The less of the world, the freer you live.

The Hindu : Opinion / Open Page : Teach your children to accept failures and convert them into victory

2012-01-01T10:13:00.002+05:30

The Hindu : Opinion / Open Page : Teach your children to accept failures and convert them into victory

The Hindu : Opinion / Open Page : Can we call a halt to the syndrome of compare & contrast?

2012-01-01T10:13:00.001+05:30

The Hindu : Opinion / Open Page : Can we call a halt to the syndrome of compare & contrast?

The Hindu : Opinion / Open Page : Missing warmth between teacher & taught

2012-01-01T10:13:00.000+05:30

The Hindu : Opinion / Open Page : Missing warmth between teacher & taught

Fwd: The Hindu : Opinion / Interview : ‘Education is a necessary but not a sufficient basis for social mobility'

2011-05-18T18:10:00.000+05:30

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: <uddin.hammad@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, May 17, 2011 at 8:26 AM
Subject: The Hindu : Opinion / Interview : 'Education is a necessary but not a sufficient basis for social mobility'
To: uddin.hammad@gmail.com

article

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/interview/article2023922.ece?sms_ss=email&at_xt=4dd1e3da034d43e2%2C0

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The Hindu : Opinion / Open Page : We make much ado about anything and everything

2011-05-18T18:06:00.000+05:30

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/open-page/article1981605.ece?sms_ss=email&at_xt=4dd1e52ebb8a2b98%2C0

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Vatican confirms report of sexual abuse and rape of nuns by priests in 23 countries

2011-03-10T21:24:00.000+05:30

The Catholic Church in Rome made the extraordinary admission yesterday that it is aware priests from at least 23 countries have been sexually abusing nuns.

The Catholic Church in Rome made the extraordinary admission yesterday that it is aware priests from at least 23 countries have been sexually abusing nuns.

Most of the abuse has occurred in Africa, where priests vowed to celibacy, who previously sought out prostitutes, have preyed on nuns to avoid contracting the Aids virus.

Confidential Vatican reports obtained by the National Catholic Reporter, a weekly magazine in the US, have revealed that members of the Catholic clergy have been exploiting their financial and spiritual authority to gain sexual favours from nuns, particularly those from the Third World who are more likely to be culturally conditioned to be subservient to men.

The reports, some of which are recent and some of which have been in circulation for at least seven years, said that such priests had demanded sex in exchange for favours, such as certification to work in a given diocese.

In extreme instances, the priests had made nuns pregnant and then encouraged them to have abortions.

The US article was based on five documents, which senior women from religious orders and priests have presented to the Vatican over the past decade. They describe a particularly bad situation in Africa. In a continent devastated by Aids, nuns, along with early adolescent girls, are perceived by some as safe sexual targets. The reports said that the church authorities had done little to tackle the problem.

The Vatican reports cited countless cases of nuns forced to have sex with priests. Some were obliged to take the pill, others became pregnant and were encouraged to have abortions. In one case in which an African sister was forced to have an abortion, she died during the operation and her aggressor led the funeral mass. Another case involved 29 sisters from the same congregation who all became pregnant to priests in the diocese.

The reports said that the cultures in some African countries made it almost impossible for a young woman to disobey an older man, especially one seen as spiritually superior. There were cases of novices who applied to their local priest or bishop for certificates of good Catholic practice that were required for them to pursue their vocation. In return they were made to have sex. Some incidents of sexual abuse allegedly took place almost within the Vatican walls.

Certain unscrupulous clerics took advantage of young nuns who were having trouble finding accommodation, writing their essays and funding their theological studies.

Forced to acknowledge the problem, the Vatican has tried to play down its gravity. In a statement issued yesterday the Pope's official spokesman, Joaquin Navarro Valls, said: "The problem is known and involves a restricted geographical area. Certain negative situations must not overshadow the often heroic faith of the overwhelming majority of religious, nuns and priests".

One of the most comprehensive documents was compiled by Sister Maura O'Donohue, an Aids co-ordinator for Cafod, the London-based Catholic Fund for Overseas Development.

She noted that religious sisters had been identified as "safe" targets for sexual activity. She quotes a case in 1991 of a community superior being approached by priests requesting that the nuns be made available to them for sexual favours.

"When the superior refused the priests explained they would otherwise be obliged to go to the village to find women and might thus get Aids."Sister O'Donohue said her initial reaction to what she was told by her fellow religious "was one of shock and disbelief at the magnitude of the problem".

While most of the abuse happened in African countries, Sister O'Donohue reported incidents in 23 countries including India, Ireland, Italy, the Philippines and the United States.

She heard cases of priests encouraging the nuns to take the pill telling them it would prevent HIV. Others "actually encouraged abortion for the sisters" and Catholic hospitals and medical staff reported pressure from priests to carry out terminations for nuns and other young women.

O'Donohue wrote in her report how a vicar in one African diocese had talked "quite openly" about sex, saying that "celibacy in the African context means a priest does not get married, but does not mean he does not have children."

The head of the Vatican congregation for Religious Life, Cardinal Martinez Somalo, has set up a committee to look into the problem. But it seems to have done little beyond "awareness raising" among bishops.

More recently, in 1998, Sister Marie McDonald, mother superior of the Missionaries of Our Lady of Africa, put together a paper entitled The Problem of the Sexual Buse of African Religious in Africa and Rome.

She tabled the document to the Council of 16, made up of delegates of the international association of women's and men's religious communities and the Vatican office responsible for religious life. She noted that a contributing cause was the "conspiracy of silence".

When she addressed bishops on the problem, many of them felt it was disloyal of the sisters to send reports.

"However, the sisters claim they have done so time and time again. Sometimes they were not well received. In some instances they are blamed for what happened. Even when they are listened to sympathetically nothing much seems to be done" One of the most tragic elements that emerges is the fate of the victims. While the offending priests are usually moved or sent away for studies, the women are normally chased out of their religious orders, they are then either to scared to return to their families or are rejected by them. they often finished up as outcasts, or, in a cruel twist of irony, as prostitutes, making a meagre living from an act they had vowed never to do.

One of the few religious in Rome willing to talk about the report was Father Giulio Albanese, of MISNA, the missionary news agency. "Missionaries are human beings, who are often living under immense psychological pressure in situations of war and ongoing violence. On one hand it's important to condemn this horror and it's important tell the truth, but we must not emphasise this at the expense of the work done by the majority, many of whom have laid down lives for witness" said Fr Albanese "The press only talks about missionaries when they are killed, kidnapped or are involved in something scandalous" he added.

As the Vatican digests the unpalatable evidence of how their own priests are ruining the lives of their sisters, many Catholics hope a strong message may come from on high. With the American bishops, the Pope spoke in clear terms about paedophile priests, telling them this was a scourge that had to be faced. Some now hope that he may be equally courageous in denouncing an evil which has been covered by silence and shame for too long.

MR

2011-02-22T15:33:00.002+05:30

Marketing Research Ppt

View more presentations from Vivek Sharma.

COOKING TIP

2011-02-14T14:09:00.000+05:30

To get maximum juice out of lemons microwave the lemons for 15 seconds or soak them in hot water for an hour before juicing.

smile

2011-02-14T11:51:00.001+05:30

THE SMILE

Walking up to a department store's fabric counter, the pretty little girl said, "I would like to buy this material for a new dress. How much does it cost?" "Only one kiss per yard," replied the male clerk with a smirk. "That's fine," said the girl. "I'll take ten yards." With expectation and anticipation written all over his face, the clerk quickly measured out the cloth, wrapped it up, then teasingly held it out.

The little girl snapped up the package, pointed to the old geezer standing beside her, and smiled, "Grandpa will pay the bill."

Quotation

2011-02-14T11:50:00.001+05:30

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power. - Abraham Lincoln

smile but true

2011-02-14T11:49:00.001+05:30

It seems that life goes by resembling somewhat of a bell curve of what is considered successful...

At age 4...success is....not messing your pants.
At age 10...success is...making your own meals.
At age 12...success is...having friends.
At age 16...success is...having a drivers license.
At age 20...success is....being in love.
At age 35...success is...having money.
At age 50...success is...having money.
At age 60...success is....being in love.
At age 70...success is...having a drivers license.
At age 75...success is...having friends.
At age 80...success is...making your own meals.
At age 85...success is...not messing your pants.

health tip

2011-02-14T11:47:00.001+05:30

For whiter teeth, create a mixture of baking soda and salt. The common salt should be very less compared to the baking soda. Rub your teeth with this mixture in a gentle manner and witness instant results. Application on gums could cause damage.

handyhint

2011-02-14T11:46:00.001+05:30

To remove ink from clothes generously apply toothpaste on the ink spots and let it dry completely, then wash.

Quotation

2011-02-14T11:40:00.001+05:30

"Many a man who falls in love with a dimple make the mistake of marrying the whole girl."

ESSAY FROM A CHILD

2011-02-14T11:28:00.002+05:30

A teacher from Primary School asks her students to write a essay about
what they would like God to do for them...

At the end of the day while marking the essays, she read one that made
her very emotional. Her husband, that had just walked in saw her crying
and asked her:

"What happened?"

She answered: "Read this. It's one of my students essays."

Oh God, tonight I ask you something very special: Make me into a
television. I want to take its place. Live like the TV in my house. Have
my own special place, And have my family around ME. To be taken
seriously when I talk... I want to be the centre of attention and be
heard without interruptions or questions. I want to receive the same
special care that the TV receives when it is not working. Have the
company of my dad when he arrives home from work, even when he is tired.
And I want my mom to want me when she is sad and upset, instead of
ignoring me... And... I want my brothers to fight to be with me... I
want to feel that family just leaves everything aside, every now and
then, just to spend some time with me. And last but not least make it
that I can make them all happy and entertain them...

Lord I don't ask you for much... I just want to live like every TV

At that moment the husband said: "My God, poor kid. What horrible parents!"

She looked up at him and said: "That essay is our son's!!!"

Makes you think doesn't it?????

smile

2011-02-14T11:26:00.001+05:30

First year of marriage: Man speaks woman listens.
Second year: Woman speaks man listens.
Third year: Both speak the neighbours listen.

THE CHAIN OF LOVE

2011-02-14T11:25:00.001+05:30

He was driving home one evening, on a two-lane country road. Work in this small Midwestern community, was almost as slow as his beat-up Pontiac. But he never quit looking. Ever since the factory closed, he'd been unemployed, and with winter raging on, the chill had finally hit home.

It was a lonely road. Not very many people had a reason to be on it unless they were leaving. Most of his friends had already left. They had families to feed and dreams to fulfill. But he stayed on. After all, this was where he buried his mother and father. He was born here, he knew the country. He could go down this road blind, and tell you what was on either side, and with his headlights not working, that came in handy.

It was starting to get dark and light snow flurries were coming down. He'd better get a move on. You know, he almost did not see the old lady, stranded on the side of the road. But even in the dim light of day, he could see she needed help. So he pulled up in front of her Mercedes and got out. His Pontiac was still sputtering when he approached her. Even with the smile on his face, she was worried. No one had stopped to help for the last hour or so. Was he going to hurt her? He didn't look safe, he looked poor and hungry. He could see that she was frightened, standing out there in the cold. He knew how she felt.

It was that chill that only fear can put in you. He said, "I am here to help you ma'am. Why don't you wait in the car where it's warm? By the way, my name is Joe." Well, all she had was a flat tyre, but for an old lady that was bad enough. Joe crawled under the car looking for a place to put the jack, skinning his knuckles a time or two. Soon he was able to change the tyre. But he had to get dirty and his hands hurt. As he was tightening up the lug nuts, she rolled down her window and began to talk to him. She told him that she was from St. Louis and was only passing through. She could not thank him enough for coming to her aid. Joe just smiled as he closed her trunk.

She asked him how much she owed him. Any amount would have been all right with her. She had already imagined all the awful things that could have happened had he not stopped. Joe never thought twice about the money. This was not a job to him. This was helping someone in need, and God knows there were plenty who had given him a hand in the past. He had lived his whole life that way, and it never occurred to him to act any other way. He told her that if she really wanted to pay him back, the next time she saw someone who needed help, she could give that person the assistance they needed, and Joe added, "And think of me."

He waited until she started her car and drove off. It had been a cold and depressing day, but he felt good as he headed for home, disappearing into the twilight. A few miles down the road the lady saw a small cafe. She went in to grab a bite to eat, and take the chill off before she made the last leg of her trip home. It was a dingy looking restaurant. Outside were two old gas pumps. The whole scene was unfamiliar to her. The cash register was like the telephone of an out of work actor-it did not ring much.

Her waitress came over and brought a clean towel to wipe her wet hair. She had a sweet smile, one that even being on her feet for the whole day could not erase. The lady noticed the waitress was nearly eight months pregnant, but she never let the strain and aches change her attitude. The old lady wondered how someone like her who had so little could be so giving to a stranger. Then she remembered Joe. After the lady finished her meal, and the waitress went to get her change from a hundred-dollar bill, the lady stepped right out the door.

She was gone by the time the waitress came back. She wondered where the lady could be, then she noticed something written on a napkin. There were tears in her eyes, when she read what the lady wrote. It said: "You don't owe me a thing. I have been there too. Someone once helped me out, the way I am helping you. If you really want to pay me back, here's what you do. Do not let the chain of love end with you." Well, there were tables to clear, sugar bowls to fill and people to serve, but the waitress made it through another day.

That night when she got home from work and climbed into bed, she was thinking about the money and what the lady had written. How could she have known how much she and her husband needed it? With the baby due next month, it was going to be hard. She knew how worried her husband was, and as he lay sleeping next to her, she gave him a soft kiss and whispered low, "Everything's going to be all right. I love you, Joe."

smile

2011-02-14T11:08:00.002+05:30

Wife: tum mujse kitna pyaar karte ho?
Husband: itna zyada ho sake, utna.
Wife: mere marne ke baad kya tum taj mahal bana'oge?!
Husband: mene tau plot bhi kharidliya. Der to tum kar tiho!!

smile

2011-02-14T10:59:00.000+05:30

TEACHER: George Washington not only chopped down his father's cherry tree, but also admitted it. Now, Louie, do you know why his father didn't
punish him?
LOUIS: Because George still had the axe in his hand..."

TEACHER: Donald, what is the chemical formula for water?
DONALD: H I J K L M N O.
TEACHER: What are you talking about?
DONALD: Yesterday you said it's H to O

THE DUCK AND THE DEVIL There was a little boy visiting his grandparents on their farm. He was given a slingshot to play with out in the woods. He practiced in the woods, but he could never hit the target. Getting a little discouraged, he headed back for dinner. As he was walking back he saw Grandma's pet duck. Just out of impulse, he let the slingshot fly, hit the duck square in the head and killed it. He was shocked and grieved! In a panic, he hid the dead duck in the wood pile, only to see his sister watching! Fatima had seen it all, but she said nothing. After lunch the next day Grandma said, 'Fatima, let's wash the dishes.' But Fatima said, 'Grandma, Ahmed told me he wanted to help in the kitchen.' Then she whispered to him, 'Remember the duck?' So Ahmed did the dishes. Later that day, Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing and Grandma said, 'I'm sorry but I need Fatima to help make supper.' Fatima just smiled and said, 'Well, that's all right because Ahmed told me he wanted to help.' She whispered again, 'Remember the duck?' So Fatima went fishing and Ahmed stayed to help. After several days of Ahmed doing both his chores and Fatima's, he finally couldn't stand it any longer. He came to Grandma and confessed that he had killed the duck. Grandma knelt down, gave him a hug and said, 'Sweetheart, I know. You see, I was standing at the window and I saw the whole thing, but because I love you, I forgave you. I was just wondering how long you would let Fatima make a slave of you.' Thought for the day and every day thereafter? Whatever is in your past, whatever you have done... and the devil keeps throwing it up in your face (lying, cheating, debt, fear, bad habits, hatred, anger, bitterness, etc.)...whatever it is...You need to know that Allah was standing at the window and He saw the whole thing. He has seen your whole life. He wants you to know that He loves you and that you are forgiven. He's just wondering how long you will let the devil make a slave of you. The great thing about Allah is that when you ask for forgiveness, He not only forgives you, but He forgets. It is by Allah's grace and mercy that we are saved.

2011-02-14T10:51:00.002+05:30

THE DUCK AND THE DEVIL

There was a little boy visiting his grandparents on their farm. He was given a slingshot to play with out in the woods. He practiced in the woods, but he could never hit the target. Getting a little discouraged, he headed back for dinner.

As he was walking back he saw Grandma's pet duck. Just out of impulse, he let the slingshot fly, hit the duck square in the head and killed it. He was shocked and grieved! In a panic, he hid the dead duck in the wood pile, only to see his sister watching!

Fatima had seen it all, but she said nothing. After lunch the next day Grandma said, 'Fatima, let's wash the dishes.' But Fatima said, 'Grandma, Ahmed told me he wanted to help in the kitchen.' Then she whispered to him, 'Remember the duck?' So Ahmed did the dishes.

Later that day, Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing and Grandma said, 'I'm sorry but I need Fatima to help make supper.'

Fatima just smiled and said, 'Well, that's all right because Ahmed told me he wanted to help.' She whispered again, 'Remember the duck?' So Fatima went fishing and Ahmed stayed to help.

After several days of Ahmed doing both his chores and Fatima's, he finally couldn't stand it any longer. He came to Grandma and confessed that he had killed the duck. Grandma knelt down, gave him a hug and said, 'Sweetheart, I know. You see, I was standing at the window and I saw the whole thing, but because I love you, I forgave you. I was just wondering how long you would let Fatima make a slave of you.'

Thought for the day and every day thereafter?

Whatever is in your past, whatever you have done... and the devil keeps throwing it up in your face (lying, cheating, debt, fear, bad habits, hatred, anger, bitterness, etc.)...whatever it is...You need to know that Allah was standing at the window and He saw the whole thing. He has seen your whole life. He wants you to know that He loves you and that you are forgiven.

He's just wondering how long you will let the devil make a slave of you.

The great thing about Allah is that when you ask for forgiveness, He not only forgives you, but He forgets. It is by Allah's grace and mercy that we are saved.

smile

2011-02-14T10:48:00.001+05:30

After having dug to a depth of 10 feet last year, British scientists found traces of copper wire dating back 200 years and came to the conclusion that their ancestors already had a telephone network more than 150 years ago.

Not to be outdone by the Brit's, in the weeks that followed, an American archaeologist dug to a depth of 20 feet, and shortly after, a story published in the New York bulletin: "American archaeologists, finding traces of 250-year-old copper wire, have concluded that their ancestors already had an advanced high-tech communications network 50 years earlier than the British".

One week later, the Cape bulletin, in South Africa, reported the following: "After digging as deep as 30 feet in his backyard in Thabazimbi, South Africa, Lucky Simelane, a self-taught archaeologist, reported that he found absolutely nothing (aziko). Lucky has therefore concluded that 250 years ago, Africa had already gone wireless."

Just makes you proud to be South African!!!

GM vs Microsoft, ( Joke)

2011-02-14T10:47:00.001+05:30

General Motors vs. Microsoft

At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated, 'If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon.'

IN RESPONSE TO BILL'S COMMENTS, GENERAL MOTORS ISSUED A PRESS RELEASE STATING:

If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all bedriving cars with the following characteristics:

1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash...Twice a day.
2. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car.
3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this.
4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.
5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive - but would run on only five percent of the roads.
6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single 'This Car Has Performed An Illegal Operation' warning light.
I LOVE THE NEXT ONE!!!
7. The airbag system would ask 'Are you sure?' before deploying.
8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.
9. Every time a new car was introduced car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.
10. You'd have to press the 'Start' button to turn the engine off.
PS - I 'd like to add that when all else fails, you could call 'customer service' in some foreign country and be instructed in some foreign language how to fix your car yourself!!!!

Fulfill ur dream

2011-02-14T10:46:00.002+05:30

"In order to make your dream a reality you must first WAKE UP."

Mobile Phone

2011-01-10T22:02:00.002+05:30

By Shaykh Muhammad Saleem Dhorat hafizahullah

Etiquettes of the Mobile Phone
Islam has never been opposed to advancement. However, certain advancements are such that together with their benefits come much harm. Whilst mobile technology and the mobile phone in particular has revolutionised the way we live, it is important that we utilise such technology appropriately.

Crude Manners
It is important to realise that there are certain etiquettes of speaking on the phone. For example when calling someone, many people do not first ask the person they are calling whether it is convenient for them to speak at that very moment. They simply begin a long conversation without any regard for the inconvenience they cause the person they have called. There are yet others who, whilst in the company of others, answer phone calls and begin to casually converse with whoever has called them. Doing this is akin to turning your face away from those in your company whilst in the middle of a conversation and engaging in conversation with someone else without any explanation or apology to the first. Such behaviour is indeed inappropriate and a reflection of crude manners.

Robber of Time
The mobile phone, whilst being a very useful item, can prove to be a robber of time too. People feel obliged to utilise the free minutes and texts they have within their contract. If one has an allowance of 500 minutes or 500 texts within his talk plan, it is not necessary to utilise all these minutes or texts. By calling people or texting them only to use up the allowance, we are wasting valuable time which could have been utilised in productive activities.

Text Messages
Nowadays, many people send 'Jumu‘ah Mubarak' text every week to friends and associates. The contents of many of these texts are not authentic and sometimes not in line with Islamic teachings. One needs to be cautious before forwarding any message of this nature. Many people forward these messages just because they apparently sound good irrespective of the message being incorrect. Do not forward any message until you are sure of its authenticity.

If you are keen to propagate the beautiful teachings of Islam by using the text facility then make sure it is something beneficial, correct and authentic. Moreover, the day of Jumu‘ah should not be fixed for this; any day and every day should be made mubarak by conveying a piece from the teachings of our beautiful dīn.

Name at the End of Text
Whenever you send a text message, it is important to write your name at the end of the text, because it is possible that the person you are texting has not saved your number on his mobile. As a result, he will be confused and inconvenienced when he receives the text due to not knowing who the sender is.

In The Masjid
When attending the masjid one should switch off his mobile. Failure to do so will result in one being disrespectful to the house of Allāh as well as being a means of disturbance to others if the phone were to ring. It is prudent not to even leave the phone in vibration mode. In this situation if the phone were to receive a call during salāh, not only will it divert the phone owner's attention it will also disturb the person next to him. Many people immediately after the completion of salāh check their phones for possible missed calls or messages. This shows that although one was physically standing in the court of Allāh, mentally he was elsewhere. Thus we should switch our phones off before entering the masjid and not pay attention towards them until we leave.

Haram Sharīf
Many people would not even dream of answering a phone call whilst in the masjid when they are in their localities. However we observe the very same people freely using the mobile phone in the Haram Sharīf in Makkah and Madīnah. One should make a firm resolution and refrain from this for this leads to neglect and many other wrongs whilst in blessed places.

Musical Ring Tone
We should make sure that we have an appropriate simple ring tone on our mobile phone. To keep a musical ring tone is harām as the playing of music, or being a means of it being played is a sin. It is quite unfortunate that even when in Haramayn Sharīfayn whilst performing tawāf or presenting salām to the Prophet sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam, the musical tones of mobile phones are heard.
This is harām and a major sin. Safeguard yourself from such things that distance you from the Creator.

'Islamic' Ring Tones
The adhān, salām, tilāwah of the Glorious Qur’ān, nāt and nashīd are used as ring tones by many on mobile phones. The adhān has a set time and a purpose and should only be announced at the time for the stipulated purpose. Salām also has a specific purpose which is to greet one another. The Glorious Qur' ān is the word of Allāh and has been sent for guidance of mankind. The Shari’ah has stipulated many rulings in regard to this great book. Nāt and nashīd are recited to inculcate and increase the love for our beloved Prophet sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam in our hearts. None of these should be used to inform us that someone is calling us. This is disrespectful. One should merely keep a simple ring tone for this purpose.

How Many Rings
If when ringing someone one finds that the phone cuts off after a few rings or diverts to an answering machine, then the caller may try again. One should retry a maximum of three times for it may be that the person was busy and as he approached the phone it stopped ringing and thus he was unable to answer. However, there are some phones that do not divert or cut-off and keep ringing. In such cases the caller should let it continue ringing for that duration which would be considered normal, approximately ten rings. If the call is not answered then put the phone down because not answering indicates that the person is either occupied or does not wish to speak. Do not cause inconvenience by compelling.

Mobile and Teachers
It is not permissible for teachers at madrasah or school to use the mobile during their working hours for the madrasah and the school has purchased that time from them. This time does not belong to them; it has become the property of the employing establishment.

Communication Skills

2011-01-10T22:01:00.001+05:30

Are we Communicating Effectively?
Humans are social beings who continually interact with people. The soundness of our relationship with people is largely based on our interpersonal skills. Interpersonal skills are the skills that a person uses to interact with other people. Interpersonal skills are sometimes also referred to as communication skills. No matter how hard you work or how brilliant you are, if you cannot connect with people around you, you will lead a life of conflict or emotional detachment from those around you. We start learning interpersonal skills from the time we are born, the very first and natural means of communication for a baby is to cry and as we grow, we gradually learn how people are likely to react to what we say and do. Some of the interpersonal skills that the Quran refers to are:

1. “Take to Forbearance:” Make allowance for human nature and do not be too harsh with those who err. The shortcomings you see in others are simply a reflection of your own human weaknesses. Nabi Sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam once asked the Ashaab Radhi-Allahu anhu: “Should I not inform you of an individual who becomes forbidden for the fire of hell and the fire of hell becomes forbidden for him?” “A person who is gentle, soft, near the hearts of people and easy going.” (Ahmed)

2. “Enjoin the Doing of Right:” You can only advise people to do good if you believe they have the potential to do so. Focus on their potential and not on their limitations. If people know we expect good things from them, they will in most cases go to great lengths to live up to our expectations. If you treat people on the basis of what they can be, you help them to become what they are capable of becoming.

3. “Leave alone those who Choose to be Quarrelsome:” Once the Prophet Sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam was sitting with his Companions, and one person used insulting words against Abu Bakr Radhi-Allahu anhu causing him pain. But Abu Bakr Radhi-Allahu anhu remained silent. The person again used bitter words against Abu Bakr Radhi-Allahu anhu and still Abu Bakr Radhi-Allahu anhu did not respond. The third time when this ignorant person hurt Abu Bakr Radhi-Allahu anhu with his tongue, Abu Bakr Radhi-Allahu anhu tried answering back. At this point the Prophet Sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam got up. Abu Bakr Radhi-Allahu anhu asked him, “Are you displeased with me, O Messenger of Allah?”

The Prophet Sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam replied, “No, but (when you remained silent) an angel came down from the heaven responding to this man's talk. But the moment you started replying to that man, the angel went away and the devil sat down. And I cannot sit where the devil is sitting.”
(Abu Dawud)

4. Use Appropriate Words: “O You who believe! Remain conscious of Allah and always speak appropriate words…” (33:70) Inappropriate words include being sarcastic, hurtful, or saying what you do not mean. Nabi Sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam has said: “Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day should speak good or keep silent.” “Watch what you say! Say what you mean, and mean what you say!”

5. Learn to Listen: “In this (the rise and fall of nations) there is a reminder for everyone who has a heart, everyone who lends an ear with a conscious mind.” (50: 37) Can you lend an ear without a conscious mind? This verse shows the difference between simply hearing and listening. Listening is to hear with the presence of heart and mind. To give thought and to reflect at what is being said. Concentrate on what the speaker is saying. The best way to persuade people is with your ears— by listening to them.

6. Be Conscious of your Body Language: Body language is a form of non-verbal communication, which consists of body posture, gestures, facial expressions, and eye movements. As humans we send and interpret such signals subconsciously.

Nabi Sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam was reprimanded for frowning in front of and turning his face away from a blind man, because he was annoyed at him interrupting a very important discussion he was having with the chiefs of the Quraish. The blind man could not have possible picked up the body language of Nabi Sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam yet he was reprimanded so that we may know the importance of non-verbal communication.

Interpersonal skills could be summarised in one short hadith of Nabi Sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam who said: "Be a bearer of glad tidings and do not scare people away from you , make things easy and no dot make things difficult.” (Abu Dawud)

Make Allah grant us the power to communicate effectively. Aameen.
(An abridged New Hijri Year Message from Jamiatul Ulama South Africa)

Part One the language and the scientific approachScience and

2010-08-24T23:35:00.000+05:30

Part One the language and the scientific approachScience and

Why The World Needs WikiLeaks

2010-07-28T08:23:00.000+05:30

Chris Anderson Interviews Julian Assange

25 July, 2010
Ted.com

WikiLeaks collects and posts highly classified documents and video. Founder Julian Assange, who's reportedly being sought for questioning by US authorities, talks to TED's Chris Anderson about how the site operates, what it has accomplished -- and what drives him. The interview includes graphic footage of a recent US airstrike in Baghdad.

Internet activist Julian Assange serves as spokesperson for WikiLeaks, a controversial, volunteer-driven website that publishes and comments on leaked documents alleging government and corporate misconduct.

Why you should listen to him:

You could say Australian-born Julian Assange has swapped his long-time interest in network security flaws for the far-more-suspect flaws of even bigger targets: governments and corporations. Since his early 20s, he has been using network technology to prod and probe the vulnerable edges of administrative systems, but though he was a computing hobbyist first (in 1991 he was the target of hacking charges after he accessed the computers of an Australian telecom), he's now taken off his "white hat" and launched a career as one of the world's most visible human-rights activists.

He calls himself "editor in chief." He travels the globe as its spokesperson. Yet Assange's part in WikiLeaks is clearly dicier than that: he's become the face of creature that, simply, many powerful organizations would rather see the world rid of. His Wikipedia entry says he is "constantly on the move," and some speculate that his role in publishing decrypted US military video has put him in personal danger. A controversial figure, pundits debate whether his work is reckless and does more harm than good. Amnesty International recognized him with an International Media Award in 2009.

Assange studied physics and mathematics at the University of Melbourne. He wrote Strobe, the first free and open-source port scanner, and contributed to the book Underground: Tales of Hacking, Madness and Obsession on the Electronic Frontier.

Transcript

Chris Anderson: Julian, welcome. It's been reported that WikiLeaks, your baby, has ... in the last few years has released more classified documents than the rest of the world's media combined. Can that possibly be true?

Julian Assange: Yeah, can it possibly be true? It's a worry -- isn't it? -- that the rest of the world's media is doing such a bad job that a little group of activists is able to release more of that type of information than the rest of the world press combined.

CA: How does it work? How do people release the documents? And how do you secure their privacy?

JA: So these are -- as far as we can tell -- classical whistleblowers. And we have a number of ways for them to get information to us. So we use just state-of-the-art encryption to bounce stuff around the Internet, to hide trails, pass it through legal jurisdictions like Sweden and Belgium to enact those legal protections. We get information in the mail, the regular postal mail, encrypted or not, vet it like a regular news organization, format it -- which is sometimes something that's quite hard to do, when you're talking about giant databases of information -- release it to the public and then defend ourselves against the inevitable legal and political attacks.

CA: So you make an effort to ensure the documents are legitimate. But you actually almost never know who the identity of the source is.

JA: That's right, yeah. Very rarely do we ever know. And if we find out at some stage then we destroy that information as soon as possible. (Phone ring) God damn it.

(Laughter)

CA: I think that's the CIA asking what the code is for a TED membership.

(Laughter)

So let's take the example, actually. This is something you leaked a few years ago. If we can have this document up ... So this was a story in Kenya a few years ago. Can you tell us what you leaked and what happened?

JA: So this is the Kroll Report. This was a secret intelligence report commissioned by the Kenyan government after its election in 2004. Prior to 2004, Kenya was ruled by Daniel arap Moi for about 18 years. He was a soft dictator of Kenya. And when Kibaki got into power -- through a coalition of forces that were trying to clean up corruption in Kenya -- they commissioned this report, spent about two million pounds on this and an associated report. And then the government sat on it and used it for political leverage on Moi, who was the richest man -- still is the richest man -- in Kenya. It's the Holy Grail of Kenyan journalism. So I went there in 2007, and we managed to get hold of this just prior to the election -- the national election, December 28. When we released that report, we did so three days after the new president, Kibaki, had decided to pal up with the man that he was going to clean out, Daniel arap Moi. So this report then became a dead albatross around president Kibaki's neck.

CA: And -- I mean, to cut a long story short -- word of the report leaked into Kenya, not from the official media, but indirectly. And in your opinion, it actually shifted the election. JA: Yeah. So this became front page of the Guardian and was then printed in all the surrounding countries of Kenya, in Tanzanian and South African press. And so it came in from the outside. And that, after a couple of days, made the Kenyan press feel safe to talk about it. And it ran for 20 nights straight on Kenyan TV, shifted the vote by 10 percent, according to a Kenyan intelligence report, which changed the result of the election.

CA: Wow, so your leak really substantially changed the world?

JA: Yep.

(Applause)

CA: Here's -- We're going to just show a short clip from this Baghdad airstrike video. The video itself is longer. But here's a short clip. This is -- this is intense material, I should warn you.

Radio: ... just fuckin', once you get on 'em just open 'em up. I see your element, uh, got about four Humvees, uh, out along ... You're clear. All right. Firing. Let me know when you've got them. Let's shoot. Light 'em all up. C'mon, fire! (Machine gun fire) Keep shoot 'n. Keep shoot 'n. (Machine gun fire) Keep shoot 'n. Hotel ... Bushmaster Two-Six, Bushmaster Two-Six, we need to move, time now! All right, we just engaged all eight individuals. Yeah, we see two birds, and we're still firing. Roger. I got 'em. Two-Six, this is Two-Six, we're mobile. Oops, I'm sorry. What was going on? God damn it, Kyle. All right, hahaha. I hit 'em.

CA: So, what was the impact of that?

JA: The impact on the people who worked on it was severe. We ended up sending two people to Baghdad to further research that story. So this is just the first of three attacks that occurred in that scene.

CA: So, I mean, 11 people died in that attack, right, including two Reuters employees?

JA: Yeah. Two Reuters employees, two young children were wounded. There were between 18 and 26 people killed all together.

CA: And releasing this caused widespread outrage. What was the key element of this that actually caused the outrage, do you think?

JA: I don't know, I guess people can see the gross disparity in force. You have guys walking in a relaxed way down the street, and then an Apache helicopter sitting up in one corner firing 30-millimeter cannon shells on everyone -- looking for any excuse to do so -- and killing people rescuing the wounded. And there was two journalists involved that clearly weren't insurgents because that's their full-time job.

CA: I mean, there's been this U.S. intelligence analyst, Bradley Manning, arrested. And it's alleged that he confessed in a chat room to have leaked this video to you, along with 280,000 classified U.S. embassy cables. I mean, did he?

JA: Well, we have denied receiving those cables. He has been charged, about five days ago, with obtaining 150,000 cables and releasing 50. Now, we had released early in the year a cable from the Reykjavik U.S. embassy. But this is not necessarily connected. I mean, I was a known visitor of that embassy.

CA: I mean, if you did receive thousands of U.S. embassy diplomatic cables ...

JA: We would have released them. (CA: You would?)

JA: Yeah. (CA: Because?)

JA: Well, because these sort of things reveal what the true state of, say, Arab governments are like, the true human-rights abuses in those governments. If you look at declassified cables, that's the sort of material that's there.

CA: So let's talk a little more broadly about this. I mean, in general, what's your philosophy? Why is it right to encourage leaking of secret information?

JA: Well, there's a question as to what sort of information is important in the world, what sort of information can achieve reform. And there's a lot of information. So information that organizations are spending economic effort into concealing, that's a really good signal that when the information gets out, there's a hope of it doing some good. Because the organizations that know it best, that know it from the inside out, are spending work to conceal it. And that's what we've found in practice. And that's what the history of journalism is.

CA: But are there risks with that, either to the individuals concerned or indeed to society at large, where leaking can actually have an unintended consequence?

JA: Not that we have seen with anything we have released. I mean, we have a harm immunization policy. We have a way of dealing with information that has sort of personal -- personally identifying information in it. But there are legitimate secrets -- you know, your records with your doctor; that's a legitimate secret. But we deal with whistleblowers that are coming forward that are really sort of well motivated.

CA: So they are well-motivated. And what would you say to, for example, the, you know, the parent of someone -- whose son is out serving the U.S. military, and he says, "You know what, you've put up something that someone had an incentive to put out. It shows a U.S. soldier laughing at people dying. That gives the impression -- has given the impression to millions of people around the world that U.S. soldiers are inhuman people. Actually, they're not. My son isn't. How dare you?" What would you say to that?

