August Month Articles
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Social Contributions
of Hindu Communities in the U.S. (Excerpts)
Selected in 2003 by the International
Fellow Centre on Philanthropy and Civil Society attached to the City University
of New York to study Community Foundations and Diaspora Philanthropy, Priya
Anand conducted a three-month research on the social contributions the
Hindu religious diaspora is making in the U.S.A. ......
The heart rending pictures depicting
the tragic plight of the Kashmiri Pandits, their selective killings, mass
cremations, exodus and refugee life since 1990 due to terrorism in Kashmir
drew thousands of people at an exhibition here. ......
After 9/11, western countries have
supposedly unleashed the War onTerror against Islamic terrorism.
The multi-billion dollar forged wars are now being conducted in Afghanistan
and Iraq. The US is spending billions of dollars on anti-biological
warfare. And no one has answered the questions: Who was sending US military
grade Anthrax through the US post? Why was additional hysteria created
after the horror in New York and Washington? ......
I wouldn’t want to be in Manmohan
Singh’s shoes these days. His heart says, ‘yes’; his head says, ‘no’. His
political boss has pushed through Parliament a National Employment
Guarantee Act, which feels good to his heart, after all, what could
be nicer than to know that all Indians are employed! But his conscience
tells him that this will be the biggest ‘loot for work’ program in India’s
history. Thus, he is in a tragic dilemma, a dharma sankat. A Chinese expert
on India who lives in Beijing sent me an e-mail saying that the Chinese
would never contemplate such a job-creating scheme. ......
What Bengal’s Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee
does today, the rest of India’s Left might do tomorrow.
The Left Front, which has run Bengal
for 28 years, is wooing private capital with fervour. Meanwhile, the CPM’s
effete Delhi leadership, unencumbered by the responsibilities of office,
rail against disinvestment, foreign investment and economic reform. The
limousine Left, for example, bristles at the thought of overseas investment
in airports......
The Strategic Foresight Group
(SFG), a Mumbai based think-tank, has in a study said that Pakistan and
Nepal, India’s two immediate neighbours, have always concentrated
on enriching themselves when their military or monarchy were in power.
.....
Speaking in his religious seminary,
or madrassa, in the Mansehra district of northern Pakistan, the young cleric
admitted receiving military training in 1996 from Harkat-ul-Mujahedeen,
or Movement for Holy Warriors, a Pakistani group linked to Al Qaida and
the killing of the American journalist Daniel Pearl. .....
London is still in the dark about
the 7/7 bombings that killed 52 people and injured over 750. But they nourished,
on their own soil, a wanted key al-Qaeda operative with money, luxury and
sympathy. .....
The most effective way of avoiding
a war is to be ready for it. Because of a policy of turning the other cheek
repeatedly, these days all enemies of Bharat know that no provocation would
be sufficient to get New Delhi to act militarily in defense of its interests.Say
what you will about Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi,both were willing to
use force to achieve national objectives. Although at Simla Indira Gandhi
gave away the advantages won on the battleground, the reality remains that
but for the sacrifices made by the Indian armed forces, the people of Bangladesh
may still be slaves of masters based in Rawalpindi. .....
Karzai studied here, so have Afghanistan’s
Who’s Who. The Taliban reduced Habibia to a bullet-ridden shell. Today,
16000 students troop in every day to sit down in tents. That changes tomorrow
when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh hands over the school—rebuilt and equipped
by Indian engineers .....
When a bomb exploded in front of
Dhaka's National Press Club, little did the city's press corps know of
the grisly hours awaiting them on August 17. Soon the news began trickling
in from across Bangladesh: a bomb here, a bomb there, yet another bomb
at a third place. By noon, the figure had ballooned to 500, spread over
63 of Bangladesh's 64 districts, killing two and injuring 100. .....
Voicing concern over strong ‘‘behind-the-scenes’’
manoeuvering by vested interests in the private sector, Ratan Tata, chairman
of Tata Sons, said it hurts the country’s progress, stops reforms and makes
the policies ‘‘toothless and ineffective’’. .....
The Archaeological Survey of India
(ASI) has unearthed the ruins of a nearly 1,200-year-old temple, believed
to be of the Pallava period, near the Tiger Cave in Mamallapuram. .....
Under the aegis of Pakistan Oppressed
Nations Movement (PONM), Seraikis, Sindhis, Baluchs and Pashtoons have
been struggling for a new constitution of Pakistan according to 1940 resolution
so that they get their fundamental rights, deprived to them since the Constituent
Assembly was held in 1970. .....
A curious drama is enacted each
time there is a terrorist attack: politicians and experts start praising
Islam. They tell us that Islam is a noble religion, which stands for peace
and compassion and abhors violence. This is what Mr. Tony Blair did immediately
after the London bombings. It is now all but an obligatory ritual. .....
How about filing a writ petition
by Dr. Farooq Abdullah challenging the findings of Transparency International,
India—the local chapter of a Berlin-based NGO—and Centre for Media Studies
(CMS) for depriving J&K State of its well-deserved first position in
the list of the most corrupt states in India? The ‘honour’ has been stolen
by Bihar leaving J&K as a runner up. The survey in 356 villages spread
across 151 districts in 20 States reveals that the common citizens pay
bribes amounting to Rs. 21,068 crore every year. .....
Mao: The Unknown Story (Random
House) by Juang Chang, the author of Chinese origin and her British historian
husband Jon Halliday exposes the myth of Soviet friendliness towards India.
.....
“Large insects are eating and secretly
injuring small insects”, wrote the 13th Dalai Lama to the British Trade
Agent in Tibet in 1910. He was on his way to exile in India, chased by
Chinese invading troops. History has a tendency to repeat itself: “large
insects” continue to devour “smaller ones”. .....
The festival of lights, Diwali,
is not as significant in many countries, but it has not lost its beauty,
joy and auspiciousness for people of Fiji, says the Opposition Leader Mahendra
Chaudhry. .....
