[Previous entry: "Nagaland CM Rio positive about Indo-Naga political solution"] [Next entry: "Nagaland mushrooming with illegal collections’ STATE TO OBSERVE CONSUMER RIGHTS DAY"]

03/11/2006: "Northeast people harassed, exploited, discriminated’"

Northeast people harassed, exploited, discriminated’ The Morung Express
DIMAPUR, MARCH 9 (MExN): Allegations have once again surfaced about people from the North East being alienated and treated as second class citizen of India in spite of the call being conveyed to them by the Government of India for them to join the national mainstream. “This is in the midst of the Indo-Naga Political Talks when Nagas are looking forward to have a lasting peace and solution”, a communiqué issued by R S Mayori Convenor NPMHR Delhi stated.
“The Northeast women are Targets for the Indians as an object for sexual harassment and they are sexually exploited in other cities of India and as well as back home with Armed Forces Power Act as the shield for the Indian soldiers”, the NPMHR noted with serious concern as the level of harassment and exploitation is rising daily at a very high rate.
Pointing out that the Northeast people are harassed, exploited, discriminated and have to live with social stigma in other parts of India, the communiqué laments that women from the region are not safe in other cities.
The NPMHR communiqué alleged that on 25th February 2006 evening in Gurgoan the landlord of a house sexually harassed a woman who happens to be a Naga. The house was reportedly being taken on rent by some Northeast boys. While she had gone to her friend’s place with one of her cousins searching for a rented house, the landlord reportedly implicated the girl with false allegation that she is a prostitute and she should stand naked and the other boys were pushed out of the room.
“When he tried to forcefully pull down her shawl that she was wearing the boys tried to intervene but they were beaten up badly with cricket bats. It is a fact that every Northeast woman is seen as a prostitute by the Indians and boys are considered as some cheap pimps who ought to be beaten up at every instance they get chances to lay their hands upon”, the NPMHR stated. “It is a pain to know that women from Northeast have to face hostility at every step they have to take, in other parts of cities in India”.
After approaching the Naga Student Union Delhi and Naga Peoples’ Movement for Human Rights for help, they were advised to file an FIR at the earliest. “So they went to police station the next day where they were denied even the basic right to file FIR”. Later it was learned that even the police threatened them instead of helping them out.
“ASI Adarsh Singh of Qutab Enclave police station was the person who was behind denying the victim even to seek protection under the law. Till today they are not allowed to file the FIR forget about the many hours of begging and requests required to convince the police to put a stamp over the application. Why is it that the people from Northeast are even denied the rights to file FIR? Isn’t the law above every citizen of India and where is Indian democracy that they take so much pride in being the largest democratic country in the world”, the NPMHR questioned. The human rights body also pointed out that despite having to live in fear under the shadow of the tyranny of the Indian army in Northeast, the situation was no better even while living with fear outside the jurisdiction of Arm Forces Special Power Act.
“How long do we continue to remain as a mere spectator to all these prejudices, abuse, harassment and exploitation? Isn’t it the right time for us to gather our courage and raise these issues? The police and the Indians citizen are hand in glove in discriminating the Northeast people. It is a case of racial discrimination, attempts to rape, murder, molestation and harassment. NPMHR Delhi calls upon all the people of Northeast to stand up and fight for their rights”.
NUNTSA plea to Guv Nagaland Post
DIMAPUR, MARch 10 (NPN): The Nagaland University Non-Teaching Staff Association(NUNTSA) has sought Governor Shyamal Datta's immediate intervention in the ongoing NU crisis in the interest of students and people of the State.
NUNTSA president Imchatoshi Pongener and general secretary Wabang Aonok said, "The administrative office of the Nagaland University has been indefinitely under lock and key since March 8 and it has paralyzed the functioning of the university."
They said the NUNSTA was deeply concerned over the recent developments in the university that were "seriously affecting the careers of thousands of students and also people of the State.
The NUNTSA leaders appealed to Governor Datta to immediately intervene in the matter so as to restore normal functioning of the university office.
Harassment against NE on rise in capital
By RS Mayori Sangai express
In the midst of the Indo-Naga political talks when Nagas are looking forward to have a lasting peace and solution, people from North East are being alienated and treated as second class citizen of India and the call for joining mainstream is being conveyed to them by the Government of India. The Northeast women are targets for the Indian as an object of sexual harassment and they are sexually exploited in other cities of India and as well as back home with Armed Forces Special Power Act as the shield for the Indian soldiers.
