INDIA

India on her own

Often the worst bit of criticism that a developing nation like India has to pick up on its self-gratulatory path to worldly retribution and acceptance, is that which comes in the form of sublime and subtle ‘digs’ at her very self. They are subtle because they are sublime and they are sublime because they are subtle. Such ‘digs’ are, most usually, targeted at newspaper stuff — an ‘unbelievable’ sect of poverty, a dash of ‘culture clash’ and that age-old, still-potent mix of mosquitoes, elephants and curry rice.

Which is why Shilpa Shetty was called ‘Poppadom’ on British television, courtesy Celebrity Big Brother. Which triggered off a rarely-seen-before chain of diplomatic meetings at the highest levels of archaic courtesy, that involved much tape being cut (pun intended ), much ‘dhol’-beating, and much of a wondrous culture connect — wondrous for its longevity and wondrous for its spirit.

Al Pachauri won the highest worldly accolade last year — the Nobel Prize. And Rajasthan featured on the list of the most popular tourist stops of the Hollywood-ers. A bloodthirsty India, high on their adrenaline, won the T20 World Cup. And Shahrukh Khan added to the index of Indians immortalised in resplendent Tussaud’s wax.

All such and more have often left me wondering, where then that utterly imbecile perception still stands. And I have seen it do — in self-inflicted blows on our own booming sequences of growth. In Richard Gere being heckled. In our standing up for it. In patronizing foreign nuclear portents with enthusiasm and in discarding foreign retailers with communism. In our own time-tested (and none the worse for it) lofty assertions of a ‘culture’ nonpareil, embroiled in tradition, myth and pseudo-myth. That alone lends credence to such popular perceptions of the ‘curry rice’. For we somewhere, are ourselves, still clinging surreptitiously to it.

It is a complex idea, I confess. And nothing to do with clock-stopping politics, economics or even entertainment. The idea is based solely and strongly on the Indian individual — that still prunes and preens itself in looked through the soiled glass of yesteryear.

We are there. Or we can be. With only a little faith. Reposed in ourselves. Invested in our today. And in our Indianness. Shedding away with vigorous dexterity the ensanguined mist of yesterday. To look at tomorrow.

Perhaps India’s core problem lies in the fact that she herself subconsciously subscribes to the ‘phoren’ perception, holding and upholding it, forgetting even herself in the process. Hardly befitting of a ‘septuagenarian’ brought up on the anvil of the world’s biggest democracy, earned through a well-fought independence, with arguably the fastest development since. Perhaps India is still walking in her own shadow. Perhaps it is about time that she stepped out of it now.

– Urmi Bhattacheryya, special to Himal Southasian

Travel and crossovers …

“Don’t tie your hair up. You look older than your age. What work do you do?” Victory asked me.

“I go to the slums and travel around a lot,” I said.

“With kids you work huh?” Victory asked.

“No, I like to watch how cash circulation and rotation takes place among people in the slums,” I replied.

So here I was (or should I say ‘there I was’), in the saloon, with Victory who eventually, a few hours ago, cut my hair. Victory is neither male nor female. I don’t know what she is. And I cannot care because she is one of those few people who have crossed the biological boundary of male and female. The rest of us travel between these two boundaries psychologically, personally and spiritually.

This morning, as Victory was snipping away my hair, I asked her where she was from.

“Calcutta. Three of my brothers are married there.”

“Ah, my sister is married in Calcutta.”

“Yeah. I was working for 18 years in Bombay. But the problem is that if you do not have a place of your own in Bombay, then it is very difficult. My boss there had a maid. So my boss’s house was a few feet away from the sea and this maid had a little jhopda between my boss’s house and the sea. She told me, ‘pay 10,000 rupees and create a jhopda here, next to mine.’ I said I can’t live amidst these people and flatly refused. Then, a few years ago, I went to Bombay and saw that that jhopda was now a two storey building with proper electricity and water supply.” Victory started laughing as she said this.

“Now, only if you would have listened to her; you would have had become a real estate owner in Bombay. How we don’t take these pieces of advice!”

Victory laughed again. She started sprucing my hair and telling me how to style it and then look wild as I traveled through the slums.

“Yeah, I look wild there anyway. And the men are a tough cookie to talk to.”

“Yeah, they can eye you and you can have a tough time, like those American girls who would come down to Calcutta and join the Mother Teressa foundation to become nuns. They would dress in white sarees and look like satyam shivam sundaram. One of the girls was cornered by the men and my mother turned around to her and told her to go back to her country. We did not see her after a while.”

Victory told me that her home in Calcutta was at Bonga which is the border village between Bangladesh and India.

“At that time, there was no Bangladesh or East Pakistan. We would walk across freely.”

We talked all the while as she went snip-snip at my hair. We spoke of saloons in Britain and according to her, the British, after the Egyptians, are the best hairdressers because they wear wigs.

“So do men make better hairdressers?” I asked.

“Why do you say so? People say men are better cooks but women are very good with their culinary skills too. There is nothing like men are better than women in certain skills. Both are good. It is like there is no Western or Indian hairstyle. Hairstyle is hairstyle. But you see all these make-up artists in the film industry, like Cory Walia. They are all gay. That is because you need to think in a feminine way to do make-up for women. Like Jackie Shroff can be the ultimate man but he cannot dress up a woman! But society does not accept gay people. There are laws against gay people. I think marriage and family are all personal issues and the government should not interfere in these matters.”

We talked for a while more about Europe being highly Christian and Hitler massacring the homosexuals during the Holocaust. When she finished, she said it was nice talking to me.

