South Asia Citizens Wire | July 2-3, 2009 | Dispatch No. 2640 - Year 11 running
From: www.sacw.net

[ SACW Dispatches for 2009-2010 are dedicated to the memory of Dr. Sudarshan
Punhani (1933-2009), husband of Professor Tamara Zakon and a comrade and friend
of Daya Varma ]
____

[1] Pakistan / Afghanistan:  HRCP questions voluntary nature of refugees'
repatriation
[2] Pakistan's Kashmir problem (Alok Rai)
[3] Punditry about Muslims (Jawed Naqvi)
[4] Some Thoughts on Developments in Nepal (Anand Swaroop Verma)
[5] India: Landmark Delhi High Court Ruling decriminalizes homosexuality
+ Full text of the 2 July 2009 ruling
+ End to unnatural exclusion (Shohini Ghosh)
Homophobia Unites Moral and Culture Police From All Religio-Political Lobbies In
India: Secular Forces Must Not Duck
- Legalising homosexuality will lead to sexual anarchy: church (The Hindu)
- Govt resolve to act on Section 377 hits Deoband hurdle (Times of India)
- Excerpt from PTI report in Herald
- Excerpt from report in Times TV
- Religious leaders disapprove HC judgement on homosexuality
- Muslim clerics deplore homosexuality, lesbianism (Atiq Khan)
[6] India: The Rebellion in Lalgarh - The CPI(M) itself is responsible for the
predicament it is in (Ashok Mitra)
[7] Tributes: Ram Narayan Kumar - An Obituary (Pritam Singh)
- A Condolence Message from Naga People's Movement For Human Rights
[8] Protecting and Promoting Rights in Natural Disasters in South Asia:
Prevention and Response - Summary Report (Brookings / Berns Project)
[9] India: Regardless of contents, Liberhan report is bad news for BJP news
analysis (Siddharth Varadarajan)
[10] Book Review: Women's work - Never done and poorly paid (Nirmala Banerji)
[11] A Statement From Honduran Women's Organizations and Feminist Networks

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[1] Pakistan / Afghanistan:

Human rights Commission of Pakistan

HRCP QUESTIONS VOLUNTARY NATURE OF REFUGEES' REPATRIATION

Press release, 24 June 2009

Lahore: The repatriation of registered Afghan refugees from Pakistan does not
meet the required standard of voluntarism deemed mandatory by international
refugee law, a report by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has
said.

The report entitled `Push Comes to Shove' – whose publication coincided with the
World Refugee Day, June 20 – studies the trends and patterns of repatriation of
Afghan refugees through 2007 and 2008 to determine whether the process was
voluntary.

The study conducted by HRCP's Peshawar chapter says that even though many Afghan
refugees in Pakistan signed up for repatriation, large numbers did so not
because they thought that it was safe to return, but because they believed they
had no choice in the matter.

Refugees interviewed from camps slated for closure spoke of harassment by
police, lack of security, basic infrastructure, education, health and livelihood
opportunities in Afghanistan as the main reason for their hesitation to return.

All Afghan refugees registered in Pakistan were required to leave by the end of
2009. Those living in camps slated for closure could opt to relocate to another
camp. An overwhelming majority of refugees declined relocation to another camp,
not because they were keen to return to Afghanistan but said they would not want
to be uprooted again when the December 2009 deadline arrived. That deadline has
now been extended to 2012.

According to the report, outside the camps slated for closure, "an environment
of persecution and intimidation was created by checking movement of refugees and
harassment at the hands of police. In camps, houses were razed and businesses
locked, often resulting in confrontation between the authorities and the
refugees."

Repatriation may be the preferred solution for all concerned but adhering to the
principle of voluntarism must not be ignored and the needs of refugees with
additional vulnerabilities must be considered, the report said.

"Any attempt to repatriate Afghan refugees must take into account their
willingness to return and the conditions back home, especially security and
shelter," it added.

I.A. Rehman

Secretary General

______


[2]

The Daily Times
July 03, 2009

PAKISTAN'S KASHMIR PROBLEM

by Alok Rai

My Pakistani interlocutor assures me that it is the hour before dawn that is the
darkest, that the present generation, even in Punjab, is ready to move out of
this mutually destructive cycle and start a new chapter in the sad history of
our sub-continent

(The present article grew out of a series of exchanges between two friends, one
Indian, the other Pakistani. "Kashmir" is a problem with far-reaching
consequences for both societies. It is important that members of civil society
on both sides of the border talk to each other in a spirit of serious
engagement, and so carry forward the people-to-people dialogue beyond the not
insignificant level of biryani and banter. It is in that spirit that this view
from India is offered.)

My proposition is simple — despite the proclamations of generations of Pakistani
leaders, Pakistan's Kashmir problem has nothing to do with Kashmir. It is a fact
that the transfer of power in Kashmir way back at the time of Independence and
Partition was a messy business — but that is over and done with.

As far as the UN Resolution is concerned, there is simply no possibility of a
return to the status quo ante. Even if it were possible to imagine Pakistani
forces vacating "Azad Kashmir" — a.k.a. POK, but why bother to go that way? —
and of Indian forces vacating Indian Kashmir, there is no possibility of
returning to that time in which the plebiscite was supposed to be held.

Further, it needs to be asked: what is the nature of the engagement of Pakistani
civil society with "Kashmir"? Is it an engagement at the level of our common
humanity — in the sense in which I may, for instance, be deeply involved with
the tragedy of Africa? But if it is something more or other than that, it needs
to be spelt out just what that something more is. Because the most evident
explanation for Pakistan's special claim to a locus standi in "the Kashmir
problem" can only be in terms of the two-nation theory.

I realise that the state of Pakistan must have a somewhat fraught relationship
with the two-nation theory — it is after all the necessary foundation for the
state of Pakistan. But members of civil society may well feel — on both sides of
the border — the "theory", first propounded by the ideologue of Hindutva,
Savarkar, was a historical blunder, a catastrophic political mistake, one that
was at the root of millions of destroyed lives, Hindu and Muslim. It also left
the Muslims of India, the putative beneficiaries, somewhat less politically
consequential than they would have been otherwise.

(This rejection of the two-nation theory is entirely consistent in my mind with
accepting the present reality of two independent, sovereign states, India and
Pakistan, which should have mature relations.)

In the light of this, "Kashmir" becomes a way of addressing the Pakistani
problem of legitimacy — because if Kashmir can be maintained as an "issue", then
the "two-nation theory" is still available as a founding principle, despite all
that has happened in the last 60 years.

In the context of "Kashmir" that fatal "theory" raises its ugly head again.
Still, it would be the height of political irresponsibility if it were to be
legitimised now, and allowed to work its malign destruction again, unleashing
the ethnic cleansing that would necessarily result in Kashmir — with its Muslim
majority and its Hindu minority, in Jammu with its Hindu majority, and in Ladakh
with its Buddhist majority. The notion of a religion-based plebiscite at this
point in history is quite simply a horrible idea — and one that should be
unthinkable even, perhaps particularly, in contemporary Pakistan. Is it?

I do not by any means wish to suggest that all is well in Kashmir — even in
Indian Kashmir — I don't know enough about the other one. The Indian state has a
serious problem with commanding the loyalties of the people of Kashmir, who
might legitimately be said to have a problem with the state of India and its
armed forces.

