Professional Documents
Culture Documents
MG THE
Fortnightly
275 Vol. 12 No. 13
MILLI GAZETTE
1-15 July 2011 32 pages
www.milligazette.com www.milligazette.com
ISSN 0972-3366
Rs 10
Inside
Terrorism 1,5,14 Hindutva terrorism 5,6,12 Indian Muslims 12 BJP 4,5,13 U.P Muslims . 6 Forbesganj 7,22 MF Husain 13 State terrorism 7,8-9,17 Urdu 3 Media 1,25 Caste census 2 Gujarat 10 J&K 15 Analysis 12,14 Special Reports 3 Issues 2,12-13 Books 27 National 3-22 International 23-26 Speaking Out 14 Newsmakers 18 19-22 Community News Islamic Perspectives 28 Letters 30-31
he Hindu of Chennai has largely remained a sober publication having nuanced editorial line and sensible reporting and stand on issues. It has also avoided the pornographic pit into which most other publications have fallen in Rupert Murdoch era. But during the last few years, it allowed a blot to besmirch its image by swallowing fabrications vomited by its fake terrorism expert, Praveen Swami. This chap was a sober investigative journo until he spent some time in United States Institute of Peace in Washington, in 2004-2005 and came back fully converted to the American weltanschauung and started making his tuppence contribution to Americas Islamophobic crusade which was conveniently lapped up by Hindutva warriors at home and made state policy thanks to BJPs rule at the Centre. A senior Hindu journo told me some three years back that Swami is tolerated by The Hindu because of his close links with Intelligence Bureau which enables him to get scoops In other words, Swami was passing off IB manufactured stuff as serious news. Any self-respecting paper would reject to be used by security and intelligence agencies in this manner and would sack such a hack right away but for N. Ram, Swami was a valuable asset Years ago we at MG got an offer through an intermediary from the Army in Kashmir to print good news supplied by them for which they would pay us Rs. 40,000 per month! A very good proposition for a struggling publication but it did not take me a minute to reject it then and there Many sections of society had taken umbrage at Swamis fabrications, yet he was stubbornly retained by The Hindu and allowed liberal space, often writing two stories on same
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landed back in his The Hindu cabin though The Telegraph still shows him on its staff (http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/author/prave enswami/) while his Twitter account showed him on 22 June as based in New Delhi (http://twitter.com/#!/praveenswami). Al-Qaedas announcement of Dr Al-Zawahiri as its new chief on 16 June offered Swami his opportunity for a fresh debut in The Hindu, not with one but two reports in the same issue, both occupying the best space any journo would dream, courtesy the editor of course. The first report, which is the main news on page one (17 June), shrieks that India could be key target of new Al-Qaeda chief and, hold your breath, the source of this gem, mentioned in the very first paragraph of the report, is the good old intelligence sources. Swami then regurgitates some stale vomit about Al-Qaedas warnings to India [always in Kashmirs context] and announces that the new Al-Qaeda chief will use Pakistani allies, whose enmity of India is well-known according to Swami who shows it as a result of the infighting in the terrorist organisations ranks. Let us be clear: the new Al-Qaeda chief himself has not made any such announcement and our own highest authorities here, both at the Centre and in J&K, have on a number of occasions reiterated that Al-Qaeda has no presence in India but that does not matter as terrorist scare-mongering sells well these days both in India and the US. Swamis other piece is an Op Ed which is clearly an old piece which the terror warrior fished out of his computer files. It contains such jewels as the claim that Al-Zawahiri joined Muslim Brotherhood at the age of 14! Swami, the terror-salesman, has no time to stop to read mountains of material and evidence which shows that Al-Qaeda is an American creation having no existence in the real world. He and his American tutors have no willingness to know the truth. Al-Qaeda is an idea, Mr. Swami, and the many groups you see here and there are only inspired by an idea because of the injustices of the US of A. And, Swami or no Swami, this idea has not attracted Indian Muslims in the least.
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ISSUES / OPINION
ew Delhi: Syed Shahabuddin, President of All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat, has issued the following statement on the proposed joint caste census and BPL survey: The Cabinet decision on conducting simultaneously a Caste Census & a BPL survey appears to be a deliberate move to erode its commitment to the Parliament in conducting a Caste Census. It was indeed unfortunate that caste & some more relevant backwardness indicators were not included in the Decennial Census. The Government has confused a universal Caste Census with a limited survey because the BPL survey will cover only a small section of the population, while the Census must cover the entire population. The MMM is therefore, convinced that a partial survey of the population for any purpose does not fall within the meaning of the Census Act. Secondly, the object and purpose of the BPL Survey and Caste Census are not the same. The BPL Survey relates to the proportion of population living below the poverty line, to workout the subsidy needed to provide food security to the hungry population & fight nutrition & disease. On the other hand, the purpose of the Caste Census is to define caste groups and sub-groups as well as caste-like groups and sub-groups which qualify to be designated as Other Backward Classes to enable the Government to take special measures under Articles 15 & 16 of the Constitution to raise them from their exiting level of backwardness by collecting data on population & quantification of backwardness as com-
pared to SC/ST. The Caste Census must therefore be based on uniform, universal and easily accessible socio-economic parameters to cover the entire population of the country, caste by caste and sub-caste by sub-caste. A Survey based on inclusion or exclusion as in the case of BPL Survey will not serve any purpose. It may be noted that castes and sub-castes exist but socialgroups are designated as OBCs on the basis of the backwardness parameters. The AIMMM would like to point out that Muslims of the country have largely descended from lower castes of the Hindu community, namely Shudras, Achhuts, Adivasis and some others, who were converted to Islam. Muslims do not universally identify themselves with the original caste or sub-caste they descended from, though in many cases they carry on the original vocation or occupation. Largely the Muslim sub-communities use the term Baradari or relate themselves to their occupation or vocation; many have Islamized the names of their Baradaris. An outstanding example is the Jolahas who are occupationally weavers but identify themselves as Bunkars, Momins & Ansaris. These Baradaris have caste-like feature and the Census must take special care not to leave them out. The Muslim OBC,s have been under-estimated by the Mandal Commission & left out in many states by the Backward Classes Commission. It may be placed on record that the Sachar Committee came to the conclusion that the Muslims of India are almost as back-
ward as the SC or ST & more backward than the non-Muslim OBCs. There are very few Muslim STs & only about 1 % Muslim Dalits among SCs. Since the Muslims were kept out of the SC List in some states they were included in the OBC List. But some Muslim Dalits have been striving like Christian Dalits for inclusion in the SC List. The matter is pending before the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has imposed a ceiling of 50 % on the totality of reservation which is prima facie arbitrary, because the members of Backward Classes and their level of backwardness vary from state to state and therefore a uniform ceiling can not apply to all states. The Supreme Court has, however, indicated that this ceiling is flexible and can be raised in special circumstances. In view of the above circumstances, The AIMMM suggest that the Caste Census be undertaken only after due logistical preparations to ensure that no caste group or sub-group or analogous group or sub-group, is left out and that backwardness parameters are collected for all of them. The AIMMM therefore proposes that the Central Government must de-link the BPL Survey from the Caste Census, instruct and assist the RGI/ Census Commissioner to make necessary preparations and issue detailed Guidelines and directions to the enumerators, preferably employ those who worked for the Decennial Census, and defer the Caste Census to be undertaken after the BPL survey has been completed.
ven though of late controversies are rising regarding the role of the RSS in the agitations, the public uprising against corruption and related issues is being seen as the beginning of social transformation. People from all classes and walks of life and with diverse political leaning have condemned the police crackdown on people assembled to participate in the anti corruption movement of Baba Ramdev when he was on a fast on the Sunday night, 5 June 2011. The agitation is said to have reminded people of the great peoples movements lead by Jayaprakash Narayan and V. P. Singh. The movement recently initiated by Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev seems to have weakened as doubts began to creep into the minds of people as to whether the Sangh Parivar was trying to use these persons to strengthen its eroding public support like in the past. We need to critically examine some historic facts. Jayaprakash Narayan, the first of Independent Indias all time peoples leader, was the biggest critic of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh till 1966s severe Bihar famine. He was in-charge of the entire relief operations. He refused to include RSS in the relief works. After requests from many quarters he allowed them. While checking the accounts of the associated organizations, he noticed that the RSS workers collected the most, spent the least on collection and distributed the collections the best. He was very impressed and his relation with them grew. RSS is said to have gained more through their extending support to his agitation against Indira Gandhi Government. The critics consolidate their claim by quoting his
address to the huge RSS training camp on 3 Nov 1977 in which he called the RSS a nationalist organization. The second person to lead peoples movement was V P Singh, a well known socialist who stood for secular values and the hereditary ruler of one of Indias many feudal fiefdoms of U.P. When the long-term Gandhi family loyalist declared war against the Rajiv Gandhi Government, the poor and the socio-economically backwards chanted, he is not a king but a saint, the destiny of the nation. This slogan was heard in 198889 across the Country, wherever he went he created a storm by forcefully highlighting corruption at the highest levels of governance. He aligned with all non-congress organizations, including communal forces in the fight against the Congress. His efforts did not have SP yield the desired result and his charismatic leadership could not last because the Sangh Parivar used this opportunity to strengthen its base in the Country. And in no time he slipped into the pages of history. ndia saw a new public movement from 5th April 2011 with the Gandhian social activist Anna Hazare along with most admired personalities like Kiran Bedi, Swami Agnivesh, Arvind Kejriwal and representatives of many faith-based organizations started his indefinite hunger strike demanding enactment of a comprehensive Jan Lokpal Bill against corruption. Spontaneous mass support to the clarion call of the man who lives on four hundred rupees a month grew by the day. The Union Government realised that the charisma of Anna Hazare galvanised the whole country so they tried to reach a settlement on the terms suggested by civil society. Baba Ram Dev who verbally declared support was very
quick to protest against the members of the Lokpal Bill Draft Committee. It gave him a voice to present himself as another messiah of social transformation and fight against corruption. As we analyse the unfolding of events; it was very evident that well organized NGO machineries tried to crystallize the spontaneous upsurge of people in support of AntiCorruption movement led by Hazare. RSS backed the fast by Hazare to indirectly convert the mass support of the Second Gandhi to their own organization like they did with Jayaprakash Narayan and V P Singh. Hazare refused to accept support of political organizations but accepted support by the RSS. RSS spokesperson Ram Madhav during his fast handed over the letter of support to Hazare. He shared the dais saying, We have passed a resolution. Our friends and supporters across the country have been asked to actively join Annas movement. Corruption is an evil that concerns every citizen of India. Therefore, the RSS lends its support. But Hazare did not openly send out any positive feelers to the RSS. It may be true to say that one of the major considerations of the government to somehow reach a consensus with Anna Hazare was the possibility of a takeover of his movement by a resolute Opposition and the most effective cultural organisation doing politics in the country, the RSS. So the RSS used the clout of the Yoga Guru to get the issue transferred to the Sangh Parivar. If we delve deep into the developments, the ideology of Anna Hazare is slowly vanishing into thin air of Sangh Parivar. If Anna Hazare and his team are not careful, then the great uprising of the people will become part of history.
Observing the American intervention policy for the last 50 years, it looks like the aims are regime change or voluntary subordination by the Syrian regime. This includes subordinating Syrian foreign policy and de-linking Syria from its strategic alliance with Iran and its membership within the Resistance Bloc. Syria is run by an authoritarian oligarchy which has used brute force in dealing with its citizens. They cannot be viewed as a straight forward quest for liberty and democracy. There has been an attempt by the U.S. and the E.U. to use the riots in Syria to pressure and intimidate the Syrian leadership. America, Israel and Jordan have all played a role in supporting an armed insurrection in Syria. In this regard the Al Saud seem to support both sectarian factions as well as terrorist elements which question the foundations of religious tolerance in Syria. They are good at running with the hare and hunting with the hounds. Funding has also been provided to ominous and unpopular foreign-based Syrian opposition figures, while weapons caches were smuggled from Jordan and Lebanon into Syria. The good old Ahmed Chalabis story may be reenacted in another country. The events in Syria are also tied to Iran, the longstanding strategic ally of Damascus. It is also not coincidental that Iran was included in the sanctions against Syria. The hands of the Syrian military and government have now been tied internally as a new and broader offensive is being prepared that will target both Syria and Iran. Syria is the central piece of two important energy corridors. The first links Turkey and the Caspian to Israel and the Red Sea and the second links Iraq to the Mediterranean. The surrender of Syria would mean that Washington and its allies would control these energy routes. It would also mean that the large natural gas fields off the Lebanese and Syrian coastline in the Eastern Mediterranean would be out of reach for China and would instead go to the E.U., Israel, and the U.S.
KODIMIRPAL, Chennai
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NATIONAL
Urdu Development Organisation (UDO), which has been waging a war for the past 15 years to ensure a legal and rightful place to Urdu organised its first seminar on Legal right of Urdu and governments attitude in Allahabads Dulhan Place on 19 June. When the organisation presented the result of its 15 years struggle and efforts it was very disappointing to find that the record of every political party which publishes and distributes its pamphlets before every election promising to ensure legal and rightful place to Urdu and asking for votes is very poor. No government of any party whatsoever is sincere
in giving Urdu its rightful place. Whenever a demand is made for implementing its tall promises about Urdu, it makes some excuse or the other or some complications because of which Urdu is unable to thrive. Special guest in this seminar was Zuber Farooqi, chief editor of Anwaar-e Qaum daily who had come from Kanpur. Manzar Mehdi of Faizabad was also there and the seminar was chaired by Allahabad High Courts lawyer, Ahmad Akhtar Kaleem. UDOs President Akhtar Chooriwala spoke on the aims and objectives of this seminar. UDOs secretary
Parwaaz Uloom, spoke about activities of this organisation over the 15 years and said that as many as forty cases have been filed in different courts for ensuring the rights of Urdu, the results of which are in sight. Reserve Bank of India has issued orders to all banks for cheques and forms written in Urdu to be accepted. Election Commission has also started supplying papers and documents etc. in Urdu. Telephone Department too is serious about employing Urdu translators. He said that the biggest success of UDO is that High Court (of Allahabad) also has issued orders for the employment of two Urdu translators. Manzar Mehdi said that Urdu is a language which is evident everywhere; whether it is MPs, film song or dialogue writers, men of letters or honourable judges of Supreme Court and other courts, every body is charmed by the beauty of Urdu. Nothing works properly without using Urdu. All are enamoured of Urdu, the language of peace and understanding, love, culture and civilization but no one is prepared to give it, its legal and rightful place. He also said that if governments do not give Urdu its due, even Urdu speaking people are not doing justice to Urdu and because of this Urdu is disappearing from our houses; our children are becoming unfamiliar with Urdu, bill boards of our shops and hoardings also are not found in Urdu and Urdu newspapers are not read in our houses. We consider it
been included in it, whereas from a single city, Delhi, about a dozen persons have been included. Similarly, no one from West Bengal, which is the second biggest area of Urdu as far as Urdu medium schools are concerned, has also not been included in it. There is only one person from Kashmir where all persons know Urdu and where Urdu is the official language of the state. Sheikh Alimuddin Asadis name is included who had probably never gone to a school. Many persons of this Body are those who already hold many government and other posts and who are already busy with their work and cannot devote much time for Urdu as members of this Body. ...the principal opposition party is in no way different from the ruling party with regard It is also argued against the to thought process, state of functioning and norms of political conduct. Therefore, general body that even a curso- Parliament has ceased to be the voice of the voiceless. ry view of members, excepting KN GOVINDACHARYA, BJP ideologue a few, shows that the govern- ...today secularism is in jeopardy in India. The main threat comes from the rise of Hindu ment is not interested in the militancy and its consquences not only for electoral politics, but also for the judiciary and promotion of Urdu and some of society at large. CHRISTOPHE JAFFRELOT, French scholar them can even play a negative I know its also an RSS plan, but as a settlement, trifurcation of (J&K) can be an alternative role in promoting and popularis- along with the UN mediator Sir Owen Dixons plan or General Pervez Musharrafs four-point ing Urdu language and litera- formula. ABDUL GHANI BHAT, J&K Hurriyat Conference
ture. UPA government has neither taken any concrete steps to promote Urdu language and literature nor framed any policy to give an indication that the present government is serious about promoting and extending the scope of Urdu to other areas. During the past 3 years neither the budget of NCPUL has been increased nor any policy has been framed for Urdu to move abreast of modern times like other languages. Whereas Sanskrit is being imposed on Urdu students and Rs. 100 crore have been allocated for its further promotion, no increase has been made in its (NCPUL)s budget. All this shows that by constituting the new general body, the HRD ministry has started showing its narrowmindedness by taking steps to weaken NCPUL. (NA Ansari)
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NATIONAL
The Bombay High Court is set to entertain two different but similar petitions for transferring the Mid-Days investigative editor Jyotirmoy Deys murder case to the Central Bureau of Investigation on June 21. The two petitions will be heard by the HC division bench of Justices Ranjana Desai and Ravi More, which will decide whether the case should be handed over to CBI or retained by Mumbai Police. The hearing is likely to be based on the probe status report provided by the Mumbai police on the HC order. The HC has also summoned the Maharashtra Advocate General Ravi Kadam to the court on the day of hearing. Besides, the bench allowed three more applications filed by two media organizations namely Press Club, Marathi Patrakar Parishad and S Balakrishnan, Editor of Deshbhakti Andolan Weekly, making similar plea. In his PIL, Balakrishnan has stated that according to the Vohra Committee Report submitted in 1993, the CBI had called for a fresh enquiry to dig deep into the police-underworld nexus back in 1986, but the government did not pay much heed. Earlier, veteran city advocate VP Patil, in a harsh remark
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started being placed behind bars. Naming the series of protests started by Anjum Imandar as Pune experiment, he said that echo of this meeting is being heard in the whole of Maharashtra. Referring to the protest meetings held in Mumbai in 1989 against Salman Rushdis book, he said that this meeting was not against the government but against Salman Rushdi but inspite of this, firing was resorted to, on innocent and unarmed Muslims in which 12 youths were killed. This gives an indication of the biased, conspiratorial and criminal mentality of Maharashtra police against Muslims. He said that after Bhiwandi riots it has been the regular strategy of government, specially Congress, to instigate large scale and ferocious riots against Muslims every ten years which it has successfully executed. He made an appeal to the organisers of this meeting that instead of large and meaningless meetings which are of no use, small but effective meetings should be organised. In this grand conference in which ulama of different schools of thought from all over Maharashtra had participated, some important proposals and resolutions were passed. Convenor of the conference Anjum Inamdar made a strong appeal to Vam Safe president Vaman Mishram to initiate a micro planning programme through which innocent Muslim youths could be released because government in any case is afraid of Dalits. (Translated from Urdu)
dubbed as LeT members. This proved to be totally irrelevant to the bomb blasts that actually took place in Malegaon and other places like Ajmer, Samjhauta train, etc. A part of the strategy was to wipe out the trail, which would actually lead to those in the top rung of the RSS who remained anonymous when an act of terror is executed. Sunil Joshi was believed to be boastful and he had also insulted Sadhvi Pragyasingh Thakur. This made him a liability. Therefore, an adjunct plan was hatched to take care of the possible disclosure of their secret. The same seemed to have been the case of Azhar Pervez who had either seen the person who planted the bomb at Mushawrat chowk in Malegaon on September 8, 2006 and/or was present in the Mamco bank near Perry Chowk. Around the time of the blasts of 2006 in Malegaon there was an uproar in the same bank where those who had played their role in the blasts boasted of getting a reward and some quarreled and openly complained about the amount paid. Was Pervez silenced as he was a witness to all this? His so-called suicide is not convincing. He had alerted local Muslim NGOs of these events. Before they could provide protection, he was found dead in very suspicious circumstances. It is unheard of that anyone would commits suicide by cutting both his wrists as well as the arteries of his ankles. It is more likely that those who wanted to silence him chose a deserted part of his powerloom shed and killed him to make sure that he could never speak again. He was reported to have received threatening calls as well. His relatives were very nervous and edgy as they belonged to the Ahle Hadis groups which was wrongfully blamed for these explosions and the group was under a cloud of suspicion. A reporter of an Urdu paper, who wanted to report this death, had to face a tricky situation. The bereaved family rushed to him and supplicated that he should not publish the story, because it would bring more trouble to them as the police had threatened them with dire consequences. With hind sight when Anna Hazare is asking for greater security to news reporters in
the aftermath of the murder of Jvotirmoy Dey, it seems strange that India could slide so low in human rights violations and media covering of events. But it is true that the papers by and large carried only the police version, that it was suicide. The murder of Joshi was also portrayed as the work of SIMI or of Muslims and if not them, then at the most the result of the murder of Congress leader Pyare Singh Ninama. Ultimately, the truth came out it was feared that Joshi might reveal the real faces of the high ranking leaders of the RSS and so he was bumped off. Pragyasingh Thakur went to his house before the news could reach them and secured all the incriminating evidence of RSS involvement in it. The family did not suspect any foul play, according to the niece of Joshi. They did not know that the friend in the guise of the sadhvi had turned foe of their dear one. Thus the need for a thorough investigation is evident. he so-called suicide of Shanker Shelke of Ahmednager is also related to acts of terrorism. Four days before the blasts in Malegaon, i.e., September 4, 2006, police seized 195 kilos of a mixture of RDX, and TNT from his scrapyard. First he fled the police. Then the police caught him and on the day following the Malegaon blasts, i.e., September 9, he committed suicide in police custody. The finger of suspicion as pointed out was by no other than the police commissioner Mr Shingre. He claimed that the seizure of the RDX in Ahmednager was related to Malegaon blast. It is really astounding that till today the investigation agencies have turned a deaf ear to the claim of the police commissioner! Therefore, in the light of section (8) of NIA Act it would be legitimate to inquire into the so-called suicides of Azhar Pervez and Shanker Shelke as scheduled offences. The duo had not fallen out with anyone nor did they have a boastful nature like that of Joshi. Sunil Joshi was silenced because Indresh Kumar feared that his nature would one day lead to him. Therefore, the admonition of Aseemanand to Joshi to be careful as Indresh Kumar would kill him.
