IslamOnline Exclusive Interview
By Nadia El-Awady
Ahmedabad, India
February 02, 2005
Ahmedabad, former state capital and commercial center of Gujarat, on the Sabarmati River
I’ve always dreamed of traveling to India. The Taj Mahal, Ghandi’s liberation struggle, traveling bare-back on elephants in lush green forests; this is what India has always meant for me. I never thought, however, that my first visit would be to a state most known for its periodic outbursts of communal violence: Gujarat.
Gujarat is located on the Western coast of India, forming what looks like an out-turned pocket opening up onto the Arabian Sea. It is bordered to the northwest by Pakistan and to the north by the Indian state of Rajasthan. According to the 2001 Population Census, the population of Gujarat is 50,600,000, with a literacy rate of 69.97 per cent in 2001.
According to 1991 census results posted on the official portal of the Government of Gujarat, Hindus constitute 89.48% of the population; Muslims, 8.73%.
Gujarat in recent times is most commonly known for a series of brutal attacks on Muslims that took place in February 2002. Scores of Muslims were burnt alive, and their homes, businesses, cars, and goods set afire, allegedly in retaliation for an attack on a train, blamed on Muslims, that led to the death of 58 mostly Hindu activists.
The activists were reportedly returning from Ayodhya, where a 16th century mosque was torn down in 1992 by Hindu extremists, who claimed the mosque was built on the site of an ancient temple erected to commemorate the birthplace of Rama, ruler of Ayodhya, and an incarnation of the Hindu god, Vishnu.
The year 2002 was not, however, the first to witness such violent outbursts in Gujarat. In Ahmedabad alone, one of the state’s largest cities, communal violence claimed the lives of more than 1,000 people in 1969. The city witnessed more death and violence again in 1985 and 1992.
Three years after the last flare-up, however, the city seems to be a peaceful and welcoming place for this Muslim tourist. Residents of Ahmedabad go out of their way to make foreigners feel at home and comfortable. They seem to naturally be very hospitable and sociable folk.
A Long and Difficult Healing Process
Muhammad Shafi Madni, President of the Islamic Relief Committee
What the foreign eye sees, however, is not necessarily what the resident feels. Muhammad Shafi Madni, Chairman of Gujarat’s Jamaat-e-Islami [Islamic Group], and president of the state’s Islamic Relief Committee (IRC), admitted to IslamOnline.net that Muslim Gujaratis do not feel protected in the state. “There is an undercurrent of anti-Muslim sentiment in the region,” he said. This mostly originates, however, from what Madni referred to as a minority radical Hindu group: the RSS, [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, or National Volunteers Association].
It is because of this undercurrent of hostility towards Muslims that one of the roles of the IRC has been raising awareness about the Islamic faith among both Muslims and non-Muslims in Gujarat.
The IRC, as suggested by its name, bases a large portion of its activities on providing relief to those in need in Gujarat and elsewhere in India. Its official relief efforts began in 2001, in response to a devastating earthquake that hit the city of Kutch and its neighboring district in Gujarat, resulting in an estimated 30,000 deaths, 55,000 injuries, and about half a million homeless.
The IRC’s relief work continued into 2002, providing assistance to families affected by the communal violence that hit the state, regardless of the victim’s religious affiliation. Lately the IRC has been extensively involved in providing funds to families affected by the tsunami that hit the south of India in late December, 2004.
Madni, a fatherly figure with a compassionate smile, explained that the committee’s activities, as a result of its unbiased “relief for all” approach, have gained the support not only of Muslims, but of a wide range of humanist Hindu organizations and individuals in the region.
Although there have been no major incidents of violence since the 2002 attacks, aside from a few sporadic assaults, Madni said that Muslims in the region face another form of discrimination: illegal detention in Indian prisons. “A total of 304 people are now detained in Gujarat under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) in India; 302 of these are Muslims,” said Madni.
As a result, Madni explained, the IRC has been providing legal assistance to Muslim detainees. The IRC is currently arguing several cases under the POTA before the Supreme Court.
Madni gave the example of three Muslim youths in their 20s, detained under the POTA on charges of plotting to kill Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, or Indian People’s Party) leaders—charges Madni describes as false. Another common accusation used to justify the detention of Muslims is that they have links to Pakistani intelligence services. According to Madni, many detainees are tortured in police custody and forced into writing false confessions.
On the social level, the IRC has long been involved in organizing symposiums, seminars, and rallies, in addition to meetings at the individual level, in order to facilitate positive interaction between Muslims and non-Muslims in the state of Gujarat. It has also been involved in human rights campaigns both at the state and national levels.
The Role of Communicators
The education system should be an obvious and important ally in efforts to create a more cohesive society in Gujarat. Madni believes, however, that much remains to be done in the state’s education system. The Jamaat-e-Islami chairman even goes so far as to say that the school curricula contain incorrect data on the Islamic history of the country, citing the example of the negative depiction of past Muslim leaders as destroyers of Hindu temples, whereas in reality Muslim leaders donated lands for the building of temples, and provided yearly endowments for the temples’ upkeep.
Madni feels that Muslim children, as a result, are being culturally compromised. At the same time, efforts to provide a more Islamically-oriented education through madrasahs have not been successful in Gujarat. “Not a single madrasah in Gujarat is affiliated with an Islamic institution such as Al-Azhar [Islamic University in Egypt],” said Madni, explaining that the quality of education in these madrasahs is thus below par. It is because of this that students graduating from these madrasahs in Gujarat fail to gain acceptance in Islamic universities abroad.
It is with this in mind that part of the IRC’s efforts in Gujarat are steered towards providing better schooling for the state’s children. The IRC is currently running five schools in Kutch, and has plans to establish a system for higher education in the state.
Madni also briefly touches on the role of the media as an instigator of anti-Muslim sentiment in Gujarat. “Many Gujarati-language newspapers are anti-Muslim,” he said, adding that he could only name three dailies that provide an even and balanced coverage of issues.
Providing Family Support
Although divorce and domestic violence occur on a comparatively small scale among Gujarat’s Muslims, part of the IRC’s efforts have also focused on providing assistance to families, mainly in the form of counseling. The IRC has recently been involved in establishing a dar el-qadaa’ (courthouse) for family disputes; a committee of muftis and elders that counsel families based on Islamic jurisprudence.
The IRC has also played an important role in empowering women in Gujarat by establishing five centers that provide women with training in embroidery and handwork, in addition to computer and English language classes. In addition, the IRC runs eight medical dispensaries and two mobile dispensaries, providing healthcare to Gujaratis regardless of religion, for a minimal fee.
In a state with many wounds to heal, ongoing efforts must be conducted on all sides and with the commitment of all parties to work towards eventually unifying India into the strong subcontinent it aims to be.
Nadia El-Awady is IslamOnline.net's Health & Science Page editor. She has a bachelor's degree in medicine from Cairo University and is currently studying for a masters degree in journalism and mass communications at the American University in Cairo. You can reach her at: ScienceTech@islam-online.net.
Thursday, February 03, 2005
CPI-M call for greater autonomy for NE, J&K
Guwahati, Feb 2 (UNI): The CPI(M), an ally of the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre, favours greater political autonomy and related economic development to address the issue of regional aspirations in the North-east and Jammu & Kashmir. Talking to UNI at Sarbhog in Assam, CPI(M) central committee member and MP Md. Salim said that only greater political autonomy and related economic independence within the framework of the Constitution could solve the hitherto unresolved issues in the NE and J&K.
Salim is in-charge of NE and J&K, along with SR Pillai, politburo member, on behalf of CPI(M).
He said, "be it J&K or the Naga problem, greater political autonomy is the only solution."
Welcoming the initiative by Jnanpith Award winning author Indira Goswami to bring the Centre and ULFA to the negotiation table, Salim wanted the Congress-led UPA to walk some extra mile to bring peace in Assam.
With regard to regional aspirations of tribals in different parts of Assam and the NE, Salim advised the Congress Government, led by Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi to follow the models of ‘Tripura Autonomous Tribal Council or Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council’.
Salim pointed out that late Rajiv Gandhi worked in tandem with former West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu to pave the way for DGHC’s formation to address issues concerning Gorkhas and other people residing in the area.
With regard to J&K, Salim said that people on either side of the border were interested in peace and there were some who tried to derail it. He, however, appreciated the initiative by both the Centre and Pakistan to initiate dialogues for peace in the region.
Salim urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to use the bill on regional autonomy passed in J&K Assembly by the then Government led by Farooq Abdullah as the basis to work out a feasible and meaningful solution to the problem.
Salim was at Sarbhog in Barpeta in Assam in connection with the 18th state conference of Assam unit of the party, as a run up to the 18th party congress to be held in Delhi between April 6 and 11.
Salim is in-charge of NE and J&K, along with SR Pillai, politburo member, on behalf of CPI(M).
He said, "be it J&K or the Naga problem, greater political autonomy is the only solution."
Welcoming the initiative by Jnanpith Award winning author Indira Goswami to bring the Centre and ULFA to the negotiation table, Salim wanted the Congress-led UPA to walk some extra mile to bring peace in Assam.
With regard to regional aspirations of tribals in different parts of Assam and the NE, Salim advised the Congress Government, led by Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi to follow the models of ‘Tripura Autonomous Tribal Council or Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council’.
Salim pointed out that late Rajiv Gandhi worked in tandem with former West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu to pave the way for DGHC’s formation to address issues concerning Gorkhas and other people residing in the area.
With regard to J&K, Salim said that people on either side of the border were interested in peace and there were some who tried to derail it. He, however, appreciated the initiative by both the Centre and Pakistan to initiate dialogues for peace in the region.
Salim urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to use the bill on regional autonomy passed in J&K Assembly by the then Government led by Farooq Abdullah as the basis to work out a feasible and meaningful solution to the problem.
Salim was at Sarbhog in Barpeta in Assam in connection with the 18th state conference of Assam unit of the party, as a run up to the 18th party congress to be held in Delhi between April 6 and 11.
Dr Goswami rues callous attitude to Assamese language
MIRZA, Feb 2– “Our language is the backbone of our community and we should enrich it” and “let our language not go down in our estimation”. Expressing her unhappiness over the callous attitude to Assamese language on the part of some students, Dr Mamoni Raisom Goswami said here at Rangamati at the opening session of centenary celebration of 29 No Rangamati LP School under Palasbari constituency, that she has encountered a few students in Delhi whose knowledge of Assamese is very poor.
Underscoring the need to learn the English language without harming Assamese language, the Jnanpeeth laureate said that world moves round but for the English language but doing injustice to the mother tongue is not a done thing. Citing South Indian State Kerala as a burning instance which achieved the feat of becoming a unique state with cent per cent literary rate, Dr Goswami said Keralites very strong in English but they never play second fiddle to their own language”.
Critical of the tendency of sending some students to continue study outside the station only for the sake of glamour, the literary figure said that “student from Mumbai and Kolkata hardly come to our state to study but some Assamese students go outside just for glamour.
Dr Goswami who is playing the role of a mediator between the outlawed ULFA and the Union Govt said, “Why do some youths resort to the group. But significantly, Dr Goswami refrained from disclosing the reason. Stressing on the need for mass-friendly politics she said politicians should work for the benefit of the downtrodden adding corruption has crossed the limits which does not augur well for the well-being of a community.
Recalling her childhood days here in S Kamrup area, Dr Goswami said,” I used to play with an elephant-rider and swim in the Jagolia and my father was institutional in inspiring me to write”. Dr Goswami also released the souvenir on the occasion of the centenary celebration, here, attending as respected guest in the opening session Ajit Bhuyan, editor aji said, “The representatives elected by the people take side with the enemy”, adding, the intelligentsia should reflect our needs. Referring to the demographic change in the State, Bhuyan said that “We will becoming minority in our own land but the crucial matter has not been taken seriously”. Citing the pivotal role being played by the teachers in the exercise of nation-building, he said that “some teachers are appointed illegally who also not deserve for the respected posts.
The opening session was chaired by local MLA Pranab Kalita.
Underscoring the need to learn the English language without harming Assamese language, the Jnanpeeth laureate said that world moves round but for the English language but doing injustice to the mother tongue is not a done thing. Citing South Indian State Kerala as a burning instance which achieved the feat of becoming a unique state with cent per cent literary rate, Dr Goswami said Keralites very strong in English but they never play second fiddle to their own language”.
Critical of the tendency of sending some students to continue study outside the station only for the sake of glamour, the literary figure said that “student from Mumbai and Kolkata hardly come to our state to study but some Assamese students go outside just for glamour.
Dr Goswami who is playing the role of a mediator between the outlawed ULFA and the Union Govt said, “Why do some youths resort to the group. But significantly, Dr Goswami refrained from disclosing the reason. Stressing on the need for mass-friendly politics she said politicians should work for the benefit of the downtrodden adding corruption has crossed the limits which does not augur well for the well-being of a community.
Recalling her childhood days here in S Kamrup area, Dr Goswami said,” I used to play with an elephant-rider and swim in the Jagolia and my father was institutional in inspiring me to write”. Dr Goswami also released the souvenir on the occasion of the centenary celebration, here, attending as respected guest in the opening session Ajit Bhuyan, editor aji said, “The representatives elected by the people take side with the enemy”, adding, the intelligentsia should reflect our needs. Referring to the demographic change in the State, Bhuyan said that “We will becoming minority in our own land but the crucial matter has not been taken seriously”. Citing the pivotal role being played by the teachers in the exercise of nation-building, he said that “some teachers are appointed illegally who also not deserve for the respected posts.
The opening session was chaired by local MLA Pranab Kalita.
25 houses destroyed in ethnic violence in Manipur
IMPHAL, Feb 2 – A red alert has been sounded after destruction of 25 dwelling-houses belonging to the ethnic Khoibu tribes by well-armed persons at Khangsim village under the Kakching police station in Thoubal district of Manipur in the early hours on Wednesday, the police said.
About 200 well-armed persons suspected to be the Maring Naga tribes who came in four Saktiman trucks dismantled and destroyed the dwelling houses and household properties including cooking gas, scooters and TV sets in the rampage which lasted around 30 minutes. Properties worth over Rs. five lakh were destroyed in the rampage, the police added.
Security and police forces have started been deployed in the sensitive places of this village in the backdrop of possible ethnic violence. Last year, the villages in around the Khoibu tribal inhabited areas of the same district were brought under SEction 144, CrPC because of attacks by the same tribals. These two tribes are at constant clashes over the job opportunities and other benefits from the governments at the Centre and State.
The Maring has been recognized by the Government of India as one of the tribes but the Khoibu is still fighting for inclusion in the list. In this case, the Khoibus are taking other opportunities and benefits from the Marings. Both these tribes are inhabited in the southern part of the state. The police further stated that the violence is one of the resurgence of ethnic clash that the state had witnessed in the early 90s between the Nagas and the Kukis.
About 200 well-armed persons suspected to be the Maring Naga tribes who came in four Saktiman trucks dismantled and destroyed the dwelling houses and household properties including cooking gas, scooters and TV sets in the rampage which lasted around 30 minutes. Properties worth over Rs. five lakh were destroyed in the rampage, the police added.
Security and police forces have started been deployed in the sensitive places of this village in the backdrop of possible ethnic violence. Last year, the villages in around the Khoibu tribal inhabited areas of the same district were brought under SEction 144, CrPC because of attacks by the same tribals. These two tribes are at constant clashes over the job opportunities and other benefits from the governments at the Centre and State.
The Maring has been recognized by the Government of India as one of the tribes but the Khoibu is still fighting for inclusion in the list. In this case, the Khoibus are taking other opportunities and benefits from the Marings. Both these tribes are inhabited in the southern part of the state. The police further stated that the violence is one of the resurgence of ethnic clash that the state had witnessed in the early 90s between the Nagas and the Kukis.
Definition of Assamese yet to be resolved: Patil
NEW DELHI, Feb 2 – Claiming that majority of the clauses of the Assam Accord stood implemented, Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil today conceded that definition of Assamese could not be given so far. Returning from his four-day tour of the North-east, a visibly satisfied Union Home Minister, addressing a press conference here this evening, said that all points of the Assam Accord have been implemented barring one or two. “One is regarding the definition of Assamese, which could not be defined,” he said. Sri Patil also gave a different spin to AASU non-participation in the talks by asserting that the students body could not turn up because of its organisational elections. But the Accord would be implemented in full.
Patil interestingly steered clear of all controversial issues including the ensuing talks with the NSCN (I-M) that gets underway tomorrow. He declined to comment on news report that quoted him saying that Government was committed to protect the territorial integrity of the North Eastern States. He also sidestepped questions on the fate of the peace deal with the NLFT in Tripura.
Describing his visit as fruitful, Patil said that he has come back with the impression that the atmosphere has become more and more peaceful and helping in the North-East. On the talks with ULFA, he said that the outfit has to first agree to come for talks before a venue could be selected for holding dialogue. “But for talks we need two parties. I have already said that those who are involved in the terrorist activities are our brothers, not enemies. They are the misguided members of our family.”
The Home Minister further gave a detailed account of his tour to Tripura, Mizoram and Assam. Patil gave full credit to the State Government and Chief Ministers for improving the law and situation in the region. “My impression is that situation is improving and insurgency and killing has come down by 24 percent. Patil said he was impressed by Mizoram Chief Minister, Zoramthanga’s gesture of offering bamboos for rehabilitation of people affected by tsunami disaster.
Patil interestingly steered clear of all controversial issues including the ensuing talks with the NSCN (I-M) that gets underway tomorrow. He declined to comment on news report that quoted him saying that Government was committed to protect the territorial integrity of the North Eastern States. He also sidestepped questions on the fate of the peace deal with the NLFT in Tripura.