It may be argued that the widespread exercise of democratic franchise by
Kashmiris in the last election shows that the situation might be changing — that
the people of Kashmir have, so to speak, voted with their votes, and voted not
only in the immediate elections, but even in that hypothetical plebiscite on
whether they wish to be a part of India.

But it would be silly — worse, cruel — to pretend that "India's Kashmir
problem", and "Kashmir's India problem", has thereby come to an end. It hasn't.
A lot more needs to be done — and trigger-happy soldiers cannot be part of the
solution.

But all this — and more, much more — has nothing to do with Pakistan. In fact,
the best thing that Pakistan can do for the people of Kashmir — for whom many
tears are shed — is to lay off, let be, recognise that while it can certainly
make things worse — difficult for Indian forces of course, but also worse for
the people of Kashmir — it can certainly not make them better. Pakistani
meddling — infiltration, "freedom fighting", etc — can only prolong the agony of
the people of Kashmir and their ordeal at the hands of Indian forces.

But is Pakistani civil society prepared to recognise this? It appears that there
is far too much invested — in terms of material resources, of course — but also
in terms of emotion, of national purpose — for Pakistan to be able to let go of
"the Kashmir problem". This is not the same as letting go of Kashmir — nothing
is going to change the situation on the ground, not in J&K, not in AJK. It is
"Kashmir" — the foolish fantasy of "freeing" Kashmir — that enables the Army to
maintain its stranglehold on Pakistan. The ideological investment in "freeing"
Kashmir — in schools and out of them — will not easily be dissolved. Pakistan's
Kashmir problem is its inability to rid itself of the notion that it has a role
to play in the resolution of Kashmir's India problem.

There is of course the valid military insight that Pakistan can, by keeping
"Kashmir" on the boil, bleed India, and "avenge Bangladesh". But such is the
dynamic set in motion by the explosive rise of jihadi Islam in Pakistan that now
India, too, can crucify Pakistan by teasing it over Kashmir and so prolonging
its ordeal at the hands of the jihadis.

However, it devolves upon civil society in both countries to force their states
not to continue with this cynical game, a game in which Kashmir — and Kashmiris,
"ours" and "yours" — are merely the pretext; the instrument, the bloodied means
to a suicidal end, a wilful prolongation of the tragedy of South Asia.

But my Pakistani interlocutor assures me that it is the hour before dawn that is
the darkest, that the present generation, even in Punjab, is ready to move out
of this mutually destructive cycle and start a new chapter in the sad history of
our sub-continent. I am writing this in the hope that he is right and I am
wrong. Happy to be wrong.

The writer is a professor at the University of Delhi

_____


[3]

Dawn
2 July, 2009

PUNDITRY ABOUT MUSLIMS

by Jawed Naqvi

Farah Pandith (pictured above) is the US Special Representative for Muslim
Outreach. Pandith is a Kashmiri Muslim who immigrated to the United States. -
File photo


(AN open letter to Ms Farah Pandith, US Special Representative for Muslim
Outreach)

DEAR Ms Pandith,
Welcome to the chaotic club of seekers who have periodically set out to engage
with Muslims of the world, obviously with good intentions but not always without
a flawed plan to carry out the mission.

I use the word `chaotic' to describe the experience so far, not to berate your
mission.

There were two recent messages from the US embassy in Delhi in my inbox, one
concerning your appointment by Ms Hillary Clinton to your new position at the US
State Department. An older message underscored your participation in an
interfaith dialogue in July last year, which was sponsored by the United States
Institute of Peace. Both messages point to your keen interest in creating a
global cornucopia of religions, if I have understood the gist correctly, in
which mutual tolerance and harmony are the main attractions.

According to your new brief, you will carry out Ms Clinton's efforts to `engage
with Muslims around the world on a people-to-people and organisational level'.
We are also told that you were previously an adviser on `Muslim engagement' at
the State Department, serving as a senior adviser to the assistant secretary of
state for European and Eurasian affairs. You have also served on the National
Security Council as the coordinator for US policy on outreach to Muslims, and
worked at the US Agency for International Development on assistance projects for
Iraq, Afghanistan and the Palestinian territories.

We are told that you are a Kashmiri Muslim who immigrated to the United States.
You have been quoted as saying that along with the importance of education, you
`also learned … to balance pride in my cultural heritage with a deep attachment
to the values of America'. To set the context of your new job, the official note
makes a reference to President Barack Obama's speech of June 4 in Cairo, where
he sought `a new beginning' between the United States and Muslims `based on
mutual interest and mutual respect, and … based upon the truth that America and
Islam are not exclusive and need not be in competition'.

At the interfaith dialogue, almost exactly a year ago, you supported a
participant's view that groups like Al Qaeda exploit young people's search for
an identity. `We cannot allow them … to take advantage of things that we all in
this room understand are just very natural.'

Allow me to make a few quick observations about your road ahead. First, the
syncretic culture of Kashmir to which you belong has been subjected to vile
abuse in your absence. Beginning with 1990 an exclusivist and narrow-minded
Islam was sought to be imposed on the people by armed groups with the alleged
support of zealots within Pakistan's intelligence and security forces. On the
other hand, the demonic logic of occupation has spurred Indian security forces
to brutalise the people at will, without accountability.

You must have wondered, Ms Pandith, how the tragedies of our times are getting
identified with religious strife. Take the important briefs that you have held.
The Palestinian question is posed as a Muslim issue. Afghanistan is described as
a religious problem. Note also the sleight of hand, since the colonial era, in
the orchestrated positioning of identities. Shia, Sunni and Kurds in Iraq, for
example, comprise a scantly noticed absurdity: two religious groups and one
ethnic community. Does that ethnic community have a religion? Wouldn't the word
`hydrocarbons' explain the ethnic-religious discourse better?

In Lebanon, it is the Shia, Sunni and Druze that beg the question. I think the
mischief began with colonial historiography. In India, English chroniclers
divided us into Hindu, Muslim and British period. The subterfuge found an echo
in Sri Lanka, where Sinhalese, Tamils and Burghers are lumped with Muslims:
three ethnic groups and a religious category. Do the Muslims have an ethnicity?

This question acquires urgency because of President Obama's speech in Cairo,
where he said America and Islam are not exclusive and need not be in
competition. Pardon me for saying so, but his formulation was inane, possibly
rooted in a poor management of specificity. Not even the state of Israel will
claim that it has a deep-rooted suspicion of Islam. What the world would like to
know from Mr Obama is why apologists of the Fukuyama and Huntington worldview
are still powerful in the US Congress, and in the White House in his watch.

Where was the need to mask America's obvious allergies with political Islam?
Even Muslims have problems with extremist categories of fellow believers. What
the middle-path Muslim youth, the constituency that you are seeking to address,
would like to hear from the White House (and you) is an assurance that no US
presidential candidate will henceforth do genuflection before the Israeli lobby
(not to be confused with the Jewish people, the most revered of whom is Noam
Chomsky) no matter how influential they are in your adopted country.

When you embark on your mission, Ms Pandith, you would realise the truth of my
submission — from Indonesia to Morocco. You will meet fairly moderate Muslims,
who are willing to bend key prescriptions of religious beliefs but would not
flinch from their core beliefs in humanism and fair play. At present there is a
yawning gap between religious punditry and the need for a just and peaceful
global order.

To achieve that you would need to reach out to the world's dwindling liberal
community regardless of their religious affiliations. They are the most
marginalised everywhere. Sincerely.

