by Chidanand Rajghatta
Afghanistan's elected president Hamid Karzai obliquely blamed Pakistan
for continued terror attacks in his troubled nation, pointing to hate-spewing
madrassas in his neighbour country as the primary source of trouble. .....
by Vrndavan Parker
The past 515 years have seen a continual struggle between indigenous Traditionalists
and indigenous 'Progressives'. Unlike India, American Indians did not
have a massive population base to sustain their culture. Still it took
nearly 400 years to destroy the Native civilization. Importantly, the
greatest struggle that the Indians faced was the internal battle. .....
by Seema Mustafa
The Prime Minister's media adviser, Dr Sanjaya Baru, has in the decided
view of nuclear scientists and senior former diplomats overstepped his
authority in deriding those who have been critical of policy drafted and
executed directly under Dr Manmohan Singh. .....
by Greg Kane
I write in response to the recent over-reaction by Islamic clerics to
the now controversial speech made by Pope Benedict during his visit to
Bavaria. .....
by S Shanthi
Shanu Sharma, a 14-year-old school student, is all set to have a gala
time this Navratra. She is planning to go for fasting all nine days. .....
by Arun Kumar
An Indian American scientist is leading a project to digitally restore
a 700-year-old palm leaf manuscript containing the essence of Hindu philosophy
by using modern imaging technologies. .....
by NewKerala.com
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said that both President General Pervez
Musharraf, and he knew that al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and Taliban
leader Mullah Omar were in hiding in Pakistan. .....
by NDTV.com
The traditional Gujarati folk dance where dancers form two circles, moving
clockwise and counter-clockwise, holding dandiyas (two sticks) and strike
them against their traveling partner's pair has become wildly popular
outside of Gujarat. This Navaratri dance celebration has invaded India's
capital where people have committed themselves to learning the dance correctly.
.....
by Allabaksh
Hafeez Mohammed Saeed, the founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba, has been arrested,
released, re-arrested and will undoubtedly be released again. This is
not the first time that Pakistan has played out this farcical cycle in
order to balance the pulls of two diametrically opposite forces. To Gen
Musharraf, men like Hafeez Saeed are 'life-line'; they cannot be put behind
bars for long. .....
by CBS News
"Those who die in the service of god are martyrs and they shall be
rewarded." So reads the inscription in Arabic and Urdu on the gravestone
of Gen. Muhammad Zia ul Haq, Pakistan's late military dictator. On Aug.
17, the 18th anniversary of his death, he is still revered for his enduring
legacy of taking Pakistan towards a long period of jihad - starting with
its backing of the anti-Soviet resistance in Afghanistan in the 1980s.
.....
by M.V. Kamath
It obviously does not occur to some mullahs and other reactionary Muslims
that by refusing to sing Vande Mataram and threatening to withdraw Muslim
children from schools where it is routine to sing it, they are only telling
their co-religionists to withdraw from the Indian mainstream. .....
by Expressindia.com
Afghan President Hamid Karzai urged the international community to put
an end to Islamic schools that teach hatred and produce suicide bombers,
ahead of summits next week with the United States and Pakistan. .....
by Swapan Das Gupta
The Prime Minister and his delegation met a large number of disreputable
politicians in Havana during the meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement.
.....
by Bulbul Roy Mishra
No state in India, other than the J&K, has experienced as much ravages
of terrorist strike in last 13 years as Maharashtra, and the woes of the
common people of the state seem to be never ending. It is time to analyse
the reasons why Maharashtra of all states is being targeted time and again
by Islamic terrorist outfits? .....
by The New Indian Express
Pope Benedict XVI's reference to dark aspects in Islam's history also
has opened up another type of backlash for his church: fresh examinations
of its past as conqueror, inquisitor and patron of missionaries whose
zeal has sometimes put them at odds with other faiths. .....
by Kanchan Gupta
Supplying the US with wanted al Qaeda and Taliban terrorists has turned
out to be a profitable venture for Pakistan, earning it millions of dollars
in bounty. .....
by Sandhya Jain
Gujarat has made a major stride in the proper definition of the nation's
Indic traditions by delineating the Jain and Bauddha streams as part of
the larger Hindu community for purposes of evaluating religious conversions.
The Gujarat Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Bill 2006 is significant precisely
for the logical coherence it bestows upon faith communities, placing Jains
and Bauddhas in the Hindu mainstream, Shias and Sunnis in the Islamic
brotherhood, and Protestants and Catholics with the Christian community.
