Radical clerics who preach violence are not out of touch with mainstream Muslim views, according to nearly half of British Muslims questioned in a poll.
The opinion poll for Sky News revealed that roughly the same number thought of themselves as Muslims first and British second.
Almost all - 91% - were against the bombings of July 7, but 2% agreed with what the suicide bombers did.
Around 88% thought there was no justification in the Koran for the bombings, but 5% thought there was.
The interviewees were asked to respond to the statement: "Muslim clerics who preach violence against the West are out of touch with mainstream Muslim opinon."
Nearly half - 46% - disagreed or strongly disagreed, while 54% thought they were out of touch.
And 46% said they thought of themselves as Muslim first and British second, with another 42% not differentiating.
Only 12% saw themselves as British first and Muslim second.
When asked if Britain's role in the Iraq war led to the bombings, just over 60% thought the war was largely to blame, while 40% did not agree.
Most - 79% - agreed that the Muslim community must take more responsibility for preventing young Muslims from becoming bombers.
Finally, one in five - 22% - said they had experienced increased racial or religious prejudice as a result of the bombings.
But 78% said they had not seen any backlash.
Communicate Research interviewed 462 UK-based Muslims by phone, most before Thursday's attacks.
Saturday, July 23, 2005
Friday, July 22, 2005
Amend Citizenship Act: Assam Muslims
Muslims groups in the state have demanded an amendment to the Foreigners' Act of 1946 and the Citizenship Act of 1955 for the protection of religious and linguistic minorities. The groups have also demanded the formation of a committee of "non-political and secular-minded people" under each police station for the protecting minorities and identifying illegal migrants. At a press conference held on Wednesday in the city, Alhaz Ali Ahmed Hussain, working president of the state Markazi Jamiat and chief convenor of the Minority Rights Protection Committee demanded that the government take steps to protect the interests of minorities (MRPC).
A meeting convened by the MRCP on Tuesday, brought together organisations such as the Qaumi Aykya Mancha, the State Markazi Jamiat, the Assam State Minority OBC Sanmilani, the Assam Mahila Front and several others with the organisations deciding to send a delegation to Delhi to press for their demands. Minority groups in the state have rallied together after the scrapping of the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act, 1983 by the Supreme Court recently.
Tuesday's meeting, Hussain said, had also demanded that the identification and deportation of the 3,70,000 suspected illegal migrants who have been enlisted as D-Voters on the voters' list, and the issue of photo identity cards for Indian voters be carried out only after proper verification of ration
A meeting convened by the MRCP on Tuesday, brought together organisations such as the Qaumi Aykya Mancha, the State Markazi Jamiat, the Assam State Minority OBC Sanmilani, the Assam Mahila Front and several others with the organisations deciding to send a delegation to Delhi to press for their demands. Minority groups in the state have rallied together after the scrapping of the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act, 1983 by the Supreme Court recently.
Tuesday's meeting, Hussain said, had also demanded that the identification and deportation of the 3,70,000 suspected illegal migrants who have been enlisted as D-Voters on the voters' list, and the issue of photo identity cards for Indian voters be carried out only after proper verification of ration
Axom Muslim to from a new political party
GUWAHATI, July 22/05: Assam Minister of State for Minority and Sar Area Development and Agriculture (independent charge) Wazed Ali Choudhury and other muslim leaders of the State today claimed that All India Congress Committee (AICC) chairperson Sonia Gandhi and the Group of Ministers (GoM), which had been formed by the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre to look into various aspects of the Supreme Court ruling on the IM(DT) Act, had assured them that the Foreigners Act, 1946 would be amended so as to safeguard the genuine Indian muslim populace in Assam from harassment in the name of detection and deportation of Bangladeshis.
Talking to newsmen at the Janata Bhavan conference hall in guwahati here, Wazed Ali Choudhury said that Ms Gandhi and the GoM had given this assurance to a delegation of muslim ministers and MLAs from Assam recently. Choudhury, MLAs Aftabuddin Mullah, Sajit Majumdar, Samsul Haque, Dildar Rezza, Hosenara Islam and MP Anwar Hussain demanded that the Centre amend the Foreigners Act so that the genuine Indian citizens belonging to the muslim community in Assam would not face undue harassment.
Reacting to Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, UMF and MP Golam Osmani’s remark that the Tarun Gogoi-led Congress Government’s affidavit to the Supreme Court on the IM(DT) case was not strong enough to defend the Act, the muslim ministers and MLAs said that the Jamiat, UMF and Osmani had fought separate cases in the Supreme Court demanding the retention of the IM(DT) Act, but they had not even appointed any advocates to defend their respective cases, and that was enough to expose their so-called sympathy towards the muslim community.
On the reported move by the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind and the UMF to float a new political party in the State, the Congress minister and the MLAs said: "Their dream will remain a dream as the muslim populace of the State are well aware of their misdeeds."
In what could be regarded as a major twist in the post-IM(DT) Act scenario of the State, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind today hinted at floating of a separate political platform. At the same time, it demanded the resignation of all the ministers of the muslim community admitting moral responsibility for their ‘failure’ to keep the election promise of defending the Act.
"Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi should also admit moral responsibility in this regard," said Moulana Badruddin Ajmal, president of the Assam Jamiat, while addressing a crowded press conference here today. The Congress Government in the State came to power by assuring the muslim community that it would defend the IM(DT) Act, he said. However, the ‘weak affidavit’ submitted to the Supreme Court by the State Government had resulted in the adverse verdict, alleged the Jamiat president terming the Government’s act as ‘betrayal.’
