By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,

Faizabad: According to reports, lawyers in Faizabad fatally attacked Advocate Mohammed Saleem, an associate of Advocate Jamal Ahmed, who was lawyer of Khalid Mujahid in Faizabad case.

Speaking to TCN, activist Shah Alam confirmed the news. He informed that Salim is now undergoing medical treatment.

Sources tel TCN that yesterday there was a protest in Faizabad called by ullemas and several civil rights groups against custodial death of Khalid that had attracted over 300 people. Bar Association of Faizabad today passed a resolution against the protest and latter attacked Advocate Saleem.

Khalid Mujahid who was arrested on charges of serial blasts in 2007 died on Saturday while he was returning from Faizabad to Lucknow jail on Saturday. Khalid fainted on way at Barabanki, according to police and was taken to District Hospital, Barabanki where he was declared brought dead by the doctors.

Rihai Manch has condemned the attack, saying that the administration is siding with the saffron elements to target those who are fighting for the innocents. Speaking to TCN, Rajeev Yadav of Rihai Manch added that even in past lawyers and civil rights activists have been threatened and attacked by the state machinery and the communal forces for taking up the causes of innocents.

Advocate Saleem was later admitted in the District Hospital.

By Zaidul Haque, TwoCircles.net,

Kolkata/Siliguri: A gang of four men along with a Gorkha Janamukti Morcha leader has been arrested by West Bengal Police on 19 May, 2013 for their alleged links to the Pakistani intelligence agency ISI.

On 20 May, police also arrested an Army upper divisional clerk Moni kumar Biswakarma who works at the Indian Army’s base in Sukna from Hill town of Kurseong in Darjeeling for allegedly stealing Indian Army’s internal documents and supplying to the local Morhca leader Mesa Souri and three other associates, who are the ISI agents, according to Police Super of Darjeeling Mr Kunal Agarwal.

Police super Kunal Agarwal told journalists, “The arrested persons have strong link with ISI, and we are looking for another linkman.”

According sources in Darjeeling district police, during interrogation of Mesa Souri, member of Kurseong Zonal committee of Gorkha Jana Mukti Morhca and others police came across the name of an upper divisional clerk Mr Moni Kumar Biswakarma (50), who worked at army’s 33 Corps headquarters in Sukna army base close to India’s border with China at Nathu-la border.

According to police officials they have found some important documents including a map, 6 mobile phone, SIM card, laptop and position of army cantonment in the Bagdogra air force base of Darjeeling district and Hashimari of Jalpaiguri district.

The four arrested have been remanded to 14 days police custody.

Director General of Police of North Bengal Anuj Sharma said, “The interrogation process is going on and we are hopeful that we will have more information in days to come from the arrested persons.”

According to police, Mesa Souri (54), a local leader of Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha was active spy of ISI more than four years. He even met with the Pakistan High Commissioner at Katmandu and supplied important documents related to the Indian Army.

He purportedly lured other three through money. Magan Bahadur (54) worked as Army driver, but was expelled in 2007. Dhan Bahadur Pradhan (42) was working as temporary driver in Army and Gopal Khati (39) was engaged in property business.

According to police they got information about ISI links, after they arrested an upper division clerk of Army Mr Bidyut Kumar Sinha from Joypur, Rajasthan earlier. Sinha, originally from Karimganj in Assam had joined the Army Supply Corporation in Joypur in 1995. Later he was posted in Siliguri from 2000 t0 2011 and was again transferred back to Joypur. According to police, while in Siliguri he made contacts with the ISI agents in Kathmandu through a retired Army officer.

Gorkha Jana Mukti Morcha leader Mesa Souri might be expelled from the party for his alleged involvement in spying. Roshan Giri of Jana Mukti Morcha said, “We had no knowledge about his involvement. He will be immediately expelled for his anti-national activities and the party will take necessary steps required.”

By TCN News,

Aligarh: On the recommendations of the Discipline Committee, the Vice Chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University has ordered that the admission of Mr. Shahzad Alam, a PhD scholar, be cancelled with immediate effect from the rolls of the University.

Mr. Shahzad has been debarred from seeking admission in AMU for the next five academic sessions from 2013-14 onwards and the University has been placed out of bound for him for the above five year period. Mr. Shahzad will also be issued a migration certificate and he will have to pay a sum of Rs. 35,940 to the University Guest House, failing which legal action will be initiated against him for its recovery.

Mr. Shahzad Alam was found involved in activities unbecoming of a University student and also of an office bearer of the AMU Students’ Union. Further, as President of the AMU Students’ Union, Mr. Shahzad Alam was found lavish in expenditure of money from students’ funds. He withdrew a sum of Rs. 14,90,000 as an advance and spent a huge sum improperly within a period of two months.

The expulsion order states that in just two months he has spent Rs. 77,800 on tea and snacks and Rs. 74,130 on Photostat under his authority and orders. He also spent a sum of Rs. 33,350 on account of travel which is exorbitant of a student. He took multiple advances of funds but failed to produce convincing and reasonable account of the same.

The order further said that “no assets, except one printer costing Rs. 6000 has been created out of the funds given to him”. It is evident that there has been gross misuse of Students’ Union funds.

By Jasim Mohammad,

The new Vice-Chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University Lt. General Zameer Uddin Shah has completed one year in the office. He joined the AMU on 18th May 2012 and his track record of one year speak itself. When Zameer Uddin Shah joined the AMU, it was in trouble. Law and order situation in the campus was at low and the University was passing through bad times.

First of all after joining the University the Vice-Chancellor Zameeruddin Shah began efforts to put it back on rails. He imposed strict discipline on the campus and in the days to come he took strict actions against those who violated rules or broke the discipline. This actions has sent a strong message to all in the campus and one can see the state of discipline among the students as well as faculty today.

