Manhole tragedy, Kerala speaks up

30/11/2015, Monday, New Delhi

As sun rose in the morning of November 27 Friday, Kerala woke up to a sad news reading a shocking incident that jolted Calicut district the other day. Two labourers, residents of Andhra Pradesh Bhaskar, Narasimham, were busy inside a manhole cleaning the drainage near Jaya Auditorium in Kandakulam road in the city. The manhole was of 12ft depth and there was water inside it in one man’s height. Both of them couldn’t stay inside any longer smelling pesticide and they struggled to life choked on inside it. In the meantime, Noushad, a local auto rickshaw driver seemingly in the form of god made a daring attempt to save them and jumped into the manhole. But, after they were carried to Calicut Medical College in critical stage the trio had to succumb to death leaving an awful piece of memory to the residents of Calicut and the whole Kerala. None in the State could forget the heart-rending memories of a man who jumped into death to save the two labourers. The Government announced a 10 Lakh money of compensation for Noushad’s distraught family and a government job to his wife.

Now after two days, before getting relieved from the awe, the SNDP (Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam) General Secretary Vellappally Nadeshan has come up with a communal colour to the whole episode. He has alleged that the government showed bias in disbursing compensation to the victim. “So, If you die, you should die as a Muslim (to get compensation), said Vellappally launching a scathing attack against the ruling dispensation. The entire Malayali social media chunks threw arrows of wrath at Vellappally terming it as the first of its kind in the history of God’s own country to distort a rescue incident and pepper it with communal interests for petty political gains.

SNDP leader is for a few months in news for his continuing bid to placate the backward Hindu caste groups purportedly to divide the key traditional vote source of left front LDF, Hindu Eazhava community to which he spearheads. SNDP has also the genesis in sticking to the path of noted spiritual leader of Kerala, Sree Narayana Guru who preached to uphold the secular fabric among human beings and to consider humans regardless of caste, religion or God. He stood for the message of “ One caste, One religion, One God”. In a Volte-face, the current SNDP chief is ‘spewing venom,’ claims the chief of Congress VM Sudheeran, aiming the vote-bank of the Hindu community and blatantly launching communal slurs at other communities. “The communally insane Vellapally is aiming the riots to be launched among the pluralistic society of Kerala,” Sudheeran retorted.  He also cautioned that he is going to press the Government to take legal actions against Vellappally in this case. His controversial remarks were also pounced on by LDF leader Pinarayi Vijayan. He termed it as ‘inhumane and senseless’ statement. He went a further step ahead to call him ‘ Togadiya of Kerala’ (matching him to RSS chief leader Praveen Togadiya ) who is trying to undervalue the contribution of an autorickshaw driver  who sacrificed his life to save other two lives.

The social media also labelled the backward Hindu Ezhava leader’s ‘cheap publicity stunt for equality yatra’ in the wake of his state-wide tour ‘samathwa munetta yatra’ envisaging much awaited alliance with BJP to form a new political party uniting the Hindu caste groups under an umbrella. The Hindu backward caste outfits such as Kerala Pulayar Maha Sabha, fishermen outfit Deevara Sabha and Sambhava Sabha have backed the SNDP leader’s decision to flout a new political party while the upper caste Hindu Nair group NSS (Nair Service Society) is still keeping a pace from the alliance. The tour would end in Trivandrum on Dec 5 with SNDP leader’s announcement of the new political party.

AAP as a broken shrine of promises

Abdul Hafees

10/03/2015, New Delhi

AAP, the party that formed after an anti-corruption strike from the idea of a slew of politicians and intellectuals, turns nearly three years old in the political spectrum of the country. After remaining in power in Delhi nearly one and half months with some apparent internal spats, the party and its leadership have now reached at a crossroads. Though the landslide victory was heavily celebrated across the country as a wave against the ruling party in the centre, the realm has largely ruined people’s hopes over the party through a series of squabbles.

When the party threw two major fronts down to the dust in the state, as one of which was ruling the centre since eight months and the other was ruling the state for 15 years, its immediate resurrection was regarded not only as the triumph of the public authority over the strategies put forward by the leadership in the state. It was also seen as the onset of a collective retort to the conflagration of communal polarization that has recently been led by a handful of saffron party affiliates in the country.

Nevertheless, the mere conflict of ideas occurred between the leaders, now turned out into a major rift has rendered a large section of people keep away from the party. The removal of the experienced, proficient intellectual leaders Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhusan from its core panel (Political Affairs Committee) has somehow conveyed an indirect message that the party is also riding through the same track following other parties.