He further said, "Amid the prevailing situation in the aftermath of the apex court verdict and the ‘current anti-Congress sentiment’ triggered by this development, there is tremendous pressure on us from all quarters of the State to float a political party," he said.
The matter of floating of a new political platform by the Jamiat may get a final shape by August 20, when the convention of the newly-formed Coordination Committee of 13 organizations representing the muslims living in Assam, is held.
In a related development, the Jamiat leadership sat with the Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba-Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) last night to ensure that peace and tranquillity prevailed among all the communities. The meeting has demanded, among other things, sealing of the Assam-Bangladesh border and taking up of the illegal migrants’ issue with the Bangladesh Government.
The State Jamiat leadership has left for New Delhi this afternoon to discuss the situation in Assam with their national president Moulana Asad Madani. However, Moulana Hafiz Basir Ahmed Qasimi, additional general secretary of Assam Jamiat, said that his organization is awaiting the completion of the six-month period of its ultimatum before going against the State Government in a big way.
It may be mentioned that Madani, in a public rally in April this year, had served an ultimatum to Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi demanding fulfilment of the Congress election promises to the minorities, failing which, he threatened to throw the Congress government out of power.
‘I have enough proof of district administrations harassing minorities’2% of Assam populace are foreigners: Osmani ; In a startling development after terming the IM(DT) Act in Assam as ultra vires by the Supreme Court, senior Congress leader and Member of Parliament from Barpeta constituency AF Golam Osmani has said that two per cent of the State population are ‘foreigners’.
Addressing media persons at the MP Club here, arranged by the Citizens’ Right Preservation Committee (CRPC) of which Osmani himself is a member, the MP, currently in the limelight for his dissidence with Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, has advocated for a new law in Assam in place of the IM(DT) Act to protect the muslim community. Respecting the Supreme Court verdict on the IM(DT) Act, Osmani has also termed the Foreigners’ Act in its present form as ‘inappropriate’.
Osmani pointed out that the performance index of the IM(DT) tribunals between the period starting from March 24, 1971 to May 31, 1999 had shown that the total number of inquiries referred to the screening committee was 2, 96,564 and out of this 31,264 inquiries were referred to IM(DT) tribunals. "Now, after the scrapping of the Act, 2,65,300 people will be counted as foreigners,’’ he said, adding, ‘‘it is not possible that such a huge number of people can be foreigners. They will have to suffer without any fault of theirs." He further said that the people who were ‘driven out’ from the five districts of upper Assam on may 05, were not foreigners. "They are the poor people of lower Assam who went to the upper Assam districts to earn their livelihood. I have enough proof of the district authorities harassing them in the name of driving out foreigners," claimed Osmani.
Coming down heavily on the AGP and the AASU for allegedly not been able to safeguard the interest of the muslim community of the State, Osmani also blasted Assam Governor Lt Gen (retd) Ajai Singh for the latter’s reported statement that 6,000 Bangladeshis enter Assam every year. "Such a statement, even if it is from a responsible post like the Governor’s, cannot be accepted at all," Osmani said.
He also blamed the former Assam Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta for allegedly betraying the muslim community of the State.
‘Credit should also go to Bhattacharyya, Sharma and Goswami’Each Bangladeshi must go: Satish
Senior BJP leader and observer to the North-east V Satish has reiterated his party’s commitment that it will not take rest until and unless the illegal Bangladeshi immigrants are thrown out of the State.
Satish further said that the credit of scrapping of the IM(DT) Act should also go to people like former State BJP leader Hiranya Bhattacharyya ( a brahmin ), party leaders like RP Sharma ( a brahmin )and Sanjib Goswami ( a brahmin ) for continuously fighting legal battles against the Act.
He also criticized the Congress party for ‘trying to bring another law’ in place of the IM(DT) Act to protect the immigrant Bangladeshi nationals to keep its vote bank intact ignoring the interest of the national sovereignty. "Now, the people of Assam should concentrate on the three Ds— detect, delete and deport(ation) — of the immigrant Bangladeshi nationals," he added.
The senior BJP leader has also castigated Congress leader and Union Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee for his alleged negligence towards the issue while he was the Chairman of the Parliament Standing Committee.
Satish also lauded former Assam Governor Lt Gen (retd) SK Sinha for his ‘historic’ report on the possible consequences of the unabated Bangladeshi influx from the other side of the fence.
Refuting charges that success in scrapping the IM(DT) will be a poll plank of the party, Satish announced that development of roads, bridges, the State power scene, drinking water facility, checking corruption in all level, solving the unemployment problem and improvement of the State law and order scene will be the party plank for the ensuing election in the State.
Talking to newsmen at the Janata Bhavan conference hall in guwahati here, Wazed Ali Choudhury said that Ms Gandhi and the GoM had given this assurance to a delegation of muslim ministers and MLAs from Assam recently. Choudhury, MLAs Aftabuddin Mullah, Sajit Majumdar, Samsul Haque, Dildar Rezza, Hosenara Islam and MP Anwar Hussain demanded that the Centre amend the Foreigners Act so that the genuine Indian citizens belonging to the muslim community in Assam would not face undue harassment.
Reacting to Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, UMF and MP Golam Osmani’s remark that the Tarun Gogoi-led Congress Government’s affidavit to the Supreme Court on the IM(DT) case was not strong enough to defend the Act, the muslim ministers and MLAs said that the Jamiat, UMF and Osmani had fought separate cases in the Supreme Court demanding the retention of the IM(DT) Act, but they had not even appointed any advocates to defend their respective cases, and that was enough to expose their so-called sympathy towards the muslim community.