Describing his visit as fruitful, Patil said that he has come back with the impression that the atmosphere has become more and more peaceful and helping in the North-East. On the talks with ULFA, he said that the outfit has to first agree to come for talks before a venue could be selected for holding dialogue. “But for talks we need two parties. I have already said that those who are involved in the terrorist activities are our brothers, not enemies. They are the misguided members of our family.”
The Home Minister further gave a detailed account of his tour to Tripura, Mizoram and Assam. Patil gave full credit to the State Government and Chief Ministers for improving the law and situation in the region. “My impression is that situation is improving and insurgency and killing has come down by 24 percent. Patil said he was impressed by Mizoram Chief Minister, Zoramthanga’s gesture of offering bamboos for rehabilitation of people affected by tsunami disaster.
Hindu Nationalists (BJP) flays Cong support to aliens
GUWAHATI, Feb 2 – The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has decided to bring in one lakh party workers from all over the State to gherao the seat of power, Dispur, on the very first day of the next session of the State Assembly. The purpose is to pressurise the Tarun Gogoi-led Congress Government to quit office. The BJP says that the Gogoi Government has lost all moral authority to govern.
“The performance of any government is based on three basic parameters: social well being, economic development and law and order. On all these counts, the performance of the Government has gone from bad to worse,” said Nagaon MP and former state president of the party Rajen Gohain during a press conference here this afternoon. Gohain is the chairman of the agitational management committee of the BJP constituted last week.
Accusing the Government of turning a blind eye to the threat of infiltration from Bangladesh, Gohain said there is a conspiracy to turn the State into an Islamic homeland. “The conspiracy has been on ever since Independence and the Congress has been extending support to it,” he alleged. He accused the Congress Government of failing to control the rise of religious (meaning Islamic) militancy while “supporting the cause of the illegal Bangladeshi immigrants.”
Gohain said that while the ruling party is going all out to retain the controversial IM (DT) Act to help infiltration of Muslims, people belonging to the Bengali Hindu community are being harassed. Citing the example of his own constituency, he said that some 5000 Bengali Hindu families in Nagaon district have been served notices asking them to prove their nationality.
Displaying one such notice before the presspersons, Gohain said that one Islam Bora, the police IC (Border) in Nagaon, has been issuing notices to people who have been staying in the State for generations. Bora, he alleged, is the one who remained a mute spectator when a Muslim mob struck terror in Nagaon town on December 6, 1992, the day the disputed Babri Masjid structure was demolished. The policeman was the OC of the Nagaon Sadar Thana at that time. He has been brought back by Rockybul, Gohain said.
“Covert and overt attempts has been made several times to incite communal clashes by bomb blasts in Hindu festivals and breaking of mandirs, etc in order to reap political mileage. The government is thus only facilitating the establishment of a greater Islamic State here,” Gohain stated. He pointed out that six districts in the State are already Muslim dominated and several more are on the verge of becoming so. The conspiracy of an Islamic homeland is reaching its climax during Tarun Gogoi’s reign, he said. The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) had, in its nine years in power, failed to take a single step to stop infiltration, he stated.
The BJP leader said that the fact that Rockybul Hussain is the State Home Minister has added to the crisis facing the indigenous Assamese people. The Minister is aiding and abetting infiltration, he alleged. He also alleged that the Minister has initiated a policy of recruiting personnel in the police force on communal lines.
“The people of Assam, regardless of community, caste and creed, must unite to face the threat to the state and community,” Gohain appealed. Even the Assamese Muslims are not safe among the infiltrators. He said that the scheduled 2006 Assembly elections could well be the turning point to decide the fate of the State. “It would be the last chance for the people to save Assam and the Assamese.”
BJP president Indramoni Bora said that the party would reach out to 15,000 villages in the state this year carrying across the message of the threat posed by infiltration. “It is a message that we will carry out from our heart,” he said.
“The performance of any government is based on three basic parameters: social well being, economic development and law and order. On all these counts, the performance of the Government has gone from bad to worse,” said Nagaon MP and former state president of the party Rajen Gohain during a press conference here this afternoon. Gohain is the chairman of the agitational management committee of the BJP constituted last week.
Accusing the Government of turning a blind eye to the threat of infiltration from Bangladesh, Gohain said there is a conspiracy to turn the State into an Islamic homeland. “The conspiracy has been on ever since Independence and the Congress has been extending support to it,” he alleged. He accused the Congress Government of failing to control the rise of religious (meaning Islamic) militancy while “supporting the cause of the illegal Bangladeshi immigrants.”
Gohain said that while the ruling party is going all out to retain the controversial IM (DT) Act to help infiltration of Muslims, people belonging to the Bengali Hindu community are being harassed. Citing the example of his own constituency, he said that some 5000 Bengali Hindu families in Nagaon district have been served notices asking them to prove their nationality.
Displaying one such notice before the presspersons, Gohain said that one Islam Bora, the police IC (Border) in Nagaon, has been issuing notices to people who have been staying in the State for generations. Bora, he alleged, is the one who remained a mute spectator when a Muslim mob struck terror in Nagaon town on December 6, 1992, the day the disputed Babri Masjid structure was demolished. The policeman was the OC of the Nagaon Sadar Thana at that time. He has been brought back by Rockybul, Gohain said.
“Covert and overt attempts has been made several times to incite communal clashes by bomb blasts in Hindu festivals and breaking of mandirs, etc in order to reap political mileage. The government is thus only facilitating the establishment of a greater Islamic State here,” Gohain stated. He pointed out that six districts in the State are already Muslim dominated and several more are on the verge of becoming so. The conspiracy of an Islamic homeland is reaching its climax during Tarun Gogoi’s reign, he said. The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) had, in its nine years in power, failed to take a single step to stop infiltration, he stated.
The BJP leader said that the fact that Rockybul Hussain is the State Home Minister has added to the crisis facing the indigenous Assamese people. The Minister is aiding and abetting infiltration, he alleged. He also alleged that the Minister has initiated a policy of recruiting personnel in the police force on communal lines.
“The people of Assam, regardless of community, caste and creed, must unite to face the threat to the state and community,” Gohain appealed. Even the Assamese Muslims are not safe among the infiltrators. He said that the scheduled 2006 Assembly elections could well be the turning point to decide the fate of the State. “It would be the last chance for the people to save Assam and the Assamese.”
BJP president Indramoni Bora said that the party would reach out to 15,000 villages in the state this year carrying across the message of the threat posed by infiltration. “It is a message that we will carry out from our heart,” he said.
Islam converts stay their paths despite hardships
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By Sara Taylor
DAILY BRUIN REPORTER
staylor@media.ucla.edu
Thirty-five years ago, at age 12, Reymund Nur converted to Islam while still living in his parents' Methodist household.
Five years ago, Boni Bee was a young Hindu woman seeking clarity and purpose in her life.
Last spring, Leilani Downing was reading the Christian Bible and looking for meaning in Christianity, her birth religion.
Today, all three are Muslims and live their lives according to the laws of Islam.
A common stereotype is that of the Arab Muslim, when in reality Islam draws from many different ethnicities.
"The majority of people feel that all Muslims are Arab, but in reality only a small percent – 15 percent – are of Arab descent," said Faryah Humkar, a member of the UCLA Muslim Student Association.
The Muslim population, she added, includes people from many different backgrounds and ethnicities.
Nur, a Hispanic man who was born into a Methodist family, is one such Muslim who is not of Arab descent, but has lived an Islamic life.
At the age of 12, when many boys are concerned with sports and comics, Nur was thinking about religion.
"I was always serious about life and how people are supposed to be, and I guess I was looking for a way to be and live," Nur said. "(Islam) was something that I could hold on to ... with morals, values."
Rather than reading about superheroes and villains, Nur was reading about religion, and in his reading he came across Islam.
"From what I read ... it felt like the right thing to do. It seemed like a good life," Nur said. After his conversion to Islam at age 12, Nur began to follow the customs of his new religion, such as praying the prescribed five times a day, while still living at home.
And though Nur called the transition to Islam "smooth sailing," reconciling his personal beliefs with those of his family was the hardest part about converting. When he first told his parents of his decision, he was kicked out of his home for a week and went to live with his older sister before his mother welcomed him back.
"Letting the family know that you were no longer part of that faith is where most of the difficulties were," Nur said.
"In the beginning, I got some opposition, especially from parents," Nur said. "But eventually things warmed up."
For Nur and many other converts, the act of leaving the religion and traditions of their families is the hardest part about becoming a Muslim.
Bee kept her conversion from her extended family because she does not expect that they would understand or accept the change.
Though Boni Bee is not her real name, she uses the pseudonym to prevent her family from finding out about the conversion.
The relationship with her family has been the biggest challenge in converting to Islam, she said.
"Keeping it a secret from my family was always a struggle," she said.
Her mother is the only member of the family who knows about her conversion, and her father died before she could tell him. Her relationship with her mother and her knowledge that her father never knew about her religious beliefs have been the hardest steps in the process of accepting Islam into her life.
"Before I became a Muslim, there wasn't a thing that I had done that had ever disappointed my mother. This was it," Bee said. "She doesn't understand why I would have to change what she raised me as."
One thing she said she wishes could have been different is not having told her father about her decision.
"That's something that also is difficult for me, because there is a part of my life that he didn't know," she said.
Along with the trials of converting to a new religion, Bee has experienced the difficulties of being a Muslim in American society.
"It's difficult for me because, as a Muslim, especially in this country right now, I'm questioned on a daily basis why I wear a hijab, and I'm often stereotyped as a terrorist," Bee said.
But Bee has had a somewhat unique experience – she has lived life both as a Muslim and as a non-Muslim, with the traditional Muslim headdress known as the hijab, and without it. And she certainly has noticed a difference in the way she is treated.
"I know how I was treated before I wore a hijab, and I know how I'm treated now," Bee said. Now that she openly identifies herself as Muslim, she receives more respect from some, but more animosity from others.
Since she donned the hijab, Bee said she has been the recipient of a hostile attitude some Americans have toward Islam, receiving cold stares and having people walk away from her upon seeing that she is Muslim.
But at the same time, she said she is sometimes treated with more respect from both strangers and people she knows.
Many on the outside may think some of these Muslim practices, such as wearing the hijab and praying five times a day, would be overwhelming.
And in the beginning for converts, keeping these practices can be hard.
One of the most important transitions is praying five times a day at prescribed intervals, as is Muslim practice.
Downing said that she has still not integrated this fully into her life and is working toward doing so, as it is a vital part of being a Muslim.
"I'm still new to Islam. ... I'm still learning how to pray," she said.
It is particularly hard to fit these prayers into the schedule of mainstream secular society.
"When I'm at work, it may be a challenge to step out and do what I need to do to pray," Downing said.
The key to making this transition, Bee said, is to take the new practices one step and one day at a time.
Though there were hardships with converting to Islam – the tension it can cause with family or the prejudices a person faces as a Muslim – none of these converts remember the process as difficult.
They also agree none of the problems posed by family tensions or outside prejudices dissuaded them from accepting Islam.
"It's just part of my own daily struggle to become closer to God and not worry about what other people think," Downing said. "I think that Islam is the culmination of my journey in coming closer to God."
Nur and Bee will discuss their experiences with Islam at an MSA event tonight at 6:30 p.m. in Moore 100.
By Sara Taylor
DAILY BRUIN REPORTER
staylor@media.ucla.edu
Thirty-five years ago, at age 12, Reymund Nur converted to Islam while still living in his parents' Methodist household.
Five years ago, Boni Bee was a young Hindu woman seeking clarity and purpose in her life.
Last spring, Leilani Downing was reading the Christian Bible and looking for meaning in Christianity, her birth religion.
Today, all three are Muslims and live their lives according to the laws of Islam.
A common stereotype is that of the Arab Muslim, when in reality Islam draws from many different ethnicities.
"The majority of people feel that all Muslims are Arab, but in reality only a small percent – 15 percent – are of Arab descent," said Faryah Humkar, a member of the UCLA Muslim Student Association.
The Muslim population, she added, includes people from many different backgrounds and ethnicities.
Nur, a Hispanic man who was born into a Methodist family, is one such Muslim who is not of Arab descent, but has lived an Islamic life.
At the age of 12, when many boys are concerned with sports and comics, Nur was thinking about religion.
"I was always serious about life and how people are supposed to be, and I guess I was looking for a way to be and live," Nur said. "(Islam) was something that I could hold on to ... with morals, values."
Rather than reading about superheroes and villains, Nur was reading about religion, and in his reading he came across Islam.
"From what I read ... it felt like the right thing to do. It seemed like a good life," Nur said. After his conversion to Islam at age 12, Nur began to follow the customs of his new religion, such as praying the prescribed five times a day, while still living at home.
And though Nur called the transition to Islam "smooth sailing," reconciling his personal beliefs with those of his family was the hardest part about converting. When he first told his parents of his decision, he was kicked out of his home for a week and went to live with his older sister before his mother welcomed him back.
"Letting the family know that you were no longer part of that faith is where most of the difficulties were," Nur said.
"In the beginning, I got some opposition, especially from parents," Nur said. "But eventually things warmed up."
For Nur and many other converts, the act of leaving the religion and traditions of their families is the hardest part about becoming a Muslim.
Bee kept her conversion from her extended family because she does not expect that they would understand or accept the change.
Though Boni Bee is not her real name, she uses the pseudonym to prevent her family from finding out about the conversion.
The relationship with her family has been the biggest challenge in converting to Islam, she said.
"Keeping it a secret from my family was always a struggle," she said.
Her mother is the only member of the family who knows about her conversion, and her father died before she could tell him. Her relationship with her mother and her knowledge that her father never knew about her religious beliefs have been the hardest steps in the process of accepting Islam into her life.
"Before I became a Muslim, there wasn't a thing that I had done that had ever disappointed my mother. This was it," Bee said. "She doesn't understand why I would have to change what she raised me as."
One thing she said she wishes could have been different is not having told her father about her decision.
"That's something that also is difficult for me, because there is a part of my life that he didn't know," she said.
Along with the trials of converting to a new religion, Bee has experienced the difficulties of being a Muslim in American society.
"It's difficult for me because, as a Muslim, especially in this country right now, I'm questioned on a daily basis why I wear a hijab, and I'm often stereotyped as a terrorist," Bee said.
But Bee has had a somewhat unique experience – she has lived life both as a Muslim and as a non-Muslim, with the traditional Muslim headdress known as the hijab, and without it. And she certainly has noticed a difference in the way she is treated.
"I know how I was treated before I wore a hijab, and I know how I'm treated now," Bee said. Now that she openly identifies herself as Muslim, she receives more respect from some, but more animosity from others.
Since she donned the hijab, Bee said she has been the recipient of a hostile attitude some Americans have toward Islam, receiving cold stares and having people walk away from her upon seeing that she is Muslim.
But at the same time, she said she is sometimes treated with more respect from both strangers and people she knows.
Many on the outside may think some of these Muslim practices, such as wearing the hijab and praying five times a day, would be overwhelming.
And in the beginning for converts, keeping these practices can be hard.
One of the most important transitions is praying five times a day at prescribed intervals, as is Muslim practice.
Downing said that she has still not integrated this fully into her life and is working toward doing so, as it is a vital part of being a Muslim.
"I'm still new to Islam. ... I'm still learning how to pray," she said.
It is particularly hard to fit these prayers into the schedule of mainstream secular society.
"When I'm at work, it may be a challenge to step out and do what I need to do to pray," Downing said.
The key to making this transition, Bee said, is to take the new practices one step and one day at a time.
Though there were hardships with converting to Islam – the tension it can cause with family or the prejudices a person faces as a Muslim – none of these converts remember the process as difficult.
They also agree none of the problems posed by family tensions or outside prejudices dissuaded them from accepting Islam.
"It's just part of my own daily struggle to become closer to God and not worry about what other people think," Downing said. "I think that Islam is the culmination of my journey in coming closer to God."
Nur and Bee will discuss their experiences with Islam at an MSA event tonight at 6:30 p.m. in Moore 100.
The Vietnam turnout was good as well No amount of spin can conceal Iraqis' hostility to US occupation
Comment
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Vietnam turnout was good as well
No amount of spin can conceal Iraqis' hostility to US occupation
Sami Ramadani
Tuesday February 1, 2005
The Guardian
On September 4 1967 the New York Times published an upbeat story on presidential elections held by the South Vietnamese puppet regime at the height of the Vietnam war. Under the heading "US encouraged by Vietnam vote: Officials cite 83% turnout despite Vietcong terror", the paper reported that the Americans had been "surprised and heartened" by the size of the turnout "despite a Vietcong terrorist campaign to disrupt the voting". A successful election, it went on, "has long been seen as the keystone in President Johnson's policy of encouraging the growth of constitutional processes in South Vietnam". The echoes of this weekend's propaganda about Iraq's elections are so close as to be uncanny.
With the past few days' avalanche of spin, you could be forgiven for thinking that on January 30 2005 the US-led occupation of Iraq ended and the people won their freedom and democratic rights. This has been a multi-layered campaign, reminiscent of the pre-war WMD frenzy and fantasies about the flowers Iraqis were collecting to throw at the invasion forces. How you could square the words democracy, free and fair with the brutal reality of occupation, martial law, a US-appointed election commission and secret candidates has rarely been allowed to get in the way of the hype.
If truth is the first casualty of war, reliable numbers must be the first casualty of an occupation-controlled election. The second layer of spin has been designed to convince us that an overwhelming majority of Iraqis participated. The initial claim of 72% having voted was quickly downgraded to 57% of those registered to vote. So what percentage of the adult population is registered to vote? The Iraqi ambassador in London was unable to enlighten me. In fact, as UN sources confirm, there has been no registration or published list of electors - all we are told is that about 14 million people were entitled to vote.