JA: Yeah, we do get a lot of that. But remember, the people in Baghdad, the people in Iraq, the people in Afghanistan -- they don't need to see the video; they see it every day. So it's not going to change their opinion. It's not going to change their perception. That's what they see every day. It will change the perception and opinion of the people who are paying for it all. And that's our hope.

CA: So you found a way to shine light into what you see as these sort of dark secrets in companies and in government. Light is good. But do you see any irony in the fact that, in order for you to shine that light, you have to, yourself, create secrecy around your sources?

JA: Not really. I mean, we don't have any WikiLeaks dissidents yet. We don't have sources who are dissidents on other sources. Should they come forward, that would be a tricky situation for us. But we're presumably acting in such a way that people feel morally compelled to continue our mission, not to screw it up.

CA: I'd actually be interested, just based on what we've heard so far -- I'm curious as to the opinion in the TED audience. You know, there might be a couple of views of WikiLeaks and of Julian. You know, hero -- people's hero -- bringing this important light. Dangerous troublemaker. Who's got the hero view? Who's got the dangerous troublemaker view?

JA: Oh, come on. There must be some.

CA: It's a soft crowd, Julian, a soft crowd. We have to try better. Let's show them another example. Now here's something that you haven't yet leaked, but I think for TED you are. I mean it's an intriguing story that's just happened, right. What is this?

JA: So this is a sample of what we do sort of every day. So late last year -- in November last year -- there was a series of well blowouts in Albania like the well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico, but not quite as big. And we got a report -- a sort of engineering analysis into what happened -- saying that, in fact, security guards from some rival, various competing oil firms had, in fact, parked trucks there and blown them up. And part of the Albanian government was in this, etc., etc. And the engineering report had nothing on the top of it. So it was an extremely difficult document for us. We couldn't verify it because we didn't know who wrote it and knew what it was about. So we were kind of skeptical that maybe it was a competing oil firm just sort of playing the issue up. So under that basis, we put it out an said, "Look, we're skeptical about this thing. We don't know, but what can we do? The material looks good, it feels right, but we just can't verify it." And we then got a letter just this week from the company who wrote it, wanting to track down the source -- (Laughter) saying, "Hey, we want to track down the source." And we were like, "Oh, tell us more. What document, precisely, is it you're talking about? Can you show that you had legal authority over that document? Is it really yours?" So they sent us this screen shot with the author in the Microsoft Word ID. Yeah. (Applause) That's happened quite a lot though. This is like one of our methods of identifying -- of verifying what a material is, is to try and get these guys to write letters.

CA: Yeah. Have you had information from inside BP.

JA: Yeah, we have a lot, but I mean, at the moment, we are undergoing a sort of serious fundraising and engineering effort. So our publication rate over the past few months has been sort of minimized while we're re-engineering our back systems for the phenomenal public interest that we have. That's a problem. I mean, like any sort of growing startup organization, we are sort of overwhelmed by our growth. And that means we're getting enormous quantity of whistleblower disclosures of a very high caliber, but don't have enough people to actually process and vet this information.

CA: So that's the key bottleneck, basically journalistic volunteers and/or the funding of journalistic salaries?

JA: Yep. Yeah, and trusted people. I mean, we're an organization that is hard to grow very quickly because of the sort of material we deal with. So we have to restructure in order to have people who will deal with the highest national security stuff, and then lower security cases.

CA: So help us understand about you personally and how you came to do this. And I think I read that as a kid you went to 37 different schools. Can that be right?

JA: Well, my parents were in the movie business and then on the run from a cult, so the combination between the two ...

(Laughter)

CA: I mean, a psychologist might say that's a recipe for breeding paranoia.

JA: What, the movie business?

(Laughter)

(Applause)

CA: And you were also -- I mean, you were also a hacker at an early age and ran into the authorities early on. JA: Well, I was a journalist. You know, I was a very young journalist activist at an early age. I wrote a magazine, was prosecuted for it when I was a teenager. So you have to be careful with hacker. I mean there's like -- there's a method that can be deployed for various things. Unfortunately, at the moment, it's mostly deployed by the Russian mafia in order to steal your grandmother's bank accounts. So this phrase is not -- not as nice as it used to be.

CA: Yeah, well, I certainly don't think you're stealing anyone's grandmother's bank account. But what about your core values? Can you give us a sense of what they are and maybe some incident in your life that helped determine them?

JA: I'm not sure about the incident. But the core values: well, capable, generous men do not create victims; they nurture victims. And that's something from my father and something from other capable, generous men that have been in my life.

CA: Capable, generous men do not create victims; they nurture victims?

JA: Yeah. And you know, I'm a combative person, so I'm not actually sort of big on the nurture. But some way -- There is another way of nurturing victims, which is to police perpetrators of crime. And so that is something that has been in my character for a long time.

CA: So just tell us, very quickly in the last minute, the story: what happened in Iceland? You basically published something there, ran into trouble with a bank, then the news service there was injuncted from running the story. Instead, they publicized your side. That made you very high-profile in Iceland. What happened next?

JA: Yeah, this is a great case, you know. Iceland went through this financial crisis. It was the hardest hit of any country in the world. Its banking sector was 10 times the GDP of the rest of the economy. Anyway, so we release this report in July last year. And the national TV station was injuncted five minutes before it went on air. Like out of a movie, injunction landed on the news desk, and the news reader was like, "This has never happened before. What do we do?" Well, we just show the website instead, for all that time, as a filler. And we became very famous in Iceland, went to Iceland and spoke about this issue. And there was a feeling in the community that that should never happen again. And as a result, working with some Icelandic politicians and some other international legal experts, we put together a new sort of package of legislation for Iceland to sort of become an offshore haven for the free press, with the strongest journalistic protections in the world, with a new Nobel Prize for freedom of speech. Iceland's a Nordic country so, like Norway, it's able to tap into the system. And just a month ago, this was passed by the Icelandic parliament unanimously.

CA: Wow.

(Applause)

Last question, Julian. When you think of the future then, do you think it's more likely to be Big Brother exerting more control, more secrecy, or us watching Big Brother, or it's just all to be played for either way?

JA: I'm not sure which way it's going to go. I mean there's enormous pressures to harmonize freedom of speech legislation and transparency legislation around the world -- within the E.U., between China and the United States. Which way is it going to go? It's hard to see. That's why it's a very interesting time to be in. Because with just a little bit of effort we can shift it one way or the other.

CA: Well, it looks like I'm reflecting the audience's opinion to say, Julian, be careful and all power to you.

JA: Thank you, Chris. (CA: Thank you.)

(Applause)

Are we fit to be Teachers? - Arindam Chaudhuri

2010-07-25T12:47:00.000+05:30

PHYSICAL PUNISHMENT IN SCHOOLS LEADING TO DEATHS AND SUICIDES… ARE WE FIT TO BE TEACHERS?

When I was growing up in one of the better schools of Delhi, it was most common to see teachers slapping students. Scales being broken on our knuckles was as common a sight too, and as early as in class fifth, though luckily I always escaped. When I reached class sixth, I wasn’t that lucky. In one of the sculpture classes, an assistant came around and with his hard hands, slapped me hard on my head, because in all my creative excitement, I was engaged in talking to my friend Partho Saha, who was someone I looked up to when it came to creativity (I still do; and today he heads most of our technology projects at Planman, along with being a Dean at IIPM). I was furious. I wanted to hit back. I controlled myself, but went back home and told my father that he must do something about it. He was from the same school of thought as mine – rather, I had inherited his points of view. So the next day, my father took me to the principal of our school – a legendary name in education those days, R S Lugani – and told him that physical punishment is not what he would allow his son to go through in school.

So after discussions, it was decided that I would from then on carry a letter in my pocket, which mentioned that if any teacher had a problem with me, it could be written down and subsequently sent to my father, but the teachers couldn’t hit me. And the letter bore a stamp of the Principal’s office. I think it was the most unique exception that our principal had ever made. And from thereon, till I passed out of school, no teacher could ever physically hit me! (Incidentally, my grandfather too had obtained a similar letter for my father during his school days, which allowed my father to escape all kinds of physical punishment). However, like I mentioned, this was an exceptional case. The reality was that students were getting beaten up regularly almost by all male teachers and by a third of female teachers. The solace that students used to find was from the one or two good words these rank bad and rude teachers used to tell them. And thus the word used to spread about specific teachers, that they beat students up – mercilessly at that – but had a very kind heart. I found it sickening. So much so that when I got promoted to class eleventh and took up the commerce stream, there was a teacher who was known for keeping hockey sticks in his room and beating students up with them. But again, the word was that he otherwise had a very kind heart!

The truth is that by hitting anyone – especially a child in school – we only display our lack of education. We display the fact that we aren’t fit to be teachers in the first place. Because if we want a world where peace stands a chance, where road rage doesn’t happen and where people are more tolerant and loving towards each other, we have got to show peace, love and tolerance from the very beginning to all our children in schools. We have to see to it that they grow up seeing no violence.

In my sixteen years of experience as a teacher, I can say very confidently that there can be absolutely no reason for which a teacher is required to physically punish a student inside a classroom or in front of others. If a teacher is good, and committed to teaching – and not churning out mechanical morons who mug up topics – he enjoys the process so much that even for students, it becomes akin to recreation. Learning becomes fun and the question of forcing any student doesn’t arise. In fact, in IIPM, when any teacher comes and complains that some particular section of students is uncontrollable and bad, I drop the teacher. Because it’s my firm belief that no, absolutely no student is bad. Those are teachers who are bad, boring and less passionate about changing lives. So they don’t teach well; and students therefore are not attentive. Finally, the teachers blame the students.

It’s not a student’s responsibility to enter a classroom and be attentive and learn. It’s a teacher’s responsibility to make the student feel interested in the class and make him feel that it is a life changing experience. Only then will students attend classes. And if that’s not the case, then in fact students shouldn’t attend classes. So a good teacher never has student problems. Only bad teachers have. And they use physical punishment as a shortcut force to make students attentive. But the human nature unfortunately is such, that physical punishment in childhood never helps. It gives rise to mainly two kinds of people. One, those who get used to it and don’t care and become all the more adamant. And the other, whose personalities get deformed due to the fear of punishment – such students may become more obedient but their personalities are ruined forever.

Therefore, we need serious laws in the country which completely rule out the use of physical punishment in school. A school’s job is to change lives and not to ruin them. Yes, there are kids who come from dysfunctional families, who get beaten up at home and have a nature that is oft en very negative. A teacher’s job is to have the ability to change such a nature. And there are scores of examples where great individual teachers have changed the most hardened of negative souls. That’s what a teacher is about. Yes, if the teacher is not trained well enough to change the students, and the student is a menace, then the teacher can at worst hand the student over to his parents or law enforcers. But a teacher is no police and should have absolutely no legal right to physically hit children. And no parent must allow their children to be hit in school. They must have a great level of communication with their children so that they share freely and tell what’s happening with them in school.

We all must realize that a good teacher is that teacher who believes his job is to make better human beings through the education he imparts – be it literature, history or science. He is that person who believes that his job is to make students believe that the learning inside the class will change their lives and make them better persons. A teacher should be a person who is so passionate about this that he innovates ways to make his classes so interesting that students don’t find it a burden and enjoy the same. Such a teacher is one for whom punishment is not an option at all – the only option is good and passionate teaching. And the only religion for such a teacher is an obsession to make the boy sitting in the front row of the class understand his teachings as well as the boy sitting in the last row of the class – regardless of their intellect, IQ, past interest in the subject or upbringing. That’s what good teaching is about. That’s what creating miracles in the classrooms is about. That’s what I must add IIPM is about.

Can't you conserve a bucket of water?

2010-06-27T22:55:00.000+05:30

Y. Phanindra

Water is being used as if it is a never-ending source. Obviously, we cannot decide how much rain we will get, nor can we predict to a good degree of accuracy when would rain occur. The only thing we can do to save ourselves from the dangerous situation of “lack of water to drink while we are thirsty” is to conserve water.

Let us ask ourselves how much water is wasted when we brush our teeth due to the non-stop flow from the tap? Water is also excessively used, rather wasted, while washing clothes and cleaning dishes. Flushing the toilet sometimes excessively when just two mugs of water is sufficient — which of course is a sign of laziness — is another cause of water loss. If just one person wastes so much water, we can well imagine the amount wasted by a family, a town, a city, nay, an entire nation.

Most of us know about these things. Knowing is one thing but realising it and taking steps to remedy the situation is crucial. We can impart the message of conservation to our children in school; the alarming decline in water resources and the ever-increasing need for the precious life giving liquid should be taught to the younger generation today so it will become responsible citizenry tomorrow.

That apart, what can we do? If we are really serious about the situation, we should act now. All of us can all conserve at least a bucket of water everyday if we are prudent in using the scarce resource. Please remember, a bucket of water saved by every individual everyday in our country of billion-plus means enormous.

We may become richer if we have a lot of gold reserves, but we will die if we don't have water. In olden times, people used to say that a person is spending money like water when he is spending too much.

If we continue in that fashion, the situation may get reversed. We need to create a situation where a person will spend water like money. A country with more water reserves will be richer than one which has more money. And India, where agriculture is the primary occupation for many people, water conservation is a must.

A bucket of water saved by everyone means a lot for our billion-plus population.

Source:http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-openpage/article487999.ece

Have your luxuries, but spare a thought for the environment

2010-06-27T22:52:00.000+05:30

Sophia Yusuf

Is there a way of living extravagantly and still saving the planet?

Extravagance. Amazing cars with powerful engines and huge exhausts and half a kilometre of unleaded petrol per litre, air cons anytime everywhere, huge houses, lots of servants, expensive furniture, real leather, fur, mink, how many of us are drooling as we read this?

Let us admit it. We love extravagance. Unless we have religious reasons to stay away from something or the other, we just have to have everything. Let us just admit it; we are not the Mahatma. That requires an extraordinary strength of mind, and more than a little madness in the blood. How many of us can boast these characteristics?

But we all would like to see a green world, a clean world, one where you see natural beauty everywhere you turn, where breathing is a healthy and pleasing thing to do, rather than a necessity you would avoid if you could (how many times do we walk the city with our hands on our noses?).

So how do we achieve both? How do we achieve that elusive balance between extravagance and environmental-friendly living? How do we enjoy our luxuries without feeling guilty, or wondering whether we are contributing to global warming?

By being aware, of course. You want to buy that car? That incredibly expensive car that people will stare at every time you take it out (or rather, try to spot it, because you are not driving below a hundred when you take that car out)? Go ahead, then, buy it.

But also include walking in your routine. Sure, if you want to zip on the highway, that car makes perfect sense. Sure, if you want to show off to your gym buddies, take it there. But to the grocery store? I am pretty sure those people at the grocery store couldn't care less about the car you come in to buy milk. Walk. Walk to your grocery store. In fact, why don't you chart a mental map? Walk to all those places that are 10-15 minute walk from your house.

When you go shopping, try parking your car five minutes away from the mall and walk. Saves that much petrol, and stops that much pollution. Five minutes can't kill you. And even if you have heavy bags to carry, you could always come back and drive your car to the entrance to take them in, or ask the shop boys to help you. If for no other reason, they will help you for ten bucks out of your pocket.

Can't be bothered to turn off all lights and fans (sorry, a/c) when you are not using them? All right, don't. Can you turn one light off? By turning off that one light, you save that much energy. Just a pinch, maybe, but saving that pinch is better than wasting that pinch, don't you think so?

Too cool to carry your own cloth bag to the grocery store? Ok, don't. But you can at least make sure they put everything in one or two bags, rather than using too many bags, cant you? I am sure that is not much of a sacrifice. But it saves that much of plastic.

Too lazy to find a dustbin on the road? All right, don't. But as you are walking or driving, you will come across garbage heaps on the roadside. Throw your garbage there at least. That way, you are still showing some civic sense, aren't you?

Oh yes, go ahead and spend all the money you have on all the luxuries you can buy. Just make sure that you save wherever you can . That is all you need to do. So stop feeling guilty about all the harm you are causing society, and get involved in some any planet-saving activity. The smallest gesture makes a difference. And the word is awareness .

Source:http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-openpage/article488000.ece

Travails of a teacher

2010-06-27T22:46:00.000+05:30

T.R. Maragatham

I was spurred to write this article on reading the news item, “Strength of class also counts” ( The Hindu, June 9, Chennai edition), wherein it has been stated that the attention a student gets depends to a large extent on the student-teacher ratio, which in any ideal elementary class should be 25-30: 1. A retired teacher, I can understand the importance of this issue.

Till last year, I was working in an aided higher secondary school with a good reputation. But I opted for voluntary retirement for a variety of reasons, among them the workload of handling unwieldy classes. The school produces excellent results in the board exams and so the demand for admissions is always high. The management has to yield to the tears and pressures of parents. The result is an overflowing population in each classroom and we teachers are helpless witnesses to the phenomenon.

An overcrowded class drains the physical and even mental strength of the teacher. This is what happened in my career spanning 25 years. Since I was handling classes X and XII, I was under constant pressure to produce cent per cent results. A language teacher has to correct double the number of answer papers, of Language Paper I & II. I held special classes on most Saturdays and, on many occasions, I could not manage time for personal work. I was travelling almost two hours daily to reach my school. So it would be very late when I returned home after completing the special class and I had to concentrate on class work late into the night.

All this told on my health. My voice got abused by the necessity of speaking loud to reach out to all students. My forefinger thickened with continuous correction work. In fact, my correction work consumed all my Dasara and Christmas vacations and at the end of every vacation, I returned to school with irritation in the eyes and pain in the neck and back. Social commitments and entertainment were next to non-existent.

Inspirational teachers like Dr. Radhakrishnan could not help me either when I had to face a class of 80 to 90 students. Eye contact with every student was not possible as by the time my eyes surveyed half of the class one period would be over! Practically, it became impossible to look at everyone. That my myopic vision couldn't register faces from the last rows was another matter!

I am not boasting, I have all through been a teacher with commitment. In all my service, I availed myself of only 10 days of medical leave for a surgical operation. I had never exhausted my CL or EL. I say all this only to stress how demanding a teacher's job is, especially when the strength of the class is unreasonably large. You are exhausted and you call it quits.

Source:http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-openpage/article488003.ece

Teachers, isn't it time to teach?

2010-06-27T22:42:00.000+05:30

Sunil Sondhi

In recent years, the government of India has substantially increased the financial resources for inputs that will help to provide quality education for all. Measures have also been taken to make education more inclusive by providing assured access to disadvantaged sections. The implicit (though rarely stated) expectation is that this financing and access would provide students with time and opportunities to interact with teachers and engage in learning activities.

Surprisingly, little attention has been paid to the proportion of the mandated teaching time that is actually used to engage students in learning and its relationship to student performance and government spending. The number of teaching days mandated by the government is rarely implemented in most of the government schools and colleges. Without looking into this important issue, educational policy reforms may not yield the desired results. Government schools and colleges systematically seem to function in deviation from the official timetables. Strikes, festivals, elections, and delayed opening of academic sessions account for routine disruptions in most schools and colleges, which are estimated to impart education for only 120 days of the mandated 180. It is common to see classes in colleges getting disrupted for several days during elections to student unions or staff associations. Strikes too seem to have become a norm and matter of right.

Teacher absenteeism has been studied in considerable detail, and it has been recognised for long that the loss rates are 25 per cent. Even when they are not absent, teachers may come late. They may also avoid teaching. A Public Report on Basic Education in India found that in only 53 per cent of the schools visited by the research staff all teachers were actually teaching in their classrooms; in 21 per cent of the surveyed schools, teachers were mainly “minding the class.” In the remaining 26 per cent, they were talking with other teachers, sitting/standing outside the room, were in the staff room, or were observed in other non-teaching activities. The situation in government colleges may not be very different.

The loss of learning time due to disruptions and absenteeism has an adverse impact on the quality of education. Though correlation studies do not prove causality, published studies do suggest that teacher absenteeism is related to lower student performance. A NASSCOM study recently reported that only 25 per cent of the graduates from the Indian universities were considered employable by industry. What these graduates lacked most were soft skills such as communication, teamwork, and problem-solving approach. If learning is imparted in colleges for only 120 out of the 180 teaching days, there will hardly be any time for teaching anything beyond the bare syllabus. Even that may not be always completed. In such a situation, what goes on in the name of higher education in most colleges is more a farce than reality.

To make up for the learning time lost to strikes, absenteeism, and lack of timely feedback, some students resort to private tuition. Tutored students are able to perform better in schools and colleges, whereas students of low-income families become disadvantaged. Students from low-income families need more time for learning to read, write and engage in discussions. Classroom interruptions and disruptions have a greater impact on these students in terms of loss of learning time. It has been estimated that such students would need to attend classes for several months in order to attain an equivalent amount of engaged learning time. Wastage adds up over time and creates the risk of failure for poorer students. Educators call this problem the “pedagogy of poverty.”

Loss of learning time has significant economic implications for the country. Government revenues pay for teachers' salaries, buildings, teacher training, and materials, and it is expected that 100 per cent of this investment will be used for student learning. For instance, the total Plan and non-Plan grant to the University of Delhi under the XI Plan is estimated at Rs. 2,500 crore. This is meant for an academic year of 180 teaching days. If it actually turns out to be of only 120 days, more than Rs. 800 crore of taxpayers' money will go down the drain. Probably, no institution uses 100 per cent of its time productively, but losses of the magnitude shown in various studies suggest that education costs more than it ought to, or achieves less for what it costs.

There could be several ways of increasing the instructional inputs and outputs if policy or managerial interventions were designed to increase learning time. Such interventions may be institutionally harder, though they would be cheaper on government outlays. Policy dialogue is needed to address the sources of “leakage” at the levels of administration, teacher and classroom, and plan action to eliminate it. The future of the educational reforms will depend on how seriously the government takes the wastage of learning time. The proposed regulatory authority for education must ensure that the time and money the government provides for learning by the students are actually spent for obtaining learning outcomes.

(The writer is Principal, Maharaja Agrasen College, University of Delhi. Emai l: sondhisunil@yahoo.com)

If learning is imparted in colleges for only 120 out of the 180 mandated days, there will hardly be any time for teaching anything beyond the bare syllabus.

Source:http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-openpage/article488001.ece

When you pen a letter, you put life into it

2010-06-27T22:39:00.000+05:30

- V.N. Mukundarajan
Do people still write letters, that is, by hand? This question will seem absurd for a generation intoxicated with gadgets that eliminate face-to-face-interaction and require using fingers to type keys or press mobile phone buttons rather than hold pens to write on paper. Technological innovations bombard us every day at breathtaking speed that we seldom reflect on how our social lives have changed, how social phenomena which held sway for centuries have been rendered redundant, if not totally irrelevant.

Solemn obituaries have been written for the old fashioned typewriter, the pager and the telegram. Let us pause and spare a moment for the vanishing handwritten letter.

For centuries, personal letters were the dominant mode of communication among people. The postman was one of the most awaited daily visitors in the household. Emotions varied from disappointment when the postman said ‘no letter' to excitement and euphoria when he handed an inland letter card, a postcard or an envelope. The inland letter was the most preferred mode for personal communication as its contents could be protected from prying eyes.

The card was mostly used for conveying pithy messages not requiring confidentiality. Some chose the envelope as it could enclose several pages.

The younger generation might ask: what is so great about the handwritten letter? Is it not a waste of time to sit down and write on a paper which will anyway take a few days to reach the addressee when the message could be conveyed within seconds by e- mail? The advent of cheap mobile telephony has driven another nail in the coffin of personal letter.

The greeting card has also reduced the need to sit down and write down loving messages to our dear ones. The once mighty pen is used nowadays mostly to put signatures.

A printed letter lacks the personal feeling and emotional affinity a written letter conveys. While reading a written letter one can visualise the writer sitting down and putting down his feelings on paper. There is an instant rapport in the written communication which the printed message or telephonic talk could never replicate. The familiar handwriting of a dear one evokes such happiness and delight that has to be experienced to be believed. People used to preserve letters for years as these humble pieces of paper afforded companionship in absentia.

Writing a letter requires us to slow down, think carefully and put down our thoughts. It adds a new perspective to our thought process. An e-mail or telephonic talk is impersonal and ephemeral. A written letter is a permanent record of communication. The greatest and noblest thoughts that the world has seen have been penned by their authors rather than recorded in print. The letters of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru contained some of their loftiest thoughts. The world would have lost much had great men had used tele- conversations or e- mail to pour out their wisdom.

People used to polish their handwriting skills by writing more and more letters. Writing also helped to improve the vocabulary, whether it was in vernacular or English.

The younger generation is sadly missing one of the most creative and emotionally and intellectually stimulating activities — writing letters. E-mails and texting reflect our inability to pause, think and create thoughts which carry the authenticity of intense feeling. The electronic letters have played havoc with grammar and structure. It is doubtful whether smart kids can write an error-free page with clarity. This is not to generalise the weakness. But the sad truth is known to those who are in finishing schools which teach soft skills to the ‘educated' unemployed. Instances of bloomers and absurd letters abound. A techie wrote a letter requesting leave of absence for attending his mother's funeral stating that he was ‘responsible' for his mother's death!

The intent is not to trivialise technology. Ironically, this piece has been typed on a computer and sent by e-mail. But the point is that we must occasionally use the pen and paper medium at least for personal communication. My advice to the young people who work at distant places is to try writing a letter to parents for a change. Hearing your voice over the mobile is comforting and reassuring. On the other hand, a telephonic conversation is forgotten soon. But reading your handwriting on paper opens the floodgates of nostalgia and emotional satisfaction which no other medium of communication can replicate. The pen is mighty even in this electronic age. Let us wield it at least occasionally to create islands of tranquillity and happiness in the vast ocean of sick hurry and digital surfeit.

A printed letter lacks the personal feeling and emotional affinity a written letter conveys… There is an instant rapport in the written communication which the printed message could never replicate.

Source:http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-openpage/article488002.ece

Facebook: Social Networking or Social Engineering?

2010-05-21T20:19:00.000+05:30

By: Mirza Yawar Baig
Posted: 6 Jumad al-Thani 1431, 20 May 2010

The big question is, ‘What is social networking and how is it useful?’

Of course you will hear the usual bleating saying, ‘It is so nice to know what my sister is doing….blah, blah.’

So ask this person, ‘Why can’t you send your sister an email asking what she is doing and she can respond to you. Or even better, if you can, call your sister and talk to her.’ But no, I must talk to my sister in a space where it is not only the sister who is listening but almost anyone who cares to listen, even if that person is a total stranger. So is it about your concern for your sister or is it something else?

So also in this space are pictures which really have no place outside the home – like the pictures showing you hugging your sister or wife or whoever! And so on and so on. I don’t think I need to describe all that there is to people who put it there in the first place.

Yes, of course there are controls. Tell me all about them. Tell me also how come almost nobody uses them. How many Facebook profiles do you know who have the maximum control activated where only their immediate family can see them? And of course in the end, all control is only as good as the techies and geeks on the Facebook site allow. After all they can access all that information anyway.

So what is really being achieved by Facebook, Twitter and so on? (Twitter?? Whoever coined that term was clever. Talk about under the belt. Who twitters? A twit!! – but then I suppose a twit doesn’t know that he is a twit, right?)

So what is achieved?

What is achieved is what would be the equivalent of peeping in through your window. Wanting to know what you are doing all the time. I want to know what you are doing all the time and I want you to know what I am doing all the time.

Intrusion into privacy when it is done against your will is unpleasant. So what is better? Get you into a state of mind where you will volunteer to tell people all about your internal organs on your own. See the change? An intruder is an intruder only when he intrudes against your will. If you invite him in, then he is a guest, not an intruder. Same person, same you but different rules. And that’s what it is all about, the rules of engagement.

So is it ‘social networking’ or is it ‘social engineering?’

The purpose is to change the rules of the society. Break barriers. Destroy the boundaries that protect us.

And where does this lead to? Addiction and intoxication. Addiction to seeing what others are doing and telling others what you are doing on a daily, hourly, minute by minute basis. And being intoxicated with the false feeling that you are so interesting that people are really interested in what you are doing. Not realizing or willing to believe that these are the actions of other intoxicated people.

You don’t like the word ‘intoxication’? Just don’t log onto your Facebook or Twitter account for two days and monitor your heartbeat, blood pressure, tremor in your mouse, whatever and you will see what I mean.

And all this for what? What is achieved with the time that you spend reading about other’s adenoids and telling them about yours? Incidentally I know what adenoids means and that you don’t talk about them. But let us not mention what facebookers really talk about!

So what did you achieve? Just ask yourself this question, ‘What did I achieve by being on Facebook and Twitter (or whichever of these infernal social networks you are on) over the past month, year or whatever period.’ Remember this is a serious question because you Muslim/ah are spending your time (life) doing it. And that makes it among the first questions that you will have to answer to Allah. So what did you achieve? Prepare the answer. You will need it.

Social networking is social engineering. Its purpose is to change the values and ethics of people. This is done, in its most benign form, to encourage you to indulge more and more in the consumerist society that is all consuming. We think we are the consumers. But we are in reality the consumed. Just think, how many of you buy things, see shows, go to restaurants (and other places), like or dislike things because of campaigns on Facebook and Twitter? See what is happening? Your minds are invaded, your thoughts are influenced, and consequently your actions are manipulated and you may not even realize it.

Today Muslims the world over are very angry with the latest offensive of the Facebook. But an impulsive reaction will hardly do us any good. Just staying off of the offensive site for one day, as many have advocated, will only highlight our capitulation to it.

It is time we rethink what are we doing with our lives and say no to social engineering. It is time to get off of Facebook, Twitter, and other similar sites that are destroying us from within.

Source:http://albalagh.net/current_affairs/0103.shtml

Freedom of Expression?

2010-05-21T20:17:00.000+05:30

By: Khalid Baig
Posted: 6 Jumad al-Thani 1431, 20 May 2010

With the latest in-your-face act of the Facebook, the issue is once again attracting headlines. Should Muslims react? How should they react? Where do they stand on the philosophical issue underlying all this?

In the media the issue has been framed as a clash between two camps. One camp stands for freedom of expression. The other wants to curtail it. Needless to say the first camp is enlightened and virtuous. The other is a relic of the dark ages. The clash in other words is between a civilized and civilizing West and Islam that just refuses to be civilized.

Once you accept this framing of the whole issue, the outcome is already decided. Are you for freedom of expression or not? It is a loaded question, and just like the yes/no question, “Have you stopped beating your wife?” no matter how you answer it, you remain guilty.

Look at the typical Muslim response which begins, “We also believe in freedom of expression but…” It matters little what you say after that. It is obvious that you are trying to add exclusions and limitations to a basic moral value while the other side is asking for no such limits. It is not difficult to see which side will come out ahead.

But this predicament is a result of uncritically accepting a false statement about the nature of the clash. For the real clash is not between those who are for and those who are against a freedom. Rather it is between two different freedoms. On the one hand is the freedom to insult. On the other is freedom from insult. Whether it was the Satanic Verses of the 1980s or the Cartoons of 2005 and their endless reproduction since then, if they stand for any freedom, it is freedom to insult. Pure and simple. Muslims, on the other hand, have stood for and demanded freedom from insult. Nothing more. Nothing less.

These are certainly opposing values. You can be for one or the other. And the question does arise, which one is a better value.

To see that let us imagine a society that truly believes in the first as a cherished moral value. It celebrates freedom to insult and guards it at all costs. Every member of it enjoys this freedom and practices it regularly. In a business everyone insults everyone else. The boss is insulting the employees, the employees are insulting the bosses. The salesmen are insulting the customers. The accountants are insulting the creditors. Everyone is enjoying the great freedom to insult. The same is true of the home. The parents are always insulting the children. The children are constantly insulting the parents. The spouses are incessantly insulting each other. And in doing so they all stand on the high moral ground because freedom to insult is such a fundamental freedom on which the society is built.

Actually contrary to the claims of the pundits if the Western society was truly built on this “cherished moral value,” it would have perished a long time ago --- consumed by the fires of hatred and negativity generated by this freedom. No home, no neighborhood, no village, no business, no organization and no society can survive for long if it makes freedom to insult as a cornerstone of its freedoms. Clearly most who advocate this freedom do not practice it in their daily lives. But they are making an exception in the case of Islam and Muslims. The driving force behind this is not any great moral principle but a deep rooted hatred born of ignorance.

Software professionals sometimes use a term called beature. It stands for a bug turned into a feature. A bug is a defect in the software. A feature, on the other hand, is a desirable attribute. A beature is a defect that is presented (thanks to slick marketing) as a feature. Freedom to insult is also a beature. It is the growing sickness of Islamophobia in the West which is being presented as a high moral value, packaged by the slick marketing departments as freedom of expression.

Well, whether or not freedom to insult is a Western value, Islam has nothing to do with it. It lays emphasis on its exact opposite: the freedom from insult. It values human dignity, decency, and harmony in the society. The freedom of religion it ensures includes freedom from insults. While it does not shy away from academic discussion of its beliefs and showing the falsehood of non-Islamic beliefs, it makes sure that the discussion remains civil. In those discussions it wants to engage the intellect of its opponents; in contrast those who itch to insult their opponents are interested in satisfying their vulgar emotions. Thus while its most important battle is against false gods it asks its followers to refrain from reviling them. (Qur’an, Al-anam, 6:108). It also reminds them to stay away from harsh speech. “Allah loves not the utterance of harsh speech save by one who has been wronged.” (Qur’an, Al-Nisa, 4:148). Prophet Muhammad, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam, who is being reviled by the scum of the world, taught Muslims to never let the low moral standards of their adversaries dictate theirs.

As a result of these teachings Muslims can never even imagine insulting any Prophet --- from Adam to Moses to Jesus to Muhammad, peace be upon them all. Even when they ruled the world, Muslims treated the religious leaders of non-Muslim also with respect – even during battles. In the Baghdad court Jewish and Christian scholars engaged in open discussions with the Muslim savants. Needless to say they had not been attracted by the freedom to insult but its exact opposite. Freedom from insult is a fundamental value that assures peace and harmony. It leads to healthy societies. And Muslims are very proud of their impeccable record here.

What is true of a home or a village is also true of the world as it has become a global village. Now, more than ever before, the world needs the harmony and tolerance that can only be assured by the freedom from insults.

Source:http://albalagh.net/food_for_thought/0096.shtml

Blasphemous Cartoons - STATEMENT FROM DARUL IHSAN

2010-05-21T20:15:00.000+05:30

International Muslim community strongly condemns publishing of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace and Blessings be upon Him). Write to media. Protest through all appropriate channels within the law.

STATEMENT FROM DARUL IHSAN

Why the International Muslim Community is Angry About the Insulting Cartoons!!!

The international Muslim community is deeply offended by cartoons mocking the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and depicting him negatively. It is evident that these publications are aiming to demonise the character and personality of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) who is followed by 1.5 billion Muslims globally and who is admired by millions of others all over the world. After all, what was the intention of these publications by depicting the Prophet negatively when it is a well known fact that he was a paragon of peace, mercy, tolerance and forgiveness?

The publication of these cartoons demonstrates contempt for the religious beliefs of the Muslim Community. These publications have abused freedom of speech by taking it to a dangerous, irresponsible and unacceptable level by showing disregard for the sensitivities of Muslims around the world. The Muslim community views the publications of such offensive material as a serious attack on the integrity of their religion, and as an attack on the global Muslim Community.

MEDIA SHOULD NOT ABUSE FREEDOM OF SPEECH

The media has a duty to act responsibly in sensitive issues of this nature and not to push the right to freedom of expression to ridiculous levels where the lines of distinction between profound and profane are virtually obliterated. Freedom of expression is not an absolute; it is limited by the requirement of not causing offence or inciting racial or religious hatred.

Sensible and responsible leaders around the world, including the pope, issued strong statements against the Danish cartoons some time back. The US Government also condemned these caricatures. "These cartoons are indeed offensive to the belief of Muslims," State Department spokesman Kurtis Cooper said in answer to a question. "We all fully recognize and respect freedom of the press and expression but it must be coupled with press responsibility. Inciting religious or ethnic hatreds in this manner is not acceptable."

IMAGES NOT ALLOWED

The reason why Muslims are so angry is because these cartoons have violated fundamental teachings of their religion. Islam has traditionally prohibited images of humans and animals altogether - which is why much Islamic art is made up of decorative calligraphy or abstract arabesque patterns. Throughout history Muslims have cast out, destroyed or denounced all images, whether carved or painted, as idolatry.

