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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
www.asiapeace.org & www.indiapakistanpeace.org
Editor: Pritam K. Rohila, PhD pritam@open.org
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Volume X, No. 5,
CONTENTS
EDITORIAL
*Crisis is
PEACE & HARMONY NEWS
BOOKS
*Finding Forgiveness, Eileen Borris
*Blood Brothers: A Family Saga, M. J. Akbar
*Schemes for
the Welfare of Minorities, Shaik Anwar
*A world full of love and without hatred or fear, S.A.Rehman
*
*June
22,
SOCIAL JUSTICE THROUGH
DISARMAMENT AND AN EMPOWERED UNITED NATIONS.
*August-October:
INDIA-PAKISTAN PEACE DAY 2006
*September 21: PEACE ONE DAY
*Indo-Pak
Fulbright Forum
*Vice Chair
(Academic Coordinator), Center for
of
________________________________________________________________________
EDITORIAL
*Crisis is
Natural disasters, communal violence, insurgencies and other
problems have plagued
The recent deterioration of situation in
People have already suffered
tremendously. More than 60,000 Sri
Lankans have lost their lives since the 1970’s, when Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) started
armed struggle for a separate homeland for their people. In the late 1990s, almost a million people,
amounting to one-third of the total population of the northeast, became
internally displaced persons. About a quarter of the total Sri Lankan Tamil
population has left the country.
For the last several years, the ethnic conflict has been consuming a
large part of the country’s resources. Also it has discouraged foreign investments
as well as tourism, one of the biggest sources of the nation’s income.
In the last few weeks, there have been frequent claymore attacks by LTTE against
security personnel. Also Sinhalese-speaking gangs have been targeting Tamil
lives and property in Trincomalee. There was further escalation after the April
25 LTTE attack in on the Army Chief, to which Sri Lankan Army and Navy have responded with
air strikes on LTTE
targets.
The new wave of violence has resulted in loss of 100 additional
lives. More than 20,000 people have fled their homes in northeastern
So far foreign peacemakers have not succeeded in overcoming mutual suspicions, which have kept the various sides apart. Probability of this happening in the near future is not very high.
Sooner or later, all parties will have to find a way to tackle the trust-deficit, which feeds on their fears and insecurities, and aggravates even minor situations into gigantic problems.
The Sinhala majority has to reach out to the minorities to help them feel safe. The government has to eliminate laws, which discriminate against minorities. Minorities have to rededicate themselves to integrity and welfare of their adopted homeland. All sides will have to renounce violence, and commit themselves to meaningful negotiations to seek solutions to their problems.
It will require a lot of courage and patience from all sides. But nothing is impossible once they make up their mind.
PEACE & HARMONY NEWS
*In Mumbai-Lahore love, LOC is villain, Times of
India,
http://www.southasianmedia.net/index_story.cfm?id=294019&category=Frontend&Country=MAIN
*Pak may import 100 more items from
http://www.southasianmedia.net/index_story.cfm?id=293987&category=Frontend&Country=MAIN
*Indo-Pak film diplomacy working well, Times of
India,
http://www.southasianmedia.net/index_story.cfm?id=294038&category=Frontend&Country=MAIN
MUMBAI: Film diplomacy between
*Celebrate secularism with yatras: Indian PM, Rediff.com,
To mark the 150th anniversary of the 1857 uprising next year, Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh asked the youth to hold nationwide yatras to celebrate that
example of Hindu-Muslim unity."The striking feature of the revolt of 1857
was that both Hindus and Muslims assiduously organised the front against
foreign rule. This unity was visible among soldiers, the people and the
leaders," the prime minister remarked.
Dr Singh spoke extensively about religious peace and emphasised the need to prevent 'frustrated elements' from disturbing communal harmony. "They must not be given scope to achieve their aims," he emphasised. He commended the architects of the Indian republic for declaring it a secular state...(and) deplored the use of religion to commit violence.
Dr Singh also asked the youth to participate extensively in the 'imaginative' programmes his government has launched for nation-building.
*Pak may lease rail engines
from
*
*
*
*Pak,
*Fresh bid to resolve
Baloch issue hailed DAWN |Monday,
Islamabad: Inter-provincial Coordination Minister Salim Saifullah Khan on Sunday held a meeting with Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Muhammad Yousuf to launch an initiative to resolve the crisis in the province.
*Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal team from
*Peace seems reality in
NEPALGUNJ: Pointing to the declaration of ceasefire by the Maoists and the state, chief commissioner of the UN Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR-Nepal) Ian Martin today said the restoration of permanent peace now seemed a reality.
*APHC wants
New Dehli:
*
*Maoists accept
*'Maoists to be included
in interim
*Singh wants
*Round Table real forum
for
*Singh likely to visit
New Delhi: Preparations for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s maiden official visit to Pakistan, likely to take place in the second half of August this year, have begun with the two sides today deciding on two concrete Line of Control-specific confidence-building measures (CBMs).
*APHC, Singh agree to
resolve
*Indo-Pak accord on
intra-Kashmir links DAILY TIMES |Thursday,
*
"We have decided to announce a ceasefire and remove the terrorist tag" from the Maoists, Deputy Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli told reporters after a Cabinet meeting.
