Peace and Justice Post

Where the Republic Ends

By Badri Raina | ZNet, June 14, 2008

Badri Raina’s ZSpace Page

When, after the massacre of Muslims in 2002, the electorate in Gujarat voted the butcher of Gandhinagar—the Capital city of Gujarat; but think of the enormous irony of that oxymoron—back to power, they effectively declared their secession from the Republic of India. If the founding principles of the Republic are “secularism” and “democracy,” Modi’s victorious constituency used the latter to spit at the former.

Just as the Germans had done in 1933—use democracy to install dictatorship.

Always to remember when we speak of Gujaratis that nearly a half of the electorate voted against him as well. Such are the ways in which franchise makes or unmakes, especially in an electoral system where all you need to do is to first pass the post. Much of the time, indeed, in such a dispensation it is the minority that rules the majority! Yet it is all we have for now.

Employing a diabolical double-speak, Modi berated the secularists for feeding off the Muslim “vote-bank” while simultaneously consolidating first a Hindutva constituency and then a regional/Gujarati one.

Effectively, Gujarat has come to be reconstructed as an alterity to the Indian nation-state. Not Kashmir, but Modi-led Gujarat.

Operating as the endorsed Chieftain of a triumphalist tribe, the Modi “government”—for want of another word—has, since that ineffaceable butchery in 2002—sought, every single step of the way to shield the Hindutva satraps (who were knee-deep in blood at the behest of the Chieftain) from the operations of the law, and brazenly to bring back into positions of authority publicly implicated high-ranking police officers, and at least one judge, name of Mehta, who was spoken of by the ripper-in-chief, Babu Bajrangi, in a sting tape as the judge that Modi brought back to secure the self-confessed ripper from the hangman, after two other judges had honourably refused to do the dirty work of granting him bail. Indeed the same “Justice” Mehta has now been drafted as part of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) that the Supreme Court of India has assigned to look into the merit of some cases that are asking to be opened and reinvestigated!

As a result, lawyers working for the victims of the massacre have taken the only recourse of opting out of the proceedings in protest against the inclusion of Mehta and challenging his inclusion in the Supreme Court.

Among these worthies who have been recalled not just to life but to brazen authority is the police officer, Mathur, reinstated as the Police Commissioner of Ahmedabad.

And what could be a more ringing declaration of separate nationhood on behalf of the Chieftain state of Gujarat than that this same Mathur should now have instituted a charge of “sedition and treason” against the editor of the local edition of the Times of India (by any reckoning, one of the country’s most widely read and puissant corporate English Dailies) for a story it did on him.

It must be understood that the charge of “sedition” may be brought against a citizen of the Republic only by the highest political/constitutional authority of the land, and only for actions provenly prejudicial to the security of the state. In post-independent India, such charge has been brought, as far as we can ascertain, only against some officers in the military for allegedly leaking Intelligence to the “enemy.”

Clearly, therefore, Mathur could not have been the sanctioning brain/authority behind such a charge. By no stretch even of the fascist imagination could a police commissioner be deemed the equivalent of the State. The defiance and the daring must belong to the Chieftain whose dirty work he has been brought back to do. Ergo, “sedition” not against India, but against ” Modiland.” Since Modi alone may say with Louis xiv of old, “I am the State.”

True to the ethics and oath of the Fourth Estate, the TOI story drew attention to evidence that this Mathur has had links with the criminal underworld, and thus cannot be deemed eligible for the responsibility bestowed upon him by his obliging Chieftain.

As reported in The Hindu of June 2, ’08, the basis of the TOI story on Mathur’s antecedents was a statement given by an underworld denizen that the Commissioner was at one time on the “Don’s payroll.”

Whereas Mathur may well have instituted a case of libel/defamation against the TOI, remarkably the case filed accuses the newspaper editor of “sedition and treason” against the state.

Not even during the dark days of the state of Internal Emergency imposed by the then Indira Gandhi government (1975-76) was, to the best of our knowledge, any member/organ of the Fourth Estate charged with “sedition and treason.”

Indeed, two infamous instances that come to mind both pertain to the days of colonial rule.

I refer to the charge of “sedition” brought against Lokmanya Tilak and then Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, in both cases for writing articles calculated to cause “disaffection” against the “legitimate government of the day.” A charge which both those honourable men proudly acknowledged.

