By Saiyed Danish, TwoCircles.net,

Muzaffarnagar: Among blankets, clothes, rations and other essential relief materials given to Muzaffarnagar riot victims living at various camps, teaching young kids the literary art of Urdu calligraphy at Jogia Khera camp in Shapur Jat is proving to be an innovative way to keep traumatized children away from plunging back into the abyss of haunting memories of the communal violence which displaced nearly 70,000 people belonging to a certain minority community from Muzaffarnagar.

“I teach various kids who hail from the riot-hit areas. I don’t know whether they used to go school there or study Urdu or the Qur’an but here I teach them everything including calligraphy,” says Abdul Wajid Qasmi, the bespectacled Urdu teacher who hails from Vigyana village and teaches at Jogia Khera camp at Shahpur Jat.

Many kids sitting on a mound at one corner of the camp site in a single file looked busy trying the lost medieval art of artistic writing. Every kid had one’s own set of Qalams made of bamboo sticks and ink pots with him. The unique styled nibs of their pen were inking Urdu alphabets on a wooden board.

“What I am learning here is new to me as I enjoy writing by pouring these pens into the ink pot again and again,” says Yusuf, riot-affected child. Another young boy, Hamza who happily shows off his progress in the art form recollects, “We used to go to schools from our homes…,” and pauses a bit emitting an uncomfortable silence, “…and study many things but never this (calligraphy) before.”

Since the inception of the riot, thousands of children lost the bounties of their childhood as their tender eyes witnessed perhaps the grisliest of events in their lives. Images of killings, ransacked, burnt houses and the resulting exodus of the very essence of their childhood than just their physical displacement, still return afresh every time to haunt them and overwhelm their little hearts with big questions.

“Sadma inke dilon mein baaki hai,” (trauma persists in their hearts), Qasmi opens up. There are moments when they have nightmares and shout in sleep. Sometimes, they speak of the riots in a plaintive tone. That is why they wait for these classes more than everyday more than anything else,” he says.

Due to his expertise in calligraphy, he has become the most sought after teacher among students. As a result, many students have now enrolled for his classes. “I used to take only one class everyday but now we have divided the kids into groups and I take classes in different shifts so that I can teach every group beginning from morning till sunset,” he says.

Besides calligraphy, Qasmi also teaches Urdu literature and grammar and conducts recitation of the Qur’an. Hindi classes are also a part of the day long time-table. “Sometimes it seems difficult to teach continuously but it is the enthusiasm of kids which keeps me going,” he says.

By IANS,

Nashik (Maharashtra): There should be a campaign demanding primary education in Urdu for Muslims to promote the language, union Minority Affairs Minister K. Rahman Khan said at an Urdu festival here.

"We all say that we are working for the promotion of Urdu language, but simultaneously blame others for ignoring it. The question is: what have we actually done for its promotion?" Khan asked, inaugurating a 10-day long 14th Urdu Festival in Malegaon town Friday, organised by National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language (NCPUL).

"It is high time that we all analyse the injustice we have done to the Urdu language and take corrective measures. The Constitution has given necessary protection to Urdu. Have we ever used this Constitutional right to demand protection of our mother tongue?" Khan asked the huge gathering of Muslim intellectuals, scholars and commoners.

He said the Muslims have never held a protest or a campaign for the protection and promotion of Urdu language.

Underlining education as the only tool Indian Muslims can use to prosper, the minister, who is an alumnus of an Urdu school in Karnataka, said there should be a campaign demanding primary education in Urdu language for the community.

The minister expressed concern over the shoddy state of Urdu-medium schools in the country and urged schools and NGOs to take corrective measures.

"Instead of being a community who depends on others, we should be a contributor and donor and always try to work and contribute for the development of the country," Khan said.

He rejected the notion that 'mushairas' and public meetings would help promote Urdu language and called for grassroot-level action if the language had to survive and flourish, especially since many non-Muslims also love the language passionately.

Earlier, Khan flagged off an Urdu caravan attended by over 50,000 people, including school students carrying banners and raising slogans to promote the Urdu language.

According to Aleem Faizee, one of the co-ordinators of the festival, this is the first time the event was organised at taluka-level Malegaon, a Muslim-dominated town in northern Maharashtra.

In the past, the event had graced only state capitals around the country like Mumbai, Hyderabad, Lucknow and so on.

"We are expecting over a million people from the region and anticipate book sales in excess of Rs.6,000,000 with the participation of top 50-plus Urdu publishers showcasing their books and literature," Faizee said.

By Dr. Mohammad Manzoor Alam,

(Editor’s Note:This is the first of a new column by Dr Mohammad Manzoor Alam to appear once every month. This is addressed to the Muslim community, particularly the youth. The author, a senior citizen and community elder, has experiences and ideas to share mainly with the younger generation.)

Recently we organised a three-day international conference on Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi, an all-time great physician, surgeon and scientist of Andalusia (Arab Spain) who died in 1013, exactly a thousand years ago.

The conference in Delhi was supported by likeminded organisations and individuals, a detailed report of which can be seen on iosworld.org (International conference on al-Zahrawi). We were inspired to hold the conference by al-Zahrawi’s enduring legacy of excellence.

Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi, known in the West as Albucasis, had been such a successful physician and surgeon that he had become a legend in Europe even in his lifetime. His classic writing on healing was translated in every European language and was a part of the curricula in their medical colleges for centuries. This is what we mean by excellence.

This search, continuous search, for excellence is the hallmark of all great individuals, societies, nations and civilisations. Arab Spain was such a society. One of the questions asked at the conference was “Why did the Muslim world not produce another al-Zahrawi in the last 1000 years?”

Some of the participants thought the question was facile, asking for a cut and dried undimensional answer for a complex, civilisational and historical issue. In short, it was a too-clever-by half question that, instead of an answer, elicited another question: “Why did not the Muslim world produce another al-Kindi, another Avicenna, another Averroes, another ibn-Khaldun, another ibn-Arabi?"

The truth is that the Muslim world had produced a galaxy of brilliant stars in different fields, but the wellsprings had begun to dry towards the end of the 16th century, which was the point at which the West’s rise had begun. Over the centuries, the wellsprings of knowledge dried up completely. What went wrong?

A lot went wrong, for the analysis of which this may not be the right space. However, suffice it to say that the search for excellence has gone out of our lives. Whether it is sciences or arts, invention or innovation, craft or technology, games and sports, business and industry, nowhere are we driven by that search for excellence that marks the boys off from the men, champions from runners-up and also-rans, the trivial and insignificant from the crucial and significant.

All this boils down to this. You cannot become great without excellence. Mediocrity is death. Mediocre men and women do not make a great society. A population of also-rans does not become a society of champs.

Finally, to create a great society, you have to aim high and cultivate that insatiable desire for excellence. Excellence has a price: continuous, focused, uninterrupted, lifelong effort. Pay the price. g

--

Dr. Alam is the General Secretary of All India Milli Council.

By IANS,

New Delhi: Lashkar-e-Taiba bomb expert Abdul Karim Tunda claimed Saturday that the Delhi Police did not arrest him in India but picked him up in Nepal.

Tunda gave this information to Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Amit Bansal while seeking the court's direction to the police to furnish the details of the 16 blast cases pending against him.

According to the police, Tunda is involved in more than 20 bomb blast cases between 1994 and 1998 that occurred in India.

Police said they arrested him from the Banbasa area of Uttarakhand near the Indo-Nepal border Aug 16, 2013.

Tunda said he was arrested by the Delhi Police for involvement in four cases and sought details of other cases pending against him.

"The accused (Tunda) has a right to know and to seek trial or avail legal remedies available to him," his counsel M.S. Khan said.

The court has asked the police to file a reply on the plea and fixed Jan 10 for further hearing.

Tunda is undergoing judicial custody in four bomb blast cases.

By Shariq Anwar for TwoCircles.net

I am not a politician nor do I think I will ever be. I am a common Indian who feel angry seeing the degradation of politics and political institution in India. Some politicians are well-poised to take the country to the brink of disintegration. It is being done in the name of religion, regionalism, casteism, patriotism etc. to name a few. It comes to sheer manifestation at the time of election.

As I have no allegiance to any political party, I enjoy the freedom to criticise the politics which is exercised against the very nature and foundation of secularism and Gandhian concept of nationhood. I am free to criticise the politics which is exercised against the interest of common people. Politics has such a wide domain that people can’t remain unaffected. A person may like or dislike but he or she can’t ignore it. It affects their daily activity. It shapes up their way of living. On the whole, it has the potential to mar their daily routine if it is exercised with a disruptive bent of mind as it is happening in our country. This month we witnessed the power and importance of common men in the state-level election in New Delhi. I must confess that the emergence of AAP (Aam Aadmi Party – Common People’s Party) in the Indian political firmament is a positive sign for democracy.

In the mainstream politics, we heavily relied on two major political parties for our internal and external policies. They both have their own visions on running the country. Their visions don’t meet up the growing expectation of the common people which led the arrival of a New Era in Indian political system. The era of government based on alliance. From a layman’s point of view, both of them(The Congress and the BJP) are practically opportunistic, corrupt and directionless. They go to the masses very humbly at the time of elections, and show the real face time and again once the election is over. This systematic and organized debauchery created a sense of despair in the public minds. In such a time, the disgruntled public was looking for a positive change. They were looking for a political party which can address their primary issues and take care of their basic needs. They were looking for the party which can hold governance and the basic needs of day to day life together.

The Congress is the creator of corruption in the country in the name of good governance. In the same breathe; BJP is nothing less in harvesting the grains of corruption. The BJP did the same work in 5 years what the Congress took 50 long years in terms of strengthening social evils. I don’t claim that the Congress and the BJP are good for nothing. Of late, both of the parties have done some commendable work. While on the one hand the former managed to enact some laws like Right to Education, MNREGA, Right to Information acts etc., the BJP did the nuclear test and tried to normalise the relationship with the neighbouring countries. However, these efforts could not impress the AAM AADMI. The top priority of the AAM AADMI at the time of election in New Delhi was how to beat Mahangaii (Exponentially increasing cost of living). This burning issue led the ouster of Mrs. Sheila Dixit from Delhi after 3 consecutive terms. It was a shameful ouster. Her first press conference after the losing to Arvind Kejriwal (Popularly known as AK – 47, AK is the short form his name Arvind Kejriwal and 47 denotes his age) explains the desperation she went through.

