In The Name Of Allah, The Most Beneficent And Merciful
June 4th,
2002
Headlines:
· Riot
victims return home (The Hindu)
· Police in violence-hit Gujarat
want more hands (Indo-Asian News
Service, Yahoo News)
· Foreign funds flows to India
plunge 85 pct in May (Yahoo News)
· Chargesheet filed in massacre (Yahoo News)
· Gujarat Riot Victims Support
Programme (Alert Net)
Opinion:
NEWS HEADLINES
Riot
victims return home
The Hindu,
By Manas Dasgupta
http://www.hinduonnet.com/stories/2002060402141300.htm
VADODARA June 3.
More than 95 per cent of the riot-hit
people in various
relief camps in Vadodara have
returned home,
thanks to a proactive role played by
the police.
Elsewhere in the district, more than 90
per cent of the
riot victims returned home, allowing
the authorities to
close down all but two relief
camps.
``If we were
prepared to sanction alternate sites, the
problem could have
been resolved in a few hours, but
the Government was
keen that life remained as it was
before the riots
and the Hindus and Muslims lived
together peacefully
as they were earlier,'' the
District Collector,
Bhagyesh Jha, said.
Vadodara,
considered to be the cultural capital of
Gujarat, is the
second most communally-sensitive city
after Ahmedabad,
but unlike in the previous occasions,
the scale of
violence this time was much less than in
the commercial
capital of the State. While more than
450 people were
killed and several thousand houses and
shops were set
afire in Ahmedabad where the
disturbances
continued for over two and a half months
and is still
simmering, the loss of lives in Vadodara
was 47 and the
houses and shops affected were less
than 200.
The City Police
Commissioner, Deen Dayal Tuteja, has
fallen in the bad
books of the ruling BJP not because
of inefficiency in
handling the riot situation, but
because he did not
allow the mobs to run amuck on the
crucial Gujarat
bandh day on February 28 when about
150 people were
burnt alive in Ahmedabad in a single
day. He was also
among the very few police officers
who went ahead with
preventive detention of
anti-social
elements and called for seizure of private
arms.
Copyright © 2002,
The Hindu.
Police
in violence-hit Gujarat want more hands
By
Indo-Asian News Service
Tuesday June 4,
4:32 PM
http://in.news.yahoo.com/020604/43/1pfae.html
Ahmedabad, June 4
(IANS) The worst sectarian violence
India has witnessed
in a decade has riveted attention
on the woefully
understaffed police force in Gujarat.
When the Gujarat
carnage erupted February-end, there
were many cases of
vastly outnumbered police personnel
standing by as mute
spectators as mobs killed,
pillaged and burnt
property. About 950 lives were lost
in the sectarian
bloodshed.
Top officers said
there were occasions when only five
armed policemen
were deployed to control a
15,000-strong mob.
"How can five
cops handle such a mammoth crowd?" asked
P.C. Pande, who was
shifted out of the office of
Ahmedabad police
chief after Gujarat's main city
suffered the worst
of violence.
According to Pande,
four years ago there were 13.7
police personnel
for every 10,000 people. Now that
ratio stands at
12.9 police personnel for the same
number of people in
the state of 50.5 million people.
"Considering
that at least half the personnel would be
on one shift, five
percent would be on administrative
jobs and some might
be on leave, the state could still
be faced with a
February 28-like scenario," Pande told
IANS.
On February 28, the
worst instances of mob violence
directed at Muslims
were reported from many parts of
Gujarat a day after
58 train passengers, mostly
activists of the
Vishwa Hindu Parishad, were torched
in Godhra town.
Chief Minister
Narendra Modi's security advisor K.P.S.
Gill has also
expressed concern over the shortage of
personnel in the
Gujarat police.
Director General of
Police K. Chakravarthi admitted
the force was
desperately understaffed. He admitted
there were 700
vacancies at the sub-inspector level
and 5,000 in the
constabulary.
He said the current
situation in the state required
the police force's
need for an expansion to be
immediately
addressed.
"Since the
riots, more VIPs are asking for security
cover and fears of
war with Pakistan have meant
increased security
for sensitive installations. So who
do we have left now
for law and order duties?"
lamented
Chakravarthi while speaking to journalists.
The total strength
of the Gujarat police now,
including the State
Reserve Police (SRP), is 65,000, a
huge fall from
137,000 in 1998.
In Patan, a border
district, the last village is 60 km
from the police
station. "How does one expect the
police inspector to
reach the scene of crime on time?"
asked an officer.
Copyright © 2001
IANS India Private Limited. All
rights Reserved.
Copyright © 2002
Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
Foreign
funds flows to India plunge 85 pct in May
Tuesday
June 4, 2:25 PM
Yahoo! News India
http://in.news.yahoo.com/020604/64/1pf1o.html
BOMBAY (Reuters) -
Foreign portfolio investment flows
into India
plummeted 85 percent in May from a year
earlier, as
foreigners pared exposure to domestic
equities out of
concern over peace and security
issues.