.....
by Erica Lee Nelson
Years of affirmative action have upended India's caste system to the point
where some upper-caste Brahmins are reduced to working as porters and
pedaling rickshaws, while almost half the places in universities will
soon be reserved for lower castes and tribal people. .....
by The Pioneer
The judicial commission which probed the Marad killings in Kerala has
indicted the radical Islamist organisation, National Development Front
(NDF), and two leaders of Indian Union Muslim League, Congress' ally in
the Opposition UDF, for planning and executing the gruesome violence on
the night of May 2, 2003 in which nine persons were killed. .....
by G. Parthasarathy
By equating India and Pakistan as "victims of terrorism" in
Havana, India has seriously undermined what has been its consistent stand
that Pakistan should end terrorist violence unconditionally. .....
by NewKerala.com
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said that both President General Pervez
Musharraf, and he knew that al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and Taliban
leader Mullah Omar were in hiding in Pakistan. .....
by Ajith Gopal
Answering the volley of questions from media in broken words, the 70 plus
Anandavally sat beside her paralyzed son in a Shiv Sena ambulance, still
baffled at the sudden media attention. As she spoke, tears ran down her
face in waves, choking her sobs and cries of a soul in torment. .....
by Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar
Preparations for Durga Puja across the Capital are coming to an end. Hundreds
of artisans from West Bengal who have been camping at Chittranjan Park
in South Delhi for the past three months are now giving finishing touches
to idols of various goddesses for the festivities that are due to start
from September 28. .....
by David Morgan
Five years after the Sept. 11 attacks, the Bush administration still does
not fully understand the threat from al Qaeda, a congressional report
released on Wednesday said. .....
by Bob Unruh
Christian churches in the Middle East are vandalized, a Catholic nun in
Africa is killed and Muslims have demanded that the pope convert to Islam
- all because he read a quote from a medieval text that described Islam
as "evil and inhuman." .....
by Yahoo News
Hundreds of Pakistani Islamists held street protests to condemn Pope Benedict
XVI for remarks they regard as anti-Islamic, with one leader saying the
pontiff should be crucified. .....
by Charles Krauthammer
Religious fanatics, regardless of what name they give their jealous god,
invariably have one thing in common: no sense of humor. Particularly about
themselves. It's hard to imagine Torquemada taking a joke well. .....
by Mark Durie
The world has witnessed a flood of reaction this week to Benedict XVI's
Regensburg lecture, a reaction that has gone well beyond words, with attacks
on churches in Gaza, the West Bank and Basra, and apparently the killing
of an elderly Italian nun in Mogadishu, together with her guard. Some
have called for the Pope to be executed. .....
by Tavleen Singh
Let us start with two questions. Where is Dawood Ibrahim? Where is Maulana
Masood Azhar? Answer: Pakistan. These two ghastly creatures live in that
country with the full protection of the Pakistani state, because in a
military dictatorship, getting on the wrong side of the dictator is usually
punishable by death. .....
by Easwaran Nambudiri
From literacy to primary health care, the southernmost state of Kerala
has over the years been a source of envy for the other states of the Indian
Union. But it has been leading the nation in yet another field-the growth
of Islamic fundamentalism. .....
by Shyam Khosla
Are you a convert to Hinduism if you pray in temples and perform rituals,
go to mosques to offer Namaz and celebrate the Eucharist with the same
devotion? Can such a person continue to be a priest of the Church of England
if he continues with his "plural religious identity"? These
are the questions thrown up by a controversy raging all over Europe, including
England, and North America. .....
by S Shanthi
Shanu Sharma, a 14-year-old school student, is all set to have a gala
time this Navratra. She is planning to go for fasting all nine days. .....
by Timothy R. Furnish
Mr. Furnish, Ph.D (Islamic History), is Assistant Professor, History,
Georgia Perimeter College, Dunwoody, GA 30338. Mr. Furnish is the author
of Holiest Wars: Islamic Mahdis, their Jihads and Osama bin Laden (Praeger,
2005). .....
by Selig S Harrison
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf is supposedly a key US ally in the
"war on terror." But is he, in fact, more of a liability than
an asset in combating al-Qaida and the increasingly menacing Taliban forces
in Afghanistan? .....
by Expressindia.com
Amidst indications of a breakthrough in the July 11 train blasts case,
police said some 'big terrorist group' was behind the bombings but ruled
out al-Qaeda's involvement in the attacks that killed nearly 200 people.
.....
by The Pioneer
Four months into power, the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) Government
in Kerala has launched in right earnest a devious ploy to save Marxist
comrades involved in various criminal cases from the clutches of the law.
Legal experts say that the paroles surreptitiously awarded to several
CPI(M) activists jailed in different criminal cases bear testimony to
this fact. .....
by Sandhya Jain
Gujarat has made a major stride in the proper definition of the nation's
Indic traditions by delineating the Jaina and Bauddha streams as part
of the larger Hindu community for purposes of evaluating religious conversions.
The Gujarat Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Bill 2006 is significant precisely
for the logical coherence it bestows upon faith communities, placing Jainas
and Bauddhas in the Hindu mainstream, Shias and Sunnis in the Islamic
brotherhood, and Protestants and Catholics with the Christian community.
