=====================================================================

ACHA PEACE BULLETIN

http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/ACHAPeaceBulletin

=====================================================================

A publication of Association for Communal Harmony in Asia (ACHA)

www.asiapeace.org & www.indiapakistanpeace.org

Editor: Pritam K. Rohila, PhD asiapeace@comcast.net

Subscription is free.

To SUBSCRIBE, email a request to ACHAPeaceBulletin-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

To UNSUBSCRIBE, email the request to ACHAPeaceBulletin-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

Volume XIII, No. 2: February 15, 2009, Next Issue, March 15, 2009

______________________________________________________________________________

CONTENTS

EDITORIAL

*All patriotic Indians and Pakistanis, Arise! Pritam K. Rohila, Ph. D.

GUEST EDITORIAL

*Derailed de-radicalisation, Zeenia Satti, The News, January 28, 2009

ARTICLE OF THE MONTH

*Nuclear disaster in South Asia, Brian Cloughley, The Daily Times, January 14, 2008

BOOKS

*50 Years: 100 Peace and Conflict Perspectives, by Johan Galtung.

*Democracy - Peace – Development, by Johan Galtung and Paul D. Scott.

*Globalizing God: Religion, Spirituality and Peace, by J. Galtung & G. MacQueen.

*Trilingual edition of Hind Swaraj by Gandhi, Navjivan Trust, 2009

EVENTS

*Till April 4, Frederick, MD, USA: SEASON OF NONVIOLENCE

*February 17, Raup Village, District Sonebhadra, U.P., India: TORTURE VICTIMS

*Till February 18, India & Pakistan: AGAINST TERRORISM, WAR POSTURING &

*February 23, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA: RE-VISIONING

*February 27, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan: PEACE SEMINAR

*March 1, Milpitas, CA, USA: MUMBAI: INDIA 'S RESPONSE TO TERRORISM

*October 2, New Zealand to Argentina: WORLD MARCH

*December 3-9, 2009, Melbourne, Australia: World’s Religions PARLIAMENT

EVENT REPORTS

*Love across borders..., Kavita Suri, Statesman, February 14, 2009

*Mahatma Gandhi's martyrdom day at Chandigarh, India

JOBS, INTERNSHIPS & VOLUNTEER PROGRAMS (FOR THE COMMON GOOD) PEACE & HARMONY NEWS FROM INDIA & PAKISTAN

PEACE & HARMONY NEWS FROM SOUTH ASIA

PEACE EDUCATION & RESOURCES

*July 26 - August 2, Budapest , Hungary: HUMAN RIGHTS LEARNING AS PEACE

*March 9-May 29: ONLINE CERTIFICATE COURSES IN PEACE AND DEVELOP

PETITIONS

*Joint Signature Campaign by Citizens of India and Pakistan Against Terrorism, & War

*Petition of Apology to Victims of India’s Partition in 1947

*Virtual Memorial for Victims of India’s Partition in 1947

UPDATE: KASHMIR

UPDATE: NEPAL

UPDATE: PAKISTAN

UPDATE: SRI LANKA

*Tamil Civilians From LTTE Controlled Areas Require Protection, Jehan Perera

YOUTH

*August 1 - 9, Storrs, CT, USA: YOUTH LEADERSHIP PROGRAM

EDITORIAL

*All patriotic Indians and Pakistanis, Arise! Pritam K. Rohila, Ph. D.

For the last few years, intolerance, extremism, and oppression of women and minorities in India and Pakistan have been rapidly growing. People there are being pushed back centuries to lifestyles, which are neither appropriate nor desirable for the 21^st century world.

The extremists humiliate women, kill people, and destroy places of worship, schools, theaters, music stores, libraries, books, art objects, and other icons of civilization and culture.

They denounce science and technology. They condemn them as instruments of Satan, as tools of the colonial and the imperialist West. Yet they do not hesitate to use scientific instruments to heal, when they or their loved ones are ill or injured. They use technological devices freely to inflict their beliefs and practices on others.

They hate others if they come from another part of the country. They accuse them of stealing their jobs. They manhandle the hapless victims to demonstrate the “superiority” of the language, region and culture of the natives.

