Muslims – Page 6

Photos: One of Ukraine’s most nationalistic cities has become a refuge for nearly 2,000 Muslims

March 2, 2015 by Nasheman

Elmaz and her husband Timur Barotov, refugees from Crimea who now live in Lviv.(Misha Friedman)

by Misha Friedman, Quartz

Among the million-plus Ukrainians displaced by the fighting in the east are thousands of Jews and Muslims. Life is complicated for both groups. In a previous photo-essay, Misha Friedman documented the Jews of Dnipropetrovsk; in this one, he highlights the Crimean Tatars, a Muslim community who, like the Jews, have a long history of persecution in the region. Thousands have fled Crimea since Russia annexed it last year, and many have gone to the western Ukrainian city of Lviv.

It’s an unlikely destination. While the city has a long and cosmopolitan history, reflected in its picturesque mix of architecture, its recent past has been less friendly. When Germany invaded in 1941, the city was in Polish hands, and its ethnic Ukrainian residents—at the time outnumbered heavily by Poles and Jews—enthusiastically helped the Nazi forces round up and kill Jews, and later took part in massacres of Poles. Since then the city has been a bastion of Ukrainian nationalism.

Yet one thing unites the Muslim Crimean Tatars and the Orthodox Christian Ukrainians: their enmity towards Russia. And so, for now at least, the Tatars are welcome in Lviv. By the time Friedman visited in January, some 1,700 had made it their home, and more were arriving. (Except where noted, all photos are by Friedman; text is reported by Friedman and written by Gideon Lichfield.)

People congregate after Friday prayers. There is no mosque, so they use a space rented by another Muslim diaspora, the Dagestanis.

Diaspora is nothing new for the Crimean Tatars (who are not to be confused with the Volga Tatars in central Russia). In 1944, after the Soviet Union had recaptured Ukraine from the German army, Josef Stalin ordered the entire Crimean Tatar population—some 180,000 people—deported, allegedly for collaborating with the Nazis. They were given 15-20 minutes to collect some belongings, and packed on to trains. Most were sent to Uzbekistan. Not until the mid-1980s, under Mikhail Gorbachev’s perestroika reforms, were they allowed to start coming back.

Alim Aliev, founder of Crimea SOS, a local NGO that helps new arrivals fit in, at its office in Lviv.

By the time of the 2001 census there were 240,000 Tatars back in Crimea. It’s estimated that fewer than 10% have left; Russia conducted a census late last year but hasn’t released figures about ethnicity (pdf, in Russian).

Like the displaced Jews in Dnipropetrovsk, the Tatars who have moved to Lviv have had to find new professions. “I didn’t meet anybody who does what he did back home,” Friedman says. Yashar, a former high-school French teacher, learned to make plov, the rice-and-meat stew that is Uzbekistan’s national dish, when he was living there; now he cooks and sells it from a street stall in Lviv.

Yashar, a high-school French teacher from Crimea who now cooks and sells Uzbek plov at a street stall.

On a good day Yashar sells two large pots’ worth of plov at around $2 a serving.

Ernest Abkelyanov, 44, owned a convenience store in Simferopol. He came to Lviv with his wife and four children and is now unemployed. He acts as a religious leader for the community and helps deliver humanitarian aid and orient new arrivals from Crimea.

Ernest Abkelyanov, a former convenience-store owner in Crimea, and his family in Lviv.

Suleiman, a truck driver, came to Lviv with his wife and six children. Also unemployed, he works part-time making dumplings at the Crimea, a café frequented by Tatars. The café’s name is a kind of local joke, Friedman explains. “The men spend a lot of time in the café, and when someone calls their phones and asks where they are, they say, ‘I’m in Crimea!’”

Suleiman, who was a truck driver in Crimea, with his family.

The door of the Krym (Crimea) cafe in Lviv, a hangout for the Tatar community.

Suleiman and Ernest say a prayer during a Muslim naming ceremony for a two-week-old baby, born to another Tatar family in Lviv.

Suleiman at the baby-naming ceremony.

Lviv wears its nationalism on its sleeve. The people killed during the Euromaidan protests in Kyiv in 2014, which led to the ouster of Ukraine’s pro-Russian president, Viktor Yanukovych, are martyrs here as much as in the capital.

Graffiti commemorating the “heavenly hundred,” the people killed during the Euromaidan protests in Kyiv in 2014.

Unity Day, a government holiday on Jan. 22, is taken especially seriously in Lviv. It marks the unification of eastern and western Ukraine in 1919 and their brief existence as an independent country before the USSR and Poland took over and redivided the country in 1920. Members of the Crimean Tatar community join in the ceremonies.

New army recruits sing the national anthem at a ceremony on Ukrainian Unity Day.

