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Friday, May 6, 2011

[ALOCHONA] The War in the Heart of India



The War in the Heart of India

Impoverished tribals, shut out from economic progress, embrace the AK-47.

by Ramachandra Guha

New Delhi is India's political capital; Bangalore the center of its showpiece software industry. If you travel from New Delhi to Bangalore and back, you fly over the poorest districts of the country, where, for the past decade, a bloody war has raged between Maoist revolutionaries and the Indian state. The conflict is invisible to the business traveler, and to the rising Indian middle class. Beneficiaries of an economic boom that is concentrated in the south and the west of India, this middle class has no reason to take notice of a conflict in districts they never visit and to which they have no necessary connection.

Every so often, though, the war in the heart of India forces itself on the national consciousness. In April 2010 the Maoists ambushed a platoon of the Central Reserve police, killing 75. The jihadis in Kashmir occasionally shot dead one or two policemen, but never before, in the history of independent India, had so many men in uniform died simultaneously at the hands of insurgents. TV anchors in Delhi called upon the government to order airstrikes in retaliation.

A year later, the civil war is in the news again, owing to the journeys in and out of jail of a doctor named Binayak Sen. A gold medalist from the prestigious Christian Medical College in Vellore, Sen has been working for the past two decades among tribals in the state of Chhattisgarh. In May 2007 Sen was arrested on the charge of aiding the Maoists. The evidence against him was scandalously flimsy. It consisted of some pamphlets the police found in his house and of visits he had made, in his twin capacity as a doctor and human-rights activist, to Maoists in jail. Sen's incarceration provoked widespread protests in India and abroad. Amnesty International adopted him as a "prisoner of conscience"; 22 Nobel laureates signed a letter demanding his release.

Two years later, when Sen's case had not yet come to trial, the Supreme Court finally granted him bail. In December 2010 a court in Raipur, the capital of Chhattisgarh, found Sen guilty of "sedition" and sentenced him to life imprisonment. The severity of the judgment—and the scantiness of the evidence presented by the prosecutor—prompted a fresh wave of protests by intellectuals and human-rights organizations. On April 15 this year, the Supreme Court granted Sen bail again, noting that the mere possession of Maoist literature did not make one a Maoist. The judges added that possession of a copy of The Story of My Experiments With Truth did not necessarily make one a follower or admirer of Mahatma Gandhi.

The case of Sen provides a window into India's most ferocious fault lines. These run across various axes: economic, social, political, and institutional. In 1991 the Indian economy, previously under strict state control, was opened up to market competition. The dismantling of what was called the "license-permit-quota raj" was overdue. It unleashed the shackled spirits of the Indian entrepreneur; generated wealth, employment, foreign exchange; and spawned a new wave of philanthropy.

The software industry represents the best, and most benign, side to globalization. Here, a skilled, English-speaking labor force has taken advantage of the integration with the world economy and of the accident of India's being five hours ahead of Europe and 10 hours ahead of North America. But there is also a darker side to globalization, as manifested in a growing demand for iron, bauxite, and other minerals, to meet which tens of thousands of villagers have been pushed off their land by private companies acting in collusion with the state.

The surge in mining has chiefly taken place in the tribal districts of central and eastern India. The tribals constitute 8 percent of India's population, and are even worse off than the Dalits (as the former Untouchable castes are known), who make up 15 percent. In a recent book, demographer Arun Maharatna compared the quality of life of an average Dalit with that of an average tribal. On all counts the tribals are more disadvantaged. Some 30.1 percent of Dalits are literate, but only 23.8 percent of tribals are. As many as 41.5 percent of Dalits live below the official poverty line; however, the proportion of poor tribal households is even higher, at 49.5 percent. One in six Dalits has no access to doctors or health clinics; as many as one in four tribals suffers from the same disability; and 63.6 percent of Dalits have access to safe drinking water, but only 43.2 percent of tribals do.

Although they are often poor and oppressed, the Dalits do have a visible stake in Indian democracy. The drafting of the Indian Constitution was conducted under the close supervision of the great Dalit lawyer B. R. Ambedkar. Dalits have their own political parties and their own, very influential political leaders: a Dalit woman, Mayawati, is currently chief minister of India's largest state, Uttar Pradesh.

On the other hand, the tribals have been neglected by the state and the political class. Moreover, they have in recent years been dispossessed of their means of livelihood, and have faced a triple resource curse. Living among some of India's finest forests, alongside its fastest-flowing rivers, and atop its richest veins of mineral ore, they have had to make way for commercial logging, hydroelectric projects, and mines. Their discontent has been exploited by the Maoists, who are now deeply entrenched in the tribal districts of central and eastern India. The insurgents are very focused. They have a full-time cadre of 20,000 activists, with a comparable number of AK-47s at their command. They are also adept at the use of land mines.

In the summer of 2006, I traveled through the district of Dantewada, in Chhattisgarh, where a state-supported vigilante group had been set up to combat the Maoists. The conflict had divided families, homes, and clans, and claimed hundreds of lives and rendered 100,000 tribals homeless. The refugees lived in tents along the main road with no hope of going back to their villages and no prospect of jobs elsewhere in India.

Sen had been to Dantewada, too, and published a sharp indictment of the vigilantism, which may be one reason why he has since been persecuted by the government of Chhattisgarh. For criticizing an admittedly totalitarian regime, Liu Xiaobo (winner of last year's Nobel Peace Prize) got 10 years in jail; for more or less the same offense, albeit in a county that claims to be the world's largest democracy, Sen has been sentenced to jail for the rest of his life. The judicial system in India is painfully slow, so, while it is likely the Supreme Court will eventually acquit him of the charges, this may take several years.

Sen has suffered greatly, as have very many others, whose cases have unfortunately not been picked up by Amnesty International or even the Indian media. On that trip to Dantewada we also visited the local jail, where we interviewed several tribals who had been locked up because they refused the invitation to join the vigilantes. These "undertrials" (as people awaiting trial are described in India) had no knowledge of the law, no access to lawyers: for all I know they are in jail still.