They are unable or unwilling to control their own evil thought, impulses, and actions. For their motivation and behavior, they blame clothing, grooming of their victims.

They claim that they do it to defend their language, culture, their religion, and their God. But what really motivates them is the lust for power, power to control others, or to make them feel helpless.

It is time for all of you, the patriotic Indians and Pakistanis, to arise, and to do your duty for your beloved motherlands.

To secure the future of your motherlands, you need to shake off your indifference. You cannot just watch from the sidelines the ever-growing victimization of innocent citizens of your nations. Neutrality is no longer a viable option.

Time has come for you to act. Act you must, and act now, decisively, effectively, and in a deliberate, planned, sustained, and organized manner.

Let the extremists know, in no uncertain terms, that your faith, your religion, and your community have survived and thrived for centuries, without their kind of “protection.”

You must let the extremists know that they do not represent you. You have not permitted them to speak or act on your behalf.

Tell them not to kill, maim, rape, humiliate or oppress anyone in your name. Tell them not to destroy any house of worship, regardless of who prays there and to whom the prayers are addressed.

You may be a Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Buddhist, Zoroastrian, Jain, Jew, or a non-believer, your faith lives in your heart, and is reflected in your day-to-day actions. The Power you believe in is all-encompassing, compassionate, benevolent and forgiving.

Start your nonviolent resistance campaign against extremism by respecting, defending and promoting the rights of

-Girls and women to express their natural abilities and interests;

- People to dress, groom, live and pray according to their own beliefs; and

-The poor and the oppressed to have a decent life with enough to eat everyday and to provide for their families;

Additionally it would be nice if you also actively support a peace or human rights organization of your choice.

All Patriotic Indians and Pakistanis, Arise, and Act!

GUEST EDITORIAL

*Derailed de-radicalisation, Zeenia Satti, The News, January 28, 2009

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=159210

Just like the Afghan war was allowed to turn into Pakistan's civil war, similarly, the Mumbai attacks are likely to usher in civil unrest in Punjab. While events in neighbouring countries adversely impact Pakistan's domestic politics, the same are cited internationally as the manifestations of Pakistan failing as a state. Both Musharraf and Zardari have allowed their country's political milieu to be defined by outside powers. When a state allows its domestic political relations to be determined by outside powers, it brings upon itself the misfortune of losing control over its polity and becoming thus a failed state. The Pakistani incumbents have hurled their country down this slope lock stock and barrel.

Counter terrorism is an evolutionary process. All over the world, governments try to de-radicalise radical groups through facilitating disengagement from radicalism and promoting involvement with peaceful activities. Political discourse on de-radicalisation and counter terrorism is occupied with developing mechanisms for "disengagement" from radicalism through an "integrated" approach.

It would be to Pakistan's long term advantage if radical groups could be disengaged from cross border military pursuits and engaged instead in peaceful activities inside Pakistan. The eradication of poverty and hunger, the professionalization of down trodden youth, provision of health care, education, and shelter for the homeless are all fit subjects for jihad in Islam. If a radical organization has already established such activities in Pakistan, the state should lend it hearty support and protection while continuing to monitor its activities.

Demobilization and disengagement, as defined in political science, are the best antidote to terrorism. At present, many countries in the world are strategizing "disengagement from radicalism" at different levels, including Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, India, Algeria, Indonesia, Colombia, and Malaysia.

Unfortunately, while governments beset with terrorism elsewhere are painfully striving to set up disengagement programs, the Zardari government has just shut down such a program in Pakistan. The post Mumbai clamp down on JUD and the closure of its schools is a political blunder. The LeT's transformation into JUD is a model of disengagement countries faced with radical groups dream of achieving. Islamabad could have utilized the Mumbai attacks to demobilize the LeT by standing up for JUD and rendering it open to international scrutiny. It could have used its media to provide extensive coverage to JUD's civic activities and should have lent it whole hearted praise. This would not only have instilled in the JUD and its followers a heightened sense of patriotism, it would also have helped it purge those elements that are given to violence. To de-radicalise, one has to facilitate cooperative relations and capacity development. Mumbai could have been utilized to promote a change in JUD syllabus.

