The inimitable astrologer, Bejan
Daruwala, predicts the United Progressive Alliance government shall run
its term; the astrologer is careful, however, to preface his predictions
with an "if" when queried whether Manmohan Singh, too, shall last the course.
It is a wise discretion given that the prime minister himself seems increasingly
saturnine. .....
Whenever the government changes
in Andhra Pradesh, among the first few items of priority for the newly
elected government will invariably include 'tackling Naxal violence'. This
has nothing to do with the colour or shade of the government. .....
Rebel Jammu and Kashmir Liberation
Front (JKLF) leader Dr Shabbir Choudhry has criticised Hurriyat and other
separatist leaders for remaining silent on human rights violation and torture
of innocent people by Pakistani troops in Gilgit and parts of Pakistan
occupied Kashmir (PoK). .....
A visiting Saudi Arabian government
delegation was summoned to a meeting with senior Canberra bureaucrats this
month to discuss Australia's concerns about the kingdom's financing of
terrorism. .....
Illegal migration from Bangladesh
has come down by about 25 percent after half of the international border
was fenced off, India's border security chief said here Thursday. .....
Last week, I saw a paragraph in
a British newspaper that almost made me scream with rage: according to
a wire service, a 14-year old Kashmiri girl's ears, nose and tongue were
sliced off by a militant separatist group because they suspected her of
being a police informer. .....
Hindu traders will suspend their
businesses across Sindh and go on hunger strike if Santosh Kumar, a prominent
Hindu who has been kidnapped, is not recovered immediately. .....
Dahyaji Gobarji Vanzara, additional
commissioner of police heading the crime branch in Ahmedabad, has been
under the scanner ever since his team gunned down a teenaged college student
from Mumbai in an 'encounter' with an group of Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorists
last month. .....
At the conclusion of the Foreign
Secretary-level talks, the June 28 Indo-Pak joint statement reiterated
the two parties' "commitment to the principles and purposes of the Charter
of the United Nations, and their determination to implement the Simla Agreement
in letter and spirit." The BJP immediately expressed its serious concerns
over the joint statement and criticised the UN factor in it. .....
I have chosen the topic of today
(25 July 04) for three reasons. There was a demand by the DMK for recognition
of Tamil as a language of antiquity comparable to Sanskrit. The second
reason was the defeat of the BJP in the recent elections. Hindutva was
portrayed as communal. Even the BJP leaders were apologetic about Hindutva.
.....
Shiva is the Destroyer in the Hindu
trinity. But here he is Lord Nellaiyappar, the Protector of Paddy, as the
name of the town itself testifies - nel meaning paddy and veli meaning
fence in Tamil. .....
India and China have held regular
border-related negotiations since 1981 in the longest such process between
two nations since the end of World War II. Yet, after 23 years of negotiations,
the two Asian giants have not achieved the bare minimum -- a mutually defined
line of control separating them -- even as they deceptively call their
disputed front line the "line of actual control." .....
Politicisation of education needs
to be stopped. If the UPA considers the NDA history texts to be biased,
the earlier texts are full of flaws, distortions and have Marxist leanings.
This is what leading scholars have briefed President APJ Abdul Kalam about
as they sought to promote a healthy national debate on history. .....
Sunil Bakshi, director of the Indo-European
Kashmir Forum -- to have organised an exhibition and screened a film on
the plight of Kashmiri Hindus called 'Terrorism Unleashed' at one of the
most prestigious venues in London, the Commonwealth Club, Northumberland
Avenue, just off Trafalgar Square. .....
Provoked by what they see as civil-rights
violations after the terrorist attacks of 2001, U.S. Muslims are growing
more politically active and sophisticated. .....
The Army and BSF had claim that
a Hill Kaka-type large and strong terrorist based had been detected in
Janmmu and Kashmir. Hill Kaka was a terrorist control centre run by Pakistan
for four years before the Army smashed it in April 2003 during its Sarp
Vinashoperation, killing at least 80 terrorists. .....
When Akhtar Sultan Begum heard
that the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) had rejected the
idea of granting women the right to divorce at the time of marriage, she
knew it was time to tell her story. .....
Our 'national' newspapers are 'national'
only in name. Their coverage of news on an all-India level should make
anyone working for them hang their heads in shame. Far too often the north
east is hardly covered and yet that is for all purposes a strategic area.
.....
On the eve of the publication of
its report, the 9/11 Commission was given a stunning document from Pakistan,
claiming that Pakistani intelligence officers knew in advance of the 9/
11 attacks. .....
Rajni S Anand, a young engineering
student, committed suicide last week by jumping off the 6th floor of a
government building in Trivandrum. It is reported that she was at the end
of her tether after having tried in vain to get funds from various quarters,
including nationalised banks. When she found no way forward, she decided
to take her own life. .....
The latest UNDP report's remark
that India's reputation as a model constitutional protector of the country's
remarkable cultural diversity has begun to fray because of the 2002 'genocide'
in Gujarat is outrageous ignorance and insolence of the report's authors.
.....
Ever since Andhra Pradesh Government
has taken the contentious decision to accord the benefit of five per cent
reservation to Muslims, a fierce debate has ensued. The question whether
such decision is constitutionally valid is at present sub judice. .....
Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y
S Rajasekhara Reddy on Wednesday equated AICC president Sonia Gandhi with
Nikita Khrushchev and Mao Zedong, who presided over the destinies of former
Soviet Union and China respectively. .....
Muslims of Chirudih village of
Jharkhand are rallying around former central coal minister Shibu Soren,
an accused in the 1975 mob killing of 10 people, including nine Muslims
of the village. .....
A lengthy audiotape purportedly
by the spiritual adviser to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's al-Qaida- linked group
justifies killing Muslims when their presence protects infidels and threatens
revenge on Shiite Muslims. .....
Swarup Kumari Bakshi, a reputed
educationist who served in successive Congress regimes in Uttar Pradesh,
and, above all, a relative of the Nehru- Gandhis', is today a victim of
HRD Minister Arjun Singh's spurious campaign against "communal" publications.
