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ACHA PEACE BULLETIN

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

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

 

Editors:

David Campion, PhD           campion@lclark.edu

Pritam K. Rohila, PhD          pritam@open.org

 

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Volume VIII, No. 5, May 21, 2005; Next Issue, June 15, 2005

 

CONTENTS

 

EDITORIAL

  • War, Peace, and History – David Campion

 

PEACE & HARMONY NEWS FROM & ABOUT SOUTH ASIA

India
  • Third Kashmir bus service rolls
  • JK Muslims and Pandits come together
  • Rebels in Assam extend ceasefire
  • Ceasefire between Centre and NSCN-K extended

Pakistan-India

·         South Asian MPs hope for an era of trust

·         Next, Amritsar-Nankana Sahib bus

  • “For your tomorrow we gave our today”: Remembering the Indian Army in World War II
  • Pugwash conference in Srinagar

Nepal

  • King Gyanendra lifts emergency

Sri Lanka

  • Aid meeting gives renewed push for peace
  • Indian clears mines in Sri Lanka

 

REPORTS AND ANALYSES
  • Highlights of Indo-Pak joint statement

 

FEATURES

  • “Settling the Kashmir issue,” by Dr Mubashir Hasan
  • “An infrastructure of hope,” by Pervez Hoodbhoy

 

FELLOWSHIPS AND AWARDS

  • US Institute of Peace 2006-2007 Senior Fellowship competition and Peace Scholar Dissertation Fellowship

 

PEACE EVENTS

  • Final Day of India Pakistan Peace March  (New Delhi to Multan), March 23 to May 11, 2005
  • South Asia Forum-Madison (SAF-M) holds evening of expression and dialogue
  • Transcend Peace University (TPU)
  • India-Pakistan Peace Day 2005

 

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

 

 

 

EDITORIAL

 

War, Peace, and History

David A. Campion

 

Earlier this month the world celebrated the 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe.  “VE [Victory in Europe] Day” was commemorated in London, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, and Moscow.  In dozens of ceremonies, heads of state rubbed shoulders with surviving veterans while journalists and historians gave their own assessment of the meaning and lessons of the war and the peace that followed.

 

Yet overshadowed in this largely European and North American commemoration was the notable contribution of the Indian subcontinent.  By May 1945, hundreds of thousands of South Asian soldiers were stationed throughout Europe.  Their regiments, which served as part of the British imperial contribution to the Allied forces, displayed not only the might of the British Raj but also the distinguished martial heritage of precolonial India.  These Sikh, Punjabi, Maratha, Rajput, Baluchi, and Gurkha forces had participated in some of the most decisive campaigns of the war.  In 1942, they had helped drive back the German Afrika Korps across North Africa from Egypt through Libya and into Tunisia where the enemy finally surrendered.  In 1943, they had landed in Sicily and fought their way northward through brutal and slow offensives in the mountains of Central Italy.  Meanwhile in Southeast Asia, Indians formed the majority of soldiers prosecuting the war effort.  All in all, with 2.2 million men at arms serving in all theaters of the war, the Indian Army was a pillar of the Allied war effort.  And since conscription was never instituted by the British in India, the Indian Army retains the notable distinction of having been the largest volunteer force to fight on any side during the Second World War.  Thus the unconditional surrender of German forces on May 8, 1945 was cause for celebration in Delhi, Karachi, and Bombay as much as it was in New York, London, or Moscow.  In the end, many Indian soldiers received the highest decorations for bravery and today there are still thousands of surviving veterans of the war in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal.

 

Yet VE Day was a bittersweet victory for Indians since peace and stability in Europe was finally beginning to emerge even as the political future of their own homeland was becoming less certain by the day.  Within two years of the end of the war, British India was divided into independent India and Pakistan.  The resulting bloodshed and upheaval of partition was a human tragedy of staggering proportions even for a world desensitized by years of global war.  In an instance of sad irony, many among the Indian and Pakistani forces that fought each other in Kashmir in 1947-48 were the same soldiers and commanders that had fought together as comrades in arms against the Axis forces only two years earlier.

 

It is ironic that the remembrance of the most terrible war of the twentieth century should be evoked to remind Indians and Pakistanis of their shared heritage and as a reason for peace, but history is nothing if not ironic.  Today India and Pakistan are beginning to bridge the divisions of the last sixty years.  The Kashmir bus links and Indo-Pakistani cricket matches are a hopeful sign that the peoples of South Asia are taking steps to reclaim their shared history and beginning to put what unites them ahead of what has divided them.  To these momentous events, we should add the reunions of aging veterans that have been taking place on both sides of the India-Pakistan border.  Their experiences and sacrifices remind us that there was no division between Indians and Pakistanis in the sands of El Alamein and Tobruk, on the rugged slopes of Monte Cassino, or in the steaming and malarial jungles of Burma.  It would be a fitting tribute to these brave men if the peace in Europe that they fought and died to achieve should be finally enjoyed by their own posterity in South Asia and that they should live to see it.

 

 

PEACE & HARMONY NEWS FROM & ABOUT SOUTH ASIA

 

* India

 

Third Kashmir bus service rolls

BBC South Asia, Srinagar, 5 May

 

The third bus services linking the divided region of Kashmir have rolled out with 78 passengers, officials say.  The cross-Kashmir bus service links Srinagar in Indian-administered Kashmir with Muzaffarabad in the Pakistani-controlled sector.  The landmark fortnightly bus service was launched last month.  Indian officials have meanwhile announced that talks with Pakistan for a bus service between Amritsar and Lahore will take place next week.  The Srinagar-Muzaffarabad service has been hailed as a major boost to peace between India and Pakistan both of whom claim Kashmir in its entirety.  The inaugural service on 7 April was the first in nearly 60 years.  Two buses carrying 37 passengers left Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian-administered Kashmir for the four-hour long journey to the Line of Control, the de facto border, under heavy security, officials said.  Thirteen of the passengers came to Indian-controlled Kashmir from Muzaffarabad by the first two buses and are now going back home.  “Before the buses set off, the road was searched for hidden landmines and booby traps by bomb squads and sniffer dogs”, a police official was quoted by the AFP news agency.  The two buses from Muzaffarabad are carrying 41 passengers.  The BBC’s Altaf Hussain in Srinagar says that people living in neighborhoods on the bus route on the Indian side say that the security environment was more relaxed on Thursday than when the service was inaugurated.  Only 19 passengers traveled on the first bus from the Indian side following militant threats of violence and a rebel attack on a guest house in which the travelers had been lodged.

 

The historic bus services have been welcomed by most Kashmiris, many of whom have been divided by the decades-long conflict.  The bus deal forms the cornerstone of a breakthrough in relations between India and Pakistan, which were further boosted with the visit of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to India last month.  The two sides agreed to increase the number of services as well as to allow lorries to use the route for trade. No date has been announced for the new services. In a separate development on Thursday, Indian foreign ministry officials say that “technical level talks” will take place with Pakistan from 10 to 11 May in Lahore over the possibility of starting another bus route connecting Amritsar in Indian Punjab to Lahore in Pakistani Punjab.  A foreign ministry spokesman said that the talks had been arranged after the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said in a joint statement that they looked forward to an early start of the service.  The spokesman said that on the same dates, the Indian Coast Guard and Pakistan Maritime Agency will hold talks in Islamabad with the aim of establishing better communications.  He also announced that a second round of dialogue will take place to try and resolve the Siachen glacier territorial dispute in Kashmir (from 25 to 26 May) followed by talks (from 27 May to 28 May) to try and resolve the Sir Creek land dispute.