Therefore, images of the Prophet are strictly forbidden in Islam, because it is forbidden and because this is deemed disrespectful to him, and for the very fear that his image could then be distorted and abused. Thus no records of any authentic image or portrait of the Prophet is to be found anywhere in the world throughout history. Yet some people seem to have little understanding of why this should be so, nor do they understand the intensity of the feelings aroused in Muslims when this is done.

Muslims love the Prophet (peace be upon him) so intensely that this love supersedes their love of everyone else. When speaking or writing, his name is always preceded by the title "Prophet" and followed by the phrase: "Peace be upon him", often abbreviated in English as PBUH.

Attempts to depict him in illustration were therefore an attempt to depict the sublime - and so forbidden. To depict him in a series of mocking and provocative cartoons is the worst form of blasphemy imaginable. No Muslim can ever tolerate such disrespect. The Muslim Community is disgusted at these cartoons and must protest against them responsibly. Write to publishers, editors, participate in all legal marches and protests within the law.

RESPECT - AN IMPORTANT ISLAMIC VALUE

The entire culture and value system of Islam is based on respect and reverence, such as respect for parents, wives, elders, religious symbols and so forth. For certain people respect means nothing at all. Such people satirise and mock anything and everything, including their own religion, all of which is done in the name of freedom of expression. They expect to also mock at others, in the name of freedom of expression. But Muslims, who are required by their religion to respect all of the Holy Prophets (peace be upon all of them), will not tolerate the mockery of any of the Holy Prophets. Hence when the Prophet (peace be upon him) was mocked in the cartoons, there was a furious reaction from Muslims around the world and this could very well be the case again. Unfortunately some editors either do not have the understanding of Islamic values, or deliberately abuse the freedom of speech to incite and offend Muslims in these provocative ways.

Two things are wrong with the cartoons. Firstly, the illustrated depiction of the Holy Prophet (PBUH), and worse, the intention to ridicule the Prophet (peace be upon him) through it. This was an explosion waiting to happen. Muslims view this as an example of the ignorance and arrogance that certain people display towards them.

Yet there are countless of other people, who may not be Muslims, but who have shown respect and admiration of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) not because they believe in him or are his followers, but because they are fair, just and not prejudiced in their study or analysis of his personality as recorded in his biography. These people have found him to be a wise, kind, tolerant, forgiving, honourable and generous person, who has inspired millions around the world.

The Prophet (peace be upon him) himself was the subject of abuse, violence and mockery in his lifetime, but he always tolerated, forgave and showed kindness even to his opponents. Although Muslims are furious about disrespect shown to the Prophet, it is important that they register their protest respecting law and order, and do not act irresponsibly, for that is not what the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) would have approved.

Source:http://www.darulihsan.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3012:blasphemous-cartoons-statement-from-darul-ihsan&catid=55:news&Itemid=155

Purification of water in islamic concept

2010-05-21T20:12:00.000+05:30

Question

1. Is it allowed in shariath to sell water? I mean we are planning to process the river water and sell in the market after filling in big bottles. But before doing I would like to know is it allowed in Sharia. We will get all the approvals from Government in order to take water from river. And will also ensure that people of the surrounding are not oppsoing the water intake. Please clarify.
2. I am living in UAE. Here the big gardens, parks and landscapes are water / irrigated with Treated Sewage Effluent (TSE) water. People use to sit / play in the grasses of the gardens which are watered with TSE. Normally sewerage / sewage water is Najis and Na PAK. But the water is treated in centralized HUGE sewage treatment plant and the odour and all other ugly parts are removed up to 99% and it is safe for environment (technically). But logically still there are remains, say (0.1 % at least) since the water is not 100% treated. My question is Can we sit in these grassQes and pray with the same garments / dresses?

Answer

In the name of Allāh, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
Assalāmu ῾alaykum wa Rahmatullāhi Wabarakātuh

1. It is permissible to sell bottled water.

في الدر المختار: ( والمحرز في كوز وحب ) بمهملة مضمومة الخانية ( لا ينتفع به إلا بإذن صاحبه ) لملكه بإحرازه ؛ وقال ابن عابدين رحمه الله: ( قوله والمحرز في كوز أو حب ) مثله المحرز في الصهاريج التي توضع لإحراز الماء في الدور كما حرره الرملي في فتاواه وحاشيته على البحر ، وأفتى به مرارا وقال : إن الأصل قصد الإحراز وعدمه ... ( قوله لا ينتفع به إلخ ) إذ لا حق فيه لأحد كما قدمناه ( قوله لملكه بإحرازه ) فله بيعه ، ملتقى ( رد المحتار: 10/17 ، دار المعرفة )

فإذا أخذه وجعله في جرة أو ما أشبهها من الأوعية فقد أحرزه فصار أحق به فيجوز بيعه والتصرف فيه كالصيد الذي يأخذه كذا في الذخيرة ( الفتاوى الهندية: 3/130، دار الكتب العلمية )

2. In principle, land and anything that is attached to it such as grass, trees and bricks become pure once the impurity has dried and the traces of the impurity (its colour, smell and taste) have disappeared.

Therefore, in the case of the parks and gardens that are watered with impure water, they will become pure once the impure water has dried and the smell, colour and taste of the impure water, if any, have disappeared. Once the ground has become pure, one is allowed to play, sit and even offer the salaat on it.

( و ) تطهر ( أرض ) بخلاف نحو بساط ( بيبسها ) أي : جفافها ولو بريح ( وذهاب أثرها كلون ) وريح ( لـ ) أجل ( صلاة ) عليها ... ( و ) حكم ( آجر ) ونحوه كلبن ( مفروش وخص ) بالخاء تحجيرة سطح ( وشجر وكلأ قائمين في أرض كذلك ) أي : كأرض ، فيطهر بجفاف وكذا كل ما كان ثابتا فيها لأخذه حكمها باتصاله بها ( الدر المختار: ج 1 ص 563 ، دار المعرفة )

On the other hand, if someone walks and sits on the ground before the impure water has dried, his shoes, clothes and anything else that was besmeared with the impure water will become impure, and he will not be permitted to offer salaat in this state.

Now this leads to the question: Is treated sewage water pure or impure?

Treated sewage water

In principal, impure water does not become pure merely by the disappearance of impurity and its traces from the water. This is the case even if the impure water is in a large quantity.[i] Similarly, impure water does not become pure merely by filling a large tank with it, regardless of whether or not traces of impurity are apparent in it.[ii]

Hence, sewage water will not become pure merely due to being treated. Pure water (according to the Shariah) and biologically clean water are two different things.

Impure water becomes pure when it flows with pure water.[iii] Similarly, it becomes pure when it enters a large body of pure water.[iv] Large body of water is that water whose surface size is approximately 23 metres square or more.[v]

In both cases (i.e. whether the impure water flows with pure water, or it enters a large body of pure water), the condition is that after mixing with the water, the smell, taste and colour of the water should be that of normal water. If any of the three qualities of water (i.e. its smell, taste and colour) changes due to impurity, the water will be impure.[vi]

Therefore, if treated sewage water is released into a large body of pure water such as a lake or river, the lake or river water will be pure as long as the smell, taste or colour of the water does not change due to impurity. However, if treated sewage water is released to a small body of pure water, the entire water will become impure regardless of whether or not the smell, taste or colour of the water has been affected by impurity.[vii]

Similarly, since water travelling in pipes is flowing water[viii], if treated sewage water flows in the pipes along with pure water, the mixed water will be pure with the condition that the smell, taste or colour of the water is not affected by impurity. This is the case even if the pure water is less than the treated sewage water.[ix]

Note that impure water does not become pure by flowing with impure water, regardless of whether or not there are traces of impurity in it.[x] To become pure, it must flow with pure water. Therefore, if treated sewage water travels in the pipes by itself, it will not become pure.

Another way in which the treated sewage water can become pure is that after impurities have been removed from the water and the taste, smell and colour of the water returns to that of normal water, pure water is poured in the tank containing the treated sewage water till the water overflows from the tank. As soon as the water overflows from the tank, the entire water in the tank will become pure. This is because the water of the tank will be considered flowing water as soon as it overflows when water is poured in it. This is even if the water that overflows is little. The water that overflows is also pure. This is regardless of whether the water is in a large tank or a small tank.[xi]

The above will apply even if the treated sewage water is in a bucket or a container, i.e. if a bucket or container is filled with treated sewage water and thereafter pure water is poured in it till the water in the bucket or container overflows, the entire water will become pure.[xii] Even the water that overflows and falls down will be pure.[xiii]

Note that all the rulings mentioned above are based on the assumption that when the sewage water leaves the home and travels in the pipes towards the treatment plant, the smell, taste or colour of the water changes due to the impurities in it. If the assumption is wrong, the rulings may be different.[xiv] This is because of two reasons: 1) The water that travels in pipes is considered flowing water. 2) Along with impurity and impure water, sewage water also contains pure water.

Also note that one can use impure water to flush the toilet, water the garden etc. However, it cannot be used for drinking, cooking, making wudu or ghusl and for washing clothes.

And Allāh Ta῾āla Knows Best
Wassalāmu ῾alaykum

Ml. Faizal Riza
Correspondence Iftā Student, Australia
Checked and Approved by:
Mufti Ebrahim Desai
Dārul Iftā, Madrasah In῾āmiyyah

________________________________________________________________________
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Source:http://www.askimam.org/fatwa/fatwa.php?askid=8a2497a5681a18a030b3c19b9c320490

[i] ، وإذا وصل إلى الحياض في البيوت متغيرا ونزل في حوض صغير أو كبير فهو نجس وإن زال تغيره بنفسه ، لأن الماء النجس لا يطهر بتغيره بنفسه إلا إذا جرى بعد ذلك بماء صاف فإنه حينئذ يطهر ( رد المحتار: 1/373 ، دار المعرفة )

[ii] ولو سقطت نجاسة في ماء دون عشر ثم انبسط فصار عشرا فهو نجس ، وكذا إذا دخله ماء شيئا فشيئا حتى صار عشرا ( فتح القدير: 1/86، دار الكتب العلمية )

[iii] لأن الماء النجس لا يطهر بتغيره بنفسه إلا إذا جرى بعد ذلك بماء صاف فإنه حينئذ يطهر ( رد المحتار: 1/373 ، دار المعرفة )

[iv] ( وبتغير أحد أوصافه ) من لون أو طعم أو ريح ( ينجس ) الكثير ولو جاريا إجماعا ( الدر المختار: 1/367، دار المعرفة )

وبما في الفتح وغيره من أن الماء النجس إذا دخل على ماء الحوض الكبير لا ينجسه لو كان غالبا على ماء الحوض ( رد المحتار: 1/372 ، دار المعرفة )

[v] فتاوى محموديه: 5/171 ، مكتبة شيخ الإسلام ديوبند

[vi] ( وبتغير أحد أوصافه ) من لون أو طعم أو ريح ( ينجس ) الكثير ولو جاريا إجماعا ( الدر المختار: 1/367، دار المعرفة )

[vii] أما القليل فينجس وإن لم يتغير ( الدر المختار: 1/367، دار المعرفة )

[viii] في الدر المختار: والجاري ( هو ما يعد جاريا ) عرفا ، وقيل ما يذهب بتبنة ، والأول أظهر ، والثاني أشهر ( وإن ) وصلية ( لم يكن جريانه بمدد ) في الأصح ، فلو سد النهر من فوق فتوضأ رجل بما يجري بلا مدد جاز لأنه جار ، وكذا لو حفر نهرا من حوض صغير أو صب رفيقه الماء في طرف ميزاب وتوضأ فيه وعند طرفه الآخر إناء يجتمع فيه الماء جاز توضؤه به ثانيا وثم وثم وتمامه في البحر ؛ وقال ابن عابدين رحمه الله: واعلم أن هذه المسائل مبنية على القول بنجاسة الماء المستعمل ، وكذا نظائرها كما صرح به في الفتح والبحر والحلية وغيرها ( رد المحتار: 1/371 ، دار المعرفة )

[ix] وبما في الفتح وغيره من أن الماء النجس إذا دخل على ماء الحوض الكبير لا ينجسه لو كان غالبا على ماء الحوض ، قال : فالجاري بالأولى ، وتمامه في شرحه ( رد المحتار: 1/372 ، دار المعرفة )

وفي الدر المختار: ثم المختار طهارة المتنجس بمجرد جريانه ؛ وقال ابن عابدين رحمه الله: ( قوله : بمجرد جريانه ) أي بأن يدخل من جانب ويخرج من آخر حال دخوله وإن قل الخارج ، بحر... (و بعد أسطر) ... وأما على القول المختار فقد حكم بالطهارة بمجرد الخروج فيكون الخارج طاهرا تأمل ، ثم رأيته في الظهيرية ونصه : والصحيح أنه يطهر وإن لم يخرج مثل ما فيه ، وإن رفع إنسان من ذلك الماء الذي خرج وتوضأ به جاز اهـ فلله الحمد ( رد المحتار: 1/381 ، دار المعرفة )

لو تنجس الحوض الصغير ثم دخل فيه ماء آخر وخرج حال دخوله طهر وإن قل ( فتح القدير: 1/86، دار الكتب العلمية )

[x] واعلم أن هذه المسائل مبنية على القول بنجاسة الماء المستعمل ، وكذا نظائرها ... ( قوله : وكذا لو حفر نهرا إلخ ) أي وأجرى الماء في ذلك النهر وتوضأ به حال جريانه فاجتمع الماء في مكان ، فحفر رجل آخر نهرا من ذلك المكان وأجرى الماء فيه وتوضأ به حال جريانه فاجتمع في مكان آخر ففعل ثالث كذلك جاز وضوء الكل إذا كان بين المكانين مسافة وإن قلت ذكره في المحيط وغيره ، وحد ذلك أن لا يسقط الماء المستعمل إلا في موضع جريان الماء فيكون تابعا للجاري خارجا من حكم الاستعمال ، وتمامه في شرح المنية ( رد المحتار: 1/371 ، دار المعرفة )

[xi] وفي الدر المختار: ثم المختار طهارة المتنجس بمجرد جريانه ؛ وقال ابن عابدين رحمه الله: ( قوله : بمجرد جريانه ) أي بأن يدخل من جانب ويخرج من آخر حال دخوله وإن قل الخارج ،"بحر"، قال ابن الشحنة : لأنه صار جاريا حقيقة ، وبخروج بعضه رفع الشك في بقاء النجاسة فلا تبقى مع الشك اهـ .... (و بعد أسطر) ... وأما على القول المختار فقد حكم بالطهارة بمجرد الخروج فيكون الخارج طاهرا تأمل ، ثم رأيته في الظهيرية ونصه : والصحيح أنه يطهر وإن لم يخرج مثل ما فيه ، وإن رفع إنسان من ذلك الماء الذي خرج وتوضأ به جاز اهـ فلله الحمد ( رد المحتار: 1/381 ، دار المعرفة )

[xii] ومقتضاه أنه على القول الصحيح تطهر الأواني أيضا بمجرد الجريان ، وقد علل في البدائع هذا القول بأنه صار ماء جاريا ولم نستيقن ببقاء النجاسة فيه ، فاتضح الحكم ولله الحمد ، وبقي شيء آخر سئلت عنه ، وهو أن دلوا تنجس فأفرغ فيه رجل ماء حتى امتلأ وسال من جوانبه هل يطهر بمجرد ذلك أم لا ؟ والذي يظهر لي الطهارة ، أخذا مما ذكرناه هنا ومما مر من أنه لا يشترط أن يكون الجريان بمدد إلخ ( رد المحتار: 1/382 ، دار المعرفة )

[xiii] وأما على القول المختار فقد حكم بالطهارة بمجرد الخروج فيكون الخارج طاهرا تأمل ، ثم رأيته في الظهيرية ونصه : والصحيح أنه يطهر وإن لم يخرج مثل ما فيه ، وإن رفع إنسان من ذلك الماء الذي خرج وتوضأ به جاز اهـ فلله الحمد ( رد المحتار: 1/381 ، دار المعرفة )

[xiv] فلو فيه جيفة أو بال فيه رجال فتوضأ آخر من أسفله جاز ما لم ير في الجرية أثره ( وهو ) إما ( طعم أو لون أو ريح ) ظاهره يعم الجيفة وغيرها ، وهو ما رجحه الكمال وقال تلميذه قاسم إنه المختار ، وقواه في النهر ، وأقره المصنف وفي القهستاني عن المضمرات عن النصاب : وعليه الفتوى ( الدر المختار: 1/372، دار المعرفة )

A Poem by Shaker Aamer's Children: A Plea

2010-05-21T16:21:00.000+05:30

11-03-2010

Help us bring our father home

Brothers, sisters come along

He has never done anything wrong

He is innocent, that is well known

Locked up far away in a no entry zone

He’s been tortured, he’s been torn

Do you know how we live on our own

Struggling, thinking where do we belong

We have missed him for very very long

We can’t see him, we can’t phone

We try to be patient but we can’t go on

All we can do is cry and mourn

When will he return, no signs are shown

We wish after night, comes new dawn

Let us remind you we are not alone

Allah almighty keeps us strong

Good Muslims don’t repeat everything they hear

2010-05-20T15:05:00.002+05:30

We often hear the world described as a global village. Breaking news, natural disasters, conflicts, wars and a whole host of world events are transmitted across the globe within seconds, thanks to cutting edge media technology.

As Muslim communities we are not immune from the glare of the media. The reality is that most of what is termed as mainstream media today tends to be negative when reporting on issues that involve us.

The Qur’an advises us to verify and be circumspect whenever news reaches us, more so when the sources are not impeccable. Sensationalism, scandal, mistruths, rumours and provocative stories are generally regarded as norms in contemporary journalism.

Sadly some Muslims and even the knowledgeable scholars are guilty of these unsavoury practices. We need to be aware of this when reading or listening to the news and take care ourselves not to indulge in such practices.

An inherent quality of a Muslim is to ponder and think. This quality is ours to use. Let us use it to separate fact from fiction and truth from falsehood. May Allah grant us the ability to identify evil and repel it. Aameen.

Source:http://www.jamiat.co.za/newsletter/online_newsletter_0520.htm

Imitating Disbelievers

2010-05-20T15:04:00.002+05:30

“And never will the Jews and the Christians approve of you until you follow their religion. Say: ‘Indeed, the guidance of Allah is the (only) guidance.’ If you were to follow their desires after what has come to you of knowledge, you would have against Allah no protector or helper.” (2:120)

• When a person meditates upon the histories of past nations, one will be amazed at the revolutions and transformations they went through. For instance, there was the Muslim pioneering nation which led the world for many centuries but then, it faltered and lost its leading role. It fell in the midst of blind imitation and followed the paths of other nations in terms of manners and beliefs. It was the nation that discovered the sources of knowledge and developed the Islamic civilization and sciences, which the West later obtained significantly, without having to exert the least of efforts.

• Rasulullah sallallaahu alayhi wasallam said: ‘You will imitate the nations before you very closely to the extent that if they went into a lizard’s hole, you would enter it as well.’ His companions inquired, ‘Do you mean the Jews and Christians, O Messenger of Allah?’ Rasulullah sallallaahu alayhi wasallam replied: ‘Who else?’ (Bukhari & Muslim) Rasulullah sallallaahu alayhi wasallam also said, ‘The Day of Judgment will not come until my Nation closely imitates the nations before them.’ It was asked, ‘Like the Persians and Romans, O Messenger of Allah?’ Rasulullah sallallaahu alayhi wasallam replied: ‘Who are the nations (I could mean) except those?’ (Bukhari)

• The Muslims constitute the most guided nation in this life, and on the Day of Judgment Allah will make them witnesses over all other nations, as Allah says, "And thus We have made you a moderate community that you will be witnesses over the people and the Messenger will be a witness over you…" (2:143). Indeed, this is a very prestigious position. How is it then that Muslims imitate others in their customs, traditions and feasts? Rasulullah sallallaahu alayhi wasallam also even forbade the Muslims from acquiring religious information from the People of the Book.

• Allah made human beings and all other creatures accustomed to interacting with their similar counterparts. When the degree of similarity increases, such interaction and hence imitation in morals and characteristics becomes more complete, until it is hardly possible to distinguish between them. It is also known that if a human being stays in the company of a certain type of animal, he would acquire some of its features. That is why, for example, those who tend camels are known for their pride and arrogance, while shepherds are known to be humble and calm.

• Furthermore, when a person adorns the clothes usually worn by scholars, he may feel himself as somehow closer to them, because similarity and imitation in outward appearance leads to resemblance in inward characteristics such as personal characteristics and morals. Rasulullah sallallaahu alayhi wasallam said: ‘Whoever imitates a people is one of them.’ (Abu Dawood)

• The Muslim Nation should lead, not be led; others should depend on them and not the reverse. Western civilization is like a mirage, which when seen from a distance is like a large sea, but it is as Allah says, “But the disbelievers – their deeds are like a mirage in a lowland which a thirsty one thinks is water until, when he comes to it, he finds it is nothing but finds Allah before him, and He (Allah) will pay him in full his due; and Allah is swift in account.” (24:39)

• If some people believe that the Muslim nation must change its ways for development, then let it be known that resorting to the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of Rasulullah sallallaahu alayhi wasallam is the best means for change. Allah says, “…Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves. And when Allah intends for a people ill, there is no repelling it. And there is not for them besides Him any patron.” (13:11)

• The restrictions imposed by our religion on the human being are not meant to torture or deprive him from the pleasures of this life. Rather, their aim is to elevate him from mere animalism to complete humanity. Thus, a Muslim will become capable of overcoming subservience and dependence, and his faith and piety will overpower animalistic lusts.

• Whenever a society ignores such restrictions or belittles them, it jeopardizes and opens itself to serious problems and positions itself on the brink of destruction. As Allah says, “…And whoever transgresses the limits of Allah – it is those who are the wrongdoers.” (2:229) and also, “…And who is more astray than one who follows his desire without guidance from Allah? Indeed, Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people.” (28:50)

• It is plainly evident that some people who imitate the polytheists in their clothes, manners, traditions or speak their language, harbour love and admiration for them. In this way, the polytheists succeed in disseminating ideas such as globalization and a universal religion which affect some poor-hearted Muslims; all of these aim at weakening the Muslim character and identity. Whenever a person objects to such ideas, he is labeled as an introvert, an isolationist and even a narrow-minded person alienated from this world and who should have died in his cradle.

Source:http://www.jamiat.co.za/newsletter/online_newsletter_0520.htm

E-Codes

2010-05-19T10:39:00.000+05:30

Food additives are added to food to make it safer, keep it longer, stop the growth of bacteria, mould, and stop food going stale. They also aid processing as emulsifiers, raising agents, preservatives and improve food in terms of colour, taste, texture and nutritional value.

Additives increase the variety of food available to consumers keeping prices down, allowing safe delivery of food to urban populated areas and create alternatives to traditional food like meat substitutes for meat, low fat products for butter and yoghurt and sugar free drinks for diabetics.

The use of additives is strictly controlled by law. They may not be used in food unless they are on approved Government supervised list, proving their safe and effective usage. Once approved by the EC it is then given an 'E' number and is constantly monitored by local Government and the EEC.

EEC directives require all food to list ingredients of the various products used because additives being so complicated by way of understanding leave alone pronouncing would have ingredients look like a chemist's dictionary.
The E Numbers are divided into 9 categories

Permitted Colours Numbers 100-180
Preservatives Numbers 200-290
Permitted Anti-oxidants Numbers 300-321
Emulsifiers and Stabilisers Numbers 322-494
Sweeteners Numbers 420-421
Solvents Numbers 422
Mineral Hydrocarbons Numbers 905-907
Modified Starches Numbers 1400-1442
Miscellaneous Additives Numbers 170-927

The 'E' numbers were introduced to make it easier for EEC countries to come to a uniform system of regulating the additives industry.

We are publishing a list of numbers, some of which are haraam and some of which are doubtful, because of its doubtful nature Muslims have to refrain from them as well.

E120 Cochineal (Carmine of Cochineal Carminicago, C.I.75490, derived from the insect Dactilopius Coccus.

E160 Alfa-Carotene, Beta-Carotene, Gamma-Carotene.

E471 Mono and Di-Glycerides of fatty acids.
When Glycerol is used one has to find out the source whether animal or synthetic.

E472 (a-e) Lactic acid esters of mono- and di-glycerides of fatty acids. Prepared from esters of Glycerol.

E473 Sucrose esters of fatty acids prepared from Glycerol and Sucrose.

E474 Sycroglycerides prepared by reaction of Sucrose on natural triglycerides (from palmoil, lard, etc.)

E475 Polyglycerol esters of Fatty acids. Prepared in the laboratory.

476 Polyglycerol esters of polycondensed fatty acids of castor oil (polyglycerol polyricinoleate). Prepared from Castor Oil and Glycerol esters.

E477 Propane-1,2-idol esters of fatty acids (Propylene Glycol esters of Fatty acids). Prepared from Propylene Glycol.

E478 Lactylated fatty acid esters of glycerol and propane-1,2-idol. Prepared from esters of glycerol and Lactic acid.

E631 Insine (Disodium Phospate, Sodium and Inosinate). The Disodium Salt of Inosinate Acid which can be prepared from insect or fish extract.

E635 A mixture of disodium guanylare and disodium inosinate. Same source as 631.

E640/920
L-Cysteine Hydrochloride and L-Cysteine hydrochloride mono hydrate. A naturally occurring amino acid manufactured from animal hair and chicken feathers.

All other 'E' number additives at the time of publication are Halaal, because of the ruling of Tabdeel-e-Mahiyat. Please refer to our article elsewhere in this book on this subject.

Except the following:
E473, E474, E475, E476, E477, E478, E631, E635, E640, E920

E904 Shellac. a substance obtained from the resin produced by the Lac insect, mainly found in India. The secretions are bleached and dried before usage on confectionary, chocolate panning, ice creams latter and the shining of fruit, mainly apples.
This E number is also under investigation. We have had discussions with one of the companies regarding this E number and whether its secretion fall under the category of being Taahir [pure] or Najas [impure]. We request readers to please look out for the report /update.

Allah reward you for using the Foodguide Service. Allah give us tawfique to eat Halaal all the time. Please tell your friends and please pray for us too.

... and Allah Ta'ala Knows Best

--------------------------------------
(Mufti) Abdullah Patel
Halal Food Guide

Source:http://www.muftisays.com/qa/question/1855/e-code.html

From Murder Mystery To Spy Thriller: The Continuing Saga of The Mumbai Terrorist Attacks

2010-05-18T10:29:00.000+05:30

by Raveena Hansa / May 15th, 2010

A great deal of new evidence concerning the 26 November 2008 terrorist attacks in Bombay has emerged over the past year. This includes the book Who Killed Karkare: The Real Face of Terrorism in India by S.M.Mushrif,1 a former police officer with a distinguished record, who uses news reports during and just after the attacks to question the official story; the book To the Last Bullet by Vinita Kamte (the widow of Ashok Kamte) and Vinita Deshmukh;2 revelations concerning Hemant Karkare’s bullet-proof jacket and post-mortem report; the David Coleman Headley trial; and the trial of Ajmal Kasab, Fahim Ansari and Sabauddin Shaikh. I do not include the Ram Pradhan Commission report on police responses to the attack for reasons I will explain.

The Headley Affair

The Headley affair has, predictably, grabbed a great deal of publicity. The fact that the FBI had been investigating the involvement of this American in conducting reconnaissance for the 26/11 attacks seems to have come as a revelation to the Indian investigators, who had a chance to apprehend him but instead chose to detain two Indian Muslims, Fahim Ansari and Sabauddin Shaikh, for preparing maps of 26/11 targets.

It has been established that Headley was an agent of the US Drug Enforcement Administration, and his plea bargain leads us to conclude he was also a US intelligence agent: in other words, a spy. It is also known he was involved with the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), and supplied information to them about targets attacked on 26/11. There are three possible explanations that would fit these facts:

1) He started off as a US intelligence agent, but was won over by the LeT, and was acting on their behalf.

2) The US intelligence agency employing him was complicit in the 26/11 attacks. Since the most likely fallout of such attacks would be increased tension and even armed clashes on the Pakistan-India border, and since it appears to be a priority of US foreign policy to reduce such tension, this would suggest that Headley was being handled by a rogue element in US intelligence.

3) The third possibility is that he remained loyal to the US agency, which, in turn, was following US policy. His brief, unknown to the FBI, was to infiltrate the LeT, find out their plans, and report to the US agency so that those plans could be foiled. In order to infiltrate the LeT, he had to win their trust by participating in their activities, including preparations for their Bombay attacks, and while he was doing so, the FBI got on his trail. He did, in fact, pass on intelligence of the planned 26/11 attacks to his US handlers, who, in turn, passed it on to Indian intelligence.

All these are plausible scenarios, but what more or less rules out 1) and 2) is that, as Mushrif reminds us, US intelligence did alert the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) on 18 November 2008 that an LeT ship was trying to infiltrate Indian waters with hostile intent and provided its coordinates, after having earlier warned of an attack from the sea on coastal hotels (pp.182-87). Headley was the likely source of this intelligence. If he was an LeT agent, why would he pass it on to the US agency? And if the latter wanted the attack to succeed, why would they pass on the intelligence to RAW? So 3) seems the most likely explanation.3

If it is doubted that a US intelligence agency could conduct operations without the knowledge of the FBI, we have an example closer to home which illustrates precisely such a possibility. On 6 December 2008, Tausif Rehman and Mukhtar Ahmed were arrested by the Kolkata police for supplying three SIM cards for the cellphones of the Mumbai attackers. Initially seen as a breakthrough in the investigation, the arrests soon became an embarrassment when it was discovered that Ahmed was an Indian intelligence operative who had infiltrated the LeT. Clearly, this was a case of Indian intelligence acting without the knowledge of the Indian police. These SIM card numbers (among others) were passed on to the Intelligence Bureau (IB) on 21 November with strict instructions to monitor them, and they were, in fact, used by the terrorists to keep in touch with their handlers in Pakistan (Mushrif, p.185).

According to news reports, it appears that on 19 November, RAW passed on the US intelligence to the IB, which on 20 November passed it on to the Coast Guard and the Principal Director of Naval Intelligence. However the Coast Guard was unable to locate the ship (possibly because it was still in Pakistani waters) and asked the IB Joint Director for more information. He promised to revert, but never did. Nor, according to Mushrif, was the Mumbai police, Maharashtra government, or Western Naval Command alerted to the looming threat. This proved all the more disastrous because the Mumbai police had suspended its normal coastal patrols near Badhwar Park (where the terrorists landed) forty days before the attack, despite warnings of an attack from the sea (Mushrif, p.182-87).

If the Western Naval Command had joined the search, if the Mumbai police had stepped up instead of suspending its coastal patrols, and if the SIM cards had been monitored to find out the precise location of the terrorists, they would surely have been intercepted, either on the high seas or when they came in to land. This looks like something much more sinister than an intelligence failure; namely, complicity by elements in Indian state institutions in waging war against India.

The fact that the terrorists were not apprehended before they could carry out their deadly attacks would have put Headley in a very difficult position. If he had been a fictional hero like Samir Horn in the Hollywood thriller Traitor – who, like Headley, uses his mother’s surname and participates in US undercover operations without the knowledge of the FBI – Headley would have taken on the Pakistani handlers, emerged victorious, and aborted the mission. But in real life, given that it was more likely he would have been killed and the attack would have occurred anyway, he presumably decided not to risk it. If this is what happened, is Headley responsible for the attacks? Yes and no. Yes, because he staked out the targets and provided information to the LeT in his capacity as a US spy. No, because he provided precise, actionable intelligence that could have been used to prevent the attacks. This is surely what accounts for the lenient treatment he has received at the hands of the US authorities.

Why would prior intelligence of the attacks be blocked?

But why would Indians block intelligence that could have prevented the terrorist attacks of 26-29 November 2008? Mushrif’s explanation is that the IB has been infiltrated by Hindu extremists who in the last few years have changed their strategy from fermenting communal pogroms to carrying out terrorist attacks and blaming them on Muslims. Hemant Karkare, in his capacity as Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) Chief, had begun to uncover this network, and had to be stopped at all costs; the terror attacks on the Taj and Oberoi Trident hotels and Nariman House provided a perfect cover for a parallel operation which was aimed at eliminating Karkare.4

Savarkar’s directive in 1942, asking Hindu nationalist cadre to infiltrate organs of the state, supports Mushrif’s allegation of Hindu extremists infiltrating the IB, which is also borne out by Open Secrets, the memoirs of former IB chief M.K. Dhar. According to K.P.S. Gill, Dhar ‘starts out in life as a self-confessed hater of Muslims, never loses his sneaking sympathy for the “Sangh parivar”, and makes no secret of his sympathy for, and sustained association with, some of its prominent leaders.’5 Indeed, Mushif may be understating the case by leaving out other organs of the state that are similarly infiltrated. Communal bias within the police force is demonstrated in every pogrom, and Karkare’s investigations provided evidence that the rot had spread even into the armed forces.

Evidence that Muslims have been framed in real or imaginary terrorist plots is plentiful too. In a few cases in which they were killed, relatives have brought charges against the police: for example, Sohrabuddin Sheikh and his wife, Ishrat Jahan and three others, and Khwaja Yunus, accused of involvement in the Ghatkopar blasts of 2002.6 In most cases, their lives and reputations are ruined by their being held in jail for years and tortured on terrorist charges without any evidence against them. Thus the police response to the Hyderabad blasts of May and August 2007 was to round up Muslim youths indiscriminately and torture them to obtain confessions. Twenty-one victims of torture who were later released without charge were given a small compensation, but no action was taken against the police who had incarcerated and tortured them.7

This consistent pattern of framing Muslims even for attacks in which the overwhelming majority of victims were Muslims, as in the case of the Samjhauta Express train blasts in 2007, could not have been sustained without the participation of the IB and police. Investigations into the Nanded blasts in 2006 revealed that bombs made by the RSS and Bajrang Dal had earlier been set off at mosques in Parbhani (2003), Jalna (2004), and Purna (2004), and were about to be used in another terrorist attack in Aurangabad when they went off prematurely. But half-hearted prosecutions allowed members of the network to get away.

Ironically, local protests at the way the case was being mishandled led to its being transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which further diluted the charges (Mushrif 153-67)! Initial investigations by the local police pointed to Hindutva groups as the perpetrators of the blasts at a Muslim festival in Malegaon in 2006 that killed over 30 and injured hundreds, yet again the police, the Maharashtra ATS (then headed by K.P.Raghuvanshi) who took over from the police, and the CBI who took over from the ATS charged Muslims against whom there was no evidence whatsoever.8 It appeared that Hindutva terror groups could commit mass murder with impunity.9

It is against this dismal background that the first bona fide investigation into a terrorist attack, carried out by Karkare in 2008 after the second round of Malegaon blasts, stands out in such sharp relief, because it followed the clues in a logical manner, did not accuse innocent Muslims of crimes they had not committed, and did not cover up the role of Hindutva terrorist networks. What was particularly sensational about these findings was that they revealed how wide and deep the network had become, and unearthed evidence that earlier bomb blasts (for example, the Ajmer Sharif and Mecca Masjid blasts in 2007) for which Muslims had been blamed, arrested, jailed and tortured, sometimes for many years, were actually the handiwork of Hindu extremists. Abhinav Bharat, headquartered in Pune, appeared to be the centre of these operations. Mushrif’s book sifts through evidence suggesting that these and many more terrorist attacks were planned and executed by Hindutva terror networks.

Karkare’s revelations were confirmed recently, when the Rajasthan ATS arrested two Hindutva activists linked with Abhinav Bharat and suspected of involvement in the Ajmer Sharif, Mecca Masjid and Malegaon blasts.10 And Mushrif’s allegation that Karkare had been killed by the same network in order to preempt their own exposure gains credibility from the murder of advocate Shahid Azmi on 11 February 2010. Like Karkare, but in his capacity as a lawyer rather than detective, Azmi had time and again exposed police investigators who framed Muslims in terror attacks alleging that they were members of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), Indian Mujahideen, and other real or fictitious Islamic terrorist organisations.11 His defence of Fahim Ansari, one of the accused in the 26/11 case, is a good illustration of his methods as well as those of the police and prosecutors.

Public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam’s story was that Ansari had made maps of the city and handed them over to co-accused Shaikh in Nepal; Shaikh, in turn, allegedly handed them over to Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi in Pakistan, and one of them was supposedly found in the pocket of Abu Ismail after he was killed. Azmi’s cross-examination of Nooruddin, who claimed he had seen Ansari hand over the maps to Shaikh in Nepal, revealed there was no evidence that Nooruddin had ever been to Nepal; and showing the court the blood-soaked clothes of Ismail, Azmi asked, ‘How could the police recover the map spotless and uncreased?’ These arguments clearly carried weight with Justice Tahaliyani, as did the unanswered question why they would have relied on hand-made maps when better ones were available on the internet!12 But to those involved in framing Ansari, Shaikh and hundreds of other innocent Muslims, Azmi was clearly a thorn in flesh who, like Karkare, had to be eliminated.

