Arundhati Roy’s Statement in YJL Confrence

I would like to caution us all against looking at this issue, in particular the issue of Taslima Nasrin, through the single lens of a battle between religious fundamentalism and secular liberalism. Taslima Nasrin herself sometimes contributes to that view. On her website, she says: “Humankind is facing an uncertain future.” In particular, the conflict is between two different ideas, secularism and fundamentalism.” To me, this conflict is basically between modern, rational, logical thinking and irrational, blind faith. It is a conflict between the future and the past, between innovation and tradition, between those who value freedom and those who do not.”

How strange it is then, that it was the West Bengal Government - led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), a party that sees itself as the vanguard of secularism, modern, logical, and rational thinking - that banned Nasrin’s autobiographical novel Dwikhandita, not once, but twice. Twice the ban was successfully challenged in the Calcutta High Court. The book was published, and for four years people in Bengal read it and Taslima Nasrin lived in Calcutta. And there the matter remained - without incident.

Then Nandigram happened. Muslims and Dalits bore the brunt of the government’s attack. The CPI(M) began to worry about losing the “Muslim vote.” So it played the Taslima card. A report by Mohammed Safi Samsi in the Indian Express (December 1, 2007) tells the story.

The government launched its operation to “recapture” Nandigram at the end of October 2007:

On November 1, Path Sanket a CPI(M) magazine published an anonymous letter supporting Taslima Nasrin, adding some gratuitous insults of its own against Prophet Mohammed. On the November 8, the government banned the magazine and a member of the editorial team called printing the letter a “historic blunder.” But, of course, vernacular newspapers republished the letter. Photocopies of the letter were then distributed in Muslim-dominated localities.

On November 21 - a week after more than 60,000 people marched on the streets protesting the government’s actions in Nandigram - the little-known All India Minority Forum organized a protest that then “erupted” in violence. The army was called in. The government deported Taslima Nasrin from West Bengal.

And today, on February 13, we are all gathered here to discuss “free speech.” Not the recapturing of Nandigram or the continuing terrorizing, humiliation, and rape of the people who live there.

It seems pretty clear that the threat to free speech comes as much from chemical hubs and iron ore mines - and from the project of land grab, enclosure, and mass displacement - as it does from religious fundamentalism. To not see this is to fall into a trap that has been cleverly laid for us.

Religious fundamentalists, especially those from minority communities, are often inadvertently playing out a script that has been written for them. Their outrage, genuine though it may be, has become a dependable, predictable, and an extremely useful political device to further the agendas of others.

The principle of free speech and expression has to negotiate many, many fundamentalisms. Religious fundamentalism, ultranationalist fundamentalism, market fundamentalism, among others. Sometimes they are intertwined in the strangest ways.

Liberals often make the mistake of believing that free speech is a fundamental right given to us by the Indian constitution - and that when it is curbed either by the state or by vigilante militias and thugs, the constitution is being subverted. This is not true. Free speech is not our constitutional right. It is a contained right, beset with caveats, caveats that are always used by the powerful to control and dominate those who are powerless.

Now, we have a slew of new laws that make not just free speech but freedom itself in India a pathetic joke, a distant dream. There is the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), which incorporates some of the worst provisions of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) and Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA). There is the Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act, the Madhya Pradesh Control of Organized Crime Act, and the utterly draconian Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act (CSPSA). Some of these laws contain provisions whose sole purpose seems to be to criminalize everybody and then leave the government free to decide at leisure whom to imprison. Under the CSPSA and the UAPA, for example, the government is free to arbitrarily ban any organization without giving any specific reason for placing the ban.

Here is how the CSPA defines an organization: ” ‘Organization’ means any combination, body or group of persons whether known by any distinctive name or not and whether registered under any relevant law or not and whether governed by any written constitution or not.”

Remember, the vaguer the provisions in the law, the wider the net it casts, the greater the threat to civil and democratic rights.