So here I was, or there I was, or somewhere in between, in this city where I feel lost and found at various points in time. At one point in time, I was looking for those thrilling and exciting experiences in the city which would get me to write. In my mind, that distinction between the exciting everyday and the mundane everyday was clearly drawn up. But here I am, discovering people and drawing myself into encounters and interactions. Here I am, somewhere, traveling through people, their minds, my mind and myself. And there are crossovers, at each moment …

I am still finding myself …

– WBFS blog

Petition against water wastage in Chennai

To: Dr M Karunanidhi, Honourable Chief Minister, Government of Tamil Nadu

We are horrified to learn from news reports that in Chennai, a perennially water starved city, the Government of Tamil Nadu is partnering a massive luxury entertainment event at Island Grounds using artificially generated snow during the height of summer, when major parts of the city and surrounding areas face acute water shortage. We fail to understand how the Government of Tamil Nadu could back such a reckless entertainment complex, scheduled to run for a full month from 1st May to 1st June, 2008, which carelessly squanders water for the sake of luxury entertainment.

Have our Government and policy makers forgotten the bitter memories of the water shortage of 2003 and 2004 when millions of Chennai residents suffered terrible summer heat made worse by irregular water supply? Have our policy makers forgotten the sight of distressed Chennai-vasis fighting for water around water tankers even as the official agencies desperately hunted for water to tap? We fail to understand how official agencies like TWAD, Metrowater, Tamil Nadu Tourism Board, TN Pollution Control Board and others could have given permission for such a terribly damaging scheme of water use.

The water drought in 2004 was so severe that the Government was forced to stop agricultural operations in areas around Chennai so that the ground water could be used for drinking water purposes. Well-fields like Poondi, Tamaraipakkam, Kannigaiper, Panjetty and Minjur and Kosasthalayar, which had managed to meet the city’s needs in previous decades, were so badly exploited that the water aquifers were almost totally destroyed. Good rains in later years have not managed to adequately refill the badly affected water aquifers.

Water availability is a serious issue in Tamil Nadu, which is a rain shadow region. The government’s ground water data shows that in 1997, of the 380+ blocks in Tamil Nadu, only 137 were “Safe Water” blocks with adequate ground water availability. By 2003, this number had come down to 97. Over-exploitation of ground water had reduced per capita water availability in Tamil Nadu to 840 CUM (cubic metres) whereas the national average was 1200 CUM. Internationally, less than 1000 CUM indicates a “Water Scarcity Area”. Our state thus qualifies for that status.

This situation will be worsened through wasteful luxury parks like `Snow Ball’. The upcoming launch of ‘Snow Ball’ on 1st May at Chennai’s Island Grounds includes plans of 15,000 square feet of snow area. Along with the snow arena, there are to be 150 air-conditioned stalls with, presumably, exhibitions and sales by sponsors. Event organizers also inform us of movie screenings, “fashion shows”, “amusement rides” and other forms of entertainment.

While we do not object to the idea of catering to entertainment needs of Chennai residents, we cannot accept that this be brought about by exploiting a precariously-poised, crisis-ridden resource like water. Entertainment of some can never be justified when it comes at the cost of the basic needs of others. A majority of Chennai-ites cannot afford to spend 150 rupees per head for half a day’s entertainment. On the other hand, many do not get an adequate supply of water and electricity to even experience a decent standard of living.

We would like to stress that good rains in the last two years may perhaps have reduced the intensity of water shortage, but has not solved it completely. Expert agencies have already sounded a warning of a major water crisis hitting not just our state, but also many regions of India. The spectre of climate change and changing weather and monsoon patterns also makes the situation extremely serious and not something which can be played with.

Thus, for an event such as Snow Ball, promoting the extravagant abuse of our most precious resources – water and another equally inadequately available resource, electricity – to not only be allowed but also partnered by a government authority is unacceptable to us. While multiple corporate brands are being promoted as part of ‘the good life’ at Island Grounds during May, many parts of the city and its outskirts will continue to suffer the grim water shortages of a Chennai summer, without round-the-clock electricity to provide even the vestige of relief.

We whole-heartedly condemn the blatant misuse of water and electricity that is to accompany the production of snow scheduled to take place at Island Grounds throughout May, 2008 as part of ‘Snow Ball’. We demand that the Government of Tamil Nadu direct that the water based events be totally stopped. If this means putting an end to the snow area, that is no tragedy compared to the bigger one that will result if the event is allowed to go ahead as it stands.

– Siddharth Sareen, Petition Online

PAKISTAN

Open letter to Asif Zardari

Dear Mr Asif Ali Zardari,

The election result was an answer to the prayers of the nation. However, the forces of evil forces have been bending over backwards trying to sabotage the democratic process and incite the lawyers into entering into a confrontation with the new government.

They need to be told that we are not the gullible sheep of the past. I am a born optimist, and while writing this, a part of me tells me not to be silly. I want to believe that the Bhurban accord will be honoured and that the tenure will be as it was on 2 Nov.

The nation is absolutely not prepared to consider such a humiliating option. It is humiliating for the deposed judges, who for the sake of this ravaged country, put their families at risk. You must have experienced that fear too when Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan last October.

It will be an insult to her memory because she risked her life for democracy, and she, above all, knew what an independent judge meant.

It is trivialising the sacrifices of the lawyers, who, despite all odds, have stood their ground for over a year. The world has already accepted Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and the 60 honourable judges as icons of the struggle for an independent judiciary. Theirs and the names of thousands of brave lawyers have already gone down in history for all times.

A compromised restoration will be an insult to the memory of Hammad Raza, the first precious life lost after March 9, 2007. What about the massacre on May 12, the carnage the day Benazir landed in Karachi, the brutality unleashed on lawyers and civil society, the inhuman act of burning lawyers alive in Karachi? It will be insulting the memory of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, whose mission was to restore democracy, and who better than her knew the value of an independent judge. The nation lost a great leader on that tragic day.