Zameer Uddin Shah

Dinning Hall of the residential halls were the area which affected a lot to students. The health and energy of students were dependant on the quality of food. Zameeruddin Shah paid his attention to kitchen and decided to provide good quality food to the young generation. He embarked upon the modernizing the kitchen and began process of contracting the modern technological meat factories for the supply of meat to dinning halls. He provided Bain Marie Roti Makar and stopped manual bread making and also took decision for the steam cookers. It seems that Zameeruddin Shah used his military experience of mess in the AMU.

Overall Zameer Uddin Shah made efforts to regain Minority Status of AMU. He went on to modernize the syllabi according to need of industry. A new faculty of International Studies has been decided to establish. The proposed faculty will encompass International Relations, Geo-Strategy, Security, key Foreign Languages and high quality research work. The basic courses will be BA (Hons.), MA, PG Diploma(s) and M.Phil./PhD programmes. The faculty of International Studies will have eight major departments of studies including the Department of Foreign Languages specially focusing on the teaching of Chinese, French, German, Portuguese and Spanish.

Present Vice-Chancellor also succeeded in getting sanction of 213 crore rupees for the AMU centres at murshidabad (West Bengal) and Mallapuram (Kerala). He intend starting school level education at the two centres. Initially teaching for Class IX will be commenced with an intake of 90 students at both the centres. Further, a B.Ed. Course will also be introduced at these centres with an intake of 60 students. Efforts are being made to upgrade AMU centres to full fledged minority universities.

Foremost among the reforms, is that Zameer Uddin Shah tried to re-establish culture, and traditions of Aligarh once again. There was a demand for restoration of tradition of “Introduction” so that seniors could teach “Tahzeeb” to freshers. He intend having “orientation get-togethers” to encourage camaraderie amongst students under strict control of teachers and wardens.

Academically Lt. General Zameeruddin Shah began streamlining the academic activities on the campus. His first priority was upgradation of facilities in the J.N. Medical College that had earned a bad name in poor sanitation and patient care. He tried to bring a positive change in the overall image of the J.N. Medical College and with the increase in the annual grant of the College. He look forward to upgrading it to the status of AIIMS.

The University has decided to upgrade all the University maintained School to the level of Senior Secondary School and Class XI teaching will be started in these schools from the forthcoming session. The MHRD has also approved the upgradation of ABK Union High School to Kendriya Vidyalaya standards and the necessary grant has also been released for it.

Zameer Uddin Shah plan to establish a Central Museum in the University for advanced research and studies in Musicology and conserving the artifacts scattered in different locations. All the materials of archaeological importance scattered in the University including the Archaeological section, will be provided better space and importance and will be preserved will a professional approach. Researchers working in the University and also those from outside institutions will hugely benefit with the proposed change. The Central Museum will open from 8 am to 5 pm on all working days. The Department of Musicology and History will jointly work towards professional conservation of the artifacts and developing a state-of-the-art Central Museum.

The Advance Diploma in Environmental Engineering (ADEE) course has also been re-launched from the session 2013-14 at the University Polytechnic while the Centre of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Research has been upgraded to a full-fledged Department of Cardiology. A DM (Cardiology) course will also be started in this department.

Zameer Uddin Shah did not confined himself to the betterment of the students and extended his concerns to the faculty. He addressed problems of Faculty members. He is committed to conducting selection committee meetings for filling all vacant positions in due course of time. Three dozen teaching positions lying vacant in JN Medical College and Dental College have been filled through marathon selection committees held over the past few days. 28 selection committees have been held in Medical and Dental College in the last four days.

Further presently the Vice-Chancellor is available to ordinary students and that has increased their trust and confidence level. He is giving students time to meet regularly. Students air their views after Friday prayers and there is time reserved for them to meet him in the office between 3-4 pm, where University dress is compulsory according to AMU culture.

He did not spared the sports too. Sports facilities were on his top priority. These facilities are not being fully utilized. Basket Ball and Volleyball courts have been constructed in every hall of residence. An Indoor Badminton Court had been inaugurated and we hope to have an Olympic size open air swimming pool of international standard in the University for boys. The present swimming pool will be made exclusively for girls.

He plan to establish a Hockey Academy in the University to prepare students for national and international level games and bring back to the University its glory and pride in hockey. He had discussed the proposition with the Olympian and former Indian Hockey Captain Mr. Zafar Iqbal. The Hockey Astro Turf of international standard had been constructed in the University and now national and international level matches could be organized in AMU.

Old boys of the AMU have always played a vital role in the development of the University. Zamer Uddin Shah, urged AMU alumni to come forward to help their alma mater as it was the time to pay back. No institution can make progress in infrastructure development without the help and assistance from its alumni. AMU alumni world-wide have passion and love for their alma mater and will be generous in grants for development of AMU.

A visit to the campus reveal that presently the campus is academically on move and the AMU is heading towards academic excellence. This is the time when every section of the University and saner elements of the society should come forward to cooperate with the Vice-Chancellor in retrieving the Aligarian culture and pushing AMU on top. END

(Jasim Mohammad is the editor of The Aligarh Movement monthly magazine and can be reached atjasimmd@gmail.com)

Distribution of 10,000 ‘School Kits’ is targeted this year

By TCN News,

Hyderabad: Popular Front of India is promoting education through annual ‘School Chalo Campaign’ and other regular activities. PFI is working for the welfare of the people especially the minorities, backward classes and marginalised section in India. Popular Front of India works for an “India with Equal Rights for All”.

A press statement from PFI state unit said, “Education is the basic need for the empowerment of the down trodden sections of the community.”

D.S Habibullah speaking to media

A press conference was held in Guntur today, attended by PFI State Vice-President, D.S Habeebullah, General Secretary, Mohammed Arif Ahmed, Secretary Syed Nazeer Shaheen and State Executive council member Mohammed Abdullah Khan and Hussain Basha and Guntur District President Mohammed Inayathullah.