On the reported move by the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind and the UMF to float a new political party in the State, the Congress minister and the MLAs said: "Their dream will remain a dream as the muslim populace of the State are well aware of their misdeeds."
In what could be regarded as a major twist in the post-IM(DT) Act scenario of the State, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind today hinted at floating of a separate political platform. At the same time, it demanded the resignation of all the ministers of the muslim community admitting moral responsibility for their ‘failure’ to keep the election promise of defending the Act.
"Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi should also admit moral responsibility in this regard," said Moulana Badruddin Ajmal, president of the Assam Jamiat, while addressing a crowded press conference here today. The Congress Government in the State came to power by assuring the muslim community that it would defend the IM(DT) Act, he said. However, the ‘weak affidavit’ submitted to the Supreme Court by the State Government had resulted in the adverse verdict, alleged the Jamiat president terming the Government’s act as ‘betrayal.’
He further said, "Amid the prevailing situation in the aftermath of the apex court verdict and the ‘current anti-Congress sentiment’ triggered by this development, there is tremendous pressure on us from all quarters of the State to float a political party," he said.
The matter of floating of a new political platform by the Jamiat may get a final shape by August 20, when the convention of the newly-formed Coordination Committee of 13 organizations representing the muslims living in Assam, is held.
In a related development, the Jamiat leadership sat with the Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba-Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) last night to ensure that peace and tranquillity prevailed among all the communities. The meeting has demanded, among other things, sealing of the Assam-Bangladesh border and taking up of the illegal migrants’ issue with the Bangladesh Government.
The State Jamiat leadership has left for New Delhi this afternoon to discuss the situation in Assam with their national president Moulana Asad Madani. However, Moulana Hafiz Basir Ahmed Qasimi, additional general secretary of Assam Jamiat, said that his organization is awaiting the completion of the six-month period of its ultimatum before going against the State Government in a big way.
It may be mentioned that Madani, in a public rally in April this year, had served an ultimatum to Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi demanding fulfilment of the Congress election promises to the minorities, failing which, he threatened to throw the Congress government out of power.
‘I have enough proof of district administrations harassing minorities’2% of Assam populace are foreigners: Osmani ; In a startling development after terming the IM(DT) Act in Assam as ultra vires by the Supreme Court, senior Congress leader and Member of Parliament from Barpeta constituency AF Golam Osmani has said that two per cent of the State population are ‘foreigners’.
Addressing media persons at the MP Club here, arranged by the Citizens’ Right Preservation Committee (CRPC) of which Osmani himself is a member, the MP, currently in the limelight for his dissidence with Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, has advocated for a new law in Assam in place of the IM(DT) Act to protect the muslim community. Respecting the Supreme Court verdict on the IM(DT) Act, Osmani has also termed the Foreigners’ Act in its present form as ‘inappropriate’.
Osmani pointed out that the performance index of the IM(DT) tribunals between the period starting from March 24, 1971 to May 31, 1999 had shown that the total number of inquiries referred to the screening committee was 2, 96,564 and out of this 31,264 inquiries were referred to IM(DT) tribunals. "Now, after the scrapping of the Act, 2,65,300 people will be counted as foreigners,’’ he said, adding, ‘‘it is not possible that such a huge number of people can be foreigners. They will have to suffer without any fault of theirs." He further said that the people who were ‘driven out’ from the five districts of upper Assam on may 05, were not foreigners. "They are the poor people of lower Assam who went to the upper Assam districts to earn their livelihood. I have enough proof of the district authorities harassing them in the name of driving out foreigners," claimed Osmani.
Coming down heavily on the AGP and the AASU for allegedly not been able to safeguard the interest of the muslim community of the State, Osmani also blasted Assam Governor Lt Gen (retd) Ajai Singh for the latter’s reported statement that 6,000 Bangladeshis enter Assam every year. "Such a statement, even if it is from a responsible post like the Governor’s, cannot be accepted at all," Osmani said.
He also blamed the former Assam Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta for allegedly betraying the muslim community of the State.
‘Credit should also go to Bhattacharyya, Sharma and Goswami’Each Bangladeshi must go: Satish
Senior BJP leader and observer to the North-east V Satish has reiterated his party’s commitment that it will not take rest until and unless the illegal Bangladeshi immigrants are thrown out of the State.
Satish further said that the credit of scrapping of the IM(DT) Act should also go to people like former State BJP leader Hiranya Bhattacharyya ( a brahmin ), party leaders like RP Sharma ( a brahmin )and Sanjib Goswami ( a brahmin ) for continuously fighting legal battles against the Act.
He also criticized the Congress party for ‘trying to bring another law’ in place of the IM(DT) Act to protect the immigrant Bangladeshi nationals to keep its vote bank intact ignoring the interest of the national sovereignty. "Now, the people of Assam should concentrate on the three Ds— detect, delete and deport(ation) — of the immigrant Bangladeshi nationals," he added.
The senior BJP leader has also castigated Congress leader and Union Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee for his alleged negligence towards the issue while he was the Chairman of the Parliament Standing Committee.
Satish also lauded former Assam Governor Lt Gen (retd) SK Sinha for his ‘historic’ report on the possible consequences of the unabated Bangladeshi influx from the other side of the fence.
Refuting charges that success in scrapping the IM(DT) will be a poll plank of the party, Satish announced that development of roads, bridges, the State power scene, drinking water facility, checking corruption in all level, solving the unemployment problem and improvement of the State law and order scene will be the party plank for the ensuing election in the State.
