Can Modi control this anarchy. Police torture against accused from Christian and Muslim minorities. Read Mumbai Mirror

Can Modi control this anarchy. Police torture against accused from Christian and Muslim minorities. Read Mumbai Mirror

This is how India's police treat minorities by taking law in its own hands. Can Modi control this anarchy?


http://www.mumbaimirror.com/mumbai/cover-story/They-beat-me-till-I-fell-unconscious--When-I-woke-up-it-began-all-over-again/articleshow/35398407.cms

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They beat me till I fell unconscious... When I woke up, it began all over again

By Yogesh Sadhwani, Mumbai Mirror | May 21, 2014, 12.28 AM IST

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Leonard Valdaris, whose son Agnelo (inset) died in police custody, and Agnelo’s friends who were sexually abused by cops

Friends of custodial death victim, picked up for minor theft, reveal horrific torture in the custody of Wadala railway police

The Government Railway Police has initiated a departmental enquiry against 12 policemen following a complaint of sexual abuse and torture by three robbery suspects, including a minor.

The three were detained by the Wadala railway police on April 15 along with Agnelo Valdaris, 25, who died in custody three days later. While the police said Valdaris was run over by a train while trying to escape, his father alleged the cops murdered him in cold blood. The state CID is investigating that case of custodial death.

The police detained the four friends to get information about a gold chain worth around Rs 60,000 they had allegedly stolen from a senior citizen. They were picked up within minutes of each other from their Reay Road homes on April 15.

In their May 12 complaint about the torture, the three have also levelled detailed accusations of how Valdaris was tortured in front of them. They have demanded the policemen be booked for murder, sexual abuse, kidnapping, assault and tampering of evidence, among other charges. The 12 policemen are of the ranks of constables up to senior inspector, including a woman officer.

One of the complaints was identified as Sufiyan Khan, 23.

Valdaris, whose father is a clerk in the port trust, and Sufiyan, son of a mechanic, worked as drivers with transporter companies. The minor is class 8 dropout. The fourth youngster is unemployed.

Mirror is withholding the names of the other two - both alleged victims of sexual abuse. This correspondent spoke in person to the three complainants. Mirror is in possession of a copy of their complaint.

"(Constables Ravi) Mane and Kamble stripped me naked and put me on a table," one of them has said in his complaint. "Mane assaulted me with a belt and Kamble with a baton. They hit me so hard I fell unconscious. They poured water on me. After I regained my senses, the torture started again. This time I was forced to perform oral sex on Agnelo and the minor. When I refused, I was threatened with more beatings. Left with no option, I did as asked. They later hanged me naked upside down and assaulted me again with belts and batons."

This complaint said an officer who was identified only as Ganya tried inserting a stick in his anus. He said the police threatened to pour petrol into his anus as the stick was too thick. The complaint also lends credence to the allegations that Valdaris was tortured to death by giving details of how he was also tortured in asimilar manner.

"When Agenelo complained of chest pain and fainted, the police did not provide him any medical attention," said the complaint. "They then took us to the court two days later. They threatened us not to tell the magistrate anything about the torture. They did not bring Agnelo with us as he was badly injured. In these two days, we were forced to eat the leftovers from the policemen's meals."

According to the complaint, the police on April 18 sent the minor to a juvenile home and remanded the other two were remanded in custody. That was when the police told them Valdaris had died while trying to escape.

"That is just not possible," the complaint said. "We saw how badly Agnelo was beaten. There was no way he could run with his injuries. The police are trying to cover up their torture using the false claim that Agnelo tried to escape."

The three were let off on bail on April 22. After the GRP commissioner ordered an enquiry based on the complaint, the three were, to their horror, asked to visit the same police station where they were allegedly tortured and collect their summons.

"When I had gone to collect the summons, constable Ravi Mane threatened to frame me in more criminal cases if I pursued the case," said one of the three youngsters. "He said that the police will hound me forever."

GRP Commissioner Prabhat Kumar told Mirror, "CID is investigating the custodial death case. We have asked a DCP to probe the departmental lapses. But she can't reach any conclusion as the CID is seized with the investigation."

Advocate Yug Mohit Chaudhry, who is representing the trio, said Maharashtra has witnessed the highest number of custodial deaths in recent years as policemen are seldom brought to justice. He advocated the installation of CCTV cameras in all rooms of police stations and stringent punishment for errant policemen as a solution.

"These victims of police brutality are now being threatened to take back their complaint," said Chaudhry.