Mumbai challenged the political world view of jihadi groups that seek a solution to the Kashmir problem through terrorism. The fact that the Mumbai attacks had a severely negative bearing on the Kashmiri struggle should have been the "cognitive opening" used by Pakistan to divide a wedge between the LeT and the JUD, to the detriment of the former so as to completely dehydrate its military life line. Islamabad could then tackle the LeT leadership to New Delhi's satisfaction but without a negative fall out on itself. Through erudite policy, Islamabad could promote a fundamental change within all its militarized groups' political understanding of the Kashmir problem, facilitating the abandonment of their cross border ventures.

Ever since the CIA had Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and his secular, progressive politics eliminated through Pakistan's military, Pakistan has been steadily infiltrated with religious groups who are funded by petro dollars and adhere to a reactionary version of Islam espoused by Saudi Arabia. The Islamisation of Pakistan has thus gone on imperceptibly for almost thirty years during which time reactionary groups have dotted the entire landscape of Pakistan. Yet, Pakistanis have never empowered religious parties in any of their general elections. It is now well established that the sole exception of the MMA victory in the 2002 election was a fraud perpetrated by the Musharraf regime.

Militarily, in the past the Islamist groups were never a threat to Pakistan as the focus of their activities remained Indian occupied Kashmir and Soviet Occupied Afghanistan. Since 9/11, both India and the U.S have launched a policy towards Pakistan that has not only intensified the militarization of radical groups within Pakistan but has also cleverly shifted their target to Islamabad. Islamabad is unwittingly abetting this policy.

The Pakistani Islamist groups have come into being over a long period of time and were sustained by regional developments. The same developments can be used to dismantle these groups but Pakistan needs time for this. Those who show no patience in this task are averse to Pakistan's internal cohesion.

Zardari is providing even more incentive then Musharraf to the radical groups to swell their ranks and shift the target of their militarism to Islamabad. Disillusionment, after much hope has been shattered, makes people turn away from democracy to other means. The longing for a leadership that addresses the emotional grievances of people is making the Pakistani youth vulnerable to extremism. Zardari has refused to fulfil a single hope of the anti Musharraf movement. When such a government launches punitive action against any group, it not only reinforces the group's clandestine camaraderie but even promotes camaraderie where none already exists. Islamabad could have used the Mumbai attacks to promote de-radicalisation in an erudite manner; instead, it has pursued policies that are more likely to radicalise and destabilise Punjab.

The writer is a consultant and analyst of energy geopolitics based in Washington DC. Email: zeenia.satti@yahoo.com

ARTICLE OF THE MONTH

*Nuclear disaster in South Asia, Brian Cloughley, The Daily Times, January 14, 2008

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009\01\14\story_14-1-2009_pg3_4

Survivors in India and Pakistan will see repulsive, terrifying and hideous scenes never before witnessed in the world — but there will be no outside eye to observe them, other than the lenses of dispassionate satellite cameras hundreds of miles above the earth

At this time of tension between India and Pakistan, it is as well to reflect on the consequences of war. We all hope that something like the mock despatch, below, is never written. But given the interview with NDTV in which “the Home Minister said it would now be [up to] Pakistan to ensure that such acts [as the Mumbai attacks] are never repeated by its citizens against India, because the price they will pay if this is repeated will be enormous,” it is obvious there can be
no assurance that India will not attempt a strike across the border. That would lead to all-out war.

World Press Despatch. Washington

The world was stunned today as nuclear devastation fell on the subcontinent. Enormous areas of Mumbai, Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Delhi were reduced to radioactive rubble in the early hours of this morning. Both Hyderabads have been obliterated, as have Sargodha, Bahawalpur and Jaipur, by weapons thought to have had a yield of about 40 kilotons (the Hiroshima bomb was less than half that). An Indian strike against Karachi failed, when nuclear-armed Su-30 aircraft had to take evasive action and released their bombs about fifty miles east of Pakistan’s largest city — but then prevailing winds drove massive clouds of radioactive sand across the entire
urban area and far along the coastline.