.....
It's rap, jihad-style. A music
video with blood-curdling images, fronted by a young British Muslim rapper
brandishing a gun and a Koran is the latest hit in radical Islamic circles.
.....
The move by the Andhra Pradesh
Government to reserve five per cent of Government jobs for Muslims has
created fissures within the Muslim community itself. Dalit and Other Backward
Classes (OBS) Muslims, who comprise 90 per cent of the total Muslim population
in the country, have expressed strong reservations to the Congress-led
State Government's move. .....
As if the ham-handed purging of
the NCERT's history textbooks and the still-born project to ban Thirukkural
and Vedanta for allegedly spreading communalism was not enough, Human Resource
Development Minister has succumbed to Communist pressure again. He has
asked the NCERT to stop the distribution of an innocuous compendium of
documents on education. .....
Alarmed by the quality of men and
women joining the forces, Indian military is undertaking a massive review
of selection system to attract the best. .....
A senior Union Cabinet minister,
Shri Shibu Soren is hiding himself from the police for over a week (at
the time of going to the press). Nobody has a clue of his whereabouts and
the Prime Minister has not said a word about the unexplained absence of
his colleague. .....
A "failure of imagination", the
Panel investigating the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the US
stated, was what kept US officials from understanding the Al Qaeda threat
before the catastrophic events in New York and Washington. .....
Major holy places in the world
are attracting increasing numbers of pilgrims due to a variety of reasons.
But not all places are capable of providing for the ever growing numbers
that flock to pay homage. And since the issues relate to religious beliefs,
there are serious risks of misunderstanding and radicalisation of attitudes.
.....
Let me begin by saying that I think
Arjun Singh's campaign to ''detoxify'' Indian education is more dangerous
than Murli Manohar Joshi's pathetic attempts to Indianise it. Let me add
that Indian education must be Indianised. .....
Nowhere can education be perceived
without a strong input of values in it. The last five decades have witnessed
constant erosion of the essential social, moral and spiritual values. The
report of the Education Commission (1964-66), also known as the Kothari
Commission report, clearly recommends ''the Central and State Governments
shall adopt measures to introduce education in moral, social and spiritual
values in all institutions under their control on the lines recommended
by the University Education Commission, on religious and moral instruction.''
.....
As a fomer Christian, who has become
a Buddhist, I have been observing the current 'conversion controversy'
with some interest. I have read with dismay the reports of churches being
burnt and of pastors being manhandled. .....
It is understood that the Speaker
of LS Somnath Chatterjee has played an important role to prevent the arrest
of Central Coal and Mines Minister Shibu Soren. .....
A little noticed aspect of the
disease called Secularism is the moral decline that has crept into the
intelligentsia, especially academia. While they use high-sounding words,
'saving secularism' above all, the Indian academic finds the lure of position
and the privileges that go with it irresistible. .....
"Osama bin Laden is a good man.
Osama bin Laden wants the same as me -- he wants to see the implementation
of God's law," says Khalid Kelly as he sips coffee in a sun-filled London
cafe and expounds on his allegiance to the man who has declared war on
the West. .....
Four Malaysians who renounced Islam
lost an appeal in the nation's top court where they had sought a declaration
that they have freedom to practise the faith of their choice, their lawyer
said yesterday. .....
The Indian Union Muslim League
(IUML) is trying to resurrect its Backward Class plank in its search for
a methodology for the implementation of the Narendran Commission report.
The second largest party in the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) appears
to have cautiously shifted its stand on the implementation of the contentious
report, converting the issue as a Backward Class problem rather than one
confined to the Muslim community alone. .....
Pakistan's intelligence officials
knew in advance about the 9/11 attacks, a well-known American analyst has
said, based on a ''stunning document'' that he claims was given by a Pakistani
source to the 9/11 Commission on the eve of the publication of its report.
.....
Far more than Iraq or Iran, Pakistan
played a frontline role in facilitating Osama bin Laden and the events
leading up to the world's deadliest terrorist attack, the report of the
9/11 commission has revealed. .....
Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) President
Qazi Hussain Ahmed on Thursday said that Pakistan was justified in starting
the Kargil war and called upon the military to take a bold stance on Kashmir,
reports the Daily Times, Lahore. .....
Lieutenant General K.S. Brar commanded
the forces during Operation Blue Star two decades ago. He spoke to Sudip
Talukdar about the harrowing event and how it was unavoidable under the
circumstances, besides the root causes of terrorism in the country. .....
In normal circumstances, nobody
would have inducted the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader, Shibu Soren, into
the Government. Given his terrible criminal record coupled with a woeful
lack of understanding and vision, Soren was condemned to remain a back-bencher
in parliament all his life. .....
When Lakshmi (the Goddess of wealth)
is at loggerheads with Saraswati (the Goddess of knowledge) the result
is someone like Vedmurti Omprakash Sharma. After spending most of his life
poring over ancient Indian literature on medicine-the Vedas, Bhavprakash,
Ayurveda Sarsangraha, Vanaspati Chandrodaya and Chakradatt-45-year-old
Sharma is still struggling to make ends meet. .....
What was the worst that happened
to you when you misspelt something in school? Being thrown out of the classroom?
Apparently in India, the tradition can continue after school. .....
What do the Taliban and Union Shipping
Minister TR Balu have in common? The Taliban once thumbed its nose at an
outraged global community by turning the world heritage Bamiyan Buddhas
to rubble. But savage iconoclasm is not the sole preserve of puritanical
fanatics who bend thought and history to their totalising Word. .....
Placed at the entry point of the
fort wall of Old Patan on the banks of the Saraswati, the Kalika temple
was built 1,000 years ago by Siddharaj Jaisingh Solanki. And the Goddess
sustains the people of the city by her mere presence even today, observes
PREMA NANDAKUMAR. .....
Marcel Proust wrote that "other
people, as we get to know them, are like strips of metal dipped in acid:
they gradually lose all their qualities - and their defects too, at times."