The emergence of AAP in New Delhi should be seen in the same context. The unique selling point of Arvind Kejriwal is he is brilliant, highly qualified, hard-working and above all a common man. He received high dividends in his electoral debut because of his ability to connect to the masses.

India, at the moment; is grappling with a lot of social evils like corruption, riots and pogroms, linguistic bias, lack of transparency and clinging to power etc. In order to change the system, there must be an effective strategy in place to eradicate them all. This goal can be achieved by educating the people about their rights and responsibilities. Not only that, we need some tough laws against the culprits. We should rehabilitate the victims and NGO’s should come forward without and prejudice or bias. The Modis and Gandhis cannot do that because of their limited vision and power hungry attitude. Ak-47 is the man here. India needs the people like him who can act by their convictions, who can bridge the gap of religious animosity and national chauvinism, who are not afraid of winning and losing the polls. He is the man all the Indians across the globe are looking upto with eagerness and excitement. He is the ray of hope for the desperate and down-trodden people of the country.

By IANS,

New Delhi: A petition was handed over Saturday to the district magistrates of Shamli and Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh against the forced eviction of people living in camps after last September's riots left them displaced.

Petitioner Shehzad Poonawalla, a rights activist, not satisfied with the response of officials, also launched an indefinite fast.

"Dismantling of the camps and forcible eviction of their inhabitants, without proper identification and payment of compensation, in this bitter cold, would amount to the grossest form of human rights violations especially for the young children housed in these camps. It would be pertinent to state that Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has claimed on record that there was no order to drive the refugee families out of the camps,” said petition, addressed to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.

“Evictions would also undermine the ability of agencies to provide timely and basic relief to the victims who have lost everything including their livelihoods, and would force them into starvation, poverty and an uncertain future," Poonawalla said.

The district magistrate of Shalmi, P.K. Singh, acknowledged that demands for proper arrangements for the riot-displaced were legitimate, but did not offer any assurance that such arrangements would be made, Poonawalla told IANS.

Poonawalla said he would stay on indefinite fast, as the response of the officials was not encouraging. He said the fast would continue until the government halts all forcible evictions or gives a written assurance that it will rehabilitate the victims in proper, sustainable homes. Residents of the tents in Malakpur in Shamli district have also joined Poonawalla in the fast.

By Saiyed Danish, TCN Staff Reporter,

Muzaffarnagar: 18 year old Usman was a student of XII grade in Fugana when the riots broke out in the first week of September. The next day, he became a faceless name in the statistics of 70,000 people who were displaced post violence.

Any official document which could have proven his identity has now turned into flakes of ashes. His belief in humanity is a matter of reconsideration. His dreams have met a frustrating deadlock.

A mere look on his face betrays the unexplainable agony he exponentially undergoes. “I want to complete my studies, want to apply for a government job. I don’t want to work as a daily wage labourer as it is not something for which I took arts (Humanities) as my subject,” he tells TCN at Jogia Kheda where he has got temporary shelter.

It is in this search of an honourable life that he was lured by a fake advertisement appeared in one of the local newspapers of Muzaffarnagar which promised to get the applicants desk jobs at the Indira Gandhi International Airport complex in Delhi.

Usman, unaware of the fraudsters in the capital city, wasted no time and left Jogia Kheda excitedly for Delhi taking with himself all his hard earned savings he had managed to bring from his native village.

He reached Delhi and with a hope to materialize on the advertisement and contacted the number given in the newspaper advertisement.

“After I met the concerned person, he asked for all of my money in lieu of using his ‘approach’ to confirm my job. So I gave him whatever I had earned till now by doing small jobs or running errands during my school years,” he said.

“The man, who did not tell his name at all to me, asked me to wait for his call." The call never came.

Usman had saved that sum of money to support his higher education although he knew that the amount was not sufficient enough even for a week to sustain him independently. He took a plunge and the preposition turned out to be fake.

He innocently asks, “Do such things happen in big cities?” Somehow he still has hopes of speaking to him although he had dialled the phone number of the man he met in Delhi several times but the lack of response from the stranger is nibbling away his patience.

“How to get a job?” he asks. “What courses are important to get a job like you?” he keeps on asking with imploring eyes.

Among thousands of displaced riot-victims, there are scores of Usman lying in many camps in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli. When many of such camps have been unjustly bulldozed by the police, victims like Usman, who was just another student in a school having no idea of communal violence before the fateful night of September 8, 2013, can do nothing than just seeing the day of his Board’s exams nearing. With no book to read and no answers to jot in the examinations missing which could mean losing government job he always wanted to do.

By Syed Kashif,

In this turbulent age of nationalism and patriotism, I am often reminded of Rabindranath Tagore and his ideas of love and universal brotherhood. Not only the roar of ‘Indian nationalism’ has always tempted me to recollect his ideas but it also provides me some moments of relief as I dream of it. Tagore was a great humanist, whose love for humanity sometimes left many people to doubt his patriotism as he used to criticize the ways and patterns of protests against the British rule. For instance, his opposition of Swadeshi movement and noncooperation movement of 1921 provided the ground in this regard. He was as much humanist that he even could not bear the smell of hatred in any movement or voice. He had doubt that those movements may result into hate for man against man.

