FASADI, NOT JIHADI

Tuesday, August 19, 2008
FASADI, NOT JIHADI
By M J Akbar
(Sunday Column in Times of India)

It is safe to assume that the Indian Mujahideen, which prides itself on being a terrorist organization, killed innocents in Gujarat, uses a logo displaying guns on either side of the Holy Book, sends threatening email signed by a split personality (both "Al Arbi" and "Al Hindi"), would like to be judged by Quranic law.

I presume they would not suggest the application of Sharia to non-Muslims. We Indians are unique in many ways: include among them the depressing fact that we have had terrorists from four major faiths - Muslims in Kashmir, Christians in Nagaland, Sikhs in Punjab and Hindus in Assam’s ULFA.

Terror has been a constant weapon of Maoists and Naxalites, none of them waving a green banner. The Quran makes a very clear distinction between legitimate war, a jihad, and illegitimate violence that spreads havoc among the innocent, a fasad. A fasadi is one who "spreads mischief through the land". The Quranic word entered our language and is used commonly for a communal riot. The Urdu-English dictionary in my office lists some of its meanings as "disturbance, trouble, outbreak of rebellion, dissension, mischief...."

It appears in the Quran, in Verse 32 of Surah 5, in the context of the first murder, when Cain killed Abel, his brother, who had done no harm. The verse is a powerful indictment of anyone who kills innocents: "That if anyone slew a person (through fasad) it would be as if he slew the whole people. And if anyone saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people." An innocent’s death kills something in the whole community; protecting an innocent individual is akin to saving the whole. The worst mischief is, in the words of Abdullah Yusuf Ali, "treason against the state, combined with treason against Allah, as shown by overt crimes." For this crime, "four alternative punishments are mentioned, any one of which is to be applied according to circumstances, viz., execution, crucifixion, maiming or exile". I have used Abdullah Yusuf Ali’s translation and notes because they are accepted internationally. The message is supplemented by other verses (as for instance Surah 30:41).

It is instructive to note how the two most Islamic states, Saudi Arabia and Iran, one Sunni and the other Shia, punish Muslim terrorists. Saudi toughness is now exemplary to those who believe in tough methods. On Tuesday, August 5, Iran executed Yaghoob Mirnehad in the city of Zahedan because he was found guilty of involvement in Jundallah, an armed group operating along the Iran-Pakistan border along Baluchistan. Afzal Guru would not stand much of a chance in either Saudi Arabia or Iran.

When a fasadi calls himself a jihadi, it is an attempt to gain legitimacy among Muslims. The intermittent use of Quranic verses by the Indian Mujahideen is designed to reinforce the impression of Quranic sanction. Even a cursory examination shows how this terrorist group has snatched text out of context. Take the deliberately provocative quotation in one of their emails: "We are guiltless of you and whatever you worship besides Allah: we have rejected you and there has arisen between us and you enmity and hatred forever - unless you believe in Allah and Him alone." The idea clearly is to establish a Quranic sanction for hatred and enmity between Hindus and Muslims. You don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to reach this conclusion.

They have arbitrarily plucked out lines from a much longer verse about the great patriarch Abraham, who left home after his father began to worship many gods instead of the One Allah. But the "hatred" is for apostasy, not the person. Where the Indian Mujahideen have put a full stop, there is only a colon in the original. Abraham also says that he will pray for his father. He does not threaten to murder his father in the name of Allah, which the Indian Mujahideen seem to believe is their wanton right.

The Quran insists that that while there are differences among faiths, it is up to Allah, and not man, to be the judge. For man, there is a clear principle (Surah 2:256): "La iqra fi al deen (Let there be no compulsion in religion)." (This instruction, incidentally, comes just after Ayat ul Kursi, a magnificent evocation to the power of Allah and his protection of man.) A second principle is equally unambiguous: "Lakum deen-e kum wal ya deen (Your religion for you and my religion for me)." It was not an accident that Ottoman Sultans gave shelter to Spanish Jews after they were driven out by the Catholic Inquisition.

