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Russia dislikes NATO intruding into its backyard
"Orange Revolution" in Ukraine derails
Barrister Harun ur Rashid
Two a half years ago the "orange revolution" promised Ukranians a democratic government aligned to European Union. Instead the country now finds itself in deep political trouble. The political fight between President Viktor Yushchenko (pro-EU) and pro-Russia Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich has put the country almost on the brink of a civil war.
In April, the President dissolved the parliament and called for a new election. The decision annoyed the Prime Minister because he was elected by Parliament, while the President was elected by people. The Prime Minister contested the Presidential election and lost. He was the President before Yushchenko was elected in 2004.
The political rivalry between the "Vicktors" is well-known and deep. They do not like each other. The President wants Ukraine to join the EU, while the Prime wants the country to be aligned with Russia.
Ukraine:A profile
Ukraine is located in eastern central Europe and covers an area of 604,000 square kilometers (Bangladesh being 147,570 square kilometers). It shares border with Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Moldova, Belarus and Russia. The Black Sea is at its feet.
The population of the country is nearly 50 million, Ukranian 73 per cent and Russian 22 per cent. Per capita income stands at about $1100 dollars. The country's 58 per cent land is arable while 18 per cent of the country is forested. Its exports stand about US$35 billion annually.
Causes of trouble:
Ukraine remains deeply divided with a large Russian-speaking population-mostly in the industralised eastern region. They do not support the President's idea of joining the EU and prefer to consolidate fraternal feelings with the Russian people.
Supporters of the pro-Russian Prime Minister do not want to be "imprisoned" by EU and America. One Parliament member accused the President of criminal conduct for exceeding his constitutional powers to dismiss the prosecutor general (a supporter of the Prime Minister's party) and appointed somebody else in his place. The President accused the MP of politicising the justice system.
All the disputes between the two "Viktors" appear to arise from the following issues:
(a) unclear division of power between the President and the Parliament
(b) a lack of mature democratic institutions
(c) allegations of corruption in the parliament and courts
(d) clash of personalities
(e) power gives lucrative business deals in the country
The political trouble started as mentioned earlier when the President dismissed the Parliament. The Prime Minister did not accept the President's decision because he led the majority in Parliament. The Prime Minister perceived it a conspiracy to oust him from power and unconstitutional.
When the matter went to Court, the President dismissed three of the 18 judges, accusing them of corruption. This led to demonstrations and counter-demonstrations on the streets in Kiev and other cities.
The trouble is that the President and the Prime Minister cannot reconcile in their ideals and visions. Without institutional changes, political observers say the election is unlikely to change the makeup of the parliament.
At the heart of the matter is the contest between the West and Russia to influence the Ukranian politics. For Russia, Ukraine is very important as it produces grain and for Ukraine it gets energy (gas) from Russia. Furthermore, Ukraine was one the constituent-state of the former USSR and Russia does not want its backyard to fall within the parameter of EU and NATO.
Russia has witnessed that EU and NATO have moved to its borders and naturally it claims that its security has become vulnerable. Russia is a nuclear power and does not want to see power game in its backyard.
Ukraine, like Georgia, has been pricking Russian tolerance towards them. The elected leaders may understand that global politics is gradually being polarised between Russia and the US. Russia does not approve chiding Russia for "blacksliding" on democracy by the US.
Russia accuses the US of fomenting a dangerous new arms race and implicitly threatens to block any effort by the US to win support for independent Kosovo. Russia is also concerned about the US proposal to base 10 anti-missile interceptors in Poland and missile tracking radar in the Czech Republic.
Bush and Putin are also scheduled to talk on G-8 summit on 6-8 June in Germany. It will be a test for all to us see whether the meeting eases the tense relations between the US and Russia. Unless there is an accommodation between the two, proxy wars are likely to continue in the backyard states of Russia including Ukraine, Georgia and Moldavia.
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Indian secularism in trial
Consistent low-key anti-Christian
violence is politically orchestrated
Earlier on 6 May this year two Evangelists were beaten up by the Bajrang Dal/VHP workers and police arrested them on the charges of conversions. On the same day Christians returning from the Marthoma church in Naraspur, Kolar near Banglore were beaten up by RSS workers and warned that the church must close down in ten days. Two days earlier on 3rd May, a group of twenty Christians, who had assembled in a house in Sarguja Chattisgarh were beaten up seriously injuring couple of them, but police did not register the complaint on the first approach. On first May, in Sikandara area of Agra, a group of Bajrang Dalis attacked a Christian school when the board meeting was taking place.
