goanet-digest Monday, June 3 2002 Volume 01 : Number 4045
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In this issue:
Re: [Goanet] More Goa-related discussion groups...
[Goanet] Re: Article from The Hindu
[Goanet] Portuguese citizens in India and Pakistan
[Goanet] [Nwm_mumbai] chilling account
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Date: Mon, 3 Jun 2002 18:02:44 -0700
From: "rene barreto" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: [Goanet] More Goa-related discussion groups...
Fred ,
I wish you had to write years ago - what you write today.
Do you remember the unnecessary arguments we had / the abuse some of us had
to bear ? because of the formation of another egroup - : ))
Let us have a negative approach to POSITIVE thinking ! as Life is too short
for unhappiness ........keep smiling.
rene
- ----- Original Message -----
From: "Frederick Noronha" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Sunday, June 02, 2002 11:03 PM
Subject: [Goanet] More Goa-related discussion groups...
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > Date: Fri, 31 May 2002 18:54:53 +0100
> > From: "C Fernandes" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > Subject: RE: [Goanet] ONE GOA
> >
> > Hi Aloysius,
> >
> > I think that you are right.
> >
> > I do not think that Goans do not need any more discussion group.
Perhaps,
> > this type of discussion group starts for egoistic reasons. Also, cross
> > postings creates another type of problems.
> >
> > I would appreciate if someone start some innovative ideas to share
correct
> > information on Goa and Goan important matters which can help Goans.
> >
> > Regards,
------------------------------
Date: 3 Jun 2002 18:05:24 -0000
From: "satyamevajayate2" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Goanet] Re: Article from The Hindu
Why doesn't the cadre of the Sangh Parivar go to the frontlines instead of =
ranting from the sidelines?=0ARohit.=0A=0A=0A>Source: thThe Hindu (http://w=
ww.hinduonnet.com/2002/06/01/stories/2002060100921000.htm)=0A>=0A>Opinion=
=0A> -=0A>Leader Page Articles=0A>=0A>=0A>Politics as violence=0A>=0A>=0A>=
=0A>By Neera Chandhoke=0A>=0A>=0A>=0A>THAT THE leaders of the Sangh Parivar=
are itching to go to war with Pakistan is, by now, more than evident. Fire=
d by dreams of destruction, they will not rest till they have involved the =
country in a ruinous war, till thousands of young men have been massacred, =
till Indian society has been completely de-sensitised to normative concerns=
=97 such as respect for the lives of ordinary human beings =97 and till th=
is society is `unified' by the semantics of national chauvinism and the pol=
itics of hate and attrition. It is also more than obvious that the Sangh Pa=
rivar leadership just does not seem to know what it is talking about when i=
t calls for the use of the nuclear option. It just does not seem to be fami=
liar with what a nuclear holocaust can do to existing and future generation=
s. Those who agitate for war should meet the descendants of the victims of =
the nuclear explosion over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Till today these descend=
ants carry the scars of the explosion, after a!=0A>ll they are the `untouch=
ables' of modern Japan.=0A>=0A>The urge to launch nuclear strikes on Pakist=
an is as insane as the insistence by the RSS cadres, after the nuclear expl=
osion, that the sands of Pokhran be distributed over the country. Just as t=
hey did not know that these sands would be necessarily radioactive, they do=
not seem to grasp the implications of a nuclear war? Is it possible to be =
so ignorant? Or does the desire to preach and practice violence sweep all r=
ationality aside?=0A>=0A>Many observers have persuasively argued that the c=
urrent war hysteria is carefully being built up in order to divert national=
and international attention from the Gujarat scenario. And in a way they a=
re correct: just witness the way in which Gujarat and its multiple tragedie=
s have been pushed off the headlines of most national dailies. Now it is Pe=
rvez Musharraf who excites political passions. It is difficult to ignore th=
at the current standoff with Pakistan is convenient for the BJP at this pre=
cise moment. There is nothing like identifying an external enemy and percei=
ving him as the cause of everything that is wrong with the country today wh=
en it comes to cynical and amoral political strategies. And yet there is so=
mething deeper and rather ominous in the sabre-rattling and muscle-flexing =
we see today. For, Gujarat and now the current pre-occupation with teaching=
Pakistan a lesson is not exceptional to the Sangh Parivar, it is part of i=
ts general fascination with violence. I!=0A>ts very agenda is violence. Eve=
r since the mid-1980s when we were to see the VHP and the Bajrang Dal along=
with the RSS erupting onto the political scene like so many macabre and de=
monic beings, our country has witnessed nothing but the systematic institut=
ionalisation of violence in the politics of everyday life.=0A>=0A>This is n=
ot to say that politics and violence have nothing to do with each other, or=
that they constitute binary opposites. The belief that politics is about t=
ransformation and that violence is about destruction had been done away wit=
h some time ago. Many theorists have argued that the distinction between po=
litics and violence is overdrawn, and that politics concerned as it is with=