Over the first five
months of calendar 2002, foreign
inflows dropped 71
percent -- to $645.5 million from
$2.2 billion in the
same period last year, Securities
and Exchange Board
of India (SEBI) data shows.
Triggering the
decline is the threat to domestic
stability aroused
by the Hindu-Muslim rioting which
began in February
in Gujarat, India's second-most
industrialised
state, and fear of war breaking out
with nuclear-rival
Pakistan.
"Despite
attractive valuations from a fundamental
standpoint, we're
curbing our exposure to India out of
concern over the
multiple threats to peace and
security,"
said one Hong Kong-based manager of an
Indian equity fund,
speaking on condition his name not
be used.
"It's been one
thing after another."
The benchmark
Bombay index tumbled more than nine
percent, whipping
out about $6 billion in market value
over the last 14
trading days of May. That sharp slide
was triggered by a
bloody May 14 attack on an Indian
army camp in
disputed Kashmir, which raised fear of
war erupting
between India and Pakistan.
Since late
February, almost 1,000 people have died in
horrific
Hindu-Muslim clashes in Gujarat, the worst
communal riots in
India in a decade.
Foreign funds owned
a total of $15 billion of Indian
assets, both stocks
and bonds, as of May 31, according
to SEBI.
While that is just
a fraction of the $1.2 trillion
value of the nearly
10,000 stocks listed on the Bombay
Stock Exchange
(BSE), the influence of foreign
investment flows is
greatly magnified by a single
fact.
Foreign funds are
active investors in the 50 most
heavily traded
stocks.
Those 50 stocks
accounted for 81 percent of the
turnover by value
on the BSE in the past year to
March, according to
the BSE's statistics department.
FUND-FLOW SNAPSHOT
In May, foreigners
remained net investors in Indian
securities, but
just barely and due entirely to buying
of Indian bonds,
the SEBI data shows.
Foreigner holdings
of Indian securities increased by
$24.9 million, down
steeply from a $166.1 million
inflow in May 2001.
Foreigners were net
sellers last month of Indian
equities, paring
their holdings by $35.2 million. They
remained net buyers
of Indian bonds, acquiring $60.1
million more than
they sold.
In the January-May
period, foreign holdings of Indian
equities increased
$530.8 million, down sharply from
$2.2 billion in the
same five-month period last year.
Day-by-day data
shows foreign investors were
particularly
spooked by indications last week the
Indo-Pakistan
crisis was escalating into a nuclear
showdown.
Foreign funds made
their biggest single-day equity
sales of 2002 late
last week after Pakistan's
ambassador to the
United Nations said Islamabad was
prepared to respond
with nuclear weapons if attacked
by India, which has
significantly more conventional
military firepower.
Both countries have
subsequently tried to quell
concern of a
nuclear war breaking out, with the
leaders of both
countries this past weekend saying
such a development
was unthinkable.
© 2002
Yahoo! News India.
Yahoo News
By Basant
Rawat
Tuesday June 4,
3:03 AM
http://in.news.yahoo.com/020603/58/1pe7x.html
Ahmedabad, June 3:
Police today filed the first
chargesheet in the
violence that followed the Godhra
massacre, accusing
48 people of involvement in burning
alive of over three
dozen people at Gulbarg Society
here.
Former Congress MP
Ehsaan Jafri was among those killed
that day, a day
after the Godhra carnage.
Of the 48 people
against whom the crime branch today
filed
the chargesheet, 25 have been arrested and the
remaining are
absconding. Police inspector K.S. Erda
filed the
chargesheet after recording the statements
of 380 people. The
major charges against the accused
are murder, rape,
looting, arson and attack on the
police.
According to the
chargesheet, the mob that attacked
Jafri and other
residents of Gulbarg Society gathered
with petrol bombs,
knives and swords.
The former MP had
made frantic calls to his friends in
the Congress, the
police and to capital Gandhinagar,
seeking help. But
help did not arrive.
Jafri was hacked
and burnt. Over 30 people who had
taken shelter in
Jafri’s house were burnt alive.
Copyright © 2001
The Telegraph All rights reserved
Copyright © 2002
Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
Gujarat
Riot Victims Support Programme
By Gaby
Bartholomew
AlertNet, A Reuters
Foundation
June 3, 2002
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/453032
Action by Churches
Together (ACT) - Switzerland
Regions:
Asia/Pacific, India
India
Gujarat Riot
Victims Support Program - ASIN22
Appeal Target: US$
182,877
Geneva, 30 May 2002
The state of
Gujarat has been severely affected by
communal violence
which erupted 27 February this year,
when a deadly
attack took place on a train carrying
Hindu activists on
their way back from Ayodhya. The
violence has
resulted in unprecedented damage and
destruction of life
and property. Normal life has come
to a standstill
with the livelihoods of many poor
daily-wage earners,
in particular Muslim families,
being totally
disrupted and many of the poor, middle
class communities,
mainly from the Muslim minority,
rendered homeless.