*
.
*
London: Signifying the importance his government attaches to its
relations with New Delhi, Nepal's new Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala is
expected to visit India between May 11 and 23, senior CPI-M leader Sitaram
Yechury has said on his return from the Himalayan kingdom.
*Rewriting of South Asian
history stressed DAWN |Sunday,
*
*Sri Lankan President calls for unity and more sweat Daily Mirror |Monday,
*Indo-Pak talks: Baglihar no hurdle, Aziz DAILY TIMES |Monday, May 01,2006
*Lanka top minister to seek
*SAARC
credible world forum: Kasuri THE NEWS |
*
MUMBAI,
*Hearts without religious acrimony and houses without
door, India West,
The village has a
Besides none of the houses has doors or locks. People keep their belongings in the open. But never have they come across any incident of theft, according to Raosaheb Sukdev Bankar, the president of the trust.
The villagers believe that robbers would get caught or turn blind and insane, if they committed a theft here. The belief is based on a story that a thief from the nearby village had once stolen the jewelry from a house, but could not find the escape route. Finally he surrendered the valuables to the villagers.
Even if the family members go for some work outside the village, they never bother to ask a neighbor to keep an eye on their house.
*SAFMA moot seeks
Karachi-Mumbai link DAWN |Wednesday,
KARACHI: Over a dozen speakers from a big representative gathering of businessmen, media persons and academics called for urgent opening of India and Pakistan visa offices in Karachi and Mumbai and an early resumption of sea and overland transportation between the two mega cities of South Asia, a press release of the South Asia Free Media Association (SAFMA) announced on Tuesday.
*Taj Mahal: From
http://specials.rediff.com/movies/2006/apr/28sld1.htm
After what seemed like
years, hundreds of jubilant Pakistanis thronged the
*
http://in.rediff.com/news/2006/apr/28cg.htm
The Coast Guards of India and
*
*
*SAARC members pledge joint bird flu plan DAILY TIMES |Friday,
*Nepal-Maoists declare
unilateral truce THE HIMALAYAN TIMES
*
*26 cross over to PoK through
LoC, Daily Excelsior,
Poonch, Apr 24: For the first time..the LoC point at
Chakkan Da Bagh was opened at around
*Basic
rights included in new law in the Maldives HAVEERU
|Tuesday,
At the eighty-first sitting held Sunday morning, People’s Special Majlis
has decided to include basic rights in the amended constitution as one of its
basic feature.
*King Gyanendra restores democracy in
http://in.rediff.com/news/2006/apr/21nepal5.htm
In a televised address to the
nation,
*The India-Pakistan Cricket series yields $7.5m
for
ABU DHABI: The India-Pakistan Cricket series in Abu Dhabi has not only entertained cricket fanatics around the world but has also contributed a lot towards peace and friendship in the region, said Pakistan Ambassador Ahsan Ullah Khan, after receiving a cheque of $7.5m from Naranjan Shah Secretary Board of cricket Control India (BCCI) yesterday at the Pakistan Embassy.
*Tackling Terrorism:
On April14th, Friday two blasts
immediately after the Arsa namaz injured more than 15 people at Jama
Masjid,
*Talks, not wars, settle issues: Indian PM, Dawn, |
http://www.southasianmedia.net/index_story.cfm?id=287472&category=frontend&Country=main&pro=0
New Delhi: “Our own experience has shown that it is possible to resolve
some of the most intractable problems through negotiations, ” Dr Singh said at
a function to release former foreign secretary Jagat Mehta’s new book,
‘Negotiating for India: Resolving Problems Through Diplomacy’.
*Pak sees long-term peace
with
http://www.southasianmedia.net/index_story.cfm?id=287259&category=Frontend&Country=MAIN
*Expedition from
http://www.southasianmedia.net/index_story.cfm?id=287833&category=Frontend&Country=BHUTAN
PHUENTSHOLING: “Connecting
people, connecting countries” is the slogan of a 13-member 'Maitree' team from
*'Committee begins talks on
GWADAR: A joint committee of the provincial assembly has initiated
dialogue between the government and Nawab Akbar Bugti to resolve the
Balochistan issue.
*India-Pak close to final
point on Siachen,
Daily Pioneer,
http://www.southasianmedia.net/index_story.cfm?id=287943&category=Frontend&Country=MAIN
New Delhi: Indian National Security Advisor (NSA) M Narayanan said India
and Pakistan are "closer" to a "final point" on the Siachen
problem and talks are on for finalising modalities for authentication of
present troop positions that can pave the way for demilitarisation of the
world's highest battlefield.