Naga Peoples’ Movement for Human Rights Delhi notes with serious concern as the level of harassment and exploitation is rising daily at a very high rate. It is also important to consider that it has always been the motives of the Government of India to harass the people from Northeast where-ever they are.
The Government of India have been emphasising over the years the need for the people of north east to join the mainstream for better kind of developmental work and the education system. It is not this kind of policy that the people from the Northeast yearn for. Is this the price that we have to pay? (For the better interest of the so-called mainstream people Northeast people have to suffer.)
The Northeast people are harassed, exploited, discriminated and have to live with social stigma in other parts of India. It is a fact that Northeast women are not safe in other cities. It was presumed that Northeast women in other cities were harassed mainly outside their residence but now it has come to our notice that they are equally vulnerable within the four walls of their home.
On the 25th February 2006 evening in Gurgoan the landlord of the house sexually harassed a woman who happens to be a Naga in a house where the Northeast boys were residing. She had gone to her friend’s place with one of her cousin searching for a rented house. The landlord implicated the girl with false allegation that she is a prostitute and she should stand naked and the other boys were pushed out of the room. When he tried to forcefully pull down her shawl that she was wearing the boys tried to intervene but they were beaten up badly with cricket bat.
The next morning the landlord’s son along with his friend beat the boys up again threatening them to end the matter there or to face dire consequences. The youths were not able to get over the trauma for the past three days. It is a fact that every Northeast woman is seen as a prostitute by the Indians and boys are considered as some cheap pimps who ought to be beaten up at every instance they get a chances to lay their hands upon.
It is a pain to know that women from Northeast have to face hostility at every step they have to take, in other parts of cities in India. It is also important to remember that many rape cases and harassment cases are still not yet taken up and their complaints have gone into the dustbin.
On 28th of Feb 2006 they approached the Naga Student Union Delhi and Naga Peoples’ Movement for Human Rights for help. They were advised to file an FIR at the earliest. So they went to police station the next day where they were denied even the basic right to file a FIR.
On 2nd March two of the student activist accompanied them and submitted the application for filing FIR against the culprit. It was a shocked to the student that the police threatened them instead of helping them out. ASI Adarsh Singh of Qutab Enclave police station was the person who was behind denying the victim even to seek protection under the law.
Till today they are not allowed to file the FIR forget about the many hours of begging and requests required to convince the police to put a stamp over the application. Why is it that the people from Northeast are even denied the rights to file FIR? Isn’t the law above every citizen of India and where is Indian democracy that they take so much pride in being the largest democratic country in the world.
Let us recall the incidents that had occurred in and around Delhi, where action was not taken up and ignored list is growing day by day.
One of the incidents took place in Mahipalpur, Delhi on 25th December 2005, where 5 Nagas were badly beaten up which included a woman and a physically handicapped male. In the Medical Report, it was shown that two of them got serious injuries in their heads and their spinal cords were severely damaged. Even after a FIR was filed, the S.H.O of Vasant Kunj, Delhi Police has not yet taken up any action since the victims are from Northeast who are considered as third class citizen.
All these years, we have been living in fear under the shadow of the tyranny of Indian army in Northeast. Are we supposed to go on living with fear even outside the jurisdiction of Armed Forces Special Power Act? How long do we continue to remain as a mere spectator to all these prejudices, abuse, harassment and exploitation?
Isn’t it the right time for us to gather our courage and raise these issues? The police and the Indians citizen are hand in glove in discriminating the Northeast people. It is a case of racial discrimination, attempts to rape, murder, molestation and harassment. NPMHR Delhi calls upon all the people of Northeast to stand up and fight for their rights.
“Violation of human rights in any parts of the world is a threat to the human race as a whole and protection and promotion of human rights anywhere is a concern for all.”
(The writer is a convenor of Naga Peoples’ Movement for Human Rights Delhi)
Rising voices for fair rights - Tribes at crossroads Nagarealm.com
Noted writer and social activist Mahasweta Devi in an introductions to one of her books calls her Palamau a “mirror of India”. When one looks deeper into the tribal belts of Jharkhand, one discovers many more such mirrors, which she will no doubt talk about too, if she takes part in the seminar “Tribal Women in contemporary India”, which will coincide with the congregation of tribal women in the state capital on March 17 and 18 under a social group Sangharshrathrat Adivasi Mahila Manch.

