SANSAD-CPPC News Release Dec 31, 2014

South Asian Community Gathers in Grief

The community meeting room in Strawberry Hill Library in Surrey was filled to capacity on Sunday 28 December afternoon with leading members of the South Asian Community and representatives of various faiths, who came to express their solidarity with the grieving families in Peshawar and the people of Pakistan for the massacre of children and teachers on December 16.

Moderating the meeting, Zahid Makhdoom recognized the leaders of the community who had come, including the MLA Harry Bains (Surrey-Newton) and MP Jinny Sims (Newton-North Delta). The Consul General of Pakistan in Vancouver, Dr. Muhammad Tariq was also recognized.

Opening the meeting Dr. Haider Nizamani advised the community to guard their hopes with caution as the record of the past years produced only pessimism. Hundreds of schools had been attacked, unknown numbers of children killed and injured, thousands of innocent people had been killed, Benazir Bhutto had been assassinated for declaring that she wanted to end terrorist attacks, Salman Taseer, the Governor of Punjab had been murdered by his bodyguard for wanting justice for a poor Christian woman falsely charged with blasphemy, and yet everything had been brushed away with conspiracy theories and justifications. Girls’ education had been particularly attacked, with the well-known attempt to murder Malala Yousafzai for affirming her right to education, yet many in Pakistan and in the diaspora had blamed Malala and found justification in the attention she had received in the West.

Speakers from the Shia, Ahmadiyya, Ismaili, and sexual minority communities spoke of the attacks on their and other minority communities, including Hindu and Christian communities, in Pakistan, and suggested that the impunity these attacks enjoyed in Pakistan provided the context for the massacre in Peshawar.  The time had come to end this impunity and violence.

Dr. Muhammad Tariq, the Consul General of Pakistan, affirmed that the issue of minorities was not specific to Pakistan and should not be confused with the killings in Peshawar, which was a heinous act against the majority Sunnis and indicated that the terrorists did not discriminate between their targets. He pointed out that the Government of Pakistan, the political parties and the security establishment had come together to affirm a determination to root out terrorism  and had established military courts to deal with terrorist acts.

Musa Ismail and Qari Abdul Wahab, representing the BC Muslim Association, condemned the killings in Peshawar and affirmed that such acts of violence were wholly against the teachings of the Quran. The people who perpetrated such acts in the name of Islam were violating its fundamentals and using the name of the religion without understanding it. Islam was a religion of peace. The first attribute of Allah is that He is merciful. The Prophet spoke strongly against the killing and harming of innocent people. He saw the killing of a child as an act of violence against heaven. Yet these false teachings were spreading even in diaspora communities, and the community had to be on guard to prevent their spread and to maintain the safety and openness of our adopted homeland in Canada.

Representing the Hindu Temple in Burnaby, Pandit Manoj Dutt Vashistha expounded the Sanatana Dharma as affirming the oneness of humanity and enjoining respect for and peaceful co-existence with all. He expressed the solidarity of his temple with the grieving families of the bereaved and prayed for peace.

Rev. Edith Baird of the United Church reminded the gathering that the birth of Jesus a few days past had brought the message of peace on earth and goodwill to all men. But peace, she said, went hand in hand with justice and could only come when we found justice. She remembered the lifelong sorrow into which the families of the dead in Peshawar had been cast and expressed our share in that sorrow. She read a letter written by Fra Giovanni, a Franciscan friar on Christmas Eve 1513,  assuring people of hope and urging them to keep alive the aspiration for a better world.

Giani Harminder Pal Singh of the Khalsa Diwan Society, the oldest Sikh organization of North America, noted that Khalsa Diwan Society had recently commemorated the anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh’s youngest sons being bricked alive in a wall by Wazir Khan, the Governor of Sirhind three hundred years ago.  At that time Nawab Sher Mohammad Khan, ruler of Malerkotla and a close relative of the Governor had vehemently protested that this inhuman act was against the teachings of the Quaran and Islam and had walked out of the court. Today the Sikh community of British Columbia condemns the murder of children in Peshawar and stands in solidarity with their parents, the people of Pakistan and people everywhere in seeking an end to terrorism.

