purbanchal

After Norway, Britain rocked by western barbarism

2011-08-12T11:39:00.001-07:00

By Soroor Ahmed, TwoCircles.net,

Within a fortnight of July 22 Norway massacre, multi-culturalism is once again being held responsible for yet another form of violence in the West. Great Britain exploded following the killing of Mark Duggan, a Black, in the Afro-Caribbean pocket of London on August 4.

While Anders Behring Breivik of Norway wanted to get Europe rid of Muslims and stall the “invasion of Islam”, in United Kingdom the killing on suspicion sparked off yet another row over mutli-ethnicity.

Surprisingly, when Jean Charles de Menezes, a 27-year-old electrician from Brazil, was shot dead several times by police on the suspicion of being a terrorist in July 2005 Britain did not witness violence though there was shock and disbelief everywhere as the incident took place a few days after a terror attack in that country. Though the British government was apologetic and Brazil expressed anger yet the United Kingdom remained peaceful.

The reason is very much there. Unlike Latin Americans, the population of Black is more palpable, have almost five centuries of history and have their own entity. They have their own newspapers and can organize and rightly or wrongly, retaliate and indulge in arson and looting.

The arsonists not only targeted Whites, but also the people of Chinese, Turkish, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi origin. But what is surprising is that many Whites were also seen indulging in large scale loots of shops and property and violence. What prompted them to go on rampage? So the opponents of multiculturalism have been deprived of the argument that it is simply ‘civilized’ Whites versus ‘barbaric’ Blacks or Whites versus non-Whites in the West.

The right wing apologists of Anders Behring Breivik in the West as well as East have been accusing Islam and Muslims for the spread of violence in their part of the world, but once again they were shocked to find that both the killer and the killed––that is the police and Mark Duggan––belong to the same faith, and has nothing to do with Islam. Not only that it was Haroon Jahan and two other Muslims, who laid down their lives saving the people in Birmingham.

The xenophobics in the West hate the outsiders even if they have been living there for generations or centuries. Many among them view them as a parasites who get unemployment allowance and all sorts of facilities and in return indulge in crimes.

There may be some truth in such feelings. But when one digs deep into the history one finds that these outsiders have not come on their own and settled in United Kingdom, United States or other parts of Europe clandestinely. It is the rulers of the West who themselves took the Africans and Asians to their respective countries and colonies for their own purpose.

First the Blacks were shepherded from West Africa to the new world of America as well as England five centuries back. They were treated worst than beast, forced to clear the huge jungles; make the land cultivable, lay the roads and later railway tracks and work in mines in the most inhuman condition. In fact they were used as cannon fodder in the wars in the wild west and in icy cold north when the fact is that these Blacks were brought from hot climates of Africa.

The whole of new world was made inhabitable for the White migrants from Europe to settle. Thus, these Black slaves were used to lay the foundation of what later came to be known as the modern United States of America. The contributions of Blacks in making it Super Power can never be denied though they hardly get any credit for it.

Much later, Africans and other Asians were taken to United Kingdom and other European countries to work in those sectors of the industries where the western countries were facing serious labour shortage.

Many early migrants, even Mirpuris from Pakistan, who were displaced after the construction of Mangla Dam in PoK in 1960s, worked in mines and other menial jobs to overcome the labour crisis in that country.

British during their rule in India took a large number of young Afghans and Pushtoons of the NWFP for laying railway tracks and other physical works in Australia in late 19th century.

Now with the development of technology and less reliance on hands there may be large scale reduction in demand of labourers. This may be one of the reasons for rampant unemployment among the semi-literate and semi-skilled later generations of these migrants. Thus they may be more prone to crime and addiction.

The ultra-rightists in the West may see such Africans and Asians as hate objects but the problem with these countries is that they are facing sharp decline in the population of original inhabitants. Aging is another problem with them. If today they discourage multiculturalism they, in the long run, themselves would be the losers.

So, to say that these migrants are burden on the West is oversimplication of history. In the early centuries of their development these slaves were the prize assets for the West. Not only that the Blacks fought all the tough wars for the West. Even in the American War of Independence the British imperialists took a large number of Blacks to fight their war. After the retreat they were brought back to United Kingdom, their pensions were stopped and were forced to beg for their survival.

The Blacks fought two World Wars as well as many other wars as Sikhs, Rajputs, Paithans, Gorkhas, Baluchis, Punjabis etc did for the British empire.

The problem with the Blacks is more complicated than Asians, who at least root for their respective countries of their origin. Uprooted so many times in the last several centuries there is a strong sense of rootlessness among a sizeable section of Black.

Alex Haley’s Roots and Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin may help understand the whole psyche of the Blacks living in the United States, and in the same way Europe.

http://twocircles.net/2011aug12/after_norway_britain_rocked_western_barbarism.html

Nitish’s police now beat Mohd. Shamsuddin to death in Muzaffarpur

2011-08-06T05:04:00.000-07:00

By TCN Staff Reporter,

Patna: This happens when one goes scot-free after his earlier crime. Unpunished for the brutal killing of four persons in Forbesganj, the Bihar police under the regime of Nitish Kumar seem to have got emboldened. Exposing their brutal face again just two months after the Forbesganj, some policemen in Muzaffarpur on 5th August beat 50-year-old Mohammad Shamsuddin to death in full public view.

A group of policemen of Town and Mithanpura police stations mercilessly assaulted Shamsuddin on the campus of Dharam Samaj Sanskrit College in Kanhauli Dih area of Muzaffarpur town just before Juma Prayer. Shamsuddin stitches clothes in a makeshift shop beside the gate of the college. The cops were brutally beating two youths Mohammad Mohsin and Mohammad Chunnu on the college campus. When they cried for help, 50-year-old Shamsuddin rushed to the spot to rescue them. He objected them for brutally beating the youths. The cops left the youths and pounced on the old man and beat him mercilessly. Shamsuddin suffered head injuries and died on the spot.

According to media reports, Mohsin and Chunnu were sitting at a lahti shop near Madarsa Jamia Nooria Merajul Uloom in Kanhauli Dih when two persons Ranjeet and Pintu from nearby P&T Colony came and asked them to go with them to nearby Sanskrit College. As soon as Mohsin and Chunnu entered the college campus four people, who were already there, pounced on them and beat mercilessly. The four assaulters were policemen from two police stations.

As the news about Shamsuddin’s death spread the villagers gathered and chased the policemen. They managed to flee the spot but the angry villagers set a motorbike of a policeman on fire. The villagers laid the body of Shamshuddin outside the main gate of the college. They condemned police atrocities and demanded adequate compensation and a job for the next of kin of the deceased.

District Magistrate (DM) Santosh Kumar Mall and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Rajesh Kumar rushed to the spot with reinforcement. They were followed by zonal Inspector-General (IG) of police Gupteshwar Pandey and the Deputy Inspector-General (DIG) of police Bacchu Singh Meena.

According to reports, IG announced that probationary sub-inspector (PSI) Sailendra Kumar Singh of Town police station would be dismissed from police service. A named FIR would be lodged against him and the erring cops, who were with the police team. He added that a speedy trial would be conducted for those found guilty. The DM provided Rs 10,000 to conduct the funeral and other expenses. As the villagers put pressure for more compensation amount the DM is said to have recommended a compensation of Rs 5 lakh from the state government. The DM said he has requested the home secretary, Amir Subhani, to provide compensation as the deceased hailed from a below poverty line family.

http://twocircles.net/2011aug06/nitish%E2%80%99s_police_now_beat_mohd_shamsuddin_death_muzaffarpur.html

Toothless LokPal Bill will once again take India for a ride : corrupt crooks can’t be controlled

2011-07-06T12:10:00.001-07:00

It is very easy to deceive the Indians. Particularly those classified as Hindu. Though the SC/ST/BC (65%) are not Hindu and never Hindu, they have been Hinduised (made unthinking morons) in the past thousands of years under this violent and also non-violent Hinduaisation drive. The shudra section, forming the fourth order of the chathur varna (caste system) have been also made unthinking fellows.

That means over 80% of the Hindu social order can be easily fooled by the upper castes (dwijas),meaning Brahmins, Kshtriyas and Vaishyas

The first person who successfully fooled the unthinking, poor, gullible masses was M.K.Gandhi. Then came another bogus fellow hailed Lok Nayak J.P. the latest to enter this lucrative business is the Marathi Brahnin, Anna Hazare, also “Gandhian”.

The multi-million dollar yoga guru, Ramdev Yadav, gate crashed into this field. His yoga clients are the overfed upper castes but they did not join his June 5 Ramlila ground circus in Delhi fearing violence. It is again the unthinking “low caste” morons, made monkeys by the myths manufactured by Brahminism. Ramdev is being groomed by the Hindu terrorist party which wants to seize the initiative taken by the other fake Gandhian who is also close to the Hindu terrorist party.

Thanks to the “khatri sick” PM’s June 5th midnight foolishness, the two rival “saviours” are merging.

This is an important development in the crisis- ridden history of India manipulated by its less than 3% Brahminical upper castes.

This is incident clearly proved that the Indian constitution and all the creatures it created, namely parliament, executive, judiciary-have all failed. And this country of 1,300 millions, the second largest in the world, is being taken hostage by extra-constitutional mischief-makers.

Every effort is being made by the ruling class to bury the LokPal Bill after raising sky high the hopes of the oppressed millions. Both the nakli Gandhi, Anna Hazare, and the “Khatri sick” PM--the two sides of the same coin--are party to the conspiracy which once again took the country’s innocent millions for a ride.

If you closely observe, the “Gandhian” Anna’s gang leaders are all urban-based corrupt parasites. Do you remember the same fellows once hoisted the Lok Nayak Jayprakash Narayans(JP) whose bogus “Total Revolution” brought the Hindu terrorist party to power? Anna is a great admirer of Gandhi, JP, Gujart’s Modi and Karnataka’s Yediyurappa. This is enough to sum up Anna.

Financial crooks: If the PM and the Supreme Court are so pure and lily white why they should not be subjected to LP probe? If the PM is so honest, as he pretends, why should he not himself volunteer for scrutiny?

DV was the one and only paper in India to declare that the country’s biggest financial crooks and criminals have all flourishied under the PM.

Swiss bank stolen money: The one single case of Harshad Mehta is enough to prove our point. Now look. The Supreme Court has been repeatedly asking the govt. to get back the stolen money kept in Swiss Bank. But it is our “Khatri Sick” PM who is side-tracking the issue. The latest proof for this is the govt. appointing an “expert committee” to count the quantum of money and where it goes funny. This is a typical “Hindu style”. When you want to kill an inconvenient problem, appoint a committee.

The country’s topmost frauds have all kept their stolen money in Swiss banks but the “Khatri Sick” PM is shielding them.

DV never proved wrong: Telecom Minister Raja had repeatedly said he had kept thePMfully briefed at every stage on the spectrum issue. Kalmadi also had kept PM fully informed. But Raja and Kalmadi are sent to jail. Why commission yet another yoga guru Ramdev (54) darling of the Hindu terrorist party, fraud to say PM should be kept out of the LokPal? The entire economic portrait of the country was painted by him, right from his days as the Governor of the Reserve Bank, then as Financial Minister and later as PM. All the biggest sharks are sheltered under his broad wings. Our suspicions and criticisms will continue to stick until the “Khatri Sick” PM and the Supreme Court voluntarily subject themselves toLPprobe.

The ruling class is very effectively shielding us the “Khathri Sick” PM who is the principal cause of India’s fall and fall. DV has been consistently telling it. And we have never proved wrong.

http://dalitvoice.org/Templates/july2011/editorial.htm

Don't repatriate Osama's family: Pakistani panel

2011-07-06T11:59:00.001-07:00

By IANS,

Islamabad : An official commission probing the killing of Osama bin Laden has said that the Al Qaeda leader's family members should not be repatriated without their permission.

Osama was gunned down by US commandos May 2 in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad in front of his family members, who are now reportedly in the custody of Pakistani security agencies.

The panel asked the interior ministry and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) not to send back the Osama family, which includes his two wives and six children, the Dawn reported Wednesday.

The four-member commission is headed by Supreme Court's Justice Javed Iqbal

Register your religion “Muslim” as printed in Census form: Mushawarat

2011-02-08T08:24:00.001-08:00

By TCN News,

New Delhi: All India Muslim Majlise Mushawarat has appealed to Muslims to register their religion as “Muslim” – as it is printed in the Census 2011 form – and not insist on Islam as there is the word “Muslim” under religion section, not Islam.

“If you tell them your religion is Islam, not Muslim, it is most likely the illiterate Census workers will put your name in Other Religions section, and thus the actual number of Muslims will go down,” Dr Zafrul Islam Khan, Acting President of Mushawarat said in a statement today.

Commenting on the error in the Census form he said that the officials have erred to put Muslim as religion of Muslims. The religion of Muslims is Islam, not Muslim, he said. But he cautioned that correcting the error can be done only through court while the second and last part of the Census is going to start on 9th Feb 2011 so it is better to put your religion as Muslim for the greater interest of the community.

He appealed to the spread this message through statements and ads in newspapers, announcements from mosques and distributing handbills.

Northeast issues: Forum to draw national attention

2011-02-08T08:19:00.001-08:00

By IANS,

Aizawl : Major political parties in northeast India have decided to form a joint forum to highlight the region's problems.

Leaders of the Naga People's Front (NPF), the Mizo National Front (MNF) and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and former Lok Sabha speaker P.A. Sangma met in New Delhi last week and decided to float a regional forum to underline the common issues of northeast India comprising eight states.

"There will be another summit in the national capital Feb 20 where leaders of all regional parties and MPs from the northeastern states would give the final shape to the proposed forum," MNF leader Zoding Sanga told reporters.

He said that the Feb 20 conference would also finalised the future course of action of the regional parties.

The NPF is the dominant partner of the ruling Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) government in Nagaland while the MNF is the main opposition party in the Congress ruled Mizoram.

NCP is the main opposition party in the Congress ruled Meghalaya though it is the coalition partner of the Congress led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the centre.

"The regional party leaders in their meeting in Delhi have planned to launch the new forum before the upcoming Assam assembly elections, which are likely to be held in April," the MNF leader said.

"If all the recognised regional parties come under one umbrella, it could have influence in the national politics and draw attention of the central government about the problems of the region," he added.

MNF president and former Mizoram chief minister Zoramthanga and Nagaland Chief Minister and NPF chief Neiphu Rio were among those also attended the meeting.

AGP suffers setback as its top leader joins BJP

2011-02-08T08:16:00.001-08:00

By IANS,

Dibrugarh (Assam) : Assam's main opposition Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) Tuesday suffered a major setback when its firebrand leader and former MP Sarbananda Sonowal quit the party and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at a public rally here.

The rally was attended by a host of BJP leaders, including party president Nitin Gadkari and Varun Gandhi, who is the in-charge of the BJP's affairs in Assam.

"I was fed up with the AGP as the party leadership compromised on the core issue of Bangladeshi infiltration. I realised there is no space for me in the party that compromised on the issue of influx, and hence thought the best option was to join the BJP," Sonowal told the rally.

"During the past few months, the AGP leadership started hobnobbing with the AUDF (Asom United Democratic Front), which is opposed to our stand against infiltration. I realised the AGP leadership was simply interested in power and ready to compromise on their ideology by even teaming up with the AUDF," he said.

Sonowal has always been very vocal on the infiltration issue and was instrumental in getting the controversial Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act (IMDT) scrapped by the Supreme Court in 2006.

The apex court verdict scrapping the IMDT Act followed a petition of Sonowal. The act placed the onus of proving that a person is a foreign national on the complainant rather than the person so accused.

The act has now been replaced with the Foreigners Act, 1946, applicable across India, where the accused needs to prove his or her citizenship, if questioned.

Addressing the rally, the BJP president said the party was eyeing to capture power in Assam with assembly polls due in March-April.

"The Congress government in Assam has become a national burden with corruption being the hallmark. People in Assam are looking for a change and the BJP is here to give that change," Gadkari said.

Hillary! Take Notice: Egyptians Are Not Intimidated by the F-16s Flying on their Heads in Cairo

2011-02-07T15:14:00.000-08:00

By Yvonne Ridley
Al-Jazeerah, CCUN, January 31, 2011

As people across Egypt continued resisting and rising against the brutal dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak it is quite clear they will not stop until he goes.
Quite clear to everyone, that is, apart from the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who is so out of touch with what is happening on the ground you have to wonder who on earth is advising her.
She appears to have no idea of the burning resentment and hatred held towards America among the ordinary men and women of Egypt. More than 100 have paid the blood price, so far, for standing up to the US backed tyrant Mubarak and two thousand others are injured.
It has been lost on no one that the empty shell casings from live ammunition and gas cannisters, which litter Tahrir Square and other streets across Egypt, were provided by the United States of America.
The “Made in the USA” empty shell casings tell their own story not just of the innocents they have killed, but of their origins and of America’s deadly legacy of unwelcome foreign interference in the region.
The Egyptian people have been fed propaganda for 30 years, their evening news on State TV is sanitized and censored and many have been afraid to speak out freely under the US backed dictatorship of Mubarak.
But do not for one minute think the Egyptian people are stupid – sadly the US has once again completely misread and underestimated an entire population.
These demonstrations are as much a protest against US meddling in their affairs as they are against the Mubarak regime.
Despite all of this Clinton showed not one ounce of compassion or humility when she made her latest blundering speech.
With the sensitivity of a bull in a china shop, she called for an orderly transition but only after heaping praise on the Mubarak government which has “made and kept peace with Israel avoiding violence, turmoil and death in the region.”
She told ABC News: "Democracy, human rights and economic reform are in the best interests of the Egyptian people." These are the same people her own government ignored as they continued to fund and back Mubarak with billions of US tax payers dollars over the decades.
The BBC's North America editor Mark Mardell says Clinton's comments are a sign that the Obama administration is edging towards accepting, if not openly endorsing, an end to Mubarak's rule. The truth is Mark, the Egyptian people do not want any more US interference – they do not want any more American weapons being used against them. America has no interest in the people of Egypt. Its only concern is for the man-made pariah state next door – Israel.
Clinton has been so out of step since this whole turmoil began to erupt. Both she and Obama remained completely silent for four whole weeks as scores of Tunisians died in that uprising and it was only when their man, Zine El Abedine Ben Ali took flight that they condemned his brutality.
When Egypt threatened to kick off Clinton said assuredly that the country was “stable.” That was a week ago and as she is beginning to learn, a week is a long time in politics. She says she wants democracy – but what sort of democracy Hillary? The sort that sees another tyrant take power? Or are you really going to let the people decide?
And by the way, the people are beginning to rise and resist right across the Maghreb, throughout the Middle East and Asia. US Foreign Policy has turned America in to the most hated country in the world and if Washington really told their own people the truth,. I know the millions upon millions of decent US citizens would be horrified by what is being done in their name.
But the truth is the American people are kept well away from the truth and are among the most least informed people in the world today.
Few Americans have any idea that this and the previous Bush administrations do not want democracy in the region. In fact they have collectively punished the people of Gaza for exercising their democratic right by voting for a Hamas-dominated government.
This has not been lost on the Egyptian people Hillary who, by the way, have a great love for Palestine, a place in their heart for Gaza and an even deeper hatred and mistrust for the brutal Zionist State, which really does threaten peace and stability in the region.
As I write this F16 fighter jets and attack helicopters, made in America, are flying overhead to try and intimidate the Egyptian people. Too late – there isn’t an army in the world that can beat this peoples’ army. Their fear has gone.
Your ill-informed advisers won’t tell you this Hillary, but I hate to see an empowered female make such a prat of herself, so here’s a piece of advice. The time has come when you really must step back and take a vow of silence. Every time you open your mouth you are looking and sounding even more stupid than the female presenter on Egyptian State TV who assures us all is at peace with the world and the streets of Egypt are empty and calm.
*British journalist Yvonne Ridley is the European President of the International Muslim Women’s Union
http://aljazeerah.info/Opinion%20Editorials/2011/January/31%20o/Hillary%20Take%20Notice%20Egyptians%20Are%20Not%20Intimidated%20by%20the%20F-16s%20Flying%20on%20their%20Heads%20in%20Cairo%20By%20Yvonne%20Ridley.htm

Transformation Is Coming to the Arab World, Despite Biden's Defense of Dictators

2011-02-07T15:10:00.001-08:00

By Mazin Qumsiyeh
Al-Jazeerah, CCUN, January 31, 2011

"Mubarak has been an ally of ours in a number of things and he’s been very responsible on, relative to geopolitical interest in the region, the Middle East peace efforts; the actions Egypt has taken relative to normalizing relationship with Israel.… I would not refer to him as a dictator” US Vice President Joe Biden ( a lackey of AIPAC)

I first visited Egypt 30 years ago in 1981 to do research for my master's thesis which was later published in my first book "The Bats of Egypt". I visited Egypt twice since then and I recall vividly police abuse of their own people and yet the Egyptians I encountered mocked and joked about dictatorship. We tried at least from a distance to support our Egyptian brothers and sisters as they struggle for freedom. Arabs everywhere (yes even here in occupied Palestine) are talking about a transformation and about revolution. But all such transformations carry pain. Over 200 Egyptians were killed, thousands injured, and there is much destruction. Yet in a nation of 85 million people this is still a relatively peaceful transformation.   While dealing with the present is critical we must also at this juncture start to look post dictatorship in the Arab world and plan the future.
I recall vividly a talk by a self-described "Liberal Zionist" (an oxymoron) at Duke University on 1 March 198l; at 77 year old he had no inhibitions in saying "Zionists do not want democracy in the Arab world." He explained that if Egypt was a democracy, it would not have signed a peace deal with Israel since the sentiments of the Arab people does not accept such arrangements that could be done with someone like President Sadat or King Hussein. On this point he was absolutely correct but in the long run such short-sighted perspective is self-destructive (1).
As I watched last night Hosni Mubarak make his (hopefully last) speech, I was very much reminded of the last speech of the Shah of Iran, Marcos of the Philippines, Bin Ali of Tunisia. They all claimed after so many years of torturing their own people that they now want to "reform". The US funded and supported the brutal Mubarak regime for over 30 years even as plenty of evidence from human rights organizations documented its abuse of its own citizens. See example videos of torture by Egyptian police (2). This is also the same police who, on the instruction of the Mubarak dictatorship, beat international activists trying to provide humanitarian relief to besieged Gaza (3). Mubarak then went on to for the first time appoint a vice president (his intelligence chief and ex-army buddy Omar Suleiman) and appoint another army officer as prime minister.   It is now recognized that his reign is ending and a new era is beginning.
It is rather amusing that the brutal dictator of "Saudi" Arabia (a country named after a ruling family!) called to support Mubarak and stated that the demonstrators are hooligans and criminals. Anyone who knows anything about Egypt knows that this amazing and inspiring mostly nonviolent revolution is a true expression of the will of the Egyptian people regardless of their political or religious persuasions (leftist, Muslim Brotherhood, Nasserite Arab Nationalist, Christians, Muslims, etc).
In other news in brief for those who don't keep up with internet news or those who watch mainly the (supine) Western Media:
-Large demonstrations by Egyptians and human rights defenders at Egyptian embassies around the world all demanding democracy
-Israeli embassy in Cairo essentially emptied (an apartheid state embassy in the largest Arab country is an abomination)
-Israeli pundits very worried about how Egypt might look after Mubarak.
-There are many signs that the Egyptian military (like the Tunisian military) may be critical in this struggle. Already there are instances where the demonstrators were protected from the Egyptian police by the Egyptian military. See footage (4)
-A number of human rights groups and Egyptian community representatives abroad all called for ending the Egyptian police brutality. By contrast EU and US government officials are making feeble statements to hedge their bets and at best call for "peaceful" actions from "all sides". Slowly they were forced to modify their retorhic to talk about "change" but must finally call on their puppet Mubarak to leave power and insist that he and his sons and family return the billions stolen from the Egyptian people.
-A number of religious and civil organizations in Egypt broke their silence to support the ouster of the "last Pharaoh"
-The dictatorship cutting of web and mobile phone services and banning reporting by groups like Al-Jazeera did little to stem the tide of protest because people are living it daily in their homes and on the streets and they are not being incited from outside.
-Protests spread to Jordan and Yemen (two other Western supported governments). There are now plans for large protests in Syria and other countries.
-On the Palestinian Authority TV news, they noted that Mahmoud Abbas called Mubarak and stated his support for stability of Egypt. Other news outlets stated that he fully supports the Mubarak regime. Hamas then came in to say that they support the Egyptian people. Sadly, I think all rational human beings know which horse to bet on in this struggle between people and a western-supported dictator who accomplished nothing for his people and instead enriched his family (his sons are billionaires in a country in which tens of millions of people live on less than $1 a day).
I wrote seven months ago that "The political leadership in the fragmented Arab countries and Palestinian authority have convinced themselves that they have no option but to endlessly try to talk to politicians from Tel Aviv and Washington (the latter also Israeli occupied territory) hoping for some 'gestures'….I know most politicians like to feel 100% safe (mostly for their position of power) and are afraid of any change. But I wish they would realize that daring politicians make the history books and those who hang around trying to protect their seats will be forgotten. Cowardice is never a virtue." And then I concluded that "In the demonstrations yesterday, a child in Gaza was carrying a sign that says 'we demand freedom' and a child in Cairo that says 'children in Egypt and in Gaza want the siege lifted'. That is our future - not elderly politicians meeting to do media damage control with empty words. "(5)
But make no mistake about it: no power transformation happens without a period of unrest, instability, and pain. I believe in these difficult periods, humans are tested. Some are weak and may even try to use the situations to make some quick personal profit. Others are of strong and decent character and this shows in their watching for their neighbors and their community. I have seen countless pictures and heard countless stories of acts that can only be described as heroic (e.g. people protecting the national museum in Cairo or their neighbors' houses). Intellectuals are stepping forward to articulate rational scenarios for the future. People helping other people.   So I think we will weather the transition. As to what the future holds. Clearly, the era of ignoring the masses is gone. It will not be easy since we have a legacy of decades of poor education (one that does not emphasize civic and individual responsibility etc). Getting rid of dictators is not enough. Building a civic participatory society is not easy (Europe's enlightenment did not come just from removing a few dictators).
People's expectation raised for change will dash against the reality that it will take decades to create systems of governance, accountability, economic justice, etc to allow for unleashing the great potential in the Arab world. And there is great potential (natural resources, water, educated hard-working middle class etc). It is critical that people begin to chart this future honestly and pragmatically. Slogans will not work. We the people must take responsibility for our own lives and for our communities. We need to take time to educate children in a very, very different way than we were educated. The beginnings may be simple. For example, in many Arab countries, people were thinking that as long as the country is not theirs (ruled by dictators), they can only watch over their own personal space and literally dump trash in the public space. In the new era, they have to learn that public space is theirs too. Order and respect for fellow citizens and for the country will have to be taught very early to our children. This is but one example for laying a brick in the road to real freedom and real prosperity. The bricks though are many and they will have to be fashioned and laid by the people. It is very hard work but it is the only way forward.
(1) I challenged him on this in the Q&A and then wrote a follow-up letter that was published in the Duke Chronicle. Seehttp://www.qumsiyeh.org/zionistpositionfailstorecognizeotherside/
(2) Torture at Egyptian police stations, here are three examples (warning disturbing content!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhQRFz65M6s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCHM6LYiBsY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8KG5N_yq1s
3) Egyptian police beat Free Gaza convoy activist on December 30, 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yT4tk2RiNIo
4) See this associated press story about role of Egyptian military
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/01/29/ap/middleeast/main7296653.shtml
and this interesting footage of military shielding demonstrators
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfqcEsDwgYQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQD-X9G9xfk
5) Mazin Qumsiyeh “Of Cowardice, Dignity and Solidarity” http://www.qumsiyeh.org/ofcowardicedignityandsolidarity/
Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD
http://qumsiyeh.org

http://aljazeerah.info/Opinion%20Editorials/2011/January/31%20o/Transformation%20Is%20Coming%20to%20the%20Arab%20World,%20Despite%20Biden's%20Defense%20of%20Dictators%20By%20Mazin%20Qumsiyeh.htm

Gazans Feed Hungry Egyptian Border Troops, Ayman Nofal Returns to Gaza

2011-02-07T15:00:00.001-08:00

Gazans Feed Hungry Egyptian Troops
Press TV, Sat Feb 5, 2011 12:12PM
An Egyptian border policeman stands guard on Rafah border. Over the last three days, Gazans have been giving food to Egyptian soldiers isolated on the Gaza border since the beginning of the popular revolution.