Alim Aliev (center) singing the national anthem on Unity Day.

Ernest Abkelyanov and his daughter at the Unity Day celebration.

A protestor during Unity Day celebrations with posters demonizing Russian president Vladimir Putin. “Putin, remember how Hitler ended” is one of his signs.

Though his signs compared Putin to Hitler, the old man told Friedman, “The Yids are to blame for everything.”

In Dnipropetrovsk, Friedman had encountered the family of Asher Cherkassky, an Orthodox Jew who fights in one of Ukraine’s volunteer battalions against the pro-Russian separatists. In Lviv, he met Timur Barotov (link in Ukrainian), a former Ukrainian naval officer who joined a volunteer battalion to fight the Russian forces in Crimea. When Russia annexed the peninsula, some members of the Ukrainian military there switched their allegiances to Moscow. Barotov left instead, and has become a minor celebrity, playing a part in a film about Ukrainian history (link in Ukrainian). Barotov’s wife Elmaz (pictured with him at the top of this story) is Crimean Tatar; he himself is part Ukrainian, part Tajik.

Timur Barotov, a retired naval officer in Crimea who joined a Ukrainian volunteer battalion to fight against the Russian invasion.

Indian-American Muslims demand justice for Gujarat victims on 13th anniversary

February 26, 2015 by Nasheman

by Kaleem Kawaja

On the occasion of the 13th anniversary of the massacre of over one-thousand Muslims in Gujarat on February 27, 2002, the Washington DC based Indian-American Muslim NGO, Association of Indian Muslims of America (AIMA) has issued an appeal to India’s President and Prime Minister to help expedite criminal cases against the culprits responsible for the massacre.

AIMA reminded the two top political heads of the Indian government that 13 long years after the well organized brutal attack by some sectarian organizations on a large number of innocent Muslim men, women and children in Ahmedabad and other cities in central Gujarat, only very few of the hundreds of culprits have been sentenced to jail. The Gujarat state government legal authorities are continuing to delay criminal proceedings in courts of law against the many culprits despite clear instructions by the Supreme Court of India.

In the years since the violence, in several instances the Gujarat state government legal authorities have destroyed critical evidence against the culprits, who in various instances were ministers, senior police officials and officials of the Gujarat government. The enquiries conducted by the enquiry commissions appointed by Gujarat government were a sham and committed many irregularities.

Several reputed Indian and International human rights organizations including the United Nations Human Rights body have made categorical statements asking the Indian government and courts to speed up the cases against the culprits. Yet the courts in Gujarat state are either dropping the cases claiming that there is not sufficient evidence, or are causing extreme delays.

Speaking on behalf of the many families of the victims of the February 2002 Gujarat massacre, AIMA also made an appeal to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India to take steps to correct the malafides and corruption in the lower level justice system in Gujarat that is continuing to prevent bringing the many culprits to justice in the above sectarian violence.

Kaleem Kawaja is the Executive Director of Association of Indian Muslims of America.

In gesture of solidarity, Norwegian Muslims form 'Ring of Peace' around Oslo synagogue

February 23, 2015 by Nasheman

‘There are many more peace mongers than war mongers,’ an organizer said.

Muslims and Jews in Norway formed a ‘ring of peace’ around Oslo’s one functioning synagogue in a show of solidarity. (Photo: EPA)

by Nadia Prupis, Common Dreams

More than 1,000 Muslims in Norway joined together in sub-zero temperatures on Saturday to form a protective circle around Oslo’s sole functioning synagogue as a gesture of solidarity with the city’s Jewish community following last week’s attacks on a synagogue in neighboring Denmark.

Chanting “No to anti-Semitism, no to Islamophobia,” the group, made up of both Muslim and Jewish participants, stood in what they called a “ring of peace” around the building. The gesture comes shortly after the attacks on Charlie Hebdo magazine headquarters in Paris, which left 17 people dead, as well as the more recent shooting at a free speech event at a Copenhagen synagogue.

“There are many more peace mongers than war mongers,” Zeeshan Abdullah, one of the organizers of the event, said on Saturday. “There’s still hope for humanity, for peace and love, across religious differences and backgrounds.”

Another organizer, Hajrah Arshad, said the gathering also shows that “Islam is about love and unity.”

Ervin Kohn, one of the leaders of the country’s small Jewish community, said the vigil “fills us with hope… particularly as it’s a grassroots movement of young Muslims.” He added, “Working against fear alone is difficult and it is good that we are so many here together.”

Abdullah continued, “We want to demonstrate that Jews and Muslims do not hate each other. We do not want individuals to define what Islam is for the rest of us.”

China to neighbours: Send us your Uighurs

February 21, 2015 by Nasheman

Afghanistan is among several countries under pressure to deport Chinese members of the Muslim ethnic group.

