ACHA PEACE BULLETIN
http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/ACHAPeaceBulletin
A
publication of Association for Communal Harmony in Asia (ACHA)
www.asiapeace.org & www.indiapakistanpeace.org
Editor: Pritam K.
Rohila, PhD asiapeace@comcast.net
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Volume
XIII, No. 9: September 15, 2009, Next
Issue November 15, 2009
On account of the Editor’s
vacation, there will not be any October issue
_____________________________
CONTENTS
EDITORIAL
*From Partition to Partnership, Pritam K. Rohila, Ph.D.
ARTICLE OF THE MONTH
*The
wisdom of dharma, M.J. Akbar, September 5, 2009
BOOKS
*Making Sense of Pakistan, Farzana Shaikh, Columbia / Hurst
*Recovering
the Frontier State: War, Ethnicity, and State in Afghanistan;
R Bakhsh Rais
EVENTS
*September 27-October 1,
Chandigarh, Punjab, India: STUDENTS PEACE FEST
*October 2, New Zealand to
Argentina: WORLD MARCH
*October
2-8, Pune, Maharashtra, India: 4th INDO-PAK STUDENTS PEACE CAMP
*October 16-18, Islamabad, Pakistan: NATIONAL INTEGRATION YOUTH CAMP 09 *October 21-22, Delhi, India: VISA-FREE & PEACEFUL SOUTH ASIA CONVENTIO
*December 3-9, 2009, Melbourne, Australia: World’s Religions
*February 7-17, 2010, Kathmandu,
Nepal: PEACEBUILDING TRAINING AND EDUC
EVENT REPORTS
*Campaign against communal and fascist forces in U.P., Varanasi, July 28-30, 2009
*Trinational Conference of Bangladesh Bharat and Pakistan People’s Forum, Kolkata
*Independence Day Bi-lingual Poetry Recitation, Rockville, MD, USA, August 16, 2009
JOBS, INTERNSHIPS
& VOLUNTEER PROGRAMS (FOR THE COMMON GOOD)
MEMBERS’ CORNER
*Sarabjit's counsel to submit mercy
plea signed by 100,000, The Pioneer, Aug
28, 2009
PEACE & HARMONY NEWS FROM
INDIA & PAKISTAN
PEACE & HARMONY NEWS FROM
SOUTH ASIA
UPDATE: KASHMIR
UPDATE: NEPAL
UPDATE: PAKISTAN
UPDATE: SRILANKA
*Government
overreaction harms national interest, Jehan Perera, NPC, Sept 7,
2009
EDITORIAL
*From Partition to Partnership, Pritam K. Rohila, Ph.D.
The Partition of 1947, which led to the birth of Pakistan and independence of India, was accompanied by very harrowing experiences for millions of people. On both sides of the new borders, there was one of the world’s most horrible genocides, dislocation of millions of peoples, separation of hundreds-of-thousands of families, and emotional scars to numerous individuals.
In the last 62 years, much has been written about events leading up to the Partition and the role played by the various personalities. But rarely have these accounts been entirely objective.
Regardless of who- did-what-to-whom, no one can deny certain facts.
First the Partition happened, and Pakistan is a reality.
Second, India and Pakistan share the same landmass, and neither can move to another part of the world.
Third, neither of the two is capable of conquering and occupying the other. Attempts to slowly bleed the other to death by inciting insurgencies and terrorism against it, or by causing it overburden itself with military expenditure have not been, and will likely never be very successful.
Fourth, the short-sighted policies of politicians on both sides of the border have resulted in siphoning, by the two military establishments, of national resources away from development and human welfare.
Therefore, it is time that the politicians of India and Pakistan work for peaceful coexistence.
With many more similarities than differences, India and Pakistan have great potential to improve the lot of their citizens as well as to play an important role in world affairs.
Let us then impress upon our politicians to quit the short-sighted, suicidal policies, which they have engaged since the Partition. Instead they should launch collaborative partnership between the two nations.
