[MIBgirlsXXL]

There is a country called India.
It lies between Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Population wise the Socialist Secular Democratic Republic of India is the third largest Muslim country in the cosmos, we mean on the earth.
We do not have enough focus on the current Indian situation regarding Muslims.

Let us remedy the situation in this thread.

We shall begin with a military related article in the next post.

[dHXaE2h9]

MAINSTREAM, VOL L NO 27, JUNE 23, 2012
The Army: Missing Muslim India

by ALI AHMED

This article begins with a set of statistics and thereafter proceeds to discuss these. The Platinum Jubilee issue of the magazine of the Indian Military Academy, published in 2007, has some revealing tidbits of information. From the lists of various officer alumni who have done the Academy proud, it is obvious that Muslims are few and far between. Only six Muslim officers, who have passed out of the IMA, have made the supreme sacrifice for the country since the 1971 War. Only one, late Captain Haneefuddin of Kargil fame, has been awarded a higher gallan-try medal, a Vir Chakra, ever since then. Only one Muslim Gentleman Cadet has won the Academy’s Sword of Honour post-independence, with the award being won way back in 1973.

These achievements appear somewhat meagre in the light of the Indian Muslims forming the country’s largest minority numbering over 175 million. It naturally raises the question: Why?

An answer can seen in a further set of statistics gleaned from the biannual magazines of the Indian Military Academy, published at the end of the Spring and the Autumn terms respectively. In the magazines a one-line pen-portrait is given of each Gentleman Cadet (GC) passing out, below the course photo of each company (equivalent of a House in schools). From the two magazine issues in 2005, it is evident that only eight Muslims passed out of the portals of the institution to become commissioned officers. In the Spring Term 2006, there were eight Muslims commissioned. In the Spring Term 2007, nine Muslims took the ‘Antim Pag’ or ‘Last Step’ as GCs but their first step as commissioned officers out of the 555 taking commission that term. The following Spring Term, 11 Muslim GCs passed out of 611. In the Autumn Term 2011, the latest one for which the magazine is available, 14 Muslims passed out. However, this last figure includes those from friendly foreign countries such as Afghanistan, the numbers for which have gone up since the strategic agreement with that country.

In other words, of the six magazines perused for ascertaining the numbers of Muslims gaining the officer commission from the IMA, 45 have made the grade. Assuming some were from foreign countries, less than 40 Indian Muslims have made it over two-and-a-half years into the Army from the IMA, that commissions more than 1200 officers a year. This compares somewhat poorly with the civil services yearly list on which 30 Muslims figured this year amongst about 900 who ‘made it’. Admittedly, there are other routes for officer commission these days into the Army, such as through the Officers Training Academy and through the Technical Officer 12th class entry stream. This means that the numbers making it into the Army are marginally higher and must be viewed against the total getting commissioned in a year, which a back-of-the-envelope calculation puts at 1800 plus a year.

Clearly, the overall number can only be as abysmal as the statistics accessed here reveal. While reckonings elsewhere place the percentage of Muslims at three per cent of the overall total of Muslims in the Army, the statistics in regard to officer numbers have been uninformed guesses at best. It is perhaps for the first time here that a figure of about 1.1 per cent of officer commissions being of Indian Muslims has been arrived at. The numbers of Muslim women officers can easily be imagined, with the OTA magazine being the right place to look for exact numbers in the absence of the government owing up to a problem.

The absence of information suggests that the statistics that are no doubt known to the government are somewhat embarrassing to reveal from the point of view of India’s and its Army’s secular credentials. It is no wonder then that a former Chief, General J.J. Singh, had put his foot down in revealing the details of Muslim representation in the Army when approached by the Sachar Committee for its report. The laconic answer given then was that the Army, being a secular institution, does not maintain such records. This explanation begged the question of how the mortal remains of dead soldiers were to be disposed-off in a war if the community to which a dead soldier belonged was not known?!