To avoid the blame of lack of patriotism Tagore said, “It is not that I do not feel anger in my heart for injustice and insult heaped upon my motherland. But this anger of mine should be turned into the fire of love for lighting the lamp of worship to be dedicated through my country to my God. It would be an insult to humanity, if I use the sacred energy of my moral indignation for the purpose of spreading a blind passion all over my country’ (quoted in the introduction written by Ramchandra Guha for ‘Rabindranath Tagore: Nationalism’, published by Penguin Books India, 2009: xxviii).

In short he believed that the kind or the ways of protest was paramount to insult to the virtue of humanity or blot on the idea of love and universal brotherhood. However, Tagore’s resistance against the pattern of freedom struggle in general and ideas of Gandhi ji in particular is another issue of debate which I am not dealing here. But this is obvious that he was as patriot as Gandhi ji and any other Indian for that matter. He had no disagreements on the ultimate goal of freedom struggle which was for getting rid of alien rule.

Tagore was not against one nation in particular, but against the general idea of all nations. In other words he was not against the nation per se. But he opposed the idea of organizing people in the name of nation. He argues, ‘it is the aspect of the whole people as an organized power. This organization incessantly keeps up the insistence of the population on becoming strong and efficient…….for thereby man’s power of sacrifice is diverted from his ultimate object, which is moral, to the maintenance of this organization, which is mechanical’ (Tagore: Nationalism 2009: 73). He bluntly criticized the western nationalism. He put that in the above context as he argued, ‘all the great nations of the Europe have their victims in other parts of the world’ (ibid. 69). ‘He believed that colonialism was the product of nationalism and therefore he called it menace. He adds, ‘nationalism is a great menace. It is the particular thing which for years has been at the bottom of India’s troubles. And inasmuch as we have been ruled and dominated by a nation that is strictly political in its attitude, we gave tried to develop within ourselves, despite our inheritance from the past, a belief in our eventual political destiny’ (ibid. 74).

Here it is clear that Tagore was very much wary of the spread of western idea of ‘nationalism’ with which India was getting affected due to the presence of British in India. He was categorically against the idea of uniting people in the name of ‘nation’. He believed that India had never been one nation and therefore he opposed the propagation of it and undermining the diversity of India. Therefore, while delivering his lecture in the USA he said, ‘We in India must make up our mind that we cannot borrow other people’s history, and that we stifle our own we are committing suicide. When you borrow things that do not belong to your life, they only serve to crush your life’ (ibid. 71).

In the same plain, Tagore said, ‘India has never had a real sense of nationalism. Even though from childhood I had been taught that idolatry of the Nation is almost better than reverence of God and humanity, I believe I have outgrown that teaching, and it is my conviction that my countrymen will truly gain their India by fighting against the education which teaches them that a country is greater that the ideal of humanity’ (ibid. 70). It can be said that the teaching which Tagore wanted to be unlearned is still in existence in India. Still we have not learnt that unlearning is as important as learning. Even after so many years Indians have not adopted the lesson which Tagore taught them. Indians are yet in the illusion of ‘India’ while thrashing the humanity which Tagore kept above all. All these are significant because it is Tagore who wrote the national anthem of India and ironically Indians did not embrace the ideas of Tagore himself or say Indians did not follow the path of ‘nationalism’ which Tagore chosen.

His love for humanity or universal brotherhood can be seen in his famous argument, ‘There is only one history—the history of man. All national histories are merely chapters in the larger one.’ (ibid. 65).

Thus we can say that Tagore was not against the idea of nation but against ‘nationalism’ which carries along the substances of superiority and inferiority. He loved his country as he was a patriot. In other words, Tagore was a patriot who loved his country without being nationalist.

In the country of such an enlightened thinker if we speak of jargons like ‘India First’ or ‘Secularism means India first’ or ‘Vote for India’ this is nothing but a shame. We sing his song as our national anthem but how unfortunate is this that we even do not bother to know what the idea behind his love for the country was. We have made his love of the land vey dwarf.

Had Tagore been alive now, he would have certainly detested the cheap ‘nationalism’ which our leaders speak for. And yes, people may doubt my love to country after reading this article as some misunderstood Tagore’s love for the motherland. All these happen because we have conceived that for loving the mother land we have to be ‘nationalist’. But I declare I love my country and I am not a nationalist.

(Syed Kashif is a M.Phil student at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi and blogs athttp://kashifrazasabri.blogspot.in .)

By IANS,

Patna : Muslim clerics in a Bihar district have said they won't conduct marriage ceremony of those who give or take dowry.

Alarmed over the trend of dowry among Muslims, this decision was taken by a body of Imams of Bihar's Nalanda district at a meeting Saturday evening.

"We have decided not to conduct nikah (marriage) for those who take and give dowry in the district," said Qazi Maulana Mansur Alam, who heads Muslim organisation Imarat-e Sharia of Biharsharief in Nalanda.

"It is a historic move to discourage dowry and create awareness. It is a kind of social boycott to warn dowry takers," he said.