As for Iraqis abroad, the up to 4 million strong exiled community (with perhaps a little over 2 million entitled to vote) produced a 280,000 registration figure. Of those, 265,000 actually voted.
The Iraqi south, more religious than Baghdad, responded positively to Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani's position: to call the bluff of the US and vote for a list that was proclaimed to be hostile to the occupation. Sistani's supporters declared that voting on Sunday was the first step to kicking out the occupiers. The months ahead will put these declarations to a severe test. Meanwhile Moqtada al-Sadr's popular movement, which rejected the elections as a sham, is likely to make a comeback in its open resistance to the occupation.
The big vote in Kurdistan primarily reflects the Kurdish people's demand for national self-determination. The US administration has hitherto clamped down on these pressures. Henry Kissinger's recent proposal to divide Iraq into three states reflects a major shift among influential figures in the US who, led by Kissinger as secretary of state, ditched the Kurds in the 70s and brokered a deal between Saddam and the Shah of Iran.
George Bush and Tony Blair made heroic speeches on Sunday implying that Iraqis had voted to approve the occupation. Those who insist that the US is desperate for an exit strategy are misreading its intentions. The facts on the ground, including the construction of massive military bases in Iraq, indicate that the US is digging in to install and back a long-term puppet regime. For this reason, the US-led presence will continue, with all that entails in terms of bloodshed and destruction.
In the run-up to the poll, much of the western media presented it as a high-noon shootout between the terrorist Zarqawi and the Iraqi people, with the occupation forces doing their best to enable the people to defeat the fiendish, one-legged Jordanian murderer. In reality, Zarqawi-style sectarian violence is not only condemned by Iraqis across the political spectrum, including supporters of the resistance, but is widely seen as having had a blind eye turned to it by the occupation authorities. Such attitudes are dismissed by outsiders, but the record of John Negroponte, the US ambassador in Baghdad, of backing terror gangs in central America in the 80s has fuelled these fears, as has Seymour Hirsh's reports on the Pentagon's assassination squads and enthusiasm for the "Salvador option".
An honest analysis of the social and political map of Iraq reveals that Iraqis are increasingly united in their determination to end the occupation. Whether they participated in or boycotted Sunday's exercise, this political bond will soon reassert itself - just as it did in Vietnam - despite tactical differences, and despite the US-led occupation's attempts to dominate Iraqis by inflaming sectarian and ethnic divisions.
· Sami Ramadani was a political refugee from Saddam Hussein's regime and is a senior lecturer at London Metropolitan University
sami.ramadani@londonmet.ac.uk
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Vietnam turnout was good as well
No amount of spin can conceal Iraqis' hostility to US occupation
Sami Ramadani
Tuesday February 1, 2005
The Guardian
On September 4 1967 the New York Times published an upbeat story on presidential elections held by the South Vietnamese puppet regime at the height of the Vietnam war. Under the heading "US encouraged by Vietnam vote: Officials cite 83% turnout despite Vietcong terror", the paper reported that the Americans had been "surprised and heartened" by the size of the turnout "despite a Vietcong terrorist campaign to disrupt the voting". A successful election, it went on, "has long been seen as the keystone in President Johnson's policy of encouraging the growth of constitutional processes in South Vietnam". The echoes of this weekend's propaganda about Iraq's elections are so close as to be uncanny.
With the past few days' avalanche of spin, you could be forgiven for thinking that on January 30 2005 the US-led occupation of Iraq ended and the people won their freedom and democratic rights. This has been a multi-layered campaign, reminiscent of the pre-war WMD frenzy and fantasies about the flowers Iraqis were collecting to throw at the invasion forces. How you could square the words democracy, free and fair with the brutal reality of occupation, martial law, a US-appointed election commission and secret candidates has rarely been allowed to get in the way of the hype.
If truth is the first casualty of war, reliable numbers must be the first casualty of an occupation-controlled election. The second layer of spin has been designed to convince us that an overwhelming majority of Iraqis participated. The initial claim of 72% having voted was quickly downgraded to 57% of those registered to vote. So what percentage of the adult population is registered to vote? The Iraqi ambassador in London was unable to enlighten me. In fact, as UN sources confirm, there has been no registration or published list of electors - all we are told is that about 14 million people were entitled to vote.
As for Iraqis abroad, the up to 4 million strong exiled community (with perhaps a little over 2 million entitled to vote) produced a 280,000 registration figure. Of those, 265,000 actually voted.
The Iraqi south, more religious than Baghdad, responded positively to Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani's position: to call the bluff of the US and vote for a list that was proclaimed to be hostile to the occupation. Sistani's supporters declared that voting on Sunday was the first step to kicking out the occupiers. The months ahead will put these declarations to a severe test. Meanwhile Moqtada al-Sadr's popular movement, which rejected the elections as a sham, is likely to make a comeback in its open resistance to the occupation.
The big vote in Kurdistan primarily reflects the Kurdish people's demand for national self-determination. The US administration has hitherto clamped down on these pressures. Henry Kissinger's recent proposal to divide Iraq into three states reflects a major shift among influential figures in the US who, led by Kissinger as secretary of state, ditched the Kurds in the 70s and brokered a deal between Saddam and the Shah of Iran.
George Bush and Tony Blair made heroic speeches on Sunday implying that Iraqis had voted to approve the occupation. Those who insist that the US is desperate for an exit strategy are misreading its intentions. The facts on the ground, including the construction of massive military bases in Iraq, indicate that the US is digging in to install and back a long-term puppet regime. For this reason, the US-led presence will continue, with all that entails in terms of bloodshed and destruction.
In the run-up to the poll, much of the western media presented it as a high-noon shootout between the terrorist Zarqawi and the Iraqi people, with the occupation forces doing their best to enable the people to defeat the fiendish, one-legged Jordanian murderer. In reality, Zarqawi-style sectarian violence is not only condemned by Iraqis across the political spectrum, including supporters of the resistance, but is widely seen as having had a blind eye turned to it by the occupation authorities. Such attitudes are dismissed by outsiders, but the record of John Negroponte, the US ambassador in Baghdad, of backing terror gangs in central America in the 80s has fuelled these fears, as has Seymour Hirsh's reports on the Pentagon's assassination squads and enthusiasm for the "Salvador option".
An honest analysis of the social and political map of Iraq reveals that Iraqis are increasingly united in their determination to end the occupation. Whether they participated in or boycotted Sunday's exercise, this political bond will soon reassert itself - just as it did in Vietnam - despite tactical differences, and despite the US-led occupation's attempts to dominate Iraqis by inflaming sectarian and ethnic divisions.
· Sami Ramadani was a political refugee from Saddam Hussein's regime and is a senior lecturer at London Metropolitan University
sami.ramadani@londonmet.ac.uk
Bangladesh bans Islam sect books
Protesters issued a deadline for branding Ahmadiyya non-Muslim
Bangladesh has banned publications by the minority Ahmadiyya movement amid demands from Islamic hardliners that it be declared non-Muslim.
The Religious Affairs Ministry took the decision late on Thursday, with the ban beginning on Friday.
A 5,000-strong rally marched to an Ahmadiyya mosque in the capital Dhaka on Friday to denounce the movement.
The Ahmadiyyas, who number 100,000 in Bangladesh, do not believe Mohammed was necessarily the last prophet.
The government has bowed to religious terrorists
Abul Awal,
Ahmadiyya spokesman
The government said it was banning the publication, sale, distribution and preservation of all books and booklets on Islam published by the Ahmadiyya in Bangladesh.
A home ministry statement said the ban "was imposed in view of objectionable materials in such publications that hurt or might hurt the sentiments of the majority Muslim population of Bangladesh".
Hardliners had threatened to start dismantling Ahmadiyya mosques if action were not taken against the group by Friday.
Shocked community
The BBC's Waliur Rahman in Dhaka says the ban is believed by many to be the first step towards declaring the 100,000 Ahmadiyyas - also known as Kadiyanis - non-Muslim.
That has been the demand of the mainstream Hifazate Khatme Nabuwat Andolon.
The rally passed peacefully despite threats of violence
Its spokesman, Mahmud ul-Hasan Mamtazi, said: "We welcome the government decision... but it is still short of our main demand and we'll continue our movement until our demand is met."
It issued a two-week deadline for the movement to be declared non-Muslim and said it would carry out more protests.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat Bangladesh said the decision had shocked the entire community.
Spokesman Abul Awal said: "The government has bowed to religious terrorists. The people's right to freedom of expression as enshrined in the constitution has been violated by taking such a decision."
About 500 security personnel were deployed to police Friday's rally in Dhaka.
There had been threats that the Ahmadiyya mosque would be taken by force, but the rally passed off peacefully.
The Ahmadiyya movement, which claims 200 million members worldwide, was founded in the 19th century in what is now Pakistan.
It vows to revive Islam by stressing non-violence and tolerance.
But it also believes there can be prophets after Mohammed, which mainstream Islam regards as blasphemous.
Muslims: Hajj Headache?
NewsweekJan. 24 issue - Muslim advocates are concerned that thousands of American Muslims now in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, for the annual hajj pilgrimage may be subjected to what they consider unfair scrutiny upon return. Their worry stems from a December incident in which 40 American Muslims coming back from an Islamic conference in Canada were held at the U.S. border. They were asked to submit to fingerprinting because the U.S. Customs and Border Protection says it has information that terrorists may try to use such events as cover for travel, transporting fraudulent documents or fund-raising.
The CBP has "credible information that these conferences have [been] and will be used" for such activities, says spokeswoman Kristi Clemens. (She says the conference attendees coming home from Canada weren't detained, but were subjected to a "secondary screening.") There are no plans to have additional CBP agents in place for the end of the pilgrimage, which comes Friday, but Clemens says large groups could be delayed. Says Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American-Islamic Relations: "You can look at the hajj as the ultimate Islamic conference."
—Daren Briscoe
© 2005 Newsweek, Inc.
The CBP has "credible information that these conferences have [been] and will be used" for such activities, says spokeswoman Kristi Clemens. (She says the conference attendees coming home from Canada weren't detained, but were subjected to a "secondary screening.") There are no plans to have additional CBP agents in place for the end of the pilgrimage, which comes Friday, but Clemens says large groups could be delayed. Says Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American-Islamic Relations: "You can look at the hajj as the ultimate Islamic conference."
—Daren Briscoe
© 2005 Newsweek, Inc.
What is the Hajj??
The Hajj is one of the pillars of Islam, which every adult Muslim must undertake at least once in their life if they can afford it and are physically able.
Every year about two million Muslims converge on Mecca - the holiest place in Islam - to take part in an event which combines piety and passion.
Many Muslims save for years in order to perform the pilgrimage. They often have to travel thousands of miles.
Then, once they arrive, they must brave vast crowds and the fierce heat of the desert as they perform the Hajj rituals.
Saudi custodians
For the host country, Saudi Arabia, the event has a special importance. Saudi rulers are acutely conscious of their responsibility as custodians of the Muslim holy places.
HAJJ DISASTERS
1987: 400 die as Saudi authorities confront pro-Iranian demonstration
1990: 1,426 pilgrims killed in tunnel leading to holy sites
1994: 270 killed in stampede
1997: 343 pilgrims die and 1,500 injured in fire
1998: At least 118 trampled to death
2001: 35 die in stampede
2003: 14 are crushed to death
2004: 251 trampled to death in stampede
The sheer number of pilgrims poses formidable problems. In recent years hundreds have died as a result of demonstrations, fires, stampedes - or just sunstroke and exhaustion.
The Saudi authorities have introduced a quota system to keep down the numbers of pilgrims. They have also tried, and failed, to keep politics out of the Hajj.
In 1987 hundreds of pilgrims were killed in clashes between the Saudi security forces and Iranian-led demonstrators.
The Hajj step by step:
To carry out the pilgrimage rituals a pilgrim needs to be in a state of Ihram - a special state of ritual purity.
A pilgrim does this by making a statement of intention to perform the Hajj, wearing special white clothes (which are also called Ihram), and obeying certain regulations.
During the Hajj, pilgrims are forbidden to:
Engage in marital relations
Shave or cut their nails
Use cologne or scented oils
Kill or hunt anything
Fight or argue
Women must not cover their faces, even if they would do so in their home country
Men may not wear clothes with stitching.
Click here to see the different stages of the pilgrimage
Once in Mecca pilgrims enter the Great Mosque and walk seven times round the Kaaba (a cube-like building in the centre of the mosque) in an anti-clockwise direction. This is known as Tawaf. Pilgrims also run seven times along a passageway in the Great Mosque, commemorating a search for water by Hajar, wife of the Prophet Abraham.
DAY 1: FIRST STEP
Pilgrims travel to Mina on 8 Dhul Hijjah (a date in the Islamic calendar) and remain there until dawn the next morning.
DAY 2: STANDING AT ARAFAT
Pilgrims then travel to the valley of Arafat and stand in the open praising Allah and meditating.
At the end of the day, pilgrims travel to Muzdalifa where they spend the night. Pilgrims gather up stones to use the next day.
DAY 3: STONING THE DEVIL
In the morning, pilgrims return to Mina and throw seven stones at pillars called Jamaraat. These represent the devil. The pillars stand at three spots where Satan is believed to have tempted the Prophet Abraham.
Pilgrims sacrifice an animal (usually a sheep or goat). This commemorates the incident related in the Old Testament when the Prophet Abraham was about to sacrifice his son and God accepted a sheep instead. Nowadays many pilgrims pay someone to slaughter the animal on their behalf.
Pilgrims shave their heads or cut some hair from it and return to the Great Mosque at Mecca for a further Tawaf, walking around the Kaaba. They then return to Mina, where they spend the night.
DAYS 4 & 5
Pilgrims spend time in Mina, stoning the pillars each day.
If a pilgrim has been unable to return to Mecca to walk around the Kaaba, he or she does so on the fourth or fifth day.
STAGES OF THE PILGRIMAGE BY DAY
The Hajj takes place over five days
India train fire 'not mob attack'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4180885.stm
The fire at Godhra triggered days of rioting
An Indian train fire that killed 59 Hindus and
provoked deadly religious riots in 2002 was started by
accident, a government inquiry has said.
Evidence suggests the fire began inside the train, not
that it was fire-bombed, an investigating judge
decided.
Most accounts from the time and since said a Muslim
mob threw petrol bombs at the train, starting the
blaze.
The incident set off days of rioting in Gujarat state
in which at least 1,000 people, most of them
Muslims,died.
Since the train fire, state police have arrested more
than 100 Muslims in connection with the incident.
About 75 of them remain on remand awaiting trial. No
one has been convicted over the train fire.
Both Gujarat's inspector-general of police and India's
main opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) were swift to dismiss the inquiry
findings.
'Preponderance of evidence'
The Hindus aboard the train were returning from the
holy town of Ayodhya when they perished in the blaze
at Godhra.
The incident triggered acts of revenge which swept the
state for days. Some estimates put the number of
people killed in the slaughter at 2,000.
Gujarat's state authorities say Muslims torched the
train.
Survivor accounts speak of a stone-throwing mob
attacking the train. But doubts have persisted over
how the fire started.
Retired Supreme Court judge Umesh Chandra Banerjee,
who is leading the government inquiry, dismissed
suggestions that inflammable liquid could have been
thrown at the train from outside.
"There has been a preponderance of evidence that the
fire in coach number S6 originated in the coach itself
without any external input," he said.
"The possibility of an inflammable liquid having been
used is completely ruled out as there was first a
smell of burning, followed by then smoke and flames
thereafter."
Justice Banerjee said that according to eyewitness
accounts people had been cooking in the carriage at
the time it caught fire.
He said the railway authorities had "pre-judged" the
incident, and criticised them for not conducting a
thorough inquiry.
'Politically motivated'
Justice Banerjee's investigation was set up by the
Congress party-led government last summer after it won
general elections in India.
The BJP, which was in power nationally and in Gujarat
at the time of the riots, said the inquiry findings
were "politically motivated".
Calling the report a disgrace, a spokesman said it was
an unfortunate attempt to trivialise what he called
one of the worst crimes in India.
Gujarat's inspector-general of police, Rakesh Asthana,
also challenged the inquiry report.
He told the BBC the fire was an act of conspiracy and
that at least 60 litres of petrol had been poured
inside the compartment before burning rags were thrown
in from outside.
He said forensic scientists in Gujarat backed the
police findings.
The BJP and its chief minister in Gujarat, Narendra
Modi, were criticised for not doing enough to restore
order once the violence had begun.
Police were alleged to have simply refused to
intervene or, in many cases, arrived too late to
prevent attacks.
Only a handful of people have been found guilty in
riot-related cases.
In 2003 the Supreme Court castigated the authorities
for not delivering justice to victims. It has since
moved one of the highest-profile riot court cases out
of the state.
The riots were viewed by many as a serious challenge
to India's record in protecting its minorities and
left many Muslims feeling deeply insecure
The fire at Godhra triggered days of rioting
An Indian train fire that killed 59 Hindus and
provoked deadly religious riots in 2002 was started by
accident, a government inquiry has said.
Evidence suggests the fire began inside the train, not
that it was fire-bombed, an investigating judge
decided.
Most accounts from the time and since said a Muslim
mob threw petrol bombs at the train, starting the
blaze.
The incident set off days of rioting in Gujarat state
in which at least 1,000 people, most of them
Muslims,died.
Since the train fire, state police have arrested more
than 100 Muslims in connection with the incident.
About 75 of them remain on remand awaiting trial. No
one has been convicted over the train fire.
Both Gujarat's inspector-general of police and India's
main opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) were swift to dismiss the inquiry
findings.
'Preponderance of evidence'
The Hindus aboard the train were returning from the
holy town of Ayodhya when they perished in the blaze
at Godhra.
The incident triggered acts of revenge which swept the
state for days. Some estimates put the number of
people killed in the slaughter at 2,000.
