AMERICA’S FUTURE BELONGS TO ISLAM:PAUL L. WILLIAMS, PHD

http://www.ruthfullyyours.com/2013/02/07/americas-future-belongs-to-islampaul-l-williams-phd/

AMERICA’S FUTURE BELONGS TO ISLAM:PAUL L. WILLIAMS, PHD

By Ruth King on February 7th, 2013

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/americas-future-belongs-to-islam?f=must_reads
(author of Crescent Moon Rising)

Islam, according to newly released data from the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies, is now the fastest growing religion in America, verifying President Barack Obama’s claim that the United States is “no longer a Judeo-Christian country.”

How many Muslims now live within the country remains anyone’s guess, since the U.S. Census Bureau neglects to collect data on religious identification. A 2008 study by Cornell University projected that the number of Muslims in America had climbed from 1.6 million in 1995 to 7 million.[i] A U.S. News and World Report survey, which was conducted at the same time, placed the figure at 5 million,[ii] while the Pew Research Center set the number at 2.35 million.

But Pew researchers admit that their survey was not thorough since it neglected to take into account immigrant and poor black Muslims.[iii] What’s more, these researchers only contacted Americans with telephone landlines and failed to take into account the fact that nearly 50% of U.S. residents and age 18-35 and the nearly 100% of the illegal immigrants who communicate exclusively by cell phones.[iv]

Muslim organizations, such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), supported the Cornell University projection of 7 million – - based on mosque attendance.[v]

In any case, all demographers agree that throughout the coming decades, the faith of the Prophet Mohammed will continue to impact and transform all aspects of American life: social, political, and economic. They further maintain that, save for a cataclysmic sea-change in population trends, Islam by 2050 will emerge as the nation’s dominant religion.

Such an assertion may seem hyperbolic, save for these findings:

• The US fertility rate is now below 2.1 per woman, meaning Americans are no longer giving birth to enough children to keep the population from dwindling.[vi] But this statistic does not hold true for the average Muslim American woman who displays a robust fertility rate of 2.8.[vii]
• Muslims continue to pour into the country to occupy positions vacated by aging Americans as physicians, engineers, and scientists. Others arrive here to perform tasks that American workers are unwilling to perform in food processing plants, agricultural facilities, and telecommunications. In addition to the Muslims who come here with employment visas, thousands more arrive with student visas to enroll in colleges throughout the country. Still others arrive with “diversity” visas to enrich America’s racial composition. In 1992, nearly 50,000 Muslims arrived in the US and received permanent residency status. In 2009, that number soared to 115,000.[viii] In truth, no one knows for certain how many Muslims immigrants are presently living in the country. A GEO report released to the press released by Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman (ID-CT) and Ranking Member Susan Collins (R-ME) show that half of the 12 million US illegal immigrants have entered the country legally but have overstayed their visas. Many of the over-stays are from Islamic countries. Five of the 9/11 hijackers overstayed their visas, and GAO found that 36 of the roughly 400 people convicted of terrorism-related charges since September 2001 had overstayed their visas.>[ix]
• In addition to the legal and illegal Muslim immigrants, 80,000 refugees enter this country under resettlement programs. Nearly, 75,000 come from Islamic countries.[x]
• As the now defunct Christian Church militant, America is witnessing the mosque militant. Muslims, unlike main-line denominational Christians, are fervent in their beliefs and are eager to spread the faith. Islam, at present, is the most rapidly growing religion in the country with outreach programs on college campuses, in prisons, and within the military.[xi]
• Islam provides an antithesis to secular America. It offers a return to the country’s “traditional values” with a vengeance. The vast majority of US Muslims oppose abortion and same-sex marriage. They call for a curtailment of women’s rights and a return to “law and order” (as mandated by sharia). They are enterprising, hard working, and deeply devoted to their families.[xii]
• Unlike America’s political leaders, Muslims do not recognize the legitimacy of all faiths. Their religion, according to Bernard Lewis, divides the world into two: the House of Islam (dar al-Islam), where Muslims rule and the law of Islam prevails, and the House of War (dar al Harb), comprising the rest of the world. “Between these two,” Lewis writes, “there is a morally necessary, legally and religiously obligatory state of war, until the final triumph of Islam over unbelief.”[xiii] For this reason, Muslims are unlikely to relinquish the cherished claims of their tradition before the prevailing Zeitgeist.

The belief that America could be transformed into an Islamic state was first expressed by a small group Muslim missionaries in 1922, who declared to a gathering of disgruntled city blacks in Syracuse, New York: “Our plan is: we are going to conquer America.”[xiv] The audacity of this remark provoked the following commentary in the Syracuse Sunday Herald:

To the millions of American Christians who have so long looked eagerly forward to the time the cross shall be supreme in every land and the people of the whole world shall have become the followers Christ, the plan to win this continent to the path of the “infidel Turk” will seem a thing unbelievable. But there is no doubt about its being pressed with all the fanatical zeal for which the Mohammedans are noted.[xv]

Ninety years later, the remarks made by the early Islamic missionaries no longer seem audacious but prophetic. The transformation of America into an Islamic nation, Muslim scholars say, is a matter of destiny. It is kismet (quisma). The words of the country’s future, such scholars contend, have been written – - and these words no mortal man may alter or erase.

