Re: 6th ICAAP opens. Why was Shabana Azmi invited to speak at the opening ceremonies.

[Guest guest]

Dear Forum members,

The opening ceremony (of 6th ICAAP) was impressive. It was

a dubious moment when we saw Shabana on the stage. She is

a wonderful actress and a marvelous speaker. But one

questions the sagacity in inviting her to be a speaker

at the ceremony, given that she is intimately involved

with NACO (National AIDS Control Organization (

http://www.naco.nic.in/) and NACO did nothing to

help the HIV and AIDS activists and health care

providers that had been illegally jailed by the Indian

government in Lucknow for 47 days.

I have admired Shabana as an actress for the past 25

years. Film stars in India have this uncanny tendency

to get into Politics ( NTR, MGR...). They just did not

learn from the disastrous careers of the one that

proceed them, that Bollywood and politics make an

awful combination. Reagan exemplified this in

the U.S. and Glenda in UK.

Right through the 47 days of captivity, Shabana did

not issue a single press release either as adviser to

NACO or in her capacity as a MP ( Member of Parliament)

Shabana mentioned to a journalist ( Manju Chatani of

the Health & Development Network ) at ICAAP in

Melbourne " AIDS is a western problem, and does not

concern India " . How on earth did she get invited to be

a key speaker at the ICAAP opening ceremonies.

Kim Singh

Asian AIDS Action

E-mail: <kim_singh@...>

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