Axom Muslim to from a new political party
GUWAHATI, July 22/05: Assam Minister of State for Minority and Sar Area Development and Agriculture (independent charge) Wazed Ali Choudhury and other muslim leaders of the State today claimed that All India Congress Committee (AICC) chairperson Sonia Gandhi and the Group of Ministers (GoM), which had been formed by the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre to look into various aspects of the Supreme Court ruling on the IM(DT) Act, had assured them that the Foreigners Act, 1946 would be amended so as to safeguard the genuine Indian muslim populace in Assam from harassment in the name of detection and deportation of Bangladeshis.
Talking to newsmen at the Janata Bhavan conference hall in guwahati here, Wazed Ali Choudhury said that Ms Gandhi and the GoM had given this assurance to a delegation of muslim ministers and MLAs from Assam recently. Choudhury, MLAs Aftabuddin Mullah, Sajit Majumdar, Samsul Haque, Dildar Rezza, Hosenara Islam and MP Anwar Hussain demanded that the Centre amend the Foreigners Act so that the genuine Indian citizens belonging to the muslim community in Assam would not face undue harassment.
Reacting to Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, UMF and MP Golam Osmani’s remark that the Tarun Gogoi-led Congress Government’s affidavit to the Supreme Court on the IM(DT) case was not strong enough to defend the Act, the muslim ministers and MLAs said that the Jamiat, UMF and Osmani had fought separate cases in the Supreme Court demanding the retention of the IM(DT) Act, but they had not even appointed any advocates to defend their respective cases, and that was enough to expose their so-called sympathy towards the muslim community.
On the reported move by the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind and the UMF to float a new political party in the State, the Congress minister and the MLAs said: "Their dream will remain a dream as the muslim populace of the State are well aware of their misdeeds."
In what could be regarded as a major twist in the post-IM(DT) Act scenario of the State, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind today hinted at floating of a separate political platform. At the same time, it demanded the resignation of all the ministers of the muslim community admitting moral responsibility for their ‘failure’ to keep the election promise of defending the Act.
"Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi should also admit moral responsibility in this regard," said Moulana Badruddin Ajmal, president of the Assam Jamiat, while addressing a crowded press conference here today. The Congress Government in the State came to power by assuring the muslim community that it would defend the IM(DT) Act, he said. However, the ‘weak affidavit’ submitted to the Supreme Court by the State Government had resulted in the adverse verdict, alleged the Jamiat president terming the Government’s act as ‘betrayal.’
He further said, "Amid the prevailing situation in the aftermath of the apex court verdict and the ‘current anti-Congress sentiment’ triggered by this development, there is tremendous pressure on us from all quarters of the State to float a political party," he said.
The matter of floating of a new political platform by the Jamiat may get a final shape by August 20, when the convention of the newly-formed Coordination Committee of 13 organizations representing the muslims living in Assam, is held.
In a related development, the Jamiat leadership sat with the Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba-Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) last night to ensure that peace and tranquillity prevailed among all the communities. The meeting has demanded, among other things, sealing of the Assam-Bangladesh border and taking up of the illegal migrants’ issue with the Bangladesh Government.
The State Jamiat leadership has left for New Delhi this afternoon to discuss the situation in Assam with their national president Moulana Asad Madani. However, Moulana Hafiz Basir Ahmed Qasimi, additional general secretary of Assam Jamiat, said that his organization is awaiting the completion of the six-month period of its ultimatum before going against the State Government in a big way.
It may be mentioned that Madani, in a public rally in April this year, had served an ultimatum to Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi demanding fulfilment of the Congress election promises to the minorities, failing which, he threatened to throw the Congress government out of power.
‘I have enough proof of district administrations harassing minorities’2% of Assam populace are foreigners: Osmani ; In a startling development after terming the IM(DT) Act in Assam as ultra vires by the Supreme Court, senior Congress leader and Member of Parliament from Barpeta constituency AF Golam Osmani has said that two per cent of the State population are ‘foreigners’.
Addressing media persons at the MP Club here, arranged by the Citizens’ Right Preservation Committee (CRPC) of which Osmani himself is a member, the MP, currently in the limelight for his dissidence with Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, has advocated for a new law in Assam in place of the IM(DT) Act to protect the muslim community. Respecting the Supreme Court verdict on the IM(DT) Act, Osmani has also termed the Foreigners’ Act in its present form as ‘inappropriate’.
Osmani pointed out that the performance index of the IM(DT) tribunals between the period starting from March 24, 1971 to May 31, 1999 had shown that the total number of inquiries referred to the screening committee was 2, 96,564 and out of this 31,264 inquiries were referred to IM(DT) tribunals. "Now, after the scrapping of the Act, 2,65,300 people will be counted as foreigners,’’ he said, adding, ‘‘it is not possible that such a huge number of people can be foreigners. They will have to suffer without any fault of theirs." He further said that the people who were ‘driven out’ from the five districts of upper Assam on may 05, were not foreigners. "They are the poor people of lower Assam who went to the upper Assam districts to earn their livelihood. I have enough proof of the district authorities harassing them in the name of driving out foreigners," claimed Osmani.
Coming down heavily on the AGP and the AASU for allegedly not been able to safeguard the interest of the muslim community of the State, Osmani also blasted Assam Governor Lt Gen (retd) Ajai Singh for the latter’s reported statement that 6,000 Bangladeshis enter Assam every year. "Such a statement, even if it is from a responsible post like the Governor’s, cannot be accepted at all," Osmani said.
He also blamed the former Assam Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta for allegedly betraying the muslim community of the State.