While inaugurating the campaign, DS Habeebullah informed that last year they had targeted 7000 school students and this year they plan to distribute 10000 school kits, worth nearly 20 lakh rupees.

He also appealed to general public to donate for the cause.

Advocate Y Koteshwar Rao, President of Social Justice Party and Advocate Royal, Guntur District president of Human Rights Forum also attend conference.

TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,

New Delhi: The University Grants Commission (UGC) has invited applications for the award of 756 fellowships for the year 2013-14 under Maulana Azad National Fellowship (MANF) for the benefit of Minority Students belonging to Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Buddhist and Parsi communities. The fellowship will cover the students who are pursuing studies M.Phil/Ph.D degree (full time) in Sciences, Engineering and Technology, Humanities and Social Sciences.

However, the students availing themselves of the benefit of JRF of UGC-NET or UGC-CSIR NET are not eligible to apply.

Selection will be made on the basis of merit. The guidelines of the scheme, detailed terms and conditions of the fellowship, eligibility etc may be seen by logging on to the UGC website www.ugc.ac.in. Applications in the prescribed format may be submitted only through on line mode latest by one month’s time from the date of publication of the advertisement (non-extendable) by logging on to website www.ugc.ac.in/manf. On-line submission interface will be available on 14/05/2013 onwards.

The decision of the Commission with regard to selection of candidates for the award of fellowships shall be final. Some of the important points for the procedure are – the applications submitted only through online mode shall be entertained and no application submitted in hard copy shall be entertained or considered for award of fellowship in any circumstances whatsoever.

The record of the non-selected candidates shall not be preserved beyond three months from the date of declaration of results, which will be notified in the UGC website.

The objective of the Fellowship is to provide integrated five year fellowships in the form of financial assistance to students from minority communities, as notified by the Central Government to pursue higher studies such as M. Phil and Ph.D. The Fellowship will cover all Universities/Institutions recognized by the University Grants Commission (UGC) under section 2(f) and section 3 of the UGC Act alongwith those which are not under the purview of UGC and will be implemented by the Ministry of Minority Affairs through UGC for students belonging to the minority communities. The fellowship holders under this Fellowship will be known as Ministry of Minority Affairs scholars.

By Mohit Dubey, IANS,

Lucknow : The ruling Samajwadi Party's decision to withdraw cases against terror accused and slap cases against police officers, apparently to appease Muslim voters in Uttar Pradesh, would play havoc with the morale of the police, serving and former officers say.

"Who will work to nab terrorists after this? If vote bank politics is allowed to continue like this, no sane cop will put himself in danger in the line of duty," a senior officer of the Uttar Pradesh Police's anti-terrorist squad said.

He cited the state government's recent decisions to withdraw cases against 15 terror accused, refer local cases to the Central Bureau of Intelligence (CBI) and slap cases of conspiracy and murder against 42 police officer, including a retired director general of police (DGP).

For the record, all that the government will say is that the cases are being withdrawn to maintain communal harmony and promoting public welfare. Officers say it is worrying that cases are being withdrawn without any re-investigation or following procedures.

"I am shocked at the way this government is functioning. How can you slap cases on a departmental head like a DGP? And that too, after three years of his retirement for something which happened recently," former DGP of Uttar Pradesh K.L. Gupta said.

Terming the decision as "nothing but vote bank politics", Gupta warned that it would affect the spirit of hard working and well-meaning police officers.

Uttar Pradesh sends the largest number of MPs - 80 - to the Lok Sabha. General elections are due in April-May, 2014. The Samajwadi Party had promised in its manifesto for the 2012 assembly elections that all "innocent" people in jail would be released but so far has only moved on those accused of terror.

The assembly elections had seen the Samajwadi Party storming back to power, winning 224 of the 403 seats in the house.

A first information report (FIR) was lodged against 42 police officers, including former DGP Vikram Singh, for conspiring to kill Khalid Mujahid, an accused in the serial blasts of 2007.

Khalid died last week while he was being brought back from a court in Faizabad, about 120 km from here, to a prison in the state capital Lucknow where he was lodged. "I am proud of the fact that under my directions Khalid was arrested. Evidence is there that he was a terrorist," Vikram Singh told IANS.

Admitting that such cases would have an adverse effect on the morale of the state police, he said: "In the line of duty, even if one faces 10 such cases to save the country from the scourge of terror, so be it."

Serving officers, too, said it was very unfortunate that such decisions were being taken by the political executive. "Our tongues are tied as we are in office. But the developments are sad," said a senior police officer who did not wish to be identified.

While the state government has referred the probe into Khalid's death to the CBI, officers named in the FIR said it would "expose the government". Other than this, the state government Tuesday asked its law officers to coordinate with the district authorities on withdrawing cases against 16 of the 29 terror accused in prisons in the state.

Social activist Nutan Thakur told IANS that the state government move was "ominous and dangerous for the country's security." Once the matter is in court, the law should be allowed to take its own course, she said, adding the withdrawal of cases would not only undermine the police's fight against terror but would also polarize the society.

Home Secretary R.N. Upadhyaya said that the 16 people against whom the cases will be withdrawn include Taiq Kasmi, Ahmad Hasan aka Babu, Shamim Ahmad, Khalid Mujahid (now dead), Javed alias Guddu, Taj Mohammad, Maksood, Arshad, Sitara Begum, Imtiaz Ali, Mohd Kalim Akhtar, Mohd Yakub and Nasir Hussain. One of the accused, Mirza Shadab Beg, is absconding.

Meanwhile, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has not lost the opportunity to hit back at the government.

"We have been saying this all through, and now it is quite clear that the Akhilesh Yadav government is out to appease the minorities even if it means subjugating law and hitting the morale of the police, which is already bullied by its (SP's) party workers," BJP state spokesperson Vijay Bahadur Pathak said.