The intake being so limited into the commi-ssioned ranks, it is no wonder then that the martial achievements of Muslim officers can be covered in less than a paragraph as in the first paragraph here. The Autumn Term 2011 issue can be mined for more telling statistics. For instance, not a single Muslim name occurs in the list of names below the group photos of the Academy faculty, the administrative staff, the training team and, worse, even the academic department. This is the same case in the Spring Term 2008. Among the non-officer instructor staff in the drill, physical training, weapons training and equitation sections, there are nine Muslim instructors. Incidentally, even at this non-officer level there are no Muslims in the consequential Training section. The relative absence of Muslims is of a piece with the fact given in the Platinum Number that the IMA has had only one Muslim Commandant and one Muslim Subedar Major post-independence. (For the record the National Defence Academy, a feeder institution to the IMA, has had two Muslim Commandants.)

•

WHILE the numbers are few, the performance of Muslims at the Academy is also revealing. All six magazines carry photos and write-ups of the 34 top GC appointments, no doubt as incentive. Of the 136 appointments scanned only one was Muslim. Beginning with this leadership deficit, it is easy to reckon as to why there were no officer instructors in the two terms examined, 2008 and 2011. Not tenanting such prestigious appointments early on, the problem persists with very few making it to the higher ranks. This is accentuated by the steep pyramidal structure that the Army has. In other words, there is a cascading effect of the deficit of Muslim youth making it to the Indian Military Academy and beyond. The Army’s stock answer to this can be anticipated. The Army merely selects from those self-selecting to it as a profession. The onus is on India’s various communities to offer up their best youth for the noble profession of arms. This could easily have been accepted but for two facts. One is that General V.K. Singh’s exertions over the past year suggest that ‘community’ is a consequential factor, at least in the higher ranks. The second is that, given this under-representation, it is clear that this is compensated by over-representation of some other communities. What are the effects of such under/over-representation?

In case the answer to this question is found to be negative and consequential, then there is a case for correction. This is a controversial point to make since it is suggestive of affirmative action. This is not how this article recommends corrective action. But, first, it is necessary to ascertain whether a diverse country such as India is better off with its Army reflecting its diversity. The reflexive answer of a traditionalist would be, ‘Why fix what ain’t broke?’ In other words, if the Army is working as an apolitical and secular organisation, there is no need to tinker with it. The answer offered here is an impressionistic one to the contrary. It is that the internal health of the Army does not give ground for comp-lacence. The Army officer corps is from the lower middle class and confined geographically to North India and more narrowly to a certain set of communities traditionally advantaged by the recruitment patterns over at least a century-and-a-half. The officer corps will therefore reflect the opinions and attitudes of the social class to which it belongs. It is no secret that there has been a churning in Indian society over the past two decades, brought about by liberalisation and the ascendance of cultural nationalism. This influence has been in the face of the Army’s involvement in counter-insurgency and anti-terrorism in J&K. While, as is the wont of armies universally, the Indian Army can be expected to exhibit a conservative-realist bias, this is accentuated by the social origin of the officer class. The discourse in this social space has the Muslim ‘Other’ taking on greater dimensions, the proportions of which have been enhanced by the global security discourse centred on Muslim extremism. A terror-based ‘inside-outside’ linkage between the Muslim Indian and Pakistani intelligence, sought to be established by the media and some political formations, has greater play than otherwise would be the case. A content analysis of in-service publications can prove this to an extent. (That is not gone in here for want of space.) The absence of Muslims from an officer’s social space as colleagues and peers does little to dispel misinterpretations. The problem that occurs is in the perception of the social class in which the officer corps is anchored being elevated to the institutional threat perception and at one remove that of the state.

The disadvantage for under-represented communities is that they are unable to take advantage of the expansion in the security sector, incidentally the only sector growing in neoliberal climes. The Sixth Ppay Commission bonanza thus gets channelled narrowly to those advantaged, reinforcing the inequity. Given that Muslims have been shown up as under-represented here and knowing that most are from the equivalent of backward classes, it can be surmised that the problem afflicts the backward classes in general as well as SC/STs, given that the military does not have reservations (and rightly so). This means that the only government sector that is expanding caters for a certain section of society. (The Army has expanded by two divisions over the past three years and is set to add 86,000 men as part of a mountain strike corps over the next five year plan.) Continuing with the present intake pattern can deepen divides.

