I n d i a n M u s l i m s L e a d i n g E n g l i s h N e w s p a p e r , p u b l i s h e d s i n c e J a n u a r y 2 0 0 0

MG THE
Fortnightly
278 Vol. 12 No. 16

MILLI GAZETTE
16-31 August 2011 32 pages

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Inside
Terrorism/HR 3,6,8,11,13 Deoband/Vastanvi 2,5 Reservation 8,14 Israel/India 3 Media 8,9 Minority schemes 3,22 Subramanian Swamy 19,20 Corruption 7 Dalit 14 WB Muslims 6 Gujarat 4,8,10 J&K 4,14,22 Analysis 12,14 Special Reports 3 Issues 2,12-13 Books 27 National 3-22 International 23-26 Speaking Out 14 Newsmakers 16 19-22 Community News Islamic Perspectives 28 Letters 30-31 Classifieds 29

VASTANVI WRONGED... pp. 2,5

QURAN IS HIS MISSION...p. 9

Educational Encyclopedia of Islam launched

have not produced encyclopedias to propagate Islam but to distort it. A Muslim, who strives New Delhi: Educational Encyclopedia of hard to find ones space in Islam was released here at the India society, will always find it and Islamic Cultural Centre on July 30. The we are there to help. But a two-volume encyclopedia has been comnegative thinking Muslim will piled by Syed Iqbal Zaheer, the editor of never find his goal as Islam Young Muslim Digest. The occasion was has no place for negativity, he graced by K. Rahman Khan, Deputy said. Chairman of Rajya Sabha as the chief The event concluded with guest, Sirajuddin Quereshi, president of the promises of making the IICC, and Dr. Javed Jamil, Editor of Islam, encyclopedia available in all Muslim & the World. universities and research instiThe event began with a keynote tutions, especially for Muslim address by Syed Iqbal Zaheer. He emphastudents. sized the need of having an encyclopedia Rahman Khan (centre) releasing the Encyclopaedia at Delhi In essence, An of Islam in the times of western propaganRehman Khan. Educational Encyclopedia of Islam covers the religious dimenda of deception and disinformation about Dr. Javed Jamil, known for his sions of Islam and its development in various parts of the world. the tenets and history of Islam. How long will a civilization last if it is based only on Book: An Educational Encyclopeadia assault on western economic system and Cultural issues which are of significance within the historical canthe author of The Devil of Economic vass of Islam like calligraphy and language have also been covmatter and not value. Man with no values of Islam Fundamentalism, spoke about the ills of ered. Drawing upon trusted sources in the Arabic language, every is a jungle man?, he said commenting on Editor: Syed Iqbal Zaheer the gradually degenerating civilization of Publisher: East West Educational Tools, western civilization. All those who think sentence in the encyclopedia has been cross-checked for its corthat this is the age of science, need to rectness and authenticity. The entries of this encyclopedia are the West. Expressing his deep concern 43 Dickenson Rd., Bangalore 560042 over the dissemination of twisted Islamic Email: editor@youngmuslimdigest.com rethink, as it is not the age of science but arranged alphabetically, i.e, A to H in Vol. 1 and I-Z in Vol. II. The the age of economic fundamentalism, he encyclopedia ranges from brief essays to major analyses of topknowledge by Western writers and pub- Price: US $ 125/Rs. 5000 asserted. I challenged the western world ics like Attributes of Allah, Life of the Prophet and the earliest lishers, he said, Whenever anybody in Year: 2010 by comparing the literacy, the crime and Muslims, Hadith studies, Islamic history, Women, Human Rights, the West wishes to know about Islam, he ISBN: 978-603-90004-40 consumption rate of Islamic countries has to refer to the Encyclopedia of Islam Pages: 1300 (in two volumes) Inter-religious affairs etc. with those of the western countries. We prepared by the western intellectuals The two-volumes set in 1300 pages comes in eye-catching whose misinterpretation of the Quran deflects students and intel- score better than them in all fields. The GDP of Islamic countries colours and designs, with every section of 50-100 pages presentis far higher than some western countries, so on what grounds lectuals alike from the original message of Islam. ed in a different design, background and colour, thereby aiding Hadith tells us that Allah first created qalam (pen) and not should Muslims feel inferior? he added. It is time for Muslims to the reader in recollecting where certain information is located in launch an intellectual and economic counter-offensive against the Aql (intellect), but the Islamic encyclopedias publsihed in the the encyclopedia. Its attractive 3D illustrations interspersed with west mention just the opposite, indicating that Islam follows the western claims and not remain defensive, he concluded. Dr. K. Rehman focused on the life of Prophet Muhammad anecdotes, sayings and epigrams and the use of 50 full-scale same Aql as in Greek mythology where the word Aql stands for (pbuh), saying that he brought forth a system of fairness and coloured maps and charts make the encyclopedia the first of its rich starfields of constellation Aquila, Zaheer said offering an equality and spread Islam as far as India at a time which lacked kind in the literary world. The book was released under the aegis example of how those encyclopedias wrongly interpret Islam. of IQRA Welfare Trust. By giving several such examples about the western misun- modern transportation and communication facilities. Why do Muslims always complain and derstanding of Islam, he justified the need for producing an Islamic encyclopedia compiled by Islamic scholars and intellectu- blame governments for all the Using your Zakat, Sadaqah and specifically dedicated charity als. It was long expected of us and it is now fulfilled. Muslims will ills? he asked. It is our fault that we have allowed others to not have to refer to any other non-Islamic source to learn about their religion, history and culture. It will challenge the western take over, he added. game of disinformation on Islam, he confidently said. The conclu- Regarding the mishandling of has been undertaking, since 1998, multiple micro & macro level projects to uplift sion of his address was marked by the release of An Educational Islamic facts by western the Muslim community of India. We establish and run orphanages, medical Encyclopedia of Islam jointly by Syed Iqbal Zaheer and K. researchers, he said, They

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Dare not investigate them!

facilities, educational help, widows food program, knitting & tailoring institutes etc. We run a department of community monitoring, using RTI Act, to ensure justice & advantage of various government schemes to Muslims. Alhamdulillah, Every year several ZFI Fellows join top government positions of authority & influence. We look forward to your continued support & cooperation. Kindly donate online www.zakatindia.org, through bank transfer or by cheque / draft favouring ZAKAT FOUNDATION OF INDIA payable in New Delhi. We are registered u/s 80G of Income-tax Act and under Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA). May Allah bless you in both the worlds. Amen! Zakat Foundation of India, A-11, Khajoori Road, Batla House, Jamia Nagar,
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2 The Milli Gazette, 16-31 August 2011

ISSUES / OPINION

In the name of democracy, surrender

GHULAM MUHAMMED
ghulammuhammed3@gmail.com One of the more intractable questions that is engaging a vast multitude of fence sitters, genuinely sceptics about why the West could or should be ready to throw out a loyal poodle like Hosni Mubarak and call for a change in the name of democracy. People have little time to take in the wider perspective of how American Jewry has been manipulating American power and resources to fight the demons of insecurities that has been their destiny over the millenniums. They have never found peace and are not disposed to give peace to others. After the defeat of Hitlers fascism, they found a new menace in the emerging global expansion of Communism of the Soviet Russia. From day one, the Zionists, who were thrown out by Stalin from their coveted perch in Soviet hierarchy in Russia, Zionists in US, UK and Israel have had to mount tremendous efforts to first demonize the Communists and then get the American people to channel their national goal and national resources to fight the Evil Empire. Thanks to US President Ronald Reagans astute and determined leadership, the two pronged attack, one the military one from Afghanistan and the other media and peoples revolution organized efforts in Poland, the Soviet Union was dismantled in the 90s. The Zionists were now looking for another demon to fight, to keep Americas defence industry churning and to see its banks minting money for the Zionist gnomes of Wall Street. Bernard Lewis, the British Jewish historian and Zionist theorist, first came out with the theory of Clash of Civilization and fingering out Islam and Islamic World as the next demon to be slayed. Samuel Huntington in fact, took over from Bernard Lewis, to give the idea a mainstream American face, thus keeping the Zionist their strategic cover. The entire aftermath of 9/11 and the subsequent invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, have failed to get any net advantage to the US and the West, the Zionists of the US, UK, France and Israel, have now picked up the remaining business from the demise of Soviet Union. The strategies and tactical know-how that was available to the US Zionist operators, came out handy, when the mood in American public sagged after getting thorough beatings in Iraq and Afghanistan and it was decided to use peaceful peoples protest movements to mount the next stage of overthrowing all the Arab countries that had been de-colonized Arab countries after the Second World War and had on necessity chosen to side with the emerging Soviet power and acquire its patronage and import its governance systems --- one party rule, 99 percent election results, most inhuman security and intelligence practices and its defence armoury. Zionists figured out that unless all such Left oriented rulers who had been ensconced on their perches, for decades now, are overthrown, Americas, EUs and Israels security as well as economic recovery will not be achieved. All of them have Arab and Muslim faces, but had been deriving their power from the old Soviet Union connections that had populated their entire governance systems. In the name of bringing in genuine democracy with new Constitutions especially crafted to bind them to the West, Zionist reasoned, the world will not be fully amenable to their exploitative demands over territories, trade negotiation, defence rearmaments, cultural inroads. Their entire agenda of re-colonization of the de-colonized Arab and Muslim World was now to be managed through peoples revolution and revolts and new agents with greater public mandate through organized elections, monitored by the Western observers, with the hand-maiden, the UN dutifully endorsing their every move, every demand. All the Arab/Muslim, nay the entire membership of NonAlignment movement is target of the new Zionist conspiracies. A country like India, one of the 3 prominent leaders of the NonAlignment movement was smoothly taken over with the assassination of Indian Congress leader, Rajiv Gandhi. Titos Yugoslavia was disintegrated and dismantled. Sukarnos Indonesia was smoothly taken over. The American Zionists, who have a publicly open monopoly of jobs in US State Department and its embassies and consulates around the world as well as in US Defence Department, are running the USA without the rest of the American public being even slightly aware of their exploitation by the Zionists of America. A black American Obama was supported by the Zionists, to give the US a new face of a nation working for the peace of the world. However, that new face was hardly meant to make any paradigm shift to Americas Zionist given policies of perpetual war for perpetual peace. The peoples revolutions all around the Middle East and Africa are activated through sleeper cells that the US has been nurturing over the years. As in crimes like murders where the beneficiary of the crime is the most obvious suspect, all new rulers so subverted by the Zionist conspirators entrenched in US administration, will first and last will be American stooges. Observe how US officially promotes people like Baradie in Egypt, another US resident Libyan in Libya. The list will be as long as the list of the newly colonized Arab/Muslim nations. Oil is just the icing on the cake. There are so many other assets that the new Imperial power, the US and its Grand Vizier, the Jewish advisor, will be exploiting to keep their New World Order in full working shape. This is the new coming of the Western colonizer and its sweep will be much more overpowering, much more exploitative and much more dehumanizing. All Non-Aligned Nations of the world beware of the revenge of the departed colonizer. Even Chinas superpower pretenses will not save it from the Zionist conspirators who are ruling USA.

Temples unmasked
DR SUMIT S PAUL

Vastanvi Verdict is in sync with Muslim sentiments

Six months after what many had described rubbing salt into the wounds of the Indian Muslims specially those in Gujarat by praising Narendra Modi, Maulana Ghulam Mohammad Vastanvi has finally been voted out on July 24 as Vice Chancellor of Darul Uloom Deoband. Maulana Ghulam Vastanvi has been one of the very few in India who tried to redefine the Madrasa education. Also, for the status, dignity and respect he enjoys among the masses and HIS work in the fieLd of education, it is unfortunate that he had to abandon the post in this manner. Yet the decision taken by the Shoora to remove him is historic, in synch with the Muslim sentiments and will have a long term impact in many ways. First, the stand taken by Maulana Vasatnvi vis-vis Narendra Modi barely few days after he was elected as the DeobandS Vice Chancellor was not only painful but it was a grave deviation from the policies maintained by his predecessors. It wasnt therefore quite unexpected when the community leaders while condemning him in very strong words also blamed him of degrading the post of the ViceChancellor. Second, the Majlis-e-Shoora demonstrated remarkable restraint before arriving at this decision. The Shoora was under tremendous pressure. The violence which erupted at the Darul Uloom also made things difficult for its members. But the Shoora, though had all power to remove him immediately, constituted a committee on February 23, 2011 to investigate the entire issue. By doing so, the Shoora made it clear that it is not in favour of taking a hasty decision out of emotional overtures, something the Indian Muslims are always accused of. The committee also did not show any haste and took five months to submit its report. According to available information, the committee during this time met several people including Maulana Vastanvi and then submitted its report to the Majis-e-Shoora. The Shoora even then mooted an honourable exit formula to Maulana Vastanvi and reminded him of his promise to resign. It was only when he refused to do so that the Shoora decided to vote him out from the post. The decision is also a slap in the faces of those who advise the Indian Muslims to forget and move on. Also, the Indian Muslims, despite suffering the brunt of the communal riots and prejudice by the government machineries, barring few condemnable occasions including the 1993 Mumbai blasts, always practiced the policy of forget and move on. But in return they were subjected to more riots, more harassments and more bias, and at the best, lame duck enquiry commissions, which did not have any power to bring to book the culprits and justice to the Muslim victims. And now in Gujarat when because of the courage and determination shown by the people like Zakia Jafery and activists like Teesta Setalvad and Mehir Desai, the rioters and killers are facing trial, the Muslims are again advised to forget and move on. Why? Are the rioters ashamed of their crimes against the innocents? Are they showing any remorse for what they had done during those tragic days? No, there is no one who is ashamed of their evil deeds. In contrast to this, there are many who not only justify their evil acts but are also proud of their aggression against the innocent people including women and children. Lastly, the Majlis-e-Shoora by its decision has also indicated to the Cong-led UPA government in a very clear term that the Indian Muslims are no longer ready to compromise on their security. They have suffered a lot, first because of the communal riots and now in the wake of the fictitious war against terrorism. The Shoora by its decision has shown to the government that the Muslims in India now seriously want business and real action against those who are responsible for the sufferings of the community. (ummid.com)

ave you ever thought how many thousand schools and hospitals can one construct for the benefit of Indias poor with the gold and diamonds gathering dust in the temples? The recent discovery of a treasure valued at more than 100,000 crore from the secret chambers of Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple in Kerala has raised vital questions about transparency and asset management. This is just the tip of the iceberg. The shrines, particularly temples in India, are storehouses of enormous amount of gold and moolah. British sub-continental historian Sir Trevor Eliot wrote in his book, What lured the invaders to India (only three copies left: Two at Asiatic Society Library, Bombay and one at The India House, London) that, It was the undisclosed money and yellow metal at the Indian temples that attracted the barbaric Muslim invaders from far off Central Asia and the opportunist Brits to this country. And they looted it dry.... Mahmud Ghaznavi came to India 2 times (never 17 times, this is apocryphal and a blatant attempt to tar all Muslim invaders with the same brush) and plundered Gujrats Somnath temple because of its mind-blowing wealth. Barring India, all other countries and religions all over the world make the shrine management answerable for the wealth it has. Even in Nepal, the trustees of the famed Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu are bound to submit their yearly report of chadhava (donations). Theres nothing wrong if the devotees offer money, gold and precious

stones to the deities but there should be some transparency. Where does this amount go? And why is it not utilised for the welfare of the poor? At the same time, devotees should also think that their offerings ought to have a practical value rather than the naked display of ostentation. A couple of years back, a devotee offered a diamond-studded cellphone to Shirdi Sai Baba worth Rs. 9 lacs because one of his long-cherished wish came to fruition. Great! But is a diamond-studded cellphone useful to Sai? Wont it languish somewhere in the temple, unless temple management sells it off or one of them pockets it. Because of this huge wealth in Indian temples, thereve been instances of killing and eliminating concerned people because everyone wants to have a bite of the pie. Government of India cannot force temple management to disclose the amount of jewelleries and other things received as donations. Temples being sacrosanct and a hornets nest, no one wants to open this pandoras box (actually jug). When Nisheeth Saha, the assistant to the legendary archaeologist Rakhaldas Banerjee, who discovered Mohanjodaro and Harappa along with Dayram Sahni and Sir John Marshal in 1921, suggested in 1950 that there was a treasuretrove of hidden gold-coins at the bottom of Orissas Konark temple, no one took him seriously and he died, most probably poisoned, soon after that. Its time, not just this temple in Kerala, but all such shrines like Vaishno Devi, Tirupati and Kamakhya et al must be on the radar of governments intelligence. God, if at all it does exist, has no (vested) interest in so much filthy lucre.

ALEEM FAIZEE

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The Milli Gazette, 16-31 August 2011 3

NATIONAL
More than meets the eye?

Why did Reshma become a celebrity?

hmedabad: Thirty-year-old Reshma Rangrez has become a celebrity overnight with police and civilians organizing felicitations for her and rewarding her in cash and kinds. The reason: she helped the police in recovery of crude bombs and two country made pistols with live ammunition from her husband Shehzad Rangrez on July 19. Even the president of the All India Anti Terrorist Front (AIATF) Maninderjit Singh Bitta, a former Youth Congress president, flew all the way from Amritsar to Ahmedabad and felicitated Reshma here on July 29. She was earlier felicitated by Minister of State for Home Praful Patel. Several Muslims organizations in Surat and Ahmedabad also held functions to felicitate Reshma and extended financial support to her. She has so far received more than Rs. three lakh in cash. A Surat-based Muslim organization had promised to open fixed deposit accounts for her two children-son Sohel and daughter Simran- with Rs. 50,000 in each account as a financial security for their future. Though she has rejected the offer of security cover for her, police in plainclothes can be seen round the clock around her house in the Danilimda area, inhabited mostly by poor Muslims. The state government has also promised to get her a job in the Ahmedabad fire brigade and the Ahmedabad city police is likely to shift her to the Gaekwad Haveli police lines, the heavily guarded complex housing the office of the Ahmedabad Detection of Crime Branch (DCB), responsible for investigation and detection of serious criminal and terror-related cases. But why is Reshma being highlighted and promoted so much? In fact, it has failed the imagination of the common people, being fed daily through news planted in local newspapers that the Muslim lady helped in preventing a major terror incident by informing the police on time. She is being projected as a role model for Muslims as if the latter only are responsible for all the violence in the state. But there appears to be more in the incident than what simply meets the eye. With Gujarat police having been known for fabricating the crimes, it is hard to believe hundred per cent in what the police is doling out in the case. As Shehzads arrest and recovery of explosives and ammunitions from him coinciding with Mumbais July 13 serial bomb blasts, there appears an effort on the part of the police to keep Gujarat in the limelight and show the world, that the state ruled by Narendra Modi, which is hated by Muslims and human rights groups for his questionable role in 2002 riots was on the radar of the terror groups. Like D G Vanzara and his associates, who indulged in fake encounters, a senior police official in Ahmedabad is reported to have done this all to seek his extension as he is due for retirement soon. The police having its well entrenched networks and informers in the Muslim community, seems to have made use of some of them for the purpose, by reported recovery of arms and explosives from Shehzad. The purpose was served as the incident was reported by all the local and national newspapers. Though police is silent on the background of Reshma, she is reported to be an old informer of the police. In interviews with media, she has said that she had been in touch with DCB police inspectors for quite a long time and in the past as well, she had passed on information about nefarious activities of her husband to the police. But the police simply ignored it. She has also been helping her neighbors whenever they had any problem related to the police, suggesting that she had connection with the police. Otherwise, an ordinary woman does not know even the phone numbers of the local police station. This casts doubt on the integrity of Reshma, a Hindu-convert-Muslim. Reshma claims herself to be a native of Goregaon in Maharashtra. She says she came to Ahmedabad, with her Bengali Muslim husband before 2002. However, her Bengali husband working in a transport company reportedly eloped with another girl. As Reshma was living in the neighbourhood of Shehzad, she married him though he already had a wife and three children. (TwoCircles. net)

Khurshid claims spending over 64% minority funds

New Delhi: Union Minister for Minority Affairs Salman Khurshid claimed in Parliament that the ministry has spent Rs. 4,540.61 crore representing 64.86 per cent of the total allocation for well being of the five minority communities so far. In a written reply to the Lower House, the minister said that, In the 11th FiveYear Plan allocation for the Ministry of Minority Affairs as approved by the Planning Commission was Rs. 7,000 Crore and the Ministry up to March 2011 incurred a total expenditure of Rs. 4,540.61 crore representing 64.86 per cent of the total allocation. He also claimed that with the allocation of the Annual Plan 2011-12 of Rs. 2,850 crore, the Government has already enhanced the 11th Five Year Plan allocation. Furthermore, he informed the House that there are no bottlenecks which impede the full utilization of funds budgeted for the Ministry. When this correspondent asked the minister about the claims of no bottlenecks in implementing the minority schemes pointing Gujarat, West Bengal and UPs poor record, he said he made only factual statement as it was a written reply. It is on record since the commencement of the minority scholarships scheme that not a single minority scholarship was distributed by the Modi government in Gujarat while West Bengal under the then Left Front rule lagged behind in implementing a host of minorityrelated central schemes. There are also reports from UP that minority scheme funds are being diverted to other purposes. (Abdul Bari Masoud) Chhedi Paswan has also accused chief minister of toeing the line of RSS. He accused the government of splitting the Dalit community and cheating the members of the community on behest of RSS. Chhedi Paswan, a JD-U MLA from Mohania said "There is, as such, no development work going on for the welfare of Dalits or Mahadalit community in Bihar on the surface. (theindianawaaz.com)

Six rioters sentenced

Ahmadabad: Riots in the aftermath of Godhra train burning case had claimed lives of three Muslims in Viramgaon. Sessions court awarded life term and other punishments to six out of the ten accused persons. Four others were given the benefit of doubt. 1. Bhopabhai Bharwad gets life term with a penalty of Rs. 20,000 2. Bachu Ranchhodji Thakor who alongwith life term has been fined Rs. 15,000 3. Kuchiyo Bharwad got imprisonment for 10 years alongwith a penalty of Rs. 10,000. 4. Wala Gela Bharwad was awarded five years imprisonment alongwith a penalty of Rs. 10,000 5. Mulio Gela Bharwad got similar punishment whereas 6. Mera Gelabhai Bharwad was given four years imprisonment alongwith a penalty of Rs. 5000. There is a shrine of Jorawar Pir at Valana, three kilometres away from Viramgaon. The residents living in quarters adjacent to Viramgaon Mills set ablaze the compound surrounding the shrine and damaged the place. When Muslims belonging to Miyana community pleaded with them to spare the shrine ten persons attacked them with weapons which resulted in the death of Jumma Jurabbhai Khor, Imran Islambhai Bhatti on the spot whereas seriously injured Haider Bawa Bhatti who later succumbed to his injuries at the V.S. Hospital. The ten accused were earlier arrested and later on released on bail. (AG Khan)

Nitish implements RSS agenda

Patna: Bihar government led by Nitish Kumar has started implementing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) agenda in the state. CM detractors have alleged that Nitish is bowing down to the RSS for running his government with support of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Upendra Kushwaha, a rebel Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader, has alleged that Nitishs government is utilising huge state funds for school libraries to purchase books propagating the RSS ideology. Talking to media here Kushawaha said: It is dangerous and alarming because these books only teach hatred. Kushwaha who is heading a new outfit the Bihar Nav Nirman Manch said that books like the biography of RSS founder Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, Hinduvta and Godhra-The Missing Rage were bought for middle schools. It shocked me that self-proclaimed secular Nitish Kumar...is helping the RSS to reach out to students, said Kushwaha, whom the JD-U suspended from the Rajya Sabha. Another former Bihar minister and JD U leader

Sunil Joshi murder: 3 produced in court

Dewas: National Investigation Agency (NIA) produced three accused persons in court. Anand Raj Kataria, Vasudeo Parmar and Ramcharan Patel were produced in connection with Sunil Joshis murder. The NIA team inspected the location of Balgarh lime mine where Sunil Joshi is believed to have been killed in December 2009. Raghuvir Yarde, the counsel submitted to the court that Pragya Singh and Harshad Solanki could not be produced because they were in the custody of Mumbai and Rajasthan police respectively. ASP of the NIA filed an application in the court of I Upper Sessions Magistrate, P.K. Vyas, requesting that the accused be handed over to NIA from the M.P. police. (AG Khan)

INDIAN ARTISTS BOYCOTT TEL AVIV MUSEUM SHOW

Following is the statement of Indian artists who have boycotted the Israeli show planned for Spring 2012: The first major show of Indian art Deconstructing India is planned for Spring 2012 in the new wing of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art in Israel. We, the undersigned artists, who have been invited by the curators to participate in this show, have declined to exhibit our work, in solidarity with the International Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel called by Palestinian intellectuals and artists, and the India Campaign. The Boycott, inspired by the earlier successful international boycott against Apartheid South Africa, is a peaceful, non-violent Gandhian campaign, which is directed at mainstream institutions and not at individuals, to pressurize Israel to recognize the rights of the Palestine people. The newly built Amir Wing of the Tel Aviv Museum designed by American architect Preston Scott Cohen is planned to be a showpiece for the discredited Israeli Government to increase its status and prestige internationally at a time when the countrys image is at its lowest ebb. By declining to participate in this show, we refuse to legitimize the illegal racist and apartheid policies of the Israeli Government against the people of Palestine and to become a part of Brand Israel. Nalini Malani Anita Dube Amar Kanwar Sakshi Gupta Pushpamala N In solidarity with the Boycott: Artists Vivan Sundaram, Ayisha Abraham, Ram Rahman, Sharmila Samant, Sunil Gupta, Gauri Gill, Inder Salim, Vibha Galhotra, Vasudha Thozhur, Tushar Joag, Indrapramit Roy, Arunkumar HG, Shakuntala Kulkarni, Archana Hande, Monali Meher, Suresh Jayaram Art Scholars Geeta Kapoor, Ashish Rajadhyaksha, Chaitanya Sambrani, Kajri Jain, Nuzhat Kazmi, R. Nandakumar Gallerists and Publishers Bhavna Kakar, Bina Sarkar Ellias, Usha Mirchandani

Quote, Unquote
They have created a sewer of Islamophobia which runs into the Western substratum & breaks out into open every now and then... SAEED NAQVI, Hindustan Times Over the past many years, we have become habituated to seeing young Muslim men, their faces covered, being paraded at press conferences. Each of these has been a trophy moment for the police and a spectacular newsbreak for the press. What happens when the same men are later released because the prosecution could not produce an iota of evidence? VIDYA SUBRAHMANIAM, The Hindu

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4 The Milli Gazette, 16-31 August 2011

NATIONAL

Christian persecution report Surankote encounter was fake

EFI recommends that the State Governments, especially the government of Karnataka,take immediate steps to ensure the protection of the Christian minority community within the state EFI recommends the Government of Karnataka withdraw false and malicious cases registered against Christians in the state and direct the police to investigate the motive and locus of the complainant before registering any complaint against Sections 153, 295 and 295A of the Indian Penal Code. EFI recommends the Central Government enact the Prevention of Communal Violence Targeted Violence (Access to Justice and Reparations) Bill, 2011, after due consideration to the concerns raised by civil society. (EFI mail@efionline.org)

The Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) recorded 64 instances of violence coupled with several instances of false accusations against the community during the first half of 2011. The southern state of Karnataka recorded the highest number of attacks against the community with 20 instances of violence and hostility. The central Indian state of Chhattisgarh saw six instances of violence and the states of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh recorded five incidents each. In an outrageous attack against Christians in Jharkhand, the local villagers in the Palamu and Garwah district left several Christians, including one woman, severely injured. One woman was abducted for a month by the attackers before she was finally released by the order of the local court. The police failed to arrest even a single person in connection with the incidents, inspite of repeated appeals from both local and national human rights agencies and the appeals from the victims, themselves. Far from being an isolated incident, this is the norm, with several Christians being coerced by government agencies into accepting a compromise with the attackers and even submitting to demands such as leaving the village or area , or would not conduct worship services in their homes or paying a fine for practise their faith. In most of the instances, after the preliminary disruption of church or worship services, Christians including women were abused and physically assaulted. Later the Christians were arrested on the charges of forcible conversions. The blatant disregard for the law by Hindutva proponents, coupled with the inaction and often bias of the police in favour of the attackers, has left the community vulnerable and helpless in the onslaught of violence.

India ask Israel to halt settlements

Hardeep Singh Puri, Indias envoy to the UN has recently said in the Security Council that Israel should stop constructing settlements in the occupied territories. Indias envoy has asked Israel to implement Prime Minister Netanhayus address to Knesset in May during which he had said that Israel could consider territorial compromise in return for security and recognition. Israels refusal to extend a 10-month moratorium on settlement activity, last September, led to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas refusing to enter direct talks with the Israeli side, which had started after a two-year lull. In yet another development Indian artist in order to show their solidarity with the Palestinian people are contemplating boycotting a big show of Indian art in Israel at Tel Aviv in 2012. The title of the show is Deconstructing India. The boycott call was given by Indian artists like Nalini Malani, Anita Dube, Amar Kanwar, Sakshi Gupta and Pushpamal is similar to that of Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACB). It was formed in 2004 and enjoys wide ranging international support of more than 90 leading authors, film makers, musicians and performers from across the globe. However, some artists are supporting the show and the Indian art fraternity are equally divided on the issue of supporting or boycotting the event. (Mohammad Naushad Khan)

Srinagar: In what is yet another major embarrassment for security establishment in Jammu & Kashmir, the encounter in which a top LeT militant from Pakistan was claimed to have been killed has turned out to be fake and the victim is an innocent Kashmiri civilian. A Special Police Officer (SPO, i.e., surrendered militant) and an Army trooper who allegedly staged the killing of an unidentified mentally-challenged civilian from Rajouri as part of a conspiracy to gain personal benefits were arrested and booked for murder, police said on 8 August. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said the two men -- SPO Noor Hussain and Territorial Army jawan Abdul Majeed -- are in police custody and charged with 302 (RPC). I assure that law will follow its own course, he said in Srinagar. In Poonch, SSP Ashkoor Wani told reporters that SPO Noor Hussain and the trooper Abdul Majeed were arrested on 8 August for carrying out the fake encounter by murdering a civilian and calling him divisional commander of Lashker-e-Taiba Abu Usman. A case has been registered against the SPO and jawan of 156 Battalion of Territorial Army under section 302 Ranbir Panel Code for conspiring to murder a civilian and misleading security forces and police, he said. Col. A Arora, spokesman of the Nagrota-based 16 Corps, said, Army has ordered an independent inquiry and prompt and stern action will be taken if any individual is found guilty. According to the SSP, the duo conspired and managed the encounter for personal benefits. SPO Hussain hatched the conspiracy with the aim of his appointment as constable in the police force as reward for killing a top militant. He took into confidence TA jawan Majeed who became his partner in the conspiracy to get monetary benefit from the Army, Wani said. The Army on 7 August had claimed to have killed a Pakistani militant described as divisional commander of Lashker-e-Taiba, Abu Usman, after a 12-hour long gunbattle at Surankote area of Poonch district in Jammu region, and claimed recovery of arms and ammunition from him. However, during the probe it was found that the deceased was a civilian. Wani said the two men picked up an unidentified mentally-challenged civilian from Rajouri on 5 August and took him to Dobawali Doka forests in Surankote where they allegedly shot him dead the next day. Later, they informed the security forces that a top militant of LeT was killed, he said, adding that a revolver and a diary, which the duo had themselves authored, was dropped by them at the spot of the encounter. However, when locals raised doubts about the deceased being a militant and claimed that he was a civilian, police launched an investigation and cracked the conspiracy hatched by the duo, the SSP said, ruling out the involvement of any other person in the encounter. Preliminary investigations suggest that a Special Police Officer and local Territorial Army personnel informed the local Army unit about the presence of a foreign militant, Omar Abdullah said. Acting on the information, Army launched an operation and subsequently information came to light that the person shot dead during the operation was possibly not the person whose information was passed by the duo, he added. The Chief Minister said both the personnel were arrested and interrogated during which they confessed to have passed the wrong information to Army. Investigations thus far are silent about the Armys claim of a 12-hour-lomg encounter and recovery of arms and ammunition from the slain civilian who they had dubbed as top Let militant. Meanwhile, after having bragged aloud about killing a top Lashkar-e-Toiba commander, Army now claims that the terrorist killed by the forces in a Poonch encounter a couple of days ago was actually an innocent civilian and a victim of misinformation and foul play. The Army had claimed that they eliminated Abu Usman alias Abu Adnan alias Doctor, a self-styled foreign area commander of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), in a gun-battle in Hari forest of Surankote of Poonch district. However, Army sources in Poonch said that the slain person has now been identified as Ashok Kumar, son of Chet Ram of Reasi. An autopsy revealed that that the person killed in the encounter in the intervening night of August 5-6 was not a militant but a civilian, the Army sources said. The sources said that Noor Hussain of Special Operation Group (SOG) and Abdul Majid of Territorial Army (TA) had misinformed them about the presence of a LeT commander in the area. An officer with 16 Corps of Northern Command confirming the incident said, There seems to be some foul play as false inputs were provided to the security forces about the militants following which a trap was laid on 5 August night and one person was killed next morning. He said that two members of the Special Operation Group (SOG) and Territorial Army (TA) who provided the information to the security forces were being interrogated. He said that the slain man was a non-Muslim but his identity was yet to be ascertained. (dailykashmirimages.com)

Gujarat riots report leaked to RSS man

State additional advocate general shares crucial SIT reports with Sangh ideologue to help accused!
Gujarat IPS officer Sanjiv R. Bhatt has alleged in an affidavit before the Supreme Court that probe reports on the 2002 postGodhra riot cases were forwarded by a state government law officer to an RSS man who used them to help riot- accused chalk out their defence. Bhatt has annexed a number of hacked emails to buttress his charge that politicians in connivance with state government functionaries were engaged in a cover- up operation to secretly help the accused in riot cases. In his affidavit, Bhatt has pointed out that email exchanges showed that reports by the apex court- appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) with regard to the probe into nine major cases of riots were sent to additional advocate general Tushar Mehta last year from a state government email. Mehta allegedly forwarded the reports - purportedly sent to him by under secretary (home) Vijay Badekha - to RSS ideologue Gurumurthy Swaminathan who in turn prepared a note on the basis of the reports and sent it to lawyers appearing for the accused before the Supreme Court. Gurumurthy, on his part, denied being part of any such operation. I have never received any email pertaining to the ongoing SIT probe from Tushar Mehta or anyone, he said. He laughed when asked whether he was a recipient of information about the sensitive probe that threatens chief minister Narendra Modi. Reports to the contrary are mere concoctions. I cannot recollect having received any such email, he added. Bhatt, meanwhile, has annexed another series of emails showing an attempt to help a chargesheeted accused in the Gulbarga Society massacre allegedly with the connivance or support of CM Modi himself. The IPS officer alleged that Mehta had himself prepared a draft petition for the chargesheeted accused who had approached the apex court for relief and had even kept the chief ministers office in the loop. POINTING to the email exchanges, Bhatt said Mehta had sent a draft petition - to be filed before the SC - to the lawyers of the charge sheeted accused in Delhi on April 4, 2010. The help did not end with this. Mehta prepared a reply affidavit to be filed before the apex court on behalf of the Gulbarga accused and forwarded a copy to the principal secretary to the chief minister on April 15, 2010. Mehta also forwarded a copy of the petition and the affidavit by the accused to Gurumurthy. The email exchanges, which Bhatt claimed to have hacked as part of his duty to obtain intelligence with regard to commission of offences, showed that most affidavits filed on behalf of the state government passed through Gurumurthy. The most objectionable aspect is that Sri Tushar Mehta has on one hand drafted the affidavit to be filed by the accused and on the other hand has also prepared the states affidavit in reply to the accuseds affidavit, Bhatt said in his affidavit. Bhatt has further pointed to an email sent to N. Ram of the Hindu imputing motives on judges for orders passed against Gujarat by the apex court. He alleged that the note on Gujarat cases was sent to Ram by Gurumurthy on February 17, 2010. This requires to be viewed seriously by this Honble Court, he said in his affidavit. The email to Ram particularly referred to a direction by the court to the SIT to probe into a complaint by Zakia Jafri who alleged that the riots took place pursuant to a conspiracy involving Modi, his cabinet colleagues and several government functionaries in the state. Ram, on his part, said he did not remember any such email exchange and expressed surprise over the mention. I have no recollection of any such email, Ram said. Bhatt - a 1988 Gujarat- cadre IPS officer - who has raised questions on the impartiality of trial in riot and encounter cases in Gujarat, claimed that the hacked email exchanges showed that government officers, lawyers and politicians were all hand- inglove. He pointed out that even a political memorandum prepared to be submitted to President Pratibha Patil was forwarded by former minister of state for home Amit Shah to the additional advocate general. The email showed that the law officer was actively involved in drafting of a political memorandum demanding investigation against Teesta Setalvad and her organisation. The Sangh ideologue had prepared the memorandum to be given to the President by a delegation comprising senior BJP leaders L. K. Advani, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and Nitin Gadkari.Coming to encounter cases, Bhatt pointed out that the SIT probing the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case sent an email concerning the case to Mehta in September 2009. The case, however, was later handed over to the CBI by the Supreme Court

which even passed certain strictures against one of the police officers, Geeta Johri. The email exchanges showed that a letter purportedly sent by Johri to the CBI SP who took over the encounter probe was in fact written by Mehta, Bhatt alleged. After Amit Shah was arrested by the CBI in connection with the Sohrabuddin encounter case, Gurumurthy sent an email to Mehta asking for documents to defend him. In fact, his job as a law officer was just the opposite. The bail application for Shah was also forwarded to Mehta. Bhatt further alleged that Gurumurthy drafted the affidavit filed by additional secretary (home) in the Zakia case. Meanwhile, the apex court had recently sought scrutiny of the SIT probe in the Gulbarga Society massacre, in which Zakias husband was killed, by amicus curiae Raju Ramachandran. After Raju submitted his report, the court decided not to give a copy either to the SIT or to the state government. It has reserved its order on the report. (Poornima Joshi and Gyanant Singh, Mail Today)

NHRC takes up J&K custodial death case

Tension gripped the town of Sopore in north Kashmir after the death of a youth in police custody on 31 July. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah assured swift action against those guilty... In New Delhi, The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said on 4 August that it has taken cognizance of a complaint about the death of a 28-year-old man in police custody in the Jammu and Kashmirs Sopore town. According to a statement, the commission received a complaint from a human rights organisation alleging that Nazim Rashid was tortured to death by the Special Operation Group (SOG) of police and army officials in Sopore in July this year. The family members of Nazim alleged that their son was picked up by the SOG of police in the presence of army officials July 30, 2011, for questioning in connection with the killing of a labourer, Muhammad Ashraf Dar, by militants, the statement said. They later found out through some journalists that their son died in police custody and a post mortem examination was conducted. The commission asked its director general (Investigation) to collect the reports from the concerned authorities within eight weeks and an explanation from director general of police, Jammu and Kashmir, as to why the intimation about the death in judicial custody was not communicated within 24 hours to the commission, as per its guidelines, it added.

