24 pages ` 15 ISSN 0972-3366 FORTNIGHTLY

Vol. 15 No.7

Issue Serial # 341

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MILLI GAZETTE
INDIAN MUSLIMS LEADING ENGLISH NEWSPAPER SINCE 2000

FORGOTTEN HEROINE...6

PARACHA BRAVES THREATS...3,8

Muslim Brotherhood is not terrorist

ZAFARUL-ISLAM KHAN
Muslim Brotherhood (MB) won Egyptian parliamentary and presidential elections in 2012. This alarmed Israel and western countries. Egyptian army and the liberal class too was scared because the MB government in Egypt meant an end to the loot and plunder the army was indulging in since 1952 and with the army the fate of the lackey liberal class too was going to be sealed. These liberals, in return for some favours and insignificant posts, had allowed the army people to play with Egypt's honour and to plunder its resources. Gamal Abdel Nasser's administration clearly comprised of army officers. The situation continued with (Col.) Anwar Sadat and (Air Marshal) Hosni Mubarak. As a result, the Egyptian army, directly or indirectly, controls over 50 percent of the Egyptian economy today. Former army officers are occupying top posts in public and private sectors. It seemed for some time that all this was going to change as a result of the "Arab Spring". Free elections were held for the first time in the country's history. MB secured a majority in Parliament, Shura Council and Presidential elections. A constitution prepared by the Parliament and Shura Council was approved by the majority of voters in a free and fair referendum. All this happened but the "Deep State" continued to control and rule the country. Judiciary was dominated by handpicked judges appointed by the outgoing President Hosni Mubarak. This deep state did not allow President Muhammad Mursi to govern. The judiciary started nullifying his orders. So much so that on mere technical grounds it dismantled Parliament. Shura Council was the next target of Mubarak's judges which would have created a huge political vacuum in the country. At such a juncture, President Mursi issued a presidential decree outlawing challenge to his decrees in a court of law for a short period until the draft Constitution was prepared and approved in a referendum. Now all hell broke lose. Accusations flew thick and fast inside the country and outside that Mursi was enforcing the dictatorship of MB in Egypt. This was happening in a country where no individual or judge had the courage to challenge a presidential order all through 1952 to 2012. Because President Mursi and his government had no real control over the army, police and intelligence departments, the situation took such a turn that the intervention of the armed forces became acceptable. While the indigenous lackey liberal class and army supported this intervention wholeheartedly, foreign powers especially the US, Israel, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states supported it without reservations. Israel knew that MB was the only force which had fought against the Jewish terrorist militias in 1948 while Arab armies were either helping the Jews or standing by idly. Gulf rulers assured Egyptian army generals of their full political and financial support. Gulf rulers were apprehensive that their family sheikhdoms would be endangered if MB rule took root in

This change of Saudi and Gulf policy is not only anti-Islam and anti-democracy, it is also a worst example of ingratitude. MB stood by them all over the world when these rulers were in dire need and created the atmosphere where these rulers managed to survive. But when MB won elections and formed government, these rulers became its worst enemies and opened their coffers for the enemies of MB. Muslims outside the world of Islam should take a clear stand about this injustice. If an honourable, moderate, enlightened and free from deviations group is allowed to go down, it will be a great crisis and trial for Islam and Muslims.
Egypt. These Gulf sheikhdoms are run on Middle Ages lines even today. Although local populations have been silenced by economic and trade facilities, all political and administrative powers are in the hands of an individual or a single ruling family which treats the national treasury and wealth as if it was its personal or family property. All these ruling families offer some help to Islamic organisations or individuals so that no one would ever criticise them, although this help is a pittance while western political parties and influential individuals receive very generous help from these very rulers. Again, the aim is to silence them. In these circumstances, the Egyptian army overthrew the elected president, killed thousands of protesters in broad daylight, and packed off thousands of MB leaders and workers including the deposed President to jails under charges of treason and terrorism. Then, on 25 December last year, the Egyptian putschists declared MB a "terrorist organisation". Now MB members are being arrested inside the country and outside, especially in the Gulf countries, on charges of "terrorism". An Egyptian court has gone a step further and declared Hamas, the Palestinian movement ruling Gaza Strip, as a "terrorist" organisaiton. Naturally, Israel is very pleased by these developments. Israeli leaders have openly expressed their joy over the developments in Egypt and have declared that now Israel feels safe again. Saudi Arabia followed suit and banned MB as a "terrorist" organisation on 8 March. This was quickly followed by UAE and Kuwait although MB has no legal existence in these Gulf countries. Some Egyptians living in these states may be close to MB ideology while some local people are influenced by it. As a legal entity, MB is found only in Sudan and Jordan, and both these countries have not changed their stand on MB. The fact is that MB did not ever say or do anything against Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries. The historical fact is that in the 1960s, when Arab regimes were collapsing, one after the other, under the pressure of Gamal Abdel Nasser's Arab Nationalism and Arab revolution had reached Yemen and a powerful guerrilla war was on in Yemen/Oman's Dhofar region in the

southern part of the Arabian peninsula. At that crucial time, MB forcefully sided with the Saudi and Gulf rulers. They became their envoys and helped them by speaking and writing in their favour all over the world. Nasser's pressure eased after the defeat of 1967 and MB too felt the relaxation in Egypt. Fugitive MB members began returning to Egypt and soon, under Anwar Sadat, they opened their office in Cairo although they did not get permission to form a legal party. Their publication, Al-Da'wah, started appearing and MB leaders started contesting election from the platform of other political parties. MB relations with the Gulf rulers were good all these years and Saudi aid flowed freely to MB and its charitable institutions. But all this suddenly changed once MB won the Egyptian elections in 2012 and formed the government. MB was committed to a democratic and consultative (Shura) form of popular government and this frightened the Gulf rulers from day one. So much so that no sooner had they won the elections that Dubai Police chief Dahi Khalfan openly said that he would not rest till the fall of MB government in Egypt. After assuming power in Egypt, MB's enemies and opponents found refuge in UAE where they fled with their illgotten wealth. This change in Saudi and Gulf policy is not only anti-Islam and anti-democracy, it is also the worst example of ingratitude. MB stood by them all over the world when these rulers were in dire need and created an atmosphere in which these rulers managed to survive. But when MB won the elections and formed the government, these rulers became its worst enemies and opened their coffers for the enemies of MB. Today, MB is surrounded by enemies but all this will change one day. No popular movement can be suppressed for long. MB will prove successful in this trial just as it braved the tyranny of Gamal Abdel Nasser and survived. And when they will enter the portals of power again, a lot of cobwebs and misgivings in their minds will have been removed. Muslims outside the world of Islam should take a clear stand on this injustice. If an honourable, moderate, enlightened and free from deviations group is allowed to go down, it will be a great crisis and trial for Islam and Muslims. Organisations and individuals who are supporting Saudi and Gulf rulers now for a pittance of monetary benefits, or are at least silent at this juncture, should revise their stand and support the truth. I have been participating in Saudi conferences since 1978, but I have never taken any financial help from the Saudi or Gulf governments or rulers or taken any personal benefit from them. Now, in the current situation, when I received an invitation last February to attend a conference called by the Makkah-based Muslim World League in early March, I declined. Then a plethora of Saudi personalities visited our country one after the other and I received many invitations for meetings and dinner parties but I declined to attend any of these. The reason was simple: at this juncture, when the Saudi rulers are perpetrating this great injustice, any such meeting will be considered supportive to their stand.

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ISSUES / OPINION

Whom to vote for: Muslim dilemma

JAVED JAMIL
The General Elections are now only days away. Parties are campaigning, and people are contemplating whom to vote for. The opinion polls are predicting more than 220 seats for the BJP-led NDA and about 130 seats for the Congress-led UPA. Others are projected to gain more seats than these two alliances. These projections may prove wrong because of the simple fact that, while the opinion polls reflect the first choices of the people contacted, the people do not necessarily vote for their first choices. Often the other considerations - local factors, caste and community of the voters and above all a certain candidates chances of winning make them gravitate towards the two or three main contenders. Muslims too are busy calculating the various options. There is no denying the fact that the overwhelming majority of them will vote against the BJP . This is unfortunate thanks to the strong presence of the forces of Hindutva -- Muslims have for long been forced to vote on negative lines. The agenda of development and empowerment takes back seat and the security and emotional issues lead them to vote for certain parties, which post-elections do not make any serious attempt to empower them because of the fear of the backlash in the Hindu community. This is true of almost all parties especially the ones that try to pose as secular. What can be more unfortunate than the truth that secularism in India now means denying Muslims their genuine rights and opportunities and blocking them from playing a national role as equal citizens. Congress, of course, is the biggest culprit in this regard, and I fear AAP can also go the same way. If AAP emerges as a credible alternative to Congress at the national level, it will be a positive development as it would mean two national secular alternatives, which is good for the country. But if their secularism continues to be based on denial of opportunities to Muslims in return of security and guarantee to practice rituals, Muslims would soon enter a phase in history where they will have to find other ways to make their presence felt. Many Muslim analysts and groups (including this writer) presented their charters of expectations from different political parties. These included increased share in the political and administrative set-up of the country and affirmative steps in the field of educational and economic empowerment. If we examine the list of the tickets allotted by different political parties, we find that Bahujan Samaj Party is the only one that comes out with flying colours. It has allotted 19 out of 80 Lok Sabha seats in UP to Muslims. Mayawati has to be complimented for the bold declaration proving that true secularism in India means representation of all sections of society in political institutions in proportion to their population and not indifference to caste and community considerations in seat selection process. A Parliament with equitable distribution of seats among upper caste Hindus, OBCs, Dalits, Muslims and other minorities certainly presents a brighter image of secularism than that with extreme under-representation of one community and the over-representation of others. The question of merit comes only next. Those who talk of merit as the criterion do perhaps believe that Muslims do not have considerable number of meritorious candidates. Ironically, if the list of their declared candidates is scrutinized on the basis of merit, their claims will fall flat. I do personally believe that alignment with a party like BSP (on equal footing) can be the best bet in the long run for the empowerment of the underprivileged sections of society within the secular fabric of the country. But somehow Mayawati has not been able to win the confidence of Muslims. The major reason is perhaps her reluctance to allow other voices in this party, and Muslim members of her party have failed to connect with the Muslim community leaders as well as the masses. If she can change the style of functioning of her party, she can hope to get the support of Muslims in a more vocal way. Still I feel that her party must be the first choice for Muslims in UP wherever its candidate is in a good position to beat BJP . The rural dominating constituencies should have this option most in mind. In most of the rural areas Muslim support to BSP should be a formidable proposition. Muslims must not simply vote for BSP Muslim candidates but also for other BSP candidates if they are the main contenders. Despite a strong anti-incumbency wave against Congress and its failure in convincing Muslims, it remains an open choice. If Manmohan Singh government had not been such a dismal failure in connecting with people, Rahul Gandhi could have been the most popular face in this election. But the PM and senior cabinet ministers have failed Congress. It is not that Congress has done so badly in the last ten years. Their performance has been better than average, and they have taken several revolutionary steps. But the first one of them, RTI, has consumed Congress itself. It provided the RTI activists (Kejriwal being the most known) an opportunity to unearth corruption in the government, and the ministers failed to wipe out the mud that stuck the government. To be fair to UPA, it has tried to implement Sachar Committee recommendations with mixed successes and during the last few months has taken several important steps particularly related to Waqf and educational scholarships. Despite its declining popularity, it still is the main party opposed to BJP , and wherever Congress candidates are in a strong position, Muslims should have no problem in voting for Congress. It should also be remembered that Congress is too big a party to die and is almost sure to make a comeback in not so distant a future. Rahul Gandhi is perhaps the only gentleman today in the dirty politics of the country. I have closely watched him for more than a year, and I sincerely feel that Congress under his leadership will become more secular, more people-friendly and more inclusive. But for that Rahul Gandhi will have to realise that mere attacks against BJP on ideological grounds would not suffice; he will have to do something concrete which makes Muslims believe in him, and this should be done in a shrewd way on the lines of Mayawai whose formula of Bahujan Samaj can be adopted even if without an open declaration. AAP is a new phenomenon. Not only this phenomenon remains a mystery in itself, it has also turned the whole election mysterious. I have begun to admire it on two accounts. It has in recent days adopted as one of its main plank an issue which has been my greatest concern during last 15 years: the role of corporate in the problems of the nation. If the party can keep its concentration on this one issue, we can hope to have a revolution in India. Second, its leader and some of his key associates have mastered the art of shaking the nation. Goodness alone does not produce the desired results unless it combines with the shrewdness to get it accepted. But while I admire the AAP as a social movement, I am till now not convinced about it as a political party. Once a party comes into being and fights a national election, it has to unfold its major policies quickly. As far as the issues like communalism and the empowerment of Muslims are concerned, its approach is not different from that of Congress. If it wants the votes of Muslims, it has to ensure that Muslims are not denied genuine representation in political institutions in the name of secularism. As far as the current election scene is concerned, it is not clear yet how AAP is going to build its momentum as the election dates approach. It appears that in recent times its popularity has plummeted among middle class Hindus and has jumped among Muslims. Muslims have to be very careful. They must vote for AAP only where they are in a strong position. Otherwise it will help the cause of BJP . Samajwadi Party and regional parties are other options for Muslims. SP used to be popular among Muslims but Muzaffarnagar riots have caused deep resentment. Still it cannot be dismissed altogether and should remain as one of the options. Mamta Bannerjee, Jayalalitha and Karunanidhi need to be opposed or supported on the basis of the regional or local considerations. A word about BJP . Modi or no Modi, BJP should remain untouchable for Muslims. The best thing that can happen for BJP will be that its gets defeated in the elections and fails to make government. If this happens, hopefully BJP will learn its lesson and revise its policies. There is nothing wrong in fighting for the rights of a community or taking inspiration from religious principles of morality. But if it has to sustain itself as a political party, it will have to ensure that its campaign of Hindutva does not mean negation of whatever non-Hindus stand for. The real battle for the rights of Muslims must start after the elections. Muslims need to run a mass campaign not only to air their specific demands but also to build an opinion in favour of hard decisions aimed at all forms of what I call Dangerous Economics: Economic Disparity, commercialisation of human susceptibilities, corruption, inflation and exploitation. If the election results bring a hung parliament, it would provide a huge opportunity for such a movement. Muslim leaders cannot succeed unless they develop close relations with good leaders of all other communities on the basis of a common minimum agenda.
Dr Javed Jamil is a Delhi-based thinker and writer. He can be contacted at [email protected]

Is Mumbra forever condemned?

Whenever I go to Thane, I make it a point to visit Mumbra whichs adjacent to it. Ive a few dear Muslim friends from UP residing there. The recent incident of the detention of Muslim youth at Mumbra by police made me think, why this place is forever on the radar of police and intelligence? By the way, Mumbra has almost 90 percent Muslim population. Most of them are very poor and eternally deprived. Granted, there could be a few anti-social elements in this god-forsaken place but like Malegaon, near Nasik, Mumbra also has people whore poor and innocent. Mind you, in both the places, good and law-abiding Muslims far outnumber miscreants. Yet Muslims of Mumbra and Malegaon are condemned forever. No Hindu/Muslim activists have properly taken up the cudgels on behalf of the oppressed Muslims of these places, especially of Mumbra. If you visit the place (Mumbra), ramshackle houses will greet you. Theres a widespread penury thats so palpably felt at Mumbra the moment you reach there. That its just 30 kms from Bombay makes Mumbras case all the more sad and ironical. Unaffected by the affluence of Bombay, its become the dark underbelly of the metropolitan presumed by police as a potential den of anti-social Muslims. To feel sad is an understatement. Its time, Mumbra got a rahnuma, a sarparast (leader) who can bring it out of the morass of imposed infamy. case of eating the cake and having it too. Jainism is a slightly different manifestation of Hinduism. In other words, its a sect of Hinduism like Shaivites and Lingayats. Though Indian philosophy calls it atheistic (like Buddhism), all the followers of Jainism and its primary sects (Digambar and Shwetambar) follow the religious tenets of Hinduism and worship the Hindu deities apart from theirs. The followers of Jainism are Hindus when its required and theyre Jains if the need be! This is sheer religious opportunism. Even Buddhism, despite being a tributary of Hinduism, has distinct features that differentiate it from Hinduism. But in the case of Jainism, theres not even a distinctly ostensible difference that can separate it from the parental faith (Hinduism). So how can it be different from Hinduism? The Jains, who are screaming to get minority status, must know that original Jainism that came into being 2600 years ago, advised its followers to put the mortal remains of a person in the flowing water of a river unlike the way Hindus dispose the dead-bodies by burning them. Dont the minority followers of Jainism burn the dead bodies like majority Hindus? People dont know about their own religion and call themselves its votaries and custodians. Here, a sinister motive must also be taken into account. Jainis are pathologically envious of Muslims getting the minority status. They want the same for themselves. With their financial strength and arm-twisting policies, theyve compelled the government to give

them minority status. Mind you, nearly 5 million of Jain followers in India can make or mar any government, thanks to their power of pelf. Lastly, do we require any faith and its legions of sects, doctrines and silly manifestations? This reminds me of Firaq Gorakhpuris apposite couplet, Mazhab waalon ko ye hasrat, kab duniya se kufr mitega/Main toh bas itna soch raha hoon, kab insaan insaan banega (Whenll earth be rid of atheism and sacrilege, yearn the religious men/Whenll man become man, this is my concern).

Hindu godmen promoting BJP

The Indian Express (20 March) has reported that Ravishankar, a Hindu godman, said in Delhi: Lakshmi toh kamal pe baith ke aati hai (Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of wealth, comes sitting on the Lotus). It was an oblique reference to BJP as the lotus is BJPs electoral symbol. He was in Delhi to bless a BJP candidate whos also a practitioner of Ravishankars outright spurious Sudarshan Kriya. Sooner or later, all these godmen and godwomen show their true political colours and Hindu bias. Yet another joker Ramdev, who was a Yogacharya till yesterday, has become a spokesman of a Hindu party. These people are basically Hindu zealots who project themselves as babas and spiritual gurus. A few years ago, The Asian Age newspaper categorically wrote about Ravishankar that he was a Hindu evangelist. He is a Hindu fundamentalist, whos more rabid than an average Hindu fanatic. Why cant these clowns limit themselves to their spiritual activities? They all have religio-political aspirations.

How can Jains be a minority community?

Jain community in India getting the minority status is a classic
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The Milli Gazette, 1-15 April 2014

Mushawarat condemns threats to Paracha

Respond now if you care about your community

White Paper on Terrorism

The issue of fake terrorism charges and the unjust arrests and defamation of our community, especially since 2001, is the biggest challenge facing the community ever since. A grand conspiracy hatched by the powers that be, IB, Police and media, has sullied and defamed our community. This campaign has affected our lives, peace of mind and has thwarted our efforts to progress and educate our children to join the national mainstream. Our efforts so far to present our case, to bring out our innocence and force the national and state governments to listen to our grievances have mostly failed. All we have received are a few words of solace which have no real meaning and have not changed the situation on the ground. Our children by their thousands are still languishing in jails on the basis of fake confessions obtained through torture and blackmail. As a long-term solution and a serious response to this problem thrust upon us, AIMMM decided last year to bring out a white paper on the Muslim-related terrorism in the country. The work is going on with all seriousness and many researchers, scholars and journalists are busy preparing writeups on various aspects of this issue, covering the history, genesis, communalism, vested interests in various related fields, analysis of various laws like TADA, POTA and UAPA, fake encounters, narco tests, torture, acquittals, IB & Police role, media attitude, case studies, statewise surveys, SIMI, Indian Mujahidin, Hindutva terror, individual tragedies of victims, Azamgarh, Bhatkal, Malegaon, Darbhanga modules, some basic documents, etc., etc. The target is to bring out this white paper during the next few months and to release it in a big convention at Delhi as a combined effort of major Muslim and civil rights organisations, and thereafter present this huge document of over 600 large format pages to politicians, media, human rights organisations, especially outside the country, in order to enlighten public opinion at home and abroad as well as to build pressure on our blind and deaf government. The estimated cost of this white paper is Rs 35 lakh divided as follows: Rs 15 lakh cost of preparation and payments to contributors plus six months salaries to researchers and experts; Rs 15 lakh for designing and printing the document in a world-class format; while the grand convention at Delhi will cost at least 5 lakh. Effort will be made to release the White Paper in some state and world capitals also. You can help this effort in four ways, 1. To buy copies of the White Paper on Terrorism in advance to help defray part of the huge cost of research, printing, publication and distribution of at least one thousand complimentary copies. The estimated price of the white paper is Rs 2000 per copy in India. You may place an advance order by paying Rs 1000 only per copy in India including postal charges). Payments for the copies may be made to The Milli Gazette, D-84 Abul Fazal Enclave-I, Jamia Nagar, New Delhi 110025. Email: [email protected]. Individuals and organisations ordering a minimum of 100 copies in advance will be included as Sponsors of the White Paper. 2. Contribute to the cost of the grand convention to be held in Delhi. This should be payable to the All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat, D-250, Abul Fazal Enclave, Jamia Nagar, New Delhi-110025. Tel.: 011-26946780 Fax: 011-26947346. Email: [email protected]. 3. Donate your time: If you are a scholar, researcher, journalist: join our team for a few months working in our Delhi office or from your own home to complete this project - write to the Editor, MG now at [email protected]. 4. Contact us if you have vital information/documents about this issue.

New Delhi, 21 March, 2014: Leaders of major Indian Muslim organisations held a press conference here at the central office the All-India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat, the umbrella body http://twocircles.net/2014mar19/substantive_evidence_against_poli of Indian Muslim organisations. ce_aiding_and_abetting_real_terrorists_advocate_pracha ; Leaders condemned the repeated threats to life received during http://twocircles.net/2014mar18/rakesh_maria_should_be_arrestthe last few days by Mr ed_conducting_activities_which_are_terror_related_advocate; Mahmood Paracha, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of http://twocircles.net/2014mar05/senior_counsel_mahmood_pracha India, who is fighting around 70 _receives_threat_calls_sms.html [this last report has the mobile terror cases across the country. phones numbers used to make calls to Adv. Paracha] The threats, purportedly made by members of the mafia gang led by Ravi Pujari, using mobile phone calls and smss, have threatened to kill the senior advocate who has repeatedly exposed how police and ATS officers fabricate cases and implicate innocent Muslim youth while allowing the real terrorists to go scot free and continue their criminal activities. The threats started when Adv. Paracha said in a press statement recently that police officers who fabricated cases against youth, who have now been acquitted after years of incarceration, should be tried and sent to jails. These threats became public when, on 5 March, beyondheadlines.in and twocircles.net published a story along with 17 mobile numbers used to send the threats. Till date, Police or Union and state home ministries have failed to take notice of this grave development let alone provide security to the brave advocate who has taken on forces which have destroyed lives of thousands of innocent Muslim youth in the name of fighting terror. Hundreds ot these youth have now been honorably acquitted by courts after spending long years behind bars but no action has been taken against any police or IB officer who fabricated cases and destroyed their lives.

Twocircles.net reports may be accessed here:

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write with details in the first instance to the Editor at [email protected] Basic requirements: good command over English, interest in and knowledge of Muslim community issues, knowledge of Urdu

We hold these threats very seriously because criminals at the behest of rogue security agencies have already killed two advocates defending terror-implicated youths, viz. Adv. Shahid Azmi, Adv. Akbar Patel and Adv. Naushad Qasimji, and have assaulted over a dozen advocates defending such cases across India. The Muslim community will hold the Union and Maharashtra state home ministers and the Mumbai Police Commissioner personally responsible if anything untoward happened to the brave advocate who is fighting to uphold the rule of law and defend the spirit of the Constitution of India while the criminal police officers want to negate the rule of law and subvert the Constitution of India. The following community leaders participated in the press conference: Dr. Zafarul-Islam Khan,

President, All India Muslim Majlise Mushawarat, Maulana Saleem Engineer, Secretary, Jamaat-e Islami Hind, Mr Mujtaba Farooq, President, Welfare Party of India, Maulana Ataur Rahman Qasmi, Chairman, Shah Waliullah Institute, Dr Tasleem Rahmani, President, Muslim Political Council of India, Akhlaq Ahmad, Secretary, Association for Protection of Civil Rights. This statement was endorsed by Maulana Asghar Ali Imam Mehdi Salafi, General Secretary, Jamiat Ahl-e Hadees and Maulana Mahmood Madni, Burmese refugees are living in a pathetGeneral Secretary, Jamiat Ulama-e Hind (who was in Mumbai at the time). ic condition in South Delhi. At least 15 out of 45 families are finding their two meals hard to come by. When MG visited their place near Sharad Marg near Kalindi Kunj last week, it discovered that their night starts at 6.30 pm as their huts are without electricity. There is no potable water supply nearby to quench New Delhi: Eminent lawyer Mehmood Pracha, who their thirst. They have erected tin shelis pursuing dozens of terror cases including the ters at a place from where they have to high-profile Israeli diplomats car blast, has move at very short notice without a clue received death threats allegedly from Ravi Pujari, as to their next meal will come from. an underworld don. The Association for Protection They need temporary electric light. They of Civil Rights (APCR), a Delhi-based national need any thing to sleep on. They need group working for protection of civil and human fresh water. They need fuel to cook their rights, has condemned the threat terming it a meals. In short, they need each and cowardly attempt to silence a voice of the disevery thing necessary, Abdur Rahim sent. told MG. To cap it all, they find it difficult to menial work to earn a little to get even support their This threat is not to Advocate Mahmood families. Charity Alliance has offered them some help. (Nadim Ahmad) Paracha who is only trying to perform his con-

Burmese refugees in Delhi

Rights body condemns death threats to Adv. Paracha

stitutional and professional duty but to the whole legal fraternity, the judicial system as well as to the Constitution of India which guarantees all its citizens equality before law and right to be defended by a lawyer of ones choice, said Akhlaq Ahmad, National Coordinator, APCR, in a statement here on 20 March. According to APCR, Adv. Paracha is fighting more than 70 terror cases in Delhi, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and U.P . including

the high-profile cases of Mirza Himayat Beg who has been sentenced to death by the sessions court of Pune in German Bakery bomb blast case, Qateel Siddiqui murder case in Yerwada Jail and the Israeli diplomat car bomb blast case wherein senior journalist Syed Mohammad Kazmi is an accused. Adv. Paracha had in an interview recently blamed Mumbai Police Commissioner and former Maharashtra ATS chief Rakesh Maria for deliberately implicating innocent Muslim youth

in terror cases. Adv. Pracha had purportedly demanded arrest of Maria for allegedly shielding real culprits and implicating innocents. APCR has appealed to all justice-loving people and members of the civil society to raise their voice against these cowardly attempts to silence a voice of the oppressed. He has demanded that Government of India should take strong action against these anti-national elements. (indiatomorrow.net)

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Book leaders making hate speeches: SC

New Delhi: A Bench of Supreme Court headed by Justice B.S. Chauhan and consisting of two other judges, Justices M Y Eqbal and A. K. Sikri while describing hate mongering speeches by social, political and religious leaders based on religion, caste, ethnicity etc as a menace to society, asked law enforcing authorities on 12 March to book persons making such hate speeches. It also asked the Law Commission to examine if a political party could be derecognised and its leaders disqualified if they indulge in hate mongering speeches against a community or religion. The Bench further said that National Human Rights Commission will be well within its powers to initiate suo motu proceedings against politicians making hate speeches, observing that religious freedom must be observed with responsibility. The Bench also asked the Law Commission to examine if the Election Commission should be legally empowered to derecognise a political party and disqualify its members or leaders if they make hate speeches. It also asked the Law Commission to define, if it deems proper, the expression hate speech and make its recommendations to Parliament to empower the Election Commission to curb the menace of hate speeches, whether made at election times or at any other time. It said that there is no definition of hate speech under any statute and that the power of Election Commission was limited, as far as hate speeches are concerned, to enforce model code of conduct at election times. It also observed that the Election Commission has no power to derecognise a political party under the Representation of People Act once it has been registered. The Supreme Court Bench had expressed the above views while disposing of a PIL by the NGO Pravasi Bhalai Sangathan and at the same time added that though there were statutory and sufficient legal provisions to curb the menace of hate speeches, they were not being properly implemented. The PIL filed by the above-mentioned NGO had contended, while referring to the speeches of MNS leader Raj Thackeray and All India Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen leader Akbaruddin Owaisi, that hate speeches destroy the fabric of democracy. The Bench also observed that it cannot pass guidelines for elections as it was the power of the legislature and it (Bench) has no power to rewrite, re-cast or re-frame legislation because it has no legislative power.