It is therefore with a view to correcting this perceptual and attitudinal bias that it is recommended here that the telling statistic of a mere one-to-two per cent of officers being Muslim be taken seriously by both the state and Muslim community. As a first step, the pattern of intake must be ascertained in-house to find out if what is surmised here carries water. Its implications, as discussed, can also be thought through. The Army, if the reasoning given in the previous paragraph is persuasive, must for its own reasons carry out a campaign to make itself attractive to a whole host of communities that are under-represented. These include those from the North-East and South India, leave alone Muslims. Civil-military liaison conferences in these States must be geared to energising the State administration to take corrective measures. This could include establishing Sainik Schools, increasing the representativeness of Sainik and Military school intake etc.

Additionally, commu-nities, such as India’s various Muslim commu-nities across the country, can rig up swotting classes to help its youth qualify and clear the induction hurdles. This is how States over-represented in the officer cadre prepare the youth. The Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia and the Vice-Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim Universities, coincidentally being military men, can guide the community’s reaction. Affirmative action is not being suggested here, only targeted advertisement campaigns being followed up suitably by state and civil society action.

Ali Ahmad, Ph.D, is an Assistant Professor, Nelson Mandela Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi.

Source : MS

[nofkayalk]

On Shahid Siddiqui
Shahid Siddiqui is a senior Urdu journalist. He publishes a weekly from Delhi called Nai Duniya (New World).
The publication is a tabloid. No, it is not sleazy. The problem is with the conspiracy theory attitude. He has been to UP, most populous state in India, assembly on the ticket of a party called Samajwady Party (Socialist Party). Nothing much social about that party - its focus is caste though many perceive it pro-Muslim. In rhetoric the latter epithet is true but in real terms it is better than others only in that it does not employ anti-Muslim rhetoric.

Urdu is perhaps the largest language for Muslims in India and hence a weekly like Nai Duniya could be of great help - except for the constant conspiracy theory obsession. Shahid Siddiqui was recently declared to be not a member of the party. Reason being an interview of Narendra Modi published in four pages. Narendra Modi is Chief Minister of the Gujrat state of India and in public everybody knows that he is the person behind Gujrat riots more then a decade ago. Gujrat massacre can be listed amongst the most heinous crime of last hundred years in spite of the fact that this history includes world wars, Jewish holocaust as well as the mass killings during partition of India.

So what prompted Mr Siddiqui to venture in that direction, to interview Modi? There is the usual partyline - journalistic freedom and then there is this perspective from another tabloid venture of India called Tahelka.

[poispanna]

Here is an article by a socialist person about a serious issue in India. Home work for some having time is to write the same letter from a Muslim perspective.

Mainstream, VOL L, No 30, July 14, 2012
Why a Hindutvavadi Should Not be the Prime Minister of India

Open Letter To RSS Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat

Shamsul Islam

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Sarsangh-chalak, Shri Mohan Bhagwat-ji,

Namaskar.

I was not surprised to read your comments in newspapers that it was not necessary to be a secular person to occupy the office of the Prime Minister in Democratic-Secular India. As per the press reports, you wondered why a Hindutvavadi could not become the PM of India. I am sure you understand better than me that being a Hindutvavadi is not the same as professing Hindu religion. Our national leaders—like Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel, Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhash Chandra Bose, Rammanohar Lohia, Rajguru, Sukhdev and many-many more —were Hindu by faith but not Hindutvavadi. In fact, Mahatma Gandhi, a great practitioner of Hindu religion, was brutally assassinated for not being a Hindutvavadi by a gang owing allegiance to the Hindu Mahasabha and RSS. Surely, by Hindutvavadi you mean a believer in Hindutva, a kind of political Hinduism, outlined by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar-ji in his book Hindutva and later developed by RSS ideologues like M. S. Golwalkar. You will agree with me that the RSS, under your command currently, has been a prominent flag-bearer of Hindutva since its inception in 1925.