Itrath Syed, a long-time activist for the rights of Muslims and particularly Muslim women, affirmed the importance of girls’ and women’s right to education. She pointed out that though this gathering was in response to the killing of children in Peshawar, behind this incident was the killing of unnumbered children in many wars and acts of violence across the world, and that many children have been killed and are being killed in drone attacks in Pakistan. She maintained that the attacks on minorities in Pakistan were indeed relevant as the background for the present massacre because they provide the context of intolerance that made this possible.  But hough people’s and the government’s immediate reaction is to respond militarily against the perpetrators, this had to be avoided. Violence can only breed more violence. Instead the drone attacks must be stopped immediately and no child be killed as collateral damage. The special laws for FATA allowing for collective punishment must be abolished. Civil society must be expanded and strengthened. The rule of law must be established. Children must have the right and access to education.

Rabbi Louis Sutker of Or Shalom Synagogue concluded the meeting by asking how many children had to die for a gathering such as the present one to take place. He noted the irony that it had taken two secular and liberal organizations to bring together members of different communities and people who were not secular, and some who were not liberal. He also reminded the audience of the numberless children who had been killed without anyone calling a meeting to protest these deaths. All religions, including his own, had been responsible for wars and violence and the death of a vast number of people. We had to come together to stop this. it was an irony, and perhaps God was an ironist, that something good can come out of something terrible. The tragedy in Peshawar had brought about the present gathering, which he hoped would be the sign of a new beginning.

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SANSAD-CPPC News release, Dec 17, 2014

Mourn our slaughtered children in Pakistan

South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy (SANSAD) and Committee of Progressive Pakistani Canadians (CPPC), two organizations of the South Asian diaspora in Canada, express our profound grief and outrage at the slaughter of 132 children and sixteen teachers and staff, in a school in Peshawar, Pakistan, by the Islamist group, Tehreek-e-Taliban-i-Pakistan (TTP), on December 16.

This is the latest atrocity of the extremist organization in its campaign of violence against the people and the state of Pakistan. In its objective to capture the state of Pakistan and impose its version of Sharia, the TTP has not directed its violence merely against the military, the police, and the functionaries of the government but has killed thousands of civilians, including women and children. It has particularly attacked Shias and Sufis, destroying mosques and shrines, and killing people at their prayer. They have murdered learned clerics who challenged their ill-founded notions of Islam and have particularly attacked schools as offering an education that would expose their lack of legitimacy and authority. They have killed health workers administering life- saving Polio vaccine to children. They have sought legitimacy solely through violence, by their use of terror to impose their “order” on the people of Pakistan’s north- west frontier who have been victimized by decades of wars that others have waged across their land, where the state of Pakistan has not offered adequate governance.

TTP is one of many extremist organizations spawned by imperialist wars and the proxy wars of imperialist and militarist states. They claim legitimacy through religion, though without theological authority. And they appeal to people by their opposition to imperialist violence, though they are born of it and fed by it with every death of innocent civilians as “collateral damage” in the so- called war on terror. They sustain their fraudulent claims by terror and the denial of education.

In the wake of the Peshawar attack the government of Pakistan, the military, and the political parties in Pakistan have expressed their determination to end the violence that has been tormenting the people of Pakistan for many years. We hail this development. We hope that this utterance of political will is not merely an expedient response to the present national grief that dissipates against the deep structure of the Pakistan security state. We also applaud the declaration of the government of Pakistan that they will no longer make a distinction between the “good Taliban”, who do attack targets outside Pakistan and “bad Taliban”. who attack the state and people of Pakistan. Only the erasure of this difference will enable the states and peoples of South Asia to come together to effectively put an end to the purely destructive force of these enemies of the people.

In this festive season when people are engaged in celebrations of family and friendship and hoping for peace in the world, we call on the South Asian community in Metro Vancouver, people of all faiths and national origin to come together to mourn our murdered children in Peshawar. Join us in affirming that we belong to the human community in which all children are our children. Join us to make our united grief into a force for change, to create a world where people can live peacefully with all their faiths and every child is safe, has access to education, and the opportunity to fully develop their potential. Let our grief bring us to labour for peace on earth.
Public Meeting: Strawberry Hill Library, 7399-122nd Street, Surrey, Sunday 28 December, 3.00 pm-5.00pm.

Contact: Chin 604-421-6752; Saif 778-987-0813; Shahzad 604-613—0735.

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 SANSAD News Release, Oct 14, 2014

The Nobel Peace Prize, which has been discredited by its recent awards to such entities of dubious merit as the European Union and Barak Obama, has gone some way toward reclaiming credibility by its award of the prize for 2014 to Malala Yousefzai of Pakistan and Kailash Satyarthi of India, both of them activists for the rights of children.

