Ever growing need for commonalty is threatened by ever increasing communalism in the country. Commonalty is the concern for humankind on the basis of their wants and situation in life as well as their problems and aspirations. Communalism is dividing the humankind on the basis of religion and pitting one group against the other in considering with a bias wants, situation in life as well as problems and aspirations of the people.
There will be two different perspectives when the matter of dealing with justice the question of the Muslims in the country, especially their development and their massacre and subsequent plight in Gujarat since 2002. The National Development Council that met in Delhi on Wednesday December 19, 2007 to approve the 11th five year plan document witnessed the clash between commonalty and communalism.
It is universally acknowledged within the country that Muslims are more backward than any other group of our population. The Sachar Commission report makes a sobering realization of the present day tangent truth. Everyone knows but most do not want to do anything in this regard. A burgeoning economy like ours can afford to march further in the near foreseeable future. But in the long run this would increase and enlarge ghettoization to such an extent that there would be enclaves like Nagorna Karabekh and Kosovo, if they are not already there.
The Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh while addressing the audience which included the chief ministers of states took a commonalty approach when he said "The goal of this plan is to invest in our people to enable them to become active participants in economic growth processes. The plan does not attempt to divide people on the basis of caste, creed or gender or religion..The plan does pay special attention on the needs of these marginalized groups and targets them in a precise manner.
"Inclusiveness does mean better targeting and it is not at the cost of other groups. You will all agree that if we hope to have a prosperous, equitable, just India, we must cover all groups and ensure that no one is left”.
Finance Minister Chidambram had gendered the previous budget because there was need for targeting improvement of women and empowering them. Their needs were felt to be real. What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. What is crucial in today’s context is that leaving out minorities including Muslims far behind does not serve the nation as such. The 11th Plan that stipulates earmarking 15 per cent of targets and outlays under various schemes for minorities is a step in the path of bridging the gaps and avoiding pockets of stagnant pools in the backwater settlement.
But that is what exactly two chief ministers from Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh opposed.
Have the Muslims ceased to be part of the social fabric of India? When? Modi has a different sense of society; perhaps his spin doctors are telling that he represents the the middle class and they feel like him. This self delusory strategy worked in the relief camps when Modi closed down the camps from where the victims had nowhere to go as their commercial establishments, jobs and works were totally destroyed along with their houses, lock stock and barrel. The ration and medicine in the camps were too scanty to go around and then this expulsion! Modi dubbed the camps as the breeding grounds of “we five and our twenty five”. What he could not provide to his own population worst affected by his state sponsored pogroms he is niggardly about for the rest of the country where similar groups exist. As he lectured the audience for which the PM rebuked him. "The New 15 Point Programme that focuses on earmarking certain outlays of various developmental schemes and programmes of the government of India amongst the eligible beneficiaries, based on their minority status, should be reviewed in the interest of maintaining the social fabric of the nation. Such discrimination, amongst the eligible beneficiaries, for flow of funds based on minority status, will not help the cause if taking the people of India together on the path of development,"
This is a clear and most flagrant attempt to carry the laboratory experiment result from Gujarat to the whole country. In other words, the minorities, in particular Muslims, do not deserve any uplift or entitlement. As he managed the pogroms and then the closure of the relief camps and the divisive and unjust relief given to the relatives of the dead, and the boycott they face and their virtual disenfranchisement, and then the fake encounters in the name of patriotism, Modi thinks that he would carry the day with him all the time and everywhere. But there is a catch. Even when he wins the election he would be liable to prosecution.
Since July 2002 the International Criminal Court has not only come into existence but has been quite active. It will prosecute individuals accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. There are 18 judges and a prosecutor elected by the ratifying countries. This is a great step forward in the protection of human rights and international justice. Now individuals have a right in international law that would safeguard their right against torture, right to life and dignity.
Every ratifying member country of course should try anyone of its nationals (within its own jurisdiction) who is accused of genocide, crimes against humanity, like rape, massacre or war crimes. If such a country does not do this, any victim of such a crime is entitled to go to ICC and seek prosecution of the perpetrator of crimes against humanity or war crimes and genocide. This is recognized as the principle of complementarity. Crimes committed before July 1, 2002 do not come under the purview of ICC. This is known as the principle of non-retroactivity. The rule of complementarity is a breath of fresh air in the fetid atmosphere of oppression and suppression that is commonly found in countries like Rawanda and former Yugoslavia. This would deter countries where national courts conduct sham trial or fail to investigate such crimes at all.
Moreover, what about the continued torture of a people as a result of the action which took place before July 1, 20002. Thousands of riot affected people in Ahmedabad and elsewhere in Gujarat were forced out of the relief camps and this has continued even after July 1, are they not entitled to international justice as their right to life and right to dignity and right to equality are denied. All this despite promises of rehabilitation! Out in the monsoon rains with no shelter and sans succour! In one such a case a man who lost his house received just Rs 70 as compensation. A girl took the government cheque from the hands of her father and tore it because her house had cost several lakh and the government had sanctioned a meagre two thousand rupees. Their denial of human rights constitutes crimes against humanity and it is continuing though the carnage happened several months ago. The pogroms affected are from the minority Muslim community which has very few doctors to treat its wounded and burnt and even fewer lawyers to plead their cases in courts. And all this on account of the boycott of the majority community’s guilds of doctors and lawyers. If Modi and Advani, after the latter really becomes the next PM, have their own way, then the only hope for the victims of Gujarat would be ICC. For Modi and Advani it would be to build global landmarks like the Akshardham Temple in Delhi and the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Looking at Gujarat Beyond 2007
The situation in Gujarat has become so volatile and fluid that there is a need to take stock of the situation. One must not overlook the fact that there are more important things involved there than meets the eye in the flux of things. As much of the focus is not on development but the chief minister’s headstrong views on Sohrabuddin in particular and by implication Muslims in general there is need for strategic depth in understanding.
First of all we must address juristic scope of culpability of Narendra Modi in the crimes against humanity, for that is what he brought about to happen subsequent to the events of February 27, 2002. The collector of Godhra had described the burning incident of Sabarmati express as accident. This was the stand taken by the administration until Modi changed it at 7 pm and made it into an attack on Hindus by Muslims. In the meeting at his residence that night he also ordered the police and the administration in the presence of the DGP and the police commissioner of Ahemdabad “Hinduon ka gussa uttarne do teen din tak.” (Let the Hindus vent their ire for three days).” This was despite the fact that the collector had opposed carrying the dead bodies to Ahemdabad and displaying them. Such an act would incite mob violence against Muslims was crystal clear. He visited worst areas affected by massacres of Muslims during the three days he had asked for the Hindus to vent their anger and applauded them for the crimes against the Muslims including rape, murder and arson. He harboured murderers and rapists by using the position and power of his office so that they escape the law of the land he was sworn to keep. He misused the judiciary to shield the murderers.
The UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide says that genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: (A)Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group’ (C) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.(D) Imposing measure intended to prevent births within the group.
In the light of the above convention Modi is clearly responsible for the genocide of the Muslims. He was equally heinous in closing down the relief camps. It was another step in genocide. The refugees had the bleakest prospect of survival before them.
The systematic boycott of the Muslims. Who brought about this collateral calamity for the whole community? Was it not a link in the overall strategy of punishing the Muslims and making their survival impossible after the horrendous crimes of rape, murder, loot and arson?
The prevention of Muslim survivors from returning to their houses, farms, shops, and other commercial establishments and jobs, or whatever little was still left. is genocidal. They are reduced to grim scenario of extinction en mass.
