JOHN HUDSON

A series of elections in India last early this month has exposed a

major diplomatic problem for the U. S. State Department: The man
expected to lead the world's largest democracy in 2014 is not legal-
ly allowed to enter the United States. The reason: his involvement in
anti-Muslim riots that killed more than 1,000 people. The travel
restriction threatens future U.S.-India relations, but the State
Department has few workable options, if any.
On 8 December, India's Hindu nationalist opposition, the
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), trounced the ruling Congress in a
number of key state assembly polls. Pollsters say the BJP is now
widely expected to win next year's general elections, which would
make the party's controversial prime ministerial nominee, Narendra
Modi, the next leader of India.
The State Department won't say whether a Prime Minister Modi
would be allowed entrance to the United States, but experts say the
question looms large over the U.S.-India relationship.
"I am not going to speculate about what the outcome might be,"
State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told The Cable. At the
same time, U.S. activists tell us they will challenge Modi in court if
he ever sets foot in America.
Modi, the chief minister of the western state of Gujarat, is a pop-
ular politician with a disturbing track record of intolerance. The
United States denied him a diplomatic visa in 2005 and revoked his
existing business visa due to his role in the 2002 communal riots in
Gujarat in which some 1,000 people mostly Muslims were
killed. Modi stood accused of stoking religious violence and failing
to protect Gujarat's Muslim minority as chief minister. A subsequent
resolution passed by the US Congress condemned him for promot-
ing Nazi ideology and "racial hatred."
Modi supporters point out that a special investigative team
appointed by India's Supreme Court cleared him of any wrongdoing
in the riots and emphasised his role in making Gujarat one of India's
fastest-growing economic success stories.
But U.S. officials saw little risk in blacklisting an obscure and
provincial Indian politician back in 2005. At the time, Foggy Bottom
[U.S. Department of State] revoked his visa under the Immigration
and Nationality Act, which makes foreign officials who are respon-
sible for "serious" violations of religious freedom ineligible for travel
to America. Now Modi is a national political juggernaut whom the
United States ignores at its peril.
"If he becomes prime minister, the U.S. will have to find a way
to do business with him," Tanvi Madan, director of the Brookings
Institution's India Project, told The Cable. "The question is whether
or not to do something before next year's election."
Both options present risks.
If the United States continues to restrict Modi's travel and freeze
him out of diplomatic discussions at the ambassadorial level, it risks
alienating an important partner on everything from trade to security
to finance to diaspora issues. By contrast, the European Union,
Britain, and Germany have all engaged in ambassador-level discus-
sions with Modi. This status quo also risks insulting hundreds of
millions of Indians.
"The travel restriction has created resentment amongst the lead-
ership and some amongst the rank-and-file BJP party workers," said
Milan Vaishnav of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
"We're talking about a three-time incumbent chief minister. He has-
n't been found guilty by any court of law, he's not under indictment
for any crime, and there hasn't been a smoking gun in their view. So
how can you, the United States, prevent this guy from coming to
your country?"
But not everyone agrees with the BJP's interpretation of history.
There is currently a trench war playing out on Capitol Hill over Modi's
legacy. Anti-Modi groups, such as the Indian American Muslim
Council (IAMC), promise to name and shame anyone supportive of
Modi, whom they consider a genocidal Hindu supremacist. IAMC
has hired the lobbying firm Fidelis to advance its goals on the Hill,
including a resolution critical of violations of minority groups in India
that was introduced by Rep. Joe Pitts (R-PA).
The Cable has learned that anti-Modi groups are also planning
a legal challenge against the chief minister should he ever travel to
the United States. Some of us are working with the next of kin of
victims of the Gujarat 2002 violence living in the United States,
Shaik Ubaid, founder of the Coalition Against Genocide, said. We
will be ready to file criminal and tort cases against Modi should he
try to come to the United States.
Pro-Modi groups, such as the Hindu American Foundation, have
accused these anti-Modi groups of slandering the reputation of India
and its leaders. It is certainly disappointing to see Indian-Americans
hiring an American lobbying firm to advocate for a deeply flawed
and insulting American resolution critical of India, said the Hindu
American Foundations Jay Kansara.
The pro-Modi camp has courted high-profile Republican law-
makers such as Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Rep. Aaron
Schock, but to varying degrees of success. After heaping effusive
praise on Modi following a 2013 visit to Gujarat, McMorris Rodgers
denied association with him in November after anti-genocide groups
complained about an invite for Modi to talk to Republican leaders on
Capitol Hill via video link. They dont have a relationship, a con-
gressional aide told The Cable.
Technically, it would not be difficult for Foggy Bottom to resolve
Modis travel status. Although the department originally determined
that Modi was ineligible for travel under the Immigration and
Nationality Act, its not bound by that earlier decision.
Our long-standing policy with regard to the chief minister is
that he is welcome to apply for a visa and await a review like any
other applicant, Harf told The Cable. That review will be grounded
in U.S. law.
However, Modi is unlikely to reapply for a visa between now and
the 2014 elections.
Alternatively, the United States could implement a half-measure,
such as issuing a statement that clarifies that America would never
bar the leader of India from entering the country. But even that poses
problems.
Friends at the State Department say theyre hyperaware of this
issue but constrained because of the elections, said Vaishnav.
They dont want to be seen as endorsing a candidate or meddling
in Indian politics. The State Department doesnt want to be on the
front page of Indian newspapers.
Madan agrees. Any sign of foreign interference would be taken
extremely negatively in India, she said. The Congress party would
latch onto that, saying the U. S. has endorsed Modi.
By and large, Foggy Bottom is boxed in on the issue. There is
little doubt that this poses a dilemma for the State Department, said
Madan. Modi is a major figure in Indian politics. Its impossible to
imagine that they havent thought through the various scenarios, but
its unclear what theyll do. (hecable.foreignpolicy.com)
24 pages ` 15 ISSN 0972-3366 FORTNIGHTLY Vol. 14 No. 24 Issue Serial # 334 facebook.com/milligazette www.milligazette.com 16-31 December 2013
Muzaffarnagar 2,3,5,7,13
Narendra Modi 1,4,8
Homosexuality debate 10,11
J&K 10 Analysis 11 Special Reports 3,13
Issues 2,11,13 Speaking Out 11 Books 21
Newsmakers 12 International 16-20
Community News 14-15 Islamic Perspectives 20
Our Publications 19 Classifieds 22 Letters 23
Inside
MG
Will Indias next PM be barred
from entering the US?
THE
MILLI
GAZETTE
INDIAN MUSLIMS LEADING ENGLISH NEWSPAPER SINCE 2000
DILIP KUMAR...12 SHAMI: A NEW STAR...5
Vote for us,
we will protect
you all
M
G
/
Y
u
s
u
f
Modi, the chief minister of the western state of
Gujarat, is a popular politician with a disturbing
track record of intolerance. The United States
denied him a diplomatic visa in 2005 and revoked
his existing business visa due to his role in the
2002 communal riots in Gujarat in which some
1,000 people mostly Muslims were killed. Modi
stood accused of stoking religious violence and
failing to protect Gujarat's Muslim minority as chief
minister. A subsequent resolution passed by the US
Congress condemned him for promoting Nazi
ideology and "racial hatred."
2 The Milli Gazette, 16-31 December 2013 ISSUES / OPINION
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AG KHAN
Case I:
Father rapes and kills teenager for eloping with boyfriend .
(T.O.I. headlines 07/11) "...the father told the police the
elopement had tarnished the family name; her frequent
elopement for sex was the reason he raped her and got his
friend to do so too."
Case II
In a sensational murder a father and brother of a girl
engaged contract killers to get rid of her who was adamant
on marrying a boy of her choice (belonging to another faith).
The killers killed her in the presence of the brother .
Stripped her and cut her in two pieces and dumped the two
par ts in a well near Indore. The wealthy Memon family hails
from Gujarat and the girl had acquired proper ty rights from
her mother. The very first question that arises; by taking the
law in their own hands did they save the "honour" of the
family?
Are these crimes befitting the "punishments" they meted
out to the victims? Paying Rs 5 lakh for killing ones own kin
and then spending the rest of his life in jail is not the solu-
tion which one uses to solve the problem.
The issue has become not only alarming because of the
frequency of such incidents all over the country but has also
become a matter of grave concern because of the dilemma
in which members of a family get entangled when it con-
cerns the honour / faith of the family.
Killing daughters under the pretext of family honour had
been a practice in the jahiliya period prior to the advent of
Islam. Islam ensured not only the safety of the girl child but
also enjoined on the family rights in the proper ty. This is in
addition to a decent upbringing - education and marriage a
father is enjoined to ensure.
Modernity brought several unforeseen problems in the
lives of the faithful. What should one do in a situation of this
nature when an adamant daughter refuses to listen to the
entreaties of the family caring a damn for the Shariah
injunctions? In a multi-religious society such situations have
become quite frequent.
What are the options that a family has? Keep quiet and
wait and allow things to take their own course of action.
Quite often, the two decide to elope. After a few months the
boy kicks her out of his life (if he is dishonest and insin-
cere). The girl either commits suicide or returns to her fam-
ily with a child in the womb. Again, the family may grant her
shelter and allow the child to be born or flatly shut the door
on her face and ask her to fend for herself.
The second option that honour-conscious families fre-
quently exercise is to get her married to someone as soon
as possible. With the passage of time either the girl returns
to sanity or makes the life of her spouse hell who may
divorce her or kill her. The third option also results in death
of the girl (or both) as the two examples cited above unfold.
The ultimate result of such actions is financial loss, jail cus-
tody for kins and dishonour which people try in vain to save
the family from.
In a Shariah-compliant government the matter could be
taken to a Qazi and the administration would take action it
deemed fit. But we are living in the 21st century world where
Shariah governments are conspicuous by their absence.
Islam teaches us to rigorously follow the right to life.
Taking the law into ones hands is neither legally nor theo-
logically justifiable. It deprives a person an oppor tunity to
repent or reform. Very often we see that the mad fever called
made for each other often subsides and with proper coun-
selling the par ties begin to see the wisdom of marrying
within the faith. In some instances conversion seems to be
the solution. However, because of legal ban on conversions
and because of zealots / fanatics a matter of two families
engulfs, quite often, the entire locality / community in violent
outbreaks. The couple-to-be ignores this very harsh reality:
what kind of doom they are inviting for their entire commu-
nity by following the dictates of their hear ts.
In these days of instant communication when every
family is bombarded with inputs from T V, film, internets and
mobiles from which we cannot cocoon the young people we
must evolve some kind of counselling mechanism. We can-
not afford to maintain an ostrich like approach by burying
our heads in the sand.
Imtihaan lay magar, yeh toh bata
Is imtihaan ki intiha kahaan?
(Test me but tell me at least / When the ordeal will end at last?).
I'm reminded of this Urdu couplet by Moin Hasan 'Jazbi' in the
context of Muslim children putting up at riot relief camps who're
dying of bone-piercing cold of north India. The unbearable cold
has already claimed the lives of at least 40 children. First, it was
the scourge of riots and now it's the cold to grapple with.
This is too much. Every time, Muslims have to bear the brunt.
Otherwise also, the riot relief camps are always in shambles. It's
indeed a matter of pity and shame that even after 66 years of inde-
pendence, the Government of India's riot relief management still
leaves a lot to be desired. According to 'The Times', 1993, 'The
post riot conditions in India have claimed more lives than caused
by riots.' This is a flagrant, nay shameful, reality. Moreover,
Muslims being at the receiving end in almost all riots since 1947,
they're the victims who lost lives and properties and found them-
selves in the riot camps to suffer further, thanks to governmental
apathy and inclement weather. Not much has been done in this
regard to ameliorate the hellish existence of riot-affected Muslims
in the camps.
Delhi's CM Sheila Dixit, wearing two-three sweaters and
shawl, was busy in election campaigning and Aam Aadmi's 'mes-
siah' Kejriwal has his own agenda.
People like Mulayam and his son are simply useless and
expecting their intervention and help is akin to extracting water
from a stone slab.
Who should these poor Muslims go to? Had Allama Iqbal
been alive, he'd again ask Allah, 'Rahmatein hain teri aghiyaar kay
kaashanon pe / Barq girti hai toh bechaaray Musalmaanon pe'
('You've forever bestowed your grace upon others/ The blitzkrieg
has always befallen Muslims', From Dr Muhammad Iqbal's
'Shikwa': Complaint).
Flagrant Humiliation of Yasin Malik
The (unfortunate) news is that J&K leader Yasin Malik, his wife
and their 18-month old daughter were thrown out of a Delhi hotel
near Nizamuddin around midnight. This happened on Sunday,
December 1.
I'm simply groping for words to define this inhuman incident.
How can a person, who's not a criminal, be ousted at an unwor-
thy hour and on a wintry
night in Delhi, or for that
matter, anywhere? The
man was with a baby
and his wife.
If Yasin was to be
booted out, why on
earth was he allowed to
book two rooms in the
hotel? The manager
could have said no to
him at the time of book-
ing.
If Kashmiris think
that they indeed don't
belong to India, they're
not wrong or unpatriotic. The treatment meted out to them speaks
for itself.
Agreed, Pundits, who had a legitimate domicile status, were
driven out of the Valley but that exodus (of Pundits) took place
because of growing militancy and in circumstances which are yet
to be properly probed.
Yasin Malik is not a militant. He's an activist. I'm sure, this
incident will further widen the gap between the Kashmiris and the
rest of India.
Has the Government tendered an apology on this issue? Has
the CM of Delhi, Sheila Dixit, done anything in this regard? This
episode can be likened to the deplorable situation of South Africa
and the US where apartheid existed in its worst and most inhuman
form.
What happened to Yasin is no less than apartheid. It's social
apartheid and racial discrimination because of his ethnic identity
of being a Kashmiri Muslim. It's condemnable.
"When a handful of citizens of a country are discriminated
against by the majority, it shows the majority mindset of that
country in a negative manner and it's not a healthy sign," Minoo
Masani observed this long ago. It sure is an unhealthy sign.
Mandela: Icon of universal peace
Some individuals become legends in their lifetime. Gandhi, Martin
Luther King Jr., Einstein and Mandela were such greats who
became legends much before they departed.
Twentieth century witnessed two World Wars, great destruc-
tion, remarkable scientific advancement and also astoundingly
great human beings. Mandela was one of them who taught the
embittered and vindictive world that love and understanding could
change the hearts.
Despite his incarceration at Roben Island for 27 years, the
man came out with no rancour and malice towards anyone. The
racist South Africa realised that this man was simply different and
indomitable.
"Bitterness leads to greater bitterness". Mandela read
Gandhi's letter to his Scottish friend C F Andrews when he was
imprisoned at the island and these words struck him like an idea
from heaven. Mandela later told the BBC interviewer Emerald
Hawks that Mahatma's words made him see goodness in every-
thing and every being.
The seemingly impossible Christian ideal of offering the other
cheek wasn't an impractical idea to Mandela whose entire life is a
moving example of how those lofty, scriptural ideals can be imple-
mented with great success.
South African whites called the blacks 'sub-humans'. Yet the
'black' Mandela didn't harbour any ill-will. He didn't persecute any
white after becoming the President of South Africa.
If anyone truly followed the dictum, "let bygone be bygone," it
was Nelson Mandela. True to his name, he turned a Nelson's eye
to the past trans-
gressions of the
whites and exhort-
ed all to surge
ahead with no
trace of enmity.
D e e p l y
respected by all
across the globe,
Madiba was an
icon of universal
ideals of love,
peace, brother-
hood and bon-
homie. Legends
like him never die.
Their ideals are
forever alive. Good
bye, Mandela.
SUMIT PAUL
sumitmaclean@hotmail.com
Plight of Muslim riot victims
Honour killings vis--vis faith
Islam teaches us to rigorously follow the
right to life. Taking the law into one's hands
is neither legally nor theologically
justifiable. It deprives a person an
opportunity to repent or reform. Very often
we see that the mad fever called "made for
each other" often subsides and with proper
counselling the parties begin to see the
wisdom of marrying within the faith.
NATIONAL The Milli Gazette, 16-31 December 2013 3
Respond now if you care about your
community
White Paper on Terrorism
The issue of fake terrorism charges and the unjust arrests and defamation of our community,
especially since 2001, is the biggest challenge facing the community ever since. A grand con-
spiracy hatched by the powers that be, IB, Police and media, has sullied and defamed our com-
munity. This campaign has affected our lives, peace of mind and has thwarted our efforts to
progress and educate our children to join the national mainstream.
Our efforts so far to present our case, to bring out our innocence and force the national and
state governments to listen to our grievances have mostly failed. All we have received are a few
words of solace which have no real meaning and have not changed the situation on the ground.
Our children by their thousands are still languishing in jails on the basis of fake confessions
obtained through torture and blackmail.
As a long-term solution and a serious response to this problem thrust upon us, AIMMM
decided last year to bring out a white paper on the Muslim-related terrorism in the country.
The work is going on with all seriousness and many researchers, scholars and journalists are
busy preparing writeups on various aspects of this issue, covering the history, genesis, com-
munalism, vested interests in various related fields, analysis of various laws like TADA, POTA
and UAPA, fake encounters, narco tests, torture, acquittals, IB & Police role, media attitude,
case studies, statewise surveys, SIMI, Indian Mujahidin, Hindutva terror, individual tragedies
of victims, Azamgarh, Bhatkal, Malegaon, Darbhanga modules, some basic documents, etc.,
etc.
The target is to bring out this white paper during the next few months and to release it in a
big convention at Delhi as a combined effort of major Muslim and civil rights organisations, and
thereafter present this huge document of over 600 large format pages to politicians, media,
human rights organisations, especially outside the country, in order to enlighten public opinion
at home and abroad as well as to build pressure on our blind and deaf government.
The estimated cost of this white paper is Rs 35 lakh divided as follows: Rs 15 lakh cost of
preparation and payments to contributors plus six months salaries to researchers and experts;
Rs 15 lakh for designing and printing the document in a world-class format; while the grand con-
vention at Delhi will cost at least 5 lakh. Effort will be made to release the White Paper in some
state and world capitals also.
You can help this effort in four ways,
1. To buy copies of the White Paper on Terrorism in advance to help defray part of the huge cost
of research, printing, publication and distribution of at least one thousand complimentary
copies. The estimated price of the white paper is Rs 2000 per copy in India. You may place
an advance order by paying Rs 1000 only per copy in India including postal charges).
Payments for the copies may be made to The Milli Gazette, D-84 Abul Fazal Enclave-I, Jamia
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ing a minimum of 100 copies in advance will be included as Sponsors of the White Paper.
2. Contribute to the cost of the grand convention to be held at Delhi towards the end of 2013.
This should be payable to the All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat, D-250, Abul Fazal
Enclave, Jamia Nagar, New Delhi-110025. Tel.: 011-26946780 Fax: 011-26947346. Email:
mushawarat@mushawarat.com.
3. Donate your time: If you are a scholar, researcher, journalist: join our team for a few
months working in our Delhi office or from your own home to complete this project - write
to the Editor, MG now at edit@milligazette.com.
4. Contact us if you have vital information/documents about this issue.
www.milligazette.com
Hounded out of home, death
stalks Muzaffarnagar riots victims
The Muzaffarnagar riots have stopped, but the deaths havent. A grave humanitarian crisis is unfolding,
and victims lodged at the many relief camps say that official neglect, terrible living conditions and the
onset of the bitter north Indian cold have already claimed almost as many lives as the riots, which left
60 dead.
The Malakpur relief camp around 18 km from Shamli, one of the epicentres of the September riots
which tore through western UP, is one that houses the largest number of displaced people. It has also
seen the maximum number of deaths in the past one month: One almost every day. Of the 28 dead, 25
were infants, all under a month old.
Three months after the riots, close to 18,000 people are still huddled in camps, 4,500 in the
Malakpur camp alone.
Murshida Khatoon, 25, lost her 20-day-old newborn a week ago. A plastic tent surrounded by filth
and human exreta is now her home and the family sleeps on dry grass, without a quilt to protect her
other children from the cold.
We got one after I lost my child, says Khatoon. But what is one quilt for a family of seven?
Another riot survivor, Dilshana Begum, who lost her five-month-old in Malakpur, says, We took
loans and sold our motorcycle to collect `20,000 to pay for hospital expenses. But even after spending
every penny we had, we couldnt save our child.
Three other camps - Khurban, Badheri Khurd and Barnabi - have witnessed eight deaths, which
include four children aged less than 30 days. Too afraid to take the dead back to the villages which were
once home, hurried burials are carried out in graveyards close to the camps.
Newborns and old people are dying of cold. There is a severe scarcity of warm clothes and toilets
in the camps which makes the situation very grim. The last time a medical officer visited any of these
camps was almost a month ago, says Chaudhary Gulshad, a member of a local committee running the
camp.
Dilshana Begum, 25, is also among the several grieving mothers who lost their child to cold.
Dilshanas five-month-old-son died five days ago in the Malakpur camp. (Raj K Raj/ HT Photo)
Four have died in Shahpur and Basi Kalan camps while Loi, another camp with a large number of
displaced people, has witnessed 12 deaths - the last one just a day ago. Mohd Shaqir and his wife,
Sabira, rushed to a nearby health centre around midnight after their eight-month-old child woke up
screaming and wheezing. The doctor told them that the boy needs to be administered oxygen, a facility
they didnt have. So, the couple rushed to another hospital. While we looked for a hospital, I realised he
had stopped breathing, recalls Shaqir. He died in my arms.
Pratap Singh, the additional district magistrate (ADM) of Shamli has no information of the deaths in
the camps in Shamli. Muzaffarnagar ADM Indermani Tripathi says 11 deaths have taken place in the Loi
camp. Muzaffarnagar chief medical officer SK Tyagi says only one or two deaths have taken place in
the camps in the district and he is looking into health assistance.
Many more deaths have gone unreported, says Rehana Adib, whose organisation Astitva has been
involved in the relief work from the initial days. The camps are not supervised properly by health offi-
cials. (Furquan Ameen Siddiqui, Hindustan Times, 2 December 2013)
A matter of shame for the Muslim community
Muzaffarnagar victims are
dying by their droves
Some fifteen thousand or so victims of Muzaffarnagar, Shamli and Baghpat anti-Muslim violence of
September 2014 are still in camps braving the rising cold, shortage of food and lack of medical facili-
ties. They mostly live in plastic tents while some are fortunate to have proper waterproof tents.
Though most of them are yet to re-start normal life in any sense of the word, they refuse to go back
to their erstwhile homes in villages where they witnessed naked violence, rape, murder and arson by their
Jat neighbours. They do not want to face that kind of violence again. Bereft of all help, official neglect
and civic facilities, they, especially young children and elderly, are open to winter diseases. All are camp-
ing on government (forest department) or private land which they will soon have to leave.
Read this latest report in Hindustan Times (http://www.hindustantimes.com/news-feed/muzaffarna-
garaftermath/hounded-out-of-home-death- stalks-muzaffarnagar-riots-victims/article1-1158297.aspx)
about how on average one person is dying daily in these camps due to cold -- a matter of utter shame
for our community.
We appeal to you to rise to this occasion in any way possible:
* Provide wollen duvets and mattresses (Rs 1000 per set);
* Provide waterproof shed (Rs 5500 per unit);
* Provide at least one family a 50 sq. yard plot of land to settle on it (Rs 35,000 per unit of 50 sq.
yard and add Rs 5500 for waterproof shed to be made over it.);
* If you are a physician in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli or even in Aligarh and Delhi, volunteer your
time once or twice a month to treat camp inmates (coordinate with us to organise medical camps);
* If you are a lawyer in the vicinity of Muzaffarnagar/Delhi, volunteer to take care of at a few cases.
Charity Alliance has been offering help on whatever scale possible since the violence broke out last
September. I have visited the area four times since. We have just opened a coordination office in Kairana
to coordinate relief and legal work and to guide where help is most needed. The office, Muzaffarnagar
Riot Victims Coordination Committee, is situated on Panipat Road, opp. Satab Singh Market, Mohalla
Aalkalaa Kairana, Distt. Shamli 247774 and will be operational within the next few days. We are also
negotiating to buy land in the area to allow the inmates to have a place of their own to rebuild their lives.
Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan
Chairman, Charity Alliance (Trust), New Delhi
Email: info@charityalliance.in - Tel: 011-26947483
For contact in Muzaffarnagar: Akram Akhtar 09897974647; Mohammad Anees 08755514102
Maulana Esa Mansuri, head of the
London-based World Islamic Forum,
issued the following clarification
about his 2003 meeting with
Narendra Modi which is being used
by the likes of Zafar Sareshwala to
show that Muslims support Modi:
Mr Zafar Sureshwala, while supporting Mr
Modi, has once
again dragged
my name as a
suppor ter of
the Gujarat
Chief Minister
( Z a f a r
Sur eshwal a,
the Muslim
who bats for
Modi, Times
of India,
24 November,
2013) in the
context of my meeting with Mr Modi in 2003. I
had explained my stand two years ago to the
Times of India and elsewhere, yet this insinua-
tion is being repeated again and again to con-
vey a wrong impression about my said meet-
ing with Mr Modi which was in the context of
the Gujarat riots and at the behest of people
who were providing relief to the victims at the
time while police was preventing even ration,
medicines and physicians from reaching the
victims in refugee camps. I raised this issue
during this meeting and Mr Modi at once
ordered the removal of such obstacles. Apart
from this, I had no truck ever with Mr Modi or
his party. I have earlier explained my point of
view in a video which can be seen on YouTube.
