Citizenship law: Is India using COVID-19 emergency to arrest protesters?

Indian police have arrested two student activists, who in February participated in mass demonstrations against a controversial citizenship act. Activists say the law discriminates against the country's Muslim minority.


Devangana Kalita and Natasha Narwal, who are part of the Pinjra Tod women's rights initiative, were arrested by police on May 23. The court, however, granted them bail, rejecting a police request for the women’s detention.

The judge noted that Kalita and Narwal only participated in demonstrations; they did not commit any acts of violence.

But they were re-arrested a day after their release. A special investigation team booked them under charges of murder, attempted murder, rioting and criminal conspiracy.

Read more: Protesters in India object to facial recognition expansion

The Pinjra Tod group condemned the arrest, saying the crackdown on student activists poses a big challenge. "However, we’ll continue to fight for equality and dignity," it added.

Protesters have risen up across India in opposition to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which was introduced by the country's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The bill was passed by Indian parliament in December, 2019.

The CAA would provide a fast-track to Indian citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Many consider the CAA to be discriminatory against Muslims.

Scores of people have died in violence surrounding the protests. Since February, police have arrested hundreds of protesters, including liberal students, who are the forefront of the anti-CAA campaign.

"The government is misusing its power, especially during the lockdown to contain the coronavirus spread in the country," Shabnam Hashmi, an activist, told DW.

Watch video Indian citizenship law brings protestors to the streets https://p.dw.com/p/3cuei

Spate of arrests

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi rejected accusations that his government's new citizenship law was anti-Muslim.

Protesters are concerned that the new law threatens India's secular constitution and Indian-Muslim citizenship.

Modi says the opposition parties are distorting the facts about the citizenship act to weaken his government. The premier singled out the Congress party for conspiring "to push not only New Delhi but other parts of the country into a fear psychosis.''

Despite the premier’s claims, police continue to arrest anti-CAA activists.

"Many of the cases [against anti-CAA protesters] are still under investigation. We can’t comment on them," a police official told DW.

On May 1, some 300 teachers, researchers and journalists across India released a statement against these arrests.

On Wednesday, over 500 activists, professionals and well-known citizens issued a statement condemning the arrests of Kalita and Narwal by Delhi Police. "We object to the criminalization of the right to protest. It is unconstitutional and deprives citizens of their right to free expression and criticism," the statement said.

Read more: Indian diaspora in Germany deplores 'fascist' citizenship act

'Travesty of justice'

Activists say the government is using the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) to arrests protesters. Last week, police arrested Asif Iqbal Tanha, a graduate student, under UAPA.

UAPA allows investigative agencies to proscribe individuals as terrorists and empowers security officials to probe cases. A person charged under the act can be jailed for up to seven years.

"What we are witnessing is a complete travesty of justice. The criminal justice system is being used to discredit the biggest non-violent protest for the protection of the country’s constitution," Yogendra Yadav, a political activist, told DW.

Activists say the timing of the latest crackdown against anti-CAA activists is worrisome because the country is currently battling against the surge in COVID-19 cases. Most of the country is under a partial lockdown, which has restricted people’s movement. For those who have been arrested recently, it is almost impossible to get legal aid due to coronavirus restrictions.

Read more: India bans citizenship bill protests — as it happened



INDIA'S NEW CITIZENSHIP LAW IGNITES RELIGIOUS TENSIONS
Shutdown in parts of India
The Indian government suspended internet services and tightened security on Friday in several parts of the country, including the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. The government is expecting another wave of violent protests against the controversial new Citizenship Amendment Act, which was enacted on December 11. PHOTOS 12345678


Date 28.05.2020
Author Murali Krishnan (New Delhi)
Related Subjects Asia, India, Coronavirus
Keywords Asia, India, Citizenship Amendment Act, protests, coronavirus

Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3cuei

FILM
What defined filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder

The German director, who was born 75 years ago, was extremely prolific despite his destructive lifestyle. A Fassbinder expert tells DW about how his genius was first recognized abroad



Rainer Werner Fassbinder's significance as a filmmaker is an established fact in Germany, but the country was never too fond of him — especially not of his lifestyle. The director, who died at the age of 37, was extremely prolific during his short life. From 1969 until his death in 1982, he directed over 40 feature films, two TV series, different short films and video productions, and 24 plays.