He added that the chief minister has himself admitted that the reason for Khalid's death appears to be illness. "With its ratings slipping in the public, this government is working at cross purposes in order to keep its Muslim vote bank intact," Pathak added.

Muslims make up 22 percent of Uttar Pradesh's 20 crore population

(Mohit Dubey can be contacted at mohit.d@ians.in)

By IANS,

Dubai : The Indian consulate in Jeddah is using diplomatic channels to make passport authorities in Saudi Arabia accept newly-designed Indian passports, which they are refusing saying they were not officially informed about the change.

According to Consul General Pranav Ganesh, the consulate is aware of the “unexpected problem”, the Arab News reported Tuesday.

“The matter has been taken up with the (Indian) embassy in Riyadh that is coordinating with Saudi foreign ministry to officially intimate the change in passport design to passport department authorities,” the report quoted Ganesh as saying.

After Indian expatriates submitted their old passports, the Saudi authorities refused to transfer data from the old passports to the new ones saying they were unaware of the change in design.

While the old passport had the holder's photograph on the second page, the new one has it on the third page.

Even after the Indians obtained a letter from the Jeddah consulate confirming the validity of the new passport, the Saudis refused to relent saying that the validity of the new passport should come from that Gulf nation's foreign ministry.

Ganesan said the Saudi authorities will start accepting the new passports “within a short period” and added that this change in design occurs every 10 or 20 years.

Indian workers have been thronging the Indian embassy in Riyadh and the consulate in Jeddah ever since a new labour policy was implemented in that country.

The Nitaqat or Saudisation policy makes it mandatory for all Saudi companies to reserve 10 percent of jobs for Saudi nationals.

The Indian missions in that country earlier appealed to all affected Indian workers to either rectify their residency status or leave the country.

Affected workers have been trying to take advantage of a grace period announced by the Saudi authorities that is currently under way and will end July 3.

There are around two million expatriate Indians in Saudi Arabia, many of them blue collar workers.

By TwoCircles.net Staff reporter,

Lucknow: In sudden move, Akhilesh Yadav led UP government has suspended nine policemen who accompanied Khalid Mujahid while escorting him from Faizabad to Lucknow Jail on Saturday. Khalid had died under mysterious circumstances on his way back from Faizabad near Ram Sanehi Ghat last Saturday.

He was declared brought dead by the doctors at district hospital in Barabanki. Later, on the complain of his uncle Zahir Alam Falahi, a case was registered against 42 police officers including former DGP Vikram Singh, ADG Brijlal and others who were on duty during the time of Khalid's arrest.

Khalid Mujahid

These suspended 9 police officers are different from these 42 policemen.

The suspended policemen include Sub Inspector Ram Awadhram, constables Chandrashekhar, Anand Prakash, Jitendra,Manoj Kumar, Ramji Yadav, Deepak Kumar, Jaiprakash and constable driver Lalaram.

All were posted at Lucknow police lines. They had escorted Khalid Mujahid, Tariq Qasmi from Lucknow Jail to Faizabad court. The suspension orders have been issued by SSP Lucknow, J Ravindra Gaud. The reason being given for suspension is laxity in duty for not taking Khalid to nearest hospital for treatment.

Khalid pic before post mortem

Khalid had fainted on way at Barabanki, according to police and was taken to District Hospital, Barabanki where he was declared brought dead by the doctors. Autopsy report has been inconclusive in finding out the reason for death. However, photographs taken before his body was taken for the autopsy, accessed by TCN, clearly show torture marks on the face and blood clots. Speaking to TCN, his uncle Zaheer Alam Falahi, who saw the dead body in the hospital, confirmed that although his nephew was quite fair, his face appeared to have turned black and that his neck was swollen as if someone twisted it. There were blood marks as well on face, and ankle, elbow, etc had turned black.

Khalid along with Tariq Qasmi was arrested by Special Task Force (STF) on 20 December 2007 from Barabanki. Huge explosives were also shown as recovered from his possession. STF claimed that he was involved in the serial blasts which occurred in Gorakhpur, Faizabad and Lucknow. Later, Nimesh Commission was constituted headed by Justice R D Nimesh who in its report raised fingers over STF's claim about the place of arrest.

Janaza of Khalid Mujahid

Later, Samajwadi Party government headed by CM Akhilesh Yadav as per their poll promise had moved a plea to revoke the terror charges but they were turned down by local court in Barabanki. Process was however going on for withdrawing his case from other districts.

By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,

Aurangabad: Muslims of Maharashtra through Muslim Reservation Conference in Aurangabad gave a loud and clear message to all the political parties that “No reservation means No vote”. Organized jointly by Muslim Reservation Front, Awami Vikas Party, JDS, and MIM the Muslim reservation conference attracted huge number of Muslims especially youngsters at the venue, Aam Khaas ground which was packed to limits with swelling crowd.

The star speaker of the conference was Hyderabad MP and president of Majlis-e-Itehadul Muslimeen Asaduddin Owaisi who attacked directly ruling Congress party and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and accused them of emotionally exploiting Muslims of Maharashtra just to gain their votes and power.

Formerly an ally of Congress now its nemesis, Owaisi even alleged that Congress party hatched a conspiracy to deny Muslims their right to live with self-respect in this nation. Owaisi urged Maharashtra Muslims to give evidence that they are a dynamic community, he urged them to stand up and fight for their rights and stop voting for the parties which claimed to be secular but deny Muslims their basic rights.

Known for his articulated style of argument Asaduddin Owaisi lambasted ruling Congress and NCP government in Maharashtra by quoting statistics from different government conducted surveys on the condition of Muslims in the state. Quoting National Minorities Development & Finance Corporation (NMDFC) he said 6.8% Muslims in Maharashtra hold bank accounts, but only 0.2% was able to get bank loans.

He even alleged that NMDFC is not doing its job properly in the state, he said its micro credit scheme of 350 crores didn’t yield any result and 3311 labors from other minority communities were allotted loans but loan application of traditional weavers of Malegaon and Bhiwandi were rejected.