Ground zero for Pakistan’s nuclear missiles aimed at New Delhi appeared to be symbolic: India Gate. The city’s business area, centred round Connaught Place, no longer exists, and destruction was total in the diplomatic enclave of Chanakyapuri and north to Civil Lines, perhaps further. It is estimated that a million people have died or are dying in Delhi, about the same number as in Lahore, Amritsar, Mumbai and Rawalpindi. Almost the entire population of Islamabad, where a missile landed, ironically, close to Zero Point, has vanished. The hearts of Pakistan and India have been laid waste.

There are smoking, contaminated, corpse-ridden ruins for hundreds of square miles. Millions of people have disappeared — evaporated into the filthy air — but there are countless more lingering, disgusting, hellish deaths yet to come from the effects of blast and radiation.
Water supplies and crops have been poisoned. Many millions not directly affected by the explosions will soon die, and in particularly horrible ways.

The governments of both countries remain functioning in their respective emergency centres in Chennai and Quetta, and their leaders have said that they will fight on. But they, too, will die, with all their ministers and advisers, when the winds and rains spread radioactive death through the region.

The countries cannot fight on, or even survive as nations. Countless millions of refugees are flooding out of cities all over the sub- continent. Every main route is verge-to-verge with snail-paced vehicles carrying terrified and hysterical people. The Rawalpindi-Peshawar highway, in a bizarre development, has seen countless thousands of refugees from both cities meeting at Nowshera where there is catastrophic panic and confusion. To the west, the Khyber Pass is choked. Similar scenes are evident in satellite pictures of the Mumbai-Pune road and at Hapur, half-way between Delhi and Moradabad.

Nowhere on any escape routes are there hygiene or medical facilities that can cope with the exodus. Once refugees have exhausted their meagre supplies of food and water there will be hunger, looting, disease, violence and hideous death on a colossal scale.

Tension heightened in the subcontinent after the terrorist atrocities in Mumbai in September 2008, and both sides prepared for war. They sent reinforcements to the border and moved missiles and warheads to emergency deployment positions. This activity was detected by foreign
intelligence services and even by commercial satellites, but international concern died down after an initial burst of comment.

In a tragic series of actions, both nations moved towards nuclear catastrophe. The cause was a comparatively minor airstrike by India against a supposed terrorist base in Pakistan, at first resisted by India’s prime minister but insisted upon by extreme nationalists. Pakistan was expecting such action and struck back by bombing an Indian airfield. There were several more tit-for-tat operations; then all-out war began.

Update: The situation in the region is worsening minute by minute.

Satellite pictures show clouds of nuclear dust being blown erratically in every direction. There have been torrential rains, carrying radioactive particles. Nuclear grime is dropping on the
Karakorams and the Himalayas from where most water in the subcontinent originates, and all northern rivers will be terminally contaminated. Hot, swirling, nuclear-polluted sandstorms in the
deserts of Rajasthan, Sindh and Balochistan have been driven into both Punjabs, the North West Frontier Province, Haryana, Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh. Reports from Colombo, Rangoon, Kathmandu and Kabul indicate rapidly increasing levels of radiation. The 70,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan are being evacuated, necessitating the world’s biggest ever airlift. Iran has closed its borders, and the roads from Afghanistan to Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan are choked.

The UN Security Council is sitting in emergency session, but it is a hand-wringing colloquy rather than a meeting that could alleviate the staggering disaster. Some forty nuclear weapons have caused devastation on a scale not seen since the end of the dinosaurs. All the world can do is wait until nature takes its course, over the centuries.

The subcontinent is ceasing to exist, and no help will come from elsewhere, as even the most saintly of aid agencies will not hazard the lives of its workers. No government could order its troops into nuclear devastation to give assistance, no matter how desperate the situation. Survivors in India and Pakistan will see repulsive, terrifying and hideous scenes never before witnessed in the world — but there will be no outside eye to observe them, other than the lenses of dispassionate satellite cameras hundreds of miles above the earth that will record forever the desolation and carnage that are the result of pride, miscalculation — and nuclear weapons.

Brian Cloughley’s book about the Pakistan army, War, Coups and Terror, has just been published by Pen & Sword Books (UK) and is distributed in Pakistan by Saeed Book Bank

BOOKS

Books on peace and development published by TRANSCEND University Press,
TUP. These books can be ordered online as well as their tables of content and sample chapters viewed at www.transcend.org/tup.