‘Credit should also go to Bhattacharyya, Sharma and Goswami’Each Bangladeshi must go: Satish
Senior BJP leader and observer to the North-east V Satish has reiterated his party’s commitment that it will not take rest until and unless the illegal Bangladeshi immigrants are thrown out of the State.
Satish further said that the credit of scrapping of the IM(DT) Act should also go to people like former State BJP leader Hiranya Bhattacharyya ( a brahmin ), party leaders like RP Sharma ( a brahmin )and Sanjib Goswami ( a brahmin ) for continuously fighting legal battles against the Act.
He also criticized the Congress party for ‘trying to bring another law’ in place of the IM(DT) Act to protect the immigrant Bangladeshi nationals to keep its vote bank intact ignoring the interest of the national sovereignty. "Now, the people of Assam should concentrate on the three Ds— detect, delete and deport(ation) — of the immigrant Bangladeshi nationals," he added.
The senior BJP leader has also castigated Congress leader and Union Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee for his alleged negligence towards the issue while he was the Chairman of the Parliament Standing Committee.
Satish also lauded former Assam Governor Lt Gen (retd) SK Sinha for his ‘historic’ report on the possible consequences of the unabated Bangladeshi influx from the other side of the fence.
Refuting charges that success in scrapping the IM(DT) will be a poll plank of the party, Satish announced that development of roads, bridges, the State power scene, drinking water facility, checking corruption in all level, solving the unemployment problem and improvement of the State law and order scene will be the party plank for the ensuing election in the State.
Talking to newsmen at the Janata Bhavan conference hall in guwahati here, Wazed Ali Choudhury said that Ms Gandhi and the GoM had given this assurance to a delegation of muslim ministers and MLAs from Assam recently. Choudhury, MLAs Aftabuddin Mullah, Sajit Majumdar, Samsul Haque, Dildar Rezza, Hosenara Islam and MP Anwar Hussain demanded that the Centre amend the Foreigners Act so that the genuine Indian citizens belonging to the muslim community in Assam would not face undue harassment.
Reacting to Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, UMF and MP Golam Osmani’s remark that the Tarun Gogoi-led Congress Government’s affidavit to the Supreme Court on the IM(DT) case was not strong enough to defend the Act, the muslim ministers and MLAs said that the Jamiat, UMF and Osmani had fought separate cases in the Supreme Court demanding the retention of the IM(DT) Act, but they had not even appointed any advocates to defend their respective cases, and that was enough to expose their so-called sympathy towards the muslim community.
On the reported move by the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind and the UMF to float a new political party in the State, the Congress minister and the MLAs said: "Their dream will remain a dream as the muslim populace of the State are well aware of their misdeeds."
In what could be regarded as a major twist in the post-IM(DT) Act scenario of the State, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind today hinted at floating of a separate political platform. At the same time, it demanded the resignation of all the ministers of the muslim community admitting moral responsibility for their ‘failure’ to keep the election promise of defending the Act.
"Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi should also admit moral responsibility in this regard," said Moulana Badruddin Ajmal, president of the Assam Jamiat, while addressing a crowded press conference here today. The Congress Government in the State came to power by assuring the muslim community that it would defend the IM(DT) Act, he said. However, the ‘weak affidavit’ submitted to the Supreme Court by the State Government had resulted in the adverse verdict, alleged the Jamiat president terming the Government’s act as ‘betrayal.’
He further said, "Amid the prevailing situation in the aftermath of the apex court verdict and the ‘current anti-Congress sentiment’ triggered by this development, there is tremendous pressure on us from all quarters of the State to float a political party," he said.
The matter of floating of a new political platform by the Jamiat may get a final shape by August 20, when the convention of the newly-formed Coordination Committee of 13 organizations representing the muslims living in Assam, is held.
In a related development, the Jamiat leadership sat with the Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba-Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) last night to ensure that peace and tranquillity prevailed among all the communities. The meeting has demanded, among other things, sealing of the Assam-Bangladesh border and taking up of the illegal migrants’ issue with the Bangladesh Government.
The State Jamiat leadership has left for New Delhi this afternoon to discuss the situation in Assam with their national president Moulana Asad Madani. However, Moulana Hafiz Basir Ahmed Qasimi, additional general secretary of Assam Jamiat, said that his organization is awaiting the completion of the six-month period of its ultimatum before going against the State Government in a big way.
It may be mentioned that Madani, in a public rally in April this year, had served an ultimatum to Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi demanding fulfilment of the Congress election promises to the minorities, failing which, he threatened to throw the Congress government out of power.
‘I have enough proof of district administrations harassing minorities’2% of Assam populace are foreigners: Osmani ; In a startling development after terming the IM(DT) Act in Assam as ultra vires by the Supreme Court, senior Congress leader and Member of Parliament from Barpeta constituency AF Golam Osmani has said that two per cent of the State population are ‘foreigners’.
Addressing media persons at the MP Club here, arranged by the Citizens’ Right Preservation Committee (CRPC) of which Osmani himself is a member, the MP, currently in the limelight for his dissidence with Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, has advocated for a new law in Assam in place of the IM(DT) Act to protect the muslim community. Respecting the Supreme Court verdict on the IM(DT) Act, Osmani has also termed the Foreigners’ Act in its present form as ‘inappropriate’.
Osmani pointed out that the performance index of the IM(DT) tribunals between the period starting from March 24, 1971 to May 31, 1999 had shown that the total number of inquiries referred to the screening committee was 2, 96,564 and out of this 31,264 inquiries were referred to IM(DT) tribunals. "Now, after the scrapping of the Act, 2,65,300 people will be counted as foreigners,’’ he said, adding, ‘‘it is not possible that such a huge number of people can be foreigners. They will have to suffer without any fault of theirs." He further said that the people who were ‘driven out’ from the five districts of upper Assam on may 05, were not foreigners. "They are the poor people of lower Assam who went to the upper Assam districts to earn their livelihood. I have enough proof of the district authorities harassing them in the name of driving out foreigners," claimed Osmani.
