THE MILLI GAZETTE

Fortnightly
Vol. 13 No. 4 Issue Serial # 290 16-29 February 2012

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

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Inside MG
Terrorism 1,9 U.P elections . 1,4,5,10,11 Saffronisation 12 Muslim woman 2,21 India/Israel 12 Hindutva 8 BJP/Muslims 4,5 Maratha awakening 3,6 AMU 2,7 Delhi monuments 13 Hijab 2 J&K 7,10

PURUSHOTTAM KHEDEKAR...3,6

ANIS SUHRAWARDY...12

Analysis 11 Special Reports 3,13 Issues 2,12-13 Books 19 National 3-10 International 16-18 Speaking Out 11 Newsmakers 12 14-15 Community News Our Publications 20 Islamic Perspectives 21 Classifieds 22 Letters 23

The Myth of Muslim votebank

SHAHID SIDDIQUI
Shahid7862000@yahoo.com The myth of Muslim votebank, although denied by all sociologists and debunked by most of the respectable sephologists refuses to die. It reasserts itself with new vigour at every election. Even those, who know that it is just a figment of their imagination, cant resist the temptation of laying the foundation of their arguments on this very convenient tool. Like everything else about Muslims, it helps in categorizing them, labelling them and putting them into convenient brackets. It was done in India to explain the political behaviour of Muslims across regional, linguistic, caste, class and social divide. Today it is done globally to explain away any inconvenient behaviour of Muslims, no matter how different they are from each other. The behaviour of Muslims is easily explained away whether they are Thai, Chechen, Palestinian or European, with the same convenient arguments, blaming everything on their faith and beliefs. It is always such a smooth open and shut case, where you know the crime, the culprit, the cause, the evidence and the punishment. The idea of a Muslim vote bank is also such an all-purpose tool which explains away all their political behaviour. The idea that there is something called Muslim votebank, which, behaves uniformly across the board, suites both Muslim leadership and the right wing Hindu analysts. Muslim leaders can bargain with political parties on behalf of this vote which can be delivered if the right price is paid to any buyer. It also strengthens the bargaining power of these Muslim middlemen, who claim to herd them in any direction they want. It suits the communal Hindu organizations as they can easily play on the threat posed by this vote bank to manufacture their own Hindu votebank, and herd it into any direction they want. It suits the Secular parties, because they are able to claim that this so-called Muslim Vote is
MG/Yusuf

The idea of a Muslim votebank is an all-purpose tool which explains away all their political behaviour. It suites both Muslim leadership and the right-wing Hindu analysts.
safe and secure in their banks, which they may cash at any convenient political moment .They also claim that since they have this vote in their pockets, they can claim to be the saviours of the minorities and hence require no more proof for their secular credentials. This idea of a MVB also suites the overnight experts and 24x7 analysts on our TV screens. They are able to explain away the political behaviour of Muslims neatly packaged and distributed along the political divide to prove the conclusions they have already arrived at. So this MVB is such a wonderful tool that nobody wants to let it go, knowing fully well that it is too crude and simplistic. I know my assertions will be criticized or disliked both by Muslim and Hindu communalists as they will explode the myth on which they have built the edifice of their arguments. Muslim ulama refuse to accept the ground reality of Islam in India, which is as much mired into caste divisions as any other Indian religion. Muslim society is as divided as Hindu society along the caste and regional lines. Caste is such a formidable Indian/Hindu institution that Islam, Christianity, Marxism, rationalism, modernism all have floundered and surrendered on its shores. Islam became acceptable in medieval Indian society as a caste group and not as a religious group. Mughal, Pathan, Turk, Sheikh, Syed were regarded as sub-castes, and all other Indian converts to Islam were accepted very conveniently as outcastes. It suited those Turk/Pathan/Mughal rulers to be treated as caste and not purely religious groups by other ruling castes of India. Anyone, who has basic knowledge of Western U.P. Muslim society, knows that there are castes like Jhojhas, Ranghar and Gharhas which are peculiar to Muslims of this area. Then you have all the Hindu caste divisions like Muslim Rajput, Mode Jaat (Muslim Jat), Khatri Musalman, Gujjar Muslims, Tiyagi Muslims, Teli Musalman etc. etc. You have Ansari, Qureshi, Rayani, Sulemani, Saifi,who are as divided socially as any other caste group. Apart from this, Muslims have Shia/Sunni division, Deobandi/Baralevi divide and a dozen other divisions on the bases of various schools of thought. Before independence these divisions were not as sharp as they are today. The most important issue then was the fight against the common enemy: the British. However, as electoral politics took roots after independence, the caste and sub-caste divisions became sharper. The easiest and fastest way of becoming a political leader, with some bargaining power, was to raise the slogan of your caste or sub-group getting step-motherly treatment. Caste divisions in Muslim society were never as sharp or as rigid as they are in Hindu society. However, with the advent of democracy they became distinct political groups, especially since the Mandalisation of North Indian politics. Today, Muslims in rural India do not vote as a single religious group. Their caste rivalries are so strong that if, for example, Qureshis vote for one party the Ansaris will vote for another. It wont really matter whether the candidate is a Muslim or a Hindu. Yes, there emerges from time to time a Muslim vote, though temporarily, when the community faces a common threat like the Ram Mandir movement of the Sangh privar, or a very major riot as in Gujarat, Meerut or Bhagalpur. In fact it is BJP, which by raising the bogey of the Muslim votebank, turns this fragmented vote into a political entity. Muslim leaders had to raise the bogey of Islam/Muslims in danger, whether real or perceived, in order to unite them under one banner. Muslim vote for Congress, Samajwadi Party, or RJD, is never 100%. Before Independence, even Muslim

League could never get more then 50% of the Muslim vote in U.P. So when analysts talk of Muslims voting for this party or that as if they have no mind of their own and are swayed by one fatwa or the other, then they are often off the mark. Muslims voting behaviour is as varied as that of any other religious group, based on their socio-economic, rural-urban, caste-religion divide. In the last 40 years of my active journalistic life I have always been asked this question by my friends from the media: What will be the impact of Bangladesh or an India-Pak war or the situation in Iran or a Saddam Husain death or Salman Rushdie on Muslim voting behaviour? My reply has always been that these issues do influence the minds of a section of Muslims but they do not influence their voting behaviour. They voted for Mrs. Gandhi in spite of her being responsible for the break up of Pakistan. They voted for Janta Dal in 1977 in spite of the presence of Jana Sangh in that camp. They went along with V.P. Singh inspite of his association with the BJP. They voted by and large with Left Front in West Bengal but moved towards Mamta as the general mood changed in that state. The point I am making is that Muslims dont generally vote against the trend in their state. Even when they vote for a particular party it is never cent per cent. The media and analysts should stop looking at Muslim voters from the prism of a votebank and start treating them as individuals and groups. The subconscious contempt which we have for the other, leads us to believe that they, unlike us, behave irrationally, as a herd led by their fanatic leaders. I know that the myth of a Muslim votebank is so convenient that inspite of all the protests and denials, they will go on using this tool to explain their political behaviour in this season of elections. However, for a better understanding of Indian politics we must try to get out of this syndrome as soon as we can.
The writer is editor of Nai Duniya Urdu weekly

When news is not news

Our so-called mainstream media is supernationalist and ultra-patriotic. It knows when and what to publish and what to kill or bury in inside pages. This arrogant media, which prints terror stories with banner headlines on front pages, is silent these days on one of the most important episodes in terrorism. The case of Ajmal Kasab, the 26-11 terrorist, is now in front of the Supreme Court and the amicus curiae (Raju Ramchandaran) has told the court some unpalatable facts - that Kasab earlier was not given a lawyer, and even when he was provided with a lawyer he could not talk to him in privacy, FIR for his arrest was registered two days after his custody, his most famous photograph in the CST seems unreal... Yet and despite the fact that this trial is taking place in the apex court situated in the heart of the capital which is covered by regular legal reporters, yet even the inside pages of our mainstream media or news bulletins of our 24x7 channels are silent. Same is the matter when falsely accused persons are acquitted by our courts after long, long years in prisons, the same media fails to report it while it had earlier published the news of their arrest with shrieking headlines. Take the case of Mufti Asrar, who was arrested despite the fact that there was no case of his direct involvement in any terror activity and the pistol recovered from his personal desk in a madrasa was decidedly a planted recovery which in any case is not enough to charge him with treason and war against nation while many Hindutva stalwarts charged in Malegaon and Ajmer chargesheets remain untouched. Despite this Mufti Asrar spent a full ten years in jail and was released by a Delhi court on 25 January but no mediaperson was present outside Tihar to record the great injustice.

A true tableau Terrorists cell

ZAFARUL-ISLAM KHAN

2 The Milli Gazette, 16-29 February 2012

ISSUES / OPINION

AMU is again becoming the leader of Muslim education

KALEEM KAWAJA
kaleemkawaja@gmail.com n the modern history of the Muslims of the Indian subcontinent after the end in 1857 of over six centuries-long Muslim rule, their emancipation by acquiring modern education starting in late 1800s represents a very courageous turning point. The widespread British suppression and degrading of Muslims of all classes following the failure of the 1857 revolution was savage and impacted all classes of Muslims. However, in the late 1800s a few Muslim leaders across the country embarked on a path to liberate the Muslim community through modern education by building modern Muslim educational institutions. Two of them who succeeded and whose institutions have continued to flourish for over a hundred years now are Sir Syed Ahmad Khan of Aligarh and Badruddin Tyebjee of Bombay. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan built the Mohammadon Anglo-Oriental School and College in Aligarh in 1874, where he introduced a curriculum adapted from the prominent universities of Britain and employed British teachers. Also in 1874 Badruddin Tyabjee built the Anjuman Islam school and college in Bombay. Today over a hundred years later the initiative in Aligarh has blossomed into the large and renowned Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). The other initiative in Bombay has also blossomed into the Anjuman Islam colleges and schools numbering about 80 across Maharashtra. In the pre-1947 era, both the institutions prospered with encouragement from the then British-Indian government. The Anjuman Islam colleges and schools were not built as residential and unitary institutions, but AMU was built as one. While Anjuman emphasized education of Muslims but not the handling of their social-political issues, AMU did both with a view to create the future Muslim leadership. As the Pakistan movement heated up in north India in the 1930s, willingly or unwillingly the political future of the Muslims of India became a major feature of AMU. After 1947, while Anjuman Islam, not having been sucked into the vortex of the Pakistan movement did not suffer significant political recriminations in Hindu majority India, AMU suffered grievous discrimination for about a quarter century. Thus in post-independence India AMU became much more than a Muslim university; it became a symbol of the middleclass Muslims and a beacon of hope for the emancipation of the community. Gradually over the years as the political parties and forces realized the importance of Muslims as an integral part of India and AMU too has shed its exclusivist tendencies, AMU is again being looked upon by successive governments and parties in power as one of the major avenues through whom the Muslim community should be approached.

In the last several decades the educational backwardness of Indian Muslims and its contribution to the overall socioeconomic backwardness of the community has become an open gnawing wound. The 2007 Justice Sachar Committee report on this subject has put the governments responsibility to bring educational empowerment of the Muslim community on the front burner. Not only Congress party, even the BJP simply cannot ignore this need. It is this realization that led the government to plan the building of several higher educational centres for Muslims in various Muslim concentration districts in the country that could grow in due course of time into Muslim universities, as recommended by the Sachar Committee. However, the government faced a major problem that the Indian constitution prohibits building such facilities for only one religious community and the sizeable anti-Muslim forces are in no mood to let that happen. That is when they thought of expanding an existing Muslim university by building remote centres attached to it across the country. They had only two universities to choose from: AMU and Jamia Millia Islamia. AMU is far more well-established with a well-established system of instruction, curriculum, research, academic management, residential facilities for students, large colleges of medicine, engineering, law, business management, science etc. Also in comparison, AMU is a century-old internationally known Muslim university with a bigger faculty and student population. Thus AMU became the governments choice. With the planned establishment of five AMU centres of higher education in places far away from Aligarh, three of which are well underway in Murshidabad (West Bengal), Mallapuram (Kerala) and Kishanganj (Bihar) AMU is being transformed from being a single university for Muslims into a university system for Indian Muslims. While AMU does not have a reservation for Muslim students it does have a reservation for internal students. That means preferential admission of AMUs own students to its professional and higher science colleges. Since the dominant culture and ethos of AMU is Muslim-centric, most students at higher secondary level where students are relatively young tend to be Muslims. So that makes the internal student reservation an indirect reservation for Muslims. This system of internal students quota has been upheld by the Courts as being legal, as under Article 30 of the Indian Constitution minorities are allowed to set up their own systems of management. Also this is not a reservation for Muslims as anyone is allowed to become an internal student at AMU. By virtue of being centres of AMU, the internal student reservation system can be extended to its remote centres without infringing any laws of the nation. Thus the government can fund the establishment of the

AMU remote centres. It should be noted that to-date none of the anti-Muslim parties and groups including BJP have raised any voice of protest against the establishment of remote AMU centres funded by the government. The plan calls for the five AMU centres to grow under the administration at AMU, Aligarh, transferring academic management knowhow, management of teaching and student bodies, curriculum etc from AMU to its remote centres. The expectation is that in due course of time the remote centres will become Muslim universities in their own right. Since all AMU remote centres are being built in heavy Muslim-concentration districts, it is natural that it will spread higher education in the educationally backward Muslim community. That will bring empowerment and socioeconomic growth to the backward Muslim community in due course of time. It should be noted that the first Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) was built in Kharagpur, West Bengal in 1954. Thereafter, utilising IIT Kharagpurs system of academic administration, curriculum, bodies of teachers and students etc more autonomous IITs were built in Bombay, Madras, Kanpur, Delhi and later in Roorkee and Gauhati. From one IIT it became an IIT system. Today, all these IITs have developed their own culture and system and the coordination among them is happening very successfully. The plan for the AMU system and its centres expects to emulate the successful IIT model. Just as in the pre-1947 era, AMU was a leader of higher education for Muslims in the Indian subcontinent and Muslims came from all over the country to study there, today AMU is again becoming the leader, leading the resurgence of higher education in the backward Muslim community all over the country, from West Bengal to Kerala. In the process, AMU is also on the path to lead the socioeconomic emancipation of the depressed Muslim community on an all-India basis. Most Indian Muslims and alumni of AMU have welcomed this government initiative. But a few in the AMU community are apprehensive that the expansion of AMU from one university in Aligarh to the AMU system spread over the entire country may cause the dilution of the privileges they enjoy at Aligarh. Their anxieties are imaginary and a generic reaction to change per se. But change is the law of nature and after 130 years AMU too cannot remain static. More than anything AMU must respond to the challenge that the extraordinary educational backwardness of the Indian Muslim community represents, and must lead the path forward the uplift of the entire Indian Muslim community. The expansion of AMU also represents the fulfilment of the vision of AMUs founders who saw AMUs future not just as one college but as a catalyst for the establishment of clones of AMU in Muslim communities throughout the country that will emancipate the entire community. The writer is a community activist based in Washington DC. momentum of forced liberation can be witnessed. We are labelled as oppressed and discriminated against from times primitive and, therefore, it is the duty of our Western empathizers to liberate us and to make a choice for us, because being feebleminded, the Muslim woman cannot distinguish right from wrong. When I say that the hijab I wear liberates me, you either smirk at me or look at me with pity - pity at a persona naive and simpleminded. Islam requires both men and women to cover certain areas of their bodies out of modesty. How do I feel wearing Hijab? I feel empowered, respected and dignified. When people talk to me, they concentrate on what I say and not how I look. People talk to me for ME and not for my appearance. I feel seen for who I truly am - a human being. When I wear hijab, I feel that perhaps I reflect some glimmerings of modesty of Mother Mary, the holiness of nuns. Its like living in a church everyday. I feel pure. Hijab requires purity of character to live a principle-centred life based on humility, modesty, honesty, love, compassion and kindness and to elevate oneself with a conscious endeavour. So, please do not prejudice. You respect the veil of a nun for her holiness and modesty and perceive the veil that I wear as a symbol of subjugation and injustice. Islam does not provide for oppression of woman. I am free to choose. Hijab is my choice. I am liberated. Your truly,

Hijab: An Open Letter to the World

Dear masses of the human race, With due respect, I request you to hear me out and to read this letter with an open, unprejudiced mind. Catholic nuns wear veil as a symbol of holiness. Sikhs wear a peculiar turban. Kippah is the skull-cap worn by Jewish men. In Hindu society, women often cover their head on entering religious places and follow it traditionally as a sign of respect in front of elders. European women of the Middle Ages wore different varieties of veils in the form of hats, wimple and head-scarves. Depictions of Virgin Mary (Hazrat Mariam), mother of Jesus Christ show her veiled. Muslim women wear veil - hijab - which is modest dressing. So, what is this hue and cry about Muslim womens hijab? Why is the world making noise? Feb 11,2004: MPs vote overwhelmingly to ban the Islamic headscarf and other religious symbols from state schools. June 7, 2011: Iran womens soccer team thwarted by hijab ban. Irans womens team was correctly prevented from playing a 2012 Olympics qualifier wearing Islamic head scarves, FIFA claimed. Sep 1, 2011: American police officers in the state of New York clashed with Muslim individuals protesting an arbitrary ban on hijab at an amusement park and arrested at least 15 protesters. The incident occurred when one woman, Entisai Ali, protested to police officers over the amusement parks headscarf restriction. 27 September 2011: Bishkek - A ban on the wearing of headscarf
Indian Muslims Leading English Newspaper

at schools sparked outrage in Kyrgyzstan, with human rights activists condemning the move as denying Muslim girls one of their basic rights. Many Muslim students were either forced to remove their headscarves or go home if they refused to take them off. December 08, 2011: Eight Kazakh female students at a university in northwestern Kazakhstan say they will sue school officials for not allowing them to attend classes wearing head scarves. School and university students wearing hijab in Turkey constitute the biggest front of the fight against hijab ban in public sector and educational places in the country. The hijab-wearing university students, in particular, hold daily gatherings in front of their universities and try to gain their right through lawful means. Perhaps we are going to times benighted; to the Dark Ages because from the Ancient to Middle Ages to perhaps just a few years ago, women were free to wear a veil and it was not only admissible but was considered a mark of modesty and propriety in some traditions, while a virtue of prestige and nobility in others. The veil which was permissible and acceptable by various traditions and religions such as Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism and glorified in their religious scriptures, has become an idiosyncrasy for Muslim women, a note of oppression and subjugation of Muslim women. Muslim women are perceived as dimwitted and obtuse with no intelligence and maturity of their own and inspite of their protests around the globe that hijab is their choice, a

WAJIHA MEHDI A follower of equality and liberty for all, a girl who wears Hijab
wajiha_mehdi_90@yahoo.com
Call/SMS: 09818120669 / 09868656614

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The Milli Gazette, 16-29 February 2012 3

NATIONAL
This news was blocked out by media

Manu Smriti burnt by thousands

Pune: A meeting was held in Punes Pimpri Chanchor locality on 25 December 2011. It was presided over by Purushottam Khedekar, founder of Shiv Dharm and Maratha Seva Sangh, to explain why Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar had burnt Manu Smriti. In this meeting Manu Smriti, which is the most cruel symbol of the Brahminic ideology, was consigned to flames in the presence of thousands of people and in front of a large number of policemen. In this meeting which was attended by many important personalities of the Dalit community as well as many former government officers in addition to common people, Mr. Bagal said that Manu Smariti is nothing but a set of conspiratorial and exploitative documents or book which preaches insult, humiliation, exploitation and suppression of Bahujan interests and teaches how to keep them backward for ever. He said that Brahmins have trapped and entangled common Hindus in complicated religious problems and subjected them to various restrictions from which they can never be emancipated. These religious restrictions have nothing to do with facts nor can they bring any kind of benefit to them. He said that in 1925 Baba Saheb Ambedkar, by openly burning Manusmiriti, had given a message to Bahujans to unite against Hinduism and today we have assembled here to revive the same message. In his eye-opening speech Bagal said that the real aim of Manu Smiriti is nothing but to make Bahujans slaves of Brahmins using the smokescreen of religion. In Manu Smriti, Brahmins have been given so much authority and rights to violate the honour of Bahujan women that after marriage, a Bahujan girl will have to sleep with a Brahmin male from the very first to 8th night. And this tradition exists among Namboodripad Brahmins of Kerala even today. He also openly made fun of Ganesh Chaturthi and asked how and from where he developed such a long trunk and how he became such a strange god. He said that today the chief secretary of Maharashtra government is a Dalit (Ratnakar Gaikwad) which Brahmins find difficult to digest. He said that not only religion but the entire system and administration of the country runs along Manu Smriti lines in some way or the other, though we dont feel and understand it. He said that Hinduism itself is a collection of symbolic, imaginary and mythical stories and anecdotes on the pretext of which rules to keep and treat Bahujans as slaves of Brahimins have been made. Purushottam Khedekar said that by burning Manu Smriti, Baba Saheb had declared a war against the Brahminical system and today we have assembled here to repeat the same declaration of war. He said that Muslims have the same right and claim on Jyotiba Phule, Shivaji Maharaj and Baba Saheb Ambedkar as Bahujans but I dont understand why Muslims are so afraid and prefer to lie low. He said that there is only one alternative against the widespread network of Brahmins that we should achieve higher education and occupy high government posts. Commenting on the incident of Shiv Senas Manohar Joshi offering milk to Ganapati, he asked the audi-

ence why had Manohar Joshi offered milk to Ganapati on 25 September 1995 and immediately after that media had given countrywide publicity to this unimportant incident? Answering this question himself, he said that it was on 25 September that Kolhapurs Shahu Maharaj had ordained that acquisition of education is compulsory for Bahujans and had issued a G.R. He said that Manohar Joshi and Brahmin lobby wanted to see how conscious and capable Bahujans have become after acquiring education and how strong is the grip of the Brahminic system on them. According to Purushottam, all the Bahujans failed this examination because most of the Bahujans had blindly believed in this conspiracy of Manohar Joshi. He further said that Brahmins had used Bahujans for demolishing Babri Masjid, but they (Brahmins) dont allow many castes of Bahujans to even approach Ram Mandirs. He dubbed the media as the biggest Brahminical mafia and said that the only way to tackle this mafia is that our people should acquire expertise in the world of journalism and get associated with big newspapers and magazines. As the speech of Purushottam Khedekar was in progress, some educated Bahujan ladies suddenly stood up and started burning copies of Manu Smriti and in no time flames of fire began to rage in the atmosphere. It may be noted that this historic incident was largely blacked out by the national media and if at all some did, it was reported very briefly albeit reluctantly but it augurs a great social revolution in future, at least in Maharashtra. This is a revolution which may ensure security and peace to Muslims and Christians and enable them to breathe freely in the open air, even though this incident may not be related to them directly. (Mushtaque Madni, Pune translated from Urdu) See also Purushottam Khedekar, p. 6 in this issue

Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh High Courts bench of Justices Ajit Singh and Sanjay Yadav rejected on 27 January a petition filed by Catholic Bishops Council and Harmony Foundation challenging the state governments decision to introduce the teaching of Gita in public schools all over the state. This petition was rejected by the High Court Bench on the ground that the Bhagwad Gita is not a religious book but a book of Indian philosophy. It may be recalled that Madhya Pradeshs chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan had announced last year that Gita Saar (essence or summary of Gita) will be included in the syllabus of public schools all over the state. This announcement was opposed by religious organisations (barring Hindu organisations), many educationists and opposition parties. They had argued that they are not opposed to this decision of the government provided the essence or summaries of other religions ought also to be taught in schools alongwith summaries of Gita. A PIL to this effect was also filed by Catholic Bishop Council and Harmony Foundation. The High Court rejected this request but upheld the teaching of Gita in schools. The PIL had also stated that most of the schemes of government derive their names from Hinduism and Hindu mythology like Laadli Lakshmi, Balram Tal, Kapil Dhara, Bhoomi Pujan when foundations of even official buildings etc. are laid, not to talk of bhojan mantra, surya namaskar etc. The PIL had stated that by these steps this state (M.P.) had failed to project a secular image which it should do as per the Constitution. When this petition came up for hearing by the High Court on 27 January, after preliminary arguments which lasted only for about ten minutes, the Bench rejected the petition. Bishops Council and Harmony Foundation, while expressing disappointment over the verdict, said that they will file an appeal against this verdict in the Supreme Court.

Plea against Gita teaching in M.P. schools rejected

Tension over Bhojshala/Mosque dispute

Dhar (M.P.): Twenty persons from right wing organisations arrested as a precautionary measure following a call for Dhar bandh as Basant Panchami approaches on 28 January. District Collector and S.P. described the situation as peaceful with companies of State Armed Force being called in addition to 800 policemen from Indore, Bhopal and Ujjain. Since Basant Panchami (28 January) is followed by Ide-Milad (5 February) adequate arrangements to maintain law and order have been made. The disputed place, claimed as Bhojshala and Kamal Moula Mosque, becomes tense every year on Basant Panchami. Hindus worship here every Tuesday whereas Namaz is offered every Friday. A committee demanding the bringing of a replica of Wagdevi statue from Gwalior and being consecrated here was formed. The original idol is at present in the London museum. The committee wants to take out a procession on Basant Panchami. Samiti leader Naval Kishore Sharma is on a fast unto death. He has been referred to M.Y. Hospital.

Solution of Ayodhya dispute essential for world peace

MANZAR MEHDI FAIZABADI
Ayodhya: A peaceful solution to the Babri Masjid and Ram Janmabhoomi dispute can be found through talks only. No court has been able to find a solution to the dispute which is based on and associated with faith. Lucknow High Court had tried to solve this problem but its efforts ended in failure, with the result that all contending parties approached the Supreme Court for a just solution. It is not known when this court will pronounce its verdict on this problem. It is also difficult to say if all will be satisfied with the Supreme Courts verdict but most of the people agree that even the biggest problems and disputes can be solved through mutual talks. Ayodhya dispute can also be solved through mutual talks but for this, the concerned parties have to be large hearted and some sacrifice will have to be made by the parties in order to maintain peace, goodwill and brotherhood. It is also important to note that outsiders and unconcerned people have a role in inflaming the Ayodhya dispute who would never like this problem to be solved. Hence it is necessary that local people should come forward to settle it. Former Justice Palok Basu of Allahabad High Court has been trying for the past two years to get the Ayodhya dispute solved through talks. He regularly comes from Allahabad to Faizabad every two or three months and talks to local Hindus and Muslims on this issue and now his efforts appear to be bearing fruit. Muslims and Hindus of Ayodhya, the majority of whom are sadhus and sants, appear to agree that Ayodhya dispute should not be left to the future generations. We should solve this dispute in our own life time and Prakash Shrivastava, Ayodhya Welfare Societys president Sadiq Ali (Babu Khan), Lateef, Mahfooz, Urdu Press Associations president Manzar Mehdi and others appear to be firmly with Justice Palok Basu who also meets Babri Masjids plaintiffs Haji

Two killed in communal clash

Patna: Two persons were killed in communal tensions and clashes in Jamui village on 30 December soon after the immersion of Goddess Saraswatis idol at the Muslim-populated Garhi village. About five assailants, said to be Naxals, shot dead Muhammad Karu and Muhammad Sayyad. One more person, Muhammad Jabbar is reported to be missing. S.P. of Jumui (Bihar) Upendra Sharma said on 31 December that as of now only two killings are confirmed. He however denied that the deaths were because of a communal riot.

MG NEWS DESK

Quote, Unquote
...how eagerly the literati and assorted TV anchors were shedding tears for Rushdie while all along in the past they had looked the other way when lesser mortals in their own country were detained, and had their freedom of expression trampled upon. The detention of filmmaker Nishta Jain in Dantewada, Chhattisgarh, the denial of entry to American academic Richard Shapiro in 2010, and the deportation of broadcaster David Barasmian from New Delhis international Airport in 2011 hardly evoked a squeak from the worthies who have spoken up for Rushdies freedom of expression via video link. Novelist Jaishree Mishra pointed out that not many writers came to her defence when her book, Rani, was banned in Uttar Pradesh. IFTIKHAR GILANI, dnaindia.com Iran is a sovereign country that hasnt attacked a neighbour in over 200 years, so why is it not allowed by the international community to have its own nuclear programme like so many other nations? RICHARD FALK, UN Special Rapporteur on Palestinian human rights

Justice Paloke Basu (centre) during a meeting to discuss Ayodhya

then, pave the way for peace in future and bid good bye to this world. People like Mahant Jan Meje Sharan of Bada Asthan Janki Ghat have become so serious and keen to solve this problem that they do not feel any hesitation in inviting both Hindus and Muslims in their temples for free and frank discussions on this problem. People like Dev Murari Bapu, Ayodhyas famous kathawachak or preacher, Nirmohi Akharas lawyer Ranjeet Lal Varma, Naga Ram Lakhan Das, Gyan

Mahboob and Hashim Ansari. Parties to the Ayodhya dispute say that if Justice Basus efforts lead to some acceptable solution, we too will seriously consider this. Justice Basu has made it clear that unless both the mosque and temple are built in Ayodhya the dispute will not be settled. It is essential for the restoration of peace and understanding in the world that places of worship of both communities should be built in Ayodhya. (Translated from Urdu)

4 The Milli Gazette, 16-29 February 2012

NATIONAL
Shining India!