.....
by Ali Al-Ahmed
With the revelation that a copy of the Quran may have been desecrated
by U.S. military personnel at Guantanamo Bay, Muslims and their governments--including
that of Saudi Arabia--reacted angrily. This anger would have been understandable
if the U.S. government's adopted policy was to desecrate our Quran. But
even before the Newsweek report was discredited, that was never part of
the allegations. .....
by Vivek Gumaste
Charges that the Congress's secular policy has an anti-Hindu slant is often met with derision or contemptuously dismissed as the rant of bigoted protagonists of Hindutva. But whenever the judiciary has examined contentious issues related to Hindus, it has invariably found ample evidence to substantiate these claims. .....
by Rahul Datta
The Indo-Pak Havana 'breakthrough' may have legitimised Pakistan's claim of being a co-victim of terror, but evidence suggests that Islamabad has stepped up terrorist activities and is now sending trained militants into Jammu and Kashmir through Nepal and Bangladesh. .....
by The Times of India
Osama bin Laden's bodyguard, Abu Jandal, who famously carried a special gun to kill his leader with, has proved to be the conclusive link between Al Qaida and Pakistan-sponsored Islamic terrorists working against India. .....
by The Times of India
Australia plans to tighten its immigration requirements by making would-be citizens pass a compulsory test assessing their English skills and knowledge of Australian history, Prime Minister John Howard said on Friday. .....
by Yahoo News
Somali Islamist militia shot in the air on Sunday to disperse hundreds of youths watching an English Premiership soccer match, with two people injured in the melee, witnesses said. .....
by The Hindu
Warning against illegal immigrants being used for cross-border terrorism and creating social tensions in the host country, India has asked the international community to take coordinated and concerted action against this scourge. .....
by Joe Rodriguez
Fourteen-year-old Samanvitha Sridhar has a reason for choosing not to wear the bindi --Sanskrit for drop, suggesting a person's mystic third eye -- on her forehead in public. .....
by GarySpFc
In yet another furore to grip the Christian community, the head of the Orthodox Church of Greece has joined the Pope controversy by attacking what he calls Islamic fanaticism in Africa. .....
by The Hindu
The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the Allahabad High Court order restraining the Centre from granting financial subsidy to Haj pilgrims every year. .....
by Pramod Kumar Singh
If the Foreign Contribution (Management and Control) Bill, 2005 - referred to the Group of Ministers (GoM) by the Union Cabinet - comes into effect, Christian missionaries and other organisations accepting foreign contributions for mass conversions in India will come under the Government's scanner. The Ministry of Home Affairs has put the proposed Bill in the public domain for comments. .....
by South Asia Terrorism Portal
Since late 1989, the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) has been in the grip of a vicious movement of Islamist extremist terrorism. As many as 36,289 [till December 30, 2003, Source: www.satp.org] lives have been lost in this conflict over nearly 14 years of a sub-conventional war that has inflicted enormous suffering on the people of the State, and transformed this confrontation between South Asia’s traditional rivals into a potential nuclear flashpoint. .....
by Jenny Booth
An Iraqi militant group led by al-Qaeda has threatened to massacre Christians in response to remarks about Islam by Pope Benedict XVI that have caused offence across the Muslim world. .....
by Daniel Pipes
Hark the ringing prose about academic freedom by Rima Kapitan, the volunteer attorney in CAIR's Chicago office. "Another casualty in the war against civil liberties in this country since September 2001 is the right to academic freedom. Professors and students who diverge too much from the current political and economic orthodoxy are being silenced around the country. .....
by Shakti Marg
Shivaji stands out in the long line of Hindu warriors as one of the greatest. Though his life is an emblem of courage, virtue and inspiration to fight against oppression and religious persecution, many Hindus have not even heard of him. .....
by Ajit Doval
India has suffered its first strategic setback in the fight against terrorism by certifying that Pakistan is not an aggressor but a state aggressed upon. On the terrorism front it brings both countries at par. For a quarter of a century, we felt Pakistan was the aggressor — first in Punjab, then in Kashmir and now in rest of the country — leaving more than 60,000 dead. Perhaps India was right in the past to blame Pakistan but no longer, apparently. .....
by Intikhab Amir
Billions of rupees have been spent to extend “moral and diplomatic” support to the people of Kashmir, while millions of dollars have also been raised through donations by Pakistanis and Kashmiris living abroad for the same cause. This has allowed some enterprising men to make fortunes in the name of jihad and in the effort to publicise the cause of Kashmir at the international level. No wonder then over the years, this cause has become associated with comfortable living, luxury cars and multi-million rupees assets in Pakistan and elsewhere. .....
by Sanjay Suri
That control now extends over the southern half of Afghanistan and is advancing by the day, says an extensive new report by the Senlis Council, a prominent London-based security and development policy group studying the impact of drugs policies in the region. "In a year, we'll have a situation where they will have managed to create discontinuity, and therefore the legitimacy of the Kabul government will be weakened to a point where they will not be able to keep the country together," Emmanuel Reinert, executive director of the Senlis Council, told Outlook. .....
by Hasan Zaidi
When a chowkidar of a Karachi school was critically injured in an accident earlier this year, the staff and students decided to collect funds for his treatment. A teacher was approached by one of her young wards whose father wanted to speak to her. When she took the phone, the "extremely courteous" father told her that he would bear the entire cost of the treatment. She turned down the offer pointing out that the school had raised the funds required. She was excited as she had just talked to Dawood Ibrahim. .....
