Letters

Of justice and Peace
Activist Irom Sharmila Chanu, who was today (March 4) charged with attempting suicide for her fast unto death in 2006 while demanding repeal of controversial AFSPA, said she was following Mahatma Gandhi's principle of non-violence and should not be "discriminated" against.

Miss Chanu, while speaking to mediapersons outside the court room at Patiala House complex, said she and other residents of states affected by Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) need "peace" and "not violence" and the democratic leaders should hear her "non-violent protest".

She expressed her desire "to live a normal life" and asked why the government was "scared of giving her fundamental rights of a human being".

"I am just a simple woman who wants to follow the non- violent principle of Gandhiji, the father of the nation. Just treat us also like him and do not discriminate. As a leadership, don't be biased against a human being," the 40-year-old Manipuri activist, whose counsel had sought court's permission to talk to media, said.

Miss Chanu was flown in to Delhi from Manipur last evening to appear before a court here which today framed charges under Section 309 (attempting to commit suicide) of the IPC against her after she refused to plead guilty, saying that hers was a non-violent protest.
She told reporters that she has been protesting for past nearly 12 years for the society and is demanding the rights of a democratic citizen.

"I am doing this for the society and other AFSPA affected states but we are the citizens of a democratic country and so my demand is for rights of a democratic citizen who needs justice. We need peace, not violence. Our democratic leaders should hear my non-violent protest," she said.

Miss Chanu, who is in judicial custody and is being fed through a tube, added that Mr Justice (retd) BP Jeevan Reddy Committee, set up to review the AFSPA, has also recommended repealing of this "draconian law".

She also accused the government and the Army of "colluding for cheating" people.

Miss Chanu had launched her fast unto death in 2000 after 10 civilians were killed by Assam Rifles personnel at Malom area near Imphal airport.

She had earlier said that she was confident that the government will listen to her and concede to her demand to revoke AFSPA.
Asked if she was satisfied with the developments on the issue of extra judicial killings in Manipur on which Mr Justice Santosh Hegde is conducting hearing even as the apex court has formed a probe committee, she said the government is not behaving "as a leadership which should work for society's betterment".

"The government will remain adamant for the time being because they are not realising. They are not behaving as a leadership which should work for the betterment of the people and the society," she said.

On being asked whether she wished to continue her protest "because the government does not seem to be listening", she said "revolution will take time and it depends on the will of people.

"I am also a human being who wants peace and justice. I am against the government which uses violence as a means to govern," she said, adding that she will also remind them of their "real responsibilities as leadership".

Expressing her desire to live a normal life, Miss Chanu said, she is also a social being and claimed the government was "scared of giving her fundamental rights of a human being.

"What I just want from them (government) is to see me as an innocent woman who loves civilisation and is a rational being~," she said.
Satish Jha

In service of Humanity
A great revolutionary light has been extinguished, but the cause for which President Hugo Chavez fought lives on as his abiding legacy, for it is the finest cause in all the world—and he served it truly.

All men must die, but death can vary in its significance. The ancient Chinese writer Szuma Chien said that "Though death befalls all men alike, it may be weightier than Mount Tai or lighter than a feather." And Mao Zedong added that "To die for the people is weightier than Mount Tai, but to work for the fascists and die for the exploiters and oppressors is lighter than a feather."

Though he gained power via election, defeating a former beauty queen, Chavez struggled relentlessly to implement social reforms, by constitutional means, to improve the lot of the working people.

He did so in the teeth of the fierce opposition of the wealthy Venezuelan bourgeois elite, who had originally penned the constitution to serve their own interests.

There can be no doubt that Chavez numbered among the great revolutionary spirits of his time.

His name is rightly associated with those of Fidel and Raul Castro, Evo Morales, Daniel Ortega and other Latin-American revolutionaries.
Many of his followers considered he followed in the footsteps of their great revolutionary hero Che Guevara.

He strove to liberate the masses from poverty and US imperial domination; to serve the people and to arm them politically and organisationally.

For this reason, he was loved by the Venezuelan working masses, and for the same reason he was hated by the wealthy comprador capitalist elite and their media, who ceaselessly connived and collaborated with the US imperial goliath against his presidency and his government.