 

Full story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4515691.stm

 

JK Muslims and Pandits come together

Rediff.com, April 19, 2005

Kashmiri Pandits and Muslims came together on Tuesday for a unique meeting of “hearts and minds” as part of an initiative to enable the displaced community to return to the Kashmir valley.  “It is the biggest people-to-people initiative in 15 years and is a move towards the return of Pandits to the valley,” Jammu and Kashmir Roads and Buildings Minister, Gulam Ahmed Mir said.  Mir, who was instrumental in bringing together the Muslims and Pandits of his Dooru constituency at a New Year get-together in Jammu, said, “We want to restore the old-bonding between Pandits and Muslims and make their return purely a people's affair and non-governmental.”  Said Gulam Mohideen from Verinag: “I am here to meet my old friends and neighbors on the invitation of Moti Lal Koul, chairman of Dooru migrants and a very close friend. I am unable to control my tears after meeting them here. It was a dream come true for me. I thought I would die without meeting them.”   Along with Mohideen, 100 others also reached Jammu to take part in the get-together.  Koul said the Pandits wholeheartedly welcome the Muslims, who came from various parts of Dooru despite having faced death and destruction due to the massive snowfall in February.  “I am happy to see them and this is the ray of light from across the tunnel. One day, we will be back,” he said.

Attending the function, Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary Hiralal Pandita said that the Kashmiri Pandits would also come to the valley when the Muslims would hold a conclave for them in Verinag health resort in May next.  “This people-to-people interaction would pave a way for the Pandits to come back to the valley with dignity and honour in a safe environment without the government's involvement,” Mir, who is also the Dooru legislator, said.

Full story: http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/apr/19kash.htm

 

Rebels in Assam extend ceasefire

BBC South Asia, Guwahati, April 16

 

A separatist group representing the Bodo tribe in the Northeast Indian state of Assam is to extend its ceasefire with the Indian government.  The group said it would prolong the truce, which would have ended in April, by another six months.  A spokesman for the National Democratic Front of Bodoland, S. Sanjarang, said that preliminary talks had made “good progress” so far.   Bodos have been fighting for a separate homeland since the late 1980s.  Thousands have been killed in the armed campaign.  Mr Sanjarang did not disclose details of the talks so far but said the truce would be extended to aid formal negotiations.

Full story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4452367.stm

 

Ceasefire between Centre and NSCN-K extended
Rediff.com News, 28 April

 

The ceasefire between the Centre and the Khaplang group of the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagalim was extended by a year on Thursday, official sources said.  The decision was taken at a meeting between home ministry officials, led by Special Secretary (Internal Security).  Anil Chowdhry, officials of the Nagaland government and representatives of the NSCN-K in New Delhi, the sources said.  The sources said the extension of the ceasefire was seen by both sides as the only way to move towards a permanent solution to the Naga issue.  The Khaplang faction had conducted prolonged parleys with representatives of the Centre before arriving at an agreement on April 11, 2001, to hold talks and cease violence.

 

A ceasefire monitoring board, comprising five people each of the Centre and the NSCN-K, was set up and the ground rules for the ceasefire finalized.  The Khaplang faction suffered a setback in 2003 when the Myanmar army ran over its camps, including its headquarters.  The Centre is also trying to reach a ceasefire agreement with the major Naga faction, the NSCN (Isaac-Muivah). A group of ministers, led by Oscar Fernandes, is holding talks with them separately.

Full story: http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/apr/28naga.htm

 

*Pakistan-India

 

South Asian MPs hope for an era of trust

Dawn, May 18

 

BHURBAN: South Asian parliamentarians on Tuesday called for removing barriers of mistrust and differences among countries of the region in an effort to boost economic development. Speakers on the third day of the first-ever conference of South Asian parliamentarians stressed that mutual trust and removal of barriers based on political disputes or economic fears were necessary to transform this poverty-ridden region into a leading economic bloc in the world.  Tuesday morning’s debate on “Economic Cooperation in South Asia” followed two papers by a Pakistani economist, Dr A.R Kemal, and a veteran Indian journalist, Krishan Kumar Katyal, with several speakers directly blaming the traditional hostility between India and Pakistan for the seven-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation’s failure to make much headway in its main goal of economic development.

An evening session was devoted to water issues in the region and the possibility of having a common energy grid. Though the parliament members from both the ruling and opposition parties of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka pointed to difficulties caused by mistrust and tensions of the past, they sounded hopeful that a perceived new era of friendliness would change things for the better.  Some Indian MPs sought to remove fears of smaller countries about possible adverse effects on their economies if they allowed free trade with India. Some of them also agreed that India, being the largest economy of the region, needed to concede more benefits to others than expected from them in order to promote common interests.

“Mistrust arising from political differences has undermined efforts to foster regional economic cooperation in South Asia,” Dr. Kamal said in his paper on “Safta (South Asian Free Trade Area) and economic cooperation and trade”.  The economist, whose paper was read out at the conference because he himself could not attend, said India and Pakistan had not been able to realize the full potential of their bilateral trade “due to various political compulsions” but prospects had been enhanced by what he called an improved relationship between them and the signing of the Safta agreement last year.  But he said success of Safta would depend on a number of factors, including a small “sensitive list” of tradable commodities, transparent and simple rules of origin, and a judicious use of anti-dumping and countervailing duties.

 

Next, Amritsar-Nankana Sahib bus
Rediff.com News, K J M Varma in Islamabad, 11 May

 

India and Pakistan on Wednesday agreed in principle to run bus services between Amritsar-Lahore and Amritsar-Nankana Sahib, the birthplace of Guru Nanak, official sources said.  A technical-level talk would be held in New Delhi to run the Amritsar-Lahore bus service, which is scheduled to start in two months, a joint statement issued at the end of two-day talks in Islamabad said.  The modalities and frequency of the proposed Amritsar-Nankana Sahib service would be discussed in a subsequent technical-level meeting to be held in New Delhi in two months, it said.  On the Amritsar-Lahore bus service, it said, “the two sides discussed the modalities for operation of the bus service, including the designated route, bus terminals, facilities for the bus crew, modalities of visa arrangements and a Protocol and MOU.”  Alok Rawat, Joint Secretary of Road Transport and Highways, who headed the Indian delegation and his Pakistani counterpart, Muhammad Abbas said at a joint press conference at the end of talks that the bus service would be started after the next round of parleys.

 

The two sides on Tuesday said they would also establish hotline communication links between the coast guards of the two countries.  Both the bus services figured in the Joint Statement issued at the end of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s visit to New Delhi last month. It said the leader “looked forward” to the early start of both the buses.

 

Full story: http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/may/11bus.htm

 

“For your tomorrow we gave our today”: Remembering the Indian Army in World War II

Mark Tully, BBC India, May 7

 

Sixty years ago Britons were celebrating the end of war in Europe, but the war in Asia carried on. The Japanese Army, having overrun much of the British Empire in the east, had not surrendered.  The Indian Army was the main contingent of the Allied Forces which eventually drove back the Japanese. Mark Tully, the BBC’s former India correspondent, has been talking to some of the veterans of that struggle.

