, the militarised 
infrastructure put in place in the eighties. This 
fear of this establishment supported 
infrastructure also prevented the weak and 
incompetent political governments, from reviewing 
disputed laws passed in the name of Islam. In 
fact, Nawaz Sharif, himself, passed a 
Constitutional amendment, seeking greater powers 
for the Prime Minister to enforce Sharia. When 
criticised, Nawaz Sharif had turned to the men 
from religious seminaries and had urged them to 
be his "army" for helping him implement Sharia. 
During his last days, he had also invited a 
religious scholar to come and give moral lessons 
to his Cabinet. Meanwhile, Benazir Bhutto much 
less prone to dabbling with controversial 
ideological moves had also entered into a 
political alliance with one of the sectarian 
parties in Punjab.

The end of 1999 saw the return of military rule 
and very little changed in the ideological ethos 
of the State. General Pervez Musharraf personally 
attempted revision in the implementation 
procedure of the Blasphemy Law in 2000. He 
rapidly retraced his steps when warned of a 
religious backlash. In the year 2001, Musharraf 
raised the impact of political extremism and 
misdirected religious zeal on society. He raised 
this during his address at the Seerat-ul-Nabi 
Conference in mid 2001. Evidently, he did not 
share the outlook dominating political, and often 
religious, sections in the Muslim world that 
enforced modesty and the 'chaardewari' for women 
which was the best certificate of the 
'muslimness' of a society. Musharraf proactively 
promoted appointment of women to important 
positions. Subsequently, 33% women were elected 
to the local government across the country and 
the number of women representatives in the 
provincial and National Assembly, as well as in 
the Senate was substantially increased.

However, it was not until post 9/11 that the 
State of Pakistan controlled by military began a 
roll-back on the three main fronts that it had 
ironically promoted in the name of Islam, as a 
result of Pakistan-US 'jihad' partnership. Now 
when the post 9/11 US policy forced rollback on 
the sub-state but state patronised 
infrastructure, Islamabad began the rollback. 
Gradually but definitively. Along with the 
infrastructure, rollback on the problems with 
curriculum and laws was also begun.

The Musharraf government has faced major 
criticisms from different political sections in 
Pakistan that argue that this entire roll back 
and reform is Washington-led. That Washington has 
sought this as undeniable. Yet, the more relevant 
and compelling truth is
that it has long been Pakistan's own need, 
articulated by groups like the Human Rights 
Commission of Pakistan and individuals like 
Khaled Ahmad that the State apparatus not be made 
subservient to either a linear and static 
approach to Islam, nor be hostage to any 
individual interpretation of religion or national 
interest.

At present, the debate around the Wana operation, 
the reform in curriculum, changes in legislation 
and introduction of laws against inhuman 
practices like Karo Kari, is a positive 
development. Facilitated by proliferation of 
television channels, various contending views on 
these issues expressed by politicians, the State, 
peoples' organisations, including religious 
scholars are being put forth. If backed by public 
support these moves will have staying power. The 
merits and demerits of these moves, established 
against the touchstone of Islamic values and 
humanism, through informed public will drain 
vested interest and ignorance from the crucial 
question of State and ideology in Pakistan. 
Fortunately, on this issue the Pakistani State 
has begun to re-orient itself; even if it's a 
long and bumpy journey ahead.
_______



[2]

The Times of India
July 22, 2004, Op-Ed.

BEYOND IDEOLOGY: THE CASE AGAINST RSS GOVERNORS
Alok Rai

Thrown off-balance by Verdict 2004, the once 
deputy prime minister of India is blustering with 
threats of dire but unspecified consequences: The 
Congress, he said, will have to pay a heavy price 
for this! Well, the Congress can take care of 
itself, but it behoves us as concerned citizens 
to spend a little time with the matter that has 
so exercised the hon'ble Mr Advani: The summary 
dismissal of four RSS functionaries whom his 
government had installed as provincial governors.

The sainted Mr Advani, projected as another 
Sardar Patel from time to time, is seeking to 
play Gandhi, positioning himself somewhere above 
(and outside) Parliament from where he can 
criticise the established legal order. But the 
muttered threats diminish him cruelly into 
something like a Hindu Jinnah.

