http://twocircles.net/2011oct08/islamic_exhibition_dussehra_fair_kota.html

Islamic Exhibition at Dussehra Fair in Kota

Submitted by admin7 on 8 October 2011 - 10:54pm

• Indian Muslim

By TCN News,

Kota (Rajasthan): The National Dussehra Fair in Kota city of Rajasthan started with traditional zeal after burning the statue of Ravana. At the ongoing fair (5th Oct-24th Oct 2011), there is a big exhibition of Islamic books and Multimedia.


There are thousands of books in this exhibition covering different topics related to Islam. It comprises different sections like English, Urdu, Hindi and Arabic. Besides, the holy Quran is available here at least in 10 languages.

The most important part of the exhibition is that organizers display the translations of Quranic verses and Ahadees on the board in different languages, then they invite the present people --Muslims, non-Muslims -- to ask any question about Islam and if any question comes, they answer it in the light of these verses. Besides, non-Muslims buyers of the books are given 10% discount and also Hindi and English translations of the Quran are given to them.

The exhibition opens everyday at 6:00 pm and closes at 1:00 am where more than twenty five volunteers offer their services daily.
The exhibition was inaugurated on 5th Oct by Er. Khursheed Hussain, president, Jamaat-e Islami Hind Rajasthan.

Addressing a gathering on the occasion, Mr. Hussain highlighted the importance of Dawah work. “It is our primary duty to convey the message of Islam to mankind. We should adopt all resources like literature, multimedia and dialogues for this pious purpose,” he said.

The keynote speaker Dr. Mohammed Naeem Falahi said that Allah is the only creator of this universe so all of us should obey His orders. Allah has created us and the people who were before us, he added.

The function was presided over by the renowned personality of Kota, Qazi Anwaar Hussain, Chief Qazi of Kota. He threw light on Surah Al Asr and explained the basic four qualities of a successful person here and hereafter.

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اگرچہ بت ہوں جماعت کی آستینوں میں
تجھے ہے حکم اذاں لا الہٰ الاللہ

The Dussehra Fair is organized by Municipal Corporation of Kota city every year since long just after Dussehra festival and ends before Diwali festival. This year it started on 5th Oct and will end on 24th Oct 2011.

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Modi is anti-Muslim, anti-Dalit...and now anti-Brahmin - By Amaresh Misra

---------- Forwarded message ----------

Modi is anti-Muslim, anti-Dalit...and now anti-Brahmin

                                          By Amaresh Misra

Bizarre developments keep taking place in Gujarat. IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt has been arrested. Previously, on 5 February 2011, the Gujarat government issued a show cause notice to senior IPS officer Rahul Sharma.  

       Why did Sharma suddenly become persona non grata? Sharma, a 1992 batch IPS officer, now posted as DIG Rajkot, was DCP (control room), Ahmedabad, in April 2002. He investigated the violence at Naroda Patiya and Gulberg Society. He made CDs, from AT&T and Cel-Force mobile service provider data.  

These CDs contained phone records of senior ministers, police officers, and members of RSS and VHP during the 2002 riots. They disappeared mysteriously; But Sharma preserved a copy.  

Interestingly, these phone records played a significant part in the arrest and the cancelling of anticipatory bails of Gujarat VHP president Jaideep Patel and minister Maya Kodnani for their role in killing Muslims during 2002 riots. They are important also in the investigation into the brutal killing of Congress ex-MP Ehsan Jafri and 30 others at Gulberg Society. The CDs also provide important pieces of evidence in the Naroda Patiya violence in which 105 Muslims were killed.

Here is a sample of what the CD contains:  

12:20 HRS: Police Inspector KG Erda of Meghani Nagar sends a message to Ahmedabad police control room that a mob of around 10,000 has surrounded Gulberg Society and was pelting stones and also trying to set it on fire. Erda requests for additional forces.

12:38 HRS: A police mobile van stationed near Meghani Nagar sends a message to Ahmedabad police control room that Gulberg Society had been surrounded by a mob of 4,000 to 5,000 people.

14:05 HRS: Joint Commissioner Sector 2, MK Tandon sends a message to police control room that Ehsan Jafri has been surrounded by a mob and additional forces should be dispatched.

14:14 HRS: KG Erda sends another message to Ahmedabad police control room that a mob of 10,000 people was about to set Gulberg Society on fire and ACP, DCP and additional forces be sent immediately.

14:45 HRS: KG Erda sends yet another message that the society had been surrounded from all sides and the mob was about to set it on fire.

15:45 HRS: Tandon sends a message to control room enquiring if there was any incidence of violence at Gulberg Society (by this time the carnage was in full swing).

       All this is mentioned in the SIT report submitted to the Supreme Court. The SIT states explicitly that the Gujarat Government destroyed crucial records and that Modi is “immoral” and “communal”.