Mumbai: Across the world, India is seen as an education powerhouse - based largely on the reputation of a few islands of academic excellence such as the IITs. But scratch the glossy surface of our education system and the picture turns seriously bleak. Fifteen-year-old Indians who were put, for the first time, on a global stage stood second to last, only beating Kyrgyzstan when tested on their reading, math and science abilities. India ranked second last among the 73 countries that participated in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), conducted annually to evaluate education systems worldwide by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) Secretariat. The survey is based on two-hour tests that half a million students are put through. Chinas Shanghai province, which participated in PISA for the first time, scored the highest in reading. It also topped the charts in mathematics and science. More than one-quarter of Shanghais 15-year olds demonstrated advanced mathematical thinking skills to solve complex problems, compared to an OECD average of just 3%, noted the analysis. The states of Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh, showpieces for education and development, were selected by the central government to participate in PISA, but their test results were damning. When the Indian students were asked to read English text, again Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh were better than only Kyrgyzstan. The science results were the worst. Himachal Pradesh stood last, this time behind Kyrgyzstan. Tamil Nadu was slightly better and finished third from the bottom The average 15-year-old Indian is over 200 points behind the global topper. Comparing scores, experts estimate that an Indian eighth grader is at the level of a South Korean third grader in math abilities or a second-year student from Shanghai when it comes to reading skills. The report said: In Himachal, 11% of students are estimated to have a proficiency in reading literacy that is at or above the baseline level needed to participate effectively and productively in life. It follows that 89% of students in Himachal are estimated to be below that baseline level.

Indian students rank 2nd last in global test

BJP manifesto fails to hide Muslim hatred

MOHAMMAD SHAHID PARVEZ
Lucknow: Muslim hatred, as expected, is once again the hallmark of the BJP manifesto for the ongoing UP Assembly elections. The partys anti-Muslim stance came to the fore when it declared in its manifesto that the party would scrap the 4.5 percent sub-quota for minorities within the OBC quota announced by the Centre if it comes to power. While opposition to minority quota, which it calls religion-based quota scheme, finds pride of place on the first page of the 72-page party manifesto, the temple agenda is confined to one liner in the preface that says the party is committed to remove all hurdles in the way of the temple construction. Besides other things, the party also promised to distribute free cows to the poor, ban cow slaughter in the state and to establish Ram Rajya. Apart from the Muslim hatred, the saffron partys opposition to minority quota is aimed at wooing the OBCs by presenting itself as the guardian of their interests as the manifesto says BJP is committed to protecting the interests of the OBCs. It will immediately scrap the 4.5 per cent minority quota once it comes to power. Failing to revive its favourite Ram mandir and Ram Rajya issues, the party tried to derive some mileage from Annas movement and made corruption a poll issue. Its senior leader LK Advani undertook anti-corruption yatra across the nation. The party also organized a Muslim sammelan to woo the community and convey the message that it was not against Muslims. But the party was caught on the wrong foot on corruption issue and lost moral ground to raise the issue when it admitted into its fold the tainted Babu Singh Kushwaha, expelled from BSP for his alleged involvement in one of the biggest scams in the annals of the state. Frustrated and down and not knowing what to do, the party saw a ray of hope in the Centres announcement of 4.5 per cent sub-quota for minorities. Although Sikhs, Budhists and Christians, besides Muslims will benefit from the sub-quota, the saffron party lost no time in expressing its opposition to the Centres move because it suited its purpose. As the party has no record of remarkable work during its governments tenure at the Centre and in the state with which to go before the electorate, it saw in the minority quota an opportunity to reach out to OBCs and win over their favour without any worry of losing Muslim votes as the community never voted for it. As the BJP thinks that the greatest beneficiaries of the quota will be Muslims, its opposition is on the basis of its favourite theme of appeasement but the party has given it the colour of Mandal. The party summoned the services of Uma Bharati and Kushwaha for the purpose. It is an irony that BJP, predominantly a party of Baniyas and Brahmins, found no OBC leader in its state cadre capable enough to campaign for the party in the community. Uma Bharti, the former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, was summoned to contest from the state and was initially even projected as the partys chief ministerial candidate in UP. However, seeing the resentment among state leaders, the party high command dropped the idea of projecting a chief ministerial candidate for the time being. And Kushwaha, a former BSP leader, has been asked to campaign for the party separately even though it has suspended his party membership till he is cleared of charges against him. Another point in BJP manifesto is the distribution of cows to the poor, and laptops to students. The manifesto is silent over whether the cows will be given to Muslims and Christians also? the reply should be obviously in the affirmative, because the party cannot distribute gifts on religious lines when it opposes the quota for the same reason. One wonders as to how the party that promises to ban cow slaughter will ensure the safety of cows given to Muslims and Christians? The selection of cow is significant as the Congress spokesman Rashid Alvi asked why only cows, why not buffaloes? The reason for this is not far to seek. Cow is a religious symbol for Hindus particularly in this part of the country. The BJP aim in promising to distribute cows and ban its slaughter is clearly to draw poll benefit by arousing religious sentiments of Hindus. The party also promised to establish Ram Rajya if it comes to power in the state. One wonders what type of Ram Rajya will the saffron party give to the state? Will it be like that in Gujarat where thousand of innocent Muslims were massacred, or as in Karnataka where the Chief Minister along with Reddy brothers set a record of looting the state or for that matter as the party government is establishing in Madhya Pradesh by making Surya Namaskar compulsory in schools in the state? BJP is a party that survives on Muslim hatred which forms its basic ideology. It is this communal ideology of the party that was into play when Babri Masjid was demolished, Muslims were massacred in Gujarat or Surya Namaskar was made compulsory in Madhya Pradesh. When the party talks of Ram Rajya, it does not mean the Ram Rajya that Mahatma Gandhi dreamt of but a Hindu Rashtra in which Muslims are second class citizens. It uses the term only to confuse the people. However, all these promises of the saffron party appear to be a fools dream when one looks at the ground realities and the prospects of various parties in the elections. By all accounts, including pre-poll surveys, SP and BSP are the main contestants for power in the state while Congress is all set to push the BJP to fourth slot. The saffron party knows it only too well that it will not be in a position to form government in the state. Then what is the harm in promising the impossible if it gets some votes for the party.

Sadhvi Pragya files appeal in High Court

Mumbai: Following the rejection of her petition by the Special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) for allowing her to travel by air or in an AC compartment for being produced at Bhopal, Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, has filed a petition in the High Court. She is to appear before the court in the Sunil Joshi murder case. Her bail plea application has been deferred till 4th February.

Kashmiri student shot at Ujjain

Ujjain: Shabbir Ahmad Malla (27) hailing from Baramula district of Kashmir was shot at by two unidentified youths in the most secure area close to the collectors and SPs residence in Ujjain. Student of M.Phil (English) at Vikram University he was waiting for a city bus to go to college and attend classes. Police are clueless about the motive of the shooting. He was first taken to the district civil hospital from where he was referred to M.Y. Hospital, Indore. His condition is described as stable and out of danger. J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah spoke to M.P. chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan about his condition. He was assured that the guilty would be punished and other Kashmiri boys safety would be ensured. Two special teams to nab the culprits were formed by I.G. Upendra Jain and a reward of Rs. 5000 has been declared by S.P. Rakesh Gupta for providing clues about the shooters. His uncle and aunt have arrived to attend to him. Unable to find any clue even after a week the police has released the sketch of a man believed to be the accused. It has also increased the reward for any information from Rs. 5000 to Rs. 25000.

JIH for Freedom of Speech

Gita PIL dismissed

Bhopal: A division bench to M.P. High Court comprising Justices Ajeet Singh and Sanjay Yadav, Jabalpur, dismissed a PIL seeking a stay over M.P. governments intention to introduce the teaching of Gita in schools. The PIL was filed by Catholic Bishops Council of Madhya Pradesh. The PIL wanted teachings of other religious texts alongwith Gitasaar. In its order the court pointed out: Gita is essentially a book on Indian philosophy and not a book on Indian religion Father Anand Muttungal, spokesperson for the Bishop Council, said I will have to go through the judgement first before taking a decision on going in for appeal.

Shah seeks S.C. permission to return

New Delhi: Amit Shah, former Gujarat minister for home affairs, moved the Supreme court seeking permission to return to Gujarat. In an 11-page-application he narrated his plight because of the ban imposed on him to enter Gujarat for his alleged role in the Sohrabuddin Shaikh encounter. He pleaded that having been away from home for 16 months he has suffered irreparable hardship as he is denied the support and warmth of his family members.

New Delhi: We are for the freedom of speech and not against it, said Naib Amir (Vice President) of Jamaat-e Islami Hind (JIH) Prof. KA Siddique Hasan while talking to mediapersons on 4 February here at JIH headquarters during its monthly press meet. He was accompanied by Engineer Mohammad Salim and Mohammad Ahmad, secretaries of JIH. The Jamaat wishes to clarify that we are for the freedom of speech and expression and we have been fighting for these rights for everyone but this freedom cannot be absolute, Prof Hassan added. He explained that the right to freedom of speech must go with responsibility, respect for dignity, faith, religion and for human values; above all, it cannot be allowed to abuse, blame or hurt sentiments or character assassination and provoking any individual or group while using this right. In this connection he referred to Article 9.1 (a) of the Constitution of India.

Engineer Mohammad Salim said that it would be incorrect to say and infer that the government submitted itself to, and acted in response to the threats of some Muslim organizations to disrupt the literary event in Jaipur by resorting to violence. Actually nothing of this sort had happened. We had only announced our intention to hold a peaceful protest which is our democratic right to register our displeasure over the participation of Salman Rushdie, Engineer Mohammad Salim clarified. He further said that it would be an injustice to the Muslim community, its organizations and leadership which are being painted as intolerant and fanatics by self-generated propaganda. The JIH officials took up questions and clarified their views regarding UP elections, 2G spectrum cases, expected SIT report of Gujarat riots and the uprising in Syria.

NADIM AHMAD

The Milli Gazette, 16-29 February 2012

NATIONAL

BJP courts Muslims

HAIDER ABBAS

ucknow: The 2010 assembly elections in Bihar saw 91 seats out of 102 going to BJP kitty, alongside with Janta Dal (U), the oldest ally of National Democratic Alliance (NDA), to pave way for the formation of government under Nitish Kumar. The unprecedented victory had an exception: Muslims had voted overwhelmingly for BJP. This obviously opened a window of opportunity for a new political turn in UP, as BJP this time has tried to experiment with some largesse towards allocation of tickets for Muslim candidates. It is another matter that BJP is itself in tatters, its leadership in disarray and marred by in-fighting betraying a lust for repeating the lackadaisical performance in the assembly elections of 2007 when BJP had finished with just 48 seats - something which was unimaginable as it is the same BJP which strode to power on account of a virulent political agenda, primarily aimed against Muslims. Muslims make 37 million in UP -- the highest numeric figure anywhere in the country. UP has a legislature of 403 members. Emboldened by the Bihar experiment, BJP remodelled its attitude which was first apparent after the parliamentary elections of 2009 when NDA failed to stop UPA-II from forming the next government. BJP could not face a whole mass of Muslim vote going against it in support of UPA and others like BSP or SP on account of communalism/secularism. Hence, after the 2009, both Syed Shahnawaz Husain and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi were provided with some power to start to speak for Muslims too within the fold of BJP. The strategy is very simple: BJP courtship of Muslims is just to blunt the Muslim ferocity against it and only to show that BJP too can cater to Muslim aspirations and get some of their votes. BJP game plan is to prevent Muslims from voting en masse against BJP and encouraging them to cast their votes in favour of a number of parties and candidates. The last assembly elections in Maharashtra had seen a confluence of green flags with a crescent alongside saffron flags inside rallies of Shiv Sena! A concentrated effort, hence, is being made to anyhow blunt the Muslim angst against BJP and its allies, and thus scatter the Muslim votes and make them irrelevant. Muslims make over 20 per cent of UP population; hence any political party spousing the cause of the 80 per cent Hindus would have a natural edge if a section of Muslims too lends a helping hand. There is Muslim edge in more than 125 seats in UP where Muslims make between 25% to 60% votes. Another irony, which is a myth, which very well adds to the political discourse and in a way has formed part of the political statement at times of elections is that Muslims are a monolith and they vote en bloc! So why BJP would hazard its prospects and should not invite some Muslims at least into its fold? It is trying this despite trying riots, demolition of mosques, usurpation and occupation of hundreds of Muslim-owned properties and waqfs, calling for the end of Article 370 of Constitution and implementation of the Uniform Civil Code, incarcerating thousands of Muslim youth for decades on the charges of terrorism etc. BJP like any other party has its own tradition of politics vis-vis Muslims. Congress calls them minorities, SP addresses them as Muslims and BSP refers to them as backwards. It would be worthwhile to remember here the heyday of the Ram temple movement when BJP came to power with an absolute majority in 1991, and while during the oath taking ceremony, there were roars of Jai Shri Ram, as every minister had to comply with the pre-requisite but in the same ceremony, an uncanny event had also taken place. BJP minister Aizaz Rizvi, joined the chorus, but he was later snubbed by BJP President Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Astute Vajpayee gave him a dressing down saying that BJP had enough of those chanting the slogan, and Aizaz should not have followed suit. Yet, this did not deter Aizaz. After the demolition of Babri Masjid on Dec 6, 1992, saying that Babri Masjids

three domes were razed and BJPs four governments were dismissed BJP was then in power in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Himanchal Pradesh. Aizaz defined the way Muslims in BJP were to behave. Later his daughter, Sheema Rizvi, was made BJP member of Legislative Council (MLC). Both father and daughter are no more today. One Tanveer Haider Usmani from Kanpur had also managed to become a BJP MLC but today he is not visible anywhere. Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, however, is still around despite the fact that he got just around 8000 votes from Rampur parliamentary seat in 2009 but able to force

into Rajya Sabha. The likes of Mirza Arif Beg in Madhya Pradesh, who had a tall following of himself, and was very instrumental into making BJP gain political legitimacy before 1990 and Aslam Sher Khan, the Olympian who brought Hockey World Cup to India in 1975, had made it good for BJP until 1997 after which he too left it. The old Muslim mascot of BJP, Sikander Bakht, a long time associate of Vajpayee had to publicly show discontent for being kept outside the cabinet of Vajpayees government (1997-2004) though he was a minister in Morarji Desai government of 1977. However, he died as a governor of Kerala. Such are only few Muslims who carved a place for themselves within BJP. Much later, in 2004,Arif Muhammed Khan, a former Lok Sabha member contested on BJP ticket (Bahraich UP) and lost it. All such people who had their day under BJP later got disenchanted. Muhammed Atif Khan, who won as a Bhartiya Jana Sangh candidate (mother organisation of BJP) in 1977, resigned from it in 1980, when Vajpayee stated that while Muslims are in India, national integration is not possible. The statement had come after the Congress-sponsored riot in 1980, on the occasion of Eid in Moradabad, UP. The ultra rightist politics against Muslims charted the rise of BJP. Blended with ultra-nationalism, which is most often against Pakistan and even Bangladesh (which BJP plays as antiMuslimism), cultural fascism, saffronisation of academia, falsification of history and a project for a balance of history, in which thousands of mosques would be changed into temples, fashioned BJP. These policies are not new. Hindu Mahasabha and Rashtriya Swamsewak Sangh since even before Partition, and then the Jana Sangh held these policies. But, politics is the game of the possible. The 1992 BJP government had fallen. President rule was twice imposed by Congress which was trying to anyhow contain Muslim anger. Then came 1993 when it turned the applecart for BJP when BJP lost power and Mulayam Singh Yadav formed the government with BSP. This continued until June 1995. A political turnaround took place and BSP, throwing every ideological constraint to the winds, embraced BJP and formed the government under

Mayawati. It amounted to Ku Klux Klan and Malcom-X joining hands. The ultra-Hindu analysts of BJP called it a new antiMuslim coalition, as for them BSP ideologue BR Ambedkar was as critical of Brahminism as that of Islam as both had destroyed Buddhism. Enemys enemy is always a friend, they believe. Both BSP and BJP had their marriage(s) of convenience until came the UP elections in 2002. BJP was then in power at the centre. AB Vaypayee had by then become the thrice-elected PM of the country from Lucknow. It is worthy to recount here the desperation of PM AB Vajpayee who had sensed that BJP was to be ousted when he declared that BJP does not want Muslim votes. He, thereby, signalled that all BJP wanted was the Hindu votes. Uma Bharti, a backward caste politician, thundered that BJP victory would make India unwind the tri-colour in Lahore, thus, making all the dots meet. What Lahore had to do with the prized seat in Lucknow? But, for BJP an anti-Pakistan stand antagonized Muslims and polarized Hindus on religious lines and this benefitted BJP electorally. The policy did not yield results as BJP could not cross even a triple figure, but the ever willing BSP came forward with yet another tenure of BJP on a piggyback and this continued until 2003 as after all the Feb-March 2002 Gujarat massacres which galvanized Muslims. The Muslim holocaust in Gujarat was aided and abetted by Mayawati who went to Gujarat to campaign for Narender Modi in Dec 2002, when he again became CM. AB Vajpayee reminded him of Raj dharma, a classic fig leaf from Mahabharata (Krishnas dictates to Arjun), but it meant nothing much. Vajpayee reclined to endorse Kumarakam musings by the end of the year and seemed more than satisfied with his job. Nine years in UP and seven in the Centre have passed since BJP was ousted of power. But the Brahmin-manipulated media did not let BJP die. Never there has been a single day when any national or a regional daily did not carry the news of BJP on page one or three. The out of steam BJP has thousands of lobbyists inside government establishment as well as in media -- something which LK Advani successfully embedded when became the Information Minister under the first-non Congress government in 1977. The government had fallen due to BJPs close relationship with the communal and Muslim-bashing RSS. Today same RSS has formed a Muslim Rashtrawadi Manch (MRM) which is engaged in mobilising. The latest meeting of RSS former chief K Sudarshan with Kalbe Sadiq was a part of the same organizations manoeuvre. Can BJP afford to antagonise U. P. Muslims in perpetuity? The sheer weight of Muslim voters is far to be taken for granted by any political dispensation. The last two decades have found Muslims taking to tactical voting to decimate BJP and to enable any other party or candidate from secular parties. An en masse voting against a particular party is enough to checkmate it. Thus, BJP this time has decided to reach out to Muslims. Hence, on Oct 3 last year Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Shahnawaz Husain came down to Lucknow to join Alpsankyak Swabhiman Diwas, and announce taleem, taraqqi and tahaffuz (education, development and security) for Muslims on the lines of Bihar and Gujarat. BJP perhaps is severely affected by a short memory to seek Muslim votes despite the worst Muslim pogrom under the BJP government in Gujarat which still is a daily news on account of various cases and fake encounters committed by the state police in the name of protecting Modi. While Nitish too is in the news of late due to Forbesganj killings? Yet BJP wants Muslims to suffer amnesia. Last time in 2007 BJP did not field a single candidate in UP elections but this time the party has different plans especially because after the new delimitation there are many constituencies where Muslims make almost one lakh voters, like Sareni (Rae Bareli), Jaunpur Sadar, Saharanpur Rural, Muradabad Sadar, Amroha (Jyoti Phule Nagar), Dhampur in Bijnaur, Madhuban in Mau, Meerut South, Unnao Sadar etc. his term will end in December 2012. On 22 January, Gadkari tried to put all speculation to rest when he told a news channel that he favours Narendra Modi as the partys prime ministerial candidate and as the next party chief. One may find it difficult to understand that only a few months ago RSS had asked Nitin Gadkari to cut Modi down to size. Is this possible when there is a perception that Gadkari mainly follows the rule book of the RSS. Or is there a change of heart for Modi both in the BJP and RSS camps. By doing so is the BJP thinking of going all alone in the coming polls. The BJP knows that even Uma Bharati has so far refrained from raising the Ram Mandir issue which in the past was used by the BJP to polarise religious sentiments of the voters. In this election the BJP is trying to provoke religious sentiment by saying that reservation should not be given on the basis of religion and the 4.5 percent quota for minorities must not be carved from the existing OBC quota. Religion is again used by the BJP but this time through reservation and not Ram Mandir. (Mohammad Naushad Khan)

After religion, BJP turns to caste-based Hindutva in UP

Religion and caste have always been dominant factors in Uttar Pradesh politics. Now when the Ram Mandir issue has become politically irrelevant, the BJP wants to catapult its energy into backward castes manipulation by adding an element of Hindutva to it. For that matter, BJP seems to have chosen Hindutva icon Uma Bharati to navigate its sinking ship to the shore. The BJP while banking on the advantage of fielding Uma Bharati, has chosen to ignore the damage done within the BJP in UP. The dictatorial nature of BJP president in the partys political affairs is likely to intensify infighting in the BJPs UP unit. First, on the issue of induction of backward leader Kushwaha and then projecting Uma Bharati over senior leaders, Gadkari has tried to score political points without analysing political consequences within the BJP. His decision to raise Uma Bharatis political stature in UP is no less than pushing state senior leaders into virtual political exile. The BJP has confused its cadres and supporters by projecting both upper caste leader Kalraj Mishra and Backward caste leader Uma Bharati as the possible chief ministerial candidate. Induction of Sanjay Joshi, Babu Singh Kushwaha along with a host of tainted leaders ousted from the BSP are reason to believe that Party president is willing to dominate and dictate on the partys political affairs at his own will. Elevation of Uma Bharati, who has no roots in UP, has not gone down well within the BJP in the state. Resentment is brewing within the party. The decision to appoint former party chief Rajnath Singhs son Pankaj as general secretary was believed to work as a tranquilizer for Rajnath Singh over the Uma Bharati episode. On the contrary, it has backfired as three important BJP functionaries of UP have resigned in protest against the appointment of Pankaj as general secretary. Daya Shankar Singh, Santosh Singh and Ashwini Tyagi, who were secretaries, have protested by saying, We are at least ten years senior to Pankaj in the party and we have worked hard to reach where we are today and if anyone less experienced is imposed on us it cannot be acceptable to us. BJPs MP from Gorakhpur Yogi Adityanath who was the first to question the induction of Kushwaha in the BJP is not yet satisfied even after Kushwahas membership has been put on hold for he wants action against those leaders believed to have facilitated Kushwahas induction because by doing so they have not only weakened the partys campaign against corruption but in the process have also damaged the political prospects of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh. If we go by some of the opinion poll surveys and political analysts opinion the BJP towards the end may find itself at number three or number four. RSS in its assessment has found that BJPs numbers in the assembly election may fall to about 70-75 while the BJP is claiming that the party may get 100-110 seats. For Nitin Gadkari even a modest increase in BJPs tally may pave the way for him to seek an extension because

6 The Milli Gazette, 16-29 February 2012

NATIONAL

Purushottam Khedekar - the man behind Maratha awakening

MUSHTAQUE MADNI
mushtaque.madni@rediffmail.com Pune: Muslims have no reason to feel guilty. Brahmins have plenty to feel guilty about. It were Brahmins who humiliated, harassed and conspired against Shivaji and finally killed him in the most mysterious manner, says Purushottam Khedekar, founder of Shiv Dharma and a strong Maratha revolutionary. During the last twenty five years, Khedekar (62), a civil engineer and a law graduate, has emerged as a potential threat to the Brahminical superiority which was an accepted and established fact even among Marathas. Not only he formed a separate religion (Shiv Dharma), courageously rebelling against the old order of Manu but also established a strong organization called Maratha Seva Dal to counter Brahmanism in all forms and colours. He went on to challenge their superiority and even questioned their patriotism and, more importantly, exposed their malicious intents and misdeeds against Maratha King Shivaji Raje Bhonsle, popularly known as Shivraya in Maharashtra. It was just few years back that at the time of Shiv Jayanti in Maharashtra, Muslims used to be the most scared lot, for it was taken for granted that howsoever Police stood alert and impartial, riot against Muslims was an integral part of the procession and an inevitable necessity. The fear was so compounded that some Muslims sent their families to their relatives in neighboring cities or states. Afzal Khan and Shaista Khan were identified as the symbols of Muslim brutality and Shivaji as the Maratha saviour who fought against the Muslim rulers. This was nothing but a typical Brahmin ploy to mislead Marathas and trick them into fighting Muslims. It was Khedekar and his committed disciples who instilled confidence among Muslims that they have no reason to feel guilty as Muslims constituted nearly 40 percent of Shivajis army and that Muslims were the most trusted allies and friends of Shivaji after Marathas. On the contrary, it were Brahmins who were the committed friends of Afzal Khan and deadliest enemies of Shivaji. Again, it was Khedekar and his Maratha brigade that enlightened Muslims about the enormous support extended at times of crisis by Usman Shaikh and his sister Fatima Bi to Mahatma Jyotiba Phule and his wife Savitri Bai Phule, when they started educational awakening among Marathas, an unheard of thing during those days among nonBrahmins who were not supposed to get educated. Inspired by the early visionaries of the Bahujan Samaj of the likes of Mahatma Jyotiba Phule, Shahu Maharaj of Kolhapur and Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar who exposed and fought against the Brahminical tyranny in every sphere of life, Khedekar says Muslims should confidently come forward to claim their rights on these visionaries, for they were the ones who stood firmly with these towering figures when they were Purushottam Khedekar harassed and marginalized by the Brahmins. Khedekar is critical of Muslims for not visualizing the great social change that is in the offing and that is going to benefit all including Muslims. If Jyotiba wrote Brahmananche Kasab (How to cut down Brahminism) and Ambedkar publically burnt Manusmiriti that preaches hatred and discrimination even within the Hindu community, it was to unite all Bahujans, irrespective of their religions, including Muslims, against Brahminical tyranny. One of the most remarkable achievements of Khedekar was that he diagnosed and worked simultaneously on all grounds that were ailing Bahujans. He discovered that every single mischief and atrocity that culminated in attacks on Muslims was actually aimed at Bahujans, for Brahmins wanted to keep youthful Marathas constantly engaged in baseless conflicts and confrontations and consequently away from development and leading a decent life. Khedekar realized that the only way to uplift Marathas was to instill in them an unwavering urge to get themselves decent education that would make them stand confidently in front of their peers. He worked untirelessly and, like an expert magician, transformed the hearts of Marathas who hated Muslims and made them Muslims best friends and well-wishers. He searched and dug deep into the old historical books written by Brahmin historians and found out how maliciously misleading they were. He wrote extensively exposing such diabolic material and toured exhaustively across Maharashtra and brought to limelight the actual facts. It was to his credit that for the first time in the history of Pune, shocking traditional Muslim leadership, massive rallies on the birth anniversaries of Shivaji, Jyotiba Phule and Dr. Ambedkar were organized by Muslims under the guidance and stewardship of P. A. Inamdar, another activist, reformer and visionary of the movement, and proudly proceeded bypassing Brahmin-dominated areas. Now, interestingly, things have come to such a pass that every year at the time of Shivjayanti, Brahmins do not come out of their houses for fear of being attacked. Recently, following in the footsteps of Dr. Ambedkar, Manusmiriti, the deadliest weapon in Brahmin hands, was burnt in Pune, the Brahmins bastion, by highly educated women of Bahujan Samaj in a grand function attended by thousands. Today, with Khedekar leading from the front and social giants like Justice Kolte Patil, former I.G., S.M.Mushrif, Brigadier Sawant and activists and writers like Shrimant Kokate, Dr. Balaji Jadhav and Praveen Gaikwad, a committed anti-Brahmin Maratha movement has gained massive momentum across Maharashtra. That dawn doesnt seem too far when the Maratha would make Brahmins accountable for every single deliberate and planned misdeed committed by Brahmins. The writer is an editor of Usool Pune

New Delhi: A seminar on Right to Education Act and fears of Urdu medium educational institutions jointly sponsored by NCPUL and Saaem Educational Trust was held at Ghalib Academy on 28 January in which speakers were of the view that this is a revolutionary act and while bearing negative aspects of this act in mind, we should adopt its positive and beneficial aspects. Dost Muhammad Nabi Khan, joint director in Rajya Sabha while speaking on this topic said that no act in itself is complete and perfect and on the basis of experience in its implementation there are provisions for amendments in all acts in accordance with requirements and times. Dr. Aqeel Ahmad, secretary of Ghalib Academy said that with this Act Islamic madrasas, and not schools, will be directly and adversely affected. Muhammad Saleem Dehlwi, chairman of Saaem Educational Trust, while speaking about the aims and objectives of holding this seminar said that this Act is already in force from 1 April 2010 and Urdu medium schools foresee many dangers in the enforcement of this Act and hence this seminar is organised to consider the positive as well as harmful effects of this Act. Sagheer Akhtar of Mazharul Islam School said that 22 months have elapsed since the passing of this Act but till date no useful and constructive work has been done on this Act, whereas it is to be fully enforceable in three years. Dr. Shamim Ahmad, Head of St. Stephens Colleges Department of Urdu while referring to sec. 18 of this Act said that in Punjab there are three thousands private schools of which 86% are unrecognised. If this Act is enforced in its present form, these 86% schools in which about 3.5 lakh students are studying will not be able to survive. Ateeq Ahmad Siddiqi, President of Haveli Hesamudin Haidar Welfare Society said while speaking in this seminar that we should not see only the negative aspects of this Act but its positive aspects should also be considered. He said that when Indias Constitution was framed in 1950 it was provided in it that every Indian will be imparted free primary or basic education but even 60 years after that this fundamental right could not be fully guaranteed. Masoom Muradabadi, editor of Jadid Khabar Urdu daily, said that the fears entertained by madrasas about this Act have been accepted by the government and some provisions that may adversely affect madrasas etc. have now been removed and these have now been exempted from those RTE provisions.