These are amongst the few incidents of anti-Christian violence in some parts of India, which have come to light in the last few days. The anti Christian violence has been going on a regular basis for over a decade on low scale. Some of these incidents had been very frightening and drew the attention of the nation such as the burning of Pastor Graham Stains on 22nd Jan 1998, the burning of Bibles and attack on Churches in Gujarat amongst others. Anti Christian violence has been carefully orchestrated and the propaganda which precedes these is that Christian missionaries are converting by force and fraud.
In the wake of burning of Pastor Stains many a columnists and propagandists harped on this point of conversion till Wadhva Commission appointed by the then NDA government gave the report that Pastor Stains was not involved in the work of conversions and also that the area where the Pastor was working did not see any increase in the percentage of Christian population. It is an interesting to note that while the RSS campaign through Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, VHP and Bajrag Dal has been accusing the Christians of converting by force and fraud, at the same time the demographic data as culled out from the census figures show that there has been a constant decline in the percentage of Christian population during last four decades: 1971-2.60, 1981-2.44, 1991-2.34 and 2001-2.30. Apparently this is due to comparative better educational levels amongst Christians.
Indian Christianity is older than the one in US or many other Christian majority countries. St. Thomas set up Churches in Malabar Coast as early as AD 52. Since than the Christian missions have been working in different facets of India's social life. To them goes the credit for setting up educational and health facilities in many a remote places as well as in many cities. Paradoxically while the Christian missionaries in the remote areas are being attacked, their counterparts working in the cities are managing hospitals and educational institutions, which are a hot favourite not only with the urban middle class but also with those who keep spewing hate against these missionaries.
While Indian Christianity is very old, the issue of conversions by Christian missionaries as a contentious issue is not that old. It began to be raised in the late fifties, but really speaking this tirade has picked up steam from the mid eighties with the rise of identity politics and the rise in the activities of Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram. During this period many a Babas and Acharyas went and set up camps in Adivasis areas and began their work of Hinduising them.
The Ghar Vapsi (return home) campaign was flagged off with newly devised techniques of Hinduising them. Political calculations behind this were to get a big electoral support for the BJP, which got reflected, in the success of BJP in Adivasi areas. In later times the Anti Conversion bills, started being put forward in different states, the politics behind this became clear with Jayalaitha, who got it passed in Tamil Nadu but when she lost out badly in Lok Sabha (lower house of the parliament) elections she got the same bill rescinded.
The Anti Christian violence is much different than the anti Muslim violence. The latter began in the areas where there was some competition between Muslim and Hindu traders and was taken to the intense heights on various pretexts and more so in the after math of Babri Mosque demolition and the pretext of Godhra train burning. Unlike the intense bloodbath of anti Muslim violence, anti Christian violence is mostly on a low key and is concentrated in Adivasi areas. Even in areas where Adivasis are less than 0.5 per cent of the population this is made an issue as has happened in Gujarat.
- All India Secular Forum
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Myths of Indian secularism
Mayawati's victory, Mulayam's
defeat: Dalits and Muslims in UP
Advocate Irfan Asghar Ali
One of the reasons for the defeat of Mulayam Singh's Samajwadi Party in UP Assembly elections is that Muslim votes shifted from Samajwadi Party (SP) to the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
Muslim votes had consolidated behind Mulayam Singh after the demolition of Babri Masjid on 6th December 1992. Muslims were understandably angry with Narsimha Rao-led Congress Party for allowing the Masjid to be demolished, which led to major communal riots in many cities all over India. Mulayam Singh had aggressively postured himself as a defender of secularism even before 1992 when he did not hesitate to fire on the 'Karsevaks' in October 1990 to maintain law and order. Muslims within UP then saw a better alternative in Mulayam Singh to ensure their safety, security and law and order.