As one of the invitees, along with others like Nandini Sundar, professor from Delhi School of Economics, Sadhna Sinha, professor of Delhi University, writer Joya Mitra, Radha Iyer, a lawyer from New Zealand, among others, one does expect some insights from her, being not just a tribal activist, but also a woman.

For the focus is not just on tribal groups, but on their women, who continue to be marginalised, in spite of their very significant contributions to their families and social life.

At a time when strong tribal upheavals are taking place not just in Jharkhand, but in neighbouring states, too, over issues like tribal displacement and social, cultural and economic exploitation, it’s not surprising that a need is being felt to group together their women power, too.

And a formal announcement in this regard is likely to be made at the congregation, which does give an opportunity to take a fresh perspective on the issues, while looking back at some of the problems that have plagued them for ages.

To start with, one has some facts, not that they are startlingly revealing, which the Manch has put together in a rough survey report prepared to be presented at the meet.

When the report says that tribal women are still oppressed by “male chauvinistic practices” one’s well justified in asking what’s new about it. It’s something that’s well known, and sadly, not much protested either by society.

But if nothing else, it’s at least a refresher course, to remind one that while the world celebrates women’s day, there are women in remote belts, who still have no rights over their forest and cultivable lands. Towards which their contribution is no less than their men folk, as pointed out by Chandmuni, spokesperson for the Manch.

And according to another activist of the Manch, it’s not because these women do not have the will or courage to put up a fight.

“Tribal women are actively struggling against their exploitation throughout the country. History has been a witness to the militant struggles continuously waged by tribal women. Though away from cities and mainstream women’s movements, the courage and sacrifice of these tribal women are of great significance to all those who believe in social change,” he says, emphasising that it’s not lack of awareness or timidity that’s always the reason behind their sufferings.

Which, going by this report, and of course many others like these, is unquestionable. Deprived of health and educational facilities, the literacy rate among them is as low as 14.5 per cent, and:“ Though the government boasts of having welfare schemes and anganwadis, tribal children are dying in thousands due to malnutrition each year. Hundreds of tribals die of malaria but the government tries its best to hide these facts.”

Sexually abused by contractors, government officials and the police, they are also being increasingly lured to cities by touts and agents, an easy task, considering many of them are being displaced from their ancestral lands. Displacement apart, another allegation in the report is that there is a move to saffronise the tribal communities. All of which are causing tremendous changes in their traditional way of living, and the tremors of these changes are bound to be felt by all, directly or indirectly.

While it’s still to be known how strong the tremors are, the Manch claims that there’s an awakening and tribal women have given a clarion call to fight the landlords, money-lenders and the “state machinery of the ruling classes”, who have been exploiting them for long. And that they are in the forefront of the Naxalbari and Srikakulam movements.

The report, which also focussed on movements launched by tribal women, points out that the awakening is not unique to Jharkhand, but has been growing in other contemporary movements in Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Bastar, Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Maharashtra, too. It also says that:“Tribal women have active organisations in the north eastern states like Nagaland and Manipur. In the Narmada Valley, Kashipur and Kalingnagar, too, tribal women are agitating against imperialist backed projects and that by trying to crush these agitations with intense and brutal repression, the state has made its anti-tribal stand clear.”