 

In the small Punjab village of Nandapur Kalore, Sikh World War II veterans still meet regularly to relive their exploits in that war.  Rifleman Jagir Singh told me how he had fought hand to hand with Italians, using the skills he had learnt as a village wrestler.  Subadar Mansar Singh remembered with relish the party the Maharaja of Patiala threw for his regiment after the war. “There was Scotch whisky,” he said with awe.  The veterans had fought in the world’s largest ever volunteer army – two and a half million strong.   It was an army of Muslims – most of whom went to Pakistan after the war – Hindus and Sikhs.  They served together in spite of the mounting religious tension in India which eventually led to partition. They ignored Mahatma Gandhi when he called on Britain to quit India in the middle of the war.

 

Most of the Sikh veterans came from families with a long tradition of serving in the same regiment.  More than one said to me: “For us the regiment was our ma baap (mother and father).”  But when war was declared, the traditional army they joined was not equipped or trained for it.  The British officers of the Indian Army that I met all agreed with great good humour that life between the wars had been “laid back”.  I was told of a regimental elephant retained solely for officers’ shooting parties.  There was plenty of time for polo and everyone seemed to have their own horse. The cavalry were still mounted on horseback and pigeons were still used for communications.  But those relaxed British officers and their Indian soldiers performed with great gallantry in World War I.  And in World War II, the unique bond between British officers and Indian soldiers was the foundation on which an army 12 times larger was built – an army that recovered from the surrender of Singapore, endured the retreat through Burma (the longest in British military history) and went on to inflict the worst defeat Japan had ever suffered on land.

 

The sudden expansion of the army brought many problems.  An internal Indian Army document reveals that most of the men from outside the traditional recruiting areas were undernourished when they joined up. Unlike the Sikh veterans, they had no military background.  A sergeant major could not understand why one recruit just was not able to march until he realized he was wearing two left boots.  Between the wars, a limited number of Indians had been commissioned as officers; now many more were needed.  Although before the war there had been clashes between some of the crustier British officers and rightly sensitive Indians, friendships made during the war survive to this day.

 

There was one serious collapse of morale. A large number of Indian soldiers and some officers, who were taken prisoner when Singapore was surrendered, did go over to the Indian National Army which fought alongside the Japanese.  It was led by the charismatic Indian nationalist, Subhas Chandra Bose, who believed the Japanese could and would liberate his homeland.  But the morale of the rest of the Indian Army held up.  Wracked by malaria, consistently outwitted by Japanese – who unlike them had been trained in jungle warfare – deprived of food and water, the Indian Army still retreated through Burma in good order.  Many of the officers I met said they were inspired by two of their commanders, Field-Marshall Viscount Slim and Field-Marshall Sir Claude Auchinleck, both Indian Army officers.  The Japanese were eventually held at the battles of Imphal and Kohima on the Indian border.

At one stage, the Japanese captured Kohima’s water supply but the garrison held out.  After the battle, Slim said: “In no siege have the defenders deserved greater honour than the garrison at Kohima.”

 

In the immaculate cemetery, surrounded by pine trees on the slope of the hill in the centre of Kohima, there are graves of not just Indian Army soldiers but also British African, and other Commonwealth soldiers, all of whom fought alongside the Indian Army in the Burma campaign.  On a monument at the foot of the cemetery I read this inscription: “When you go home tell them of us and say for your tomorrow we gave our today.”  Sadly it has taken us a long time to say that.  Slim’s Fourteenth Army was known as the “forgotten army” and forgotten it remained.  Even in the parade celebrating the 50th anniversary of the final defeat of Japan, one Indian Army officer, Colonel Bill Adams, found that he and other veterans were “left more or less to the rear”.  But now at last gates have been erected on Constitution Hill in the heart of London, commemorating the sacrifices of the soldiers from the subcontinent, from Africa and the Caribbean who fought for the Allies.

 

Full story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/4521947.stm

 

Pugwash conference in Srinagar

Gk News Service, Kashmir Global Network, Digest Number 176, 26 April 2005


Srinagar: A day long conference organized by a leading US-based think tank ended here on Saturday with most of the participants demanding an internal ceasefire, withdrawal of troops, involvement of Kashmiris in the Indo-Pakistani dialogue process and release of political prisoners.  They welcomed the recent confidence building measures (CBMs) between the two countries, but warned that the peace process won’t move forward if the principal party – people of Kashmir – were not included in it.


Organized by Pugwash Conference, the close-door meeting at plush Hotel Grand Palace was attended by a number of mainstream and separatist politicians, former diplomats, ambassadors, a human rights activist, and a couple of university teachers.  Prof Sidiq Wahid, who holds the Maharaja Gulab Singh chair at Jammu University, chaired the conference. Pugwash secretary general Professor Paolo Cotta-Ramusino was also present during the meeting.  The participants included former foreign secretaries Salman Haider and MK Rasgotra, political and strategic affairs analyst C Raja Mohan, former Indian ambassador to Pakistan G Parthasarthy, former air chief marshal Kapil Kak, BJP state unit chief Nirmal Singh, member parliament Prof Saifuddin Soz, president of the action committee for the return of Kashmiri Pandits Jitender Bakshi, Panthers Party chief Prof Bhim Singh and Muhammad Yousuf Tarigami of the Communist Party of India-Marxist.


Separatist politicians who attended the conference were Prof Abdul Gani Bhat, Sajjad Lone, Ghulam Rasool Dar (JKLF), and Muhammad Abdullah Tari (DFP). Noor Ahmed Baba and Hameeda Nayeem of Kashmir University, and Pervez Imroz, patron, Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Societies (JKCCS), participated in the discussion.  Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, chairman Hurriyat Conference led by him, did not attend the discussion, though he had joined the Kashmir conference conducted by the Pugwash in Nepal in December last year.  Sources said the speakers regretted that the people of Kashmir have not been taken into confidence by the governments of India and Pakistan while discussing the solution to the 58-year-old dispute.   “Without active participation of Kashmiris the ongoing peace process may turn out to be a damp squib,” most of the speakers, according to the sources, said in the meeting while urging the two countries not to ignore the Kashmiri leadership.


The speakers welcomed the reopening of Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road and demanding opening of more routes between the two parts of the divided Kashmir so that more and more people meet.  Former Hurriyat Conference chairman Abdul Gani Bhat said, “The steps being taken by India and Pakistan give the impression that they are interested in solving the Kashmir issue. This is a very positive sign and I welcome this and hope that this would lead to a long lasting solution to the Kashmir issue.”  Bhat, who is also the spokesman of the Hurriyat-led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, said there were many forums working in the resolution of Kashmir dispute and Pugwash was one of them.  “We had proposed that both Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and president General Parvez Musharraf should meet and that happened. This is a part of the whole process and I hope that this peace process leads to some concrete results. We are ready to play our part and it is a quite satisfying that the steps are heading in the right direction,” Bhat said.