But work was not his only addiction. His drug and alcohol abuse came at a price, also affecting his popularity in Germany. Local cinephiles were more likely to be fans of the films of Volker Schlöndorff, Werner Herzog and Wim Wenders than Fassbinder's.

A self-taught genius

Still, New German Cinema, the wave of new arthouse directors that revolutionized West German filmmaking in the 1960s, would not be conceivable without Fassbinder.

Born on May 31, 1945 in Bad Wörishofen, Bavaria, Fassbinder never attended a film school, but rather learned to make films on his own. That's perhaps exactly what made him strong and courageous. Fassbinder did whatever he wanted. He didn't allow anyone to meddle in his film projects or his lifestyle, which was significantly shaped by his homosexuality as well. He was always a radical outsider in a bourgeois society.After starting his career in theater as an actor, scriptwriter and director, he made his first feature film, Love Is Colder Than Death,in 1969. Fassbinder was a multitalented genius; he directed films and plays, wrote screenplays and radio dramas, made documentaries and fiction films of all lengths and was also an actor.

40 FILMS IN 13 YEARS: WHY FASSBINDER IS UNFORGETTABLE

Love Is Colder Than Death

Love, death and coolness: These three elements would characterize Rainer Werner Fassbinder's entire life and work. The young Bavarian director was only 23 when his first feature-length film was released in German theaters. "Love Is Colder Than Death" premiered at the Berlinale, Berlin's international film festival, in 1969.

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A deep understanding of the media

Along with his artistic versatility, Fassbinder always aimed to develop something completely different, points out Michael Töteberg, who wrote different books on the filmmaker. "He created in many different media forms, but always with a specific understanding of each medium," the film expert told DW. He would never make a film out of a play or simply turn a TV series into a film, for instance.


'The Stationmaster's Wife' with Kurt Raab, one of Fassbinder's favorite actors

If he did make two versions of a project for the big and the small screen, such as The Stationmaster's Wife, they differed enormously, adds the author.

The fact that Fassbinder developed a new perspective for each project is what Töteberg finds exciting about his work, even though that's not what he's best remembered for. Once a filmmaker is ranked among the classics, then "a certain image of this person sticks," the film expert says. Fassbinder is mainly known for his cinematic melodramas about German history, and Töteberg observes that anything that doesn't fit in this framework tends to be left aside, even though the director's work was very extensive and diverse.

Breakthrough in Cannes

The film expert believes Fassbinder's significance was recognized earlier abroad than in Germany and that he was probably better understood there as well.

Fassbinder expert Michael Töteberg

Fassbinder celebrated his international breakthrough at the Cannes Film Festival in 1974 with Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, which won different awards there. Töteberg notes that the German's films also received early praise in the US, and it's only following Fassbinder's international success that people in his home country became aware of his artistic genius. Still today, "the image of Germany abroad is clearly shaped by Fassbinder," says the author.

But did Fassbinder's tumultuous lifestyle and drug abuse and his reputation of having an extreme temper on film sets and of insulting friends damage his image as an artist? There is certainly something to it, says Töteberg, who, however, finds that "the cliché of the ingenious monster" isn't particularly helpful to better understand the Fassbinder phenomenon.

A unique perspective on Germany

Fassbinder was way ahead of his time on many issues. Töteberg cites sexuality as an example: "At the time he directed In a Year of 13 Moons (1978), who had actually heard of transsexuals outside of fringe groups?"

Volker Spengler portrays a transsexual woman in the 1978 drama 'In a Year of 13 Moons'

Fassbinder's cinematic take on politics, history and current events was also singular. He could not be defined as part of a specific camp, says Töteberg: "He never did propaganda, whether for left-wing or other politics; he always kept a distanced and critical position to the social movements of his time." In this respect, he didn't have any illusions and wasn't naïve about what was happening in Germany at the end of the 1960s-1970s.

Fassbinder never wanted to live up to expectations: "Whenever he had a commercial success, then the next film he made was a rather disturbing one," says Töteberg. "And when people thought: 'Oh, he's really become an arthouse director now,' then he'd do something for the mainstream. That was his way of being consistent!"