Responding to a question seeking
advice from the ulema whether or not it is permissible for a Muslim male
to marry two women simultaneously in one sitting, Jamia Nizamia, a 130-year-old
religious institution in the city, answered in the affirmative. The English
translation of the fatwa given in Urdu reads as follows: "Islamic law has
allowed a man to keep four wives in his marriage simultaneously on the
condition of justice. .....
The large hall was full as Amma
began the program for the first Devi Bhava darshan after the US tour.
Over 15,000 tokens were distributed for darshan. After Amma's satsang,
during the 3rd song of the evening bhajans at around 6.15 pm, a man
wearing a yellow shawl came onto the men's side of the stage.
He was suspiciously holding something under the shawl, and was walking
towards Amma. When asked to sit he refused. As he came behind the
chorus and within 10 feet from Amma, one of the brahmacharis confronted
him and pushed him to the side of the stage. .....
On weekdays, Mahesh Upadhyay is
a geek. Testing software on his desktop, checking e-mails on his BlackBerry,
the 41-year-old is the quintessential software professional living life
in cyberspace. .....
Retribution is as risky as snake-charming.
In returning pain for pain, we may set the world to rights, or only compound
whatever evil we've suffered by taking on the worst traits of our antagonists.
The challenge for a novelist is keeping the reader's sympathy for an injured
character who becomes, in his longed-for revenge, as venomous an agent
of destruction as those who have hurt him. .....
There are still thousands of villages
in India that are as yet untouched by the complexities and comforts of
modern civilization. Here people live simply, farming, raising cattle,
and practicing the same trades their ancestors practiced working as carpenters,
blacksmiths, washermen, barbers, cobblers, tailors, ropemakers, potters,
and fishermen. I was born in one such village and raised on the plains
of northern India. .....
From a sunlit studio in Vile Parle,
Vithal Shanbag teaches people how to make their own Ganesh idols. He sets
it on the table as an unshapely lump of wet clay. By the time he’s finished
work on it, it has transformed into Ganesh, the elephant God. .....
With Islamic fundamentalists determinedly
leaving their signature tune upon hitherto unvisited world capitals, and
religio-ethnic violence taking a grim upturn in Jammu & Kashmir with
the recent beheading of a woman and slitting of throats of five men, India
needs to take a pro-active interest in getting the United Nations General
Assembly to define “terrorism” at its forthcoming annual meeting in September.
.....
It’s finally official. Thirty-one
MPs, cutting across partylines, all members of the Parliamentary Standing
Committee on Rural Development, have endorsed the main criticisms against
the ‘National Rural Employment Guarantee Bill, 2004’ Almost each state
government has favoured the correctives suggested by National Advisory
Council (NAC) and the Left. It is not only those lampooned by the corporate
media as “jholawalas” or the usual suspects in the Left, but MPs and state
governments who want a better Bill. .....
They are ordinary men with extraordinary
courage. History is replete with tales of unsung heroes who have sacrificed
their lives to protect their motherland. Such is the story of 19-yearold
Mohd Maqbool Sherwani, who laid down his life in the 1947 war and saved
the Indian Army from the ignominy of defeat. Unfortunately, outside Baramullah,
very few have heard of this brave boy who changed the course of history.
.....
Imagine President A P J Abdul Kalam,
Supreme Commander of the armed forces, writing a letter to Defence Minister
Pranab Mukherjee asking him to transfer a Brigadier. Clearly, Bihar Governor
Buta Singh does not have that imagination. For, despite the state being
under President’s Rule, despite the fact that he sits in Raj Bhavan at
the pleasure of Rashtrapati Bhavan, he writes a letter, as exposed by this
newspaper, asking Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav to upgrade an officer
who, in turn, brags that he knows the Governor for 20 years. .....
The National Rural Employment Guarantee
Bill tabled by the UPA in Parliament is the most ambitious anti-poverty
programme in the history of India. But so tearing has been the hurry to
introduce it that the UPA has not even had time to examine the difficulties
in the implementation of its precursor, the Food for Work programme which
it introduced last year in 150 most backward districts. .....
Human rights are by definition
universal. Hence, in an ideal world there would be no need to write a separate
report on the human rights of Hindus, or for that matter any other group.
.....
The Nehruvian Left's task of repackaging
history has only just begun;but more urgent is the need to make amends
for what must rank as a disgrace to historiography, if confirmed. Incredibly
derogatory remarks have allegedly been made against Ramakrishna in the
NCERT-approved Class X textbooks for the CBSE. .....
Attacks and harassment of Merton's
Hindu community will not stop the annual Ther parade, organisers claim.
.....
The sham of the Nanavati Commission
report and the bigger hoax of the Action Taken Report (ATR) must be condemned
in the strongest of terms by all citizens. The condemnation should come
not only from Sikhs but from other communities too. It’s time the earlier
panels that probed the 1984 violence are all publicly interrogated. .....
The nun adored by the Vatican ran
a network of care homes where cruelty and neglect are routine. Donal MacIntyre
gained secret access and witnessed at first hand the suffering of "rescued"
orphans .....
The United States has described
some of the material contained in Pakistani textbooks as "inciteful" and
said it was an issue of "serious concern". .....
Various political parties have
reacted sharply against the fatwa of Islamic seminary Darul Uloom of Deoband
which seeks to keep women out of electoral politics. .....
Wednesday’s terror attack in Bangladesh
reinforced the fact that India is surrounded by failed states. .....
A decade and half ago, kanwad was
an obscure event. A kanwaria would pass the roads unnoticed, withdrawn
to his own inner world. The pilgrimage at that time was an individual adventure.
Now, it is no more so. Kanwad has metamorphosed into a social spectacle
where an ocean of humanity bustles around for over a fortnight, particularly
in and around Delhi. .....
I have heard many horror stories
told by children who lived through the anti-Sikh riots of 1984. I have
heard them personally, seen them in transcripts and on TV, and now I see
them being reprised. A government and a party evade responsibility, a minister
is given the push, kicking and screaming, and says he has resigned. Hands
are wrung, breasts are beaten and another report lands in the dustbin.