I feel before arriving at the conclusion that there is no harm in allowing a person who believes in Hindutva to become the PM of India we will have to understand what Hindutva is. You will agree with me that we need to understand whether Hindutva is compatible with principles of Democracy, Justice, Egalitarianism and Secularism. In this connection, please, allow me to scrutinise some of the original documents and sources which legitimately belong to the RSS or its brother organisations like the Hindu Mahasabha. If you find that I am dishonest in referring to these or misrepresenting facts, you will be at liberty to initiate defamation process against me.

Does Hindutva stand for a Two-Nation Theory?

BHAGWAT-JI! I would like to refresh your memory that both the originator of Hindutva, V.D. Savarkar-ji, and its flag-bearer, the RSS, earlier and under your command too had and have unequivocal faith in the Two-Nation theory, that Hindus and Muslims are two different nations. While the Muslim League under the leadership of Mohammed Ali Jinnah resolved to have a separate homeland for the Muslims of India in the form of Pakistan in 1940, Savarkar propagated as early as in 1937 that Hindus and Muslims were two different nations. While delivering his presidential address to the 19th Hindu Mahasabha session at Ahmedabad, Savarkar-ji unequivocally declared:

“As it is, there are two antagonistic nations living side by side in India. Several infantile politicians commit the serious mistake in supposing that India is already welded into a harmonious nation, or that it could be welded thus for the mere wish to do so. These well-meaning but unthinking friends take their dreams for realities. That is why they are impatient of communal tangles and attribute them to communal organisations. But the solid fact is that the so-called communal questions are but a legacy handed down to us by centuries of cultural, religious and national antagonism between the Hindus and Moslems…Let us bravely face unpleasant facts as they are. India cannot be assumed today to be a unitarian and homogenous nation, but on the contrary there are two nations in the main: the Hindus and the Moslems, in India.”

Sir! Has it not been the cardinal principle of your organisation also? The RSS, following the footsteps of Savarkar-ji, always rejected the idea that Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians together constituted a nation. Your English organ, Organiser, on the very eve of Independence (August 14, 1947), editorially (titled ‘Whither’) underlined its belief in the Two-Nation theory once again in the following words:

“Let us no longer allow ourselves to be influenced by false notions of nationhood. Much of the mental confusion and the present and future troubles can be removed by the ready recognition of the simple fact that in Hindustan only the Hindus form the nation and the national structure must be built on that safe and sound foundation…the nation itself must be built up of Hindus, on Hindu traditions, culture, ideas and aspirations.”

Bhagwat-ji! Please, help our country to understand how the believers in Hindutva are different from the pre-partition Muslim Leaguers who once played a prominent role in dismem-bering India.

Does Hindutva Respect the National Flag and Democracy?

SIR, it may not be out of context to know your attitude towards the National Flag which represents a Democratic-Secular India. It is important to know it from the head of the organisations which swear by Hindutva. I would like to draw your attention to the following statement which appeared in the English organ, Organizer, again on the eve of Independence:

“The people who have come to power by the kick of fate may give in our hands the Tricolour but it never [sic] be respected and owned by Hindus. The word three is in itself an evil, and a flag having three colours will certainly produce a very bad psychological effect and is injurious to a country.”

Can those who denigrate the National Flag in such foul language be allowed to rule this country?

Sarsanghchalak-ji! Lay persons like me need to know from practitioners of Hindutva like you what you think of Democracy. I would like to draw your attention to a statement made by the second Sarsanghchalak of the RSS and its most prominent ideologue till date, M. S. Golwalkar. As per the RSS archives, Golwalkar-ji, while addressing a group of 1350 top level cadres of the RSS in 1940, declared:

“RSS inspired by one flag, one leader and one ideology is lighting the flame of Hindutva in each and every corner of this great land.”

Learned Bhagwat-ji! This slogan of one flag, one leader and one ideology was also the battle-cry of Fascist and Nazi parties of Europe in the first half of the 20thcentury. What they did to democracy is well-known to this world. Can those who believe in such totalitarian designs be allowed to rule our country?