I take this opportunity to re-state categorically
that I am not a politician. Instead, I am con-
nected to the field of education. My political
stand is the same as that of the vast majority
of Indian Muslims - that instead of supporting
a communal party, Muslims should support
secular parties. I hope that after this clarifica-
tion, my name will not be unnecessarily
dragged again into this futile issue.
Maulana Muhammed Essa Mansuri
President, World Islamic Forum UK
London, UK
essa.mansuri@ebrahimcollege.org.uk
Camp: Delhi
Clarification from Maulana Esa Mansuri
about his meeting with Modi
THE MILLI GAZETTE
requires
JUNIOR JOURNALISTS
write with details in the first instance to the Editor at edit@milligazette.com
Basic requirements: good command over English, interest in and knowledge
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4 The Milli Gazette, 16-31 December 2013 NATIONAL www.milligazette.com
UP govt cannot
withdraw terror
cases without
Centres
consent: HC
Lucknow: The U.P. government cannot
withdraw prosecution in terror cases
under the Central Acts without the per-
mission of the Centre, Allahabad High
Cour t held on12 December. The ruling
was given by the High Cour t's Lucknow
Bench of Mr Justice Devi Prasad Singh,
Mr Justice Ajai Lamba and Mr Justice
Ashok Pal Singh on questions raised by
a two-judge Division Bench on a PIL
filed by Ranjana Agnihotri and five other
local lawyers. The PIL had sought a
direction for quashing the order of the
UP government for withdrawal of cases
against people accused of terrorist
activities and serial blasts. "Prosecution
under Central acts cannot be withdrawn
without permission of the Central gov-
ernment," the three-judge Bench said.
"For offences under Unlawful Activities
(Prevention) Act, Explosive Substances
Act and Arms Act and the offences
falling in Chapter VI of IPC or alike
offences the executive power of the
Union of India extends, hence the per-
mission of the central government with
regard to withdrawal of prosecution
shall be necessary," it held.
The Bench also said that the prose-
cution cannot be withdrawn without
assigning reason. "If an application is
moved for withdrawal from prosecution
in a case relating to terrorism and wag-
ing of war against the country, specific
and special reason has to be assigned,"
it said.
On 7 June while staying the state
government's order to withdraw cases
against people accused of terror activi-
ties, a division Bench of Mr Justice
Rajeev Sharma and Mr Justice
Mahendra Dayal had referred the matter
to a larger Bench.
New Delhi: Twenty One years have
passed since the demolition of the
Babri Masjid but Muslims have not
yet got justice. The demolition of
the Babri Masjid was not demolition
of just a mosque, rather it was the
murder of constitution and justice.
The trial is going on so slowly that
judgment does not look possible in
the near future. The attitude of the
government and administration so
far has been very disappointing and
shameful. The mysterious missing
of impor tant files of the Babri
Masjid case also puts a question
mark on the style of functioning of
the official machinery, said the
Jamaat-e Islami Hind in its monthly press meet on 7 December here.
It further said that the attitude of the government in the entire case has
been condemnable - whether it is of the state government of Uttar Pradesh or
of the Central government. Both remained mute spectators when the Babri
Masjid was being demolished. The then prime minister Narasimha Rao had
assured Muslims many times that he won't allow anyone to touch the Babri
Masjid. But when due to his negligent attitude the mosque was demolished,
he promised from the ramparts of the Red Fort on 15th August 1993 that the
mosque would be rebuilt at the same place. The promise has remained unful-
filled till this day. Now it seems as if no such promise was ever made.
Jamaat-e-Islami Hind strongly felt that the demolition of the Babri Masjid
and no serious move to rebuild it at the same site have put a question mark
on the rule of law, the supremacy of the constitution and the functioning of
judiciary. The demolition of the mosque is the most shameful incident of atroc-
ity on Muslims in the history of independent India which history will never for-
give.
Jamaat leaders further said that there has been no progress in the court
proceedings against the persons responsible for the demolition of the Masjid.
Effective steps for punishing the perpetrators are a must for peace and harmo-
ny.
Jamaat-e-Islami Hind felt that all peace-loving people of the country must
continue their peaceful struggle for the restoration of the Babri Masjid so that
the shameful blot on the face of India could be removed. Jamaat-e- Islami
Hind appealed to the government, judiciary and civil society to do their duty to
end this flagrant atrocity and restore the house of God.
Speaking on moral degeneration and the responsibility of the Judiciary,
JIH leaders said that the judiciary is considered the guardian of society and
law. But it is unfortunate that some court verdicts tend to legalise vices like
homosexuality and live-in relationships. In a recent judgement, the Apex Court
has asked Parliament to frame guidelines and make a law to address the "con-
cerns" of those already in the outside-marriage relationships. More unfortu-
nately, the judgement said that live-in relationship is neither a crime nor a sin.
A court of law is indeed within its jurisdiction to ascertain whether or not a
particular act is a crime under the
prevailing laws. But it is beyond its
jurisdiction to say whether or not an
act is a sin. Religions and scrip-
tures alone determine what is sin
and what is not. The verdict also
undermines the sanctity of the fam-
ily system and the institution of
marriage.
Therefore, Jamaat-e-Islami
Hind demands that the court review
its judgement, and calls upon
Parliament not to legalise live-in
relationships. Instead, it should
enact a law to curb all promiscuous
acts including homosexuality and
live-in relationships that lead to
moral turpitude.
JIH leaders further said that Allah Almighty has created human beings as
males and females and declared them to be equally respectable and respon-
sible. Men have been given a greater burden of responsibility in some
respects. The Shari'at has also given men a little more rights and duties than
women. This has been done to maintain a balance in society. It is not meant
for committing atrocities or exploitations.
It is a matter of regret that in the entire world, particularly in our own coun-
try, atrocities against women and their sexual harassment are not decreasing.
Recently a self-styled religious leader and his son have been arrested for sex-
ual exploitation of several women. A senior journalist who is also a human
rights activist has also been accused of similar charges which are yet to be
proved. The situation seems to be going out of control so much so that now
a retired judge of the Supreme Court has been accused of sexual harassment
of a law intern while he was in office.
Lakhs of working women are facing sexual harassment at their work-
places. Even women walking on streets are not safe. Jamaat-e-Islami Hind
views the situation with grave concern and feels that the basic qualities of
modesty, gentlemanliness, and respect for women should be strengthened.
Besides, there is also a need to check the free mixing of sexes and provoca-
tive and immodest dresses. There is a need to put restrictions on films, TV
channels, serials and newspapers which are presenting women as sex-toys
and entertainment commodity. This is provoking young and immature minds.
The desired changes cannot be achieved through law only. Fear of God, sense
of accountability, human respect and respect to women and moral values also
have important role to play.
The Jamaat feels that hedonism and licentiousness are at the root of all
moral evils. Without removing these concepts, it is impossible to combat sex-
ual anarchy, immodesty, nudity and sexual harassment of women. The Jamaat
appeals to all countrymen, particularly Muslims, to take part in the peaceful
Jihad to promote moral values and to eradicate immodesty, immorality, and
harassment of women so that a morally upright society can be evolved in
India.
Demand for rebuilding the Babri Masjid
Snooping four years before the Gujarat Police put a woman under
illegal surveillance allegedly on the orders of Amit Shah, a senior
IPS officer had put on record that "telephone tapping" was ram-
pant in the state.
Four years before the Gujarat Police put a woman under ille-
gal surveillance allegedly on the orders of Amit Shah, a senior IPS
officer had put on record that "telephone tapping" was rampant in
the state - and was being done by even "police inspectors and
police sub- inspectors".
In a letter dated 21 April, 2005, Rajnish Kumar Rai, the then
deputy commissioner (intelligence) posted in Surat, referred to a
letter written on 13 July, 2004 by the then additional director gen-
eral (Intelligence), J Mohapatra, to the state home department,
seeking complete details of telephone intercepts from six service
providers.
Referring to Mohapatra's letter, Rai noted: "In the said letter, in
the recent past units like Anti-Terrorist Squad; Crime Branch,
Ahmedabad; DCP, Zone-11, Ahmedabad; SP, Valsad; SP, Vadodara
(Rural), etc. have resorted to telephone interception in flagrant
disregard to rules/guidelines/provisions. It is shocking to know
that officers of the rank of police inspectors and police sub-
inspectors have also resorted to telephone tapping..."
Rai, who had been tasked with drafting a code for telephone
interception for the state police, sent the letter along with the pro-
posed code to the Gujarat director-general of police.
The letter mentioned various rules and guidelines laid down
by the Supreme Cour t and the Central Depar tment of
Telecommunications, which he said were being violated in
Gujarat.
"Of late, there have been controversies and allegations of ille-
gal telephone interception of political functionaries by the govern-
ment. To avoid such controversies and allegations in future and to
ensure that the power of telephone interception is not exercised in
an arbitrary, freakish or bizarre manner, it is felt that we must cod-
ify the practice of interception of communication in detail," Rai
wrote.
Rai, a 1992-batch IPS officer who was transferred from his
original Orissa cadre to Gujarat, had infuriated the Narendra Modi
government by arresting IPS officers D G Vanzara, Rajkumar
Pandian and Dinesh MN in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter
case in April 2007.
Rai was pulled out of the encounter investigations, and sub-
sequently, in 2010, he went on a three-year sabbatical.
Rai is now DIG (Armed Units) in Rajkot. He is currently on
medical leave.
Two news portals, Cobrapost and Gulail, last month released
recordings and transcripts of alleged telephone conversations from
August 2009, in which the then Gujarat minister of state for home,
Amit Shah, a close aide of Narendra Modi , is heard purportedly dis-
cussing the surveillance of a woman with IPS officer G L Singhal.
TV channel NewsX on 3 December telecast what appeared to
be a sting operation in which former Gujarat intelligence chief J
Mohapatra purportedly admits to having ordered surveillance on
Sanjay Joshi, then a senior BJP leader and a political rival of Chief
Minister Narendra Modi.
Mohapatra is heard purportedly suggesting that there was
nothing wrong even if Joshi was snooped upon. He is heard pur-
portedly saying, "Who will probe? The Supreme Court?... Till
today there is not even a memorandum against me..." (Ritu Sarin,
:indianexpress.com, 4 Dec. 2013)
Communal Violence
Bill to be toned down
In a bid to get support from all parties including the BJP to pass
the Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence (Access to
Justice and Reparations) Bill, 2011, Centre has decided to intro-
duce drastic amendments to tone down several clauses of the Bill.
According to highly-placed sources, the words "majority" and
"minority community" would be removed from draft Bill.
Under the draft bill, the Centre was to rush forces on its own
to communally disturbed areas but now it can do so only if the sit-
uation demands rushing additional paramilitary forces, highly-
placed sources in the central government said.
This is a provision which the aggrieved party can never
accept as no state government will ever accept that something
bad is going on in its state.
The Bill is slated to be introduced in the current session of
Parliament.
Earlier the onus was on the majority community but now it will
be a normal legislation neutral to any group or community.
Sources said that the Centre is not overriding state anywhere
in the bill, not hitting the federal structure.
Pointers in prevention of communal violence lately would be
defined: Hate propaganda, organized communal violence, finan-
cial help to victims of communal violence, torture and dereliction
of duty by a public servant. This has been added to ensure that
public servants don't remain mute spectators. Omission and com-
mission are both punishable.
Organised communal violence would be defined as whoever
being an individual singly or jointly with others or being part of an
association or on behalf of an association or acting under influ-
ence of an association, engages, in continuing unlawful activity of
a widespread or systematic nature targeting a particular religious
and linguistic identity.
"By use of violence and linguistic identity by intimidation or
coercion or by committing sexual assault or other unlawful
means, is said to commit the offence of organised communal vio-
lence," sources said.
For the purposes of this section, continuous unlawful activity
of a widespread or systematic nature knowingly directed against
persons having a particular religion and referred to in this section,
whether spontaneously or planned, whether over a short or pro-
longed period in one or multiple places and against persons hav-
ing a particular religious and linguistic identity.
Command responsibility will be fixed for security offences,
breach of command responsibility, failing to exercise control over
his subordinates.
Torture would be defined in the bill as: whoever being a pub-
lic servant or under control or direction of or with acquiescence of
a public servant intentionally inflicts pain or suffering whether
mental or physical, inflicts cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment
on someone having a particular religion.
Competent authority under this law is the state government
designate district magistrate or commissioner of police. A notifi-
cation of any area declared as "communally disturbed area" will
not exceed 60 days which is expandable by another 60 days.
Punishment for hate propaganda will be three years plus a
fine; the sentence for organized communal violence is life + rig-
orous imprisonment; sentence for provision of financial aid to riot-
ers: 3 yrs + fine; Punished for dereliction of duty: 2-5 yrs. The
compensation to the victims has to be paid by the state; during
communal riots the following compensation will be paid: death:
7 lakh, Rape: 5 lakh, Sexual attack, 4 lakh. (Andalib Akhter thein-
dianawaaz.com)
A glimpse of how India will be if Modi comes to power
NATIONAL The Milli Gazette, 16-31 December 2013 5 www.milligazette.com
JIH delegations efforts to bring normalcy: Jat leaders
now realise the futility of the loss of lives and violence
New Delhi: A delegation of Jamaat-e Islami Hind leaders led by
Muhammad Shafi Madni, national secretary for Public Service vis-
ited a number of riots-affected villages of Muzaffarnagar district
during December to see for themselves the ground realities in
these places and also to create favourable circumstances so that
Hindus and Muslims could live together peacefully as they had
been living previously.
The delegation members met important and influential per-
sons of the Jat community, gram pradhans as well as Naresh
Tikait, President of All India Bhartiya Kisan Union (son of late
Mahinder Singh Tikait), Om Pal Singh, Vice President of BKU,
Parihaar, President of Jat Aarakshan Samiti, Aman Singh,
President of Sarv Khaap Sabha, etc. The delegation made an esti-
mate of the losses in Muslim localities and felt that in addition to
great loss of lives and properties of Muslims, an equally important
loss was that the feeling of mutual trust, understanding, peace and
mutual confidence also had been lost. They discussed the unfor-
tunate situation that led to the eruption of riots and the possibility
and steps to be taken for removal of misunderstandings and
restoration of peace and understanding between the dominant Jat
community and Muslims.
Members of the delegation felt that Jat leaders and people
now sincerely realise the consequences of the great loss of lives
and properties of Muslims and the conditions in which uprooted
Muslims and their women and children are living helplessly in
refugee camps. They also now realise their own mistake in com-
mitting excesses on Muslims who till recently were their neigh-
bours and friends. Naresh Tikait is prepared to tender his apology
to Muslims for the wrongs done to them.
After meeting Jat leaders and other influential people, delega-
tion members felt that conditions are returning to normalcy and
hence Muslims, with faith in God, should pick up the courage to
go back to their villages and homes and settle down there. They
also found that in Kharad village, about a hundred families had
come back from refugee camps and other places where they had
migrated to out of fear. Similarly, they feel that Muslims from other
places and refugee camps should also go back, otherwise their
mosques, madrasas, graveyards, houses and properties in vil-
lages may be lost for ever. Members also met SP, ADM and IG
Police and requested them to ensure the safety of lives and prop-
erties of Muslims.
Maulana Kalb-e Jawad and his
supporters send relief
Maulana Kalbe Jawad, religious scholar and his supporters toured
refugee camps and riot-hit areas of Muzaffarnagar and Shamli and
met the people who are living in refugee camps after the commu-
nal riots erupted there in September and distributed 5000 blankets
among the people. Maulana Kalbe Jawad and other people of the
Shia sect visited these camps and areas for the first time on 25
November and distributed blankets. Ulama of Shamli led by
Maulana Muhammad Aiyyub Muftahi warmly received them and
took them to Taimur Shahs Islamic Madrasa where riot-hit people
in large numbers are accommodated. They met men, women, old
people and children, consoled them in this difficult hour and asked
them to bear these difficulties with patience. He said that people
in Lucknow by saving small amounts were able to donate and
manage big amounts to enable the purchase of 5000 blankets
towards helping these people in distress. He was sorry to hear
that state government and district authorities did not do much to
provide relief to these people who are living in refugee camps.
Financial and legal help to
Muzaffarnagars riot-hit people
most important: AMULF
New Delhi: President of AMU Lawyers Forum, Muhammad Aslam
said in a press release here on 1 December that providing finan-
cial, moral and legal help to the helpless and oppressed riot-hit
people of Muzaffarnagar is the most important need of the
moment and hence Muslims should liberally participate in such
humanitarian work in accordance with their status and financial
capacity. Lawyers also distributed relief materials like 600 woollen
sweaters for children from 6 months to six years, 350 jackets, 60
quilts and other materials worth more than Rs 3 lakh in Loee and
Jolagaon refugee camps. In another camp at Malikpur they distrib-
uted 40 tents and other gifts.
He said that in Loee camp riot-hit people from Phugana,
Lasad and other places were living and added that the legal battle
for providing justice to them will continue till its logical end. For
this, AMU Lawyers Forum has constituted a coordination commit-
tee of lwayers of Lucknow, Allahabad, Meeruth, Muzaffarnagar,
Baghpat, Shamli and Saharanpur which will work for bringing jus-
tice to riot-affected people. The camp office of this coordination
committee has been set up in Muzaffarnagar and its supervisor is
Sajid Rana, advocate. Convener of this committee Aslam Khan
said that office bearers of the Coordination Committee in a meet-
ing have prepared a future action plan and also discussed ways
and means of providing legal assistance and fighting their cases
from local courts to High and Supreme Courts for which a road
map will soon be prepared.
Help of Rs 10 lakh by NRIs in
Saudi Arabia to riot victims
New Delhi: India Islamic Cultural Culture (IICC), Delhis branch in
Saudi Arabia (Riyadh) sponsored a meeting in IICC, New Delhi of
Indians working in Saudi Arabia on 19 October to review the situ-
ation prevailing after large scale communal riots in Muzaffarnagar
and neighbouring districts and villages and ways to provide relief
to and rehabilitation of people affected by these riots. In this con-
ference many influential Indians in that country and about 25
Indian organisations in Saudi Arabia participated. Convener of
IICCs Saudi branch Murshed Kamal and almost all others who
spoke in this conference while expessing concern at the commu-
nal riots and loss of lives and properties of Muslims also strong-
ly criticised Congress-led government at the centre as well as
Samajwadi Party government in U P at its inaction and inability in
providing security to Muslims. At the end of the conference, con-
vener of IICCs Saudi branch in Riyadh Murshed Kamal handed
over a cheque of Rs 10 lakh (one million) on behalf of NRIs and
Indian organisations in Saudi Arabia to Jamat Islamit-e Hinds rep-
resentative in Saudi Arabia, Saalim Zubedi towards relief and reha-
bilitation of riot-affected people through Jamat-e Islami Hind.
N. A. ANSARI
SC snubs UP govt for
discriminatory policy
of compensations to
the riot victims
New Delhi: Supreme Courts bench headed by Chief Justice P.
Sathasivam reprimanded UP government for its discriminatory
policy of granting compensations only to Muzaffarnagars riots-
hit Muslims and ignoring Hindus who were also affected by these
riots and passed an order in its verdict of 21 November to cancel
this discriminatory notification and issue a new one giving such
compensations to Hindu victims also. The bench asked the state
government why such compensations are being given to people
of one community only and why not to those of the other com-
munity when they are equally victims of these riots. The govern-
ment lawyer assured the court that its order will be implemented.
UP government accordingly cancelled its previous notification of
giving compensations to riot-hit Muslims and in accordance with
the Supreme Courts instructions decided to grant such compen-
sations to all riot-hit people. States home secretary D.K. Sharma
issued a fresh order according to which not only the condition of
giving compensations to Muslims was removed but certain
changes in the condition of not returning to their ancestral homes
or villages were also made.
It may be recalled that in accordance with the previous noti-
fication of 26 October riot-affected Muslims were given Rs 5 lakh
each but a condition was laid that after getting compensations of
Rs 5 lakh they could not go back to their old houses nor could
they claim their ancestral property. Muslims had to give an under-
taking to this effect in an affidavit. Government had identified
1800 such Muslim families and had allotted a total amount of Rs
90 crores towards compensations for such people. This had cre-
ated great resentment among Muslims because they were of the
view that under this conspiracy the government would occupy
their ancestral properties, the values of which in some cases was
much more than Rs 5 lakh. Supreme Courts verdict was in
response to a PIL filed by a lawyer against the UP government
giving compensations to riot-hit Muslims only whereas riot-hit
Hindus were ignored which is a clear case of discrimination and
injustice. Taking notice of this petition the apex court reprimand-
ed the state govt in its order of 21 November and directed it to
cancel the notification of 26 October and issue a fresh one, allow-
ing riot-hit Hindus also to get compensations.
According to the new proposal of the UP government, the
word Muslims as beneficiaries of compensations has been
removed and it is mentioned that all riot-affected people will be
entitled to compensation without any religious discrimination.
Also, for the Muslim beneficiaries of compensations, the condi-
tion of building houses or settling down at any other place but not
going back to their ancestral villages or homes or making any
claim to that has also been removed. Instead, in the new propos-
al the provision is made that after getting Rs 5 lakh compensation
if at a later stage they want to go back to their old houses and set-
tle down in their villages, they can do so but in that case they will
have to return the Rs 5 lakh to government. The concession in
such cases is that they will have to return only the principal
amount i.e. only Rs 5 lakh but no interest on this amount will be
charged from them. A revised notification to this effect was soon
to be issued by D. K. Sharma, home secretary.
A Muslim Cricket Star
Kolkata: Pacer
Mohammed Shami
announced his
arrival on the Test
arena by scalping
four wickets in a
dream spell against
the West Indies as a
dominant India
star ted Sachin
Tendulkars farewell
series by taking
early control of the
first Test on 6
November.
Shami returned
impressive figures
of 4-71 in 18 overs
as India bowled out
the visitors for a pal-
try 234 after they
opted to bat at the Eden Gardens on the opening day.
While Tendulkar was undoubtedly the cynosure of all eyes,
Shami grabbed the opportunity with both hands as he rocked the
West Indies middle-order with a hostile spell that included quite a
few reverse-swinging deliveries.
Born in Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh, Shami moved to Bengal
eight years ago on coach Badruddin Siddiques insistence as
there were not many opportunities for the young pacer in his
home state.
Son of a farmer, Shami, who hails from a remote village called
Sahaspur about 22 kms from Moradabad, found his calling in
Kolkata where club cricket was very much active as he went on to
ply his trade for clubs like Dalhousie AC and Town before being
called for Bengal under-22.
He was also a part of the Kolkata Knight Riders squad in IPL
2011 and the tips from bowling consultant Wasim Akram proved
invaluable.
It was a good move by Dhoni as he preferred Shami over the
out-of-sorts Ishant Sharma, who, incidentally, gave the Test cap
to the debutant pacer.
Shami showed fine fitness as he bowled in four spells with the
third being the longest and most fruitful (7-0-30-2). He was at his
best in the last spell that read 3-1-2-1.
Playing his first Test at his home ground, Shami was impres-
sive from the first over as he troubled both the openers.
JUH hands over
188 houses to
riot victims of Assam
New Delhi: Riots that had erupted in Assams Kokrajhar last year
(2012) rendered many people homeless, in addition to loss of
lives and destruction of shops and movable properties. Ever
since then the riot-affected people had been living in refugee
camps as happens whenever riots take place on large scale.
Jamiatul Ulama-e Hind (JUH) and other Muslim organizations
come to their help when governments fail to provide necessary
security and assistance for their immediate needs to such peo-
ple. On 25 November Jamitual Ulama, which had come to their
rescue and assistance at that time had also taken steps to build
houses for such people, it has now allotted a total of 188 built
houses to displaced people at two different places i.e. at Odmari
village where 92 built-up houses were allotted and at Manaksha
village where 96 built-up houses were allotted to the riot hit fam-
ilies at a function held at these places in the states Bongai dis-
trict. Keys to these houses were handed over to the family mem-
bers at this function.
Speaking on this occasion JUHs general secretary Maulana
Mahmood Madni said that it has been the tradition and history of
Jamiatul Ulama, in addition to fighting for the countrys independ-
ence, to help people in distress and difficulties either because of
natural calamities or man-made disasters. He said that as
regards natural calamities these are different things because
these are beyond anybodys power and control but it is very
painful and shameful that cases of communal violence are taking
place or riots are being instigated deliberately for selfish ends
right from independence with the result that instead of devoting
our energies and resources to educational, welfare and other
constructive activities for the people, Jamiatul Ulama has to
devote its activities for relief and rehabilitation of riot-affected
people.
He said riot-hit people of Assam who had gone back to their
burnt or destroyed houses did not have the means to rebuild their
houses and hence for such people Jamiat had so far built about
500 houses and in addition, also got repaired 47 damaged
mosques and 5 madrasas or built new ones. Now Jamiatul
Ulama has again built 188 houses for the riot affected people and
handed over keys of these houses to the allottees who are in no
position to go back to their original houses. He said that the two
colonies where 92 houses have been built in Odmari village and
the other one where 96 houses have been built in Manksha vil-
lage have been named after Shaikhul Islam Maulana Husain
Ahmad Madni and Sheikh Ahmad Ali respectively. He said that
each house has attached toilet, bath room, kitchen and hall-like
room.