---

[i] “Michigan Has Largest U.S. Muslim Population,” Psychiatric News, The American Society of Psychiatrists, Vol. 40, Number 2, January 21, 2005.
[ii] Susan Headden, “Understanding Islam,” U.S. News and World Report, April 7, 2008.
[iii] Paul M. Barrett, American Islam: The Struggle for the Soul of a Religion (New York: Faraar, Straus and Giroux, 2008), pp. 8-9.
[iv] Kathleen Parker, “Pew Study of U.S. Muslims Isn’t ‘Largely’ Reassuring,” The Scranton Times-Tribune, February 28, 2008.
[v] http://www.cair.com/Portals/0/pdf/The_Mosque_in_America_A_National_Portal,pdf The most rigorous estimate was from the Mosque Study Project 2000 (Bagby, Perl, and Froehle, 2001) which combined seven lists of mosques, eliminated duplicates, and attempted to verify the existence of each place. This generated a final list of 1209 mosques in 2000. The researchers then drew a sample of 631 and were successful in obtaining information about 416 of the mosques. They found that 340 adults and children regularly participated in the average mosque, and that 1629 were “associated in any way with the religious life of the mosque.” This converts to a national estimate of 1,969,000 mosque-associated Muslims nationally. The study supports the projection of 6 to 7 million Muslims in the U.S. by assuming that for every Muslim associated with a mosque, three remain without association.
[vi] Rob Stein, “U.S. Birth Rate Falls Again: A Possible Effect of Economic Downturn,” Washington Post, August 27, 2010.
[vii] “A Demographic Portrait of American Muslims,” Pew Research Center, Auguhttp://www.people-press.org/2011/08/30/section-1-a-demographic-portrait-of-muslim-americans/
[viii] Ibid.
[ix] Jim Kouri, “Almost Half of Illegal Aliens Entered U.S. Legally, But Overstayed Visas, Senators Say,” Family Security Matters, May 20, 2011, http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.9562/pub_detail.asp
[x] “Presidential Memorandum – - Refugee Admissions,” The White House, Press Release, October 8, 2010, http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/10/08/presidential-memorandum-refugee-admissions
[xi] “The Future of the Global Muslim Population,” Pew Research Center, January 27, 2011, http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1872/muslim-population-projections-worldwide-fast-growth
[xii] “A Demographic Portrait of American Muslims.”
[xiii] Bernard Lewis, The Political Language of Islam (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1988), p. 73.
[xiv] Daniel Pipes, Militant Islam Reaches America (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2003), p. 113.
[xv] Ibid.

FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor Paul L. Williams is the author of The Day of Islam: The Annihilation of America and the Western World, The Al Qaeda Connection, and other best-selling books. He is a frequent guest on such national news networks as ABC News, CBS News, Fox News, MSNBC, and NPR.

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Vishwaroopam, an American story - By Muzamil Jaleel - The Indian Express, New Delhi - India

" This is an American film" - Muzamil Jaleel


http://www.indianexpress.com/news/vishwaroopam-an-american-story/1070356/0

Vishwaroopam, an American story

Muzamil Jaleel : Thu Feb 07 2013, 03:29 hrs
Kamal Haasan's freedom to tell a story the way he wants must be respected. But there is a need to debate the responsibilities of the artist

When the religion of the Kathak teacher Vishwanath, or "Wiz", is accidentally exposed by a detective employed by his nuclear oncologist wife Nirupama, who looks bored with a dysfunctional marriage, the meaning of the twist in the tale is evident. Kamal Haasan has twisted the narrative and given his "hero" a Muslim identity, while pitting him against the obvious villains who share his faith. Perhaps this is the reason Haasan had said Indian Muslims would be proud of his spy thriller, Vishwaroopam. The intention behind this balancing act may well be noble, but it amounts to little more than an interesting twist.

Contrary to the general impression, the problems with the movie would have been inconsequential if its content had, indeed, been "blasphemous" or "offensive". The movie does, after all, tell a story that has been playing in the media for decades now. Yes, al-Qaeda and the Taliban do exist, and they are all-Muslim. Vishwaroopam over-simplifies this, and places it in a fictitious narrative where everything is black and white. The debate over the film, however, is entirely misplaced. The question is not whether it hurts or offends the religious feelings of Muslims. The problem is that the imagery and metaphors employed by the film have turned stereotypes into reality. The people who've watched the film will take away the image of bomb blasts and suicide bombers — not just those young men who wear bombs and blow themselves up to inflict death and destruction, but also a new breed of imaginary fidayeens who accept "slow, miserable deaths" that can take up to "six months" happily, because they volunteered to prepare a dirty bomb without protection against radiation, which they would then explode in New York City.

This is an American film. From the plot details to the larger narrative of the so-called war on terror, where hi-tech American soldiers are fighting "savage" Muslims in the barren landscapes of Afghanistan, it bears a strong American imprint. Haasan would have been better served staying true to this narrative and not bringing in an Indian angle. And if the domestic subplot was essential to make the film accessible to Vishwaroopam's audience, it needed to be at least a little more true to the facts. The ground zero of the war between the United States and the Taliban-al-Qaeda is geographically closest to India. And Abbottabad and Kabul are closer to Delhi than NYC. Yet, there is no evidence that individuals or groups from the vast Indian Muslim population or, for that matter, from Kashmir, have joined those groups. Nor have al-Qaeda or the Taliban opened a front in India. The only links the security agencies claim are the larger connections between Pakistan-based groups like Lashkar-e-Toiba or Jaish-e-Mohammad and al-Qaeda/ Taliban.

