Activists, victims dissect terror, its cause 038; effects

It was a motley gathering at the two-day seminar on 8220;Human Rights and the Rule of Law; Mob Terror, State Terror...

It was a motley gathering at the two-day seminar on 8220;Human Rights and the Rule of Law; Mob Terror, State Terror and Bomb Terror8221; organised by a Mumbai-based Citizens for Peace and Justice CPJ which got underway here on today. There were victims of communal violence and bomb blasts from Gujarat and Malegaon, people who had suffered violence in coastal Karnataka and tribals who had taken the brunt of the Naxal backlash against the Salwa Judum in Chhattisgarh. And then there were the celebrity activists, writers and actors who shared experiences and insights.

Poet and activist Javed Akhtar spoke on the crisis of governance and discriminatory approach to various sections that the police adopted while dealing with protests. 8220;A new trend is emerging. If a person belonging to a poorer section is committing some crime, the act is termed as criminal and the person anti-national. But if the same crime is committed by some powerful man it is not treated likewise,8221; he said.

Writer Arundhati Roy also spoke of the role of the media and the need to 8220;find out who is against us and who is with us8221;. She termed all conflicts as one involving control over 8220;money and resources8221;. Questioning the role of NGOs, she said 8220;human rights is a corporate business now8221;.

Actor Rahul Bose, who has recently set up his own organisation called The Foundation, made a passionate case for fighting the system collectively by creating so much pressure that the government is forced to listen. He echoed Roy8217;s argument against the media being a slave to sources of revenue and 8220;ratings8221; and therefore many 8220;people8217;s struggles8221; not being covered by it at all.

Maulana Hameed Azhari, who runs an organisation centered around literacy needs in Malegaon, spoke of the blasts and the need for an 8220;impartial CBI Inquiry in the case8221;. It was Azhari8217;s conviction that the police investigation was shoddy and 8220;the CBI Inquiry should scrap whatever work the ATS had done so far and start afresh8221;.

Members of the Karnataka Komu Souharda Vedike8212;an organisation which describes itself as 8220;a coalition of over 200 groups working to establish communal harmony in Karnataka8221;8212;spoke of how the 8220;fuzzy nature8221; of Indian communities had resulted in the Baba Budangiri shrine near Chikmanglur, being visited by people of all faiths and persuasions, now being transformed into a symbol of conflict and tension between communities.