Advani's affectations apart, the underlying issue 
is not merely the technical one of whether the 
president is legally right in dismissing the four 
governors. It is the deeper moral question of 
whether self-confessed RSS types should have been 
- or should ever be - appointed to high offices 
where they are in a position to pervert the 
workings of the Constitution to which their 
allegiance can only ever be tactical and 
hypocritical. If not, then irrespective of Mr 
Advani's posturings, the great wrong was that of 
having appointed such people in the first place, 
and we should be grateful for what the president 
has done.

In the bad old days before the formation of the 
NDA government, a lot of people who should have 
known better, persuaded themselves that the 
constraints of office would "normalise" the BJP. 
In becoming a mainstream party, it would shed its 
manic elements. There is a profound sense in 
which the BJP has been "compromised" by its years 
in office. There isn't much point in naming 
names. Let us merely remember, just when Enron is 
about to hit us with a Rs 26,000 crore bill, that 
the statesman-like Mr V actually cleared the 
second phase of the Enron project - having 
rubbished it earlier - during the 13 days when he 
was the prime minister in 1996, before 
unsuccessfully seeking the initial vote of 
confidence!

And yet, it is not the widespread corruption that 
is the most worrying thing about these people. 
Their demonstrated venality is what might even 
delude us into accepting them as "normal", 
muddled and corruptible - just like the rest of 
us. The thing that puts them firmly beyond the 
pale of constitutional politics is their 
so-called "idealism", their carefully projected 
air of sanctimonious virtue, their mealy-mouthed 
saintliness.

The processes whereby the RSS manages to produce, 
en masse, a certain kind of personality have not 
received the academic attention they deserve. But 
while the etiology and inner structure of this 
kind of personality might be imperfectly 
understood, we are familiar with its behaviours. 
I refer not only to the bloodied foot-soldiers of 
"Gujarat 2002", but rather to the perfumed 
leaders who, with clean hands and clean 
consciences, presided over this orgy of violence. 
Not only the unmentionable Modi but also Mr 
"Flip-flop" Vajpayee and Mr Advani. Two years 
after those gruesome events, they still haven't 
grasped the horror of what happened, and are 
publicly concerned about whether the violence 
lost or won elections for them, and consequently 
whether or not it was something they should 
apologise for, or boast about.

This question - How do they do it? - has a direct 
bearing on the matter of the dismissed governors. 
My own sense of it is that the RSS, after the 
manner of similar organisations, creates in its 
cadres an area of self where merely human 
considerations no longer apply. It has been 
supposed, simplistically, that the demonising of 
the Muslim is an end in RSS ideology. My sense of 
it is that the "demonised Muslim" is merely the 
means whereby a trans-moral personality is 
created. It is of the essence of this kind of 
"engineered" personality that it is, in most 
respects, normal, and sometimes even rather 
refined. (The case of the concentration camp 
commandant who returned to Wagner and Bach after 
a hard day at the gas chambers is legendary.) The 
area of self functions as a secure and privileged 
enclave, beyond the reach of rational argument, 
and the cries of human pain and suffering. The 
merely human being, once possessed of 
self-hypnotising, dogmatic certainties, and 
absolved of moral responsibility, is rendered 
into pure will, an instrument of history, or the 
nation, or the Aryan ideal.

It seems merely an elementary precaution to 
exclude such worthies from every office that 
requires an explicit fidelity to the Constitution 
of India. It cannot be argued that theirs is an 
ideology just like any other - because if mere 
ideological affiliation were a disqualification, 
then Khurana and even Nawal Kishore Sharma should 
have been excluded. But the RSS is not, as they 
themselves routinely declare, a political party 
with a particular ideology - it is a secret 
society. And whatever little has filtered out 
about the aims of this secret society, it aims at 
nothing less than subverting the liberal and 
secular Constitution of India. Can it now claim 
the protection of a liberal order that it seeks, 
day in and day out, to pervert and malign?


_____


[3]

21 July  2004

WHITHER GENDER PARITY?
WOMEN AND THE PATRIARCHAL VALUES TODAY

Ram Puniyani

The Muslim Personal Law boardís meeting gave the hope
that it will abolish triple talaq, will take a step
towards justice for Muslim women. But that was not to
be. While there are multiple factors coming in the way
of reform in Muslim personal laws, things are not too
bright for Hindu women as well. The rise of politics
in the name of religion has created an atmosphere
where the social relations, the one between men and
women, between upper caste and dalits are going in a
reverse gear.