by Aditi Pai
Not one to spend his post-retirement years relaxing in an armchair, reading stories to his grandchildren, Suryakant Jog has instead directed his energies towards devising and implementing ingenious ways of storing rainwater to address the problem of water shortage. .....
by Bruce Loudon
It is mountainous country so remote and inhospitable that it has given Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants refuge, despite the unceasing efforts of the world's most potent and best-equipped intelligence services, using the most sophisticated methods, to track them down. .....
by Ninemsn.com.au
Australia's Islamic clerics will set up a national board to tackle issues such as terrorism and provide the Muslim community with one united voice. .....
by Roee Nahmias
Islamic Movement leader Sheikh Raed Salah tells rally of 50,000 in Umm al-Fahm: Jerusalem will be the capital of the new Muslim caliphate sooner than is thought; says Sharon, Katsav, Clinton punished by Allah for wanting to divide al-Aqsa mosque site .....
by News24.com
A Muslim academic, who once said he was prepared to be a suicide bomber, accused Britain and the United States on Sunday of waging a "war against Islam", calling opponents of Tony Blair and George W Bush "martyrs". .....
by The Telegraph
Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee spoke of the security threat from Bangladesh, without naming it, at a meeting in Delhi yesterday where the Prime Minister was present, asking the Centre to “neutralise this menace”. .....
by Syed Shahabuddin
Mr. Masoom Moradabadi's article "Haj Subsidy - Fact or Fiction" (MG, 1-15 September, 2002) suffers from a number of ill-founded presumptions and evident inaccuracies. .....
by Andrew G. Bostom
On Thursday, September 7, 2006, as first reported by the Times of London this past Saturday (9/2/06), an All-Party Parliamentary Enquiry into Antisemitism is expected to issue its finding that anti-Jewish violence has become endemic in Britain, both on the streets and university campuses. A major surge of attacks has accompanied—and followed—the recent conflict between Hezb’allah and Israel. .....
by Sangeeth Kurian
A controversy has broken out in the U.K. and the U.S. with the media reflecting a debate over an Anglican priest who converted to Hinduism in Kerala where he has now stayed for nearly a year, and where he regularly offers ritual prayers in a temple. .....
by Devika Bhat
Police in Iraq say that they have discovered the bodies of 60 people, most of whom had been bound, tortured and shot before being dumped in and around Baghdad. .....
by The Times
Understanding the past, Felipe Fernández-Armesto asserted in Truth: A History, is akin to “a nymph glimpsed bathing between leaves; the more you shift perspective, the more is revealed. If you want to see the whole you have to dodge and slip between the different viewpoints”. .....
by Washington Post
Secretary Of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld didn't say who he was thinking of when he warned in a controversial speech last month about people who think that "countries can negotiate a separate peace with terrorists." In fact the most obvious candidate is that enduring favorite of the Bush administration, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. Mr. Musharraf, whose country has been the main base for leaders of both al-Qaeda and the Taliban since 2002, last week concluded a peace deal with tribal leaders in North Waziristan, a territory near the border with Afghanistan. .....
by Haindava Keralam
Sleeping cells of Islamic Terrorists are much more active now a days inspite of the recent arrest of SIMI terrorist from Kochi. .....
by S. Chandrasekhar
In a severe slap on the face of Kerala’s Home Minister and presiding perpetrator of CPM butchery on RSS cadres in Kannur, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, the High Court of Kerala Division Bench consisting of judges J.B. Koshy and K. Padmanabhan Nair have severely indicted him for granting parole flouting all norms to seven CPM men who had murdered RSS men in Kannur. .....
by The Sydney Morning Herald
Pope Benedict XVI has stepped into the controversy over Islam and violence during a visit to Germany, citing historic Christian commentary on holy war and forced conversion. .....
by Hiranmay Karlekar
Several developments during the last three weeks indicate that Bangladesh's present coalition Government, led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party but dominated by the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh (JeIB), is bent upon winning the forthcoming general election in the country by fair means or foul. These also indicate that the process of the country's talibanisation will take a quantum leap if its effort succeeds. .....
by Vivek Wadhwa
They have funny accents, occasionally dress in strange outfits, and some wear turbans and grow beards, yet Indians have been able to overcome stereotypes to become the U.S.'s most successful immigrant group. Not only are they leaving their mark in the field of technology, but also in real estate, journalism, literature, and entertainment. .....
by The Times of India
The main Opposition BJP on Wednesday attacked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his remarks that Pakistan too was a victim of terrorism insisting he had given 'enough latitude' to Islamabad to deny it does not support terror. .....
by Hindu Jagruti
Tulzapur, Maharashtra: On Anant Chaturdashi, the last day of Sri Ganesh festival, a procession was taken out for immersion of Sri Ganesh idols by 'Veer-Shaiva Tarun Mandal' at Katgaon (Tal. Tulzapur, Maharashtra). While the procession was passing by a mosque, some Muslims pelted stones at the procession causing damage to Sri Ganesh idol and injuries to many people participating in the procession. .....