MG NEWS DESK
RAM PUNIYANI
ram.puniyani@gmail.com
Those gripped by religious
nationalism are unable to
understand the regional-eth-
nic aspirations of the people.
Many an ultra-nationalist of
different hues also fall into
this trap many a time.
With the formation of the
Indian nation, the integration of regions like
Himachal Pradesh, North Eastern States and
Jammu & Kashmir created some challenging sit-
uations. Though in all these cases the challenges
were met in different ways and are even now con-
tinuing to pose some issues of serious national
concern, but those related to Kashmir require
some more pressing attention.
Located in a strategic geographic area of
great significance, the global powers have also
added their own weight behind complicating mat-
ters in Kashmir. Kashmir remains one of the most
contentious issues between the two neighbours,
Pakistan and India. In addition, the communal
forces in India have been making it a bone of con-
tention all through.
It is in this backdrop that when the BJPs
prime ministerial aspirant, Narendra Modi gave a
call for debating the article 370, a whole hell broke
loose. His intention in saying who it has benefit-
ed was to indicate that it is unnecessary and
should be abolished. To buttress his point, BJP
leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitly reiterated
that abolition of article 370 is an integral part of
the agenda of Hindutva-RSS, BJPs parent organ-
isation. Jaitly went to uphold the stance taken by
Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, the founder of
Bhartiya Jan Sangh, the predecessor of the pres-
ent BJP, that of complete and immediate integra-
tion of Kashmir into India. Jaitly also distorted the
contemporary history and events by saying that
Nehruvian vision of a separate status has given
rise to the aspirations for pre-1953 status, self-
rule and even Azadi.
Many a TV debate participant on the issue
have shown their ignorance about the status and
content of Article 370 as such.
It is true that in Kashmir today there are many
tendencies, which vary from asking for total inde-
pendence, Azadi to Autonomy. There will hardly be
any popular support for debating or abolishing
Article 370 as such at broad layers. It is difficult to
say how many fall in which category, but a large
number are for more autonomy with article 370 in
place. There is a complex history to the issue. As
is well known, Kashmir was one of the princely
states without direct rule of the British. Dogra
dynastys King Hari Singh, who ruled Kashmir,
refused to join the constituent assembly under the
Cabinet mission plan. Eighty per cent population
of J&K was Muslim. With Indias independence,
the Maharaja had two options, one to remain inde-
pendent, two either to merge with India or with
Pakistan. Maharaja was tending to remain inde-
pendent. Hindu leaders of Jammu supported
Maharaja in this separatist plan. J&K Rajya Hindu
Sabha, including the ones who later on joined
Bharatiya Jana Sangh, vociferously argued that a
Hindu state, as Jammu & Kashmir claimed to be,
should not merge its identity with secular India
(Kashmir, Balraj Puri, Orient Longman 1993, p. 5).
The attack of the tribal-supported Pakistan
military in 1947 changed the whole scenario.
After this attack the Maharaja, due to his
inability to protect Kashmir, requested the Indian
Government to bail him out. The Indian
Government wanted the state to accede to India
before it could send the armed forces to ward off
Pakistans aggression.
The accession treaty was thus signed with the
provision of Article 370. It was not a merger. India
was to look after defence, currency, foreign affairs
and communications while Kashmir was to have
its own constitution, flag, Sadar-i-Riyasat [head of
state] and Prime Minister. Justifying this action,
Pandit Nehru in a broadcast to the Nation on 2
November, 1947 said, Both the Kashmir
Government and the National Conference pressed
us to accept this accession and to send troops by
air, but made condition that the accession would
have to be considered by
the people of Kashmir later
when the peace and order
were established(Nehru, Collected Works,
XVIII, p. 421).
India approached the UN with a request to get
the aggression vacated and to supervise in the
process of plebiscite. Multiple factors operated
here in due course of time and the holding of
plebiscite got postponed sine die.
With this, another process began at home.
Jana Sangh Chief Shyama Prasad Mookerjees
insistence, supported openly by the Jana Sangh
and covertly by some bigwigs in Congress as
well, asked for the total merger of Kashmir into
India. At this point Nehru was under the external
pressure of Jana Sangh and internal pressure
from some of his colleagues in the cabinet to total-
ly integrate Kashmir with India. Nehru pointed out,
We have to be men of vision and there has to be
a broad-minded acceptance of facts in order to
integrate [Kashmir] really. And real integration
comes from mind and the heart and not of some
clause, which you may impose, on other people.
Since then a lot of water has flown down the
Jhelum. The pressure of communal forces, the
doubts raised in the minds of Sheikh Abdullah due
to the murder of Gandhi and rise of communal pol-
itics, led him to think whether he has done a right
thing in deciding to accede to India. He wanted to
be part of a secular polity, but communal teeth of
the country had started becoming more visible.
His doubts and their articulation led to his arrest
for 17-long years. And this is where the process
of alienation of Kashmiri people began. This alien-
ation was duly aided by Pakistan, in supplying
arms to disgruntled youth. The matter got worse,
compounded with the entry of foreign militants
into Kashmir in the 1980s. These elements,
whose US-sponsored mission of defeating
Russian army in Afghanistan was over and they
were looking around for other areas for implemen-
tation of their mistaken notions of Jihad. They
joined in and the earlier struggle in Kashmir, on the
grounds of Kashmiriyat, was communalised by
them. An atmosphere was created which made
the Kashmir struggle a distorted version of Jihad,
undermining its Kashmiriyat. This is what led to
targeting of Kashmiri Pandits. This gave a big han-
dle to the communal elements in India to propa-
gate the separatism of Muslims.
Things started improving in the first decade of
this century. Still the accumulated agony of
Kashmiri youth started manifesting in the stone-
throwing youth who emerged as a result of the
total disenchantment with the state of affairs pre-
vailing in Kashmir.
In the light of this, the Central Government
appointed a team of interlocutors. The recommen-
dations of the group of interlocutors, Dileep
Padgaonkar, Radha Kumar and M. M. Ansari (May
2012) in nutshell asked for rejection of the return
to pre-1953 position, while at the same time ask-
ing for measures to restore the autonomy of
Kashmir. The team suggested that the Parliament
should not make any law for Kashmir unless it
relates to the internal and external security of the
state. Significantly, it gave the status of special
instead of temporary to the Article 370, which is
the bone of contention for the ultra-nationalists like
the BJP.
Very correctly, the team said that the propor-
tion of officers in the state should gradually be
changed to increase the weight-age of the local
officers. It also talks of creating regional councils
with financial powers, and measures to promote
cooperation across Line of Control (LoC) while
talking of resuming dialogue with both Hurriyat
and Pakistan. The Government has been non-
committal about it so far, while the BJP has reject-
ed them on the ground that it is a dilution of the
accession of Kashmir to India. The separatists
found it insufficient, saying that there is no politi-
cal settlement of the issue.
While calling for debate around Article 370,
one needs to understand as to what Kashmiris
want, a mere assertion of ultra-nationalist tenden-
cies will harm the process of healing of wounds
and the march towards a better democratic
process in the state.
As Nehru pointed out, what is more important
is to win the hearts and mind of the people, the
laws can follow. Integrating the people by consid-
ering their aspirations is the need of the hour. As
such, these outbursts are counterproductive for
the people at large.(pluralindia.com)
Kashmir: Understanding Article 370
6 The Milli Gazette, 16-31 December 2013 NATIONAL www.milligazette.com
How Himayat Baig
was trapped
MUSTAFA KHAN
The police and especially the Anti-Terrorism Squad of Maharashtra
had created a fear psychosis among the Muslims. Innocent Muslim
youth were framed in false terrorism charges and wrongfully arrest-
ed and thrown in prisons for years together. That produced the
provenance from which the police began choosing and picking pos-
sible recruits in their hunt for framing Muslims and collecting pro-
tection money by threatening the minority people.
In many cases, the ATS clearly used secret funds either from gov-
ernment or from extortion to buy gullible, poor members of the
minority community to commit perjury.
Dynamics of framing youths and pillorying the whole community
Planting RDX or weapons or so-called jihad literature was the eas-
iest technique in framing the innocent. An accused in the 2008
Malegaon blasts, Lt Col Srikant Prasad Purohit had stolen 60 kgs of
RDX from army stocks. The police and the Abhinav Bharat used this
stock to frame innocent Muslims in arms seizure cases like the
Aurangabad arms haul case of May 2006. They also use this dead-
ly stuff in making and planting bombs and training Hindutva brigand
in its use but with provision to frame Muslims for what the extremist
Hindus did.
In this twosome slot fits the innocent Himayat Baig whom the
ATS succeeded in getting convicted as a terrorist and ultimately got
him sentenced to death in the Pune German Bakery blast of 2010.
One of his friends from Aurangabad or Beed was framed in the
Aurangabad arms haul case. This frightened Himayat Baig for years
to hunker down with the passing years and let it blow over. He
migrated from Beed to Udgir and lived under an assumed name for
four years. He must have realised what fate awaits for a hapless
Muslim condemned by the police without trial while he is locked up
in prison. Why is ATS or police otherwise creating what Ashish
Khetan calls an army of disaffected youths. They are so impover-
ished that they cannot take up arms against the police or the state.
Baig verifies it in his own anonymity as he started living in a
mosque and giving tuitions for a living. Those whom he taught along
with Abdul Sayyad Rahim in the coaching classes of Sheikh Gaus
were even more wretched. They would come to the centre and
spend the night with a tiffin that their parents would bring for them to
eat at night and study there. Next day in the morning they would go
back to their day classes in proper schools. How drudgery it was for
the teachers and the taught and that for the glorified vision that this
modern education and not the learning in madrasa was a source of
their improvement and rise in the world.
But the ATS was not interested in highlighting this enlightenment
on the part of the learners to improve the lot of their backward com-
munity. They eclipsed it and shone forth that their victims were only
terrorists up in arms against the country.
A glimpse into the Marathi papers would show how even the police
academy at Nasik was on the itinerary of Himayat Baig. The police were
at their best in orchestrating and choreographing a possible attack on the
academy and impressing the readers how well prepared they were to
face any challenge from the Muslim jihadists.
As a matter of fact there was neither any jihad in any sense of
the term in the holy book and Hadith or any mention of what hap-
pened in Godhra or at the time of Babri mosque demolition. Revenge
was out of question in the face of the stark existential struggle.
Sheikh Rehan was a friend of Baig. The police tutored him for
three days in a hotel of Pune to say what they wanted him to say in
the court. Even the prosecution lawyer Raja Thakre visited him
before his going to court. They had tortured him with electric shocks
to his ears and sexual organs. They went further and carried away
his brother-in-law who was abnormal. Rehans father had been look-
ing after him and so this disturbed Rehan and he finally succumbed
and signed the statement. The statement of Rehan was his assertion
that Baig had talked about the need for jihad and revenge for what
cruelty had been meted out to Muslims in Gujarat and how they had
suffered during the demolition of the Babri mosque. This false state-
ment was one of the three counts on which the death sentence was
handed over to him.
Mohammad Ansari was another friend of Baig who gave a false
statement to the court but with a candid cinematic fashion as he told
gulail.com* that the magistrate was present when he was tutored to
say what he had mugged up: Yes in front of the Magistrate. Its as
if this is a story, right? There is a director who creates a story. Then
he creates characters. The characters have to do what the director
says. They cant do anything by themselves. It was going exactly like
that with us.
The whole story was scripted by the ATS and they had searched
him out as the character who would play his role in accusing Baig as
a fanatic jihadist craving for revenge. The judge believed what Ansari
said. This is yet another manufactured evidence that revenge of the
jihadist was the motivation for the crime.
Sheikh Gaus was summoned four times to Pune and kept in a
guest house where he was regularly coached in what to say in the
court. Even after such regimen of tutoring he stumbled. At one time
he looked at the ATS officer Sanjay Latkar because the IO had not
done any panchnama and yet he said it was done at the guest house
and then corrected himself and said that it was at the police station.
Of course no RDX was found from the bags of Baig and so he cross-
questioned senior police officer Latkar about it right in the court!
When the police did the registration of what 51 items they had
found from the rooms of Gaus where he had kept the belongings of
Baig, Gaus was asked to sit in a room and did not see what they had
discovered there. So Gaus ignorance of what RDX was and whether
it was found or not
was Greek to him.
This was another
important count on
which the judge sen-
tenced Baig to death:
RDX was found.
The judge also
based his sentence of
death for Baig on relying completely on the statement that Baig was
with Yasin Bhatkal when the latter planted the bomb at the German
Bakery. It was another manufactured evidence as a police officer had
verified that the CCTV footage showed Baig with Yasin Bhatkal. As a
matter of fact, Baig was with his friend Sheikh Nazir Ateeq in
Aurangabad attending a marriage ceremony on 13 February, 2010
when the bomb went off at the German Bakery. Baig had performed
namaz in the evening, early night and late night and had recharged
his phone at the Roshan Gate and thus was there from 8 to 12 in the
night. Ateeq had to appear for exam on 14 and had a hall-ticket with
him. Ateeq had told the court that at the time of late night prayer
called Isha, it was 8.30 pm and Baig was there in the mosque in
Aurangabad. This astonished the judge who summarily dismissed
him from the court. Outside, all the staff of the ATS was taken by sur-
prise by this unexpected move. They were hastily giving opinion that
Ateeq should be declared a hostile witness. The judge also accepted
Ateeqs request for protection from harassment by the police. This
farcical anti-climax shows how even the judge was a party to the
case as was the Investigation Officer Vindo Satav who had received
protection money amounting to one lakh and fifty thousand in a
deal with Rehans uncle. The judge had cut short the deposition of
Ateeq in the court, a tell-tale of complicity.
The amazing truth of Baigs arrest would make even a dozing
and stolid person sit up and take note. Abdul Sayyad Rahim was a
mathematics teacher working with Baig. The ATS had tutored him on
what they had found on raiding the accommodation Rahim and
Baig had shared in Udgir: There were these things in the bag? I said,
I dont know, I didnt see it. They said no you have seen it all and you
have to answer like that. You would get scared, thats why we didnt
tell you earlier (about the recovery of explosives). Later, they
dropped the idea of presenting Rahim in court because of the flip flop
over solder-gun which he knew in Marathi as daagni but could not be
sure that he would use shoulder-gun in the court they wanted him to
say what was revered from the accommodation room.
As Hasan Sir lived in Udgir four years, there are many Muslim
youths who are living sub rosa for the fear that the moment they
resurface they would be arrested and doomed to languish in prison
with no end in sight.
In Malegaon blasts of 8 September, 2006, three Muslim youth
are still not traced. Their sub rosa life is also a puzzle because some
of them were with the nine accused in prison but the police are still
on their look out. How did they get out of jail? This writer had inter-
acted with CBI officer G Kalamini and Iqbal Sheikh on 11 February,
2011 and found them groping in the dark about the three. One of
them was SIMI head of the town, Munawar.
* http://gulail.com/the-people-of-the-abyss/
Himayat Baig Shaikh Gaus Shaikh Nazir Shaikh Rehan Abdul Rahim
NATIONAL The Milli Gazette, 16-31 December 2013 7 www.milligazette.com
Shamli: Contrary to the ground reality here, the
UP government claimed on 8 December to have
closed down all relief camps which were set up
for providing accommodation and relief to the
riot-affected people in Shamli district. District
Magistrate P Singh said that most of the people
who were given financial assistance or given
jobs have been sent back to their villages. Hence
if any kind of function for providing relief etc is
held by private people or organisations, the gov-
ernment will not be involved or be responsible
and people or organisations running such
camps would themselves be responsible for
meeting all expenses.
At many other places people living in relief
camps are being pressurised by the local admin-
istration and police to vacate these camps and if
people show reluctance to vacate these camps,
force is being used to compel them to leave
these camps. At some places, however, seeing
peoples extreme reluctance and opposition to
leave their camps, police became helpless. Such
attempt was made by police in Kairanas
Malakpur but because of peoples strong resist-
ance police could not succeed in compelling
about 640 people to vacate their camp.
After this incident, some people for whom
relief camps were built on gram panchayat land
were compelled by police to vacate and leave.
Though the affected people had raised angry
slogans in protest, they could not prevent the
administration from getting the camp vacated. In
another case, SDM Rishi, CO Sunil Kumar and
Inspector Charan Singh Yadav reached a village
with a big police force in the morning of
6 December and compelled the people who
were sleeping to leave the camp and get out. It is
said that police not only dismantled all the
camps but took away their belongings too in
vans. As a precautionary measure, police was
posted in the village. The Police Inspector had
declared that nobody would be allowed to occu-
py government land.
Meanwhile, in spite of the claims of the
administration officials, because of absence of
relief materials or very short and irregular supply
thereof including medicines and bedding, quilts,
blankets etc in relief camps of Shamli and
Muzaffarnagar, deaths of children and infants are
the order of the day and during the period of a
only a few weeks about 50 deaths have taken
place, mostly of new borns and very young chil-
dren because of dew and cold which is further
complicated by the damp ground and utterly
unhygienic conditions. Many pregnant women
gave birth to children in the camps where there
are little or no medical facilities. In many plastic
or canvas tents, dew drops have started oozing
in because of which life of people has become
even more difficult. In many Islamic madrasas
about 300 people of 50-60 families are living.
Seriously injured persons in
Muzaffarnagar riots to get pension
Lucknow: UP government in its cabinet meeting
chaired by chief minister Akhilesh Yadav held on
3 December decided to give pensions, under
Rani Lakshmibai Scheme, to 74 persons who
were seriously injured in communal riots that
had erupted in 5 districts including Muzafarnagar
and Shamli. States chief secretary Javed
Usmani while talking to media persons after the
cabinets decision said that under Rani
Lakshmibai Pension Scheme, persons seriously
injured in communal riots that had erupted in
Muzaffarnagar, Shamli, Saharanpur, Baghpat and
Meerut after 27 August will be given pensions at
the monthly rate of Rs 400 from September
2013. The pensions will be given to injured per-
sons in their name who are 21 years of age or
above. As regards injured persons who are less
than 21 years, pensions will be given in the
name of the woman who is the head in the fam-
ily and in case the head of the family is not a
woman, it (pension) will be given in the name of
the person (man) who is the head of the family.
Amount of the pension will be deposited in the
bank account of the beneficiary, Javed Usmani
said.
It is worth stating here that during his tour of
Muzaffarnagar district on 15 September, chief
minister Akhilesh Singh had made this declara-
tion after which, in a meeting chaired by chief
secretary it was decided that since steps are
being taken to provide government jobs to the
dependent/s of deceased persons, under the
pension scheme only the (seriously) injured per-
sons should be given the benefit of pension. The
list of injured persons was obtained from the
concerned district magistrates and sent to the
concerned government officer through the
Director of Social Welfare. According to this list,
number of persons injured in these riots were 40
in Muzaffarnagar, 24 in Shamli, 4 in Saharanpur,
3 in Baghpat and 3 in Meerut.
Meanwhile, as regards the criminals
involved in these communal riots, the Special
Investigation Team (SIT) sources said that so far
only 177 persons complicit in these riots have
been arrested and 25 others have surrendered
themselves of their own, though not a single
criminal involved in the case of rape and sexual
assault has been arrested. According to SIT con-
stituted by UP government, in 538 cases of
minor and major communal riots a total of 6244
persons have been accused of whom, as stated
above, only 177 have been arrested and 25 have
surrendered. Of these 50 are involved in murder,
33 in cases of arson, 44 for attempt to murder
and 40 others in different criminal cases.
According to the same SIT sources, of the 111
persons involved in gang rape and other sexual
crimes not a single person has been arrested.
MG NEWS DESK
U.P. Govt claims Shamli camps closed
Education & Career
WE start with this issue an irregular column on
education and career by an Indian Muslim girl
who is pursuing her higher education in UK. The
column will advise Muslim youth on education,
career, relationships, life abroad and the overall
purpose of life.
Paradoxically, the current situation of Muslims in India is very
interesting. According to the 2001 census, the population of
Indian Muslims is 14.4% which makes Muslims a total of 176 mil-
lion citizens. Sadly, out of this, barely half the population is edu-
cated. Even more so, the literacy rate among the female popula-
tion is worse. No wonder, Soutik Biswas from the BBC and The
Times of India worry about Muslims lagging behind and being
unable to contribute fairly to their own community.
The pathetic education rate of Indian Muslims is ironic
because the first word of the Holy Quran is Iqra which in
English is a verb: read! And this instruction is not just to read the
Holy Book, but to gain education.
The Holy Quran is indeed a wealth but its interpretations for
Muslims differ. If they didnt, we wouldnt have so many classifi-
cations of Muslims based on the mere way one may raise his/her
finger while reciting the Tashahhud. People read the Holy Book
and each person draws out his own interpretation. Sadly, not
everyone has the intellectual capacity, the skill and interest to read
and do further research in order to completely understand the true
meaning of a verse.
While everyone agrees that Allah is one and the five daily
prayers are obligatory; not everyone believes that education is
obligatory too as it is the first word of the Holy Book revealed to
the Holy Prophet.
Conventional Muslims take school education as a secondary
option and a very low rate of Muslims make it even to high school.
More so, girls are highly disadvantaged because of the traditional
orthodox mentality among many. This makes Muslim girls much
more vulnerable to all sorts of financial, emotional and lifestyle
issues. And when most people decide to send their girls to
schools, they prefer an all-girls kind of school. Girls are educated
only so that they can get married in educated families.
Disturbing demographics also dictate that educated Muslim
women are married off to illiterate men, as a compromise in
dowry (which is absolutely unlawful in Islam).
No matter how qualified an Indian Muslim woman is, the
chances of her working after marriage are minimal.
The problems among Indian Muslims community today are on
the rise negative literacy rates, isolation of married women
from their families, rise in divorce rates, unemployment and crime
among Muslim youth are all results of just one single deficiency:
lack of education.
This column is dedicated to Muslim youth and parents. Young
men and women (including school kids) can seek advice about
the problems they face in their day-to-day life and questions about
the future they dream of. Muslim parents can write down about
their fears, challenges and setbacks with regards to the education
and upbringing of their children. Your questions will be replied and
the most common ones shall be published. You can send us your
questions to our email address.
Islam is all about wishing for your brother, what you wish for
yourself. Since you are educated, help others get education too
and that probably is the best sort of Sadaqah!
SHAHLA KHAN
khanlondon2012@gmail.com
High Court rejects PIL
objecting to building of Haj
House in Ghaziabad
Lucknow: Allahabad High Courts Division Bench of Lucknow
consisting of Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice
D. K. Arora rejected the PIL petition filed by one Dr Ankur Kumar
objecting to building of Haj House in Ghaziabad at a cost of Rs 40
crores with money from public exchequer. While rejecting this
petition Hon. Judges said that the precedent of Supreme Courts
verdict on Rafiq Sheikhs writ of 2012 quoted by the petitioner has
no similarity with this case, clarifying that SCs verdict on Rafiq
Sheikhs writ was Haj subsidy by government to prospective Hajis
being un-Islamic on the basis of the Quranic injunction and not
for building of Haj House. The bench further clarified that the
building of Haj House in Ghaziabad by the government at a cost of
Rs 40 crores could not be declared un-Islamic because Haj Act
and Haj rules and regulations provide that maximum facilities
should be provided to prospective Hajis by the government and
building of Haj House is among such facilities. The Bench also
rejected all other objections raised by the petitioner.
It may be stated that the PIL petitioner, Dr Ankur, had stat-
ed in his petition that UP government was building the Haj
House in Ghaziabad at a cost of Rs 40 crores simply in order
to please Muslims in consideration of the general elections to
be held next year. He had fur ther stated in his petition that in
Rafiq Sheikh case of 2012 Supreme cour t had, by referring to
the Quranic verses, declared Haj subsidy un-Islamic and had
also directed the central government to gradually stop giving
subsidy in 10 years. He had fur ther stated in his petition that
Supreme Cour t had also laid down cer tain guidelines in this
matter but the government had ignored these guidelines and in
violation of the Supreme Cour ts directives had been building
the Haj House. He had also stated that Muslims had not made
any request to the government for building the Haj House in
Ghaziabad but the government had done so simply to please
them to obtain their votes. It may be stated in this connection
that the arguments in this case were made on behalf of state
government in favour of Haj House by Additional Advocate
General Bulbul Godial.
The PIL was taken up for hearing by the Lucknow bench of
High Court on 5 December and it was in this hearing that the
above verdict was pronounced by the Honourable judges.
JIH rejects live-in relationships
New Delhi: Jamaat-e Islami Hind Maharashtra said in a press
conference on 1 December that the live-in relationship is like a
walk in-walk out relationship which is totally against the Indian
culture and will demolish the boundaries of family system and dis-
rupt the society. The JIH made it clear that,
1. Majority of the Indians believe in religion. No religion allows
live-in relationships. Thus its not only against the sentiments and
beliefs of the majority of the Indians but it is also against our val-
ues and traditions. Thus the ruling of Supreme Court that it is not
a sin is a judgment in the wrong direction.
2. It will damage the institution of marriage and encourage extra-
marital and casual sexual relationships out of wedlock, which will
dilute the concept of holy marriage or sacred union which will
damage the family values practiced by all of us.