Gujarat's state authorities say Muslims torched the
train.
Survivor accounts speak of a stone-throwing mob
attacking the train. But doubts have persisted over
how the fire started.
Retired Supreme Court judge Umesh Chandra Banerjee,
who is leading the government inquiry, dismissed
suggestions that inflammable liquid could have been
thrown at the train from outside.
"There has been a preponderance of evidence that the
fire in coach number S6 originated in the coach itself
without any external input," he said.
"The possibility of an inflammable liquid having been
used is completely ruled out as there was first a
smell of burning, followed by then smoke and flames
thereafter."
Justice Banerjee said that according to eyewitness
accounts people had been cooking in the carriage at
the time it caught fire.
He said the railway authorities had "pre-judged" the
incident, and criticised them for not conducting a
thorough inquiry.
'Politically motivated'
Justice Banerjee's investigation was set up by the
Congress party-led government last summer after it won
general elections in India.
The BJP, which was in power nationally and in Gujarat
at the time of the riots, said the inquiry findings
were "politically motivated".
Calling the report a disgrace, a spokesman said it was
an unfortunate attempt to trivialise what he called
one of the worst crimes in India.
Gujarat's inspector-general of police, Rakesh Asthana,
also challenged the inquiry report.
He told the BBC the fire was an act of conspiracy and
that at least 60 litres of petrol had been poured
inside the compartment before burning rags were thrown
in from outside.
He said forensic scientists in Gujarat backed the
police findings.
The BJP and its chief minister in Gujarat, Narendra
Modi, were criticised for not doing enough to restore
order once the violence had begun.
Police were alleged to have simply refused to
intervene or, in many cases, arrived too late to
prevent attacks.
Only a handful of people have been found guilty in
riot-related cases.
In 2003 the Supreme Court castigated the authorities
for not delivering justice to victims. It has since
moved one of the highest-profile riot court cases out
of the state.
The riots were viewed by many as a serious challenge
to India's record in protecting its minorities and
left many Muslims feeling deeply insecure
Monday, January 31, 2005
Demarcate defence land in Arunachal
Lok Sabha MP from Arunachal Pradesh Khiren Rijiju has urged Union Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee to take initiative for permanent demarcation of land with the defence forces in the State to avoid any dispute in this regard. The MP, in a letter to the Defence Minister, alleged that the army authority had occupied 272.72 acres against actual allotted area of 267.97 acres in Rupa area under West Kameng district of the state. Similarly, he pointed out, in Birpur area of the district, defence personnel had occupied 80.73 acres of land against actual allotment of 66.50 acres. There are also cases of defence land being encroached upon by the civilians in some areas, which has resulted in misunderstanding between the defence establishment and the local residents of the area, the MP pointed out, adding that an early solution to land dispute would help in retaining the confidence of the people in the army. Assuring the cooperation of the people of the State, Mr. Rijiju requested the minister to direct the army to find out a solution to the issue at the earliest for the greater interest of the State, the letter added.
Muslims flays congress government in asom
United Minority Front (UMF) chairman H R A Chowdhury criticised the Cong ress Government in the State for its failure to ensure socio-economic development of the religious and linguistic minorities.Claiming that Congress's minority cell has asked for 38 assembly seats for religious minorities of a total of 126 for the next assembly elections, Mr. Chowdhury observed that this demand was based on its claim that in those constituencies the Muslim population was more than 45 per cent.However, Mr. Chowdhury maintained that it was not the numbers, but the attitude of the government, which wasmore important for the benefit of the minority community.According to the UMF chairman, despite having about 20 MLAs in the Congress party, the state government had done almost nothing for the benefit of the minorities.Alleging that instead of upgrading the quality of life of the minorities, the Congress Government in the State was ''using the Illegal Migrants Determination Tribunal (IMDT) Act as a tool to pursue its vote bank politics,'' the UMF chairman said despite enjoying the support of about 20 MLAs, the State Government had done almost nothing for the benefit of the minorities. He further alleged that while the Congress used the minority for its vote-bank politics, the BJP was against the minority in pursuance of its Hindutva policy.Mr. Chowdhury was of the view that the AGP should take the lead to combine all ''anti-Congress and anti-BJP secular and democratic forces'' in the state to emerge as a viable alternative before the next assemblly polls.
We won’t tolerate Hindi in CPs:NEFTPDA
GUWAHATI, Jan 30: Imposition of Hindi as the only medium of expression and not allowing the producers of the North-east to film programmes in local languages and dialects cannot be tolerated under any circumstances. This was stated by the speakers at a citizens’ meet organized by the North East Film and Television Producers, Directors Association (NEFTPDA) here today.
The meeting demanded that Prasar Bharti should take immediate action to stop producers and big production houses from outside the North-east from participating in Commissioned Programmes (CP) meant for the region. It also demanded abolishing the imposition of Hindi for fictions of Programme Production Centre (NE) and to design subjects having direct relevance to the North-east abiding by the purpose and spirit of Commissioned Programmes.
Speaking on the occasion, noted writer Atulananda Goswami cited numerous examples when translated versions had distorted the actual essence and spirit of creative works, such as Homen Borgohain’s Pita Putra, Jogesh Das’s Prithibir Axukh, etc. He also expressed the view that programmes made for the region must represent its life and society and that subtitles can alone express local issues and nuances in the right perspective.
Noted theatre personality Ratna Ojha urged all concerned to support the agitation and suggested that the respective State governments should seriously take up the issue with the Centre.
Another theatre personality, Dulal Roy, lamented that people of the region possibly lack the strength and conviction to be vocal in their stand against ‘Hindi imperialism’. In support of his view, he cited a recent instance when he, as a jury chairman, could not prevail over the other jury members, mainly from the Hindi belt, to confer the prestigious Kalidas award to theatre stalwart Ratan Thiyam of Manipur.
National award winning filmmaker Charu Kamal Hazarika said that the nature of subjects short-listed in Doordarshan’s notification reflects a deliberate design to facilitate the entry of outside producers, primarily from the commercial channels. "India is the only country which does Commissioned programmes on love story and comedy," he added.
The meeting demanded that Prasar Bharti should take immediate action to stop producers and big production houses from outside the North-east from participating in Commissioned Programmes (CP) meant for the region. It also demanded abolishing the imposition of Hindi for fictions of Programme Production Centre (NE) and to design subjects having direct relevance to the North-east abiding by the purpose and spirit of Commissioned Programmes.
Speaking on the occasion, noted writer Atulananda Goswami cited numerous examples when translated versions had distorted the actual essence and spirit of creative works, such as Homen Borgohain’s Pita Putra, Jogesh Das’s Prithibir Axukh, etc. He also expressed the view that programmes made for the region must represent its life and society and that subtitles can alone express local issues and nuances in the right perspective.
Noted theatre personality Ratna Ojha urged all concerned to support the agitation and suggested that the respective State governments should seriously take up the issue with the Centre.
Another theatre personality, Dulal Roy, lamented that people of the region possibly lack the strength and conviction to be vocal in their stand against ‘Hindi imperialism’. In support of his view, he cited a recent instance when he, as a jury chairman, could not prevail over the other jury members, mainly from the Hindi belt, to confer the prestigious Kalidas award to theatre stalwart Ratan Thiyam of Manipur.
National award winning filmmaker Charu Kamal Hazarika said that the nature of subjects short-listed in Doordarshan’s notification reflects a deliberate design to facilitate the entry of outside producers, primarily from the commercial channels. "India is the only country which does Commissioned programmes on love story and comedy," he added.
Reliance imbroglio - fate of a safron suporter
The three-month old dispute over ownership of the Ambani group of industrial empire with its market capitalisation of more than Rs 90,000 crore has affected not only the peace of Ambani family, but has also disturbed simultaneously the country’s capital market, foreign investment decisions, India’s tax revenue composition and its gross domestic product at large. Significantly, the amount of India’s central tax revenue sourced from Ambani group of Industries comprises around 12.5 per cent of total collection and forms more than one per sent of its gross domestic product (GDP). Though differences among the Ambani brothers started even before the death of their father, Dhirubhai Ambani in July, 2004, due mainly to the elder, Mukesh enjoying larger slice of parental confidence in managing the affairs of business, the feud did not surface in much perceptible way. However, after the death of Dhirubhai, the cold war among the brothers came out in the open with claims and counter claims over a disputed will supposed to be left by Dhirubhai with respect to bigger share of property in favour of his elder son, Mukesh and lesser for the younger, Anil Ambani.
The Reliance group of industries has a number of holding companies of which some were acquired and some promoted. Most important among them are Reliance Infocomm (RIC) and Reliance Information and Communications Pvt Ltd (RICL). It may be noted here that before July, 2004, the original Reliance Co Ltd changed into the present Reliance Industries Ltd which promoted the Reliance Infocomm (RIC) and in December, it was merged with RICL and the post-merger firm was named Reliance Infocomm (RIC). The elder Ambani, Mukesh was formally listed as promoter of RIC in overseas loan memo and got shares valued at Rs 7200 crore for just Rs 50 crore of down payment. This was given to Mukesh as sweat equity shares in his role as promoter of RIC under a July-2000 agreement. This opened up a major point of dispute between the two brothers in the battle for control of Reliance. Anil camp alleges that Reliance Industries (RIL) chairman, Mukesh Ambani was not the initial promoter of the Group’s telecom project, the RIC. If the allegation is true, Mukesh certainly cannot be entitled to the sweat equity share valued at Rs 7200 crore for just Rs 50 crore which took place in mid-2004. The Reliance Industries chairman, Mukesh Ambani annulled the 50-crore shares of RIC he got at a price of Re 1.00 each, giving him 12 per cent personal stake in the company. He had thus given up claim to shares currently worth Rs 7200 crore, diluted his holding in RIC and boosted the stakes of RIL shareholders in the Infocomm venture. Mukesh justifies his decision to annul his sweat equity holding on the ground that his decision was to create national assets and not to enrich himself. His decision was accepted by the Board of Reliance Communications Infrastructure Ltd. It is important to note that after annulment of holding by Mukesh Ambani Reliance Industries stake goes up to 45 per cent in RIC with another 45 per cent held by Mukesh-associated companies and the rest of 10 per cent by employees though no explanation of which these associated companies were, was available from the Mukesh camp. Another development in the mean time is that Anil Ambani-controlled Reliance Energy succeeded in amending Articles of Association (AOA) on appointment of Directors after the parent company chaired by Mukesh Ambani gave up its resistance. Thus, the younger brother has thrown the ball back in the court of Reliance Industries.
In the continuing war of attrition between the Ambani brothers, Anil Ambani has been recently urged to withdraw his resignation as vice-chairman and Director of Indian Petro-chemical (Ltd (IPCL), erstwhile a PSU acquired by Reliance three years ago in a meeting of the IPCL Board under chairmanship of Mukesh Ambani. It may be noted that Anil refused to be on the IPCL Board since he felt that the close associate of his elder brother, Sri Anand Jain had conspired to divide the Ambani family and he took up the matter with the Union Finance and Power Ministries. The row has badly affected the interest of shareholders of the Reliance Industries Ltd which happens to be India’s largest petrochemical producer. Its shares rose just 3 per cent in December quarter compared to the BSE index gain of 18 per cent. The stock has fallen 5.5 per cent to Rs 511 since a share buy-back started on January 10, exceeding a 3.7 per cent drop in BSE Index, in which it has an 11 per cent weightage. A cool down of the feud is urgent in the interest of the country’s economy since Reliance group has 3.5 million sharehoders with its business interest spread over the entire energy sector from underseas gas reserves to oil refining, petrochemicals, fibres and electricity, telecom, etc. Hence, when its business is disturbed, the country’s economy gets affected. What is, however, understood is that there is no indication so far from either of the brothers of a split in Reliance Industries. This is a welcome sign. With many contradictory reports about compromise formula being offered and rejected, an observer while wishing a quick solution, has to admit that the Ambani brothers are a dynamic team and can move much further ahead with united efforts. Since both brothers are willing to abide by their mother’s decision, the best course would be for the Ambani family to sit together and hammer out a compromise formula with the aid their mother, Kokilaben. The sooner this is done, the better it is.
The Reliance group of industries has a number of holding companies of which some were acquired and some promoted. Most important among them are Reliance Infocomm (RIC) and Reliance Information and Communications Pvt Ltd (RICL). It may be noted here that before July, 2004, the original Reliance Co Ltd changed into the present Reliance Industries Ltd which promoted the Reliance Infocomm (RIC) and in December, it was merged with RICL and the post-merger firm was named Reliance Infocomm (RIC). The elder Ambani, Mukesh was formally listed as promoter of RIC in overseas loan memo and got shares valued at Rs 7200 crore for just Rs 50 crore of down payment. This was given to Mukesh as sweat equity shares in his role as promoter of RIC under a July-2000 agreement. This opened up a major point of dispute between the two brothers in the battle for control of Reliance. Anil camp alleges that Reliance Industries (RIL) chairman, Mukesh Ambani was not the initial promoter of the Group’s telecom project, the RIC. If the allegation is true, Mukesh certainly cannot be entitled to the sweat equity share valued at Rs 7200 crore for just Rs 50 crore which took place in mid-2004. The Reliance Industries chairman, Mukesh Ambani annulled the 50-crore shares of RIC he got at a price of Re 1.00 each, giving him 12 per cent personal stake in the company. He had thus given up claim to shares currently worth Rs 7200 crore, diluted his holding in RIC and boosted the stakes of RIL shareholders in the Infocomm venture. Mukesh justifies his decision to annul his sweat equity holding on the ground that his decision was to create national assets and not to enrich himself. His decision was accepted by the Board of Reliance Communications Infrastructure Ltd. It is important to note that after annulment of holding by Mukesh Ambani Reliance Industries stake goes up to 45 per cent in RIC with another 45 per cent held by Mukesh-associated companies and the rest of 10 per cent by employees though no explanation of which these associated companies were, was available from the Mukesh camp. Another development in the mean time is that Anil Ambani-controlled Reliance Energy succeeded in amending Articles of Association (AOA) on appointment of Directors after the parent company chaired by Mukesh Ambani gave up its resistance. Thus, the younger brother has thrown the ball back in the court of Reliance Industries.
In the continuing war of attrition between the Ambani brothers, Anil Ambani has been recently urged to withdraw his resignation as vice-chairman and Director of Indian Petro-chemical (Ltd (IPCL), erstwhile a PSU acquired by Reliance three years ago in a meeting of the IPCL Board under chairmanship of Mukesh Ambani. It may be noted that Anil refused to be on the IPCL Board since he felt that the close associate of his elder brother, Sri Anand Jain had conspired to divide the Ambani family and he took up the matter with the Union Finance and Power Ministries. The row has badly affected the interest of shareholders of the Reliance Industries Ltd which happens to be India’s largest petrochemical producer. Its shares rose just 3 per cent in December quarter compared to the BSE index gain of 18 per cent. The stock has fallen 5.5 per cent to Rs 511 since a share buy-back started on January 10, exceeding a 3.7 per cent drop in BSE Index, in which it has an 11 per cent weightage. A cool down of the feud is urgent in the interest of the country’s economy since Reliance group has 3.5 million sharehoders with its business interest spread over the entire energy sector from underseas gas reserves to oil refining, petrochemicals, fibres and electricity, telecom, etc. Hence, when its business is disturbed, the country’s economy gets affected. What is, however, understood is that there is no indication so far from either of the brothers of a split in Reliance Industries. This is a welcome sign. With many contradictory reports about compromise formula being offered and rejected, an observer while wishing a quick solution, has to admit that the Ambani brothers are a dynamic team and can move much further ahead with united efforts. Since both brothers are willing to abide by their mother’s decision, the best course would be for the Ambani family to sit together and hammer out a compromise formula with the aid their mother, Kokilaben. The sooner this is done, the better it is.
INP(BJP) to launch stir against govt failures- More communal politics and fanatics seen ahead in asom
GUWAHATI, Jan 30 – Following three days of intense brainstorming on bolstering its image, the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has decided to confront the ruling Congress in Assam by launching a crusade over its “all-round failures”. The decision comes just at the time when all political outfits in the State are bracing for the Assembly elections scheduled early next year. Addressing a press conference here this afternoon, BJP’s central observer for Assam, SS Ahluwalia said that his party has decided to launch an agitation against the present regime after intense discussions on issues like unemployment, illegal immigration, the “different types of scams”, and the precarious law-and-order situation. The discussions on these issues were held during the State executive meeting, the office-bearers’ meeting and the State council meeting spanning three days. The confabulations concluded yesterday.
The BJP will launch its agitational programme on the first day of the next session of the State Assembly with a protest rally at Dispur, Ahluwalia informed. The party will also make public that day a ‘chargesheet’ that will highlight the crude oil, public distribution system (PDS), public works department (PWD), Antyodaya Yojana and government and semi-government appointment scams that have embroiled the names of several Congress ministers, MLAs and party functionaries.
With a view to sustaining the intensity of the proposed agitation, the BJP has formed an ‘agitational management committee’ with Nagaon MP Rajen Gohain as its chairman, BJP State president Indramoni Bora said. A ‘chargesheet preparation committee’ will prepare the ‘charge sheet’ against the Congress government with BJP’s Assembly leader Bimalangshu Roy as its chairman. Almost the entire party leadership, including parliamentarians and legislators, have been co-opted in the two committees.
The ‘chargesheet’, Ahluwalia said, would also include the party’s opposition to the decision to hike municipal property tax in Guwahati. “They are increasing municipal taxes without providing even the basic necessary infrastructure to the people,” he stated. The Rajya Sabha member said that there is no proper sanitation in the city and the citizens do not even have drinking water.
