ACHA PEACE BULLETIN http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/ACHAPeaceBulletin

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

Editor: Pritam K. Rohila, Ph. D.

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ACHA PEACE BULLETIN-Volume VII, No.9, September 1, 2004, Next Issue, October 6, 2004

CONTENTS

Editorial

Pledge for communal harmony and peace, Pritam K. Rohila, Ph.D

Petition For A Peace Memorial

Peace & Harmony News From & About South Asia

Peace & Harmony Organizations

Association for Communal Harmony in Asia (ACHA)

Citizen Peace Committee (CPC), & Pak-India Peoples Forum for Peace & Democracy (PIPFPD)

Bombay Sarvodaya Mandal (BSM),Gandhi Smarak Nidhi (GSN)

South Asian Progressive Action Collective (SAPAC) & South Asians Gathered for Action and Reflection (SAGAR)

Pakistan-India Independence Day Celebration at Indo-Pak Border

South Asians march for peace in Washington, D.C.

Feature

Jamaat men to help Hindu pilgrims at Puskarams

Books & Journals

Between past and future: Selected essays on South Asia, Eqbal Ahmad, Ed Dohra Ahmad, Iftikhar Ahmad and Zia Mian,

Conferences

January 27-30, 2005, New Delhi, India: South And Southeast Asian Association For The Study Of Religion Conference

Peace Education

Peace Petitions

REPORTS & ANALYSES

(For a copy send a blank email to pritamr@open.org with its subject as the UPPERCASE word in the article title. Please limit your request to 3 articles. When requesting an article from an issue of ACHA Peace Bulletin, other than the current one, please also mention date of publication of that issue)

Bangladesh

RICKSHAW Revelations, Joanna Kirkpatrick, Outlook India, August 4, 2004

Terror in the MAIL, Hena Khan, Dhaka, Outlook India, August 6, 2004

ETHNIC Minorities: A Strength In Diversity, Albert Mankin, Daily Star - August 9, 2004

Supporting Third-World POVERTY, Nizam Ahmad, Foundation for Economic Education, July 9, 2004

Democracy in TERROR, Anand Kumar, South Asia Intelligence Review, August 23, 2004

Books

PLIGHT of the Forgotten Old Pakis, Torn Between a Homeland and a Country, Arun Rajnath, South Asian Tribune Aug 14, 2004

History

What If India Hadn't BEEN Partitioned? Ainslie T. Embree, Outlook India.com, 08.04

India

MANIPUR:The Looming Implosion, B. Raman, Outlook India, Aug 10, 2004

On Reservation For Muslims - Should Or SHOULD Not Be, Asghar Ali Engineer, Secular Perspective August 1-15, 2004

Illiteracy to BLAME for poverty, President Kalam's speech, Rediff.com, August 14, 2004

Address by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the NATION, August 15, 2004

India-Pakistan

SPARRING in Siachen, Pavan Nair, August 6, 2004

Nukes CAUSE all the trouble, M B Naqvi, The News International , August 11, 2004

Siachen GLACIER: The world's highest battlefield, Rediff.com

Kashmir

Why Pakistan Cannot PRESS for UN Resolutions on Kashmir, Sana Rajah, South Asian Tribune, August 4SOME interesting information regarding UN resolutions of 13 Aug and 5 January. S. Choudhry, 08/13/04

Pakistan

We cannot BEAT terrorism without beating poverty first, B. Bhutto, Sydney Morning Herald, August 13

President Musharraf's Message on Independence DAY 2004, PID Press Release, August 14, 2004

Prime Minister's MESSAGE on Independence Day, PID Press Release, Auguist 14, 2004

In SEARCH of Islamic solutions, Ishtiaq Ahmed, Daily Times, Tuesday, 17 August 2004

The Military and 'PSEUDO-Intellectuals,' Ejaz Haider, August 27, 2004

Sri Lanka

JULY Still Black After Twenty One Years?, Eric Fernando, Daily News [Sri Lanka], 23 July 2004

A VIOLENT 'Ceasefire', Amantha Perera, South Asia Intelligence Review, August 23, 2004

EDITORIAL

*Pledge for communal harmony and peace, Pritam K. Rohila, Ph.D

Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism and Sikhism; Vedas to Guru Granth Sahib; Mohenjo Daro to Taj Mahal; Shah Faisal Mosque, Golden Temple and Baha’i Temple; Ashoka, Akbar, Jinnah and Jawahalal; Kalidas, Gahlib, Tagore, and Iqbal; languages from Sanskrit to Urdu; murals of Ajanata and Miniature paintings of Kangra; dance forms of Bharat Natyam to Bhangra; gardens of Shalimar & Vrindaban; Lahore fort and Gateway of India; Ismaili Center of Karachi, Anarkali Bazar of Lahore, and Connaught Place of New Delhi - for more than 5,000 years people of India and Pakistan have enriched the human culture and civilization.