The Indian judicial system is tardy in its upper reaches and corrupt in its lower reaches. The police are always inefficient and often malevolent. Their treatment of undertrials is brutal. On our trip, we collected testimonies of villagers who had their homes burned and their women violated by the police. In every case, they were too terrified to file a formal complaint.

The Maoists are lawless in their violence; so too, in these districts, is the state. The trial of Binayak Sen, one hopes, will bring wider attention to these deep deficiencies in Indian democracy. By the same token, the spread of Maoism could perhaps make economic policies more sensitive to tribal rights and needs. Perhaps if they are given a substantial stake in mining and forestry projects, they may yet benefit from the boom.

These hopes are probably illusory. Judicial reform may be beyond the present institutional capacities of the Indian state. To make tribals stakeholders may be beyond the moral compass of politicians and mining companies. It is striking that despite the persistence of the Maoist insurgency, no major leader has yet thought it fit to visit these troubled parts of India. Not the prime minister, Manmohan Singh; not the head of the ruling alliance, Sonia Gandhi; not her son and heir apparent, Rahul Gandhi. Like the traveler between Bangalore and Delhi, but with far less excuse, they act as if the conflict did not exist.




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[ALOCHONA] Pakistan: The cost of two-nation theory



Pakistan: The cost of two-nation theory


by Anand K Verma
former Chief of RAW

Mohammed Ali Jinnah is on record, claiming that he brought about Pakistan single-handedly. Had he not been born would Pakistan exist today?

Historians have always found the 'Ifs' of history very tantalising. Their speculations of alternative scenarios if history had run a different course at crucial moments are essentially exercises into the imponderables. For example, if a scourge of plague had wiped out early Christianity in Asia Minor, would Europe and perhaps the Americas today be followers of Mithraism? The culmination of Pakistan was indeed the result of one man's effort and not so much the consequences of a chain of events. It is, therefore, relatively easier to examine what would have been the scenario in the subcontinent but for Jinnah's two-nation theory and make an estimation of its costs to the two countries it created in terms of political, social, economic and other values.

Click to buy: Reassessing Pakistan

Two very different kinds of cultures have grown in Pakistan and India post partition. That which grew in India promoted democracy and federalism, secularism and tolerance, a welfare state with enforceable fundamental rights, decentralisation of power, free media and judiciary, individualism, attempts at distributive justice, etc. It is not surprising that India is seen by others as set to make the 21st century its own.

The culmination of Pakistan was indeed the result of one man's effort and not so much the consequences of a chain of events.

On the other hand Pakistan lives under a vastly different set of traditions, with minorities and women treated less than full and equal citizens with others, power essentially in the hands of those who wield a gun; control over free exercise of religion, speech and scientific enquiry; and forms of governments, lacking in democratic character. The blame for such a different turn in history's march can be plausibly attributed to partition.

An undivided India would have escaped the horrors of partition, carnages, uprooting of millions from their homes, traumas of resettlement and division of families. No visas would be necessary to travel from one corner of the country to the other. The festering sore of J&K would not be there, nor problems like Tulbul Barrage, Sir Creek or sharing of rivers either in the west or east of India. The whole region, it can be reasonably assumed, would have been heir to the positive developments seen in India in various fields. Democracy would have taken firm roots all across the board.

Jehadis and armed sectarian groups will not have a free run in the country as they have in Pakistan today.

Representative institutions, respect for constitutionalism and federalism would have grown in other parts as they have developed in India. The military would have remained under firm civilian control and could not have played the hide and seek with democracy as it has been doing in Pakistan in the last fifty-three years. There would have been no need of participation in military or ideological blocks. Non-alignment would have been the foreign policy Mantra for the entire subcontinent. The convergence that the US now seeks with India to preserve peace and security in the world would have come earlier and would have spared the region which is now Pakistan the demeaning consequences of patronage and rejection after exploitation.

Search for security would have taken entirely new dimensions in the composite India. With little to fear from external predators, if any, the burden of defence budgets could perhaps have been halved, releasing enormous funds for economic growth, removal of poverty and illiteracy, health care and for all other social and societal development, which bring dignity and meaning to human life. With development indices spurting, and a population, which would have become the largest in the world, united India would perhaps already have become a powerhouse by now. National security would not be defined in military terms alone.

Pakistan maintains the seventh largest army in the world. For some years after partition, defence spending accounted for 85 per cent of central revenues.

A paradigm shift would have come about linking real security to non-military factors such as environment and ecology apart from growth indices already mentioned. It is a moot question whether under such circumstances thoughts in the region would have run towards establishing nuclear deterrence with all the possibilities of dreadful scenarios, which it now conjures up. Certainly there would be no role or need for an ISI with its philosophy of subversion and sabotage and no requirement of 5th columnists.

Composite India would most definitely have been a secular state as the present day India is. Communalism including communal disturbances could have been a continuing problem for some time since some notable Muslim personalities like Syed Ahmed Khan who wielded considerable influence had become pessimistic about the evolution of a composite Hindu Muslim culture. Some eventually did succeed in adding a political dimension, however minor, to the sense of separatism that had come about in the thought processes of some segments of the two communities in the 19th and the 20th centuries.

But if secularism is now firmly established in India, why should it be doubted that the same milestone would not have been reached in united India. Mahatma Gandhi did succeed in dousing the flames of communal passions in Calcutta and Noakhali on the eve of partition. And perhaps his life would have been spared if partition had not come about, and his healing touch would have been available for a longer period.

In Pakistan instead, the turmoil in the society and the question marks over the nature of governance are proving to be disincentives for foreign investments and pushing it more and more into isolation.

The role of religion in the life of polity would not have become such a troubling question in the region which became Pakistan had India remained united. Ahmedias need not have been excommunicated from Islam, which is a highly regrettable violation of human rights; nor Shias threatened with the same fate by the so-called conscience-keeping Mullahs of the Sunni sect. Military incursion into spheres of power and governance lies at the roots of rise of influence of the Mullahs in Pakistan and the havoc they are creating there. The full story is, however, yet to reveal itself. The clergy is hoping to rule in Pakistan in days to come.