The BJP’s main beating stick, however, is the twin blasts at the Judges’ Field here on Republic Day. Demanding a “high-power” CBI enquiry into the incident, Ahluwalia said that the blasts should not be used to “punish or reward favourable or unfavourable officers.” He demanded the imposition of President’s Rule in the State for the government’s failure on all fronts. “Unfortunately, the Congress is also in power at the Centre.”
Apparently not happy with the government’s decision to shunt out the Guwahati SP and DC following the blasts, Ahluwalia said that it is a “matter of investigation whether the bomb was planted to remove these officers” and whether the two could be held responsible for the incidents. “Merely transferring a person is not going to stop such incidents,” he said. “The BJP demands a high-power enquiry about the whole affair so that the truth can come out.”
The BJP leader also criticised the government for failing to provide enough relief and rehabilitation to the victims of last year’s floods in the State. “Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had also assured the State Government that Rs 200 crore will come as relief and rehabilitation package for flood victims. Unfortunately, we don’t find anything on the ground. People are still running from pillar to post to get relief.”
Blaming the Tarun Gogoi-led government for getting its priorities wrong, Ahluwalia said that the government is giving all sorts of allurements to tobacco-based industries at the cost of the State exchequer even though the tobacco industry is shunned all over the world. “Nobody is ready to come here for any industry due to corruption,” he said.
The BJP will launch its agitational programme on the first day of the next session of the State Assembly with a protest rally at Dispur, Ahluwalia informed. The party will also make public that day a ‘chargesheet’ that will highlight the crude oil, public distribution system (PDS), public works department (PWD), Antyodaya Yojana and government and semi-government appointment scams that have embroiled the names of several Congress ministers, MLAs and party functionaries.
With a view to sustaining the intensity of the proposed agitation, the BJP has formed an ‘agitational management committee’ with Nagaon MP Rajen Gohain as its chairman, BJP State president Indramoni Bora said. A ‘chargesheet preparation committee’ will prepare the ‘charge sheet’ against the Congress government with BJP’s Assembly leader Bimalangshu Roy as its chairman. Almost the entire party leadership, including parliamentarians and legislators, have been co-opted in the two committees.
The ‘chargesheet’, Ahluwalia said, would also include the party’s opposition to the decision to hike municipal property tax in Guwahati. “They are increasing municipal taxes without providing even the basic necessary infrastructure to the people,” he stated. The Rajya Sabha member said that there is no proper sanitation in the city and the citizens do not even have drinking water.
The BJP’s main beating stick, however, is the twin blasts at the Judges’ Field here on Republic Day. Demanding a “high-power” CBI enquiry into the incident, Ahluwalia said that the blasts should not be used to “punish or reward favourable or unfavourable officers.” He demanded the imposition of President’s Rule in the State for the government’s failure on all fronts. “Unfortunately, the Congress is also in power at the Centre.”
Apparently not happy with the government’s decision to shunt out the Guwahati SP and DC following the blasts, Ahluwalia said that it is a “matter of investigation whether the bomb was planted to remove these officers” and whether the two could be held responsible for the incidents. “Merely transferring a person is not going to stop such incidents,” he said. “The BJP demands a high-power enquiry about the whole affair so that the truth can come out.”
The BJP leader also criticised the government for failing to provide enough relief and rehabilitation to the victims of last year’s floods in the State. “Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had also assured the State Government that Rs 200 crore will come as relief and rehabilitation package for flood victims. Unfortunately, we don’t find anything on the ground. People are still running from pillar to post to get relief.”
Blaming the Tarun Gogoi-led government for getting its priorities wrong, Ahluwalia said that the government is giving all sorts of allurements to tobacco-based industries at the cost of the State exchequer even though the tobacco industry is shunned all over the world. “Nobody is ready to come here for any industry due to corruption,” he said.
Illegal foreigners in Assam
Illegal foreigners in Assam
Sir, – Instead of 1.20 crore illegal migrants in Assam, as claimed by the Indian government earlier, they abruptly changed the figure only to mere 26,669. If that be so, why did the people of Assam launch the six-year long movement to drive these mere 26,669 illegal aliens where more than six hundred youths sacrificed their precious lives ? If these people are not from Bangladesh from where have these people who occupied the char and chapori areas, VGR and PGR land, many areas of forest and reserved land, many areas of railway, PWD and other valuable land come from ? About thirty years ago these doubtful nationals were seen far away from our people but now they are found to occupy many areas near the indigenous population and these people are found to travel in large numbers in our buses causing inconveniences to our commuters. These people are going to jeopardise not only our social and economic structure and culture but also change the demography of the State.
The present Congress (I) led government in Assam should know that the per capita land of the native people of Assam is the lowest in India. There will hardly be any land left for our new generation. Hence Assam should not be made the dumping ground for these so called Indians and the 26,669 illegal Bangladeshi nationals. Therefore, these 26,669 illegal intruders should be expelled forcibly without referring to any tribunal. The rest of so called Indians should be shifted to other places in India where there is enough waste land. If Assam is an integral part of India there must be rule to drive out illegal aliens. Hence Foreigners Act of 1946 must be applicable to Assam also and there must not be a separate rule for Assam. If the Foreigners Act of 1946 can drive out the illegal intruders without harassing the Indian people then why not this rule be applicable to Assam also ? Do the Indian and Assam governments think the Assam police to be unkind to the genuine Indians ? If not what is the need of the IM(DT) Act ? Is it not to protect the vote bank ? All the illegal intruders from the foreign countries can be detected and deported through the Foreigners Act of 1946 then why should the aliens intruding in Assam should be detected and deported through IM(DT) Act and only those people who entered Assam after 1971 ? As reported by many people most of intruders were issued citizenship certificates by the interested circles. Therefore the Assam Accord should be declared nul and void. – Yours etc., T C SARMA, Guwahati.
Sent your comments to asimhazarika@gawab.com
Sir, – Instead of 1.20 crore illegal migrants in Assam, as claimed by the Indian government earlier, they abruptly changed the figure only to mere 26,669. If that be so, why did the people of Assam launch the six-year long movement to drive these mere 26,669 illegal aliens where more than six hundred youths sacrificed their precious lives ? If these people are not from Bangladesh from where have these people who occupied the char and chapori areas, VGR and PGR land, many areas of forest and reserved land, many areas of railway, PWD and other valuable land come from ? About thirty years ago these doubtful nationals were seen far away from our people but now they are found to occupy many areas near the indigenous population and these people are found to travel in large numbers in our buses causing inconveniences to our commuters. These people are going to jeopardise not only our social and economic structure and culture but also change the demography of the State.
The present Congress (I) led government in Assam should know that the per capita land of the native people of Assam is the lowest in India. There will hardly be any land left for our new generation. Hence Assam should not be made the dumping ground for these so called Indians and the 26,669 illegal Bangladeshi nationals. Therefore, these 26,669 illegal intruders should be expelled forcibly without referring to any tribunal. The rest of so called Indians should be shifted to other places in India where there is enough waste land. If Assam is an integral part of India there must be rule to drive out illegal aliens. Hence Foreigners Act of 1946 must be applicable to Assam also and there must not be a separate rule for Assam. If the Foreigners Act of 1946 can drive out the illegal intruders without harassing the Indian people then why not this rule be applicable to Assam also ? Do the Indian and Assam governments think the Assam police to be unkind to the genuine Indians ? If not what is the need of the IM(DT) Act ? Is it not to protect the vote bank ? All the illegal intruders from the foreign countries can be detected and deported through the Foreigners Act of 1946 then why should the aliens intruding in Assam should be detected and deported through IM(DT) Act and only those people who entered Assam after 1971 ? As reported by many people most of intruders were issued citizenship certificates by the interested circles. Therefore the Assam Accord should be declared nul and void. – Yours etc., T C SARMA, Guwahati.
Sent your comments to asimhazarika@gawab.com
Sunday, January 30, 2005
Iraqis Vote Amid String of Bombings
Yawer expected Saturday that only a minority of Iraqis would vote. (Reuters)
BAGHDAD, January 30 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Iraqis nervously cast ballots Sunday, January 30, in their country's first election in more than 50 years against a backdrop of bombings and mortar attacks.
President Ghazi Al-Yawer was among the first to vote and he urged the population to turn out, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“Thank God, Thank God. Blessed are the Iraqi elections. We greet all Iraqi people and urge them not to give up their rights, to vote for Iraq, elect Iraq and not to give up on Iraq,” Yawar said seconds after casting his ballot.
On Saturday, January 29, the interim president predicted that only a minority of Iraqis would vote.
Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi also cast his ballot, hailing the vote as a “start of a new era”.
“The most obvious aspect of the success of this election today is that they are being held at the scheduled date. This is an accomplishment the government and myself are very proud of,” he told reporters.
Election officials put on a brave face over the election.
“Voting bureaus have opened all over Iraq and until now we have not been informed of any problems,” Abdul Hussein Al-Hindawi, the chairman of Iraq's Independent Electoral Commission, told AFP early in the morning.
Around 14 million Iraqis are eligible to cast ballots at some 5,700 polling stations to elect a 275-seat National Assembly that will in turn choose a Presidency Council and draft the country’s new constitution.
The constitution must then be ratified through a national referendum – scheduled to take place at the end of 2005.
The vote is based on a single constituency, proportional closed-list system, meaning that if a party gets 10 per cent of the votes, it gets 10 per cent of the seats.
Authorities imposed a massive security clampdown and tens of thousands of Iraqi and US-led troops were on patrol across the country after militants vowed to turn election day into a bloodbath.
The Iraqi government closed the borders and the main Baghdad international airport for the election weekend.
There was also a night-time curfew across most of the country and the authorities banned travel between provinces.
Enthusiastic Shiites
An Iraqi election official shows women voters where to place their ballots at a polling station in Baghdad. (Reuters)
The country appeared divided for its first election since Saddam Hussein was overthrown in a US-led invasion-turned-occupation in 2003 that caused deep rifts in the international community.
In Shiite-dominated southern Iraq voters turned out enthusiastically.
Shiite political frontrunner Abdel Aziz Hakim, who tops the United Iraqi Alliance slate endorsed by Grand Ayatollah Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, cast his ballot and hailed the day's significance.
“Today's elections are very important because they will decide the country's future,” he told reporters.
Taha Lufta waited outside a station at the Al Amaali school in the southern city of Basra when it opened at 7:00 am.
“I came here to be first and encourage the people to vote,” he said.
“I'm an old man. I want to be a model for others.”
Lufta said he had voted for the United Iraqi Alliance “because it includes Islamic-oriented candidates, and we want an Islamic constitution in Iraq.”
The election could see Shiites taking control of the government in the Arab country for the first time in 11 centuries.
Long lines of people were also reported outside voting stations in Kurdish strongholds such as Arbil in the north of the country.
The mood in Sunni-dominated areas was grim.
Saddam's hometown of Tikrit was said to be a ghost town. An AFP correspondent went to eight polling stations where staff said no-one had voted.
Taha Hussein, head of the local council in the Sunni Muslim stronghold of Samarra, said nobody would vote there because of safety fears.
“Nobody will vote in Samarra because of the security situation,” he told AFP.
The Association of Muslim Scholars, the highest Sunni religious authority in Iraq, championed the call for election boycott.
The Islamic Party of Iraq, the main Sunni political party, had quit the election race also over aggravating insecurity.
String of Attacks
A video grab image shows damaged cars outside a polling station in Baghdad. (Reuters)
A bomber struck Sunday outside a polling centre in Baghdad, killing seven civilians and two policemen, an interior ministry source said.
He detonated his explosives belt outside a voting centre in Zaiyuna in eastern Baghdad, added the source.
Shortly after polls opened, four people were killed and seven others wounded when a mortar struck a voting centre in Baghdad's Shiite slum of Sadr City, police lieutenant Mohammad Hamid told AFP.
Earlier, one person was killed and four others wounded when a bomber blew himself up near a polling station in Baghdad's upmarket Mansur district in the western part of the capital, the interior ministry said.
Police and soldiers had stopped the bomber as he tried to enter the sealed-off cordon around the polling station, a US military officer said.
A female voter was killed and a second woman and her child were wounded in a mortar attack on a polling station in the northern Iraqi town of Balad, police said.
Six explosions jolted the northern Iraqi city of Mosul although the general hospital had no immediate word on casualties.
Arms fire also reverberated in the northern flashpoint city of Baquba, an AFP correspondent said.
In the southern city of Basra, a mortar shell landed near a polling station but there were no reports of casualties.
The day earlier, two Americans were killed in a rocket attack on the US embassy in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, a startling breach of the security intended to persuade the population to vote.
BAGHDAD, January 30 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Iraqis nervously cast ballots Sunday, January 30, in their country's first election in more than 50 years against a backdrop of bombings and mortar attacks.
President Ghazi Al-Yawer was among the first to vote and he urged the population to turn out, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“Thank God, Thank God. Blessed are the Iraqi elections. We greet all Iraqi people and urge them not to give up their rights, to vote for Iraq, elect Iraq and not to give up on Iraq,” Yawar said seconds after casting his ballot.
On Saturday, January 29, the interim president predicted that only a minority of Iraqis would vote.
Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi also cast his ballot, hailing the vote as a “start of a new era”.
“The most obvious aspect of the success of this election today is that they are being held at the scheduled date. This is an accomplishment the government and myself are very proud of,” he told reporters.
Election officials put on a brave face over the election.
“Voting bureaus have opened all over Iraq and until now we have not been informed of any problems,” Abdul Hussein Al-Hindawi, the chairman of Iraq's Independent Electoral Commission, told AFP early in the morning.
Around 14 million Iraqis are eligible to cast ballots at some 5,700 polling stations to elect a 275-seat National Assembly that will in turn choose a Presidency Council and draft the country’s new constitution.
The constitution must then be ratified through a national referendum – scheduled to take place at the end of 2005.
The vote is based on a single constituency, proportional closed-list system, meaning that if a party gets 10 per cent of the votes, it gets 10 per cent of the seats.
Authorities imposed a massive security clampdown and tens of thousands of Iraqi and US-led troops were on patrol across the country after militants vowed to turn election day into a bloodbath.
The Iraqi government closed the borders and the main Baghdad international airport for the election weekend.
There was also a night-time curfew across most of the country and the authorities banned travel between provinces.
Enthusiastic Shiites
An Iraqi election official shows women voters where to place their ballots at a polling station in Baghdad. (Reuters)
The country appeared divided for its first election since Saddam Hussein was overthrown in a US-led invasion-turned-occupation in 2003 that caused deep rifts in the international community.
In Shiite-dominated southern Iraq voters turned out enthusiastically.
Shiite political frontrunner Abdel Aziz Hakim, who tops the United Iraqi Alliance slate endorsed by Grand Ayatollah Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, cast his ballot and hailed the day's significance.
“Today's elections are very important because they will decide the country's future,” he told reporters.
Taha Lufta waited outside a station at the Al Amaali school in the southern city of Basra when it opened at 7:00 am.
“I came here to be first and encourage the people to vote,” he said.
“I'm an old man. I want to be a model for others.”
Lufta said he had voted for the United Iraqi Alliance “because it includes Islamic-oriented candidates, and we want an Islamic constitution in Iraq.”
The election could see Shiites taking control of the government in the Arab country for the first time in 11 centuries.
Long lines of people were also reported outside voting stations in Kurdish strongholds such as Arbil in the north of the country.
The mood in Sunni-dominated areas was grim.
Saddam's hometown of Tikrit was said to be a ghost town. An AFP correspondent went to eight polling stations where staff said no-one had voted.
Taha Hussein, head of the local council in the Sunni Muslim stronghold of Samarra, said nobody would vote there because of safety fears.
“Nobody will vote in Samarra because of the security situation,” he told AFP.
The Association of Muslim Scholars, the highest Sunni religious authority in Iraq, championed the call for election boycott.
The Islamic Party of Iraq, the main Sunni political party, had quit the election race also over aggravating insecurity.
String of Attacks
A video grab image shows damaged cars outside a polling station in Baghdad. (Reuters)
A bomber struck Sunday outside a polling centre in Baghdad, killing seven civilians and two policemen, an interior ministry source said.
He detonated his explosives belt outside a voting centre in Zaiyuna in eastern Baghdad, added the source.
Shortly after polls opened, four people were killed and seven others wounded when a mortar struck a voting centre in Baghdad's Shiite slum of Sadr City, police lieutenant Mohammad Hamid told AFP.
Earlier, one person was killed and four others wounded when a bomber blew himself up near a polling station in Baghdad's upmarket Mansur district in the western part of the capital, the interior ministry said.
Police and soldiers had stopped the bomber as he tried to enter the sealed-off cordon around the polling station, a US military officer said.
A female voter was killed and a second woman and her child were wounded in a mortar attack on a polling station in the northern Iraqi town of Balad, police said.
Six explosions jolted the northern Iraqi city of Mosul although the general hospital had no immediate word on casualties.
Arms fire also reverberated in the northern flashpoint city of Baquba, an AFP correspondent said.
In the southern city of Basra, a mortar shell landed near a polling station but there were no reports of casualties.
The day earlier, two Americans were killed in a rocket attack on the US embassy in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, a startling breach of the security intended to persuade the population to vote.
Sri Lanka's beach boys wait for tourists to return
By Rahul Sharma
UNAWATUNA, Sri Lanka - Lara used to earn his living assisting a diving master and offering company to lonely woman tourists on one of Sri Lanka's popular beaches dotted with small hotels and shacks selling spicy lobsters.
But then the Dec. 26 tsunami struck, taking the boats and the tourists away and leaving the 24-year-old "beach boy" stranded in borrowed shorts and a red T-shirt that says "Wear Air".
"No European ladies now, what to do? I hope they come back," said Lara, adding that he prefers his nickname to his real name as it worked well with women.
Lara, who idolises West Indian cricket maestro Brian Lara, is one of hundreds of poor young men who peddle sex and drugs, and offer a massage or just company to foreign men and women who head to Sri Lanka's tropical beaches.