So it goes. .....
The National Rural Employment Guarantee
Bill tabled by the UPA in Parliament is the most ambitious anti-poverty
programme in the history of India. But so tearing has been the hurry to
introduce it that the UPA has not even had time to examine the difficulties
in the implementation of its precursor, the Food for Work programme which
it introduced last year in 150 most backward districts. .....
"How do you ignore history? But
the nationalist movement, Independence movement ignored it. You read the
Glimpses of World History by Jawaharlal Nehru, it talks about the mythical
past and then it jumps the difficult period of the invasions and conquests.
So you have Chinese pilgrims coming to Bihar, Nalanda and places like that.
Then somehow they don't tell you what happens, why these places are in
ruin. They never tell you why Elephanta island is in ruins or why Bhubaneswar
was desecrated." .....
Britain has suddenly realised that
radicalism has made deep inroads among its young Muslims. That would not
have come as a surprise to Her Majesty’s government if it had cared to
take a serious view of some of the patently objectionable and unacceptable
activities of the people who have been preaching hate and intolerance in
the island nation for quite some time and also listened to some voices
from India. .....
Noted Kashmir writer and leader,
Dr Shabir Choudhry has in an article on the occasion of independence day
of India and Pakistan said that apart from trade, Islamabad should try
to import some democracy from New Delhi. .....
In an effort to present a united
voice in an alien country and to shape the "future and destiny" of the
Hindu community in coming decades, leaders of as many as 80 important Hindu
organisations and temples in the U.S. have come forward to constitute a
Hindu Council Initiative (HCI) of North America. .....
Whatever Muslims might think, the
world is divided into states and people are recognised by their national,
not religious, identities. On the list of factors which, in the modern
world, bring nations closer or drive them towards hostility, religion undoubtedly
comes last .....
Four weeks, and two weeks, on from
the terrorist bombs in London, there's reckoned to be 6,000 police officers
on the streets and heavy surveillance. .....
Over the ages, there has been an
inextricable link between public piety and violence. It seems that the
conviction that they have a monopoly on some universal truth gives believers
the right to impose their religion on others, by the sword if necessary.
.....
Everyone would like to see a strong
and prosperous India with enough opportunities and good living for all.
There are different routes. But the experience in many countries is that
improved productivity, efficiency and quality in producing goods and services,
including health and education for the poor, open economies and competition,
achieve rapid growth with equity. From their actions in the year they have
run the United Progressive Alliance government from outside, the communists
appear to be against this route. .....
Alarmed by a petition pointing
out a parallel Islamic judiciary handling "Imrana" type cases, the Supreme
Court on Tuesday issued notices to the Centre, All India Muslim Personal
Law Board (AIMPLB) and Islamic seminary Darul Uloom. .....
Calling on Pakistan to rein in
militant and extremist groups operating in Jammu and Kashmir, several human
rights organisations said ''jehadi culture'' and spiralling violence in
the state posed a serious threat to the fragile Indo-Pak peace process.
.....
The biography of Shaheed Nanak
Singh is based on factual information collected from historical records,
media publications and materials in the family's possession. .....
For the first time in North America,
400 participants representing more than 80 Hindu temples and religious
organizations came together for a Dharma Summit on August 13-15, 2005.
The most respected heads of various religious groups who addressed the
summit held at Rutgers University over the weekend included Pujya Swami
Dayananda Saraswati of Arsha Vidya Gurukulam, Saylorsburg, PA, Satguru
Bodhinatha Veylanswami of the Hindu Monastery in Kauai, and Gurudev Chitrabhanu
ji of Jain Meditation Center, NY. .....
The BJP’s Tamil Nadu unit on Tuesday
alleged a large number of Bangladeshi nationals were residing illegally
and asked the state government to take immediate steps to identify such
persons and deport them. .....
He shaped many leaders but his
name will not figure among those 'known' as leaders. He was a thinker but
will not be among those who are 'known' as thinkers. He was an intellectual.
But his name will not be in the list of 'known' intellectuals. He was a
writer but will not be among the 'known' writers. .....
Villagers in mid-western Nepal
have killed five suspected Maoists after rebels allegedly kidnapped a villager.
.....
Two days ahead of Independence
Day, the Kolkata Police are inquiring into handbills being circulated in
the metropolis by an organisation having 'al-Qaeda' in its name seeking
donations for assisting 'Mujahids'. The organisation 'Mujahideen al-Qaeda
Pacific International', was distributing coupons of Rs 25 to Rs 100 denomination,
written in Urdu, in the minority dominated Topsia, Ripon Street area, Zakaria
street and Calootola areas in central Kolkata, with appeals to help 'Mujahids'.
.....
In the Andamans on duty, U.N.B.
Rao, an IPS officer, heard the heartbreaking news of the death of his 20-year-old
son Urivi Vikram in a road accident in Delhi on December 13, 1990. Rao
and his wife Chhaya were expecting their only son to visit them a few days
later. The shattered Raos didn't lose faith in life and its mission. .....
Does the RSS' intervention in politics
go beyond the "prescribed" limits of a socio-cultural organisation? The
question emerged from George Fernandes' percept to the RSS, which has been
showing anxiety to restore ideological content and commitment in the BJP.
As an individual, of course, he is free to express his views. But somehow
there is a disconnect between this role and his maturity and experience
in politics. .....
A CPM leader was sentenced to death
today for murdering a bidi worker seven years ago to put the lid on a rape
charge that the woman had slapped on him. .....
At the request of the CIA, the
Netherlands let go Pakistan’s nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer
Khan, who worked in the country between 1975 and 1986, former Dutch
prime minister Ruud Lubbers told Dutch public radio on Tuesday. .....
Deputy Chief Minister and
NCP leader R R Patil today lambasted the Congress for admitting a
“communal” leader Narayan Rane into its fold and questioned the secular
credentials of the party. .....