A director to discover and rediscover

Today, 75 years after his birth, there is still a lot about Fassbinder to be discovered. Some of his films disappeared for a long time, in some cases for legal reasons. Some of them have only recently been rediscovered and restored.

Despite his tremendous creative output, the director didn't consider himself a genius at all: "Fassbinder always said: 'I make things out of things. I'm not that productive myself.'" But, Töteberg adds, "the way he seized these things so productively, that's what is fascinating about him."



THE INFLUENTIAL RAINER WERNER FASSBINDER
Early death of a cinema great

Fassbinder is one of the most important film directors of Germany's post-WWII era. He died in 1982 at age 37, yet in his short life span he made 44 movies. While influenced by his predecessors, his films were unique, earning him a place in international cinematic history and influencing a subsequent generation of directors around the world.

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ESSENTIAL FASSBINDER HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL FANTASY; FOX & FRIENDS

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Fassbinder's "Fox And His Friends," a timely homoerotic, anti ...

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May 9, 2017 - Fassbinder's "Fox And His Friends," a timely homoerotic, ... part of the fool, underlining the absurdity of Eugen's fancy fam and West German liberal ... And besides, the autobiographical parallels to Fassbinder's life ... Classifieds · Place an Ad · Contact us · Privacy Policy · Do Not Sell My Info · TAG disclosure.

Fox and His Friends (1975) | The Criterion Collection

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Fox and His Friends is unsparing social commentary, an amusingly pitiless and ... Rainer Werner Fassbinder; Germany; 1975; 124 minutes; Color; 1.37:1 ...

Fox And His Friends | The New Yorker

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FOX AND HIS FRIENDS, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1975 ... (Many of the details are autobiographical.) ... documentary “No Maps on My Taps” and the 1943 musical comedy “Stormy Weather,” which features an entire cast of black performers, ..

Rainer Werner Fassbinder: 10 essential films | BFI

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Aug 21, 2018 - Fassbinder's favourite target is the moral bankruptcy that he saw as prevalent in West ... My subject is the exploitability of feelings, whoever might be the one exploiting them. ... Watch Fox and His Friends online on BFI Player .

The Criterion Channel: The 50 Best Movies to Stream First

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Apr 16, 2020 - More Fassbinder on the Criterion Channel: The American Soldier, Berlin ... Fear of Fear, Fox and His Friends, Gods of the Plague, Katzelmacher, Lola, Love Is ... living filmmaker, and this 1992 autobiographical work is his best film. ... Spielberg, and Coppola are asked about their favorite films of all time, The ...

HE WAS QUEER AND A SMOKER

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Ballhaus was known for his work on Academy Award winning films "Goodfellas" and "The Departed." He also served as the Head of Jury at the 40th Berlinale Film Festival. (12.04.2017)

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FASSBINDER, BRAD DAVIS, ANDY WARHOL

Date 29.05.2020
Author Jochen Kürten (eg)
Related Subjects Rainer Werner Fassbinder, New German Cinema
Keywords Film, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, New German Cinema

Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3cr7k


Who was Rainer Werner Fassbinder and why did he become a queer film icon?
06 APR 2017

STEFANIE GERDES

The morning of 10 June 1982, at 3.30 am, Juliane Lorenz entered her bisexual boyfriend’s bedroom uninvited.

She could hear the television, but not her partner’s snoring.

When Lorenz opened the door, she found his lifeless body; he still had a cigarette between his lips, and there was a fine trickle of blood running from one nostril.

His death was later given as cardiac arrest, caused most likely by a deathly mixture of being overworked and cocaine, sleeping pills, and alcohol.

Her partner was acclaimed German director, writer, producer, and actor Rainer Werner Fassbinder. He was one of the most important members of the New German Cinema movement.

Now, London’s BFI have dedicated an entire film festival to the queer filmmaker and his art. Through to 31 May, they are showing a great part of his repertoire, including the classics Fear Eats The Soul, Berlin Alexanderplatz, and queer favorite Querelle.