The Milli Gazette, 16-31 August 2011

NATIONAL

Maulana Vastanvis removal was pre-planned

SHAHNAWAZ BADAR QASMI
Deoband: An idea of the situation prevailing in the country after the abdication, or rather forced abdication of Maulana Ghulam Muhammad Vastanvi from the management and administration (of Darul Uloom) and the suspense and uncertainty in which those associated with Darul Uloom Deoband find themselves can be formed from the statements and writings that are continuously appearing in newspapers and journals. The strange thing in this whole affair is that the majority of those who have strong attachment to Darul Uloom appear to be thinking the decision by Majlis-e Shoora about Maulana Vastanvi has been taken in haste. It also becomes clear from the decision that the opposition by some members of Majlis-e Shoora was because of some outside pressure. The statement made by Maulana Mufti Muhammad Ismail of Malegaon, who is a senior member of Darul Ulooms Majlis-e Shoora and convener of the probe committee about Maulana Vastanvi in this connection is significant in many respects. Regarding this decision of the Majlis-e Shoora, he told a mediaperson on 28 July over phone that in the Shooras meeting on 24 July some members had a pre-determined mindset that Maulana Vastanvis resignation is to be demanded. He said that the responsibility given to him and three members and the order given to prepare the report was satisfactorily fulfilled but since the problem was very complicated and pertained to a person who was a member of Majlis-e Shoora since long and about whom there was no doubt of any kind before this, they were very cautious in preparing the report. He said that this report could not obviously be considered complete unless they would have contacted those students who had tried to vitiate the internal atmosphere of Darul Uloom. He also said that students cannot dare indulge in such activities unless they have the backing of teachers; and teachers cannot be so bold and fearless unless Shoora members would have assured them that no action would be taken against them. Maulana Ismail said that the report prepared by them was not yet complete because they were not allowed to meet the students and they did not get an opportunity to make enquiries from students and teachers. He further said that what was regrettable is that this incomplete report was not given any importance. Some Shoora members had made up their mind that irrespective of any thing, Maulana Vastanvis resignation must be obtained. He further said that if students and teachers continue to be used in this way and they have no fear of law, the importance of Darul Uloom Deobands management and Majlis-e Shoora would be lost and Darul Ulooms honour and prestige would be hurt. Mufti Ismail said that the report was deliberately not allowed to be completed because if it would be complete and enquiry from students was necessitated, it would have become quite clear as to who was responsible for misguiding the students. But this was allowed to be done so that in future these teachers and students may not be used in this way on any occasion. In reply to a question about new members of the Shoora he said that selection of new members should be with mutual consultation by Shoora members. If in new elections relatives and people of particular mentalities were taken in, Darul Uloom Deoband would face new dangers and the status of Majlis-e Shoora would gradually become weak. He said that in any matter of Darul Uloom, its interests and prestige should be give foremost attention. It appears that whatever Mufti Muhammad Ismail said to the media person, almost the same views were held by common observers and intellectuals also. It also appears that the series of arguments and counter arguments started after Maulana Vastanvis removal were not going to stop. Therefore, well wishers of Darul Uloom are requested to give their valuable and useful suggestions to Shoora members and pray for the welfare of Darul Uloom Deoband. (Translated from Urdu)

Darul Ulooms clarification regarding Vastanvi episode

Immediately after the election of Maulana Ghulam Muhammad Vastanvi as Rector of Darul Uloom Deoband by a majority of votes in Majlis-e Shooras meeting of 10 January 2011 voices against its decision began to be raised from different parts of the country and demands were made to Majlis-e Shoora to reconsider its decision. When Maulana Vastanvi came to Darul Uloom to take charge as its Rector, disturbances took place in Darul Uloom also. When the matter appeared to be going out of control, Maulana Vastanvi wrote a letter to Shoora members in which he said after clarifying the situation: Therefore, meeting of Majlis-e Shoora has been decided to be held on Wednesday 23 February 2011 in Darul Uloom so that I may submit my resignation from the post of Rector in the Majlis and Majlis-e Shoora may lay down an action programme for future regarding the administration and management of Darul Uloom. This letter was signed by Maulana Ghulam Muhammad Vastanvi himself. It is obvious from this letter that after taking stock of the situation Maulana Vastanvi had himself decided to resign and 23rd Februarys emergency meeting of Majlis-e Shoora was called only to submit his resignation and to lay down an action programme for the future. This was not a routine meeting because the previous meeting was held even less than 1 months ago. When the 23rd February meeting was held and Maulana was asked to submit his resignation as per his promise, he suggested constitution of an enquiry committee. Shoora members asked that if the enquiry report would be in his favour, would he resign even then? At this Maulana emphatically and repeatedly said that whatever may be the report, he would resign. At this a 3-member committee was constituted and was asked to review the whole situation and submit its report. This committee was not given the right to pass judgement. It may be noted that after declaration of Maulana Vastanvis resignation, the chain of statements and counter statements etc. came to a sudden stop on the assurance that Maulana Vastanvi would resign after the submission of inquiry committees report. Therefore, the report of inquiry committee was included in the agenda of 2324 July meeting and when the report was submitted, it was written in its Foreword: It should be understood that in this report we have not written any thing from our side nor partiality has been shown to any one nor accusing fingers have been pointed towards any person. Also, no comments and observations have been made. This work in principle, has been left to Shoora members. The report was signed by all three members of the inquiry committee. It was based on 5 points: 1. accusations against Maulana Vastanvi, alongwith inquiry and proofs and brief views and statements of other people of the country. 2. Letters, views and statements in favour of Maulana Vastanvi 3. Efforts in defence of Maulana Vastanvi from himself and others 4. Essential elements of riots and disturbances by students of Darul Uloom, and 5. Some points for consideration of Majlis-e Shoora. After considering all these points, the report can in no way be called incomplete. If all these points would have been discussed individually, it would have taken a very long time and no result would have been achieved. Therefore Shoora members, in accordance with the decision of Majlis-e Shoora of 23 February, told Maulana Vastanvi that the report of inquiry committee had been received and in accordance with his promise and commitment he should resign so that the matter could be brought to an end. We would not make any chargs against him. He was repeatedly requested to resign as per his earlier promise that irrespective of what is stated in the report, he would resign, but he (Maulana) continued saying that the report was incomplete and refused to resign. Ultimately, therefore, president of Majlis said that now there was no alternative but to bring forth the proposal of removing him from his post and those who agree to this should sign. After the decision to implement the proposal (of removing him), Maulana went out of the meeting, saying that he was going out for half an hour. Hence the proposal of his removal from the post of Rector was implemented. Of the 13 members of Majlis present, nine members signed in support and four members signed with the dissenting note. After voting, Maulana Vastanvi came back and he was informed about the decision. Inspite of the decision against him, he announced in the Majlis that the verdict was acceptable to him and that he would not go to court against this. He also congratulated the newly elected Rector Mufti Abul Qasim Nomani, participated in the concluding prayer and also went through the statement prepared for the press and said okay. Whether it is the meeting of Majlis-e Shoora or executive committee if there is no unanimity and the decision is with majority vote, it is in any case considered the decision of Majlis and any comment on this outside the Majlis is in no way proper. From the above clarification it has become clear that the offer to resign under the circumstances was from Maulana Vastanvi and after the mention of inquiry committee in the agenda it cannot be said that it was not mentioned in the agenda because Maulanas resignation was linked with the submission of inquiry committees report and was not dependent on discussion on this report or taking any action on it. The objective of resignation is abdication of the post. When as per his own promise Maulana did not of his own resign, Majlis-e Shoora had perforce to sack him. (Trarnslated from Urdu)

Maulana Ghulam Muhammad Vastanvi explains his position

Maulana Ghulam Muhammad Vastanvi, the short-lived Rector of Darul Uloom Deoband who was unceremoniously eased out of his post recently started his modest madrasa in a hut with only six students in Akal Kuan, a tribal area in Maharashtras Nandarbar district in 1979. Today it is expanding and thriving like a towering tree. Today in Akal Kuan alone 15 colleges equipped with all modern facilities are imparting modern and technical education alongwith Islamic and religious education and identity. His Jamia Islamia Esh-atul Ulooms 30 hospitals are being run in Maharashtra and Gujarat with a total (annual) budget of more than Rs. 24 crores. The product of an Islamic madrasa, Maulana Vastanvi holds the Degree of M.B.A. Extracts of his interview by SHAH NAWAZ SIDDIQI are given below: Why were you not allowed to be the Rector of Darul Uloom Deoband? This is utter injustice and excess that is meted out to me. When Majlis-e Shoora made me the Rector, I was not allowed to work and efforts were made to make me unsuccessful. In the 6 February meeting I had assured Majlis-e Shoora that if they want me to resign, I have no mitted in this meeting and in the agenda of Majlis-e Shoora simply Inquiry Committees report was written and nothing was mentioned about resignation in its agenda; but inspite of this my resignation was illegally demanded. I was not given the opportunity of putting forth my stand and I was deprived of my right to offer my explanation and clarification. This is violation of the law and fundamental principles. You have also refused your right to take legal action against this illegal act? A: I have decided not to go to court against Majlis-e Shooras methods of working because I think that it is a religious and academic institution. I am not fond of sticking to the post of manager or administrator. We should avoid gong to court in such highly sensitive matters. What is your grouse? A: My grouse is that efforts were made to spoil the atmosphere of this seminary. Students indulged in disturbances and there were people behind such unruly behaviour. The mystery should be unveiled as to who were the people behind this disturbance and unruly behaviour. My argument was that the report of the 3memebr committee constituted for this purpose is incomplete as long as the above-mentioned points are not included in it. What do you think if whether, because of this incident, the image of this great educational institution? The eyes of the whole world are fixed on this great seminary and this is its loss, but who cares? A particular section is playing with this great institutions honour and prestige simply for its personal interests. What will be your future struggle? I am an humble servant of religion. I am among those who do their work quietly without fanfare. I am not fond of disturbances or power, nor am I interested in politics. I will continue doing what I can do as a member of Darul Ulooms Majlis-e Shoora. I have got my own network of madrasas. I wish that Allah may enable me to perform this service. I am rendering this service and I want to render this service by rising above all kinds of politics, regionalism and division. (Translated from Urdu) See also page 2

hesitation in resigning but nothing will be done by ignoring rules and regulations. What had happened in the 23 July meeting? Report of the Inquiry Committee was to be sub-

6 The Milli Gazette, 16-31 August 2011

NATIONAL

Mamta boost to the Muslim community

Asking economically disadvantaged minority students to approach the government for sponsorships for higher studies, Ms. Banerjee said the government would disburse Rs.122 crore apart from the WBMDFCs scholarship amount for paying scholarships and stipends to such students to check drop-outs. She added that by 2012, the number of scholarship and education loan beneficiaries would be increased by over a lakh from the 7.5 lakh now. Referring to a notification issued by the previous Left Front government announcing 10 per Mamta Bannerji with Muslim students at Minority cent reservation for minority candiCopmmunity College during distribtution of Chatra Vart dates in government jobs, Ms. Banerjee said that her government Kolkata: West Bengal chief minister Mamta Bannerji has would bring a draft Bill to this effect within three months and announced that a draft bill will be ready by next October to an expert committee would be set up soon for giving opinreserve some government jobs for the minority communi- ions about it. ties. Accusing the previous government of playing the The previous government acted in a hurried manner minority card for political gains that eventually left the minor- and failed to place the bill properly and it did not get the ity population empty-handed, Banerjee announced a host of Governors consent. We shall give it a fresh look and place projects in the education, health, housing and employment a Bill in the Assembly within three months, she said. sectors for the minority communities here on 30 July. Ms. Banerjee said the government had plans to build 39 Accusing the previous government of leaving an empty cof- Urdu medium schools, three polytechnics, 7,002 anganfer and debts of around Rs.2.9 lakh crore, Ms. Banerjee wadis, 717 primary healthcare centres and distribute 5,000 said that it, however, would not be a constraint for the gov- solar lanterns in districts with substantial minority populaernment to disburse loans and scholarships for the minori- tion. ties. She also said that 50,000 housing societies would be I have been told repeatedly about the governments ail- set up for the minority communities, of which 5,000 would ing financial health. But it is the fault of the previous govern- be within the Kolkata Municipal Corporation area. ment who had put an embargo on payment of all kinds of Since infrastructure for minority development in the allowances as well as release of funds for implementing districts is in poor shape, an office of the WBMDFC will be development projects due to shortage of funds. I will not set up in each district to monitor and implement the various allow my minority brothers and sisters to suffer for the mis- government projects for the minorities An employment deeds of others, she said, after handing over loan and bank will be created to keep a database of the number of scholarship cheques worth Rs.21.37 crore to a section of minority youths eventually receiving government job offers. the 54,141 beneficiaries of the West Bengal Minorities Skill-based vocational training will also be imparted to the Development and Finance Corporation (WBMDFC). minority youths, Ms. Banerjee said.

Huge haul of explosives in Hyderabad

The following and similar incidents go mostly unreported because there is zero electronic media coverage when culprits are not Muslims: Hyderabad police on 19 July seized a huge quantity of explosives and arrested two people indulging in their illegal sale and transportation. The sleuths of the police commissioners task force seized 1,600 gelatin sticks and 1,450 electric detonators and arrested the two, identified D Srinivas and V Yadaiah, police commissioner AK Khan told reporters that police also seized two cars and one cell phone. The explosives were seized in IS Sadan neighbourhood during the vigil in the wake of recent serial bomb blasts in Mumbai. Police were questioning both the arrested to ascertain the names of people whom they sold the explosives and whether they include people involved in anti-national activities. The police chief said Srinivas confessed that he was getting the explosive material from one person and supplying it to Yadaiah, who in turn used to sell the same to the compressor holders and stone labourers. The police commissioner also appealed to the public to provide information about any illegal storage or transportation of explosives.

Govt received info on Swiss bank accounts: FM

New Delhi: The government on 2 August informed Parliament that it has received information about Indians having accounts in Swiss banks but their names cannot be disclosed due to confidentiality provisions in the agreement with the concerned country. We have received some information with regard to some deposits in Swiss Bank, the finance minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, told the Rajya Sabha in reply to a query on whether the government has received some information regarding black money deposited in Swiss banks. Whenever information about money deposited in any foreign bank account is obtained the same is first verified and then action is taken in accordance with law to bring the undisclosed amount to taxation, he said in a written reply. The minister, did not disclose the names of accounts holders saying that information received under the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) is covered by the confidentiality provision of the DTAA. He was replying to a query on whether the government has received some information regarding black money deposited in Swiss banks. Mr Mukherjee further said the government has formulated a five-pronged strategy in this regard. This comprised joining the global crusade against black money, creating an appropriate legislative framework and setting up institutions for dealing with illicit funds, developing systems for implementation and imparting skills to the manpower for effective action. Further, the government has roped in three leading think-tanks NCAER, NIFM and NIPFP to conduct a study on unaccounted income generated inside and outside the country.

Terror has political goals, religion should be for humanism

RAM PUNIYANI

fter being attacked by the bombs of the terrorists (13 July, 2011), we are facing a barrage from the ideologues of hate and divisiveness. Many an ideologue of religious nationalism has come out with outpourings associating religion, Islam and Muslims with terrorism and the need to confront this attack of terror by uniting as Hindus, voting a Hindu party, taking away the citizenship rights of Muslims, and declaring India as a Hindu nation (Subramanian Swamy, 16 July, 2011). Swamy says that terrorism is an attack of Islam on Hinduism, that Islam wants to take over India. So, in response a Hindu mindset has to be promoted, temples built at Ayodhya and Varanasi, article 370 should be abolished, conversion from Hinduism to other religions banned while conversions to Hinduism should not be stopped. India should be declared a Hindu Rashtra and Muslims should be disenfranchised. While being put forward in a brusque and blunt fashion, there is nothing new about his article, as this is precisely the agenda for which the RSS combine has been working and spreading the hate politics in India. The political ideology of making Hinduism as its political base, the Sangh Parivar has been propagating this from close to a century by now. And to add to this, the US propaganda and US media coining the term "Islamic terrorism" has added further grist to the mill of hate. Terrorism though a centuries-old phenomenon has come to global prominence especially after the creation of Al Qaeda and Taliban in the especially set up madrassas by US on PakistanAfghan borders. The whole US design in the last three decades of the last century was to dominate West Asia, one of the richest oil reserve region. While the US state manufactured one or the other pretext to attack these countries, it had already paved the way for the formation of Israel at the end of the Second World War and the idea was clear that this emerging global power needed a close local ally to conquer the oil fields of West Asia. This zone was predominantly inhabited by Muslims, some compliant Muslim sheikhs and tyrants were easy enough to find in the region to collaborate with. The best allies of the 'Democratic US' have been the most tyrannical rulers in West Asia and other parts of the World. While the US state was preparing one or the other pretext to attack different countries in the world, in the oil zone the story had already started by overthrowing the democratically-elected

Mossadeq government in Iran, who had tried to nationalize the oil wells and thereby harmed the interests of US-UK oil corporations. Later, with Soviet army occupying Afghanistan, the need to use Muslim youth for anti-Russian fight was fulfilled through these madrassas especially opened in Pakistan with US assistance and encouragement. It is these madrassas which distorted the meaning of word "Jihad" (Jihad in Qur'an means striving to utmost) to killing the kafirs (kafir in real sense means those hiding truth) presented as those not believing in Allah. Parallel to this, Samuel Huntington floated the theory of "Clash of Civilizations." According to this theory, with the decline of Soviet Union, the clash is no more between free-democratic worlds (US-UK etc.) but between the backward Islamic civilization versus the Western civilization. This theory gave impetus to the wholesale distortion of Islam, which came to be projected as backward and violent. The USsponsored madrassas created a mindset, it created fanatics who in the name of Islam were willing to kill and maim at the drop of the hat. US carefully nurtured these groups by supporting them financially and with arms and training. With Ayatollah Khomeini coming to power in Iran, US media coined the word "Islam the New threat" and with 9/11 attack being presented as the handiwork of Osama and Al Qaeda, the US media created the word "Islamic terrorism". Needless to say, neither Islam nor most of the religions permit the killing of innocent people. While political groups like Irish Republican Army to Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam or Khalistanis or ULFA did undertake acts which were having political goals but in the process they also killed innocent people. This was the process of demonization of Islam and Muslims which was seen in its highest form in Danish cartoons, showing the Prophet of Islam hiding bombs in his turban. In India, the earlier process whereby the British policy of divide-and-rule promoted a communal view of history aimed to create mutual hatred between the two major communities, Hindus and Muslims, got mixed up with the new propaganda associating Islam, Muslims with violence and terrorism. The points raised by Subramanian Swamy, using the cover of Hindu religion are obnoxious. The terror attacks are not aimed at any one religious community, barring the ones which were especially done in front of mosques or places of Muslim congregations by the likes of Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and Aseemanand. In the biggest terror

attack of 9/11 2001, people of all religions and counties were killed. The victims of Al Qaeda terror are equally there in Pakistan. To think that Muslim kings came here to spread Islam is sense-less, as religions were not spread by kings, barring King Ashoka who spread Buddhism by peaceful means. Islam in India was spread by Sufi saints and it was embraced mainly by shudras to escape the tyranny of the caste system. To think that Muslims want to convert India into Darul Islam by killing Hindus and increasing their tribe by producing more children is a figment of imagination as during the last 60 years (from 1947 to 2001) the percentage of Muslims went up by nearly 0.8%, as during the same period the percentage of Adivasis went up from 7.5% to 8.5%, the reason for both being poverty and illiteracy rather than a conscious programme to increase population. The extension of "Clash of Civilizations" theory is the prevalent perception that "all terrorists are Muslims". One concedes that Muslim youth lured by US-sponsored madrassas were programmed for killing in an insane way. Most of the misplaced arrests of Muslim youth in India later turned out to be baseless and only betrayed the bias of investigating agencies. To believe that in India only Hindus get killed in the terror attacks is totally false, in the 26/11 (2008) attack the number of Muslims killed was much higher than their percentage in population and even in the current 13/7 (2011) attack people from both communities have been killed. The solutions being offered that Hindus must give a unified response, vote for a Hindu party smack of sheer propagation of hate politics. India has been secular due to the choice of the people of India who rejected the notion of an Islamic or Hindu state during the freedom movement and the same values got enshrined in our Constitution. We cannot forget the investigations done by Hemant Karkare who meticulously unearthed the link from Pragya Singh Thakur to Aseemamand to Indresh Kumar, the RSS functionary. The indoctrination of people in the Islamic state or Hindu state ideologies is a political goal either of the global superpower or of local groups aiming to suppress democracy and pluralism of our county, which are the highest values emerging from our freedom movement. By retaliating (against whom?), attacking Pakistan is an idea close to insanity and a sure recipe for disaster in the Subcontinent. To accuse any community of harboring terrorists is wrong, few Aseemanands or Dayanand Pandeys don't make all the Hindu community terrorists

With best compliments from

Kaleem Kawaja Washington DC

The Milli Gazette, 16-31 August 2011

NATIONAL

Right to Education Act will harm diverse India

HAIDER ABBAS
Lucknow: Muslims are the largest minority in the country, but equally important is the claim that Muslims are the second biggest majority in the country too, so, when All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), the highest Muslim body, sits to deliberate on an issue, it would mean business. No government can deny the all pervading influence of AIMPLB on voters, which is largely, due to AIMPLBs credibility and the frugal and simple life, which is quite akin to the Islamic way of life, which its members live. Lucknow, is the seat of the chief of AIMPLB Maulana Syed Rabey Hasani Nadwi along with second in command Maulana Syed Kalbe Sadiq, who were both present, at Mumtaz PostGraduate College, Lucknow on July 24, to protest against various issues, which the UPA government is so eager to thrust upon Muslims and all minorities, by way of various acts, passed in the parliament. An august gathering, which consisted of thousands, remained glued to their seats, and listened to the distinguished guests, with rapt attention, about the fallout of the three recent acts passed in Parliament. Zafaryab Jilani, the legal advisor of the Board, was the convenor of the programme. Those who spoke on the occasion were Khalid Rasheed Firangimahli, Atiq Bastawi, Hamza Hasani, Shahid Husain Khan, Kafeel Ashraf, Dr Safiya Naseem, Begum Naseem Iqtidar Ali, Nighat Parveen, Dr. Nikhat Rukhsana Lari, MH Usmani, Bishop Gerald Mathias and Sister Patricia. The three Acts in question were Right to Education Act, 2009, Waqf Amendment Bill, 2010 and Direct Taxes Code Bill, 2011. "AIMPLB has been seeking an audience with PM Manmohan Singh or any of his deputies (ministers concerned) to apprise them of the inherent dangers, in the Acts passed, and also about the likely fallout of such moves, on Muslims in particular and on all minorities in general, but perhaps, the arrogance of the UPA government has now become a norm, said Zafaryab Jilani. It was demanded that minority run institutions and madrasas be exempted from the ambit of RTE 2009 and if UPA does not oblige, then, very soon after the month of Ramadan, there would be a nation wide stir, against the UPAs obduracy and insensitivity to the Muslims and other minorities throughout the country. After the analysis of RTE 2009, it was

...there would be hazardous consequences of the RTE 2009 which are yet to unfold, as its clauses are likely to make it impossible to survive for any Muslim madrassa as well as minority-run institutions throughout the length and breath of the country. RTE 2009, will make it impossible for any madrassa to impart religious education, and also it would disallow any madrassa or any minority-run-institution, until class VIII, to impart education in its mother tongue (Urdu), as Hindi language has been superimposed through the Act.
found, that there would be hazardous consequences of the RTE 2009 which are yet to unfold, as its clauses are likely to make it impossible to survive for any Muslim madrasa as well as minority-run institutions throughout the length and breath of the country. RTE 2009, will make it impossible for any madrasa to impart religious education, and also it would disallow any madrassa or any minority-run-institution, until class VIII, to impart education in its mother tongue (Urdu), as Hindi language has been superimposed through the Act. According to the Act, if the present madrasas, matkabs (Muslim schools of learning) and minority-run-institutions, are not to comply with the new set of rules within three years, and apply for their recognition, then ultimately they would be shut down! This would be in stark contravention of the guarantees given by the Constitution of India, which through its Article 25 (Freedom of Conscience, profession, practice and propagation of religion, Article 26 (Freedom to manage religious affairs) and Article 30, makes it amply clear, that minorities can teach their own curriculum, in their institutions, or can impart education, by way of a slight amendment, in the government education policy too, but, this present RTE 2009, through it sections 8 & 9 has given this right to the state governments and the local bodies! What local bodies and state governments, do, would always be guided, by the sentiment of the majority community. RTE 2009 is a mockery of sorts. A Neo-liberal fascism on the floor, castigated Bishop Gerald Mathias. RTE 2009, also makes it clear, through its section 21, that the managing committee of a minority-run-institution, would cease to have the right to induct a minority-community member in it, hence, it would be the prerogative of the government, to impose a member of its choice! Even in minority-institutions. The erstwhile NDA government could not dare implement such decrees to swallow up minorities. What do minorities have except for a few schools and colleges and even they are thorn in the side of the present government, said Syed Kalbe Sadiq. The Article 30 of the Constitution has empowered the minorities to appoint members of minority communities in their run institution, he reiterated. RTE 2009, through its section 3/ 4 vests the decision for the Educational Qualification of teachers, into an Academic Authority appointed by the central government, and hence, this right too would be snatched from minority institutions. The minority institutions will not even have the right to accord the educational qualification to those teachers who impart religious education! This is total anarchy in the educational forum. Moreover, RTE 2009 stipulates that children would be admitted to schools closer to their homes, and through its section 3, education is to be compulsory and absolutely free. This would lead to a situation as Muslim children would be forced to study in schools in their areas (which may be Shishu Mandirs run by RSS) and non-Muslim students would be in strength in minority-run-institutions. This would lead to a non-homogenous environment, and all minorities would be subjected to go haywire, as the safeguards to their culture, language, identity etc would the thrown to the dogs. What kind of an India has this government envisaged? All diversity would soon become a thing of the past. RTE 2009 is actually a direct onslaught on the culture of all minorities, to be finally assimilated into the Hindu culture. Article 30 is now blown to smithereens, said the piqued Zafaryab Jilani. With regards to the Waqf Amendment Bill, 2010, it was brought to notice that the AIMPLB opposes the proposals of the Waqf Amendment Bill, 2010, which says that all Waqf properties should to be registered with the Waqf Board. The Act also envisages to set up a Waqf agency. AIMPLB categorically emphasised that it is just impossible to register all properties with the Waqf Board, as they are all scattered around, and more importantly, AIMPLB wanted the Waqf agency to be headed by a trustee and not by someone nominated by the government. The issue of Direct Taxes Code Bill 2011 was also taken into debate, as it calls, for levying taxes on all religious and charitable trusts, institutions, societies and anjumans (organisations) which is nothing but a ploy to hamper the working of such bodies. AIMPLB is soon to organise similar conferences in Bombay, Patna, Delhi, Aligarh and Hyderabad. AIMPLB is now on a spree to build momentum. Lets see how long it will take for UPA to feel the heat.

Congress and BJP flex muscles over corruption and terror

MOHAMMAD NAUSHAD KHAN
Corruption has now become a communicable disease. It is affecting one party after another at regular intervals. From Congress the heat of corruption has shifted to the BJP in Karnataka. BJP while dealing with Lokayukta report and its fallout in Karnataka politics wanted to take a tough posture in order to score political points in dealing with corruption as compared to Congress. BJP found itself in a dilemma after Karnataka Lokayukta Santosh Hegdes report officially indicted Yeddyurappa and four other senior ministers for illegal mining in the state. As per Justice Hegdes report, released on 27 July the total loss suffered by the state exchequer due to illegal mining over four years (2006-2010) is at Rs 16,085 crore. The report also seeks criminal action against three ministers - G Janardhan Reddy, G Karunakara Reddy and B Sriramulu. The report further says that the South West Mining Company bought one acre of land at Rachenahalli in Bangalore. For this, it allegedly paid Rs 20 crore to the CMs sons, B Y Raghavendra and B Y Vijayendra and son-in-law R N Sohan Kumar. It also paid Rs 10 crore to Prerana Education Society, run by the CMs family. For the BJP, turmoil in Karnataka due to Lokayukta report in the illegal mining case was an opportunity to gain mileage over Congress on the issue of corruption. The transition phase witnessed ups and down. Yeddyurappas resignation came after repeated show of strength and political drama in order to remind the BJP of his political clout in the state. Ultimately, Yeddyurappas chosen candidate Sadanand Gowda won in a close fight with Jagdish Shettar in a secret ballot vote in the presence of central leader Arun Jaitely and Rajnath Singh. Yeddyurappas high voltage drama even before handing over his resignation to the governor was the last show of strength by him to the national leadership in a bid to force them to agree to his choice in deciding the next chief minister in the state. What is believed now as the possible reason that prompted the embattled chief minister to resign was that the threat perception followed by the possibility of a CBI probe into the multi crore illegal mining in the state? It was also obvious that if Yeddyurappa maintained a defiant posture or brought down the government by splitting the party down the middle then he could have found himself isolated by the BJP while facing a CBI probe. At present the Karnataka BJP is virtually divided in two powerful camps. One is led by Yedyurappa and the other by BJP general secretary Anant Kumar. Finding his man to head the state could be said to be the last laugh for Yeddyurappa as the Karnataka Governor HR Bhardwaj on 3 August gave his nod to Lok Ayukta police to initiate criminal proceedings against him over the report on illegal mining. The dust emanating from the political rumbling in Karnataka seems to have settled for now but not for too long. For the Congress, turmoil in Karnataka over illegal mining came as a breather and provided an opportunity to thwart BJPs hullabaloo on corruption. The battle is however long drawn between BJP and the Congress as both the parties are desperate to attack each other on the issue of corruption and Hindu terror. Politically, corruption is now equally proportionate to Hindu terror. If BJP goes all out against Congress on corruption then Congress never fails to remind the BJP of the horrors of right wing terror and the Karnataka imbroglio a bonus point for them at a time when the Congress was finding it almost difficult to defend itself on the issue of corruption. BJP President Nitin Gadkari while talking to reporters at a press conference in the national capital recently said, A Raja has admitted in court that the Prime Minister and the then Finance Minister were aware of all this and the entire transaction had their approval. Therefore the two must resign as they have no legal, political and moral authority to be in office. Reacting sharply to BJPs demand for resignation P Chidambaram said that BJPs selective attack is because of the fact that under his tenure as home minister the investigating agencies widened their probe beyond Islamic fundamentalist groups. He further said, I think the main reason is that the BJP thinks that this government is seriously pursuing the bomb blast cases where right-wing fundamentalists are involved. In yet another virulent attack on the BJP, P Chidambaram while speaking on the occasion of a book release function, Indian Mujahiddeen: The Enemy Within, written by Shishir Gupta, Editor of the Express News Service, The Indian Express on 4 August said that there are the right wing extremist terrorist groups which are radicalising and they should be researched and studied. The right wing extremist terrorist groups are radicalising right wing youth in the same manner as Indian Mujahideen and SIMI, he said. Further more, in order to magnify the threat and the scale of the corruption in Karnataka Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam has recently alleged that Pakistans ISI is funding the BJP through the companies owned by Reddy brothers of Karnataka. He further added that the company owned by Reddy brothers, Obalapuram, has a number of subsidiaries in Dubai and Singapore through which they export iron ores to various steel factories in China and Pakistan. Corruption is no doubt a vital issue to be dealt with at the earliest with zero tolerance. But on the contrary the politicians are busy in politicising the issue in order to scale down the impact on the polity as all political parties in one way or the other can find their parties to be on the political corruption index chart. Corruption is now being used as an equaliser for the parties to ignore it easily by considering it to be a zero sum game. For example, 2G spectrum scam equals to illegal mining in Karnataka. Or another possible equaliser on the lines of corruption taint verses Hindutva terror taint. But for the moment the pressure is on the BJP as the chapter on illegal mining in Karnataka is still open and is very much in the public domain. Peoples awareness and participation in various forms of crusade against corruption is a healthy sign. Political parties action and reactions on errant corrupt leader in the recent past is a step forward towards political transformation. The fallout of scams like 2G Spectrum, CWG, Adarsh and illegal mining in Karnataka may sooner or later turn out to be a harbinger of change for a transparent governance.

8 The Milli Gazette, 16-31 August 2011

NATIONAL
Reservation is issue of the hour

A Reflection on Bollywood Film Aarakshan

MADHU CHANDRA
finicy@gmail.com

he Bollywood film Aarakshan is going to be released on August 14, just a day before the 65th Indian Independence Day. Dalits also known as Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Others Backward Classes (OBC) are suspicious about the anti-reservation motive behind the film. Members of Dalit and OBC communities in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and Maharashtra have opposed the film. The protestors attacked the home and offices of the producer of the film Mr. Prakash Jha in Mumbai on 6 August. National Commission for Scheduled Caste has issue notice Censor Board of Film to show the film to the Commission before release. The issue has become a talk of the hour after terrorism and corruption. Talks are interesting and rather impressive, particularly the exclusive show on Headlines Today on 5 August night and re-telecast next day. Aarakshan means reservation in Hindi - the affirmative actions for SC/ST and OBC in government jobs and educational institutions mandated by the Constitutional. It is 27% for OBCs, 15% for SCs and 7.5% for STs, totalling 49.5%. Supreme Court of India has restricted reservation up to 50%, which is believed by Dalits and OBC to be a new form of reservation for upper castes whose population is comparatively low. The generic fragmentation of Indian society - Upper Caste 15% (Brahmins 3%, Kshetriyas/Vaishyas 12%), OBC 50%, SC/ST 25% and minorities 10%. Reservation is not what Dalits, who represent 25% of Indian population, demanded. It was a demand for separate electorate under the leadership of Indian Constitution architect Bhim Rao Ambedkar and given by British Indian Parliament in the Round Table conference at London. The Father of Nation, Mahatma Gandhi opposed Bhim Rao Ambedkar and went to fast unto death against a separate electorate. Thereafter, reservation for Dalits in government jobs, education and Parliament elections was agreed in Pune Pact 1932. Coming back to TV debate shows on the film Aarakshan, Mr. Prakash Jha and Bollywood film star Amitabh Bachchan, who acted in the film, said repeatedly that the film is not anti- or proreservation. Only after its elease, the exact contents of the film

will come to the light. However, there is a suspicion that the film will provoke anti-reservation propaganda in the Indian society. Mr. Prakash Jha says, The film does not talk only about reservation, it also talks about commercialisation of education and globalisation. If that is so, why then did he choose Aarakshan and not Commercialisation of Education or Globalisation for his film? Selecting Mr Bachchan to act in this film is also another question. He has taken his position on caste census last year, saying, I am Indian First denying the reality of Indian society controlled by caste and its stigma. Denying and choosing to ignore the reality of caste system within Indian societies is a stand against marginalised people. The person who has taken up such a position on caste reality and chose to act as the main character in the film, could be for the hidden anti-reservation motive of the film. Other co-actors of the film said during the TV show that the motive behind making of the film is to promote the idea of equality among Indian people. This sounds exactly like Youth for Equality the Anti-reservation movement headed by upper caste medical students in 2006 when 27% OBC reservation in higher technical educational institutions was introduced by former Union education New Delhi: Fifty percent of the poor in the country belong to the schedminister, Arjun Singh. uled castes, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes has said in Dalits and OBCs have been kept unequal a study. The report was submitted by the NCSC to the Prime Minister socially, economically and educational for 3000 and the law minister in support of its recommendations for reservation years, so where comes the matter of equality in admission and promotion for SC students and employees, officials in among Indian people? Reservation has brought the Commission said. socio-economic and educational changes and In view of these facts, the Commission highlights the importance made possible some equality among small secof reservation in admission of SC students as well as reservation in protions of Indian people. This could have never motion of SC employees, it said in a release. happened without reservation. Without reservaThe report further states that there is a literacy gap of 10.69 per cent tion, members of Dalits and OBCs will be pushed between SCs and other castes and that Dalits in many parts of the counto where there were socially, economically and try were still subjected to social and economic discrimination. educationally. NCSC chairman PL Punia has requested Prime Minister Manmohan The symptom of opposing reservation and Singh to issue directions for initiating action in view of the recommenthe anti-reservation movement is the reflection of dations of the report, it said. two things: first, the micro-minority upper caste Punia has also written to UP chief minister Mayawati requesting her which hardly represents 15% of the Indian poputo provide reservation in admission in private unaided professional collation and have been enjoying socio-political, leges in the state without any legal hurdles, the release said. economic, education and religious opportunities,

seems threatened of its control and share as seats in job and education are given for reserved categories. Second, allowing Dalits and members of OBCs to come up in life through reservation will empower them educationally and economically allowing them to challenge the socio-religious disproportion reality of Indian societies. What threatens reservation today is the rise of privatisation. The privatisation in globalised world and globalisation era is an undeniable reality for economic survival and economic boom of the nation. But it will limit the socio-economic and educational uplift for the marginalised people of India until affirmation alternative is accepted in private companies. Currently, there is no law to ensure reservation for marginalised people of India in private business. The corporate has opposed the idea of reservation in private companies. To ensure future socio-economic and educational progress for Dalits and OBCs, reservation in private sector is a matter of life and death. The All India Confederation of SC/ST Organisations has demanded this in its two-day National Convention for Reservation in Private Sectors, held in Delhi during 7-8 August. Madhu Chandra is a social activist and research scholar based in New Delhi.

50% of poor in India are SCs

Media protector of Saffron Terror?

MUSHTAQUE MADNI

ypocrisy and double standards seem to be as central to Indian media and perhaps to the majority community as the backbone is to a human body. Little wonder then, that within ten minutes of the serial bomb blasts that shook Mumbai on 13 July, 2011, the omnipresent and all-knowing media, much before investigation agencies could even reach the unfortunate spots, went berserk blaming Indian Mujahideen for the attacks as if medias network was more sophisticated and advanced than the otherwise not so honest and unsecular investigating agencies. Unlike the world media, the irony with Indian media perhaps is that, for its survival, it needs to depend more on the TRPs, a powerful instrument in the hands of majoritarians, than on real truth. And if the truth is against their set doctrine of terrorism, then with all its might and tricks, it doesnt mind going all out to prove otherwise. This exactly was its modus operandi in the recent Mumbai bomb blasts that killed twenty six and wounded more than a hundred innocent and unfortunate citzens. One fails to understand what on earth makes the media blame only Indian Mujahideen and why does it find too embarrassing to name Hindu terror organizations despite the fact that the former appear much more than the figment of imagination or planned creation of Agencies-Media nexus whereas Abhinav Bharat, Sanatan Sanstha, Sri Ram Sene, Jai Vande Matram, Bajrang Dal etc and, of course, their mother the RSS, are a hard reality with registered offices and known patrons and whose well-indoctrinated champions have been openly found guilty of even international terrorism like Samjhouta Express bomb blast and explosions in Nepal, not to forget Malegaon (2006, 2008), Ajmer and Hyderabad. After quickly targeting IM, actually Muslims, for the blasts, media conducted several enlightening and celebratory debates with familiar faces from both the communities. But, surprisingly, none could muster the courage to utter the simple fact which is so audaciously staring at the face of the entire nation, media and the agencies: Brahminical terror. Is it not then shocking that even to this day the liberal, independent, democratic and secular media could not conduct a single debate and failed to seek opinions of scholars on the book Who Killed Karkare written by a former Inspector

General of Police, who unequivocally accused IB of virtually staging 26/11 with the sole aim to kill Karkare who had dared to expose Hindutva terror. Could it have been just a coincidence or a challenge to the Brahminist terrorists that senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh, while addressing a rally and subsequently media in Pune, the Brahminist bastion since ages, categorically remarked that after the arrest of the real culprits in Malegaon bomb blast, terror acts seem to have stopped. Many in Pune, including Hindus, are of the opinion that Brahminists took the remark as a sheer challenge to their terror skills and proved once again that when it came to terror they cannot be outdone. Thankfully, though belatedly, we are informed by Maratha and Dalit historians and scholars of repute about the revered and established ancient incestuous inbreeding traditions of the Brahmins where mother-son, brother-sister marriages were not only common but were considered to be preferred marital relationships. This inhuman, pervert and unnatural love bond, it is believed, gave birth to a mysterious, sickening, sadistic and transparently hypocritical phenomenon that became second nature to Brahminists. It was the same phenomenon that prompted Nathuram Godse, a sexual pervert, to conceal himself behind the image of a Muslim with a long beard, kurta-pajama and even circumcision when he appeared mysteriously (seemingly with systems support) at Rajghat to kill Gandhiji. Had he been a true and a courageous patriot, he need not have had to appear as a Muslim. It definitely was the demand of his genealogical cowardice that forced him to hide behind the image of a Muslim. he Indian media, dominated by pervert Brahmins, with an active corroboration with agencies, supposed to be their ideological confidantes, seem to have resurrected the sadistic character of its all-time great ideal Nathuram Godse. One of the reasons behind this resurrection could be an steady but awakened disappearance of the Bahujan forces that it once used as the cannon fodder when it came to instigate riots and violence against minorities. No wonder then that the masters, after finding themselves alone on the battlefield, took to terrorism as the last resort to continue with their age old dharma of violence, while being aptly assured of multi-dimensional protection by the pervert media and communal agencies. Jai Ho. The writer is Editor, Usool, Pune

NHRC retained A status but not in the manner it was expected as the accreditation panel in Geneva had made some unfavourable remarks in the process. It is believed that NHRC dumped the fact that the accreditation that recommended A status was followed by some strict condition raising concerns raised by the civil society in the past. In this regard, the office of the UN high commissioner has raised question over the law and functioning of the NHRC as it was found to be violative of the mandated standards called Paris Principles. The questions raised by the accreditation panel are as under: 1. Panel has questioned the dominance of the Judiciary in the overall composition of the NHRC. 2. Important posts in the NHRC like, secretary general and director general of investigation lack independence. 3. The panel has questioned the claims made by the NHRC to have followed the guidelines of the Paris principle while dealing with civil society and human rights defenders. 4. It also cautioned the NHRC to deal with the negative perception of its complaint mechanism. 5. The panel has asked the NHRC to make its annual report on time, because the latest annual report available of the NHRC was of 2007-08.