In Gujarat of our day, however, “sedition” has come to mean any word or act that contradicts the myth of “good governance” cheekily floated by Modi and gladly bought by his constituency, or any attempt to use public institutions to hold the Modi government to account.

Only two years ago, the editor of Surat Samna, Manoj Shinde was charged under section 124 A (“sedition”) for commenting on the ineptitude of the authorities in handling the waters of the Ukai dam, which caused flooding in the city of Surat. The charge spelt out was that Shinde had instigated people against a duly elected government! (The Hindu, 30/08/2006).

Animal Farm? 1984? Take your pick.

Continued . . .

Granma International Online, June 13, 2008

AN international event in honor of Commander Ernesto Che Guevara on the 80th anniversary of his birth will take place in Rosario, Argentina, his native land.

The commemoration is sponsored by the municipal department of culture in this city, the third-largest in Argentina. The four children of Che and Aleida March de la Torre’s will be attending — Aleidita, Camilo, Celia and Ernesto — and will present the book Evocación, mi vida al lado del Che, (Evocation, my life at Che’s side) written by Aleida March and published in Cuba, Serbia, Spain, Japan, Italy and Portugal, as well as shortly in Brazil.

In Rosario, birthplace of the heroic guerilla, the first monument in his honor in Argentina will be dedicated in Parque Hipólito Irigoyen, an area which as of Saturday will be known as Plaza del Che, featuring a bronze sculpture by Andrés Zerneri, made out of pieces of metal collected in a unique campaign to gather small objects of this material.

In Havana, a political-cultural event will take place to pay tribute to Commander Ernesto Che Guevara on Friday, the eve of his 80th birthday.

During the gala, which will be broadcast on national television, a choral symphonic piece, “El cantar del caballero y su destino” by Maestro José María Vitier, will have its premiere. More than 4,000 Havana residents will participate in the tribute.

– June 14: Che’s 80th birthday
A brief personal look at Che Guevara

Xinhuanet.com

GAZA, June 15 (Xinhua) — Islamic Hamas movement on Sunday slammed the visit of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Israel and the West Bank, calling it as useless and a waste of time.

Fawzi Barhoum, Hamas spokesman in Gaza said in a written statement sent to reporters that the visit of Rice and her meetings with Palestinian officials “won’t bring anything good for the Palestinian people.”

“Rice came to the region to exert pressure on President (Mahmoud) Abbas and to spoil the efforts aiming at launching a Palestinian comprehensive dialogue,” said Barhoum.

Abbas on June 4 called for launching a comprehensive dialogue among all Palestinian political groups, including Fatah and Hamas. The latter’s leaders welcomed Abbas call and said the movement was ready for a dialogue anytime and anywhere.

Rice, who met with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in Jerusalem earlier Sunday, arrived in Ramallah and held talks with Prime Minister of the caretaker government Salam Fayyad. She will meet later with Abbas.

Rice arrives to the region late Saturday, her sixth visit this year to follow up the progress of the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks resumed last November with the U.S. mediation, which are intended to end with the creation of a Palestinian statehood alongside Israel.

However, just days prior to her visit, Israel announced a plan to build 1,300 new houses for Jewish settlers in east Jerusalem, anew blow to the peace talks.

“Rice is leading a very dangerous project in the region that serves the interests of the U.S. foreign policy which is based on reinforcing split and division among Arab and Moslem nations,” said Barhoum.

He said that President Abbas “is now standing before a new test to confront such challenges and pressures,” adding “He (Abbas) should always keep in mind the highest interests of his people and their legal cause.”

By Scott Horton

14/06/08 “Harpers” — – For the dwindling but stout-hearted band of Bush loyalists, the creation of concentration camps and introduction of torture techniques never presented much of a problem—morally or legally. On the legal side, they reasoned, the president exercised commander-in-chief powers, and in wartime that let him do pretty much whatever he wanted. There were some limits, of course. One might be that his freedom of action had to be outside of the United States. Another that it couldn’t involve U.S. citizens. But with those two points resolved, Torquemada had better get out of the way.