Here is how the CSPSA defines an “unlawful activity”: “Any action taken by such [banned] individual or organization whether by committing an act or by words either spoken or written or by signs or by visible representation or otherwise.”

And then there are some sub-clauses that widen the net:

(i) which constitutes a danger or menace to public order, peace or tranquility

(ii) which interferes or tends to interfere with maintenance of public order

And, remarkably

(vi) of encouraging or preaching disobedience to established law and its institutions.

In Section 8(5) it says that “Whoever commits or abets or attempts to commit or abet or plans to commit any unlawful activity shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to seven years.”
So now they have mind readers in the Chattisgarh government, as well as seers.

How can there be even the pretense of free speech or freedom under laws like these? All over the country, not just journalists and writers, but anybody who disagrees with the government’s plans is being arrested, tortured, and imprisoned. Sometimes murdered.

Govind Kutty, the editor of People’s March, a publication banned for being sympathetic to Maoist ideology, has been arrested and imprisoned. The Maoists have as much right to the freedom of expression, as much right to place their ideology - however abhorrent the government or anybody else may believe it to be - in the public domain, in the so-called marketplace of ideas as anybody else does.

I believe that the ban on People’s March should be lifted immediately and its editor unconditionally released.

Finally, I would like to say that the battle for free speech must not turn into a battle that limits itself to the freedom of writers, journalists, and artists alone. We are not the only ones who deserve this right. A friend from Chattisgarh recently told me of a doctor who had been arrested because a prescription of his had been found in some “Naxalite kit,” whatever that means.

In Chattisgarh, 644 villages have been evacuated of their inhabitants. That’s more than 300,000 people - displacement on a mass scale, which is eventually intended to clear space for corporate mining interests. Fifty thousand people have been moved into police camps and have become recruits for the dreaded Salwa Judum (the supposedly anti-Maoist “people’s militia” created and funded by the state government). Tens of thousands of people have fled to neighboring states to escape the horror. Nobody is allowed to go back to their villages or to cultivate their land. What is freedom of expression for a farmer? The buzz in town is that a new law is on the anvil which says that if farmland has not been cultivated for two years, it can be diverted for non-agricultural purposes.

Every form of resistance, peaceful or otherwise, is being shut down by the state. Of all the cases on the anvil, the goldfish in a bowl, the dire, menacing warning to us all and to anybody who may be entertaining the idea “of encouraging or preaching disobedience to established law and its institutions” is the continued imprisonment of Dr. Binayak Sen under false charges, underpinned by blatantly fabricated evidence.

Dr. Binayak Sen, who has worked as a civil rights activist with the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) and a doctor in the area for more than 30 years, was arrested last May, charged under the CSPSA, the UAPA, and the Indian Penal Code (IPC). He has been in prison for eight months, denied bail even by the Supreme Court.

By imprisoning someone like Binayak Sen, the government is trying to close out the option of peaceful resistance, of democratic space. It is creating a polarization along the lines of the Bush Doctrine - “If you are not with us, you are with the terrorists” - in which people only have the choice between succumbing to displacement and destitution or resisting by going underground and taking up arms. This is the beginning of either civil war or the annihilation of the poor. Once that genie is out of the bottle, it won’t go back. There are reports that the Chhattisgarh state government has asked for 70 battalions of paramilitary forces beyond the 17 battalions that are already there. A fourfold increase. I fear the worst.

And so, from this platform I would like to ask for the granting of citizenship to Taslima Nasrin, for the immediate and unconditional release of Binayak Sen, Govind Kutty, and the other journalists whose names have been mentioned at this press conference, experienced journalists and peaceful activists who understand that reporting the realities of these situations is the only hope of righting this ship that is tilting dangerously and about to tip over. If it does tip over, everybody will suffer, the poor definitely, but the rich too. There will be no hiding place. I urge those present here to pay keen attention to the specter that is looming before us. And to begin a campaign demanding the repeal of these very frightening new laws that do not merely threaten free speech, but freedom itself.

आखिर मेरा कसूर ही क्या है?