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Katihar: Results of Fauqania (10th) and Maulvi (12th or intermediate) of Bihar State Madrasa Board were declared on 1 June 2011. Because of strict vigil enforced by the authorities examinations were free from copying. Fauqania results of madrasas of the state as a whole were 94.8 percent and those of Maulvi were 92.12 percent which are very encouraging and satisfactory. SIO of Katihar Units secretary, Sultan Mazhari, who gave this information about the results of Fauqania and Molvi also said that Naasra Khatoon, A.M. Rehan and Shamima Jabeen have topped (in Fauqania) in the whole state and in Molvi, Muhammad Salik has topped. In addition to good results of Bihar State Madrasa Board examination, another welcome news, as per newspaper reports, is that large number of nonMuslim boy and girl students (mostly Hindus) have appeared in these examinations and secured very good positions. Thirty students in Fauqania and sixteen students in Molvi who have topped in these examinations belong to educated and well-off Hindu families. Among non-Muslim students, Sanjay Kumar has secured the top position in Molvi examination by securing 893 marks out of 1000 whereas among girls Anjali Raj topped with 805/1000 marks. Again, it is the girls who have bagged the maximum number of top positions. Among the 12 non-Muslim students who secured high marks, 10 are Hindu girls. In the Molvi examination five girls (all non-Muslims) are in the list of top ten. According to Mustafa Husain Mansoori, secretary of Bihar State Madrasa Board Examination, Sanjay Kumar wants to pursue Aalim degree (which is equivalent to B.A.) course. Mansoori said that students from non-Muslim communities have been opting for madrasa education mainly because of large opportunities of jobs for Urdu teachers created by Nitish government. Nitish government has appointed about 2 lakh teachers in the past two years, including many jobs of Urdu teachers. Many among non-Muslim students of madrasas want to improve their academic record and to get job of teachers, others do so far the love of Urdu. As per Bihar government rules, there should be one teacher for every 40 students and an Urdu teacher for every 10 students under Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan. This has created a large number of vacancies for this post. But unfortunately, Muslim students are not taking much advantage of these opportunities. (NA Ansari)
Bihar State Madrasa Boards 10th and 12th class results above 90%
or six decades, Muslims of UP, who have the largest numeric presence in this north Indian state, have been on the lowest rung of every indicator of human development. Health, literacy, education, employment, child mortality, malnutrition, land ownership etc, until the Congress-led UPA government woke up to the findings of Justice Rajender Sachar report, and thus, PM Manmohan Singh ordered 90 minority concentrated districts to be studied and finally a survey was ordered on them. Twenty one of them, from across the nation, happen to be in UP and 19 of them have been handled by Lucknows Giri Institute of Development and Studies. A paper prepared by pooling in all the data has been brought out by GIDS director AK Singh along with his research associate Muhammed Tauheed Alam. They have tried to squeeze data spread over more than a thousand pages into a small booklet to showcase what ails the second largest majority in UP. The booklet has 49 charts comparing Hindu and Muslim data based on socio-economic indicators like literacy, female literacy, work participation and female participation along with indicators of basic amenities like the percentage of households with pucca houses, safe drinking water, electricity and the availability of toilets etc. Thus, the 19 districts were divided into three regions. The western region had Bhagpat, Badaun, Bareily, Bijnaur, Bulandshahr, JP Nagar, Moradabad,
A sample survey of the socio-economic conditions of Muslims and Hindus in Uttar Pradesh shows that Muslims are lagging behind on all development indices... It remains to be seen how the state government is going to respond to this survey...
Muzaffarnagar, Pilibhit, Rampur, Saharanpur and Shahjehanpur. The central region had Barabanki, Lucknow and Lakhimpur Kheri while the eastern region had Balrampur, Bahraich, Shravasti and Siddhartnagar. The survey was conducted in 30 villages of each identified district and from each village 30 households on the basis of religion were selected. In all, 17,076 rural households were surveyed out of which 11,493 belonged to Hindus and 5191 to Muslims. The whole exercise was completed between Dec. 2007 and Jan. 2008 and finally a working paper was released in April 2011. According to the findings, 85.18 % had chosen Hindi as their first language and 6.19% chose Urdu, the average household size of Hindus was 5.87 while that of Muslims 6.61, unemployment amongst Hindus is 1.04% while Muslim unemployment is 1.46%, the number of Hindus self-employed are 42.1% while Muslim self employed make up 35.7%, the non-agricultural Hindu labour is 33.5% while that of Muslims is 46.8%. 47.8% of Hindus earn their livelihood as manual labour while 56.05% Muslims earn through manual labour. Hindu casual workers are 47.24% while Muslims are 53.64% in the same category. The high incidences of underemployment became evident as among Hindus 207 and among Muslims the figure was 215. Migration was more visible amongst Muslims as 8.9% Muslims migrated while 7.5% of Hindu family members migrated to other cities for employment. 98% of both the communities had their male members opting for migration. Muslim migrants under the age of 20 is 27.46% while among Hindus it is 23.10% on the migration scale. While 81.99% of all migrants were engaged in agricultural labour, 4.6% of Hindus and 6.5% of Muslims were engaged as manual labour. Migration, as a plausible alternative, was found to be an upward phenomenon for both the communities. 64% Hindus and 49% Muslims undertook migration. Muslims migrating to other states make up 39.83 % as compared to Hindus at 24.59%. Most of this migration was to urban areas in other states. Thus, Muslims as it can very well be seen are under greater economic pressure to migrate as their lands and assets are meagre. The ownership of land paints quite a dismal picture too as 46.41% Muslims are landless as against 29.38% Hindus, The land owned is smaller in size in the case of Muslims as only 0.19% Muslims owned land upto 10 acres or above while 0.73 % Hindus possess the same. The average value of land per household was Rs 4.49 lakhs for Hindus and Rs 3.56 lakhs for Muslims. The livestock indictor, as an important source of income, found Muslims lagging too. The Muslim household has 0.51 milch
animals while 0.82 Hindus have the same. The other grave picture is that 26.4 % Hindus and 33.4% of Muslim households do not possess any such livestock. In over 60% cases, the value of livestock owned was less than Rs. 30,000. It was also found that the annual income per Hindu household was Rs 37,361 and that of Muslims is Rs 35,075. In per capita terms the income was Rs 6,365 for Hindus and Rs 5,306 for Muslims. Probing the sources of income further, the survey found that agriculture contributed 41.94% to the income of Hindus and only 29.42 % for Muslims. The wage income contributed 29% among Hindus and 41% among Muslims, thus making it clear that Muslims overall dependence is on wages, whether its source was agricultural or non-agricultural. The expenditure patterns found out that Hindus spent 47.3% on food items while Muslims spent 49.5% of their income. Hindus were found to be spending 4% on education while Muslims spent only 2.9%. The indebtedness criteria figured that the outstanding loan per Hindu household was Rs 20,318 and that of Muslims was Rs. 16,774. A much higher proportion of Hindus (44.94%) had taken loans for productive purposes compared to only 32.89% of Muslims for the same. A greater economic distress can, therefore, be easily verified on the part of Muslims in this aspect. It remains to be seen how the state government is going to respond to these findings.
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er treatment.
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Jamaat-e-Islami delegation
The UP West President of Jamaat-e-Islami-eHind Syed Muhammed Ahmed along with
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Zaheer Alam Falahi had met ADG Brij Lal, shortly after the arrests. He told us that police has substantial proofs that Khalid Muhajid had visited Kashmir and had undergone terrorist training and that Syed Muhammed police has pictures of him riding a horse. He Ahmed also had said that police would never arrest an innocent and that he could also make the delegation meet the duo but was unable to do so for legal bindings. The prosecution is yet to produce the said pictures before the court. As a matter of fact, it may be added that the issue of Khalid Mujahid and Tariq Qasmi, is being contested at two places. One before the courts, at Lucknow, Faizabad and Barabanki, and the second before RD Nimesh inquiry commission. It would therefore, be quite curious to know that confessions made by Khalid and Tariq are only in a CD and have not as yet been produced before the court. The case is being conducted these days under Lucknow Special Judge SC/ST. There is a set of 29 witnesses to be produced by the prosecution and none have as yet appeared. While in Faizabad and Barabanki (sixth witness in progress) the witnesses are getting cross examined. More interestingly, there is no public witness to be produced before the court and all witnesses are to be only produced from the prosecution side before the commission. Three of the public witnesses have said that the incidence is of 2009. One prosecution witness has said that he had seen only one man being draped in a chador and taken away by police in a car. There is no mention of the second man. This is how the police so unsuccessfully engage to hide its follies, said Shoiab. He also said that the prosecution witnesses are giving wayward accounts of Dec 22, 2007. Some say that all of the recovery was packed in a bag, some say that recovered articles and bag were sealed, some say that bag was not sealed but recovered articles only were sealed and some dont remember as to what were the recovered articles. There has been a set of 47 witnesses from the prosecution and the same number of witnesses from the defence side. High profile police officials have also appeared. Former DGP Vikram Singh appeared before the commission only to say that he does not remember anything and the same was parroted by ADG Brij Lal who appeared on March 30, 2011. Those yet to appear are Amitabh Yash, Manoj Kumar Jha, Chiranjeev Nath Sinha, S Anand and Akhil Kumar etc. The commission was formed on March 14, 2009 for six months and has undergone four extensions so far. Ironically, this probe was ordered out of only political compulsions as Mayawati had offered a face saving device to Akbar Ahmed Dumpy who had contested a parliamentary by-election in 2008 from Azamgarh, which he won and then lost in 2009. The travails of Khalid Mujahid are a sordid tale as he was married only two months prior to his arrest. His wife has divorced him, while Tariq Qasmis daughter today is around four years, as she was only six months when he was arrested. His children Zuha (10), Waqas (8), Shifa (6) and Huda (4) are clueless and devastated by their fathers absence. They are yet to reconcile to the reality. Tariqs father runs a dry cleaning laundry in Dubai. The duo, even if released, will perhaps always encounter dreadful nightmares and it is still incomprehensible as to how much of psychological damage, beyond repair, has been done to them. Would they ever have a peaceful sleep? Perhaps never! observed Muhammed Shoaib. Shoaib further adds that today the CM can order to expedite the hearing of the commission. The report can be made public and this probe can end in a month but it lacks the political will. Remember that this probe was ordered much before Hindu terrorists like Aseemanand and Pragya Singh were to come to the limelight. Samjhauta Express, Nanded, Malegaon, Mecca Masjid, Goa etc were done by Hindu terrorists but Muslims were apprehended for them. This practice is a tested policy of the apartheid state of Israel and Indian intelligence agencies have got their tutorials from the Israelis. What surprises everyone is why were the triple blasts of UP not probed with Hindu terrorists kept into frame as well, when Vishwanath Singh (shade no. 20) and Mahesh Prasad Pandey (shade no. 4), had blasts under their seats and both were absent! The former is President of BJP unit of Faizabad and the latter its Vice President, Shoaib asks. The writer is an advocate at Lucknow High Court, Lucknow.
...torture continued for four hours. One group was followed by another who would abuse the former and would offer tea and pan masala in order to anyhow make me concede to their demand: to admit to something which I had never committed. CO S Anand came and said that if I did not budge, then my mother and wife would be brought and insulted before me. I was given electric shocks, made nude and beaten, made to drink urine and wine and dirty things were inserted into my mouth. CO S Anand got a script prepared which I was made to memorise by Inspector Sharma
I, Tariq Qasmi, age around 32 years, son of late Riyaz Ahmed, village Sammopur, Rani Ki Sarai, district Azamgarh, UP, an accused in the case no. 1891/2007 under sections 121, 121-A, 122/124A. 325 of Indian Penal Code, under section 4/5 Explosive Substances Act, under sections 16, 18, 20, 23 of Unlawful Tariq Qasm Activities Prevention Act, on Dec 22, 2007. The case against me is patently false and fabricated, and it has been made to corroborate my illegal arrest on Dec 12, 2007 by STF. I and Khalid Mujahid have been shown to be arrested from Barabanki which is false as I had been already under the custody of UP STF. On Dec 12, 2007, I was going towards Azhar Unani Clinic on my Splendor motorbike no. UP-5N 2943. On reaching Sarai Meer, my bike was overtaken by a white Tata Sumo car and was asked to stop. As I stopped and was parking my bike, about nine-ten persons overpowered me, removed my helmet and bundled me into the Tata Sumo car while two had held my bike. I shouted and was beaten hard for that. Those who overheard my cries were shepherds and they tried to chase the car but a roadways bus came inbetween and meanwhile the car accelerated its speed. I was blind-folded and on asking as to where was I being taken, I was beaten instead. I started to repeat the kalma loudly, from which I was stopped. I was then told that the persons were from UP STF. I asked them to carry me to a police station for any questioning to which the team leader BK Singh thundered that there have been orders for an encounter of him. BK Singh was getting frequent calls on his multiple mobile sets and was also engaged into calling from his other phones. I was taken to an isolated place in Benares and by the same evening BK Singh brought me to Lucknow. The Tata Sumo car was driven by Jaswant Singh. In Lucknow, I was introduced as a terrorist to the policemen who came to interrogate me, a claim which I contradicted. I told them that I am a nationalist and a simple medical practitioner. They asked me if I had studied from Darul Uloom Deoband to which I said yes and was abused by them. They said that I had studied from there and yet I was not calling myself a terrorist. I said that terrorism is not taught in Deoband as it is a place where good individuals are made. This made them to beat me further. I could come to know later that the one who ordered my beating was a DIG. I was then beaten at intervals, not made to sleep and was not let to offer prayers. The next morning, the DIG came and asked me certain
questions which I could never have threatened us to continue with the imagined. Some officers questioned memorised script. Faizabad CO Rajesh me in English and I answered them Pandey came and took marks of our in Urdu and this made CO S Anand hands and feet on blank paper, recordto become a translator. On the quesed our confession and then handed us tion of any foreign tour, I answered to ASO Barabanki. SOG took us to that once I had performed Hajj (at Barabanki jail where we signed on Mecca) in 2003 and once had been blank papers. We were produced to Umra (to Mecca) in 2005. Then I before CJM, Barabanki and sent to jail was questioned if Jehad is being where we were very severely beaten by done in Hindustan to which I did not jail inmates. It made it impossible for us answer. I was asked if I had waged to even walk. On Dec 24, 2007, we a Jehad to which I answered no. were produced before Magistrate in Thereafter, that officer did not return. Lucknow jail where we narrated our This torture continued for four woes and opposed the remand applicahours. One group was followed by tion. The magistrate refused our plea another who would abuse the former and STF took us on a remand. and would offer tea and pan masala From that time onwards we were to in order to anyhow make me conbe routinely tortured, not allowed to cede to their demand: to admit to sleep, legs outstretched, our hair something which I had never complucked as teams from Hyderabad, mitted. CO S Anand came and said Rajasthan, Gujarat, Mumbai, Delhi and that if I did not budge, then my mothBengal came to interrogate us. We just er and wife would be brought and parroted the script but told the reality to insulted before me. I was given elecDelhi and Rajasthan police which tric shocks, made nude and beaten, became known to Amitabh Yash. That made to drink urine and wine and resulted in making us nude and beaten dirty things were inserted into my by a belt, petrol poured into the bruises FIR lodged with the police mouth. CO S Anand got a script preand anus, and this continued until Jan after Tariq Qasmis abduction pared which I was made to memo2, 2008 when we were sent to jail. On rise by Inspector Sharma, Darogha Jan 8, 2008 CO Faizabad Rajesh Shukla and OP Pandey. During this Pandey came along with a magistrate time DIG, ASP Amitabh Yash and and he sent us on further remand. This ADG Brij Lal visited the place. time I was kept along with Khalid On the night of Dec 18, 2007 IG, Mujahid, Sajjad-ur-Rehman (who has DIG, ASP Amitabh Yash, ASP Akhil been discharged of his role in Lucknow Kumar, IG Zone and ADG Brij Lal blasts by the court on April 14, 2011), interrogated me. Brij Lal contended Muhammed Akhtar (another Kashmiri) that the fruit had been made ready. where the torture ordeal went uninterThe next day, I was beaten less and rupted for ten days. also could sleep for a while. On Dec We were made to touch a pencil 19, 2007 some officers came and I battery which had an oily substance, was told to repeat the script. then a 150 mls of Kewra bottle was Thinking that higher officers (DGP given, feet and hand prints were taken Vikram Singh) would do justice, I on a blank paper along with our signatold them my real story but Vikram tures. Our hair were plucked and Singh threatened me to speak like a wrapped into paper and our names parrot. I was taken into another were written on them respectively. On room where I was mercilessly beatJan 17, 2007 Amitabh Yash took me to en. I was again put before DGP and a separate room where he offered me parroted the script which was audio to become a prosecution-witness or Wall poster published by the family and videotaped. else would make me stink in jail forever of Tariq Qasm after his abduction On Dec 21, 2007 officers from as on the basis of fabricated evidences. Delhi, Gujarat and Hyderabad came He said: the courts would just comply, to interrogate me. The Gujarat one as courts work on our (police) direcsaid that I had been frequenting tives. Rajesh Pandey even once Gujarat and that my people live announced that I had become a prosethere while they scrutinised my cution-witness which I denied. This mobile phone. The Delhi one said that I have been visiting Delhi made him abuse me and say that on the next remand I would be quite often and that I am related to terrorists. All the officers put straight. On Jan 18, 2007 we were sent to jail but the STF showed a typed paper saying that the investigation from the personnel kept on visiting to threaten us. arrested terrorists led them to my number. I answered that my When I was picked up on Dec 12, 2007 I had Rs. 11,000 in number is written on my medical prescription pad and also has my inside pocket, around Rs 700 is a pocket of my bag, my drivbeen advertised in a newspaper, as such it can be accessed by ing license, PAN card, my bikes registration, insurance and polanyone. I also told that Khalid had been my patient and is also lution papers, a paper of an account of medicines, a diary which my friend. Later, we were huddled in a car and by 4 am, the cav- had details of household accounts and some poetic verses writalcade of cars led us to Barabanki. ten inside. This was all taken by the STF and I was asked by Between 6 am and 7 am we were unloaded at a station as a them to write something in English which I had refused as I am sound of a train was heard. We were taken to a government not well-versed with that language. On Dec 11, 2007 one man guest house where impressions of our feet and hands were called Neeraj Pandey had come to my clinic at the pretext of his taken. S Anand, OP Pandey and Neeraj Pandey continuously uncles illness and asked about my clinic timings.