Anti-terrorism posters are pasted along the streets of Urumqi, in China’s Xinjiang region [Getty Images]

by Bethany Matta, Al Jazeera

Kabul: Isreal Ahmet, an ethnic Uighur who immigrated to Afghanistan from western China, lived and worked in Kabul for more than a decade before being detained and deported by Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security (NDS) last summer.

Ahmet, who lived in a meagre, mud-brick house, was described as an honest businessman by those who know him.

An NDS official – speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorised to talk to the media – told Al Jazeera that Ahmet was detained for lacking legal documentation and carrying counterfeit money. He was held in a jail cell with more than two dozen other Chinese Uighurs, including women and children.

Flagged as a spy, Ahmet was quickly escorted to the Kabul International Airport, where Chinese officials were waiting for him. He boarded a plane and has not been heard from since.

Eleven other Uighur men sharing a cell with Ahmet were also sent back to China, according to the NDS official, adding that six women and 12 children in another cell had refused to go. The whereabouts of these women and children are currently unknown.

“Some [of the detainees] were spies, some were [potential] suicide attackers and some illegally entered the country,” said the NDS official.

In recent weeks, five more Uighurs were detained in Afghanistan, the official said, however, all five managed to “escape”.

China’s ‘Strike Hard’ crackdown

Most Uighurs – an ethnic minority that practices Islam – live in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region in western China, which has a short border with Afghanistan.

Many have fled China in recent years to escape the government’s crackdown on practising Muslims in Xinjiang, which has included restrictions on fasting during Ramadan and wearing the veil.

The deportation of Ahmet and other Uighurs in Afghanistan occurred during China’s ongoing “Strike Hard” campaign, which was launched the day after a deadly attack on a market killed dozens of people in Urumqi, the Xinjiang region’s capital, last May.

The secretive deportations of Uighurs living in Afghanistan highlight China’s growing influence on its neighbours, who in recent years have come under pressure to hand over members of the persecuted minority living within their borders.

William Nee, a China researcher at Amnesty International, said the Chinese government has exerted diplomatic pressure on Thailand, Turkey and other countries to repatriate Uighurs.

Last November, China criticised Turkey for sheltering 200 Uighurs who had been rescued from human smugglers in Thailand. In 2009, China signed trade deals with Cambodia that were collectively worth about $1bn – two days after Cambodiadeported 20 Uighurs to China.

During Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s visit to China last October, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged hundreds of millions of dollars in assistance, training and scholarships. Most importantly, China – an ally of Pakistan – offered to help the Afghan government in its peace talks with the Taliban, which enjoys support in parts of Pakistan’s tribal areas.

In return, Ghani reassured Xi of Afghanistan’s support for China’s fight against the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), a Uighur separatist group that China blames for a number of deadly attacks in the country over the past decade.

“No written agreements have been made between the two countries, just verbal,” said Sultan Ahmad, the former Afghan ambassador to China who now serves as a director at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kabul.

“We see this as a window of opportunity. China is worried about their own security, and they need cooperation from all countries. They can help us with the reconstruction of Afghanistan and our relationship with Pakistan, with whom they share close relations. For us, it is very important to have a relationship with the Taliban and Pakistan.”

Acting NDS Director Rahmatullah Nabil, who visited Beijing just before Ghani’s trip, declined to comment for this article.

‘We’re warning Beijing’

During Afghanistan’s rule by the Taliban, about a dozen ETIM fighters were based in Kabul under the command of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), according to Waheed Mozhdah, a political analyst who served as an official in the foreign ministry at the time. Taliban and Chinese officials met several times about the issue.

After the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, ETIM fighters crossed the border into Pakistan.

Today, about 200 ETIM members are believed to reside in Taliban-controlled areas of Afghanistan’s Kunar province and Pakistan’s tribal belt, according to Mozhdah.

The number of attacks in China attributed to Uighur separatists has increased in recent years. “Yet, there is still no evidence that the things that have happened have any international ties,” said cultural anthropologist Sean Roberts, a professor at George Washington University.

“In fact, they are still very rudimentary type of attacks that look to be more home-grown.”

Last month, reports emerged of a Taliban delegation in Beijing holding talks with Chinese officials. Afghan Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid declined to comment, saying top leaders had not yet confirmed the news.

He also said he didn’t have information regarding the treatment of Uighurs in China, or of those detained by the Afghan government.

“Before the American invasion, there were Uighurs here, but now we don’t know,” Mujahid said.

“For China, Central Asian states and our neighbours, we first want to make our strategy clear. We want them to understand why we are fighting here. And then, if there is an issue regarding the repression and killing of Uighurs in China, we would likely raise that subject during our talks with them.”

The issue has not gone unnoticed by other armed groups in the region, who have threatened China for its policies in Xinjiang.