"This is nothing but tampering of evidence. They are able to go on unabated because no action has been initiated against them so far. This is the worst case I have come across so far. It is not only about murder but also about deviant sexual abuse and ruthless torture of the accused."

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PS. All victimised accused are from Christian and Muslim minority.

 

Boeing technology, what goes up must come down — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad

http://www.themalaymailonline.com/what-you-think/article/boeing-technology-what-goes-up-must-come-down-dr-mahathir-mohamad

Malay Mail Online

Boeing technology, what goes up must come down — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad

May 18, 2014

 

WHAT goes up must come down. Airplanes can go up and stay up for long periods of time. But even they must come down eventually. They can land safely or they may crash. But airplanes don’t just disappear. Certainly not these days with all the powerful communication systems, radio and satellite tracking and filmless cameras which operate almost indefinitely and possess huge storage capacities.

I wrote about the disabling of MH370’s communication system as well as the signals for GPS. The system must have been disabled or else the ground station could have called the plane. The GPS too must have been disabled or else the flight of MH370 would have been tracked by satellites which normally provide data on all commercial flights, inclusive of data on location, kind of aircraft, flight number, departure airport and destination. But the data seems unavailable. The plane just disappeared seemingly from all screens.
MH370 is a Boeing 777 aircraft. It was built and equipped by Boeing. All the communications and GPS equipment must have been installed by Boeing. If they failed or have been disabled Boeing must know how it can be done. Surely Boeing would ensure that they cannot be easily disabled as they are vital to the safety and operation of the plane.

A search on the Internet reveals that Boeing in 2006 received a US patent for a system that, once activated, removes all control from pilots to automatically return a commercial airliner to a pre-determined landing location.

The Flightglobal.com article by John Croft, datelined Washington DC (1st December, 2006) further mentioned “The ‘uninterruptible’ autopilot would be activated – either by pilot, by on board sensors, or even remotely by radio or satellite links by government agencies like the Central Intelligence Agency, if terrorists attempt to gain control of the flight deck”.

Clearly Boeing and certain agencies have the capacity to take over “uninterruptible control” of commercial airliners of which MH370 B777 is one.

Can it not be that the pilot of MH370 lost control of their aircraft after someone directly or remotely activated the equipment for seizure of control of the aircraft.

It is a waste of time and money to look for debris or oil slick or to listen for “pings” from the black box. This is most likely not an ordinary crash after fuel was exhausted. The plane is somewhere, maybe without MAS markings.

Boeing should explain about this so-called anti-terrorism auto-land system. I cannot imagine the pilots made a soft-landing in rough seas and then quietly drown with the aircraft.

Someone is hiding something. It is not fair that MAS and Malaysia should take the blame.

For some reason the media will not print anything that involves Boeing or the CIA. I hope my readers will read this.

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was the fourth prime minister of Malaysia.

This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malay Mail Online.

MORE ON MMOTV

Rakesh Maria should be arrested for conducting activities which are terror related: Advocate Pracha - By M. Reyaz - TwoCircles.net

http://twocircles.net/2014mar18/rakesh_maria_should_be_arrested_conducting_activities_which_are_terror_related_advocate#.Uyhl3s73NxF

Rakesh Maria should be arrested for conducting activities which are terror related: Advocate Pracha

Submitted by TwoCircles.net on 18 March 2014 - 3:35pm

By M Reyaz, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: Senior lawyer Mehmood Pracha, who is defending German bakery bomb blast case convict Mirza Himayat Beg for his innocence, has demanded that the current Mumbai Police Commissioner should be “arrested as a terrorist” and tried under anti-terror laws.
In an exclusive interview to TCN, Advocate Pracha said, “The fact remains that three investigating agencies (NIA, Delhi Police’ Special Cell and Central Crime Branch, Bangalore ), my own understanding of the case, the charge sheet and the subsequent events, all point to one fact that the Maharashtra ATS led by Mr Rakesh Maria was responsible in not only falsely implicating Himayat Baig, but also in the process actively saving the real terrorists,” adding, “the police officers involved, including Mr Rakesh Maria should be arrested for conducting activities which are terror related. He has committed offense prima facie which are terror cases and he should be arrested as a terrorist.”