Underground tunnels, which were used to bring basic goods from Egypt into the Gaza Strip, are now working in the opposite direction.

Egyptian soldiers, who have been isolated on the Gaza border for the past 10 days, due to the internal upheaval, are getting bread, canned food and other supplies from the impoverished coastal enclave through the tunnels.

Gaza's merchants have also been sending vegetables, eggs and other staples into Egypt, where store owners have run out of stock because normal supplies are cut off by the unrest, Ha'aretz reported Friday.

Since 2006, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have resorted to the so-called feeding tubes to deliver their basic needs to the enclave which has been sealed off by an Israeli blockade.

Rafah is the main entry and exit post between Egypt and the coastal enclave.

Millions of people have been holding daily protests in Egyptian cities for the past 12 days. The demonstrators are demanding an immediate end to the 30-year rule of President Hosni Mubarak. The violence has claimed around 300 lives so far.

FTP/JM/MGH/MMN
Nofal: We got out of jail against the will of the oppressors
[ 06/02/2011 - 05:25 PM ]
GAZA, (PIC)--
Qassam Brigades leader, Ayman Nofal, told the PIC on Saturday night that the Palestinian prisoners got out of the Egyptian jail "against the will of the oppressors".
He expressed appreciation for all those who arrived to his home in Gaza to congratulate him on his safe return from the Egyptian regime's captivity.
He also thanked the media that displayed solidarity with his case and with all the Palestinians who took part in rallies demanding his release.
Nofal said that they came under intensive fire by jailors during the escape and that he was slightly wounded in the incident.

The Qassam commander said that relatives of Egyptian detainees stormed the jail, which led to their release from captivity.

Qassam leader Nofal in Gaza after being released from Egyptian jails
[ 06/02/2011 - 01:21 PM ]
GAZ, (PIC)--
Top leader of Al-Qassam Brigades, Ayman Nofal, arrived on Saturday in the Gaza Strip after he was released from Egyptian jails.
An informed source told the Palestinian information center (PIC) that thousands of Palestinians received Nofal upon his arrival at his home in Nusayrat refugee camp and congratulated him on his release from Egyptian prisons.
The Egyptian security apparatuses kidnapped Nofal on January 27, 2008 when thousands of Gazans knocked down the border wall in Rafah area in order to buy basic needs from Egyptian stores.
He was reportedly exposed to severe torture at the hands of Egyptian interrogators in a bid to extract some information about the whereabouts of the Israeli occupation soldier and prisoner of war, Gilad Shalit, and the activities of the Palestinian resistance.
Egypt's popular uprising
Many political analysts believe that the regime of Hosni Mubarak is falling apart and the events in Egypt are gradually moving towards imminent decisiveness in favor of millions of protestors who demand the removal of the whole political system.
The fig leaves covering the body of the ruling family has also started to fall, where Britain's Guardian newspaper revealed in a report a few days ago that Mubarak and his family have a fortune of about 70 billion dollars according to analysis by experts from the middle east.
Much of this family's wealth is in British and Swiss banks or tied up in real estate in London, New York, Los Angeles and along expensive tracts of the Red Sea coast.
After 30 years as president and many more as a senior military official, Mubarak has had access to investment deals that have generated hundreds of millions of pounds in profits. Most of those gains have been taken offshore and deposited in secret bank accounts or invested in up market homes and hotels, the newspaper said.
In Cairo, thousands of Egyptians has started since yesterday to flock into Al-Tahrir Square to participate in a mega rally in the context of a new week of protests to be held Sunday in support of the steadfastness of the young protesters there.
Christian leaders in Egypt also announced they would perform Sunday prayers in the square and would participate in the gathering calling for the removal of Mubarak.
Protesters were seen hanging banners with pictures of the victims who were killed in the events that broke out on January 25.
Jailed Hamas leader returns from Egypt
Hamas member arrives in Gaza after escaping Egypt jail
Published today (updated) 06/02/2011 15:21 GAZA CITY (Ma'an) --
A leader of Hamas' armed wing arrived in the Gaza Strip on Saturday after escaping from an Egyptian prison.

Thousands of prisoners broke out of jail in Egypt amid security chaos as ongoing anti-government protests spread across the country.

Al-Qassam Brigades member, Ayman Noufel, returned to the Al-Buraij refugee camp in central Gaza, where he was received by his family and senior Hamas leaders.

Noufel was detained three years ago in El-Arish, when thousands of Palestinians broke out of Gaza through the wall on Egypt's border.

He was one of eight Palestinians who escaped from Egyptian jails, six of whom have returned to Gaza.

The whereabouts of the remaining two is still unclear, but their families said they received unconfirmed information that Egyptian forces detained them at a checkpoint near Sheikh Zuwayid, a city 15 kilometers from the Gaza border.

According to official statistics in Gaza, 39 Palestinians were in Egyptian prisons before the protests broke out. More than a dozen had court orders mandating their release, but Egyptian security insisted on keeping them in custody.

The oldest detainee to escape was Mu’atasem Al-Quka, who spent seven years in Abu Za'abal prison accused of affiliation with Hamas.

He added he did not know at first what he was charged with but was later told it was for being a member of a movement banned in Egypt.

Al-Quka said he was ill-treated in Egyptian prisons especially in Abu Za’bal prison. He said prisoners were able to flee the jail because Egyptians demolished its walls.

http://aljazeerah.info/News/2011/February/6%20n/Gazans%20Feed%20Hungry%20Egyptian%20Border%20Troops,%20Ayman%20Nofal%20Returns%20to%20Gaza.htm

Omar Suleiman: From Shadowy Spy Chief to Key International Player

2011-02-07T14:50:00.001-08:00

By Leela JACINTO (text)
France 24, 05/02/2011 -

When President Mubarak named spy chief Omar Suleiman the country’s first vice president in three decades, most analysts read it as a signal of an orderly transition. But given Suleiman’s background, it may not be the change Egyptians want.
On January 29, when embattled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak named him vice president, Omar Suleiman emerged from the shadows of Egypt’s extensive security-intelligence apparatus to become a pivotal international figure. But for many analysts and followers of US-Mideast policy, Suleiman was already a familiar figure. And not all of them felt reassured by the new appointment.
Suave, sophisticated, and fluent in English, Suleiman had been the country’s spy chief since 1993, when he took over as head of Egypt’s powerful General Intelligence Service (GIS) – or “Mukhabarat” as it is commonly known in Egypt.
A Soviet-trained, former army man, Suleiman looked set to fill the “shadowy intelligence chief” mould when he took over the GIS.
But all that changed with the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the US.
In pictures: Major players in Egypt’s crisis
In 2009, US magazine Foreign Policy ranked Suleiman the Middle East's most powerful intelligence chief, ahead of Meir Dagan, the head of Israel’s Mossad.
When the whistleblower website WikiLeaks published US diplomatic cables last year, analysts learned that Suleiman had already been singled out by Egyptians as a likely Mubarak successor.
A May 14, 2007, leaked US cable reads more like prophesy than a diplomatic memo. “…in past years Soliman (sic) was often cited as likely to be named to the long-vacant vice-presidential post,” read the cable.
Suleiman in fact filled a post Mubarak vacated 30 years ago when he took over the presidency following the 1981 assassination of President Anwar Sadat.
Just pick up the phone and talk
The Jan. 29 appointment of a new vice president was greeted with relief in some quarters, notably because it signalled that Mubarak had acknowledged the unpopularity of his son and widely rumoured successor, Gamal Mubarak.
ANALYSIS: OBAMA'S RESPONSE
EGYPT Fast change or smooth transition, that's the question
Privately, many US officials were relieved to have a man in Cairo they could phone and “level with”.
Indeed as the situation in Egypt subsequently deteriorated, Suleiman rapidly turned into Washington’s point-man in the Egyptian administration.
On Feb. 2, as pro-Mubarak demonstrators in Cairo’s Tahrir Square waged pitched battles against anti-government protesters, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton phoned Suleiman to urge him to investigate who was behind the day’s violence and hold them accountable.
Former US Ambassador to Egypt Frank Wisner, who was dispatched to Cairo by Obama to try to diffuse the crisis, also met with Suleiman during his visit.
‘Not squeamish’ about ‘torture and so on’
Negotiations between Suleiman and US ambassadors go a long way back and have historically proved fruitful.
In her book “The Dark Side,” New Yorker correspondent Jane Mayer quotes then US Ambassador to Egypt Edward Walker describing Suleiman, as “very bright, very realistic”. Walker acknowledged that the GIS head was involved in “some of the negative things that the Egyptians engaged in, of torture and so on. But he was not squeamish, by the way”.
“The Dark Side” examines the murky chapter of US renditions under the Bush administration’s “war on terror”, when the CIA snatched suspected terrorists from across the world and turned them over to authorities criticised for using extensive torture.
Egypt, a country ruled by the same man under emergency laws for decades, was an enthusiastic partner in renditions, wrote Mayer as she followed the cases of terror suspects who claimed to have been captured by the US and sent to Egypt, where they were tortured.
Torture in Egypt has been a longstanding issue that has dominated human rights reports on the world’s largest Arab nation for decades.
As the Mukhabarat chief, Suleiman was considered the “hit man” for Mubarak’s regime, wrote Ron Suskind, author of the book, “The One Percent Doctrine”.
In an interview with the United States ABC News network, Suskind sarcastically described Suleiman as “a charitable man, friendly," before going on to add: "He tortures only people that he doesn't know."
‘Liars who only understand force’
Suleiman also played a key role in the Egyptian-negotiated indirect talks between Israel and Hamas over the past two years, paying official visits to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, where he met with Israeli leaders including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres.
He has extensive experience on the Palestinian dossier, which included a failed attempt by Egypt to negotiate a Palestinian unity government between rivals Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (PA) in 2008.
Familiar with Hamas and PA leaders, Suleiman also played a critical role in demolishing underground smuggling tunnels from Gaza into Egypt.
As the spy chief of the Arab world’s largest Sunni Muslim nation, Suleiman concurred with Israeli and US policies on tightening the reins on Shiite Iran.
But most appealing for the US has been Suleiman’s reputation as an ardent anti-Islamist with a visceral dislike of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s officially banned but tolerated Islamist group.
According to British daily The Guardian, Suleiman has in the past described the Brotherhood as "liars who only understand force".
In his new role of vice president, Egypt’s former spy chief will now have to negotiate with a group he has traditionally considered the country’s most serious security threat. It will not be easy for the vice president, nor for his Islamist negotiating partner.
http://aljazeerah.info/News/2011/February/6%20n/Omar%20Suleiman,%20From%20Shadowy%20Spy%20Chief%20to%20Key%20International%20Player.htm

Egyptian Protesters Insist on Departure of Mubarak, Opposition Parties Scramble for Talks with the Regime

2011-02-07T14:44:00.001-08:00

Al-Jazeerah, CCUN Editor's Summation of events in Egypt:

February 6, 2011

The Egyptian regime has withstood the first attack by the revolutionary forces, absorbed it, and started its counter-attack, aiming at winning time until gradually subduing the revolution.

The security forces have come back after their collapse and the army has stood by the regime, as it is still under its supreme commander, President Mubarak, who is still in power.

The new vice president, Omar Sulaiman, is doing a superb job for the regime as the interlocutor of opposition parties and groups, who have scrambled to meet with him for talks that may result in their participation in power.

Sulaiman has earned an international reputation for his negotiation skills, which lead to continuous and endless negotiations for the sake of negotiations, such as what he did with the Palestinians for years without any results, ultimately serving the pro-Israeli status-quo.

The new prime minister, Ahmed Shafiq, has presented himself as the man of the people, whose main job is to provide the people with stability and services, without corruption. He has been asking the Egyptian people, in the many press conferences and interviews he conducted, to give him a chance for at least six months or a year, then judge his work. In essence, he is buying time for President Mubarak to stay in power until the October elections, exactly like what Sulaiman is trying to do.

The views of the rulers of the World System, as expressed by their representatives in the US-EU governments, have been very clear: Mubarak should stay in power until the October elections.Statements by Biden, Clinton, Wisner, Cheney, and McCain represented these views despite the initial statements by Obama, who no longer insists on the change to happen "now."

Mubarak has been praised by Zionists in government and media as a "great friend of Israel," the only thing Zionists care about. He managed to give Israel thirty years of support for everything it did, including participation in the Israeli siege of the Gaza Strip. Israeli leaders even announced the 2008-2009 war on Gaza from Cairo.

Moreover, he led the other Arab dictators to support the NATO invasion and occupation of the Arabian Peninsula, the occupation and destruction of the Iraqi state, facilitating for the Zionist state to maintain its sole hegemony over the world's oil-rich region.

Zionists never cared about the Egyptian people, their standard of living, or their freedom and democracy. All what they have cared about was making sure that the dictator maintains his tight grip on power in order for him to keep Egypt away from leading the Arab Nation towards a better future of freedom, democracy, and a higher standard of living.

Finally, the Mubarak regime has been an active participant in the Bush global war on "Terror," which destroyed the US financially and morally. The Mubarak regime tortured Muslims renditioned to Egypt by US government after September 11, 2001.

Are the Egyptians going to buy the trick of endless negotiations with the regime, which has oppressed and impoverished them for three decades?

Are they going to insist on the "regime change," the slogan which they started their revolution with?

Are they going to move in millions, on Thursday, to the Presidential Palace, to force Muabarak to leave, as announced by the Union of Egyptian Lawyers today?

The answers to these questions will show if the revolution will continue further to reach its full potential, or not.

===================================
Muslim Brotherhood wary after government reform talks
Egypt’s once banned Muslim Brotherhood left talks with President Hosni Mubarak’s regime on Sunday dissatisfied, saying that an offer to include opposition members on a panel to steer the country through democratic reform was not enough.
By William EDWARDS (video)
News Wires (text)
February 6, 2011
AFP - An offer by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's regime to include opposition members on a panel to pilot democratic reform does not go far enough, a Muslim Brotherhood head said after landmark talks Sunday.
EGYPT Expert details scenarios that could play out for Egypt as crisis continues
"The statement is insufficient," said Mohammed Mursi, who took part in a meeting between the government and representatives of several opposition groups protesting against Mubarak's rule.
The talks were historic in that the Brotherhood, which is still technically banned, has not officially met with the Egyptian state in 50 years.
Another senior Brotherhood figure, Essam al-Erian, told reporters: "Our demands are still the same. They didn't respond to most of our demands. They only responded to some of our demands, but in a superficial way."
Mahmud Ezzat, the number two leader in the Brotherhood, told AFP by telephone that the group had not pulled out of the talks because it felt it had made progress, but warned that protests would continue.
In his view, the government had by sitting down with the opposition "admitted that this is a popular revolution and its demands are legitimate. And part of our demands is that the president must leave.
Asked whether he believed that Mubarak would eventually step down, Ezzat said: "That hinges on popular pressure, and we support the popular pressure. It must continue."
Following the talks, the government announced an agreement that the parties would form a joint committee of jurists and politicians to oversee democratic reform with a view to holding eventual elections.
The government also agreed to open an office for complaints about the treatment of political prisoners, loosen media curbs, to lift an emergency law "depending on the security situation" and reject foreign interference.
But the demonstrators who have seized control of Tahrir Square in central Cairo, some of them Brotherhood supporters but many more unaffiliated secular protesters, have been adamant that Mubarak must step down immediately.
Many in the square were angry as night fell and the talks had failed to force Mubarak to quit his post and allow others to oversee the transition.
"It's bullshit. That's my honest opinion," said 25-year-old Nora Abul Samra. "When he leaves they can do whatever they want. They still believe there is a constitutional way to do it, but this is a revolution."
EGYPT Egyptian opposition agrees to create a committee for constitutional reform
EGYPT Egyptian opposition holds key talks with government
EGYPT Egypt's ruling party overhaul fails to appease protesters
Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood begins dialogue with government
CAIRO, Feb. 6, 2011, (Xinhua) --
Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman Sunday held talks with representatives of political parties including the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and protesters, a step to establish a national dialogue and ease the unrest in Egypt that entered its 13th day.
The Muslim Brotherhood, the Wafd party, Tagammu, members of a committee chosen by youth groups, as well as independent political and business figures were present at the meeting, state news agency MENA said.
According to state television, the opposition agreed with Suleiman to end the 30 years emergency law, constitutional change, ensure President Mubarak does not run again in September, stop crackdown on media and establish a national committee that follow up developments until new presidential elections which should be free and fair.
The Brotherhood who earlier refused to join talks unless the president leaves office first, said that the group decided to engage in negotiations as they are eager that the people's demands are met and wants to respect the sacrifices made by the young people.
"We decided to take part in a round of negotiations in order to test the officials' seriousness about people's demands and their interests to respond," said the group's supreme guide Mohamed Badie, in a statement on Sunday.
The move to join negotiations after the Brotherhood rejected previous calls came only a day after the top executive board of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) resigned including the Egyptian president's son Gamal Mubarak. Hossam Badrawi, a prominent physician and political figure was named as the new secretary general.
Rumors circulated that President Mubarak have also stepped down from his post as NDP chairman, but those rumors proved false by the minister of information, which angered Tahrir Square protesters demanding the president to end his 30 year rule of the country.
Meanwhile normal life began in Cairo streets except central Cairo's Tahrir square which remains packed, after a long standstill week as chaos took place around the capital.
The Egyptian government opened a limited number of banks, long lines formed outside the banks in downtown and other neighborhood. Moreover, traffic went back to normal as more people started to use public transportation.
Egyptian army commander addresses protestors in Tahrir Square
CAIRO, Feb. 5, 2011 (Xinhua) --
An Egyptian army commander on Saturday went to the Tahrir, or Liberation, Square, to persuade thousands of protestors to stop the demonstration which entered the 12th day demanding the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak.
The senior officer called Hassan said in a loud speaker that the crowd should go home and the army guaranteed the safety of protestors, a Xinhua reporter said. The address was responded with shouts from demonstrators.
Editor: yan
Egypt regime offers new concessions to opposition
Feb 6, 12:53 PM EST
By SARAH EL DEEB and MAGGIE MICHAEL
Associated Press
CAIRO (AP) --
Egypt's vice president met a broad representation of major opposition groups for the first time Sunday and offered new concessions including freedom of the press, release of those detained since anti-government protests began nearly two weeks ago and the eventual lifting of the country's hated emergency laws.
Two of the groups that attended the meeting said this was only a first step in a dialogue which has yet to meet their central demand - the immediate ouster of longtime President Hosni Mubarak.
"People still want the president to step down," said Mostafa Al-Naggar, a protest organizer and supporter of Mohamed El-Baradei, a Nobel Peace laureate and one of the country's leading democracy advocates.
"The protest continues because there are no guarantees and not all demands have been met," he added. "We did not sign on to the statement. This is a beginning of a dialogue. We approve the positive things in the statement but ... we are still demanding that the president step down."
The outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, the country's largest opposition group, made a similar statement after its representatives attended the meeting.
Vice President Omar Suleiman offered to set up a committee of judiciary and political figures to study proposed constitutional reforms that would allow more candidates to run for president and impose term limits on the presidency, the state news agency reported. The committee was given until the first week of March to finish the tasks.
The offer also included a pledge not to harass those participating in anti-government protests, which have drawn hundreds of thousands at the biggest rallies. The government agreed not to hamper freedom of press and not to interfere with text messaging and Internet.
The offer to eventually lift emergency laws with a major caveat - when security permits - would fulfill a longtime demand by the opposition. The laws were imposed by Mubarak when he took office in 1981 and they have been in force ever since. They give police far-reaching powers for detention and suppression of civil and human rights.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry hailed the talks with opposition groups and the promise to remove the emergency law as "frankly quite extraordinary." Kerry called on Mubarak to lay out a timetable for transition and new elections.
"He must step aside gracefully, and begin the process of transition to a caretaker government. I believe that is happening right now," Kerry told NBC's Meet the Press. "What's needed now is a clarity in this process."
Mubarak is insisting he cannot stand down now or it would only deepen the chaos in his country. The United States shifted signals and gave key backing to the regime's gradual changes on Saturday, warning of the dangers if Mubarak goes too quickly.
Sunday's meeting drew the broadest representation of Egypt's fragmented opposition to sit with the new vice president since the protests began on Jan. 25.
The new offer of concessions followed a series of others that would have been unimaginable just a month ago in this tightly controlled country. All appear geared to placate the protesters and relieve international pressure without giving in to the one demand that unites all the opposition - Mubarak's immediate departure. The latest agreement makes no mention of any plan for Mubarak to step before a new election is held later this year.
Since protests began, Mubarak has pledged publicly for the first time that he will not seek re-election. The government promised his son Gamal, who had widely been expected to succeed him, would also not stand. Mubarak appointed a vice president for the first time since he took office three decades ago, widely considered his designated successor. He sacked his Cabinet, named a new one and promised reforms. And on Saturday, the top leaders of the ruling party, including Gamal Mubarak, were purged.
There were signs that the paralysis that has gripped the country since the crisis began was easing Sunday, the first day of the week in Egypt. Some schools reopened for the first time in more than a week, and banks did the same for only three hours with long lines outside. However, there is still a night curfew, and tanks ringing the city's central square and guarding government buildings, embassies and other important institutions.
At the epicenter of the protests, Tahrir (Liberation) Square in central Cairo, some activists said they had slept under army tanks ringing the plaza for fear they would try to evict them or further confine the area for demonstrations. The crowd of thousands in the morning swelled steadily over the day to tens of thousands in the late afternoon. Many were exhausted and wounded from fighting to stand their ground for more than a week in the square.
"We are determined to press on until our number one demand is met," said Khaled Abdul-Hameed, a representative of the protesters.
He said the activists have formed a 10-member "Coalition of the Youths of Egypt's Revolution," to relay their positions to politicians and public figures negotiating with the regime.
"The regime is retreating. It is making more concessions everyday," Abdul-Hameed said.
The opposition groups represented at the meeting included the youthful supporters of ElBaradei, who are one of the main forces organizing the protests. ElBaradei was not invited and his brother said the statement by those who did attend does not represent his personal view.
The Muslim Brotherhood and a number of smaller leftist, liberal groups also attended, according to footage shown on state television.
The government offered to open an office that would field complaints about political prisoners, according to the state news agency. It also pledged to commission judicial authorities to fight corruption and prosecute those behind it. In another concession, authorities promised to investigate and prosecute those responsible for the yet unexplained disappearance of police from Cairo's streets more than a week ago, which unleashed a wave of lawless looting and arson.
The government agreed to set up a committee that includes public and independent figures and specialists and representatives of youth movements to monitor the "honest implementation" of all the new agreements and to report back and give recommendations to Suleiman.
"I think Mubarak will have to stop being stubborn by the end of this week because the country cannot take more million strong protests," said Muslim Brotherhood representative Issam Aryan
Mohammed Mursi, one of the Brothers who attended the talks, said: "Unless he moves fast to meet people's demands there is no point in the dialogue."
Mursi said what was issued was a position in principle, "a first step."
"All those attending the meeting agreed the protesters have a right to stay where they are without anyone assaulting them," he said. "People want real change, a change that includes the president, his government, his party and his regime," Mursi added.
He also said the group was expecting a second round of talks within a few days.
The fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, which has been outlawed since 1954 but fields candidates in parliamentary elections as independents, did not organize or lead the protests currently under way and only publicly threw its support behind them a few days into the movement. It only ordered its supporters to take part when it sensed that the protesters, mostly young men and women using social networks on the Internet to mobilize, were able to sustain their momentum.
There have been no known discussions between the Brotherhood and the regime in years - one of many startling shifts in policy after years of crackdowns by the Western-backed regime against the Islamists.
Both Mubarak and Suleiman have blamed the Brotherhood as well as foreigners of fomenting the recent unrest. Mubarak is known to have little or no tolerance for Islamist groups and the decision to open talks with the Brotherhood is a tacit recognition by his regime of their key role in the ongoing protests as well as their wide popular base.
The Brotherhood aims to create an Islamic state in Egypt, but insists that it would not force women to cover up in public in line with Islam's teachings and would not rescind Egypt's 1979 peace treaty with Israel.
The group, which fields candidates as independents, made a surprisingly strong showing in elections in 2005, winning 20 percent of parliament's seats. However, thousands of its members were arrested in crackdowns over the past decade and it failed to win a single seat in elections held late last year. The vote was heavily marred by fraud that allowed the National Democratic Party to win all but a small number of the chamber's 518 seats.
Al-Tahrir Square, hundreds performed the noon prayers and later offered a prayer for the souls of protesters killed in clashes with security forces. Later, Christians held a Sunday Mass and thousands of Muslims joined in.
Some of the worshippers broke down and cried as the congregation sang: "Bless our country, listen to the screams of our hearts."
"In the name of Jesus and Muhammad we unify our ranks," Father Ihab al-Kharat said in his sermon. "We will keep protesting until the fall of the tyranny," he said.
In the capital Cairo, home to some 18 million people, there were some signs of a return to normalcy. Traffic was back to near regular levels and more stores reopened across the city, including some on the streets leading to the Tahrir Square. Protesters greeted some store owners and people returning to work with flowers.
In Zamalek, an affluent island in the middle of the Nile that is home to many foreign embassies, food outlets reopened and pizza delivery boys checked their motorbikes. Employees at a KFC restaurant wiped down tables. Hairdressers and beauty salons called their patrons to let them know they were reopening.
-----
Associated Press reporter Salah Nasrawi contributed to this report from Cairo.
US noncommittal on Muslim group joining talks
By MATTHEW LEE
Associated Press
Feb 6, 2011,12:17 PM EST
MUNICH (AP) --
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday the Obama administration supports the transition to a new government now moving forward in Egypt, but she says it must be up to the Egyptian people to decide if the reforms go far enough.
With mass protests now in their 13th day, Clinton said the U.S. is encouraging talks between opposition leaders and Vice President Omar Suleiman aimed at ending the country's political crisis.
But she withheld judgment on the decision by the Muslim Brotherhood to enter into discussions with the embattled government. The group said it would insist that President Hosni Mubarak, an authoritarian leader who's been in power for nearly three decades, step aside immediately.
In an interview with National Public Radio, Clinton said the U.S. has been clear about what it expects as Egypt moves toward a new government.
"The Egyptian people are looking for an orderly transition that can lead to free and fair elections," she said. "That's what the United States has consistently supported. We are putting a lot into making sure the dialogue process that has begun is meaningful and transparent and leads to concrete actions."
The people of Egypt and the leaders of the various opposition groups would "ultimately determine if it is or is not meeting their needs," she said.
The transition should be as inclusive and transparent as possible, Clinton said.
While remaining non-committal about the Brotherhood's entry into the talks, she said "at least they are now involved in the dialogue."
"We are going to wait and see how this develops," she said.
Clinton's comment suggests the administration would be willing to work with a government that includes the Brotherhood, but only if certain conditions were met.
The group has been outlawed since 1954 and the talks would be the first known discussions between the government and the Brotherhood in years.
In Washington, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., hailed the Egyptian government's talks with the Brotherhood and other opposition groups as "quite extraordinary."
Speaking Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee called on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to lay out a timetable for transition and new elections in a second major address to his people.
"He must step aside gracefully and begin the process of transition to a caretaker government," Kerry said. "I believe that is happening right now," but he said what's needed is clarity in the process.
Leading democracy advocate Mohamed El-Baradei criticized the talks as "opaque" and "managed by the military." Also speaking on NBC, he said he had not been invited to them, and he warned that Egyptians still fear "that the government will retrench and come back with a vengeance."
The Egyptian ambassador to the U.S., Sameh Shoukry, insisted that the transition is under way and said "the Egypt of the future will look significantly different than Egypt of the past."
Clinton addressed in her interview the phenomenon of anti-government protests that began in Tunisia and then spread to Egypt and other Arab nations.
"Some leaders listen better than other leaders, but all leaders have to recognize now that the failure to reform, the failure to open up their economies and political systems, is just not an option any longer," she said.
Clinton said the "forces that are at work, particularly because of the advances in communications technology, are not reversible."
The U.S. understands that and wants to "play a constructive role in helping countries move in the direction of more openness and more democracy and participation and market access, the things that we stand for," she said.
Clinton also acknowledged that over the years the U.S. has had close relations with autocratic regimes that are not popular with their people and run counter to American ideas and ideals.
"There is no easy answer to how we pursue what's in America's interests because ultimately my job, the president's job is to protect the security, the interests of the United States," she said.
"Do we do business with, do we have relations with, do we support governments over the past 50 years that we do not always see eye to eye with? Of course. That's the world in which we live, but our messages are consistent," she said.
http://aljazeerah.info/News/2011/February/6%20n/Egyptian%20Protesters%20Insist%20on%20Departure%20of%20Mubarak,%20Opposition%20Parties%20Scramble%20for%20Talks%20with%20the%20Regime.htm