Evidence of Two Distinct Operations, One Aimed at Killing Karkare

Mushrif lists several reasons why the operation at CST (VT) station-Cama Hospital-Badruddin Tayabji Lane could not have been part of the same operation as the Colaba attacks at Café Leopold-Taj-Oberoi/Trident-Nariman House.

(1) 284 Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) messages were received by the gunmen in Colaba from their handlers in Pakistan, but not a single one by the gunmen of the former operation, who, on the other hand, dropped mobile phones with SIM cards registered in Satara.

(2) The gunmen in Colaba were instructed by their handlers to spare Muslims, whereas 40 per cent of the victims killed by the gunmen in CST station were Muslims, most of whom were identifiable as Muslims by their dress.

(3) The gunmen in Cama Hospital spoke fluent Marathi – a fact reported in various newspapers and confirmed by a senior IAS officer – and spared an employee when he told them he was a Hindu (p. 190-95).

To these, one might add a few more observations: The targets of the Colaba operation were high-profile ones frequented by the Indian elite and foreigners, whereas VT station would have been frequented by middle to lower-class people, and Cama Hospital by the poor. The timing is different too: the Colaba operation went on for three days, while the other one ended as soon as Karkare was dead; the gunmen could have ensconced themselves either in the station or in the hospital and fought to the death like the others, but instead they went scuttling around from place to place: a completely different modus operandi.

The mystery that continues to surround the circumstances in which Karkare and his colleagues were killed, and what looks like a deliberate cover-up by the police, strengthens the impression of an assassination. First, there is the riddle of the missing CCTV footage of the carnage at VT station. Immediately after the attack, the media reported that the entire episode had been captured on the sixteen CCTV cameras in the mainline station (Mushrif, p.210-211), but some time later, it was reported that they had all been malfunctioning. All? One or two, perhaps, but are we seriously being asked to believe that not a single one was working on that particular night, whereas all the cameras in the surburban section were functioning?

It seems highly probable that this is a case of tampering with the evidence, which could only have been done by agencies which had access to the tapes. (K.P.Raghuvanshi was chief of railway police at the time, and would certainly know who did it.) Why would the police tamper with this critical evidence? In the first place it would have established that there were not two but four terrorists, as eyewitnesses and all the newspapers reported the following day; and secondly, it might well have cast doubt on the allegation that Kasab was one of them.

Then there is the scandal of Karkare’s missing bullet-proof jacket. In response to a Right to Information (RTI) application by his widow, Kavita Karkare, and a complaint filed by a social activist, it became clear that the jacket had gone missing. At first the police alleged that a sweeper at JJ Hospital, where the post-mortem was conducted, had thrown it away, but Ms Karkare angrily dismissed this story as a fabrication, and the sweeper himself later denied it. One explanation for its disappearance was that this was an attempt to cover up the fact that it was part of a defective batch, but in that case, why didn’t all the other jackets in the batch disappear too?13 The police officers taking Kakare’s body to the hospital would certainly have been aware that ‘Under the norms stipulated by the criminal procedure code (CrPC), the police taking an injured or dead person to the hospital have to draw a panchnama in presence of the hospital staff, listing all the items found on the body of the victim. Not only this, these items are then to be sealed and referred to the forensic science laboratory, if needed, or kept in safe custody till the trial in the case is over.’14 If, in contravention of normal procedure, the bullet-proof jacket of such a senior police officer was destroyed, this clearly amounts to tampering with the evidence.

In response to allegations that the jacket had been removed to destroy evidence of police corruption in the buying of bullet-proof jackets, Karkare’s post-mortem report, which had initially been denied even to his widow, was released to the press. It showed that there were five bullet entry wounds on top of his right shoulder-blade, between his neck and shoulder, and three exit wounds in his right chest and right shoulder, while two bullets remained in his body.15 This casts serious doubt on the official version of Karkare’s death, according to which terrorists in the lane ambushed the vehicle in which he was travelling along with other police personnel. In the absence of a convincing analysis showing how they could have shot him on the top of the shoulder-blade with the bullets going downwards, and identification of the bullets and gun with which he was shot, there is considerable room for doubt about what actually happened. If he was indeed killed in the vehicle, the autopsy report appears to be more consistent with his being shot by the police personnel inside it. Furthermore, it does not look as if the wounds would have been fatal if he had received immediate medical attention. Finally, the trajectory of the three bullets that exited his body suggests that one of them might have lodged in the inside of his bullet-proof jacket; if it came from a police weapon, that could have been the reason why the jacket was tampered with.

Curiously, the verdict says that all the bullets passed through Karkare’s body.16 So what happened to the two bullets that were found in his body at the autopsy? What happened to the bullets that passed through him? Were they found in the vehicle, in his bullet-proof jacket, or elsewhere? Why has the gun from which they came not been identified?

All this makes clarification of the events of the 26/27 November night in Badruddin Tyabji Marg (locally known as Rangbhavan Lane), where Karkare, Kamte, Salaskar and other police personnel were supposedly killed, all the more important. The best account we have is by Vinita Kamte, herself a lawyer, who interviewed eyewitnesses and used the RTI Act to extract information from an obstructive police force.

It appears that Commissioner of Police, Hasan Gafoor, decided to lead the operations at Trident Hotel, leaving the Control Room in charge of Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Rakesh Maria. Ms Kamte knew from a telephone conversation with her husband that Gafoor had summoned him to the Trident: how, then, did he end up at Cama? Maria told her that he did not know, yet when she got access to police call logs, they revealed that he, himself, had directed Ashok Kamte to Cama. Karkare too was at the back of Cama, inside which firing and grenade blasts were taking place. At 23.24 on the 26th he called the Control Room saying he was there and requesting that a police team be sent to the front of Cama Hospital to encircle it. He reiterated his request to the Control Room for reinforcements at 23.28 so as to encircle Cama. There were three police posts two to five minutes away, yet no reinforcements were sent.

Instead of reinforcements, two young people with backpacks arrived at the corner of St Xaviers College, at the end of the lane. At around 23.45 they gunned down Inspector Durgude when he tried to warn them there was firing at Cama, then fired at the car driven by Maruti Phad. Phad’s family, who were watching from their apartment above the lane, as well as other residents and two constables from Azad Maidan Police Station, all called the Control Room for help, but still none arrived. According to eyewitnesses, the terrorists were wandering around the lane for over fifteen minutes. Around midnight, officers Karkare, Kamte and Salaskar got into a vehicle and proceeded towards the CID Special Branch office, which is on the way to the lane’s exit beside St Xaviers. Karkare had told the constables and officers at the rear gate of Cama that he was proceeding to the front gate in order to help rescue the police personnel injured and trapped inside the hospital, where firing was still going on. Despite all the desperate calls to the Control Room from residents and police, Karkare was not informed that there were terrorists ahead of them in the lane.

At around 00.03-00.04 on the 27th, the police vehicle was ambushed in the lane, and residents reported an exchange of fire between a man in police uniform who got out of it (presumably Kamte) and the terrorists, in the course of which one of the terrorists was shot in the hand and dropped his gun. Another police vehicle with flashing beacon went past the ambushed vehicle while the terrorists were still in the lane, but neither stopped to help the injured men and confront the terrorists, nor informed anyone that help was needed. Not until 00.47 were the three officers picked up and taken to hospital, by which time it was too late to save their lives. At 00.56, Gafoor called Maria in the Control Room to enquire about Karkare’s and Kamte’s safety, and Maria feigned ignorance of their whereabouts despite the fact that call logs show Karkare had called the Control Room at 11.24, 11.27, 11.28 and 11.58 giving their location at the back of Cama, and others had called the Control Room at 00.25, 00.33 and 00.40 saying that they were injured in the lane, and finally at 00.49 saying that they were being taken to hospital. Vinita Kamte keeps asking ‘Why?’ and she is surely entitled to know (Kamte and Deshmukh 2009, p. 36-61).

The Ram Pradhan Committee failed to uncover any of this information, and refused to allow Vinita Kamte to depose before them (Kamte and Deshmukh, p.68). Instead, as former police officer, Y.P.Singh, puts it, their report ‘chastises the whistle-blower and exonerates the culprits’. Gafoor, who had charged police officers for failing to go to Cama when they had been instructed to do so, was criticised by the report for leading the action at Trident instead of stationing himself in the Control Room, and was removed from his post, despite the fact that it was entirely within his discretion to do this.17 No one else was criticised. In other words, the Ram Pradhan Committee report scapegoated Gafoor and whitewashed the rest of the police force.

Vinita Kamte’s account makes it clear that terrorists attacked the police officers in Rangbhavan Lane while firing was still going on in Cama, that reinforcements were not sent despite repeated requests, and that help was not sent to the injured officers until they were almost sure to be dead. It is commonly assumed that the terrorist whose hand received a gunshot wound was Kasab, but that is impossible since Kasab had no bullet injuries when examined in Nair Hospital.18 However, the CNN-IBN report from Metro Junction shortly afterwards, where a man who looks like Karkare and is identified as such by the reporter is being carried into a car unconscious, shows a youth with a bleeding hand: could he have been the one in the lane? In fact, the Metro incident has never been explained satisfactorily, nor have the people in the clip been identified; this remains to be done.

The Kasab Trial

On 3 May 2010, the trial of Ajmal Kasab, Fahim Ansari and Sabauddin Shaikh in Bombay ended with an acquittal for Ansari and Sabauddin and a guilty verdict on over 80 counts for Kasab, who was sentenced to death on May 6th. His so-called flip-flops, sometimes confessing to most of the crimes with which he had been accused and at others pleading his innocence, alleging he had been framed and that the confessions were extracted from him by coercion, make it particularly important to review the evidence against him. From his experience as a police officer, Mushrif points out that DNA samples and fingerprints supposedly recovered from the fishing vessel Kuber that had been out at sea for many hours could hardly be credible evidence, since it could so easily be tampered with.

The only witness who saw the terrorists disembark from the rubber dinghy at Badhwar Park and actually spoke to them, Anita Uddaiya, said there were six people not ten, and Kasab was not one of them. Despite her proving her reliability as a witness by identifying all six in the morgue, she was not only dropped as a witness, but charged with ‘misleading the investigators’ as a punishment for refusing to change her story under pressure (Mushrif, p.202-206). This leads to the suspicion that other witnesses too were coerced into corroborating the official story, and dropped if they refused. How else can one explain why Cama employee Tikhe had to drink ten glasses of water before identifying Kasab as the terrorist who spoke to him?19 Or why the other Cama employee, who was questioned in Marathi by a terrorist pointing a gun to his head and saved himself by replying in Marathi (Mushrif, p.192-93), was not called as a witness?

In the absence of CCTV footage that could prove Kasab’s presence in VT station, the two photographs snapped by Sebastian D’Souza (photo editor with Mumbai Mirror) became, as a comprehensive report of the verdict put it, ‘the most irrefutable evidence against Ajmal Qasab in the 26/11 trial.’19 Kasab denies that he is the person in the photograph, and if we look at another photo of the same person, which is easier to compare with images of Kasab because it is taken from the front,20 there is indeed room for doubt that it is Kasab. It is also notable that both gunmen snapped in VT had saffron wristbands worn by Hindus; it surely would not have been necessary for Muslim jihadis to wear these as a disguise! So this evidence does not seem irrefutable after all, unless analysis of the photographs by an expert identifies the person in them definitively as Kasab, something that Kasab’s lawyers did not ask for.

However, we cannot really blame Kasab’s lawyers for failing him. As his earlier lawyer, Abbas Kazmi, complained bitterly, “I was not allowed to talk to him alone. He would be in the courtroom, in the box, and I would go up to him and speak to him in the presence of the security guards who could hear everything. Even the media could hear half of what he was telling me… In such a situation, where the normal interaction between the lawyer and his client was not confidential, how could he talk about anything freely? On one occasion he told me, ‘yeh jail bhi unka hai, yeh judge bhi unka, yeh prosecutor bhi unka hai, aur mera vakil bhi unka hai [This jail is theirs, this judge is also theirs, this prosecutor is also theirs, and even my lawyer is theirs]‘. He obviously had misgivings”. After Kazmi was dismissed by the court and replaced by Pawar, the trial proceeded at breakneck speed (383 witnesses in 15-20 days), and the final defence was summed up in just one-and-a-half days.19

Apart from eyewitness accounts and the photographs, the main evidence against Kasab comes from his own confession, which he later retracted, saying it was extracted from him under duress. One can only say that if the part of his confession implicating Ansari and Shaikh was a police fabrication, the rest of it could have been a police fabrication too; and if the police and prosecution could have planted maps to incriminate Ansari and Shaikh, they would have been equally capable of planting a gun to incriminate Kasab.

Finally, Mushrif questions the whole story of the capture of Kasab at Girgaum Chowpatty, and surely it would have been psychologically impossible (not to mention a dereliction of duty) for Sub-Inspector Ombale’s police colleagues to allow a gunman to pump bullets into him without attempting to save him by shooting the gunman dead! And that, indeed, is what appears to have happened. According to newspaper reports the next day, as well as an audio tape of wireless communications between the Mumbai Police Control Room and the Commissioner of Police, both gunmen were killed at Chowpatty. Could one of them have been Kasab, who was pronounced by doctors at Nair hospital to have no bullet injuries and only minor abrasions and bruises?18 Is it credible that the police could have been so stupid as to report a terrorist dead when he was practically uninjured?

Under these circumstances, is it safe to conclude that Kasab is guilty of the eighty-odd charges beyond all reasonable doubt? Not really. Anita Uddaiya’s testimony suggests there is no evidence he landed at Badhwar Park or had any connection with the Colaba operation. Since the crucial CCTV footage is missing, there are only photographs, which have not been analysed sufficiently, to connect him with the carnage in VT. Even the verdict admits there is no evidence he killed police officers Karkare, Kamte and Salaskar.16 It is unlikely Kasab was one of the Marathi-speaking gunmen in Cama, and even more unlikely he was one of the gunmen who was killed at Girgaum Chowpatty.

Given the seriousness of the charges and the fact that they carry the death sentence, a miscarriage of justice in this case would not only result in the execution of an innocent man, but would also discredit the Indian legal system. Worse still, if it results in the illusion that those who were responsible for the carnage in VT and the murder of police officers Karkare, Kamte and Salaskar have been punished, whereas the real culprits are free to wreak more havoc, it would directly undermine the safety and security of the public. It would therefore be desirable for Kasab’s guilty verdict to be appealed. The trial in a higher court should answer all the questions raised above about tampering with evidence and witnesses, as well as explain the extraordinary sequence of events at Cama Hospital, Rangbhavan Lane and Metro Junction. And Kasab should be able to communicate with his lawyer without being overheard by his captors, thus facing a threat to his person should he contradict their story.

Mr Chidambaram, the Home Minister, is quite right when he says that extra anti-terrorist legislation is not needed for dealing with terrorists (The Hindu, 2010). What is needed, however, are honest and intelligent detectives like Hemant Karkare. Given the suspicion of IB and Maharashtra police involvement and/or complicity in the 26/11 attacks, it would be desirable that investigations into them be conducted by a completely different team of detectives, perhaps from the National Investigation Agency, who are of the calibre of Hemant Karkare.

Since the US has agreed to allow Indian investigators to question David Headley, he would obviously be the best person to cast light on the Colaba attacks, and there should be pressure on the government of Pakistan to provide access to the Pakistani conspirators whom he names as well. But there should also be investigations into who in India was responsible for blocking the intelligence and preventing the attackers from being intercepted. Investigations into what exactly happened in VT station, Cama Hospital, Badruddin Tyabji Road and Metro Junction should be able to clarify what happened to the CCTV footage from the mainline station, Karkare’s bullet-proof jacket, and the two bullets from his body.

All other evidence, including the photographs taken at the station, TV footage of the incident at Metro, post-mortem reports, police wireless logs, the cellphones dropped by the terrorists at VT, and the vehicle in which the police officers were supposedly killed should also be seized and analysed. The same team should investigate the murder of Shahid Azmi, who was defence lawyer for one of the accused, and the other terror attacks in various parts of the country which were being investigated by Karkare prior to his death.

If extremists are allowed to infiltrate India’s state institutions unchecked, its constitution and secular character would eventually be destroyed. Hemant Karkare and Shahid Azmi lost their lives while trying to save India from this dire fate. We must ensure that they did not die in vain.

1. Mushrif, S.M., 2009, Pharos Media and Publishing, New Delhi. [↩]
2. Kamte, Vinita and Deshmukh, Vinita, 2009, Ameya Prakashan, Pune. [↩]
3. Miller, Jonathan, 2010, ‘Exclusive: Mumbai terror suspect warned of attacks,’ Channel 4 News, January. [↩]
4. See Hansa, Raveena, 2009a, ‘The Curious Tale of Mumbai Terror,’ Tehelka; Hansa, Raveena, 2009b, ‘India’s Terror Dossier: Further Evidence of a Conspiracy.’ [↩]
5. Gill, K.P.S., 2005, ‘I Confess, Said the Sleuth,’ Outlook, 7 March. [↩]
6. Janwalkar, Mayura, 2008, ‘CID Files Chargesheet in Khwaja Yunus Case,’ 16 November. [↩]
7. IBNLive, 2008, ‘Muslim men wrongly held: govt. Clerics slam terror,’ 9 November. [↩]
8. Khan, Mustafa, 2010, ‘Malegaon People’s Appeal to the Government,’ 24 March. [↩]
9. Gatade, Subhash, 2008, ‘Terrorism’s New Signature,’ Mainstream, 26 January. [↩]
10. Insurance News, 2010, ‘Rajasthan ATS nabs second suspect in Ajmer blast case,’ 3 May; Nair, Smita, 2010, ‘Malegaon, Ajmer, Hyderabad blasts… Joining the dots,’ Express India, 10 May. [↩]
11. Sahi, Ajit, 2010, ‘A Grain in My Empty Bowl,’ Tehelka, 27 February. [↩]
12. Holla, Anand, 2010, ‘Shahid Azmi’s parting gift to his 26/11 client,’ Mumbai Mirror, 1 April. [↩]
13. SahilOnline, 2009, ‘Hemant Karkare’s bulletproof vest missing,’ 13 November. [↩]
14. Parmar, Baljeet, 2009, ‘Karkare’s case: Cops goofed up in drawing panchnama,’ DNA, 25 December. [↩]
15. Menon, Vinod Kumar, 2009, ‘Could vest have saved Karkare?’ MidDay, 27 December. [↩]
16. Plumber, Mustafa and Sukanya Shetty, 2010, ‘Court: Kasab killed Omble not Kamte; unsure about Karkare, Salaskar,’ Indian Express, 4 May. [↩] [↩]
17. Singh, Y.P., 2009, ‘Flawed!’ The Week. [↩]
18. Hemmady, Jaidev, 2008, ‘No bullet hit Kasab, no active treatment on, says hospital’s dean,’ Indian Express, 2 December. [↩] [↩]
19. Baghel, Meenal, 2010, ‘The Verdict,’ Mumbai Mirror, 4 May. [↩] [↩] [↩]
20. TopNews.in, 2010, ‘Mohammad Ajmal Kasab to receive death penalty!’ 5 March. [↩]

Source:http://dissidentvoice.org/2010/05/from-murder-mystery-to-spy-thriller-the-continuing-saga-of-the-mumbai-terrorist-attacks/

Post Crisis Reforms

2010-05-18T09:54:00.001+05:30

Post-crisis-reforms

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Eight Lessons by Imam Ghazali

2010-05-18T09:22:00.000+05:30

YOUNG MAN reflect upon the story of Hatim the deaf who was the companion of Shaqiq al-Balkhi (may the mercy of Allah be upon them both). One day Shaqiq enquired of Hatim: "For 30 years you have been my companion. What, pray, have you gained from it?" Hatim replied: "I have gained eight benefits with which I am contented and from which I expect my salvation and my deliverance." "And what are they?" Shaqiq asked. Said Hatim:

"THE FIRST is that I looked at creation and noticed that to everyone there belongs a beloved. And a part of that which is beloved to him accompanies him to his death - sickness, while another part accompanies him only to the edge of his grave. But none (of the above) enters with him. So I reflected and said to myself: "The most beloved is the companion accompanying one into the grave! I found this companion to be none other than Righteous Deeds. So I embraced her as my beloved to be a shining light and an intimate friend never to abandon me when I would be most alone.

THE SECOND is that I looked at man and found him guided by his whims and fancies, forever hastening to the fulfilment of his lower desires. So I meditated upon the verse: "But as for him who feared to stand before his Lord and restrain his soul from lower desires; his abode will be the Garden.." and came to know, with the knowledge of certainty, that the Qur’an was indeed the Truth. Then swiftly I moved to free myself from its vain desires until they rested, contented, in obedience to Allah, the High, the Exalted and finally consented to His Will.

THE THIRD is that I noticed every single person greedily striving to gain for himself the vanities of the world. Then I reflected upon the verse: "What is with you must vanish and what is with Allah must endure." So I spent my life’s earnings in the way of Allah and divided them amongst the poor to be as a treasure for me in the care of Allah.

THE FOURTH is that I saw a number of people who thought that their honour and strength resided in the sheer abundance of their clan and kinsfolk. Others claimed and boasted that it was contained in the amount of their wealth and children. Others reckoned that it was to be found in the extortion of wealth, oppression of others, and the shedding of their blood. Yet another group believed that strength and honour was to be found in extravagance - in the wasting and squandering of money. Then I thought about the words of Allah: "Verily, the most honoured of you (is he who) is the most righteous of you." I then chose righteousness for myself for I had come to know with firmness of belief that the Qur’an was indeed the truth and that their opinions and assumptions were false and ephemeral.

THE FIFTH is that I saw people finding fault with each other and back-biting one another. The root of this I discovered to be envy (hasad) - envy of wealth and rank and knowledge. So I reflected upon the verse: "It is We who portion out between them their livelihood in the life of this world.." and came to know that apportionment was from Allah, the Sublime, and ordained in eternity. With this I envied none and contented myself with the allotment of Allah, the Most High.

THE SIXTH is that I saw people feuding - for one reason or another - amongst themselves. But after reflecting upon the Verse: "Verily Satan is an enemy to you; so treat him as an enemy..." I realised that hostility to other than Satan is not permissible.

THE SEVENTH is that I saw people striving so earnestly in search of support and livelihood that they debased themselves and diminished their self-respect by falling prey to the dubious and the prohibited. Consequently I thought about the words of Allah: "There is no moving creature on earth but its sustenance depends on Allah..." and realised that since my sustenance depended solely on Allah the Most High, He indeed would ensure it. So I turned my attention to the devotion of Allah, the Most High, and may Him alone the object of desire.

THE EIGHTH is that I saw everybody dependent on created things. Some depended on the dirham or the dinar and others on wealth and possessions. Some depended on a craft or vocation while others depended on people like themselves. But after I reflected upon the verse: "And he who puts his trust in Allah, sufficient is (Allah) for him, Allah will surely accomplish his purpose. Verily, for all things has Allah appointed a due proportion." I firmly placed my trust in Allah for He, most certainly, is sufficient for me and the most excellent of those in whom we can trust. Shaqiq then said: "May Allah grant you success. Indeed I have looked into the Torah, the Injil (Gospel), the Zabur (Psalms), and the Furqan (Qur’an) and found that these eight principles constitute the essence of that which is contained in these four books. He who acts in accordance with these principles acts in accordance with the teachings contained in these books."

YOUNG MAN From these two examples you can see that there is no need for a vast increase in your learning. I will now explain to you what is necessary for those who choose to travel upon the path of Truth. Know that it is essential for you to attach yourself to a Spiritual Guide and Teacher who, through his spiritual instructions, will purify yourself from evil tendencies and replace them with nobility of character. And the definition of this "spiritual instruction" may be likened to that of the husbandman who removes the thorns and plucks out the weeds from the young plantation so that it may grow to perfection. It is necessary for the traveller (salik) to attach himself to a spiritual master to guide and instruct him in his journey to Allah the Most High, for Allah Himself sent to His worshippers a Prophet to guide them along His path. The Prophet in his turn has left behind those who act as his successors and who guide to the way of Allah. The necessary condition, which qualifies the guide to act as the viceroy of Prophet, is that he has to be deeply learned. But this condition is not sufficient, for every learned man does not by virtue of his learning alone qualify as a successor of the Prophet. I will now explain to you in a general manner the signs by which you may recognise the true guide, so that not just anyone can lay claim to this position. We say: He who renounces love of the world and the desire for rank; and he who follows an enlightened guide whose spiritual chain extends in unbroken sequence to Muhammad, the Lord of the Messengers (may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him); and he who excels in refining himself by observing modesty in eating, speaking and sleeping, and by much praying, almsgiving and fasting; and he who, in imitation of an enlightened guide, makes virtue his way of life-amongst which are counted patience, prayer, prayer, thanksgiving, dependence on Allah, certainty of knowledge, generosity contentedness, inner peace, clemency, humility, knowledge, truthfulness, modesty, reliability, sobriety, tranquillity, and perseverance. He who meets these requirements may be considered as a light of the lights of the Prophet and worthy of emulation. However, the existence of such a one is rare, and, if found, is mightier than red sulphur (al-kibrit al-ahmar). If good fortune helps the seeker in finding such a guide, then it behoves him to respect him both outwardly and inwardly. As for outward respect it consists in refraining from argumentation with your guide and from vying with him in the derivation of proofs even if you know that he is wrong. You should also refrain from placing your prayer carpet in front of him except during the times of obligatory prayers. As for the extra prayers, do not prolong their performance in his presence. Lastly, do what he orders you to do according to your capacity. Inner respect, on the other hand, is not to reject inwardly in deed or in word - that which you hear and seem to accept from him outwardly. For that is the sign of the hypocrite. Furthermore, in order to avoid the influence of the Satans of the jinn and of man, one should refrain from the companionship of he who is of ill repute. In this way one becomes purified (and saved) from all satanic evils. One should also, under all circumstances, choose poverty above richness. Know, too that sufism (tasawwuf) embraces two important characteristics:

ONE: Righteousness (istiqamah) and

TWO: To be at peace with (the rest) of Creation. He therefore, who perfects his morals and treats others with kindness and gentleness, is indeed a true sufi. And righteousness is to sacrifice his personal pleasures in order to attain the pleasure of Allah, the Most High. As for moral excellence it is to judge others- as long as they do not violate the Sacred Laws - not in terms or the excellence you assume in yourself, but in terms or the excellence you assume in them.

Source:http://www31.brinkster.com/ak4thanvi/8_lessons.htm

If Not Us, then Who?

2010-05-17T22:31:00.000+05:30

Some psychologists say that abuse, whether physical, emotional or sexual, tends to leave a mark on those that were abused, sometimes causing the abused to become abusers. I tend to think that this tendency can also be carried on to groups of people, even entire nations.

In the last century, one good example of abuse that left the victims to become abusers is the former USSR. The government and the media, especially during the last century glossed over the fact that an estimated 20-25 million Soviets, military and civilian were killed in the Second World War by their enemies and by Stalin’s purges. We almost completely forget that other nation’s that belonged to the Axis powers by choice, such as Romania, Bulgaria, many Ukrainians and other Eastern European nations that believed in Hitler and had their own Nazi apparatus. They contributed to Germany’s war effort by providing their own divisions of soldiers and their resources against the USSR, therefore it was not surprising that the Soviets kept a firm boot heel on these nations during the Cold War. I dare say that the reprisals could have been much worse, but whether it was pragmatism or the recent slaughter of so many people during the war which was the prime factor for restraint is open to speculation. Either way, the situation could have been much worse.

The Jewish people also suffered under the Nazi’s. This may have been a factor in the way they violently removed the Palestinians from their homeland and the many senseless killings that contributed to the formation of the Jewish State. The question I have is that 65 years after the end of WWII, why does the carnage against the Palestinian people persist? How long does it take for a people to realize that violence begets violence? The sad truth is that it wasn’t the people of Palestine that committed the atrocities against the Jews, but the Nazi’s.

Israel has become its own worst enemy. The very thing that they cite as an example of man’s inhumanity to man, the Holocaust, has been replaced by the wanton violence against a people that lived side by side with the Jews since antiquity. DNA studies have proven that the Jews and the Palestinians share the same bloodline; they are closer to the Palestinians than they are to the Eastern European Jews that migrated to Israel after the war. Why the insatiable bloodlust they display toward the people of Palestine? When will the carnage stop? From the decimation of the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, led by Ariel Sharon on the Israeli side and the Lebanese Christian Militias, upwards of 2,500 men women and children of these squalid camps were mercilessly slaughtered in 1983 while the world did and said nothing. The recent “Operation Cast Lead”, the brutal assault on the Gaza Strip by the Israeli Defense forces using white phosphorus and napalm and cluster munitions supplied by the United States was an act of abject horror.

The Goldstone Commission led by a South African Jew, stated categorically that many war crimes were committed on a basically defenseless population with a median age of 14 by a professional military with the most modern military aircraft and armor that money can buy, most of it supplied or given by the United States of America, used against a people that have never lifted a finger against our people. The rest of the world also contributed to the Israeli atrocities by remaining silent after it was over. The United Nations Secretary Ban Ki-Moon delivered a speech to the world from Gaza as white phosphorus munitions lay smoldering behind him, in the middle of a UN Relief Compound.

We castigate Neville Chamberlin for desiring “Peace in our time” as he enabled Nazi Germany to swallow Czechoslovakia without a fight. We ask members of NATO to join the United States against a ragtag group of Taliban in Afghanistan and tell them that it is their “moral duty” to support us in this war for a petroleum pipeline through the country. We called Iraq a rogue nation and invaded it under the guise of removing “weapons of mass destruction” that the UN inspectors insisted that Saddam never had. After we defeated their gutted military that was decimated through years of sanctions and air attacks, we disbanded their government, police forces, fire departments and municipal maintenance units on the pretext of de-Baathification and left the Iraqi people without any government services, electricity and a bombed out infrastructure and wondered why most of the population became “insurgents”.

We have used nuclear weapons in three areas of the world, the former Yugoslavia, Iraq and Afghanistan and call these weapons “depleted uranium”. Meanwhile, the rods inside these munitions work so efficiently is because they produce an atomic reaction when used against armor, turning white-hot and slipping through armor like a hot knife through butter, vaporizing into particles smaller than a micron and having a nuclear half-life of over 400,000 years. This radioactive dust gets into the soil, the air, the water. It is ingested by humans and animals. Radioactivity in the atmosphere has been detected over Northern Europe. Parents in Iraq, after the birth of a child no longer ask if the child is a boy or a girl. They ask if it’s “normal”. Birth defects are up 400 percent in Iraq. Babies are born without heads or their eyes missing or their nose in the middle of their foreheads. Yet the media says nothing and our government denies everything. Soldiers returning from Iraq, transfer this radioactive poison to their wives through their sperm. There is a rash of incidents where babies are born to service members that appear to be normal, but after eight months or so the infant’s heart explodes because the heart muscle is too thin. Veterans develop bone degeneration, cancers and other side effects of radiation, depending on the amount of radioactive particles ingested. The government denies this also.

If abuse creates abusers, then when were Americans “abused”? To this writer, I just don’t see it. It seems that we have never suffered to the extent the Russian people and the Jewish people suffered. What is our excuse? Is the mission of “bringing democracy to the world” that so many government officials claim worth killing innocent civilians that have never attacked us? The perpetrators of 9/11 according to our own government (if you believe the “official” story) were mostly Saudi Arabian, yet that nation is the second largest recipient of military aid behind Israel. Why do we have military bases in over 90 countries? Why do we need 800 military bases? Why are we spending 47% of the world’s military expenditures? Why isn’t the media screaming about this?

In fact, why do I feel like I have to write about all of this? If this were 20 or 30 years ago, it would be on the front pages of the New York Times and Washington Post. The TV news media would be talking these facts to death. Senators would be demanding investigations. The uproar would have been deafening. The truth is that the media is an agent of the corporate world and the corporate world controls the government. These military expenditures are great for GE and Westinghouse, giant media conglomerates besides being large defense contractors. It all works hand in glove. The days of the independent journalist on a major media outlet are gone. What you read on the internet (including this piece) is as close to the truth as you will get.

People decry the cost of the recent healthcare bill, yet we are spending about 1.5 trillion dollars this year on the military. Where are our priorities? Where is the logic in this?

Nothing I’ve written here is something I haven’t written about before. I could go on. In fact I have written one book with two more on the way on exactly what I’m writing about today. Maybe I am boring some people, but I feel that what I’m writing about must be said again and again. This is not what I would have wished for my country. I feel responsible. The only way I know to fight against what is happening is to write about it, if I have to, again and again and again. We have so many problems that challenge us that need to be addressed. Issues such as Peak oil, the vanishing Middle-Class, our crumbling infrastructure, the corruption of our financial industry and the outsourcing of American industry to name but a few.

Sorry if I bored you with this. If I piqued your interest I succeeded. If I made you angry, check out the facts and write to me, you may find out, unfortunately for you, it is all true. To those that know all about what I’ve written here, keep telling others. If not us, then who will speak the truth?

timgatto@hotmail.com Read Tim's Political Novel "From Complicity to Contempt" and his new novel "Kimchee Days, or, Stoned Cold Warriors" from Oliver Arts and Open Press at all online booksellers.

Source:http://liberalpro.blogspot.com/2010/04/if-not-us-then-who.html

Shake off the Bystander Effect!

2010-05-17T16:48:00.002+05:30

Social psychologists advance a concept termed as ‘bystander effect.’ It is an attempt to explain an observed phenomenon in which the number of people who act to intervene in an emergency tend to be less, the more bystanders exist at a 'scene' of an occurrence.

Bystanders are therefore passive spectators who tend to be contented with watching others taking practical steps to contain an emergency.

In our communities we have many individuals who choose not to be passive bystanders. They are the first at any emergency and take it upon themselves to make the difference out of any potentially disastrous situation. Through their timely intervention, they mitigate the consequences of such situations getting out of hand.

Voluntarism is part of our faith. In fact, when one considers the many injunctions of a Muslim’s obligations towards another, one realises that it is the duty every believer to be a volunteer in more ways than one.

Just as it the case with the life of every believer, volunteers are tested by situations they find themselves in. It is therefore important for one to adopt a sacrificial spirit that is shaped by a singular intention of earning the Pleasure of the Almighty Alone.

The ultimate volunteers were none other than the Prophets themselves. Nabi Nuh Alayhis Salaam appealed to his people: "O my people! I ask of you no wealth for it, my reward is from none but Allah (Hud, 11:29).

Voluntarism cannot be some sort of extracurricular engagements at our leisure only. Rather, it has to be part of our daily lives, as a way of nurturing our hearts, so as to attain spiritual growth through service to humanity.

Perhaps some of the most notable of volunteers are those who help us in burial rites, manage traffic or serve meals at gatherings. However, there are many roles requiring services of volunteers.

For example, professionals can spare their time to mentor youth. Students can give their time in helping charities. Others can contribute in mobilising resources for the destitute, orphanages and so on.

Making our environment safe, clean and secure should also count as our own civic duty for which we should volunteer.

Humanity’s social dimension is affirmed by an individual’s need to belong. Nothing attaches an individual to his or her society more than a benevolent gesture of kindness especially in times of great need. Hence, voluntarism that reaches out, brings about a social cohesion that builds communities.

May the Almighty inspire us with a spirit of sacrifice so that we stand up and make a difference in our communities. May He bless those who are regular and frequent at selflessly serving others. Aameen.

Source:http://www.jamiat.co.za/newsletter/online_newsletter_0519.htm

When It Rained Blood

2010-05-17T15:19:00.000+05:30

By Nachiketa Desai

16 May, 2010
Countercurrents.org

Having covered Gujarat as a journalist for over two decades, Nachiketa
Desai was a witness to the Sangh Parivar's Fascist methods and its
devastating effects on the life and psyche of the people. He traces
the roots of Fascism that culminated in the genocide of 2002.
This article was originally written in 2002 and published on
Countercurrents.org in 2010

When I returned to Gujarat after eight years, in June 2002, the muddy
water of the Sabarmati River had already turned bloody. The sword of
the Saffron Brigade had drawn enough blood from Muslim men, women and
children to redden the azure blue water of the Narmada that had been
fed into the Sabarmati.