In March, after an
initial survey in Ahmedabad it was
found that the
situation was very tense and not
conducive to any
relief intervention. After
consultations with
other ACT partners, the decision
then was to watch
and wait for the situation to calm
down. For a time the
violence abated and some victims,
whose homes were
not destroyed, were moving back.
However, there was
a setback when new attacks started.
After further
consultations with ACT partners,
Lutheran World
Service India (LWS India) appointed a
team to further
assess the situation in May.
The Gujarat state’s
riot-ravaged financial capital
Ahmedabad is still
not free from fresh outbreaks of
violence – mobs
continue to attack minority community
members to stop
them leaving the relief camps and
returning to their
homes. During their visit in
Ahmedbad, the
assessment team witnessed some extremely
violent incidents
in which people lost their lives.
The National
Commission for Minorities’ initiative to
start a dialogue
between Hindu and Muslim leaders has
not yet shown any
results.
It has to be
pointed out that the number of people in
these camps is
subject to constant change, depending
on the possibility
of residents returning to their
homes and on new
incidences of violence. By mid-May,
new reports were
published about the Government’s plan
to close all the
camps for displaced by the end of
May. However, LWSI
expects that some people are likely
to remain in the
camps for some time as they have no
place to return.
Furthermore, based on the experience
of previous events
there is fear that further violence
may again erupt
bringing large numbers of people back
into the relative
safety of the camps. Therefore LWS
India still plans
to respond in whatever way is
needed, taking into
account the possibility that by
the time further
approval (and funding) is received
for this appeal the
situation might have changed
dramatically.
Based on the
initial survey made in May, LWS India
proposes to assist
5,000 families through the
provision of
clothing and kitchen utensils.
It was decided to
issue this proposal under a new
appeal and not as a
revision of ASIN21. The reasons
are that ASIN 21,
implemented by ACT partner UELCI is
implemented in a
different location and is already
coming to a close.
Project Completion
Date:
31 July 2002
Summary of Appeal
Targets, Pledges/Contributions
Received and
Balance Requested
Total Appeal
Target(s) US$ 182,877
Less:
Pledges/Contr. Recd. 0
Balance Requested
from ACT Network US$ 182,877
Please kindly send
your contributions to the following
ACT bank account:
Account Number –
240-432629.60A (USD)
Account Name: ACT -
Action by Churches Together
UBS SA
PO Box 2600
1211 Geneva 2
SWITZERLAND
Please also inform
the Finance Officer Jessie
Kgoroeadira (direct
tel. +4122/791.60.38, e-mail
address [email protected]) of all
pledges/contributions
and transfers,
including funds sent direct to the
implementers, now
that the Pledge Form is no longer
attached to the
Appeal.
We would appreciate
being informed of any intent to
submit applications
for EU, USAID and/or other back
donor funding and
the subsequent results. We thank you
in advance for your
kind cooperation.
For further
information please contact:
ACT Director,
Thor-Arne Prois (phone +41 22 791 6033
or mobile phone +
41 79 203 6055)
or
ACT Appeals
Officer, Mieke Weeda (phone +41 22 791
6035 or mobile
phone +41 79 285 2916)
ACT Web Site
address: http://www.act-intl.org
I. REQUESTING ACT
MEMBER

Lutheran World Service India (LWSI)
II. IMPLEMENTING
ACT MEMBER & PARTNER INFORMATION
Lutheran World
Federation / World Service India
Programme
(ACT/LWF-India) is a relief and development
organisation,
established with the mandate to
alleviate the
suffering of distressed groups
irrespective of
caste, religion, gender or political
affiliation.
ACT/LWF India has been implementing
Integrated
Development and Disaster Response projects
since 1974 in
several States of India. LWF India
project continues
to receive strong support and
co-operation from
the respective State Governments.
III. DESCRIPTION OF
EMERGENCY SITUATION
Background
The state of
Gujarat has been affected by the most
severe communal
violence since 27 February this year,
when there was a
deadly attack on a train carrying
Hindu activists on
their way back from Ayodhya. The
violence has
resulted in unprecedented damage and
destruction of life
and property. Normal life has come
to a standstill
with the livelihoods of the poor
daily-wage earners
and especially Muslim poor wage
earners being
totally disrupted as their means of
daily earning such
as handcarts, shops, etc have been
burnt, looted or
destroyed. Many of the poor middle
class communities,
particularly from the Muslim
minority, were
rendered homeless, as their houses are
either looted,
destroyed or burnt.
LWS India conducted
an initial survey of the situation
in Ahmedabad in
early March and found that the
situation was very
tense and not conducive to any
relief
intervention. LWS India then had consultations
with other ACT
partners to chalk out a plan of action
for providing
relief to the riot victims, who were
seeking shelter in
schools and other community centers
in towns. The joint
decision then was to watch and
wait for the
situation to calm down. For some time the
violent situation
had started to cool down and some
victims, whose
homes were not destroyed were moving
back. However, this
was set back when there were new
attacks. On 2 May,
after further consultations with
the ACT partners in
India, LWS India appointed a team
to assess the
situation. This assessment team visited
Ahmedabad between 3
- 7 May 2002.