In November 2014, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan Jamaat-ul Ahrar – an offshoot of the Pakistani Taliban – published an article in its official magazine, which said: “We’re warning Beijing to stop killing Uighurs. If you don’t change your anti-Muslim policies, soon the mujahideen will target you.”

Restricting Islamic practices

Meanwhile, what is happening within China’s borders is worrisome, said Amnesty’s Nee.

The public wearing of veils, beards and T-shirts featuring the Islamic crescent has been banned in many cities across Xinjiang. Students have been restricted from observing Ramadan, and there have been reports of force-feeding those who insist on fasting. Others have been disciplined for openly worshipping or downloading unsanctioned material.

Last month, local authorities in Urumqi banned wearing the veil in public. Meanwhile, the number of people whom the Chinese government has sentenced to death has risen, said Nee.

“Religious extremism is being lumped together with violent terrorism. For example, any religious practice [that is] not state-sanctioned … then you could be characterised as participating in religious extremism,” Nee explained.

“One concern for Amnesty International is that normal migrants will be repatriated to China under the framework of anti-terrorism – people who may just be fleeing for better economic conditions. Maybe they are first going to Afghanistan before going to United States or Europe, and they are hauled back to China.”

China’s Ambassador to Afghanistan Deng Xijun declined requests for comment.

Little information

Bo Schack, the United Nations refugee agency’s (UNHCR) representative in Afghanistan, told Al Jazeera he has little information about deported Uighurs.

“There is currently no one in detention. We believe some were returned to their country,” he said.

“There are rules under the international convention [prohibiting the deportation of people to countries where their lives may be at risk]. But Afghanistan has no laws in place.”

Schack also said UNHCR had no record of female and children Uighurs being detained, which contradicts other accounts.

Under international refugee law, the principle of non-refoulement prohibits states from returning refugees to a place where their lives or freedom is under threat. Yet, in the absence of an extradition treaty, activists say Afghanistan has discretion on whether to comply with China’s request.

80% of Anti-Muslim attacks in France against women, says report

February 20, 2015 by Nasheman

Kenza Drider, a French Muslim of North African descent, wears a niqab outside the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris April 11, 2011. GONZALO FUENTES/REUTERS

by Lucy Draper, Newsweek

80% of the anti-Muslim acts which occur in France are carried out against women a new report published today by Nils Muižnieks, the Council of Europe commissioner for human rights, has revealed.

The commissioner, who produced the report after visiting France in September last year, warned of increasing attacks directed at homosexuals, Jews and Muslims and said that there should be more efforts to integrate and care for immigrants and asylum seekers.

Muižnieks recommends a national plan to promote and protect human rights as well as ratifying Protocol No. 12 to the European Convention on Human Rights on the general prohibition of discrimination in order to “further strengthen the legal framework.”

Attacks on Muslims have been on the rise in France since the Charlie Hebdo attacks in January. Earlier this month the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) published data that showed that between the Charlie Hebdo attacks on 7th January and the end of that month there were 147 ‘acts’ carried out against Muslims.

In the week following the attacks the CFCM reported that 26 separate mosques had been attacked across the country. In some cases the buildings were firebombed and in other grenades were thrown.

Fiyaz Mughal, the director of UK-based interfaith thinktank Faith Matters says that the term ‘acts’ covers a huge range of hostile actions. He says they have received complaints from Muslim women which include: “Spitting, general abuse, pulling and tearing at the niqab and the hijab, plus dog faeces being thrown at women, as well as bottles from passing cars and people shouting things like ‘Muslim whore’ ‘Muslim bitch’ or ‘Muzzie’.”

On why he believes Muslim women might face more abuse than their male counterparts, Mughal says: “All our data… shows that visible women are the ones that are targeted at a street level. This means that women who wear the hijab are the ones that are sometimes targeted for abuse and those who wear the niqab suffer more anti-Muslim hate incidents and more aggressive assaults.”

He also believes that there is a gender imbalance in terms of anti-Muslim hate at a street level, saying that victim data shows that perpetrators are usually male and aged between 15-35, while their victims are mostly women and aged between 15-45.

Sahar Aziz, a professor who teaches about Middle East law at the Texas A&M University School of Law wrote an article for American news site CNN in which she condemned the lack of response to these increased attacks from French feminists who had celebrated the 2011 ban on full face veils. “As Muslim women face threats to their safety in the anti-Muslim backlash, one cannot help but notice the deafening silence of French feminists,” Aziz writes.

Muižnieks’s report addresses a wide-range of problems in France including racism and discrimination against a variety of people including Roma, migrants and those with disabilities.

Although the commissioner commended France for combating the issues he raised in their courts and institutions, he went on to suggest that the country “include the fight against discrimination in a national plan to promote and protect human rights”.