The decision to remove the duo from the central panel was taken because they raised their voices against the idea that the party is being single person-centric. They observed that the changes the party dreamt of won’t work out if the decisions are taken only by its national convener and state chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. Anyway, the split has broken out. Even though the reconciliation attempts are still on, the graph of people’s trust has been down after these unfortunate occurrences in the party. Even if the government wins to keep its promises, it can hardly make a comeback as before if it is removed from power. Moreover, the party could no longer gain much support as before in other states as well.

Photo courtesy: http://shiningindianews.com

Politics beefed up with beef ban

Imposing a blanket ban on cattle slaughter is, on the other hand, an infringement of individual rights to have the food of choice. It has a lot to do with the dietary habits of Dalits and Muslims.

14/03/2015, New Delhi, Abdul Hafees

The ban on slaughter but possession of an animal by Maharashtra government, which is worshipped by a large section of populace, was an attempt by the Bharatiya Janatha Party chalked out in a way to politically carry out a forceful restraint over the livelihood, dietary practices of other smaller sections in the society.

Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP government has recently got the assent from President for Animal Preservation Bill banning the slaughter of oxen, bulls and bullocks in Maharashtra that was pending since 1997-98 when the Shiv Sena-BJP government moved the bill. Now with this law, anyone found to be in possession of beef in the state can be sentenced to five years imprisonment; actual consumption earns a lesser sentence.

Imposing a blanket ban on cattle slaughter is, on the other hand, an infringement of individual rights to have the food of choice. It has a lot to do with the dietary habits of Dalits and Muslims. In contrast, the state CM was taking pride in his decision after getting assent from President when he tweeted ‘Our ban on cow slaughter becomes a reality now’, as if his long awaiting dream is fulfilled.

Before the decision to push the bill was taken by the government, meat traders and exporters in the state had been targeted and received life threats by a group of so-called Hindutva fascist outfits in different parts of the state to stop their trades. It is not just Muslims but also Hindus who run the meat business or work in slaughterhouses in the state who are also now under trouble. From them there are Qureshis as well as Khatiks whose lives are now at stake. So, the ban would indubitably affect the sources of income for a large number of traders irrespective of religion in the state.

Turning a blind eye to the sufferings of meat traders and exporters, and boasting on its decision to hijack the dietetic choice of almost 20 percent Dalit and Muslim population of the state, the government keeps claiming that there is no Hindu versus Muslim character in the bill. Here comes the question. In spite of the fact that animals are to be preserved, why don’t they extend the preservation bill to other animals as well that are being killed in the state.  Why not goats and pigs? Why they are not bothered about people having mutton, lamb and pork?  Are they not to be protected?

The answer is as simple as that. The slogans by BJP that had echoed on the outskirts of the state and across the nation in the run-up to the 2014 Loksabha elections, like “Modi ko matdan, gai ko jeevdan [Vote for Modi, give life to the cow] and BJP ka sandesh, bachegi gai, bachega desh [BJP’s message, the cow will be saved, the country too], show that the whole idea is to single out the minorities for beef eating, and cow slaughter, stereotype them as the animal killers and isolate them from a pluralistic society. After Maharashtra, Haryana and Rajasthan; both are being the BJP ruling states riding through the same track, have also arrived at the same decision.

Photo courtesy: http://media.gotraffic.net

Turtles never fade away from memory 

Abdul Hafees

It is the first film shot from the war-torn areas of Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein. The Iranian director Bhahman Ghobadi’s ‘Turltes can fly’, after a decade of its release, reminds us some gruesome moments from children’s lives in a land where no one is born without hearing the alarming ring of death. The film brings to the spotlight what lies beyond the terror scenes they do witness, the depth of injury and its scary reflection made all over their lives. 

    A small area in the Kurdistan, the dream state of the Kurds. Here live the turtles. They have to tell a story how the horrific hubbub of cannons and guns snuffed out their dreams young. A 14 years old boy, ‘Satellite’, who is busy with setting the antenna for the village refugees to help them watch the war news. He gains love and affection of the refugees for hiring their kids; most of them are physically disabled. He assigns their works in the minefields and teaches them how to defuse the mines that are kept under the soil of the land of the Kurds by the army of Sadham to kill them. And if they sell the disarmed mines to the Kurdish army in the same condition, they will be paid. ‘Satellite’ hands over this merchandise to the Kurdish army after disarmament operation wisely operated under his guidance by those kids and he gives them back some bucks as their wages.