Advocate Mehmood Pracha at his Defence Colony office. Besides Himayat Baig, Advocate Pracha has been trying to secure bail for another high profile terror accused Mansoor Peerbhoy and has been frontally attacking current Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria for his conduct as ATS Chief.
He also alleged that the Mumbai top cop is using underworld don Ravi Pujari to coerce him to leave those sensitive terror cases. Advocate Pracha has been receiving threat calls from international telephone numbers.
Advocate Pracha is now planning to petition in court to lodge FIR against him. He told TCN, “In Himayat Baig’s case what has come out is that the Maharashtra ATS, led by Mr Rakesh Maria – who was then the Chief of the ATS – they not only implicated an innocent called Mr Himayat Baig, but they also saved the real terrorists, as three other agencies have also stated.”
He hence feels that as a law abiding citizen, it is his “duty to inform for a cognizable offence to the relevant authority and the court.”
Not shying away from calling Maria a “terrorist” for his alleged misconduct, the out-spoken lawyer added, “It is my duty to inform the terrorist activities of Mr Rakesh Maria, then head of the Maharashtra ATS, and his entire team.”
Elaborating further, he said, “When I say, that these police officers are acting like terrorists because they are aiding and abetting the real terrorists and catching hold of the innocent people to save the real terrorists. Under section 15 to 20 of the UAPA, these are terrorist activities, be it whether they are committed by the police officers or common citizens because law is equal for all.”
Pointing that Maria is not the only police officer who have implicated innocent Muslims, Advocate Pracha said, “This is true not only for Mr Rakesh Maria, but for many other officers against whom I have conclusive evidence to at least register an FIR against them. 

Law should take its own course, because nobody is above law. Mr Rakesh Maria’s case came up because the NIA filed the additional charge-sheet which once again points to the fact that Himayat Baig was innocent.”
He added, “Mr Rakesh Maria has managed to bring himself to the limelight by brining Ravi Pujari (the underworld don, whose men purportedly threatened Pracha over phone) that is why I have to take his name again and again, but there are so many other police officers who are going the same way. But none of them has actually threatened with the underworld. He has got this invited on himself. If you threaten me like this I am going to fight back, by legal means.”
Elaborating further he said, “The fact remains that there many police officers in many states, who are acting along with the real terrorists and implicating these innocent in false cases. And we are duty bound as citizens to catch hold of each one of them and hand them over to the investigating agencies.”
Questioning the very credentials of Maria for acting in such a manner and using underworld don to threaten him, Pracha said, “But he has taken it in a manner, which I think, is not suitable for a police officer, if at all he is, because I do not find any of the characters of a police officer in him, going through the evidences I am seeing in all the charge-sheets, which have been filed under his leadership. So he has started threatening me through the underworld. But these things don’t scare me at all.”
He said that he will not take these threats sitting down, adding that he knows of people who are behind him and he will bring them to justice.


Rakesh Maria [Courtesy: mid-day.com] Asked if he has any evidence against Maria for labelling such an allegation, Advocate Pracha said, “Yes, I have substantive and enough evidence against Mr Rakesh Maria. 

Unfortunate part is that he is using the underworld, he is the one who is supposed to catch the underworld. He is using the underworld to threaten a person like me, whose only fault is that he is following the law. What I am doing is presenting my case to the judges, whatever reliefs or whatever orders are being passed, are passed by the judges. So it is a direct attack on the Judiciary.”
He said, “I want to show these people that the Constitution of India and the laws made under them are sufficient not only to tackle underworld dons, international or national, but our Constitution and laws are also sufficient to catch hold of these terrorists who are sitting today in the garb of police officers.”
In this exclusive TCN interview, Advocate Pracha also alleged that the “basic fault in our investigating agencies is that honest police officers are being side-lined, they are posted in police training schools, on posts of not much significance as punishment postings and officers with known corrupt background are placed in important posts, like handling terror cases, which is very sad.”
(Watch out this space tomorrow to read/watch the full interview.)

News:

• Indian Muslim

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From Azamgarh to America: The success saga of Frank Islam - Interview by Mumtaz Alam, INDIA TOMORROW

From Azamgarh to America: The success saga of Frank Islam

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Date: Mon, Mar 17, 2014 at 7:11 PM
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Ghulam Muhammed has shared a video with you on YouTube Azamgarh-born American entrepreneur Dr Frank Islam by India Tomorrow TV

