Crafting Peace in Troubled Times
Thumbnail of Major Activities for
Peace by COVA
From July to September 2023
1. Challenge of Ganesh Immersion and Milad Processions on Same Day- 28th September 2023: Perfect Recipe for Riots
2. Sanitising Communally Sensitive Localities to Prevent Violence
3. Saviours of Hyderabad Program
4. Sambandh- One Act Play Competitions for Students on Impact of War and Violence on a Family
5. Multi Faith Celebrations of All Festivals: Every Time- Everywhere
BRIEF REPORTS
1. Addressing Ganesh Visarjan and Milad Un Nabi Processions on same day
Both have participation of 2 to 4 lakh persons, use the same route, same timings and both were scheduled on 28th September in 2023.
With State Elections Scheduled in November 2023, it was a perfect recipe for riots.
COVA, along with Human Rights Forum, Montfort Social Institute, Concerned Citizens Collective and some Activists recognised the danger 3 months earlier and reached out to police, government. Members of Parliament and organisers of Bhagyalaxmi Ganesh Committee and three Milad Groups that organise the processions and public meetings urging them to change dates or the timings of the processions and Public Meetings.
Finally, the Milad Groups agreed to shift their processions and meetings to 1st October 2023, thus averting what could have been a major confrontation.
The Hyderabad City Police played an exemplary role and both festivals passed off peacefully to everyone’s relief.
2. Sanitizing Communally Sensitive Localities to Prevent Violence
In view of the scheduled processions on the same day and State Assembly Elections in November, the chances of communal riots in Hyderabad increased thought there is peace in the city for the past 10 years.
In view of the looming possibility of recurrence of violence again, COVA started active interventions from January 2023 in all sensitive localities to motivate and orient people of both communities to come together and sanitise their areas against any outbreak of communal violence
For the purpose, COVA is working in 25 communally sensitive areas and such interventions may be required till the National Elections scheduled in May 2024
For details, please visit: https://www.covanetwork.org/portfolio/peace-initiatives/#1656407421570-e0f4eced-2292
3. Peace Activists Reactivated through the Sanman Program
36 Peace Activists who had volunteered with COVA for years were honoured at a Sanman Function on 14th August 2023 for making Hyderabad empowered and peaceful with their dedicated work at grassroots for years
All the Awardees had proved that riots can be prevented if Hindus and Muslims come together to guard their localities.
Some had even succeeded in making perpetrators of violence became active agents for maintaining peace in their localities.
Please CLICK the Link for a Report
https://www.covanetwork.org/current-activity-reports/
To view interesting testimonials of some Peace Activists, Please Visit: https://youtu.be/sOiWd-kqqj4 and
4. Sambandh- Interschool and Intercollegiate One Act Play Competitions on Impact of War and Violence on a Family
52 Plays were staged by students of 45 Schools and Colleges in Hindi, Urdu and Telugu as Part of 21st Annual Sambandh School and College Competitions
20 selected Plays will be shared by November 2023. Please CLICK the Link for Detailed Report: https://www.covanetwork.org/sambandh-2023/
These Plays will also be Telecasted by SITI Cable Network with Panel Discussions.
Please Click the Link to View some Plays:
Freedom for People of Independent India: https://youtu.be/CL2IUdX58EA
Political Promises:https://youtu.be/p2hdjKIqUnE
Hiroshima: https://youtu.be/p2hdjKIqUnE
5. Multi Faith Celebrations of All Festivals: Every Time- Everywhere
Politics is Employing Religions to Divide — People can use Religions to Unite
Through Multi Faith Celebrations of All Festivals: Every Time- Every Where!
The Proposal is to bridge the divide created by social media through Multi Faith Celebration of Festivals in our Buddha Viharas, Churches, Temples, Masjids, Gurudwaras, Derasars., Fire Temples, Synagogues and places of Worship of all other Faiths
Every festival of all faiths can be an occasion to bond with our neighbours of different communities by inviting them to our places of worship and to our homes to share a meal, share refreshments, share about our core values, and share our Understanding of The Almighty!
This Program was initiated with Milad Un Nabi Celebrations in September 2023 and many Faith Groups and Community Organisations arranged to invite members of other communities in Hyderabad, Mumbai, Kolkotta and in other countries also.