      ‘Satellite’ incidentally comes to meet Hengov, whose arms are broken in an attack against his family by Sadham’s army.  He has also a sister, Agrin, with a pale face all the time. Her gloomy eyes and melancholic posture take us through her grief-stricken yesterdays. Satellite falls for her. Agrin has a blind toddler in her shoulders, Riga, to whom she gave birth after the Iraqi soldiers left her gang-raped.  The trio, Hengov, Agrin and Riga has reached this refugee camp after they were left alone after an attack over the family. When Hengov takes care of child as his own, Agrin who is fed up with the horror scenes she had gone through in her life, attempts to kill her son and commits suicide many times. Because, she knows that there is no longer a beacon of hope left for her in this world.

     The film that has also won the Crystal Bear and Peace Film award at the 2005 Berlin International Film Festival, veritably portrays the panic-stricken moments from some young lives in the war lands. Plucked off from the shades of maternal love one fine day, they are destined to play with bombs without being conscious of what was coming closer every second to end up their lives in a short while.

Photo Credits: http://www.nafeesspeaks.com 

                                                                         

Mariyath’s voyage through the world of lines and colours

Abdul Hafees

Willpower and determination lent her higher echelons of success. Now, Mariyath CH, a young paraplegic girl from Malappuram is not only a renowned painter but a writer, whose voyage continues through the world of lines and colours. Though it seems to be beyond her hand’s reach Mariyath is now working also as the library assistant at University of Calicut.

‘All the praise is to God’, thanking her well-wishers and, self-assuredly looking at the edges to be achieved, Mariyath gushes that ‘It is the first stepping stone of success in my life’.

          Mariyathul Qibthiyya was born in a middle class family at Chungathara village from Malappuram district in   Kerala. Her childhood was also packed to full with colourful days. When she was seven, her legs went dysfunctional owing to severe fever. She could no longer bask in the warmth of nature, nor could enjoy reading textbooks.  Having no friends, life started to turn tedious. Finding a space nearby windows in her room, she looked at students of her age going to schools. Inside the four walls, she remained locked. Though, little by little, some books made her relaxed and uplifting her towards a new life. She befriended them and found a new world through pages. Meanwhile, from the hospital bed, she found some pieces of papers, which later moulded her as a painter by giving a small space to draw pictures of her imagination.

          After ten years of support extended from her teacher Kunjamma and her parents, Mariyath cleared tenth class. Then, she completed her pre-degree course from Marthoma College, Chungathara. By hard work and steadfastness, she learned to type her experiences in her own computer.  She composed the stories of her broken winged childhood into letters, which was later compiled as a small Malayalam book named Kalam Maycha kalppadugal (Footsteps wiped out by destiny).  The anthology of success stories, scripted by a differently abled person had enough stuff to conquer the hearts of readers.  The book has so far two editions in Malayalam. Adding much to her enthusiasm, it was translated into Kannada after two years.

          Even though destiny tried to close all the doors before her, Mariyath was resurrected only by a resolute decision to take over her fate. She has been so far conferred with much recognition for her single book, which envisaged her passion to the life. Her words render confidence to those, who struggle their lives with disabilities. Her story of realization is that she never surrendered before a trapped life in wheel chair but she learned to dream high. When she was terribly struggling with her unfavorable situations, the young girl with no legs functioning never believed that her future is at stake.

Now, with Lalita Kala Academy exhibiting her paintings titled ‘Colours of dreams’ at Kottakkunnu, Malappuram, she has also opened a new canvas of remarkable sketches from her life. Now, Mariyath is not only betrothed in writing poems and stories, but also engaged in fabric painting and sari designing. She has also a blog in the same name of her book with a sprawling of day to day visitors. Her facebook page is also filled with appreciations from her own readers.

          In 2012, she was invited to be awarded the first women achiever of the year in women’s day by University of Calicut. Listening to her stories of struggle with drastic circumstances, University offered her a temporary job of Library Assistant. Later she was transferred from Library to University friends’ office. After the intervention of some political affiliates, she was made permanent in the same job. Still, here in the corridors of CH Muhammad Koya Library, being never ready to be beaten by disability, Mariyath is dreaming higher firmaments of success.