They rule only in two other countries, Iran and Afghanistan and in both countries medieval horrors have been revisited. In undivided India, the citizenry would have been spared this fate. No Taliban scourge will arise in India. Jehadis and armed sectarian groups will not have a free run in the country as they have in Pakistan today. Political and religious authorities will operate in their own separate domains. In India, unlike Pakistan, Islam has developed a soft face, comparable to Islam in Indonesia and Malaysia. In Pakistan, Islam is extracting a much severer cost from the society, with its anti-blasphemy and Hudood laws. In united India too, Islam would be having a benign face much like what existed in British times.

India today is an attractive destination for foreign investments and is fast 'becoming a vibrant part of the global village. The potential of the undivided India would have been even more attractive. In Pakistan instead, the turmoil in the society and the question marks over the nature of governance are proving to be disincentives for foreign investments and pushing it more and more into isolation.

Lowering the Quality of Life

Moving over from the abstract to the concrete, empirical evidence suggests that the cost of the two-nation theory to the two nations it created has been enormous, The two countries have been in a state of confrontation from the beginning. Four wars have been fought in 1948, '62, '71 and '99. Besides, Pakistan is engaged in a low cost proxy war against India in J&K state from 1989. This conflict situation imposes very heavy burden on the resources of the two countries and leaves disproportionately small sums for allotment to social sectors and human development programmes. It is, therefore, not surprising that poverty, illiteracy and lack of health care exist at unacceptable levels in both these countries.

Being the smaller of the two, but displaying a higher degree of confrontation and belligerency, Pakistani defence expenditures are not sustainable by its economy. Pakistan maintains the seventh largest army in the world. For some years after partition, defence spending accounted for 85 per cent of central revenues. For the past ten years according to Sipri Yearbook 1999, (Page 284), the figure has hovered around 25 per cent annually. Seen in the context of debt servicing which the Pakistani budget for 1997-98 placed at 45 per cent of central revenues, the nature of the unsustainability of Pakistani economy becomes self evident.

Pakistan is engaged in a low cost proxy war against India in J&K state from 1989. This conflict situation imposes very heavy burden on the resources of the two countries...

Currently Pakistan's foreign debts are estimated at US $38 billion at the end of December '99, according to World Bank indicators 2000.1 With defence expenditure pegged so high, there is no way the debt will reduce. A debt trap seems to be Pakistan's destiny in coming years, unless it drastically reduces its defence outlays.

This confrontation produces trends that run contrary to the world trends in defence expenditure and changes in force structures. The US Arms Control and Disarmament Agency report on World Military Expenditures and Arms Transfer 1996 (Page 3) notes that whereas the overall military expenditures for the world between 1985 and 1995 declined annually at the rate of 4.9 per cent, those for South Asia rose 3.6 per cent annually. According to the same report, the same year, force strength fell 3 per cent annually for the world, but the figures for South Asia disclosed an annual increase of 1.3 per cent.

The Sipri report mentioned earlier claims that the military expenditures of India and Pakistan account for 90 per cent of the total expenditures in the South Asia region. With major chunk of resources thus transferred to what must be treated essentially as non productive sectors, the social indicators of development, as disclosed by the World Development Report for 1998-99 of the World Bank, for India and Pakistan rank among the lowest in the world on important counts such as per capita income, literacy, poverty, energy consumption, accessibility to drinking water, etc. Pakistan's level of defence spending rules out any upgradation of its social conditions in the foreseeable future and thus will constantly be eroding its comprehensive national strength which has to be measured on the basis of its social development indices.

The attitude of confrontation colours all major national policies in Pakistan. The infrastructure development within the country has remained hostage to military priorities. Membership of Western military pacts like SEATO and CENTO were sought, not because Pakistan had a basic interest in the cold war politics of 1950s and 60s, but because it helped Pakistan to strengthen itself militarily against India.It did not matter to it if in the process it acquired the status of a vassal state.

Casualties of Lack of Cooperation and Coordination

Regional issues go uncoordinated at world bodies like the World Trade Organisation or the United Nations because of its antagonistic posture towards India.

Pakistan objects on the ground that the required storage of water in the Barrage amounts to a violation of the Indus River Water Treaty.

Some lesser issues between the two countries have remained in a limbo because of a lack of desire to work out solutions. The Sir Creek issue is one such problem. It involves the demarcation of the maritime boundary between Sindh and Gujarat along the Sir Creek on the Indian Ocean. There is no doubt that the movement of the coastal boundary by a few kilometres this way or other could result in a change of possession of a few hundred square kilometres of exclusive economic zone. If a spirit of give and take had existed, this problem, festering since 1964, would have been sorted out long ago.

The Wullar Barrage is another such issue where the interpretation over a technicality has been the cause for it to remain unresolved despite several meetings. India needs the Barrage to keep the Jhelum. River navigable between Baramulla and Wullar Lake. Pakistan objects on the ground that the required storage of water in the Barrage amounts to a violation of the Indus River Water Treaty. In reality only humanitarian and not security interests and the basic concerns in this navigation project but opposition is expressed just for the sake of opposition.

Trade within the region is another casualty of the two-nation theory. During British days, the entire subcontinent had served as a compact for trade, commerce and movement of industrial goods. These complementarities were maintained for a couple of years after partition. In 1948-49 56 per cent of Pakistan's exports were destined to India and 32 per cent of the imports originated in India.2 Policy changes by Pakistan choked this trade and reduced it practically to a standstill after the 1965 war. However, trade, illegal or through third countries, continued to flourish and is estimated at $2 billion annually.

...the bomb technology could leak from Pakistan to some other Muslim countries or to some terrorist groups like Al-Quaida of Osama bin Laden.

The South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC) has sought to promote intra-regional trade. These efforts led to the SAARC Preferential Trading Agreement (SAPTA) in 1991 for facilitating liberaltsed intra-regional trading. SAPT A came into force in 199 but has remained just a dead letter because Pakistan remains fundamentally opposed to a liberalised trade regime with India even though studies by trade bodies in Pakistan and elsewhere generally agree that enormous economic benefits will flow to both countries through bilateral trade. Estimates are that such trade can quickly jump to the annual figure of US $5 billion.