“It is essential to put an end to such acts, including on the internet, and to punish those responsible,” he wrote.

Muslim clerics pose six questions to RSS

February 17, 2015 by Nasheman

Kanpur: A delegation of Muslim clerics led by the Sunni Ulema Council’s General Secretary met RSS functionary Indresh and posed six questions to the Sangh including whether it has prepared a format to turn India into a Hindu ‘rashtra’, which he claimed left the saffron outfit irritated.

The Muslim delegation claimed that Indresh refused to answer their questions and instead said that a conference of Muslim organisations should be called where he would give the answers.

“We had a meeting with senior RSS functionary Indreshji last night during which we asked six questions, but he did not have any answer,” Sunni Ulema Council General Secretary Haji Mohammed Salees told PTI today.

He alleged that Indreshji, who is pracharak and looks after minority affairs in the organisation, got “irritated” with the questions.

“Our first question was whether RSS considers India a Hindu country. The second one was whether RSS has prepared a format to turn India into a Hindu ‘rashtra’. The third one was whether this Hindu ‘rashtra’ will be according to Hindu religious texts or RSS has chalked out a new philosophy,” he said.

Salees said, “The fourth question was what they want on religious conversion. The fifth one was what type of ‘rashtra prem’ (patriotism) RSS wants from Muslims. The sixth one was how RSS views Islam,” he said.

He said that these were the six questions which Indreshji “failed” to answer.

“They (RSS) did not have any format. They are shouting about ‘Hindu rashtra’ only on the basis of propaganda,” he alleged.

Salees feared that if Hindu Rashtra was built on Hindu texts, Dalits could once again not be allowed to enter temples.

“We asked whether a new philosophy has been chalked out by RSS. If a new philosophy has been chalked out that means Hindu religion is not religious culture. In that case, anyone can convert,” he said.

Salees said when the Constitution provides freedom of religion, why is the RSS afraid of bringing a bill.

“We are not afraid. If any Muslim does not like Islam and wants to leave, he can go. We don’t have any law to keep anyone Muslim by compulsion,” he said.

Salees said as far as love for the country was concerned their ancestors rejected Jinnah and Pakistan.

“In 1947, when the concept of two countries was decided, our ancestors rejected Jinnah and Pakistan and accepted Gandhiji as our leader, India as our country and expressed faith in the Constitution,” he said.

“What do they want from the Muslims? They should sing Vande Matram and bow before the picture of Bharat Mata, which they have visualized? We won’t accept it. It is against Islam,” he said.

“The ultimate result of the 90-minute meeting was they (RSS) asked us to call a ‘sammelan’ of Muslims and they will reply (to our posers),” Salees said.

“I said that when you cannot answer these questions in a room, then how will you do so in a conference. We then asked as to why should we call a conference,” he said.

Salees said there was restlessness among Muslims over these issues and “I came to take reply to these questions being raised in our community.”

“I believe whatever be our religion, we should be honest towards the Constitution. Religion is our personal thing. It is not an issue of the nation. We don’t even support the statements of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader Asaduddin Owaisi.

“Those flaring communal passion are not loyal to the country. The country will run on the principles of Gandhiji, it will not run on the statements of Owaisi or Sangh,” he added.

Meanwhile, a city cleric, who skipped a meeting between Indresh and a delegation of Muslim leaders last night, said there “was no point” in meeting a representative and that he would only meet RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat to highlight issues pertaining to their community.

“Salees had called me for the meeting but I have already met Indresh before and there was no point in meeting him again. I will respond to the request of a meeting only if Bhagwat will call us,” city cleric Alam Raja Noori told PTI.

“If we had met Bhagwat, we would have put forth our issues with their agenda of a Hindu nation. Talking with Indresh about our concerns will not affect organisation’s perspective,” he said.

The cleric further said he was out of town when the meeting took place but even if he were here he wouldn’t have met Indresh.

Meanwhile, Salees said Noori’s name was not included in the list of members who were to meet the RSS functionary and was only added later.

Elaborating on the meeting, Salees said, on being questioned by Indresh on their alleged silence over remarks by AIMIM Asaduddin Owaisi, the delegation told him that Owaisi does not represent the views of the community.

Equating him with the likes of BJP MPs Sakshi Maharaj and Sadhvi Nirajan Jyoti, Salees said, “Owaisi is “just a Member of Parliament”.

(PTI)

Gujarat court acquits 70 accused from 2002 riots case

February 16, 2015 by Nasheman

Ahmedabad: A local court in Banaskantha district, north Gujarat on Friday acquitted all the 70 people accused in a riot case at Sesan Nava village of Deodar taluka in which 14 persons from minority community including women were killed in the aftermath of post Godhra riots.