The writer is Dawn's correspondent in Delhi.

_____


[4]

SOME THOUGHTS ON DEVELOPMENTS IN NEPAL

by Anand Swaroop Verma, 30 June 2009

Translation of the Hindi article published in the June 2009 issue of FILHAAL, a
radical Hindi fortnightly published from Patna.

After the resignation of the Prime Minister, Mr Pushp Kamal Dahal " Prachand"
the political parties once again have created the situation which reminds of the
days of the 12-point agreement which took place in November 2005. The 12 point
understanding was reached at that time between the CPN-Maoists (which was
underground and carrying out peoples' war) and seven parliamentary parties. This
was a historic accord as based on this the programme which was framed that
culminated in November 2006 peace agreement, election to the Constituent
Assembly and establishment of republic. If 12- point accord was not signed then
the monarchy would not have been thrown out so soon in Nepal. This is worth
recalling that America had brazenly launched a campaign against the accord. The
then US Ambassador to Nepal, Mr James Moriarty had advised the parliamentary
parties not to join hands with the Maoists and instead should face the Maoists
in league with King Gyanendra. He also told the parties that even if they had
signed the accord they should come out of it and do some evaluation. This is
imperative to mention that this agreement was signed in Delhi and at a time when
the government of India was also busy arresting the Maoists of Nepal. Obviously
this accord could not have been signed without the consent and knowledge of
India. Since the image of Nepali Congress of the then Nepal prime minister, Mr
Girija Pradad Koirala has been quite good in the eyes of the Indian government,
this accord could be signed in India due to his efforts. However after some time
once the situation completely normalised it was revealed that Mr Prachanda had
suggested to hold the meeting in Rolpa and had even offered to ensure the
security of the political leaders but Mr Koirala did not agree for this. Instead
he selected Delhi while giving guarantee of security to Mr Prachanda and his
colleagues. In fact once Mr Gyanendra took control of power on February 1, 2005
and launched the drive to arrest the leaders of the parliamentary parties then
they realized the need for joining hands with the Maoists for providing strength
to fight against monarchy. Maoists were also looking for proper opportunity to
forge alliance with parliamentary parties.

The American reaction to this accord also revealed that notwithstanding mutual
cooperation between India and US on many issue of having control on Nepal they
have sever contradictions. India treats a strong presence of America in Nepal
against its national interest.

The political polarization in Nepal on the issue of dismissal of the old Shahi
army chief Rukmangad Katwal to a large extent is the manifestation of the
American desire that all the parties should form a front against Maoists.
Monarchy has been abolished but its remnants are present in the form of Katwal
and once again America, which had earlier lost the game, has tried to turn the
situation in its favour.
[. . .]
Full text at: http://www.sacw.net/article981.html



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[5] India: Great Leap forward - Landmark Ruling by Delhi Court decriminalized
homosexuality by striking down section 377 of the
Indian Penal Code.

+ FULL TEXT OF THE DELHI HIGH COURT DECISION - WP(C) NO.7455/2001
http://www.sacw.net/article985.html

o o o

END TO UNNATURAL EXCLUSION

by Shohini Ghosh

Hindustan Times
New Delhi, July 02, 2009
 In a historic judgement, a two-judge bench comprising Chief Justice A P Shah
and Justice Murlidharan has decriminalised non-heterosexual sex between
consenting adults. In an eloquently argued judgement of 150 pages, the bench has
struck down Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), a colonial legislation
drafted by Lord Macaulay in 1860, that criminalised "carnal intercourse against
the order of nature" punishable by imprisonment extending up to ten years. India
was one of the few countries left in the world that criminalised and
discriminated on the basis of sexual orientation. By overturning Section 377,
the Delhi High Court has foregrounded the importance of sexual rights, lent
dignity to people of different sexualities and upheld the Constitutional values
of democracy and equality.

Arguing that Section 377 is violative of Articles 21 (right to life and personal
liberty), Article 14 (equality before law and equal protection from law) and
Article 15 (prohibiting discrimination on several grounds including sex), the
judgement holds that if there is one "constitutional tenet" that can be
considered an "underlying theme" of the Indian Constitution, it is
"inclusiveness".

Nurtured over many years, "inclusiveness" recognises "a role in society for
everyone" where "those perceived by the majority as `deviants' or `different'
are not `excluded or ostracised'". It argues that "Constitutional law does not
permit the statutory criminal law to be held captive by the popular
misconceptions of who the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) are. It
cannot be forgotten that discrimination is the antithesis of equality and that
it is the recognition of equality which will foster the dignity of every
individual."

However, it retains the provisions of Section 377 to govern "non-consensual
penile non-vaginal sex and penile non-vaginal sex involving minors" thereby
allowing child sexual offenders to be prosecuted under it. However, it is now
being strongly argued that child rights are best protected, not by the
provisions of 377, but an entirely separate law.

This visionary judgement is the culmination of a ten-year legal battle. In 2001
Naz Foundation (an NGO related to HIV/Aids issues) filed a petition in the Delhi
High Court asking for Section 377 to be `read down' by decriminalising
consensual sex among adults. In September 2003, the Government insisted on
retaining Section 377 on the grounds that `Indian society's disapproval of
homosexuality was strong enough to justify it being treated as a criminal
offence even where adults indulge in it in private'.

In February 2006, the Supreme Court ordered the High Court to reconsider the
constitutional validity of Section 377. The Naz Foundation petition was
supported by Voices Against 377, comprising 12 organisations across the country
while it was being opposed by the government of Delhi and others. The position
of the government (represented by the Ministries of Health and Law) has been
conflicted while many of its affiliates demanded decriminalisation.

Naco (National Aids Control Organisation) demanded the scrapping of Section 377
as it was obstructing effective health interventions. The 172nd report of the
Law Commission of India and the recommendations of the National Planning
Commission for the 11th Five Year Plan also demanded decriminalisation of
homosexuality.

In the last two decades, LGBT activism played a major role in creating awareness
on the issue. In 2006 writer Vikram Seth released a public letter demanding that
the "cruel" law be struck down. The letter was supported by a large number of
signatories including Captain Lakshmi Sehgal, Aruna Roy, Soli Sorabjee, Shyam
Benegal, Shubha Mudgal, Arundhati Roy, Aparna Sen, Mrinalini Sarabhai and
demanded the scrapping of the "brutal law" that "punitively criminalises
romantic love and private, consensual sexual acts between adults of the same
sex" while being used to "systematically persecute, blackmail, arrest and
terrorise sexual minorities". Amartya Sen also asked for an abolition of the
"colonial era monstrosity" that ran contrary to "the enhancement of human
freedom" and India's commitment to "democracy and human rights".

Like all laws, Section 377 was used both inside and outside the courtroom. In
2001, activists of Bharosa Trust, Lucknow were arrested under Section 377 for
running a "gay racket" and conspiring to "promote homosexuality" through
advocating safe sex practices among homosexual and bisexual men. In 2006, the
Lucknow police entrapped five gay men by tracking them over the internet and
then arresting them under Section 377. For years, police have used Section 377
to extort, threaten, intimidate and harass LGBT people. Commenting on how
law-enforcers can misuse such penalisable offences, Amartya Sen observed that
the harm done by such an "an unjust law" can, therefore, "be far larger than
would be indicated by cases of actual prosecution".
It remains to be seen how the UPA government responds to a judgement that
derives its inspiration from a Nehruvian vision of `Equality'. While moving the
`Objective Resolution' on December 13, 1946, Jawaharlal Nehru said (and the
Judgement quotes): "Words are magic things often enough, but even the magic of
words sometimes cannot convey the magic of the human spirit and of a Nation's
passion. [The Resolution] seeks very feebly to tell the world of what we have
thought or dreamt of so long, and what we now hope to achieve in the near
future."
These words no doubt echo the feelings and aspirations of all LGBT people and
their friends and family.