power is deeply coercive in nature. And yet there is more to an activity t=
hat we identify as politics, than the instrumental use of power and coercio=
n. That would be to reduce politics to violence by other means.=0A>=0A>The =
relationship between politics and violence is, however, subtle and certainl=
y more complex. Certainly, the origins of politics lie in violence =97 the =
violence that occurs in the absence of politics as negotiation and arbitrat=
ion. On the other hand, politics is about controlling violence and relegati=
ng it to the margins. In this context, it is worthwhile to recollect the in=
sights of the English political philosopher, Thomas Hobbes. Hobbes had sugg=
ested that violence in the hypothetical pre-political and pre-social state =
of nature is so immediately threatening and so vicious, that any kind of po=
litical order that can contain it is better than none. A Leviathan vested w=
ith all power by his constituents is preferable to the anarchic state of na=
ture where individuals possess absolute liberty. Recognising the soul-destr=
oying potential of violence, people opt to give up their liberty in return =
for security of life and property. Correspondingly, the Leviathan cedes all=
claims!=0A> to loyalty and obligation if he violates the basic premise of=
the contract =97 provision of security and the control of violence.=0A>=0A=
>Therefore, even though the founding moment of politics is violence, politi=
cs sidelines the will to control violence through the employment of other m=
eans =97 persuasion for instance. It subordinates the violence of everyday =
life to the logic of relatively peaceable social transactions. That is why =
modern politics, rather than subscribe to the view that politics is about a=
n eye-for-eye conception of justice, or that politics is about balance betw=
een warring factions, gives us other visions of a good life. Even though mo=
dern politics may not do away with violence, what it does ensure is that vi=
olence is contained and constrained, not to be employed unless that use can=
be justified.=0A>=0A>The founding moment of the BJP's journey to power was=
of course violence. Who can forget the blood-spattered trail of the Shilan=
yas, of the rath yatra, of the destruction of the Babri Masjid? But once in=
power, the holders of state power should have moved to transcend this orig=
inal moment and onto other tasks: ensuring that the ordinary human being in=
India is delivered justice as her or his due. That is what we normally exp=
ect of modern politics and of the democratic party-system. Instead, we saw =
since the late 1990s the overt use of violence against the minorities, agai=
nst anyone who dissented from the agenda of the Sangh Parivar, against thos=
e who struggle to ensure that human beings can live a life of dignity. The =
level to which the Sangh Parivar cadres have fallen, in their attacks on th=
e minorities in Gujarat for instance, is indeed shocking. Instead of moving=
in the direction of governance and management of tensions, the BJP and its=
constituency are still enmeshed in !=0A>the politics of violence, they are=
unable to get out of these coils, they are unable to learn civilised modes=
of reasoning and persuasion.=0A>=0A>We do not expect much of the BJP. Howe=
ver, the task of even a minimalist form of politics is to contain or hold a=
t bay violence that begets nothing but violence. But the Sangh Parivar cadr=
es refuse to subscribe to mature political reasoning. They remind one of th=
e antics of a caveman who knowing no other language wields his club to blud=
geon his opponents into insensibility. The politics of the Hindutva brigade=
remains primitive because its members have not been able to transcend the =
founding moment of their ascent to power. They refuse to dream dreams of a =
politics that creatively and imaginatively negotiates the human condition i=
n India.=0A>=0A> Politics as the art of negotiation, as the technique of n=
eutralising tensions, as the way of creatively engaging with the aspiration=
s of ordinary people, as the art of achieving what seems to be impossible, =
has been swept aside in favour of the naked and unashamed use of violence. =
It almost seems that the Sangh Parivar is as unfamiliar with the potential =
and the capacities of politics as it is with the fallout of a nuclear war.=
=0A>=0A>=0A>=0A>=0A________________________________________________________=
_=0AClick below to visit monsterindia.com and review jobs in India or Abroa=
d=0Ahttp://monsterindia.rediff.com/jobs=0A
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 3 Jun 2002 19:18:16 +0100
From: "Jorge/Livia de Abreu Noronha" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Goanet] Portuguese citizens in India and Pakistan
The official spokesman of Portugal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the
media that the family persons of diplomatic and consular personnel, as well
as the "non-essential" staff in India and in Pakistan, are arriving back
home some time this week, a decision made in consonance with similar
measures taken by Great Britain and other European Union countries. The
Secretary of State for the Portuguese Communities Abroad, on being
questioned, informed that it is still too early to speak of "repatriation",
which however may come to occur later, depending on the evolution of the
Indo-Pakistan crisis.