The additional sessions judge VK Pujara acquitted all the accused while stating that the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond doubt. He said that following the unfortunate incident of burning of Sabarmati Express train at Godhra railway station a group of Hindus attacked the people from minority community. The court has said that there is no direct evidence suggesting the involvement of the accused persons.

According to defense lawyer BK Joshi who appeared for nine accused, there were 190 witnesses in the case and most of them turned hostile during the proceedings. He said that over the years nine persons died while eight persons were lodged in jail since 2002 following their arrest.

On March 3, 2002 a mob of around 5000 people had gheroed the Muslim locality of Sasan Nava village. The mob laced with sharp weapons went to killing and looting spree till the police arrived at the scene, more than a dozen persons had been killed, with dozens of houses set on fire. In the police firing two persons from the mob were killed killed.

Publice prosecutor BV Thakor said that 12 supplementary chargesheets had been filed during the investigation in which 190 witnesses gave their statements. However, most of them turn hostile and nobody named the accused and their role. The court didn’t appreciate the evidence that we had placed.

(Agencies)

Political prisoners and activism in the current dispensation – An interview with Arun Ferreira

February 14, 2015 by Nasheman

Arun Ferreira. Photo: IE

Arun Ferreira is a political activist based in Maharashtra. He was arrested in 2007 by the anti Naxal force on the charges of being an alleged Maoist. He was subsequently granted bail in 2012 and acquitted of all charges by various courts in January 2014. His book on his prison experiences titled – ‘Colours of Cage’ was released in 2014.

He continues to be politically active and has been since then associated with issues concerning rights of political prisoners. Through this interview we seek to talk about his current work as a political activist, his views on issues pertaining to incarceration of political activists in Maharashtra, as well as on issues concerning radical left and left movements in Maharashtra and India.

by Neeraja and Prathamesh, Sanhati

Q. Can you tell us something about your current work?

A. I’m currently helping a few organizations working on prisoners’ rights and with lawyers in cases pertaining to incarcerated political activists. I’m also studying law.

Q: Can you tell us more about cases in Mumbai regarding the arrest of political activists in which you have been helping with their defense?

A: Some of these activists implicated are Angela Sontakke, Sushma Ramtekke, Jyothi Chorge, Nandini Bhagat, Anuradha Sonule, Siddharth Bhonsle and Deepak Dengle. The first five of them are from Vidarbha and a few had been earlier implicated and made accused in a conspiracy case regarding the Deshbhakti Yuva Manch in Chandrapur. Siddarth and Deepak were members of the Kabir Kala Manch in Pune. The State has been attempting to project the Kabir Kala Manch as a Maoist Front organization and hence this case. The second batch of prisoners namely Sheetal Sathe, Sachin Mali, Sagar Gorke and Ramesh Ghaichore were later on arrested in this case. All of the accused except Angela, Sachin, Ramesh and Sagar are presently on bail.

It has been the traditional tactic of the state when arresting political activists to frame a criminal conspiracy in such cases. In this case, all are accused of membership and association with the CPI(Maoist), an organization deemed terrorist and thus banned under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). These accusations are made on basis of possession of books and other literature.

Q. Is guilt then proven by association?

A. The UAPA allows for the determination of guilt on the basis of association and ideology. This is inconsistent with existing constitutional provisions of freedom of expression, ideology or association. The Supreme Court thus rightly concluded in the Arup Bhuyan and Indra Das judgements that mere passive membership in a banned organization does not make a person guilty. In that case the accused were allegedly members of a banned organization i.e. the ULFA. The Bombay High Court further developed on this interpretation while granting bail to Jyothi Chorge and others. But subsequent bail applications for Angela, Sachin, Ramesh and Sagar were not successful although the defence claimed parity in the application of the HC judgment. Many a time bail is granted on the subjective opinions of the presiding judge of the Bench.

Q. How does UAPA play a role here?

A. The list of banned organization, which is referred under UAPA schedule, mentions that ‘CPI(Maoist) and all its fronts’ are banned. It is a rule in interpretation of statutes, that penal laws including any such list should be precisely worded. The question of an organisation being ‘a front’ is determined by an act of the armed forces or Intelligence agencies rather than concrete evidence. This determination allows organizations like the Kabir Kala Manch, or even National Civil Liberties organizations to be easily branded as Maoist fronts. It also makes this determination a subjective whim of the police authority or the political bosses in power to declare any social and political organization as a front. Similar to the logic of how Greenpeace is now considered as anti-national by the IB. But here it is even more dangerous as such a determination causes a person to be detained for years on end.

Existing law allows for ‘abettors’ and ‘conspirators’ of an offence to be made culpable. However UAPA by determining guilt by association further stretches this interpretation of who is an abettor or co-conspirator. The use of law is such that many find themselves slapped with these charges, without concrete grounds of them being involved in a specific offence or an act of violence.