The SIT report states that Sanjiv Bhatt, the deputy commissioner intelligence during 2002, admitted off the record that Modi asked government officials to let “Hindus vent their anger” in the 27^th February 2002 meeting. Modi should have been arrested and paraded in Ahmedabad as a criminal for these unconstitutional remarks. On the contrary, after arrest, Bhatt is being treated like a criminal. Mrs Shweta Bhatt, his wife, fears for his life—all this, because he would have gone on record had criminal proceedings been initiated against the Gujarat CM.

 Can things get more, weird than this? Hemant Karkare, the officer who first unmasked the real, RSS face of terrorism in India was killed in mysterious circumstances, possibly by Sangh Parivar terrorists, during 26/11 in Mumbai. He was a Brahmin. Rahul Sharma and Sanjiv Bhatt are also Brahmins. Other persecuted Gujarat officers, like Satish Verma also belong to the upper caste.

 Ideologically, fascism as a phenomenon seeks to re-invent tradition. Both Hitler and Mussolini were upstarts who usurped respectively, the authority of the traditional German and Italian elite. Anti-Semitism was a smokescreen for the larger agenda by these two figures to kill both the ruling and the working classes of their countries.

In a similar manner, anti-Muslim rhetoric is a smokescreen for upstart-fascist Modi to target Dalits, Adivasis and poor on one hand and Brahmins on the other. Remember, RSS and Bania-Marwari-Sindhi leaders of the BJP were never comfortable with Atal Behari Vajpeyi, the man who chided Modi for not following `Rajdharma’ in 2002.

Modi draws most of his support from refugee Punjabis, Parsis, Banias, Marwaris—forces who have money but who resent secretly, Sanatan Dharma Brahmins and their socio-political clout, and who, at the same time, are afraid of Dalits-OBCs-Adivasis one day asking for real socio-economic justice.

Since coming to power, Modi has targeted Sanatani Brahmins systematically. First RBC Kumar, a now retired IPS Brahmin officer, was persecuted. Then Pradeep Sharma, IPS, and Kuldeep Sharma, IAS, were harassed. Hiren Pandya, another Brahmin, was killed in broad daylight by assassins sent by Narendra Modi.

In an unprecedented move, Jagdish Dave, Nanu Vaidya, Pravin Raval, Deepak Bhatt, Rashmikant Trivedi and Hemang Raval—all leading luminaries of the Brahmin Ekta Samaj, an umbrella organization of 84 Gujarati Brahmin communities—have called Modi a tyrant and condemned the arrest of Sanjiv Bhatt. While calling out an all out war against Modi, these figures have welcomed efforts by secular/civil society forces/students to take up cudgels against fascism in Gujarat.  

Indian fascists resent Congress because it is the only party that brings together Brahmins, Dalits and Muslims and tries, despite several mistakes, to further the difficult task of nation building in a humungous, diverse society. Recently, on the occasion of Modi completing ten years of his reign as Gujarat’s CM, the media put out the message that he is invincible. The Brahmin alienation may well start the beginning of the end of the Modi factor by 2012, when elections become due in Gujarat.   

Comments posted on TIMES OF INDIA website over - Q&A Asghar Ali Engineer interview ‘Amongst factors creating communal hatred is doctored history’

Comments posted on TIMES OF INDIA website over - Q&A Asghar Ali Engineer interview ‘Amongst factors creating communal hatred is doctored history’ by TOI staffer Mohammed Wajihuddin:

At grassroots level it is correct that over a long period of time starting with freedom struggle days, the attempt by British colonials to sow seeds of division between 'Hindus' and Muslim had been very successful; though disastrous for the nation. Doctored history dividing 'Hindus' and Muslims starts with the British colonials. At the end, British and Americans sponsored the partition of the country to secure a vital part of the North West India, for their own future strategic planning and thus giving the two nation theory their own stamp of legitimacy.

Unfortunately, after independence the divide translated into a competition for power to rule the country and Congress with strong nationalist and jingoist elements masquerading as secular, laid down a long term covert policy to marginalize and demonize Indian Muslims. Within days, a secret circular by Home Ministry was successful in 'ethnic cleansing' of Muslims from all security establishments.

That is as far as institutionalized state policy is concerned. At the same time, Congress as a political party had another well-honed policy to corral Muslim voters and form a Muslim vote bank, on which, in fact, depended its continued hegemony on power.

The tactic was to keep Muslims destabilized and demoralized by organizing communal riots. Today, when Modi used the same tactic to win a land slide victory in Gujarat, by shedding Muslim blood, Congress is making a big hue and cry. In fact, Congress has been playing the same dirty game of Muslim genocide for all of the 65 years of India's independence.