It was also revealed that in Pakistan, besides the diplomats and their
family members and the crew of a C-130 Portuguese aircraft which carries on
missions in Afghanistan, 30 Portuguese nationals are registered, most of
them of Goan origin; while regarding India, there are 2,500 Portuguese
citizens registered in Goa, 35 in New Delhi and 14 elsewhere in the country.
Jorge
------------------------------
Date: 3 Jun 2002 18:19:54 -0000
From: "satyamevajayate2" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Goanet] [Nwm_mumbai] chilling account
Hello,
Whether you affiliate yourselves with a religion or not, know that
the rapists blinded by hatred have no boundaries. They are
misanthropes. Every man born of a woman should stand up NOW
against these criminals. Otherwise, we are not far from the abyss
of self-destruction.
Here is another report of the dehumanizing Gujarat genocide.
Rohit.
- -------------------------------------------
washingtonpost.com
Rapes Go Unpunished In Indian Mob Attacks
Muslim Women Say Claims Are Ignored
By Rama Lakshmi
Special to The Washington Post
Monday, June 3, 2002; Page A09
KALOL, India -- Sultana Feroz Sheikh sat motionless, staring at
the mud floor in a dark, windowless room.
Three months ago, as religious riots engulfed the western Indian
state of Gujarat, Sheikh saw her husband and several relatives
burned alive. Then, she said, she was brutally raped by three men
as her 4-year-old son wailed nearby.
Sheikh wants to see the criminals brought to justice. But Gujarat
police are routinely refusing to file charges against individuals
accused of rape during the violence in late February and early
March, because they say mob violence cannot be broken down into
specific crimes.
"It is difficult to determine who in the mob pelted stones, who
raped and who killed," said police inspector Ramanbhai Patil.
Though the riot on March 1 that claimed the lives of Sheikh's
loved ones and resulted in her rape engulfed the entire village of
Kalol, she said Patil has arrested only four men in connection
with the day's events.
The violence then spread throughout Gujarat, where nearly 1,000
people, most of them Muslims, have been killed in Hindu-Muslim
clashes since Feb. 27. That was the day Muslims launched a
firebomb attack on a train carrying Hindu activists, killing 60.
Countless cases of arson, looting, murder and rape have been
jumbled together in what are known as first-information reports,
or FIRs. Police have filed "general FIRs," simply blaming riots on
Hindu tola, or mobs, and refusing to register individual
complaints.
Arrests increased markedly after the Indian government appointed
K.P.S. Gill -- known as the "super cop" of Punjab state for his
work there in the 1990s -- to assist with law enforcement in
Gujarat. Police have arrested about 3,200 suspects in more than
300 cases of attacks against Muslims in Gujarat. The suspects have
been charged with murder, rioting and arson. But advocacy groups
say arrests for rape are still rare.
"The police FIR said that a Hindu mob attacked a Muslim mob," said
Sheikh, who is Muslim. "I am not a 'mob,' I am a woman who was
gang-raped by three men. How can I hope for justice, when they
don't even register my complaint properly?"
Farah Naqvi, an independent journalist who is part of Citizen's
Initiative, a fact-finding team that recorded testimony of sexual
violence in Gujarat, called it "a piracy of silence."
"Cases have been filed against the nameless and the faceless,"
Naqvi said. "When you register them as mobs, it gives you a basis
and an excuse for inaction. A single, collective FIR cannot take
care of all the individual losses, as the time, loss and place
varies. And it is especially true for rape."
There are no reliable estimates of how many women -- Hindu or
Muslim -- have been raped in the Gujarat violence. According to
the Citizen's Initiative report, however, almost every relief
shelter in the state houses people who are victims of or witnesses
to rape, molestation or other types of sexual assault.