Seminar on RTE and misgivings of Urdu-medium schools

Demand for promoting modern education in madrasas

New Delhi: A symposium on Modern education in religious madrasas was held at India Islamic Cultural Centre on 18 January jointly sponsored by National Commission on Minorities Educational Institutions (NCMEI) and National Institute of Open Schooling (NOIS) in which ulama, intellectuals and madrasa authorities emphasised the point that modern education should be introduced in religious madrasas and for this, assistance from National Open School should be sought and the scheme prepared by NIOS should be adopted. Emphasis was also laid on the promotion of women/girls education. Chairman of NCMEI Justice (Retd.) Suhail Ahmad Siddiqi said that now ulama and our religious leaders have admitted that modern education should be introduced in madrasas. The fact that madrasa authorities from all over the country had come here to attend this symposium is proof that they also want that both religious and modern education be taught in madrasas. He described as baseless the doubt and fear that modernistaion of madrasas by introduction of modern education will pave the way for government interference in madrasa education and management. He emphasised the fact that cooperation between madrasas and NIOS will also help in reducing the school drop-out rate among Muslims. Chairman of National Institute of Open Schooling, Dr. S.S. Jena explaining the method of teaching in Open Schools said that after affiliating madrasas with NIOS, madrasa education will in no way be affected. He said that for Muslim (or madrasa) students NIOS provides totally free education and books etc. also are provided free and all facilities for education upto 12th class are provided. He said that in the light of Sachar Committees recommendations, government has taken the decision that help of Open Schools should be sought for the promotion of education among Muslim children. He said that at present about 20 lakh children receive education in Open Schools all over the country. He said that a big problem being faced by the government is how to arrange the admission of about 97 million children (who are in the 14 to 18 years age group) in secondary schools. When asked why his institution (NIOS) is so keen on providing education to madrasa children he said that about 350 minority educational institutions in the country are attached with National Open Schools of which 122 are madrasas. Hence we want that maximum number of madrasas become associated with such schools so that the rate of educational progress could be increased. He said that a scheme was introduced in 10th and 11th Five Year Plans to provide modern education in madrasas and this effort is being made under the same plan. Madhya Pradesh Madrasa Boards former chairman, Prof. Haleem Khan said while speaking on this occasion that since moral education is also provided to children in madrasas (and not in schools), it is all the more advisable to pay special attention to the education of madrasa children so that they could prove to be better citizens at higher levels. Speaking about the condition in his own state i.e. Madhya Pradesh he said that when Madrasa Board was set up there in 1998, only 35 madrasas were associated with it but now 4000 madrasas are associated with M.P. Madrasa Board. He further said that when girls education was started in madrasas in his state, a large number of Muslim girls started taking admission in schools so much so that the rate of Muslim girls taking admission in schools in that state was the largest as compared to other neighbouring states. He said that this is not his view but of Prayas, an NGO which disclosed this fact in its survey according to which 1,44,000 Muslim girls took admissions in different schools in M.P. Haleem Khan further said that 1800 madrasas in that state are getting government assistance. Ms. Atiya Mushtaq from West Bengal however presented a gloomy picture of the position of madrasas in that state where, according to her though there are more than 4000 madrasas, only about 600 are recognised. She said that there is not a single school in about 1180 villages of that state. What is much worse is that in Murshidabad and Malela districts trafficking of Muslim girls is going on. Other teachers from W. Bengal, Lubna Khan and Farah Khan said that 25 years ago their organisation had sought the state governments permission to open as many as 1500 schools but so far their request has not been accepted. They hope that the present government will do something in this respect. They demanded that they should be given permission to open Hunar Centres for Muslim girls to provide professional training to them. Maulana Muhammad Yaqoob Buland Shahri, president of All India Deeni Madaris Board said that madrasas will benefit very much from this scheme of Open Schooling. On this occasion NIOS made online registration for opening its branches in these madrasas. Delegates from Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Assam, Karnataka, Bihar, Orissa and other states took part in this symposium. (NA Ansari)

Degree course in Urdu, Hindi medium in Yashwant Rao University

Mumbai: Yashwant Rao Maharashtra Open University has started degree courses in Urdu and Hindi medium for those studesnt who want to obtain Bachelors Degree without passing 10th and 12th classes. Regional Director, Dr. Prakash Deshmukh told mediapersons that this University has started Urdu and Hindi divisions for degree courses. Before joining this course students will have to pass a Preparatory examination for which classes have already started, after passing which students will get admission in the 1st year of a degree course. He said that last year this University had admitted 48000 students and it is hoped that this number will exceed 60,000 this year. In reply to a question about the eligibility for admission to Preparatory course, he said that no particular educational background or qualification is needed and the student should simply know reading and writing, minimum age should be 16 years and the fee will be Rs. 600 but for students belonging to poor and backward classes this fee will be Rs. 315 only. Duration of this (Preparatory) course is not mentioned but most probably it will be one year.

MG NEWS DESK

The Milli Gazette, 16-29 February 2012

NATIONAL

Convention on Muslim Reservation and Restoration of AMU Minority Character

Aligarh: Aligarh Muslim University Students Union (AMUSU) on 2 February organized a national convention on Muslim Reservation and Restoration of AMU Minority Character in the Kennedy Auditorium. Scholars, Muslim leaders and leaders of Muslim organisations and institutions participated in the programme. They assured AMUSU of their full cooperation in pursuance of the two issues and emphasized the need for initiating a national movement for achieving the goal. Noted advocate Zafaryab Jeelani said that AMU should persuade the Supreme Court of India to decide the case related to the minority character of the University pending for a long time. He said that the minority character of the University was snatched away in 1965 and a mass movement was initiated by our community and old boys to get it restored. Referring to the Muslim reservation, Jeelani said that political parties have recognized it as a vital issue and this is why it has become an important part of the agenda in the current assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. He advised that the AMUSU should initiate a mass movement so that these issues gain proper attention and are resolved by the next parliamentary elections in 2014. Syed Sharique Ahmad, President of AMUSU, said that Muslims are discriminated in every walk of life. He urged the government to provide reservation to Muslims proportionate to their ratio in population. He said that the governments decision to give 4.5 percent reservation to Muslim OBCs, however, is a good initiative but the community needs more for its overall development to come up at par with their fellow citizens. Ahmad demanded that the recommendations of various committees and commissions on minority issues should immediately be implemented and govern-

Cases pile up in J&K human rights forum Srinagar: Over one thousand cases have piled up as the State
Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has remained headless for more than three months, now. The same has affected hearings by a panel as well. The commission is currently dealing with 1,156 cases pertaining to human rights abuses and violations. Only one judge remains to hear the cases. Chairperson of the commission, Justice Bashir-ud-din demitted after completion of term on October 23 last year. Since then the commission is functioning without any chairperson. Pertinently, the panel has four members, besides the chairperson. It has been reported that 487 complaints were received by the commission last year and about 502 complaints were disposed off by it between January 1 and December 31 last year. Disposed cases include those filed before the commission as well as the pending ones. The commission constituted in 1997 has received 5699 complaints up to August last year and has disposed 4578 cases, says Public Information Officer of the Commission. The cases being heard include those pertaining to unmarked and mass graves, alleged custodial disappearances and suo motu cognizance of rights violations taken by it. Despite claims made by successive governments to provide complete support to the Commission, it lacks an appropriate office space. On August 24, 2001 the then government passed an order to provide office building to the Commission that has not been constructed in the past 11 years.(Afsana Rashid)

ment should provide more funds to AMU for implementing welfare and developmental programmes effectively. Ejaz Aslam, Secretary of Jamat-e-Islami Hind, said that the Sachar Committee report has categorically made it clear that Muslims have been pushed to the corner and the great principles of equality, fraternity and brotherhood enshrined in the Indian Constitution have miserably failed Muslims. He said that the justice- loving people constitute the largest part of Indian populace and Muslims will also get justice sooner or later. Chaudhary Sibghatullah, Secretary, Jamiatul Ulema Hind of West Bengal, Maulana Asghar Ali Salfi, General Secretary, Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith, Mufti Sanaul Huda of Imarat-e-Shariah Orissa & Bihar, Maulana Anis Islahi of Madrasatul Islah (Azamgarh) and eminent Shia scholar, Maulana Shahid Husain Misam also addressed the conference. Scholar Farrukh Jalali said that this institution was established by Sir Syed for Muslims and AMU should be run on the principles laid down by its founder.

HRW questions Indias rights record

Human Rights Watch (HRW) in its World Report 2012 has criticised India for having failed to curtail human rights violations in India. US human rights watchdog has also slammed the government for its inaction in preventing police abuses, torture and custodial death. According to HRW World Report, custodial killings, police abuses including torture and failure of the government to implement policies to protect vulnerable communities has downgraded Indias human rights record not only in the year 2011 but also in the past. The report has also criticised the government for its dilly-dallying role in repealing the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act. In September 2011, Home Minister P Chidambaram had said that efforts are on to build a consensus within the government to address the issue but still no action has been taken and instead of reaching a conclusion the stakeholders are still divided on the question of either repealing or even removing it from some parts of Jammu and Kashmir. The issue was again raised before the Manipur assembly elections and once again political parties reiterated the demand to repeal the law. HRW in its report said, A police investigation in 2011 by the Jammu and Kashmir State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) found 2,730 bodies dumped in unmarked graves at 38 sites in north Kashmir. At least 574 were identified as the bodies of local Kashmiris. The government of Jammu and Kashmir has promised an investigation, but the identification and prosecution of perpetrators will require the cooperation of the army and the federal paramilitary forces. These forces in the past have resisted fair investigations and prosecutions, claiming immunity under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and section 197 of the Criminal Procedure Code. HRW in its report has expressed concern over the death of 12 RTI activists killed and many more assaulted over the past two years. The report also claims that progress was made in the direction of restraining the police from religious profiling of Muslims after the Mumbai blast on 13 July 2011 and on 7 September bomb blast outside the Delhi High Court. The report has also mentioned series of honour killings and rapes which rocked the country in 2011 but there has been no effective action to prevent and effectively prosecute perpetrators of such violence. The irony is that India is being considered being the worlds most populous democracy along with powerful media, active civil society, and respected judiciary and at the same time significant human rights violation. HRW has presented its report after detailed study of the progress made on human rights in more than 90 countries. The report has also slammed India for remaining silent on the worst kind of abuses in Syria. Brad Adams, Asia director HRW has said that on the global front India has missed the opportunity to emerge as a leader at the United Nations Security Council and Human Rights Council in safeguarding the rights of the vulnerable people abroad. Adam has stressed the need for police reform or to put an end to torture in India. Recently, Asian Centre for Human Rights in its report had said that in the last decade on an average police killed four persons daily in custody.

Social movements and social change

RAM PUNIYANI
ram.puniyani@gmail.com All over the World and in India as well in 2011 we witnessed uprisings to protest against injustice. In the Arab world it has been against tyrannical dictatorial regimes to bring back democracy. In the US and many other European countries where Occupy Wall Street has been the major one, the people are protesting against the socio-economic disparities which are due to the present economic structure. The Occupy Wall street movement is very profound in the sense that it brings to our attention the basics of the system, indicating the deeper malaise in the system. In this movement most sections of people are participating (We are 99%). In India also, this year was very significant as people rose to protest against multiple issues. The usurpation of peasants land for so called development has been the major issue and it manifested itself through agitations like the one against POSCO, in Orissa. The other upsurges combined the concern for ecological preservation and protest against nuclear hazards as in Koodankulam and Jaitapur. Currently there is a great amount of land alienation for a large number of people. The protests in this direction have been significant but under projected by the media. Similarly the long standing protest-fast of Irom Sharmila for repeal of Armed Forces Act brings to our notice the atrocities committed by the army in places like the North east in particular while Kashmir has also seen similar problems. What came as an overwhelming upsurge was the one led by Anna Hazare. Here, a combination of several factors played their roles and made it spread far and wide. In this movement IT-MBA generation and some other sections constituted the core support base of the movement. There was also a parallel phenomenon of movement against black money by Baba Ramdev. Anna Hazares main insistence was to bring in Jan Lok Bill drafted by his team, but it appeared as if it is against corruption and that those who are not supporting his bill are for supporting corruption. His movement has been supported by various elements including the religious gurus like Sri Sri Ravishanker. The major mobilization for this was done by Corporate controlled media and the RSS. The overall scenario is that people are suffering because of economic injustices, social inequalities and political marginalization. This Anna upsurge is focused against corruption alone, it does talk about corruption being the major cause of peoples suffering, but at the same time it underplays and bypasses the deeper issues which result in corruption. Corruption is very much there, but it is a symptom of the deeper disparities at the economic and social level. Corruption is there due to the power centralization and lack of transparency in the system. Anna movement is in sharp contrast to the Occupy Wall Street Movement. Annas movement focuses. or rather hyper focuses, on the symptom of corruption with the result that the deeper inequalities of the system remain unnoticed. All social movements have a complex dynamics. While people have genuine aspiration to bring to fore their real issues, many of the movements remain trapped at the symptomatic level and this is tantamount to bypassing the core issues. Annas movement is a case in point. Here while Team Anna has brought to our attention one issue of our society, it has at the same time undermined many other issues and tried to denigrate the parliamentary system. It has deliberately focused on corruption of one political party alone. It has twisted every argument to talk against one party, there-by playing the role of electoral trumpet of the other major political party, which happens to be the political child of the RSS, the major mobilizer of Anna movement. It seems as if it has a contractual obligation to promote the BJP. At the same time those who bring this observation to the notice of society are deliberately branded as stooges of the ruling Congress, which anyway has done enough mistakes to let Annas movement assume the present dimensions. The Arab uprisings are trying to bring democracy-parliamentary system; Annas movement in contrast is trying to create a parallel oligarchy, presenting Anna himself as being above parliament. This Anna movement has put all sorts of pressures to denigrate the parliamentary system and the elected representatives of the people. While one feels that mass movements, social upsurge, are the key to change and are welcome, all upsurges do not necessarily lead to social betterment. One recalls the Ram Temple movement which unleashed an era of violence and marginalization of minorities in the country. This one, Ram Temple movement, focused on identity issue. Annas movement focuses on symptomatic issue. What is common in the identity issue and symptomatic issue is that both bypass the deeper social issues of inequalities and the issues related to rights of the marginalized. The issue of Ram Temple was not the issue of marginalized sections though many of them were roped in by social engineering. Similarly the dalits and minorities kept aloof from Annas movement as they know it is trampling upon their deeper concerns. Annas movement has been highly magnified and projected and made most visible, while the ones around POSCO, Jaitapur and Koodankulam have been underplayed and Irom Sharmila has been mostly ignored. The issues involved in these protests are very crucial to our marginalized sections of society, also these issues are neither merely related to their identity nor are they just the symptomatic ones. Thats one of the reasons as to why corporate controlled media underplays them. These movements affect the life of society, in a deeper sense. That should explain that those for upholding the status quo in society will highlight and go ga ga about anti-corruption movement. At the same time the other movements have been practically underplayed as they question the deeper issues related to the system and question the status quo. All said and done, the mass upsurge being experienced here is a sign of a maturing democracy, despite vested interests trying to deflect the movement in an authoritarian direction. Surely change for the better should be the norm and social movements questioning the system are the engines of social change. Unlike Annas movement these movements base themselves on democratic principles and are inclusive in their approach. All protests in India should have awakened our conscience but unfortunately, only one of these, the Anna movement, has been given primacy. We need to do course correction and give due importance to other protests also, which is their due. (Issues in
Secular Politics)

Superstitious technocrats bow to vastu

Bhopal: What an irony! Technocracy eating the humble pie and bowing to superstition. An architecture institute of repute at the time of air international conference resorted to a yagna to ward off vastu dosh (defect in architectural design). The yagna was attended by 50 members of staff alongwith MANIT director Appu Kuttan. That an institution, bearing the name of Maulana Azad, should resort to faith healing is a matter of shame and shock. Thank Allah that AMU did not establish a centre here or else it too would have to undergo such ordeals for human lapses. Superstition thy name is technology!

MG NEWS DESK

8 The Milli Gazette, 16-29 February 2012

NATIONAL

Arabic-Persian University without affiliation of madrasas is meaningless

NA ANSARI
After Independence, BSP government by setting up Arabic-Persian University in Lucknow for the first time has done a creditable job. But without affiliating Kamil and Faazil-level madrasas to it, which are affiliated to the State Madrasa Education Board, the very objective of setting up this University will be defeated and this University also will become an ordinary university like all others in the state. Demand for setting up this University was being made by Teachers Association of Arabic Madrasas of U.P. for a long time. Satish Chandra Mishra, general secretary of BSP and President of State Advisory Council, after a meeting with the delegation led by Associations President Maulana Idrees Bastwi had announced the setting up of this university on 1st April 2008 at a meeting held in Dr. Syed Abdul Ali Tibbia College at Lucknow. The demand of Teachers Association of ArabicPersian Madrasas of U.P. was that ArabicPersian madrasas should be automatically affiliated to Arabic-Persian University in the same way as Sanskrit pathshalas of the state (U.P.) are affiliated to Sampurnanand Sanskrit University at Varanasi and this should be included in the concerned Act but there is no such provision in the Constitution of this University because of which the very objective of setting up this University appears to be defeated. It may be stated in this connection that examinations of Munshi, Molvi, Kamil and Fazil are held every year by Uttar Pradesh Madrasa Education Board and in all madrasas affiliated to this Board education is imparted in accordance with its (Board) syllabus. Madrasa Board has introduced its new syllabus in all affiliated madrasas from 1 July 2010 which is very comprehensive, useful and meets the requirements of time. The state government had recognised Munshi and Molvi examinations equal to High School and Alim examination equal to Intermediate in March 1995 and central government had recognised it in February 2010. In this way on the basis of Madrasa Boards Munshi, Molvi and Alims degrees, students had become eligible for seeking admissions in other educational institutions for higher education and employment also but Kamil and Fazil degrees have neither been recognised by the central nor state government. Therefore, Kamil and Fazil degree holders can get jobs only in madrasas affiliated to Madrasa Board and nowhere else, which is a great injustice to them. How ironic is it that a government approved Board conducts a course, holds examinations and awards degrees which have no legal value. It would not be wrong if it is termed as a big joke. According to my knowledge, no School Board is authorised to award a legally valid certificate for classes above intermediate. Because of this reason, Education Board, Secondary Education Board or Indian Council of School Education in all states including U.P. are authorised to conduct examinations upto 12th class only and also award certificates upto 12th class only. For examinations above this (12th class) and awarding degrees, according to U.G.C. rules, such an educational institution must be a university or a deemed university. Hence I am compelled to say that because of this matter pertaining to Muslims, U.P. Madrasa Board not only conducts B.A. and M.A.-level examinations and can award certificates and degrees also but these degrees have no legal value because these are not recognised by any government. I remember that by an order in 1995 the state government had authorised all the universities of the state to recognise at their level Madrasa Board examinations but the bureaucrats of saffron mentality showed their bias and because of certain faults in Madrasa Boards syllabus this problem could not be solved. Teachers Association of Arabic Madrasas, keeping all these points in mind had made their demands before the government and described the establishment of the University essential in the broader interests of students of madrasas. The government, therefore, with the efforts of Syed Hasan (advocate), Additional Advocate General of Uttar Pradesh and Madrasa Boards chairman at that time, Haji Rizwanul Haq, advocate (who fortunately was also the legal adviser of Arabic Madrasas Teachers Association of U.P.) got the bill for setting up of this university approved in the assembly and the university came into existence after governors approval. At that time there was neither any politics nor any agitation nor anybody expressed any desire for vice chancellorship for life. The main objective of the people was the establishment of this university which was fulfilled. Unfortunately some interested and selfish persons, because of their personal grievances against Haji Rizwanul Haq got him removed from the presidentship of Madrasa Board through an order from the High Court because of which the representatives of madrasas could not find a place in the committee which was constituted for framing the rules and regulations of this university and because of this the provision for affiliating Arabic madrasas to this university was held in abeyance and this dream of the madrasas could not be fulfilled. The example of Sampoornanand Sanskrit University, Banaras is before us in which the rule of automatic affiliation of Sanskrit pathshalas to this University has been incorporated in the University Act.

Hard Hindutva vs. Soft Hindutva

SAMEER QAIYUM
sameerqaiyum@gmail.com or years our pre-occupation with Hard Hindutva has kept us unaware of the softer side of it, that is, Soft Hindutva. Its time that we realize that it is the Softer Hindutva which might be doing the greatest damage to Muslims and hence we need to define Soft Hindutva and its role clearly and contain it tactically. But it is easier said than done, because with Hard Hindutva you and me know When, Where and How they will strike. For example ask any Ahmedabadi and they will tell you that with the advent of coming up of a certain so-called efficient administrator on the political landscape in 2001, Ahmedabadis started sniffing something amiss. Such is the nautre of Hard Hindutva that it cannot hide behind anything, not even behind Zionists. Hard Hindutva will send you signals (even in parliament) encoded with the messages of When, Where and How next they will strike. And once you receive their signals you have the option of either taking a loss by putting up with the status quo or fleeing from the status quo. A person or community has a capacity up to which it can take up losses, once that capacity is crossed, it will flee to a safer status quo. But what options Muslims have if they choose to flee? In most cases, they have only one option and that is to flee away from Hard Hindutva to Soft Hindutva. But what if, Soft is harder than the Hard variety in destruction for us? If that is true, then it means fleeing from an uncertain death to certain death. And this is what has been happening for the past several decades. Muslims have become a pawn on a chess-board, with Hard Hindutva on one side and Soft Hindutva on the other. If with Hard Hindutva the When, Where and How are known, with Soft Hindutva When, Where and How are never known. Signals are never sent directly (its another matter that sometimes these might be decoded or leaked) and we never know what is in store for us next. There are numerous examples of these. Take for example the recent rants of Hard Hindutva that Muslim should be stripped of their democratic rights if they do this or that. Now in this case the signal has been sent, we have been made aware of and we have a chance to fight for our democratic rights or flee. We know the When, Where and How of this signal, so we get prepared. Thats the beauty of Hard Hindutva. It wants us to be prepared. On the contrary, Soft Hindutva has already severely curtailed our democratic rights without raising a single voice and the beauty is that we dont even know we have been hit and our democratic rights have been trampled upon. Delimitation is the word, through which Soft Hindutva did that long time back. Sachar Committee report (page 25) notes that Arguably, this (Delimitation) can be seen as discriminatory and certainly reduces the opportunities that Muslims have to get elected to democratic institutions. For those unaware of the Delimitation process, it is a process of redrawing the boundaries of electorate and reserving those electorates where the population of SCs is high. In a very interesting assessment, Sachar Committee found

Muslims...have only one option and that is to flee away from Hard Hindutva to Soft Hindutva. But what if, Soft is harder than the Hard variety in destruction for us? If that is true, then it means fleeing from an uncertain death to certain death. And this is what has been happening for the past several decades. Muslims have become a pawn on a chess-board, with Hard Hindutva on one side and Soft Hindutva on the other. If with Hard Hindutva the When, Where and How are known, with Soft Hindutva When, Where and How are never known.
the truth about Delimitation. Analyzing the three most Muslim populous states of UP, Bihar and West Bengal, the Committee noted that The data shows that constituencies which have been declared reserved for SCs by the Delimitation Commission in these three states are by and large those constituencies where Muslims live in greater numbers often more than 50 per cent as well as their proportion in the population is higher than that of SCs. On the other hand, there are quite a large number of other constituencies within the respective states, where the share of SCs is large, often closer to or even more than one half but these are declared as un-reserved (p. 25). This singular decision drastically reduces the chances of Muslims getting elected and politically empowered -- thats the beauty of Soft Hindutva: not a single voice raised, not a single signal given and a damage inflicted far more than all the Hard Hindutva rant can ever provide for, combined together. Take the disputed case of Ramjanambhoomi/Babri Masjid. Hard Hindutva gave a call, told us the date and timing and then striked. But what about Soft Hindutva? Well Soft Hindutva moved swiftly, silently and opened the gate of the disputed structure. Historians tell us that it was this singular action of the leader of the largest political party which tilted the whole scene by giving legitimacy to a movement which was otherwise creeping on the fringes. Not only this, we have been told when the appointed day came, the Soft Hindutva, instead of closing in and tightening the noose around the Hard Hindutvadis, quietly slipped into their bedrooms and watched with glee the whole demolition news throughout that fateful day in December 1992. Take the case of Muslims as anti-nationals. For long, we had heard murmurs of how Muslims were anti-nationals from Hard Hindutva though these voices always remained on the fringes but it was the Soft Hindutva which actually brought this murmur to mainstream and more than that legitimatized this slander when the agencies controlled by it officially tagged whole communities as terrorists. It was not Hard Hindutva which was in power in the states of Delhi, Maharashtra and Centre when innocents were being picked up and whole com-

munities were being branded terrorists. It was Soft Hindutva in play through to the present regime at the Centre. For every two examples of Hard Hindutva, where we have known the When, Where and How of an attack and got a beating, there are ten examples of Soft Hindutva, where we have not known the When, Where and How of the coming attack and it has taken years to even understand that we have received a merciless beating. The most ironical part of this game is the fact that where Hard Hindutva can be tagged to Saffron parties, Soft Hindutva cannot be tagged to any particular group of parties. Every party worth its salt has shown its Soft Hindutva side. It has been seen that whenever non-Hard Hindutva parties have become confident of their position they have let their Softer Hindutva come out. Weaker and unsure non-Hard Hindutva parties always keep their Softer Hindutva in their closet. Take Congress, whenever it achieves absolute power or even a sense of absolute power, it start muscling in with its Softer Hindutva but the moment it comes down to its knees it finds solace in the presence of Muslim community and tries hard to hide its Softer Hindutva. Take the case of SP, the moment it came down its knees it went further. Instead of hiding its Softer Hindutva, it instead threw out the cupboard itself. Such was the intensity of its scare. This is where the example and precedence lie waiting for us. The moment we become dependent on a party and make it absolutely powerful, the very same moment the knives of Soft Hindutva are out to stab us in the back. But the moment the situation reverses and these political parties again become dependent on us and are not able to grab absolute power, they will keep their sharpened knives of Soft Hindutva well hidden inside their secret cupboards. A fractured party and Government will always feel threatened by Muslims, while a party with absolute power will always take Muslims for granted and whip up Soft Hindutva. Its time we realised this great truth that to keep Soft Hindutva at bay, we have to keep non-Hard Hindutva parties on their toes and knees. And for this we need tactical voting and back-door resolutions, which are easier said than done. But the moment it is achieved intentionally or unintentionally, we will see a war among non-Hard Hindutva parties to give us sops, rights and Allah knows what and if this is not achieved we will see a war among the same forces to nullify the very sops, rights and Allah knows what. An example of this can be seen right now. There is a fierce war going on. Some say they will give us 4.5% reservation, others say they will give us 8.5% while some others raise this tally to 18%. This is what happens when non-Hard Hindutva parties are on their knees. And if they become confident enough of our support and hence secure their power, we will see even the highest bidder of the present process (SP which has bid for 18%), going all out to woo Kalyan Singh, Shakshi Maharaj and the likes and hobnobbing even with BJP. So, if we want safety, if we want development, then we ought to vote tactically, and we ought to keep all these nonHard Hindutva parties on their toes and knees. A fractured (non-Hard Hindutva) Government might be our best bet.