Subversion, systematic and premeditated, of the judiciary process by misusing official position involves the CM in genocidal juggernaut of the state machinery.
These are “a group of crimes that the international community of nations has declared to be criminal offences against the whole human race because they shock the conscience of all humankind and are an affront to humanity…The international criminal norms known as ‘crimes against humanity’ create international responsibility of individuals under international law for certain horrendous acts of violence against human beings.”
These issues remain to be addressed and redressed irrespective of who wins the election 2007. This must not be partisan matter, left to either of the two main parties contesting there. Non governmental organizations, human rights chapters, civil liberty groups must mount fresh and concerted efforts to get full justice to the victims of the genocide as well as any other victim of crime that may be different.
Determining the quantum of criminal acts must begin with the use of international law as crime against humanity is violation of international law. First of all who is a perpetrator? “A person or state who commits human rights violation. The term is sometimes used to describe one who causes such violation to occur through others.” Thus Modi asking his police and administrators to let the Hindus vent their anger for three days constitutes him as a perpetrator.
Modi is fully accountable for what happened in 2002. It was his constitutional duty to protect the lives of all the people. He not only caused the mass murder of Muslims but he asked his police and officers to let it happen and then subverted the judicial system to protect the murderers, rapists, arsonists and looters. Accountability is basic human rights law and implies that nobody is above law or immune from it. An example of the legal procedure is the trial of Lieutenant William Calley of the US army for the My Lai genocide in the Viet Nam, of Slobodan Milosevic in the massacre of Muslims in the former Yugoslavia.
But of course, there is also the urgency of what to make of what he said on December 4, 2007: “They want me to answer why I killed Sohrabuddin?. Sohrabuddin was a notorious criminal who had links with Pakistan and from whose farm house AK 47s were recovered. So what should I have done with him? Pooja? Or should I have called up Sonia Behen before he was killed? I am thumping my chest and declaring that Sohrabuddin ‘s encounter had taken place on the dharti of Gujarat. If I have done something wrong, hang me.”
People committing crimes against humanity can be tried internationally, not necessarily in the country where they have committed them. Modi taunted “Why not a court in Pakistan?” In the famous case Soering v. United Kingdom, the European Court of Human Rights had transferred it to the US because of the long death row ordeal there.
First of all we must address juristic scope of culpability of Narendra Modi in the crimes against humanity, for that is what he brought about to happen subsequent to the events of February 27, 2002. The collector of Godhra had described the burning incident of Sabarmati express as accident. This was the stand taken by the administration until Modi changed it at 7 pm and made it into an attack on Hindus by Muslims. In the meeting at his residence that night he also ordered the police and the administration in the presence of the DGP and the police commissioner of Ahemdabad “Hinduon ka gussa uttarne do teen din tak.” (Let the Hindus vent their ire for three days).” This was despite the fact that the collector had opposed carrying the dead bodies to Ahemdabad and displaying them. Such an act would incite mob violence against Muslims was crystal clear. He visited worst areas affected by massacres of Muslims during the three days he had asked for the Hindus to vent their anger and applauded them for the crimes against the Muslims including rape, murder and arson. He harboured murderers and rapists by using the position and power of his office so that they escape the law of the land he was sworn to keep. He misused the judiciary to shield the murderers.
The UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide says that genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: (A)Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group’ (C) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.(D) Imposing measure intended to prevent births within the group.
In the light of the above convention Modi is clearly responsible for the genocide of the Muslims. He was equally heinous in closing down the relief camps. It was another step in genocide. The refugees had the bleakest prospect of survival before them.
The systematic boycott of the Muslims. Who brought about this collateral calamity for the whole community? Was it not a link in the overall strategy of punishing the Muslims and making their survival impossible after the horrendous crimes of rape, murder, loot and arson?
The prevention of Muslim survivors from returning to their houses, farms, shops, and other commercial establishments and jobs, or whatever little was still left. is genocidal. They are reduced to grim scenario of extinction en mass.
Subversion, systematic and premeditated, of the judiciary process by misusing official position involves the CM in genocidal juggernaut of the state machinery.
These are “a group of crimes that the international community of nations has declared to be criminal offences against the whole human race because they shock the conscience of all humankind and are an affront to humanity…The international criminal norms known as ‘crimes against humanity’ create international responsibility of individuals under international law for certain horrendous acts of violence against human beings.”
These issues remain to be addressed and redressed irrespective of who wins the election 2007. This must not be partisan matter, left to either of the two main parties contesting there. Non governmental organizations, human rights chapters, civil liberty groups must mount fresh and concerted efforts to get full justice to the victims of the genocide as well as any other victim of crime that may be different.
Determining the quantum of criminal acts must begin with the use of international law as crime against humanity is violation of international law. First of all who is a perpetrator? “A person or state who commits human rights violation. The term is sometimes used to describe one who causes such violation to occur through others.” Thus Modi asking his police and administrators to let the Hindus vent their anger for three days constitutes him as a perpetrator.
Modi is fully accountable for what happened in 2002. It was his constitutional duty to protect the lives of all the people. He not only caused the mass murder of Muslims but he asked his police and officers to let it happen and then subverted the judicial system to protect the murderers, rapists, arsonists and looters. Accountability is basic human rights law and implies that nobody is above law or immune from it. An example of the legal procedure is the trial of Lieutenant William Calley of the US army for the My Lai genocide in the Viet Nam, of Slobodan Milosevic in the massacre of Muslims in the former Yugoslavia.
But of course, there is also the urgency of what to make of what he said on December 4, 2007: “They want me to answer why I killed Sohrabuddin?. Sohrabuddin was a notorious criminal who had links with Pakistan and from whose farm house AK 47s were recovered. So what should I have done with him? Pooja? Or should I have called up Sonia Behen before he was killed? I am thumping my chest and declaring that Sohrabuddin ‘s encounter had taken place on the dharti of Gujarat. If I have done something wrong, hang me.”
People committing crimes against humanity can be tried internationally, not necessarily in the country where they have committed them. Modi taunted “Why not a court in Pakistan?” In the famous case Soering v. United Kingdom, the European Court of Human Rights had transferred it to the US because of the long death row ordeal there.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Narendra Modi and the Murder of Sohrabuddin
The election campaign of Chief Minister of Gujarat at Mangrol reached a climax that might prove a temporary respite from the ultimate eventuality in his drama of politics. A huge shock had come after the exposure of the sting operation. Temporarily it seemed to have passed away. But who knows whether it has. He stirred the emotion by his insidious reference to the fake encounter death of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and his wife Kauser. He was at his communal best when he vowed to shield Taslima Nasrin and within the same week justified the fake encounter murders. About Sohrabuddin he remarked “he got what he deserved.” He asked his people in Mangrol, south Gujarat, on December 4, 2007: What would the people do to the man who dealt in smuggling guns. They thundered: “kill him". "Then if I have done anything wrong, let the government of Sonia Gandhi hang me," he said. There is a more accurate version of the Tuesday meeting of Mangrol:
Modi asked, "What should have been done to a man from whom a large number of AK-47 rifles were recovered, who was on the search list of police from four states, who attacked the police, who had relations with Pakistan and was eyeing to enter Gujarat?"
The crowd replied "mari nakho, mari nakho (kill him)" to which the Chief Minister responded, "Does my Government need to take permission of Soniaben for this?"
Modi has thrown down his gauntlet not only to Congress but to the judiciary of our nation, as well as the Election Commission.