She is a lady who went in search
of her roots with pride. She is also a teacher who wanted youngsters of
her community to learn about their rich heritage. Sharmila Rachel Kalvani's
tale is as unique as her novel idea to link the gap between the old and
the young generation of Sindhis. .....
Practicing yoga may be one way
to prevent weight gain in middle age, according to the findings of a new
study. .....
If there’s one engine that’s today
driving a changing India, it’s empowerment. Empowerment of the individual,
the family, the neighbourhood, the community—and, hence, the nation. This
best underlines, and celebrates, the spirit of Independence Day, 2005.
.....
When confrontation arose over the
raising of oil prices and the selling of ten per cent of bhel, Sonia Gandhi
promised the Left that they would pass the Rural Employment Guarantee Act
(REGA) during the monsoon session of Parliament. In fact, the Left had
insisted on this because although the bill had been introduced in Parliament
almost a year ago, the government had been dragging its feet over actually
tabling it. .....
President’s rule has turned out
to be a singularly bad joke for the state’s residents. Even people who
have suffered through 15 years of Laloo raj feel that Buta raj is nothing
less then unmitigated disaster. At least Laloo Prasad Yadav had been an
elected representative. Governor Buta Singh isn’t, yet he seems vulnerable
to the same pulls and pressures of the state’s criminal strongmen. The
controversial transfers of 17 ips officials created a furore last week
that reverberated from Patna to Delhi. .....
Dusk falls swiftly over Uri, a
border town more than 100 km north-west of Srinagar, as the last slivers
of light disappear over the jagged mountains. A few hours earlier, the
fortnightly Muzaffarabad-Srinagar "peace bus" had barrelled down the road,
escorted by security personnel in armoured cars, their black bandannas
flailing wildly in the wind. .....
Even as it raises a hue and cry
over the dismissal of four employees of the Honda plant at Gurgaon for
alleged indiscipline, the CPI(M) has no qualms going the "capitalist way"
in its own institutions in Kerala. .....
It was gracious of The Pioneer
to publish the letter, "Investigate it properly" (July 15), by a group
of well known leftists on behalf of the Kafi Azmi Foundation. Probably,
it was a new Left-Muslim float after the Safdar Hashmi Memorial, hinting
that the Sangh parivar might be behind the July 5 terrorist attack on Ram
Mandir in Ayodhya saying, "In the circumstances it is necessary to investigate
the attack in Ayodhya from all angels. .....
When is a riot not a riot? When
is a massacre not a massacre? When is a mass murderer not a mass murderer?
And when is public outrage to be muted - if not entirely suspended? .....
Defining the ultimate aim of a
democracy like India, the Supreme Court has said the practice of listing
religious groups, as 'minority communities' should be discouraged and the
list be gradually be done away with as it promotes divisive tendencies
to weaken the nation. .....
Maulana Fazlur Rahman, leader of
the opposition and a key figure in the Islamic party alliance, the MMA,
gets thrown out of Dubai. A few months ago, Maulana Samiul Haq, another
stalwart of the MMA, was refused entry into Belgium when travelling with
a parliamentary delegation. A couple of days ago, Mali refused to permit
Pakistani clerics to preach in its mosques. .....
Mr Ashok Chowgule, national vice-president
of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), was in Bangalore recently to participate
in an interactive session on “The Hindu view on religious conversions”.
The programme was organised by the Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue
and The Carey Society of the United Theological College. .....
There is no dearth of evidence
that Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are partners in global terrorism. Mosques
and jehadi-oriented madrassas in both countries spout anti-Western venom.
Terrorist groups such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba have links in Saudi Arabia.
There are reports of extensive nuclear cooperation between Pakistan and
Saudi Arabia since 1994. Hopefully, says G. Parthasarathy, the new Saudi
monarch, King Abdullah, will avoid the path of sponsoring terror abroad.
.....
A CPM leader was sentenced to death
today for murdering a bidi worker seven years ago to put the lid on a rape
charge that the woman had slapped on him. .....
Was Winston Churchill in secret
communication with Mohammad Ali Jinnah and was he tipped off about ‘‘Direct
Action Day’’, August 16, 1946, which saw brutal killings by Muslim League
activists in Kolkata? .....
A few weeks after Mr LK Advani's
much-debated remarks on the secularism of MA Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan,
the history of India was once again revisited, this time by the Indian
Prime Minister. The occasion was Mr Manmohan Singh's acceptance speech
for an Honorary Degree conferred on him by his alma mater, the Oxford University.
.....
No electricity utility can afford
90 per cent residents of a locality not paying their electricity bills
for years together. In normal circumstances, the company would swoop down
on the residents and snap supply till they pay up. But the Gujarat Urja
Vikas Nigam Limited (GUVNL) finds itself helpless in Godhra — Ground Zero
of the 2002 communal riots. .....
For a European leader, Prime Minister
Tony Blair of Britain has done something daring. He has given notice not
just to the theocrats of Islam, but also to the theocracy of tolerance.
.....
As he uttered 'Sisters and Brothers
of America' a thunderous applause hit the roof. This was Swami Vivekananda
speaking to the 'World Parliament of Religions' at Chicago in 1893. .....
A prominent Pakistani leader has
embarrassed both Washington and Islamabad by disclosing that Pakistan's
military government continues to run terrorist training camps and is infiltrating
militants into Afghanistan despite professing to be a US ally in the war
on terrorism. .....
After providing five per cent reservations
in Government jobs and education, the Congress Government in Andhra Pradesh
is now contemplating political reservation for the Muslim minority. .....
Nobel Prize winning author V.S.
Naipaul says that India and China "will completely alter the world" although
he bemoans there "are no thinkers in India". .....
"Hard Talk" on BBC on 8th August
2005, featured a half-hour chat Stephen Sackur had with Anjem Choudry,
ex-head of the Al-Muhajiroun group in Britain. Apparently, the man is of
Asian origin (a Pakistani, I think) born and brought up in the UK. Here
is what they generally said. .....