Coming down heavily on the AGP and the AASU for allegedly not been able to safeguard the interest of the muslim community of the State, Osmani also blasted Assam Governor Lt Gen (retd) Ajai Singh for the latter’s reported statement that 6,000 Bangladeshis enter Assam every year. "Such a statement, even if it is from a responsible post like the Governor’s, cannot be accepted at all," Osmani said.
He also blamed the former Assam Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta for allegedly betraying the muslim community of the State.
‘Credit should also go to Bhattacharyya, Sharma and Goswami’Each Bangladeshi must go: Satish
Senior BJP leader and observer to the North-east V Satish has reiterated his party’s commitment that it will not take rest until and unless the illegal Bangladeshi immigrants are thrown out of the State.
Satish further said that the credit of scrapping of the IM(DT) Act should also go to people like former State BJP leader Hiranya Bhattacharyya ( a brahmin ), party leaders like RP Sharma ( a brahmin )and Sanjib Goswami ( a brahmin ) for continuously fighting legal battles against the Act.
He also criticized the Congress party for ‘trying to bring another law’ in place of the IM(DT) Act to protect the immigrant Bangladeshi nationals to keep its vote bank intact ignoring the interest of the national sovereignty. "Now, the people of Assam should concentrate on the three Ds— detect, delete and deport(ation) — of the immigrant Bangladeshi nationals," he added.
The senior BJP leader has also castigated Congress leader and Union Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee for his alleged negligence towards the issue while he was the Chairman of the Parliament Standing Committee.
Satish also lauded former Assam Governor Lt Gen (retd) SK Sinha for his ‘historic’ report on the possible consequences of the unabated Bangladeshi influx from the other side of the fence.
Refuting charges that success in scrapping the IM(DT) will be a poll plank of the party, Satish announced that development of roads, bridges, the State power scene, drinking water facility, checking corruption in all level, solving the unemployment problem and improvement of the State law and order scene will be the party plank for the ensuing election in the State.
Thursday, June 23, 2005
History Refutes Indian 'Charge Sheet' Against Quaid
By Nasim Zehra, Arab News
In response to L.K. Advani's comments on Quaid-e-Azam many India have pulled out their traditional "charge sheet" against Jinnah. Undoubtedly this flows from a collective Indian attachment to historical misrepresentation. Independent India needed a "villain" to explain the partition of India. Jinnah was the natural choice.
Yet historical facts, as told by even non-Pakistani historians, point out that the responsibility for the break-up lay elsewhere.
The circumstance that led to the creation of Pakistan was politics not religion. The first major political blunder was committed by the Nehru Report prepared in 1928. The committee rejected the Muslim demand that they be given one-third representation in the Central Legislature though their population was only 25 percent, to ensure that no measure was passed by the legislature against the interest of Muslims.
Jinnah was even prepared to accept joint electorates if the demand for one-third representation was accepted. The Congress only held out verbal assurances to Jinnah. He has sought concrete constitutional guarantees.
The Congress and Muslim League alliance cracked after the British Parliament adopted the Government of India Act in 1935. The act established a federal system that granted substantial autonomy to eleven provinces, of which Muslims comprised the majority in four: Bengal, Punjab, Sind and the North-West Frontier Province. When the Muslims did badly in majority Muslim provinces the Muslim League's offer for coalition was rejected by the Congress. Instead Congress offered absorption. Leaguers could only join Congress.
This offer was in stark contrast to the Congress-League Lucknow Pact of 1916. The pact conceded that the Muslims of India should be given one-third representation in the central government and that there should be separate electorates for all the communities until a community demanded joint electorates. This pact became the basis for the 1919 Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms. This was the first acknowledgement of the Muslims as a separate community with distinct political rights within a united India.
But now the Congress leadership erroneously believed the Muslim League would be weakened as would the Muslim resolve for political rights. And that it could be ignored as a representative political force. This changed Congress policy caused the end of Congress-League unity and ultimately the creation of Pakistan.
Nehru's secularism, built on denial of minority rights, in fact sowed the seeds for communal politics. The Congress was not keen on a partnership with the Muslims. It sought their absorption. Penderel Moon, the Indian civil servant wrote in "Divide and Quit": "In other words Congress was prepared to share the throne only with Muslims who consented to merge themselves in a predominantly Hindu organization. They offered the League not partnership but absorption. This proved to be a fatal error - the prime cause of the creation of Pakistan - but in the circumstances it was a very natural one."
However as Moon argues the decision of a victorious Congressional politics, to not share power with another party, the Muslim League, could be defended as "perfectly natural" in the tradition of parliamentary politics. This natural behavior instilled in the Muslims of India, indeed in their leader, the fear of how far this "perfectly natural" behavior would go in denying to the large chunk of Indian Muslims their religious, cultural and economic rights.
Congress leadership overlooked the question of political rights for the Muslims. In 1939 Gandhi wrote to a Muslim correspondent, "Why is India not one nation? Was it not one during, say, the Moghul period? Is India composed of two nations?" The answer simply was no.
Until the British arrived India was not a single nation state, it was never administered as a united country under the control of a centralized state. This changed after the British. It was in this context of the beginnings of a Western State and Constitutional rule in India, especially after the British exit, that Jinnah had sought Muslim political representation. Social coexistence that Gandhi wanted would have been possible by the Hindu majority granting rights to the Muslim minority.