Too much water has flowed under the bridge, and it is unthinkable that after getting this far, there can be talk about actually penalising the judges. Because that’s exactly what this act would be.

Mr Zardari, I am fully aware of your sufferings, the brutal act of cutting your tongue, your long years in prison, and the fact that you did not have a pleasant experience with the judiciary at the time. We condemned it then and we condemn it now. But, sir, it was a different Pakistan then, which I say with regret. As I said earlier, we were a nation of sheep. Why am I not writing to President Musharraf? Because one pleads before someone who you have faith will relate to you — and that’s the beauty of democracy.

My late father, Justice Safdar Shah, was a victim of an amendment in the Constitution by Mr Z.A. Bhutto when he was chief justice of the Peshawar High Court, identical to the one I am writing about. An ideal person to be appointed judge of the Supreme Court by Gen Zia and to be party to the judicial murder of the very same man. Fortunately, he refused to sell his soul, and the rest is history. At least today I can hold my head up high.

Many other honourable judges have stood up for the independence of the judiciary in the past, but they were not supported the way these judges were.

The nation has suffered long enough. The president has ravaged the country for nine years and wants five more. Yet time is being wasted on whether the deposed judges (real for me) should have their wings clipped. The president uses words such as ‘scum of the earth’ for a man whom the world has honoured, and gets away with it. We are stuck with an attorney-general whose father was party to the judicial murder of Mr Bhutto. Certain ministers are visiting the man who wrote in his book that the worst thing that happened to this country was Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

Why is there intrigue and jealousy against the likes of Aitzaz Ahsan? Should we forget how Muneer Malik was tortured? Men of principle like Ali Ahmad Kurd, Justice Tariq Mehmood and so many others who led this movement are a rare commodity. Why are people like Sharifuddin Pirzada and Maulvi Iqbal Haider allowed to assist the Supreme Court in mutilating the Constitution?

Yet priceless assets like the honourable Justices Wajihuddin and Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim are ignored. Mr Zardari, I recall clearly the conversation between late Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and my late father just before she returned to Pakistan in 1986. Amongst other things, he repeatedly told her not to surround herself with sycophants, and that Mr Bhutto’s fate was because of such elements.

Mr Zardari, do you realise the importance of the opportunity God has given you? In the past we have had independent judges but never an independent judiciary.

The hearts of the nation are with you in the torment you must feel for your children since the loss of their mother. You can either prove yourself to be a selfless, pragmatic leader, rising above personal grudges, or you can go down in history as the man who deprived this nation of an opportunity that can come only once in a lifetime.

Sir, I have confidence that inshallah you will do the right thing, and that you will put the wishes of the people and the salvation of Pakistan first.

– Ghazala Minallah, Dawn

BANGLADESH

Report on 20 April 2008 Incident at Sajek Union
Fact Finding Team 1

We learnt from the daily newspapers that seven villages in Baghaichari had been burnt to the ground, including more than a hundred homes of Paharis and Bengalis, that Paharis and Bengalis were blaming each other for the incident. It was difficult to get a clear picture of what had happened on the basis of media reports. Beside that, most daily newspapers quoted ISPR, the Army news agency as its news source. In this situation, we felt it was urgent that we go there ourselves, and try to found out what had happened. A team of fourteen consisting of political activists, a university teacher, a journalist, cultural and student activists and leaders, left for Sajek on 26 April 2008. The team was led by Moshrefa Mishu, convenor, Biplobi Oikko Front. From the morning of 27 April to 30 April 2008, we went to the area where the incident took place, and also to other places in Marishya in Baghaichori, Dui Tila, Kobakhali in Dighinala, Sadhana Tila, Lichu Bagan, Moner Manush, Chongrachori as well as surrounding habitations, markets, forest area, garden and hillocks. We spoke to both Paharis and Bengalis, and also to some of the victims of the Sajek incident. We strongly feel that general members of the public should be informed about what we saw, heard and observed, and the conclusions that we reached on the basis of our fact-finding exercise. This is the reason for this press conference.

To ascertain what had truly happened on the night of 20th April in Sajek, our investigation team left for Sajek from Khagrachari. On the morning of 27th April, before we could reach the affected area, our investigation team was stopped at Baghaihat Zone. We were asked to get out of our cars, write our full names at the army camp gate, our bags were checked and list of items were prepared. After this we were taken inside the camp on orders of its second in command, Major Kabir. While we were waiting, Major Hafiz came and told us that in the current situation, it would be dangerous for us to visit the area, that we would not be permitted to go there because of concerns about our personal safety. Major Kabir came into the area where we were seated, and we were asked to introduce ourselves again, to re-enter our names and address in the identity record book. Both majors reminded us of the kidnapping of Danida employee Shumon a few months earlier. We were advised to return to Khagrachari. While we were talking, an army official came and began taking our photographs with a still camera. After a while, he began to use a video camera, and to take our photographs from different angles. We could not help but think: if we could not go to the area then why take our photographs? Was our personal safety the major concern?

For the next two days, we went on field visits outside Sajek. Each army camp that we came across, seemed to know about us. There are two zones in Khagrachari, and both combined have more than 18 army camps. While on the road, we were stopped several times and asked where we had come from, where we were going, etc. Our vehicles were stopped and inspected, we were asked to come out of our cars. The Committee’s experience convinced its members that concerns over their personal safety was not the issue. What struck them was the army’s ability to exercise power.