Asaduddin Owaisi, going by his emotional slang charged the crowd on every occasion asking them to introspect the reason for their under representation in Govt. jobs. Speaking on representation of Muslims in Maharashtra police he said out of 1, 80,000 personnel only 1,945 are Muslims. He then made contentious remarks saying if Muslim representation would have been there in Maharashtra police, Dhule town police firing in which six Muslims were bruttaly killed wouldn’t had taken place, than he also requested media not make a post mortem of his words.

Mr. Owaisi was recently banned by Aurangabad police from entering the city after hate speech controversy of his brother, and he had to go to High Court to quash that ban. Now charged with thousands of crowd listening to him, he slammed former Maharashtra CM and present Union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde for giving “promises as toffee” to the Muslims but not doing any ground work.

He said Home Minister promised fast track court for Muslims, but not implementing the same in the states where his party is ruling. Quoting a survey Owaisi said 23% (5,600) of jail inmates in Maharashtra are Muslims, out of which 65% are between the age group of 18-35.

He also added that central UPA Government is not implementing its schemes properly in four minority concentrated districts of Aurangabad, Hingoli, Prabhani, and Nanded of Maharashtra. Quoting figures on housing scheme he said the target of the scheme was 11,670 houses, out of which only 3,265 was built, and only 20% of those houses were allotted to Muslims.

Owaisi stressed that both state and central government failed to provide opportunities to Muslims, he said if Muslims of Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh can get OBC reservation than there is no reason why they should be deprived of the same quota in Maharashtra, by Government which is ruled by parties who claim to be secular.

Sushila Morale, President of OBC Sangharsh Samiti in her bold speech said that as opted from judicial decisions, central government should make constitutional changes to facilitate the way for Muslim reservation in OBC category. She also added that politicians and policy makers should stop playing the card of refusing Muslim OBC reservation on procedural and constitutional grounds.

Amid huge applause Convener of the Muslim Reservation Conference, and Janta Dal (secular) leader Ajmal Khan, threatened fast unto death, a state wide agitation to campaign for Muslim OBC reservation in Maharashtra, he said to create awareness among Muslim community in the state there is a need to intensify the agitation.

Meanwhile Aurangabad city police booked convener of the conference Ajmal Khan for violating the norms of the permission granted, police alleged that permission was granted for conducting a conference but program turned out to be a political function.

Some AMU alumni had met Delhi CM requesting her to declare Sir Syed haveli as national heritage.

By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,

New Delhi: Department of Archaeology, Govvernment of NCT of Delhi has expressed its inability in identifying the exact haveli and birthplace of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan.

On 26 November 2012 a team of senior AMU Alumni based in Delhi lead by P Mohammad with Mohammad Aslam and Minnat Rahmani had met Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit at her residence with demand for acquiring, restoring and declaring the haveli and birth place of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan as a “National Heritage Site” by the Government of NCT of Delhi.

The head of archeology department, Rajesh Sachdeva has written a letter to Parwez Mohammad on 15-May-2013 in this regard and informed him that the archaeology department’s officials did visit the said site, but found that is “very difficult to identify the house where Sir Syed Ahmed Khan once lived due to development in and around the property in question for last several years.”

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan was the pioneer of modern education in India and his role in establishing Mohammmedan Anglo Oriental (MAO) College in 1875 at Aligarh. Later in 1920 as Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) a central university was a historic step for spreading modern education and scientific temperament among Indians. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, one of the architects of modern India was born on October 17, 1817 in Delhi.

Presently in the bustling by-lanes of Darya Ganj market, a piece of Indian history is gathering dust. A crumbling four-storey haveli, located near the Aulia Masjid, where this great educationist Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, founder of the Anglo Mohammedan College, now known as Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), grew up. The grand haveli has now been divided into pigeon-hole apartments. So much so that even identifying the mansion is a near impossible task.

After so many years, only some parts of the former haveli still resembles what it looked like in those times, as no steps were taken to conserve it. According to sources, about eight to 10 families live in the mansion today. With the paint on the walls peeling off, the floor chipped in several places and dust and cobwebs in every corner, the present state of the mansion does not do justice to its historical status.

“Sir Syed stayed at Goodenough House in London for 7 months during his trip to England (1869). The house bears the plate "English Heritage" and that Sir Syed lived here. The great sense of history prevails in UK and still below plate is a reminder of a place Sir Syed stayed in London. But we Indians have lost our own historical heritage and there is no sign of Sir Syed birth place and haveli in the very heart of Delhi,” said P Mohammad.

Based on this meeting Chief Minister has asked to Department of Archaeology, Government of NCT of Delhi to look into the actual place, identify the actual house where Sir Syed Ahmad Khan lived once as this place is now occupied by many people.

It further quoted from a report prepared by Wasim Ahmed Khan, former treasurer of AMU Old Boys Association that the said site has been encroached upon or purchased by different people and that the said property has not been identified so far due to various changes that have taken place during last one century.

Archaeology department has hence requested the senior AMU alumni to help in locating the exact site.

P Mohammad with the team of senior AMU Alumni is now working to create a team of experts in this area so that the actual haveli can be located. He added that they will provide all support to the government so that haveli and birth place of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan can be declared as a national heritage site.

By Dr. Syed Ahmed, for TwoCircles.net,

Imphal: A Muslim boy from Manipur has created history by topping the High School Leaving Certificate (HSLC) Examination 2013 conducted by Nagaland Board of School Education.

The boy, named Md. Helaluddin Shah, secured 96.16%, total of 577 marks out of 600. He is student of M.G.M. Higher Secondary School, Dimapur.

Md. Helaluddin Shah

Md. Helaluddin Shah is the son of Md. Islauddin Shah and Sanarembi, a resident of Borayangbi, in Bishenpur District. He stays with his father in Dimapur. His father works as a teacher in a private school, while his mother is a house-wife. He is the fourth among five children. He has been studying at Dimapur since Std. I.