This is playing with fire. But the premium is very high. For example there is the case of Haresh Bhatt who was the Bajrang Dal rashtriya sah sanyojak in 2002 and is now the BJP MLA from Godhra. He has said that bombs were made at his factory and that even rocket launchers were made there and then they were distributed throughout Ahmedabad during the pogroms of 2002. During curfew in the city arms including guns and swords were brought in from Punjab, Bihar, UP and MP for the obvious reason of murdering Muslims during the pogroms. They were distributed under the nose of the police in the curfew times. How Haresh Bhatt and his men distributed the weapons to the murderous crowds he narrates proudly:
Bhatt: I have my own gun factory… I used to make firecrackers… We made all the bombs there… Diesel bombs, pipe bombs, we made them there… and we used to distribute them from there as well… We ordered two truckloads of swords from Punjab… right here, in a village called Dhariya, we readied everything there… and then we distributed the samaan [arms]… At that time, the only thing was that the samaan was needed…TEHELKA: Where did you get the arms from?
Bhatt:We got many country-made pistols… from MP, from UP… we got pistols from everywhere and I distributed them from here… I am talking about this for the first time…nobody knew this secret.TEHELKA: I know that Hindus do not keep weapons, apart perhaps from kitchen knives…
Bhatt:We distributed so many weapons that people were shocked to see how many there were… We would make them here and then test them... We made a completelauncher inside a pipe, right here in the factory... It was a launcher from the side and had piping over that… chaar ki pipe lagaate the… after closing the entire hole we filled thatwith shrapnel and nails... and beneath that placed a 595 bomb… We’d set it off… it would go through a wall nine inches thick…• • •
Bhatt and his cohorts also smuggled weapons as Modi hinted that Sohrabuddin did:
TEHELKA: Hareshbhai, you were saying that you got arms from Kanpur, but there was curfew…
Bhatt: Why couldn’t they have been brought?… Anything can be brought.TEHELKA: I was thinking that if curfew…
Bhatt: I got them from MP… I got them from Bihar.TEHELKA: But how, when curfew was in force?
Bhatt: Things come, everything can come.TEHELKA: If it came from other states, it had to cross borders…
Bhatt: That’s it… they would smuggle [emphasis added] it… and it wasn’t just one trip that came for me… there were scores of them.
Another person who told similar ghoulish premeditated plans of carrying out the genocide is Dhawal Jayanti Patel, the VHP Sabarkantha zila sanyojak:
Patel: Lots of bombs… lots of desi bombs were made and sent…
TEHELKA: A thousand? Two thousand?Patel: They were useful in the galis, in face-to-face encounters… Juhapura… Kalupur
The vibhag pramukh of VHP Anil Patel has corroborated what Haresh Bhatt and Dhawal Jayanti Patel have said.
Now the ball is in the courts of the Election Commission and the judicial courts. Given Modi’s justification of the murder of Sohrabuddin and his wife Kauser and his tacit involvement in it [or else why should he wish to be hanged] and the asseveration of Haresh Bhatt, Anil Patel and Dhawal Jayanti Patel of their evil deeds; they [the courts and the Commission}have to define what is smuggling, can any individual or organization take the laws in their hands to mete out punishment for smuggling, who have smuggled arms; their party affiliation and should the election in Gujarat go ahead as if nothing has happened.
What I had written in newspaper columns on May 6, 2007has relevance here:
“The proverbial iceberg tip in the Sohrabbudin and Kauser bi Sheikh, and Tulsiram Prajapati murder in Gujarat will become quite ominous to our national life in the days to come. What with state elections due there and elsewhere. To the truly national minded it sends a chill of apprehension down the spinal cord. From all accounts including the ones that the Rajasthan government has purportedly collected to save its Inspector Dinesh, Sohrabuddin and Prjapati were as much criminal as many others, including BJP MP from Dahod, Gujarat, Babubhai Katara [accused in smuggling people into the US and Europe], and his son Bhavesh who is accused of killing Muslims in the post Godhra carnage and the last election. ..
.
“Sohrabbudin and Prajapati were taken out of the Hyderbad Sangli bus. Kauser climbed down the bus in protest, the cops told her to go back into the bus. When she didn’t they took away her as well. The fiery burial that police inspector DG Vanjhara gave to Kauser is most macabre and the disposal of the ash most saturnine. A glimpse of the state sponsorship of pogroms is also here. Traffic was stopped for arresting and carrying dead body of Kauser, crane was used to haul out of mud the car carrying the dead body. Anti Terrorist Squad purchased 400 kg wood to burn the body. Ala Modi, everything was done for a noble cause: patriotism. Precisely this justification has the potential to polarize the country again. Mark the gathering and shouting of slogans of the burly members of the Vanjhara community in the court of the metropolitan magistrate on May 2, but mark more how the Chief Minister, as a true Machiavellian, is reportedly instructing his cadres to exploit the murders in the coming polls.”
Modi asked, "What should have been done to a man from whom a large number of AK-47 rifles were recovered, who was on the search list of police from four states, who attacked the police, who had relations with Pakistan and was eyeing to enter Gujarat?"
The crowd replied "mari nakho, mari nakho (kill him)" to which the Chief Minister responded, "Does my Government need to take permission of Soniaben for this?"
Modi has thrown down his gauntlet not only to Congress but to the judiciary of our nation, as well as the Election Commission.
This is playing with fire. But the premium is very high. For example there is the case of Haresh Bhatt who was the Bajrang Dal rashtriya sah sanyojak in 2002 and is now the BJP MLA from Godhra. He has said that bombs were made at his factory and that even rocket launchers were made there and then they were distributed throughout Ahmedabad during the pogroms of 2002. During curfew in the city arms including guns and swords were brought in from Punjab, Bihar, UP and MP for the obvious reason of murdering Muslims during the pogroms. They were distributed under the nose of the police in the curfew times. How Haresh Bhatt and his men distributed the weapons to the murderous crowds he narrates proudly:
Bhatt: I have my own gun factory… I used to make firecrackers… We made all the bombs there… Diesel bombs, pipe bombs, we made them there… and we used to distribute them from there as well… We ordered two truckloads of swords from Punjab… right here, in a village called Dhariya, we readied everything there… and then we distributed the samaan [arms]… At that time, the only thing was that the samaan was needed…TEHELKA: Where did you get the arms from?
Bhatt:We got many country-made pistols… from MP, from UP… we got pistols from everywhere and I distributed them from here… I am talking about this for the first time…nobody knew this secret.TEHELKA: I know that Hindus do not keep weapons, apart perhaps from kitchen knives…
Bhatt:We distributed so many weapons that people were shocked to see how many there were… We would make them here and then test them... We made a completelauncher inside a pipe, right here in the factory... It was a launcher from the side and had piping over that… chaar ki pipe lagaate the… after closing the entire hole we filled thatwith shrapnel and nails... and beneath that placed a 595 bomb… We’d set it off… it would go through a wall nine inches thick…• • •
Bhatt and his cohorts also smuggled weapons as Modi hinted that Sohrabuddin did:
TEHELKA: Hareshbhai, you were saying that you got arms from Kanpur, but there was curfew…
Bhatt: Why couldn’t they have been brought?… Anything can be brought.TEHELKA: I was thinking that if curfew…
Bhatt: I got them from MP… I got them from Bihar.TEHELKA: But how, when curfew was in force?
Bhatt: Things come, everything can come.TEHELKA: If it came from other states, it had to cross borders…
Bhatt: That’s it… they would smuggle [emphasis added] it… and it wasn’t just one trip that came for me… there were scores of them.