On 27th April, when we were stopped at the army camp in Baghaihat Zone, Major Kabir narrated the incidents of 20th April. After his narration, the army officials changed their mind and decided to let us visit the affected area. But this was to be under their supervision, and in army vehicles. We were bundled into two army vehicles, and taken to only one of the four affected villages. Major Hafiz and Major Kabir accompanied us, along with twelve soldiers, in an army pickup. We were permitted to stay there for 20 minutes, then brought back. When we said we wanted to go to the three other villages (Purbopara, Retkaba, Baibacchora), we were told there was no need, that we would be met by similar scenes.

While passing Baghaihat market area, we saw burnt houses on both sides of the road. The village we were taken to, Gangarammuk Dor, was deserted, and looked more like a burial ground. As we stood there, Buddhi Ranjan Chakma, a Pahari, suddenly appeared, rushed to Moshrefa Mishu, leader of the Fact Finding Committee, held her tight, and began recounting the events of 20th April. He wept and said that Bengali settlers were responsible for the arson attack of 20th April. This incident took place in front of the army members who had taken us there. Major Kabir quickly intervened, in a manner which prevented us from speaking further with Buddhi Ranjan Chakma. Another Pahari came up to us and whispered, we are not allowed to say anything. He was too afraid, he said, to tell us his name. We saw a Bengali settler, we learnt from him that the settlers were staying at the local market, under the supervision of the army. We learnt that the affected Paharis, who were feeling terrified, had taken refuge in the local Buddhist Bihar (five hundred feet from the Gangarammuk Dor army camp). Some Paharis had taken refuge in the forest and in the homes of relatives. We were not allowed to walk more than two hundred feet away from the place where we had gotten down from the army vehicle. We were asked to return to the army vehicles under armed guard, and were forced to leave the area. While in the affected area, we also learnt that forcible acquisition of land by Bengali settlers has increased since the state of emergency was declared on 11 January, 2007. Bengali settlers are building houses on the occupied pieces of land. This bit of information was substantiated by both Paharis and Bengalis, when we inspected adjoining areas.

Subsequently, we managed to meet Pahari victims of Sajek. One of them, who did not wish to reveal his name, told us:

“Last January, our houses were grabbed by the settlers, under the leadership of Shomo Andolon leader Golam Mowla. We don’t get a chance to speak when council office meetings are held. When the Raja (Devasish Roy) came to visit, the army camp ordered us not to speak to him. On the night of 20th April, it was very hot, and I was sitting outside the house that I had raised after the January attacks. Suddenly I heard some Bengalis shouting “Narae Takbir Allahu Akbar”. I could see fire in the distance. I could hear Paharis shouting “Ujo, Ujo” (advance). At this time, I saw an army vehicle. By then, both my house and other surrounding houses had caught fire. On the one hand, our houses were burning, while on the other, the settlers were looting.”
When we visited Baghaichori Marishya, Dui Tila, Kobakhali in Dighinala, Sadhana Tila, Chongrachori and other areas over the next couple of days, we saw more evidence of state-supported land-grabbing, Bengali occupation of Pahari land by force, and the setting up of new settlements. The picture was the same in all areas: since 11 January 2007, the process of Bengali settlers grabbing Pahari land has accelerated, this is happening under the supervision of the armed forces.

We saw the following:
1. Bengalis have houses which are temporary shelters, with only four khuti (pillar). There are hundreds of such homes in the Dui Tila area. We spoke to Bengali inhabitants, who told us that they live there for short periods only (see attached picture 1).

2. Members of the Fact Finding Committee found that most Bengalis have two houses, the more elaborate ones are lived-in permanently. Dighinala and Lichu Bagan are 12 kilometers apart, while travelling from one place to the other, we saw only Bengali houses, clustered on either side of the road. We counted three madrasas, more than one mosque, and Bengali shops standing by the roadside. We interviewed settlers who told us that they had received 4 acres and 1/70th land in Lichubagan (for cultivation), and the remaining 1/30th land on BetChari (for living).

3. We encountered similar processes in Dui Tila and Chongrachori. When we went inside Bengali homes, we saw only a few utensils, and no bedding or other household items. When asked, they admitted that they were given 4 acres and 1/70th land here, and the rest, 1/30th portion in the more populated areas, for living. The settlers informed us that the local administration had told them that these lands belong to the government, not the Paharis. Therefore, Bengalis have just as much right to this land. This area is guarded by soldiers who patrol at night.

Major Kabir, second-in-command of Baghaihat zone told us: “Some external terrorists from outside Sajek have set these fires. There is no conflict between Bengalis and Paharis in this area. Those who set the fire don’t want the current communal harmony between Bengalis and Paharis to stay intact. Since they want to create a terrorist center in this area, they try to keep both sides agitated.”

Even though army officials claimed that there was “communal harmony,” the fact remains that tension and conflict prevails in the area over land grabbing of Bengali settlers. So how can there be “communal harmony”? On the contrary, we think that words like “terrorist attack” are often used to hide the administration’s role in assisting Bengali settlers to forcefully occupy Pahari land. Many incidents of violent attacks of Pahari villages by Bengali settlers exist. For instance, the Mahalcchari incident of 26 August 2003 when ten Pahari villages were attacked by settler Bengalis, with Army support, leading to the death of a former Union Parishad chairman, and a child. Or, the Maishcchari incident of 4 April 2006, when Bengali settlers occupied the land of a Buddhist temple. In the subsequent conflict, 4 Pahari villages were burnt to the ground, a Buddhist monk was attacked, and four teenage girls were raped. These are only two among many such incidents.