The Milli Gazette, 16-29 February 2012

NATIONAL

Indias Christianophobia
SUHAS CHAKMA
Director, Asian Centre for Human Rights achr_review@achrweb.org That secular India suffers from entrenched Christianophobia is well-established but not publicly acknowledged by the State and the society at large. Nothing reflects it more than the denial of reservations to the Dalits who converted into Christianity [and Islam] under the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 which provides that no person other than those who profess the religion of Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism will be considered as Scheduled Castes. Indias Christianophobia has come to the fore after the UPA government promised 4.5% quota for the backward Muslims, believed to be Dalits who converted into Islam, in the run up to the forthcoming UP Assembly elections while the same government has been ducking reservations to the Dalit Christians before the Supreme Court. Sadly, the Supreme Court itself took six years to frame the substantive issues of the writ petition on the issue in January 2011. Historically, the British ruled for 190 years from 1757 to 1947 but the British did not impose their religion. No major group which had formal religions converted into Christianity. In the North East India which has the largest concentration of Christian populations in the country, those who were practicing formal religions did not convert into Christianity. The tribals like the Chakmas and Mogs who practiced Buddhism from time immemorial did not convert into Christianity. Similarly, Tripuris and Manipuris who practiced Vaishnavaite Hinduism also did not convert. It was only the ethnic groups who had their local religions, termed as animism, who converted into Christianity. The Christian populations throughout post-independent India remained static. They constituted about 2.35% of Indian population in 1951, 2.44% in 1961, 2.59% in 1971, 2.45% in 1981, 2.32% in 1991 and 2.3% in 2001 census. Yet, India enacted a number of laws to prohibit conversion which were essentially meant for the Christian missionaries. The self-proclaimed secular Congress Party was the first to enact the Freedom of Religion Act in Orissa in 1967 followed by Madhya Pradesh in 1968 and in Arunachal Pradesh in 1978. The BJP followed suit and introduced the Freedom of Religion Act of Gujarat in 2003 and in Chhattisgarh in 2006. While the Congress

Many of the front organizations of the Hindu religious groups received grants made by the Ministry of Social Justice, Ministry of Human Resources Development, Ministry of Tribal Affairs etc for running schools and hostels etc for the Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes. These Hindu religious organisations increasingly adopted the same methods as of the missionaries, i.e., provide food, medicine, shelter, education etc. In this contest, the role of the Indian state irrespective of whichever party is in power has been partisan.
opposed the Bill of Gurajat, it enacted the Himachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act in 2006. Under the so-called Freedom of Religion Acts, conversion into Hinduism is not an offence. The Hindu groups have been openly converting the tribals into Hinduism under the Ghar Wapasi movement while the Churches were kept under strict vigil and many missionaries had to face prosecution. Conversion into Christianity has not emancipated the Dalits from the repressive caste system. The Church itself practices caste system. Across India, cemeteries for the Dalit Christians are different from the upper castes so is the sitting arrangements in churches. The Dalit Christians are not selected in the hierarchy of the Church. While in mainland India, Catholics were mainly blamed for the practice of caste system, in the North East India, which has the Baptists, the complaint of domination by the Bishops from South India is often echoed. Apart from the Freedom of Religion Acts, the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act 1976 has been used to monitor the missionaries. The Restricted Area Permit has been used to control the entry of the foreign missionaries into the North East. The Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 2010 specifically prohibits any conversion. In post-independent India, conversion has essentially been a direct consequence of expression of negation and the failure of the State to reduce destitution and discrimination. The Tripuris who did not convert to Christianity during the British period started converting to Christianity mainly from the

1980s as an expression of negation against the domination by Bengali Hindus. The same Tripuris who are known as Reangs/Brus in neighbouring Mizoram and had converted into Christianity have been re-converting into Hinduism since 1990s as an expression of negation against domination by the Mizo Christians. The conversion into Christianity by the Dalits despite caste discrimination within the Church has also to do with the expression of negation against the repressive caste system. Across mainland India, Adivasis live in absolute poverty and the Christian missionaries played a critical role to provide food, education, medical assistance etc to them. Since India launched its Tribal Sub-Plan and Special Component Plan in 1971-72, the contours of conversion have changed. Many of the front organizations of the Hindu religious groups received grants made by the Ministry of Social Justice, Ministry of Human Resources Development, Ministry of Tribal Affairs etc for running schools and hostels etc for the Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes. These Hindu religious organisations increasingly adopted the same methods as of the missionaries, i.e., provide food, medicine, shelter, education etc. In this contest, the role of the Indian state irrespective of whichever party is in power has been partisan. Religion as a matter of faith is a private issue and must not be regulated by the State. It is a well-known fact that there are a number of Dalits who identify themselves legally as Hindus to obtain the benefits of reservations but practice Christianity. The denial of reservations to the Dalit Christians has indeed kept a large chunk of Indias discriminated population into backwardness. India must address caste discrimination with re-newed vigour. The Dalits to a large extent have been politically empowered but the caste system remains alive and kicking. The government, however, has stopped public campaigns against the caste system as if it does not exist. The matrimonial pages of Indian newspapers are full of advertisements giving caste preferences. Even the Railways still clear human excreta manually though manual scavenging is illegal. Indian state must not interfere in religious matters but it ought to realize certain religious practices like caste discrimination are defined as criminal offences under the national laws and it ought to educate people and enforce the law. However, when the State itself practices manual scavenging and promotes one particular religion by not enforcing the Religious Freedom Acts against the Hindu religious groups who convert Adivasis, it can no longer claim as secular and noncasteist. The denial of reservation to the Dalit Christians solely based on their religion also makes India Christianophobic.

JTSA questions the Maharashtra ATS Chief

he Maharashtra ATS claims to have cracked the 13/7 blasts case. Its chief has revealed in a press conference that Indian Mujahideen was behind the Mumbai blasts. And yet, the Ministry of Home Affairs remains far from impressed-indeed, it appears rather irritated. And the press, also unusually, has been circumspect about his revelations. The ATS Chief says that he did not want to call a press conference. But the rumours about Naquees IB links were threatening the credibility of the ATS. Such were his compulsions when he launched into a monologue about the breakthrough his teamunder his guidance of course-had achieved. Despite his loud proclamations, however, there are few who are willing to buy the ATS arguments. Here are some issues for the ATS Chief to mull over: Cracking the Case: The case was cracked within a day of Naquee being brought to Mumbai by the Special Cell. Did the Maharashtra ATS ever visit Delhi to pick up/question Naquee? It simply pounced upon him within moments of the Special Cell abandoning Naquee in Mumbai after completing their own investigation work.

The Arrest of Naquee Ahmed The ATS Chief in his press conference clearly said that the arrest was made on 12th January 2012. His family alleges that he was picked up on the night of 9th January. Not only this, his brothers Rafi and Razi were also detained by the ATS. Nadeem was also arrested the same night. Did Naquee just walk into the ATS office and offer himself up, or was the ATS tailing him? If they had him on surveillance, surely they knew how closely he was working with the Special Cell; his numerous trips to the Special Cell and their regular phone calls to him? Naquees Mumbai Trips: The ATS boss says that Naquee had been visiting Mumbais Madanpura area since September-October 2010. Would he explain why the last two of those trips were made in the company of Delhi Police Special Cell? And may it be said that Naquee was not brought to Mumbai under detention or arrest. Evidence Galore: Clothes of Naquee and Nadeem have been recovered from the house where the main suspects lived, claimed the Chief. Is the Chief familiar with their wardrobe and sartorial preferences-in the absence of any forensic tests-to

claim that clothes belonging to Naquee and Nadeem have been recovered? Stolen Bikes: The ATS says that these bikes would have been used in future terror acts. Implicating people in future conspiracies, where evidence need not be produced because the act hasnt taken place at all is the oldest trick in the police armour. If indeed those bikes are stolen (the family disputes it), then book Naquee and Nadeem for theft, Chief, not under UAPA. Money Trail: The Chief was emphatic that Rs 1.5 Lakh had passed through Naquees hands but could not explain when asked where the monies had come from. Hawala, he mumbled, and insisted that the investigations were still on. So, if the investigations were still on and nothing conclusive had been arrived at, why make grandiose claims in a press conference? Harassment of Naquees family While the ATS Chief grandly declared that over 12000 witnesses were questioned, we have no way of knowing how many of them were questioned in illegal detention. Will the ATS Chief kindly explain why Naquee Ahmeds elder brothers were detained? Why has his brothers workshop of trolley bags been turned into a fortress, and reporters and outsiders denied access to them? by Prashanths mother Umadevi is that a rowdy sheet was opened in his name just five days before the incident. As she has pointed out in her submissions to the authorities, her son was involved in nothing more serious than a few brawls, none of which justified his being killed in a brutal encounter. A compelling piece of evidence in Umadevis possession is an audio clip of Inspector Ganapathi talking to a girl who had lodged a complaint against Prashanth. The conversation took place a few months after the encounter and the inspector is heard telling her to amend her earlier complaint. The girl had recorded the conversation and given the tape to Umadevi. Umadevi and her husband Ramakrishna

ATS-Special Cell: Healthy Competition! Yes, there is competition, but no rivalry. The chief of ATS made a brave attempt at presenting a picture of blissful bonhomie between the ATS and Special Cell (The head of Special Cell is my batch mate!). But we saw the ATS team in Delhi grilling Naquees brother about what the Special Cell knew-about what he heard Naquee telling the Special Cell. If the two agencies are so friendly, should not they be sharing information rather than harassing and hounding family members? Why has the ATS been after Naquees brother? Too often we have seen these agencies turning into predators, consuming those very men it seeks out for help and cooperation. The Special Cell may be crying buckets now, but they have implicated IB informers as dreaded terrorists (remember Qamar and Irshad) earlier. The cut-throat grey world of unaccounted powers and funds to tackle terror has veered out of control. One last thing, does the Commissioner of Delhi Police feel no moral and ethical compulsion to officially and formally state the simple truth that Naquee was helping his department in their investigation? Released by Jamia Teachers Solidarity Association, 24 January 2012 Reddy are residents of Mathikere in Yeshwanthpur limits since the last 40 years. They have another son, Lakshmikanth, who is older to Prashanth. Prashanth completed his 12th standard in HKES College in Sadashiva Nagar, after which he discontinued his studies. His mother admits that he got into bad company and was involved in a few petty cases. But he was just 20, and no rowdy to be killed brutally in an encounter, Umadevi told Bangalore Mirror. The precursor to the encounter was a bar brawl between Prashanth, along with his friends, and an acquaintance, Balaji. The latter was hospitalised with injuries and Prashanth, shaken by the incident but wary of the police, was thinking of surrendering in a court.

Police killed boy in cold blood

n the night of September 25, 2010, a young boy was shot dead by the police in the Yeshwanthpur limits. The police inspector involved in the incident has cited self-defence for the encounter killing, but the aggrieved family has rejected the official version and is determined to see that justice is done to their slain child. The boys mother has approached the chief minister, the home minister, the state police chief, the state and national human rights panels, and the Lokayukta. Dismayed by the lack of progress in the

case, she is now set to appeal to the High Court for the investigation to be handed over to the CBI. Bolstering her allegation of a stage-managed encounter at the behest of her sons enemies is a voluminous dossier of documents which she and her other son took a whole year to collect through the RTI route. During the 2010 encounter, Yeshwanthpur police inspector M K Ganapathi shot at 20-yearold Prashanth twice. One bullet hit the boy in the ankle while the second, from just two feet away, hit him square in the head, killing Prashanth instantly. One of the major points of suspicion raised

10 The Milli Gazette, 16-29 February 2012

NATIONAL

Pathribal criminals will be punished

AFSANA RASHID, SRINAGAR
Expressing satisfaction with proceedings in the Apex Court with regard to Pathribal fake encounter case, Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy and president National Conference, Dr Farooq Abdullah has said that the perpetrators would be brought to justice. I am quite satisfied with the way the Supreme Court is proceeding in Pathribal case and I hope it will soon come to a conclusion, said the Union Minister, while speaking to the media at Anantnag in south Kashmir on January 28 after paying condolence to the family of a party leader, Ghulam Rasool Kochak who had passed away. Dr. Abdullah assured families of victims that the perpetrators will be brought to justice as per the Constitution. A week earlier, the minister had told the media in Delhi that Pathribal incident was a fake encounter and All those who are responsible for having killed innocent people must be charge sheeted whether they are in the Army or are civilians. You cant kill innocents and say that I have got a safety certificate. Pertinently, Dr Abdullah was chief minister of the state when the incident took place. Five people were allegedly killed by the Army on March 25, 2000 at Pathribal in south Kashmir and branded Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militants responsible for the killing of 36 Sikhs at Chattisinghpora in the same district on the intervening night of March 19-20, 2000 on the eve of the arrival of the then US President Bill Clinton in India for an official visit. Even chief minister, Omar Abdullah has said that Pathribal fake encounter case has brought back the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) into focus. All Parties Sikh Coordination Committee (APSCC), January 31 sought intervention of the Apex Court for conducting a timebound inquiry into the killing of 36 Sikhs at Chattisinghpora. We have written letters to the Chief Justice, Justice B S Chauhan and Justice Swatantra Kumar hearing Pathribal case and urged them to direct authorities to conduct a time-bound inquiry into the killing of 36 Sikhs at Chattisinghpora a few days before the fake encounter of Pathribal, said Jagmohan Singh Raina, APSCC chairman, adding we welcome the Supreme Courts condemnation of Pathribal incident and term it as a skeptical encounter. All those responsible for it should be brought to book. Raina further stated After a few days, the Army claimed to have killed five militants involved in the incident, but a probe has concluded that the deceased were innocent civilians, who were burnt and hastily buried in a nearby village. Their innocence was proved by the Justice Pandian Commission, which states that their bodies were charred beyond recognition. Meanwhile, the High Court on February 3 directed for listing the Machil fake encounter case again saying that the respondents that is, the state government has already filed a reply. It however, didnt specify any date for the next hearing. Army has filed a petition in court challenging the orders of the sessions court Baramulla and Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Sopore wherein the courts held that the civil court has jurisdiction to proceed against the accused in the case. Earlier, Army on December 23 last year sought the transfer of the case from civil to Army court in the High Court proceedings on the grounds that the accused Army personnel were on active duty and it had the discretion for initiating proceedings before any court. Pertinently, three civilians of Rafiabad in Bandipora district in north Kashmir were allegedly killed in a fake encounter in Machil area of Kupwara district in April 2010 and passed on as foreign militants. year with the Public Information Officer State Home department. The application was regarding unmarked graves and mass graves in all the districts of state. The State Home department vide its letter no: Home/RTI/2011/1659 dated: 24th October 2011 transferred the application to the office of Director General of Police, who in turn sent communiqu vide no. legal/RTI/III/98/2011-5590-91 dated December 10, 2011 to SSP CID headquarters asking him to furnish a detailed report on this issue, the statement said. It added on 25th January, 2012 we have received a response from SSP CID headquarters vide letter no: CID/GB/RTI/2011/8756-58 in which the CID department has informed us that information regarding unmarked graves and mass graves in all districts of Jammu and Kashmir cannot be shared as disclosure of information, according to Jammu and Kashmir police would be prejudicial to the maintenance of public peace and tranquility, as anti-national elements may use the same to incite the commission of offences in the state. The statement further quoting SSP CID headquarters states in the present security scenario it is quite imminent that consequences of such a situation would be highly prejudicial to the sovereignty, integrity and security of the state. Yaseen Hassan Malik, spokesperson of the Association says we fail to understand how information regarding mass graves would become a threat to the security and sovereignty of the state, when even State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has endorsed our findings regarding the existence of mass graves in north Kashmir. This denial comes after the chief minister Omar Abdullah repeatedly promised that thorough investigations would be carried out regarding such graves. Malik added people of the state particularly family members of more than 8000 disappeared persons have the right to know how many unmarked graves exist in the state and who are the persons buried in these graves. The Association has already filed the first appeal under section 16 (1) of J&K RTI Act 2009 at first Appellate authority of police headquarters, he added.

Police stonewalls queries on unknown graves

Police has declined to provide information under Right to Information (RTI) Act to the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) regarding unmarked graves and mass graves in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The Association in a statement issued here on January 25 said that it had filed an application under RTI on October 17 last

How Muslims should vote in UP Assembly elections

SYED SHAHABUDDIN
Since 1950, in all elections the Muslim community has always supported the formation of a secular, stable and strong government at the Centre and in the states, but right from 1947 persistently it has been under-represented in the legislatures. Also the community has felt growingly disenchanted with the post-election performance of secular parties and their Muslim legislators. Today, therefore, the primary interest of the community is not only to raise its representation in the legislature with at least some vocal, fearless independent legislators so that its legitimate aspirations and interests are voiced and pursued systematically. The JCMOE has since 2009 suggested active participation of the Muslim electorate at the constituency level in selecting candidates and/or parties to support with the primary objective of improving the quality and dependability of Muslim representation in national and state legislatures. The JCMOE recalls with regret the oft-tested failure of the Muslim legislators to project the feelings and wishes of the community at the national or even state level. The reason behind the dissatisfactory performance of the Muslim legislators lies in their personal and political loyalty to the parties they belong to and in their faithful support to their political line which makes them disinclined even to raise its legitimate expectation for equal participation in governance and sharing equal benefits of development at various levels. Indeed they remain silent even in situations of denial of equality and justice. It is also a fact in the light of experience that because of diverse factors, effective unity of the Muslim political groups on the eve of the election cannot be achieved at the state or national level. Muslim voters at the constituency level can be united in favour of a common candidate chosen through participation and consultation of all who matter. Both under-representation and its quality are relevant. The secular parties do not field proportionate number of acceptable Muslim candidates from winnable Muslim constituencies and also because participation of Muslim voters in the election is often less than average. Also, several secular parties contest against each other apart from Muslim candidates of small parties, sometimes funded by vested interests, thus dividing the Muslim vote. In view of the above, the JCMOE has revised the Guidelines in depth on the eve of the UP Assembly Elections for 2012 particularly because UP is the major state going to polls, has the biggest Muslim population of all states with 18 percent in the electorate, with decisive influence in more than a quarter of the 403 constituencies and it has at least 35 percent Muslims in 46 constituencies. The JCMOE appeals to the Muslim electorate to build on its electoral assets and take all possible steps. General Guidelines: 1. To register all eligible voters and to vote massively, particularly, women and youth, to raise their turnout above the average and thus increase their effective political weight in every constituency; 2. To strive for Muslim unity at the constituency level, rising above party affiliations or religious or sectarian considerations and chose a winnable candidate by common agreement who is reliable, capable and vocal and reputed to have a secular background; 3. To vote unitedly for the agreed candidate, as the most acceptable candidate of the community. Mechanism of Selection of Common Candidates at Constituency Level: 1. Muslim electorate faces no dilemma when there is only one secular candidate of a secular party pitted against one or more communal parties but when there are more than one secular parties in the constituency, it must carefully select one of them through wide consultations; 2. For this purpose, the local community should form a Constituency Consultation Committee (CCC) consisting of a representative cross-section of distinguished local personalities who have knowledge, experience and political understanding but are not associated with any political party. This CCC should have ulama, academics, retired officials, former legislators, youth leaders and social activists and representatives of eminent Muslim organizations and institutions. The CCC formed by the consultation among community leaders should elect a Chairman; 3. The Committee should interview all important candidates in the field or even arrange public debates among them and interaction with the Muslim voters in different parts of the Constituency; 4. The Committee should take the following points in consideration in evaluating the quality of the candidates: i. Whether the candidate and/or his party has generally supported Muslim causes in the past or supports their major aspirations like reservation in the current election; ii. Whether the candidate and/or his party has taken up situations of Muslim concern and distress in legislatures or with the party; iii. Whether their social base and general support makes them relatively more winnable; iv. Whether they are known and generally acceptable to the Muslim voters; v. Whether they are acceptable to the nonMuslim voters; vi. Whether the party has fielded adequate number of Muslim candidates in the state, the names of the constituencies, their popularity and reputation in UP the proportionate claim of Muslims is 73 out of 403. Communication of Selection to Muslim Electorate: I. The CCC should request all Muslim organizations, institutions and influential citizens particularly academicians and journalists to actively support full reservation as the first political objective at present. The CCC should issue a written appeal to the electors to emphasize Reservation as the master-key to Social Justice, Democratic Governance, Inclusive Development and Empowerment and to work for the success of the common candidate by all means at their disposal; II. The CCC should request the Imams of local Masjids and heads of local madrasas and other educational institutions to support the common acceptable candidate; III. The CCC should brief mass media on the procedure followed in selecting the common agreed candidate and reason for selection; IV. The CCC should advise candidates to use all modern media for publicity like phone calls, e-mail, social networking site like Facebook etc and motivate the voters during the campaign and on the polling date. Advice to Muslim Voters in other Constituencies: A. In seats with less than 20 percent Muslim electorate, Muslims should vote for the most winnable candidates of a secular party; B. In constituencies with 20-30 percent Muslim votes, it should vote for most winnable candidate of a secular party but preferably a Muslim; C. In high concentration or Muslim majority seats, it should vote for the most winnable Muslim candidate who may be independent, and belongs to most numerous Muslim beradaris in the constituency. Conclusion: It is expected that these Guidelines will serve the purpose of uniting the Muslim voters at the Constituency level, ensure massive turnout and united voting for common candidates and electing a more dependable representative in the UP Assembly.
Syed Shahabuddin issued this statement as head of the Joint Committee of Muslim Organisations for Empowerment (JCMOE), an offshoot of All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat

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The Milli Gazette, 16-29 February 2012 11

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

Where is the Muslim Vote?

Once again, with electoral fervour dominating large parts of the Indian political scene, a lot of noise is being made about importance of the so-called Muslim vote. Yes, it is a fact that India has the second largest population of Muslims. Constitutionally, India affirms its strong stand on secularism, socialism and democracy. Politically, however, the manner in which hype is raised about Muslim vote, at times, seems to contradict the secular spirit of the nation. This scribe has written repeatedly that given the divisions between the Indian Muslim community and cultural differences across the country, prospects of there ever being a strong Muslim vote-bank remain as improbable as that of a Hindu vote-bank. At the same time, there is no denying that recent political history has been witness to a rise in several regional Muslim parties. None of these can claim to have spread their wings throughout the country. The political importance of their leaders is also primarily limited to their regional domains. In other words, at present, Indian Muslims and those who are making noise about Muslim vote-bank cannot boast of any Muslim leader with a strong following across the country. Besides, it must be noted that the recent rise of several Muslim parties cannot be delinked from the same period being witness to formation of numerous regional parties. This implies that Muslim parties have not sprung up due to any revolutionary fervour among the Indian Muslims. Their rise needs to be viewed as a part of the

same process that has contributed to the rise of other regional parties. The decline in the stature of the Congress, from a party that at one time led the central government without heading any coalition, is responsible for this political transformation. At one time, when Congress was at its peak, Indian politics was witness to dominance of only one party, that is the Congress. During that period, little importance was given to the Muslim or Hindu vote. Undeniably, even if some noise was made about Muslim vote, it would have remained as non-existent then as it is now. Muslims were socially and geo-culturally as divided then as they are today. The new importance of Muslim vote has emerged not because the Indian Muslim has asked for it but because the present day politicians and political parties are in a desperate need of the same. In Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, for instance, more than half a dozen parties are in the fray, with most making special efforts to attract Muslim votes. But none of these parties can be described as a Muslim party. Also, there remain limited chances of the states Muslim population voting en bloc for any one party. Well, when the electoral prowess of the Muslim cannot be grouped together under any one political party, with it remaining as divided as the votes of non-Muslims, where does the Muslim-vote really exist? It may not be wrong to assume that political noise is made deliberately about the Muslim vote with the prime intention of creating divisions in the same. Where UP politics is concerned, there is no denying that a major role is played by votes of Brahmins, Rajputs, Yadavs, Dalits and other groups, but why isnt hype created about their importance? It has been observed that whenever there prevail prospects of a strong Muslim candidate taking the lead, several Muslims are prompted to file nominations in

the same constituency, even as independents. This divides the Muslim vote and the seat goes to a nonMuslim. Divisions created intentionally or unintentionally to weaken the Muslims electoral power may be viewed as responsible for low representation of Muslims in state assemblies and in the Parliament which is much lower than what their population is. The last point further questions the credibility of political hype being made about the Muslim vote. Undeniably, there have been phases when Muslim votes have been strongly influenced by certain major crises or developments of which Babri demolition or Gujarat carnage are examples. Please note, Gujarat carnage strongly affected the political attitude of not just the Indian Muslims. With Muslims forming less than 14 percent of the countrys population, had only their electoral behaviour been affected, parliamentary elections after Gujarat carnage would not have led the voters decide to push the BJP-led coalition out of power. Statistically, a stronger role was played by votes of secular Indians, the majority of whom were Hindus. Considering that Muslims voted with the rest of the secular citizens of the country, it would certainly not be fair to club only their vote as decided by their religious identity. Just as secularism prompted Hindus to vote against the BJP, that is for the Congress, the same factor decided the electoral decision of Muslim voters. They voted, Hindus and Muslims, angered by Gujarat carnage as secular Indians. Strangely, when a Hindu votes against communalism, he is labelled as a secular Indian, but when a Muslim does the same, he is viewed only as a Muslim voter. The latters secularism is ignored with his religious identity being given greater importance. The same fault is repeated when hype is made about the non-existent Muslim vote!

Creeping Saffronisation in M.P.

In Madhya Pradesh, BJP seems to have steadily taken the RSS agenda quite far without much noise. As a commentator in a national newspaper recently remarked that by keeping low-profile, BJP leaders in MP have quietly pushed the Hindutva plan ahead. During the last few months, people have begun to see the design.

