Voices of peace and justice

Published : Nov 10, 2001 00:00 IST

There is a growing sentiment in India against America's war in Afghanisthan.

THE voices advocating peace and justice and denouncing the war effort of the United States are becoming louder in India. These reflective, penetrating and historically contextualised voices of dissent can be heard over the hawkish voices in support of the U.S. strikes.

Demonstrations, marches and anti-war writings and increased traffic on the Internet keep the issue burning. On university campuses, the anti-war campaign is kept alive through demonstrations and teach-ins by visiting professors of international repute, such as renowned scholar Professor Noam Chomsky. In content, these activities are opposed to the stand of the Indian government as also of the fringe sections of the Indian Muslim community that approve the Taliban policies.

The government's action of arresting, on October 8, six students belonging to the All India People's Resistance Forum (AIRPF) and the Democratic Students Union (DSU) in New Delhi while they were distributing anti-war leaflets has been criticised. The students were kept in custody until October 18. The Delhi police then detained three other students on similar charges. The police said that they would continue to arrest anti-war demonstrators belonging to the AIRPF.

Some of the anti-war efforts are apparent off campus too - in demonstrations and articles in newspapers and journals. The write-ups draw the attention of the people to the minus points of pursuing the war - the collateral damage being caused to the people of Afghanistan, mounting civilian deaths and the dangers of shifting alliances at the time of war. One of the earliest published works on these concerns is the book, Voices of Sanity - Reaching out for peace where editors Smitu Kothari, Kamla Bhasin and Bindia Thapar have lamented how September 11 changed the definition of what constitutes security. The book states: "It is no longer the debate between national security and people's security. Now, and for years to come, it will be the backlash, in the name of 'dealing with terrorism', against individuals and countries."

THE majority of the protesters are people who lent their voice to the anti-nuclear movement in India. Many point to the general misery caused by the war and say that it would stir more anti-American sentiments. Others have been writing about the long-term repercussions - such as a renewed vigour in conventional and nuclear arms race in both India and Pakistan. The ominous message is that by supporting the war South Asia may escape the frying pan of terrorism only to fall into the nuclear fire.

The peace movement evidently has suggestions to back its arguments. For instance, the Coalition of Peace and Democracy, which organised a march on October 30 in New Delhi, issued a statement suggesting the establishment of an International Criminal Court, strengthening the International Court of Justice and democratising the United Nations.

However, most political parties, barring the Left, have been deliberately ambiguous in their stand. The Left parties have been organising marches and condemning the response of the Indian government as also the policies of the U.S. government. On October 12, all the major Left parties, including the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Communist Party of India, the Revolutionary Socialist Party and the Forward Bloc, held a joint demonstration in New Delhi to condemn the U.S. action against Afghanistan. They issued a statement asking the BJP-led government not to participate in the war. The statement noted: "Such a step would have dangerous consequences for the national sovereignty of our country." This was followed by a rally in Kolkata on October 14 to condemn the wanton destruction caused in Afghanistan by the U.S.

That the peace movement has not been very successful in diffusing tensions between communities on the issue of war became evident on October 26 when four people were killed in police firing and three others were knifed in mob violence in Malegaon in Maharashtra.

The complicity of the media in casting the image of the Imam of the Jama Masjid as the spokesperson of Indian Muslims needs to be examined. On October 12, the Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid in Delhi, Syed Ahmed Bukhari, spoke about a "pan Islamic" solidarity and called for a jehad in support of the Taliban. This was widely covered in the media, particularly in the language press. However, what was not as widely reported were statements condemning Bukhari and reiterating that Muslims in India do not consider bin Laden or Mullah Omar to be their role models. The response from Rajya Sabha member Shabana Azmi was the most biting. "This Shahi Imam, who is asking Muslims to wage jehad, should be airdropped in Kandahar. That would solve his problem and our problem too. Who is he anyway? Who decided he is the representative of the Muslims of India?" she asked.

Others were more harsh in registering their protest. The cultural organisation Sahmat (Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust) issued a statement condemning the Imam's stand. It said: "Those supporting the terrorists or otherwise glorifying them, in the name of a wholly distorted interpretation of Islamic fundamentals, and this includes figures like the Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid as well as extremist clerics in Pakistan, are remarkably misguided and deserve outright condemnation."

Anti-war demonstrators are fighting the battle on two ideological planks - an alternative voice to the nationalist discourse of the NDA government and the fundamentalist tone adopted by some Muslim clerics. A willingness to explore the option of peace is common in them, although they are heterogeneous in composition or in terms of ideas. The peace promoters may be minuscule in terms of numbers now, but the momentum gradually building in their ranks gives scope for optimism.

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