तसलीमा नसरीन

मैंने ऐसा कुछ भी नहीं किया जो गलत हो. इसके बावजूद चार महीने तक मुझे कोलकाता में नज़रबंद रखा गया. मुझे घर से बाहर जाने की इजाज़त नहीं थी. सरकार बार-बार मुझसे देश या फिर राज्य छोड़ने के लिए कहती रही, कहती रही कि यहां से कहीं और चली जाओ. मगर मैंने कोलकाता छोड़ने से इनकार कर दिया. उस घर को छोड़ने से इनकार कर दिया जिसे मैंने बड़ी मेहनत से बसाया था. मैंने इनकार किया क्योंकि मुझे इसे छोड़ने की कोई वजह नजर नहीं आयी. मैं ये यकीन ही नहीं कर पा रही थी कि मेरी वजह से शहर में दंगे भी हो सकते हैं. मुझे इस बात पर विश्वास ही नहीं होता था कि मेरी वजह से शहर में लोगों की जानें जा सकती हैं. मैं इस शहर में पूरी तरह से सुरक्षित महसूस करती हूं. कोलकाता की सड़कों पर मैं बिना किसी डर के घूमी हूं, एक भी सुरक्षाकर्मी के बगैर. एक भी कट्टरपंथी से मेरा सामना नहीं हुआ. जो भी मेरे नज़दीक आया उसने ऐसा सिर्फ इसलिए किया क्योंकि वो मुझे चाहता था. एक दो मुस्लिम नेताओं ने जरूर कभी-कभी मेरे खिलाफ बयान दिये क्योंकि इससे उनके कुछ राजनीतिक स्वार्थ पूरे होते थे. इसलिए नहीं कि इसका उनकी धार्मिक भावनाओं से कुछ लेना-देना था.

मुझे पूरा यकीन है कि 21 नवंबर को हुई हिंसा का मेरे साहित्य से कोई लेना-देना नहीं था. अगर ऐसा होता तो ‘द्विखंडिता’ से विवादित अंशों को हटाने के बाद मेरा कोलकाता लौट पाना मुमकिन हो जाता. मैं जानती हूं कि 21 नवंबर को जिन लोगों ने सड़कों पर उत्पात मचाया वो मेरे साहित्य के बारे में पूरी तरह से अनजान थे. जिस नफ़रत और नाराज़गी का प्रदर्शन करते हुए उन्होंने पुलिस पर पथराव किया वो किसी दूसरी वजह से उपजी थी. वो शहर में मेरे रहने को लेकर नाराज़ नहीं थे.

मुझे राज्य से बाहर भेजने की साज़िश तो काफी लंबे समय से चल रही थी. मगर 22 नवंबर को किसी तरह से इसकी परिणति कर दी गई. मगर मेरा कसूर क्या था? मैंने क्या अपराध किया था कि कोलकाता में मुझे अपने ही घर में कैद कर दिया गया. किस गुनाह के लिए मुझे कोलकाता से निकाला गया? क्या कसूर है मेरा जिसके लिए मुझे दिल्ली में इस अनजान जगह पर एक कमरे में कैद रहने की सज़ा भुगतनी पड़ रही है. ऐसा कमरा जिसके बाहर जाने की मुझे इजाजत नहीं है और न ही इसमें मेरा कोई दोस्त और रिश्तेदार ही मुझसे मिलने आ सकता है. क्यूं मैं अनिश्चितता, निराशा और अकेलेपन का जीवन जीने को मजबूर हूं? मुझे ऐसे माहौल में क्यूं रखा गया है जिसमें मेरा सांस तक लेना दूभर है? मेरा कसूर आखिर है क्या?

केंद्र सरकार कह रही है कि वह मुझे सुरक्षा दे रही है. मगर ये किस तरह की सुरक्षा है? क्या किसी को कैद रखकर भी कोई सुरक्षा दी जाती है? जेल में भी कम से कम मिलने का तो तय समय होता है. यहां तो वो भी नहीं. जेल में रहने वाले अपराधियों को कम से कम ये तो पता होता है कि उनकी रिहाई कब होगी. मुझे तो पता ही नहीं कि कब मुझे इस असहनीय अकेलेपन, अनिश्चितता और जानलेवा खामोशी से आज़ादी मिलेगी.