People like Engineer were too coy and intimidated by the State, in those pre-TEHELKA days, to expose live criminal links of the jugalbandi between state and political parties, to come out with facts. Dr. Bill Brass, an American scholar doing research work in Aligarh, was the first person to openly put the blame of election time conspiracies between politicians and state security agencies, including local police, to have organized hundreds of thousands of communal riots throughout Congress rule. Naturally Hindutva cadre joined hands in this 'sacred' duty.

Unfortunately, academics with their esoteric theories about the causes have unwittingly diverted attention from the entire grass-root logistic of organizing communal riots and reaping electoral windfalls.

Unless and until the election is cleansed and Election Commissioner instantly cancels scheduled elections, as soon as even of a communal riot is reported in any area, by postponement till situation is normalized, exploitation of communal rioting for electoral gains will continue.

In the wake of coming assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, organized communal riots are sprouting up and had hit so many towns and villages. Election Commission should summarily cancel any election in these localities for up to a year so that the motivation for organizing communal riots is neutralized.

Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai

ghulammuhammed3@gmail.com

PS. Six hours after the comments remaining unpublished in TOI, I am circulating my comments after some edition and formatting.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/opinion/edit-page/Amongst-factors-creating-communal-hatred-is-doctored-history/articleshow/10258978.cms

Edit Page

Q&A

'Amongst factors creating communal hatred is doctored history'

Mohammed Wajihuddin | Oct 7, 2011, 12.13AM IST

Anti-communalism crusader, Dawoodi Bohra reformer and liberal Islamic scholar Asghar Ali Engineer has crossed swords with many within the Muslim community - and outside it. Having analysed and opposed communalism from the 1960s onwards, Engineer spoke with Mohammed Wajihuddin on factors still driving divisiveness:

You have investigated communalism extensively - why aren't we able to get rid of this problem?

I first investigated the 1961 Jabalpur riotsa¦as an engineering student at Indore. I just couldn't understand why communities who lived cheek-by-jowl would kill each other. My investigations into many subsequent riots confirmed my belief that it is politics, not religion, which causes communal carnage. Amongst many factors that help in creating communal hatred is the doctored history we teach in our schools.

At seminars, i often ask my audience if they have heard of Aurangzeb. Everyone says yes. But when i ask if they have heard of Dara Shikoh, very few say they have. We remember Aurangzeb because he has been presented as a villain - but we have forgotten his brother Dara Shikoh, who championed Hindu-Muslim unity by translating Hindu scriptures into Persian. He also penned a classic called Majma-ul-Bahrain (co-mingling of the rivers). We need to teach our children correct history.

Speaking of history, today's youth doesn't carry the baggage of Partition or communal riots. Do you see hope there?

A section of children who attend elite schools are certainly free from much of the prejudice against people of other faiths. However, a vast majority who attend government-run schools or schools run by communal organisations are imparted skewed knowledge and understandings of social and historical values.

Can the state end communal violence?

The state can do a lot - unfortunately, it has continuously failed in its duty to protect vulnerable sections during riots and punish the guilty post-communal carnagea¦I strongly believe no communal riots can last beyond 24 hours if the state government sincerely tackles it. We have the examples of Lalu Prasad as chief minister of Bihar in the 1990s and the Left Front governments in West Bengal. They successfully prevented communal riots when most of India was singed by these.

On the contrary, Narendra Modi looked the other way when Gujarat burnt in 2002.

Today, Modi appears to have softened his attitude towards Muslims, adopting a more secular stance. Will the community forgive him?

Modi's reconciliation attempt doesn't seem to be genuine. Slogans of Allah-o-Akbar at his Sadbhavna fast shouldn't be construed as massive Muslim support to him. The fact that he refused a skullcap offered by an imam there shows that he doesn't want to antagonise his hardcore Hindutva base. Unless he says sorry, secularists and Muslims will not forgive him.

Please tell us about your struggle within your own community.

My struggle has been two-pronged - one is within my Dawoodi Bohra community and the other is for reforms and change in understanding Islam. The reformist movement in Dawoodi Bohras has met limited success, but we have not given up. I have fought against narrow interpretations of Quranic verses and the Hadiths. I have always maintained that Islam should be understood in a modern context, not with a prism formulated by medieval scholars.

I was among the few scholars who backed the Supreme Court verdict in the Shah Bano case. However, political opportunism defeated our efforts and the Rajiv Gandhi-led Congress government overruled the landmark verdict through an Act in Parliament. It was a gross injustice - which also led to the rise of Hindu fundamentalism in India.

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http://www.indianexpress.com/news/two-attempts-to-incite-riots-the-first-one-failed-but-the-second-did-not/856856/

Fri, 7 Oct 2011

Two attempts to incite riots, the first one failed but the second did not

Deepu Sebastian Edmond  

Tags : Dussehra, Mahatma Gandhi ground, the riots in Rudrapur, Kumaon Range  

Posted: Fri Oct 07 2011, 02:10 hrs Rudrapur:

Police say about 100 vehicles were burnt. (IE photo: Praveen Khanna)

Four days after the riots that killed four in Rudrapur, the exodus hasn’t stopped. Over the six hours during which curfew was relaxed on Wednesday and Thursday, hundreds left the town.