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the encounter of Sadiq Jamal by Gujarat police. Justice M R Shah said that he was handing over the case to the CBI because it involved senior police officers of Gujarat. The court order follows a petition filed by the brother of Sadiq Jamal demanding CBI probe. The encounter is being investigated by the city crime branch. The encounter was led by D G Vanzara who is in jail for the sensational Sohrabuddin encounter and is also allegedly involved in some other encounters in Gujarat. The Judge observed there could be apprehensions of bias in investigations because of the involvement of senior officers of Gujarat police. The Court has asked Crime branch to register a fresh FIR and hand over the case to CBI. Justice Shah has asked the CBI to complete investigations at the earliest preferably within six month.
were neither terrorists nor had they infiltrated into our side via Sona Pindi post of LoC, as was reported by the Army. The intention behind all this drama was to gain rewards and undue promotion by projecting that a heroic operation had been conducted by the forces, said the SHRC judgment. The MLA said that since SHRC is a constitutional body, its judgment should be implemented by the state government in letter and spirit to promote peoples confidence in the system. (Saiyed Danish)
MG NEWS DESK
ISSUES
From the point of view of the Muslims of the sub-continent, a United States of South Asia will open a new horizon for friendly and peaceful cooperation among all the states of the region which will eventually emerge as one of key poles of world politics and economy. Muslims of the Sub-continent will then enjoy a special position because to the west, to the north and to the east of India are regions of Muslim majority and they will have the historic task of serving as bridges to them...
the Muslims form 30 to 40 % of the population continue to face hostility, distrust and under-development. They are discriminated and short-changed when it comes to government service, access to higher or professional education or to bank credit or distribution of the fruits of development at the operational level or even the formation of smaller districts and blocks. Cost of Partition: On one hand, Pakistan has neither seen the dawn of an Islamic state, nor given any substantial impetus to the further development of Indo-Muslim culture, because its roots, whether the centres of Sufism, or of Urdu literature, or theological seminaries, or even architectural heritage like the Taj Mahal, the Qutub Minar or the educational centres like the Aligarh Muslim University or Jamia Millia Islamia all remain in India, though under an ever present shadow of majoritarian control and Hinduisation. Pakistan has not been embraced by the Muslim world. Perhaps the Muslims of united India would have been better received. Yes, Muslim Indians continue to be silently dubbed as Pakistanis and perceived increasingly as terrorists. They live in fear; their mohallas are under close observation by the state. They are occasionally targeted by majoritarian violence; the last genocide occurred in Gujarat in 2002. But their population continuously grows and today they constitute roughly 15 % of the national population. Unfortunately without proportional representation in central or state legislatures or in administration or even in the Panchayti Raj institutions, they do not enjoy real power. And when they speak of discrimination, they are advised to leave India and go to Pakistan if they are not happy. Balance Sheet for Muslims of the Sub-continent: What Muslims lost in 1947 is incalculable and the possibilities of their development have been stunted by the very existence of Pakistan. Over the last 60 years, Muslim Indians have suffered and survived, they have proved their resilience, a capacity to rise from the ashes to build a community, which is to quote Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, is as proud of being Indian as it is of being Muslim. As India develops Muslim Indians are also developing though not in the same measure. But an objective look at cities, towns, qasbas or even villages will show, they have made marked progress educationally, economically and socially. There are, no
doubt, pockets of backwardness and deprivation. The virus of Hindu majoritarianism has entered the blood stream of the nation. But secular forces would not let them deny constitutional equality and social justice to the Muslim Indians. Some may be averse to Muslims, participating as Muslims in the political transformation which is touching every identifiable and conscious backward class and weaker section belonging to the Shudras, the Achhuts and the Adivasis who are openly and loudly demanding their share in the assets, resources and wealth of the nation, Muslims form part of this social upsurge and, therefore, cannot be totally ignored. Today Muslim reservation has become a universal demand of the Muslim community cutting across languages and baradaris. The Sachar Report has established that Muslims form a Backward Class and are therefore eligible for effective measures of positive affirmation e.g., reservation which is what the subsequent Mishra Commission recommended. The Reservation Movement has secured the support of most of the political parties, at least in principle, but this is how political ideas progress and the day is not far when the Muslim Indians would be duly represented in all spheres of life as well as legislatures. Let us record that the Freedom Movement failed to secure an understanding between the Hindus and the Muslims. At one step the Congress was prepared to grant reservation for Muslims even in the legislatures. But it was not prepared to accept any safeguards like weightage or separate electorates. In retrospect, it appears that by sticking to their demand for separate electorate, the Muslim leadership widened the political gulf to make it unbridgeable. Today Muslims are prepared to accept reservation under joint electorate. Partition was thus ill-conceived and became a bad bargain for the Muslims in the Muslim minority provinces of British India. May it turned out to be a tragedy. It also continues to cast an ominous shadow over their future because the anti-Muslim forces in India, without any rhyme or reason, continue to consider the present generation of Muslims as responsible for the creation of Pakistan and look upon them as Pakistanis or Pakistani sympathizers and, in any situation of conflict between the two states, as political aliens and at least fifth columnists. The Hindu Right has neither forgotten the Partition nor forgiven the Muslims nor given up the quest of assimilation under Hindu Rashtravad. But a majority of Hindus do not belong to the Hindu Right. From the point of view of the Muslims of the sub-continent, a United States of South Asia will open a new horizon for friendly and peaceful cooperation among all the states of the region which will eventually emerge as one of key poles of world politics and economy. Muslims of the Sub-continent will then enjoy a special position because to the west, to the north and to the east of India are regions of Muslim majority and they will have the historic task of serving as bridges to them. The mistake that the Muslim Indians made during 1940-47 can be partially mitigated, though not blotted out of history and memory, if they contribute all their energy, resources and influence to the building of the United States of South Asia. (Concluded)
The seditious act of terrorism: Samjhauta Exp Uplift of Muslims in W. Bengal made it look like all the Muslims were just jihadists and were M K
USTAFA HAN
REJONDER
he most notable feature of the chargesheet in the Samjhauta case is that it strikes a chord in the heart of the people of the country irrespective of their identity that Indians of all hue and colour belong to one nation and one nation alone. And that Pakistan is a different country though not named here. It also reveals the undeniable truth that the bombers of the train were motivated to attack the predominantly Muslim passengers but Hindus were also killed. Furthermore, the planned attacks on Mecca mosque, Ajmer and Malegaon were aimed at Muslims of India for what the jihadist terrorists were supposed to be doing in the case of Akshardham, Raghunath and Sankat Mochan temples. This is borne out by each of the capital lettered word the chargesheet mentions: criminal conspiracy with an intent to threaten Unity, Integrity, Security and Sovereignty of India and to strike terror in the people of India and a foreign country. But its implication is that the conspirators of the RSS do not share the same mainstream view of the spirit of nationality as revealed in the chargesheet. Had this been the case, they would not have targeted fellow countrymen in acts of terrorism just because they follow a different religion. Muslims of India do not share the jihadist fervor of the kind that is so visible in a foreign country as the chargesheet calls Pakistan. Therefore, seditious act of terrorism squarely fits on the RSS and its conglomerate for it is they who have excluded minorities like Muslims from the kind of cultural nationalism they advocate. These are far-reaching meanings of the citizenry of this country at odd with the ground reality of the right wing groups. The chargesheet mentions Akshardham temple, Raghunath mandir, and Sankat Mochan temple where jihadist terrorists struck. The overwhelming number of Muslims had nothing to do with such attacks. They had no affinity with anyone who was involved in such attacks, be they Muslims or otherwise. What went amiss was that Muslims were outright blamed and a witch hunt was mounted against them. This
prone to terrorism. The truth turned out to be quite opposite of it. The RSS and others of the same inclination have never reconciled to the fact that peaceful coexistence requires equal respects and trust for all. At a critical juncture of history, two persons of eminence have written what is the crux of the matter. President KR Narayanan remarked on July 24, 2002 that the Hindus who formed the majority (need) to speak out in the traditional spirit of the Hindu religion. Then he underscored that India must deal with its Muslim minority in a civilized manner, ensuring them security and the right of citizens in a democratic state. This was not the case in the arrests of innocents and their languishing in jails years on end on false charges, in the pogroms that took place in Gujarat. Narayanan quotes Prime Minister Nehru who addressed the chief ministers when he said that the Muslim community was so large in numbers that they cannot, even if they want to, go anywhere else. They have got to live in India. That is a basic fact about which there can be no argument. Whatever the provocation from Pakistan, and whatever the indignities and horrors inflicted on non-Muslims there, we have got to deal with the minority in a civilized manner. What happened in Indias war on terror in the last decade is far from what Nehru wanted in 1947. That is what is needed more now than the case was in 1947 excepting the border crossing and the scale of murder and mayhem in the name of Partition. Immediately in the aftermath of the attacks on Samjhauta Express, Muslims were blamed and several members of the community were arrested. The investigation by the Haryana police was obstructed by the lack of cooperation on the part of the BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh government and the strange logic of the then national security advisor. As far as prayaschit, deep remorse, is concerned, Aseemanand felt it once but took a somersault. Indresh Kumar who gave Rs. 50, 000 for the Samjhauta attack does not feel it at all. If the RSS had a modicum of it, it would have surrendered Indresh Kumar to the police! It is still not too late.
This refer to the write-up in your issue of 16-30 June 2011, on Chief Minister Mamta Bannerjis announcement on Urdu as the second official language in some districts of West Bengal, along with other minority languages in the state. Considering that Urdu is the mother tongue of a very small section of the Muslims of West Bengal, who are all educationally and therefore economically very backward, the Mushawarat has requested the Chief Minister to establish, to begin with, government primary schools of quality in all Muslim villages and urban localities under the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan and also to recognize and sanction grant-in-aid to the Muslim educational institutions established by the Community at various levels. Both these urgent needs of the Muslim community were totally ignored by the Left government. The Mushawarat has also requested the Chief Minister to convert the Government Senior and High Madarsas in the state as they are really schools with Islamic studies as an optional subject, to regular secondary and higher secondary school & also to reserve at least 20 % seats for the Muslims in higher & technical education. Both these steps will bring the Muslims into the mainstream of education & profession and enable them to find their due place in Government and private service. The Muslim community of West Bengal has noted that although the Left government had announced 10 % reservation for Muslim in government jobs, it did not touch education and the procedure adopted was so complicated & cumbersome that there has been no substantial entry of Muslims in government jobs. Considering that the Muslim community in West Bengal comprises nearly 27 % of the state population and is the most backward Muslim community of any state in the country, the Mushawarat had also requested the Left Government to declare the entire Muslim community as a Backward Class excluding those who belong to the creamy layer or those who have an annual family income above the state average. This may be done by an Executive Order, & not by processing individual applications, as the Late PM, V P Singh, had done when he implemented Mandal recommendation. Most Muslims of West Bengal have descended from converts from Hindu lower castes & still have the same vocation. Also in West Bengal the 50 % reservation quota remains unutilized. The AIMMM requests that the State Backward Classes Commission should take up this question. It has been noted that in view of the importance that the Chief Minister, attaches to urgent uplift of the Muslim community, she has kept the portfolios of Minority Affairs in her hands. It is hoped that as Minister for Minority Affairs, she will ensure that the Muslim minority gets its due share in the benefits ofall Central & Centrally Sponsored & State development programmes in the Social Sector. I suggest that these points be stressed by community leaders too when they meet her. SYED SHAHABUDDIN
ISSUES
M.F. Husains work spanned a long period, evolving with time and deeply rooted in the rich traditions of Indias, plural, diverse Hinduism. He was confronted as to why he did not pick up Islamic motifs for his work to which he replied that Islam has calligraphy alone and human figures are not drawn in Islamic tradition. He was more in the news from the 1980s, with the rise of sectarian politics, as the intolerant Hindutva groups started attacking his painting-exhibitions regularly. The allegation was that he is hurting the sensibilities of Hindus...
communities in any way, and that he is well within the limits of his artistic freedom. Husain by this time was quite old, he was offered security by the state but he declined to be imprisoned in a cordon of security and decided to take Qatari citizenship to continue his work in his own interrupted and unhindered way, while maintaining that the Passport is a piece of paper and he remained an Indian at heart. He also missed India but it was a difficult/strong choice, to do and carry on his work in an unhindered way or to face the physical and mental wrath of the Hindu fundamentalists. For that matter he was not spared by Muslim Fundamentalists also, who had objected to his film, Meenaxi: A Tale of Three cities on the charge that it blasphemes the Koran. As such Husain probably represents the best of Indian syncretic traditions and that too, with roots in Hindu mythology and culture may be much deeper than those of the people who kept attacking him. He was born in the Maharashtrian town of Pandharpur; a place of pilgrimage for the Warkaris, the followers of the great Marathi Saint Tukaram. He belongs to Sulaimani sect
Senior OBC BJP leader Gopinath Munde, miffed with the central leadership over some issues, met party colleagues Ananth Kumar and Venkaiah Naidu in Delhi while his arch-rival Nitin Gadkari stayed away. The meeting is widely believed to have failed to generate relief in the Maharashtra BJP state unit as Munde hardly looked satisfied with the proposed patch-up formula. According to the deal brokered by the old guard LK Advani and Venkaiah Naidu, Madhu Chavan, who was appointed Mumbai BJP chief with Gadkaris support will get the marching orders and be relocated in the state unit. Chavans appointment had upset Munde who wanted his candidate Prakash Mehta for the post. But the stability of the Gadkari-Munde accord is doubtful as Chavan is not replaced by Mehta or Mundes other candidate Raj Purohit but by Gopal Shetty, the bi-product of a shaky compromise between the belligerent camps, who has been reportedly handpicked by Ram Naik and Vinod Tawde. Thus, by tactfully rejecting Mundes bid for the Mumbai post, senior leaders made it clear that crucial posts will remain subject to their discretion. The immediate cause of Mundes displeasure was the appointment of Vikas Matkari, one of Gadkaris favourites, as Pune BJP president instead of Yogesh Gogawale, who happened to be Mundes candidate for the post. Munde accused Gadkari of applying coercive tactics by rejecting the consensus for Gogawale and also taking the party hierarchy for a ride by turning a deaf ear to Venkaiah Naidus ratification of the same consensus. Earlier too, Munde felt humiliated when Vinod Tawade, another Gadkari candidate, was appointed as the new opposition leader of the upper house of the state assembly. Soon it became clear that with losses were deliberately inflicted upon him by Gadkari. Gone are the days when he enjoyed near absolute power in BJP Maharashtra during the tenure of his brother-in-law Pramod Mahajan. Despite the talks, Munde still fears that he is being sidelined in the state unit since the ascension of Gadkari as party national president. Also, Munde feels that it is the return of Uma Bharti in the party which has further encouraged Gadkari to marginalize him in the party ranks. Uma Bharti is believed to be a step ahead of Munde with her vociferous and charismatic image in the party. The Munde episode has revealed his indispensability in the party, the deep entrenchment of caste consciousness within its ranks. The reason behind the pampering of Munde is his stalwart image among the OBC voters of Maharashtra who constitute a whooping 54% of the total population of the state. On top of it, 20 out of 46 MLAs of the party belong to the Munde camp. BJP is also aware of the fact that Brahmin politics in the state cannot ensure even fringe benefits to the party. Both Gadkari and Munde have jointly shared BJPs fortunes in the state but now with Gadkari assuming a national role, the party has its hopes tied to Mundes goodwill. Mundes loss will be directly proportional to BJPs further downfall.
SAIYED DANISH
ANALYSIS
Speaking Out
N I L O FA R S U H R AWA R D Y
cern them. This is also reflected by a recent increase in websites as well as blogs focussing on news regarding Muslims. Repeated assertions made by Muslims themselves on issues concerning them may at one point or other compel political as well as administrative authorities to start paying greater attention to the same. Against this backdrop, credit must be given to the concerned Muslims, their respected organizations as well as avenues for conveying their messages, including the media, for having reached this stage. Here lies the complex question: is it possible for these people to move further? Equally relevant is the need to deliberate on whether their concerns and deliberations can be viewed as reflective of those affecting the entire Indian Muslim community? The answer to both questions is one: not really. Naturally, one is prompted to counter this answer and ask why? Well, how far have the respected Muslim leaders and organizations really moved from making their voices heard on issues that concern them? While their efforts for having reached this stage must be duly appreciated, it is equally relevant to deliberate on whether they can move further. If not, why? On one hand, there is no denying that concerned Muslims have done their best to accomplish what they desire. But, they are still quite a distance from achieving their goals. They have not refrained from approaching courts, turning to media and also holding demonstrations, etc, when need be. On their part, the political authorities have not been totally oblivious of their demands. In fact, they cannot afford to ignore the Muslim voice, given the increasing importance of Muslim votes. But this is it. Years and even decades have passed with there still being only dim hope of Ayodhya-issue being resolved, of the Muslims who have been targeted in fake encounters and communal violence, particularly Gujarat carnage, having received justice and fair
compensation. Issues such as these may be viewed as just a minor illustration of limited reach of voices raised by Indian Muslims and their organizations. To a considerable degree, the weakness lies in the Indian system which is responsible for not letting the Muslim voice move further than a point. In addition to voicing concern on what afflicts them, it is time for the Muslims to start paying more attention to lacuna in the system that appears to restrict solution to their problems. Do the Indian Muslims need a strong leader to ensure that their grievances are duly addressed? ndia is home to too many Muslim leaders and Muslim parties to probably allow any one or even a few to emerge as important national leaders and as representatives of the entire Indian Muslim community. Also, the Indian Muslims have not yet reached the stage of solving discords among themselves, be it Shia-Sunni, Deobandi-Barelvi, conservative-modern, different political affiliations and so forth. Against this backdrop, even if some importance is given to the issue of resolving the leadership crisis, it is likely to be preceded by discord among numerous sects and sub-sects of Muslims and also their organizations. While Indian Muslims have definitely come a long way in becoming assertive about making their voice heard, now they need to reassess their priorities and move towards ensuring action. Rather than remain convinced by political rhetoric and assurances given through formation of commissions and committees, greater importance needs to be given to results achieved. As for example, is development of minority-dominated areas given the same importance as that of majority-dominated? If not, why? Even this stage can be reached through collective action taken by several Muslim leaders and organizations, without being blocked by the issue of leadership-crisis!
nion Cabinets approval of the National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID), a dream project of Home Minister P Chidambaram has once again raised questions about the citizens right to privacy. The proposal for the system believed to be an effective anti-terror mechanism, originally conceptualised in December 2009 after the 26/11 attack in Mumbai, was pending with the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) since February. Most of the western countries, from where this project has been copied, have strict privacy laws that India lacks so far. It is now a matter of great concern whether in the absence of a strong privacy law, the project may end up providing a lethal arm to a mad man. At one stage, the NATGRID appeared to be dying without even starting, as many recruited for it started quitting and even its chief executive officer Captain Raghu Raman (47), indicated putting in his papers as he found the project not materialising. Chidambaram had personally picked Raghu Raman in December 2009 from Mahindra and Mahindra, where he headed the group providing corporate risk mitigation services to head the new agency with a hefty pay-packet of Rs 1.50 lakhs on an 18month contract which was to come to an end last month. Raghu Raman had quit the Indian Army in 1998 and jumped into the private sector to provide security to commercial data on computer networks. Only last month he was given a 3-month extension and asked to wait for the governments final decision. He was quite upset as the bureaucrats who had blocked the rank of secretary to him kept needling him for drawing a fat salary that was almost double theirs and doing hardly any work. Raghu Raman has been, however, the most busy man conceptualising the working of the agency from scratch and facing stumbling blocks and bureaucratic objections at every stage. Once he was totally exasperated when the Finance Ministry shot down his proposal to have the complete data of savings bank account holders of all banks on the ground that it would breach privacy of their customers that the banks are supposed to provide. Chidambaram came to his rescue after he pointed out that it would be impossible to trace the money trail of terrorists if the bank accounts are not accessible to NATGRID. A decision was ultimately taken that the NATGRID or the district magistrate can snoop on the bank accounts with the prior permission of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). NATGRID will be linking up all data bases, be they a bank account, credit card transactions, an insurance policy, land or house or a telephone connection, a vehicle registration, driving licence or a passport, phone calls, rail and travel reservations within two years to provide ready information to the security and intelligence agencies at the press of a button. Private telecom operators will be required to link up their databases with NATGRID as they have the biggest available verified data of customers that come in handy for the agencies working on any terrorist activity. The Home Ministry acknowledged the sensitivity and secrecy of the data to be assembled by the grid in its presentation to the CCS, pointing out a special anti-leakage mechanism designed by Raghu Raman. Also, access to the data will be given only to selected 11 authorised agencies. These agencies include the Intelligence Bureau, external intel-
ligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), Military Intelligence, Revenue Intelligence, National Intelligence Agency, National Security Council, Enforcement Directorate and Central Bureau of Investigation. Personnel from these agencies will be working in NATGRID liaison with parent organisations and help them use the data on the grid. The presentation given for securing administrative and financial sanction envisages a total workforce of 290, including 98 outside consultants identified by the CEO, to be tasked with linking various databases in four phases in the next two years. Raghu Ramans plan is not to put the entire raw data on NATGRID but have only abstracted and approved information that will allow the agencies to quickly reach the exact information available in the raw databank through a nationwide grid. The new system is being created basically to help the government agencies combat terrorism and deal will internal security threats by generating actionable intelligence through search and retrieval from the databases. The grid will have a command centre that will work as an anti-terror hotline and will have a trans-national connect to networks with data available in other countries that is useful to keep a tab on suspects. In the first phase, NATGRID will be linking up only the databases that are available with the Centre and the crime records available with the police. Only in the second phase, the NATGRID will cross-link different pieces of information and flag tripwires that indicate some unlawful or terrorist activity is in progress or likely to take place. In this phase and onwards, NATGRID will recommend improvements of the databases and development of unconventional but highly valuable data sources like visitor records of jails and sales of materials like certain fertilisers that can be raw material for improvised explosives. Though the whole project is conceived to be implemented in four phases, the grid will start providing relevant information even while integration under these phases is in progress. Critics say that NATGRID, would largely duplicate Hyderabadbased National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) working under NSA. It was set up to augment the technical intelligence capabilities of the country, with a huge budget, manpower and technical resources. NTRO was set up for cyber security, crypto systems, strategic hardware and software development, strategic monitoring, data gathering and processing and aviation and remote sensing. However, the issue of privacy is set to generate much heat in the coming days. Though, Home Ministry document acknowledges sensitivity and secrecy of the data available on the grid by stressing that it will be available only to selected 11 government agencies and a special mechanism will prevent any leakage, there is hardly any guarantee that it would not be accessed or disclosed to unauthorized persons. Before the NATGRID begins its operation, legal protection should be guaranteed to citizens privacy. Last year, Ministry of Personnel and Grievances in association with Ministry of Law had circulated an approach paper to balance the countrys security interests and privacy concerns. But, nothing was heard, thereafter. There is need to define privacy for this purpose. The confidential personal information disclosed by any individual to government or non-government entity should not be disclosed to third parties without his consent and sufficient safeguards be adopted in processing and storing such information. (FW-Tehelka)
JPs movement for a grand temple is only focussed at the disputed site but the fact remains that Ayodhya is just another town in a state of utter neglect despite being claimed to be the birthplace of Ram. Even a little effort from these Ram bhakhts towards the development of Ayodhya could have helped change the face of the town like any other developed town and city in our country. Would Lord Ram not be pleased by that? By serving humanity they could have shown their respect and true loyalty to Ram. But over the years they have befooled people by chanting Ram, Ram to serve their vested political interests. Their Jai Shri Ram slogan was politically driven. Now after having realised that their call for Ram Mandir may not be taken seriously by the people, they have now coined a new term: Ram Rajya. All those shoutings for a Ram Mandir could have also served Ram by doing some good work for the people of Ayodhya by helping them to meet their ends in a peaceful manner. BJP calls for Ram Rajya but turns a blind eye to the city where they believe Ram was born. The place had been under the rule of BJP for many years yet there has been no sincere effort in making the town tourist-friendly, developing basic civic amenities. Development to the people of this place seems to be a distant dream. Even in Uttar Pradesh, Ayodhya is comparatively less developed in terms of basic infrastructure like drains. Everywhere one can see open garbage polluting and vitiating the atmosphere of the city. Since 1992, when Babri Masjid was demolished, it appears that nothing noticeable development has taken place. For the people of Ayodhya, the city is no less than a barren land where job opportunities are limited. Schools and hospitals are in a state of neglect and a feeling of being forgotten reflects from these buildings. Trade could not flourish here as traders from different parts of Uttar Pradesh remained apprehensive by the sensitivity of the Ayodhya town. Investors were also cautious as nobody could say for sure for how long the city would not be troubled again. Agitation and protest every now and then kept tourists away. For a layman, Ayodhya can be of historical importance but for the BJP the place has got only political importance.