मुझे कोलकाता छोड़ने को मजबूर किया गया. कहा गया कि कहीं भी जाओ, किसी भी दूसरे देश या राज्य में. इस अनजान जगह पर मुझे कैद रखने का मकसद तो मुझे यही लग रहा है कि मैं परेशान होकर देश छोड़ दूं. अगर ऐसा नहीं है तो मुझे इन ज़ंजीरों से क्यों जकड़ा जा रहा है? मुझे कोलकाता वापस जाने की इजाज़त क्यों नहीं दी जा रही.

क्यों मुझे दिल्ली में भी एक आम जिंदगी जीने से रोका जा रहा है? दिल्ली में तो किसी ने मेरे खिलाफ प्रदर्शन नहीं किए. न ही मुझे जान से मारने की धमकियां मिलीं. बल्कि यहां तो समाज के उदार और जागरूक लोगों ने मेरे समर्थन में आवाज़ भी उठाई. कई बुद्धिजीवी मेरे अभिव्यक्ति के अधिकार का बचाव करते हुए मेरी आज़ादी के लिए अधिकारियों को पत्र लिख रहे हैं. इसके बावजूद मुझे क्यों सलाखों के पीछे ज़िंदगी गुज़ारनी पड़ रही है? जब किसी को धमकी मिलती है तो उसे सुरक्षा इसलिए दी जाती है कि वो अपनी जिंदगी बिना किसी दिक्कत के जी सके. क्या जिस किसी को भी कोई धमकी मिलती है उसे किसी अनजान जगह पर छिपाकर उसकी आवाजाही पर रोक लगा देनी जाहिए?

मैं इस देश को छोड़कर कहीं नहीं जाऊंगी क्योंकि दुनिया में कोई ऐसा दूसरा देश नहीं है जिसे मैं अपना घर कह सकूं. इस देश में सबसे ज़्यादा खतरा मेरी जान को ही नहीं है. किसी भी देश में कोई भी किसी को धमकी दे सकता है. पिछले 13 सालों में मुझे लगातार एक देश से दूसरे देश में भटकना पड़ा है. ऐसा कट्टपंथियों की धमकियों की वजह से नहीं बल्कि कट्टरपंथियों से अपने स्वार्थ पूरे करने वाली राजनीति की वजह से हुआ है. 1994 में बांग्लादेश से मुझे कट्टरपंथियों ने नहीं बल्कि वहां की सरकार ने निकाला था. आज भी मुझे अपने देश में वापस लौटने की इजाज़त नहीं है. ये आदेश कट्टरपंथियों की ओर से नहीं बल्कि सरकार की तरफ से है. मुझे नहीं लगता कि सरकार मेरी सुरक्षा को लेकर चिंतित है. बांग्लादेश की सरकार को तो सिर्फ अपनी सुरक्षा की ही चिंता है.

मैं ये सोचना ही नहीं चाहती कि भारत दूसरा बांग्लादेश है. मुझे पूरा विश्वास है कि जो थोड़ी-बहुत सुरक्षा की जरूरत है, उसे देकर भारत सरकार मुझे सामान्य जिंदगी देने की इजाज़त दे सकती है. क्या मेरी वजह से दंगे हो जाएंगे, क्या मेरे कारण लोगों की जानें जाएंगी? इस तरह के डर बेबुनियाद हैं. मेरी वजह से कहीं भी कोई दंगा नहीं हुआ. एक लेखक के कारण दंगे नहीं होते. किताब पर प्रतिबंध लगने से पहले और हाईकोर्ट द्वारा प्रतिबंध हटाए जाने के बाद किताब की बिक्री बिना किसी बाधा के हुई है. किसी ने किताब के खिलाफ प्रदर्शन नहीं किया. लेकिन मुझे कई बार दंगों का डर दिखाया गया. मुझे डराकर इस देश से बाहर भेजने की कोशिशें हुईं.