ARTICLE OF THE MONTH
*The wisdom of dharma, M.J. Akbar,
September 5, 2009
http://www.mjakbar.org/mjblog.htm
Wisdom has a great advantage over
philosophy. It is simple. Philosophy is so often tortured by the human mind
that its meditations become a maze. We become so enraptured by the complexities
of the maze, so fascinated by its labyrinths that we forget that we once had a
destination. Wisdom is a straight line: it is the shortest distance between
question and answer.
Such thoughts were prompted by an
email from a friend at the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore, who
sent a verse from the Mahabharata:
“Dharmam yo badhate dharmo na sa
dharmah kudharmkah;
avirodhattu yo dharmah, sa dharmah
Satyavikrama.
Any dharma [way of life, or
religion], that violates another’s dharma is not true dharma. It is kudharma,
or bad dharma. That dharma which flourishes without harming the interest of
others is indeed the true dharma, O Satyavikrama!”
Why has this fundamental principle
of Mahabharata, an essential text of Hinduism, been ignored by those
organisations who seek a political philosophy for the nation in the name of
Hinduism? It is possible that politicians are so busy doing their politics that
they remain ignorant of the faith that they so readily profess. But that would
be a kind interpretation. Most politicians ignore morality because cynicism has
made them amoral.
As the swirl continues over
ideological and personality clashes among the titans who were born in a
colonised India divided into some six hundred pieces, and won freedom with just
one division, new questions are emerging from previously silent corners of
memory. Incidentally, it is important for our perspective to remember that India
was not a single political entity under the British, and even the creation of a
federal polity after the Government of India Act of 1935, by which the Princely
States sent representatives (nominated rather than elected) to the same
legislature in Delhi as British India, did not make them part of a single
political unit.
An old query has crept out of the
historic woodwork. Mahatma Gandhi framed his concept of freedom around the
dream of a Rama Rajya. How could he expect Muslims, who did not believe in Lord
Rama, to relate to a Rama Rajya? Was Gandhi communal as well?
It may seem anachronistic now but
Gandhi was convinced that politics without religion was immoral. He believed
that faith provided the moral compass essential for a lifetime’s journey
through public service. Gandhi demanded the highest virtues from his disciples,
extending not only to non-violence and financial honesty but also celibacy.
There were not many takers for the last; and you might have reason to ask
whether he had not confused an ashram with a freedom movement. But
Gandhi’s commitment to religion did not mean commitment to a single religion.
In his Rama Rajya, every faith had full freedom and complete equality. His
prayer meetings were not just about his beloved Gita; there was space for the
Holy Quran, the Bible and the Guru Granth Saheb as well. He could never
understand why anyone should misunderstand this; and it pained him when
opponents misrepresented him, sneered at his gentle idealism and challenged his
pacifism with the undisguised threat of violence. Lord Rama was an ideal, an
image that communicated easily with the majority of India. But there was no
aggression in his concept of divinity, and there was always equal space for the
other. The Mahabharata was his favourite text, from which he learnt the
true meaning of dharma. Gandhi’s Rama Rajya was a realm of harmony, not a
continual battlefield.
The post-Gandhi Congress abandoned
“Rama Rajya” for at least three reasons: the term had become a negative with
Muslims; Nehru was uncomfortable with a religious idiom; and you needed to be
as morally secure as Gandhi to promise a “Rama Rajya”. But why did the RSS and
the BJP, who wanted a “Hindu India”, shy away from Gandhi’s formulation?
Because their ideal was different from Gandhi’s. Paradoxically, the “Hindutva”
forces had modelled themselves on Pakistan: they wanted to treat Indian Muslims
and Christians in precisely the same way that Pakistan was treating its Hindus
and Christians, as second-class citizens.
Whether such politics gets you votes
or not is beside the point. The relevant factor is that such thinking is
antagonistic to the idea of India as a modern democracy. Discrimination on the
basis of faith is what happens in a theocracy, not a democracy. You have to be
extremely stupid to imitate any neighbour with suicidal tendencies.