With these facts and figures in hand, the Manch hopes to look for solutions. [Salman Ravi, telegraphindia]
Do or die battle for Congress and AGP in Assam polls Nagaland Post New Delhi, Mar 10 (PTI): Ruling Congress and main Opposition Asom Gana Parishad will be locked in a do-or-die battle in next month's assembly elecions in Assam with Congress hoping to break the anti-incumbency jinx and AGP vying for survival under a new leader.
Congress, under Tarun Gogoi's leadership with 78 MLAs in its kitty in the 126-member assembly, was controlling the state's affairs with a firm grip in the last five years. But the big question is whether the ruling party could break Assam's history of having alternative party government every five years in the last three decades.
Chief Minister Gogoi thinks so. "We will definitely come to power again," Gogoi told PTI here.
"Good governance, massive development which we have undertaken in last five years and the peace process that we have initiated with the ULFA are the major achievements of our government," he said.
Gogoi said his party would like to conduct poll campaign on a comparative study of the performance of the previous AGP government and performance of his government in the last five years.
But AGP thinks otherwise. The regional party, which came to power twice in Assam--in 1985 and 1996--under Prafulla Kumar Mahanta's leadership, has a new leader in Brindaban Goswami this time.
Goswami claims "no one will vote for Congress again" considering its alleged "all round failure" in the last five years.
"At least 10,000 people have lost their lives in violence in the last five years, poll promises of Congress were not fulfilled, there would be total breakdown of law and order and corruption is everywhere," 58-year-old Goswami, who was education minister in first AGP government (1985-90), said.
The AGP is trying to form an alliance with "secular democratic" parties, including CPI, CPI(M) and Asom United Democratic Front of minorities - scotching speculation of having and alliance with BJP with whom the party had an alliance in 2001 Assembly election.
"There is no question of an alliance with BJP. We would like to maintain equal distance from both Congress and BJP," Goswami said.
However, BJP is trying to having a seat adjustment, if not an alliance, with some small parties of the state.
"We are not going for an alliance but for seat adjustment," BJP's state unit president Indramoni Bora told PTI over phone from Guwahati, refusing to disclose the name of the parties with whom the party may have tie-up.
Bora said the party wanted to stop Congress' return to power. Asked whether BJP would offer support to AGP if the election result throws up a hung Assembly, he said "we may consider giving support to any like-minded party, except Congress".
No party in Assam can ignore the votes of minorities who dominate in at least 35 assembly constituencies of the state.
Seeking to place the community as a dominant political force, 13 minorities' organisations have come together and formed a new political party - Asom United Democratic Front.
"The minorities are being used as vote bank by different political parties in successive elections. Now we want to emerge as a political force," AUDF working president Hafiz Rashid Ahmed Choudhury said.
He alleged the Gogoi government has failed to fulfill the hopes and aspirations of minorities and they (minorities) wanted to give a "befitting reply" to Congress in this election.
"We may have some seat adjustment with AGP, NCP and Left parties," Choudhury said.
In Bodo-dominated areas of erstwhile Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon and Darrang districts, Bodoland Peoples Progressive Front is trying to have "tactical understanding" with AGP to defeat Congress.
"We are for friendship or tactical understanding with AGP, and, if necessary, with BJP to defeat Congress. We are planning to field at least 15 candidates in Bodo-dominated areas," BPPF leader and Rajya Sabha member U G Brahma said.
A key question is what kind of role banned insurgents' outfit ULFA would play in the election. The outfit has not revealed its mind yet.
"Assam's history tells that the ULFA has always played some kind of role in every election since 1991. We doubt whether the outfit would remain neutral this time," said a prominent politician from Assam.
CORE hails UNLF's proposal Sangai Express
IMPHAL, Mar 10: The Centre for Organisation Research and Education (CORE) has welcome and appreciated the clarification presented by UNLF concerning the allegations of mass rape in Churachandpur district and subsequent invitation for an independent probe into the allegations.
A statement issued by CORE also expressed its willingness to extend cooperation in such a probe free of any impartiality to settle the matter to the satisfaction of all concerned.
It maintained that in the interest of humanity and particularly of the reported victims, no one should be above law while expressing a tinge of skepticism in the reported investigations by some organisations/individuals including the Government of Manipur.
