PaRCha - JNU - AISA - 2004 ID-1962
.
~ .
All India Students' .Association (AISA) 25.03.04 .
Pyblic Meeting .
'WAR ON TERROR'' AND THE TERROR OF POTA : Black Laws, Human Rights and Indian State .
! SpeakersNandIta Ha~ar, NotedLawyer and HumanRights Activist .. Kumudlnl Patl, General Secretary,AIPWA Siddhartha Varadrajan, NotedJournalist,Times Of India .
25.03.04(Tonight) 9:30 PM Sutlej Mess ~· State Terror: Cracking Down On Movements And Minorities .
In /mphal, a young woman, Sharmila /rom, sits on a fast unto death against the draconian Armed Forces Special Powers Act. She is not a victim oftlris Act; the killing of13 young Manipuri boys by Armed Forces inspired her to begin herfast four years ago.. Since then she has been under a"est, undergoingforce-feeding. When asked why she continues to protest against this Act, which is ostensibly intended to help our Armyfzght 'anti-nationals', she replies, u Because !love peacen. .
Over the years, the Indian state has anned itself with an arsenal of draconian laws, which are designed to crush human rights .
and democratic voice!' of dissent. In the wake of the US ' so-called War On Terror, the Yajpayee government added a new .
ch:lplcr to the history ofblnck laws. Inspired by the us· own 'security' laws like the Patriot Act, the Ynjpaycc Govt. introduced .
POTA. Almost exactly two years ago, on 26 March 2002, the Govt. made use of the Parliament bombing as an excuse .
to buLldoze POTA through a Joint Session of Parliament. .
In tin.-l\.·o .fCdi'S vfPOTA~ what do we see? Do we find a trail of a 'war on terrorism' as promised by Vajpayee, Advani & Co.? .
Or do we find a brutal trail of terror against movements and minorities? .
Let us t::~ke ::J look at "hom POTA hns turgcttcd. .
.
For DU lecturer SAR Geelani, a nightmare was born almost simultaneously with the birth ofPOTA This man has now .
been proved innocent of an~ connection with the Parliament bombing. But under POTA, his political views, his identity as ' to justify arrest.
a Kushmiri Muslim. the fuel U1at he was a~ acquaintance of two other accused, was enough of a 'crime.
him as a ·terrorist'. He sufTercd tmprisonmcnt, vili(jcation, torture, and even death sentence from the special POTA Court. .
lt was only widespread pressure from civil society which could save him from being hanged as a 'terrorist'. .
.
In Godhra, young men, mostly doing smaJl jobs like electricians, TV repair men etc... have been booked under POTA wholesale-no prizes for guessing that all are Muslims. These men have been subjected to third degree torture to force them to confess that they were 'terrorists' who had set fire to the Sabarmati Express. Their families also continue to be threatened with death ifthey spe-ak out. .
But the bulk ofPOTA arrests have not been in J&K, although 'terrorism' in Kashmir was one ofthe foremost bases for the Govt. 's intaoouction ofPOTA Instead, it is Jharkhand which tops the list, with hundreds oftribals, many ofwhom are women and children. 1n Jharkhand as well as Eastern UP and other tribal belts, people who make any claim to land, rivers, .
'Naxalites', and POTA is the latest handy weapon against their.
forests, resomces or proper wages, are all branded as assertion. At a People's Tribmtal held recently in Delhi, several small children and young women testified as to how they have been booked under POTA on charges of 'supporting' Naxalite movements. '.