Equal Opportunity Commission not welcomed by Sachar Committee member

New Delhi: Sachar Committee had recommended, the formation of Equal Opportunity Commission among many other steps to improve the overall condition of minorities particularly Muslims. In acceptance of that, the central government has approved the creation of this Commission, a statutory body to check discrimination faced by religious minorities, but, Abu Saleh Shariff, former member-secretary of Sachar Committee and many others have expressed their dissatisfaction over this move of the government. He said that the Committee had recommended setting up of this Commission for all social and religious communities and deprived groups and not only for religious minorities so that opportunity of access and use is ensured equally and justly and a level playing field can be provided to all of them. He said that EOC only for religious minorities is in violation of the very idea of an anti-discrimination body as envisioned by Sachar Committee. He further said that it is very disappointing to see the concept of EOC, as conceptualised by Sachar Committee being killed by the kind of body (EOC) which caters to religious minorities only. Dr Shariff, who is presently the Chief Scholar at US-India Policy Institute at Washington, said that the Committee had recommended EOC after much discussions and study of existing institutions which were not capable of addressing the issues of equal opportunity. Others, including rights activist (Ms) Farah Naqvi and former NCM chairman Wajahat Habibullah also agreed to what Dr Shariff said. Ms Naqvi said that EOC which protects only religious minorities will be a contradiction in terms and that an EOC for all deprived and discriminated people along with appropriate anti-discrimination law is desperately needed. She said that the EOC as envisaged by government i.e. for protection of religious minorities only will be a grave injustice not only to Muslims but also to all other deprived and discriminated groups and will also be bad for the secular polity. Wajahat Habibullah also said that this commission should be for all deprived and discriminated groups. Reacting to the views expressed by some people that the roles and responsibilities of EOC and NCM may overlap, and may clash with each other, he ruled out such a possibility and said that the mandates of the two bodies in their present form are different and hence can co-exist and function separately. is to build more than 100 toilets for which land has been identified. Another plan is to build more entry gates for the convenience of pilgrims on which work will start in May this year after the urs. Another plan is to build suitable place to offer Namaz for women pilgrims during urs where about 4000 ladies could offer Namaz simultaneously. He said that at present there are about 6.5 crore rupees in the Committees account but for carrying out the different development etc plans more money will be needed for which they would approach the central government. He hoped that the next governments cooperation would be available to carry out all these plans. He said that along with renovation and extension etc plans of the Dargah for the convenience of pilgrims the programme is to build a library and also a museum which is planned to be completed in 5 years. He said that at present the Dargah has a Guest House with 180 rooms which are available to pilgrims at very reasonable rates. He said that the Dargahs annual income is about Rs 7 crores and the expenses also are approximately the same. He said that all development facilities and other works for the convenience of people are done with the cooperation of Dargah Committee, Khadim and Sajjada Nashin. In reply to a question he said that in addition to the 50-bed hospital there is also a plan to build a shopping complex in the Dargah area and that there are about 25 properties of the Dargah with whose income, affairs of the Dargah are managed but since the income and expenditure of the Dargah are almost the same, for development and welfare works or projects, they would have to approach minorities affairs ministry, though there are another Rs six crores in Fixed Deposit in the name of Dargah Committee. He said that so far the Committee has not been given any government grant but it would approach the said ministry for some grant for development, beautification of the Dargah complex and providing additional facilities for the pilgrims. Irrespective of what the Dargah Committees chairman said above, when the union minister for minorities affairs K. Rahman Khan visited the Dargah on 25 February and after touring the Dargah complex he expressed his concern over the bad condition of the Dargah and its surrounding areas. He also held a detailed meeting with Dargah Committee Chairman and members and also reviewed the development work of the Dargah under central governments Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission in participation with Rajasthan state government. It may be stated that the central government had approved a budget of 308 crores for the development of Dargah area in the first stage work on which is going on on the Rs 60 crore project. According to Ajmer Development Authority, 75% work (under this Rs 60 crore project) has been completed including widening of roads and improving drainage system. After seeing the on-going development projects he expressed his dissatisfaction, saying that whatever work has been done so far is outside or away from the Dargah area whereas their objective was to develop the Dargah area. He said that for better management of the Dargah, the Indian government has enacted a Parliamentary law under which a 9member Dargah Committee was constituted about 9 months ago but sadly neither the Rajasthan government nor Khadims of Ajmer Sharif give any importance to it, rather truly speaking they are insulting this law. He said that this Committee under the chairmanship of Obaidullah Sharif has done some good work and also has made ambitious plans and we hope that better work will be done but this was possible only when Khadims and the state government cooperate with the Committee. He said that income of the Dargah through donations etc from pilgrims is shared by Khadims and Dewans as only means of their livelihood. He said that the many lands of the Dargahs are under illegal occupations. Their lease dates have expired but even then the occupants are not vacating them. Moreover, rents of Dargahs lands on which shops and offices etc are built are extremely low. Giving an example he said that State Bank of Indias office is built on Dargah land the annual rent of which is only Rs 121! Same is the case of all other Dargahs lands and properties. He said that on the model of amended Waqf Act to protect Waqf lands and vacation of illegal occupations, they were going to enact laws for the protection of Dargah lands and properties and their vacation by occupants and a bill by Govt of India to this effect has been introduced in the Rajya Sabha.

One million kids suffer from TB annually: Study

Washington: A shocking research revealed that despite improved medication and government as well as aid agencies efforts, the number of children suffering from tuberculosis (TB) annually has doubled since 2011. Researchers from Brigham and Womens Hospital (BWH) and Harvard Medical School (HMS) in Boston have estimated that around one million children suffer from TB annually twice the number previously thought to have tuberculosis and three times the number that are diagnosed every year, the researchers claimed. The researchers also estimated that around 32,000 children suffer from multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) annually. Despite children comprising approximately one quarter of the worlds population, there have been no previous estimates of how many suffer from MDR-TB disease, explained Ted Cohen, an associate professor of medicine at BWH. Our estimate of the total number of new cases of childhood TB is twice than estimated by the WHO in 2011 and three times the number of child TB cases notified globally each year, said Cohen, who is also an associate professor at Harvard School of Public Health. According to co-author Mercedes Becerra, an associate professor at HMS, TB in a child is recognised as a sentinel event. It tells us about ongoing transmission and missed opportunities for prevention. In order to obtain these estimates, the researchers used several sources of publicly available data and devised a new method to correct for the chronic under-diagnosis that occurs in children, using conventional TB tests which were designed for and work best on adults.

Plan to develop and beautify Ajmer Sharif Dargah

New Delhi: Chairman of Dargah Committee of Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Chishtis Dargah at Ajmer, Muhammad Obaidullah Sharif at a press conference in Delhis India Islamic Cultural Centre on 22 February described the plan for the development and beautification of the Dargah and its surrounding area. This Committee was constituted about 10 months ago under an Act of Parliament to manage the affairs of the Dargah and this was the first meeting of the Committee held outside Ajmer i.e. in Delhi. Chairman Obaidullah Sharif said that the Committee plans to build a good quality residential school and a 50-bed hospital soon. In addition to this, in accordance with union minorities affairs ministrys plan to build six universities, one university is to be built in Ajmer and named after Khwaja Gharib Nawaz University. For the convenience of devotees and pilgrims who visit the Dargah, particularly on urs and other occasion, about 55 toilets are being built whereas the overall plan

N. A. ANSARI
not found any trace of Baigs involvement in the blast case and only Maharashtra ATS has insisted that Baig had a hand in the blast. Paracha added that he would be applying for bail for Baig as there has been substantial evidence for his innocence. Baig was sentenced to death in the German Bakery blast case based on a chargesheet submitted by the Maharashtra ATS claiming that Baig along with Indian Mujahideen operative Yasin Bhatkal conspired to carry out the blast on 13 February, 2010. The explosion that ripped through the eatery killed 17 people and injured 64 others. The BMP is seeking an alliance of all weaker sections of society including Muslims on a plank of creating a representative democracy in which every caste and community has a say and participation.

BMP to field Himayat Baig from Aurangabad

ABDUL BARI MASOUD
New Delhi: In a bid to send a strong message to the practitioners of terror-politics, the Bahujan Mukti Party (BMP) is planning to field the German bakery blast convict Himayat Baig from the Aurangabad constituency in Maharashtra in the forthcoming general elections. His lawyer Mahmood Paracha has stressed that Baig had no role in the blast, that he has been falsely implicated and Paracha is seeking his bail. The newly-formed Dalit-based party BMP ,

which has a strong presence in Maharashtra, has announced that it will make Himayat Baig as party candidate from Aurangabad seat in order to give a sense of feeling to the innocent youth who have been rotting in jails without any crime. Patron of the BMP and president of BAMCEF, Waman Mishram, told this correspondent that by fielding Himyat Baig, the party wants to give a strong message that it stands with the oppressed people and wants to boost the morale of arrested youth. He said Baigs lawyer Paracha assured him that he will deal with the legal hurdles coming in the way of Baigs candidature. Waman Mishram said Paracha had informed him that of the different agencies that have conducted investigations in the German Bakery blast, three agencies including the National Investigation Agency, Delhi polices Special Cell and Bangalore police have said that they have

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BJPs love for minorities unmasked, no Muslim gets ticket in UP

ABDUL BARI MASOUD
New Delhi: Even though the Saffron outfits under the leadership of Gujarats controversial chief minister are making all out efforts to show their secular credentials by wooing Muslims on a large scale, it seems that there is no change of heart in the saffron camp vis--vis the minority community as the party did not field even a single Muslim candidate from the largest state of the country where Muslim voters are in decisive numbers in dozens of seats. With its fifth list out, BJP has so far declared candidates for a total of 365 seats, out of which only three Muslims figured in the lists. Two were given tickets from West Bengal where the party has minimal presence.

There is a Maulana who joined the BJP with his outfit some three years back in the hope of getting party ticket. He even started nursing Bijnore constituency in the hope that he would get the party ticket to contest from there. He confided to this correspondent many a time that he was promised a ticket by the BJP president. He used to give lavish gifts to appease the party leaders in order to make sure of his ticket. He even went to the extent of displaying posters with the photo of Gujarats controversial chief minister along with him and defending the terror-accused RSS leader Indresh Kumar...The Maulana would have realized by now what treatment BJP gives to its minority members.
late, Akbars writings clearly indicated his inclination towards the saffron outfit as he emerged as a harsh critic of the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre. There is also one Maulana who joined the BJP with his outfit some three years back in the hope of getting party ticket. He even started nursing Bijnore constituency in the hope that he would get the party ticket to contest from there. He confided to this correspondent many a time that he was promised a ticket by the BJP president. He used to give lavish gifts to appease the party leaders in order to make sure of his ticket. He even went to the extent of displaying posters with the photo of Gujarats controversial chief minister along with him and defending the terroraccused RSS leader Indresh Kumar. For this act, he invited wrath of Muslims in the Bijnore area. Now, his hopes have been shattered as the party gave ticket to Rajnedra Singh who is a lawyer by profession. The Maulana would have realized by now what treatment BJP gives to its minority members. The case of M J Khan is more interesting. He is the national convener of Federation of Indian Farmers Organisations and edits a magazine on agriculture. He had joined the BJP last year in the presence of party president Rajnath Singh. Earlier he was with Dr Mohammad Ayubs Peace Party. He even started singing the Modi tune saying Muslims are convinced today that other leaders can only talk, Modi will deliver. In defending Modi, he went to the extent of saying that Gujarat is the only state in India where Muslims share in the police is greater than their share in the population. Can any Congress-ruled state or the states ruled by the so-called champions of secularism claim the same level of empowerment of Muslims? After denial of ticket, Khan may have realised what sort of empowerment BJP wants for Muslims. It is the partys game plan that multiplicity of Muslim candidates in minority-dominated constituencies will help its candidate sail through because of voter polarisation. Another Muslim face of the party is Shahnawaz Hussain whose Bhagalpur seat was in the doldrums as a Bihar BJP leader Ashwani Kumar Choubey, a former state minister and a vocal supporter of Modi, was keen to contest from there. While speaking to journalists in Bhagalpur, he said party leaders from the minority community should be fielded from constituencies where there was a sizeable population of Muslims in the larger interest of the party. He wanted that Shahnawaz should shift to Kishanganj seat where he won the 1999 elections but lost subsequent elections. However, party leadership did not succumb to Choubeys demand and allotted the ticket for this seat to Shahnawaz Husain. It should be mentioned here that Shahnawaz Husain recently claimed that if BJP comes to power at the Centre, it will chalk out a welfare programme for the Muslim community on the basis of the Sachar Committee recommendations. Criticising Congress for the backwardness of the community, he said the BJP has accepted the Sachar report. However, he seems to be unaware of the fact that the Modi government in Gujarat has forcefully opposed the Sachar schemes for the minorities. If his own partys prime ministerial candidate opposes schemes which are not just for Muslims but for other religious minorities, then how can he make such a claim? In this backdrop, Shahnawazs claim seems to be meant to befool Muslim masses. Earlier, on the eve of assembly elections, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi had made a loud claim that the BJP would bring out a Vision Document for the socioeconomic and political empowerment of Muslims which will go much beyond the stereotyped demands. But this vision document is yet to see the light of the day. It is no secret that the anti-Muslim plank is the bulwark of BJPs politics without which it cannot survive.

It would be a shocker for those Muslims who were hankering for party tickets from UP who were running around to get a ticket to contest in a Muslim-dominated seat in the state. Sources hinted that the party did not want to field any candidate from the minority community in the state in order to polarise voters on religious lines. The party fielded two out of the four Muzaffarnagar riots-accused MLAs and this shows how serious the party is about its claimed secular credentials. According to sources, even party vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who is being used by the party leadership to defend its anti- minority policies, was reportedly denied the ticket. Naqvi wanted to re-contest election from the Rampur seat which he once represented in the Lok Sabha. M J Khan, who left Peace Party to join BJP, was also denied the ticket to fight elections from the Muslim-dominated Rampur seat. If Naqvi can be ignored despite serving the party so dutifully for so long, what can be said about the new Muslim entrants to the party as the minority community has no place in the saffron outfits scheme of things except to show some Muslim faces to hoodwink the world? The party fielded from this Muslim-dominated constituency its sitting MLA, Naipal Singh. Sources further said that the party had reportedly planned to field well-known journalist M J Akbar from one of the Muslim-dominated constituency in the state but later it abandoned the idea. Akbar, however, joined BJP on 22 March and may be fielded from somewhere else. It is a well-known fact that Akbar has close proximity with some BJP leaders particularly with the former president of the party Nitin Gadkari, L K Advani and Ram Jethmalani. Of

151 cases of anti-Christian violence; churches, pastors, women attacked

AP , Chhattisgarh, Karnataka top Christian persecution

Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka top the list of Indian states in which Christians faced incidents of targeted communal violence in the year 2013, according to data collected by Evangelical Fellowship state offices.

Women, rural pastors and home churches were the main targets of mobs, which were often led by members of the Sangh Parivar. Police impunity resulted in most culprits going unpunished. As many as 151 incidents of anti-Christian violence were reported in the year, with Andhra Pradesh registering 41 cases, Chhattisgarh 28 and Karnataka 27. Rev. Dr. Richard Howell, the General Secretary of the Evangelical Fellowship of India and Religious Liberty Commission Secretary, Rev. Vijayesh Lal, released the list on antiChristian violence in India in 2013, at a press

conference in New Delhi on 18 March, 2014. This list does not include large numbers of cases reported from Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, which could not be immediately verified as being motivated by religious prejudice. These include at least three cases of murder, including one of a child of a pastor in Rajasthan. The EFI has also received a very large number of complaints of structural and institutional violence from Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Gujarat. Most of these pertain to tribals being deprived of their land if they convert to Christianity. In Gujarat, the computerised registration

systems have been so engineered that tribals have mandatorily to fill their religion as Hindu. This is in violation of the Constitutional provisions for Scheduled Tribes. The matter is to be taken to the high courts of the respective states. The most shocking aspect of the anti-Christian violence is the targeting of women. In one horrendous case on 12 September 2013, a Christian woman, Sanamma, a helper in anganwadi school, was caught by a mob of 40 people when she was inviting children to join the school after the summer break. The mob accused her of forceful conversion, beat her up severely and took her to a temple where they poured water on her as a

form of religious cleansing and thereafter applied kumkum on her forehead, a sign of Hindu married woman. Local Christians rescued her later and took her to a hospital for treatment. In another case in Taragoan, Lohandiguda, Hindutva extremist activists forcefully took a Christian widow to the temple and tried to sacrifice her to the idols. Her daughter and relatives rescued the widow. The Evangelical Fellowship, in association with other Church groups, has consistently demanded that the Central government enact suitable legislation to end communal and targeted violence. They had hoped that Parliament would pass the Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence Bill in the last session. It did not happen. They hope that the government formed after the 2014 General elections will take it up in earnest.
For the full report, visit: www.efionline.org

Mushawarat condemns Mumbra Police Action

New Delhi: Taking a strong stand against the Police Action in Mumbra (Thane, Maharashtra) two days ago, the All India Muslim Majlise Mushawarat, the umbrella body of Indian Muslim organisations, on 15 March demanded strict action against Thane ACP Amit Kale and 200 of his officers and policemen who raided a Muslim residential area of Mumbra two days ago. President of Mushawarat, Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan, wrote today to the Union Home Minister, Chairman National Human Rights Commission, Chairman Maharashtra Human Rights Commission, Chairman National Commission for Minorities, Chairman Maharashtra Minorities Commission, Chief Justice of India and Chief Justice of Bombay High Court. Enclosing details of the illegal raid. Dr Khan demanded strict action against the erring officers and policemen who raided the locality at 1:30-2 am on 13 March, broke doors and other house contents, arrested 80 men from school students to senior citizens and kept them under illegal detention for four hours. Dr Khan said in his letter, ... this is a gross violation of the detained peoples human and civil rights as well as the standard police rules. If such behaviour is allowed and tolerated, our country will become a Nazi camp or a Soviet Gulag. Dr. Khan demanded appropriate action against the erring police personnel as well as issuance of clear guidelines about polices limits and powers in a democratic country. Following is the full text of the letter sent to a number of Central and state officials: 15 March 2014 Honble Union Home Minister New Delhi Dear Sir, I wish to draw your kind attention to an incident which we did not believe could happen in a democratic country like ours. In a Gestapo-like operation, as reported by two websites and the Indian Express, Thane (Maharashtra) ACP Amit Kale led around 200 policemen in a raid against the residents of Rashid Compound of Kausa, Mumbra in the early hours (1.30-200 am) of 13 March 2014. He herded some 80 men from school and college students to office-goers and senior citizens - all Muslims -- to the area police station. In the process, the police contingent reportedly broke doors and damaged house contents. During the raid, electricity was cut off from the area. Reportedly, the detained Muslims were released four hours later reportedly at the intervention of the Mumbra MLA Mr Jitendra Awhad. The detained Muslims were abused, called aatankwadi (terrorists) apparently to provoke them in order to create a situation where the police could start firing at them. We think this is a gross violation of the detained peoples human and civil rights as well as the standard police rules. If such behaviour is allowed and tolerated, our country will become a Nazi camp or a Soviet Gulag. We approach you to kindly take immediate and serious notice of this blatant violation, take appropriate action against the erring police personnel and issue clear guidelines to the police about its limits and powers in a democratic country. I am attaching herewith screenshots of the reports in twocircles.net and bhindibazar.asia as well as the Indian Express report which have carried this news with photographs and videos. Yours sincerely Dr. Zafarul-Islam Khan President

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Gandhi Murder and Role of RSS: Debate Continues

RAM PUNIYANI
[email protected]
Last month (March 2014), Rahul Gandhi in an election campaign meeting said that RSS people killed Gandhiji and today their people and BJP talk of himThey opposed Sardar Patel and Gandhiji. In a reaction to his statement, RSS has lodged a complaint with the Election Commission. This is not the first time that Rahul Gandhi has made such a statement. On an earlier occasion also he had made a similar statement. What is the truth of Gandhi murder? Did RSS as an organisation have any role in it? Were members of RSS involved in it? What was the reaction of RSS followers in the wake of Gandhi murder? What was the response of Sardar Patel, the then home minister in the Union Cabinet to this ghastly crime? These questions have been subject matter of many books, films and plays, apart from myriad of articles. While the incident, commissions of inquiry and the judgment are there for all to see, the deeper causes of Gandhi murder have not been debated, the underlying cause of contrasting nationalisms is not brought to the fore in most of the debates. Today it is necessary not only to unearth the incident of Gandhi murder but it is also imperative to understand that Gandhi murder had deeper ideological underpinnings, those related to two notions of Nationalism, the one Indian Nationalism, which Gandhi espoused and strived for and the other Hindu Nationalism pursued by Godse, Gandhis murderer. Incidentally, the current Prime Ministerial candidate of BJP , the political wing of RSS, is also boasting about his nationalism being Hindu, so the matters become all the more relevant in the current political context. After the murder of Mahatma, the official RSS line had been that we have nothing to do with Godse neither is he a member of RSS. They could get away with this as there was no official record of members of RSS, and they could disown Godse at legal level. The fact is that Godse had joined RSS in 1930 and very soon rose to be its bauddhik pracharak (intellectual propagator). He said, Having worked for the uplift of the Hindus I felt it necessary to take part in political activities of the country for the protection of just Contrary to the claims of Godse that it was only his planning, the commissions of inquiry stated in their reports that it was a conspiracy by various followers of Hindu Mahsabha-RSS ideology, who planned to kill the Mahatma as he, a Hindu, was a big obstacle to turn this country into a Hindu nation. Sardar Patel wrote that it was a fanatical wing of the Hindu Mahasabha directly under Savarkar that hatched the conspiracy and saw it throughof course his assassination was welcomed by those of the RSS and Hindu Mahasabha who were strongly opposed to his way of thinking and to his policy (Sardar Patel quoted in Justice Kapoor report, chapter 1, p. 43). Justice Jivan Lal Kapoor himself concluded that all the facts taken together were destructive of any theory other than the conspiracy to murder by Savarkar and his group. rights of Hindus. I therefore left the Sangh (RSS) and joined Hindu Mahasabha (Godse, Why I Assassinated Mahatma Gandhi 1993, p. 102). He held Mahatma responsible for appeasing Muslims, and thereby for the formation of Pakistan. He joined Hindu Mahasabha which, at that time, was the only political party of Hindutva, and became the general secretary of its Pune branch. In due course he started a newspaper called Agrani or Hindu Rashtra. In an interview given to The Times of India (25 Jan., 1998) Nathurams brother Gopal Godse, who was also an accomplice in the Gandhi murder case, elaborates the apparent reasons and Nathurams RSS membership: The appeasement policy followed by him (Gandhi) and imposed on all Congress governments encouraged the Muslim separatist tendencies that eventually created Pakistan. Technically and theoretically, he (Nathuram) was a member (of RSS), but he stopped workings for it later. His statement in the court that he had left the RSS to protect the RSS workers who would be imprisoned following the murder. On the understanding that they (RSS workers) would benefit from his dissociating himself from the RSS, he gladly did it. The murder of Gandhi was celebrated by RSS followers by distributing sweets. Sardar Patel wrote, All their (RSS) leaders speeches were full of communal poison. As a final result, the poisonous atmosphere was created in which such a ghastly tragedy (Gandhis murder) became possible. RSS men expressed their joy and distributed sweets after Gandhis death (excerpts from Sardar Patels letters to M S Golwalkar and S P Mookerjee, Outlook, April 27, 1998). The way Hindu communalists were spewing poison against Gandhi, his murder was the logical outcome of their politics. They used the word wadh for this murder which stands for killing a demon who is harming the society. In a way, Gandhi murder was the first major offensive of the Hindutva politics on Indian Nationalism. In a way it was to herald the onset of bigger dangers which Hindutva politics has assumed today. Contrary to the claims of Godse that it was only his planning, the commissions of inquiry stated in their reports that it was a conspiracy by various followers of Hindu Mahsabha-RSS ideology, who planned to kill the Mahatma as he, a Hindu, was a big obstacle to turn this country into a Hindu nation. Sardar Patel wrote that it was a fanatical wing of the Hindu Mahasabha directly under Savarkar that hatched the conspiracy and saw it throughof course his assassination was welcomed by those of the RSS and Hindu Mahasabha who were strongly opposed to his way of thinking and to his policy (Sardar Patel quoted in Justice Kapoor report, chapter 1, p. 43). Justice Jivan Lal Kapoor himself concluded that all the facts taken together were destructive of any theory other than the conspiracy to murder by Savarkar and his group. This Hindutva became the base of politics of Hindu Mahsabha and RSS. I contrast, Gandhi was a Hindu who was opposed to the idea of the Nation being a Hindu nation. Similarly, we see Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, a Muslim, who never supported the idea of a Muslim Nation called Pakistan. Gandhi and Hindutva politics were two opposite poles. Gandhi united the whole nation on secular grounds, cutting across region, religion and caste. He was a religious person but was opposed to misuse of religion for political goals... In India, for whose fashioning I have worked all my life, every man enjoys equality of status, whatever his religion is. The state is bound to be wholly secular (Harijan, 31 August, 1947) and,religion is a personal affair of each individual, it must not be mixed up with politics or national affairs (ibid, p. 90). In contrast, Hindu Mahasabha and RSS believed that this nation is a Hindu nation and minorities have to remain subordinate to Hindus. They mostly did not take part in the anti-British agitations and struggles. For example, Savarkar who was an anti-British revolutionary in the beginning of his life but, after getting released from Andman jail, never participated in any anti-British movement or joined any national movement. RSS followers barring Hedgewar, occasionally and in the beginning also did not take part in the freedom movement. Their main focus was countering the Muslim communalists and subjugating them. As such, they were not against the British power. The issue of rupees 55 crores paid to Pakistan was a mere pretext. As a matter of fact, this rupees 55 crore was Pakistans share from the treasury of united India. The first installment of the money was already paid and 55 crore more was to be paid. Meanwhile, Pakistan attacked Kashmir. Indian Government withheld this amount of 55 crore after the Pakistani attack on Kashmir which at that time was an independent state and Gandhi, true to his ethical stand in the political arena, asked the government not to link Pakistans share with the Kashmir problem. Any way, this was a pretext as even before Gandhi talked about Pakistans share of 55 crore, already four attacks were made on his life and Godse was involved in some of these attempts. Jagan Phadnis in his book Mahatmyachi Akher (Lokvangymay Griha, 1994) correctly argues that Gandhi murder was not on the charges propagated by them (Partition and insistence on paying Pakistans dues from the treasury), but due to the basic deep differences with the social politics of Gandhi and that of the followers of Hindu Nationalism of the RSS. These two reasons are proffered merely as a pretext for the crime. We need to understand that when BJP and company talk of nationalism, they are not talking of Indian Nationalism but Hindu nationalism which is the not-so-hidden part of their political agenda. The present attacks on the secular fabric of our polity are yet another assassination attempt of Mahatma. So talking about the deeper causes of his murder will remain relevant till the attacks on secular democratic values of the country continue to hover on the nation. (pluralindia.com)