People from India and Pakistan can survive under any circumstance. That they are found all over the world, is a living testimonial to their bravery, courage, strength, intelligence, and adaptability. The fact is that they can move to a completely foreign nation thousands of miles away from their motherland, and they can not only successfully compete with their new neighbors and colleagues, but they can actually prosper and thrive.

In the last 57 years, since Independence, India and Pakistan have made significant progress in many fields.

But this is also a fact that on the human development index of the United Nations Development Program India and Pakistan rank at the bottom of the heap.

More than half of the world’s hungry live in India and Pakistan. Millions of their citizens do not have adequate access to proper housing, education, or health care.

Independence of India and Pakistan will never be complete until all of their peoples have achieved freedom from want and lack. And to achieve this level of independence all their peoples will have to be able to live in peace, regardless of their caste, creed, religion, gender or social status.

Therefore, on this 57^th anniversary of Independence of India and Pakistan, let us all pledge to do our utmost to bring about communal harmony within their borders and peace between them and their neighbors.

Long Live Pakistan!

Long Live Bharat!

PETITION FOR A PEACE MEMORIAL

To support the current efforts by the Governments of India and Pakistan to improve relationship between the two neighbors, Association for Communal Harmony in Asia (ACHA) is spearheading a worldwide campaign.

ACHA has invited friends of peace everywhere to organize a celebration of India-Pakistan Peace Day every year, on any day between August 1 and October 31.

The celebration will be used to draw people’s attention to the unprecedented violence in the tragic aftermath of the 1947 Partition, which embittered relationship between the peoples of India and Pakistan.

Also signatures will be gathered on a petition to the Governments of India and Pakistan to build at the Wagah-Attari Border Crossing, a suitable memorial to the Victims of the 1947 violence.

Likely this memorial will also signal ending of the conflicts and hostilities of the past, as well serve as an enduring symbol of cooperation, friendship and peace between the great peoples of the two countries.   

Please help us gather signatures for this petition. You can sign it online at http://www.PetitionOnline.com/ippeace/petition.html as well as at www.indiapakistanpeace.org & also, at www.indiapakistanpeace.org a printable version the petition is available for gathering signatures personally.

More information is available from pritamr@open.org, 1. and www.asiapeace.org

PEACE & HARMONY NEWS FROM & ABOUT SOUTH ASIA

(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 ACHA Peace Bulletin)

*Bangladesh

Visa on arrival for Saarc visitors to B'desh

DHAKA: Bangladesh has announced plans to introduce a visa on arrival scheme for visitors from SAARC nations. Six other SAARC member countries have already activated this scheme. BHARAT.COM August 18,2004

*Bangladesh-India

India offers tourism show with Bangladesh

NEW DELHI: India has proposed a joint tourism exhibition with Bangladesh to be held in New Delhi as the two countries agreed to promote greater flow of tourists between them. Indian Tourism Minister Renuka Choudhury made the offer at a meeting with Bangladesh State Minister for Tourism Mir Mohammad Nasiruddin in New Delhi Wednesday. DAILY STAR August 26,2004

Dhaka, Delhi agree to open up skies

NEW DELHI: India and Bangladesh Tuesday agreed on the need to open up each other's skies to airlines of the two countries as part of efforts to promote tourism. The understanding was reached at a meeting between visiting Bangladesh State Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism Mir Mohammad Nasiruddin and his Indian counterpart Praful Patel here yesterday afternoon. DAILY STAR | August 25,2004

India, Bangladesh agree on quiet border

DHAKA: Bangladesh and India have agreed to take effective measures to defuse border tension and stop all kinds of cross-border crimes. The consensus came from a four-day annual border conference between Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) and Border Security Force (BSF) that ended at BDR sector headquarters in Comilla yesterday. DAILY STAR August 06,2004

*Bhutan

Towards child abuse free society

THIMPHU: “Abused children grow up into difficult teenagers and young adults. Why spend huge resources in youth rehabilitation and recovery later, when we can take preventive measures now at lesser cost?” Towards this, the Youth Development Fund is organizing a workshop to sensitize the public and develop appropriate strategies to protect children from abuse and violence. BBS | August 21,2004

