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ACHA PEACE BULLETIN

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

A publication of Association for Communal Harmony in Asia (ACHA) www.asiapeace.org

 

Editors:

David Campion, PhD           campion@lclark.edu

Pritam K. Rohila, PhD          pritam@open.org

 

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Volume VIII, No. 3, March 15, 2005; Next Issue, April 15, 2005

 

CONTENTS

 

EDITORIAL

  • “Waging Peace between India and Pakistan”,  Pritam Rohila, PhD

 

PEACE & HARMONY NEWS FROM & ABOUT SOUTH ASIA

India
  • India to issue visas for Srinagar soon
  • Organizers of Peace March Meet in Delhi
  • Promoting Understanding between Pakistani and Indian Youth
  • Religious Harmony in a Village in Gujarat

Pakistan-India

  • Indian Punjab Chief Minister in Pakistan
  • Musharraf accepts India’s cricket invitation
  • Pakistani doctors to adopt village near Wagah
  • Cricket test match unites India and Pakistan
  • Landmark Kashmir bus link agreed
  • Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service to commence from April 7

Sri Lanka

  • LTTE accepts joint mechanism

 

EDUCATION & TRAINING

  • Building Democracy, Participation and Peace by Peaceful

 

BOOKS

  • Parsis: The Zoroastrians of India – A Photographic Journey, by Sooni Taraporevala
  • India Untouched: The forgotten face of rural poverty, by Abraham George

 

PEACE EVENTS

  • Declaration of the Fourth International Kashmir Peace Conference, New York, 25 February 2005
  • South Asian communities to organize peace events

 

(Readers are invited to submit similar information from other areas of South Asia to help us broaden of our coverage. Please send the info to pritamr@open.org, a week before the date of publication of the next issue of the ACHA Peace Bulletin)

 

 

 

EDITORIAL

 

Waging Peace between India and Pakistan

 Pritam Rohila, PhD

 

India and Pakistan have agreed to launch the long-awaited bus service between Muzaffarabad and Srinagar. President Musharraf has accepted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s invitation to visit India to watch one of the several matches between the cricket teams of their countries. Indian Punjab Chief Minister Capt (r) Amarinder Singh has just arrived at Lahore with a delegation on a four-day visit to Pakistan.  These happenings testify to the growing warmth between the two neighbors, often called “arch-enemies” by the media. The efforts of the two governments seem to be supported by many people on both sides of the Indo-Pak border.  Thousands of Pakistani citizens have crossed the border to enjoy cricket matches in India. Quite a few of the visitors are using the occasion to visit their former homes, and meet their relatives and friends.  Indian hosts are welcoming them warmly.  One young man from the Indian state of Gujarat has issued an open invitation to the visiting guests from Pakistan to stay at his home at Baroda, when they come to see the one-day match at Ahmedabad.  Earlier this month about 300 delegates from Pakistan joined about 250 Indians to participate in the annual convention of Pakistan-India People’s Forum for Peace & Democracy (PIPFPD) held at Mumbai.  On Pakistan Day, March 23, hundreds of people will participate in a Peace March. The March will start from Delhi and pass through Sonipat, Panipat, Rajpura, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Wagah, Lahore and Harappa before culminating on May 11 at Multan

 

Some members of the US-based Association of Pakistani Physicians of North America (APPNA) have recently decided to build bridges of friendship through collaboration in the field of medicine. They are planning to adopt Khurmnian village near Amritsar and provide it with water purification system and other facilities, including sewage and sanitation system.  As members of the Peace and Goodwill Mission of nonresident Indians and Pakistanis from USA, UK, and Canada, my wife, Kundan, and I visited the two countries, including Jammu, December 27, 2004, to January 8, 2005. At a hectic pace, we met a number of government officials, legislators, media persons, lawyers, university professor and students, labor organizers, women leaders, peace activists and refugees.   Everywhere we went we found ample evidence of “battle fatigue” from the hostility and violence that has characterized India-Pakistan relations for the last more than 57 years. Government officials as well as common people seemed to favor substitution of gun-gambit with dialog-diplomacy to resolve differences between the two sides.  In the last ten years, many peace organizations have sprung up in the two countries. Some of them have local chapters in many Indian and Pakistani states and cities.  But students of history warn us not to be complacent yet. Still there are many powerful groups and individuals on both sides, whose vested interests may motivate them to oppose and subvert our slow progress toward peace.  We will have to not only continue but also increase our work until peace between the two neighbors becomes a reality.

 

The Association for Communal Harmony in Asia (ACHA) has decided to support this work by publicizing peace & harmony news from the region on our website www.asiapeace.org, in our electronic monthly newsletter ACHA Peace Bulletin, and in our electronic discussion forums, Asiapeace, and Kashmir Solutions Forum. We strongly believe that these stories will help engender a climate suitable for cultivation and fruition of peace in the region  Also, like last year, ACHA will spearhead a campaign to encourage friends of peace to organize celebrations of India-Pakistan Peace Day everywhere, anytime between August 1 and October 30.  What will you do to help?