The making of “ISI agents”: Sad story of poor Muslims

2011-01-14T14:00:00.001-08:00

By Md. Ali and Anjuman Ara Begum, TwoCircles.net,

New Delhi/Assam: Meet Md. Hanif, an “ISI agent,” from Khajuri area of New Delhi. According to Assam police he is an ISI agent, although this hasn’t yet been proved in the court in Assam because there is no witness, nor is there any evidence against him; but in the eyes of the police he has all the qualities which make him an easy scapegoat to be implicated: poor, defenseless, vulnerable with relatives in Pakistan whom he had visited once, on top of that an Indian Muslim, a deadly combination indeed.

What had happened?

The story of Md. Hanif is the story of an innocent person being falsely implicated in a terror case, then systematic harassment of the poor man who can’t even afford a lawyer. Life of Md. Hanif, s/o Babu Khan, a resident of Jewar in Noida district of Utter Pradesh, used to be all right until the night of July 13th 2005, when he was picked up by the UP police and was brutally tortured for an entire week. He was told that he was an “ISI agent” who was involved in taking out some “sensitive” documents from the Army Camp, Tezpur, Assam to hand them over to Pakistani intelligence officers based in New Delhi.

Hanif broke down talking about his torture

Hanif broke down while talking to TwoCircles.net about the week-long brutal torture in police custody which involved some “third degree” methods of torture also. “I still feel pain in my both legs because they used to torture me like animals,” Hanif said.

He told TCN that after the torture, the senior police officers of UP police who were interrogating him asked their junior officers to leave Hanif as he was not the person they were looking for. But the junior officers asked Hanif to “name some rich Muslims” whom the police could arrest on the pretext of being a terrorist and extract money from them, something which poor Hanif refused to do because he didn’t know any rich Muslim and also because of the fact that it would have been “wrong.”

The refusal on Hanif’s part to obey the junior police officers made them furious and they reportedly sent his name as one of the accused in the case which originally belonged to Assam. The main accused in the case is Hanif’s namesake, Md. Hanif Khan who was in 2005 serving in the Indian Army in Tezpur division.

For around six months the innocent Hanif flurried between jails in Assam and Tihar jail in New Delhi. It was only after six months, in November 2005, after paying huge money, this poor tailor managed to get bail.

Md. Hanif with his family

Story of extreme poverty and trauma

But Hanif’s problem had just started after his release on bail. He and his family literally came on road because Hanif’s father had to sell his house to save his son and get a bail for him. Besides the extreme poverty, the charge of being a terrorist by the society and the mental torture added his trauma. At present Hanif is living the life of anonymity because he doesn’t get a room on rent if people come to know that he is being tried in a “terror’ case.

When TCN visited Hanif’s small house which had just one room with barely enough space for five people – he, his wife Farida and three daughters – he was quite scared that his room owner might come to know about this terror case and ask his family to leave. He has already been asked to vacate the houses where his family used to stay by his four room owners in earlier occasions.

Needs financial and legal help

At present stage, he is in an urgent need of financial and legal help for his case which is currently going on in the sessions court in Assam. His lawyer left his case because Hanif was unable to pay the minimum amount of 500 Rs. per hearing. P Kotoki, the “kind” lawyer who knows about Hanif’s case, told TCN that ‘the case is very weak against Hanif and there is hardly any evidence and witness against him.’

He suggested Hanif to write a letter to the chief justice of the Assam High Court for his case to be expedited.

The long delays in this case as the case is pending since last 5 years has financially overstretched Hanif and he is under huge debt because every month he has to go to Assam which involves at least Rs 2-3 thousand of expenses as he pointed out. Hanif hasn’t got justice yet but just “dates after dates”; sometimes he has to go to Assam twice a month. Interestingly, out of 8 accused in his case, 4 managed to get free with the help of bribe in the lower court, he alleged.

L-R: Hanif's wife, Farida with daughters Ayesha in her lap and Sana and Fatma

Because of the above mentioned situation Hanif is going through depression and has attempted suicide in the past, informed Farida, Hanif’s wife. Talking about her tribulations because of the case, she said that at present her daughters don’t go to school because she doesn’t have money to pay for their fees.

“Will we go to school, mother?” asked Fatma when she heard her mother talking some thing related to school. Fatma’s twinkling eyes were in stark contrast to Hanif’s hopeless gaze towards his daughter.

In the case of Hanif, Senior Supreme Court lawyer, Prashant Bhushan sees a pattern. Hanif’s case is “not new, there must be hundreds of cases like this where poor, innocent and defenseless Muslims are falsely implicated in terror cases and remain in jail without any trial for years,” Bhushan told TCN.

He finds, “communalization of Indian police and intelligence agencies,” the reason behind this kind of disturbing pattern. According Bhushan, “the only possible solution to deal with these cases is constitution of high powered panel empowered to withdraw terror charges.” He also advocates punishment to the concerned police officers in case any alleged terror suspect is found to be innocent.

Narratives of D-voters in Assam

2011-01-03T10:42:00.001-08:00

Narratives of D-voters in Assam

Submitted by admin4 on 3 January 2011 - 4:15pm

Indian Muslim

By Anjuman Ara Begum, TwoCircles.net,

Guwahati: Anath Bandhu Biswas, son of Late Kishori Mohan Biswas and a resident of village Borpayek II, Nellie, Assam, served the Home Ministry as CRPF jawan from 1975 to 1997. He took voluntary retirement to be with his family. ‘I was a government employee but now a Doubtful voter [or D-voter] since 1996. I am originally from Tripura. In 1983, during the Nellie massacre, I was posted here in Nellie. I liked the place and got married here and started living here. I have cast vote before 1996. I have one son and one daughter and they are not D-voters,’ says 52-year-old Anath Biswas. His wife, Arati Biswas is also a D-voter. She said: ‘My father Narayan Mondol was a carpenter. I was born and brought up here and I don’t know why I am a D-voter’.

Many D-Voters or doubtful voters informed that in Assam, the voter list enumerated D-Voters in 1996. D-voters are those people whose citizenship is not confirmed or they are suspected as illegal migrants and hence ‘doubtful’.

Sirajuddin Ahmed and his wife Razia Begum

Rastam Ali of Borpayek II village, Nellie, Assam, is 45 years old now and a small trader by profession. His father Kalam Shah Ahmed was a cultivator and an inhabitant of the same village. Rastam’s grandfather was Hindu by religion who later converted to Islam. Rastam has four brothers and all are married. Rastam was a voter before 1996 and exercised his voting rights twice. In 1996, Rastam became D-voter. Rastam said, ‘My grandfather Moina Shiekh, whose Hindu name was Moina, was a famous Hindu priest before converting to Islam. We lived here since time immemorial. But today my citizenship is ‘doubtful’. All my brothers, family members are regular voters, but I am listed as ‘doubtful voter’. I didn’t complain anywhere. Whom to complain? No hearing took place before declaring me as D-voter. Many people are D-voters today’, lamented Rastam.

Sirajuddin Ahmed and his wife Razia Begum are both D-voters and shared a unique story. They belong to the same village of Borpayek II, Nellie, Assam. Sirajuddin is the son of late Hasmat Ali who lived in the same village and was a village leader. “My father was the government appointed Gaon Burah (village headman) during the British period. He was a much respected person. Today my younger brother Anzak Ali is the village headman. But I am ‘doubtful’ and a D-voter. I heard that we have to appear before tribunal but I won’t attend. To save my self-respect, I won’t go. I am citizen by birth. Why shall I go and proof that? It is humiliating. Citizens are treated as denizens in the name of D-voter’.

For Razia Begum, too, the story is same. ‘My father Hazi Sabdar Munshi of Kamrup, the then Nagaon district, was an employee of the British government. He worked in the Nagaon Judge court as a Juri member. He is the one who was responsible for settlement of this area. Today I am a D-voter since 1996. Before 1996, I cast vote many times. My brothers, sisters and my children are not D-voters but I am’.

Shambhi Mollik, son of Late Kalidas Mollik, 55 years of age belonging to the Nellie village is a carpenter by profession. He became D-voter in 1996. Though he was not so lucky to remove the doubtful status of his voting rights, his family member Kalpana Mollik was the lucky one to get back her status as a legal voter. Kalpana was a D-voter since 1996 but in 2008, she could correct her status and it cost her about four thousand rupees. ‘I wanted to contest Panchayat election and it was necessary for me to remove my name from the list of the D-Voters but it cost me money’.

Anath Bandhu Biswas and his wife Arati Biswas

Subodh Debnath of the Nellie too lost his voting rights as he became a D-voter in 1996. ‘I am 45 years old and I am a trader of biscuits by profession. I voted many times but now I am a D-voter. Three members of my family are D-voters – I, my wife Nelam Debnath and my brother Bijoy Debnath.

Similar stories are shared by Kamala Badya and Gauri Rani Das, two females of Nellie village. Kamala is 40 years of age and cast vote about five times before being ‘identified ‘as a D-voter. Gauri Rani Das who showed her school certificates and was born and brought up in the same village is now a D-Voter.

D-voter families informed that mostly Bengali speaking Hindus, Muslims and some Nepalis are listed as D-voters. One D-voter found the whole issues of D-voters so hilarious that he commented, ‘government is losing our precious votes by putting our names in the list of D-voters. We are losing nothing’.

Foreigners can now visit Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland without permit

2011-01-03T10:41:00.001-08:00

By Anjuman Ara Begum, TwoCircles.net,

Guwahati: The Central Government has excluded states of Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland from Protected Area for Foreigners regime notified under the Foreigners (Protected Areas) Order 1958, initially for a period of one year. The Union Ministry of Home Affairs announced the government decision in a press statement on 31st December-2010.

However, all foreigners visiting these States will have to register themselves with the Foreigners Registration Officer (FRO) of the District they visit within 24 hours of their arrival. Citizens of some specified countries would, however, continue to require prior approval of the Ministry of Home Affairs before their visit to these three States, the release said.

The press release also mentioned that the Indian Missions/Posts have also been authorized to issue ‘Missionary Visa’ to foreign Missionaries visiting these three States as per the extant guidelines of the Government. This decision has come into force with effect from 1st of January, 2011.

Dr. Musahid Ahmed: A scientist from Assam bagging honors in US

2010-12-23T02:24:00.001-08:00

By Anjuman Ara Begum, TwoCircles.net,

Dr. Musahid Ahmed is a scientist hailing from Assam and is presently working as a senior scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, California, USA. Recently he has been elected as a fellow to the American Physical Society for his outstanding contribution to Physics.

Dr. Ahmed is in USA since 1995 and his research encompasses fundamental studies which are relevant to energy and environmental processes. With his research Dr. Ahmed achieved accolades in USA. “I never dreamt to be a scientist, but since my childhood I was curious in nature. I would ask hundreds of questions to my parents about why things break and how things are fixed,” recollects Dr. Musahid Ahmed who believes that he is an experimental scientist and for last five years he has been enjoying the privilege of doing what interests him.

Dr. Musahid Ahmed

Born in Assam’s Digboi city that is famous for oil refinery, Dr. Amed spent his childhood in the towns like Duliajan, Nahorkatiya and Moran of Assam. He did his schooling in Scindia school in Gwalior. Later he obtained his bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from Delhi University in the year 1985 and the same year he joined for Ph.D. programme in Cambridge University in UK and obtained Ph.D. in 1989. He completed his post doctoral degree from University of Leicester and Manchester in UK and Max Planck Institute in Gottingen, Germany.

Dr. Ahmed is a hardworking scientist who works about 100 hours a week. He believes that nothing comes easily. “A scientist needs perseverance and the ability to accept both failure and success. The job of a scientist is not like that of a doctor or engineer,” said Dr. Ahmed.

Dr. Ahmed is also member of American Chemical Society, American Physical Society and American Association of Advancement of Science and in 2010 he has been elected as fellow to the American Physical Society. His citation which appeared in his fellowship certificate reads: “for his creation of a world class synchrotron chemical dynamics facility serving the community and his unique marriage of lasers with synchrotron science, used to study small molecules spectroscopy and energetic, biological imaging, combustion, nanoparticle reactivity and chemical dynamics.” His fellowship citation will be published in the March 2011 issue of APC News.

Dr. Ahmed believes that Northeast India has already a traditional knowledge system and more systematic research is required. Assam has lots of potentials in natural resources. He suggested: “Research should be critical and analytical and must process information aiming at fundamental research. Research and education system need to be professional and lots of hard work and dedication is must for success in scientific research.” He wished that Guwahati IIT can play a role in the upliftment of research quality in Assam and northeastern states.

http://twocircles.net/2010dec22/dr_musahid_ahmed_scientist_assam_bagging_honors_us.html

Extraordinary stories of ordinary women

2010-11-27T09:56:00.000-08:00

TCN Special Series: Part 1 on Nazma Phumdreimeiyum

By Anjuman Ara Begum, TwoCircles.net,

Nazma Phumdreimeiyum is the founder of Organisation for Development (OFD), a group working on the issues of violence against women and women empowerment in Santhal Namung Leikai, Thoubal district of Manipur. She has been working on women’s rights since 2001 and this passion became her profession in 2003. Nazma, a courageous and outspoken lady, shares the challenges she faces everyday for her work.

What are you interests?
I am interested to work on the issues of violence against women, child rights. The economic development of women and proper education for children are my main focus. I started dealing with the cases of domestic violence directly since 2003.

What kinds of cases you deal with?
Different kinds of issues come in from time to time. Mostly, cases of survivors of sexual assault, dowry, and domestic violence come in.

You are working for a long time on this issue. What are the challenges you are facing both personally and professionally?
For me working on the issues of women is challenging both personally and professionally. The mindset of Muslim community in Thoubal district is very conservative and religious fanatics imposed dictum on women often and controls women’s social behavior. When I started working people looked at me differently as someone who has challenged the society and branded my work as something against the society and order. My perspective didn’t match with the so called elites and leaders of the society. They also presumed that I am earning money through elicit means. I was branded as someone who doesn’t respect her husband or obey his ‘commands’ which is considered as duty for the women in my society. The local religious community, the Maulavis thought that I will become more popular than them and they saw my work and prosperity in the professional field as a challenge. They started imposing dictum on me. They said that when I take up cases since I am a woman I should talk to man in the courtyard or meet police in the police station or lawyers in their chambers. They said that my work will destroy the society and its norms.

How did you face these challenges?
Maulavis mobilized villagers and had meeting to boycott me and throw away me from the village or at least impose restriction on my mobility. In 2007, I formed a Self Help Group (SHG) to help women to stand at their feet. The SHG started making detergent powders, pickles, soap etc. and we were doing well. Maulavis instigated the villagers against me arguing that my work in anti Islamic and I take interests. I was asked to resign from the SHG and also asked the husbands of other SHG members to force their wives to resign from the group. I was afraid as if there is no member would mean automatic closure of the group. Then we decided to have meeting every Friday and discussed among ourselves. We struggled for three months. I had to complain to police too. Police helped me. Police informed the miscreants that they will send police commandos if I am bothered further. I was afraid of repercussions. I decided to know if Islam permits women to work or not. If Islam permits then I will work, otherwise I will stop working altogether. I did this as my mobility was criticized and restricted. It became problematic for me to do small things like buying something for the shop or fetching water. I complained to police as it was unbearable to me. I also consulted some good NGOs that extended solidarity with me. These are All Manipur Students Union, United Manipur Muslim Women Development Organisation etc. The Maulavis made false allegations against me and collected signature from the villagers. I protested and asked them to remove the false words. They also called a meeting in the mosque and caused spilt in the community over my issue. All Manipur Jamiat e Ulema, a religious body in Manipur was informed about these developments and called me and the Maulavis for a hearing. I attended and the Maulavis too attended the hearing. I informed the Ulema that the SHG is for women’s financial independence and not for earning interests. I produced all the documents in my support. The Ulema personnels rebuked the Maulavis and asked them not to disturb me in future for my work. The hearing continued for four hours. I was allowed to continue my work. The conflict was clear and a declaration was done that women can work. Right now I have no problem but the Maulavis fear that I may become a big leader in future.

Do you work only for your community or for others too?
Right now my work is not confined only to my community but I work for all.

What type of work are you concentrating now?
I constructed a shelter home for female survivors of violence. I took donations from various sources and also accepted rice as donation. I have a three room shelter home with basic amenities.

How do you manage the shelter home?
It’s again very challenging as I don’t have continuous source of funding. Earlier I got support from Centre for Social Development but it stopped now. I managed with my own savings. People also give food and other help. Sometime I do counseling for victims and if the victim is rich I get some money. I use such earning to recharge my cell phone. I am also getting help from Integrated Rural Social Development Organisation (IRDSO), a NGO. My children are growing up and I need to think seriously now. My SHG group too now started silk warm rearing. Hope this will help with some money. Also few men are supporting our SHG.

What about your family? Do they cooperate with you in your work?
My husband Ayub Khan is a cultivator and a small trader of fish. I have two sons and three daughters. My parents help me a lot. My brothers are doctors and lawyers. They support me both morally and financially. In 2007, my husband use to beat me a lot because of my work. My family too confronted with my husband. He didn’t allow me to travel to other states to attend workshop. Once he took money from the organizers for my participation in a conference in Mizoram. I challenged my husband. Now he has changed a lot and supports me. My children are young and studying in schools.

(Nazma Phumdreimeiyum is reachable at Organisation for Development, Santhal Namang Leikai, Thoubal district, Manipur, India. Phone: +91-9856326838)

http://twocircles.net/2010nov27/extraordinary_stories_ordinary_women.html

Global economic power shifting towards China: George Soros

2010-11-17T11:23:00.001-08:00

By Gurmukh Singh, IANS,

Toronto : Noted financier and philanthropist George Soros said here Monday that Beijing was tightening its grip on the world economy and global economic power was shifting away from the US to China.

Accepting the Globalist of the Year award from the Canadian International Council here, Soros drew a parallel between the decline of Britain after World War II and that of the US today and said: "There is a really remarkable, rapid shift of power and influence from the United States to China."

However, he was unsparing of Chinese economic policies, including its devalued currency, to manipulates trade in its favour.

These policies, he said, are hindering the global economic recovery.

Impressing upon Beijing to change these policies, he said: "China has risen very rapidly by looking out for its own interests. They have now got to accept responsibility for world order and the interests of other people as well."

The financier was equally critical of the Obama administration's role in the global recovery, adding that the US president's decision to pump an additional $600 billion into the financial system will have "harmful side-effects" for the recovery process.

"History shows that it gives rise to asset bubbles and it disrupts the foreign-exchange markets," said the Hungarian-born financier and author of the book "The Alchemy of Finance".

Perhaps hinting at the currency and trade wars at the just finished G20 summit, he said: "The world order as we know it is turning into disorder. The G20 looked like the new central area of cooperation, and it actually did perform at the initial conference, but ever since then opinions have been pulling it apart and in Seoul I think that process was taken a step further."