Colorful greetings for a man of peace

THIMPHU: Cordoned off in a second-floor enclave of the Museum of Art in Fort Lauderdale, a saffron-robed figure stretches 40 feet across the floor, his eyes gazing serenely at the ceiling, his right hand raised in the sign of protection, his left palm open in a gesture of generosity. The giant acrylic painting of Shakyamuni Buddha, scheduled to be completed by Bhutanese artist Lama Pema Tenzin in the next week, will hang on a stage behind the Dalai Lama when the renowned Tibetan leader visits the University of Miami Sept. 20-21. MIAMI | August 09,2004

*India

Supreme Court tells Gujarat to reopen riot cases http://in.rediff.com/news/2004/aug/17godhra.htm

Don't offer prayers on roads: Islamic center

Nadwatul-Darul-Uloom, a premier Islamic centre in India, has issued an edict advising the Muslim community not to obstruct traffic or cause inconvenience to public, while offering prayers. In a fatwa (edict and not diktat) issued by the the DarulIfta (Department of Issuing Rulings - Fatwa) on a query sought by a member from the community itself, it has been said that "If place to offer the Namaz-e-Janaza is available elsewhere in the vicinity, prayer should be offered at that place." "In case of dire need and when there is no other way out, the namaaz may be offered on the road, but to cause inconvenience by blocking the thorough fare is anyhow a wrongful act," it added

In yet another ruling the premier institute has also advised the community to check excess use of loudspeakers as non Muslims and sick persons should be given due consideration. If required its use should be done for a brief period only', says the fatwa. Hindustan Times Aug 6, 2004

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_932932,000900010004.htm

Cabinet decides to repeal POTA http://www.rediff.com/news/2004/aug/10pota.htm

*Kashmir

Kashmir concert for justice

Srinagar, India: For the first time ever in Kashmir, Indian and Pakistani artists sang and danced together today, in a rare show of unity at a theatre tightly guarded by troops.

Internationally acclaimed Indian choreographer Mallika Sarabhai opened the concert by dancing to the tunes of Pakistani composer Samia Malik. Sarabhai said the concert, entitled "Colour of the Heart", was aimed at highlighting human rights and women's issues.

Samia Malik, a London-based singer of Pakistani origin, she is thrilled to be in Indian-administered Kashmir. "I am aware that there are so many tensions, so many problems here. Yet, I feel honoured to have been invited here," she said. August 13, 2004

*Nepal

Govt working for talks with Maoists

Speaking to editors and publishers of daily newspapers in his office here, Minister of Information and Communication Dr Mohammed Mohsin said he was in favour of result-oriented talks and claimed that the government was committed to the peace talks. He also conceded that the government had taken the withdrawal of the blockade of the capital as possible indication that Maoists were settling down for talks. THE HIMALAYAN TIMES | August 28,2004

UN offers to mediate in peace talks

KATHAMNDU: Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations and Deputy Executive Director, UNICEF, Kul Chandra Gautam today said Nepal should not hesitate to call upon her international friends and well-wishers for advice and support if the Nepalis are not able to resolve the conflict by themselves for whatever reasons. THE HIMALAYAN TIMES August 21,2004

PM's assurance to protect minorities' rights

Addressing the final day ceremony of the International Decade of Indigenous Nationalities here, the Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba said, "Uplifting the indigenous communities and nationalities is the duty of the government and the government is committed to offer every help for the development of the indigenous nationalities." THE HIMALAYAN TIMES | August 10,2004

*Nepal-India

Nepal-India traffic pact finalized

NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday okayed signing of an agreement to institutionalise vehicular (passenger) traffic arrangements between India and Nepal. Bus operators from Bihar, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal and Delhi will be roped in for bilaterals with their Nepalese counterparts. HINDUSTAN TIMES August 26,2004

India to help solve Maoists issue: Nepal

KATHMANDU: Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh has assured co-operation in resolving the Maoist problem, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba said. The two premiers met on the sidelines of the BIMST-EC meet in Bangkok recently. HIMALAYAN TIMES August 05,2004

*Pakistan

Shujaat urges tolerance for democracy

ISLAMABAD: In his first but also his parting address to the nation as the 19th prime minister of Pakistan, Prime Minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain on Tuesday urged the nation to learn tolerance and coexistence in the spirit of “live and let live”, because social injustice was threatening society and humanity. DAILY TIMES | August 25,2004

*Pakistan-India

Pakistan honouring ceasefire: Rangers

OCTROI POST SUCHIT-GARH: Talking to reporters after meeting the BSF Deputy Inspector General (Jammu frontier) P K Misra, sector commander of the Sialkot-based Chenab Rangers, Colonel Rab Nawaz has said that they would continue to uphold the ceasefire at the border. This was the first-ever sector commander level meeting between India and Pakistan. Indian Border Security Force (BSF) officers asked Pakistan to investigate militant attacks on the BSF Patrol Gypsy at Mangu Chak on August 16 and the construction of a ditch by Pakistan, twenty metres inside Indian territory opposite Pindi border out post in RS Pura Sector. DAILY TIMES | August 28,2004

Indian peace delegation arrives

LAHORE: Led by Dr Nirmala Deshpande, a member of the Rajya Sabha and chairman of the People for Asia organisation, and Gandhi Ashram, a 22-member inter-faith delegation of peace activists, ex-army officers, educationists, parliamentarians, social activists and intellectuals from India arrived in Lahore via Wagah on Thursday.