 

 

PEACE & HARMONY NEWS FROM & ABOUT SOUTH ASIA

 

* India

 

India to issue visas for Srinagar soon
 The News, New Delhi, Beena Sarwar bsarwar1@yahoo.co.uk, March 2

India expects to start granting visas for Pakistanis to visit Srinagar around mid-March, while the Khokrapar-Monabao link is expected to be operational by October this year, said Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran.  These visas would be apart from the permits for the proposed Muzaffarabad-Srinagar bus service.  He was talking to The News at a high-tea reception at Hyderabad House – a venue normally reserved for visiting heads of state – hosted by Foreign Minister Natwar Singh for delegates of the Seventh Joint Convention of the Pakistan India Peoples Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD).

“This was no elite gathering. There were people from Chitral bordering onto Afghanistan, from Khairpur, Sukkur, Jacobabad, Peshawar and various small towns and cities. They were farmers, NGO workers, students, teachers, journalists, human rights activists and ordinary housewives,” reported The Telegraph.  Many delegates used the opportunity to ask for visa extensions and cities added to enable them to visit relatives, ancestral homes, or historical sites. “The answer was in the affirmative for everyone,” as The Telegraph report noted.

Further relaxations in the visa regime will permit Pakistanis to legally visit India’s Jammu and Kashmir State for the first time the bifurcation of the subcontinent in 1947.  Indians will similarly be able to visit Azad Kashmir, which they refer to as “PoK” or “Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.”  Much of the Muzaffarabad-Srinagar road is already operational to facilitate the Indian army, say Kashmiris – and only the last 10-11 km near the border remains to be fixed, while a couple of bridges in the area need to be strengthened, said Saran. “The area along the LoC also needs to be de-mined,” he added, “which will take another two to three weeks. We’re trying our best and believe we’ll be able to meet the April 7 deadline.”

However, there are fears that the unusually harsh weather conditions in the region, where snowstorms and avalanches have cut off thousands of villagers, may delay the move, despite good intentions. Many hundreds in the affected areas are missing, feared dead.  Regarding the contentious Baglihar Dam, Saran told The News that India is willing to re-open dialogue on this issue, if Pakistan withdraws its “premature reference” to the World Bank.  “We were reaching some degree of convergence at the last session of the technical meeting, and would have taken the process further if the dialogue had continued,” he said.  “We feel the issue can be resolved bilaterally, as Baglihar is not in violation of the Indus Water Treaty.”  The fact that the IWT has stood the test of time indicates India’s commitment to it.  “We have a strong interest in keeping the sanctity of the treaty,” he said.

 

Answering another question, Saran termed as unfair Pakistan's insistence that India stop building during the dialogue process. “There is nothing in the Indus Water Treaty that says that building must stop while dialogue continues.”  He added that there is a fear in Pakistan that is unrelated to the technical aspects of the dam, and has to do with the belief in India’s capability to flood or dry up Pakistan. “As long as the flow of the Baglihar water is in accordance with the Indus Water Treaty and its water storage is also within these parameters, why should there be such a fear? Just downstream from Baglihar is the Salal project on the same river. We would have to flood or dry that first, before harming Pakistan.”

Saran, along with his Foreign Minister Natwar Singh, was virtually mobbed by Pakistani delegates expressing their appreciation of the Indian government’s hospitality in hosting the reception. Many wanted visa extensions or other cities like Agra added, which the Indian government has promised to facilitate.  The Indian Foreign Minister and his team warmly welcomed Pakistan’s famed ghazal queen Farida Khanum, in India for the PIPFPD Convention.  She had enthralled a hall packed with some thousand enthusiastic delegates the night before, drawing an extending standing ovation before and after her performance.  The prestigious daily Hindu headlined the event the next day with “Pak Ghazal Queen Conquers India.”

The Convention, held soon after the Forum’s tenth anniversary, is the organization’s largest ever, with an unprecedented 300 Pakistanis attending.  Some 250 Indians had attended the Sixth Joint Convention in Karachi, December 2003.  “Once the doors are open, they will be difficult to close,” said Saran.  “Everyone is thinking peace, and governments do respond to public opinion. These constituencies for peace do create a pressure that governments can’t ignore.”

 

 

Organizers of Peace March Meet in Delhi

New Delhi, 11 February

 

Indian organizers of the Peace March met in Delhi to take stock of the current state.  This is a brief report on their discussions and resolutions.  Those who met include Ramneek Mohan, Harsh Vardhan, Anil Chaudary, Sandeep Pandey, and Gurdayal Singh Sheetal.


The organizers have not yet received a priori permissions from both governments guaranteeing visas for the marchers. The marchers will use the usual channels to apply for visas – the nature of the peace march depends on the kind of visas issued.  If visas are issued that constrain the visiting marchers to specific cities then events will have to be organized at those cities.  If visas are not granted then the Indian marchers will proceed to Wagah and Pakistani marchers will take the march to Multan.


