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Revision as of 05:47, 11 April 2006 by ISKapoor (talk | contribs) (edited)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Friends of South Asia (FOSA, established 2001) is a volunteer South Asian American peace organization based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The group's basic mission is to "achieve a peaceful, prosperous, and hate-free South Asia...work through people-to-people contacts, dialog, and other non-violent, non-exclusionary means."
FOSA was founded in 2001 by Indian and Pakistani expatriates concerned about the threat of impending war between their two nations. Members organized candlelight vigils and letter-writing campaigns for peace .
the membership and the sources of funding for the organization are not known. Anu Mandavilli of Univ of Southern California, and Sabahat Ashraf from Pakistan has served as a spokesperson for the organization on a few occasions. Three or four other members of the organization have been mentioned in the press. Ashish Chadha, a Stanford graduate student, is said to be one of its founders, who has fascilitated use of Stanford campus for the use of the group.
It has been associated with a Sikh organization "Qaumantri Punjabi Bhaichara" of Palo Alto. They have been jointly holding vigils in Palo Alto attended by about 15-20 persons.
FOSA was also an active participant in the Californian Hindu textbook controversy, in which it joined a number of groups, including several Christian missionary organizations and some vocal anti-Hindu activists in petitioning California's Curriculum Commission to reject allegedly revisionist edits to California's textbook curriculum on Hinduism and India, suggested by two Hindu organizations.
FOSA has also been involved with campaigns in opposition to the Iraq War, and human rights abuses in Maharashtra (India) and Balochistan (Pakistan).
The group opposed Bush's visit to India and Pakistan. In a statement it said "We express our deepest disappointment with the recently concluded visit of George Bush to India and Pakistan, and unequivocally condemn the Indo-US nuke deal... The United States’ imperial designs in its war on Afghanistan and Iraq and the submission of the Indian and Pakistani governments to go along, is not lost on their people who came out in thousands in both countries to protest against Bush and his agenda."
Criticism
Friends of South Asia is frequently criticized by Hindu Indian nationalists, who claim that the organization is leftist, Communist, Islamist, terrorist, or anti-Hindu.
In May 2003, FOSA organized a "Ind-Pak Peace Solidarity March in San Francisco" with the help of seven co-sponsors, including the Pakistan American Alliance (PAA). Anonymous critics pointed out that the Pakistan American Alliance's website included an image of a man holding a placard reading "Allah will destroy the terrorist state of India." FOSA responded by deleting references to the Pakistan American Alliance from their website, and issuing an update stating that they were disturbed by the photo, and had been unaware of PAA's politics, which were contrary to their own.
During the 2006 Californian Hindu textbook controversy, Hindu American Foundation president Mihir Meghani was quoted in Metroactive saying that "It's pretty well known that they're tied with the Communist Party in India...It's really a ploy to break down and dissemble Hinduism."
In May 2006, the Stanford Daily (the Stanford University student newspaper) ran a story critical of a planned FOSA event, based on an anonymous email claiming that there were simultaneous "Islamist and Communist sympathies within the organization." The anonymous correspondent also claimed that invited speaker Professor Biju Mathew (Rider University) supported the Unabomber and other terrorist groups. In response to public criticism , the Stanford Daily retracted the story and printed an apology in the subsequent issue, stating that "FOSA does not have any ties to Communist or terrorist groups."
References
- ^ "Friends of South Asia". Friends of South Asia (FOSA). Retrieved 2006-04-11.
- Suzanne Lee (February 1, 2002). "Bay Area South Asians Kick-off Monthly Global Peace Vigils". AsianWeek.
- Ryan Kim, Matthew B. Stannard and Charles Burress, Chronicle Staff Writers (June 2, 2002). "Kashmir tension watched closely by Bay relatives". San Francisco Chronicle.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - Vrinda Normand (February 1, 2006). "Battling the Past: Indian parents and scholars go to war over how Hindu history is taught in California schools". Metroactive.
- "Speak Out Against the Hindutva Assault on California's History Textbooks". Friends of South Asia (FOSA). Retrieved 2006-04-11.
- Californian Hindu textbook controversy
- "Ind-Pak Peace Solidarity March in San Francisco". Friends of South Asia (FOSA). Retrieved 2006-04-11.
- ""Allah will destroy the terrorist state of India"". AID (Association for India's Development) Documents Repository. Retrieved 2006-04-11.
- "Statement of Clarification by the Friends of South Asia, on Pakistan American Alliance's co-sponsorship". Friends of South Asia (FOSA). Retrieved 2006-04-11.
- Patrick Leahy (April 7, 2006). "Leftist speaker sparks debate". Stanford Daily.
- "Letters to the editor". Stanford Daily. April 10, 2006.
- "Apology". Stanford Daily. April 10, 2006.