Every jihad is a war fought by a Muslim, but every war fought by a Muslim is not a jihad. Yusuf Ali explains in his note on Surah 9:20: "It may require fighting in Allah’s cause, as a form of self-sacrifice. But its (jihad’s) essence consists in a true and sincere Faith, which so fixes its gaze on Allah, that all selfish or worldly motives seem paltry and fade away...Mere brutal fighting is opposed to the whole spirit of jihad, while the sincere scholar’s pen or preacher’s voice or wealthy man’s contributions may be the most valuable forms of jihad." The Jihad-e-Akbar, or the greater jihad is a struggle to cleanse oneself; war is only the Jihad-e-Asghar, or the lesser jihad. However, if jihad were only an internal struggle for purification, we would not be discussing it. Islam sanctions war, but with very strict rules. The call for a jihad cannot be given by a maverick. The killing of innocents, women and children is strictly forbidden. The first Caliph, Abu Bakr, laid down the rules when he sent the first armies out to battle: a jihadi could not betray a trust, misappropriate booty, mutilate a body, kill the old, women or children; he could not even destroy trees or slaughter an animal except for food. Terrorism has no place in jihad. There is one justification, in Islamic law, for jihad: when a nation becomes a Dar ul Harb (House of War) rather than a Dar ul Islam (House of Islam). Can India be declared a Dar ul Harb?

A Big 19th Century Question has seeped into the 21st.

The collapse of the Mughals from around 1720 witnessed the rise of regional powers, and substantial Muslim populations began living under the rule of Marathas and Rajputs. In 1803, the British broke through Maratha resistance and reached Delhi, where the wobbly Mughals became a protected species. That year, Shah Abdul Aziz, heir of Shah Waliullah and the most respected theologian of his time, declared India a Dar ul Harb because British law would prevail over the law of Islam. This inspired a jihad by his disciples (principally Ahmad Saeed Barelvi and his successors) that lasted till the last quarter of the century; 1857 was only one episode in a long war.

The interesting point is that there had never been a similar fatwa against any Hindu ruler of India, and the Barelvis sought and received help from the Marathas. Muslims never considered living under Hindu rulers a cause for jihad because Hindu rulers respected their right to practise their faith as they wished.

As late as in 1871, Sir William Hunter, the famous ICS officer, was attempting to answer the question, "Are the Indian Mussalmans bound by their Religion to rebel against the Queen?" He recorded the considered views of a number of alim. The answer, in essence, was that if a Muslim was permitted to live by his own law, the Raj could be considered a House of Islam. Muslim personal law was incorporated into the Raj code. Free India, through Constitutional statute and practice, permits Indian Muslims full rights to the exercise of their faith. You may not be able to hear the amplified azaan in London or Washington, but you can in Delhi.

Aberrations like riots do not change this fundamental reality. If that were so, Pakistani Shias would be entitled to declare a jihad against Pakistan since they have repeatedly suffered from communal violence.

Justice and equality are the heart and soul of the Quran, and the Holy Book knows what justice would do to a fasadi.

Volunteer to remove Criminals and Cash from Indian Politics

We all dream of an India in which our politicians are honest, public-minded, and deliver effective governance and development to citizens. While we all want to contribute to this dream, we do not know how...

Now is your chance to act!

With six State Assembly Elections scheduled for Nov/ December 2008, the Association for Democratic Reform (http://www.adrindia.org/home/index.asp) desperately needs your support with their national Election Watch effort.

Among other things, this effort will involve:

1) Assembling information on contesting candidates (criminal records, assets/liabilities, educational qualifications),

2) Monitoring election expenses incurred by electoral candidates and political parties,

3) Disseminating all this information to the public to help them make an informed choice, using a variety of channels such as media, SMS campaigns, e-mailers, etc

Most importantly, ADR is in the process of setting up a toll-free helpline to enable people to get candidate data and related information easily. Interested citizens from any of the six states going to the polls will be able to call into the hotline.