From Azamgarh to America: The success saga of Frank Islam 17 Mar 2014 03:03 PM, IST By Mumtaz Alam and Atif Jaleel, India Tomorrow, New Delhi, 16 March 2014: With just $500 and one employee (himself) he opens a firm in Washington DC in 1994. In next 13 years, his information technology firm QSS becomes a company of several thousand employees and several hundred million dollars. He is Frank Islam – a reputed entrepreneur and renowned philanthropist of America. Born in a dusty village of Azamgarh town of Uttar Pradesh in 1953, Frank is proud to be son of India and wants to pay back to his native country and town also.   Sitting in a boardroom of 5-star Shangri-La hotel here in India’s national capital, Frank – who carried Fakhrul as his first name before going to America as a student decades ago, but he still carries that name though as initial in the middle of his full name (Frank F. Islam), talks about his success saga from Azamgarh to Aligarh to America. He is a story of inspiration for his native countrymen and also for the people of his native town Azamgarh.     Excerpts from his exclusive interview with India Tomorrow:   Successful entrepreneurship Telling about his success saga, Frank says: “I always say, from the dusty streets of Azamgarh to Aligarh to America, I crossed the ocean to realize and to achieve and to attain the American dream. So I was born in Azamgarh, and after that I went to Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) which is a great institution - an institution that inspired me, an institution that was built by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, an institution that has been a part, an indispensable part, of my life, my story, my journey, and my destiny. I left AMU at a very young age to go to University of Colorado in Boulder. I graduated from there. I worked for a couple of Information Technology companies. I always had this desire and dream that I want to become an entrepreneur, I want to be a business owner. So I became an entrepreneur.”   When he set up his first business in 1994 he was not at good time of his life.   “I started my business in 1994 and those were dark and desperate days of my life. I was with only $500 that I invested into this company. With no insurance, no place to go, but I thought there was a future. Otherwise I would’ve never started. So I was willing to take the risk. And I always believed in taking a risk. I always believed that you have to confront uncertainty with optimism, ingenuity and creativity. And starting a business is about taking a risk. With the hard work and initiative, and with my staff, I was able to grow my company from one employee to several thousand employees in 13 years, and also several hundred million dollars. It is a true American success story.”   Frank sold the company in 2007 for several hundred million dollars. Now he wanted to give back to America – the country which provided him opportunities of success.   “So I created a foundation to do that. And I was always reminded and guided by the phrase, as President John F. Kennedy said many times, “to whom much is given, much is expected.” So my foundation helps a lot of students who have financial hardship to go to school.”   Campaigning for Barack Obama Frank also wanted to contribute in the politics of the country, and so he joined the team of Barack Obama.   “After I created the foundation, I started working with President Obama’s campaign as a person who was involved in the national finance campaign, and I got involved into politics. Politics has designed the landscape of America. This is how the capitalism grows as democracy flourishes. And this is how you have a voice. And those voices that should be heard, and therefore you have a seat on the table, which is very important,” says Frank adding that this phase of his life was like making an impossible possible – a person from humble background in a small town of Azamgarh walking along with US President Barack Obama.   US President Barack Obama with Frank Islam “And if someone is listening to me and I will tell them that ‘you need to aim high, you need to work hard, [and] you pursue your dream. I came from a very middle class and humble beginning from Azamgarh as a Muslim family. And I see the young people looking at me and say ‘can they make it?’ Yes. You can make impossible as a possible, you can make irrelevant as a relevant, you can make unacceptable as acceptable.”   Challenges before Muslim youths in India Talking about Muslim youths in India, he says the Muslim youth must get good education, become an entrepreneur and give back to their community and their country.   “I know that the young Muslim generation confront hostility and open prejudice because who they are. They see a dark and desperate world. They share a city but not a community. They share a common dwelling but not in a common effort. They share a common fear. But all of us in this country, Hindus and Muslims or anyone, or any other what I consider a religion or race, we live together in a peace and harmony for a thousand years; we should set aside our differences to work for shared goal, shared responsibility and shared sacrifices. So I told the Muslim youth, all of them, get an education, become an entrepreneur, give back to your community and your country, and be inspired by my story.”   Frank stresses education and terms it a powerful equalizer that uplifts the people’s soul and gives them dignity and respect.   “If I have to give them (Muslim youth) advice, I’d say get a good education. I know poverty drains the institution and it crushes the hope of the people. But education is a powerful equalizer that uplifts the people’s soul and gives them dignity and respect. Education creates wealth, education creates prosperity. In addition to that, as President Obama said, “education will be the currency of the 21st century.” And education, what I consider, frees the human mind from the shackles of ignorance.”   Franks’ education initiative in India Frank has launched some education project in Azamgarh, but he lacks people who could help him fulfill his dream.   “I established a small school in the memory of my mother. I always cherish and nurture my family. My family’s finest tradition is sharing and caring. What is best in me, I owe it to my parents. Unfortunately, the challenge that we faced here in India is somehow a very dysfunctional society. A lot of corruption is here. And people do not want to take the responsibility on their shoulders to build this institution. I’m building this institution for them, as Sir Syed Ahmed Khan built AMU. I’ve put the foundations. I’ve not been able to build it because of the fact that… I have not found anybody who can manage it and who can say “I will take the responsibility,” who can give me the five year plan, how much it’s going to cost, what will take to sustain it, what it will take to maintain it. I’m still waiting for that. What I’d like to do is build a high-school, build a college. And hopefully, I have the wisdom and the wealth. And I’m willing to share, willing to give, willing to give back to our community, our country, who has given me so much.   