In a telephone conversation with the media-persons from Manipur, Md. Helaluddin Shah expressed that he wants to go to Delhi to pursue higher studies. He aspires to join Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) after completing Std. XII.

Md. Helaluddin Shah hopes to become an IAS officer and serve the nation. He said that Nagaland has better academic atmosphere compared to Manipur as there are fewer bandhs and blockades. School syllabus is covered in time in Nagaland.

Md. Helaluddin Shah further said that he had not depended on extra tuition classes unlike others for the HSLC Exam. He said that he had just taken tuitions for the English subject in the month of January. Instead, he maintained that he study for 6/7 hours everyday.

Various civil society organizations of Manipur have praised Md. Helaluddin Shah for his achievement. All Manipur Muslim Students' Organization (AMMSO) has also congratulated Md. Helal-uddin Shah for the extraordinary feat. The body has also praised his parents, teachers and relatives who all had made the achievement possible. The body is planning to felicitate Md. Helaluddin Shah along with three Muslims, namely Wangmayum Mustakim, Sohrab Jubeir and D.P. Sakib, for their achievements in the HSLC Examination 2013 conducted by Board of Secondary Education Manipur (BOSEM) in a grand way. Muslim Social Workers’ Union has also hailed Md. Helaluddin Shah for his achievement and announced that an amount of Rs. 20,000 will be given to him.

Wangmayum Mustakim of Guru Nanak Public School, Imphal stood 16th position by securing 458 marks out of 500. Md. Sohrab Jubeir of Standard Robarth Higher Secondary School, Canchipur stood 18th position by securing 456 marks out of 500. D.P. Sakib of Brilliant Public School, Samurou stood 19th position by securing 455 marks out of 500.

Parliamentary Secretary of Minority and Other Backward Classes (MOBC), Government of Manipur, Md. Amin Shah has also congratulated Md. Helaluddin Shah for his achievement.

By IANS,

New Delhi : A panel of intellectuals including actors, filmmakers and journalists have appealed to the people to join activist Irom Chanu Sharmila in her demand for annulling the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) in Manipur.

"People know Irom Sharmila only as a lady with a tube in her nose. Even I for that matter got to know about her only five years ago. There is a need to raise awareness about her," veteran Bollywood actor Sharmila Tagore said here Tuesday evening.

She was speaking at the launch of a book "Iron Irom Two Journeys - Where the Abnormal is Normal", authored by documentary filmmaker Minnie Vaid.

Irom Sharmila, a human rights activist, has been demanding withdrawal of the AFSPA from the state, and is on an indefinite hunger strike for nearly a decade now.

Dubbed the 'Iron Lady of Manipur', she began her fast on November 2, 2000, after witnessing the killing of 10 people by the army at a bus stop.

Vaid, who has worked extensively in the strife-torn state, asked why the government was silent over Sharmila's peaceful protest.

"Let's talk more and more about Sharmila and write books on her. We have to support anti-AFASP movement if we respect her and want her to lead a normal life," Vaid said.

Pradip Phanjoubam, editor of the Imphal Free Press newspaper, was also present on the occasion.

"AFSPA is the failure of liberal India. Its existence in the state is biggest failure for the country," Phanjoubam said.

Irom Sharmila is currently admitted to the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences in Manipur capital Imphal.

The AFSPA was passed in 1990 to grant special powers and immunity from prosecution to security forces to deal with raging insurgencies in the northeastern states of India.

By TCN News,

Aligarh: Mohd. Afzal, Research Scholar of the Chemistry Department at the Aligarh Muslim University has been selected to participate in the 63rd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting to be held in Germany from June 28 to July 07, 2013.

Mohd. Afzal

Dr. Afzal is doing research under the supervision of Professor Sartaj Tabassum, Bio-inorganic Division, Department of Chemistry, AMU. He has been invited by the Council for the Nobel Laureate Meeting.

Six hundred students have been selected from eighty countries including one from AMU to attend 63rd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting.

By IANS,

Dubai : The problem of Saudi Arabian immigration authorities not accepting newly designed Indian passports has been resolved, according to the Indian embassy in Riyadh.

India's Ambassador Hamid Ali Rao raised the issue during a meeting with Saudi Deputy Minister of Interior Ahmed Bin Mohammed Al-Salem Tuesday and the matter was clarified, local media reported Wednesday

“Some cases were reported in Jeddah where perhaps immigration authorities were not aware of the new format of the passport but it was resolved,” the Arab News quoted Sibi George, India's deputy chief of mission in Riyadh, as saying.

“The issue has been clarified and the matter has been resolved.”

Stating that there is no need to be concerned over this, he said: “The Saudi side has acknowledged the matter and they are working to help Indian workers on all cases, including on the matter of the refusal of the passports.”

After Indian expatriates submitted their old passports, the Saudi authorities refused to transfer data from the old passports to the new ones, saying they were unaware of the change in design.

While the old passport had the holder's photograph on the second page, the new one has it on the third page.

Even after the Indians obtained a letter from the Jeddah consulate confirming the validity of the new passport, the Saudis refused to relent, saying that the validity of the new passport should come from that Gulf nation's foreign ministry.

Indian workers have been thronging the Indian embassy in Riyadh and the consulate in Jeddah ever since a new labour policy was implemented in that country.

The Nitaqat or Saudisation policy makes it mandatory for all Saudi companies to reserve 10 percent of jobs for Saudi nationals.

The Indian missions in that country earlier appealed to all affected Indian workers to either rectify their residency status or leave the country.

Affected workers have been trying to take advantage of a grace period announced by the Saudi authorities that is currently under way and will end July 3.

There are around two million expatriate Indians in Saudi Arabia, many of them blue collar workers.