3. If live-in relationship is encouraged, it will increase teenage and
child pregnancies, HIV and children born out of wedlock will not
be properly brought up which, in turn, will lead to juvenile delin-
quency. It will have adverse impact on the society.
4. The law is being amended on materialistic grounds of career
and materialistic future, on the assumption that youngsters can go
for such relationships in order to avoid hurdles like investment
required for marriage, jewellery, dowry and divorce. But this is
sought to be legalised due to a failure to notice the kind of gener-
ation we will be building instead of solving the issues of divorce
and dowry.
5. There will be no rights and maintenance to the walked out
females in live-in relationships.
6. We will be opening the gates of legal rapes and adultery for the
coming generations.
7. There is no measure to check whether the relationship is with
mutual agreement, as women being the weaker partner cannot
raise their voice and will fail to speak later as there are many
reported cases which courts have declared such encounters as
rape after several years.
8. Women, however, are and will be the losers in such relation-
ships because males will be using them at no cost and will throw-
ing them away in miserable conditions.
JIH said in its statement released at the press meet that these are
not some baseless thoughts .Western countries are bearing the
bitter fruits of live-in relationship culture. Broken homes, ruined
families, deserted old age people, neglected children, perverted
youth, addiction to drugs, alcoholism, unabated crimes,
shootouts in schools, etc are its results. Aping West will land us
too in the same pathetic social situation. Its the need of the hour
to ponder over this problem and build social pressure so our
courts and government safeguard the values and peace of our
society.
The following is an edited version of the
third instalment of Kachcha Chittha issued
by ANHAD on 6 December.
Adani Group was given 2008.41 hectares
reserve forest land, which falls in Mundra and
Dhrub villages in the Kutch east forest division,
for Solar Salt Project and Salt Washery Plant on
the condition that it would make compensatory
afforestation over equivalent non-forest land and
to bear the cost of raising and maintaining com-
pensatory afforestation.
An application was submitted by Adani
Chemicals Ltd. for allotment of land measuring
2800 hectares situated at Mundra and Dhrab
which were forest lands and were being used by
Forest Department.
In lieu of the land demanded by Adani
Chemicals Ltd., the said company was required
to acquire private land for transferring to the
Forest Department. However, due to his political
influence and proximity to the CM, Adani was
offered to acquire Government land instead of
purchasing private land for transfer to the Forest
Department for compensatory afforestation.
In pursuance thereof, it was decided by the
Government to allot unsurveyed (without any
survey number) land measuring 2008.41
hectares out of the coastal area of villages Kaner,
Sinapar of Taluka Lakhpata for the purpose of
transferring by them to the Forest Department
for compensatory afforestation. Such govern-
ment lands cannot be allotted to private firms
under the scheme of compensatory afforesta-
tion. Private companies have to acquire private
land at their own cost which they have to hand
over to the Government (Forest Department).
In this particular case, contrary to the provi-
sions of the Government scheme, it was decid-
ed to grant government land which amounts to
illegality which has caused huge loss to the state
government.
Further, as per Government scheme, first the
land is to be given to the Government by the
company and thereafter, Forest Departments
land is transferred to the company. The Forest
Department handed over their land to Adani
Chemicals Ltd. as per possession receipt dated
22.10.2007 before the company handed
land for afforestation to the Government.
Vide his letter dated 19-9-2007, the
Collector, Kutch permitted allotment of land of
village Kaner, Sinapar to Adani Chemicals for a
total value of Rs. 19,079,895.00 and thereafter
informed Adani Chemicals Ltd. to deposit an
amount of Rs. 24,743,611.00 as per the value
determined by the Valuation Committee.
Measurement of this land was undertaken by the
DILR and the map of the land allotted was pre-
pared on site.
It appears from the map that the process of
measurement of the site was carried out on 3rd,
11th and 15th of October 2007 as per the map
and it proves from the map that the land shown
in this map is allotted to Adani Chemicals Ltd.
The Government also accepted this map and
process of taking over possession was followed
on the basis of this map. Thus, this map is part
of Government record.
The area measured is in the possession of
BSF and access to this land is not possible with-
out boat and permission from BSF. Thus, this
land forms part of the border of the country,
hence it has significance from security point of
view and is very sensitive; therefore, it has its
own importance as such. Access to this place is
restricted for common citizens.
As per Government rules, the surveyor of
DILR office has to maintain daily diary (field-
book) in respect of the work attended by him as
a part of his duty and he has to record in it the
daily work attended by him. The field-book of
Surveyors Mr. D. S. Patel, Mr. C. N. Rathod and
Mr. P. L. Parmar, who conducted the measure-
ment of this map, entire process of preparation
of this map as part of a criminal conspiracy,
facts whereof are as under:
As per the field-book of Mr. D. S. Patel, it has
been recorded that he had been to the site for ini-
tiating the process of measurement of Kaner,
Sinapar on 3/10/2007, 4/10/07 and 5/10/07,
11/10/07, 15/10/2007 and in the remarks
column, he states to have carried out this work
along with Mr. C. N. Rathod on 4,11 & 15/10/07.
Thus, this entire process was carried out jointly
by both of them. Now, if we peruse the diary of
Mr. C. N. Rathod, it reveals that he undertook
work on 4/10/07 at Angiya Nana. Thus, one
thing is very clear that he was not present at the
site. Thus, a false book has been created by Mr.
D. S. Patel and he has reported his work to the
Government on the basis of same.
According to the field-book of Mr. P. L.
Parmar, he had been there on 3/10/2007 for tak-
ing measurements; however, he returned since
permission was not granted by the BSF. Thus, it
is clear that no measurement was carried out on
the site on that date. Thus, the government work
of the preparation of the map of the site which is
sensitive for the security of the country, was
conducted without any physical inspection and
on the basis of false records, which is a serious
offence.
As per the daily diary of Mr. C. N. Rathod, he
was reportedly accompanying Mr. D. S. Patel in
the measurement process from 15/10/2007 to
17/10/2007 whereas the daily diary of D. S.
Patel shows that they were together only on
15/10/07. Thus, both of them have declared
false reports before the Government in respect
of their work.
Further, when information was sought under
the RTI with respect to the boat used in such
work, it has been clearly informed that no such
information is available. Further, when informa-
tion pertaining to the application seeking permis-
sion from BSF for carrying out this measurement
and grant of any such permission was demand-
ed, the information provided said that no evi-
dences in this regard are available. Thus, the fact
that the Surveyors did not visit the local site
becomes clear. As such, the map which is pre-
pared is apparently false. However, all the offi-
cers and Government have also accepted that
this map is true as it is signed by them and
stamped.
Further, a panchnama was drawn in respect
of the possession of the place on 22.10.2007;
according to that possession receipt, posses-
sion appears to have been taken over at the site
wherein there is mention of the presence of
Circle Officer, Dayapar; representative of Forest
department and representative of Adani SEZ
whereas, on perusal of the diary of Mr. P. L.
Parmar, this process was completed while sit-
ting in the office of the Mamlatdar and looking at
the diary of other Forest department employees
who took over the possession, they also reveal
that the procedure was completed while sitting
at their office at Dhaduli. No possession of land
has been handed over at the site to Forest
Department. Yet, it has been accepted by the
Government and the Forest Department that the
land is received by them. The transfer order
clearly says that they looked at the land from a
distance.
Adani Chemicals Ltd. and officers of DILR
and Forest Department acted in connivance with
each other and beyond the law and committed a
fraudulent process contrary to the record and
declared such an act to be true and got the same
entered in the Government records; thereby they
committed a grave criminal offence and treach-
ery by playing with the security of India and
thereby, exposed the nation to a threat.
After the high courts order in April 2011,
Union Ministry of
Environment and
Forests constituted
a committee of
experts headed by
J C Kala to under-
take physical verifi-
cation of the site in
question and to fur-
nish an exper t
opinion on the
issue pertaining to
the forest and
wildlife. Kala is a
former director
general of forests
and special secretary in the UMEF. Kamal Naydu
and A S Dogra were the other members of the
team.
The committee visited the site in August
2011 but could not carry out verification due to
rough sea weather.
On 2 February, 2012, the committee again
visited the location when the state government
officials fraudulently showed them another
chunk of land. The committee stated in its report
that after crossing 10 nautical miles from
Koteshwar towards north, the committee landed
on a vast stretch of land with sparse growth of
mangrove trees.
The officers of the state government showed
a land situated 10 nautical miles from Koteshwar
towards north instead of the land admeasuring
2008.41 hectares to the expert committee. This
amounted to making false declaration and com-
mitting forgery in the government records.
It is important to note that before this wrong
site was shown to the expert committee, the
Gujarat Government Revenue Minister
Anandiben Patel visited and inspected this land
to be shown to the expert team.
There is a distance of 20-25 km from the
actual land to the land shown to the committee.
The land shown to the committee is in the form
of an island named Basta Island.
The actual land [Land B] is reflected in the gov-
ernment records but the said land is a sea area
(there is no land) entirely covered by the sea water.
Therefore, there was no question of doing any plan-
tation activity on the said land but the officers
showed land C which is an island at a different
location to the expert panel. The whole process of
making the false map and handing over the land in
lieu of the forest land was done for Land B.
It is also important to note that the forest
land had a fairly big area which had dense veg-
etation and also animals but it was underplayed
so that land could be given away.
The Security Fraud & Threat
As has already been established, the area given to
Adani for compensatory afforestation is actually
covered with sea water with no land. What is most
shocking is that this sea area is a most sensitive
area from the country security point of view and it
is under the control of the Border Security Force.
Collector, Kutch on 12.6.2000 wide Ref. no
No. JMN-4-Vashi-1877/1878/1879/2000 gave
an order to transfer Government land admeasur-
ing hectares 57.75 to the Forest Department for
compensatory afforestation in lieu of Forest
Departments land measuring hectares 57.75
which was given to Adani Port Ltd as per their
request letter dated 27-6-97.
Adani Por t Ltd. demanded about 28
hectares of forest land of the Eastern Region for
various use by Adani Group of Companies which
land lies under Lakhpat taluka. The land on the
coastal belt between Lakhpat village to Dhunay
village which are suitable for the plantation of
mangroves was demanded for transferring same
to Forest Depar tment for compensatory
afforestation. In this regard, the official proposal
was prepared and forwarded to the collectors
office by the Deputy Collector.
This land was also under BSF situated along
the coast and BSF issued an NOC for transfer-
ring of this land of 57.75 hectares wide letter No.
OPS-163/BN/NOC/01/98-99 dated
16-8-98 issued by the Commandant, 166
BSF Battalion, Gandhidham-Kutch.
Now the most interesting and shocking part:
when the whole deal was being done to transfer
the sea area measuring 2008.1 hectares to
Adani for compensatory afforestation, questions
arose about the NOC from BSF as it is a highly
sensitive area.
In letter No. Land/5/Udyog/Vashi/60-
61/2006 dated 13/01/2006 to Deputy Secretary,
Revenue Dept, A_1 Branch Gandhinagar, the
Kucth Collector is replying to queries about the
NOC from BSF. He has been asked to clarify if an
NOC was issued dated 16/8/1998. He replied
that the NOC was obtained on 26/12/2012.
Very cleverly both dates are mentioned --
the 1998 NOC is for the 57.75 hectares land and
not for this land measuring 2008.1 hectares, and
the 26-12-2012 NOC is for the plantation of
mangroves and not for the transfer of the land.
Can there be a bigger fraud or threat to the
security of the country? Will the Gujarat CM
answer? What are the reasons of favouring
Adani even at the cost of Indias security?
Is it only money or other nefarious designs
that the BJP PM-candidate has undermined the
security of the country? (anhadin.net)
All documents and maps pertaining to this
story are available at:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/hrukvzsl683y7i3/KA
CHCHA%20CHITTHA%203%20FINAL%20DOCU-
MENT%20ENGLISH%20AND%20GUJARATI.pdf
Land Disappears in Mod(i)el State
& the Biggest Security Fraud
8 The Milli Gazette, 16-31 December 2013 NATIONAL www.milligazette.com
This is an unbelievable
story of manipulation, fraud
and playing with the
security of the country. It is
clear the land of Bharat will
not be safe in the hands of
NaMo who believes that
state and public property is
his ancestral and personal
fief which he can squander
away as he likes. Will the
new Lokayukta of Gujarat
take notice?
Sunil Joshi: Killed by his
own associates!
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is all set to file its charge-
sheet in connexion with the murder of RSS pracharak Sunil Joshi,
believed to have been killed by his associates Lokesh Sharma and
Rajender Pahalwan. Sunil Joshi wanted to confess and come clean
about his involvement in Malegaon, Ajmer and Makka Masjid blasts.
Lest he should spill the beans and jeopardise RSS and other Hindu
militant organisations, he was killed by his own men.
Whether its Gandhis assassination or Sunil Joshis murder, RSS
has always been on the radar because of its polarising activities and
attitude. RSS is a bunch of Hindu revivalists who want this country
purged of not only Muslims but all those whore non-Hindus, though
Muslims have been their main targets right from the beginning.
The RSS had Gandhi assassinated because the Mahatma was seen as a leader who was partial
to Muslims. RSS and now disbanded Hindu Mahasabha, Jan Sangh, among others have been vio-
lent Hindu militant outfits which have been brewing troubles and widening the communal wedges
even before independence.
BJP is the political manifestation of all these organisations and you can see its main political
mouthpieces (Narendra Modi) swagger and hubris as if hes all set to become the next PM. If this
happens, will India become a Hindu nation as RSS always wanted that India must declare itself a
Hindu Rashtra (which also condescendingly lets non-Hindus live!).
SUMIT PAUL
sumitmaclean@hotmail.com
NATIONAL The Milli Gazette, 16-31 December 2013 9 www.milligazette.com
Hamid Ansari on the twin concepts of identity and citizenship
Following is a slightly abridged version of
the lecture of the Vice President of India
Mohmmad Hamid Ansaris at the Oxford
Centre for Islamic Studies on 1 November,
2013:
I wish today to share some thoughts on the twin
concepts of identity and citizenship and the
manner of their impact on the building blocks of
modern States. Needless to say, it is an Indian
perspective and draws in good measure on the
Indian experience
It is a truism that the human being is a social
creature and societies consist of individuals who
come together for a set of common purposes for
whose achievement they agree to abide by a set
of rules and, to that extent and for those purpos-
es, give their tacit or explicit consent to the
abridgment of individual free will or action. They,
in other words, do not get subsumed totally in a
larger whole and retain their individual identity.
This identity, as pointed out by William James
and sustained by more recent social-psycholog-
ical research, is a compound of the material,
social and spiritual self. Further more, and when
acting together in smaller groups, they develop
group identities and these too are retained. Thus
in every society we have identities at three or
four levels, namely individual, group, regional
and national. We can also, in this age of globali-
sation, add an international dimension to it. The
challenge in all societies, therefore, is to accom-
modate these layered identities in a framework
that is harmonious and optimally conducive to
social purpose.
Much has been written about identity, its
theoretical framework and practical manifesta-
tions. An eminent sociologist has defined it as
the process of construction of meaning on the
basis of a cultural attribute, or a related set of
cultural attributes, that is given priority over other
sources of meaning. For a given individual, or a
collective of actors, there may be a plurality of
identities.
The question is to determine how this iden-
tification is expressed in every day life of individ-
uals who are members of such specific groups.
Conceptually and legally, citizenship of a
modern state provides this framework and
encapsulates the totality of rights and duties
emanating from the membership of the citizen-
body, inclusive of the right of representation and
the right to hold office under the state. By the
same logic, a certain tension is built into the
relationship, even if the society happens to be
relatively homogenous, in itself a rarity in mod-
ern times. Rabindranath Tagore described his
family background as a confluence of three cul-
tures, Hindu, Mohammedan and British. Away
from India but in our own neighbourhood,
Abdolkarim Soroush depicted the Iranian Muslim
as the carrier of three cultures at once having
national, religious and Western origins.
Thus instead of a narrow concept of a sin-
gular identity implied by the classical concept of
citizenship, the need is to recognise and accom-
modate the existence of a plurality of social iden-
tities. The contours of this were explored earlier
by Thomas Marshall, and more recently by Will
Kymlicka, Manuel Castells, Charles Taylor,
Gurpreet Mahajan and others. Put simply, it has
been argued that identity encapsulates the notion
of authenticity, the demand for recognition, the
idea of difference and the principle of equal dig-
nity.
What then has been the Indian approach to,
and experience of, the concepts of identity and
of citizenship in a modern state? What is the
accommodative framework for identities in mod-
ern India?
A distinctive feature of Indian society is its
heterogeneity. The historian Ramachandra Guha
depicts our recent history as a series of conflict
maps involving caste, language, religion and
class and opines that conflicts relating to these
operate both singly and in tandem. Each of
these also brings forth an identity of varying
intensity; together, they constitute what the
opening line of the Preamble of our Constitution
depicts as We, the People of India.
In other words, the superstructure of a dem-
ocratic polity and a secular state structure put in
place after independence on 15 August, 1947 is
anchored in the existential reality of a plural soci-
ety. It is reflective of Indias cultural past. Our
culture is synthetic in character and, as a histo-
rian of another generation put it, embraces in its
orbit beliefs, customs, rites, institutions, arts,
religions and philosophies belonging to different
strata of societies in varying stages of develop-
ment. It eternally seeks to find a unity for the het-
erogeneous elements which make up its totali-
ty. It is a veritable human laboratory where the
cross breeding of ideas, beliefs and cultural tra-
ditions has been in progress for a few thousand
years.
The national movement recognised this cul-
tural plurality and sought to base a national iden-
tity on it. The size and diversity of the Indian
landscape makes it essential. A population of
1.27 billion comprising of over 4,635 communi-
ties, 78 percent of whom are not only linguistic
and cultural but social categories. Religious
minorities constitute 19.4 percent of the Indian
population; of these, Muslims account for 13.4
percent amounting in absolute terms to around
160 million [2001 census]. The human diversi-
ties are both hierarchical and spatial. The de jure
WE, the sovereign people, is in reality a frag-
mented we, divided by yawning gaps that
remain to be bridged.
Around 22 per cent of our people live below
the official poverty line and the health and edu-
cation indicators for the population as a whole,
despite recent correctives, leave much to be
desired.
The contestation over citizenship surfaced
early and was evident in the debates of the
Constituent Assembly. The notion of citizenship
was historically alien to Indian experience since
throughout our long history (barring a few
exceptions in the earliest period) the operative
framework was that of ruler and subject. There
was, of course, no dearth of prescriptions about
the duties of rulers towards their subjects and
about the dispensation of justice but none of
these went beyond Kautilyas pious dictum that
a king who observes his duty of protecting his
people justly and according to the law will go to
heaven, whereas one who does not protect them
or inflict unjust punishment will not.
The Constitution-makers, therefore, had to
address three dimensions of the question relat-
ing to status, rights, and identity, to determine
who is to be a citizen, what rights are to be
bestowed on the citizen, and the manner in
which the multiplicity of claimed identities is to
be accommodated. This involved addressing
three aspects of the question: legal, political and
psychological. The outcome was the notion of
national-civic rather than national-ethnic,
emphasising that the individual was the basic
unit of citizenship whose inclusion in polity was
on terms of equality with every other citizen. At
the same time and taking societal realities into
account, the concept of group-differentiated cit-
izenship was grafted to assure the minorities
and other identity-based groups that the applica-
tion of difference-blind principles of equality will
not be allowed to operate in a way that is
unmindful of their special needs, and that these
needs arising out of cultural difference or minor-
ity status will receive due attention in policy, and
that the polity will be truly inclusive in its
embrace. The crafting of the Constitution was
diligent and its contents reflective of the high
ideals that motivated its authors
The Constitutions chapter on Fundamental
Rights addresses, inter alia, the protection of
identities, and accommodation of diversities.
These identities could be regional, religious, lin-
guistic, tribal, caste-based, and gender-based.
The right to equality and equal protection of the
laws and prohibition of discrimination on
grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, or
place of birth is guaranteed. Affirmative action is
mandated by law in favour of those historically
discriminated against on grounds of caste or
tribal origin as well as all those who are identified
as socially and educationally backward. Also
guaranteed is freedom of conscience and the
right to freely profess, practice and propagate
religion. Yet another section safeguards the right
to have and conserve language, script or culture
and the right of religious or linguistic minorities
to establish and administer educational institu-
tions of their choice. The purpose of these, taken
together, is to bestow recognition, acknowledge
the difference and thereby confer dignity that is
an essential concomitant of equality.
An inherent problem nevertheless was evi-
dent to the Constitution-makers, or at least to
some of them. This was expressed candidly,
almost prophetically, by Ambedkar in words that
need to be cited in full:
On the 26th of January 1950, we are going
to enter into a life of contradictions. In politics
we will have equality and in social and econom-
ic life we will have inequality. In politics we will
be recognising the principle of one man one vote
and one vote one value. In our social and eco-
nomic life, we shall, by reason of our social and
economic structure, continue to deny the princi-
ple of one man, one value. How long shall we
continue to live this life of contradictions? How
long shall we continue to deny equality in our
social and economic life? If we continue to deny
it for long, we will do so only by putting our polit-
ical democracy in peril. We must remove this
contradiction at the earliest possible moment or
else those who suffer from inequality will blow
up the structure of political democracy which
this Assembly has so laboriously built up.
Thus the objective of securing civic, politi-
cal, economic, social and cultural rights as
essential ingredients of citizenship was clearly
delineated and the challenge squarely posed to
the beneficiaries of the new dispensation. The
dire prognosis of the last sentence, however, has
not come to pass! The very complexity of the
landscape impedes linear and drastic happen-
ings.
One serious student of Indian polity has
noted that the Indian model of development is
characterised by the politicisation of a fragment-
ed social structure, through a wide dispersal and
permeation of political forms, values and ideolo-
gies. As a result and in a segmented society
and unequal economy, the quest for substantive
equality and justice remains work-in-progress.
Nevertheless, the slowing down of the egalitari-
an social revolution that was envisaged by the
Constitution-makers and the implicit social con-
tract inherent in it, does give rise to wider con-
cerns about its implications.
Two questions arise out of this and need to
be explored. Firstly, what has been the impact of
this on the perception of identity? Secondly, how
has the challenge been addressed?
Identity assertion in any society has three
sets of impulses: civic equality, liberty and
opportunity. Identity groups are a by-product of
the right of freedom of association. They can be
cultural, voluntary, ascriptive and religious. They
are neither good nor bad in themselves but do
present challenges to democratic justice. This is
true of India also. The functioning of democratic
institutions and the deepening of the democratic
process along with the efforts to implement con-
stitutional mandates for affirmative action
induced higher levels of political mobilisation.
These manifested themselves, most visibly, in
demand groups, each with its own identity. A
multiplication of identities seeking social status
and economic well-being through the route of
politics thus emerged as a logical consequence.
It has been argued that casteism in politics
is no more and no less than politicisation of
caste which, in turn, leads to a transformation of
the caste system. The same holds for religious
and tribal minorities.
In an evolving quasi-federal state structure,
yet another imperative emanates from the
requirements of regional or state identity. The
new politics of caste has also reinforced old,
upper caste solidarities. Brahmin, Kshatriya,
Bramharishi Sabhas have reemerged and the
logic of electoral politics has forced the forces of
social justice to strike strategic alliances with
them. These, together, have induced political
actors to develop narrower foci on their electoral
management methodologies; these have been
reinforced by the shortcomings of the first-past-
the-post electoral system and the ability of a
high percentage of candidates to win on a plural-
ity rather than the majority of votes cast in an
election.
II
A society so diverse inevitably faced the chal-
lenge of integration. It was two-fold, physical
and emotional. The former, involving the merger
of 554 large and miniscule princely states with
those parts of the former British India that
became the Indian Republic, was attended to
with commendable speed and was almost com-
pleted by the end of 1949. Emotional integration,
on the other hand, was a more complex process.
As early as 1902, Tagore had cautioned that
unity cannot be brought about by enacting a law
and in 1949 Sardar Patel, the architect of the
integration of states, had laid emphasis on the
process taking healthy roots and bringing forth
a wider outlook and a broader vision.
The Indian approach steers clear of notions
of assimilation and adaptation, philosophically
and in practice. Instead, the management of
diversity to ensure (in Nehrus words) the inte-
gration of minds and hearts is accepted as an
ongoing national priority. Some have described it
as the salad-bowl approach, with each ingredi-
ent identifiable and yet together bringing forth an
appetising product.
The question of minority rights as a marker
of identity, and their accommodation within the
ambit of citizenship rights, remains a live one. It
is not so much on the principle of minority rights
(which is unambiguously recognised in the
Constitution) as to the extent of their realisation
in actual practice. A government-commissioned
report on Diversity Index some years back con-
cluded that unequal economic opportunities
lead to unequal outcomes which in turn lead to
unequal access to political power. This creates a
vicious circle since unequal power structure
determines the nature and functioning of the
institutions and their policies. This and other
official reports delineate areas that need to be
visited more purposefully.
How far can this be taken? A Constitutional
Amendment in 1977, adding a section on
Fundamental Duties of Citizens as part of the
Directive Principles of State Policy, carries a
clause stipulating promotion of harmony and
spirit of brotherhood transcending religious, lin-
guistic and regional or sectional diversities.
It is at this point that the rights of identity and
the duties of citizenship intersect. The identifica-
tion of this point, with any degree of precision, is
another matter. The litmus test, eventually, must
be the maintenance of social cohesiveness
through a sense of citizenship premised on
equality of status and opportunity so essential
for the maintenance of democracy. The need for
sustaining and reinvigoration of this sentiment is
thus essential.