Observing that Manipur is fast deteriorating into a state of anarchy and turmoil with crime rate increasing at an alarming rate as is evident in the recent torture and sexual harassment of M Naobi by commandos followed by the allegations of mass rape in Churachandpur district by UG cadres, it noted that the State Government has totally failed to deliver justice in all these issues as every judicial or other inquiry has proved to be a futile exercise, always immersed in the never ending vortex of legal entanglement.
The statement also took serious note of the vulnerability of common people in the face of rampant human right violations by both State and non-State entities.
Nevertheless, it welcome and appreciated the clarification and invitation of UNLF for an open and independent inquiry as a remarkable and progressive step and called upon civil society to reciprocate the initiative of UNLF positively and responsibly ins- tead of seeking to politicise and communalise the alleg-ed crimes, or sanctify and sanitize narrow interest.
The faith of Bush: Christian supremacy, American imperialism
By Yoginder Sikand Sangai Express
George Bush’s personal commitment and sympathy for Christian fundamentalism are well-known. Indeed, it is becoming increasingly clear that his foreign policies, as in Afghanistan, Iraq and now Iran, are powerfully shaped by the Christian fundamentalist agenda of global conquest for Christ and Capital. Christian fundamentalists believe that Christ alone is the way to salvation, and that the entire world must be brought to heel before him, by force if necessary. In the past, this pernicious doctrine was used to bless bloody Crusades and wars of imperial plunder. The doctrine serves exactly the same purpose today, although in a somewhat modified garb, as the bombing of Afghanistan, the destruction of Iraq and the possible American invasion of Iran clearly indicate. Although these acts are sought to be justified by America as a ‘civilising’ mission or as part of its ‘war on terror’, the underlying white Christian supremacist vision behind American imperialism, a continuation of the logic of European colonialism, is unmistakable.
What, then, is the Christian fundamentalist vision that is driving Bush and his key advisors to world conquest, even if this could possibly mean destruction and chaos on a global and unpreceden-ted scale? Stephen Mans-field’s recently published ‘The Faith of George W. Bush’ [Jeremy Tarcher/Penguin, New York, 2004], a hagiographic account of the American President, provides an interesting, yet deeply disturbing, account of Bush’s personal commitment to Christian fundamentalism and its bearing on the policies of his administration. The book’s cover describ-es it, obviously exaggeratedly, as a ‘national bestse-ller’ and quotes the Wall Street Journal as commen-ding it as ‘a story of spiritual awakening’.
Mansfield would have us believe that Bush is almost a Christian saint or sorts, only a short step from being canonised. Referring to the enormous clout that Christian fundamentalism now enjoys in American decision-making circles, Mansfield writes with unconcealed glee that, ‘More than any other presidency in recent years, George W. Bush’s presidency is faith based’. ‘He has often said’, Mansfield approvingly mentions, ‘that faith saved his life, nurtured his family, established his political career and helped form the destiny of the nation’. Bush, so Mansfield claims, ‘incorporates his faith and belief in God into every detail of life […] The President relies upon his faith to direct his actions and goals’. Mansfield does not conceal his delight at the growing influence of Christian fundamentalists in the corridors of power in Washington under Bush’s seemingly benign patronage. ‘In no previous administration’, he says, ‘has the White House hosted so many weekly Bible Studies and prayer meetings and never have religious leaders been more gratefully welcomed’.
Bush’s Christian commitment that Mansfield so fervently endorses is not the world-renouncing faith of a Christian hermit, overwhelmed with Christ-like love and passionate concern for the poor and the needy. Rather, it is a ven-geful, hate-driven creed rooted in the notion of the triumphalist Church that desperately seeks to subjugate the entire world and expand the borders of Christendom till the ends of the earth. It is this vision of Christianity that informs the world view of Bush’s spiritual mentor, the American Christian fundamentalist and telev-angelist Billy Graham, at whose hands, Mansfield tells us, Bush experienced a re-conversion to Christ more than two decades ago.
Mansfield approvingly tells us that Graham is driven by a visceral hatred of Islam, and quotes him as having declared that Islam is ‘wicked, violent and not of the same God [as Christianity]’. It is entirely possible that Graham’s deep-rooted Islamophobia has rubbed off on his disciple Bush as well. Graha-m’s Christian fervour has certainly been instrumental in developing Bush’s firm belief that ‘Jesus is the only way to God’, althou-gh Mansfield does admit that Bush ‘has been hesitant to say’ this, adding that once when he did so to a Jewish reporter it ‘ignited a powder keg of controversy’. Mansfield also dwells at length on Bush’s close bonding with other notorious American Christian fundamentalists, most notably Jerry Fawell and Pat Robertson, firm uphol-ders of the doctrine that Christianity alone is the way to salvation and that all other religions are limited, false or even Satanic.