Threats from Unpredictable Nuclear Policy

The nuclear genie would not have probably been released in the subcontinent had India remained united. Pakistan has linked its nuclear weapon programme directly to threats perceived from India. Beginning from 1972 when the Kanupp nuclear power plant was completed with Canadian assistance the weapon development programme was kept continuously on track until weapon testing was publicly accomplished in 1998. The programme would not have succeeded without direct assistance in technology, designing and blue prints of their own early weapons by the Chinese who saw this as an opportunity to develop Pakistan as their own Israel, and without winking by the United States who needed Pakistan as a frontline state for confrontation against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan.

...the possibility of an American air strike against Pakistani nuclear installations to prevent the nuclear weapon devices reaching the radical Islamists.

Some West Asian or North African Muslim states also appear to have promoted the project envisioning it as the making of a 'Muslim Bomb'. Apart from the Chinese, the only other foreigner ever allowed a visit to its Uranium enrichment facilities at Kahuta was the Saudi Defence Minister, Prince Sultan, in May '99. It is conceivable that the bomb technology could leak from Pakistan to some other Muslim countries or to some terrorist groups like Al-Quaida of Osama bin Laden. Proliferation of this kind, if it takes place, will be a serious fall out from the consequences of the two-nation theory. The prospects disturb the Americans deeply. One of their think tanks visualised the possibility of an American air strike against Pakistani nuclear installations to prevent the nuclear weapon devices reaching the radical Islamists.3

The Pakistani nuclear weapons programme has been under very close scrutiny by the Americans ever since it made its appearance. It was estimated that by 1983 the programme had forged successfully the components of a nuclear weapon device and was in a position to field test it by 1984. The main source of the Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) on which it was based, was the Bagalchur mines but by 1998, the mines had exhausted their Uranium content. By this time the HEU produced from their materials was said to be in the region of 500 to 800 kilograms.

At 25 kg of HEU per nuclear weapon device, the stockpile of bombs from the Uranium route could be anywhere from 25 to 32. The weapon programme could now have shifted to the Plutonium route with the Khushab reactor having reached criticality by mid 1998. Weapons' grade Plutonium will be available from the New Labs Reprocessing Facilities at Pinstech and Chashma Reprocessing Plant near Khushab and together they could make available annually about 5.5 kg of Plutonium from the beginning of this millennium. Some small quantities of Uranium are expected to be available form a new mine at Leghari which can perhaps contribute annually 4 to 5 kg of HEU.

It is clear that the thought of use of nuclear weapons against India has crossed the minds of Pakistani leadership several times in the past.

Pakistan will, thus, be able to add 4 to 5 nuclear devices to its stockpile every year from 2000-2001. The numbers already available together with those to follow in coming years constitute a threat, which cannot be ignored, since the principle of No First Use is given a go by. The Pakistan Air force has already modified its planes for nuclear deliveries. Its F-16, Mirage V and A5 combat aircraft have been tested for deliveries through free fall, low-level ejection, loft and toss.4

Thanks to Chinese assistance and North Korean collaboration, Pakistan outstrips India in missile development and acquisition. The missile programme made dramatic strides form early 1990s after the Chinese agreed to come to their help with their technologies. Thoday Pakistan has missiles which can strike India anywhere with a nuclear payload. The missiles have accurate guidance systems. The options available in terms of propulsion, range and varety are comprehensive. They are the bedrock of Pakistan nuclear doctrine. The name chosen like Ghauri are intended to recall what Mohamed Ghauri did to India centuries ago. Each missile is an answer to India's own missile system. Hatf missile counters the Prithvi, but Ghauri and Shaheen, with their second-strike capability and mobile mountings, are yet to be matched on ground on the Indian side. Agni can counter Shaheen but is not in serial production.

The Americans also worry about a possible pre-emptive use of nuclear weapons by Pakistan in the subcontinent and have on a number of occasions given expression to their apprehensions in fora such as the US Congressional hearings. Such fears are not of recent origin. In May 1990 a special emissary of US Presideft, the then Deputy National Security Advisor Robert Gates/had been sent to Pakistan to warn its leadership against a nuclear adventure against India. The American assessment was based on what the CIA had believed to be definitive indicators of Pakistani intentions.

Kargil represents joint Pak Mujahideen action in what official circles describe as Jehad in Kashmir. Neither is in a mood to accept any solution on Kashmir short of accession to Pakistan.

This American assessment has for long been disbelieved in India but it seems now a fresh look at the evidence5 is called for as it has come to light that Pakistan was able to make components for a nuclear bomb by 1983 and was ready for a nuclear blast in 1984. The joint article captioned 'Securing Nuclear Peace', published in the News of 5 October 1999, by two former Foreign Secretaries of Pakistan, Agha Shahi and Abdul Sattar (the latter is now the Foreign Minister) and former Air Chief Air Marshal Zulfiqar Ali Khan, had made the point that the value of nuclear capability for Pakistan had been under consideration on at least three occasions as given below:

Use of nuclear weapons to counter an anticipated Indian attack on Kahuta in mid 1980s was neither specifically mentioned nor excluded.
Use of nuclear weapons in the event of Brasstacks (a massive Indian military exercise in 1986 along the Indo-Pak borders) converting into an operation, which was more thana mere speculation.
Gates visit in May 1990 was to prevent an escalation into war with nuclear undertones following deterioration of the Kashmir situation in early 1990 when Indians were considering bombing of training camps in POK.

It is, thus, clear that the thought of use of nuclear weapons against India has crossed the minds of Pakistani leadership several times in the past. Military control over these weapons and an inherent instability in the political and economic situation in the country together constitute a potent combination that can cause Pakistan to lurch into a desperate decision on launch of nuclear weapons against India. Kashmir does provide a backdrop to such a possibility.

Kargil represents joint Pak Mujahideen action in what official circles describe as Jehad in Kashmir. Neither is in a mood to accept any solution on Kashmir short of accession to Pakistan. Anything else would create a rebellion.6 Such is the belief in some quarters in Pakistan.