Throughout his life, Fassbinder was followed by a whole lot of controversy – and his passion for film, which had started young.

Born on 31 May 1945, three weeks after Germany’s unconditional surrender, Fassbinder claimed he was born in 1946 for nearly his entire life. He did so in compliance with his mother’s wishes, because it would enhance her son’s status as a cinematic prodigy.

After his parents divorced, Fassbinder’s mother Liselotte Pempeit raised him as a single parent. Faced with the task of having to support herself and her child she worked as a translator.

To be able to concentrate, she sent Fassbinder to the cinema where he said he saw at least one new film every day, but sometimes as many as three or four.

Because Pempeit suffered from tuberculosis she was often away for long periods of time; during those absences, friends and tenants looked after her son.

But it also made him independent and, as some say, uncontrollable. So much so, he clashed with his mother’s lover as well as his later stepfather.

When he reached his teens, his parents sent him to boarding school. Fassbinder repeatedly attempted to escape, but never succeeded.

Aged just 16 he finally quit school, before his final examinations, and moved to Cologne to live with his father.

Despite dropping out, the teenager continued to educate himself through studying philosophical and psychoanalytic writings, as well as social criticism.

He was already beginning to write plays and poems at the time, as well as short stories. His biggest passion, though, was film.Fassbinder’s grave in MunichPIN IT

But getting to the top was hard work.

Fassbinder attended two years of private acting lessons and acting school, yet he failed the national acting exam. He also failed to make it into film school, which prompted him to return to his hometown of Munich to continue his writing.

At the age of 22, Fassbinder finally got a foot in the door when he joined Munich’s Action Theater.

Two months later, he was leading the company. The following year, in April 1968, he directed the premiere of his first independent play, titled Katzelmacher.

It tells the story of a Greek immigrant to Germany who becomes the target of intense racial, sexual, and political hatred for a group of Bavarian slackers.

Another year later, in 1969, a film version of Katzelmacher marked Fassbinders breakthrough as a filmmaker.

It also marked the Action Theater’s end. The group disbanded after one of its founders wrecked the theater, because he was jealous of Fassbinder and how powerful he had become as an artist.

Parts of the ensemble reassembled to form the ne antiteater (anti-theater). Some of them, like Hannah Schygulla, would later become some of Fassbinder’s most important actors.

Fassbinder continued his work, directing 12 plays over the course of 18 months. Four of those were his own works; five more were rewrites.

At the same time, he also continued his film work.

Between 1969 and his death in 1982, Fassbinder produced 41 alternative films, including classics like Jailbait, Fox and His Friends, and Querelle.

The key to his immense output? Fassbinder knew the people, actors as well as technicians, he was working with incredibly well.

The well-oiled machine of a team allowed him to produce four to five films a year, at an extremely low budget.

His films speak of Fassbinder’s stage career, and display similar aesthetics.

On stage, Fassbinder’s work defied tradition and standards. He drew inspiration from musical and cabaret as much as from the student protest movement, especially for his stage work.

In the finished material, it made for a disctinct aesthetic of mixing choreographed movements and static poses. His use of color also became iconic.



While working on films he was not limited to just writing or directing. Instead, Fassbinder taught himself how to do nearly every step in the production process. As a result, he often also served as the composer, producer, production designer and editor of his films.

But wherever he went, controversy followed.

Sometimes, it was because of controversial and provoking remarks he made in interviews.

But very often, it was also sparked by Fassbinder being seen in gay bars in New York, or bath houses in Paris.

In his youth, he identified as gay; later, he had sexual relationships with both men and women.

And he did not keep his professional and personal lives apart. Fassbinder was known for casting friends, family, and lovers in his films.

In some cases, like that of Günther Kaufmann, it was the director’s way of wooing people.

Fassbinder also claimed he opposed matrimony, yet he married Ingrid Caven. Their wedding reception later appeared on screen in The American Solider.

After two years, the couple split. Caven knew about Fassbinder’s sexuality, describing him as ‘a homosexual who also needed a woman. It’s that simple and that complex.’

Like Caven Fassbinder’s female partners, Irm Hermann and Juliane Lorenz, were not disturbed by their husband’s sexual orientation. The three women are often considered the most important women in his life.

