By IANS,
New Delhi : Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit Wednesday said the government was doing all it could to promote Urdu in the capital.
The chief minister described the language as "a symbol of our composite culture", according to an official statement.
"Urdu educators would get increased honorarium of Rs.2,000 per month instead of Rs.1,500 and a topper would get hiked award of Rs.1,000 instead of Rs.500," the statement said here.
She also praised the work of Delhi's Urdu Academy.
By Ziaulla Nomani, Muallim Magazine,
On the Eve of World heart day, which is in the month of September, we intend to look as to why doctors who fix heart problems are often at the risk of becoming victims of heart attack.
Time and again we have come across the news in mainstream newspapers that the heads of the cardiac departments have died due to heart attack itself. Case in point, Christiaan Barnard, who is considered to be the Pioneering heart surgeon and who performed the world's first human heart transplant in 1967, died due to heart attack.
Dr Nitu Mandke, an eminent city cardiac surgeon died at the Hinduja Hospital in the year 2003 following a severe heart attack.
A Chennai Based Surgeon admits that a couple of his cardiac surgeon friends died in their 40s because of coronary heart disease.
“Stress, is taking toll on surgeons who are required to work long and odd hours in performing life saving operations, researching and writing about the advancement in the respective field about the need and precautions for the betterment of the general public, etc” maintained Mumbai based renowned Cardiac Surgeon, Dr. Zainul Abedin Humdulay, who is a consulting Cardiothoracic surgeon in Mumbai’s reputed Lilavati Hospital, Breach Candy Hospital and Wockhardt Hospital.
Dr.Hamdulay, who heads Dr.Hamdulay’s Cardiac Rehabilitation Centre in Mumbai states that today doctors often deal with life and death situations and this puts more pressure.
In regards to the precautionary measures Dr.Hamdulay says it is essential for these surgeons to practice what they preach to their patients when it comes to leading a healthy lifestyle.
He says that his team has maintained patience’s health education program, which can be read on his website for keeping the heart safe and healthy.
(Dr.Hamdulay is founder of Good Health Concept, Cardiac Rehab Centre and Hamdulay Heart Foundation)
Dr Mohammad Manzoor Alam,
Every few days we learn about some anti-Muslim riot staged somewhere in India. The most unfortunate part is that these riots generally occur in non-BJP states, run by “secular” parties whose credentials are not generally questioned. Not that they do not occur in BJP-ruled states like Gujarat 2002 or Indore (MP) yesterday. The point to note is that they are used to polarise Hindu vote for BJP.
This way the worst record has been that of Samajwadi-ruled Uttar Pradesh, with about 30 anti-Muslim riots since Akhilesh Yadav took over as Chief Minister. It is clear that these riots are not staged by the Samajwadi Party, but by some other group.
However, the question is why can’t the Samajwadi government control riots in Pratapgarh or check the goondas of Mahant Adityanath, or those of Raja Bhaiya? The plain answer is that the SP does not act against their goondas because the mahanth and Raja Bhaiya are SP allies.
But why can’t Nitish Kumar control rioters in Navada, or Ashok Gehlot in his own state? Nitish cannot fight back people who were his allies till yesterday, and Ashok Gehlot does not seem to be in control of his own police and administration.
A very disturbing question is what are the secular parties and their supporters doing when homes and shops are being burnt down and people killed in daylight as policemen watch or participate in the crime? What is the civil society doing?
Is the entire political system ruling and opposition combined–complicit in the mass murder of Muslims? Has the civil society itself become criminalised like German civil society during Hitler’s rule?
To answer the question as to who stages the riots “like theatre” (Paul Brass’s words for anti-Muslim riots in India), the answer is, “whoever benefits from them.” And the only party that benefits from riots is BJP. Digvijay Singh’s warning that BJP would organise a series of riots all over the country to polarise vote on communal lines and win has to be heeded. BJP has no positive agenda, is not capable of one. All it can do is create hatred between citizens and organise violence against religious minorities. Be careful and watch out at least till the next election ends.
(Dr Mohammad Manzoor Alam Chairman Institute of Objective Studies.)
By IANS,
Kolkata : A suspected terror operative has been arrested from West Bengal's North Dinajpur district, police said Thursday.
"We arrested Mohammad Allauddin and recovered 6,000 FICN (fake Indian currency notes) from him along with some incriminating documents. We have presented him in a court and will seek his custody," Superintendent of Police (North Dinajpur) A.K. Chaturvedi said.
Allauddin was arrested late Wednesday night from Karandighi, some 450 km from Kolkata.
"We are probing if he has any his links with any terror outfit," said Chaturvedi.
By Shaheen Mohideen for TwoCircles,
Leading to the final days of the sit-in at Rabaa Al-Adawiya, I came across a Facebook post by eminent American intellectual, political scientist and author of the book ‘What Gandhi Says About Non-violence, Resistance and Courage” among many others, Dr Norman Finkelstein; his honest observation being “Are sustained Muslim Brotherhood protests despite murderous provocation the single greatest example and test in history of Gandhian non-violent resistance?”
Dr. Finkelstein rightly deserves our deepest respect and reverence for such an unprejudiced statement, especially at a time when commentaries by the self-styled liberal media both here in India and abroad are marred by a certain orientalist moral high ground that seeks to recognize only Anglo-Saxon narratives of revolutions and holocausts as worthy of remembrance and romanticization.
So back here in rural India where I hail from the Boston Tea Party incident is mandatory part of the school syllabus whereas you have to be a researcher or possess a really good reading habit to know and understand indigenous anti-colonial uprisings that occurred in my own backyard.
This Eurocentric yardstick has the utmost disdain when human life at the wrong end of the rifle belongs to a Muslim and even worse if he or she is a representative of political Islam or as the media would like to dub them Islamists. Going through secular liberal discourses, one can safely assume that the ‘human’ in human rights and the ‘demos’ in democracy are used with an exclusivist policy towards Islamists.