7 out of 10
WORD OF MOUTH
NEWSMAKERS
MEN & WOMEN IN NEWS
Mrs. FARIDA BI wife of Yusuf Khan has been appointed President of Rampur Womens Rahul Gandhi Brigade by Rahul Gandhi Brigades Vice President Baber Ali Khan. On the orders of Allahabad High Court Maulana MAHMOODUL HASAN KHAN has been elected Chairman of Jaunpurs Raza D.M. Shia Trust Committee, Syed SIRAJ MEHDI has elected Deputy Chairman and Syed MUHAMMAD HASAN TANVEER has been elected secretary of this Trust. Dr. SHAH FAISAL (IAS), who topped in UPSCs Civil Services Examinations of 2010 has been appointed Divisional Magistrate of Badgam (J&K) after completion of his training. He took over the charge of his post on 13 June. Shah Faisal is also an MBBS Doctor. AKHTAR HUSAIN AKHTAR, a political and social worker has been appointed general secretary of All India Momin Conference by the Conferences President Haji Abdul Khaliq Ansari. Prof. USMAN GHANI has been appointed Chairman of West Bengal Minorities Commission by Mamta Bannerji government. After his appointment he said in clear words that instead of being a rubber stamp, he would like to work for solving the problems of Muslims and will present proposals and recommendations for the welfare and progress of Muslims and other minorities but if he finds that his plans and suggestions for the welfare and development of minorities are not implemented and put in waste paper basket, he will immediately leave the chairmans post. He said that he has not begged for this post but accepted it on the suggestion and insistence of Union Minister Sultan Ahmad, West Bengals ministers Javed Ahmad Khan and Haidar Safvi. He said that he sincerely wants to work for the betterment of Muslims who were neglected in all fields of life for 34 years by the previous leftist government. It may be mentioned that Usman Ghani being a Qadiani, his appointment as chairman of State Minorities Commission is being opposed by almost all important religious Muslim leaders, foremost among them being Maulana Habibur Rahman Sani Ludhianvi, Ahrar leader. Prof. NABI AHMAD has been appointed new Head of Department of Educatin of AMUs Faculty of Social Sciences in place of former Head Prof. Ruqaiyya Zainuddin for a period of 3 years. Prof. Nabi Ahmad is also the Coordinator of Disability Unit. Thirty-three years old Mrs. SABINA YASMEEN of Congres Party who obtained Masters Degree from North Bengal University has become the first-ever woman Muslim minister in the history of West Bengal after Independence. When she contested the West Bengal assembly election, she was President of Mahila Zila Parishad. A native of Malda Districts Karai Chaandpur village, she is one of the eight Muslim ministers of Mamta Bannerjees Council of ministers. Dr. MUMTAZ ALAM RIZVI, Bureau Chief of Sahafat Urdu daily has been appointed national spokesman of Urdu Press Club by Clubs Chairman and former MP, Abdur Rasheed Shaheen. ZAFARULLAH ANSARI, noted Urdu critic and poet has been conferred PhD Degree by JNU, Delhi on his research paper on Jadeed Urdu Masnavi ka Tanqidi Mutala which he completed under the supervision of Dr. Mazhar Mehdi. His four anthologies of poems have been published. JNU had earlier honoured him with Sajjad Zaheer Award for his brilliant performance in M.A. Maulana SHARAFAT ABRAR QASMI, a great religious scholar of West Bengal has been appointed Persident of West Bengal Branch of Majlis Ahrar-e Islam by Ahrar President Maulana Habibur Rahman Sani Ludhianvi. Announcement about this appointment was made by Muhammad Usman Rahmani Ludhianvi, general secretary Majlis Arhrar-e Islam. He also said that names of other office bearers will be announced soon. Dr. ALI JAVED, famous Urdu critic and a professor in Delhi Universitys Department of Urdu has been elected General Secretary (G.S.) of All India Progressive Writers Association (AIPWA) in place of Prof. Kamla Prasad who died recently. Dr. Javed has done PhD in Urdu from JNU. He was elected G.S. in the Associations General Body Meeting which was attended by writers of 11 states and chaired by well-known Hindi critic and litterateur and President of AIPWA, Prof. Namwar Singh. Prof. AINUL HAQ KHAN, Dean of Students Welfare in AMU has been appointed by VC Prof. P.K. Abdul Aziz, on the instructions of University Grants Commission, New Delhi, Nodal Officer in Government of Indias Department of Consumer Affairs, New Delhi which is running Jaago Grahak Jaago campaign to run this campaign effectively and to take necessary steps to make it powerful and effective tool to create awakening among general public against fraud and unethical means in sale and purchase of consumer goods and services. Prof. S.H. HASHMI, Principal of AMUs Dr. Z.H. Dental College has been appointed a Member of AMUs Executive Council on the basis of seniority. According to Universitys Registrar Prof. V.K. Abdul Jaleel, Prof. Hashmi has been made Member of E.C. in place of Dr. Saud Ali Khan, Principal of Tibbia College after the completion of his term as EC Member. ERAM NAHEED of Mau Nath Bhanjan D/o industrialist Shafiq Ahmad Diamond has topped in the whole UP state among the girls who appeared in CPMT examination, though her position in general rank of CPMT candidates in the state is 17th. Among the OBC candidates also, who appeared for this examination, her rank is 1st. SHAMSUL HODA, former Block Pramukh, has been elected Chairman of Kishan Ganj District Board of Bihar by defeating his rival, Vijay Jha. After his election he said, among other things, that he will do his best in removing the difficulties coming in the way of the establishment of AMU Campus here. Prof. D.K. AGARWAL, Head of the Department of Physiology in AMUs J.N. Medical College has been appointed a member of Universitys Court on the basis of seniority for a period of three years or till he is head of this Department. His appointment is in place of Prof. (Mrs) Ruqaiyya Zainuddin after the completion of her term as Courts member. MUHAMMAD ASHRAF, a young body builder of Old Delhi area who participated in South East Asian Body Builders Championship competition held in Bhutan won third position in the final competition held on 5 June. Winners of first and second positions were the body builders from Afghanistan. The participating countries were India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Sir Lanka and Maldiv. Ashraf has also been selected in the Indian team that will take part in the International Body Builders Championship for World Cup that will be held in Brazil. Ms. KANEEZ RAZA wife of Syed Shahid Raza, former chairman of Town Parishad of Purnea has been elected Mayor of Purnea Municipal Corporation unopposed. She is the first Muslim lady to be elected as Mayor of this Corporation. Prof. TALAT AHMAD of Delhi University has been appointed the new vice chancellor of University of Kashmir. He has the distinction of being a fellow of all Science Academies of the country: the Indian National Science Academy (FNA), New Delhi; the Indian Academy of Sciences (FASc) and the National Academy of Sciences (FNASc). Prof. Ahmad did his Masters in Geology from Aligarh Muslim University, M. Phil (in Ore PetrologyGeochemistry) and doctorate (in the field of igneous petrology-geochemistry) from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He has also been a post doctoral fellow with three foreign universities; University of Leicester, UK, under Government of India Fellowship; University of Cambridge under NERC Fellowship and Nagoya University, Japan. Dr. Ahmad began his career as junior geologist with Geological Survey of India (GSI) and subsequently worked at Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehra Dun, as a scientist for over 19 years (1984-2003). He has been serving as
OBITUARIES
Maulana AHSAN MIFTAHI, noted journalist, man of letters and a veteran member of Jamiatul Ulamas executive committee died of hert attack in Kolkata on 14 June. Born in Mau (U.P.) in 1938 he first served as a teacher and then became a journalist and was editor of many newspapers and magazines. He was a poet as well as a writer. His two books in Urdu Mashaheer-e Urdu ke Dilchasp Waaqiaat and Qand-e Shiraz have been published. The last mentioned book is a versified Urdu translation of Hafiz Shirazis selected Persian couplets. He was 73 and leaves behind two sons and three daughters. Ustad ASAD ALI KHAN, classical musician and instrument player who expounded Rudra Veena died of heart attack in AIIMS on 14 June early morning at the age of 74. He was unmarried and had adopted his nephew Ali Zaki Haidar as his own son. He was honoured with many awards and honours including Sangeet Natak Academy Award in 1974 and Padma Bhushan in 2008. He was laid to rest in Hazrat Nizamudin graveyard on 16 June. Hafiz JAMEEL AHMAD Sikandarpuri, famous spiritualist (who treats diseases and solve problems and difficulties of people through Quranic verses) died at Saharanpur on 16 June. He was editor of Roohani Asraar. An author of many books, he brought out seven volumes of the book Aaftab-e Amaliyaat and also published the biography of Qutub Alam. He was 67 and is survived by his wife, five sons and two daughters. Professor at the department of Geology, University of Delhi since October 2003. He is a recipient of many prestigious national and international awards and honours. He has over 60 research publications to his credit and has supervised several research studies at the University of Delhi and Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.(Afsana Rashid) BUSHRA RAHMANI d/o M. Akram Ali Rahmani, a student of Govt. Sr. Sec. School, Janakpuri has secured aggregate of 98% marks in CBSE X class examination. Another girl, EMAN KHAN of Govt. Sarvoday Girls/Boys Sr. Sec. School, B-1, Janakpuri also secured 98% marks in CBSE X class. Yet another student, ABDUS SAMAD of Jagdish Tytler School, Rajinder Nagar by securing 98% marks in X class topped in his School. Ms. SABA ANJUM, hockey player has been selected captain of the Indian Womens hockey team in the Champions Challenge tournament to be held in Dublin (Ireland) from 18 to 26 June. The 18-member hockey team for the tournament was selected by the selectors B.P. Govinda, Syed Ali, Rekha Bhide, Rajbir Kaur and Sita Mehta after trials held at New Delhi.
AWARDS
America-born Urdu poet MAX BRUCE was honoured with Dr. Gopi Chand Narang Award at a function sponsored by Indias Urdu Ghar and held at Dales (Texas) on 8 June. In the same function another poet, RAJIV CHAKRAVARTY was honoured with Dr. Taqi Aabdi Award. This Award (Narang Award) is introduced this year (2011 ) only and Max Bruce is the first winner of this Award. Syed AMAAN MEHDI, son of Syed Ghazaal Mehdi of Nahtor (Bijnaur) who is a sixth class student at International Indian School at Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) won the 1st Prize in the form of a Gold Medal in the category of students in 10-13 yearss age group in World Art Competition held at Riyadh on 30 May. The Award, which included a certificate also, was given to award winners by Dr. Khalid Abdullah Al Wastawi, Saudi Arabias minister of education. In this World Art Competitions My Town programme, about three thousand boy and girls students from 24 countries had taken part and the students were divided into three categories i.e. 6 to 9 years of age, 10 to 13 years and 14 to 18 years. Two famous Urdu poets Prof WASIM Barelvi and MAJID Deobandi were honoured with Nawab Weqarul Mulk Urdu Shairi Award in recognition of their valuable services to Urdu literature. The awards, consisting of a shawl and a memento each, were presented to them by Shafiqur Rahman Barq, MP at a mushaira held at Amroha on 29 May. Dr. SADIA ANWAR, a noted social worker was honoured with Women Achievement Award in recognition of her valuable social services by Global Party session at Indias economic Development at a function held at Constitution Club. The Award was given to her jointly by former governor Dr. Bhishm Narayan Singh and Ram Jethmalani. She has already been honoured with Bharat Jyoti Award and Rashtriya Gaurav Award. Qazi AZIM Sahil, Urdu poet has been honoured with Sahir Ludhianvi State Award, which consists of a cash prize of Rs. 10,000 and a certificate. His first anthology is Safar Parindon ka and second anthology Jheel kinaaray is under publication. He was also honoured by Maharashtra Urdu Sahitya Academy with its award. In addition to him, another 114 persons were honoured with awards for their services in different categories of Urdu by chief minister Prithvi Raj Chauhan and state minister Arif Naseem Khan.
M. I. KAZI (1923-2011)
Dr. Muhammad Ibrahim Kazi, FounderPrincipal of Poona College of Arts, Science & Commerce set up by Anjuman Khairul Islam, Mumbai, Professor of Persian and Islamic literature in Ismail Yusuf College, Mumbai. Principal of Secondary Training College, Principal of Government College of Education, Chairman of Mumbai University Act Tribunal, member of Maharashtras former Chief Minister Abdul Rahman Antulays Sarva Dharm Sambhav Committee and author of many books in Urdu and English died on 28 May 2011 at the age of 88 years. Born on 15 March 1923 in an educated and respectable family of Poona, he pursued M.A. with Persian and Urdu from Wadia Colege in 1944, got PhD Degree in 1955 on his research treatise on Abul Fazl Faizi and did M.Ed in 1956. After his educational achievements he served in various capacities like Founder-Principal of Poona College (founded in 1971), and others as stated above. In the initial stages when Poona College was set up, the situation was such that because of lack of education among Muslims, children had to be persuaded to take admission in this College by visiting individual homes. Things have improved and at present there are about 14 thousand students, Muslims as well as many poor from all communities. He was also an author of a number of books in Urdu and English. Among his English books, the first one titled The Reading in Mughal History was published in 1995 which was extremely popular. His other English books are: Islam: Let us know it (published in 1996), Readings in Quran (1998), Jaanisaran-e Rasool, Sarva Dharm Sambhav, Prophets Academy, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam: President with a difference, Post-Hajj Life. His last English book was Gandhinama. His books written in Urdu are: Bazm-e Sahaba (2000) (released by film actor Dilip Kumar), Naboowat Rasool ke 23 Saal. Maulana Azads book Ghubar-e Khatir was his favourite book, after carefully studying which he wrote his own review on it entitled Ghubar-e Khatir: Ek Mutala (2004), Chaalis Qurani Aayetain (Forty verses of Quran), Zindagi baad az Hajj (Urdu translation of his English book Post-Hajj Life. His research articles used to be published in prominent Indian and foreign journals and magazines. After 2002 he started writing books on Islamic sciences in order to create an awareness and interest among Muslims towards Islam. He performed Hajj two times, first in 1985 and second time in 2006 NA ANSARI alongwith his wife.
SPECIAL REPORTS
Prof. Arif Inam distruting certificate to the particpants of the refresher courses Aligarh: AMUs Centre for Promotion of Science organized two science refresher courses for teachers from madrasas and Muslim-managed schools. While addressing the valedictory programme, Professor Wazahat Husain, Senior Fellow, Centre for Promotion of Science, briefly explained the objectives of the Centre behind organizing such courses. He said that the Centre is working to persuade Indian Muslims for acquiring scientific knowledge and provide all possible help in minimizing their backwardness. Dr. Hisamuddin, Director of the Centre, said that several lectures and practical classes were organized for the participants of both the courses and eminent resource-persons enlightened the participants during the eleven-day course schedule. He said that the "Introductory Science Course" was planned for the teachers of Deeni Madrasas to make them familiar with Physical, Chemical and Biological Sciences and to make them realize the significance of model science teaching in their institutions. They were also provided with an opportunity to learn M.S. Office, In-Page and other computer applications by experts like in the field of Computer Science. The course was attended by 29 male and female teachers representing the states of Assam, Bihar, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Chief Guest, Professor Arif Inam, Chairman, Department of Botany and former Joint Director, Centre for Promotion of Science gave away Certificates of Participation to the teachers and presented them a set of books published by the Centre for Promotion of Science.