Alam said that after this decision is successfully implemented in Nalanda, about 100 km from here, they would request Imams of other districts across Bihar to start similar campaigns.

The Muslim community has welcomed this move against dowry.

"It is a positive step to counter increasing dowry and create awareness. I am ready to help and support such a move," said Ghulam Rasool Baliyavi, head of Edar-e-Sharia, a Patna-based Muslim organisation.

"At last, someone has raised a voice against dowry among Muslims...," said Haji Mohd Shafiullah Khan, a retired railway official and now a social worker in Gewal Bigha in Gaya district.

Shafiullah Khan said there is no concept of dowry in Islam and it was unfortunate that Muslims were practicing it.

"It is only in Islam that at the time of the marriage, the groom hands over to the bride a sum of money called 'Mahr', which is a token of his willingness to accept the responsibility of bearing all expenses of his wife," Khan said.

According to Islamic jurisprudence, a woman married to a Muslim man has a right to get property or money which is called 'Mahr'.

Irshadul Haque, a Dalit Muslim activist, said that reports of increasing dowry trends among Muslim are a major challenge today.

"Dowry is no more a social evil of the Hindu society alone. It has already created trouble in the Muslim society," he said.

Haque said that dowry has badly affected poorest of the poor Muslims, particularly Dalit Muslims.

"The decision...not to conduct nikah of those taking dowry should be emulated by others," he said.

By IANS,

Kolkata : Taxi drivers and linguistic minorities, including Hindi and Bhojpuri-speaking communities, Sunday joined street protests here against the brutal gang rape of a 16-year-old girl.

A large number of taxi drivers brought out a rally from Wellington to Dharamtalla area in central Kolkata, expressing solidarity with the girl and her family.

The girl's father, hailing from Samastipur in Bihar, is a taxi driver in the city.

The protestors demanded "exemplary punishment" for the culprits and decried the failure of the West Bengal administration and police to save the girl, who was raped twice by a gang in Madhyamgram of North 24 Parganas district and then allegedly set ablaze.

They also denounced the police for not standing by the family after the girl's death and instead asking them to go back to Bihar.

Around 1,200 people, comprising representatives of Hindi, Urdu, Nepali, Maithili and Bhojpuri-speaking people, took out a silent march from the Sealdah flyover to College Square condemning the incident.

They carried posters in several languages, saying "Stop rape, save girl", "Save my dignity, I am your daughter", "Dhik, Dhik, CM" (Shame chief minister) and "Give respect to Maithili girl".

The fledgling West Bengal unit of the Aam Aadmi Party also held a rally from the base of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's statue at the Shaymbazar five-point crossing in north Kolkata to the Metro Channel in the city centre.

"The recent incidents of Madhyamgram and Park Street (where an Anglo-Indian woman was raped in 2012) clearly portray the lack of security for women in the state and we would request the state government to take security issues into consideration," said AAP volunteer Ranjana Singh.

"In West Bengal, it seems rapists are moving freely. None of the cases have been solved. Whatever has happened in Madhyamgram is a shame for humanity," said another AAP volunteer.

The girl was gang-raped twice in October, with the second assault taking place when she was returning home after filing a police complaint.

She breathed her last Dec 31 at a government hospital where she was admitted with severe burn injuries Dec 23.

Police have slapped murder charges against two accused, now in custody, based on the girl's dying declaration that the duo had set her ablaze.

Police have drawn flak for their alleged efforts to perform the last rites of the girl themselves to prevent any demonstration with the body.

By Zaidul Haque, TwoCircles.net,

Kolkata: Rupsina Parvin is the first Muslim women Sub-Inspector of the West Bengal police now working in Government Railway Police (GRP) at Howrah. Rupsina joined as Sub-Inspector of after qualifying in the state public service commission exams for police recruitment of Government of West Bengal on 30 January, 2012 and was directly posted as Sub-Inspector of Police in GRP police station at Howrah Railway Station.

Rupsina Parvin is from Mirjapur Village of Charghat Gram Panchayat area under Swarupnagar Block of North 24 Parganas district. Her father Basarat Hossain is a retired Government employee of the Land and Land Reform Department in the state. Rupsina told TCN that, her father’s dream was to see her only daughter in the state public service, and she finally qualified PSC exams of Government of WB.

Rupsina Parvin

After her secondary examinations (Madhyamik) with first division from Chatra Netaji Balika Sikshaniketan in 1997, Rupsina studied Senior Secondary level (HS) at Rajballavpur High School in Commerce stream. She loved Mathematics, Statics and accountancy subjects, and wanted to become a Chartered Accountant or High level Accounts officer earlier.

Rupsina told TCN that her mother Selima Khatun inspired her to appear for different service examinations. In 2009, she appeared for her first written examinations for the post of Sub-Inspector and qualified. She then passed the mandatory physical tests and interviews and was finally recruited to the post of Sub-Inspector post at GRP police station of Howrah.

She had to undergo 13 months training. She told TCN that she was thankful to DIG Damayanti Sen, Chanchal Banerjee who helped and guided her like own parents during training.

Rupsina has made history by becoming the first Muslim woman to become SI.