NEXT Festivals: 12th November 2023– Diwali (Hinduism) and
13th November 2023- Mahavir Nirvana (Jainism)
For details, please visit: https://jointcelebrations.covanetwork.org/
For very informative and inspiring Presentations by Faith Leaders of 7 Religions at a Symposium on Core Values for Humanity,
Please see:https://jointcelebrations.covanetwork.org/videos/
COVA Peace Network
Sanman Samaroah
14th August 2023- Hyderabad
Report
In appreciation of the dedicated work over the years for Development and Peace in Hyderabad, COVA identified 36 partners working at the grassroots for years in different parts of the City to recognise and honour them for making of Empowered and Peaceful Hyderabad at the Sanman Samaroah on 14th August 2023 at Hyderabad.
Mr. Amin ul Hassan Jaffri- Former MLC, was the Chief Guest. Prof. Padmaja Shaw, Academic and Activist, Mr. Akheel Siddiqui, IT Professional and Social Worker and Sardar Sajjan Singhwere the Guests of Honour. Mr. Omim Manekshaw Debara who is the immediate Past President of COVA Presided.
In his Opening Remarks, Dr. Mazher Hussain, Executive Director of COVA explained how COVA identified 42 localities in Hyderabad in mid 90s that witnessed recurring riots and started work there by involving both the communities in the area. After over 3 years of consistent work using development as a strategy for integrating the communities in conflict with each other and sensitizing them to the need for securing peace through mutual cooperation and collective actions, COVA was able to sanitise all such localities to ensure that local people together prevented any outbreak of violence in their areas. When all the 42 localities were sanitized, riots stopped in the city.
Mr Omim Debara, detailed the Role of Civil Society in addressing riots from 1990s and how the present generations can learn a lot to prevent recurrence of violence now. Sardar Sajjan Singh of Sikh Heritage Preservation and Conservationgave many instances of how faith leaders helped in prevention of violence. He asserted that using religions as an excuse to spread hate and violence is against the very core precepts and values of all religions.\Mr. Akheel Siddiqui of Suicide Helpline described the challenge from growing communalization of educated and professional Sections and the grave threat it poses for society.
Consequences for Women Children, Youth, Daily Wage Earners and the Communities
The Guests and Awardees spoke about how curfews, deaths, injuries, looting and arson take their toll and the initiatives and programs undertaken by them to maintain peace in their areas. Prof. Padmaja Shaw, academic and activist,illustrated the very heavy price paid my women, especially from the poor and marginalized sections. and narrated hardships faced by all sections of society because of imposition of curfew. Problems are faced by people for marriages, funerals, medical emergencies and even accessing groceries and items of daily need. Students are unable to go to schools and colleges for long period and many businesses terminated services of their employees coming from curfew prone areas due to the irregular attendance. The worst hit are the daily wage earner.Ambika from Aman Vedika shared case studies of the tragedies faced by children caught up in the vortex of communal riots.Santoshi Bujji Bai of Kurmaguda shared stories of police opening communal rowdy sheets against youth that has destroyed their lives as they are not able to get jobs and some could not get married due to the stigma even though they are in their 50s now.
Media, Social Media: The Challenges
Mr. Amin Ul Hasan Jafri, Former Member of the Legislative Council of Telangana spoke about how mass media and social media are being increasingly used to spread misinformation and hatred and the precautions people should take to save themselves from thismenace. Educationist
Khaleel Ur Rahman was concerned about how the negative impact of social media is making youth astray in many ways and propelling them towards hate and violence that is becoming disastrous for the whole society and the country.
Shaik Nayeem of Rasoolpura and Md. Hussain from Attapur said that their areas never had any communal tensions or disturbances but thanks to increase in divisive politics in the country and the atmosphere created by social media, their areas along with many others that had no history of communal disturbances are becoming increasingly vulnerable and they will not be surprised if violence breaks out in their localities also in coming days.
Successful Initiatives for Peace
Recalling a very successful initiative that started in 1990, K. Sajaya of Caring Citizen’s Collective spoke about a Program where members of one community who protected and saved the lives of other community were identified and honoured as Saviours of Hyderabad after every incidence of riots in Hyderabad from 1990 to 2012. With this innovative initiative, the privileging of violence and killings could be gradually reversed and people started appreciating actions of protecting and saving members of other community. With this,protection of members of other communities instead of attacking them became the new trend. This resulted in rejection of violence by common people that eventually led to cessation of communal riots in Hyderabad
Mr. Mohammed Afzal, Advocate and Activist, gave details of the other strategies that produced good dividends for peace. This was by bringing together youth and women of different communities through development programs like sports, theatre, spoken English and videography classes and a range of skill development programs. As youth and women of different communities met and interacted with each other through the development programs for extended periods, misunderstandings about other communities were removed, friendships developed and instead of acting as perpetrators of violence, they became active agents for preventing violence and securing peace in their localities.