Does Hindutva stand for Casteism?

SARSANGHCHALAK-JI! You will agree with me that the RSS and its brother organisations, who want to have Hindutva rule in India, hated the Constitution of India which was drafted under the guidance of Dr B. R. Ambedkar. When the Constituent Assembly of India had finalised the Constitution of India, the RSS was not happy. Its organ, Organiser, in an editorial on November 30, 1949, complained: “But in our Constitution there is no mention of the unique constitutional development in ancient Bharat. Manu’s Laws were written long before Lycurgus of Sparta or Solon of Persia. To this day his laws as enunciated in the Manus-mriti excite the admiration of the world and elicit spontaneous obedience and conformity. But to our constitutional pundits that means nothing.” Bhagwat-ji! It may not be a secret to you that Savarkar-ji remained a great protagonist of Casteism and worshipper of Manusmriti throughout his life. The institutions of Casteism and Untouchability were the outcome of Manu’s thought about which Savarkar said the following:

“Manusmriti is that scripture which is most worshipable after the Vedas for our Hindu Nation and which from ancient times has become the basis of our culture-customs, thought and practice. This book for centuries has codified the spiritual and divine march of our nation. Even today the rules which are followed by crores of Hindus in their lives and practice are based on Manusmriti. Today Manusmriti is Hindu Law.”

Sir! What kind of civilisation the RSS, under your command and under the Hindutva ideology, wants to build by enforcing the laws of Manu, can be known by having a glimpse of the laws prescribed by Manu for the Dalits/Untouchables and women. Some of these dehumanising and degenerate laws, which are presented here, are self-explanatory.

Laws of Manu concerning Dalits/Untouchables

For the sake of the prosperity of the world (the divine one) caused the Brahmana, the Kshatriya, the Vaisya, and the Sudra to proceed from his mouth, his arm, his thighs and his feet.
One occupation only the lord prescribed to the Sudras, to serve meekly even these (other) three castes.
Once-born man (a Sudra), who insults a twice-born man with gross invective, shall have his tongue cut out; for he is of low origin.
If he mentions the names and castes (jati) of the (twice-born) contumely, an iron nail, ten fingers long, shall be thrust red-hot into his mouth.
If he arrogantly teaches Brahmanas their duty, the king shall cause hot oil to be poured into his mouth and into his ears.
With whatever limb a man of a low caste does hurt to (a man of the three) highest (castes), even that limb shall be cut off; that is the teaching of Manu.
He who raises his hand or a stick, shall have his hand cut off; he who in anger kicks with his foot, shall have his foot cut off.
A low-caste man who tries to place himself on the same seat with a man of a high caste, shall be branded on his hip and be banished, or (the king) shall cause his buttock to be gashed.
Let him never slay a Brahmana, though he has committed all (possible) crimes; let him banish such an (offender), leaving all his property (to him) and (his body) unhurt.

Laws of Manu concrning Women

Day and night woman must be kept in dependence by the males (of) their (families), and, if they attach themselves to sensual enjoyments, they must be kept under one’s control.
Her father protects (her) in childhood, her husband protects (her) in youth, and her sons protect (her) in old age; a woman is never fit for independence.
Women must particularly be guarded against evil inclinations, however trifling (they may appear); for, if they are not guarded, they will bring sorrow on two families.
Considering that the highest duty of all castes, even weak husbands (must) strive to guard their wives.
No man can completely guard women by force; but they can be guarded by the employment of the (following) expedients:
Let the (husband) employ his (wife) in the collection and expenditure of his wealth, in keeping (everything) clean, in (the fulfilment of) religious duties, in the preparation of his food, and in looking after the household utensils.
Women, confined in the house under trustworthy and obedient servants, are not (well) guarded; but those who of their own accord keep guard over themselves, are well guarded.
Women do not care for beauty, nor is their attention fixed on age; (thinking), ‘(It is enough that) he is a man,’ they give themselves to the handsome and to the ugly.
Through their passion for men, through their mutable temper, through their natural heartlessness, they become disloyal towards their husbands, however carefully they may be guarded in this (world).
(When creating them) Manu allotted to women (a love of their) bed, (of their) seat and (of) ornament, impure desires, wrath, dishonesty, malice, and bad conduct.
For women no (sacramental) rite (is performed) with sacred texts, thus the law is settled; women (who are) destitute of strength and destitute of (the knowledge of) Vedic texts, (are as impure as) falsehood (itself), that is a fixed rule. I would like to remind you that a copy of Manusmriti was burnt as a protest in the presence of Dr B.R. Ambedkar during the historic Mahad agitation in December 1927.