Politicians, of course, only lose their qualities. .....
Police officials in Frankfurt on
Thursday said they found violent and degrading videos during last weekend's
raid of an Islamic school belonging to a Moroccan cultural association.
.....
Believe it or not! A Superintendent
of Police (SP), attached to the Director General of Police's office
in Mumbai, has been running from pillar to post for the last two weeks
to register a complaint against the alleged abductors of her niece, but
in vain. And fed up with the police inaction, the SP now plans to file
a 'Habeas Corpus' in the court to trace his missing niece. .....
"Jesus merely raised one hand a
few inches and a yawning chasm opened in the earth, stretching far and
wide enough to swallow all of them. They tumbled in, howling and screeching,
but their wailing was soon quashed and all was silent when the earth closed
itself again." .....
Former Pakistan prime minister
Nawaz Sharif has accused President Pervez Musharraf of "backstabbing" him
by launching the Kargil conflict against India in 1999 and wants a commission
to probe how he misled the nation. .....
The recent elections in India showed
that there is "unity in diversity" and a rejection of fundamentalism in
favor of peace, says Cardinal Telesphore Placidus Toppo, president of the
country's episcopal conference. .....
The three-member committee appointed
by HRD Minister Arjun Singh to vet the NCERT textbooks which gave India's
"eminent" (read Marxist) scholars so many sleepless nights, has only ended
up vindicating the worst fears of sceptics: that the whole exercise was
one big farce hiding behind a slogan. .....
Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari
Vajpayee on Tuesday described the Andhra Pradesh Government's decision
to give five per cent job reservation to Muslims as "illegal and unconstitutional"
and said it will "encourage conversions." .....
Dr Manmohan Singh's elevation to
the office of the Prime Ministership is a defining moment for India. For
the first time in country's recent history, the executive head as well
as the constitutional head belong to the minority communities. It is India's
strength. This in itself should silence the debate about the future
of secularism in the country. .....
Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, the
new chief minister has given the impression of being a man who cares
for the classes neglected by Chandrababu Naidu's model of development.
Whether that is really so, is extremely doubtful. That those classes
have reposed trust in the Congress Party under his leadership is
clear: the issues of irrigation and employment appear to have contributed
to the defeat of the Telugu Desam Party, augmented by the desire
for a separate state in the Telangana region. .....
Human Resources Development Minister
Arjun Singh's panel of historians had lied to him about the NCERT books.
One of the "eminent" historians, JS Grewal, had ordered a ban on Meenakshi
Jain's Medieval India, a textbook for Class XI, without even bothering
to give it a read. .....
Another Orwellian word used by
Nehruvian Stalinists is 'minority.' Once again this is a fascist European
concept imported into India and used inappropriately. What is a 'minority'
in Europe and America? The dictionary meaning is: 'an ethnic, racial, religious
or other group having a distinctive presence within a society; a group
having little power or representation relative to other groups within a
society.' .....
What if I had forecast 'the third
Islamic State in the sub- continent'? What if I had drawn attention of
the rulers to the long-standing design to create a Greater, Islamic Bangladesh
- by annexing Assam, the bordering districts of West Bengal, and parts
of Bihar, and to the fact that through illegal infiltration the design
was well on the way to being realised? .....
A refreshing dose of realism comes
from Razi Azmi in Pakistan's Daily Times (thanks to Mentat_99). In contrast
to the fulsome dhimmitude served up by CNN and other Western media outlets,
Azmi acknowledges that any negative feelings people may have toward Muslims
have been provoked by ... Muslims. May many Muslims in Pakistan and elsewhere
heed Azmi's words, and start to clean up their act. .....
The July 14 hearing at the Senate
Foreign Relations committee on U.S. policy toward Pakistan presented a
stark picture for policy watchers. While the ranking Democrat on the committee,
Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., excoriated the Bush administration's Pakistan policy
in his submitted opening statement, it was surprising to note that even
the Republicans in the panel, led by Chairman Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind.,
expressed a sense of helplessness with what to do with Pakistan. .....
A leading footwear company of London,
which displayed the sacred 'om' symbol on its sandals, has apologized to
Hindus and withdrawn the sale of the product after the community members
protested against the "insensitive" depiction. .....
India's performance in human development
does not relate with the image of "India Shining". But "feel-good" seems
a way of life (though BJP might find it hard to believe). .....
India stands out in the UN's newest
Human Development Report "as a country that has bravely embraced cultural
diversity" and its record is not tarred by the Gujarat violence, the report's
lead author Sakiko Fukuda-Parr has exclusively told TNN. .....
AG3-1. Article 370 undermines the
entire Constitution of India and hence the Parliament and the People of
India since it makes it possible for the Jammu and Kashmir State Government
to enact any and every such law that it may deem fit except any that has
direct relationship with regard to Defense, Foreign Affairs and Communications.
.....
Founder of communalism in the country,
the Congress party, is back in power in alliance with parties that share
similar thinking. The United Progressive Alliance is now on an overdrive
to desaffronize (a synonym for 'communalize') all aspects of public life.
Two minority commissions, reservations for Muslims in Andhra Pradesh, fresh
railway inquiry into Godhra arson and HRD advisory panel consisting of
well-known communalists, are all evidence of a new fervor to re-ignite
communal fires. .....
Hundreds of Muslims from across
the UK are set to converge in London's Trafalgar Square on the 25th of
July for the Annual Rally for Islam. This year will be the 9th anniversary
of the rally and promises to be the best yet. .....
The current police crackdown against
brothels and beer bars for rescuing minor girls from being pushed to flesh
trade is part of an intelligence tip off about a large scale trafficking
of these girls from Bangladesh. .....
The Spanish government deliberately
ignored a mosque known for fundamentalist preachings and frequented by
suspects in the Madrid train bombings because the facility was financed
by Saudi Arabia, an academic expert testified Wednesday. .....