Was Haasan trying to emulate John Wayne or is he the new, Indian-origin Rambo who goes out to fight America's war? Has America's war now become India's war? Even if Vishwaroopam is a cinematic representation of India's new foreign policy priorities, there remains a need to understand the dangerous implications of Hollywood's historically stereotypical representation of the Soviets, Arabs and Muslims. Sulaiman Arti, who investigated this Hollywood phenomenon, says that "the intensification of the Arabs' stereotypical image over the last century from 'comic villains' to 'foreign devils' did not occur in a vacuum but, certainly, with the intertwinement of both political and cultural interests in the region". Lina Khatib's scholarly work, Filming the Modern Middle East: Politics in the Cinemas of Hollywood and the Arab World, and Jack Shaheen's Reel Bad Arabs, which scrutinised 900 films to shed light on this dangerous trend, make similar claims.

While Bollywood must not imitate the Hollywood war cinema model, the portrayals and metaphors in Vishwaroopam have immediate ramifications. Though Islam has been in India for a thousand years, there is still ignorance about the religion and its tenets. The war on terror and its simplified media narrative have created a mindset that wrongly attaches Islam to terrorism, which has even affected law enforcement.

During my investigation into terror cases across the country late last year, I found that the police had classified anything written in Urdu or Arabic — a list that included Quranic verses, books on Islam and the Prophet Mohammad's life and Ghalib's poetry — as "incriminating material" and used this to brand Muslim men as terrorists and charge them under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. In one such chargesheet, the police translated "Seerat pak Jalsa" — a religious gathering to talk about the life of the Prophet — as "goodness of Pakistan". The police claimed to have seized an "incriminating document" from an accused, saying it contained "bhadkane wali ayatein (provocative verses)" from the Quran, which would "incite Muslims against other religions".

When, in this context, Haasan shows namaz consistently before or after a terror attack and plays Quranic verses as a background score to an attack, it strengthens the perception that anything Muslim equals terrorism. When Vishwaroopam's hero, a Muslim RAW agent, shoots a Nigerian terrorist before he can trigger the dirty bomb in NYC, the latter is offering namaz. Namaz comes across as a compulsory ritual for terrorists before a bombing.

Then there is a little play with Kashmiri identity too. When the RAW agent infiltrates al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, he adopts the alias Wisam Ahmad Kashmiri, and then states that he was always, and will always remain, a Hindustani. This is a deliberate reinforcement that has become a hallmark of Bollywood's depiction of Kashmir. 

Bollywood has never questioned the Indian state's view on Kashmir. Haasan's use of "Kashmiri" as an alias is problematic, because al- Qaeda has never managed to gain entry in Kashmir, even as it remains active in its backyard. Where the image of Kashmiris is so maligned that they find it difficult to rent a house in any city, this new cinematic stereotype further complicates the issue.

There is no doubt that the film must not be banned. Haasan's freedom to tell a story the way he wants must be respected. There is, however, a pressing need for debate on the responsibilities of an artist. The best fiction bears close resemblance to non-fiction, and Haasan's film would have done better if he had researched his subject and come up with portrayals that weren't alarmist. Art is not bound by facts, but it should not be devoid of nuance.

muzamil.jaleel@expressindia.com

Rajnath Singh gag order on PM issue - TNN - The Times of India, New Delhi, India | Comment by Ghulam Muhammed

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/opinions/18341483.cms

My comments on Times of India story:

Rajnath Singh gag order on PM issue

Ghulam Muhammed (Mumbai)

If past has any relevance, BJP/RSS being caste-ist Brahmin outfits, there is hardly any chance for a non-Brahmin like Modi to become Prime Minister of India. At the most, he may follow L. K. Advani, and may be a candidate as Deputy Prime Minister in any future BJP led coalition government. People will not forget how non-Brahmins like Gandhi and Patel had to yield to a Brahmin Nehru, even in secular Congress. Besides, for BJP to make any meaningful success in garnering numbers, it has to concentrate on Uttar Pradesh. Naturally a PM candidate from UP, on the face of it, will attract more voters and therefore more MPs from Uttar Pradesh to make bulk of the tally. These are some of the hard facts that media should not paper over to build up false waves in the minds of general public.

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http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Rajnath-Singh-gag-order-on-PM-issue/articleshow/18341483.cms

Rajnath Singh gag order on PM issue

TNN | Feb 5, 2013, 01.21 AM IST

Singh's comments came in the wake of unease among sections within the party as well as ally JD(U) over the growing “Modi-for-PM” clamour.

NEW DELHI: BJP chief Rajnath Singh on Monday sought to put a lid on statements favouring Narendra Modi's projection as the party's choice for PM, only to see his "final appeal" being defied by two senior party leaders, C P Thakur and Shatrughan Sinha, within hours.

"I want to humbly appeal to BJP workers and leaders that there should be no statement from them on who will be the candidate for the prime minister's post. As I have said earlier, the BJP convention is that any decision on the chief ministerial or prime ministerial candidate is taken by the central parliamentary board," he told reporters.

Singh's comments came in the wake of unease among sections within the party as well as ally JD(U) over the growing "Modi-for-PM" clamour.

They were immediately welcomed by JD(U) chief and NDA convener Sharad Yadav who frowned upon the "mad rush" among NDA leaders to speak on the issue of the PM candidate. "I have never seen such a mad rush for prime ministership in the last six decades," Yadav complained.

JD(U), keen to keep its Muslim votes intact, is against Modi being made the NDA's prime ministerial candidate.

There were also indications that Modi's re-induction in the party's central parliamentary board may have to wait until at least the middle of March when the party will be able to hold the meeting of its national council, clubbing it with the session of the national executive.

Under the party constitution, election of the party chief and composition of parliamentary board has to be ratified by the national council. Although Rajnath Singh had initially planned to convene the national council earlier in Bhopal, logistical constraints forced him to put off the plan.