What Gandhi understood in 1919, when
he launched his first major political onslaught against the British Empire, is
as valid nine decades later. India can flourish only in a spirit of conflict
resolution, and not through conflict escalation, or conflict perpetuation. The
young are far more clear-sighted about this than the middle aged or the old,
for the young have learnt from the mistakes of their fathers.
A simulated debate has been whisked
up about the takeover of the BJP by the RSS: the two were never apart. The
issue is not whether BJP will shift gear towards a philosophy of conciliation,
but whether the RSS will do so. They could not hope for a better starting
point: the Mahabharata.
M.J. Akbar is
Chairman and Director of Publications of the fortnightly newsmagazine Covert (www.covertmagazine.com)
BOOKS
*Making Sense of Pakistan, Farzana Shaikh, Columbia / Hurst, 288
pages, 9 x 6 inches, Cloth $24.95, ISBN: 978 023114962-4
Reviewed by Andrew Buncombe, Independent, 21 June 2009
Phrases such as "failed state"
and "country on the brink" have been bandied around about Pakistan
for so long that many people might hazard a guess about the causes of the
country's woes: a history of military rule; corrupt and inefficient
politicians; a failure to confront extremists; or the thrall of the US. All are
undoubtedly factors in the current woes of Pakistan, a country of huge
potential, which seems held back by the perpetual problems of political
instability and, more recently, militant violence.
But Farzana Shaikh has a more radical
analysis of the origins of Pakistan's problems. The Chatham House fellow (and
occasional contributor to this newspaper) argues that the troubles of the
country stem from its very inception; from an uncertainty about what Pakistan,
as a nation, should represent, and what it means to be a Pakistani. She argues
that the ambiguous but generous role afforded to Islam by the country's founders
set policy priorities for the newly created nation that have perilously
restricted its progress ever since…
Interview with the author at
http://www.rorotoko.com/index.php/article/farzana_shaikh_book_interview_making_sense_pakistan/P0/
*Recovering
the Frontier State: War, Ethnicity, and State in Afghanistan;
Rasul Bakhsh Rais;
OUP, 2008; Pp236; Price Rs 695
Review, “Lure of
‘power vacuum’ in Afghanistan,” by Khaled
Ahmed, Daily Times, Aug 23, 09
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009%5C08%5C23%5Cstory_23-8-2009_pg3_5
When the ISI
could not persuade, it became persuaded. To this day retired officers are
backing the groups abandoned by Pakistan in sheer desperation
Rasul Bakhsh Rais is professor of political science in the Department of Social
Sciences, Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), and has a PhD in
political science from the University of California-Santa Barbara. He has
produced a balanced account of developments in Pakistan’s neighbourhood that
will determine the future of Pakistan. Pegged somewhere in the middle of the
opposed external and internal narratives of Pakistan, he already seems to
emerge as an opponent of the extremist reaction on both sides of the divide…
EVENTS
*September
27-October 1, Chandigarh, Punjab, India: 4th INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS PEACE FESTIVAL. To
promote peace, equality and living in harmony with nature, the Festival (including a Peace Parade, Carnival games,
Make and take crafts, Multi-cultural performances, Peace Talks & Peace
Stalls, Magic Shows & Face Painting, Film Shows & Music to UNITE,
Nature trails & discussions of Environmental issues, Clowning & Fancy
Dress Cat-walk, One Sky One World kite fly) will be organized by Yuv Satta, in
association with COVA, and other organizations. Student community across the
world is invited to participate.
The
last date for registration is 30th July 2009. To register mail to yuvsatta@gmail.com your brief profile with age, gender and a comment on why you want to
participate
All
logistics support in Chandigarh http://chandigarh.nic.in/ (including boarding, lodging, food, refreshments,
sight-seeing, travel) will be provided by the organizers. The participants have to arrange for their
travel to and from Chandiarg at their own expense.