Facing flak from the opposition
Trinamool Congress and Congress members in West Bengal Assembly, Chief
Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee while admitting that a panchayat official
Adikanda Dolui was burnt to death by CPI-M workers at Gopiballavpur on
May 22, promised a fresh inquiry into the role of the police. .....
Having come to the conclusion that
the state is becoming a haven for terrorists, the Gujarat government has
drawn up a counter-terrorism action plan, which traces its origins to the
murder of former state home minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party
leader Haren Pandya. .....
One small step for man on moon
was a giant leap for mankind. "Secularists" might be dismissive of five
per cent reservation in education and employment for Muslims in Andhra
Pradesh. They might point out that it is a marginal addition to 47 per
cent reservations that already exist for SCs, STs and OBCs. .....
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad would
soon launch a "movement" across the country against the Andhra Pradesh
Government's decision to give five per cent reservation to Muslims in education
and jobs. .....
The Home Church of Campbell, California,
is supporting a unique church planting outreach to the unreached people
of India. Already some 30 teams from the Indian Christian Research Organization
(ICRO) are fanning out through parts of the country to help set up new
churches amongst the "hidden people" of the world's second most populous
nation. .....
Saudi schoolchildren are being
taught to disparage Christianity and Judaism in a textbook issued by the
Education Ministry, a report said yesterday. .....
A Muslim "Peeping Tom" who photographed
a Palestinian Christian woman in the changing room of a clothes shop sparked
a night of rioting near Bethlehem, witnesses said Wednesday. .....
These days, Nepalese not Singaporeans
guard some of the city's most sensitive sites. Gurkha soldiers, widely
regarded as the most fearsome fighters in the world, are on the front line
in the city-state as Singapore clamps down on Islamic militancy in the
wake of the September 11 attacks on the United States. .....
A young teacher was harassed, ostracised
and eventually suspended by her school on July 1, 2004, for daring to defy
its diktat: join CPM's teachers' body, All Bengal Teachers' Association,
and donate Rs 25,000 to the school's development fund. .....
Contrary to repeated claims by
the Tarun Gogoi government that there has been no major infiltration into
Assam, the Centre today came out with the staggering figure of an estimated
five million Bangladeshis in the state. .....
A recent News Journal article,
"With Islam on world stage, Del. Muslims defend faith," distorted my responses
in an interview. Since Islam is of prime importance to our nation, I am
compelled to respond. .....
Politicians and eminent historians
have certain things in common; both particularly love to indulge looking
at historical events out of their context. The latest example is the hubbub
about Panchsheel. The magnificent Five Principles have to be seen in the
historical background of the Geneva Conference on Indochina, the role that
Jawaharlal Nehru wanted to play as a mediator and a peace-keeper and Zhou
Enlai's need to get some international recognition for communist China.
.....
Armchair theorists in Delhi and
Mumbai interpret the last general election as a revolt of rural masses
bypassed by the information technology (IT) revolution. They voted for
a new regime with a human face. This theory owes much to the defeat in
Andhra Pradesh of the TDP of Chandrababu Naidu by the Congress, led by
Y Rajashekar Reddy (YSR). .....
Who is the dominant partner in
the United Progressive Alliance? Is it the Congress whose leaders keep
on saying that the nation has given them the mandate to rule? .....
Chief Justice Ravi S Dhavan, sitting
on a division bench of the Patna high court with Justice S K Singh on Wednesday,
said that "total anarchy prevails in the state". .....
The Indian Union Muslim League
(IUML) is trying to resurrect its Backward Class plank in its search for
a methodology for the implementation of the Narendran Commission report.
The second largest party in the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) appears
to have cautiously shifted its stand on the implementation of the contentious
report, converting the issue as a Backward Class problem rather than one
confined to the Muslim community alone. .....
She is afraid to talk. And when
she does, it's in suppressed whispers _ of 25 days of torture at the hands
of militants who raped her repeatedly and chopped her ears and nose before
she was rescued by the police. .....
Whatever else it may or may not
be, the Congress is certainly nimble. And brilliantly opportunistic. The
latest proof is the resignation of four Congress ministers of the coalition
Mufti Sayeed government in J&K to successfully secure an extension
of the Amarnath Yatra by commencing it on July 20 instead of the previously
scheduled date of August 1. .....
Giving credence to police assertion,
Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba has said that Ishrat Jehan, who was killed
along with three others in Ahmedabad, was the outfit's woman activist.
.....
For all democratic societies, Budget
Day is blessed with an overarching sanctity. If the general election determines
who will speak for the people in the state, the Budget is the occasion
for the state to negotiate the financial arrangements of its contract with
the people. .....
Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the Muslim
cleric currently on a controversial visit to Britain, believes that female
rape victims should be punished if dressed "immodestly" when assaulted.
.....
George Fernandes was strip-searched
twice in Dulles airport in the US capital when he was defence minister,
once while on an official visit to Washington and another time while en
route to Brazil, according to former deputy secretary of state, Strobe
Talbott. .....
The Indian Union Muslim League
(IUML) is trying to resurrect its Backward Class plank in its search for
a methodology for the implementation of the Narendran Commission report.
The second largest party in the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) appears
to have cautiously shifted its stand on the implementation of the contentious
report, converting the issue as a Backward Class problem rather than one
confined to the Muslim community alone. .....
Britain is to deploy teams of intelligence
officers and surveillance experts in cities where it is feared that extremists
are radicalising Muslim youth, a report said on Monday. .....
Forget the nuclear inspectors,
instability in Iraq or soaring drugs use. The hot topic in Iran these days
is fashion - what women can and cannot wear. .....
Governor Lt Gen (Retd) S K Sinha
advocates stringent action against the "black sheep" in Indian security
forces. He, however, believes that India's military and paramilitary forces
have the best human rights record in the whole world. .....
In view of continuous intelligence
inputs that terrorists are planning to target Amarnath-bound pilgrims,
10 additional companies of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) have been
deployed in Jammu to ensure incident free pilgrimage. .....