(Gurmukh Singh can be contacted at gurmukh.s@ians.in)

For Muslim women Eid means more work

2010-11-17T01:40:00.001-08:00

By Anjuman Ara Begum, TwoCircles.net

‘Usually I work the whole day and there is always no time for me to go out of the kitchen on the day of Eid’, said Mumtaz Begum when asked about how she celebrates Eid. She is 38 years old and mother of three children and is living in Sonapur, Guwahati, Assam. Her husband remains out the house whole day to meet family and friends and she has to look after the guests on the day of Eid. What adds misery to Mumtaz is that even her house maid will not there to help her as the maid takes leave to celebrate Eid with her family. Among the guests who visit the family, Mumtaz said, are mostly her husband’s friends, family members and neighbours. Apart from these she also entertains a lot of first time guests looking for a good meal that Mumtaz loves to provide to the marginalized community of her village.

Sahana Parvin, an MBA working in a corporate house in Guwahati too has hardly any time for herself. She says, ‘I came back from office at 6 PM on the day before Eid. I am tired and still spent most of the time in the evening and at night making sweets and other delicacies for the next day Eid celebration. I hardly get time to take proper rest and will get no time to meet friends on the day of Eid as I will be busy in the kitchen.

A Muslim family on Tuesday in Guwahati, Assam enjoys a laugh while preparing a dish for Eid.

Most of the celebrations in Muslim culture don’t represent women’s participation. The pictures of Eid celebration reported in media mainly are the joyful moment of men wishing each other in the Idgah field or young boys hugging each other or men offering prayers but unfortunately women don’t figure in such representations. The mosques and other religious places are decorated for the Eid celebration but without any women contributations.

Arzuman Ara, from Shillong who donated mattress worth Rupees 3000 for a Idgah field for people to offer Eid prayer comfortably regrets that no woman will be praying over this mattresses though she feels blessed that people will use the mattresses for prayers. She says, ‘we are forced to accept the patriarchal system that look down upon women’s participation in celebration and confine them in the domain of household chores. Although we want a change but it will take time to see more women participating in celebration outside the domain of the household or the kitchen. Awareness among women, cooperation from men and a change in the social outlook is essential to provide little space to women to celebrate the festive mood’, she added. Idgahs in this region have no space for women folk to come and offer prayers.

Women are also entitled to share a joyful moment on the day of Eid. Many women feels that men should be little considerate of their female counter parts and cooperate to share the household chores such that the joy of Eid becomes more joyful for all, not only of men.

http://twocircles.net/2010nov17/muslim_women_eid_means_more_work.html

Rise in trafficking of children in northeast

2010-11-15T09:59:00.001-08:00

By IANS,

New Delhi: Trafficking of children, including minor girls, saw a rise in India's northeastern region over the period of 2008-09, Minister of state for Women and Child Development Krishna Tirath informed the Rajya Sabha Monday.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), six such cases were reported in the region until September this year.

"As per the NCRB data, the number of cases registered under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956, in the northeastern region increased from 32 in 2008 to 43 in 2009," Tirath said.

As per the data, Assam saw the biggest rise, from 27 cases in 2008 to 37 cases in 2009.

"Funds have been released for establishing 18 anti-human trafficking units (ATHUs) in the northeastern states," she said.

"The ministry is implementing the 'Ujjawala' scheme under which financial assistance is provided for prevention of trafficking and rescue and rehabilitation of victims of trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation," Tirath said.

Under the Ujjawala scheme 21 projects have been sanctioned in the northeastern states, she added.

http://twocircles.net/2010nov15/rise_trafficking_children_northeast.html

Chinese overtake Indians as largest student group in US

2010-11-15T09:36:00.001-08:00

By Arun Kumar, IANS,

Washington: The Chinese with an over 18 percent student population have overtaken Indians as the largest group of foreigners pursuing higher education in the United States, according to a new report published Monday.

The number of international students at colleges and universities in the US increased by three per cent to a record 690,923 during the 2009-10 academic year, according to the annual "Open Doors" report by the Institute of International Education (IIE).

This year's growth was primarily driven by a 30 percent increase in Chinese student enrolment in the US, taking their total to 128,000 students, or more than 18 percent of the total international student population, making China the leading country to send its students here.

Students from India increased by two per cent, a lower rate than in previous years, to a total of nearly 105,000. Indian students represent 15 per cent of all international students in US higher education, making them the second largest international group after China, the report said.

"The United States continues to host more international students than any other country in the world," said Allan Goodman, President and CEO of the Institute of International Education.

Together, the top three sending countries - China, India and South Korea - comprise nearly half (44 per cent) of the total international enrolments in US higher education.

Canada, Taiwan and Japan each represent close to four per cent of the total international student population, with these top six places of origin comprising 56 per cent.

Among the other leading places of origin, the most notable decline was seen in students from Japan, with a 15 percent decline following a 14 percent drop the previous year. Japan is at number 6 this year.

(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)

http://twocircles.net/2010nov15/chinese_overtake_indians_largest_student_group_us.html

Bangladesh minister in India to boost trade with northeast

2010-11-10T02:57:00.001-08:00

By IANS,

Agartala : Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dipu Moni arrived in Tripura Wednesday to boost cross-border trade and business with India's eight northeastern states.

Tripura Finance Minister Badal Choudhury and Industry and Commerce Minister Jitendra Choudhury received Moni at the Akhaurah India-Bangladesh checkpost, just two km from the Agartala capital city.

Moni, who was accompanied by her husband Tawfique Nawaz, a 30-member business delegation and senior officials, held a meeting with Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar and other Indian officials.

She will address a business summit, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

"During Moni's two-day visit, strategies to further improve trade between Bangladesh and northeast India and development of trade-related infrastructure along the border would be discussed," a senior Tripura official told reporters.

The two countries last March signed a crucial agreement to allow Indian goods to be trans-shipped to Tripura and other northeastern states through Bangladesh.

Under the landmark agreement signed during Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to New Delhi early this year, India will construct a bridge over Feni river in southern Tripura to get access to the Chittagong port for carrying goods and heavy machinery to the landlocked northeastern region.

On Thursday, Dipu Moni will lay the foundation of a memorial, the India-Bangladesh Maitri Uddan, being built in southern Tripura's Chottakhola as a tribute to Indian soldiers and Bangladeshi freedom fighters who sacrificed their lives during the 1971 Bangladesh liberation war.

http://twocircles.net/2010nov10/bangladesh_minister_india_boost_trade_northeast.html

20th Annual International Sunni Ijtema concludes in Mumbai

2010-11-02T02:13:00.001-07:00

By Rehan Ansari, TwoCircles.net,

Mumbai: Quran is a catalogue for all time revealed 1400 years ago by the Creator of this world and it can never be kept aside, Allama Qamruzzaman Khan Azmi, General Secretary, World Islamic Mission said addressing the last day of 20th Annual International Sunni Ijtema here on Sunday.

Addressing tens of thousands of people at the ijtema conducted by Sunni Dawate Islami at Azad Maidan, Allama Azmi said: "Just check out the principles of witness in Islam, there are punishment for the witness who lies, but today there is nothing like it and therefore injustices are prevailing in our society."

Like these, he said, many things revealed 1400 years ago but are applicable even today because human nature can't be changed and these laws are revealed by the one who created this world. He said, “It’s like a catalogue for this world revealed by its creator.”

Maulana Shakir Noorie, Amir Ahle Sunnat wal Jamaat, referring to West, explained that Wealth, Material gain and supremacy does not mean Allah is happy with them and rewarding but this is a cause of major concern. They are responsible for Injustices, violence and lack of peace prevailing in this world.

He called everyone not to suppress the feeble and not to be arrogant if you are powerful.

Allama Nasim Ashrafi, from Africa, praised Islam as the best way of Life and asked every human “to understand and implement each and every part of Islam in their life for peaceful co-existence.” He also called Muslims to raise their morals and respect everyone.

Mufti Nizamuddin sahib, Azmatullah sahib, Banglore, Khwaja Muzaffar Husain, Allama Qamruzzaman Khan Azmi, of London, UK and Maulana Shakir Noorie, Amir of Ahle Sunnat wal Jamaat, a major sect in Sunni Islam were the major speakers in this ijtema.

Some important topics of speeches included:

Womanhood, an Islamic Perspective and Solutions to their Problems
The Rights & Responsibilities of Marriage
Family Life in Islam
Purpose of Shariah, the Sacred Law
Islamic System of Law and Justice
Islam’s Contributions to Human Civilization
Natural Calamities – Causes and Solutions
Rights and Responsibilities of Relatives and Neighbors
Loving the beloved (Peace be upon him), and Purification of heart
Prophet Mohammed (Peace be upon him), The Best of Creation
Islam and Modernity
Misuse and Abuse of Modern Media and its Harmful Consequences on Youth
The True Spirit Of Islam
The Hajj-Its Spiritual And Social Significance and its Practical Demonstration

http://twocircles.net/2010nov01/20th_annual_international_sunni_ijtema_concludes_mumbai.html

India, China are two major re-foresters: Jairam Ramesh

2010-11-02T01:31:00.001-07:00

By IANS,

New Delhi: Union Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh Monday said China's green house gas emissions are four times that of India, but both countries are united in being the two "major re-foresters" in the world.

"China's emissions are about four times that of India's and in no way can India be equated to China in emissions but both these countries are adding to forest cover and are two major re-foresters," Ramesh said.

He was speaking at the inaugural session of "China and India: 60 years and beyond" organised by the foreign affairs department of the Congress party.

He also said both the countries have relatively low per capita income. The common factor is that neither of the countries would like an international barrier in their growth.

"India and China are looking at clean energy collaboration... We are also discussing collaboration in the field of glaciology (study of glaciers)," he added.

Senior leaders from the Congress and the Communist Party of China also spoke at the day-long seminar

http://twocircles.net/2010nov01/india_china_are_two_major_reforesters_jairam_ramesh.html

24,000 Chinese Haj pilgrims to visit Mecca in 2010

2010-11-02T01:24:00.001-07:00

By IANS,

Beijing: Over 24,000 Chinese Muslims will visit Mecca in Saudi Arabia for the Haj pilgrimage this year, Xinhua reported Monday.

A total of 11,200 Chinese Muslims have already left for the holy city, the State Administration for Religious Affairs said.

Thirteen thousand more are expected to leave on 41 chartered flights from Beijing, Lanzhou, Urumqi, Yinchuan and Kunming cities, Yang Shuli of the China Islamic Institute said.

Islamic leaders, doctors and officials are accompanying each group of pilgrims. China has about 23 million Muslims.

The first plane took off from Zhongchuan Airport in Lanzhou, the capital of China's northwestern Gansu province Oct 18. The last plane is scheduled to leave Nov 4.

http://twocircles.net/2010nov01/24000_chinese_haj_pilgrims_visit_mecca_2010.html

Dubai's non-oil trade reaches $102 bn

2010-11-02T01:22:00.001-07:00

By IANS/WAM,

Dubai : Dubai's non-oil trade has reached 377 billion dirhams (about $102 billion) in the first eight months of this year, up 18 percent, compared to the figure in the same period last year.

Ahmed Butti Ahmed, Dubai Customs Director General, said the strategic location as well as flexible and competitive set of legislations contributed to the rise in the trade.

He said Dubai's direct exports scored the highest growth rate in the past five years, exceeding up to 44 billion dirhams by August 2010 with a growth rate of 39 percent.

"This reflects on the trust put in the Emirati goods in external markets and proves its competitiveness and high quality," Butti said.

The statistics issued by Dubai Customs also revealed a boost in the imports during the first eight months of 2010 with a total value of 239 billion dirhams, up 14 percent, compared to the figures in the corresponding period last year.

The figure shows that India has topped Dubai imports list with 45 billion dirhams. China came second with 29 billion dirhams followed by the US which contributed to the eight percent of Dubai's total imports with a value of 18.7 billion dirhams.

http://twocircles.net/2010nov02/dubais_nonoil_trade_reaches_102_bn.html

20 million Britons don't speak to family members after quarrel

2010-11-02T01:20:00.001-07:00

By IANS,

London: Nearly 20 million Britons are not speaking to members of their family after bitter arguments, a survey has showed.

Experts said mothers are the relatives we are most likely to fall out with. Two out of five adults admitted they are currently feuding with a family member, Daily Express reported Monday citing a study.

The arguments are most likely to be over lending money, favouritism and disliking a relative's partner.

While most rows are resolved within a year, one in five has gone more than three years without talking to a loved one - and one in 10 has refused to speak for more than 20 years.

The study also revealed that a third of Britons would call their families "dysfunctional".

Eight out of 10 people surveyed said it was women who were responsible for starting any trouble.

A third had gone for periods of time not talking to their mothers. Fathers were in second place when it comes to the relatives we are most likely to fall out with, followed by sisters.

Many feuds never get resolved, with one fifth of people admitting that a family member had gone to the grave without making peace.

The figures emerged in a survey of 3,000 adults by Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment to celebrate the launch of Family Guy Season 9.

A spokesman for Fox said: "Although mums were the family members we were most likely to fall out with, the study showed that women were much more likely to recognise if their family behaved dysfunctionally and if there were problems in the family."

http://twocircles.net/2010nov01/20_million_britons_dont_speak_family_members_after_quarrel.html

500 medical colleges needed in five years: Regulator

2010-09-18T10:16:00.001-07:00

By IANS,

New Delhi: Projecting a need for 500 medical college in the next five years, the Medical Council of India (MCI) Saturday recommended that such institutions should each have at least 10 acres of land for a college and hospital and not more than 250 students.

"The council has given the central government certain recommendations and it is up to the government to notify them. The board of governors has done its exercise," MCI Chairperson Shiv Kumar Sarin told reporters.

As per the new regulations suggested, a medical college should have at least 10 acres of land to build a college and hospital. Earlier, the medical colleges were asked to have at least 25 acres of land.

In small towns and cities, the hospital should be built within 5 km radius of the college, the Council recommended.

"In colleges where there are 50 students, there should be 300 beds, for 100 students 300 beds, 150 students 700 beds, 200 students 900 beds, and for 250 students 1,100 beds," the recommendations said.

According to the new recommendation, a medical college can have 250 students. Earlier, the number of students admitted was 200.

It also puts emphasis on increasing the retirement age of the professors in medical colleges. Currently, the retirement age is 65 years. The new regulations recommend a five-year extension for the professors.

"If these regulations are followed, 8,000-10,000 medical graduates would increase annually in the country. As of now, there are 35,000 medical graduates in the country," Sarin said.

He said the last date of receiving the applications pertaining to establishment of medical colleges and hospitals is Sep 30. He also informed that they received 90 applications till September last year and this time they are expecting more applications.

Sarin added that the country needs 500 more medical colleges in the next five years and the government should also pitch in, instead of depending on the private sector.

The MCI chairperson said that India has a shortfall of 7.5 lakh doctors.

"We have 35,000 medical seats, 314 medical colleges and 23,000 doctor graduates in our country and compared to our population the availability of hospital and doctors number is very less, this issue should be addressed immediately," Sarin said.

Referring to World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendations, Sarin said for every 1,000 people there should be one doctor. Our country will take take another 15 years to achieve this standard, he said.

Devi Prasad Shetty, member board of governors, MCI, said: "Medical colleges are less in north and eastern regions of India as compared to south and west. About 136 colleges are there in south alone followed by west with 58 while north India has only 71 colleges and east is the lowest with 36."

"The government stopped constructing medical colleges 15 years ago about 54 percent of the medical colleges are in private hands," he said.

As per MCI statistics every year 4.5 lakh women die during child birth due to lack of trained medical staff. In our country each gynaecologists deliver 72 babies a day, our country produces 28 million babies a year.

"India should add 10,000 medical seats each year between 2012-16 to get at least 50,000 medical undergraduates over five years. This can be achieved only be adding 100 new medical colleges every year for five years," an MCI official said.

http://twocircles.net/?q=2010sep18/500_medical_colleges_needed_five_years_regulator.html

Robert Fisk: Even I question the 'truth' about 9/11

2010-09-18T10:07:00.001-07:00

Each time I lecture abroad on the Middle East, there is always someone in the audience – just one – whom I call the "raver". Apologies here to all the men and women who come to my talks with bright and pertinent questions – often quite humbling ones for me as a journalist – and which show that they understand the Middle East tragedy a lot better than the journalists who report it. But the "raver" is real. He has turned up in corporeal form in Stockholm and in Oxford, in Sao Paulo and in Yerevan, in Cairo, in Los Angeles and, in female form, in Barcelona. No matter the country, there will always be a "raver".

His – or her – question goes like this. Why, if you believe you're a free journalist, don't you report what you really know about 9/11? Why don't you tell the truth – that the Bush administration (or the CIA or Mossad, you name it) blew up the twin towers? Why don't you reveal the secrets behind 9/11? The assumption in each case is that Fisk knows – that Fisk has an absolute concrete, copper-bottomed fact-filled desk containing final proof of what "all the world knows" (that usually is the phrase) – who destroyed the twin towers. Sometimes the "raver" is clearly distressed. One man in Cork screamed his question at me, and then – the moment I suggested that his version of the plot was a bit odd – left the hall, shouting abuse and kicking over chairs.

Usually, I have tried to tell the "truth"; that while there are unanswered questions about 9/11, I am the Middle East correspondent of The Independent, not the conspiracy correspondent; that I have quite enough real plots on my hands in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Iran, the Gulf, etc, to worry about imaginary ones in Manhattan. My final argument – a clincher, in my view – is that the Bush administration has screwed up everything – militarily, politically diplomatically – it has tried to do in the Middle East; so how on earth could it successfully bring off the international crimes against humanity in the United States on 11 September 2001?

Well, I still hold to that view. Any military which can claim – as the Americans did two days ago – that al-Qa'ida is on the run is not capable of carrying out anything on the scale of 9/11. "We disrupted al-Qa'ida, causing them to run," Colonel David Sutherland said of the preposterously code-named "Operation Lightning Hammer" in Iraq's Diyala province. "Their fear of facing our forces proves the terrorists know there is no safe haven for them." And more of the same, all of it untrue.

Within hours, al-Qa'ida attacked Baquba in battalion strength and slaughtered all the local sheikhs who had thrown in their hand with the Americans. It reminds me of Vietnam, the war which George Bush watched from the skies over Texas – which may account for why he this week mixed up the end of the Vietnam war with the genocide in a different country called Cambodia, whose population was eventually rescued by the same Vietnamese whom Mr Bush's more courageous colleagues had been fighting all along.

But – here we go. I am increasingly troubled at the inconsistencies in the official narrative of 9/11. It's not just the obvious non sequiturs: where are the aircraft parts (engines, etc) from the attack on the Pentagon? Why have the officials involved in the United 93 flight (which crashed in Pennsylvania) been muzzled? Why did flight 93's debris spread over miles when it was supposed to have crashed in one piece in a field? Again, I'm not talking about the crazed "research" of David Icke's Alice in Wonderland and the World Trade Center Disaster – which should send any sane man back to reading the telephone directory.

I am talking about scientific issues. If it is true, for example, that kerosene burns at 820C under optimum conditions, how come the steel beams of the twin towers – whose melting point is supposed to be about 1,480C – would snap through at the same time? (They collapsed in 8.1 and 10 seconds.) What about the third tower – the so-called World Trade Centre Building 7 (or the Salmon Brothers Building) – which collapsed in 6.6 seconds in its own footprint at 5.20pm on 11 September? Why did it so neatly fall to the ground when no aircraft had hit it? The American National Institute of Standards and Technology was instructed to analyse the cause of the destruction of all three buildings. They have not yet reported on WTC 7. Two prominent American professors of mechanical engineering – very definitely not in the "raver" bracket – are now legally challenging the terms of reference of this final report on the grounds that it could be "fraudulent or deceptive".

Journalistically, there were many odd things about 9/11. Initial reports of reporters that they heard "explosions" in the towers – which could well have been the beams cracking – are easy to dismiss. Less so the report that the body of a female air crew member was found in a Manhattan street with her hands bound. OK, so let's claim that was just hearsay reporting at the time, just as the CIA's list of Arab suicide-hijackers, which included three men who were – and still are – very much alive and living in the Middle East, was an initial intelligence error.

But what about the weird letter allegedly written by Mohamed Atta, the Egyptian hijacker-murderer with the spooky face, whose "Islamic" advice to his gruesome comrades – released by the CIA – mystified every Muslim friend I know in the Middle East? Atta mentioned his family – which no Muslim, however ill-taught, would be likely to include in such a prayer. He reminds his comrades-in-murder to say the first Muslim prayer of the day and then goes on to quote from it. But no Muslim would need such a reminder – let alone expect the text of the "Fajr" prayer to be included in Atta's letter.

Let me repeat. I am not a conspiracy theorist. Spare me the ravers. Spare me the plots. But like everyone else, I would like to know the full story of 9/11, not least because it was the trigger for the whole lunatic, meretricious "war on terror" which has led us to disaster in Iraq and Afghanistan and in much of the Middle East. Bush's happily departed adviser Karl Rove once said that "we're an empire now – we create our own reality". True? At least tell us. It would stop people kicking over chairs.

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-even-i-question-the-truth-about-911-462904.html

10,000 Hindutva militants being recruited in Madhya Pradesh - India

2010-09-18T09:32:00.001-07:00

By TCN Special Correspondent,

New Delhi: Ahead of Ayodhya verdict, while every concerned citizen is praying for peace and communal harmony in the country after the verdict, Rajesh Bidkar is on another mission. His mission is to unite Hindu youth for making India a Hindu Nation. And for this, he has launched a campaign—Hindu Yodhya Bharti Abhiyan (Campaign to recruit Hindu Soldiers).

Listen to the interview:

The outfit in the leadership of its Convener, Rajesh Bidkar and guidance of one Damodar Singh Ji Yadav has given a public call to recruit 10, 000 Hindu youth from Madhya Pradesh (MP) for the mission to establish a Hindu Rasthra. And this they are not doing underground but under the broad daylight. They have issued a poster and pasted it around the state of Madhya Pradesh.

A poster of Hindutva militants recruitment drive

To confirm the same, a Delhi based Independent Journalist, Vijay Pratap posing a potential solider, called Rajesh Bidkar on 16th of September. Rajesh Bidkar, in his conversation with Vijay Pratap acknowledged that his organization is a radical Hindu outfit and working towards the establishment of Hindu state. “It is a youth organistion with radical ideology and we are working with objective to make India a Hindu nation…,” he said while explaining the objectives of the organization. Regarding activities of the outfit he says, “we are building a radical ideological organization of 10, 000 people and we will issue orders time to time which Muslims have to abide…”. Bidkar also maintains that, his organization is not like other Hindu organization. On the issue of Ayodhya Verdict, he says “it is a matter national pride and radical Hindu organization has to play an important role”. Here is the voice tape, you can listen it yourselves and decide what they are doing?

Now, the most important question is that, will the government—both state as well as central act before it gets too late? Are the governments listening?

http://twocircles.net/?q=2010sep18/tcn_exclusive_10000_hindutva_militants_being_recruited_madhya_pradesh.html

Muslims celebrate Eid in Assam, northeast

2010-09-11T22:07:00.001-07:00

By IANS

Guwahati: Muslims in Assam and other northeastern states Saturday celebrated Eid amid heavy rains in most part of the region.

In Assam, people thronged mosques and other community halls to offer the Eid prayers as incessant rains lashed the state since the morning.

"No matter the weather conditions, Eid today was very special and the rains have failed to dampen the spirits," said Iftikhar Alam, a college student.

People of other faiths joined Muslims in the Eid festivities and exchanged sweets with them.

"Let Eid help in fostering universal brotherhood and amity among all communities," Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said in his greetings on the festival.

Eid was also celebrated with traditional fervour by Muslims in Manipur, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland.

Orthodox Jews burn hundreds of bibles in Israel, world media silent

2010-09-10T21:58:00.001-07:00

by Associated Press
Source: Haaretz

Sept 11 2010

Orthodox Jews have set fire to hundreds of copies of the New Testament in the latest act of violence against Christian missionaries in the Holy Land.

Or Yehuda Deputy Mayor Uzi Aharon said missionaries recently entered a neighborhood in the predominantly religious town of 34,000 in central Israel, distributing hundreds of New Testaments and missionary material.

After receiving complaints, Aharon said, he got into a loudspeaker car last Thursday and drove through the neighborhood, urging people to turn over the material to Jewish religious students who went door to door to collect it.

“The books were dumped into a pile and set afire in a lot near a synagogue,” he said.

The newspaper Maariv reported Tuesday that hundreds of yeshiva students took part in the book-burning. But Aharon told The Associated Press that only a few students were present, and that he was not there when the books were torched.

“Not all of the New Testaments that were collected were burned, but hundreds were,” he said.

He said he regretted the burning of the books, but called it a commandment to burn materials that urge Jews to convert.

“I certainly don’t denounce the burning of the booklets, he said. I denounce those who distributed the booklets.”

Jews worship from the Old Testament, including the Five Books of Moses and the writings of the ancient prophets. Christians revere the Old Testament as well as the New Testament, which contains the ministry of Jesus.

Calev Myers, an attorney who represents Messianic Jews, or Jews who accept Jesus as their savior, demanded in an interview with Army Radio that all those involved be put on trial. He estimated there were 10,000 Messianic Jews, who are also known as Jews for Jesus, in Israel.

Police had no immediate comment.