Modi, who was removed from the parliamentary board in 2007 by Singh in his first tenure as president, a call that he has publicly regretted, is set to retake his seat in the key body. His imminent re-induction, if along with his Madhya Pradesh counterpart, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, has been billed by many as the first step towards his appointment as the chairman of the party's campaign committee and, possibly, a prime ministerial candidate.

A strong, and growing, section in the party has, in any case, come out in the open for Modi's projection as the party's choice for PM. This was clear again on Monday when Thakur, while insisting that the party chief had issued no gag order, strongly batted for the Gujarat CM. "BJP will gain (by declaring Modi's name). By declaring him the candidate, BJP will certainly gain because of many factors... There is a feeling among people that he should be the candidate," he said.

In Patna, Shatrughan Sinha backed Yashwant Sinha who had earlier pitched for Modi as BJP's PM candidate. "Yashwant Sinhaji is a senior and an experienced leader. He never talks light. He speaks only after going deeply into an issue, I stand with him on what he has said," Sinha told reporters

'Clash of culture' civil war in India - By Ghulam Muhammed

Tuesday, February 05, 2013

Letter to the editor:

'Clash of culture' civil war in India

The recent public upheavals in India, over rape, Salman Rushdie, an anti-terrorist film are clear signs of a clash of culture between India's own cultural identity and the western mores being forced on the populace in the name of modernity, progress and development. The nationwide agitations and threat to public order gives a open play of forces of clash of cultures. The so-called liberalization and globalization is not only demanding its agenda for the economic and development strategies of a developing India, but imposes an entire set of social and behavioral changes to cater to the new wave of consumerism and a no-holds- barred freedom to challenge and force changes in the established order. The result of this clash of culture is becoming more and more volatile and demanding sweeping changes that are not always compatible to the working of a peaceful society. The gradual pace of change has now changed into a purpose driven head-on collision between East and West. And the West is clearly forcing the pace on its own terms. The ruling class long committed to progressive ideals as the future coming out of India, finds itself unable to manage the change and is becoming more arbitrary, brutal and dictatorial. The worst case scenario is the case of flaming Left Liberals, who in their own fight against orthodoxy and religion, are willy-nilly playing second fiddle to Western capitalist onslaught. In knee-jerk reactions, they instantly run with the hunters, and only later realize that they should rather be with the hunted to counter western imperialist designs on India. In India’s Muslims, the West has found a convenient target, to paint them as the ‘other’ and treat them just an extension of the same Muslim Ummah, that west is fight all over the Middle East. Those who prefer to judge the events in their wider perspective could easily make out the attempt by the Western capitalists to make in-roads into Indian society, by first demonizing Muslims. The old divide and rule tactic is all clearly visible in the trite arguments advanced by the ‘modernizing’ forces and their exploitation of media to destabilize India, before they take over and impose their own ‘stabilizing’ order on the vulnerable nation. The ‘Arab Spring’ is being repeated in India, with a new twist of clash between old and new. The intended result is the same: chaos. Here the Left liberals with their hold on media and intellectual life of the nation have immense responsibility not to act in herd-like manner without analyzing the negative impact of their action or inaction. Their fight against religion can wait while they counter the west’s capitalist agenda that may again enslave India. They must choose their priorities well and should not go on a limb. After all the stakes for a billion people of India is too high for them to keep playing their ideological games.

Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai

ghulammuhammed3@gmail.com

----

Haasan lied. Vishwaroopam will not make Indian Muslims proud - By Feroze Mithiborwala - Tehelka.com