Q. How is membership of an organisation established in courts?

A. It is usually done by the means of establishing ideological moorings which in turn is often established by possession of books or computer files. Surrendered Naxalites are also used to give statements against the accused to prove membership or association. Under the Government’s Surrender policy, such persons will not be arrested or tried for offences they have committed on the condition that they co-operate with the police agencies. This so-called co-operation implies acting on the directions of the police authorities and fabricating statements as per their wishes. This makes their testimonies in court highly suspect.

Q. Can you tell us about arrests under UAPA in Maharashtra in recent times?

A. In Maharashtra, there are three types of arrests under UAPA. One would be those muslims arrested in blast cases, whether involved or falsely implicated. Secondly persons arrested for association with Naxalism. These primarily consists of Adivasis and Dalits. And lastly, some members of Hindu fascists associations such as Abhinav Bharat and Sanathan Sansthan. In Western Maharashtra, most of the political prisoner cases are on Muslims, with a comparatively few of Naxal related cases. In Vidarbha (Eastern Maharahtra) on the other hand, the bulk of the cases are Naxal related.

Recently in September 2014, Arun Bhelke and his wife Kanchan were arrested in Pune under charges of Naxalism. Arun Bhelke was the president of the Deshbhakti Yuva Manch, a youth organization in Chandrapur and a co-accused in one of my cases. Subsequent to these arrests police authorities started harassing activists of other mass organizations. This is the modus operandi of the State vis-à-vis suppressing organizations they perceive as a threat.

Q. How do you see the difference between the terror accused and those accused of being Naxalites?

A. Muslims arrested in terror related cases are tortured and treated more brutally. The anti-minority bias of the State is apparent in such treatment. They are sometimes even prevented in arranging lawyers for their defense— a direct violation of their fundamental rights. Innocent victims in all such cases, many a time fail to complain against such brutality and speak up in court. On the other hand, activists, whether members of SIMI or mass organizations alleged to be associated with Naxalism have always boldly defended their rights both before the Court and in prisons. They have historically been the leaders of prison hunger strikes and struggles.

Q. In a comment of yours on Sanhati pertaining to the debate on Kabir Kala Manch Defence Committee, you supported the opinion of how the state sometimes uses Civil society organisations as a co-opting tool. Would you like to elaborate on that?

A. My comment was in response to the debate that followed Advocate P. A. Sebastian’s opinion on ‘Co-option’. I thought that it was necessary to intervene as many comments advocated that Civil liberty organizations should further help bring rebels in the mainstream and surrender before the State. This is an extremely dangerous trend. Historically Civil liberties and democratic rights activists had a role in standing up for political activists and fighting for their freedoms, when they were arrested. Defense committees in the aftermath of the Telanghana struggles and during the Royal Indian Mutiny trials come from this tradition. If activists on their own accord choose to court arrest, civil society can then step in to defend their rights. However it would be wrong for Civil Society to act on behalf of the State to facilitate this act. This is a worrying trend.

Q. Can you briefly tell us about the history of progressive movements and activism in Maharashtra?

A. Historically two progressive movements have taken root in Maharashtra. One a strong anti- brahmin movement and the other emerging from the Socialist tradition. Communist movements had strong bases among the earlier industrial working classes. But this has declined down the years. The workers’ movements in Bombay started declining in the 1980s. The phase of militant trade unionism in 1980s can be described as a historic attempt for their survival against the assault of Capital which had other financial plans for Bombay.

The period of neo-liberal Globalization in Bombay saw a transition from Mills to Malls. This was also the phase that saw the rise and maturing of the right wing. With the Shiv Sena- BJP government in power major political events shaped city’s politics of the 1990s. One was the 1992-93 riots and the other was the slum demolition drives of 1996-97. Both changed the geography of the city and mindset of its inhabitants.

In Bombay, with the decline of its earlier working class movements, the landscape in activism is largely being dominated by NGOs. However there is a both a need and scope for newer forms of radical left politics to emerge, which could correctly address the issues of the people and also creatively defend itself from the onslaught of State repression. In the last ten years throughout the country, this repression has systematically destroyed all expressions of radical left in the cities.

On the other hand, in eastern Vidarbha, the existence and growth of the Naxal movement in Gondia and Gadchiroli despite severe repression remains a source of inspiration for every emerging generation.

Q. Do you see resistance growing stronger, in the wake of the aggressive neoliberal agenda being pursued by Modi government? How do you see the political landscape changing in the Modi era?