Israeli authorities and Orthodox Jews frown on missionary activity aimed at Jews, though in most cases it is not illegal. Still, the concept of a Jew burning books is abhorrent to many in Israel because of the association with Nazis torching piles of Jewish books during the Holocaust of World War II.

Earlier this year, the teenage son of a prominent Christian missionary was seriously wounded when a package bomb delivered to the family’s West Bank home went off in his hands.

Last year, arsonists burst into a Jerusalem church used by Messianic Jews and set the building on fire, raising suspicions that Jewish extremists were behind the attack. No one claimed responsibility, but the same church was burned down 25 years ago by ultra-Orthodox Jewish extremists.

One killed, thousands displaced in Assam floods

2010-09-10T21:57:00.001-07:00

By IANS,

Guwahati : At least one person was killed and 30,000 displaced in flash floods triggered by heavy rains in Assam’s Lakhimpur district. A vast stretch of the internationally-famed Kaziranga National Park has been inundated, officials said Friday.

A government spokesperson said floodwaters of Drupang and Sessa rivers, both tributaries of the Brahmaputra river, entered at least 40 villages and forced residents to take shelter on higher ground and railway tracks.

"There has been a breach of about 20 to 30 metres in two embankments and that led to floodwaters entering settlements," a district official said.

"One person drowned while trying to escape the surging floodwaters," he added.

Measures are being taken to plug the breaches in the mud embankments.

"We have sounded maximum alert and have already kept disaster management teams on standby. We are also taking stock of essentials and other commodities in the district," the official added.

The 2,906-km-long Brahmaputra is one of Asia's largest rivers and traverses its first stretch of 1,625 km in China's Tibet region, the next 918 km in India and the remaining 363 km through neighbouring Bangladesh before flowing into the Bay of Bengal.

Haryana approves setting up of cow commission

2010-09-07T20:31:00.001-07:00

By IANS,

Chandigarh : The cow may be an important political and religious issue for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), but the ruling Congress in Haryana Tuesday took a lead in setting up a cow commission in the state.

The Haryana Gau Seva Aayog Bill, 2010, was passed by the Haryana assembly here Tuesday, on the concluding day of its monsoon session. The bill was moved by Animal Husbandry Minister Paramvir Singh.

A state government spokesman said a cow commission is being set up for the preservation, welfare and development of cow species in the state on modern and scientific lines, besides managing the use of bio-products generated by the cattle.

It will also help in maximisng the use of organic manure in agriculture.

The commission will have 12 non-official members, including its chairperson and vice-person. The chairperson will be nominated by the government, and he non-official members will be chosen from among people engaged in cow welfare.

The commission will work for proper implementation of laws for prohibition of slaughter and cruelty to cows and suggest improvement in existing laws for making them more effective.

It will also supervise work of the institutions for scientific use of cow dung and urine to enhance their utility in agriculture, including soil fertility, bio-energy, bio-gas, bio-fertilizer, bio-pesticide and domestic use, the spokesman added.

The commission will take into custody the abandoned, stray, confiscated or seized cows from local organisations to maintain them.

Over 550 people embrace Islam in Abu Dhabi

2010-09-07T20:19:00.001-07:00

By IANS,

Abu Dhabi : A total of 559 people from various nations including India living in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) embraced Islam in 2010.

The number of new converts increased by 25 percent in the first half of 2010 compared to the like period last year, the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department (ADJD) said in a statement.

There were 486 people who embraced Islam in the first six months of 2009.

People from the Philippines topped the list, which also includes India, US, Finland, Italy, Sweden, Belgium, Australia, France, Mexico, Poland, Romania, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Russia, Britain, Spain and Norway, among others.

BJP hints at fighting Assam polls on its own

2010-09-07T20:02:00.001-07:00

By IANS,

Guwahati : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tuesday hinted at fighting next year's assembly elections in Assam on its own and claimed it would put up a better performance compared to the past.

"We are keen on going alone and putting up a good show in the elections with the help of the youth of Assam," party MP and newly-appointed election in-charge for Assam, Varun Gandhi told journalists.

Gandhi arrived in Guwahati on a three-day visit, aimed at chalking out strategies for the 2011 assembly polls.

"Definitely broad strategies would be worked out during his stay," BJP MP from Guwahati Bijoya Chakraborty told IANS.

Gandhi addressed a training camp of BJP youth leaders soon after his arrival.

"I want to take the youth of Assam along with me to bolster the party's prospects," he said.

"Varun Gandhi's visit would surely inspire and attract the younger generation towards the BJP. The enthusiasm of the youths was evident the moment he landed here," Chakraborty said.

Meanwhile, Assam's main opposition Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) Tuesday claimed to have finalised a regional front comprising smaller parties to fight the poll.

"We have almost concluded discussions for a regional front comprising smaller regional parties, although we are keeping options open for seat adjustments with some national parties (meaning Left parties)," AGP president Chandra Mohan Patowary told IANS.

The AGP had pre-poll understanding with the BJP in the 2001 assembly polls and again in the parliamentary elections last year - the AGP-BJP combine was routed by the Congress party in 2001, while in the parliamentary elections, the AGP fared poorly although the BJP managed to up its tally at the expense of the regional party.

"We are committed to working towards overall development of the state if given the mandate," Patowary said.

UAE to suspend Blackberry services from Oct 11

2010-08-01T12:00:00.000-07:00

By IANS/WAM,

Abu Dhabi : United Arab Emirates (UAE) telecom authorities Sunday said Blackberry services in the Gulf region will be suspended from Oct 11, citing security concerns.

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) said the Blackberry messenger, e-mail and web-browsing services in the UAE will be suspended because of the "failure of ongoing attempts, dating back to 2007, to bring Blackberry services in line with UAE's telecommunications regulations".

The decision was based on the fact that due to technical configurations, certain Blackberry services allow users to act without any legal accountability, causing "judicial, social and national security concerns".

The region's telecommunications operators - Etisalat and du - were informed of the decision Sunday, TRA Director General Mohamed Al Ghanim said.

A controversy might flare up over Indian citizenship in Assam

2010-07-16T23:52:00.001-07:00

By Md. Ali, TwoCircles.net,

In the North-Eastern state of Assam, a controversy over the issue of Indian citizenship is in making. This has to do with the updating work of National Register of Citizens (NRC), at present going on pilot basis, in two places in Assam, namely Barpeta revenue circle under Berpeta district and Chayagaon revenue circle under Kamrup district. As part of the project the citizens have been asked to attach some documents, as proof of their Indian citizenship with the standard government form. These documents include the list of NRC 1951, electoral roll of 1966 and that of 1971.

According to the government sources, the purpose of NRC is to identify and enlist Indian citizens in the state. The fact, that NRC updating work is going on, under the direct supervision of GK Pillai, Home Secretary, Government of India, shows how serious the government of India as far as this project is concerned.

The Bengali speaking Muslims along with some Bengali speaking Hindus of the state have protested vehemently against this project. And the protest is getting stronger day by day. They have virtually boycotted this project.

People's meeting to protest against NRC[Photo by BBC]

For instance in the first phase, out of 47 thousand forms which were distributed, only 17 forms were submitted by the Bengali speaking people.

On the other hand, all the Assami speaking individuals and organizations are happy with this step by the government. All Assam Student Union (AASU), the influential student organization in the state, has welcomed this move. In fact it is helping the state government in propagating this project in the state.

But the fact that no body, no government official, retired or working, ironically not even journalists, were ready to speak on record on this issue, only proves how sensitive the issue of Indian citizenship is in Assam. Except the representatives of the political parties in the state, only few journalists agreed to talk to TwoCircles.net, on the condition of anonymity.

TCN contacted H. S. Das Commissioner & Secretary, Tourism, Commissioner & Secretary, Finance, Assam he was not ready to talk on this issue. Even PC Sharm, former Chief Secretary who had been instrumental in formulating and framing NRC policy for the government of Assam, refused to comment on this subject, saying that ; “I don’t have any opinion on such a sensitive issue. I want to lead a peaceful life”

In order to understand the gravity of the situation, one needs to know the background in which this issue of National Register of Citizens is going on, because it will explain quite well, why the Bengali speaking population has objected to the NCR and why the indigenous Assami citizens have welcomed it.

It won’t be wrong to say that the fear of both the Bengali speaking population and Assami speaking indigenous population is playing out quite forcefully in the background of NRC project.

The turbulent history of Assam is a witness to the fact that the issue of illegal Bangladeshi migrants is a very sensitive one.

Now the Bengali speaking population which includes both Hindus and Muslims, doesn’t want to be identified as Bengali speaking citizen of Assam, because of various reasons.

One among them is the historic accord of 1985, between the Rajiv Gandhi government at the center and AASU, according to which the Assami speaking people will get extra privilege in the socio-economic development schemes of the government.

But probably the stigma of being categorized as Bangaldeshi (and then who knows of being deported to Bangladesh) is perhaps the biggest reason why the Bengali speaking Assamees, are against NCR. So in simple words, for a Bengali speaking Hindu and Muslim, NCR is an attempt to identify and if possible prove them as Bangladeshi.

And if one agrees with Abdur Rahim Khan, secretary, All Indian United Democratic Front, then the authorities are using illegal ways and means to prove genuine Indian citizens as Banladeshi.

For instance, the place of birth of all the 2 Lakhs Bengali speaking Muslims in Barpeta revenue circle, is mentioned as, “Maiman Singh, Dhaka, Bangladesh” in the government list.

Talking to this correspondent from Barpeta, over phone, Mr. Khan said “How can it be possible that the birth place of all 2 lakh people is the same place in Dhaka? It’s a complete lie being propagated by the government. The government list supplied by the district authorities identifies 25% of Bengali speaking population of Barpeta revenue circle as “doubtful” through a “D” which is there besides their name on the list.

That is not all; there are several anomalies, irregularities and discrepancies in 1951, Electoral Roll of 1966 and 1971. According to Dr. Baharul Islam, general secretary, AIUDF, thousands of names are missing from the published copies of electoral rolls of 1966 and 1971. Then many genuine citizens are being sent notices for being allegedly, a foreigner (read Bangladeshi).

Assam government's notice for NRC[Phot by BBC]

AIUDF on its part has submitted many memorandums to the chief secretary of Assam, the central registrar general of citizen of India and also the Prime Minister of India. But nothing yet has been done by the officials to fix these anomalies.

Although AIUDF has not officially objected to the idea of NRC updating work but the people who are involved in these protests come largely from the same kind of political affiliations and AIUDF is supporting unofficially these protests, said a journalist who has followed this story very closely in the state but who didn’t want to be named.
All the villages of Barpeta revenue circles, dominated by the Bengali speaking population, have unanimously decided to boycott the registration process and not to submit the form. Because their approach towards the government’s effort to update NRC 1951, is largely characterized by suspicion and distrust.

They think that these anomalies and various discrepancies are there to sideline their names while scrutinizing the forms, which will lead to the ultimate elimination of their names from the NRC by the state officials.

“All these things area part of conspiracy against the Bengali speaking people of the state by the AASU leaders on whose instruction the Congress government is functioning these days”, accused Mr. Khan.

He alleged that the state administration has planned to run a detention camp where all the suspicious citizens (read Bengali speaking Assami citizens) will be kept

Expressing his views on the NRC updating work, Ishaq Ali Deewan, president of Assam Khilanjia Muslim Unnayan Parishad, said “We don’t want pilot project. NRC is poison for us. What will we do with a list in which our names won’t be there finally?”

Some are also planning to challenge the legality of this project. “The NRC is being done through a law which was passed and implemented in 2003, but it hasn’t got yet the approval of the Indian parliament. So it’s actually illegal” said Mr. Khan.

“If the state or the central government doesn’t do any thing to stop the pilot project in its present form, then on July, 20, 2010, we will file a PIL in the Supreme Court to stop this”, announced, Mr. Khan who is one of the leaders in the Barpeta revenue circle, leading the people’s protest against the pilot project of NRC.

Interestingly, the fear expressed above, by the Bengali speaking Assami population, is not without some basis. It’s substantiated and shared by a journalist in Agradoot, an Assami dialy, who preferred to remain anonymous.

“Over the years it has been the government policy to officially underestimate the exact figure of Bengali speaking population, by eliminating their names from the voter list or identifying millions of the genuine Indian citizens as “doubtful”.

He also pointed out that “to be very frank, no body wants, neither the Congress nor the BJP or AGP who claim to pro Indigenous Assami people, to solve this issue of presence of illegal Bangladeshi’s in Assam. Had they wanted, they would have sealed the border which is the first step they would have done had they been serious. And all these parties have been in power then why didn’t any one of them try to solve these issues?”

“It is very simple”, he said, “every body wants to keep this issue alive and in cash it in terms of political vote banks.’

On the other side of the spectrum is the Assami speaking indigenous population, and AASU which claims to represent them, who think that the pilot project of NRC is the ultimate medicine and will solve the problem of illegal Bangladeshi migrants in Assam.

AASU is politically very active organization of the state. It is best known for leading the six-year Assam Movement against alleged illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, which culminated in the infamous Nellie massacre of more than 2,000 immigrant Muslims by the indigenous tribal people of Assam in 1983.

Samujjwal Bhattacharya, advisor to AASU, told this correspondent that “It is very important to identify the illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, who have become a threat not only for the security of the state. So we want that the NRC 1951 should be updated as per the Assam Accord 1985, which was a tripartite accord between the then Rajiv Gandhi Government, the Assam government and AASU. The Assam Accord says that people whose names have appeared in the electoral lists from the period of 1952 to 1971 are Indian citizens, and people who have come to Indian after 1971 should go.”

When asked about the objection of AIUDF about the alleged anomalies, irregularities and discrepancies in 1951, Electoral Roll of 1966 and 1971, and missing names of thousands of Bengali speaking people from the lists, he said; “It’s very clear, that the names of all the Indians will be there. People who are genuinely from India don’t have any thing to fear about. We will give them full protection, irrespective of their religion and language. But yes, the illegal Bangladeshis will have to leave India.”

AASU was a part of meeting on May, 6 2005, which was chaired by PM, Dr. Manmohan Singh which decided to update the NRC 1951. It was also part of the meeting chaired by home secretary GK Pillai which decided to start pilot project of NRC updating work from Barpeta and Chaygaon revenue circles.

It is very interesting to see how the fears of the indigenous Assami population is affecting the fate of Bengali speaking population particularly Muslims in the state.

AASU actually plays on the fears of the indigenous Assami population which thinks that soon they will meet the same fate as that of Tripura, where the indigenous Tripuris have become minority with Bangladeshi Hindus becoming majority.

In Assam according to last census, Muslims constitute 31% of the state population. Out of these 31% Muslims, more than 75% people are Bengali speaking whom the indigenous Assami population largely homogenizes as “Bangladeshis.”

Because they are afraid that soon they will be outnumbered by what they call as “Bangladeshis”, at any cost they want the government to throw them out of the state or deport them to Bangladesh. It’s on these fears of becoming minority that parties like Asom Gana parishad (AGP), BJP and Congress base their politics in the state.

One journalist who has followed this issue very closely told this correspondent that “now when the assembly elections are months away, it is very much possible that it’s a ploy by the Congress government to attract the votes of the indigenous Assami speaking community, a traditionally AGP and BJP vote bank, to its own side and at the same time to scare the Muslims once and then delay or postpone the project. As it will serve both the purpose of reinforcing the Muslim votes and it will also manage to attract votes of the indigenous Assami people.”

Congress has at present 14 MLAs from the Bengali speaking areas which in total constitute around 40 assembly seats

He also said that, lately there have been quite a number of meetings by the concerned officials in both the central as well as the state governments. Because the way Bengali speaking population, which constitutes more than 30% of the state, has protested against NRC till now, the Congress government in the state and at the center wouldn’t ignore them because they can not afford to antagonize the community particularly when elections are just 6 months away.

“For both the Bengali speaking and the indigenous Assami population this issue of NRC is getting very serious and sensitive. Although the state is, any way divided on linguistic cum communal lines but this issue has the potential to rip the state apart on those lines.”

He pointed out that the NRC is an issue not only for Assam, even Bangladesh is following this process very closely because after identifying the so called Bangladeshis, the next logical step is to deport them. So it’s a foreign relations issue also.

“Given the turbulent history of the state over the issue of illegal Bangladeshi population, this issue of NRC has all the recipes for a perfect disaster, and if not handled sensitively, it might explode”, he ominously predicted.

For educating the Muslims – Muslims must take the lead

2010-07-03T10:44:00.000-07:00

By Shahidur Rashid Talukdar,

Though the noble Qur’an professes the importance of education to the entire humanity, the irony is that beneath the lamp it is always dark. On actual count, due to some unfortunate course of action, Muslims are among the most educationally backward communities in India. Except a few states, the performance of Muslims reckon below the national average almost everywhere. While there are many reasons for the community’s failure in achieving a good educational profile and maintaining the progress, at least one apparent reason is that the community has, in the first place, failed to take appropriate and adequate initiatives towards education. Where there are well-established chains of schools from other communities such as Ramkrishna Mission schools, DAVs, Arya Vidayapeeths, Maharshi Vidyamandirs, host of Christian Missionary schools, to name only a few, imparting quality education among the masses, the Muslim community’s presence in this domain is hardly noticeable.

Unfolding the myth

Glibly put, one can say that the community has not cared enough for formal education rather it has channelized its resources towards religious education by setting up Madrasahs. There might be some truth in the claim, but as a whole it is far from the actual or sole reason. The Sachar Commission Report has revealed that the Madrasahs accommodate only a meager 4% of the total school going Muslim children while the remaining 96% go to secular schools. Besides, there are many who cannot manage to go, at all, to any school, owing to the lack of proper access.

Students at Hajjan Bibi Soghra Hasan Memorial Urdu Girls School in Darbhanga

Even this 4% of the children get enrolled in Madrasahs not necessarily by choice. The report points out that the reasons for enrollment into a Madrasah vary from lack of availability of other schools and linguistic bias to fear of communal harassment. Interestingly, it is found that in such areas where the secular private or public schools are not up to one’s avail, even children from the Hindu community also go to the Madrasahs. There might be a lack of initiatives on the part of the community to set up institutions of formal education, but the level of difficulty the community faces in setting up and getting recognition of such institutions not only daunt the feeble attempts but also deter the community’s motivation. This leads to further exacerbation of the situation.

Recent Developments and Awareness of the Problem

The public findings like the SCR and NSSO reports and individual studies coupled with widespread media coverage of the Muslim milieu, now almost everyone including the Governments, NGOs, and the society at large knows that the Indian Muslim community is far behind the mainstream in terms of educational achievement. Yet another significant development is that a large section of Muslim populace also is acknowledging this backwardness. Owing to such recent developments, now, among the Muslim elites, intellectuals, and a section of youth – a huge debate about the community’s poor performance in the field of education is underway.

An ever-increasing realization of the problem calls for urgent measures to solve it. Having touched the lowest strata of regression towards mediocrity, the community, more than ever, feels the need for a transition from a state of ignorance to participation and from darkness light. As the stakes are high, the efforts to ameliorate the situation must be quick, firm, visionary, sustainable and holistic. Now the question is what needs to be done and how it should be done to maximize the efficiency and return.

Muslims Need Schools and Coaching Centers, first

A realistic assessment of the situation offers a prompt solution that the community needs rigorous intervention at the school level, rather than college or university level. Well groomed, bright, talented and competent Muslim adolescents will find their way through the mainstream colleges, universities and other professional institutions of higher learning. Universities, engineering and medical colleges become relevant only when there is an overwhelming demand for such institutions. Such demand will sustain only when there is an abundant supply of high quality students for schools. Another such necessity is that of highly committed and professionally managed coaching centers. Coaching centers will be the best tools in this transformation process. Because they require less investment, and if efficient enough, they promise a high return – both in terms of improving the quality of students enrolled in a regular course as well success in various competitive examinations.

Muslims Must Take the Lead

Now it becomes important to see how this can be achieved. While the Governments need to provide a suitable platform for development, the community’s role in its emancipation cannot be overemphasized. The community must, at this juncture, resolve to bring a revolution among its members regarding the spread of education both in terms of quality as well as quantity. In order to initiate and sustain such an Educational Revolution there needs to be a movement from the grass roots up to the leadership. Although intervention at the policy level is imperative to bring a change, but people’s involvement in the change process is even more important. Active participation of the entire Muslim community, at each stage of transition, from planning through implementation is a must.

Now the question is how to garner such a participation without creating a mess? Well there could be many ways to develop awareness and motivate people to form special interest groups to create awareness among masses about the importance and expected return of education. While there can be many ways to do it, one way is to attach religious affiliation to education. Seeing the never ending zeal and overflowing passion of the Muslims in religious matters it can said that if the message of worldly education comes through any religious body, it is likely to have a far greater impact than any other secular body among the masses, especially in rural India. Another reason is that these organizations such as Masjid committees, Marqaz, or any other Muslim bodies active at local community level are already functioning, they have a strong network and above all they are inexpensive. Making use of established mechanisms should be easier than developing newer mechanisms for creating awareness or enhancing motivation.

The Muslim religious organizations must assume a more meaningful role in the reconstruction of the society rather than confining themselves to what they are currently preoccupied with. Instead of narrowing their focus exclusively on religious issues, the Muslim scholars should engage themselves towards socio-economic empowerment of the community. Because a community on the margins of the society is not what is recommended by Islam. The role of religious organizations, at this moment, should shift heavily towards disseminating the message of education, channelizing the community resources and monitoring the progress of education amongst the Muslims in particular and society, in general. Imagine the message “Read, in the name of Allah… teacheth man what he knew not” becoming a part of every Friday sermon, the prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) saying: “To seek knowledge is compulsory for every Muslim (male or female)” – becomes the subject of an Ishtema, Tableegh Jama’at moves with the mission of “spreading education across borders”! Imagine the potential impact of it. I am sure it will have much more penetrating effect than a million dollar campaign to spread education among Muslims.

This move, however, should not be viewed as radicalization of education or not to confuse attaching “religious importance to education” with religious or Madrasah education as such. Taking parallel from other communities, it is apparent that involvement of religious organization does not necessarily influence the curriculum in terms of radicalization. The schools or colleges will, after all, follow the mainstream formal curriculum recognized by the government.

Muslim Leadership Must Come Forward

Here comes the role of Muslim leadership, both religious and secular. The Muslim bodies like Jamiat Ulama – e – Hind and other Islamic bodies should come forward to guide and help develop regional and local bodies to conceive the message, crystallize a plan of action and pave the way for moving ahead with it. Further, even more important role for the leadership will be to advocate for the local bodies on higher platforms - state or national level agencies and lobbying for recognition and mobilizing resources for the Muslim educational institutions. Securing the Waqf properties and raising funds from individuals, Government and non-Government sources will be two most prominent issues to be handled by the leadership.

If the participation of the leadership at the top and the community at the bottom can be ensured then the middle level, that is, the technicalities of institution building can be managed by a third party. For effective implementation of the plans formulated by leadership, there needs to be professional agencies, such as Educational Consultants, which have special expertise to setting up schools, coaching centers, recruit teachers, and develop policies to efficiently run those institutions, and so on. These agencies will work as a bridge between the leadership and the masses. Such agencies can either be formed from amongst the educated and progressive community members or can be hired directly by paying for their services.
A three tier arrangement involving the Muslims masses at the bottom, professional agencies at the middle, and the community leaders on the top will greatly take care of the educational deficiency among Muslims of India.

(The writer is a Ph.D. student at Texas Tech University, Texas, USA. Originally he is from Assam, India)

[Photos by Mudassir Rizwan of TwoCircles.net]

Now Assam Muslims demand special centre of AMU

2010-07-03T10:16:00.001-07:00

By TCN News,

Guwahati: Encouraged with the Aligarh Muslim University initiative to open its off-campus centres in some Muslim dominated regions in the country, the Muslim community living in Assam has demanded the AMU administration to open a centre in the northeastern state.

The demand was made at a recent meeting of educationists and community leaders held in Guwahati. It was a preparatory consultative meeting for a national conference on educational agenda of minorities in Northeast region. Attended by more than sixty prominent educationists, MLAs, MP and other community leaders, the meeting discussed the need to organize such conference under the aegis of AMU. The meeting was convened by Dhubri Lok Sabha MP Maulana Badruddin Ajmal who has mooted the proposal to set up a special center of AMU in Assam.

The participants lauded the initiatives taken by the present Vice Chancellor of AMU Prof P K Abdul Azis for promoting the educational aspirations of the minorities in India.

Addressing the meeting, Prof. Mohammad Shabbir, Dean, Faculty of Law and Member-in-Charge, Legal Affairs of the University, said that being a Central University of international repute, AMU intends to establish a strong bond and an enduring academic linkage with minority managed educational institutions and create a networking environment so that the synergy created could be of immense benefit to the Educational Institutions in India. Aligarh Muslim University is thus mandated to carry out extensive work of specified nature all over the country for educational and cultural upliftment of the Muslims.

Dr Baharul Islam of All India United Democratic Front presented a Background Paper on the initiatives of Prof P.K. Abdul Azis, the present VC of AMU under Sec 5(20(c) of AMU Amendment Act. He stressed the need to rejuvenate the Aligarh Movement initiated by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and to start afresh a new educational revolution in India.

The meeting discussed the need of setting up a Special Center of AMU in Assam. Mr H R A Chaudhury, a member of the AMU Court from Assam raised the demand to set up one such center in Assam.