Organizers have started the process of preparing leaflets, posters and other literature on peace for distribution along the way.   Organizers have made an open call for material – stories, poems, etc – to be included in a booklet. They can be sent to thesouthasian@gmail.com.  Organizers will also contact local schools, colleges and other organizations to increase outreach and participation along the route of the march.

 

 

Promoting Understanding between Pakistani and Indian Youth

New Delhi, 11 February

 

Indian and Pakistani leaders are working to develop programs for increased interaction between Indian and Pakistani youth.  Late last year, the Indian Minister for Youth Affairs, and several other national and civil society leaders, while discussing youth travel and cooperation with a 30-member Pakistani Youth Leaders Delegation visiting India proposed promotion of youth exchanges and travel in the subcontinent in order to strengthen peace and harmony.  The Pakistani delegation was headed by Dr. Anwar Siddiqi, Vice Chairman of Pakistan Youth Hostels Association (PYHA), who is a former Vice Chancellor of Allama Iqbal University, and Agha Afzaal Hussain, the National Secretary of the PYHA.

 

The Pakistani youth delegation visited places of religious, educational, historical and youth interest in India. Its members offered “fateha” at the shrines of several Saints, including Hazrat Nizam uddin Auliya in New Delhi, Hazrat Mu’in uddin Chishti in Ajmer Sharif, and Hazrat Saleem Chishti at Fatehpur Sikri, one of whose devotees was Emperor Akbar.  The Sajjada Nasheen of Hazrat Mu’in uddin Chishti’s shrine also hosted a lunch for the delegation. While in India, the delegation visited New Delhi, Agra, Ajmer and Jaipur among other places.

 

The Delegation traveled to and from India by road, by Wagah border. At the Indian border, a band of local school played while senior officials, educationists, youth leaders and cultural affairs officials saw the Pakistani youth leaders off.  The delegation also met with Vice Chancellor of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, who proposed to the delegation that cooperation in the educational field among the professors, teachers and students of the two countries will be beneficial. The Vice Chancellor proposed establishment of such relationships between educational centers in the two countries.

 

International Youth Hostels Federation (IYHF) and UNESCO have signed an MoU for promoting “Youth Hostelling for peace and International Understanding.”  Following this meeting, “Youth leader Exchange Program” is being organized by Pakistan Youth Hostels Association (PYHA) and Youth Hostels Association of India (YHAI). Under the program, members of youth hostels of both the countries would visit each other’s country. The hostels can facilitate large scale and inexpensive youth travel across the world, and can play major role in promoting peace and cultural exchanges.  UNESCO had launched the program in April 2003 when UNESCO decided to seek IYHF’s help and its 6,000 affiliated hostels to utilize them as centers for promoting peace across the globe. Various programs, functions, training courses, and seminars are arranged in different countries under this program, utilizing youth hostels.  Initially, a delegation of 25 YHAI members would cross Wagah border to enter Pakistan on foot on April 12. Members of Pakistan Youth Hostels will visit India thereafter.

 

 

Religious Harmony in a Village in Gujarat

 Ahmedabad, Times of India, 28 January

 

Just as it has for centuries, a small predominantly Hindu village untouched by the religious divide in the state celebrated Bakrid (Eid-ul-Zuha) on January 21.  Utelia, a village founded in 1640 by Bhav Sinhji, a member of the Vaghela Rajput Clan, has witnessed elaborate processions led by the princely family to mark Bakrid.  Last Friday (Jan 21) was no different in the village of over 3,000, situated near the Harappan site of Lothal.  Yuvraj Bhagirathsinh led a procession of over 500 villagers from the palace to the village mosque, about half a kilometer away. Here, he offered a nishaan – a green flag with a crescent moon and star, and 25 kilogram of malida, a local variety of sweet.

 

Legend has it that soon after Bhagirathsinh’s great grandfather was crowned at a tender age of six years, the Nawab of Cambay attacked Utelia.  Realizing that the state’s small army was no match to the might of the nawab, the prince’s mother urged Sufi saint Magdum Pir to help.  With his “supernatural powers,” Pir managed to ensure hat the nawab’s army beat a retreat.  “Since that day, a diya (lamp) is first lit in the mosque and then in our palace temples aftersunset,” Bhagirathsinh said.

 

On Bakrid, the procession, accompanied by dholis and shenai players, leaves the palace after a ceremony of sprinkling Ganga jal (water) and attar (perfume) on the nishaan and the red-green flag of the erstwhile princely state. After the ceremony, the villagers gather in the mosque compound and feast on snacks.  The royal family believes that the significance of the ages-old tradition has increased in contemporary times. “At a time when the entire state is being blamed for the misdeeds of a few, these kind of instances will only help people from different communities come closer,” Bhagirathsinh said.

 

*Pakistan-India

 

Indian Punjab Chief Minister in Pakistan

Daily Times, 14 March

 

Indian Punjab Chief Minister Capt (ret) Amarinder Singh arrived here Monday heading a delegation on a four-day visit to Pakistan.  Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhary Pervaiz Elahi, his cabinet members, provincial secretaries, and others received the delegation at the Wagah border crossing.  The delegation will visit the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry and attend a dinner and a cultural show the same night.  The delegation will also hold wide-ranging parleys with Punjab officials during their stay in Lahore.