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COMMUNITY NEWS
IDC agreement with IOU
New Delhi: Islamic Dawah Centre (IDC), New Delhi, signed an agreement with the Islamic Online University (IOU) during a meeting held between the IDC chairman Mohammad Umar Gautam and the IOU India representative Mohammed Shajiuddin. With this, IDC became the first authorized IOU centre in North India. The agreement was signed on 1 June after few rounds of meetings between members of IDC and Mr Shajiuddin at New Delhi. The agreement says that as an IOU center, IDC shall strive to promote and facilitate IOU courses in New Delhi and other cities of its operation so that the masses benefit through the university. Presently, IOU runs 26 diploma courses and has started a 4year online degree course in Islamic studies that is spread over 8 semesters. There is no age limit for the course. Although anyone can join it, Muslim or non-Muslim, the course is designed to help IT, computer and management professionals. These professionals are so engrossed in their fields that they hardly find time to understand their religion. It is thus offered online so that they can read the material online at their convenience and gain understanding of Arabic language, and Islamic disciplines, said Mr Shajiuddin. IOU hopes to fulfill the motto of its founder, well-known Islamic scholar and orator, Dr Bilal Philips to Changing the Nation through Education. The online university was started by Dr Philips in 2007 at Qatar. Initially, some diploma courses were introduced which attracted students globally. These courses were mainly of Islamic disciplines. IOU now runs a full-fledged Preston International College at Alwarpet in Chennai. The college mainly offers management courses but it has also started degree courses in commerce and Islamic studies besides a diploma course in Islamic finance. IDC already runs some short-term courses at its Delhi headquarters and has the required infrastructure to run the online course and serve as a study centre, said Mr Umar Gautam. (Manzar Imam) Agnivesh upset by Rithambhara in Ramdeos agitation New Delhi: Anna Hazares supporters have recorded their protests for allowing R.S.S. and V.H.P. activists to participate in his agitation against corruption. Swami Agnivesh, a prominent member of Anna Hazares team expressed concern on Sadhi Ritumbharas presence. An accused in the Babri Masjid demolition case, Sadhvi Rithambhara was allowed on the stage. This according to Swami Agnivesh, would weaken the agitation. He advised Baba Ramdeo to ensure that such communal minded people did not jump onto the band wagon. It is not important what we say but what we actually do, he argued. Karnataka BJP governments efforts to placate Christians Bangalore: BJP government of Karnataka, in order to placate the Christian community, has decided to spend Rs. 35 crore for construction of their Community halls and providing financial help to the communitys poor children/students and another Rs. 15 crore for repair and development of their churches. In addition to these, an amount of Rs. 50 crore has been provided in the current years budget (2011-12) for taking up development schemes pertaining to the Christian community. This was stated by the states law minister S. Suresh Kumar. Official sources said that such allocations have been made for the community for the first time in the state budget. Crime Branch raids Imtiyaz Syeds house/office Ahmadabad: Misfortunes never come alone; they come in multiples. A poor community already persecuted and economically paralysed was not spared by its own scam vultures. Abhay Gandhi was not the only fake Messiah of Muslims; the community can boast of Imtiyaz Syed whose office and house have been raided and bank accounts frozen by the crime branch police. The scheme promised a return of Rs. 10 thousand per month on an investment of Rs. one lakh. After four years Imtsons stopped paying monthly installments. When worried investors approached him for immediate refund of their capital amount which he promised to do by June. On receiving complaints from investors the crime branch police swung into action. After arresting Imtiyaz, the M.D., the police sought 14 days remand. Three days remand has been granted to grill him. The police wants to ascertain whether this group has any alliance with Abhay Gandhi. Imtiyaz holds seven bank accounts. His wife is also a partner in the company which had offered 10-15 per interest (returns). He
the freedom movement ad through newspapers like Al Hilal and Al Balagh. These had put new life in the freedom movement. All these have now become things of the past, but now we want to revive them. He said that CPM government had ignored Urdu for 30 years but now Urdus renaissance has begun in Bengal and avenues of employment are being created. Instructions are being issued to accept applications and representations in Urdu at district and block levels and soon translators will be appointed in different departments. Urdu classes alongwith Persian will be started in schools and colleges. Sultan Ahmad said that in Bengal madrasa education will also be improved and efforts will be made to introduce English and Science in madrasas. In short, every strategy will be adopted for the promotion of Urdu, he said and added that we want to make Bengal an example for the whole country for the promotion of Urdu. He said that Mamta Bannerji government has already taken steps for removal of injustices done to Urdu during CPM governments regime and Bengal Urdu Academy which had been reduced to a spokesperson of CPM and Party institution will now get the opportunity of working as a free and literary organisation. (NA Ansari) anti-Brahmin sentiments through his book, Shivrayanchya Badnamichi Kendre. Purshottam has been charged under Section 153 (A), 505 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code for instigating hostility between the two castes. The book has created a controversy and there have been protests against the book in various parts of the state. The book has also given the Marathas a tool to unite against the Brahmins. Welcoming the police action, Ambedkarite Madhukar Ramteke said that our agitation is for the rights and the fight is against inequality. We will never support the hatred that is professed in the book. Babasaheb Ambedkar too was against the oppressive ideology of Brahmins. Without Pandits, J&K is incomplete: Omar Chief Minister Omar Abdullah while addressing Kashmiri Pandits gathered to participate in an annual festival dedicated to Rangya Devi, an incarnation of Goddess Durga on 9 June in Srinagar said that Kashmir and Kashmiriat was incomplete without Kashmiri Pandits. He also urged the community to consider returning to their homes with pride and dignity. For over a decade, the Kashmiri Pandits have regularly visited the Kashmir Valley to participate in the Khir Bhawani festival. The Pandits who came to participate in the festival lauded the role and friendly behaviour of local Muslims and opined that this kind of gesture would certainly go a long way in bridging the trust deficit that has been entrenched in mindset over the years. Omar Abdullah while interacting with the devotees said that he would prefer to see them coming from their homes instead of coming from far off places, without any fear and with a sense of belonging like any other Kashmiri. Pandians role likely to be exposed in Tulsi case Ahmadabad: Thorough investigations by the CBI are in progress with the registration of a new FIR. It has in its possession records of CID investigations with phone details and this is likely to expose Pandians role in the Tulsi encounter case. It may be recalled that following Supreme Court directives the CBI lodged a fresh FIR and through an application to the court demanded records in possession of the CID. The court had accepted the request and alongwith investigation records, phone call details have also been handed over to the CBI. This would result in the imminent arrest of a few persons. Rajkumar Pandian at the time of the encounter had long conversations with Dy SP C.S. Bandra in which it was mentioned that a seasoned criminal was to be arrested soon. It may be recalled the alleged criminal had already been arrested (a month prior to the encounter). Thus Pandians direct or indirect involvement in the fake encounter can not be ruled out. American govts training programme for Indian madrasas New Delhi: American government is running training programme for madrasa teachers in India imparting English and modern education to them. American embassy in Delhi is running this programme at present in Delhi, Chennai and Hyderabad with the help of different NGOs. According to Programme Director Julie Azarski, the objective of this programme is to impart training to madrasa teachers in English. The training period is two weeks and thirty teachers are provided training at a time and English teachers from colleges and universities are appointed for teaching. This programme in Delhi was organised through the Institute of Social Science, an NGO, in which more than 30 madrasa teachers from Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, UP, J&K etc. participated, with a good number of lady teachers. The training programme of this batch was completed on 3 June when at a function certificates were given to them. On this occasion, in addition to Programme Director Julie Azraski, head of this Institute Dr. Mathew, Aalami Urdu Services editor Sheikh Manzoor etc. were present. Mrs. Julie said that her government is organising such programmes in order to improve the standard of madrasa education. Sheikh Manzoor Ahmad suggested that in addition to English education, modern science and technology should also be taught in these educational institutions but care should be taken to see that the main objective of these madrasas i.e. teaching and spreading Islamic and religious education to people should not be ignored.
COMMUNITY NEWS
Taleemul Quran launched
Ahmedabad: A womens meeting was organised by Divya Vani Prakash where tafsir (commentary on the Quran) Taleemul Quran by Dr. Farhat Hashmi was launched. The meeting was chaired by Mehrunnisa Desai. While lamenting the present plight of Muslim women the participants pointed out that lack of Quranic education was solely responsible for their suffering. The community has turned indifferent to womens predicaments and injustice towards them. Zohra Vohra from Vadodara said that this tafsir covers issues pertaining to women and portrays the incongruencies of society. The programme was attended by a large number of women from various places specializing in different fields of knowledge. Taleemul Quran covers various problems prevailing amongst us and offers guidance as revealed in the Quran. Hindu family harassed for adopting Muslim girl Hyderabad: When Payalals family adopted a Muslim girl orphaned in the bomb blasts five years ago little did it realise that they would be earning the ire of the community they belong to. Yadav community so strongly resented this humanitarian deed, that Payalal finds himself in judicial custody following a report by his own elder brother Chandanlal who accused Payalal of molesting his wife Hemlatha and trying to kill her. Payalals wife Jayshree is not willing to part company with Sania Fatima. She is so strongly attached to her that she declared that even if she died she would not part company with her adopted daughter. At the same time Sania Fatima too has categorically declared that she wouldnt leave her foster parents and she belonged to the family. Several NGOs involved in human rights have admitted that the family is being harassed by the local people. Abhay Gandhi absconds after duping investors Ahmadabad: Scams have become the destiny of thousands of persons who are lured by prospects of quick financial gains. Abhay Gandhi, who is presently absconding, duped hundreds of such gullible investors by promising them very high returns on their investments. Police have begun investigations into the mega-scam and has frozen 19 of his bank accounts. In addition, a BMW was also seized. On receiving a complaint from one of such victims, Irshad Ahmad alias Raja the crime branch police started investigation in the scam which seems to be in crores. Rs. 6 crore 40 lakhs in various accounts have been frozen. Abhay Gandhi boasted of being the Messiah of Muslims he had advised them to stop frying bhajias (doing menial jobs) and sleep soundly in air conditioned bedrooms. Following in the footsteps of Ashok Jadeja, he too launched ek ka teen scheme assuring investors of triple return. He induced people in several ways by distributing brochures. Irshad Ahmad who used to eke a meagre living by selling bhajias at a street corner was induced by the slogan of Musalmano ka Messiah. His agents advised people of doing away with such petty earnings by doing menial jobs and promised them that their investments would fetch such immense gains that they would own air conditioned houses! Among such victims are hundreds of Muslims who invested their hard earned incomes in the scheme. Amassing crores he escaped to some unknown foreign destination leaving everyone groping in the dark. Irshad Ahmad named Anjum Alvi as one such agent. The crime branch arrested Anjum Alvi and sought his police remand for 14 days. However, one day remand was granted. Anjum Alvi was instrumental in securing investments to the tune of Rs. 70 lakhs as per voucher records and commission documents. Main agent, Salim Vora who distributed pamphlets is yet to be arrested. Alvis advocate, Gul Hamid Syed, however, denied the charge and said that Alvi had nothing to do with Abhay Gandhi. The crime branch assured the court that if media provides clues about the whereabouts of Abhay Gandhi, he would be immediately arrested. He used a BMW car just to bring meals to his office. Islamic Knowledge Centre and award function in Jaffarabad New Delhi: An Islamic Knowledge Centre for providing religious knowledge to students and people was recently set up in transYamuna area of Jaffarabad about which area M.L.A. Choudhary Mateen Ahmad said that the establishment of this Centre is an important achievement because it will create an interest and inclination among students and people towards religion. An award giving function jointly organised by the Organisation for Social Reforms and Islamic Knowledge Centre for giving awards to students of schools of Jaffarabad who had performed very well in CBSEs X and XII class examinations was also held. Students (boys and girls) of Jaffarabads Zeenat Mahal School and Dr. Zakir Husain Memorial Senior Secondary Schools who had bagged first and second positions in these schools in 10th and 12th classes were given prizes by Chaudhary Mateen Ahmad, Dr. Muhammad Maroof Khan and Faheem Ahmad. Speaking on this occasion, Chaudhari Mateen Ahmad said while addressing the students that with worldly education you can earn money but good manners and social etiquettes can be learnt with religious education only. A 10-day Islamic Camp also was earlier organised by Islamic Knowledge Centre for imparting basic Islamic knowledge and information to students and those who performed well in this were also given prizes in the form of Islamic books, trophy and certificates. School principals and teachers also were honoured with awards. A trading company, Afzal Book and Gift Centre had also distributed lunch packets and some stationery New Delhi: National Commission for Minorities has asked Delhi Police for a detailed report on the employment or representation of minorities, particularly Muslims, in the police department on different posts. The Commission has also expressed concern over the almost negligible employment of Muslims in Delhi police force and made its intention known that after receipt of the concerned report, suitable action would be taken in this connection. It may be mentioned that though a detailed report on almost negligible representation of Muslims in the police department of Delhi was published in an Urdu daily (Hamara Samaj) in the first week of last month (May), even before that, NCMs member Mrs. Sayeeda Bilgrami Imam in a circular to police and many other departments of Delhi had asked for a report on the number of persons belonging to minority communities employed in these departments. NCM had taken this action because many other organisations, suspecting that Muslims are being discriminated against and are not being employed by many government offices and departments, had approached NCM to take action or approach the government to take action on such discriminations items to all students. Hindu girls in Bihar top in Madrasa exams Patna: Several girls belonging to the Hindu community secured top positions in various examinations conducted by the Madrasa Board. Muhammad Mustafa Mansuri, secretary of the Board said that the performance of non-Muslim girls in the examinations has been quite impressive. Sanjay Kumar secured top position in the Maulvi examination, scoring 893 marks out of 1000. Anjali Raje among the girls secured highest position scoring 815 marks. Out of 12 non-Muslims who secured high ranks 10 are girls. Five positions out of ten in the Maulvi examination were secured by girl candidates. Sanam, daughter of a farmer, wants to become an Urdu teacher whereas Sajnay Kumar wants to pursue further studies for the Alim course. Mansuri informed media people that students are turning to Madrasas in view of the job potential for Urdu knowing people. This will adversely affect Muslim pass outs who will find their job opportunities substantially reduced. J&K gets Rs 6,600 crore as annual budget plan for 2011-12 The Planning Commission has finalised a total sum of Rs 6,600 crore for the annual budget plan for Jammu and Kashmir for the year 2011-12. It was decided recently during a meet between Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia and state Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. The amount approved for the annual plan is said to be the highest. Last year, the allocation was Rs 6000 crore. These add up to a sum Rs 11,192 of Central assistance. The Ladakh region was for the first time given a special package of Rs 250 crore and also Rs 1,200 crore additional amount under the Prime Ministers Reconstruction Plan. Mr Ahluwalia praised the efforts of the state government on conducting peaceful and successful elections. Ashwini Kumar, minister of state for Planning Commission while talking to media persons said that the state government has been asked to put maximum emphasis on agriculture, horticulture, education, skill development, power, and tourism. Chief minister Omar Abdullah while reacting on the allocation of the annual budget plan hike said that it will certainly help the government to decentralise the financial powers to the local bodies. Over the years, Jammu and Kashmir has paid a heavy price for fighting terrorism and in the last fiscal year it has spent Rs 2,395 on security which is excluding the amount spent on the Army as they are being paid by the Centre. A library in Jamia Nagar police station! New Delhi: South-east Delhis Additional Commissioner of Police, Ajay Chaudhari said while addressing students of Jamia School at a function that students are assets of a country and nation who will be future rulers of the country and hence their parents should provide good education and training to them so that they may be able to fulfill their responsibilities in a befitting manner. In his speech, he disclosed that he is trying to set up a library in Jamia Nagar police station, the work of which has been completed and soon it will be opened for the students and general public. He said that parents and people in general should understand that police is there for their protection and hence they should have faith in police. On the part of his own people, i.e., police, he said that they also should understand their responsibilities, win the confidence of people and try not to act in any way which may taint their own posts and police department. World Media Publication to publish book on Muslim leaders New Delhi: World Media and Publication, in view of overall backwardness of Indian Muslims in almost every field and absence of powerful leaders and intellectuals to serve as role models for Muslim youth has decided to bring out a book on about a hundred Muslim leaders, intellectuals, reformers, scientists and history makers of present times and recent past to serve as role models for present day Muslim youth and students by emulating and following in the footsteps of whom, they may also achieve greatness in different fields and prove to be assets for the community as well as the country. Though this book will mostly include leaders and intellectuals who by their sheer hard work, struggle, perseverance and ambition have achieved success and greatness in
by many government organisations. In response to the complaints of these organisations, NCM has asked for information and data on the decreasing employment of Muslims and other minorities in many government departments. According to the general secretary of Jaffarabad Residents Welfare Association (RWA), Dr. Faheem Baig, he had approached, after reading the news on negligible employment of Muslims in Delhi Police, NCM to take action on this, in consequence of which NCM member H.S. Hans Pal in a letter to Delhi Police Commissioner Brajish Kumar Gupta had asked him about the proportion of Muslims employed in Delhi Police. NCM Chairman Wajahat Habibullah confirmed that after the news appeared in a Delhi paper about the virtual absence of Muslim officers in Delhi Police a letter has been officially written to Delhi Police to find out the number of Muslim officers in Delhi Police. He said that since NCM has been constituted by the government of India to look after the problems of minorities, it becomes our duty and responsibility to solve their problems with whatever power given to us. Regarding this particular problem i.e. representation of Muslims in Delhi police, he said that after getting detailed information from Delhi police, further action will be taken. (NA Ansari) different fields in this country, it will also include some Muslims of other countries who achieved world fame in different fields so that Muslim youth could be motivated to become like them and lead the people of the country to success and greatness. Head of this Publication, T.M. Ziaul Haq said while talking to media persons that merely by lamenting on their present backward condition and blaming others for this, nothing will be achieved. For removing the backwardness and improving their lot, a well planned strategy or road map will have to be prepared and worked with determination so that Muslim youth also may be able to build a bright future and stand shoulder to shoulder with others and march ahead. He said that our decision to publish this book is a small effort in this direction to create an awakening among Muslim youth and an enthusiasm among them to progress in the world by emulating the personalities whose success story will be mentioned in the proposed book. CBI collecting evidence from witnesses in Tulsi encounter Ahmedabad: A team of CBI officers investigating Tulsi Ram Prajapati fake encounter is conducting thorough interrogation of those witnesses who had signed the panchnama. It has begun an enquiry of people associated with the case from the very beginning. Such witnesses were sent summons to report at Anbaji Circuit House. According to sources several tribals living in the vicinity had been called by police and their statements were recorded (or obtained signatures) as witnesses. They were 40 in number. The team began interrogating them from 10.30 a.m. to ascertain facts, e.g., what time were they called to report at the encounter spot; who had come to call them; what time had they reached the place; what did they find; what was the state of Tulsis corpse; which vehicles did they find there and who were the police officers on the spot? The enquiry continued till night. Educational agreement between Arabic Uni. & IGNOU Lucknow: Central and state governments are taking many steps and providing many facilities for promotion of education among minorities. Establishment of the Urdu, Arabic and Persian University in Lucknow is one of them and steps are being taken to make it more and more useful for minorities, particularly for Muslims so that in addition to maintaining and promoting their culture and language, they may also acquire modern education. Towards this end an agreement has been signed between Manyawar Kanshi Ram Urdu, Arabic and Persian University and IGNOU according to which both universities will take steps to improve the courses being taught in these universities and also will try to help each other in all possible ways. The agreement was signed by Anees Ansari, Vice Chancellor of Urdu, Arabic & Persian University and Ms. Parveen Sinclair on behalf of IGNOU at a function held at National PG College, Lucknow on 4 June. Among those present on this occasion were Swamy Prasad Maurya, UPs minister for Panchayati Raj; Anees Ahmad Khan, minister for minorities welfare; IGNOUs Director (Planning) A.K. Ojha; IGNOUs Programme Coordinator (Urdu) Prof. Naseer Ahmad Khan, many intellectuals, writers and social workers. Lok Ayukts notice to Mateen over sale of Waqf land New Delhi: Lok Ayukt is reported to have sent a notice to Chaudhary Mateen Ahmad, M.L.A. from Seelampur assembly constituency and newly elected chairman of Delhi Waqf Board who was earlier also chairman of Delhi Waqf Board, regarding sale of about 62 bighas of Waqfs graveyard land to builders at nominal rates in outer Delhis village of Narela. The notice was sent to him on a complaint made by Ali Senas chairman, M.A. Chand. Reacting to this notice, Chaudhari Mateen said that this case is four years old and it has already been investigated by Anti-Corruption Bureau but no proof of misdeed was found. According to the complainant, M.A. Chand, information about this sale of land was obtained through RTI which was sent to Lok Ayukt who, after investigation at his end, sent the notice to Chaudhri Mateen. Chand said that the Waqfs graveyard land which was sold to builders at the rate of 25 paise per yard is being sold at the rate of Rs. one lakh per yard. Thus, according to him, there is a scam of about Rs. 10,000 crore in this sale.
COMMUNITY NEWS
Wakf land at throw away prices in Delhi
In the national capital to get land on lease at the rate of 25 paisa per square yard per month or plot in Cannaught Place for Rs 5000 per month seems like wishful thinking but a reply to RTI gives ample evidence to believe it to be true. The Wakf land scam has surfaced following a reply to an RTI complaint made in land dealings by former chairman of Delhi Wakf board Chaudhry Mateen Ahmed. In his RTI application, M A Chand, president of Ali Sena sought to know the details of the Wakf property in Delhi. Chand received a reply on 28 February that revealed Mateen had given Wakf property on lease at a throw away price. He then took it forward to the Lokayukta's court. The Delhi Lokayukta has issued notice to Mateen Ahmed. The income that comes from Wakf property is used as a charity for those in need, in the maintenance of Mosque, dargahs, graveyard, educational institutions and hospitals as claimed in the website of the Wakf board. On innumerable occasions efforts have been made to ensure that the Wakf lands are not misused and it should be utilised as a tool to expedite the growth of the minority Muslim population from the revenue that accrues. But irregularities in handling of the Wakf land have now become the order of the day. Of these the biggest of all Wakf land scams is the 62 bigha burial ground in outer Delhi leased to builder Jitendra Prasad in 2006 at 25 paisa per square yard, including Rs. 1.1 crore donation. Most of the Wakf boards are functioning like primary schools and the heads of these Wakf boards are in some states even less qualified as compared to primary school teachers. The plots that were leased out at throw away price are: 1. Dargah Bibi Fatima, Kaka Nagar, Central Delhi which is 426 sq yards has been rented out for Rs 5000 per month for which the market rent rate is Rs 8-9 lakh per month for commercial purpose and Rs 4-5 lakh for residential use. 2. Khasra 8-B/51717/Khasra 48 Yaqootpur is in 8, 316 sq yards and has been rented out for Rs 1,717 per month against the market rate of Rs 2 lakh per month for 300 square yards. 3. Khasra 709, village Punjab Khor, outer Delhi is in 62, 496 sq yards and is given on a rent for for Rs 250 for 1,000sq yard per month as compared to Rs 20,000 per sq yards market rate.4. Khasra 19/1/1 village Najafgarh is in 503 sq yards rented out for only Rs 1,509 per month. 5. Khasra 23/5/2, village Najafgarh having area of 274 sq yards has been rented out for Rs 822 per month. Earlier the recommendation made by the Sachar Committee for a new Wakf board on the lines of the civil services to curtail irregularity and at the same time to strengthen the functioning of Wakf board was rejected by the government on the ground that this type of proposal was not feasible and contrary to the law. In the midst of the talk for the amendment of Wakf Bill 2010 a section within the minority community is believed to be gearing up to put pressure on the government to include recommendation made by Sachar Committee and the Joint Parliamentary Committee for minorities. The Wakf Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha in May 2010 and is now with the select committee formed by the parliament to address the issues raised by the community members. P.C. Pandey et al responsible for Gulbarg massacre Ahmedabad: In the last phase of hearing in the Gulbarg case, heated arguments were made with regard to the prosecution's application seeking call details of 27 persons including Modi and the role of P.C. Pande, the then police commissioner and three other police officers responsible for the tragedy. After hearing arguments from both sides the court deferred decision till 31 May. Prosecution counsel M.M. Vora argued before B.J. Dhandha, the sessions judge, that P.C. Pande, M.K. Tandon, P.B. Gondia and S.H. Chudasma had received several telephone calls from the victims yet they did not reach Gulbarg society. Phones from residents, journalists and social workers had been calling since 10 a.m. till 3 p.m. when they reached the spot. The police officers deliberately allowed the crime to take place hence must be accused under CRPC article 319. The prosecution also found the SIT enquiry lethargic which till date had not investigated several matters. Several important evidence e.g. Rahul Sharma's CD have surfaced now.