During the Fact Finding Committee’s visit, another incident of arson took place. On 28 April 2008, a Bengali settler’s house was set on fire around 10 pm, in an area where the army was on patrol. The army immediately arrested Rabindra Chakma (22, father’s name, Shashimohon Chakma), Shushil Chakma (26, father’s name, Lakhmichandra Chakma), Ratna Bikash Chakma (22, father’s name, Gunobir Chakma), and Shangram Chakma (22, father’s name, Ashok Kumar Chakma). The next day, the national dailies reported the arrest of three Paharis. We are concerned about the fourth arrestee, and generally-speaking, about the fate of all those arrested.

Based on the investigation carried out by the Fact Finding Committee, we demand:

1. The immediate formation of an independent judicial committee to investigate the Sajek incident, and that the judicial report be completed and made publicly available within 6 days of this press conference.

2. The Chittagong Hill Tracts area should be opened up to the national media in the interests of the right to know, and the free dissemination of information.

3. Work should immediately begin on the preparation and publication of a White Paper on past incidents of killing, rape and oppression in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.

4. Land grabbing and oppression of the Paharis should cease immediately.

– Unheard Voices, Drishtipat Blog

NEPAL

Citizen Journalism in Nepal

Citizen journalism is a growing movement in Nepal. Although half of the nation lives below the poverty line, without access to clean drinking water, health care and education, there has been a significant rise in level of political consciousness among the people. This is largely due to the ten year long Maoist insurgency and emerging ethnic tensions which are both fostering the growth of citizen powered media.

In early 2006 when King Gyanendra imposed media blackout after a power grab, severely curtailing press freedom, bloggers from around the nation emerged as a new source of up to the minute information on what is happening on the streets and public opinion on the political crises. While the traditional media outfits were restricted, citizens powered with access to the internet and knowledge of new media took it upon themselves to inform the world about Nepal’s current situation. Leading the emerging Nepali new media were bloggers at MySansar, United We Blog, and Sajha.

MySansar, with mostly Nepali posts occasionally interrupted by English, stood out among the pioneer blogs for its straight forwards reporting, made more interesting with picture and video component. United We Blog is more measured and Sajha attracts more expatriate Nepali readership.

After the April 2006 revolution, which saw the Nepali King lose most of his powers and reduced to a strictly ceremonial figure, Nepali web-focused citizen journalism has seen a rapid growth. According to WebLali, a roughly compiled directory of Nepali blogs and Blogger, there are about 200-300 blogs on various topics ranging from politics to aviation and tourism. The number seems insignificant, but in the Nepali context it is big achievement. Consider this: based on 2006 data, there are only 249,400 internet users in the country and GDP-per capita is $15,000. Only 48% of the population is literate.

Present scene looks encouraging, but citizen journalism in Nepal is still in its infancy and faces many problems. These challenges include the country’s troublesome record on press freedom, a rise in attacks against journalists and activists, ethnic tensions and financial constraints.

In early November of 2007, journalist Birendra Shah was kidnapped; his whereabouts remained unknown for about a month. Later the Maoists guerrillas admitted to the kidnapping and murder. Although the reasons remain unclear, it is widely speculated that Shah was killed because he was working on a story linking Maoists to cross-border smuggling. In June, Reporters Without Borders published a report saying that 72 journalists were attacked or threatened by armed groups including the Maoists since the beginning of this year.

Salik Shah, who started out as a citizen journalist and a blogger, and now works for Kantipur Online (owned by Kantipur Publications, the nation’s largest media organization), often contributes to OhMyNews.com, a citizen media site based in South Korea. He laments the fact that there are very few purely citizen powered media in Nepal and the traditional media organizations have largely ignored the citizen created content and the financial constraints faced by citizen reporters. Here is an excerpt from our conversation:

I admit we should be doing more to establish citizen journalism in Nepal, so that we don’t have to rely on the foreign options.

Within the country, we struggle to get a platform, and we have to rely on foreign media. At the same time, I also consider myself lucky to get such opportunities and exposure in the global scenario. We’ve a larger audience, and this is also one of the greatest challenges we, citizen journalists, face.

Now that I’m employed in a ‘big’ media house I miss my work as a citizen journalist. I must say, my colleagues are not really serious about my work as a blogger and a citizen reporter. And, I strongly sense that they don’t give much importance to online media either. Recently, nearly a dozen online journalists initiated the task of setting up a separate organization for us. We’re working to get recognition from the Federation of Nepalese Journalists as online journalists.
The choice Mr. Shah had to make to leave citizen journalism to be a mainstream media employee is not an isolated incident.

Life as a citizen journalist in one of the world’s poorest nation is a tough journey. Getting paid for your work is not easy, considering that even in the United States there are very few media organizations that pay for user created content. It is not surprising that they seek to work for an organization, for the sake of financial and professional security.

Citizen journalists are not given “journalist” status by the Nepali law, which makes them especially vulnerable to attacks and intimidation. And the archaic copyright law of the nation offers very little protection to their intellectual property.

Towards the end of our conversation, Mr. Shah remarked that he is hopeful that someday the country and the big media establishments will recognize the work of citizen journalists. Yet for now, Nepali citizen journalists continue to work amidst great challenges.

– Bhumika Ghimire, Kathmandu Speaks

BURMA

Nobody can remember a storm so big …
Eyewitness report from Rangoon

I am in my apartment overlooking an area of about one square kilometre. Until Friday night it was covered with trees. Now all I see is a scene of utter devastation. Hundreds of trees are uprooted, houses smashed by falling trees and roofs gone with the wind.