For the critics, that was never right. The president was an actor in a constitutional system, they argued. He was constrained by the law, for that limitation—rule by law and not by a king—was the essence of the nation’s self-identification. In times of war, the constraints were certainly relaxed, but that didn’t mean there were no constraints.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 ruling, delivered a sweeping decision which rebukes the Bush Administration over its expansive views of wartime executive powers. In Boumediene and a series of companion cases, the Court was asked to decide whether the ultimate guarantor of the rule of law—the writ of habeas corpus–was available to persons in detention in Guantánamo. In the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 and the Military Commissions Act of 2006, Congress had stripped the Great Writ. Congress did not do so explicitly, through the specific mechanism envisioned in the Constitution. Rather, it took a backdoor approach, providing a highly qualified and limited right of appeal as a substitute for habeas corpus. The Supreme Court’s majority found this to be unconstitutional.

The ruling was a resounding defeat, the third in succession (after the rulings in Rasul and Hamdan) for the Bush Administration’s war powers claims.

Continued . . .

Taliban militants attacked a police checkpoint early Monday in a dangerous region of southern Afghanistan.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) – June 14, 2008 — A roadside bomb exploded near a U.S. military vehicle on Saturday, killing four Americans in western Afghanistan in the deadliest attack against U.S. troops in the country this year, officials said.

The bomb in the western province of Farah targeted U.S. personnel helping to train Afghanistan’s fledgling police force, said U.S. spokesman Lt. Col. David Johnson. One other American was wounded in the attack.

Marines from the 2nd Battalion, 7th Regiment based in Twentynine Palms, California, arrived in Afghanistan earlier this year and were sent to southern and western Afghanistan to train police. However, Johnson said he could not immediately confirm that the four personnel killed were Marines.

The bombing comes one day after U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told his counterparts in Europe that for the first time, the monthly total of American and allied combat deaths in Afghanistan exceeded the toll in Iraq during May.

The four deaths bring to at least 44 the number of U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan this year, according to an Associated Press count. No more than two U.S. personnel had been killed in any one attack in Afghanistan this year, according to the AP tally.

Pakistani anti-Musharraf lawyers chant slogans. Photograph: AFP/Farooq Naeem

Tens of thousands of protesters pressed towards Islamabad last night on a lawyer-led “long march” that threatened to shake Pakistan’s fragile government and further erode the authority of President Pervez Musharraf.

As the boisterous parade crawled through the garrison city of Rawalpindi, where Musharraf lives, protest leader Aitzaz Ahsan predicted it would have a “profound effect” on the country’s stormy political scene.

“This is a popular movement,” he declared as cheering supporters showered his open-top bus with rose petals. “The stalemate is broken. It will be the tipping point for Musharraf.”

The lawyers’ main demand is for the restoration of about 45 judges fired by Musharraf last year including the deposed chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. But the march has become a lightning rod for much broader issues – anger with Musharraf and America.

“Go, Musharraf, go” and “Musharraf is a dog” were the most popular slogans, as the cavalcade wound its way overnight on the last leg from Lahore. Numbers swelled dramatically when it reached Rawalpindi despite sweltering hot weather. The atmosphere was political and festive.

Thousands of residents flooded on to the streets to support the protest or waved from the rooftops.

One man leaned out of a passing car, wagging his finger. “Convey our message to the world that we hate Musharraf,” he said.

Anticipating a crowd of about 50,000, the government barricaded off the parliament and placed barbed wire on some streets in the capital – moves reminiscent of last year’s imposition of emergency rule by Musharraf. But both protest leaders and government officials were confident the march would pass off peacefully.

The rally’s success could have far-reaching implications for Pakistan’s stormy politics.

Many of the protesters came from Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League (N) party, which is theoretically part of the government. Sharif withdrew his ministers from the cabinet in protest at the failure of the ruling Pakistan People’s party to keep its promise to restore the fired judges.

The PPP, which styles itself as a liberal, populist party, is on the back foot. Under Benazir Bhutto’s widower, Asif Zardari, it has tried in vain to negotiate Musharraf’s peaceful departure. But this week the party shifted its position and called for Musharraf’s impeachment and trial for treason.

Ahsan, a former PPP minister, said he was “disappointed” that his party had refused to support the march. “If Benazir Bhutto was alive, she would not have allowed this opportunity to pass,” he said.