Republished from Cafedissensus Blog

Bhopal Gas Tragedy: A terrifying legacy still awaits those babies

By Abdul Hafees

Note: This feature story was written after attending a protest by the Bhopal Gas Tragedy victims, who had assembled at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on 10 November, 2014 and appealed to the government for a hike in compensation. And the protest was part of a month-long strike ahead of the anniversary of the disaster on 2 and 3 December.

Even after three decades, a nightmare haunts them across generations. They are still gripped by the horror of that night. The tragedy of the night has resulted in endless sleepless hours. What makes them edgy is that their children born after the disaster do not know the terrifying legacy that awaits them. While revisiting the dreadful memories after thirty long years, they seem not to have recovered from those panic-stricken moments as the scars re-erupt in the form of deep trauma.

Bhopal gas tragedy, which is referred to as ‘the world’s most devastating industrial disaster,’ had rendered nearly four thousand dead and thousands of inhabitants physically disabled, as per official estimates. Unofficially it was found that around ten thousand people had died. The disaster had occurred on the intervening night of 2 and 3 December, 1984. The Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL), a giant pesticide plant in the country, witnessed a leakage of a toxic chemical gas, methyl isocyanate (MIC). While the people who lived nearby often looked at the plant with awe and some of them earned their livelihood there, they had never speculated that the chemicals produced there could end their lives one day.

Still traumatized by the incident that snuffed out their dreams, some of the survivors had gathered at Jantar Mantar, Delhi, about a month ago with placards in their hands and fire in the hearts. Many of them were old women. Five young women were observing indefinite waterless strike. As a result of the protests and timely intervention of the Amnesty International, the government further hiked the proposed compensation a little. After a settlement with the UCIL in 1989, the government paid atotal amount of rupees 3842 crore to 5.74 lakh victims. After the revised estimate was approved, a group of ministers also sanctioned a hike in the redressal. Although the government had then filed for another 7786 crore, the case is still pending in the Supreme Court.

It is believed that if the authorities had tried to make them aware of the precautionary measures to be adopted in case of a crisis, the worst disaster could have been avoided. The U.S Company UCIL, which is accountable for the disaster, renamed Dow Chemicals now, has built a hospital in the same locality to treat the affected people. Warren Anderson, the then Union Carbide chairman, who died a month ago, was declared a fugitive and an absconder after the Indian government made several attempts to extradite him but he never appeared before the court. The company appeared completely indifferent to the fact that they have ruined the future of generations to come.

The victims along with their children still suffer from chronic diseases which can never be cured. “Over the past years, we witnessed only one change that was the closure of the factory; nothing else has changed. We still encounter problems of water intoxication, respiratory and, numerous other diseases,” says Sayeda Bi, a victim of the disaster, who lost some of her family members in the tragedy. Though health surveys were conducted along the site of the disaster by the concerned departments and organizations, no remedial measures were taken to purify the contaminated water and resolve other environmental issues.

After three decades of struggle, these people have nothing to lose. Some lost their breadwinners; some lost their future promises. A year ago, thedoctors observed that “the probability of a baby being born with congenital anomalies is seven times higher in the disaster affected areas. The effect is evident even in the third generation.” There are around1,000 children born with defects as a result of the disaster. Many of them would never enjoy a childhood and go to school because some of them experience acute breathing problems and suffer from physical disabilities.

Thirty years on, the victims of one of the worst disasters the world has ever seen are still living on the edge thinking of the ordeal that await their children.

Author:

Abdul Hafees is studying journalism at the Indian Institute of Mass Communications, New Delhi.

Republished from Cafedissensus Blog
Reyhaneh Jabbari: How media underplayed the story

Reyhaneh Jabbari: How media underplayed the story

By Abdul Hafees

When the media outlets labeled the stance taken by the Iranian government to execute a 26-year-old Iranian woman named, Reyhaneh Jabbari, as one of the many draconian laws of a fundamentalist Islamic Republic, the former judge of this case, Justice Hassan Tardast’s interview with Iran’s Entekhab before the hanging points to some crucial elements in the case, which were underplayed by the international media. (Entekhab somehow removed this interview later from their website, but it was reproduced on other news websites).

It was 2009. Reyhaneh was a 19-year-old interior designer. Sarbandi Abdolali Murtaza, a former member of the Iranian Intelligence Services and a physician, approached her with the promise of a job as part of his office renovation. He picked her up in his car to show his office. On the way, he went to a pharmacy and bought some medicines. And when they reached his apartment, it was reported that he locked the door. Then Sarbandi tried to sexually assault her and Reyhaneh stabbed him using her knife as a self-defense. She was sentenced to death by a criminal court in Tehran in the same year. After a long span of seven years in prison, she was hanged on Friday, October 24, 2014.