http://tehelka.com/vishwaroopam-reinforcing-global-communal-stereotypes-namaz-bombs-justification-for-the-us-empire/ Haasan lied. Vishwaroopam will not make Indian Muslims proud Those opposed to the movie should have called for a debate. Demanding the cuts has harmed the community's image Feroze Mithiborwala More by the author > January 31, 2013 Vishwaroopam I was a little benumbed whilst watching this technically advanced, but socio-politically regressive movie. Kamal Haasan has lied to all of us when he had stated that this movie is his tribute to Indian Muslims and will make them proud. This movie had me even more worried than earlier! The message propagated all through the course of this slick production is basically – “One Good Muslim, All the rest – Bad Muslims”. The hero, Taufik is an Indian Muslim who saves the world, whilst the rest of the Muslims portrayed in the movie, are all committed to destruction and mayhem, all in the name of their religion. This is the state of the world – Vishwaroopam. Yet, let me categorically state that I do not support any cuts, or further censorship of the mobs, but will certainly strive to counter this movie and all like it – intellectually and on the ideological plane, where the true battle lies. This movie also justifies the US wars and occupation of Afghanistan in ways that even Hollywood would have felt ashamed of portraying. All this for the NRI audience I would tend to venture. My first opposition to the movie stemmed from the fact that the posters prominently posited the infamous ‘stars and stripes’ in the background and I knew that trouble was brewing. Mind you, the Indian Tri-colour is far less prominent and even missing for the most . . . so much for NRI nationalism, or for that matter that of the RNI’s, the Resident Non-Indians, the chatterati where these communal stereotypes hold sway. And coming back to the movie, I have never ever seen so many scenes of Namaz in any single film and there is certainly a sickeningly strong overdose of Islamic imagery and the overwhelming majority of it linked to negativity and violence. The movie is one big screenplay of  Namaz and Bombs, Namaz and Terror, Namaz and Violence. I wonder as to how Kamal Haasan, who is also the scriptwriter, thought that this would help the cause of Indian Muslims, knowing full well what the community has been through for the past two decades and more. The way the entire community has been ‘terrorised by the terror’ and this has led to their further demonization and isolation. More so, the script is deeply flawed, lacks intelligence and an honest research. One would have tended to expect a little more from Bollywood after certain good movies dealing with this genre, such as ‘Dhoka’ (Mahesh Bhatt), ‘New York’ (Kabeer Khan), ‘Qurbaan’ (Saif Ali Khan), ‘My Name is Khan’ (Karan Johar & Shahrukh Khan), ‘Agent Vinod’ (Saif Ali Khan) and last but not the least ‘Tere Bin Laden’ (Abhishek Sharma), certainly the best political satire in a generation. It also had a far more genuine Bin Laden look-alike than the ones that appear in the CIA produced videos. All of the above movies were good honest efforts and there is a common thread as well as a degree of intelligent sensitivity that has gone into researching these scripts and directing these movies, none of which faced any public opprobrium or ire, even though they were far more complex than this ignominious, outrageous ill-conceived prejudiced charade called Vishwaroopam. Yet, I want no cuts here . . . The two lines attributed to Rahul Bose, whom many of us consider to be our own, are the most dangerous and misleading of all the dialogues in the movie. Rahul Bose, who plays Umar (alluding to Mullah Umar, the leader of the Taliban, I would presume), is facing an assault on his village. The Taliban have captured a few American soldiers and are on the move. The US army, attack the village where they have been led by a trace, with the help of Kamal Haasan, who plays Taufik, a RAW agent. Taufik has infiltrated the ranks of the Taliban to rise to be the ipso facto No. 2. Wonder what the RAW itself has to comment here. With the US helicopter gunships blazing away as they did in Vietnam and Iraq, as they do in Somalia, Yemen and Libya – and hope to in Syria – the Taliban are on the run. Here Rahul Umar Bose makes a statement to assure his fellow Talibani’s – “Don’t worry, the Americans do not kill women and children”. All I could think of in that Shakespearian moment was – “Et Tu Rahul!!” To what extent can an artist such as Rahul Bose sell himself, his very moral intellect, is a question that he and many others need to seriously ponder upon. This dialogue would be considered ridiculous and even blasphemous by the Americans themselves, who always refer to the deaths of civilians as ‘collateral damage’, but Kamal Haasan in his willful pandering has gone even beyond the worst in Hollywood. Thus the movie further portrays the US soldier manning the gunship, feeling sorry for killing innocents, whilst the Afghans are all portrayed as dehumanized killing machines. I do not think our immediate neighbours are going to appreciate this movie very much. But who cares, our movies are a reflection of our skewed foreign policy as it does appear. And the Afghans are not exactly a market yet. The second statement by Rahul Umar Bose is even more dangerous for Indian Muslims & for all the secular activists who have stood by the community as it was demonised, isolated and entrapped into the false-flag terror attacks that we have witnessed since the post-9/11 world. This was the phase of ‘controlled chaos’ and ‘unending perpetual state of wars’ – to use Neoconservative terms. Here whilst talking to Kamal Taufik Haasan, Rahul Umar Bose smilinglyand nonchalantly mentions that “We were also involved in the terror attacks of Malegaon, Bombay and other Indian cities”. In the Tamil & Telegu versions, Coimbatore and Madurai are mentioned. ‘Good God!!’, I exclaimed to myself, even dropping my popcorn – this movie is basically stating that the Taliban and Al Qaeda are active in Indiaand thus certain sections of the Indian Muslim population are certainly enmeshed with the global terror network.  This will prove to be catastrophic in the subconscious perceptions that tend to get ingrained deep into our reality. This, Mr. Kamal Haasan, is going to be disastrous for Indian Muslims and we can all assure you that. But where is the research may we ask? Have you not heard of ATS Chief Hemant Karkare, who even served in the RAW? Are you not aware that since 2007 the role of the Abhinav Bharat & Sanatan Sanstha in terror attacks across the country is being probed?  Particularly in Malegaon, Nanded, Samjhauta Express, Mecca Masjid, Ajmer, Goa & another 10 more as per the statements of the Home Ministry. Actually there are more than 16 recorded cases, but we will leave that for later. All of which are further linked to the right-wing Manuwadi Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)? Are you really unaware of these facts? Are you planning to leave the country, or had you already left India and were living in New York and are thus so ill-informed whilst writing the script, which lacks even an iota of honesty & responsibility? And this is thus a question that we as secular activists must ask ourselves. Many Hollywood movies with a geopolitical strategic agenda are produced in tandem with the Pentagon, so as to further the Imperial agenda of global hegemony and the advancement of the Military-Security-Industrial-Corporate-Media Complex. The Zionist dominated Hollywood target and portray Palestinians and Arabs in particular and Muslims in general as terrorists and fanatics and thus these societies need to be invaded and civilized – and their resources taken over for good measure. This movie by Kamal Haasan in my estimation also certainly falls in that category of disinformation and propaganda to serve the cause of the Empire and to justify the wars, occupation and the genocide of the Afghan nation, as well as the people of Pakistan. Thus not even a fleeting reference to the drone attacks and the killings of innocents, of women and children – thus and as to how it continues to create and foster more and more militants and terrorists. Then comes the part where there is a meeting between the leadership of the Taliban led by Rahul Umar and Al Qaeda-Osama Bin Laden. Here again I would request all those who have been taken in by the recent supposed assassination of OBL at the staged operation at Abbotabad, to read the excellent & well researched book by David Ray Griffin – ‘Osama Bin Laden Dead or Alive?’ (http://www.globalresearch.ca/osama-bin-laden-dead-or-alive/15601). According to many honest experts, OBL has been dead since December 15, 2001. It is also time, actually high time, for the Indian peace movement to address the issues of the 9/11 false-flag terror attack, which has been central, seminal and defining moment of the 21st century, changing the very trajectory of international politics and leading to an era of wars, occupation and genocide. (http://www.ae911truth.org/). Recently more than 12,500 police stations across America received petitions by peace activists stating that the attack on WTC 1, 2 & 7 were an inside job and demanding that the investigation be reopened. This movement is being spearheaded by more than 1700 architects & engineers and they have the support of many prominent intellectuals, scholars, and human-rights activists, whistle-blowers from within the CIA-FBI, as well as vast sections of American society and the numbers are growing. (http://www.ae911truth.org/downloads/documents/AE911Truth_Police_Letter.pdf) The reason as to why we will have to grapple with these issues is that, I personally know of Muslim youth who have been quizzed about their positions on 9/11, Bin Laden & Al Qaeda. The youth have been perplexed and horrified and left wondering as to what a job application in the engineering, IT and  telecom sectors have to do with their knowledge or lack off, on these issues. With Muslim children who have tried to step out of their ghettoes and seek admission in a multi-cultural milieu, being denied and told to go back where they came from. Of Muslims being denied housing in secular neighbourhoods. All these discriminative practices have also increased in the last decade – thanks to the dominant paradigm of terror. Now, let us get back to the movie. Soon after the carnage at Rahul Umar’s village, we are transported into America. Here Kamal Taufik Haasan is working incognito singing and dancing to songs written by Javed Akhtar (Lyricist), as any good Muslim should be. Then a terror network begins to unravel andhere we have Rahul Umar now planning to explode a Dirty-Bomb made of waste radioactive material, which the good Muslim does foil, but after saying his Namaz! Whilst in the room inside wherein lies the Dirty-Bomb, is a bad Muslim, an African-American of Nigerian descent, busy offering Namaz before he is to blow the city to kingdom come. Herein lies another serious problem with this film and that is the tarnishing of African-American Muslims as part of the global terror network. In most Hollywood movies, they are sensitive enough to portray the African American as the FBI boss, under whom the White officers serve. But here the RAW agent is working with only Whites, presumably Anglo-Saxon agents, whilst the African-American Muslim, is in tandem with the Taliban. Another case of out-sourcing I guess. Yet again, Kamal Haasan fails in his research. The terror attacks portrayed in the film have never occurred. Also the FBI has been entrapping Muslim youth from various ethnic backgrounds and this too is a documented fact. Since there are no serious terror threats to America, the FBI actually manufactures them, as there is no other way to justify Homeland Security and it’s vast gargantuan powers and budget. FBI agents, informers, or ex-convicts working in tandem with the FBI are sent into Muslim communities with an attempt to create terrorists. During the course of the year, a couple of youth, mainly with a criminal background do get entrapped due to intensive indoctrination about the crimes of the American Empire against their people. These youth are then further induced & provided training to carry out a terror attack. Targets are indentified, funds, bombs & ammunition provided and the day that they do carry out the attack, they are apprehended red-handed.  The bombs turn out to be fake and so do the guns and that is how stupid this supposed terrorists are. (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/29/opinion/sunday/terrorist-plots-helped-along-by-the-fbi.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0) This information is now available in the mainstream corporate media and should have been studied by Kamal Taufik Haasan, before trying to give the FBI a positive image in India. This movie thus is basically a propaganda tool for the FBI, as well as the US Empire. And now apart from Hollywood, they even have some of the best known names from Bollywood to do their bidding. I wonder as to how much of the financial backing of this movie came from sources such as these and this question must be asked in all seriousness. The plot foiled, America saved, sorry, the world saved – Rahul Umar and his Taliban cohorts decide to flee to – India for God’s sake!! Thus we end with the inevitability of Vishwaroopam II-India! Actually Kamal Taufik Haasan, might even consider shifting the next locale to Qatar, where the ‘Good Taliban’ now have a functioning office. Here they will all have ample security as the US has a vast network of naval and airforce bases.  (http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2003-03/20/content_789607.htm). So Rahul Umar Bose, the FBI-CIA and Kamal Taufik Haasan can actually sort out all their problems there itself, without dragging India into the picture. But therein lies the threat, the clear and present danger to all of us. You can imagine the next movie where Mullah Umar is in Mumbai, or Delhi, maybe in Chennai (threatening Jayalalithaa for the way she dealt with Kamal Haasan), or in Malegaon, or in Srinagar, or Hyderabad, or in the Samjhauta Express, or in Ajmer. Thus taking the blame for all the terror attacks, that now are alleged to be the handiwork of the right-wing Abhinav Bharat and Sanatan Sanstha, as per the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and certain Anti-Terror Squads (ATS). And then, is Osama Bin Laden and his dreaded Al-Qaeda far behind in reaching India? The fear that it will instill amongst the ordinary masses of India and the further fear and isolation towards which will be driven the Muslim community is apparent to many. The terror of the politics of terror . . . Also a little sincere and not-so-secret advice to film producers, directors, financiers and aspiring writers. In case you are sure that your film (or a book) is going to bomb at the box-office, be sure to include a few scenes that you may think may be offensive to the emotions of the Muslim community. Then arrange a screening prior to the release, even though your film has been cleared by the censor board – & rest assured that a few Muslims will fall prey to your trap and voila – you have your much needed controversy. My sincere advice to the Muslim community is the following.  Islam is too great a religion for one book or a movie to harm our faith. Let us overcome our insecurities and notice that the tide is turning in our favour. The protests against the film have harmed the image of the Muslim community, even more than Vishawaroopam was planned to. We need to learn to ignore certain barbs hurled at us and do not need to fall for the traps laid for us every time. We have every right to protest and this is our constitutional and democratic right. Our strategy should have been to evoke support and call for a debate on the movie, whilst pointing out its flaws and distortions. Demanding the cuts after the censor board had cleared the movie, has harmed our image and further portrayed the community as extremist and undemocratic. The problem with Vishwaroopam, is that it has projected only a miniscule part of the reality of the Afghan quagmire over a period of more than three decades. But one cannot deny that today the Taliban and their ilk do represent a form of a vitiated, extremist and a violent form of Islam. From the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddha’s, to the attacks on schools and clinics, to the enforced imposition of a regressive barbaric code on women, to the public flogging and stoning, to the sectarian hatred and killings, to the destruction of Sufi Mazar’s and the genocide of the Shia’s – all this is being waged in the name of Islam. This cannot be denied by any honest God-loving/fearing Muslim. This form of extremism is indeed alien and against the very letter, grain & spirit of Islam. Let us all stand up in unison and condemn this debasement & defilement of Islam. This we really do not venture into often enough – do we honestly? In the course of the last 2-3 years, the truth about the terror attacks is being revealed and this is due to the sustained struggle of Muslim organizations, in tandem with our secular allies, despite all the odds, with the entire media and dominant sections of the Government-intelligence-security apparatus ranged against us – but yet we have overcome all these odds. Now is the time to reach out to all the communities that make up this great and dynamic nation and expose the true facts of the terror networks that are now being revealed. (http://www.indianexpress.com/news/joining-the-dots/1068448/) If India is not to go the way of Pakistan, with its assorted Lashkar-Frankensteins, then we have to put a stop to those religious extremist forces that threaten to destroy the unity and social fabric of our nation. Now after the statement by the Union Home Minister, the tide has clearly changed in our favour and thus let’s not undermine our struggle by isolating ourselves any further by taking to the streets in the manner that we have and I was personally both angry and ashamed at the public spectacle. There is a certain degree of double-standards, intolerance & hypocrisy within the Muslim community as well. Also I would want to appeal here to all those who rightly advised the Muslim community on the values of freedom of expression, democracy and modernity. Kindly stand up, script and produce a movie based on the charge-sheet filed by Hemant Karkare, in a movie that can be titled ‘Bharatroopam’. I would love to see as to how many takers there would be from Bollywood, especially all the ones shouting ‘cultural terrorism’. In terms of soft-targets, the Muslim community is far more of a soft-target, than many film makers & writers. Yet, I will not ask for a cut, even though both my mind and my heart have suffered a few deep searing cuts. This is because I have immense faith in the great legacy of this country. I have great faith in the teachings of Krativeer Jotiba Phule, Mahatma Gandhi, Maulana Azad, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar and Shaheed Bhagat Singh. I have great faith in the people of India, in our secular democracy.