There are multiple glaring instances, which have
happened during last few months, which force one to
think as to where are we heading for as far as gender
parity is concerned. We did hear about many cases of
honor killing in Pakistan during last few years. Cases
where the male relatives of the women killed them as
they decided to choose their own life partners against
the wishes of their men folk, father, brother etc are
on the rise. This abominable practice was heard of and
one understands has been prevalent in Pakistani
society. While one had heard of two cases of women
being burnt alive as Sati, and than glorified by the
family. Sati was a custom against which reformers like
Ram Mohun Roy struggled in the late Nineteenth
century. Cases of its occurrence in late Twentieth
century did shake the conscience of most of us. While
a large number of people condemned it, there were
people who came up with the concept of Rani Sati
temples to ëhonorí this custom. Of all the condemnable
reactions which took place in the wake of Roop Kanwar
being burnt, the worst of course was the protest march
taken out by the then Vice President of Bhartiya
Janata Party, Mrs. Vijaya Raje Scindia, a widow
herself. This march which was taken to the Parliament,
the highest law making body in the country, had the
slogan that to commit sati is not only the glorious
tradition of Hindu women, its their right also. This
march was meant to stall the legal measures, which
were being contemplated to prevent such incidents in
future.

One and a half decades down the line, things are no
better. If at all new forms of womenís oppression are
coming up. The worst amongst them being the
replication of honor killing, the practice which one
was hearing of in Mullah dominated Pakistan. Somewhere
in March 2004, a young man killed his sister and
brother in law in Thane. After being arrested for the
crime he gloriously proclaimed that his sister had
married against the wishes of the family so he
undertook this crime and that he is proud of what he
did. Somewhere in June 2004, a boy killed his sister
in Nagpur. The girl apparently was talking to her
boyfriend on phone. She had made up her mind to marry
him. Her decision to marry the boy of her liking was
not approved of by the family, i.e. father and
brother, and so in the rage of anger the boy killed
his own sister.

The latest issue (July 2004) of a national
Newsmagazine reports a speech by none other than the
Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, the firebrand Uma
Bahrati. As per the report, RSS ideologue
Govindacharya had proposed to her through Mr. Advani.
She apparently was favorable to the proposal. She
sought permission from her brother for this. Her
brother, Swami Lodi, did not approve of the alliance
so she rejected the proposal and took Sanyas. Why the
all-powerful person of the stature of Uma Bahrati has
to get the nod of her brother for marrying the person
of her choice.

  The rising occurrence of incidents of girl being
either denied permission to marry the person of her
choice or being killed because she exercises the
option and goes ahead, is reflective of the deeper
cultural rot which is setting in the society due to
the rise of politics in the name of religion. The
ideology of this politics is based on the pre-modern
feudal values. Feudal society, where the nexus of
landlord and priest ruled the roost in the society,
was founded on the hierarchical notions of caste and
gender. In this scheme of things the supremacy of
Landlord is unquestionable as he had the divine power.
And it was the priesthood, cutting across different
religions, which propagated and upheld these values.
According to this in European society the serf was
bonded to the land and the feudal lord was the
controller of his life.

In India, the things were parallel but different. Here
there was no centralized Church, but the local
alliance between the landlord and the priest served
the same purpose. In Maharashtra this alliance goes by
the popular name of Shetji-Bhatji (Landlord-Brahmin).
In this scheme of things the peasant the Shudra was
tied to the land, was himself a semi property of the
landlord, so could not own his property. As far the
woman is concerned, the pattern in most of the
geographical locations and in the prevalent norms in
most religious communities was the same. Its that
woman is the property of man. So obviously a property
in turn cannot own a property herself. She needed
protection and in turn control. In her childhood this
control is the prerogative of father, during adult
life that of husband and in old age in case of
husbands death its son or another male relative who is
the controlling authority. In one of the colloquial
languages a word is used for women, Trimmat, the one
guided by opinions of three persons, depending on the
stage of her life.