Israeli agents in India

Indias intelligence community, for the first time should be lauded for being vigilant and not colour-blind. The incident of two Israeli citizens in Kochi, in India on multiple visit visas, attracted the attention of the authorities for paying India Rupees 50,000 as monthly rental for an average residential property. Now Rs. 50,000 is big sum of money in the country where average rents are a tenth of that amount. The squander of such large sum of money to rent a property due to its location, immediately attracted attention, possibly first in the neighbourhood and later being reported to security authorities. This incidence has opened a pandoras box and Indian authorities have suddenly woken up to the danger that while on one hand their Foreign Minister S. M. Krishna has been on a rather unusually sweet goodwill mission to Israel, the Zionists have other plans focused on India and had unleashed their usual clandestine operators to establish sleeper cells all over the country, to prepare Israel and US for any future eventuality. Their close relations with extremist Hindutva terrorists are recorded in the chargesheet filed by the then Maharashtra ATS chief Karkare in the Malegaon 2008 blast case. Israeli mafias control over narcotic business from manufacture in Himachal to transit in Delhi to export from Goa is an open secret. Indias intelligence community has been forced to focus these past years on Islamic terrorism under tremendous pressure from the US. They belatedly found out about Hindutva Terror, while hundreds of innocent Indian Muslims still rotted in jails and after years being set free by courts, as innocents. The new face of conspirators that has emerged in Kochi will present a very delicate diplomatic dilemma for the Manmohan Singh government as it is becoming more and more dependent on Israel for its supposedly inadequate defence and security needs although the whole world is aware of other sources. Muslims, though primarily motivated by their antagonism to Israel over its treatment of Palestine problem, have been warning their government to beware of the universal dubious nature of Jewish/Zionist/Israeli conspiracies. A reading of former Mossad agent Ostrovskys By way of deception (Stoddart 1990) is enough to reveal the real face of duplicitous Isreal. The Kochi incident is a wake-up call for Indian Government and saner elements to wake up from their myopic vision of viewing Israel through the eyes of the Neocons and Muslim baiters to discover how far this Israeli subversion has gone undetected, while our security agencies have been busy chasing the Muslim terrorist mirage. GHULAM MUHAMMED, Mumbai ghulammuhammed3@gmail.com

e hear the BJP make so much noise about appeasement of minorities, particularly Muslims. But does anyone use the term Majority [or Hindu] appeasement when the party goes all out to ensure Saffronisation of a state? In Madhya Pradesh, BJP seems to have steadily taken the RSS agenda quite far without much noise. As a commentator in a national newspaper recently remarked that by keeping low-profile, BJP leaders in MP have quietly pushed the Hindutva plan ahead. During the last few months, people have begun to see the design. Either it is the stringent law against cow slaughter that will put onus on any cattle trader if he is caught taking bovines to prove his innocence or the introduction of Gita in school syllabus, MP is clearly outpacing Gujarat as the Hindutva lab. 1. The Surya Namaskar may seem to be an innocuous activity akin to Yoga but the seriousness of the government in implementing it clearly shows that it wants majority communitys style of worship to enter hitherto secular schools. Personally many people wont find it too disturbing. 2. The party had proposed renaming Bhopal as Bhojpal in an apparent move to get rid of its Muslim heritage. The founder of modern Bhopal was Dost Mohammad Khan, the first Nawab and ruler of the medieval dynasty. On the ramparts of his fort in the lake, the huge statue of Raja Bhoj was erected. Was it not majority appeasement? It didnt work though as party understood the popular mood was against the proposed name, Bhojpal. There has been no end to such decisions during the last few years. 3. Even when Abhinav Bharat members were caught for acts of terrorism, no statewide hunt was launched by MP police. But when Kashmiri youths were caught, they were immediately dubbed as terrorists. They were later released when it was realised that there was no case against them. Further a campaign was launched against Kashmiri students in Bhopal. It was alleged that if Kashmiris would be allowed to come in such large numbers, this would facilitate the entry of militants who could then sneak into the state. 4. Steps were taken to ensure that Kashmiri Muslims didnt come for studies in MP in large numbers. It became a national issue. Similar was the case of stringent law against conversion and the religious profiling of Christians that was stopped after it came in the open. 5. There is clearly a larger design. When Gita lessons were about to be introduced, leaders of Sikh, Christian and Muslim communities opposed it. They termed it a step to turn all state-run schools into Shishu Mandirs. Then, the State government said that it had no objection to add teachings from scriptures of other communities as well. It was cleverly aimed to mollify the protesters. When the opposition died down, the BJP government silently introduced the Gita chapters in the curriculum in schools. As long as ours is a secular state bound by constitution, there has to be a limit to this form of appeasement. Muslims can teach Quran in Madarsas and Hindus can teach Gita or other scriptures in private schools or Saraswati Shishu Mandirs. 6. Public memory is short. Sometime back the decision to ask students recite Bhojan mantra was also taken in the state. The education department had then insisted that it was not objectionable. It

is not that everybody is a fool. They try, assess the response, then either act or stop and reintroduce their plan later. 7. The state government is concerned about education or students. The state-run schools are in a mess. There is little interest to save these schools, let alone open new ones and raise their standards. The buildings are in poor state. Of the 1.3 lakh government schools, over 25,000 schools have no toilets. 8. Government teachers and students of these schools are used to swell crowds by all parties. They come free and cant question the decisions. Its easy to force them to attend rallies or mass Surya Namaskar. Unlike party workers brought from far-flung areas at the cost of transportation and food, children wont ask for money or lunch. 9. School teachers are forced into election duties, vaccination drives and made to attend government functions. The truth is that there is no concern about school childrens fitness or education standards in these schools. 10. The fact is that MP is a classic case. Unlike Gujarat, where Chief Minister Narendra Modi was till a few years back quite vocal and often made crude statements about Muslim community, BJP leaders in Madhya Pradesh have been silent and have projected an image of an inclusive party. MP has 50 lakh (5 million) Muslims. The BJP has held conventions for Muslims. The CMs pet Kanya Daan scheme for Hindu couples has been extended to include mass nikaahs that are held at the expense of the government. When there was criticism about advertisements for Beti Bachao scheme, the hoardings were quickly changed. The photographs of Muslim girls adorned them. The couplets like HadeesoN ki zeenat haiN betiyaaN were also introduced as slogans. On the law-and-order front, riots were controlled quickly and there were no major communal clashes. The activities of Bajrang Dal and other allied Hindutva groups were kept under control. No wonder, a section of Muslims felt comfortable with Chouhan as Chief Minister. The down to earth approach of the Chief Minister has made him popular among Muslims also. Party is expecting Muslim votes in the upcoming Assembly elections. Many BJP leaders had got Muslim votes in the last election and this was a surprise for the party. Then what prompts the State BJP to take decisions that are now leading to controversies. Everybody in the power corridors in MP knows that the top state leadership doesnt want any issue that will cause disharmony or unnecessary controversy. 11. Clearly, good governance and popularity are not enough. The RSS doesnt want the BJP to become Congress 2.0, even if it outperforms the latter on various indicators. In the last two terms, all Sangh institutions in MP have got so strong that even if the party doesnt come to power for decades, they wont face any problem. Huge chunks of prime land have been given to them. If a BJP leader wants to keep his chair safe, then the first thing he must do is to keep the RSS in good humour. Once he has done this, he can be assured that there is no internal threat to his rule. Unfortunately for the party, the Presidents nod for the cow bill came just now when Surya Namaskar was to be organised. The controversy over Gita lessons too hadnt died. For years, BJP has raised the issue of alpasankhyak tushtikaran, now they are doing aggressive appeasement of the bahusankhyak [majority] and not many seems to notice! (anindianmuslim.com)

12 The Milli Gazette, 16-29 February 2012

NEWSMAKERS
MEN & WOMEN IN NEWS
Prof. AKHTAR MEHDI, prominent Persian scholar and former President of JNU's Department of Persian has been appointed a member of National Commission for Minorities Education by HRD ministry in view of his academic and social services. He is well versed in Urdu, English, Hindi and Arabic in addition to Persian. NESAR AHMAD, a Fellow Member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) was elected President of ICSI with effect from 19 January 2012. He was earlier the Vice President of ICSI. A practicing Company Secretary at New Delhi, he is well-versed in the areas of Corporate and Securities Laws with specialisation in Company Secretarial and Representation Services, Merchant Banking, Oppression and Mismanagement, Merger and Amalgamation etc. Ms. UMMU SALMA BAVA, an educationist and chairperson & Professor of European Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru Universitys Centre for European Studies, has been honoured with Bundesverdienst-Kreuz (Germanys Order of Merit) by German Embassy (New Delhi)s Charge d Affaires, Cord Meier-Klodt at a function held in Delhi recently in recognition of her immense contribution to Indo German relations. SHAKIL SAIFI, chairman of All India Muslim Yuva AntiTerrorism Committee (Muslim Yuva Aatank Virodhi Samiti) has been appointed a member of Central Film Censor Board (Govt. of India) by union information and broadcasting minister Mrs. Ambika Soni. S.A.T. RIZVI, former secretary in union ministry for Parliamentary affairs has been appointed by President of India, in her capacity of Visitor of AMU, as a Member of this Universitys Court for three years as her representative. Also, Prof. ANEES ISLAMI, President of Ajmal Khan Tibbia College, Aligarhs Department of Surgery has been appointed a Member of AMU Court on the basis of being the seniormost Head of any Department. His appointment is for three years or till the period he is Head of this Department. Both these appointments are with immediate effect. Prof. SIBGHATULLAH FAROOQI, Dean of Faculty of Commerce and seniormost Dean of AMUs Executive Council has taken over as interim Vice Chancellor of AMU on 29 January. Prof. Syed Mehdi Abbas Rizvi whom the outgoing Vice Chancellor Prof. P.K. Abdul Aziz had handed over the temporary charge of vice chancellorship of AMU himself completed his term as Dean of Engineering Faculty after which he handed over the charge of officiating V.C. to Prof. Sibghatullah Farooqi pending the appointment of a permanent V.C. Prof. (Mrs.) ZAKIA SIDDIQI, former Principal of AMUs Womens College has been appointed a member of HRD ministrys reconstituted National Monitoring Committee for Minorities Education for a period of three years. Ms. NISHAT ZOHRA of Amroha, Chaudhari WAHAJ ASHRAF of Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi and Dr. QAMAR FAISAL of Delhi have been conferred PhD Degrees by Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Roohailkhand University and Jamia Millia Islamia University (to both candidates at Nos.two and three) respectively. Pune Colleges 3rd year student SHARIF IBRAHIM KUTTY with his bold action and presence of mind saved many lives when he forcefully pulled off a ST bus driver of Pune from his seat who by his extremely rash and negligent driving had crushed many persons to death and injured many others in addition to hitting many other cars and other vehicles. As Kutty was going by his motor bike, he saw the strange and mindless way the bus driver was driving, running over and injuring many people without stopping. Kutty chased him and as the bus slightly slowed dwon at a bend, jumped inside the bus at the risk of his own life and pulled the driver from his seat with all his might whose feet was still on the accelerator. The bus stopped and further mindless massacre of the people was brought under control. This happened one day before the Republic Day i.e. on 25 January. For this adventurous and life saving act Kutty was honoured with many praises and prizes and many more prizes and honours may be waiting for him.

OBITUARIES
MAZHAR IMAM, prominent Urdu poet, writer, critic and pioneer of new genre of poetry i.e. independent ghazal died on 30 January at the age of 83 years. He remained admitted in a hospital for about three weeks and was kept on ventilator but he died of heart attack. He is survived by his wife, one son and one daughter. His four anthologies of poems and ghazals Zakhm-e Tamanna, Rishta Goongay Safar ka, Pichhlay Mausam ka Phool and Band Hota Hua Bazaar have been published. In addition to these, collections of his critical essays and articles have also been published. A Masters degree holder in Urdu and Persian he worked in All India Radio and many other places, finally retiring as Director of Doordarshan, Srinagar. Born in Darbhanga (Bihar) he was honoured with Sahitya Academy Award and Awards of Urdu Academies of U.P., Bihar and other states. Keralas Governor M.O. HASAN FAROOK died on 26 January at Chennais Apollo Hospital because of renal problems. Before Kerala he was governor of Jharkhand. Before that he was chief minister of Pondicherry (now named Puducherry) three times, and Indias ambassador to Saudi Arabia. He was 74 and is survived by one son and two daughters. ANIS SUHRAWARDY, noted Supreme Court lawyer, died of heart attack on 24 January at his residence in Noida. For 10 years i.e. from 2000 to 2010 he was also Additional Advocate General Jammu & Kashmir. He was the son of famous journalist and columnist Sayeed Suhrawardy. Both he and his father Sayeed Suhrawardy were closely associated with Jamiatul Ulama-e Hind and he fought many legal cases for Jamiatul Ulama. He was in his mid-fifties and is survived by his wife, one son, one daughter, parents etc. (see below) Ms. NIKHAT KAZMI, famous film critic died of cancer on 20 January at the age of 53 years. She had been associated with the English daily Times of India since long i.e. from 1987. She had written some books also on films and cinema. A native of Allahabad, she is survived by her husband QAMRUDDIN USMANI, detective novelist who used to write such novels under the pen name of Kamal Pasha died of heart attack on 29 January at Deoband. He is survived by his wife, five sons and one daughter. MASOODUZ ZAFAR KHAN, prominent lawyer of Rampur, poet and author died in Delhi on 27 January after a protracted illness. More than a year ago he had a paralytic stroke after which he had been living in Delhi for treatment. His body was taken to Rampur for last rites. He was 69 and is survived by his wife and one son. His two anthologies of poems and prose are yet unpublished.

AWARDS
Inter State Open Taekwondo (Martial Art) Championship competition was held at Delhis Dev Samaj Modern School on 30 January 12 in which different schools / madrasas of Delhi, Haryana and U.P. took part. From Delhis JAMIA ISLAMIA SANABIL 34 students took part in this competition whose performance was excellent. Twelve students of this school / madrasa won Gold Medals, another 12 students of the same school won Silver Medals and the remaining 10 students won Bronze Medals. For overall performance of the students of this madrasa First Prize consisting of the Trophy was awarded to this Madrasa of Delhis Abul Fazal Enclave, Okhla Jamia Nagar. Two persons, MUHAMMAD ABDUL BARI of Orissas Bhadrak district who is running eight social organisations and KHAMLIANA of Mizoram who is the founder president of Mizoram Youth Club, a voluntary organisation, have been selected for being honoured with National Communal Harmony Award for 2011 in the individual category. The Jury which selected these two people for the award for promoting communal harmony and national integration was headed by Vice President Hamid Ansari. The Award, instituted by home ministry in 1996, consists of Rs. 2 lakhs and a citation. The Award will be given to them jointly. ABBAS ANSARI who participated in the Junior championship of 55th National Shot Gun shooting championships sponsored by Sahara India stood first and won Gold Medal. Ms. NASEEM SHEFALE, with the selection of her anthology Na Thsay na Aks (Neither Shadow nor Reflection) by Sahitya Academy for its recent (2011) award, became the first Kashmiri woman to be honoured with the highest literary Award of the country. Contents of the award winning book represent the sad events of blood and tears of Kashmir during the past two

decades. The Srinagar-born, 60-year old Nasreen teaches Kashmiri at graduation level. Prof. WASEEM AHMAD, a senior teacher in AMUs Department of Zology was honoured with the prestigious award in the field of science, Prof. S.P. Gupta Medal at Lucknow on the occasion of 22nd All India Zological Conference in recognition of his valuable research and precious writings on Nematology and nematodes. Author of many books and considered an international authority on nematology and nematodes, their division into different categories and their effects on environment, he has been honoured with many awards, fellowships and honours by many countries like England, Germany, Italy, Japan, European Union, China, Korea, Singapore in addition to India and some Indian states. Prof. SHAMIM Jairajpuri, INSA scientist in AMUs Department of Zoology has been honoured with Lifetime Achievement Award for completion of his fifty years (1961-2011) of research work in the field of helminthology. The Award, for his special research work on nematodes, was given to him by Lucknow Universitys Vice Chancellor, Prof. M.K. Mishra on the occasion of 22nd All Indian Zoological Conference held at Lucknow. On this occasion he also delivered a lecture on Nematodes and Human Welfare. In addition to the Award at Lucknow, Punjab University, Chandigarh also honoured him with Award on completion of 50 years of his research on the above-mentioned topic. The Award along with a cash prize was presented to him by Punjab Universitys Vice Chancellor, Dr. R.C. Sobti who also invited Prof. Jairajpuri to deliver A.K. Gupta Memorial Lecture 2011 on Nematodes and Biodiversity. Dr. SHAZIA KHAN is probably the only lady from Gorakhpur who has been honoured with Woman of Substance Award in recognition of her high education and writings. Educated at Gorakhpur and Jiwaji (Gwalior) universities she is Assistant Professor at

Delhi University. Her writings are published in national and international magazines. This Award was given to her by Waseem Akhtar, Vice Chancellor of Lucknows Integral University at a function held at Lucknow. TABASSUM FATIMA of Jharkhand, a student of Vinoba Bhave College, Bokaro (Orissa) who did M.A. in Anthropology and stood first in the whole University was honoured with Gold Medal which was given to her by Jharkhand Governor Syed Ahmad. She has been a brilliant student from the very beginning and always stood first in all her classes. Assembly of Angels Secondary School, Barrackpur (Kolkata), managed by Administrator Sheikh MUHAMMAD ZAKI and Principal Mrs. SAIRA ZAKI, was at state level selected for being honoured with The Telegraph School Award for the second time for Eco-friendly Maintenance and for the third time in the field of social service at a function held at Kolkata Vidya Mandir, Kolkata. AMJAD ALI KHAN, famous sarod maestro, has been honoured with Malik Arjun Mansoor Award named after famous classical singer. This Award was instituted by Karnataka government. The Award consisting of a certificate and a cheque of Rs. one lakh was presented to him by Malik Arjuns son Raj Shekhar Mansoor at a function held at Dharwad. Prof. SHAKEEL AHMAD, a senior teacher in civil engineering department of AMUs Dr. Zakir Husain college of Engineering & Technology was honoured with engineering worlds prestigious John C. Gannon Award in recognition of his valuable work in the field of civil engineering. He worked on the use of human hair as fibre in concrete. The Award, consisting of a Gold Medal and Commendation Certificate, was given to him on the occasion of 26th National Engineering Conference of Institution of Engineers held at Bangalore. cases linked with Babri Masjid demolition, Malegaon bomb-blast case, AkshadharmGujarat case, Best Bakery (Gujarat) case and many others for which he gained national as well international recognition and appreciation. After graduating from Delhis St Stephens College, Anis completed LLB from University of Delhi. Anis is survived by his parents, wife Shamama (a practicing lawyer), son Atif - a lawyer, daughter Nauras, who is studying law and two sisters - Nilofar, a journalist and Tasneem a professor at St Stephens. He is remembered by his admirers, professional colleagues, clients, former teachers and friends hailing from different walks of life and religious communities as a great secular and generous person. By espousing causes of broad sections of masses in various fields, Anis created for himself an image which has very few parallels. Anis is no more, but his secular as well as philanthropic ideals and vision live on. (Nilofar Suhrawardy)

ANIS SUHRAWARDY
New Delhi: Well-known lawyer of the Supreme Court of India, Anis Suhrawardy (54), passed away on 24 January because of a massive cardiac arrest. Son of a prominent writer Saeed Suhrawardy and son-in-law of a distinguished politician and senior advocate, late Bashir Ahmed, Anis practiced law with a missionary zeal. Just a few hours before breathing his last, he argued vehemently at the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) to secure relief for a poor carpenter. Legally, he is remembered for playing a major role in helping several lakhs of civilian workers, including retrenched railway employees, secure their livelihood. Some of the prominent cases and issues Anis fought for were linked with Sri Krishna Commission (Bombay riots-1993); Munna Munna Bhalloo (1998), which became a flagship for cases linked with development of Forest Law. He represented 10,000 lawyers in a Delhi

Bar Association Case and succeeded in preventing entry of foreign lawyers in the Indian courts. He saved 2,93,000 Casual Labourers of Indian Railways from Mass Scale Retrenchment in 1982-84 because of which more than 10 lakh workers across the country benefitted. In addition, among the poor working class, he fought cases on behalf of contract labourers, beedi workers, rickshaw-pullers, hutment dwellers, footpath vendors, tehbazaris, mobile booking clerks, katputli dance performers, street artists, madaris, saperas and many others. Anis, an advocate-on-record since 1987, served as Standing Counsel for State of Jammu & Kashmir for around a decade. As a secular Muslim, apart from taking up legal disputes involving Indians of all religions and communities, he also boldly fought on behalf of minorities. The latter includes his being a spokesperson and lawyer for prominent organizations, including Jamiat Ulama-I Hind. In the interest of Indian secularism and to check communal forces, Anis was legally involved in pursuing

The Milli Gazette, 16-29 February 2012 13

SPECIAL REPORTS

The ruined haveli of Zeenat Mahal

FIROZ BAKHT AHMED
Delhi: Few would believe that amidst the squalor and maddening traffic of Bazar Lal Kuan in the walled city of Shahjahanabad or Old Delhi, there stands the haveli (mansion) of Begum Zeenat Mahal, Bahadur Shah Zafars queen. This mansion is fighting a losing battle against the ever-increasing demands of the commercial instincts of the people surrounding it. Zeenat Mahal was one of the most formidable women of her times. She could be categorized among Noorjahan (Jahangirs wife) Lakshmibai, Razia Sultana, Ahiliabai of Holkar, and Chand Bibi. Though she lived in the Red Fort, she had her own mansion in Delhis Lal Kuan. Begum Zeenat Mahal was a pretty doeeyed maiden, half the age of the emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar who had lost power and authority in a time of great turmoil. She was freedom fighter who opened the doors of the Red Fort to the rebel sepoys from Meerut on the morning of May 11, 1857. It was this bewitching beauty that implored the ageing and graying Zafar to delve into romantic poetry when he composed the ghazal beginning with Le gaya loot ke kaun mera sabro-o-qarar/ Beqarari tujhe ai dil kabhi aisi to na thhi (Who is it who has robbed my heart of its peace?/ Never did restlessness like this had been your fate). It is pertinent to remember that Zeenat Mahal chose to accompany Zafar into exile in Rangoon. There was a time when Begum Zeenat Mahal used to come to her haveli sitting in her palanquin through the entrance whose height was reduced in 1900 to a couple of feet. She was led in by her traditional naqqarkhana (drummers). A danka (announcement) was made when she used to come so that the resi-

dents would come to greet and salute her. Most picturesque of the remnants of the beauty of yore of this haveli, are the two jharokas (parlours) which too are made of red sand stone. A glance at the haveli makes one nostalgic with its gate made of red Kota sand-stone having the traditional Mughal arch and huge original iron-studded wooden doors. Not much history of this unprotected monument remains but still it retains its architectural charm. Till recently there was a plaque atop the haveli mentioning that the emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar started building this most elegant

Gujarat Bohras court Modi

The wounds of 2002 state-sponsored pogrom and subsequent anti-Muslim policies of the BJP regime headed by Narendra Modi are well known to the whole world

edifice for his queen. The plaque is in Persian that cannot be clearly deciphered. Some of the Sepoy Mutiny rebels, who had switched over their loyalty towards the British, attacked the haveli but the solid wooden gates held fort and after normalcy prevailed in the first week of October 1857, the English recaptured Delhi and harmed it because of their dislike of the Begum. At the entrance of this once regal mansion, there is a sweets shop because of which the surroundings not only stink but have completely been ruined due to the perennial smoke. The roof is built in the shape of a dome and the Muslims of Gujarat are still fighting for justice. with circular lining of bricks. Fire Yet Gujarat Bohras have continuously disregarded the from the furnace of the sweets pains of their fellow brothers and sisters and go on shop has burnt some part of the courting Modi on every possible occasion. The latest imperial gates. Inside is the was the hypocritical Sadhbhavna shows put up by Modi Zeenat Mahal Girls Senior to hoodwink people that he has Secondary School which was changed while the fact is that he is established 111 years ago. After doing all that he can to thwart justice the locals had almost destroyed and frustrate the umpteen cases in the haveli and occupied almost courts and other enquiries against half of its 3000 sq yards area, his acts of omission and commis- the government was able to sion. Even the Gujarat High Court build a school bearing the has severely reprimanded his gov- queen's name. Today it is known ernment and ordered it to repair the as Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya, hundreds of masjids and dargahs Lal Kuan. Mr. Abdul Rauf, a teacher etc which were destroyed by the rioters shielded by his government. occupying the main portion of Below are two photographs showing the haveli on the Lal Kuan side, how Dawoodi Bohras of Gujarat are has no proper documents to courting the goodwill of a great claim his right. Likely there are enemy of the Muslim community some washermen and other who has not only denied proper anti-social elements that have compensations to the riot victims but illegally occupied the haveli area also denied Central governments though it is the schools property. One of them keeps a ferominority schemes to reach Gujarat Muslims. (Photos provived by cious dog thats often unleashed Farooq Abdul Gaffar Bawani, on school-girls and people comRajkot - ing to take pictures of the mansion. Umpteen complaints mohammed.galeriya@yahoo.co.in)

according to Kaleemuddin, a senior citizen of Farash Khana near the haveli, to concerned authorities have fallen on deaf ears. According to Basheeruddin Ahmeds Waqiat-e-Darul Hukumat-e-Dehli, it used to be a massive haveli earlier, covering an area of almost four acres at the time of Zeenat Mahal. There was a huge marble fountain with a few hujras (rooms). Besides, there was a huge cellar. There was also a Nagina Mahal (jewel palace) whose entrance was from the backyard towards the Farash Khana side. Kaleemuddin says that the basic structure of the haveli existed here till the late 1950s as the gateway opened into a courtyard encircled by a series of rooms with carved Kota stone pillars supporting red sandstone arches. Except one, all have been turned into petty structures. The marble fountain had beautiful inlaid waterways. Inside, this was a secluded pavilion with 14 arches and dalaans (open space) quite typical of any haveli. The pavilion built in the shape of the one at the Red Fort was surrounded by marble courtyards on all sides. Huge banyan trees gave pleasant shade during scorching summers when it was surrounded by the khus (scented jute) screens. There were also two tunnels from this haveli to Red Fort and another to some unknown destination. The present school principal Chitra Gupta told us that while building the school assembly platform when the area was dug, one of the tunnels was found but was immediately closed. Of the many mansions of Delhi, Zeenat Mahal today remains to be the ugliest for it has borne the brunt of ever-increasing commercial demands of the shopkeepers surrounding it. Right in the heart of the haveli, there is a factory grinding red chilly powder which is supplied all over India. Besides, the Lal Kuan gate has become an eve teasers heaven.
The author is a heritage activist, he may be contacted at firozbakhtahmed07@gmail.com

MG/Yusuf

Old promises
How much per kilo?

Award for IGNOU VC

IGNOU Vice-Chancellor M Aslam receiving the Best teaching practices Award fromnoted film director Prakash Jha at the India Today Aspire Education Summit 2012, in New Delhi on 27 Jan 2012. Also seen in the picture is India Today Groups Rekha Puri.

14 The Milli Gazette, 16-29 February 2012

COMMUNITY NEWS
IDB wants to explore India
Jeddah: Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank (IDB) has expressed its keenness to cooperate with India to uplift the conditions of Indian Muslims. K Rahman Khan, deputy chairman of Rajya Sabha, met senior bank officials including its president Ahmad Muhammad Ali in Jeddah. Ali said the bank is ready to work in three areas: Development of interest-free Islamic banking, preservation and development of the Wakf properties in India and activating Haj management. The IDB authorities have recognized the prevailing misunderstanding and misconception about the bank in Indian society. The bank will hold a conference in India on Islamic banking as soon as possible, said consul general Faiz Ahmad Kidwai. We have 200,000 hectares of Wakf land in India and IDB is willing to help develop it, said Khan. A proposal to establish Wakf development co-operation is currently under serious consideration of the Indian government. It also proposes utilization of Wakf income for the social and educational wellbeing of the Muslims. IDB officials have proposed to Indians to adopt the model of Tabung Haji, a Haj management system initiated by Malaysia. It is a comprehensive Haj management system that takes care of selection of pilgrims, their accommodation during the Haj and transportation in the holy cities. Another topic of bilateral consideration is the proposal to construct multi-storey buildings for Indian pilgrims in Makkah. Muslims perform Hindus funeral Srinagar: Inspite of violence and curfew in Kashmir, communal harmony in the valley remains unscathed. As a gesture of solidarity with their Kashimri Pandit neighbours several Muslims took part in funeral rites of a Pandit - Krishnaji Puran. 70-year-old Puran who died in Habbakadal, kalimohalla did not desert his ancestoral home during mass exodus by other Kashmiri Pandits in the 1990s. Inspite of curfew in the town Muslims ensured a proper funeral for their neighbour. An artist by profession Puran had become jobless in wake of terror activities in the region. New Zakat House inaugurated in Madanpur Khadar New Delhi: Zakat Foundation of Indias new Zakat House was inaugurated in Madanpur Khadar area of Delhi on 29 January. The plot on which this House is built was purchased at a cost of Rs. 4 crores. There are more than 40 rooms in this House and in addition to Zakat offices other institutions run by Zakat House such as Adam Hospitals medical activities, Happy Home which is presently located at Okhlas Batla House where orphan and poor children made homeless after Gujarats riots and from other places have also been shifted and accommodated here. Dr. Zafar Mahmood Chairman of ZFI said that there was a shortage of space in these institutions and hence these were shifted to this House. He said that of the total amount needed for this Zakat House Rs. 2.75 crores have been paid. Among the people assembled here on this occasion, Tariq Ameen announced that he would donate Rs. 50 thousand to meet the deficit, Janeshwar, advocate, promised to give Rs. one lakh, Babu Qureshi Rs. 2 lakh and Kamal Akhtar announced to donate Rs. 5 lakh to ZFI. Dr. Najimus Salam Jalali said on this occasion that Dr. Zafar Mahmood himself donated his own 500 sq. yards plot for this Zakat House. Jamat-e Islamis general secretary Muhammad Ahmad and others who were present on this occasion promised to render all possible cooperation for the activities of Zakat Foundation of India. Karnal Muslims angry over encroachment on Qabristan Muslims in Karnal are angry over illegal demarcation of a colony from Kabristan land allegedly by Waqf board officer in connivance with the land mafia. Plot number 4489 near Chand Sarai in Karnal is disputed land and a number of people and organisations over the years have laid claim to its ownership. Earlier, the coloniser and the Muslims staked their claim to the land but recently the Dhobi Samaj too has claimed to be the real owner. Haryana Muslim Khidmat Sabha is also demanding the safety of the Kabristan from those trying to carve it out illegally. Haryana Khidmat Sabha has complained against the state waqf board officer Mohammad Yakub Saralwi and land mafia to the National Commission for Minorities. Khidmat Sabha has also demanded action against those believed to have conspired in selling of waqf land illegally. Chief convenor of the Khidmat Sabha, Advocate Mohammad Rafique Chouhan has said state waqf officer in collusion with land mafia vilified the purity and wholesomeness of the Kabristan as one can see bones of the dead bodies scattered here and there. These people, just for the sake of a little money have hurt the religious sentiments of the Muslim community. Chouhan also said that if steps are not taken at the earliest then there is a possibility that the situation may get out of control. In his defence, waqf officer of Karnal, Mohammad Yakub Saralwi has said that the complainants are blackmailing us and no Kabristan land for colony has been engraved out. The Kabristan is well in place and I have not done anything illegal. The report of deal with the land mafia or the dealer is false and fabricated. President of the Muslim community, Karnal Haji Naim Quraishi, secretary Shamim Ahmad and Babu Khan have informed about the issue to the DC, SP and station police officer of the Karnal. Neelam Pradip Kasni, Karnal deputy commissioner has assured the Muslim community that if the state waqf official has done anything wrong it would be investigated. He has also said that if the land is for a Kabristan then no colony can be marked out or taken out of it and strong action will be taken against those found guilty. (Based on information provided by Mohd. Rafiq Chauhan (Advocate), State Chief Co-ordinator, Haryana Muslim Khidmat Sabha - rafiqchauhan1@gmail.com)