Just before the curfew was lifted on Thursday evening, the town celebrated Dussehra. The event was more ritualistic than celebratory. The three effigies were burnt down, and the Mahatma Gandhi ground emptied in a matter of minutes.


There is no history of communal tension, it’s for the first time that the Hindus and Muslims who have been living together in this town in Uttarakhand’s Udham Singh Nagar district has ever clashed. It happened because someone planned to create a riot.


Abdul Rahman, Sher Singh Yadav, Jacky and Afsal were killed in the crossfire when the two groups clashed outside the Kotwali of Rudrapur on Sunday morning. While the first two were residents of the town, Jacky was from Rampur and Afsal hailed from Pilibhit.


Police maintain that the deaths were caused by the two groups firing at each other. “Their injuries were consistent with that of country-made weapons: the 12-bore and the .315 rifle,” said Inspector General of Police (Kumaon Range), R.S. Meena. He added that the police had only used rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the crowd.

Curfew was imposed in the town on Sunday afternoon, only to be relaxed for two hours on Wednesday, and between 2 pm and 6 pm on Thursday.

According to police sources, the first attempt to breach peace was made on the night of September 28. “Those who came to the Shani temple to offer puja on the morning of September 29 saw a Quran wrapped in a red-coloured cloth.

The book was kept under the tree next to the idol. It was assumed that the cloth had been dipped in blood,” said Rajesh Kumar, a resident of the Badhaipura locality in Rudrapur, where the temple is situated.

When it came to trying to incite, the attempt was a masterstroke-the brains behind it had offended both the Hindus as well as the Muslims.

“The Mohammedans were angry, but we reasoned that we were angry too. Those behind the act had, after all, desecrated a Hindu temple,” said Kumar. After police intervened and promised to investigate the matter, both communities let the matter rest.

Muslims are a minority in Badhaipura, which mostly accommodates migrant labourers who work in the SIDCUL (State Infrastructure and Industrial Development Corporation of Uttarakhand Ltd.) Industrial Estate in the adjoining Pantnagar district. The temple straddles an area that has only two Muslim houses and another, where the rest of the Muslims in the colony live.

While the first attempt to incite violence failed, the second one did not. “On the morning of October 2, someone passing next to the temple found a green-coloured polythene bag that contained bits of paper in the premises.

There was Arabic lettering on the paper, and it was mixed with some kind of meat,” said Kumar. Police sources confirmed it and said that they were yet to ascertain what kind of meat it was.

A crowd of about 150 Muslims approached the Kotwali at around 6.30 in the morning, complaining about the incident. They were dispersed, but soon, a larger crowd of around 800 returned. The mob soon grew out of control, and began attacking police and vehicles.

A total of 38 police and district administration officials were injured in the incident. “I reached around 7.25. The second group was already there when I reached. I remember trying to control to crowd, but suddenly, someone hit me from behind,” said Sub Divisional Magistrate B.S. Budiyal, who sustained injuries to the head and hand. He is back on duty, wearing a baseball cap that only partially covers his large bandage.

Soon, a mob comprising Hindus attacked from the other side, and the situation spiralled out of control. According to the police, more than 30 civilians were injured, 100 vehicles were put to fire and about 100 shops were destroyed in the ensuing violence, which engulfed the town till 12.30 in the afternoon. Curfew was declared in the afternoon.

The town still betrays a sense of how it observed this Gandhi Jayanti: the Delhi-Nainital Highway, where almost all the action took place, is pockmarked with charred tar, where vehicles were burnt. Vehicles, stripped to their metal frames, line the road, which incidentally leads to the TATA Motors plant from where the first Nano rolled out. A large party of policemen and Rapid Action Force guard the road in front of the Paharganj locality, where two thrashed buildings stand defiantly, refusing to collapse.

Chand Babu, a rickshaw-puller, was inside his one-room shack by the highway with his wife and four children when the mob came. “It was 10 in the morning on Sunday. I heard a loud noise and went out. They had already poured petrol and had lit the fire. The front of my house was burning. I shouted to my wife to take the kids out, and save whatever we had inside. Then, I tried to extinguish the fire with a bucketful of water. However, they stoned me, and threatened to pour petrol on me too,” he said.

Babu has since sent his wife and children to a relative’s house in Rampur, and spends his day sorting out the remains of the two metal trunks he salvaged from his house. “They knew I was a Muslim. They knew my neighbour Naeem Ahmad is a Muslim; so they thrashed his house too,” he said.