When Sir Iqbal Sacranie, head of
the Muslim Council of Britain, admitted that "our own children" had perpetrated
the July 7 London bombings, it was the first time in my memory that a British
Muslim had accepted his community's responsibility for outrages committed
by its members. Instead of blaming U.S. foreign policy or "Islamophobia,"
Sacranie described the bombings as a "profound challenge" for the Muslim
community. .....
As mainline churches in India prepare
for dialogue with Hindu groups, some Christian organizations have warned
of the risks of holding talks with "fanatical outfits." .....
A society ought to move beyond
the politics of memory. Justice Nanavati has given enough ammunition to
those who want to keep the pot boiling. .....
Teenage inmates of Mother Teresa’s
Ashram in Delhi have fallen victims to a power-struggle going on between
Italian voluntaries and Ashram monks. .....
Since West Bengal chief minister
Buddhadeb Bhattacharya is more mature than his Assam counterpart, there
has been no unseemly controversy over Governor G.K. Gandhi's warning that
the State is sitting on an "infiltration time bomb" (Pioneer 21 July 2005).
Mr. Gandhi has informed President Kalam that unchecked infiltration is
creating a demographic crisis, with the border districts of Murshidabad
and Malda witnessing a steep rise in minority population. .....
Has secularism been reduced to
a political gimmick? BJP is not the only party that the Congress calls
‘communal’. Whenever parties compete with each other for Muslim votes,
they call the opponents ‘communal’. For example, in Uttar Pradesh the Congress
is desperate for revival, for which it badly needs Muslim votes. Therefore,
it calls the Samajwadi Party ‘communal’ for having a ‘tacit alliance’ with
BJP. .....
Afghanistan is out of the headlines,
but its war against the Taliban goes on. These days, it is not going well.
One of the most important reasons for that is the ambivalence of Pakistan,
the nation that originally helped create, nurture and train the Taliban.
Even now, Pakistan's military ruler, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, seems to invest
far more energy in explaining his government's tolerance of Taliban activities
than he does in trying to shut them down. .....
Immigration: Prime Minister Tony
Blair says he wants to deport those who encourage terrorism in Britain.
To which we say: It's about time. .....
The funeral of British suicide
bomber Shehzad Tanweer was held in absentia in his family's ancestral village,
near Lahore, Pakistan. Thousands attended. The 22-year-old from Leeds,
whose bomb at Aldgate station killed seven people, was hailed by the crowd
as "a hero of Islam." .....
War On Terror: An American Muslim
pressure group has come out strongly against police profiling of
young Muslim men behaving suspiciously at train stations. But the
group doesn't have our best interests at heart. .....
The voters' list of Satkhira Sadar
in Bangladesh's Satkhira district has hundreds of names that match the
one for West Bengal's Gaighata Assembly constituency. Even the names of
the fathers of the voters match.So is this coincidence or just one manifestation
of a deeper malaise that afflicts West Bengal's democracy? .....
Two monuments rise like emblems
from the green countryside of Wiltshire, England, not far from the secluded
house of V. S. Naipaul: Stonehenge and Salisbury Cathedral. They are signposts
in a landscape Naipaul has been traversing for more than half a century,
one in which the impulses of culture, civilization and progress have always
existed in close and uneasy proximity to the impulses of paganism, religion
and disorder. .....
An undercover investigation has
caught leaders of a radical Islamic group inciting young British Muslims
to become terrorists and praising the Tube bombers as “the fantastic four”.
.....
Love, a beautiful sentiment, can
also be evil. In our public life, since the mid 1970s, it has been mostly
evil. Instead of enriching life, it has been destroying the decencies of
life. It began with the overdone motherly love that transformed the lives
of Sanjay Gandhi and then of Rajiv Gandhi. .....
Sweet 16 year old Atefeh Rajabi
was publicly hanged in the city centre in Neka in Iran on 15 August 2004
for "acts incompatible with chastity". .....
Does the Bihar Governor Buta Singh
know the meaning of "Ceaser's wife should be above suspicion"? If so how
has he got into the mess when people Bihar were just heaving a sigh of
relief that at last Bihar had some respite from the earlier Lalu regime?
Does he not know that 90% of politics is perception? .....
On Thursday, during Zero Hour in
the Lok Sabha, Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee threw a
bundle of papers in the direction of Deputy Speaker. Her act, though
downright unparliamentary and quite condemnable on the face of it,
has a context. .....
It's time we accepted the difficult
truth: many of the Muslims we invite to live in Australia want to destroy
us. .....
When the leader of the Palestinian
Islamic Jihad challenged the loyalty of Ramadan Shallah, who was living
in the United States, Shallah responded by sending a poem. I am against
America until this life ends and the scale is placed in the afterlife.
.....
We have heard your name in India,
yet we do not know much about you. Will you tell me something about yourself?
.....
Pope Benedict XVI lamented that
the church is seemingly "dying" in Europe and the United States and raised
questions about the soaring number of priests in Asia and Africa in a lengthy,
off-the-cuff speech to Italian priests. .....
A Melbourne radical Islamic teacher
last night described Osama bin Laden as "a great man" and declared he would
be betraying his religion if he told students not to train in terrorist
camps. .....
Recently, a friend sent me an article
which he thought I'd find interesting as it was an attempt to sustain a
non-violent version of Islam, one in which meddling clerics had no authority.
Without the requirement of intermediaries, no one could come between you
and God. The clerics were seen here as political figures, rather than the
best interpreters of Islam. .....
Frail, unhealthy and short in stature
Leo Panakal (74) returned to Hinduism on 19th May 2005. In a simple ceremony
at Pavakulam Siva temple, Kaloor, Kochi he became Sivakumar. The paravarthanam’
was without any fanfare. The temple priest chanted mantras, sprinkled holy
water (theertham) on him and then performed Namakaranam. .....
Three Christian missionaries from
the United States were deported in the early hours of today for violating
visa rules. .....