Mr Badruddin Ajmal has written to the Vice Chancellor of AMU, the Prime Minister, HRD Minister and the Chief Minister of Assam to propose a Special Center of AMU in Dhubri. He led a special mission to AMU and met the Vice Chancellor and other high officials to stress the need for a Special Campus at Dhubri.

The meeting also decided to organize a National Conference on ‘Minority Education in Northeast India” in collaboration with the AMU, Aligarh. Badruddin Ajmal, MP stressed the need to hold such a conference to bring in all the stakeholders under one platform and prepare them for a collaborating affirmative action plan. Educationists form across the across the region will be invited/ expected to attend including NGOs and leaders of minority education. He has assured to co-sponsor the conference under AJMAL Foundation.

A developing Islamic University in Rotterdam

2010-06-23T11:56:00.001-07:00

By Jan Felix Engelhardt,

Rotterdam, Netherlands - Tural Koç is feeling rather pleased with himself. The administrative head of the Islamic University of Rotterdam (IUR) has just taken a major step towards gaining state approval for his university. Following close consideration of content and formal requirements, the Dutch accreditation authority has now granted official recognition to the first IUR course.

Students taking the Masters programme in "Islamic Spiritual Counselling" are now able to qualify with a state-recognised degree. This, Koç believes, shows that the university is well on its way to fulfilling its aim of creating a Muslim academic elite in the Netherlands.

It is a goal that the Islamic University has been pursuing since taking up residence in the centre of Rotterdam in 2003. Its close proximity to a Reformed church and a Catholic church is a reminder that educational, health and social institutions were traditionally organised according to confession in the Netherlands.

"We are working on integrating a Muslim element into the Dutch social structure," explains Koç. The IUR is intended as part of this process. And whether or not the school can be part of the process in the long term depends very much on official recognition.

In order to achieve this, those involved with the Islamic University are pulling out all the stops in their interactions with other institutions dealing with integration issues. Together, they organise events to promote interfaith dialogue, celebrate the end of Ramadan, arrange conferences on tolerance in Islam and maintain close contact with representatives from churches and the government. The motivating force behind all of this action is university principal Professor Ahmed Akgündüz. The 55-year-old who has taught in both Turkish and American universities in the field of Islamic law is an influential figure whose views carry considerable weight.

The IUR is intended to be a university that is run by Muslims and for Muslims. Founded in 1997, it currently has around 200 students. The courses, taught in Dutch and Arabic, include Islamic theology, Islamic arts, Muslim spiritual counselling, Arabic, law, the history of Islam and comparative religion.

In addition to housing a library that includes an extensive collection of classical works on Islamic theology and law, the university also has a small studio where calligraphy and ebru, the Turkish art of paper marbling, are taught.

Students who want to study Islamic theology or spiritual counselling in the Netherlands are not entirely dependent on the IUR. The universities of Utrecht, Amsterdam, Den Haag and Leiden all offer the same courses with an official degree and the kind of financial support that every student attending state university in the country receives. And the teachers in these universities have academic qualifications, whereas their counterparts at the Islamic University tend not to.

Recognised degrees, financial support and high academic quality are three factors where the Islamic University is struggling to compete with the state universities. Nevertheless, the IUR believes that it has an advantage. According to Akgündüz, "Islamic theology, art and spiritual counselling are best taught by Muslims." In contrast to the state universities, only the IUR is a genuine Muslim institution where members of various Islamic schools of thought from all over the world come together.

The university's teaching and student body reflect the great diversity and variety of interpretations of Islam. These diverse religious convictions are thrown together at the IUR when, for example, students whose parents are from Morocco, Turkey, Indonesia or Pakistan find themselves discussing questions of religious practice with teachers from, say, Egypt or Syria.

Questions cover areas such as, should Muslim shop assistants in the Netherlands have to sell pork or alcohol? The answer? Yes, according to the majority vote, because it goes with the job. And what about the position Dutch Muslims should adopt with regard to homosexuality? The general consensus is that they need not approve of it but they must accept it.

The IUR can provide Muslims in the Netherlands with an institution where their religious positions on such questions can be developed, believes Nico Landman, a researcher and teacher in Arabic and Islamic studies at the University of Utrecht. "The diversity of the teachers and students makes the IUR a space for internal Islamic discourse," says the academic. It has a "positive, constructive role" to play in multicultural Netherlands.

--
Jan Felix Engelhardt is a freelance writer. This abridged article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) with permission from Qantara.de. The full text can be found at www.qantara.de.

Inside the Muslim Eton: 20 hour days starting at 3.45am with the aim of producing Muslim elite of leaders

2010-06-23T11:54:00.000-07:00

The clock strikes 11am and boys spill out of classrooms into the corridor to move on to their next lesson.

There is no noise and no jostling. Instead they walk in an orderly manner, heads bowed respectfully and eyes downcast to avoid my gaze. The boys, all aged between 13 and 19, are dressed in ankle-length white salwar kameez and white skullcaps.

Their feet are bare. For this is no ordinary school. This is Darul Uloom, a Muslim madrassa or religious school, set in the pretty Kent village of Chislehurst. It is one of 166 Muslim schools in Britain today.

Of those, 26 are Darul Ulooms, religious seminaries rooted in the Islamic orthodoxy of sharia. According to an ICM poll, almost half of British Muslims wish to send their children to Muslim-only schools.

‘Our parents represent the cross-section of British Muslim society,’ the mufti – an Islamic scholar – of one leading school in northern England told me. These parents include teachers, doctors and shopkeepers.

Secretive and protective, Darul Uloom schools have been operating in Britain for 25 years. But since 9/11 they have faced closer scrutiny by police who fear they may be academies of radicalism – something the headmasters deny.

Now, for the first time, a Darul Uloom has opened its doors to a British newspaper and allowed The Mail on Sunday exclusive access. Most Britons may have never heard of such schools. But their significance in the Islamic world is paramount and it is shaping young Muslims in Britain today.

Islamic experts regard Darul Uloom as the second most important Islamic academic institution in the world after Cairo’s Al Azhar university. The schools aim to create new leaders of the Islamic world.

In terms of its significance, Darul Uloom is no less than the Eton of Islam. The first Darul Uloom or ‘House of Knowledge’ was set up in Deoband, northern India, in 1866.

Nine years after the Indian Mutiny, when Muslims and Hindus lost their first battle for independence against British rulers, a group of Islamic leaders retreated to the Indian village to build a school that would eventually become a global movement in the Muslim world.

A haven of Islamic purity where they could live unpolluted by other faiths. Today Darul Uloom is more than just a school. It is a global school of thought based on Deobandi Sunni Islam.

Its purpose is to see a return to the ways of the Prophet Mohammed, to when Islam was born in the 7th Century AD.

Darul Uloom’s brand of Islam has spread from India, across Pakistan and Afghanistan, the Middle East and Africa and into Britain’s educational establishment. Its alumni are some of the most important and influential Muslim leaders in the world: imams and scholars who help shape Muslim opinion.

Yet some in this movement are anti-Western and against integration with other cultures, which they view as anti-Islamic. One such former student is Taliban leader Mullah Omar, who attended a Deobandi school on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, known as the ‘university of jihad’.

In April 2001, Mullah Omar addressed a conference in Pakistan and paid tribute to the founding madrassa in India. Faced with a backlash, Darul Uloom in India issued a fatwa condemning terrorism and violence. But by now, the pupil had outgrown the teacher.

Deobandi Islam had spread and, in some cases, fused with a new violent political ideology. It is a long way from the wind-swept wilds of Peshawar to leafy Chislehurst.

But inside the Kent-based school, the religious ideology remains, even if the rhetoric is moderate by comparison.

I had come to spend the day at the Eton of Islam. Why the comparison?

Because Darul Uloom is about creating an Islamic elite who will rule the Muslim world. It is about offering a classical education and its very name inspires awe among the Muslim community.

On entering the school, I was instructed to remove my shoes and cover my head with a scarf before being led to a bare room overlooking the playing fields.

The boys are allowed to play football and cricket in their spare time but such encouragement of sport is unusual – more hardline schools frown upon games.

The headmaster, Mufti Mustafa, is in his 60s, and has a grey beard and penetrating eyes. He greets me with hands joined together in a salaam.

It was Mufti Mustafa who first had the dream of setting up the school in London 20 years ago. He bought his first premises in Forest Gate, East London, in 1990 before moving to the current site in 1993.

His was the second Darul Uloom in Britain – the first was in Bury, Greater Manchester. The Chislehurst site used to be an Army barracks. When the MoD decided to sell, the Mufti struck a deal, buying the complex for £2.7 million.

‘As I wrote the cheque and counted off the zero, zero, zero, zero, my friend said to me “Where will the money come from to run our school?” I told him, “The money will come from Allah.” And so it has been.’

The Muslim community raised the money and today 155 boys board there, although there are plans to raise that number to 225. The school charges £2,400 a year, which covers tuition fees, books and meals.

It is extraordinarily good value when compared with Farringtons School, a mixed-sex independent boarding school nearby, where annual fees are £17,000. So where does the money come from, I ask.

‘Everywhere. Britain, overseas. We have donations from around the world, just as our students come from around the world – Britain, America, Pakistan, India, Africa, Saudi.’

One businessman in the Midlands even remortgaged his house to give the school £150,000. Unlike other schools in Britain, Darul Uloom offers a classical Islamic education in the mornings and National Curriculum subjects in the afternoons.

The choice of curriculum subjects available is tailored to comply with sharia obligations. ‘Our aim to is educate our students in a sharia environment,’ said Mufti Mustafa.

‘We teach in the same way as the Deoband madrassa in India, except here we teach the children for GCSEs and A-Levels as well. The English education system doesn’t offer this combination.’

The aim of this private school, however, is not to groom students for British universities and then enter mainstream professions. It is for students to devote their lives to Islam by becoming scholars, imams and religious leaders.

However, Saiyed Mahmood, an adviser to the school and a community liaison officer who showed me around the building, conceded that a number of pupils are drawn to jobs in IT or engineering.

‘More important than exams is the learning of the Koran, the Hadith [ways of the Prophet] and Islamic law,’ said Mufti Mustafa. ‘It is the obligation of every Muslim to live according to sharia.

‘As Muslims, we’re not interested in an education that is simply about getting a job. We’re not on Earth for this reason. We live on this Earth merely with a view to the next life.’

Preparing the boys for the afterlife means having a gruelling timetable in this one. What struck me on entering the school was the discipline. The boys work long hours, abstain from trivial pleasures, they are polite and dedicated to their work.

The boys display monastic-like control. Hard work is a given. I met one young boy of about 13 who had already memorised the entire Koran. I saw another cleaning the library carpet during his break.

The day starts at 3.45am when students attend the first of five daily prayer sessions. They return to their dormitories at 4.30am and rest. Breakfast is served at 7.30am and lessons begin at 8am.

Throughout the morning, the boys learn how to read, write and speak Arabic. They also study Islamic jurisprudence or Fiqh, Tafseer (the translation of the Koran), Hadith and memorise the Koran.

Lunch at 12.30pm is taken in the assembly hall. Pupils sit cross- legged on the floor, with food served on a white cloth on the ground. I was not permitted to join the students for lunch because women are not allowed.

Instead, I was served lunch in a room alone, with the door closed. The head and his teachers ate separately in the next room. But lunch was very good: chicken curry, chickpea rice and chips – a rare example of Muslim and British fusion.

After prayers, lessons in National Curriculum subjects begin at 1.30pm until 4.30pm.

The subjects deemed acceptable include English, science, IT, history, geography and art. Exactly what periods of history they study are unclear and I was not permitted to ask for details.

Music, drama and modern foreign languages are banned and deemed un-Islamic. In some cases, Shakespeare is seen as a source of evil because his plays deal with issues such as love, revenge, adultery, murder and betrayal.

However, the school vigorously encourages IT skills and study of sciences, and it plans to raise millions to build a new science block in the future.

Recreation time lasts until 7pm but this is a group of boys for whom the iPod, Facebook, mobile phones and Harry Potter novels are banned, along with surfing internet sites other than those approved by imams.

Adviser Saiyed Mahmood explained: ‘Music is haram (forbidden) for the children. There are things in it that can cause children to go haywire. It is not permitted. As for Facebook, there one can find the good, the bad and the filthy. Our job is to teach the boys morality.’

After more prayers, students revise and do homework until 9pm when dinner is served. Final prayers are at 10.30pm and bedtime is 11pm. The boys’ day has lasted almost 20 hours. I was given a guided tour of the school.

There are classrooms on either side of the main corridor, while a larger room is used as a mosque. It is painted green, and light pours in through huge windows to create a feeling of serenity. The classrooms on one side of the corridor contain desks, chairs, computers, whiteboards and overhead projectors.

These are where the students study National Curriculum subjects in the afternoon. Those on the other side of the corridor contain only low-level reading lecterns. These classrooms are used for Islamic studies.

The school literally has the two sides of learning – British and Islamic – segregated. Walls in the corridor are lined with posters telling students how to behave by listing the ‘aadaab’, or etiquette, for various situations.

For example, the aadaab for treatment of parents, leaders and elders says: ‘Never show disrespect. Obey all lawful things, be humble, polite and do not raise the voice.’ Another circular outlines a three-strikes policy for children who disobey.

If any child gets three ‘bad lives’ over the course of a fortnight, they face detention at the weekend. If a boy’s room is unclean, or he is absent from lessons or prayers, that is three lives. Scrutiny of madrassas intensified after the September 11 attacks.

Mufti Mustafa said the British media portrayed Islam as a religion of violence and terror and stressed that his school’s message offered the truth about Islam – a message of tolerance and peace.

Indeed his school instils the kind of old-fashioned discipline and respect for elders of which many British headteachers would be proud in an age of Asbos and classroom violence.

The code of behaviour here is exemplary. Unlike some other Darul Uloom schools, the Mufti at Chislehurst has worked hard to connect with the local community, inviting locals to tea and setting up competitions where non-Muslim children from other schools are invited to send in projects on Islam.

The winners are awarded prizes at a special ceremony held once a year. He showed me some of the competition entries – beautiful pieces of work, lovingly created and showing a genuine interest in the faith and its people.

None of the winning entries discuss issues such as sharia’s rulings on capital punishment or women’s rights. ‘Our Koran teaches us to respect the earlier prophets and the earlier revelations of the Bible and Torah,’ he told me. ‘If you do not believe in Jesus or Moses, you cannot be a true Muslim.’

Indeed, posters depict the 25 prophets, including both Christian and Jewish names as well as Mohammed.

And Darul Uloom in India emphasises the importance of religious tolerance, a message of Islam that has been lost along the line. But tolerance can be a one-way street.

While children from local state schools are invited to learn about Islam, Darul Uloom pupils would not be permitted to enter a church or synagogue, as it would be seen as haram. I asked the Mufti why many thought these schools were linked to a fundamentalism among young British Muslims.

He said while Deobandi Muslims believed in the sharia way, they also understood it could not be adopted by a country that is not an Islamic state. As for extremism, he replied: ‘We’re not here for that reason. Jihad. We don’t get involved in politics.

'Two officers from the Metropolitan Police came here to find out my views on Iraq and I said to them, “Look. This is a school. We have no interest in politics, we’re interested in education. What goes on outside, we don’t know.” ’

‘What did they say?’

‘They said to me, “What about student politics?”

‘I told them the same answer I’m telling you. My boys aren’t interested in Afghanistan or Iraq.

‘We live here surrounded by non-Muslims. Our duty is to explain our way of life. That’s our mission.’

After the Mufti left the room, I met a number of hand-picked interviewees.

One pupil, Hasan, 16, was careful to give formulaic replies. ‘We’re here to acquire knowledge of our religion, to teach Islam to the community and benefit the world,’ he told me several times.

But Muhammad Hussain, who teaches GCSE Arabic at the school, was more illuminating. He explained why he came to the school: ‘I wanted to be a better Muslim. I can do that here rather than in a state school.’

What about fears of radicalism? He admitted young Muslims were politically aware and the subject came up regularly: ‘Students are not blind to what some of these radicals are preaching. They claim this is true Islam. We have to counter
that view.’

Saiyed Mahmood claimed that Muslims were now all viewed as terrorists or fanatics. The only way to change minds was through engagement.

‘I was walking through Chislehurst the other day and two boys shouted, “Oi, are you Bin Laden?” I said, “Yes”. Then they laughed, came over and started to chat. In society, everyone is different.

‘Some are doctors, some are geniuses and a tiny minority are fanatics. It’s the same with our community.’

The school in Chislehurst is one of the more benign in the Darul Uloom family. But there is evidence that others are less so.

In 2009, think-tank Civitas conducted the first major analysis of Islamic schools in Britain. Report author Dr Denis MacEoin said that younger British Muslims were more hardline than their elders, partly because such schools encouraged a separatist mentality.

‘These schools are about producing more imams, more muftis. Their teaching is based on a 17th Century system. Very few secular subjects are taught and the aim is to prepare them not for life in the wider world, but to give them an existence inside the Muslim world.’

His research showed many of the Darul Uloom schools in Britain resisted cultural integration. Instead, sharia values on issues such as women’s rights, homosexuality, segregation of men and women, and capital punishment were being inculcated in children from a young age.

‘It means no child attending a Muslim school of this kind will ever visit a gallery, attend a concert of classical or non-classical music, pass an evening mesmerised by Romeo and Juliet performed by the National Ballet. No Muslim girl will become a ballerina,’ wrote Dr MacEoin.

I looked up a couple of the Darul Uloom alumni to see where they have ended up. One of Chislehurst’s finest scholars now runs a website called MuftiSays.com, which he describes as ‘one of the fruits of Darul Uloom’. Darul Uloom teachers are cited on the site for their support.

The advice given is far from the tolerant ethos espoused by Mufti Mustafa. One Muslim asked if it would be acceptable to attend a wedding in a church, synagogue or temple. ‘Such places are the gathering places of devils,’ was the answer.

In another exchange, a student of aeronautical engineering asked if it would be OK to work for a Western defence company to ‘gain knowledge that would be useful for the defence needs of the Ummah’.

The answer from MuftiSays was: ‘This is permissible.’

These are not the most extreme views given by Deobandi alumni. The leading voice in Britain is Riyadh ul Haq, a graduate of the Darul Uloom school in Bury. Aged 36, ul Haq is seen as the dominant influence on Deobandi mosques in Britain, which account for 600 of Britain’s 1,400 mosques.

His sermons are often inflammatory. On Jews, he has said: ‘They’re all the same. They’ve monopolised everything: the Holocaust, God, money, interest, usury, the world economy, the media, political institutions . . . they monopolised tyranny and oppression as well. And injustice.’

And on integrating in Britain he has said: ‘We are in a very dangerous position here. We live among the kuffar [unbelievers] . . . And anyone who thinks that they can work with the kuffar, associate with them, mix with them, stand and sit with them, move among them and not be affected, is in denial and is a liar to himself.’

Ul Haq is not only the leading voice of Deobandi in Britain, he is invited around the world to speak, where he openly attacks British culture, Jews, Christians and homosexuals.

He is an example of the most extreme face of the Darul Uloom culture, his voice louder than the clerics in India who have now issued their fatwa against terrorism and a plea for tolerance.

Critics of the schools warn that it is time for the Government to wake up to the reality of what goes on in the world of the madrassas in Britain, where our way of life is deemed incompatible with that of the orthodox Muslim.

Dr MacEoin, himself an Arabic scholar, argues that the schools watchdog Ofsted often visits such schools and gives them glowing reports, focusing merely on their academic results and not the ethos of separatism.

‘Again and again we are finding youngsters are becoming more hard-line than their parents,’ he said. ‘It’s the opposite of what we expect as these boys are British-born and bred.

‘Part of the answer lies with these schools. Deobandi is geared up to shape the Muslim leadership of tomorrow. That’s why this matters.’

Chislehurst’s Darul Uloom is interacting with the local community and working hard to build bridges. Its reputation with locals is exemplary, say Bromley police, while Ofsted ranked it as a ‘good school with some aspects outstanding’.

And these religious schools are now part of the fabric of Britain’s education system. There is much to admire in the more moderate examples: the instilling of respect, discipline and dedication to scholarship.

But the risk lies in allowing such schools to become islands of Islam within Britain. To avoid tomorrow’s generation of Muslims retreating into a separate world, greater integration and a respect for core British values is key.

In 2005, I spent a week at the founding madrassa in India. Ironically, I found it more open, less restricted and more tolerant than some of the sister schools in Britain. While staying at their campus, I was given a copy of the history of Darul Uloom.

Inside was a quote dating from 1866, from the founder of the Darul Uloom movement, Qasim al-Ulum, who received a vision from Allah in a dream to set up a school where Muslims could learn, untainted by other faiths.

‘I am standing on the roof of the Noble House of Allah and canals are flowing from the fingers of my hands and feet and are expanding in all directions of the world,’ he said of the dream.

That 150-year-old dream is now a reality in Britain. Darul Uloom is controlling the way many British Muslim children think. It is shaping their future relations with the rest of British society.

Edna Fernandes is the author of Holy Warriors: A Journey Into The Heart Of Indian Fundamentalism (Portobello Books).

Visit www.ednafernandes.com.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1288053/Inside-Muslim-Eton-Their-day-starts-3-45am-goes-disciplined-20-hours-Their-aim-produce-Muslim-elite-leaders-.html

Congress, AGP in war of words

2010-06-23T11:48:00.001-07:00

By IANS,

Guwahati: Assam's ruling Congress party and the main opposition Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) are locked in a bitter confrontation, hurling corruption charges against each other.

The war Wednesday reached the Raj Bhawan with the AGP holding a demonstration demanding a probe into a multi-million rupee financial scam in the North Cachar Hills district.

At the same time, a large group of protestors from the Congress led a demonstration outside the Raj Bhawan demanding a re-probe into a financial scandal in the veterinary department when the AGP ruled Assam.

"The Congress government is involved in a major financial scam and we want a fair and thorough probe by the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation)," AGP president Chandra Mohan Patowary said.

Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi accused former AGP chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta of using his political influence to escape prosecution in a veterinary scam.

The verbal battle is getting increasingly bitter. "I am not at all involved in the scam," Mahanta said.

Israel shakes down China

2010-06-12T03:59:00.000-07:00

http://www.islamicity.com/m/news_fra...erenceID=51360

The New York Times revealed yesterday why the Chinese changed their mind about yet another UN Security Council resolution that imposes new sanctions against Iran.

The resolution passed with 12 votes in favour, two against and one abstention is the fourth of its kind.

Like the Brazilians and the Turks, the Chinese leaned towards diplomacy and doubted the efficacy of another round of sanctions.

Along with Russia, China opposed tougher sanctions that would hurt Iranians and push Tehran into a corner.

Analysts believe Beijing and Moscow came on board after direct intervention by Barack Obama, the US president, and a pledge to water down the resolution and possibly other concessions some of which might be kept secret for long.

The end result is UNSC resolution 1929 that focuses primarily on the nuclear domain, avoids targeting the Iranian society, and dispels use of force as a means for resolution.

But in a rather humiliating revelation, the Israelis tried on the day of the vote to set the record straight by speaking to the US "paper of the record" about their meeting with the Chinese.

Veiled threat

According to The New York Times, "In February, a high-level Israeli delegation travelled to Beijing to present classified evidence of Iran’s atomic ambitions.

Then they unveiled the ostensible purpose of their visit: to explain in sobering detail the economic impact to China from an Israeli strike on Iran — an attack Israel has suggested is all but inevitable should the international community fail to stop Iran from assembling a nuclear weapon.

“The Chinese didn’t seem too surprised by the evidence we showed them, but they really sat up in their chairs when we described what a pre-emptive attack would do to the region and on oil supplies they have come to depend on ...”

To add insult to injury, the Israeli official who chose to reveal this nugget asked the paper for anonymity so as not to upset his Chinese counterparts!

In fact, the Israelis do not want to hide their chutzpah.

The official who was permitted to speak to the press seems proud of Israel's audacity to shake down Beijing when the rest of the world is trying to gain China's favour as one of the of the world's two superpowers.

According to the US newspaper," ... the episode demonstrates how Israel — a small country with limited influence on China — has found ways to engage an emerging superpower whose geopolitical heft is increasingly vital to the Jewish state."

China depends on the Gulf region for half of its oil imports and has being trying to defuse tensions that could hamper its energy supplies.

Double game

When dealing with world superpowers, Israel has long played a double game whenever its relationship with the US permitted it.

In the 1990s it tried to help China out of its global isolation following the Tiananmen massacre. It even tried to lobby Washington for Chinese interests.

In fact, the Israelis have long boasted of lobbying the US, its White House, Congress and media in favour of countries of little importance to the US; have poor human rights record; or merely need US support.

After the Cold War, East European countries and former Soviet republics along with many other Asian countries were offered access to Washington in favour of normalisation of relations.

One wonders if boasting that its lobby has major influence in Washington doesn't indirectly fuel anti-Semitic claims of Jewish influence and control.

Eventually many tapped Israel and its US lobby for help in return of better relations with a country long considered an international pariah.

But when Israel tried to transfer US technology and sophisticated weapons to China worth billions of dollars a decade ago, Washington shot it down and Israel had no choice but to comply.

Proxy game?

Recently Israel has found it more and more difficult to lobby the Obama administration, whose new foreign policy philosophy favors dialogue with allies and nemesis alike, as underlined in its new National Security Strategy released last month.

And with both the US and China charting new ways of dealing with the Muslim world, based on more interaction, trade and normalization of relations, Israel feels increasingly left out in the cold.