The Gujarat state’s
riot-ravaged financial capital
Ahmedabad is still not
free from fresh outbreaks of
violence – mobs
continue to attack minority community
members to stop
them leaving the relief camps and
returning to their
homes. During their visit in
Ahmedbad, the
assessment team witnessed some extremely
violent incidents
in which people lost their lives.
Following this, the
shopkeepers put their shutters
down and an
indefinite curfew was declared. The
National Commission
for Minorities’ initiative to
start a dialogue
between Hindu and Muslim leaders has
not yet shown any
results.
More and more
relief camps were set up to accommodate
fresh riot victims
who had to flee their home in fear
for their life,
leaving behind all their belongings.
Unfortunately this
human-made disaster has far worse
repercussions than
a natural disaster such as a severe
earthquake!
The number of
Relief camps, as well as the number of
people in these
camps are subject to constant change
depending on the
possibility of residents returning to
their homes. So far
local volunteers have opened over
53 relief camps in
schools or other community centers,
but some of them
have closed down, as the inmates have
sought refuge with
relatives elsewhere. LWS India team
visited 11 major
relief camps set up in schools within
Ahmedabad city with
a written permission from the
Director of
Voluntary Agencies (Revenue Department,
Government of
Gujarat). The survey of these 11 camps,
made on 4 & 5
May indicates a minimum of 7,000
families in the
camps. In almost all the camps there
were sufficient
food supplies provided by the
Government and
volunteers of their own communities.
Some international
and national organizations - the
Red Cross, UNICEF,
World Vision, Oxfam and Eficor,
have extended
support such as water and sanitation
facilities and
provided supplies such as soap,
toothpaste/brush,
mosquito nets, towels, combs,
sandals, clothes,
house hold utensils, etc. to some
camps.
LWSI has been told
that there are still significant
numbers of camp
inhabitants who have not received the
assistance LWSI is
proposing to give. These goods will
certainly be very
useful to the victims whether they
remain in the camps
or return to their homes. For this
reason LWSI is
proposing to assist up to 5,000
families by
providing the relief materials described.
By mid-May, new
reports were published about the
Government’s plan
to close all the camps for the
displaced by the
end of May. Although most newspaper
space is now
occupied with information about the
growing tensions
between India and Pakistan, there are
a few reports that
the number of people in the camps
is decreasing.
However, LWSI expects that some people
will remain for
some time in the camps as they have no
place to return to.
Furthermore there is still the
fear, based on the
experience of previous events, that
further violence may
again erupt bringing large
numbers of people
back into the relative safety of the
camps. Therefore
LWS India still wants to conduct
surveys among the
remaining displaced. In this way LWS
India will be
prepared to respond in whatever way is
needed, taking into
account the possibility that by
the time further
approval (and funding) is received
for this appeal the
situation might have changed
dramatically.
IV. GOAL &
OBJECTIVES
The goal is to
assist the most vulnerable victims of
communal violence
in Gujarat by replacing the most
urgently needed
basic items that were destroyed or
left behind in the
flight for safety.
Objective
To provide family
assistance kits containing clothing
and household
utensils to the most vulnerable
displaced living in
camps in or near Ahmedabad who
have not yet
received such assistance.
V. TARGETED
BENEFICIARIES
Up to 5,000
families living in camps for the displaced
in and near
Ahmedabad who have not yet received
clothing and/or
household utensils. Potential
locations have already
been surveyed, however, actual
locations and
quantities can be determined only after
staff have made a
detailed survey based on the
realities at the
time when the approval and funding
has been received.
VI. PROPOSED
EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE & IMPLEMENTATION
LWS India
Intervention
Respecting the
culture and dignity of the riot
affected
communities, LWS India proposes to extend
support to up to
5,000 families without any
discrimination
regarding faith. These families are
living in different
relief camps in Ahmedabad and have
not received such
support from any other sources so
far. The proposed
items are: clothing for women
(Sarees / Churidar,
etc); clothing for men (Lungi /
Kurta & Pajama
/ Panjabe); clothing for children; bed
sheets / quilts;
kitchen utensils. These items will be
procured from the
nearest available market – as all
are available in
Ahmedabad itself. During the
assessment the
average family size and structure was
ascertained, and
the clothing and household utensils
support has been
based on this. The proposed items for
the Family Relief
Kit will be put in a box made of a
galvanized iron
sheet or the items will be given
separately as is
most suitable. The box will carry an
ACT/LWSI sticker.
When approval has
been received LWSI staff will
establish a
temporary presence in Ahmedabad and, with
the help of
government officials prioritize the camps
and, with the help
of the camp leaders, conduct
surveys in the
camps to establish the list of
recipients. Those
who have not already received
similar items from
any other source will be included
in the list.