NHRC manages to retain Astatus

Banks failed to achieve minority lending target

Public sector banks have failed to comply with the governments order aimed to improve the economic condition of the Muslims by increasing the share of lending to minority communities to 15 percent of priority sector loans by March 2011. These fall under the category of priority sector, and are agriculture, low cost housing and small scale units. So far 13 banks have been identified to have missed the minority lending target. Some banks have met their targets. The overall scenario can be measured as against priority sector loans of Rs 10.13 lakh crore towards the end of March 2011, lending to minority communities only amounted to Rs 1.43 crore. Banks which failed to meet the target are Dena Bank, Vijaya Bank, Andhra Bank, Bank of Baroda, Uco Bank, and Oriental Bank of Commerce. Finance minister in his meet with the head of the public sector banks enquired the reason for not complying with the given target by the government and at the same time also directed them to meet the target at any cost by 2011-12. As per recommendation of the Sachar Commission this initiative was taken by the government to improve the economic condition of the minorities. However, with such programmes the opposition, has on many occasions accused the government of doing such things as its appeasement policy. Following governments order the Reserve Bank of India initiated a process to open Banks in minority dominated areas.

Girl paraded naked in Guj. minority institution

The government of Gujarat has ordered an inquiry to probe the affairs of minority institution in Ahmedabad where a six year old girl was paraded naked and was asked to clean toilets as a punishment for not completing her home work. Police arrested the class teacher on receiving complaint by the girls father. Later during investigation it was found that the school was not recognised but the minority institution was functioning for the last 19 years. RH Patel, district education officer has assured the parents that action would be taken at the earliest. The trustee of the school however has clarified that only the veil of the girl was removed by the teacher. Parents claim that this is not the first time that such an incident has taken place. On earlier occasion too the same teacher had punished another small girl in March this year.

MG NEWS DESK

The Milli Gazette, 16-31 August 2011

NATIONAL

Munsif channel will be the voice of voiceless: Hyder Adil

ABDUL BARI MASOUD
New Delhi: Munsif News Channel will be a voice of the voiceless and it will try to be different from the existing plethora of channels, said the first Muslim-owned channels dynamic and young CEO Dr Mohammad Raza Hyder Adil. This new channel was launched on 26 January, 2011. In an exclusive chat with the Milli Gazette, he said the launch of the Munsif channel was a long cherished dream of the Muslim community as they felt that they have no channel of their own among the hundreds of channels on air today. We wanted to end the communitys dejection on this score and took the plunge into this challenging field, said Dr Adil. A decade after ETV Urdu was launched, another Urdu channel has been launched from Hyderabad which is one of most important centres of Urdu. Dr Adil said that just like the ETV Urdu, Munsif would be a complete infotainment channel but it will try to give voice to the community in the corridors of powers. On a question that news-gathering is a costly affair in the electronic media, how would Munsif cope with it, he claimed that Munsif has a network of 300 reporters in the country as well as abroad. Furthermore, it has the support of the Munsif Urdu dailys network. We have dedicated the channel to the community just like community also can act as a pressure group in this regard in their respective areas. It is said that due to the cable operators monopolistic behaviour, Urdu channels are not visible in even Urdu-speaking areas. Among them is DD Urdu channel despite Information and Broadcasting ministrys strict guidelines of beaming all DD channels. Of late there are new entrants into the Urdu electronic media: Zee groups Zee Salam and Aalami Sahara of Sahara group are notable among them. Salaam is more about religion and Islamic devotional programmes and poetry while Aalami Sahara focuses on current affairs. With the launch of Munsif TV, the fifth Urdu channel in India, there will be healthy competition and the audience will also get to see better coverage as the Urdu market grows despite negative predictions in the past. On the cut-throat competition, Dr Adil said the channel has a team of media experts and reputed journalists who will focus on new strategies to make the channel a trusted vehicle of the community. On the falling standards of news presentation, he said Munsif would give due importance to the sanctity of news as it wont sensationalize or trivialise any story as practised by other channels. He admitted that there is a need to improve the standard of language used in the channel and so is the presentation that is not as professional initially.

the patron and owner of the Munsif daily Khan Lateef Khan has dedicated the paper to its staff when he bought the paper, he added. Asked as to how he would tackle the cable operators noncooperation with the channel, he said he was making all-out efforts to convince them for beaming the channel, however, the

Quran is the life mission of this Kashmiri businessman

MUSHTAQ UL HAQ AHMAD SIKANDER.
Srinagar: Quran the word itself carries a profound meaning. It is the book which Muslims believe to be the revealed words of Almighty Allah. Muslims boast about the fact that not a single word of this book has changed since its revelation and down to us i.e. over more than 1400 years this book is preserved. Quran which is meant for the whole of mankind, of which Muslims are supposed to be its upholders and the best amongst people(3:110) because they are supposed to be the practical mirror of Quranic teachings. But what is theoretically enshrined in the Holy Book, the Muslim Ummah is diametrically opposite to it practically. With these double standards a fact encountered and experienced is the split personalities of Muslims. I encounter Kaleem Ullah Khan, a bio-science post-graduate and a successful businessman at his lovely abode situated at Salman Farsi Heights near the world famous Shalimar Garden in Srinagar. He is the practical interpretation of the Hadith The best among you (Muslims) are those who learn the Quran and teach it (to others). He is the founder of Adult Quranic Education Programme (AQEP) or the 18-81 Quranic Educational Programme. In our first meeting, I bombard Kaleem Ullah Khan with a flood of searching questions like as to why he started this programme, where did he get inspiration for such a noble cause, what keeps him going on and the like. Kaleem Ullah Khan quite calmly and confidently starts narrating his journey. As a student of the prestigious Sri Pratap(S.P) College, he once browsed the Encyclopedia Britannica in the college library and went on to search the word Quran under the alphabet Q. He was astonished by the remark of authors about the Quran, that Quran is the most widely read book in history. This remark lead him to write a letter to the board of Editors of this encyclopedia, alleging this remark as half-truth and demanding that the correct observation should be, Quran is the most widely read book in history but simultaneously the least understood. How to remove this ignorance? How to make people understand the message of the Quran? These questions continued to baffle collegiate Khans mind. Then he undertook an oath to himself that he would read, understand and then propagate the message of this book(Quran) to others. Thus began the one man show of AQEP with this single clandestine pledge of a young man, who through self study began comparative study of different religions and Quran. Though it took Khan Sahib five years to complete his first complete revision of Quran, he had read the book cover to cover with understanding and initially started to proclaim its teachings to his friends and near and dear ones. Then in 1978 AQEP began to function formally and full fledgedly, since then its sphere of influence has been growing by leaps and bounds. Whom is this programme supposed to address and why the word Adult? Kaleem Ulllah Khan assures that Only a minority among 1.2 billion Muslims can understand the language of Quran i.e. Arabic, and a majority of Muslims for whom Arabic is an alien language or for one reason or other they cant master or study Arabic, so why let the barrier of Arabic hinder our understanding of Quran when it is meant for the whole of mankind? So this programme is a ray of hope for such people. Talking in context of Kashmir where Islam spread by the teachings of Sufis, barring the first period of Islams spread no vigorous or indigenous movement was initiated to understand the teachings of Quran. Regarding the word Adult, Khan admits that he is not ticipants of the programme realize that understanding Quran is easy. Reading and reciting is not the sole purpose of this programme but to understand and ponder over the universal message of Quran. With different sects, ideologies, interpretations dividing the whole Ummah, I question Khan that his dealings are mostly with older folks who are difficult to change or mould and there must be a clash of egos and dropouts also. How does he manage to handle this type of situations? He reassures me that every participant is made to realise that this Quran is a Binding Force and should not be used for division. Though older folks are hard to change, but through his programmes Khan is a witness to miraculous changes amongst these older ones. Regarding drop outs he is least bothered as he considers his programmes as only laboratories or fields which will reap benefits in future only. Also among the drop outs the routine of this programme has been cultivated without which it will be difficult for him to survive as it is their Soul Food and includes 1. Daily recitation and understanding of 1-3 verses of Holy Quran. 2. Reading and Understanding 1-3 Ahadith and 3. A page or two from the seerah of Prophet(SAW).

Kaleemullah Khan
psychologically so competent to address the Quranic message to kids though he points to the fact that there is no mention of age in Quran to understand its meaning. These Educational programmes are today conducted in three languages(Kashmiri, Urdu and English) depending upon the participants intellectual capability. Khan reminds me of the one point programme of AQEP To read and Understand Quran. He reiterates his stance by asserting that mere reading of Quran cant revolutionize people. Twenty Five classes every week are co-ordinated by Khan in different Masjids in Srinagar besides these there are special classes for male and female physicians conducted separately which were started on February 20, 2005. Another exciting innovative programme for students is the Class On Wheels. The Class On Wheels, as its name suggests, is a class which takes place in Khan Sahibs spacious car with a bunch of students whom Khan Sahib coaches in Quranic Meanings while travelling, as he drops them at their schools or tutorial centres. The benefits of this programme are: students become acquainted with Quran, thus know Islam, improve their English vocabulary and everyday save the bus fare as Khan drops them for free at their destinations. Thus travelling becomes a learning experience, as Kaleemullah Khan asserts, understanding Quran should become enjoyment not a burden on people. He keeps this formula in mind while dealing with his students whom he prefers to call Participants rather than students. Anybody can join this programme as there is no exclusive membership. All new comers are supposed to take an oath that: 1. From this day onwards he/she will read Quran daily, 2. With an effort to Understand and 3. At least teach five other people about Quran in his lifetime. During my conversation, I again and again refer to him as teacher and participants as students, each time he corrects me that the purpose of AQEP is not to teach Quran but make par-

Khan also asserts that in his programme there is also least chance of strife as it is not an Organization in which different positions and honours are bestowed on various members in a hierarchy. AQEP doesnt ask or accept donations from its participants. If anybody wishes to donate something Khan may recommend Quran or some book, copies of which are distributed among participants free of cost. Regarding Communal Harmony Khan acknowledges the fact that only this book(Quran) is the source of Unity for the whole of mankind as it calls for pondering on the creations of Almighty(16:65-69) and stressing commonality between different religions(3:64).When man ponders on this universe he reaches the conclusion that it has so much similarity, coherence and coordination that its creator must be one which leads him to monotheism(Tawhid).Quran contains so many facts and pearls of knowledge that it refrains people from polytheism(Shrik) which is an outcome of limitation of Human Knowledge. Thus Quran can only help in attaining Universal Unity. Thus AQEP has became a tremendous source of confidence for its participants who can now understand the message of Quran and among the participants some have also taken up this noble cause and are conducting classes on their mentors pattern. Like all people, I too am astonished as to how participants without the knowledge of A,B,C of arabic can translate Quran and understand it. I question Khan about it, he avoids an answer but invites me to join his programme to know this Trade Secret. Khan wishes to convey the message of Quran to the whole of mankind and hopes that people understand Quran As It Is. He is a witness to the healthy change in society regarding Quranic message as his participants include the intellectual elite class to illiterate poor people and is hopeful that Quran will be able to fill the voids of artificial barriers among people, make them experience Universal Brotherhood and an environment full of Peace and Tranquillity. Thus Khan is proving an inspiration to millions who wish to understand Quran despite language barriers. AQEP every year also conducts Hajj Guidance Programme & Khan is also chief editor of Urdu Monthly Al-Hayat. Kaleem Ullah Khan may be reached at aqep.lessons@gmail.com

10 The Milli Gazette, 16-31 August 2011

NATIONAL

Unholy nexus to save Modi loyals in post-Godhra cases

ABDUL HAFIZ LAKHANI, Ahmedabad
Controversial and openly revolting anti-government IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt has been suspended from his job.Bhatt is currently the Principal of SRP Training school at Junagadh. He was not attending to the place of duty for a long time and was openly challenging the government through one or other means. Recently in his leaked email it was found that he was in regular touch with anti-Chief Minister elements. He had asked the leader of the opposition Shaktisinh Gohil in one email, why he had not received a blackberry phone and three packages yet? The specific reasons cited against Mr. Bhatt was unauthorized absence from duty, non-appearance before a departmental panel and alleged misuse of official vehicle. Bhatt is facing a couple of serious criminal charges in court. Recently Gujarats additional advocate general has filed a complaint against him for hacking e-mails. Though not authorized, Bhatt used to keep yellow light on his car till the time one local newspaper exposed it. Despite this stern action by the Modi government he does not want to budge against Modi. Close on the heels of SC's directives to go through the affidavit of Gujarat based Senior officer Sanjiv Bhatt about Gujarat CM Narendra Modis involvement in 2002 riots, the officer has added one more chapter to the Gujarat governments filthy confrontation with various police officers and bureaucrats by alleging an unholy nexus between senior government officials and politicians to shield powerful persons from prosecution in post-Godhra communal violence and fake encounter cases. According to Bhatt, the nexus was at work to help the accused in cases related to post-Godhra riots, Chief Minister Narendra Modis interrogation by the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team, alleged gangster Sohrabuddin Shaikhs staged encounter and Mumbai college student Ishrat Jahans killing. He alleges that the additional secretary (home)s affidavit was drafted by an outsider, Gurumurthy Swaminathan, who is helping the accused defend themselves. In an additional affidavit in the Supreme Court on July 26, the IPS officer alleged that from September 2009 onwards he has come across several emails of state Additional Advocate General Tushar Mehta that are clearly indicative of an unholy nexus and illegal complicity between high functionaries of the State of Gujarat and other extraneous political entities, in the on-going cover-up operations and machinations, aimed at shielding powerful persons from prosecution for alleged heinous crimes. Explaining the circumstances in which he came across the exchange of email between Mehta and political entities, Bhatt said that he accessed them as part of his duty to obtain evidentiary intelligence. Bhatt said that he even tried to bring the facts to the notice of the SIT and the amicus curiae appointed by the Supreme Court. He claimed to have tried to dissuade Mehta from continuing his connivance in the illegal machinations of the State of Gujarat and tried to persuade him to bring the facts of the said modus to the knowledge of the concerned authorities and courts. That Shri. Tushar Mehta did not heed the advice of the petitioner and eventually started using the e-mail account tusharmehta64@yahoo.com for the purpose of exchanging sensitive information. Giving a detailed account with dates, Bhatt said the exchange of emails between February 5, 2010 and March 15, 2010, clearly established unauthorised on passing of the documents to Swaminathan. This Honble Court directed that SIT reports were to be given to the Learned Amicus Curiae and the State Counsel but the State Authorities in violation of the Courts order provided copies of documents to an outsider like Shri Gurumurthy who is helping the accused in their defence. The action on part of the Addl. Advocate General, of sharing documents which were marked SECRET by Under Secretary (Home), with an outsider like S Gurumurthy. That Shri Gurumurthy in turn prepared and sent a note for the hearing of March 15, 2010 in the matter of the SIT in the Honble Supreme Court to the Advocates for the accused persons. (Sic) Dragging in the editor-in-chief of a national daily, Bhatt said that the former minister of state for home Amit Shah forwarded a note on the investigation of Gujarat cases for the editor to Mehta. The said e-mail also states that the note was forwarded to the editor by Swaminathan on February 17, 2010. The note stated that Honble Justice Arijit Pasayat, who headed the Bench that directed the SIT to look into the complaint of Zakia Jafri in SLP No. 1088 of 2008 on 09.05.2009 and within six days on 15.05.2009 he accepted appointment as the head of Competition Commission of India. This requires to be viewed seriously by this Honble Court. Bhatt has also made comments on the Sohrabuddin Shaikh fake encounter and Ishrat Jahan encounter cases. On the Sohrab case, he says, The aforesaid documents make it clear that despite the fact Amit Shah was arraigned as an accused by the CBI in an Supreme Court entrusted investigation, bureaucrats attached with the CMs Office and Home, senior police officers and the additional advocate general were all making attempts to help Sh. Amit Shah in defending himself. On Ishrat case, he says, ... it is clear that the Additional Advocate General along with some bureaucrats are making all attempts to defend (IPS officer) Sh. G.L. Singhal who is named as an accused in an inquiry conducted by the Metropolitan Magistrate under Section 176 of Cr.P.C. and also there is an investigation going on by a Special investigating Team under the direct supervision of the High Court against Sh. G.L.Singhal. On one side, the said officers are preparing and filing various petitions and Affidavits on behalf of the State and on the other side the same officers are preparing and getting filed Applications/Affidavits on behalf of the so- called accused persons. Bhatt has alleged that Additional secretary (home)s affidavit was drafted by an outsider ie Gurumurthy Swaminathan in consultation with the advocates of the accused persons. If the allegations in Sanjiv Bhatts affidavit submitted to the apex court are to be believed then the details of developments in the CBI investigations in the Sohrabuddin case were leaked to the state government. This is despite the fact that the state cops themselves are accused in the fake encounter. Earlier, Bhatt had in his affidavit stated that additional advocate general, Gujarat high court, Tushar Mehta had got hold of a letter meant for investigating officer in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case, Amitabh Pathak. The letter was a status update on investigations and was not supposed to be leaked out to anyone in the government. However, Bhatt claims that the said letter was forwarded by Mehta to IPS officer Geetha Johri on March 25, 2010, who was summoned by CBI to find out her role in the fake encounter investigations. Other officer GL Singhal who is a suspect in Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case is also mentioned in the note. The note, according to the affidavit, further stated that direction should be sought to prevent the CBI from further investigation. Mehta, however, sent nine different documents to Mahesh Jethmalani and Mitesh Amin, advocates for former home minister Amit Shah. Bhatt had mentioned that all the documents were designed to provide help for the defence of Amit Shah. already re-joined the BJP. So has Balu Tanti, another Keshubhai loyalist. Also on the radar are loyalists who had left the party under former CM Suresh Mehtas leadership. Dialogue has been initiated with leaders like Sunil Oza, Siddharth Parmar, Dhiru Gajera and Nalin Bhatt. Your diarist learnt that Oza has given his consent to rejoin the party. In fact, sources claim that Gordhan Zadaphia may return to the fold if VHP international general secretary Pravin Togadia gives the goahead. Political observers also see a motive in the recruitment of policemen and teachers. They believe it is Modis move to appease people. The state government has recruited 50,000 employees in the past two years. This is the highest recruitment drive ever since Chimanlal Patel government put a ban on recruitment. In a setback to Congress ahead of the 2012 state assembly polls, senior tribal leader, All India Congress Committee (AICC) member for the last 20 years, five-time MLA from Halol town of Panchamahal, and former minister, Udesinh Baria, today defected to ruling BJP. Baria has also served as Congress partys secretary. He was Law minister in the Congress government in 1994-95. While joining the BJP, Baria said, the Congress party has changed. Under leaders like Indira Gandhi and Madhavsinh Solanki (former Gujarat chief minister) it (Congress) used to work for upliftment of the poor, but now it is headed by corrupt event managers who have become brokers of power and are in the process of destroying leaders coming from the common mans background. I dont want to waste my time by clinging to the Congress party.Praising Modi, he said, it is for the first time after Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel that Gujarat has got a strong leader in Narendra Modi. The state has progressed and is working for the uplift of fall.

More policemen will be on CBI radar

The CBI, who registered a fresh FIR against police officers of Gujarat, Maharastra and other state in Sadiq Jamal encounter case, added several suspected offences - criminal conspiracy, wrongful restraint and confinement, abduction in order to murder, abduction with a secret intention to wrongfully confined murder and a better presence when offence is committed - in the FIR against the police. Meanwhile, CBI court, Ahmedabad, received a copy of the FIR. The court, however, denied having distributed the FIR copy officially. The investigation of the case was handed over to DySP Anilkumar Yadav. According to the orders of the Gujarat High Court, Ahmedabad Crime Branch ACP Mayur Chavda, who on June 20 had registered an FIR in the Jamal case, had failed to include the offence Criminal Conspiracy IPC 120(B) in the FIR which the CBI has included in its fresh complaint. CBI, in the next few days, will begin the investigation in this case. The suspected police officers will also be arrested, said sources. After it registered a case against the concerned cops, CBI action has spread fear in the police department. It is to be noted that this is the third encounter case which has gone to the CBI after Sohrabuddin Sheikh and Tulsi Prajapati encounter cases. Sadiqs brother Shabbir Mehtar had in 2007 filed a writ petition in state High Court stating that Saqids encounter was fake. After hearing the case, Justice M R Shah had handed over the investigation to CBI. Court had also asked the city crime branch to file a first information report. The same was registered by Mayur Chavda, ACP, crime branch on June 20. In the order, the HC has also asked the investigating agency to file a report in this case within six months.

Teesta gets bail

Teesta Setalvad of CJP was granted anticipatory bail by Ahmedabad Sessions court on 2 August. However, she will have to submit her passport within three days to the police. As per the court order, Teesta is not allowed to leave the country without permission. Court has allowed the police to seek Teestas remand if needed for investigation. Teesta who is facing serious charge of making false affidavits had filed an anticipatory bail application in a local court in connection with the criminal case against her former aide, Rais Khan, for fabrication of evidence. Mr. Khan has alleged that the false affidavits, for which he is facing a case, were filed at her behest. The Gujarat High Court last month gave the go-ahead to the probe against Mr. Khan for fabricating evidence, rejecting his plea seeking quashing of FIR. In December 2010, Justice S.H. Vohra who was hearing the 2002 Naroda Gam riot case (11 persons were killed in the incident), ordered that an FIR be lodged against Mr. Khan and his associates, for allegedly manipulating some affidavits filed before the court. Mr. Khans contention has been that he helped the witnesses prepare affidavits at the behest of Ms. Setalvad who heads the NGO Centre for Justice and Peace (CJP). Postriots, Mr. Khan was working with her till January 2008. In his application before the court, Mr. Khan had said that he was merely an employee of the NGO, and his job was to take instructions from Ms. Setalvad, to contact riot victims or witnesses, and persuade them to join hands with it to file cases in the courts. He argued that he had not manipulated any of the affidavits as alleged by some of the witnesses. He used to get fully prepared affidavits in English by e-mail from Ms. Setalvad which he got notarised by the witnesses, victims concerned and handed them back to Ms. Setalvad or the NGOs lawyer, he said.

RTI activists meet Governor

A delegation of Social workers and RTI Activists met Governor of Gujarat Smt. Kamla Beniwal today to make her aware of the current atrocities on RTI activists, to inform her about the irregularities committed RTI applications regarding and to report the anomalies of the state government which are exposed after filing RTIs. The delegation was headed by RTI activists Bharatsinh Jhala. Alongwith him, Bhagu Dewani- an RTI activist who was attacked by the mining mafia, Moosa Khatumbara- activist from Dholka who brought to light the billion dollar corruption of Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited, KokilaWaghela- alleged rapevictim whose several RTI applications are pending and Bhanu Audedara activists from Porbandar Presenting the issues, Bharatsinh Jhala told the honourable Governor that, the RTI law has become a toothless tiger in Gujarat. Illegal elements have been nurtured and flourish in Gujarat as the state government has not shown the political will to curb the nuisance. RTI activists have been attacked and killed these days and government has not taken any concrete steps to combat it. Further more, family members of slain activists should be compensated with Rs. 10 lakhs and seriously-injured activists or their family- members should be compensated with Rs. five lakhs. He added that In local bodies or other government functionaries should display on notice boards basic information for the villagers as it comes under pro-active disclosure, likewise how many persons have been given BPL cards or which company has got the lease orders in the village land.

Modi starts damage control

The Bharatiya Janata Party has embarked on Operation Salvage to win back popular leaders who had left the party. Sulking leaders at the village and taluka levels have been approached and are being wooed back as part of the preparations for 2012 Legislative Assembly elections. In fact, even Congress leaders who can get votes for the party at the taluka and village level are being systematically lured into the BJP fold. The BJP had suffered setbacks, losing its vote share in several constituencies in 2007. It fears that if this trend continues it can be detrimental to the party. The anti-incumbency factor that can set in after 10 years of Modi rule also weighs heavy on the BJP mind. This combined with Modis dream to win 151 seats for the BJP in the 2012 elections has triggered hectic efforts to get leaders who can garner votes for the party. BJP leaders Purshottam Rupala, Vijay Rupani and president R C Faldu are in charge of this salvage-cum-poaching operation. Keshubhai Patel loyalist and ex-minister Bechar Bhadani has

The Milli Gazette, 16-31 August 2011 11

HUMAN RIGHTS/TERRORISM

The NIA will not do anything wrong: Malegaon 2006 near denouement
MUSTAFA KHAN
Malegaon: The question of granting bail to the two accused in Malegaon blast of September 29, 2008, Shyam Bhavarlal Sahu and Shivranaryan Kalsangra, has again foregrounded the denial of bail to the nine accused in Malegaon blasts of September 8, 2006. Of course, we are fair-minded enough not to have this situation amidst us on the ground that the two are Hindus and have been let off and the nine are Muslims and therefore they must languish in jail. In fact, the judge did indeed use the word languish in granting the bail to the two. Therefore, what are the compulsions behind the appearance of this phenomenon? Shivnarayanan is the real brother of the accused offender and absconder Ramchander @ Ramji Kalsangra. According to ATS, Ramji had given his brother two bomb timers to keep. This is veritably a material connection. Shyam was a dealer in SIM cards and had sold SIM cards to Ramji. Over a period of several years, timers have been used by Kalsangra and his accomplices to make and explode bombs. If the brother was aware of the work of Ramchander he could not be presumed to not have known the kind of work Ramji was doing. Furthermore, the arrest of Shivnarayanan Kalsangra was on the account of statements of witnesses. Even so Justice AM Thipsay ruled: The NIA which has taken over the probe recently from the state ATS, has been unable to point out specific evidence against the two accused and are claiming that the probe is still on, the trial is not yet started in the case and in such circumstances the accused is not required to languish in jail. It means that the judge refuses to consider them guilty even when the ATS presumes them to be guilty. Presumption of guilt cannot make an accused guilty. Justice Geeta Mittal while removing the ban on Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) observed: You (the government) say that SIMI is connected to bombs blasts, riots, (and) destructive activities. Place specific material before me; you cannot presume their involvement. Thus discrepancy surfaces in the case of 2006. All the nine accused of Malegaon 2006 case are alleged to be members of SIMI based on their forced confessions under torture. There is no material evidence to link them to bomb blasts. Even the Union Home Minister Mr P Chidambrum is vague and may be afraid to be candid when he said on August 4, 2011 about the three scenarios of terrorism. The first is that India was the epicenter of terror but now it has shifted to Afghanistan. The second is the home-grown terrorists like SIMI now morphed as Indian Mujahideen. And the third is the nascent growth of the rise of the right wing terrorists or fascists groups. Then, making a sweeping generalization, he goes on to say that The home-grown terror groups, as popularly believed, do not practice one religion. What ordinarily we would infer is that the right wing and the fascists and the home-grown are desi terrorists, be they Muslims or Hindus or Sikhs or Christians. He acknowledges that there is unconvincing belief that all these terrorists belong to one faith or religion. This has led agencies to wrongly put young men in jail for several years for no fault of theirs. This raises the moot question: are all the nine accused in 2006 Malegaon case innocent? They happen to be Muslims. As against the nine of 2006, there are twelve accused in the case of the Malegaon 2008 case. They happen to be Hindus. There is material difference. The kind of torture the Muslims have undergone seems to be altogether absent in the case of the Hindus. Some of them have been even pampered. Lt. Col. Shrikant Purohit has been favoured with a laptop in prison with Internet connection. He can now email whatever applications his wife wants to give to court or else how would she know what to write! This is the world of Alice in Wonderland. There is Major Ramesh Upadhyay who would like the court to ban factories around the prison so that they could spend time in jail in a healthy atmosphere. There is Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur who pretends to be sick and wants ayurvedic treatment which the allopath doctors of JJ Hospital are giving her. When she does not want to leave Bhind province, as she had spent her childhood there, the police fly her back to Mumbai in a plane. The other group of nine has no imagination to even think of these! As expected, this has led to the most unheard of things. Purohit says that he has aided and abetted his fellow members of Abhinav Bharat but he does not think this is terrorism. Even the (MCOCA) sanctioning order does not say that I (Purohit) have committed any terror attack. I have only aided and abetted. This kind of nefarious argument would open Pandoras Box of trouble and would take India back into the darkness of the Middle Ages. For, what does Purohits lawyer mean when he says that his clients crimes are a continued unlawful activity but not an organised crime. Was attacking Malegaon with bombs twice, in 2006 and 2008, not an organized crime? Was stealing RDX from army stock not a crime? Is giving out RDX for blowing Samjhauta Express not an organized crime? Is selling government-seized guns not an organized crime? Is procuring fake military IDs not an organized crime? Purohit and others are neck-deep into all these. All these were well organized and connected activities. Thus the National Investigation Agency has no other option except to call a spade a spade. It has taken the first clear and bold step not to oppose bail application of the nine accused in 2006 Malegaon blasts case. They would breathe the air of freedom soon. It will be in the fitness of things that their fellow countrymen cutting across all religious groups should not just heave a sigh of relief but rejoice that justice will ultimately prevail. gence unit in a procedure that results in a 15-day lag. Even as there appears to be some light at the end of the tunnel due to the achievement of inter-agency cooperation through the multi-agency centre (MAC), the mutual coldness among the higher officials of the government has only taken the plight to the next level. Given the current degree of stalemate, one can only hope that national security would be given more emphasis than the starwars in the bureaucratic corridors. (Saiyed Danish)

Indresh, Pragya figure as suspects in NIA chargesheet on Ajmer blast

Jaipur: RSS leader Indresh Kumar and Sadhvi Pragya Singh have been mentioned as suspects in the Ajmer blast case in a supplementary chargesheet filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in a special court here on July 18. The chargesheet states that Kumar, in a secret meeting in Jaipurs Gujarati Samaj guest house, had addressed late Sunil Kumar along with Lokesh Sharma, Ramji Kalsangra, Sandeep Dange and Pragya on October 31, 2005. He had, as per the chargesheet, asked these people to work by associating themselves with some religious organisation so as to avoid suspicion. In October 2010, the Rajasthan anti-terror squad (ATS) had also named Indresh Kumar in their chargesheet, but he was not made an accused as the investigation was underway. NIA lawyer Arjun Amblapattam said, Investigation is still on. We cant be sure about what will come next, so we cant be sure about who is going to be chargesheeted again, or who is going to be involved in it again. On the other side, Kumars counsel J. S. Rana said, They are constantly levelling such false allegations. They dont have any evidence against him otherwise why would they file three chargesheets. He is not guilty. Hindutva extremist Swami Aseemanand, along with Sandeep Dange, Bhawesh Bhai, Mehul, Suresh Bhai, Ramchander, Bharat Bhai and Sunil Joshi (now dead), was charged with murder and carrying out terrorist activities by the NIA in the second chargesheet filed in connection with the 2007 Ajmer shrine blast case on July 18. Earlier, Harshad Solanki and Mukesh Vaasaani had been chargesheeted in the same case. The Rajasthan ATS, which had probed the case before handing it over to the NIA in April 2011, had earlier chargesheeted Devendra Gupta, Lokesh Sharma and Chandrashekar Levae in the same case.

Deal with Saffron terror sternly: PC

New Delhi: Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on 3 August asked security forces to deal with right-wing terror (Hindutva) groups sternly and fearlessly. The security establishment must treat it as a security issue, must improve its intelligence-gathering capacity and must deal with these groups fearlessly and sternly home minister said adding that the civil society, must deal with the causes of provocation which gives rise to enemies within. Speaking at function to release the book Indian Mujahideen: The Enemy Within, written by Shishir Gupta, a journalist with The Indian Express, Chidambaram said: There is another group which is radicalising... the right-wing extremist terrorist groups. That also deserves to be researched and studied. He said that they were radicalising right wing youths in the same manner that SIMI and IM have been radicalised. Referring to the saffron terror, Chidambaram said: Actually, we do not have one enemy within today, we have two enemies within and hope there will not be a third or a fourth or fifth. Speaking on the occasion senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley, said the US had not witnessed a single terrorist attack since 9/11. But Chidambaram rebutted it saying it was factually wrong to say so. It is a documented fact... The Fort Hood shooting was a terror attack in which a radicalised person killed 13 people, he said. Home minister said that Internet was being used to radicalise youths. Thats because of mobility, the use of communication. The use of travel, above all, is a completely new phenomenon. Radicalisation no longer takes place face to face. Most terrorists today are radicalised through Internet. There are any number of recent examples where a terrorist has been radicalised through Internet, he said.

Inter-agency stand offs responsible for laxity in terror watch

The shocking 13/7 attack on Mumbai has again exposed the interagency turf wars and political stand offs which are creating hindrances in Indias tackling of terror incidents. The laxity in the governments will to get its act together is evident from the fact that despite the horrific attacks of 26/11, The National CounterTerrorism Centre is yet to come into being. Its crucial adjunct, the National Intelligence Grid (Natgrid), has been set up, but the rightto-privacy campaigners have blocked its data collating functions. Moreover, the lack of unison in topnotch officials has only added to the grimness of the situation. The National Technical Research Organization, whose functions include telephone surveillance, is yet to be notified as a monitoring agency despite clearance from the cabinet committee on security. Formed in 2004 as part of post-Kargil security reforms, the home ministry has still not been able to activate it due to opposition from the Intelligence Bureau Notification is needed to empower the agency to intercept internet and other electronic communication, for which it now has to seek case-by-case permission. In another setback, P Chidambarams brainchild, The National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC) has also got intertwined as it faces stiff challenge from activists of the far right. The sharing of databases involving banking, air travel and police organizations has been opposed by right to privacy activists who are said to have found an ally in the finance ministry. The US set up the NCTC within three years of the 2001 attacks. But Indias NCTC proposal is yet to be tabled for approval of the CCS. Natgrid, which is to bring 21 databases into a seamless network for intelligence and investigation agencies, received approval for its first phase only a few weeks ago. Also, due to lack of political will to push through reforms in the security establishment, almost three years after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, initiatives like the appointment of a maritime security adviser, on the lines of a national security adviser for maritime issues, have been abandoned. Security analysts said privacy issues should be sorted out and Natgrid made fully functional as it could help track suspicious movements like those of Pakistani-American extremist David Coleman Headley, whose crucial role in 26/11 came to light only in Chicago in October 2009. Now, banks are needed to hand over banking data by CDs to the financial intelli-

Tulsi fake encounter re-constructed

Ahmadabad: CBI team which began fresh investigations in the fake Tulsi encounter case reconstructed the entire event with a team of AIIMS and CFSL experts. The teams were taken by train to the village Chhapri where Tulsi had escaped from the train, allegedly. However, Tulsis mobile SIM does not register his presence at Chhapri nor at Anbaji station. Hence the theory that he was shot while he was escaping from the train does not hold water. On the directives of the Supreme Court the CBI began investigating the case after collecting all the documents from the crime branch which had recorded the statements of witnesses. The CBI took teams of experts of AIIMS and CFSL to village Chhapri by the train and re-constructed the whole episode. The spot of alleged chain pulling, from where he is reported to have escaped to village Chhapri etc. do not show the location of his mobile phone. In the reconstruction the place where Tulsi was seated in the compartment the places where the police team members had been siting etc. were reconstructed. The expert teams did not find the police version convincing. This has created uneasiness in the entire police force. It may be recalled that the CBI in its investigation visited the jail where Tulsi was held in custody. Inmates of the jail, teams that brought him from Rajsathan to Gujarat registered their statements. Ambaji station from where Tulsi is alleged to have escaped from the train was also visited and statements of hotel owners in the area were recorded. The reconstruction was completed in the presence of the team that was involved in the encounter and took three hours for completion. It is believed that the team would submit its report within two weeks. (AG Khan)

CBI investigating Dara encounter case seeks protection for its team
In a surprise move, CBI investigating Dara Singh fake encounter case has asked for protection for its team and also for the accused in the case. In a letter to Rajasthan home department CBI had mentioned that its personnel had received threats from the accused and thereby sought CRPF protection. The state government declined to do so citing reasons that the CRPF comes under the Union Home Ministry and therefore offered state police protection instead. PK Deb, Rajasthan Additional Chief Secretary in an interview said that CBI sought CRPF protection for their personnel as they received threats. He also pointed out that CRPF does not come under state jurisdiction. Dara Singh was gunned down by the team of the state Special Operations Group on 23 October, 2006 in an encounter in Jaipur. The Supreme Court had ordered a CBI probe following a petition filed by his wife Sushila Devi, who claimed that her husband was killed in a fake encounter.