Secularization process breaks the authority of
landlord not only on land but also of his control
over, serf, shudra, who now is an independent
landowner, land to the tiller, if that takes place. At
times guillotine, at times revolutions brought to end
this divine power of landlords and Kings. Bhudan
(donation of land) or halfhearted land reforms could
not end this hegemony totally. As far as women are
concerned, the introduction of education, and their
entry into social space should have abolished the
concept that woman is the property of man. One hears
of the word Kanyadan, donating of daughter, at the
time of marriage. There is nothing like Putradan
(donating of son) as an equivalent. As son is the
recipient of the property. Husbands in many
traditions are addressed as Master, Dhani, and Swami
etc.

The process of transition of women from property,
controlled subjects to the people in their own rights
began and Savitribai Phule is the major initiator in
this direction. The coming times saw the emergence of
the likes of Pandita Ramabai, Anandi Gopal etc. who
took extreme pains to come out of the shackles of
patriarchal control. Indiaís freedom movement also saw
a great participation of women in the struggle for
freedom. As Indiaís secularization process was not
complete the remnants of it kept hierarchical values
alive even after independence. The Indian Constitution
did accept the total equality of caste and gender. But
can any deprived section get its rights just for
asking. No way. A struggle to get oneís social and
political goals is the only way to get it. The laws
and constitution provide the ground on which such
struggles can stand and march ahead.

It is likely that these tendencies became stronger in
Pakistan after the Mullah influenced changes brought
in by Zia Ul Haq in early eighties. In India the rise
of the social power of Hindutva around the same time
has given a fillip to the retrograde values as far as
gender is concerned. At this point, Hindutva defends
the subjugation of women as a political agenda. For
that matter any politics, which goes on in the name of
religion, does the same. Hindutva ideology is joined
in this arena by Post modernists, the ilk of Ashish
Nandyís, who will come forward to defend these
traditions, closing their eyes to the social
relations, to the notions of hierarchy. The question
is not just whether Uma Bharati can marry the person
of her choice or not, the question is a broader one.
And it pertains to the surge of politics, which aims
to suppress the human rights of weaker sections of
society. The question pertains to the abuse of the
emotions associated with religion for the sake of
power. One hopes that the cases of honor killings
reported around are the last oneís. One hopes that
rather than asserting that women were worshipped in
Ancient India (! before they were consigned to the
ëholyí flames of her husbands funeral pyre) one comes
to recognize that women are equal citizens, equal in
social rights and both genders have to have parity in
all matters of our social and political existence.


______


[4]

[Text of letter by Asghar Ali Engineer to Chief 
Minister of Uttar Pradesh State, India]

o o o

16th July 2004

To          

Shri. Mulayam Singhji Yadav,
Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh,
5, Kalidas Marg,
Lucknow,
U.P. [India]

Dear Sir,

We were greatly disturbed to see report in Indian 
Express today i.e. 16 July 2004, that in Uttar 
Pradesh Class XI' s textbook the following 
passage occurs

"The place where Babri mosque is situated at 
present was the birth place of Shri Ram. A temple 
existed there for centuries which was disfigured 
by Babar to build the mosque at the same site. 
The mosque that now been razed while recovery of 
artifacts below that site during excavation has 
proved the existence of a temple at the site," 
says the history text, Bharat Ka Vrahad Itihas, 
on page number 296.  This passage was included in 
2003 after excavation was carried out at the 
instance of Allahabad High Court.

To say the least, this is patently false & no 
such false information should be given to the 
students and communalise their minds. May we 
request you to kindly get this passage removed 
from the textbook immediately. Under your secular 
government such textbooks should not be 
prescribed. We will be highly obliged if an early 
action is taken and we are informed about it.

With kind regards,

Yours sincerely,


Sd/-
Asghar Ali Engineer.
(Chairman)
Centre for Study of Society and Secularism

______


[5]

The Times of India
JOSHI 'FORGETS' TO RETURN ICHR'S FREEDOM FILES
Akshaya Mukul
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ THURSDAY, JULY 22, 2004 05:36:42 AM ]
NEW DELHI: Twelve confidential files related to 
the prestigious "Towards Freedom" project of the 
Indian Council of Historical Research taken by 
former HRD minister Murli Manohar Joshi on March 
9, 2000, have gone missing.

The files, No. 18-30/72-ICHR/Admn.I in three 
parts, each containing 170, 210 and 131 pages, 
were never retur-ned despite a reminder by 
IC-HR's then member-secretary R C Agrawal to 
Joshi's PS Al-ok Tandon on August 19, 2002. The 
matter has been brought to the notice of new 
dispensation in the HRD ministry and search for 
the files is on.