What has creation of Pakistan meant to the people who live in its territory? Has it been a boon or a handicap? In the words of a scholar, since its inception Pakistan has faced intensively "crisis of political development", i.e. the crisis of identity, legitimacy, integration, penetration, participation and distribution? This description provides ail answer to the question.

Click to buy: Reassessing Pakistan

Another scholar Myron Weiner observes that national integration comprises five tasks, the creation of a sense of territorial nationality, the establishing of a central national authority, the bridging of the elite-mass gap, the creation of a minimum value consensus, and devising of integrative institutions and behaviour. The objective is to bring about a national identity among people who are divided by ethnicity, religion, language, culture and history8. Going by these criteria, it is difficult not to come to the conclusion that the "crisis of political development" continues in Pakistan and complete national integration is yet to be accomplished. The split in 1971, leading to Bangladesh, was an eloquent commentary on the state of affairs there. Continuing social, regional and ethnic tensions may suggest that the final chapter is perhaps yet to be written.

With a Taliban victory in Afghanistan, a new form of fundamentalism has started stalking Pakistan, which is vocal about its preference for a Taliban like state in Pakistan.

Instead of being the basis for a common identity and nationalism, Islam in Pakistan has proved to be quite divisive. It discriminates against minorities, reduces them to the status of lesser citizens and makes a mockery of their political rights by creating a climate for fostering separate electorates. While Islam became a tool for seeking legitimacy in the hands of usurpers, Islamisation was seen to be an opportunity by Islamic groups to transfer political power into the hands of the believers through occupation of as many positions of authority as possible in order to pave the way for the establishment of a doctrinaire Islamic state. The influence of this brand of Islam has continued to grow in the corridors of power resulting in step-by-step increase in religio-political mobilisation. The electoral results prove that such groups have not caught the fancy of the general masses of the people but the objective of seizing ultimate political power in the country continues to guide their programmes.

This politicised and activised form of Islam has little to do with piety or religiosity. It also practically contributed nothing to the promotion of cardinal Islamic values of social justice, equality, brotherhood, freedom, tolerance and democracy. On the other hand, its narrow interpretations by sectarian groups have spawned heavy sectarian violence. Shias and Sunnis now maintain their own militant forces 'that often engage in murderous attacks against each other. With a Taliban victory in Afghanistan, a new form of fundamentalism has started stalking Pakistan, which is vocal about its preference for a Taliban like state in Pakistan.

Portents point to a repetition of Algeria, Tunisia or Egypt in Pakistan, where government and religious forces are battling it out on the streets and elsewhere, making the ordinary citizen insecure about life and property.

Supporters of this fundamentalism are engaged in a Jehad in Kashmir but they want to carry out a Jehad within Pakistan also. The military rulers are unable to control the hardliner extremists and are on the defensive. They have had to roll back measures aimed at controlling the fundamentalist outfits such as placing restrictions on collection of funds in the name of Jehad and a display of weapons at meetings and congregations. The balance of forces between the fundamentalists and the military regime seems to be tilting against the latter since the Maulavis and the Mullahs are gaining in strength each year through the addition of about 40,000 graduates from Madrassa schools.

Government spokesmen are already sounding despondent over the turn of events and speak about the inability of the regime to annoy religious parties for fear that they will direct their guns at them.9 Portents, thus, point to a repetition of Algeria, Tunisia or Egypt in Pakistan, where government and religious forces are battling it out on the streets and elsewhere, making the ordinary citizen insecure about life and property.

Repudiation of Past

A nation, which denies its past, is condemned to remain rootless for long spells. History and culture cannot be repudiated but this is exactly what the educational system and history books in Pakistan have been doing. They define Pakistan in negative terms and talk of Mughal times, excluding other milestones of history. Aurangzeb is their greatest hero. True identity is sought to be denied and therefore, the question of identity remains unresolved to this day.

Pakistan's isolation in the world areas, and the new found general tilt towards India in their attitudes, reinforce these impulses and create a hope that even though seen as a failing state Pakistan will not yet be a failed state.

The Bihari Muslim left behind in Bangladesh after 1971 is no longer recognised to have a right of residence in Pakistan even though he had moved out of the heartland of British India, choosing to live in Pakistan. The Mohajir in Pakistan is demanding to be accepted as the fifth nationalist group because as a Mohajir he feels he has no identity in Pakistan. The Punjabi domination in major sectors of political and economic life of the country makes the Sind his, Pathans and Baluchis focus on their own distinctive characteristics and requirements. They place their own ethnic identity before the Pakistani identity.

The awakened awareness about political, cultural and social identity extends the frontiers of all kinds of volatility in the system, adding to the fragility of the state. Adequate political or democratic institutions are yet to be forged where the grievances could be objectively addressed. Governance is still in a state of experimentation with several models having been tried at one time or another, and found wanting. The military was accepted as the only dependable and stable institution in Pakistan and was earlier given credibility for being an efficient manager.

But the. Hamoodur Rehman Commission report about the 1971 debacle has shattered many of the illusions held by the Pakistanis about their Armed Forces. The report charged the Army Brass with perversions (sexual excesses, debauchery, drunkenness, etc.) and willful subversion of public life and held them directly responsible for the dismemberment of Pakistan.10 The civil society in Pakistan now firmly believes that evils like corruption, obscurantism and mismanagement have made deep inroads into its Armed Forces and that they are no better than a failing political institution.

But the civil society is no longer entirely silent about the aberrations in the Pakistani polity and governance. There is a certain vibrancy in it, which articulates calls for a thorough overhaul of the system. Women and civil rights activists refuse to be silenced. Pakistan's isolation in the world areas, and the new found general tilt towards India in their attitudes, reinforce these impulses and create a hope that even though seen as a failing state Pakistan will not yet be a failed state. There is much that is still functioning in Pakistan such as its judiciary, bureaucracy, armed forces and media. The overall situation is best summed up in the CIA report, 'Global Trends: 2015'.

The citizens of Pakistan, thus, seem to be paying a heavy price for the two-nation theory.