More
information from Parmod Sharma, Coordinator, Yuvsatta, R. No. 12, 16, Karuna
Sadan, Sector 11, Chandigarh, India - 160 011, Cell: 91-9872609816 e-mail: yuvsatta@gmail.com, Website: www.yuvsatta.org
*October 2,
New Zealand to Argentina: WORLD
MARCH beginning in New Zealand on October 2, 2009, the anniversary of
Gandhi’s birth, declared the “International Day of Nonviolence” by the United
Nations, will conclude in the Andes
Mountains (Punta de Vacas, Aconcagua, Argentina) on January 2, 2010. This 90-day
March will pass through many countries having all climates and seasons, from
the hot summer of the tropics and the deserts, to the winter of Siberia. A
permanent base of a hundred people of different nationalities will complete the
journey.
*October 2-8, Pune,
Maharashtra, India: 4th INDO-PAK STUDENTS
PEACE CAMP, at JP
Naik Centre. To promote the spirit
of peace, non-violence, tolerance, forgiveness and brotherhood, CYDA, in
collaboration with CYDA-India, intends to organize for students and/or
youth of 17-25 years. A number of mixed group activities shall take place; no
lengthy and boring lectures would be made. Last date for registration is
July 30, 2009.
Detailed information will be
available on the CYDA website (www.cydapakistan.org). For more info send an email to info@cydapakistan.org and cydapakistan@gmail.com
*October
16-18, Islamabad, Pakistan: NATIONAL INTEGRATION YOUTH CAMP 2009. CYDA will
organize this 3-day residential seminar-cum-workshop to
promote peace and harmony between the youth of Pakistan irrespective of their
gender, religion, location or province.
Detailed information will be
available on the CYDA website (www.cydapakistan.org). For more info send an email to info@cydapakistan.org and cydapakistan@gmail.com
*October
21-22, Delhi, India: 3RD VISA-FREE & PEACEFUL SOUTH ASIA CONVENTION
You are encouraged to confirm your participation to Rajeshwar Ojha at rajeshwar.ojha@gmail.com (91 9654176271), by August 15,
2009. More information from him, and Irfan Ahmed (91 9971140647) Faisal Khan
(91 9313106745, 91 9968828230), Monica Wahi (91 9873332637), Ramneek Mohan (91
9729471398), Sandeep Pandey (91 522 2347365), Saeeda Diep (92 300-844-5072 ),
Karamat Ali (92-21-6351145- 46-47)
*December
3-9, 2009, Melbourne, Australia: The 2009 Parliament of the World’s Religions, will bring together the world’s religious and spiritual communities,
their leaders and their followers to a gathering where peace, diversity and
sustainability are discussed and explored in the context of interreligious
understanding and cooperation.
Parliament
participants will work with others and within their own traditions to craft
faithful responses to indigenous reconciliation, global poverty and global
warming, environmental care and degradation, education of the young and the
challenges of social disengagement, voluntary and forced migration, artistic expression
and spirituality, the value of sports, ethnic and religious tensions. More
info from http://www.parliamentofreligions2009.org/home.php
*February
7-17, 2010, Kathmandu, Nepal: PEACEBUILDING TRAINING AND EDUCATION for
SAARC Emerging Leaders is a short-term, concentrated training program to
be offered by CONTACT(Conflict Transformation Across Cultures) for emerging
leaders from around the world who are engaged in responding to conflict,
promoting social change, and building sustainable peace. Its goal is to
increase the capacity of South Asians in social, economic, and political
peacebuilding, thereby establishing collaborative cross-border relationships
that will contribute to sustainable peace and increased development.
Forty South
Asian students will be selected annually by application, based on their
position, work experience, educational background, English skills, reference,
and geographic location. We will seek a balance of men and women representing
all eight SAARC countries. Internationals who live and work in SAARC are also
invited to apply.
Application deadline for SAARC CONTACT is December 1, 2009. For application,
course description and schedule, fees, etc. please write to contactprogram@sit.edu
EVENT REPORTS
*Campaign
against communal and fascist forces in U.P., Varanasi, July 28-30, 2009
In order to
maintain harmony, peace, secularism and democratic values inceastern U.P., All
India Secular Forum (AISF) with the close collaboration of Centre for Harmony
and Peace launched a series of programmes at Varanasi.