The delegation will leave Lahore today to attend the Urs of Bulleh Shah and the Solhe-Kul Bulleh Shah International Conference in Kasur. The Indian delegates will also take part in a seminar on peace at the Kasur District Hall, a meeting of the Peace Friendship Forum at the HRCP Auditorium in Lahore, the Bulleh Shah Dehar at the Lahore Bagh-e-Jinnah and a number of other activities. The delegation is expected to leave for India on August 29. DAILY TIMES | August 27,2004

Talks with India to go on: Aziz

'We want to find a solution to the Kashmir dispute that reflects the aspirations of the Kashmiri people,' he said. http://in.rediff.com/news/2004/aug/27pak1.htm

Indians for direct trade links with Pakistan

KARACHI: Members of the Indian textile delegation during their meeting with members of the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Sindh-Balochistan zone) held here on Wednesday expressed an urgent need to open up India-Pakistan border for trade between both the countries which are presently trading through a third country. Both the countries are paying higher freight. Also they recommended relaxation of the visa rules so that the business communities of both the countries start interacting and have close collaboration with each other, for the benefit of both nations. DAWN | August 26,2004

New Pakistani PM to visit India

NEW DELHI: Shaukat Aziz, who is set to takeover as Pakistan's prime minister next week, is expected to visit India late October or early November to invite Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and leaders of the other countries for the summit meeting of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation in Dhaka in January 2005. The HINDU August 20,2004

Pakistani banks may open in India

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is likely to allow national commercial banks to open branches in India to enhance trade and economic cooperation between the two countries. DAILY TIMES | August 17,2004

.

Pakistan sends back two Indian boys

Pakistan sends back Alamdin (14) and Shakeel Ahmed (12), who had inadvertently crossed over from Jammu and Kashmir border in March this year. http://in.rediff.com/news/2004/aug/17pak.htm

Indo-Pak trade talks end on positive note

As part of the composite dialogue process between Pakistan and India, the discussions were held on economic and commercial cooperation in Islamabad on 11-12 August. India offered to supply diesel to Pakistan, exchange experience acquired in compressed natural gas technology and urged Pakistan to allow Indian companies to explore for oil in offshore and onshore ventures there, Indian sources said. THE NEWS August 13,2004

Pakistan to release 41 Indian prisoners

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan, as a goodwill gesture, has decided to release 41 Indian prisoners languishing in its jails as their identity has been confirmed. It further pledged to free 406 more prisoners, most of them fishermen, once their national status is known. THE NEWS | August 12,2004

India, Pakistan swap Kargil prisoners today

AMRITSAR: India and Pakistan on Monday will exchange three soldiers captured during a conflict in Kargil five years ago, a military official said. “The Indian army will hand over Pakistani soldier Salim Ali Shah and similarly Pakistan will repatriate two Indian army soldiers, Jagsir Singh and Mohammed Arif,” Indian army spokesman Naresh Vij said here on Sunday. DAILY TIMES | August 09,2004

Punjab (Pakistan) CM hails public contacts with India

LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister, Ch Pervaiz Elahi has said that direct contact between Pakistan and India at public and cultural level is playing a significant role in the improvement of bilateral relations between Pakistan and India. He said in order to promote Punjabi language and culture, a separate institution has been set up in the province, which would also help improve cultural ties between the two countries.
He was talking to a delegation led by prominent Indian film actor and member Indian Parliament, Raj Babbar here on Sunday. THE NATION August 09,2004

India seeks direct Mumbai-Karachi trade link

ISLAMABAD: India would seek direct shipping link between Mumbai and Karachi besides trans-shipment facilities during the forthcoming two-day trade talks with Pakistan scheduled to be held in Islamabad from August 11, a senior government official said. Currently, both the countries use a third port, normally Dubai, for shipment of goods. DAILY TIMES | August 08,2004

India, Pakistan agree to keep talking

India and Pakistan ended three days of talks over their frontier on Saturday, making no breakthroughs but saying they would keep talking as they try to build on a fragile peace process. Thursday and Friday, army and defense ministry officials spent two days chewing over a 20-year-old conflict over the remote Siachen glacier in northern Kashmir (news - web sites), where more soldiers die of altitude sickness and frostbite than from conflict. Friday and Saturday, it was the turn of cartographers and naval officers to wrestle with an even older boundary dispute over the Sir Creek estuary, in salty marshland to the south. REUTERS |