In the end, his relentless work ethic led Fassbinder to consume drugs and alcohol, in a bid to sustain himself.

On the night of his death, Fassbinder was working, as usual. He had guest stay over at his apartment, too: Wolf Gremm, who directed Kamikae 1989.

Early in the evening, the filmmaker retired to his bedroom, to work on a future film about Polish-German anti-war activist Rosa Luxemburg.

Shortly after 1 in the morning, he received a phone call from Harry Baer, his friend and assistant.

When Fassbinder was found dead two and a half hours later, the notes for Rosa L were found next to his body.

Latest conspiracy theories repeat old stories

The COVID-19 pandemic has helped congeal numerous fringe conspiracy theories that tend to rise up from the internet's darkest corners. But such paranoia has been around for centuries, and once was much more prevalent.

From anti-vaxxers to 9/11 truthers to the church of QAnon that believes a supposed secret cabal of all-powerful "deep state" pedophiles are trying to take down Donald Trump, diverse conspiracy faiths have conjoined to make the global coronavirus the ultimate new world order plot.

The broad tenets of the COVID-19 conspiracy came together in the viral Plandemic documentary, which began life on a QAnon Facebook page and which was shared by Republican politicians before it was banned on social media sites. In short, it wildly supposed that the coronavirus is the evil spawn of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, who are helping to control the global population via a microchip inserted in all humans during coming coronavirus immunizations, with big pharma and big government complicit in the cover-up.


The 'Plandemic' video, promoting falsehoods and misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic, has visibly informed these protesters in Munich

An old story

Such paranoid fantasies are nothing new. Conspiracies have been around for centuries and often build on established themes. Michael Butter, professor of American Literary and Cultural History at the University of Tübingen, says that between the 17th century and the 1950s, such fantastic stories were a universally accepted way of understanding the world. At the time, the theories most often were about subversives trying to undermine established power. Today the script has been flipped, meaning the all-powerful state and its mastermind cronies want to control the humble citizen.

Professor Michael Butter

"The Age of Enlightenment introduced this mechanical view of all things being related to cause and effect, and this led to conspiracy theories," Butter told DW about the modern incarnation of these plots. "It was assumed that there was a deliberate intention behind every action."

In the 18th and 19th centuries, around 90% of the population probably believed in some kind of conspiracy, says Butter. He predicts that about 50% of people in the US, and more than a quarter of Germans, are still partial to such tall tales, even if they have become more stigmatized since World War II.

While conspiracy theories date back to Roman and Greek antiquity before they disappeared and resurfaced later during the European religious wars, they were ultimately dependent on the invention of the printing press. Early modern truthers flourished among a newly "literate public where anonymously written statements can be circulated," Butter notes. These cultivated "a certain understanding of history, and the influence of individuals on history."

Read more: Coronavirus: How do I recognize a conspiracy theory?

Conspiracists in the late 19th century, for example, found an enduring bogeyman to blame for the world's ills: Jewish bankers. As outlined in a fabricated manifesto titled the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which was written by a Russian anti-Semite and published in 1903, Jews supposedly ran the world of money, finance and media, and would stop at nothing to increase this power. Automotive mogul Henry Ford famously printed half a million copies of the bogus Jewish plan for world domination.

The anti-Semitic theory informed devastating Nazi anti-Semitic propaganda. But it continues to this day. Far-right Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban and similarly inclined political individuals and groupings across Europe, including Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, make out the Jewish investor and philanthropist George Soros to be not only a globalist pushing for one world government, but also a liberal who wants to spread immigration via a "Great Replacement" of white Europeans.

White supremacists chanted 'the Jews will not replace us' while marching in Charlottesville in Virginia in the US in 2017

'A service to mankind'

This is, however, the extreme end of the conspiracy spectrum. For psychologist Pia Lamberty, it's important not to simply write off those who who become vulnerable to such beliefs as "crazy or stupid people."

"We have to understand their fears," she told DW. In Germany, a nation that has suffered the worse excesses of totalitarianism, many of those protesting against the coronavirus lockdown fear that the state is infringing on what protesters in Berlin and other German cities called their "constitutional rights."