Bush’s agenda of impo-sing global American hegemony cannot be understood without taking into account his dogged commitment to the doctrine of Christian supremacy, as Mansfield makes clear.
‘From the tragedy of Sept 11 to the conflict in Iraq’, he informs us, ‘President Bush has lear-ned to use his faith to help him live in public and private life’ and to ‘shape the affairs of his administration’. Bush, Mansfield says, sees himself as having been appointed by [the Christian fundamentalist] God to serve His divine purposes in the world. Bush is convinced, he remarks, that he is the President of America because he has been specially chosen by God for the post. ‘I am here because of the power of prayer’, Mansfield quotes Bush as triumphantly proclaiming.
His faith makes Bush, or so Mansfield claims, a ‘better man’. This ‘better man’, Mansfield says with passionate approval, has been inspired by his faith in Christ to invade Iraq, ostensibly ‘to root out a terrorist threat and remove Saddam’ and also to ‘make it a Midland of the Middle East, not so much as an exact cultural and industrial parallel but as the model of how human beings ought to live together’. Bush’s hopes for a post-war Iraq, Mansfield piously proclaims, ‘are safety, family, benevolent political leaders, good schools, sports, friends and love’. ‘All men should live this way, he believes. It is what he wants America to be and for America to model in the world’. This nauseating defence of American terrorism, the killings of thousands of people in Iraq and elsewhere by American troops, is thus blessed as a grand civilising mission to be thrust down the throats of unwilling non-white and non-Christian people, no matter what the cost in human terms.
True to his passionate commitment to the doctrine of Christian suprem-acy, Bush sees the world in stark Manichaean terms. In the Christian fundamentalist world-view, God and Satan, evil and good, are engaged in a constant battle that will culminate in the grand war of Armageddon that will engulf the world, heralding the Second Coming of Jesus. Seated on a throne in Jerusalem, Jesus will rule the world. All knees will bow before him and all unbelievers will be despatched to eternal damnation in Hell. Christian fundamentalists believe that the end of the world is near, and for this suitable preparations, including unleashing bloody wars against Christianity’s supposed enemies, must be made.
Christian fundamentalists see America as being actively engaged in a cosmic struggle, which might entail, among other things, waging war for the glory of Christ, for championing the ‘good’ and combating ‘evil’. As a Christian fundamentalist, Bush, Mansfield suggests, sees complex questions in the most simplistic terms, as simply a battle between ‘good’ and ‘evil’.
Blind to the reality of brutal Western imperialism, economic, cultural, political and military, that is at the root of widespread distress and anti-Western sentiments among many Muslims, as well as other non-Western peoples, Bush, Mansfield says, is apparently convinced that Islamist militants and ma-ny other Muslims are opposed to America simply because, as he believes, America is ‘freedom’s home and defender’. ‘It is the price we pay for being good’, Bush piously proclaims, It is as if anti-Western feelings, including Islamist militancy, stem from a congenital Muslim/non-white/non-Christian madness or barbarity that can only be cured through military bombardment or else through the ‘civilising’ mission of Christianity. It is as if Muslims are inherently opposed to the ‘freedom’ and ‘democracy’ that Bush believes the Am-erican Empire represents.
Fired by a seemingly irrepressible zeal for the cause of Christian fundamentalism, Mansfield writes that Bush has actively sought to marshal Christian theological legitimacy for his imperialist wars, seeking to invoke the ‘Just War Theory’ that was first developed by the medieval Church to bless the anti-Muslim Crusades, expand the boundaries of Christendom and to subjugate the ‘benighted heathen’. This, indeed, is how Bush and his cohorts see the wars that they are currently waging in the Muslim world and elsewhere, a restatement of the arguments used to sanction the numerous bloody wars that America and its European allies sponsored during the Cold War against the ‘atheistic’ communists.
Bush’s fiery commitment to the Christian fundamentalist agenda also explains his fervent support to Israel. Although the Christian Church for centuries provided religious sanction to anti-Jewish hatred, many Christian fundamentalists are today vociferous supporters of Israel, Zionist expansionism and the brutal suppression of the Palestinians. — to be contd