A candle vigil was organized in the evening paying homage to Khalid Mujhaid.

By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,

Lucknow: Rihai Manch (Forum for the Release of Innocent Muslims imprisoned in the name of Terrorism) today started an indefinite dharna outside the state Assembly, demanding arrest of police officers involved in Khalid Mujahid's murder.

Rihai Manch has announced that in coming days they will gherao the Muslim legislatures and ministers to press for their demand. Protesters warned that those clergies believed to be closer to the ruling SP government, should be careful to face the consequences if they try to hinder the protest.

Khalid had fainted on his way at Barabanki on Saturday, according to police and was taken to District Hospital, Barabanki where he was declared brought dead by the doctors. Autopsy report has been inconclusive in finding out the reason for death. However, photographs taken before his body was taken for the autopsy, accessed by TCN, clearly show torture marks on the face and blood clots.

Speaking to TCN, his uncle Zaheer Alam Falahi, who saw the dead body in the hospital, confirmed that although his nephew was quite fair, his face appeared to have turned black and that his neck was swollen as if someone twisted it. There were blood marks as well on face, and ankle, elbow, etc had turned black.

Khalid along with Tariq Qasmi was arrested by Special Task Force (STF) on 20 December 2007 from Barabanki. Huge explosives were also shown as recovered from his possession. STF claimed that he was involved in the serial blasts which occurred in Gorakhpur, Faizabad and Lucknow. Later, Nimesh Commission was constituted headed by Justice R D Nimesh who in its report raised fingers over STF's claim about the place of arrest.

Government has earlier claimed that Khalid had fainted on his way back and that he might have died due to heart attack or heat stroke. However, photographs taken before his body was taken for the autopsy, clearly show torture marks on the face and blood clots. Speaking to TCN, his uncle Zaheer Alam Falahi, who saw the dead body in the hospital, confirmed that although his nephew was quite fair, his face appeared to have turned black and that his neck was swollen.

There were blood marks as well on his face, and ankle, elbow, etc had turned black, he added. His family members and rights groups believe that he was murdered by police to protect those involved in his ‘wrongful’ arrest.
On the complain of his uncle Zahir Alam Falahi, a case was registered on Sunday morning against 42 police officers including former DGP Vikram Singh, ADG Brijlal and others who were on duty during the time of Khalid's arrest for murder and conspiracy.

In sudden move, Akhilesh Yadav led UP government on Tuesday suspended nine policemen who accompanied Khalid Mujahid while escorting him from Faizabad to Lucknow Jail on Saturday. These suspended 9 police officers are different from these 42 policemen. Earlier UP government has ordered for a CBI enquiry into the causes of death as even the autopsy report was inconclusive in finding out the exact cause of death.

Speakers also warned that the SP government cannot make a community fool any longer by giving false promises.

They also raised the issue of attack by lawyers in Faizabad on Advocate Mohammed Salim, an associate of Advocate Jamal Ahmed, who was lawyer of Khalid Mujahid in Faizabad case. Attackers had also ransacked chambers of Advocate Shakilur Rehman,Jamal Ahmed and Nadeem Ahmed.

Condeming the attack, Rihai Manch has demanded the arrests of hooligans of SP, Bajrang Dal, Hindu Yuva Vahini and BJP who were responsible for attack. Spokesperson of the Rihai Manch has blamed the Samajwadi Party for encouraging the communal elements to prevent oppositions and demonstrations in support of ‘martyr’ Khalid Mujahid.

President of Rihai Manch Advocate Mohammad Shoaib, National President of Indian national League mohammad Suleman, General Secretary of Rihai Manch, former IG SR Darapuri, Magsaysay awarded social worker Sanddep Pandey, Asad Hayat of Awami Council, Rajeev Yadav and Shahnwaz Alam of Rihai Manch among others participated in the protest.

In the evening a candle vigil was organized paying homage to Khalid Mujahid.

Rajeev Yadav of Rihai Manch told TCN, "We will use different methods of protest in the coming days as well and continue or dharna till our demands of sacking and arresting the erring cops are met."

By IANS,

Mumbai : The National Investigation Agency (NIA) Wednesday filed its charge sheet against four men, accused in the 2006 Malegaon bomb blast case, before a Special MCOCA court, officials said.

The charge sheet, filed before Special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) Court Judge Prithviraj Chavan has named Lokesh Sharma, Dhan Singh, Rajendra Choudhary and Manohar Narwaria, who were arrested during the past one year, said an NIA source.

They have been charged with murder, planning and conspiring and triggering the deadly blast during Friday afternoon 'namaaz' near Hamidiya Mosque.

Besides these four, the NIA probe continues against several other accused in the Sep 8, 2006, blast case which left 37 dead and more than 125 injured.

Soon after the blasts, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad had nabbed nine Muslim youths from Malegaon as suspects in the blast.

They were: Noorul Huda Shamsud Doha, Shabbir Ahmed Massiullah, Raees Ahmed Rajjab Ali Mansuri, Salman Farsi Abdul Latif Aimi, Farokh Iqbal Ahmed Magdumi, Mohammed Ali Alam Shaikh, Asif Bashir Khan, Mohammed Zahif Abdul Majeed Ansari and Abrar Ahmed (who later turned approver).

However, in 2011, after the role of a Hindu right-wing group in the terror strike came to the light with the arrest of Swami Aseemananda, the NIA investigations took a different course.

"All the nine accused (above) were granted bail after the Jamiat Ulama-e-Maharashtra took up their case in the Special MCOCA Court. Special Judge Y.D. Shinde granted bail and the NIA did not oppose it," said JUM spokesperson and lawyer Shahid N. Ansari.

Interestingly, the probe by ATS had been taken over by the Central Bureau of Investigation, which endorsed the ATS's findings until the NIA exposed the new dimension to the blast case and the probe.

