![[U.S. Air Force troops patrol downtown Port-au-Prince Monday January 18, 2010. Thousands more U.S. troops will keep order on Haiti's increasingly lawless streets as tens of thousands of survivors wait desperately for aid. REUTERS/Jorge Silva]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sLPeiwhCV12P4xaQLvzX2c4wrmprBcFBEpIyTRLAtpkQYPF2usxvLaAFKt2hUp4y0SLnHA_Pm-n90YtPAz-eC9mstuhQFrSeH8edJ1j1L6IMbXkoc4LHA8rOm-Eve4C0gzsUstEucOkdKa-w=s0-d "us-troops-haiti0118.jpg")
Since the late 1970’s, the United States has ‘greatly advanced’ the state of its earthquake weapons and, according to these reports, now employees devices employing a Tesla Electromagnetic Pulse, Plasma and Sonic technology, along with ‘shockwave bombs’ they have previously been accused by Russia of employing in their war against the Afghan peoples when one of these ‘devices’ was exploded in Afghanistan in March, 2002 triggering a devastating 7.2 magnitude earthquake.
Khurshid backs Islamic banking concept of Kerala | ||
By A. M. Jigeesh in New Delhi | ||
THE CENTRE has offered a helping hand to Kerala in revoking a stay order by the state high court against setting up of an Islamic bank. Noting that the court order could hamper investment opportunities in the country, Union minority affairs minister Salman Khurshid said the Centre would coordinate with the state government in dealing with the issue legally. Speaking at the editors’ conference on social sector issues on Monday, Khurshid backed the concept of Islamic banking. “ A lot of other countries are snatching investment from Islamic countries,” he said. The country is being deprived of such funds for the lack of an Islamic banking system, Khurshid added. He said the high court would be informed of the Centre’s stand on the matter. “ I think the finance ministry will deal with the matter,” he told the gathering. He said, if needed, the banking norms should be amended to comply with the Islamic banking system. Two weeks ago, a division bench of the Kerala High Court had stayed “ all further moves” by the state government- owned Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation ( KSIDC) to set up an Islamic bank in the state. Former union minister Subramanian Swamy had approached the high court complaining that the proposed Islamic bank was against India’s secular credentials and its banking norms. The Kerala government cleared the project after a feasibility study found that Islamic bank was a viable proposition in Kerala. A company was also registered to take the process forward. The share capital of the proposed bank had been fixed at Rs 1,000 crore. According to the Islamic banking concept, the bank will not pay any interest to customers. A Sharia board can decide what sort of investments the bank can make. The bank will also have Sharia- compliant banking products. Profits made out of the investments will be distributed to shareholders. Convener of National Committee on Islamic Banking H. Abdur Raqeeb had met Khurshid last June on the feasibility of interest- free Islamic banking in India. “ Islamic banking will be beneficial for the marginalised and the minorities in terms of microfinance. Major investment from the Gulf countries could also be attracted,” Raqeeb said. He said if London, Singapore, Tokyo and Hong Kong can become “ hub and house of Islamic Finance & Banking”, Mumbai and Kochi can also follow suit. Khurshid also said the Centre preferred a cautious approach on the issue of reservation for minorities. “ Our manifesto is clear on this. We will apply Karnataka- Tamil Nadu model, which says backward among Muslims should get reservation, according to their population,” he said. |
On Sunday, a day after Sewri Sessions Court acquitted him of terror charges, Maulana Ghulam Ilahi Yahya Baksh, 49, walked out of Arthur Road Jail, four years after his arrest in January 2006.
On January 13, 2006, the ATS arrested Baksh based on interrogation of three alleged Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists from Kashmir – Mohammad Ramzan Haji, 64, Khurshid Lone, 35, and Arshad Badru, 31 – and mostly on the basis of intercepted telephone calls between him and Haji. ATS charged Baksh with harbouring terrorists in Haj House and financing terrorist activities. The court on Saturday acquitted Baksh, but convicted the three Kashmiris, sentencing them to seven years imprisonment. They were arrested after being found in possession of electronic timer devices, detonators, a pistol, and switches on January 6, 2006. Sitting calmly in his 200-square-foot Crawford Market house with his wife and three teenaged children, Baksh still draws relief from the outcome and says matter-of-factly, “It is not my job to house musafirs (travellers), as it is done by Haj House’s administration. My job is to only hold prayers.” Of the three men, Baksh says he only knew Haji. “But all I knew was that he traded in apples and that he would attend my prayer sessions. My interaction with him was casual and limited.” But with the ATS arresting Baksh soon after Haji’s interrogation, Baksh vented his anger on him in jail. Baksh said, “I couldn’t control myself as I learnt I was branded a terrorist and jailed because of Haji’s claims to the ATS. On several occasions in jail and in court, I have vented my ire at these three Kashmiris, because I was needlessly dragged into this. However, Haji swore to me that he had not framed me. I don’t know what to believe anymore.” A Std VII dropout from Bengal, Baksh was initially an assistant to the imam at Musafirkhana mosque from 1988, and in 1996 he became imam of Haj House. Though jail came as a rude shock, Baksh’s only solace was that almost all inmates looked upon him with respect. “From gangsters like Abu Salem and Mustafa Dossa to petty criminals, I would be showered with sympathy as they believed an imam like me could not be involved in crime. However, the jail staff would often insult me with terrorist references and treat me badly.” Baksh finds it ironic that just days before each of the four times his bail pleas were rejected, some terrorist attack would happen somewhere in India. “Once it was Malegaon, then the series of blasts across Delhi, Ahmedabad, etc and then of course, 26/11. The prosecutor would then oppose my bail, saying I would pose a threat to the tense situation outside.” Baksh spent his last night in jail with a bitter-sweet feeling. “I was neither happy nor sad, because jail had taught me immense patience. And yet I had lost four years of my life and acquired a notorious tag forever. People will now always say ‘Perhaps he had some role in terrorism, or else he wouldn’t have been jailed for four years’.” |