मैं सीधे-सीधे ये कहना चाहती हूं कि मैं दोषी नहीं हूं. मैं ये भी कह चुकी हूं कि मैंने कभी भी किसी की भावनाओं को चोट पहुंचाने के लिए नहीं लिखा. मैंने क्या गलत किया है? मैं हर किसी को, चाहे वो हिंदू हो या मुसलमान या बौद्ध या ईसाई, एक इंसान की तरह देखती हूं. क्या ऐसा करना गलत है? मैं चाहती हूं कि सबके साथ समानता का व्यवहार हो. मैं लगातार मानवता और मानवाधिकारों के समर्थन में लिखती रही हूं. कुछ कट्टरपंथी, रुढ़वादी और संकीर्ण विचारों वाले लोग मुझे बुरा साबित करने पर तुले हैं. लेकिन उनका ऐसा करना मुझे कभी भी इंसानों और इंसानियत के बारे में लिखने से नहीं रोक पाया. उन इंसानों के बारे में जो गरीब हैं और शिक्षा और स्वास्थ्य सुविधाओं से वंचित हैं. जिनके अधिकारों पर सिर्फ इसलिए चोट की जाती है क्योंकि वे एक भिन्न आस्था में यकीन रखते हैं. मैं जिस तरह से बांग्लादेश के अल्पसंख्यक हिंदुओं के साथ हूं उसी तरह से भारत के मुसलमानों के भी साथ हूं. मुस्लिम हितों की आड़ में गंदी राजनीति करने वाले कट्टरपंथी, भारत के मुसलमानों के सच्चे प्रतिनिधि नहीं हैं.

क्या ये बताने का समय नहीं आ गया है कि कौन समाज के शत्रु हैं और कौन नहीं? क्या अब भी वक्त नहीं आया है कि इस अनचाही कैद से मुझे आज़ादी मिले? क्या इंसानियत या विचारों की आज़ादी के लिए लिखकर मैंने गलती की है? भारत सरकार मुझे किस जुर्म की सज़ा दे रही है? क्या भारत के लोग इस बात को देखेंगे कि मैं कैसे दर्द, कैसी निराशा और कैसे खालीपन के साथ जी रही हूं? कैसे लोगों की नज़रों से दूर मैं इस अंधेरे में मर रही हूं? कैसे मैं एक देश, घर, दोस्त और समाज के बिना जीने को अभिशप्त हूं? मैंने ऐसा कौन सा गुनाह किया था जो इस धर्मनिरपेक्ष लोकतंत्र में मुझे ये सज़ा मिल रही है?

मेरा राजनीति से कोई लेना-देना नहीं रहा. मैं प्रार्थना करती हूं कि लेखकों पर राजनीति होना बंद हो. एक लेखक को सोचने और लिखने के लिए अनुकूल माहौल मिले, वो बिना किसी डर के लिख सकें. यही मेरी विनम्र प्रार्थना है. मैं बस यही इस देश से मांगना चाहती हूं. हज़ारों सालों से भारत उन सभी लोगों को गले लगाता रहा है जिन्होंने यहां शरण मांगी. मुझे भी इस महान परंपरा पर गर्व है. कुछ ऐसा कीजिये कि इस लेखिका का ये गर्व सारी ज़िंदगी बना रहे.

तसलीमा नसरीन
साभार : तहलका हिन्दी

लिंक:गुजरात

कल एक दोस्त ने मेल कर बताया कि तहलका वाला लिंक खुल नहीं पा रहा है. कुछ तकनीकी गड़बड़ियों की वजह से ऐसा हो रहा था.अब लिंक को ठीक कर लिया गया है. यूनीकोड आ जाने के बाद हिन्दी में ब्लॉग बनाना काफी आसान हो गया है. पिछले दिनों मुझे ये साइट और ब्लॉग देखने को मिले.जो काफी पठनीय हैं.