A. It should happen, but one cannot be too deterministic about such matters. It is not a strict one to one correspondence between degree of exploitation or oppression and the rise of peoples’ resistance. Although the latter is determined by the former, other factors too have a role to play. The emergence of the present government has created an umbrella like situation, under which all forms of reaction are offered patronage. Be it the killers of Narendra Dabholkar, the perpetrators of caste atrocities or the attacks on Minorities in the form of Love Jihad and Ghar Wapsi. Even defenders of the environment are perceived as anti-development and hence ant-national. These are some of the dangers that are emerging. This in fact is what the corporate ruling class wanted in getting this government in power. However even in this situation, possibilities of mass resistance are immense. There are opportunities for the radical left forces to forge broad alliances with other sections. Broad fronts against Brahminical Fascism, against displacement and against the attack on established Civil Rights are bound to be the future scenario of the Modi-era.

China forces imams to dance in street

February 12, 2015 by Nasheman

China has forced the imams of Xinjiang to dance in the street, and swear to an oath that they will not teach religion to children as well telling them that prayer is harmful to the soul.

In another crackdown on religious freedoms, China has forced the imams of eastern Muslim majority district of Xinjiang to dance in the street, and swear to an oath that they will not teach religion to children as well telling them that prayer is harmful to the soul.

During the incident, reported by World Bulletin on Monday, February 9, Muslim imams were forced to brandish the slogan that “our income comes from the CKP not from Allah”.

State Chinese news said the imams were gathering in a square in the name of civilization where they were forced to dance and chant out slogans in support of the state.

The slogans included statements glorifying the state over religion such as ‘peace of the country gives peace to the soul’.

They also gave speeches telling youth to stay away from mosques, and that the prayer was harmful to their health, encouraging them to dance instead.

Female teachers were instructed to teach children to stay away from religious education and made to swear an oath that they will keep children away from religion.

Uighur Muslims are a Turkish-speaking minority of eight million in the northwestern Xinjiang region.

Xinjiang, which activists call East Turkestan, has been autonomous since 1955 but continues to be the subject of massive security crackdowns by Chinese authorities.

Rights groups accuse Chinese authorities of religious repression against Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang in the name of counter terrorism.

Last November, Xinjiang banned the practicing of religion in government buildings, as well as wearing clothes or logos associated with religious extremism.

In August, the northern Xinjiang city of Karamay prohibited young men with beards and women in burqas or hijabs from boarding public buses.

Earlier in July, China banned students and government staff from observing Ramadan fasting, as officials tried to encourage locals in Xinjiang not to wear Islamic veils.

(Agencies)

The anti-Islamic far-right is spreading in Europe—and going mainstream

February 9, 2015 by Nasheman

(Reuters/Hannibal Hanschke)

by Kabir Chibber, Quartz

In recent months, a street movement called Pegida—Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the Occident—has emerged from nowhere in Germany, seeking to “protect Judeo-Christian culture” and halt to what it calls the spread of Islam. Though it denies being xenophobic or racist, its leader quit after being pictured dressed as Hitler. Pegida’s rallies have attracted tens of thousands of people in Germany.

And now the group is spreading abroad. Pegida held its first march in Vienna and is to hold its first British rally in the city of Newcastle on Feb. 28, with more planned in the UK. Britain already has anti-Islamic groups such as the English Defence League, a small but vocal force. Only this weekend, the EDL attracted as many as 1,000 people to a march against the building of a mosque.

Time will tell how popular Pegida will be outside of Germany—only a few hundred people showed up in Vienna—but its rising profile is a small part of the growing shift into the mainstream of far-right groups that would have once been shunned.

Britain is also coping with the rise of the anti-immigration UK Independence Party, whose leader has blamed immigrants for his being late to his own campaign events. In France, the Front National is a more organized and established version of much the same sentiment. In 2002, the Front National’s overtly-racist leader at the time, Jean-Marie Le Pen, shocked many by getting to the run-off in the presidential election, and the whole of the French establishment united against him. His daughter, Marine Le Pen, now runs the Front National, which was the most popular party in the last nationwide elections held in France and has become so prominent that she was invited to speak at the Oxford University student union last week (link in French)—her speech was delayed by three hours due to protests. She even gets to write editorials in the New York Times now.

Even Britain’s Prince Charles, who rarely speaks on political matters, is worried about the radicalization of Muslim youths within his future kingdom. The growing acceptance of far-right subject matter as part of political discourse in Europe may just be a sign of our more polarized times—similar things are happening on the far-left in Greece and Spain, for example.

But it could also mean that Europe will have to come to accept voices like Pegida in the mainstream for the foreseeable future. If nothing else, it is a test of the region’s tolerance for dissent. As Germany’s vice-chancellor Sigmar Gabriel suggests:

Whether you like it or not, people have a democratic right to be right-wing or nationalist. People also have a right to spread stupid ideas, such as the notion that Germany is being Islamicized.

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