Scoop Independent News, June 14, 2008

Jason Leopold , The Public Record

Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld personally authorized the use of brutal interrogation techniques against suspected terrorists imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay despite warnings from the FBI that the methods amounted to inhumane treatment, was possibly illegal, and would not produce reliable intelligence, a Department of Justice inspector general testified Tuesday. “The FBI believed that these techniques were not getting actionable information, that they were unsophisticated and unproductive,” said Glenn Fine, the DOJ’s inspector general, in testimony Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. “They raised their concerns with the Department of Defense, but the Department of Defense, from what we were told, dismissed those concerns and that no changes were made in the Department of Defense’s strategy.” Rumsfeld, who resigned immediately after the 2006-midterm elections, has vehemently denied that he approved of torture. The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel provided the Defense Department with legal guidelines that authorized techniques such as waterboarding, the use of military dogs, and “slaps” and concluded that as long as “organ failure” did not occur the methods could not be construed as torture. Fine issued a 437-page report last month on the Bush administration’s interrogation policies, which found that White House officials ignored FBI concerns about the treatment of detainees. His testimony comes on the heels of a letter signed by 56 House Democrats that was sent to Attorney General Michael Mukasey last week Friday requesting that he appoint a special prosecutor to investigate whether White House officials, including President Bush, violated the War Crimes Act when they allowed interrogators to use brutal interrogation methods against detainees suspected of ties to terrorist organizations. “The Bush administration may have systematically implemented, from the top down, detainee interrogation policies that constitute torture or otherwise violate the law,” the letter to Mukasey says. “We believe that these serious and significant revelations warrant an immediate investigation to determine whether actions taken by the President, his Cabinet, and other Administration officials are in violation of the War Crimes Act, the Anti-Torture Act, and other U.S. and international laws.” In October 2002, Fine said, FBI agents raised concerns with Marion Bowman, the Justice Department’s deputy general counsel in charge of national security, about the methods used during interrogations at Guantanamo Bay. An FBI agent stationed at Guantanamo then sent the agency an analysis on November 27, 2002 calling into question the legality of the interrogation techniques, stating that the methods used appeared to violate the U.S. Torture statute. Bowman then alerted Jim Haynes, the DOD’s general counsel. Continued . . .

Premier Rejects Terms of Proposed Pacts; Cleric Reactivates Militia

Supporters of anti-American Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr protest in Baghdad against a U.S-Iraqi security pact. (By Karim Kadim — Associated Press)

Washington Post Foreign Service, Saturday, June 14, 2008

BAGHDAD, June 13 — The Bush administration’s Iraq policy suffered two major setbacks Friday when Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki publicly rejected key U.S. terms for an ongoing military presence and anti-American Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called for a new militia offensive against U.S. forces.

During a visit to Jordan, Maliki said negotiations over initial U.S. proposals for bilateral political and military agreements had “reached a dead end.” While he said talks would continue, his comments fueled doubts that the pacts could be reached this year, before the Dec. 31 expiration of a United Nations mandate sanctioning the U.S. role in Iraq.

The moves by two of Iraq’s most powerful Shiite leaders underscore how the presence of U.S. troops has become a central issue for Iraqi politicians as they position themselves for provincial elections later this year. Iraqis across the political spectrum have grown intolerant of the U.S. presence, but the dominant Shiite parties — including Maliki’s Dawa party — are especially fearful of an electoral challenge from new, grass-roots groups.

“All the politicians are trying to prove that they care more about Iraqis than they do about Americans — otherwise they know the people and the voters will not support them,” said Ala Maaki, a senior lawmaker with Iraqi’s largest Sunni political party. “I think we could see al-Maliki and Moqtada Sadr trying to one-up the other today and see who can take the strongest stand against the Americans.”

Continued . . .

Al Bawaba, 13-06-2008 , 20:35 GMT

The announcement by Israel’s Interior Ministry brought to more than 3,000 the number of homes Israel has approved for construction on land that Palestinians want for a state.

Israel insisted Friday that most of the building — in east Jerusalem — is on land the state has already annexed and thus it does not violate its commitment in negotiations not to build on disputed land. The comments by government spokesman Mark Regev suggested that Israel will not be deterred from further building in the city.

According to the AP, Israel’s Interior Ministry spokeswoman Sabine Hadad said Friday new apartments were approved for construction in the ultra-Orthodox Ramat Shlomo neighborhood to help alleviate a housing shortage in Jerusalem.

“We firmly condemn this project, which reveals the Israeli government’s intention to destroy peace,” Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said. “The international community must make Israel stop its settlement activity if it wants to give peace negotiations a chance.”

© 2008 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)