Distribution utilizing appropriate muster
rolls will be done
with the help of the camp officials
after materials
have been purchased and delivered.
Period of
intervention
It is estimated
that 30 days will be required for the
survey, procurement
and distribution of this relief
package. Except for
one senior co-ordinator, who will
be deputed from
LWSI central office, all other support
staff for this
purpose will be drawn from the GERP
without affecting
the ongoing operation in Rajkot and
Kutch districts of
Gujarat.
Mode of
distribution
The concerned
government officer in charge of the
Voluntary Agencies/
Revenue Department of the State of
Gujarat has assured
LWS India of all the necessary
help and co-operation
in distributing the relief
supplies. The
Officer on special duty for supervising
the relief
operation has agreed to visit and assist
with the
distribution.
VII.
ADMINISTRATION, FINANCE, MONITORING & REPORTING
The senior
co-ordinator will report to the LWSI
Emergency Officer.
Decisions about the amount of
materials to be
purchased and distributed will be
decided in
consultation with the Country Director.
LWSI procurement
procedures will be followed for all
purchases.
Distribution will be made with the
assistance of camp
and other government officials
utilising suitable
forms. One final report will be
made covering all
activities under this appeal. The
report will be
provided one month after the actual
implementation has
been finalised.
VIII. IMPLEMENTATION
TIMETABLE
The work will start
shortly after information from ACT
related to funding
has been received – consequently,
the implementation
should be completed within one
month. Therefore
the overall implementation is
expected to be
finalised by 31 July 2002.
IX. CO-ORDINATION
LWSI has no
arrangement with any local NGO in
Ahmedabad, except
for the Orthodox Church, with whom
they collaborated
during the Earthquake Relief
operation. If it is
feasible, LWS India will use the
available facilities
for this short-term operation.
Information
concerning the project will be shared with
other ACT partners
– UELCI and CASA as it is
proceeding. All
work will be done in collaboration
with Government and
NGOs already at work in the area
to avoid overlap and
duplication of effort.
For budget details,
please contact the ACT
Co-ordinating
Office
Website: http://www.act-intl.org
The
race of fanaticism
rediff.com,
Najid Hussain,
June 4th, 2002.
http://www.rediff.com/news/2002/jun/03guest.htm
I have great
admiration and respect for Hinduism,
because I regard
the principles of Hinduism as some of
the best the human
race could have put into practice.
The theory of
dharma and karma and their importance in
seeking nirvana are
unique and represent understanding
at a very high
level of the human intellect.
But just as Islam
has been hijacked by a few radicals
who did not
understand the humanity and more
compassionate
elements of their religion, Hinduism is
being hijacked by a
few Hindus who have been working
hard at the
grassroots for decades in what they
believe are efforts
at reviving Hinduism. They see
Hinduism as a
decaying ideology under threat. But a
closer analysis of
these awakened Hindus, their
fascist ideology,
extreme agenda and radical mindset
reveals only a
suppressed psyche which promotes a
message of hate,
painting an apocalyptic picture of
Hinduism,
everything that this great philosophy, or
religion if you
will, is not.
They [the radical
Hindus] say that historically Hindus
have been
suppressed. No one can deny that. Hindus
have been
suppressed and ruled by several foreigners,
including Dutch,
French, Portuguese, Mughal and
British invaders.
Although a part of the legacy of
those foreign
rulers in terms of architecture and
administration was
good and desirable, one of its
unfortunate effects
was that in one way or the other,
elements of that
rule still continue in some of our
hearts and minds.
Unless we understand how it became
possible for those
invaders to defeat and rule us, we
will never be able
to strengthen ourselves enough to
come out of that
slavish mindset. Simply blaming
others or acquiring
a vengeful attitude towards other
faiths and beliefs
will not solve our problem.
The biggest mistake
our ancestors made [the ancestors
of today's Hindus
and Muslims of the Indian
subcontinent are
the same -- Hindus] was the creation
of the caste
system. With that they created several
apparently
conflicting and mutually hateful groups
amongst the
followers of the same faith [Hinduism],
injecting a mostly
suppressive and hated mechanism.
Even before the
invaders came from outside, we were
actively
suppressing our own people, thus weakening
ourselves. In fact,
with that infighting, it was
easier for the
outsiders to conquer us, dominate us,
collectively
suppress us, even force us into foreign
faiths and beliefs.
It was our own indigenous policy
of the past that
weakened us and allowed us to be
ruled by external
forces.
The very fact that
the 'awakened' Hindus of today
continue to not
only dodge that basic issue, but even
condone it by
trying to put a positive spin on its
utility even in
present times -- and do nothing about
the urgent need to
integrate all Hindus regardless of
caste -- shows that
their objective is not to reform
the religion and
help Hinduism out of the clutches of
divisive forces.