On 28th
July, at the College of Philosophy (Gurukul), Christ Nagar, Prof. Ram Puniyani,
delivered a lecture on the issue of national integration and communal harmony.
More than 200 people were present.
On the next two
days, a residential workshop on Communalism and Challenges to Democracy wasled
by Prof. Ram Puniyani, at Anjali Auditorium, Matridham Ashram, Chandmari. Sixty
individuals participated in lectures, discussions, documentary film show and
role playing. Prof. Puniyani, discussed problems related to communal conflicts,
and stressed the value of national integration, democracy and composite
culture.
On 30th
July, a meeting was held at Madrasa Anasarul–uloom, which was attended by more
than 100 people
One day seminar
on Communalism and Challenges to Democracy was held on 31st July at
Mohammad Hasan P.G. College, Jaunpur, U.P.
More info from
Mohammad Arif arif.vns@rediffmail.com
*Trinational
Conference of Bangladesh Bharat and Pakistan People’s Forum, Kolkata, Aug
8, 09
Delegates from
the three countries of Bangladesh Bharat and Pakistan, present at the
Tri-national Conference on 16th August at Kolkata observed that
partition of our motherland had not only failed to solve the problem of
communal discrimination and disharmony, but also aggravated many other
economic, political-military and social issues.
Discrimination
of minorities, treating them as 2nd grade citizen, using stringent
acts like anti terrorist act, blasphemy act, enemy property confiscation act
etc. etc. randomly against the minorities are very common.
Imperialist
policy of ‘divide and rule’ and using religion for political purposes has
served the interest imperialists and their stooges in 1947. Followed up
disputes, contention between one other not only aggravated towards and war
situation, but also gave conditions to develop deep hatred between communities.
The
imperialists to direct anti-imperialist movement after the 2nd world war
encouraged communal fundamentalism internationally. It was given a permanent
impetus by partition of our motherland and ‘Israel’ in Arabian Peninsula. They
to solve the critical interest of these imperialists in acute crisis prop up
fanatic fundamentalist gangs, finally ensuring draconian measure against the
whole people in the name of restraining terrorists and fanatics.
The
Tri-National delegates welcomed the recent development of movements for
democracy in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
The
Tri-National delegates observes that in the name of containing terrorism,
American Imperialism is trying to shift the burden on the shoulders of the
people and sates of these three countries, thereby ending to more and more
economic political and social hardship and anarchy on our soil.
On these
contexts, the Tri-National conference resolves:
[1] To
strengthen the Unified struggle of the people of these three countries for
democracy, socialism, harmony and peace against all imperialists policies of
suppression and subversion
[2] To demand
for immediate formation of Tri-National People to people and state to state
co-ordination to go into any disputes (including that of terrorism, Kashmir,
Water disputes etc.) and desist any interference or intervention by the
American imperialists in the internal or intrer –related matters of these three
countries.
[3] To demand
for opening up all visa restrictions between these three countries.
[4] To stop
fostering any terrorist force operating against any of these other three
countries
More info from http://bbpftrinational.blog.com,
bbpftrinational@gmail.com, and Manik Samajdar m_samajdar@yahoo.co.in
*Independence Day Bi-lingual Poetry Recitation, Rockville, MD, USA, August 16, 2009
"The future of Urdu and
Hindi is tied together and both depend upon each other," said Professor
Asghar Wajahat at the third bi-lingual poetry recitation program held Sunday
16th August 2009 at the Montgomery County Executive Office Building in Rockville, Maryland. Professor Wajahat, a
noted Hindi fiction writer and chairman of Hindi Department, Jamia Millia Islamia was presiding the bi-lingual
“Yaum-e-Azadi” mushaira-kavi sammelan. The program, initiated by the Washington Aligarh Alumni Association (AAA) in 2007 to
celebrate the independence of the Indian Subcontinent,
this year was joined by the Metropolitan Washington chapter of the Global
Organization of the People of Indian Origin (GOPIO).