Ek Vaada Mubarak Begum Se: A Promise To Mubarak Begum

Recently, I stumbled upon singer Mubarak Begums phone number and gave her a tinkle on her birthday (Jan. 5). She picked up the phone and was very happy that someone remembered and wished her on her birthday. When I told her that I wrote for publications and portals, she asked me Kuchh likha hai? (have you written something on me?). I didnt have the heart to tell her that long ago, Akhbar-e-Mashriq (an Urdu daily from Calcutta) carried my long piece on her but woe to my lack of seriousness, I lost that copy which was sent along with the cheque. But I promised that Id soon write a piece on her either in Urdu, Hindi, English or even Bengali. Mubarak Begums life is a saga of might-have-beens. An exceptionally talented singer with desired rusticity in voice, Mubarak Begum could have achieved much more but for the high-handed hegemony of two singing sisters in Hindi film music who never allowed any female singers career to blossom. Theres an Arabic maxim, Im forgetting the exact words of. It says that vocal music needs no real training. It comes from within. Thats the reason, Reshma, an untrained voice from a tribe in western Rajasthans Jhunjhnu district, became so naturally appealing to ears. Mubarak Begum, daughter of a fruit vendor at Sujangarh, Churu in western Rajasthan, also had this earthly charm in her voice that struck immediately. Listen to her Kabhi tanhaiyon mein, humari yaad aayegi (Kedar Sharmas Humari Yaad Aayegi, 1961, composer: Snehal Bhatkar), Bemuravvat, bewafa, begana-e-dil aap hain/Aap maanein ya na maanein, mere qaatil aap hain (Sushila, under the baton of C Arjun, 1964) or Neend ud jaaye teri, chain se sone waale (Juaari, Kalyan ji-Anand ji). The rough edges in all her famous songs including the immortal duet Mujh ko apne gale laga lo, ae mere humrahi (Humrahi) endeared her to all. The great Muhammad Rafi himself admitted in his interview to Filmfare in 1979 that two duets were closest to his heart: Thahariye hosh mein aa loon toh chale jaaiyega (Muhabbat isko kahte hain, Rafi-Suman Kalyanpur, Composer-Khyyam) and Mujh ko apne gale laga lo with Mubarak Begum. Bimal Roy, whod very keen ears for music, realised that Mubarak was a rare gem of a singer, whose voice never faltered in high octave and crescendo. Mubaraks beautiful number Hum haal-e-dil sunayenge (Madhumati, 1958) vindicated Bimal Roys faith in her abundant singing abilities. Yet, this great singer was systematically sidelined by the heartless Bombay film industry, so much so that no one remembers her any longer. Her 46-year-old daughter, Shafaq Bano, has been suffering from Parkinsons and her son freelances as a taxi driver. Sunil Dutt helped her get a one-bedroom house at Jogeshwari in Bombay where she lives in abject penury. NDTV reported that she was earning a pension of Rs. 700 (about UD$ 12) and DNA reporting on her financial condition, stated that she was earning 3000 per month (both amounts being paltry by Indian standards). She herself is quite disabled and has to do all the household chores all by herself as her daughter hasnt been keeping well for a long time. Im further intrigued by the fact that though she sang many private ghazals and naats (religious compositions), where have those ghazals and naats gone? No radio station plays her private ghazals, though All India Radio Urdu Service has the LPS of her non-filmi ghazals. This is pitiable. Im sure, no one from this generation has heard the name of Mubarak Begum. Weaned on useless singers, lyricists and composers like Shreya Ghoshal, Kailesh Kher (this clown calls himself a sufi singer!), Prasoon Joshi, Rahman and their ilk, youngsters find Mubarak Begum an anachronism. But have the seniors, who once heard and appreciated her songs, done anything for this humble singer? Lastly, do you know, she also acted in a film (Sabse Bada Rupaiyya, 1955), though it was a brief role? For those, who may feel like contacting her, Im giving her postal address along with her phone number: Mubarak Begum, Sultanabad Chiragh Co-op-housing society, Building no. 22, 1st Floor, Flat no. C-111, Jogeshwari (West), Bombay-400102, Tel: 022-26787459

SUMIT PAUL

[email protected]

NATIONAL

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The Milli Gazette, 1-15 April 2014

AAPs Senior Muslim Leaders are Two Women

KALEEM KAWAJA
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is a nascent political party that in fact took shape only three months ago when they won a state assembly election and formed government in the small but strategic state of Delhi. But their lofty vision, honesty, courage and record of walking the talk have catapulted them into the minds of a very large number of Indians, especially the under 40 younger generation. AAP was formed by a set of activists from the India Against Corruption movement of a couple of years ago. When that movement was raging in Delhi and few other metropolitan cities, only a small number of Muslims participated in it. After hearing slogans like Bharat Mata ki Jai and Vande Matram raised at anti-corruption rallies, Muslim leaders became apprehensive. When AAP was formed in late 2012, that apprehension of Muslim leaders continued. When election was held in Delhi in November 2013, none of the five AAP Muslim candidates, many from Muslim areas, received enough Muslim votes. Thus in the leadership of AAP one could not find Muslims. As AAPs popularity has mushroomed, we are now seeing more ordinary Muslims across the nation supporting it enthusiastically. Also AAP has realised that it should recognise Muslims in its folds. Of the 312 declared AAP candidates nationwide for the parliamentary election, about 29 are Muslim. In AAPs recent rallies in Kanpur, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Nagpur, Bangalore, many ordinary Muslims were visible. They are openly supporting the AAP thrust that everyone should be treated fairly regardless of his/her religion/caste and that the nations polity must drop the religion, caste, money, vote-bank-based electoral politics. Two Muslims have now become visible in the ranks of the senior AAP leadership. Both happen to be relatively young women; Shazia Ilmi (44) and Parveen Amanullah (54). Both are

The arrival of these two relatively young Muslim women in the top rung of the senior leadership of AAP heralds a new beginning for Indias Muslims. It is startling that in a community long dominated by men, its leaders in the new and popular national movement that Aam Aadmi Party has undoubtedly become, are women. Both Shazia and Parveen are bold, courageous, articulate and savvy in the affairs of the politics. Also they are fully in tune with other senior AAP leaders and share many progressive characterestics with them.
well educated, progressive, dynamic, have good political heritage, good track record, and are thoroughly grounded in the nations mainstream. Shazia Ilmi is running for parliament from Ghaziabad against BJPs Gen VK Singh, the former chief of the Indian army. Parveen Amanullah is running for parliament from Patna Sahib agsinst BJPs Shatrughan Sinha, renowned movie star and three times member of parliament. Shazia Ilmi, who was an anchor and senior journalist with Star TV in New Delhi, joined the India Against Corruption movement at its inception and soon became its official spokesperson. As AAP was formed she became a member of its national executive and contested the Delhi state election. Shazia happens to be the daughter of late Maulana Ishaq Ilmi of Kanpur, who was the publisher and editor UPs most popular Urdu newspaper, Siyasat from Kanpur in the 1950s-1980s. He was himself a very popular Muslim leader of UP . Parveen Amanullah, who was a cabinet minister for social welfare in the Bihar cabinet of Nitish Kumar until a couple of months ago, joined AAP in late January 2014. Previously she was a well-known RTI activist who in the 2004 election compiled information on various candidates running for the Bihar Legislative Assembly and published it as an advisory for the voters, especially to fight corruption. Parveen happens to be the daughter of the renowned Indian Muslim leader and former Indian foreign service officer Syed Shahabuddin who, for many years, was the general secretary of Janata Party and who fought for long against BJPs movement to demolish Babri mosque and many other causes of Indian Muslims. Indeed, the arrival of these two relatively young Muslim women in the top rung of the senior leadership of AAP heralds a new beginning for Indias Muslims. It is startling that in a community long dominated by men, its leaders in the new and popular national movement that Aam Aadmi Party has undoubtedly become, are women. Both Shazia and Parveen are bold, courageous, articulate and savvy in the affairs of the politics. Also they are fully in tune with other senior AAP leaders and share many progressive characteristics with them. As AAP continues to grow as a political party, these two Muslim women will add the colours of diversity, secularism, principled politics among the features of AAP , and will also help propel the Muslim community into the thick of mainstream political currents of the nation.

Yusuf/MG

Legal notes

Talaq & its Prior Conditions

M.R.SHAMSHAD

ime and again the issue of Talaq and the consequences thereof has remained an issue of cantankerous debate in the country as well as within different sections of the Muslim community. This issue has also gone to courts of law resulting in authoritative pronouncements.

Simultaneously, Muslim ulama have also given their opinion based on the original texts of Islam (fatwa) on various aspects of this issue. Again, the issue has become a matter of concern in view of a Public Interest Litigation having been filed in Madras High Court seeking Writ to declare that Qazis in India, particularly in the State of Tamil Nadu, are not empowered to certify Talaq and consequentially seeking direction restraining them from issuing such certificates and other documents certifying or approving Talaq. In principle, the rules relating to marriage and dissolution of marriage are protected by the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act of 1937 and they shall be governed in terms of the Muslim Personal Law. Maintaining the said position, after Shah Bano case in 1986, the Central Government passed a legislation defining the entitlement of Mahr and other properties and maintenance of women after their divorce from their husbands. The PIL raises the issue as to why the Qazis should or not be permitted to certify Talaq. Interestingly, the provision for appointment of Qazis was created long time back in 1880 by the (Central) Kazi Act. Various states like Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, UP, Punjab, Assam etc notified the said Act at some point of time and, accordingly, the said states could appoint Qazis as per the Act of 1880. The Act, however, does not define the scope and authority of the Qazis so appointed, though there is clarification to the effect that the Act does not confer judicial and administrative powers of the said appointed Qazis. The question is: whether the Qazi should issue certificates certifying the Talaq? Coming to the Islamic injunctions, the question one may ask as to whether it is necessary to issue such a certificate? If yes, who would issue such certificates? The answer to the first question would, technically, be that such certificates are not needed mandatorily. In Shia sect, the Talaq being a valid repudiation of marriage is not allowed in writing if the husband has the ability to

pronounce the same. On the other hand, amongst the Sunnis, the Talaq may be affected by writing as well as by pronouncement in words and in both the cases of repudiation of marriages, the real intention of the husband has to be determined in order to consider Talaq as valid. Thus, whether the Qazi issues a certificate of Talaq or certifies the same in writing or not, becomes irrelevant. But, if for whatever reason, the certificate is required, why the state governments should not appoint appropriate number of Qazis for local areas after consulting the Muslim residents of such local areas? Secondly, if it is felt that the Act does not create complete safeguard to regulate the function of Qazis, the Act may be amended by incorporating suitable provisions rather than neglecting the Act itself and passing remarks on the functioning of Qazis. The PIL has thereafter focused on the way certificates of pronouncements of Talaq are issued by not following the necessary pre-conditions like reconciliation, arbitration etc. which are conditions precedent for pronouncing Talaq and the Qazis do not ensure the compliance of such conditions precedent and mechanically issue the certificates. This is a matter of relevance and needs to be considered keeping in view the position that existed since the beginning of Islam, the practice prior to Islam and the judicial pronouncements by courts of law in our country. As far as pre-Islamic era is concerned, as stated by Syed Ameer Ali, probably the best lawyer on this issue of recent past, divorce required no formula to make it operational and valid as there was no check on the irresponsible power of the husband, a simple intimation from him to the effect that the tie was dissolved, was considered sufficient. This exercise was strongly disapproved by the Prophet of Islam and this resulted in bringing in the concept of prior reconciliation and arbitration before finally pronouncing Talaq. Accordingly, it became certain that there are necessary preconditions before pronouncement of Talaq. The Shariah has bestowed very special and prime importance to the husband and wife relationship and has permitted its severance only in a situation where there is no hope of reconciliation and resumption of normal family life. The reconciliation and prior attempt to resolve the issues leading to divorce are explicit in the Holy Quran (An- Nisa - 4:35). It states that once the couple feels breach of obligations to each other, two arbitrators, one from husbands family and the other from wifes family be appointed for reconciliation and resolution. The said principle of reconciliation is also inherent in the chapter of Talaq in the Holy Quran, where the process of pronouncing Talaq is stated to be at different occasions, after particular intervals (At-Talaq - 65:1-2) which would normally extend to three months. The third pronouncement of talaq, the last one, is the final one and thereafter husband cannot take her back (2:229, Al-Baqra). Evidently, after the failure of reconciliation, the decision to repudiate the matrimonial bond shall be a thoughtful consideration of the husband after bonafide efforts of both the parties

to resolve the issues which led to the situation of pronouncement of Talaq. The seriousness of the final pronouncement of Talaq is also reflected by regulating the subsequent conduct of the separated couple by imposing prohibition on their immediate remarriage (2:230 Al-Baqra). The object is that the husband shall not pronounce Talaq in haste and due to momentary anger and even due to the reasons which are reconcilable by the parties. Even in the cases where the wife initiates the process of repudiation of marriage through the process of khula, it is essential to trace out the factors which created impossibility for the woman to abide by the injunctions in the conjugal relationship. The reasoning of the reasons forming grounds for Talaq or Khula is a different issue. Here the matter of concern is the conditions precedent and their compliances prior to pronouncement of Talaq which is very manifest and unambiguously required to be adhered to prior to the pronouncement of Talaq. Even the Supreme Court of India in Shamim Ara case, relying upon the Shariah law, has held that the requirement of prior reconciliation is a necessary requirement. As far as the knowledge of wife, requiring her presence at the time of pronouncement of Talaq is concerned, it is settled that the presence of wife is not mandatory at the time of pronouncement. However, to make the pronouncement effective, it needs to be communicated to her at the earliest. The Delhi High Court judgment of 2007 (of Badar D. Ahmad, J) has found the logic of immediate communication by stating that the nature of Talaq will govern the subsequent conduct of the lady concerned as the pronouncement materially changes her rights and obligations. Going a step further, if the Quranic way of pronouncements of Talaq is to be followed, i.e., Talaq at three different occasions after a particular interval, the issue of the wifes ignorance and the concern that preconditions were not followed, shall stand addressed. Mostly, the issues leading to a situation, as raised in the PIL, has answers in the earlier judicial pronouncements of different High Courts where the validity of the pronouncement of triple Talaq at one sitting has been stated to be invalid. Even the ulama also opine that the said process of triple Talaq at one time is not correct, even as per Shariat as this process is stated to be Bidat (innovation) which is not recognised by various schools of thought within Islam. Once the pronouncement of Talaq in three different sittings is made mandatory, the issue of ignorance of wife about the Talaq and non-compliance of the pre-conditions of Talaq will be addressed. The said process certainly can be undertaken through the institution of Qazi by ensuring his function as per the Muslim personal law. The institution of Qazi needs to be set up through proper regulation rather than attacking the same. The said institution could be from the Muslim civil society on the line of private forum of arbitrations set up by corporate bodies as well as in terms of the Kazis Act 1880.
The author is Advocate-on-Record, Supreme Court of India

The Milli Gazette, 1-15 April 2014

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Muslim leaders angry at silence of govt over threats to Mahmood Paracha

New Delhi: Strongly condemning death threats to eminent Delhi lawyer Mahmood Paracha, Muslim community leaders here on 21 March expressed anger over the silence and inaction of the Central and state governments despite the mobile numbers used to send the threat calls and smss having been published in different sections of the media. Till date, Police or Union and state home ministries have failed to take notice of this grave development let alone provide security to the brave advocate who has taken on forces which have destroyed lives of thousands of innocent Muslim youth in the name of fighting terror, said All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat (AIMMM), an umbrella body of Indian Muslim organisations. Adv. Paracha is fighting around 70 terror cases wherein scores of Muslim youths are accused across the country. They include some high profile cases including the Israeli envoys car blast case and Himayat Beg case of German Bakery blast of Pune. Paracha has told a section of media that in the last 20 days he received threat calls from as many as 17 mobile numbers - including one which claimed to be from Ravi Pujari, an underworld don. In February 2010, Adv. Shahid Azmi, who was also fighting several terror cases of Muslim youth, was gunned down in his Mumbai office by some unknown criminals. Dr. Zafarul-Islam Khan, president of the All India Muslim Majliss-e Mushawarat alleged that Adv. Paracha is being threatened on behalf of police and other security agencies whose antiMuslim bias, he said, is getting exposed with acquittals of hundreds of terror accused Muslim youth thanks to the hard efforts of lawyers like Paracha and Azmi. Certain police officers are scared as Adv. Paracha demanded that police officers who deliberately implicated innocent Muslim youth in terror cases and ignored real culprits should be arrested and prosecuted, said Dr. Khan while addressing a press conference here at the head office of Mushawarat. Expressing anger over the silence of the government despite the brazen threat calls, he said the silence exposes the double standards of the government. If such a threat was given to Narendra Modi or LK Advani, the police would have swung into action within hours, said Dr Khan who is also editor of the English fortnightly, The Milli Gazette. Mohammad Salim Engineer, Secretary, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, said such double standards in police and government agencies would jeopardise integrity and safety of the country. The situation has put a question before the country: Will it remain a secular country or become a fascist nation, he said. Mujtaba Farooq, president of the Welfare Party of India, said the state of Maharashtra has become notorious for extra-judicial killings and has become a haven for gangsters. Who will save the country if police and security agencies become biased in terror probes? Addressing the press conference, Akhlaq Ahmed, national coordinator of the Association for Protection of Civil Rights said Adv. Paracha is not the first Muslim lawyer who has received threats. Several Muslim lawyers defending terror accused in different states have been threatened and some have Dr. Zafarul Islam Khan speaking. Sitting on his left - Dr Tasleem Rahmani, Mohammad Salim Engineer, Mujtaba Farooq, Maulana Ataur Rahman Qasmi been eliminated, he said. Maulana Ataur Rahman or Delhi Police have not taken any notice of the same. Qasmi, director of the Shah Then came the criminal attack on a terror-accused Waliullah Institute, said that (Fasih Mahmood) in Tihar jail where he should enjoy total lawyers were not threatened security and safety. We believe that this attack like the one even during the British rule All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat sent the in which Qateel Siddiqui was murdered in Punes Yarwada even though they were following letter to the Union home minister Mr Sushil jail is also at the behest of the Police which want to defending freedom fighters in Kumar Shinde on 24 March requesting time for silence/scare voices which could expose their illegal and court cases. Muslim community leaders to meet him about the criminal activities which are now abundantly clear from Chairman of Muslim renewed persecution of Muslim youth in the name of hundreds of acquittals in terror cases across the country. Political Council, Dr. Tasleem fighting teror. Following is the text of the letter: The third incident is the recent arrest of four youths Ahmad Rahmani, said Adv. from Rajasthan and two from Delhi. One from Rajasthan Paracha is the strongest 24 March 2014 Muslim lawyer in Delhi who Shri Sushil Kumar Shinde, Honble Home Minister of India, and two from Delhi have now been released which shows the trigger-happy nature of forces under your direct conhas exposed lacunae in UAPA New Delhi trol. Flimsiest of evidence is sufficient for them to raid law and secured release of and kidnap people and then use torture to obtain fake conjournalist Mohammad Kazmi fessions which years later are thrown out by courts after who was made an accused in Respected Sir, Israeli embassy car blast A number of recent developments show that your stated destroying careers and families. We observe in this latest concern and your two recent letters to state chief minis- case that thoroughly communalised forces under your case. The Muslim leaders ters are being flouted by Congress-ruled states as well as direct control are using these arrests to shore up Modis demanded the government to by forces under your own direct control. popularity by claiming, without any evidence, that the The first incident is the series of threatening calls and alleged terrorists wanted to attack a Modi rally. provide protection to Adv. Paracha. Otherwise, the smss to Senior Supreme Court Advocate Mahmood Umpteen such alerts and claims have been proved Muslim community will hold Pracaha who is defending dozens of terror-accused bogus in the past. the Union and Maharashtra Muslim youths. Purportedly these threats are coming from A delegation of leaders of major Indian Muslim organstate home ministers and the a gangster but we believe that these threats emanate either isation wishes to meet you at the earliest to discuss this Mumbai police commissioner directly from Mumbai Police/Maharasthra ATS or are made matter with you as the community feels that the issue of personally responsible if any- at their behest as they are feeling the heat due the expo- terrorism continues to be used for political gains at the thing untoward happened to sure of their illegal activities in implicating Muslim youths expense of the marginalised Muslim community. the brave advocate they and fabricating evidences against them. These threats and said in a written statement the 17 mobile numbers from which these are made are in Yours sincerely signed by these leaders. (indi- the public domain for over two weeks now but the Mumbai Dr. Zafarul-Islam Khan President atomorrow.net)

Mushawarat letter to Union Home Minister

New Delhi: According to a press release by Markazi Jamiat Ahl-e Hadees, 32nd All India Ahl-e Hadees Conference concluded satisfactorily at Ram Lila Maidan on the night of Sunday 2 March. The vast gathering who had come from all parts of the country was addressed by learned Ulama from within and outside the country. The 2-day conference was organised mainly to emphasize the point that path of moderation is the means to ensure world peace and welfare of humanity. In the concluding session the Imam of Masjid-e Nabwi, Sheikh Abdul Mohsin Al Qasim was also present and led Maghrib and Isha Namaz. Speaking in this conference he praised and congratulated Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadees for organising the Conference on this topic which is an important need of the times. He exhorted the people to adopt the path of moderation in their life, promote mutual brotherhood and unity among all peoples of the world. He described Islam as the biggest gift by God to humanity. In this Conference many resolutions concerning Indian and foreign topics and problems were adopted at the end which are briefly given hereunder: The Conference feels that by following Islamic teachings only, people of the world can achieve all-round success. Hence Muslims should present the practical application of Islamic teachings in their life to the world. The conference made an appeal to Muslims to practice and promote unity and to avoid disunity and sectarian differences, avoid taunts and reproach in their speeches and writings. They should avoid such attitudes which harm milli interests. This conference also expressed its concern over the wayward, unjust and sometimes immoral ways and attitudes of youth and appealed to religious organisations to promote Islamic codes of morality among them so as to create a good and healthy society. The conference said that it considers the recent verdict of the Supreme Court regarding adoption as against Shariat and requested it to exempt Muslims from this. It also expressed its concern over sexual perversion among youths and other people and black marketing, profiteering, drinking, use of drugs and other such vices. Regarding forthcoming elections the conference made an appeal to Muslims and secular minded brethren of the

The 32nd Conference of All India Jamiat Ahle Hadees

country to cast their votes wisely in favour of people with a clean image, otherwise criminal, corrupt and communal elements would come to power which would not be in the interests of the country. It also said that recommendations of Ranganath Mishra Commission and Sachar Committee should be implemented immediately and Muslims should be granted reservation on the basis of backwardness. It also condemned the activities of some people who indulge in negative propaganda against Saudi Arab and create misunderstandings against that country. It also praised Saudi Arabias all round services in different fields. It said that even after 12 years the oppressed and wronged people affected by Gujarat riots had not got justice. It also strongly condemned the barbarism let loose by Basharul Asad and his government on the people of Syria in retaliatory acts, in which more than one lakh people have been killed and lakhs of other people have been rendered homeless. This Conference therefore made an appeal to the world fraternity to make all possible efforts to get the on-going massacre stopped. The conference also condemned Israels open and naked aggressiveness on the people of Palestine and made an appeal to the United Nations to act impartially and help in finding a just and durable solution. It also expressed its concern and displeasure over the countries who maintain silence over Israels oppression of the people of Palestine and praised the people and organisations who are trying to promote the cause and security of Palestine.

Reservation to Jats is because of antiMuslim policy of Congress

Deoband / New Delhi: Many Muslim leaders and organisations have expressed their strong anger and disapproval over the double standards of the Congress, seeing that in spite of the backwardness of Muslims in economic, educational and social fields and a number of demands made by them for implementation of Sachar Committee and Rangnath Mishra Commissions recommendations which recommended reservations to Muslims, Congress-led central government in its latest gesture has given reservation to Jats but again ignored Muslims and denied reservation to them. Prominent Ulama of Darul Uloom,. Deoband and others while accusing the Congress of partiality and of being antiMuslim have demanded that along with reservation to them in

government and other fields, Communal Violence Bill should also be got passed in Parliament. Darul Uloom Deobandis Rector Mufti Abul Qasim Nomani said that in spite of Sachar Committee report describing the condition of Muslims even worse than that of Dalits, the central government granted reservation to Jats but ignored Muslims. He demanded that along with the Jat Samaj, reservation should be given to Muslims also. Maulana Hasan Al Hashmi, Head of World Spiritual Movement said that just as reservation has been given to Jats in the same way reservation should be given to Muslims in line with Sachar Committee and Rangnath Mishra Commissions recommendations so that their backwardness could be removed. Maulana Abdul Lateef Qasmi, president of All India Promotion and Protection of Sunnat Committee said that because of the wrong policies of the Congress, the condition of the country is deteriorating, because on one side it has given reservation to Jats but denied it to Muslims and thereby, it has antagonised Muslims. Secretary of Majlis Ittehad-e Millat, Athar Usmani said that they were not against reservation being given to Jats but were only raising questions on the intention and sincerity of the Congress for denying the same to Muslims and non-implementation of Rangnath Mishra Commissions recommendations. Meanwhile, Dr Idrees Qureshi who has been working as general secretary of UP Congress Committee for the past 15 years has resigned from the post of general secretary and also from the primary membership of the Congress in protest against giving reservation to Jats and denying the same to Muslims. Describing this as unfortunate he said that he had started his political life with the Congress in 1973 but today the Congress has changed very much and secularism is no longer an issue for the Congress and communal forces are now dominating it. He said that he had taken the decision to quit Congress at a time when the massacre of Muslims was perpetrated by Jats in Muzaffarnagar and inhuman treatment was also meted out to women and children and to top it all, reservation to jats at such a time tantamounts to rubbing salt on the wounds of Muslims. In his resignation letter to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi he accused the Congress of continuously discriminating against backward Muslims. He said that Congress should now remove its misunderstanding with regard to secularism because it is not the only secular party now and it has now become necessary to teach it a lesson.