Apart from that, Frank also gives money to the students who come from Azamgarh to study at AMU.   “I brought several students from AMU to universities in US. I was also able to give them a job so that they can get training. It is my fondest hope, it is my deepest desire, to help those who are so voiceless. It breaks my heart that the conditions they live in, and especially in Azamgarh and Aligarh. I want them to have the hope, the aspirations, the dreams.”   India needs many many Frank Islam You got great success in the US. You contributed immensely in the development of the US. Don’t you think India now needs a Frank Islam?   “Well, India needs a many, many Frank Islam. Just not the one Frank Islam,” says Frank, 60. “I have contributed to America because it has provided me the opportunities. But I have not forgotten my homeland which is India and Aligarh and Azamgarh. I know it is difficult for a young Muslim youth because they do see a dark and desperate world, that ‘how they will be able to get education’ and also how to realize their dream. I want them to realize their dream. I will do everything possible to make that happen. So, for me I did invest in India. However, I did not do very well in investment in India because of many, many reasons.”   I love about India, because of the secularism and so on and so forth. India has also the democracy and freedom, the religious freedoms, so on and so forth. So my desire continues to be that I would like to do a lot more than what I have done so far. But I want somebody to take a charge.     Indo-US relations I firmly believe that the US and India have a shared interest, and shared commitment. Because both value the democracy and diversity, and both want to work together. As a matter of fact our bilateral trade relationship between India and US has increased many, many times over what it used to be 5 or 10 years ago. Still not as big as China is, or Japan is, or even the European countries. I’d like to make sure that we continue to have that trade relationship.   Frank Islam (left) shaking hands with US President Barack Obama at White House I’d like to see that we also broaden and deepen our engagement with India, in terms of the education. I think the community colleges play a pivotal role in creating today’s students for tomorrow’s job. So when I come over here and I see there are not that many community colleges. Not everybody can go to colleges and learn the trade. Community colleges have two or three year college degrees. They can learn the tools and the trades and so that they can work. So that they can create the next generation and realize the American dream, so they have food on the table and also a roof on their head. That’s a one area, education, where I think we should work together.   The second area I think we should work together is energy. I think that… I firmly believe that we would like to become a provider for India in about two or three years, for your needs of all the energy.   Shouldn’t Frank Islam stay more at Azamgarh to inspire youth? “I think you have made a very good point. And I should follow up what you just said to me that I stay there in Azamgarh and places like Aligarh to inspire people. But it is a daunting challenge. A challenge for me to live here because I do have a family, I do have a job back in US. And I have been away from this nation, from India, for a long, long time. So I still have a problem in terms of the environment, in terms of breathing the air, which is a very polluted air. There’s nothing wrong with that, that’s the way it is and I have to accept it. So give me some time. As it goes by, as we continue on this path forward, as we continue on this journey maybe perhaps the next plateau in my journey would be to live there, to engage people. But I would hope that I can also help them from US. So they can come to US and see the world, see the experience. So they can be somebody as well.   A brief profile of Frank Islam:   Educational Journey Primary Education at Kaunra Gani village in Azamgarh High School at National School, Pili Kothi, Varanasi B.Sc. and M.Sc. (Mathematics) from Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh B.Sc. and M.Sc. (Computer Science) from the University of Colorado, United States   Entrepreneurship Alone and with just $500 he founded QSS Group, an Information Technology company in 1994. By 2007, the company had several thousand employees and generated revenue of $300 million. He sold the company in several hundred million dollars in 2007.   A successful entrepreneur and investor based in Washington, DC, Frank Islam founded FI Investment Group LLC (FIIG), an investment firm in 2007. He is the Chairman/CEO of FIIG which focuses on providing growth capital to emerging companies, as well as managing specialized and branded funds.   Entrepreneurship Awards: Through QSS, Mr. Islam garnered multiple industry awards for leadership, entrepreneurship and excellence.   In 1999, he was recognized by the Ernst and Young as Maryland Entrepreneur of the Year. The US Small Business Administration selected him as the Small Business Person of the Year of the Washington DC Metropolitan Area in 2001.   Philanthropy Frank Islam is a well-known philanthropist whose private foundation supports educational, cultural and artistic causes worldwide. He participates in a number of non-profit organizations as a board member, such as TiE –DC and the Strathmore Center for the Arts (located in Montgomery County, Maryland), as well as chairing the State Democracy Foundation.   Designations/Posts: Frank Islam serves as a member of the International Advisory Council of the U.S. Institute of Peace. He also serves as a member of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) National Advisory Board. He also serves as a member of the Advisory committee of the Export-Import Bank of the United States. Mr. Islam serves as a member of the Department of Commerce Industry Trade Advisory Committee (ITAC). He also serves as a member of the advisory board of the University of Maryland Smith School of business.   Frank Islam serves as a member at: American University in the Emirates (AUE) of board of trustees University of Technology, Malaysia (UTM) International Advisory Panel George Mason University School of Management Dean’s Council Maryland Governor’s International Advisory Council School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) John Hopkins University Advisory Council American University school of International services Dean’s Council Board of Trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Kennedy Center International Committee on the Arts   Literary Works Frank Islam is co-author of two books “Renewing the American Dream” and “Working the Pivot Points.”   He is a contributor to several publications including Huffington Post, Indian Express, Economics Times and India Abroad. ----- ----- ----- ----- -----