*50 Years: 100 Peace and Conflict Perspectives, by Johan Galtung.

Peace proposals for 100 conflicts that he has mediated worldwide, some of which he helped resolve. This book marked the 50 years since he founded Peace Studies as an academic discipline back in 1958.

*Democracy - Peace – Development, by Johan Galtung and Paul D. Scott.

Extends the concept of democracy to the work place, the school and the family, with ten case studies

*Globalizing God: Religion, Spirituality and Peace, by Johan Galtung and Graeme MacQueen.

Draws together the best ideas from the major world religions

*Trilingual edition of Hind Swaraj by Gandhi, Navjivan Trust, 2009

http://www.gujaratglobal.com/nextSub.php?id=4560&catype=Science%20Scope

Hind Swaraj, a book, in which Mahatma Gandhi scripted his idea of self-rule, will soon be out in a different form. It will be a trilingual book in royal size with plenty of photographs of Gandhi's handwritten manuscripts.

The book had led younger generation of that time into the freedom movement. Navjivan Trust which publishes Gandhi's works is printing 2000 copies of the book in new format. The trilingual 256 page edition is being printed on Khadi paper.  

The book is a 256-page trilingual edition and 2,000 copies are being printed on 'khadi paper'. It will be released in the month of Feb.-March 2009. This also marks completion of the first centenary of the publication of the book. It was banned at that time the Navjivan Printing House, then located in Kalupur, was raided and all copies seized.

The significance of the book lies in the fact that like the Das Kapital, it inspires revolutionaries to think and act for a change in the political, economic and social order of the society. It is comparable to the Bhagvad Gita, as it is written in a question and answer form.

Gandhi had written his first book between November 13 and 22, 1909, during his return journey from London to South Africa on board the ship, Kildonan Castle, in reaction to the violence resorted to by the freedom fighters in India and similar violent tactics employed by those trying to seek freedom for South Africa. After the Gujarati edition was banned, Gandhi translated it into English to popularise his concept of 'Home Rule' among Englishmen and other foreigners. 

Gujarat Global News Network, Ahmedabad

EVENTS

*Till April 4, Frederick, MD, USA: SEASON OF NONVIOLENCE. An air of peace filled the Unity Church in Frederick as members of more than a dozen faiths gathered Sunday for the opening ceremony of A Season for Nonviolence. Now in its fourth year in Frederick County, the 64-day season celebrates the teachings and principles of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., said the Rev. Toni Fish, Unity's spiritual leader.

Events celebrating peace and nonviolence, which started on January 30, the anniversary of Gandhi's assassination in India, will continue till April 4, the day the American civil rights leader was killed. They will be held at a number of locations throughout the county during the 64-day event.

More info from www.unityfrederick.org/SNV2009.html

*February 17, Raup Village, District Sonebhadra, U.P., India: TORTURE VICTIMS. A ceremony will be held to honor eight survivors of police torture, who gave their testimony on violation of human rights, with the joint endeavor of Varanasi’s People's Vigilance Committee on Human Rights and Denmark’s Rehabilitation and Research Center for Torture Victim.

The ceremony will be preceded at 10:30 a.m. by inauguration of Sushil Tripathi School And Community Center by Mr. Anil Kumar Parashar (Deputy Registrar National Human Rights Commission, New Delhi), Ms. Helma Ritsher (Chair, Indo-German Society Remscheid, Germany) and Dr. Inger Agger (Consultant Rehabilitation and Research Centre for Torture Victim, Denmark).

Also the Hindi version of Manual "Giving Voice: Using Testimony as a Brief Therapy Intervention in Psychosocial Community Work for Survivors of Torture and Organised Violence in India.” The Manual was developed by Dr. Lenin Raghuvanshi and Ms. Inger Agger.

Ghasia ghetto of Raup village is icon of police torture and its consequences. After the police torture 18 children of Ghasia tribe died due to hunger and malnutrition, PVCHR and community started to fight back against it.  Due to intervention of National Human Rights Commission, New Delhi and Supreme Court commissioner on Right to Food a lot of changes have taken place. Now-a-days there is no hunger and malnutrition death.