MG NEWS DESK

12 The Milli Gazette, 16-31 August 2011

ISSUES

Mushawarat on national and international situation

New Delhi: The Central Committee (Markazi Majlis) of the All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat, the umbrella body of Indian Muslim organisations, met here on Saturday, 6 August under the chairmanship of the national president Syed Shahabuddin and was attended by Dr. Zafarul Islam Khan (Working President), Mr. Abdul Khaliq, Janab Mohammad Jafar (Vice President), Maulana Syed Jalaluddin Umari (Amir, Jamaat-e Islami Hind), Mr. Amanullah Khan, Prof. S.M. Yahya, Mr Ejaz Ahmed Aslam, Mr. Ahmad Raza, Janab Nusrat Ali, Mrs. Nusrat Shervani, Mr. Ahmad Rashid Shervani (General Secretary) and Prof. Akhtarul Wasey. The meeting offered condolences and prayers for community figures who have departed recently, especially PROF. ISHTIAQ ABIDI, former Secretary, Delhi Urdu Academy, PROF. ABDUL QAWI DASNAVI, former Head of Urdu Deptt, Saifia College Bhopal, SAJID RASHID, editor of Quarterly Naya Waraq, DR. F.R. FARIDI, noted Islamic economist and Editor, Zindagi-e Nau, ALHAJ ABDUL HAKIM, founder of Alkabir Polytechnic, Jamshedpur, DR. K. ABDUL SATTAR, member, AIMMM and General Secretary Muslim Majlis Tamil Nadu, Prof. HAKIM QAYAMUDDIN, former principal of AMUs Ajmal Khan Tibbia College, G.M. MIR Rajpuri, former speaker of J&K Assembly and former minister, Dr. RIZWAN AHMAD KHAN, famous Urdu journalist, former senior bureaucrat and educationist R.K. SAIYED, Maulana AHSAN MIFTAHI, noted journalist, Ustad ASAD ALI KHAN, classical musician and instrument player, DR. MUHAMMAD IBRAHIM KAZI, Founder-Principal of Poona College of Arts, Science & Commerce, FAKHRUDDIN KHOORAKIWALA, chancellor of Jamia Milli Islamia and chairman and founder of Akbar Allys business house, Mumbai, TARB ZIAYEE, an Urdu poet of national fame and SYED SHAH YAHYA NOORI, Sajjadanashin of Dargah Khanqah Barkaatiya Noori, Marhara Sharif. The meeting, conducted by the Working President, deliberated on milli, national and international situation, especially the issue of Jamia Millia Islamias minority character, Police atrocities at Forebesganj, Muslim community response to RTE vis-vis madrasas and minority educational institutions. The Working President apprised the members about various activities since the last meeting of the central committee. The meeting considered and passed the following resolutions: Mumbai bomb blasts AIMMM condemns the bomb blasts in Mumbai on 13 July which have claimed the lives of 26 persons so far. Such criminal attacks run against the teachings and tenets of all religions. AIMMM welcomes the announcement of the Union and state home ministries that probes will not spare any outfit or group, though in reality the ATS and police forces have been seen active only in Muslim-concentration areas and even interrogating people already behind bars for years. A free and fair mind is required to unearth the conspirators who are after the peace and harmony in our country, especially the Hindutva outfits whose designs to subvert the constitutional system of the country are in the open after Aseemanands confessions. Teaching of Gita in M.P. and Karnataka schools The AIMMM is alarmed at the insistence of the BJP governments in M.P. and Karnataka to teach Gita in schools. M.P. schools are also teaching yoga and Surya namaskar while the Karnataka state education minister has said that those who do not want to study Gita should leave the country. AIMMM condemns this move and cautions that it will only fuel communalism in the country and will kill multi-culturalism. Reservation for minorities The Muslim community solidly and unitedly demands the implementation of the Mishra Commission recommendation for 15% reservation for minorities, including 10% for Muslims. AIMMM condemns the current attempts to dilute this recommendation and to somehow accommodate Muslims in the OBC quota, which is not practical and Muslims will not get more than 2.9 percent under it. As past experience shows, Muslims will not be able to benefit from a mixed quota sharing with others. Such an insignificant quota will only rob Muslims of their right and will lead to unnecessary friction between the Muslim community and OBCs. Hence, implementation of Mishra Commission recommendation is the only solution to this issue. Waqf Cadre In order to safeguard Waqf properties and ensure the smooth functioning of waqf boards, Sachar Committee recommended the creation of a Waqf administrative cadre within the Indian administrative service comprising of Muslim officers as the nonavailability of Muslim officers hampers the functioning of state and central Waqf boards. But the Union Minority Ministry, whose job is to implement schemes started as a result of the Sachar findings, is not in the favour of such a cadre. The excuses put forward are meaningless as the government itself deputes Muslim officers to run Waqf boards and a number of southern states already have an administrative cadre consisting of Hindu officers to run temples. AIMMM also demands that the expenditure of waqf boards should be fully met by state governments. Subramaniam Swamys hate-mongering AIMMM takes note of a highly provocative article Janata Party president and former M.P. Subramanian Swamy has published recently in a Mumbai newspaper calling for many undemocratic steps including disfranchisement of minorities who do not proudly own up their Hindu roots and the demolition of 300 mosques across India starting with Gyanvapi in Varanasi. Constitutional authorities, especially the Election Commission, should make sure that a person holding such rabid fascist views does not benefit from the freedoms allowed by Indian democracy. Forbesganj Killings The AIMMM condemns the killing of innocents at Bhajanpura in Forbesganj by Bihar police on 3 June 2011 when democratically and peacefully protesting villagers were attacked by Bihar Police killing four innocents including a child and a pregnant woman. The Bihar government has failed to take action against the criminals in khaki and has not paid compensation to the killed and injured victims. AIMMM demands Nitish Kumar government to urgently suspend all police personnel who took part in the crime, arrange their quick trial and without delay pay proper compensation to all the victims of the police brutality. The AIMMM also noted the futility of the current low level magisterial enquiry and demanded a CBI enquiry into the brutal firing. Violations in Kashmir AIMMM registers its grief and regret that after a considerable period of calm and peace, army and police violations of human rights are back in news including custodial killings and kidnappings. AIMMM wishes to bring to the notice of both the central and state governments that such human rights violations and injustices only further inflame the civilian unrest in the Valley. These violations can be tackled only if the black AFPSA law is withdrawn in its entirety from Kashmir and Manipur. Entry of foreign retail chains AIMMM looks with alarm at the central governments surrender to American pressure to allow foreign direct investment (FDI) in the retail sector in the country. Council of Secretaries has already given its nod to this proposal which may be presented to the Union cabinet in the near future before it is passed by Parliament. This move will destroy the traditional supply chains that have existed in our country for centuries, will render millions of small shopkeepers and hawkers jobless and will be tantamount to inviting a fresh phase of exploitative neocolonialism. AIMMM cautions the government not to wantonly destroy our national economy for the sake of temporary and limited fiscal and foreign policy benefits. Hurdles to renovate/build mosques Reports have been coming from Western Uttar Pradesh and now from Maharashtra that local communal outfits are not permitting Muslims to renovate, expand or build mosques. Instances have been reported even from Delhi and neighbouring NOIDA where mosques are not being allowed to be built on perfectly legal plots of land. The issue has been raised in Maharashtra assembly early this month (August 2011). It is high time the central government formulates a clear policy to deal with such communal elements and to discharge its duties to protect the religious rights of the minorities. Lokpal, corruption and black money After remaining on the political drawing board for the last four decades, Lok Pal bill is finally going to be placed in Parliament during the current session as a result of unprecedented civil society pressure. AIMMM welcomes this step and wishes to see a strong law covering all political and bureaucratic functionaries of the State with clear-cut powers and deadlines for action against offenders. Eradication of corruption and unearthing of black money should be a priority for the government in order to ensure clean public life and to use all possible national resources for development and poverty alleviation. Right To Education Bill HRD Ministers verbal assurance that Madrasas are exempt from RTE Act is not enough for the community. This assurance should be incorporated into the said act through an amendment stating that madrasas also are educational institutions for the purpose of the law and that students studying in madrasas too are students in the eyes of the said law. Moreover, minority educational institutions must also be protected from retrospective implementation of the new RTE norms for schools because the enforcement of these norms on existing minority schools will only mean the certain closure of a majority of these institutions and thereby negating the Articles 29 and 30 of our Constitution. Communal violence bill AIMMM hails the efforts to finalise the Communal Violence Prevention bill and hopes that the same will soon be passed by Parliament without any further dilution. Syria AIMMM is concerned about the protracted struggle of the Syrian people to bring about democracy in their country and end the one-party sectarian government which has been controlling Syria for the last four decades. AIMMM advises the current government of Syria to read the writing on the wall and hasten with the much needed reforms instead of shedding the blood of the protesters for their rights. A quick resolution of the struggle will avoid foreign intervention which will further ruin and enslave Syria. Palestine AIMMM supports the efforts of the Palestinian Authority to gain international recognition for the Palestinian state within 1967 borders through a resolution to be passed by the UN General Assembly next month. AIMMM holds that negotiations with the Israeli occupying state are meaningless as the last two decades after Oslo Accords have shown. Moreover, the Palestinians must be steadfast in their just demands for the return of the 1948 refugees to their homes and lands and the full liberation of Jerusalem from the clutches of the Israeli occupation. AIMMM is also concerned that the Gaza blockade by the occupying Israeli state is still very much in place and that the Egyptian promises have not been fully translated into facts on the ground. AIMMM exhorts the Egyptian government to take the initiative to fully lift the unjust blockade and to allow the people of Gaza to lead a normal life like all others on this planet.

No sharaee restriction on women travelling with non-mahrams if their safety is assured

NA ANSARI

iyadh: A distinguished religious scholar of Saudi Arabia and adviser to the royal office, Sheikh Abdul Hasan Al Abikan gave a fatwa recently that if security of women is assured, there is no sharaee restriction about their travelling without mehrams. He sharply criticised those who consider employing women from foreign countries without mehrams for household jobs as legal but declare mehrams essential for common womens travelling. According to Al Arabia dotnet, Saudi royal mufti says that women travelling without mehram by air or any other means is permissible if the safety of their life, property and honour is assured. It may be noted that Sheikh Al Abikans recent fatwa is in contradiction of Saudi Arabias Permanent Ifta Council according which travel by women without a mehram is forbidden. In Ifta

Councils fatwa the command of Prophet Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam has been quoted that No woman can travel without one of her mehrams. Al Abikans recent fatwa was telecast on Al Arabia TVs news bulletin in which he has given many arguments in favour of women travelling without mehram. According to him, a large number of Imams and Ulama had permitted women travelling without mehram even in that age when travels were undertaken in deserts and horses and camels were used for travel. Imams and interpreters of the Quran and Islamic jurists were unanimous in their view that if women enjoy safety of their life, property and honour, they can travel without mehrams. He has given many more arguments in favour of his fatwa. He says that Sheikhul Islam Ibn Timia (R.A.) had declared womens travel without mehrams permissible. He mentioned Prophets Hadees as proof that a time will come when a woman with ornaments on will travel alone from Makka to Sana and she will have no fear of anyone except Allah and wild wolves. He

strongly criticised the section of people who adopt double standards about women travelling without mehram. He asked how it was possible that women from other countries can come without mehrams to work as house maids in the houses of Saudis which these people consider permissible but in general they put the condition of mehram essential for their own (womens) travelling alone? He said (sarcastically) that if a woman from a foreign country comes to Saudi Arabia for Haj without mehram it is not permissible but if she comes for working in their house, it is permissible. He said that the contradiction about travel of women without mehram among Saudis is beyond comprehension. He further said that if inspite of peace and safety we impose restriction on the women travelling alone, people in general will face great difficulties. We should analyse sharaee command to find out what the reasons were behind women not being allowed to travel alone, and when there are no such reasons, restriction becomes meaningless, he said.

The Milli Gazette, 16-31 August 2011 13

ISSUES

United Colours of fundamentalisms

RAM PUNIYANI
ram.puniyani@gmail.com India had hardly recovered from the ghastly terror attack of 13 July, 2011 in Mumbai, that terrorism struck in Norway. In Norway on 22nd July, Friday, around 3.20 PM in the afternoon the high-rise, where the Prime Ministers office is located in central Oslo, was targeted resulting in blowing out windows and facades of neighbouring buildings; a few hours later a gunman in the uniform of a police officer opened fire on youngsters at a summer camp of ruling Labour Party, in Uloya Island. The twin acts of terror snuffled out 93 innocent lives. Even before the horror of the act could be registered, the verdict about who did it was out, and the usual suspects in acts of terror were named, all around the world, by media pundits and experts. The experts, ideologically motivated commentators and section of media revolved their discussion around Al Qaeda chief Ayman-al Jawahitri, saying that he was the culprit. It was commented that the Al Qaeda, the dreaded Islamic terrorists have done this. Incidentally Norway is also involved in the war in Afghanistan. As it turned out the culprit was a Norwegian, Anders Behrig Breivik, a 32 year old Christian farmer who has been part of right wing ideology, a neo Nazi racist, opposed to multiculturalism, Islam; Muslims and immigration of Muslims, seething with anti Muslim sentiments. His blogs mirror his ideology whereby in the name of tradition he opposes the development of European Union and Multiculturalism. Also he profiles Muslims as being supporters of Al Qaeda and so of terrorism. It seemed through this act he was opposing the liberal policies of the Norwegian Prime Minister related to immigration. Despite this being true, the common perceptions have been manufactured to generate hate for Muslims and Islam by projecting them as terrorists. Whenever the word terrorist is mentioned, the image of a bearded Muslim flashes up. This is mainly due to the machinations of US-CIA through the media. The same hold true for India, the Muslims are projected as terrorists and the perception here is that all terrorists are Muslims. Some commentators go further and say that while Muslims are terrorists due to their religious dogma, those from other religions have political goals. All this is a total distortion of facts. Gettign at the depth of reality, will unearth the role of the US in creating the whole Jihadi terror phenomenon, and it is the US again which has played the worst role in doctoring the mass consciousness against Islam and Muslims. The tragedy of this bomb attack reminds us of various phenomena in society. To begin with the first and major suspect for any terror attack in India and at the global level are on the so called Jihadi groups, thereby the Muslims. By now some of the verses of Koran have been taken out of context and misinterpreted to create Islamophobia. One recalls that the promotion of the right wing Al Qaeda-Taliban was promoted by United States in its goal to throw out Russian armies from Afghanistan, which was occupied by them on the request of the local Communist Government. US planned to turn Russias Afghan occupation into its Vietnam, as US had to bite the dust when it had attacked Vietnam. Since US armies were totally demoralized due to the humiliating defeat in Vietnam, US- CIA planned to set up Madrasas in Pakistan in collusion with the ISI. In these Madrasas the radical version of Islam was taught to young Muslim boys. The verses of Koran exhorting the Muslims to kill the infidels attacking them, were taken out of context to indoctrinate the young Muslim boys. As a matter of fact these verses were meant for a war situation to protect the Muslims, and as a last resort. When seen in isolation it seems as if the advice to followers is to kill recklessly, when seen in the context, it is clear that these verses are meant for a war situation and it was a defensive struggle for new converts to Islam. A special syllabus was developed in Washington to be used in these Madrasas. These Madrasas produced the Al Qaeda breed. Osama, again a US creation was brought in as leader of Al Qaeda and was provided with 8000 million dollars and 7000 tons of armaments. The indoctrination of Al Qaeda-Taliban recruits was aimed to make them join anti Russian forces to defeat the Russian army. It is after 9/11 2001 that US media popularized the term Islamic terrorism, it was a deliberate propaganda to demonize Islam and Muslims to prepare the ground to attack Afghanistan and then Iraq. In India the likes of Osama, Swami Dayanand Pandey; Assemanand and Company, were bred and brought up in the organizations with the goal of Hindu Rashtra and these terror suspects were determined to demonstrate their bravery by following the dictum of Bomb for Bomb. The association of Islam and Muslims with terrorism became firm in popular perception and Indian investigation agencies have been recklessly arresting Muslim youth, even when the blasts have taken place in front of Mosques and other places of Muslim congregation. Even after 13/7 2011Mumbai attack, similar theories have been put out by the agencies and one hopes that these authorities will

Since at the moment Breiviks fundamentalist ideas are focused against Islam-Muslims, he finds himself close to the Hindutva fundamentalism, no wonder as RSS led Hindutva fundamentalism is currently targeting Muslims in particular. Breivik may be unaware that these Hindu fundamentalists are also on a spree to kill and intimidate the Christians in Adivasi areas. Perse Breiviks Manifesto seems to have derived a lot of inspiration form the RSS Combine. He appreciates the work done by Hindutva groups of targeting Islam and Muslims. Breivik has quoted from the Hindutva ideologues, for his criticism of Islam and Muslims. No wonder B.P.Singhal of VHP, a RSS affiliate said the Breiviks cause is correct but the method is wrong
start delinking their biases from professionalism. As far as Europe-US are concerned we have seen in the past also that there have been terrorists and terror groups which have indulged in acts of terror. Irish Republican Army declared only a few years ago that they would not indulge in acts of terror. Timothy McWay bombed Oklahoma in 1995 killing nearly 165 people. The current rise of intolerant, right wing ideology in Europe and partly all over the World has a lot to do with the global changes, post the rise of US as the sole superpower. US has been dictating to the world, for the sake of its economic interests, particularly those related to control over oil resources. The attack in Norway shows very interestingly as to how the economic problems, which are plaguing the World, are being diverted to issues related to xenophobic, intolerant view of society. The Norwegian terrorist is not an isolated person voicing these views. In Europe there are various trends which promote hatred for Islam and Muslims and oppose the immigration of Muslims. Swedish daily Expo claims that Anders is a part of group called Nordisk, which is a Neo Nazi group and focuses on political terrorism. He has leaning towards Christian Fundamentalism. Since at the moment Breiviks fundamentalist ideas are focused against Islam-Muslims, he finds himself close to the Hindutva fundamentalism, no wonder as RSS led Hindutva fundamentalism is currently targeting Muslims in particular. Breivik may be unaware that these Hindu fundamentalists are also on a spree to kill and intimidate the Christians in Adivasi areas. Perse Breiviks Manifesto seems to have derived a lot of inspiration form the RSS Combine. He appreciates the work done by Hindutva groups of targeting Islam and Muslims. Breivik has quoted from the Hindutva ideologues, for his criticism of Islam and Muslims. No wonder B.P.Singhal of VHP, a RSS affiliate said the Breiviks cause is correct but the method is wrong. Terror trends are very parallel all over the World, here a person inspired by Christian Fundamentalism is taking to terror, in Afghanistan-Pakistan Al Qaeda type of groups are fed on the diet of Islamic fundamentalism and the likes of Aseemanand and Pragya Singh Thakur base themselves on Hindu Fundamentalism. The culture of liberal values and ideology of struggle for dignity and rights of people is being substituted by the fundamentalist ideas all around. Fundamentalism generates Hate against the other religious communities leading to heinous crimes, witnessed in different parts of the World, particularly in South Asia and occasionally ones like this in Europe. There is a deeper unity in the ideologies of all fundamentalisms. Globally there are two major factors promoting Fundamentalism in the name of this or that religion. One, when a privileged section of society feels threatened by the rise of assertion for equality by the deprived classes, women included. Two, when a superpower promotes it proactively to use the products of the fundamentalist mind set for its economic-political goals. These trends come up in the wake of social changes where the weaker sections of society are trying to come up and assert their rights. In such situations the entrenched social groups resort to politics in the language of religion. This in turn co-opts and uses the marginalizing section of people, those getting marginalized due to social processes, and unleashes an identity politics which ensures the status quo. At the superficial level they target the people of other religions. At the deeper level this fundamentalist related political ideologies are opposed to the values of Democracy, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. They inherently believe in birth based hierarchy of caste-class and gender. This is where Breivik will appreciate what Hindu Fundamentalists are doing in India. India must have been mentioned by him because it is here that ideological sophistry of Hindutva elements against Islam-Muslims is so aggressive and visible from last few decades. The tragedy is, one fundamentalism feeds on another. Promotion of Al Qaeda and accompanying radical version of Islam is used as a pretext by other fundamentalist factions to strengthen them. The Norway tragedy should wake the World up to the reality of this dastardly economic-political reason for terrorism. Religion should be for moral values, terrorism is a political phenomenon. Like in Norway the economic crisis is leading to the rise of intolerant views. It is time we address the deeper political issues, we should work for global democratic system, we should also aim for a global peace movement so that this aberration in the understanding about terrorism is overcome, so that we can really engage with the deeper issues related to the deprivations of society. This is what will help us eradicate the phenomenon of terrorism.(Issues in Secular Politics)

Milli Information Network

Time to network the community
The Muslim communitys many ills and problems stem from the fact that there is a marked lack of informationsharing and dissemination. The leadership is limited to some big cities while the majority lives in thousands of towns and lakhs of villages across the country. ... This makes it difficult to manage the two-way circulation of information, from the leadership to the masses and from the masses to the leadership. To tackle this problem, a network of information centres should be established all over the country. There should be one at least in each district headquarter, and more in larger towns and cities. These information centres will function from the offices of community organisations or in libraries and reading rooms... Acting upon the above editorial published in MG 16-31 Dec. 2007 we registered a website www.millinetwork.com. We are in the process of developing a large network of milli NGOs. Kindly get yourself listed on the network. Each listed organisation will have its own webpage on the network. Fill in the below form and send it to us by email or post. Name of Organisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pin Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Phone (std code) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Fax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Email . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Website . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Name of Main Trustee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Geographical Reach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brief note of Nature of Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ............................................................................................ ............................................................................................ ............................................................................................ Category of Work: [Please encircle] Charity / Child Guidance Clinic / Children / Communal Harmony / Community Development / Disabilities / Slum Children / Human Rights / Family Welfare / Literacy / Education (scholarships/coaching) / Media / Medical / Orphan children / Religious / Social care / Social Justice / Social Welfare / Vocational Training / Volunteer Mgmt / Widows / Women / Others [Masjids and Madarasahs will also be listed on the network] Any literature (brouchure, leaflets, audited accounts etc) may also be submitted. The Milli Gazette, D-84 Abul Fazl Enclave - I, New Delhi 110025 Tel.: 011-2694 7483 mg@milligazette.com Cut or photocopy

14 The Milli Gazette, 16-31 August 2011

ANALYSIS
Speaking Out
N I L O FA R S U H R AWA R D Y

Kashmiris need more attention!

Just when it seemed that life in Kashmir was heading towards normalcy, tension has rocked the area again. Earlier this month, death of Nasim Rashid (28) in police custody in Sopore town of Baramulla district provoked Kashmiris to take to streets demanding justice. Rashids custodial death also prompted various Kashmiri leaders to strongly voice their protest against it and restrictions placed on groups demanding Azadi. The recent weeks have also been witness to five suspect militants being killed by Indian troops. Three were killed at Rajwar in Handwara and two in Surankote area of Poonch. While Indian troops claim that suspected militants were killed while trying to cross the Line-of-Control, several Kashmiri leaders have blamed Indian troops for having martyred five youth in an act of state terrorism. And this raises the question: who should be blamed for antagonizing Kashmiri Muslims? Undeniably, to a degree, even Kashmiri Pandits have suffered at various levels. Nevertheless, it cannot be ignored that loss of lives suffered by Kashmiri Muslims, discrimination faced by them and their being killed in numerous fake encounters is far, far greater, statistically, than what was faced by Kashmiri Pandits. Sadly, while a hype has generated the impression about hard time faced by Kashmiri Pandits, little attention has been paid to who should be blamed for their sufferings as well as that of Kashmiri Muslims. Its only in the recent years that reports on fake

encounters, accusing Muslims as terrorists, have started hitting headlines. Otherwise, what was said at press conferences, after such encounters, was taken as virtually the final word, without giving suspect terrorists a chance to prove their innocence in any court. Thanks to the communication revolution, the Indian media has certainly woken up not to easily go by claims made about terrorists being nabbed/killed in X,Y,Z encounters. But this is a fairly recent development. Tragically, young, innocent Kashmiri Muslims continue to fall victims to bullets fired by police and Army or in custodial deaths. What else does death of Tufail Ahmed Mattoo and several other Kashmiris, including the custodial death of Nasim Rashid indicate? Mattoo and other young boys were caught last year in skirmishes between the Kashmiri protestors and the statecontrolled bullets. Cutting across religious lines, Kashmiris protested against lives of their brethren being held at the mercy of state-controlled bullets. The primary duty of Army and police is to ensure the security of citizens. In Kashmir, they have been trigger-free quite often while targeting civilians, particularly Muslims.

and jobs. This point is being deliberately made to shatter the impression held in certain quarters about Kashmiri Muslims Pakistani leanings. There has also been a marked increase in their taking job-oriented courses at the state as well as central levels. These are indicators that despite living in a curfew-bound atmosphere, which is taking its toll on their lives, health as well as psychological conditions, Kashmiris are keen to move ahead. They have not failed, but the concerned authorities have not lived up to the responsibility of conducting their duties towards them. ver the past decade, Kashmiris have repeatedly played their part with increasing aggressiveness by defying militants and turning to the ballot-box. But sadly, substantial attention has yet to be paid to ensure them peace and security in their own home-land. The Indian government has still a long way to go to convince both Kashmiri Pandits and Kashmiri Muslims that peace awaits them in their own state. The Kashmiris have a reason to label the custodial deaths and killing of suspect terrorists by state-controlled bullets as state terrorism. Kashmiris are left with no option but to voice their protest, by taking to streets only to face more bullets. It is time India accepted the fact that bullets are not the answer to grievances that Kashmiris on this side of LoC are being subjected to. Kashmiris, who have time and again defied bullets, cannot be expected to be won over by bullets, which they have labelled as terrorism, irrespective of who fires them. It is time the Indian authorities started paying greater attention to Kashmiris being denied security in their own land and being targeted by bullets supposed to be responsible for their security. Undeniably, India has not fallen back in taking up the Kashmir issue as and when required, but Kashmiris have yet to be given the same importance!

ashmiris themselves have become strongly conscious of not allowing their fate to be used as pawn, politically and diplomatically. If Kashmiri Muslim professionals have gained in the state, it is primarily because the migration of Kashmiri Pandits created job opportunities for the former. Be it academics, administration and at other levels, the high-profile job sector was earlier dominated by the miniscule Pandit minority. The migration phase was followed by the educated Kashmiri Muslims moving in to take over the jobs earlier held by Pandits. Here, it may also be mentioned that Kashmiri Muslims, living on the Indian side of Line-of-Control, have moved to other parts of India in quest for higher education

Reservation & Caste Hindus

TEJ SINGH
missionbss@gmail.com The provision for reservation of 22.5% to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are there in the Constitution of India which came into force way back in 26 January, 1950. Since then the Government remains in the hands of Caste-Hindus (Brahmins, Kshatriya & Vaishyas) but they were not honest to implement the reservation policy so as to fairly distribute national wealth and opportunities amongst all including the SCs & STs, Instead, they pursued the policy of Not Available & Not Suitable for these past six decades. With this policy of Not Available & Not Suitable and methods of de-reservation, they continue to enjoy and eat away the share of the SCs/STs. Baba Sahib Dr. Ambedkar has become the leader of the so-called affluent class amongst the SCs/STs by joining his struggle, leaving their ancestral occupations and imparting education to their children so as to enable them to have their due share in the governance of the country. On the other hand, the remaining marginal communities amongst the SCs/STs who were hoodwinked by none other than Gandhi who poisoned the ears of these marginal communities and advised them to stick to their ancestral professions. Thus Gandhi was successful in his scheme and caused a sharp divide among the whole lot of the SCs/STs against the will and wishes of Dr. Ambedkar. The result is obvious: the Caste-Hindus though micro-minority are successful in their mischief of Divide & fool to rule so as to remain at the helm of the affairs and enjoy all fruits and juices of free India. The cunning Caste-Hindus have since been enjoying everything by grabbing land, wealth, polity, judiciary, educational and banking sectors and other commercial institutions. The mischief of M. K. Gandhi, who was the representative of the Caste-Hindus, has since been continued and carried out by his progeny through their mother organization, the RSS. The SCs/STs are still enjoying their abject slavery and virtually have become diehard enemy of their own people. The pity of the marginal communities is that they are opposing tooth and nail those of their own who are struggling to win their due share in the land, wealth, governance, judiciary and also their due share in the educational, banking and other commercial institutions in their country. stall it by instigating Caste-Hindu students to go in for agitation against the implementation of the Mandal Commission report. The height of everything was that the small bunch of the CasteHindu students was putting buses and other state property on fire and a large contingent of the police and para-military forces were mere spectators! If V. P. Singh was honest enough, he should have declared the lists of the beneficiary backward castes and gazetted it in the newspapers and should have also made due announcements through radio and TV. If he had done so, poor Backward Caste students may not have joined the anti-Mandal agitation. The Caste-Hindu were not content with instigating the antiMandal agitation but found a device to deprive the Backward Castes of the benefits of the reservation by innovating a new trick of Creamy Layer as a means to deprive the educationally deserved amongst the Backward Castes whereas the educationally undeserved are not suitable for any jobs and thereby grab the vacancies meant for Backward Castes. The curse of the Creamy Layer is quite visible. It allows the Caste Hindus to eat away the share of the Backward Castes. he Caste-Hindus did not remain content with eating away the due share of the SCs/STs and Backward Castes in governance and judiciary. They found tricks and devices to further deprive the Backward Castes by manupulating the administrative and judicial powers in their hands. During the past six decades of the so-called Independence, they have virtually divested the Muslims and other minority communities of their livelihood. It may be pointed out that at the time of the transfer of power to these Caste-Hindus, Muslims were occupying 35 percent of higher positions in government and judiciary. Nothwithstanding their love and affection to the Congress (the main Hindu political organization), Muslims were reduced to abject poverty barring a few of their so-called leaders from amongst them. Muslims were not only reduced to zero in every walk of life but also made very soft target to be eliminated physically on the pretext of riots and nowadays through the weapon of terrorism. Two reports meant for the welfare of the Muslims and other minority communities were not even discussed in Parliament. The Ranganath Mishra Report and Sachar Committee Report appear to have been dumped into the dustbin. The Sachar Committee has very distinctly mentioned in its report that the position of the Muslims is worse than the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes and other Backward Castes in India. The final report of the Ranganath Mishra Commission was submitted to the government in May 2007 but it was not tabled in Parliament until it got leaked to the media. Finally, on the pressure from the Muslims and other minority communities, the government was compelled to put it in Parliament on December 18, 2009 but it has failed to implement it. The Mishra Commission has recommended 15% reservation to the Muslims and other minority communities in the educational institutions and government employments. The increasing political influence and understanding amongst the SC/STs and the Backward Castes and even the Muslims is a cause of concern for the Caste-Hindus who are trying their best to cause a rift between the original inhabitants of the land. The whole world knows that these Caste-Hindus have denied the dues of their women for centuries going to the extent of torturing and burning them alive. Their so-called religious scriptures are filled with abusive language against their womenfolk. The sudden emergence of love and affection (Womens reservation) in their hearts is very surprising. This love and affection for women is nothing but a vicious trick to grab the majority seats in Parliament and state legislatures in the guise of womens reservation without offering the due share of the women from the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, Backward Caste and the Muslims and other minority communities. The exercise in garb of Womens reservation is nothing but allowing the Caste-Hindus to remain at the helm of the affairs in our land in order to exclusively enjoy all the fruits and juices of the country depriving its original inhabitants. We must be aware of the tactics and tricks of these CasteHindus and never allow them to divide and fool us to rule. We must concentrate on as to how to get the country liberated from the clutches and dominance of these Caste Hindus so as to enable our people to live freely and enjoy the fruits of their land. Let the affluent and intellectuals from amongst the SCs/STs and other Backward Castes come out of the intoxication of TV, Bibi and Sheeshi to discharge their debt to the struggle of Baba Sahib Dr. Ambedkar. The indifferent attitude of this very section of our society has allowed the Caste Hindu leaders to flourish and prevail. The author is President of Ambedkar Samaj Party www.missioncaravan.com

ot only the SCs/STs are their target but also the other Backward Castes, the erstwhile Shudras of the Hindu hierarchy who used to enjoy their slavery by happily offering all types of services to the Caste-Hindus. They were used and misused like anything without giving them anything except their residue. The Caste-Hindus were instrumental in not allowing the implementation of the Kaka Kalelkar Commission report, meant for the welfare and uplift of the Backwards Castes. These same CasteHindus were instrumental in appointing another Commission (Mandal Commission) in 1977 instead of getting implemented the Kaka Kalelkar Report. Mandal Sahib submitted his report to the Government but it was again stalled by these Caste-Hindus. It was late V. P. Singh who was compelled by Kanshi Ram, who raised the slogan Mandal Commission Laagu Karo, Varna Kurshi Khaali Karo, to make an empty announcement while trying to

Lucknow: Almost half of the women who were raped in Uttar Pradesh in 2010 were Dalits, reveals data given by the state to the Centre in a review meeting on April 8. Of the 1,290 rapes that took place in UP last year, 588, about 45.58%, were of Dalits. Significantly, the proportion of Dalits in the state Population is about 22% and the crimes against Dalit women clearly outnumber their population proportions. In previous years, 2009, 2008 and 2007, Dalit victims of rape accounted for 18%, 20 % and 19 % of the total number of rapes, respectively. While there was a decline in the total number of rapes in the state in 2010 compared with 2009, when 1,759 rapes were recorded, the number of Dalit women raped jumped to 53.91%. Dalits still remain most vulnerable. Relations of direct subordination are often central to sexual crimes, said Badri Narayan, an Allahabad-based expert on UPs Dalit politics. At a time when the Mayawati government battles potential damage to its credibility by recurrent reports of rapes of Dalit girls, the government clearly has a lot to do before the coming polls. Politically, the recent rapes of Dalit girls have become embarrassing for Mayawati, because her core claim to political legitimacy is empowerment of Dalits. In terms of statistics, there is another issue staring Mayawati in the face. The total number of cognizable crimes in UP has seen a big jump since 2007 (when the BSP came to power) though this could also be explained - as a UP official claimed - by more cases being registered under the present dispensation. More cases are being registered under this government, but crimes are also increasing due to rapid socio- economic change, widespread corruption and aspiration. But it is true that mafia crime has decreased under Mayawati, Narayan said.

45% of UP rape cases in 2010 were of Dalits

The Milli Gazette, 16-31 August 2011 15

JAMMU & KASHMIR

DATELINE SRINAGAR: AFSANA RASHID

Valley in turmoil over Sopore custodial killing

midst shutdown, protests broke out in Sopore in north Kashmir as news about the custodial killing of a Sopore youth spread. Nazim Rashid, 28, alias Naveed Anjum was killed in police custody on July 31. He was picked up by police on July 30 from his residence for questioning in connection with the killing of a labourer, Mohammad Ashraf Dar from Chankhan on July 28. Clashes broke out between protesters and security forces in the town against the alleged custodial killing. Raising slogans protesters took to the streets and demanded stern action against cops responsible for it. CRPF and police used batons to disperse them. In retaliation, protesters pelted stones, thus, triggering clashes. Few people sustained injuries. Nazims father, Abdul Rashid said, Police promised to release my son after questioning him about the shootout in Chankhan wherein Dar was killed. They told me that Nazim was with militants when Dar was shot dead. I am desperately waiting for my son. Deputy Superintendent of Police Operations was transformed while Guard Commander and Sentry were placed under suspension on July 31. Later, SP Sopore was transferred and DIG north Kashmir given overall in-charge of investigation. While carrying out the autopsy of Nazim on August 4, doctors confirmed torture marks on his body. The final verdict is expected after forensic reports corroborate preliminary evidence. Taking cognizance of a complaint filed by Dr. Lenin of Peoples Vigilance Committee on Human Rights on August 1, National Human Rights Commission on August 4 sought an explanation from state government. The Commission after going through the complaint asked its Director General (Investigation) to collect requisite reports from concerned authorities within eight weeks along with an explanation from DGP of state as to why intimation about death in judicial custody wasnt communicated within 24 hours to the Commission, as per its guidelines. The act was condemned both by mainstream politicians and separatists. Opposition leader and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti was prevented from visiting Sopore and put under detention at her residence. Government has turned Kashmir into a garrison, she said. However, PDP leaders were booed away by people in Sopore on August 2 after Nazims family refused to meet them. Police fired in the air to disperse the crowd that pelted stones at the cavalcade of these leaders. Independent legislator from Langate in Hanwara, Er Rasheed was detained by police in Wangam-Kupwara on August 1 as he was on his way to Nazims family to offer condolence. Terming Nazims death as gross human rights violation Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah had on a micro-blogging website Twitter on July 31 assured swift and exemplary action against policemen involved in the incident. No delays, no cover ups, no excuses. That is all I can promise and ensure. Condemning the act, chairman of Hurriyat (M), Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on August 2 appealed to international human rights organizations to exert pressure on India to stop such violations. A delegation of his faction of Hurriyat visited the family. Describing custodial killing as worst form of state terrorism, Geelani on August 1 said, It is a testimony to the barbaric rule by police. Both factions of Hurriyat Conference called for a shutdown on August 3. Life came to a standstill. Police however, said that a strike call evoked feeble response.

held hostage for two nights during which she was raped. As soon as the news spread, protests broke out in the area. As clashes turned intense, protesters set ablaze two vehicles. Authorities placed several separatists including chairmen of both factions of Hurriyat under house arrest. Lack of action against men in uniform involved in incidents like Shopian double rape and murder case encourages mischievous elements to play with the emotions of Kashmiris. Why are organizations working for human rights in India and abroad silent, said chairman of Hurriyat (M) Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. Army on July 22 said that an internal probe had been initiated. I want to make it clear that this is an allegation. If there is truth in it, then it is a criminal act which warrants strict action against the guilty, said Lt Gen S. A. Hasnain, General Officer Commanding (GOC) 15th Corps, while addressing media here. He added it is impossible that two army men will remain out of their unit for 48 hours with weapons. Terming GOC 15th Corps statement misleading chairman of Hurriyat (G) Syed Ali Shah Geelani said, The place where this incident took place is close to an army picket where it is impossible for any militant to stay. Despite knowing the reality, GOC wants to create confusion to save criminals from punishment. Regarding chief minister Omar Abdullahs statement that AFSPA wouldnt be allowed to come in the way of justice in the case, the amalgam said that a case should be registered against criminals in High Court and victim allowed to depose her statement without any pressure or fear of retribution. But Omars statement is just political meant to cool down tempers. Quoting General Hasnain, the defence spokesperson here said, Hurriyat (G) has no idea of the strict procedures adopted by the army to ensure checks on movement of its personnel. Regarding comment that militants cant operate so close to an army post, it may be appropriate for Hurriyat (G) to ascertain at what distance from army post were militants hiding in Rajwar encounter on July 23 or in Maidanpura-Lolab in July 15 encounter. The rape controversy took a new turn on July 23 when, according to a national news agency, PTI, Ruqayas husband and mother-in-law claimed before police that she suffers from mental illness. In her statement to Special Investigation Team, Amina Bi, Ruqayas mother-in-law said that her daughterin-law went missing on morning of July 20. She returned home the next day and started beating her chest when I asked about her overnight absence. I thought she is having some pain and took her to Manzgam hospital where she told the doctor that she has been raped. Police on July 22 said that Ruqayas preliminary medical examination shows no marks of violence or resistance on any part of her body.

July 22. Police also arrested Aijaz Ahmad from Tral Payeen on July 30. Ahmad posed as a HM militant and extorted money from the public, police said.

Report on disappearances released

Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) here on July 28 released a report Half widow, half wife? Responding to gendered violence in Kashmir which examines the situation of women whose husbands have disappeared but not yet been declared deceased. The report was released by members of Association who are themselves halfwidows. The 48-page report provides a gender analysis of the situation of half-widows and the security situation in Kashmir. It explains, besides violence inflicted directly on womens bodies, they also bear ramifications of general violence in the valley. Although direct physical violence is disproportionately inflicted on males because they are perceived or imagined as threatening, females suffer emotionally. The report states that there are, at a minimum, 1,500 half widows in the state. It makes immediate and short and long term recommendations for law and policy changes to address various forms of gender related violence in order to bring lasting security to Kashmir. In the present term of one year, the report asks the government to create a streamlined system of compensation for halfwidows; convene a special bench of High Court to expedite their cases and immediately pass special legislation on enforced disappearances, keeping with International Convention for Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances, which India has signed and must adhere to. In the short-term of 2-3 years, it demands security laws that provide legal immunity to armed forces be amended and disappearances cases be resolved. It recommends that civil society be it local, national or international, recognizes issues faced by halfwidows and advocate the government to undertake meaningful change as well as, itself fund initiatives.

CRPF withdraws from Srinagar

CRPF on August 1 ordered its deployments in Srinagars old city to remove all barricades and other obstructions that cause inconvenience to traffic and public, ahead of the month of Ramadan. Sham Chand, DIG CRPF north said that the decision had been taken as a goodwill gesture in view of previous peaceful months and participation of people in various activities being organized by CRPF. In response to figures quoted by chief minister Omar Abdullah on political prisoners, Hurriyat Conference led by Syed Ali Geelani on August 4 claimed that more than thousand separatist leaders and activists are languishing in jails within and outside state. There are 1097 political prisoners languishing in jails within and outside the state and theyve been booked falsely under Public Safety Act (PSA), said a spokesman of the conglomerate, adding, Chief Ministers claim that only 100 people have been detained is misleading. The conglomerate demanded their release before Eid-ul-Fitr. A major tragedy was averted by police on July 29 after three IEDs were found on Srinagar-Jammu national highway near Qazigund and disposed off by police. Ashfaq Ahmad Khan, 21, and Babar Khan, 20, residents of village Markote-Dangiwacha died while fiddling with an explosive object in a forest of Behak Nardargi in Sopore on July 23. Aqib Ahmad Lone, 12, resident of Panzwa in Handwara on July 31 sustained minor injuries to his hands, while fiddling with an explosive object. Five militants were killed in various encounters between militants and police and army at various places in Handwara in border district Kupwara on July 23, 30 and August 3. Militants shot dead Mohsin Ahmad Wani resident of Jalalabad in Sopore on July 25. Police and 110 BN CRPF arrested Imtiyaz Ahmad Ganaie, Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) militant at Barsoo-Awantipora,

Smart cards for services delivery

In order to make public service delivery hassle-free, state government intends to provide Smart Cards to residents which would be primarily linked to Permanent Residence Certificate (PRC). Later, it would be linked to ration cards, MGNERGA job cards and SKEWPY registration cards. Ultimate linkage of Smart Cards with Unique Identification Number (UIN) Aadhaar would undoubtedly ensure timely benefits to people, said Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, while rolling out Unique Identification Aadhaar initiative here at SKICC on August 1. He added that the same would streamline services and improve governance. Itll remove chances of having fake job cards and ration cards, false identity cards and even ghost employments on papers. It would ensure benefits to weaker sections of society under various schemes offered by government and check pilferages. Keshni Anand Arora, Deputy Director General, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) said it was launched in the country in September last year and so far more than 1.77 crore Aadhaar cards have been provided to people. Aadhaar is a 12 digit identification number to be provided to each resident of the country. Jammu and Kashmir Bank has been designated as registrar for the project in the state that is likely to be completed in three years. Terming peace imperative to address political issues, Omar on July 28 appealed to the people to help maintain tranquillity in the state. Give me peace, I will strive to get all issues resolved and take its benefits to every household, he said while addressing a public gathering at Wadipora in Chadoora- Budgam, adding development process and requirements of life cant wait for the final resolution of political issues.