The State government on Monday
issued orders giving Backward Class status to Muslims and created
a special category of "Backward Classes under Category E". The order
will come into force with immediate effect. .....
Even as political correctness makes
candid discussion about Islamic fundamentalism virtually impossible, concerned
intellectuals the world over are cautiously determined to analyse the concept
of jihad and its implications for non- Islamic societies. .....
Fourteen miles from the U.S. Capitol,
a basement-run organization with alleged ties to Hamas and al Qaeda is
a crucial link in the planning of any future terrorist attacks against
the United States, according to several terrorism experts who analyzed
documents and other information obtained in a CNSNews.com investigation.
.....
Senate Republicans began arguing
their case on Friday for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage
as Democrats signaled that they were willing to drop procedural hurdles
and allow a vote on the proposal next week. .....
All the 1,600 pilgrims stranded
for the past two days in Badrinath area due to landslides triggered by
a cloudburst have been evacuated SDM, Chamoli district, Sanjay Kumar Singh
said on Thursday. Everyone, save 31 waiting for the road to clear to take
back their vehicles, have come out of the disaster-hit Badrinath area and
were proceeding towards Rishikesh through State roadways buses. .....
The Hindu among English daily newspapers
and Economic and Political Weekly (EPW) enjoy probably the highest reputation
among publications in each category. That is why they command almost unquestioned
credibility. The Chennai-based The Hindu has always been held in high regard
because of its alleged 'conservatism', though, in its own way, t can be
as 'revolutionary' and hard-hitting as any responsible daily can be. .....
Martin Bloomfield, the affable
bow-tie wearing head master of the prestigious St James School in fashionable
Kensington, invited me to witness the Sanskrit competition in his school.
I accepted with alacrity. The school's Sanskrit teacher, who had studied
at Oxford, spoke briefly about the stanzas the children would read, and
then led each class to the stage for the recitation. .....
Muslims living in Western countries
believe that interfaith dialogue between them and Christians is a necessity
because, they claim, there is a lot of misinformation in regards to the
attitude of Islam towards other religions. If I am not mistaken Christians
never had the necessity to establish an interfaith dialogue with the Jews,
the Buddhists or anyone else. .....
History of the human civilisation
is like that of an individual. If we were to forget all the lessons taught
to us in our kinder gardens and primary schools, we would be unable to
read or write. Our foundation has to always be kept intact for us to be
able to build a bright future on it. .....
A Pakistani woman who married against
her brother's wishes has appealed to President Pervez Musharraf to save
her from a threatened honour killing. .....
Aadikanta Daliya, a 45 year old
political worker, was burnt and turned into a ball of fire in the presence
of his wife, and children, a girl aged 16 and a boy aged 14. It happened
on May 22 last, few weeks back. The place was Birsa Munda Chowk, part of
Sasra Gram Panchayat in West Midnapore district in Bengal. .....
An MBA from a high-profile family
in Srinagar, a state police constable, an electrician deputed to the Chief
Minister's residence, a minister's driver - they were all allegedly part
of the Lashkar-e-Toiba "module" busted by the Jammu and Kashmir police
last week. .....
In a spine-chilling incident, militants
spared the life of a woman but chopped off her ears, nose and tongue after
abducting her last week from Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir, a police
spokesman said in Srinagar today. .....
In the time of Marcus Aurelius,
Christianity was a growing force within the Roman Empire. His ministers
asked him if the state should join the non- Christian majority in attacking
the new religion, or seek to protect it. The Emperor's reply is found in
his Meditations. The state's response to Christianity, he said, or to anything
else, should be determined by one simple question: "What is the thing in
itself? What does it do?" .....
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad on on
Friday accused the Congress- led UPA Government at the Centre of indulging
in politics of appeasement of minorities. .....
Amid concerns over mounting xenophobic
violence, French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin will summon regional
leaders in September to draw up measures to combat racism and anti-Semitism,
the government said Friday. .....
He is the Minister of State for
Food and Civil Supplies, one of the few who missed the axe that fell on
the Cabinet this week. Every day, he deals with five to six files. Files
that he can barely read and on which he cannot write. .....
Growing Islamic militancy in Bangladesh
is the worst that the North East would want. But this is what seems imminent.
Bangladesh has had its own share of religious jingoism bolstered by Islamic
fanatics, who are least concerned with the basic tenets of the Holy Quran,
in its long chequered history of the military junta giving way to a shaky
democracy ever since its liberation by the Indian forces in 1971. .....
An Indian lady doctor married to
a Pakistani has temporarily averted deportation following the intervention
of the High Court in North West Frontier Province (NWFP). .....
France's education minister warned
Islamic activists yesterday not to incite Muslim girls to defy a ban on
headscarves in state schools, saying Paris would be "absolutely firm" in
imposing the prohibition in September. .....
'It is time for Hindus to safeguard
themselves from the onslaught of religious conversions, which are rampant
in the country. For instance, in the southern district of Kanniyakumari,
nearly 45 per cent of the population has been 'successfully' converted
to Christianity, while in the last few days, a total of 24 idols of Hindu
gods and goddesses have been vandalised in the district', Hindu Munnani
founder Rama Gopalan has said. .....
Germany said Thursday it would
create a central database on suspected radical Islamists, provoking concern
from the country's large Muslim community. .....
The subject of the appointment
and removal of governors was extensively discussed in the Constituent Assembly.
The Founding Fathers did not favour the appointment of a governor by the
process of election. The main reason was that under our constitutional
scheme, the governor in discharge of almost all his functions, is required
to act according to ministerial advice. .....
Pakistan's military dictator, Gen.
Pervez Musharraf, has done such a good job of repackaging himself as a
vital American ally against radical Islamic terrorism that it is easy to
forget how alarming Washington rightly found so many of General Musharraf's
policies not very long ago. .....
No subject is dearer to the secular
heart in India than what it is pleased to call "Moditva" or "jihadi Hindutva".