Meanwhile, the old black laws, now scrapped, still continue to be used. For instance, in Bihar. a TADA case was made out in I988 against a popular CPI(ML) leader ofJehanobnd, Shnh Chand and sovcrnl others, including some young children. Despite TADA having been scrapped, the Bihar Govt. took no steps to free these victims ofTADA. Now, Shah Chand and others have been awarded a life sentence under TADA While in the same Jehanabad, the Ranveer Sena goons who kill activists like Manju in cold blood, and who massacre rural poor and dalits, are never called terrorists! Infact, Ranveer Sena Chief Brahmeshwar Singh will be contesting for a seat in the Lok Sabha this time! POTA and other black laws are never used against terrorists of the saffron hue, not even when they publicly knock down mosques, burn thousands alive or spew s~hes to spread terror and hatred. Clearly, according to the Indian State, in order to be a 'tenorist' one must either be a Muslim, or ~ poor tribal or landless labourer, or a Commwlist Bhagat Singh threw his bomb in the Assembly, to 'make the deaf hear, the protests against draconian colonial laws meant to crush workers, right to protest. Bhagat Singh was branded as a terrorist bythe British. Today,BhagatSingh's successors, theactivists ofpeople's movements, are branded as terrorists and jailed and killed, while the saffron descendants of the Britjsh b~tu't/ .f:tll\di.t.lvA. .
\Qed~eSdwkar roam free. \ll10 ~~-am: ;r ~Cf>l~l liiU1qlfft Cfft.
Revolutionary poet from Andhra Pradesh, Sri Sri, expresses it best -.
Yesterday, the white man calledyou 1Bhagat Singh' ~~fcRI ~ ~m m 'fN'fl ~~Jft q;jom Cfft Today the black man ct~llsyou 1Naxaliie' 110 ~~~ct ~~ 5~'i"i ~ .
Tomo17'0W, the whole world will callyou 'Morning Star'I' rl-rtt 4 R ~ qft · ~t · ~ Resist State Teneri Scrap POTA Totally! ~~~~ Q 316f ffi 3ITf!f '-""'9' ~{-Of .
Long Live People's Movements And Revolutionary Struggles! -~ICf)( ..1~-.io~""'< .
Sdl-Mona Du, President, AIS~JNU 1 Sdl-IntesbarAhmad, Gen.Secy.. AJSA,JNU .
.
PaRCha - JNU - AISA - 2004 ID-1962
.
~ .
All India Students' .Association (AISA) 25.03.04 .
Pyblic Meeting .
'WAR ON TERROR'' AND THE TERROR OF POTA : Black Laws, Human Rights and Indian State .
! SpeakersNandIta Ha~ar, NotedLawyer and HumanRights Activist .. Kumudlnl Patl, General Secretary,AIPWA Siddhartha Varadrajan, NotedJournalist,Times Of India .
25.03.04(Tonight) 9:30 PM Sutlej Mess ~· State Terror: Cracking Down On Movements And Minorities .
In /mphal, a young woman, Sharmila /rom, sits on a fast unto death against the draconian Armed Forces Special Powers Act. She is not a victim oftlris Act; the killing of13 young Manipuri boys by Armed Forces inspired her to begin herfast four years ago.. Since then she has been under a"est, undergoingforce-feeding. When asked why she continues to protest against this Act, which is ostensibly intended to help our Armyfzght 'anti-nationals', she replies, u Because !love peacen. .
Over the years, the Indian state has anned itself with an arsenal of draconian laws, which are designed to crush human rights .
and democratic voice!' of dissent. In the wake of the US ' so-called War On Terror, the Yajpayee government added a new .
ch:lplcr to the history ofblnck laws. Inspired by the us· own 'security' laws like the Patriot Act, the Ynjpaycc Govt. introduced .
POTA. Almost exactly two years ago, on 26 March 2002, the Govt. made use of the Parliament bombing as an excuse .
to buLldoze POTA through a Joint Session of Parliament. .
In tin.-l\.·o .fCdi'S vfPOTA~ what do we see? Do we find a trail of a 'war on terrorism' as promised by Vajpayee, Advani & Co.? .
Or do we find a brutal trail of terror against movements and minorities? .
Let us t::~ke ::J look at "hom POTA hns turgcttcd. .
.