The Indian delegation will meet President Musharraf on March 15 and will attend a dinner hosted by Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, the Pakistan Muslim League president and former prime minister, in Islamabad.  On March 16, Elahi and Singh will lay the foundation stone for a four-lane highway from Nankana Sahib to Wagah. At night, the Indian chief minister will attend a cultural programme, ‘Anarkali’, at the Lahore Fort followed by a dinner.  On March 17, Singh is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in Islamabad.  Prior to the delegation’s departure for India on March 17, the Indian chief minister will visit the Punjab Assembly and call on Governor Lt Gen (ret) Khalid Maqbool.

 

 

Musharraf accepts India’s cricket invitation

New Delhi, BBC South Asia, 10 March

 

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has accepted an offer to travel to India to watch the current cricket series, reports say. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made a public invitation to Gen Musharraf on Thursday.  A Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman said Gen Musharraf had yet to decide which matches he would be attending.   It will be his first trip to India since a tense summit meeting between the two countries in Agra in 2001.  “Yes, he has accepted the invitation,” an unnamed Pakistani official told the Associated Press news agency.   Foreign office spokesman, Jalil Abbas Jilani, told the AFP news agency: “We are looking at the schedule of the president.”  Mr. Singh told India's lower house of parliament on Thursday. “I do hope [President Musharraf] and his family will enjoy their visit to our country.  I must say... nothing brings the people of the subcontinent together more than our love for cricket and Bollywood.”

 

The BBC’s Zaffar Abbas in Islamabad says that after decades of hostilities, India and Pakistan these days rarely miss an opportunity to engage each other at the senior level to improve relations.  He says officials have remained non-committal about informal talks between Gen Musharraf and Indian leaders, but many observers believe he will not be traveling to India merely to watch a cricket match.  Gen. Musharraf said last week he would love to see some of the cricket series – but only if invited.  The first Test in the series is already under way in Mohali, in India’s Punjab state. It is Pakistan’s first tour to India in six years.  Thousands of Pakistanis have obtained visas to travel to the game.

 

Gen Musharraf’s decision to attend echoes the “cricket diplomacy” coined by former Pakistani leader Gen Zia-ul Haq, who watched a match in Jaipur in 1987 during a time of strained bilateral relations.  Gen Musharraf paid a brief visit to the northern Pakistani city of Rawalpindi to watch some of a one-day game last year during the Indian team's landmark visit.  Sporting ties are an important bellwether of bilateral relations and suffered in recent years before a rapprochement instigated by former Indian premier Atal Behari Vajpayee in April 2003.  The two countries fought three wars since independence in 1947 and went to the brink of a fourth in 2002.  A row between them broke out after Gen Musharraf’s visit for the Agra summit, which broke down without any joint declaration.  Pakistan accused India of giving a distorted picture of the talks, while India repeated its assertion that Pakistan was sponsoring what it called cross-border terrorism.  But last year’s Indian cricket tour to Pakistan was considered a great success.

 

Full Story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4339043.stm

 

Pakistani doctors to adopt village near Wagah
Vibha Sharma, Tribune News Service, New Delhi, 8 March

A group of physicians of the Pakistani descent is working on a project to adopt a village near the Wagah border in India and provide it with all basic amenities and facilities.  Chairman of Association of Pakistani Physicians of North America (APPNA) Hussain Malik told The Tribune that APPNA was planning to adopt Khurmnian village near Amritsar in collaboration with the Escorts Group, which has a heart institute in Amritsar, and provide it with water purification system and other facilities, including sewage and sanitation system.  The APPNA delegation, he said, was in India to build bridges of friendship through collaboration in the field of medicine.  During its three-day stay in Delhi, members of the delegation will participate in an international medical conference with eminent Indian doctors to work out strategies of cooperation between the two countries.

“Adopting the village near the Wagah border is the focal point of to take medical diplomacy forward,” said Dr. Malik.  The association, with an initial budget of Rs 10 to 12 lakh, will improve the conditions of the village by providing a water purification system and spruce up the sewage and sanitation conditions in the village.

The APPNA will also improve the condition of the local school there and open a primary health center.  Dr. Malik said the association was running similar projects in Pakistan in Murree, Mardan, Sahiwal and Badine.

 

 

Cricket test match unites India and Pakistan

By Ayanjit Sen, BBC News, Chandigarh, 8 March

 

It was probably the first time that Indian and Pakistani cricket fans had entered Mohali stadium in the northern Indian city of Chandigarh without either the fear of losing or obsession with victory.  When the first ball of Indian fast bowler, Irfan Pathan, hit the willow of the opening Pakistani batsman, there was a loud cheer from two people, among thousands of others.   One was holding an Indian flag and another a Pakistani one.  They were embracing each other.  It was difficult to say whether it was a five-day test match or a one-day international, with the number of people attending the first day of the match.  People had queued outside the stadium from very early in the morning to grab their seats and witness yet another epic battle on the beautifully manicured square.  Although there was the usual sub-continental scrum as fans tried to get last minute tickets, all was transformed when they entered the stadium.  Younger fans were everywhere, such as nine-year-old Shivam, a resident of Chandigarh, who was accompanied by his father and brother.  He said he was cheering both teams.  Another Indian fan told me it was a red letter day in the history of cricketing relations between the two neighbors.  “It is as if Kashmir has been forgotten.  Long lost neighbors have decided to bury their past and move on,” said the fan.