Sanjay Kumar Valmiki and his family of eight were among those who joined the procession of people that went towards Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur, which borders Rudrapur. “We hope to get buses from Rampur and reach Bareilly, which is my hometown. If we do not get a bus from there, well, we will keep walking,” he said.

Kumar lives in Rudrapur’s Rampura on rent, and is a driver. “Most of my acquaintances left yesterday. I waited, hoping there would be some respite. After all, I have no choice but to come back. I will be back in a day or two after dropping my family off,” he said.
The police have registered two First Information Reports relating to the incident. The first, relating to incitement and hurting religious sentiments, was filed on the September 29 incident against unnamed people.

The FIR relating to the riot names 37 - of whom 24 have been arrested - and about 4,000 unnamed people. In all, there have been 110 arrests: the rest have been picked up for breach of peace during the period of curfew.

The state government took the view that the October 2 incident could have been averted if the district administration had acted in earnest on September 29, and replaced the IG, Deputy Inspector General and District Magistrate. Meena, Abhinav Kumar and P.S. Jangpangi, respectively, have taken charge since.

An inquiry into the matter will be conducted by Ajay Nabiyal, Commissioner of Garwal,who has been asked to submit his report by October 11.

A Peace Committee meeting was called by the district administration on Thursday afternoon, which was attended by community leaders and public. It was decided to take out a peace rally soon. The officials also met with Muslim leaders separately, and assured them that they would be allowed to hold the Friday prayers without hindrance.

"We will relax the curfew gradually, but will wait at least till the 11th before we lift it completely," said IG Meena.
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Pakistan, a failed state, has suddenly acquired all the cards in the Great Game - By Ghulam Muhammed

Thursday, October 06, 2011

Pakistan, a failed state, has suddenly acquired all the cards in the Great Game

If one has to find the last straw that broke the camel’s back, we might turn up with several straws that finally forced Pakistan’s ‘establishment’ to call it a day. World was aghast when Pakistan’s demure doll of a foreign minister came out with a challenging statement that had no parallel in the history of Pakistan, since its creation by British and US to cater to their strategic and military needs in one of the world’s most strategic regions. And lo and behold, when the chips were in place, the world could make out that Hina Khar was not spouting an empty threat. Arrogant America was still not willing to concede that its game is up in the region and it can no longer dictate to Pakistan. When US Military Chief Mike Millen blamed Pakistan’s ISI to be in cahoots with terrorists that lay siege to US embassy in Kabul and demanded that Pakistan should destroy Haqqani Talibans; Pakistan refused US demands for the first time and that too in public. There never such a humiliating moment for the arrogant Americans to be so boldly defied by their supposedly hired mercenary state.

Pakistan wasted no time in getting China and Saudi Arabia into the loop, as it could easily make out the final break with US is more or less scripted. When possibly for the first time, Pak planners took stock of their options and alternatives, they suddenly found they do have leverages that could work in favor of a more robust, more independent foreign policy. Their equations with US, China, India and Afghanistan were all working in their favor and they found a ray of hope that once out of America’s war games, they can build up a viable economy for their people, without having to be in the pay of America’s military warlords and remain shackled to a violent and warring mode of living that was forced on them.

America has been making a big and continuous song and dance about 20 billion dollars aid to Pakistan. The other day Imran Khan on BBC Hard Talk, countered that according to Pakistan analysts, Pakistan has suffered a loss of 60 billion dollars in missed opportunities during this period.

America has suffered a big defeat in Afghanistan and its 140,000 troops are now hostage to not only Taliban but even Pakistan. A few days of stoppage of supplies through Pakistan to Afghanistan, had given a taste of what US can expect if it tries to bully Pakistan. The Pakistan establishment does not have to make any move.

Anti-Americanism is so deep-rooted in Pakistan, that it is the people that would make life difficult for Americans, if they behave as if they are still dealing with a paid servant of a country of 150 million people.

America’s pitch for democracy appears hollow when it routinely maneuvers its stooges in the ruling position and tries to run the victimized country as a department of its State Department. It has put Karzai in the hot seat and had invested a lot to give Afghanistan a semblance of a ‘modern’ state. It however has not been successful in destroying the spirit of freedom and independence from Afghanistan’s real power that will inevitably repeat the same civil war scenario that Afghanistan witnessed earlier on American pull-out. It is wishful of US planner to think otherwise. The historical forces work in Afghanistan like a force of gravity. Sooner or later, water will find its level. America should have tried old British style diplomacy rather than brute forces to come to terms with people of Afghan. Threats, ultimatums, invasion, bombings and droning, will hardly turn the tide in favor of America or NATO. Already analysts in the US are increasing in numbers openly admitting that America’s war on Iraq and Afghanistan has been unnecessary and hugely cost-ineffective. Its time US realizes, discretion is better part of valor.