More info from pvchr.india@gmail.com and Ms. Shruti Nagvanshi at +91-9935599330, Ms. Shabana at +91- 9453155296, and Mr. Upendra at +91-9935599338.

*Till February 18, India & Pakistan: AGAINST TERRORISM, WAR POSTURING AND FOR PEACE. Already endorsed by many prominent people (like I.K. Gujral, former Prime Minister of India; Chandrababu Naidu, Former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh; Kuldip Nayar; Admiral Ramdas; Swami Agnivesh; Nandita Das; Khokru, Speaker of Sindh Assembly; and Asma Jahangir, Chair- Human Rights Commission of Pakistan) and being carried on by hundreds of Civil Society organisations in both countries, the signature campaign seeks more signature, before it concludes on 18^th February. To sign and endorse the Petition online, go to http://www.PetitionOnline.com/indopak/petition.html

More info from http://www.indopakcampaignagainstwarnterror.org or indopak.jointcampaign@gmail.com

*February 23, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA: RE-VISIONING KASHMIR AS BORDERLAND IN SOUTH ASIAN HISTORY, is the title a lecture by Chitralekha Zutshi, an Expert on Kashmir, at 6 p.m., in Tribble Hall’s DeTamble Auditorium at Wake Forest University. The lecture is free and open to the public. Time will be reserved after the speech for questions and answers.

Zutshi specializes in modern South Asia, with particular interests in Islam in the Indian subcontinent. She received her doctorate from Tufts University. She is the author of
“Languages of Belonging: Islam, Regional Identity, and the Making of Kashmir,” which has been published in India, Great Britain and the United States.

More info from www.wfu.edu/news/release/2009.02.09.k.php or (336) 758-5501 or (336) 758-3092.

*February 27, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan: PEACE SEMINAR on the role of civil society in combating terrorism and promoting peace with India, is being organized by the Pakistan India Peace Initiatives (PIPI), at 3:00 p.m., at Holiday Inn. Ryan D. Hunt from the U.S. Consulate has consented to be the guest of honor. More info from "Awais Sheikh" at awaissheikhadvocate@hotmail.com or 0300-8531792

*March 1, Milpitas, CA, USA: MUMBAI: RETHINKING INDIA 'S RESPONSE TO TERRORISM, an evaluation of the Mumbai terrorist attacks and India’s response, hosted by The Forum, at 10.30 am, at India Community, 525 Los Coches. Two survivors of the siege of
Taj Hotel in Mumbai, Dr. Yahya Safdari and his son Yusuf Safdari will recall
their traumatic experience of being hostage in the Taj Hotel during its siege. Also Indian diplomat and visiting Stanford scholar Amandeep Gill will examine the constraints that shaped India's response and what it can do to prevent future terrorist attacks on its territory. Admission:
Free; Suggested donation $10 to defray expenses. Register by email to Vishnu@indiacc.org

*October 2, New Zealand to Argentina: WORLD MARCH beginning in New Zealand on October 2, 2009, the anniversary of Gandhi’s birth, declared the “International Day of Nonviolence” by the United Nations, will conclude in the Andes Mountains (Punta de Vacas, Aconcagua, Argentina) on January 2, 2010. This 90-day March will pass through many countries having all climates and seasons, from the hot summer of the tropics and the deserts, to the winter of Siberia. A permanent base of a hundred people of different nationalities will complete the journey.

*December 3-9, 2009, Melbourne, Australia: The 2009 Parliament of the World’s Religions, will bring together the world’s religious and spiritual communities, their leaders and their followers to a gathering where peace, diversity and sustainability are discussed and explored in the context of interreligious understanding and cooperation.

Parliament participants will work with others and within their own traditions to craft faithful responses to indigenous reconciliation, global poverty and global warming, environmental care and degradation, education of the young and the challenges of social disengagement, voluntary and forced migration, artistic expression and spirituality, the value of sports, ethnic and religious tensions. More info from http://www.parliamentofreligions2009.org/home.php

EVENT REPORTS

*Love across borders..., Kavita Suri, Statesman, February 14, 2009

http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=2&theme=&usrsess=1&id=243862

JAMMU, Feb 13: While Sri Ram Sene is coming down heavily on the love birds in rest of India on the eve of Valentine Day, in Jammu and Kashmir, a political party has used the opportunity to send messages of love and peace to its neighbour Pakistan, that too through a river.
Socialistic Democratic Party (SDP) created history today by giving a new meaning to the Valentine’s Day in J&K when it celebrated the day as “Indo-Pak Love and Peace Day” at a function on the bank of the Chenab, (a testimony to the love saga of Sohni and Mahiwal) at the border town of Akhnoor today.