Molestation case against soldier

A local court here transferred the case of alleged molestation attempt by a soldier in north Kashmir to army court for court-martial. Police produced a challan in the court of judicial magistrate (sub-judge) Pattan against Army personnel for allegedly misbehaving with a girl at Wanigam-Pattan on July 28. The case was later handed over to Army authorities for further trial. The court reposing faith in the armys legal system and institution of justice, fair play and transparency handed over the case to army authorities under provisions of section 549 of RPC and section 125 of Army Act for further trial, said J S Brar, Srinagar based spokesperson in a statement here. Pertinently, police had lodged an FIR number 61/2011 under section 341 and 354 RPC in police station Kreeri against a soldier taking a course in battle field nursing assistant at 319-Field hospital Wanigam-Pattan, for allegedly misbehaving with a girl student on her way to school on July 25. Shutdown was observed here on July 23 against alleged abduction and rape of a woman, Ruqaya Bano wife of Mohammad Latief Bhat resident of Manzgam Gujardhar in Damhal Hanjipora in south Kashmirs Kulgam. She had alleged that she was kidnapped by two men in uniform on July 19 and

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16 The Milli Gazette, 16-31 August 2011

NEWSMAKERS
MEN & WOMEN IN NEWS
NAVED MASOOD, IAS has been appointed secretary in the union ministry of corporate affairs in place of D.K. Mittal. Before this appointment he was special secretary and financial advisor in ministry of health and family welfare. He is an IAS officer of 1977 batch of U.P. cadre. Dr. SHAKILUZ ZAMAN ANSARI, a former secretary of All India Congress Committee and also a former minister in Bihar, has been made a Member of National Backward Classes Commission for 3 years. He has already worked for the progress and welfare of backward class people. Syed SHAH NAWAZ HUSAIN, BJP-MP has been appointed Chairman of Monitoring Committee of Central Waqf Council which monitors the activities of Waqf Boards of all states as well as Central Waqf Council itself. Other members of the Monitoring Committee are SYED GHULAM AFZAL BAYABANI, YUSUF ALI and Dr. Syed SHAH KHUSRO HASNAINI, Sajjada Nashin of Dargah Khwaja Banda Nawaz of Gulmarg. Central Waqf Council is vested with powers over state Waqf Boards and works under Union ministry for minorities affairs. M.A. SIKANDAR has joined National Book Trust of India as its Director. He is on deputation from Delhi University. Educated at Madras University, Kamraj University at Madurai, IGNOU, Delhi University etc. he is a Life Member of Indian Society of Labour Economics, New Delhi. MUHAMMAD AFZAL, Deputy Secretary in union ministry of minorities affairs, has been appointed Nazim (administrator) of Dargah Committee of Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti at Ajmer in place of Abdul Majeed Khan who has retired. MISBAH AHMAD SIDDIQI, a noted litterateur and young intellectual of Amroha has been conferred PhD Degree by Aligarh Muslim University for his research and critical review of Bahrul Fazaael fi Manafi Al Afazil. Misbah Siddiqi has authored about ten books which have already been brought out. Earlier, he was given Gold Medal in M.A. YUSUF ANSARI, noted T.V. journalist and political analyst has been made general secretary of Peace Party which is emerging as a political force in U.P. He had shortly joined this Party. He will be incharge of media, publicity, planning and coordination as well as spokesman of the Party. Justice Syed RIFAT ALAM, chief justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court has been appointed chief justice of Allahabad High Court. He was sworn in by U.P. Governor B.L. Joshi as the 30th Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court after Independence on 5 August in the presence of a distinguished gathering at Judge Hall of Lucknows Governors House. Born in August 1950, he alongwith two other judges heard Babri Masjid demolition case for many years at Lucknow Bench of Allahabad High Court before his posting as Chief Justice of M.P. High Court.

OBITUARIES
Prof. ISHTIAQ AABDI, former secretary and Vice Chairman of Delhi Urdu Academy died on 27 July after a prolonged illness at the age of 81 years. He served in different capacities earlier such as English teacher in AMUs Law Faculty, joint secretary of Congress Party during the period of Indira Gandhis prime ministership, Chairman of Modern Bakery, chairman of Municipal Committee of Mau Nath Bhanjan and so forth. He is survived by his wife, two sons and one daughter. He was laid to rest at the new graveyard of Gurgaon on 28 July. Syed SHAH YAHYA HASAN NOORI, Sajjada Nashin of Dargah Khanqah Barkatiya died in New Delhis Moolchand Hospital on 22 July after a prolonged illness. He is said to be of the 43rd generation of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and called panjatan. He also served as Chairman of World Islamic Council. He spent a long time in foreign countries in preaching of Islam. He was unmarried. FAZLUR RAHMAN HASHMI, a poet and scholar of Maithili which is a dialect of Hindi died of heart attack on 20 July at the age of 65 years at his home town Muzaffar Nagar Begu Sarai (Bihar). He had recently translated Urdu poet Meer Taqi Meers selected poetry into Maithili for which he was honoured with an Award by Sahitya Academy. He had also translated Gita into Urdu. Mufti Maulana FAROOQ RIZVI of Markaz Darul Ifta Manzar-e Islam, Bareli died in a Delhi hospital on 23rd July after a prolonged illness. His body was taken to Bareli where he was laid to rest on 24 July. He was an active and hard worker of Sunni Markaz which brought glory and goodwill to Sunni Markaz. Maulana MUHAMMAD TAHIR MAZAHIRI, a senior preacher of Islam, religious scholar and social reformer died on 27 July at the age of 80 years. He is survived by three sons and two daughters. MUSHARRAF HUSAIN Wafa Sambhali, a popular poet, famous Homeopath doctor of Sambhal died on 26 July. His anthology of poems Rang-e Wafa is a unique collection and is very popular. MUHAMMAD IBRAHIM of Badhana in Khatauli (U.P.) who is reputed to be the oldest living person in the world died at the age of 148 years. However, there is no official confirmation of his age because had he really been 148, his name must have appeared in Guinness Book Records which keeps such records of the whole world. Before his death he is said to have told his youngest son Noor Muhammad (65) the secret of his long life that he always ate gram bread (chanay ki roti), used silver foil mixed in honey, never took allopathic medicines and always used miswaak of banyan tree which made his teeth strong. A very large number of people participated in his burial. Dr. Abdus Sathar, President of All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawaat Tamil Nadu unit died on 3 August. A surgeon by profession and orginally from Afzalgarh (U.P.), he was a pillar of community life in Chennai where he served as the Secretary of the Muslim Educational Foundation and was instrumental to the establishment and progress of the Parpia Memorial Matriculation School and other institutions. He died at Bijnor while visiting north India and his body was airlifted to Chennai for burial.

AWARDS
SHABBIR ALI, a famous football player and football Coach has been honoured with the prestigious Dhyan Chand Award in recognition of his lifetime achievements in sports. The Award carries a cheque for Rs. 5 lakh, a ceremonial dress, scroll of honour and a statuette. The Award will be presented to him and many other awardees in different sports by President Pratibha Patil at a function to be held at Rashtrapati Bhavan. SHABBIR AHMAD ANSARI, OBC leader and president of All India Muslim OBC Organisation who has been working hard for ensuring legal and constitutional rights to backward and deprived people of society has been honoured with National Harmony Award for Public Service. The Award was sponsored by Secular Qeyadat daily and Universal Association for Spiritual Awareness and given by HRD minister Kapil Sibal at a function held in celebration of Khawaja Gharib Nawaz urs. Prof. ASGHAR ABBAS, former President of AMUs Department of Urdu has been honoured with Hali Award by Haryana Waqf Board, Ambala. The Award, consisting of a cheque of Rs. 20,000, a memento, a shawl and a scroll of honour was given to him by Waqf Borads Law Officer Iqbal Ali Khan at his residence in Aligarh because of his illness. He has also been honoured with many other literary awards on many books written by him. A.M. ZUTSHI Gulzar Dehlwi, a great Urdu poet has been honoured with Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Award by Bihar Urdu Academy in recognition of his great service to Urdu. This Award consists of a cash prize of Rs. 51,000, a memento and a Commendation Certificate. Since Gulzar Dehlwi could not reach Patna to take the Award, the whole set (of Award) was sent to him by Regd. Post by the Chairman of Bihar Urdu Academy Shahid Ali Khan and its Secretary Dr. Mansoor Ahmad Ejazi (IAS). Dr. AKHLAQ AHMAD Aahan, a Persian teacher in Jawaharlal Nehru University, an Urdu and Persian poet, a great researcher and an author of about ten books on research, criticism and translation has been honoured by Bihar Urdu Academy with Qazi Abdul Wadood Award for his book titled Maqalaat-e Maulana Arshi which is based on Maulana Arshis different articles on Persian language and literature. It may be stated in this connection that a documentary film on Dr. Aahans research and literacy services has been made in Iran. MUHAMMAD HANIF KHAN Shastri, a Sanskrit scholar has been honoured with National Communal Harmony Award at a function organised by National Foundation for Communal Harmony and Ministry of home affairs. Vice President Hamid Ansari presented the Award to Hanif Khan Shastri who has been trying to promote communal harmony by highlighting similarities in Hinduism and Islam through his unique literary contributions in Hindi and Sanskrit. KHAN AFIFA MUKHTAR AHMAD, a 7th class student of Mumbais St. George High School who participated in Hong Kong International Speed Skating competition secured first position in 500 metres race and second position in 1000 metres race and won two cups and a Gold Medal. About 200 competitors from different countries had taken part in these sports.

Top Saudi honour for Ambassador Talmiz Ahmad

Peerzada Saeed Husain Khan

Dr Peerzada, as his name suggests, belonged to the family of Sufis and belonged to the pre-independence generation. His long, pointed nose, green eyes, tall build, firm shoulders even at the age of 81, was a testament to his Afghan descent, but more than that he was a walking encyclopedia of Muslim culture, heritage, history and traditions. He was a perfectionist in his appearance. No one in Lucknow or elsewhere can vouch to have found him without the traditional Aligarh sherwani and the cap. He had done his masters in science from AMU in 1954, and later his PhD. He was a senior scientist and had retired as Deputy Director from National Botanical Research Institute of Lucknow. He had joined AMU in 1945 and was a founding member of Aligarh Old Boys Association in Lucknow. He was a Muslim culturalist, linguist and idealist. His verve, suavity, and above all his brevity, his choice of most elegant words, sometime accentuated by Persianised vocabulary, gelled with spoken English, is what the community is going to miss for ever, said Suhail Farooqui while speaking at the condolence meeting held at Amir-ud-Daula Islamia Degree College on July 31. He also announced a deposit of Rs 10000 for a medal to be given in the name of Dr. Peerzada, to the highest scoring child in Botany. If Sir Syed was ever represented by someone in totality then it was by Dr, Peerzada, said Professor Malikzada Manzoor Ahmed Khan, on the occasion. Begum Naseem Iqtidar Ali, an old Aligarian, said that he was a perfect blend of Aligarh and Lucknow traditions. Justice Rajender Sachar visited Lucknow to offer his condolences. Muhammed Azam Khan of Samajwadi Party and Anis Ansari, Vice Chancellor of Urdu Farsi Arabic University, offered their heartfelt sympathies to the bereaved family. Dr. Peerzada devoted his life towards academic excellence. He delivered a a keynote address at the UNESCO Botany Asia 2000 meet at Chittagaon University, and went on a deputation to Germany in 1983. After his retirement, he remained actively involved in evaluating papers from JNU, AMU and Rohilkhand University. He was the President of India nominee for Botany and Geography Departments in AMU during 1992-95. He had been twice elected as a member of the AMU Court. Dr. Peerzada is survived by two sons. Osman is an engineer in Dubai while Umar is a software consultant. Dr. Peerzada Saeed Husain Khan, born 1 July, 1931, died 18 July, 2011 HAIDER ABBAS

Riyadh: Saudi Arabia conferred the King Abdulaziz First Class Medal on the Indian Ambassador Talmiz Ahmad in Jeddah on 10 July. Ahmad, who played a key role in promoting ties between Riyadh and New Delhi on an strategic level, and has shown an intense interest in Gulf countries, is the first Indian diplomat to be conferred such an honour by Saudi Arabia. The medal was presented by the Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal in recognition of Ahmads contribution to the promotion of Indo-Saudi relations in particular, and for his role in building bridges for peace, cultural ties and other public and private endeavours. Ahmad said he was surprised and overwhelmed by the honour bestowed on him by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King

Abdullah for his modest role. The Indian envoy said that Indo-Saudi relations have been transformed into a strategic partnership with the signing of the Delhi Declaration during the historic visit of King Abdullah to New Delhi in 2006, and the return visit of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last year. The ambassador, whose posting in Riyadh will end shortly, thanked the Saudi leadership for taking care of about two million Indian workers in the country. Mine has been a modest role in this endeavor, in which a large number of people have contributed both from India and Saudi Arabia, he added. The medal consisted of a decorative badge and a certificate signed by King Abdullah. HAIDER ABBAS

The Milli Gazette, 16-31 August 2011 17

SPECIAL REPORTS

Chishti Awards go to Shastri & Bilqees

ndia Harmony Foundation, headed by Zafar Saifullah, former Union Cabinet Secretary, held a two-day cultural event at the Indian Islamic Cultural Centre on 1819 July. The star attraction was the presentation of the Chishti Harmony Award for 2011 to two personalities which have spent a life time for communal harmony and community service. The first is Pandit Yugal Kishor Shastri of Ayodhya who has stood as a rock against communalists in Ayodhya and beyond and the second is Begum Bilkees Latif, wife of former Air Chief Marshal, Idris Latif, who has dedicated her life to serve the downtrodden in Mumbai. The awards were presented by Vice President Hamid Ansari in a function attended by Union minister of law and justice Veerappa Moily, Chief Election Commissioner Dr. S. Y. Quraishi and others. Hamid Ansari said in his brief speech that the Sufi Chishtia Order is

the best example of the how human beings can do two things simultaneously: establish relationship with the Creator and serve humanity. The receipients of this award by their example have demonstrated the essence of Chishti teachings. It is the same old message which should be reiterated time and again so that human beings can live harmoniously with one another. Here are brief life-sketches of the award receipients: PANDIT YUGAL KISHOR SARAN SHASTRI of Ayodhya is a person of quiet but extraordinary achievements. Born into a poor Yadav family of Madhubani district of Bihar, Pandit Yugal Kishor, struggling against heavy odds, completed his MA in Sanskrit from the Varanasi University. Whereafter he took over the care of the Sarayu Kunj Ram Mandir, located opposite the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya.

Following the demolition of the Masjid in December, 1992, this remarkable man devoted his entire life to defending the lives, the properties and the livelihood of the Muslim community in the region at great risk to his own life. Without money, privilege or power, he upheld the values of secularism and respect for all religions. He ensured that Ayodhya has not been afflicted by the communal virus. Targeted, both physically and psychologically, by forces inimical to his work to abandon it, he has defied all odds to continue what he has taken as his lifes mission, namely, to preserve the centuries-old tradition of total communal harmony within the families of Ayodhya - a name which itself means a land without conflict. He has now enlarged his vision and the ambit of his work, to extend the same message of harmony on a wider scale throughout the country. A commendable initiative which he has embarked on in conjunction with several likeminded social workers and organizations are two padyatras. The first one from Ayodhya to Sewagram (Wardha) in Gujarat and the other from Ayodhya to Ajmer in Rajasthan to motivate people along the route to work for national harmony. BEGUM BILKEES LATIF was born into a privileged Muslim family and is married to former Air Chief Marshal, Idris Latif. She chose to make her most distinctive contribution in social service, in Dharavi, Indias largest slum cluster in Mumbai. It was notorious as home to some of Mumbais most dreaded mafia dons, where children were employed in illicit distillation; and the area recorded Mumbais highest crime rate. Following her very

first visit to Dharavi in 1982, she decided to work for the transformation of the lives of the families living here. She established SHED (Society for Human and Environment Development) along with a few prominent and public spirited citizens of Mumbai. So dramatic has been the impact of her work that Dharavi today has the lowest crime rate in Mumbai. SHED has set up 45 youth groups in Dharavi. Through them, Vocational Training Projects, eradication of Leprosy and Tuberculosis, family planning, immunization of children and national integration programmes have been systematically taken up with active help in most cases of many of the Mafia dons and their families, who have even assured them total security. So much so that when communal unrest raged in other parts of the city, not a single

instance of any communal disturbance was recorded in Dharavi. In fact, the whole area joins in celebrating festivals of each others communities with their own funds. SHED has taken up this work in other slums in Mumbai and the neighbouring district of Thane. Their work has covered the most extensive range of social services leading to requests from the World Bank and several other multi-lateral international aid agencies to take up their programmes. As Chairperson of the National Bal Bhavans for two terms and of the Rajiv Gandhi Childrens Museum, she launched in November, 2005, a movement for children to build the India of their dreams and secular values in nation-building. Bilkees Latif is truly a role model for young Indian Muslim girls to follow.

Charity Alliance work in Murshidabad

Charity Alliance was born in early 2005 mainly as a result of the challenge of hunger deaths in Murshidabad. Ever since our main focus continues on Murshidabad, a Muslim majority area which could be the most neglected and backward region in India. Charity Alliance work has been progressively developing here from food distributon to medical aid to educational aid to vocational training to establishing a school (Alliance School) for the poor children of the area three years ago. This work has been mainly possible as a result of the charity and generous support of our extended Milli Gazette family. The current monthly outlay on these activities in Murshidabad is around Rs 60000, i.e., an annual outlay of Rs 720,000 which will only increase every year as the school opens a new classroom each year necessitating the recruitment of two more teachers each year. Land has been bought in the area and mostly temporary structures are now in place with plans to slowly convert them into permanent structures with your help. Your generous support is needed to continue and expand this work. For more information, please visit www.charityalliance.in where details of our work as well as annual audited reports are found.
MG/Yusuf

Outlays in the financial year (Apr-March) 2010-2011 Rs 144580 was spent on construction work in Alliance School Rs 81488 was spent on vocational training Rs 252191 was spent on food and medical relief Rs 353044 was paid to Alliance School for teacher salaries etc Rs 30910 was given in Educational Aid (Total outlay Rs 8,72,913) This will rise by at least 10 percent in the new year (2011-2012). In addition to this, we need another amount of at least Rs 5 lakh to construct some pucca classrooms this year. Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan Editor MG, & Chairman, Charity Alliance Please contact us at info@charityalliance.in or D-84 Abul Fazal Enclave-I, Jamia Nagar, New Delhi 110 025 Tel. 011-26947483, 26952825 Please see a photograph of the latest shape of the Alliance School on the last page

Prof. Zilli participates in Cambridge conference

Islamic Manuscripts Association held its seventh conference on the theme of Islamic Manuscripts in South Asia and South East Asia in collaboration with Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Centre of Islamic Studies at Magdalene College, University of Cambridge from 12-14 July. Professor Ishtiyaq Ahmad Zilli, Director, Darul Musannefin Shibli Academy, was invited to present paper on the manuscripts preserved at the Academy. Darul Musannefin Shibli Academy has a small but valuable collection of manuscripts in its library, some of these are very valuable. The Academy has very recently completed the digitization process of its rare manuscripts. To know more about Prof. Ishtiyaq Ahmad Zilli, Director of Darul Musannein Shibli Academy, please visit: http://shibliacademy.org/administration/Ishtiyaq_Ahmad_Zilli

Govt Lokpal bill

Govt Lokpal bill

18 The Milli Gazette, 16-31 August 2011

COMMUNITY NEWS
New book on Quran translations
Aligarh, August 2: Prof. Abdur Raheem Kidwai, Director, UGC Academic Staff College, Aligarh Muslim University has published his latest book Translating the Untranslatable: A Critical Guide to 60 Translations of the Quran by Sarup and Sons, Delhi. The book is a guide to reader how to select a suitable English translation of the Holy Quran for study from a pile of many available in bookshops and libraries.The remarkable work contains reviews on each of the 60 English translations carried out from 1649 to 2009 and identifies the ideological and sectarian affiliation, mindset, features, and strengths and weaknesses of each and every translator. Professor Kidwais masterly work brings out the main contours of the misconceptions and misperceptions about the Quran in the West, as reflected in most of the Orientalists translations of the Quran, namely those by Ross, Sale, Rodwell, Palmer, Bell and Jones. The critical study of the English translations of Holy Quran seeks to fill the gap in Quran scholarship. Land deal for Ambanis Antilla may come under CBI lens Mumbai: The Maharashtra Government is considering the Centres suggestion to refer to the Central Bureau of Investigation the sale of Wakf Board land to Mr Mukesh Ambani for building ultra luxury residential tower Antilla. The 27-storey Antilla, in affluent South Mumbai, is said to be built on land owned by the Board. Maharashtras Minister for Minority Affairs and Wakf, Mr Arif Nasim Khan, in a written reply to the Assembly on Monday, said the Centre had suggested a CBI investigation in December 2010. An opinion was sought from the States Law and Judiciary Department and the matter is with the State Home Department, he said. Mr Khan said the plot reserved for education of children of Khoja Muslim community was sold by Karimbhai Ibrahimbhai Khoja Orphanage to Antillia Commercial Private Ltd for Rs 21.5 crore in July 2002. The deal was cleared by the Charity Commissioners Office that August. The land sale issue was raised by Mr Eknath Khadse, Leader of the Opposition. He had asked if the land worth Rs 500 crore now was given away by the Wakf Board to Antillia Commercial for Rs 21 crore. Jamia Urdu delegation meets Rahul, wants recognition Members of the Governing Board of Jamia Urdu, Aligarh, are running from pillar to post to persuade the Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education to withdraw its month-old order de-recognising degrees offered by the Urdu institution. Other than meeting the Boards chairman Subhash Garg, Education Minister Bhanwar Lal Meghwal and Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on 22 July, they met Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi. Leader of the delegation Jasim Mohammad said that Rahul Gandhi had assured them he would ask Gehlot to resolve the issue at the earliest. Earlier, they had met Ahmed Patel, political adviser to Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Mohammad said all the degrees of Jamia Urdu, including Adib (matriculation), Adib Mahir (Intermediate) and Mualim-e-Urdu, were recognised by Rajasthan Government way back in 1958, as was done by the Centre and several other States. He alleged that the boards decision to de-recognise the degrees was based on technical ground rather than academic reasons. On a false complaint, the board had sent a three-member team to Aligarh, which sought a number of documents, which were not possible to collect within a short period of three hours, as asked by the team. But later we provided all the documents to the board. The board had in its meeting on May 22 de-recognised the degrees of Jamia on the ground that the institute had failed to furnish the relevant documents. This had made the future of about 25,000 students in Rajasthan, who had appeared in examination of Jamia for these degrees in December, uncertain. According to official sources, the board took the decision on the basis of a Rajasthan High Court judgement in 2007. On a petition, the court said that since Jamia Urdu Aligarh was not a registered body, the degrees given by it could not be recognised. Mohammad said it was surprising that the board decided to follow the orders of the court after four years. He also claimed that the Jamia, set up in 1939, was a registered body. At that time, Jamia was not made a party to the case, so we were not aware of this judgement. But now we are going to challenge the judgment and also the orders of the board, he stated. Jamia Professor Lectures in Bihar Legislative Council New Delhi: Prof. Akhtarul Wasey, Head, Department of Islamic Studies and Hony. Director, Zakir Husain Institute of Islamic Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia, delivered a lecture on Islam in Indian Tradition: Social Unity and Cultural Integration under Bihar Legislative Council Centenary Lecture Series at Bihar Legislative Council, Patna on 23 July. His lecture was the second in a series of popular lectures which have been planned to mark the centenary celebration of the Bihar Legislative Council. The first lecture in the series was delivered by the Former President of India Dr

Campaign for the promotion of Urdu

New Delhi: Fed up and greatly disappointed with central as well as state governments double standard about Urdu i.e. making tall promises about promoting Urdu but in actual practice doing virtually nothing and above all, the insensitivity and disinterestedness of Urdu speakers themselves, some enthusiasts themselves took up the fight for the cause of Urdu to the people. These enthusiasts, numbering ten to twelve among whom were Shamim Ahmad, president of Human Rights Protection Association, Dr. Mumtaz Alam Rizvi, Dr. Maula Bakhsh of Dayal Singh Colleges Department of Urdu etc. called upon the people to assemble at Maulana Abul Kalam Azads mazaar near Delhi Jama Masjid on the morning of 27 July. When the people assembled there, after, fateha and prayers, they started the campaign of selling Urdu newspapers first to the shop owners of Meena Bazar and in a matter of 2-3 hours Urdu newspapers worth Rs. 3000 were sold. Thereafter they reached Matia Mahal Chowk and sold newspapers for about two hours. On these occasion, some of the enthusiasts who were in tattered clothes, presenting a funny as well as touching scene, said that our torn clothes, bare heads and bare feet represent the pitiable and neglected condition of Urdu in this country. Speaking on this occasion leader of the movement Shamim Ahmad in an emotional speech said that after Independence, it was with a single vote that Urdu was deprived of becoming the national language of the country but it was also decided at that very time that Urdu is the second national language of the whole country. It is, however, a great pity that all political parties under a conspiracy have continuously been adopting a biased and step motherly attitude towards Urdu. Though all are making tall claims about promoting Urdu and extolling the beauty and sweetness of Urdu but all their talks are mere hypocrisy and nothing else. Strongly criticising Urdu speaking people themselves for their indifference towards Urdu he said that if these so-called lovers of Urdu would A P J Abdul Kalam in May. Prof Waseys Lecture was chaired by Council Chairman Tarakant Jha. The Chief Minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar, along with a number of ministers and legislators, attended the talk. Two Urdu scholars get Gaurav Award Ahmadabad: Urdu Sahitya Academy, Gandhi Nagar, has conferred Gaurav Award on two eminent Urdu scholars. Zubair Quraishi, an eminent scholar of Urdu, Persian and Arabic, who presented several research papers in various national and international seminars; and Abbas Dana, famous Urdu poet of Vadodara. The award carries Rs. one lakh, a shawl and a memento. Dr. Quraishi retired in 1977 as head of the Persian and Urdu department of Gujarat University. He had, within one year, organised a grand international Persian conference which attracted 35 scholars from Iran and 10 from Afghanistan. He holds the distinction of attending more than a hundred conferences. His articles have appeared regularly in Gujarat Today as well as in Nawa-eAdal (Mumbai), Maarif (Azamgarh), and several other publications. He translated K.M. Munshis novel, Prithvi Vallabh, in Urdu; Mirza Ruswas Umrao Jaan in Gujarati and Wajehuddin Alvis Alhaqeeqatun Muhammadia in Arabic. His collection of Urdu poems, Hadith-e-Nafs is also very popular. Abbas Dana of Vadodara is a prominent Urdu poet. He began composing poems at the age of 12 and the passion continues even now when he is seventy. He has five collections of poems, Khushbu, Fanus, Peepli Ke Par, Mausam and Sheesh Mahal to his credit. Prominent qawwals have rendered his ghazals in qawwali. He attended several all India mushairas throughout the country. Rizwana gets Gold Medal Ahmadabad: Rizwana Ansari topped the merit list of Gujarat University and earned for herself a Gold Medal. She tried to fulfill the wish of her father who expired ten year ago and had wished her success in life. She now intends to pass the entrance test for management having passed B.Com with 86% marks. She gives credit of her success to F.D. College which has two more students who are among the first 50s. Nilofar Ansari and Sheikh Faeza are other distinction holders in the FY B.A. Miserable plight of handicapped destitute Indore: Shakeel son of Majeed (16) resident of Khandwa is bedridden in a hospital struggling for support. At this young age he has been through the trauma of disasters heaped on him one after another. He lost his father at an early age, having only a mother as the sole bread-winner. The Malegaon blast claimed her life too leaving the three children in orphans Nobody came forward to assist them in such dire circumstances. The eldest one, Akram, greatly worried about their sister, Shehanaz whom they admitted in an orphanage at Nasik and returned to Khandwa. The two brothers began earning their livelihood by selling tea at Khandwa railway station. Two months ago Shakeel lost one leg and another feet when he fell off a train while boarding it. Since then he is hospitalised. Akram sells tea during the day time and somehow manages to bring lunch to his brother. Rest of the time Shakeel remains all alone unable to drink a glass of water. With a desire to stand on his legs Shakeel has robust optimism. What these children need is the support of the society - and the comhave preserved Urdu, its condition would never have been so bad as it is today. He said that Urdu was neither given its right by governments yesterday nor it will be given tomorrow. Hence we have decided to fight the battle of Urdu on the streets, in lanes and bylanes. In his speech he also gave a strong message to political parties and leaders that our campaign in favour of Urdu will continue as long as the ruling parties and governments do not declare Urdu the second national language of the country. He also made it clear that in all coming elections Urdu will be made an important election issue and Urdu lovers will cast their votes in favour of only that party or parties which will give Urdu the status of second national language. He said that in West Bengal lovers and speakers of Urdu defeated anti-Urdu government which had been ruling for 34 years and now the new government has given it the status of second official language of the state. He said that five years ago the same type of movement was started in West Bengal as he had started in Delhi today in which they had achieved great success. He hoped that no one will be able to stop his struggle in favour of Urdu. Another speaker, Shoaib Raza Fatemi advised the people to purchase one Urdu newspaper daily. He said that governments take notice of the news published in Hindi and English newspapers but ignore what is published in Urdu newspapers. This is because governments think that Urdu newspapers are read by Muslims only and readers of Urdu newspapers are very small in numbers. He said that in order to make our voice heard we should purchase Urdu newspapers and by this not only the number of Urdu newspaper readers will increase but our voice also will become strong enough to shake governments and make it pay attention to the problems of Muslims which are published in Urdu newspapers only. (NA Ansari) munity. Is someone listening? Naroda case: Rais Khans plea rejected Ahmadabad: Gujarat High Court upheld the decision of the Metro court and rejected the session court Registrars writ. Justice M.R. Shah, who had completed the hearing in Narodagam case, kept the decision pending. In its decision the High Court rejected session courts writ which now enables the police to interrogate Rais Khan who wanted to become crown witness in a case pertaining to false affidavits. The Metro Court had rejected Special Courts decision which had ordered the filing FIRs against Rais Khan and others under section 156 (3). The session court had appealed to the High Court against the Metro courts decision. It may be recalled that while the special designated court was hearing riot cases pertaining to Naroda Gam, Rais Khan had lodged a police complaint that the affidavits in the case were false and monitored and that he be allowed to become a crown witness. The special court had asked the police to register fresh FIRs and begin investigation against Rais Khan. The Magisterial Court had kept special courts order aside and decided to register a case under 156 (3) and continue trial. Challenging that the Metro court was not competent to take such decision, the sessions court, sought to get it rejected. However, the High Court upheld Metro Courts decision and rejected Session Courts writ. Thus Rais Khan will have to face police investigation for destroying evidence. MNS opens office in minority-dominated area In order to woo Muslims, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena supremo Raj Thakeray has opened a party office at Dongri in Mumbai, a thickly Muslim dominated area. The place is considered to be highly sensitive for being once the stronghold of the underworld dons like Dawood Ibrahim, Haji Mastan and Karim Lala. The office is situated close to the place where the only Muslim Shiv Sena leader Khalid Bakerywalla was killed. Since inception of MNS in 2006, Raj Thakeray had made a number of attempts to woo Muslims. One was the inclusion of a green band representing the Muslims in the MNS party flag. Another could be said to be that of appointment of Haji Arafat Shaikh as the vice president of the party. Too woo Muslims; MNS had also in the past led a march outside the Haj House demanding better facilities for the pilgrims. Despite their wide presence, Shiv Sena has failed in setting up offices in Muslim-dominated areas such as Umerkhadi, Bhendi Bazar, Nagpada, Pydhonie and Madanpura. Flesh trade does not exist in the state: J&K govt The government of Jammu and Kashmir in reply to a Supreme Court directive seeking statistics for rehabilitation of sex workers said that not a single case relating to sex workers or prostitution has been registered so far. On the contrary, there are reports that Jammu and Kashmir police had burst a prostitution racket in November 2010 and recently the police nabbed 13 people, including owner of a known hotel and other four women believed to have been involved in the exploitation of women. Exploitation of women by officials came to light when police blew up a major sex scandal in 2006, which, was transferred by the Supreme Court to Chandigarh. Sikkins too has told the Supreme Court that the state has so far not registered sex workers or identified red light area in the state.

The Milli Gazette, 16-31 August 2011 19

COMMUNITY NEWS
IUML protest and demands
Indian Union Muslim League Uttar Pradesh unit held a protest demonstration on 1 August at Delhis Jantar Mantar led by state unit chief Dr Najmul Hasan Ghani. The demonstration presented the following charter of demands to the central government: 1. Sky-soaring prices of essential commodities and endless unemployment must be checked at Dr Najmul Hasan Ghani once; 2. Innocent and chargeless Muslim captives and prisoners must be released immediately because they are suffering for last scores of years; 3. Rajender Sachar Committee Report and Recommendations of Rang Nath Mishra Committee must be implemented. 4. In accordance with the Indian Muslim population 15% Muslim male and female must be sanctioned Reservations or banish the present Reservation System because now it is against Indian Constitution. Sadiq fake encounter: CBI lodges FIR of conspiracy Ahmadabad: Following Gujarat High Courts directives the CBI lodged an FIR in the Sadiq Jamal encounter case and began investigations. While in its earlier complaint the crime branch did not register the case under section 120 (B) of conspiracy and malafide intensions; the C.B.I. FIR has specifically mentioned conspiracy hatched by the police officers of Gujarat and Maharashtra. Sadiq Jamal resident of Bhavnagar was killed in a fake encounter on 3 January 2003 morning at the Naroda Galaxy cinema alleging that he intended to kill chief minister Modi. In his writ, Sadiqs brother Shabbir Jamal appealed to the Gujarat High Court in 2007 to hand over the case to CBI. Justice MR Shah in his decision last June accepted Shabbirs appeal and directed the CBI to begin investigations. Meanwhile, Shabbir had registered an application with Mayur Chawda, SP crime branch that state politicians, police officials and others had hatched a conspiracy. His brother was kidnapped from Mumbai and was held in custody in Mumbai and Ahmadabad and later on killed in a fake encounter, said Shabbir in his petition. He demanded that a case registered against police officers of the state, top officers of central intelligence agency, state intelligence agency and ministers under IPC sections 114, 120(B), 167, 195, 302, 323, 324, 326, 329, 331, 340, 341, 342, 344, 348, 364, 365 and 367. The crime branch on 19 June registered an FIR in Metro court without mentioning the name of a single officer nor invoking 120 (B) of conspiracy. When the crime branch handed over the case to the CBI, it lodged a fresh FIR in which conspiracy and malafide intention was also charged. Dy. S.P. Anil Kumar of Delhi CBI has been asked to investigate. Courts notice on the appointment of Ajmers administrator New Delhi: Delhi High Courts Justice Rajiv Sahai, in response to a petition by Arshad Faridi, a journalist issued notices to union ministry for minorities affairs and Ajmer Dargahs management committee to furnish their replies to this court till 9 September in reply to the allegations made by the plaintiff Arshad Faridi. In his petition filed through his lawyer, Arshad Faridi had alleged that the said ministry of minorities affairs had ignored the rules and regulations of Dargah Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti for appointing Dargahs Nazim (administrator). Faridi also demanded in his petition that the ministrys circular/order giving senior clerk Abdul Maajid Khan, charge and responsibility of managing and administering the affairs of this Dargah be cancelled. He had also demanded in his petition that proper and correct measures should be adopted for appointing a permanent Nazim or administrator and that all actions and decisions taken by the temporary Nazim should be reviewed. Eight girls questioned in Sopore blast case A college student Qurat-ul-Ain along with seven other girls was questioned by Jammu and Kashmir police in connection with the Sopore blast that killed one policeman. Local reports suggest that police had called 300 girls for questioning. According to police seven girls were called for questioning following reports that they were involved in militancy and for their possible links with a militant commander. Qurat was nabbed by police on 10 July four days after a grenade and an IED blast took place near a police station that left one dead and nine injured. Police also claim that she had provided logistic support to foreign militants and also acted as courier for them. The valley has witnessed protests in the aftermath of the arrest. Minority youth to be provided training for jobs in W.B. Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Bannerjee while speaking at a function organised by West Bengal Miorities Development Financial Corporation said that ten thousand youths from the minority community will be selected by Employment Bank for being imparted necessary training for employment. She blamed the previous leftist government for giving a political colour to the progress and development of minorities. She said that her government will sanction a grant of Rs. 122 crores for giving scholarships to the people and youth belonging to this minority group and at the same time will also sanction an amount of Rs. 82 crores for giving loans to them. She further said that in order to give its due rights to a widely spoken language like Urdu in the whole state (of West Bengal) 22 Urdu schools will be opened and 5000 residential accommodations will also be built for the people belonging to the minority community/communities. She emphasised the point that the