The Sangh Parivar, comprising the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS),
the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), the Bajrang Dal and the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP), had exploded the saffron bomb successfully in
Gujarat to prove before the world that Mahatma Gandhi, the apostle of
peace and non-violence, can be defeated in his own home land.

The Sangh Parivar had been preparing to wage a war against the
humanity since 1920 when its ideologue Savarkar propounded the theory
of 'Hindurashtra' (Hindu nation). When in 1947, their dream to convert
India into a Hindurashtra failed, the Sangh Parivar contracted
Nathuram Godse to kill Gandhi, who symbolized universal brotherhood.

The next assault on secular India was made on December 6,1992 when a
fifteenth century mosque was razed to the ground by a fanatic mob, a
section of which had been trained in demolition techniques in a camp
in Gujarat.

Having covered Gujarat as a journalist for over two decades, I was a
witness to the Sangh Parivar's Fascist methods and its devastating
effects on the life and psyche of the people. I will try here to trace
the roots of fascism that culminated in the genocide of 2002.

A LEAF FROM THE MEIN KAMPF

One had only read about Fascism and Nazism in books of history and
fiction. But had never experienced living under a Fascist state. One
had lived under the constant fear of arrest and police torture during
the 19 months of the Emergency. But what the Muslims in Gujarat
experienced in 2002 must have been much more dreadful than that.

There were massacres of Muslims, gang rapes of Muslim women and
looting and arson of shops and establishments belonging to them.

Armed mobs, led by known Bharatiya Janata Party and Vishwa Hindu
Parishad workers, were on a killing spree, targeting Muslims to avenge
the burning alive of over 50 VHP volunteers returning from Ayodhya by
train on February 27 near the Godhra railway station.

Instead of providing protection to the Muslims, the police aided and
abetted the killer mobs. Worse, the police refused to file First
Information Reports in several cases and where it became unavoidable
to register a case, the FIRs were so doctored as to help the killers,
rapists, arsonists and looters escape unpunished.

Gujarat had become unsafe for Muslims. Hundreds of Muslims fled their
homeland, Gujarat, after the mayhem. Many enterprising,
forward-looking, well-to-do Muslims, like the members of the Chelia
clan from north Gujarat, who owned over 400 restaurants, most of them
serving only vegetarian food and bearing pronouncedly Hindu names,
sold their establishments to move to Hyderabad and Bangalore.

These popular restaurants, other shops and business establishments
doing flourishing business in Ahmedabad and elsewhere in central and
north Gujarat were singled out, plundered and then set on fire by the
Hindu mobs in the aftermath of the Godhra carnage.

PARTITIONING THE HEART

How could the armed mobs, out on the roads to retaliate the killings
of VHP activists, track down Muslim business establishments throughout
the state in a matter of hours?

The VHP leader Pravin Togadia's disclosure in an interview he had
given me for the Calcutta daily, The Telegraph, on January 10, 1992,
flashed through my mind. Togadia had boasted that the VHP had
undertaken a census and land record survey to take stock of the real
estate ownership pattern among Hindus and Muslims in over 18,000
villages, towns and cities of the state.

The survey, he said, would provide the VHP leadership with the
necessary data that would help formulate short-term and long-term
strategies for 'protecting' the interests of the Hindu community in
'sensitive' areas.

The survey, he said, would help the VHP draw up a 'boundary' line in
all the major towns and cities beyond which the Muslims would not be
allowed to expand. "We will establish border check posts manned by
Bajrang Dal volunteers to instill a sense of security among the
Hindus," he had disclosed in the interview.

The large-scale rioting that occurred in the run up to the demolition
of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992 and thereafter
witnessed how property owned by the Muslims were mde target by
arsonists and plundering mobs.

By drawing up a boundary line, the VHP is trying to create a
'Hindustan' and a 'Pakistan' in almost all the villages and towns of
Gujarat, the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi who lived and died for love,
peace and non-violence.

The VHP has put up signboards at the entry points of all major towns
in the state welcoming visitors to 'Hindurashtra's such and such
town.' The unstated message in these signboards is louder: The country
belongs only to the Hindus; all others have place in it.

HEY RAM

Savarkar had seeded the idea of partition by propounding the theory of
'Hindurashtra' in the 1920s, much before Mohammed Ali Jinnha came up
with his two-nation theory. When the country was partitioned in 1947
and India decided to remain a secular state, the followers of Savarkar
were angered that India had not become a 'Hindurashtra'. So, one of
them, Nathuram Godse, killed Mahatma Gandhi who was a living symbol of
universal brotherhood and secular India.

The Muslims who had opted for Pakistan were far less in number than
those who had chosen to stay back in India. It was their conscious
decision to opt for the citizenship of a secular and democratic
nation. But for the followers of Savarkar's ideology, a secular and
democratic India was neither palatable nor acceptable. They had no
reasons to celebrate either the Independence Day or the Republic Day.

When the Union government banned the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)
and the Hindu Mahasabha after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi,
there was no sympathy for the Hindutva forces. The dogmatic Hindutva
was stoutly rejected by the country's diverse religious, linguistic
and ethnic people, who have had coexisted peacefully for centuries,
enriching their respective cultural heritage through inter-mingling
and sharing.

The Hindutva forces, represented in the political arenda by the
erstwhile Jan Sangh (renamed later as the Bharatiya Janata Party),
were rebuffed by the Indian electorate in all the successive elections
to the Parliament and various state legislative assemblies but for the
elections held in 1977.

The 1977 general elections proved a turning point in the
post-independence political history of India. The elections were held
under the shadow of a dictatorial rule. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi,
indicted by a court for indulging in corruption during her election
and facing a country-wide protest movement led by youths, had declared
a state of emergency and suspended all the fundamental rights of the
citizens, gagging the press, arresting her opponents and unleashing a
reign of terror.

The Indian voters expressed their anger against the dictatorial rule
through the ballot papers, routing the Congress party and electing to
power the Janata Party, a newly formed coalition of opposition
parties. Mainly because they had joined the Janata coalition that most
of the Jan Sangh leaders got elected to the Parliament.

It was a negative vote against the dictatorial rule of Mrs. Indira
Gandhi and not a positive vote for the Hindutva ideology that helped
the Jan Sangh gain political legitimacy in the country. When the
Janata government fell due to bickering among the constituentsand
fresh elections were held, people voted Mrs. Gandhi and her Congress
party back to power. The biggest loser was the Jan Sangh that had
renamed itself as Bharatiya Janata Party. Only two BJP candidates
managed to win their seats in the Lok Sabha.

From the subsequent events and developments, it would become clear
that the BJP gained more political mileage from the follies of the
Congress than from the popularity of the Hindutva ideology. It was
because of fragmentation of opposition votes due to the presence of a
large number of political parties in the election fray that the
Congress was managing to win a majority in the Parliament and in state
assemblies. Else, the popularity of the Congress party was fast
depleting on account of corruption in high places, rising inflation,
the culture of sycophancy and perpetuation of one family rule - that
of Mrs. Indira Gandhi.

SAFFRON SURGE

But it was chiefly because of some retrogressive action of the
Congress government like the decision to nullify the Supreme Court's
judgment on the Shah Bano case through an ordinance and Prime Minister
Rajiv Gandhi's move to throw open the Babri mosque for the devotees of
Lord Ram, that gave a shot in the arm to communal elements among both
the Hindus and Muslims.

It was Prime Minister V P Singh's decision to implement the
recommendation of the Mandal commission on socially and economically
backward classes that hastened the BJP to take up the issue of
Ramjanmabhoomi temple in Ayodhya, lest the coming together of all the
depressed classes - harijans, advisasis, other backward classes (OBCs)
becomes a formidable obstacle to the Sangh Parivar's dream of turning
India into a Hindurashtra.

The Sangh Parivar systematically went about recruiting and mobilizing
harijans, adivasis and members of other backward classes for the
Ramajanmabhoomi campaign. Through the campaign, the Sangh Parivar
managed to 'sanskritize' and bring under the fold of Hindutva members
of those communities who had been suffering the humiliation of
untouchability for centuries. When the bricks meant for the
construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya were consecrated in a Dalit
colony or a slum, those who participated in the ceremony felt equal to
the caste Hindus.

Simultaneously, the Ramjanmabhoomi campaign portrayed the Muslims as
'enemies' of the country who had no place in the Hindurashtra. The
Indian Constitution had rejected the two-nation theory by adopting
secularism. Hence, what could not be achieved through constitutional
means, the Sangh Parivar sought to achieve through unconstitutional
and extra-parliamentary means by driving a communal wedge in the
Indian society.

Polarization of society on communal lines has vastly benefited the BJP
as is evident from the increasing strength of its members in both the
Parliament and the various state assemblies. The communal carnage,
which triggered off the ghastly memories of Nazi concentration camps,
that shattered Gujarat between February and April 2002, was translated
into a mandate for chief minister Narendra Modi to rule the state for
yet another five years.

The Gujarat assembly election results porten a serious threat to the
secular India because the BJP and its extra-parliamentary allies, the
VHP, the Bajrang Dal and the RSS, have made it amply clear that they
will be trying out the 'Gujarat Experiment' in the elections to the
assemblies of six states later this year as also in the parliamentary
general elections the next year.

HATE CAMPAIGN

Though there appears to be a surface calm in Gujarat, the Modi
government and the Sangh Parivar continue to target the Muslims. The
state government is out to subverting the process of justice to ensure
that no one involved in the 2002 carnage is punished. The Best Bakery
case in a glaring example of this. In the Best Bakery case, the
session's court has acquitted all the 21 accused of killing 14 hapless
people, including women and children, after the key witnesses were
coerced by the local BJP MLA and his municipal councilor brother into
retracting their statement. Similar has been the fate of most of the
cases of heinous crimes in which BJP, VHP and RSS activists are the
accused.

While those who had committed murder, rape, loot and arson are roaming
fearlessly, the police is hunting down Muslim youths, foisting trumped
up charges against them and arresting them under the draconian
Prevention of Terrorist Activities Act (POTA). In most of the POTA
cases, the charge leveled against the detained person is the same that
he had been recruited by Pakistan's intelligence agency, ISI, after
the Godhra carnage, taken to Pakistan, trained there in terror tactics
and brought back to Gujarat to attack Hindu places of worship and kill
leaders of the BJP and VHP.

In times of communial violence in Gujarat, the language press sheds
its yellow and dons deep saffron. The Gujarati press has proved time
and again that pen is mightier than a trishul (trident). With scant
regard for journalistic ethics, the Gujarati press has been adding
fuel to the fire by whipping up communal passions.

The Muslims in Gujarat are a hounded lot, condemned by the ruling
party politicians (BJP and its VHP-RSS allies), a partisan police
force and civil administration and a belligerent press. If this is not
Fascism, what is it?

COMMUNAL TRAP

A cornered cat pounces at the throat of the one who has cornered it.
Should the Muslims act likewise? Some of them did. The serial bomb
blast in Mumbai was in retaliation to the demolition of the Babri
mosque. So were several other acts of terrorism. But an act6 of
terrorism triggers off state terrorism of greater maginitude. Besides,
terrorism alienates the common people from a terrorist outfit.

An act of terrorism by members of the minority community helps
reinforce the propaganda by Fascist forces that Muslims are
anti-social elements who need to be dealt with an iron hand. It was
because of the attack on the Akshardham temple complex in Gandhinagar
and the assassinatioin of former home and revenue minister Haren
Pandya that the police could terrorize the Muslims by subjecting a
large number of youths to torture and then putting them behind bars
under the provisions of the draconian POTA.

Violence breeds greater violence. Similarly, communalism of the
majority community thrives on communalism of the minority community.
Some religious and political leaders seek to encourage and strengthen
orthodoxy among the Muslims on the plea that preserving a distinct
identity is the only way to survive the onslaught by forces that seek
to wipe out Islam. But by doing so, they add fuel to the fire of
communalism on which Fascist forces thrive.

Another tendency seen among a few Muslim leaders is to accept the
supremacy of the majority community and be rewarded with a share in
power. Such Muslim leaders, who accept positions in the government or
in the ruling party, play a second fiddle to the top leadership and
come in handy for the Fascist regimes to tom-tom their 'secular'
credentials. As happens with any fifth columnist, they become a
subject of abject contempt among their own community even as their
loyalty remains suspect in the eyes of the majority community.

A vast majority of Muslims are poor and illiterate, making them
vulnerable to the machinations of politicians and the clergy.
Politicians, irrespective of their party affiliations, view Muslims as
a conglomerate of various monolithic, closely-knit clans each
controlled by clerics and/or community leaders. In times of elections,
politicians seek the support of these clerics and community leaders,
who act as power-brokers.

Politicians, clerics and community leaders have shown little interest
in the welfare and uplift of the common Muslims. On the contrary, they
seem to have a vested-interest in keeping the masses illiterate and
their attention diverted from such burning issues as education,
poverty, unemployment, social and economic justice. The same holds
true for the Hindutva forces too.

Karl Marx had described religion as the opiate of masses. The
followers of Savarkar, Godse and Modi are proving Marx right in
Gandhi's Gujarat

RAM AUR RAHIM

When in 1906, young barrister Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi launched his
satyagraha in South Africa against the discriminatory treatment being
meted out to people of Indian origin, his chief lieutenants included
Hindus, Muslims, Parsis, Dalits and Christians. Among his colleagues
were also Chines, British and Germans. Indeed Gandhi was a Vishwamanav
(global citizen) whose quest for truth could not be constricted by the
consideration of caste, creed or colour.

When he set up the Satyagraha Ashram on the bank of the Sarbarmati
river in Ahmedabad a decade later, Gandhiji nominated Imam Abdul Kadir
Bawazeer, a Muslim priest who had courted jail in 1910 as a Satyagrahi
in South Africa, as the vice-chairman of the ashram's managing
committee. Bawazeer succeeded Gandhiji's secretary Mahadev Desai as
the chairman of the ashram after the latter was arrested during the
Salt Satyagraha in 1930. And, when Gandhiji was arrested, he nominated
76-year-old Justice Abbas Tayyabji to lead the Salt Satyagraha.

Gandhiji's Satyagraha ashram was a global village. Its inmates
included Hindus, Jains, Muslims, Parsis and Christians. Even Miraben,
the youngest daughter of an admiral of the British Royal Navy, was an
ashram inmate, such broad was Gandhiji's concept of universal
brotherhood.

When in 2002, a group of concerned citizens gathered at the satyagraha
ashram to discuss ways to promote communal harmony, it was attacked by
a mob crying 'Jai Shri Ram'. A few days back, the mob that had
destroyed the mausoleum of Vali Deccani, a.k.a Vali Gujarati, the
great poet credited with founding the composition of shaayari, was
also shouting the same very war cry of 'Jai Shri Ram'.

Gandhiji had popularized the singing of the hymn:
"Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram, Pateet Paavan Sita Ram
Eeshwar, Allah Tere Naam, Sabko Sanmati De Bhagwan"

The Muslim, Christian and Parsi inmates of the satyagraha ashram sang
the hymn with equal devotion as it was a prayer to one God who was
known by different names and whose blessings the hymn sought so that
good sense prevailed among all human beings.

But since December 6, 1992, when fanatic Hindu mobs demolished the
Babri mosque at Ayodhya as an act of revenge against the 15th Century
Moghul emperor, Babar, the chant of 'Jai Shri Ram' has assumed violent
connotation, striking terror among the non-Hindus, specially Muslims
whom the Hindu fanatics chided as 'Babar ki Aulad' (Descendants of the
Moghul emperor).

Source:http://www.countercurrents.org/desai160510B.htm

Yemen’s Sorrowful Options: ‘Revolt, Migrate or Die’

2010-05-16T08:08:00.002+05:30

By Ramzy Baroud

13 May, 2010
Countercurrents.org

When the Soviets concluded their pull out from Afghanistan in February 1989, the United States government abruptly lost interest in the country. A devastated economic infrastructure, entrenched poverty, deep-rooted factionalism and lack of international aid caused the country to descend into complete chaos. Internal violence also worsened, but it was no longer an American concern. All that mattered was that the Cold War rival had been defeated. Mission accomplished.

Afghanistan remains the starkest illustration of how poor countries are used, then betrayed when their usefulness runs out. But Afghanistan is not an exception; US relations with many other countries, including Pakistan, Somalia and the Palestinian Authority remain hostage to this very model.

Yemen is now emerging as the newest casualty. Its government is desperate to hold on to the rein of power, amid corruption, extreme poverty and untold Western pressures. Ali Abdullah Saleh, the country’s president of the last thirty one years, has impressively negotiated his political survival through mounting challenges. The 1994 civil war left many thousands dead, and despite the north’s ‘victory’ the discontent of the south never waned. More, a Houthi revolt in the north is long running. Its latest manifestation lasted for sixth months and caused many deaths, most of which remained unreported. A mass migration of hundreds of thousands (270,000 by the recent estimates of the United Nations World Food Program) coincided with or followed the fighting. This is now temporarily in check, thanks to a fragile ceasefire.

According to some analysts, the ceasefire in the north could allow the central government in Sanaa to tend to the challenge growing in the south. Victoria Clark, author of the recent book Yemen: Dancing on the Heads of Snakes claimed that, "Southern disaffection has gone beyond the point of no return…Saleh's biggest mistake would be to crack down on southerners as hard as he has tried to do on the Houthi rebels."

However, under immense (and increasing) western pressure, Saleh is likely to crack down. Western governments, led by the US and Britain, run out of patience fairly quickly when the leaders of a poor, fragmented country opt for dialogue - even when such a choice might actually result in long-term political stability. When Afghan President Hamid Karzai merely mentioned of the possibility of engaging the Taliban, it generated much rebuke. A similar scenario happened in Pakistan. When Palestinian factions achieved the Mecca Agreement in February 2007 to mend their differences, the US immediately conditioned its financial backing of Mahmoud Abbas, and the agreement was successfully disintegrated. In the same vein, any Yemeni attempt at reaching out to the disaffected forces within the country, including tribes, opposition parties, and the various militant offshoots has been dismissed as an attempt to appease the terrorists.

Following a plot to blow up a US airliner over the city of Detroit on Christmas Day, the US renewed its interest in Yemen – in a predictable way. The administration of President Barack Obama issued an order early April authorizing the assassination of a US citizen Anwar al-Awlaki, a Muslim cleric linked to the plot. It seems like the Bush years all over again.

US Special Operation Forces have been at work in Yemen for years, following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Yemen was then declared “an important partner in the global war on terrorism,” and it remains so, whenever there is a need to chase the elusive militant groups partly or wholly linked to al-Qaeda.

The violent perusal of US enemies in Yemen comes at a heavy cost. On one hand it has undermined the central government, which is being increasingly challenged from the north, the south and the center. Naturally, no self-respecting government would allow its territories to be used either as breeding grounds for militants, or as a hunting ground for foreign forces. A raid involving US cruise missiles at an alleged al-Qaeda camps in December 17, 2009 killed dozens, including 23 women and 17 children, according to Yemeni sources.

Indeed, Yemen is to a great extent a battlefield in which the central government is hardly the central player. However, the so-called ‘war on terror’ has presented many self-seeking forces in Yemen with a golden opportunity to extract wealth. Much has been ‘invested’ to beat al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsular (AQAP). But little has been spent elsewhere, for example, in providing sustenance to the hundreds of thousands victimized by the ongoing violence.

When problems become insurmountable and there is no effective system of accountability in place, corruption becomes rampant. It is no wonder that Yemen ranks 154 of the 180 countries examined in the Transparency International Corruption Index. Corruption is often an outcome of poverty and lack of accountability, and it also contributes to them. Yemen is unable to escape this vicious circle.

Since Yemen is not officially an occupied country, donor countries can easily disown their financial promises. Such promises are only made when Yemen is set for some military operation or another, or to prop up the central government’s own proxy war on terror. However, when the Yemeni people are in genuine and dire need for help, Yemen becomes such a distant subject. It begets pity, at best, but no action.

According to the World Food Program (WFP), 7.2 million people – about a third of the country’s population - are suffering from chronic hunger. Almost half of them require immediate food assistance, but fewer than half a million are receiving it. They have been directly affected by the policies of western governments, and the central government’s own involvement in proxy wars on militants, tribes and other disaffected Yemenis.

How much money is the WFP is asking for in its latest appeal? A meager $103 million, out of which only $27 million has been received. A Tomahawk cruise missile – celebrated as both cheap but effective – costs around $600,000. The cost of the operation that killed dozens of innocent Yemenis last December could have, in fact, fed millions in need.

This is not a matter of mathematics; it is common sense. The ongoing miscalculations in Yemen are securing the very environment that lead to poverty, corruption, anger - and ultimately militancy and violence.

According to Emilia Casella, spokeswoman for the WFP, “people have three other options after that -- revolt, migrate or die.". Sadly, it is what millions of Yemenis are already doing.

- Ramzy Baroud (www.ramzybaroud.net) is an internationally-syndicated columnist and the editor of PalestineChronicle.com. His latest book is "My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza's Untold Story" (Pluto Press, London), now available on Amazon.com.

Source:http://www.countercurrents.org/baroud130510.htm

Skeletons Come Stumbling Out Of Modi Cabinet

2010-05-16T08:01:00.000+05:30

By Nachiketa Desai

13 May, 2010
Countercurrents.org

In what amounts to a blatant case of contempt of the Supreme Court,
the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Gujarat took to streets on
Wednesday in support of a rogue police officer arrested by the Central
Bureau of Investigation on the charge of fake encounter killing of
Sohrabuddin Sheikh and his wife Kauserbi. Deputy police commissioner
(crime branch) Abhay Chudasama was arrested by the CBI for having
played a key role in stage managing the fake encounter of the couple.
With the arrest of Chudasama, four top cops have landed in jail.

Other IPS officers arrested by the state CID earlier in the
Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case are DG Vanzara and Rajkumar
Pandiyan of Gujarat cadre, and MN Dinesh of Rajasthan cadre. The three
IPS officers along with 11 other policemen are still in
jail.Chudasama's arrest is the first to be made by the CBI after the
Supreme Court handed over the investigation of the case to the probe
agency on January 12, 2010. The apex court had asked the central
agency to probe if there was a larger conspiracy behind the killings,
and submit its report in six months.

At the time of killing Sohrabuddin, the Gujarat police had claimed
that he was on his way to Gandhinagar, the state capital, to
assassinate chief minister Narendra Modi. The bluff was called after
Sohrabuddin's brother moved the Supreme Court challenging the Gujarat
police version.

Sohrabuddin, a known criminal, used to extort money from Udaipur-based
marble stone traders who, with their political connection, are alleged
to have contracted Gujarat police officer Vanzara to kill the
extortionist.

The arrest of Vanzara and 11 other policemen was first made by the
Gujarat police. At the time, the BJP did not raise any hue and cry.
However, the state BJP leaders were quick to react after the CBI,
entrusted with the investigation by the Supreme Court, arrested
Ahmedabad city crime branch officer Chudasama. According to the CBI,
Chudasama was a rogue cop who used to extort money from leading
businessmen saying he would engineer their encounter in the same
manner in which Sohrabuddin and his wife were killed, if they did not
pay him protection money.

The CBI also stumbled upon property in the form of two luxury
apartments in Ahmedabad worth at least Rs 2 crore belonging to the DCP
crime branch. What made the BJP leaders take to the street over the
arrest of that rogue cop? Was the cop so close to the ruling party?

Though the BJP accused the Union government of misusing the CBI to
tarnish the image of the Narendra Modi government, the party
conveniently forgets the fact that the CBI was handed over the
investigation not by the Manmohan Singh Government but by the Supreme
Court.

The Supreme Court has also constituted a special investigation team to
inquire into the role of the state government and chief minister
Narendra Modi into the 2002 anti-Muslim pogrom. SIT has already
interrogated Modi and Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Pravin Togadia in
this context.

Source:http://www.countercurrents.org/desai130510.htm

Battle For Dandakaranya

2010-05-16T07:59:00.002+05:30

By Nachiketa Desai

11 May, 2010
Countercurrents.org

Bastar (Chhattisgarh): A fierce battle is raging along the Indrawati river in Central India. On one side of the river are deployed the para military forces of the Indian state. On the other side, in dense forest, are the Maoist guerrillas.

The Indian militia calls the battle, operation ‘Green Hunt’, which is aimed at flushing out the Maoists from the mineral rich forest land so that Indian and multinational corporations can fatten their bottom line by exploiting iron ore, coal and bauxite. The Maoists are fighting to protect the 40,000 square kilometers of dense forest land known as Dandakaranya from these marauding companies.

The Indian militia has deployed at the front a private army of teenaged adivasis raised under the banner of ‘Salwa Judum’ to provide local support to the Central Reserve Police force (CRPF). The police of Chhattisgarh operate from the safety of police stations, far away from the battle field. In the battle for the control of Dandakaranya, mostly the adivasis and the CRPF men drawn largely from the poor and socially backward class families from across the country die. Rarely do the senior officers of the police, the bureaucracy or the top executives of the MNCs get killed.

Maoists have ‘liberated’ the mineral-rich region where governments have existed only in the form of greedy contractors and corrupt policemen and forest officials, leaving the mass of tribals to suffer in poverty, disease and illiteracy while outsiders strip away Bastar's minerals.

“The country is on a boil. In the last 60 years, we have made the rich more rich and the poor more poor. The condition of over 60 crore people of our country is deteriorating day by day. If such a scenario continues, there would be great trouble, what kind of trouble is unpredictable,” says Professor Yash Pal, leading space scientist and former chairman of University Grants commission.

“Today, millions of people, mostly tribals, are migrating from their ancestral land to far off places like Mumbai, Delhi, Punjab and Gujarat to toil as labourers. There must be something terribly wrong with our development policy which is making this happen,” points out Prof. Yash Pal. “In the name of development, we are mining for minerals which we export to China, Japan and other countries. We dig land, we dig forest, we uproot people living in this land for the so-called development and progress,” he adds. “Having uprooted the adivasis, we set up highly polluting industries and destroy the most-beautiful and green forest land of our country. We are destroying the soil of India, we are destroying the people of India.”

Prof. Yash Pal was addressing a press conference in Raipur, the state capital of Chhattisgarh, on the eve of a peace march to Dantewada calling for talks and national debate to find an end to the civil war in the tribal-dominated mineral-rich forest-covered areas of Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.

Prof. Yash Pal was among the group of over 50 concerned citizens who participated in the peace march from Raipur to Dantewada from May 6 to 8. Among the other participants were Swami Agnivesh of Bandhua Mazdoor Mukti Sangathan, Prof. Banwarilal Sharma of Azadi Bachao Andolan, veteran Gandhian Narayan Desai, chancellor of Gujarat Vidyapith, Thomas Kochery of World Fisherfolk Forum and Radha Bhatt, chairperson of Gandhi Peace Foundation.

There was a consensus among the participants of the peace march that faulty development model of the country, which marginalized the vast majority of rural poor, the indigenous dwellers of the forest, was responsible for the civil war-like situation in not just the forested areas of central India but also in the North-eastern states and Kashmir.

There was also a consensus among them over the means of restoring peace in the country. “Gun versus gun is not the solution. Violence only would breed more violence. If the government thinks that it would be able to eliminate the Maoists by bullets, it is greatly mistaken. Look, what happened in Vietnam,” points out Prof Yash Pal.

“Are we going to annihilate the entire population of Adivasis, just like the Americans did with the Red Indians, to push forward development and progress?” asked Radha Bhatt of the Gandhi Peace Foundation.

“In the name of dam construction and mining, millions of people are getting displaced,” points out Thomas Kochery. “They are getting displaced from their land, forest and water”, he adds. This is the first kind of violence the poor people are facing, this is the first form of terrorism in the country.

“The second form of violence is by Naxalites who take up arms to retaliate the first form of violence. And the third form of violence is when the army and the para military forces use guns to put down the second form of violence,” he points out. “We are here to say that peace can be achieved by removing all the three kinds of violence from the country.”

“A long-lasting peace can be achieved only by holding talks amongst all concerned to find out a sustainable people-centric development paradigm,” says veteran Gandhian Narayan Desai.

Despite having spelled out the objective of their peace march from Raipur to Dantewada, the marchers faced ugly demonstration from a handful of supporters of both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the opposition Congress as well as from some representatives of trade, commerce and industry bodies.

The first to react was Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh who ridiculed the peace initiative by mocking at them and obliquely referring to them as the sympathizers of the Maoists. “Why do these intellectuals wake up only when the government starts operations against the Maoists and keep quiet when the members of our security forces get killed,” he said.

Taking a cue from the chief minister’s statement, a handful of workers of the BJP, the Congress and the local chamber of commerce and industry held demonstrations in Raipur, Jagdalpur and Dantewada, shouting, “Naxal supporters go back, go back.”

None of these demonstrators was local adivasi and only represented the trading community of the district towns of Jagdalpur and Dantewada which has been exploiting the adivasis over the last several centuries and which thrives on the ongoing war against the Maoists. “The traders of Jagdalpur and Dantewada are the main suppliers of foodgrain, grocery and other essential commodities to the security forces. Their total turnover of supplies to the security forces is in the range of Rs2000 crore yearly,” points out a resident of Jagdalpur who was a student union leader of the local college about a decade ago.

The state government and members of both the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress, with active participation of the police and local goons have been preventing independent journalists, lawyers and human rights activists from visiting Dantewada by organizing violent attacks against them.

Anyone trying to find out what is happening in Bastar on both sides of the Indrawati river is promptly branded by the Establishment as ‘Supporter of Maoists’.

A Gandhian worker, Himanshu Kumar, who has been running ‘Vanvasi Chetana Ashram’ for the last 17 years, was dubbed as ‘Maoist sympathiser’ and his Ashram razed to the ground by the authorities after he raised the issue of mindless killing of innocent adivasis by the police-backed Salwa Judum private militia.

A couple of journalists have been detained by the police after they tried to cross the Indrawati river to find out what was happing in the deep forest.

Source:http://www.countercurrents.org/desai110510.htm

Drinking Water: An Escalating Crisis

2010-05-16T07:58:00.002+05:30

By Devinder Sharma

11 May, 2010
Deccan Herald

First, industries guzzle up water and pollute water bodies, then they launch initiatives under Corporate Social Responsibility.

In this scorching heat, water is becoming a hot issue. With temperatures soaring, and with the major reservoirs drying, the battle for drinking water is becoming louder and bloodier, day by day. Unable to get their daily requirement of drinking water, angry protestors in various cities are taking to streets.

In the months to come, non-availability of water is sure to adorn the news. The warning bells have been ringing for over 15 years now, but nobody cared. Even now, when projections show that 70 per cent more groundwater has been depleted in the past decade than in the last decade of 1990s, and that water sources across the country have been contaminated in almost all the states leading to serious health problems like cancer and fluorosis that damages bones, teeth and muscles, the nation is not perturbed.

Parliament was informed that 1.80 lakh villages (out of the 6 lakh villages in the country) are afflicted by poor water quality. What these villages drink is nothing but slow poison. In addition, what parliament is not informed is that almost all the tributaries of our major rivers have become drain channels for the industry. Take, for instance, Ammi river flowing in the outskirts of Gorakhpur. For years now, over 1.5 lakh people who live on the banks of the river have been protesting against industrial effluents that have turned the river — the only lifeline for hundreds of villages on its banks — into a source of misery.

Ammi is not the only tributary that has turned into a drain. Almost all tributaries of the major Indian rivers flow dirty. Somehow the policy makers and planners treat the dirty rivers and tributaries as a misplaced sign of industrialisation, and thereby treat it as an index of development.

Returning to the issue of shrinking drinking water availability, a parliamentary standing committee has informed that while more than 84 per cent of households in rural areas are covered under rural water supply, only 16 per cent population gets drinking water from public taps. However, just 12 per cent of rural families have individual taps in their houses. This too is highly skewed in favour of the more progressive states. In Orissa, for instance, only 9 per cent households have access to tap water. If you travel to Kalahandi district, the percentage of population having access to tap water drops to a mere 2.76 per cent.

The picture isn’t very rosy for the urban areas. Only 37 per cent of the households have access to tap water. In other words, not only food entitlements, there is an urgent need to ensure right to safe drinking water.

Access denied

Isn’t it shocking that after 63 years of Independence, only 12 per cent of the rural households have drinking water taps? This is despite the National Rural Drinking Water Programme being operative, for which Rs 8,000-crore was provided just in 2009-10.

What is more shocking is that while the drinking water taps are going dry, there is never a shortage of water supply from tankers? In Mumbai, for instance, an estimate shows that nearly 48 per cent of the drinking water gets lost due to leaks from damaged pipelines. Some think it is simply because the tanker mafia is at work. Not only Mumbai, cities across the country are under siege by tanker mafia. In the rural areas too, the water mafia has been continuously at work. If the water sources are drying up across the country, I wonder from where the tankers get water. Every one knows that the tanker mafia is leaving the countryside parched and dry, but who cares?

Well, the corporate sector certainly gives an impression that it cares. It has to. After all, much of the water crisis is its creation. First the industries guzzle up water, and pollute the rivers and water bodies, and then they launch water saving initiatives under Corporate Social Responsibility. ITC for instance has launched a project in Gurgaon to teach housemaids on how to save water while cleaning the utensils. Teaching the maid servants on how to save one mug of water is surely some responsibility!

What the corporate sector refuses to point at is the recent decision of the Andhra Pradesh government to allocate 21.5 lakh litres per day from the Krishna River in Guntur district to Coca-Cola. While several hundred villages in Guntur district are grappling with acute drinking water shortage, the government perhaps thinks that rural poor can quench their thirst from drinking Coke instead. To justify its exploitation of water, Coca-Cola claims to be buying mangoes for its Maaza brand under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative. Killing two birds with one stone, isn’t it? But who cares?

Unfortunately, providing clean drinking water is no longer a national priority. Somehow the government believes that the more pressing need is to make the water resources available to the mineral water industry. With the elite and the middle class satisfied at the easy availability of mineral water, the rest of the population continues to suffer. Over the years, the state and the Central government have shifted focus to the middle class, as if the rest of the country does not matter.

Source:http://www.countercurrents.org/dsharma110510.htm

May 1948; How Russian And Polish Jews Wiped Out Palestine

2010-05-15T22:54:00.000+05:30

By Salim Nazzal

10 May, 2010
Countercurrents.org

Memory is the power which Zionist Jews cannot destroy.

In memory of the Palestinian babies, children, women and men slaughtered mercilessly by Zionist Jews like these days 62 years ago.

Each year on May 15th, Palestinians commemorate the war crimes committed by East European Jews and ask the same question: how did the so-called “Holocaust survivors” bring themselves to murder pregnant women, babies and others, put explosives in crowded Palestinian markets in the Palestinians towns, Haifa, Jafa, and Jerusalem, at schools and in orphanages and terrorize and expel a whole nation? Do Zionist Jews have hearts like other human beings, and if so how could they allow themselves to murder innocent people who had done no wrong to them?

How could those Jews, claiming to be hated in Europe to a degree where Hitler sought to eradicate them physically, bring themselves to do the same thing to Palestinians? This question is addressed to the Zionist Jews who murder Palestinians, to Jews who support and finance the murder and the robbery of Palestinians, and to those Jews who do not say any word about the slaughter of Palestinians.

The Nakhba (Limitless Catastrophe) is the Palestinian name for the Zionist Jewish policy of murder and expulsion of Palestinians in 1948, indicating a disaster of immeasurable magnitude, which resulted in the destruction of a whole society for the benefit of immigrants from Poland and Russia. The Palestinian Nakhba was more brutal than natural disasters like a volcano, or earthquake or tsunami.

All these natural disasters come and go, however, while Zionist Jews have become steadily more aggressive over time, confirmed by their nuclear, biological and chemical weapons capability, which could, as they themselves put it, return the whole Middle East to the Stone Age, meaning in practice that they would murder around 20 to 30 million Arabs and Muslims in about 5 minutes. This leaves the region with two choices; either the UN forces Israel to give up its weapons of mass destruction or the other countries of the region develop equivalent weapons to protect themselves.

The Nakhba is not only a historical event, however, with Palestinian still experiencing Zionist atrocities on a daily basis. Every day, Palestinians are tortured by members of ‘the most moral army in the world’! Every day, this ‘moral’ army murders Palestinians, every day Palestinians are arrested, and every day Palestinians are humiliated in their own country.

Every day Palestinians’ land is stolen by Zionist Jews, and every day the exiled Palestinians living in refugee camps grow more determined to reclaim their stolen rights, even if this takes another 1,000 years. And each and every day, the actions of Zionist Jews are building a Mount Everest of hatred against them, which will ultimately lead to endless wars throughout the 21 century.