Muslim groups want Censor Board reconfigured, say it is political - By Seema Chisti - The Indian Express, New Delhi, India

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/muslim-groups-want-censor-board-reconfigured-say-it-is-political/1068826/0

Muslim groups want Censor Board reconfigured, say it is political

Seema Chishti : New Delhi, Mon Feb 04 2013, 00:18
Set up barely two years ago, "not as formally as the Milli Council or the Mushawarat" but as a loose body of 24 Muslim organisations, the Federation of Islamic Movements and Political Parties has been in the news for its objections to Kamal Haasan's Vishwaroopam.
One of its prominent members, Dr M H Jawahirullah, who is an MLA from Ramanathpuram and president of the Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam, objects to the organisation being referred to as a "fringe"one. "This federation consists of us, the Welfare Party, Jamiat Ulema e Hind, Tamil Literary Association, Jamat e Islami, Popular Front of India, SDPI and other groups. We are not fringe, we are mainstream," he asserts.
On protests against Vishwaroopam, he says, "We did not take to the streets or create a chaos. We were shocked at the Censor Board clearing such a film; so we approached the state government."
There is a talk of politics beyond cinema in this case as both the DMK and the AIADMK have strong connections with the cinema world. "My party contested the 2011 state elections in alliance with the AIADMK, but there are several other parties, which were in the opposite camp, so the group is a mixed bag. There is no question of politics. We only want proper representation of Muslims in these delicate and prejudiced times, " he says.
The federation wants the Censor Board to be reconfigured and "not be a political body". "It should be independent. They said a Muslim cleared it on the Board. I spoke to him. He is Hasan Mohammed Jinnah (DMK candidate in the polls). We want a sensitive Censor Board and not one with political nominees. There are parameters regarding how animals are to be treated while shooting, how they are to be depicted. Smoking and drinking are not shown. So how can things be shown that misrepresent a faith? If the Censor Board has cleared this, it is a wrong decision," Jawahirullah says.
Says S N Sikkandar, another member and state head of the Welfare Party, "Actor Vijay's movie, Thuppakki, showed Muslims in a poor light. Three of our members explained to him what was wrong. He made necessary changes and the film was re-released."
Jawahirullah adds, "We are not opposed to cinema. We value good cinema and want authentic portrayals. We are Tamilians. We are conscious of the huge influence films have on our state's imagination. Two script writers and three actors have become chief ministers here."
The federation essentially has two points against Vishwaroopam. The first showing "the Quran, namaz and other things sacred as essential preludes to all terror acts". The second is the declaration at the beginning of the film that the movie is based on facts and showing a "one-eyed character in Afghanistan called Omar who speaks Tamil, and when asked where he picked up the language, says he was in Coimbatore, Ayodhya and Ahmedabad for a year".
"What is Kamal Haasan trying to say here? There are no recruits to al-Qaeda from Tamil Nadu. The communal tempers have cooled down after a long time in Coimbatore. Does he want the situation to worsen again by misrepresenting facts? We are not holding any brief for the Taliban or the al-Qaeda. Anyone saying that the Quran encourages violence is wrong. The Quran forbids violence. This movie shows the Quran is linked to violence and people are killed the way we slaughter animals. This is simply unacceptable," Jawahirullah says. He adds, "We weren't shown the film. We approached the state government, who wrote to Rajkamal Productions. A team of 14 representatives were shown the film on January 6. After seeing it, our people were shell-shocked and left the auditorium without saying anything."
Members of the federation also say that though they respect Kamal Haasan for protesting against the demolition of Babri Masjid, they have had problems with his films, Hey Ram and Unnaipol Oruvan. Says Jawahirullah, "We spoke to him after Unnaipol Oruvan. He said that he would do something to compensate. Vishwaroopam was that compensation. So, the sense of betrayal is even more."
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Dhule unmasks rioters in uniform (2):
http://www.indianexpress.com/videos/exclusive-video/32/dhule-unmasks-rioters-in-uniform-%282%29/15052