NCPUL for associating Urdu with employment

New Delhi: National Council for the Promotion of Urdu Language (NCPUL) organised a 4-day workshop of ITI experts and professionals at Farogh-e Urdu Bhavan (NCPULs office in Jasola) with the objective of providing professional courses books in Urdu. Speaking at this workshop, NCPULs director Muhammad Hamidullah Bhat said that in these days of globalisation and modern technology, associating Urdu language with employment is very essential. He said that by setting up computer centres all over the country, NCPUL has associated Urdu with ITI and in order to make Urdu a means of earning a livelihood it has started another project i.e. translation of technical and professional books (which are all in English) into Urdu. He said that ITI schools are spread all over India, including areas and places where minorities i.e. Muslims are in quite good numbers and whose mother tongue is Urdu. He said that it was being felt since long that Urdu-medium students cannot derive any advantage from existing modern technical knowhow and literature prescribed in ITI syllabus because their English is very poor and with such poor knowledge of English, it is very difficult for them to understand technical terms. Acquisition of education in ITIs through Urdu medium and such other things are also one of the reasons for Muslims unemployment. Therefore, he said, NCPUL wants that books on prodevelopmental and promotional works and schemes to be undertaken by her government will not be confined to Kolkata and adjoining areas only but these works will be done in other and distant districts also. She said that contrary to previous government which had given political colour to the progress of minorities, her government has firmly decided to improve the social and economic condition of these people. Rickshaw-puller poet Abdur Rahman is a poor rickshaw puller from a village in Basti district of U.P. and plying of rickshaw is his only source of income. It is difficult to believe that he is a Hindi poet and has written three anthologies of his poems. He is so poor that he cannot get his poems published. He has passed 12th class but being unable to get any respectable job, he started plying a rickshaw to earn his living. He has been honoured with many awards by the government and many private organisations but he says that these awards are mere pieces of paper for him and he has not got any material and financial help from any person or organisation. His family members do not like his passion for poetry and consider this as mere waste, but his great ambition is that his poems may become part of Hindi literature. Arabic translation of Asif Barelvis Urdu poems Bareli: Urdu poems of famous poet Asif Barelvi have been translated into Arabic and these poems have been published in newspapers of Tripoli, Libya. In this way Asif Barelvi has become the first Indian poet whose poems have been published in that country. For this, Asif Barelvi was honoured with an Award in a meeting of All India Intellectual Peace Academy. RTI activists of Gujarat demands compensation for attack RTI activists of Gujarat organised a dharna at Sardar Baug to demand adequate compensation from the Gujarat government to the RTI activists killed or injured in attacks. Nearly 70 RTI activists and family members of the slain and injured activists gathered at the meet and adopted a charter of demands that said that RTI activists injured in attacks should be given Rs 5 lakh as compensation and Rs 10 lakh as compensation to those killed while trying to collect information in the state. Renowned RTI activists Amit Jethva was killed by the mining mafia for filing petitions in the High Court against the mining mafia. The charter of demands also sought to create fast track mechanism to provide information on sensitive issues. The activists have also constituted a co-ordination committee to look into the problems and grievances in the future. Peace party looks for conditional ties with BSP Deviating from its earlier stand, Peace Party has indicated that it was open to an alliance with the BSP for the forthcoming assembly elections in the state if the BSP agrees to give reservation to Dalit Muslims and Christians and also assures them of implementing Ranganath Mishra Committee report. Peace Partys earlier stand was never to enter in an alliance with the BJP or the BSP in the state. Presently, the party is a part of RLD-led Lok Kranti Morcha. On the issue of alliance with BJP or the BSP, the RLD is firm on its earlier stand as not to go with these parties. Peace Party is likely to contest 250 seats and the Morchas that is comprised of seven smaller parties including RLD will fight for the remaining 153 seats. Centre hints states not to implement Ranganath report New DelhiI: Centre on 8 August hinted the states not to implement the report of National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities (NCRLM), popularly known as Ranganath Misra report. States providing reservation of 10% for Backward Muslims based on the recommendations of the NCRLM Report is premature at this stage, Minister of State for Minority Affairs Vincent H. Pala told Lok Sabha in written reply. It may be recalled that West Bengals Left Front government and some other states have decided to implement the Ranganath fessional courses should be provided to them in Urdu. For this purpose as many as 52 technical books prescribed for ITIs in English in 18 different trades have been got translated into Urdu. The 18 different trades are the jobs of: fitters, electricians, motor vehicle mechanic, wireman, turner, diesel machine, for cutting and sewing, machinist, tractor mechanic, radio and T.V. mechanic, computer operating and programming assistants, refrigeration and A.C. mechanic, sheet metal worker, tools and dye making, information technology and electronic system maintenance, mechanical draughtsman and electronic system maintenance. All these 18 trades are approved and recognised by National Instructional Media Institute (NIMI)s Directorate General, Employment & Training, Ministry of Labour, Govt. of India, Chennai. He said that responsibility of translating these books into Urdu (on 18 trades)has been given to University Polytechnic, Aligarh under the supervision of Syed Iqbal Ali, Principal of University Polytechnic. He said that for all these different trades 52 books have been translated. He said that out of these 52 books, manuscripts of 30 have been completed in all respects but translation work on some is under way. A list of experts who participated in this workshop has been prepared, they will review the translated manuscripts/books. (NA Ansari) Mishra Commissions recommendations for the betterment of economically, socially and educationally backward minority Muslims even before centre could take any action on it. Vincent H. Pala told Lok Sabha that since recommendations contained in the report are under consideration of the Central Government, the question of States providing reservation of 10% for Backward Muslims based on the recommendations of the NCRLM Report is premature at this stage. He said that the Action Taken Report (ATR) on NCRLM has not been laid in the Parliament and placing of ATRs in the Parliament is mandatory in the case of Commissions set up under Commissions of Enquiry Act 1952. NCRLM was set up under Government Resolution No1-11/2004-MC (D), on 29 October, 2004. The recommendations, findings of the Commission have been circulated to concerned Ministries, Departments for their comments. (theindianawaaz.com) Subramanian Swamys house compound vandalised New Delhi: Suspected Congress workers entered the compound of Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamys house in south Delhi on 7 August and ransacked his garden to protest a controversial article he wrote recently, police said. The incident took place around 5.30 p.m., when the police received a call about protests at Swamys house in East Nizamuddin. Swamy, meanwhile, posted on microblogging site Twitter: Rowdy Congress persons break open into my Nizamuddin compound (and) destruct my garden. Police have arrived. Please inform police (sic). In another tweet, Swamy said: A plain clothes police officer was witness and has given evidence for FIR. A police officer said that a few Congress workers shouted slogans and entered the garden. They ransacked the garden and left in fifteen minutes. Police have registered a complaint in the case. As preventive measure, we have deputed a team of around 15 policemen there, said the officer. The reason behind the incident is yet unknown, but police said that the Congress workers were protesting a signed newspaper article by Swamy, where he suggested that the voting rights of Indian Muslims be revoked. Mumbai NGOs seek justice for Malegaon youths Malegaon: Over a dozen NGOs of Mumbai and Malegaon on 7 August decided to call on Maharashtra Chief Minister to seek justice for the Muslim youths detained in the 2006 Malegaon blast case and express their anguish over the poor handling of the 2008 Malegaon blast case by the investigating agencies. We will be meeting Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan probably on August 13 to express our concern over the negligence and injustice meted to the innocent Muslim youths who were framed in the 2006 Malegaon blast case, said Salim Alware, convener of the Federation of Minorities NGOs of Maharashtra. Salim Alware was speaking to ummid. com on phone after a meeting which was held at Khair Ummat Trusts Mumbai office following the Mumbai High Courts decision to grant bail to the two accused arrested in the 2008 Malegaon blast case. The meeting was attended by Maharashtra Minority Commission Vice Chairman Abraham Mathai and Mahesh Bhatt besides other prominent community leaders from Mumbai and Malegaon. The meeting also observed that it was because of the lackluster attitude of the investigating agencies towards the Hindutva terrorists and poor handling of the case that they were granted bail by the court, Alware added. The meeting also decided to boycott the Iftaar parties which are normally organised by the political parties during Ramadan if the government does not show any action. It is to be noted that questions are raised about the investigations of the 2006 Malegaon blast from the day one. While the Muslim community leaders are of the view that the blast were carried by the Hindutva terrorists, the investigating agencies rejecting their claim charged nine Muslim youths in the case. Ironically, one of the arrested youths, whom the investigation charged as one of the planters of the bomb on September 08, 2006 in Malegaon, was at Phoolsawangi - a town 600 kms away from Malegaon at the time of the incident.(ummid.com)

20 The Milli Gazette, 16-31 August 2011

COMMUNITY NEWS
Harvard stands by Swamy
Americas Harvard University is standing by Summer School instructor Subramanian Swamy in the aftermath of his provocative article published in a Mumbai newspaper last month. Harvard said it found his writing distressing but it stands by its commitment to free speech principles. Swamys article had called for the demolition of hundreds of mosques, the revocation of voting rights from non-Hindus, and a ban on conversion from Hinduism. In a statement, Division of Continuing Education spokesperson Linda A. Cross called the article distressing to many Harvard affiliates. As an institution of research and teaching, we are dedicated to the proposition that all people, regardless of color or creed, deserve equal opportunities, equal respect, and equal protection, Cross said. Recent writings by Dr. Swamy therefore are distressing to many members of our community, and understandably so...It is central to the mission of a university to protect free speech, including that of Dr. Swamy and of those who disagree with him, Cross said in the statement. We are ultimately stronger as a university when we maintain our commitment to the most basic freedoms that enable the robust exchange of ideas. The group that started the petition, which calls itself the Coalition Against Bigotry at Harvard, echoed its support for the Universitys endorsement of free speech but clarified in a statement that the petition is not aimed at silencing Dr. Swamy. Rather, it calls on Harvard to dissociate itself from someone who engages in hate speech, grossly stereotyping all Muslims and advocating the destruction of 300 mosques in India, the statement said. Dr. Swamys comments stand in opposition to the goal of fostering reasoned civil discourse at Harvard. Swamys article: court seeks police report New Delhi: Even as the National Minority Commission contemplates legal action against Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy for making anti-Muslim remarks in his recently published article, a Delhi court on 3 August sought report from police on a lawyers plea for lodging a criminal case. Taking note of Swamys article in a newspaper, How to wipe out Islamic terror, the court asked the police to file a status report on 16 August. The courts direction came following an argument by advocate R K Anand, contending that a prima facie case was made out against Swamy for his anti-minority article. Earlier, lawyer Asghar Khan had moved the court seeking registration of a case against Swamy, alleging that his antiMuslim remarks promoted strife and hatred between different communities. The statement made by Swamy is seditious and has been made with the intention to promote enmity between different groups, Khan said in his complaint. Meanwhile, the National Minority Commission which had earlier said taking action against Swamy is consulting lawyers on the possible action that could be taken against him. Stop Racial Profiling of Muslim Institutions: Welfare Party New Delhi: The Welfare Party of India took strong exception to the detailed survey of Masjids and Madrasas of Surat in Gujarat. The reported micro-investigation relating to even minute details of each religious institution connected with one particular community has evoked strong resentment among Muslims owing to the history of the Gujarat government under Modi which perpetrated the Gujarat pogrom in 2002. Nobody is going to take seriously the statement of the Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana that it is a routine exercise and his policemen have been informed to behave in a disciplined way while taking down the details. Dr S. Q. R. Ilyas, General Secretary of the Welfare Party, said that it was nothing less than racial profiling of Muslim institutions and intended to further ghettoise the minority community and it is totally unacceptable. He asked the Central Government, the National Human Rights Commission and the Minority Commission to intervene in the matter, put immediate halt to the survey and to make sure that it is not repeated elsewhere in Gujarat. Gujarat police officer Sanjiv Bhatt suspended Gandhinagar: Sanjiv Bhatt, the Gujarat cadre IPS officer who shot into limelight after claiming being present at a meeting of Chief Minister Narendra Modi the night after the Godhra train carnage in 2002, was suspended from service on 8 August. A signal for retributory action had been allegedly given at this meet. The suspension order was served on him under rule 3(1) of the All India Service Rules and signed by Varesh Sinha, additional chief secretary (Home) of the Gujarat government. The order stated that he was being suspended with immediate effect for his various acts of omission and commission and for a conduct unbe-

Sahitya Academy built after demolishing part of Firoz Shahs Jama Masjid
New Delhi: According to a report by Mumtaz Alam Rizvi in Urdu was not demolished while most of the mosque was absorbed in daily Sahafat (20 July 2011), Ravindra Bhavan, the grand build- the new building of Ravindra Bhavan. Only 20% part of the Shahi ing near Delhis Mandi House, in which the famous Sahitya Masjid was left. This had happened in 1961-62. Academy and Lalit Kala Academy are housed was built after The question now arises: where is the remaining 20% part of demolishing parts of the historic Jama the Firoz Shahi Masjid? There is no Masjid built by King Firoz Shah. The this The question now arises: answer to 20% question because the foundation stone of Ravindra Bhavan remaining is also demolished. where is the remaining was laid by Dr. Rajendra Prasad, the Another point is that when the foundafirst President of India, on 14 April 20% part of the Firoz Shahi tion stone of Ravindra Bhavan was laid, 1959. According to historians, a considerable portion of the said Jama researchers and observers, at that Masjid? There is no answer Masjid was still there. So why this buildtime though much of the historic Jama to this question because ing was built at this place place and why Masjid had crumbled, its arches etc. built at some In the remaining 20% is also it was notthe remaining other place?the were extant but these were demolthis way, portions of ished for building Ravindra Bhavan, demolished. Another point mosque could have been saved. And Sahitya Academy and Lalit Kala after creation of is that when the foundation this happened Survey theIndia in 1958 Academy. According to the people Archaeological of stone of Ravindra Bhavan whose job is to protect and preserve old who have done research work and wrote books on Delhis mosques, Firoz and was laid, a considerable historical buildingsformer monuments. Shahi Masjid is lying buried under its According to the chairman of portion of the said Jama Delhi Waqf Board, Qari Muhammad own debris and trees between Sahitya Academy and Lalit Kala Academy Idrees, till 1947 namaz used to be Masjid was still there. buildings situated at Firoz Shah Road offered in this mosque and he himself near Mandi House and because of this very historical mosque, not only offered namaz in it but also led namaz many times. the road from Mandi House to Hotel Le Meridien was named When DDA had claimed that there was no mosque at that place Firoz Shah Road. Hafiz Ali Khan, editor of Daur-e Jadid Urdu and was trying to demolish the remaining arches of this mosque, daily also has written about Firoz Shahi Masjid, that there was a Maulana Azad had asked Maulana Hifzur Rahman to inspect that large Shahi Masjid near Mandi House, New Delhi which was place and report whether the mosque was there or not. He demolished in 1947, its arches etc. were even then extant, but (Maulana Hifzur Rahman) and some others, after inspecting that the government demolished them all to build another large build- place submitted a report according to which the mosque was ing. At that time late Maulana Hifzur Rahman and other respon- there. On the basis of this report Maulana Azad had assured that sible officers of Sunni Waqf Board had made feverish efforts to the mosque will not be demolished at any cost but inspite of his protect the remains of the historical mosque. The result of their categorical assurance, DDA ignored his assurance and got it efforts was that a chabootara as a token symbol of the mosque demolished. (NA Ansari) coming of a senior IPS officer. Among the other reasons cited in the letter were remaining unauthorisedly absent from last posting, not appearing before an enquiry when called, and for misuse of the official car. An IGP-ranked officer, Bhatt was last posted as principal of the SRP training School at Chowky near Junagadh. Bhatt said, I always kept them informed. Only ten days back I had sought 60 days leave to take care of my sick mother. Bhatt added that he was being suspended for unauthorised leave even as he had been busy deposing before the Nanavati-Mehta judicial enquiry commission which is probing the Godhra train carnage and the communal riots that followed in the state thereafter. Bhatt has been in the eye of Modi after he filed an affidavit in the supreme court stating that he was present at a meeting held at the chief ministers bungalow on the night of Feb 27,2002. In this meeting, Modi had allegedly hinted to his officers to allow Hindus to vent their anger on the Muslims in the aftermath of the train carnage at Godhra which left 59 passengers burnt to cinders. Bhatt had in his affidavit, also cast aspersions on the functioning of the apex court appointed Special Investigation Team headed by R. K. Raghavan. Bhatt has knocked the doors of the supreme court urging that the investigation into this FIR be transferred outside the Gujarat state. Gujarat scholar accepted for Fullbright Ahmedabad: Zulfiqar Sheth (Himmatnagar, Gujarat) an economics graduate from AMU and a resident member of AMUs Residential Coaching Academy (RCA) has been selected for oneyear intensive professional programme in Business Administration, Project Management and Global Leadership Development Program in the Virginia University, USA, under the community college initiative program (CCIP) by the Fullbright Commission funded by the Americas Global Education Fund. Students participating in the project shall return to home country and to contribute to the continued economic and democratic development for their nations. (Abdul Hafiz Lakhani) the mutton imported into Kashmir comes from Rajasthan, which has some of the most arid deserts in the country. In addition to mutton, poultry and poultry products are also imported into the state from neighbouring Punjab and Haryana. Chicks, broilers, layers and eggs amounting to Rs.1.2 billion are imported each year for local consumption, said another official of the state animal husbandry department posted with the poultry production wing. This is in addition to the local poultry production worth Rs.1.8 billion that also goes into local consumption. Officials say the high consumption of meats could explain the wide prevalence of certain ailments. These are Herculean figures and they explain the reason for high blood pressure, obesity, high cholesterol levels, heart ailments, gout, kidney stones, liver ailments and a host of other diseases the locals are vulnerable to because of their dietary habits, said Kaisar Ahmad, a general practitioner here. The sheer amount of mutton and poultry that goes into the preparation of the traditional Kashmiri cuisine called wazwan is mindboggling. An average middle class marriage requires about five quintals of mutton and one quintal of poultry. Those who havent seen the extended wazwan feasts where courses over courses of dishes are served in an unending pageant are really flabbergasted by the extravaganza when they experience it the first time, said a police officer. It is common in the Valley for people to ask if anyone in the family had taken ill, if they find a local carrying vegetables or fruit home! said Bashir Ahmad War, a retired veterinarian here. Earlier, it was very unusual to see a Kashmiri jogging or attending a health club earlier. In the past, locals would do something like this only under medical advice. Now more and more locals are doing daily exercises, attending health clubs and are seen doing brisk walking in the mornings. This is accompanied by a change in eating habits as vegetables and fruits are now getting into our menu, said War. Bail to Malegaon blast accused exposes double standard Malegaon: Strongly condemning the poor handling of the 2008 Malegaon blast case, Muslim community leaders here said that the Mumbai High Court verdict to grant bail to the blast accused has exposed the double standard of the investigating agencies. The court verdict has once again proved how leniently the investigating agencies are handling the 2008 Malegaon blast case in which Hindu terrorists are involved, Kul Jamaati Tanzeem leader Maulana Abdul Hameed Azhari said. On the other hand, the same agencies are very strict against the Muslim youths arrested in the 2006 blast case. This, despite the fact that Swami Aseemanand has already confessed about his involvement in the incident, he added. He was speaking a day after the Mumbai High Court granted bail on 3 August to the two accused arrested in the 2008 Malegaon blast case. If it is the matter of the proof, what proof does the investigating agencies have against the Muslim youths? How can one rely on the charge-sheet filed by the investigating agencies which terms a person 600 kms away from Malegaon on the day of the incident as one of the planters?, he asked. Instead of correcting their mistakes, the investigating agencies are paving way for the release of the potential accused in the two blasts, he alleged. (ummid.com)

BACK ISSUES AVAILABLE

Kashmir eats 51,000 tons of mutton a year Srinagar: About 85 per cent of Kashmiris eat non-vegetarian fare. Now official statistics say Jammu and Kashmir annually consumes a whopping 51,000 tonnes of mutton worth Rs.12.06 billion (over Rs.1,200 crore), of which 21,000 tonnes is imported from outside. The 21,000 tonnes is in addition to 30,000 tonnes of mutton produced locally and costing Rs.7.02 billion (Rs.702 crore) which also goes into the local consumption each year, a senior T HE M ILLI G AZETTE official of the animal husD-84, Abul Fazl Enclave-I, Jamia Nagar, bandry department here New Delhi-110025 India Tel.: (+91-11) 2694 said. 7483 Email: mg@milligazette.com Despite having some of the best meadows and pastures in the world, all

The Milli Gazette, 16-31 August 2011 21

COMMUNITY NEWS
Hang fake encounter cops: SC
New Delhi: Police personnel involved in fake encounter killings should be awarded death sentence and hanged, the Supreme Court has said on 8 August. A bench of justices Markandeya Katju and C K Prasad said that police personnel as custodians of law are expected to protect people and not eliminate them as contract killers. Fake encounter killings by cops are nothing but cold-blooded brutal murders which should be treated as the rarest of rare offence and police personnel responsible for it should be awarded death sentence. They should be hanged, Justice Katju, heading the bench, said. The court observed this while directing the surrender of two senior Rajasthan IPS officers (Additional DGP Arvind Jain and SP Arshad) allegedly involved in the fake encounter killing of an alleged gangster (Dara Singh) by the Special Operations Group of Rajasthan Police on October 23, 2006. The bench said the accused police officers if they fail to surrender shall be arrested by the CBI which is investigating the case. The same parameters will apply and the law shall take its own course, Justice Katju observed when counsel for Singhs widow Sushila Devi said that one of the accused Rajender Rathore, a former minister, was also absconding. ...If crimes are committed by ordinary people, ordinary punishment should be given but if the offence is committed by policemen much harsher punishment should be given to them because they do an act totally contrary to their duties. The apex court had in April last year directed a CBI probe on an application moved by Sushila Devi accusing the Rajasthan Police of abducting her husband, killing him in a cold blooded manner and passing it off as an encounter. According to the Rajasthan government, Dara Singh was a proclaimed offender carrying a reward of Rs 25,000 on his head and was involved in criminal activities. (PTI) Cover- up renews call for CBI probe in riots cases The clandestine operation to use evidence in the Gujarat riot cases not to book the guilty but to help them frame their defence, once again highlights the need for the appointment of an independent prosecuting agency such as the CBI. As IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatts affidavit to the Supreme court shows, the advocate general of Gujarat, Tushar Mehta, sent reports of the Special Investigation Team ( SIT) in the nine Gujarat riot cases to RSS ideologue and propagandist S. Gurumurthy. Gurumurthy was, in turn, framing the BJPs political strategy to counter public opinion against chief minister Narendra Modi and the state government. He was also helping the accused frame their defence. According to R. K. Shah, the special public prosecutor who resigned from the Gulbarga Society case last year, such activities have created an atmosphere of suspicion in Gujarat. There is certainly an atmosphere in Gujarat that does not lend itself to fairness I resigned as special public prosecutor from the Gulbarga case. Actually, it is proper for me to elaborate further, Shah said, over the phone from Ahmedabad. Shah said the possibility of the victims getting justice in such an atmosphere is "highly remote". No wonder then that the apex court did give copies of amicus curiae Raju Ramachandrans report about CM Narendra Modi and other high state functionaries to either the SIT or the state government. A special bench of justices D. K. Jain, P. Sathasivam and Aftab Alam declined SIT chief R. K. Raghavans request to share the report with his team. The bench dismissed his plea with an assurance that he would be supplied with a copy at the appropriate time. The state government, too, protested about not getting the amicus curiaes report presented to the bench in a sealed cover. As Bhatts affidavit highlights, the secret status of investigations is freely used by RSS ideologues as well as pro-Modi law

Ishrat fake encounter: twists and turns

There have been several twists and turns in the fake encounter case. While the State High Court made strong observation about the role of the Central government; it also took cognisance of the fact of witnesses turning hostile after deposing. Meanwhile a re-construction of the encounter was undertaken once again because in the earlier investigations the police officers gave misleading facts about their locations. While the progress report by SIT under Satya Pal Singh was submitted in the High Court in response to its directions the court also considered Singhs application requesting exemption from the enquiry as chairman. The report apprised the court that SIT had recorded the statements of several witnesses and later on a re-construction of the event was undertaken by a team of experts from AIIMS and CFSL. As the police officers involved in the encounter gave false locations; the SIT decided to have a fresh re-construction. SIT also visited Vadodara jail to record the statement of Dy. SP N.K. Amin who is presently lodged there. The recording of statement took six hours. The SIT, in the light of the above, conducted a fresh re-construction in which all the police officers involved in the encounter were asked to report. Tarun Barot, G.L. Singhal A.I. Syed, J.G. Parmar and police constables Chhatrapal Singh, Ajay Pal. Yadav were asked to report. However, only Singhal, Barot and Ibrahim Chouhan reported for the re-construction while others failed to report. Dovgra, head of the department at AIMS, Dr. Rajendra Singh of CFSL were present. The team pitched a tent at the site and got the entire process videographed. Bench comprising Justice Jayant Patel and Abhilasha Kumari heard Mukhul Sinhas application which pointed out that officers and witnesses after recording their statements before the SIT have retracted. He, therefore, urged the High Court to provide security to witnesses. Sinha raised five points in his application. He urged that Ramdu be appointed as the new officers in Gujarat to frame strategies for the ruling party, the BJP, as well as for the accused. That is why Ahmedabad-based senior advocate and activist Mukul Sinha has been arguing for over a year now that the SIT should be disbanded and the investigation and prosecution in the Gujarat riot cases should be handed over to the CBI with immediate effect. We have believed right from the beginning that the Gujarat investigations and prosecution should have been carried out by an independent agency such as the CBI. The SIT is in cahoots with the state government to save the accused rather than punish the guilty, Sinha said. According to senior advocate in the SC, Colin Gonsalves, it is a travesty of justice that the evidence that should have been used to nail the guilty in the Gujarat riots is, instead, being used to help them. If the Gujarat law officers are using SIT inquiries to help the accused, it strengthens the case for an independent prosecuting agency to take over the riot cases. The SIT was set up to deliver justice to the victims, not to help the accused, Gonsalves said. (Poornima Joshi - mailtoday.in) Sajjan blames NDA for riot taint Sajjan Kumar while facing a Delhi court for his alleged role in the killing of six men in the cantonment area during anti Sikh riot in 1984 has said that he was falsely implicated by the NDA government only to defame him and his party. Kumar is accused of inciting the mob during the riots. Sajjan also said that Nanavati Commission was set up during the NDA regime in 2000 to look into the incidents, which was no less than an attempt to misguide the members of the Sikh Community. He also accused the NDA regime by saying that the Commission was formed at a time when assembly elections were to be held in the state and it was done, to influence the Sikh community. Sajjan has also accused investigating agency of hiding important facts from the governor while seeking sanctions to prosecute him. Sajjan told the court that he had organised peace rallies and marches in the troubled area to strengthen Hindu Sikh unity. He had also donated blood on 5 November and questioned as to how he could be involved in the riots. The court has fixed the next hearing in the case for 22 July. Naga womens group calls for a decent dress code The Dimapur chapter of Naga Womens Hoho has asked the women of Nagaland to dress in a decent manner in order to avoid, rape, eve teasing and molestation. The call was given following an increase in the number of crime against women, in the state. The women group believes that dress like jeans, indecent and skimpy dresses generally attract or provoke crime. A resolution was also passed by the organisation which talked of action against women wearing indecent dress. Hukheli T Watsa, president of the Naga Womens Hoho in an interview said that the resolution, clearly emphasised the need and importance of dressing in modestly. He also said that it may not stop such practises completely but may help to bring down the number of crimes being provoked because of indecent dresses. The organisation has also felt that video films from Korea and Thailand are also said to have provoked crimes in the area as most of these films are full chairman of the SIT. He demanded that the investigations carried out by the SIT during past 6-7 months must be made public and a new FIR should be lodged. He also urged the High Court to assess whether SIT would be able to bring the facts to light. Taking cognisance of retracted statements the High Court directed the governments to provide security to witnesses. The High court lambasted the home department in very strong terms for its failure to appoint a chairman for the SIT. J.V. Ramudu of the Andhra Pradesh cader also expressed his inability to assume office pleading that he had undergone surgery in May this year and that the central government had not sought his consent. Bench comprising Justices Jayant Patel and Abhilasha Kumari expressed the view that the centre seems to have no control on its officers and the home department was considering High Court proceedings as a mere joke. Inspite of the courts direction to obtain the consent of the officers before recommending their names; the home department did not comply with it as a result the court has to reappoint a new person again and again. In his reply the senior advocate representing the Centre apprised that the joint secretary learnt about Ramudus surgery on 15, hence the lapse. The court observed that the central governments conduct was highly undesirable. It sought the details of processing at the home ministry. The central government suggested the name of three I.P.S. officers - Vivek Dube, R.C. Arora and R.R. Verma. The court after considering R.R. Vermas experience with para military force and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) decided to appoint him as the fourth chairman of SIT. It also directed the new incumbent to assume office within a week. He is the senior most officer appointed so far and belongs to 1979 batch. He hails from Bihar. Now the entire team including the chairman belongs to Bihar as Satish Verma and Mohan Jha also hail from there. (AG Khan) of sex and crime. These films have direct impact on the youth. Sano Vamuzo, chairperson of the Nagaland State Womens Commission, has also endorsed the points in the resolution by saying that indecent dress is one of the reason behind girls from the Northeast region facing sexual harassment. Breather to India as Saudi ready to help meet oil needs India gets 12 percent of its crude oil imports from Iran. But this supply of crude oil is likely to be affected as Iran has indicated that the supply may be stopped for the reason that India has not made payments for oil shipments amounting to Rs 25,000 crore which is due to the Iranian oil companies. In order to meet the crude oil scarcity the timely offer from the Saudi government to sell 3 million barrels of additional crude oil may come as a respite to India. The Communist party of India has charged the government, saying that the non payment of bill to Iran is because of Indian government succumbing to the US pressure. CPM general secretary has elaborated the facts in the latest edition of party organ Peoples Democracy. According to him the India government has acted under pressure from the US to limit its trading and commercial ties with Iran. Karat has further mentioned that in July last year, America imposed sanction on Iran, in a bid to scuttle its oil and gas industries. The US along with the European Union placed sanction on banking and foreign exchange transactions with Iranian banks and other financial organisations. There are also reports in which the US has asked India to source its crude oil from Saudi Arabia instead of Iran. RSS is not anti minority(!): former SC judge KT Thomas, former Judge of the Supreme Court, while speaking at a function at Kochi which was also attended by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has said that RSS is a disciplined organisation and it would be wrong to say that RSS is anti minority. Anti minority charge is baseless. He further said that the smear campaign that RSS was responsible for the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi must end for the organisation had been exonerated by the court. Thomas elaborated that the entire Sikh community cannot be held responsible for Indira Gandhis assassination. He said that he is a practicing Christian and became an admirer of the RSS in 1979 when he was posted in Kzhikode as a district Judge. SIMIs Munir Deshmukhs bail cancelled Bhopal: Sessions court reversed the decision of the lower court which had granted bail to banned SIMIs erstwhile leader Munir Deshmukh. Accepting revision petition of the state government the bail has been cancelled by sessions judge M.P. Tiwari. The petition followed an earlier decision by magistrate Ganga Charan Dube. Prior to this, Munir had filed an application in the C.J.M. court pleading that he did not want his case transferred to another court but advocate Parvez Alam on Munirs behalf argued that the case be transferred to the court of A.C.J.M., R.P. Sonkar. Earlier CJM Ram Gopal Singh had dismissed Munirs application, hence the matter was argued in the court of sessions judge Sushma Khosla who also rejected Munirs revision petition.

22 The Milli Gazette, 16-31 August 2011

COMMUNITY NEWS
Hindu commander killed in Jammu
Jammu: A Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist killed in Jammu and Kashmirs Kishtwar district has been identified as Subash alias Wasif, a Hindu member of the militant group, an army spokesperson said on 20 July. Subhash had joined the militant outfit more than 10 years ago. Police said that the Hizbul commander killed after a gunfight in the forests of Kishtwar, about 210 km from here, was district commander Sajjad Ahmad alias Mohammad Rizwan. However, the real identity was discovered after the body was brought down to Kishtwar town, the spokesperson said. Hindus started joining the militant movement in the mountainous Doda, Kishtwar, Rajouri and Poonch areas in Jammu region, primarily to save their community from terror attacks. Some were also lured by money and the power of the gun, according to police sources. Police officials say that the trend was not surprising as Hizbul Mujahideen had always claimed that their ranks were multi-religious. In 2004, when a local Hindu militant in Jammu and Kashmir surrendered, it created a lot of buzz that more Hindu youth could have joined separatist militants in the state. Rediff.com in 2005 quoted a top police official saying, They have no sentimental moorings for joining the militant ranks. Romance with the gun and lure of money are their main motivations, besides constant threats to their families. We have inputs about some Hindu youth having joined the militant ranks, but there is nothing alarming about it. Revolt in JD-U over RSS interference in Nitish government Patna: The ruling Janata Dal (U) in Bihar, which had gone into an overdrive to engineer defections in the Opposition camp has itself begun to face revolt from within. The Nitish Kumar government has been accused by lawmakers of cheating the common people in the name of development and also covertly carrying forward the RSS agenda in government schools. The lawmakers have vowed to "expose" the government's true face to the public. This new crisis has knocked at the government's door at a time when the government already is the target of the Opposition for its role in allotting industrial land to the kin of ministers; legislators and bureaucrats, and more recently, the government's silence on the brutal killings of innocent Muslims in Forbesganj district by the police. The accusation was first made by Mr Cheddi Paswan, a JDU lawmaker from Mohania, who accused the government of splitting the Dalit community and cheating members who solidly voted for the ruling coalition in the last Assembly poll. "There is, as such, no development work going on for the welfare of Dalits or Mahadalit community in Bihar on the surface," thundered Mr. Paswan while holding a meeting of his supporters at his residence on July 31. He even announced the launch of a campaign against the present regime. "It seems the people in the government have lost their mental balance after getting an absolute majority in last year's poll," Mr. Paswan known for his penchant for switching sides told reporters. He alleged that lawmakers in the Nitish Kumar government have been reduced to mere "puppets" having no power at all. "The man should resign first, before pointing fingers at the government and the party in public," shot back state JD-U spokesman Mr. Sanjay Singh today, reacting to his allegations. He said, "It's just because Mr Paswan has been denied a Cabinet birth he is crying foul. Why didn't he raise this point when the Mahadalit commission was being formed while he was a minister in the government?" Sources in JD-U said the party leadership had taken the rebel's utterances quite seriously and is all set to initiate disciplinary action against him soon. Another senior leader and suspended JD-U Rajya Sabha member Mr Upendra Kushwaha, too, blatantly accused the state government of covertly implementing the RSS agenda. "A large number of books related to the RSS ideology have been purchased from government funds for supplying to middle schools' libraries across the state in sharp contrast to carefullycultivated "secular" image of chief minister Mr Nitish Kumar in the media," Mr Kushwaha, convener of Bihar Navnirman Manch, told a press conference in Patna on July 31. Bias thwarts minority development, say reports The UPA governments minority welfare agenda could be floundering due to inadequate outreach and discrimination, the very drawbacks it aims to plug. Evidence from two new reports indicate despite funnelling over Rs 7,000 crore for multi-pronged plans in the past five years, discrimination could still be holding back socio-economic recovery of over 150-million Muslims. One of these reports, a four-year study by the Centre for Equity Studies (CES), blames the UPA government for lacking political courage to directly address Muslims for fear of being criticised. Separately,
Source: HT

A third of Indias trade is with OIC

The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) is the second largest inter-governmental organisation after the UN with membership of 57 states spread over four continents. Member countries include Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Egypt, Turkey, Iran, Uzbekistan, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Cameroon, Kazakhstan, Somalia, Libya, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and the Maldives. The OIC has also approved major Muslimpopulated strategic countries as observers, like Russia, Thailand and Bosnia. India has not got a similar status because of territorial disputes with Pakistan. Indias relations with the OIC worsened after the OIC announced a Special Envoy on Kashmir on September 28, 2009. India strongly condemned it and clarified that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and that the OIC has no locus stand in matters concerning Indias internal affairs. The OIC again commented on the Jammu & Kashmir issue and linked it with other disturbed countries in the resolutions adopted during the 38th Session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers in Kazakhstan from 28-30 June 2011. In spite of this diplomatic tension, India has historic, strategic, economic and cultural ties with OIC countries at an individual country level and in particular with Gulf and Mena (Middle East and North Africa) countries. Indias bilateral relations with most Muslim countries are strong and based on mutual cooperation and respect. Indias semiskilled and professional labour flow, and a substantial share of Indian citizens living abroad, is concentrated in Malaysia and the Gulf countries. During 2010, Indias labour flow to OIC countries is estimated at 6,41,351. Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Malaysia, Bahrain, Libya, Jordan and Sudan are the top employer countries for Indian labour among OIC countries. India is also a leading trade partner with OIC countries, parthe National Commission for Minorities (NCM) recently found that a flagship scheme to spruce up services and infrastructure were not benefiting their targeted community because investments were being made in areas outside Muslim habitats. In a recent probe on police excesses, the minority panel stumbled upon 10 schools either built or upgraded for granting Muslims access to education, but functioning in areas with few minority students in Bihars Araria district which is one the 90 minority districts targeted nationally. Likewise, over Rs 100 crore were spent to create Anganwadi centres to service disadvantaged Muslims, but all of these were in areas with scant minority population. Alarmed, the government now intends to shift to identifying minority-populated blocks, rather than districts, minority affairs minister Salman Khurshid said. The CES study by Harsh Mander, among others, analysed conditions in three Muslim-majority districts - Darbhanga in Bihar, 24 Parganas in West Bengal and Mewat in Haryana. It found that apart from failing to identify or address the actual obstacles, the scale of intervention was too small. Those behind implementing the plans lack conviction to directly battle the socio-economic structural discrimination faced by Muslims, the report states. (hindustantimes.com) Jamiat Ulama-e Hind Halal Trust reliable institution New Delhi: Malaysias Department of Islamic Development in a letter to Jamiat Ulama-e Hind Halal Trust has recognised it as the reliable and authoritative institution for issuing Halal Certificate to meat, meat products and slaughter houses. Department of Islamic Development of Malaysia, which is considered all over the Islamic countries as a standard and reliable institution for promoting halal products, had sent its investigation team to India which during the period from 29 May to 11 June closely inspected Jamiat Ulama Halal Trusts rules and regulations, its staff members, offices, method of inspection and certification of products, their supplier companies and other necessary procedures. After personally inspecting and making relevant enquiries the investigation team in its report described everything satisfactory and on the basis of the teams report, Malaysias Department of Islamic Development recognised Jamiat Ulama-e Hind Halal Trust as the reliable and authoritative institution to issue Halal Certificates. It may be stated that such certificates are issued by some other companies and institutions but because of certain differences in logo, name, spellings, seal etc., these were not considered reliable and doubt existed that unscrupulous elements can misuse these flaws. In view of this, Jamiatul Ulama-e Hind had set up a central institution, Jamiat Ulama-e Hind Halal Trust two years ago and for the convenience of people, also opened its branches in other areas, northern central, southern, western zones for promoting the import, export and consumption of healthy, halal and clean meat and meat products in the country and abroad. The Trust and confidence has won the trust of meat consumers in many Muslim countries and its Halal certificates are looked upon as very reliable. M.P. Catholics demands representation in minority panel Madhya Pradesh Catholic Council led by Dr Leo Cornelio is an organisation of Catholic Churchs. Nine Bishops from across the state, president of religious organisation and members of Catholic organisation together formulate plans and strategy of the church. Madhya Pradesh Catholic council in its meet praised efforts of Madhya Pradesh government for working in the direction of educational upliftment of poor and weaker sections of the society. Catholic council demanded from the government not to ticularly with the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Indonesia, Kuwait, Nigeria and Malaysia. The total trade with OIC countries during 2009-10 is reported to be Rs 7,50,554.55 crore, exports worth Rs 2,51,898.18 and imports worth Rs 4,98,656.35. India mainly exports machinery, electrical stuff, vehicles other than railway, iron and steel, pearls, plastics, cereals, aircraft, pharma products, animal products, cotton and aluminium products. It imports mineral fuels, fertilisers, chemicals, etc. Arab countries are a major source of Indias energy needs. Saudi Arabia and UAE are the leading suppliers of oil and minerals to India. A third of Indias trade is with OIC members. The trade analysis of the top ten OIC countries with India is given in the adjacent table. Besides trade, bilateral investment between India and OIC countries has also increased manifold. The UAE, Indonesia, Oman, Malaysia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Morocco, Kazakhstan and Kuwait have invested in projects worth $3328.96 million. The top investment destinations for Indian companies among OIC countries were Malaysia, UAE, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh, as of June 2011. Indian companies invested $469.97 million last month in OIC countries, which constitutes ten per cent of Indias overseas investment. India signed a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) with Malaysia, which came into effect on 1 July 2011. It is a comprehensive and ambitious agreement that envisages liberal trade in goods and services and a stable and competitive regime to promote foreign investment. Also, major OIC countries have bilateral investment promotion and protection agreements (BIPA) with India. (Shafeeq Rahman, tehelka.com) interfere in Christians run organisation and institutions. The department of education in Madhya Pradesh with its various measures like Surya namaskar, Bhojan mantra and Gita Sar is trying to divide the people of the state. The government instead of doing so, must strive to impart quality education among all sections of society. The Christian community is unable to get the benefit of minority schemes of the state and central government. In order to uplift the Christians the government must find ways and means so that the Christian community too, get the benefit which they are entitled to under various minority schemes. The promise made by Madhya Pradesh government that Christians too would be given representation in minority commission remains unfulfilled till date. The Catholic council in its resolution has demanded the inclusion of Christians in the commission at the earliest. Chargesheet filed in German Bakery case A Pune court has filed a chargesheet against Himayat Baig the main accused in the German Bakery blast case. Baig has been charged under various sections of IPC, including 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy) along with relevant sections of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Explosives Substances Act. On 13 February 2010, blast at the German Bakery in Pune killed 17 persons and more than 50 persons were injured. The filing of the chargesheet had got delayed by two months as the special judge hearing the case was transferred and also more time was sought by the defence. When additional sessions Judge NP Dhote read out the charges to Baig, he in return pleaded not guilty. On being asked by the judge as to whether he has anything to say, Baig replied that the case is totally false and I have been framed. The defence counsel A Rehman filed an application before the court in which he has mentioned that Baig is suffering from typhoid and should be examined in a private hospital. The plea was granted by the court. Next hearing of the case is on 30 July. South Delhi Darul Qaza settled 11 cases this year (!) Delhi: Zainul Abdin Mansoori said in a special meeting of Darul Qaza, South Delhi that it is generally found that most of the Muslims get their family disputes settled in a non-sharaee way and even in very minor disputes they take recourse to Ladies Cell, the result of which is nothing but repentance and needless expense. He regretted that inspite of a very large population of Muslims in South Delhi, very few people are aware of Darul Qaza. Earlier, secretary of Darul Qaza, Musharraf Husain while presenting its report said that for the present family disputes regarding marriage, divorce, khula', deed of gift, will, inheritance etc. are accepted for hearing. He said that cases regarding property disputes are accepted when the contending parties give an undertaking in writing that they will accept Qazi Saheb's verdicts. Musharraf Husain further said that this year from January till date a total of 17 cases were submitted of which 16 cases were submitted by women whereas only one case was referred by a man and out of the 17, 11 cases were settled and six cases are pending. Another officer of Darul Qaza, Anees Sidiqi said that a detailed report on Darul Qaza will be prepared and distributed among common people in Ramzan so that the maximum number of people could know about Darul Qaza and its objectives. Maulana Rafique Qasmi suggested that an appeal should be made to Masjid Imams that at least once a month they should apprise the people in their Friday sermons about the aims and objectives, importance and benefits of Darul Qaza South Delhi situated in Okhla market so that they could benefit from its services.