*Indo-Pak peace process
on track: Pranab
http://www.southasianmedia.net/index_story.cfm?id=287606&category=Frontend&Country=MAIN
*Pak allows Indian iron
sheets import, The Hindu|
http://www.southasianmedia.net/index_story.cfm?id=287410&category=Frontend&Country=MAIN
*
http://www.southasianmedia.net/index_story.cfm?id=287177&category=frontend&Country=main&pro=0"
*‘Kashmiri militants
giving up arms’ Daily Times,
http://www.southasianmedia.net/index_story.cfm?id=286836&category=frontend&Country=main&pro=0
SRINAGAR: India’s most senior army general in Jammu and Kashmir said on Sunday that militants based in Pakistani-held Kashmir have been giving up arms and returning to their homes in Indian-held Kashmir, following last year’s South Asian earthquake. “
*Pak to issue 10,000
visas for Dera Sahib Daily Excelsior|
http://www.southasianmedia.net/index_story.cfm?id=286886&category=Frontend&Country=MAIN
MOGA,
BOOKS
*Finding Forgiveness, to be published by McGraw-Hill in early September. According to Dr. Eileen Borris erborris@cox.net, its author, “lays out the framework which underlies our thinking that inhibits us from being able to forgive. Then it shows the reader how to transform one's thinking to not only be able to forgive but to be more compassionate and loving human beings.
*Blood
Brothers: A Family Saga, M. J. Akbar, (Reviewwed by Khushwant Singh)
Available at http://www.gmpublications.com/product_info.php?products_id=11074
Akbar relates the family saga, and explains in a few
telling words why the English found it easy to overcome Indians in the fields
of battles at Buxar and Plassey: "It was extraordinary how Indians became
transformed when they switched sides: disciplined and unwavering under the
command of a white man, and pathetic baboons under the green and
black-and-white standards of Muslim dynasties in decline. One old man could
still do a wondrous imitation, learnt from his forefathers, of a Mughal
champion, who swung his heavy sword in the thin air so vigorously before battle
that he was utterly exhausted when the actual fighting began...Muslims were
high on bravado and short on bravery."
*Schemes for the Welfare of
Minorities, Published by: Centre for World Solidarity,
Secunderabad, Edited by: Shaik Anwar Minorities_cws@yahoo.com,
aariz_mohammed@yahoo.co.in
This useful booklet details various schemes for the economic and development of
minorities instituted by the government of Andhra Pradesh as well as by the
Government of India. These include schemes of the Andhra Pradesh State
Minorities Finance Corporation, Anti-Poverty Schemes, Scholarships,
Micro-Credit, Housing Programmes, Financial Assistance
for Promoting Urdu, the National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation
and Waqf Board. Each section provides contact addresses and
information of how to apply for the schemes.
*A world full of love and without hatred or fear, S.A.Rehman peace_activist44@yahoo.com
We all need to pray for one another, and to love one, another. We should always
pray for the safety, peace, love and brotherhood for people all over the world.
Too bad we can't have an independence day for the entire world. A day of freedom from ignorance, hatred, war, illusions, power and
control. A day where we can
all love each other as human beings and toss away the weapons of war, and cast
out our fears and hatreds from our hearts into the graves. We must mourn the
graves of the innocents all over the world, and give the children of the world
the hope of a peaceful, loving and beautiful world.
We should help create a world full of love and without hatred or fear -a world
where we can join hands together and accept one another, regardless of our skin
color, ethnic divisions, religion or nationality. If we don't unite as a human
race, then we have condemned the future generation of children a dark and very
grim future.
The Merciful God has made all of the people of the world in His own image and
has placed before us the pathway of salvation through different Preachers who
claimed to have been His Saints and Prophets. But, the contradictions (made by
us) in the interpretation of His teachings have resulted in creating divisions,
faith-based hatreds and bloodshed in the world community. Millions of innocent
men, women and children have so far been brutally killed by the militants of
several religions who have been committing horrifying crimes against humanity
and millions more would not be butchered by them in the future, if He guides
and helps us find ways to reunite peacefully.
May God, the Compassionate, the Merciful, look with compassion on the whole
human family; take away the controversial teachings of arrogance, divisions and
hatreds which have badly infected our hearts; break down the walls that
separate us; reunite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and
confusion to accomplish His purposes on earth; that, in His good time, all
nations and races could jointly serve Him in justice, peace and harmony.
*
including a wide range of workshops led by keynote speakers, at
Euston Road
*June 22,
*August-October: INDIA-PAKISTAN PEACE DAY 2006. The Association for Communal Harmony in Asia (ACHA) pritamr@open.org invites suggestions regarding this year’s theme and core project for this year’s celebrations. More info at www.indiapakistanpeace.org
*September 21: PEACE ONE DAY. This year, for the first time in
the history, Peace One Day will attempt to manifest commitments for its
celebration in all 191 member-states of the United Nations. More info
from www.peaceoneday.org, or Jeremy
Gilley Founder, Peace One Day, Block D, The Old Truman Brewery, 91 Brick Lane,
London E1 6QL, Tel: +44 (0) 207 456 9180, Fax: +44 (0) 207 375 2007, Email: info@peaceoneday.org
*Indo-Pak Fulbright Forum, indopakfulbright@yahoo.com
Dedicated to foster mutual understanding and cooperation between the
people of
*Vice Chair (Academic
Coordinator), Center for South Asia Studies, University of California, Berkeley,
a full-time position, beginning July 1, 2006. More info from http://ias.berkeley.edu/SouthAsia/