Shohini Ghosh is Sajjad Zaheer Professor at the AJK Mass Communication Research
Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi


o o o

HOMOPHOBIA UNITES MORAL POLICE FROM ALL RELIGIO-POLITICAL LOBBIES IN INDIA

[The 2 July 2009 judgement by the Delhi high court is a great victory for human
rights; but all secular forces must be beware that all the major religious and
conservative forces will unite to block and oppose the full legalisation of
homosexuality in India. So lets us firmly fight them back on a secular platform.
A common front of retrogressive forces from the religious spectrum ranging from
Maulvis, catholic clergymen, Hindutva types and also people from mainstream
political parties are likely to appeal and challenge legal decision and any
moves to develop state policy. A selection of reports and excerpts from the
Indian press is posted below. -hk]

o o o

The Hindu, July 2, 2009 : 2015 Hrs

LEGALISING HOMOSEXUALITY WILL LEAD TO SEXUAL ANARCHY: CHURCH

Kochi (PTI): Expressing reservation over the Delhi High court judgement
legalising homosexuality, the Catholic Church in Kerala on Thursday said this
would 'open up' the society to 'sexual anarchy'.

"Though Homosexual act is immoral, we should be merciful, considerate to people
with homosexual tendencies. However, that does not mean they have the right to
the homosexual act," the Catholic Church spokesperson Paul Thelekat said.

"Legalising gay sex will open up the society to some sort of sexual anarchy.
Perhaps Indian culture is being eroded by the western promiscuous culture," he
said.

The Church would work with every sensitive person and community to keep the
moral fabric of the society intact, he said.

o o o

Times of India

GOVT RESOLVE TO ACT ON SECTION 377 HITS DEOBAND HURDLE

30 June 2009

NEW DELHI: Islamic seminary Deoband's condemnation on Monday of moves to repeal
Section 377 of IPC to legalise same sex liaisons -- by calling it
a wish of an "ungodly few" -- set off fears that conservative religious opinion
could dilute the resolve of the government to "decriminalise homosexuality".

The seminary, reacting to statements from government circles that there was a
case for scratching Section 377, called it a "contemptible move likely to
corrupt the gullible in society". The strong criticism may well increase the
wariness that has marked the reactions of ministers after initially signalling a
preparedness to legalise homosexuality.

While there was a strong reaction from Muslim clerics in general, their stand
was bolstered by Deoband with deputy V-C of Darul-Uloom, Mufti Mohammad Abdul
Khalik Madrasi, warning, "Homosexuality is an offence under Shariat law and
haram (prohibited) in Islam."

Two days after reactions from Union ministers raised hope among groups working
for its repeal, the mood was one of caution and the ruling Congress itself made
it clear that it had no particular views on the matter. The apprehensions are
largely on account of conservative opinion from religious quarters, which can
have a social resonance and are seen to have a political impact as well.

What may make withdrawal of Section 377 a challenge are hints of convergence
across religious barriers against the move. Mohammad Arshad Farukhi from the
fatwa department of Darul-Uloom said, "A joint forum of Hindus, Muslims and
Christians must be set up to check the government from making the offending
legislation."

It has tempered the aggression in government. Law minister Veerappa Moily
assured that a wide debate on the issue would take care of reservations of
Christian groups. "The government cannot take a decision in a hurry. We need to
apply our mind," he said in Hyderabad, adding, "We are examining it."

Health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad was as non-committal. "I can simply say there
should be more debate -- public debate, Parliament debate. There has to be a
consensus. The negative and positive has to be evaluated and then a conclusion
should be evolved," he said.

Azad favoured a debate in Parliament, saying, "There should be a total
consensus. Not only government, but other political parties should also be in
line with it (amendment)."

As the two key ministers advocated debate and consensus, Congress refused to
take sides on the issue. "This is under consideration of the government. It is a
normal government process. The party does not have any opinion on it," party
spokesman Shakeel Ahmed said in response to queries about the party's stand on
repealing Section 377.

o o o

EXCERPT FROM PTI REPORT IN HERALD
http://oheraldo.in/pagedetails.asp?nid=23802&cid=2


"While Rt Rev Abraham Mar Paulos Episcopa, head of Marthoma Syrian Church of
Malabar diocesan, said homosexuality is not at all acceptable and agreeable as
it is against the tenets of Bible.

According to Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, repeal of the section would create "sexual
anarchy" in the society.

VHP said homosexuality is against the culture and family system in India and
will result in spread of number of diseases."

o o o

EXCERPT FROM REPORT IN TIMES TV

http://www.timesnow.tv/Political-divide-over-legality-deepens/articleshow/432116\
2.cms

"Kamal Farooqui, Member, All India Muslim Personal Law Board, speaking against
the judgement said, "This judgement is just to please our western and american
friends. In Indian socieity this is not accceptable whether Muslim or Hindu.
Basically we are a religious society. Our temperament is that homosexual act is
an unnatural act."

Amar singh, General Secretary, Samajwadi Party, also speaking against the high
court order said that the party does not support homosexuality or sexual
relations between the same sex."

Meanwhile, Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, Islamic scholar, said, "As far as the
practice of homosexuality is concerned, I think that is completely wrong."

Acharya Giriraj Kishore, VHP Leader, not in favour of the judgement said that
the high court order is unfortunate and that it would destroy the society."

o o o

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Religious-leaders-disapprove-HC-judgement-on-h\
omosexuality/484077

Indian Express

RELIGIOUS LEADERS DISAPPROVE HC JUDGEMENT ON HOMOSEXUALITY

Posted: Thursday , July 02, 2009 at 1326 hrs IST New Delhi:

Certain religious leaders on Thursday strongly disapproved of the Delhi High
Court judgement which legalised gay sex among consenting adults. "This is
absolutely wrong to legalise homosexuality. We will not accept any such law,"
Jama Masjid Imam Ahmed Bukhari said. He also critcised the government for trying
to amend the Indian Penal Code to scrap section 377 that criminalizes
homosexuality. "If the government makes such attempt to scrap the Section 377,
we will oppose it strongly," Bukhari said.

All India Muslim Personal Law Board member Maulana Khalid Rashid Firangi Mahli
said homosexuality is not allowed by any religion. "It is against all religions.
It is against the culture of Indian society. We feel there is no need to
legalise homosexuality. This practice is unnatural. It should continue as a
criminal act," he said. Father Dominic Immanuel said that churches have no
objection to decriminalisation of homosexuality but it should not be legalised.
"We have no objection to decriminalisation of homosexuality because we do not
consider these people as criminals on par with other criminals," Immanuel said.