Discrimination against Muslim children in school admissions

New Delhi: Lok Janshakti Party (LJP)s general secretary Abdul Khaliq, by claiming here on 4 February that the admissions in nursery schools of Delhi in recent days show that the ratio of Muslim children is slightly above 0 (zero) percent, put a question mark on the performance of government and its inaction. Giving some figures he said that in D.P.S., R.K. Puram among 400 children admitted, only six were Muslims, in Dwarka out of 180, number of Muslims is zero, in Vasant Kunj out of 175 there are only two, in Spring Dale out of 306 there is only one, in Bal Bharti out of 147 there is only one, in Mother International out of 173 there are only two, in Bal Bharti out of 150 there are only two, in Happy School, Darya Ganj out 632 applications, 286 applications were of Muslim children whereas out of 150 only eight Muslim children got admission, in St. G.V.S. School a total of 200 got admissions in which there were only eight Muslims. Expressing sadness over this, he said that in an ideal democratic country like India where only on hearing a Muslim name, house-owners refuse to rent it out to him, now schools also are closing their doors to innocent Muslim children. Whereas it is a matter of a great pleasure that Muslims now want their children to get admitted in standard schools for good education, it is extremely regrettable that school managements, under a planned conspiracy are shutting their doors to Muslims children but the government is a silent spectator inspite of acknowledging the fact that without equally watering and nurturing all flower plants the beauty and progress of the garden is not possible one is bound to put a question mark on the performance and character of the gardener. He said that the government had promised to amend the RTE Act but it should not only put its promise into practice but also should ensure that minorities educational instiMNS targets migrants using 13/7 links MNS chief Raj Thakeray is trying to revive the migrant issue by using the Bihar links in the 13/7 Mumbai blast. MNS chief has recently said that the migrants from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are not only snatching away the limited resources available but also spoiling the existing system in place in the city. A couple of days after two Indian Mujahideen operatives from Bihar were arrested from Bihar in connection with the 13/7 Mumbai blast, Raj Thakeray while raising the issue of influx of migrant said that his party will make the people aware of the influx of migrants in the BMC polls. Raj Thakeray while talking to reporters wanted to score political points by saying that whenever I blame migrants for the rise in crime in the city I was criticised. He also said that having known that the Mumbai conspiracy was hatched in Bihar, the people of Mumbai can themselves find an answer as to what has happened and what is needed to be done to stop the influx in the near future. Vote against BJP and Wahabis: AIUMB The (Brelvi) All India Ulama and Mashaikh Board (AIUMB) has asked the people not to cast their vote in favour of BJP and Wahabis in the coming assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. Maulana Syed Mohammad Ashraf Kachhouchhwi, general secretary of the Board said that while voting people must rise above party lines and cast their votes for only those candidates who have a clean image, who are secular and will work for the development of the area. The Board has also cautioned that political parties have given tickets to hard-line Wahabis. According to AIUMB the candidate belonging to hard-line Wahabis are a threat to peace and the secular ethos of our country. AIUMB is a known organisation of Sunni Sufis and in the Muslim Panchayat organised by the Mashaikh Board in October at Moradabad had demanded sincere initiatives in the field of educationand employment for the Muslims, and an end to the illegal encroachment of Wakf properties. Helping minority women become independent in Maha Mumbai: Maharashtra government took a decision on 2 January to constitute Womens Self Help Group in order to make women belonging to minority communities self employed and independent under which about 25000 women belonging to minority communities will get employment under a scheme costing about Rs. 15 crores. States minister for minorities welfare, Arif Naseem Khan while talking to mediapersons at Mantralaya (Maharashtras secretariat) said that this scheme has been taken up under the Prime Ministers 15-point programme for minorities welfare. He said that in cooperation with Womens Economic Corporation, a government organisation, about 1500 self help groups or Womens Savings group (Mahila Bachat Gut) will be constituted in Mumbai and its suburbs, Thana, Kalwa, Bhiwandi, Majra, Malegaon, Prabhni, Aurangabad, Nagpur and other districts of the state. In every self help or savings group there will be at least 10 or a maximum of 20 women members. In one self help or savings group ratio of minority women will be 70 percent whereas in the remaining 30 percent women of every community of society will be included. This scheme will be for eight years and will be introduced in the entire state stage by stage. In the first stage 10 districts have been included and orders have already been issued for putting the scheme into practice with immediate effect. He said that with the implementation of this scheme there will be a remarkable change in the social, economic and other aspects of women belonging to minority communities, particularly those living below the poverty line. He further said that under this scheme women belonging to minority communities will be provided training and advised as to which profession will be more suitable for them and they will be provided training for that profession. In additutions, which are hit hard under sections 18 and 19 of RTE Act, are completely safe and secure and that the above-mentioned sections will not violate Art. 30 of the Constitution. He demanded that all educational problems of minorities, in the light of judicial orders should be brought under Art. 30 of the Constitution, under one umbrella so that minorities do not face difficulties and problems they are frequently facing in connection with educational institutions and they may be able to carry forward their educational mission without any difficulty. At the same time it is the governments responsibility to open good and quality schools in minority populated areas so that Muslim students are also able to get quality education and make their future bright. He said that minority educational institutions which are already in bad financial condition must get grants from the central government so as to enable them tide over all their difficulties. He said that I can very well understand that today when we ourselves are facing many difficulties in our schools for the past eight years or so, how many more difficulties other common schools will be facing. HRD minister Kapil Sibal said in reply that LJPs proposals that all educational problems of minorities should be brought under one umbrella under Art. 30 of the Constitution will be presented in Parliament soon and we shall try to get them passed. The minister further said that a meeting of responsible authorities of all schools will be convened and clear instructions will be given to them that admissions to children of minority community (Muslims) should be given in accordance with their population. He however said that the problem of recurring grants is very difficult but government will try to take some decision. Sibal also said that schools indulging in partiality will be sent notices by the government. (NA Ansari) tion to this, they will also be guided about taking bank loans and how their products will be put up in the market for sale so that they could earn better profits. All these responsibilities will be performed by state government departments. The minister said that for the present there are 200 savings or self help groups in Mumbai and about 500 such groups in other districts of the state. Permission will be obtained for 1500 of more such groups. Absence of Muslims from 70-odd awardees is shame New Delhi: Zakat Foundation of Indias Chairman, Dr. Syed Zafar Mahmood strongly reacted to the awards given by the President of India to persons in different categories on the occasion of Republic Day celebrations and said that the list of award winners in Indian Air Force category contains names of 70 persons but it is a matter of great pity and concern that not a single Muslim name appears in it. He said that this is because Muslim officers in the Air Force are almost nil and that is why the name of any Muslim officer does not appear in this list. Expressing great concern over this situation, he made an appeal to resourceful people, Muslim intellectuals, ulama and leaders to pay attention to this fact and work on different fronts in connection with the recruitment and employment of Muslim youth in the Air force as well as in all other agencies and establishments. He cautioned that if we did not do any thing and remained indifferent to this situation, conditions may become even worse and we shall be considered equal partners in this criminal negligence and insensitivity. He said that in categories or areas where government enjoys the power of nomination, names of Muslims are very rare in this also, but shortage of Muslim officers in government agencies and institutions is a matter of greater concern. He said that if on the one hand bureaucracy adopts a discriminatory attitude towards Muslims, on the other hand we ourselves too do not appear to be interested in different government services and shirk initiative and hard work. Dr. Zafar Mahmood has also decided to send detailed letters to well-to-do and resourceful people, well wishers and milli institutions all over the country working or wanting to work for empowering Muslim youths in all fields. IGNOU offers courses in Arabic and Urdu New Delhi: Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has launched two new courses: B.A. programme (Elective) Urdu and Arabic (Certificate course) from January 2012. For getting admission to this programme launched by School of Humanities, Urdu in 12th class must be a subject. Students having diploma in Urdu can also seek admission in this course. Students wanting to do certificate course in Arabic will be taught reading, writing and speaking Arabic in a better way. For admission to this course, students should have passed 12th class and must be 18 years of age. These courses will start from January 2012 at New Horizon School, Nizamuddin East (New Delhi). Islam Calicut and International Study Centre, Saudi Arabia and Education Counselling and Guidance Centre at Jeddah. Interested persons can get in touch with University (IGNOU)s website for further information / clarification. On BSFs brutality NHRC sends notice to Home Secretary The National Human Rights Commission after taking strong note of the incidence of the thrashing of a youth after stripping him of all his clothes, by the BSF jawans in Murshidabad district has issued notice to the Union Home Secretary and has asked for a reply within four weeks time. The commission has acted while going through the available media reports and is of the opinion that if it turns out to be true then it could be termed as a serious case of human rights violation. A local channel showed that the youth from Bangladesh was mercilessly thrashed while he was tied to a bamboo staff. BSF has suspended eight of its personnel.

The Milli Gazette, 16-29 February 2012 15

COMMUNITY NEWS
Marad riot caught up in blame game
VS Achuthanandan, Kerala Opposition Leader has demanded that the Marad massacre be referred to the CBI. In 2003, eight Hindus and one Muslim were killed in communal violence at Marad near Kozhikode. A Division Bench of Kerala High Court on 20 January asked the state government to clarify as to why the investigating officers probing the case were transferred. State CPI (M) secretary Pinarayi Vijayan has recently said that the transfer of the head of the special investigation team of the Kerala Polices Crime Branch who was investigating the case was done to disrupt the process of investigation in order to protect the Muslim League. In his reaction ET Muhammad Basheer general secretary of Muslim League in Kerala said that his party is not against any kind of investigation and has never attempted to sabotage the probe and it has got nothing to do with the transfer of any officials involved in the Marad massacre probe. The UDF Government headed by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had transferred CM Pradeep Kumar, Superintendent of Police (Crime Branch) who was investigating the case to the Kerala State Human Rights Commission as SP. The Marad inquiry commission headed by Justice Thomas P Joseph had recommended a CBI probe to find a conspiracy angle in it. Mullapally Ramachandran, Union minister of state for home in view of the growing demands for a CBI probe said recently that the Centre is ready to extend all help to the State government demands for a CBI probe. However, as per report filed by Rohit Raj in Deccan Chronicle on 27 January mentioned that the Union Home Ministrys reply to an RTI query by R. Gokul Prasad of Palakkad states that the BJP top brass apprehended that the ongoing State police probe would not be fair owing to a nexus between Muslim League, a partner in the ruling UDF government, and the extremist National Democratic Front. The apprehension was stated in the report of the former Union minister, Mr I D Swami, after his visit to Marad in 2003. But, though the BJP was in power at the Centre, a section in the State unit of the party, led by Mr Pillai, did not press for a CBI probe. Muslim organisations shun secular parties New Delhi: Secular political parties of the country like Congress, BSP and Samajwadi parties may face tough times in the forthcoming assembly elections in five states of the country because Muslim organisations are re-thinking their traditional support to these parties. First preference for these organisations now is Muslim political parties whereas secular candidates of any party are their second preference. Though most of the milli-organisations do not want to say any thing clearly and openly, Jamaat-e Islami, probably the most organised Muslim organisations Muhammad Ahmad says that his organisation in its recent 3-day consultative conference has decided that it will prefer Welfare Party which enjoys its support but wherever this party is not contesting elections, it will prefer to support Peace Party, Ulama Council and National Loktantrik Party. Jamat-e Islami believes that Muslim parties and MLAs can play an important role in solving the political and milli problems of Muslims but experience with Muslim candidates / MLAs of secular parties have not been very satisfactory. All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawrats president Dr. Zafarul-Islam Khan says that Mushawarats stand is that Muslims should use their votes for making Muslim candidates victorious irrespective of the party they belong but it is not in favour of supporting candidates of parties like BJP, Shiv Sena and the like because these parties want to promote communalism. All India Milli Councils President Dr. Manzoor Alam however says that his organisation has so far not taken any decision about whom to support. It is worth noting that during the last assembly elections the clear stand of Muslim organisations was that Muslims should use their votes to keep BJP and such parties out but this time there is a noticeable change in the stand of Muslims representative organisations, indicating that for their progress and prospects Muslims are not prepared to form forums or alliance with secular political parties. It is now to be seen how far their strategy is successful in the on-going and coming assembly elections, particularly in U.P. assembly elections. Peaceful Basant Panchami under tight security Dhar: Deployment of heavy security force ensured peace in tense Dhar on the Bhojshala / Mosque dispute on the occasion of Basant Panchami. Though the administration allowed the traditional procession from Lalbagh to Bhojshala, it imposed a total ban on palki yatra. In all 60 persons were arrested to ensure peace. Naval Kishore Sharma, president, Saraswati Janmotsava Samiti, was forcibly lifted from Dhar where he was sitting on a fast unto death and admitted to M.Y. Hospital Indore. Addressing a gathering Subramanian Swamy assured people that he would make all possible efforts to bring back the statue of Wagdevi from London and restore it in Bhojshala. I will move the court against the U.K. government, he said. Bareilivism is no sect or community New Delhi: Mufti Muhammad Mian Samar Dehlwi Qazi Ahle Sunnat said at a function held near Delhis Jama Masjid on 25 January on the occasion of urs of Imam Rabbani Mujaddid Alf Saani Sheikh Ahmad Sirhindi and of Aala Hazrat Imam Ahmad Raza Muhaddis Bareilvi that the sect of Ahle Sunnat is universal and that Bareilvism or Bareilviat is neither a sect nor a community. It is rather an accusation and blame, adding that we all are Ahle Sunnat and Al Jamaat. He said that bareilviat should be interpreted in the sense that God Almighty brought about the birth of a grand Ahle Sunnat scholar in Bareily who purified the religion from misconceptions and misinterpretations that had crept into this religion and presented its true picture before the world. He

True success not possible without making knowledge consistent with heavenly revelations
New Delhi: Dr. Aslam Abdullah, Indian-born American intellectual and journalist said while delivering an extension lecture on Challenges faced by the world in changing society at Jamia Millia Islamia on 16 January sponsored by JMIs Department of Islamic Studies, that knowledge can be acquired in two ways, firstly by mans own observations, experiments and researches etc. and secondly through heavenly revelations which man gets from God through His prophets and messengers. He said that man has acquired a lot of knowledge through his personal observations, experiments and researches and also made vast progress but this progress and knowledge cannot be real or true progress until and unless it is in conformity with heavenly revelations. He further said that there is an exploitative alliance among religious leaders, capitalists and despotic rulers who want to keep people away from peace, progress and security for their own personal and selfish interests. Prof. Akhtarul Wasey, chairman of Jamia Millias Department of Islamic Studies who himself is an expert on Islamic sciences, while introducing Dr. Aslam Abdullah said that he is not only an expert on old and modern times and affairs but their analyst also who has made a niche for himself among modern Muslim intellectuals because of being a prominent journalist and an expert on social affairs. He has authored about 17 books which are a testimony to his vast knowledge and experience. About Dr. Zafarul-Islam Khan, editor of Milli Gazette he said that in addition to being well-versed in eastern and western knowledge said that as long as Ahl-e Sunnat are present there in the world they cannot forget or ignore the services of their benefactor i.e., Aala Hazrat Imam Ahmad Raza Khan Muhaddis Bareilvi. He said that the revivalist of the second millennium is not devoid of spiritual powers and if his contemporary rulers adopt a wrong course without caring for him, the revivalist revives the religion and reforms the society through his spiritual powers. This was the feat performed by Imam Rabbani Mujaddid Alf-e Saani Sheikh Ahmad Sirhindi. Reservation for Muslims a conspiracy Farrukhabad: Babri Masjid Action Committees convener and member of All India Muslim Personal Laq Board, Zafaryab Jilani said while speaking at a meeting organised by Protect Constitutional Rights Movement that the central governments announcement regarding reservation to Muslims is not correct. He said that truly speaking, Congress is hatching a conspiracy to create confusion and misunderstanding among Muslims about reservation. Targeting the Congress-led central government he described Muslim reservation in the name of minorities as inappropriate and said that the central government is playing a trick by creating misunderstanding in the name of reservation. He said that if the government takes any step which is against the Shariat, Indian Muslims will strongly oppose it. He further said that any effort by the government, in the direction of say right to education, Waqf bill, bringing organisations which are set up for the welfare and benefit of Muslims within the purview of tax etc. will be strongly and openly opposed. While criticising vote bank politics he said that Indian Muslims are not any bodys slaves. They will make the right decisions at the right time in casting their votes. Another speaker Yaseen Ali Usmani, a member of All India Muslim Personal Law Board said while speaking on this occasion that Muslims must take the correct decision at the correct time and a nation which does not do so makes no progress. Therefore, people should take their own decisions and fight their cases themselves everywhere. Art 370 hindrance in action against human rights violation New Delhi: Jamia Millia Islamias Department of Political Science organised a seminar on India and Kashmir in its Tagore Hall in which speakers who believed that as long as Article 370 of the Constitution (which gives a special status to J&K) is in force, no progress will be possible in the resolution of Kashmir problem and hence this Article should be abolished and equal status, as enjoyed by all other states, should be given to this state also. And this demand should come from the people of Kashmir themselves and there should also be open and free discussion on this article. The speakers laid stress on the point that violation of human rights in the whole country including Kashmir is a very grave problem which must be brought under control. It was suggested that both India and Pakistan should discuss this problem directly. Chairman of National Minorities Commission Wajahat Habibullah said in reply to a question that India and Kashmir should promote a policy of independent state and independent people in which inter state travel should be completely free as in other states of the country. This would be possible only when Kashmir too is treated like any other equal state and for this, the people of Kashmir themselves will have to take a decision for the abolition of Art. 370. He admitted that violations of human rights are taking place in Kashmir on a large scale and even now are taking place and unless this Article is abolished, NCM will not be justified in taking any action for violation of human rights. He also said that under Art. 370 NCM is not authorised to take any action for violation of human rights, though the state government can grant this power to the NCM. Habibullah is of the view that like National Human Rights Commission, Minorities Commission should also be given this authority or power and simply giving it statutory status will not be of any use. Ms. Radha Kumar, one of and thoughts, as founder of this newspaper (MG), he projects and highlights local, national and international problems and opinions of thinking Muslims of the whole world and that is why we have selected him for presiding over this function. Referring to Dr. Aslam Abdullah he said that in order to create awakening among Muslims of the world he (Dr. Abdullah) is trying to infuse dynamism and revolutionise the present day static life and thinking of Muslims so as to enable them meet new challenges. Let us see how far his efforts bear fruit, Prof. Wasey said. Dr. Zafarul-Islam Khan, President of Muslim Majlis-e Mushawrat, said in his presidential address that Dr. Abdullahs was a thought-provoking lecture and people holding such views should come forward to meet the kind of challenges the world is facing. He said that it is a matter of great pleasure and satisfaction that people are now coming forward who are preaching and presenting the true picture and philosophy of Islam in which people of different faiths and ideologies can coexist peacefully. He said that we should go beyond the Islamic sphere, to think and work for the whole international community. This programme was conducted by Dr. Iqtidar Muhammad Khan, Associate Professor of JMIs Deptt. of Islamic Studies. Among those who participated in this lecture were Dr. J.S. Rajput, former Director of NCERT, Dr. Razi Ahmad Kamal, Dr. Farida Khanam and others in addition to a large number of boy and girl students. At the end there was a questions and answers session also. (NA Ansari) the interlocutors appointed last year by the central government, said while speaking in this symposium that for the past 60 years this state has been given the status of a contractual state which should be abolished and Art. 370 should be publicly debated. She said that as long as Kashmir is not given the status of a permanent state of India, people of Kashmir cannot have the feeling of being Indian. She further said that neither we nor the government has taken any action in this direction but now this should be done. Another speaker Ms. Subhashini Hydar, a journalist, said that people of Kashmir should be taken into confidence for the solution of Kashmir problem. Distance education emphasised for progress of Muslims New Delhi: K. Rahman Khan, Deupty Chairman of Rajya Sabha said while speaking at a seminar on Educational progress of Muslim students: possibilities and solution sponsored by Maulana Wali Rahmani at India Islamic Cultural Centre on 31 January that distance education system can bring about revolutionary change in the educational progress of Muslims. He expressed concern over the drop-out rate among Muslim students and said that creating an awareness of the importance of educational among them and associating them with modern system of education is very essential. He said that though educational awareness has developed among Muslims but so far it is very unsatisfactory and because of a high drop-out rate, educational progress of Muslims has further stagnated more or less. Hence, people working in the educational field should popularise distance education among Muslims. Maulana Wali Rahmani said that students of religious madrasas are uncut jewels but for polishing them we should associate them with modern education through distance education system because in this way their drop out rate can be eliminated or at least minimised. Persons working in IGNOU and Institute of Open Schooling (IOS) said that the problem of school drop out among Muslim students can be removed through distance education system. They laid emphasis on further modernization of distance education system and suggested that on the pattern of National Institute of Open Schooling a separate and independent university should be set up. They said that this system can be useful if IGNOU and NIOS render their cooperation. IGNOUs Vice Chancellor Prof. M. Aslam and NIOS Chairman S.K. Jaina explained through a presentation how madrasa students can benefit from their educational system. Muhammad Aslam, IGNOUs V.C. said that in IGNOU 400 programmes are being run under which 3900 different courses are being taught. He said that students of religious madrasas can obtain degrees through distance education and can occupy high posts in government and private offices. Chairman of India Islamic Cultural Centre Sirajuddin Quraishi lamented that though there is great educational awareness in Muslims and even poor Muslims want to educate their children, Muslim students find it difficult to get admission in good schools because of discrimination. He offered to set up a university for Muslim children by purchasing land if 50 acres of land is available. P.A. Inamdar said that if madrasa students want to benefit from distance education system, government should give the same importance to subjects taught in madrasas as those taught in schools. For example, he said, if a student wants to do graduation in history, it should be possible for him to do graduation in Islamic history. Saffron brigade harass Atithi Deo Bhav Bhopal: Nicole, a 36-year old tourist from the US, was harassed in M.P. by the saffron brigade at Umaria. She has brought the fact to the notice of MEA through a letter. She was harassed for her alleged role in the conversions to Christianity whereas she herself is a Jew. She has been a regular visitor yet she has been targetted while she was on a school trip. While the saffron brigade can convert thousands in America to Hare Rama Hare Krishna faith, none should dare to reverse the process.

16 The Milli Gazette, 16-29 February 2012

INTERNATIONAL

Confronting Iran: warmongering in the Middle East

Iran is a sovereign country that hasn't attacked a neighbour in over 200 years, so why is it not 'allowed' by the international community to have it's own nuclear programme like so many other nations? says PROF. RICHARD FALK, UN Special Rapporteur on Palestinian human rights
Santa Barbara, CA: The public discussion in the West addressing Iran's nuclear programme has mainly relied on threat diplomacy, articulated most clearly by Israeli officials, but enjoying the strong direct and indirect backing of Washington and leading Gulf states. Israel has also been engaging in low intensity warfare against Iran for several years, apparently supported by the United States, that has been inflicting violent deaths on civilians and disrupting political order in Iran. Many members of the UN Security Council, along with the membership of the European Union, support escalating sanctions against Iran, and have not demurred when Tel Aviv and Washington talk menacingly about leaving all options on the table, which is "diplospeak" for their readiness to launch a military attack. At last, some signs of sanity are beginning to emerge to slow the march over the cliff. For instance, the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, commented harshly on this militarist approach: "I have no doubt that it would pour fuel on a fire which is already smoldering, the hidden smoldering fire of Sunni-Shia confrontation, and beyond that [it would cause] a chain reaction. I don't know where it would stop." And a few days ago even the normally hawkish Israeli Minister of Defence, Ehud Barak, evidently fearful of encouraging international panic and perhaps worrying about a preemptive response by Tehran, declared that any decision to launch a military attack by Israel is "very far off", words that can be read in a variety of ways, mostly not reassuring. It is not only an American insistence, despite purporting from time to time to prefer a diplomatic solution, that only threats and force are relevant to resolve this long incubating political dispute with Iran, but more tellingly, it is the underlying stubborn refusal by Washington for more than three decades to normalise relations with Iran along with its failure to disclaim support for beating the Israeli war drums. If the United States is to be credible about its preference for a diplomatic solution it must move at long last to accept the verdict of history in Iran that the revolution was a setback for Western strategic ambitions in the country and the region, but not an occasion for permanent estrangement. So far, the United States has shown no willingness despite the passage of more than 30 years to accept the outcome of Iran's popular revolution of 1978-79 that non-violently overthrew the oppressive regime of the Shah, and this must change if there is to be any hope for peaceful conflict resolution. We need also to remember, as certainly the Iranians do, that the Shah was returned to power in 1953 thanks to the CIA in a coup against the constitutional and democratically elected government of Mohammed Mossadeq, whose main "crime" in Washington's eyes was to nationalise the Iranian oil industry. This intervention produced intense resentment among many Iranians that reached its climax with the seizure of the American embassy in November of 1979, holding its staff, including the ambassador, hostage for more than one year, and was renewed by Pentagon encouragement given to Saddam Hussein's aggression against Iran in 1980 that cost both sides in the war an estimated half million lives. Conflict-oriented mentality: This prolonged American unwillingness to have normal diplomatic contact with Iran has proved to be a perfect recipe for enmity and misunderstanding, especially taking into account the background of American intervention and consistent support given to Iran's regional enemies. Although not often acknowledged, as well, is the thinly disguised American interest in recovering access to Iran's high quality oil fields for Western oil companies. This reliance by the United States over the decades on a negative hard power diplomacy in dealing with Iran encapsulates the unlearned lessons of past failures of American foreign policy, dating from at least the Vienam War. We need to look no further than Iran to gain an understanding of America's decline as world leader. This conflict-oriented mentality that has "occupied" the White House and Pentagon is so strong in relation to Iran than when others try their best to smooth diplomatic waters, as Brazil and Turkey did in the May 2010, the United States angrily responds that such countries should stop their meddling. This is an arrogant reprimand, especially when given the fact that Turkey is Iran's next door neighbour, and has the most to lose if a war results from any further bungling of the unresolved dispute involving Iran's contested nuclear programme. It should be recalled that in 2010 Iran formally agreed with leaders from Brazil and Turkey to store half or more of its then stockpile of low enriched uranium in Turkey, materials that would be needed for further enrichment if Iran was ever become truly determined to possess a nuclear bomb at the earliest possible time. Iranians react to proposed EU sanctions: Instead of welcoming this constructive step back from the precipice, Washington castigated the agreement as diversionary, contending that it interfered with the mobilisation of support in the Security Council for ratcheting up sanctions intended to coerce Iran into giving up its right to a complete nuclear fuel cycle. Such criticism of Turkey and Brazil for its engagement with peace diplomacy contrasts with its simultaneous tacit endorsement of the Israeli recourse to terrorist tactics in its efforts to destabilise Iran, or possibly to provoke Iran to the point that it retaliates, giving Tel Aviv the pretext it seems to be waiting for, to begin open warfare and exert pressure on the United States to join in a common effort. Iran is being accused of moving toward a "breakout" capability in relation to nuclear weapons, that is, possessing a combination of knowhow and enough properly enriched uranium to produce nuclear bombs within a matter of weeks, or at most months. Tehran has repeatedly denied any intention to become a nuclear weapons state, but has insisted all along that it has the same legal rights under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1968 as such other non-nuclear states as Germany and Japan, and this includes the right to have a complete nuclear fuel cycle, which entails enrichment capabilities and does imply a breakout capability. In the background, it should be realised that even the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons contains a provision that allows a party to withdraw from the obligations under the treaty if it gives three months' notice and "decides that extraordinary events... have jeopardised its supreme national interests". (Article X) Such a provision, in effect, acknowledges the legal right of a country to determine its own security requirements in relation to nuclear weapons, a self-help right that the United States has exercised for decades with stunning irresponsibility that includes secrecy, a failure to pursue nuclear disarmament as it is obligated to do under the treaty, and a denial of all forms of international accountability. Israel, while not a party to the nonproliferation treaty, pursues a parallel path based purely on its belief that nuclear weapons contribute to its national security. Threat of a hypothetical bomb?: The real "threat" posed by a hypothetical Iran bomb is to Israel's regional monopoly over nuclear weapons, which means that there is no deterrent available in relation to Israeli's projections of force beyond its borders. As three former Mossad directors have stated, even if Iran were to acquire a few nuclear bombs, Israel would still face no significant additional threat to its security or existence, as any attack or even threat by Iran would be manifestly suicidal, and Terhan, despite some abysmal behaviour at home, has shown no such disposition toward recklessness in its foreign policy. To be dispassionate commentators, we need to ask ourselves whether Iran's posture toward its nuclear programme is unreasonable given this mix of circumstances. Is not Iran a sovereign state with the same right as other states to uphold its security and political independence when facing threats from its enemies who happen to be themselves armed with nuclear weapons? When was the last time that Iran resorted to force against a hostile neighbour? The surprising answer is over 200 years ago! Can either of Iran's main antagonists claim a comparable record of living within their borders? Why does Iran not have the same right as other states to take full advantage of nuclear technology? And given Israeli hostility, terrorist assaults and military capabilities that includes a stockpile of sophisticated nuclear warheads, delivery style and a record of preemptive war making, would it not be reasonable for Iran to seek, and even obtain, a nuclear deterrent? True, the regime in Iran has been oppressive toward its domestic opposition and its president has expressed anti-Israeli views in inflammatory language (although exaggerated in the West), however unlike Israel, without ever threatening or resorting to military action. It should also be appreciated that Iran has consistently denied an intention to develop nuclear weaponry, and claims only an interest in using enriched uranium for medical research and nuclear energy. Even if there are grounds to be somewhat skeptical about these Iranian reassurances, given the grounds for suspicion that have been ambiguously and controversially validated by reports from International Atomic Energy Agency, this still does not justify a campaign of punitive sanctions, much less threats backed up by deployments, war games, projected attack scenarios and low intensity warfare. So far, no prominent advocates of confrontation with Iran have been willing to take its account the obvious relevance of Israel's nuclear weapons arsenal. Is not this actuality of unacknowledged nuclear weaponry possessed by Israel (200-300 warheads), which is being continuously upgraded, and is coupled with the latest long distance delivery capabilities, the most troublesome threat to regional stability and peace? At minimum, are not Israel's nuclear weapons highly relevant both for an appraisal of Iran's behaviour and for the wider agenda of regional stability? The United States and Israel behave in the Middle East as if the golden rule of international politics is totally inapplicable: in effect, that you can demand from others, what you are unwilling to do yourself! Consulting the recent history bearing on the counter-proliferation tactics relied upon in recent years by the United States gives rise to additional concerns. Iraq was attacked in 2003 partly because it did not have any nuclear weapons, while North Korea has been spared such a comparably horrific fate because it possesses a retaliatory capability that if used would inflict severe harm on neighbouring countries. If this experience relating to nuclear weapons is reasonably interpreted, it could dispose governments that have hostile relations to the West to opt for a nuclear weapons option as a prudent move so as to discourage attacks and interventions. Where is reason?: Surely, putting such reasoning into practice would not be good for the region, possibly igniting a devastating war, and almost certainly leading to the spread of nuclear weapons to other Middle Eastern countries. Instead of moving to coerce, punish and frighten Iran in ways that are almost certain to increase the incentives of Iran and others to possess nuclear weaponry, it would seem prudent and in the mutual interest of all to foster a diplomacy of de-escalation and de-nuclearisation, a path that Iran has always signaled its willingness to pursue. And diplomatic alternatives to confrontation and war do exist, but their plausibility requires a turn of the political imagination that seems totally absent in the capitals of hard power geopolitics that seem entrapped in their military boxes. Israel seems abnormally willing to go to war with Iran over 'hypothetical' nuclear weapons. It should be obvious to all but the most dogmatic warmongers that the path to peace and greater stability in the region depends on taking two steps long overdue, which have not up to this point even been widely debated in the media or in Congress: first, establishing a nuclear-free Middle East by a negotiated and monitored agreement that includes all states in the region, including Israel and Iran and is coupled by a mutual pledge of non-aggression and commitment to collective security in the region; secondly, an initiative promoted by the United Nations and backed by a consensus of its leading members to outline a just solution for the Israel/Palestine conflict that is consistent with Palestinian rights under international law, including the Palestinian right of selfdetermination, which if not accepted by Israel (and endorsed by the Palestinian people) within 12 months would result in the imposition of severe sanctions. To read the full article, visit: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/01/201212485135149579.html

