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— Religion — a Tool for Discrimination in South Asia? — RELIGION — A tool for discrimination in South Asia? — RELIGION — A tool for discrimination in South Asia? Published by: South Asians for Human Rights (SAHR) 345/18 Kuruppu Road (17/7 Kuruppu Lane) Colombo 8, Sri Lanka Telephone: +94-11-5549183 Fax: +94-11-2695910 Email: [email protected] Website: www.southasianrights.org Printed and published in Sri Lanka 2010 All rights reserved. This material is copyright and not for resale, but may be reproduced by any method for teaching purposes. For copying in other circumstances or for re-use in other publications or for translation, prior written permission must be obtained from the copyright owner. ISBN – 978 – 955 – 1489 – 11 – 3 Design and pagination: Wits Associates (Pvt) Ltd. Printed in Sri Lanka at Samayawardena Printers To Meeto (Kamaljit Bhasin Malik), for her undaunted spirit and commitment to recover a world of peace and harmony, of tolerance and respect amongst the peoples of South Asia Table of Contents Acknowledgements ix About the Authors x Abbreviations xi Introduction xv Bangladesh Introduction 3 1. Politics of Religious Minority Creation in Bangladesh 4 2. State Obligations under International and National Laws: Policies and Practices 8 3. The Electoral System and Electoral Violence 11 4. Representation in the Public Sphere 15 5. The Legal System 18 6. The Non-Governmental Sector 19 7. Mass Media and Culture 19 8. Education 23 9. Economic Issues 27 10. Religious Rights 32 Concluding Remarks 34 Annex 1 Terrorist Outfits in Bangladesh 36 India Introduction 41 1. Demographic Profile of Minorities 43 1.1 Demographic politics 43 1.2 Urbanisation 46 1.3 Christian-Majority States and Districts 47 1.4 Muslims as Voters 48 1.5 Caste Composition of Religious Communities 49 2. Socio-economic status of minorities 50 2.1 Workforce 50 2.2 Employment & Unemployment 55 2.3 Child Labour 56 vi RELIGION – A TOOL FOR DISCRIMIN A TION IN SOUTH ASI A ? 2.4 Education 57 2.5 Poverty 60 2.6 A Survey of Muslim Women 63 2.7 Some Data on the Status of Minority Women 67 3. Areas of Discrimination 70 3. 1 Political Discrimination 70 3.2 Indirect Forms of Discrimination by the State 73 3.3 Under-Representation in Employment 75 3.4 Under-Representation in All-India Services 75 3.5 Under-Representation in State Services 76 3.6 Under-Representation in Other Key Organs of the State 77 3.7 Discrimination in Access to Bank Credit to Minorities 79 3.8 Discrimination in Welfare Measures 81 3.9 Discrimination in Providing Infrastructure 83 3.10 Discrimination in Providing Basic Needs 84 3.11 Income, Assets and Unmet Basic Needs 84 3.12 Discrimination in the Private Sector 85 3.13 Present Framework of Positive Discrimination Inadequate 88 3.14 Discrimination in the Sphere of Education 89 3.15 Discrimination in Access to Healthcare 102 3.16 Cultural Discrimination 103 3.17 Discrimination and Stereotyping in the Media 106 3.18 Discrimination against Kashmiri Pandits 107 3.19 Encouraging Internal Processes of Reforms within the Minority Communities 107 3.20 Cases of Discrimination by the Established Church 110 3.21 Uniform Civil Code 110 3.22 Muslim Women’s Bill 110 3.23 Day-to-day Forms of Discrimination 111 3.24 Discrimination against Migrants 111 3.25 For a Consistent Struggle against Discrimination 112 4. Measures to Redress Discrimination 113 4.1 The National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP) of the 113 Previous UPA Government (2004–09) on Minorities 4.2 Need for Stringent Laws against Communal Violence, 116 Hate Crimes and Discrimination 4.3 Relief and Rehabilitation Assistance to Victims of Communal Violence 118 4.4 Equal Opportunities Commission 119 4.5 The Vexed Question of Reservation for Minorities 120 4.6 Socio-Economic Measures 122 4.7 Some Corrective Measures 129 RELIGION – A TOOL FOR DISCRIMIN A TION IN SOUTH ASI A ? vii Pakistan 1. General Overview 133 1.1 Definition of ‘Majority’ 134 1.2 NWFP and FATA Areas – Hub of Religious Atrocities in Pakistan 135 2. Religious Minorities 136 2.1 State of Minorities 138 2.2 Places of Worship 141 2.3 Freedom of Expression 145 2.4 Role of Media 148 2.5 Education 149 2.6 Laws and the State 157 2.7 Forced Conversions 161 2.8 Minority Graveyards 164 2.9 Positive Developments 165 3. Women 165 3.1 Political Regimes and Women’s Rights 166 3.2 Legal Discrimination of Women 167 3.3 Judicial Redress 170 3.4 Parallel Judicial Systems 170 3.5 Social Exclusion of Women 172 3.6 Education 173 3.7 Women and Media 175 4. Case Studies 176 4.1 Red Mosque Siege (Lal Masjid) 176 4.2 Swat Offensive - Resurgence of the Taliban 178 5. Recommendations 180 5.1 Legal 180 5.2 Policy Measures 182 5.3 Advocacy and Awareness of Legal Rights 184 5.4 Political Representation 185 6. Conclusion 185 Main References 186 Annexure A 187 Annexure B 189 viii RELIGION – A TOOL FOR DISCRIMIN A TION IN SOUTH ASI A ? Sri Lanka 1. Introduction 