The issue of the missing files resurfaced 
recently when ICHR chairperson D N Tripathi, a 
Joshi appoi-ntee, wanted to revive the "Towards 
Freedom" project and asked for the files only to 
be told these are missing for five long years.

Much to Joshi's chagrin, Tripathi has asked the 
officiating member-secretary A K Ambasth to 
recover the files. He says Joshi's office had no 
business to keep files of an autonomous body for 
so long and not return them despite a reminder. 
"Unfortunately all this happened in the earlier 
regime," Tripathi told TNN over phone from 
Gorakhpur.

According to him, the files of autonomous bodies 
are never kept by the administrative ministry. At 
best, these co-uld be shown to the ministry.

ICHR records show Joshi aske-d for the files 
wh-en there was a controversy about "Towards 
Freedom" project. Two years later in 2002, the 
project was back in news since a three-member 
panel was set up to look into the volumes edited 
by historians Sumit Sarkar and K N Panikkar. 
Joshi promised Parliament to come up with a white 
paper on the project.

ICHR's general council entrusted the job of 
prep-aring the white paper to Devendra Swarup, an 
RSS functionary, Joshi's favo-urite and one-time 
history lecturer.

______


[6]

Ahmedabad Newsline / Indian Express
July 21, 2004
 
'A POLICEMAN CANNOT BE DISALLOWED FROM RETAINING 
HIS RELIGION WHEN HE'S ON DUTY. THIS HAPPENS EVEN 
IN PARLIAMENT HOUSE AND IN THE ARMED FORCES'

MEN IN KHAKI PROUDLY WEAR HINDU IDENTITY ON THEIR SLEEVES

Anand S T Das

Ahmedabad, July 20:	At the Naroda Police 
Station, in a corner of Senior Inspector V.S. 
Gohil's chamber is a mini temple. There are idols 
and pictures of Hindu gods and goddesses on a 
shelf. Garlands, flowers, and agarbattis indicate 
there is daily puja.

Gohil readily admits as much. He says he's 
religious, of course, and is bewildered that 
anyone should question the elaborate ''puja 
sthal'' with fairy lights inside his chamber.

''Being a police officer does not mean that I 
cease to be a Hindu,'' he said. ''What's wrong 
with this?''

The army recently initiated a drive to emphasise 
its secular character by asking staff on duty not 
to sport signs of their religion on their person 
or display them in offices and vehicles. And in 
most states, police stations are discouraged from 
displaying religious pictures or idols.

But things are evidently different with police in 
Gujarat. The men are in khaki. If it weren't for 
their nameplates - many don't even have them - 
there's no way you'd know their religion. There 
should be no need, either. But chances are that 
as you step into any police station in Ahmedabad, 
you can't help feeling that the force is Hindu 
first.

At the Vejalpur Police Station, two large, framed 
pictures of Goddess Durga and Lord Shiva on a 
wall. Beneath them is the table at which an 
assistant sub-inspector sits.

And at the police chowki in Juhapura, 
Sub-Inspector G.P. Rathore's room has a wooden 
niche with a picture of Goddess Durga in it.

If Naroda is the place where Muslims were burnt 
alive in the post-Godhra riots while the police 
allegedly stood watching, the Vejalpur-Juhapura 
area has a sizable Muslim population.

But Director-General of Police A.K. Bhargava 
seemed sure of himself when he said that ''no 
Muslim visiting a police station to lodge a 
complain feels frightened because of these 
pictures and idols. They know that a policeman 
remains a policeman despite being a Hindu.''

Like him, most inspectors in charge of police 
stations said there's nothing wrong with the 
practice. Some seemed proud of the fact. And some 
said there was nothing in the police manual to 
prevent it.

''All this doesn't reflect any pro-Hindu bias,'' 
said Senior Inspector N.K. Desai of Khadia Police 
Station. ''We have the gods around because we 
seek their blessings for greater efficiency in 
our daily work as policemen. This is not to show 
we are Hindus.''

Like Desai's police station, those at Satellite, 
Navrangpura, Kalupur, Khadia, Sola, Shardanagar, 
Meghaninagar, and other areas too bear 
unmistakable Hindu identities, with pictures or 
puja sthals where worship is regular. Even police 
vans have pictures of Hindu deites. The practice, 
say those who have been in the force for long, 
has always been there but has grown in the last 
few years. But police chief Bhargava said he 
wouldn't initiate any move to end it.