Another person who told similar ghoulish premeditated plans of carrying out the genocide is Dhawal Jayanti Patel, the VHP Sabarkantha zila sanyojak:
Patel: Lots of bombs… lots of desi bombs were made and sent…
TEHELKA: A thousand? Two thousand?Patel: They were useful in the galis, in face-to-face encounters… Juhapura… Kalupur
The vibhag pramukh of VHP Anil Patel has corroborated what Haresh Bhatt and Dhawal Jayanti Patel have said.
Now the ball is in the courts of the Election Commission and the judicial courts. Given Modi’s justification of the murder of Sohrabuddin and his wife Kauser and his tacit involvement in it [or else why should he wish to be hanged] and the asseveration of Haresh Bhatt, Anil Patel and Dhawal Jayanti Patel of their evil deeds; they [the courts and the Commission}have to define what is smuggling, can any individual or organization take the laws in their hands to mete out punishment for smuggling, who have smuggled arms; their party affiliation and should the election in Gujarat go ahead as if nothing has happened.
What I had written in newspaper columns on May 6, 2007has relevance here:
“The proverbial iceberg tip in the Sohrabbudin and Kauser bi Sheikh, and Tulsiram Prajapati murder in Gujarat will become quite ominous to our national life in the days to come. What with state elections due there and elsewhere. To the truly national minded it sends a chill of apprehension down the spinal cord. From all accounts including the ones that the Rajasthan government has purportedly collected to save its Inspector Dinesh, Sohrabuddin and Prjapati were as much criminal as many others, including BJP MP from Dahod, Gujarat, Babubhai Katara [accused in smuggling people into the US and Europe], and his son Bhavesh who is accused of killing Muslims in the post Godhra carnage and the last election. ..
.
“Sohrabbudin and Prajapati were taken out of the Hyderbad Sangli bus. Kauser climbed down the bus in protest, the cops told her to go back into the bus. When she didn’t they took away her as well. The fiery burial that police inspector DG Vanjhara gave to Kauser is most macabre and the disposal of the ash most saturnine. A glimpse of the state sponsorship of pogroms is also here. Traffic was stopped for arresting and carrying dead body of Kauser, crane was used to haul out of mud the car carrying the dead body. Anti Terrorist Squad purchased 400 kg wood to burn the body. Ala Modi, everything was done for a noble cause: patriotism. Precisely this justification has the potential to polarize the country again. Mark the gathering and shouting of slogans of the burly members of the Vanjhara community in the court of the metropolitan magistrate on May 2, but mark more how the Chief Minister, as a true Machiavellian, is reportedly instructing his cadres to exploit the murders in the coming polls.”
Monday, December 3, 2007
Islam and its Volatile Critics:Taslima Nasrin's hunkering down with time for asylum
There is a tendency to view Islam as a whole in terms of some untoward practices ascribed to it. This way the whole body of faith and traditions shrinks to a mere questionable aspect. The most notorious is vaunting of the purdah in Islam. That Islam gives equality to women, that they have share in the property of parents as well as their spouses, that they have choice of suckling milk or not doing it and asking the husband to make provision for it are swept under the carpet by the broom of the so called religious bias against woman. This skewed perception of dubbing Islam by ascribing an attribute has turned it into synecdoche-Islam.
Among the most vehement critics of Islam are the women who ride on the crest of the wave of discontent fermented within the fold. Aayan Hirsi Ali, Irshad Manji, Taslima Nasrin make headlines often for what is not so characteristically the soul of Islam. They are piqued by the variant and at times deviant practices rather than the core values of the faith. Manji’s contention is that the trouble with Islam today is literalism. Muslims take Islamic injunction as literal truth. She is upset that the mosque where she went as a child had a divine who did not allow her questioning spirit to probe while the Christians did. This was the fault of the individual working in the mosque and not of religion. In the same way her father would often beat her mother. This harsh treatment was not justifiable as her mother according to her could not be at fault. Her father would also treat their family servant in Uganda harshly though the flunkey was a native Muslim. The traditions of the prophet show that he treated even slaves with human dignity and awarded them freedom for their good deeds. Manji also thanks god that there is the West. She means to say that if the West were not there she as well as others like her who confronts Islam would be lost. She has overlooked one important fact. The US is also the home of Muslims who follow their religion in letter and spirit despite their different racial and cultural backgrounds. Their tenacity of faith is purely because of devotion and not fanaticism. They are content with the edicts and practices of Islam and are truly religious minded. Her criticism of Islam falls flat in view of the self content US Muslims.
The Somali born Ayaan Hirsi Ali wrote the script for a film called Submission. The producer Van Goth was killed for making the film. A semi nude woman is shown wearing a transparent dress with verses from the Quran. There are lash marks on her skin. This in itself is indecent. One may not revere one’s own religion in private life but what if those who revere it see such depiction. Her latest argument is that Muslim immigrants to Holland and other European countries indulge in crime as they lend themselves to be exploited. Hence, multiculturalism is wrong if such immigrants are allowed and pampered. But this then militates against the European principle of secularism. The Dutch tolerated her as long as she was not a threat in election where votes of immigrants matter. Now that she is with the conservative think tank in Washington she has the sobering realization of the owl as against the deliberate shunning of reality of the ostrich.
Taslima Nasrin’s bumpy ride through the turbulent time has reached a milestone. She now realizes swimming against the tide is sapping her energy against the options available to her. “Things had taken such a turn that my security and safety have come under great risk in any part of the world. Islamic fundamentalists would not have allowed me to rest in peace anywhere in the world. My intention is never to hurt anybody’s feelings and if my writings hurt the sentiments of others, it’s better to withdraw such portions. I am withdrawing some lines from the book [Dwikhandita].” This way she could come to confront reality, ala Salman Rushdie. But it does not mean recanting. It also does not touch upon what otherwise she has been speaking out in magazines and newspapers.
In a magazine article she was shocking and cruel when she remarked about the origin of the veiling. “Prophet Mohammed’s wife Ayesha was very beautiful. His friends were often found staring at her with fascination. This clearly upset the Prophet. So the Quran has an Ayat that says, ‘Oh, friends of the Prophet or holy men never go to your friend’s house without an invitation. And if you do go, don’t go and ask anything of their wives.’ It is to resist the greedy eyes of friends, disciples or male guests that the purdah system came into being.” Her insidious write “Let’s Burn the Burqa” carries the innuendo for which Rushdie also faced music. Her exhorting Muslims to burn burqa and disobey the Quran may be music to some people’s ears but what would the pious believers think.
Her flight to Rajasthan was feasible because she adopted what she wanted to burn. She and her relative wore burqa to escape Kolkata. One of the problems with religion today is that it is cross fertilized with the local politics. Nasrin went to a BJP ruled state and sang their tune by saying that MF Hussein was better off while hell was let loose around her. “Nothing happens to MF Hussein who has done so many things, while everybody is after my life.” She also did so many things. She slept over the rape of Sabina and her two daughters from Nandigram. One of the daughters is still missing. Will she write for this parzania?