The secularist makes no honest attempt to understand Hindutva, since that
would mean making an effort to trace the origins of Hindu-Muslim tensions
down the decades if not centuries. It is easier to give the Hindutva dog
a bad name. To hand it Hindutva did not begin with Modi or for that matter
with the RSS. .....
Spain's leading archbishop, Cardinal
Antonio María Rouco, yesterday denounced the new socialist government,
saying its policies were taking the country back to medieval times, when
Muslim invaders swept across the Straits of Gibraltar. .....
Here is a speculative hypothesis
that India, China and Pakistan have been locked up in a silent war, the
latter two allied against India for the last 50 years. That war is coming
to an end with India emerging victorious. .....
Colin Powell's visit last week
to Sudan - where he denounced the government-backed ethnic cleansing in
the western region of Darfur and warned of a Rwanda-like genocide in the
making - made one thing perfectly clear: the present cycle of horror and
devastation in Sudan continues to prompt more concern in Western countries
than in the Arab world. .....
It is a rare moment when one simultaneously
realises the value of money as well as its abysmal worthlessness - and
also the terror of living under an "egalitarian" Marxist regime. A Rs 10
note can see you through an entire week on a staple diet of rice and save
you from starvation death. .....
With the killing of five heavily
armed Pak infiltrators across Manawar river in Batal and Channi Prat area
of Jogwan in Akhnoor sector, the Army has unfolded the major plan of the
terrorists to target Shri Amarnath yatra and the vital defence instllations
in Akhnoor and Jammu areas. .....
Pakistan is in illegal and forcible
occupation of about 78,000 sq km in Jammu and Kashmir and has illegally
ceded 5,180 sq km of Indian territory to China, the Lok Sabha was informed
on Wednesday. .....
If the Karachi police's claim that
they are looking for two young educated women as potential suicide bombers
is true, it speaks of a disturbing trend of jihadist notions and ideas
gaining influence among Pakistan's educated middle class. .....
In a message clarifying the BJP's
stand vis-a-vis the RSS, plus a strong reaction to the UPA Government's
sacking of Governors, BJP patriarch Atal Bihari Vajpayee said on Tuesday
that the Congress was imposing a "poisonous ideology" on the country and
laying the foundations of the next "Partition". .....
The threat perception to Amarnath
Yatra put forward by the Jammu and Kashmir Government was no deterrent
for hundreds of Gujaratis who queued up for hours for registration for
the pilgrimage at the Jammu and Kashmir Bank in Ahmedabad on Monday. Though
the registration was to begin at 3 pm, at least 1,000 persons were seen
standing in the queue from 6 am, some from Saturday night itself. .....
With the return of the Congress
Party to power at the Centre in alliance with motley group of small parties
and with outside support of Marxists and Communists, the debate on secularism
in the country, has been revived. .....
The Indian media having moved away
from its traditional preoccupation with politics, it is no longer a matter
of surprise that the activities of the Prime Minister and his Council of
Ministers have ceased to be top of the mind. .....
At a recent dinner in the capital
held to felicitate the gentleman cricketer, Rahul Dravid, upon his being
awarded the Padma Shri, the new power elite and Page Three socialites mingled
freely. The RJD boss and the Railway Minister, Laloo Yadav, held court
in one corner of the lawn as guests arrived and went up to him to say hello
even as cameras clicked for the next day's page three photos in the local
dailies. .....
A statement issued in the name
of an obscure group claiming ties to Al Qaeda warned of terrorist attacks
in Europe over the coming months. It said the attacks would begin after
a "truce," offered earlier this year by Osama bin Laden, expires in two
weeks. .....
A Turkish laborer freed after a
month in the hands of Iraqi insurgents said he was regularly beaten by
his captors and awakened in the middle of the night and forced to pray.
He believes he's still alive only because he is a Muslim. .....
The sleepy suburb of Pallavaram,
especially around Periamalai area, today woke up to tension and tumult
as a temple idol was found smashed to smithereens by unidentified miscreants.
A trident and a previously mutilated peacock statue in the temple were
also found broken. .....
Defying Government plans and amid
chants of "Jai bhole baba nath", the Amarnath Yatra Action Committee (AYAC)
on Thursday flagged off the first batch of yatra for Pahalgam from here.
About 85 people, including 77 sadhus left in three vehicles from Ranbishwar
Temple at Shalamar Chowk at around 9 am, on Thursday morning. .....
On June 28, 2004, The New York
Times reported that "a resolution of formal apology for "a long history
of official depredations and ill-conceived policies" has been quietly cleared
for a Senate vote, with proponents predicting passage." .....
The floors are a living tangle
of undulating fur. Small, brown blurs scurry across marble floors. Thousands
of rats dine with people and scamper over their feet. .....
Works of art have been thought
of in two very different ways. According to the modern view the artist
is a special or even abnormal kind of man, endowed with a peculiar emotional
sensibility which enables him to see what we call beauty; moved by a mysterious
aesthetic urge he produces paintings, sculpture, poetry or music. .....
While on one hand abject poverty
and illiteracy have led the Maoists to strengthen their hold over Nepal,
on the other, Christian missionaries are trying to convert innocent and
poverty ridden Nepalese by offering them enticements of monetary assitance
and other aid. .....
The Supreme Court pronounced, in
its historic judgment in December 1995, that Hinduism is a way of life
and not a religious concept as the protagonists of secularism and some
so called secular political parties have made it a slogan of their policy,
to oppose everything which carries as prefix or suffix the word 'Hindu´.
.....
It is on record that 'at least
twice in the Constituent Assembly efforts were made to make a specific
mention of the principle of secularism in the Constitution. For example,
an amendment had sought to ensure that no law could be made which discriminates
between man and man on the basis of religion, or applies to adherents of
any one religion and leaves others untouched. .....
Legend has it that when Jaivana,
the world's largest cannon on wheels at the Jaigarh Fort in Amer, Rajasthan,
was fired, expectant mothers living nearby suffered miscarriages. But the
foundry that made and assembled this massive weapon in 1720-it was then
one of the world's oldest cannon factories-is falling apart and efforts
to restore it to its former glory are on. .....