Mandated coronavirus measures are seen by some as part of longer-running conspiracy that a state they equate with socialism will soon trample the rights of freedom loving individuals.

"Most of the corona conspiracies, no matter which version and wherever they are virulent all over the world, is usually only the latest chapter in a much larger and longer conspiracy narrative," says Butter. "So the villains to a certain degree were already clear."

This is not like fake news, he adds, which is purposely disseminated to influence election campaigns, for instance. Like Lamberty, Butter stresses that conspiracy theory believers "are convinced they are doing a service to mankind by exposing what is really allegedly going on."


Watch video The coronavirus conspiracy? https://p.dw.com/p/3cugI

The truth is relative

If a kind of messianic altruism drives much of the faith in conspiracy theories, there is little chance people will disavow these beliefs.

That is why presenting proof that a conspiracy is bogus and contradicts the facts is, for many believers, merely proof of another conspiracy.

Briton Charlie Veitch was once of a vocal 9/11 conspiracy theorist on YouTube but decided the attack was real after a trip to the US with the BBC to examine the facts. In an interview in 2015, he joked about the backlash among truthers: "It was the CIA that took us to America, and I got paid $150,000 to shut up, to slowly wind up the YouTube channel, and to make the conspiracy world look bad."

In an article in The Conversation, Michael Butter notes that there is even a conspiracy about the emergence of the phrase conspiracy theory.

"This conspiracy theory claims that the CIA invented the term in 1967 to disqualify those who questioned the official version of John F Kennedy's assassination and doubted that his killer, Lee Harvey Oswald, had acted alone," he wrote.

But even if the term itself is new, the concept has been around for centuries.


ALL MADE UP? CONSPIRACY THEORIES IN MOVIES
'JFK' (1991)
US director Oliver Stone has often dealt with conspiracies in his films. His 1991 movie "JFK" looks into the alleged cover-up of President John F. Kennedy's assassination. Prosecutor Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner) does not believe that a lone gunman killed JFK; his theory is that a widespread network, the "deep state," is behind the assassination.
MORE PHOTOS 12345678910
Felix Schlagwein contributed reporting to this article.

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AUDIOS AND VIDEOS ON THE TOPIC

Conspiracy theorists thrive in coronavirus crisis

Date 29.05.2020
Author Stuart Braun
Keywords conspiracy
Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3cugI

Why are Pakistan's generals taking up top civilian posts?

Members of the powerful Pakistani military have grabbed many civilian posts in the past two years, raising concerns that Prime Minister Imran Khan's civilian government is ceding most of its power to generals.


The recent crash of a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane has ignited a debate about whether military officers should hold important civilian jobs.

An aircraft carrying 91 passengers and eight crew crashed into a residential area near the southern Pakistani city of Karachi on May 22. Ninety-seven people were killed and two survived when flight PK8303 from Lahore went down close to the city's international airport.

Initial investigations revealed that both engines of the plane were damaged after they scraped the runway during the pilot's first landing attempt. But some reports suggest the aircraft was in poor condition before it took off from Lahore.

Read more: Survivor of Pakistan plane crash recounts horror

This has led some people to question the management of PIA, Pakistan's state-owned airline.

At the helm of the flagship airliner is Air Marshall Arshad Malik. He was chosen to head the institution in October 2018, a little over two months after Imran Khan became Pakistan's prime minister.

"We demand that Air Marshal Arshad Malik resign after the PIA crash ... The plane was reportedly in poor condition and still it was allowed to carry a hundred passengers taking a huge risk," Noreen Haider, a columnist and rights activist, wrote on Twitter.


PIA, once a thriving airline, has been suffering huge economic losses for many years. Passengers complain about poor service and frequent flight delays.

Malik was brought in to remedy the situation and turn PIA's fortunes around. Many people in Pakistan believe that the military can better manage state institutions as army officials are not corrupt, unlike elected civilian leaders. At the same time, there are others who say that the military is increasingly taking over all important civilian posts and is practically running the government.