For DU lecturer SAR Geelani, a nightmare was born almost simultaneously with the birth ofPOTA This man has now .
been proved innocent of an~ connection with the Parliament bombing. But under POTA, his political views, his identity as ' to justify arrest.
a Kushmiri Muslim. the fuel U1at he was a~ acquaintance of two other accused, was enough of a 'crime.
him as a ·terrorist'. He sufTercd tmprisonmcnt, vili(jcation, torture, and even death sentence from the special POTA Court. .
lt was only widespread pressure from civil society which could save him from being hanged as a 'terrorist'. .
.
In Godhra, young men, mostly doing smaJl jobs like electricians, TV repair men etc... have been booked under POTA wholesale-no prizes for guessing that all are Muslims. These men have been subjected to third degree torture to force them to confess that they were 'terrorists' who had set fire to the Sabarmati Express. Their families also continue to be threatened with death ifthey spe-ak out. .
But the bulk ofPOTA arrests have not been in J&K, although 'terrorism' in Kashmir was one ofthe foremost bases for the Govt. 's intaoouction ofPOTA Instead, it is Jharkhand which tops the list, with hundreds oftribals, many ofwhom are women and children. 1n Jharkhand as well as Eastern UP and other tribal belts, people who make any claim to land, rivers, .
'Naxalites', and POTA is the latest handy weapon against their.
forests, resomces or proper wages, are all branded as assertion. At a People's Tribmtal held recently in Delhi, several small children and young women testified as to how they have been booked under POTA on charges of 'supporting' Naxalite movements. '.
Meanwhile, the old black laws, now scrapped, still continue to be used. For instance, in Bihar. a TADA case was made out in I988 against a popular CPI(ML) leader ofJehanobnd, Shnh Chand and sovcrnl others, including some young children. Despite TADA having been scrapped, the Bihar Govt. took no steps to free these victims ofTADA. Now, Shah Chand and others have been awarded a life sentence under TADA While in the same Jehanabad, the Ranveer Sena goons who kill activists like Manju in cold blood, and who massacre rural poor and dalits, are never called terrorists! Infact, Ranveer Sena Chief Brahmeshwar Singh will be contesting for a seat in the Lok Sabha this time! POTA and other black laws are never used against terrorists of the saffron hue, not even when they publicly knock down mosques, burn thousands alive or spew s~hes to spread terror and hatred. Clearly, according to the Indian State, in order to be a 'tenorist' one must either be a Muslim, or ~ poor tribal or landless labourer, or a Commwlist Bhagat Singh threw his bomb in the Assembly, to 'make the deaf hear, the protests against draconian colonial laws meant to crush workers, right to protest. Bhagat Singh was branded as a terrorist bythe British. Today,BhagatSingh's successors, theactivists ofpeople's movements, are branded as terrorists and jailed and killed, while the saffron descendants of the Britjsh b~tu't/ .f:tll\di.t.lvA. .
\Qed~eSdwkar roam free. \ll10 ~~-am: ;r ~Cf>l~l liiU1qlfft Cfft.
Revolutionary poet from Andhra Pradesh, Sri Sri, expresses it best -.
Yesterday, the white man calledyou 1Bhagat Singh' ~~fcRI ~ ~m m 'fN'fl ~~Jft q;jom Cfft Today the black man ct~llsyou 1Naxaliie' 110 ~~~ct ~~ 5~'i"i ~ .
Tomo17'0W, the whole world will callyou 'Morning Star'I' rl-rtt 4 R ~ qft · ~t · ~ Resist State Teneri Scrap POTA Totally! ~~~~ Q 316f ffi 3ITf!f '-""'9' ~{-Of .
Long Live People's Movements And Revolutionary Struggles! -~ICf)( ..1~-.io~""'< .
Sdl-Mona Du, President, AIS~JNU 1 Sdl-IntesbarAhmad, Gen.Secy.. AJSA,JNU .
.