III
The Constitution of India was promulgated in
1950. The past six decades have witnessed
immense changes in social and political percep-
tions in societies the world over. Theories and
practices of assimilation, one-national
mould and the melting pot have been discred-
ited and generally abandoned. Instead, evolving
perceptions and practical compulsions led indi-
vidual societies to accept diversity and cultural
pluralism. In many places, on the other hand, a
process of reversal induced by xenophobia,
Islamophobia and migrant-related anxieties, is
also under way.
The concept of multiculturalism, pioneered
to address accommodation of diversity within
the framework of democracy, is being openly or
tacitly challenged. An ardent advocate of multi-
culturalism concedes that not all attempts to
adopt new models of multicultural citizenship
have taken root or succeeded in achieving their
intended effects, because multiculturalism
works best if relations between the State and
minorities are seen as an issue of social policy,
not as an issue of state security.
There is an Indian segment to the debate on
multiculturalism. It has been argued that while a
multicultural polity was designed, the principles of
multiculturalism were not systematically enunciat-
ed. It is asserted that multiculturalism goes
beyond tolerance and probes areas of cultural dis-
crimination that may exist even after legal equality
has been established. It, therefore needs to
explore ways by which the sense of alienation and
disadvantage that comes with being a minority is
visibly diminished, but in a way that does not
replace the power of the homogenising state with
that of the community. It should therefore aspire
towards a form of citizenship that is marked neither
by a universalism generated by complete
homogenisation, nor by particularism of self-iden-
tical and closed communities.
These debates and practices vindicate in good
measure the vision and foresight displayed by the
founding fathers of the Republic of India. The vindi-
cation is greater when considered in the context of
the size and diversity of India and the stresses and
strains it has withstood in this period. And yet, we
cannot rest on our laurels since impulses tilting
towards assimilationist and homogenising
approaches do exist, suggestive of imagined other-
ness and seeking uniformity at the expense of
diversity. Indian pluralism, as a careful observer
puts it, continues to be hard won. Hence, the per-
sisting need of reinforcing and improving present
practices and the principles underlying them. Such
an endeavour would continue to be fruitful as long
as the glue of solidarity around the civic ideal
remains sufficiently cohesive, reinforced by the
existential reality of market unity and the imperative
of national security. There is no reason to be scep-
tical about the stability of the tripod. (Endnotes have
been omitted)
Affirmative action is mandated by law in favour of those
historically discriminated against on grounds of caste or tribal
origin as well as all those who are identified as socially and
educationally backward. Also guaranteed is freedom of
conscience and the right to freely profess, practice and
propagate religion.
AFSANA RASHID, SRINAGAR
Bhartiya Janta Partys (BJP) prime ministerial candidate and
Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi has called for a debate on
whether Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, which guarantees
special status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir, has actually
been beneficial for the state or not.
In case it is proved that the Article 370 has been beneficial
for the people, my party would give up its demand for abrogation
of special status to Jammu and Kashmir, said Modi, while
addressing a public-gathering, Lalkar Rally at Jammu, December
1. He added it is the time when Article 370 should at least be
allowed to be discussed in Parliament.
Modi further pointed, If Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister
Omar Abdullah married outside Kashmir, his rights of being a citizen
remain, whereas his sister Sarah loses the right for the same. Isnt this
discrimination against women? Modis statement has been widely
criticized, here both by the separatists and mainstream politicians.
Kashmir is an internationally accepted dispute. A referendum should
be held. We were promised the right to self-determination by the UN
and Modi should apprise himself about this, said Hurriyat (M) chair-
man Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, December 1. Hurriyat (G) spokesperson,
Ayaz Akbar said that Kashmir is an internationally accepted dispute
and the UN has passed 13 resolutions acknowledging the disputed
nature of the Kashmir problem. Article 370 is no issue for us. We
want right to self- determination and peoples verdict would be
accepted by one and all.
Addressing a rally at south Kashmirs Kulgam, December 1,
Hurriyat (G) chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani called Modi killer of
humanity and said his candidature is in total contrast to Indias
claim of being a democratic and secular country.
JKLF chairman, Mohammad Yasin Malik, December 1, said
Modi should learn from history and he has an agenda of polariza-
tion. Dukhtaran-e-Millat chief, Syeda Aasiya Andrabi said there is
nothing to debate other than right to self-determination.
Opposition PDP president Mehbooba Mufti, December 2, said
that Article 370 isnt Babri Masjid which BJP could demolish with
the help of Hindu zealots. Article 370 is a permanent feature of
the Indian Constitution. Abrogation of Article 370 from the
Constitution can only be done with the consent of the Constituent
Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir, which no more exists.
She added if the Article is scrapped, the bridge between India
and Kashmir will collapse and Kashmir will cease to be part of
India. PDP patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, December 1, said
even the Parliament of India wasnt constitutionally mandated to
review or scrap the Article. Congress State President Prof. Saif-
ud-Din Soz said there was no scope for debate on the Article,
which is a permanent feature of the Indian constitution.
Addressing the media, at Jammu December 2, Prof. Soz dared
BJP to hold a debate on the Article.
Awami Mutahida Mahaz, an amalgam of several mainstream
political parties in Jammu and Kashmir, December 2, said remarks
made by Modi arent only unwarranted, but totally unacceptable.
Minister for Agriculture, Ghulam Hassan Mir, December 3, said that
the same would create mistrust between people of the state and rest
of the country. President Awami Ittehad Party, Er Rashid has asked
NC, PDP and Congress not to shed crocodile tears over Modis
statement. Though strengthening or weakening Article 370 has
nothing to do with internationally recognized Kashmir dispute but
still if PDP, NC or Congress believe in what they say, let them restore
the eroded autonomy and Article 370 in its original form.
The Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, December 1 tweeted, Modi
is either ill-informed or lying. He very conveniently used me and
my sister as examples to illustrate a point that has no bearing on
truth. Talking to media at Sopore in north Kashmir, December 2, he
said Modi is mixing Article 370 of the Constitution with the states
residency law. Omar added, that the states residency laws, popu-
larly known as State Subject laws, have absolutely nothing to do
with Article 370. Slamming the chief minister for criticizing Modi
over his remarks, BJPs state unit, December 2, challenged him to
hold a debate over the issue. Omar, addressing party-workers at
Hazratbal-Srinagar, December 5, responded that he was ready for
the debate. All Parties Sikh Coordination Committee chairman
Jagmohan Raina, December 6, asked people to rise above political
ideologies to safeguard Article 370. It is the duty and responsibili-
ty of all to ensure that there is no more dilution in it.
CM abuses Geelani
Taking strong note of Chief Minister Omar Abdullahs statement
wherein he had called Hurriyat (G) chairman Syed Ali Shah
Geelani a dream merchant the conglomerate, said it is the funda-
mental right of everyone to dream of life with dignity and freedom.
It is the leadership of National Conference that sold the
dreams of Kashmiris for power, said the spokesperson of the
amalgam, December 3, after the amalgams advisory board
(Majlis-e-Shoora) meeting chaired by Geelani. The amalgam
added that it is impossible to suppress freedom struggle by coer-
cion and by offering privileges.
The Chief Minister, while addressing a public-meeting in north
Kashmirs Sopore, December 2, had said Geelani is a dream
merchant. It is because of him that stone-pelting in Sopore has
become a common phenomenon. And because of this reason, the
town has been introduced as a hub of militancy, stone-pelting and
violence and people of the town have been kept out of ambit of
peace and development. It was Omars maiden address in
Sopore town since he assumed office as the Chief Minister.
Meanwhile, police, foiled Geelanis march to Tral in south
Kashmir, November 29 and Bandipora in nor th Kashmir,
December 6, by placing him under house-arrest. The rally to Tral
was re-scheduled for December 4 but police foiled that too.
Geelani was expected to address a public-meeting here,
December 8, but Hurriyat (G) deferred the rally in view of Geelanis
continuous house detention. Pertinently, Geelani had addressed
his last rally in Srinagar during Amarnath land row in 2008.
Woman humiliated
A woman visitor was allegedly subjected to humiliation at Central
Jail Srinagar by Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel.
Following the incident, detainees in Central Jail reportedly
went on strike, November 21, to protest alleged undressing of a
woman by women cops of CRPF personnel deployed at the jail
gate. The detainees demanded woman cops of CRPF to be
replaced by police and demanded installation of metal-detectors
for frisking. Terming the incident intolerable Dukhtaran-e-Millat
chief, Syeda Aasiya Andrabi, November 29, said that the jail is
proving worse than infamous Guantanamo bay and Abu Gharib.
No civilized society will tolerate that their women are subjected to
the worst humiliation under the cover of frisking. She added that
the jail has virtually been transformed into cantonment of forces.
A delegation of State Commission for Women, visited the jail,
November 28, to look into the matter and hold deliberations with
detainees and the jail staff. The Commission is expected to submit
its report to the government. Hurriyat (G), December 3, said that the
incident is against the jail norms and has no legal or moral justifica-
tion. Director General Prisons (Jammu and Kashmir), K Rajendra
Kumar visited the jail, December 4, and directed jail officials to pro-
vide all assistance to inmates and their visitors, as provided under
the Jail Manual. The High Court directed Central Jail authorities to
ensure that visitors are subjected to frisking in keeping with the Jail
manual. A division bench of Justice Mohammad Yaqoob Mir and
Justice Muzaffar Attar in its order, December 3, passed the direction
on an application moved by High Court Bar Association.
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First English Newspaper of Indian Muslims. Telling the Muslim side of the story fortnight after fortnight since January 2000
BJPs p.m.-in-waiting starts debate on Art. 370
10 The Milli Gazette, 16-31 December 2013 NATIONAL www.milligazette.com
The leading Islamic seminary Darul Uloom
Deoband has welcomed the Supreme Courts
verdict that gay sex is illegal.
Of all religions, Islam has been the most
vocal against homosexuality and lesbianism.
Quran and Hadith (Prophet Muhammads
teachings) have categorically criticised
homosexuality and even recommended death
rap for its perpetrators.
Years ago, I asked a scholar of Islamic
theology at Oxford as to why Islam was so
forcefully against homosexuality. The scholar
wasnt a Muslim. He was an Englishman who
followed Christianity. His wonderful explanation
got me thinking. He said, The reason behind
Islams crusade against homosexuality has a
much greater and wider canvas. Its from the
perspective of the continuation of mankind on
ear th, Islam unambiguously condemns
homosexuality.
Islams condemnation of homosexuality has
an element of humanitarianism. If homosexuality
is encouraged and practised sans any
opposition and fear, people may think that its a
perfectly natural way of life and marriages
between men and women will become few and
far between. In such a situation, whatll happen
to the next progeny? Will it ever come into
existence, because for the continuity of human
race, reproduction is a must. But homosexual
and lesbian relations dont produce offspring.
That Christian scholar of Islamic theology told
me that it was the farsightedness of Islam that it
could envisage that a time would come when
homosexuality would be rampant. Islam realised
that for the survival of human race, such
practices and tendencies must be stonewalled
so that we can have a healthy society and
healthy progeny. Thus the human race can
continue to go on.
SUMIT PAUL
sumitmaclean@hotmail.com
Anti-Homosexuality Must
Promote Indian Homogeneity
Through the most retrograde verdict, issued on 2
July, 2009, declaring Section 377 of Indian Penal
Code (which punishes unnatural sex) as violative
of the fundamental freedom of gays, the honble
Judges of Delhi High Court made a significant
contribution in expediting the ongoing phase of
the countrys cultural catastrophe. If the morally-
debased and sexually-perverted people can be
called a sexual minority, and, therefore, entitled
to the elimination of all legal barriers on their
debauchery, time is not far off when they may
claim the constitutional right to make the
demonstration of their heinous crimes on the
cross-roads, and the Judges like Mr. A. P. Shah
and Mr. S. Muralidhar may not hesitate to
concede their request.
Homosexuality is certainly prohibited in all
religions of the world, and even rising from the
abstract notions of different faiths, this level of
immodesty is a slur on the rich cultural heritage of
India which, as a single entity, represents a
composite national creed. I am astonished that
Muslim clerics have reacted to the Delhi High
Court Judgment in a myopic manner as if the
legalisation of homosexuality is the negation of
Quranic mandates only. It is a national offence: it
is a crime against humanity. If in the West it has
been legalised, it is still against their basic cultural
ethos, and religious scripts. The Church has
always condemned it in totally unequivocal
language. In India, it is not the question of Hindu,
Muslim, Christian, Sikh or Parsi culture. Rather, it
is the question of the magnificent structure of the
grand edifice of our sacred ancient heritage which
we must not allow to be spoiled by these stray
dogs-like gays and lesbians.
Right from the law-making bodies to the
common masses, we have learnt the lesson of
constructive cooperation and destructive
opposition, depending upon the exigencies of the
circumstances. At the social level, we have had
enough of destructive opposition. Now for the
first time we are in the dire need of constructive
cooperation for the sake of our heritage, for the
sake of our children, for the sake of our
womanhood, and above all for the sake of those
distinctive spiritual values for which India is still
known as fountainhead world over. If, before
independence, we were one to seek the countrys
emancipation from the British rule, come on, dear
Indian brothers and sisters, we must once again
put an example of our oneness to seek the
countrys deliverance from the looming moral
degeneration of this magnitude. With our
collective strength, we must show to these happy
gays and lesbians that Indian culture is not
meant for them, and we cannot allow the
Judiciary to make such colossal encroachments
on the standards of right and wrong, moral
and immoral, modesty and immodesty,
harboured by the vast multitudes of the country.
Come on! If our religious animosities have
brought us to such a heterogeneous course, our
unified approach towards anti-homosexuality
must now promote Indian homogeneity.
MUSTAFA KAMAL SHERWANI
sherwanimk@yahoo.com
[originally written on July 3, 2009]
Article 377 and Muslims
Muslims should not promote traits which are
against the teachings of Islam. They should not
be silent either if and when something wrong is
happening.
Admitting an urge to kill someone is not
same as killing itself. The urge may be from God
or borrowed, sourced or faked. Overcoming a
genuine or otherwise urge to do evil is Jihad.
Allowing public and legal pursuit of
something which is disliked by many, each such
step to give absolute freedom will just continue
to ruin our society. Which immorality will be next
to be allowed publicly/legally? Just think of it. It
has to stop somewhere. Lets do anything to
stop it here. We live in times where Muslims are
Muslim without knowing what is said in the
Quran and Hadith. Such Muslims are screaming
human rights violation in support of the wrong-
doers. It is time to let half Muslims know the
Message. We have to do something. Else we are
simply waiting for punishment from the
Almighty.
Narrated Ibn Umar (Radi Allahu Anhu) that
Allahs Apostle (pubh) said, If Allah sends
punishment upon a nation then it befalls upon
the whole population indiscriminately and then
they will be resurrected (and judged) according
to their deeds (Sahih Bukhari, Volume 9, Book
88, Number 224).
Allah taala says: And fear the Fitnah
(affliction and trial) which affects not in
particular (only) those of you who do wrong (but
it may afflict all the good and the bad people),
and know that Allah is Severe in punishment.
(Surah Al-Anfal, Chapter #8, Verse #25)
MAZIN KHAN
Why Islam So Vehemently Condemns Homosexuality
Despite the political noise made about the
Muslim vote, the recently held assembly
elections convey a different message. The
only state where Muslim voters presence
can be sensed is Delhi. Of the 70 members in
Delhi assembly, five are Muslims, four of
whom are from the Congress. The fifth is
from Janata Dal-United (JD-U). Muslims con-
stitute around 11.7 percent of Delhis population.
Statistically, with Muslims being roughly only a percent of
Chhattisgarhs population, it isnt surprising that the newly con-
stituted assembly does not have even a single Muslim member.
Yet, despite Muslims being around eight percent of the popula-
tion in Rajasthan as well as Madhya Pradesh, the new assem-
blies in these two states include only three Muslim legislators.
Two winners are from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in
Rajasthan and one from the Congress in Madhya Pradesh.
Ironically, fifty percent of the Congress strength in Delhi
assembly is held by four of its Muslim legislators. The
Congress has secured victory in only eight seats in Delhi.
Would it be fair to assume that had Congress not fielded these
Muslim candidates, its performance may have been even poor-
er? If religion really played as strong a role in these assembly
elections as had been projected earlier, then use of religious
card would have probably helped other parties which tried
attracting the Muslim voter in Delhi.
More than 100 Muslims were in the electoral fray for Delhi
assembly seats. Of these, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and
Samajwadi Party (SP) fielded eleven each. The Congress field-
ed six Muslims, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) six and the BJP
gave ticket to only one Muslim candidate.
Interestingly, despite having performed miserably in these
assembly elections, the only claim that Congress can make
confidently is that it used its Muslim-card wisely in Delhi. Had
Congress refrained from fielding these Muslim candidates or
had lost seats contested by these candidates, the party would
have had less than five members in the 70-member assembly.
Considering that Delhi assembly polls have earlier been
primarily a contest between the Congress and BJP, the political
scenario may have been totally different had AAP not joined the
electoral fray. In the 70-member Delhi assembly, BJP has won
31 seats, AAP - 28, Congress - eight and others - three. Had
BJP won more than 35 seats, there would not have been any
deliberations on formation of the next Delhi state government.
Its chances have received this jolt from AAP and not from
Congress. This is proved by AAP winning 22 seats where BJP
candidates were their closest rival. The Congress has been
closest rival to AAP in only five seats won by the latter. This
suggests that these elections have been fought more strongly
between BJP and AAP, without much of a challenge from the
Congress.
Maybe, Delhi voters had enough of Congress and were
keen for a change. The remarkable performance of AAP in its
debut year also indicates that BJPs campaign leader, Narendra
Modis magic wand failed to have any significant impact in
Delhi, the only state where AAP contested. Till the very last
minute of campaigning, political calculations strongly rested on
whether Modi-fever would turn the political tide in BJPs favour
or not. But as soon as results started coming out, Modis name
was hardly mentioned. Modis electoral campaign failed to
ensure a thumping majority for BJP here. It is possible that the
communal image of Modi, firmly linked with the Gujarat-car-
nage, prompted many voters to vote for AAP.
Though BJP has emerged the winner in Madhya Pradesh,
Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, Modi has not been credited for
this success. Madhya Pradesh assembly elections are perhaps
the perfect example of how the state Chief Minister Shivraj
Singh Chauhans secular drive towards Muslims helped BJP
return to power there for the third consecutive term. Chauhan
laid the foundation-stone of a Haj House this April, he wore the
skull-cap (worn by Indian Muslims) while joining with Muslims
in celebration of Eid-ul-Fitr and allotted land for construction of
an Urdu university.
There is a view that had Modi not been BJPs campaign
leader, Chauhan would have helped his party secure more
seats. Chauhans third consecutive victory in Madhya Pradesh
has raised his stature within his own party. Chauhans secu-
lar card carries greater importance in Madhya Pradesh than
that of Modis communal card exposed during Gujarat-carnage.
Not surprisingly, political whispers are in the air over the pos-
sibility of Chauhan being considered as BJPs prime ministeri-
al candidate instead of Modi.
The fact that Muslims constitute less than 15 percent of the
population in Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and
Rajasthan cannot be ignored. Except in Delhi, the polls in other
three states were primarily a direct contest between the
Congress and BJP. Statistically, less than 10 legislators are
Muslims in elections held to nearly 600 seats in these four
states. Their political significance carries some importance
only for the Congress in Delhi. At the same time, the impor-
tance given by voters to Chauhans secular drive in Madhya
Pradesh cannot be sidelined. Perhaps, it is time that rather than
create hype about the Muslim vote, greater importance is given
to secular credentials of politicians in the fray.
Speaki ng Out
Muslim Vote &
Assembly Elections
NI LOFAR SUHRAWARDY
DR JAVED JAMIL
After wavering on live-in rela-
tionship, which was a blow
to family, Supreme Court of
India has now pronounced a
verdict that would safeguard
the natural sexual relationship
of men and women. It has
set aside the Delhi High Court
ruling that sought to decrimi-
nalise homosexuality. This is indeed a historical
judgment. What makes it even more historical is
the fact that Hindu, Muslim and Christian organisa-
tions came together to fight against the High Court
judgment. I have been arguing for years that there
is a need to revitalise religion and all religions must
combine to form an alliance against social vices.
The attempt to legalise homosexuality is noth-
ing but the continuation of the same series of
worldwide developments in which every human
susceptibility is first given a legal and social sanc-
tion, then it is glorified in the media as a victory of
Freedom of Choice and Human Rights and then
with all the obstacles removed, it is commer-
cialised at a huge level.
The time has now come when the debate
should focus on the very concepts of Freedom of
Choice and Human Rights popularised by the
economic fundamentalists for the benefit of the
market.
Freedom of choice is a dangerous principle if it
implies exposing masses to dangerous choices,
the choices that kill them and destroy their peace,
so that market forces can reap on their susceptibil-
ities. Human Rights are of value only for crimi-
nals, perverts and merchants of evils unless they
are supplemented by Fundamental Prohibitions.
The rights of life and freedom are of no value if they
threaten the lives of others.
It is needless to say that the rise in the demand
of legalising homosexuality in the world has inten-
sified with the rising fortunes of gay market. It is
already a big market in western countries. The truth
is that sex market as a whole is the largest growing
market, and gay market is its largest segment.
According to a commentator, The US has
made a billion dollar industry of homosexual media
- HBO shows, movies, books, magazines. Like
most things in the US, anything that has the poten-
tial to generate profit will be considered.
The Delhi High Court judgment trying to
legalise homosexuality was shocking. This was like
legalising murders, terrorism and rapes.
Homosexuality is in fact much more dangerous
than any of these, as it has led, leads to and can
lead to huge loss of life. Out of all forms of
unhealthy sexual practices, homosexuality is the
unhealthiest and has been the cause of the begin-
ning of the epidemics of both Syphilis and
HIV/AIDS. Here are excerpts from a report on the
impact of homosexuality on health:
Early reports in the 1980s suggested that
male homosexuals had an average life expectancy
of less than 50 years - more than 20 years less
than the overall male population. With the push for
safe sex and improved treatments for AIDS, one
would expect that the life expectancy might have
increased since then. However, a Canadian study in
1997 found that male homosexuals have a life
expectancy of 20 years less than the general male
population (based upon a prevalence of 3% of the
male population). Using several different measures,
including life expectancy determined from obituar-
ies, two large random sexuality surveys (in the USA
and Great Britain), and a survey of those never
married in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, indicat-
ed an average age of death of less than 50 years
old. A third study, published in 2002, found that the
median age of death of 88 homosexually partnered
men was 45 years, while for 118 unpartnered
homosexual men it was 46 years. This latter study
put the average life expectancy of male homosexu-
als nearly 30 years less than the general male pop-
ulation. Another study showed that, on average,
ever-married men outlived the ever-homosexually-
partnered by 23 years in Denmark (74 yr. v. 51 yr.),
and 25 years in Norway (77 yr. v. 52 yr.) Ever-mar-
ried women outlived the ever-homosexually-part-
nered in Denmark by 22 years (78 yr. v. 56 yr.), and
in Norway by almost 25 years (81 yr. v. 56
yr.).How does the average homosexual lifespan
compare to the average life expectancy of smok-
ers? On average, a lifetime smoker can expect the
smoking lifestyle to reduce his life expectancy by
only 10 years. However, smoking is vigorously
condemned by the medical community and press,
although it reduces life expectancy by less than half
of that caused by a gay lifestyle.
This latter study put the average life expectan-
cy of male homosexuals nearly 30 years less than
the general male population. Another study showed
that, on average, ever-married men outlived the
ever-homosexually-partnered by 23 years in
Denmark (74 yr. v. 51 yr.), and 25 years in Norway
(77 yr. v. 52 yrs). Obviously, homosexuality is a
threat to the whole mankind, and it is the biggest
threat to the life of homosexuals themselves.
In India, HIV prevalence in homosexuals,
according to NACO surveys, is almost 8 times
more than normal population. If legalising it helps
anyone, it is the market. Hardly any gays are pun-
ished by the courts of India. Legalising helps the
big market bosses to float companies. Gay litera-
ture, gay clubs and gay porn will mushroom with
the result that more and more people will fall victim
to homosexuality.
To argue that it will help in the control of AIDS
is absolutely nonsense. A little change in the law
that ensures care of gay HIV patients would have
sufficed for that. AIDS cannot be controlled unless
there is an effective campaign against prostitution,
pornography, homosexuality and promiscuity.
It is to be noted that sexual misdemeanours
have a much larger depressing effect on life
expectancy than other evils like smoking, drinking
and gambling. This is because sex-related prob-
lems affect foetuses and men and women of
younger age groups. Sexual Revolution is killing
either foetuses and infants or the young people of
20-45 years in such big numbers that it is bound to
reduce life expectancy by 20-40 years.
To say that homosexuality is natural is like say-
ing that criminal tendencies are natural. These are
not natural but human aberrations of most danger-
ous kind. Such aberrations are present in notorious
criminals also. Can the crimes be legalised to help
them? Can they be given protection by law on the
ground of not discriminating against persons?