So, do your bit for the country! Volunteer with ADR for 8-10 hours a day over November/ December 2008. While you will receive a small honorarium to cover travel etc, you will - more importantly - have the satisfaction of knowing that you have contributed to a nationally crucial cause.

To volunteer and/ or to find out more, please contact:

Anil Bairwal
National Coordinator, Association for Democratic Reforms
B 1/6, Hauz Khas,New Delhi – 110 016
Tel: 91 11 6590 1524
Email: adr.delhi@gmail.com; abairwal@gmail.com

PS. A minimum commitment of 2 weeks is required.

World Deaf Week 2008

World Deaf Week 2008

On the 27th of September, 2008, Guwahati marked celebration of World Deaf Week with the launch of the Chapter of Deaf Children’s Foundation held at Guwahati Gymkhana, Guwahati.

"The Crusaders"
Mrs. A Gohain, State Programme Officer (left) with Mrs Inky Sen, Vaani, Kolkata

Speaking on the occasion, Mrs. Inky Sen, Programme Officer, VAANI, Kolkata stated that “VAANI, Deaf Children's Foundation hopes to bring issues around deafness to the forefront during this week with various activities planned to raise the awareness of the general public. VAANI hopes to also get the attention of corporate groups who can support us in our activities”. India celebrates Deaf Awareness Week in the last week of September. The last Saturday in September, that is 27th of the month this year, is celebrated as World Deaf Day.

“Deaf children do not gain access to language in the same way as hearing children”, Mrs. Sen said. During this World Deaf Week, “the VAANI team will be visiting prominent English and regional-language schools in Kolkata and Guwahati to conduct a programme on awareness about childhood deafness and the emotional and social needs of deaf children”. “We feel it is important that children themselves understand the problems their deaf peers face”

VAANI, Deaf Children's Foundation will also be coordinating a meeting with some prominent personalities in Assam to garner support and create a resource base for VAANI’s activities in the State on World Deaf Day.

VAANI, Deaf Children's Foundation will also be coordinating a meeting between parents of deaf children and heads of some prominent schools in Kolkata to discuss the special needs of deaf children in educational institutions.

VAANI, Deaf Children's Foundation is supporting an annual awareness programme for students of regular schools, coordinated by Anwesha, a registered group of parents of deaf children, on 26 September 2008 at the Jadavpur University campus. This meeting will also include an elocution competition for deaf and hearing children from regular schools.

VAANI representatives will also be present at the launch of an information kiosk at the Dr. S.R.Chandrasekhar Institute of Speech and Hearing in Bangalore. This kiosk, which will be providing information on issues around deafness to families of deaf children and deaf adults, is being set by the Institute with support from VAANI, Deaf Children's Foundation. World Deaf Week 08 was felt to be an appropriate time for launching this kiosk which will be an invaluable information provider.

In Gujarat, VAANI’s technical partner SSGB Vidyavihar School in Nadiad will be organising a parents’ meeting, a rally and other events to spread awareness about deafness during the World Deaf Week.

About VAANI, Deaf Children's Foundation

VAANI, Deaf Children’s Foundation (earlier known as IDCS-India) is a registered Trust and works to empower deaf children and their families across India. VAANI’s role is to act as a catalyst. Rather than delivering services, VAANI supports the development of accessible sustainable services for deaf children and their families whilst working closely with the overall development strategies of the country. VAANI works with local organisations to build on existing good practices, develop a resource base and understand what works for deaf children and their families in India. All of VAANI’s work is need-based and our strategy responds to gaps in the current system identified through state level feasibility studies and baseline surveys, using a participatory approach with active participation of all stakeholder groups.

VAANI, Deaf Children's Foundation is working on projects in West Bengal, Assam, Karnataka, Meghalaya and Gujarat.