Wajahat, himself an Aligarh University alumnus, was pleased to see that AAA
had started this program to bring speakers of Urdu and Hindi to a common
platform. He further noted that the standard of literature coming out of Northern America was very good.
Professor Satya Pal Anand, a
stalwart academician, writer, and poet was impressed with the sentiments
expressed about peace and friendship between communities by poets of both
languages said “….. program has proved that we all are one; we may have
differences but there are no ill-feelings amongst us.”
Similar sentiments were also
expressed by other participants and audience during conversation with
people. Mr. Fatehul Azam, a senior Aligarian visiting from Chicago, said, “Urdu and Hindi are like twin
siblings that were surgically separated.” He added that the communities
nurturing these siblings should keep on making efforts to let these siblings
interact more often.
Wajahat also released a recently
published book, Satya Pal Anand ki Nazm Nigari edited by Dr. A.
Abdullah. This book is a compendium of articles written by prominent Urdu
writers and critics about Dr. Anand and his contributions to the language.
Dr. Rafat Husain, AAA president
welcomed the audience. He said that through this program we want to
celebrate the common heritage of the subcontinent. Dr. Zafar Iqbal,
General Secretary of GOPIO greeted the audience as its president Dr. Renuka
Misra could not reach in time due to certain unavoidable circumstances. He
thanked The Aligarh Alumni Association for giving GOPIO an opportunity to join
hand in propagating a noble cause.
A. Abdullah, Akram Mahmood,
Astha Naval, Aziz Quraishi, Baquer Zaidi,
Dhananjaya Kumar, Gulshan Madhur, Madhu
Maheshvari, Mohammad Anwar, Narendra Tandon Sahil Lakhnavi, Naseem
Farogh, Razi Raziuddin, Rekha Maitra, Sadiq Bajwa, Satya Pal Anand, Suman
Shukla, Suman Verdhan, Shakeel Azad, Sehba Ali,
Tahira Rida, Vishakha Thakar, Yousuf Rahat, Zafar Syed, and
In his introductory remarks, Dr
Abdullah recalled that 35 years ago The Association started the Mushaira
tradition in the US. One of the goals of this activity was to provide a forum
where people can assemble transcending political, religious, regional and
geographical boundaries. He recalled that in 1975 after six month of active
search he could find only 23 people in the entire North America who could be
considered a poet. Today, 24 poets from
our own city are participating at this event.
A colorful souvenir containing
sample of poetry of participating poets, in both Urdu and Hindi scripts, and
their short biography and photograph was also released at this occasion.
The Aligarh
Alumni Association honored Dr. A. Abdullah with a plaque in recognition
of his long and dedicated service for the promotion of Urdu language and
literature.
Mr. Rajiv Ranjan, Counselor,
Community Affairs, represented Embassy of India
in Washington. He was impressed with the substance and message conveyed by the
poets and stayed for the entire program.
Mr. Masood Farshori was the
master of ceremony and the program was coordinated by Dr. Zafar Iqbal. Submitted by Zafar Iqbal, Ph.D. Raabta.india@gmail.com
JOBS, INTERNSHIPS & VOLUNTEER PROGRAMS (FOR THE COMMON
GOOD) *http://www.graduationpledge.org/jobs.html
MEMBERS’ CORNER
*Sarabjit's counsel to submit mercy plea signed by
100,000, The Pioneer,
August 28, 2009
http://www.dailypioneer.com/198505/Sarabjits-counsel-to-submit-mercy-plea-signed-by-100000.html
Over
100,000 Indians, including former test cricketers and chief justices, have
signed a mercy petition addressed to President Asif Ali Zardari seeking
clemency for Indian prisoner
Sarabjit Singh, who is on death row in a Pakistani prison.
Awais Sheikh, the counsel for Sarabjit, said he had brought back the mercy
petition with more than 100,000 signatures when he returned from a recent visit
to India.