However, churches do not approve of homosexual relations as ethical and moral
right of the people, he said. "It is against nature.Our position is that
homosexuality should not be legalised," he said, adding such practice will
increase paedophilia and HIV/AIDS. The court said Section 377 of the IPC as far
as it criminalises gay sex among consenting adults is violation of fundamental
rights.

o o o

The Hindu
July 03, 2009

MUSLIM CLERICS DEPLORE HOMOSEXUALITY, LESBIANISM

by Atiq Khan

Lucknow: Taking a firm view that homosexuality and lesbianism threatened to
destroy the already crumbling family system in the country, Muslim religious
leaders are unanimous that consensual sex of this form should not be legalised
in a multi-religious society such as India's.
The leading Islamic seminary, Darul Uloom - Deoband in Uttar Pradesh, the
Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JeI) and the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB)
have struck a common chord on this issue.
For them, the issue does not concern Islam alone as no other religion sanctions
this form of sex.

Clerics told to unite

"The time has come for all religious leaders to unite on this issue and jointly
protest the government's proposed move to legalise gay rights. A consensus
should be evolved for challenging the Delhi High Court order in the Supreme
Court," said Maulana Syed Jalaluddin Umri, Amir (president) of Jamaat-e-Islami
Hind.
Questioning the right to freedom for consensual sex (homosexuality and
lesbianism), the JeI chief said it would destroy the family system as has been
the case in Western societies where consensual sex has been legalised.

`Against Indian ethos'

"Homosexuality does not jell with India's `mizaaj' [cultural ethos] and cannot
be tolerated in our society. Moreover, medical evidence has also been found of
homosexuals being carriers of HIV-AIDS," the Maulana said from the Jamaat office
in Delhi.
In Islam, homosexuality is treated as "gunaah" [sin], and is against the concept
of a family as a unit. If the family is destroyed, the society gets
disintegrated. This is the commonly-held view among Muslim clerics.

"Retain Section 377"

"Section 377 of the IPC should stay and nothing should be done by the government
which legalised homosexuality," said Maulana Abdul Rahim Qureishi, assistant
secretary general and spokesperson of the AIMPLB while talking to The Hindu from
Hyderabad.
He said it was the fallout, or even a manifestation of the promiscuity so
prevalent in the West. "Consensual sex is one the reasons for the break-up of
the family system in Western societies, mainly in Europe and the U.S.," he
added.
The Maulana did not rule out the possibility of the issue figuring in the
one-day executive committee meeting of the Muslim Personal Law Board in
Kozhikhode on July 12.
In Lucknow, the Naib (deputy) Imam of Aishbagh Idgah and AIMPLB member, Maulana
Khalid Rasheed Firangi Mahali, said the Union government should ensure that no
such law was framed in the country which legalised homosexuality. "No religion
approves of unnatural form of sex; besides, the family cannot be expanded by
indulging in homosexuality," Maulana Rasheed said.
Verdict `disappointing'
The Maulana described the Delhi High Court verdict as "disappointing" and said
it should be challenged in the Supreme Court.
The Darul Uloom - Deoband had also voiced its concern over the prospect of gay
laws being legalised.
Voicing the seminary's view, the Deputy Rector, Maulana Abdul Khaliq Madrasi,
had reportedly said: "Homosexuality is an offence under Shariat laws and
prohibited in Islam."



_____


[6] India: The Rebellion in Lalgarh

The Telegraph
July 3, 2009

FIRE AND FOREBODING - The CPI(M) itself is responsible for the predicament it
is in
Cutting Corners - Ashok Mitra

Legal rhetoric is not the real issue though. Spokesmen of the administration led
by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in West Bengal had been importunating
for the despatch of Central forces to quell the rebellion in Lalgarh. We have
obviously travelled aeons since the days the Left questioned the very right of
the Centre to raise police and security forces on the ground that law and order
were an exclusively State subject. In response to the state government's plea,
CRPF personnel have entered West Bengal, taken charge in Lalgarh and its
neighbourhood, and are currently engaged in combing operations with gusto. The
drama, however, has only reached Act One, Scene Three. Having answered the state
government's prayer, New Delhi is now intent on extracting its pound of flesh.
The Maoists are a national menace; to combat that menace, other states have
banned them in terms of the relevant Central legislation. West Bengal too must
fall in and apply the same legislation; the West Bengal government has agreed to
do so.

From the first day of Independence, the Left has fought against what it used to
describe as the obnoxiousness of preventive detention. The regime in West
Bengal, led by the CPI(M), has now gone on reverse gear. It is, in consequence,
in the tentacles of a double jeopardy. The perverse logic they subscribe to
induces the Maoists to target the Marxists as their biggest enemies. The grisly,
indiscriminate killings of Marxist cadre in and around Lalgarh have no other
explanation. But are the Marxists sufficiently aware of the other peril lying in
wait for them? The Congress leadership mapping the strategy in New Delhi wants
to liquidate not just the Maoists but the entire Left, including the CPI(M). To
make a particular coalition partner happy is only one part of it. The `soft
Hindutva' line of the Bharatiya Janata Party does not worry the Congress; it is
confident about containing that challenge — if necessary, by organizing a spell
of round-the-clock temple-hopping by the Nehru-Gandhis. There is, in any event,
no class divide as far as the BJP is concerned. That is not the case with the
Left, which, at the national level, continues to put up irritating roadblocks to
thwart the completion of the `economic reforms' agenda, class interest according
to demands choking the Left wherever possible.

The Marxists would therefore be living in a fool's paradise if they think that
once Lalgarh is cleared of Maoists, the Centre would shake hands in a
gentlemanly way and withdraw its forces from West Bengal. The aforesaid
coalition partner, fired up further by the results of the state municipal polls,
will turn more raucous with every passing day. It will, rest assured, plot to
create a situation in the state where the demand will intensify to bring certain
parts of the state under the purview of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act.
Chaos will mount, and the Left Front administration will be fighting
simultaneously on several fronts; New Delhi, it is a fair surmise, expects it to
collapse reasonably soon.

Is not the CPI(M) itself responsible for most of the predicaments it finds
itself in? It was inordinately confident of its ability to persuade the Congress
to rein in enthusiasm for both neo-liberal economic policies and the strategic
alliance with the United States of America. And in spite of its severe
disappointment, elements in the party still seem to think all was not lost, the
Congress might yet bail the Left out at the very last moment.

Even more worrying is the gradual withering away of the party's mass base in
what was hitherto its strongest bastion, West Bengal. The Left Front
administration's desperate move to re-establish its control over certain parts
of the state through induction of Central forces, with all its implications, is
a sad admission of that reality. The CPI(M)'s political line for coping with the
Maoist threat is unexceptionable: to isolate the Maoists from the people. In
this context, should not the prime task of the party and the state
administration have been to use all the energy and resources in their command to
improve the conditions of the wretchedly poor adivasis in areas such as Lalgarh?
The panchayats should have been made the focal point of welfare and
developmental activities, with party leaders and cadre acting as the eye and ear
of the masses.

Nothing of the sort, it is now clear, took place. Funds allocated to the
panchayat bodies under different heads were either not spent or disappeared in
mysterious directions. Party leaders generally played a passive — if not
negative — role. Many of them imbibed the habits and attitudes of feudal
overlords and allowed a social distance to grow between them and the people.
What Gunder Frank had called the development of under-development expanded its
empire. This, in sum, is the story that unfolded over the past decade or
thereabouts in several districts of the state.

Lalgarh has, for the present, been freed from Maoist clutches through Central
help. The prior question, though, is to ask how the Maoists got their
opportunity to penetrate into territories where the CPI(M) had once overwhelming
mass support. The answer is simple: instead of isolating the Maoists, the CPI(M)
succeeded in getting itself isolated from the people.