The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded within the context of global politics, so that its list of recipients also includes such notorious warmongers as Henry Kissinger. This year’s award is no less political. This year’s contenders included Edward Snowden and Chelsey Manning, who have made contributions of historical proportions toward human freedom from state surveillance and yet remain one in exile and the other in prison. But since Snowden and Manning had dared to challenge the imperial power of the United States of America, they could not be awarded the prize they richly deserved. It is by default that the prize was awarded to the greatly worthy champions of the most powerless, female children of Pakistan and all the enslaved children of India.

Malala Yousefzai and Kailash Satyarthi are remarkable people who have put their lives on the line for the empowerment of suppressed and enslaved children, and Pakistan and India ought to be proud of the recognition they have received. The political leaders of both countries have acknowledged this honor. Yet this global recognition shines a spotlight on national shame: the cause for which these champions have been awarded. In Pakistan the recognition of Malala has generated a vitriolic attack, not only from the expected quarters of the Taliban but also in mainstream media. In India the occasion has brought to attention the extent of the problem of clild labour in conditions of slavery, the laxity of effort in curbing it, and the complicity of politicians in enabling it.

South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy (SANSAD), an organization of the South Asian diaspora in Canada, congratulates Malala Yousefzai and Kailash Satyarthi on the recognition their noble and inspiring work for downtrodden children has received and applauds the Nobel Peace Prize committee for their wise decision. We applaud the expressed desire of Yousefzai to invite the prime ministers of Pakistan and India to Oslo for the award ceremony as a contribution to bringing peace to the subcontinent. We condemn those who belittle the contribution of Malala Yousefzai in Pakistan as the voice of the oppressor of the weak. And we urge the governments of Pakistan and India to follow the path of peace and address the issues to which the Nobel Laureates for 2014 have dedicated their lives.

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SANSAD News Release July 27, 2014

End War Crimes in Gaza

The following resolution was adopted at the the SANSAD AGM held on July 26, 2014 at surrey, BC:

Whereas, Israel is an occupying power in Palestine with responsibility in international law to protect civilians,

Whereas, it has imposed a siege and blockade on Gaza since 2006, subjecting its population, eighty percent of whom are refugees from lands occupied by Israel, to extreme deprivation and hardship,

Whereas, Israel has repeatedly subjected Palestinians to collective punishment in violation of international law, most notably in December 2008 when it killed more than 1300 civilians and destroyed thousands of homes as well as scores of schools, mosques, and hospitals,

Whereas, in its recent assault on Gaza beginning with the bombardment of July 8 and subsequent ground attack, Israel has killed more than 1000 Palestinians, most of whom are women and children, has bombed children playing on the beach and civilians sheltering in a UN-run school despite being given the coordinates of the school,

And whereas, the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva has found Israel potentially guilty of war crimes and launched an international inquiry into it,

Therefore be it resolved that we demand that Israel immediately stop its attack on Gaza, allow relief efforts to reach the residents, and enable the UNHRC to carry on its investigation into war crimes,

We further demand that Israel lift the blockade on Gaza to ensure the free movement of Palestinians in and out of Gaza Strip as well as unlimited import and export of goods to enable its residents to rebuild their lives, and enter into negotiations in good faith to end the occupation of Palestinian lands.

Finally, be it resolved that SANSAD endorses the Palestinian call and global movement for Boycott Divestment and Sanctions against the state of Israel and its institutions until it complies with international law and Palestinian rights.

In addition, as  SANSAD is an organization of South Asians living in Canada, be it resolved that we hold the Government of Canada complicit in Israel’s violations of international law and war crimes because of its unqualified support of Israel’s actions and demand that it change its policy and call on Israel to obey international law, respect human rights and the democratic right of Palestinian people to elect the government of their choice and seek the unity of their leadership.

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SANSAD News-release June 20, 2014

Stop attacks on religious minorities in Sri Lanka

South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy (SANSAD) deplores the attack by Buddhist mobs on minority Muslims in the southern Sri Lankan towns of Aluthgama and Beruwela on June 15 that have left 3 dead, 78 seriously injured, dozens of homes and shops burnt down, and several mosques damaged. We deplore the spate of violence against religious minorities by Buddhist extremists in the last few years in which Christians and Muslims have been attacked and their places of worship stoned or set on fire.We urge the government of Sri Lanka to ensure the security of religious minorities and protect their places of worship.