Kashmir and the Denting of the Idea of India

Kashmir and the Denting of the Idea of India - Arun Kumar

Kashmir is on the boil and itching for Azadi. Clearly, even if the idea of India was ever present in some rudimentary form in the psyche of the average Kashmiri, it has long since evaporated from their consciousness. Not only during the phase from 1987 to the late Nineties when the movement for separation was strong but today after a lull of about a decade, it has become clear that this is indeed so.

What to a non Kashmiri is a non issue has become the emotive trigger for the fresh expression of the Kashmiri’s alienation from the idea of India. The issue underlying the demand for azadi (from India) can hardly be the transfer of 100 acres of forest land to the Amarnath Shrine Board. After all, the land was allotted to a Board headed by the Governor who is the head of the State, even if he is seen as an imposition of Delhi. It was in no sense being alienated from the State. It was also not the case that it was being colonized in any permanent sense by non Kashmiris. It was only to be an assistance to the Amarnath yatris (no one is as yet asking for the stoppage of the yatra) and was most likely to be manned entirely by the local people rather than people from outside the state. Further, this area was anyway being used for the yatra and no new activity was proposed.

The event triggered a deep seated fear/suspicion about India in the Kashmiri mind. This is because the average citizen of the valley has not accepted or understood what India is about and even though a part of the blame has to be borne by the Kashmiris themselves, the major part of it has to be that of the Indians themselves and especially the Indian government.

Instead of providing the much needed healing touch so that the idea of India could seep in to the Srinagar Valley, the Indian rulers have played politics. A short term view has been taken. More recently while the problem was brewing, the Centre was busy with the Indo nuclear deal to the exclusion of all else.

Of course, there has been interference from Pakistan encouraged by the US and China. This has kept things on the boil but it was for Delhi to devise a strategy to counter these aspects of geo politics. Delhi has failed in doing so due to its narrow focus. Leadership in Kashmir has been manipulated rather than allowed to naturally develop along democratic lines. The state has for long been ruled with the help of the army and coercion has played a large role in keeping it as a part of India.

Some have recently appealed to let Kashmir go because that is what the Kashmiris want. Spoken like a true democrat or a tired fighter? But what if that strikes at the root of the Idea of India. It may lead to terrible communal clashes. This is not idle speculation because there is no clean slate to write on.

Today, Hindutva and Islamic fundamentalists are active over large swaths of the country. They are waiting to take advantage of the situation to their own political benefit and will play politics with the idea of independence for Kashmir valley. If Kashmir gains independence it will only be the Valley, given the ground reality and this could lead to blood letting all around because the idea of India would be further damaged.

Secular leaders of India realized that all communities need to live in harmony in a multi community society like ours. Nehru believed that majority communalism is more dangerous than minority communalism and therefore there has been a constant appeasement of muslim political leadership and its elite. The mistake has been that there has been little trickle down to the muslim masses who have been perhaps kept backward by the elite as a bargaining chip with the rest of the communities in India’s vote bank politics of MAJGAR.

It has been a failure of our short termist leadership that the socio economic conditions of the Muslims have hardly changed over the long run; statespersonship has been lacking. It has strived to maintain itself in power by any means. The idea of `India is Indira and Indira is India’ pervaded the early Seventies and led to the domination of the interest of a few over the national interest. While Indira withstood the US pressure over Bangladesh, for the sake of internal consolidation of power she subverted democracy through Emergency, let the situation in Punjab aggravate and later it happened in Kashmir – all for narrow ends. The idea of India was dented.
The people of South Asia have a common destiny. They are in the most backward part of the world and need peace to develop. It was the vision of the national movement which drew inspiration from all parts of the country and from all communities and this contributed to its success. So, India was set up as a secular entity and the pressure of creation of Pakistan did not sway the leadership to go for a Hindu rashtra.

Much has changed since. It is not just Muslims that have a grievance against the Indian state but all the deprived sections of the population. The Dalits, backward castes, etc.