In a call for greater missionary
funding for conversion of Hindus, the International Missionary Board (IMB),
a wing of the Southern Baptist Convention, stated in a recent newsletter
that Hindu worship is Satan’s stronghold and called for the elimination
of the Hindu faith. .....
D. Ron Watts, a Canadian Christian
Missionary, is in India on a Business Visa. He holds the post of President,
South Asian Division of the Seventh Day Adventists. By his admission, he
receives his monthly salary in US Dollars. But as he explicitly admits,
has not taken any permission from the Reserve Bank of India to exchange
his dollars. .....
BJP chief L K Advani today declared
that it was his association with the RSS from the age of 14 that was central
in developing his character, in making him the man he was. He was speaking
on the importance of samskara, while releasing a book on the subject at
his residence this evening. .....
One man knew about the plans of
the Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorists to storm the makeshift temple in Ayodhya.
They wanted him to join them—he did not but kept their secret for six months.
.....
On Thursday, during Zero Hour in
the Lok Sabha, Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee threw a bundle
of papers in the direction of Deputy Speaker. Her act, though downright
unparliamentary and quite condemnable on the face of it, has a context.
.....
Russia's leading Muslim cleric
has alarmed Orthodox Church leaders and nationalists by claiming the country
has 23million Muslims, 3 million more than previously believed. .....
Several Iraqi women have been burned
by acid attacks during recent weeks in Baghdad and the western province
of Anbar. Acid attacks are a form of violence against women where acid
is thrown at or sprayed on women’s faces, legs, or other exposed body parts,
in order to punish women in this case for not wearing the ‘abaya,’ a long
black cloak that only reveals the nose, mouth, eyes, and hands. .....
Last year, a woman wrote an anonymous
letter to a council of Muslim scholars meeting in this small town near
London. She had a problem: Her husband was an alcoholic and in a drunken
fit had divorced her according to Islamic law, reciting the phrase "I divorce
you" three times. Was the divorce valid? Such questions have occupied Muslim
scholars since the religion's inception more than 13 centuries ago. .....
Periodic transfer of IAS and IPS
officers is a routine affair. And political leaders across the spectrum
are in the habit of ordering such transfers, most often, to remind
the officers that the civil administration shall remain subordinate
to their political masters. There are good enough reasons for the system
to function this way and that is how it shall be in a democracy and
in a polity as diverse and fractured as it is. .....
Tony Blair has finally talked tough
on Britain-based vendors of “violence” and “hatred”, told immigrants
they need to 11 share our values and our way of life” if they want to be
British citizens and warned the wider world outside Britain to take
careful note that “the rules of the game are changing.” .....
The slow stretches and meditations
of yoga don't burn calories like a run on the treadmill. But a new study
suggests it might help people keep weight off in middle age. .....
Sardar Manmohan Singh of Gah’s
visit to Washington and the purported upgradation of Indo-American ties
it points to — nuclear deal hot on the heels of a 10-year defence arrangement
— has the Pakistani establishment shell-shocked, its think-tankers, the
sorry figures who pass for strategic experts, desperate to figure out what
this flowering of passion means for Pakistan. .....
Congress spokesperson Abhishek
Singhvi has recently demanded an inquiry into the report of the Shiv Sena
leader and former Lok Sabha Speaker, Manohar Joshi's winning bid for a
NTC mill property in Mumbai. According to reports, the former Speaker,
in partnership with another Shiv Sena leader, Raj Thackeray, had secured
the bid worth Rs.421 crore. .....
The Pakistani government’s decision
to bar 1,400 foreigners from studying at the country’s madrasas is not
the solution to terrorism. None of the terrorists involved in international
attacks linked to Pakistan, even tenuously, over the last several years
have been regular foreign madrasa students. .....
Agencies probing into the Shramjeevi
Express blast suspect the hands of banned Students' Islamic Movement of
India (SIMI) in the incident. .....
Recently, a significant report
on the status of Hindus in the Indian subcontinent was released in
the precincts of Capitol Hill, Washington, by high profile Hindu
American Foundation (HAF). It is amazing that Hindus have been facing
threats to their lives and honour in Pakistan, Bangladesh and their
own homeland, India. Yet, the media has so far ignored such assaults
on them. .....
Only the true believers will deny
that Gen Ziaul Haq’s Islamisation has been an unmitigated disaster for
Pakistan. It did nothing to address, let alone resolve, the core issues
of illiteracy, poverty, crime and corruption, but put a lot of emphasis
on ostentatious piety and religious correctness .....
The hand of banned Students Islamic
Movement of India (SIMI) is suspected to be behind the twin blasts on board
Shramjeevi Express which killed nine persons. Security agencies have started
an intense survey of eastern Uttar Pradesh to identify SIMI cadres after
their footprints were found in Thursday's twin blasts in the general bogey
of Shramjeevi Express. .....
Mr. Kamal Nawash who calls himself
the “president of Free Muslims Against Terrorism, with 15 chapters across
America” is planning to meet the Congressman Tom Tancredo this Wednesday.
.....
Suspected Muslim militants have
raided a village in Indian-administered Kashmir, slitting the throats of
five Hindus, police have said. .....
On July 26 six years ago, Indian
Army's Operation Vijay finally ended with its troops recapturing the freezing
heights of Kargil, earlier occupied stealthily by regular troops of the
Pakistani Army and irregulars trained by Islamabad's Inter-Services Intelligence
(ISI) Directorate. .....
The suspected terrorist accused
of trying to bomb a tube train at Warren Street used to berate a Muslim
shopkeeper for selling alcohol, it was claimed last night. .....
The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI)
will formulate several edicts to put an end to what it terms “deviant secular
and liberal Islamic thoughts” during its four-day national congress that
opened here on Tuesday. .....
After the terrorist attacks in
London, the Sun Online in the UK published a special feature of Islamic
terrorist attacks that have occurred around the world since 1993. .....
I woke up after a pleasant Diwali
night (with its usual round of light & sound shows all around in the
neighbourhood) and switched on All India Radio for the morning news. Why
AIR and not NDTV 24x7, you ask? Yes. It’s more accessible sometimes for
simple folk like me living in a remote corner of Tamil Nadu. .....