193 1.1 Ethnicised and Politicised Buddhism in Sri Lanka: A Brief History 195 1.2 The Mahavamsa and its Legacy 197 1.3 Role of the Sangha 199 1.4 Ethnic Outbidding 201 2. Laws, Policies and Programmes informed by the Sinhala Buddhist Nationalist 204 Ideology 2.1 State Self-Identification with Buddhism 204 2.2 ‘Sinhala Only’ Policy 207 2.3 Education 211 2.4 Land and Other Related Issues 213 2.4 Christians under Siege 215 2.5 The Incorporation Cases 216 2.6 Anti-Conversion Legislation 217 2.7 Laws that Never Were 219 3. Reproducing and Propagating the Ideology 224 3.1 The Media 224 3.2 The Education System 226 4. Recurring Patterns of Collective Violence 230 5 Conclusions 234 Bibliography 236 RELIGION – A TOOL FOR DISCRIMIN A TION IN SOUTH ASI A ? ix Acknowledgements South Asians for Human Rights (SAHR) is pleased to present this volume which explores the use of religion in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka to discriminate between citizens. The four country reports, based on research conducted in 2009, are a follow up to the findings on the state of minorities by the South Asian People’s Commission for the Rights of Minorities (SAPCROM), an independent commission set up by SAHR in 2003. Each country chapter points to discriminatory state laws and policies that have marginalised minorities, and exposed them to discrimination and violence. These biases are particularly noticeable in educational texts, curricula, education and employment policies. Religious schools in particular have a parochial approach to education and knowledge. SAHR wishes to thank all the authors -- Chulani Kodikara (Sri Lanka), Saba Naveed Shaikh (Pakistan), Satya Sivaraman (India), Amena Mohsin (Bangladesh) -- for their commitment in researching and writing the country studies. Thanks to Dr Hameeda Hossain, who despite her many responsibilities, wrote the introduction and provided overall editorial guidance, and Jacqueline Netto-Lyman for editing, proofreading and coordinating with the printers. And last but certainly not least, heartfelt thanks to the SAHR bureaux in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and the SAHR Secretariat staff in Colombo, for their invaluable help and support in making this publication a reality. x RELIGION – A TOOL FOR DISCRIMIN A TION IN SOUTH ASI A ? About the Authors AMENA MOHSIN is Professor in the Department of International Relations, Dhaka University. She graduated from the same department. She received her MA and Ph D Degree from the University of Hawaii, USA and the Cambridge University, UK subsequently. She did her post-doctoral research, at the ISS, The Hague, Netherlands. Her major areas of interests are rights issues, gender and security. She has published numerous articles in various national and international journals and has authored two books on the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh. She has participated in numerous national and international seminars. SATYA SIVARAMAN is a print and broadcast journalist with over 24 years of experience in South and Southeast Asia. Currently he is working with Uppsala University, Sweden on themes ranging from finding new ways of communicating the human-microbe relationship to mobilizing popular movements around the problem of antibiotic resistance. His most recent video work is titled ‘Antibiotic Resistance for Idiots’ and he is now working on a documentary/ animation feature called ‘Who Killed Antibiotics?’ Satya is also part of an initiative in Jharkhand with the United Mill Forum for training health workers to provide primary health care in rural communities. Apart from addressing public health issues in Jharkhand the initiative seeks to promote communal harmony in the state through direct interventions in health, education and employment generation. SABA NAVEED SHAIKH is Project Coordinator of the Child Rights Unit at the AGHS Legal Aid Cell and Teaching Assistant at the Lahore University of Management Sciences. Publications include a Booklet on Child Labor – A ready source of information for human rights activists on international standards and domestic law, rules and regulations on child labor. The primary purpose of the booklet is to facilitate monitoring of the practice of child labor in Pakistan. She has also compiled a Law Digest on the Juvenile Justice Case Law of Pakistan which will be published this year and will be used for training of human rights activists and building the human resources necessary for carrying out informed activities on children involved in criminal litigation. CHULANI KODIKARA currently works as a Research Associate at the International Center for Ethnic Studies focusing on issues related to women’s rights and peace in Sri Lanka. She is the author of Muslim Family Law in Sri Lanka: Theory, Practice and Issues of Concern to Women and Women and Governance in Sri Lanka (with Kishali Pinto Jayawardena).
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