Ms. Noor Jahan Siddiqui of PUCAAR reported about the Human Chain formed by Women Link Volunteers of COVA on 15th March 2002 that prevented riots in Hyderabad in the aftermath of the communal riots in Gujarat. These Link Volunteers numbering 1200 and working in over 40 localities helped in mobilizing women of their areas to promote awareness about health, education, thrift, rights of women, gender justice and the need and dividends of peace for their families. The net result was their high motivation to prevent violence in their areas- including their physical interventions that was evident and so successful in the Human Chain formed by women at great risk to themselves.
Mr. Syed Abdul Khaleel Quadri and Mr. Ravinder of Lalitha Bagh and Mr. Shyam Lal Taank along with Mr. Syed Mahmood Ali of Valmikinagar- Nasheman Nagar said that their localities were prone to regular communal violence and riots but by bringing together members of both communities of the areas and motivating them to collectively guard their areas against any outbreak of violence, they were able to ensure total peace in their areas. Seeing their success, other communally sensitive localities of Hyderabad started adopting the same technique of both communities guarding the areas together until all communally volatile areas become sanitized and safe.
Finally, Ms. Renu Keswani of Gowlipura cautioned that even though there has been no communal riots in Hyderabad for the past 11 years, but any complacency will be dangerous in view of the growing communal tensions in the country. There is a strong possibility that violence could be seen in the city in near future and there is an urgent need to again sanitize all sensitive localities and take up programs and activities to secure and maintain peace in all areas.
Mazher Hussain
Executive Director
Email: mazher@covanetwork.org
List of Awardees
K. Sajaya (Caring Citizens Collective); Dr.S.Sajjan Singh (Sikh Heritage Preservation and Conservation); Noor Jahan Siddiqui( PUCAAR); Mohammed Afzal (Advocate & Peace Activist) Golconda; Syed Abdul KhaleelQuadri (Dargha Khak-e-Shifa,Lalitha Bagh); Ravinder (Peace and Development Activist) Lalitha Bagh; Md. Hussain(SNR Social Welfare Society) Rajendranagar; Ameena Begum(Peace and Development Activist) Vattapally; Khaja Khan(Real Estate Consultant) Jahanuma; Ashwin Kumar (Wealth Management Service) Chatrinaka; Khaleel Ur Rehman(Educationist and Peace and Development) Hussaini Alam; Nagaluri Kalpana (Aman Vedika) Yakutpura; Babar Khan (AWAAZ) Falaknuma; Geeta Bai (PUCAAR); Shaik Nayeem (Kriya Sang Society)Rasoolpura; Naseer Siddiqui (PUCAAR); Md Ayub Khan (AWAAZ) Gosha Mahal; Shyam Lal Taank(President, TVS MPS); Syed Mahmood Ali (GHMC Ward Member)Nasheman Nagar; Vijendra Raghuvamsh R (Peace and Development Activist) Jiyaguda; M.G Sai Baba(Peace and Development Activist) Guddimalkapur; Mohammed Ahmed (Peace and Development Activist) Kandigal Gate; S. Nageshwar Rao (Patanjali) Kandigal Gate; Sri Hari (Peace and Development Activist) Langer House; Bharatesh Kidambi (State in-charge,AIUTUC); Ambika (Aman Vedika); Santoshi Bujji Bai(Mahila President, Jyothi Rao Phule) Kurmaguda; Battla Ram Chander (Peace and Development Activist) Gosha Mahel;R. Indramma (Aman Vedika); Mohammed Ali (People’s Care Organisation) Attapur;Pentamma (Peace and Development Activist) Falaknuma; Shaheda Begum (SAFA); Qamar Jahan (Peace and Development Activist) Falaknuma; Nazima Akhter (Peace and Development Activist) Yakutpura; Katta Sudarhsan(Ward Member) Madannapet; Renuka Keswani (Peace and Development Activist) Gowlipura.
Peace and Development Activists Presented Citations