The rise of a Muslim political consciousness was directly linked to the denial by the Congress of political rights to the Muslims. The results of the 1945 central legislative assembly elections proved Jinnah's hold on the masses. In Muslim constituencies the League got 86.6 percent of the votes to the Congress' 91.3 percent in non-Muslim areas.
Jinnah, the leader swarmed by Muslims who were a hundred years behind in mind and material of the astute and robust Hindu nationalism that Ram Mohan Roy had led, then rose, as the accomplished historian Ayesha Jalal aptly writes, to become the sole spokesman for the Muslims of India. Combining his inflexible political conviction with the sheer power of constitutionalism Jinnah was going to pilot his people to a safe and secure landing, either within united India or in an independent homeland.
For the ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity his rift with the Congress began after Gandhi introduced "Hindu doctrine to energize mass support adopting his universally recognized trademarks, the dhoti and spinning wheel." (Meyers).
Yet first within an undivided India Jinnah had sought public space through political rights for Muslims. Sunil Khilnani, an Indian- born historian recalls in his book "The Idea of India: "Jinnah saw the Muslims as forming a single community, or 'nation,' but he envisaged an existence for them alongside a 'Hindu nation' within a united, confederal India. The core of his disagreement with Congress concerned the structure of the future state. Jinnah was determined to prevent the creation of a unitary central state with procedures of political representation that threatened to put it in the hands of a numerically dominant religious community." He adds that "As such, this was a perfectly secular ambition." Congress' refusal to accommodate this legitimate demand pushed the creation of Pakistan.
Indian justification for attacking Quaid includes their allegation that Quaid conspired with the British to divide India. Facts tell another story. While Nehru colluded with Viceroy Mountbatten to tamper with the Boundary Commission's work Indians accuse Quaid for conspiring with the British. According to Karl E. Meyer, in the Invention of Pakistan (World Policy Journal Spring 2003), in 1992 Christopher Beaumont, Radcliffe's former aide wrote a memorandum "that frontiers had been secretly redrawn to Pakistan's disadvantage. The most important reversal involved Ferozepore, an area of some four hundred square miles, important because its canal headwaters controlled the irrigation system in the princely state of Bikaner. Forewarned by a leak of Ferozepore's award to Pakistan, Nehru joined with the Maharajah of Bikaner in appealing to the viceroy. After a private lunch with Mountbatten - Radcliffe's second and last meeting with the viceroy - the chairman bowed to pressure and altered the Punjab line.
"This episode reflects great discredit on Mountbatten and Nehru," Beaumont's memorandum concluded, "and less on Radcliffe."
As for Jinnah, the Indian Nirad Chaudhuri in the second volume of his autobiography "Thy Hand, Great Anarch", writes: "I must set down at this point that Jinnah is the only man who came out with success and honor from the ignoble end of the British Empire in India. He never made a secret of what he wanted, never prevaricated, never compromised, and yet succeeded in inflicting unmitigated defeat on the British Government and the Indian National Congress. He achieved something which not even he could have believed to be within reach in 1946."
Former Advocate-General of Maharashtra, Mr. Seervai wrote in "Partition of India: Legend and Reality" that "It is a little unfortunate that those who assail Jinnah for destroying the unity of India do not ask how it was that a man who wanted a nationalist solution till as late as 1938, when he was 61 years of age, suddenly became a 'communalist'."
Pakistan's violent birth did not embitter the unbending Quaid. Even after the bloodletting divide he stood by his principles. As his August 11, 1947 address to Pakistan's constituent assembly demonstrated.
Quaid was as tall a man as history has ever carried. His penetrating vision had room for both a united India but he simultaneously foresaw the dangers of unrelenting Congress-led Hindu domination. Congress confirmed his fears. Jinnah knew parting was inevitable.
Someday Indian intellectuals will need to produce a revisionist history. Knock out their "learnt truths." The way Pakistan did.
In response to L.K. Advani's comments on Quaid-e-Azam many India have pulled out their traditional "charge sheet" against Jinnah. Undoubtedly this flows from a collective Indian attachment to historical misrepresentation. Independent India needed a "villain" to explain the partition of India. Jinnah was the natural choice.
Yet historical facts, as told by even non-Pakistani historians, point out that the responsibility for the break-up lay elsewhere.
The circumstance that led to the creation of Pakistan was politics not religion. The first major political blunder was committed by the Nehru Report prepared in 1928. The committee rejected the Muslim demand that they be given one-third representation in the Central Legislature though their population was only 25 percent, to ensure that no measure was passed by the legislature against the interest of Muslims.
Jinnah was even prepared to accept joint electorates if the demand for one-third representation was accepted. The Congress only held out verbal assurances to Jinnah. He has sought concrete constitutional guarantees.
The Congress and Muslim League alliance cracked after the British Parliament adopted the Government of India Act in 1935. The act established a federal system that granted substantial autonomy to eleven provinces, of which Muslims comprised the majority in four: Bengal, Punjab, Sind and the North-West Frontier Province. When the Muslims did badly in majority Muslim provinces the Muslim League's offer for coalition was rejected by the Congress. Instead Congress offered absorption. Leaguers could only join Congress.
This offer was in stark contrast to the Congress-League Lucknow Pact of 1916. The pact conceded that the Muslims of India should be given one-third representation in the central government and that there should be separate electorates for all the communities until a community demanded joint electorates. This pact became the basis for the 1919 Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms. This was the first acknowledgement of the Muslims as a separate community with distinct political rights within a united India.