I came home late on Friday night in the middle of torrential rains and gusty winds. But that was a prelude to what was yet to come. Around 2:00 am the cyclone hit with full force to the sound of breaking trees, crashing of metal roofs and howling wind and rain. By 6 am the first light of day began filtering in. I watched trees crash, one after another. Mango and banyan trees over 50 years old came down burying houses, smashing roofs, water tanks and blocking roads. By 12 noon it was all over, overnight Yangon has turned into a disaster zone; there is no electricity or water, roads are blocked, virtually no transportation is available and prices of petrol, water and food are skyrocketing.

People are wandering along unlit streets late into night searching for water or a place to shower. The roof of Yangon General Hospital is severely damaged, there is no electricity or water. Patients awaiting urgent surgery have been sent home. Sunlight is fierce now and like the General Hospital in downtown Yangon the situation is getting unbearable in the other hospitals too; there is no one to care for the patients; nurses who left for home on Friday have not been able to return to duty. A few lucky with generators have electricity, but diesel is already in short supply. The price of diesel rose from USD 4 before the storm to USD 12 yesterday. Meanwhile the price of drinking water has quadrupled and food is getting scarce.

Most shops are closed as employees find it difficult to get to work places. Apart from roads being blocked by falling trees, most of the buses and taxis are stranded on the roads for want of liquid gas. Following the government’s move, all public buses and most taxis had converted to liquid fuel and now with no electricity liquid gas stations are closed. Those with gasoline vehicles are queuing for hours at the government owned stations.

Amidst all this, the market for building materials, tin sheets for roofing, nails etc. is booming. Customers are frantically buying up rapidly depleting stocks and prices are increasing by the hour.

And for all that the military is noticeably absent. Except of some publicity stunts involving the Yangon Regional Military commander directing soldiers with a chain saws to cut trees, the clearing up work is largely left to civilians and monks. They try cleaning up with machetes and small hand tools. But what they cannot do is to restore electricity supply. Thousands of electricity poles, street lights, traffic lights and loose cables are lying across the roads, obstructing traffic. To make matters worse most of the public water supply depends on electrical pumps.

People are furious at the military. They cynically comment, only after we have done all the work, the government officials, generals, soldiers, militia and all will show up and boast of their good work and rapid action. Unlike the West, there are no emergency shelters here and schools or public buildings are not opened up to take in the homeless; neither is there emergency aid of rice or water for the storm affected.

Myanmar was totally unprepared for the cyclone that hit it. On Friday no more than vague rumors were heard in Yangon about a big storm coming its way. The information came mostly from international Satellite channels. Late on Friday, Myanmar government issued a mild storm warning and cautioned about rising tide. The information never reached the villages in the vast Irrawaddy Delta. Entire villages and towns are believed to have been wiped out by the storm, rain and flooding. Already one hears talks of several hundred thousands of victims.

Nobody in Yangon can remember a storm as big as this. Century old trees lie uprooted in large numbers. For the first time in ten years Yangon University buildings can be clearly seen from the main road; the hundred of trees that once blocked the view are now on the ground.

– Mizzima News

TIBET

The Olympics v politics

Politics and Olympics have always been interlinked. Whether it was the 1956 boycott of the Melbourne Olympics because of the repression of the Hungarian Uprising by the Soviet Union or Hitler’s invention of the routine of taking the torch around the world in his case to proclaim Aryan supremacy during the Olympics of 1934, the Olympics has always been laced with politics (too bad that a black American named Jesse Owens won four gold medals during the event). The Moscow Olympics of 1980 was boycotted because of the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan and the Soviet’s retaliated in turn by skipping the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984. As to the current politicizing of the Olympics, it is a tad unbecoming of the Chinese to charge this, when they themselves pressurized Taiwan into not being able to participate in the Olympics of 76 in Canada. For them now to claim that the protesters are opportunists and that the sports should be separate from politics is disingenuous at the least.

Let’s elaborate a little on a few instances of politicized events that became international headlines and look at it from a different angle.

First there is the Olympic torch protest in Paris that the Chinese Government succeeded in painting as a debacle. The boos and jeers that greeted the torch elsewhere or for that matter anywhere were not relayed inside China by the Government controlled media until the supposed attack on the handicapped Chinese torch bearer Jin Jing occurred. Then the Chinese media suddenly decided to put her on national news and proclaim her the “smiling angel in the wheelchair” or the “Golden girl lifts a nation”. Once back in China, she even used the correct communist line by terming the protesters as ‘separatists’ and commenting on Tibet she decreed, “my opinion before was that Tibet was an inseparable part of our country, now I hold this point more firmly than before”. This alleged attack by supposedly pro-Tibet protesters received international media coverage and she became a celebrity overnight in China.

But the revelations that unfolded subsequent to this event escaped the attention of the international media. On close examination of the photographs of the alleged protester, there were tell tale signs that point to him not being a pro-Tibet protester but rather some one acting as one. The ‘cap’ he wears, and another picture discovered of him with smiling Chinese friends gives it all away. The cap he was wearing during his supposed attack has a ridiculous – to a Tibetan – image of a Tibetan flag in which the two snow lions are red and the border of the flag is blue. These are not the correct colors of the real Tibetan flag, and a Tibetan protester would never wear a cap with the image of a fake Tibetan flag any more than a US patriot would wear a US flag with green and black stripes and red stars on a field of yellow! . On the real Tibetan flag, snow lions are white and the border of the flag is yellow. This guy was simply trying to pretend to be something that he is not. Also the fact that the torch was unlit and that this event occurred in the absence of the blue and white track suited Chinese torch attendants and at a location that seems like a parking lot calls into questions the credibility of the incident itself.