Among the most vehement critics of Islam are the women who ride on the crest of the wave of discontent fermented within the fold. Aayan Hirsi Ali, Irshad Manji, Taslima Nasrin make headlines often for what is not so characteristically the soul of Islam. They are piqued by the variant and at times deviant practices rather than the core values of the faith. Manji’s contention is that the trouble with Islam today is literalism. Muslims take Islamic injunction as literal truth. She is upset that the mosque where she went as a child had a divine who did not allow her questioning spirit to probe while the Christians did. This was the fault of the individual working in the mosque and not of religion. In the same way her father would often beat her mother. This harsh treatment was not justifiable as her mother according to her could not be at fault. Her father would also treat their family servant in Uganda harshly though the flunkey was a native Muslim. The traditions of the prophet show that he treated even slaves with human dignity and awarded them freedom for their good deeds. Manji also thanks god that there is the West. She means to say that if the West were not there she as well as others like her who confronts Islam would be lost. She has overlooked one important fact. The US is also the home of Muslims who follow their religion in letter and spirit despite their different racial and cultural backgrounds. Their tenacity of faith is purely because of devotion and not fanaticism. They are content with the edicts and practices of Islam and are truly religious minded. Her criticism of Islam falls flat in view of the self content US Muslims.
The Somali born Ayaan Hirsi Ali wrote the script for a film called Submission. The producer Van Goth was killed for making the film. A semi nude woman is shown wearing a transparent dress with verses from the Quran. There are lash marks on her skin. This in itself is indecent. One may not revere one’s own religion in private life but what if those who revere it see such depiction. Her latest argument is that Muslim immigrants to Holland and other European countries indulge in crime as they lend themselves to be exploited. Hence, multiculturalism is wrong if such immigrants are allowed and pampered. But this then militates against the European principle of secularism. The Dutch tolerated her as long as she was not a threat in election where votes of immigrants matter. Now that she is with the conservative think tank in Washington she has the sobering realization of the owl as against the deliberate shunning of reality of the ostrich.
Taslima Nasrin’s bumpy ride through the turbulent time has reached a milestone. She now realizes swimming against the tide is sapping her energy against the options available to her. “Things had taken such a turn that my security and safety have come under great risk in any part of the world. Islamic fundamentalists would not have allowed me to rest in peace anywhere in the world. My intention is never to hurt anybody’s feelings and if my writings hurt the sentiments of others, it’s better to withdraw such portions. I am withdrawing some lines from the book [Dwikhandita].” This way she could come to confront reality, ala Salman Rushdie. But it does not mean recanting. It also does not touch upon what otherwise she has been speaking out in magazines and newspapers.
In a magazine article she was shocking and cruel when she remarked about the origin of the veiling. “Prophet Mohammed’s wife Ayesha was very beautiful. His friends were often found staring at her with fascination. This clearly upset the Prophet. So the Quran has an Ayat that says, ‘Oh, friends of the Prophet or holy men never go to your friend’s house without an invitation. And if you do go, don’t go and ask anything of their wives.’ It is to resist the greedy eyes of friends, disciples or male guests that the purdah system came into being.” Her insidious write “Let’s Burn the Burqa” carries the innuendo for which Rushdie also faced music. Her exhorting Muslims to burn burqa and disobey the Quran may be music to some people’s ears but what would the pious believers think.
Her flight to Rajasthan was feasible because she adopted what she wanted to burn. She and her relative wore burqa to escape Kolkata. One of the problems with religion today is that it is cross fertilized with the local politics. Nasrin went to a BJP ruled state and sang their tune by saying that MF Hussein was better off while hell was let loose around her. “Nothing happens to MF Hussein who has done so many things, while everybody is after my life.” She also did so many things. She slept over the rape of Sabina and her two daughters from Nandigram. One of the daughters is still missing. Will she write for this parzania?
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Nasreen and Nandigram: intent behind events
The military deployment in central Kolkata, the first since the demolition of Babri mosque, assumes sinister dimension. Pity that it is to defend a single woman for whom the phalanx of CRPF, RAF and the military are ranged, what though they had failed earlier. The intent matters. This time nothing would happen because of the presence of political will as it also happened in the case of the Kalayan Singh government in UP and Narsimha Rao government at the centre when the political will was absent to prevent what was impending.
Ever since assuming charge of the West Bengal government Budhadeb Bhattcharjee has had a difficult equation with the Muslim minority. Madrassa when it came handy or refugees when they gave him the chance and now the poor peasants whose land grab became the end of the stick in hand and finally a much universal chorus of Islam and woman (Nasreen’s war cry) despite the ghoulish murder of Rizwanurrehman. As if these were not enough the periodic taunts and barbs of Tasleema Nasreen on religious practices were beyond the propriety of being an asylum seeker. It is also reflective of her prejudiced mentality that the rape of scores of women mostly Muslim in Satangabari Ranichawk and elsewhere in Nandigram and death of many did not impinge her mind while the death of 19 Hindus during 1992-93 made her write a whole novel against the Muslims of Bangladesh.
Being a Marxist run state the poor should have been taken care of by the left rather than leaving them at the mercy of the Bhumi Uchched Pratirodh Committee. And if Trinamool Congress and Congress parties entered the fray what queered the pitch? The minorities at the receiving end, suppressed and oppressed, in view of the concerted effort to exploit them for their lands so that the upper class/caste would pocket the jobs once the industrialization takes place, turned to the opposition parties. Their growing support to the opposition parties and vice versa emboldened the movement for keeping their land in their hands. This sent alarm to the CPM who feared their citadel falling to the opposition, it could have cascading effect. Alarmed by these the chief minister chose to become a Machiavellian politician rather than a statesman. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said:
“Well, it was a violent takeover by dangerous forces, they have now been paid back in the same coin. We did not trigger violence. We faced it, resisted it for months and then, eventually countered it. As I said before, the Opposition and the BUPC have got a taste of their own medicine. There was tension, total chaos and lack of peace in Nandigram. We had to do something. Our supporters risked their lives and returned home and retaliated only in desperation,” The so called take over was no less than state terrorism unleashed on the hapless. The police were not sent in, in fact the CRPF was kept at bay when hundreds were hounded out of their houses, many were killed, women were raped and their houses were burnt after looting. A handful who returned had to rejoin CPM, organize marches twice a day and shout slogans in favour of the ruling party. Others cannot even dare to return.
The imam of the Juma mosque of Delhi was not allowed to enter Nandigram in the aftermath of the March firing and death. If his entry was feared to cause communal heightening of tension what has the backing of Congress and Trinamool Congress done to the minorities? Summoning of the army and clamping curfew is on the pretext of the situation turning communal. Protest against Nasreen is not any new phenomenon on the horizon. Why now? To the minorities like Muslim it is another cause of grievance but to the ruling elite it is another card in the hand they can use in the game.
The chief minister was equally obdurate in dealing with the Rizwanurrehman and Priyanka Todi matter. His top police officers in the press conference they had called even kept secret the last call Rizwanur made to his lawyer. In this matter also Nasreen chose to keep silence. Even the two Todi girls are more feminist and more secular minded as they chose their partners in life irrespective of religious consideration. One chose a Muslim graphics teacher and the other her Hindu driver. How the government mishandled these cases are now history. These episodes have alienated the intelligentsia and the chief minister must have been disturbed and even panicked in reaction.
The large scale violence during the three hours of bandh on Wednesday resulted in the burning of two dozen vehicles including a school bus and a couple of CPM offices, arrests of hundreds and injuries to many. What role did the police play is far from clear. But Idris Ali the president of All India Minorities Forum said that the police arrested 200 agitators from his organization and the Furfurasharif Muzadeddia Anath Foundation “without reason”. The Muslims are agitated and duly concerned as they face even extinction as can be seen in what happened to one Golam Rasool.