Sir! You will agree with me that Golwalkar-ji was the most prominent theorist of the RSS and he, like Savarkar-ji, believed that Casteism was a natural integral part of Hinduism. In fact, Golwalkar went to the extent of declaring that Casteism was synonymous with the Hindu nation. According to him, the Hindu people are none else but

“The Virat Purusha, the Almighty manifesting himself […] [according to purusha sukta] sun and moon are his eyes, the stars and the skies are created from his nabhi [navel] and Brahmin is the head, Kshatriya the hands, Vaishya the thighs and Shudra the feet. This means that the people who have this fourfold arrangement, i.e., the Hindu People, is [sic] our God. This supreme vision of Godhead is the very core of our concept of ‘nation’ and has permeated our thinking and given rise to various unique concepts of our cultural heritage.” Sarsanghchalak-ji! The truth is that Hindutva is nothing but an ideology which stands for totalitarianism, Casteism and injustice. I would conclude with the words of Dr B. R. Ambedkar who said:

“If Hindu Raj does become a fact, it will, no doubt, be the greatest calamity for this country …It is a menace to liberty, equality and fraternity. On that account it is incompatible with democracy. Hindu Raj must be prevented at any cost.” Bhagwat-ji! The reality is that Hindutva is not dangerous for minorities only but also for the vast majority of Hindus, specially, Dalits and women.

I would be eagerly looking forward to receive your kind response to issues raised in this letter.

Thanking you,

Yours,

Shamsul Islam

Delhi, 25-06-2012

notoinjustice@gmail.com

Shamsul Islam, a well-known theatre personality, is an Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Satyawati College, University of Delhi.

[ebBPxIai]

Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has assured the nation that steps will be taken to reduce corruption and ensure transparency in governance. Today is India's independence day.

No one will suspect his intentions. Ability is a matter of time to see. It was Indira Gandhi who made the most disastrous statement for India on corruption. When prodded on this point she retorted that corruption is a global phenomenon. And that was it. So far there has been no looking back. If the person at the most powerful position makes a statement like that than it has a lot of meaning and many repercussions. It is acceptance of inability to do the needful. A sad thing in itself but what is more that this inability was admitted. It does make some difference when you feel that you are incapable of doing something and when you admit that. The damage was done. If this problem is solved in future then the person behind that will be of more impressive capabilities than Indira Gandhi, not less. We have not seen such people around for some time. Dr Singh is a giant in his own right but we all know that he is the wrong person in the right chair or the right person in the wrong chair - whichever way you look at it. The net sum is that on the face of it the things look as if we do not have the right cocktail to solve the corruption problem. We have a willing PM but unwilling environment.

Ye zulm bhi dekha hai tareekh ki nazron ne
Lamhon ke khata ki thi sadiyon ne saza payi

History is witness to this atrocity too
Moments erred, centuries suffered Source : Armchair

[newspetty]