India, Pakistan discuss Sir Creek

The Indian delegation to the talks was led by Surveyor General of India Prithvish Nag and the Pakistan side was headed by Rear Admiral Ahsan-ul-Haq Chaudhry. http://in.rediff.com/news/2004/aug/07pak.htm

Chances of Indo-Pak war remote: Shujaat

ISLAMABAD: The chances of a war between India and Pakistan "are less than one per cent now", Pakistan Prime Minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain has said. In an interview with India Today magazine, Shujaat said he was very "hopeful" about the peace process between India and Pakistan and gave "full credit" to India for holding a dialogue on the dragging Kashmir issue. HINDUSTAN TIMES August 07,2004

Manmohan birthplace made a 'model village'

ISLAMABAD: In a gesture to strengthen the ongoing Indo-Pak peace process, Pakistan Thursday declared Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's birthplace Gah in Punjab as a "model village" and also decided to name the school where he studied after him. THE HINDU August 06,2004

Pakistan, India to ease tours, free prisoners

NEW DELHI: India and Pakistan Wednesday agreed on working out mechanisms to address issues related to the release of civilian prisoners and fishermen in each other’s custody. They also exchanged views on easing the visa regime and facilitating travel of more pilgrims to shrines on both sides. INDIAN EXPRESS August 05,2004

India, Pakistan discuss Siachen http://www.rediff.com/news/2004/aug/05siachen.htm

Talks on Siachen on Thursday

The CCS, headed by Manmohan Singh, on Wednesday met to chalk out New Delhi's strategy.
http://in.rediff.com/news/2004/aug/04inpak1.htm

India, Pakistan to address problems of fishermen

They also discussed the need for liberalising the visa regime and facilitating travel to more pilgrims.
http://in.rediff.com/news/2004/aug/04inpak.htm

*South Asia

SAFMA moot stresses regional cooperation

DHAKA: A 3-day conference of South Asian Free Media Association began in the city with a call for furthering the cause of regional cooperation and a demand for free movement of journalists in the region. THE NEW NATION | August 21,2004

Saarc foreign ministers to meet in January

ISLAMABAD: The foreign ministers from the seven member countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) will hold a two-day meeting on January 7 and January 8 next year in Dhaka (Bangladesh) to review the implementation of the decisions taken during the last SAARC summit and meeting of the foreign ministers, both held in Islamabad in January and July 2004 respectively. DAILY TIMES | August 7, 2004

*Sri Lanka

US sniffer-dogs to do demining in Jaffna

The Sri Lanka Army has formulated a comprehensive plan to identify areas where mines are buried and to remove them in a systematic way. The SLA has made arrangement to bring six sniffer-dogs from USA to start the first phase of the de-mining programme. TAMIL NET | August 09,2004

Tigers return child soldiers to parents

BATTICALOA: The Liberation Tigers in Batticaloa Thursday handed over to parents fifteen underage youth who had come to join them. TAMIL NET | August 06,2004

*Sri Lanka- India

India supports Sri Lankan irrigation plan

The Indo-Sri Lanka Foundation through the intervention of the Indian High Commission on Wednesday granted a sum of Rs. 525,000 to the Agriculture Ministry for the Dahasak Maha Wev project which has targeted to renovate 1000 tanks by the end of 2004, an Agriculture Ministry spokesman told the Daily News yesterday. DAILY NEWS | August 27,2004

India, Lanka hold trade talks

Indian Commerce Ministry delegation led by Special Secretary S.N. Menon told Trade, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle that the Indian Government is fully aware of the problems that Sri Lanka will have to face with the expiry of MFA and added that actions being taken to organise a workshop in India soon exclusively for India and Sri Lanka with the objective of identifying areas of co-operation and the possibility of integrating the textile sectors of both countries. DAILY NEWS | August 25,2004

India offers Sri Lanka free oil exploration

COLOMBO: The Sri Lankan Prime Minister, Mahinda Rajapakse, has said that India has offered to undertake, free of cost, the exploration of oil and natural gas off the North Western coast of his island country. HINDUSTAN TIMES | August 08,2004

PEACE & HARMONY ORGANIZATIONS

(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 ACHA Peace Bulletin)

*Association for Communal Harmony in Asia (ACHA)