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Roguery under the rogue: Gujarat under Modi

MUSTAFA KHAN
The apothegm a man is known by the company he keeps is illustrated in the campaign for 2014 election where Chief Minister Narendra Modi of Gujarat is invariably seen with the workers of Hindutva party, BJP . The overwhelming ethos of the party is of course Hindu even in the secular democratic election process. His closest associate in campaign management has been his deputy in charge of election in UP . Amit Shah has three counts of criminal charges of murder slapped against him in one case. For that he had passed time in prison and lost his ministership. There are numerous other such cases including 22 fake encounters and the pogroms of 2002. He is what the investigation agencies call kingpin in the racket he conducted in collection of extortion money through even the wellknown figure of Sohrabuddin Sheikh whom he allegedly got murdered. That the chief minister by no means has come clean on many sundry charges of genocide of Muslims in 2002 and the fake encounters is another unending battle in courts of law. Only clean chits are issued as a formality in charade of trial. Even the person who was the chief witness of Naroda Patia pogrom for which Modis minister Maya Kodnani is convicted and imprisoned, was murdered the day he was to give witness in court. Such events have been the order of the day in Gujarat for more than a decade when no riots took place since these events were in themselves enough to mar the face of Modi-ruled Gujarat as a rogue state. Former chief minister Keshubhai Patel at least reined in Swami Aseemanand but Modi threw all regards for law to the winds. He flagrantly gifted huge funds from the treasury to Aseemanand to carry on his work of ethnic cleansing. Even those who conducted investigations like RK Raghvan were beneficiaries of the windfall of the Nano project of Tata Corporation thanks to the largesse of Modi. Modi is on record for having harboured a proclaimed offender of law and a mass killer in the pogroms, Babu Bhai Bajrangi of Bajrang Dal. Through the minister of home Gordon Zadhaphia, Modi had sent the word that Bajrangi should hide from the law. Gujarat government guest house at Mt Abu was furnished for him to abscond from the law. The shoot-at-sight order given by police commissioner PC Pande was vaudeville. Railway Minister in the Central government Lalu Prasad Yadu raised hue and cry in Parliament against Bajrangi. Modi again asked Bajrangi to surrender. Another pliant police officer, PP Pandey, conducted the farce of the surrender. Several judges conducted the trial of the worst offender of law. One such judge told Bajrangi that for the crimes he had committed he would sentence him to life imprisonment twice. Modi kept changing the judges until he came upon Justice Akshay Mehta who ordered release of Bajrangi on bail. For almost a decade Bajrangi was free to roam and rule what he saw his fiefdom, threatening witnesses and kidnapping Hindu girls who had married non-Hindus. Finally, the law caught up with him and he is sentenced to life imprisonment. Kiran Thapar had conducted an interview with the chief minister and put the gist of the matter that dogs Modi even today, more than a decade later: people still call you to your face a mass murderer, and they accuse you of being prejudiced against Muslims! Thapar also reminded him that he as CM was on watch

Kiran Thapar had conducted an interview with the chief minister and put the gist of the matter that dogs Modi even today, more than a decade later: people still call you to your face a mass murderer, and they accuse you of being prejudiced against Muslims! Thapar also reminded him that he as CM was on watch when hundreds of women and children of Muslim community were slaughtered. To this day he has not given any explanation let alone feeling regret or owning it up as his moral responsibility for protecting all the citizens of his state. What is worse, he rubbed salt in the wounds of the victims who survived the pogroms by telling Reuter news agency that puppies do come under the fast moving cars at times.
when hundreds of women and children of Muslim community were slaughtered. To this day he has not given any explanation let alone feeling regret or owning it up as his moral responsibility for protecting all the citizens of his state. What is worse, he rubbed salt in the wounds of the victims who survived the pogroms by telling Reuter news agency that puppies do come under the fast moving cars at times. Even the suborning the judiciary was openly played as a game as he saw over subverting judicial process through the RSS-tainted public prosecutors, using Advocate General Tushar Mehta to send information to S Gurumurthy how best to deprive Muslims legal aid and instead of defending them aid the perpetrators of the genocide. Today this man is rated as the most popular candidate for the post of PM of India! And he promised us in his Lucknow rally of Sunday 2 March that he would be on watch over Indian money transactions so that there is no corruption! He was on watch during the pogroms at Naroda Patia. So for any future such eventuality he would again turn a Nelsons eye as was and is his wont! Even his admirers admit through Freudian slip of tongue as does Shilpi Tiwari. She attended a concert in Delhi where she declared: He is the perfect candidate because he has shown how rogue elements from both sides (Muslims and Hindus) can be reined in so that his state could prosper. Thats the template India needs. [1] In the light of Modis dispensation in Gujarat 2002, he is a rogue himself so how could he control rogues on both the sides of the great divide in India? Later he also acquired the sobriquet of safed dadhi, grey beard, and Amit Shah as kali dadhi, black beard, who sanctioned the murder of Ishrat Jahan and three others. To answer Arvind Kejriwal, he is the sahib that ordered the snooping of Madhuri; and he is also the grey beard. These are the euphemisms of the whispering corridors of Sangh parivar in office. The concert in Delhi, on the eve of the conclave in Goa where Modi was chosen as the campaign in charge of his party, includ-

ed the intrepid rogues of Indian society. There was Tejinder Pal Singh Bagga with a long record of attacks as on Arundhati Roy. Another was Suresh Albella, a winner of The Great India Laughter Show on television. His macho jokes include the one he lifted from the RSS texts on nationalism. Jaane kis din Lal Kille mein mardangi bhasha bolengee (God knows on which day we will hear masculine language spoken from the Red Fort). The intention and perception of such people in the pro-Modi camp speaks volumes about what they expect Modi to do if he really dons the mantle of the prime minister. Already the postulate towards which the momentum of BJP campaign is moving is for a strong president to head Indian government and not a parliamentary democratic prime minister. Can then the parliament control the rogue given the past record? In just over a year after Noam Chomsky published his Rogue States - the rule of force in world affairs (2000), the state of Gujarat in India began a widely feared and carefully thought out and planned Hindutva laboratory experiment. In plain terms, it was designed to show that the Muslims were at the sufferance of the Hindu majority and must learn to know their place and cease to be nuisance in their pursuit of equation with the majority. The pogroms that followed and the subsequent fake encounters fall into this pattern. Prime Minister AB Vajpayee and his deputy & Home Minister LK Advani manoeuvred to let Modi continue his rule despite wide condemnation of the slaughter of more than two thousand Muslims, the inhuman boycott, the social and economic apartheid forcing them to live a dehumanized life in relief camps, disempowering them further and dispossessing them of whatever property they had in the holocaust that suddenly changed their lives. Even a decade later the lives of many of them have not returned to normal and there is no hope and scope left to them to improve their lot. It is worth to recall here two examples, Cuba blockade and Indonesia attack on East Timor, to compare and contrast with what Modi did. The blockade made the Cubans suffer inhuman conditions of poverty, disease and starvation. This was vehemently condemned by the UNO, the European Union, the Organization of American States, etc. yet the US did not relent. In the same way in the East Timor war of 1975 the US supported the Indonesian generals to the hilt. Within two months 60,000 people were killed; within years the numbers rose to 200,000 thanks to the support US gave to Indonesia. UN Ambassador Daniel Patrick Moynihan was given the task to make UN ineffective and he succeeded. [2] Modi used his entire administration and police to achieve his hidden agenda of conducting the pogroms, denying justice to the victims, enforcing boycott of Muslims, forcing them out of the relief camps, punishing honest police officers like Rahul Sharma and awarding PC Pande, the commissioner of police in Ahmadabad, for his acts of omission in handling the pogroms by not ordering police to save Ahsan Jafri and those taking shelter in his house, etc. Given this kind of roguery that states (like the US and in India, Gujarat) can play what is in store for India under Modi?
Notes: [1] Rock concert chants NaMo for PM, The Telegraph, 1 June 2013. [2] Rogue States, the rule of force in world affairs (2000) New Delhi: India Research Press.

Wages of Hate still time for Advani to repent

DR MOHAMMAD MANZOOR ALAM
The shabby way in which LK Advani has been regularly treated by the BJP and its mentor RSS over the last few years is pitiable. It shows that hate, vandalism and mass murder finally come back to visit upon the perpetrator. And certainly Mr Advani has committed these crimes against humanity. Mr Advani, who was riding on Cloud Nine following the demolition of the Babri Masjid and the concomitant mass murder of Muslims as the hate wave generated by him destroyed lives and properties across the country. However, he was soon brought down to earth, and to his senses, when the sedate Atal Bihari Vajpayee came forward to grace the chair of the Prime Minister, leaving the angry, selfproclaimed Iron Man-2 holding the baby. To Mr Vajpayees eternal credit, he had publicly said that Mr Advani was leading a charge of monkeys on Ayodhya like Hanumanji led the charge on Sri Lanka and burnt it down in his overenthusiastic campaign to rescue Sitaji. During Mr Advanis Somnath to Ayodhya rath yatra, Mr Vajpayee advised him to remember that Ayodhya was in India, not in a foreign country. Mr Advani did not heed the advice and put Ayodhya on fire. Such people cannot be made Prime Minister. Soon he learnt it to his chagrin. His 2010 bid on prime ministership also exploded in his face. But

Mr Advanis condition today is most unenviable and utterly miserable. He will do well to think seriously over the harm he has inflicted on a large number of people by destroying promising lives and properties. In his twilight years he should give a thought to it and atone for his sins.
he is not the kind who learns lessons. They are only interested in teaching lessons to the weak, like Indian Muslims and Christians in periodic bursts of violence. Thats all they are good for. Another time when the more cool-headed and less Ironman-like Mr Vajpayees superior statesmanship shown through was in 2002 at the height of Gujarat killings he, as the countrys Prime Minister, publicly scolded Narendra Modi for having failed to uphold rajdhrama (the lofty ideals of a ruler) and allowing the killings to continue. Mr Vajpayee wanted Mr Modi to step down from chief ministership to atone for the lapse. However, like always, Mr Advani chose to back Mr Modi along with his younger colleagues like Arun Jaitley and Venkiah Naidu. Communalism triumphed over principle.

Soon after that Mr Advanis fall began. Then came his inauspicious visit to Pakistan, where this thoroughly communal person issued a certificate of secularism to Mr Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. A man, who had been regularly ridiculing Indias secular Constitution and was guilty of the most vicious attack on the secular order by demolishing Babri Masjid and unleashing countrywide violence against Muslims, had the cheek to issue a certificate of secularism in another country. On his return to India he was duly humiliated by the Sangh and cut down to size, but nobody came to his rescue. Not even Mr Jaitley, Mr Modi or Mr Naidu. However, he refused to learn any lesson. Today, Mr Advani is like a rag, used and thrown into a garbage can. He is of no use to his chelas like Modi, Jaitley and Naidu. His use-by date has passed. Now is the time for him to repent for his crimes against humanity. Muslims, against whom he has sinned, will readily forgive him if he expresses regret publicly. Even today

many of us give him a certain respect as an elder even thought we have not forgotten his mass murder. Mr Advanis condition today is most unenviable and utterly miserable. He will do well to think seriously over the harm he has inflicted on a large number of people by destroying promising lives and properties. In his twilight years he should give a thought to it and atone for his sins. Over the years I have written many letters to him, but he never had the grace or courtesy to reply to a single one of them. He seems to have no conscience left in him. His black deeds have hardened his heart. I wrote a long series of periodic letters to him. I urged him to do prayashchit (atonement) for his crimes against humanity. Because the courts have not punished him for his crimes, he thinks God also will allow him to go unpunished. The courts have not punished him because the judicial system has been sabotaged. Gods system cannot be sabotaged. I once again request him to do prayashchit and the victims will forgive him, his sins and regard him as their elder. He should try to live the rest of his life without the huge burden of guilt. We hope this time round he will pay heed to our advice. Today when he looks around, he sees himself standing alone, all his chelas gone. He should at last have a clear conscience in his old age. (iosworld.org)

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Crimea fires the imagination of Kashmiris

AFSANA RASHID, SRINAGAR
Welcoming Crimeas decision to declare independence from Ukraine, separatists, here, look towards it as a morale-booster for Kashmir and believe that the same has reinforced the peoples belief that one day their wishes and aspirations would be fulfilled. Genuine movements cant be crushed through military might and meaningless elections, said Hurriyat (M) chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, March 18, adding that history bears testimony to the fact that wherever there were genuine movements across the globe, they reached their logical conclusion; Kosovo and EastTimor are its most recent examples. He argued that the referendum will not only prove a moralebooster for people of Kashmir, but it would also help the amalgam to project its cause in a structured manner at international forums. He added that the referendum should be an eye-opener for New Delhi as Kashmir is a dispute that needs to be resolved. The referendum has encouraged the people in Kashmir, said Hurriyat (G) spokesperson, Ayaz Akbar, March 18, adding that the decision will help solve the Kashmir issue. He added the referendum has proved that no region in the world can be forcibly kept against the will of its people with any other country nor can the will of its people be changed by any force. the decision has divided the state along sectarian lines. National Conference would be fighting from three Parliamentary seats in Kashmir and the Congress would contest from two seats in Jammu and one in Ladakh. After hectic parleys, Congress, March 20, announced that Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad would be the partys candidate from Udhampur-Kathua constituency. Expressing satisfaction, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, March 20, stated that National Conference-Congress coalition would win all six Parliamentary seats in the state and Rahul Gandhi will become the next prime minister of India. On the other hand, PDP patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, March 21, said, if voted to Parliament, the party would strive to bring all political formations at New Delhi together to develop a Common Minimum Programme on Kashmir resolution. Releasing the partys manifesto, Parliamentary Elections: Agenda for Change, he said Parliamentary elections for PDP isnt about making alliances to come to power, but to make the Parliament a forum for representing the Jammu and Kashmir issue for debate and dialogue at the national level. Meanwhile, Awami Ittihad Party president and independent legislator, Er Rashid, March 22, announced that his party would be contesting election in all the three parliamentary constituencies in Kashmir and he himself would be contesting from Baramulla. Pertinently, use of None Of The Above option in the upcoming elections, starting April 10, has generated a debate with some political quarters apprehending that the same would strengthen the separatist camp. incident. A police spokesperson, however, March 14, said that an unruly mob in Naidkhai-Sumbal attacked a security personnel vehicle and tried to set it ablaze. Security personnel boarding the vehicle fired in the air to disperse the mob in which one person was injured. The injured was identified as Farhat Ahmad, who unfortunately died on the way to hospital. Appropriate action is being taken in the matter. DIG Police (north Kashmir), Ghulam Hassan Bhat said FIR under section 302 RPC has been lodged and it is an open FIR and investigation will prove what happened exactly. State Human Rights Commission, while taking suo-motto cognizance of the killing, March 15, said police has violated Standard Operational Procedure, while dispersing the protestors. Terming it as cold-blooded murder and fresh example of state-terrorism, Hurriyat (G) spokesperson, March 15, demanded an impartial probe into it and exemplary punishment to the murderers. Hurriyat (M) chairman, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, March 15, termed it as an open display of state- terrorism to which people of Kashmir are repeatedly subjected. The conglomerate filed petitions with Amnesty International, National Human Rights Commission and State Human Rights Commission seeking action against those involved in the killing, March 16. Both factions of Hurriyat had called for a shutdown across the valley, March 16. JKLF spokesperson, while quoting its chairman, Mohammad Yasin Malik, March 15, said, The forces kill because they are assigned with the job of killings and politicians shed crocodile tears to hoodwink the international community and pacify the anger of people. Jamaat-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmir, advocate Zahid Ali, March 18, demanded that such killings be probed by an impartial judicial commission. Peoples Conference chairman Sajjad Gani Lone, March 15, said that the probes are mere eyewash to shield the guilty. High Court Bar Association, March 15, said that the state-repression is a continued campaign in Jammu and Kashmir and the trigger-happy state forces are shedding the blood of innocent people as a matter of state policy to subjugate the will of the people and threaten the youth to restrict the mass upsurge against New Delhis forcible control. Awami Itihad Party president and independent legislator, Er Rashid, March 15, asked when Ahmad was fired upon by men in uniform in broad day light in presence of hundreds of people, what for did the government order magisterial probe? Senior National Conference leader and Minister for Higher Education, Mohammad Akbar Lone, told local news agency, CNS, March 17 that a sitting or retired High Court Judge be nominated to probe the killing, as he didnt have faith in Commissions. PDP president Mehbooba Mufti, March 20, accused National Conference of engineering the killing to create an atmosphere of poll-boycott in Kashmir.

Election activity and boycott calls

As Parliamentary elections are fast approaching, separatists here campaign for a poll-boycott and Congress has decided to surrender all the three Lok Sabha seats in Kashmir to its coalition partner, National Conference. Hurriyat Conference Jammu and Kashmir kick-started the poll boycott campaign from Bandipora in north Kashmir, March 7. Senior separatist Shabir Ahmad Shah along with other leaders of the amalgam said that elections cant be a substitute to the right to self-determination. JKLF also kick-started its poll boycott campaign by holding public-rallies at various places in south Kashmir, March 14. Its chairman, Mohammad Yasin Malik, March 20, said to vote or not is a legitimate right of an individual in a democratic set-up. Hurriyat (M) chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, addressing Friday congregation at the historic Jamia Masjid here, March 21, said no poll process can be a substitute to right to self-determination. Dukhtaran-e-Millat chief Aasiya Andrabi, March 8, asked people to boycott forthcoming elections. Accusing the state government of discrimination against the Sikh community, All Parties Sikh Coordination Committee chairman, Jagmohan Singh Raina, March 21, asked Sikhs to hold their votes for the upcoming elections. On the other hand, Congress approved the fighting of Lok Sabha elections in the state with its alliance partner, National Conference, March 7. The decision hasnt gone down well with some State Pradesh Congress Committee leaders, who opine that

Shutdown over killing of youth

The state authorities here, clamped curfew and separatists called for a shutdown, in response to the killing of a youth in alleged police firing in Naidkhai-Sumbal in north Kashmirs Bandipora district. Protests and demonstrations were held and the incident evoked wide spread condemnation from various parties and sections of people cutting across ideological lines. Farhat Ahmad, 20, son of Ghulam Mohammad Dar of Shahgund-Sumbal in Bandipora district was allegedly killed when police fired on protestors in Naidkhai-Sumbal, about 36 kilometres from Srinagar, March 14, triggering days of curfew, clashes and protests. Survived by parents and a sister, Ahmad was labouring to earn his livelihood. He had studied up to 10th standard. Eye-witnesses have been reportedly quoted as saying that as locals in the area were protesting, they met a contingent of 18th Battalion of Indian Reserve Police, triggering ding-dong clashes. Some people including Ahmad sustained injuries and were rushed to hospital, where Ahmad was declared brought dead. Soon after the news spread, people took to the streets, clashes erupted and curfew was imposed across Bandipora district that remained in force for four consecutive days. Life was thrown out of gear; shops and markets remained closed and vehicles went off the roads. A magisterial probe has been ordered into the

Okhla youth arrested, released amid high drama

New Delhi: Around 10 pm in the night of 23 March, two youths picked up from Jamia Nagar area earlier in the day were released by the Special Cell of Delhi Police. Hundreds of residents had blocked the Delhi-Noida road since afternoon in protest against the arrests without warrants by a posse of uniformed and plainclothe policemen. Besides the two, one of the four youths picked the previous day from Jaipur was also released. We were taken from our room around 8:30 am, Sunday 23 March, straight to the Lodhi Road police station of the Special Cell. We were kept there till around 10 pm. They did not misbehave with us, nor did they use any hard or foul language when they were questioning us, said Abdul Wajid, one of the released youths. Abdul Wajid, an undergraduate student of Arabic language at Jamia Millia Islamia, hails from Gridih district in Jharkhand. He was not sought for by the police who had come looking for Ammar Yasir, a mechanical engineering last year student of the Global Institute in Jaipur who was also released. After more than 12 hours of questioning, the interrogators could not find any evidence of their involvement in disruptive activities and so decided to release them. Local rage, protests and the blockade of an important artery in Delhi must have pressurised them to take a decision quickly. Ammar Yasir lived in a hostel in Jaipur where he shared a room with two of the four suspects picked from Jaipur, and thats why police came looking for Yasir for questioning. Next day, Yasir left for Saudi Arabia on a scheduled visit for Umrah along with some of his relatives. According to Wajid, before releasing them, the Special Cell called Yasirs relatives to Lodhi Road police station to hand them over. The third released youth was Mohammad Meraj, also an engineering student in Jaipur. Speaking about what the interrogators asked him, Abdul Wajid said: They did not ask any question about blast or terrorism to me. But one of the interrogators asked me about the concept of Jihad and why innocents are being killed in the name of Islam. In response, I recited a verse of Quran which says killing of one person without any justified reason is like killing of all human beings. I told him killing of innocents is not Islam. One of the interrogators read verses of national, who were allegedly planning to carry out terror attacks during the upcoming general elections, particularly Narendra Modi as media claimed without any evidence probably to prop up the saffron leaders chances. The men were identified as Waqas alias Zia-ur-Rehman of Pakistan, Waqar Azhar, Mohammad Mahroof and Saquib Ansari. Police claimed Waqas was arrested at the Ajmer railway station while coming from Mumbai. He disclosed the hideout of his other associates. Delhi Police Special Cell and Rajasthan Polices Anti-Terrorism Squad arrested the three men named by Waqas from Jaipur and Jodhpur on 22 March. Hearing the news about the illegal detention of Ammar Yasir and Abdul Wajid, residents of the area came out in large numbers and blocked the Sarita Vihar-Noida road for about 12 hours and refused to accept anything less than the release of the arrested boys. A two team consisting activists and local leaders were in negotiation with the officials of Special Cell. Media mostly decided to blackout this blockade. Finally police agreed to release the boys. Its a great success for the residents of Okhla and shows how people should react in such a situation where boys are kidnapped by plainclothes on mere suspicion.
PHOTO: OKHLA TIMES

Surat Al-Kafiroon to bring home his point that Quran does not allow force in religious matters, yet some Muslims use force. I said there is no force in Islam. No one is allowed to forcibly convert anyone. Abdul Wajid added that Yasir and Meraj were released at around 10 pm. Police did not take our signatures on any blank paper. They did not use any force either. Their detention in Delhi had followed the arrest of four alleged Indian Mujahideen operatives from Rajasthan, including a Pakistani

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11

BJP Chasing a Mirage

How closely should communal and/or secular cards being used during the ongoing electoral campaign be linked with their popularity? There is no guarantee that voters give them the same importance that politicians and their parties try to display. Without doubt, popularity of leaders during election-phase is usually judged by crowds they attract, position in various opinion polls and media coverage gained by them. Yet, the final verdict is decided only by votes cast in their favour. Voters decision is based on their respective individual analyses, which is also influenced by interpersonal communication among themselves. Communication revolution has contributed to the Indian voter today becoming more critical than he/she was twenty years ago of what is projected before him/her through the television screen and other means of communication. Thus, irrespective of how aggressively politicians in the electoral fray target each other, this does not imply that todays voters can easily be taken for a ride by these political ploys. Narendra Modis success is not going to be decided by his party, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)s willingness to apologise for Muslims targeted in Gujarat-carnage (2002). It is not going to be decided by voters agreeing to Modis claim about Uttar Pradesh (UP) being home to numerous riots during the past decade. Nor should it be expected to be influenced by Modi

describing Bihar as a terrorist haven and other similar claims. Of late, during their respective campaigns in UP , Modi and Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Mulayam Singh have tried adding fire in their speeches by blaming each other for inciting communalism in their respective states. The two have certainly succeeded in attracting substantial media coverage. But this does not guarantee either success from UP in Lok Sabha polls. How can whatever is stated by these and other politicians be assumed as correct by their rivals as well as the targeted recipients that are the voters? In essence, willingly or unwillingly, Modi has exposed the weakness of his own secularism by giving too much importance to his rivals communal record. Whether he has played this card deliberately or not, one is intrigued as to what message Modi is trying to convey by going overboard in adding communal and terrorist tags to the names of his rivals? What is Modi trying to cash on electorally? Is he trying to convince media and voters that his rivals are more communal and prone to using violence than he is? Sadly, in the process, Modi expects voters to take their political decisions by deliberating on the communal background of politicians and parties in the fray. Usage of this political card naturally sidelines the importance expected to be given to secular values in Indias multireligious society. Without doubt, secularism and communalism are opposite ends of rhetoric as well as other political values put to use in the Indian electoral campaign. Constitutionally and as per political ethics, parties and politicians in the electoral race are expected to highlight their respective secular values. Modi is trying to display his own secular credentials by indulging in exposing his rivals communal background. Of course, this practice of indulging in negative campaign

against rivals is exercised by practically all politicians. But there is a major difference in the impact that this campaign indulged in by various politicians can have on voters. For instance, anti-corruption rhetoric indulged in by new political entrants like Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) can influence voters. Yet, the same cannot be said about Modis attempt to expose his rivals communal and/or terroristic inclinations. The noise made by Modi about his development-agenda can be more easily accepted by voters than this card. The explanation is simple. Indian voters are well aware about antiMuslim communal violence that raged in Gujarat for several months, when Modi was the state chief minister. Certainly, Modi has the right to claim that he was not responsible for Gujarat-carnage. Legally and politically, Modi can convince himself and some of his supporters about his not being answerable for Gujarat-carnage. The political legitimacy of this stand of Modi, however, is confined to his own narrow circle, which does not include all his party members. The last point is supported by the BJP chief expressing willingness to apologise for the Gujarat-carnage. The underlying message is that BJP has accepted that irrespective of what Modi claims, the people still hold him and his party as responsible for the Gujarat-carnage. BJP understands that to win polls it has no other option but to bow down before the electorates mood. Voters secular-agenda has apparently prompted BJP to try apologising for the communal card used aggressively during the Gujarat-carnage. Modi has not yet understood fully that Indian voters cannot be totally guided by his claims. They cannot be fooled by his claiming to be not as communal as his rivals. In his attempt to thrash at his rivals communal background, Modi has invited voters criticism of his own secular agenda. Nowadays, political questions have also begun being raised on claims made by Modi about development of Gujarat!

The real story behind the corruption charges against activist Teesta Setalvad
MRIDULA CHARI
The Gujarat government wants activist Teesta Setalvad to be interrogated in custody about charges of embezzling donations collected to build a communal violence museum. But the charges against Setalvad seem to be an attempt to intimidate her to withdraw cases she has helped Zakia Jafri to file against Narendra Modi. On 20 March, the Gujarat High Court adjourned the hearing of a case filed by Zakia Jafri, which seeks to have charges framed against Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and 59 others for their alleged involvement in the 2002 riots. A lower court had previously dismissed her case challenging the report of a Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team stating that there is no prosecutable evidence against Modi. The case was adjourned because the Gujarat government said it needed time to come up with a response. "We need time to go through the voluminous records of the case," the state prosecutor argued. Jafri's lawyers said the government could be issued a notice and could then be given time to reply, but the court said it would hear the matter again on 11 April. Zakia Jafri is no stranger to waiting. On 28 February, 2002, her husband Ehsan Jafri, a Congress politician and a former member of Parliament, was dragged out of his home in Gulberg Society in Ahmedabad to be hacked and burned to death. Sixty nine people died in Gulberg Society that day. The 2002 riots in Gujarat have the distinction of being the only instance of communal violence for which some amount of justice can be said to have been dealt. One hundred and seventeen perpetrators have been convicted, including a serving minister in the Gujarat government. Because of the Supreme Court, some of the most heinous cases during the riots have been reopened for investigation. Yet that hasn't brought justice for all victims of the 2002 violence. Like Jafri, many believe the pogrom in 2002, of which Gulberg Society was only one incident, would not have happened had chief minister Narendra Modi failed to allowed it. If Jafri's legal efforts succeed, the powerful chief minister and the Bharatiya Janata party's candidate for the position of India's prime minister could be brought to trial on up to 15 charges. So far, the Gujarat government and the BJP have used the SIT report to claim that the chief minister has been given a "clean chit" by the country's criminal justice system. "Nothing will come of the case," said Harshad Patel, a BJP spokesperson in Ahmedabad. "The clean chit has come, now the courts will also decide on that." Right now, Setalvad is battling heavy fire from Ahmedabad. In January, the Ahmedabad police registered a First Information Report against Setalvad and her husband Javed Anand for allegedly cheating residents of Gulberg Society of money collected in 2008 by Sabrang Trust and Citizens in for Justice and Peace. The money was collected to convert Gulberg Society into "a muse-

The SIT closure report, which the defenders of Narendra Modi interpret as a clean chit for the chief minister, merely says that despite the evidence gathered by the SIT, which is documented in its voluminous report, there is not enough to merit a case against him. But Raju Ramachandran, an amicus curiae appointed by the Supreme Court to monitor the process, disagreed, saying that the evidence against Modi was too significant to be judged at a pre-trial stage.
um of resistance". The call for donations explained the idea: "For nearly six years now, more than a hundred thousand survivors of independent India's state-sponsored carnage in the western Indian state of Gujarat have been denied dignified acknowledgement of, or reparation for, the magnitude of indignity and violence they suffered. With the BJP's recent electoral victory in the state, the pain and humiliation of the victim survivors has been further exacerbated. A quiet yet dignified and firm resistance to this state callousness and impunity lies at the heart of this idea of resistance." This FIR was registered in response to a ninemonth-old complaint by some former residents of Gulberg Society. The complainants had said they were not being given the money collected in their name, even as they lived in penury. Anand and Setalvad had responded to the complaint in May 2013, clarifying their accounts and the nature of donations raised and for what they had been utilised. The Ahmedabad Police's Crime Branch did nothing about the complaint for nine months, but suddenly registered an FIR days after Setalvad and Zakia Jafri announced their decision to challenge the lower court's order in the Gujarat High Court, asking that charges be framed against chief minister Modi. The idea of a memorial to victims of communal violence is seven years old now. "We conceived the idea in 2007 when the Supreme Court cases were not moving," said Setalvad. "There was a lot of despair on the part of the survivors. The idea was that we would think of a memorial for all victims of communal violence. So from Kashmiri Pandits to Gujarat 2002, etc, and it was an ambitious project." The FIR claims that donations were asked for and received by both trusts, but Setalvad claims it was only Sabrang. The CJP , Setalvad explains, works mainly to give legal aid to riot victims, whereas Sabrang is the general trust to work on communal harmony. At the time the memorial was proposed, there were no takers for the flats in Gulberg Society, which is in a Hindu-dominated area in the main city of Ahmedabad. The Sabrang Trust proposed to raise money through donations to purchase the properties from residents at market rates. Residents in turn promised not to sell their properties until Sabrang was able to raise enough funds. However, due to rising land prices across Ahmedabad, Sabrang realised they would not be able to raise enough money through only donations. They gave up the idea altogether in 2012. "By 2012 it was clear that land prices had gone up by four times, so we would have needed an amount which was now impossible through donations," said Setalvad. "Our organisation incurs an expense of Rs 5 lakhs a month, out of which just Rs 3.5-4 lakh is on legal fees. So we directed the 4.5 lakhs collected for the Gulberg museum to legal aid, with written permission of the donors." She said she was willing to produce those permission letters in court, but declined to reveal the names of the donors. Sabrang then informed Gulberg Society about the decision, which Society accepted. At the end of 2012, the Society passed a resolution stating that owners could sell their property to people of any religion or race, as was the case since it was built in 1963. This resolution was rendered void a little over half a year later, when the Gujarat government dredged up an old law that prevents citizens of a community from selling their property to people outside the community. The Gujarat Prohibition of Transfer of Immovable Property and Provision for Protection of Tenants from Premises in Disturbed Areas Act of 1986 was meant to protect people fleeing their homes from communal violence from making a hasty decision of disposing of their property and later regretting it. Around 40 per cent of Ahmedabad is covered by this act. In August 2013, eight months after the Gulberg Society resolution to sell their property to whomever residents pleased, and four months after Zakia Jafri filed her first case against the SIT's closure report, the Gujarat government suddenly extended the application of the law to, among other places, the Gulberg Society and Naroda Patiya. "Gulberg and Naroda Patiya are two pockets in completely Hindu-dominated areas, which means they are obviously not going to be able to sell to their own community," said Setalvad. Muslims don't want to live in the Hindu areas for the fear of risking their lives in a possible future pogrom. Setalvad calls the law illegal and says that it violates the right to own and sell property. "You're tying their hands and by doing so, you're getting them to fall at your feet," she said. "Their case is still pending in the court. This law and its use in Gujarat ought to have been a matter of independent investigation by the media in this country." She added, "I am alleging openly that this is being done to try and push the survivors of Gulberg Society to a wall, in the hope that maybe one or two of them in desperation might bend to the will of the state and turn hostile even in their own criminal trial." No one has yet been convicted for the Gulberg Society massacre. As to the museum, there were no papers, and

no transaction between Citizens for Justice and Peace, Sabrang Trust or the residents of Gulberg Society, which Setalvad says, indicates quite clearly that there can be no possible case of cheating. "What is cheating?" Setalvad asked. "You can say it is cheating if I have taken money from you or property from you. Neither has happened. There is no ingredient here to amount to that." In a 41-page public affidavit, Setalvad and Anand show excerpts from their accounts to prove that the total amount raised for the museum did not exceed Rs 4.5 lakhs, only Rs 50,000 of which came from foreign donors. The Sabrang Trust received only Rs. 1.33 crore in foreign funds during this period, the bulk of which went towards legal aid. Citizens for Justice and Peace received Rs. 1.15 crores. The Ahmedabad crime branch, they say, manipulated their bank statements to arrive at the figures of Rs 2.62 crores and Rs 1.31 crores. The duo have also filed a case in the Bombay High Court seeking to quash the FIR and sought interim relief from the Supreme Court. Setalvad alleges that this FIR is a conspiracy of the BJP government in Gujarat. "The desire of the Gujarat government is to somehow paralyse this organisation financially by making all these malafide allegations," said Setalvad. "A large part of our donations is to legal aid." On February 8, 2006, Jafri filed a 119-page chargesheet alleging that Gujarat's state machinery was involved in the riots. It took two years and a Supreme Court order for the complaint to be recognised. The court ordered certain cases to be reopened and investigated by an Special Investigative Team comprising five officers, some of whom were replaced over the years. The SIT filed a closure report in 2012, but failed to share its findings with the complainants. The Supreme Court had to step in again and order them to file the report with a local court, which the SIT did only in February 2013. The closure report, which the defenders of Narendra Modi interpret as a clean chit for the chief minister, merely says that despite the evidence gathered by the SIT, which is documented in its voluminous report, there is not enough to merit a case against him. But Raju Ramachandran, an amicus curiae appointed by the Supreme Court to monitor the process, disagreed, saying that the evidence against Modi was too significant to be judged at a pre-trial stage. RB Sreekumar, who was Gujarat's chief of intelligence in the months directly after the riots and who submitted a 200-page affidavit listing the circumstantial evidence against Modi, also disagrees with the idea that targeting Modi is unnecessary. "Narendra Modi's plan is to keep the complicity level as low as possible, so that it doesn't reach him," he said. That is why Setalvad thinks it is important to have Narendra Modi and the Gujarat government face trial. "We believe they are perpetrators themselves, which is why we decided to assist Zakia Jafri," she said. "It's still up for grabs; it's not been decided legally. (Excerpted from scroll.in)