BJP then had run an aggressive campaign against Mulayam Singh calling him "Maulana" Mulayam. After demolition of Babri Masjid, SP and BSP entered into alliance and MY plus Dalit votes ensured victory of the SP-BSP alliance in the 1993 UP Assembly elections. However, the alliance fell apart, as Dalits perceived OBCs as their immediate oppressors and the interests of dalits and OBCs were at conflict - dalits being landless labourers and some OBCs being landed gentry. At that stage Mayawati had aligned with BJP to form the government in UP and since then for the last for 14 years the UP politicians cobbled various rag tag coalitions - principled and unprincipled - to provide a government, rampant with defections and horse trading.
Columnist Nihal Singh writes: "Muslims, another component, became increasingly disillusioned and preferred to shop among parties to get the best deal. The Dalits were lost to the Congress as they threw up their own leaders and parties and factions, until the far-sighted Kanshi Ram had the ability to weld a large part of the Dalit vote into an increasingly effective political party. It was Ms Mayavati's genius to build a broader base on the Dalit core because she realised that Dalits alone could not hope to achieve power.
"The Bharatiya Janata Party seems to have come to the conclusion - witness the poisonous compact disc it sought to propagate in the UP election campaign - that when it finds itself in trouble, its salvation lies in Muslim-bashing, which it uses interchangeably with the Hindutva slogan. If the BJP's development goals were premised on its Gujarat philosophy, there would be little to distinguish it from fascism."
Samajwadi Party was preferred most by the Muslims in UP whenever elections were held during these 14 years with the expectation that UP would be riot free. One of the myths created by the political parties and media is that Muslims vote according to their religious interests and are guided by religious fatwas. Any "fatwa" by any maulvi even with questionable credentials get huge media coverage, and nobody bothers to find out the real impact of these so called fatwas. In the year 2002, Imam Bukhari had widely and openly campaigned for BSP candidates and asked Muslims to vote for the BSP. But Muslim voters trusted Mulayam Singh to maintain law and order and to give them a riot free UP.
After coming to power in the September 2003 with the help of defectors from BSP and tacit approval of BJP, and in particular Speaker, Kesrinath Tripathi (who recognized the defectors from BSP), Mulayam Singh policies began to resemble those of the BJP. BJP was not ready to face elections immediately after Mayawati recommended dissolution of Assembly and holding fresh elections and therefore, it decided to support Mulayam Singh to move his vote of confidence in September 2003 and thereby allow him to come to power.
Mulayam Singh began to court the upper castes which alienated the minorities. Singh's understanding with the BJP also did not go well with the minorities. He started treating the Muslims for granted as the Congress used to do and keep them satisfied by symbolic gestures. Mulayam Singh announced that Muslim students would be allowed Friday as a holiday to enable them to offer namaz. Like BJP, Mulayam Singh also conceived all Muslims as die hard religious for whom all other interests were less important. This Muslims too, along with others opposed this move as it would not only amount to segregating Muslim students but would also be detrimental to their interests as they would miss their studies.
Eight riots in 2005
Mulayam Singh belied the Muslim expectations of giving them a riot-free UP. In the year 2005 alone there were as many as eight communal riots. The first one was on 10th February in Azamgarh over Kerosene distribution and 12 people were injured during the riots. On 14th February, there were riots in Agra over an incident of eve teasing. On 20th February there were riots in Moradabad and Sambhalnagar and there was an incident of firing. On 21st February there were riots between Shias and Sunnis during Moharram procession and 3 died during the rioting. On 23rd February there were Shia-Sunni riots in Varanasi and 24 persons were injured. On 14th July there were again riots in Moradabad on a fight over cricket match between Hindu and Muslim boys. On 14th October there were riots in Mau. Official figure was 8 dead in Mau and unofficially it was 14.
All theose who dies of police firing were Muslims though non-Muslims were also involved in rioting. Out of the 442 arrested during the riots, 237 were Muslims, though Muslims form only 20 per cent of the town's population.
During 2006 April, there were riots in Aligarh in which eight were killed and nine were injured. The report of National Commission for Minorities strongly indicted the "secular" Mulayam Singh Government for its failure to protect Muslims during the riots. One person was killed in Muzaffarnagar in October 2006 and in January 2007, there was a riot in Poorvanchal town of Gorakhpur. In Poorvanchal, Yogi Adityanath and his Hindu Yuva Vahini dominated and had a free hand targeting minorities as and when it suited them through his malicious propaganda and provocative slogans. Mulayam Singh unlike Laloo Prasad in Bihar failed to provide riot free UP and security to the Muslims. All the social indicators for the Muslim show their representation in government jobs and in education is less than one-fourth of what warranted by their population. The community therefore did not see any reason to vote for Mulayam Singh.