by Madhu Purnima Kishwar
Suggestions, both private and official, have inundated the Moily Oversight Committee on OBC reservations in institutions of higher education. The commerce ministry’s call for a liberal education order is the latest in a long line of varied advice. But all the suggestions have one thing in common and they share this with the reservation policy itself: the flawed assumption that deprivation has only two facets in India — being born in a caste or tribe listed in government records as backward or depressed, and/or being born in a poor family. .....
by Newsinsight.net
Why isn't the Manmohan Singh government afflicted with a mid-life crisis? The joke answer may be, it doesn't have a life. It might be true too. Governments usually begin with great promise. They raise hopes. Then midway, the fear of elections takes over. The tough growth policies surrender to populism. The politicians overwhelm the managers. The PM, if he or she also leads the ruling party, gets preoccupied with electoral matters. .....
by Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh
More than 16,000 people poured into De Anza College, Cupertino, to be part of an exciting day, to celebrate the Hindu way of life. Hindu Sangam, a one-day grand cultural program aimed at displaying the various Hindu intellectual, cultural and spiritual contributions made over thousands of years, was organized by Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh with support from over 40 SF Bay Area organizations including Sunnyvale Hindu Temple as one of the Grand Sponsors. .....
by Dr. Ananad Kumar
A high profile peace process is on between India and Pakistan to solve the controversial issues between the two neighbours. Similarly India is also making effort to sort out its border disputes with China. On the other hand not much attention is being paid to India’s border disputes with Bangladesh though only 6.5km of the border remains to be demarcated. .....
by Gloria Labounty
It’s one of the oldest religions of the world and one that is becoming more prominent in this area, but it is also one of the most misunderstood. .....
by Jeremy Meister
What did 9-11 teach me? That the American left has FAILED in protecting this country. But even after the World Trade Center bombing, even after the Khobar Towers, even after the East African Embassy Bombing, even after the USS Cole attack and yes even after the attack on 9-11, liberals continue to demand that we follow the same inaction. .....
by Rajeev Ranjan Roy
In a scathing attack on Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh for skipping the Congress function for singing of Vande
Matram, Opposition leader in the Lok Sabha LK on Friday said that "Those
who cannot with conviction defend the sacred legacy of our national movement
are unfit to be India's rulers." .....
by The Pioneer
The explosive devices that killed 31 people in Malegaon possibly contained
RDX and were "identical" to the bombs used in the blasts on
commuter trains here on July 11, top police sources said here today. .....
by Chandan Mitra
Most lovers of Vande Mataram are upset, even agitated, about the controversy
that followed a Government circular urging all schools to observe September
7 as Vande Mataram Day. Although the controversy was unnecessary, misplaced
and occasionally mischievous, I am personally not unhappy that the issue
kicked up a whole lot of dust. .....
by David Selbourne
Let us suppose, for the sake of argument, that the war declared by al-Qaeda
and other Islamists is under way. Let us further suppose that thousands
of "terrorist" attacks carried out in Islam's name during the
past decades form part of this war; and that conflicts that have spread
to 50 countries and more, taking the lives of millions - including in
inter-Muslim blood-shedding - are the outcome of what Osama bin Laden
has called "conducting jihad for the sake of Allah". .....
by Krishnaraj Iyengar
Waves of Arabian sea glisten as the crystalline froth between them almost
shapes itself like the Hebrew word for peace - shalom. A few weeks
ago, some men from Navi Mumbai played havoc with the shalom of Jews. They
named their eating joint 'Hilter's Cross'. And just so that nobody missed
the bold German connection, embellished the signage with the Swastik.
.....
by Phil Mercer
They are now the third-largest immigrant group behind the British and
New Zealanders. The Indians bring with them the expertise that Australia's
booming economy desperately needs, amid a chronic skills shortage. .....
by Steven Shamrak
In a recently aired video, Al Qaida's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri
introduced a speaker, Azzam the American, who invited all non-Muslims,
especially in the United States, to convert to Islam and to abandon their
'misguided' ways or suffer the consequences. He called for "...repent
and enter into the light of Islam and turn their swords against the enemies
of God..." .....
by Ira Rifkin
He polished the prose of Muslim leaders so their views would be marketable.