A tale of two faiths: Could a multiple religious identity be the answer for understanding communal divisions? By Vrinda Gopinath - Mail Online

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?tab=wm#inbox/144cdc7170110886?compose=144ce8cc5fd003cc

A tale of two faiths: Could a multiple religious identity be the answer for understanding communal divisions?

By Vrinda Gopinath


PUBLISHED: 01:04 GMT, 17 March 2014 | UPDATED: 02:25 GMT, 17 March 2014

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Could a multiple religious identity be the answer to understand and grasp the discrimination, intolerance, hurt and grief of two hostile communities?

It's the incredulousness of her own life in the story of Jammu and Kashmir that makes Rabia Baji a dramatic irony in the Meerut sedition drama.
 
Baji is perhaps the only known Kashmiri Pandit who has converted to Islam and works for the cause of her Kashmiri Muslim brothers and sisters in the Valley.

+1

Rabia can instantly decode the invisible and unconscious ethnic and cultural values and priorities, which define both communities

The 46-year-old Baji was born Nirupama Kaul, granddaughter of Pandit Parmanand, who was an educationist based in Ajmer.
 
The family was not part of the exodus from the Valley in the 90s but moved to Delhi soon after Independence in 1947.


So, imagine the shock and confusion of her parents and brother when one morning, on July 7, 1989, as Rabia lucidly remembers, she left the house to take the road to Srinagar, just when the first wave of Kashmiri Pandits were pouring into Delhi, fleeing the Valley from Kashmiri Muslim separatists and militant violence.
 
It was a journey that took the spunky and lithe 23-year-old Nirupama Kaul to be reawakened as Rabia Baji, with the somnorific incantations of the Maulvi, offering herself to be a good example and worthy of the great message that Islam brings to humanity.

Dual identity

Funny, but it's her dual identity that bridges the two worlds in the embittered Valley, and which Rabia Baji uses craftily.


For instance, she continues to sign her name in official papers with both her names, which came to her in an astonishing way.
 
As the rotund Baji chuckles, it was the Hindu registrar who simply kept postponing registering her new Islamic name, and so it came to pass over the years that she has both her Hindu name, and an alias Muslim name.
 
The administrative delusion, however, gave Rabia a new-found respectability, eminence, trust and merit with both communities, Hindus and Muslims.

For starters, Rabia can instantly decode the invisible and unconscious ethnic and cultural values and priorities, which define both communities; after all she lived like both of them.
 
But it's the negotiations between Muslim Kashmiris and a 'secular' administration, both in Srinagar and Delhi, that consume her time.
 
For instance, she has shrewdly cajoled the administration to allow certain licenses in the scholarship programmes like getting HRD Minister Kapil Sibal and the PMO to allow UGC approved universities to take the students despite the administration in Srinagar throwing its hands up.
 
"They are sympathetic to me in Delhi," she says foxily, "it's a frame of reference we can all relate to."