Although Rupsina has joined the service, she still aspires to become an IPS officer, and is hence continuing with her preparations.

She told TCN that one of her priority would be see to it that no women is harassed in the Howrah GRP jurisdiction. She acknowledged that there are reports of several girls being trafficked through Howrah station and that she would take it challenge to protect women at the station.

Several Muslim women who join as constables have later been promoted to become SI, but Rupsina is the first Muslim woman to join directly the service. She also urged the women to come forward to join the service.

By TCN News,

Dammam: Students Fraternity Forum hold Students’ Fest ‘13 and prize distribution ceremony for the winners of essay contest conducted in relation with Gandhi Jayanti. The occasion was graced by the presence of important personalities from educational, social, cultural and media fields, students, teachers and parents from almost all regions of eastern province from different sphere of life.

The program inaugurated by the Chief guest Dr. Mohamed Shafi (Prominent Educationist & Honorable Principal of IIS, Dammam). The function was presided over by Mr. Moosakutty (Saudi Zonal Patron, Students Fraternity Forum).

Dr. Mohamed Shafi Inaugurating Prize dist ceremony.

Students Fraternity is conducting many programs for students such as career guidance, pavithram (Program designed for building confidence in students for facing examination), arts festivals and sports meets, etc he said.

Students Fraternity also helped the Hajj pilgrims.

Several other dignitaries attended the program.

Essay contest - Mr. Russel giving prize to Malavika Surendran.

Essay Contest Prizes were distributed as below:

Senior:
1. Malavika Surendran (IIS Dammam)
2. Manu Suresh (Modern international School Alhassa)
3. Jatin Chopra (Modern international School Alhassa)

Junior:
1. Ruby Ajith (Sunshine International School Dammam)
2. Merin Mary Jose (IIS Dammam)
3. Akshaya Dheer (Sunshine International School Dammam)

Sub-junior
1. Foustina Babu (Al Khozama international School Dammam)
2. Lamis Khalid Mohamed (IIS Khafji)
3. Santina Shaji (IIS Dammam)

The prizes were distributed by Mr. Russel, Manager Dadabhai Travels Alkhobar and Mr. Noushad Kollam, Business development Manager Shifa Alkhobar polyclinic for 1st & 2nd places respectively.

There were also several cultural events and colourful performances. Trophies and certificates were given to all who participated in the cultural events.

Another attractive item of the fest was the drawing exhibition with the pictures drawn by students.

By TCN News,

Chennai: Tamil Nadu coordinator of Mission Bhartiyam, Mr. Mithilesh Pande has written a letter to the Superintendent of Police with a copy to Assistant Labour Commissioner, Kanchipuram district about child labor in Chowki Dhani restaurant at Thandlam village of Kanchipuram district.

In his visit to this restaurant, which is well-known for its Rajasthani food and theme-based presentations, Mithilesh Pande found several things unethical and illegal. He inquired and found that the children who are working there are very young and are not going to school. These children are involved in almost all works. In his letter, he has requested the Superintendent of Police and the Asst. Labour Commissioner to inquire at their own level.

A child on rope at Chowki Dhani Restaurant in Kanchipuram, Tamilnadu

Mithlesh Pande in his appeal argued, “The Government has introduced rules for citizens; people write the rules on boards for others not for themselves. This has been seen in a Famous restaurant named “Chowki Dhani" where you see children working in the entire premises starting from the welcome drinks to Rajasthani foods, from cart ride to playing on ropes etc. We assume that branded/big restaurants will follow all the rules to compile the conditions strictly but I inquired from one of the children about his education and was shocked to hear that he is not going to school. I discovered this was the case for all the children there. I felt terrible. These children are working there for survival and they don’t have an option to come out from this condition. This reputed restaurant has been visited by many eminent persons, officials as well but probably no one thought about them.”

He further requested to the general public who are visiting there to atleast fill the feedback form available with the remarks about children’s employment and to appeal them to stop it.

By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,

Muzaffarnagar: Civil rights activist Shehzad Poonawala has alleged that the local intelligence office is intimating him and is now fearful that he may be killed for taking up the causes of the riot victims.

On Sunday Poonawala sat on ‘indefinite fast’ at the Malakpur camp, where over two hundred families face eviction threat from the state.

26 year old Poonawalla, a resident of Delhi, has been involved with relief work in the relief camps housing the riot victims in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli. On Saturday he submitted a petition to the District Magistrates of Shamli and Muzaffarnagar and the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and Prime Minister of India to halt the forcible eviction of relief camps without written assurance that those evicted shall be given safer accommodation to live in.

Poonawala alleged, “I have been informed by extremely credible sources that there is a plan to attack me in Uttar Pradesh while I am in one of these camps. Allegedly, a contract killer Sonu Dilli has been hired for this job.”

He says that ever since he filed petition he has been getting calls from unknown numbers, which seem to be from local unit of intelligence department.

He alleges that earlier also his truck carrying relief material was “illegally halted” by the Inspector of Fugana.

There is a protest by riot victims outside the office of the District Magistrate of Muzaffarnagar on Monday around 1.00 pm to demand permission to live in camps till government arranges for alternate housing.