Upali Nagasinha, owner of the Sunny Beach hotel, says they are a nuisance. "They cause trouble. They trouble the tourists who want a peaceful holiday."
But Lara doesn't want to go anywhere else.
"I have had 11 European girlfriends. Not old women, young, all very pretty," he boasts, looking at the deserted beach and recalling the Christmas revelry the day before the tsunami killed his diving master and many others.
The killer waves shattered Sri Lanka's southern and eastern beaches and killed about 38,000 people in the Indian Ocean island. Most of the hotels on the coastal stretch south of the capital Colombo were virtually flattened by the crashing waves.
The Unawatuna beach, where Lara lives and works, is popular with German and Swiss tourists. But it's been more than a month since the tsunami hit, and tourists who survived have gone home. Others, who were to arrive in January, cancelled their bookings.
"We had 45 people for a Christmas lobster party here," says Nagasinha.
"They were all drunk and happy. If I had my way, I would want them back here," he says, pointing to what was his hotel's restaurant but is now a jungle of wooden poles supporting a new reinforced concrete roof.
Sri Lanka expects tourism revenues to fall short of the targeted $510 million this year by up to 15 percent.
Nagasinha is rebuilding his tsunami-ravaged hotel, one of the places where Lara found his women friends and clients for his boat trips to the colourful coral reefs just off Unawatuna.
The neighbouring Lucky Tuna hotel and Happy Banana discotheque are also being rebuilt.
"I want to open quickly, maybe next month," said Nagasinha.
PAYING FOR SINS
Lara said the water was very warm when he went out to the sea the morning the tsunami struck. He had been out drinking and dancing at a bar the previous night and, though a vegetarian himself, he had cooked a beef dinner for some friends.
"I have a feel for the water and I am not afraid of it because I spend so much time scuba diving and snorkelling. When I saw the first wave I thought God was punishing me for my sins and I sped the boat to safety and ran to the high ground. Then the big wave came," he said.
That wave battered most of the hotels, washing away tourists as they relaxed on the beach. "There were four tourists sleeping just outside my hotel. They just vanished," said Nagasinha.
And so did many beach boys.
"Beach boys have gone with the tide," said Kadirgamalingam Sassi of the Flower Garden hotel that escaped damage because it is located away from the beach.
Lara says men could earn a decent pile of cash by offering their services to tourists -- old men and young women -- who also looked after them by buying them food and other things like clothes and expensive mobile phones.
"They get lonely sometimes. The last time I was with a woman she gave me 10,000 rupees ($100)," said Lara.
"We had lots of fun together, but no contact afterwards. No phone calls, no emails, no letters. No emotions. You can't fall in love. Even they can't," he said.
Lara said business had become tough as young men from other parts of the country had started vying for the attention of holidaymakers during the peak tourist season from October to February.
"There are many now from even Kandy," he said, referring to a city in the central hill districts of Sri Lanka.
They have all gone home after the tsunami, but would return once the hotels reopen and tourists start streaming back.
"When ladies want them they will be there," said Sassi, adding that his hotel was fully booked in February.
UNAWATUNA, Sri Lanka - Lara used to earn his living assisting a diving master and offering company to lonely woman tourists on one of Sri Lanka's popular beaches dotted with small hotels and shacks selling spicy lobsters.
But then the Dec. 26 tsunami struck, taking the boats and the tourists away and leaving the 24-year-old "beach boy" stranded in borrowed shorts and a red T-shirt that says "Wear Air".
"No European ladies now, what to do? I hope they come back," said Lara, adding that he prefers his nickname to his real name as it worked well with women.
Lara, who idolises West Indian cricket maestro Brian Lara, is one of hundreds of poor young men who peddle sex and drugs, and offer a massage or just company to foreign men and women who head to Sri Lanka's tropical beaches.
Upali Nagasinha, owner of the Sunny Beach hotel, says they are a nuisance. "They cause trouble. They trouble the tourists who want a peaceful holiday."
But Lara doesn't want to go anywhere else.
"I have had 11 European girlfriends. Not old women, young, all very pretty," he boasts, looking at the deserted beach and recalling the Christmas revelry the day before the tsunami killed his diving master and many others.
The killer waves shattered Sri Lanka's southern and eastern beaches and killed about 38,000 people in the Indian Ocean island. Most of the hotels on the coastal stretch south of the capital Colombo were virtually flattened by the crashing waves.
The Unawatuna beach, where Lara lives and works, is popular with German and Swiss tourists. But it's been more than a month since the tsunami hit, and tourists who survived have gone home. Others, who were to arrive in January, cancelled their bookings.
"We had 45 people for a Christmas lobster party here," says Nagasinha.
"They were all drunk and happy. If I had my way, I would want them back here," he says, pointing to what was his hotel's restaurant but is now a jungle of wooden poles supporting a new reinforced concrete roof.
Sri Lanka expects tourism revenues to fall short of the targeted $510 million this year by up to 15 percent.
Nagasinha is rebuilding his tsunami-ravaged hotel, one of the places where Lara found his women friends and clients for his boat trips to the colourful coral reefs just off Unawatuna.
The neighbouring Lucky Tuna hotel and Happy Banana discotheque are also being rebuilt.
"I want to open quickly, maybe next month," said Nagasinha.
PAYING FOR SINS
Lara said the water was very warm when he went out to the sea the morning the tsunami struck. He had been out drinking and dancing at a bar the previous night and, though a vegetarian himself, he had cooked a beef dinner for some friends.
"I have a feel for the water and I am not afraid of it because I spend so much time scuba diving and snorkelling. When I saw the first wave I thought God was punishing me for my sins and I sped the boat to safety and ran to the high ground. Then the big wave came," he said.
That wave battered most of the hotels, washing away tourists as they relaxed on the beach. "There were four tourists sleeping just outside my hotel. They just vanished," said Nagasinha.
And so did many beach boys.
"Beach boys have gone with the tide," said Kadirgamalingam Sassi of the Flower Garden hotel that escaped damage because it is located away from the beach.
Lara says men could earn a decent pile of cash by offering their services to tourists -- old men and young women -- who also looked after them by buying them food and other things like clothes and expensive mobile phones.
"They get lonely sometimes. The last time I was with a woman she gave me 10,000 rupees ($100)," said Lara.
"We had lots of fun together, but no contact afterwards. No phone calls, no emails, no letters. No emotions. You can't fall in love. Even they can't," he said.
Lara said business had become tough as young men from other parts of the country had started vying for the attention of holidaymakers during the peak tourist season from October to February.
"There are many now from even Kandy," he said, referring to a city in the central hill districts of Sri Lanka.
They have all gone home after the tsunami, but would return once the hotels reopen and tourists start streaming back.
"When ladies want them they will be there," said Sassi, adding that his hotel was fully booked in February.
Stories they don't want told
Stories they don't want told
http://www.rediff.com/news
I know this will come as news to many: The 'VII' inthe title of my last column is not an exaggerated'peace' sign; it is the Roman numeral signifying '7.'Meaning, that was the seventh in the series ofreply-articles. Meaning, I does what I does,regardless. However, it was also only the seventh insix years. Meaning, irritants provoke me only when Ilet them -- usually at the opening of a "season," whenI feel I should acquaint new readers with my approach:In a nutshell, readers aren't the Holy Grail."Vituperative," "hate-mongering," "Nazi," "childish,""degenerate," "narcissistic," are all fight words,their writers earning the "semi-literate ignoramuses"accorded by me. They are not critics withcounter-arguments (thank you, Rajender and Omkar!);they are insignificant little people momentarilyshaking off the angst of their miserable little livesby directing their venom at a target that, they think,dare not fling it back. They err; rules aren't formavericks. As for the "journalists" on the messageboard who hate my output... what can I say? Theirobscurity says it all...Now, to work.Since the end of March, Christian evangelism has beenmaking ever-widening ripples in the American press. Tothe best of my knowledge, it began with a report inthe Mercury News on faith-based groups poised to givehumanitarian aid in Iraq once the war subsided: "Theysee it as a golden opportunity to convert thispredominantly Muslim country to Christianity, andalong with supplies, they carry the New Testament andthe message of Jesus Christ."Iraq -- like India -- is in the "10/40 Window," i e,the area lying between latitudes 10º to 40º north ofthe Equator, stretching from North Africa to China,and containing most of the world's 1.2 billionMuslims, nearly a billion Hindus and 350 millionBuddhists. This "Last Frontier" is home to the"unreached people groups" -- the term Christianfundamentalists use for ethnic populations that havenever heard the message from the Bible.Since the 1960s, Christianity has been on the wane inEurope. For instance, in Britain and France, less than10 % of the population attends church even once amonth; in Scandinavia, churches attract less than 3 %of the people; in Holland, the Dutch Reformedhierarchy is converting churches into luxuryapartments to pay its bills (The Washington Post, May6, 2001). And so, it is the peoples of the Third Worldwho are seen as the fodder to stem the death of thereligion.If it were only a matter of acquainting people withthe supremacy of Christianity, missionaries wouldprobably be tolerated. Problem is, voicing the messageentails converting the listener to Christianity -- bythis way or that, usually that. Too, some ethnicpopulations don't want to hear the message, nor let itbe heard in their lands. In most of these countries,there are laws against proselytising, with all theIslamic ones enforcing severe penalties. Buddhistcountries like Laos and Myanmar, too, have limitationson evangelism. Red China restricts proselytising bymembers of state-supported churches. And India --finally and recently -- began enforcing the 1975 lawlimiting access to foreign missionaries and enactinglaws banning fraudulent conversion.Therefore, to force-feed the Gospel to the"unreached," missionaries are sent by countries likethe US, Britain, Germany and Australia as "aidworkers," with visas identifying them as "secularworkers." To enter countries like Bhutan, Afghanistanor Saudi Arabia, which do not issue visas tomissionaries, they list their occupation as teacher,doctor, nurse, businessperson, engineer, etc. Oneillustrative result: 27% of the US-based SouthernBaptist Convention's missionaries are now stationed inthe 10/40 Window -- up from 1% a mere 15 years ago.Evangelicals are growing at 4.7% annually, making itthe fastest-growing movement. All together, they grewfrom 300 million in 1990 to 420 million at the closeof 1999, of which a massive 403 million belong to theProtestant groups. Countries which have receivedincreased numbers of foreign "aid workers" are Russia,India, Ukraine and Japan, in that order. And, GodBless America is the leader in sending missionaries,oops, "aid workers," with over 46,000 dispatched tillDecember 2001. (Mission Frontiers)At the start of the Iraq war, an evangelical air-wavecampaign began against Iraq, and on April 16, TransWorld Radio announced a series of Arabic and Farsiprogrammes to spread the Gospel among Muslims. Couldthis have happened with CentCom approval...? Then, theSouthern Baptist Convention, America's largestProtestant group, had 800 "aid workers" volunteeringto help Iraqis, while members of the Samaritan'sPurse, a group run by the Rev Franklin Graham, werealready in Jordan and Kuwait, brandishing medicalsupplies.Point to note: Both former SBC president Rev JerryVines and Rev Franklin Graham had referred to Islam invery uncharitable terms. Not that I'm debating theirviews here, just that with beliefs like these, whywould "aid workers" aid Iraqis if not to save themfrom Islam? Another point to note: Both groups areleading supporters of the Bush administration.Thing is, America's weapons of mass deception, viz,CNN and Fox News, haven't yet said a word about thesterling work these "aid workers" must be doing inIraq -- or even if they are there at all. Well, theyare in Iraq, for sure. And that's why America'spowerful Conservative lobby is seeking to put thebrakes on Time magazine, which, according to aneditorial memo intercepted by activists, has planned acover story on evangelical "special operations" bymissionaries working "undercover" inside Muslimcountries, especially Iraq. An alert for the USright-wing warns: "This article could put hundreds ofAmerican lives at risk... They've been told repeatedlyit's a story most Christian leaders don't want told.The risk of imprisonment, torture or death forChristians in the Middle East is just too real. But anaggressive reporting effort continues."Samaritan's Purse is a rich organisation, favoured bythe US government with contracts to offer humanitarianaid. In 2001, USAID had selected the group to work inEl Salvador -- where its "aid workers" forced prayermeetings on the Indian villagers who only wanted tolearn how to build temporary homes after anearthquake. In other words, they are "Rice Christians"-- the term used for missionaries sent by The Crown towork in the colonies, who would withhold bags of riceif the heathen peasants of India and China refused tocome to church. Their modus operandi was to seek outthe most vulnerable sections of people and usepower/blackmail/money/deception to coerce people intoleaving their faith.Nothing has really changed...And that's the target of this column: India, notIraq... the white man's burden still roiling it all.The West's ways are best observed from a pointoffering a comprehensive view: What they don't wanttold about missionaries in Iraq is precisely what'sbeen manipulating the religio-politics of India. Theonly difference is that American pinkos are exposingthe Christian establishment for the sake of Muslims.Indian pinkos, on the other hand, co-opted not onlytheir American counterparts, but also the Christianestablishment to destroy the Hindus resistingproselytisation... the IDRF, the RSS.The Indian state of Jammu & Kashmir is witnessing a"discreet" spurt in conversion to Christianity. Thenumber of converts are over 10,000 -- which aninvestigation by The Indian Express confirmed, alongwith the fact that "conversions have been taking placeregularly across the Valley." The countries that havesent the "aid workers" are Germany, the Netherlandsand, of course, the US. The same countries "arepumping in money through intermediaries based in NewDelhi."These missionary groups are Rice Christians: Oneconvert, the head of the mission in Pulwama, admitted,"We have to organise cricket matches and seminars incollege where we are required to preach Gospel."Meaning, if you wanna play matches set up with ourfunds, you gotta hear the Gospel first.And the funds, they are just a-rollin' in: CampusCrusade For Christ pays Rs 12,000 plus expenses permonth to each of the 65 Muslim students who convertedand agreed to rope in others. "The hike in perksdepends on how we progress in our mission," said oneconverted student-employee. It's only business, yousee -- commissions given on the acquisition of souls."There are umpteen cases in which one person has beenbaptised thrice within a few months. These so-calledevangelists have set up businesses in the garb ofChurch and social work. The converts here do it formonetary reasons and the people who convert them, too,do it for the same reasons," said Pastor LeslieRichards, a native Protestant of Srinagar.Such efforts by missionaries get support fromunexpected American quarters: Last year, Suzanne MarieOlsson, a NY-based "researcher," arrived in Srinagarto study and dig into the shrine of Rozabal whichhouses the tomb of Pir Yuza Asaf. Her claim: Rozabalis the tomb of Jesus Christ. Another claim: A shrinein Pakistan's Murree hills entombs the Virgin Mary. Isthat too much to swallow? Here are more: Moses isburied in Bandipore, Haroun at Harwan, and Solomon atTakht-i-Sulaiman in Srinagar.So, why was Ms Olsson doing all this? "You have moreChristian holy sites than Egypt or Israel, she said.Yeahhh...? She only wanted to unravel the truth aboutthe shrines so that Kashmir becomes a main attractionfor Christian pilgrims, she said...In the meantime, the "aid workers" can continue to aidKashmiri Muslims with the aid of tales about the"serious archaeological research" on the tombs ofJesus and Mary in native Kashmiri shrines. Sheesh...Did you see the March 20th report in The Deccan Heraldon "a spate of Sikh conversions to Christianity inPunjab, particularly in the border belt adjoiningPakistan"? The situation has gradually become so badthat the Akali Dal is now seeking an anti-conversionlaw, patterned on the one enacted by my new idol, theGreat Wall of Chennai. Sikhs, being a minority, haveall the rights to protect themselves from extinction:Members of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committeehave spread out into the villages of Amritsar andGurdaspur districts, asking Sikhs to refrain fromconverting to Christianity and exposing "miraclehealings."Last year, the then vice-chairman of the NationalCommission for Minorities, Tarlochan Singh, wrote tothe Catholic Bishops Council of India and the NationalCouncil of Churches in India, protesting theconversion incidents in Punjab and Bhilai where"Christian missionaries fully supported with medicalteams have been going around in many villages alluringpoor Sikh families to adopt Christianity."The J&K fraud was uncovered by a Muslim reporter, andthe Punjab to-do was exposed by a Sikh leading apowerful organisation. But what about the Hindus...?One of George W Bush's most reliable political allies,the Rev Pat Robertson, is on record saying, "What isHinduism but Devil worship, ultimately?" So now youknow how the NRPs (non-resident pinkos) could mustersuch a huge coalition acting against Hindutvainternationally. As for the situation within India,once case says it all:On September 9, 2002, Father Melwin De Silva, themanager of a missionary school in Bhavanikhera villagein Rajasthan, was arrested on charges of sexual abuseof 5 teenagers over a period of 2 years. After theboys finally mustered the courage to lodge a complaintwith the police, the villagers surrounded the schooland demanded the paedophile be handed over to them.The staff locked up the priest in a toilet, whileanother missionary, Fr Jose Mathais, had to face thewrath of the mob and was forced to do sit-ups beforethe villagers. The siege ended at De Silva's arrest;police recovered pornography from his quarters. Allthis was reported by UNI the day after the incident.Pretty straightforward, wouldn't you say? Well, hereare the aftermath-gems from India's oh-so-secularpress:The Christian community in Rajasthan's Ajmer districtis now the latest target of a Hindutva campaign. Lastmonth a priest in a missionary school in a village inAjmer was accused and arrested for sexually exploitingsome of his students. And in the polarization sincethen, Hindu organisations have used the incident tolaunch a drive to bring back Christians into the Hindufold -- NDTV News, October 9Christian priests running schools in and around Ajmerand at Nazirabad in the district have been targeted byvested interests in the wake of an incident involvinga priest in the St Martin School at Bhawani Khedavillage near Nazirabad on September 9 -- The Hindu,October 9Fr Melvin D'Souza [sic]... was arrested for allegedlysodomising residents of the school hostel and taken tothe Nasirabad police station. Soon, jeep-loads ofvillagers from surrounding areas descended on the town-- a well orchestrated campaign led by luminaries ofsundry Hindu organisations and parties -- IndianExpress, October 11Notice the dates? What happened on October 8...? Youknow what, I hope that Dara Singh, he ofGraham-Staines-and-his-two-minor-sons fame, emergesfrom the courts unscathed. For, even if he is guilty,he's just a product of a diseased system. Isn't thatthe excuse the "secularists" give when pleading forSalman Khan...? In any case, let's ask the Iraqis whatthey think of Dara's case six month from now.