Even otherwise, homosexuality is a relationship
that does not produce any progeny. So genes if any
related to hardcore unadulterated homosexuality
cannot be transmitted. Homosexuality has been
there in almost all societies. But homosexuality in
West is very much different from that in Asian
countries, and this is because Western countries
chose to legalise, institutionalise and glorify it. In
Asian countries, homosexuality is more often than
not an opportunist encounter. Denied marriage
after puberty, and girls hard to find, some men
would lure young boys into having sex. Once they
get married, most if not all of them would sooner or
later give this up. Family pressures, fear of law and
society and the desire to have a good family life
keep people away from a long-term homosexual
life. Moreover, in Asian countries, this is normally a
one way relationship. There is one who penetrates
the other. In the Western world, with the institution-
alisation and commercialization of homosexuality,
and the availability of porn literature and films, a
homosexual acts both ways; they penetrate and get
penetrated. They are made to believe that the kind
of sex they are enjoying is not possible in a hetero-
sexual relationship. Soon they become addicts. The
relationship between sex and homosexuality is the
same as between nutrition and alcohol/drugs.
Alcohol/drugs are not part of natural nutrition, but if
someone is exposed to them, he or she may soon
become addict of it. Homosexuality is an addiction
that should be treated both through punishment
(corporal punishment along with boycott and
detention) and medical treatment for those who
seek to change their behaviour.. Homosexuality has
already become the harbinger of the death of at
least 40 million people who have died of AIDS so
far. Its legalisation will surely lead to more people
succumbing to it with greater spread of AIDS and
other sex-related diseases.
There is a need to sexually isolate the HIV-
infected rather than legalising homosexuality in the
name of AIDS so that they do not spread HIV to
others.
Suggestions
1. Time has now come when an all-out onslaught
against economic fundamentalism must be
launched: ideological, legal, political and social.
Markets cannot be allowed to become the Leaders
of the World. Markets cannot be given the authori-
ty to decide what is right and what is wrong.
Markets cannot be allowed to influence our educa-
tional, health, legal and social setups. Markets can-
not be allowed to hijack our scientists, politicians,
health experts and media.
2. There is a need to wage a full-fledged fight
against the evil-friendly media. Media must choose
to become people-friendly rather than continuing to
be market-friendly, to work for a healthier, purer,
morally more correct and more peaceful world
rather than helping in the creation of a chaotic, dirt-
ier and immoral world, in the name of freedom of
choices and human rights
3. Fundamental Prohibitions must be incorporat-
ed in the constitution along with Fundamental
Rights and Fundamental Duties.
4. Right to Health must be made a fundamental
right, which means that no commercial or social
activity that endangers the lives of the people can
be allowed.
5. Our campaign must be an international one. I do
not agree with those who are fighting against
homosexuality on the basis of Indian cultural tra-
ditions. What is bad is bad for the whole world,
and it is our duty to safeguard the whole mankind
against the onslaught on their peace by the eco-
nomic fundamentalists.
All religions must combine. In particular,
Hindus, Muslims, Christians and Buddhists must
unite against the evils, because these four are the
largest religions.
Muslims believe that God sent successive
messengers to all the parts of the world to fulfill
His plan of the establishment of a
Comprehensive System of Peace in the world.
While other books and founders of religions
were the important milestones in that journey,
Muhammad and Quran were the Final
Destination. Bible and Quran come from the
same divine source and in a way complement
each other. There are several parts of the stories
of the greats like those of Abraham, Mary and
Jesus, which are there in Quran and not in Bible.
Similarly, there are several verses in the Quran
that only indicate a part of the story, the com-
plete version of which can be seen in the Bible.
A verse of the Quran tells that Abraham (Ibrahim
AS) argued with God regarding the fate of Lots
People. Bible tells us what this argument was.
And the interesting part of this story about the
Natural Stoning of the Homosexual Community
of Sodom and Gomorrah to Death is that it also
appears, albeit a little differently, in some Hindu
scriptures under the story of Shukra Acharya.
Stage is all set for the grand alliance of religions
against immoralities and their commercializa-
tion.
Dr Javed Jamil is Delhi-based thinker and writer with
over a dozen books including Muslim Vision of Secular
India: Destination & Road-map.
ANALYSIS The Milli Gazette, 16-31 December 2013 11 www.milligazette.com
Historical Judgment on Gays
Early reports in the 1980s suggested that male homosexuals had an average life
expectancy of less than 50 years - more than 20 years less than the overall male
population... a Canadian study in 1997 found that male homosexuals have a life
expectancy of 20 years less than the general male population (based upon a
prevalence of 3% of the male population)... A study published in 2002 found that the
median age of death of 88 homosexually partnered men was 45 years, while for 118
unpartnered homosexual men it was 46 years.
Prof IQTEDAR MUHAMMAD KHAN AL
MAROOF NAVED IQBAL, author of
many books has been appointed
President of the Department of Islamic
Studies in Jamia Millia Islamia
University by Jamias Vice Chancellor
for three years. Among his books are
Azad Hindustan mein Islami Tahreekain,
Islamic Nizam-e Hukoomat aur Iran
(Urdu), Tablighi Jamaat, Bharat ke
Pramukh Dharmik Sangathan (Hindi).
He also visited many foreign countries
including Germany, Italy, Iran, Turkey
and delivered lectures in many universi-
ties.
MUHAMMAD ABDUL MAAROOF,
noted Urdu author and President of
Urdu department in HDSDPG College of
Sambhal has been conferred PhD
Degree by Roohailkhand University for
his research treatise on Sahir
Ludhianvi ki Shairee ka Tanqeedi
Mutala (A critical study of Sahir
Ludhianvis poetry) which he complet-
ed Under the supervision of Dr
Muhammad Aslam, President of Urdu
department of PG BEd Colege.
GHULAM NABI QAZI, Vice Chancellor
of Jamia Hamdard University, New Delhi
has been appointed Chairman of Unani
Pharmacopia Committee (UPC), Ayush
Department, Ministry of health and fam-
ily planning, Govt of India. However, his
appointment as UPC Chairman has
drawn the ire and unpleasant surprise of
Unani Tibbi Congress members who
strongly feel that with the help Ghulam
Nabi Azad, Union health and family
planning minister a man has been made
chairman of UPC who does not know
even the ABC of unanipathy. They plan
to complain to Mrs Sonia Gandhi, UPA
chairperson about such a man being
thrust on unanipalhy by Ghulam Nabi
Azad who has done nothing, to promote
unanipathy but has helped in the
appointment of G. N. Qazi to harm
rather than promote, unanipathy.
(Ms) FIROZ FATEMA, a BSc student of
Saharanpur who had appeared in KBC
(Kaun benega crorepati)s 7th series
Quiz contest conducted by Amitabh
Bachchan on 27 November won Rs one
crore. She correctly answered twelve
questions asked by Amitabh Bachchan
the award of which was Rs one crore;
but when he wanted to ask the next
question, she decided to quit, thus win-
ning Rs one crore. She is 22. At this age
she has become the youngest, and also
the first ever Muslim girl, to win this big
amount in this contest. Her father Meraj
Khan had died 2 years ago and after his
death there are 3 persons in her family
i.e. herself, her mother and younger sis-
ter. Her family was in great financial dif-
ficulties after the death of her father but
now this windfall will be of great help to
them.
Justice MANSOOR AHMAD MIR has
been appointed interim Chief Justice of
Himachal Pradesh High Court in place of
Chief Justice K. M. Khanolkar who was
appointed Chief Justice of Madhya
Pradesh High Court last week. Justice
Mansoor Ahmad Mir was sworne in as
Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh High
Court by the states Governor (Mrs)
Urmila Singh at a function held at Shimla
on 27 November when states chief min-
ister Veer Bhadra Singh, former chief min-
ister Prem Kumar Dhoomal and other dig-
nitaries were present.
Dr MOONIS ANSARI of Panipat has
been elected Chairman of Haryana Haj
Committee. A native of Bijnor (UP), he
has been living in Panipat for several
decades. He is a senior Congressman
and had contested elections many
times on Congress ticket. He started his
professional life as a handloom bunkar.
Prof (Dr) M. ATHAR ANSARI of the
Depar tment of Community Medicines,
JN Medical College of AMU has been
re-elected executive member of
Nutrition Society of India in the
Societys 45th annual National
Conference held in Hyderabad on 26
November. In addition to delivering
lecture in this Conference, he also
served as a judge in the Poster
Session competition
SHAHRUKH KHAN, Bollywood film
actor and MILKHA SINGH renowned
athelete, have been appointed
Honorary Ambassadors of the union
ministry for minorities affairs in India.
Minorities affairs minister K. Rahman
Khan, in order to promote inter-reli-
gious harmony had contacted five
important members of the minority
communities namely Shahrukh Khan,
Dalai Lama, Sania Mirza Milkha Singh
and Irfan Khan for this honour. All oth-
ers except these two persons had
expressed their inability to become
Honorary Ambassadors. On their will-
ingness Milkha Singh and King Khan
were accordingly appointed Honorary
Ambassadors of this ministry.
MEN & WOMEN IN NEWS
OBITUARIES
12 The Milli Gazette, 16-31 December 2013 NEWSMAKERS www.milligazette.com
Ghalib Institutes Awards Committee in its meeting held on 26
November selected five men of letters for being honoured with this
Institutes Ghalib Award 2013. They are Prof ABUL KALAM
QASMI, prominent Urdu critic and intellectual for being honoured
with Fakhruddin Ali Ahmad Award for Urdu research and criticism;
Prof CHANDRASHEKHAR, scholar of Persian language and
President of Delhi Universitys Department of Persian for being
honoured with Fakhruddin Ali Ahmad Ghalib Award for Persian
research and criticism, SALAM BIN RAZZAQ, noted fiction writer
for being honoured with Ghalib Award for Urdu prose; M. IQBAL
TAUSIFI, well-known poet for being honoured with Ghalib Award
for Urdu poetry and IQBAL NIAZI, noted dramatist for being hon-
oured with Hum Sab Ghalib Award for Urdu drama. These Awards,
consisting of a certificate, memento and cheque of Rs 75000
each will be given to the awardees by union minister Kapil Sibal at
a function to be held on 27 December on the occasion of
International Ghalib Functions Inaugural session.
MAULANA MUHAMMAD ALI JAUHAR Academys Governing
Council, on the occasion of its Silver Jubilee celebrations, has
announced its 25th Maulana Muhammad Ali Jauhar Awards.
Those selected for Awards are K. RAHMAN KHAN, union minister
for minorities affairs in recognition of his national, milli and politi-
cal services; Prof MUHAMMAD MIAN, Vice Chancellor of
Maulana Azad National Urdu University and AHMAD RASHEED
SHERWANI for educational services; S. M. KHAN, Director
General of Door Darshan News and MASOOM MURADABADI,
editor of Urdu daily, Jadeed Khabar for their services through elec-
tronic media and print media respectively. In addition to these
award winners, MATEEN AMROHVI, poet will be awarded for
poetry, KALI CHARAN DAS in recognition for his social services
and SHAMSHAD AHMAD for his services to Unani Tibb. Awards
to these people were presented at a function chaired by Justice
Suhail Siddiqi and held at India Islamic Cultural Centre, New Delhi
on the occasion of Maulana Jauhars birth anniversary on 10
December. In addition to above award winners, second M. Saleem
Memorial Award was presented to Rashtriya Sahara Group Editor
Syed Faisal Ali and fourth Bi Amman Award was presented to
SHABISTAN GHAFFAR, educationist.
Dr ASLAM JAMSHEDPURI, President of Urdu Department in
Charan Singh University, Meeruth has been honoured by
Meeruths reputed organisation Vijay Manav Seva Sansthan with
Vijay Seva Award 2012 for his efforts to promote Urdu language
and literature. The Award was presented to him jointly by former
Chief Justice S. P. Tyagi and others at a function held on 26
November
Prof ABDUL BISMILLAH of Jamia Millia Islamia Universitys
Department of Hindi has been honoured with Rahi Masoom Raza
Sahitya Samman 2013 by Dr Rahi Masoom Raza Sahitya
Academy, Lucknow. His many novels and other literary works
have been published. In addition to this honour, he has also been
honoured with many other awards and honours like Soviet Land
Nehru Award, Hindi Academy Award, Delhi; Madhya Pradesh
Sahitya Parishad Award etc
Human Chain, a social and educational organisation which has
been rendering valuable and selfless services for the social and
economic progress of a backward region like Seemanchal and
long struggle for the establishment of AMU Centre in Kishan Ganj
has been honoured with an Award by AMU Alumni Forum of
United Arab Emirates. The Award-giving function was held at
Sharjas 5-star Hotel Holiday Inn International on 6 November. The
Award was accepted on behalf of Human Chain by its chief,
Muhammad Aslam Alig on the occasion of International Sir
Sayyad Day Celebration when former union minister Mani
Shankar Ayer was also present along with many other dignitaries.
SAYED AHMAD QADIRI, noted Urdu poet, journalist, fiction writer
and critic was honoured with Prof Abdul Moghni Award by
Chiragh-e Adab, a literary organisation in recognition of his scien-
tific, literary and journalistic services. In addition to this Award he
has also been honoured earlier with Birla Foundation Award; Bihar,
West Bengal and U P Urdu Academy and many other awards.
(Ms) UZMA SAIFI, MA (Home Science) student of Nayab Abbasi
Girls PG College, Amroha who topped in the MG Roohelkhand
University, Bareilly and (Ms) SHAHLA NIGAR, MSc (Zoology) stu-
dent of Governemnt Raza PG College, Rampur who secured First
position in the College as well as in this University were given Gold
Medals each by UPSC Chairman Dr DP Aggarwal and
Roohelkhand Universitys Vice Chancellor Prof Muhammad
Muzammil on the occasion of 11th Foundation Day of this
University.
AWARDS
MUHAMMAD AMANULLAH
BHAGALPURI, author and
poet died in his home town in
Bhagalpur on 25 November at
the age of about 74 years.
Author of about 7 books, at
least two books Kahkashaan
Pareshaan hai and Charkh par
Jaaigi Sada, anthology of
poems and ghazals respec-
tively have been published. He
is survived by his wife, three
sons and two daughters.
SAYED MERAJUL HAQ
Meraj FAIZABADI, noted
poet died in Lucknow on 30
November at the age of about
73 years. He was a patient of
cancer and was under treat-
ment for this disease for about
5 years. His 5 anthologies of
Urdu poems including
Namoos Thoda sa Chandan
have been published. At least
one anthology of his poems in
Hindi has also been published.
Born in Faizabad, his body
was taken to Faizabad for bur-
ial. He leaves behind his wife
and four sons.
Acting is when an actor doesnt seem to be acting, Satyajit
Rays definition of acting is fully applicable to Dilip Kumar, who
turned 91 on December 11.
Indian cinema has seen many great actors, but Dilip Kumar
simply stands out. Human beings have a tendency to go ga-ga
over icons and idols and use superlatives that often dont do jus-
tice to the great persons prowess.
We tend to use words such as great and genius pretty
loosely. These are very exclusive words and one ought to have the
depth and talent to deserve such accolades.
Dilip Kumar does deserve a bucketful of praise, plaudits and
panegyrics. Despite never having gone to any acting school or
college for formal education, Dilip Kumar has himself become an
acting school.
This reiterates the fact that truly greats never require for-
mal training. Ghalib never had any ustaad in his life. When he
(Ghalib) was very young, someone said about him that, Is
ladke ko agar koi ustaad na mila toh ye muhmil baknay lagay-
ga (if this lad doesnt find a master, hell star t uttering inani-
ties). The master-less Ghalibs inanities are now the gems
of world literature.
Shakespeare never had any formal education. But literature is
lacklustre without the mention of the The Bard of Avon.
In fine, astoundingly great people are way above set rules and
norms. Instead, they set new rules to be followed and emulated
by others. Rajendra Kumar, also known as Jubilee Kumar. mod-
elled himself after Dilip Kumar and his histrionics had obvious
resemblance to those of the legendary thespian. While Dilip
Kumars acting was effortless, Rajendra Kumar often appeared to
be stifled and straitjacketed.
Prior to Dilip Kumar, there were actors like Prithviraj Kapoor
and Sohrab Modi. But both were too loud and theatrical, thanks
to Parsi theatre they were par t of. If you watch Mughal-e-
Azam, Prithiviraj Kapoor as Akbar delivered his dialogues in a
too stagy manner. Today, youll cringe to hear his grandiloquent
dialogue, Hum apnay betay kay
dhadaktay huay dil kay liye,
Hindustaan ki taqdeer nahin badal
saktay (I cannot change the des-
tiny of Hindustaan for the sake of
my lovelorn son). Ive never under-
stood why the meticulous K Asif
never told Prithviraj Kapoor that
emperor Akbar was extremely soft-
spoken and was never loud even in
his unguarded moments. Cour t his-
torians as well as subsequent his-
torians like Vincent Smith, Percival
Smith, Muhammad Mujeeb etc.
depicted him as a very mild-man-
nered emperor, who just once got
annoyed when Jahangir got Abul
Fazl killed near Manmad in todays
Nor th Maharashtra.
At the same time, Dilip Kumar as
Saleem acted so beautifully and
delivered his dialogues in a manner
one speaks in life. Who can forget
that rustic dance sequence enacted
by Dilip Kumar in Ganga-Jamuna
(1961) in which he danced so naturally to the tune of Rafis
immortal Nain lad jai hai toh manwaa maa kasak hoi-bee kari.
Blessed with fine tastes and a predilection for Urdu poetry, Dilip
Kumars Urdu diction is nearly flawless. Despite having spent a
very big chunk of his life in Bombay, Poona and Deolali (Nasik),
the mans Urdu has absolutely no trace of Bambayya or Marathi
influence.
Like Muhammad Rafi, he still calls a spot boy with aap and
loves to read Faiz Ahmad Faizs and Firaqs poetry.
Acting is so embedded in his psyche that even in a Bengali
film like Sagina Mahto, he acted
so naturally and it never appeared
that he didnt know Bengali. He
won the National Award for his role
in Tapan Sinhas Sagina Mahto. A
Bengali film critic wrote after see-
ing his acting in Sagina Mahto
that only Dilip Kumar looked like
an actor in the movie. All others
were fillers.
People whove no knowledge of
cinema and whove never seen a
single good movie in life may think
Amitabh and Shah Rukh to be great
actors. But the truth is, after watch-
ing Dilip Kumar, Gary Cooper,
Humphrey Bogar t, David Niven,
Paul Newman, among others, one
just doesnt feel like seeing the
fakes.
In Shakti (1982), Dilip Kumar
overshadowd Amitabh. At the same
time, one must appreciate Dilip
Kumars humility and acceptance of
the fact that it was Rafis singing
voice that gave an impetus to his distinguished career.
After 1950, it was Rafis voice till 1976 (Bairag) that consoli-
dated Dilip Kumars never descending career. Who can forget that
silhouette sequence in Dil Diya Dard Liya (1966) with Dilip
Kumar sitting in an easy chair and Rafis deathless Koi saghar dil
ko bahlata nahin adding more mystique to the eerie darkness.
On his 91st birthday, we the admirers of Dilip Kumar salute
him.
SUMIT PAUL
sumitmaclean@hotmail.com
LONG LIVE DILIP SAHAB
Coordination office opened for Muzaffarnagar riot victims
SPECIAL REPORT The Milli Gazette, 16-31 December 2013 13 www.milligazette.com
MG/Yusuf
New Delhi: The Coordination Committee for the Muzaffarnagar riot
victims opened its office at Kairana, Distt. Shamli, to care, moni-
tor, offer and coordinate relief to the victims of Muzaffarnagar,
Shamli and Bhagpat riot victims of September 2013 who are
lodged in over two dozen camps in the districts of Muzaffarnagar
and Shamli.
Chairman of the
C o o r d i n a t i o n
Committee, Dr.
Zafarul-Islam Khan
inaugurated the office
located on Panipat
Road opp. Satab
Singh Market in
Kairana town on
Thursday, 5
December. The
C o o r d i n a t i o n
Committee is run by
Charity Alliance in
cooperation with Afkar
India Foundation.
Representatives of riot
victims, dignitaries of
the area and journal-
ists were present on
the occasion.
Dr. Khan, who
heads Charity Alliance and the All India Muslim Majlis
Mushawarat, said this office will monitor, coordinate and offer
relief to the needy people in the camps. It is also taking up the
legal cases and is making sure that all school and college-going
children in the camps are accommodated in local schools and
colleges.
Dr Khan said the office will continue to function as long as it
is needed and a better and convenient place will be found soon in
the area for the office. The office is manned by Akram Akhtar
09897974647; Mohammad Anees 08755514102.
On the occasion, Dr. Khan distributed books and other related
material and stationary to students of classes 7 to 12. He said that
Charity Alliance has undertaken the responsibility of providing
tools to all skilled and unskilled workers in camps like tailors, car-
penters, stone-cutters, masons etc.
The Coordination Committee team is busy coordinating with
district authorities to get all school and college-going students
accepted in local schools and colleges. Charity Alliance has also
announced that it will arrange transport for students who find
admission at schools and colleges located at a distance from their
camps.
In addition for offering clothes, duvets, mattresses, etc. to the
riot victims, Charity Alliance is negotiating
to buy land to settle some camp inmates
who are at present camping on private or
government lands which they will have to
vacate soon.
New Delhi: Jamia Millia Islamia held its Annual Convocation on 28 November in the Lawns of
Ansari Auditorium.
A total of 4569 degrees and diplomas were awarded to students who have successfully com-
pleted post-graduation, graduation and diploma courses from different
Faculties/Departments/Centres of the University in the Academic Session 2011-12. The University
also handed out 154 Gold Medals to the toppers of different courses as also awarded 224 Ph.D.
degrees to Research Scholars.
On this occasion, the University conferred the Degree of Doctors of Letters (Honoris Causa)
on Mr. Najeeb Jung, Lieutenant Governor of Delhi. A citation was presented to him on this occa-
sion which said, In honouring Shri Najeeb Jung Jamia Millia Islamia acknowledges his dis-
tinctive contribution as an academic leader and administrator, who in his person and work
demonstrates the values of excellence, integrity and commitment.
On this occasion, delivered his convocation address in which he paid rich tributes to the
founders of Jamia. He said that they were great visionaries, much as were the visionaries of India.
Prof S M Sajid, the officiating Vice Chancellor, delivered the VCs report highlighting the
achievements of the past year as also plans for the future.
In continuation of the
peace and rehabilitation
work after the massive
riots in Muzaffarnagar,
Khudai Khidmatgar in
collaboration with Afkar
India Foundation took the
initiative of bridging the
educational gap of the
riot affected children of
Muzaffarnagar by start-
ing a bridge school in
between the Malakpura
and Fhurgan refugee camps near Kairana. It was
inaugurated on 8 December.
More than 200 children attended the school on
the very first day. Mothers and guardians of the chil-
dren showed extraordinary interest in sending their
children to the school though the present plight is
very tough. The school was started in the presence
of BSA, Arvind Singh and other district officials.
Three School teachers, with two female teachers
and a school co-ordinator were appointed. Khudai
Khidmatgar distributed books, copies and other sta-
tionary among the children. Khudai Khidmatgar
leader Faisal Khan said we will open more such
schools in other camps in coming days. He also
said the main task of this school is to motivate chil-
dren who are unable to attend schools since the last
four months with a view to to adjust them in the
mainstream educational system.
Bridge School for riot victims
Jamias Annual Convocation
Aligarh: The government should incorporate Maulana Abul Kalam
Azads ideas into its policies as he not only helped in freeing the
country from the British yoke but also framed the educational pol-
icy of independent India, said President of Sir Syed Awareness
Forum, Dr. Shakeel Samdani of AMU while speaking in a seminar
organised by Noor Jan Seva Samiti at Madarsa Muskan here.
Dr Samdani said that whatever promises were made by
Maulana Azad to the Muslims must be implemented by the cen-
tral government. Similarly, in the educational plan of modern India
the Muslim community should also be involved in the same way
as was desired by Maulana.
Addressing the huge gathering of students and parents, he
said that the difference between an educated and uneducated per-
son is like a fruit-laden tree and a barren tree. A tree laden with
fruits gives benefit to others and in return everybody takes care of
it. But a tree devoid of fruits doesnt give any benefit to anybody
and thats why it is not cared by anone. The same kind of differ-
ence is found between literate and illiterate people. Dr. Shakeel
Samdani further said that money is not the only consideration for
education. By education a person learns etiquettes and culture.
He can easily distinguish between good and bad.
Seminar on Maulana Azad
PHOTOS: NADIM AHMAD
Dr Khan with some of the students who received books and
study material on the occasion
Charity Alliance chairman speaking to riot victims, area dignitaries and
journalists after opening the coordination committee office at Kairana
Dr Shakil Samdani speaking
Najib Jung receiving the honorary doctorate
Riot affected Children at the bridge school
UK govt permits CBCID to file criminal
cases against those found guilty in riots
Jaspur (Uttarakhand): Uttarakhand government has allowed the
trial of BJP MLA Raj Kumar Thukral and about 7 others who were
found by CBCID in its investigation guilty of complicity in
Udhampur (Rudurpur) communal riots that had erupted on
2 October 2011. All of them were accused of instigating commu-
nal riots resulting in loss of human lives and properties, loot, arson
etc. In addition to the MLA Rajkumar Thukral, others are Guddu
Baig, Saleem, Varma Koli, Nathu Lal, Gajender Singh Mistry,
Pankaj Kalra etc. Police had registered cases against about 48
known persons and more than 150 unknown persons. It may be
stated in this connection that in Udham Singh Nagar communal
riots had erupted in October 2011 in which 4 persons were killed
and about 60 were injured. In addition, movable and immovable
properties worth crores of rupees were also lost. DM and SP of
the area were transferred and new DM and SP were appointed in
their place.