A number of extremist Buddhist organizations, such as Bodu Bala Sena, BBS (Buddhist Force), which was involved in the latest violence, Buddhist Brigade, and Buddhist Heritage Fortress, have been attacking the clergy, worshippers, and places of worship of Christians and Muslims in the last few years. These groups are often led by Buddhist monks, some of whom have been recorded on video engaging in attacks on churches in southern Sri Lanka. In 2013 there were more than 300 attacks on Muslim and Christian places of worship. Yet the government has done little to stop this violence.

The latest incident took place despite the prior appeal of Muslim legislators to President Mahinda Rajapaksha for protection of their community against Buddhist extremists and the specific warning by the Justice Minister, Rauf Hakeem against allowing a demonstration of BBS in the predominantly Muslim towns. On the contrary, in March 2014 Sri Lanka government arrested two of the most prominent human rights activists, Ruki Fernando and Father Parveen Mahesan, in Killinochchi in northern Sri Lanka, under anti-terrorism legislation that allows detention without trial for 18 months. They were detained on the suspicion of inciting racial or religious hatred or violence between ethnic groups. Human rights organizations and civil society groups in Sri Lanka have declared these allegations outrageous.

President Rajapaksha has condemned the violence in southern Sri Lanka and has assured that the culprits will be brought to justice. This is much to be desired though not very hopeful on the basis of the government’s record. We demand that this promise be kept. We congratulate the Government of Canada for its statement of condemnation of this incident and upholding the right of religious freedom. As an organization of the South Asian diaspora in Canada we appeal to all governments to urge the Government of Sri Lanka to protect the rights of minorities to practice their faith without any intimidation and violence.

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SANSAD News-release June 16, 2014

South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy (SANSAD) condemns the illegal arrest of Professor GN Saibaba, who teaches English in Ram Lal Anand College of Delhi University by Maharashtra Police on May 9. We further condemn his cruel detention in solitary confinement without regard to his disabilities, his suspension from Delhi University by the university administration following his arrest, and the denial of his bail plea by the Gadchirol sessions court in Maharashtra on June 13. We strongly protest these violations of human rights and civil liberties. We demand the immediate release of Professor Saibaba and his reinstatement in his teaching position in Delhi.

Professor Saibaba is an outspoken civil liberty activist, who as the deputy secretary of Revolutionary Democratic Front has been campaigning against the Indian government’s counter-insurgency measures known as “Operation Green Hunt.” His home in Delhi had been raided four times since September 2013 by the police before his arrest and transportation to Maharashtra on May 9 without warning and without access to a lawyer. Dr. Saibaba is a paraplegic who lost the use of his legs to polio as a child. He has 90% disability and has been bound to a wheel chair since he could afford one after his arrival in Delhi.

Dr. Saibaba has been arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, UAPA, one of the laws in the arsenal of the Indian state for the repression of its citizens and the prevention of dissent. He has been charged with allegedly being a member of a banned “terrorist” organization, CPI (Maoist), of having contact with its chairman, Ganapathy, providing logistics and helping recruitment. Several prominent human rights activists, including Gautam Navlakha and Arudhati Roy, as well as students and professors of Delhi University and Jwahar Lal Nehru University who demonstrated against Saibaba’s arrest, have pointed out that UAFA is a device for framing such charges as those against Saibaba to silence voices raised against the land grab by corporations for mining and on behalf of the adivasis who are displaced and terrorized in the interest of this “development.” The state merely has to declare an organization “terrorist” and ban it to get a free hand in suppressing any voice raised against the violence of the state by charging it of association with the banned organization.

G N Saibaba was born in a poor peasant family in Andhra, where his family lost the three acres of land it cultivated when Saibaba was 10. He lost the use of his legs as a child and crawled till he could afford a wheel chair as a teacher in Delhi. His education was made possible by scholarships he earned and by the assistance of his would be wife, Vasanthi. His love of literature led to his politics: he learned from the revolutionary Telegu writers such as Sri Sri and was inspired by the Kenyan writer, Ngugi Wa Thiong’o, whom he met. This is the person the Indian state incarcerates in solitary confinement, without the minimal facilities to accommodate his disabilities and without attention to his cardiac condition because he has raised his voice against the state terror of “Operation Green Hunt.”

SANSAD, an organization of the South Asian diaspora in Canada demands the immediate release of Professor G N Saibaba and his return to teaching at Delhi University.