Mulayam Singh, however, supported the fundamentalist elements and muscle power within the community with the hope that it would help him retain Muslim votes. One of the ministers in Mulayam Singh's cabinet was Haji Yaqub Qureshi - a rabid communal who had announced prize of 51 crores on the head Danish cartoonists. The measure was not only politically motivated to be popular overnight within the community but also amounted to criminal incitement of murder. However, no action was taken against Qureshi and he continued as a minister. Muslims and people of UP defeated both Qureshi and Mulayam Singh.
Centre for Study of Society and Secularism.
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Roundtable conference on Kashmir issue
Dipanjan Roy Chaudhury
The assertion by Hurriyat Conference chief Mir Waiz Umar Farooq for an independent roundtable for separatists to push forward the peace process in the restive Jammu & Kashmir within a week of the third roundtable on Kashmir indicates a desperate attempt by the rebel groups to participate in the dialogue initiated by New Delhi to restore peace and ensure development in the state.
While unsure of their public support and apprehensive of being sidelined by the mainstream political parties, the separatists are keen to engage in dialogue to address the Kashmir issue. The groups fear that they might be left out of the process to resolve the Kashmir issue internally and therefore would not be part of any future political structure in the state.
Separatist leaders of Jammu and Kashmir call it an exercise in futility but the series of roundtable conferences on Kashmir have come to offer a lot of promises to Kashmiris. Though the Kashmir issue is too large to be resolved through such exercises, as far as the gains are concerned, roundtable conferences help in analysing the internal dynamics of the issue. The third such conference, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, was held in New Delhi on April 24, delivering a host of promises.
However, the separatist groups including Hurriyat Conference boycotted the roundtable. "Hurriyat will participate in the roundtable conference only if it is meant for discussing the Kashmir issue, but it should include mujahideen and leaders from India, Pakistan and both parts of Kashmir," Umar Farooq said as he decided to stay away from the conference.
Later addressing a public rally in Qazigund in south Kashmir, after the roundtable, Mirwaiz said, "If Delhi is sincere it should hold a separate roundtable with all separatist parties, that too without any pre-conditions and with an open mind. Separatists would then be able to air their views and raise the issues which have not been touched upon by others so far at the three Round Table Conferences".
While each separatist leader had one reason or another to justify the boycott of the roundtable, their common argument was that they did not want to share the table with those who find themselves largely in agreement with New Delhi.
However, a number of issues that separatists, be that moderate Hurriyat Conference, JKLF or Peoples Conference raised in their meetings with the Prime Minister, had been addressed by the roundtable conferences and the working groups. The issues include release of prisoners, return and rehabilitation of Kashmiri youths from across the LoC and greater check on human rights violations and strengthening of the cross-LoC relations.
The three roundtable conferences have offered an appropriate forum to address the internal dimensions of the Kashmir issue. Regretting the decision of the separatist groups to boycott the roundtable, Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said, "Had representatives of separatist ideology availed themselves of the historic opportunity and participated in the roundtable conferences and working groups, they could have expressed their viewpoints and contributed towards finding a concrete solution to the problem."
There is no logic in shying away from an event which talks about Kashmir and the Kashmir problem. Even if separatists had differences they could have expressed themselves on the table. In a matter of debate where Kashmiris are held as an aggrieved party, separatists could have exploited the situation to put forth their point of view.
The third roundtable conference favoured increased movement of people and goods across the Line of Control (LoC), strengthening mechanism for relief of victims of militancy and violence and sought strengthening of human rights protection among the host of other promises. Four of the five working groups -- constituted by Manmohan Singh at the end of second roundtable held in Srinagar in May 2006 -- have submitted their reports and recommended measures to resolve various internal issues, while the group on strengthening centre-state relations is yet to submit its suggestions.