Golam Rasool of Chowk Kendamar was kidnapped by the CPM cadres and kept in a jungle. Then he along with others was transported by a motor launch to Orissa. He would have been killed but he told the guards that he wanted to relieve himself. Then he made good his escape. They chased him but after an hour he gave them the slip. He got a lift in a truck somewhere near Cuttack. He contacted his father from a PCO as he had only three rupees in his pocket. His father came to his rescue. His abduction and capture and imprisonment in a camp and torture are nothing less than extraordinary rendition (the outsourcing of torture that the US is practicing in Iraq and with the prisoners at the Guantanaymo Bay).
Ever since assuming charge of the West Bengal government Budhadeb Bhattcharjee has had a difficult equation with the Muslim minority. Madrassa when it came handy or refugees when they gave him the chance and now the poor peasants whose land grab became the end of the stick in hand and finally a much universal chorus of Islam and woman (Nasreen’s war cry) despite the ghoulish murder of Rizwanurrehman. As if these were not enough the periodic taunts and barbs of Tasleema Nasreen on religious practices were beyond the propriety of being an asylum seeker. It is also reflective of her prejudiced mentality that the rape of scores of women mostly Muslim in Satangabari Ranichawk and elsewhere in Nandigram and death of many did not impinge her mind while the death of 19 Hindus during 1992-93 made her write a whole novel against the Muslims of Bangladesh.
Being a Marxist run state the poor should have been taken care of by the left rather than leaving them at the mercy of the Bhumi Uchched Pratirodh Committee. And if Trinamool Congress and Congress parties entered the fray what queered the pitch? The minorities at the receiving end, suppressed and oppressed, in view of the concerted effort to exploit them for their lands so that the upper class/caste would pocket the jobs once the industrialization takes place, turned to the opposition parties. Their growing support to the opposition parties and vice versa emboldened the movement for keeping their land in their hands. This sent alarm to the CPM who feared their citadel falling to the opposition, it could have cascading effect. Alarmed by these the chief minister chose to become a Machiavellian politician rather than a statesman. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said:
“Well, it was a violent takeover by dangerous forces, they have now been paid back in the same coin. We did not trigger violence. We faced it, resisted it for months and then, eventually countered it. As I said before, the Opposition and the BUPC have got a taste of their own medicine. There was tension, total chaos and lack of peace in Nandigram. We had to do something. Our supporters risked their lives and returned home and retaliated only in desperation,” The so called take over was no less than state terrorism unleashed on the hapless. The police were not sent in, in fact the CRPF was kept at bay when hundreds were hounded out of their houses, many were killed, women were raped and their houses were burnt after looting. A handful who returned had to rejoin CPM, organize marches twice a day and shout slogans in favour of the ruling party. Others cannot even dare to return.
The imam of the Juma mosque of Delhi was not allowed to enter Nandigram in the aftermath of the March firing and death. If his entry was feared to cause communal heightening of tension what has the backing of Congress and Trinamool Congress done to the minorities? Summoning of the army and clamping curfew is on the pretext of the situation turning communal. Protest against Nasreen is not any new phenomenon on the horizon. Why now? To the minorities like Muslim it is another cause of grievance but to the ruling elite it is another card in the hand they can use in the game.
The chief minister was equally obdurate in dealing with the Rizwanurrehman and Priyanka Todi matter. His top police officers in the press conference they had called even kept secret the last call Rizwanur made to his lawyer. In this matter also Nasreen chose to keep silence. Even the two Todi girls are more feminist and more secular minded as they chose their partners in life irrespective of religious consideration. One chose a Muslim graphics teacher and the other her Hindu driver. How the government mishandled these cases are now history. These episodes have alienated the intelligentsia and the chief minister must have been disturbed and even panicked in reaction.
The large scale violence during the three hours of bandh on Wednesday resulted in the burning of two dozen vehicles including a school bus and a couple of CPM offices, arrests of hundreds and injuries to many. What role did the police play is far from clear. But Idris Ali the president of All India Minorities Forum said that the police arrested 200 agitators from his organization and the Furfurasharif Muzadeddia Anath Foundation “without reason”. The Muslims are agitated and duly concerned as they face even extinction as can be seen in what happened to one Golam Rasool.
Golam Rasool of Chowk Kendamar was kidnapped by the CPM cadres and kept in a jungle. Then he along with others was transported by a motor launch to Orissa. He would have been killed but he told the guards that he wanted to relieve himself. Then he made good his escape. They chased him but after an hour he gave them the slip. He got a lift in a truck somewhere near Cuttack. He contacted his father from a PCO as he had only three rupees in his pocket. His father came to his rescue. His abduction and capture and imprisonment in a camp and torture are nothing less than extraordinary rendition (the outsourcing of torture that the US is practicing in Iraq and with the prisoners at the Guantanaymo Bay).
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Iniquity of Religious Intolerance and State Connivance
It is self evident that all religions have come for the well being ofmen. God has created all men equal. There are certain moral values inevery religion which wants its followers to obey. However perceiveddifferences in meaning of what religions say lead to differences whichmorph into groups. One group tries to out do the others. Every modernstate is bound by some governing principles of equality before laws aswell as security of life and property and retributive justice, if anyone is wronged, is the right of every citizen.The Iraqis had enjoyed many such rights as well as religiousobservance until the other day. But now the state and religioussituation is so skewed that they have undergone a traumatictransformation. Neither religion nor the state can be justified forthe suffering of the people in its name. India has also seen greatupheavals of injustice. The genocide of Muslims in Gujarat is onesuch glaring case.In Iraq the lots of the women plummeted with the fall of Baghdad. Theylost freedom and equality they had enjoyed before 2003. The policechief of the southern town on Basra said in mid November 2007 thatreligious intolerance had risen very high. One section tried to showthat it was holier than the other. They were shias of differentdenominations. Imam Khomeni had brought a degree of modest coveringfor women which allowed them to live in Iran as well as in Mumbai orPoona like many Muslims in Kerala. Now extremism has seized the land.There are self styled followers of religion who chase women and runthem down by their cars because they are unveiled. In this way a partof the religious observance is made into the whole body of faith,synecdochic Islam. Ayaan Hirshi Ali calls it Parada Islam. There aregroups who apply the electric grill to the knees of their opponents toinstant death.
In America there is a similar change. In his book Our EndangeredValues former president Jimmy Carter says that in the last quartercentury there has emerged a right wing movement. This right wingmovement is revolutionary (radical) and gives special favours for thepowerful at the expense of the others, and justifies abandonment ofsocial justice and denigration of those who differ. All of theseviolate the basic Christian teaching of loving our neighbours asourselves. The fundamentalist Pat Robertson says about the differentgroups, "You say you are supposed to be nice to the Episcopalians andthe Presbyterians and the Methodists and this, and the other thing.Nonsense, I don't have to be nice to the spirit of the antichrist."Samuel Huntington has nuanced his nefarious thesis of "clash ofcivilization" (Islam versus the Rest) into cultural conflicts. Thisis nothing else but what the RSS has been saying in India. Golwalkerand others have always asserted that everyone who lives here is Hindu.But the RSS exists to maintain the Hindu culture against the culturesof the minorities. Thus on October 20, 2007, marking the 82ndanniversary Sarsanghchalak S.K.Sudarshan said "When we try to evaluatethe result of more than eight decades of effort, one thing comesoutstandingly. When in 1925 the Sangh was founded, the Hindu societyhad descended to such an abyss of self negation that they were ashamedof calling themselves as Hindus. 'Call us donkeys but don't call usHindus.' Today, however, the Hindu has become conscious of hisidentity. He doesn't feel any inhibition in calling himself aHindu…But the Sangh is not satisfied with only this much. Sangh wantsthat not only the Hindu society should be vigilant and full of selfrespect but should be able to face all kinds of onslaught perpetratedagainst the Hindu society."