He invited them home to break bread. He even attacked his co-religionists
in print for not being more realistic. .....
by Sandhya Jain
Hindus received unfair and unequal treatment in the matter of how sixth
grade students in the public education system would be taught about the
Hindu religion. Why should Hindu children be taught that "Hindus
worship talking monkeys and throw widows into fires?" .....
by B.R.Haran
The Congress Working Committee, which met on Sunday the 10th of September
2006, had resolved to celebrate the centenary of "Satyagraha"
movement. The resolution says, "It was resolved to uphold the 'legacy'
of Mahatma Gandhi, in a world that is continuing the spread of 'violence
& hatred', sustained propagation of 'bigotry & discord' and where
'poverty & inequality' are still very much prevalent". .....
by Mufti Islah & V K Shashikumar
At the first glance, 22-year-old Muddasir Gojri alias Raju does not betray
his gory antecedents and comes across as any other ordinary Kashmiri boy
with his dreamy eyes and infectious smile. .....
by Dhananjay Mahapatra
Unmindful of the raging controversy over quotas, the supreme court has
lent its support to open competitions to fill government jobs. .....
by Anubha Sawhny
The year was 1893. A 30-year-old monk from India had travelled across
the world to represent his country at Chicago's Parliament of Religions.
.....
by The Economic Times
The resumption of the Indo-Pak peace talks will depend on the outcome
of the bilateral meeting between PM Manmohan Singh and Pakistan president
Pervez Musharraf at the Non Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Havana next
week. .....
by The Indian Express
Nearly two months after Terror Tuesday, Sandhya Naik (35) finds herself
at a crossroad, not knowing in which direction life will take her. The
7/11 blast left her a widow, and young son Bittu fatherless. .....
by T R Jawahar
When India committed it-self to a secular dispensation, by a combination
of constitutional dictum and political rhetoric, the understanding that
the well-meaning majority imbibed was this: that those who followed other
faiths are free to do so. Not for a moment would they have believed that
meant dilution, denial and even destruction of their own cherished national
culture and its symbols. .....
by Organiser
Mullahs have a penchant for trivia. But are they innocuous? The latest
to hit their attention is the life insurance. Reports say that Darul Uloom
of Deoband has declared life insurance illegal saying that interest earned
on bank deposits as well as insurance of life are bad as per the Shariat.
Muslims should not go in for insurance or assurance of life which has
been given to them by Allah, Deoband decreed. .....
by Rediff.com
Pakistan's cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan has described Pakistan
President Pervez Musharraf's policy on the conflict-torn tribal region
bordering Afghanistan as a "disaster" and accused him of being
a "poodle" of the US. .....
by The Indian Express
The police said on Saturday they had arrested 16 men in two separate anti-terrorism
operations just three weeks after uncovering a suspected plot to bring
down US-bound airliners over the Atlantic. .....
by Rod Liddle
Quick, somebody buy a wreath. Last week marked the passing of multiculturalism
as official government doctrine. No longer will opponents of this corrosive
and divisive creed be silenced simply by the massed Pavlovian ovine accusation:
"Racist!" Better still, the very people who foisted multiculturalism
upon the country are the ones who have decided that it has now outlived
its usefulness - that is, the political left. .....
by The New Indian Express
The State Anti-Terrorist Squad today made its tenth arrest in the serial
blasts case after booking Al Badr divisional commander Tohfooq Ahmed Hashemi
alias Abu Amad for the explosion at Mahim railway station on July 11.
.....
by Shishir Gupta
Ahead of the Tuesday conclave of Chief Ministers on internal security,
the Centre has presented a grim picture by admitting that cross-border
terrorism has spread to the hinterland and infiltration, in comparison
to the same period last year, has trebled. .....
by Mahesh Mhatre
At a time when chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh is giving speeches on
the root cause of farmer's suicide, his deputy and home minister R R Patil
is sitting on the promise of action against Congress MLA Dilip Sananda's
father facing charges of illegal money-lending. .....
by B K Modi
I have been a student of Indian culture since my student days. Since then,
I had been in search of a global identity. My search from being an Indian
citizen to a global citizen has led me all over the world. .....
by Aradhana Takhtani
This professional dealer in stamps, coins and paper money is always on
the lookout for treasure. But even he was not prepared to find the God
of Prosperity in perhaps his most real setting - money. And not just that
alone. .....
by IBN Live
The Vande Mataram controversy seems to have moved beyond 'to sing or not
to sing' dilemma and has become more of political cacophony. .....
by CNN.com
A new videotape has surfaced featuring Osama bin Laden's second-in-command,
Ayman al-Zawahiri, and an American member of al Qaeda wanted by the FBI,
according to a counterterrorism expert. .....
by Seemi Pasha
Vande Mataram gets further mired in controversy with Madarsa Darul Ulloom
of Deoband issuing a fatwa against BJP Vice President Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi.
.....
by The Pioneer
After the periodic mauling of Border Security Force jawans at the hands
of Bangladesh Rifles personnel - even as India's political Centre mutely
watches the depredations - is it surprising that illegal Bangladeshi immigrants
hammered the daylights out of Delhi Police constables Friday last? The
incident occurred in the heart of the Capital, in Jangpura's Sunlight
colony under the Nizamuddin Police Station, whereby a gang of Bangladeshis
overpowered a police team, snatched their service weapons, held them hostage
and fired a few rounds injuring at least three constables. .....
by Sidharth Mishra
After the end of the First World War (1917), Congress took to playing
to the tune of Muslim communalists. Unfortunately even the emergence of
a charismatic and widely respected Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi at the helm
of the leadership could not prevail upon the party to keep its focus on
a nationalist anti-imperialist struggle. Gandhi to an extent is held guilty
by some historians for allowing pan-Islamism to enter the Indian struggle.