State CPI-M secretary M.Y. Tarigami urged Kashmiri leaders to unite to represent the true voice of the people. “It is unfortunate that we have been treading different ways despite knowing that it is the responsibility of the leadership to represent the voice of the people,” he said.   “We have to sit together and evolve a common agreement.,” Tarigami added. He also demanded reduction of troops in Jammu and Kashmir.  Former ambassador, G. Parthasarthy said the people of the subcontinent should rise above their stated positions so that vexed issues like Kashmir are solved and long lasting peace is ensured in the whole area. He clarified that Pugwash is a non-government forum and they have nothing to do with the steps being taken by the governments of India and Pakistan.   “We can only offer suggestions from our side as ours is a non-government forum. We cannot influence the decisions being taken by the governments of India and Pakistan and it must be clear to everybody. We are doing our bit and let the government do its own”, he said.


Human rights activist Pervez Imroz argued that there has been no let-up in “custodial killings, and enforced disappearances” despite the Indo-Pak bonhomie. “The CBMs mean nothing for Kashmir and Kashmiris. There is massive presence of troops here who have been obviously deployed not for the security but to control the Kashmiri population,” Imroz said.  Ghulam Rasool Dar Eidi, who represented JKLF, said Kashmiris have to be included in the dialogue process. “I told them that the resumption of the bus service between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad is a welcome step, but it is very important that common masses are involved in this whole process. More and more inclusion of the Kashmiris in the whole peace process would lead to the desired results, otherwise it would be a futile exercise”, Eidi later told reporters.   It was the second time that the mainstream and separatist politicians of Kashmir came together in an organized forum. In December last year, they met in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu during three-day conference organized by the Pugwash.  However, unlike the past meeting, no politician or intellectual from Pakistan and its Kashmir attended yesterday’s conference the aim of which the organizers said was to improve communication between the two countries. 

 

*Nepal

 

King Gyanendra lifts emergency
Rediff.com News, Shirish B Pradhan in Kathmandu, April 30


Faced with mounting pressure from India and other countries, Nepal’s King Gyanendra has lifted a state of emergency imposed after the February 1 power grab.  Gyanendra had assured Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh in Jakarta last week on the sidelines of the Afro-Asian summit that he would initiate steps for early restoration of multi-party democracy in the Himalayan Kingdom.  The re-arrest of former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba earlier this week had resulted in a sharp reaction from India, which said such moves were “contrary” to the assurances given by the Nepalese King.  New Delhi has also maintained that the question of resumption of arms supply to Nepal suspended on February 1 in the wake of the sacking of Deuba government, declaration of emergency, detention of political leaders and clamping of press censureship, was under “constant review”.  The move came hours after Gyanendra returned from a visit to China, Indonesia and Singapore, where he was firmly told to restore democracy in the Himalayan Kingdom.  “His Majesty, in accordance with the constitution, has lifted the order of the state of emergency,” a brief palace statement said without elaborating.

 

Full story: http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/apr/30nepal.htm

 

*Sri Lanka

 

Aid meeting gives renewed push for peace

The Island, May 18

 

COLOMBO: International donors who have promised up to 2.5 billion dollars for tsunami-related reconstruction, held a second and final day of talks in Kandy yesterday seeking to nudge the government and the LTTE to work together.  Dutch ambassador to Sri Lanka, Susan Blankhaart said the donors felt a joint mechanism would make it quicker to deliver aid and also make it easier for them to give more.  She added that European Union nations backed moves to swiftly establish the proposed “joint mechanism” that President Kumaratunga promised Monday after saying she would do it even at the risk of her life.  World Bank's vice president for South Asia Praful Patel said donors were keen that the faltering peace process be revived.  He said for many development partners, the peace process was at the core of their interest in Sri Lanka and international lenders were also backing the initiative as it was the only way to ensure economic development.

 

Indian clears mines in Sri Lanka

Daily Pioneer, May 17

 

COLOMBO: With an improvised machine called Arjun, a former Indian brigadier is leading a massive campaign in Sri Lanka to clear thousands of mines buried by troops and Tamil Tiger guerrillas. And even as he earns laurels for himself and India, Satwant Brar, a Sikh from Punjab, says he is confident of doing the same work all along the India-Pakistan border one day.  The officer, who gets noticed easily because of his colorful turban, is also a passionate farmer at heart. In Sri Lanka's northern district of Vavuniya, where he is based, he has turned an abandoned school ground into a flourishing farm that produces tomatoes, spinach, radish, cabbage, watermelons, grapes and papaya.

He feels what he is doing in Sri Lanka will take his company, Technical Consultants for Humanitarian Demining Worldwide, to great heights and prepare for a systematic mine clearing operation along India’s border with Pakistan.  Clearing landmines is a costly business but Brar says he is doing the work at a much lesser cost. Also, Indians are more suited for the tropical conditions of the region, he pointed out.  The US donated six mine-detecting dogs to Sri Lanka in January 2004, but two died of heat. After the two fatalities, the remaining four dogs were sent back.  Brar’s 20-member team is showing the other side of Indian involvement in Sri Lanka after the 1987-90 tragic experience when the Indian military suffered some 1,200 dead in fighting with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

“We follow very strict routine and discipline,” said Brar of his Indian staff, who have modified existing machinery into a landmine detecting apparatus. Brar said the device, named Arjun, cost him $25,000 whereas a similar machine could cost between $300,000 and $350,000 in the West.  “The biggest problem we have here is there is no record of mines laid or lifted,” Brar said. His company does not interact with the Tamil Tiger rebels, who are banned in India. His company came to Sri Lanka in June 2003.  “We start from a scratch and thanks to our invention we are doing well,” he said of the group's achievement in clearing a seven-kilometer stretch of mines near Vavuniya, the last town before rebel territory in the North.  Sri Lanka has not ratified a 1997 convention banning the production and use of anti-personnel mines.

 

 

REPORTS AND ANALYSES

 

Highlights of Indo-Pak joint statement

April 18, http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/apr/18mush6.htm


At the end of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s three-day visit, he read out a joint statement along with Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh at the Hyderabad House in New Delhi on Monday.  These are the highlights of the joint statement.

 

1.        The President of Pakistan General Pervez Musharraf and Begum Sehba Musharraf visited New Delhi as guests of the Prime Minister of India and Shrimati Gursharan Kaur on April 16 to 18, 2005.

 

2.        While in New Delhi, the Pakistan president called on the Indian President A P J Kalam. He also met Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, who hosted a dinner in his honor. The president also watched the last one-day international cricket match between India and Pakistan.

 

3.        The Pakistan president and the Indian PM used the opportunity to review progress in Indo-Pak relations. They assessed positively the progress that had been made so far through confidence building, people-to-people contacts and enhancing areas of interactions. The leaders were determined to build on the momentum already achieved.

 

4.        They reaffirmed the commitments made in the Joint Press Statement of January 6, 2004 and the Joint Statement issued after their meeting in New York on September 24, 2004 and expressed satisfaction on the progress in the peace process and the improvement of relations between the two countries that has since been realized.

 

5.        Conscious of the historic opportunity created by the improved environment in relations and the overwhelming desire of the people of the two countries for durable peace, the two leaders had substantive talks on all issues. They determined that the peace process was now irreversible.

 

6.        In this spirit the two leaders addressed the issue of Jammu and Kashmir and agreed to continue these discussions in a sincere and purposeful manner for a final settlement. They were satisfied with the discussions and expressed their determination to work together to carry forward the process and to bring the benefit of peace to their people.