We are the world's largest democracy,
but in our democratic system, the largest number of flaws are seen. Our
politicians do not have an ideology. They are not guided by any principle
or programme. They do wear labels, but they change them. A voter cannot
be sure what his representative stands for. He is not certain whether the
candidate he has voted for will be in the same party after the elections
are over. .....
Many royals of India have done
well for themselves by using their past as a privilege. But very few have
helped their former subjects benefit from the spin-offs of heritage. When
Raghavendra Singh, 30, a scion of a royal family of Madhya Pradesh and
a descendent of the legendary Maharana Pratap .....
As the former home town of HG Wells
(he wrote War of the Worlds there), George Bernard Shaw, Peter Gabriel
and the Spice Girls, Woking occupies a special place in British cultural
history. The town also has a special place in the history of British Islam,
as the site of Britain's oldest mosque. .....
General Pervez Musharraf may have
ordered all foreign students of madarsas to leave Pakistan following the
London and Sharm-el Sheikh bombings but, ironically, the Government of
India continues to ignore a reality that Pakistan has finally come to accept
- that many of these theological schools of Islamic learning are nurseries
that breed Islamic extremism. .....
Since coming to power in state
elections nearly three years ago, a coalition of radical Islamist parties
here in North-West Frontier Province has faced a few stumbling blocks on
the road to creating a model Islamic state. .....
The escalated manifestation of
Islamic fundamentalism is a matter of deep concern for the entire world
today. It existed in the past too. But the powerful countries did not pay
heed to it as it was not having any bothering impact on them, hence they
let others bear with it. .....
Sentiments sell! Be it in the name
of God or in the name of the Mahatma. Several "Gandhian" organisations
constituted to spread Gandhian thought in India and abroad have turned
out to be a mere one- man or woman show. Most operate on the reflected
glory of their "acquaintance" with the Gandhi-Nehru family, and aim only
at pulling in maximum funds from government and other sources. .....
Since at least Sept. 11, 2001,
the non-Muslim world at large has been waiting for that segment of the
Muslim population designated as "moderate" to resolutely denounce terrorists
who, in defiling its faith-tradition, have subverted Islam into a cult
of death. .....
Since at least Sept. 11, 2001,
the non-Muslim world at large has been waiting for that segment of the
Muslim population designated as "moderate" to resolutely denounce terrorists
who, in defiling its faith-tradition, have subverted Islam into a cult
of death. .....
Those with a sense of humour will
laugh at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for promoting a policy of "zero
tolerance" towards terrorism. Others who are not given to looking for comic
relief in these bad times will denounce him for duplicity and deceit, not
to mention intellectual dishonesty. .....
I was surprised last week to learn
how easily some Westerners believe terrorism can be explained. The realization
unfolded as I looked into the sad face of a student at Oxford University.
After giving a speech about Islam, I met this young magazine editor to
talk about Islam's lost tradition of critical thinking and reasoned debate.
.....
Last week, the front page of this
newspaper’s Sunday magazine carried a long analysis of the London bombings
under the headline “Shocking, but...” .....
General Pervez Musharraf has expressed
irritation at the "aspersions" cast on Pakistan in the British media. After
his extensive efforts to prove his loyalty to the US-British "war on terror"
- efforts that have exposed him to assassination attempts - the general's
frustration is understandable. The alleged Pakistani links of the London
bombers are a major inconvenience for this image-conscious military dictator.
.....
The international jihad recruited
idealist young Muslim men from all over the world for the Afghan war. Some
of them went to the madrassas. This industry has now gone bust. Those who
needed its products for fighting Communism are now selling off their shares.
The Pakistani investors should watch out .....
They are a quartet, but cannot
be called a "gang of four". And they control the congress. Mrs. Sonia Gandhi,
as the Congress president, is the leader of the party and this quartet.
And the remaining three leaders of the quartet are Amethi MP Rahul Gandhi,
Mr Ahmed Patel and Ms Ambika Soni. .....
Following several allegations of
fraud, the European Union is investigating the misappropriation of aid
funds provided to 32 NGOs and charities. This development follows numerous
analyses conducted by NGO Monitor of EU-funded NGOs active in the Middle
East with documented histories of diverting resources from humanitarian
objectives to incitement and political campaigns. .....
They came to Britain as children
in the early 1990's, refugees from war and famine in East Africa looking
for a haven in the West. But at some point, according to the authorities,
something poisoned Muktar Said Ibrahim and Yasin Hassan Omar against the
country that had taken them in. .....
British newspapers blasted the
ingratitude of two asylum seekers from east Africa who reaped the benefits
of life in London as children but then allegedly attempted to bomb the
city last week. .....
In response to the serial subway
bombings in London, Mayor Michael Bloomberg prudently ordered the police
to start searching the bags of New York's subway riders. But there will
be absolutely no profiling, Mr. Bloomberg vowed: the police will select
one out of every five passengers to search, and they will do so at random,
without regard for race or religion. .....
Paris Europe has a particularly
hard time dealing with Islamic terrorism from within because effectively
confronting it in the long term means making and enforcing new, clearer
definitions of how much Islam it can live with inside its borders. .....
Unleashing a wave of terror in
Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district, terrorists axed to death a woman
and slit the throats of five men after segregating Hindus and Muslims in
the village. Both the incidents in separate villages in Rajouri district,
about 200 km north of Jammu, took place Thursday night. .....
As stalwart as the Bush administration
has been in the current conflict with Islamic jihadists, judging from the
op-ed in last Saturday's New York Times by National Security Advisor Stephen
Hadley and Homeland Security Advisor Frances Townsend, it still entertains
dangerous illusions about the enemy we are facing. .....
For the team behind what will be
one of Europe's largest Hindu temples there is a new addition to the long
list of daily tasks - fighting government immigration policy. .....