When Maoist mayhem was at its peak at Lalgarh last month, television cameras had
occasion to zoom their sight on a particular event: a frenzied mob setting fire
to an apparently newly built, dazzlingly white palatial building, standing in
unabashed and isolated splendour in the midst of squalor and destitution all
around: parched earth, dishevelled huts, rickety children with not a stitch on,
men and women with sunken cheeks and deep hungry looks. Then came the astounding
revelation: that mansion was owned by the CPI(M)'s zonal secretary — by
profession, trader, and by caste, high Brahmin; the party's zonal office too was
located there.

When the Left Front assumed charge of the state administration in 1977, it made
a commitment to itself: notwithstanding the restraints set by the Constitution,
it would carve out a Left alternative for social and economic development that
would inspire the rest of the nation. Its initial years, marked by land reforms,
speedy decentralization of administration and animation of the panchayat
institutions, enabled it to make great strides toward that direction. Something
obviously snapped in the later years. It could be the lure of economic
liberalization in spite of the general party line: class awareness wobbled, and
hubris set in. The panchayats, once considered the salvation of the people, can
no longer claim to be as clean as a hound's tooth. The state administration, as
a whole, is in a state of atrophy. The CPI(M)'s state leadership, which was
expected to act as a moral guide, is transformed into an unfeeling bureaucracy.

Does not one almost hear the whispered foreboding of an excruciating tragedy?
Objective conditions in the country call for radical initiatives on the part of
the Marxists and their allies. Were they to fail to fulfil that task, the
nation's millions, hapless victims of deprivation and relentless exploitation,
would conceivably have no alternative but to migrate toward the direction of
those who promise nothing beyond murderous anarchy.

_____


[7] Tributes:

http://www.sacw.net/article986.html

RAM NARAYAN KUMAR : AN OBITUARY

by Pritam Singh

Ram Narayan Kumar, one of the finest human rights researcher, activist and
campaigner in South Asia, passed away on June 28 at his house in Kathmandu
(Nepal). His death at a relatively young age of 54 has sent shock waves among
all those struggling for justice and fairness in South Asia.

His first major confrontation with state power was in 1975 when he opposed the
authoritarian Emergency regime in India and was imprisoned for 19 months for his
political act of defiance to defend democracy. He came from the Indian socialist
tradition influenced by JP Narayan and R M Lohia but had the courage to oppose
the overemphasis on the caste dimension in somewhat opportunistic politics of
some of the followers of JP and Lohia. It was, perhaps, this disenchantment with
his erstwhile comrades, which attracted him to the more universalist appeal of
human rights work.

By family background, he came from a distinguished religious family of India.
His father was the head of a math/peeth in Ayodhaya with a very large following.
Ram was groomed until his teenage years to succeed his father as the head of the
math but Ram revolted and joined the secular world of socialist politics.
However, the large following of the math in Austria resulted later on in Ram
marrying an Austrian doctor.

Although he worked on almost all regions of India where human rights violations
took place such as Kashmir, North East, Gujarat and Eastern India, and even in
the Middle East against US interventions and Israeli aggression, his most
remarkable contribution to human rights practice and documentation was in
Punjab. Coming from a South Indian Brahmin family, he had no personal link with
Punjab. However the massacre of the Sikh minority in Delhi in 1984 pushed him
into the study of Punjab and its troubles. He never abandoned Punjab after this
in spite of his many time demanding pre-occupations elsewhere. It is a
reflection of his deep humanity that he spent about 15 years of his life
studying and documenting human rights abuses in Punjab, a state with which he
had no other relation except the bond of humanity. He traveled to remote
villages of Punjab to hear the painful stories of victims of human rights
violations, expressing solidarity with them and bringing their plight to the
attention of concerned Indians.

I met him for the first time in 1988 when during one of his visits to the UK; I
invited him to speak in Oxford on the crisis in Punjab from a human rights
perspective. Our friendship grew and since 2008, we were involved in a joint
project to write a book on Punjab. His death means the death of that project
also.

He had phenomenal knowledge of Punjab's history, politics, geography, culture,
civil and police administration and Punjab's troubled relationships with the
federal Centre in Delhi. He was meticulous in his research to the point of
obsession, never compromising on the empirical evidence of his claims. His work
on disappearances in Punjab Reduced to Ashes is destined to become a classic in
the literature on disappearances and the brutality of state power. He published
a pioneering paper on the institutional flaws in human rights law and practice
with reference to Punjab in the International Journal of Punjab Studies. On the
invitation of the Association of Punjab Studies (UK), he presented a paper on
the constitutional and institutional rigidities in defending human rights in
Punjab at the Association's bi-annual conference in Oxford in 2003 where he
received standing ovation from the conference participants for the rigour of his
analysis and his towering moral integrity.

His last book on Punjab was Terror in Punjab: Narratives, Knowledge and Truth
(2008) and it is some solace to me that my review of this book was published in
the June 2009 issue of Himal South Asia magazine (Kathmandu) and Ram was able to
see this review.

Ram Narayan Kumar was directing a major project on studying the culture and
practice of immunity that the state officials involved in human rights abuse
enjoy in India. The project covering four critical regions of India- J & K,
North East, Gujarat and Punjab- and involving joint collaboration between
Kathmandu-based South Asia Forum for Human Rights and Canada's International
Council for Development Research (ICDR) has the promise of path breaking output
in bringing transparency, accountability and justice to human rights practice in
India and South Asia.

Ram, as he was affectionately called, was an inspiration to human rights
activists not only in India but also in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and
Nepal. Some of the key dons of Harvard Law School recognised from an
international perspective Ram's contribution to furthering the cause of
defending the vulnerable and the weak in India and South Asia.

He worked too hard, was too pure in his heart and was too demanding of himself.
That took its toll on his health. Though he has gone, his insights and
dedication will forever remain a source of inspiration to those who want to
unearth truth and bring the powerful to accountability.

He is survived by his wife Gertie, daughter Cristina, sister Sita and brother
Gopal, all living in Austria. He will be cremated in Kathmandu as per the wishes
of his family.

o o o

http://www.sacw.net/article983.html

A TRIBUTE TO RAM NARAYAN KUMAR

by NPMHR, 1 July 2009

1 July 2009

Dear Madam/sir,
Kindly help us to reach this message to the Naga public and to all friends in
India and across the world of our deep grieve in losing a close friend in Ram
Kumar Narayan, who passed away at Kathmandu yesterday.

with prayers,
NPMHR Secretariat

 
CONDOLENCE MESSAGE

The Naga People Movement for Human Rights (NPMHR) is deeply shocked and saddened
by the sudden death of Ram Narayan Kumar who was working as a full time project
Director on South Asian Orientation Course in Human Rights and Peace Studies
with the South Asia Forum for Human Rights (SAFHR), Kathmandu, Nepal at the
point of his demise. Ram was an astute human rights activist, research and
writer campaigning for democracy and human rights against state brutality on the
innocent citizens since 1975. He was imprisoned for 19 months for his vocal
opposition to Indira Gandhi`s emergency regime. Ram's work for justice and
accountability in Punjab is widely recognized and is lead author on many books
on the Sikh struggle. Some of his latest works are "India's Constitutional
Discourse: some Unanswered Question" and "Rights Guarantees and Judicial Wrongs:
Arguments for appraisal" in Recasting Indian Politics, ed. Paul Flather
(Palgrave, 2007); Critical Readings in Human Rights and Peace (Shipra
publications, New Delhi, 2006). Ram was a Former Reuter Foundation Fellow at the
University of Oxford and has recently released his new book, Terror in Punjab:
Narratives, Knowledge and Truth (Shipra Publications, Delhi, 2008). Reviewed at:
http://www.himalmag.com/The-third-Sikh-ghallughara-Terror-in-Punjab-by-Ram-Naray\
an-Kumar_nw2960.html

Ram is best known to Nagas for his work with Laxmi Murthy, Four Years of the
Ceasefire Agreement between the Government of India and The National Socialist
Council of Nagalim: Promises and Pitfalls,(New Delhi: Other Media
Communications, 2002) which was an outcome of civil society engagement in
peoples to peoples dialogues between the Nagas and people of India.