If a Class VIII student of a government
school in Bihar says that the relationship between Union Railway Minister
Laloo Prasad Yadav and his friend-turned-foe Ranjan Yadav is like the one
between Lord Krishna and Sudama, he has learnt his lessons well. For this
is how Mitti ka Gaurav (Pride of the Soil), Laloo's life sketch in the
textbook, defines the relationship between the two. .....
In his first comments on the removal
of four governors yesterday, former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee
here today said the UPA Government's move has reduced the Governor's post
to that of a daily wage labourer. .....
Some years ago, during P Chidambaram's
first incarnation as Finance Minister, I travelled to his constituency,
Sivaganga, to interview him for a television programme. We spent the day
travelling down dusty roads in rural parts, stopping in villages for the
minister to inquire about the well-being of his constituents and the progress
of development projects. .....
At a recent dinner in the capital
held to felicitate the gentleman cricketer, Rahul Dravid, upon his being
awarded the Padma Shri, the new power elite and Page Three socialites mingled
freely. The RJD boss and the Railway Minister, Laloo Yadav, held court
in one corner of the lawn as guests arrived and went up to him to say hello
even as cameras clicked for the next day's page three photos in the local
dailies. .....
The state and the Union civil aviation
ministry may have failed to relocate a mosque at Dum Dum airport to create
space for a second runway but the high court today asked the Waqf Board
to shift a mosque on National Highway 6 to widen the road. .....
In his superb inaugural speech
to the Conference of Chief Ministers, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made
an important point. Quoting economist Mahbub-ul Haq he said: "Societies
everywhere had begun challenging governments." Modern governments, the
PM says, should be constantly taken to task by a dynamic civil society.
.....
The Orwellian distortion of perfectly
fine and normal words is a trademark of Marxists everywhere, and of Nehruvian
Stalinists in India. For instance, Marxists specialised in taking wonderful
words like 'democratic' and 'republic' and applying them to their fascist
hellholes like East Germany and North Korea and China. They thereby violated
those words. Nomenclature terrorism, I suppose this could be termed. .....
It is not only the districts in
the Brahmaputra valley of Assam that are threatened by extremist violence.
The relatively peaceful Barak valley districts of the State are also equally
threatened. The only difference, if you may call it that, is that the ideological
hue of the possible perpetrators of violence there is different from the
likes of the ULFA and NDFB. .....
Forty-five years after a Church-led
'liberation struggle' in Kerala pulled down the world's first democratically
elected Communist government, the Left parties and the Church in India
are cozying up. And you have the Manmohan Singh government to thank for
this unlikely occurrence. .....
Muslims who live in Western countries
love to compare themselves to the Jews of the Nazi era. They portray themselves
as innocent victims of a racist and discriminatory society; victims of
a moral, social, political and religious holocaust, caused by media and
politicians (right wing parties). They feel discriminated at work and are
suffer from a sort of social alienation. .....
A Muslim girl who married a Brahmin
boy against the wishes of her parents has filed an application in the Allahabad
High Court seeking protection following alleged threats by her family members.
.....
The involvement of Ishrat Jahan
in the aborted plot to assassinate Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi
has revived the debate over the involvement of women in terrorist activities.
.....
In an extraordinarily country-specific
scrutiny, Pakistani nationals, immigrants and even Pakistan-born US citizens
arriving at key US airports are being checked for injuries that might suggest
they have been training at terrorist camps in Pakistan. .....
The Supreme Court pronounced, in
its historic judgment in December 1995, that Hinduism is a way of life
and not a religious concept as the protagonists of secularism and some
so called secular political parties have made it a slogan of their policy,
to oppose everything which carries as prefix or suffix the word 'Hindu´.
.....
The President of India-bless his
heart-is not an independent man as one would think. If he addresses a joint
session of Parliament, his speech reflects the government´s point
of view. That is an accepted norm. Never mind that no English language
newspaper carried the full text of his speech. But excerpts from his speech
have been published. .....
Linking the leadership change in
the Gujarat government with the violence in the state kicked up a totally
unnecessary controversy. These are two separate issues and need to be tackled
as such. There was a mixup that led to great resentment and confusion.
.....
It was a character in an Agatha
Christie mystery who said murder is most difficult the first time, is driven
by necessity the second time and becomes a habit subsequently. This analogy
is instructive in understanding the moral and political imperatives behind
Friday's shameless display of Constitutional adultery. .....
The dispute between NCP and Congress
over the control of 'Saibaba Sansthan (Trust)' at Shirdi and 'Siddhivinayak
Sansthan (Trust)' at Mumbai has ended and there is a consensus among them
about the allocation of trusteeships of both these temples. 'Shirdi' has
gone to Congress while 'Siddhivinayak' has gone to the NCP. .....
Morally-challenging political decisions
should at least make political sense. Otherwise, why court the opprobrium?
It is baffling in the extreme, therefore, that the Congress applied such
pressure on the President to sack four NDA-appointed governors. The government
is drawing plenty of deserved flak for this action. .....
In 1784, Thomas Jefferson, John
Adams and Benjamin Franklin were commissioned by the first Congress to
assemble in Paris to see about marketing U.S. products in Europe. .....
Allow me first to make a preliminary
observation about the title of this session: the 'return of the spirit
of Munich' - a title which I find somewhat optimistic. At Munich, in 1938,
France and England, exhausted by the death toll of the Great War, abandoned
Czechoslovakia to the Nazi beast, in the hope that by doing so they would
avoid another conflict. .....
There is, in the English-language
media, a hate-BJP, hate- Narendra Modi brigade that is continually engaged
in the spread of hatred unbecoming of any decent self-respecting organisation.
Led by Hindustan Times in Delhi and The Times of India in Mumbai, this
brigade lets no opportunity go to cast aspersions on the Gujarat chief
minister. .....
The Sri Lankan government has said
that the proposed legislation against 'unethical conversions' (mainly from
Buddhism to Christianity) is aimed only at the new-fangled evangelical
movements bent on converting people, and not the established churches (such
as the Catholic or the Methodist church). .....