Even immutable perspectives like justice and equality suffer from the same malaise. We were witness to the opprobrium amongst secular liberals and the Indian media when Dr Binayak Sen was wrongfully detained by the Indian government, and the media to a certain extent was directly responsible in helping to mobilize public opinion and launching various campaigns demanding his release, but at the same time when the Islamic scholar and leader who tried to mobilize Dalits and Muslims on a common political platform, Abdulnasser Maudany, languishes in prison, our secular media follows the maxim ‘silence is golden’ literally. The fact that Maudany’s beliefs and convictions stem from his Islamic faith rather than secular ideals is the primordial reason for such discriminative silence and of late this hypocrisy has become the raison d'etre for secular liberalism.
The most glaring example of such a myopic perspective was seen in Prem Shankar Jha’s article titled “Egypt Takes a Giant Step Towards Civil War” that appeared in Tehelka magazine, one of India’s leading political magazine well known for its unbiased coverage. In his write-up, Mr Jha tries to analyse the 8th July bloodbath when the security forces massacred 55 civilians performing their dawn prayers in cold blood including women and children while they were protesting the illegal detention of President Morsi following the coup of 30th June.
Mr Jha contends that the massacre was the Muslim Brotherhood’s own doing and in his narrative proves the all supreme Egyptian military that transcends democratic accountability to be innocent and the dead as the covert perpetrators. The outrageousness of the article’s logic would make even General Sissi wince.
Mr Jha challenges the fact that the civilians were gunned down while they were performing their dawn prayers, his trump card being that on 8th July the call for prayer was at 4:45 to 5 am much later than 4 am when the shooting reportedly occurred, hence how could they perform dawn prayers at 4 am when the call for prayers is at a much later time is what Mr. Jha bases his logic upon.
Mr. Jha assumed that the call for the dawn prayer at 4:45 am in native Delhi is the same world over. A cursory Google search would have shown that in Egypt and other Arab countries the call for dawn prayer in early July was 3:20 am and this little fact demolishes all of Mr Jha’s arguments.
Later on he calls El-Baradei and Amr Mousa ‘icons of democracy’ – really!! A man who demanded to be made President while hardly getting 2% of the vote in the Presidential elections on one hand and a long time Mubarak ally on the other, then a grim picture is painted predicting mounting death tolls resulting in extremist jihadis sweeping in from Libya and Tunisia to aid the Muslim Brotherhood, and the most flabbergasting observation of all “As the battle intensifies, Salafi TV and radio channels based in Saudi Arabia and the UAE will accuse the soldiers of being traitors to Islam and toadies of infidels who don’t want god’s writ to run in the Muslim world”; we are all well aware that what transpired was the exact opposite, as opposite as it could get.
Each and every observation in that article reeks of ignorance of Islam, Islamists and the Islamic world. Human rights organizations and independent media have after interviews of witnesses, neighbours and onlookers and after analysing extensive video footage have established beyond doubt that the security forces used excessive force on unarmed civilians without any provocation.
The massacre of 55 civilians including women and children in their prayer protesting for the reinstatement of their democratically elected president was analysed by Prem Shankar Jha in the most contemptuous manner. One would wonder why Mr Jha did not use his reasoning and logic at verifying the 20-member Tamarrod gang’s claim to have collected 22 million signatures and being starry eyed in dubbing them as “the largest mass movement in history” rather than toying around with erroneous prayer timings.
If this was the commentary of an expert with all the right academic credentials and with decades of journalistic experience behind him, then I can only imagine what an amateurish response in any other commercial media outlet would look like. It is the same trend globally that when it comes to understanding Islamists, experts often recourse to fatwas of ‘Imam Google Search’ rather than any serious reading or study.
Secular liberalism and priesthood although overtly and diametrically opposed to each other are cut out from the same cloth. Their alliance was for everyone to behold with El General Sissi, ElBaradei, Salafi sheikhs, Imam of Al-Azhar and the Pope of the Coptic Church announcing the coup against President Morsi. The irony is that when separation of church and state remains the cornerstone of secular liberalism, Machiavellian opportunism demanded they cohort with religious authorities to bring down a democratically elected government.
Just as secular liberals lay a sole claim to governance and ownership of democracy and pluralism, similarly the Sheikhs and the Popes lay claim to authority and hermeneutical ownership over religion and its adherents; they both possess the same modus operandi and ostensibly promising deliverance through their respective pursuit of power giving a whole new meaning to the idiom ‘Politics makes for strange bedfellows’.
Such alliances of liberals and priesthood have historically aided empire and this alliance always needed the bulwark of armed forces to enforce their diktats thus creating an unholy trinity the likes of which we are witnessing today in Egypt and hence even a vowed leftist like Hamdeen Sabahi shows the audacity to tweet words of gratitude and praise to the Saudi and UAE monarchs for backing the military bloodbaths in their actions against the terrorists.
Another fitting example of leftist hypocrisy is the appointment of Kamal Abu Eita of the Egyptian Federation of Independent Trade Unions to the position of Labour Minister by the military regime. It is not that the liberals and secularists are enamoured by dictators and monarchs rather they deem the Islamists to be far more threatening that they are ready to suspend their own sacred values and principles.
This traditionally skewed outlook with the imperial demand for demonizing Islam and Muslims have resulted in the other-ization of Islamists. Facts and explanations are only so valid if they are in keeping with the respective metanarratives of the left and the liberals. So when it is apparently clear that the Tammarod and its founder Mohammed Badr have proven to be outright fascists, backed and funded by Mubarak-era remnants, whose support base can hardly squeeze in a telephone booth inciting the military on state-run TV to kill civilians, they are still eulogized with revolutionary credentials.
So when the military issued figures of 20 to 33 million have been conclusively blown apart by communication engineer and Google Earth Expert Amjad Almonzer and brought down to less than half a million, commentators and media pundits still cling onto tens of millions. When David Kirkpatrick in his New York Times article exposed the role of the deep state in undermining the state infrastructure and distribution system, the financial crisis is still laid solely on the incompetence of President Morsi and the initiatives launched by President Morsi to combat corruption, generate employment, etc are not even mentioned. When Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim refuses to protect the FJP headquarters from vandalism and destruction and orders the detention of the President himself, cries of President Morsi’s alleged consolidation of power and Brotherhoodization of the government still echoes.