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The Milli Gazette, 16-29 February 2012 17

INTERNATIONAL

Israel says it must attack Iran by summer The US monopolises

Jerusalem: Officials are quietly conceding that new international sanctions targeting Iran's suspect nuclear program, while welcome, are further constraining Israel's ability to take military action - just as a window of opportunity is closing because Tehran is moving more of its installations underground. The officials say that Israel must act by the summer if it wants to effectively attack Iran's program. A key question in the debate is how much damage Israel, or anyone else, can inflict, and whether it would be worth the risk of a possible counterstrike. Israel has been a leading voice in the international calls to curb Iran's nuclear program. Like the West, it believes the Iranians are moving toward nuclear weapons capability - a charge Tehran denies. Israel contends a nuclear-armed Iran would threaten its survival, citing Tehran's calls for the destruction of the Jewish state and its support for anti-Israel militant groups. It also fears an Iranian bomb would touch off a nuclear arms race in a region still largely hostile to Israel. Israel refuses to rule out the use of force, saying that "all options are on the table." In comments Friday to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said time was running out for the world to act. "We are determined to prevent Iran from turning nuclear," he said. "It seems to us to be urgent, because the Iranians are deliberately drifting into what we call an immunity zone where practically no surgical operation could block them." (Amy Teibel, AP) ordered the removal of an illegal outpost, including those erected on private Palestinian lands, a magical solution has been found to breach the court order. Over the years, successive Israeli governments have retroactively approved dozens of illegal settlements, many of which were established with its blessing and public money. In cases where the High Court of Justice ordered the evacuation of an outpost built on stolen land, the State Prosecutor's Office pledged to carry out the order. But at the end of last week, the government took another step down the slippery slope of the rule of law related to the land of settlements: Minister Benny Begin pledged to retroactively authorize the outpost of Ramat Gilad, which was established without official approval or involvement of the government. As a reward for agreeing not to attack soldiers who were to have evacuated the residents of Ramat Gilad, the state will legalize the rest of the buildings in the outpost, established without building permits. In the hands of this government, solutions in the same vein as that offered to Ramat Gilad, which mainly involve moving buildings built on private lands to "state lands," have become instruments to deepen Israel's occupation of the West Bank and to obstruct the two-state solution. Israel is the only country in the world that recognizes the right of its citizens to settle over the Green Line in the West Bank. Based on Ottoman law, Israel has over the years illegally expropriated about a million dunams (250,000 acres) by defining them as "state lands," in order to establish Jewish settlements on them. Defence Minister Ehud Barak has likened Israel to a "villa in the jungle", but in reality, nothing is closer to the law of the jungle than Israel's system of distorted laws and procedures that make it possible to build villa neighbourhoods in the settlements and legalize wildcat outposts like Ramat Gilad on stolen land. (Excerpted from editorial, Haaretz, Jan. 2, 2012)

the right to trample on others rights

Only the US is roguish enough to potentially cross any lines red or otherwise. Should Iran behave the way the US political administration conducts itself, the US would have called it illegal, illegitimate, and immoral acts and programmes that would have to be opposed at all cost by bombing Iran and changing its regime. As MG readers know perfectly well, the US has done, alone or in co-operation with its allies especially Israel. In the case of the assassination operations against nuclear scientists, Israel has evidently done it on its own, but possibly with a secret understanding with of Washington. This is a very serious breach of international behaviour. Ron Paul, Presidential candidate, an outsider, points out the obvious: that the latest round of oil sanctions being imposed by Washington and just agreed to by the European Union and meant to prohibit the sale of Iranian oil on the international market, was essentially an act of war. And keep in mind the covert war against Iran is ostensibly aimed at a nuclear weapon that does not exist. As for nuclear weapons, the US has 5,113 warheads that Americans assume that they are necessary for their safety and the safety of the planet. The United States remains the only country ever to use nuclear weapons, destroying two Japanese cities at the cost of perhaps 200,000 civilian deaths. Similarly, Americans have no doubt that the world is unsafe while Israel possesses up to 1000 nuclear weapons,. But it is the Neo-cons conviction that even on single Iranian or Islamic bomb would end life as we know it Are Israeli bombs harmless? Added to that fear is the oft-cited fact that Iran is run by a mullahtariat that oppresses any opposition. That, the US mixes and merges with ill-intentioned vested interests with its selfish allies in the Gulf region who have shot down, beaten up, and jailed the opposition leaders. Nor, in terms of harm to its people, is Iran faintly in competition with past US allies such as General Augusto Pinochet of Chile, who launched a US-backed military coup against a democratically elected government on September 11, 1973, killing more than the dead in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Or such as Indonesian autocrat Suharto (Clintons best friend) on whom the deaths of at least half a million of his people are usually pinned. Washington has declared the world its oyster and garrisons the planet in a historically unique way - without direct colonies, but with approximately 1,000 bases worldwide. As a result, a US president can now send drones and special operations forces just about anywhere to kill just about anyone he sees a threat to American security. Since the US is everywhere, and everywhere it has interests, it may indeed be facing threats anywhere. No one, after all, can infringe upon American safety but the US can trample upon international laws at will. In support of American oil interests, the US covertly overthrew an Iranian government in 1953 and the US is again plotting to overthrow an Iranian government now. Domination and hegemony are the only consideration for US policy-makers. This mindset, and the acts that have gone with it, have blown what is, at worst, a modest-sized global problem into an existential threat, a life-and-death matter.

Israel's Rule Is That of The Jungle

In the diplomatic arena, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has excelled mainly at stagnation. In contrast, he has shown excessive creativity when it comes to nurturing Israel's settlements in the West Bank. Every time the judicial system has
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18 The Milli Gazette, 16-29 February 2012

INTERNATIONAL

Wheels of Justice Catching up with Rogue Politicians in Pakistan

KARAMATULLAH K. GHORI
Justice delayed, as they say according to an old adage, is justice denied. In Pakistan, which claims to be an Islamic Republic and where the Qur'an is supposed to be the font of all jurisprudence and law-making, justice has been both delayed and denied for long. So long, in fact, that its 180 million people-a vast majority of them grinding in abject poverty and toiling hard to eke out a living in an ambience of runaway inflation and woefully inefficient basic socio-economic infrastructure-had almost given up any hope of receiving justice from any quarters. Thankfully for its people, that desperation and diffidence seems to be giving way to renewed hope for the long-sought rule of law in the country. And the torch of this born-again optimism has been lit by none other than the apex court of Pakistan. On February 1, a 7-member bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan found the country's Prime Minister, Yusuf Raza Gilani, in contempt of court and ordered him to appear before it for sentencing on February 13. This isn't the first time in Pakistan's history that a sitting PM has been in breach of the court and found in defiance of it. The charismatic Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Nawaz Sharifwhose votaries hawked his credentials as being the first 'fully home-grown' leader of the country and a true 'son of thee soil'-had both been faulted for contempt of court but never sentenced. In the current case, however, PM Gilani is up against a pro-active apex court which has avowedly taken upon itself the much trumpeted task of enforcing the rule of law in Pakistan, something that has so much been talked out before but never attained. Until this incumbent apex court, headed by an unflagging and truly dynamic Chief Justice, Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, came to life in the wake of former military dictator General Pervez Musharraf's Quixotic shenanigans, almost everyone in Pakistan, high or low, took it for granted that the long hands of justice weren't long enough to reach the wellheeled, the powerful and the influential, who somehow always managed to bend the law their own way. That blas resignation of the Pakistanis is now being replaced by a renewed faith in the impartiality of justice and belief that those who thought they were above the law aren't, after all, all that powerful and can be made answerable for violating the law of the land. The offence that Gilani has been hauled up for is not one but a whole jumble of acts of defiance by him as Chief Executive of the State of Pakistan over the past tow or three years. At the hub of it is his persistent effort to shield his boss and mentor, the country's errant and notoriously corrupt President Asif Ali Zardari, from the application of the apex court's ruling centered on the infamous NRO ( National Reconciliation Ordinance) enforced by General Musharraf in the twilight of his rule, in 2007. NRO, in the Pakistani context, has become the eye of not one but many storms that have been hovering over the horizon of Pakistan ever since Musharraf promulgated it to boost his chances for continued rule over Pakistan and benefit his, then, main detractor, the charismatic Benazir Bhutto and her errant husband, Asif Ali Zardari. In a nutshell, NRO was a black law that came of the bat of a Pakistani Bonaparte desperate to hang on to power. It was widely known to all and sundry-inside and outside of Pakistan as well-that Musharraf was muscled into coming to terms with his nemesis, Benazir Bhutto, by the Americans whose own objective was political stability in a Pakistan that was their front-rank 'ally' in the ongoing 'war against terror.' The American master-minding of the deal between Musharraf and Benazir

NRO was deemed as the panacea to 'correct' all the ills afflicting these and other corrupt Pakistani politicians by whitewashing all their acts of commission and omission with a broad sweep of the brush. The one-man promulgated ordinance washed away all the sins of BB and her husband-both were believed to have looted the country of billions of dollars-and paved the way for their political rehabilitation. Also benefiting from Musharraf's largesse were thousands of other corrupt and thieving politicians.
has been fully corroborated by a detailed account of it in the recently published memoirs of the then US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice. The 'deal' stipulated a power-sharing formula under which Benazir was supposed to be elected PM of Pakistan while Musharraf was to go on staying at his post as President of the country. But Benazir and Zardari had dozens of corruption and money laundering cases pending against them, not only in the Pakistani courts but also abroad, mainly in Switzerland. NRO was deemed as the panacea to 'correct' all the ills afflicting these and other corrupt Pakistani politicians by whitewashing all their acts of commission and omission with a broad sweep of the brush. The one-man promulgated ordinance washed away all the sins of BB and her husband-both were believed to have looted the country of billions of dollars-and paved the way for their political rehabilitation. Also benefiting from Musharraf's largesse were thousands of other corrupt and thieving politicians. According to the figures revealed in the apex court, as many as 8041 people-politicians, bureaucrats and their cronies-benefited from the 'blissful' fallout of NRO. Together they had looted 932 billion Rupees from the people of Pakistan and stashed the loot away from Pakistan in Swiss, American and European banks. All of this rampage-of people's money and trust-was forgiven to them so that Musharraf may give them shelter under his wings and rule for another five years without fear. Musharraf, worried about the apex court headed by a known crusader of the rule of law like Justice Chaudhry, also tried to fix the court by leaning hard on Chaudhry to resign, in March 2007. However, Justice Chaudhry stuck to his guns and wouldn't budge under relentless pressure from the arrogant dictator. He was incarcerated and his colleagues were sent packing. What happened after that is recent history of Pakistan known to all and sundry. BB's tragic murder in Rawalpindi, on December 27, 2007, turned the course of history in Pakistan and also turned the tables on Musharraf's disingenuous and Machiavellian charade to hang on to power. Elections were held in Pakistan in February 2008 and the man who wasn't even supposed to return to Pakistan, the thieving Zardari, not only managed to boot out a nonplused Musharraf, but also managed to install himself in the Presidency. Zardari, conscious of Justice Chaudhry's feared reputation as a champion of rule of law, used every trick in his bag of antics to resist his restoration and the return of his colleagues to the apex court. In the end, however, the people's pressure and the powerful military's siding with the popular sentiment forced his hand and that of his meak and obedient PM Gilani to restore the justices to their erstwhile positions. The court, not out of vengeance but entirely in keeping with its advocacy of the rule of law, declared Musharra's black law null and void in November 2009 and on December 16 of the same year ordered the government of Gilani to write to the Swiss Government to reopen the money laundering and corruption proceedings against Asif Ali Zardari. Those proceedings had been suspended when the Government of Pakistan asked the Swiss courts to drop all cases and charges against Zardari because NRO had given him blanket pardon and a clean bill of health against corruption. That's where the fate of rule of law had hung in balance, ever since that order was passed by the apex court and until it issued a fresh order, in December of 2011, in response to the government's appeal for review of its December 2009 verdict. The court, in a unanimous decision by its full bench, told the government that it had no choice but to write to the Swiss government to reopen corruption cases against Zardari. For more than two years, Gilani has defied the court rulings-not only in the NRO case but also many others-with a straight face. He kept paying lip service to the rule of law and also professed that his government wasn't seeking to pick up a fight with the Supreme Court, but in actual practice he and his cabinet colleagues carried on a cat-andmouse attitude with the court and left no one in Pakistan in any doubt that this notorious bunch of corrupt politicians was sworn to defying the court at all cost. Gilani and his minions maintained a holier than thou attitude by insisting that President Zardari enjoyed blanket immunity from the reach of law, under article 249 of the Pakistani Constitution. The court has never been asked, however, by Gilani or Zardari or anybody else among their cohorts to give a ruling about Zardari's immunity, from civil suits in Pakistan or abroad. There is, of course, no immunity against criminal conduct. Gilani, in his blatant defiance, has abysmally presumed, by himself, that Zardari has immunity in Swiss courts, too, and, as such, deemed it un-necessary to honour the apex court's ruling. That's the line of argument and reasoning that his lawyers have articulated in the apex court. But the court hasn't been convinced by this effete and seemingly absurd argument that just because PM Gilani didn't think the Swiss courts would have a different interpretation of law than the one in his own mind he didn't entertain the thought of writing to them as per the orders of the apex court of Pakistan. It's hard to say how the court is going to honour or dishonour Gilani & Co's seemingly flawed reasoning that they don't consider themselves in contempt of court because in their perception the court wanted them to do something which they thought was a nonstarter. The matter will be decided by the apex court when Gilani would appear before it like someone caught in an act of defiance and error. If convicted, Gilani will have to vacate the office. The Pakistan constitution clearly stipulate that anyone found in contempt of court, and sentenced as such, becomes ineligible to remain a member of the National Assembly and also forfeits the privilege of holding any office in Pakistan for at least 5 years. Gilani has obviously chosen the tricky path of defying the highest court of the land out of his sense of loyalty to his mentor, who also happened to be the head of the ruling Pakistan People's Party. The other interpretation of Gilani's bizarre behaviour is that he's too supine and feckless to stand up to Zardari or even show any independence off him. To the people of Pakistan, however, it's not important whether Gilani is sentenced or not, or whether as a result of a guilty verdict against him the government is toppled and fresh elections are called. What matters to them most-and what they see as a historic development the like of which hasn't been seen in Pakistan before-is that the long hand of the law of the land is, at long last, catching up with the high and mighty of the country. To them, it's heartening to know that the swaggering lords of the country aren't, after all, beyond the pale of law, and that their arrogant and self-promoting rulers are humans too and not from another planet.

U.S. misjudged al-Qaida capabilities: official

ANDREW TILGHMAN

ith the benefit of more than a decade of hindsight, America may have misjudged the true threat posed by alQaeda in the immediate aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks, a top Pentagon official said on 7 February. "Al-Qaida wasn't as good as we thought they were on 9/11," said Michael A. Sheehan, the assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low intensity conflict. "Quite frankly, we, the American people, were asleep at the switch, the U. S. government, prior to 9/11. So an organization that wasn't that good looked really great on 9/11," Sheehan told a room full of special operators in Washington who were attending an annual Special Operations, Low Intensity Conflict Planning Conference. "Everyone looked to the skies every day after 9/11 and said, 'When is the next attack?' And it didn't come, partly because al-Qaida

wasn't that capable. They didn't have other units here in the U. S. Really, they didn't have the capability to conduct a second attack." The true limitations of al-Qaida are one of two key reasons that America has not suffered a major terrorist attack since 2001. "The other reason is that we actually responded and crushed al-Qaida immediately after 9/11, and continually for the last 10 years," Sheehan said. "We are better than we often give ourselves credit for. We have a very polarized political system and it's very difficult for anybody to actually give credit or receive credit for how good we are." Sheehan pointed to the "brilliant operation" in October 2001 that ousted the Taliban from power in Afghanistan, a combination of special operations, intelligence agencies and Air Force capabilities. He said that operation was a "precursor" to many successful operations since. http://www.armytimes.com/news/2012/02/ military-al-qaida-overestimated-020712w/

The Milli Gazette, 16-29 February 2012 19

BOOKS

Ahrar: a chapter in Indian Muslim history

Book: Political Islam in Colonial Punjab: Majlis-i-Ahrar 1929-1949 Author: Dr Samina Awan Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2010 Pages: 235 Price: Rs 625

AAMIR RIAZ
Religio-sectarian by birth, activist by instinct, anti-imperialist and anti-feudal by ideology and nationalist by passion, the Majlis-iAhrar-i-Islam (MAI), a conservative Sunni Mulsim political party founded in 1929, died an early death but not without leaving an impact on major cities of Punjab like Amritsar, Lahore, Sialkot, Multan, Ludhiana and Gurdaspur. The Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 1919 and the disintegration of the Khilafat Movement in 1922 gave birth to numerous organisations not only in the Punjab but also in the former NWFP, Bengal, UP, Bihar, Kashmir etc. The politics of the second decade of the twentieth century was characterised by joint struggle against the imperialist rule not only in streets but also in the assemblies. Yet the undoing of Khilafat Movement proved to be the parting of ways among the liberals, nationalists, and fundamentalists. When the All India National Congress (AINC) endorsed Gandhis Non-Cooperation campaign (which sought to increase pressure on the British through peaceful civil disobedience together with the Khilafatists), Jinnah was among those Congress liberal leaders who publicly criticised the movement. Finally, 20 of them including Jinnah, K M Munshi, G. S. Khaparde and others left Congress at its Nagpur session 1920. In 1922, a second lot of politicians like Motilal Nehru, Vithalbhai Patel and Chittaranjan Das followed Jinnah and formed the Swaraj Party against religion-based policies of Gandhi. Unlike Gandhi, they participated in the elections of provincial legislative assemblies throughout the 1920s. After some shifts and jerks in the 1920s, the Khilafat Committee and the AINC disintegrated into numerous territorial and ethnic factions. Majlis-i Ahrar-i Islam was one of them, confined to the Punjab. The book, Political Islam in Colonial Punjab: Majlis-i-Ahrar 1929-49 is a PhD thesis of Dr Samina Awan who is Chairperson of the Department of History at Allama Iqbal Open University, Islamabad. The author rightly calls the book, a journey through several interrelated domains including political Islam; South Asian Muslim identity politics; and the transformation of Punjab from a bastion of the Raj to a sword-arm of Pakistan Movement. The work, indeed the first of its nature, is an essential study to comprehend Punjabs politics of the last two decades before partition. Yet she failed to link the whole phenomenon with pitfalls like the Lucknow Pact (1916) and emergence of provincial powers after the Government of India Act 1919. Hakim Ajmal Khan, Iqbal, CR Das, Sir Mian Muhammad Shafi and leaders of Ahrar were against the Lucknow Pact. The issue of separate electorates got prominence in the Muslim majority provinces by the late 1920s due to the unwise weightage formula of the Lucknow Pact. Ahrar, founded in Lahore on Dec 29, 1929, had a variety of leaders from the very beginning. It had parliamentarians like Maulana Mazhar Ali Azhar (son of a respected Shia literary family from Batala), Ch. Afzal Haq a well-known writer and intellectual, Ch Abdur Rahman, son of a prominent Rajput family of Juandhar and orators like Syed Ata Ullah Shah Bukhari, Sheikh Husam-ud-Din, and Maulana Habibur Rehman Ludhianwi and activists trained under Naujawan Bharat Sabha, like Master Tajud-Din Ludhinavi. According to Ch Afzal Haq, Ahrar had Sunnis, Shias, Barelvis, Devbandies and Wahabis in it, yet their over-emphasis on anti-Ahmadi politics restricted them to a sectarian framework. Islamic socialism was their alternative slogan but, unlike Z. A. Bhutto, they failed to make it into an election slogan. The Kashmir Movement 1931 was their first test; here they had to face opposition from the All India Kashmir Committee, which was headed by Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmood who was the head of the Ahmadya community. The 12 member Committee had personalities like Maulana Zafar Ali Khan, Fazili-Hussain, Muhammed Iqbal, Ghulam Rasool Mehr, Syed Mohsin Shah and Khawaja Hassan Nizami. According to the book, The main office of the Committee was established in Qadian. In a few months, trained agitators of Ahrar not only mobilised the Punjabis and Kashmiris by Jail Bharo campaigns but also launched heavy criticism on Muslim leaders who accepted the leadership of Mirza sahib. As a consequence of their successful agitation, Iqbal resigned from Kashmir Committee and gave a press statement against Qadiani leadership. There was dictatorial rule in the princely states and Ahrar politicised these issues smartly not only in different States but also in adjourning settled areas. Unlike AINC, Ahrar supported the communal awards in 1932 and got prominence in the eyes of Punjabi leaders like Iqbal. In June 1933, Ahrar participated in three by-elections of the Punjab assembly. Afzal Haq, Mazhar Ali Azhar and Ch Abdur Rahman won all three seats. In 1934, Ahrar participated in the elections for the Indian Legislature and won two seats -- K L

As for the Ahrar, it could not understand the power politics in the new electoral phase. The British government introduced an amendment in the Defence of India bill on 15 September 1938. According to this amendment, no one could launch propaganda against recruitment in the British Indian army. The Ahrar launched an anti-recruitment campaign immediately. As Congress was holding ministries in seven provinces, it did not support Ahrar on this. Interestingly, Subhas Chandra Bose criticised the Congress and supported the Ahrar on this issue. Till December 1939, 7500 Ahrar volunteers had been arrested including its president Sheikh Hassamud Din from all over India. Left out in the political wilderness, Ahrar started a defamation campaign against the Muslim League, Lahore resolution and Jinnah which further discredited it among the people. During early 1942, Ahrar tried to regain its old glory but failed to attract the people. Finally, it lost the 1946 elections which compelled it to revisit its politics and ideology.
Gauba in Lahore and Qazi Muhammad Ahmad Kazmi in Meerut, UP. The author gives new information about the strengthening of relations between Ahrar and Jinnah in mid-1930s. According to her, Ahrar leaders held several meeting with Jinnah before the 1937 elections. Jinnahs talk with the leaders of MAI and Majlisi- Itehad-i Milli were successful, and Iqbal provided requisite help in this context. The author also gives references of Jinnahs exclusive meeting with Ahrars leaders at Abdul Qavis residence in Lahore. MAI arranged a public meeting in honour of Jinnah where her volunteers guarded him with their symbolic axes. Jinnah announced All India Muslim League (AIML) Parliamentary Board, which had four MAI leaders, Afzal Haq,

Sheikh Hassam u Din, Abdul Aziz Begowal and Khwaja Ghulam Hussain. Due to immaturities of both MAI and AIML, the alliance could not last for more than 5 months and it broke much before the election eve. Ahrar, Muslim League and Congress were among losers in the Punjab yet League immediately revisited its policies reflected in the historic Jinnah-Sikandar Pact (October 1937) which created new spaces for it to grow in the Punjab. As for the Ahrar, it could not understand the power politics in the new electoral phase. The British government introduced an amendment in the Defence of India bill on 15 September 1938. According to this amendment, no one could launch propaganda against recruitment in the British Indian army. The Ahrar launched an anti-recruitment campaign immediately. As Congress was holding ministries in seven provinces, it did not support Ahrar on this. Interestingly, Subhas Chandra Bose criticised the Congress and supported the Ahrar on this issue. Till December 1939, 7500 Ahrar volunteers had been arrested including its president Sheikh Hassamud Din from all over India. Left out in the political wilderness, Ahrar started a defamation campaign against the Muslim League, Lahore resolution and Jinnah which further discredited it among the people. During early 1942, Ahrar tried to regain its old glory but failed to attract the people. Finally, it lost the 1946 elections which compelled it to revisit its politics and ideology. After the creation of Pakistan, in the Defence of Pakistan Conference (Dec 12-14, 1947), Ahrar disbanded. According to my late father Sheikh Riaz-ud-Din who was the son of Sheikh Hassamud Din who was present in that meeting, Our leaders said that people have rejected us, our ideology is defeated and we have to accept that defeat boldly. It was an unprecedented, politically mature, brave and wise decision. The most interesting riddle remains unresolved, which is that our official record, including the Munir Commission Report, shows Ahrars involvement in a movement (anti-Ahmadya movement of 1953) which started four years after its demise. (jang.com.pk) The author is a Lahore-based researcher and editor

Justice Katjus book on Urdu released

Vice President of India M. Hamid Ansari released Justice with Urdu (sitaraman.com, Rs.350.00) by Justice Markandey Katju at a function in Delhi on 14 January. He said that there is no reason why Urdu language should not be treated as any other Indian language. Languages enrich each other and a language declines if it is not linked to the normal pursuits of life. He called upon people to give greater attention to this beautiful language.