Former sangh pracharak and now Chief Minister of Gujarat Narendra Modiused state power to make experiment in the Gujarat Hindutivalaboratory of what sarsanghchalak exhorts above. The result is thegenocide of Muslims, on whatever pretext that comes handy. Therefore,the subversion of religious and state power and belief is not onlyinterlinked but justified. To save India from such disastrousconsequences the retributive justice system must be enforcedimpartially.J.S.Bandukwala's specious appeal to Muslims to forgive theperpetrators of the genocide of 2002 and his placatory lopsidedreasons cut no ice. He says "It is time for Muslims to considerunilateral forgiveness. Such forgiveness by victims confirms to thehighest traditions of Islam." Bandukwala fails to understand that inthe Hindutva laboratory the guinea pigs are Muslims. They areessentially victims of the pogroms but in the heinous design of theexperimenters the Muslims have always been victors and aggressors anddeserve no pity. That is what Bajrangi and Bhatt, Modi and Sudarshanwant. Can eighty years of cumulative revengeful efforts disappear by aformal declaration of forgiveness?
In America there is a similar change. In his book Our EndangeredValues former president Jimmy Carter says that in the last quartercentury there has emerged a right wing movement. This right wingmovement is revolutionary (radical) and gives special favours for thepowerful at the expense of the others, and justifies abandonment ofsocial justice and denigration of those who differ. All of theseviolate the basic Christian teaching of loving our neighbours asourselves. The fundamentalist Pat Robertson says about the differentgroups, "You say you are supposed to be nice to the Episcopalians andthe Presbyterians and the Methodists and this, and the other thing.Nonsense, I don't have to be nice to the spirit of the antichrist."Samuel Huntington has nuanced his nefarious thesis of "clash ofcivilization" (Islam versus the Rest) into cultural conflicts. Thisis nothing else but what the RSS has been saying in India. Golwalkerand others have always asserted that everyone who lives here is Hindu.But the RSS exists to maintain the Hindu culture against the culturesof the minorities. Thus on October 20, 2007, marking the 82ndanniversary Sarsanghchalak S.K.Sudarshan said "When we try to evaluatethe result of more than eight decades of effort, one thing comesoutstandingly. When in 1925 the Sangh was founded, the Hindu societyhad descended to such an abyss of self negation that they were ashamedof calling themselves as Hindus. 'Call us donkeys but don't call usHindus.' Today, however, the Hindu has become conscious of hisidentity. He doesn't feel any inhibition in calling himself aHindu…But the Sangh is not satisfied with only this much. Sangh wantsthat not only the Hindu society should be vigilant and full of selfrespect but should be able to face all kinds of onslaught perpetratedagainst the Hindu society."
Former sangh pracharak and now Chief Minister of Gujarat Narendra Modiused state power to make experiment in the Gujarat Hindutivalaboratory of what sarsanghchalak exhorts above. The result is thegenocide of Muslims, on whatever pretext that comes handy. Therefore,the subversion of religious and state power and belief is not onlyinterlinked but justified. To save India from such disastrousconsequences the retributive justice system must be enforcedimpartially.J.S.Bandukwala's specious appeal to Muslims to forgive theperpetrators of the genocide of 2002 and his placatory lopsidedreasons cut no ice. He says "It is time for Muslims to considerunilateral forgiveness. Such forgiveness by victims confirms to thehighest traditions of Islam." Bandukwala fails to understand that inthe Hindutva laboratory the guinea pigs are Muslims. They areessentially victims of the pogroms but in the heinous design of theexperimenters the Muslims have always been victors and aggressors anddeserve no pity. That is what Bajrangi and Bhatt, Modi and Sudarshanwant. Can eighty years of cumulative revengeful efforts disappear by aformal declaration of forgiveness?
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Emergency in Pakistan
It began with an attack near the official residence of General Musharraf on the heels of the operation red mosque July 2007 and came full circle on October 29 a little away from the same residence when the ruler of Pakistan was in a meeting half kilometer away as a motorcyclist drove against an air force bus killing seven and ending himself. That is awesomely momentous.
The highest moment of emergency was in the aftermath of the 9/11 attack on the twin towers of World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. President George W Bush had put Pakistan in a very difficult situation. Either you are with the US or against it. General Musharraf had gone on the air and told the world that extremism in religion was not Islam. He would fight terrorism along with Pakistan’s traditional ally, America. It proved him much wiser than any ruler his country had seen so far. His foresight saved his nation from perceived threat on the cusp of becoming real. He saw it coming, his hard-line opponents did not.
Lal masjid imbroglio produced the next emergency he has still not come out of, nor has his nation. The relentless attacks on the security forces by the heavily armed extremists opposed to his regime have led to death and destruction unprecedented in the history of Pakistan. Many observers proved themselves wrong when they said that the general had deliberately allowed the situation to worsen to make the people there view the waywardness unleashed by sections opposed to him. They thought that he had choreographed everything to achieve his hidden agenda of postponing election and thereby remaining in power. Now also his critics may be having the same thought.
But rising fatal terrorist attacks in quick succession since his solders entered the red mosque not far from his house is a gamut of blitzkrieg. The onus of carrying on administration after March 2007 with a showdown with the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Iftikhar Choudhry and the July stand off at the red mosque and the military solution which sparked off retaliatory attacks can hardly be palatable for any military rule. The military junta of Myanmar acted far swifter than the Pak leader.
Situation vis-à-vis forthcoming election is precarious. Nawaz Shariff enjoys the support of the people in the Punjab, Benazir Bhutto in Sindh province. The rest of the country is quite chaotic. There is no single leader who can claim popular acclaim as did Zulfikar Ali Bhutto or his daughter once and General Zia though for different reasons. Overthrowing a very unpopular leader is not at stake now nor was it in 1999 when Musharraf seized power. However, many supporters of the Muslim League of Pakistan may not support Musharraf after the action in the sprawling complex of the red mosque of Islamabad. It might not be untrue to say that this time around the general is in fact saving his nation as he claimed while he declared emergency on Saturday November 3, 2007.
Of the two reasons for imposing emergency one was immediate and the other was much pervasive. The general’s trouble with the judiciary was one time phenomenon which jarred on his mind. The Supreme Court had postponed until Monday giving its opinion about whether the general can run for election/form government. The general saw which way the wind was blowing. He put the Chief Justice Choudhry under house arrest. This would be for the immediate purpose. Hashim Javed, spokesperson of former premier Sharif, is also under arrest. But the incarcerating of the Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Asma Jahangir is for the much longer purpose. Suspension of the constitution inevitably ultra vires the human rights. Lawyer opponents Munir A Malik and Aitzaz Ahsan are the bete noire of the general and were arrested and put under detention for a month.
It is a strange coincidence that a single month saw India reacting to two different countries confronting demand for democracy. India is the largest democracy in the world. New Delhi’s response to Myanmar monk protest against the military rule was tardy. To Pakistan it was knee jerk reaction. The cause of concern is different though as a practicing democracy it should be one.