Rather, their motivation is something
else. Their true
agenda only appears to spread hate
against certain
communities; to punish the followers
of those foreign
faiths for the excesses of their
ancestors; to
cleanse society of those people. An
agenda that has all
the elements of fascist ideology,
a failed ideology
that continues to impress only those
sick minds which
have otherwise failed to make a
difference in the
world through progress or through
the strength of
their principles.
As a Muslim, I have
no doubt in my mind that Muslim
invaders, even if
some of those integrated well with
our Indian culture
and contributed immensely to our
history and pride,
have committed despicable crimes
and excesses
against Indians in general and Hindus in
particular. But
today what we need to understand and
appreciate is that
present-day Muslims have nothing to
do with that and
that they cannot and should not be
held responsible
for the crimes of their ancestors.
It reminds me of
the time when as a six-year-old I was
on a train journey.
As the train began to move,
someone from the
compartment ahead spat out and the
spittle landed on
my hand. Angrily, I spat right back,
but it fell on
someone behind me, who then came
looking for me. The
Hindu reformists must rise above
that six-year-old
intellect. While I do not discount
the past excesses
of Muslims on Hindus, those excesses
had nothing to do
with me and asking me to pay for
them is ludicrous,
just as ludicrous as asking today's
upper-caste Hindus
to pay for the atrocities of their
ancestors on
Harijans, or present-day whites for the
slavery of blacks
in the past.
I do, however,
agree that in present times there are
several factors
that remind Hindus of past Muslim
excesses, some of
which include Ayodhya, Kashmir,
Muslim Personal Law
and the anti-national activities
of some Muslims. An
oft-repeated example is that many
Muslims celebrate
Pakistan's victory in cricket
matches. Many of
these complaints or concerns are
overly exaggerated
and politically motivated, but let
us try and analyse
these complaints a little more
rationally.
Ayodhya:
This was the
biggest blunder of the Muslim leadership.
They had a chance
to build a bridge of understanding
and co-operation
with Hindus by yielding on this
issue. Besides, it
was a small price to pay to
compensate for some
of the atrocities of their
ancestors, even if
the claim of the VHP and other
radical
organisations about the existence of a Ram
temple at the site
in the pre-Babur era was wrong.
Plain and true,
they missed the opportunity. The good
news is that they
still have time to act. Syed
Shahabuddin, are
you listening?
Kashmir:
This issue is a
little more complex. I don't think
Kashmir is a
problem created by Kashmiri Muslims. Much
of the crime is
committed by those coming from across
the border for
which the locals get blamed. There is
also some
resentment among the Kashmiris because our
Union has failed to
integrate them in the mainstream.
That is why it was
easier for the ISI to foment
trouble in the
region. But it would be wrong for us to
call it a religious
issue. A similar resentment and
effort at breaking
up was witnessed in Punjab. But we
did not bring in
religion there, and rightly so.
Keeping religious
sentiments away, despite the strong
temptation to do
so, alone will help evolve a solution
to the problem in
Kashmir. Of course, my heart goes
out to those
Kashmiri Hindus who have been killed and
driven out of their
homeland. My heart also goes out
to the Kashmiri
Muslims who have been killed and
displaced over the
same period and are no less in
number. We need to
find a political solution to this
problem. The sooner,
the better.
The BJP came to
power on the promise of scrapping
Article 370 in
Kashmir. I supported that. It is more
than four years
since the party came to power and they
have done nothing
about it. One wonders why. Do they
lack the political
will, or was it just a convenient
issue to whip up
religious sentiments and derive
mileage?
Muslim Personal
Law:
The Muslim
leadership has failed its followers here as
well. Muslims in
general do not oppose a uniform civil
code, but they have
got the rap for the apathy of
their leaders, who
exaggerate the importance of the
MPL. Muslims in
every developed nation, the UK, USA,
Germany, France,
follow that country's civil code
without insisting
on a Muslim Personal Law. Then why
the opposition to a
uniform civil code in India? If
they had a little
foresight, they would have
challenged the
proponents of the UCC to do just that.
There are other
complications in bringing a unified
code in India --
like properly integrating various
existing Hindu laws
and benefits provided to different
castes and tribes
under existing laws. But again, the
Muslim leadership
just provided radical Hindus an
excuse to put the
blame squarely on the MPL and get
away with it.
Despite all the
noise made by these Hindu activists,
the fact is that
India's demography has not changed
over the last 50
years in spite of the ballooning
population. I don't
know of any Muslim who has, or
wants to have, four
wives and dozens of children. The
percentage of
population with large families [more
than six members]
also does not show any significant
religious bias. So
why has the Muslim leadership
allowed the blame
to be pinned on us for nothing?
Ignorance! Wake up,
Shahabuddins!