The conclusion that must be drawn is that the Government controlled Chinese media, as it has done on other occasions staged this episode in an attempt to drum up nationalist and anti-Tibetan feelings among its citizens. Almost all of the pro-Chinese protests inside and outside of China mainly followed from this event. Not surprisingly, many of the protests outside of China that were reported live in the media were found to be orchestrated by the Chinese Embassy. Interviews revealed that most if not all of the protesters were paid and given tailor made slogans. These protests soon echoed back inside China resulting in citizens shouting slogans outside chain stores owned by the French retailer Carrefour to boycott its products. The authorities soon realized where this was heading, for boycotting only means boycotting their own people. If the protests were to grow bigger and become a reality, it would only mean loss of a job to the Chinese employees and the greater danger perhaps that France and the world might begin to boycott products made in China.

China was putting itself in danger of cutting off the limb it was standing on. So the official media soon again intervened and with rhetoric to curtail the protests by calling them “unadorned expressions of patriotic zeal.” The citizens were urged to focus on economic development. The tragic bottom line here is that while Chinese in other cities can protest freely, Tibetan protesters in Tibet are incarcerated and shot.

Chinese officials and citizens have also landed heavily on a CNN commentator for using the phrase ‘goons and thugs’ to describe the Chinese Government. The Chinese government remained un-pacified even after CNN offered an official apology. It leaves one to wonder at the fact that while Chinese citizens find themselves irked by such a comment, they remain unmoved by the events of Tibetans (their own people, according to the Chinese Government’s version of reality) being killed in Tibet.

Another episode to illustrate the point is that of a Chinese university student at Duke University who became a victim of this ‘stirred’ nationalist hysteria. Grace Wang was mediating between pro-Tibet and pro-Chinese protesters but was caught in the middle and the Chinese student protesters decided to call her a ‘traitor’. This frenzy of rage extended to her parents in China who were forced to go into hiding. Grace Wang in some ways reminds us of Ho Yaobang who called for ‘rapid reform’ in the policy of the communist party and was made a scapegoat after the pro- democracy student protests of 1986-87. He was then the secretary general of the Communist Party of China. He was also previously sent to Tibet on a fact finding mission in 1980. He was shocked by the abject poverty and lamented “whether all the money Beijing had poured into Tibet over the previous years had been thrown into the Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra) river”. He was made to resign and later died mysteriously of a heart attack. Jin Jing became a national ‘hero’ while Grace Wang a ‘traitor’ for all the wrong reasons. They became the pawns of Olympic politics. This is what Chinese communism is all about. If it serves the party hardliners it will use its citizens in any manner they deem fit, and the truth has very little to do with it.

All the Chinese citizens inside China are subject to the official news version of events provided by the Xinhua news agency. Because this is all they know, they truly believe the Government figures of nineteen people killed in Tibet, all of whom are Chinese and none of which are Tibetans. They believe that there is rapid economic development in Tibet and that the Tibetans are its sole beneficiaries. Their naivety is not only inevitable but can be expected given that they have never been to Tibet and are subjected to this kind of propaganda since birth. So while hundreds if not thousands of Tibetans are incarcerated and shot they will continue to sing at full voice the new anthem ‘one world, one dream’.

What is sad is the fact that Chinese students in western countries are also caught in this frenzy of hate. And even more alarming is that Chinese scholars working in US, such as Anne Wu in her commentary that appeared in this paper on 16 April, feel that there is nothing wrong happening in Tibet and that the Chinese Government is actually doing good in Tibet. She goes on to talk about an interview that she had with a Tibetan singer when she was a journalist intern. She didn’t even seem to realize that songs like “emancipated serfs to sing the song” are communist manufactured and that the name she used of the singer Caidan Drolma is actually the ‘sinofication’ of her name Tseten Dolma. I am sure it must have captured her fancy to know that this paper carried her article and in this way provided her with the kind of freedom of speech that in China is non-existent. I am also sure that when the Chinese protesters throng together to protest in the west, they must know in their hearts that such a thing is not even remotely possible in China, especially if the protests were directed against the Chinese Government. Such a protest inside Tibet as we all now know, would result in incarceration and death. Hope for a new and open China is expected from these learned individuals who had a chance to get an open education and form their own opinions. It is for them to ask why there is only the official version of the news allowed inside China. It is for them to ask why the press is not allowed free access. It is for them to ask their Government if it really is telling the truth. It is for them to request that the world be allowed to determine the truth, not through the lens of a government controlled news agency, but through their own eyes. For China to become transparent, this is the group that needs to find the courage to ask the right questions.

– The Speaking Pen, special to Himal Southasian

BHUTAN

Bhutani people are worried about exercising their right to free speech…

At a time when media professionals and press freedom practitioners are celebrating World Press Freedom Day around the globe, Bhutani people are worried about exercising even their fundamental right to free speech and expression in the country. The long-practiced curtailment of this right by the absolute Druk oligarchy still prevails in the country.

The tiny Himalayan kingdom, popularly know internationally for floating the fabricated concept of ‘Gross National Happiness’, always tries to remain isolated from guaranteeing individual’s freedom of speech and expression. To say Bhutanese people are deprived of their right to information is an understatement.

The Bhutani regime has already held general elections saying that the absolute monarch would step down to become a democratic and constitutional ‘King’ in the country. Nevertheless, one way or the other, the steering wheel to run the government would always be controlled by the King himself. Many big democracies of the world including the United States and India have already rushed to hail the democratisation process.

The main concern of the hour is whether Thimphu’s wish to step into the democratization process becomes a ‘praiseworthy’ matter to world communities when they are aware of the fact that press freedom in the country remains a farce. How can democracy be believed to have been flourished in a country where people are strictly detached from their right to speech and expression? Those countries that are extending their sincere support for the so-called democratisation process in Bhutan will have to take a long breathe and think of these facts before rushing behind the absolute regime’s deceiving tactics.