India and Pakistan are both fighting terrorism. For the first time they have just exchanged dossiers on mutual cooperation on fighting terrorism. New Delhi blames Pakistan for the mess in Kashmir and terrorist attacks in the rest of the country and Pakistan blames India for the situation in North West frontiers. In the aftermath of the attack on Parliament India had raised stake so high that we mobilized our defence forces and would have let the situation escalate into a war had not the wiser counsel and mediation by US prevailed upon New Delhi. Arundhati Roy and other distinguished journalists, jurists and human rights activists in a book on that Attack on Parliament December 13 would have us believe that it was fake! So a new denominator or divisor (terrorism) has entered into the response of the one into the democratic changes in the other. Some leaders of a national party evoke mian Musharraf to fight election in India when ironically he cannot fight his own election in his own country.
However, Pakistan has to walk a much tighter rope in its acrobatics of politics than a democracy like India. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s declaring emergency after an adverse court judgment and the general’s declaration after a perceived and feared would be adverse decision signify differences of the two countries.
The western powers are very much worried that any emergency would entail Pak losing their support and assistance. Admiral Fallon of the US landed in Islamabad a day before emergency was declared. His aim was to discuss the rising militant attacks and the emergent situation. In August Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice had phoned the general at 2 a.m. and prevented him from declaring emergency then. But now she is asking for a “quick return to constitutional law.” After having pumped $ 10 billion into the Pakistan army since 2001 the Americans are feeling desperate as much as the general himself as his current rule ends on November 15.
Was there any choice left for the general? Ahsan remarked that “President Musharraf is illegal”. That precluded any succor to the beleaguered president from the judiciary which not only declared that Nawaz Shariff could return now but was determined to give a verdict against the president when it would have reconvened on November 5. The ascendancy in suicidal terrorist attacks had cost 700 lives in the last four months. Attacks on army runs into two scores and more. So alarming was the situation that the soldiers were now wearing civilian dress and traveling in unmarked cars to avoid becoming easy identified targets. Desertion from army was also reported.
There is a saving grace still left. If the people of Pakistan can see that howsoever unpopular, the general is still struggling to keep the country from a slide into chaos they may rally around him. Not the individual but his action. At the time of going to press we hear that he has got 200 soldiers released by the militants in exchange of releasing their leader and about forty of the militants from jail. That is a flicker of hope; the emergency may not be a setback after all. Still the Swat valley may take time to return to tolerable armed neutrality if not truce.
The highest moment of emergency was in the aftermath of the 9/11 attack on the twin towers of World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. President George W Bush had put Pakistan in a very difficult situation. Either you are with the US or against it. General Musharraf had gone on the air and told the world that extremism in religion was not Islam. He would fight terrorism along with Pakistan’s traditional ally, America. It proved him much wiser than any ruler his country had seen so far. His foresight saved his nation from perceived threat on the cusp of becoming real. He saw it coming, his hard-line opponents did not.
Lal masjid imbroglio produced the next emergency he has still not come out of, nor has his nation. The relentless attacks on the security forces by the heavily armed extremists opposed to his regime have led to death and destruction unprecedented in the history of Pakistan. Many observers proved themselves wrong when they said that the general had deliberately allowed the situation to worsen to make the people there view the waywardness unleashed by sections opposed to him. They thought that he had choreographed everything to achieve his hidden agenda of postponing election and thereby remaining in power. Now also his critics may be having the same thought.
But rising fatal terrorist attacks in quick succession since his solders entered the red mosque not far from his house is a gamut of blitzkrieg. The onus of carrying on administration after March 2007 with a showdown with the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Iftikhar Choudhry and the July stand off at the red mosque and the military solution which sparked off retaliatory attacks can hardly be palatable for any military rule. The military junta of Myanmar acted far swifter than the Pak leader.
Situation vis-à-vis forthcoming election is precarious. Nawaz Shariff enjoys the support of the people in the Punjab, Benazir Bhutto in Sindh province. The rest of the country is quite chaotic. There is no single leader who can claim popular acclaim as did Zulfikar Ali Bhutto or his daughter once and General Zia though for different reasons. Overthrowing a very unpopular leader is not at stake now nor was it in 1999 when Musharraf seized power. However, many supporters of the Muslim League of Pakistan may not support Musharraf after the action in the sprawling complex of the red mosque of Islamabad. It might not be untrue to say that this time around the general is in fact saving his nation as he claimed while he declared emergency on Saturday November 3, 2007.
Of the two reasons for imposing emergency one was immediate and the other was much pervasive. The general’s trouble with the judiciary was one time phenomenon which jarred on his mind. The Supreme Court had postponed until Monday giving its opinion about whether the general can run for election/form government. The general saw which way the wind was blowing. He put the Chief Justice Choudhry under house arrest. This would be for the immediate purpose. Hashim Javed, spokesperson of former premier Sharif, is also under arrest. But the incarcerating of the Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Asma Jahangir is for the much longer purpose. Suspension of the constitution inevitably ultra vires the human rights. Lawyer opponents Munir A Malik and Aitzaz Ahsan are the bete noire of the general and were arrested and put under detention for a month.
It is a strange coincidence that a single month saw India reacting to two different countries confronting demand for democracy. India is the largest democracy in the world. New Delhi’s response to Myanmar monk protest against the military rule was tardy. To Pakistan it was knee jerk reaction. The cause of concern is different though as a practicing democracy it should be one.
India and Pakistan are both fighting terrorism. For the first time they have just exchanged dossiers on mutual cooperation on fighting terrorism. New Delhi blames Pakistan for the mess in Kashmir and terrorist attacks in the rest of the country and Pakistan blames India for the situation in North West frontiers. In the aftermath of the attack on Parliament India had raised stake so high that we mobilized our defence forces and would have let the situation escalate into a war had not the wiser counsel and mediation by US prevailed upon New Delhi. Arundhati Roy and other distinguished journalists, jurists and human rights activists in a book on that Attack on Parliament December 13 would have us believe that it was fake! So a new denominator or divisor (terrorism) has entered into the response of the one into the democratic changes in the other. Some leaders of a national party evoke mian Musharraf to fight election in India when ironically he cannot fight his own election in his own country.
However, Pakistan has to walk a much tighter rope in its acrobatics of politics than a democracy like India. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s declaring emergency after an adverse court judgment and the general’s declaration after a perceived and feared would be adverse decision signify differences of the two countries.
The western powers are very much worried that any emergency would entail Pak losing their support and assistance. Admiral Fallon of the US landed in Islamabad a day before emergency was declared. His aim was to discuss the rising militant attacks and the emergent situation. In August Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice had phoned the general at 2 a.m. and prevented him from declaring emergency then. But now she is asking for a “quick return to constitutional law.” After having pumped $ 10 billion into the Pakistan army since 2001 the Americans are feeling desperate as much as the general himself as his current rule ends on November 15.
Was there any choice left for the general? Ahsan remarked that “President Musharraf is illegal”. That precluded any succor to the beleaguered president from the judiciary which not only declared that Nawaz Shariff could return now but was determined to give a verdict against the president when it would have reconvened on November 5. The ascendancy in suicidal terrorist attacks had cost 700 lives in the last four months. Attacks on army runs into two scores and more. So alarming was the situation that the soldiers were now wearing civilian dress and traveling in unmarked cars to avoid becoming easy identified targets. Desertion from army was also reported.
There is a saving grace still left. If the people of Pakistan can see that howsoever unpopular, the general is still struggling to keep the country from a slide into chaos they may rally around him. Not the individual but his action. At the time of going to press we hear that he has got 200 soldiers released by the militants in exchange of releasing their leader and about forty of the militants from jail. That is a flicker of hope; the emergency may not be a setback after all. Still the Swat valley may take time to return to tolerable armed neutrality if not truce.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