The first roundtable conference on Kashmir convened by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on February 25, 2006 sent out some positive signals and opened a window of opportunity to strengthen the internal peace process in J&K. It was also boycotted by the separatist groups, but had 52 representatives from Jammu & Kashmir. The second roundtable in Srinagar was also not attended by the separatist groups.
Inaugurating the third roundtable, Dr Manmohan Singh said, this series of conferences are part of "our collective effort to find consensual solutions to the problems of Jammu & Kashmir through a process of dialogue. On both occasions, we reaffirmed that violence had no place in a civilized society and that we should engage with a wide cross-section of political groups and civil society to forge a consensus on specific issues which affect the lives of the people of Jammu & Kashmir. We also realized that the process was not easy and would be a long one, requiring patience and fortitude".
At the Srinagar roundtable last year, there was a shared view that while the roundtable process has various advantages, there was a need to establish a mechanism under which smaller groups of participants could focus on identified issues and evolve agreed approaches and solutions, forging a consensus among diverse views. It was agreed to establish five working groups, each focusing on a specific theme. The themes covered by the working groups have great relevance to the lives of the people of Jammu & Kashmir.
The working group on confidence building measures across segments of society has made a number of recommendations on improving the conditions of victims of militancy. These include strengthening human rights protection, improving relief and rehabilitation for all segments of people including Kashmiri Pandits, and preserving the rich, diverse cultural landscape of the state. The working group on strengthening relations across the LoC has suggested a series of measures to promote people-to-people contact across the LoC.
The working group on the economic development of the state has given wide ranging proposals for the rapid economic development of the state and making it more financially stable.
Concluding the conference, Dr Manmohan Singh said, "The Roundtable process has generated interest and hope both among the people of Jammu & Kashmir and among the people of the rest of the country. I agree that we need to keep this process moving forward if we have to retain and build on this sense of hope. The last two decades of militancy in Jammu & Kashmir have extracted a huge physical and emotional toll on the people of the state. They certainly have a right to hope for a better future, a future I had outlined in my opening remarks."
Speaking on the role of Pakistan he said, "There have been references to President Musharraf's proposals and statements on Jammu & Kashmir during our discussions. Several ideas having a bearing on improving relations between India and Pakistan are being discussed at various levels. In carrying on these discussions we are giving careful consideration to your views expressed at these roundtables and the meetings of the working groups. Some public statements in this regard emanating from Pakistan do not give the correct picture. I have said earlier that we are working sincerely towards resolving all pending issues with Pakistan and their resolution will be to the benefit of the entire region."
A statement adopted at the third roundtable conference said: "The Conference gave in principle endorsement to the approach suggested by the Working Group on Confidence Building Measures across Segments of Society in the State viz. strengthening human rights protection; improving relief and rehabilitation of widows, orphans and other victims of militancy and violence; and preserving the rich and diverse cultural landscape of the State. It appreciated the concerns expressed by the Working Group regarding the rights of all minorities in J&K, and the urgent need to facilitate the return of Kashmiri Pandits to their hearth and homes. It urged the State/Central Government to take all possible initiatives towards this end, and also to resolve, in a time bound manner, other long pending issues like rehabilitation of refugees from West Pakistan in 1947 and persons affected by the wars of 1965 and 1971. The Conference applauded ongoing efforts to strengthen people to people contacts and promote trade and commerce across the LoC. It endorsed the recommendation of the II Group and need to further streamline these processes, and to expand and deepen such contacts and exchanges in the spheres of trade, tourism and various other walks of life."
The intra-Kashmir engagement between mainstream and separatist leaders goes against the Pakistani design. Hence, separatist groups such as the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, the Democratic Freedom Party, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, People's Conference and the Kashmir Bar Association did not join the roundtable. The same separatist leaders, who rejected the Prime Minister's invitation, are willing to travel to Islamabad to attend meeting on Kashmir.
The decision to stay away from the New Delhi conference indicates the duplicity that characterizes the separatists' landscape and the dominance of Islamabad over them.
More importantly, the boycott is unjustified since the separatist amalgam has already had separate rounds of talks with New Delhi - both with BJP-led NDA government and the Congress-led UPA government.