Even when the Brotherhood has repeatedly and strongly condemned attacks against Christians and churches and when Father Youssef Ayoub, a Coptic priest, boldly stated that the attack on the church in Minya and the looting of Christian homes were the handiwork of military supported thugs to incite chaos and violence, the media still harps on Islamists as the culprits, even when Human Rights Watch states that the vast majority of protesters were not in possession of, let alone displaying or using firearms, liberals still repeatedly shout out that the protesters were armed.
Hence we have this constant blind spotting of Islamists that has to be broken down in order to not only fully understand what the Islamists are all about but also to be able to subject Islamist thoughts and policies to proper social auditing and appropriate criticism.
The phenomenon of Rabba Al-Adawiyya:
“Ironic, but one of the most intimate acts of our body is death and so beautiful appeared my death…”
These verses on the eventuality and embracement of death was scripted by the famed 8th-century Sufi poet and mystic Rābaa Al-Adawiyya al-Qaysiyya, in whose name lies the Rabaa Al-Adawiya Mosque located on the northern edge of Nasr City district in eastern Cairo. These mystic thoughts are a befitting eulogy to the spectre of death that prevailed at Rabaa Al-Adawiya on 14th August 2013.
The day the security forces stepped in marked 46 days of sit-ins by hundreds and thousands at Rabaa Adawiya. The sit-in at Rabaa Al-Adawiya must be marked by history along the likes of the French, the Bolivarian and the Occupy revolutions and should be romanticized as such.
Women, children, old and young against the searing Cairo summer where temperatures soar up to 400 centigrade, the vast majority of them fasting, singing, praying, protesting, newborns, holding weddings, Id-day football tournaments, play and recreation area for children with swings, slides and trampolines, this entire mass of humanity staying there put for 46 days, under the looming threat of instant death either by sniper fire or by the thugs and being depicted as terrorists and extremists by a very unsympathetic media.
Never before has such a colourful revolution that brought out not just men but entire families to the streets have taken place, making this the first comprehensive revolution of sorts and as such deserves a place in history. True to their word of maintaining a non-violent struggle, this mass of humanity was able to stay unprovoked, unmoving in the face of excessive force, live ammunition fire and march forward only armed with their convictions and courage even when loved ones fell one by one in front of them which would have made both Gandhi and Martin Luther proud.
The ensuing horror and mayhem failed to unsettle their resolve reflected well in images of youth marching directly in the line of fire, then falling and scenes of comrades rushing to carry them off and falling again. Almost everybody in the leadership has lost a loved one and to the dismay of the liberals there are no fanatical cries for revenge or retaliation and yet they are called terrorists. Only one among them, Dr ElBaradei shocked by the violence tendered his resignation, but it came a few hundred corpses too late and even in his farewell statement could not muster the courage needed to condemn General Sissi or the security forces.
We can only realize the enormity and efficiency of their efforts when one compares it to the efforts of the CPI(M) in their attempt a couple of weeks back at pressurizing the Kerala Chief Minister, Oomen Chandy to resign for his alleged involvement in a bribery scandal. The CPI(M) had announced a mass sit-in at Trivandrum which would for last for days and only breaking up once the Chief Minister resigns and even citing the revolutionaries of Egypt as an example and inspiration, but in spite of all its revolutionary credentials, glorifying slogans of sacrifice and steadfastness could not manage a sit-in for hardly 24 hours and the failure to do so was owed to logistical issues, food, toilets, etc! This is why the Rabaa Al-Adawiya sit-in and the subsequent demonstrations need to be immortalized as it was an unparalleled feat of endurance, patience, sacrifice and courage seldom witnessed in human history.
Now almost two weeks on and several thousand martyred, thousands more detained, the anti-coup protesters march on, still unprovoked, their leaders jailed, focused and determined more than ever. One could not be reminded at a better moment of Macaulay’s Horatius inspiring his men,
"To every man upon this earth
Death cometh soon or late.
And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers,
And the temples of his Gods”
As I sign out, I cannot help but quote another gem of a Facebook post by Dr Norman Finkelstein that appeared few days later after his above mentioned post “Revolutionary twits tweet while Gandhi’s army marches into the valley of death.”
(Shaheen K Mohideen is part of the leadership of Solidarity Youth Movement in Kerala and has visited Egypt and other Arab states frquently. He is presently working on a book detailing the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.)
By Faisal Sultan,
The incidents of communal violence in Nawada (Bihar), and other places, appears to be part of larger conspiracy to destablise the Nitish Government. The leaders of Bihar -JUDs should be careful about it. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is a worried man these days. He can no longer claim a communal violence-free state as one of the achievements of his nearly eight-year rule.
Citing such examples, an impression would be created that in the event of election- 2014, Communal tension will increase. Local administration and police forces have utterly failed to control such events. We condemned the damage caused to deprived minority business.
Minority demanded from the government to undertake the compensation work to the loss and pay compensation to the affected Muslims . We also demanded repairing work for the Muslim shops and compensation to the affected Muslims on urgent basis. Further the government should take precautionary arrangements in the town during forcoming festival to avoid such incidents in future.
The victims - mainly Muslims - are still struggling, socially and financially to bring the culprit’s under the justice and waiting for the neutral official commissions of inquiry set up on urgent basis.
The threat and fear of communal incidents is on the rise among the people, particularly in the minority community. The Nitish Kumar government has to be alert and must act tough against troublemakers and those conspiring to provoke communal riots.
I personally appreciate higher officials, administration and top police officers including RAF, who later used full force to control the situation. Consequently the situation improved within a week.
The FIR registered requires further investigations into the case by an independent agency other than the appointed Special Investigation Team and filing of charge sheet against culprits.
Officials suspect that two local leaders, involved in illegal stone quarrying in the district, were inciting "communal hatred" as part of business rivalry, a police officer said, adding that the National Security Act would be invoked for preventive detentions and swift action against troublemakers.