 

Most parts of the stadium were packed to capacity and flowing beards and sherwanis – jackets beloved by men on both sides of the India-Pakistan border - could be seen at every corner of the ground.  Ticketless residents enjoyed the match from the roof-tops.  “Cricket has definitely built bridges. This electrifying atmosphere is what I was looking for. Our Punjabi brothers have been gracious hosts,” says Kaman, a student in Lahore.  Mexican waves around the stadium, chants, banners and trumpet-blowing – all was done with unflagging enthusiasm by fans of both countries.   It was like a festival of love.  “It is a great feeling to be in a field with an Indian bowler bowling to a Pakistani batsman. It is the mother of all sporting contests,” said an Indian fan.   The bandwagon of friendship shown by fans of both countries did not run out of steam all through the day.  The performances of both Pakistani and Indian players were applauded.  Every run scored and every wicket taken was cheered by the crowd. But there were also a few visitors who did not fall in the usual category of supporters.  Michael, a student at a British university, said he only wanted to feel the pulse of the crowd.  “I have come to watch the match. But more than the match, it is the constant cheering of the crowd for hours which I am enjoying,” he said.  Tight security arrangements were made inside the stadium with policemen guarding every corner of the ground.  Meanwhile, chants of Indo-Pakistan friendship were heard all over the stadium for all of the day.   The noise was so ear-piercing that it prompted a journalist sitting in the press box actually to shout out of the window in a futile request for the fans to quiet down.  However, it was not to be. The celebrations continue.

 

Full Story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4330299.stm

 

Landmark Kashmir bus link agreed

New Delhi and Islamabad, BBC South Asia, 16 February

 

India and Pakistan have agreed to launch a landmark bus service across the ceasefire line dividing Kashmir between the nuclear rivals.   The deal was announced after a meeting between the Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers in Islamabad.  The two sides have also agreed to begin discussions on reducing the risk of nuclear accidents.  Correspondents say the agreements will give a new boost to a peace process that began more than a year ago.  Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri says the bus service linking the capitals of Indian and Pakistani-administered Kashmir is likely to start on 7 April.  “We have agreed between us on mutually acceptable procedures for establishing a bus service between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad,”  Natwar Singh said at a joint press conference in Islamabad.

 

The bus agreement has been welcomed by most Kashmiris although some of the separatists say it sidesteps the main issue – resolving the long-running Kashmir dispute.  The BBC’s Zaffar Abbas in Islamabad says it gives millions of Kashmiris a chance to travel across the ceasefire line for the first time in more than fifty years.   Khalid Dar, 38, an electricity department employee in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, told Associated Press: “It’s great. Now I will travel to the Indian portion of Kashmir to see my relatives. I never imagined the two countries could reach such a decision.”  The talks had been deadlocked by a disagreement over India's insistence that passports be used as travel documents, which Pakistan says would compromise Kashmir's disputed status.  The two sides have now agreed to use entry permits in place of passports once identities of the travelers are verified.  The two sides also say they are planning another bus service between the Pakistani city of Lahore and the Indian city of Amritsar and a rail link between the provinces of Sindh and Rajasthan.  They are also discussing reopening their consulates in the cities of Karachi and Mumbai (Bombay), the ministers said. Mr Singh said India has also agreed to consider a proposal to build a gas pipeline from Iran to India, through Pakistan.

 

Natwar Singh’s visit is the first bilateral trip to Pakistan by an Indian foreign minister in 15 years.  He said the two sides had made a lot of progress over the past year.  “I’m convinced that cooperation between our two countries is not just a desire and an objective, it is an imperative,” he said.  Previous peace attempts have stumbled over the Kashmir dispute, which has resulted in two wars between India and Pakistan.   Last month, both sides accused each other of violating a 15-month ceasefire along the Line of Control.  Pakistan also opposes Indian plans to construct a dam in the Himalayas, saying it will deprive its own territory of water for agriculture.   The issue of Pakistan’s concerns over the use of Ahmedabad in India’s Gujarat state – the scene of religious riots in 2002 – as a venue for matches on its upcoming cricket tour was also being discussed, as was the rescheduling of a regional forum postponed this month.

 

Full Story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4268121.stm

 

Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service to commence from April 7
Islamabad, 16 Feb

 

Displaying flexibility, India and Pakistan today decided to launch the bus service from Srinagar to Muzaffarabad across the divided Kashmir from April 7 for all their nationals and agreed on discussions to reduce the risks of nuclear accidents and unauthorized use of weapons as part of Confidence Building Measures.