How does the Western world, which claims to be expert in democracy and human rights, square this with accepting, enabling and supporting professional murderers in destroying a whole society and now in threatening stability and peace across the entire Middle East? When Zionist Jews come from different countries, murder and expel the natives, and call this independence, what kind of independence is that?

One understands that the peoples of occupied nations call the day that foreign forces leave the country Independence Day. In the case of Palestinians, however, it was their country that was occupied, with the British occupying Palestine while Zionist Jews were still living in their homeland in Eastern Europe. The colonizing power, Britain, then brought Polish and Russian Zionist Jews to Palestine with a clear goal of destroying the nation and the Palestinians. Therefore the question is; if Russian and Polish Zionist Jews were part of the British colonial system, from whom did they claim their independence?

In the behavior psychology theory we learnt that in order to understand what a group (Zionists in this case) are doing now, we have to know what they had previously planned to do. Such actions are goal directed behavior and can only be accounted for if we know who set the goal, and for what purpose.

The answer is simple; Zionist Jews said clearly that they planned while they were still in their Eastern European homelands to murder and expel Palestinians, while the native Palestinians were not even aware of what these Zionist Jews were planning. This is exactly what happens every year, with these Jews dancing joyfully to celebrate the theft of Palestine, which they call “independence” and Palestinians commemorate that day with deep sadness but with unlimited determination to restore their rights in order to live in dignity and in freedom in Palestine away from the zio Jewish culture of death.

I also pose this question to the countries that recognized the state of Israel: please tell us who exactly did the Polish and Russian Zionist Jews proclaim their independence from? And what right hand and have they to murder thousands of Palestinians and take their homes?

If Arthur Balfour, the British foreign minister in 1917 gave them that ‘right,’ Palestine was not his property to give him any right over it.

If the Jewish god supports killing pregnant woman as in Deir Yasin near Jerusalem, if it is a god that gives Jews the right to murder babies, if it is a god which spread the culture of death, he must be an international murderer and must be put immediately on the Interpol list at all airport to be arrested. And if Jews around the world believe their god is against violence, their voice must be heard, but, the fact is, until now, very few Jews have opposed the culture of death Zionists brought to Palestine.

While these atrocities continue, Palestinians see the hypocrisy of the US and Europe which dares to criticize the violation of human right everywhere, but, when it comes to Israel, where torture is an official state policy, nobody say anything. And, when we ask about the reason for this silence, they tell us Jews control the media, Jews control the banking system, Jews control the US Congress and nobody dares to confront them.

But why the policy of supporting Israel is encouraging wars? The answer is simple, past history has taught us that the support and the silence about the occupation encouraged Israel to occupy more and to oppress more because it knows no body will account it for its atrocities. The appeasement policy, is also poisoning the international relations between the east and the west, and gives strong argument to hardliners in the Muslim world that the West talks only rhetoric about human rights while supporting the Zionist occupation. Past experience demonstrates beyond doubt that the credibility of the US, Europe and the UN grows weaker every time Israel commits genocide and escapes sanctions. It has taught us that the policy of appeasement towards Israel means more wars, more destruction and thus more instability across the entire world.

Some may argue that questioning the legitimacy of the Zionist state after 62 years is too late, but for the Palestinians this question will always be asked and will never get old, as long as Zionism deprive Palestinians from Palestine. The questioning of the legitimacy of the Zionist state will be passed from generation to generation, and consequently the Palestinian struggle for freedom will continue throughout the 21 century.

It has been proven that Zionist Jews have failed to integrate in the region through use of wars and weapons. Effective, modern arms may make a well equipped army, but definitely make no friends. Justice and quitting a racist policy does. The Zionist policy is also encouraging the region to arm itself. Middle East observers anticipate that the next wars will be more destructive than all the previous ones. Some even predict that in 20 years time the most sophisticated arms will be available to everybody in the Middle East. This means a group of just handful individuals can launch a war on their own against the state of Israel.

Today most political analysts, including Israeli says that after 62 years of its establishment Israel is still worried about its existence. The question is why Israel is worried despite its large arsenal of arms? The answer is simple; Israel is like the man who stole a flat .The owner of the flat erect a tent opposite to his stolen flat, and each time the thief opens the window he sees the owner and feels unsafe because the stolen pose a moral threat to him. The thief owns a gun which scares the whole building naturally sympathizes with their stolen neighbor. The thief is insecure because he knows everybody will turn against him the moment he gets week or if times changed.

Indeed times are changing. Israel previously had a monopoly over sophisticated arms and on the media. Today the whole region is seeking to arm itself with equal sophisticated arms, and in the media, the alternative media is breaking this monopoly.

The Jewish community in Palestine needs to make radical changes if there is any hope to stop the cycle of violence. Israel army has the power to kill millions of Palestinians and Arabs; this is no secret. Yet, would it help them in any way? The answer is a Big No; the more they murder, the more they are hated and the more they increase vengeful sentiments towards them. In a research I made 12 years ago among Palestinian kids born Fifty two years after the Nakhba , I found out that the most precious dream the vast majority of them have is to see the apartheid state of Israel disappears, this generation which Israel will face in the future.

Jews in Palestine, therefore, have only two choices, to continue with the occupation and the oppressive policies, which will definitely lead to more wars, and in the end to the disappearance of the Jewish existence in Palestine or, to integrate in the region, meaning that Palestinians get their full rights and non Zionist Jews continue to live in the region on an equal footing with everyone else. But as we are in 2010 there is no shred of evidence that Israel is changing its apartheid nature. Today Israel,expel,arrest,murder,and use intensively the same policy Russian and polish Jews did 62 years ago.

And as the old generation of Palestinians defeated in previous wars with Israel passes away, and as our generation is aging, a new generation is emerging with a metal will and determination to carry on the struggle under the slogan that the destruction will be inflicted on everyone. This apparently changes the rules of the coming wars, and leads the region into a new phase.

Dr. Salim Nazzal is a Palestinian-Norwegian historian in the Middle East, who has written extensively on social and political issues in the region

Source:http://www.countercurrents.org/nazzal100510.htm

Climate Action

2010-05-15T22:51:00.000+05:30

With simple modifications to your daily routine, you can be part of a cleaner, more sustainable world.

1.Drink from the tap

You can save money and your environment by giving up bottled water. The production of plastic water bottles together with the privatization of our drinking water is an environmental and social catastrophe. Bottled water costs more per gallon than gasoline. The average American consumes 30 gallons of bottled water annually. Giving up one bottle of imported water means using up one less liter of fossil fuel and emitting 1.2 pounds less of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

2. Tithe a fixed percentage of your income

Tithe a fixed percentage of your income to non-profits of your choice.Many of our public health and welfare services are tied to consumer spending which, in turn, depends upon planetary resources. If you want to help, don’t go shopping. Just help.

3. Build a community

Have dinners with friends.Enjoying each other costs the planet much less than enjoying its resources.

4. Get there under your own steam

Get around by bike or by foot a certain number of days a month. Not only does this mean using less fossil fuel and creating less greenhouse gases, it means you’ll get exercise and we’ll all breathe fewer fumes.

5. Commit to not wasting

Wasting resources costs the planet and your wallet. Let your clothes hang-dry instead of using the dryer. Take half the trips but stay twice as long. Repair instead of rebuy. The list goes on.

6. Take your principles to work

We must act as though we care about the world at work as much as we do at home. Company CEOs or product designers have the power to make a gigantic difference through their business, and so do the rest of us. In commercial buildings, lighting accounts for more than 40 percent of electrical energy use, a huge cause of greenhouse gas production. Using motion and occupancy sensors can cut this use by 10 percent.

7. Believe with all your heart that the way you live your life makes a difference

We are all interconnected. Every step toward living a conscious life provides support to everyone else who is trying to do the same thing—whether you’re aware of it or not. We are the masters of our destinies.

Source:http://www.countercurrents.org/beavan100510.htm

P. Chidambaram’s Charm, Alarm

2010-05-15T19:28:00.002+05:30

By Raja Jaikrishan

10 May, 2010
Heraldofindia.com

After prescribing the two-pronged cure of development and security for the Maoist upsurge Home Minster P. Chidambaram used his lawyer’s wit and flourish to answer questions of JNU students late Wednesday.

Dressed in blue shirt and khaki trousers, he sounded earnest in solving the problem leading to trouble in the country’s heart. If Naxals abjured violence,“ Give me 72 hours and I will tell you (Naxals) time and venue for talks”. “Be it security, development, government structure and MoUs on mining, everything can be discussed. I will ask the Prime Minister to suspend all MoUs related to mining till the talks go on”, he said.

While he was speaking at the function organized by the Congress student wing NSUI, a section of students protested outside the auditorium. He asked a plainclothes policewoman not to push Vibha, an Economics PhD scholar. He took her questions and invited her over tea for further discussion on Anil Aggarwal’s Vedanta.

Next day,the students and others concerned over the violence , felt cheated on learning about his ministry’s statement warning sympathizers of the Maoists /Naxalites of action under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. The overnight bar on inquiry and dialogue into the causes underlying Maoist / Naxalite programmes shows the split between lawyer and minister in Mr Chidambaram.

Civil society groups and individuals have reacted sharply to the Home Ministry's statement.

Suhas Chakma, director , Asian Centre for Human Rights, said on the one hand the home minister takes support of the DMK and allies ,some of whom known supporters of the LTTE (a banned organization in India)and on the other he holds out threats to civil society .

Harsh Dobhal, editor , Combat Law, said: "How do you define sympathy (for Maoists)? The government in its own report says deprivation is the main cause of Naxalism. The civil society groups sympathize with the concerns of poor, they care for such people (as do the ultras). Basically, it is a witch-hunt by the government. In the name of fighting terror, the government can catch people and put them in jail and say that they are Maoists sympathizers."

Mahipal Singh, secretary , People's Union for Civil Liberties, said: Holding a political view and political ideology was no crime, even if it was the Maoist ideology. "If someone holds a gun and shoots people like the Maoists do that is a crime and the state can take action."

He also criticized the MHA's reference to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in taking punitive action against those collaborating with the Maoists. He said it was precisely for this reason that the PUCL was opposed to the draconian law. "Collaboration is a matter of interpretation. Collaboration as in helping the activities that are illegal, like supplying arms and ammunition and giving shelter to armed people, can be punishable but not sharing a meal or sheltering someone without being aware of that person's illegal activities."

PUDR activist Gautam Navlakha said: "Instead of exploring more sensible and imaginative policies to deal with the Maoists and the tribals who live in the same zones where huge mining deals have been signed, the government is taking recourse to authoritarian and dictatorial measures".

Delhi University Prof. G.N. Saibaba, said the MHA directive directly violated the right to freedom of expression.

Source:http://www.countercurrents.org/jaikrishan100510.htm

India: Criminalizing Dissent

2010-05-09T16:08:00.000+05:30

By Coordination of Democratic Rights Organizations

09 May, 2010
Countercurrents.org

The most recent alert (regarding use of section 39, UAPA) issued by the government in so called public interest has brought out in the open what had so far been implicit in its anti-Maoist policy. The purpose of the circular is to intimidate voices of protests and dissent over government policies, particularly Operation Green Hunt. The statement criminalizes dissent and makes a mockery of the spirit of critical inquiry which is at the foundation of a strong democracy. As members of civil rights groups we consider the statement as an attack on civil society and reminiscent of the Emergency era.

The contents of the circular show complete disregard of the concerns expressed by Supreme Court when it rebuked the Chhattisgarh government for labelling human rights activists and legitimate activities as sympathetic to naxals, or the more recent concerns expressed by the Chief Justice over the governments war against its own people. It is not surprising that the government has also chosen to ignore the sympathetic and undoubtedly saner voices in its own ranks, which have a different perspective on addressing the problem.

We condemn the governments threat to use extraordinary draconian laws such as UAPA to constrain freedom of expression and free and informed debate on issues which are of crucial importance for the country. We further condemn the government for targeting political and civil rights groups who are doing no more than carrying out their democratic responsibility of ensuring equal protection of the Constitution to all sections of society.

Signed by:

Association for Democratic Rights (AFDR, Punjab); Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee (APCLC, Andhra Pradesh); Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR, West Bengal); Bandi Mukti Committee (West Bengal); Committee for Protection of Democratic Rights (CPDR, Nagpur); Coordination of Human Rights (COHR, Manipur); Campaign for Peace and Democracy in Manipur (CPDM, Delhi); Human Rights Forum (HRF, Andhra Pradesh); Lokshahi Hak Sangathana (LHS, Maharashtra); Manab Adhikar Sangram Samiti (MASS, Assam); Naga Peoples Movement for Human Rights (NPMHR); Organization for Protection of Democratic Rights (OPDR, Andhra Pradesh); Peoples Committee for Human Rights (PCHR, Jammu and Kashmir); Peoples Democratic Forum (PDF, Karnataka); Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL, National); PUCL (Chhattisgarh); PUCL (Jharkhand); PUCL (Nagpur); PUCL (Rajasthan); Peoples Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR, Delhi); Peoples Union for Human Rights (PUHR, Haryana)

Source:http://www.countercurrents.org/cdro090510.htm

Karnataka : Operation Media Gagging

2010-05-09T16:06:00.000+05:30

By Gauri Lankesh

09 May, 2010
Tehelka

The Central home minister P Chidambaram has often issued veiled threats to intellectuals who offer covert or overt support to the Maoists, whom the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has identified as the ‘biggest internal security threat to the country’ today. While Singh and Chidambaram have limited themselves to issuing threats, the top brass in the Karnataka Government has opted for direct action. The police of Shimoga district has issued a ‘threatening’ notice to a young Kannada journalist.

Sometime last year, Rahul Belagali, a reporter with Prajavani, a leading Kannada daily, met with one of the state leaders of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) at an ‘undisclosed’ location. The interview that was published in his newspaper was full of expected rhetoric from the Maoists. Statements like — ‘The Maoists will continue their struggle’, and the ‘Indian democracy is flawed’ are now cliché. Not too many people paid attention to the interview — it offered no new political insight, neither provided new information. Until now.

Perhaps in the light of recent events, the Shimoga police issued two notices to Belagali, the first one as recently as on April 8, citing the interview and asking Belagali to appear before them and reveal his sources. The police wanted to ascertain information about a case registered in 2009 against a state Maoist leader. If Belagali did not accede, the police threatened action against him under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act of 1967.

The police sent a second notice to Belagali and this time to his Associate Editor, Padmaraj Dandavate. For Belagali, the second notice sounded alarm bells. It threatened to book him in four other cases — the Indian Arms Act, the Destruction of Government Property Act, the Explosives Act and the dreaded UAPA. Normally, the publisher of a newspaper accords protection to its reporters and holds up the fundamental rights of the media to protect its source. Unfortunately for Belagali, his publication did not stand up for him with all its strength. More interestingly, it did not appear to be interested in protecting the rights of the media. Instead it showed signs of wanting to ‘somehow get the matter settled’ and willingly become the fifth column of the government. That such a mighty media group was willing to let its reporter be threatened by the police is shocking, to say the least.

However, some human right activists and concerned journalists filed a complaint to the Editors Guild regarding the threats issued by the Karnataka Police to the two journalists. Rajdeep Sardesai, president of the guild, and Coomi Kapoor, the secretary general, have condemned the police action and said, “Professional ethics demand that mediapersons should protect their sources and not reveal their identities, when they request privacy. The confidentiality of a source is a well-established journalistic principle. Without such privilege, sources would not be willing to speak freely to the media, whose duty it is to report the facts fairly and objectively from all points of view to present a true picture to the public.’’

It is important to see the notices issued to Belagali in the context of the complaint filed against Arundhati Roy recently. A social worker from Chhattisgarh, Vishwajit Mitra, argued that Roy’s essay ‘Walking with the Comrades’ glorified the outlawed Maoists and sought to justify their activities. In his opinion, the essay and the photographs were liable to be viewed as an offence under the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act, 2005.

That Operation Green Hunt, the State’s war against the Maoists, has claimed the freedom of the press should sound as a wake up call to all journalists and people in the media.

(Tehelka, 7th May)

Source:http://www.countercurrents.org/lankesh090510.htm

Untruth Serum

2010-05-08T06:57:00.000+05:30

By P Chandra Sekharan

06 May, 2010
Combatlaw.org

Supreme Court has ruled that forcible use of tools like narco-analysis, polygraph tests and Brain Electrical Activation Profile (BEAP) is illegal, inhuman and degrading. Forensic science experts have pointed out that use of drugging for investigations doesn’t necessarily extract truth out of one’s system. On the contrary, it is yesteryear’s barbarism and today’s truth detecting terrorism marketed by some self-centered pseudo-scientists, writes P Chandra Sekharan

Interrogation is an important aspect of criminal investigation. It is an art to be mastered through study and experience. It plays major role in investigation whenever there is little or no physical evidence. Police and other investigators depend on interrogation as a principal means of determining facts and resolving issues. It is a well-accepted norm in civilized nations that for both ethical and pragmatic reasons no interrogator may take upon himself or herself the unilateral responsibility for using coercive methods. Concealing from the interrogator’s superiors intent to resort to coercion, or its unapproved employment, does not protect them. It places them, in unconsidered jeopardy.

Reliance on interrogation, however, involves certain problems: ascertaining when a suspect or witness is telling the truth, evaluating memory, allowing for the physical and mental condition of a witness or suspect, and understanding the problems created by an individual’s perspective. Interrogation methods and equipment have evolved in response to these problem areas. It is true that the psychological, psychophysical, and physical sciences have played vital roles in police interrogation techniques. But unfortunately this eventually led to many pseudoscientific truth-detecting techniques as well.

Coercive techniques

But we should know basic information about coercive techniques available for use in the interrogation situation. Coercive procedures are designed not only to exploit the resistant source’s internal conflicts and induce him to wrestle with himself but also to bring a superior outside force to bear upon the subject’s resistance. The following are the principal coercive techniques of interrogation: arrest, detention, deprivation of sensory stimuli through solitary confinement or similar methods, threats and fear, debility, pain, heightened suggestibility and hypnosis, narcosis, and induced regression.

If we look at the history of police investigation, physical coercion (third degree practice) has been preferred to painstaking and time-consuming inquiry in the belief that direct methods produce quick results. Sir James Stephens, writing in 1883, rationalizes a grisly example of “third degree” practices by the police of India: “It is far pleasanter to sit comfortably in the shade rubbing red pepper, in a poor devil’s eyes than to go about in the sun hunting up evidence.”

Narcoanalysis

More recently, police officials in our country are lured by one or two pseudoscientists to the practice of narcoanalysis to extract confessions from accused persons. The police are misguided to think that narcoanalysis is a boon to the police to make breakthroughs. This technique, as claimed by the police, is neither modern nor an internationally accepted one having its origin in the early 1920s. Drugs are supposed to relax the individual’s defenses to the extent that he unknowingly reveals truths he has been trying to conceal. This investigative technique cannot be considered as humanitarian and as an alternative to physical torture, but could be dubbed as “psychological third degree”, raising serious questions of individual rights and liberties. The civilized nations abhor the use of chemical agents in the guise of truth serum “to make people do things against their will”.

Truth serum

What is truth serum? “In vino veritas” (“in wine there is truth”) observed Gaius Plinius Secundus, (better known as Pliny the Elder), the Roman nobleman, scientist, natural philosopher and historian during the first century. In fact, alcohol given as intravenous ethanol, was an early form of truth serum. But the fascination for truth-eliciting drugs began in 1916 when an obstetrician named Robert Ernest House, practicing in a town outside Dallas named Ferris, saw a strange event during a home delivery.

The woman in labour was in a state of “twilight sleep” induced by scopolamine, a compound derived from the henbane plant that blocks the action of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. House had asked her husband for a scale to weigh the newborn. The man looked for it and returned to the bedroom saying he could not find it — whereupon his wife, still under the anesthetic, told him exactly where it was. House became convinced that scopolamine could make anyone answer a question truthfully, and he went on to promote its forensic use.

The phrase “truth serum” appeared first in a news report of the experiments conducted on prisoners by Robert House, in the Los Angeles Record, sometime in 1922. Robert House himself resisted the usage of the term for a while but eventually came to employ it regularly himself. Since then police departments used it — and in a few cases judges permitted it — through the 1920s and 1930s. Other drugs were also tried, most famously the barbiturates and Pentothal Sodium had become the drug of choice in interrogations. But by the 1950s, most scientists had declared the very notion of truth serums invalid, and most courts had ruled testimony gained through their use inadmissible.

The terminology “truth serum” is itself a twofold misnomer. Neither the drugs used in this technique are sera nor do they necessarily bring forth the probative truth. It is the media which continues to exploit the appeal of the term as it provides an exceedingly durable theme for the press and popular literature.

Practice of narcoanalysis

The use of so-called “truth” drugs in interrogation is similar to the accepted psychiatric practice of narcoanalysis, which is nothing but psychotherapy conducted while the patient is in a ’sleep-like state’ induced by barbiturates or other drugs, especially as a means of releasing repressed feelings, thoughts, or memories. Its use in psychiatric practice is restricted to circumstances when there is a compelling, immediate need for a patient’s responses. But the difference in the procedures adopted by the investigator lies in a totally different objective. The police investigator is concerned with empirical truth that may be used against the suspect, and therefore almost solely with probative truth: the usefulness of the suspect’s revelations depends ultimately on their acceptance in evidence by a court of law.

The psychiatrist, on the other hand, using the same ‘truth-drugs’ in diagnosis and treatment of the mentally ill, is primarily concerned with psychological truth or psychological reality rather than empirical fact. A patient’s aberrations are reality for him at the time they occur, and an accurate account of these fantasies and delusions, can be the key to recovery. According to psychiatrists ‘they cannot be considered as reliable recollection of past events.

Experimental studies

The clinical and experimental studies conducted by many researchers have concluded that there is no such magic brew as the popular notion of truth serum. The barbiturates, by disrupting defensive patterns, may sometimes be helpful in interrogation, but even under the best conditions they will elicit an output contaminated by deception, fantasy, garbled speech, etc. A major vulnerability they produce in the subject is a tendency to believe he has revealed more than he has. Studies and reports dealing with the validity of material extracted from reluctant informants indicate that there is no drug which can force every informant to report all the information he has. Not only may the inveterate criminal psychopath lie under the influence of drugs which have been tested, but the relatively normal and well-adjusted individual may also successfully disguise factual data.

Several patients revealed fantasies, fears, and delusions approaching delirium, much of which could readily be distinguished from reality. But sometimes there was no way for the examiner to distinguish truth from fantasy except by reference to other sources. One subject claimed to have a child that did not exist, another threatened to kill on sight a stepfather who had been dead a year, and yet another confessed to participating in a robbery when in fact he had only purchased goods from the participants. Recently a Bangalore journalist, who was voluntarily undergoing a narco test, revealed that he loved Shah Rukh Khan’s mum the most while his recorded answer before he took the test was he loved his mother.

Testimony concerning dates and specific places was untrustworthy and often contradictory because of the patient’s loss of time-sense. His veracity in citing names and events proved questionable. Because of his confusion about actual events and what he thought or feared had happened, the patient at times managed to conceal the truth unintentionally. As the subject revived, he would become aware that he was being questioned about his secrets and, depending upon his personality, his fear of discovery, or the degree of his disillusionment with the doctor, grow negativistic, hostile, or physically aggressive. Drugs disrupt established thought patterns, including the will to resist, but they do so indiscriminately and thus also interfere with the patterns of substantive information the interrogator seeks. Even under the conditions most favourable for the interrogator, output will be contaminated by fantasy, distortion, and untruth. Because of these world-wide opinions, narcoanalysis for interrogation has been dispensed with long back.

As cited by Aniruth K Kala, Inbau, the then professor of law at Northwestern University, who had had considerable experience in observing or participating in ‘truth serum’ tests, is of the opinion that such tests are occasionally effective on persons who, if they had been properly interrogated, would have disclosed the truth anyway. The person who is determined to lie will usually be able to continue the deception even under the effects of the drug. On the other hand, the person who is likely to confess will probably do so as a result of skillful police interrogation and it will not be necessary to use drugs.

Side effects of Pentothal

The life-threatening adverse side effects of Pentothal are circulatory depression, respiratory depression with apnoea and anaphylaxis. Its effects on CNS may produce head ache, retrograde amnesia, emergence delirium, prolonged somnolence and recovery, besides several other side effects.

Sodium thiopental is a depressant and is sometimes used during interrogations not to cause pain (in fact, it may have just the opposite effect) but to get the person being interrogated to talk. It is not true that sodium pentothal does not cause pain. It can be irritating and painful if accidentally injected into tissues. Extravascular or intra-arterial injection would indeed cause pain4.( Please refer Stephen Raftery, Bristol Royal Infirmary, UK., Pharmacology Issue 2 (1992) Article 8: Page 1 of 1 ) .

The Indian scenario

It was sometime during the year 2000, narcoanalysis was given a rebirth in India when the Bangalore Forensic Science Laboratory announced the availability of a four-in-one package tests for the investigating police officers. From then on the Indian police were lured to these tests and they began considering ‘Pentothal Sodium’ as the cornucopia for all their unsolved crimes. They believe in the fits and starts of the drug rather than their wits to intelligently interrogate. The Indian judiciary, barring the Supreme Court, appears to have given its tacit approval to adopt pseudoscientific techniques in crime investigation. The Fourth Estate looks at the truth drug with the same excitement it created in 1922 when the Texas obstetrician, Robert House first termed the drug as ‘truth serum’. The Indian psychiatry is watching the fun with caution. The Indian Neuroscientists (medicos) are amused to see the misuse of Brain Sciences by the non-medicos.

The four-in-one package

The package includes the following four tests in that order a) psychological profile b) polygraph test c) brain fingerprinting test and d) narcoanalysis. All the four tests are conducted by the same expert (social psychologist) one after the other on the pretext that the earlier test suggests confirmation by the next. The tragedy is that the final confirmation is made by Narcoanalysis, the earliest to be thrown out. The intention is clear. The report on narcoanalysis will only be in the form of verbal statements by the accused while the reports on the other tests are simply based on electrical responses. The architect of these tests is also not bothered about the possibility of the result of one test prejudicing the findings in the next which is again against principles of scientific investigation and ethics.

The other tests

A. Polygraph Test : The most dramatic gains in interrogation technology, when once narco test was discarded, have come through the polygraph, or so-called lie detector. The polygraph monitors and records selected body changes that are affected by a person’s emotional condition. The recorded changes are then studied, analyzed, and correlated in respect to specific questions or other stimuli.

Again, the name “polygraph test” is itself misleading. The word “test” indicates an ‘objective process of evaluation’ based on facts; similar to a DNA or a blood test. Results obtained from a polygraph test are much less credible, since the device measures the body’s reaction to two different types of questions. The two different types of questions are known as relevant and control questions. The examiner must compare responses from relevant questions to those of control questions in order to form an opinion. The dirty little secret behind the polygraph is that the “test” depends on trickery, not science. Perversely, the “test” is inherently biased against the truthful

‘Absolutely there is no difference between a polygraphist who manipulates examinations, and a law enforcement officer who plants contraband on a suspect. In both cases, evidence is being manufactured. The only difference is the law enforcement officer has committed a crime, and the polygraphist just made money’.

B. Brain Fingerprinting : The technique developed in the early nineteen nineties by Lawrence A. Farewell, a former research associate in psychology in the Department of Psychiatry of Harvard Medical School, is claimed to be an alternative to polygraph test. In using the technology, a suspect is shown carefully selected words, phrases or images on a computer screen. They are things like a photo of a murder weapon or the model of car used in a crime. It is claimed that these things would only be recognized by the person who committed the crime.

Sensors on a headband register the subject’s EEG, or brain wave responses to the computer images. The EEG is fed through an amplifier and into a computer that uses proprietary software to display and interpret the brain waves. Unlike polygraph testing, it does not attempt to determine whether or not a subject is telling the truth. Rather, it attempts to determine whether the subject’s brain has a record of relevant words, phrases, or pictures.

Farwell’s visit to India

I had an opportunity to expose the fallacy behind Farwell’s brain fingerprinting technique when Lawrence Farwell visited Hyderabad on March 27, 2004 whence the Andhra Pradesh Forensic Science Laboratory had organized a symposium on ‘Truth detecting techniques’. After Farwell made his presentation I confronted him with the comment that his technique would not differentiate the brain wave response exhibited by the perpetrator of a crime from that exhibited by the others who have knowledge about the crime. Farwell concurred with my observation. Farwell’s team brought with them more than a dozen equipment to be marketed in India. The Director General of Police, Andhra Pradesh, Mr. Sukumaran had on the spot cancelled the orders earlier placed for the purchase of a unit for Andhra Pradesh Forensic Science Laboratory from Farwell and Farwell has to go back to America taking back all the units he brought to India for sale.

Farwell’s Brain Fingerprinting The Des Moines Register, a newspaper dated September 06, 2004 has published a very interesting story about Farwell’s company having swindled the taxpayers of Iowa out of over $100,000 on the pretext of Brain Fingerprinting research. On the outskirts of Fairfield, alongside a gravel- driveway marked with a sign that reads “Hermit Haven,” sits the National Data Center and Regional Operations Center for Brain Fingerprinting Laboratories Inc. The centers consist of a small, rented office and an empty laboratory. A few computers with archived experiment data are stashed in the basement behind steel doors, but no workers are there to use them. “They moved to Seattle,” explains a businessman in a neighboring office.

In the months before that move, Brain Fingerprinting Laboratories collected $125,000 in grants and loans from the Iowa Department of Economic Development. However, a lawyer in the Iowa attorney general’s office has said Farwell’s so-called brain fingerprinter is no more effective than “a pasta strainer with a chin strap.” Another lawyer in the attorney general’s office called the state’s investment a waste of taxpayer money. A third has said the company’s claims are “nonsense.” There are no takers for brain fingerprinting in America itself.

Brain fingerprinting in India

When such is the real position of brain fingerprinting, two forensic science laboratories in India (The Gujarat lab also joined the bandwagon now) moved fast to apply this technique in actual cases. (Bangalore Lab claims that they have already completed 700 cases of brain mapping and 300 cases of narcoanalysis.) Our psychologists claim that they have brought out the hidden secrets of the brain of the accused.

The P300 brain wave response is just a waveform with a single spike which is very similar in the suspect as well as the other witnesses. Unless our experts find out a distinct characteristic in the brainwave response of the perpetrator which is totally different from the responses of other witnesses, the information derived from brainwave response of an accused will have no meaning. I am yet to find any publication about original research, if any carried out in this direction by our brain wave specialists in peer-reviewed scientific journals. There is a wild rumour that these people are simply copying Farwell’s patented technique without paying royalty to him and they will certainly get into problems. First they must come out with their own findings, if any, which are different from that of Farwell, and satisfy the ‘falsifiability criterion’, before applying the technique in actual cases. ‘Brain fingerprinting’ as it is today, is little supported by forensic evidence or experience and it is no better than its cousin ‘lie-detector’. If narcoanalysis is a primitive technique, brain wave test is a premature one.

Strong support from DFS, MHA

Meanwhile, the Directorate of Forensic Sciences functioning under the Ministry of Home Affairs (DFS, MHA) had officially released a manual, prescribing the procedure for the conduct of narcoanalysis. Yes! A manual was released in 2005 by the DFS, which proclaims “Promoting Good Practices and Standards” for a technique not practiced until this day in any of the three Central Forensic Science Laboratories directly under its own control; a technique considered to be a barbaric practice and abandoned by all civilized countries; a technique not practiced by any Forensic Science Laboratory any where in the world; a technique, since its inception in 1922 was practiced only in hospitals with the help of medical men, psychiatrist and anesthetist until it was abandoned a few decades ago.

It is only the State Forensic Science Laboratory Bangalore that had suddenly found a fancy for this test during the past few years. But the “Laboratory Procedure Manual-Forensic Narcoanalysis issued under the banner of Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, carries disinformation as if many laboratories in India are doing this test. It is said in the preface of the manual that “Forensic Science Laboratories now have started playing active role in providing scientific aids to investigators by examining suspects under the “state of trance” achieved by employing Narcoanalysis technique”,. The fact is that no laboratory other than the Bangalore one in India conducts this test. No big procedure or technology is involved in this test. The write-up, resembling the advocacy of a private company to promote its product, makes tall claims ignoring all negative aspects and risk factors involved in the test. The manual also advises that the revelations during narcoanalysis can be verified by polygraphy and brain fingerprinting, the two pseudoscientific techniques. Incidentally, the DFS has also released a manual for brain fingerprinting.

Plea before Indian Government

It is in such a scenario, calling narcoanalysis a “psychological third degree” method of investigation, I had written to the Prime Minister in July 2006, asking the government to make a policy decision on whether the police may use narcoanalysis, and to clarify what role, if any, forensic scientists should have in such tests. I had also suggested to form a committee of experts to tackle the issue and to refer the matter to the Supreme Court. My letter was subsequently forwarded to the Home Ministry. The Ministry is responsible for the Directorate of Forensic Sciences, the Centre’s forensic sciences department.

I had again addressed the MHA in August 2006 criticizing the Ministry for trying to mainstream a technique that has been discredited in most “civilized” countries and not practiced by any forensic science lab anywhere in the world. I have also called for the withdrawal of the manual on narcoanalysis. I am yet to get a response.

Ethical considerations

For ethical reasons the psychiatrist is advised against performing narcoanalysis when the examination is requested as an aid to criminal investigation. World Medical Association recently revised its Tokyo declaration on this subject and now states inter-alia:
The physician shall not countenance, condone or participate in the practice of torture or other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading procedures, whatever the offence of which the victim of such procedures is suspected, accused or guilty and whatever the victim’s beliefs or motives and in all situations including armed conflict and civil strife.
The physician shall not provide any premises, instruments, substance or knowledge to facilitate the practice of torture or other forms or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or to diminish the ability of the victim to resist such treatment.

Medical Council of India has recently amended its official code of medical ethics by adding, “The physician shall not aid or abet torture nor shall he be a party to either infliction of mental or physical trauma or concealment of torture inflicted by some other person or agency in clear violation of human rights”.

Anirudh Kala says, “It is shocking that such a gigantic fraud with so many important ramifications is being perpetrated on the nation. I suggest that a group of scientists and intelligentsia be formed so that a concerted effort can be made to expose the absurdity going on”.

Conclusion

The police are a disciplined force trained to uphold the law and to enable democratic institutions to function lawfully. Police powers are confined by the provisions of the Constitution, the Police Act, the Criminal Procedure Code the Evidence Act and many other local and special laws which impose restrictions on the scope and method of exercise of that power. Forensic scientists should inspire the police with their scientific methods not to violate the norms. They will be accused of conspiring with them if they are a party in using the above psychological coercive methods.

Courts have powers to extract accountability from the police in case of violations of human rights in exercising their functions. Courts should therefore be posted with a detailed knowledge about these techniques. The recent decision of the Bombay High Court in a case that employing certain physical tests involving minimum bodily harm such as narcoanalysis, lie detector tests and brain fingerprinting did not violate the rights of the accused persons guaranteed by Article 20(3) of the Constitution has come probably due to the fact that they have not been posted with full information about these techniques. Certainly this will lead to a systematic violation of human rights through the use of coercive pseudo scientific practices under the label of proven and recognized forensic scientific techniques.

All the more it is necessary that the media, the Lok Ayuktas, the Human Rights Commissions, the superiors within the police organizations should take a serious view about the use of these techniques in the guise of interrogation and guide the Home Ministries to evolve a common code in this regard.

In the case of Daubert v. Merrell-Dow Pharmaceutical, the Supreme Court of America unanimously decided on June 28, 1993, that ‘falsifiability criterion’ should be the arbiter of what kind of scientific evidence will be admissible. According to this criterion Freudian psychoanalyst concept is clearly unscientific. Many psychologists themselves have little or no understanding of ‘falsifiability criterion’ and this may be even truer of psychiatrist and social workers.

The expert witness of psychologists using hypnosis, narcoanalysis, theories of repression, recovered memories, deviant behaviour, dissociation and multiple personality disorder, as well as others is no longer acceptable. And such expert witness can be questioned on the grounds of lack of reliability and testability. In my opinion, narcoanalysis is yesteryear’s barbarism and today’s truth detecting terrorism marketed by some self-centered pseudoscientists

REFERENCES

1. Kala AK, Of ethically compromising positions and blatant lies about truth serum, Indian Journal of Psychiatry,2007, May12, 49,6-9

2. McDonald JM., narcoanalysis and Criminal Law, American J Psychiatry 1954, 111:283-8

3. Stephen, Sir James, History of criminal law. Norton WW. New York; 1952. p. 1883.

4. Guttmacher, Weihofen. Psychiatry and the law. Cited from: Inbau FG. Self incrimination. Thomas CC. Springfield; 1950. p. 69.