(Faisal Sultan is an engineer from Bihar, working in Saudi Arabi, currently in Nawada, Bihar.)
Also by same author:
By TCN News,
Aligarh: The UGC Academic Staff College, Aligarh Muslim University today launched two Orientation Programmes and Subject Refresher Course in Oriental Studies. Seventy university and college lecturers from 11 states including Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Assam, Bihar, J&K, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, MP, UP, Uttarakhand and West Bengal have enrolled for these courses.
23 teachers of Urdu, Arabic, Persian etc. have enrolled for the three-week SRC in Oriental Studies while 47 teachers of various disciplines are attending the four-week Orientation Programmes.
Speaking at the Inaugural function, Prof. A. R. Kidwai, Director, welcomed the participants and highlighted the mission and vision behind organizing these courses. He said that the two major objectives behind these courses is to equip the teachers with better teaching skills and to facilitate an intermingling of people from different states, cultures and linguistic orientations.
Eminent resource persons will deliver lectures on various topics and interactive visits will be organised to the AMU campus, Maulana Azad Library, heritage museum and orphanage.
The programme was attended by course coordinator for SRC in Oriental Studies Professor Sagheer Ifrahim, Department of Urdu and ASC Faculty Dr. Reshma Jamal and Dr. Faiza Abbasi.
By TCN News,
Jaipur: “Seeking knowledge is obligatory in Islam and it is deemed as worshipping God Almighty,” said Dr. Mrs. Abida Afridi, former Head Department of Urdu and Persian, University of Rajasthan. She was addressing the awardee girls and their parents as a chief guest at Felicitation-2013 ceremony, organised by Girls Islamic Organisation (GIO) Of Rajasthan, at National Institute Of Ayurveda Auditorium in Jaipur. She was of the opinion that women education is essential for the progress of any society.
Dr. Qasim Rasool Falahi, State secretary, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, said while presiding over the function, “A woman is the builder of the new generation, she is capable of molding them as she wishes.” He said that a girl child is not taken as a liability in Islam, else a person is assured of entering ‘Jannah’ (paradise) on rearing a girl child without any discrimination between her and a boy.
Dr. Mrs. Shaeena Parveen, Associate Professor at Department of Conservative Dentistry, Rajasthan University Of Health Sciences, advised the girls to seek education for increasing knowledge rather than obtaining a job as, she thought that, progress of a society depends greatly upon the education of girls.
Ubaidah Iqbal, President GIO Rajasthan made it clear, that Islam has made obligatory seeking knowledge that is beneficial without any differentiation between the worldly and the religious one. She enunciated that making a society pious and useful for the country is largely influenced by education among women.
Jaipur District Secretary Saiqa Bhati elaborated the aims and objects of the organisation while giving introducction of the organisation in detail. The stage was piloted by Rizwana while Ibra initiated the function with recitation of the Holy Quran.
Aisha Badr, State Secretary of the organisation, informed that the organisation felicitated 217 genius girls on this occasion, while this was its tenth annual ceremony. She reported that Tabinda Rafeeq stood first with 67.36% marks in PG group while in UG group, Iram Ansari topped with 72.50%. Afreen Khan with 90.80% in 12th Arts, Nawal Mirza with 93.40% in 12th Science and Tabassum Khan with 96.60% in 12th Commerce made it to the top of merit list of the organisation. In 10th class of Rajasthan Board, Afreen Bano gained first rank with 89.50% while in 10th class of the CBSE, two girls, Laiba Talib and Shirin Mirza stood highest with the same marks, i.e. 10 CGPA. Reshama Taqvi, who obtaind gold medal in Sociology honors, was felicitated with special award on this occasion.
By Abdul Gani, TwoCircles.net,
Guwahati: Journalist Forum Assam (JFA) has expressed its utter dismay at the killing of Dr Narendra Dabholkar, a Maharashtra based editor and social reformer, by unidentified gunmen and demanded the authority to nab the culprits for exemplary punishments.
Renowned rationalist Dabholkar, 70, who was the editor of a Marathi weekly titled Sadhana was shot dead in Pune on Tuesday morning reportedly by two men on a motorcycle while he walking nearby Omkareshwar temple. After shooting him at point blank range, the gunmen escaped.
A hardcore campaigner against superstition and black magic in various Indian societies, Dabholkar also founded Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti (Committee for eradication of blind faith) and single handedly fought for a law against such practices.
The JFA, in a statement issued by its president Rupam Barua and secretary Nava Thakuria, pointed out that the assassination of Dabholkar is another example of ongoing attacks on democratic spirit of India.
The JFA also strongly urged the Maharashtra government to pass its proposed anti-superstition and black magic bill to honour the great reformer, who propagated scientific thoughts based on rationalism among the common people.
By TCN News,
Manchester: The Prime Minister David Cameron, along with Faiths Minister Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, met Hazrat Allama Qamaruzzaman Azmi during his historic visit to North Manchester Jamia Mosque during Ramadan.
Allama Qamaruzzaman Azmi discussed the current issues and challenges facing the world including, the plight of Rohingya Muslims in Burma, Syrian crisis as well as the safety and security of Mosques and Muslim communities in the UK.
The Prime Minister appreciated the community services of the renowned spiritual scholar Allama Qamaruzzaman Azmi and said that his work was contributing greatly towards community integration and promotion of inter-faith dialogue.
Allama Qamaruzzaman Azmi said: “I thank the Prime Minister for taking time out from his busy schedule to come and meet with the British Muslim community in Manchester”.
“During his landmark visit he championed the contributions that British Muslims are making in all walks of life and listened to some of the real concerns that the community are facing”, he said.
Following this meeting the Prime Minister and Faiths Minister Baroness Warsi took a tour of the Mosque which caters for 2,000 people through daily worship, after-school clubs, youth projects and support groups and had a frank and open discussion with a mixed group of young and old people where Mr Cameron heard the concerns of Muslims about attacks on their community following the horrific murder of Drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich.