"The
signatories include former test cricketer Kapil Dev, Delhi's Jama Masjid Shahi
Imam Syed Ahmed Bukhari, Syed Amin Hashmi of the Ajmer Sharif dargah, former
Chief Justices R S Mongia and Rajindar Sachar, members of Indian human rights
groups, Christian and Muslim bodies, doctors, engineers, lawyers, farmers and
students," Sheikh told a news conference here.
Sheikh said he would submit the mercy petition to the President Zardari and
also apprise him about the sentiments of the Indians in this regard.
"Since Sarabjit has been in prison for long, his sentence can be commuted
to life imprisonment under the law," he said. Commuting Sarabjit's
sentence will help improve relations between India and Pakistan, he added.
Sarabjit has been on death row since he was convicted for his alleged
involvement in four bomb blasts in Pakistan's Punjab province that killed 14
people in 1990. His family insists that he was wrongly convicted for the
bombings.
Though he was set to be hanged on April 1 last year, Pakistani authorities put
off his execution indefinitely after Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
intervened in the matter.
PEACE & HARMONY NEWS FROM
INDIA & PAKISTAN
*http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IndiaPakistanPeaceDay/
PEACE & HARMONY NEWS FROM
SOUTH ASIA
*http://groups.google.com/group/peace--harmony-news-from-south-asia
UPDATE: KASHMIR
*http://groups.yahoo.com/group/KashmirSolutionsForum/
*www.drshabirchoudhry.blogspot.com
*http://kashmirforumorg.blogspot.com/
UPDATE: NEPAL
*http://www.nepalasiacenter.com/
UPDATE: PAKISTAN
UPDATE: SRILANKA
*Government overreaction harms national interest, Jehan Perera,
NPC, September 7, 2009
The arrival section of the international airport in one’s
home country is not the place that the regular traveler expects to be confronted
with the power of the state to detain people without a valid reason being
given. I had just landed at the
International Airport at Katunayake after five days in the United States along
with the head of the Centre for Policy Alternatives, Dr Paikiasothy
Saravanamuttu. The two of us had
participated in a seminar on peace and reconciliation in Sri Lanka organized by
the US Institute for Peace that sought to address the underlying factors that
led to the outbreak of war and address post-war reconstruction, relief, and
security needs. Several officials representing different US government
agencies, aid workers and members of the Sri Lankan diaspora attended the
seminar.
At the seminar I found the participants supportive of Sri
Lanka, and understanding of the context of war and the problems that had
arisen, which could be put behind if handled properly. In this context it came
as quite as shock when Dr Saravanamuttu was stopped at the Immigration counter
for a while and then led away to a room.
Standing next to me in the line was Jim Moore, the acting head of the US
embassy in Sri Lanka, who had assisted us with the logistics of our visit and
returned with us on the same flight. As
we were further back in the line, we continued to stand in the line hoping it
was a minor problem and that our traveling companion and colleague would soon
be back and pass through the Immigration point.
But as I neared the top of the line and there was no sign of him
returning, I left the line and went to where my colleague was being detained to
find out what was going on.
The Immigration officers were apologetic, but they had a job
to do. They said that there was a request from the intelligence arm of the
Police, the CID (Criminal Investigation Department) which was in their computer
system. This had given them the instruction that they should detain Dr
Saravanamuttu for questioning by the CID, but they did not know for what
reason. They said that the CID had a
special office in the airport, and would come soon. When over half an hour had passed with us
waiting there, we asked if they could call the CID again and remind them that
we were waiting and wanted to go home, having traveled over 24 hours non-stop
from Washington DC to Colombo. It took
three more telephone calls for the police officers to come.
People’s Plight
During that time the Immigration officers explained about
the plight of the people who were being detained by the Police at the
airport. They said that for the past
three months the Police and intelligence personnel were roaming around the
airport and questioning and detaining people, even those who had been checked
and passed by the Immigration officials. The revelations by the Sunday Times
newspaper about a human smuggling racket involving the displaced persons
detained in the welfare camps at Vavuniya being sent out through the
international airport may justify this Police presence. But it does call into question the
government’s rationale for continuing to hold more than a quarter of a million
of its citizens in detention in order to keep possible terrorists away from the
rest of the population.