Amid the beating of the drums, dozens of rubber boats which had the Tricolour painted on it, decorated with flowers and balloons were queued up on the river Ghat with many placards showing messages of peace.

“We return the guns sent by you and send you flowers of love and peace; we want peace, not guns,” the placards read.

*Mahatma Gandhi's martyrdom day at Chandigarh, India: Hundreds of balloons were released in a clear sky with messages for peace, on January 30, 2009.

The day began with a pledge taking ceremony in almost all schools of the city organized by Yuvsatta, Gandhi Smriti & Darshan Samiti, New Delhi & Education Department of Chandigarh Administration. More than 1 lakh students took a pledge to uphold values of non-violence in their lives and observed a two minutes silence at their respective Schools. Many lectures and programmes building interfaith trust were also organized.

The same endeavour was expressed at Sector 17 Plaza, where, to emphasize the relevance of non-violence in a violence ridden society, about two hundred senior and budding artists from around 15 Colleges of the city, under guidance of senior artist Prof. Ravinder Sharma gave on the spot expression to their take on peace and non violence, while participating in an 'Inter-College Collage & Rangoli Contest' organized on the theme of 'AHIMSA (Nonviolence)', 'Mahatma Gandhi' & 'Mera Bharat Mahan'.

Several teams made collages with picture of Mahatma and his message for communal harmony. The participating teams were blessed by freedom fighters Raj Rani Gandhi and Ved Prakash Mehra for their pursuit of peace and non violence.

JOBS, INTERNSHIPS & VOLUNTEER PROGRAMS (FOR THE COMMON GOOD) *http://www.graduationpledge.org/jobs.html

PEACE & HARMONY NEWS FROM INDIA & PAKISTAN

*http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IndiaPakistanPeaceDay/

PEACE & HARMONY NEWS FROM SOUTH ASIA

*http://groups.google.com/group/peace--harmony-news-from-south-asia

PEACE EDUCATION & RESOURCES

*July 26 - August 2, Budapest , Hungary: HUMAN RIGHTS LEARNING AS PEACE EDUCATION:  PURSUING DEMOCRACY IN A TIME OF CRISIS is the theme of the International Institute On Peace Education 2009. It is being co-organized by the IIPE secretariat and the EJBO Foundation with the support and sponsorship of UNESCO and the Center for Nonviolence and Democratic Education of the University of Toledo, Ohio.

Applications must be submitted by April 1, 2009 for full consideration. Notices of acceptances will be sent in mid April.  If you require an earlier response for funding or institutional purposes please contact the IIPE secretariat at info@i-i-p-e.org.

The IIPE utilizes an online application system. All applications must be submitted online. To apply visit: www.i-i-p-e.org/iipe/apply.html   If you have limited internet connectivity you may contact the IIPE secretariat to discuss alternatives.

Participation fees cover all onsite costs including food, housing (double occupancy), local transportation and excursions. Participation fees for 2009 are still being determined and should be announced shortly.  Participation fees average between $450-650. 

Scholarships come only in the form of participation fee waivers (the IIPE does not provide financial support for travel or other expenses).  If you think you will be in need of scholarship please indicate so when applying.   

More info from The International Institute on Peace Education, caree of: Peace Education Center, Teachers College #171, Columbia University, 525 West 120th Street, New York, New York 1027, www.i-i-p-e.org, 212-678-8116, or info@i-i-p-e.org

*March 9-May 29: ONLINE CERTIFICATE COURSES IN PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT.

Transcend Peace University (TPU) in its 1st Semester of 2009, will offer 23 online certificate courses in Peace and Development studies, from March 9 to May 29, 2009. Applications must be received until February 25th, 2009.