He restated the commitment of the UK government to tackling anti-Muslim hatred and condemned the recent Islamophobic attacks in the strongest possible terms, saying the UK needed to be intolerant of intolerance. His government has set up a cross government working group on anti-Muslim hatred and fund an organisation, Tell MAMA, which records attacks and supports victims.
David Cameron spent two hours with the mosque community during his visit and stated his support for the Big Iftar programme, which has seen scores of mosques up and down the country open up their doors to Muslims and non-Muslims to demystify the faith of Islam and connect to communities.
After a tour of the mosque he helped them prepare for their own Big Iftar by chopping onions and making samosas, providing his own cooking tips along the way. The Prime Minister was impressed by the vibrancy of the mosque, which is set for redevelopment to cater for an ever-growing community.
Faiths Minister Baroness Warsi said: "It was brilliant to accompany the Prime Minister to the Jamia Mosque and help them prepare for their Big Iftar that evening.
By TCN News,
Ahmedabad: Faced with a tragedy like the Godhra train burning that had claimed 58 lives, how would a government and administration respond, and equally critically how would an independent agency appointed to fairly and rationally evaluate the quality of this response go about its job, asked senior advocate Mihir Desai for Mrs Zakia Jafri and Citizens for Justice and Peace making a powerful case for evaluating criminal culpability by top echelons of the police and administration.
Arguing for the fourteenth day in the 11th Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court, Ahmedabad, Desai pointed out that the only way an agency could have developed and evaluated whether or not the ingredients in a sinister chain of criminal conspiracy, abetment and criminal culpability by public officials was actually made out was in evaluating the government, administration and police response, before, during and after the outbreak of such systemic widespread and persistent mob violence. When five separate blasts shook Mumbai in 1993, the conspiratorial hands of a Tiger Memon or a Dawood Ibrahim could be seen behind each separate, similar and disparate act by just such an evaluation, he argued.
Could the government, administration and police have anticipated Godhra? Was there a systemic prelude or build up of communal atmosphere before the train burning? Once the incident took place was there an immediacy and seriousness in stemming any retaliation given the nature of communal violence and Gujarat’s history in this regard, were hate speeches and hate writings curtailed and prosecuted when they occurred or were generated or were they encouraged, were perpetrators punished?
On the issue of deployment of the army, the issue to be assessed in terms of impact on the ground was threefold pressed Desai: was the Army actually called in on time, in which districts was it deployed and was it given adequate powers under the law (Sections 129/130 of the CRPC read with Rules of the Gujarat Police Manual) to function independently to save lives, property? Ironically, said Desai, the SIT just like it did not record statements of members of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and Election Commission, deliberately chose not to record the statements of independent witnesses Major Zameeruddin Shah of the 54th Infantry Division in charge of the Gujarat operation. Neither did the SIT seek independent data from the Army choosing in its all out bid to shield the accused, to believe the chief collaborators of the criminal conspiracy.
Reading from sections of the Protest Petition that had been filed by Mrs Jafri on April 15 this year, assisted by Citizens for Justice and Peace, Desai pointed out to the Court the ascending degrees of violence in at least 16 of Gujarat’s 26 districts; violence that started on the day of the Godhra train burning itself and continued until July-August September 2002.
Ahmedabad, Panchmahals and Mehsana were the worst affected districts followed by Vadodara, Banaskantha, Dahod and Anand among others. Reading from the statement of then SP, Mehsana, Anupam Gahlot who appeared before the SIT on 22.1.2010, he showed the Court how this officer traversed the length and breath of the district to save lives of the Minorities, ensuring he was a hand’s on Policeman in Charge unlike the Commissioner of Police, Ahmedabad, PC Pande who sat mute spectator in his cabin at Shahibaug while Ahmedabad burned! Pande was rewarded for this by the chief conspirator, home minister A-1 Modi, retiring as Director General of Police (DGP) for the state; thereafter still benefiting from post retirement postings! On the other hand, Gahlot who had ensured the safety of over 1,000 persons taking shelter in a Dargah that was sought to be mob attacked was transferred along with other officers like Rahul Sharma from Bhavnagar district who had similarly done a worthy and upright job. These first round of transfers coming as they did around 24.3.2002 had also been objected to by then DGP K Chakravarthi.
Serious incidents of violence had taken place in Ahmedabad and rest of the state on 27.2.2002 itself with warnings of these coming in through the state intelligence (SIB) –all carefully documented in the protest petition, yet Pande and other senior officers like Shivanand Jha and others made a mockery of laws around preventive detention. Special schemes within the Gujarat Police Mannual and a Special Communal Riots Scheme (1997) demands that every commissionerate and district maintain not just a list of “communal goondas” who need to be arrested when there is threat of violence but also a list of fanatically minded persons who stoke the flames of communal violence. Yet in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Sabarkantha, Vadodara, Panchmahals, Dahod, Banaskantha, Ahmedabad Rural, Vadodara Rural Patan and Kheda there was complete inaction in this regard. In Ahmedabad there were only 2 arrests made at Astodia on 27.2.2002 and that two of Muslims, Desai pointed out.
Over 47 Distress Messages from the Police Control Room made on 28.2.2002 to the Fire Brigade Urgently demanding help at a time when Naroda Patiya, Naroda Gaam and Gulberg Society were under systemic Mob attack were met with a sinister and conspiratorial silence, revealed Desai reading from two tables in the protest petition that detailed this evidence. Pande as Commissioner of Police is answerable for this lapse, yet SIT chose to completely ignore this evidence from their own record. No statements of any of the Fire Brigade officials have been recorded, nor any attempts made to unearth the Fire Brigade register and analyse this. Arguments will continue tomorrow.
By Abdul Gani, TwoCircles.net,
Guwahati: Even as Maharashtra has a bill against superstition in the western part of the country, northeast still remains chained by the peril of the society. At a time when people of Maharashtra today can boast of having a law against such evil practices of the society, with three innocent lives being hacked to death in Assam, the need for such a law in this region is also being felt.
Around 15 masked men barged in to the house of one Dhiren Rabha of Ouguri Village in Kokrajhar district of Assam and hacked him to death. Rabha’s only offence, few in the society believed him to been indulged in Witch Craft. On the same night similar penalty was meted out to Dhiren and Sukleswari Basumatary of Milanpur village, adjoining the ill-fated Ouguri.