India’s haste in receiving Karzai and signing in strategic agreements with a stooge regime that can hardly last for any length of time, is one of the compulsion of India’s action/reaction foreign policy. There are signs that India has developed some spine and had been able to chart an independent line of action, resisting US pressures at several levels. However, India should have remained neutral in Afghanistan, whatever pressure US would have brought in. It is laudable that US was not able to force or convince India to send troops into Afghanistan and some US analysts are holding India on that count. In fact, gone were the colonial days, when a million Indians fought in First World War to save the King/Queen. India, a free country, has no need to fight other’s wars on any pretext. Even now, India should have waited for another decade to see the final denouncement of the US/Afghanistan imbroglio, before making itself available to take part in any role offered by a settled government in Afghanistan within the ambit of SAARC neighborhood references. India should have avoided the kind of involvement that Indian forces in Sri Lanka suffered and that is a naturally corollary of India’s current engagement with Karzai regime.

As the prime country in the subcontinent, India should boldly come out with a peace plan for the entire region, without any tutelage from the US that has designs in the interest of its own people and country. India should take lead in bringing all SAARC countries together to fashion a new future of economic development through regional integration. It should keep US out of any such plans, as US hardly bothers to even take recognizance of other countries’ special interest in war and peace. It is difficult for India to reform the American hotheads; but it quite possible and essential for India to start presenting its own interest and interest of its people, before granting any quarters to US and its allies, especially when they bring in spurious and over exaggerated self-serving subject of global security.

Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai

<ghulammuhammed3@gmail.com>

Coalition Against Genocide letter demands action over the arrest of whistle-blower cop Sanjiv Bhatt

Coalition Against Genocide letter demands action over the arrest of whistle-blower cop Sanjiv Bhatt Wednesday, October 5th, 2011

Recipients: The Honorable President of India, Smt. Pratibha Devsingh Patil The Honorable Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh The Honorable Chief Justice of India, Justice S. H. Kapadia Dear Honorable Sir/Madam The Coalition Against Genocide (CAG) seeks your urgent intervention in the case of the arrest of Mr. Sanjiv Bhatt, a distinguished IPS Officer from Gujarat, whose main crime has been to speak truth about the 2002 violence in Gujarat. As incumbents of the three highest offices of the Indian State, we cannot but turn to you at this moment of crisis. The Coalition Against Genocide is an advocacy coalition that was created in the wake of the Gujarat carnage of 2002 with the single purpose of working to bring the perpetrators of the genocide and other communal crimes to justice. We stand steadfast behind Mr. Bhatt and are committed to launching an international campaign on his behalf in the absence of corrective action by the Central Government to ensure his safety, and to bring an end to this vengeful retaliation against him. Without reiterating the well known facts to the case, we do want to bring to your notice: The increasing misuse of the law to harass those on the side of truth has reached crisis proportions in India. Over the last decade the number of whistleblowers who have been put under extreme duress through the misuse of the law against them is a matter of much concern. Mr. Bhatt's arrest is simply the most recent case, and given the truth at stake, the most egregious one. Such treatment of whistleblowers (several of whom have been killed) positions India as a gross violator of human rights from an international human rights standpoint. In the case of Mr. Bhatt we also wish to state that he had already moved the Supreme Court on the same FIR and therefore Modi  government's intervention amounts to an interference with judicial process and makes all the more visible its desperation and vindictive attitude. We respectfully urge you to act without delay. CAG has also decided to move forward, beginning Monday, Oct 10th, with an international human rights campaign unless the matter is seized on by the highest offices of the state. While we are bound by our ethics to stand on the side of truth and justice we sincerely hope that we will not need to launch such a campaign.    Sincerely AligarhMuslimUniversity Alumni Association  of Northern California (AMUAA-CA) Alliance for Secular and Democratic South Asia (ASDSA) Alliance of South Asians Taking Action (ASATA) American Minority Physicians of Indian Origin (AMPI) Association of Indian Muslims of America (AIM) Association of South Asian Progressives (ASAP) Campaign to Stop Funding Hate (CSFH) Chippa Foundation of America Coalition for Secular and Democratic India (CSDI) Dharma Megha Forum of Inquilabi Leftists (FOIL) Friends of South Asia (FOSA) Global Movements/Urban Struggles India Foundation Indian American Association (IAA) Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) Indian Minorities Advocacy Network (IMAN) Indian Muslim Education Foundation of North America (IMEFNA) Indian Muslim Relief & Charities (IMRC) International Service Society International South Asia Forum (INSAF) Muslim Peace Coalition-USA Muslim Youth Awareness Alliance (MYAA) NRIs for Secular and Harmonious India ( NRI -SAHI) San Jose Peace and JusticeCenter Sikh American Heritage Organization (SAHO) South Asia Solidarity Initiative (SASI) South Asian Magazine for Action and Reflection ( SAMAR ) South Asian Progressive Action Collective (SAPAC) Supporters of Human Rights in India (SHRI) The Center for Conflict Studies (CCS) VaishnavaCenter for Enlightenment Vedanta Society of East Lansing Washington Watch Youth Solidarity Summer (YSS)