दखल
हाशिया
हंस
वागर्थ
तद्भव
मोहल्ला
अखाडे का उदास मुगदर

गुजरात 2002 : खौफनाक सच्चाई

प्रिय साथियों
इस बीच तहलका का गुजरात पर खुलासा सामने आया है लेकिन हिन्दी के पाठक उसे पढने से वंचित हो गए थे.यह एक महत्त्वपूर्ण ख़बर थी.विभिन्न् संघठन और हम जो अब तक कहते आ रहे थे कि गुजरात २००२ वास्तव मे राज्य प्रायोजित नरसंहार था.यह खुलासा हमारे दौर के इस खौफनाक सच को एक बार फ़िर हमारे सामने पेश कर देता है कि हमने अपने देश को फासीवाद के अब तक के सबसे बर्बर प्रयोंगों में से एक कि प्रयोगशाला बनने दिया.गुजरात पर तहलका का अंक हिन्दी मे उपलब्ध नहीं है क्योंकि तहलका हिन्दी मे नहीं निकलता है.तहलका की हिन्दी वेबसाइट पर यह अंक उपलब्ध है लिंक पर क्लिक करें –

Rape and the US-sponsored Islamization of Pakistan

Received from A World To Win News Service

In the past few years the internationally notorious cases of Mukhtaran Mai, Shazia Khalid and Sonia Naz have revealed a great deal about the problem of rape in Pakistan. There are no reliable statistics, since 80 percent are believed to go unreported.
The Islamic laws (the Hudood ordinances) introduced three decades ago have played a big role in the dramatic deterioration in the status of women. The US and other Western imperialists have also had a major hand in this. While in recent years the US has declared war on Islamic fundamentalists, especially in this region, the recent history of Pakistan shows how the US can also get along very well with fundamentalists and even strengthen them when they are allied with America, never mind that they oppress women and promote other backward traditions and relations. An examination of the situation of women in Pakistan reveals not only the hardships they endure, but also the hypocrisy of the US, the real values behind what it calls “promoting democracy” and the role it plays in oppressing the people, particularly women, in imperialist-dominated countries.
Mukhtaran Mai, from the village of Meerwala in Pakistani Punjab, was 28 years old in 2002 when she was gang-raped in front of her whole village by decision of the Jirga (assembly of the village elders) for the alleged wrong-doing of her 12 year old brother. Mukhtaran’s case is painful enough, but what’s even more devastating is that such incidents are not isolated but so common they are rarely considered news. In Mukhtaran’s blog for BBC on 15 June 2006, she tells the story of Shamshad Bibi, a very poor woman (even by the standards of a poor village). She “was reportedly gang-raped during a visit to the famous shrine town of Uch Shareef. After being raped she was thrown into a well. The police declared that it was a case of consensual sex while human rights organizations kept insisting that it was rape… Shamshad is bed-ridden now. Her backbone broke when she was thrown into the well. It is estimated that every 8 hours a women becomes the victim of gang rape.” …………….

Arundhati Roy interviewed by Amit Sengupta

Kashmir is a twilight zone. The Parliament attack is layered with half-lies. And pre- and post-Gujarat, Muslims are being targetted all over India. Arundhati Roy in conversation with Amit Sengupta orignally appeared in Hardnews .
On December 13, 2001, the Indian Parliament was attacked by five (some say six) armed men. Five years later we still do not know who was behind the attack and the identity of the attackers. Civil society groups have pointed out that the police violated legal safeguards, fabricated evidence and extracted false confessions. Even the Supreme Court rejected the ‘confession’ of Afzal Guru, which was repeatedly telecast by irresponsible TV channels and presumed as stage-managed media plants by the Special Police. Earlier, a Delhi-based academic, Professor SAR Geelani, was falsely implicated and almost led to the hangman’s noose, despite stunningly thin evidence against him. There was a big campaign against the death penalty, led by novelist Arundhati Roy, social scientist Rajni Kothari, among other eminent citizens. He was acquitted. Till today, as Roy asks, no one knows the identity of the five (or six?) attackers. Was it an inside job, this interview puts this question to Roy? No one knows and no one can claim anything with clear evidence, because a huge web of propaganda, lies and half-lies have been fabricated by the establishment, police, intelligence agencies and the media in India.