Blasts accused memorises the Quran in jail
Mumbai: Ehtasham Siddiqi, one of the persons accused in the
Mumbai local train bomb blasts of 2006 not only memorised the
entire Quran and became a Hafiz while in jail but also completed
many courses through distance education. It may be recalled that
serial bomb blasts had taken place in Mumbais local train on 11
July 2006 after which he was one among the many suspected
persons who were arrested by Mumbais Anti-terrorist Squad
(ATS) and sent to Arthur Road Jail and then to Kolhapur Jail where
he memorised the entire Quran in 10 months. Not only this, he
also completed 3-year Bachelor in Tourism Studies course from
Indira Gandhi National Open University as well as certificate
courses in Urdu and Arabic languages and also in human rights
from the same university i.e. IGNOU. On his request to IGNOU, an
examination centre 49035-D in Arthur Road Jail was set up which
has benefitted other prisoners also.
According to Shahid Nadeem Ansari, lawyer of Jamiatul
Ulama-e Hind which is providing free legal assistance to Muslim
prisoners who are innocent but falsely implicated by ATS and other
police authorities in terrorism and other cases, he (Ehtasham
Siddiqi) is the most intelligent and hard working among them and
because of these qualities he memorised the Quran and success-
fully completed other courses also. A native of a village in Jaunpur
district of UP, after his arrest and incarceration in Mumbai jails he
also learnt about RTI and through this he collected information
about many other things from government departments which he
used to prove his innocence and sent these to MCOCA court. It is
now to be seen how far this material sent to MCOCA court help in
his acquittal. Whenever he was taken from jail to court, he atten-
tively used to listen to the statements of witnesses and arguments
and counter arguments of lawyers and prepared his own argu-
ments for his defence in court. According to lawyer Shahid Ansari,
when once he was sent to Arthur Road jail, on 28/06/2008 an
alarm was sounded in this jail after which he was transferred to a
Kolhapur jail where he read the Quran in the morning daily, and
thereby memorised the Quran without any bodys help.
Court orders dargah administration to supervise all offerings
Jaipur: Rajasthan High Court, in response to many petitions,
ordered the government-appointed administrator (Nazim) of
Ajmers Khwaja Moinuddin Chistis Dargah to personally super-
vise and manage all offerings, gifts, donations etc by the people at
the Dargah. The court also ordered that the Dargahs Deewan
(who is a direct descendant of the saint) and his followers to allow
unrestricted entry inside the Dargah and sit or remain there as long
as, and whenever they want. The courts order is in response to a
number of petitions filed by Deewan Syed Ali Rasool Ali Khan,
Abdul Kalam and others. According to petitioners gifts, offerings
etc were so far being supervised and managed by Khadims (who
are among the progenies of Khwaja Moinuddins Khadmis) but
these Khadims were not allowing the Deewan and his relatives etc
to enter and sit inside the Dargah.
Deewan Syed Ali Rasool had also stated in his petition that
even though he had won such a case, regarding gifts, offerings etc
in the court earlier (in 1933) but in spite of that, the Khadims were
not allowing him and his sons and other relatives to enter and sit
in the Dargah. The present dispute arose when the Deewan
through a petition filed in 1991 requested the appointment of a
Receiver so that the courts earlier order (of 1933) could be imple-
mented. On his petition for appointment of Receiver, he (Receiver)
was appointed. But in the present order (of 13 November) the High
Court declared the previous verdict or order as null and void on the
ground that the earlier order was not proper and ordered the
administrator to personally supervise and take care of all offerings
like chaadars, gifts, cash etc. It may be stated that an officer of the
rank of deputy secretary is appointed as Nazim or Administrator
by the central government.
Noori Khan fears for her life
Ujjain: Noori Khan, who has been denied a ticket by the Congress
though she had been nursing the constituency for the past two
years, accused the present MP of manipulation of tickets for all the
five Congress candidates in a deal with the BJP. Premchand Guddu
proved his smartness by manipulating a ticket for his son Ajit
Borasi from A lot, surprising senior party bosses in Bhopal and the
High Command. Noori in a press conference, disclosed the fact
that Guddu had made a secret deal not only with the declared can-
didates but also with the BJP. She expressed fear that she might
by killed by his henchmen. In a statement Guddu pleaded igno-
rance about all such charges and argued that what Noori says is
because of frustration as tickets were decided not by him but by
the party high command. On the contrary, he informed that he
himself wrote to SP Ujjain to provide security cover to Noori in
view of the death threat. Former Cong MLA, Batuk Shankar Joshi,
also demanded a thorough probe into Nooris allegations.
Pro / anti Guddu groups among Muslims made allegations and
counter allegations against her. A woman belonging to a particu-
lar community lodged a complaint against Noori alleging, she
(Noori) had not only threatened but also used derogatory words
against her caste. However, other disgruntled Congress leaders
sympathised with Noori and held a meeting. This compelled the
high command to undertake damage control. A popular film star
and Congress leader from Maharashtra visited Noori at her resi-
dence urging her to work for the party because her reluctance
would send a wrong message to the vote bank.
Women poll officers to identify burqa-clad voters
Bhopal: In order to identify burqa-clad voters in Madhya Pradesh
in two districts (Bhopal and Burhanpur) women poll officers shall
be appointed. Ashutosh Awasthi, district collector Burhanpur,
apprised that 175 booths have been identified where burqa clad
voters are excepted to turn up large numbers. At such booths
there shall be at least one woman officer to verify the identity of
the voter. Voter lists in Bhopal and Burhanpur are being prepared
in Urdu also for facilitating voters / poll agents.
DMs told to give 20% quota to minorities in govt schemes
Baghpat: UP government circular by Devesh Chaturvedi, state secre-
tary to DM of Baghpat instructs him to ensure 20% representation to
minorities in all government projects and welfare schemes. For this
purpose a committee headed by the District Magistrate will be consti-
tuted which will include two members of the minority communities
and one member will be nominated by the minorities affairs ministry.
It may be stated in this connection that the word minority which the
governments always use is confusing and illusory because it does not
include Muslims only but other minorities like Christians, Sikhs,
Parsees, Buddists and probably Jains also. Of these minorities
Muslims are the largest in number and most backward in all respects
i.e. educationally, socially and economically whereas all others are
much ahead of Muslims in all respects. As regards UP, Sikhs and
Buddhists may be very small in number whereas Parsis may be vir-
tually none. Only Muslims are the largest in number but even then it
cannot be said how much or what percent will be their share in govts
projects and schemes.
HC asks CBI to file counter affidavit in Babri missing papers case
Lucknow: Justice Imteyaz Murtaza and Justice D. K Upadhya of
Allahabad High Courts Lucknow Bench directed the CBI to find
out the 23 mising documents regarding the Babri Masjid case and
hand them over to the petitioner by 29 November. It may be stat-
ed in this connection that Akhil Bhartiya Hindu Maha Sabhas
member Kamleshwar Nath Rai in his PIL petition had stated that
23 documents regarding Babri Masjid-Ramjanmabhoomi case
were missing which should be provided to him because these
documents contain the report filed on the order dated 9 July 2009
of 3-member Bench. In compliance of this order the then state
government of Mayawati had handed these over to the CBI in 2009
who had stated that these documents were lost during the previ-
ous BJP governments period. However, when CBI prepared the
final report, it said that of the 23 documents only 7 documents
were available and the remaining ones having become time barred
had been destroyed. It was also stated in this petition that when
the CBI filed its final report on 22 June 2010, chief minister
Mayawati did not file any objection against the final report, on the
basis of which CBIs special court accepted this final report on 24
September 2011. CBI in its counter affidavit in this case said that
the 3-judge bench which had taken up Babri Masjid case for hear-
ing had already pronounced its verdict and hence the present 2-
judge bench could not take it up anew for hearing. Now the next
hearing of this case will be taken up on 29 November.
Post-riot negative reporting preventing normalcy
New Delhi: National Minorities Commission (NCM) after touring
the riot-affected areas of Muzaffarnagar, Shamli etc told the home
ministry that even 9 weeks after the communal riots in these dis-
tricts, the situation is still tense in these areas because of negative
reporting by media on which the ministry should exercise vigi-
lance. Also, in letters to Press Council of Indias Chairman Justice
M. Katju and chief of News Broadcasting Standard Authority
(NBSA), R. V. Ravindaran, the same views are expressed i.e. neg-
ative reporting of incidents right from the time of riots till date
because of which the situation is not returning to normalcy and
stray incidents of violence are still taking place some where or the
other and the atmosphere at many place is still tense.
It may be stated that NCM team consisting of chairman Wajahat
Haibullah, memebrs N. Daruwala, Dr Ajaib Singh, T.N. Shaano, Dr
Farida Khan and secretary Surjit Chaudhari, after touring the riot-
affected areas on 19 September and again on 3 October had met
the home minister Shinde and had discussed with him the plans
for rehabilitation of affected and homeless people. Delegation
members also told the minister that withdrawal of para-military
forces from the affected areas was a hasty step because condi-
tions were not normal, para-military forces should have been
posted in those areas for some more time. The Commission mem-
bers however appreciated the state governments steps for the
victims rehabilitation, payment of compensations and meeting
some other requirements of theirs. These steps are limited to relief
and rehabilitation only, the Commission said, but other equally
important thing is also to create confidence in the riot-affected
people so that they may willingly be prepared to go back to their
old houses and villages. This is possible only when the village
people also help in restoring and promoting communal harmony.
NCM also mentioned in its report a list of women who were
victims of rape in the affected areas.
HC directs UP govt to reconstitute Urdu Academy in 6 weeks
Lucknow: A Two-member bench of Allahabad High Courts
Lucknow Bench consisting of chief Justice D. Y. Chandrachud and
Justice DK Arora, in response to a PIL petition filed by lawyer
Farooq Ahmad, while expressing concern over the delay in the
reconstitution of Urdu Academy directed the UP government to
reconstitute it within six weeks. Farooq Ahmad in his PIL petition
had stated that UP Urdu Academy was first constituted in 1972 for
the promotion of Urdu and for rendering financial and other assis-
tance to Urdu students and poets, writers etc for publication of
their books etc. This academy consisted of a chairman, Vice
Chairman and a committee of 71 members which was carrying
out its duties and responsibilities satisfactorily but in 2007 when
Mayawati became chief minister, her government reduced the
number of members from 71 to 43. The present Samajwadi Party
government which was formed on 15 March 2012 dissolved this
Academy the very next day i.e. on 16 March and said that Principal
secretary of UP government, Lalit Verma was the Vice President of
Urdu Academy and Urdu translator and clerk S. Rizwan was
declared secretary of the Urdu Academy. At this, petitioner Farooq
Ahmad said that these appointments were against the rules and
regulations of Urdu Academy. On hearing this argument of Farooq
Ahmad the Bench directed the state government to constitute Urdu
Academy afresh within six weeks.
Fatima: first woman crorepati in KBC-7
MumbaI: Twenty two years old Fatima of Saharanpur became the
first woman crorepati in Amitabh Bachchans serial KBC - 7. She,
probably, is the first Muslim woman to hit the jackpot. Fatima had
to discontinue her studies after B.Sc because of financial con-
straints. She decided to earn enough to enable her younger sister
to continue her studies. She also intends to repay the loan her late
father had taken. Depending solely on newspapers and news
channels she intends to restart her own studies and provide relief
to her mother from all kinds of tensions.
New Delhi: National Heritage Portal (Website) on Maulana Abul
Kalam Azad, independent Indias first education minister, was
launched by Union minister for minorities affairs, K. Rahman
Khan on Maulanas 125th birth anniversary on 11 November at a
function held at National Media Centre here in the presence of
Prime Minister Manmohan Singhs adviser Sam Pitroda, Planning
Commission member (Mrs) Sayeeda Saiyyadain Hameed, NCM
chairman Wajahat Habibullah, Rajiv Shukla (MP), Mrs Mohsina
Qidwai Mrs Najma Heptullah (Maulana Azads relative) Justice
Rajinder Sachar and many other dignitaries. Speaking on this
occasion Rahman Khan while describing Maulana Azad as a reli-
gious scholar, exegesist of the Quran, great freedom fighter, a
journalist and champion of Hindu-Muslim Unity said that this
website or portal on the Maulana will be very useful to the peo-
ple in knowing his legacies, thoughts and contributions to the
countrys struggle for freedom.
Sam Pitroda, speaking about this portal said that it was joint-
ly prepared by a team of the ministry for minorities affairs, and
Maulana Azad Education Foundation for preserving the heriteges
of this great leader in which detailed information about his life,
works and creations etc have been included. He said that in this
website Maulana Azads 20 books (Urdu and English) and more
than 60 rare photos and important information about his political,
journalistic, literary etc life have been included which will be use-
ful in easily accessing the messages of our leaders to the
younger generations. At the same he added that many facts and
informations about him (Maulana) still remain to be highlighted
which will be updated from time to time.
Planning Commission Member Syeeda Hameed who has
written Maulana Azads biography also said while speaking on
this occasion that his services and sacrifices for freedom of the
country couldl not be forgotten. National Minorities
Commissions Chairman Wajahat Habibullah also spoke on this
occasion and paid rich tributes to him.
One hundred and twenty-fifth birth anniversary of Maulana
Abul Kalam Azad, independent Indias first education minister,
was celebrated by the Government of India as National Education
Day on 11 November. On this occasion, in addition to other func-
tions, central government had also issued two new coins of Rs 5
and Rs 20 denominations which were released by finance minis-
ter P. Chidambaram at a function held at National Media Centre on
11 November, they will become legal tender soon when these are
produced on mass scale. On this occasion he said that Lord
Mountbaltm and Mr Jinnah were in fact responsible for the coun-
trys partition. He read out some extracts from Maulana Azads
book, India Wins Freedom, and said that Nehru and Gandhiji had
not supported this partition, though All India Congress Committee
had accepted division of the country by 24 to 15 (against) votes.
Both Maulana Azad and Gandhiji were very angry and unhappy
with this division, he said. (N. A. Ansari)
A National portal launched on Maulana Azad
on his 125th birth anniversary
14 The Milli Gazette, 16-31 December 2013 COMMUNITY NEWS www.milligazette.com
Demolition order of Madrasa in AP
Hyderabad: An order was recently issued by the District Collector
of Chittaur district (Andhra Pradesh) to demolish the upper storey
of a 3-storeyed Madrasa for girls in the outer area of Tirupati in
AP which has led to great resentment among Madrasa
management and many people and non-governmental
organisations. They all described this order of the DM as highly
unjust and arbitrary. According to Madrasa management this
educational institution, Madrasa Niswaan Eshaatul Islam was set
up 18 years ago strictly in accordance with Andhra government's
rules and regulations and governments permission was also
obtained for the construction of new storey (3rd storey) in 2009.
According to them, about 300 poor girls are provided education
of the Quran and humanism but the district administration, on the
pretext of violation of rules and regulations, wants to demolish
this Madrasa which was built legally and without violation of any
rules. Moreover, some fanatic and extremist Hindu organisations
are falsely spreading the rumour that communalism is being
promoted in this Madras and it is being misused. Muslims and
Muslim organisations have expressed their strong reaction
against this false and unnecessary objection of the district
administration and extremist Hindu organisations.
Medical College named after Shaikhul Hind
Amroha / Saharanpur: Kanshi Ram Rajakiya Medical College under
construction in Saharanpur has been re-named by the ruling
Samajwadi Party government, probably on the request of Jamiatul
Ulama chief Maulana Arshad Madni, as Shaikhul Hind Maulana
Mahmoodul Hasan (Deobandi), noted crusader for Indias freedom
and moving spirit behind Reshmi Roomal movement against the
British government. The very name. Kanshi Ram Rajakiya Medical
College indicates that building of this medical college should have
been started by the previous BSP government of U. P. headed by
Mayawati and named after the founder of BSP. Though most of the
leaders and supporters of Jamiatul Ulama greatly welcomed and
rejoiced over this medical college being renamed after Maulana
Mahmoodul Hasan and congratulated chief minister Akhilesh
Yadav for this gesture, many Muslim leaders like Maulana Syed
Abdul Mabood, Patron of the organisation Markaz Aulia and Qari
Sultan, secretary of this Markaz did not appreciate this gesture of
the UP chief minister. He said that this decision (renaming the
medical college after Maulana Mahmoodul Hasan) is wrong and
this should not have been done. He said that we do not want our
illustrious leaders and ancestors to be degraded to such an extent
as to remove some bodys name already allotted and replace it
with our respected leaders name. He described this act of the
state government as simply to please Muslims and allay the feel-
ing of anger and dissatisfaction among Muslims against the gov-
ernment for its inability to control the anti-Muslim riots firmly and
its half hearted measures to punish the guilty and communal mind-
ed persons and to arrange for and organise the relief and rehabili-
tation of riot-hit and uprooted Muslims. He asked the state chief
minister to reverse his decision of removing Kanshi Rams name
and replacing it by Maulana Mahmoodul Hasans name. He said
that if after some time another government comes to power in the
sate it may remove Maulana Mahmoodul Hasans name and
replace it by some other name, or if BSP itself again comes to
power it may very well remove Maulanas name and again name it
Kanshi Ram Medical College. In this way, in addition to making
Maulanas name a matter of dispute, this naming and renaming will
go on and degrade Maulana Mahmoodul Hasans lofty position.
Instead, he and others suggested that the government should start
some new project in Deoband and name it after the Maulana.
One more accused in Godhra train fire case acquitted
Ahmedbad: Ismail Chunga, a resident of Godhra who was
accused along with many others in the Sabarmati Express fire
case of February 2002 and was arrested in March 2011 was
acquitted by the Special Trial Cour t on 30 November at
Ahmedabad. With his acquittal, so far a total of 64 accused per-
sons have been set free. The Special Court in its verdict pro-
nounced in 2011 had convicted 31 persons who were accused of
their involvement in the Sabarmati Express train fire on
27February 2002 at Godhra. This court in its verdict in 2011 had
also acquitted 63 accused persons. Out of the 31 persons found
guilty in the train fire case, 11 were sentenced to death and anoth-
er 11 were sentenced to life imprisonment. It may be recalled that
Umerje, who was declared the mastermind and main accused in
this case, was subsequently found innocent and acquitted in
2011. He however died shortly after his release from prison.
Zahareela Saheb & Madhuriben
New Delhi: Gulel.com released the tapes of surveillance ordered
by Amit Shah over Madhuri (assumed name) carried out by
G. L. Singhal. The website claims that the surveliance followed a
relationship lasting five years (2005-2009). A photograph has
been published which shows the Saheb, and ghulam (Pradeep
Sharma) along with Madhuri and her father. Pradip Sharma, in his
petition to the Supreme Court, has urged the apex court to order
a CBI probe
Confiscation proceedings of 13 absconders in murder cases
Muzaffar Nagar: During the Muzaffarnagar communal riots which
had erupted on 8 September and spread to many neighbouring
places six members of the minority community were killed in Link
village of this district. Thirteen rioters were complicit in the mur-
ders of these people. FIR was registered against all of them but
they could not be arrested because all of them had fled and gone
underground. When they could not be arrested nor did they sur-
render within the prescribed period after a notice was issued by
Chief Judicial Magistrate K. P. Singh, order for confiscation of their
properties was issued under section 82 of Cr P. C (Criminal
Procedure Code) and confiscation proceedings started. The
accused persons and absconders are Kapil, Neetu, Dushyant,
Ajay, Sanjay, Jagbir, Kuldeep, Mohit, Mahavir Singh, Kaalu, Satbir
and Deepu. These accused persons, in addition to killing six per-
sons, were also involved in burning of many houses.
Satellite campus and ITI of MANUU in Bidar
Bidar: Union HRD minister M. M. Pallam Raju said here while lay-
ing the foundation stone of satellite campus of MANNU (Maulana
Azad National Urdu University) on 1 December that according to
MANUUs mandate, this University could set up its colleges and
campuses in places where there are large number of Urdu speak-
ing people. Under this special power MANUU plans to set up its
satellite campus here (Bidar) where Urdu speaking people are in
large number. At this function, which was chaired by MANUUs
Vice Chancellor, Prof Muhammad Mian, Karnatakas chief minis-
ter Sidramayyah was also present along with other dignitaries
including Malikarjum Kharge. HRD minister further said that under
the governments plan, by the year 2022,50 crore (sic) trained
technical personnel will be needed in the country. In view of this
more and more attention is being paid by government towards
imparting of technical and vocational education and that serious
efforts will be made to promote such education among Muslims
through this satellite campus and boy and girl students of Urdu
medium will get better opportunities to brighten their future. Chief
minister Sidramayah said while speaking on this occasion that as
compared to other communities, Muslims are way behind in edu-
cation and the ratio of education among them is 11 percent only.
And because of this the government is making special arrange-
ments for the educational progress of Muslims.
Writers Forum set up in BS Abdur Rahman University
Chennai: A BSAU Writers Forum has been set up in B. S. Abdur
Rahman University here which was recently inaugurated by
Amirullah Khan, Deputy Director of Bill and Milinda Gates
Foundation. While speaking on this occasion he said that this was
an epoch making initiative of BSA University for which founders
of this University deserve congratulations and that future genera-
tions will not forget particularly the valuable efforts, services and
sacrifices of BS Abdur Rahman. It may also be stated that teach-
ers and experts of this Universitys departments have started
writing and preparing books on 154 topics of engineering, man-
agement, architecture, English and science and other disciplines.
Writing of books on these subjects will be completed within a
year. This University has also arranged for organising many
important seminars and workshops for preparation of these
books. All these books will be published by publishers who are
participating in this programme on the very same day which in
itself will be a record.
Silence, Gujarat now has a Lokayukta
Ahmedabad: After much dilly dallying and reluctance the Gjuarat
government has appointed a lokayukt. The post had been lying
vacant for ten years since 2003. The Governor, Dr Kamla Beniwal,
has given her consent for the appointment of Justice DP Buch
(retd). Shankar Singh Waghela the leader of opposition in the
assembly, had already given his consent to the choice.
Amit Shah accused of plotting murder
Ahmedabad: Chhotu Vasava, a powerful MLA of JDU, accused
Amit Shah of hatching a conspiracy against him. Dheeraj Parmar,
advocate of Chhotu, filed a defamation claim of Rs 5 crores
against Shah and four others for falsely implicating his client in
Bhudar Vasava murder case. The legislator alleges that not only
was he to be implicated in the murder case but also to be killed in
a fake encounter. After his release in October 2013, Chhotu has
knocked at the courts door.
Parsis who beget three or more children to get allowances
Vadodra: Parsi community in view of their decreasing population
in the country, has announced in its Panchayat held in Mumbai, a
financial incentive to Parsi parents to have more children in order
to stop the annual decrease in population. Panchaits president
Dinshaw Mehta said that it was decided in the communitys meet-
ing held in Gujarats Sanjan (District Walsaad) on 18 November
that a Parsi couple who gives birth to the second child will be
given an allowance of Rs 3000 per month till the child attains 18
years of age. And if a couple gives birth to third child, it will be
given an incentive allowance of Rs 5000 per month. He said that
about 3000 Indian and foreign Parsi families had attended this
meeting in which the problem of existence and survival of
Zarathustra (or Zoraostrian) community in changing times was
discussed along with some other relevant problems. He said that
this meeting is held every year on Sanjan Divas which is cele-
brated since the time when people of the Parsi community came
to India for the first time 1297 years ago. He said that every year
the population of Parsi community is falling by about 10 to 15 per-
cent and if this decline is not stopped, their population would be
reduced to about 36000 only by 2050.
Jamia Millia Islamia Universitys Convocation 2013
New Delhi: Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhis annual
Convocation was held in the University premises on 28 November
when Delhis Lt Governor Najeeb Jung, who himself was this
Universitys Vice Chancellor before his appointment to his present
post, said while delivering the Convocation address that Jamia Millia
Islamia is a grand example of peaceful religious co-existence based
on secular values. He said that Jamia is not only an educational insti-
tution but is the name of a movement and a civilization. He called
upon the students to develop investigative interest by themselves.
Lt. General MA Zaki, a former VC of Jamia Millia University and its
present Chancellor chaired the convocation function. In this
Convocation, Degrees and Diplomas were given to 4569 boy and
girl students who had Graduated, Post Graduated and those with
Diploma from different departments and centres of this institution
in 2011-12. In addition to these Degrees and Diplomas, 154 Gold
Medals were given to students who had stood First in different
courses and PhD Degrees were conferred on 224 research schol-
ars. On this occasion an Honorary D. Litt Degree (Honoris Causa)
was conferred on Najeeb Jung by the Chancellor Gen Zaki. Vice
Chancellor Prof SM Sajid presented the annual report on the activ-
ities and achievements of the University. He said that in accor-
dance with the policy of this University to promote Urdu language
and literature, a certificate course in Urdu will also be started.