RELATED LINKS:     DNA: Many voices rise for Sanjiv Bhatt http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_many-voices-rise-for-sanjiv-bhatt_1594733 Deccan Chronicle: IPS officer's arrest raises questions  http://www.deccanchronicle.com/editorial/dc-comment/ips-officer%E2%80%99s-arrest-raises-questions-794 DNA: No question of compromise with criminals, says Sanjiv Bhatt http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_no-question-of-compromise-with-criminals-says-sanjiv-bhatt_1595209 THE TIMES OF INDIA: Hundreds protest cop's arrest http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-10-04/ahmedabad/30242034_1_ips-officer-sanjiv-bhatt-hundreds-protest-activists   CONTACT: Biju Mathew Tel: (917) 232-8437 Email: biju2u@gmail.com (East Coast, USA) Dr. Hyder Khan Tel: (612) 889-7334 Email: hydermkhan@yahoo.com (Mid West, USA) Girish Agrawal Tel: (408) 398-4885 Email: lawgir@gmail.com (West Coast, USA)

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My Tweets of today: Wednesday, October 05, 2011

GhulamMuhammed Ghulam Muhammed

Revival of old COLD WAR threatened by the UN SC veto by Russia and China, over US sponsored resolution to impose sanctions on Syria.

44 minutes ago Favorite Reply Delete

GhulamMuhammed Ghulam Muhammed

West shud blame itself for playing fast one on Russia & China, getting the Libyan US resolution passed on false pretexts recolonizing Libya

GhulamMuhammed Ghulam Muhammed

Now that both Russia & China got the taste of power vetoing US sponsored resolutions, US will find itself in real soup when railroading UNSC

39 minutes ago Favorite Reply Delete

A NEW DEAL FOR INDIAN MUSLIMS By Ghulam Muhammed

A NEW DEAL FOR INDIAN MUSLIMS

India is at the threshold of a New Deal for 200 million Muslims of India, at the behest of the world's super power, the USA. Signs are unmistakable that the initiative has been forced on India by the US, the world's most experienced and effective regime changer. Obsessed by the uncontrolled spread of Al-Qaeda's revengeful logic in Muslim world and Muslims around the globe, Obama and Clinton are in high-gear to see that Indian Muslims do not catch the bug; especially due to India's institutionalized persecution of and demonetization of their 15% Muslim population, which can hardly be managed to be immunized from world movements unless an organized effort is made to pacify them. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's strong advice to Police officials is certainly part of the campaign. Even Modi's change of face is all openly managed to neutralize any future possibility of the disgruntled Muslim victims of the BJP/RSS century long demonization of Indian Muslims, being reduced to manageable proportions. Earlier, Home Minister P. Chidambaram's management of media reaction to Mumbai blast had the signs of realization that automatic demonization of Muslim in media is counter-productive. Visible courting of different groups within Indian Muslim community, in the best traditions of 'divide and rule' strategies, too is not forgotten by the US. It is unthinkable that a US consulate would organize an exhibition on the lives of US Muslims in the pristine boundaries of Haji Ali Dargah in Mumbai. US authorities have done their home work on Who’s Who in Muslim India --- just as P. Narasimharao had done in the aftermath of Babri Masjid demolition and the alienation of Muslims from Congress. In the coming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, rumors are afloat that BJP is courting UP Muslims with the bait of a Muslim Chief Minister's prize to 'appease' and entice Muslims into their fold.

It is a wake-up call for the Grand Old Party's deeply entrenched Brahmins to move faster than they are ever used to, if they are not to be sacrificed at the altar of America's regime change spree.

It is unfortunate that changes in Indian polity has to wait for outsiders to force the oligarchs to fully countenance the contours of their anti-Muslim cancer spreading and poisoning India that is poised for a great economic upsurge. However, the speed with which this new peace moves are being implanted, shows how superficial the veneer of anti-Muslim hatred is and how that could be so easily managed, if there is the political will. Even Anna Hazare, who has been accused by some Muslim organizations as being silent on Muslim persecution, has raised his voice against Narendra Modi's farce without bringing in a committed change of heart as is a must if India has to move forward. Though Indian establishment was least bothered about any fate that the community suffered, either physically in communal riots, economically when their hard-earned properties were torched, politically, when their sizable voting strength was collected by the ruling Congress as war-time booty, socially when they are only visible in criminal or accident lists, the priorities are being forced. As the far-reaching effects of globalization and internationalization are knocking at the doors of India Inc., it is being realized that you cannot keep a 200-million community in a pressure cooker, without facing the danger of a blow-out. Big changes could get unleashed unless the political class gets its house in order and keep their looting instincts for later times and harmonize its acts with the emerging trends of the world.