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NEWSMAKERS
she was born in a town near Bhopal and subsequently came to Delhi for higher education and settled down here. Among her popular novels are Dhund, Puruwaaee, Raag Bhopali, among fictions are Patthar ka Shahzada, Pahchaan etc and in Hindi Gulabon Wala Bagh, among travelogues are Sair kar Duniya ki. Maikhanon ka Patah etc. She lead a life a celibacy throught and hence had no descendents except brothers etc. She retired as Head of the Urdu Department of Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi and was also honoured with Ghalib Award. SIDDIQ MUJIBI, noted Urdu poet of Jharkhand died in Ranchis Appollo Hospital on 6 March at the age of 87 years. He was a patient of many diseases. He was also the Vice Chairman of Urdu Academy in undivided Bihar. Prof MAHMOOD ILAHI noted poet, critic, researcher and author died after a brief illness in a Lucknow hospital on 19 March at the age of 84 years. Born in Tanda near Faizabad he retired as Head of Urdu Department of Gorakhpurs Deen Dayal Upadhya University and was also Dean of Arts Faculty of this University. He served as chairman of UP Urdu Academy for three terms. He wrote many books which are important part of Urdu literature. He is survived by his wife, six daughts and one son. He was also interim Vice Chancellor of this university. MAULANA AHMAD ALI QASMI, former vice president and former general secretary of the All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat, died at Ranchi on 21 March at the age of 80. He was among the few surviving original membes of AIMMM and had been associated with it ever since. After the AIMMM split in 2000, he opted for the Qasmi group. Later, he palyed a leading role in bringing the two factions togethwr which culminated in their merger last October. He was editor of the Urdu magazine Dawat-o-Azeemat. Lahar was released by UP Urdu Academys Chairman Munawwar Rana. BIHAR URDU ACADEMY, at an award giving function and also in order to encourage Urdu men of letters gave many cash prizes to 119 poets, writers etc of the country at Patna for the year 2012 on 4 March. For the first prize the amount was Rs 10,000, second prize was Rs 7500 and the third prize was Rs 5000. Thus the total amount distributed among the 119 authors of selected books was Rs 8,77,500. Similarly, for the publication of selected documents and manuscripts of authors, the Academy distributed a total amount of Rs 9,95,873. Cheques of the amounts for awards and publications to authors who could not attend this function for any reason were sent to them by post. A n j u m a n - e -Ta l i m u l Muslimeen has given an award to YAKUBHAI PATHAN (Mama) for his remarkable contributions to society. He has been an ideal citizen in all aspects. He hails from Kamraj (Gujarat). (Nazneen O. Saherwala, Surat) SHAH IMRAN HASAN, a known Urdu author has been honoured with Qazi Abdul Wadood Award for his book Hayat-e Rahmani. This Award, which consists of a cheque of Rs 7000 and a Citation, was given to him by Urdu Academy of Patna (Bihar).

MEN & WOMEN IN NEWS

Dr. SHAMIM AHMAD has been appointed Secretary of UP Urdu Academy. LIke Urdu Academys Chairman, poet Munawwar Rana, Dr Shamim Ahmad too is a man of literary taste. Before Shamim Ahmad, secretry of the Academy was a non-Urdu knowing person whose appointment was opposed by Munawwar Rana and many other Muslims. SAD SIDDIQI, who had joined Congress Party recently has been appointed, on Congress chairperson Mrs Sonia Gandhis instructions, national Coordinator of All India Committees minority department. Prof NISAR AHMAD of AMUs Department of Compurter Engineering has been appointed Director of the Centre for Promotion of Science with immediate effect in place of Dr (Ms) Zeba Zakaur Rab for a period of one year till further order. AZAR A.H. KHAN, Counsellor in the Indian embassy in Egypt and Director of Maulana Azad Centre for Indian Culture at Cairo, has been appointed Indias ambassador to Libya in place of Anil Kumar Trigunayat. He got his Masters Degree in Arabic literature and was posted in the Indian embassy in Libya earlier also. Before that he had served as a diplomat in Saudi Arabia.

OBITUARIES
MAULANA ZUBAIRUL HASAN, great religious scholar, Ameer of Tablighi Jamaat whose headquarters are at Nizamuddin, died of pneumonia and kidney failure at Delhis R. M. Lohia Hospital on 18 March at the age of 65 years. Since Tablighi Jamaats go to all parts of the world for Tabligh or Preaching of Islam and being head of Tablighi Markaz, Maulana Zubairul Hasan was wll-known among Muslims in most countries of the world. Born in Kandhla (district Muzaffarnagar (U.P .), he leaves behind his wife, three sons and three daughters. The crowd of people who took part in his Namaze Janaaza was so large that roads around Nizamuddin Dargah upto Hotel Oberoi and Humayun Tomb were closed to traffic for almost two hours. HAKIM SAIFUDDIN AHMAD, a great unani hakeem, former President of All India Unani Tibbi Conference and former adviser (Unani) to Govt of India died in Meeruth on 11 March at the age of 90 years. He worked hard and devotedly for the promotion of unani tibb and was honoured by Govt of India with Padma Shri Award. His death was described at various condolence meetings as a great loss for unani tibb. He was also among the special panel of doctors (unani) of the President of India. He leaves behind two sons. HAJI AKHTAR HUSAIN, a very senior and popular personality of Muzaffarpur (Bihar) died on 3 March at an age considered to be around 110 years. He was very popular among all sections of society because of his help and sympathetic attitude to all human beings without any discrimination till he was energetic. He was also an Aamil and used to treat supposed victims of black magic not with medicines but with prayers and Taweez (talisman) for about five decades without charging any fee. He leaves behind one son and four daughters. Prof SOGHRA MEHDI, Urdu litterateur, critic, fiction writer, novelist and retired teacher of Jamia Millia Islamia died in Delhi on 17 March the age of 75 years. Author and compiler of more than 3 dozens of books, including novels, fictions, travelogues, research and criticism, memoirs, Lucknows Soor Sadan (set up in the memory of blind Hindi poet Soordas) on 15 March. JAVED AKHTAR, poet and lyricist, film song writer is among the litterateurs of 24 Indian languages who have been honoured by Sahitya Academy with its awards for their literary works in the fields of poetry, novel, fiction, drama etc considered best by the panel of judges for the year 2013. He (Javed Akhtar) has been selected for Sahitya Akademys Award in Urdu for his anthology of poems titled Lava. In Kashmiri and Hindi languages those selected for the Academys Award are MOHIUDDIN RESHI and (Mrs) MRIDULA GARG respectively. Each Award consists of Rs one lakh (cheque), one shield, shawl and certificate. The Award function was held in Delhis Kamani Auditorium on 11 March. NIZAM SIDDIQI, scholar, critic, novelist and translator was honoured by Sahitya Aademy with Tranalslation Award. He has translated many books of other Indian languages into French language, in addition to Urdu and Hindi books and won many awards for this. Among his many novels are Aag aur Gulab, Ek Haath ki Taali, Hazaron Khwahishain Aisi, Shikastah Aainay (broken mirrors) which have been translated into many European languages. This Award unlike the award for 24 Indian languages, consists of Rs 50000, certificate etc. Dr (Mrs) SAYYAD MOBIN ZOHRA, Urdu, Hindi, English, newspapers columnist, historian and social scientist along with seven other women

AWARDS
Prof SYED E. HASNAIN of Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi has been honoured by German government with its highest civilian award Federal Cross of Merit Award (which may be called German courterpart of Indias Bharat Ratn) for his important discoveries in medical and other fields. This award was presented to Prof Hasnain at a function held at the residence of German Ambassador in Delhi on 11 March. Though many other personalities of the world have been honoured with this German Award, Prof Hasnain is the first Indian Muslim who has been honoured with this Award, according to Dr Manzoor Alam, Chairman of Institute of Objective Studies, Delhi. MALIKZADA MANZOOR AHMAD, noted Urdu poet and author has been selected by Chaturanshi for being honoured with Chaturanshi Firaq International Award 2014. It may be stated that Chaturanshi is a literary, social and cultural organisation of Agra which has instituted Firaq International Award in the memory of famous Urdu poet (late) Raghupat Sahai Faraq Gorakhpuri, who was also honoured by Govt of India with Padmabhushan Award, in addition to many other awards by Urdu Academies of the country and other literary organisations. This Award, consisting of Rs 51,000 (cheque) and a certificate, was given to him at a function held at

doing useful work in different fields was honoured with Sambhavna Samman by Sambhavana, a social organisation working for the help and uplift of weaker sections of society, particularly women for their safety and empowerment through education and training in arts and crafts etc at a function held at Delhis Constitution Club on 10 March. Taking part in a discussion on Role of Women in Society she said that it is ironic that in very many cases people who work and campaign for the liberation and empowerment of women do not themselves treat their women at home honourably and kindly and try to suppress them. Hence, first of all we should start the work of improving the condition of women from our own houses. Syed Atharuddin Award, was instituted in the memory of SYED ATHARUDDIN ATHAR, Urdu poet, author and columnist who had died of heart attack on 12 March 2013. On the occasion of his first death anniversary an award function was held in Charan Singh Universitys Prem Chand Seminar Hall by Syed Atharuddin Memorial society. On this occasion three awards in the fields of education, literature and social work were given to Al Barkaat Educational Society (Aligarh) for promotion of education, to Musharraf Alam Zauqi, noted litterateur in the field of literature and to Subharti Trust for its work and activities in social field. On this occasion Syed Atharuddin Athars literary work

Remembering Khushwant Singh

With the demise of Khushwant Singh, world of literature has lost one of its finest exponents. Despite his reputation as a racy, raunchy and risque writer, Khushwant was a man people could never ignore. Though I never met him in person, I corresponded with him. I read Khushwants admirable translations of Allama Iqbals Shikwa (complaints) and Jawab-eShikwa (Reply to complaints). Both the books were on my MA syllabus of Urdu literature. This was in mid-1990s. I dared not meet him in person as I heard that he seldom met people and avoided unnecessary social intercourse. I wrote a letter to him in Urdu, raising doubts about certain translations of Persian terms that Iqbal used so generously. To be honest, I didnt expect a reply from him and forgot. After almost two months, I received an inland letter from him. He replied in English and Id difficulty in deciphering his crabbed handwriting. It was a rather generous letter and he agreed with me on quite a few counts regarding the English renditions of Shikwa and Jawab-e-Shikwa. Thus began our occasional correspondence. What intrigued me most was In that piece, I mildly criticised his not-so-great command over high-falutin Persianised Urdu used by Ghalib and Iqbal. I wrote rather scathingly that Khushwant didnt know Persian and his Urdu was just passable. I also added that hed better concentrate on his English writings and leave Urdu, which wasnt his cup of tea. He got to read that article and admitted in one of the columns for The Hindustan Times that he indeed lacked the deep understanding of Persian since he picked up the language on his own and never got to test its level by interacting with the scholars and native speakers of it (Persian). I felt sad to have criticised his Persian. Though he unabashedly wrote about wine and women in his books and articles, he wasnt a pervert. He had an insatiable fondness for wine and women. He once wrote in The Illustrated Weekly, a magazine he so admirably edited for many years before getting removed unceremoniously a week before his retirement in 1978, that Wine is a woman in a liquid form and woman is a wine in a solid form. I liked it and wrote to him that I scribbled this observation in my diary. He thanked me. Yet another aspect of Khushwant Singhs persona is not much known to people. He was effusive about his contemporary writers, though not many. There was no envy or malice towards his fellow writers. He was always in awe of his senior and equally maverick writer- friend Nirad C Chaudhury. The latters oceanic knowledge about all things under the sun left Singh speechless on many occasions. He was also very fond of V S Naipaul and campaigned for his Nobel. Khushwant witnessed the mayhem following partition but it didnt embitter him towards Muslims. Till the end, his acerbic wit didnt desert him and he continued to read and write though he stopped writing his columns. He strode like a colossus on the literary horizon and lived life on his terms. Though he complained of his failing memory towards the fagend of his colourful life, he quoted Urdu couplets correctly and always very aptly. Ill always have the regret not to have met the man, but Im happy that I corresponded with him for a short while.

that he always replied in English, though I wrote in Urdu. The best thing about Khushwant Singh was his disarming honesty about his limitations. I remember, I wrote a write-up for "The Dawn" of Karachi in 1997. It was about Khuswants Urdu.

SUMIT PAUL
[email protected]

SPECIAL REPORT

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The Milli Gazette, 1-15 April 2014

13

Mushrifs 26/11 Probe released in Chennai

BY MG CORRESSPONDENT
Chennai: On 26 November 2008, our commercial capital was attacked. In the melee that ensued, Hemant Karkare, the noble officer of the Maharashtra Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) was brutally and treacherously murdered. It was Mr. Karkare who unearthed the grave and serious conspiracy of the anti-nationalist Hindutva forces like Abhinav Bharat which were conspiring to topple our elected government, trash the Constitution of India in order to establish a fascist Hindu Rashtra. To attain this objective, they exploded bombs all over India and killed innocent citizens. Since Mr. Karkare exposed these conspiracies, he was mercilessly targeted and killed in a side operation during the Mumbai terror attack which is now commonly known as 26/11. Fundamental issues like who killed Karkare and why were completely buried by the agencies which investigated the Mumbai terror attack. But Mr. SM Mushrif, a former Inspector General of Police Maharashtra, painstakingly researched these aspects and brought out all facts in his famous book Who Killed Karkar -- The real face of terrorism in India first published in 2009 in English and translated into seven Indian languages. Bihar leader Mr. Radha Kant Yadav, a former MLA, read this book and field PILs and writs in the Supreme Court and Mumbai High Court, but in vain as the Central and state governments and the concerned agencies did all in their power to scuttle an honest probe. Ajmal Kasab, an accused in the Mumbai terror case, was hurriedly hanged while the killers of Hemant Karkare were allowed to escape scot free. After his first expose, SMMushrif did not rest. He he collected all the facts, studied the SC verdict in the Rama Kant Yadave PIL thoroughly and recently came out with another hard-hitting documented book: 26/11 Probe - Why judiciary also failed. This book was released at Chennai on 16 March in a mammoth conference on terrorism at Al Malick Hall in Triplicane. The programme was organised by Darul Islam Foundation Trust and Vergal Publications. The book was released by the author, Mr SM Mushrif and the first copy was received by Senior Advocate Mr R. Gandhi of the Madras high court. Mr Gulam Mohammed of Vergal

SM Mushrif receiving sheid of the award Publications introduced the contents of the book in Tamil. Another book in Tamil, released during the conference, was Why kasab was hanged in a hurry and in secret? which is authorered by Gulam Mohamed. This book was released by Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan, editor of The Milli Gazette and President of the All India Muslim Majilis-e Mushawarat. Copies were received by Professor Khiaja Ghani of TMMK. Mr. Changis Khan and Mr Gridharan of the Indian Union Muslim League. SM Mushrif, speaking on the occasion, offered a detailed account of how his first book, Who Killed Karkare? was vindicated by the judgement of the Supreme Court and yet the Supreme Court preferred to hang Kasab and bury the truth, which anguished him. Though frustrated the former I G of Maharastra police pinned all hopes on the judiciary, saying that we hope the judiciary will come with a course correction and render justice. Mushrif was awarded the second Karkare Award during this conference. He said accepting the award that this is the greatest award for the pains he has taken to unveil the truth. He thanked Darul Islam Foundation Trust for instituting this award in the name of martyr Karkare but for whom the world may not have known the great conspiracy hatched by anti-national Hindutva forces. However, he refused to accept the cash prize of rupees one lakh and accepted the shield only. Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan spoke on other perti-

Release of Mushrifs 26/11 Probe by Adv. Gandhi (second from left) nent aspects of terrorism. He said that terrorism throughout the world has a commercial aspect also. Many of the Western countries are dependent on war industry and arms exports. They invest heavily in their war industry in order to keep their economies moving, so they want to create troubles and disturbances throughout the world so that there is a constant demand for the weapons and related services they offer. As regards India, millions die at for want of medicines, even for ordinary diseases, and other petty causes like malnutrition and lack of sanitation which kill millions of Indians every year. But the politicians are not bothered about all these basic problems. They lament about terrorism which kills only 250 to 350 Indians yearly and this is because the scare created helps them to import billions worth of arms and services with offer hefty kickbacks. Nureacrats and security agencies too take part in this loot especially through the secret funds in thousands of crores which are given to these agencies without accountability and outside auditing. Many noted dignitaries of Chennai honoured the programme including A. Marx, the renowned human rights activist, NGR Prasath, an authority on constitutional laws, and Captain Ameer Ali, founder of many educational institutions. Professor KM Elyas Riyagi presided and coordinated the programme which was organised by Abu Abrar.

Maulana Ahmad Ali Qasmi remembered

New Delhi: A condolence meeting was held here at the central office of the All India Muslim Majlise Mushawarat on 23 March to pay homage to Maulana Ahmad Ali Qasmi who had breathed his last two days earlier at Ranchi. Maulana Qasmi was a former vice president and a former general secretary of AIMMM. Members of AIMMM and people of the area participated in the meeting presided over by Maulana Junaid Ahmad Banarsi, member of AIMMM's central committee. AIMMM President Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan said the credit for the merger of the two groups of Mushawarat last October goes mostly to Maulana Qasmi. Dr Khan said he saw tears twice in the eyes of the departed leader -- once during the talks about the merger when the Maulana said, "I wish this merger to take place in my life so that I die after restoring this asset to the Millat in the shape our elders had bequeathed it to us". The other time, I saw tears in his eyes was when the merger was finalised, Dr Khan said. AIMMM General Secretary Maulana Ataur Rahman Qasmi said Maulana Qasmi had relations with people on all levels from the lowest to the top government officials and he always talked to senior officials and ministers in a frank way. He became active in the milli life after the Raukela and Jamshedpur riots and went to jail during that agitation. He openly spoke against the forced family planning during the Emergency period. He started to write his autobiography and published some parts of it in his magazine, "Dawat-o-Azeemat" but could not complete it which is a loss since he was privy to may important details about issues of his time. AIMMM General Secretary and editor of daily Jadeed Khabar, Masoom Moradabadi said that as a junior journalist he used to meet the Maulana in his Kucha Chelan office. He was a corner-stone of many organisations. He believed in finding compromises and always thought about how to settle milli issues. His message is: we have still to do a lot in order to lead an honourable life under the Sun. Maulana Banarsi said in his presidential address that the departed leader was outspoken and enjoyed the art of convincing people. He was instrumental in the unification of the two groups of Mushawarat.

AMU alumni body felicitates students

Aligarh: The Vice Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University, Zameer Uddin Shah on 24 March presented Sir Syed Excellence in Science Award USA to candidates selected for post-doctoral positions and for postgraduate admissions in USA. The felicitation session of Aligarh Alumni Association of New England (AAANE) was attended by distinguished AMU alumni, Dr. Mohsin Alvi and Dr. Syed Masarrat Ali. The SSESA awards were presented to eight postgraduate students and one student, Ms. Afshin Iram of Biochemistry was awarded with the Post-doctoral Fellowship in USA. Students who have got postgraduate admission include Marif Huda Siddique, Shaihroz Khan, Asma Rehan, Mohammad Zubair, Zainab Fatima, Ghazala Arshad, Sameerah Desnavi and Yasir Khan.

Chiefs of NCM & Delhi MC, Prof. Akhtarul Wasey honoured

New Delhi: The Institute of Objective Studies (IOS), on 18 March organised a felicitation ceremony to honour Naseem Ahmed, IAS, on his appointment as Chairman of the National Commission for Minorities, Prof. Akhtarul Wasey who joined as Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities in India and Mr. Qamar Ahmad, IPS, on his appointment as Chairman of the Delhi Minorities Commission. Introducing the three dignitaries, Secretary-General of the IOS Prof. Z. M. Khan said that they excelled in their respective fields. While Mr. Naseem Ahmed proved his acumen as an able administrator, Mr. Qamar Ahmad left an imprint on Delhi as a competent police officer. He described Prof. Akhtarul Wasey as a prolific writer, scholar of Islamic studies, thinker and a perfect orator.

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COMMUNITY NEWS

A new song for CRPF by Javed Akhtar

New Delhi: Poet and lyricist Javed Akhtar has composed a new patriotic song for CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force), the largest para military force which is celebrating its 75th Foundation Day this year. This 5 minutes patriotic song starting with Hum hain desh ke rakchhak was released by President Pranab Mukherjee. On this occasion the President also gave away bravery awards to the selected CRPF personnel. According to a senior police officer the idea of this song was proposed by the Director General of CRPF Dilip Trivedi after which Javed Akhtar was contacted for writing this song which is based on the anti-naxal campaign. The senior police officer said that there is already a CRPF song but in view of the ever increasing threats and activities of naxalites which has resulted in the deaths of thousands of police personnel as well as civilians and posing a danger to internal security, the need for a new national song was felt. This song along with a band will now be played in all CRPF functions and programmes. Rs 80 lakhs contribution raised for hospital within half hour Ahmedabad: After completion of the first phase of Khatoon General Hospital, an appeal for contributions was made and within half an hour a sum of Rs 80 lakhs was raised. Yusuf Bhai Lakdawala contributed Rs 50 lakhs while others too contributed generously. Dr Bhoodev Prasad Sharma, the newly appointed CEO, who resigned his post at Mumbai, apprised that a 300 bed hospital is proposed. The first phase of 50 beds has been completed. This hospital would be of great service in saving lives of people living in surrounding areas. Charges would be minimum so that people could afford them. Ahmad Husain Afeenwala, chief trustee, assured that best quality treatment would be provided. Music director Shankar Raja reverts to Islam Chennai: Shankar Raja, son of renowned music director Illya Raja, embraced Islam and expressed pride on being a Muslim. Himself a music director of 100 films, Shankar Raja (34) had been in a state of mental tension and was in search of peace. A close associate commented that he seems to have attained peace after reverting to Islam. Denying reports that he wanted to marry for a third time Shankar Raja tweetted that it was a sheer rumour. He added: I am a follower of Islam and am proud for being so. Alhamdulillaah. He added that his family, including his father have gracefully accepted his conversion to Islam. Surprised when apprised of the fact that his father, Illya Raja, readily accepted his decision. Shankar Raja followed in the footsteps of A.R. Rahman another celebrity from the South. Rs 24 per head per annum: what a grand vikas! Ahmedabad: BJP feels shy of mentioning the fact of its immense contribution towards development of the minorities. Muslims in Gujarat owe their number one position not because of liberal aid received from the government. The state government did not implement the 15point programme for minority development. It did not even constitute a committee to oversee its pre-matric scholarship scheme of the central government. Development for all with all slogan seems a false cry. During 2012-13 it allotted Rs 22.70 crores only towards minority welfare. This comes to rs 24 per head per annum. This amount is 0.04 percent of its budget. Ghiyasuddin Shaikh disclosed the sadbhavna of the PM aspirant. Is Sareshwala listening? K D Khan Chief Information Commissioner Bhopal: State Governor Ram Naresh Yadav administered the oath of office to Chief Information Commissioner K D Khan along with four other commissioners : Retd IAS officer Hiralal Trivedi, Jai Kishan Sharma journalist, Atmadeep and Gopal Krishna Dandatiya. Al Falah educational institution to become a university now New Delhi: Haryana governments bill to upgrade Al Falah educational institutions into a university has been passed by the state assembly. For this purpose Haryana Private University Amendment Act 2014 has been passed by the assembly. It may be stated in this connection that Al Falah educational institutions were founded in 1997 in Faridabad and from that time different courses of technical education were being taught. These different courses of technical educational institutions were already granted A Grade Status by UGC and NAAC and with the passage of the amended Act, arts, science, commerce etc subjects and courses in addition to technical courses will be taught. So far thousands of boy and girl students after qualifying in technical courses from Al Falah Institute of Engineering & Technology are serving in the country and abroad. Also, after becoming a university, ways will now be cleared for setting up private departments. This institution was set up by Al Falah Charitable Trust. There are hostel facilities also for boy and girl students in this institution. A B.Ed College of high standard also is run by this institution. Maulana Vastanvi wants girls hostels built Ahmedabad: While lauding the efforts of the community at the time of the inauguration of the first phase of Khatoon General Hospital Maulana Ghulam Muhammad Vastanvi, chief of Jamia Islamia Ishatul Uloom, Akkal Kuwa, emphasised the need to contribute to the welfare of the nation and its development. Industrialist and philanthropist Taherbhai Adamali Adenwala lamented that there was an acute shortage of hostel for girls. At least five such hostels were needed. He apprised that efforts were being made to construct the first hostel as early as possible so