I have been in the throes of an
attack of extreme hysteria ever since I saw all those touching visuals
of Hurriyat leaders being hugged and garlanded by some Kashmiri Pandits
who were making the landmark token gesture of ‘returning’ to the Valley
of Muslims. I wonder how many understood the significance of what happened.
.....
For the team behind what will be
one of Europe's largest Hindu temples there is a new addition to the long
list of daily tasks - fighting government immigration policy. .....
General Pervez Musharraf may have
ordered all foreign students of madarsas to leave Pakistan following the
London and Sharm-el Sheikh bombings but, ironically, the Government of
India continues to ignore a reality that Pakistan has finally come to accept
- that many of these theological schools of Islamic learning are nurseries
that breed Islamic extremism. .....
The terror of September 11, 2001
has produced a great deal of anger against Islam in the western world;
it has also produced a crop of apologists, both among Muslims everywhere
and in the west. The latter group includes political leaders keen to be
seen as friends of Muslims, especially the Muslim electorate. .....
Here's some cold reason for all
those passionately plugging the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline: Forget
gas, Pakistan is not allowing Indian biscuits to pass its territory, biscuits
meant for schoolchildren in war-ravaged Afghanistan. .....
Pakistan's top Muslim clerics have
said it is becoming increasingly difficult for them to preach the real
concept of jihad, or holy war, to young Muslims. .....
Recently 4 devout Muslims blew
themselves up and dozens of Londoners on the way to work in central London.
This was but a few of the hundreds of ‘martyrdom’ operations carried out
by the faithful over the year of 2005. .....
A suspect in the failed London
transit bombings admitted Saturday to a role in the attack but said it
was only intended to be an attention-grabbing strike, not a deadly one,
a legal expert familiar with the investigation said. .....
While the Hurriyat might be talking
about Kashmiri Pandits returning to the Valley, for many in the beleaguered
community, a return trip to the land they abandoned many years ago, is
still out of question. The massacres of their brethren, the propaganda
against the Hindus and their brutal eviction from the land continues to
rankle the Pandits. .....
Italy has banned Islamic burqas
under tough terrorism laws that provide two-year jail terms and E2000 ($3200)
fines for anyone caught covering their face in a public place. .....
When the school board in Odessa,
the West Texas oil town, voted unanimously in April to add an elective
Bible study course to the 2006 high school curriculum, some parents dropped
to their knees in prayerful thanks that God would be returned to the classroom,
while others assailed it as an effort to instill religious training in
the public schools. .....
Islamic United Nations representatives
blocked an attempt to have the world body condemn killing in the name of
religion. .....
One attack was deadly, the other
was not. But taken together, the two terrorist strikes that hit London
in July highlight a new, more ominous face of terrorism in Europe. .....
Customers no longer come to Kaboh
Sulong's teashop - not since two gunmen walked in at noon, coldly shot
a Buddhist cloth vendor, cut off his head and left it in a sack outside.
.....
Less than a day after the terrorist
bombings in London, the Palestinian Authority's official television channel
broadcast a sermon calling for extermination of all non-Muslims. .....
Five hundred and sixty-six children
died, and 277 others were raped in the past two months across the country,
according to a report published by the Children’s Express, a newly formed
child news agency, on Saturday. .....
Elements within the British establishment
were notoriously sympathetic to Hitler. Today the Islamists enjoy similar
support. In the 1930s it was Edward VIII, aristocrats and the Daily Mail;
this time it is left-wing activists, The Guardian and sections of the BBC.
They may not want a global theocracy, but they are like the West’s apologists
for the Soviet Union — useful idiots. .....
Shaker Elsayed is still repeating
his line, "The call to reform Islam is an alien call," at one of the largest
mosques in our country. From AP, with thanks to Daryl and Andy. The voice
of the new imam at one of the largest mosques on the East Coast rang loud
from the pulpit during Friday services recently: "The call to reform Islam
is an alien call." .....
A youth on a motorcycle tried to
whisk away a 27-year-old woman, walking down a pavement in Ballygunge,
on Sunday night. He would have succeeded, had not a crowd on the street
come to the woman’s rescue and a police patrol appeared on the spot. .....
The United Arab Emirates deported
Pakistan's leader of Opposition in the National Assembly and pro-Taliban
cleric Maulana Fazlur Rehman, after keeping him in detention at the Dubai
airport for two days. .....
Of late, there has been little
else to read or talk about other than the spate of bombings in London and
Egypt. The daily slaughter in Iraq is now so routine and predictable that
it has now been relegated to page 11 of most newspapers. .....
Since July 7, 2005 Malayalee Hindus
of New York are on renewed spiritual path. For the last one week He had
been delivering discourses every evening for two to three hours at different
locations around New York City and suburbs. .....
Monks, politicians and others attended
the unveiling of a miniature version of Cambodia's famed Angkor Wat temple
complex. .....
In response to the serial subway
bombings in London, Mayor Michael Bloomberg prudently ordered the police
to start searching the bags of New York's subway riders. But there will
be absolutely no profiling, Mr. Bloomberg vowed: the police will select
one out of every five passengers to search, and they will do so at random,
without regard for race or religion. .....
Recently a friend sent me an article
which was an attempt to sustain a non-violent version of Islam, one in
which, meddling and manipulative clerics had no authority Without the requirement
of intermediaries, no one could come between you and God. The clerics
were seen here as political figures, rather than the best interpreters
of Islam. .....
Some "new" terror camps have sprung
up across the border, at Palani, Palak and Kund, apart from the "reopened"
camps at Samani, Dudhinial and Fagosh. .....
Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar was an exception
among his contemporaries as he was the chief architect of the socio-economic
and political power structure of modern India with his very own and individualistic
social views. .....
When security cameras captured
four young Britons sauntering into the London Underground before detonating
their deadly backpacks last month, the chilling images raised questions
about whether such homegrown sleeper terrorists could be plotting attacks
in the United States. .....
The comfort of home. A loo. And
garam chai. More than 300 stranded citizens got just what they wanted—packed
into the two-bedroom homes of two Sion families. .....