On August 7, 2004, about 150 gathered, mostly expatriate Indian and Pakistanis, gathered for ACHA’s first annual “India-Pakistan Peace Day” celebration, at Portland State University, Portland, Oregon, USA. Besides speakers on the topic of peace, there were prayers by Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and Christian clerics for peace, and for the victims of the 1947 Partition-related violence, on both sides of the India-Pakistan border. The program also included patriotic songs and national anthems of India and Pakistan, poetry reading, snacks, and bhangra dancing. Sixty-four individuals signed ACHA’s petition to the governments of India and Pakistan to build a suitable memorial for the victims of the 1947 violence. The petioton can be signed online at www.indiapakistan.org

*Citizen Peace Committee (CPC), & Pak-India Peoples Forum for Peace & Democracy (PIPFPD)

On August 06, CPC & PIPFPD organized anti-war painting display by children/ seminar and peace rally on Aug 6 at Holiday Inn, Islamabad. (Kishwar Naheed- 2275157, Francisco-0300-9562063, OFF: 2299494)

*Bombay Sarvodaya Mandal (BSM),Gandhi Smarak Nidhi (GSN)

BSM & GSN, along with about 50 colleges of NSS Units of Mumbai and SNDT University, NGOs, journalists and the peace activists organized an anti-nuclear Peace March from Azad Maidan to Hutatma Chowk, to commemorate Hiroshima day, and “to show solidarity with the people of the world and join in the prayers for peace and a Nuclear Free World and to create Social Awareness among students about the holocaust of nuclear armaments.”

More than 1500 people gathered participated. Most of the participants were National Social Service scheme students from 50 colleges across the city.

One of the Japanese participants, Momo Sugaya, studies Global Citizenship. She and 19 other Japanese students are in India on a 14-day field trip. “Communication is the best way to strike a balance,” she says. Ligidla, a FYBcom student of SIES College, adds: “Science should be made to help people, not destroy them.”

Hoards of placards also pointed to the sky, with messages that included: ‘We want to grow up, not to blow up’ and ‘We want bread, not Bomb’.

In about an hour and a half, the streets were back to normal. Traffic was flowing once more. But the message remains: There should never be another Hiroshima. (Jatin Desai" desaijatin@yahoo.co.uk)

*South Asian Progressive Action Collective (SAPAC) & South Asians Gathered for Action and Reflection (SAGAR)

On August 15,at Chicago, IL, SAPAC and SAGAR-led other like-minded groups entered the “Building Bridges of Understanding” float as a part of the India Independence Day Parade “to emphasize the need for greater harmony and peace among India's various ethnic, religious and linguistic groups, the float was sponsored by South Asians Gathered for Action and Reflection (SAGAR), and other like-minded groups-led by South Asian Progressive Action Collective (SAPAC). Also SAPAC, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) and the Indo-American Center volunteers conducted a voter registration drive at the Independence Day Parade of India on August 15, and of Pakistan the previous weekend. (Lakshmi Rengarajan, and Asim Mishra)

*Pakistan-India Independence Day Celebration at Indo-Pak Border

On August 14, six Pakistani lawmakers joined, August 14, Sitaram Yechury (Communist Party of India-Marxist), and former Indian Member of Parliament Kuldip Nayar, and thousands of singing and dancing Indians at the India-Pakistan Border Crossing of Wagah, to celebrate jointly their Independence Days. (From an Associated Press report)

*South Asians march for peace in Washington, D.C.

On August 14, Pakistanis and Indians living in the greater Washington area held a peace march this weekend to celebrate their 57th Independence Day. They welcomed recent moves by the two governments to resolve their differences through talks. Speakers said the regions that were economically behind South Asia in 1947, when India and Pakistan became independent, had moved ahead while wars and conflicts slowed progress in South Asia.” (UPI) http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20040815-023004-1653r.htm

FEATURE

*Jamaat men to help Hindu pilgrims at Puskarams

http://www.deccan.com/Region/RegionNews.asp?#Jamaat

VIJAYAWADA, Aug. 10: A total of 600 Jamaat-E-Islami-Hind volunteers drawn from various parts of the South Coastal Andhra region would extend their services to the pilgrims at the Krishna Pushkaram-2004, scheduled between August 28 and September 8.

This is the third Pushkaram in a row that the organisation is extending its voluntary services such as supply of drinking water, first aid centres, child rescue and information centres.

The Jamaat is going to spend nearly Rs 1.10 lakh, collected from the local Muslim communities for the Pushkarams. It is gearing up to establish primary first aid centres at the city Railway station and Pundit Nehru Bus Station while a similar number of child rescue centres at all bathing ghats along the river Krishna.

Besides, the Jamaat would deploy its volunteers at all bathing ghats to keep an eye on the children, who accidentally get deviated from their parents. The child rescue teams would prepare a report of the isolated children and hand over the child to the respective police station.