.....
by M V Kamath
What do the Indian Muslims really want? When, during the long-drawn talks
with the British, Congress leaders finally - and may it be said most reluctantly
- agreed to the country's partition, it was not because they accepted
Mohammed Ali Jinnah's Two Nation Theory as a desirable option, but plainly
because they wanted to avoid a civil war of unprecedented proportion,
having witnessed with their own eyes what happened in Calcutta, now Kolkata
.....
by Bal Ram Singh
Indians are every where, not counting the misconception created by Christopher
Columbus since 1492 when he landed in what is currently Ecuador and believed
he was in India. The indigenous people there are still called Indians.
.....
by Mumbai Mirror
The Vande Mataram controversy may die a resounding death in Madhya Pradesh
as students of madrasas have been told that there is nothing wrong in
singing the national song. .....
by Priyanka Dasgupta
Aasish Khan, son of sarod maestro Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, has embraced Hinduism,
sparking a debate and prompting his distraught 84-year-old father to tell
TOI that his son has besmirched the name of their illustrious family.
.....
by Subodh Ghildiyal & Vishwa Mohan
The Centre has warned the states about the lurking fear that terrorist
groups, anxious to camouflage the trail linking them to their sponsors
in Pakistan, might increasingly resort to finding recruits among locals.
.....
by Paul Garwood
Her father said it would be a two-week holiday to learn about her Pakistani
heritage. But 20-year-old Britisher Shazia (name changed) soon found herself
captive in a remote tribal village for over a year and promised in marriage
to a cousin she had never met. .....
by The Indian Express
Faced with widespread violence following the killing of Baloch leader
Nawab Akbar Bugti, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has warned that
strict action would be taken against anyone who harmed the country. .....
by Amit Roy
Only weeks after Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen expressed disapproval
of Muslim and other faith schools in Britain, police have swooped on the
Jameah Islamiyah Secondary School in Mark Cross, near Crowborough, East
Sussex, an institution with only a handful of pupils but a 100-room building
and set in 54 acres of grounds. .....
by Premendra Agrawal
Discussion on Press releases of Dalit Freedom Network Dt Aug 29 &
Aug 05, 06: Is conversion necessary for development? Powerbrokers Maulvis
oppose 'Vandematram'. Nexus is between DFN, Teesta & Arjun. .....
by Rajeev P I
The National Democratic Front (NDF), frequently figuring in political
and communal killings in Kerala but seldom getting directly implicated,
is now indicted in a political murder that nearly tore asunder a sensitive
part of North Kerala. .....
by Anuradha Mane
Faith has no boundaries and these five youngsters from France, Holland,
Colombia and Germany prove just that. Living in a city that comes alive
every year during the Ganesh festival, Laure Duchatel (21), a French national,
who works with an IT company as a trainee, always wanted to be a part
of the festivities and what better way than to invite the Lord to her
house? .....
by Siddharth Kathans
Two top groups of Muslims, including the Darul Uloom of Deoband, the supreme
body of the majority Sunnis, have termed life insurance as illegal. The
Darul Ifta of Deoband, the body authorised to issue fatwas, has issued
a decree saying that the interest earned on bank deposits as well as insurance
of life are illegal as per the Shariat, the supreme law for Muslims. .....
by Shishir Gupta
The interrogation of two Pakistani nationals caught on the Indo-Bangladesh
border on August 14 has revealed that the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) was preparing
to target Mumbai with suicide bombers. .....
by Sonu Jain
Exactly a month ago, Union Coal Minister Shibu Soren sent out a very unusual
letter to his Secretary. In a one-para note he signed on an unmarked sheet
of paper, he wrote he is "not happy" with Coal India's Chief
Vigilance Officer and there is an "imperative need" to remove
him. .....
by The Indian Express
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will organise community singing of "Vande
Mataram" in all the districts of the country on September 7 and will
chalk out a detailed plan for further action on the issue in its three-day
national executive meeting commencing on the same day at Dehradun. .....
by The Times of India
Foreign secretary Shyam Saran on Monday added to the BJP's misery when
he said the decision to release Harkat-ul-Ansar terrorist Maulana Masood
Azhar (who later founded the Jaish-e-Mohammed) in exchange for the hostages
of flight IC-814 hijacked to Kandahar lacked "sober analysis and
was taken under media pressure". .....
by Balbir K. Punj
Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil, the Major Archbishop Syro-Malabar Church
Ernakulam-Angamaly, was recently in news for warning that Kerala would
become an Islamic state in another 20 years. His grim predictions were
based on changing religious demography of the state where Muslims have
left Hindus and Christians behind by non-acceptance of family planning.
.....
by Rediff.com
Pakistan on Saturday expelled a senior Indian diplomat after holding him
under detention and ordered him to leave the country within 48 hours.