The Indian ruling elite is responsible for it since it slowly lost faith in the idea of India, especially since the Sixties. It has indulged in corruption on a large scale which has led to failure of policies and to the erosion of the idea of collective good. Today, globalization means maximizing ones gains and devil may take the hindmost. People all over the country are struggling against these policies while the elite is concentrating power in its hands to deal with them.

Yet, the idea of India is a powerful one for all regions and communities of the country and it needs to be strengthened rather than dented as is the case today. Even if the elite is committing hara-kiri, the common people (whether in Kashmir or in Gujarat) need this idea for their own sake and cannot abandon it.

Kashmiris need to be a part of a wider national democratic upsurge rather than reacting to the wrong policies of both the ruling elite of India and the Kashmiri leadership. Much of the Kashmiri leadership has been compromised by the intelligence agencies of either India or Pakistan or the US (or some combination) and hardly represents the true interest of the Kashmiri.

Independence is a powerful idea but an independent Kashmir will have to trade with the very same nation that it would separate from. Indo-Pak trade is important for both the nations and used to take place through the mid East till recently, to the detriment of both. This suggests that closer relations based on secular ideas remains important. Today nations, especially the smaller ones in the world, are coming together in trade agreements to enhance their well being and Europe is even trying closer political integration.

In brief, Kashmiris need to change their vision just as Indians need a better leadership than they have had over the last four decades. Democracy needs to be deepened to strengthen the idea of India which remains as powerful as ever.

arunkumar1000@hotmail.com.

Strengthening Indian Democracy

Proposal for the coming General Elections in 2008-09
Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR: www.adrindia.org)July 8, 2008

About ADR
ADR was founded in 1999 by a group of Professors from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad and some alumni to work towards strengthening democracy and governance in India by focusing on fair and transparent electoral processes. Since its founding, it has worked with over 1000 NGO partners around India, disseminating information on candidates and political parties to voters. ADR has also worked closely with the media, the Election Commission of India and eminent citizens around the country. Its founder was elected as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2008.

The major impact of ADR’s work is at four levels:
1. Lobbying lawmakers and implementers (various Courts, Election Commission, parliamentarians, etc.) to institute laws and procedures to increase accountability and transparency2. Strengthen the monitoring of candidates and political parties on accountability, funding and for transparency.3. Increase awareness among the public about important facts and issues regarding candidates, funding, political parties, elections and democracy.4. Cause a shift in the profile of candidates winning elections towards people with clean backgrounds.

Sample Impact of ADR’s work
Here is a representative list of impact achieved by the activities of ADR:
1. ADR filed and won two landmark judgments on candidate disclosure of criminal and financial records from the Supreme Court in May 2002 and March 2003.

2. Made transparent the financial details of political parties using the Right to Information Act in 2008 after 14 months of persistence with the Income tax Authorities and the central Information Commission.

3. Has established a network of over a thousand NGOs around the country to do Citizen Election Watch for all major elections since December 2002, disclosing candidate background information to the media and the public.

4. Has initiated Civil Society non-partisan Election Watches in different states:a. In the Lok Sabha 2004 Elections, 19 States and 5 Union Territories carried out Election Watches.b. Have conducted Election watches in about 20 states

5. Bihar Election Watch in Oct-Nov 2005 resulted in intense pressure on the Chief Minister designate for the first time perhaps in decades to have a Council of Ministers without any known criminal record.

6. Clearance of lakhs of rupees of outstanding dues to the Government for rent, electricity, phone bills, etc. by Members of Parliament (MPs) before standing for (re)elections.

7. A measurable impact in the fielding of non-tainted candidates by applying pressure on political parties to filed clean candidates.

Objectives for Lok Sabha elections April-May 2009
The coming national elections in April-May 2009 provide a unique opportunity to leverage the network already in place, and the information already collected, to carry out a campaign to further improve democracy. ADR wishes to take a campaign to:

1. Improve the profile of candidates contesting elections: ADR has already achieved this in the past in state assembly elections, but we expect to take this nationwide through the proposed campaign. Political parties have started reacting to media exposure and have begun cleaning up their Act (e.g., see in Sample impact for Bihar)

2. Enable voters to make an informed choice: As of now, the information available to voters is limited, and the existing database of over 25000 candidates with ADR will be used to raise voter awareness significantly.