Mosques in India
We Indian Muslims are a bit coward. Not shy, just plain coward.
We refuse to demand our rights here.
We know the rationale of that.
Some Muslims, nearly a century ago, demanded a separate Muslim state and got it.
Now that was indeed peculiar because all Muslims could not have gone to that state and did not go.
Also not everyone was eager to go there.
The Muslims who did not go to the new state belonged to India.
This was known during the freedom movement. There were enough Muslims with the main stream freedom movement. At the political level we know many organizations that had Muslims and were fighting for freedom sans partition.
Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Hind is only one example.
The question is that why are the inheritors of the mantle of those Muslims so timid as to ask for their rights in India?
Why do they fear that they will be labelled communal the moment they open their respective mouths to demand their rights as Muslims?
Why is that you have to club your demands with other minorities of India?
Did you secretly support the idea of partition? This can not be because you were not there at that time.
So why this cowardice?
Shouldn't those who do not deliver your rights to you be more scared of being blamed of injustice than you for demanding your rights?
Why have you relegated yourself to second class citizenship?
Remember fear of death is one of those attributes of man that were disliked by beloved Prophet (PBUH), together with love of this world.

Yours truly celebrated Eif-ul-Fitr at his home in a village. One of the bad news received during the Ramadan was that in a nearby village the majority community people took away the Fadha-il-e-A'amal and other books from a platform ascribed for Prayers by Muslims. It was merely a Musallah - not a proper Mosque. Police and some officers of administration came there but only to maintain the so called hold of the majority community - not to address the problem of the aggrieved minority community. Moreover people from a nearby village told these miscreants that it is strange that you can not control just a few house holds in your village - meaning thereby the minority. "In our village we have the largest number of Muslims in the area and they can do nothing", they asserted. This is true. The latter village as got twenty percent Muslims. And they have not been allowed to built a Mosque. Once few people started the construction of a mosque and a single boy from the majority community came and demolished it. A Maktab had been started earlier and the majority community insisted that send your children to the common government primary school - no Islamic education separately. Twenty percent population is a lot and at the election time it becomes relevant. One of the candidates, from majority community and having a big family with enough healthy and able bodied , for Village Headship supported the idea of Mosque. This lead to so much of tension and sudden surge of police and administration that Muslim community thought it better not to press for the demand of a Mosque. So much for the secularism of India. Yours truly knows this for the story is from my own village. Many years ago there was a constant struggle to get the village cemetery boundary constructed. The majority community will just not allow the construction - a show of raw force. The village cemetery now has a boundary. How? Well the village has fallen within the boundary of Greater Noida and the Chief Minister in the immediate past, Ms Mayawati, had express instructions for the boundary constructions both of Muslims cemeteries as well as Hindu cremation grounds.

Then there is the story of a third village that is constantly under the gaze of yours truly. Some Muslim youth from this village had made a Musallah in their village and started Praying with Jama-'at. Miscreants came one day and burned Fadha-il-e-A'amal and the Prayers mats. Police arrived in due course and soon a case was made against the youth who had started the Musallah - no word against the perpetrators of fire and fear amongst the worshipers. The police post did not accept the report filed by Muslims nor the corresponding Police Station. More than that many of the Muslims have been scared and a statement to the effect that really do not want to pray has been extracted from them. Free country.

All this is happening in the state of UP where Akhilesh Yadav reins as the Chief Minister and many people from the majority community taunt Muslims by saying that this is their government.

[Amirmsheesk]

A very sad thing. Once I read an article in tamil muslim magazine named as "vidiyal".
There was one series on media and muslims. There were really good points which I wanted to translate.
One thing that stressed was muslims should build relationship with journalists or media persons.
There are genuine persons among them too. When they support muslims in certain issue, muslims should send the letter of appreciation to them. We should build some bond with them. Normally they will have meetings and they can bring in points from our side but we should communicate to them. They will then think twice before they publish against the muslims. We should not be like foreigners and keep distance from them.
All these things should be written to them. The sad state is on one hand we are oppressed and when muslims raise their voice even slightly, they are called terrorists and what not.
This muslim community as a whole should do a lot.
Muslims lawyers should do something. Everyone should contribute with their best efforts. Allahu alam

[unapelosina]

A very sad thing. Once i read an article in tamil muslim magazine named as "vidiyal".

is it pj's magazine?

[N9NACzws]

is it pj's magazine?

I dont think so.

[Z1IRo4Ap]

Don't waste your time, Gujarat 2002 is nothing more than a whore to the politicians and journalists, yeah, even the judiciary.