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SANSAD News-release, February 24. 2014

Deplore India’s ban on film depicting genocide in Sri Lanka

The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) of India has on February 23 refused a censor certificate to No Fire Zone: The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka, the acclaimed documentary by Callum Macrae on the last days of the war between Sri Lankan military and the LTTE in 2009. The grounds for this denial of certification for theatre release are that the film has visuals of a “disturbing nature” and that it “may strain friendly relations with Sri Lanka.”

It is not surprising that a film documenting the genocide that took some 70,000 lives, including the killing in captivity of the LTTE leader’s young son, should have some visuals of a “disturbing nature.” It is precisely this evidence that has made the film a powerful indictment of the war crimes committed by the Sri Lankan forces and made it a valuable instrument in mobilizing international opinion in favor of an independent inquiry into the charge of war crimes. For this reason the Sri Lankan government, which has resolutely opposed such investigation has tried to suppress the film. It recently attempted to stop the screening of the film in the Film Southasia festival in Kathmandu, Nepal.

In banning the theatre screening of the film the CBFC has yet again fulfilled its deplorable function as the state’s instrument for the suppression of politically inconvenient films. This was indeed the reason for which this body was initially set up by the British colonial administration in India. It is yet another colonial inheritance that the Indian state continues to use to suppress rights and liberties of citizens in India. South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy (SANSAD), an organization of South Asian diaspora based in Vancouver, British Columbia, strongly protests the ban on Callum Macrae’s courageous, truthful, and profoundly disturbing film on one of the worst crimes against humanity n recent years.

We congratulate Amnesty International India for their protest against this ban and wholeheartedly join them in their demand that the CBFC and the Government of India “swiftly remove the ban on the film” (The Hindu, February 24, 2014). We applaud Macrae and his producer for their decision to resist the ban by making the film available for free on-line streaming in India.

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South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy, (SANSAD),  2779 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, BC; www.sansad.org

SANSAD News-release February 20, 2014

Suppression of Wendy Doniger’s book undermines democracy

South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy (SANSAD), an organization of South Asian diaspora based in Vancouver, British Columbia, joins its voice to the outrage being expressed by academics, students, writers, intellectuals, and other champions of freedom of enquiry and expression in India and outside at Penguin India’s decision to withdraw and pulp Wendy Doniger’s book, The Hindus: An Alternative History in the face of threats by Hindu right wing forces.

We applaud Arundhati Roy and William Dalrymple for protesting this cowardly act by one of the most powerful publishing houses with a long history of defending freedom of expression and the rights of authors. We applaud the History faculty of Jawaharlal Nehru University for issuing a public statement in condemnation of this surrender to the threats of the Hindu right wing determined to construct a sanitized and strait-jacketed Hinduism against the rich multiplicity of traditions that make historical Hinduism. We congratulate the scholars int North American Universities who have issued a statement of condemnation pointing out that this was a victory for the Hindu right wing organizations in India who have been working with their North American counterparts to suppress alliterative voices, often the with violence.

Penguin’s withdrawal of Doniger’s book has a significance beyond the immediate issue of a publisher’s responsibility to defend its authors and uphold the right to freedom of speech. In its failure of spirit it has become complicit in the viciously anti-democratic and anti-minority, particularly anti-Muslim and anti-Christian, agenda of Hindutva in India. By withdrawing its resistance it has become a partner in the ideological program to dismantle the secular democratic identity of India.

Secularism and democracy are ideals inscribed in the idea of India but are forever under stress. Not only has the state been eager to censor and suppress expression, political and social organizations have been only too eager to demand suppression by the state or engage in violent suppression of scholarship or artistic expression that offended their sentiments. Freedom of thought and expression in India is far too often a hostage to offended sentiments. Penguin’s betrayal of Doniger strengthens this oppressive power of “offended sentiments.” As others have pointed out it is not a sufficient excuse for Penguin to declare that it has acted in fear of the law of the land, specifically Section 295a of the Indian Penal Code.

Professor Doniger’s book must be made available to all who wish to read it in India, and all those who disagree with her findings should challenge them with arguments. We urge all who cherish democracy and the freedom of expression that is its essential underpinning to sign the petition of Ananya Vajpeyi of New Delhi, India on change.org addressed to members of both houses of parliament that they revise Sections 153 A and 295 A of the Indian Penal Code governing intellectual and artistic freedoms and the right to self-expression as well as protecting against insult and injury to communities.

https://www.change.org/en-IN/petitions/members-of-both-houses-of-the-indian-parliament-and-the-honorable-law-minister-government-of-india-reconsider-and-revise-sections-153-a-and-295-a-of-the-indian-penal-code-to-protect-freedom-of-expression-in-india#

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SANSAD News-release, December 31, 2013

The Hope of Peace

In this season when people across the earth are wishing each other peace and wellbeing our thoughts go out to all who are facing the organized violence of states and non-state agents. Millions of people in many countries in the world are seeking escape from the bullets, bombs, drone attacks, and other violence that have devastated their lives and drives them every day from their homes into refugee camps or sets them wandering in search of asylum in an increasingly inhospitable world. We echo their cry for peace.