The aim of the third roundtable was to put together all shades of political opinion, from the many sub-regions of the state, along with state and Central government officials, and exchange ideas in a free and frank manner. The discussions centred around the recommendations of four working groups that had been set up in the last roundtable in May 2006. If implemented they could lead to the restoration of normal life for the average citizen of the insurgency-affected state. The separatists would have been wiser to attend the roundtable and share their views on the same issues and put forward recommendations if any.
- SAN-Feature Service
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Sri Lankan war refugees hassled
by mass resettlement
Amantha Perera in Colombo
An army-supervised mass resettlement plan underway for more than 100,000 people, displaced by fierce battles with Tamil rebels in eastern Batticaloa district, may be causing new problems for the refugees rather than solving existing ones, say volunteers.
Over the past weeks, some 20,000 people have been resettled in their homes and, according to government authorities, everything was going according to plan. "There has been talk that this is forced resettlement-there is nothing like that, everyone is going back voluntarily," military spokesman Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe told IPS.
Batticaloa, the nerve centre of eastern Sri Lanka, has been in the eye of the storm since last December when fighting engulfed the district that is home to all of the island's ethnic groups.
The town and outlying areas were inundated by civilians fleeing their homes when fighting broke out between government forces and Tamil rebels first in areas north of the town and then the western side. By early March, the refugee count in the district had swelled to above 150,000 and they were everywhere-under trees, on the side of the roads.
Later they were housed in schools, community centres and with host families, but this affected civilian life in the district. At the height of the fighting 325 schools were closed with studies of 135,000 students disrupted, according Batticaloa's civilian administrator S. Amalanathan. Eighty schools still remain shut.
However, the district is now limping back to normalcy with the Sri Lankan government undertaking a massive resettlement project to move the refugees back to their villages. Last week, three government ministers were on hand to see off the first batch of villagers returning to areas wrested from the control of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) or Tamil Tigers.
The military is playing a major role in the effort, registering the returnees and issuing security clearances. The plan is to send back 34,000 people to their homes before the month is through and resettle another 60,000 in the next phase, starting Jun. 1.
Most of the displaced prefer to return to their homes rather than remain in welfare centres or with host families. "Many IDPs were keen to return but are concerned of the security conditions. Many stated that with security guarantees from authorities, they would be willing to return," a team from the Colombo-based think tank, Centre for Policy Alternatives, said after a visit to the east.
Some of the displaced have been on the move since August 2006 when they fled villages south of the Trincomalee bay. They had to travel more than 100 km, often with just the clothes on their backs, before they could reach safer areas in Batticaloa.
There has been criticism that the return was not totally within internationally accepted norms. United Nations agencies like the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) have urged the government to adopt a step-by-step approach and be mindful of existing risks.
UNICEF chief field officer Natascha Paddisson said there were worries over lack of access to education, water and sanitation conditions and risk of underage recruitment.
However, the warnings were mild compared to how U.N. agencies reacted in March when the government resettled over 15,000 people in Vaharai, north of Batticaloa. UNHCR reports then spoke of forced resettlement and the Inter Agency Standing Committee (IASC) distributed leaflets in the camps, educating the refugees on their rights, earning the wrath of the government.
Humanitarian workers described the current round of resettlements as ad hoc. "We could not go into the areas where the returnees were going, the security forces said that it was unsafe which was a bit surprising given that all these civilians were going there," Rukshan Fernando from the Law and Society Trust said after visiting Batticaloa.
The military however said that it was allowing the U.N. and other agencies access to the newly resettled areas. "We cannot let them into areas where the next phase (of resettlement) would take place because we haven't cleared them yet," Brig. Samarasinghe said.
Maintaining the camps themselves was turning out to be a problem. Since March, the World Food Programme (WFP) sent out two emergency appeals accompanied by warnings of supplies running out.
In March WFP received additional funding but it is once again looking for new donors to keep supplies moving. "The pipeline appears to be safe till next month (June)," WFP head Jeff Taft Dick told IPS. WFP looks after 70 percent of the food needs of more than 130,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the district. IASC reports said that 13,000 people, mostly living with host families, were still not getting regular supplies.
"We would need longer term commitments to keep supplies moving, hopefully the funds will come in," Taft Dick said. The WFP requires one million US dollars per week to look after the food needs of all the IDPs in the island. It has already cut down on some of its programmes.
