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RELIGIOUS PERSPECTIVES ON HUMAN RIGHTS
E-Newsletter
Vol.1 No.4
July 5, 1999
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Religious Perspectives on Human Rights is now available online at: http://www.rghr.net
Religious Perspectives on Human Rights is a weekly e-newsletter issued by Buddhist, Muslim, Catholic and Christian Groups on Human Rights, initiated by the Asian Human Rights Commission.
A War In Our Neighbourhood: What Can The
Religious Groups Do?
Everyone says something or other on Kosovo. No one seems to be
concerned with the war in our neighborhood, At Kargil ,
Kashmir, the ordinary people suffer from this war, as
ordinary people do in every war. It is these sufferings
that matter, whatever, the considerations of the combatants
are. The cry of our neighbours call for response. We give below a
few extract from statements coming from both Indian and Pakistan
sides, from the peoples organizations condemning the war and
calling for both Indian and Pakistan troops to withdraw. Under
these circumstances, the religious groups can do the following
among other things.
- Express solidarity with the people suffering from war,
women and children in particular.
- Write to the religious leaders of the two countries, to
express solidarity and call on them to take part in
bringing about peace and to give priority to human
aspects of this war.
- To write to the two governments to end fighting, withdraw
troops and to negotiate peace
- To hold vigils in their countries, in localities to draw
attention to war and make the human suffering that is
taking place visible
- To make the media facilities available to each group to
give publicity to human tragedy involve in the war.
- To form Indo-Pakistan peace groups and solidarity groups,
to work consistently on this issue
- To encourage school going children to write to their
counterparts in both countries to wish them peace and end
to their suffering
- Introduce into daily and weekly prayers, in public places
as well as homes a reference to the victims of this war
- To make even short statements and send to the media, as
letters to the editor or other columns. Any letter send
to this E-Newsletter will be transmitted to relevant
groups in India and Pakistan
Some quotes from Peace from Peoples Organizations:
"At least 20 groups in India have been working to
develop friendly relations between the people of India and
Pakistan," pointed out Sayeeda Hameed of the National
Council for Women, who is actively involved with some of the
groups. Groups like the India-Pakistan Friendship Society,
with former Prime Minister I. K. Gujral as chairman; Citizens
for Democracy started by Jayprakash Narain in 1974 and now
headed by Kuldip Nayar; the Pakistan-India Peoples' Forum for
Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD) with chapters across the
country; the Association for Peoples of Asia run by Nirmala
Deshpande, the Servants of the People Society, started by
Lala Lajpat Rai; and the more recent Indo-Pakistan Nimrana
Initiative (1992), which consists of 18 members, including
some from Pakistan.
-------------------
The Hindu, 26.06.99
New Delhi, Citizens Against War* got together today to deplore
the war hysteria "whipped up" by the rulers in India
and Pakistan.
At the meeting, members of the organisation called for an end
to the armed intrusion, threatening military postures by both
sides, use of sophisticated, conventional weapons resulting in
the loss of lives of civilian population and jawans on both
sides, and uprooting of innocent people from their settlements
along both sides of the Line of Control (LoC).
-------------------
War would be suicidal for both nations: Pakistani poet
By Ikram Ali
The Times of India, 26.06.99
Lucknow: Rebel Pakistani poet John Elia said it would be
suicidal for both Pakistan and India if the Kargil skirmishes
turn into a full-scale war. The Vajpayee government, he felt, was
guilty of initiating a nuclear race in the sub-continent. India,
he said, should not have tested the nuclear bombs.
-------------------
The following press statement was issued by some citizens of
Calcutta at the initiative of some members of the Pakistan Indian
Peoples' Forum for Peace and Democracy, West Bengal chapter and
was released to the press on 28.05.1999.
"We are deeply shocked and pained at the serious
conflict situation arising once again between India and
Pakistan. This has definitely marred the atmosphere of
friendship created by the Lahore Declaration (1999) and has
shattered the great expectations roused by it. Any such
conflict not only means loss of lives but it also increases
the economic burden on the people of the two backward
developing countries.
Hence we feel that:
Both Pakistan and India should coolly sit down to take stock
of the current situation and find out some peaceful permanent
solution to the conflict;
There should be a continuous dialogue between the two
governments so that never in future any farther misunderstanding
leading to violent or armed activities arise;
Since the Kashmir issue is the main bone of contention between
the two countries a fresh and serious move should be taken to
solve the problem. For that matter both the governments and
peoples of these two countries should be involved in this
challenging dialogue that would also include the peoples of
Kashmir on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC);
Pending the solution of the Kashmir problem both the
governments should immediately take up positive steps towards
bilateral commerce, cultural exchanges, information inflows and
people to people contact."
* These statements are taken from a collection consisting of
many more statements sent by the South Asia Forum for Human
Rights
-------------------
You may write to the Prime-Minister of India and the
Prime-Minister Pakistan on this issue.
Suggested letter is attached.
Contact details:
Mr. Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee,
Prime Minister of India,
152 South Block
New Delhi 110 011,
India.
Fax : +(91 11) 3018906 / 3016857
Mr. Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif
Prime Minister of Islamic Republic of Pakistan
Prime Minister House,
Constitutional Avenue,
Islamabad
Pakistan
Fax. +(92-51)-9207464
Your Excellencies, I am writing this to express my sadness at
the recent escalation of warfare between India and Pakistan over
Kashmir. My concern is purely humane and in my view the human
considerations should over weigh all other considerations.
Ordinary people, including women and children have lost their
loved ones, homes, neighbours, livelihoods they have been used to
and exposed to extreme forms of suffering and hardship. There
have been reports of gross abuse of the rights of prisoners of
war. And there are reports The prevention of such suffering would
alone have sufficed not to pursue the path of war but peaceful
negotiation for settlement of disputes that may exist by peaceful
means. Many citizens organizations both India and Pakistan had
condemned this war and call for return to peaceful path. I am
writing this to support that call and call on you to be
considerate of the human issues involved and give such issues
priority over other.
Back to top
The Path Finders of Human Rights in Religious
Movements
If you wish to contribute to this column, write your notes
briefly and send to AHRC.
(1) Henk Schram -
A Dutch Priest who worked in Sri Lanka from the late forties
to early sixties. He worked mainly with the young Christian
Workers movement. His influence was enormous. His working style
was simple. He started a tea boutique inside the workers centre
for workers who passed the place to Colombo harbour and other
places of work. He and this co-workers just sat there and
listened to any one who dropped in to have a cup of tea. Schram,
that how he was popularly known, was always there to listen. In
fact, he just help others to discover themselves and to play
their part. It was the participatory approach which came
naturally. He was considered controversial in many instances. He
encouraged the church not to resist school take over, he opposed
a coup attempt in which some military leaders who were Catholics
were alleged to have played a leading part. He wanted to be seen
as an ordinary man who saw the vital place of ordinary men in
democratic movement. On his return to the Netherlands he became a
prime mover for third world movement of the country.
To a young Dutch man who was going to Asia to work and who
came to visit Schram for advice he gave the following advice,
which the young man related thus. "He held me by shoulder
and said, 'son, they do not need you there. If you go there,
just hang round and try to see how, they do things. After
sometime you may find something useful to do'."
During his time human rights language has not become so
common. However, essentially what he did was promotion of human
rights through deep participatory approach.
Henk Schram died on 9 October 1984.
Posted on 1999-07-05
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