Support for
Pakistan:
In justifying the
Gujarat carnage, many of my
intellectual Hindu
friends reminded me that Muslims
are anti-national
-- they celebrate Pakistani
victories during
India-Pakistan cricket matches. I
don't agree. If
this is the yardstick for being
anti-national, I
have known many Indians living
abroad, Hindu and
Muslim, who at the very first
opportunity
renounce their Indian passports and
nationality to
become American, or British, or
Canadian, even
Ugandan or Kenyan. Are they
anti-national?
It is said that
America lost the Vietnam War first in
the United States.
People were against that war. And
they had the
freedom to express their views. They were
not anti-national.
There are many Americans who burn
their own flag. Who
dares call them anti-national?
That is what
freedom is all about.
But realistically,
not all Muslims hoot for Pakistan.
In fact, I have not
known anyone who does. So why do
we succumb to such
stereotyping? Because politically
it helps. Because
power politics cannot survive
without identifying
and outlining differences. You
need villains to
project yourself as a hero. That is
what this rhetoric
is all about.
Every society has
some bad elements -- Muslim, Hindu
or Christian. But
those bad elements don't define a
society. Good
elements do. Just because some of those
bad elements do
what we perceive as anti-national
activities, we
cannot ask them to leave India. They
are also Indian
nationals who have every right to live
in India. All of
their ancestors were Indian, even if
at some stage they
chose to accept Islam. No one has a
right to ask them,
or force them, to leave India.
There are thousands
of Indian Americans who regard
themselves
Americans. Imagine if tomorrow there is
unrest in the US
over unemployment and Americans ask
them to leave
because they are taking up their jobs.
How would they
feel? Especially those who were born
and brought up
there? Who have not known any other
country as homeland
except the US?
That is the state
of most Indian Muslims who are often
asked to leave
India just because somebody paints the
entire community
anti-national based on a few such bad
elements.
During the Gujarat
riots, the VHP targeted and killed
my father-in-law,
the former MP Ahsan Jafri, just
because he was a
Muslim. Ahsan Jafri was neither a
terrorist nor a
fundamentalist, nor even an
anti-national. He
served his country and its citizens,
regardless of their
ethnic background, race, or
religion, for 50
years with pride and distinction. His
poems full of
strong nationalism and his teachings
constant with human
values and communal tolerance are
a testimony to his
deep roots in Indian culture and
respect for all
faiths, which those who targeted and
killed him did not
understand or appreciate. Of
course, the Jafri
family did not blame the entire
Hindu society for
killing their loved one. Because
they know that a few
bad elements of a society do not
represent the
entire society.
Muslim pampering
and pandering by political bodies,
however, has been a
reality in India. That has been
one prime factor,
which has been largely responsible
for the state of
Indian Muslims today. The vote-bank
politics following
Independence has kept Indian
Muslims mostly
unchanged in terms of education,
development or
progress. A strong Muslim leadership is
mostly absent. I
fully agree that without this
pampering, Indian
Muslims could have done much better
if a level field
without faith-based discrimination,
or intimidation,
had been ensured.
Sadly, although the
BJP blamed the Congress for such
vote-bank politics,
it is doing exactly the same. Of
course, it does not
appease Muslims. Instead, it
appeases the VHP,
Bajrang Dal and RSS who show the
same mindset as
Muslim fundamentalists.
The Katopanishad
says: 'Those who dwell on yesterday's
mistakes are
condemned to repeat them tomorrow.' Let
the intellectuals
not fall for the divisive agenda of
activists disguised
as patriots or Indian
nationalists. Let
us not become pseudo-intellectual
and pseudo-secular
just because we are repeatedly
challenged by such
rhetoric. Let us recognise that an
Indian is an Indian
regardless of his colour, race, or
religion; that
he/she has a right to freedom of
expression and
faith. Despite all expressed
apocalyptic fears,
Hinduism cannot be destroyed or
weakened. And nor
can Indian Muslims.
Najid Hussain
teaches at the College of Marine
Studies, University
of Delaware, Newark.
© 2002 rediff.com.
All rights reserved.
Gujarat,
the ultimate test
By H Y Sharada
Prasad
Deccan Chronicle,
June 4th, 2002.
http://www.deccan.com/columnists/col2.shtml
In the 1930s, an
English critic, William Empson, put
forward the theory
that vagueness or overlap of
meaning could be an
enrichment rather than a fault in
literature.
When his Seven
Types of Ambiguity was published, many
Indian literary men
pointed out that this had been
well recognised in
our literary tradition long ago and
was an important
ingredient of the theory of “dhvani”.
Politicians are
luckier than poets in that many more
than seven types of
ambiguity are available to them.
We have just had an
example of this in the utterances
of the Prime
Minister during his recent visit to J&K.
These statements
have won praise from quite a few
commentators who
feel that they show Vajpayee at his
best and that he
had made it more than clear that
India this time meant
business.