PAKISTAN: PLANE CRASHES INTO KARACHI NEIGHBORHOOD
Crash moments before landing
The plane, operated by Pakistan International Airline (PIA), crashed during the last minute of the flight as the plane was about to land at Jinnah International Airport. Witnesses said they saw the plane circling around the airport before coming down. PHOTOS 12345
A 'hybrid martial law'

Last month, PM Khan ousted Firdous Ashiq Awan as Special Assistant to the Prime Minister of Information, replacing her with General Asim Saleem Bajwa, a retired general. Bajwa formerly headed Pakistan Army's media wing.

"It's the latest indication of the Pakistan military, directly and indirectly, scaling up its role in policy," Michael Kugelman, a South Asia analyst at the Wilson Center, tweeted on April 27.


Since Khan came to power, both serving and retired military officials have been given a number of government portfolios that have traditionally been civilian roles, analysts say. Rights activists accuse the military of rigging the 2018 general election in Khan's favor, a charge both the military and the premier deny.

A recent report by the European Foundation of South Asian Studies, an Amsterdam-based think tank, says that the military dominance in Pakistan has increased manifold in the past two years.

"It is not just that military interference in matters of governance continues to be a reality, rather the military has gone far beyond the traditional realms of national security and foreign policy and strengthened its hold over other aspects of state rule, including finance, commerce, interior, railways, China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and even media management," the think tank wrote in a recent commentary.

Ayesha Siddiqa, a London-based Pakistani researcher, told DW that the present political setup in Pakistan is a "hybrid martial law."

"I think the military wants to directly get involved in governance because it feels that Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party can’t run the country without its support," Siddiqa said. "The generals prefer a government with a civilian façade – in reality, they want to control everything."

Siddiqa fears that more ministries will be taken over by the military officials in the coming years.

Tauseef Ahmed Khan, a Karachi-based political analyst, said that previous governments tried to resist military's dominance in policymaking, but Khan's government has no issue with it.

Read more: Fazlur Rehman: Pakistani cleric urges military to abandon Imran Khan

Military better managers?

Amjad Shoaib, a retired general and defense analyst, dismisses criticism that the military is power-hungry.

"There are some sections in the country that like to malign the military. All appointments in civilian institutions are done purely on merit. It is the civilian government that has appointed military officials to these posts," he told DW.

Shoaib is of the view the military officials can manage civilian institutions and departments effectively and professionally.

"Under Air Marshall Noor Khan, PIA became a profitable institution. General Qayyum did the same with an ailing Pakistan Steel Mills. There are many other government institutions that started performing better when military officials took charge," Shoaib underlined.

Read more: Pashtun movement leader: 'Pakistani army is afraid of our popularity'


Watch video https://p.dw.com/p/3cvJG
Is Pakistan's media being silenced?


Date 28.05.2020
Author S. Khan (Islamabad)
Related Subjects Asia, Pakistan
Keywords Asia, Pakistan, Imran Khan, Pakistan army, Qamar Javed Bajwa
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Poland shocked by documentary exposing church pedophilia

The Primate of Poland has informed the Vatican about new cases of pedophilia uncovered in a recent documentary. The Church and government are both under pressure following the revelation of what happened to the victims.

Jakub and Bartek Pankowiak grew up in the small town of Pleszew in central Poland. Their father was the church’s organist and the parish priest Arkadiusz was popular with young people. He was a frequent guest at the Pankowiak’s house.

But when their parents’ backs were turned the brothers say Arkadiusz would cuddle, caress and kiss their sons. Bartek and Jakub were appalled, but did not confide in anyone for years about what had happened to them.

They were not the only victims. Arkadiusz stands accused of abusing dozens of boys in Pleszew in the 1990s, and bishops made numerous attempts to cover up his alleged actions.

Jakub and Bartek have opened up about what happened to them in a documentary “Hide and Seek,” directed by Marek and Tomasz Sekielski. It’s the second time the filmmakers have shocked Poland with revelations of pedophilia in the Church, having released another film last year exposing similar crimes.

Now the pressure is building within Poland for the Vatican to launch an inquiry.

Confrontation with their abuser

It was only 20 years later that Jakub and Bartek were able to muster the courage to track down their abuser and look him in the eye. "What do you think a child feels when he's being French kissed behind closed doors?" Bartek asks the priest in the film.