Notably, all those who were thrashed to death as a punishment for practicing Witch Craft, were aged 60 to 65 and the irony is that the state of Assam has not been as pro-active as Maharashtra and the victims are nameless in the crowd that have lost their lives to this bane of the society.
Journalist Forum of Assam (JFA), a journalists’ body has also urged upon Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi to follow the footsteps of his counterpart in Maharashtra and save the state from the evil clutches of superstition.
“Assam has witnessed some of the worst times as far as social evil like witch hunting is concerned. The state of Assam is in the much need of such an law so that innocent lives could be saved at the hands of some non-sense people,” said Rupam Barua, president of JFA.
Incidents of 'witch hunting' has increased in Assam in 2011 with Kokrajhar district in lower Assam recording the highest number of witch hunting-related deaths in the year. The issue was raised in the state assembly by Bodoland Peoples' Front (BPF) legislator Pramila Rani Brahma long back. Brahma, who represents Kokrajhar constituency, also demanded a strong legislation to stop the social evil.
According to government figures a total of 80 people have been killed in Assam from January 2006 to February 2011, due to witch-hunting.17 people have been tortured in the name of witch hunting in these years. Witch hunting has claimed 12 lives in 2012. Although various steps have been taken both by government agencies and non-government organizations to stop the evil practice, yet very little success has been achieved. The Assam police have also launched 'Project Prahari' for participatory development and people friendly policing to fight social maladies and deprivation. Under the project, Assam police launched awareness drive against 'witch hunting' in state's remote areas.
By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,
Lucknow: On the 100th day of the ongoing dharna of Rihai Manch, on August 29 demonstrators will march to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly.
Since May 20 Rihai Manch (Forum for the Release of Innocent Muslims imprisoned in the name of Terrorism) is on indefinite dharna demanding arrest of police officers involved in Khalid Mujahid's murder, issuing the RD Nimesh commission report and action report, and the immediate release of innocent Muslim youth imprisoned in the name of terrorism.
CPIM leader Subhasini Ali, senior journalist Anil Chamadia, Mohammad Salim of Muslim Conference, among others will participate in the demonstration on the 100th day.
Chairman of the Rihai Manch, Advocate Mohamamd Shoaib said that for over three months protesters have stood scorching summer heat and heavy monson rain and they will stand firm till their demands are met with.
On the occasion of Eid, Rihai Manch had organised a public hearing on the theme “where are the pride sons of the nation” on the 67th Independence Day outside the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, where family members of those Muslim youths who have been behind bar on ‘fabricated’ terror changes, where they pleaded for justice.
Khalid had died under mysterious circumstances on his way back from Faizabad near Ram Sanehi Ghat on May 18. 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 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 arres.
Khalid’s family and civil society groups are demanding CBI probe into Khalid’s custodial death and has compared his case with the fake encounter of Ishrat Jahan by the Gujarat Police. They have also questioned the role of the IB.
Rihai Manch is leading a sustained demonstration against the UP government for last three months now demanding actions on its poll promise of releasing innocent youths languishing in jails in fabricated terror charges.
Several rights groups and and politicians, including Prakash Karat, Subhasini Ali, film maker Anand Patwardhan, Anusha Rizvi, among others have also expressed their solidarity with the Manch demonstration and on different days made token participation.
Related:
By TCN News,
New Delhi: A massive protest demonstration was held today at Egyptian embassy in New Delhi. It was organised by Welfare Party of India in association with many social, political and civil society organisations. Around 2000 people gathered in the high security diplomatic area and raised slogans against the military regime and demanded the reinstatement of the elected government and President of Egypt.
The protestors demanded restoration of democracy and arrest and persecution of Gen. al-Sisi for crimes against humanity. Those who spokes on the occasion include Mr. Mujtaba Farooq, President of Welfare Party of India, Dr. Zafarul-Islam Khan, President of the All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat, Mr. Ravi Nair, Executive Director of the South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre, Mr. Abdul Waheed, president of Jamaat-e Islami Delhi & Haryana, Maulana Jalal Haider Naqvi, Joint Secretary of Majlis Ulema-e Hind, Maulana Mohsin Taqawi, Imam of Delhi Shia Jama Masjid, Maulana Ataur Rahman Qasmi, Chairman of Shah Waliullah Institute, Mr. P.M.A. Salam of Wahdat-e Islami, Dr. Tasleem Rahmani, President of Muslim Political Council of India, Dr. Baseer Ahmad of the Indian Union Muslim League, Mr. Shariq Ansar, National Secretary of the SIO of India, Mr. Omar Anas, Chairman of the Egypt Solidarity Forum, Mr. Irfanullah Khan, Convenor of Jamia Nagar Coordination Committee, Ms. Bonu Jyotsna of DSU, JNU, and Dr. SQR Ilyas, National General Secretary of Welfare Party of India.
Speakers unanimously condemned the illegal overthrow of Egypt’s elected government, gross human right violations by the army and security forces, massacre of thousands of peaceful demonstrators, arrest of the democratically-elected President and continuous attacks on innocent protestors. Speakers also condemned the role of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, in particular, Speakers attacked the silence of USA, European Union, UN and other world bodies and human rights movements. Speakers asked the Government of India to pass a strong-worded resolution in Parliament condemning the coup and the massacres in Egypt. They demanded the restoration of democracy and reinstatement of the elected government and President. Speakers also asked the Government of India to recall the Indian Ambassador from Egypt and close the Egyptian embassy in India until democracy is restored in Egypt.
A memorandum was also submitted to the Ambassador of Egypt at the end of the demonstration.
By Zaidul Haque, TwoCircles.net,
Kolkata: Selim Ali is a worried man. For four months now, he was working in the public sector Andhra Bank as Probationary officer, after completing 15 days training. He, however, now fears losing his job, as the central government has refused to include the some of the new Muslim castes in the other backward castes (OBC) list, as per the inclusions made the Mamata Banerjee led West Bengal government.