3. Help keep election expenses transparent and within the legal limit: Again, information dissemination is key.

4. Strengthen democracy by making candidates and parties more accountable to voters and citizens: Our experience shows that in pockets where dissemination was intense, the candidates and political parties did respond. The campaign will take this nationwide.

5. Create a platform or platforms beyond the elections to help citizens and Governments work more closely together: We will use our network of over thousand NGOs in the campaign to achieve this.

ADR has information on all major National and State elections in India since 2002. Specifically, ADR will disseminate information to voters around the country through following means:
1. Traditional print and electronic media,

2. The Internet (though its reach is still limited in India),

3. The network of NGOs,

4. Through mobile technologies(which has grown rapidly in the recent past) ,

5. And Voice technologies.

One time support needed for Lok Sabha elections April-May 2009:
ADR is currently supported for its establishment expenses by the Ford Foundation. However, it does not have financial support for next year’s general elections. This involves 543 seats to the Parliament (Lok Sabha), and involves around 670 million voters. It is the largest democratic election held anywhere in the world. We estimate that a modest $750,000 can help us do the campaign. We are looking for a one time support for these elections.

How the fund will be utilized
The broad strategy is to use the existing information base, supplement it with more research, and disseminate it steadily starting now until the general elections. As mentioned earlier, this will be done traditional print and electronic media, the Internet, the network of NGOs, mobile and voice. Previous experience of such limited campaigns in Gujarat and UP showed good results with positive reaction from political parties.

For instance, we will build Member of Parliament profiles, political party profiles, and election expense information from our existing data base. Dissemination will be done in English and Hindi (the major language that about 35% of India knows) at the very least. We also hope to do it in 7 other major languages.

Data on Criminals in the Indian Parliament

July 19th, 2008
Anyone familiar with the disastrous state of India should not be overly surprised to learn that the Indian parliament has an overwhelmingly greater percentage of criminals than the general population. How effectively a nation functions and how successful it is depends on its leaders who make public policy and thus critically determine the outcome. India’s failure to develop and achieve its potential is proof positive that its leadership is lacking.

Underdevelopment, poverty, and all other ills that plague India are an unavoidable consequence of poor public policies and choices.One suspects that criminals cannot make good public policy makers. For support of this position, one has to look at the dismal record of the criminals in charge of public policy in India. It is not that every single politician in India is a criminal; only that a significant number of them are criminals. But it is unbelievable that even one member of the Indian parliament should be a criminal. That we don’t rise in revolt against this outrage shows that we have come to accept it as par for the course and have resigned ourselves to it. Worse, it could mean that the Indian population is so morally bankrupt that it finds crime so normal that it elects criminals to political power.

All this lends support to the claim that the people deserve the government they get. Perhaps because the people in general are immoral criminals that they accept — perhaps even promote — criminals to represent them. The resulting Hobbesian existence — solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short — the majority live is something that they are ultimately responsible for. Until the people change, there is no possibility of a change of leadership, and the consequent change in the circumstances.

But there is still some hope; as long as there is life, there is hope. India has not yet descended to the depths plumbed by its western neighbor because it still has as part of its civil society people who deeply care about the quality of leadership. One organization of note is the Association for Democratic Reforms. I got introduced to it when I met one of its founder members, Prof Jagdeesh Chhokar, in New Delhi last week.

ADR’s mission is “to work towards improving and strengthening democracy and governance in India.” I will leave you to take a look at their many achievements since they started in 1999. Here I would like to share with you some statistics that ADR has compiled. (Thanks to S Ramachandra for forwarding the files.)