''There's no need to rake up an issue that has no 
significance,'' he said. ''Policemen who are 
Hindus have a right to worship their gods and 
goddesses. If they do it at the police station, 
what's wrong? A policeman cannot be disallowed 
from retaining his religion when he's on duty. 
This happens even in Parliament house and in the 
armed forces.''

Reminded of the army's recent directive, he said: 
''This is not the first time they're trying to do 
it. Have they been able to stop it?''

But there are former police chiefs who think 
otherwise. Said S.N. Sinha, who retired as DGP in 
1996, ''This is an undesirable trend and should 
be strictly discouraged.''

And C.P. Singh, who was DGP from 1999 to 2001, 
said, ''This trend was present in a subdued 
fashion for decades, but has grown recently, 
particularly in the last two years. The police 
force should be absolutely professional and 
secular - in looks and practice.''

______


[7]

The Times of India, July 22, 2004
Families of 'disappeared' persons seek justice

AMRITSAR: Families of those who mysteriously 
disappeared during the days of militancy 
submitted affidavits about their relatives at a 
camp organised by the Khalra Mission Committee on 
Wednesday.

Many such persons had been 'killed by the police 
in fake encounters and their bodies cremated, 
describing them as unidentified.' The National 
Human Rights Commission had issued a public 
notice that about 2,097 persons had allegedly 
been killed in encounters by the police. Their 
bodies were cremated in the crematoriums of 
Durgiana Temple, Amritsar, Tarn Taran and Patti. 
Paramjit Kaur Khalra, committee chairperson and 
wife of Jaswant Singh, who 'disappeared' in 1995, 
said the affidavits would be submitted to the 
NHRC. Sukhdev Singh of Pakhoke village said that 
his younger brother Jaspal Singh, a journalist, 
"went missing' 10 years ago. He said he arrived 
at the camp after reading the NHRC advertisement.

Gurbant Singh of Wadala Kalan said that his son 
was picked up by the police but never returned 
home. He said later they came to know that his 
body was cremated as unclaimed. He said he was 
too poor to plead the case.


______



[8]

The newly-established Centre for Studies on 
Indian Muslims, at the Department of Islamic 
Studies, Hamdard University, New Delhi, invites 
you to a talk by Dr. Anna Bigelow on 'Shared 
Shrines and Inter-Communal Relations in 
Malerkotla, Punjab'.

[Malerkotla is the only town in Indian Punjab 
where Muslims remain in sizeable numbers. Dr. 
Bigelow, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies 
at the North Carolina State University, USA, has 
done her Ph.D. on Malerkotla, focussing 
particularly on relations between the town's 
Muslim, Sikh, Hindu and Dalit communities]

Date: 26 July, 2004 (Monday)
Time: 2:45 pm
Venue: Board Room, Near VC's Office, 
Administrative Building, Hamdard University, 
Hamdard Nagar, New Delhi (near Batra 
Hospital/Sangam Vihar/ Tughlaqabad)



______



[9]


Ghaffar Khan: Non-Violent Badshah of the Pakhtuns
A discussion around the book by Rajmohan Gandhi

Venue: India International Centre Auditorium

Date and Time: 24 July 2004  |  18:30

Panelists: Sir Mark Tully OBE, veteran journalist 
and writer; Dr. Indivar Kamtekar, Centre for 
Historical Studies, JNU; Dr. Visalakshi Menon, 
Dept. of History, Jesus and Mary College; Dr. 
Anil Sethi, Dept. of History, Deshbandhu College; 
and Dr. Rajmohan Gandhi, author of the book
 


_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

Buzz on the perils of fundamentalist politics, on 
matters of peace and democratisation in South 
Asia. SACW is an independent & non-profit 
citizens wire service run since 1998 by South 
Asia Citizens Web: www.sacw.net/
The complete SACW archive is available at: 
bridget.jatol.com/pipermail/sacw_insaf.net/

South Asia Counter Information Project a sister 
initiative, provides a partial back -up and 
archive for SACW:  snipurl.com/sacip
See also associated site: www.s-asians-against-nukes.org

DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed in materials carried in the posts do not
necessarily reflect the views of SACW compilers.

--