Rs 31 crore gift to Jamia Hamdard from Saudi government

New Delhi: A high level educational delegation led by the Head of Saudi Arabias Muhammad bin Saud Islamic University, Prof Sulaiman Abdullah toured Delhis Jamia Hamdard and announced an assistance of 5 million Dollars (Rs 31 crores) for the construction and development of Jamia Hamdards medical departments buildings and also for promotion of cooperation in educational and cultural fields, exchange of students, teachers and information between the two countries. A number of agreements between Jamia Hamdard and Imam Muhammad bin Saud Islamic University were also signed after detailed meetings between delegation members and Jamia Hamdards representatives. While signing the agreement, Head of Muhammad bin Saud Islamic University, Prof Sulaiman Abul Khair said that this cooperation between the two institutions is purely in educational and teaching fields and has been initiated on the instructions of Khadimul Harmain Sharifain (Saudi monarch). After signing the agreement Head of the delegation Prof Sulaiman Abdullah said while talking to media persons that they had talked to Saudi king Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz about developmental work of Jamia Hamdards medical departments and facilities to which he not only agreed but insisted that they must fully that womens empowerment could be accelerated. Ahmed Husain Afeenwala, the trustee, contributed land (5241 square yards) for the hospital. 3500 model schools to be opened in the country New Delhi: The Central government has accorded its approval for 3500 model schools to be opened in educationally backward blocks of 27 states and Union territories and 54 central schools in 17 states respectively during the 12th Five Year Plan. These proposals were approved in the meeting of Economic Affairs Committee of the cabinet chaired by prime minister Manmohan Singh. After the meeting it was stated in a statement that under the plan for opening 6000 model schools, 3500 model schools would be opened in the first phase. For this plan it is anticipated that during the current financial year Rs 1000 crores will be spent, of which the central governments liability or share will be 75% and 25% expenses will be borne by the concerned states where these schools will be opened. It is further stated that the capacity in one such school will be for 560 students. At this rate, in all the 3500 schools a total 0f 19.60 lakh students will be able to acquire education. It is also stated in this statement that under this scheme 2500 schools would be opened under public-private participation scheme. Agreement between Muslims and Dalits to maintain peace Saharanpur: SP (City) Poonam and SDM (Sadar) Bhanoo Pratap Yadav went to village Harada Kheri and convened a joint meeting of Dalits and Muslims, to settle the dispute going on between them. While making an appeal to them to maintain mutual peace both the officials assured them that if and when needed the administration will take strong action against mischievous and unsocial elements who try to spoil the atmosphere of peace. It was agreed by both parties in this meeting that at the time of Azaan and Namaz no DJ or bands etc will be played loudly and all efforts will be made to play band etc, if at all, at a low decibel. One of the participants Gautam Kumar said that puja etc and other functions are also held in temples. Hence in all such religious functions people should take care to respect the sentiments of every group. Village Pradhan Muhammad Maroof said that India is a democratic country where every body has got a right to live and follow his respective religious practices. Under such conditions we should not allow a handful of people to spoil our mutual relations by mischievous acts. A committee was also constituted in this meeting consisting of responsible members of both groups which would give its verdict in case of any dispute. UP to pay Rs 2 lakh to riot victim families of dead children Muzaffarnagar: UP government will give Rs two lakh to the families of each of the 12 children who had died of cold in Muzaffarnagar relief camps. This was stated by Additional District Magistrate Indermani Tirpathi while talking to media persons in Muzaffarnagar. The state government took this step after the Supreme Court had expressed its deep concern over the death of these children because of extreme cold. Abhinav Bharat was complicit in Mumbai terrorist attack Muradabad: All India Muslim League (which is different from Indian Union Muslim League) President Zafar Iqbal said in a statement here on 27 February that V. T. Raj Shekhar, noted Indian intellectual and journalist in London had stated in a function there that the Indian terrorist organisation Abhinav Bharat was complicit in the terrorist attack on the Taj Mahal Hotel and other places in Mumbai on 26 November 2008 (in which about 175 persons were killed). All the terrorists involved in this attack are now locked up in Nasik Jail. He (VT Raj Shekhar) also said that all the mainstream Indian media, in order to protect their co-religionist terrorists as well as their terrorist organisation, had concealed their identity from the public and in this way had indirectly helped the terrorists. If this statement of Raj Shekhar is true, it means that Ajmal Qassab (who was subsequently hanged) and Abu Jindal etc were innocent and were made scapegoats to protect Hindu terrorists and their cooperate with Jamia Hamdard in all respects including better educational cooperation, adding that this was for the betterment not only of Muslims but also for non-Muslim brethren in India. He said that during this tour they would have talks with the Indian government for strengthening agricultural, economic and other relations. He also invited Jamia Hamdards VC Dr GN Qazi to visit Saudi Arabia along with a high power delegation at his convenience. He also said that Jamia Hamdard has been nominated as a member of Saudi Arabias Key Education Body. Jamia Hamdards VC, Ghulam Nabi Qazi while express thanks for the gift of Rs 35 crores and describing in brief the history and achievements of Jamia Hamdard said the this institution was set up many years ago and was now progressing in different fields of medical and Tibbi sciences. He said that with the aid he would further improve Jamia and will make the 250-bed hospital which is under construction, high tech in which Unani and Islamic Tibb will be associated with new technologies. Saudi ambassador to India, Saud Al Saati said that at first this agreement was to be signed through Saudi embassy but because of the personal interest shown by the Saudi king a special delegation was sent here. (N. A. Ansari) condemnable acts. It also becomes clear from this revelation that Hemant Karkare was got killed by the terrorist organisation Abhinav Bharat because he (Karkare) was exposing Hindu terrorism which had created great unrest among Hindu terrorists and their sponsors, communal forces and their masters. For this very reason the drama of 26/11 was staged. He said that the same organisation (Abhinav Bharat) was also involved in Samjhauta Express and many other bomb blasts in the country but the Indian government has neither the courage nor power to hang these terrorists nor their sponsors. Similarly, media also has no moral responsibility and courage to demand the hanging of Srikant Purohit and Pragya Singh and many others. New political party HUM launched New Delhi: President of Ittehad-e Millat Council, Maulana Tauqeer Raza Khan and Kalki Peethadheshwar Acharya Pramod Krishnan, while addressing a press conference in Chelmsford Club, announced the launching of a new political party called HUM (Hindustani United Movement) and said that this party will fight against the politics of caste and communalism and will put up its candidates in Lok Sabha elections. Speaking to media persons Acharya Pramod Krishnan said that new politics is needed in this country and that communalism is far more dangerous than financial and other corruptions. Rather, it has taken the form of an ulcer. He said that because of communalism the countrys GangaJamuni civilization, unity and national harmony is facing danger and the countrys present politics is protecting and promoting such forces. Hence they appealed to all Sufis and sants of the country to come forward to safeguard the country and secularism. He said that if Kejriwal contests the elections against Narendra Modi, we shall not put up our candidates (in that constituency). Maulana Tauqeer Raza Khan also said that communalism is much more dangerous than financial scams. He said that the objective of launching HUM is to cleanse the countrys politics of communalism. He said that Arvind Kejriwals thinking is very much near to his thinking and they have been repeatedly telling him that communalism is a bigger problem than corruption and now he too is saying the same thing. He went a step further and said that if Kejriwal contests the election against Modi, they would support him. Maulana Azad Education Foundation is deceptive: Azam Khan Lucknow: UPs minister for minorities affairs and urban development Azam Khan said in a statement here that the central government-funded Maulana Azad Education Foundation is a great deception perpetrated on minorities and demanded that the Foundations rules and conditions should either be made easy or if not, it and the schemes run under it, better be wound up because it is a means of cheating the minorities and also cheating in the name of a personality like Maulana Azad. He said that the rules and conditions of different schemes under this Foundation have been deliberately made so difficult under a planned conspiracy that most of the minority educational institutions as well as boy and girl students could not be able to derive any benefit from these schemes. That is why, he said, almost 90 percent of the fund or budget allotted for its schemes is returned because of non-distribuiton. He demanded that rules and regulations of grants for minority institutions and scholarships etc to minority students should be made easy so that distribution of 100 percent of its budget could be ensured and if this cannot be done, schemes under institutions like Maulana Azad Education Foundation etc are, truly speaking, harmful to minorities because firstly in most cases they do not get the benefits of these schemes and secondly fascist and communal forces use these schemes as an excuse to commit excesses on minorities. Questioning the intentions of the central government he said that the first recommendation of Sachar Committee was giving reservation to Muslims in government job but his was not accepted; food security bill was passed but the bill for security of life (Communal violence bill) was not passed, he said, adding that when the minorities are subjected to oppression in Gujarat and other states, these people reach there to show their false / fake sympathy.

COMMUNITY NEWS
NSUIs big victory over ABVP in Gujarat
Ahmedabad: NSUI (National Students Union of India), proCongress Students organisation, has achieved a big victory over BJPs students wing, Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) by winning six posts against two posts won by ABVP in Gujarat University Students Union election. There were direct contests between NSUI and ABVP candidates for eight posts. In addition to these 8, there were two other posts also for which NSUI had not put up its candidates and hence these two posts were bagged by ABVP candidates. So in all, out of 10 posts, 6 were captured by NSUI and the remaining 4 were captured by ABVP . In other states, particularly in Delhi such contests are held every year in students unions of different universities but not much importance is given to the victory of students wings backed by different political parties like NSUI (Congress partys students Wing), APVP (BJPs students to wing), Students Federation of India (Communist Partys students wing) etc. But in Gujarat which is the stronghold of BJP (and also the laboratory of Hindutva) the victory of NSUI is considered important which is a setback to Narendra Modis BJP . Gujarat Universitys Vice Chancellor announced the results of Universitys Students Union election on 3 March. NSUIs state president, Dhanraj Singh Vaghela, commenting on the results of this election said it shows that the youths of Gujarat are not impressed by Narendra Modis tall claims, though last year also NSUI had won the Students Union election in the same way as this year. Spokesman of Gujarat Congress, Manish Doshi said that Gujarat University is spread over ten districts of the state which will have its effects on 7 Lok Sabha seats, adding that results of Gujarat Universitys Student Union election will also have an impact on the forthcoming general elections as far as Gujarat is concerned. New schemes of Azad Health Scheme and Nalanda Project New Delhi: Union minister for minorities affairs K. Rahman Khan inaugurated two new schemes for minorities viz (1) Maulana Azad Health Scheme for minority students of unaided educational institutions and (2) Nalandah Project for training or development of teaching method and mental faculty of teachers, at a function held at India Islamic Cultural Centre on 4 March. He said that introduction of health scheme for primary and secondary class students (boy and girl) of minority schools was necessary in view of the fact that for students of government schools medical facilities are provided by the government but for students of Maulana Azad Education Foundation-aided schools and other private schools such facilities are not available. He said that under this scheme for which Rs 100 crores have been allocated by the finance ministry, medical check-up of boy and girl students will be done and diseases or health problems diagnosed in the initial stage itself and if some serious or long-term disease is detected, doctors will recommend treatment or admission in hospitals and, God forbid, if some dangerous disease is detected, on doctors recommendation good care and treatment will be provided and for this government will provide financial assistance upto Rs 2 lakh for every such child / student. Under the second scheme i.e. Nalandah Project or scheme, the objective of which is to provide training and development of teaching methodology and mental and intellectual faculties of teachers of higher educational institutions of minorities. He said that this scheme will be implemented in cooperation with AMU and the beginning of this project has been made from AMU. He said that work on these schemes had been started from 4 March. He further said that after reviewing the utility and success of these schemes the budget of these schemes can be further increased. On this occasion many students who had been called from different schools were also given health cards. Among the people and guests present at this function were the minister of state for minority affairs Ninong Ering, Planning Commission Member Mrs Sayeeda Hameed, ministrys secretary Lalit Pawar, Joint secretary Rakesh Mohan, Maulana Asrarul Haque Qasmi, Delhi Minorities Commissions Chairman Safdar Husain Khan, former IPS officer Syed Qamar Ahmad Zaidi and others. Rahman Khan said that the beginning of the health scheme has been done with educational institutions which are registered with Maulana Azad Education Foundation which are purely minority institutions and not aided by government but by the Foundation. He said that of these schools those which have a minimum of 300 students or more have been identified. In these schools doctors along with nurses and attendants will examine students twice a week and in schools which have a smaller number of students mobile medical vans or ambulance service will be available. Referring to criticisms of the government and ministry being made by people, that the UPA government has done nothing or done very little for Muslims he said that his ministry was of the shortest duration which was created only a few years ago, and to think that it would work miracles is not good. It has of course made a good beginning and during its short life it has done many good things and will take time in implementing other projects or recommendations of Sachar Committee. He said that people should know that Sachar Committee, while pointing out the miserable condition of Muslims had criticised the government but at the same time had criticised the community and its leaders also for its pitiable condition. He said that we should introspect and see what we ourselves i.e. Muslims and our leaders have done to improve their lot instead of simply and entirely depending on the government to do every thing for them and criticise it. He said that a hard working and dynamic nation or community takes initiative in many fields of its own and with governments

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The Milli Gazette, 1-15 April 2014

15

Restriction on opening of Urdu medium schools in UP should be removed

New Delhi: Prof Akhtarul Wasey, Director of Jamia Millia Islamia Universitys Zakir Husain Institute of Islamic Studies, who has recently been appointed Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities said while talking to media persons that restrictions placed on opening of Urdu medium schools in UP should be removed so that Urdu should not only be taught merely as a language or subject but also as medium of education in schools. It may be mentioned that though this statutory office of National Commission of Linguistic Minorities was created in 1957 and from that time till date there have been 12 Commissioners of Linguistic Minorities, he (Prof Wasey) is the first Commissioner whose mother tongue is Urdu. The job or responsibility of the Commissioner of Linguistic Minorities is to protect and promote the interests of all linguistic minorities in the country. This Commission presents its report every year on the steps taken / to be taken for protecting and promoting the interests of all linguistic minorities and their mother tongue etc to both Houses of Parliament. He said that it is a fact that regional languages, particularly those of linguistic minorities including Urdu are not being given their rights and their rights are being suppressed. In reply to a question on the miserable condition of Urdu in UP he said that first of all Urdu teachers should be appointed so that children and students desirous of reading Urdu get their rights. He said that the mother tongue of a very large number of people in UP is Urdu help and support achieves great success. He said that people complain that nothing is being done at the ground level and that they do not know what the government is doing for them. He said that governments welfare schemes are being publicised through advertisements in newspapers, TV and other means in all languages. He said that if parents sincerely understand what their duties towards their children are, face / fate of society will considerably change. Indian prisoners in Saudi jails to be transferred to Indian jails New Delhi: Under an agreement signed in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) it will now be possible for thousands of Indians sentenced in Saudi Arabia for different crimes and lodged in jails there to spend the remaining period of their sentences in jails in India. Though this agreement, Transfer of Sentenced Persons was signed in 2010 when prime minister Manmohan Singh had gone there it could not be implemented for some reason but in consequence of the recent visit by Saudi Crown Prince Salman bin Abdul Aziz to India when many other agreements between the two countries were signed, this agreement of 2010 also was discussed and it was agreed that it should be implemented now. Accordingly, hundreds and even thousands of Indian prisoners in Saudi jails will be transferred to India to spend the remaining periods of their sentences in different jails in India. Though their sentences may not be commuted, the relief for the prisoners and their families and friends is evident, family members can now meet them in jails here frequently, at least for some time, which will a matter of great mental relief for both the prisoners and their family members, which is not possible in Saudi Arabia. It is significant to note that this is the first agreement of this type between the two countries as there is no agreement of this type between Saudi Arabia and any other country including Arabic speaking Muslim countries which have greater religious, cultural and linguistic affinity with Saudi Arabia. 11th class student develops mobile app Moradabad: Hammad Nasir, son of this citys exporter Nasir Siddiqi who is an 11th class student of Modern Public School who is also CEO and HNSDROID and now belongs to App Development Company has developed an Android app which can give important and useful information about different topics or fields like science, mathematics, sports, politics, languages, IT programming, religious and many other things in the world. One can download this software from Google Play Store - HNSDROID and benefit. AMU Bridge Course for madrasa graduates Aligarh: Since last year AMU is trying to prepare a team or generation of capable and liberal minded ulama who along with good knowledge and command over English may be fully aware of the problems and challenges of modern times. For this purpose a Bridge Course of one year has been prepared under which English education, information technology and different social and sociological sciences, styles of thinking etc are taught. In order to bridge the academic and educational standard and gulf between madrasas and universities / colleges students in a short period they (students) have to put in hard work under the supervision of equally hard working and sincere teachers. The classes go on till late at night. Applications are invited from madrasa and other students for the new academic year. Under this course (Bridge Coures) doors for admission in most of the departments of the university such as social sciences, arts, commerce, law etc will be open for such students and like other + 2 pass students at under graduate level and after completing the Bridge course, successful students will be given senior and hence efforts would be made to get maximum number of Urdu medium schools opened. In reply to another question he said that there was a legal restriction or ban on opening of Urdu medium schools in UP but this can be removed by the state government only. Hence they would soon send their recommendations to the government that Urdu should not only be taught as a language in schools but should be made the medium of instruction also so that it could be promoted in the true sense. He further said that the Constitution authorises parents to provide elementary education to their children in their mother tongue. He also said that in any place or school if the number of speakers of any language is 15 percent, teacher/s of that language in local schools of that place must also be available. In addition to this, under the 3-language formula minority children must also get their right. He said that along with Urdu, other languages also are in danger and work on the survival and growth of which needs to be done. He said that in this country if a language is in the majority in one state or place, the same language is in the minority in an other state or place. In may be added in this connection that union HRD ministry had set up a committee on 19 December 2014 for the promotion of Urdu headed by Prof Akhtarul Wasey. In that capacity he had recently submitted a report to that ministry (HRD). Contents or recommendations of this Committee were not made public by the said ministry. (N. A. Ansari) secondary school (Madrasa Stream) certificate so that they could take admission in any university of the country. Madrasa students / ulama who have secured Aalim Degree from any reliable institution are eligible to seek admission in this course. Admission will be on the basis of all India competitive written examination and interview. Interested students can download the Admission Form from the Universitys website www.amu.ac.in/pdf/bridge/add.pdf. Applications along with certificate and other particulars like email, mobile no. can be sent to our email: [email protected] or can personally deposit in the following Bride Course office. Last date for submission or depositing of application is 15 April 2014. (Contact address: The Bridge Course, Shibli Road, Urdu Academy Building, AMU Aligarh - 202001). A graveyard for the people of Indralok New Delhi: A reception in honour of union minister for communications, Kapil Sibal was organised by the people of Indralok at Shahzada Bagh in thanks- for allotment of land for a graveyard. It may be stated that this colony, Indralok, is a Muslim majority area in North Delhi where Muslims, formerly living in Old Delhis Sarai Khalil area, which during Emergency including Sarai Khalil School was virtually demolished. Most of the people of this congested locality were rendered homeless and subsequently got rehabilitated in this area. Since most of this area is inhabited by Muslims, a graveyard was badly needed since long and in spite of many demands, land for the graveyard could not be made available. Now that a land for the graveyard has allegedly been made available here, residents held a reception in honour of Kapil Sibal on 5 March. Speaking on this occasion Kapil Sibal said that this place was meant for industrial plots in the Master Plan, but it took a very long time and big struggle to get the land use of this place changed. Hence after great struggle this land has been made available to be used as a graveyard for the people of this locality. He also said that displaced people who have been living here since long, will also be given ownership rights of houses where they have been living. In addition to the minister, among those who attended this meeting included former MLA Rajesh Jain, vice president of Delhi Pradsh Youth Congress Committee Abdul Wahid Qureshi, Councillor Prerna Singh etc in addition to the residents of the locality. Earlier, Rajesh Jain while praising Kapil Sibal for his efforts in getting this place to be used as a graveyard to meet the requirements of the people of this locality also requested Sibal that ownership rights may also be given to the people who are living in their houses here since long. He also demanded the minister to arrange for the building of a Barat Ghar for the people of this locality. Abdul Wahid Qureshi said while thanking Kapil Sibal that about a decade ago the Slum Department of Delhi government had planned the building of 122 plots here but in the meeting with the then minister of Delhi government Dr A. K. Walia along with the MLA got this plan of the Slum Department stayed and changed it into a graveyard and today Indralok has got it with the efforts of Kapil Sibal. It was further stated that this land for a graveyard is situated in Shahzada Bagh area and the area of this graveyard is 3744 sq metres. However, some people questioned the allotment of land for the use of a graveyard in Indralok. Their contention is that this is only an election promise and nothing else. It was stated that a few days back Kapil Sibals wife Mrs Pramila Sibal had declared in a medical camp organised by Kapil Sibal that Indraloks Gai Wala Park will be allotted for the graveyard but so for this could not proceed beyond a mere promise. A local resident who is a social worker and also a journalist, Kafeel Ahmad Ansari said while criticising Kapil Sibal that so far discriminatory treatment is being meted out to Mulsims of Indralok regarding the graveyard. He further said that the promise of allotting Gai wala Park for a graveyard is only a political stunt because so far this park has not been allotted in the name of graveyard.

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The Milli Gazette, 1-15 April 2014

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INTERNATIONAL

Hamas and the Return of the Straying Son

DR. MOHSEN MOHAMMAD SALEH
The difficult situation that Hamas has found itself in since it left Syria, and then following the military coup in Egypt, has prompted critics and gloaters to proclaim that Hamas had pursued mistaken policies leading to its isolation and weakness. These voices called on the straying son, as some of them have come to describe Hamas, to either return to the fold of the Front represented by Iran and Syria, or return to the fold of Palestinian legitimacy led by President Mahmood Abbas (Abu Mazen). Ironically, although the Rejection Front and the Moderation Axis are two contradictory paths, we find that voices affiliated to both sides are simultaneously reproaching the straying son for its choices. In other words, they are practically acknowledging Hamass independence from them, and the fact that Hamas belongs to a third path that neither side wants to tread. The prevalent culture in the Arab region tends towards oversimplification, and builds its understanding of the other on the basis of either with us or against us. Another culture sees the positions of countries, parties, and movements on the basis of interest and gain alone, without regard to values, ethics, and principles. Perhaps these two cultures are partly right, because of the observed prevalence of a political behavior, based on opportunism and expediency; however, not everyone should be lumped in the same basket of standards and generalizations. Those who have dealt with Hamas on this basis, have dealt with it as a lackey of Iran, Syria, or Qatar, according to which best served its interests, rather than dealing with it as a national liberation movement, or as an Islamist movement with its own set of principles, ethics, and governing frame of reference. Those who oversimplify things and distort the truth overlook the ideology governing Hamas, its broad popular base, its national and resistance role, and its martyrs and prisoners. They see the intersection in relations or interests an evidence of dishonesty or subordination, and cannot differentiate between two parallel paths that agree in direction, and two non-parallel paths that intersect at one point before each proceeding in its set direction. When the uprisings and changes unfolded across the Arab world, Hamas did not quite move from one lap to another, and was not that straying son who miscalculated and angered his father! However, Hamas was consistent with itself and its Islamic, national, popular, and liberation-focused worldview. Hamas sided with the people, their right to freedom, and their right to craft their own decisions and choose their political systems. Hamas did not differentiate between the will of the people in Egypt, Syria, or any other country. Perhaps this was its first sin, because the Rejection Front required Hamas to support the popular will in Egypt and Tunisia, but not in Syria. Meanwhile, the Moderation Axis wanted Hamas to stand alongside popular will in Syria, but not in Egypt and Tunisia. Yet neither the Rejection Front nor the Moderation Axis wanted the popular will to triumph in Yemen, so that the regime of Ali Abdullah Saleh would not collapse and weaken the Moderation Axis, and so that the gains of the Houthis are not squandered as far as Rejection Front was concerned! The second sin was Hamass affiliation to political Islam, which emerged as a major engine of the uprisings (in the Sunni Arab environment), and as the primary choice of the masses and the antithesis of the corrupt and tyrannical regimes. This prompted the rest of the regimes to scramble and deploy huge sums of money and formidable media assets to demonize political Islam, including Hamas in their systematic smear campaignsince Hamas belongs to a school affiliated to the Muslim Brothers (MB) movement. Logically, this was welcomed by Western powers and Israel. Those who talk about Hamass expediency and opportunism overlook the fact that by the time the last of Hamass leaders left Syria in early 2012, the MB movement had not yet won the elections in Egypt, and the uprisings had not yet reached critical mass in Syria. The siege of Gaza Strip (GS) had not been lifted, and the program of Palestinian reconciliation had not been implemented on the ground. In other words, Hamas paid the price for its attitudes and support for the choices of the Arab peoples before getting any

When the uprisings and changes unfolded across the Arab world, Hamas did not quite move from one lap to another, and was not that straying son who miscalculated and angered his father! However, Hamas was consistent with itself and its Islamic, national, popular, and liberation-focused worldview. Hamas sided with the people, their right to freedom, and their right to craft their own decisions and choose their political systems. Hamas did not differentiate between the will of the people in Egypt, Syria, or any other country. Perhaps this was its first sin, because the Rejection Front required Hamas to support the popular will in Egypt and Tunisia, but not in Syria. Meanwhile, the Moderation Axis wanted Hamas to stand alongside popular will in Syria, but not in Egypt and Tunisia. Yet neither the Rejection Front nor the Moderation Axis wanted the popular will to triumph in Yemen, so that the regime of Ali Abdullah Saleh would not collapse and weaken the Moderation Axis, and so that the gains of the Houthis are not squandered as far as Rejection Front was concerned!
spoils. The material cost as a result of Hamass exit from Syria was great, as its leaders were scattered to Qatar, Turkey, Lebanon, and elsewhere. The possibility for Hamas managing and continuing its work became more complicated, and Hamas lost the bulk of the support it received from Iran, while suffering anger and chilled relations with Gulf countries. Therefore, the talk about opportunism and expediency is misplaced. When Hamas left Syria, it paid a price for refusing to remain and give cover to the regimes heavy-handed crackdown against its people. Yet Hamas did not leave Damascus ungratefully; in the first few months, its leadership worked tirelessly to reach an internal peaceful solution, to spare the country a civil war and foreign intervention. Furthermore, the support Hamas received in Syria did not come only from the regime, which allowed Hamas to operate and move freely in Syria, but also from the people, who embraced, loved, and supported Hamas. In addition, Hamas insisted on not interfering in the internal affairs of Syria. Moreover, those who back the Palestinian issue and the national and Islamic forces working for it are only doing their duty, and should not expect to buy loyalties in favor of positions and policies that these forces oppose. The essence of the Palestinian issue is freedom and liberation, fulfilling the will of the Palestinian people to regain their land, and breaking it free from the occupation. No one should expect that Palestinian forces side with factions that contradict the will of their peoples. In general, the true strategic ally of Palestine is the Arab peoples and not their regimes, and people remain but regimes go. Those who want to liberate the land must first liberate people. As for why Hamas remained silent over the actions of the regimes that hosted it, this was in line with its principle of noninterference in internal affairs, and the fact that there had been no popular uprising against them to begin with. But when the uprisings erupted and it was possible that Hamas would be used as a cover to legitimize the regime and its crackdown, Hamas was forced to make a decision, siding with the will of the people, yet without interfering in internal affairs. Hamas would not have been able to work for Palestine from outer space. Realism and the priorities-based approach required dealing with the complex and intertwining Arab environment surrounding Palestine, by searching for points of intersection and agreement in a way that serves the Palestinian issue. Hamas preserved its independence, did not conceal its identity or feel burdened by its Islamic-national project at any moment, and did not hesitate to offer advice to regimes and various stakeholders whenever it had the chance or ability to do so. On the other hand, there were attempts to discredit and demonize Hamas, in which many major Egyptian, Gulf-based, and Palestinian Authority-affiliated media outlets took part, i. e., from the Moderation Axis. It sought to portray Hamas as a powerhungry entity that meddles in the internal affairs and security of Egypt, forestalls reconciliation, oppresses people in GS, and even protects Israels borders by cracking down on resistance operations. Therefore, this straying son had to be disciplined, returned to the fold of obedience led by Abu Mazen, and forced to walk the path chosen by the Arab moderate regimes. This is how the military in Egypt justified the Arab blockade on GS, the destruction of tunnels and systematic strangulation of GS, and full identification with the Israeli blockade of GS and consistency with the Israeli agenda to topple the Hamas-led government, portraying this as an act of patriotism to protect the security of Egypt. This is how the enormous suffering they have caused to 1.7 million Palestinians was justified, while denying GS its most basic needs and restricting the movement of its residents, under the pretext that these are just precautionary measures. Those who incessantly put forward accusations against Hamas have so far failed to produce a single shred of serious evidence of Hamass subversion in Egypt, yet they have continued to manufacture charge after charge, rumor after rumor, and lie after lie, without any verification or proof. Indeed, what they wanted was not evidence, but to manipulate Arab public opinion to develop negative attitudes on Hamas and the MB movement, to justify the harsh and severe campaigns conducted by the regimes and their security-military apparatuses against the Islamists. In this context, the ruling of the Emergency Court banning Hamass activities in Egypt and seizing its assets was a dismal and miserable example that damaged the image of the Egyptian justice system and the coup leaders in Egypt, especially when we learn that the court was not competent to consider the case, and that the evidence presented was nothing more than fabricated incitements by the media. Those who preach Hamas about patriotism, do not tell the public opinion that the purpose of the pressure on Hamas is to force it to accept the conditions of the international Quartet for peace; firstly to recognize Israel, secondly to stop resistance or renounce terrorism, and thirdly to abide by the Oslo Accords and ensuing obligations to Israel. In other words, they are busy dragging Hamas to the peace process and to forfeit inalienable Palestinian rights, without themselves addressing the fact about their quagmire with the Oslo Accords and its negative consequences on the Palestinian issue. Those who claim that Hamas has violated Palestinian legitimacy, and the need for the straying son to return to it, are trying to turn their eyes and the public opinions eyes blind to their selective approach in defining legitimacy. How can Hamas have violated legitimacy when it was the party that won the overwhelming majority of votes in the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) elections? Why has Abu Mazen and his supporters in Fatah blocked the work of the PLC for nearly seven years till now? Why has Fatah not returned to the PLC to seek legitimacy for its governments in Ramallah since 2007 and to date? Why does the same party continue to monopolize the PLO, and disrupt or undermine its representative, popular, and executive institutions? If Hamas is leading the government, and has the majority of seats in the PLC, then why would it need to carry out a coup against itself? Some who tout the idea of the straying son equate the Palestinian Authoritys persecution of resistance forces and its security coordination with Israel to Hamass prevention of some Palestinian factions from firing their rockets on Israel and claim that Hamas protects Israels borders. They are deliberately conflating between an organization based in essence on committing to the peace process and repressing resistance forces, and another based in essence on resistance, caring for resistances infrastructure, developing weapons for resistance, and allowing resistance factions to operate freely, with a proven ability to defend GS and strike the Israeli hinterland. What Hamas is doing is nothing more than trying to coordinate resistance activities, shore up GSs resilience, and provide better conditions for the development process under the blockade. Indeed, why would Israel reward Hamas for protecting its borders with a crippling blockade, military offensives, the assassination of its leaders, and the destruction of infrastructure, crops, and homes? The secret behind the campaign against Hamas is that the latter has refused to be under the wing of any party or an instrument in its hands. Meanwhile, determining the party that has strayed must be on the following bases: * The extent of its commitment to its principles and values, and not forfeiting its core tenets. * The extent of its proximity to the masses, their concerns, and their aspirations. * Its performance on the ground in the service of Palestine. Certainly, Hamas, as a man-made grouping, has mistakes, flaws, and weaknesses, but there is a huge difference between making a mistake and floundering on the correct path, or getting some things right when you are proceeding along the wrong path. When one treads a realistic (not nihilistic) path in a hostile and complex environment, one may be forced to choose the lesser of two evils. One could expand its search within the circle of what is allowable, and one could search for the best environment to operate yet without finding an ideal one. What matters ultimately is for the compass to point in the right direction. (The Arabic version of this article appeared on AlJazeera.net
on 14/3/2014).