By IANS,

New Delhi : Setting up a Jan Lokpal, or ombudsman, is a priority for Delhi's new Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung said Monday.

Addressing the assembly, he said he expected the government led by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to fulfil all its promises.

"People have voted for change (in Delhi)," he said, adding that he expected the government to fulfil all the promises it made to the people.

He said setting up a Jan Lokpal was a priority in order to bridge the gap between the government and the people.

Jung said more government schools would be opened in the city and special attention would be paid to women's security.

"It is sad that half the population does not feel safe going to public places," he said.

Kejriwal took oath Dec 28 at the head of a minority AAP government.

By IANS,

New Delhi : Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Monday tried to put an end to the controversy over Aam Aadmi Party leader Kumar Vishwas's remarks on Muharram, saying he has apologised for it.

"This is an old issue, at one of the poetry conventions, he (Kumar Vishwas) had said something in a satire..." said Kejriwal.

"Kumar said later it was not his intention to hurt anyone. He also tendered an apology," he said.

Kejriwal's clarification came after Janata Dal-United legislator Shoaib Iqbal, who supported the AAP in the confidence vote in the Delhi assembly, threatened to withdraw support.

"Whatever he said about Hazrat Imam Hussain is objectionable, I am getting calls from all across the country, people are hurt," Iqbal said, citing a video where Vishwas has allegedly joked about Muharram during one of his performances.

By Shilpa Raina, IANS,

New Delhi : Fatima Khatoon and Mohammad Kalam have three things in common: they belong to the Nat community, live in red-light areas in Bihar and are fighting against prostitution and human trafficking.

While Khatoon got married at an early age into a family of prostitutes and child and women traffickers, Kalam's sisters were sex workers.

Belonging to the Nat community, a denotified tribe that was labelled criminal by the British colonial rulers, they continue to face ridicule from society. Determined to change their own destiny and of others like them, they joined the NGO Apne Aap Women Worldwide that steers these "independent voices" into a more fruitful direction.

Speaking to IANS, Khatoon said: "I got married when I was just nine and that too to a man who was 20 years older than me."

"This was because I come from a marginalised community and we were very poor. So, the idea of providing a safe shelter to me pushed my parents to agree to the marriage," said Khatoon, who was here to attend a meeting of the NGO.

"When I went to my maternal house, my mother-in-law gave me strict instructions not to speak to any other women in the house. I was too young to understand anything, but I did wonder why these women would apply make-up every day," said the 28-year-old Khatoon, who lives in the red light area of Khawaspur village in Siwan district.

She soon discovered that she was married into a brothel and her husband was a trafficker.

So appalling was the situation that she helped four women escape from her "home". Her mother-in-law was furious and gave her a good thrashing. But, rather than succumbing to the pain and fear, she vowed to help other women.

"My fight began from home. That beating encouraged me to change the system. If I would have feared these beatings, how would I have had the courage to come so far," the mother of six asked with a determined glint in her eyes.

"Our fight should begin from home where men of the house - brother, husband or father - should be discouraged to go to a brothel. Because these sex workers too have dreams...in fact many dreams that are crushed in just an hour," she added.

Coming from the red light area of Rampur in Forbesganj town of Araria district, Kalam too had to face rejection and humiliation from society as members of his Nat community, including his sisters, are trapped in inter-generational prostitution.

"People would make fun of me. Even though my elder sister always told me not to listen to them, but focus on my studies, it was impossible not to get affected," he told IANS.

"I always knew I wanted to stop this, but I didn't know how till I met members from Apne Aaap," he added.

Both Khatoon and Kalam joined hands with Apne Aap in 2004 when it started its community centre. Since then the two, in their respective areas, have been incessantly fighting against human traffickers, brothel owners and the police.

They have made many enemies during their lone crusade, but neither believes in giving up.

The Delhi-based NGO works specially with people like them who come from vulnerable and marginalised areas at the gross root level.

Local torchbearers associate themselves with them and empower women and young girls by educating them and making them aware of government schemes and how to avail of them.

Apne Aap founder Ruchira Gupta told IANS: "We help them improve their lives and reduce their dependency on the brothel. This includes giving them the right to legal protection, the right to education, the right to sustainable and dignified livelihood and the right to safe housing."

The organisation is actively involved in Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Delhi. Since its inception in 2002, it has worked for the betterment of around 15,000 women and girls.

"We tell these women about their rights and show them a path to justice. There are many voices and people who are doing good work, but they need someone to direct them. We are doing exactly that," Gupta added.

Today, Kalam is a happy man.

He has been able to take his sisters out of prostitution and also alerts the police and the authorities if girls and women are trafficked.

Khatoon said her life has changed for the better.

"My house is no more a brothel. My husband plies a rickshaw. Those who know him jokingly tell him he has become a pauper from a king. But this life is better than building a house from someone's crushed dream," she added.

(Shilpa Raina can be contacted at sshilpa.r@ians.in)

By M Reyaz, TwoCircles.net,

Muzaffarnagar: One of the most important events in the History of early Islam was the Hijrat (migration) of Prophet Muhamamd (PBUH) from Mecca to Medina, where Ansars (helpers) came forward to welcome whole heartedly not only the Prophet of Islam, but also fellow Muslim ‘brothers’. As I travelled to riot hit Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts in Western Uttar Pradesh the story of hijrat that marked the Islamic Hijra calendar reverberated in my minds several times.