5. Mayank Tewari. First brain mapping lab in Bangalore. Sunday Hindustan Times, Mumbai September 17, 2006, page 1.

6. Stephen Raftery, Bristol Royal Infirmary, UK., Pharmacology Issue 2 (1992) Article 8: Page 1 of 1

The author is President, Forensics International (Consultancy, Education, Research and Training). He is the President of Forensic Science Society of India & Editor-in-Chief of the Indian Journal of Forensic Sciences

Source:http://www.countercurrents.org/chandra060510.htm

New York Car Bomb Incident: Another False Flag?

2010-05-07T20:00:00.000+05:30

By Stephen Lendman

05 May, 2010
Countercurrents.org

On May 1, New York Times writers Al Baker and William Rashbaum headlined, "Police Find Car Bomb in Times Square," saying:

"A crude car bomb of propane, gasoline and fireworks was discovered in a 'smoking' Nissan Pathfinder in the heart of Times Square on Saturday evening, prompting the evacuation of thousands of tourists and theatergoers on a warm and busy night."

Mayor Michael Bloomberg claimed "We were very lucky. We avoided what could have been a very deadly event."

For much of the evening, Midtown New York, from 43rd - 48th streets, was closed, heightening fear reported for hours on cable news shows, including statements by Bloomberg, Governor David Paterson, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly and Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne, saying the bomb "appeared (to be) in the process of detonating, but it malfunctioned."

Good luck or something else? We've seen this too often not to be suspicious. This one, like others, has all the earmarks of a false flag, more likely given its coverage and location in Times Square on Saturday night, followed by a May 2 video saying the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility.

Who could imagine they had a branch office in New York, and no one even noticed. At least that's the impression from media disinformation, hyped to spread fear and prepare the public for what's to come, perhaps something much worse.

In addition, like previous times, a suspect is already in custody, a Muslim, of course, as part of the anti-Islamic post-9/11 rage, and given how abusively he may be treated (including frightening threats of life in prison or the death penalty), perhaps will confess to anything or make it appear that he did so headlines can blare it.

According to Reuters, a statement on an Islamic web site (http://www.muslm.net/vb/showthread.php?t=387309) said:

"The Pakistani Taliban announces its responsibility for the New York attack in revenge for the two leaders al-Baghdadi and al-Muhajir and Muslim martyrs."

Videos are easy to fake, including strategically timed bin Laden ones, exposed by digital experts as fakes, aside from convincing evidence he died in 2001.

See David Ray Griffin's important book titled, "Osama Bin Laden: Dead or Alive?" In his latest April 30 article, "Did Osama Bin Laden Confess to the 9/11 Attacks, and Did He Die in 2001," Griffin notes his book's convincing evidence of his death, that if so, proves all subsequent video and audio tapes attributed to him are fakes.

According to Hactor Factor's Neal Krawetz, bogus ones are characterized by low quality visual and audio splices and more. His analysis of a September 2007 video showed bin Laden's beard black when in earlier images it's gray. It also had him dressed in a white hat, shirt and yellow sweater, precisely the same attire as in October 2004. In addition, the background, lighting, desk and camera angle were the same.

Most obvious were the edits, showing obvious splices, at least six video ones and even more for audio that appeared to be words and phrases spliced together.

Videos like these are easy to make as are special effects clever enough to make anyone look like bin Laden, convincingly enough to fool the public, especially when media reports hype them.

Post-9/11, it's vital to remind the public by strategically timed "Enemy Number One" bin Laden incidents and the "security threat" he represents. If he didn't exist, he'd have to be invented so why not perpetuate the myth, omitting that he was a CIA asset and likely remained one until his death.

Noteworthy is that CBS News anchor Dan Rather reported that he was admitted to a Rawalpindi, Pakistan hospital on September 10, 2001, and France's Le Figaro said:

"Dubai....was the backdrop of a secret meeting between Osama bin Laden and the local CIA agent in July (2001). A partner of the administration of the American Hospital....claims that (bin Laden) stayed (there) between the 4th and 14th of July (and) received visits from many members of his family as well as prominent Saudis and Emiratis. (During the same period), the local CIA agent, known to many in Dubai, was seen taking (the hospital's) main elevator (to) bin Laden's room." Why not if he was a valued asset.

On May 2, the Israeli news website Debka.com featured an "Exclusive Report" saying:

"On April 30, twenty-four hours before a smoking SUV Nissan containing an improvised bomb was defused (in) Times Square....the Pakistani Taliban's top bomb-maker, Qari Hussain Mehsud, took 'full responsibility for the recent attack in the USA' in an audiotape with images on a You Tube website."

Saying no proof of overseas involvement was forensically found, "DEBKAfile's counter-terror sources" noted similarities between the New York bomb and earlier 2005 and 2007 ones in London and Glasgow, Scotland respectively. In each case, they used propane and failed to detonate - the Glasgow one, in fact, causing the car used to burn but not cause a major catastrophe.

DEBKA also quoted Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud saying on an April 4 nine minute tape that "The time is very near when our fedayeen will attack the American states in the major cities." Earlier, Qari Hussein Mehsud "warned NATO governments to denounce the US and apologize for the 'massacres in Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan, and Pakistani tribal areas - otherwise be prepared for the worst destruction and devastation in their own countries.' "

A mid-April Debka report had Iran threatening to retaliate against US cities with nuclear weapons if they're used against Iranian cities or sites.

"For the first time, DEBKAfile's military sources (IDF and/or Mossad ones stoking fear) report, Tehran indicated the possibility of passing nuclear devices to terrorists capable of striking inside the United States....Although Iran has yet to attain operational nuclear arms, our military sources believe it does possess the makings of primitive nuclear devices or 'dirty bombs.' "

With no supportive evidence, these type reports hype fear to prepare the public for what's to come, so if a planned major terrorist event in a Western city, there's a ready suspect to blame and popular approval to act.

Noted Previous False Flags

The historic record is full of false flags, some especially noteworthy. Below are a few examples:

-- in 1898, America falsely accused Spain of blowing up the USS Maine in Havana, Cuba harbor. The Spanish-American war followed;

-- in 1933 Germany, a week before general elections, the strategically timed Reichstag fire (home of the German parliament) was blamed on communists. It got President Paul von Hindenburg to sign an emergency decree. Civil liberties were suspended. Weimar Republic democracy ended, and Hitler assumed fascist powers after enough Nazis were elected to assure it;

-- on August 31, 1939, Nazis impersonating Polish terrorists attacked the Gleiwitz radio station on the border between the two countries, starting WW II;

-- on December 7, 1941, the Roosevelt administration succeeded in manipulating Japan to attack Pearl Harbor, giving FDR the war he wanted from the early 1930s, but had to convince a pacifist public of the threat; the fleet was also tracked across the Pacific, but Admiral HE Kimmel wasn't warned or given known intelligence to assure enough mass casualties for congressional and public support;

-- in 1962, a US Joint Chiefs of Staff proposed false flag attack never happened because President Jack Kennedy rejected it; called Operation Northwoods (a part of Operation Mongoose), the scheme included sinking US ships, shooting down US commercial airliners, blowing up buildings in US cities, attacking America's Guantanamo base, other incidents, and blaming it on Cuba as a reason for war;

-- the fake August 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident initiating full-scale retaliation against North Vietnam after Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution authorizing war without declaring it; and the seminal event of our time -

-- September 11, 2001, clear evidence showing it was a false flag, the Afghan and Iraq wars made possible by fear-mongering blame on the Al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein.

On February 16, 2010, a Washington's blog web site (georgewashington2.blogspot.com) article titled, "Governments ADMIT That They Carry Out False Flag Terror" listed some examples, including:

-- the CIA admitting its 1950s role in toppling Iran's democratically government in 1953;

-- Israel admitting a 1954 attack in Egypt, including planting bombs in US diplomatic facilities, leaving "evidence" of Arab involvement;

-- Indonesia's former president, Abdurrahman Wahid, saying the nation's police or military most likely were involved in the 2002 Bali bombing, killing over 200 people;

-- a former Italian prime minister, judge, and military counterintelligence head, General Gianadelio Maletti, saying America's CIA instigated and abetted right wing terrorist groups in the 1970s and earlier, including bombing a Milan bank in 1969, to rally popular anti-communist support in Italy and other European countries; and

-- many others, including former Carter administration National Security Adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski, telling a Senate committee that a false flag terror attack on US soil might occur to blame Iran and justify war.

In his 1997 book, "The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and its Geostrategic Imperatives," he said:

"Moreover, as America becomes an increasingly multicultural society, it may find it more difficult to fashion a consensus on foreign policy issues, except in the circumstance of a truly massive and widely perceived direct external threat," the kind 9/11 created - predicted, planned, orchestrated, and carried out to further new world order dominance globally.

Other False Flag Examples

(1) The March 2004 Madrid train bombings occurred three days before Spain's general elections. With no supportive evidence, they were blamed on Al Qaeda, yet they stoked public fear and were used to warn that other Western cities were threatened, including in America.

Nearly always, Muslims are blamed and arrested, the DEBKAfile citing advance bin Laden tapes threatening to punish Spain for supporting the Bush administration. This time, Basque separatists were also named, again without evidence, and the bin Laden tapes were fakes.

(2) The July 7, 2005 London underground bombings (called 7/7) were a series of attacks on the city's public transport system during the morning rush hour for maximum disruption and casualties. At precisely the same time, an anti-terror drill occurred, simulating real attacks. It was no coincidence this time or ever, others in America and Britain coming on the same day as a real event, other notable ones covered below.

AP reported that the London Israeli embassy warned Scotland Yard about the 7/7 one in advance, and Israeli Army Radio reported that "Scotland Yard had intelligence warnings of the attacks a short time before they occurred," but didn't act or issue warnings. In addition, Israel's finance minister at the time, Benjamin Netanyahu, was told not to attend an economic conference in the city where he was scheduled to deliver an address.

Other dignitaries were also warned, but not the public. Even without smoking gun proof, the 7/7 attack was a false flag operation to heighten fear and keep Britain and the West embroiled in war.

(3) On the morning of the 9/11 attack, the CIA ran a "pre-planned simulation to explore the emergency response issues that would be created if a plane were to strike a building." Held at the Agency's Chantilly, Virginia Reconnaissance Office, AP reported (on August 22, 2002) that it simulated "a small corporate jet (hitting) one of the four towers....after experiencing a mechanical failure."

Unmentioned at the time was a later revealed (but unreported) Homeland Security conference announcement a year later to commemorate the 9/11 event. Held under the auspices of the National Law Enforcement and Security Institute, one of its speakers was John Fulton, CIA Chief of the Strategic War Gaming Division of the National Reconnaissance office in charge of the operation. Another coincidence, or was something more sinister afoot?

The previous year in October, the Pentagon simulated a commercial plane striking the Pentagon, coordinated by its Command Emergency Response Team and the Defense Protective Services Police. This and the 9/11 exercises are more than coincidental, given what's now known and the fallout.

(4) On June 30, 2007, a Jeep Cherokee with propane canisters crashed into Glasgow International Airport's glass doors, the BBC reporting that it "was in the middle of the doorway burning....The car didn't actually explode. There were a few pops and bangs which presumably was the petrol."

The usual suspects were blamed, Al Qaeda and Islamic terrorists, Prime Minister Gordon Brown saying:

"We are dealing, in general terms, with people who are associated with Al Qaeda," followed by his initiating draconian security measures, hyped by the UK Telegraph saying:

An "unknown Al Qaeda terrorist cell (was) thought to be preparing to launch a series of Baghdad-style car bombings." Another Telegraph article mentioned Washington's involvement with UK authorities in hyping the threat, and an ABC News report suggested foreknowledge of the incident based on advance warnings (by unnamed intelligence officials) of Al Qaeda "target(ing) nightclubs and other soft targets....All of this comes just three weeks after what was described as an Al Qaeda graduation ceremony for suicide bombers at a training camp in Pakistan."

Fear mongering and false flags? Draw your own conclusions, understanding the need to stoke fear to keep public support for the "war on terror," the loss of civil liberties for "security," the Afghan and Iraq wars, and whatever else may be planned.

(5) the Christmas 2009 airliner incident involving Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian citizen on an Amsterdam - Detroit bound flight. US officials claimed he was trained in Yemen by Al Qaeda, obtained explosive chemicals (PETN), and tried to detonate them on board.

In a December 29 Russia Today interview, Webster Tarpley called him a "protected (CIA) patsy (for a) provocation designed to facilitate US meddling in (Yemen's) civil war (pitting) the Saudi-backed central government against the Iranian-backed Shiite Houthi rebels," being bombed by US and Saudi air strikes.

Abdulmutallab was denied a UK entrance visa, wasn't on a No Fly List, paid cash for a one-way ticket to Detroit, checked no luggage, had a US visa but no passport, and was helped on board by a "well-dressed Indian" to facilitate the likely false flag plot using him as a convenient dupe.

The Wayne Madsen Report called the incident a false flag operation "carried out by (the) intelligence tripartite grouping of CIA, Mossad, and India's Research Analysis Wing (RAW)." Earlier they conspired with "former Afghan KHAD intelligence agents to assassinate former Pakistani Prime Minister Benezir Bhutto....to destabilize Pakistan" for planned balkanization, the same scheme planned for Afghanistan and already implemented in Iraq.

Madsen explained that Abdulmutallab's PETN was "weak, technically deficient," failed to go off properly, and if so would have had the impact of an exploding fire cracker.

Madsen also reported that the same tripartite CIA, Mossad, and RAW alliance was behind the November 2008 Mumbai, India attacks, killing nearly 200 and wounding hundreds more. Webster Tarpley said almost for certain Pakistan's ISI radical wing was involved, and that Indian and Mossad operatives conduct regular cross-border missions into Pakistan from India and Afghanistan.

(6) Make of it what you will, but in Miami on January 11, 2010 (one day before Haiti's earthquake), the Pentagon's US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) simulated a hurricane striking Haiti in preparation for subsequent measures to be implemented, that, in fact, would be a carefully planned military operation for occupation, control, and planned plunder.

Also, Deputy SOUTHCOM head, General PK Keen, was in Haiti when the quake struck, ready to assume command when it did and use a communication tool called the Transnational Information Sharing Cooperation project (TISC), linking other nations and NGOs with the Pentagon and US government to facilitate measures to be implemented, none to help Haitians.

Final Comments

As long as imperial ambitions and rogue agencies like CIA and their foreign counterparts exist, false flag operations will be commonplace, the May 1 New York one the latest example, and maybe a forerunner of what's to come - another 9/11 some believe, far worse than the first one, perhaps involving a nuclear incident in a US city. Then using it as a pretext for more war and to divert attention from America's deepening economic crisis, likely to erupt in protests because of Washington's indifference to millions affected.

Whether or not the direst predictions occur will only be known in the fullness of time. In the meantime, stay tuned for more updates as events unfold, and be prepared for the worst.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

posted by Steve Lendman @ 3:03 AM

Tuesday, May 04, 2010
Soldier Committed Violence Against Palestinian Detainees

Soldier Committed Violence and Abuse Against Palestinian Detainees - by Stephen Lendman

The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PACTI - stoptorture.org) calls "torture and ill treatment of any kind....incompatible with" moral democratic values. It "advocates for all persons" in Israel and Occupied Palestine to protect them from abusive treatment of all kinds.

In June 2008, its report titled, "No Defense: Soldier Violence against Palestinian Detainees" is just as relevant today, perhaps more so given Israel's intensified violence and abuse in Gaza and the West Bank in the past year.

PACTI interviewed detainees and participating soldiers, included media reports, IDF provided information, and comments of political figures regarding these practices.

Observed was a phenomenon dating back decades, and, of course, remains ongoing today. Hence, the report's relevance and need to discuss it. Especially since September 2000 (the beginning of the second Intifada), "the number of arrests has been unprecedented. Thousands of Palestinians are arrested each year....and are executed by a large number of combat units in the Israeli military."

Violent arrests followed by torture and ill treatment are commonplace. For decades, Israeli soldiers have abused Palestinian detainees "on a routine basis." Recognizing and exposing it is key to stopping it.

Ill Treatment in Arrests

Force is routinely used even for those posing no threat. It begins during and after arrests, in transit, and at military bases and installations, prior to being transfered to a detention facility.

Detainees are beaten, blindfolded, and painfully shackled for hours, a practice often causing permanent injury. In response to PACTI requests, an IDF spokesperson cited no regulations, guidelines, procedures, or orders relating to the process. Order 9810, not applicable to all arrest stages, merely says:

"only metal shackles are to be used (and) tightening (them) should be undertaken in such a manner as to prevent injury to the detainee (particularly to blood vessels)."

As a result, abuses occur routinely, including violence and threats. Typical are severe beatings while shackled and blindfolded, enough to cause serious injuries. They begin at arrest and continue during transport with detainees forced to sit, lie, or be thrown on vehicle floors.

Soldiers commonly put their feet on detainee bodies and/or heads, creating enough friction to cause abrasions and injuries. Commanders are there to observe it.

Before imprisonment, detainees are often held in makeshift detention facilities on military bases where abuse continues. One prisoner said he was taken to a concrete yard, handcuffed to a concrete pole, made to sit on the ground, and be beaten on the face every 30 or 60 minutes.

Abuse, ill treatment, and humiliation continue through each stage of the process. For Nidal Shataya, it was especially egregious as he explained:

"....After the soldiers searched the house and the entire building, they arrested me and my brothers....They put us into a military jeep using force and violence and shoves. They shouted at us and cursed us....They put us on the floor of the jeep, handcuffed and blindfolded. (They) were taking us to Hawara base to the south of Nablus, where we were interrogated by Intelligence officers....The soldiers beat us while we were waiting in the outer yard. Every soldier that walked past would beat and curse us. We were not allowed to lean or to sleep.

At the Hawara military checkpoint....they put us on the floor in a small, dirty room next to the checkpoint. The soldiers handcuffed us very tightly and blindfolded us. My hands and eyes hurt a lot and we could not...stand this situation any longer....

Then the soldiers came and started to beat us with their army boots and their weapons. The beatings were repeated three times," at first for about 15 minutes, the second the same time, and the third for over 10 minutes, "continuously and without any interruption....Then the Israeli soldiers dragged and pulled us along the road to the other side of the checkpoint....and threw us on the road there. There were taxi drivers there who called for an ambulance and they took us to the hospital, almost unconscious...."

Use of Dogs

After September 2000, their use increased - at checkpoints, on military bases, and accompanying soldiers, especially during arrests. According to one soldier:

"Today, the dogs in the unit are trained for one of five capabilities: Assault, identification of explosives, scouting, weapons and ammunitions searches, or rescue and release."

PACTI attorney Yaara Kalmanovich wrote Israel's Judge Advocate General saying:

"The....graver aspect is the phenomenon of deliberate ill treatment with the means of dogs. These cases....are shocking and they must be quickly and effectively eliminated. (In addition), the mere contact with the dogs may be terrifying and humiliating. According to Islam, the dog is an impure animal, and accordingly many Muslims feel humiliated and dishonored whenever a dog is close to their person or touches them....The soldiers should be required to keep the dogs in such a manner that they will not come into contact with the detainees whenever there is no tangible operational need for this."

In response, the military denied the allegation, stonewalled, and lied, claiming the opposite of what, in fact, happens. Soldier testimonies confirm it, saying dogs are trained and used specifically for assault and do it - not for a potential threat, but on the assumption that Palestinian detainees are offenders, whether or not true. As a result, highly aggressive dogs cause serious injuries. Unless muzzled, they present a clear and present danger, even to their handlers, and detainees report being terrified and bitten.

Mistreating Children

Soldiers treat them like adults, the Israeli penal code allowing it in defiance of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, other international laws, and Israeli law (nominally) affording minors special protection. It prohibits injuring or psychologically harming them, and obligates anyone witnessing mistreatment to report it.

International law protects all civilians from violence and threats thereof, and requires occupiers to treat them humanely, especially children.

According to Protocol I to Fourth Geneva: "Children shall be the object of special respect and shall be protected against any form of indecent assault. The Parties to the conflict shall provide them with the care and aid they require, whether because of their age or for any other reason."

However, soldiers exploit children's weaknesses and regularly abuse them, at times seriously enough to require hospitalization. Like adults, they're handcuffed, blindfolded and beaten, including with rifle butts and boots.

"Accordingly, the ill treatment of minor Palestinian detainees constitutes the most extreme manifestation of a broader phenomenon whereby the various state authorities that implement the occupation routinely treat minor detainees as adults, ignoring the legal and human obligations to ensure special safeguarding and protection for those who have not yet reached the age of eighteen."

Military procedures make no distinction between adults and children, some as young as 12 or younger. Grave consequences thus happen regularly as part of Israel's systematic pattern of ill treatment and abuse.

Systematic Detainee Abuse and Mistreatment

A 2007 joint B'Tselem-Hamoked Center for the Defence of the Individual report titled, "Absolute Prohibition: The Torture and Ill-Treatment of Palestinian Detainees" confirmed PACTI's findings through victim testimonies. It said Israel disregards international law and its own throughout the arrest, transport, interrogation, and imprisonment process. Abuses range from "softening up" to torture. Common ones includes:

-- "Isolation from the outside world - prohibition on meetings between detainees and their attorneys or ICRC representatives;"

-- psychological pressure, including in "putrid, stifling" solitary confinement;

-- sleep deprivation and inadequate and poor food;

-- painfully binding hands and feet to a chair in the "shabah" position;

-- other forms of torture, including severe beatings;

-- threats and intimidation, including against family members;

-- use of informants to extract information, whether or not true; and

-- routine "cover up and whitewashing" of grievous crimes; rarely are abusive practices investigated; most are dismissed, and almost never are abusers punished.

Further, Israel's arrest-interrogation-imprisonment process "is significantly aided by the HCJ (High Court of Justice), which serves as a rubber stamp on orders which regulate isolation" and subsequent abuse, half or more of the time causing one or more injuries, at times serious.

According to (retired) Col. Gadi Amir, part of the process is "the dehumanization of the enemy, (that he, or she, is regarded as) an object" to be treated any way we wish. As a result, "we have become jaded and phenomena that we once considered horrifying we now seem to have become accustomed to...."

Yet the IDF won't acknowledge it, and by so doing "encourages and reinforces" abuse and degrading treatment, despite clear international and Israeli law prohibitions, binding at all times, under all circumstances, with no allowed exceptions.

Ill Treatment After Arrest Under Israeli Law

Under Israeli military law, "ill treatment" is an offense, prohibiting beating and other forms of abuse with offenders liable to three years imprisonment if charged and convicted. Under "aggravating circumstances," it's seven years.

Soldiers are legally responsible for detainees in their custody, and according to Israel's Military Court of Appeals:

"The discrepancy of powers and status between the person wielding control and authority and the person lacking the ability to resist leaves the victim defenseless against the abuse of the power held by the person in authority."

Yet the court has yet to address the minimum threshold beyond which ill treatment occurs as distinguished from the lesser offense of assault. In fact, however, abusive ill treatment happens whenever soldiers use violence or humiliating tactics against defenseless shackled, blindfolded detainees.

In all cases PACTI examined, ill treatment, assault or "assault in aggravating circumstances" occurred, in violation of articles 378 - 382 in Israel's penal code. Other offenses are also common, including injury, battery, forcible extortion, and ill treatment of a minor. Some violate military law, others civil or both.

"In any case, however, violence by soldiers against shackled detainees is a criminal phenomenon penalized under an entire system of offenses in Israeli criminal law."

Crime and Punishment

Despite Israeli law, military judges rarely act or go easy on offending soldiers, and compared to civil courts they're lax, regardless of how serious the offense. Yet the Military Court of Appeals ruled that commanders are responsible for preventing detainee ill treatment, especially if he ordered the abuse.

Yet, like US military law, a soldier who disobeys an illegal order isn't culpable. In fact, under paragraph 498 of the US Army Field Manual (FM) 27-10, any person, military or civilian, who commits a crime (even if ordered by a superior) under US or international law, is responsible for it and may be punished. It's the same under Israeli law, but enforced under neither, except in America to charge low level recruits to absolve their commanders.

In Israel, there is "no disagreement as to the clear illegality of an order to harm persons not involved in combat, or removed, and the obligation not to obey such an order." The standard for commanders is even higher, given their position of authority and reluctance of subordinates to disobey fearing punishment.

Failure to Enforce - Military Investigatory Bodies

Israel's Military Justice Code establishes three interrogation authorities - an examining officer, the Military Police Investigation Unit (MIU), and an investigative judge.

They're explicitly separate from debriefings by those involved in investigating incidents, including by commanders. Material from them is to go only to the military advocate general (MAG) or his representative. The latter then decides whether a debriefing offense was committed and if an investigation is warranted. If so, a summary of findings "shall not be transferred to a person undertaking a criminal investigation in accordance with the law." Nor "shall it indicate suspicion against any person involved in the incident."

An examining officer or investigative judge is charged with handling the case, the latter only if deaths are involved. The former may be a senior adjudicating military officer, another one appointed by him, or a MAG-designated military police person.

The examining officer may then hear witnesses, review evidence, and arrest suspects. He only decides whether to recommend prosecution, not order it himself. The MAG decides whether or not to proceed further. In practice, however, MIU army officers handle most ill treatment examinations, not trained lawyers familiar with the law.

The process of soldiers judging others in the ranks taints the whole process, especially the way Israel goes about it, taking care of its own. A clear conflict of interest delivers injustice.

Troublesome Forms of Investigation

They rarely happen, and when they do are effectively whitewashed, given that examining officers rely on operational debriefings supplied by the offending forces or their commanders. As a result, they're tainted and wholly unreliable. It shows up in how few are charged, let alone convicted of serious offenses, including torture and killings.

According to Law Professor Mordechai Kremnitzer:

"....There are two problems with the operational debriefing. Firstly, the person who undertakes it is not a professional investigator, with all due respect to the military commander. (In addition), when people have acted unlawfully, they have a natural motivation not to admit this, to deny it, to tell incorrect stories, and to back up each other's incorrect stories."

As a result, cases are closed for "lack of evidence," suppressed, and to absolve offenders, and it happens regularly.

Prosecutions, Convictions, and Punishment - Soldiers and Commanders

Based on IDF Spokesperson supplied figures, investigations of ill treatment rarely happen, and almost never lead to prosecutions or convictions. Out of hundreds of them launched, a mere handful of indictments followed, amounting to about two per year since September 2000. Of those, acquittals were common, and hand slaps (like 10 days imprisonment) followed convictions most often.

Also, practically never are commanders charged or prosecuted even when they issued direct orders. In rare instances, they face disciplinary hearings, in others, demotion. No senior commanders have been prosecuted for the offenses of their subordinates. In these cases, command responsibility "is an extremely restricted concept," an alien one.

B'Tselem explained that many complaints are closed "due to various defects during the processing of the case. (For example), months pass between the submission of the complaint and the transfer of the case to the MIU for investigation....The conclusion from all this is that the system does not attach the necessary importance to investigating cases of violence by security force personnel against Palestinian residents and ensuring that justice is meted out to those responsible. This conveys a lenient message to those in the field that such actions are not regarded as severe."

Even after beginning, investigations can drag out for months, so long, in fact, that those involved often complete their military service and leave.

Further, as long as the IDF investigates and prosecutes its own, justice is virtually impossible, unlike in civil courts. A possible solution is ending military involvement, so far not considered. Yet Human Rights Watch suggested that:

"a consensus is emerging in international law that military personnel should not be tried in military courts in cases when the victims are civilians, and that military jurisdiction systems should relate solely to offenses of a clearly military nature."

In December 2007, Yediot Ahronoth, Israel's most widely circulated newspaper, published a survey showing widespread soldier abuse during inspections at checkpoints alone. According to one soldier interviewed:

"When you deny thousands of people a day freedom of movement, it is impossible to do it in a nice way."

Yet the security establishment denies it and claims abuses there are exceptions, localized, and unusual, and military courts often quote a ruling declaring that "the basic rules of human morality and human dignity guide the Israel Defense Force," despite clear evidence of the opposite - "inconsistent with the testimonies and reports from the field, which leave no doubt that the phenomenon (is) widespread."

Steps for change include ending denial, exposing falsified evidence, obeying the law, and holding abusers accountable. Yet "the military does not make proper preparations for arrest operations; refrains from imposing responsibility on commanders for the ill treatment of detainees; and is extremely disinclined to launch investigations (to) indict soldiers suspected of abusing Palestinian detainees."

Civilian authorities are part of the coverup and denial, the Defense Ministry ignoring abuse and holding no one accountable. Crimes against Palestinians "are not considered worthy of....attention." The topic is unaddressed in the Knesset.

"A review of Knesset Protocols (from) January 2006 through April 2008 reveal(ed) that no discussions took place in the plenum of the Knesset regarding the ill treatment by soldiers of Palestinians in general, or Palestinians in particular."

In addition, no legislative action occurred, and the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, in charge of supervising the defense system, "failed abysmally to protect the public interest when it comes to ensuring the rule of law in the actions of the executive branch in the Territories." They deliberately ignored the issue, even during the height of the Intifada.

PACTI concluded saying:

"We hope that this report will encourage the Knesset Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee to address the phenomenon of ill treatment of Palestinian detainees by soldiers as part of the responsibility the committee has accepted for scrutinizing, inspecting, and encouraging change on behalf of the public in matters relating to human rights violations in the Occupied Territories."

A Final Comment

To date, the Knesset hasn't acted, and, in fact, performed worse, the Mossawa Advocacy Center and Coalition Against Racism calling the current body the most racist in Israeli history in a 2010 report - Mossawa saying "almost every day" another Israeli Arab is victimized by racist acts, 100s in various categories confirmed by media and police reports.

In the Territories, Gaza remains under siege, and West Bank and East Jerusalem Palestinians endure daily neighborhood incursions, loss of homes, frequent arrests, killings, various other assaults, and violations of their dignity, civil and human rights on streets, at work, in their homes, and in detention.

On April 27, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) reported the killing of Ali Isma'el Ali Swaiti in Beit 'Awwa, his home demolished on top of him. PCHR condemned the crime, calling it an extrajudicial execution in charging politicians and commanders with war crimes.

On April 28, PCHR condemned Fatah's General Intelligence Service (working collaboratively with Israel) for harassing and arresting Palestinian writers Muhannad Salahat and Walid al-Hodali to prevent their free expression right to document West Bank crimes against innocent civilians.

Outlandish abuses happen daily, endorsed by IDF commanders, MKs, and the fascist Netanyahu government, as extremist and morally decadent as any in Israeli history. As a result, Palestinians suffer grievously, including in detention where torture remains official Israeli policy.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

Source:http://www.countercurrents.org/lendman050510.htm

Am I A Maoist?

2010-05-07T19:29:00.002+05:30

By Gladson Dungdung

03 May, 2010
Countercurrents.org

I appeared in public life through my human rights works, writings and speeches. However, I reached to a larger audience when I got a chance to appear in CNN-IBN and NDTV-24×7 debates on the issue of Naxalism last year. After these debates, I got immense positive and negative responses from across the country. I was upset for sometime precisely because of the most negative responses I got from youth who are running behind the market forces unknowingly. They ruthlessly questioned me about whether I get money from Pakistan, Nepal or China for speaking against the Indian State. I responded to a few of them with detailed explanations, but many believe P Chidambaram’s theory of this side or that side; therefore they are not ready to accept my rational arguments.

Meanwhile, I continued my work of raising the genuine issues of the marginalized people of India. Amidst, the so-called operation green hunt (OGH) was also launched in the state of Jharkhand in the name of cleansing the Maoists. I passionately attempted to bring out the truth of the OGH, intention of the state behind the OGH and sufferings of the villagers caused by the OGH. As a result, so-called educated people intensified more personal attacks against me. There are also some e-groups where they attempted to coin me as a Maoist sympathizer and supporter. Finally, they have portrayed me as a Maoist Ideologue. I just laugh, laugh and laugh. Precisely, because how can a person suddenly become a Maoist ideologue without having an in-depth study on Maoism? I have never read about Maoism.

I deliberately do not read about any ideology because I know that Maoists teach the Adivasis about Maoism, Gandhians preach them about Gandhism and Marxists ask them to walk on Marxism; but no one bothers about Adivasism, which is the best ‘ism’ among these, which perhaps leads to a just and equitable society. I have been raising questions about how the Indian State has deliberately destroyed the Adivasism. The Adivasi religion was not recognized by the Indian constitution, traditional self-governance was neglected, culture was destroyed, lands were grabbed and our resources were snatched in the name of development. But what do we get out of it? Should we still keep quiet? Are we not the citizens of this country who need to be treated equally? Do they care about our sufferings?

I’m one of those unfortunate persons, who have lost everything for the so-called development of the nation and am struggling for survival even today. When I was just one year old, my family was displaced. Our 20 acres of fertile land was taken away from us in the name of development. Our ancestral land was submerged in a Dam, which came up at Chinda River near Simdega town in 1980. We lost our house, agricultural land and garden but we were paid merely Rs.11 thousand as compensation. When the whole village protested against it they were sent to Hazaribagh Jail. Can a family of 6 members ensure food, clothing, shelter, education and health facilities for whole life with Rs.11 thousand?

After displacement, we had no choice but to proceed towards the dense forest for ensuring our livelihood. We settled down in the forest after buying a small patch of land. We used to collect flowers, fruits and firewood to sustain our family. We also had sufficient livestock, which supported our economy. Needless to say that the state suppression continued with us. When we were living in the forest, my father was booked under many cases filed by the forest department (the biggest landlord of the country) alleging him as an encroacher and woodcutter. There was no school building in our village - therefore we used to study under the trees, and when there was rain our school was closed. But my father taught us to always fight for justice. Though he was struggling to sustain our family, he never stopped his fight for the community.

Unfortunately, on 20 June 1990, my parents were brutally murdered while they were going to Simdega civil court to attend a case and 4 kids were orphaned. Can anyone imagine how we suffered afterwards? The worst thing is the culprits were not brought to justice. Can anyone tell us why the Indian State did not deliver justice to us, who snatched our resource in the name of development? Why there is no electricity in my village even today? Why my people do not get water for their field whose lands were taken for the irrigation projects? Why there is no electricity in those houses, who have given their land for the power project? And why people are still living in small mud houses whose lands were taken for the steel plants? It seems that the Adivasis are only born to suffer and other to enjoy over our graves.

After a long struggle, we all got back to life but my pain and sufferings did not end here. When I was working as a state programme officer in a project funded by the European Commission, a senior government officer and an editor of a newspaper (both from the upper caste) questioned my credentials saying that being an Adivasi, how could I have gotten into such a prestigious position? Similarly, when my friend had taken me to meet a newly wedded couple of the upper caste in Ranchi, I was not allowed to meet them saying that being an Adivasi if I meet the couple, they might become unauspicious and their whole life would be at stake. Was I a devil for them?

However, when I joined another firm, I was totally undermined and not given the position which I highly deserved. I was racially discriminated against, economically exploited and mentally disturbed. Can anyone tell me why I should not fight for justice? Can those so-called supporters of the unjust development process, who have not given even one inch of land for the so-called national interest, coin me as the Maoist ideologue, sympathizer and supporter respond to me: why should I shut up my mouth and stop writing against injustice, inequality and discrimination?

I have lost everything in the name of development and now I have nothing to lose therefore I’m determined to fight for my own people because I do not want them to be trapped in the name of development. I have taken the democratic path of struggle, which the Indian Constitution guarantees through Article 19. A pen, mouth and mind are my weapons. I’m neither a Maoist nor a Gandhian but I’m an Adivasi who is determined to fight for his own people, whom the Indian State has alienated, displaced and dispossessed from their resources and is continually doing it in the name of development, national security and national interest even today.

Gladson Dungdung is a Human Rights Activist and Writer from Jharkhand. He can be reached at gladsonhractivist@gmail.

Source:http://www.countercurrents.org/dungdung030510.htm

Surrender To Injustice Never An Option: A Gaza Story

2010-05-07T19:24:00.000+05:30

By Dr. Ludwig Watzal

03 May, 2010
Palestine Chronicle

'Not one refugee will return. The old will die. The young will forget.' This prediction, uttered by David Ben-Gurion in 1948, did not come true. Not only the keys of the houses, that the Palestinians were forced to leave, passed on from generation to the other, but so did the memoirs and the deep roots and emotional attachment to the Land of Palestine endured over the years.