The Netanyahu government's aggressive policies and settlement expansion in occupied Palestinian lands, following his predecessor's war on Lebanon and Gaza, is driving Israel further to isolation.

Paradoxically, the only regional issue that has kept Israel in the loop is the Iranian nuclear issue.

Its threat to use military force against Iran couldn't be ignored by those in the region or voting in the UN Security Council. The morning after UNSC passed Resolution 1929, Israel expressed displeasure at its weakness and demanded sanctions with more bite.

So I ask: Would Israel dare shake down China without a green light from Washington? Or, has the US used Israel as an attack dog against those unwilling to support more sanctions against Iran?

Or has the US done everything to pass a UNSC resolution to avoid a potential Israeli military strike against Iran...?

BJP weeps for Bhopal victims but accepts donation from Dow Chemicals

2010-06-10T14:34:00.000-07:00

By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net,

Patna: Apparently Bharatiya Janata Party is weeping for the victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy, but the party, many do not know, accepted donations from Dow Chemicals Company which owns all assets and liabilities including the killer pesticide plant of Union Carbide India Ltd. Dow Chemicals bought Union Carbide in 2001.

The BJP termed as “painful” the Bhopal court order on June 7 whereby eight accused were given a sentence of only two years in jail. The party demanded the government to challenge the court order. “It’s painful. After 26 years of hearing, the accused have got only two years of imprisonment and Rs 5 lakh of compensation has been decided upon. The CBI should go into appeal immediately against the verdict,” said BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad.

The BJP also strongly reacted over the news report that Congress government had asked CBI to go slow on the extradition of Warren Anderson, fugitive CEO of Union Carbide. “The attempts by the then Union government led by PV Narsimha Rao asking the CBI not to press for extradition of Anderson are very unfortunate and deeply condemnable,” Prasad said.

But many do not know that the party apparently so aggressive on the injustice to Bhopal gas victims had in fact received donation from Dow Chemcials, the present owner of the gas plant.

Dow Chemicals gave Rs one lakh to BJP during 2006-2007 through CitiBank Draft no 9189. The information came to light through an RTI application filed by Jamia Millia Islamia student and RTI activist Afroz Alam Sahil.

When the gas tragedy took place in 1984, BJP made an issue of Congress led govt’s intension, relief package and commitment. The opposition had also alleged some Congress leaders of taking side of Union Carbide. BJP has always blamed Congress for injustice to victims, and promising justice has been coming to power in Madhya Pradesh, but it did nothing for the victims, rather has been playing a political game on the issue and has received donation from Dow Chemicals behind the curtain, says Sahil.

Protestors demand India should cut off ties with Israel

2010-06-03T13:49:00.000-07:00

By Rehan Ansari, TwoCircles.net

Mumbai: “India should cut off all its relations, diplomatic or otherwise, with Israel and a case must be registered against it in the International court of justice,” said Aslam Gazi, Spokeperson, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, during a Protest near Churchgate Railway station in South Mumbai on Thursday. The protest was jointly organized by CPI-ML, Bharat Bacho Andolan, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind and SIO.

The protest was against recent Israeli attack on one of the aid ships sailing with tons of food and medicines for the besieged citizens of Gaza. Israel Killed 19 unarmed and innocent aid workers in the attack. Along with European parliamentarian and Nobel Laureate, peace activists from all over the world were travelling with the Free Gaza flotilla.

Elders and children were holding banners and were shouting slogans to boycott Israel and free Gaza. Kishore Jagtap of Bharat Bachao Andolan had issued a press release and demanded that the world should boycott Israel which is guilty of killing unarmed women, children and farmers. "Israeli hegemony must stop here and now," he said in the statement.

The protesters claimed that they are also planning to intensify this remonstration and are planning to hold public meetings all over Mumbai. “We are going to lodge our protest with the Israeli Consulate in Mumbai and will be holding public awareness meeting about the issue” Sanjay Sanghvi, member Central Committee CPI(ML) added.

K.K. Suhail, all India President of Students Islamic Organisation of India (SIO), also condemned the violence and urged the international community to pressurise Israel to stop all its “inhuman Practices which are barbaric and brutal.” He also appealed to the world leaders to take active part in rebuilding war affected Gaza.

Mumbai protest is a part of a series of protests happening all over the world against the brutal Israeli act. Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind in a statement urged its members to protest against Israel, all over India on Friday.
http://twocircles.net/2010jun03/protestors_demand_india_should_cut_ties_israel.html

Muslim groups demand closure of Israeli embassy in India

2010-06-03T13:41:00.001-07:00

By IANS

New Delhi: Muslim organisations will Friday take out a march in the Indian capital to protest the attack by Israeli commandos on a Gaza aid flotilla that killed 16 activists May 30, and demand the closure of Israeli embassy in India.

The coordinator of the march S.Q.R. Ilyas said: "We will demand from the government of India to convey the feelings of Indian people to the Israeli government and also demand the closure of the Israeli embassy and severing of all trade and military ties with Israel."

The Free Gaza flotilla of six ships with 700 activists on board and carrying 10,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid was boarded by the Israeli forces as it tried to break the Gaza embargo.

"We are organising this march to acquaint the country's civil society about the assault by Israeli forces," he added.

The march from India Gate to the Israeli embassy is being organised by Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, Jamiat Ulema-e Hind, Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadith, All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat, All India MilliCouncil, Muslim Political Council of India, Indian Islahi Movement, Majlis-e Fikr-o-Amal and Students Islamic Organisation of India, a press statement said.

After the march, the protestes will submit a memorandum to the UN office in Delhi and to the prime minister.

US offered $5 bn for refraining from nuclear tests: Nawaz Sharif

2010-05-28T23:47:00.001-07:00

By IANS,

Lahore : Then US president Bill Clinton had offered Pakistan a $5 billion package to refrain from conducting tit-for-tat nuclear tests in response to India's in 1998 but the offer was rejected at the cost of sanctions, Nawaz Sharif, who was the prime minister at the time, said Friday.

"I told him (Clinton) that we are not among those people who are sold for a few dollars, not now and in future too. Thus we successfully carried out our nuclear tests," Online news agency quoted Sharif as telling party activists on the 12th anniversary of the May 28, 1998 nuclear tests.

India had conducted its nuclear tests May 11, 1998.

Sharif said the entire nation was united in favour of the nuclear tests and Mushahid Hussain, who was the information minister at the time, "was the first person who advised me" that they should be conducted in reply to those by India.

"It was the democratic government that took the bold decision of conducting nuclear tests and if there was a dictator, he would have never gone for the tests," Sharif maintained.

The reference was to former president Pervez Musharraf, who deposed Sharif in a bloodless coup in 1999 and ruled for nine years.

The nuclear tests had made this country's defence "undefeatable and Pakistan became the first nuclear power of the Islamic world", Nawaz said.
http://twocircles.net/2010may28/us_offered_5_bn_refraining_nuclear_tests_nawaz_sharif.html

Omar asks Army to cooperate in fake encounter inquiry

2010-05-28T23:44:00.000-07:00

By AIP Bureau

Srinagar: Taking strong note of an alleged fake encounter case involving a Major, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Friday asked the Indian Army to cooperate in the investigations being carried out by the police.

Commander of 15 Corps Lt Gen N C Marwah met the Chief Minister who reiterated his government's commitment to zero tolerance to human right violations.

General Marwah assured the Chief Minister of complete cooperation and also apprised him that a high-level internal enquiry had been launched by the army to ascertain the facts.

An official spokesman said the GOC 15 Corps assured the Chief Minister that the Army will cooperate fully with all investigating agencies or enquiries set up by the state government and assist them in reaching the truth.

"The General also informed the Chief Minister that based on the preliminary investigation of the Jammu and Kashmir Police, the Army Commander Northern Command Lt. General B S Jaswal has already ordered a high-level internal enquiry into the incident to bare the facts transparently and to bring to book anybody found guilty," the spokesman said.

The GOC assured the Chief Minister that the Army authorities at no point will cover up any incident where human right violations are proved.

Officials said that Jammu and Kashmir police will register a murder case against an Army major and some civilians for allegedly luring three youths to the border and staging a fake encounter in Machil sector of north Kashmir on April 30.
http://twocircles.net/2010may28/omar_asks_army_cooperate_fake_encounter_inquiry.html

Two arrested for involvement in fake gun battle in Kashmir

2010-05-28T23:43:00.000-07:00

By IANS,

Srinagar : Two people have been arrested for the disappearance of three men in the Kashmir Valley who were allegedly killed in a fake gun battle near the border with Pakistan.

An officer said Bashir Ahmad, a former special police officer, and his accomplice Fayaz Ahmad were arrested for the disappearance last month of Shahzad Ahmad, Riyaz Ahmad and Muhammad Shafi from Nadihal village in Sopore district.

Locals and relatives of the three have alleged that the pair abducted them from their homes April 29.

A magisterial probe has been ordered by the government to ascertain the fate of the three after it was alleged that they were murdered in a staged shootout in Machil sector of the Line of Control (LoC) the next day.

The LoC divides Jammu and Kashmir between India and Pakistan.

Ghulam Muhammad Khan, father of Shahzad, has identified the photograph of one of the three slain people as that of his son.

"They killed my son for medals and rewards. My son had no connection with militants," Khan moaned before reporters late Thursday.

Javaid Ahmad Dar, the state's junior minister for health and legislator from north Kashmir's Rafiabad constituency, said that Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had taken a serious note of the development.

"The guilty would be given exemplary punishment if the allegations are proved right," Dar told IANS.

Dar also said arrangements for the exhumation of the bodies of the three men buried in Kalaroos village after the alleged gun battle would take place Friday.

A huge contingent of police has cordoned off the graveyard where the exhumation is to take place.
http://twocircles.net/2010may28/two_arrested_involvement_fake_gun_battle_kashmir.html

Soldiers run amok in Assam village, try to rape minors

2010-05-27T11:02:00.001-07:00

By Waliullah Ahmed Laskar for TwoCircles.net,

Guwahati: In another atrocious incident in Assam, soldiers of the Indian army illegally raided several houses in a village and indiscriminately beat up people including bed-ridden aged persons, expectant mother causing miscarriage, children and disabled persons causing them grievous injuries in the district of Hailakandi on 23 May, 2010. They molested young girls and attempted to rape them. They also reportedly robbed a family of all their cash and other valuables. There is strong fear among the villagers that the incident may be repeated and worse. Extrajudicial killings by state agents are common in this part of India, and impunity remains a severe problem.

Wreaked havoc at Nurul Hoque Barbhuiya’s house

Barak Human Rights Protection Committee (BHRPC) received information that at about 3.30 am on 23 May, 2010 a group of 16/17 soldiers belonging to the artillery 11 field regiment from their base at Arunachal, Silchar knocked at the door of Mr. Nurul Hoque Barbhuiya (known to the local people as Samoi Panchayat) in the village of Mohanpur under the jurisdiction of Algapur police station in the district of Hailakandi in Assam. Nurul Hoque Barbhuiya, 42, is former president of Mohanpur Gaon Panchayat (GP, elected village level local government body, village counterpart of municipality) and husband of the present president. The soldiers were in uniform and their faces were covered with black clothes. They were not accompanied by a police officer or any other representative of the civil administration.

When the present GP president Mrs. Hawatun Nesa, wife of Nurul Hoque Barbhuiya, aged about 30 years, opened the door the soldiers entered the house and asked for Samoi Panchayat, her husband. She told them that he did not return home last night from the house of a relative in another village where he went the day before. They started searching for him in all the rooms and asked the inmates to get up from bed. They wrung the throat of 82-year-old bed-ridden father of Samoi Panchayat Mr. Mashur Ali Barbhuiya because he could not immediately drag his body from the bed, which normally he hardly can do without help. They also beat up 65-year-old mother of Samoi Panchayat Mrs. Fulerun Nesa accusing her of hiding her son. The soldiers then started breaking and destroying household goods such as furniture including chairs, tables, beds, drawers, wardrobes etc. and utensils.

Abused women, tried to rape young girls

Mrs Hawatun Nesa Barbhuiya stated that when in the morning at approximately 7.30 am people from the locality tried to see what is going on the soldiers opened fired. They fired in the air three times at which the whole village got terrified. She was not allowed to feed her five children and ailing elders till the soldiers left her house at about 2.30 pm in the afternoonevening. When she tried they abused her and threatened her by pointing gun at her ear and they forced her to serve them tea and snacks several times.

[Photo by outlookindia.com]

Her daughters Farhat Parvin Kawsar Barbhuiya aged about 9, Rahat Parvin Kawsar Barbhuiya aged 7, and sons Fuzail Ahmed Barbhuiya aged about 6, Suhail Ahmed Barbhuiya aged about 5 and Mikail Ahmed Barbhuiya aged 3 were badly traumatised. BHRPC members observed that the children developed some syndrome of trauma such as they could not sleep well in the night due to several interruptions by nightmares, they even experience hallucinations that armed men are trying to kidnap them in waking hours, they shudder and break down into weeping even at indirect mentions of the incidents.

In the mean time, some of the soldiers went to the adjacent house belonging to Mr Moinul Hoque Barbhuiya and purportedly searched for Samoi Panchayat. Mrs Rejwana Parvin Barbhuiya, aged about 24, the eldest daughter of Moinul Hoque who is married and came for a few days to her father’s house, stated that two soldiers seriously misbehaved with her younger sisters namely Sabina Yasmin Barbhuiay aged about 14, a student of class VIII, and Shahnaj Yasmin Barbhuiya aged about 17 and studying in class XI. The soldiers repeatedly proposed them for sex and elopement in front of all family members and other soldiers. They grabbed their hands and engaged in scuffling with them. They also told the girls that they are soldiers with big guns and they can do anything with them. The soldiers threatened that if they would not comply they would be abducted and raped. Rejwana told that she managed to protect the girls somehow from the worst. But they also got traumatised.

Took away valuables

Mrs Hawatun Nesa also stated that the soldiers took away items of apparel, cosmetics, utensils and jewellery etc. bought to be given as wedding gift to Shahnaj at her marriage fixed to be solemnised on 26 May, 2010 worth approximately Rs. 70, 000.00 (seventy thousand) and Rs. 20, 000.00 (twenty thousand) cash. She also stated that the soldiers took signatures of Rejwana and herself in a paper written something on it which they did not allow her to read and they used her official stamp in the paper. They did it at gun point. The soldiers took away some official documents and papers belong to the GP office. They also took away two mobile phones with SIMs with the numbers +919854621923 and +919435582945 used by Mr. Nazim Uddin, brother of Hawatun Nesa, and Hawatun Nesa respectively. However, the mobile used by her brother was returned to Hawatun Nesa on 25 May, 2010. She filed a complaint to the officer in charge (OC) of Algapur Police Station (PS) but police did not register a First Information Report (FIR).

Ran amok in the village

Some other soldiers were also on rampage at the same time in other parts of the village. At about 5 am they raided the house of Mr. Mujammil Ali Barbhuiya, aged about 35, son of late Namor Ali Barbhuiya of Mohanpur part VI, half a kilometre away from the house of Samoi Panchayat. Mujammil Ali lives on farming his lands and at that time he was preparing to go to his field for work. Soldiers stopped him and asked whether he knows the whereabouts of Samoi Panchayat. But at his expression of ignorance they started beating him with the butts of gun and bamboo sticks. When he fell to the ground they kicked him incessantly. His clothes were torn into pieces. When his wife Mrs Rushna Begum Barbhuiya tried to rescue him they also beat her up.

They left severely injured Mujammil Ali when they saw another old man Mr. Abdul Jalil Laskar, aged about 65, in the street, who was going to the nearby mosque to participate in the morning prayer. They grabbed him and without much ado started administering severe blows of gun butts and bamboo sticks on the fragile body of the old man. When people tried to intervene they were also beaten up. Mrs. Latiful Begum Barbhuiya, a woman aged 35, Sharmina Begum, a girl aged 12 and a mentally retarded boy Imran Hussain aged about 14 were also badly beaten up. Even an expectant mother of about 9 months of gestation Mrs. Suretun Nesa (aged about 30, wife of Altaf Hussain Barbhuiya) was not spared. The soldiers kicked her in the abdomen and as a result she suffered miscarriage on 25 May, 2010 at the Silchar Medical Collge and Hospital, Silchar.

Another group of soldiers at about 6 am went to a nearby house belonging to Amit Das (known also as Sona Das, aged about 35, son of late Umesh Das). They also asked him about Samoi Pachayat and when he told them that he did not know where he is, they started beating him. He sustained injuries on his legs and is under treatment in the Community Health Centre, Algapur. It is also reported that soldiers even tried to prevent the wounded and injured from going to hospital.

Samoi Panchayat is a respected villager

The villagers are as much terror struck as surprised by the incidents. They are at a loss to explain the incidents as there is no complaint against Samoi Panchayat with the police or any other authorities. He is a peace loving public spirited person.

According to the persons BHRPC team spoke to, Samoi Panchayat is a very respectable person in the village. People love and trust him. He was elected as the GP president for two consecutive terms and when in the last election the seat fell under the quota for women his wife got elected with a huge margin. Some villagers requesting anonymity told that they saw political conspiracy behind the incidents. Neither Samoi Panchayat nor his wife is a member of a political party. They are independent politicians. They also don’t divide funds for rural development schemes that are implemented by the Panchayat among politicians and officials as is the practice in many other GPs. These villagers think that some of the politicians, most probably, belonging to ruling Congress party might want to teach Samoi Panchayat a lesson and for this purpose they are using the army.

There are fears among the villagers for the safety of Samoi Panchayat and two girl children Sabina and Shahnaj. BHRPC is also very concerned for their safety and physical and psychological integrity of all victims and other villagers.

It is obvious that the actions of the soldiers don’t come within the rules of any civilised society. They not only violated human rights of the villagers but also violated the law of the land and committed serious crimes of house trespass, robbery, grievous hurt, causing miscarriage, attempted rape, molestation, assault, criminal intimidation and so on with intent to terrorise the people for political purpose like members of a terrorist group.

Link:

http://bhrpc.wordpress.com
(The writer is Freelance Reporter and Human Rights Activist with Barak Human Rights Protection Committee)

http://twocircles.net/2010may27/soldiers_run_amok_assam_village_try_rape_minors.html

List of first 10 position holders — Arts, Science, Commerce

2010-05-26T23:56:00.001-07:00

Arts

1st: Gitika Talukdar *454 (Eng, Mass, Edu, Loph, Anth, Eco) Baosi Bani Kanta College, Barpeta, 2nd: Priyanka Gogoi *448 (Eng, Mass, Econ, PoSc, His, Edu) Salaguri HS School, Sivasagar, 3rd: Nilakshi Baishya *444 (Eng, Mass, Posc, Edu, Loph, Hist) Brilliant Academy, Mangaldoi, 4th: Charusmita Goswami *442 (Eng, Mass, Eco, Loph, Edu, Sans) Institutional Private, Bajali, 5th: Hirak Jyoti Saloi * 440 (Eng, Mass, Sans, Posc, Loph, Eco) (NIP), Sankardev Academi, Nalbari, 6th: Daisy Basistha *439 (Eng, Mass, Edu, Eco, Loph, Posc) Ranjit Sarma Academy, Mangaldoi & Sukanya Dutta *439 (Eng, Alte, Hist, Eco, Loph, Posc) Pragjyotika Jr. College, Titabar, 7th: Ankita Karmakar *438 (Eng, Alte, Posc, Edu, Eco, Hist) BRPL Vidyalaya, Dhaligaon & Tapashi Bordoloi *438 (Mass, Eco, Posc, Loph) Cotton College, Guwahati, 8th: Harshasmita Sarma *437 (Eng, Mass, Edu, Eco, Loph, Posc) Institutional Private, Bajali, Tamasa Das *437 (Eng, Alte, Posc, Eco, Stat) Cotton College, Guwahati, Indrani Talukdar *437 (Eng, Alte, Eco, Loph, Posc) Shrimanta Shankar Academy, Guwahati, Binita Bora * 437 (Eng, Mass, Anth, Edu, Loph) Brahmaputra Valley Academy, North Lakhimpur, 9th: Mayur Kalita *436 (Eng, Mass, Eco, Edu, Loph) Puthimari College, Kamrup & Raktima Bhuyan *436 (Eng, Alte, Posc, Edu, Anth, Loph) North Lakhimpur College, North Lakhimpur, 10th: Barnita Das *435 (Eng, Mass, Edu, Eco, Loph, Posc) Institutional Private Bajali, Sahena Mirza *435 (Eng, Alte, Anth, Edu, Loph) Brilliant Academy, Mangaldoi & Nibedita Choudhury *435 (Eng, Mass, Anth, Loph, Edu) MNC Balika Mahavidyalaya.

Science

1st: Rajdeep Das * 462 (Eng, Alte, Chem, Phys, Math, Biol) Ramanuj Gupta Jr College, Silchar, 2nd: Gunjan Jyoti Bhuyan * 458 (Eng, Mass, Chem, Phys, Math, Stat) Cotton College, Guwahati, 3rd: Spandan Jyoti Das *454 (Eng, Alte, Chem, Phys, Math, Stat) Cotton College, Guwahati, Upasana Sarma * 454 (Eng, Alte, Phys, Chem, Math) Nowgong College, Nagaon, 4th: Kanakdeep Sharma *453 (Eng, Alte, Chem, Phys, Math, Biol) Ramanuj Gupta Jr College, Silchar, Krishanko Das * 453 (Eng, Alte, Chem, Phys, Math, Biol) Ramanuj Gupta Jr College, Silchar, Utpal Kalita * 453 (Eng, Alte, Chem, Phys, Math, Biol) Cotton College, Guwahati, 5th: Rubul Hussain * 448 (Eng, Mass, Chem, Phys, Math, Biol) Bhella Higher Secondary School, Barpeta, Himanish Goswami * 448 (Eng, Alte, Phys, Chem, Math, Biol) Salt Brook Academy, Dibrugarh, Padma Bhushan Borah * 448 (Eng, Mass, Phys, Stat, Math, Chem), North Lakhimpur College, North Lakhimpur, Parash Jyoti Mishra * 448 (Eng, Mass, Phys, Chem, Math) Darrang College, Tezpur, 6th: Namrata Das * 447 (Eng, Alte, Chem, Phys, Biol) Cotton College, Guwahati, Shantasree Ghosh * 446 (Eng, Alte, Biol, Phys, Math, Chem) Ramanuj Gupta Jr College, Silchar, 8th: Abhishek Barman * 443 (Eng, Alte, Phys, Chem, Math) Cotton College, Guwahati, Supratim Endow * 443 (Eng, Alte, Chem, Phys, Math) Cotton College, Guwahati, Nibedita Baruah * 443 (Eng, Alte, Chem, Phys, Math, Stat) Cotton College, Guwahati, 9th: Tulika Thakuria * 442 (Eng, Mass, Chem, Phys, Bio, Math) Dakshin Kamrup College, Mirza, Sailendra Kumar Thakuria * 442 (Eng, Mass, Chem, Phys, Math, Biol) Rangia Higher Secondary School, Rangia, 10th: Shibashis Deb * 441 (Eng, Alte, Biol, Phys, Math, Chem) Ramanuj Gupta Jr College, Silchar, Parashar Talukdar * 441 (Eng, Alte, Phys, Biol, Math, Chem) Salt Brook Academy, Dibrugarh, Dipankar Gogoi * 441 (Engl, Alte, Phys, Chem, Math) Pragjyotika Jr College, Titabar, Palash Jyoti Borah * 441 (Eng, Alte, Chem, Phys, Math) Cotton College, Guwahati, Suruj Jyoti Kakoti * 441 (Eng, Alte, Chem, Phys, Math) Cotton College, Guwahati.

Commerce

1st: Prabir Ranjan Sarmah *430 (Eng, Mass, Acou, Bust, Math, Eco) Tezpur Govt. H S School, Tezpur, 2nd: Najuk Agarwala * 426 (Eng, Alte, Acou, Bust, Econ) Gauhati Commerce College, Guwahati, 3rd: Neha Bhageria *419 (Eng, Acou, Bust, Caes, Econ) Dronacharya Academy, Howly, Rajat Jajodia *419 (Alte, Acou, Bust, CaeS) Gauhati Commerce College, Guwahati & Deepak Bucha *419 (Eng, Acou, Bust, Caes) Darrang College, Tezpur, 4th: Ankita Bhilwaria * 418 (Eng, Acou, Bust, Caes) J B College, Jorhat, 5th: Himadree Gogoi * 417 (Eng, Mass, Acou, Bust, Eco, Math) Salt Brook Academy, Dibrugarh, Tanvi Verma * 417 (Eng, Alte, Acou, Bust, Caes) Salt Brook Academy, Dibrugarh, Ambika Agarwalla * 417 (Eng, Acou, Bust, Caes) J B College, Jorhat, Manashi Saikia * 417 (Gauhati Commerce College, Guwahati, 6th: Sorabh Bothra * 416 (Eng, Acou, Bust, Caes) B H College, Howly, Ranjita Jhabak *416 (Eng, Acou, Bust, Eco) Gauhati Commerce College, Guwahati, Rachana Jain * 416 (Eng, Alte, Bust, Eco) Gauhati Commerce College, Guwahati, Madhumita Chatterjee * 416 (Eng, Alte, Bust, Caes, Eco) Darrang College, Tezpur, 7th: Mohit Agarwal * 415 (Acou, Bust, Caes) Gauhati Commerce College, Guwahati, 8th: Somnath Gupta * 413 (Alte, Acou, Bust, Econ) Ramanuj Gupta Jr College, Silchar, Priyanshi Baishya * 413 (Eng, Acou, Bust, Eco) Golaghat Commerce College, Golaghat, 9th: Ankit Jain * 412 (Eng, Alte, Bust, Eco) Gauhati Commerce College, Guwahati, Payal Chakraborty * 412 (Eng, Alte, Bust, Caes) K C Das Commerce College, Guwahati, Pratibha Ekka * 412 (Eng, Alte, Acou, Bust, Econ) Institutional Private, Digboi, 10th: Arunav Borkotoky * 408 (Eng, Alte, Acou, Bust, Eco) Gauhati Commerce College, Guwahati, Karishma Ajitsaria * 408 (Eng, Alte, Caes) Nowgong College, Nagaon.