*Hindus in village had no temple, so Muslims built one, Muzamil Jaleel

 (From Kashmir Global Network Digest No. 1522, August 8, 2004)

Ichhigam, Budgam, July 9: Deep in the Kashmir Valley and hundreds of miles from Ayodhya, little Ichhigam’s beeping a big message: you don’t need the mandir-masjid players to keep your faith intact. People do it on their own, and very well at that. 

Check with 60-year-old Brij Nath Bhat and 70-year-old Rupawati. They will tell you how they rang the bells today at the newly-constructed Sharika Bhagwati temple in this village, 30 km from Srinagar. 

From the nearby mosque, they could hear the azaan. It were as if the Muslims had joined them in their prayers. Because it was they who had constructed the temple, even donated money and parted with land and trees. 

Nine hundred Muslim families built this shrine for just eight Hindu families living in this village. And they did this just metres away from their own mosque, Khwaja Sabhun Aastan, on the banks of a stream that flows out of a sacred spring. 

Village elder Haji Hakeem Ghulam Mohammad, who heads the local wakf, was the moving spirit behind this. ‘‘They wanted to construct a temple. They told us about it and we were more than willing to help our neighbours,’’ he says. ‘‘We have lived together for generations here and there was never any
distance. Even the turmoil did not harm this bond.’’ 

The Hindus of the village had gathered in the temple compound. ‘‘Today was our first day of prayers at this temple. It has been possible only because of our Muslim neighbours. For us, everything has always been normal,’’ says Bhat, who spearheaded the construction work. 

‘‘They have always been helpful. When things went wrong and scores of Kashmiri Pandits left, the Muslims encouraged us to stay back. They stopped us, helped us when we felt scared, took care of our agricultural lands and orchards. They have always been there for us.’’ 

‘‘We had no temple here and when we decided to construct it, our neighbours even donated money. We are not affulent and their help through kadmay, sukhnay, dirmay (word and deed) came as a blessing,’’ says Bhat. 

A young man, Khursheed Ahmad Darzi, who runs a grocery just opposite the temple, underlines the message: ‘‘They are our neighbours and that is it. They might have a different name or religion but it has never mattered. See, that young boy in a red T-shirt is Aashu. He is a Hindu, but how is he different
from the other boys?’’ 

Abdul Gani Sheikh, another young man, believes politics is the source of all Hindu-Muslim strife. ‘‘I am sure common people are all alike. They want to live as we do here. But politicians foment trouble by dividing them on the basis of religion,’’ he says. 

‘‘Kashmir has witnessed it. So many Pandits migrated. But trust me, common people have nothing to do with it. It is all politics, all a well-planned conspiracy.

BOOKS & JOURNALS

*Between past and future: Selected essays on South Asia, Eqbal Ahmad, Ed Dohra Ahmad, Iftikhar Ahmad and Zia Mian, Oxford University Press, Rs 695.00 (Review “Back to Pakistan” by Ishtiaq Ahmed, The Friday Times, August 13 - 19, 2004 - Vol. XVI, No. 25)

In this collection of essays Pakistan’s best known anti-imperialist turned his gaze from Kissinger to home

The late Eqbal Ahmad (d May 11, 1999) was the most internationally well-known anti-imperialist Pakistani, yet he remains little known within this country. He lived most of his adult life in the United States, where he retired in 1997, as a professor of international relations at Hampshire College, Massachusetts. He considered it his bounden duty always to stand by the oppressed and to protest injustice wherever it occurred on the globe. Such a commitment made him come out vociferously against the Vietnam War. As a consequence, he earned the ire of the US establishment which indicted him along with the Berrigan brothers, a pair of pacifist Catholic priests, on trumped up charges of a conspiracy to kidnap Henry Kissinger and blow up the heating system of the Pentagon. The case was ultimately dismissed by the US judiciary.

Eqbal was influenced by Marxism and radical Third World theories, but he never succumbed to dogma. Instead, he viewed such theories through his healthy and firm commitment to dearly held notions of democracy, human rights and freedom of speech and religion. Eqbal’s activism is well documented: during the Vietnam War, and his part in the Algerian war of liberation, and indeed his hand in the Kashmir struggle of 1948. But having a common cause was not enough to win his approval. Thus he did not hesitate to criticise leaders such as Fidel Castro and Yasser Arafat when he thought they were acting against the best interests of their people. Among his close friends were Noam Chomsky and the late Edward Said.

Such a disposition cut him out as that rarest of beings, a true internationalist and a humanist. He wrote extensively on the issues that concerned him, mostly in the form of short essays in which theoretical paraphernalia was kept to the minimum. This was presumably because he wanted to reach out to as wide an audience as possible, rather than pander to the vanity of his academic peers. His style of writing is thus simple and the prose easily accessible to the average reader who is interested in contemporary issues but does not hold a doctorate in political science.