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The author is director of the Beirut-based think tank, AlZaytouna Centre for Studies and Consultations

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17

Both Jews and Muslims Deserve Apology and Correction of Historical Wrongs
Spain takes first step to right historical wrong, but Jews not the only ones who suffered FAISAL KUTTY
The Spanish government's offer of the "right of return" to the descendants of Jews expelled in 1492 is a "bit late, but nevertheless worthy of praise" says Rabbi Pinchas Godlschmidt, the president of the Conference of European Rabbis. The Rabbi was responding to Spain's new law - approved by the cabinet on Feb. 7th -- granting citizenship to all those who can prove their Sephardic origin. The law amends a previous version announced in 2012, which granted citizenship only to qualified Sephardic Jews and did not allow them to retain other citizenships. The old law also did not extend to the descendants of those coerced to convert to Catholicism, known as "Marranos" (swine in Spanish). The current version of the law - still to be ratified by the Parliament -- is seen as a way to "correct a historical wrong" for the expulsion of Jews from Spain. What of the unknown number of Muslims and their descendants expelled? The Edict of Expulsion (also known as the Alhambra Decree) issued on March 31, 1492 by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain (Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon) ordered Jews to convert or to leave the Kingdoms of Castile and Aragon. This was just after the fall of Muslim Grenada in January 1492. A decade or so after the fall and the Alhambra Decree, Muslims were also forced to convert or leave. In fact, between 1609 (Valencia) and 1614 (Castile), even those Muslims who had converted to Christianity and their descendants (the Moriscos) were forcibly thrown out. Between 275,000 and 350,000 people left and mostly settled in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. Spanish Justice Minister Alberto Ruiz-Gallardn said the law has a deep historic meaning but that it also "reflects the reality of Spain as an open and plural society." An openness that apparently does not extend to Muslims. In 2006 a left-wing party in the Andalusian parliament sought to introduce a bill granting Spanish citizenship to the descendants of Moriscos. The bill failed. The away in Spain or wherever they ended up unlike the Jews who kept to themselves out of fear of further persecution. Moreover, according to University of Cordoba law Professor, Antonio Manuel Rodrguez Ramos, it is unlikely that the government will encourage the investigation into Muslim descendants. He argues though hundreds of thousands left, the majority did not leave but rather stayed back and "created a culture that can be described as most authentic and most Hispanic." He suggests digging too deep into Muslim descendants would simply highlight a truth that most Spaniards would like to ignore. "The danger is that we will have to recognize that the majority of the Spanish population is of Muslim descent," says the Professor. "It's an A painting by unknown depicting the expulsion of Muslims from Spain effort to hide our history, to hide our memory." double standard is not lost on many Muslims and descendants of With respect to the Jews expelled and their descendants, Moriscos particularly those in Spain and North Africa. Representatives of the Moriscos in Morocco and Algeria have Rabbi Goldschmidt argued that in addition to this right of return, already written to Spanish Authorities. Najib Loubaris, the presi- they need an official apology and that all Jewish monuments now dent of L'Association pour la Mmoire des Andalous, a group rep- being used as museums and churches be re-assigned again for resenting Moroccan Moriscos strongly chastised the Spanish Jewish use and control to "amend the historical mistakes." Whatever the truth of the matter with respect to Muslims, government. The government "should grant the same rights to all those who were expelled", Loubaris is quoted in the Guardian. echoing the Rabbi, Spain must apologize to Muslims and their "Otherwise the decision is selective, not to mention racist." The descendants and restore their monuments. Though merely symbolic, such a move would go a long way call is echoed by Spain's leading Islamic group the Junta Islmica. While many of the descendants of the Jews may return, con- to close out a dark chapter in Spanish history and give due regard sulates in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem have reportedly already been to peoples whose legacies contribute immensely to the cultural flooded with requests; the situation with Muslims may be differ- heritage and tourist coffers of the nation to this day. ent. It is not known exactly how many Muslims stayed underFaisal Kutty is an assistant professor of law at Valparaiso University Law ground and how many left. Moreover, it will be difficult for most School and an adjunct professor of law Osgoode Hall Law of York Muslim descendants to trace their ancestry because they melted University in Toronto. Follow him at Twitter@FaisalKutty. The Muslim Brotherhood has denounced death sentences and Washington expressed shock and concern. The court in Minya, south of the capital, Cairo, issued its ruling after only two sessions in which the defendants' lawyers complained they had no chance to present their case. Lawyers have accused the presiding judge of "veering away from all legal norms" and denying justice to the accused, our correspondent adds. They were convicted, among other charges, of the murder of the deputy commander of the Matay district police station in Minya. Some 147 suspects were in court for the trial - the others were convicted in absentia, reports say. The court also acquitted 16 other defendants. There was shock at the verdict, Orla Guerin reports The attacks took place in August after security forces broke up two camps of pro-Morsi supporters in Cairo, killing hundreds of people. Mr Morsi was ousted by the military last July following mass street protests against his government. He is facing four separate trials There has since been a severe crackdown on his Muslim Brotherhood group, as well as on other activists seen as hostile to the military-backed interim government. The Brotherhood has been declared a terrorist organisation and authorities have punished any public show of support for it. A second group of 700 Morsi supporters is due to go on trial on Tuesday. The Muslim Brotherhood's spokesman in London, Abdullah el-Haddad, told the BBC the sentences showed that Egypt was now a dictatorship. "It may be just a threat message and there will be appeals to the court and the decision of the court will change, but this is the new Egypt after the coup. This is the new dictatorship that [army chief and defence minister Field Marshal] Abdul Fattah al-Sisi is trying to establish." (Excerpted)

Egypt court sentences 528 Morsi supporters to death

CAIRO: A court in Egypt on 24 March sentenced 528 supporters of the ousted President Mohammed Morsi to death. They were convicted of charges including murdering a policeman and attacks on people and property. The group is among some 1,200 Muslim Brotherhood supporters on trial, including senior members. Authorities have cracked down harshly on Islamists since Mr Morsi was ousted by the military in July. Hundreds have been killed and thousands arrested by the army. Orla Guerin Orla Guerin of BBC News said from Cairo: The speed of the case, and the severity of the outcome, are unprecedented in Egypt, according to legal sources. In a case centred on the killing of a single police officer, more than 520 defendants have been sentenced to death, at a breathtaking pace. The first hearing -

on Saturday [22 March] - was quickly adjourned. At Monday's second session, the mass death sentences were announced. A spokesman for the banned Muslim Brotherhood said the verdict came from a "Kangaroo court". One human rights campaigner said judges had become a tool for taking revenge. In spite of claims by officials about the independence of the judiciary, critics will see this verdict as part of the state's campaign to quash the Brotherhood. The ruling is expected to be appealed and several legal experts are predicting a retrial. They are expected to appeal. The verdict now goes to Egypt's supreme religious authority, the Grand Mufti, for approval or rejection. Campaigners say that while death sentences are often handed down in Egypt, few have been carried out in recent years. The final trial session will not be held until 28 April, so there is some time left before the sentence is confirmed and there will be time to appeal in that period.

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The Milli Gazette, 1-15 April 2014

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A glance at the state of world Muslims

MUHAMMAD TARIQ GHAZI
[email protected]
Last week I had to make an unscheduled dash to the Canadian capital of Ottawa. During a hectic three-day sojourn I could snatch an evening to spend with a few friends. There, as is usual, discussion focused on the poor performance of the poor Muslim community - poor in many ways. This poverty is sweeping the enormously rich nations more than, say, the nondescript Malians and Maldivians. The argument hovered around academic and intellectual failure of world Muslims as compared with Hindus many of whom are holding top executive positions in well-known American corporate conglomerates and cash cartels. Why so was the star question raised by a well-read Pakistani Canadian engineer before the talk veered to Pakistan as the test case, of course with a blunt reference to Muslim Indians who do not fare any better than their ethnic cousins across the mutually holified border no longer known as Radcliffe Line after its author Sir Cyril. My view partly discussed there and partly elaborated here was and is unorthodox, as usual. Old habits die hard. To begin with, I argued that one major problem with Muslims around the world was their stark economic mismanagement which was the hallmark of every single Muslim nation today - as well as Muslims of India and Britain and Canada and the United States and France and Germany and Belgium. I do not wish to lament further. People may continue that task if it soothes the wounded pride. Here I would like to trace some history of the causes of economic decline of Muslims. In about 7th century BCE, economic geniuses of the world had developed a global economic system which advanced so much in the next one thousand years that people from what are modern-day 20 nations benefited from that trade system. This was known as Incense (aka Frankincense) Road. This was a sea/land route. Another trade system developed at around second century BCE mainly passed through land called the Silk Road. Both Incense and Silk Roads would open at the southern Chinese city of Canton, now known as Guangzho, lying in a cosy Pacific bay about 120 kilometres northwest of Hong Kong. The Incense Route would then pass through (modern) Korea, Sultan Kudrat (Philippines), Sabah, Java, Sumatra (Indonesia) Malaya (Malaysia) Burma, India (Bangladesh=Chittagong), Sarandip (Sri Lanka), India (Calicut/Bhatkal/Thana/Debal), Yemen (Mukalla/Aden), Oman (Muscat/Salalah), Asir, Hijaz (Makkah/Badr/YathribMadinah/Tayma/Khaybar/Tabuk), ash-Sham (Bosra/Maan/Damascus/Antioch), Anatolia, Byzantine (Constantinople=Istanbul), Greece, Balkan-Adriatic states in

Since money supply was blocked, the Muslim World of the post-17th century stopped producing creative talent. Educational systems imposed on these societies through the so-called local reform movements were designed to kill creativity and encourage the ability to ape and copy Europe in order that indigenous masses stay perennially behind the masters. This is a long story which cannot be discussed here... Another factor is economic mismanagement which is the hallmark of not only Muslim/Arab states but of Muslim/Arab businesses and Muslim/Arab individuals. In spite of maltreatment for 200-plus years, Muslims have failed to show any community sense. The so-called Ummah is beset with mutual distrust, total absence of collective economic planning and organisation and management, disregard for grooming future generations for well-defined social progress...
Eastern Europe (Bulgaria, Romania, Macedonia), Sicily, Italy (Rome). In addition, the Silk Route on land passed by China (Xinjiang), Transoxania (Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan), Afghanistan, India (Pakistan/Kashmir), Persia, Iraq, ash-Sham, Armenia, Anatolia, again reaching up to Rome through the last laps of the Incense Route, thus serving another dozen nations of today. Traditionally in every country that the Incense and Silk Routes passed through were countless wholesalers and retailers engaged in trade and business ensuring global prosperity. The system continued to flourish for more than two thousand years when an Italian jeweller Maffeo Polo (1230-1309) came up with a new idea. He conceived of a New Economic Order under which Middle Man was to be eliminated. He visualized an economic system in which the European traders would buy Asian products directly from the manufacturers/producers/wholesalers and fill the markets in Europe, bypassing businesses in all countries on the route. Maffeo who was dealing in gems in Constantinople closed down his business, converted cash into precious stones and travelled by land to the Mongol courts in Bukhara and China. Where he was not successful his more famous and more articulate nephew Marco Polo (1254-1324) succeeded. Marco convinced the Chinese traders to sell him goods at a higher price, and used his flotilla to bring the merchandise directly to Europe bypassing all the traders earlier engaged in the trade chain. Later, this policy was applied to India by Portuguese sailor Vasco da Gama (cir.1460-1524), enthusiastically taken up boards of directors of East India Companies of England, Holland, France, etc. Da Gama paved the way for colonialism and control of global economy (and sources of economy) by small European nations. This is the background of modern society and recent history of prevailing Muslim behavior. Both the Incense and Silk Routes were left in disuse as a result of European maritime adventures. On-route economies, especially those of Muslim/Arab countries began draining from the sixteenth century onward. A point of comparison is that during the reign of Shah Jahan (r:1628-1666) an Indian tanka (rupee) was worth 55+ British pounds; by the 1950s a British pound could buy 52+ Indian/Pakistani rupees. Today a British pound is worth 100+ Indian rupees, 128+ Bangladeshi takas and 162+ Pakistani rupees). Shattered economies on the Incense-Silk Routes hit the development cycle with little resources left for grooming the available talent. Continuous civilizational development needs regular supply of trained brains which are a by-product of financial resources. Inventive talent is developed by properly financed proactive, creative and production-oriented educational system. Since money supply was blocked, the Muslim World of the post-17th century stopped producing creative talent. Educational systems imposed on these societies through the so-called local reform movements were designed to kill creativity and encourage the ability to ape and copy Europe in order that indigenous masses stay perennially behind the masters. This is a long story which cannot be discussed here. In short, a relatively unknown Swiss-British Muslim scholar-author Charles le Gai Eaton (1921-2010) once said the Muslims would lag behind the west as long as they were copying it. Another factor is economic mismanagement which is the hallmark of not only Muslim/Arab states but of Muslim/Arab businesses and Muslim/Arab individuals. In spite of maltreatment for 200-plus years, Muslims have failed to show any community sense. The so-called Ummah is beset with mutual distrust, total absence of collective economic planning and organisation and management, disregard for grooming future generations for well-defined social progress, in addition to an unhealthy focus on petty politics (within Muslim/Arab teagroups and at high forums at national levels where they have such freedoms) with little understanding of the working of the prevailing archaic as well as modern political systems. These factors are contributing to stagnation if not continuous decline of Muslim World. Muslim societies - intellectuals, academics, media to be specific - do not bother about planning. Muslim governments are not capable of using whatever little wealth of thinkers/doers their societies possess. The reason is that both societies and governments do not have any specific objective to achieve. And here we are, lamenting about pathetic state every time some of us sit over a casual cup of tea or loaf of bread.

rant against him. Almog did not leave the plane that carried him from Tel Aviv to London and flew back on board. Israels former Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz also fled the UK once he learned of a similar complaint against him over his role in the Jenin massacre. This is however the first time an Israeli official has escaped London over charges relating to the attack against Eliezer MaromIsraels former Navy Commander General the Mavi Marmara ship. Eliezer Marom may have escaped from Britain Under the universal jurisdiction which is last October for fear of arrest over charges of applied in more than 16 Western country sevcommitting crimes against humanity during eral arrest warrants have been issued against the Israeli attack on the Mavi Marmara freewar criminals most notably Israels former dom Flotilla in 2010, a letter issued by British Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni who fled U. K. after police has revealed. learning of a lawsuit against her filed by Ali and In an exclusive interview for Arabi21 news his legal team over her role in the Gaza war . agency British human rights lawyer Tayyib Ali Ali revealed to Arabi21 in an exclusive said he requested British police detain Marom interview details of legal efforts to prosecute upon entering Britain in mid-October 2013 on those accused of crimes against humanity in charges of committing war crimes against the Doron Almog: the brave Egypt that will be published soon. The lawyer Mavi Marmara passengers in accordance with general who knows how to noted that that the Israeli generals action is a the universal jurisdiction which allows British direct message to those responsible for crimes kill the unarmed authorities to open an investigation and arrest in Egypt that justice arm will reach them no those accused of committing war crimes as soon as they matter how long it might take. (middleeastmonitor. com) enter British territory regardless of their nationality or the place where they committed the crimes. Ali said that his office received a letter from the war crimes team in the British police on February 25, 2014, informing him that Marom left Britain on October 15, 2013 Cong Nguyen sits with his mother at their home in Bien Hoa, only a day after he entered the country; pointing out that near Ho Chi Minh City Ho Chi Minh City: The intense flushes Marom had chosen to escape the UK once he learned of the of heat come several times an hour, as they have done for arrest warrant against him. Ali said that Marom was invited to years, overwhelming the body and propelling the search for give a lecture entitled Security during defiance conditions in cold water. It makes him angry, frustrated - hed like to know Britain but the British police letter reveals that Marom never why it happens, but nothing shows up in scans. attended the lecture which proves that he might have escaped Theres an air of torment about Cong Nguyen. The 16the country fearing he might be arrested. year-old is among four siblings, two of whom suffer the same Ali said, in a brief statement, It is clear that Marom was regular attacks of heat that mean they can never stray far from forced to apologise for cancelling the lecture when he decid- a water tank. To make matters worse, he has never been able ed to flee from the UK. to grow teeth or a full crop of hair; instead, clusters of wispy, This is not the first time a senior Israeli official has been thin strands sit above sunken eyes. Some kids avoid me and forced to escape from Britain for fear of arrest. In recent laugh at me, he says from the home he shares with his years; the former Israeli General Doron Almog fled the coun- brothers and parents in Bien Hoa, just outside Ho Chi Minh try in similar circumstance when he learned of an arrest war- City.

Israels former Navy commander fled UK for fear of arrest

In Vietnam, Agent Orange still makes its deadly presence felt

His mother thinks she knows the cause of his problems. As a teenager in the mid-1970s she would collect wood in a field with her father in southern Vietnam. The two would spend all day among the foliage, cutting down small trees, scavenging in thickets for branches that they would then carry back to their village in the evening. The field, and those surrounding it, was the site of heavy battles between Viet Cong troops and US forces during the Vietnam War, when the US sprayed millions of liters of toxic Agent Orange across the south of the country in a bid to flush out rebels from the jungles and force civilians to relocate to cities, thereby cutting key support bases for the Viet Cong. His mother, Thuy Nguyen, now 66, remembers as a child hearing the sounds of planes flying overhead. During their foraging after the war, she often found bombshells in the fields, and from time to time would pick them up and examine them. A nearby river had an abundance of fish that she and her father would eat. It was only several decades later that she was forced to think back over her work in the field. After Cong Nguyen was born, she realized that whatever had afflicted his brother had also afflicted him. Despite the months and years passing, the teeth and hair were refusing to sprout. She took them to a hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, where they were referred to a French doctor who asked questions about her childhood. The doctor, already familiar with the tens of thousands of similar cases of deformity at birth since the end of the war, pointed the finger at Agent Orange. And what about the waves of heat that would overwhelm both children, sending them into fits of anger? The doctor, unable to locate the physiological cause, referred to it only as fire disease, and again drew a line to the lethal dioxin mixed with other chemicals to form Agent Orange. In the centre of Bien Hoa lies a small airport. During the war, US forces used it as a base from which to fly sorties over southern Vietnam. Some 70 million liters of Agent Orange were dropped, covering 20 percent of the forest cover. Large tanks inside Bien Hoa airport were used to store the chemicals, but in the late 1960s a major spillage occurred, resulting in surrounding lakes and soil becoming contaminated with dioxin. (To read the full story, visit: Source: ucanews. com
http://www.ucanindia.in/news/in-vietnam-agent-orange-still-makes-its-

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ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVES
tolerance become a vehicle for imposing ones own intolerance. Recently some people declared that the demolition of Buddhist statues in a country with no Buddhist minority violated Islams teachings on religious tolerance. They forgot that religious tolerance means accommodation to religious minorities; it does not mean undermining the majority. For Muslims religious tolerance is not about political posturing. It is a serious religious obligation. They must be a force against all intolerance, even that which is promoted in the guise of tolerance. (albalagh.net)

On Religious Tolerance
KHALID BAIG
While on his deathbed, Sayyidna Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) dictated a long Will consisting of instructions for the next Khalifah. Here is the last sentence of that historic document: I instruct you on behalf of the people who have been given protection in the name of Allah and His Prophet peace be upon him [that is the dhimmis or the non-Muslim minorities within the Islamic state]. Our covenant to them must be fulfilled; we must fight to protect them, and they must not be burdened beyond their capabilities. At that time Sayyidna Umar was lying in pain because of the wounds inflicted on him by a non-Muslim who had stabbed him with a dagger soaked in poison while the Khalifah was leading the fajr prayer. It should also be remembered that Umar at the time was the head of a vast empire ranging from Egypt to Persia. From normal rulers of his time or ours, we could have expected vengeance and swift reaction. (The enlightened rulers of today have sent bombers even on suspicion of murder conspiracy). From a very forgiving head of state we could have expected an attempt to forget and forgive -- and that would be considered noble. But a command to protect the minorities and to take care of them? What is even more remarkable is that for Muslim historians the entire affair was just natural. After all it was the Khalifah himself who had established the standards by writing the guarantees for the protection of life, property and religion in decree after decree as Muslims opened land after land during his rule. The pattern established here was followed for centuries throughout the Muslim world. Of course, Sayyidna Umar was simply following what he learnt from the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, himself -- that the protection of life, property and religious freedom of minorities is the religious duty of the Islamic state. The Prophet said that he would personally be demanding justice in the Hereafter on behalf of a dhimmi who had been wronged by a Muslim; that there is no compulsion in religion and that Muslims must be just to friends and foes alike. The result of these teachings was a Muslim rule that set the gold standard for religious tolerance in a world that was not used to the idea. Not only that, Muslim history is so remarkably free of the inquisitions, persecutions, witch hunts, and holocausts that tarnish the history of other civilizations; it protected its minorities from persecution by others as well. It protected Jews from Christians and Eastern Christians from Roman Catholics. In Spain under the Umayyads and in Baghdad under the Abbasid Khalifahs, Christians and Jews enjoyed a freedom of religion that they did not allow each other or anyone else in areas under their control. This exemplary tolerance is built into Islamic teachings. The entire message of Islam is that this life is a test and we have the option of choosing our path to Hell or to Heaven. Messengers were sent to inform about these choices and to warn about the consequences of making the wrong choices. They were not sent to forcibly put the people on the right path. The job of the Muslims anywhere is the same. They must deliver the message of Islam to the humanity as they have received

This exemplary tolerance is built into Islamic teachings. The entire message of Islam is that this life is a test and we have the option of choosing our path to Hell or to Heaven. Messengers were sent to inform about these choices and to warn about the consequences of making the wrong choices. They were not sent to forcibly put the people on the right path. The job of the Muslims anywhere is the same. They must deliver the message of Islam to the humanity as they have received it. They are neither to change it to make it attractive, nor to coerce others to accept it. In addition, the results in the Hereafter will depend upon faith. For all good acts are of little value in the absence of the proper faith. And faith is an affair of the heart. It simply cannot be imposed.
it. They are neither to change it to make it attractive, nor to coerce others to accept it. In addition, the results in the Hereafter will depend upon faith. For all good acts are of little value in the absence of the proper faith. And faith is an affair of the heart. It simply cannot be imposed. It is not an idea that followers of other religions have shared with Islam. The result is, Muslim experience in the area of tolerance has been exactly opposite of the rest of the world. As Marmaduke Pickthall noted, It was not until the Western nations broke away from their religious law that they became more tolerant, and it was only when the Muslims fell away from their religious law that they declined in tolerance. The path that the Western world took to provide harmony in society was to banish religion from the public sphere. For this achievement, it thinks that it has earned lecturing rights over the issue. So it may be good to remember that while it has indeed made huge progress in the area of tolerance during the last century (which should be appreciated), it has a long way to go before it can reach the standards established by Islam. First, while Muslim Personal Law is not recognised in the West, the Personal Law of non-Muslim minorities has always been recognised in the Muslim world. Second, while throughout Europe and America, Muslims are not permitted to make the call to prayer (Adhan) on loud speakers, church bells ring freely in the Muslim world. Third, the widespread anti-Islamic prejudice in the Western media is both a cause and a consequence of the underlying intolerance. Fourth, hate crimes are a fact of life in the West. As just one small indication, nearly two-dozen incidents of vandalism have taken place against mosques in the peaceful USA during the last seven years, not to mention hundreds of attacks against individuals. Fifth, the will to admit this state of affairs is also not sufficiently strong. Again here is just one indication: In 1999 two resolutions were floated in the US Senate and House, titled A resolution supporting religious tolerance toward Muslims. While the Senate resolution passed, the House resolution was gutted under pressure from several Jewish and Christian groups. The situation of the rest of the international community is not much different. With this background, extortions to display

The Abandoned Role of Masjid

If Masjid made Muslims true conquerors of hearts, minds, souls, lands and geography, thoughts and thinking, then the abandoned and forgiven concept of the Masjid made Muslims defeated, resigned, confused. The Prophets Mosque in Madina was the hub of social contacts, political and legal decisions, economic resolutions, spiritual training and religious education. It was a Muslim Parliament under true democracy called khilafat. The rise of dictatorship reduced the role of Masjid to mere praying devoid of soul and spirit. There is no historical evidence available that the great four imams ever delivered even Jumuah khutubah. The jumuah sermons were supposed to be given by the governors and high government representatives. The greatest conquests were made by Khalifah Umar functioning out of the Prophets Mosque. Maulana Maududi, may Allah have mercy on him, saidin his landmark book, Khilafat-o-Mulukiyat: had Khilafat continued for another 100 or 150 years, there would not have been left a single non-Muslim area outside the banner of Islam.