Their conversation is being filmed with a hidden camera. "I remember that I touched you intimately and felt your erection — that you touched me, too, and gave me presents in exchange," Bartek goes on. The priest doesn't respond to the accusations. He does, however, say that he feels "guilty before God," and that he prays every day.

Bartek and Jakub also visit a nun who knew what was going on back then but never tried to protect the boys. During the young men's visit she appears confused. She tries to explain, in broken sentences, that there was nothing she could have done at the time.

It wasn't easy for Jakub Pankowiak to go public with his story. Now 35, what he found most difficult was telling his daughter. "I feel relief — I've thrown off the burden. Unfortunately, I had to do it publicly; there was no other way." He says he "takes no pleasure in the thought that the priest may now end up behind bars." The whole of Poland has learned of his guilt; Jakub feels that is "punishment enough."

Read more: Poland's Catholic Church admits clergy sexually abused hundreds of childr

Bishops covered up

The filmmakers found dozens of the priest's victims in Pleszew. He was confronted by the parents of one victim in 2016. Arkadiusz acknowledged his guilt: "I am aware that I upset your son," he said, promptly adding that it was "the fault of the Devil, who destroys all that is holy in people." He also says the bishop knew all about it. The conversation was recorded.

When Bishop Edward Janiak found out about the meeting, he suspended Father Arkadiusz immediately. "Health problems" were the official reason. There was no investigation by the ecclesiastical court. Four years later, after the film premiere of "Hide and Seek," blame for the cover-up was shifted onto the victims. A statement by the Diocese of Kalisz, to which the town of Pleszew belongs, said that the victims should have reported the abuse themselves; the Vatican would then have been informed. No apology was forthcoming from Bishop Edward Janiak.

Since the film premiere, though, there has been growing public pressure — as well as pressure from within the Church. The Episcopate recently announced that Bishop Janiak will not be making any major public appearances from now on. At the ordination of new priests at the Kalisz Cathedral last Saturday (23.05.20), he was replaced by another bishop — who, media reports claim, also covered up abuse for years. This bishop told the newly ordained priests that the sins of the clergy caused him pain — but that in certain situations the appropriate response was to remain silent. Journalists who wanted to report on the event were not allowed inside the church.

Read more: Documentary on child sex abuse by Catholic priests stirs debate in Poland




Primate of Poland, archbishop Wojciech Polak celebrates mass in Warsaw.

Poles demand clarification

Officially, the Polish Episcopate is scandalized. The Primate of Poland, Wojciech Polak, has called on the Vatican to investigate. He also did so a year ago, when the Sekielski brothers' first film was released — but so far there has still been no investigation into cases of abuse in the Polish Church. In 2019, the Church was pressured into releasing a report that said there had been almost 400 such cases since 1990. It did not, however, name the priests responsible; nor has there been any information on the number of cases that have come before either ecclesiastical or civil courts.

Current surveys indicate that more than 70% of Poles want the authorities to take tougher action against pedophile priests. Demands for a comprehensive investigation are also being heard more and more frequently in religious Catholic circles, too.

A screenshot from Tomasz Sekielski's 2019 documentary Tell No One


Investigation of pedophiles

The heated debate about the Sekielski brothers' documentary, which has now been seen by almost 6.5 million people on YouTube, has forced the authorities to respond. The national prosecutor's office announced that an investigation into Pleszew's Father Arkadiusz was opened in the autumn of 2019 and is ongoing. The ruling PiS party wants to set up a committee of inquiry. However, this would not specifically examine pedophilia in the Church, but in all sectors of society.

The Polish parliament has rejected a demand by a group of left-wing delegates for the establishment of a separate committee. These delegates are now worried that abuse by priests will only be addressed as a side issue. They claim that, in Catholic Poland, representatives of the Church enjoy special protection by the state. An example of this: Not one priest's name appears on the 2018 government register of pedophiles. This is supposedly because their actions were not among the worst cases of pedophilia in Poland.

Date 27.05.2020
Author Monika Sieradzka
Related Subjects Poland, Vatican, Catholicism
Keywords Catholic Church, child abuse, pedophilia, Vatican, Poland, film, documentary

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