 

7.        They also agreed to pursue further measures to enhance interaction and cooperation across the Line Of Control including agreed meeting points for divided families, trade, pilgrimages and cultural interaction.

 

8.        They condemned attempts to disrupt the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service and welcomed its successful operation. The two leaders pledged that they would not allow terrorism to impede the peace process.

 

9.        They decided to increase the frequency of the bus service and also decided that trucks would be allowed to use this route to promote trade. They also agreed to open additional routes, the next being the Poonch-Rawalakot link. They also look forward to early start of the bus service between Amritsar and Lahore and to religious places such as Nankana Sahib.

 

10.     They agreed to re-establish the Khokhrapar-Munnabao route by January 1, 2006.

 

11.     They agreed that the Consulates of the two countries in Mumbai and Karachi respectively would be opened before the end of the current year.

 

12.     They endorsed the decisions taken in the meetings of foreign secretaries of the two countries on December 27-28, 2004, and the foreign ministers on February 15-17, 2005, on the schedule of meetings later in the year, the agreements to be worked upon through these meetings and the measures to be taken to alleviate the situation of prisoners.

 

13.     On the issues of the Sir Creek and Siachen, they instructed that the existing institutional mechanisms should convene discussions immediately with a view to finding mutually acceptable solutions to both issues expeditiously.

 

14.     It was agreed that the Ministers of Petroleum and Natural Gas would meet in May to explore cooperation in the sector including on the issue to pipelines.

 

15.     Both leaders agreed that enhanced economic and commercial cooperation would contribute to the well being of the people of the two countries and bring a higher level of prosperity for the region. The two leading economies of South Asia should work together for the greater prosperity of the region.

 

16.     The leaders decided to reactivate the Joint Economic Commission as early as possible. They also agreed that the Joint Business Council should meet soon.

 

17.     The Pakistan President conveyed his gratitude for the hospitality provided during the visit and invited the Prime Minister to visit Pakistan. The invitation was accepted in principle. Mutually agreed dates would be worked out through diplomatic channels.

 

 

FEATURES

 

Settling the Kashmir issue

Dr Mubashir Hasan, Dawn


A win, win, win solution of the issue of Kashmir is feasible – a win each for Pakistan and India and a win for the people of the former state of Jammu and Kashmir. Each of the three can settle for more than what they now have in real terms.  The sole mention of Kashmir in the Constitution of Pakistan is: “When the people of the state of Jammu and Kashmir decide to accede to Pakistan, the relationship between Pakistan and the State shall be determined in accordance with the wishes of the people of the State”.  Pakistan considers the entire territory of the former State of Jammu and Kashmir as an area under dispute. It does not recognize the Indian jurisdiction over any part of the former state.  However, Pakistan has taken the position that any solution of the dispute which is acceptable to the people of the former state is acceptable to Pakistan. It no longer insists on the enforcement of those parts of the resolutions of the United Nations, which would have resulted in the entire state either acceding to Pakistan or India.

General Pervez Musharraf has declared that neither the conversion of the Line of Control into an international border nor independence for the state is acceptable to Pakistan.  Since Pakistan considers the former state of Jammu and Kashmir as a disputed territory, it does not claim sovereignty over any area of the state. The area Pakistan calls Azad Kashmir has its own president, parliament, prime minister, supreme court, high court and other institutions.  It has wide internal autonomy. On behalf of the government of Azad Kashmir, Islamabad is responsible for defense, foreign affairs and immigration questions pertaining to the area.  In such a situation, if a solution can be found which gives Pakistan a certain status in the territory now under India's control and makes legal certain aspects of its authority in the areas lying to the west of the Line of Control, it would be a net gain for Pakistan.  India claims sovereignty over the entire territory of the former state. However, along with the government of Azad Kashmir, Pakistan exercises control over certain areas of the former state, which lie to the west and north of the Line of Control.  It is generally believed that should Pakistan and Azad Kashmir agree, India would accept the Line of Control, with minor changes, as the international border - that is, relinquish its sovereign claim over what is with Pakistan and Azad Kashmir as of now.

New Delhi ceded parts of its sovereignty to the state legislature in Srinagar under Article 370 of the Constitution of India. It is generally believed that India is prepared to enhance the autonomous status of the former state as long as it does not amount to independence.  Declared Prime Minister Narasimha Rao of India in 1995: “Independence no, autonomy, sky is the limit”. The declaration has been reaffirmed recently by Kanwar Natwar Singh, India’s Minister of External Affairs.  In such a situation, if a solution can be found which gives India a certain status in the territory now under Pakistan’s control, in lieu of conceding wide autonomy to the state as well as giving Pakistan a certain status in the part of the state now under India’s control, it would be a net gain for India.  Apparently, people in large numbers in the former state of Jammu and Kashmir do not wish to be ruled either by India or Pakistan. They would like to be independent. However, neither India nor Pakistan is ready to consider this option as a solution to the dispute.

The opinion in the international community also does not seem to favor the emergence of a new independent state in the region. For the time being, those who are for complete independence may consider fulfilling their aspirations to the extent of the widest possible autonomy. That will be, indeed, a big change in their favor from their present status. The win, win, win solution may be based, therefore, on the following premises:

DEFENCE: Authority to defend a territory with armed might is one of the basic tenets of the exercise of sovereignty. Let India and Pakistan continue to be responsible for the defense of the borders of the former state against any power as they do, and at places they do, today.

India’s de facto authority as it exercises today along the Ladakh border becomes de jure. Pakistan does the same along the Khunjrab border in a legally recognized manner. If they wish they may form a consultative body on defence matters of which the government of the state may also be a member.  India and Pakistan agree to enter into a treaty with each other that the two countries shall not prepare for or wage war in the territory of the former state of Jammu and Kashmir.   In so agreeing, the need for defending the Line of Control along almost 800 km ceases to exist and the way is cleared for the withdrawal of their forces stationed along this line.

India and Pakistan agree that the former state shall reunite as an undivided entity. This agreement shall fulfil one of the basic nationalist aspirations of the people of the former state.  The state of Kashmir pledges not to build an army of its own and India and Pakistan agree to relinquish the role of their armies of coming to the aid of civil power in the state. These undertakings shall strengthen the internal autonomy of the administration of the state, much to the relief of the armies of India and Pakistan.  No longer required along the Line of Control and to act in aid of civil power, India and Pakistan agree to withdraw their armies from Kashmir except from the borders of Kashmir with China.

FOREIGN RELATIONS: At present the foreign relations of a part of the former state are conducted by Pakistan and of the other part by India. In the proposed solution, India and Pakistan may jointly be responsible for those aspects of relations, which affect the security interests of either country including those of foreign investment, aid and grants. The state may exercise authority in establishing ties with other states in commerce and trade and other matters with the agreement of Pakistan and India.