Travel across the Line of Control by this 170-km bus link will be by an entry permit system, once identities are verified.  Application forms for travel will be available with designated authorities in Srinagar and Muzaffarabad, Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri announced after holding wide-ranging talks with External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh.  “The practical procedures do not change or affect our respective positions on Jammu and Kashmir. Essentially, it is a humanitarian procedure,” External Affairs Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna told reporters.

India, which had mooted the resumption of the bus service, had so far been insisting that passport should be the document for identification for travel in the bus service, while Pakistan had been saying that the service should be open only for Kashmiris from both sides of LoC.  Sarna said the arrangement would cover all parts of J and K, including Baltistan and Gilgit. After the announcement, both Singh and Kasuri made separate statements after their meeting in the Pakistan Foreign office but declined to take any questions from a battery of electronic and print media reporters.  “No doubt, we have differences between us. This is only normal given the history and complexity of our relationship.  However, as leaders, it is incumbent upon us to find ways through which we can enhance trust and cooperation, so that the differences can be addressed more productively,” Singh, who also called on Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, said.

He made it clear that the process can be sustained “only in an atmosphere free from terrorism and violence, in the framework of implementation of commitment made on January 6, 2004.”  Kasuri said the two sides had discussions on the “core issue” of J and K, and Pakistan “impressed” upon the Indian Government for its “early and final settlement” in accordance with the aspirations of the people of Kashmir.  Observing that a stage has arrived in the peace process when “significant positive developments” have taken place over the past one year, he said "at the same time, it was also felt that continued appropriate political interaction would inevitably impart further momentum to the process.”  Referring to Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service, he said the two sides have agreed on “mutually acceptable procedures.”

Later, Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran told a press conference that neither side was trying to use or should use the procedures to change their respective positions. The arrangement was for all Pakistani and Indian nationals, including people of Jammu and Kashmir, but not of any third country.

In the give-and-take approach, Pakistan has accepted India’s proposals for entry permits while dropping its demand that this route be only used by Kashmiris on both sides of the LoC. India, on its part, has not insisted on the need for passports along with the entry permits.  Saran said both Musharraf and Aziz welcomed the “achievement” made today.   Singh said it has been agreed to look at a pipeline through Pakistan “subject to satisfaction of our concerns related to security and assured supplies.”  Officials have been instructed that in the series of meetings between now and July, agreements are finalized on pre-notification of missile tests, MoU between Indian Coastguards and Pakistan’s Maritime security agency and another MoU between Narcotics Control Authorities.  Saran described the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service as a “high point” of Singh's visit, an “important development and a win-win situation” for both countries.  Under this procedure, Indians wishing to go to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), will apply to the regional Passport office in Srinagar which will then hand over the list to its counterpart across the LoC. The persons, who are cleared from the Pakistani side, will then be issued entry permits to travel to PoK.

Pakistanis wishing to travel to Jammu and Kashmir will follow a similar procedure and would be issued such permits from the Indian side.  Welcoming the decision, PoK Prime Minister Sardar Hayat Khan said it was an important breakthrough towards the solution of the Kashmir issue.  Terming the outcome of Singh’s meetings with Pakistani leaders as “very positive”, Saran said the official part of the Minister’s visit has concluded on a “sense of optimism”.  On the Iran-India gas pipeline, he said there may be an “over-arching” trilateral agreement involving Pakistan.  About the Baglihar Hydel Power project in J and K, Saran said Pakistan's reference to the World Bank was “premature” since there was a degree of convergence during expert-level talks between the two sides.  He also allayed apprehensions of “flooding” or Pakistan being denied water. India does not believe that this project violated the Indus Water Treaty, he stressed.  Asked about the possibility of Pakistan cricket team playing in Ahmedabad, he said it was up to the Cricket Boards of the two countries to take a decision on it.  Saran said he has no reason to believe that the cricket tour will not go

 

*Sri Lanka

 

LTTE accepts joint mechanism

Island, Kilinochchi, 14 March

 

The LTTE has accepted a draft proposal, forwarded by peace broker Norway, to cooperate with the government on distributing tsunami relief, AFP reported officials and Tigers as saying Sunday.  The LTTE in talks with the Norwegians in Oslo during the weekend agreed to a “joint mechanism” to handle millions of dollars in tsunami relief, according to comments from the group’s political chief S.P. Thamilselvan posted on the pro-rebel Tamilnet.com website.  ”The LTTE leadership has accepted a draft of a joint mechanism for tsunami aid delivery submitted to the LTTE by the Norwegian facilitators even while noting that there were some shortcomings,” Thamilselvan had told the website.  “It is up to the government to agree to the Norwegian draft.”

Officials close to the peace process said the government was almost ready to give its approval for a joint tsunami relief effort despite pressure on President Chandrika Kumaratunga from the JVP not to accommodate the Tigers.  AFP reported the President Kumaratunga as telling a meeting Friday that one party in her coalition government remained opposed to any plan that allows the Tigers to handle relief funds and supplies directly. “There is one party in the coalition that is not working with a sense of discipline,” she is reported to have said in an apparent reference to the People’s Liberation Front, or JVP.  Diplomats said a “joint mechanism” was essential because several donor governments did not want to give aid directly to the LTTE because of legal and political implications.