On the other side, Rabia is able to dissolve resistance and refusal by her very presence – as the rotund, chador and pheran-wearing matron who ensures students get into the best professional colleges and universities.

Rabia, however, admits it was her politeness and amiability that made her keep both names – she didn't want to offend either community.
 
Though it was an act of rebellion against her rigid and disciplinarian father which made her adopt Islam (he enforced a duppatta on her since she was 12), it was the lessons of fairness, equality and justness that drew her to Islam.

"I saw the absurdity of a 'liberal' Hindu life, which was more conservative than it pretended to be," she says today, "as compared to the contractual nature of Islam."
Her two lives, she says, give her the skills to unravel sham piety and guile on the one hand, and doggedness and iron faith on the other.
 
While she has bridged the spiritualism and humour of Hinduism with the win-lose orientation of Islam in her own life, Rabia wishes that respect for each other's religion and India's multi-culturalism had brought communities closer with more understanding and less prejudice.

It's the best gift this country has given, she says wistfully, if only people could appreciate it, she says.

Typical remarks

In fact, discussions on her chador and pheran and her new identity with non-Kashmiri Muslims has helped break cultural and religious stereotypes with officials, government and people at large.
 
Rabia has picked up typical remarks and observations that she hears all the time, and has prepared a sketch for students about the challenges outside.
 
She has drilled into their heads that there is a system of disadvantage at the outset but it is up to the students, with the single-minded focus on attaining a degree and, therefore, empowerment, that will dissolve such prejudices.

Prejudices and fear

Such was the heightened sense of her own new identity that Rabia realised the importance of the scholarship programme outside the Valley, and the crucial intervention of university authorities in fostering relations between Kashmiri kids and the rest.
 
So, even as an Indo-Pak cricket match may get hackles raised on both sides, it was crucial that games are allowed under the watch and guidance of the university authorities; and in the wake of any trouble, the administration must condemn and counsel both sides.
 
"Through exploration only can come bonding," Rabia believes.
 
And, so, as a dual religion person, Rabia Baji has accidentally shown how religious suspicion and hostility can be dissolved and how people can overcome their prejudices and fear through understanding and response.
 
Rabia Baji says people do say she looks and talks like them, though she wishes she could be like all of them all the time!


The writer is a freelance journalist

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2582214/A-tale-two-faiths-Could-multiple-religious-identity-answer-understanding-communal-divisions.html#ixzz2wCCM8l3l
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Mukesh Ambani grabbed Waqf land by fraudulent means, govt. told - Ummid.com

Where the Yateems (orphans) have gone when Ambani got hold of their Orphanage and built his palace?


http://www.ummid.com/news/2014/March/16.03.2014/mukesh-ambani-waf-land.html

Mukesh Ambani grabbed Waqf land by fraudulent means, govt. told

Sunday March 16, 2014 3:13 PM , ummid.com Staff Reporter

Mumbai: In a letter dashed to Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde Thursday a local NGO asserted that Reliance Industries Chief Mukesh Ambani had grabbed Waqf land by fraudulent means and urged the minister to initiate a high-level enquiry by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against Ambani and others involved in the case.

[Original photo of BAGHE KAREEM YATEEMKHANA in Mumbai on which Mukesh Ambani has built his dream home]

"Government cannot reject a CBI inquiry on the ground that a probe is being currently conducted under the provisions of Commission of Inquiry Act 2003", President of the NGO Muslim-e-Hind, Ameen Idrisi, said while citing the example of the Adarsh Society scam in which simultaneous probes were conducted by the CBI and the judicial commission set up under the Commission of Inquiry Act.
"In Antilia matter too, CBI should launch FIR against the accused Mukesh Ambani, against the officials of Maharashtra Waqf Board and against the Minister of Waqf from 2003 till date for facilitating the accused Mukesh Ambani to encroach upon a Waqf Property and hatching a conspiracy to grab waqf property by adopting fraud", Idrisi added while addressing a press meet at Mumbai Marathi Patrakar Sangh on Saturday.
"The illegal role of the Charity Commissioner and the trustees should also be investigated by the CBI", he demanded.
"I found that there is a criminality in the said transaction and fraud has been committed by Mukesh Ambani, Office of the Charity Commissioner, Maharashtra Waqf Board and the trustees. All the accused had entered into criminal conspiracy and disposed of the Wqf Property worth more than 200 crores", Idrisi, who was accompanied by his lawyer Ejaz Naqvi, said.
Idrisi in a statement released during the meeting said that the land was owned by the Currimbhoy Ebrahim Khoja Yateemkhana (Orphanage), A Public Charitable Trust. The charitable institution sold the land allocated for the purpose of education of underprivileged Khoja children to Antillia Commercial Private Limited - allleged to be an entity controlled by Mukesh Ambani in July 2002 for 210.5 million (US$3.4 million). The prevailing market value of land at the time was at least Rupees 105 Crore,( 10.5 billion) (US$24 million).
The then Waqf minister Nawab Malik had opposed the land sale and so did the revenue department of the Government of Maharashtra. A stay order was consequently issued on the sale of the land in 2003. Also, in 2003 the Waqf board initially opposed the deal and filed a PIL in the Supreme Court challenging the decision of the trust. The Supreme Court however dismissed the petition and asked the Waqf board to approach the Bombay High court.
"The stay on the deal was subsequently vacated after the Waqf board withdrew its objection on receiving an amount of rupees sixteen lakhs ( 1.6 million) from Antilia Commercial Pvt Ltd - the company specially registered on behalf of Reliance Industries Ltd. to construct and pay charges for constructing the said building Antillia", Ameen Idrisi alleged in the written statement.