As a result the OBC certificate issued to him by the state government, may not be acceptable outside the state, or in central government jobs.
Selim Ali is a resident of Village Madanpur of Badu, under Barasat police station of North 24 Parganas District, not very far from Kolkata. His father Muhammad Nur Nabi is a small scale businessman, where he is now suporting him at the moment. Selim comes from the `Muslim Mandal’ Community of the state OBC. Ali is a Commerce Graduate from Calcutta University holding Muslim OBC certificate issued by the Government of West Bengal.
Selim Ali had applied for Provisionary Officer (Junior Management Grade) under the OBC quota. Selim passed through the entrance tests, interview and got his appointment letter dated April 4, earlier this year. He also attended a 15 days training at the Andhra Bank Satff Training College, Vishakhapattnam from June 3 onwards.
K Satish Chander Reddy, Asst General Manager has, however, issued him a showcause notice that, he will no longer be able to continue his job under the OBC quota as the West Bengal Government enlisted Muslim OBC catagories are not recognized by Central Government yet. In the letter, a copy of which is in possession of TCN, Reddy writes, “It is observed from the OBC Caste certificate submitted by you at the time of your reporting at our Training College, that you belong to the caste "Muslim-Mandal". But the caste mentioned in the certificate is not in the list issued by Government of India on OBC category. As per clause 9 (d) of the Order of Appointment, your appointment in Bank's service is provisional and is subject to the Community Certificate being verified through proper channels. Since the caste mentioned in OBC Certificate is not in the list issued by Government of India on OBC category, you are not eligible to be considered for appointment under OBC category.”
He further added, “In this connection you are hereby advised to show cause as to why your appointment order should not be cancelled within a period of 15 days from the date of receipt of this notice, failing which it shall be construed that you have nothing to say in the matter and the appointment order would be cancelled without any further reference to you.”
Ali contacted the State Backward Class Commission Office in Kolkata, but so far had little success.
Ali informed TCN that he approached the State Backward Classes Department and simultenously also met with Muhammad Kamruzzaman, general secretary of All Bengal Minority Youth Federation. Kamruzzaman helped Ali organise a delegation to meet the State Minority Commission Chairman Intaj Ali Shah on August 16. They also submitted a memorandum to the State Minority Commission.
Through TCN, Ali sought to appeal to the WB CM Mamata Banerjee to take up the matter with the central government.
When TCN contacted the State Minority Commission Chairman Intaj Ali Shah confirmed the meeting of the delegation that included Selim Ali. He added that the in 2010 Principal Secretary of the State Backward Class Commission Nurul Haque was sent to Central Government with all the enlisted Muslim OBC list in West Bengal for recognization by the Central Backward Class Commission. The central government has, however, denied to include more catagories from the state in the central OBC list.
Shah has, however, assured all possible support to many like Selim.
On the special initiative of Mamata Banerjee, 30 more Muslim castes were included in the state list of Other Backward Classes (OBC) in May, 2012. With this addition, the number of Muslim castes in OBC has reached 83, covering 87% of the Muslim population in West Bengal in the OBC category. The total number of enlisted OBCs comprising different communities in the state is 143.
Related:
Mamata includes more Muslims in OBC, covering 87% of the community
500 OBC Muslims from WB in CAPF merit list, but centre denies appointment
By Ras Siddiqui, TwoCircles.net,
Milpitas: A new group in the Bay Area called the Open Hearts Indo-Pak Initiative (ohipi.org) held what can be termed as a “one of a kind” joint India-Pakistan Independence Day celebration at the India Community Center in Milpitas on August 11, a week before the usual and very large and separate gatherings which are planned by each community at various cities throughout the US to celebrate August 14th and 15th the independence days of Pakistan and India, respectively.
This show was spearheaded by Deepaa Thakor and Rizwan Elahi and his wife Zilehuma along with a number of friends and it certainly lived up to its expectations. Show sponsors were Imtiaz Ahmed CPA, Naeem Akram, Naeem Wahab, Shalimar, Harmesh Kumar and Zulki Khan.
Over 300 Indians and Pakistanis joined together to celebrate their commonality for a change, through music, fashion and cuisine. It was certainly a pleasant Desihungama here.
The event started around noon with free admission with cultural entertainment, food booths and vendors selling Desi fashions (It was the first weekend after Eid so festivities were certainly in the air). The ticketed part began at around 6:00 PM, the first segment emceed by Smitha Deepak and Vishal Kapoor, which included dances by the “Nach K Dekh”, and fashions by various collections (Ateka, Vama, Ravi, and special independent children’s (i.e. Mom’s collection).
The interval was dinner, which was followed by more dances and a very popular Bridal fashion segment by Malabis Couture. This segment ended with an “Item Number” which included Deepak Arora playing actor Salman Khan.
The live singing finale was introduced by Aditi Chadha and it was certainly very well done. Featuring an array of local talent including Parminder Guri, Seema Varma, Assad Waince, Alka Bhatnagar, Mandeep Singh and Arif Rizvi, the show also included Urdu and Punjabi poetry by Farooq Taraz.
The organizers of this show certainly need to be encouraged and congratulated for their optimism. The LOC in Kashmir is hot again but the hearts of many Indian and Pakistani Americans long for peace and humanity to prevail. The song sung by Parminder Guri at this show pretty much sums it all: “Mein Na Hindu Na Musalman, Mujhe Jeenay Do.”
By IANS,
Srinagar : Justice (retired) Rattan Chand Gandhi, a former judge of the Jammu and Kashmir and Rajasthan high courts, will head the judicial probe into the Aug 9 communal clashes in Kishtwar.
A general administration department notification issued Aug 23 said the government, in exercise of powers conferred by section three of Jammu and Kashmir Commission of Inquiry Act, 1962, has appointed a commission of inquiry.
The one-member panel would inquire into the circumstances which led to the violence and arson and consequent loss of life and property in Kishtwar.
The notification also said the commission would inquire into administrative lapses, if any, in handling the situation.
The commission has been asked to give its report within one month from the day the notification was issued.