When NPMHR commemorated International Human Rights day in December 2006 under
the theme "Harmony through Culture- a musical celebration of Indigenous
peoples", Rams message to the meet give a glimpse of his inner soul which will
will be engrave in our memory forever and NPMHR takes this liberty to partly
quote the solidarity note " During the time I spent in the region, I had been
astonished by the mirth and the power of cultural expressions of the indigenous
peoples who had, otherwise, been subjected to monstrously cruel forms of
discrimination and violence and economic injustice in their subordinate
relations with India that has unfortunately chosen to act like a conquest state
for so long. I do not cease to wonder how a people who are weighed down by
memories of death, torture and spiritual crippling can yet retain that inner
mirth and beauty of soul to be able to transcend all that evil through music,
dance and togetherness and sharing as aspects of their autonomous cultural
identity. That spirit of transcendence also seems to permeate the flora and
fauna, climate, rain, sun, soil, their loom, wood, and cane artifacts, their
shawls and sarongs and their jewellery. I do not want to romanticize, but it is
my firm conviction that the people endowed with these qualities must have a
chance to undo the wrongs of hegemonic cultures that combine the military might
with their hegemonic hubris, and to infuse the futures of the indigenous peoples
with the spirit of unity in culture and through that unity towards
socio-economic and political transcendence."

NPMHR's last contact was during his visit to Nagaland in line with research work
on the issue of Impunity and the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. We pay our
sincere respect to a great soul who has linked our struggles together with his
and the rest of world oppressed, in our common search for dignity, justice and
peace.

NPMHR on behalf of the Naga people and rest of the struggling communities in
this part of the world salutes Ram, our comrade, who indeed was a partner to our
struggles, a profoundly compassionate human sharing our common thread of
humanity and a gifted channel of communication for the voiceless people's call
for Peace and Justice.

NPMHR shares our grieve with all Ram's friends, colleagues at SAFHR besides his
near and dear one at this moment of loss. We pray for his soul for to receive
abundant peace and join all human rights defenders across the world during this
period of mourning.

NPMHR Secretariat
Oking.

_____


[8] PROTECTING AND PROMOTING RIGHTS IN NATURAL DISASTERS IN SOUTH ASIA:
PREVENTION AND RESPONSE - SUMMARY REPORT

(Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement)
http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2009/~/media/Files/rc/reports/2009/0701_natural\
_disasters/0701_natural_disasters.pdf


_____


[7]

The Hindu
1 July 2009

REGARDLESS OF CONTENTS, LIBERHAN REPORT IS BAD NEWS FOR BJP NEWS ANALYSIS

by Siddharth Varadarajan

But Congress may shrink from taking firm action

New Delhi: Sixteen years on from the Sangh parivar's single biggest act of
infamy, the Bharatiya Janata Party and its leaders are likely to discover there
is no political statute of limitations for the crimes of conspiracy, incitement,
rioting and vandalism that were committed in the name of Hindutva when the Babri
Masjid was demolished on December 6, 1992.

Having prospered politically for more than a decade from the resulting
polarisation, the BJP's `rath' eventually ran out of steam in 2004.
Catalyst

The catalyst was perhaps the Gujarat killings of 2002 or the neoliberal economic
policies to which the illiberal politics of Hindutva were wedded. But today,
after its second consecutive defeat in a general election, the BJP finds itself
increasingly aware of the liability that communalism has become.

Officially, the party claims the demolition was the result of spontaneous action
by the mob which it had mobilised in Ayodhya that fateful day. BJP leader L.K.
Advani, whose alleged role in the conspiracy is the subject of a CBI
prosecution, famously described the event as the "saddest day" of his life. But
the fact is that he and his colleagues had hitched their political fortunes to
the violence and intolerance that was the Ramjanmabhoomi movement. And today,
they have to accept political responsibility for the consequences of that
movement, even if the Indian judicial system eventually proves incapable of
assigning criminal liability.

This is where the report of the Liberhan Commission delivers the cruellest blow:
at a time when the BJP is looking for ways to repackage itself as an inclusive
party, its role in the destruction of the 16th century monument is a reminder of
its intolerant agenda. "The subject matter of the report is 90 per cent about
BJP," a senior Congress leader told The Hindu. He acknowledged that the report
might also criticise the role of Narasimha Rao, who was Prime Minister at the
time, and his Congress-run Central government for its inaction. "But the entire
episode is one which is of, for and by the BJP."

Second, the manner in which the report names and assigns guilt is likely to
accentuate the already acute internal fissures within the party. Indeed,
Liberhan may become an `internal brahmastra' for Mr. Advani regardless of the
role the report says he played in the demolition. Worse, by bringing Ayodhya
back into the news, the report will also encourage those within the Sangh
parivar who feel the Ram temple issue should remain at the core of their
political agenda.

Instead of jettisoning the Hindutva agenda, a remedy that some inside the party
now say the 2009 election results indicate, the BJP might then find itself
thrust into an even tighter embrace with sectarianism.

For the Congress, the party is likely to want to use the report's
recommendations to weaken the BJP and its leadership politically without
allowing them to claim the mantle of martyrdom. But after 17 years, those
citizens who still feel aggrieved at the criminal destruction of the mosque are
also entitled to expect that justice will be done and that all politicians
involved in the crime are prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

However, the track record of the Congress does not encourage optimism. Most of
the recommendations of the Srikrishna Commission of Inquiry into the 1992-93
Bombay riots, for example, remain unimplemented a decade after that report was
submitted. And the more fundamental reforms that are needed to protect the
citizenry from official acts of omission and commission during riots are not
even on the Manmohan Singh government's radar screen.

_____


[10] Book Review:


WOMEN'S WORK: NEVER DONE AND POORLY PAID

by Nirmala Banerji

Jayati Ghosh's new book on women's work in globalising India reveals the Indian
state's patriarchal attitude towards women's work

Never Done and Poorly Paid: Women's Work in Globalising India, by Jayati Ghosh.
Feminist Fine Print. Published by Women Unlimited, an affiliate of Kali for
Women, New Delhi 2009. Rs 250 

In writing about women's issues, scholars often tend to dwell on the specifics
of the problems being discussed and ignore their wider context. Ghosh is a
welcome exception to this because she has squarely put the issue against the
backdrop of the fast globalising international economy and, within it, India's
experiments with the process.

The first chapter of the book provides the international context; the second
deals with trends in India, particularly in the years 1991 and onwards when the
country formally embarked on a programme of economic liberalisation. However, it
is a little frustrating to find that India is generally treated as just another
case of development under the growing economic imperialism of international
capital. From a scholar of Ghosh's stature, one would have expected a more
nuanced analysis of the structure of the Indian economy, and the special baggage
of the past the country bears vis-à-vis its labour force and especially its
women.