"Pakistan will not easily recover from decades of economic and political mismanagement, divisive politics, lawlessness, corruption and ethnic friction. Nascent democratic reforms will produce little change in face of opposition from an entrenched political elite and radical Islamic parties. Further domestic disarray will benefit Islamic political activists who may significantly increase their role in national politics and alter the make up and cohesion of the military, once Pakistan's most capable institution in a climate of continuing domestic turmoil the Central Government's control will probably be reduced to the Punjab heartland and the economic hub of Karachi. Pakistan will 'be more fractious, isolated and dependent on international financial assistance".11

The report card on Pakistan is not very bright. The citizens of Pakistan, thus, seem to be paying a heavy price for the two-nation theory. The prophets of doom predict a future for Pakistan akin to that of the erstwhile Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. Should such predictions come true, these costs would have been paid in vain.

Notes

  1. POT 4th Aug. 2000, Page 3220.
  2. Dr Ijaz Nabi, Integrated Report and Summary of Findings, Pakistan India Trade Study, Ministry of Commerce, Govt of Pakistan, Sept. 1996 P. 2, as quoted by Major General Mahmud Ali Durrani (Retd), 'India and Pakistan', The John Hopkins University Foreign Policy Institute, School of Advanced International Studies, Washington, P. 42.
  3. Mehdi Masud, Dawn (8/2), as quoted in POT, 16 Feb., Page 899.
  4. Rais Mohammad Saleh Azam, 'Where Mountains Move': The Story of Chagai, The Nation 28 May, 2000. The article was also reproduced by The Pakistan Institute for Air Defence Studies.
  5. ibid.
  6. Arif Jamal, a commenter in News (9/7), as quoted in POT, 4th Aug. 2000, P. 3223.
  7. Kalim Bahadur, 'Democracy in Pakistan, Crises and Conflicts, 'HarAnand Publications Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, 1998 PI 14.
  8. Jason N Finkle and Richard W. Gable(ed.s), 'Political Development and Social Change', New York, 1971, P. 643-654.
  9. News, (23/9), quoting Minister for Religious Affairs, Abdul Malik Kasi, as reported in POT, 17 July 2000.
  10. India Today, 2 Aug 2000, P. 37-38.
  11. Quoted by Mehdi Masud, Dawn, (8/2), as reported in POT, 6 March 2001, P. 899.


http://www.indiandefencereview.com/IDR-Updates/Pakistan-The-cost-of-two-nation-theory.html


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[ALOCHONA] Widening rich-poor gap



The widening rich-poor gap



http://budhbar.com/?p=5029


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[ALOCHONA] Farhad Mazhar on making and unmaking of the Constitution



Farhad Mazhar on making and unmaking of the Constitution

farhad-mazhar-12

http://opinion.bdnews24.com/bangla/2011/05/06/%E0%A6%B8%E0%A6%82%E0%A6%AC%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%A7%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%A8-%E0%A6%9B%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%81%E0%A7%9C%E0%A6%BE-%E0%A6%A4%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%AF%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%A8%E0%A6%BE-%E0%A6%B0%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%AB/


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[ALOCHONA] FW: Syria: stand with the protesters




 



Date: Fri, 6 May 2011 14:48:32 -0400
From: avaaz@avaaz.org
Subject: Syria: stand with the protesters
 

Dear friends,

The crackdown on Syrian protesters has left 630 dead and more than 5,000 detained and tortured. Embattled Syrian activists are calling on Avaaz for financial support -- for supplies, transport, and other essentials that sustain their peaceful movement. Click here to see a harrowing video appeal from Syria and to chip in:


A desperate video plea has just come in from an Avaaz member in Syria who has risked his life to call on us for help.

The Syrian regime is laying siege to whole cities, and is willing to annihilate them to crush the peaceful democracy movement. Security forces have cut off all food, water and medicine to these towns, shot hundreds of citizens, and detained and tortured thousands -- in many cases ripping out their fingernails before releasing them, as a warning to other protesters.

Despite this unimaginable terror, the Syrian people refuse to be silenced, and are committed to a non-violent path out of this nightmare. But while they have no shortage of bravery, they are short of funds. They are asking for financial and other support -- for needs ranging from urgent medical help to ads and public messages urging soldiers to refuse to shoot protestors.

Click here to watch the harrowing video appeal and donate to help the Syrians' crucial efforts:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/syria_stand_with_the_protesters/?vl

The heart-rending siege of the cities of Dera'a and Banias, the mass arrest and torture of more than 5,000 peaceful demonstrators, the total ban on foreign reporting (including the disappearance of Al Jazeera journalist Dorothy Parvaz), and the staggering death toll countrywide are fueling citizens' demands for real, democratic reform. Experts say the regime has reached the point of no return, and that the best hope for peace is to get trusted figures close to the regime to break off and demand an end to the violence.

A raft of resignations and defections show emerging cracks in the regime, which activists can help widen, particularly as the violence intensifies and international pressure increases.

Backed by thousands of Avaaz members, citizen journalists have bravely brought the images of the protests to the world's media. Reuters, CNN, BBC, Associated Press and Al Jazeera have all been using their footage and photographs -- often the only such material available to the international press amidst the government's attempted blackout. Now, as the violence worsens, peaceful activists are calling on the Avaaz community to help escalate their advocacy and organizing efforts.

We can help by funding ad campaigns and public messages urging soldiers to stop the violence, travel costs for high-level advocacy, safer communications equipment, phone bills, expert advisers on legal reforms and other assistance, including urgent medical and legal contingencies. If enough of us join together, we can sustain courageous activists' crucial push for peace and reform, and maintain the momentum of people power across the region.

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/syria_stand_with_the_protesters/?vl

Avaaz members have played a key role in supporting people-powered movements in the Middle East. Several Avaaz contacts have disappeared or been wounded during the horrific wave of repression. But they are determined to keep pressing for human rights and freedom, even in the face of terrible violence -- let's muster all the strength of our community to support their struggle and their courage.