ACCESS AND TRADE: Citizens of Kashmir acquire the right of entry and of doing business in Pakistan as well as India as if they were citizens of India and Pakistan as well.  The communication, transportation, educational and other infra structural facilities of India and Pakistan may be available to Kashmiris without any discriminatory restrictions.  The produce, manufactures and services of Kashmir should have access to the markets of India and Pakistan without any duties or charges; similarly, Indian and Pakistani produce, manufactures and services should have free access to the markets of Kashmir.  The citizens of India and Pakistan are able to travel throughout the former state without let or hindrance. Since the sights of the two countries are on a visa-free regime within the SAARC areas, a beginning with removing travel restrictions with Kashmir may prove to be auspicious.  These measures will be a big gain for India and Pakistan and an economic boom for the state of Kashmir. The currencies of Pakistan and India may be made legal tender throughout the former state.

PASSPORTS: Passports issued by the state of Kashmir have the status of those issued by the state before 1947. Visas issued by Pakistan and India to be valid for Kashmir.

INDUS WATERS: The status and validity of the Indus Basin Waters Treaty between India and Pakistan remains unchanged.

AUTONOMY: Subject to the foregoing, the legislature of Kashmir, by whatever name called, may exercise full autonomy.

FINANCES: Pakistan and India agree to give substantial budgetary support to the state government for the next 20 years. Pakistan's security will be greatly enhanced.

From the northern and central parts of the Line of Control, Indian army positions will move far away to the east. The need for defending the Line of Control along almost 800 km ceases to exist. Pakistan's defensive position at the Chinese border will remain unchanged.  Pakistan will not only legally acquire certain aspects of sovereignty now available to it in the areas to the west of the Line of Control, but also enhances its status in the areas to the east of the LoC.  Pakistan’s right to travel and trade in the entire state and its right to defend the Khunjrab border will acquire legal sanction. The citizens of Pakistan will be free to travel and trade in the areas of the state hitherto inaccessible to them.  India’s security concerns will be well protected and its right to defend the Ladakh border remain intact. The need for defending the Line of Control will cease to exist.

Citizens of India will be free to travel and trade in the areas of the state not accessible to them so far. Kashmir will become almost independent with a friendly India and a friendly Pakistan on its sides. The unity of the state will be restored.  It will acquire an identity as an autonomous unit in South Asia. Its defense against China, India and Pakistan will stand guaranteed without any budget expenditure on its part. The Kashmiris will become almost citizens of the three domains.  The gains for Pakistan, India and Kashmiris will be a true gain for South Asia and, indeed, for the whole world. The specter of nuclear war will be lifted forever. The long-term prospects of peace and prosperity will be greatly enhanced.

 

An infrastructure of hope

Pervez Hoodbhoy, Daily Times, 23 April

 

Against the wishes of militant Shiv Sena activists and Pakistan’s Islamist parties, Pakistan and India are talking. General Pervez Musharraf said on his recent visit that military force was “not the option anymore” for settling Kashmir. A year-old ceasefire is holding and the artillery remains stubbornly silent along the LOC as well as on the Siachen glacier. The joyous reception given by Kashmiris to the maiden voyage of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad buses was a decisive rejection of extremists who had threatened to bomb the bus from Srinagar and kill its passengers. Agreements in New Delhi on encouraging trade and travel add to the opportunities for contact, cooperation and inter-dependence.

These developments are cause for rejoicing. For, just three years ago, gripped by war psychosis, the two countries nearly came to blows. But all the present openings can be closed by either state at a moment's notice. The real test is: are the two states ready to make meaningful concessions and to make them irreversible? Kashmir is central to this.
General Musharraf insists that a solution to Kashmir must be found expeditiously. This may be public posturing or the expression of genuine conviction. In either case, he surely knows that, just as certain mathematical equations have no solution, the Kashmir problem is unsolvable inside the current solution space. India has categorically rejected the idea of a second partition or a territorial readjustment.

Pakistan’s options have run out. This is not just because Pakistan is militarily incapable of wresting Kashmir from Indian rule. Its assumption – that keeping the world focused on Kashmir was good - has also turned out to be a miscalculation. In fact, once the world fully understood, the reaction was not at all what Pakistan had in mind. The idea of jihadis active in, and supported by, a nuclear-armed state set off alarm bells everywhere, including Washington.  Extremist Islamic groups irreversibly eroded the moral high ground held by Kashmiris. They allowed India, the occupying power in Kashmir, to successfully portray itself as a victim of covert terror. So, in spite of rhetorical denials, Musharraf was forced to put Kashmir on the back burner. He got away with it, thereby demolishing the myth that no Pakistani government that compromises on Kashmir can survive.

Nevertheless, it will be a big mistake for India to declare victory or claim that the present situation vindicates its claim on Kashmir. Over the past two decades India has been morally isolated from Kashmiri Muslims. It continues to incur in the Valley the very considerable costs of an occupation. Indian soldiers continue to needlessly die – and to kill and oppress innocents.  At some point both parties must move boldly to a final solution. The LOC can be fuzzied, made highly permeable, and demilitarized up to some mutually negotiated depth on both sides. True, there will be protests in Pakistan. But if accompanied by appropriate sweeteners, these would not be fatal to Musharraf’s government provided it appropriately negotiates the terms and prepares the Pakistani public.

The path forward is becoming clear. It is time to build a political, social and economic infrastructure of hope and of mutual interests that can sustain the difficult journey to a peaceful future. The reasons for India desiring a rapprochement with Pakistan, and thus ending decades of hostility, are obvious. They need not be re-stated here. The reasons hold also for Pakistan - or at least for its civil society. And then there is one more reason.  In Pakistan the conflict is growing between those who seek to be part of the modern world and those who want to put a beard on every Muslim man and a veil on every Muslim woman. An alliance of Islamic parties (MMA) runs the government in the NWFP and is a coalition partner in Balochistan. It wants to end co-education, segregate women from public life, pass laws banning women from appearing on television and in advertisements, and heap yet more Islamic materials onto schoolbooks. The ferocity of this conflict increases by the day: MMA activists recently went on a rampage to stop girl students from running in a race; the column in Pakistani passports specifying religion has been reinstated; and Pakistani public schools are becoming as grim as madrassas.

Conflict with India fuels religious fervor. The use of jihad by the Pakistan Army as an instrument of foreign policy in Kashmir, and earlier in Afghanistan, profoundly changed Pakistani society. The army expressed concern after Sunni-Shia warfare threatened to engulf the country but woke up only after its senior officers – including General Musharraf himself – repeatedly became the targets of assassination attempts by irate jihadi ex-allies, summarily abandoned after 9/11.  General Musharraf is suspected by the mullahs to be a closet secularist. His international backers in Washington and London hope that the allegations are true. But he is no Ataturk. He has no strong agenda for social reform. Further, he is still a general and his real constituency is the military high command. This puts the army's institutional interests above all else. The Islamists have discovered, to their great delight, that even mild pressure suffices to make a celebrated commando retreat. Attempts to modify the blasphemy laws, moderate the madrassas, change the curriculum, and remove the religion column in Pakistani passports, have all failed for lack of resolve. This lack of resolve, in turn, comes from wanting to keep options on Kashmir open - the army may again need its former allies.

Peace with India will not instantaneously transform Pakistan into a modern, forward-looking society. But it will go a long way in making this transition possible. The stakes for Pakistan are very high.

The writer teaches at Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad

 

 

FELLOWSHIP AND AWARDS

 

The United States Institute of Peace invites applications for the 2006-2007 Senior Fellowship competition in the Jennings Randolph Program for International Peace.