If it was the ballot box that brought Chavez to power, it was also the bullet—the threat of the revolutionary violence of the oppressed, whose representative he undoubtedly was—that maintained him.

It was the great love and popular support of the Venezuelan masses, for Commandante Chavez, and the loyalty of the rank and file of the Venezuelan military that frustrated the CIA's illegal coup attempt in 2002.

The US has never apologised for its dirty propaganda, political interference, and violent military campaign against the democratically elected president of Venezuela, and against the Venezuelan people and state.

The imperialists and reactionaries never forgave Chavez for his nationalisation of the great oil and mineral resources of Venezuela; for his social and medical programmes to improve the health and lives of Venezuelan people based upon this national wealth; for his successful and creative advocacy of socialist principles.

Nor did they cease to rage at his practical, economic and political cooperation with communist Cuba, and with the popular progressive and anti-imperialist governments in Bolivia, Ecuador, Honduras, El-Salvador, Zimbabwe, north Korea and elsewhere.

When he successfully campaigned to change the constitution to tip the balance of power to benefit the poor, their anger rose to fever pitch.

Of course, the US cannot apologise for its unceasing attempts to bring Chavez's government down, for its intentions remain unchanged: to re-conquer, to subdue and to repossess Venezuela's huge natural wealth.
CPGB (ML), London

Violent attacks against Hindu minority
A wave of violent attacks against Bangladesh's minority Hindu community shows the urgent need for authorities to provide them with better protection, Amnesty International said.

Over the past week, individuals taking part in strikes called for by Islamic parties have vandalised more than 40 Hindu temples across Bangladesh.

Scores of shops and houses belonging to the Hindu community have also been burned down, leaving hundreds of people homeless.
The attacks come in the context of large scale violent protests that have been raging across Bangladesh for weeks over the country's ongoing war crimes tribunal, the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT).

"The Hindu community in Bangladesh is at extreme risk, in particular at such a tense time in the country. It is shocking that they appear to be targeted simply for their religion. The authorities must ensure that they receive the protection they need," said Abbas Faiz, Amnesty International's Bangladesh Researcher.

All political parties in Bangladesh should condemn strongly any violence against the Hindu community, and to instruct all their members and supporters not to take part in such attacks."

Survivors told Amnesty International that the attackers were taking part in rallies organised by the opposition Islamist party Jamaat-e-lslami (Jl) and its student group Chhatra Shibir.

JI has publicly denied any involvement in violence against the Hindu community.

Attacks have, happened across Bangladesh, but mostly in remote areas in the country. The latest attack took place today (6-3-2013) in Daudkandi village, south-eastern Comilla district, where a Hindu temple was vandalised and turned down.

One survivor told Amnesty International that on 28 February, his family's village of Rajganj Bazar in the southeastern Noakhali district was set on fire by people taking part in a Jl-organised strike.

"They moved into our properties and set fire to 30 of our houses. Seventy-six families were living in these houses. They also set fire to our temples—all are now vanished," the survivor said, who asked to remain anonymous out of concerns for his safety.

He said the authorities have provided temporary accommodation to the affected families, who had lost almost all their belongings to theft or destruction in the violence.

Another survivor said that on 2 March, a group of about 100 young men holding banners in support of Jl looted and damaged four shops in Satkania near Chittagong and vandalised a Hindu temple in the village.

Bangladesh's Hindu minority makes up only eight percent of the population, and has historically been at risk of violence from the Muslim population - including during the independence war in 1971, and after elections in 2001.

"Given the obvious risks the Hindu minority faces in Bangladesh, these attacks were sadly predictable. We urge the authorities to take note of the violence and act to prevent further attacks," said Faiz.

Tensions have been running high in Bangladesh in recent weeks as Jl and its student wing have called strikes and mass protests against the ICT, which has found some of its senior members guilty for crimes committed during the 1971 war.

Protesters have also been involved in violent clashes with police, who have used tear gas, rubber bullets or live ammunition against them. At least 60 people have been killed, mostly by police fire, but among the dead are also several policemen.

"While there are credible reports that police firing may have followed violent attacks against them by protesters, police use of excessive force cannot be discounted", Faiz said.
Amnesty International, London

Frontier
Vol. 45, No. 39, Apr 7-13, 2013

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