Ten thousand madrasas in West Bengal to be recognised Kolkata: TNC government in West Bengal will recognise Jamiat Ulama to provide lawyers to defend Fahim etc madrasas in the sate. The chief minister, in a policy decision, said Mumbai: Maharashtra Branch of Jamiat Ulama-e Hind (Arshad that more than ten thousand madrasas in the state, which are Madni group)'s head of Legal Assistance Department. Gulzar unrecognised, will now be recognised after which these Azmi said here that the Branch has appointed defence laywers madrasas will become eligible to take advantage of the facilities for Fahim Ansari and Sabahuddin, the accused in terrorists attack and concessions under the Constitution and also of many central in Mumbai on 26 November 2008 but who were found not guilty government schemes. She said that the previous Left Front govand released both by Mumbai's special court as well as High ernment of the state had neither recognised these madrasas nor Court. It may be mentioned here that Maharashtra's home min- given them any financial help for unknown reasons because of which they could not derive any benefits from these schemes. She further said that the financial position of the state is very bad at the moment which is the legacy of the previous government and hence for the present her government is not in a posiT HE M ILLI G AZETTE tion to give any financial D-84, Abul Fazl Enclave-I, Jamia Nagar, help to these madrasas New Delhi-110025 India Tel.: (+91-11) 2694 but after being recog7483 Email: mg@milligazette.com nised, these madrasas will be able to derive many other benefits and
COMMUNITY NEWS
Utter neglect of Muslim heritage
Ahmadabad: Gujarat boasts of Gujarat gaurav (pride) but when it comes to preserving of Muslim architecture it is totally neglected. Historical buildings, if linked to the Muslim past, suffer indifference and neglect. Sojali, a small village, five kilometres away from Mahmadabad, has a historical monument popularly known as Roja-Roji dargah. This protected monument as national heritage has been totally neglected. Even the plaque which declares it a national monument suffers from total neglect and needs immediate repairs. No wonder if the sole minaret of the mosque crumbles down in no time. If one probes deep into history he will find that saint Syed Mubarak (R.A.) was a courtier in the court of Sultan Shahudin Mehmudshan III. He was impartial and always adhered to truth and justice in arbitrating feuds between other courtiers. He was martyred because of his adherence to truth and impartiality in 1558. After his demise his son Meeran built his mausoleum at his own cost by spending Rs. 2 lakh. It is a superb example of excellent artistry and is extremely imposing and full of grandeur. It was even appreciated by the Mughal emperor Jehangir. Close to this stone shrine are the tombs of the ladies of the distinguished family built with bricks. The two are endearingly called Roja Roji mazar. Being close to the river bank it attracts people as a picnic spot. Though the shrine has not suffered much dilapidation; adjoining tombs and other monuments because of neglect have suffered immense damage and need proper maintenance. The Architecture department (Vadodara range) has put up a signboard declaring it to be a national heritage monument and thinks it has discharged its responsibility in full. Though it warns of legal punishment to those who wilfully damage or destroy nothing is done. What about the department which dutifully ignores it and allows it to fall into ruins? Sixteen students of Allahabad Uni. selected for fellowships Allahabad: Maximum number of sixteen boy and girl students of Allahabad University's Department of Urdu have been selected after qualifying University Grants Commission's net/JRF (Junior Research Fellowship) examination and National Aptitude Examination for appointment as teachers in Degree Colleges being run under UGC. Married man elopes with girl, Muslims flee village In an event which brought back gruesome memories of Gujarat 2002 riots, 175 families of Napaniya and Khalaspur, the two adjoining villages in Gujarat's Panchmahal district, have fled their homes on June 13 for safe havens elsewhere fearing violent retaliation from the tribal community. The exodus was triggered after Yusuf Khatki, a married Muslim man from Khalaspur eloped with a tribal girl named Suman Baria of the same village on June 8. When the village got wind of the incident, rumours spread that tribals would soon retaliate forcing the Muslims to vacate the two villages to put up with their friends and relatives in near by places. The couple was traced and returned to their families on June 18, a day before the media got to know about the incident, and the local administration persuaded the villagers to return. However, the police claim that around 90% of the residents have returned so far, but sources say that many villagers are reluctant to return. Around 1,000 people had fled to the homes of their relatives, Abdul Quraishi, a resident of Napaniya said. Quraishi himself, along with his family, had taken cover in Godhra town for four days. Nagin Quraishi, who stayed back, said he constituted those few who looked after the houses and cattles. We admitted that Yusuf had made a mistake by eloping with a Hindu girl. The people, he added, did not want to risk their lives after the trauma they collectively had gone through in the Gujarat riots. Ironically, the Barias had helped the Khatkis by giving them refuge during the days of arson and murder after the Godhra riots, which had made hundreds of Muslim households victims of
COMMUNITY NEWS
Communal violence bill diluted
In order to make it acceptable and also to ensure that the violence bill is not stuck midway, some of the controversial points have been removed. Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council on 22 June cleared the drafts of food security and the Communal Violence Bill. NAC has dropped the clause which empowered the Centre to invoke Section 355 in case of violence against minorities. The word minorities in the draft was opposed by some but it is believed that Sonia Gandhi pressed for the need to have the minorities word in the final Communal Violence Bill draft. Most of the members were of the view that because of the institutional bias against minorities it was morally correct to focus the bill on the minorities. NAC has agreed to 49 amendments from the original draft. The bill has been opposed by the BJP on the ground that the bill presumes that communal violence is created only by members of the majority community and not by people from the minority community. Another amendment is to remove the phrase destruction of secular fabric in relation to the definition of Communal and Targeted Violence. Both the Bills cleared by the NAC will now be sent to the prime minister for governments nod. After being cleared by the empowered Group of Ministers and the Union Cabinet, both the bills are likely to be presented in the coming Monsoon session of Parliament Congress-BJP clash on Communal Violence Bill Congress Party has rejected BJPs criticism of the proposed Communal Violence Bill terming the latters reaction as premature as nothing has been finalized yet. In the wake of the proposed Bill, BJP accused the central government of postponing its decision on Parliament attack case convict Afzal Gurus mercy petition, to which the Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi replied, This is a constitutional process. As that process goes on in sequence, it will be dealt with. Some will be accepted and some will be rejected. Condemning BJP of communalizing the mercy petition issue he reminded that when BJP-led NDA was in power, no action was taken on the 22 persons on death row, which included the assassin of a former prime minister. Urging BJP to maintain decency and sobriety, he called its disapproval of the Bill as a preemptive strike, reflective of the BJPs deep and pervasive fear and guilt complex. Mr. Singhvi slammed the BJP for promoting its communal agenda by saying, Those who continue to be proudly bound by the umbilical chord of the RSS, have divisive communal agendas, subscribe to the writings of Golwalkar, carry the shame of Gujarat, Karnataka and Babri episode with ease, and sometimes with pride, are naturally worried by a Communal Violence Bill. On BJPs allegations that the Bill attempted to cut the powers of the states to size, he pointed out that all the clauses, except one, have given powers to the state government to declare a disturbed area to take action. Only clause 55 gives the power to the central government but that too adheres to three cumulative conditions. First, the Centre informs the state of a communally sensitive situation. Second, it would have to wait for the state to act on that information and third, if despite advisories, the state government fails to act, only then the Centre would intervene. For the last few weeks, the Communal Violence Bill has become the focal point of debate between Congress and BJP. While the former calls the Bill, the need of the hour, the latter outrightly rejects it as another minority appeasement plank. With President Pratibha Patil rejecting two mercy petitions, one of the Khalistan Liberation Force terrorist, Devender Singh Bhullar, who was sentenced to death in 2001 for plotting terror attacks in 1991 and the then Youth Congress president, M.S Bitta, in 1993, and of M.N Das, a murder convict; BJPs unrelenting criticism of the Bill and the renewed chant of Afzal Guru ko phansi do (Hang Afzal Guru) should be seen in the light of these developments. Forbesganj victims meet VP, heads of NHRC and NCM New Delhi: Bihar Police firing on the people of Bhajanpur (Forbesganj) took place on 3 June but even after a month the matter has not subsided. On the contrary it is becoming more serious with the passage of time. Various delegations on behalf of the affected people first led by Mahesh Bhat and Shabnam Hashmi of ANHAD met Sonia Gandhi and thereafter other delegations led by LJP leader Ram Vilas Paswan met National Minorities Commissions Chairman Wajahat Habibullah and brought to his notice the barbarous behaviour of police. Another delegation led by Shabnam Hashmi and spokesman of Bihar Congress Dr. Shakeel Ahmad Khan alongwith the affected persons met Vice President Hamid Ansari at his official residence on 20 June and apprised him of details of the incident that took place on 3 June. The Vice President heard the grievances of the affected people individually and assured them of his all possible efforts to ensure justice to them. Another delegation led by the same people met the chairman of National Human Rights Commission, G.K. Balakrishan who while strongly condemning police attitude told them that he is with them in this legal battle and soon a delegation of Human Rights Commission will visit the place of incident to find out the truth. The chairman also talked to the affected persons individually and listened to their grievances. He was also shown the CD of footage of police barbarities. Thereafter Shabnam Hashmi told media persons that the delegation demanded the Commission that police FIRs against four thousand unknown persons should be withdrawn and cases against guilty police personnel should be filed in courts. This delegation also met Union industries minister Ashvini Kumar and Planning Commission member Mrs. Syeda
such provision already exists in the AFSPA, he said. It is an irony that the CM failed to build bridges with the people; he has two to three years more to prove his mettle. Demanding the repeal of AFSPA and Public Safety Act, CPI secretary and MP D Raja has said the Valley is the most militarized zone in the world where the presence of the army is vis-vis citizens 1:5. Several speakers came down heavily on the government for not showing any sincerity towards resolving the issue. Noted lawyer Virenda Grover said tom-toming the success of panchayat or any other elections was not the real indicator of the situation in the state. She warned that linking the Kashmir issue with the success of elections was a dangerous trend as it would not lead anywhere. People voted to ease their daily life problems not for the resolution of the Kashmir issue, she insisted. Highlighting the human rights violation incidents, chairperson of the Association of the Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDPA) Praveen Ahangar said there were more than 10,000 persons mostly youths who have disappeared since militancy broke out in the valley but not a single person was traced. Narrating her own sons story, she could not control herself. She said that her 16 year son was picked up by the NSG in 1990 and she went virtually from pillar to post but failed to get an inkling about his where about. We will continue our struggle till we get justice, she said. The seminar called upon the government to initiate a dialogue process with the people of Kashmir in right earnest and muster the political will to resolve the issue. Shabnam Hashmi (ANHAD) said the Kashmir issue could not be put under the carpet for a long time. The meeting was organized by Anhad. (Abdul Bari Masoud) their force, even the strict RSS agreed to the pressure of the youth to modernise the shakhas with the changing times. Not only the dress code, even the pattern of shakhas and place where these are held has also been agreed to reorganise according to the demands of the youth. Shakhas these days are organised even in hostels and rooms of IIT and JNU. Pragya named accused in the Samjhauta blast case Sadhvi Pragya who is already an accused in the murder of Sunil Joshi and the bomb blast in Malegaon is also likely to be made an accused in the Samjhauta blast case with Swami Aseemanand. Pragya is presently in judicial custody and is alleged to be part of the criminal conspiracy to execute bomb blast in the Samjhauta Express in association with Swami Aseemanand, Sunil Joshi, Ramchandra Kalsangra, Sandeep Dange and Ashwini Chauhan. Aseemanand had submitted in the court that he confessed his role in various bomb blasts including Samjhauta blast under pressure from the CBI and NIA! German Bakery blast enquiry to be handed over to NIA Mumbai: According to Maharashtra government's home ministry resources, inquiry into the bomb blast at the German bakery at Pune on 13 February 2010 will now be handed over to National Investigating Agency (NIA) like Malegaon bomb blasts case of 2006 as Maharashtra ATS which has been enquiring into this case has not been able to achieve any success in this case so far. Orders have been issued by the central government to Maharashtra ATS which has been asked to hand over copies of all relevant papers, inquiry reports etc. to NIA. Investigating agencies had been claiming that David Coleman Headly who is now facing trial in a Chicago court was behind this blast. It may be stated that the ATS had claimed on 17 September 2010 to have solved this problem and had even arrested one Himayat Baig who was allegedly associated with Indian Mujahideen but this was not found satisfactory. So a decision has been taken to hand over this case to NIA. Kashmiri Pandits seek Wakf-like board The Kashmiri Pandits in order to safeguard, promote and preserve their religious structures have demanded from the state government to enact a law that will be helpful in establishing a board similar to that of Muslims Wakf board and Sikh Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee. The demand has come keeping in mind Jammu and Kashmirs proposal to prepare a draft bill that would ensure protection and development of religious places in Kashmir. Kundan Kashmiri, president of All State Kashmiri Pandit Conference said that his organisation and Mandir Parbandhak Committee welcomed the initiative of the state government and various Pandit organisations in drafting a bill for the protection and development of shrines and religious structures. Kashmiri Pandits are of the view that their demands are genuine, as boards and Acts for Muslims and Sikhs already exit. Hallelujah! Gandhis Bharat holds Mahotsav in Israel! In order to mark the ever-expanding ties between Israel and India during the last two decades, a three-week cultural festival was held in Israel. It began on 29 April and ended on 25 May. Indian artists in large numbers participated in this festival. In this mahotsav, cultural advancement was showcased along with dances, cuisine, films and literature in order to further boost the ties between India and the zionist entity standing on occupied land whose owners are rotting in refugees camps across the borders on all sides of Israel. This was the first of its kind Indian programme orgainsed in Israel.
INTERNATIONAL
Sounds familiar with what we have been experiencing here in India. Our counter-terrorism expert are routinely taught by CIA and Mossad
ism.
tify potential terrorists. In fact, New York city guidelines specifically permit intrusive investigations of potential terrorist activity before an unlawful act occurs. Unconstrained informants are used, subject only to Deputy Commissioner of the Intelligence Division directives. As a result, NYPD has become a leading advocate for law enforcement based on the flawed radicalization model, authorizing illegal acts, including inducement(s)....to engage in crim(inal) activity to facilitate entrapment. FBI guidelines also authorize expansive powers, including targeting individuals or groups for their views or religious practices. Critics include former FBI counterterrorism agent (now ACLU Senior Policy Counsel) Mike German, saying the FBI (is) out of compliance with its (own) guidelines to an extraordinary extent, by providing few checks on illegal practices, including entrapment. It occurs when law enforcement officials or agents induce, influence, or provoke crimes that otherwise wouldn't be committed. However, it doesn't apply in willing lawlessness instances, government merely aiding, abetting, or facilitating chances to do so. Specifically, it involves: government officials or agents initiating the idea; then persuading individuals to discuss, plan or commit actions they otherwise never intended. To convict, prosecutors must prove beyond a reasonable doubt no entrapment was used. In fact, it's common against innocent people, especially Muslims targeted for political or other reasons. CHRGJ concluded that types of evidence relied upon by the government in terrorism-related prosecutions are highly prejudicial, and build on the conflation of Muslim religious practice, political opinions critical of US foreign policy, and (alleged) terrorism. The prejudicial nature of relying on such evidence is magnified by entrapment, claiming defendants' are predisposed to commit crimes, based on fabricated, secret, or other evidence to prejudice, pressure, and intimidate juries to convict. Based on empirical research, however, no link exists between religion or political views and a propensity to commit violent acts. Nonetheless, most convictions result from bogusly conflating them as proof of intent or predisposition. As a result, victims are usually defenseless against abusive government practices, including through wrongful conviction civil rights lawsuits right-wing courts rule against or disallow, especially in national security related cases involving alleged terrorism or conspiracy to commit it. CHRGJ covered several case examples, including David Williams, one of the Newburgh Four (NY), bogusly charged with plotting to blow up a Bronx synagogue and shoot down military aircraft with Stinger surface-to-air missiles. Using an FBI sting, an informant was lawlessly used to entrap them. Despite no plot or crime, they were arrested, charged and convicted. Another case involved Eljvir, Dristan and Shain Duka, three of the Fort Dix Five, falsely charged and convicted on multiple counts, including planning to attack US soldiers at Fort Dix, NJ, despite no plot, crime or legitimate evidence. Another entrapment sting operation was used. A third case involved Shahawar Siraj Matin, also entrapped by a police informant in an alleged subway bombing plot despite no crime or intent to commit one. Another case involves two Bowling Green, KY Iraqis (Mohanad Shareef Hammadi and Waad Ramadan Alwan) beyond the study's timeline, the Louisville Courier-Journal saying on May 31 they were indicted on terrorism charges. Specifically, they were charged with conspiring to kill US soldiers with improvised explosive devices in Iraq, as well as plans to send Stinger missiles, cash, sniper rifles, and rocket-propelled grenade launchers to Iraq. In fact, the alleged plot is as implausible as attacking Fort Dix, downing military aircraft, attacking marines at Quantico, VA, bombing New York landmarks, and other concocted schemes to entrap and convict innocent victims. A Final Comment: CHRGJ said practices described in the Report raise serious concerns about the US government's compliance with its international human rights obligations, including rights to a fair trial, non-discrimination, freedom of expression, religion, and other rights under US and international law. Federal, state, and local enforcement agencies systematically violate them to target and convict unjustly, sending innocent victims to prison for being Muslims in America at the wrong time, leaving everyone just as vulnerable. As a result, it's proved impossible for victims to gain redress at a time imperial priorities take precedence. Its ravages are felt abroad and at home, especially by Muslim families. Wives lose husbands, children their fathers, and wrongfully convicted Muslim men their freedom, some for decades or the rest of their lives to satisfy America's lust for conquest and domination, no matter the human cost. Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/
Yusuf/MG
North Korea
Al-Zawahiri
Mulla Omar
Al-Qaeda
Taliban
Iran
INTERNATIONAL
Jewish rabbis sentence dog to death by stoning Rabbinical court rules spirit of secular lawyer who insulted
judges 20 years ago transferred into wandering dog's body
AKIVA NOVICK
Jerusalem rabbinical court recently sentenced a wandering dog to death by stoning. The cruel sentence stemmed from the suspicion that the hound was the reincarnation of a famous secular lawyer, who insulted the court's judges 20 years ago. Several weeks ago, according to the Behadrei Hadarim website, a large dog entered the Monetary Affairs Court near the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Mea Shearim. The dog scared the court's visitors and, to their surprise, refused to leave even after they attempted to drive him away. One of the judges suddenly recalled that about 20 years ago, a famous secular lawyer who insulted the court was cursed by the panel of judges, who wished that his spirit would move on to the body of a dog (considered an impure animal by Halacha). The lawyer passed away several years ago. Still offended, one of the judges sentenced the poor animal to death by stoning, recruiting the neighborhood's children to carry out the order. Luckily, the dog managed to escape. The head of the court, Rabbi Avraham Dov Levin, denied that the judges had called for the dog's stoning. But one of the court's managers confirmed the report to Yedioth Ahronoth. "It was ordered by the rabbis because of the grief he had caused the court," he said. "They didn't issue an official ruling, but ordered the children outside to throw stones at him in order to drive him away. They didn't think of it as cruelty to animals, but as an appropriate way to 'get back at' the spirit which entered the poor dog." Jerusalem City Council Member and social activist Rachel Azaria sent an urgent letter to the attorney general, calling on him to "deal with the criminals". The Let the Animals Live organization filed a complaint with the police against Rabbi Levin.
Trevor Phillips, the head of UKs Equality and Human Rights Commission, said that Muslims are better at integrating into society, while Christians often complain about bias for cynical political gains. Phillips blamed the increasing influence on mainstream churches of African and Caribbean immigrants with 'intolerant' views. "Muslim communities in this country are doing their damnedest to come to terms with their neighbours to try to integrate and they're doing their best to try to develop an idea of Islam that is compatible with living in a modern liberal democracy," The Daily Mail quoted Phillips, as saying. "The most likely victim of actual religious discrimination in British society is a Muslim, but the person who is most likely to feel slighted because of their religion is an evangelical Christian," he added. (indianexpress.com - 20 June 2011)
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INTERNATIONAL
actually be nothing more than planted propaganda. She cautions: "We've been unable to verify its authenticity. We don't know where it was taken, or when, or by whom." What? Did we read that right? In any responsible newsroom, that alone is reason enough not to publish the story or run the video. Without confirmation and without knowing where and from whom it came, it is little more
Terry Brooks
to mingle with some prisoners there. "I still remember that great moment.the time was around 12:49 am in December 2003 when I embraced Islamat that night, I took this landmark decision after numerous chat sessions with Al Rashdi," he said. "It was a memorable moment in my life.many prisoners sat around me when I converted and decided to call me Mustafa as their new friendlater I added the name Abdullah so I am now called Mustafa Abdullah." Brooks said he had been delighted when the US army decided to send him to Guantanamo as it was an adventure for him since had not seen a prison before.