http://www.rediff.com/news
I know this will come as news to many: The 'VII' inthe title of my last column is not an exaggerated'peace' sign; it is the Roman numeral signifying '7.'Meaning, that was the seventh in the series ofreply-articles. Meaning, I does what I does,regardless. However, it was also only the seventh insix years. Meaning, irritants provoke me only when Ilet them -- usually at the opening of a "season," whenI feel I should acquaint new readers with my approach:In a nutshell, readers aren't the Holy Grail."Vituperative," "hate-mongering," "Nazi," "childish,""degenerate," "narcissistic," are all fight words,their writers earning the "semi-literate ignoramuses"accorded by me. They are not critics withcounter-arguments (thank you, Rajender and Omkar!);they are insignificant little people momentarilyshaking off the angst of their miserable little livesby directing their venom at a target that, they think,dare not fling it back. They err; rules aren't formavericks. As for the "journalists" on the messageboard who hate my output... what can I say? Theirobscurity says it all...Now, to work.Since the end of March, Christian evangelism has beenmaking ever-widening ripples in the American press. Tothe best of my knowledge, it began with a report inthe Mercury News on faith-based groups poised to givehumanitarian aid in Iraq once the war subsided: "Theysee it as a golden opportunity to convert thispredominantly Muslim country to Christianity, andalong with supplies, they carry the New Testament andthe message of Jesus Christ."Iraq -- like India -- is in the "10/40 Window," i e,the area lying between latitudes 10º to 40º north ofthe Equator, stretching from North Africa to China,and containing most of the world's 1.2 billionMuslims, nearly a billion Hindus and 350 millionBuddhists. This "Last Frontier" is home to the"unreached people groups" -- the term Christianfundamentalists use for ethnic populations that havenever heard the message from the Bible.Since the 1960s, Christianity has been on the wane inEurope. For instance, in Britain and France, less than10 % of the population attends church even once amonth; in Scandinavia, churches attract less than 3 %of the people; in Holland, the Dutch Reformedhierarchy is converting churches into luxuryapartments to pay its bills (The Washington Post, May6, 2001). And so, it is the peoples of the Third Worldwho are seen as the fodder to stem the death of thereligion.If it were only a matter of acquainting people withthe supremacy of Christianity, missionaries wouldprobably be tolerated. Problem is, voicing the messageentails converting the listener to Christianity -- bythis way or that, usually that. Too, some ethnicpopulations don't want to hear the message, nor let itbe heard in their lands. In most of these countries,there are laws against proselytising, with all theIslamic ones enforcing severe penalties. Buddhistcountries like Laos and Myanmar, too, have limitationson evangelism. Red China restricts proselytising bymembers of state-supported churches. And India --finally and recently -- began enforcing the 1975 lawlimiting access to foreign missionaries and enactinglaws banning fraudulent conversion.Therefore, to force-feed the Gospel to the"unreached," missionaries are sent by countries likethe US, Britain, Germany and Australia as "aidworkers," with visas identifying them as "secularworkers." To enter countries like Bhutan, Afghanistanor Saudi Arabia, which do not issue visas tomissionaries, they list their occupation as teacher,doctor, nurse, businessperson, engineer, etc. Oneillustrative result: 27% of the US-based SouthernBaptist Convention's missionaries are now stationed inthe 10/40 Window -- up from 1% a mere 15 years ago.Evangelicals are growing at 4.7% annually, making itthe fastest-growing movement. All together, they grewfrom 300 million in 1990 to 420 million at the closeof 1999, of which a massive 403 million belong to theProtestant groups. Countries which have receivedincreased numbers of foreign "aid workers" are Russia,India, Ukraine and Japan, in that order. And, GodBless America is the leader in sending missionaries,oops, "aid workers," with over 46,000 dispatched tillDecember 2001. (Mission Frontiers)At the start of the Iraq war, an evangelical air-wavecampaign began against Iraq, and on April 16, TransWorld Radio announced a series of Arabic and Farsiprogrammes to spread the Gospel among Muslims. Couldthis have happened with CentCom approval...? Then, theSouthern Baptist Convention, America's largestProtestant group, had 800 "aid workers" volunteeringto help Iraqis, while members of the Samaritan'sPurse, a group run by the Rev Franklin Graham, werealready in Jordan and Kuwait, brandishing medicalsupplies.Point to note: Both former SBC president Rev JerryVines and Rev Franklin Graham had referred to Islam invery uncharitable terms. Not that I'm debating theirviews here, just that with beliefs like these, whywould "aid workers" aid Iraqis if not to save themfrom Islam? Another point to note: Both groups areleading supporters of the Bush administration.Thing is, America's weapons of mass deception, viz,CNN and Fox News, haven't yet said a word about thesterling work these "aid workers" must be doing inIraq -- or even if they are there at all. Well, theyare in Iraq, for sure. And that's why America'spowerful Conservative lobby is seeking to put thebrakes on Time magazine, which, according to aneditorial memo intercepted by activists, has planned acover story on evangelical "special operations" bymissionaries working "undercover" inside Muslimcountries, especially Iraq. An alert for the USright-wing warns: "This article could put hundreds ofAmerican lives at risk... They've been told repeatedlyit's a story most Christian leaders don't want told.The risk of imprisonment, torture or death forChristians in the Middle East is just too real. But anaggressive reporting effort continues."Samaritan's Purse is a rich organisation, favoured bythe US government with contracts to offer humanitarianaid. In 2001, USAID had selected the group to work inEl Salvador -- where its "aid workers" forced prayermeetings on the Indian villagers who only wanted tolearn how to build temporary homes after anearthquake. In other words, they are "Rice Christians"-- the term used for missionaries sent by The Crown towork in the colonies, who would withhold bags of riceif the heathen peasants of India and China refused tocome to church. Their modus operandi was to seek outthe most vulnerable sections of people and usepower/blackmail/money/deception to coerce people intoleaving their faith.Nothing has really changed...And that's the target of this column: India, notIraq... the white man's burden still roiling it all.The West's ways are best observed from a pointoffering a comprehensive view: What they don't wanttold about missionaries in Iraq is precisely what'sbeen manipulating the religio-politics of India. Theonly difference is that American pinkos are exposingthe Christian establishment for the sake of Muslims.Indian pinkos, on the other hand, co-opted not onlytheir American counterparts, but also the Christianestablishment to destroy the Hindus resistingproselytisation... the IDRF, the RSS.The Indian state of Jammu & Kashmir is witnessing a"discreet" spurt in conversion to Christianity. Thenumber of converts are over 10,000 -- which aninvestigation by The Indian Express confirmed, alongwith the fact that "conversions have been taking placeregularly across the Valley." The countries that havesent the "aid workers" are Germany, the Netherlandsand, of course, the US. The same countries "arepumping in money through intermediaries based in NewDelhi."These missionary groups are Rice Christians: Oneconvert, the head of the mission in Pulwama, admitted,"We have to organise cricket matches and seminars incollege where we are required to preach Gospel."Meaning, if you wanna play matches set up with ourfunds, you gotta hear the Gospel first.And the funds, they are just a-rollin' in: CampusCrusade For Christ pays Rs 12,000 plus expenses permonth to each of the 65 Muslim students who convertedand agreed to rope in others. "The hike in perksdepends on how we progress in our mission," said oneconverted student-employee. It's only business, yousee -- commissions given on the acquisition of souls."There are umpteen cases in which one person has beenbaptised thrice within a few months. These so-calledevangelists have set up businesses in the garb ofChurch and social work. The converts here do it formonetary reasons and the people who convert them, too,do it for the same reasons," said Pastor LeslieRichards, a native Protestant of Srinagar.Such efforts by missionaries get support fromunexpected American quarters: Last year, Suzanne MarieOlsson, a NY-based "researcher," arrived in Srinagarto study and dig into the shrine of Rozabal whichhouses the tomb of Pir Yuza Asaf. Her claim: Rozabalis the tomb of Jesus Christ. Another claim: A shrinein Pakistan's Murree hills entombs the Virgin Mary. Isthat too much to swallow? Here are more: Moses isburied in Bandipore, Haroun at Harwan, and Solomon atTakht-i-Sulaiman in Srinagar.So, why was Ms Olsson doing all this? "You have moreChristian holy sites than Egypt or Israel, she said.Yeahhh...? She only wanted to unravel the truth aboutthe shrines so that Kashmir becomes a main attractionfor Christian pilgrims, she said...In the meantime, the "aid workers" can continue to aidKashmiri Muslims with the aid of tales about the"serious archaeological research" on the tombs ofJesus and Mary in native Kashmiri shrines. Sheesh...Did you see the March 20th report in The Deccan Heraldon "a spate of Sikh conversions to Christianity inPunjab, particularly in the border belt adjoiningPakistan"? The situation has gradually become so badthat the Akali Dal is now seeking an anti-conversionlaw, patterned on the one enacted by my new idol, theGreat Wall of Chennai. Sikhs, being a minority, haveall the rights to protect themselves from extinction:Members of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committeehave spread out into the villages of Amritsar andGurdaspur districts, asking Sikhs to refrain fromconverting to Christianity and exposing "miraclehealings."Last year, the then vice-chairman of the NationalCommission for Minorities, Tarlochan Singh, wrote tothe Catholic Bishops Council of India and the NationalCouncil of Churches in India, protesting theconversion incidents in Punjab and Bhilai where"Christian missionaries fully supported with medicalteams have been going around in many villages alluringpoor Sikh families to adopt Christianity."The J&K fraud was uncovered by a Muslim reporter, andthe Punjab to-do was exposed by a Sikh leading apowerful organisation. But what about the Hindus...?One of George W Bush's most reliable political allies,the Rev Pat Robertson, is on record saying, "What isHinduism but Devil worship, ultimately?" So now youknow how the NRPs (non-resident pinkos) could mustersuch a huge coalition acting against Hindutvainternationally. As for the situation within India,once case says it all:On September 9, 2002, Father Melwin De Silva, themanager of a missionary school in Bhavanikhera villagein Rajasthan, was arrested on charges of sexual abuseof 5 teenagers over a period of 2 years. After theboys finally mustered the courage to lodge a complaintwith the police, the villagers surrounded the schooland demanded the paedophile be handed over to them.The staff locked up the priest in a toilet, whileanother missionary, Fr Jose Mathais, had to face thewrath of the mob and was forced to do sit-ups beforethe villagers. The siege ended at De Silva's arrest;police recovered pornography from his quarters. Allthis was reported by UNI the day after the incident.Pretty straightforward, wouldn't you say? Well, hereare the aftermath-gems from India's oh-so-secularpress:The Christian community in Rajasthan's Ajmer districtis now the latest target of a Hindutva campaign. Lastmonth a priest in a missionary school in a village inAjmer was accused and arrested for sexually exploitingsome of his students. And in the polarization sincethen, Hindu organisations have used the incident tolaunch a drive to bring back Christians into the Hindufold -- NDTV News, October 9Christian priests running schools in and around Ajmerand at Nazirabad in the district have been targeted byvested interests in the wake of an incident involvinga priest in the St Martin School at Bhawani Khedavillage near Nazirabad on September 9 -- The Hindu,October 9Fr Melvin D'Souza [sic]... was arrested for allegedlysodomising residents of the school hostel and taken tothe Nasirabad police station. Soon, jeep-loads ofvillagers from surrounding areas descended on the town-- a well orchestrated campaign led by luminaries ofsundry Hindu organisations and parties -- IndianExpress, October 11Notice the dates? What happened on October 8...? Youknow what, I hope that Dara Singh, he ofGraham-Staines-and-his-two-minor-sons fame, emergesfrom the courts unscathed. For, even if he is guilty,he's just a product of a diseased system. Isn't thatthe excuse the "secularists" give when pleading forSalman Khan...? In any case, let's ask the Iraqis whatthey think of Dara's case six month from now.
Riba (interest ) is haram - and its alteranative
First UK Islamic bank opens its doors Sandra Haurant
The Islamic Bank of Britain opened the doors to itsfirst branch, in Edgware Road, London, today. Whileother banks offer individual products that comply withIslamic rules, this will be the first bank in the UKthat operates wholly in accordance with Islamic shariaprinciples. Under sharia law, all money must be invested in purelyethical industries, so the bank will not invest in anybusiness involved with tobacco, alcohol orpornography, for example. Islamic law forbids themaking of money with money, and giving or receiving ofinterest is forbidden. Similarly, money cannot besimply traded for money, Instead, profits can be madeby the buying and selling of goods and services.From today, the bank will be offering a range ofsavings accounts through its London branch, and willalso offer access to the accounts across the countrythrough postal and telephone banking. Instead of paying interest on savings accounts, thebank will trade in investments which comply withsharia law. The profits from those investments willthen be shared with savers. The bank will offer current accounts and loans fromNovember this year, and mortgages, credit or chargecards and small business banking will be availablenext year.Further branches will be opened in Leicester andBirmingham in November, and there are plans to openeight more branches, plus an internet bankingfacility, in 2005. While the bank strictly complies with shariaprinciples, the services it provides are available toeveryone.Michael Hanlon, managing director of the Islamic Bankof Britain, said: "We are delighted to be opening ourfirst branch. It marks a new era in Islamic banking inthe UK and the beginning of our work to broaden ourproduct offering and branch network. "The current additional capital raising taking placewill provide funds to allow us to implement theseimportant growth plans, and we are confident that wecan provide customers with a range of sharia compliantproducts and services. Our products will be equivalentto those available in a conventional bank andcompetitively priced," he said.A supervisory committee, made up of a group of Islamicscholars, will ensure that the bank adheres fully tosharia principles. The committee will approve allservices, activities and investments before they go onthe market. The bank will also be regulated by theFinancial Services Authority and will meet with UKbanking regulations.
If you have any comments from asom then sent to asimhazarika@gawab.com
The Islamic Bank of Britain opened the doors to itsfirst branch, in Edgware Road, London, today. Whileother banks offer individual products that comply withIslamic rules, this will be the first bank in the UKthat operates wholly in accordance with Islamic shariaprinciples. Under sharia law, all money must be invested in purelyethical industries, so the bank will not invest in anybusiness involved with tobacco, alcohol orpornography, for example. Islamic law forbids themaking of money with money, and giving or receiving ofinterest is forbidden. Similarly, money cannot besimply traded for money, Instead, profits can be madeby the buying and selling of goods and services.From today, the bank will be offering a range ofsavings accounts through its London branch, and willalso offer access to the accounts across the countrythrough postal and telephone banking. Instead of paying interest on savings accounts, thebank will trade in investments which comply withsharia law. The profits from those investments willthen be shared with savers. The bank will offer current accounts and loans fromNovember this year, and mortgages, credit or chargecards and small business banking will be availablenext year.Further branches will be opened in Leicester andBirmingham in November, and there are plans to openeight more branches, plus an internet bankingfacility, in 2005. While the bank strictly complies with shariaprinciples, the services it provides are available toeveryone.Michael Hanlon, managing director of the Islamic Bankof Britain, said: "We are delighted to be opening ourfirst branch. It marks a new era in Islamic banking inthe UK and the beginning of our work to broaden ourproduct offering and branch network. "The current additional capital raising taking placewill provide funds to allow us to implement theseimportant growth plans, and we are confident that wecan provide customers with a range of sharia compliantproducts and services. Our products will be equivalentto those available in a conventional bank andcompetitively priced," he said.A supervisory committee, made up of a group of Islamicscholars, will ensure that the bank adheres fully tosharia principles. The committee will approve allservices, activities and investments before they go onthe market. The bank will also be regulated by theFinancial Services Authority and will meet with UKbanking regulations.