The United States Institute of Peace is an independent, nonpartisan institution created by Congress to strengthen the nation’s capacity to promote the peaceful resolution of international conflict.  Twelve to fifteen fellowships are awarded annually to scholars and practitioners from a variety of professions, including college and university faculty, journalists, diplomats, writers, educators, military officers, international negotiators, NGO professionals, and lawyers.  The Institute funds projects related to preventive diplomacy, ethnic and regional conflicts, peacekeeping and peace operations, peace settlements, democratization and the rule of law, cross-cultural negotiations, nonviolent social movements, U.S. foreign policy in the 21st century, and related topics.  This year the Institute is especially interested in topics addressing problems of the Muslim world, post-war reconstruction and reconciliation, and responses to terrorism and political violence. Projects which demonstrate relevance to current policy debates will be highly competitive.  Fellows reside at the Institute in Washington, D.C. for a period of up to ten months to conduct research on their projects, consult with staff, and contribute to the ongoing work of the Institute.  Books and reports resulting from fellowships may be published by the USIP Press. The fellowship award includes a stipend of up to $80,000, travel to Washington for the fellow and dependents, health insurance, an office with computer and voicemail, and a half-time research assistant.  The competition is open to citizens of all nations.  Women and minorities are especially encouraged to apply.  All application materials must be received in our offices by September 15, 2005.  For more information and an application form, please visit the Institute’s website at
<www.usip.org>, or contact the Jennings Randolph Program, U.S. Institute of Peace, 1200 17th Street, NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20036-3011, USA, phone:  202.429.3886, fax: 202.429.6063, e-mail: jrprogram@usip.org.

 The United States Institute of Peace invites applications for the 2006-2007 Peace Scholar dissertation fellowship competition of the Jennings Randolph Program for International Peace.

The United States Institute of Peace is an independent, nonpartisan institution created by Congress to strengthen the nation’s capacity to promote the peaceful resolution of international conflict.  The Peace Scholar program supports doctoral dissertations that explore the sources and nature of international conflict, and strategies to prevent or end conflict and to sustain peace.  Dissertations from a broad range of disciplines and interdisciplinary fields are eligible.  Peace Scholars work at their universities or appropriate field research sites.  Priority will be given to projects that contribute knowledge relevant to the formulation of policy on international peace and conflict issues.  Citizens of all countries are eligible, but Peace Scholars must be enrolled in an accredited college or university in the United States.  Applicants must have completed all requirements for the degree except the dissertation by the commencement of the award (September 1, 2006).  The dissertation fellowship award is $17,000 for one year and may be used to support writing or field research.  All application materials must be received in our offices by January 9, 2006.  For more information and an application form, please visit the Institute’s website at <www.usip.org>, or contact the Jennings Randolph Program, U.S. Institute of Peace, 1200 17th

Street, NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20036-3011, USA, phone:  202.429.3886, fax: 202.429.6063, e-mail: jrprogram@usip.org.

------------------
Jean R Brodeur (jbrodeur@usip.org)
Program Assistant
Jennings Randolph Program for International Peace
United States Institute of Peace
1200 17th Street NW
Washington DC 20036
Tel. 202-429-3853
Fax. 202-822-5199

 

 

PEACE EVENTS

 

Final Day of India Pakistan Peace March  (New Delhi to Multan), March 23 to May 11, 2005
Sandeep Pandey ashaashram@yahoo.com and Karamat Ali karamatpiler@yahoo.com

 Ek hi khwaab jo kai baar dekha hai    ... ... ...
 aur aankhein kholne par bhi    ... ... ...
    ... ... ... yahii khwaab sach ban kar saamne hota hai...
 Ek hi khwaab kai baar dekha hai maine...

 

India Pakistan Peace March today on May 11, 2005, reached a historic milestone – the destination where it was supposed to end – Multan. The support of the people of both countries has been ever growing to this movement, and it was so evident on the last day – more than 4500 people from all across Pakistan had traveled to come over and participate in the concluding day programmes of India Pakistan Peace March. The city of Multan had many billboards welcoming the people to India Pakistan peace march and hundreds of banners/ posters put up all across the city to mobilize people for the concluding day events in Multan. This is definitely unprecedented for this movement and provides tremendous assurance for future too.


When the Indian peace marchers reached near the city of Multan, thousands of people were lined up with flowers and love dispersed all around for nearly three kilometers of distance. People were overwhelmed and emotions flowed uninhibited. The enthusiasm was at a record high, undoubtedly. The peace marchers went to the mazar of sufi saint bahodin zakaria and after seeking the saint's blessings, they moved forward.  On the last day, a peace conference was held and close to 1000 people registered in today's events. They participated in a march procession and went all around Multan to spread the message of love and harmony.


This entire peace initiative, connecting thousands of people with love and harmony gives a strong mandate for peaceful co-existence. This stands starkly in contrast to the way governments of India and Pakistan responded to the peace marchers with rude reluctance and unsuccessful bids to thwart the march. Considering the high level peace process which is going on between the two nations, the support and patronage of the governments of these two nations should have been upfront, forthcoming and exemplary. Sadly it wasn't so.


The stumbling blocks that came across the way of India Pakistan Peace March were indeed many, agreed, but the dexterity and steely resolve of the people of India and Pakistan grew phenomenally too, to take the peace march forward. Although today the peace march might come to an end, but the peace process connecting people of
both nations, has a very long way to go. With the unprecedented love and support this peace march got from people of both nations, the seemingly impossible dream of restoring harmony between these two nations, never looked so possible.

 

South Asia Forum-Madison (SAF-M) holds evening of expression and dialogue

Saturday, April 9, 2005, Madison-Wisconsin

 

Borders whether real or imagined have played a significant role in the history of all nation-states. Perhaps they arise from the human necessity to delineate the “self” from the “other, the majority from the minorities, and “us” from  “them,” often at the cost of alienating the “other” for being different. Geographical borders may be indeed be artificially created, but they have the power to divide not just land, but human lives and emotions. The legacy of Partition has been one such experience.

 

South Asia Forum-Madison (SAF-M) organized an evening of expression titled Aman-O-Shanti (peace), in an effort to promote dialogue between Indians and Pakistanis in diaspora. The event was held in conjunction with the Indo-Pak Peace march, which commenced in New Delhi on March 23rd and is planning to reach Multan on May 11th 2005. This event is the first of its kind in which Indians and Pakistanis will walk (based on permission from both governments) through cities and villages, as well as rural and urban settlements of both countries, talking to people along the way about their lived experiences, their lives, their struggles and their desire for peace in the Indo-Pak region.

 

In an effort to express solidarity with the Indian and Pakistani brothers and sisters involved in the peace march, many South Asian expatriate communities are holding local events in their countries of residence to promote a people-to-people dialogue between the two countries.
 

The peace event held by SAF-M, an on-campus organization at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, provided the opportunity to many Indians and Pakistanis both on and off campus (as well as other international and local students) to socialize and share their experiences.  The event began with the screening of a short film called “Little Terrorist.” This Oscar nominee is based on the true story of a 12-year-old Pakistani boy who mistakenly crossed the Indo-Pak border and was restored to his family by the Indian government, thawing the earlier tension between the two countries who had come close to a war less than a year earlier (Kargil). The film deviated from the actual story in that the young Pakistani boy was sheltered from Indian soldiers by a Hindu Brahmin and his niece, who helped him reach his home safely across the border. The message was clear: the only hope for peace is to realize the humanity that is universal in us and that cuts across all borders and boundaries.