The Milli Gazette, 16-31 August 2011 23

INTERNATIONAL

Norway attack: Europes double standards

ALI KHAN MAHMUDABAD

nders Behring Breiviks trial is being followed across the world. Bilal Zaheer Ahmads trial is not. Breivik massacred 77 people. Bilal threatened to kill those MPs in England who voted for the Iraq War. Breivik is being called the attacker, the gunman, and a lone angry nutter while Bilal has been dubbed terrorist. Breivik might be sentenced for thirty years for his crime. Bilal has been jailed for 12, possibly 17, for planning or inciting terrorism. Breivik has no remorse for what he did. Bilal claims to be apologetic for making the threats on a US-based Internet forum called revolutionmuslim.com. While reading out Bilals sentence, the English judge, Mr. Justice Royce proclaimed you became a viper in our midst willing to go as far as possible to strike at the heart of our system. He went on to address Bilal and say what you stand for is totally alien to what we stand for in our country. It is true that Bilals hateful and threatening comments would be unwelcome, not only in England but also in other parts of the world by all societies. However, surely the hateful speech spouted by the British Nationalist Party, the English Defence League, Geert Wilders Dei Freihat party, Marine Le-Pen in France, the Freedom Party in Austria and the Swiss Peoples Party is also similarly alien to the European and Western Enlightenment values that are often spoken about with such reverence and pride. All these parties have different platforms and have varying opinions about the economy, education and health but they all also have one thing in common: Islamophobia. Christian organisations across the world were quick to disown Breivik and emphasised that he is not a Christian. The question that must be asked is why political parties and in fact a lot of the mainstream media do not also publicize how some of the worlds most respected Muslim leaders with large global followings have also denounced terrorism and those so-called Muslims who kill people in the name of Islam. So now the question is this: why can Bilal not be seen as a highly disturbed, emotionally unstable loner who needs psychiatric help? Why the need to connect him to Islam and emphasize the fact that he was in possession of jihadi literature? Breivik too wrote an exhaustive volume on his methods, beliefs and goals. He was a regular and active contributor to right-wing websites like The Gates of Vienna and The Brussels Journal and claims to have held meeting with a secret cell of the Knights Templar. He also followed deeply polemical websites like Jihad Watch and Atlas Shrugs. Why are those who are posting threats on these fora not being arrested and charged with hateful speech and incitement to violence? Some of the evidence produced against Bilal was similar online material and a facebook video. Breivik too had posted a video online and had boasted of facebook contact with right-wing organisations across Europe. Of course, Norway and England have different terror laws and different justice systems but the last few weeks have revealed how, to a large extent, there are deep double standards when it comes to questions of terrorism. Surely what Breivik did was unquestionably a terrorist act. The problem it seems is that while key resources and huge amounts of money are being devoted to fighting the war on terror, the nature of terror is presumed to be Islamic in origin even before any investigations are carried out. The worlds media, ranging from Murdochs Wall Street Journal to the usually more reasonable Independent, illustrated this by jumping the gun and positing that Muslims were behind the events in Norway. The Independent noticeably
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dispatched its religious affairs correspondent to Norway after the attacks who then promptly wrote an article entitled: Analysis: Jihadist Networks have long singled out Norway. Jeroen Rink, a Dutchman who became friends with Breivik and played online videogames with him received the manifesto hours before the attack. In it Breivik boasted that he had recently bought Modern Warfare 2 because it was the hottest game out there but also because for him it provided training-simulation. Of course, none of this was flagged by any government agency. The Guardian in its coverage of the Bilal case talked of the books he had in his possession and also claimed that Bilal had been radicalized in college. Of course implicit in this is that he was part of a larger network, while commentators across the

world have repeated ad nauseam that Breivik is simply a lone madman. Assuming without accepting that this might be true, the fact is that Breiviks actions are symptomatic of the rise of a culture of violent right-wing extremism across Europe. Matthew Goodwin, an expert on right-wing extremism at the University of Notthingham, says even though theyre [right-wing groups] not necessarily creating terrorists, they are certainly contributing to a culture within the far right that holds a potential for violence Unfortunately, it seems that the tendency is still to deny homegrown terrorism. People talk of the threat of Islam against the West. Why not also talk of the threat of the West against itself? The author is a research scholar at Cambridge University. He may be contacted at bilehra14@gmail.com

Former Intel Chief: Call Off The Drone War (And Maybe the Whole War on Terror)
NOAH SHACHTMAN
ASPEN, Colorado: Ground the U. S. drone war in Pakistan. Rethink the idea of spending billions of dollars to pursue alQaida. Forget chasing terrorists in Yemen and Somalia, unless the local governments are willing to join in the hunt. Those aren't the words of some human rights activist, or some far-left Congressman. They're from retired admiral and former Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair - the man who was, until recently, nominally in charge of the entire American effort to find, track, and take out terrorists. Now, he's calling for that campaign to be reconsidered, and possibly even junked. Starting with the drone attacks. Yes, they take out some mid-level terrorists, Blair said. But they're not strategically effective. If the drones stopped flying tomorrow, Blair told the audience at the Aspen Security Forum, "it's not going to lower the threat to the U. S." Al-Qaida and its allies have proven "it can sustain its level of resistance to an air-only campaign," he said. It's one of many reasons why it's a mistake to "have that campaign dominate our overall relations" with countries like Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia. "Because we're alienating the countries concerned, because we're treating countries just as places where we go attack groups that threaten us, we are threatening the prospects of long-term reform," Blair said. The "unilateral" strikes in Pakistan have to come to an end, he added, and be replaced with operations that had the full cooperation of the government in Islamabad. The effort needed "two hands on the trigger," Blair said. And strikes should be launched only when "we agree with them on what drone attacks" should target. The statements won't exactly win Blair new friends in the Obama administration, which forced him out of the top intelligence job about a year after he was nominated. Not only has Obama drastically escalated the drone war - there've been 50 strikes in the first seven months of this year, almost as many as in all of 2009. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta called the remotelypiloted attacks the "only game in town in terms of confronting or trying to disrupt the al-Qaida leadership." Plus, American relations with the Pakistani government are at their lowest point in years. And every time Washington tries to tip off Islamabad to a raid, it seems, the targets of the raid seem to conveniently skip town. No wonder the U. S. kept the mother of all unilateral strikes - the mission to kill Osama bin Laden - a secret from their erstwhile allies in Pakistan. But Blair believes the cooperation - not only with Pakistan, but also with the government in Yemen and with whatever authorities can be found in Somalia - is the only way to bring some measure of peace to the world's ungoverned spaces. "We have to change in those three countries," he told the Forum (Full disclosure: I'm a moderator on one of the panels here.) The reconsideration of our relationship with these countries is only the start of the overhaul Blair has in mind, however. He noted that the U. S. intelligence and homeland security communities are spending about $80 billion a year, outside of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Yet al-Qaida and its affiliates only have about 4,000 members worldwide. That's $20 million per terrorist per year, Blair pointed out. "You think - woah, $20 million. Is that proportionate?" he asked. "So I think we need to relook at the strategy to get the money in the right places." Blair mentioned that 17 Americans have been killed on U. S. soil by terrorists since 9/11 - 14 of them in the Ft. Hood massacre. Meanwhile, auto accidents, murders and rapes combine have killed an estimated 1.5 million people in the past decade. "What is it that justifies this amount of money on this narrow problem?" he asked. Blair purposely let his own question go unanswered.

JERUSALEM: ISRAELI "TOLERANCE MUSEUM" TO BE BUILT ON MUSLIM TOMBS

Israel's Ministry of the Interior has given the green light for the commencement of the construction of the Museum of Tolerance in Jerusalem, which is to be built on the site of Muslim tombs dating back many centuries, said a spokesperson on 3 Aug., 2011. "The permit given on Tuesday by the Ministry's district commission means that the digging for this project can begin immediately," spokesperson Efrat Orbach confirmed to Agence France Presse (AFP) without giving a precise date for the commencement of the work. Orbach added that "numerous steps" must first be taken before moving from digging the foundations to the actual construction of the building itself. The museum is to be erected on the grounds of the ancient Muslim cemetery, Ma'man Allah where many holy Sufis are buried, which has aroused the indignation of the Muslim population and uneasiness in Israeli public opinion. According to Israel's Department of Antiquities, 200 skeletons had to be exhumed so as to move the remains.Israel's Supreme Court, which had originally ordered the suspension of the work, gave the green light for the construction in January 2009, the promoters claiming that the greater part of the grounds served as a parking lot. The project, estimated at 250 million dollars, is being financed by the Simon Wiesenthal Centre which has built another museum in Los Angeles, California. Simon Wiesenthal, a Nazi-hunter of Austrian origin, died in 2005. This Museum of Tolerance "will have as its goal to promote tolerance and understanding between Jews, Christians, Muslims and others, but also between Jews themselves," said Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder of the Los Angeles Simon Wiesenthal centre in 2002. In February of 2010 dozens of Palestinian families called upon the United Nations to intervene to stop the construction of the museum which they called the "profanation of the cemetery" and "a violation of international conventions". (Adapted from "Jrusalem: feu vert pour un muse isralien situ sur des tombes musulmanes", published by Agence France Presse on July 13, 2011).

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24 The Milli Gazette, 16-31 August 2011

INTERNATIONAL

The Riots: is it Poverty or Greed?

YAMIN ZAKARIA
yamin@radicalviews.org) London: There is chaos in the stock market, and on the streets of London. Is there a connection between the rioters and the investors? The common thread is economics, as some argue that a lack of economic opportunities is causing, or at least contributing, to these riots; the youths dissatisfied are expressing their anger. Well so far, most of those wearing hoods and with faces covered have prepared for a different agenda, and that is looting. To date, no one has come forward elaborating the case for their violent dissent, and under those circumstances, one can only infer their motive from their actions. Indeed, lack of economic opportunities seems to be the primary cause, because the rioters are breaking into the shops creating economic 'opportunities' for themselves! If anyone seriously wants to examine the issue of economic opportunities, then they should look at places like Somalia, Ethiopia and other parts of the world where children are begging or working like slaves, to support families. They do not have the 'luxury' to riot for a Plasma TV or Nike trainers and they would be more than content with what we throw away on a daily basis here in the West. If those kids rioted for basic necessities, that would be a genuine 'riot'! So far, we have inferred their motive from their deeds, but what about deterrence. Once again, this is another proof that the legal system in the UK is inadequate in terms of deterring crimes; hence, despite the presence of CCTV cameras and crowds of people, the looters are destroying property, and openly committing theft. Even in poverty stricken countries, the youths do not rampage like this, because the retribution is swift and 'adequate'. Apart from the legal deterrence, values should prevent such acts from taking place, and that should be the biggest deterrence. What and where are those values? Everyone moans that parents and teachers should inculcate moral values in the children, but they are collectively up against a hostile society, where materialism and greed are the fuel for its engine. From cradle to grave, the masses are bombarded with media images and peer pressure for the need to acquire the latest: gadgets, trainers, clothes, cars. In capitalism greed is a virtue, not a vice. It is the combination of greed (the culture of materialism), freedom or lawlessness, coupled with a lack of legal deterrence that has encouraged the rioters to openly loot. It is unfortunate that some are trying to 'justify' these criminal acts using the age-old excuse that the police are racist; they deny the allegation of justification by stating that they are merely explaining the causes for such criminal behaviour. If the racism of the police is the cause then the battle should be with them, and not with the properties and shops. What will the outsiders make of this? Responses will vary depending on location and circumstance. However, most certainly, the citizens of Gaza, Afghanistan and Iraq will say: like Norway, London and the other cities of the UK are getting a very small taste of what we have been subjected to for decades, and this is ongoing. In the US, another gunman struck, killing eight people and such events are seen frequently. How ironic that after allowing Islamophobes to tarnish the Muslims with the terrorism brush, the West is experiencing terrorism directly from Islamophobes and from within, meaning the non-Muslim section of the population. For now, it has silenced those venomous snakes that spread anti-Islamic poison. The Muslim citizens should not be spectators. They should follow the example of the Prophet (saw), who created peace between feuding tribes by engaging with them. There is a responsibility to come forward and engage with the wider society to create peace and security for all, perhaps open the Mosques and invite everyone to a constructive dialogue, and in the month of Ramadan, the least we can do is offer prayers for peace.

British actress embraces Islam

U. S. wastes $34 billion in Afghan and Iraq contracting

Washington: The United States has wasted some $34 billion on service contracts with the private sector in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a study being finalized for Congress. The findings by a bipartisan congressional commission were confirmed to Reuters by a person familiar with the draft of the study, which is due to be completed in coming weeks. The analysis by the Commission on Wartime Contracting, details of which were first reported by the Wall Street Journal, offers the most complete look so far at the misuse of U. S. contracting funds in Afghanistan and Iraq, where more than $200 billion has been doled out in the contracts and grants over nearly a decade. It also gives the most complete picture of the magnitude of the U. S. contracting workforce in the two countries. The source, who declined to be named, said more than 200,000 contractors have been on the U. S. payroll at times in Iraq and Afghanistan -- outstripping the number of U. S. troops currently on the ground in those countries. The United States has fewer than 100,000 troops in Afghanistan and some 46,000 forces in Iraq. The tally of private sector contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan can be surprisingly difficult to obtain since many U. S. contractors are outsourced to subcontractors who depend on temporary labor, the source said. The report blames a lack of oversight by federal agencies for misuse of funds and warns of further waste when the programs are transferred to Iraqi or Afghan control as the United States withdraws its troops. The U. S. military is on course to withdraw all of its troops from Iraq by the end of the year and started drawing down its

Outsourced: US clinical trials go overseas

Instead of testing trial medicines on Americans, more and more of these tests are being carried out on poor people in faraway places. Russia, China, Brazil, Poland, Uganda and Romania are all hot spots for what is called clinical research or clinical trials. Now employing CROs - or clinical research organisations the industry is big business, worth as much as $30bn today. One country has experienced a boom like no other in this industry - India. Spoken English, an established medical infrastructure, welcoming attitudes toward foreign industry and, most importantly, legions of poor, illiterate test subjects that are willing to try out new drugs have transformed the Indian landscape into a massive testing ground for pharmaceuticals. Fault Lines' Zeina Awad travels to India to see what the clinical research practices look like on the ground. What role are the US regulatory bodies playing in overseeing the trials? Are participants aware that they are taking part in a clinical trial? Is the testing being held up against international ethical standards? (english.aljazeera.net)

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I embraced Islam after graduating from Cambridge. Prior to that I was a skeptical Catholic; a believer in God but with a mistrust of organized religion. The Qur'an was pivotal for me. I first tried to approach it in anger, as part of an attempt to prove my Muslim friend wrong. Later I began reading it with a more open mind. The opening of Al Fatiha, with its address to the whole of mankind, psychologically stopped me in my tracks. It spoke of previous scriptures in a way which I both recognized, but also differed. It clarified many of the doubts I had about Christianity. It made me an adult as I suddenly realized that my destiny and my actions had consequences for which I alone would now be held responsible. In a world governed by relativism, it outlined objective moral truths and the foundation of morality. As someone who'd always had a keen interest in philosophy, the Qur'an felt like the culmination of all of this philosophical cogitation. It combined Kant, Hume, Sartre and Aristotle. It somehow managed to address and answer the deep philosophical questions posed over centuries of human existence and answer its most fundamental one, 'why are we here?' In the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), I recognized a man who was tasked with a momentous mission, like his predecessors, Moses (pbuh), Jesus (pbuh) and Abraham (pbuh). I had to pick apart much of the Orientalist libel surrounding him in order to obtain accurate information, since the historical relativism which people apply to some degree when studying other historical figures, is often completely absent, in what is a clear attempt to disparage his person. I think many of my close friends thought I was going through another phase and would emerge from the other side unscathed, not realizing that the change was much more profound. Some of my closest friends did their best to support me and understand my decisions. I have remained very close to some of my childhood friends and through them I recognize the universality of the Divine message, as God's values shine through in the good deeds any human does, Muslim or not. I have never seen my conversion as a 'reaction' against, or an opposition to my culture. In contrast, it was a validation of what I've always thought was praiseworthy, whilst being a guidance for areas in need of improvement. I also found many mosques not particularly welcoming and found the rules and protocol confusing and stressful. I did not immediately identify with the Muslim community. I found many things odd and many attitudes perplexing. The attention given to the outward over the inward continues to trouble me deeply. There is a need for a confident, articulate British Muslim identity which can contribute to the discussions of our time. Islam is not meant to be an alien religion, we shouldn't feel like we've lost all trace of ourselves. Islam is a validation of the good in us and a means to rectify the bad. Islam is about always having balance and I think the Prophet's (pbuh) message was fundamentally about having balance and equilibrium in all that we do. The Prophet's (pbuh) message was always that you repel bad with good that you always respond to evil with good and always remember that God loves justice so even when people are committing serious injustices against you, you have a moral responsibility and a moral obligation in front of God to always uphold justice and never yourself transgress those limits. Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) said: 'Forgive him who wrongs you. Join him who cuts you off. Do good to him who does evil to you and speak the truth even if it be against yourself.' Islam's beauty really becomes to its own when it becomes manifest and it becomes manifest when you make it into a tool for the betterment of society, human kind and the world. The ideal from an Islamic perspective is for ethics to become lived ethics, to become an applied body of values and not remain unfortunately as it often is cloistered in the mosque of somewhere which is some more divorced from reality. yriam Francois-Cerrah became popular when she was a child for acting in the 90's hit film 'Sense and Sensibility.' Now she is gaining more popularity for being one of a growing number of educated middle class female converts to Islam in Britain. She has recently contributed to a series of videos on Islam produced in the UK titled (Inspired by Muhammad (pbuh)). (onislam.net)

The Milli Gazette, 16-31 August 2011 25

INTERNATIONAL

The Decline and Fall of the American Empire

PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS
The United States Government and its presstitute media have wasted time and energy creating hysteria over a non-existent debt ceiling crisis. After reading the news in the Ministry of Propaganda and witnessing the stupidity of the US government, the rest of the world is struck dumbfounded by the immaturity of the worlds only superpower. What kind of superpower is it, the world wonders, that is willing to go to the eleventh hour to convince the world, which holds its banking reserves in US Treasury debt, that the US government will default on the debt? Every country in the world now worries about the judgment and sanity of the country with the largest nuclear arsenal in the world. This is the achievement of the Republicans, who took an ordinary commonplace increase in the debt ceiling limit, an event that has occurred routinely many times over the course of my life, and turned it into a crisis threatening the world financial system. To be clear, there was never any risk whatsoever of US default, as President Obama has power established by President George W. Bushs Presidential Directive 51 to declare default a National Emergency and to set aside the debt ceiling limit and Congress power of the purse, and to continue to issue the debt necessary to fund the US government and its wars. That the American press ever took this highly-hyped crisis seriously merely demonstrates their prostitute status. The US public debt is rising too rapidly against US GDP, although it is still below the percentages during World War II. The problem that is ignored by the idiots in Washington and the presstitutes is that the debt is rising relative to the economy because the economy is not rising, but war expenditures are. Why is the economy not rising? It is not rising, because it has been offshored. What formerly was US GDP produced in Gary, Indiana; St. Louis, Detroit; Silicon Valley; and other US locations is now GDP for China, India, Indonesia, and other countries where manufacturing labor and professional services can be hired below US rates. What happens with offshoring? The answer is clear. US GDP, consumer income, career opportunities, and tax base leave the country. Corporate profits and bonuses rise due to the lower labor costs. Who is this good for? The answer is that it is only good for Wall Street, corporate shareholders, and corporate management. Their incomes go up, and the GDP goes down along with the employment opportunities of Americans and the tax base for government. The other destroyer of American economic prospects was the deregulation of the financial sector. Economists theorized that markets were self-regulating and created the illusion that greed was never a problem. This was music and dollars to Wall Streets ears. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and the Wall Street-owned US Treasury jumped on board. Those, who like Brooksley Born, were empowered by US law to regulate derivatives, were driven out of office by the Federal Reserve Chairman, the US Treasury Secretary, and the Securities and Exchange Chairman. Financial institutions freed from Glass-Steagall, freed from capital requirements, and freed from oversight, immediately took debt leverage on highly unrealistic bets to amazing heights. When the schemes collapsed, the Federal Reserve lent US and foreign banks $16.1 trillion dollars, a sum larger than the US national debt and larger than the US GDP. Where did the Federal Reserve get $16.1 trillion to lend? The Fed created it out of thin air with a stroke of a computer entry. While the Federal Reserve created $16.1 trillion in new loans for private banks, the bailed out banks bulldoze the foreclosed homes of the evicted Americans. So in America, the light unto the world, American citizens are thrown out of their homes in order that banks can bulldoze their homes. Only in America does this makes sense. And it is not only Americans who are being made homeless by US policies. Afghans, Pakistanis, Iraqis, Yemenis, Somali, and Libyans are also consigned to homelessness by American policy. Moreover, Americas wars against these peoples, together with the supporting military/security budget, account for 75% of the US budget deficit. Indeed, the cost of these wars exceeds the planned future budget savings from the debt limit deal. In other words, the cost of the wars that make millions of foreigners homeless use up revenues that the federal government could have used to keep Americans in their homes and teachers in the schools. As much as many Republicans profess to be concerned about the US public debt, Republicans were not sufficiently concerned to address their issue by cutting back the $1.2 trillion military-security budget or by raising the low tax rates on the mega-rich. Look at these July 30 headlines, just two days prior to the default deadline, from the online group, Stop NATO: US Military To Be Based In Australia To Confront China Call To Expand American Counterinsurgency Operations In Philippines US Could Upgrade Polish Warships For Baltic Sea Bulgaria: Pentagon Continues Upgrading Military Bases US Uses Romanian Air Base To Supply Afghan War Americas Africa Partnership Station In East Africa Mongolia: US Leads NATO, Asian NATO Allies In Military Exercise Libyan War: Over 17,000 NATO Air Missions, Nearly 6,500 Strike Sorti The Big Picture: War on Libya is War on Africa

hat in the world is a country facing bankruptcy and default doing conducting military exercises in Mongolia and Central Asia? What is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, designed to counter a Soviet thrust into Western Europe, doing in Mongolia? Why are these military expenditures necessary, but not expenditures to keep Americas homeless population from rising while homes are destroyed? Why do not the Republicans listen when mega-billionaire Warren Buffet says that the tax rate on his massive income is lower than the tax rate on his secretarys income? The answer is that the Republicans have an agenda: War. And Republicans want to fund this war, not by taxing high incomes but by cutting support programs for the down and out. To cut to the chase: Even if all the cuts actually happen, the weakening economy will result in new deficit projections that will wipe out the expected savings from the debt limit agreement. What then will the government do? Until US policymakers comprehend that the economy has been moved offshore and take steps to bring it home, there will be no solution to Americas debt problem or to its unemployment problem. Dr. Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury under President Reagan and was Associate Editor and columnist with the Wall Street Journal.

Native seeds in danger of being monopolised

Chilean president Sebastin Piera successfully pushed for ratification of a treaty that grants patent rights to companies that discover or modify plant varieties Fear is growing among environmental and indigenous organisations in Chile over the possible appropriation of native seeds by foreign companies, opening the doors to transgenic crops and their negative impact on biodiversity. Alarm arose because of several bills sponsored by the government of right-wing president Sebastin Piera, especially after May 17 when Congress ratified the UPOV 91 Convention, which grants patent rights over new plant varieties to those who have discovered, developed or modified these varieties. The convention of the intergovernmental International Union for the Protection of New Plant Varieties (UPOV) is a revised version of a 1978 pact that Chile had already signed. Ratification of UPOV 91 was a requirement of the free trade treaties Santiago has entered into with Australia, the United States and Japan. Congress began debating a bill to adopt UPOV 91 in 2009, but little progress was made until Piera intervened and declared it an urgent measure in March this year, to accelerate its passage. Social and environmental organisations warn that it may lead to dispossession of small farmers, loss of biodiversity and the introduction of transgenic crops. Genetic heritage 'threatened': "We asked for it not to be brought to a vote, but the government piled on the pressure, and the right generally supported it, because big companies want the Convention now, they want to start protecting their investments as soon as possible," Luca Seplveda, representing the Alliance for a Better Quality of Life/Pesticide Action Network of Chile (RAP-AL Chile), said. "Our genetic heritage is threatened," said Francisca Rodrguez, head of the National Association of Rural and Indigenous Women (ANAMURI). "Our seeds are once again in danger. Only a small amount of them will remain, not even enough for reproduction; they will be left behind like museum pieces, testifying to yesterday's reality." On the contrary, the UPOV 91 convention is nothing but beneficial in the view of ChileBio, a biotechnology industry association made up of Monsanto, Bayer, Dow AgroSciences, Syngenta and Pioneer, companies that research, produce, develop and sell genetically modified crops. "An already existing system is being perfected. No new system or farming method is being introduced in the country," Miguel ngel Snchez, head of ChileBio, said. He added that no change would be made in the "system of protection of plant breeders, nor in farmers' costs, nor in the opportunity to appropriate traditionally used seeds". However, concerned by the possible effects of adopting the UPOV 91 convention and the absence of consultation with indigenous peoples, a group of 17 senators brought a lawsuit for its annulment to the Constitutional Court.

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26 The Milli Gazette, 16-31 August 2011

INTERNATIONAL

Blackmailing Iraq: the latest American Ploy

KARAMATULLAH K. GHORI
According to the plans unveiled by Obama two years ago, the American forces in Iraq should be getting out of there, in their entirety, by the end of the year. December 31 is supposedly the deadline for this target to be reached. However, all this now seems to be more of window-dressing than an earnest effort to implement the withdrawal plan in its letter and spirit. The reason for it is to be traced back to the original raison detre of George W. Bushs invasion of Iraq, 8 years ago, on spurious grounds that have long since stood fully exposed before the world. Saddam Hussains alleged possession of dooms-day weapons of mass destruction was the alibi for the American invasion of Iraq. Bush had boasted that Saddams Iraq was a hotbed of international terror and intrigue and for the world to be spared of that scourge it was unavoidable for US, the global policeman, to strike at that root of global terror. But the real reason for the invasion of Iraq was to use its strategically vantage location as a beach-head for Americas imperialist advance in the region. Iraq was deemed as a potential threat to Israel and needed to be cut to size in order to obviate the threat to Israels vaunted security needs. Equally valid to the neo cons and ultra-rightist imperialists then in control of the Bush presidency was Iraqs potential value as a launching pad against Iran, touted as a mortal threat to Israel by its votaries in the Bush administration. So those pristine reasons for US military and political presence in Iraq are as valid today as they were when Bush cast the die in favour of war on its soil. Obama may have thought of himself as being more astute and clever than Bush. In other words, he may believe that US, on his watch in the Iraqi context could eat its Iraqi cake and have it too. Therefore, as the D-Day for complete withdrawal of American forces from Iraq has advanced, Iraq has been coming under increased, and matching crude, American pressure to make a formal request to Washington to prolong the presence of American boots on its soil beyond the cut-off date of December 31, 2011, and allow several thousandexact number not specified, yet--American troops to stay on for the purpose of training the Iraqis to get in shape for the onerous task of maintaining security in the country. Come to think of it, the Iraqi military in its present complexion is entirely a handiwork of the Americans. They have trained and equipped them. So if the Iraqi forces are deemed as being insufficiently- prepared or not trained enough to acquit with the task of keeping peace in their country once the Americans are gone, this should, then, reflect poorly on the American capability. If 8 years have not been enough to train the Iraqis for the task ahead, what is there to ensure or guarantee that continued American training of them would change them and make them combat-ready? The truth of the matter is that the Iraqi arm is being twisted, blatantly, to yield to Washingtons pressure and beg the Americans to leave a sufficiently large force--exact strength not specified--behind so that the long-term US agenda for Iraq and the region around it isnt affected. Ergo, it wasnt a surprise when it was announced from Baghdad, on August 2, that the Iraqi political parties had agreed to grant Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to conduct negotiations with the Americans for some of their troops to stay on in Iraq for training purposes of the Iraqi forces. The Iraqi government threw in the towel within hours, literally, of a statement by the soon-to-retire Chairman of the American Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, demanding of the Iraqis to make up their minds on the issue. That clarion call by the chief of US forces energized the US votaries in the Iraqi coalition to twist Malikis arm to relent. Ayad Alawi, a former interim PM during US occupation of Iraq, led the charge on behalf of his mentors. President Jalal Talabani, who owes his rise to this august office entirely to American patronage then got into the act to prevail on other political factions and parties to lend their support to Alawis push on behalf of the Americans. But it wasnt all the Iraqi political parties that succumbed to Washingtons arm-twisting. The maverick Moqtada Al Sadr, whose following among the Iraqi Shiias remains unflagging despite all manners of American threats and blandishments, refused to become a party to what is being touted as political consensus of Iraqi political factions to explore the possibilities of the Americans staying on, in reduced numbers, to ostensibly train the Iraqi forces. to their Kurdish proteges to manage their affairs without fear of intervention from Saddam Hussain in Baghdad. The Kurdish appetite for virtual independence from the rest of Iraq has been infinitely whetted under the American occupation of Iraq since the 2003 invasion. Masood Barzani has since been running the show in Irbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, like a de facto ruler and the government in Baghdad hasnt been able to stem the tide of Kurdish ambitions from swelling to a point where Iraqs virtual division is only a matter of time. However, the unresolved status of Kirkuk, in the heart of Iraqs rich oil producing region on the borderline between Kurdistan and the rest of Iraq, still stands out as a sore thumb. Not only a sore thumb but a dispute that remains intractable and has the potential to bleed Iraq along a deep ethnic divide. Kirkuk is coveted by both the Arabs of Iraq and its Kurds as their own. For the Kurds in parAbu Ghreib

Memories are still fresh in Iraq of the reign of terror its people were subjected to by the American soldiers and mercenaries who were immune from the application of Iraqi laws. They ran berserk and went completely amok because they were sheltered under American jurisdiction on the Iraqi soil. Abu Ghuraib was just one nasty symptom of the American hubris that came wrapped in the colonial-era coating of extra-territoriality.
Moqtada Al Sadrs opposition to American military presence on the Iraqi soil has long been a known fact and it seems highly unlikely that he would relent now when his perseverance on the issue is so close to yielding the dividends he set out to achieve. However, the Americans might think Sadrs lone opposition shouldnt be able to derail their plans to keep a strangle-hold over Iraq, under a new guise. They could be wrong; their blunder, yet another in an infinite series of miscalculations, could easily plunge Iraq into another long episode of violence and mayhem. There is more than one reason for the Americans to want to keep an active military presence in Iraq, even though it may not be so visible. A powerful reason is their unstinted support and commitment to their Kurdish clients who have enjoyed virtual autonomy, short of declaration of independence, under the umbrella of American patronage. The Kurds were insulated from Baghdads control as soon as the guns fell silent at the end of Gulf War I in 1990-91. Washington, with active support from London, managed to clamp a no fly zone over northern Iraq to hand a blank cheque ticular Kirkuk is seen as the key to their prosperity and an invaluable tool for the fulfillment of their long-nurtured ambition of statehood and sovereignty. The Arabs, precisely for the reason that they wouldnt like to see the Kurds endowed with the means to break away from Iraq, altogether, hate the idea of Kirkuk going under Kurdish tutelage. The Americans might think they can stand between the feuding Iraqi factions as honest brokers or referee. But while the Kurds may be beholden to them for this gratuitous role, the rest of Iraq regards this as an unwelcome prospect and would have none of it. In real terms, the Americans covet being in the middle on Kirkuk and the tense stand-off between the Kurds and the Arabs, for more than a purely altruistic reason. Their claim of being good Samaritans ought to be taken with a good pinch of salt. There are ample reasons--reasons of pure expediency sans any grain of altruism--for the Americans to see themselves as the arbiters on the festering altercation between the Kurds and the Arabs of Iraq. One is that an in-fighting Iraq torn by ethnic or sectarian fault lines would remain weak and

divided, and that suits the ambitions and longterm goals of the neo cons ideally. A weak and constantly wrangling Iraq would not be able to pose any challenge to Israel, and thats a goal above all else for those still dreaming of an American empire or, at the very least, an American century of which Israel would be a pillar of strength and oppression. But American foot-prints in the sensitive and fragile Kurdish area of Iraq also fit into the grand US design of being ensconced in an strategically vantage point from where they could not only keep an eye on Iran only but also on Syria and, lately, on Turkey, too. Iran has long been in the American crosshairs and a major reason--if not the greatest reason--for invading and occupying Iraq was to acquire a launch-pad against Iran. That goal, of unsettling Iran and pulverizing it whenever possible, remains intact and the change of command in the White House--from Bush to Obama-has made no difference to it. Obama is as jingoistic and recalcitrant on Iran as was Bush, if not more. But Turkey under a reformist AKP and led by a greatly- foresighted leader like Prime Minister Tayip Erdogan, is also, increasingly, becoming a source of concern to those in Washington--and there are plenty of them advising Obama--who dont relish the idea of the Arab world, in particular, and the rest of the Muslim world, in general, getting inspiration from the Turkish model. Turkey under Erdogan is showing a light at the end of the long dark tunnel for those in the Muslim world still mired in religious orthodoxy and the blight of autocracy. Turkey has lit a trail to let the Muslim world learn from its example and know how democracy and progressive Islamism can ideally blend under a multi-cultural and populist democratic system. That certainly should be a boon to all those in the Muslim world still looking for a template of reform and salvation, but a bane to those who seek to keep them perpetually groping in darkness. So Washington has unfolded a chessboard full of intrigues and the potential of causing a massive division among the Iraqis by still playing for high stakes and twisting the Iraqi arm to let them stay on in Iraq as trainers and friendsin-need. But all this design of entrapping the Iraqis into yet another mouse-trap, could come easily unstuck and unravel on the issue of immunity for American soldiers and contracted mercenaries from Iraqi jurisdiction and Iraqi laws. Memories are still fresh in Iraq of the reign of terror its people were subjected to by the American soldiers and mercenaries who were immune from the application of Iraqi laws. They ran berserk and went completely amok because they were sheltered under American jurisdiction on the Iraqi soil. Abu Ghuraib was just one nasty symptom of the American hubris that came wrapped in the colonial-era coating of extra-territoriality. There may still be some among the Iraqi leaders inclined to facilitate their American mentors and make it convenient for them to carry on their nihilistic game, under a new guise, on the Iraqi soil. But even these facilitators may balk on the crass, colonial, demand of immunity from Iraqi laws demanded by the Americans. Motqada Al Sadr, for one, has already served notice that his party and followers--and there are legions of them, some well-armed and battle-hardened, already--will have none of this insult to their sense of national honour and dignity. The Sadri representatives walked out of the meeting in Baghdad, on August 2, called by President Jalal Talabani, to endow Nouri al Maliki with a consensus to start negotiations with the Americans to stay on as trainers. Washington could soon learn, to its cost, that the Iraqi leaders, divided and factions-ridden, no doubt, still have some backbone left intact in them. Giving the Americans a free run of the Iraqi soil and immunity from the reach of the Iraqi laws, may prove to be unpalatable for most of them. Sadr, for one, will have none of it, and he will not be alone among the Iraqis whose sense of honour and national integrity is still alive despite American machinations to snuff it out.

The Milli Gazette, 16-31 August 2011 27

BOOKS

US: a rogue that refuses to relent (and reform) - i

Book: War on Terrorism or American Strategy for Global Dominance: Islamic Perspective on Afghan-Iraq War Author: Manzoor Alam Publisher: Vantage Press, New York Year: 2009 Pages: 408+XIV Price: $ 18.95 gation (p11). Sensing a deficit of democracy among Muslim countries, America decided to eliminate the deficit (13) by imposing its own brand of democracy. In a vision President Bush claimed, God told me to strike Al Qaeda (Afghanistan) and I struck them and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam (Iraq), which I did (p13). The imminent fear was Saddam was beginning to cooperate (p14). This chapter also examines the rise of extremism in Islam. II Though several people in America still doubt the twin towers collapse was due to Boeings. Under Operation Enduring Freedom U.S. was determined to strike Afghanistan, eliminating bin Laden and toppling the Taliban regime. (p26) Besides consolidating its hold on the country, the witch hunt for Osama and insurgents continued. Karzai was (and is) a puppet, sarcastically called the glorified Mayor of Kabul (p28). The country that endured the economic shock of a decade of Soviet occupation received a deadly blow by the Americans. In the beginning the Afghans welcomed the ouster of the Talibans with the hope that America would finance several projects like Hoover Dam the Little America and help its economy to stand on its feet. The geo political attractions of Iraq were far too overwhelming for American interests in Afghanistan (p32). Nation building came to a grounding halt (p33) Afghans felt cheated and began befriending Talibans (p34). Arrogance of the Americans, their condescending treatment of the Afghans is most irritating (p36). They look to Taliban for safety and protection. The insurgents are fighting for the independence of their country which is under American occupation (p48) the intensity of resistance is unimaginable (p49) Since the Taliban are no more dogmatic they have won back the confidence of the local people (p50). The British call them hydra-headed. For every chopped head two fresh ones surface (p50). The Americans committed a strategic blunder by changing the course of their mission from nation building to Osama and Taliban The whole Helmand expedition been a suicide mission. (p51) The so-called international aid is controlled by the countries who siphon them back to their own land The champagne and caviar consultants are being paid exorbitantly high salaries It comes to $ 500,000 per consultant (p55). People of Afghanistan were not poppy cultivators under a desperate situation, took to poppy cultivation (p58) which proved extremely rewarding and now people refuse to switch back to traditional cropseven some districts found cannabis cultivation extremely rewarding (p62). The American NATO adventure in Afghanistan has been a miserable failure (p65). These countries have to decide whether they want to exit Afghanistan with honour and dignity or be forced to quit. History testifies to the fact that Afghanis will not surrender. The British and Russians will testify to it if one has any doubt (p66) III Chapter III traces the genesis of the Iraqi war. The attack was justified under the pretext that Saddam had engineered the attack on Twin Towers, and hence, was a big threat to safety by piling up a huge stock of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons a sheer figment of imagination far removed from reality (p67). Pretexts were invented; justifications were manufactured to deceive the international community. The real cause was deceptively disguised; the American people were duped. It was motivated by an obsession to ensure military supremacy over Arabs and protect Israeli interests. Oil resources were the main targets. Since Saddams regime posed a threat to Israel it must be eliminated. For Bush it was a religious obligation to fulfill the prophecy of Christs second coming. Neo-Cons like Paul Wolfowitz, Douglas Feith and Richard Perle (the Prince of darkness) not only dictated policy at the White House they reduced the roles of partners to spear carriers (p70). Desire and need to invade Iraq preceded September 11 it even preceeded the Bush administration (p71) A phoney committee was set up to trace Saddams (non-existent) links with Al-Qaeda. Before the committee could absolve Saddam, the attack was launched, lest it should weaken Bushs plan. Dick Cheneys determination to remove Saddam by hook or by crook was boosted by reports that Saddam could not be removed by covert means. Richard Perle and a few others began manipulating intelligence (p77). Knowing fully well that nuclear weapons were destroyed; the moment was ripe to attack a weak Iraq. This led to passing of Resolution by the Senate by an overwhelming majority (73:23) by stating preposterous lies there were no weapons, and no links with al-Qaeda. British government played a key role in instigating the case for early war on Iraq. It issued a document (for which it had to later on apologize) which falsely exaggerated the destruction capability of Saddam. It was based on false and fabricated information. (p83) With regard to biological war preparations a C.I.A. report in which trailers were described as germ laboratories was released which was false, fabricated and concocted (and C.I.A. knew that Iraq was working on a nuclear arms programme. Some structures and aluminium tubes were described as meant for clandestine purpose (though its own experts believed these allegations a fraud). Purchase of Uranium for Niger was also highly exaggerated though the premier and the president of that country strongly refuted the claim. Attempt for a second UN Resolution in the Security Council approving military action did not succeed. France and Germany strongly cautioned against the military option. Bush felt paralysed because he had already taken the plunge. In fact, Saddam sent several emissaries to strike a deal and reach an amicable settlement - even concession on oil prices. The attack was strongly condemned. Robin Cook resigned from the British cabinet, so did Mrs. Clare Short for honourable deception (p99). Putin pointed out that the war had created a terrorist haven. (p100). Two committees, which searched for WMD after the fall of Saddam described earlier intelligence reports misleading and funny (p103). Though Britain had imposed two conditions before joining the war, neither Cheney nor Rumsfield cared a dawn about them (p107). The collapse of the Iraqi army was not the end of the resistance. It began a unique kind of resistance which rattled the American command (p. 107).