.....
by Organiser
Expressing serious concern over the growing terrorist activities in Vanvasi
areas, the national convention of Akhil Bharatiya Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram
held in Bhiwani, Haryana, from July 22 to 24, has demanded that all the
state governments should take all possible steps to block the entry of
foreign missionaries, foreign funds and their misuse, extortion by terrorist
outfits and forced conversion in Vanvasi areas. .....
by Sonia Verma
When Dr. Fouad Fatah emerged bleary-eyed from the ruins of his hospital
during a pause in Israeli air strikes last week, it felt like the first
time in forever. .....
by Amir Taheri
The scene is Beirut, some years on, when Hezbollah has driven out the
"Crusader-Zionists" and begun building the model Islamic state
it has promised since the 1980s. .....
by Gyanant Singh
Bangladeshi fundamentalist leaders regularly attend meetings arranged
by the Students Islamic Movement of India (Simi) in Bengal, the Centre
has revealed. .....
by Moshe Yaalon
The conflict in the Middle East is about much more than Israel and Hezbollah,
or even Hezbollah's Syrian and Iranian sponsors. What is at stake are
the very rules of war that underpin the entire international order. .....
by Asiya Andrabi
It is in downtown Srinagar that I meet Asiya Andrabi, leader of the separatist
Kashmiri women's group Dukhtaran-e-Millat (Daughters of the Nation). One
has heard stories about her spraying paint on women who do not wear burkhas.
She is known to have sent burkha-clad activists to burn Valentine's Day
cards and posters, raid liquor shops, and restaurants boasting special
seating arrangement for couples. Her organisation was banned in the '90s
and Asiya was underground till 2004. .....
by Jaya Menon
Barely two weeks after it was sworn in, Tamil Nadu's DMK government ordered
that cases be dropped against 12 Muslim fundamentalists, all followers
of Kichaan Buhari, an Al Umma sympathizer and key accused in the Coimbatore
serial blasts. .....
by Deccan Herald
Convenor of the Shimoga branch of 'Tirumala Tirupati Protection Committee'
T V Ramachandra has said that there is no doubt that conversion activities
are going on in Tirupati Tirumala temple. .....
by Kavita Suri
Kashmir, getting uprooted and settling in a tented colony on the outskirts
of Jammu city in Nagrota in the scorching heat of the plains was not easy
for Sunita Kaul, all of 14 years. .....
by Claude Arpi
Manmohan Singh's Government is high on rhetoric but low on resolute action
in order to deal with terrorism ---- I was in Delhi when France played
the final of the FIFA World Cup against Italy. The next few days were
not easy for Persons of French Origin. Until then I had thought football
generated little interest in India, but suddenly I discovered there were
millions of 'specialists' giving their opinion. .....
by News Today
A police inspector, who allegedly threatened a youth to convert to Christianity,
finds himself in a soup. The 32-year-old youth today alleged that the
police inspector had tried to kidnap him and end his life since he refused
to convert. .....
by Paul Sperry
Could you imagine the New York Times running a saintly profile of a skinhead
who said he hoped the U.S. would be a Nazi country ruled by the Fourth
Reich? Of course not. It would never happen. Nor should it. .....
by Dhananjay Mahapatra
This Supreme Court order is bound to have a ripple effect on religious
leaders who in one way or the other induce people to convert. .....
by The Australian
The quest for peace in the Middle East is one of the most frustrating
stories of the modern age. Unlike the Cold War, which was decided by the
hard and demonstrable realities of economics, conflicts in the Middle
East are conducted and judged in a far less objective arena, where values
of religion and honour are very often the ultimate arbiters of right and
wrong. .....
by Sandhya Jain
The $50,000 Magsaysay Award was recently conferred upon Arvind Kejriwal,
a former Indian Revenue Service officer campaigning for the Right to Information
(RTI). Though several Indians have received this prize from Philippines,
not many citizens are aware that this is actually an American award for
Asians. Set up by the Rockefeller Brothers Foundation, most of the purse
comes from the Ford Foundation. .....
by Dr. Jagan Kaul
Subject: Patronizing and penalizing of religions by AP Govt. is unconstitutional:
a) massive Govt. grants for Churches are brazen State patronage; b) usurpation
of temples and demolition of religious infrastructures are penalization
and persecution of Hindus; c) jurisdiction of temples should be transferred
to a Waqf- like Hindu Board. .....
by Vijay Sazawal
Many observers in Jammu and Kashmir (hereafter called Kashmir) believe
today that the solution to the nearly 60-year old problem may lie in self-governance.
Before we explore that concept further, let us address the other subject:
the fear of trans-nationalism, which actually led to the Kashmir problem
in the first place. .....
by Dr. Richard L. Benkin
A new Indian documentary provides visual and other evidence that Islamist
attempts to secure a base on Northeastern India are "at an advanced
state." According to the documentary by Indian, Mayank Jain, "A
conspiracy has been hatched by Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence
and fundamentalists from Bangladesh to carve out an Islamic country comprising
Asom, Tripura, and West Bengal," as well as Bangladesh. .....