The long suffering Indian Muslim would readily settle with a fair deal.

Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai
<ghulammuhammed3@gmail.com>
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THE CHANGE IN PAID MEDIA TOO IS WORTH NOTICING!

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/And-I-am-not-a-terrorist/articleshow/10023637.cms

'And I am not a terrorist…'

Mohammed Wajihuddin, TNN | Sep 18, 2011,
Among the blizzard of reactions to the September 7 bomb blasts in Delhi, the one allegedly aired in a classroom in Jamia Millia Islamia was truly shocking. On that day, P K Basu, an honorary management professor, parroted the anti-Islamic rhetoric of the West, declaring to his class that Islam "sanctioned" violence. Basu, who later denied the charges, has since been banished from Jamia.

The professor did it openly but the scenario is not uncommon. After every blast, Muslims face a fresh wave of hate-mongering, taunts and vilification. In Mumbai too, the numerous terror attacks have forced the community to reconcile to the fact that Muslims must carry the albatross of being "sympathisers" of terrorists, if not actual terrorists themselves.

A few days after Kasab's terror attack on Mumbai, a Muslim journalist visited a an event in an art gallery in South Mumbai. Looking at the journo's card, the manager remarked, "Terrorists are not allowed." Sensing the pain he had caused, he quickly added, "I was joking. Please come in." "That was a cruel joke I will never forget," recalls the scribe.

Mohammed Altaf, who works with a multinational company, saw the attitude of his colleagues change after the July 13 bomb blasts in Mumbai. "A co-worker told me. 'Yeh sab tum logon ki wajah se hota hai (All this is happening because of you people),' " he says ruefully. Another Muslim had to endure an entire train journey listening to an angry co-passenger say that Hindu youngsters would have to "keep pistols to deal with these Pakistanis" (read Muslims).

"Muslims undeniably carry the guilt that Muslim terrorists are wreaking suffering on innocents," says Salim Alware, convener of the Federation of Muslim NGOs in Maharashtra. "Even if the involvement of Muslim terrorists is not proved, the impression is that Islamic terrorists are behind all blasts." The Federation strongly condemned the September 7 Delhi blasts through a press conference and keeps a banner saying 'We condemn the bomb blasts' always at hand.

The need to repeatedly condemn every act of terrorism shows the pit of fear that Muslims have fallen into: the fear of being maligned and framed. The practice began after the Mumbai train blasts of July 2006 with a big conference being held at KC College. Thereafter, Muslim clerics, especially those belonging to Jamiatul Ulema-e-Hind, held a series of anti-terrorism conferences. Exactly a year after the terrorist attacks on the Taj and Trident, an international conference against terrorism was held at the Taj. Even Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband sounded a fatwa against terrorism.

Today it has become a ritual to hold a conference against terrorism immediately after every attack. "Take the speeches made on Ganpati visarjan day at the podium created near Nagpada junction to welcome Ganesh bhakts," says Maulana Mustaqeem Azmi, president of Jamiatul Ulema-e-Hind (Maharashtra). "Hindu speakers invariably talked of Bappa's blessings and raised slogans like 'Ganpati bappa moraya'. But almost all Muslim speakers said they wanted the culprits of the Delhi high court bomb blasts hanged outside Parliament House. This betrays the fear in the Muslim psyche."

Azmi gives his own example. "A few months ago, I was going from Nagpada to Haj House," he recalls. "It was raining heavily and I saw a young man with a briefcase standing near the JJ Hospital junction. When he put out a hand, I stopped but apologised that I couldn't give him a ride because I didn't know him." The story of Ghulam Yahya, the imam of Haj House who was accused of sheltering terror suspects a few years ago, was at the back of Azmi's mind. "What if the youth was a suspect and I got framed too for sheltering him even if just for a few minutes?" he asks.

The antennae of anti-Muslim folk also get activated after terror episodes and vitriol is spewed from different platforms. Janata Dal president Subramanian Swamy's poisonous piece in a national daily after the July 13 blasts in Mumbai titled 'How to wipe out Islamic terror' declared, "The Muslims of India can join us (in the fight against terrorism) if they genuinely feel for the Hindus. That they do I will not believe unless they acknowledge with pride that though they may be Muslims, their ancestors were Hindus."

"It was an open humiliation of Muslims and an attempt to create discord among communities. Yet the police ignored it," protests former vice-chairman of Maharashtra state minorities' commission Abraham Mathai, who petitioned the high court after the police refused to lodge a complaint. Little wonder, therefore, that most Muslims now dread their own shadow and feel the need to reiterate their patriotism at every opportunity.