"I am very concerned by the deterioration of the humanitarian situation as a result of the resurgence in the conflict. And I am especially concerned about the impact of the conflict on civilians, many of whom have now been displaced multiple times by the fighting," Tony Banbury, Asia director for the WFP, said last week in Colombo.
The WFP and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), nevertheless, have received additional support to assist the IDPs. Japan, the U.S. and the U.N. Central Emergency Fund have contributed to WFP programmes that have helped supplies, Taft Dick said.
The Australian government last week pledged 5.25 million dollars to the WFP, ICRC and UNICEF programmes. Three million was to the WFP to provide emergency food aid, the Australian government said. "Abductions, extra-judicial killings and forced recruitment occur daily. All parties to the conflict are violating international humanitarian law on a regular basis. The Australian government is concerned by the trend towards increasing violence and the growing environment of impunity," it said in a statement.
Relief workers see no quick end to the suffering. "Let's face reality. The conflict in Sri Lanka is an old one, over 20 years old. The 2002 ceasefire exists only in name and there is too much confrontation to be optimistic for the near future," ICRC country head Toon Vandanhooven said.
According to Amnesty International, over 215,000 people were displaced in the north and east as a result of renewed fighting, and at least 10,000 fled to India.
An estimated half a million people had been displaced earlier in the conflict and by the 2004 tsunami. Many of these remained vulnerable to harassment and violence from the LTTE, other armed groups and members of the Sri Lankan security forces, Amnesty said in a new report.
Humanitarian and medical workers were threatened, harassed and abducted and their work further hampered by new registration requirements, Amnesty noted.
- Inter Press Service
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ISLAMABAD DIARY
Jonaid Iqbal
Coming to power in 1999 President General Pervez Musharraf has tried to win Western media endorsement, showing off two pet dogs in his arms as evidence of his liberal attitude. He likes, even now, to sit for interviews with American and European channels in which he keeps on saying that he has given free reins to the media in Pakistan. However, he avoids the Pakistani media and only a list of official channels are allowed to cover meetings and public engagements.
His information minister goes on repeating without end that the Pakistan media is on the hype enjoying a range of freedom they have never enjoyed before. His law minister Wasi Zafar even went to the extent of declaring that more freedom was available to Pakistan media than available according to international standard.
While President Musharraf's thesis about freedom has found general acceptance abroad all this may have come to an abrupt end.
Last week the government went protesting against the unrestricted coverage given to the journeys of the now out-of-favour Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhury, and what it considers, no-holds-barred coverage given to the address made by the non-functional CJ at the Supreme Court premises on Saturday. The government also lost patience with launching of a book critical of the economic empire that the military had built over the last 49 years after it first seized power in 1958.
A lot of things have happened here since that day including unacknowledged ban of the electronic media since Monday morning with transmission of Geo and Aaj TV channels blackened. The TV channels said they were not allowed to be on air in a number of cities and towns of four provinces where the public could not see their favourite news and talk shows.
PEMRA (Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority) swore it had not banned the channels but blamed the closure on the cable networks that operate the TV channels.
In addition, the President promulgated an ordinance, on June 4, authorising PEMRA to swoop down on the channels, and seize their equipment if it was not playing ball according to the limits of the PEMRA rules.
This sounded like testing the limits journalists would be prepared to go to ensure the freedom they have acquired over the years, which they say is not a gift or outrageous grant by the government but one that has been promised in the country's Constitution.
The same evening media personnel made a beeline to the Prime Minister's Secretariat Monday evening to protest on attack on press freedom.
Newspaper reports say that the Prime Minister was outraged, and we now read in the morning papers that a station house officer lodged an FIR against protesting journalists. However, the report also says that the FIR has been sealed perhaps because of the National Assembly session meeting on Wednesday to ensure calm atmosphere.
That would not be there because the Opposition has filed a dozen adjournment motions against the issue of PEMRA Ordinance issued by the President two days earlier than the session of the Assembly was called.
Inside the House, the Opposition would no doubt press for discussion on this subject and thus increase pressure on the government which feels weak against swelling public protests on the Chief Justice's issue.
However, TV managers and officials of Information Ministry and the PEMRA met Tuesday night and agreed on a solution that would require electronic media not to cast aspersion on the Judiciary or the military. That, however, has never been a conflict issue in the Pakistan media.
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