The Bhutani people were not allowed even to raise questions during the election campaign hours. People in southern parts of the country, who asked if the parties involved in campaigning would resolve the ‘refugee issue’ after winning the election, were even reported to have been mentally tortures.

Media houses operating inside the country feared bringing such issues to the public as they are still strictly under government control. And, only a limited number of foreign journalists were permitted to cover elections. These facts adequately reveal that the recently-concluded election in Bhutan was not free and fair. And, this is simply because press freedom, which measures the state of a democracy, is not guaranteed in this country.

The relentless campaigns and efforts by pro-democracy Bhutanis, who favour guarantees of free press for the dawn of democracy, have always failed in awakening the Druk regime in guaranteeing media freedom in the country.

Sub-Article 5 under Article 7 of the draft constitution states ‘There shall be freedom of the press for radio, television and other forms of dissemination of information, including the electronic press’. Similarly, Sub-article 2 has spoken of citizen’s right to freedom of speech, opinion and expression and Sub-article 3 slot-in that a citizen shall have the right to information. But, the government does not allow its fellow citizens to exercise these rights though incorporated by the drafted constitution.

Those people being critical of the government or king are sentenced to imprisonment for years simply for exercising their right to free expression. Isn’t such an act from the Druk regime a straightforward attempt to encroach on the individual’s fundamental rights to freedom of speech and expression guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) under Article 19?

Even today, many foreign channels are banned. There is much to be done by the international rights and press freedom bodies for the establishment of democracy with truly guarantee free press in Bhutan. Simply publicizing media-situation reports or issuing press releases does not pave the way for media freedom in this tiny Himalayan kingdom as absolutism still imprisons the country.

– T P Mishra, Media in Bhutan: A Glimpse

THE MALDIVES

Maldives marred in crimes: gang fighting, murder, cyber-crimes, money counterfeiting, drug dealing and more

If ever you want to see a government at the mercy of criminals, you are looking at one in the Maldives. At the moment, around 200 or so prisoners in the Kaafu atoll Maafushi jail are on a hunger strike. The prisoners simply refused to eat, alleging discrimination against them. The vast majority of inmates in the Maldivian jails are in for crimes related to drugs abuse and small time dealings. Some of the militia who orchestrate these drug dealings have impunity because the regime takes immense political capital by using crimes and criminals.

Crime has been on the rise in this quiet corner of the world which has been free from major crimes in the past. Over the past two years escalating street fights have resulted in injury to people, damage to property and have resulted in loss of life to a number of people - mostly young people. Most recently on December 2, a young man named Ali Ishar was brutally murdered and a 14-yr-old boy was knifed to death last month in the middle of the busiest road in the capital island. These incidents cannot be said to have been the result of a spontaneous quarrel but was clearly premeditated and presumably resulting from serial street gang fights and rivalries rampant in Male’ with its huge population of bored, despaired and restless youth.

Home Minister Abdulla Kamaluddeen hinted that at times Police were not armed and that if people happened to carry weapons, unarmed Police officers obviously would not get involved; but he promised to get around the problem. Kamaluddeen also recently said that these gang wars will stop only when the perpetrators stop it! What then is the purpose of having a police force one wonders? There was a motion at the Parliament recently to vote for a no confidence motion against the Home Minister. The motion failed because the ruling regime has the majority in the Parliament.

It has also been alleged that some big shots have a hand behind the street violence. Street gangs have revealed, without naming specific persons or parties, that they have been paid and encouraged to sow discord. And when violence crimes take place these big shots quietly leave the country and only return when the media limelight subsides. Hence, there is reason to believe that the current street violence, sponsored by some politicians and business persons, have hidden personal agendas, whatever those agenda may be.

Petty crimes are also on the rise. Recently a laptop and some other items had been stolen from a Philippines man who was staying at the M. Blue Diamond Guest House. On the bigger issue: Over a million Rufiyaa worth of counterfeit US dollar bills were confiscated by the Police and three people arrested recently in connection to the crime. Three Maldivians and one Malaysian man was recently arrested by the Maldives Police Service on charges of using fake credit cards to purchase Rf3.5 million worth of goods from shops, Police have said. The Maldives Police Service arrested more than 76 people in Male’ during March on drugs related offences. Child molesting and incense is also on the rise. An expatriate worker in Seenu Atoll Hulhudhoo was recently arrested on charges of sexually molesting a five-year-old boy from the island.

When police were obviously unable to stop the increase in violent crimes, the army (MNDF) was deployed fro a week or so recently. Following the deployment of army to patrol the streets of Male’ the situation returned to normality for a while but has again restarted.

It is therefore quite obvious that the rising violent and organised crimes as well as petty crimes will only cease with the departure of Dictator Gayyoom. We need a government that is responsible and effective in implementing the rule of law. We need a government that’s main objective is to serve the people and provide them with social security and justice. Dictator Gayyoom and his cronies have failed miserably and it is time for a fresh beginning.

– Mohamed Bushry, Dhivehi Observer News

AFGHANISTAN

Afghanistan bleeds

Afghanistan Oh land of bravery
And beauty.
Who devoured you?
Beasts of prey.
What is your crime?
Pursuit of happiness and liberty.
Brutes garbed as men
Out to denude you of dignity.

Afghanistan envy of paradise,
Reduced to ashes by fire and fury
Fire that burnt life and liberty,
Beauty and dignity.
Your bereaved Kabul where arson and
Rape reign supreme.
Where death is cheaper than life
Where life must cry and moan
Where children die before they are born
Where chastity is molested day and night.
Hills, valleys and lakes glow in blood and fire.
The enemy of humanity:
Fundamentalism.

– Rawa