 

 

EDUCATION & TRAINING

 

Jorgen Johansen, a member of TRANSCEND (www.transcend.org), researcher, trainer and practitioner in conflict transformation and active nonviolence, together with Kai Frithjof Brand-Jacobsen,  will be providing a five-days training programme (April 18 – 22, 2005) on Building Democracy, Participation and Peace by Peaceful Means in Cluj-Napoca, Romania

 

Building Democracy, Participation and Peace by Peaceful Means  is intended as a meeting point and in-depth, intensive training programme for those engaged in nonviolent movements and social struggles for people’s and community rights, democratisation, peace, and social justice, drawing upon the inspiration and lessons learned from people’s movements and struggles around the world over the past 50 years.  From the People’s Power movement in the Philippines to the non-violent revolutions in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union and the overthrow of political apartheid in South Africa to the Living Democracy Movement in India, the Assembly of the Poor in Thailand, the Landless Movement in Brazil, struggles for democracy in Georgia and Ukraine, and the World Social Forum, Building Democracy will draw the lessons and experiences from the history of nonviolence in practice. 

 

 

BOOKS

 

Parsis: The Zoroastrians of India – A Photographic Journey, by Sooni Taraporevala, New York: Overlook Duckworth, 1994, 352 pages, $60.

 

The Parsis are the stuff of legend in India.  Known as much for their philanthropy, wealth, spectacular success in industry (the venerable Tatas or Godrej), as well as their amazingly nimble faculty of adjusting to the powers that be (this tends to draw mixed reviews), the community has also assiduously guarded its own cultural identity over the millennia.  Harvard-educated screenplay writer Sooni Taraporevala (Salaam Bombay, Mississippi Masala) presents an engrossing glimpse into the lives of this community and intersperses it with wonderfully evocative photographs as well as brief historical essays and notes. (India West February 11, 2005)

 

India Untouched: The forgotten face of rural poverty, by Abraham George, Writers’ Collective, 2005, 368 pages, $27.

 

In India Untouched, Dr. Abraham George provides a compelling, first-hand account of one man’s struggle against a well-entrenched system to make a difference. He offers fresh insight and incisive analysis into why previous attempts to improve the quality of life in rural India have failed, and what must be done in the future. His book is the story of suffering, cruelty, disease, and illiteracy, of corruption, waste, prejudice, and superstition. It is the story of fifty years of poor governance, and a stunning rebuke to the myth that globalization alone will distribute wealth to where it's most needed. More importantly, the book is about what can be done to improve the lives of millions of poor people.

 

“Dr. Abraham M. George has written an important and moving story about one of the world's most critical issues: the impact on poverty of globalization of markets. His thoughtful, personal focus on rural India has resonance for other similar situations throughout the developing world. If the scourge of poverty is to be remedied, it must first be understood and looked at frankly, with both compassion and sophistication. This book accomplishes that task.”
Alex S. Jones, Director

 Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy
John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

 

“India Untouched takes the reader on a journey into a world of despair, cruelty, disease, and illiteracy, and shows what an aroused populace can do about them. A remarkable story of what one man can accomplish with vision and determination.”
Ralph Nader, Consumer Advocate and Environmentalist

 

"I am highly impressed by the idea . . . I see what a single man's vision can do. I complement Mr. George for his incisive understanding of the [rural] situation."
I. K. Gujral

Former Prime Minister of India

 

“A wake-up call that India cannot expect to be stable and peaceful if its huge rural population remains impoverished while its urban elite benefits from the economic reforms of the past decade. One can only hope that the powerful exposure and sensible prescriptions of this book will achieve the needed impact.”
James F. Hoge, Jr.
Editor, Foreign Affairs

Council of Foreign Affairs, New York

 

“An exceptional story, because it captures -- lucidly and honestly -- the life, travails and triumphs of an exceptional man. Combining the focus of a former artilleryman with the drive of an entrepreneur and the soul of a philanthropist, Abraham George takes us on a voyage that is as much self-discovery as it is a feast for the intellect. His prognosis is informed and dispassionate, his conclusions inescapable. This is a story that must be read both by those who love India and by those who wish to understand the country.”
Ravindra Kumar
Editor and Managing Director
The Statesman, Kolkata

 

“If there is one thing I have learned about this new era of globalization that we are entering into it is this: All of the inputs, to do good or ill, will increasingly be available to more and more people.  What will distinguish who does what with them will be imagination.  Abraham George has precisely the kind of imagination that we should all want to emulate and, I certainly hope he will be a role model for many others in his native country and around the world.”
Thomas L. Friedman
Foreign Affairs Columnist
The New York Times

 

“India Untouched is an expression of love and courage, illuminated with deeply moving examples and human micro-details of rural life that give force and color to a stinging macro-critique. George has put his money and his morals where his mouth is, offering tested solutions that are persuasive in their reasoning. A great book of conviction.”
David Anable, President
International Center for Journalists, Washington, D.C.