At a time when Muslim leadership, particularly those from the state, have by and large been mute spectators, it’s been members of the community who came forward to help the “brothers in need.” Muzaffarnagar and Shamli are replete with examples where those who had means came forward to extend help to those in need.

Take the example of village Jogia Kheda, where about 200 families had initially shifted, mainly from Fugana, one of the most riot hit villages. As the government was pressurising them to close camps and winter was setting in, with very little help from the government, the village Pradhan took the lead and convinced the villagers to “accommodate” the refugees in their respective houses. Jogia Kheda today looks normal to the outsider, except that it is now over populated.

Pradhan of Jogia Kheda Iqbal Khan sitting with Haji Maan Ali from Fugana who took refuge in the village.

Pradhan of Jogia Kheda Iqbal Khan tells TCN, “As the winter set in, we thought it important to help our brethren who had already suffered a lot in the hands of the rioters and later by government’s apathy.”

Although some help has gradually started to pour in the form of winter clothing and food grains by Muslim charities and non-government organizations, but as most of the villagers are themselves poor it’s affecting their overall budget.

55 year old Haji Maan Ali, who is from Fugana but had to take refuge in this village with his family as the riot broke out, is thankful to the benevolent villagers of Jogia Kheda and compares them with the Ansars of Medina.

Plot at Neem Khedi, where several victims from Fuagana bought land to build their houses.

Riot affected villagers, particularly from the nine recognized riot affected villages, who got compensation are slowly buying lands and building their own houses. In Neem-Khedi, affected villagers came up together and bought about 10 bighas of land to build houses. Several thousands who are still in camps, however, and are scared to go back, are planning to settle down to safer places. Government, however, claims that they are encroaching upon the forest department land, and are forcing them to evict.

Although most of the relief camps are still on government lands, some community charities helped them build better houses. For example, Kolkata Shariat Jamiaat Ahle Hadees helped build brick and mud houses for about 55 families in Bhura camp. Jamiat e Ulema Hind, Indian Muslim Relief and Charities (IMRC) and several other local and national level organization too extended their support to provide basic amenities.

In Rottam camp, several villagers have already started building homes, although its forest department land.

In Rottam camp near Mansura in Shamli district, as over 225 families feel threatened, since according to government, they have “encroached” upon the forest department land, few kilometers away, in Mansura village a new Islam Nagar colony is coming up. The land was donated by a local influential clergy, Maulana Md Islam. The colony that will house about 100 families has been named after him. As TCN visited the new colony, a place for mosque was clearly demarcated and a boar-well was being dug outside the designated mosque.

Designate mosque at new Islam Nagar colony in Mansura.

Similarly in Kandla a person gave away his one acre plot to settle about 100 odd families.

The important contribution of national and international civil rights groups and charity groups can of course not be ignored, but the contribution of local individuals and groups, who came forward to help each other are stories that reiterate our faith in humanity even in times of distress.

By IANS,

New Delhi : Opposing the suggestion of a referendum on the army's deployment in Kashmir, BJP leader Arun Jaitley Monday blamed Jawaharlal Nehru for "mismanagement" of the Kashmir issue.

"The suggestion that the issue of army presence in Kashmir be decided by a referendum of the people in the valley must be opposed," Jaitley said.

He blamed Nehru, the country's first prime minister, for the problems in Jammu and Kashmir.

"Issues relating to Jammu and Kashmir were substantially decided by Nehru. The effects of his mismanagement of Jammu and Kashmir continue to leave their impact even today," he said in his blog.

Without naming Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Prashant Bhushan who suggested a referendum over army deployment in the valley, Jaitley said: "The same leader had two years ago suggested a plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir where people must be free to decide whether they wish to stay with India or otherwise.

"The issues of national security cannot be decided by populism or referendum. They can only be decided on security considerations.

Till such time the infrastructure of terror remains, the presence of the army in Jammu and Kashmir is essential," Jaitley said on twitter.

By TCN News,

New Delhi: National President of Social Democratic Party of India A. Sayeed believes that intellectuals of the society together should launch another movement in order to end the ‘Politics of Terrorism’. SDPI leader was speaking during his presidential address to a gathering of intellectuals belonging to the Muslim and Dalit communities on the issue of Politics of Terrorism”.

Social activist Advocate Shahid Ali in his address to the gathering said India is aggressing towards a state of hazardous affairs. A particular community is being targeted and vexed ceaselessly. He lamented that the Central Government’s move in withdrawing Arabic and Persian from the UPSC examinations is highly deplorable. He said, it’s certainly a loss to the Muslim community. And a heap of other affairs of governments towards the minorities in general and Muslims in particular demonstrate the governments’ double standards.

SDPI National President A. Sayeed addressing the participants

Master Yadav said that terrorism is what the major political parties are practicing by means of creating disturbance, engage communal riots, implicating innocent Muslims in false terror charges, etc. He said oppression and injustice confronted to the victims lead towards the birth of naxals and terrorists.

Besides SDPI office bearers, many Dalit intellectuals also spoke on the occasion.