 

The film was followed by a discussion in which participants candidly spoke about their experiences of and feelings for each other: things they had learnt about each other since childhood, stories they were told, books they had read, debates on national media and so forth. A myriad of emotions were expressed: fear, curiosity, resentment, desire for harmony, hope, tolerance, compassion. People spoke of random acts of kindness that changed the way they thought about each other and dispelled previously held biases, as well as those awkward moments that followed when one confessed they were Pakistani to an Indian cab driver and vice versa. Participants shared songs and poems which they had either written themselves or had selected from the works renowned poets of the subcontinent such as Faiz, Faraz and Tagore. Favorite topics of discussion included (but were not restricted to) Partition, Bollywood, cricket, Kashmir, cricket, the current governments and global political issues, cricket, music, cricket, ethnic conflicts, folk festivals, cricket, religion, cricket…and cricket!

 

Afterwards, everyone got together to paint a banner that will be presented to a delegation from Minneapolis who is traveling to the Wagah border for the grand peace ceremony in May. The event ended with a bhangra in which everyone joined in.

 

SAF member Ayeshah commented, “ Peace in the subcontinent is not a far off, idealistic dream. It can be achieved, despite political propaganda and religious fundamentalism. But it can only be achieved when the people – the masses - make an effort to know their Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Buddhist or Jain neighbor on a personal level; when people learn to celebrate similarities and respect differences. And this action begins with ourselves.” In the words of poetess Munnawwar Sultana: Mohabbat ke hunar ko istarah taqseem karna hai, Rahe tera bharam bhi aur khud ko bhi tasleem karna hai (Let us share love in such a manner that you are content and I too am allowed my views).

 

South Asia Forum-Madison (SAF-M) is a Madison based collective consisting primarily of students, activists and others who are interested in promoting discussion and awareness about issues pertaining to South Asia. Ideologically, it is a group committed to an agenda of peace and harmony among peoples - across boundaries of nationality, religion, race, class, color, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation. The main focus, however, is on the South Asian region.

For further information, please contact Ayeshah Iftikhar at ayeshah_i@hotmail.com

 

Transcend Peace University (TPU)
October Semester 2005

 

Johan Galtung, the Rector of TPU and one of the founders of peace studies, invites you to join practitioners and students from around the world on-line.  With faculty and Course Directors drawn from amongst the leading scholars and practitioners in their fields internationally, TPU is the world's first truly global, on-line Peace University designed for government and NGO practitioners, policy makers and students at any level working in the fields of peace, conflict transformation, development and global issues. Since 1996 300+ on-site skills institutes have been offered for 6,000+ participants around the world, using the TRANSCEND manual “Conflict Transformation By Peaceful Means,” published by the United Nations.  There will be certificates; for single courses, diplomas for clusters of courses and eventually BA, MA; and PhD degrees. Participants may combine on-line and on-site courses.

 

In the 2005 October Semester TPU will offer the following 16 courses:

 

  1. Peaceful Conflict Transformation, Johan Galtung
  2. Nonviolence as Political Tool and Philosophy, Jorgen Johansen
  3. Peace Journalism, Jake Lynch and Annabel McGoldrick
  4. Film and Peace, Paul D. Scott
  5. Deep Culture in Conflict, Johan Galtung, Wilfried Graf and Gudrun Kramer
  6. Democratization and Development, Paul D. Scott
  7. Dialogue, Peace and Development, Katrin Kaeufer and Claus Otto Scharmer
  8. Conflict Prevention, Intervention, Reconciliation and Reconstruction, S. P. Udayakumar
  9. Peace Futures: Mapping, Anticipating and Deepening Approaches to the Futures of Peace (and War), Sohail Inayatullah
  10. Peace Museums, Christophe Bouillet
  11. Peace Zones, Christophe Barbey
  12. Transformacion Pacifica de Conflictos, Sara Rozenblum de Horowitz
  13. Peace Business and Economics, Howard Richards
  14. Literature and Peace, Marisa Antonaya
  15. Art and Peace, Olivier Urbain
  16. Gender, Social Constructions, Power Relations and Militarism: Integrated Approaches to Gender Empowerment, Gal Harmat

 

Starting Date: October 3, 2005 (or two weeks after the minimum number of students is met for that course)

Ending Date: January 16, 2006

Deadline for Registration: September 15, 2005

 

Cost per one Course: For EU/Western Europe, North American, Japanese and South-East Asian/Australian, participants 300 Euros. For all others 150 Euros.

 

For more information or to register, please contact the TRANSCEND Peace University Global Center in Cluj, Romania with a staff to handle information, applications, payments, course related questions, and computer support:

E-mail: tpu@transcend.org

 

Tel +40-724-380511

Fax:+40-264-420298

Web-site www.transcend.org/tpu

 

 

India-Pakistan Peace Day 2005

Pritam K. Rohila, PhD

 

In response to our recent request, some people on our various mailing lists have sent us the following suggestions regarding the theme and the core project for India-Pakistan Peace Day 2005. What do you think?  Please send your views to me, before May 30, at pritamr@open.org. Your views will help our Board of Directors to make the final selection in their meeting on June 2, 2005.  As many of you would recall, this would be the second year of our campaign, requesting friends of peace to organize celebrations of India-Pakistan Peace Day 2005 everywhere, any day between August 1 and October 31.

 

Last year, we had focused on Partition of 1947. Our core project was a petition to the governments of India and Pakistan to build on the Wagah border a joint memorial to the victims of the Partition-related violence, on both sides of their common border. People from more than 20 countries had signed the petition.

 

For its delivery to the Heads of their governments, I gave the petition personally to Mr. Shaukat Aziz, Prime Minister of Pakistan and Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, President of Indian National Congress, on January 1 and 6, respectively. I had visited them at their residences as a member of the Joint to India- Pakistan Peace and Goodwill Mission consisting of Nonresident Indians and Pakistani from Canada, UK and USA.

 

Please do visit our websites www.indiapakistanpeace.org and www.asiapeace.org

Best wishes,

Pritam Rohila

 

Theme

  1. Peace between peoples on cultural/linguistic and racial grounds
  2. Common tradition of dance and music
  3. Strengthening the ties – using cultural similarities between India and Pakistan to solidify the relationship between the two countries
  4. Strength in Unity - what India and Pakistan would gain by settling differences between the two countries
  5. “In Step” – India and Pakistan coming together to reach a common goal
  6. “Stairway to Peace” – Together We Can Achieve Peace One Step at a Time
  7. Books, education and young people all in the cause of peace
  8. Celebrating our shared culture to promote peace in South Asia

 

Core Project

  1. Story writing competition on “promoting peace”
  2. Ways to bring erstwhile neighbors or their progeny together. Let them stay in each other’s homes
  3. Well of Memories (Yadon ka Kuna): A website for personal stories of Partition
  4. Enhancing People to people contacts: Reconnecting families, Developing Linkages
  5. Getting visa restrictions down to a minimum
  6. On each side of the border, establishing a modest hospital, a school or a rest area along the road from Amritsar to Lahore