Gujju bhai's and behen's should work to strengthen the community and connect with Allah SWT - adhab will descend in different ways upon the wrongdoers.

[mashabox]

One thing that stressed was muslims should build relationship with journalists or media persons.
There are genuine persons among them too. When they support muslims in certain issue, muslims should send the letter of appreciation to them. We should build some bond with them. Normally they will have meetings and they can bring in points from our side but we should communicate to them. They will then think twice before they publish against the muslims. We should not be like foreigners and keep distance from them.
All these things should be written to them.

that is excellent advice.

i can't believe i read saleem shahzad's book (in which there are emails by mujahideen to him) and didn't think of this idea.

no wonder that book is very accurate.

[spaxiaroorbes]

is it pj's magazine?

No. Vidiyal is a magazine by Manitha Neethi Pasarai

PJ's magazine is Unarvu

[Dxwlxqvg]

No. Vidiyal is a magazine by Manitha Neethi Pasarai

PJ's magazine is Unarvu

Any more info about this people of Manitha Neethi Pasarai?

[ronaldasten]

Any more info about this people of Manitha Neethi Pasarai?

They are Members of Popular Front of India,

[untostaronaf]

Quite shame when I have read this magazine highlighting the zulm done on muslim community globally, as usual they are painted as terrorists, having links with Al-Qaeda, Taliban and what not.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_Front_of_India

[bawayTeen]

Some good things happening in India:

Barefoot college known as Social Work and Research Centre is an Non-governmental organization founded by Bunker Roy in 1972. It is a solar-powered school that teaches illiterate women from impoverished Indian villages to become doctors, solar engineers, architects, and other such professions. The school is located at Tilonia village, Rajasthan, India. It serves a population of over 125,000 people. There are now 20 such colleges in 13 states in India.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barefoot_College




Some good quotes by the Indian activist and writer Arundati Roy:


“Our strategy should be not only to confront empire, but to lay siege to it. To deprive it of oxygen. To shame it. To mock it. With our art, our music, our literature, our stubbornness, our joy, our brilliance, our sheer relentlessness – and our ability to tell our own stories. Stories that are different from the ones we’re being brainwashed to believe.

The corporate revolution will collapse if we refuse to buy what they are selling – their ideas, their version of history, their wars, their weapons, their notion of inevitability.

Remember this: We be many and they be few. They need us more than we need them.

Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.”
― Arundhati Roy, War Talk


“Soviet-style communism failed, not because it was intrinsically evil, but because it was flawed. It allowed too few people to usurp too much power. Twenty-first century market capitalism, American-style, will fail for the same reasons. Both are edifices constructed by human intelligence, undone by human nature.”
― Arundhati Roy


“Nationalism of one kind or another was the cause of most of the genocide of the twentieth century. Flags are bits of colored cloth that governments use first to shrink-wrap people's minds and then as ceremonial shrouds to bury the dead.”
― Arundhati Roy, War Talk

[bactrimtab]

Aftermath of Assam Riots : Internet Sites Banning
According to the leaked list, Indian government also wanted to block 30 Twitter URLs, 3 Wikipedia URLs, 11 Blogger URLs and 8 Wordpress URLs. There were also some URLs belonging to a few websites that are sympathetic to Hindu and Muslim extremists. Surprisingly, the list also contained URLs belonging to several mainstream media websites though it was not clear if it was due to user-generated content like comments or due to news reports.

[Triiooman]

Brothers and sisters kindly keep the focus on Islam and Muslims.

[Alexeryy]

Atleast I was talking about muslims and media and those who replied to my post I think. Anyway I was planning to open a thread on muslims and media and bringforth some points as you might be having different idea to move with this thread.
Sorry for the interference.

[alfredtaniypnx]

Assalamu alaykum

Muslim population in India 248 Millions
Muslim population in Pakistan 179 millions.

Unfortunately, we Indian Muslims have to plead with Muslims in Pakistan to behave properly so that we muslims here in India can live peacefully. We have our own problems and miseries, the pakistanis add to our miseries.