Is the ‘fundamentalist’ Islamic threat a real or fake one, or has it been invented by the Indian establishment’s propaganda machinery and intelligence agencies? It’s not entirely fake nor is it entirely real. Robert Pape, in his book Dying to Win, talks of how an overwhelming majority of suicide bombers are actually fighting neo-colonial military occupation. I think this is very revealing. What we see as the threat of ‘Islamic terrorism’ or ‘Islamic fundamentalism’ has a lot to do with liberation struggles in which Islam is used as an instrument of mobilisation — extremely effectively. Using religion or ethnic identity to mobilise people in liberation struggles is not new. The other aspect of Islamic ‘fundamentalism’ is that when people, who see themselves as belonging to a particular ethnic group or religion begin to feel oppressed, occupied, unfree, dominated by the ‘other’, it often radicalises them and they turn inward. ………

The Missing Muslim

By Seema Chisti
The Indian Express

we are posting a revealing series of articles of seema chisti published in the indian express. these articles shows the poor socio-economic conditions of indian muslims.these articles clearly show the hollowness of the communal propaganda about the so called ‘minority appeasement’-Editor

• Prison is the only place where Muslims are over-represented

• In judiciary’s most crowded space, Muslims are invisible

• Even if govt is employer, Muslims fall off job map

• ‘Muslims insecure, feel inferior in UP; Rajasthan poor in minority affairs’

• ‘Victims of bias, Muslims at bottom of social barrel’

Afzal tells his story

(this is an original script of an email sent by Afzal to Mr Sushil Kumar this mail discloses Afzal’s version of the story which is never been heared.we received this mail this evening It was sent out on the email list of SARAI, a delhi-based organisation [reader-list- request@sarai. net]. - Editor)

Respected Shri Sushil Kumar;
Hello (I) I am extremely thankful and feel very much obligated to you that you have taken up my case and decided to defend me. From the beginning of this case I was neglected and had never been given a chance to reveal the truth before media or in court.The designated court did not provided me the lawyer inspite of giving three applications. In the high court one human rights lawyer asked the court that Afzal had expressed his desire that he want to be killed by toxic injection rather by hanging which is absolutely false. I never told this to my lawyer. Since that lawyer was not of my own choice (or my family) but it was due to my helplessness and non-accessibility to proper lawyer. Being locked up in high security jail and without being in communication with that human rights lawyer I could not change him or to convey my objection regarding my death desire to highcourt as I came to know this after high court’s decision.

In the parliament attack case I was entrapped by
Special Task Force of Kashmir. Here in Delhi the designated court sentenced me to death on the basis of special police version which workes in nexus with STF,and also came under the influence of mass media in which I was made to accept the crime under duress and threat by special police A.C.P. Rajbir Singh. That threat even get confirmed to designated court by T.V . interviewer (Shams Tahir Aaj-Tak).

When I was arrested in Srinagar bus stand I was taken to STF Headquarter from here the special police along with
STF brought me to Delhi. In Srinagar at Parompora Police Station
everything of my belongings was seized and then they beated me and threatened me of dire consequences regarding my wife and family if I reveal or disclose the reality before anybody. Even my younger brother Hilal Ahmad Guru he was taken into police custody without any warrant etc. and was kept there for 2-3 months. This was first told to me by A.C.P. Rajbir Singh. Special police told me that if I will speak according to their wishes they will not harm my family members and also gave me false assurance that they will make my case weak so that after sometime I will get released.