A valuable asset to our courses is brought by participants themselves, by the diversity of cultures from around the world, meeting together on the TPU online platform and helping each other expand the worldviews, and finding creative solutions, approaches and ideas for all range of conflicts and conflict-related issues. More info from www.transcend.org/tpu or tpu@transcend.org

PETITIONS

*Joint Signature Campaign by Citizens of India and Pakistan Against Terrorism, War Posturing and To Promote Cooperation and Peace

http://www.PetitionOnline.com/indopak/petition.html

*Petition of Apology to Victims of India’s Partition in 1947

http://indiapakistanpeace.org/petition_2007.html

*Virtual Memorial for Victims of India’s Partition in 1947

http://noosphere.typepad.com/virtual_memorial/

UPDATE: KASHMIR

*http://groups.yahoo.com/group/KashmirSolutionsForum/

*www.drshabirchoudhry.blogspot.com

*http://kashmirforumorg.blogspot.com/2009/02/night-in-hell-and-not-gun-in-sight.html

UPDATE: NEPAL

http://www.nepalasiacenter.com/

UPDATE: PAKISTAN

*http://groups.yahoo.com/group/beena-issues/

UPDATE: SRI LANKA

*Tamil Civilians From LTTE Controlled Areas Require Protection As Sri Lankan Citizens, Jehan Perera jehanpc@sltnet.lk (Executive Director, National Peace Council of Sri Lanka, Colombo), February 8, 2009

The statement issued by Norway, Japan, the United States and the EU, collectively known as the co-chairs of the Tokyo Donor Conference has generated controversy. The co-chairs were the group of countries most involved in promoting peaceful conflict resolution in Sri Lanka. They became collectively known as the co-chairs of the Tokyo Donor Conference that was held in early 2003, and which pledged USD 4.5 billion for the reconstruction of the North and East.  This was during the height of the Norwegian-facilitated peace process that generated optimism of a negotiated settlement between the government and LTTE. 

It might be remembered that the LTTE boycotted the Tokyo Donor Conference. One of the LTTE’s main grievances at that time appeared to be the notion that they ought to be treated on a level of parity with the elected Sri Lankan government, and this was not happening.  In retrospect, the LTTE’s failure to utilize the opportunity to attend the Tokyo Donor Conference along with the Sri Lankan government not only heralded the breakdown of the peace process, and prospects for a negotiated peace and reconstruction, it also set in motion a process that was to lead to the near total international isolation of the LTTE.

With the collapse of the peace process by mid-2006, and the outbreak of renewed fighting, the role of the co-chairs became irrelevant, as their mandate was to facilitate peace, not war.  The re-activation of the donor co-chairs suggests that the international community anticipates that the period of war is drawing to a close.  The focus of their recent statement where they have called on the LTTE to discuss modalities for ending hostilities with the Government of Sri Lanka has been on making the transition from war to peace less costly in terms of human life and to pave the way for longer term peace and development in the future.

YOUTH

*August 1 - 9, Storrs, CT, USA: FIFTH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL YOUTH LEADERSHIP PROGRAMME: A GLOBAL INTERGENERATIONAL FORUM is being organized by the UNESCO Chair & Institute of Comparative Human Rights at the University of Connecticut.

The Forum seeks to empower young leaders by involving them in finding solutions to emerging human rights problems, and nurturing individuals to be effective leaders in the field of human rights.

The UNESCO Chair will provide all conference participants with dormitory housing, meals, ground transportation in Connecticut, resource materials and a certificate of participation.  

Young people between the ages of 18-30, with community service experience, and with demonstrated ability to work on solutions to human rights problems, should apply. Relevant issues include, but are not limited to, human trafficking, the plight of children, refugees, hunger, HIV/AIDs, gender discrimination, racism, classism, the environment and peace education.  

Conference will be held in English only. Fluency in English is required. Applicants will be selected based on the strength of their application essay, demonstrated commitment to human rights (practical/hands-on experience), potential impact on the individual and their potential contribution to the Forum, regional and gender representation.

Applications must be received by February 27, 2009.

Programme details and application materials can be accessed by linking to   www.unescochair.uconn.edu   or   http://www.unescochair.uconn.edu/upspecialevents.htm