As members of the South Asian diaspora we feel most intimately the aspiration for peace among the people in our homelands. We share their hope that peace will come to their lands and free their effort and enterprise and enable them to flourish.

India and Pakistan being the largest and most powerful of the nations in South Asia, peace between them is of critical importance for the subcontinent, as the hostilities generated at their birth from colonialism have been chiefly responsible for the suffering of the people in the region. Militarism, chauvinism, communalism, and religious extremism have flourished at the expense of the freedom and wellbeing of the people. Attempts at resolving differences and creating conditions of free exchange have always been sabotaged by the vested interests of the elite of both countries. Hope has blossomed only to be trampled into cynicism and despair.

2013 has seen more than 200 violations of the 10-year old ceasefire across the Line of Control (LOC) between India and Pakistan, making it by far the worst year in this regard. Some of these incidents have involved sensational claims, fueling war-mongering by opportunist-chauvinist media and national-chauvinist political parties in India. Yet in Pakistan there has been a historical transition from one democratically elected government to another, and the incoming Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, has made strong statements in favor of peace and friendship with India. Mr. Sharif’s meeting with the Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh in New York in September set afoot a process toward the resumption of dialogue between the two countries, suspended since the terrorist attack on Mumbai in November 2008.

On December 27 inaugurating the new Foreign Ministry Office in Islamabad Nawaz Sharif declared that Pakistan had been following its foreign policy objectives of resuming dialogue with India, improving relations with Afghanistan, strengthening strategic partnership with China and re-building ties with the US. He affirmed the desire of Pakistan to live peacefully and maintain friendly relations with its neighbors, following a policy of building a peaceful and prosperous neighborhood focused on trade and developing a consensus-based approach to counter terrorism. A few days before this, Shahbaz Sharif, the Chief Minister of Punjab and brother of Nawaz Sharif had communicated a similar message to Manmohan Singh in Delhi, making a strong plea for dialogue and the development of trade and commerce along with the resolution of strategic issues.

An important result of Nawaz Sharif’s initiative for peace has been the meeting of the Directors-General of Military Operations (DGMO) of India and Pakistan in Wagah in Pakistan on December 24, the first time such a meeting had taken place since 1998. At this meeting the DGMO reiterated their commitment to ensure the ceasefire and maintain peace and tranquillity at the LOC and to improve communications, including their hotline contact.

At a less formal level, former officials of Indian and Pakistani intelligence (RAW and ISI) met in Canada at the Ottawa Dialogue organized by Ottawa University in October and produced joint papers calling for greater contact between agencies to prevent regional crisis and promote new thinking on the conflict in Jammu and Kashmir. A joint paper by CD Sahay of India and Wajahat Latif of Pakistan maintains that more can be achieved through such contact than through diplomatic channels in preventing panic reactions and unintended mobilizations and forestalling such incidents as that of Mumbai in November 2008. There has been a dialogue process between the intelligence agencies since 1997 and it needs to be developed further.

These are events at the closing of 2013 that give us hope for peace in South Asia. We warmly greet these signs and hope that 2014 will bring a strengthening of the process.  We shall always hope for peace and praise those who work for it.

But remembering that South Asia is more than Pakistan and India, that there are many griefs of peace outside the horrors of war, and that there is no peace and no potential for flourishing without justice, we extend our hearts to all victims of nationalist, ethnic, communalist, caste, gender, heterosexist, and class violence, including Tamils in Sri Lanka,  garment workers in Bangladesh, Rohingyas in Myanmar, in camps, and in transit, and all who are displaced by climate change and the depredations of socially unbound capital. We extend our solidarity to the people of Afghanistan who face the challenge of reconstruction after the exit of the invading forces and to the people of Nepal who have long languished under the inability of political parties to set the people’s interest above their own and await the coming of a constitution that will set them on the path of a prosperous future. We commit ourselves to working hand in hand with all who seek peace and justice.

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 South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy (SANSAD); 2779 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, BC; www.sansad.org