Part of the difficulty in gauging the problem, said Sejal Dand, an
aid worker, is that "many women were raped and then killed or
burned."
Dand said fear of the police, who have been widely accused of
standing idle as violence peaked, discouraged women and witnesses
from reporting crimes for days. When the victims and witnesses
finally did file reports, police often asked them to omit the
names of influential men, Dand said.
In addition, in India's conservative and inward-looking Muslim
minority of 130 million, even talking about rape is a matter of
deep shame and stigma.
In the village of Fatehpura, aid workers reported, a Hindu mob
dragged 30 young women into full public view, sexually assaulted
them and forced them to run naked. Yet the Muslims of Fatehpura
refuse to go to the police or even reveal the names of the women,
fearing no man would marry them, the aid workers said.
"There is a lot of denial on the issue of rape of Muslim women in
Gujarat," Dand said. Even after citizens groups published reports
with women's testimonies, many officials were dismissive. Prime
Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said in Parliament that reports of
sexual violence were "exaggerated," and the country's law minister
said only two FIRs have been filed for rape in Gujarat so far.
Sheikh hasn't filed one, because the police wouldn't let her, she
said.
Her ordeal began on the morning of Feb. 28, a day after the attack
on the train, she said, when she heard hundreds of angry Hindus
marching toward the Muslim quarters of her home village of Delol,
shouting, "We will burn you!" She and her husband grabbed their
son and fled to some wheat fields, where they hid with a group of
other panic-stricken Muslims. Their homes went up in flames.
The Muslims retreated in a milk van the next morning to the
nearest town, Kalol. There, another Hindu mob surrounded them.
"One by one, they pulled out the men from the van and burned them.
My husband was burned alive in front of my own eyes as I screamed
and pleaded with them," Sheikh said, tears welling in her eyes.
Sheikh said she managed to jump out with her son, then ran toward
a nearby river. Eight men wielding swords chased after her.
"One of them grabbed my hair from behind and pulled me; another
snatched my son away," she said. They threw her down and hit her,
and three raped her. "They were ruthless," she whispered.
Sheikh ran and hid for days before going to a relief shelter in
Kalol. Ten days after the rape, she summoned the courage to go to
the police to file a report.
"To my surprise, the police said I cannot file an FIR," Sheikh
said. "They said an FIR already existed for that day's events."
Police officials investigating the Kalol violence said they could
not register two reports for the same incident. Because a general
FIR had already been filed, they said, the most they could do was
attach a statement to it.
Patil said Sheikh's case was weak anyway, because she did not
undergo a medical examination until more than 10 days after the
alleged rape.
Citizen's Initiative recommends that special courts be set up to
hear women's cases and that their testimony be treated as the
basis for legal action if FIRs are not filed. And the requirement
of medical evidence should be dropped, the group says, because so
many women hid for days before going to the police.
Trauma counseling, according to the group's report, is the most
urgent need.
For a number of emotionally scarred women now languishing in
shelters, consisting of tents in the scorching heat, simply
returning to their homes could provide the first healing touch.
But homecoming is fraught with risks, too.
Bilkees Rasoolbhai Yaqub, 19, was one of many women gang-raped
outside the village of Randikpura. She is the single witness to
many killings and rapes in Randikpura and has named three men in
her police report. Now Yaqub's Hindu neighbors say they will not
allow the Muslims to return to the village until she withdraws the
names of the accused in her police report.
The villagers say her statements are baseless; the police say
Yaqub's story contains inconsistencies and her medical report was
negative.
But, asked an anguished Yaqub, "Why would I lie about my rape?
Which woman would invite social stigma upon herself?"
End
- ---------------------------------------------------
On Sun, 02 Jun 2002 Pamela D'Mello wrote :
>
> From: sahmat <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Date: Tue, 28 May 2002 17:50:19 +0530 (IST)
>
>His forehead almost touched the ground, the policemen held him
>down by the
>neck and beat him hard on his buttocks, then threw him back and
>started
>hitting on his legs. I am sitting in front of six year old Wasim
>Akram,
>looking into his beautiful, deep and very sad eyes. His innocent
>face and
>bruises on his legs and back will not let me sleep today.
>
_________________________________________________________
Click below to visit monsterindia.com and review jobs in India or
Abroad
http://monsterindia.rediff.com/jobs
------------------------------
End of goanet-digest V1 #4045
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