"When I arrived there, it was a big shock for me even before I entered the prison buildings, I could see that it was horrible and could suit only cactus and poisonous reptiles.I then asked myself 'are those people behind the bars really so dangerous that they are worth these costly security measures." Brooks said he started to be interested in Islam after his talks to Al Rashdi and other prisoners about Islam, Palestine, Afghanistan and the Middle East. "I used to sit just outside their cells at night listening to themby time, a sort of mutual respect developed between us I had never believed in God before I went to Guantanamo.now that I embraced Islam, I can feel the sweetness of religionIslam is a pure religion and the ultimate right." Brooks said he had first concealed his decision to convert to Islam from other US guards at Guantanamo, adding that when the officer learned about it, he and the other soldiers began to treat him cruelly and accused him of betraying America. Around two years before the end of his contract, he was fired from the army. "I am now working on a book about my experience to embrace Islam.I have just quit my job in the US to devote my time to helping the prisoners in Guantanamo..what is happening in that prison is really inhuman and violates the minimum principles of human rights," he said. (emirates247.com)
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INTERNATIONAL
Erdogan himself suffered at the hands of the generals because they suspected him, too, of being a reincarnation of Erbakan. But Erdogan steered clear of them. He didnt challenge them head-on. Instead, he built his strength among the Turkish people who were fed up with the heavyhandedness of pompous generals who had not a clue how to solve Turkeys teeming problems but had the megalomania to think of themselves as saviours of the nation. The mess they had made of Turkeys economy was ample evidence of how far removed from reality they were and obviously living in a shell of ignorance.
those secular politicians taking their cue from the General Headquarters, had acquired the dubious title of Israels most trusted partner in the region. That was all due to American dictation that Turkey in that gloomy period swallowed hook, line and sinker. It became the largest buyer of Israeli weapons, allowed Israel the privilege of using its air space to train its pilot-those who then bombed Arab countries with impunityand often carried out joint military exercises with Israel and its principal mentor, US. But once the AKP government found its feet firmly implanted into the heartland of Turkish politics Israel and its mentor were served notice that new Turkey wasnt going to shame and debase itself any longer by sub-letting its soil to neo-imperialists . The AKP government rejected with the contempt it deserved George W. Bushs offer of $ 30 billion as gratuity payment if Turkey would allow him to use its territory for his brutal invasion of Iraq. Erdogan hasnt shied away, at all, from championing the cause of the Palestinians, exploit Libyas abundant oil and gas resources. The western powers, masquerading as champions of the rights of the Libyans, have no iota of sympathy for them, or else they wouldnt force those Libyans fleeing to Europe for shelter into virtual concentration camps Its only the primacy of corporate interest in western countries that is dictating their governments agenda to seek Qaddafis downfall at the earliest. At the same time, however, they arent in a hurry to empower the anti-Qaddafi forces enough to deliver a knock-out punch to Qaddafi. Why? Because up until now these old and new imperialists havent found a Libyan cabal, from amongst those arrayed against Qaddafi, to do their bidding without demur and sign onto the dotted lines laid out for them. But its the Syrian uprising which is posing a huge humanitarian and political challenge to Erdogan. In fact the influx of Syrian refugees, fleeing the terror of government forces, into Turkey has cast a pale shadow over the triumph of AKP at the polls and the celebrations
BOOKS
DR AG KHAN
ere is a shocking exposure of indifference and callousness of the community, politicians as well as self-styled custodians of law and order and a polity claiming to be secular. Here is the recorded colossal failure of the system to even understand the plights and predicaments of these victims of militancy and counter-militancy in Kashmir. Never has there been so absolute an indifference to manmade human misery and agony. The book is written in tears (and blood) of those unfortunate women who have been condemned to eternal misery of widowhood while hope drives them to believe that their husbands are still alive. For decades they have been nursing the hope of a re-union with those who were forced to disappear by forces claiming to protect law. Their whereabouts or even the fact whether they are alive (or dead) is a mystery. These miserable people wives/ fathers/ sons s/daughters/ sisters /mothers have been moving from prisons to graveyards in the Valley and beyond to find what happened to their dear ones once they were taken away by the security forces (or militants). Economically and emotionally devastated, they still hold protests, rallies and take delegations to those in power only to realise that theirs have been futile exercises. The blame game leads no where. And yet vultures wait to pounce on them! While the sole responsibility rests on the police for perpetrating such inhuman atrocities under the pretext of curbing militancy, successive governments (belonging to different parties) did nothing to alleviate their sufferings. Each case story moves us to tears. Afsana Rashid, a Srinagar-based journalist who is recipient of prestigious fellowships and awards, narrates the trauma of these widows who have been deprived of their rights in the families of their deceased husbands. Misfortune of half widows whose husbands are thought to be dead (but not officially confirmed) is even more poignant. They themselves dont believe that they are widows, flicker of hope is in their hearts. They do not
want to remarry for a number of reasons emotional but more important than that is financial: lest they lose the support of the deceaseds families. Several such victims have formed an Association called Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) to voice their protest against the callousness of the state machinery. However, there has been disillusionment and some people parted company. Parveena Ahangar who lost her son Javaid Ahmad 19 years ago, however, continues the campaign on several national and international forums. A U.N. working group on enforced and involuntary disappearances has taken cognisance of their plight. Marches, rallies, open letters to the chief minister and others, however, proved futile. Widows, half widows and orphans live as destitutes because, in most cases, the bread-winners have been lost. Aged parents look after grandchildren though they find it too difficult to make both the ends meet. Unable to take care of themselves, they are burdened with the task of looking after their grandchildren too. Among such victims is Tahira whose husband has been missing for the last seven years. Hajra lost four sons - three killed and one made to disappear. There are hundreds of Tahiras and Hajras waiting for justice in Kashmir. Apart from Arundhati Roy, no one in India has come out against the policies of Government of India, complaints Hafizullah who claims that there are more than 50,000 members of the ADPD. Yes, Movie Mughals have their own pursuits and priorities, so have the cricketers. A nawab can donate lakhs for Prasad at the Ayodhya temple but no corporate baron came forward to help these victims so far. By the time you finish the book you will find that there are no more tears in your eyes. One can imagine the prolonged wait and suffering of these unfortunate victims of state-sponsored ruthlessness. Kashmir catches the attention of people only when there are agitations, flareups and stone-pelting. No one bothers about Kashmiris as long as they continue to suffer silently. Afsana Rashid deserves our gratitude for giving a wake-up call to those who have been engrossed in their absurd pursuits of power, lust and luxury. Indians as a whole and Muslims in particular have ignored the subdued shrieks of these victims. One wonders whether we deserve to be called civilised and yet claim to be Muslims! Not only should this book be sent to the three interlocutors, MPs, judges and human right activists, it should also be pre-
scribed as textbook to police officers to prick their conscience (if they do have one) and especially to those who are undergoing training. Extremely well-researched and documented with facts and photographs, the book is a landmark contribution in the field of counter-terrorism and Kashmir studies. Let us pray for a day when the need for such books becomes redundant. Pharos Media has rendered the country and the community a yeoman service by daring to publish such poignant account of the sufferings of the voiceless.
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ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVES
if Allah gives us the choice to believe or not to believe and prohibits the Prophet (pbuh) not to use force or coercion against non-believers, why did He punish the people of Prophet Nuh, the Thmud, the Lut and the people of Prophet Shuaib and the Pharaoh and his followers? The answer is found in the Quran itself. Those people were not punished simply because of their disbelief but because of their oppression of the righteous and because they stopped others to come to the way of Allah. Ibn Taymiyah, the great scholar, opined: States may live long inspite of their peoples disbelief (kufr), but they cannot live long when their people become oppressors.
is prohibited. In Surah al-Shura, Allah says to the Prophet (pbuh): If they turn away, we have not sent you as a guard over them. Your duty is but to convey (the message). In Sura al-Nahl, Allah further reveals to the Prophet (pbuh) the method to be followed while preaching the Message of Allah: Invite [all] to the way of your Lord with wisdom and beautiful graciousness. Your Lord knows best, who have strayed from His Path, and who receive guidance. Allah further addressing Mankind saids: Obey Allah, and obey the Messenger, and beware [of evil]: if you do turn back, know then that, it is our Messengers duty to proclaim [the message] in the clearest manner. The Holy Quran further says addressing the Prophet (pbuh): Say: Obey Allah, and obey the Messenger: but if you turn away, he is only responsible for the duty placed on him and you for that placed on you. If you obey Him, you shall be on right guidance. The Messengers duty is only to preach the clear [message]. Thus we see that the verses mentioned above give an injunction not to coerce people, present the message to them in a decent and clear way, invite them to the truth and do your best in presenting and conveying the message of Allah to humanity, while it is totally up to them to accept or to reject it. Allah revealed to the Prophet (pbuh): And say, The truth is from your Lord, so whosoever wants let him believe and whosoever wants let him deny. Here the question arises: if Allah gives us the choice to believe or not to believe and prohibits the Prophet (pbuh) not to use force or coercion against non-believers, why did He punish the people of Prophet Nuh, the Thmud, the Lut and the people of Prophet Shuaib and the Pharaoh and his followers? The answer is found in the Quran itself. Those people were not punished simply because of their disbelief but because of their oppression of the righteous and because they stopped others to come to the way of Allah. Ibn Taymiyah, the great scholar, opined: States may live long inspite of their peoples disbelief (kufr), but they cannot live long when their people become oppressors. Islam permits coercion and use of force only against those who fight Islam and Muslims. Allah says, Fight in the cause of Allah those who attack you, but do not transgress limits; for Allah loves not transgressors. The purpose of jihad is not to convert people to Islam. The Quran says, La ikraha fi al-din which means that there is no compulsion in religion. The real purpose of jihad is to remove injustice, oppression and stop aggression. Muslims are allowed to keep good relations with non-Muslims. The Quran says, Allah does not forbid you that you show kindness and deal justly with those who did not fight you in your religion and did not drive you out from your homes. Islam may tolerate anything but it teaches zero tolerance for injustice, oppression and violation of the rights of other human beings. Allah says, And why should you not fight in the cause of Allah and of those who, being weak, are ill-treated? Men, women, and children, whose cry is: Our Lord! Rescue us from this town whose people are oppressors, and raise for us from your side one who will protect, and raise for us from your side one who will help. Islam teaches tolerance at all levels: between family members, between husband and wife, between parent and child, between groups and nations. The Quran says, O Mankind! We have created you male and female, and have made you nations and tribes so that you might [affectionately] come to know one another. Surely, the most honoured among you, in the sight of Allah, is the one who is the best in conduct. The best conduct in Islam is to treat human beings with dignity, equality, fraternity and justice. Thus tolerance is the need of the hour today as it was yesterday. We must emphasise the need for this virtue among us and in the world. We must foster tolerance through deliberate policies and efforts. Our focus should be multiethnic. We should teach our children respect of each other irrespective of caste, creed, gender, nationality and ethnicity. Tolerance is the cordial knot which binds the family, society and keep the nation intact. Disrespect gives rise to persons like Vibhishan who may change the course of a nation. We should inculcate in our children the quality of tolerance, forbearance, and forgiveness because the family is the first school of citizenship. A child learns the lesson of life in the manner it suckles in the lap of its mother. This always affects its mind, behaviour and culture. Only a healthy and cultured family can make a healthy and cultured nation which is necessary to establish peace, prosperity and security in the world which is the object of the UN. Society cannot be governed by law alone. Law has a relation with society. It suffers if society is rigid and intolerant. Dr. Kamal Ahmad Khan teaches in the Faculty of Law, University of Lucknow
The UNESCO principles on tolerance read as follows: Consistent with respect for human rights, the practice of tolerance does not mean toleration of social injustices or the abandonment or weakening of ones convictions. It means that one is free to adhere to ones own convictions and accepts that others adhere to theirs. It means accepting the fact that human beings, naturally diverse in their appearance, situation, speech, behaviour and values, have the right to live in peace and to be as they are. It also means that ones views are not to be imposed on others. The preamble of the Indian Constitution vows Justice, social, economic and political; Liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship; Equality of status and opportunity; and calls for promoting among all Indians Fraternity assuring the dignity of the individual. Thus tolerance comes from our recognition of: A. The dignity of the human beings, B. The basic equality of all human beings, C. Universal human rights D. Fundamental freedom of thought, conscience and belief. The Quran speaks about the basic dignity of all human beings regardless of their race, colour, language or ethnicity. The Shariah recognizes the right to life, property, family honour and conscience of all people. From the very beginning, freedom of religion has been guaranteed by Islam. It prohibits coercion in matters of faith and belief. The Quran says: There is no compulsion in religion. In matters of religion coercion is not permitted and by implication it is accepted that in matters like culture and other worldly practices also the use of force and undue influence
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REJOINDERS/OPINION/LETTERS
MG I am highly impressed by your Gazette. I wish all success for the paper through your dynamic editorship. Prof. Soleman Ali Mondal, Dhubri, Assam Wakf amendment billl This has reference to the following article: Amendment bill takes away Waqf from Muslim domain by Zafar Mahmood published in The Milli Gazette of May 1-15, 2011. Commenting or suggesting improvements on the proposed bill is tacitly agreeing to the Congress exercise to nationalize Muslim Awqaf. This bill must be rejected in toto. There should be a mass movement first to reject the bill and then a national conference by Muslims to find ways and means to take control of all their Awqaf, through their own people, who are not any way, openly or covertly aligned with any political groups. Muslims have a right to protect their Awqaf properties from the clutches of corrupt governments and its bureaucrats, as much as they have the right to protect their personal laws. Salman Khursheed is right when he accuses Muslims of not trusting anybody in government or political parties. Does he need to be informed of the utterly unfair treatment of Muslims by the Congress over the last 63 years? Just because he was given a cabinet post, he is definitely supposed to be more loyal to the Congress than the Queen. That is quite understandable. But he too must understand that there is a deep and abiding trust deficit between Congress and Muslims and pressing to pass this bill will give a big handle for Congress detractors to gather Muslims over the virtual nationalisation of entire Muslim Awkaf of India. Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai ghulammuhammed3@gmail.com Urdu and Indian Muslims This refers to Urdu and Indian Muslims (M.G. 1-15 June 2011). Urdu will not give him bread and butter if he changes name he will get easy bread and butter, no harassment, no encounter and no partiality. God bless him. Akhtar, Bangalore Hindutva terrorism Wwhatever you brought into notice is a well known fact and the govt. (governing by Brahmans) are well aware of it. You guys have done a great job... we need such unbiased people across the country to defeat the Brahmanism Ibne Hidayat shafiullahkhan.cse06@gmail.com France ethnocentrism Apropos of MG June 2011 issue. Every individual has fundamental rights as far as clothing is concerned, of course within the boundaries of decency and laws existing in the country. I am particularly in favour of full face veil. It is more cultural rather than religious. There again, it is not my preference that matters, it is the individuals. As the French white non-Muslim woman has her fundamental right to reveal as much as she wants to, a Muslim woman has her fundamental right to cover as much as she wants to unless criminal activities initiate from these acts. Why should we force anybody for that matter on garments simply because in a particular Muslim country, non-Muslims are advised to wear in a particular way? Assuming that one day, European Govts bring a law stating that no woman should wear a dress covering assume that French Muslim citizens oppose this law on the grounds that, revealing her lower thighs. But the same law insists on women covering upper thighs. And lower thighs infringes on their personal rights and religious law on clothing. What will be the decision of the French Parliament? Will the Parliament and Judiciary force this law on all French women Muslims and non-Muslims to reveal their lower thighs by implementing that law? Certain aspects
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of Islamic culture or jurisprudence are not subject to change or interpretation. One example: Pre-marital and consensual sex is forbidden in Islam and this will remain so even in 31st century. PA. Mohamedameen (via email) Towards a riot-free India This is with reference to the fantastic article by Ram Punyani, Towards A riot free India, published in (M.G 16-30 June 2011) is very interesting and informative. He has rightly elaborated the true episodes of how India has been subject to communal violence right from the post partition violence of 1961, and so on several times. I congratulate Mr Ram Punyani and the Editor-in-chief, for presenting such a wonderful article. Mohd. Azam, Karimnagar, Telangana deomohdazam97@yahoo.co.in Communal Violence Bill It can be said to be a right step by the Sonia Gandhis National Advisory Council if she is planning to enact Communal Violence Bill. India has witness uncountable Hindu-Muslim communal riots right from 1947. Several Hindu-Christian & in the year 1984 Hindu-Sikh communal riot is on the record. Hindu-Dalit communal riot is also common practice. In every communal riot the Hindus or the majority community is in the domination. That means minorities in India are not safe and required to be safeguarded. According to the Constitution of India, it is the duty of the Government to safeguard the property, honour and life of the citizen living in the country. The Indian constitution guarantees equal rights to all its citizens, violation of which by the State or Central Government can be challenged in the High Court or Supreme Court as per the Article 32 of the Constitution, such cases are taken up with utmost urgency. Article 14 of the constitution states that, the State shall not deny to any person on equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within territory of India. It is the moral responsibility of the political parties and leaders to control the communal riot in their respective constituency. Debar the political leaders to contest election if found guilty of communal riots. Zuber Ahmed Khan, Navi Mumbai - 410210 Ayodhya in Thailand Years have passed; Hindu women go to their mothers place during their first pregnancy to give birth to their first baby. It is their custom. Rama the prince of Ayodhya was the first son to king Dashratha and queen Kaushalya. Queen Kaushalya went to her parents place to give birth to her first child. She was not the princess of Ayodhya. So prince Rama was not born in Ayodhya. Secondly, there is one more Ayodhya in Thailand. We do not know whether king Dashratha ruled in India or in Thailand because pictures of Ramayana are depicted in the temples of Thailand also. In short Ayodhya is not Rama-janmabhumi. Nazneen O. Saherwala (Surat, India) Not Husain, Indias secularism buried in London Now that Indias greatest artist M.F.Husain has been buried in London, our hypocrite politicians are coming out in support of the dead artist. Newspapers are replete with enlightening articles on the inspiring life and achievements of Husain who once was unabashedly targeted by the eternal patriots of the right wing organisations specially Shiv Sena for the sin of redisplaying the Art of kamasutra manifested in the caves of Khajurahu that once or still constitutes integral part of majoritarians divine culture. But the irony with Indian secularism is that it cant afford and never dared to contradict or challenge Majoritarians view point however irrational, absurd or even anti national it may sound. This was exactly what happened to M.F.Husain who never received governmental support in hours of crisis despite having brought fame, dignity, respect and popularity to