Justice Hassan Tardast said that this case was scrutinized and inspected very sensibly by five judges because of its exclusivity. And the twenty-four page verdict was cross-checked by thirteen Supreme Court judges. They unanimously approved the verdict. The court regularly kept in touch with the family of the murdered person and asked them to forgive her. Even though they were ready to grant her apology, they changed their decision when Reyhaneh called their father a ‘rapist’.

According to Justice Tardast, Reyhaneh confessed in the court that she had decided to murder Sarbandi long before the incident. As per the investigation report, Tardast also pointed out that she had sent an SMS to one of her boyfriends in which she mentioned that she would kill someone. Reyhaneh herself admitted in the court that she had also planned to kill her own father for misbehaving with her.

As per her account in the court records, she argued that the door was locked and she somehow managed to escape from the apartment. When the police found out that the door wasn’t locked, they quizzed her further. She changed her version, acknowledging that the door was open. She also said that Mr. Sarbandi had thrown a chair at her after he was stabbed. When she was running away taking the elevator, he tried to chase her taking the stairs. When he reached the second floor, he died.Justice Tardast recalled Reyhaneh saying, “I hid in the street, and waited. When I saw the ambulance and the police, I took a taxi home.”

This apartment has five floors. Even if she cried for help, the neighbors would have definitely heard her. The question arises: why didn’t she shout while she was being raped? The neighbors told the investigation team that the only sound they heard was the noise of a chair thrown somewhere onto the wall.

As mentioned earlier, she was only 19 at the time of the incident and must be considered a fresher in interior designing without any experience. Then why did Mr. Sarbandi choose an inexperienced interior designer as an employee in a country where many other established interior designers are available? Was this only a formal relation between the two?

 “I used to give him services in return for benefits,” she said in the court three times, as Justice Tardast mentioned in the interview. He also saidthat the investigation team found SMSs sent from her mobile phone. These messages revealed that she was in physical relationships with her fiancé, a manager for whom she worked, and some other boyfriends for a long time. “You said goodbye to me when you started sleeping with…dirt. This was my last SMS to you,” was one of the SMSs sent by her fiancé after a dispute between them.

When she was asked how she came to know Mr. Sarbandi, the Iranian woman said that they first met on the way and he picked her up in his Camri car. That’s when they exchanged contact numbers. But after a probe was made into the SMSs sent between the two, it was found that they were in contact a week before he was murdered. Mr. Sarbandi had also picked her up on the very day he was murdered. She got in his car, her friends told, and she lied to them that he was her father’s friend.

Mr. Sarbandi, a physician, dealt in medical instruments. He visited the EU countries regularly for this purpose. In the same interview Justice Tardast explains that he promised her that he would take her with him next time. He didn’t keep his promise. As a result, Reyhaneh was angry with him. Also she had asked him for his car for a picnic with her friends but he didn’t agree. This might be the motif that finally culminated in the murder. ‘I will kill him’, was the SMS she had sent her boyfriend the day before the incident. Next day, when she went to his apartment, he demanded her to take off her scarf. But she refused. Then he went to offer prayer. It appears that Reyhaneh came after him and stabbed with a knife from behind. This is the story told by Reyhaneh in the court.

The investigation team acknowledged her account because they had found blood stains on the bedsheet, where he was offering the prayer. Moreover, he was stabbed from the back side and the injuries were also on his back.  Corroborating her account in the court earlier, the investigation team also found that he had bought the medicine, Difinoxilat, and some condoms from a pharmacy. But those condoms were rediscovered by the team from the table in the same room.

Reyhaneh had confessed that a third person was with them at the time of the murder but she never revealed his name. What was his role in this murder?

Justice Tardast further revealed that after a strong appeal of the Supreme Court to the family of Mr. Sarbandi to pardon Reyhaneh, they approached her. They asked her two questions: Who was the third person present? Why did she murder Mr. Sarbandi?

Both remain still unanswered.

“Iranian woman hanged for killing rapist for self-defense,” screamed most of the headlines. Quite interestingly, no one covered an objective, unbiased and two-sided crime report in this case.

Photo-credit: Here

Author:

Abdul Hafees is studying journalism at the Indian Institute of Mass Communications, New Delhi.