Islamic Finance in India - Give Islamic finance a chance - By Sugata Ghosh,ET Bureau - The Economic Times, Mumbai, India

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/comments-analysis/give-islamic-finance-a-chance/articleshow/18282541.cms 1 Feb, 2013, 04.57AM IST, Sugata Ghosh,ET Bureau Give Islamic finance a chance Some questions recur with unfailing regularity, are tossed around for months, points, counterpoints emerge and slowly peter out, only to resurface later, often before polls. Islamic finance is one such subject. It has an academic hue, with faith and politics weaved around. Those who feel strongly about it argue why it should happen; men who matter point out why it can't, but rarely lay the way open for changes that will make it happen. The turn of events is predictable: finer points of law and taxation are discussed , letters are exchanged, the finance ministry refers the matter to the law ministry, asks RBI to take a relook at it and then, finally, the central bank throws the ball back to New Delhi. Nothing changes. For the rule makers, it continues to be an exotic, if not an esoteric, idea while most members of the Muslim community, other than those who have given a serious thought to the issue, do not pursue the matter as forcefully as they feel about many other things. There are few motherhood statements from government functionaries and regulators, who, given the obvious sensitivities, never spell out their reservations, if any, towards Islamic finance. It's quickly forgotten, leaving very few flustered. But the discourse can be shaped differently. Forget for a moment that the concept has its foundations in Sharia'h, the sacred law of Islam; that it can be a potential tool in the hands of politicians; and that its very introduction does not mean unsettling the law of the land to placate a few. Think of it as a pure, simple bouquet of financial products that's different: different as it offers another way one can own a home or buy a car; whether it makes sense to have such products; and if there's merit, how to go about selling it. As a genre of services, Islamic finance abhors the idea of making money out of money and upholds the belief that wealth is generated through actual trade and investment. It's just a different kind of commercial banking: instead of charging interest on loan, the product is structured differently — if a company wants to buy an aircraft for $300 million, the institution financing it buys the plane and transfers it to the company 10 years later after collecting instalments with a profit margin. Unlike plain vanilla loans, Islamic finance products have multiple contracts, but as a structure, it is considered in its entirety. A lot depends on how these are structured. For instance, even though Sharia'h forbids trading of loans, there are structures that can be used to 'securitise' portfolios. While India's current legal framework on lending is interest-based, Islamic finance is founded on participatory finance that entails sharing of profit or loss. If the profit earned is less than expected cash flows, then a smaller profit pool is shared — a mechanism that can lower the cost of capital. The RBI governor recently said that laws have to be amended before one goes about allowing such products. Advocates of Islamic finance think it's no big deal and one need not go through the rigmarole of standing committees and parliamentary proceedings — if the central bank can use its powers to let commercial banks open a new window. Other countries, even a few not particularly sensitive to Islamic sensibilities, have gone ahead with it. That's because they sensed that any leading financial centre should be open to various investment possibilities. So, why not India where savings have dipped? It's a valid point, but there is a widely shared perception that regulators are not keen about it. The reasons are unknown: RBI may not have the regulatory comfort, or the market may not be large enough, or there could be resistance from some political parties. Around seven years ago, RBI had almost closed the chapter on the subject with a report (briefly put up on its website). More recently, the central bank pulled up a finance firm carrying out participative finance on the grounds that it violated the fair practices code where finance companies have to state upfront the return it was paying to depositors — something not tenable in Islamic finance. The dispute is pending before the Bombay High Court. There will be resistance to changes that look dramatic. Prof Hussein Hamid Hassan, an authority on the subject, had once told this paper that when the first Islamic Bank was set up in 1975, "it was easier to say Islamic whisky than Islamic bank". But if indeed there is a savings pool awaiting Sharia'h defined instruments, institutions should have the opportunity to tap it. If high stamp duty is a deterrent — as multiple contracts make Islamic finance tax-inefficient — let the transactions take place in states where the duty is lower. The Wall Street meltdown has made regulators conservative. But it would be a pity if perceptions and political undercurrents stand in the way of financial innovation. ------------