If you have any comments from asom then sent to asimhazarika@gawab.com
Yvonne Ridley : From captive to convert
By Hannah Bayman BBC News Online
If you were being interrogated by the Taleban as asuspected US spy, it might be hard to imagine a happyending. But for journalist Yvonne Ridley, the ordeal inAfghanistan led her to convert to a religion she saysis "the biggest and best family in the world". The formerly hard-drinking Sunday school teacherbecame a Muslim after reading the Koran on herrelease. She now describes radical cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri as"quite sweet really" and says the Taleban havesuffered an unfair press. Working as a reporter for the Sunday Express inSeptember 2001, Ridley was smuggled from Pakistanacross the Afghan border. But her cover was blown when she fell off her donkeyin front of a Taleban soldier near Jalalabad,revealing a banned camera underneath her robes. Her first thought as the furious young man camerunning towards her? "Wow - you're gorgeous," she says. "He had those amazing green eyes that are peculiar tothat region of Afghanistan and a beard with a life ofits own. "But fear quickly took over. I did see him again on myway to Pakistan after my release and he waved at mefrom his car." Ridley was working for the Sunday Express at the timeof her capture Ridley was interrogated for 10 days without beingallowed a phone call, and missed her daughter Daisy'sninth birthday. Of the Taleban, Ridley says: "I couldn't support whatthey did or believed in, but they were demonisedbeyond recognition, because you can't drop bombs onnice people." It has been suggested the 46-year-old is a victim ofStockholm Syndrome, in which hostages take the side ofthe hostage-takers. But she says: "I was horrible to my captors. I spat atthem and was rude and refused to eat. It wasn't untilI was freed that I became interested in Islam." 'Flappy knickers' Indeed, the Taleban deputy foreign minister was calledin when Ridley refused to take her underwear down fromthe prison washing line, which was in view ofsoldier's quarters. "He said, 'Look, if they see those things they willhave impure thoughts'." "Afghanistan was about to be bombed by the richestcountry in the world and all they were concerned aboutwas my big, flappy, black knickers. "I realised the US doesn't have to bomb the Taleban -just fly in a regiment of women waving their underwearand they will all run off." Once she was back in the UK, Ridley turned to theKoran as part of her attempt to understand herexperience. "I was absolutely blown away by what I was reading -not one dot or squiggle had been changed in 1,400years. "I have joined what I consider to be the biggest andbest family in the world. When we stick together weare absolutely invincible." What do her Church of England parents in County Durhammake of her new family? "Initially the reaction of my family and friends wasone of horror, but now they can all see how muchhappier, healthier and fulfilled I am. "And my mother is delighted I've stopped drinking." What does Ridley feel about the place of women inIslam? "There are oppressed women in Muslim countries, but Ican take you up the side streets of Tyneside and showyou oppressed women there. "Oppression is cultural, it is not Islamic. The Koranmakes it crystal clear that women are equal." And her new Muslim dress is empowering, she says. "How liberating is it to be judged for your mind andnot the size of your bust or length of your legs." The reporter spent the first night of war in a prisoncell in Kabul A single mother who has been married three times, shesays Islam has freed her from worry over her lovelife. "I no longer sit and wait by the phone for a man toring and I haven't been stood up for months. "I have no man stress. For the first time since myteens I don't have that pressure to have a boyfriendor husband." But there has been a phone call from at least one maleadmirer - north London preacher Abu Hamza al-Masri. "He said, 'Sister Yvonne, welcome to Islam,congratulations'. "I explained I hadn't yet taken my final vows and hesaid, 'Don't be pressured or pushed, the wholecommunity is there for you if you need any help, justcall one of the sisters.' 'Straight to hellfire' "I thought, I can't believe it, this is the fire andbrimstone cleric from Finsbury Park mosque and he isquite sweet really. "I was just about to hang up when he said, 'But thereis just one thing I want you to remember. Tomorrow, ifyou have an accident and die, you will go straight tohellfire'. "I was so scared that I carried a copy of the vows inmy purse until my final conversion last June." And the hardest part of her new life? "Praying five times a day. And I am still strugglingto give up cigarettes."
If you were being interrogated by the Taleban as asuspected US spy, it might be hard to imagine a happyending. But for journalist Yvonne Ridley, the ordeal inAfghanistan led her to convert to a religion she saysis "the biggest and best family in the world". The formerly hard-drinking Sunday school teacherbecame a Muslim after reading the Koran on herrelease. She now describes radical cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri as"quite sweet really" and says the Taleban havesuffered an unfair press. Working as a reporter for the Sunday Express inSeptember 2001, Ridley was smuggled from Pakistanacross the Afghan border. But her cover was blown when she fell off her donkeyin front of a Taleban soldier near Jalalabad,revealing a banned camera underneath her robes. Her first thought as the furious young man camerunning towards her? "Wow - you're gorgeous," she says. "He had those amazing green eyes that are peculiar tothat region of Afghanistan and a beard with a life ofits own. "But fear quickly took over. I did see him again on myway to Pakistan after my release and he waved at mefrom his car." Ridley was working for the Sunday Express at the timeof her capture Ridley was interrogated for 10 days without beingallowed a phone call, and missed her daughter Daisy'sninth birthday. Of the Taleban, Ridley says: "I couldn't support whatthey did or believed in, but they were demonisedbeyond recognition, because you can't drop bombs onnice people." It has been suggested the 46-year-old is a victim ofStockholm Syndrome, in which hostages take the side ofthe hostage-takers. But she says: "I was horrible to my captors. I spat atthem and was rude and refused to eat. It wasn't untilI was freed that I became interested in Islam." 'Flappy knickers' Indeed, the Taleban deputy foreign minister was calledin when Ridley refused to take her underwear down fromthe prison washing line, which was in view ofsoldier's quarters. "He said, 'Look, if they see those things they willhave impure thoughts'." "Afghanistan was about to be bombed by the richestcountry in the world and all they were concerned aboutwas my big, flappy, black knickers. "I realised the US doesn't have to bomb the Taleban -just fly in a regiment of women waving their underwearand they will all run off." Once she was back in the UK, Ridley turned to theKoran as part of her attempt to understand herexperience. "I was absolutely blown away by what I was reading -not one dot or squiggle had been changed in 1,400years. "I have joined what I consider to be the biggest andbest family in the world. When we stick together weare absolutely invincible." What do her Church of England parents in County Durhammake of her new family? "Initially the reaction of my family and friends wasone of horror, but now they can all see how muchhappier, healthier and fulfilled I am. "And my mother is delighted I've stopped drinking." What does Ridley feel about the place of women inIslam? "There are oppressed women in Muslim countries, but Ican take you up the side streets of Tyneside and showyou oppressed women there. "Oppression is cultural, it is not Islamic. The Koranmakes it crystal clear that women are equal." And her new Muslim dress is empowering, she says. "How liberating is it to be judged for your mind andnot the size of your bust or length of your legs." The reporter spent the first night of war in a prisoncell in Kabul A single mother who has been married three times, shesays Islam has freed her from worry over her lovelife. "I no longer sit and wait by the phone for a man toring and I haven't been stood up for months. "I have no man stress. For the first time since myteens I don't have that pressure to have a boyfriendor husband." But there has been a phone call from at least one maleadmirer - north London preacher Abu Hamza al-Masri. "He said, 'Sister Yvonne, welcome to Islam,congratulations'. "I explained I hadn't yet taken my final vows and hesaid, 'Don't be pressured or pushed, the wholecommunity is there for you if you need any help, justcall one of the sisters.' 'Straight to hellfire' "I thought, I can't believe it, this is the fire andbrimstone cleric from Finsbury Park mosque and he isquite sweet really. "I was just about to hang up when he said, 'But thereis just one thing I want you to remember. Tomorrow, ifyou have an accident and die, you will go straight tohellfire'. "I was so scared that I carried a copy of the vows inmy purse until my final conversion last June." And the hardest part of her new life? "Praying five times a day. And I am still strugglingto give up cigarettes."
Bright Picture , DarkPatches
Bright Picture, Dark Patches - Inder Malhotra
In the midst of the dreary and depressing winter, there could have been no more heartwarming message and that too from an unexpected source. America’s CIA, forecasting the "global picture" just 15 years hence in 2020, has declared that by then the United States would cease to be the sole superpower and China and India — in that order — would be close to sharing that honour with it. Henceforth, it would be the Asian Century, no longer the American one.
The council has been doing this kind of crystal gazing for quite some time. But never before has its reading of the future reflected such certitude as this time around. For, it has described the rise of the two Asian giants sharing a long and disputed border as a "virtual certainty." What will warm the cockles of Indian hearts even more is the strong hint in the published version of the CIA council’s report that the "Indian Elephant", still stumbling behind the "Chinese Dragon" might "overtake" it as the world’s "fastest growing economy" at the end of the century’s second decade.
The reasons for the US administration’s optimism about this country — and, of course, about China — are not far to seek. China’s phenomenal growth since Deng Xiaoping embarked on the market economy, behind the camouflage of "socialism with Chinese characteristics", has been dazzling the wide world for nearly a quarter of a century, especially during the last ten years. Indicators in this country’s case may not be so spectacular but they are promising enough, as foreigners have discerned sooner than most Indians themselves. In the first place, the slow-moving and lackadaisical Indian economy has — thanks to economic reforms that have often been controversial — broken out of the shackles of what used to be called derisively the "Hindu rate of growth." Foreign currency reserves, at rock bottom in 1991, have reached a dizzy height of $129 billion. Then there is the brain-power and the widespread knowledge of English, which together have made this country a leading IT (information technology) nation. Cheng Rui Sheng, a former Chinese ambassador in New Delhi and now a major player on the Track-II diplomatic circuit, has said that India is already a "software superpower." Millions of Chinese are learning English to be able to compete with this country in this lucrative and fast-expanding sector. Thousands of boorish Americans are cursing the call centres in Gurgaon and Bangalore for having "taken away" their jobs.
The collective impact of all this is that India today has a burgeoning middle class with a standard of living equal to that of Italians numbering 300 million. This is more than the total population of the US. The consumption explosion that this would mean with the passage of time should not be difficult to envisage.
All this is music to our ears, of course. But no Indian should make the mistake of feeling overconfident and smug. The authors of the CIA report have themselves taken the precaution to warn us that the path of "power and glory" is strewn with "numerous pitfalls". They have also entered several caveats to their own prognostications. Apart from utterly unforeseen disasters such as a tsunami that could upset all projections, they say, both India and China could fall prey to internal dangers, such as economic and political "volatility". Pressures on resources — land, water and energy supplies — on both the Asian countries are bound to intensify as they modernize.
In India’s case, AIDS would be an additional menace. China runs the risk of being stymied by the persistence of an "authoritarian regime" (as against the well-entrenched Indian democracy). "Stifling bureaucracy", erosion of secularism and the galloping march of caste-based politics could defeat this country.
These warnings need to be taken seriously. As we witnessed during the prodigious post-tsunami devastation, the so-called upper caste victims refused to share either shelter or food with the Dalits. Shockingly, those shooing away the Dalits even in the midst of an overwhelming calamity were fishermen belonging to the "most backward of the backward castes." This indeed is becoming the pattern across the country, especially in North India where OBCs rather than the Brahmins, Rajputs and Bhumiars torment those who are supposed to be no longer untouchable. The worst horror of this shame along the Tamil Nadu coast is that so few are horrified by it.
Even in relation to the developing India-China equation the significance of the small print in the CIA council’s report must not be missed. India will not "overtake" China in either economic or military power in the foreseeable future. The only possibility is that because of its "demographic dividend" — India’s population would be much younger than China’s because of the latter’s one-child policy — and other factors Indian rate of growth in 2020 might be higher than China’s. For the rest, this country would continue to be much behind the northern neighbour in most respects.
For instance, in 2020, China’s economy would be the second largest in the world, next only to that of America’s. The best we would have done by then is to "catch up" with European countries, which is a no big deal considering that India is indeed equal to Europe from the Atlantic to the Urals. Or to look at it another way, the Chinese economy would be twice as large as India’s with very little difference in population. What this would do to per capita income is obvious enough.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has personally pointed out that China is far ahead of India in taking steps to ensure energy security. Mercifully, he has taken steps to bridge this gap. As a first step he has appointed an expert committee to restructure the public sector units in the oil sector.
It stands to reason that the India-China rivalry or competition, at present downplayed by both sides, would probably come into the open because the "Vision 2020" cannot but change the Asian and global geo-political landscape though America’s global dominance would persist. According to the CIA council’s projections that make sound sense, governments of South-East Asia are likely to move closer to India to build a counter-weight to China. Indian diplomacy will have to be skilful enough to let this happen without creating too much of a hiatus with China. Similarly the opportunity to have closer relations with Central Asian countries and Iran should not be missed.
A distinguished retired Indian diplomat, on a recent visit to South-East Asia was struck by the keen interest of the governments there in India’s Look East policy. Some of his interlocutors told him that China, rather the US was uppermost in their minds these days, and they hoped Indian power and influence would grow similarly.
To revert to internal weaknesses that could be major hurdles on the high road to steady progress, the most daunting is the near-certainty that grinding and dehumanizing poverty would continue to co-exist with the rapid growth of the relatively prosperous middle class. To make matters infinitely worse, regional disparity would increase rather than decrease. For, while other parts of the country would march ahead, Bihar, UP, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh could descend deeper into poverty. In short, the BIMARU States would remain bimaar (sick). The socio-political upheaval this could cause is exemplified by the lawlessness in Bihar and the spread of naxalism from 57 of the 493 districts a year ago to 152 districts today.(Manuj Features)
In the midst of the dreary and depressing winter, there could have been no more heartwarming message and that too from an unexpected source. America’s CIA, forecasting the "global picture" just 15 years hence in 2020, has declared that by then the United States would cease to be the sole superpower and China and India — in that order — would be close to sharing that honour with it. Henceforth, it would be the Asian Century, no longer the American one.
The council has been doing this kind of crystal gazing for quite some time. But never before has its reading of the future reflected such certitude as this time around. For, it has described the rise of the two Asian giants sharing a long and disputed border as a "virtual certainty." What will warm the cockles of Indian hearts even more is the strong hint in the published version of the CIA council’s report that the "Indian Elephant", still stumbling behind the "Chinese Dragon" might "overtake" it as the world’s "fastest growing economy" at the end of the century’s second decade.
The reasons for the US administration’s optimism about this country — and, of course, about China — are not far to seek. China’s phenomenal growth since Deng Xiaoping embarked on the market economy, behind the camouflage of "socialism with Chinese characteristics", has been dazzling the wide world for nearly a quarter of a century, especially during the last ten years. Indicators in this country’s case may not be so spectacular but they are promising enough, as foreigners have discerned sooner than most Indians themselves. In the first place, the slow-moving and lackadaisical Indian economy has — thanks to economic reforms that have often been controversial — broken out of the shackles of what used to be called derisively the "Hindu rate of growth." Foreign currency reserves, at rock bottom in 1991, have reached a dizzy height of $129 billion. Then there is the brain-power and the widespread knowledge of English, which together have made this country a leading IT (information technology) nation. Cheng Rui Sheng, a former Chinese ambassador in New Delhi and now a major player on the Track-II diplomatic circuit, has said that India is already a "software superpower." Millions of Chinese are learning English to be able to compete with this country in this lucrative and fast-expanding sector. Thousands of boorish Americans are cursing the call centres in Gurgaon and Bangalore for having "taken away" their jobs.
The collective impact of all this is that India today has a burgeoning middle class with a standard of living equal to that of Italians numbering 300 million. This is more than the total population of the US. The consumption explosion that this would mean with the passage of time should not be difficult to envisage.
All this is music to our ears, of course. But no Indian should make the mistake of feeling overconfident and smug. The authors of the CIA report have themselves taken the precaution to warn us that the path of "power and glory" is strewn with "numerous pitfalls". They have also entered several caveats to their own prognostications. Apart from utterly unforeseen disasters such as a tsunami that could upset all projections, they say, both India and China could fall prey to internal dangers, such as economic and political "volatility". Pressures on resources — land, water and energy supplies — on both the Asian countries are bound to intensify as they modernize.
In India’s case, AIDS would be an additional menace. China runs the risk of being stymied by the persistence of an "authoritarian regime" (as against the well-entrenched Indian democracy). "Stifling bureaucracy", erosion of secularism and the galloping march of caste-based politics could defeat this country.
These warnings need to be taken seriously. As we witnessed during the prodigious post-tsunami devastation, the so-called upper caste victims refused to share either shelter or food with the Dalits. Shockingly, those shooing away the Dalits even in the midst of an overwhelming calamity were fishermen belonging to the "most backward of the backward castes." This indeed is becoming the pattern across the country, especially in North India where OBCs rather than the Brahmins, Rajputs and Bhumiars torment those who are supposed to be no longer untouchable. The worst horror of this shame along the Tamil Nadu coast is that so few are horrified by it.
Even in relation to the developing India-China equation the significance of the small print in the CIA council’s report must not be missed. India will not "overtake" China in either economic or military power in the foreseeable future. The only possibility is that because of its "demographic dividend" — India’s population would be much younger than China’s because of the latter’s one-child policy — and other factors Indian rate of growth in 2020 might be higher than China’s. For the rest, this country would continue to be much behind the northern neighbour in most respects.
For instance, in 2020, China’s economy would be the second largest in the world, next only to that of America’s. The best we would have done by then is to "catch up" with European countries, which is a no big deal considering that India is indeed equal to Europe from the Atlantic to the Urals. Or to look at it another way, the Chinese economy would be twice as large as India’s with very little difference in population. What this would do to per capita income is obvious enough.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has personally pointed out that China is far ahead of India in taking steps to ensure energy security. Mercifully, he has taken steps to bridge this gap. As a first step he has appointed an expert committee to restructure the public sector units in the oil sector.
It stands to reason that the India-China rivalry or competition, at present downplayed by both sides, would probably come into the open because the "Vision 2020" cannot but change the Asian and global geo-political landscape though America’s global dominance would persist. According to the CIA council’s projections that make sound sense, governments of South-East Asia are likely to move closer to India to build a counter-weight to China. Indian diplomacy will have to be skilful enough to let this happen without creating too much of a hiatus with China. Similarly the opportunity to have closer relations with Central Asian countries and Iran should not be missed.
A distinguished retired Indian diplomat, on a recent visit to South-East Asia was struck by the keen interest of the governments there in India’s Look East policy. Some of his interlocutors told him that China, rather the US was uppermost in their minds these days, and they hoped Indian power and influence would grow similarly.
To revert to internal weaknesses that could be major hurdles on the high road to steady progress, the most daunting is the near-certainty that grinding and dehumanizing poverty would continue to co-exist with the rapid growth of the relatively prosperous middle class. To make matters infinitely worse, regional disparity would increase rather than decrease. For, while other parts of the country would march ahead, Bihar, UP, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh could descend deeper into poverty. In short, the BIMARU States would remain bimaar (sick). The socio-political upheaval this could cause is exemplified by the lawlessness in Bihar and the spread of naxalism from 57 of the 493 districts a year ago to 152 districts today.(Manuj Features)
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