But now the Congress leadership erroneously believed the Muslim League would be weakened as would the Muslim resolve for political rights. And that it could be ignored as a representative political force. This changed Congress policy caused the end of Congress-League unity and ultimately the creation of Pakistan.
Nehru's secularism, built on denial of minority rights, in fact sowed the seeds for communal politics. The Congress was not keen on a partnership with the Muslims. It sought their absorption. Penderel Moon, the Indian civil servant wrote in "Divide and Quit": "In other words Congress was prepared to share the throne only with Muslims who consented to merge themselves in a predominantly Hindu organization. They offered the League not partnership but absorption. This proved to be a fatal error - the prime cause of the creation of Pakistan - but in the circumstances it was a very natural one."
However as Moon argues the decision of a victorious Congressional politics, to not share power with another party, the Muslim League, could be defended as "perfectly natural" in the tradition of parliamentary politics. This natural behavior instilled in the Muslims of India, indeed in their leader, the fear of how far this "perfectly natural" behavior would go in denying to the large chunk of Indian Muslims their religious, cultural and economic rights.
Congress leadership overlooked the question of political rights for the Muslims. In 1939 Gandhi wrote to a Muslim correspondent, "Why is India not one nation? Was it not one during, say, the Moghul period? Is India composed of two nations?" The answer simply was no.
Until the British arrived India was not a single nation state, it was never administered as a united country under the control of a centralized state. This changed after the British. It was in this context of the beginnings of a Western State and Constitutional rule in India, especially after the British exit, that Jinnah had sought Muslim political representation. Social coexistence that Gandhi wanted would have been possible by the Hindu majority granting rights to the Muslim minority.
The rise of a Muslim political consciousness was directly linked to the denial by the Congress of political rights to the Muslims. The results of the 1945 central legislative assembly elections proved Jinnah's hold on the masses. In Muslim constituencies the League got 86.6 percent of the votes to the Congress' 91.3 percent in non-Muslim areas.
Jinnah, the leader swarmed by Muslims who were a hundred years behind in mind and material of the astute and robust Hindu nationalism that Ram Mohan Roy had led, then rose, as the accomplished historian Ayesha Jalal aptly writes, to become the sole spokesman for the Muslims of India. Combining his inflexible political conviction with the sheer power of constitutionalism Jinnah was going to pilot his people to a safe and secure landing, either within united India or in an independent homeland.
For the ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity his rift with the Congress began after Gandhi introduced "Hindu doctrine to energize mass support adopting his universally recognized trademarks, the dhoti and spinning wheel." (Meyers).
Yet first within an undivided India Jinnah had sought public space through political rights for Muslims. Sunil Khilnani, an Indian- born historian recalls in his book "The Idea of India: "Jinnah saw the Muslims as forming a single community, or 'nation,' but he envisaged an existence for them alongside a 'Hindu nation' within a united, confederal India. The core of his disagreement with Congress concerned the structure of the future state. Jinnah was determined to prevent the creation of a unitary central state with procedures of political representation that threatened to put it in the hands of a numerically dominant religious community." He adds that "As such, this was a perfectly secular ambition." Congress' refusal to accommodate this legitimate demand pushed the creation of Pakistan.
Indian justification for attacking Quaid includes their allegation that Quaid conspired with the British to divide India. Facts tell another story. While Nehru colluded with Viceroy Mountbatten to tamper with the Boundary Commission's work Indians accuse Quaid for conspiring with the British. According to Karl E. Meyer, in the Invention of Pakistan (World Policy Journal Spring 2003), in 1992 Christopher Beaumont, Radcliffe's former aide wrote a memorandum "that frontiers had been secretly redrawn to Pakistan's disadvantage. The most important reversal involved Ferozepore, an area of some four hundred square miles, important because its canal headwaters controlled the irrigation system in the princely state of Bikaner. Forewarned by a leak of Ferozepore's award to Pakistan, Nehru joined with the Maharajah of Bikaner in appealing to the viceroy. After a private lunch with Mountbatten - Radcliffe's second and last meeting with the viceroy - the chairman bowed to pressure and altered the Punjab line.
"This episode reflects great discredit on Mountbatten and Nehru," Beaumont's memorandum concluded, "and less on Radcliffe."
As for Jinnah, the Indian Nirad Chaudhuri in the second volume of his autobiography "Thy Hand, Great Anarch", writes: "I must set down at this point that Jinnah is the only man who came out with success and honor from the ignoble end of the British Empire in India. He never made a secret of what he wanted, never prevaricated, never compromised, and yet succeeded in inflicting unmitigated defeat on the British Government and the Indian National Congress. He achieved something which not even he could have believed to be within reach in 1946."
Former Advocate-General of Maharashtra, Mr. Seervai wrote in "Partition of India: Legend and Reality" that "It is a little unfortunate that those who assail Jinnah for destroying the unity of India do not ask how it was that a man who wanted a nationalist solution till as late as 1938, when he was 61 years of age, suddenly became a 'communalist'."
Pakistan's violent birth did not embitter the unbending Quaid. Even after the bloodletting divide he stood by his principles. As his August 11, 1947 address to Pakistan's constituent assembly demonstrated.
Quaid was as tall a man as history has ever carried. His penetrating vision had room for both a united India but he simultaneously foresaw the dangers of unrelenting Congress-led Hindu domination. Congress confirmed his fears. Jinnah knew parting was inevitable.
Someday Indian intellectuals will need to produce a revisionist history. Knock out their "learnt truths." The way Pakistan did.
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