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A replay of Nazis in Hitler's Germany hauling Jews for being Jews

A replay of Nazis in Hitler's Germany hauling Jews for being Jews
In Mumbra. a Muslim ghetto suburb of Mumbai, police has carried out a mid-night raid and combing operation in which practically an area's all families, women, children, old people are dragged and abused and loaded in trucks and carried to police station to supposedly check for some suspects in the area. Muslims were targeted and humiliated  just for being Muslims. The way police has treated common civilians in that raid is atrocious and open challenge to Indian constitution's right of citizens to live a life of freedom and dignity. In its monstrosity it was a replay of Nazis in Hitler's Germany hauling Jews for being Jews. Nothing can restore the self-respect and dignity of the victims unless the responsible police and its minions spewing hate cries of terrorists for innocent Muslims, are hauled up for justice. Such public display of communal role inflicted by police cannot be condoned in any civilized society. Government of Maharashtra and the National Congress Party's Home Minister should take the matter seriously lest it may spread the poison in the community and result in further unrest.

Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai

<ghulammuhammed3@gmail.com>

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http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/to-catch-one-chain-snatcher-80-muslims-held-in-mumbai/

The Indian Express

To catch one chain-snatcher, 80 Muslims held in Mumbai

Written by Sukanya Shantha | Mumbra | March 15, 2014 4:09 am

 

In an unprecedented “combing operation” launched by Thane police in the wee hours of March 13, more than 80 Muslim males, including several minors, were detained at the Mumbra police station for over four hours, apparently to nab chain-snatchers.

But those who were detained, all residents of Rashid Compound in the Kausa area of Mumbra, alleged it was done to instigate them and stoke communal feelings. Mumbra is 30 km from Mumbai and 80 per cent of its 9 lakh people are Muslim.

“Police kept abusing us and screamed aatankwadion ko bahar nikalo (terrorists, come out). We stood there dumbfounded, unable to comprehend anything,” said Shamshad Nasir Pawaskar, one of those detained.

Angry residents have filed a complaint, based on which Thane Police Commissioner Vijay Kamble has ordered an inquiry. “The residents have complained of police excesses and highhandedness. But it is too premature to comment,” Kamble told The Indian Express.
Sameena Khan, who lives in Akbar Apartments from where 45 people were detained, said, “I was fast asleep. My husband, who is recuperating from typhoid, was discharged from hospital the same night. The police came screaming at our doors, dragged my husband out, shoved him inside the van and drove away. They did not even let him change his clothes.”

She claimed policemen were waving batons at those who resisted and used bolt-cutters to break into a few houses.

“If they were looking for just two men, why did they need seven vans,” asked Gulam Abbas Irani, 25, an IT consultant, who feels he was detained because of his last name.
“Many of us have lived here for over 20 years. But this incident was one of its kind,” said Farida Shaikh, who was alone with her three children when the police came.

“I kept telling them I am alone and that my husband is in Saudi Arabia. They did not budge. Two women constables stayed outside and men entered the house. I was in my night dress and it was humiliating to have men walk inside the house and search,” she said.

Police claimed they were looking for “two men from Balochistan” who apparently stayed in Mount View building within Rashid compound. “Most of them have criminal cases. They engage in theft and chain-snatching. Two men have been in hiding and are notorious,” said a police officer.

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