The most important priority I gave to safety of my family. As I know from last seven years how the STF men kill, the
Kashmiris, how they had made youth invisible and had disappeared them while killing them in custody. I am living and organic eye-witness to various tortures and custodial killings and I am myself the victim of STF terror and torture. Being an surrendered militant of JKLF I was constantly harassed, threatened and agonized by various security agencies like Army. B.S.F. and S.T. F., But since S.T.F. is unorganized, without being accountable a band and gang of renegades patronised by state government…………………..

saffron assault on history, now in karnataka

By Subhash Gatade

23 September, 2006
Countercurrents.org

Ghatam Bhindyat, Patam Chhindyat, Kuryat Rasbharohanam
Yenken Prakaren, Prasidho Purusho Bhavet

( Break Earthen Pots, Tear Clothes, Ride on a Donkey
Men try to achieve popularity by any means)
- Sanskrit couplet

Who is D. H. Shankarmurthy ?

It is a fact that till the other day the rest of the country hardly knew the name of this man. But today everybody is talking about this minister for Higher Education in the JD(S) and BJP coalition government in Karnataka.

It remains to be seen whether his aim to achieve popularity by any means has been inspired by the above mentioned Sanskrit Sholka(couplet). But looking at the fact that he has been a member of the Sangh Parivar for quite sometime, where years of attending Shakhas and listening to endless Baudhikas on the repeated theme of the ‘other’, severly impacts one’s critical faculties, it does not seem to be the case.

Definitely if it would have concerned some minor affair in the history of Karnataka then the news would have hardly reached outside. But that is not the case.Rather it would be more opportune to say that Murthy’s attempt to recast the Karnataka history books in the Sangh Parivar’s mould and especially his move to obliterate the great Tipu Sultan’s name from the pages of Kannada history that has angered a broad cross-section of people cutting across party lines.

Under the false pretext that Tipu did not give due importance to the Kannada language and rather promoted Persian language Shankaramurthy has asserted that Tipu Sultan should not be glorified. ‘Most of the history text books in the country depict Tipu Sultan, Akbar, Aurangazeb Alexander and others as patriots but the real ones are never brought to light,’ observed Murthy.For him the alleged neglect of Kannada language by Tipu Sultan is reason enough that the great warrior of all times who even sacrificed his children to end colonial rule be obliterated from Karnataka’s history.

For him it hardly matters that Tipu Sultan was a ruler who was much ahead of his times, who was apostle of Hindu-Muslim unity, who was fond of new inventions, who is called innovator of the world’s first war rocket, who felt inspired by the French Revolution and despite being a ruler called himself Citizen and even planted the tree of ‘Liberty’ in his palace.

For Murthy it is a minor matter that Tipu sensed the designs of the British and tried to forge broader unity with the domestic rulers and even tried to connect with French and the Turks and the Afghans to give a fitting reply to the hegemonic designs of the British. Perhaps the Sangh Swayamsevak which is lurking inside the minister for higher education does not want the future generations to even know that Tipu defeated the British army twice with his superior planning and better techniques and who died in the battlefield itself fighting the Britishers again with his sword in his hand. ………………….

‘Karmayogi’ Golwalkar Guruji- Coming Soon To A Theater Near You

By Subhash Gatade

True or false !
- RSS had participated in freedom struggle ?
- Congress had demanded help from RSS for Gandhi’s protection ?
- Godse had never been a member of RSS ?

Well, for laypersons like you and me who have the ‘misfortune’ of attending any normal school, the answers to these queries would be in the negative. But if you happen to see the yet to be released film/docu-feature titled ‘Karmayogi’ you would be enlightened with a different set of answers.

You would be told that it is a myth to say that RSS kept itself away from freedom struggle and in fact it had decided in its high level meeting to participate wholeheartedly in the struggle. (It is a different matter that till date one has not yet discovered a single freedom fighter who owed allegiance to RSS brand of Hindutva). If one goes by this bollywoodian version of Sangh trajectory, you would know that Congress government led by Nehru had made frantic calls to the Sangh bosses for Gandhi’s safety and a team of Swayamsevaks in fact happened to be brave enough to volunteer for his security

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