But some others are
not so impressed. Seema Mustafa,
in her column, said
with sarcasm: “The rhetoric was
traditional
Vajpayee jugglery. He spoke of war and yet
did not speak of
war. There was not a line in his
speeches that could
be taken out by the newspapers and
projected as a
distinct declaration of war. If he
spoke of a decisive
battle, he also said there were no
war clouds in the
sky. If he spoke of unexpected bolts
of lightning, he
also said they were not going to
happen. If he asked
the troops to prepare for victory,
he also spoke of
elections in J&K. He said nothing
which could pin him
down. And yet he gave enough to
those looking for
military conflict, and as much to
those looking for
peace.”
Wherever people
meet these days the question that is
invariably asked is
whether we are in for a war. And
because I had been
a government spokesman once, I am
expected to have
access to information not available
to others.
I get away by
answering that even Vajpayee and General
Pervez Musharraf would
like to have a categorical
answer to that
question. But I hazard a guess, namely
that President Bush
will do his best to prevent a war
so that he could
qualify for this year’s Nobel Prize
for Peace, for that
would greatly enhance his
reputation and his
prospects for a second term.
(After all this has
been one of the benefits of the
prolonged
Arab-Israeli conflict for the domestic
politics of the US.
And it is because Putin has also
recognised this
possibility that he is now putting in
his bit of effort
to leash India and Pakistan.)
We cannot complain,
for we have thrown out of the
window our old
argument that the Indo-Pakistan dispute
is one to be
settled by mutual negotiation and
therefore “Dur hato
duniyaawaale (Scat scat, you
nations of the
world”).
In fact we have
been seeking and supplicating the
intervention of the
US, the EU and whoever else is in
a position to put
some pressure on Pakistan.
But our entire case
has been spoilt by what has been
happening in
Gujarat. The events there have pulled the
rug of
self-righteousness on which we used to stand
all these days.
If we are to assert
we are a democracy (in which by
definition the
minorities have an equal status and
full protection),
we shall be promptly asked: “What
about Gujarat?” If
we speak of secularism, human
rights, commitment
to peaceful change and change with
the consent of the
concerned citizen, again we shall
be reminded of the
happenings in Gujarat.
The world is
rational enough to recognise that if
large numbers of
people of different religions and
widely different
economic backgrounds live side by
side, occasional
clashes are likely to break out.
But the question is
what the government did and how
promptly it acted
to check the trouble-makers. Even
after so much of
spilling of blood and retaliation
several times
greater, the leaders of the ruling party
in Gujarat repeat
the argument that it is for the
minorities to earn
the trust of the majority, while
contemporary
political theory everywhere maintains
that in a modern
State it is the responsibility of the
majority to ensure
the lives, the religious rights and
the livelihood of
the minorities.
After the Gujarat
outbreak, the Sarvodaya leader and a
veteran of the
freedom movement, Siddharj Dhadda, now
in his 90s, wrote a
letter to George Fernandes seeking
to know the
veracity of some remarks attributed to the
Minister.
Surprisingly the
replies were given by Giriraj Kishore
of the Vishwa Hindu
Parishad. The outrageous part of
the reply is
Kishore’s assertion that he is ready to
accept the Muslims
in India because, as he put it,
they had all been
Hindus once and had been converted
from the lowest
castes.
This perverse
argument is not only unhistorical but
indicates that
trouble might build up between the
upper castes and
others within the avowed Hindu ranks.
Today the BJP might
have joined hands with the Bahujan
Samaj Party in
Uttar Pradesh for the purpose of
sharing
governmental power. But the alliance might
flounder if the BJP
clings to presumptions of caste
superiority.
As for Muslims,
they are hardly likely to be keen on
being accepted by
the BJP on the terms set out by
Kishore.
Besides the
long-term job of rebuilding mutual trust
among various
elements in Gujarat, there is an
immediate task. And
that is to ensure that the relief
and rehabilitation
of riot victims are carried out on
an equitable basis.
A letter from an Ahmedabad friend
illustrates the
kind of problem that exists.
“Yesterday in one
of the relief camps,” the friend
writes, “I
discovered the chap who used to take me all
over the town in
his auto-rickshaw.
His house has been
looted, burnt and destroyed and the
rickshaw is now a
twisted skeleton, carted all the way
to the camp in the
pathetic hope of evidence.
One person in this
camp died of a heart attack when he
received a cheque
for the munificent sum of Rs 2,000
for the loss of all
his property...” Bureaucratic
obtuseness can be
even more killing than communal
frenzy.
In the old days
many political workers kept out of
electoral activity
and devoted themselves to what
Mahatma Gandhi
called the Constructive Programme. They
were not only in
the Congress but also in the Praja
Socialist Party and
even the Communist Parties.
When communal riots
broke out, they joined hands in
restoring calm and
helping the victims. Today more and
more of this work
is thrust on the shoulders of
bureaucrats.
Some of them are
very dedicated but if the rulers in
any State are
biased against the minorities, only a
few brave souls
would stretch their neck out to ensure
fairplay.
We need some NGOs
who will give the same priority to
working for
communal peace that so many of them do to
the cause of the
environment.
©Copyright and
Disclaimer