DR AG KHAN
Let the people of the world be mad at me Let the tide of time run against me Tyrants must be exposed who Torture and torment, agonize and brutalize The innocent, the weak and the meek Americas Crusade for peace is a masque to rob and kill millions. With the fall of the Soviet Union America assumed unbridled power and license to kill. To avenge 9-11 (Afghanistan) and to locate WMD (in Iraq). The real objective was to malign Islam which posed a threat to its derailed democracy and grab oil resources of the Middle East under one false pretext or other. Though there had been several studies such as Dilip Heros Secrets and Lies, Thomas Ricks Fiasco, Peter Galbraiths The End of Iraq, Frank Richs The Greatest Story Ever Sold The Decline and Fall of Truth, and many others, all lacked a Muslim perspective. This is what Manzoor Alams scholarly analysis convincingly establishes. I In chapter 1 Dr. Alam studies the background that prompted America to launch its Crusade. Demise of communism and the disintegration of the Soviet Union also marked the death of American liberalism (p1) which made the country unbridled imperialist. It began behaving like Ulysses unchained (p2). Its new conservative hawks, specially Dick Cheney, the Vice President, played the devils game and talked in terms of death, destruction and dominance (2). These neo-conservatives are sceptical about international protocols (4) and were committed to regime change They could not anticipate that the Iraq war would be a disastrous failure and counter productive. The policy of regime change led to the rise of the immoral doctrine of Preventive war which replaced the concept of pre-emptive war (p5). Based on perception of an imaginary threat from religious fanaticism prompted them to launch the war, as an act of virtue (p). Dick Cheney had recommended the invasion of Iraq before September 11 to monopolize oil resources (p10). Jews and radical evangelical Christians made them honour a biblical injunction to the second coming of Christ. Thus it became a religious obli-

To be continued in the next issue

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28 The Milli Gazette, 16-31 August 2011

ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVES

Islam ensures human rights

AHMAD WAHAJ AL-SIDDIQUI
N order to properly understand the theme of this article - how did Islam introduce peace and human rights? - we will have to have a peep in history before 7th century C.E. when the world in general and the West in particular were known for their dark ages. Then, no country had any constitution to govern; the might was always right and there were no takers for the rule of law. The executive, the law and justice were all vested in one man, the ruler. His will surpassed his own rule. To oppose him was to say goodbye to ones life. It is said that the Romans had justice. What justice? When the accused were devoid of any defense and just thrown before the lions or tagged behind the running horses or branded blind. Often fetters were put upon them to beg for their whole lives. Righteousness and fair dealing were nowhere to be found. Women had no status except that of a slave. Men owned as many women as they liked and called them wives or concubines. A woman had no right whatsoever in society, no right to ownership, no right to inheritance, no right of maintenance and no right to divorce. She was used as a tool to satisfy the sexual desires of men. A newly-born child was placed before the husband, if he accepted

him, he could be called a son otherwise the child was sold in the market to be a slave for life. The shadows of atrocities had become dreadfully long, the humanity stood oppressed by the criminals. The wolf-like men had bled humanity to despair. Mighty were free to devour the weak who lived on the mercy of the strong. The earth had straitened for the people searching for peace. Chastity of women had become a dream, trade caravans were plundered and free men were made slaves and sold in the markets. Idol-worship reigned supreme. Sacrificial killings made the blood of the weak was shed before the idols. The deterioration of the society knew no limits and it was a global carnage wrought by the mighty, arrogant terrorists. Who is a terrorist? He is the one who has his own laws, far beyond any religious restrictions, favours terrorizing methods to achieve his sinister motives and coerce mankind and kills innocent persons with impunity. Allah, the most Gracious, the most Merciful, intended to reform the most wretched condition of humanity and to give it a peaceful life. For this great purpose, He sent His Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). The Prophet (peace be upon him) stood against corruption, discord and disruption. In those days, the states had no rules, the rulers promulgated what they wished.

God gave the Prophet (peace be upon him) a constitution to govern and it was the Holy Quran. The Quran directed Believers to govern through Shoura (mutual consultation). (42/38). The Quran promulgated laws that laid down that the society consisted of men and women both of whom enjoyed equal rights. Human rights was a term unknown in the 7th century. The Quran decreed human rights. The Prophet (peace be upon him) defined rights and duties of each member of the society. The right of one is the duty of the other, so to infringe on ones right is to oppress the other, that is why the infringement of rights is made subject to reckoning and hence is punishable in the Islamic Shariah. The Prophet (peace be upon him) introduced a whole set of civil rights, called upon masters to pay the labour before the drying up the sweat of their brows. The Quran directed the rich to pay Zakat (poor-due) to eradicate poverty. Once Gabriel came to the Prophet (peace be upon him) and kept exhorting upon him to be good to the neighbours so much so that the Prophet (peace be upon him) thought the neighbour may be given a portion in inheritance (Sahih Muslim). The Prophet (peace be upon him) made the judiciary independent of the executive. The ruler and the commoner, Muslims and non-Muslims

alike, were treated at par by the judges. He defined crimes and their punishment and gave the right of defense to the accused. The Prophet (peace be upon him) liberated women from the bondage of men and said Islam treats men and women on an equal footing and gave women right to property and to own business. It made women to inherit as wife, mother, daughter and even in some cases as sister. The Quran enforced a very comprehensive law of property, according to which the right of the ownership is restricted to 30 percent to be given as donation or gift, while the heirs have the right to own the property as defined by the Quran. The Book of Allah has prescribed the shares of all the heirs, father, mother, sons and daughters etc., and how the property was to be divided between them. Islam stressed the modesty of women and declared adultery, incest and fornication as heinous crimes which pollute the society and progeny. These crimes infringe on the mans freedom of living with honour and dignity. Islam is the only religion to abolish slavery and framed laws that stipulate freeing of slaves for some offenses. Islam laid down the rules of trade and business and ordered Muslims to respect the contracts between the buyer and the seller. Islam enacted rules against speculation and monopoly for charging higher prices for the goods. In short, Islam laid down rules for all aspects of life and ordered any violation of human rights to be dealt with severely. It gave a death-blow to the rule of anarchy and terrorism.

Which charity is best?

ADIL SALAHI
We are always confronted by people who request charity. They may have a genuine case which needs help. How does Islam view such people and their action? Hakeem ibn Hazam, one of the Prophets companions, used to request the Prophets help, knowing that he did not refuse anyone. After giving him on several occasions, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said to him a few words that are highly significant. Hakeem quotes the Prophet as saying: The upper hand is better than the lower one. Start with your dependents. The best charity is that which is taken from what is in excess of ones needs. Whoever seeks to be contented God will grant him content, and whoever seeks to be self-sufficient will have Gods help in being so. (Related by Al-Bukhari). The Hadith focuses on two important points: the first compares the one who gives and the one who takes, and the other is giving to charity what we are in need of. We will look briefly at both points. The majority of scholars agree that, in the context of the Hadith, the upper hand and the lower hand refer to the one who gives and the one who requests help, respectively. Thus the Hadith urges people who have plenty to give away to those in need, while at the same time it urges the ones in need to refrain from requesting charity. The lower hand does not refer to the one who takes without asking, if he needs help; otherwise, people who really deserve help will refrain from taking zakat and charity, which could lead to defeating the very purpose of zakat, which is a very important and basic principle of Islam. Besides, taking zakat and charity when one is in need is perfectly permissible. It is contrary to Islamic principles that a person who does something permissible will be considered, as a result of doing it, lower than one who fulfills a duty incumbent on him. Indeed, the one who takes what is permissible to take may well be a better and more God-fearing than the one who gives. Ibn Al-Arabi says:

The lower hand is certainly that of the one who begs; not the one who takes without begging. Ibn Hajar says: The preference here is between giving and taking, which does not necessarily mean that the giver is a better person than the taker in every case. What he means is that giving is better than taking, but the taker may well be the better of the two. The second point concerns giving away what one needs. AlBukhari says: Charity can only be paid when one has what is sufficient for ones needs and the needs of ones dependents. It is not acceptable that one gives to charity what is needed for his own essentials and the essentials of his dependents. Nor is it acceptable to give to charity when one is in debt. The repayment of ones debt takes priority over charity, or sadaqah. To give to charity what one needs to repay ones debts constitutes wasting other peoples money, which no one is allowed to do. The question arises whether one can give in charity all that one has, leaving oneself poor, in need of help. It is well known that when the Prophet urged his companions to contribute to the equipment of the army, Abu Bakr donated all his money. The Prophet accepted that. However, this related to that particular occasion. Otherwise, scholars have made clear that this is permissible only if the donor is in full control of his mind and faculties, has no commitments and is able to withstand the resulting difficulty. Failing that, or if he has dependents who are not equally ready to tolerate the resulting poverty, he must not give away all his money. The best charity, as the Prophet outlines, is that which is given out of what one has in excess of what meets his own and his dependents needs.

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30 The Milli Gazette, 16-31 August 2011

REJOINDERS/OPINION/LETTERS
MG Milli Gazette Paaindabad. Allah-paak Zafarul Islam Saheb ko sehatyab rakkhe. Aamin. Jasim Mohammad, Aligarh 202002 (UP) jasimalig@gmail.com II I am from Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu). I used to read many magazines and papers which are all available. To be frank, I am very sorry to say that I havent seen a single issue of Milli Gazette in our city in my past news hunt and I dont know whether it is found somewhere beyond my knowledge. A pleasent new is that I got an issue from Mangalore and I am very much surprised to see a bulk of mind-blowing news in it. So immedietely I myself want to be a MG reader as well as i want to take it to other brothers even to our non-Muslim brothers without wasting any precious time. M.Omar Sheriff babasahebideacentre@gmail.com May Allah shower His blessing on Dr. Zafarul-Islam Khan sahib, editor of The Milli Gaztte. I wish him a very long, happy, peaceful and healthy life. India needs journalists like him. Shakeel Ahmad Frank, Gorakhpur (U.P.) IV With an exception of few states the majority of Muslim in this country speak Urdu, but the apathy of our state of affairs is that we dont have a strong Islamic oriented media in any language and more importantly in Urdu. Alhamdulillah now we can hope for a change. Shaik Zakeer Hussain (email to MG website) Website link Ref to the ad on your website about mostmerciful.com. This agakhani version of Islam is not the most proven one and doubts exist about some of their practices. My request is please dont popularise such sects which can create doubts in the minds of people about Islam. I just read an article about the existence of humans before Hazrat Adam- to me it can create more confusion. There are many better site to which your gazette can provide links to. Iqbal purpose1@gmail.com MG editor: The website in question is an advertisement and we do not necessarily agree with the contents of advertisements which are usually accepted unless they are clearly wrong and offensive. Anna Hazares Team out to Subvert Indian Parliamentary Democratic System In the name of fighting all-pervasive corruption, Civil Society group led by Anna Hazare is trying for the passage of strong and effective Jan Lokpal Bill ceding excessive powers to the Lokpal or ombudsman who will have jurisdiction over the PM, ministers, MPs, Judges and bureaucrats. He will this become a super power and this is clear legation of Democracy. Moreover, the very name and nomenclature of the Party which is led by Anna Hazare is wrong as it assumes that politicians and political leaders are uncivil. Anna Hazares team which is like a shadow government in fact represents forces who aim at not only subverting parliamentary democratic system but destabilize the country. It is therefore, the duty of all Indians who are wedded to Indian Secular Democracy to come forward and give a crushing defeat to thee forces which are deadly opposed to Indian Democracy. Dr. M. Hashim Kidwai, Ex-Member of Parliament Mayur Vihar, Delhi-110091 II In response to Pranab Mukherjee questionnaire, the opposition has unanimously told the government what perhaps the government itself wished to hear and what it wanted the Anna half of the drafting committee to know but could not tell. Perhaps this will make the Anna team realize how much out of the way the government had to go under coercion of Anna fast unto death. Anna team should realize that their tantrums can only delay the drafting of the bill, which, against the onslaught of the opposition, will be very difficult to pass in four weeks of monsoon session, which is the only time left before 15th of August. Will it be too much to expect Anna to call off his August 15 fast? Dr Mookhi Amir Ali, Mumbai 400054 drmookhi@hotmail.com III After trying to confuse the people by alleging that the Anna Hazare team is arm-twisting the government, though it has included 36 of the 40 key demands in its proposed bill and calling it as tyranny of the unelected; the Manmohan Singh government is trying to stifle Anna Hazares campaign for an effective Jan Lokpal bill, by imposing Section 144 in the Capital. By excluding Prime Minister and top judiciary from the ambit of the Lokpal bill and by ensuring a Lokpal committee dominated by the ruling class, the UPA only wants to drive the last nail in the coffin of the movement, which is trying to bring forth a genuinely empowered Lokpal. Syed Sultan Mohiddin, Kadapa (A.P) sultan_awaz@yahoo.co.in Wrong and unfair criticism Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad Union Health Ministers statement that gay sex or homosexuality is unnatural and a disease has been severely criticized by the media and some T. V. channels. Mr. Azads critics have gone to the extent of saying that it is the inherent right of the individual to have full freedom in sexual maters and they fully justify gay sex or homosexual activities. If freedomto gay sex is right and justified then the attempt to suicide should also be justified, on the ground that it is the inherent right of every individual to get rid of his/her life according to his/her desire. Homosexuality or gay is not only against civil society but contrary to natural rules for all living ones justifying or supporting gay sex or homosexuality is nothing but aping the morally bankrupt West and moral perversion. Dr. M. Hashim Kidwai, Ex-Member of Parliament Mayur Vihar, Delhi-110091 Has Vastanvi been wronged? It is unfortunate the way Ghulam Mohammad Vastanvi, the former vice chancellor of Darul Uloom Deoband seminary, was summarily

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dismissed from his office. Significantly, his dismissal took place despite a panel formed to probe the allegations against Vastanvi had failed to prove the charges against him. This incident has proved to be a matter of shame for south Asia possibly most famous Islamic seminary, which is otherwise known for its moderate views. There is absolutely no doubt that Gujarat riots is a blot on Indian modern history. It is a fact that despite having their rights the Muslims in Gujarat are denied benefits or help from the states in most terms. In rural areas and urban slums poorer Muslims are in worse shapes. Few Muslims in Gujarat are possibly in better shape because of their own strength and endeavour. The state is no way responsible for those few Muslims prosperity. Following the 2002 riots, Muslims in Gujarat have got the only consolation prize that some committees have been formed to investigate the cases of attacks against the Muslims. It is not that much heartening, (as mentioned by some) to note that Gujarat has not seen communal unrest for many years now because that what it should be- that the Raj Dharma. But whatever the situation the state pluralistic nature needs to be protected at any cost, and a more accommodating approach for all is required towards a better nation building. Vastanvi views should not have been misconstrued as prejudiced ones. He has been misunderstood and it certainly sends out faulty message in a democracy like ours. Aziz A. Mubaraki azizmubarki@gmail.com NCM takes stand for falsely implicated Muslims The recommendations made by NCM (National Commission for Minorities) in the case of Mecca Masjid blast comes as a whiff of fresh air to the families of the innocent Muslims who were falsely implicated in the case. The 21 Muslim boys who were wrongly framed and jailed in the bomb blast case had to face incalculable trauma until they were released. The compensation of Rs.3 lakh recommended to be paid to each of the boys, though insignificant when compared to their travails, is a laudable aspect. The NCM has rightly demanded action against the guilty policemen, besides asking the compensation amount to be recovered from their salaries. It remains to be seen whether the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Mr.Kiran Kumar Reddy has the resilience to heed to the NCM. Syed Sultan Mohiddin, Kadapa (A.P) sultan_awaz@yahoo.co.in Muslim leaders and Muslim reservation Minority Welfare minister cum law minister Salman Khurshid said Reservation is not solution of all problems in a T.V. programme (ETV/Sachhi Baat on 23 July. It is really matter of Ummahs pity that Muslim name sake leaders dont have courage to speak truth and facts. Does he mean that Muslims problem and injustices would be solved by Commissions, Committees, 15 Points Programmes, NCPUL, Congress elections manifestos, Congress leaders promises etc? That is why Milli Council initiation for congregation about Muslim Reservation at Jaipur diminished due to timid Muslim leaders. Reservation lifted the status of Dalits and SCs etc. That is UPA gives 2175 cr. For minority and establish 275 high standard schools for others because these schools would be established very far off Muslim areas S. Haque, Patna Bomb-Blast-Barbaric and Condemnable The recent triple bomb-blasts in Mumbai which killed 19 persons and injured 129 are barbaric and highly condemnable. It is an attack on peace, communal harmony and national unity. No religion allows killing of innocent persons. Islam means peace and submission before almighty God. The Quran says that murder of innocent amounts to murder of the entire mankind. Islam stands for peace, harmony and human brotherhood. Islam abhors terrorism, violence and shedding blood of innocents. In spite of these religious teachings there are terrorists in Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and Christians. Terrorists of all faiths deserve deterrent punishments. After impartial enquiry and investigation people responsible for these Bombblasts are awarded death punishment. G. Hasnain Kaif, Bhandara (M.S.) 441904 Harijans Yes, Harijans are Hindus when we riots we lead, And Harijans are Hindus when votes we need; But when temple bells chime, Or at food and drink time, Harijans are Harijansa polluting breed. Badri Raina badri.raina@gmail.com Give them the gallows The Supreme Court judges have rightly said that the encounters carried out by the police personnel are done to order, premeditated, cold blooded, strategically timed and positioned killings of inconvenient citizens. The worse aspect of it is that such murders are committed to earn the rewards and gratitude of the bosses in politics. If such counter specialists have been strutting around with a swagger, it is because of the patronage of the ruling politicians which they enjoy. The judges are right. These murders should be considered the rarest of the rare and given capital punishment. It is time the courts make a few examples by meting out the extreme penalty. Even their handlers, the politicians who endorse such killings and protect the killers should be brought to book. Dr Mookhi Amir Ali, Santacruz West, Mumbai 400054 drmookhi@hotmail.com Blasphemy While the Indian judiciary and political leaders have time and again helped Muslims and others in case of blasphemy, I have time and again and in fact every hour found that web portals of Indian news giants help people to blaspheme in defiance of Indian laws that prohibit the same. Each news portal has a team that is supposed to check comments before posting on their sites. Today is the beginning of Ramadan and I was checking timesofindia.com and read the comments at this article http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ india/Sex-with-young-girls-has-become-luxury-of-rich-KeralaHC/articleshow/9445455.cms It was full of insult against the wife of prophet hazrat Aisha and the abuser spread foul against the prophet. The reason I am writing this mail to you is so that you may take proper action so that the government directs these news paper

portals to respect freedom of speech and not let it turn to freedom of blasphemy, vulgarity and abuse. No doubt such irresponsible attitude on part of news portals to post blasphemy even after reading it may lead to a polarized society and it will help the divide and rule and extremist policies. So I urge that through you either some legal consequence should result that should let the news portals respect freedom of speech in the proper manner. Danish danishshakeel@rediffmail.co Data collected by MP is a mirror to Millat When Muslim demands justice government constitutional way to keep in abeyance the justice instituted Sachar Commission. Now DATA is vital important. BJP M.P. Krit Somaya collected Data and details of terror bomb blasts how many killed what were losses and how many got compensations? Have you heard any Muslim M.P., M.L.A., Milli organisation even Minority Commission collected such data and anti Muslim riots detail like loss of properties. Loss of human life, compensation, riots commissions report etc. whose responsibilities are to collect Data. S. Haque, Patna Beware of American Imperialism Indo-US nuclear deal of 2008 has made our country slave of American imperialism. Indias defence orders to American companies amounts to Rs forty thousands crores. Indias present pro U.S. and pro Israel foreign policy is against our national and security interests. For 48 years Indias foreign policy, founded by Jawaharlal Nehru, was anti U.S. anti Israel. It was based on truth, Justice and was in national interest. All the oil rich Muslim Arab countries have been Indias friends and export markets, about 25 lakhs Indian employees and workers there have been sending billions of foreign exchange to India. UPA governments present pro US and Israel and anti Arab and anti-Palestine and Afghanistan foreign policy in unjust and detrimental to our national interests. G. Hasnain Kaif, Bhandara (M.S.) - 441904 UPAs Lokpal Bill, Jehangirs Insaaf? Emperor Jehangir, known as the great dispenser of justice, had a bell in his palace with its string hanging outside on the street for anyone seeking justice or having a grievance to pull the string. The complainant did not have to fear of being beheaded for insufficient reasons for ringing the bell, because the Lokpal bill which is in parliament today was not in force in Jehangirs kingdom. The UPAs Lokpal bill provides for 2 to 5 years jail and 25000 to 2 lakhs fine. Dr Mookhi Amir Ali, Santacruz west, Mumbai 400054 drmookhi@hotmail.com Slut walk (Besharmi Morcha) in Delhi It refers to Slut Walk organised by some activists in Delhi on 31 July at Jantar Mantar perhaps on behest of some fashion-designers under the banner of Besharmi Morcha. It was indeed a matter of satisfaction that women coming for the Slut Walk avoided wearing indecent dresses like are done in such events in foreign countries. No one can and should deny that females should get respect in our male-dominated society apart from being safeguarded from sexhungry men in our highly-polluted system. However it also remains a bitter fact that no government can practically provide security and safety to each and every woman round the clock from sex-hungry men present everywhere in our society. Therefore it becomes duty of women themselves to safeguard them by avoiding wearing indecent dresses so as not to attract sex-hunger of men in the society. Even prominent IPS woman police-officer Kiran Bedi has also echoed her views likewise. Major Indian religions also require adequately covering dresses for girls. Deep neck, low-length or sleeveless tops which do not adequately cover body-parts like chest, under-arms or waist-line are vulgar dresses which can be taken as an attraction for eve-teasing or ragging and should be avoided in self-defence by women. Madhu Agarwal, Delhi-6 subhashmadhu@sify.com Izharul Haque selected for Bihar Sikcha Ratan Award Prof. A. M. Izharul Haque has been nominated for 2011 Bihar Sikcha Ratan Award for his contribution in the field of education. He has established many educational institution and library in Vaishali. He native of village Chand Pur Fatah, Block Pate Pur, Distt. Vaishali, Bihar. S. Haque, Patna An advice to Yeddyurappa Yeddyurappa is not fully responsible for illegal mining the earlier governments are also responsible for these illegal benefits even the BJP stalwarts are not innocent. They also made snan in the flowing river. In this backdrop the coercion of BJP to resign Yeddyurappa is unfair and indicates bias with Yeddyurappa as he is not a Brahman. If Mr. Yeddyurappa has strong support for his candidate he can detach him self from BJP and form Karnataka BJP (KBJP) or Secular BJP. Muslims, Christian and Dalits will give him full support to form his government easily. The central BJP being a non-secular party will not be able to garner the votes of Muslims, Dalits and Christians hence no chance of success in the next elections.The personal efforts of Yeddyurappa made it possible to bring it into power Mr.Yedurappa can make alliance to JDS Dr Maqdoomi, Hyderabad drmaqdoomi@yahoo.com Hospital and its service Huge multi-disciplinary five star hospitals mushrooming all over the country are given very many sops by the government like heavily subsidized land, hefty tax concessions, special water charges, very liberal FSI, many tax exemptions etc. What these hospitals have to do is to give an undertaking that these posh hospitals will render free treatment to the economically weaker section of the society. This undertaking remains on paper. The hospitals do not fulfil it and, worse, the government does not enforce it. The apex court has rightly ordered that the crowded government hospitals must consider these private hospitals as an extension of the public hospital and feel free to refer the extra patients to them. The private hospitals, towards the fulfilment of their commitment, are ordered to treat them free. The court has rightly said that these hospitals do not really welcome the poor patients. Also the glittering faade, the severe looking security and the stunning lobbies of the hospitals

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The Milli Gazette, 16-31 August 2011 31

REJOINDERS/OPINION/LETTERS
intimidate the poor Indian. These hospitals, as a part of their social obligation, must see that the poor Sudamas are not blinded by the shine of Dwarika palace. Dr Mookhi Amir Ali, Santacruz West, Mumbai 400054 drmookhi@hotmail.com American economy falters The downgrading of the USs fiscal stature by one of the three rating agencies Standard& Poors doesnt come as a shocker. The faulty policies of crony capitalism had already rattled its financial behemoths and the decade-long war-mongering pushed by the greed to occupy the worlds natural resources had contributed to the fiasco. More appalling was the manner in which the US-led West coerced almost all the world nations to open their economy to the global market in the name of globalizationwhich has made the whole world susceptible to collateral disaster. The Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh should draw a lesson from the USs diminished financial standing, and he should refrain from pushing the neo-liberal reforms agenda. Syed Sultan Mohiddin, Kadapa (A.P) sultan_awaz@yahoo.co.in R.S.S., Hitler and Breivik Anders Behring Breivik Norwagian terrorist killed 76 innocent people in Oslo. His net exposed that his group (fanatic) praised RSS and other Hindutwawadi groups of India. For RSS, senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh said Sangh was bomb making factory. H.M. of India P. Chidambaram said that responsible for recent bomb blast were close to RSS and BJP. (25 July 11) Ex Shiv Sena stalwart Sanjay Nirupam now a senior Congress leader said ISI funding BJP via Reddy Brothers (26 July 11). For RSS Hitler has been ideal who killed millions Jews. Birds of same feather. Praise each other. S. Haque, Patna RRs acid test Now, with the withdrawal of stay by Chennai High court, the deck is cleared for the release of the film Aarakshan. Once the censor board clears a film any efforts to sabotage its release should be considered illegal. It should be the Home ministrys duty to see that efforts of organizations like Chhagan Bhujbals Akhil Bharatiya Mahatma Phule Samata Parishad and Ramdas Athawales Republican Party of India to disrupt the release of the film. RR Patil should put on notice the leaders of Mahatma Phule Samata Parishad, Republican Party of India or any others that the leaders will be primarily held responsible should their cadres and followers indulge in any demonstrations which may result in injuries, damage to property or breach of peace. This is acid test for RR Patil not to allow lawlessness to prevail. Dr Mookhi Amir Ali, Santacruz West, Mumbai 400054 drmookhi@hotmail.com Why the U.S. should work out a political solution in Libya Rep. Dennis Kucinich gives ten reasons why the U.S. should work out a political solution in Libya rather than a military intervention. But who listens? 1. It is unconstitutional. Article 1, Section 8 of the United States Constitution gives Congress the war power. The president has made it clear he believes he does not need Congressional consent to conduct this war. If Congress does not challenge this war, there will be more wars to follow. 2. It is illegal. The War Powers Resolution was passed over a presidential veto to allow the president latitude to respond when there is an imminent threat to the U.S. while retaining the constitutional duty of Congress. Even the Presidents own top legal advisers at the Pentagon and Department of Justice determined the War Powers Resolution applies to the war in Libya. 3. Americans dont want it. A majority of Republicans, Democrats, and independents alike think the U.S. should not be involved in Libya. 4. Distraction. The failing economy demands the full attention of Congress and the president. The American people have little patience for less, especially for a war of choice. 5. Cost. The U.S. has spent $750 million so far for a war locked in stalemate. It was supposed to be a quick -- and therefore relatively inexpensive -- job. Iraq was too. 6. We are paying for NATOs war. 7. War to protect civilians is killing civilians. According to the Washington Post, a NATO blast flattened a two-story house, killing two children and seven adults on Sunday. This war was sold to Congress and the American people as a humanitarian war meant to protect Libyan civilians. U.S. participation is fuelling a civil war. Civilians die in wars. PA Mohamedameen (via email) Obamas solution to Middle East crisis No doubt after US Prez Obamas press conference, Israel is in grave danger but without out-of-box solution. Israel cant overcome its existential problem. Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel is certainly not over-reacting when with alacrity he jumped to press release recently that this formula of Obama (that the solution of Israel-Palestine problem lies in reverting back to 1967 borders with mutually agreed swaps of territories and guarantee of Israel security by USA & Allies) is unacceptable to Israel because it is as good as indefensible borders of Israel. No doubt Obamas formula (with Hillarys backing) is the sure recipe for the total annihilation of Jews but Netanyahu is unable to properly analyze and comprehend the source of real danger. As for danger from indefensible border, it can be reduced to great extent by swapping territories and Israels security guarantee by USA & its Allies. But Israel is unable to understand that the real danger comes from two State theories and Islamic fundamentalism & fanaticism. And this danger even USA & its Allies are utterly incapable of warding-off, in their present global political order paradigm. Due to historical, religious and cultural reasons USA mostly gets influenced by UK. That is the reason USA is still carrying the baggage of UK (where after conquest of territory by UK from Ottoman Empire and Balfour agreement etc and two World Wars, UK tried to enforce two nation theory, one country Israel for Jews and other for Muslims, Palestine) and USA has accept and pursued this two nation theory of UK. Hem Raj Jain, Mankato, MN - 56001, USA jainhemraj1945@gmail.com Peace is better than war There is an old adage in Gujarati language that Je ne suze avadi

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ja budhdhi, durdasha seer per farey, means the misfortune (ruin) is rotating over the head of that person, who is indulging in crooked behaviour in his sense and intellect. Col. Gaddafis unrepentant and unyielding attitude has entangled him in disastrous events for himself, his family and his country people. When this is being written on 2 May 2011, on 30th April, an hour after the declaration of one sided cease fire by Col. Gaddafi and his offer for Peace Consultations, not paying any head to, in an air attack by the British and France led NATO army, on the residence of Col. Gaddafis younger son Saif-al-Arabs house, in which Gaddafi was also present. In this air attack Saif and Saifs brothers three children all under 12 years (Gaddafis grand children) were killed where as reportedly Gaddafi and his wife miraculously saved. It is high time now for Gaddafi to think twice before he leaps. The sooner he compromises with his country rebels the better it is for him and his country. Otherwise the entire world knows what Libya shall face. Laya that kya Sikander, kya le gaya sath apne, Khali thei hath do no bahir kafan se nikle. Y.R. Pathan, Kathor-Gujarat Why is the Neocons Biased towards American Muslims? American Muslims do not cooperate with law enforcement probes into violent members of their community is a big lie. We should all agree that it is wrong to blame the entire Muslim community for the wrongdoing of a few. Guilt by association is not the American way. It is true that some American politicians are trying to deny that theres a violation of civil rights of Muslims in USA. The American constitution should protect the civil rights of American Muslims. Some say that there are too many mosques in the USA. So what is wrong? Is it wrong for Muslims of the USA to congregate for the purpose of praying five times a day? Are prayers unconstitutional? Inflammatory speeches from prominent American politicians create a fertile climate for discrimination against Muslims.Since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, a steady stream of violence and discrimination has targeted Muslims, Arabs, Sikhs and South Asians in the United States. In each city and town there is a sense of fear that pervades Muslim lives -- fear of violence, bigotry and hate. The headwind of intolerance manifests itself in many ways. The Justice Department in USA passed a grim milestone last month when it secured a guilty plea from a man who torched a playground at a Texas mosque: He was the 50th defendant charged in a federal criminal case of post9/11 backlash. Muslim complaints about workplace discrimination have increased 150 percent since 9/11; many Muslim children are harassed at school -- called terrorists and told to go home. The atmosphere of witch-hunting and mistrust must be stopped Kodimirpal (via email) Zamzam water The miracle of Zamzam water is the proof of truthfulness of Islam. The Almighty is supplying the Holy water to crores of Muslims who visit Mecca for Hajj or Omra since last 4000 years. It is the legacy of Ishmael who is the son of Abraham. Abraham is the forefather of Jesus Moses and Mohammad. No such wonderful spring pertaining to religion is found in any other parts of the world. The people of other religions should ponder over this miracle. This material help of God the spiritual help is the Holy Quran which is original guidance to all the humanity. And third miracle is the life of Prophet Muhammad whose every moment has been recorded and serves as role model to all men and women. Who ever reject this truth he is dubbed as Kafir and will be sent to Hell for ever. Dr AH Maqdoomi Gulbarga drmaqdoomi@yahoo.com Sonia's operation outside India It is not the first time when Indian medical centres had to eat a humble pie. We must wish Sonia for a speedy recovery and a long life. But the way Indian doctors and health centres were looked down upon, it will naturally send a wrorg impression and message of our heath facilities. Prior to it, Mr. Manmohan Singh was operated upon by foreign doctors though in AIIMS, New Delhi. It has exposed the lacunas of our hospitals and doctors. It amply proves that the medication in India is not at par with its counterpart.Can AIIMS or PGI, Chandigarh be trusted or put up as world class medical body? Wakeel Ahmad, Gaya. wakeeldel@gmail.com "Islamic terrorism" or "Jihadism" is not accurate Whenever a discussion is made on terrorism, terms like "Radical Islam", "Jihadism", "Jihadis", "Islamic extremism" etc are used frequently by scholars, so-called educated class and media. Muslim scholars, who usually are not aware of Islamic history and conspiracies behind the war on terror, use these terms frequently in their columns and speeches while a section of Muslims is always opposed for linking Islam with terrorism or using terrorism with Islam. It is true that there are various Muslims organizations across the globe which are fighting for certain causes. Some of them are fighting for an independent country, such as Taliban in Afghanistan, Palestinians in Palestine, Al-Shabab in Somalia and others in different areas across the globe. The activities of these resistance groups are limited to their own countries. These resistance groups carry out their activities because the international community does not want to listen to the voice of the people where some groups have taken up weapons in their hands. The international community is not playing a role in ending interference in and occupation of those countries. There is an organization called Al-Qaeda which has various branches in various countries, certain groups have affiliated themselves to it in order to enhance pressure and to establish their own network. Some countries also help some Muslim and non-Muslim groups secretly. It is hard to establish which organization is getting help and weapons from where, and which countries are supporting them. Few media reports suggest that Israel had supported rebel groups in South Sudan. India has always been blaming Pakistan for sending the terrorists in Indian territories to create panic and terror. As for Al-Qaeda, there are much cocked up stories and myths. How this organization became so strong as to threaten peace of the world and US is a matter of discussion. United States claims that Al-Qaeda is behind the 9/11, but it has still not presented proofs to establish its claims, and has not replied to certain questions raised by various personalities over this attack. Suffice to say that every organization has certain causes behind its activities. You could call

it terror attacks, or simply attacks, or activities of certain groups. Everyone can select the term as per his political atmosphere, as we can see the atmosphere in terror attacks. If Muslims are involved then it is a terror attack, if non-Muslims are involved then it is simply an attack. What appears is that all the above organizations are not fighting for establishing an Islamic Khilafat, nor are they using violence to establish an Islamic state across the globe. When their causes are different and their actions and aims are political, how can they be connected to Islam or Islamic terrorism? If they were fighting for Islam, and for this cause they kill innocents and use violence as a tool to spread Islam, then we can say that it is Islamic terrorism or it is Jihadism, or that these are Jiahdi groups. But, they are not resisting for Islam; they are not fighting to occupy the entire globe to turn it into Islamic state etc. Their aims are different, even it is hard to believe which organization is working for which, and for home? This makes it clear that linking of various groups to Islam or calling their acts Islamic terrorism or Jihadism is against the logic. Abdul Hannan Siwani Nadwi, Jeddah, K.S.A ahannan111@yahoo.in AMU mess As per my experience of Aligarh as I spent long time there and still living their I found AMU daily got disturbed by following people. If some one knows more than these please include: 1. AMU tender lobby for getting contracts; 2. AMU powerfull teacher's association who are always against every VC; 3. AMU lobbyist teachers who take advantage and get nominated for different high posts and also get jobs for their wards; 4. AMU local old boys who want to have a say always in all matters of AMU. They feel bad if VC ignores them, in which case they also turn against him; 5. Admission lobby; 6. AMU land grabbers; 7. Job seekers without merit; 8. Some long-staying students who have a tilt towards politics. These persons take around two years to get close to the new VC and after that if the VC does not fulfill their demands, they turn against him and the game of spoilsport starts. If someone has remedy of these ills please send suggestions. Qaiser, Dubai qaisermujtaba@yahoo.com The slave mentality Many years ago, a friend of mine told me a true story narrated to him by his elders, which permanently printed in my memory. He said, during the heydays of the British Raj, a Laat Sahib wanted to kiss his wife on the veranda of his bungalow. She pushed him away pointing at the presence of nearby servants. Laat Sahib laughed and pointed his finger at a dog, a few cows and chickens in the foreground, and asked her whether she would have pushed him away in front of those animals? Then without waiting for a reply he carried on "we are the masters of these people, who cares if they are watching us." One of the servants who understood English started to smile. The one next to him asked him why he was smiling. He narrated what Laat Sahib told Ma'am Sahiba. He also started smiling. For them it was a joke but in reality it showed their salve mentality. Our nation has inherited that mentality. Let us be grateful to the US and other donor countries for feeding us. So what if they humiliate us now and again. Before objecting to their attitudes or rejecting their assistance we have to come out of our slave mentality and learn how to live like free souls. In the meantime, while we are in that mode; let us come to terms with our humiliation; enjoy our slave mentality and. smile at our dead souls, just like those servants many years ago at the bungalow of Laat Sahib. Dr Ghayur Ayub, Pakistan turi555@hotmail.com Ittehadi Fatwa against tilak Today the menace of tilak has spread like epidemic in Muslim society. Even the poor people like labourers, rickshaw pullers and thela pullers have not been spread. The middle class Muslims are the worst sufferers. The people who possess some ancestor's property they do not purchase the bride-grooms by selling out their properties nor have sufficient earnings their daughters with the hope of their marriage cross the marriageable age. The relatives and neighbours use to come forward to express their sympathy with the grieved family. Among them those persons are also seen who have sold out their sons for good price and also those who have not sold their sons but are in bargaining stage. In these days some news are coming in newspapers that Muslim girls of Kolkata, Delhi, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Bangalore etc are being marriage with Hindu boys. It is obvious that when the parents of such girls are unable to pay tilak to Muslim boys the alternative before the girls are to marry a Hindu boy than to die without marriage. Of this issue is not taken seriously the entire Muslim society will loose the Islamic character no doubt our Ulemas, eight people have come forward to stop tilak and for that they are convening meetings and issuing long statements against the un-Islamic act of taking tilak, but it has no effect upon us rather it is increasing day by day unless and until a strong measure is not taken this evil will not go from our society for this our Ulemas should sit together and with consensus they should issue "Ittehadi Fatwa" that if any bride-grooms take tilak it is against Islam and void in Islam shariah. Al-Haj Syed Fakhruddin Ahmad, (Adv.) Muzaffarpur, Bihar Gita lessons for M.P. schools Madhya Pradesh BJP government published books and dispatched to all government students of classes 1 to 10 in M.P. govt. school will be taught lessons from Gita from the current academic yr. According to M.P. govt. official Gita saar is in curriculum. When question raised about hinduiasation of education, the govt. official say that there were a proposal before government to in corporate teachings from holy books of other religions. Surya namashkar, yoga, recital of bande matram etc. are BJP and RSS agenda as well as in Bihar ganga aarti, holi day on sita navmi primary following foot steps of RSS agenda. S. Haque Patna

32 The Milli Gazette, 16-31 August 2011

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