After Wednesday's charge sheet, the NIA is likely to file a supplementary charge sheet in the near future, naming more accused in the case, Ansari said.

Malegaon, a Muslim-dominated powerloom town in Nashik district, around 300 km from here, was rocked by another terror strike on Sep 29, 2008. The blast killed six people and injured over 60 others.

It was allegedly perpetrated by Hindu right-wing activists, including Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and others.

By Abdul Gani, TwoCircles.net,

Kharupetia (Darrang): A sleepy hamlet, No 2 Dhansiri Kash, some 17 kilometres away from the National Highway 52 which is 100 odd kilometre from the state capital Guwahati in Assam. Most of the people of village are either farmers or the daily wage earners with a very minimal earning but they are determined to bring a change.

The villagers, however, have realized the importance of educating their girl child and ensured that every girl in the village goes to school. A visit to Shyamtila Middle English Madrassa would be enough to understand fact as more than 70 per cent out of 200 students of the school are girls.

The village which comes under greater Shyamtilla area has 1200 voters. “The villagers have become more conscious and aware of the importance of education of the girl child than ever,” Zamat Ali, the head master of the school told TCN.

The school which was established in 1989 is a major role in providing basic education, in spite of not getting major help from the government, to the locality spreading an area nearly 4 square kilometre.

“We too try our best to provide the necessary lessons to the students with our limited resources. Almost all the students belong to the poor families and their parents have bestowed the responsibility on us,” Ali said whose main earning source is cultivation.

But Ali and his seven member-staff are happy doing their job and bringing smile to many. “We feel proud whenever we see our students doing better jobs than us,” the head master said, who has been involved with the school for two decades.

“I feel we could have done better if we could have devoted more time in the school. We also have to think for our earnings to run our families as we don’t get money from the school,” Ainul Hoque, a science teacher of the school.

The village with a majority of people belonging to the Muslim community is also taking serious steps towards the population measures. Several bodies including All Assam Minority Students Union (AAMSU) are organizing several awareness programmes in this regard.

“It’s really encouraging that the villagers have expressed their willingness to learn about the population control measures. I think by sending the girls to the school is one of the best ways to control the population in a natural way,” said Dr Illias Ali, Professor of Surgery and Head of the Department of Emergency department in Gauhati Medical College and Hospital, who recently visited the place to take part in such an awareness programme.

By TCN News,

Calicut: Popular Front of India welcomed the steps initiated by the Union Home Minister to institute fast-track courts to deal with Muslim prisoners jailed under UAPA and such draconian laws.

In a resolution passed by the national executive council of the organization held in Calicut 0n 18-19th May 2013, the organization observed, “Such urgent measures are necessary to put on trial hundreds of remand prisoners in the country and decide their fate. However, the government should first instruct the state governments to urgently release them on bail. Then and then only the accused will be able to seek legal aid in their defense. It is also quite necessary that the government examine the amendments made to UAPA which give arbitrary powers to the police and make necessary changes in the law to punish delinquent police personnel who misuse the provisions.”

In another resolution the national executive council, condoled the death of Dr MS Jayaprakash of Kerala. As an historian and rights activist Dr Jayaprakash had tried to reshape the historiography of the state which still remain an exclusive domain of cattiest or crypto communal historians. He valiantly fought for the rights of the subaltern classes including Muslims and dalits and has proved that great academics are also great social activists.

K M Shareef the chairman of the Popular Front of India presided over the meeting .OMA Salam presented the activity report.

By TCN News,

New Delhi: Amazon has published an e- book on "Indo-Pak relation" jointly authored by two members of Mission Bhartiyam named Devika Mittal and Ravi Nitesh. The title of the book is "Indo-Pak Relation: Memoirs and Emotions".

Devika Mittal and Ravi Nitesh are also conveners of Aaghaz-e-Dosti, a campaign for Indo-Pak friendship. This book is a collection of articles written by these two members on Indo-Pak relations where they have propagated the need to develop and enhance people to people relations.

Devika Mittal in her articles have tried to view the relations through a common person's perspective. Her basic proposition remains that people on both sides are the same and have the same desire. The evidence for which has been provided by Ravi Nitesh through his articles. Ravi Nitesh has shared his experiences from his visit to Lahore, from the interaction with people of Pakistan and experiences attained by working on this initiatives.

.

Aaghaz-e-Dosti conveys special thanks to all those who are working on Indo-Pak Friendship. In a personal note, Ravi Nitesh remarked, "Though we through Aaghaz-e-Dosti were already working towards Indo-Pak Friendship, but it was really nice and encouraging to visit Pakistan as it gave us more inspiration to work for our goal. We are highly thankful to Dr. Sandeep Pandey (Asha Parivar) from India and Ms. Saeeda Diep (IPSS, Lahore) who had considered me for this visit."

Aaghaz-e-Dosti had also launched a "Calender of Hope" last year and this will now be launched every year wherein paintings from students of both sides of borders will be invited. The selected paintings will be complied into a calendar. Aaghaz-e-Dosti is all set to start some more programs to spread the message of love and more importantly to eliminate mutual misunderstandings, suspicion and hatred from the hearts.

Aagahaz-e-Dosti conveners from India are Devika Mittal, Ravi Nitesh and Shivendra Singh. Shivendra is author of Jnanpith publication book, 'Ye Jo Hai Pakistan' and works as special correspondent for sports activities in a news channel. His book is available at http://www.flipkart.com/yeh-jo-hai-pakistan-hindi/p/itmdffefchnbr24d .

The E- Book 'Indo-Pak Relation: Memoirs and Emotions' can be shopped from Amazon and will be available to read for all Kindle reader, Iphone and Ipad users who have Kindle application. The link is: http://www.amazon.com/INDO-PAK-RELATION-MEMOIRS-EMOTIONS-ebook/dp/B00CDR... . Pubication rights is with Aaghaz-e-Dosti and any part of this book can be republished and used for any non commercial activity.