Indias art but who ironically died as a citizen of Qatar and not India. A matter of shame for Indias fake secularism. Mushtaque Madni Editor, Usool, Pune II On MF Husain demise the kindest words for him have come from Thackerays. Raj Thackeray said that Husain was a national asset. Whatever controversies happened should be laid to rest with his passing. Uncle Bal Thackeray stated, damage may have been caused to modern art due to the painter demise. May Allah give him peace? Dr Mookhi Amir Ali, Santacruz west, Mumbai 400054 drmookhi@hotmail.com Muslim girls of Bihar is leading the way On 12th June, Bihar School Examination Board has published Intermediate Arts Results. Media gave 44 toppers name. Muslim girls achieved 3rd, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 11th like altogether 11 Muslim girls got positions among 44 toppers list. It is amazing that out of 44 not a single Muslim boys name appeared. Is it Muslim boys not interested in studying Arts? S. Haque, Patna Saibabas wealth The recent incidence of Satya Saibaba showed his love of gold wealth and jewellery. Some 450 kilos of gold was found in his room and foreign currency was also found. It shows the materialistic mind of Saibaba. He was loved and revered like a God. If you read the Last days of Prophet Mohammad, it is mentioned in the history that in the last days of prophet. He ordered to his wife that he had 6 Deenars of gold coins that has to be given to the poor men. As he did not think good to meet Allah with some gold coins in his custody. The coins were distributed among poor. The prophet died like a poor man. Now you can judge both the god men. Saibaba was made deity by the people where as Mohamed was assigned by God who made compulsory payment of zakat and forbidden interest. He brought a complete code of life. His followers are in billions. The holy Quran is the book of injunctions of God and guiding the whole humanity. The people should differentiate between manmade and god made religious dignitaries Dr Maqdoomi Hyderabad drmaqdoomi@yahoo.com Climbing superior heights It is regrettable that, even some intellectuals of today, do not realise that just as workers (communist) can break family and motherland relations, the followers of the Islamic ideology [Universal Human Brotherhood] cannot and must not cling to relations based on blood and soil. Dr. Iqbal, through he belonged to Kashmiri Brahmin race, initially said Hindustan Hamara finally declared Sara Jahan Hamara. Sultan A. Patel, Khanpur Deh 392150 Secularism and minorities 11 Shiv Sainiks and 10 other Hindu hooligans are set free from the legal clutches. On Monday i.e. 30th May 2011. Once again court fails to provide justice to the victims of 1993 horrible communal riots because lack of evidence. Everybody knows Shiv Sena always remains forward in the terror activities, mass murder gang rapes especially when it is related to the Muslims. Now, it is the duty of home minister Maharashtra to move in the higher court against the verdict. As Maharashtra Government did in the acquittal of 1993 Bombay Bomb Blast activits. Gulam Yahaya, the innocent Imam of Haj House. Sayeed Sabauddin and in many other cases in which Muslims were acquitted by the lower court but Maharashtra Government moved to higher court. Maharashtra home minister is looking sympathetic towards saffron elements specially Shiv Sena. Recently an appeal was filed in High Court Bombay to ban the book, Shivaji Hindu King in Islamic India written by James Laine; by the Home Ministery Maharashtra. The Judgement favours the Author. There was no reason to move in Supreme Court. The Government of Maharashtra challenged the Bombay High Court Verdict in Supreme Court. It shows the inability of the Government of Maharshtra, how she played in the hands of fascists party the Shiv Sena. Indian secular image is merely a phobia on Muslims and minorities; it is good, just to show international community that we are secular; we are taking care of Minorities. In fact, Indian public as well as public servants are communally biased. Zuber Ahmed Khan, Navi Mumbai 410210 Bihar law and order Dr. Bhudeo Singh was killed in Gopalganj Jail on 23 May 2011 by prisoners. Bihar Home Commissioner Aamir Subhani went to slain doctor home to give Rs. 10 lakh ex-gratia cheque on 12 June. The family refused to accept because it was meager amount. The wife and children of slain jail official Haider Imam Warsi went to Dy. C.M. Janta Darbar 13 May to get justice. Haider Imam Warsi was on duty in Buxar Jail while he was coming out from jail, he was killed by bullet fired by criminals on 4 May 2011. Aamir Subhani being Home Secretary has maintained double standard? Mr. Subhani deputed to inquire firing and police atrocities in Bhajanpur (Forbesganj) and in December 2010 firing by S.S.B. in Araria. Is he (Aamir Subhani) being utilised by Bihar govt.? S. Haque, Patna Corruption Now, in India the word corruption is order of the day thanks to so called Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev. Corruption is the root of all evils in India. It will be not wrong to say that a culture of corruption is pervading us, Corruption declines production of work. It encourages Easy life and laziness. Corruption is at everywhere. Government, politicians, Businessmen and bureaucrats are in these dirty and filthy waters. I humbly say that Our Madaris,ulemas, sufis, peers and so called holy men in Masjids (Imams) are in this vicious cycle. They call it as Hadiya and donations. AH Lakhani, Ahmedabad lakhani63@yahoo.com II If the fire and brimstone in the language of Annamen is anything to go by, the Lokpal bill which the parliament will pass is not going to be acceptable to these people. Anna has already announced his plans to go on fast again. Two Bhushans and a Kejriwal are not reminding him that during his last sojourn at Jantar Mantar he has repeatedly accepted that parliament is the ultimate arbiter of what the law of the country should be. Who will his fast target this time and who will he teach a lesson and what according to him and his supporters, will be the preconditions before Anna accepts that glass of juice? Will he
perceived would be a truly democratic society where HinduMuslim differences would be insignificant with true progress of one Indian people. But the Hindu community was thinking something else. They were thinking of revenge and punishment for the Muslims. Muslims have always been walking under the shadow of death ever since partition, especially in the northern parts of India. Muslim leaders who blindly believed the Hindu Congress and discouraged the population of the North to migrate to Pakistan are to be blamed. They scoffed at the idea of Pakistan and challenged the very brave and practical Mr Jinnah. True, Pakistan is not a complete success.That is another story. But at least our Muslim sisters are not gang-raped by perverted murderers. At least pregnant women are not being raped and killed by criminal gangs without them being punished. This is virtual hell in the case of Indian Muslims. They need a very strong voice to represent them in the parliament. The police themselves are communal-minded and are full of hate for Muslims. Most of the Hindu public do not want to nor know the Muslims in their country. To the Hindu, Muslim is invisible or non-existent. While most Hindus are mostly financially comfortable and live in good houses and luxurious apartments, Muslims generally live in squalor in slums and pavements.There is no security of life. Even when they are slaughtered by Hindu mobs or the youth imprisoned without charge, the Hindu local government just does not care. Nor is the Hindu public sorry for them. So Muslims of India need a brave and strong leader who will bring justice to this dying species called Indian Muslims.The present so-called Muslim leaders are a joke. They are apologetic cowards and just want personal comfort. There are a few Muslims who are brave and want to do something. They should come forward, form groups and organize themselves effectively. It would be wise for them to join the leftist groups. They are better than these bigoted Hindus who are full of hate and injustice for the poor Muslims. Muslims of India have to make a comeback. Nobody can help them but themselves.They should remember their history and their great religion. The goal should be full education, create their own schools, own businesses and help their community. But first of all there should be a vision. A Chinese proverb says: "A long journey begins with one small step." All rich Muslims of India should completely finance this come-back project. Rhazes Esref (on MG website)
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REJOINDERS/OPINION/LETTERS
expect the Indian parliament to agree firstly to reassemble in a special session; secondly to pass a bill to annul the Lokpal act passed by it in this monsoon session and thirdly pass Annas Lokpal bill neither a governments bill nor a private members- unanimously so that he may end his anshan? Dr Mookhi Amir Ali, Santacruz west, Mumbai 400054 drmookhi@hotmail.com III Anna Hazare is fighting for Lokpal bill to root out corruption from India, which is now at the zenith, in a Gandhian way. But the UPA Govt is afraid of the bill and creating bottlenecks in it. As per the statement by Anna Hazare The draft submitted to JPC on Lok pal bill by Hazares, team, also seeks power to the proposed Ombudsman to acquire modern equipment necessary for proper investigation and inquire in to the assets declaration statements filled by all the member of Parliaments. In the powers and functions of the Lokpal and its officers section of the civil societys draft, the Ombudsman can authorise a bench of the Lokpal to issue letters of rogatory in relation to any case pending investigation. Anna Hazarey was not satisfied, and decided to go on fast from 16th august 2011. God save our democracy. Mohd. Azam, Karimnagar, Telangana deomohdazam70@gmail.com IV Cash transaction plays vital role in augmenting black money. Builders/developers/jewellers/land deals/govt. licenses/clearance from municipal corporations/settlement of income tax/sales tax cases etc energising black money. Black money is invested in real estate, gold, silver, capital market, plots of land etc, in fictitious names, servants account, and accounts in names of family members. etc. Corporate open subsidiaries account in foreign banks, even in name of individuals and transfer unaccounted money to foreign banks through hawala transaction, courier, under-/over-invoices of foreign trade transactions. Drug trafficking, smuggling, fake currency trade, illegal arms dealings etc create black money. People manage to obtain sales tax permit/license but they do not carry out business. Instead they operate fictitious accounts. There are persons who just keep a sale/purchase register, maintain accounts register and prepare fake invoices. Concerned persons are involved in money laundering, hawala transactions, convert black money into white money. There are persons who receive cash from black money holders, deposit the same into their accounts and then issues cheques in favour of the cash giver. This turns unaccounted money into white money. A person who issues cheque gets commission per entry. What should be noted is that a person who acquires black money never gets title, ownership to money/property because the same has been obtained through illegal means. Such money/property can be confiscated, /seized and this is permitted under our Indian penal code. Jagdip H. Vaishnav, Mumbai-400007 jvaishnav47@yahoo.co.in V Prakash Singh Badal of the Shiromani Akali Dal is the sole member of the opposition to opine on the lokpal bill in response to Pranab Mukherjee request. The rest of the opposition is keeping the cards close to the chest and their daggers behind the backs. Badal wants the prime minister to be out of the ambit of the Lokpal while he has no problem with the entire judiciary being in its purview. The National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution set up by the NDA government and the second Reforms Commission of 2007, had also recommended that the prime minister must be kept out of the jurisdiction of the Lokpal. Their contention has been similar to Badal. The Prime Minister occupies a unique position. Is his image, his reputation and his personality that pervades the entire government attracts a good amount of opposition, criticism, allegations and what not. If a Lokpal were to take up each and every allegation or accusation made against the prime minister by a political party or a group or a person, it would hobble the Prime Minister in an effective discharge of his functions. He cannot afford to remain under a cloud all the time nor can the nation afford a Prime Minister under a cloud all the time Anna Hazare team must adopt a flexible position if they expect the bill to be tabled in the parliament in the first week of July. Once the bill is tabled in the parliament its progress is quite out of control of the government. It is the parliament which passes a bill. In threatening to go on fast from 16th of August, Anna Hazare will be blackmailing the Indian Parliament. Dr Mookhi Amir Ali, Santacruz west, Mumbai 400054 drmookhi@hotmail.com VI If the fire and brimstone in the language of Annas men is anything to go by, the Lokpal bill which the parliament will pass is not going to be acceptable to these people. Anna has already announced his plans to go on fast again. Two Bhushans and a Kejriwal are not reminding him that during his last sojourn at Jantar Mantar he has repeatedly accepted that parliament is the ultimate arbiter of what the law of the country should be. Who will his fast target this time and who will him ?ach a lesson what, according to him and his supporters, will be the preconditions before Anna accepts that glass of juice? Will he expect the Indian parliament to agree firstly to reassemble in a special session; secondly to pass a bill to annul the Lokpal act passed by it in this monsoon session and thirdly pass Annas Lokpal bill neither a governments bill nor a private members- unanimously so that he may end his anshan? Dr Mookhi Amir Ali, Santacruz west, Mumbai 400054 drmookhi@hotmail.com VII One wonders whether the self-proclaimed fasters-unto-death gentlemen are not driven by a hidden desire to exhibit themselves as the highest heroes! S. Akhtar, Khanpur Deh 392150 Dance of Sushma This is with reference to the letter published in (MG.16-30 June 2011) by Dr.Maqdoomi of Gulbarga is interesting to read, that Susmaji is Educated, Modest, hails from a reputed family should have not danced like a professional dancer at the Gandhi Samadhi, is unwarranted, unethical, who is the main leader of the opposition party of India. We all felt very bad for the embarrassing position, which is a shameful act. She is like the Mother of all Indians, irrespective of caste and creed. We still love her and adore her for her quality, Mohd.Azam, Karimnagar, Telangana deomohdazam97@yahoo.co.in No to Nuclear Italy has abandoned nuclear power in the aftermath of 1986
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Chernobyl disaster. By the next April Japan all nuclear reactors will be shut. All of Germany nuclear power plants will go offline by 2022. The country is prepared to find alternate source of energy, 23% of which is coming from Nuclear power plants at present. And, now Switzerland parliament by a big majority has voted to say adieu to nuclear power. India, in the teeth of popular opposition, is going full steam ahead with its nuclear power plants. The country with 300 shining days in a year cannot think of solar power. With one of the longest windy coast line India cannot think of harnessing wind power. Germany will. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said a decision to phase out nuclear power by 2022 can make her country a trailblazer in renewable energy. Dr Mookhi Amir Ali, Santacruz west, Mumbai 400054 drmookhi@hotmail.com Delhi a world city? This tall claim is being made by Delhi chief minister and other Delhi Minister that the common wealth games has transformed Delhi into a world city like Shanghai and in this connection mention has been made of construction of numerous flyovers, roads. But the total absence of basis amenities in a number of Delhi colonies, the overall shortage of drinking water, the irregular supply of electricity, absence of proper drainage and sewer system in the city, presence of heaps of dirt and filth on the main streets and the highly deplorable conditions of roads, existence of open manholes leading to the death of number of citizens and the horrible condition of Jhuggies and Jhopries housing lakhs of people totally contradicts this tall claim. One wished that the huge amount of money spent of common wealth games could have been spent of the basis amenities of Delhi walas. Dr. M. Hashim Kidwai, Mayur Vihar, New Delhi-91 Indira and Mamata Governing by ordinance is the Indira style of functioning. It is best avoided. Any government must resort to issuing an ordinance only in very exceptional circumstances. It is surprising that a politician as mature as Mamata Bannerjee committed the folly of issuing the Singur land ordinance when the assembly was in session. Now, if there are legal or procedural problems in withdrawing the ordinance, the best course for her is to admit the mistake and apologize to the opposition. Because the opposition has no issue with the substance of the ordinance and is agreeable to the return of the land to farmers, and should gracefully accept the situation and move on. Mookhi Amir Ali, Santacruz west, Mumbai 400054 drmookhi@hotmail.com Trafficking of women The Trafficking of women, the female foeticide and infanticide seems to have multiplied in India keeping at the worlds fourth most dangerous place for women, as per a survey conducted by Thomson Reuters Trust law Women. In India we see a whole gamut of human trafficking which is run, whereby women and girls are trafficked within and into the country since they are most vulnerable into the sex trade. The enormous bulk of Trafficked women and girls are poor; some belong to landless families, and most come from dalit, adivasi or other low caste communities. In 2009, Indias then-Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta estimated that 100 million people, mostly women and girls, were involved in trafficking in India that year. But if India wants to make it a country worth living for women it will need to cover lot of aspects as far as security is concern. According to police records, over 400 rape cases have been reported in the capital in the year 2010 alone. According to the data, 18,359 rape cases were registered in India in the first three quarters of this 2010; hence, we need to provide an environment of safety and Security to our women with strict implementation of the female centric laws thats in theory in our books. In the modern times, women in India happens to be still week and vulnerable. Farzana Nigar, Ranchi-834002 farzana.nigar@gmail.comnazsita@yahoo.co.in Demand for separate Telangana The mode of agitation, cooking on roads will belie the demand of separate Telangana state .The centre will think that the party has a picnic orientation mindset and has no concerned with the real problems of the Telangana people. Now we are seeing that small countries are uniting and forming a joint currency and a joint defence system. Now we are still 50 years behind. Even after formation of Separate state where from the funds will come the Centre will treat the new state as a turbulent person and will leave to fight on its own accord. The state has no harbour it has to depend on Andhra state. The Telangana people will lose its goodwill as the Andhra settlers will be treated badly. Mr. Chander shaker Rao should understand the difficulty of centre .If Telagana is separated another 10 states will demand separation and will try to severe the relations with Indian Union and lot of fuss will occur and the centre will not be able to control the agitations in all other states. Mr. Rao is talking about unnatural developments. Does he mean that the Telagana people will demand Freedom from India? He should that Kashmiris sacrifices one lakh youths were killed for Azadi but what is the result? There fore Mr. Rao should eschew the demand for development of Telangana. He can claim the package of one lakh crores for the overall development of Telangana. The centre may agree to the demand. He should stop bizarre type of agitations It is a mockery of his party Dr Maqdoomi, Hyderabad drmaqdoomi@yahoo.com Gujarati Hindus god In Gujarat, if anybody remains lazy, doing nothing, he is compared with and called Mahadev. S.A.U. Patel, Khanpur Deh- 392150 Presss silence on corrupt bureaucrats Today corruption is all-pervasive in the country and has deeply affected all walks of life. It can be effectively checked and eliminated when not only highly effective and strict laws are passed; deterrent exemplary punishment is given to the guilty and very strong public opinion is mobilized against this cancer. Surely, press can do a lot in this matter. But it is really distressing that the press had miserably failed to perform its duty in so far as corrupt bureaucrats are concerned. It has done a real national service by exposing corrupt politicians and political leaders by highlighting their highly deplorable scams and has rightly condemned them on their venality, it has ignored the fact that the politicians could not get away with corruption without the active assistance of bureaucrats. In fact, bureaucrats have beaten the politicians in this nasty and sordid game of amassing wealth. Hardly, any day passes when we do not read reports of CBI raids at the resi-
dences of bureaucrats both serving or retired and come to know the details of their amassing wealth amounting to several crores and about their highly disproportionate assets. The most glaring example of this is that of a former chief secretary of UP who had amassed wealth amounting to crores. Silence of the press over the corruption of bureaucrats on such a vast scale cannot be condoned. Dr. M. Hashim Kidwai, Mayur Vihar, New Delhi-91 How do you make abortion laws? How is it possible that, with such evidence as there is, there are still people who say that human life can be undone in the womb? Is it possible that there are governments in the XXI century, which support such aberration and tyranny? Dr. Nathanson, in his book The Hand of God published by Palabra, makes a review of his life. It is an impressive testimony of a man who has gone from being one of the fiercest abortion doctors in the world, after his conversion to Catholicism; he becomes a hard defender of human life. He said that to make abortion legal in the United States was crucial manipulate of the media, all coming together in a historic moment as the convulsive decade were 60 and 70. For that is necessary to have a figure or institution about to be downloaded on the wrath of those people who sought to deny any order established in nature, and that institution was the Catholic Church. Manipulating the history of the Church and its true message of salvation was the perfect scapegoat. The maximum to be acted was Machiavelli: Nothing is more difficult to control, more dangerous to carry or more uncertain of success, to take the lead in introducing a new order of things. So we have established the reason for this diabolical plot: You can only explain this atrocity taking into account the existence of the demon, who is a murderer from the beginning. Nathanson says it all: his abortion clinic was a gang of professional criminals. Jose A. Calvo arturo@aplicaciones.info USA faces danger of becoming a nation of warmongers When U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates in valedictory address questioned the viability of NATO due to following reasons: (a) Reluctance of some European nations to expand defence budgets and take on direct combat has created what amounts to a two-tier alliance: Members like USA willing and able to pay the price and bear the burdens of alliance commitments, and those who enjoy the benefits of NATO membership but dont want to share the risks and the costs. (b)- Only five of the 28 allies now spent the agreed target of 2% of GDP on defence. (c)- (In view of present US sensitivity & problems in the face of whopping above $ 14 trillion US national debt) - There will be dwindling appetite and patience in the U.S. Congress to expend increasingly precious US funds on behalf of nations that are apparently unwilling to devote the necessary resources or make the necessary changes to be serious and capable partners in their own defence, - Gates was correctly highlighting the non-viability of NATO but Gates was wide of the mark, in analyzing the ailment and prescribing the remedies due to his misplaced nationalism and inability to make the paradigm shift in the changed global scenario of especially but not exclusively (A)- post cold war world (B)- democratic uprising in North Africa & Middle East (NAME) countries (C )- global war against terrorism and post Laden killing era (D)- Netanyahu formulation before joint session of US congress of one State solution for Jews and Palestinians (E)- Unnecessary and inhuman burden, on developing countries, of their war machinery in post cold war era (F)Eradication of WMDs including nukes (G)- Effective protection of human rights including of democracy and religious freedom. Hem Raj Jain, Mankato, MN - 56001, USA jainhemraj1945@gmail.com II To understand global terrorism and the current global obsession with terrorism, we have to go back to the history and study how the Americans have been playing a key role in helping terrorism flourish across the world. When during the Cold War Soviet Union attacked Afghanistan, the US - which had long been calling the shots from behind, came to the forefront, and launched a massive support and training campaign for the Afghan freedom fighters. Soon, the mujahedeen (holy warriors) were born and became well-known across the world. We have not forgotten how the US encouraged the Mujahedeen in their fight against the Soviet forces. President Reagan on March 21, 1983 said: watch the courageous Afghan freedom fighters battle modern arsenals with simple hand-held weapons are an inspiration to those who love freedom. When the People? Democratic Party of Afghanistan, a pro-Soviet party, took control of Afghanistan, Mujahedeen resistance spread. As Mujahedeen groups broke apart into different factions, the CIA tended to favour the most extreme among the Mujahedeen commanders. The US intelligence agency ensured that the most fanatical anti-Soviet groups were also the best trained and armed for the guerrilla warfare. It history now how the Mujahedeen were financed, armed and trained by the US during the administrations of Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. Pakistans secret service, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), was used as a liaison group by the US, in attempt to keep the American action as secret as possible. Aziz A. Mubaraki, Member, Advisory Committee(AAI) azizmubarki@gmail.co III Observing from the American intervention policy for the last 50 years it looks like the aims are regime change or voluntary subordination by the Syrian regime. This includes subordinating Syrian foreign policy and de-linking Syrian from its strategic alliance with Iran and its membership within the Resistance Bloc. Syria is run by an authoritarian oligarchy which has used brute force in dealing with its citizens. They cannot be viewed as a straight forward quest for liberty and democracy. There has been an attempt by the U.S. and the E.U. to use the riots in Syria to pressure and intimidate the Syrian leadership. Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, alliance have all played a role in supporting an armed insurrection. In this regard the Al-Sauds seem to support both sectarian factions as well as terrorist elements, which question the foundations of religious tolerance in Syria. They are good at running with the hare and hunting with the hounds. Funding has also been provided to ominous and unpopular foreign-based Syrian opposition figures, while weapons caches were smuggled from Jordan and Lebanon into Syria. The good old Ahmed Chalabis story may be reenacted. The events in Syria are also tied to Iran, the longstanding strategic ally of Damascus. It is also not coincidental that Iran was included in the sanctions against Syria. The hands of the Syrian military and government have now been tied internally as a new and broader offensive is being prepared that will target both Syria and Iran. Kodimirpal (via email)
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