Sitaaron se Aagey
By Naseema Hurzuk
The incredible story of Naseema who, at age 16, became wheelchair-bound and spent days crying and thinking of suicide, but Alhamdulillah, today she runs one of the countrys largest organisations for the physically challenged and has helped thousands of handicapped stand on their feet.
Pages: 272 / Price: Rs 150 Language: Urdu Binding: PB ISBN: 817221054X Publishers: Pharos Media & Publishing Pvt Ltd Ordering details on page 20

20 The Milli Gazette, 16-29 February 2012

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The Milli Gazette, 16-29 February 2012 21

ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE

Islam and female circumcision

ASGHAR ALI ENGINEER

controversy is raging these days about female circumcision in India among a section of Muslims (Bohras). A woman belonging to the community has sent a petition demanding a firman banning the practice and is also preparing a petition to be filed in the Supreme Court to get a ban order. Many newspapers and magazines are carrying articles on the issue condemning the practice and many have approached me for interviews on whether it has Islamic sanction. Needless to say, it is a highly controversial subject and there is no unanimity among Muslim scholars on this subject. It is not a universal practice among Muslims but only among Bohras in India and among Shafiis in Egypt, Sudan and Ethopia besides some other African countries. Among Indonesian Muslims too, it is reported to be prevalent as they too follow the Shafii maslak. But among Shafiis in India, who are found in Western Maharashtra (Kokan area), Kerala and Tamilnadu, it is not prevalent. Thus all Shafiis also do not practice it. Wherever it is practiced, it has an African connection. It appears this practice originated in pre-Islamic Africa and spread to some parts of the world. It is important to note that Imam Shafii lived and compiled his fiqh mostly in Egypt and as far as Bohras are concerned, Cairo (Egypt) was the seat of the power of the Fatimid Imams and the Ismaili book of jurisprudence, Daaim alIslam, was written by Al-Qadi Al-Numan in Cairo during the time of the 14th Imam Muiz. Thus, among Bohras too, the African connection is obvious. As to the question whether it has any Islamic sanction, the answer falls in a rather grey area. One cannot say categorically either way. Quran does not talk of either male or female circumcision and that is why even male circumcision is referred to as sunnah or Sunnat-e-Ibrahimi or Sunnat-e Mohammadi. But in

case of men, it is considered almost obligatory and all Muslim sects are unanimous about it. Before Islam, it was practiced by Jews and that is why it is also referred to as Sunnat-e-Ibrahimi too, and according to some traditions, the Prophet (pbuh) adopted it from there. While male circumcision is celebrated publicly and people are invited to a public dinner, female circumcision is done secretly (by those who practice it) and except family members no one comes to know about it. The hadith (prophetic tradition) cited is also considered weak by many Muslims. Thus, we find in Abu Dawood (Book 41, hadith no. 5251) that Umm Atiyyah alAnsariyyah narrated that a woman used to perform (female) circumcision in Madina. The Prophet (pbuh) told her not to cut severely as that is better for a woman and more desirable for a husband. Similarly, we find in Muslim too (Book 3, hadith no.684) where Abu Musa has reported that there cropped up a difference of opinion between a group of Muhajirs He (Abu Musa, the narrator) said I got up (and went) to Aisha and sought her permission which was granted. I said: what makes a bath obligatory for a person? She replied, You have come across one well-informed! The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said: when anyone sits amidst four parts and the circumcised parts touch each other a bath becomes obligatory. We find a similar hadith narrated by Abu Musa al-Ashari in Maliks Muwatta. This hadith also refers to Aisha as the source. Similarly in Maliks Muwatta (Book 2, hadith number 2.19,77) it is said that Yahya related to me from Malik on the authority of Nafi that Abdullah ibn Umar said that when the circumcised part passes the circumcised part, ghusl (bath) become obligatory. Similarly, we find in the Shafii source book Reliance of the Traveller (Umdat al-Salik) written by Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri that female circumcision is obligatory. This book has been certi-

fied by Al-Azhar University. This book says that circumcision is obligatory both for men and women. For men it consists of removing the prepuce and for women removing the tip of the clitoris (bazr in Arabic). Hanbalis hold that circumcision of women is not obligatory but only Sunna. Thus, it will be seen that there is no unanimity among Muslim scholars about female circumcision and it is prevalent as pointed out mostly among African Muslims and among many African tribes. Whereas in case of men, circumcision does not reduce sexual pleasure but is considered necessary from the hygienic point of view, in case of female circumcision, it reduces sexual pleasure and there is no hygienic function as in case of men. While male circumcision is universal among all Muslims, female circumcision, at least in practice, is confined to a few Muslim sects, primarily those of African origin. Since female circumcision interferes with a womans sexual pleasure, almost replacing old Roman chastity belt, it has become a human rights issue today. Female circumcision came into vogue to restrict womens sexuality, and today women are demanding its abolition. It should also be noted that Islam does not, in any way, seek to restrict either male or female sexuality but only to ban illegitimate sex outside the marital bond and gives right to woman to seek divorce from an impotent husband if he had hidden this fact from her at the time of marriage. Thus Islam fully respects womans right to sexual pleasure as it is essential for perpetuating human progeny. It is society which, in the name of morality, does so, but being patriarchal in structure, it does not put any restriction on male sexuality. Actually both sexes should be permitted natural sexual pleasure as it is absolutely necessary for healthy human growth but also for perpetuation of human species. Justice demands that both sexes be treated equally.

FGM: an attempt to tarnish Islam

leading French daily Le Point has recently condemned the practice of female circumcision (FGM or Female Genital Mutilation) in its editorial and fallaciously called it as yet another glaring example of Islamic barbarism towards women. Entire Europe, especially France, is on a mission to run down Islam these days: by banning hijab first and now calling FGM as a prehistoric Islamic custom. Before condemning FGM as an Islamic practice, its a necessary to know that Islam simply doesnt approve of female circumcision. Nowhere in the Quran and Hadith (the compilation of Muhammads sayings), does one come across even a vague reference to female circumcision, though its still practiced in isolated Muslim communities of North African countries like Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt. Islam categorically condemns it. No exegete of Islamic theology has ever talked in favour of it. Imam Ghazali, considered to be the greatest ever authority on Quran, criticised FGM in no uncer-

tain terms in his eleven treatises. Female genital mutilation predates Islam in North Africa. The African tribes of pre-Islamic North Africa used to practise Geza which is an old Swahili word meaning cutting an unnecessary growth. To the primitive people of North Africa, a womans tiny growth in vagina was a witchs curse. After the advent of Islam, this abominable practice became less widespread. Cultural and ethnic undercurrents are always stronger and deeper than religious influences. So this practice is still sporadically prevalent in that region reverting to Pre-Islamic Jahalia days. And as regards the prevalence of FGM in Egypt, one ought to be aware that there were Coptic Christians in Egypt. Almost all Egyptian Muslims are descendants of Coptic Christians, who suffered from clitoral envy. Coptic Christians of third and fourth centuries, ritualistically removed a girls clitoris as they believed that removal of it would make women submissive and less demanding in bed. The great blind

Muslim scholar, Professor Taha Hussain of Egypt, explained this pre-Islamic phenomenon in his book Perpetuation and percolation of primitive practices. Arab society never approved of this heinous practice. In fact, one of the Seven Odes of ancient Arabia is a laudatory poem on a womans capacity to have multiple orgasms, thanks to her uber-sensitive clitoris (translated by Swanton, Aurbery and Sir Hamilton Gibb, 1910). Sir Gibb famously wrote, No one understood female anatomy better than the early Muslims of Arabia. Its indeed a great compliment. Europe conveniently forgets that during medieval ages, it had introduced chastity belts for women and there was a device called infibulation, meant to lock a womans genitalia, so that she could not sleep around except for her husband. The key was obviously with the husband! Apropos, theres a phrase in typical Hindi: Lausa pahnana (metaphorically it means, rendering a woman completely helpless and inert). Lausa was a genital lock like

infibulation, used by the Rajputs of Rajputana till 1900! The embattled Rajput kings, warriors and chieftains would fit the lock in the private parts of their queens and concubines and unlock it after returning from the battlefields. And if the men died, the women would also die with the device. Many women died of infection. Mughal emperor Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar had to write a letter to Mansingh to stop this inhuman and demeaning practice. But he failed, because Mansigh himself infibulated his 29 wives and 104 concubines (see Akbar, the great Mughal by Sir Vincent Smith and quoted by Muhammad Mujeeb in his book, Akbar). Colonel James Todd described this phenomenon in his Annals And Antiquities of Rajasthan (original copies available at Bikaner State Library and India House Library, London (now part of the British Library)). In a nutshell, those who live in glass-houses, ought not to throw stones at others.

Dr Sumit S Paul, Poona

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The Milli Gazette, 16-29 February 2012 23

REJOINDERS/OPINION/LETTERS
You are doing a commendable job of presenting true news to Muslims in India. We will do our best to be of any help to you. Sayed Iftiyaz Chandrawaddo, Fatorda - 403602 Goa II Peace TV (Urdu) aired a programme, Samaj Par Media Ke Asaraat (Effects of Media on Society). The Peace TV presenter Nisar Nadiadwalla was answering questions. One was about the role of our media and Nadiadwalla replied that it is our duty to spread good messages and newspapers and magazines like Milli Gazette, Islamic Voice and Radiance. He also asked the people to gift their copies to other friends in order to spread the message far and wide. He mentioned MG three times. S. Haque, Patna Jamia Hamdard With reference to the coverpage story of February 1-15 issue of The Milli Gazette, I have to submit that the MG comment on my possible personal discord with Dr GN Qazi is too speculative and based on assumption. Personally, I hold him in great esteem and have no clash of interest with him. However, every responsible citizen and friend of society has a constitutional right, and also a moral duty, to raise and discuss matters of principle and legality concerning our system and society. When we go by the merit of the case and follow the rule of law, individual relations become meaningless and redundant. Given this, I consider the MG comments superfluous and uncalled for. Prof. Muhammad Iqbal, Jamia Hamdard iqbalg5@yahoo.co.in MG Editor: We felt it was our duty to cross-check the matter raised by you and the very short comment we published touched on the feedback we received from reliable sources on Hamdard campus. II Apropos of the cover page story in The Milli Gazette (Feb 1-15) concerning Jamia Hamdard VC. The present VC has no right to continue in his office against the UGC directives. However, the Chancellor of Hamdard University behaved negativity since I know him as a VC of the AMU. He appointed a temporary staff (PhD Chemistry), working in an ICAR project as a permanent teacher of Botany without any interview during the last tenure of his Vice-Chancellorship in 1985. This kind of illegal appointment never happened in any academic Institution anywhere. The author of the present in MG is the same person who raised his voice against the illegal appointment in the department of Botany, AMU in 1985. Mohammad Saquib mohammadaqib@hotmail.com III Such a brazen disregard of rules and open contempt of law by a person holding such a high position is amazing. In view of Delhi High Courts verdict on a similar case, continuance of Dr GN Qazi as Vice Chancellor even after attaining 65 years is patently illegal. Those who are supporting a law-breaker obviously have some vested interest. Much of the responsibility of this unprecedented situation goes to the Chancellor of Jamia Hamdard who has the legal authority to take action in this regard. He has been known as a man of principles and as a tough administrator, and his silence on the issue is not understandable. His performance was questioned when he was VC of AMU some thirty years ago and his current performance with reference to Jamia Hamdard is also disappointing. Why does the JH community not rush to a court of law for taking the guilty to account? Nand Kishore Adv., Aligarh, U.P. kishorenand061@gmail.com IV Dr GN Qazi has captured the Jamia Hamdard VCs Office illegally because he is confident of receiving support (a) from the authorities of Hamdard National Foundation, who, with the help of Dr Qazi, now want to set up private platforms in Jamia Hamdard for their personal gains, and (b) from the authorities of UGC, whom he has obliged with undue personal favours, like appointing the wife of Dr Shakeel Ahmad (Joint Secretary, UGC) as Associate Professor in the Department of Federal Studies at Jamia Hamdard, and admitting illegally the wife of Dr Ved Prakash (Chairman, UGC) to PhD program in Federal Studies at Jamia Hamdard, despite her failing to meet the eligibility requirements (details in the fortnightly University Today, 1 January, 2012). Dr Akhtar Adil, New Delhi aadilofdilli@hotmail.com V Vice Chancellors derive their power only from and on behalf of the Executive Council, but past experience tells us that these otherwise democratic institutions have now gradually turned into rubberstamps. Threadbare discussion in such bodies is now a rarity. Vice Chancellors, unlike the Prime Minister, are accountable to none, turning them into autocrats. Similar is the case with the Vice Chancellor of Allahabad University, Dr Harshe against whom there were several allegations but, taking advantage of general lethargy of the government and corruption-friendly system, he continued to unabashedly cling to his chair even after having completed the mandated tenure. What is most alarming is that the Prime Minister, despite himself being a former academic, has chosen to remain silent on the cases of corruption in the highest seats of learning. Is it not high time that we need to setup a tribunal or similar such multimember body to monitor and regulate the functioning of the Vice Chancellors of the universities in the country? Perhaps such a high power tribunal can also function as a grievance redressing body and look into issues pertaining to the recruitment and promotion of the teachers so that the judicial system is not burdened with teacherstudent-institution litigations. As of now, exploiting the system to their advantage, the Harshes and the Qazis after putting on earplugs have withdrawn themselves into their fantasy cocoons surrounded by sycophant staff members. Dr. M. Badruzzaman Siddiqui, Biswan, Sitapur-261201 b.siddiqui@rediffmail.com VI The UPA Govt in general and HRD Ministry in particular have been too slow in acting with respect to VCs facing charges of corruption. In fact, the standard response has been to cold-shelve the complaints against powerful functionaries. Lately, Jamia Hamdard, and earlier institutions such as Vishwabharti Shantiniketan, AMU and NEHU have been in the news on account of serious allegations of corruption levelled against top functionaries. Perhaps owing to obvious fear of retaliation, teachers and other employees rarely gather courage to come out in the open and file written complaints with higher-ups or government. In this context, the principled stand of Prof Iqbal deserves praise. On the face of it, the continuation of Dr G N Qazi, the controversial VC of Jamia Hamdard, appears to be illegal as any incumbent cannot alter the rules of the game to suit his

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ends and continue to occupy the chair even after expiry of his term. His administration is even otherwise currently battling spate of serious allegations including misuse of power, harassment of employees as also whistle blowers. During Dr Qazi's tenure, functionaries of Jamia Hamdard have been facing several inquiries by corruption watchdog Central Vigilance Commission too. Further still, what is intriguing and worrying is that MHRD and UGC seem to have turned a blind eye to the sorry state of affairs in Jamia Hamdard. As reported in media, it is alleged that Jamia Hamdard has extended undue favours to the better half of a senior officer at UGC to keep it in good humour. Further, I am of the opinion that the issues raised by Prof Iqbal deserve serious consideration by all the stakeholders as also govt of the day. Any attempt at trivializing them by alluding to some personal friction is uncalled for. Prof M. Ishrat Husain Khan, ex-chair, Dept of Botany, AMU mishrathusainkhan@gmail.com Rushdie Praveen Swamis article (Feb 2, The Hindu), like other articles in the press recently on Salman Rushdie, seems thoroughly unjust as far as the other side of the debate is concerned. Suppose a person is arrested for a crime. He has a right to defend himself and we can initiate a discussion on whether the concerned person is culprit or not, is there sufficient ground for his detention or not etc. But it is foolish to link this discussion to the freedom of movement whose importance everyone acknowledges with the recognition that there are certain limitations to this freedom and arresting someone for a crime is one such exception. Salman Rushdies book Satanic Verses is banned for good. One can come up in defence of that literary-bullshit, arguing that the book is not filthy enough to be banned, but to link up this discussion with the freedom of speech and expression is nonsense. No one disputes the importance of freedom of speech and expression, but everyone recognises that there are legitimate limits over its exercise. After all I cannot and should not be allowed to abuse Indian President, Prime Minister, Constitution or anyone for that matter. Serious intellectual debate is welcome but abuses are not. Satanic Verses by any far stretch is not an artistic or critical work but only an abusive enterprise. Sooner the writers and activists jumping in defence of Salman Rushdie, realise this, the better. Khan Yasir, Delhi University yasiratiq@gmail.com II Respect for religious sentiments not synonymous with appeasement When Darul Uloom Deoband the largest Muslim religious seminary in Asia protested over the proposed visit of Salman Rushdie the author of Satanic Verses in which he has used highly offensive and objectionable language against the Holy Prophet of Islam and Islam and on which accounts this book had been proscribed by the government of India, to attend the literary festival at Jaipur, Muslims all over the country including Muslim organisations supported the verdict of Darul Uloom Deoband and the Chief Minister of Rajasthan also supported Muslim stand, the media and a number of columnists condemned the acceptance of Muslim demand as an appeasement of Muslims and violation of the right of freedom of expression completely ignoring the fact that no right is absolute and is subject to reasonable restrictions and that no one has the right to hurt the religious sentiments of any community. By no logic respect for religious sentiments can neither be anti-secular or synonymous with appeasement of any particular community. Dr. M. Hashim Kidwai (ex-MP), Delhi - 110091 Reservation=crutches We are asking for reservation. We are asking for crutches. Are we crippled? Yes, we are crippled, not physically but mentally. We need support all the time. We are lame and lethargic. We are not strong and powerful. We do not want to be strong and powerful. We do not want to work hard and help each other to come out of agony of decades. We have learned to cry. We have lost confidence in our selves. We see injustice everywhere. Those who keep on crying are like beggars. They get whatever is thrown to them. They do not get respect. Respect is to be earned with the help of knowledge and hard work. We must arouse Muslims to do hard work and to get knowledge, religious as well as modern. We must help each other to come out as winners and be true Muslims. Let us do not fight over trivial matters and be co-operative to each other because, we want to be strong as a community. We do want to spread the message of Islam. We believe in love and kindness. Those who believe in love and kindness can only become strong and powerful in long run. Nazneen O. Saherwala, Surat, Gujarat nazsita@yahoo.co.in Thank you Dr. Sumit S. Paul, Peace be with you and thank you for having taken the efforts to collect the positive views and opinions of non-Muslim scholars such as Tagore, Sir Jadunath, Dr. Ramvilas, Gulabdas, Dharmveer, Ghosh, Kshitimohan, V. V. Giri and Sir Gibb (MG Feb 1-15) It was indeed very kind of you to have taken the efforts and may you be rewarded for your good intentions. Please permit me to add the following to your quotes. A Christian sees much in Islam which reminds him of his own religion, but he sees it in the extremely distorted form. He finds ideas and statements of belief clearly related to those of his own religion, but which nevertheless, turns off into strangely different paths. Islam is so familiar to us that we pass it by with careless indifference with which we ignore that which we know and know only too well. And yet it is not familiar enough to us to enable us really to understand its uniqueness, and the spirit by which it has won its own place in the sphere of religion, a place which it still rightly occupies by virtue of its very existence. We find it much easier to understand religions that are completely new and strange to us: as for example, the religions of India and China. A greater degree of insight and of spiritual freedom is required of him who would understand the Arabian Prophet and his book Tor Andrae in his book Mohammed: The Man and His Faith It looks like relatives understand each other least of all. P. A. Mohamed Ameen (via email) ATS chief Maharashtra misled the country ATS picked three Muslim students Nasim Khan, Qamar Alam Shaikh and Abdul Wahab from their engineering college at Mohali, Punjab. When Muslims met Rakesh Maria to get the information why those Muslim students were picked up. He replied that there students had acquired 14 SIM cards on forged documents and meanwhile interrogated about terror but picked up not for terror links. (news agencies, 7 Jan. 2012) And local court released them innocent because ATS report did not proved any terror links. Advocate Khalid Azmi and Ansar Ahmad Tamboli were perusing this case (UNI News) this

news shows that Nasim Khan, Qamar Alam Shaikh and Abdul Wahab were picked up to implicate them in terror charges and Rakesh Maria ATS chief Maharashtra misled the country. S. Haque, Patna Pune insanity A few days back Santosh Mane, an insane ST driver rode his bus mercilessly over dozens of innocents killing instantly eight and injuring twenty five, some of whom are said to be serious. The reason cited for this mayhem was that his superiors indifferent rather humiliating attitude drove him crazy and he went berserk killing innocents. What could surprise one most that despite Santosh Manes inhuman and barbarian attitude, probably first of its kind in the entire world, failed to make a fitting hue and cry barring few traditional debates on TV channels and essays in the broadsheets. Neither the general public went amok burning vehicles or killing any one else. And lo! After only a week the dust seems to have settled down and life in Pune became absolutely normal. My rather indecent question is: could the attitude of the general public and even the impartial Police, have been same had the driver of the ST bus been a Muslim, Sikh or Christian? If yes, then what right did the majoritarians have to kill three thousand Sikhs in Delhi, three thousand innocent Muslims in Gujarat and hundreds of Christians in Khandhmal? This is where one seriously doubt the genuineness of our so called secularism or democracy that rarely offers protection to its minorities when it is needed most. Mushtaque Madni, Pune Muslims under Mayawati regime Article in MG on Mayawatis performance during the last four and half year is an eye opener particularly for the Muslim community because her government did nothing for the betterment of the Muslims. The only Muslim face of BSP Nasimuddin Siddiqui is totally indifferent towards the communitys problems. Miss Mayawatis secular credential is also doubtful and now its right time for the community to think unitedly and cast the vote judiciously. Syed Najeeb Ahmad, Azamgarh (UP) Upholding the cause of Palestine As the cause of justice for Palestinians is growing in India, we should feel impelled to fulfil our responsibilities and realise that we will be held accountable, if we do not contribute to portray the situation fairly and accurately. So, I request all of you if you watch a programme on television or listen to a radio broadcast that you feel is prejudiced or unbalanced in its portrayal of Palestinian issue, either provocatively or through omitting the key facts or context, please try your best to contact the programme-makers and lodge a complaint against it. Balant inaccuracy is a road block to solution of Palestinian issue. For example, Jerusalem is often referred to as the capital of Israel by many journalists, and this should be picked up on and corrected. Emails and phones calls should emphasise that Jerusalem is split to two by the Green Line and East Jerusalem is Palestinian land that has been occupied since 1967. Journalists should be reminded that Jerusalem is not recognised as Israels capital by the international community. Ghulam Rasool Dehlavi, New Delhi-45 grdehlavi@gmail.com Terror charges: is there any solution to this problem? So many innocent Muslims are arrested every year and every month by the police and the intelligence officials on the basis of nothing and these people are imprisoned for so many years and are tortured. Lastly, no evidence is found against them and all charges and allegations that were put on them prove to be totally fake, false and baseless but by the time they are released from jails, their entirepast, present and even future is destroyed. We all know that after they come out of the prison, the entire scene has changed for them. So I ask you please tell me and all of us who see all these scenes everyday, helplessly: what to do? Where to go? Whom to ask for help? Who is ours? Who will help? What sort of system is this that punishes someone without any crime? For that crime which he has not done? We see all these and our hearts cry and the the story continues like this because this goes on happening everyday at some or the other place..Plese tell meplease.what can I do? A reader - sify786@gmail.com Morality of BJP ministers in Karnataka It is indeed a matter of big shame that BJP neither demanded dismissal of its three highly immoral ministers in Karnatak from membership of the assembly nor suspended them from primary membership of the party for misusing immunity by seeing and forwarding porn films on mobile-phone during serious debate in the stateassembly. Seeking resignations just from ministerial posts is not enough. Interesting aspect is that BJP leadership is giving a set of excuses requiring public to accept any of these excuses! Giving too much excuses in itself proves the guilt which even has recorded witness of TV cameras. Since BJP Speaker of Karnataka assembly did not register any complaint for the offence with police, it is necessary that often misused immunity available to members of legislative Houses (both in Parliament and state-assemblies) may be immediately abolished to bring any unlawful activity of erring members of legislative Houses under normal law of land. Just an in-House enquiry in the matter is not at all enough because House Committees and Chairpersons are usually soft on unlawful acts of members. It may be recalled that an RJD Lok Sabha member Rajesh Manjhi, once found guilty of taking another woman on travel-pass of his wife, was debarred from attending just 30 sittings of the Lok Sabha for his guilt that too when he even tried to mislead Lok Sabha panel set to enquire his misconduct. Subhash Chandra Agrawal , Delhi - 110006 subhashmadhu@sify.com Our paper media too should be under a tight leash Our paper media takes the British press as its model, a legacy of the colonial rule. However, our newspapers can no longer take the plea that they should enjoy the same freedom as in Britain because their counterparts there are misusing it grossly. Demand is rising for leashing them, just as the people want here. The press often treats people callously, both there and here. There are also allegations of corrupt relationship between the press and the police. Newspapers will almost certainly be forced to abandon the long tradition of selfregulation, says The Economist. The measures proposed are: market control, legal reform and tougher regulation. The most strenuous effort should be directed at toughening up the system for regulating journalists behavior, adds The Economist. A reader mahameed40@gmail.com

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24 The Milli Gazette, 16-29 February 2012

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Free online Islamic university attracts thousands of students

IOU PRESS RELEASE
From the 1st of April, 2010, Dr Bilal Philips Islamic Online University (IOU) launched the worlds first tuition-free, Bachelor of Arts in Islamic Studies in English completely online. The IOU represents a major new step towards helping Muslims across the globe fulfill the Prophets command to seek knowledge of the religion and correct their understanding of its tenets. After successfully running a collection of 24 free diploma courses since 2007, in which more than 50,000 students are currently registered from more than 202 different countries, Dr Bilal has taken the bold step of offering a BA in Islamic studies along similar lines. Worlds First Tuition-Free BA in Islamic Studies Online This path-breaking initiative utilizes the worldwide presence of the internet and advanced open source online learning technology to bring tuition-free university level Islamic education within reach of virtually anyone on the planet that has access to a computer and the internet. The program has recorded audio and video lectures and weekly live tutorial classes in a virtual classroom setting on the net and its syllabi are based on the BA in Usool ud-Deen (Religious Foundations) curriculums of Madeenah University, Saudi Arabia, Omdurman Islamic University, Sudan, Al-Azhar in Egypt and other similar reputable Islamic institutions. Six subjects are offered each semester. Each semester is 5 months, having an online mid-term exam after two and a half months and a supervised final online at the end of the fifth month. Students are free to access their classes whenever it is convenient for them, however assignments have to be turned in and exams (mid-term and finals) have to be taken at fixed times. There are no fees for the courses. However, there is a fixed modest registration fee each semester which is calculated on a sliding scale (from $40 to $120) depending on the students country of residence. Enrolment for the spring semester (March 2012 August 2012) has begun at www.islamiconlineuniversity.com and for further clarification or help, the registrar may be contacted at email: registrar@islamiconl i n e u n i v e r s i t y. c o m ; Students in India may contact, mobile +91 90007-77950, iou.india@islamiconl i n e u n i v e r s i t y. c o m , www.iouindia.com It is worth noting that in 2010, the Islamic University of Madeenah celebrated its 40th year of operation during which some 30,000 students studied in its lecture halls. In contrast, that number of students has been achieved by the IOU in three and a half years of operation. Of course, Dr Bilal was one of the Islamic Universitys graduates, so the IOU is ultimately one of its products, al-hamdu lillaah. Furthermore, study at Madeenah is superior to study in IOU from a language perspective and depth of courses. Also, AOU (American Open University), the oldest and most prestigious Islamic University offering distance learning from the USA, founded in 1995, after 15 years had 6,000 students and 600 graduates. It is also notable that students in IOU are required to take courses in modern fields important to graduates when they return to their communities, like Islamic psychology, Islamic economics and banking, Islamic business administration, teaching methodology, information technology (computers), etc. Students also have the option to do an additional semester of study in which five of the core courses for those majoring in these fields are taken. Thus, IOU graduates can obtain BA in Islamic studies degrees with minors in psychology, or economics and banking, or business administration, etc. The success of the Islamic Online University led to its founder, Dr Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips, being mentioned in the media section of the first two editions (2009 & 2010) of the 500 Most Influential Muslims in the World produced by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre in Jordan.

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Battlefields of the Prophet, Dr.M. Muhammad Hamidullah, Rs 200 Sirat-un-Nabi : The Life of the Prophet (5 Vols. Set) by Shibli Numani, Rs 1200 Sahih Muslim (Set of 4 Vols.), Imam Muslim, Rs 900 Criminal Law of Islam (Set of 4 Vols.), AQ Oudha, Rs 850 Foreign Policy of Hadrat Muhammad (SAW), Prof. M.S. Qureshi, Rs 300 History of Caliphs,Tr. Major H.S. Jarreet Rs 600 Introduction to Islam, Dr. M. Hamidullah Rs 220 Muhammadan Law (Set of 2 vols.), S. Ameer Ali, Rs 900 Teach Yourself Arabic, Prof. S.A. Rahman, Rs 225 Allahs Miracle in the Quran, Harun Yahya, Rs 450 Muslim Prayer Encyclopaedia, Ruqaiyyah Waris Maqsood, Rs 200 Hajj Made Simple, Saniyasnain Khan, Rs 100 Easy Arabic for All, Amanulla Vadakkangara, Rs 250 See page 20 for ordering details.

Help group for admission procedures at JNU / AMU

Syed Mohammad Raghib, a PhD scholar at Centre of West Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University says that the best way to remember Prophet (PBUH) birthday is to invite people to education, better education. He and his friends each year help students by counselling them about admissions procedures and salient features of courses at Aligarh Muslim University and JNU. They even guide aspirants with entrance test pattern. From 6th February 2012, JNU forms are available online at (www.jnu.ac.in), and AMU forms have been available from 2nd of February at (www.amu.ac.in). The mission of Raghib and his friends is that every Muslim student applies for appropriate course at JNU/AMU. For any type of help aspirants may Raghib call on 0-9958870985 or email id raghib.jnu@gmail.com

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