Here’s an excerpt from a press release dated July 10th, 2008:

The coming general elections to the Lok Sabha do not forecast a bright future if the composition of the Lok Sabha 2004 at present is any indication. There are 120 MPs with criminal cases against them out of 543, or 22.1%. Among the major parties, the BJP has 29 MPs with a criminal record, the Indian National Congress (INC) 24, the SP 11, RJD 8, CPM 7, BSP 7, NCP 5 and CPI 2.

The number of cases of serious crimes is 333, with several MPs having multiple cases. If we look at violent crimes like murder, attempt to murder, robbery, dacoity, kidnapping, theft and extortion, rape, other violent crimes like assault using dangerous weapons or causing grievous hurt, the Samajwadi Party (SP) leads with 80 cases, followed by BSP 43, BJP 17, INC 16, RJD 9, CPM 5, CPI 1, NCP 2. Other crimes like cheating, fraud, forgery, giving false oaths to public officials and so on have BSP 23, RJD 22, INC 21, BJP 11, SP 11 and CPM 6.

Becoming informed is the first necessary step to bringing about change. So do talk, write, blog, etc., about this. Spread the word. Most of all, blog about this frequently enough that it becomes impossible to not know about it. And put your money where your mouth is — for starters, you could help support ADR. They need Rs 3 crores (US$ 750,000) for the coming 2009 Elections campaign

G-8 endorses halving global emissions by 2050

RUSUTSU, Japan - The Group of Eight leading industrial nations on Tuesday endorsed halving world emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050, edging forward in the battle against global warming but stopping short of tough, nearer-term targets.
The G-8 countries — the United States, Japan, Russia, Germany, France, Britain, Canada and Italy — also called on all major economies to join in the effort to stem the potentially dangerous rise in world temperatures.
"The G-8 nations came to a mutual recognition that this target — cutting global emissions by at least 50 percent by 2050 — should be a global target," said Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, who announced the endorsement.
The G-8 last year at a summit in Germany pledged to consider the 2050 target, and this year's Japanese hosts had hoped to solidify that commitment at the meeting in Toyako, northern Japan.
The G-8 has been under pressure to secure commitments by wealthy nations to push forward stalled U.N.-led talks on forging a new accord to battle global warming by the end of next year. Tuesday's statement, however, addressed world emissions rather than just those produced by wealthy countries.
The United States hailed the agreement, which Washington said fit with its stance that all major economies — such as China, India and others — need to participate in reducing emissions. Major developing nations have urged wealthy countries to take the first step in cutting greenhouse gases.
"It has always been the case that a long-term goal is one that must be shared. So the G-8 has offered today is a G-8 view of what that goal could be and should be but that can only occur with the agreement of all the other parties," said Jim Connaughton, chairman of the White House's Council on Environmental Quality.
Environmentalists criticized the statement for failing to go beyond the G-8 statement last year.
"So little progress after a whole year of Minister meetings and negotiations is not only a wasted opportunity, it falls dangerously short of what is needed to protect people and nature from climate change," said Kim Carstensen, director of the World Wildlife Fund's Global Climate Initiative.
Environmentalists have argued that the 50 percent reduction target is insufficient, and have clamored for ambitious targets for countries to cut emissions by 2020. Japan itself has set a national target for cutting emissions by between 60 percent and 80 percent by 2050, but has not set a midterm goal.
Such shorter-term targets have been much more difficult to reach consensus on. The United States, for instance, has argued that meeting a Europe-supported goal of reducing emissions by between 25 and 40 percent by 2020 is unrealistic.
In a nod to such disagreements, Fukuda said the G-8 countries would set individual targets.
"The G-8 will implement aggressive midterm total emission reduction targets on a country by country basis," he said.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the agreement constituted a "new, shared vision by the major economies" that would support the U.N.-led effort on a new global warming accord.
"This is a strong signal to citizens around the world," he said in a statement, calling for a renewed push behind the U.N. talks, which aim to conclude a new pact at a meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December 2009.
By JOSEPH COLEMAN, Associated Press Writer