In solidarity,

Stephanie, David, Mohammad, Rewan, Brianna, Andrew, Alice, Ricken, Sam and the rest of the Avaaz team

SOURCES

Syria: Tanks 'deploy around Rastan' after protests, BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13279262

Syrian ruling party members defect en masse, Christian Science Monitor
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/terrorism-security/2011/0428/Syrian-ruling-party-members-defect-en-masse

Avaaz mentioned in piece on current situation in Syria, CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/05/05/syria.unrest/

UN panel proffers diluted rebuke, Montreal Gazette
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/world/panel+proffers+diluted+rebuke/4703949/story.html

Deraa must be allowed to receive aid and siege lifted, NGO tells Syria, The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/04/deraa-syria-assad

Syria: Is Assad's clan turning against him?, Time
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2067087-1,00.html




Avaaz.org is an 8-million-person global campaign network
that works to ensure that the views and values of the world's people shape global decision-making. ("Avaaz" means "voice" or "song" in many languages.) Avaaz members live in every nation of the world; our team is spread across 13 countries on 4 continents and operates in 14 languages. Learn about some of Avaaz's biggest campaigns here, or follow us on Facebook or Twitter.

This message was sent to farida_majid@hotmail.com. To change your email address, language, or other information, contact us via this form. To unsubscribe, send an email to unsubscribe@avaaz.org or click here.

To contact Avaaz, please do not reply to this email. Instead, write to us at www.avaaz.org/en/contact or call us at +1-888-922-8229 (US).


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RE: [ALOCHONA] Women policy of Tagore and Amini



           This is a very good write-up.  It may not seem to be the best way to greet Rabindranath's 150th birth celebrations.  But it is timely in the sense of showing how sociopolitical pressures vary from time to time, but patriarchy finds a way of subjugating women in any ruse.  For Tagore it was preserving a certain class hierarchy and social identity.  He really did have a double standard.  He preached about equal status of men and women in 'Chitrangoda' but craved from his own family-women total devotion to the service of their husbands in the most servile way in which, he felt, there was 'shanti' and 'kalyan' for the society as a whole.
 
          I have always pointed to the class aspect of purdah.  So did Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain, my all-time favorite feminist.  Nowadays many lower class women are donning fashionable burkhas not because they are pressured by mullahs, nor for the fact that they suddenly turned religious, but for a bit of newly minted social status.
 
            Amini is raising hell against the Govt. Women Policies, which are not ideally suitable policies anyway, just to keep religion as a potent political tool.  It keeps AL Govt. in thrall and gives BNP/Jamaat a stick to beat the govt. with.
 
           Women and religion always make a heady political brew anywhere, anytime.  Just look at the ongoing  "abortion politics" in the U.S.A.!
 
                  ~ Farida Majid
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++===
 
From: bdmailer@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 21 Apr 2011 12:09:48 +0600
Subject: [ALOCHONA] Women policy of Tagore and Amini

 



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[ALOCHONA] 150th Birth Anniversary of Tagore - The Home and the World



On the eve of 150th Birthday of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore we are republishing his most modern novel "Ghore Baire" The Home and the World (part by part Today Part 1). The novel illustrates the battle Tagore had with himself, between the ideas of Western culture and revolution against the Western culture. Please send your comment in Tagore Forum. –Moderator  www.tagore.info

The Home and the World

by Rabindranath Tagore

Bimala's Story - I

Mother, today there comes back to mind the vermilion mark 1 at the parting of your hair, the sari 2 which you used to wear, with its wide red border, and those wonderful eyes of yours, full of depth and peace. They came at the start of my life's journey, like the first streak of dawn, giving me golden provision to carry me on my way.

The sky which gives light is blue, and my mother's face was dark, but she had the radiance of holiness, and her beauty would put to shame all the vanity of the beautiful.

Everyone says that I resemble my mother. In my childhood I used to resent this. It made me angry with my mirror. I thought that it was God's unfairness which was wrapped round my limbs--that my dark features were not my due, but had come to me by some misunderstanding. All that remained for me to ask of my God in reparation was, that I might grow up to be a model of what woman should be, as one reads it in some epic poem.

When the proposal came for my marriage, an astrologer was sent, who consulted my palm and said, "This girl has good signs. She will become an ideal wife."

And all the women who heard it said: "No wonder, for she resembles her mother."

I was married into a Rajah's house. When I was a child, I was quite familiar with the description of the Prince of the fairy story. But my husband's face was not of a kind that one's imagination would place in fairyland. It was dark, even as mine was. The feeling of shrinking, which I had about my own lack of physical beauty, was lifted a little; at the same time a touch of regret was left lingering in my heart.

But when the physical appearance evades the scrutiny of our senses and enters the sanctuary of our hearts, then it can forget itself. I know, from my childhood's experience, how devotion is beauty itself, in its inner aspect. When my mother arranged the different fruits, carefully peeled by her own loving hands, on the white stone plate, and gently waved her fan to drive away the flies while my father sat down to his meals, her service would lose itself in a beauty which passed beyond outward forms. Even in my infancy I could feel its power. It transcended all debates, or doubts, or calculations: it was pure music.

I distinctly remember after my marriage, when, early in the morning, I would cautiously and silently get up and take the dust 3 of my husband's feet without waking him, how at such moments I could feel the vermilion mark upon my forehead shining out like the morning star.

One day, he happened to awake, and smiled as he asked me: "What is that, Bimala? What are you doing?"

I can never forget the shame of being detected by him. He might possibly have thought that I was trying to earn merit secretly. But no, no! That had nothing to do with merit. It was my woman's heart, which must worship in order to love.

My father-in-law's house was old in dignity from the days of the Badshahs. Some of its manners were of the Moguls and Pathans, some of its customs of Manu and Parashar. But my husband was absolutely modern. He was the first of the house to go through a college course and take his M.A. degree. His elder brother had died young, of drink, and had left no children. My husband did not drink and was not given to dissipation. So foreign to the family was this abstinence, that to many it hardly seemed decent! Purity, they imagined, was only becoming in those on whom fortune had not smiled. It is the moon which has room for stains, not the stars.