In the foreword to this collection of Ahmad’s essays on South Asia, Between past and future, the Pakistani physicist Pervez Hoodbhoy most aptly describes him as a public intellectual. This collection brings together some of his essays, chosen by Dohra Ahmad, Iftikhar Ahmad and Zia Mian. It contains 44 articles subsumed under four parts: the postcolonial state, the shape of Pakistan, a sense of place, and the war at home.

In the first part, on the postcolonial state, Eqbal Ahmed’s understanding of the crisis endemic to the Third World is elaborated in theoretical terms. The bottom line is that the Western colonial intervention was a vitiating experience. It disrupted the natural rhythm of Third World societies, and therefore the ‘oriental despotism’ that came to dominate these societies was essentially a product of imperialism and modernisation. In this regard he emphasises the need to examine the pre-capitalist society of a place in order to understand its present, and thence to chart the way forward into the future. But he does not make the mistake of romanticising pre-colonial society. Romantic revolutionaries wish to restore their countries to a pre-capitalist society, but contemporary revolutionaries want to experiment with alternative development based on ideas of equality and progress. But the means of doing this are problematic and poorly developed, and many of the empirically-oriented essays in this volume are illustrative of the tensions in the crises that plague Third World societies in general, Islamic ones in particular, and Pakistan specifically.

Part two, focussed on Pakistan, brings out Eqbal Ahmad’s commitment to Pakistani nationalism. In it he pays tribute to Jinnah as the leader whom the Muslims of the subcontinent chose to lead them towards a modern and progressive state, in opposition to the ulema who represented an archaic idea of Islam and social order. But his nationalist stand does not make him a West Pakistani chauvinist, and he reserves the strongest condemnation for Pakistani military action in Bangladesh, while expressing his natural concern for the Biharis with whom he shared a common ethnic origin. As a champion of nuclear disarmament, he condemns the Indian nuclear explosions as well as those carried out by Pakistan in May 1998.

In the third part Eqbal Ahmad’s focus is mainly on India and Kashmir. He argues that India, Pakistan and genuine representatives of the Kashmiris should reach a negotiated settlement. He correctly understands the disastrous consequences of the Taliban takeover in neighbouring Afghanistan.

Part four includes articles devoted to various conflicts and also questions about the politicisation of Islam, the rights of citizens and the role of intellectuals in society. This section I found to be particularly interesting. Through a number of articles he examines the decline and decay prevailing in Pakistan’s main industrial city of Karachi. An utterly incompetent ruling oligarchy of the military and civil bureaucracy has miserably failed to provide a proper climate for investment and development because infrastructure and institutional support are in bad shape. What are lacking are proper leadership and a centralised structure of activities. He next looks at the emergence of the MQM, calling it a case of a failed urban movement of protest (this, we now know, is not true – although in recent times the MQM has been primarily asserting its power and influence through the formal parliamentary system).

Several articles deal with the menace of minority persecution, the harassment of women, and the rise of political Islam and its pernicious role in Pakistani politics. He condemns the use of violence in Pakistani culture, making interesting connections with the feudal heritage. Drawing upon his knowledge of world history, Eqbal argues that Islamic societies were not always dominated by literalist versions of the sacred scriptures although the ulema represented a conservative view of Islam. There have been different types of dispensations ruling the Muslim world ranging from tribal chiefs to modern republics but certain legal codes and normative features have obtained in all Islamic societies However, the present type of crisis has not existed in the past. The Islamic movement of the masses seems to look back but its aim is to capture the future. Can it be harnessed for a progressive break with the past? He seems to pose this question but does not venture an answer. Elsewhere he comes out clearly in favour of respect for human rights and substantive democracy.

It is a pity that the book has been published posthumously. There are many points raised by him which require clarification and some can be challenged, especially his way of understanding oriental despotism. Perhaps the answers should be sought by continuing to engage ourselves in the burning issues of our own times on behalf of the oppressed and exploited. That would be the best way to pay respect to his legacy of an intellectual-scholar-activist.

CONFERENCES

*January 27-30, 2005, New Delhi, India: SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDY OF RELIGION CONFERENCE. More info and registration at www.sseasr.org and www.icvsolutions.com/iahr

PEACE EDUCATION

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 PEACE PETITIONS

Please Join Dalai Lama, Oscar Arias, 6 Nobels, and over 80 NGOs/Parliamentarians in appeal to take nuclear weapons off alert. TO SIGN PLEASE email nonukes@foesyd.org.au with your name, organisation, title, and location. More info from

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