HS results register a 10-year record

2010-05-26T23:54:00.001-07:00

record performance in the higher secondary final examinations 2010, the results of which were declared today. The overall pass percentages in Arts, Science and Commerce are 68.66 per cent, 85.15 per cent and 73.17 per cent respectively, a record in ten years in the examinations conducted by the Assam Higher Secondary Education Council (AHSEC).

Gitika Talukdar of Baosi Bani Kanta Kakati College, Barpeta topped the Arts results securing 454 marks in the aggregate, which is also a record in the last ten years. Rajdeep Das of Ramanuj Gupta Junior College, Silchar was declared the topper in the Science results with 462 marks in the aggregate. Prabir Ranjan Sarmah of Tezpur Government HS School, Tezpur bagged the top position in Commerce results with a total of 430 marks.

In Arts stream, a total of 1,66,311candidates, including 88,845 girls and 77,466 boys, appeared for the examination. Of them, 5,263 secured 1st Division, 17,711 2nd Division and 91,220 3rd Division.

In Science stream, altogether 14,661 students took the examination, including 10,779 boys and 3,882 girls. Of them, 4,208 got 1st Division, 6,417 2nd Division and 1,859 3rd Division.

A total of 13,606 candidates, including 10,783 boys and 2,823 girls, sat for the Commerce examination. Of them, 1,124 obtained 1st Division, 2,807 2nd Division and 6,045 3rd Division.

Tamil Nadu Class X results: Jasmin Banu tops

2010-05-26T23:51:00.001-07:00

By Shafee Ahmed Ko, TwoCircles.net,

Chennai: Jasmin Banu of Tirunalveli Town MPL High School has topped in the Tamil Nadu Class X board exam whose results were declared today. Banu has scored 495 marks out of 500. Overall, girls have outshined boys in the entire state. Four girls have shared second rank while ten third rank.

According to the SSLC (class X) results declared this morning, Jasmin Banu with 495 marks has topped in the list of successful students in entire Tamil Nadu. Four girls with 493 marks are sharing second rank in the state while ten girls with 492 marks are at No 3.

Joyous moments of Jasmin, the state's first ranker, with her mother

In total 9,67,420 candidates had appeared in the exam. The pass percentage of boys is 82.5 while that of girls is 85.5.

T. Abdul Wahid Matriculation Higher Secondary School (MHSS), Ambur, has secured 100% results.

All the Muslim management schools have performed immensely well. TCN congratulates one and all.

Following is the list of 47 schools with 100% result in Vellore Dist, Tirupattur Education Dist (TN):

St. Paul’s Matriculation High School, Vaniyambadi.

T. Abdul Wahid Matriculation Higher Secondary School (MHSS), Ambur.

Dewan Mohammed MHSS, Kethandapatti.

Ebenezer MHSS, Yelagiri Hills.

Saraswathi Vidyalaya, Gudiyatham.

Alhuda Matriculation School, Vaniyambadi.

Vani Vidyalaya MHSS, Gandhiagar, Vellore.

Sunbeam MHSS, Mettukulam.

Embessow Matriculation School, Girisamudram.

Dr. Krishnaswamy Matriculation School, Gudiyatham.

Sri Ramakrishna Vidyalaya MHS, Old Jolarpet.

Shrishti MHSS, Brammapuram.

St. Francis MHSS, Alangayam.

Boston MHSS, Jolarpet.

Vani MHSS, Vaniyambadi.

Sri Ramakrishna MHSS, Tirupattur.

Linganamani MHSS, Tirupattur.

Seventh Day Adventist MHSS, Sanrorkuppam.

Sri Vidyalakshmi Matriculation School, Katpadi taluk.

Adarsh Matriculation High School, Vaniyambadi.

Brindhavan Matriculation School, Natrampalli.

St. Charles Matriculation School, Tirupattur.

Gracious Matriculation School, Ambur.

St.John’s Matriculation School, Gudiyatham.

A.J. Saraswathi Matriculation School, Gudiyatham.

Following is the list of Muslim management schools with their performance:
School
Appeared
Passed
%age

Mazharul-ul-Uloom Hr.Sec Boys, Ambur
253
246
97

Hasanathus Jaria Girls, Ambur
237
232
98

Anaikar Oriental Arabic Boys, Ambur
91
81
98

Habibia Oriental Arabic Girls, Ambur
133
125
94

Gracious Mat, Ambur
29
29
100

TAW Hr.Sec., Ambur
75
75
100

Hindu Hr.Sec.(Boys), Ambur
363
216
60

Hindu Hr.Sec (Girls), Ambur
460
345
75

Concordia Hr.Sec., Ambur
NA
NA
48

Ambur Govt.High School
70
43
61

MES Razeena MHS, Chennai ( Boys)
40
38
95

MES Razeena MHS, Chennai ( Girls)
28
28
100

Results of Ambur Schools in S.S.L.C, March, 2010
S. No.
Highest Mark Scorer of the School
Marks
School Name
Nos. appeared
Nos. Passed
% of Passes

1
P. Thanseer Ahmed
445
Mazharul Uloom Hr. Sec. School,
Ambur
253
246
97.2%

2
Vajeeha Khatoon J.
470
Hasnath-e-Jaria Girls. Hr. Sec.
School, Ambur
237
232
98%

3
Senthilnathan
468
Hindu Hr. Sec. School, Ambur
363
216
60%

4
S. Pavithra
484
Hindu Girls Hr. Sec. School, Ambur
373
281
75%

5

Concordia Hr. Sec. School, Ambur
270
102
37%

6

Govt. High School, Ambur
70
43
61%

7
F. Mohd. Raihan
471
Anaikar Oriental Arabic Hr. Sec.
School, Ambur
101
99
98%

8
Amathullah Nazia
462
Habibia Oriental Arabic Girls High
School, Ambur
133
125
94%

9
Inamullah
471
T.A.W Matric Hr. Sec. School,
Ambur
75
75
100%

10
Kaka Ayisha Zuha
453
Gracious Matric School, Ambur
29
29
100%

11

Blesso Matric School, Ambur
12
12
100%

12

Bethel Matric Hr. Sec. School,
Ambur
87
85
98%

13

Vivekananda Matric Hr. Sec.
School, Ambur
-
-
100%

14

I.E.L.C Hr. Sec. School for the
Deaf, Ambur
19
10
53%

http://twocircles.net/2010may26/tamil_nadu_class_x_results_jasmin_banu_tops.html

Ittehad-e-Millat demands legal commission for youth falsely charged with terrorism

2010-05-26T23:48:00.001-07:00

By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net,

Bhopal: In a show of unity Muslim Ulema of various sects, keeping their sectarian differences and rivalries on the backburner, along with Islamic scholars and intellectuals from all over India resolved in unison to step forward for the sake of welfare of Muslim Ummah at large and take a unified stand on the issues confronting the community. This is the need of the hour so that the voice of Muslims could be heard at the highest echelons of power at the national level.

This was the occasion at the day-long 4th Ittehad-e-Millat (Unity of the community) Convention, held here on Sunday. The aura of unity that pervaded at the convention gave a glimpse of revival of Muslim Ummah’s pathetic fate which is sliding downwards ever since India gained freedom in 1947 from the British.

Maulana Peer Mohammed Saeed Miyan Mujaddadi, Rector Dar-ul-Uloom Taj-ul-Masajid, Bhopal, in his presidential remarks aptly said Muslim community needs justice not alms. The Muslims should not be deprived of their rights guaranteed to them in the Indian Constitution as citizens of the country.

Maulana Kalbe Jawwad, an eminent Shia cleric and Ittehad-e-Millat patron, while interacting with newspersons said: “We have noticed that the Muslim youths are arrested in the name of being SIMI activists or being associated with other terrorists outfits After 7-8 years the judiciary acquits them, which proves that Muslim youths were innocents. However, in the process the career of some youths is ruined. “Who will be responsible for this?”, he questioned.

The religious leaders attending the convention as such demanded constitution of a legal commission to save innocent Muslim youths who were being targeted and framed on false charges of carrying-out anti-national activities. They said the youth were being kept in custody for several years and their relatives were not allowed to meet them.

Differences erupt between RSS, BJP on caste-based census

2010-05-24T01:01:00.001-07:00

By IANS,

New Delhi : Differences have cropped up between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayayamsewak Sangh (RSS) over inclusion of caste in the census with the RSS opposing the move. The BJP said it would discuss the matter to resolve the issue.

The RSS, in a statement issued by its general secretary Bhaiyyaji Joshi Saturday, opposed the idea of caste-based census. Any such step will be against the vision of a casteless society propounded by constitution makers like B.R. Ambedkar, it said. The organisation is considered the ideological source of the BJP.

BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman told IANS: "The RSS has given its official view on caste-based census. The party leadership will talk to the Sangh on the issue."

She said the party has favoured caste-based census as the government agencies did not have a concrete database for welfare measures concerning educationally backward classes.

"The welfare measures are based on sample survey or smaller studies and are not based on reliable, actual data. Therefore, it is important to obtain data," she said.

Asked if the BJP will change its position in view of the Sangh's opposition to caste-based census, the spokesperson said she will not pre-judge the issue.

"Let's see what comes out. Let's talk first," she said.

In the RSS statement, Joshi said: "Right from the beginning, RSS has been working for creation of a casteless society. Any demand for caste-based census will weaken efforts being made for social unity."

Suggesting a nation-wide debate on caste-based census, the RSS said the provisions of constitution should be kept in mind while taking any decision on the issue and that some other yardstick should be adopted to meet requirements of reservation for OBCs belonging to the Hindu community.

Prime Minister Monmohan Singh told parliament earlier this month that the government was aware of the views of the members on caste-based census and will take a decision soon. The assurance came after members from the BJP, the Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal and some other parties demanded a caste-based census.

The RSS also said that the National Population Register (NPR), for which information was being obtained during the census, should not be the basis for making multi-purpose identity cards.

It said that I-cards should only be given after ascertaining citizenship of the person.

"The process for NPR enumeration does not have a provision to keep out people staying illegally in the country. It can be a threat to the country's security," the RSS said, adding that the government should implement a decision taken in 2003 to prepare a national register of citizens.

RBI Act 1934 allows interest free banking in India

2010-05-22T22:06:00.001-07:00

By Syed Zahid Ahmad,

Since the internal working group of RBI led by Anand Sinha was supposed to examine the feasibility of Islamic banking business in India, they concluded that Islamic Banking in India is not possible unless we amend the Banking Regulation Act. But had there been any objective of finding possibility to erode the hurdles for financial inclusion of any community who hate involvement in interest based transactions, one could have well concluded that ‘though Islamic banking need amendments, under prevailing acts in India, interest free banking is quite possible’. We don’t need any amendment in any act to allow interest free banking because there are already following legal provisions in the prevailing acts.

1. Section 17 (1) of the Reserve Bank of India Act 1934 states that the bank shall be authorized to accept money on deposit without interest from and the collection of money for the central and state governments, local authorities, banks and other persons.

2. Section 45W (1) of RBI Act 1934 states that RBI has the power to regulate transactions in derivatives, money market instruments, etc. in public interest, or to regulate the financial system of the country to its advantage, determine the policy relating to interest rates or interest rate products and give directions in that behalf to all agencies or any of them, dealing in securities, money market instruments, foreign exchange, derivatives, or other instruments of like nature as the Bank may specify from time to time.

3. Sections 21 and 21A of the Banking Regulation Act 1949 states that RBI has the power to control advances by banking companies. Every banking company shall be bound to comply with any directions given to it under this section. RBI’s policy or bank’s practice of charging interest cannot be pulled to judicial discretion. Reserve Bank may give directions to banking companies, either generally or to any banking company or group of banking companies in particular, as to

(a) the purposes for which advances may or may not be made,

(b) the margins to be maintained in respect of secured advances,

(c) the maximum amount of advances or other financial accommodation which, having regard to the paid-up capital, reserves and deposits of a banking company and other relevant considerations, may be made by that banking company to any one company, firm, association of persons or individual,

(d) the maximum amount up to which, having regard to the considerations referred to in clause (c), guarantees may be given by a banking company on behalf of any one company, firm, association of persons or individual, and
(e) the rate of interest and other terms and conditions on which advances or other financial accommodation may be made or guarantees may be given.

Considering the above legal provisions for deposits without interest and RBI’s power to regulate policies related to advances and interest rates, RBI seems to be in a position to allow interest free deposits and advances with zero interest rate. RBI as sole monetary regulators of India is very much in a position to allow the banks accept deposits without interest and lend advances and loans with zero interest. RBI can allow transaction of interest free deposits and lending through specific windows in existing Scheduled commercial banks at least on pilot basis. It will help achieve target of financial inclusion of those who are just excluded because they don’t like to indulge into any interest based transactions. RBI can just allow acceptance of deposits without interest and with object to financial inclusion it may also frame a special credit policy for poor by allowing credits at zero interest rate to those who don’t seek interest on their deposits. Notably the Islamic NBFC can provide investment opportunities to financially better off section of Muslims but the need of interest free credit facility by poor farmers and enterprises would still be there.

Compared to other religious communities in India, Muslims are most backward because they have worst credit deposit ratio due to unavailability of interest free credits as compatible to their religious faith. With 97% workers engaged in unorganized sector enterprises, Muslims need more credits at zero interest rate to improve their labour output ratio and value additions for foster inclusive growth of India. If Muslims be allowed to access interest free credits, the community will not be a liability any more and may turn into asset for the nation.

(The writer is Asst. Secretary General, All India Council of Muslim Economic Upliftment Ltd. Trust, Mumbai. Can be contacted on Tel. - (+91 22) 2347 6497 / 8329
Mobile - (+91) 9869 814 113, Fax:- (+91 22) 2347 8884, E Mail - aicmeu@yahoo.com
Website- www.aicmeu.org, Blog:- www.aicmeu.wordpress.com)

Who forced Minority Commission to dissolve its enquiry panel on Batla?

2010-05-22T22:05:00.000-07:00

By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net

One and half months after the Batla House encounter, the Delhi Minority Commission set up an enquiry committee to probe the shootout of September 19, 2008. The committee was to submit report within a month. The report is still elusive, and will remain so forever because the committee was dissolved soon after it was formed, and silently. Who forced the commission to do it? No one knows.

The Commission issued the order regarding constitution of a four-member Fact Finding Committee on November 5, 2008 to enquire into the police action in Batla House.

According to the official order, the terms and references of the fact finding team were the following:

a) To assess and analyses facts of the police action inside Flate No. L-18, 4TH Floor, Batla House.
b) To assess and analyse the action of the police subsequent to the police action.
c) To assess and analyse the communal atmosphere prevailing in the area.
d) To assess and analyse the current situation of communal harmony, peace and brotherhood.

The order also said: “This committee shall record the statements of the witnesses and immediate residents of the area individually, analyse them and hold further enquiries for corroboration/derogative of the statements. The committee shall also obtain the version of the Delhi Ploice.”

The Commission gave one-month time to the committee to submit its report: “The Fact Finding Committee shall submit its report within a month.”

The members of the committee were:

Mr. Maqsood Ahmed, Allama Rafiq Trust
Dr. D.K.Panday, DCVS,
Dr. Mahender Singh, Director, Bhai Veer Singh Sahitya Sadan
Rev. Manoj Malaki, The Aradhana Christian Welfare Society

Months passed and even a year and more, there was no report. The community and society also forgot about the minority panel’s fact finding team. Once again came up the 22-year-old ‘veteran’ RTI activist Afroz Alam Sahil. He had not forgotten the announcement of the constitution of the fact finding team. As he has been shown the door at every government agency whenever he approached them regarding facts about the bloody shootout of Batla House, he approached the Delhi Minority Commission hoping to get a copy of the report of its fact finding team.

Afroz filed an RTI petition with the Delhi Minority Commission on April 6, 2010. The reply he got on May 11, 2010 was a setback for this RTI ‘jihadist’ of Batla House post-mortem report fame.

“Minority Commission has not made any report in the Batla House case,” Afroz was told in reply to his question: If Delhi Minority Commission has prepared any report in Batla House encounter case. In reply to next seven questions related to the first one, the same first answer was referred.

A member of the Fact Finding Committee, who wanted to remain unnamed, has been quoted as saying: “The Delhi Minority Commission never seemed serious about the committee and we were never provided any resources. Further the Committee was soon dissolved.”

The question that needs reply is: Who asked the Delhi Minority Commission to set up such Fact Finding Committee in first place, and when it was constituted with high goal, who forced the Commission to dissolve it before it could prepare the report?
http://twocircles.net/2010may22/who_forced_minority_commission_dissolve_its_enquiry_panel_batla.html

Christian leader faces questions about Muslim past

2010-05-22T00:29:00.000-07:00

RALEIGH, N.C. — The Southern Baptist minister who leads Liberty University's seminary made a career as a go-to authority on Islam for the evangelical world, selling thousands of books and touring the country as a former Muslim who discovered Jesus Christ.

Now Ergun Caner is being investigated by the Lynchburg, Va., university — founded by the Rev. Jerry Falwell — over allegations that he fabricated or embellished his past.

An unlikely coalition of Muslim and Christian bloggers, pastors and apologists has led the charge with video and audio clips they claim show Caner making contradictory statements.

Caner has since changed the biographical information on his website and asked friendly organizations to remove damning clips from their websites, but the questions are not going away.

"There are those of us who aren't going to be quiet until we find out why integrity is being compromised," said Debbie Kaufman, a member of a Southern Baptist church in Enid, Okla., who persistently blogged about Caner. "Integrity should never be a question in the church."

Caner, a barrel-chested man with a goatee and a shaved head, has been a celebrity in the world of evangelical Christianity since 2001, when he and his brother began appearing on news shows and other venues to discuss Islam in the aftermath of 9/11.

The prolific author and charismatic speaker became president of the seminary at Liberty in 2005. Since then, enrollment has roughly tripled to around 4,000 students.

Much of his celebrity comes from his exotic background.

He told The Associated Press in 2002 that he was born in Sweden to a Turkish father and Swedish mother, who brought the family to Ohio in 1969, when he was about 3 years old. He said he accepted Christ as a teenager at a Baptist church in Columbus, and then pursued ministry, getting a degree from Criswell College, a Baptist school in Dallas.

It's difficult to verify the depth of Caner's faith as a Muslim when he was a child. His father is dead and information about his mother couldn't be immediately found. His brother Emir, also a Christian convert and scholar, responded in a brief e-mail that he has not decided whether to speak publicly.

While few doubt that Caner was raised as a Muslim, they question changing biographical details in his speeches and whether he was a believer to the extent he told audiences.

In a 2001 sermon at a church in Plano, Texas, he said, "I was born in Sweden, raised in Turkey, came to America in 1978. When I came to America I came through Brooklyn, New York, of all places, which is where I learned English."

Later, he told the audience, "I'm not just a Muslim, I'm not just a Sunni, and I wasn't just involved in the Islamic jihad. I was the son of a muezzin," referring to the person who calls Muslims to prayer.

It's not immediately known if his father was a muezzin at any point or what the basis is for his claims that he trained for jihad. His father, Acar Caner, belonged to the Islamic Foundation of Central Ohio, according to a death notice, but calls to that group and a mosque linked to it were not returned. A call to his widow, Acar's second wife, was not immediately returned.

In an undated interview on the Christian Broadcasting Network's website, Caner said: "The only thing I ever learned about Christianity I learned from my imam and the scholars in the mosque. Then when I began to be trained in Madras we heard even more about Christians, that they are our enemies."

It's not clear if the transcript should read "madrasas," a type of religious school for Muslims, or "Madras," a city in India. Neither makes sense in the context of a 1970s boyhood in central Ohio.

Initially, Caner dismissed the criticism as typical attacks by Muslims on converts. The first to prominently question Caner was London-based college student Mohammad Khan, who began posting videos of Caner's sermons and criticizing him on points of Islamic theology and Arabic pronunciation.

"We Muslims can spot his lies with ease," Khan wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press. "He is hindering the spread of the Christian faith, not helping it."

Before long, James White, director of Alpha & Omega Ministries in Phoenix, had joined in. White debates Muslim scholars along with atheists and members of other faiths, and was irked at Caner's claims to have debated a number of prominent experts on Islam. White couldn't find any audio or video record of the debates, and felt rebuffed when he sought clarification from Caner. Then he began to dig.

"Ergun Caner goes around pretending to do what I do," said White. "If someone's going around claiming to be an expert on Islam and he really isn't, I have to point that out."

Liberty's inquiry is overdue, said the Rev. Wade Burleson, pastor at Kaufman's church. Burleson said he was pressured to have Kaufman take down her posts, including by a phone call from Caner to Burleson's father.

"Liberty University, until the announcement about the investigation, was acting as if they weren't a Christian university," Burleson said. "They were covering up sin."

Liberty University officials say they won't speak publicly until the probe is complete, expected June 30.

While they wait, some of the bloggers say good could still come out of it. Burleson said Caner can become a stronger advocate for the gospel if he comes clean about his past.

Kaufman and Khan, meanwhile, have forged an improbable friendship across thousands of miles and religious differences, exchanging e-mails daily and asking each other about their respective faiths.

"I'm hoping that Muslims and those that aren't Christians will see there are those of us who believe what the Bible teaches," she said.

Caner, who remains the president of Liberty's seminary, remains publicly silent. On the day the university announced its inquiry, he posted on Twitter: "Unshakable faith at midnight makes the dawn that much sweeter," he wrote. "God is still God in the darkness!"

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/...SnDaQD9FOENTO0

'Rent-a-riot' Muthalik pays for his fanaticism

2010-05-21T12:16:00.000-07:00

By IANS,

Bangalore : Pramod Muthalik, the self-appointed Hindutva protector, has been thriving on controversies - from making inflammatory statements to being involved in attacks. But now he is battling an expose showing him willing to organise violent protests for a few lakhs of rupees.

While he garners huge space in the media by making provocative statements, the 47-year-old Hindu fanatic has little support, either in his home state Karnataka or other parts of the country.

Over the years, Muthalik has traversed from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to his own outfit Sri Rama Sene, via stints in the Bajrang Dal and Shiv Sena.

But following the expose by Tehelka magazine and Headlines Today TV channel last week, RSS spokesperson Ram Madhav and several Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders have again asserted that Muthalik has no connection with their organisations.

A day after the channel telecast the sting operation 'Rent-a-riot', Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa claimed: "I don't know anything about Muthalik. I read about him in the newspaper."

He said: "Police will take the appropriate decision at the appropriate time. We don't interfere in such matters. Police are there, and they will proceed according to law and will take action."

Muthalik has filed a police complaint against the magazine and the channel reporters and sought a probe into the incident. He has denied organising riots for money, though the sting operation claims he agreed to vandalise an art show for Rs.60 lakh.

Bangalore Police say they will take action after studying the video footage. In the footage telecast, Muthalik is heard as saying: "I can't get directly involved. I have an image in society - that of being a man of principles and a Hindutva supporter. I don't want one incident to spoil that."

He is in for a long haul and legal battle to retain the image he claims to have while trying to portray himself as a victim of the forces opposed to his brand of Hindutva.

The notoriety of 1963-born Muthalik reached its peak when his men attacked young girls at a pub in Karnataka's coastal town of Mangalore, about 350 km from here, in January 2009. Muthalik sought to justify the shocking incident of young women being pulled by hair, thrashed and pushed around by saying women going to pubs was against Hindu culture.

Apparently egged by the publicity the pub attack got him, he threatened to marry off men and women publicly displaying their love on Valentine's Day in February 2009.

He meekly withdrew the threat following nationwide condemnation, a cheeky 'Send Pink Chaddi' (innerwear) campaign on the net and unprecedented support from various organisations, including farmers, in Karnataka for those wanting to celebrate the day.

Born into a Marathi family in Hukkeri in Belgaum, bordering Maharashtra, Muthalik joined the RSS in 1975 at the age of 13.

Nine years later, he became the south India convener of the Bajrang Dal in 2004 and also worked for the BJP in the assembly polls that year. The Bajrang Dal found his hardline views tough to swallow and threw him out just a year later.

With fanfare, Muthalik joined the Shiv Sena in August 2005 only to leave a year later as the party again raised the demand for merger of Marathi-speaking areas of Belgaum with Maharashtra.

Finding himself not wanted in the many pro-Hindu outfits, Muthalik floated the Rashtriya Hindu Sena as a political platform. Sri Rama Sene is an offshoot of the Rashtriya Hindu Sena.

What followed has been there for all to see.
http://twocircles.net/2010may21/rent_riot_muthalik_pays_his_fanaticism.html