My husband's parents had died long ago, and his old grandmother was mistress of the house. My husband was the apple of her eye, the jewel on her bosom. And so he never met with much difficulty in overstepping any of the ancient usages. When he brought in Miss Gilby, to teach me and be my companion, he stuck to his resolve in spite of the poison secreted by all the wagging tongues at home and outside.

My husband had then just got through his B.A. examination and was reading for his M.A. degree; so he had to stay in Calcutta to attend college. He used to write to me almost every day, a few lines only, and simple words, but his bold, round handwriting would look up into my face, oh, so tenderly! I kept his letters in a sandalwood box and covered them every day with the flowers I gathered in the garden.

At that time the Prince of the fairy tale had faded, like the moon in the morning light. I had the Prince of my real world enthroned in my heart. I was his queen. I had my seat by his side. But my real joy was, that my true place was at his feet.

Since then, I have been educated, and introduced to the modern age in its own language, and therefore these words that I write seem to blush with shame in their prose setting. Except for my acquaintance with this modern standard of life, I should know, quite naturally, that just as my being born a woman was not in my own hands, so the element of devotion in woman's love is not like a hackneyed passage quoted from a romantic poem to be piously written down in round hand in a school-girl's copy-book.

But my husband would not give me any opportunity for worship. That was his greatness. They are cowards who claim absolute devotion from their wives as their right; that is a humiliation for both.

His love for me seemed to overflow my limits by its flood of wealth and service. But my necessity was more for giving than for receiving; for love is a vagabond, who can make his flowers bloom in the wayside dust, better than in the crystal jars kept in the drawing-room.

My husband could not break completely with the old-time traditions which prevailed in our family. It was difficult, therefore, for us to meet at any hour of the day we pleased. 4 I knew exactly the time that he could come to me, and therefore our meeting had all the care of loving preparation. It was like the rhyming of a poem; it had to come through the path of the metre.

After finishing the day's work and taking my afternoon bath, I would do up my hair and renew my vermilion mark and put on my sari, carefully crinkled; and then, bringing back my body and mind from all distractions of household duties, I would dedicate it at this special hour, with special ceremonies, to one individual. That time, each day, with him was short; but it was infinite.

My husband used to say, that man and wife are equal in love because of their equal claim on each other. I never argued the point with him, but my heart said that devotion never stands in the way of true equality; it only raises the level of the ground of meeting. Therefore the joy of the higher equality remains permanent; it never slides down to the vulgar level of triviality.

My beloved, it was worthy of you that you never expected worship from me. But if you had accepted it, you would have done me a real service. You showed your love by decorating me, by educating me, by giving me what I asked for, and what I did not. I have seen what depth of love there was in your eyes when you gazed at me. I have known the secret sigh of pain you suppressed in your love for me. You loved my body as if it were a flower of paradise. You loved my whole nature as if it had been given you by some rare providence.

Such lavish devotion made me proud to think that the wealth was all my own which drove you to my gate. But vanity such as this only checks the flow of free surrender in a woman's love. When I sit on the queen's throne and claim homage, then the claim only goes on magnifying itself; it is never satisfied. Can there be any real happiness for a woman in merely feeling that she has power over a man? To surrender one's pride in devotion is woman's only salvation.

It comes back to me today how, in the days of our happiness, the fires of envy sprung up all around us. That was only natural, for had I not stepped into my good fortune by a mere chance, and without deserving it? But providence does not allow a run of luck to last for ever, unless its debt of honour be fully paid, day by day, through many a long day, and thus made secure. God may grant us gifts, but the merit of being able to take and hold them must be our own. Alas for the boons that slip through unworthy hands!

My husband's grandmother and mother were both renowned for their beauty. And my widowed sister-in-law was also of a beauty rarely to be seen. When, in turn, fate left them desolate, the grandmother vowed she would not insist on having beauty for her remaining grandson when he married. Only the auspicious marks with which I was endowed gained me an entry into this family-- otherwise, I had no claim to be here.

In this house of luxury, but few of its ladies had received their meed of respect. They had, however, got used to the ways of the family, and managed to keep their heads above water, buoyed up by their dignity as Ranis of an ancient house, in spite of their daily tears being drowned in the foam of wine, and by the tinkle of the dancing girls' anklets. Was the credit due to me that my husband did not touch liquor, nor squander his manhood in the markets of woman's flesh? What charm did I know to soothe the wild and wandering mind of men? It was my good luck, nothing else. For fate proved utterly callous to my sister-in-law. Her festivity died out, while yet the evening was early, leaving the light of her beauty shining in vain over empty halls--burning and burning, with no accompanying music!

His sister-in-law affected a contempt for my husband's modern notions. How absurd to keep the family ship, laden with all the weight of its time-honoured glory, sailing under the colours of his slip of a girl-wife alone! Often have I felt the lash of scorn. "A thief who had stolen a husband's love!" "A sham hidden in the shamelessness of her new-fangled finery!" The many-coloured garments of modern fashion with which my husband loved to adorn me roused jealous wrath. "Is not she ashamed to make a show-window of herself--and with her looks, too!"

My husband was aware of all this, but his gentleness knew no bounds. He used to implore me to forgive her.

I remember I once told him: "Women's minds are so petty. so crooked!" "Like the feet of Chinese women," he replied. "Has not the pressure of society cramped them into pettiness and crookedness? They are but pawns of the fate which gambles with them. What responsibility have they of their own?"

My sister-in-law never failed to get from my husband whatever she wanted. He did not stop to consider whether her requests were right or reasonable. But what exasperated me most was that she was not grateful for this. I had promised my husband that I would not talk back at her, but this set me raging all the more, inwardly. I used to feel that goodness has a limit, which, if passed, somehow seems to make men cowardly. Shall I tell the whole truth? I have often wished that my husband had the manliness to be a little less good.

My sister-in-law, the Bara Rani, 5 was still young and had no pretensions to saintliness. Rather, her talk and jest and laugh inclined to be forward. The young maids with whom she surrounded herself were also impudent to a degree. But there was none to gainsay her--for was not this the custom of the house? It seemed to me that my good fortune in having a stainless husband was a special eyesore to her. He, however, felt more the sorrow of her lot than the defects of her character. [....to be continue....]

 


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