When you go to masjid for your next prayers, just do not walk like a monk, but walk like a dynamic believer. The sunnah and practice of the Prophet, peace be upon him, is to offer only two prayers in the Masjid, Tahayyatul Masjid and Fard. It was not the custom of the companions to offer long prayers in the Masjid. That is not the role of the Masjid. The sunnah and nafl prayers can be continued at your homes and workplaces according to the Sunnah. After the Fard prayers, please shake hands with your Muslim brothers and enquire of their well-being. Feel the ownership of the Masjid. Just dont go and come back disgruntled and resigned. Masjid belongs to you. You have a right to take interest in its management and ask questions about how it is run. Some brothers and sisters may be looking for financial help, and some may be having health and social issues, try to help them. Some of us may be looking for jobs, may be in need of business advice. We should also conduct the meetings pertaining to the education and political activities taking in the countries we live. That is part of Islam. Please involve yourself. Dont allow dictatorships to prosper. It is haraam to see wrong and keep quite. Dictatorship belongs only to Allah. And that Omnipotent Allah has given us chance to think, to ponder, to ask questions and change the world around us. Dictatorship does not suit humans. They look ugly. If Muslims really wanted to recover their lost glory, Masjid should regain its lost position as the political, social, economic, spiritual hub of Muslims. If we have to regain our respect and honour in this world, Masjid is the place. The revival of Masjid's role is indispensable to our lost respect. (Received from [email protected])

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No Safe Passage under US Economic Model

A Review of Paul Craig Roberts The Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism (ISBN: 978-0-9860362-5-5, $18.95 192 pp. 2013)

GARY CORSERI
Heres a book that presents its theses nimbly, deftly, consummately. Roberts can be as elegant as a mathematical proof, and as down-to-earth, colloquial, no-B.S. as a man who has walked the windy labyrinths of power, observing closely, testing axioms on the pulses, and finding his own way to what works-and to Truth. Economics may be the gloomy science for most of its glum practitioners, but in Roberts humanist hands, its a scalpel to carve order from disorder, to framework the challenges of our precarious, modern, globalized world; to alert us to the dangers we face now, and the even graver threats ahead if we cannot restore real democracy, moral sensibility and rational balance. This youngish septuagenarian, who was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury (under Reagans regime), as well as an associate editor of the Wall Street Journal and a columnist there and at Business Week, regularly posts his work at the best progressive and conservative sites in the country-and, in fact, in the world. You cant tie Roberts to one ideology. (You can learn more about him at his website: www. paulcraigrobers. com.) Whats clear is his commitment to understanding the mess weve made of our world, and re-visioning, rebuilding it. The last two paragraphs of this book sum up that commitment: Economist Herman Daly put it well when he wrote that the elites who make the decisions have figured out how to keep the benefits for themselves while sharing the costs with the poor, the future, and other species. Empty-world economics with its emphasis on spurring economic growth by the accumulation of man-made capital has run its course. Full-world economics is steady-state economics, and it is past time for economists to get to work on a new economics for a full world. Empty-world economics is Roberts phrase for academic theorizing (often simplistic in spite of highfalutin rhetoric) which ignores the complexities of a full, entangled world, occupied by real human beings who suffer! In the economics of a full-world, natures capital (natural resources) and ability to absorb wastes are being exhausted. The cost of natures capital is not included in the computation. While Wall-Streeters, CEOs and hedge fund managers are awarded multi-million dollar bonuses for saving billions of dollars in labour costs, they have, in actuality, merely externalized the costs-off-shoring millions of US jobs and fracturing the US tax base that used to support our education, our infrastructure, our culture, leaving the vast majority of Americans swimming in the swill of their excesses and pollution. These culprits have been off-shoring (outsourcing) all manner of jobs -low-tech and hightech - while simultaneously importing foreign labourers toAmerica on H-1b or L-1 work visas. American Labour gets the Big Squeeze while corrupt banks and corporations get the Big Hand-out. In a fine, 20-page preface to Failure, German economist Johannes Maruschzik informs us that the book is written by an independent thinker who is not afraid to question conventional wisdom Roberts is closer to the libertarians than to those who think governments must run the economy High tax rates discourage work and saving But, this historical turning point where the world is now -- necessitates an agile intellect, and Maruschzik quotes from a letter Roberts had written him: Libertarians think that human nature changes according to whether it is employed privately or publicly. They dont accept that private power can be just as abusive as public power. I appreciate libertarians defence of liberty, but I have otherwise lost patience with them. Its not that Roberts straddles the various theoretical economics fences, so much as the fact that he has been around long enough, witnessed critically enough, to know that human nature often has major human flaws. Markets are not self-regulating. They are social institutions and the human actors in markets require regulating. Libertarians need to be reminded that liberty is not anarchy. Business is also a kind of sport, but when the rules are not clear, and fairly enforced, abuses result, resentment grows, chaos manifests. If libertarianism needs pruning, so does neo-liberal nonsense about the benefits of free trade in the age of globalism. Western laissez faire capitalism has not been about producing tradable goods for comparative advantages. (Thats how Adam Smith conceived of it: each country, each people, fashions or trades the products for which time and place have best suited them.) But, modern-day laissez faire capitalism has evolved into a system that seeks absolute advantage. Jobs are off-shored and costs of production are minimized because of excess labour pools in China, India, etc. The imbalances are egregious, and, according to a recent Oxfam report, we now have a world in which 85 peopleimagine a small movie theater filled with 85 people!-have as much wealth as 3,500,000,000 people (half of the worlds population!). Obviously, these disparities, these externalized costs cannot be sustained. (For one thing, in a world as interdependent as this one, how much can really be externalized? They breathe Chinas polluted air on Americas west coast! And, theres a floating island of plastic as large as Texas, wafting in the Pacific.) Smith saw capitalism as a corrective to the abuses of monarchy and royalty. He was essentially a moralist, as is Roberts. Morality can be over-regulat-

Western laissez faire capitalism has not been about producing tradable goods for comparative advantages. (Thats how Adam Smith conceived of it: each country, each people, fashions or trades the products for which time and place have best suited them.) But, modern-day laissez faire This book shows how, blindly capitalism copying the American model, has evolved Indian economy has created a into a system that few trillionaires while s e e k s condemning hundreds of millions to the abyss of abject absolute poverty and untimely death. advantage...
ed (as centuries of Church doctrinarianism proved) and it can be deregulated until it is meaningless. How do we navigate between the extremes of doctrinarianism and anarchy? How do we achieve the proper balance? We have been struggling with that question for decades. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the rise of the high speed Internet have proved to be the economic and political undoing of the West, Roberts writes. Financial deregulation, which began in the Clinton years and leaped forward during the George W. Bush regime, unleashed greed and debt leverage. Under neo-lib Clinton, the GlassSteagall Act (which had kept commercial and investment banking separated since 1933) was repealed. Mortgages were bundled, given phony ratings by Wall Street-tight collaborating agencies, securitized and sold as derivatives over and over to Americans and foreigners who trusted the ratings and the reassurances of Wall Street casino operators. These derivatives were fraudulently insured by AIG and other companies, green-lighted by government oversight agencies, and our elected (selected?) representatives hobnobbed with the folks they were supposed to nab. When the bubble of absurdities burst, pensions burst, education funds evaporated, bridges collapsed. We live with that wreckage. And, within the wreckage of an all-seeing, out-of-control Police/Surveillance/Military State clamping down on a disenfranchised and increasingly restive population. In the 21st century, the U. S. economy has been kept going by an expansion in consumer debt, not by rises in consumers real income, Roberts writes. The private Federal Reserve keeps monetizing debt (printing more money), and our fiscal policies are oriented towards spending more on military/surveillance/police-state actions-about half of the U.S. budget -- while, not so oddly, we live in a more dangerous world! What is wrong with this picture? The U. S. could reduce the budget deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars, Roberts writes, by ending its pointless and illegal wars, by closing hundreds of overseas military bases, and by cutting an overstuffed military budget. This would require the U. S. to give up its goal of world hegemony. Clearly, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the rise of the Internet, has facilitated global trade and production, but these new conditions have also seeded the curse of Cain -- the murderous desire for absolute control or world hegemony. The perils are manifest: the hubris of American elites might outlast the window of opportunity that exists for the renewal of the U.S. economy. That hubris may also outlast the opportunity to bring the world together under a new dispensation, where excess is curtailed and fairness is an honoured precept. The assault on common sense rules, which governed American capitalism and made it humane, writes Roberts, resulted from the hubris created by the triumph of capitalism over Soviet communism. How can we check the mad hubris of this Orwellian world in which war is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength? In 2004, Roberts predicted that the U.S. would be a third world nation (with impoverished masses and a bloated military) in just 20 years. We are now half-way there! Roberts would not describe himself as a Globalist. That term has been perverted by free-traders, misled and misleading academic and media mouthpieces and fools. (Yes, PCR can be that blunt. He names names, doesnt pull his punches and he doesnt mince his words.) Not a globalist, but clearly this erudite, well-traveled man (educated at Georgia Tech, the University of Virginia, the University of California, Berkeley, and Oxford University) has spent his life figuring how this complex puzzle of our world is put together, how various factors interact. Part One of this compact book discusses Problems in Economic Theory; Part Two is entitled The New Dispossession (including, The Myth of Benevolent Globalism); and Part Three is The End of Sovereignty. The last part -- the shortest at 16 pages -- is a kind of fillip to shake us out of our media-induced fantasy -- world of foreign threats (recall George Bush: they hate

us for our freedoms!) to show how US socio-political-economic policies have impacted our world, especially our allies in Europe. In the name of democracy, free- trade and laissez faire capitalism, we have pressured and undermined the sovereignty of European Union states. We did it subtly, and not so subtly, by militarizing the EU under the cover of NATO. We exploited legitimate fears of the Warsaw Pact nations; and when the Warsaw Pact dissolved with the moribund Soviet Union, we inflated new boogeymen to fill the empty spaces of our imaginations. We have been the global hegemonic power-the so-called single super-power thanks in large measure to our military might and the fact that the US dollar is the worlds reserve currency. We can pay our debts by printing more dollars. But, other nations, rising economic and political-military powers, probe the sanctity of the US dollar as the worlds reserve currency. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), led by China and Russia, explores new ways to balance their payments for goods and services. So does Iran, an associate member of the SCO. The Greek populace riots against austerity programs imposed by EU elites in Brussels. Looking ahead, Roberts foresees greater cooperation between Europes economic powerhouse, Germany, and resource-rich Russia. The New World Order, covered by a tattered Stars and Stripes, is crumbling like the once-grand opera house in the decrepit city of Detroit! It is a contagion. In the words of Zorba the Greek, the whole catastrophe! Roberts book is a singular warning. He recapitulates, implicitly or explicitly, arguments about the nature of the state and democracy that have been with us since the time of Jefferson and Hamilton-and long before then in the Roman republic and in Greeces brilliant, but tragically flawed, ancient democracy. These are arguments about the consolidation of power, the privileges of power, the efficiencies of the state and the community, and the sovereignty and dignity of individuals. Hell is other people, Sartre told us in No Exit. We must deal with the nature of the beast in the Labyrinth-and in the human heart if we are to find our way out of the current imbroglio. There is this fragile, tenuous hope: If we are alert, informed, brave and wise about the infinite capacity for human folly and corruption, we may find safe passage. That, of course, is a very big if! (countercurrents.org)
Gary Corseri has published his work at hundreds of websites and periodicals worldwide, including, Countercurrents, Counterpunch, The Village Voice and The New York Times.

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REJOINDERS/OPINION/LETTERS
MG My experience has shown that, rare exceptions apart, there is near total reluctance - bordering on refusal - on the part of the educated elite, and even non-elite, belonging to the majority communities to read anything like your esteemed magazine. Periodicals such as Tehelka, Communalism Combat, Hard News, and often the well known Outlook, also meet the same fate, generally speaking. When asked to glance through some of the aforesaid periodicals at least sometimes if not regularly, I was told by an old friend in the IAS that all such magazines generally and even exclusively, present only "one side" of the picture. He didn't want to express himself clearly on the issue of one-sidedness of the periodicals in question. Mind you, the said gentleman who does not belong to any of the minority communities is one who has had plentiful of experience of grass roots administration in a state (not UP) with a sizeable Muslim population and is otherwise a fair-minded person and has friends belonging to minority communities. The mystery of onesidedness needed to be resolved, however. Eventually, it was quite a disappointment for me to gather (or, perhaps discover) that onesidedness referred to the presentation of the news and views from a typically minorities' perspective and bringing out the experiences of the minority communities. I was, therefore, not surprised to find that the aforesaid periodicals are not subscribed to by the government libraries either. The result is that even those who are supposed to be well informed ( e. g. intelligence walas, et all ) remain blissfully ill-informed about the plight of the minority communities. Very few, for instance, know that even at the level of class IV jobs, for which there is no dearth of educationally qualified persons, the representation of, say, Muslims, continues to hover round the tragically low level of 5-6% and this despite the fact that the minority communities including Muslims stand included in the list of backward classes. And so on. The need of the hour, in my view, is to devise an appropriate strategy so as to ensure as best as possible that the majority communities become truly aware of the genuine problems of the minorities. There is no dearth of well meaning people in our country and they can surely make a difference provided they only get to know the truth. Can you, as an important step in the right direction, think of supplying your esteemed magazine to select officers in the administrative services and the police throughout India, especially the Hindi heartland, for free in the hope that these worthies would some little time, by chance if not by design, to glance through it and thus acquire at least a smattering of the desired information which will do good to them and, needless to say, to our country we are so much in love with. More, later. S A T Rizvi, IAS (Retd.) [email protected] II I have read your e-paper, I got an idea about approach and content, and i must congratulate you and your team for fantastic efforts. Mohd. Monis Siddiqui, Lucknow III MG's service and reporting area is satisfactory. Best of luck. Malik Mohd Tareeq, Modasa - 383315 Gujarat Characterless judiciary cannot deliver justice SC judge justice A. K. Ganguly is facing severe charges of sexual abuse slapped by a lady law intern. Other lady law intern revealed that justice Swatantra Kumar had abused her sexually thrice. Niira Radia tapes had many secrets about judges and many cases of corruption appeared in media. Bharat Bhushan in an affidavit wrote that 14 CJIs were definitely corrupt. Now three senior judicial officers were caught in compromising positions in Nepal (Nepali Daily Udgosh / 29/01/13). Komal Ram, J. N. Singh, H. N. Gupta (judicial magistrate / principal judge) are sacked. Riot cases are closed, Babri Masjid was demolished when cases pending in court totalled 60 thousand cases in SC, 44.3 lakh in HC, 2.69 crore in lower courts. S. Haque, Patna Kejriwal at Banaras The treatment meted out to Mr. Arvind Kejriwal was not beyond expectation.. The public welcomed Kejriwal and his colleagues with love and those who hurled eggs and splashed black ink on his face is also a form of love hatred is the beginning of love. Kejrwal should forget this act of hate and think this will change into love and affection after they listen his speech. The real voters are the poor people of Banaras who are being exploited since centuries. Kejrtwal is the champion croes of poor masses of the constituency. Congress and BJP could not solve their problems. They are suffering since decades Now people are seriously thinking to bring revolution. Through the power of franchise it ispossible. Now we hope that a AAP party will do this Herculean task and will give an Utopia to the Indian Nation. All Hindus Muslims ,Sikhs Jainis and Christians should support AAP Dr AH Maqdoomi, Hyderabad BJP factional fights As time of election draws closer, the factional division within BJP is emerging, which might create obstruction for Narendra Modi in achieving the magical number-272. Quiting of Jaswant from the party will inevitably create a storm in the tea cup of Narendra Modi. Nor was LK Advani pleased with the dictat of Sangh for persuading to fight election from Gandhi Nagar. The tension brewing from within may prove disastrous for the party, for Modi was annointed candidate of Sangh rather than BJP . Narendra Modi was not a consensus candidate of Prime Minister. It sounds there would be dark horse within the party if Modi failed to get 272 seats. Secular party might not second Modi if support was needed Wakeel Ahmad, New Karim Gunj, Gaya [email protected] Where is the sporting spirit? Until the number of 'Abdullah's who hail Jadeja's batting and 'Mohan's who clap on Shaihdi's sixers increases sufficiently let there be no cricket between India and Pakistan. Otherwise Dhoni and Misbah should be made members of one combined team. Sultan A. Patel, Khanpur Deh - 392150 Elections National politics is a game of very high stakes. Our community is essentially simple-minded and trusting. This goes back to our faith in Allah. All parties have taken advantage of our trust using upper crust Muslims from the film industry, from cricket, rich businessmen, journalists and finally our over ambitious Shahi Imams and Madani uncle nephew duo. After every election we feel cheated, as our interlopers obtain the choicest advantage in the Rajya Sabha and in their financial dealings. But the ghettoisation of the commu-

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23

nity continues. Every riot our women get raped, our youth end up in jails for years, and our businesses and properties are destroyed. I urge our community not to put blind trust in any political leader. Question him when he comes to you. Raise genuine issues that our troubling us. But never, never promise him our vote in advance; especially when asked to say so in the name of Allah. Dr. J. S. Bandukwala Vadodara Gujarat Farooq Abdul Gaffar Bawani Rajkot Gujarat [email protected] II India is heading towards a crucial election which is going to be more crucial for minorities and poor of this Country. We know that Modi with the help of Media is trying to create a wave and common people has fallen in that. Even during the rule of Congress minorities had suffered a lot and have been jailed with false charges all over the country from Kerala to J&K. As our police forces are so much prejudiced, the fate of minorities will be much worse if Modi comes to power. It is now important that all Muslims should unite and consolidate their votes against these communal forces. I strongly believe that only Aam Admi Party can do good for Muslims and poor. I have no hope in Congress. Hence I request you to kindly make efforts so as to consolidate Muslim votes against one point, that is Modi. Our votes should not be bifurcated. Mohammed Iyas AK, Malappuram Kerala 673634 [email protected] History puts seal on RSS bomb blast connection Samjhauta train blast, Makkah Masjid blast, Malegaon blast -- the main culprit Swami Assemanand's interview to English magazine "CARAVAN" exposed the real face of RSS which claims that it is a nationalist cultural organisation and never believed in divisive, disruptive and demolishing policies. Swami Aseemanand had said that all the blast plans were well within RSS top brass leaders knowledge like Mohan Bhagwad etc who is currently sarsangh chalak. "CARAVAN" stands by its story and released the audio tapes too. No BJP / RSS leaders are ready to challenge the magazine and audio tapes in courts but are verbally denying. Many judicial commissions probing anti-Muslim riots and the history puts seal on the RSS blast connection. Congresss soft stands on RSS had been the real history in India. "A life of our times" autography by Rajeshwar Dayal who was the home secretary of UP in 1948 and retired. He wrote about an incident of 1948 when DIG of western UP B. B. Jaitley came with three big trunks loaded with documents, maps and proofs captured from an RSS office which were significant that it were a conspiracy to wage riots in western UP by RSS. Mr Dayal and Jaitly presented all documents, maps and proofs of RSS's antinational programmes and activities to Pandit Govind Balabh Pant, Congress CM of U.P . But Mr. Pant only ordered to issue a letter to RSS to explain the situation and it was never delivered to R.S.S. Without smashing the Congress very soft stand on RSS myth, India cannot prosper and justice cannot prevail without taking such saffron mentality to task. S. Haque, Patna Kashmiri students in Meerut university According to the news published in newspapers that Vice Chancellor of Meerut University has expelled Kashmiri Students for celebrating the victory of Pakistani team over India in cricket match. It seems that Kashmiri students are feeling sense of alienation. They are feeling stranger in their own country Further , let me frankly confess that majority community has failed to instil the feelings of Indianness in them. The fault lies with the majority community and not with Kashmiri students. I , a Gujarati Muslim feel the same sense of alienation after 2002 riots. I am unwanted in my own state. I am being discriminated day in day out. I have to live under constant fear lest fascist forces may kill me at any time. Farooq Abdul Gaffar Bawani, Rajkot, Gujarat [email protected] Media avoids Muslims issues Hindi daily "Dainik Bhaskar" launched its Bihar edition on 19 January 2014. On its inaugural issue its cover page writes "Bihar mein satya, aur nispakchta ka uday" (rise of truth and straightforwardness in Bihar) Dainik Bhaskar published a story of BC and MBC hostels that 38 hostels were to be completed in 2 years but only one was completed. The report published details of hostels and amounts released but Dainki Bhaskar deliberately avoided minority hostels issue. Minority hostel project was started by Laloo Yadav government in 2002-03 but 10-11 years later only in 2 districts minority hostel are complete and 36 districts minority hostels are still incomplete. In some cases funds wsere pent but work was not completed. Urdu media has no courage to expose the mystry. S. Haque, Patna Imbalanced sex ratio India is still witnessing an imbalanced sex ratio when you talk about registration of voters. Recently, there were some pretty surprising statistics from the Election Commission, which showcases India's continuing story of gender inequities since 1971. As per reports, this was the time when the gender break-up of electorates was first recorded. Out of the total 23.16 million first-time voters enrolled voters for the 16th Lok Sabha polls, only 41% of the 18- 19 yearolds registered voters are women, while 96 lakh of them are as against 1.4 crore new male voters. In India, states like Haryana, Maharashtra, Punjab, Chandigarh and Gujarat have the most skewed electoral sex ratios. Though the time has changed with improved literacy, intervention of government agencies and aggressive efforts of political parties to bring more people to vote, it is the patriarchal nature of Indian society that fails to bring in more female voters. With a motive to engage more women, the EC has launched various campaigns like appealing to them to vote through household items like gas cylinders and advertisements on all means of media. Not just this, even while registration, the election officers ensured that more women participate in the process by asking men to come with their wives so that they too receive voter ID cards. Mohd Zeyaullah Khan, Jafar Nagar, Nagpur - 440012 [email protected] Vote issue of Muzaffarnagar Victims I have been reading Milli Gazette for sometimes, and found your esteemed contribution for rehabilitation of Muzaffarnagar victims. This morning I watched a report on NDTV that Mr Hukum Singh, a BJP candidate from MuzaffarNagar, raised the issue with election commission that victims who are staying in camps their votes are should be considered illegal. And he infact went beyond his imagi-

nation by allegedly saying that these people are here since 1962 and outsider. This issue is raised by controversial person who very well know that if victims are allowed to vote he is going to lose his election. I as a responsible Indian citizen want to bring to your notice that please take necessary steps and ensure all victims should be able to vote. And these communal forces supporters like Humkum Singh must be not get re elected at any cost. I wish your group can do and put maximum efforts in order to achieve this. One of my opinion is if you may challenge the election commission consent on Mr Hukum Singh complaint or may be sought guidelines by filing Petition in supreme court. As I am novice and do not have idea about filing petition on behalf of several Muslims who have been deprived of their basic rights on daily basis because of partisans nature of administration and state level governments institutions. I would like to see some steps taken by your esteemed organisation on this issue in your weekly or monthly issue of Milli Gazette. i hope you must take necessary steps. Md Aasim Rogue party No words are strong enough to condemn the political party who wants to form the government by hook or crook. With barely a few months left to go for the Lok Sabha election, each and every party leave any stone any unturned in exposing and blaming one other to score brownie points. Wikileaks poster made by BJP might affect Narendra Modi scope of PM. But, what is harmful for the country is that they create communal tension to cover up scams or corruption charges before election. Muzaffar Nagar riot is the recent example which is bound to haunt in the election. Again, with Narendra Modi contesting from Varanasi, the peace and tranquillity might be affected. Wakeel Ahmad, Gaya [email protected] BJP and Muslims This is regarding the recent political gimmick of Rajnath Singh. He has not made any confession or expressed any apology - only a vague offer to apologise for any "mistake". Infact there is an implied tone that no serious offence has been committed. I feel that Muslim Personal Law Board or Majlise Mushawarat should call his bluff and issue a strong statement that if Rajnath has an iota of sincerity in his statement, he should immediately demolish the temple in Ayodhya and rebuild the Babri Masjid as a first step. If you agree, kindly do the needful. K. V. Abdurrahman, Thana, Kannur - 670012 Allow Muslims to live peacefully The saffron terrorists in India with the support of some medias, politics and especially the cunning and cruel jews acting as villains of Muslims in India. They unleash all sorts of vandalism, riots, killings, raping, looting and arsoning etc etc in the country. Cowards and our Muslims are bearing all these agonies and living as dumbs, deaf and blind cursing their enemies. Due to financial restraints and political as well as the threats of saffronists, they are not in a position to complaint against these savage and cruel ghoondas. Indian police and judiciary are playing double roles in maintaining administration that is one for non-Muslims and other against Muslims. The administration know some master strokes against wounded Muslims and simultaneously torturing them arresting yhem, slaughtering them in mass scale. NOTE: ISI, Lashkae-E-Thoyuba, Indian Mujahideen, Fidiyaan, SIMI, SDPI, Jamaat-E-Islami etc. Are these organisations planed or proposed or promoted or participated to demolish the famous Babari Masjid, massacre in Bhivandi, Bhopal, Srirampur, Calcutta, Bihar, Navakali, Butlahouse, Assam, Muzaffarnagar, Bombay. Addition to the above all the bomb blasts and killings in sacred Ajmer Darga the known power loom city-Malegaon, Meccas Mosque, Samjhoda Express train etc. Over and above all the savagery, holocaust,, the cruel and Narendra Modi and his ghoondas in Gujarat massacred more than three thousand Muslims, raped thousand of women, demolished hundreds of mosque, looting and arsening of Muslims belongings. All these terrific crimes were carried out in the strength of constitution of India and rules. In Kashmir Valley several thousands of graveyards of Muslim youth discovered. The relatives and parents of buried are still crying over the agony of their kids and miserable life among the anti-national monsters. Do they (above mentioned Muslim organisations) committed the above mentioned sins such as non-preceding the saffron terrorist committed in the man-kind. In the Muzaffarnaar several thousands of Muslims were killed and their houses were demolished by JCB. More than fifty young kids were died due to heavy fog and starvation. TRhe refugee camps were also demolished by the authorities in day time. The authorities offered some meagre amounts to the victims on the conditions the victims should not go to their native dwellings and to live elsewhere. India was ruled over 1200 years by Muslims. Their having no proper dwelling places in the country as all the palaces, forts and buildings were changed as offices, garages, as well as temples. The last Mughal king Bahadur Shah Zafar was driven out from India and took asylum at Burma. The grandsons of Bahadur Shan and Tippu Sultan of Mysore pulling on life working as menials in Calcutta slums. Nobody in the country is worried about this pathetic life of the royal family members. Even no pension amount is granted to these unfortunate persons. The constitution of India prescribes justice, social, economic and political liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship. It is also specifying that equality of status and opportunity to promote among them all fraternity assuring the dignity of the individual and unit and the integrity of the nation. Is the Muslim community treated on these guidance. Raj Mohan, Kameleswaram, TVM-695009 Anti-Sikh riot-closed cases will be opened With one announcement of AAP , the government agreed to start investigation of 1984 anti Sikh riots. During the riot 528 cases were registered but half of them were closed by police without proper investigation. Now the closed cases will be opened. In all riots, police without proper investigation, closes cases and judiciary silently watches. Cases of Mumbai riots, Gujarat riot, Bhagalpur riot, Nellie valley riot etc were closed by police. It is police conspiracy to protect rioters and killers. S. Haque, Patna Saudi show of Islam What kind of Islam do the usurpers of the Harmain-ash-Sharifain follow has become clear from their outburst against the Mulsim Brotherhood of Egypt. S. Akhtar, Khanpur Deh - 392150

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RNI No. DELENG/2000/930 REGISTERED DL(S)-01/3215/2012-14 LICENCED TO POST WITHOUT PREPAYMENT U (SE)-57/2012-14 PUBLISHED ON 26 MAR 2014 POSTED ON 26,27 MAR 2014 ADV. FORTNIGHTLY AT NDPSO-110002

These are verses of the Quran, a book that makes (things) clear; A guide: and glad tidings for the believers. Those who establish regular prayers and give in regular charity, and are sure of the Hereafter. Quran 27:1-3

CHARITY ALLIANCE
Registered trust

Alliance School Murshidabad needs

Construction of homes for Muzaffarnagar riot victims by Charity Alliance

On 18 February 2014, by the grace of Almighty, and support of our donors, we were able to start the construction work on the 38,642 square feet land purchased in Kairana. We started the work only once the purchase process was officially over. All labourers are from the relief camps and hence a source of livelihood for some of the victims. Earlier we had planned to make tent-like sheds for the victims. But now we intend to make small pucca dwellings for most deserving families among the riot victims. Depending on the amount of funds raised, we are studying what type and kind of dwellings we can afford. See page 17 inside. Donations in kind are also welcome, like bricks, cement, iron bars, drainage pipes, doors, windows, sanitaryware, tiles etc. Construction of homes near Sunethi Camp (Shamli) for Muzaffarnagar riots victims, 24 March 2014

your help
With great pleasure. we inform you that West Bengal Board of Secondary Education has issued a one-year provisional No Objection Certificate to Alliance School Murshidabad thereby giving us a one-year provisional CERTIFICATE OF RECOGNITION as an upper primary school (Classes V to VIII). This provisional certificate lays down certain criteria which have to be met within a year. Alliance School in Murshidabad (West Bengal) needs your help to get pucca classrooms for students and to be able to get permanent certificate of recognition. Please donate for this cause. Approx. Rs 10 lakh is needed to start construction work for the first phase. Please see page 17 inside.

Without your support CHARITY

With best compliments from

Kaleem Kawaja , Washington DC

ALLIANCE cant complete the above Donations, Zakat, Sadaqat, Charity and bank interest.

Accepted by cheque / online Internet Banking transfers or credit card payments / Money Order. See page 17 inside.

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