In the dark cloud of poverty and
hunger deaths in Amlasole and Kankrajhore in West Bengal, the silver lining
is the colour of red-of the ruling CPM. .....
A Sunni Muslim body today demanded
that the Congress-led UPA Government appoint a Muslim as Deputy Prime Minister,
saying this was necessary to bring the community into mainstream politics
and urged for reservation for Muslims in jobs. .....
Indian River County residents have
mixed feelings about the local ashram, or spiritual community, called Kashi
that spans 80 acres along Roseland Road in Sebastian. .....
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is
not being consulted by external affairs minister K. Natwar Singh on matters
of foreign policy. Insistent about retaining full control of his ministry,
Mr Natwar Singh has shown a decided reluctance to regularly brief Dr Singh
on important policy matters and is resistant to what he regards as interference
in his ministry. .....
Afghanistan's Taliban guerrillas
say they cut the throat of a Muslim cleric after they discovered him propagating
Christianity and warned foreign aid workers they would face similar treatment
if they did the same. .....
J.N. Dixit, a one-time ambassador
to Pakistan and Afghanistan and later Foreign Secretary to India and now
National Security Adviser to Government of India, has done a great favour
to his country and especially to its Foreign Office. He has, from all accounts,
written the definitive history of Indo-Pak relations right upto the present
day, saving our ambassadors and foreign policy spokesmen a lot of trouble.
.....
Manmohan Singh, doubtless, is a
gentlemen but is he his own boss? The answer, we are afraid, is a resounding
no. Going by some of the things he has done after taking over as Prime
Minister, there is little doubt that the good doctor is being called upon
to pay a heavy price for accepting the thankless task of playing at being
prime minister while someone else outside the Government calls all the
shots. .....
The Chinese can rewrite the history
of relations between India and China with great facility and strangely
nobody protests in India. Even the Indian Ministry of External Affairs
seems to have been fooled by the change of the dates of the first proclamation
of the Panchsheel philosophy. .....
More than one-third of the Dutch
are afraid of Muslims and nearly three-quarters have little or no contact
with people from that cultural background, according to a poll published
yesterday. .....
From projecting itself as a party
with a difference, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has come to convey
an image that it is no different from its rivals. For the Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the disenchantment is more to do with the younger
generation of the BJP embracing the five-star culture, ignoring the cadres,
undermining the good work being done by its cadres and of late its bid
to corrupt the Sangh cadres who have associated themselves with party work.
.....
He was a diehard Communist for
nearly four decades, but when it came to post-funeral rites for late Kerala
chief minister E.K. Nayanar, his family decided to immerse his ashes the
Hindu way. .....
In a major breakthrough, a Lashker-e-Toiba
module was busted in Srinagar with the killing of two militants and arrest
of 18 who had planned attacks on Bombay Stock Exchange, strategic places
in Delhi and elsewhere and had links with the four militants killed in
an encounter in Ahmedabad on June 15, a top police official said on Tuesday.
.....
Separatist guerrillas raided a
sleepy hamlet before dawn on Saturday and massacred at least 11 people
in the mountainous Surankote area of Poonch district in Jammu and Kashmir.
.....
On the morning that the American
engineer, Paul Johnson, was beheaded by his terrorist captors in Saudi
Arabia I happened to be arriving in London. At Heathrow airport, ahead
of me in the immigration queue, was a Muslim family of sub-continental
origin. The man wore an Islamic beard and looked as if dressed for Friday
prayers. .....
Almost a fortnight after the elimination
of four alleged Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives in Ahmedabad, the big question
isn't about their guilt or innocence. It is whether the encounter was a
genuine response to an imminent attack - or a cold-blooded execution. .....
Like most young people her age,
Ishrat Jehan Raza occasionally cruised the internet. If the Gujarat police
are right and the Mumbai college student who was killed in Ahmedabad on
June 15 was a Lashkar-e- Taiba operative, she would most certainly have
seen a graphic image on the organisation's website: riot survivor Qutubuddin
Ansari begging for his life. Underneath the image, the Lashkar's site designer
added a slogan: "don't you think he should have a gun?" .....
Claims by the Gujarat Police that
four Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists killed in an encounter last week intended
to execute an attack on the Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, may have been
overblown. An investigation by The Hindu has found that the group was indeed
engaged in reconnaissance for a suicide-squad attack on Hindu fundamentalist
leaders - but the mission was monitored by intelligence agencies at each
stage and infiltrated from its outset. .....
The UPA Government's move to send
governors with ''BJP background'' packing is set to snowball into a major
controversy. Leaders of the Opposition in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha L.K.
Advani and Jaswant Singh met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today and demanded
that the Government adhere to the precedent set by them of retaining governors
appointed by their predecessors. .....
In a country with varied problems
like India, NGOs have provided some of the most creative solutions - the
Ranthambore Foundation taught villagers to paint, not shoot the tiger,
while SEWA used craft and design to empower women. .....
On May 23, a 10-vehicle convoy
carrying Border Security Force (BSF) combat troops had its fourth bus blown
up in a landmine explosion triggered by the Hizb-ul- Mujahideen at Lower
Munda on the Srinagar-Jammu highway. As many as 29 people died in the attack
and they included 12 BSF personnel and their family members. .....
The Sonia Gandhi government-for
that is what it is-has begun well. It has taken Laloo Prasad Yadav into
its open arms. But what sort of a gentleman is he? And what sort of a gentleman
is his loyalist Taslimuddin? .....
Akhil Bharatiya Vanvasi Kalyan
Ashram has played a key role in protecting and preserving the Khasi culture
and their distinctive style of worship. "It is this organisation that has
brought so many of our people into the mainstream and has been infusing
self-confidence in the society," said Nayan R. Sulai, president of Senraj-Shillong,
a prominent Khasi organisation. He inaugurated the golden jubilee celebration
of the Kalyan Ashram in Shilong. .....