When the founding of Israel was declared on May 15, 1948, the then Zionist militias had already depopulated 212 Palestinian villages and three major towns before even one Arab soldiers had set foot in Palestine. The Arab armies, who did not intervene against the expulsion of thousands of Palestinians before May 15, 1948, declared war against the newly established state, in a desperate attempt to protect the areas allocated to the Palestinian state. The war ended with a ceasefire. At that point, more than 700,000 Arab inhabitants were forced out or fled their homes in Palestine. Many Palestinians left in order to escape the fighting – with the intent to return to their homes when the fighting would cease - or because they were expelled by Israeli (Zionist) forces. The Palestinians commemorate this tragic event as the "Nakba" or the Catastrophe.

Ramzy Baroud, a US-Palestinian, columnist, journalist, gifted writer and Editor-in-Chief of The Palestine Chronicle, writes the story of his family, which was expelled from their village Beit Daras, located 46 kilometers to the north-east of Gaza City. The village belonged to those that fell victim to Ben-Gurion’s vision of an exclusive Jewish state, devoid of its indigenous population. The Baroud family ended up as refugees in the Gaza Strip like hundreds of thousands of others from the depopulated villages.

In the book’s Foreword, Salman Abu Sitta, founder and president of Palestine Land Society, mentions that the population of Gaza equals now the total population of Palestine in 1948, namely 1.4 million. Israeli politicians and their supporters in the West always mention that the Gaza Strip is the most densely populated place on earth without mentioning Israel’s responsibility for this situation. Israeli state institutions, including its armed forces, keep the whole population of Gaza incarcerated in what is sometimes termed the biggest open-air prison in he world. The entire Gaza Strip has been surrounded by barbed wire. And during the 43 long years of occupation, Israel has systematically prevented the economic development of the Gaza Strip. (See Sara Roy’s detailed study: The Gaza Strip: The Political Economy of De-Development.)

The author portrays the life and the struggle for survival of his family and the Palestinian people in Gaza. He describes six decades of suffering with no end in sight. After having read the book, one gets the impression that the Nakba was not limited to 1948, but is still ongoing. When Israeli settlers were still living in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army made life for the Palestinians "a living hell", writes Baroud. The story the author tells us is basically about the life of his father Mohammed. His story could only been told after he passed away. "Israeli soldiers can no longer raid, search and ravage his house. They can no longer deny him permission to travel for medical treatment. No more humiliation from a smart-ass teenage Israeli soldier at a checkpoint. No more questioning and no more abuse."

Focusing mainly on the story of his uprooted family, Baroud’s moving chronicle also sheds light on the live of the Palestinian population in general and their persisting ordeal caused by Israeli occupation. He locates the life of his family in a wider political, social and economic context. As a ten-year-old boy, Mohammad Baroud, the author’s father, found himself displaced in the middle of nowhere in Gaza, light years away from his farm where his family grew its own crops. This "nightmare was to be his true, everlasting reality". The 200 000 refugees were not welcomed by the 80 000 Gazans. However, tensions between the two groups grew, and the Egyptian occupiers did little for their relief. The opposite was the case; they only created the impression that they took care of the refugees.

Unlike his older brother, Mohammed was not a source of pride to his parents. He was resentful, disobeying orders, and possessed a rebellious spirit, which led to merciless reprimands and beatings. "The more he resented his parents’ unfair treatment, the more punishment he received." This early experience marked his life. Having survived the several wars, he decided to join the newly established "Palestinian Liberation Army" (PLA) to achieve something besides more than Arab rhetoric. After Israel occupied the rest of Palestine in June of 1967, the rules of the games changed fundamentally.

When the so-called peace process took place, Mohammed described the Oslo accords as "the best-timed disaster that had ever befallen Gaza". The PLO acted as Israel’s security agent, shot at demonstrators protesting the accords and put them in jail. In the last elections, Mohammed voted for Hamas because it presented a "culture of resistance". His funeral was attended by thousands of people "who shared his plight, hopes and struggles", writes his son, Ramzy.

The book’s story is depressing as the history of the Palestinian people is concerned. On the other hand, the life and the inner attitude of Mohammed Baroud give hope to the "Wretched of the Earth". He showed that surrender to injustice and repression can never be an option. This should be understood as a hint to Palestinians who seem to prefer, with Abbas leading the way, the easier way to "independence". Ramzy Baroud and his father stand for the alternative: freedom and self-respect.

(My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza's Untold Story is available at Amazon, Amazon UK, Pluto Press. Click here to learn more. Watch short video in English and Arabic.)

- Dr. Ludwig Watzal works as a publicist, editor and journalist in Bonn, Germany.

Source:http://www.countercurrents.org/watzal030510.htm

Repel evil with good

2010-05-06T22:33:00.000+05:30

We are living in a world where the pressure to achieve and excel is becoming increasingly noticeable. However, the general benchmark for achievements and success are things that are linked to the material world.

The material world and materialism by its very nature has a propensity to create greed, selfishness and intolerance in people. At times of conflict and disagreement this very intolerance leads to a total breakdown in relationships resulting in acrimony and discord.

In the Noble Qur’an the Almighty tells us, “The good and evil deed cannot be equal. Repel the evil with one which is better, then verily, he, between whom and you there was enmity (will become) as though he was a close friend.” (41:34).” The ayah alludes to an excellent conflict management tool and strategy.

This strategy at its most basic level inspires us to treat an antagonist with patience and forbearance. Instead of coming down to a level where anger, hatred and violence is adopted and justified one would be circumspect and use wisdom.

Sayyiduna Abdullah ibn Abbas Radhiallahu anhu explains the verse thus: “The Almighty enjoins one to be patient when one is faced with anger, to exercise forbearance when one encounters ignorance and to display forgiveness when one is wronged. The reward will be that the Almighty will save the person from Shaytaan and his enemy or the antagonist will be humbled becoming his friend.

We do not live in a perfect world. What we can do is to use the Most Perfect Word to not only inspire us but to become our beacon of guidance so that we can become exemplary in every facet of our lives.
May Allah guide us all. Aameen

Source:http://www.jamiat.co.za/newsletter/online_newsletter_0518.htm

Shariah - Terrorising or Modernising

2010-05-02T10:53:00.002+05:30

Jamadi-ul-Awwal 12, 1431 A.H, Tuesday, April 27, 2010

‘The Saracens [i.e. The Muslims] show us great goodwill. They allow us to build our churches and to observe our own customs without hindrance.’1

These are the sentiments of Patriarch Theodosius of Jerusalem regarding Muslim tolerance, expressed in a letter written to the Patriarch of Constantinople in 869 CE. Theodosius was certainly the equivalent of Archbishop of Canterbury in Jerusalem at the time. We may wonder whether his acknowledgement was deemed controversial, or whether he was asked to resign for daring to speak well of Muslims. Such sentiments did not of course provoke the kind of outrage that is witnessed today; probably due to the factual accuracy of the patriarch’s statement. What Theodosius stated is also corroborated by other Christian figures such as Bernard the Wise (a French pilgrim who visited Jerusalem in the reign of Caliph al-Mu’tazz [866-9 CE]), who stated that if any property was left unattended for some time, it would be found unmolested upon return, ‘such is the peace there’2.

If modern critics of Shariah law were living in those times, we don’t quite know what they would have said about its effective tolerant nature. The dynamics of the Shariah and its application continues, on the one hand, to intrigue interest, and on the other to generate scepticism. The debate of course has global implications; how compatible is Shariah law with the modern age?

At the outset we must begin by highlighting media bias and selective focus on cases of ‘unethical’ and ‘uncivilized’ treatment of others in Muslim populated countries, which has sadly done much to tarnish a legal code founded upon ideals of justice, human rights and deterrence; resulting in a somewhat negative popular perception of Shariah law. The law code is applied extremely selectively, or not at all, in Muslim populated countries today.

What is Shariah law? Shariah law is the law that is directly derived from the Qur’an and authentic prophetic traditions (the Sunnah) and it is this law, which Muslims uphold as sacred as well as a source of modernity. The parameters for such a discussion are blurred due to the aforementioned current context, but it is hoped that objectivity will triumph above misconceived notions and political persuasions. A fusion of linguistic and technical terminology allows for recognition of modernity as anything newly accepted, and manifests itself through political, economic and scientific development.

Modernity of course is a very fluid and relative term, and the peripheries of the notion may change from time to time or place to place. Modernity may influence societies in a diverse range of ways, and under various socio-economic circumstances, the effects of modernity may transpire in a variety of forms. Today, however, it is fairly accurate to conclude that no one has a monopoly on modernity; one man’s modernity may be another’s barbarity.

Who defines modernity and its limits is the question still to be addressed by European scholarship. European modernity is in continuous evolution, not having any set consistency, standard or criteria. However, the Islamic definition of modernity is very different in both make-up and stature. Islamic Law seeks to ensure the protection of one’s life, honour, property, intellect, religion and the constructive development of humanity - whilst pursuing the ‘progressive’ attainment of modernity. This must be noted in light of contemporary markings of ‘modernity’; from the economic exploitation of poor nations to the corrosion of social values within contemporary and supposedly civil societies.

We may note that Muslims governed parts of Spain with Shariah law for more than seven centuries (711-1492 CE). This law produced such peace and tranquillity among the population that they were able to achieve high levels of academic excellence and scientific advancement, and it was this very same advancement, which was subsequently translated into Latin for European learning by scholars such as Gerard of Cremona, Michael Scot, Robert of Ketton and Adelard of Bath. Europeans were, at that time, so unacquainted with these sciences that Robert of Ketton, when writing the preface for his translation of the Arabic text, ‘Composition of Alchemy’, stated that ‘Since what Alchymia is, and what its composition is, your Latin world does not yet know, I will explain in the present book’3.

Works on all scientific fields were translated in the schools of Toledo and then subsequently passed on to European countries. Professor Thomas Arnold confirmed this by asserting that ‘Muslim Spain had written one of the brightest pages in the history of medieval Europe. Her influence had passed through Provence into the other countries of Europe, bringing into birth a new poetry and new culture, and it was from her that the Christian scholars received what of Greek Philosophy and science they had to stimulate their mental activity up to the time of the renaissance.’4

It would thus be of great benefit to British society if some of its politicians and journalists were to drop the attitude that is well spotted by Maria Rosa Menocal, a prominent scholar of medieval European literature, who stated that: ‘Westerners – Europeans - have great difficulty in considering the possibility that they are in some way seriously indebted to the Arab world...’5.

How Shariah law enabled the Spanish Muslims, Jews and Christian to produce this result was also appreciated by some of the most prominent European thinkers. Adam Smith, the 18th Century founder of modern economics whose picture is printed on the current £20 note, was exceedingly inspired by the Islamic method of governing. He proclaimed that ‘...the empire of the Caliphs seems to have been the first state under which the world enjoyed that degree of tranquility which the cultivation of the sciences requires. It was under the protection of those generous and magnificent princes, that the ancient philosophy and astronomy of the Greeks were restored and established in the East; that tranquility, which their mild, just and religious government diffused over their vast empire, revived the curiosity of mankind, to inquire into the connecting principles of nature.’6

How the Shariah Law provided this security and tolerance is clearly demonstrated in the texts of the treaties, which were agreed upon, by the Muslim rulers and their non-Muslim subjects. Consider, for instance, the Treaty of Jerusalem (638 CE): ‘This is the protection which the servant of Allah, Amir ul-Mumineen, grants to the people of Palestine. Thus, protection is for their lives, property, church, cross, for the healthy, and for all their co-religionists. In this way that their churches shall not be turned into dwelling houses, nor will they be pulled down, nor any injury will be done to them or to their enclosures, nor to their cross...and nor will anything be deducted from their wealth. No restrictions shall be made regarding their religious ceremonies…’7 This treaty concerning the Christians of Jerusalem was enacted by the 2nd Caliph Omar in the year 638 CE.

Whilst many politicians emphatically rule out any existence or partial accommodation of the Shariah law in UK, Times on-line (20th January 2008) ironically quoted Home Secretary Jacqui Smith remarking that she would not feel safe walking the streets of London at night even in well-to-do areas like Kensington and Chelsea. ‘It is thus astonishing’, as Chris Huhne notes, that ‘the Home Secretary admits that after 10 years of a Labour government, our capital is a no-go area for women at night.’8 Unfortunately, Jacqui Smith’s fears were confirmed by a Daily Mail report, only three days later, which stated that a teenage girl was raped next to the Diana memorial fountain in Kensington.

If the medieval monk Bernard the Wise (quoted above) was alive today, he probably would have advised the Home Secretary to give Shariah law a try. And perhaps too, the Nestorian John bar Penkaye (690 CE) who stated, regarding the reign of Mu’awiah (661-80 CE), that ‘the peace throughout the world was such that we have never heard, either from our fathers or from our grandparents, or seen that there had ever been any like it’9.

Much talk regarding the Shariah revolves around its attitude towards women. Women are protected, favoured and respected by the Shariah law, and this can be ascertained when one considers the rights and freedoms endowed upon women by Islam. For instance, women were considered an inherited object in pre-Islamic Arabia and sons would inherit their fathers’ wives as property. Islam, however, put an end to this injustice (O you who believe! you are forbidden to inherit women against their will. Nor should you treat them with harshness, that you may take away part of the dower you have given them-except where they have been guilty of open lewdness; on the contrary live with them on a footing of kindness and equity.)10; women were denied any part of inheritance, Islam gave them their share; women were not given a choice to choose a husband, Islam put an end to this inequality; men could divorce women at will and take them back at will, Islam diminished this practice and decreed that if a man was to divorce, he had to sustain the woman for four successive months; women were given complete rights of owning property by Islam and in addition to that they could spend their wealth when they liked while previously this was not the case; Islam declared that even if women were wealthy, it was still the responsibility of the husband to provide sustenance for them. Annie Besant, a feminist activist in the 1930s, had this to say about Islam’s position towards women:

‘I often think that a woman is more free in Islam than in Christianity. Woman is more protected by Islam...In the Qur’an the law about woman is more just and liberal. It is only in the last twenty years that Christian England has recognised the right of woman to property, while Islam has allowed this right from all times…it is a slander to say that Islam preaches that women have no souls.’ 11

Conclusion

It can therefore be noted that Muslims and their religious law played a decisive role in the modernisation of societies, and helped to establish a framework of justice and cohesive societal rule that has left a positive impression on the world. Much of what is now referred to as ‘western modernity’ – in its positive aspects - was largely borrowed from Islamic lands like Spain and Sicily, and such a contribution has received wide acclamation from historians and authors (Muslim and non-Muslim alike) of Islam’s unique ability to provide peace, harmony and advancement in society. Shariah law, therefore, is not terrorising; rather it is a divine religious code that works to foster human enlightenment.

References:

1) Christopher J. Walker, Islam and the West, (Gloucestershire, 2005), p. 17.
2) Christopher J. Walker, Islam and the West, (Gloucestershire, 2005), p 17.
3) E. J. Holmyard, Alchemy (Harmondsworth, 1957), p. 103.
4) Thomas Arnold, Preaching of Islam (London, 1913), p. 131.
5) Maria Rosa Menocal, The Arabic Role in Medieval Literary History, (Philadelphia, 2004), preface, p. xii.
6) Adam Smith, ‘History of Astronomy’, The Essays of Adam Smith (London, 1869), p. 353.
7) Thomas Arnold, Preaching of Islam (London, 1913), p. 56.
8) http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article3216678.ece
9) Hugh Kennedy, The Great Arab Conquests (London, 2008), p. 349.
10) The Holy Qur’an, Chapter 4, Verse 19.
11) Annie Besant, The Life and Teachings of Muhammad (Madras, 1932), p. 25-6.

The Hittin Institute is a research based initiative that focuses on historical, social and political analysis on issues affecting Muslims and the wider community. For further information please visit www.hittininstitute.com or email info@hittininstitute.com.

Resisting MNC Greed

2010-05-02T10:22:00.000+05:30

By Raja Jaikrishan

30 April, 2010
Countercurrents.org

In this land of Valmiki
Who cursed the quarry of birds in love?
In this time of Salim Ali
Who gave his life for love of birds?
Infrequent are men
Who live or die for fellowmen

(From Shall we live to kill? by Varavara Rao)

All religions urge the devout to shun greed as it creates need in many. An observer noted recently that if Americans continue consuming the resources at the existing rate, the world resources would be over faster. This in some measure explains the US wars for resources in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In India the bulk of natural resources are in hills and forests. These resources are gods of Adivasis because they answer their all needs.

Enter greedy MNCs with heavy machines to cart away the tribal gods. Since greed is not their way of life they resist the invasion. The history is witness; people free from greed can‘t be dominated. The British tried and failed.

The history has repeated itself as a farce. By launching Operation Greenhunt—the people’s government is fighting its own people; Salwa Jhudam —setting Advasis against each other—the government is trying to satiate the MNC greed.

Advasis led by Maoist are taking the MNC violence head on, here and now, for their languages have no future tense.

“Over the last decade the Maoists have built new societies in tribal areas of Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and parts of Jharkand. The elementary health and education networks are in place”, says G.N. Saibaba, deputy secretary, Revolutionary Democratic Front.

“This experiment has brought irrigation and drinking water projects. Experienced doctors have trained Adivasis. There's one barefoot doctor for a cluster of villages. There are makeshift schools – which move to places where children work.

They have their own syllabus. The scientific models of study material, including audiovisual material, have been put in tribal languages.

The government’s two-pronged strategy to defeat the Maoist protracted war includes development and security. To help the government meet obligations under the Right to Education Act, a panel has suggested that education in elementary schools should be imparted in tribal languages in scheduled tribe areas.

The main factor for the high dropout rate of tribal students is the difference in language in which they are taught in schools and their mother tongue, said the panel, headed by former education secretary Anil Bordia.

The teaching and study material should be in tribal languages to ensure that such children are retained in schools. The Central Institute of Hindi and Indian Languages, Mysore, could prepare teaching and learning material in tribal languages for such students, the committee said in its report.

Tribal children face certain exclusionary practices in schools like derogatory reference to their communities, names and cultural practices, it further said.

The government for meeting obligations of international aid agency is waking up to the need of universal literacy so that people in this country are able to distinguish brands and help them to make an ‘informed choice’.

“Further, for the first time in the history of these regions, they have surplus grain – not only for the revolutionary army, but for the people too. Even now if the Indian military offensive blocks these areas for several years they will not have a problem due to this surplus grain, and in addition they have fishponds and other income-generating activities. These villages and their governments have started exporting to other markets as well, keeping the surplus for their own consumption, and using the surplus they have accumulated to build other development projects. This is the way in which their self-reliant economy is developing”, says Prof Saibaba.

The public distribution system of ration to people below poverty line in the Maoist-affected areas has done well, according to a government nationwide survey.

To steal the thunder from the Maoist resistance to MoUs with MNCs over mining in the area, the government has come out with the New Draft Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act.

Prof B.D Sharma, coordinator Bharat Jan Andolan, had given a similar proposal to the then Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar that the mining companies could be allowed in the area as junior partners.

The draft act envisages setting up of ‘’mining area welfare funds’’, where profits of companies can be shared in perpetuity with local villagers and Adivasis whose lands are taken away. Currently, a one-time compensation is mostly given to those whose lands are taken away by the companies, a government official said.

The government is also mulling bringing provisions, which include granting free equity to those who give a major portion of land to companies, the sources said.

The government is also trying to build in provisions where companies may be asked to build ‘’model villages’’ within a 10 km radius of the industry being set up to enable maximum benefits of development reach the local villagers. For the setting up of power plants, the government will be asking the authorities to provide free electricity within 10 km radius, the sources said.

Notably, the government is also in the process of withdrawing cases against tribals for accessing minor forest produce.

The Maoists are not the first to oppose the plunder of MNCs. Socialist trade union leader George Fernandes managed to oust Coca-Cola out of the country, temporarily. The Swadeshi Janjagran Manch has been consistent in its opposition. Yoga guru Swami Ramdev has ‘oust MNC’slogan in the soon-to-be-launched party constitution.

Unlike their Avatar of the sixties and seventies, the Maoists are resisting the abettors of MNC loot. In this protracted war Advasis are with them. The New Draft Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act shows that the government wants to arrest the alienation caused by security forces in these areas. Sooner such measures are implemented, the Maoist guns will fall silent.

Source:http://www.countercurrents.org/jaikrishan300410.htm

The Dark Underbelly Of India Inc

2010-05-02T10:11:00.000+05:30

By Devinder Sharma

29 April, 2010
Ground Reality

At a time when India faces the biggest threat to its sovereignty from within, and I mean the rise of Maoism that we witness across the country, more than a hundred representatives of various people’s movements and social campaigns came together in a meeting held at Swaraj Vidyapeeth campus, Allahabad, on March 27-28. They discussed India’s present crisis in depth. It was unanimously decided that all people’s movements and social campaigns should come together to launch a nationwide people’s movement to face the present challenges.

I missed being at the two-day conclave. But reading the minutes of the meeting, I feel sad the powers that be refuse to see the real cause for the uprising. In fact, I have always said that the Indian political leadership (and to quite an extent that of the national media as well) is actually serving the commercial interest of big business. Somehow an impression is being given, and the urban middle class laps it up, that the people who have picked up guns are the new breed of terrorists, and that the bullet is the only answer.

It was at this conference that the well-known RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal made some observations, recalling a few incidents from the days when he was working in the Income Tax department. It gives us an insight into the ways of corporate swindle, that actually is at the base of the present crisis that we face.

"We raided more than 80 MNCs and caught all the foreign managers. They used to show lower salaries and evade taxes in India. Companies like Sony, Mitsubishi, etc., evaded crores of rupees in taxes. When we recorded their statement they said they did not know our laws. When we raided the Nippon airways executive, we recovered minutes of their meeting from his bag which has mentioned that when any Japanese official comes to India, he should not show his salary more than Rs. 10 lakh. When we raided the Denso India executive, he threatened us we are here to help your poor country, we control your Parliament and we can get any law passed. I didn’t believe it at that time. We will get all you transferred.

"Three days after the Japanese ambassador met the finance minister and told that we will withdraw all aid if these people are not transferred, and we were transferred. When UPA ministry was falling, then all MPs were saleable and I felt that there is no price of our vote. I felt that the US can buy them and Japan also.

When the Nuclear Liability Bill was introduced, it said that the total liability of any operator company will be 500 crore rupees only. When we see all things together, we are confronted with a horror story that our country is not independent. As long as we do not control our country, our Parliament will keep making 100 such laws in a day. So this is not democracy. We should strive for direct democracy. A law should not be passed unless it is approved by two-thirds of the gram sabhas. As long as gram sabhas or mohalla sabhas, i.e., primary-level local communities do not get the control, things will not change."

Yesterday, when I read another interview of Arvind Kejriwal in the Deccan Herald (April 25, 2010), it reminded me of the Allahabad declaration. In this interview, entitled: "Gram Sabha should be empowered," Arvind talks about the need to empower the gram sabhas, in the absence of which people are losing faith in the system of governance and might take up arms "or even join Maoists as it had happened in Lohandigoda in Chhatisgarh."

To know more, I read on. This is what Arvind says in response to a question:

"If you don't empower people at the grass-root level, they will turn to naxalism. Like it happened in the villages of Lohandigoda in Chhatisgarh, where the Tata group had sought permission from the government to set up a Sponge iron plant. From the State Government level to the mukhiya, the proposal was cleared. But the local people were up in arms and were in no mood to give up their land or allow cutting of trees. So they submitted a 15-point charter of demands which included plantation of five saplings for each tree cut. But their demand was rejected out-right. Eventually, the entire 13 villages reportedly turned to naxalism."

What Arvind narrates is a true reflection of the flawed development model that is being thrust upon the people. I haven't seen any national TV channel even daring to make a mention of such destructive development that is pushed in the name of economic growth. It is therefore very important that the nation wakes up to the realities, and does not unleash a war against it own people who are victims of the 'process of development' that has been aggressively unleashed since June 1991.

The dark underbelly of Tata's and for that matter scores of Indian and foreign business concerns is at the root of the naxal uprising. We cannot muffle the voices of the people by setting up a school here or a health center there under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), a concept that the UN promotes. The corporate social responsibility must begin where it actually sows the seeds of revolt. The need therefore is to empower Gram Sabhas, and to ensure that the decision of the village through the democratic process is final and binding. Even the Prime Minister should not have the right to over-rule the decisions of the Gram Sabhas.

Source:http://www.countercurrents.org/dsharma290410.htm

Indian Muslims save your citizenship, appeals minorities NGO

2010-05-02T08:30:00.000+05:30

Press Release

The Milli Gazette

Mumbai: Census 2011 has already begun from 1st April 2010 nationwide. This census is different from ones in the past and very exclusive in style.

While addressed a press conference, today, at Marathi Patrakar Sang (Mumbai Press Club), the leaders of the Federation of Minorities NGOs (FMN) – Maul. Mahmood Daryabadi, Dr. Azimuddin, Maul. Burhanuddin Qasmi, Mr. Salim Alware, Dr. SK Abdullah and Mr. Iqbal Memom, have urged all NGO activists, especially those from Muslims NGOs to fully volunteer their skill and time to the on going census 2011 in India.

The leaders have requested all members of the community to note the followings and take part in the census process. They said, an enrolment in the census enables an individual to be 'the citizens' of the country. The census 2011 will help decide numbers of BPL people in 2013. Moreover, this census is collecting Photos of above 15 age-group along with Biometric Identity and the databank collected by the census will be used by the Unified Identity Authority of India (UIDAI). If any once fails to get into the data-Bank he will be out of UIDAI which is an indirect proof of 'Citizenship' for every individual. Furthermore, all the future 'Planning' and Budget allocations against particular, community or caste will be based on this databank.

The FMN is launching a statewide awareness campaign in Maharashtra from today itself through its 100 plus member NGOs to educate common people to ensure their complete and correct entries during the census, the leaders said in the press conference. Maulana Burhanuddin Qasmi said that the census authority of India should train its enumerators through effective workshops to minimize common mistakes like wrong spellings of Muslim names and filling in wrong religion, language or caste etc.

The Federation of Muslims NGOs believes that for effective planning precise information about religious, social and economic conditions is essential. Our nation can effectively plan political, educational, social and economic development on the basis of correct information. Therefore, social activists must ensure detail entries of the data correctly.

Every educated Indian must cooperate in this massive task so that we may know ourselves correctly. Precise data is more important for minorities and marginalized sections. Caste based census was done last time in 1931. That is why there is a growing need for it now to reassure all statistics. If we update caste figures greater justice can be provided for marginalised people.

Every citizen should be alert about information which is being recorded. He/she must check and verify the forms which are being filled by enumerators. No room should be given to dishonest manipulators who are doing a disservice to nation and truth by incorrect data entry. The Maharashtra Federation of Minorities NGOs requests all not for profit activists, through this press conference to offer their services during 1st May to 15th June for 2011 census in Maharashtra.

As received dated 15 March from

M. Burhanuddin Qasmi
Director
Markazul Ma'arif Education & Research Centre
Patliputra Nagar (Masjid)
Oshiwara, New Link Road
Jogeshwari (W), Mumbai 400102 (India)
Web site: www.markazulmaarif.org
Email. manager@markazulmaarif.org
Tel: 022 65567157 Fax: 022 26798538

[end]

Source:http://www.milligazette.com/dailyupdate/2010/20100417_001_Indian_Muslims_save_your_citizenship_appeals_minorities_NGO.htm

Discipline and Honour

2010-03-29T18:12:00.000+05:30

He who lives without discipline dies without honour.

Virtuous Calamity

2010-03-29T18:03:00.000+05:30

“A calamity that makes you turn to Allah, is better than a blessing which makes you forget the remembrance of Allah.”
(Ibn Taymiyyah)

My Crackpot Friends

2010-03-16T08:18:00.000+05:30

An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which she carried across her neck. One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water.

At the end of the long walks from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.

For a full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house."

The old woman smiled, "Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's side?" "That's because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you water them."

"For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house."

Each of us has our own unique flaw. But its the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding. You've just got to take each person for what they are and look for the good in them.

So, to all of my crackpot friends, have a great day and remember to smell the flowers on your side of the path!

Source:http://www.al-inaam.com/alinaam/1430_R.akhir_10.htm

Cheating

2010-03-16T08:16:00.000+05:30

Two young engineers applied for one available position at a computer company. They both had the same qualifications. In order to determine which individual to hire, the applicants were asked to take a test by the department manager.

Upon completion of the test, both men had each missed only one of the questions. The manager went to the first applicant and said, ''Thank you for your interest, but we've decided to give the job to the other applicant.''

"And why would you be doing that? We both got nine questions correct," asked the rejected applicant.

"We have based our decision not on the correct answers, but on the question you missed," said the department manager.

"And just how would one incorrect answer be better than the other?" the rejected applicant inquired.

''Simple,'' said the department manager, ''For question number 5, your fellow applicant wrote, 'I don't know.' You wrote, 'Neither do I.'

When we cheat during examinations or on other occasions, we sometimes get caught out and sometimes, we don’t. However we should remember that the All-observing Allāh is always watching and we will have to account for each and every action. Rather get the answer wrong now and suffer the consequences here, than having to suffer the disgrace of the day of Qiyamah and the punishment of the hereafter. C

(Moulānā Ebrahim Muhammad

Source:http://www.al-inaam.com/alinaam/1430_R.akhir_09.htm

Focus

2010-03-13T14:01:00.002+05:30

The hunter in pursuit of an elephant does not stop to throw stones at birds.

Steadfastness

2010-02-23T22:56:00.001+05:30

“We will test you with a certain amount of fear, hunger and loss of wealth, life and fruits.
But give good news to the steadfast.” (2:155)

“The steadfast will be paid their wages in full without any reckoning.” (39:10)

• Suhayb ibn Sinan radhiyallahu anhu said: Rasulullah sallallahu alyhi wasallam said, ‘What an extraordinary thing the affair of the believer is! All of it is good for him. And that only applies to the believer. If good fortune is his lot, he is grateful and it is good for him. If something harmful happens to him, he is steadfast and that is good for him too.’ (Muslim)

• Usama ibn Zayd radhiyallahu anhu said: A daughter of Rasulullah sallallahu alyhi wasallam sent a message to him saying, ‘One of my sons is dying, so come.’ He sent his greetings to her and said, ‘What Allah takes is His and what He gives is His. Everything has a fixed term with Him, so she should show fortitude and expect a reward.’ She sent to him imploring him to come to her. He got up with Sa’d ibn ‘Ubada, Mu’adh ibn Jabal, Ubayy ibn Ka’b, Zayd ibn Thabit and some other men. The child was brought to Rasulullah sallallahu alyhi wasallam and he was shuddering. The eyes of Rasulullah sallallahu alyhi wasallam were flowing with tears and Sa’d radhiyallahu anhu said, ‘Messenger of Allah, what is this?’ He said, ‘This is an aspect of mercy which Allah has put in the hearts of His slaves.’ One variant has, ‘In the hearts of whomever He will of His slaves. Allah is merciful to those of His slaves who are merciful.’ (Bukhari and Muslim)

• Suhayb radhiyallahu anhu reported that Rasulullah sallallahu alyhi wasallam said, ‘Among those before you there was a king who had a sorcerer. When he was old, he said to the king, ‘I am old, so send me a lad to whom I can teach sorcery.’ He sent him a lad for him to teach. When the boy was on the way, he came upon a monk. He sat down to listen to his words and liked what he heard. Whenever he went to the sorcerer, he would pass by the monk and sit with him. When he came to the sorcerer, the sorcerer would beat him. He complained about that to the monk who said, ‘When you are afraid of the sorcerer, say, ‘My family kept me.’ And when you are afraid of your family, say, ‘The sorcerer kept me.’ While all this was going on, he came upon a great beast which was barring the people’s way on the pathway and said, ‘Today I will find out who is better, the sorcerer or the monk.’ He took a stone and said, ‘O Allah, if what the monk does is preferable to You to what the sorcerer does, then turn this beast aside so that the people can pass.’ He threw it and killed the animal and the people went on. He went to the monk and told him and the monk said to him, ‘O my boy, today you are better than I am. I see the point that your affair has reached. You will be tested and when you are tested, do not point me out.’ The boy used to heal the blind and the lepers, and treat people for all their ailments. A companion of the king who was blind heard this and brought him many gifts. He said, ‘All that I have gathered for you here is yours if you heal me.’ He said, ‘I do not heal anyone. It is Allah Almighty who heals. If you believe in Allah Almighty, I will pray to Allah to heal you.’ So he believed in Allah Almighty and Allah Almighty healed him. He went to the king and sat with him as he used to do. The king said to him, ‘Who has returned your sight to you?’ He said, ‘It was my Lord.’ He said, ‘You have a Lord other than me?!’ He said, ‘My Lord and your Lord, Allah.’ So he seized him and did not stop torturing him until he pointed out the boy. The boy was brought and the king said to him, ‘O boy, your sorcery has reached the point where you heal the blind and the lepers, and you do such-and-such and such-and-such.’ He said, ‘I do not heal anyone. It is Allah Almighty who heals.’ He seized him and did not stop torturing him until he pointed out the monk. The monk was brought and told, ‘Renounce your religion.’ He refused. He called for a saw and placed the saw on the centre of his head and split it until the two halves fell apart. Then the companion of the king was brought and told, ‘Renounce your religion!’ He refused, and the saw was placed on the centre of his head and split it until the two halves fell apart. Then the boy was brought and told, ‘Renounce your religion,’ and he refused. He handed him over to a group of his companions and said, ‘Take him to such-and-such a mountain, and take him up the mountain. When you reach its summit, if he has not renounced his religion, throw him off.’ They took him and brought him up the mountain and he said, ‘O Allah, save me from them in whatever way You will.’ The mountain shook and they fell. He walked to the king and the king said to him, ‘What has happened to your companions?’ He said, ‘Allah Almighty saved me from them.’ He handed him over to a group of his companions and said, ‘Take him and put him in a ship and take him to the middle of the sea. If he does not renounce, then throw him into it.’ They took him and he said, ‘O Allah, save me from them in whatever way You will.’ The ship capsized and they were drowned. He walked back to the king and the king said to him, ‘What has happened to your companions?’ He said, ‘Allah Almighty saved me from them.’ He said to the king, ‘You will not kill me until you do what I command you.’ He said, ‘What is that?’ He said, ‘You should gather the people together on one plain and crucify me on a palm trunk. Then take an arrow from your quiver and put the arrow in the centre of your bow and say, ‘In the name of Allah, the Lord of the boy,’ and then shoot it. If you do that, you will kill me.’ So he gathered the people together on one plain and crucified him on a trunk and then took his arrow from his quiver and placed the arrow in the middle of the bow and then said, ‘In the name of Allah, the Lord of the boy,’ and then shot it and the arrow struck his temple. He put his hand on his temple and then died. The people said, ‘We believe in the Lord of the boy.’ The king was brought and told, ‘Do you not see that, by Allah, your fear has brought about the very thing you were afraid of! The people have believed.’ So he commanded that a trench be dug with openings onto it and had fires lit in it. He said, ‘Throw into it, anyone who does not renounce his religion or tell him to jump.’ They did that until a woman came with one of her children. She hesitated to jump into it and the child said to her, ‘Mother, be steadfast! You have the truth.’ (Muslim)

• Anas radhiyallahu anhu said: I heard Rasulullah sallallahu alyhi wasallam say, ‘Allah the Mighty and Exalted says, ‘When I test My slave regarding the two things he loves and he shows fortitude, I repay him for them with Jannah.’ He meant his two eyes. (Bukhari)

• ‘Abdullah ibn Mas‘ud radhiyallahu anhu said, ‘It is as if I could still see Rasulullah sallallahu alyhi wasallam talking about one of the Prophets alayhis salaam whose people beat him, making his blood flow. While he was wiping the blood from his face, he said, ‘O Allah, forgive my people. They do not know.’ (Bukhari and Muslim)

• Abu Hurayrah radhiyallahu anhu reported that Rasulullah sallallahu alyhi wasallam said, ‘No fatigue, illness, anxiety, sorrow, harm or sadness afflicts any Muslim, even to the extent of a thorn pricking him, without Allah wiping out his mistakes by it.’ (Bukhari and Muslim)

• Anas radhiyallahu anhu said: Rasulullah sallallahu alyhi wasallam said, ‘None of you should wish for death because of some harm which has befallen him. If he has got to do something, he should say, ‘O Allah, make me live if life is best for me and make me die if death is best for me.’ (Bukhari and Muslim)

Source:http://www.jamiat.co.za/newsletter/online_newsletter_0507.htm

Quotation

2010-02-21T09:01:00.002+05:30

No one can make u feel inferior without your consent.