 

India Untouched is essential reading for anyone who has a social conscience, a concern about poverty, and questions about whether the benefits of globalization trickle down to the poorest of the poor. To view a multimedia presentation about the book, read critical praise, download an excerpt, or place an order, visit www.indiauntouched.com.  Dr. George will donate all proceeds that he earns from the book to charity.

 

 

PEACE EVENTS

 

The Fourth International Kashmir Peace Conference

New York, NY, 28 February 2005 

 

The Fourth International Kashmir Peace Conference, organized by the International Educational Development and the Kashmiri American Council welcomes the latest agreement between India and Pakistan to start a bus service between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad.

 

The Conference notes with satisfaction that such confidence building measures (CBM) will create an atmosphere that ultimately leads to a fair and lasting settlement of the Kashmir issue according to the wishes and aspirations of 14 million people of Jammu and Kashmir. The conference hopes that the leadership of both India and Pakistan recognize that there can be no settlement, negotiated or otherwise, without the active and full participation of the people of Jammu and Kashmir living on both sides of the Ceasefire Line as well as those belonging to the Jammu and Kashmir diaspora.  The Conference regrets that Kashmiri leaders, including Syed Ali Geelani, Mohammad Yasin Malik and Shabbir Ahmad Shah could not participate in the conference ostensibly because the necessary travel documents were not made available to them on time. The Conference urges the Government of India to grant visas to all the members of the India-Pakistan-Kashmir steering committee to visit New Delhi so that the global discourse on Kashmir proceeds forward as scheduled.

 

The Conference contends that the rights of all members of minorities in Jammu and Kashmir should be protected at all costs.  All those persons who have been displaced from Jammu and Kashmir since 1947 should be encouraged to return. The members of the Pandit community displaced in the recent past should be facilitated to return and their rehabilitation guaranteed. The conference expresses its grave concern over continued violations of human rights – by state and non-state actors, in Jammu and Kashmir and urges all stake-holders to ensure that human rights are upheld in full measure.  The release of political prisoners would go a long way to hasten the progress of peace and reconciliation in the region.

 

For more information please contact:

 

Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai

733 Fifteenth Street, N.

W. Suite 1100, Washington, DC 20005

Tel:  202-628-6789/202-607-6585

Fax: 202-393-0062/703-295-8683

Email: kashmirconference@yahoo.com

 

 

South Asian communities to organize peace events

7 February

 

This is a call to South Asians living outside South Asia to organize peace events in your local communities in solidarity with the march.  The Indo-Pak Peace March starts from New Delhi, India on March 23rd and is planned to wind its way through to reach Multan, Pakistan on May 11th, 2005.  Please forward this note to other people who might be interested.   In addition, please use the comments section below to tell us where you are located, what you plan to do in your community, and how we can contact you. Alternatively, you could send an email with this information to thesouthasian@gmail.com.

 

Background:  Since the post Kargil era of India-Pakistan diplomacy, there has been a significant and sustained effort between the two governments to explore sustained peace in the region. In this effort community groups, non-government organizations, people-to-people contact – what is generally called track II diplomacy – have had a major role to play.  Knowing the pressures of governments of both countries, we recognize that active exploration of peace is a viable option only as long as it politically profitable, or at least not harmful for the health of the powers-that-be. In such a scenario, increased people-to-people programs build programs for peace, increase confidence among the people through dispelling of stereotypes and create a positive pressure for peace.

 

The March:  In this context, Pakistan India Forum for Peace and Democracy has done a remarkable job in sustaining people-to-people contact. Their next effort, driven largely by Karamat Ali, Pakistan Institute of Labor Education and Research and Anjuman Asiaye Awam, in Pakistan and Sandeep Pandey, Admiral Ramdas, Lalita Ramdas in India along with groups of PIFFPD in both countries is the peace march from New Delhi to Multan over a period of about six weeks.  It is a first event of its kind where Indians and Pakistanis will walk (based on permission from both governments) through cities and villages, through rural and urban settlements of both countries, talking to people about the lives we live, the hopes we cherish, and the passions that we sustain, the problems we face, the struggles we endure – and the need for peace so that we can focus on these.  The success of such an effort is based on increased conversations on peace, on our shared humanity and on establishment of sustained collaboration. While the marchers walk through communities trying to include the participation of people in such a peace process, we request the expatriate communities from India and Pakistan living abroad to join in a gesture of solidarity with the marchers and a renewed hope for peace in the region.

 

Local events around the world:  We are calling upon groups vested in the people of the region, and in peace, from across the Americas, Europe, Africa, Australia, and Asia to organize events – cultural gatherings, dinners, discussion groups, story reading hours, poetry recital/mushaira, lecture panels, study groups – to revitalize the culture we share, the humanity that binds us and explore ideas for establishment of peace between India and Pakistan. We are proposing that groups organize events during the weekend of April 15th – 17th (the marchers cross the India Pakistan border on 18th April).  We are also requesting that these gatherings explore means through which such communities can continue to meet and build an increased focus on establishment of peace between India and Pakistan.