When the CID officers finally arrived and took Dr
Saravanamuttu away, I continued my discussion with the Immigration
officials. They told me about the plight
of Sri Lankan citizens who were sometimes deported from the foreign countries
they had sought to enter. Most often it
was through no fault of their own, as they had proper travel documents. They may be deported because their host does
not come to pick them up at the airport, or because they are deemed to have
insufficient money, or sheer cussedness. I know of one instance where a young
man who had in his possession a magazine on Islamic Fundamentalism was denied
entry at a foreign airport. When these
unfortunate people return with their hopes of a new future blighted they are
subjected to callous treatment in their home country. They are detained and questioned for hours
instead of being helped in their misery.
During the two hours I spent in the airport I saw several
broken down looking people being taken away for questioning by the Police. When Dr Saravanamuttu finally returned after
sorting out his problem, we said goodbye to the Immigration officers who had
been kind to us. We return to Sri Lanka
from abroad, to our own country and our own people. The government must be concerned about the
welfare of all its citizens, including those who have been deported or have
fallen into trouble when abroad. The
Immigration officers said that they hoped that people of the caliber of Dr
Saravanamuttu, who had seen the negative side of the airport and experienced in
some little way the sufferings of people detained there, would be able to
report their experiences to the highest in the land so that the system could be
improved.
From Dr Saravanamuttu I learned that the CID officers had
failed to explain to him why there was a detention request against his name.
All they could say was that the TID (Terrorism Investigation Department) had
made such a request in February and they had shown him the outside of a file to
that effect. It is entirely bizarre that
this request became activated only in September when he returned from the
seminar at the US Institute for Peace.
According to Dr Saravanamuttu he had traveled several times out of the
country between February and September and was permitted free exit and entry.
As he lives in Sri Lanka, there was absolutely no need to catch him at the
airport, as a phone call to his mobile telephone or to his home or office would
have sufficed to get him to come to wherever the Police wanted to question
him.
Unanswered Question
The question arises whether there was a connection between
Dr Saravanamuttu’s airport detention and his organization’s position on the
granting of the European Union’s GSP Plus tariff concession to Sri Lankan
exports. After winning the war famously,
the government risks losing the international support it needs to reconstruct
the country after war. This seems to be
largely due to the misapplication of its successful war strategy into peace
time governance. It is reported that the
European Union has finalized a preliminary report on Sri Lanka’s adherence to
27 international human rights treaties and other instruments, with the
government failing the test.
During the war, the government was able to defy
international opinion and prosecute the war to the maximum, with no-holds
barred in what they did, and was able to get away with it. There was a tacit
acceptance that war is an ugly business and the Sri Lankan government ought to
be supported to defeat the LTTE which had become an international menace. There
were many powerful countries, including the United States and India, that urged
the government to minimize human rights violations and to come up with a
political solution to the ethnic conflict, but at the same time they tangibly
strengthened the government’s hand to wage war.
But now the war has ended more than three months. People in Sri Lanka and in the international
community expect the government to modify its behaviour to suit the new
conditions. But the change is slow in
coming despite government protestations that it is acting in a problem solving
manner. The situation of people in the
welfare camps in Vavuniya remains pathetic as a newspaper investigation
recently revealed. The Sunday Times
reported that “Hygienic conditions are poor and children often fall ill. On August 27 three children died. The cause, we learnt from the Judicial
Medical Officer’s office in Vavuniya was septicaemia.”
Unfortunately it appears that the government has got so
carried away by its sovereign power that it continues to act as it did during
the time of war. The expulsion of a senior UN official with diplomatic status
on the grounds that he has been upset and critical about the situation of
children in the welfare camps for the displaced is one example of its
overreaction. The detention and
questioning of Dr Saravanamuttu is another.
This is not a tenable situation.
A country that seeks respect and support as a democracy needs to conduct
its affairs differently.