Compared to many other newly-developing countries, especially in Asia, India
carries a huge load of uneducated, unskilled labour due mainly to past policies
which have been assisted or pressurised by the unholy alliance between class,
caste and political power. 

Although international capital has many ways of keeping labour vulnerable,
Indian capital has a long history of exploitative labour practices in all
sections of the economy, by routing work to home-based workers and combining
this with a hold on them through provision of credit. International capital is
merely finding new uses and users for such practices. One really has to take
into account Indian capitalism nurtured by the Indian state in the first 50 or
so years after Independence. The complexities of the Indian situation deserve a
more sensitive approach, especially from an Indian scholar.

The third chapter is an assessment of work by women. It seems rather unfortunate
that Ghosh has ignored the huge amount of past work, particularly measurement of
women's work and worker status, which has been done in this country over nearly
30 years. There has been work to show that there is a qualitative difference in
the nature of men's work and women's work, arising chiefly from the fact that
women are usually not in control of their own labour. Especially in rural areas,
decisions about the deployment of women's day-to-day labour are most often based
on traditions or the requirements of family authorities. That is why even when
women work on productive tasks they have to combine those with housework. This
makes it difficult for standard employment surveys to assess the distribution of
women's time between economic tasks and household tasks; as a result, women tend
to get labelled `housewives' even if their total time spent on productive tasks
is substantial.

In India, these controls are especially strong on young women workers and,
unlike in Asian countries outside South Asia, young Indian women even today face
a lot of resentment against their appearance in public. The age profile of women
workers in India has therefore always been distinct from that of most developed
or developing countries. In the conceptualisation of women's work in the Indian
context, it is impossible to ignore the patriarchal controls under which women
work.

The book has an interesting way of dividing chapters. According to me, the best
chapter is the one on women in public employment; it paints a vivid picture of
the ways in which the state has increasingly put the burden of providing social
services -- health and education -- on women. Ghosh offers a detailed
description of the items of work that ICDS (Integrated Child Development
Services) workers or ASHAs are supposed to perform, and the terms and conditions
on which they are expected to work. ASHAs are in fact supposed to be voluntary
workers! The picture reveals how the state is short-changing the poor as well as
women workers, and exposes its little regard for the legitimate claims of the
poor for provision of basic services. It also shows how the state is a major
party to women's disempowerment; their hard work is still dismissed as part of
their `caring' nature. The state's excuse that it does not have money to pay
better wages for this work is astounding when one sees how money is being
squandered on repeated awards of pay commissions to bureaucrats. This reinforces
the theory that in India the state is in cohorts with patriarchal authorities in
order to offload its legitimate work for women.

Overall, Never Done and Poorly Paid: Women's Work in Globalising India makes
interesting reading, with a good analysis of the available official data. My
objections, such as they are, have to do with the diversion of the author's
analysis into channels that are not as fruitful as they could have been. Still,
the book provides a useful background for future work in the field.     

(Nirmala Banerji is a feminist economist formerly with the Centre for Social
Studies, Kolkata) 

Infochange News & Features, July 2009



_____


[11] STATEMENT FROM HONDURAN WOMEN'S ORGANIZATIONS AND FEMINIST NETWORKS:

"On Sunday June 28, the President (of Honduras), Mr. José Manuel Zelaya
Rosales, was assaulted, kidnapped and sent to the Republic of Costa Rica in the
presidential plane with military guards who claimed he had violated the
Constitution…

He had implemented a popular consultation through a public opinion survey,
which asked the people whether or not they agreed that on November 29 (national
election day) a fourth urn be placed for the people to vote on a proposed
National Constituent Assembly, which would develop a new Constitution with the
full participation of different social actors in the country.

This consultation was declared illegal by the judiciary, the Public Ministry
and the National Congress, to justify the arrest and extradition of the
President of the Republic, which has violated the rule of law through the use of
brutal force and the lack of respect by the military for his election as
President of the Republic by the people.

The National Congress immediately appointed the President of the Legislative
Chamber, Mr. Roberto Michelleti, as the Constitutional President of the Republic
of Honduras, arguing that President Manuel Zelaya Rosales had resigned, which
was denied at a press conference in the Republic of Costa Rica by President
Zelaya Rosales. This confirms there has been a congressional coup d'état as
legal proceedings, in accordance with the Constitution of the Republic were not
implemented and there were no constitutional guarantees in the way he was
captured and extradited from the country.

Legal mechanisms exist in the country that are implemented through the
courts, if President Zelaya had violated the Constitution, but he was not given
opportunity to defend himself or to resort to legal mechanisms. He was brutally
removed from his post and banished from the country, as in former times of
dictators that governed by the practices of "imprisonment, banishment and
burial."

This political-military coup d'état, which was led by the President of the
Congress and the political economical power of the country that control the
state and the media, with the support and compliance from the Armed Forces and
of some political analysts and the media, has broken the rule of law and
constitutional guarantees of Honduran citizens and some diplomats (such as the
Ambassadors of Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua).

According to Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution the actions that have been
taken constitute the crime of treason. The Constitution establishes that when
the rule of law is violated by the authorities, citizens have the right to
insurgency, which is what is happening: the people peacefully expressing their
repudiation of the coup and demanding the immediate restoration of President
Zelaya and to return to the rule of law.

The main cities are militarized, a state of siege has been decreed, there is
no international communication, cabinet officials of Manuel Zelaya Rosales'
government are being persecuted, and others have been forced to leave the
country in a violent manner; state institutions such as the Presidential Palace,
are militarized and many leaders, of social movements and human rights defenders
are being harassed and threatened by state security forces, media offices have
been intercepted, interrupted and militarized.

In the face of these terrible events we request International Cooperation to
demand the return of the rule of law, and an end to the persecution of Cabinet
members, government officials supporting Manuel Zelaya Rosales, leaders of
social movements and the media. We call for an end to all forms of brutal
violence and that fascism is not imposed on our society because the majority of
Hondurans advocate for peace, solidarity and respect for human rights. We call
for an end to all forms of brutal violence that fascism is not imposed on our
society. The majority of Hondurans advocate for peace, solidarity and respect
for human rights. We emphatically denounce to the human rights bodies in the
region and the international community, the complicity in this whole process by
the Commissioner for Human Rights in Honduras, Dr. Ramón Custodio before the
human rights mechanisms in the region and the international community.

Signatories:

* Centro de Estudios de la Mujer – Honduras (CEM-H)

* Centro de Derechos de Mujeres (CDM)

* Centro de Estudios y Acción para el Desarrollo de Honduras (CESADEH)

* Red de Mujeres Jovenes (REDMUJ)

* Acciones Para el Desarrollo Poblacional (ADP)

* Red de Mujeres Adultas (REDMUCR)

* Colectivo de Mujeres Universitarias (COFEMUN)

* Marcha Mundial de las Mujeres, Comité Nacional Honduras

* Articulaciones Feminista de Redes Locales

* Movimiento de Mujeres Socialistas, Las Lolas

* Comisión de Mujer Pobladora Articulaciones Feminista de Redes Locales

* Convergencia de Mujeres De Honduras Iniciativa Centroamericana de
Seguimiento a Cairo y Beijing

* Feministas Independientes


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