Meanwhile, the state government has rescinded its earlier order appointing Jammu Divisional Commissioner Shantmanu to head the magisterial probe into the Kishtwar violence.
Three people had died and there was much damage to property in the violence.
According to the reports, a group of people, raising anti-national slogans after the Eid prayers, was attacked by another section of people in Kuleed area of the town leading to tension.
The army was called out to help the district administration and indefinite curfew was clamped for 13 days.
By IANS,
Ghaziabad : Section 144 of the CrPC (prohibiting an assembly of more than 10 people) has been imposed in Ghaziabad district of Uttar Pradesh after Vishwa Hindu Parishad's (VHP) called for an Ayodhya march.
Meanwhile, passengers on Lucknow- and Faizabad-bound trains would be frisked.
Briefing mediapersons Saturday, Ghaziabad District Magistrate (DM) S.V.S. Ranga Rao claimed the civil administration had identified nine points from where VHP activists could sneak in for going to Ayodhya for the '84-Kosi Yatra' to press for construction of Ram temple there.
Since the state government had banned the march and the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court Saturday dismissed the public interest litigation against state government's decision to ban the 'Yatra' (procession), the district administration is bound to comply with the government orders to stop VHP activists from going to the disputed site.
The dispute is centred on a plot of land in Ayodhya of Faizabad district in Uttar Pradesh. The issues revolve around access to a site traditionally regarded as the birthplace of the Hindu deity Ram, the history and location of the Babri Mosque at the site, and whether a previous Hindu temple was demolished or modified to create the mosque.
The DM said the points identified for frisking of suspected persons are UP Gate, Maharajpur, Gyani Border, Tulsi Niketan, railway station, old bus stand, Anand Vihar bus stand, Bhojpur police station in Modi Nagar and Pilkhuwa border on National Highway-24.
The district administration would acquire KDB School in Kavi Nagar and Modi College in Modi Nagar for makeshift jails. Preventive arrests would be made from Sunday. The frisking and preventive arrests would be intensified on Aug 28, 29 and 30, the days VHP had announced to march to Ayodhya, said the DM.
The administration has identified 22 trains bound for Lucknow and Ayodhya in which passengers would be screened on the aforementioned three dates, he added.
By IANS,
Lucknow : The Uttar Pradesh government Saturday arrested hundreds of saints and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) activists as they tried to march towards Ayodhya for the proposed '84 kosi parikrama' (procession) beginning Sunday.
Police officers said 46 saints were arrested in Kanpur while 42 were nabbed in Agra.
Security and checking at the borders of Uttar Pradesh with Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar and Chhattisgarh were stepped up. In all, 339 saints have so far been held from Agra, Jhansi, Kanpur, Banda, Fatehpur, Basti and other districts, home department officials told IANS.
Additional security forces have been sent to Ayodhya, Ambedkarnagar and Gonda, police officials said. Saturday, only 80 percent of state roadways bus fleet plied on the Faizabad route where more than 52 check points and barriers have been erected.
Several prominent seers, including Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, have urged the state government and officials to allow the peaceful passage of the '84 kosi parikrama'.
Meanwhile, VHP leaders have gone underground and are refusing to talk to the media but maintain they will discreetly reach Ayodhya early Sunday.
The dispute is centred on a plot of land in Ayodhya of Faizabad district in Uttar Pradesh. The issues revolve around access to a site traditionally regarded as the birthplace of the Hindu deity Ram, the history and location of the Babri Mosque at the site, and whether a previous Hindu temple was demolished or modified to create the mosque.
By Dr. Syed Ahmed for TwoCircles.net,
Imphal: The Chief Minister of Manipur, Okram Ibobi Singh inaugurated the office building of the Chairman of Wakf Board, Manipur on August 23, 2013 at Minuthong Hafiz Hatta in Imphal.
Speaking at the occasion as Chief Guest, Ibobi Singh said the present office building of Wakf Board, Manipur is not a good one. He assured that he would construct a proper building of the Board if there is no land dispute. He further declared that he is ready to construct the new building of the Board equipped with a Musafir Khana or Guest House, state-of-the-art VIP Conference Hall, among others.
The Chief Minister also assured that the State Government would take up all the necessary works for the welfare of the minority Muslims of the State. The State Government will not wait for the Centre or State’s fund to implement any developmental programme for the minorities. If necessary the Government will utilize any available fund to implement developmental works for the minorities of the State. I sincerely want to provide all the required infrastructures for the development of the backward Muslims of the State.
He further said the Muslim Girl's Hostel was constructed by the State Government in consultation with late Minister Md. Alauddin. However, the hostel does not have adequate infrastructure. The hostel is very crowded and there is no play-ground for the hostellers. If necessary the campus of the hostel could be expanded using the available free land of the Board, he added. The Girls’ Hostel building at Hafiz Hatta was inaugurated by UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi on December 12, 2010.
The Chief Minister also stated that he would try to fulfil the other requirements of the Board including that of the Muslim Girl's Hostel in consultation with the Chairman of the Board, Minister Abdul Nasir and Parliamentary Secretary (Minorities & Other Backward Classes) Md. Amin Shah and other leaders of the community at the earliest.
The inaugural function was graced by Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries Md. Abdul Nasir as Guest of Honour and presided by MLA and Chairman of Wakf Board, Manipur Md. Fajur Rahim.
Wakf Board, Manipur was constituted in 1988 by the Government of Manipur under the Wakf Act, 1954. The Board takes up the following schemes:
1. Financial assistance to masjids, kabarstans and idgahs
Under the scheme financial assistance is provided to registered wakfs of the State, like masjids, kabarstans and idgahs for the development of infrastructures. There are 72 madrasas and 97 maktabs in Manipur registered to the Board. The Board had also initiated madrasa modernization programme in some of the madrasas of the State.
2. Pre-Matric Scholarship to Muslim Girl students
The Board gives scholarship to Muslim girl students of the State to encourage them to complete school education.
3. Central Wakf Scholarship Scheme to Muslim students of the State
4. Financial assistance to poor widows and destitute Muslim women