Communal riot in Katras (Jharkhand)
Dhanbad: Communal riot erupted in Katra Bazar near Dhanbad on
6 December when VHP and Bajrang Dal workers took out a shau-
rya diwas (bravery day) procession in celebration of the demolition
of the Babri Masjid. In this riot more than a dozen persons were
injured including 3 police officers when clashes between two
groups of Hindus and Muslims took place resulting in violence,
fighting, arson etc. Many shops were looted and along with shops,
many bikes etc were also set on fire. Section 144 was promulgat-
ed and because of police patrolling violence was brought under
control but tension prevailed. While the victory and bravery pro-
cession was going on, it was time for Friday prayers. Youth accom-
panying the procession were shouting slogans also. When Muslims
tried to stop provocative slogans, quarrels and fighting started. This
news spread in the whole town and people started closing their
shops in panic but more people equipped with arms etc joined pro-
cessionists and indulged in violence. When the crowd became
unruly, police resorted to lathi charge. The Police force being small,
it became difficult to control the situation. When top police and civil
officials reached there with additional force, the situation could be
brought under control. Burning shops etc were somehow extin-
guished. When section 144 was promulgated, there was great
chaos and stampede but the situation gradually improved. Police
staged flag marches. Late at night peace meetings were organised
by police officials in which people of both communities participat-
ed and violence and mischief mongers were condemned.
New Delhi: Gujarats BJP government headed by Narendra Modi
in an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court has stated that Justice
Rajinder Sachar Committee set up by the UPA government is ille-
gal and unconstitutional because its sole purpose is to help only
Muslims. This affidavit was filed in response to the central gov-
ernment's stand that educational scholarship schemes started
by the UPA government are legal and constitutional. Gujarat gov-
ernment in its affidavit rejected the Sachar Committee on the
ground that the sole and only objective of this Committee
appointed by Dr Manmohan Singh government in 2005 was to
review the economic, social and educational condition and back-
wardness of Muslims only, thereby ignoring other religious
minorities like Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis. This
Committee has neither any legal status nor any constitutional
justification and hence many central governments schemes and
projects based on this Committees recommendations cannot be
implemented, the affidavit said. It is clearly stated in the affidavit
that by implementing the recommendations of this Committee
only Muslims will benefit whereas other religious minorities will
remain, and are, deprived of the benefits of the welfare schemes.
Gujarat government had filed this affidavit while challenging
the Gujarat High Courts earlier verdict in which this High Court
had ruled that granting of pre-matric scholarsips to Muslim boy
and girl students by the government because of their education-
al backwardness on account of their poverty and economically
weak position and in order to promote education among them
was justified. Gujarat government, which before this verdict of
the High Court had not been giving these pre-matric scholarships
to minority (Muslim) students on the ground that it was discrim-
inatory, had however agreed, after Gujarat High Courts verdict,
to pay these scholarships to Muslim or minority students but
thereafter had challenged the High Courts verdict in the
Supreme Court. It was probably in this connection that it had
filed the affidavit, mentioned above, in the Supreme Court and
had advanced the arguments against the constitutionality of the
Sachar Committee and benefits like scholarships etc being paid
to minority students.
It may be stated that 75 percent of the expenses incurred on
the scholarships and other benefits / facilites being provided to
minority students under Sachar Committees recommendations
are being paid by the central government and the remaining 25
percent are being paid / to be paid by the state governments.
Most of the states are paying their 25 percent share of education-
al scholarships to Muslims and other poor students but Gujarat
government was not paying Muslim students because of its
above stand but after Gujarat High Courts verdict, it had agreed
to pay such scholarships.
It is now to be seen how the Supreme Court reacts to the
Gujarat governments stand on Sachar Committee as well as on
educational scholarships to Muslim students. (N. A. Ansari)
Sachar illegal: Gujarat government tells SC
COMMUNITY NEWS The Milli Gazette, 16-31 December 2013 15 www.milligazette.com
AISHA TAYYABA
aishatayyaba@gmail.com
The research on demographic changes of western countries in
relation to the Muslim immigration and the Muslim fertility rate is
very intriguing. The average fertility rate per family amongst the
westerners is 1.65 as compared to the Muslims 8.1. An interest-
ing picture emerges when this is translated into demographic
change.
According to studies, it is known that in order for a culture to
maintain itself for over 25 years, it has to keep a fertility rate of
2.11 children per family. Anything less than that would mean a
decline in the culture. At the rate of 1.9, the reversal becomes dif-
ficult and it takes 80-100 years to correct itself. At 1.3 or less, the
reversal becomes impossible.
Keeping these figures in mind, let us study the culture growth
rates of certain western countries.
The figures of 2007 show that in France, the fertility rate was
1.8; in England it was 1.6; in Greece 1.3; Germany 1.3; Italy 1.2;
Spain 1.1; and in EU as a whole with 31 countries, it was only
1.38.
These figures are indicative of a change in the demography of
Europe in a few years. In other words, the European culture as we
know it will cease to exist in the coming decades.
Remember that we are talking of culture, not population,
which has not declined because of immigration. Statistics show
that since 1990 over 90% of immigration into western countries
was from Muslim countries.
As a result of this change, in France 30% of children aged 20
years and below are Muslims. In big cities such as Paris and
Marseille, the ratio goes up to 45%. In southern France, there are
more mosques than churches. The situation in UK is not much
different either. In the last 30 years, the Muslim population there
has risen from 82,000 to 2.5 millions, which is a 30-fold
increase. There are over 1,000 mosques, many of which were
converted from churches. The situation remains identical in other
major countries of Europe.
For example, in the Netherlands, 5% newborns are Muslims
and in next the 15 years half of the population will be Muslim.
Keeping the demographic decline in view, the German gov-
ernment reported that, The fall in the (German) population can
no longer be stopped. Its downward spiral is no longer
reversible. It further stated, It will be a Muslim state by the year
2050.
In Belgium, 50% newborns
are Muslim and reportedly its
Muslim population is around
25%. Its government recently
announced that one third of all
European children will be born to
Muslims families by 2025.
As a result of the high
growth rate, the present 52 mil-
lion Muslims in Europe will reach
to 104 millions in 20 years.
It is the same story in
Russia. There are 23 million
Muslims living in that country
with a ratio of 1:5. It is calculat-
ed that soon 40 % of Russian
army will be Muslim.
We, Muslims, will outnum-
ber all others in USA, Europe and
in most of Africa and Far East in
quantity. We must improve our qualitative strengths in order to
reap the fruites of being in the majority.
Education, Education and Education with Skill Enhancement
is our real challenge. But the right education which must bring a
change in our character and behaviour while preparing ourselves
to face future challenges of technology and economy.
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16 The Milli Gazette, 16-31 December 2013 INTERNATIONAL www.milligazette.com
Muslim Population - The Future of the World
Mandelas Memo to
Thomas Friedman About
Israel & Palestine
If you want peace and democracy, I will support you. If you
want formal Apartheid, we will not support you. If you want to
support racial discrimination and ethnic cleansing, we will
oppose you.
By Nelson Mandela
28 March 2001
Dear Thomas,
I know that you and I long for peace in the Middle East, but before
you continue to talk about necessary conditions from an Israeli
perspective, you need to know whats on my mind. Where to
begin? How about 1964. Let me quote my own words during my
trial. They are true today as they were then: I have fought against
white domination and I have fought against black domination. I
have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which
all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities.
It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs
be, it is an ideal
for which I am
prepared to die.
Today the
world, black and
white, recognize
that Apar theid
has no future. In
South Africa it
has been ended
by our own
decisive mass
action in order
to build peace
and security.
That mass cam-
paign of defi-
ance and other
actions could
only culminate
in the establish-
ment of
Democracy.
Perhaps it is
strange for you
to observe the
situation in
Palestine or
more specifically, the structure of political and cultural relation-
ships between Palestinians and Israelis, as an Apartheid system.
This is because you incorrectly think that the problem of Palestine
began in 1967. This was demonstrated in your recent column
Bushs First Memo in the New York Times on March 27, 2001.
You seem to be surprised to hear that there are still problems
of 1948 to be solved, the most important component of which is
the right to return of Palestinian refugees. The Palestinian
-Israeli conflict is not just an issue of military occupation and
Israel is not a country that was established normally and hap-
pened to occupy another country in 1967. Palestinians are not
struggling for a state but for freedom, liberation and equality,
just like we were struggling for freedom in South Africa.
In the last few years, and especially during the reign of the
Labour Party, Israel showed that it was not even willing to return
what it occupied in 1967; that Settlements remain, Jerusalem
would be under exclusive Israeli sovereignty, and Palestinians
would not have an independent state, but would be under Israeli
economic domination with Israeli control of borders, land, air,
water and sea.
Israel was not thinking of a state but of separation. The
value of separation is measured in terms of the ability of Israel to
keep the Jewish state Jewish, and not to have a Palestinian
minority that could have the opportunity to become a majority at
some time in the future. If this takes place, it would force Israel to
either become a secular democratic or bi-national state, or to turn
into a state of Apartheid not only de facto, but also de jure.
Thomas, if you follow the polls in Israel for the last 30 or 40
years, you clearly find a vulgar racism that includes a third of the
population who openly declare themselves to be racist. This
racism is of the nature of I hate Arabs and I wish Arabs would
be dead.
If you also follow the judicial system in Israel you will see
there is discrimination against Palestinians, and if you further
consider the 1967 Occupied Territories you will find there are
already two judicial systems in operation that represent two dif-
ferent approaches to human life: one for Palestinian life and the
other for Jewish life. Additionally there are two different approach-
es to property and to land. Palestinian property is not recognized
as private property because it can be confiscated.
As to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, there
is an additional factor. The so-called Palestinian autonomous
areas are
B a n t u s t a n s .
These are
restricted enti-
ties within the
power structure
of the Israeli
Apar theid sys-
tem.
T h e
Palestinian state
cannot be the
by-product of
the Jewish
state, just in
order to keep
the Jewish puri-
ty of Israel.
Israels racial
discrimination
is daily life of
m o s t
Pal est i ni ans.
Since Israel is a
Jewish state,
Israeli Jews are
able to accrue
special rights which non-Jews cannot do. Palestinian Arabs have
no place in a Jewish state.
Apartheid is a crime against humanity. Israel has deprived
millions of Palestinians of their liberty and property. It has perpet-
uated a system of gross racial discrimination and inequality. It has
systematically incarcerated and tor tured thousands of
Palestinians, contrary to the rules of international law. It has, in
particular, waged a war against a civilian population, in particular
children.
The responses made by South Africa to human rights abus-
es emanating from the removal policies and Apartheid policies
respectively, shed light on what Israeli society must necessarily
go through before one can speak of a just and lasting peace in the
Middle East and an end to its Apartheid policies.
Thomas, Im not abandoning Mideast diplomacy. But Im not
going to indulge you the way your supporters do. If you want
peace and democracy, I will support you. If you want formal
Apartheid, we will not support you. If you want to support racial
discrimination and ethnic cleansing, we will oppose you.
When you figure out what youre about, give me a call.
World Religions by percentage (2007 est.)
Israel is planning to move ahead
with another 3,360 new settler
homes in the West Bank
Jerusalem: Israel is planning to move ahead with another 3,360
new settler homes in the West Bank, Haaretz newspaper reported
on Thursday, quoting an MP from the ruling right-wing Likud
party. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus government
will begin advancing a series of construction plans in east
Jerusalem and the West Bank to the tune of some 5,000 new
housing units, in an effort to offset the release of Palestinian
prisoners earlier this week, the paper said.
The figure includes the construction of 1,500 new homes in
East Jerusalem announced after Israel freed 26 long-serving pris-
oners in line with its commitments to US-backed peace talks. But
the report also detailed plans for another 3,360 homes which are
to be pushed through various stages of the planning process.
The report said the government would market land for the
immediate construction of 860 housing units in settlements in the
major blocs naming Ariel, Maaleh Adumim, Givat Zeev, Beitar Ilit,
Kareni Shomron and Elkana. Plans for another 1,400 new homes
in both the blocs and in isolated settlements in the West Bank.
PLO official Hanan Ashrawi also condemned the move, say-
ing settlement expansion is willfully and flagrantly violating inter-
national law and the requirements for peace.The Israeli occupa-
tion is exposing its true intentions of creating greater Israel rather
than a two- state solution. The Israeli government has proven
once again that it is not a partner for peace nor a member of the
international community that respects the global rule of law.
Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki said that the PA is considering
going to international courts to file complaints against new Israeli
settlements.
British Minister Hugh Robertson said in a statement that the
UK regrets the recent decision to expand settlements, adding that
the UKhas consistently condemned settlements, which are illegal
under international law, undermine trust and threaten the viability
of the two-state solution.
The previous round of negotiations collapsed in September
2010 in a bitter dispute over Israels construction on land seized
and occupied in the 1967 Six Day War. (maannews.net)
Nelson Mandela, President of South Africa from 10 May 1994 to 14 June 1999, died on 5
December. He was one of the greatest contemporary statesmen. He spent 27 years in prison
(1962-1990) due to his struggle for his countrys freedom from the apartheid regime. He was
mourned all over the world by people of all creeds and cultures for his humane and selfless
nature and great sacrifices for his people. He was a great supporter of the Palestinian people
who he believed also lived under an apartheid system. We reproduce here his historical letter to
an American Zionist which is as fresh today as it was when written by the great man. He
received many honours for his struggle including Nobel Prize for Peace and Indias highest
award, the Bharat Ratna. (See also page 2 of this issue)
Nelson Mandelas first public visit
after he came out of prison in 1990
was to the Auwal Mosque, South
Africas first mosque built in 1795.
Seated to his left is the imam who
used to visit him in prison.
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INTERNATIONAL The Milli Gazette, 16-31 December 2013 17 www.milligazette.com
KHALID AMAYREH
Occupied Jerusalme: Nine years passed on 11
November on the death of the iconic Palestinian
leader Yasser Arafat. It is widely believed that
Arafat was poisoned by agents of the Israeli intel-
ligence apparatus, the Mossad.
The radioactive lethal substance, polonium
which killed Arafat, is possessed only by nuclear
states, including Israel. As to how the deadly sub-
stance found its way to Arafat's body is a ques-
tion the PLO must answer. Unfortunately, the PLO
is yet to answer the question. It is unlikely though
that it ever will.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has been
quoted as saying that the PLO will sooner or later
discover the truth about Arafat's murder. Well. It is
really hard to believe Mr. Abbas. Moreover, the
Palestinian people are really fed up with this kind
of rhetorical overindulgence which we have been
hearing ad nauseam since Arafat's death. I am not
suggesting that we completely terminate efforts
to expose Israel as a criminal state par excel-
lance. However, it is probably more expedient for
our enduring struggle for freedom and independ-
ence to direct our attention inward. Our
Palestinian arena is most probably rife with Israeli
agents. I know it is embarrassing to say so pub-
licly, but it is pointless to deny an open secret.
The PA, as we all know, is an open and easily
accessible arena. Any state or espionage agency
can easily penetrate that arena. Moreover, our
counter-espionage apparatus is too unsophisti-
cated and probably too corrupt to do what it is
supposed to do in an environment tightly con-
trolled by Israel. Moreover, we all know that the
main function of our security agencies is not to
fight Israel or Israeli espionage. It is rather to
hound and liquidate any semblance of resistance
against Israel.
Our leaders call the ignominious collaboration
with the enemy legitimate security coordination.
But this is an insult to language and truth. We
know and the world knows it is not coordination
against the evil-doers, such as Jewish settler
thugs who burn down our fields and orchards and
olive groves, but is rather a disgraceful collabora-
tion with the occupation army against the free men
and women of Palestine who would even contem-
plate resisting our tormentors. It is sad and lamen-
table that the very PLO that was created in the
mid-1960s to liberate Palestine from the clutches
of Zionist is now acting very much like the infa-
mous Judenrte (the Jewish councils created and
controlled by the Nazis). What is even more
shocking is the fact that many Palestinians are
cheering and defending this indelible disgrace.
Fascists par excellance or Pseudo-democrats
The past few years have exposed naked Arab
secularism and secularists. In the United States,
the word secularism has a generally positive con-
notation. It implies the protection of religion from
government interference and encroachment. In
return, clergymen would keep a certain distance
between religion and politics.
But government wouldn't interfere with
organized religion and wouldn't interfere with the
appointment of heads of religious institutions.
In the Arab world, however, secularism
implies first and foremost hostility to religion,
especially Islam. You can not be truly secular in
the Arab world unless you are inimical to Islam.
Arab secularists are also pseudo democrats.
They accept democracy as long as democracy
produces atheists, secularists, Communists,
socialists Christians and what have you.
However, the moment Islamists win in any fair
and transparent elections, these secularist morph
immediately into full-fledged fascists and ene-
mies of democracy. Take Egyptian secularists as
an example. When the Muslim Brotherhood and
other Islamists won elections three times and the
secularists lost three times since the 25-January
revolution, the latter lost any pretension of
democracy.
They stopped shortly of declaring their utter
disbelief in the ballot box. They concocted all
sorts of idiotic and mendacious arguments to
justify their dark embrace with despotism, tyran-
ny and fascism. They gave their full support and
backing to the Nazi-like Junta, which overthrew
the only democratically-elected president in Egypt
history, massacred thousands in cold blood,
detained as captives tens of thousands without
charge and trial and decapitated freedom of
speech and expression.
The secularists claimed to be in favor of fos-
tering liberty and granting people the freedom t to
choose the political system that is compatible
with their value systems. However, when these
idiots were eventually selected by the murderous
junta to write a new constitution in lieu of the legit-
imate one, passed by 70% of Egyptians, the first
thing they did was to impose secularism as a new
religion in lieu of Islam.
Secularism is part of Christianity, it is not part
of Islam. You can not impose secularism, which
is actually euphemism for atheism, on a predom-
inantly Muslim society.
The secularists claim to respect freedom of
religion and freedom of choice. However, this is a
big lie because freedom of religion for Muslims
also includes the chance to elect a political party
that is compatible with their faith.
Indeed, when you force a religious Muslim
society, like the Egyptian society, to choose a
secular or atheistic political party (because polit-
ical parties based on Islam are banned) you are
effectively denying Muslims, (95% of the popula-
tion) the right to practice their faith.
This is fascism, pure and simple.
Netanyah seeks lebensraum, not peace
Palestinian Authority (PA) officials reportedly inti-
mated of late that the ongoing peace talks with
Israel, resumed under American pressure three
months ago, have achieved a fat zero. Well, this
revelation shouldn't really raise the eyebrows of
any serious observer monitoring the so-called
peace process between the Ramallah leadership
and the Zionist regime.
Indeed, since the futile talks started more
than 20 years ago, Israel tripled the number of
Jewish colonizers in the West Bank, tripled the
size of its colonies and nearly completed the
process of de-Arabizing and de-Islamizing Arab
East Jerusalem.In short, Israel killed any remain-
ing chance for establishing a viable Palestinian
state. This happened as Palestinian negotiators
kept babbling about a peace process that has the
face of a whore and the credibility of a pimp.
I really don't know when Palestinian leaders
are going to realize that peace and Israel are an
eternal oxymoron. Some gullible Palestinian offi-
cials , whose tongues function much more swift-
ly than their brains do, keep thinking that the U. S.,
Israel's guardian-ally, will eventually force Israel to
give up the spoils of the 1967.
Well, these idiots, who think they are smarter
than anyone else, seem to be living in a world of
their own, a world where these ignoramuses nei-
ther learn from other people's mistakes nor from
their own mistakes. They are undoubtedly a dis-
aster upon themselves and upon they people they
are purported to serve. I don't know when if ever
these people will realize that the U. S. lacks the
will and the inclination to pressure Israel. In the
final analysis, America is actually the proverbial
monkey and Israel is the proverbial organ grinder.
The monkey can not do anything, save play to the
tune of the organ grinder.
On Arafat, Arab secularists and PA-Israeli talks
Judicial murder
in Bangladesh
The Hasina
Wajed regime
in Bangladesh
executed on
12 December
the 65-year-
old Islamist
leader Abdul
Kader Molla,
convicted of
atrocities in
the 1971 war
of independ-
ence with Pakistan by a controversial and discred-
ited tribunal whose judges were taking orders and
advice from pro-gov-
ernment agents which
was exposed by for-
eign media and report-
ed in MG also.
Molla was the first
person convicted by
Bangladesh's contro-
versial International
Crimes Tribunal (ICT)
to be executed. There
is nothing international
about his political tri-
bunal established to
judicially kill the
regimes political
opponents.
The ICT was set
up in 2010 to investi-
gate abuses commit-
ted during the 1971
conflict which led to
the emergence of
Bangladesh with active
Indian help and
involvement.
Molla was a sen-
ior leader of the
Jamaat-e-Islami party.
His trial earlier in the
year sparked protests
from Jamaat support-
ers. Several other leading figures in the party have
also been convicted by the tribunal.
Those being tried by the ICT are accused of
collaborating with Pakistani forces who attempted
to stop East Pakistan, as Bangladesh was then,
from becoming an independent country. However,
human rights groups have claimed that the tribu-
nal falls short of international standards.
Authorities went ahead with the execution
despite widespread international appeals against
the move, including from the United Nations'
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
The government, which has also rebuffed
international pressure to delay elections scheduled
for next month, was unrepentant about the deci-
sion to carry out the execution of 65-year-old
Molla.
It's the best gift for (the) nation as we cele-
brate the Victory Day on December 16, deputy
law minister Quamrul Islam said, referring to the
national day that marked Bangladesh's independ-
ence war victory against Pakistan.
Jamaat has called the execution a political
murder and warned of exacting revenge for
every drop of Molla's blood.
After a trial by
a much-criticised
domestic tribunal,
Molla was found
guilty in February
of having been a
leader of a pro-
Pakistan militia
which fought
against the coun-
try's independence
and killed some of
Bangladesh's top
professors, doc-
tors, writers and
journalists.
Molla was one
of five Islamists
and other politi-
cians sentenced to
death by a domes-
tic court known as
the International
Crimes Tribunal,
which the opposi-
tion says is aimed
at eradicating its
leaders.
The sen-
tences have trig-
gered riots and
plunged the coun-
try into its worst violence since independence.
Some 233 people have now been killed in street
protests since January, when the verdicts were
first handed down.
Mushawarat condemns
the judicial murder of
Bangladeshi leader
New Delhi: The All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat,
the umbrella body of Indian Muslim organisations, on
13 December severely condemned the Bangladesh gov-
ernment's hasty execution of a controversial verdict
issued by a discredited and politicised tribunal.
President of AIMMM, Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan said
here that the hasty execution of Maulana Abdul Qadir
Molla, a prominent leader of Jamaate-Islami Bangladesh,
is a scandal and crime committed by an unpopular gov-
ernment which is about to be overthrown by the people
of Bangladesh in the forthcoming general elections. The
present government by its hurried execution of a contro-
versial order by a discredited and politicised tribunal is
only seeking to weaken opposition forces.
Dr Khan said it was totally unfair to revive closed
cases after four decades defying the decision of the first
President of Bangladesh. Dr Khan said this judicial mur-
der will go into history as one of the sins and misdeeds
of the present Bangladeshi ruler. Dr Khan asked interna-
tional human rights organisations to take the Bangladesh
government and its discredited tribunal to the
International Court of Justice as sanity and good counsel
have failed to bring the present rulers of Bangladesh to
their senses.
KHALID AMAYREH
Occupied Jerusalem: There is no doubt that enduring political
tyranny is the fundamental root-cause of the many ills plaguing
the Arab world from Morocco to Bahrain. Hence, it is essential that
this tyranny be eradicated if the estimated 300 million Arabs will
have any real hope for a better tomorrow.
We all know that there is not a single Arab country that really
enjoys any real semblance of democracy, perhaps with the excep-
tion of Lebanon, a country with 35 religious sects and denomina-
tions which have maintained an uneasy and often bloody coexis-
tence since independence in the mid 1940s.
Some Arab regimes have succeeded in bribing their often
politically-unconscious masses into submission and pacification
by granting them hefty financial inducements. But life is more than
just eating and mating, and people in some of these oil-rich coun-
tries are beginning to ask the hard questions the despotic dynas-
tic rulers have always dreaded.
In other countries, especially the so-called republics, the
comparatively more tyrannical regimes continue to employ the
same stale nationalistic rhetoric which the masses have been
hearing ad nauseam and got fed up with for many decades.
The stale slogans include, inter alia, references to western
imperialism, Zionism, capitalism and reactionary forces. Indeed,
ever since the end of the Second World War, any Arab daring to
demand basic human rights and civil rights from the tyrannical
regimes and ruling juntas has been automatically charged with
collaboration with Israel or being an agent for Capitalistic or impe-
rialistic forces.
Numerous prominent Arab intellectuals and thinkers were exe-
cuted on concocted charges. We all remember the great Egyptian
Islamic thinker Sayed Qutb as an outstanding example of the vic-
tims of Gamal Abdul Nassers tyranny.
Nasser, undoubtedly a charismatic autocrat, tried to create a
false Arab religion, comprising a combination of socialism and
anti-Islam Arab nationalism. As we all know, this religion died an
ignominious death in 1967 when Israel defeated Egypt, Syria and
Jordan and seized the remainder of Palestine, including the Aqsa
Mosque, as well as the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula and the Syrian
Golan Heights.
We should also remember the fact that a few months before
that fateful war, the atheistic Baath party declared the end of
Islam when one of its leading officials, Ibrahim Makhos, wrote in
the Syrian army magazine, Jayshu Shab (or the peoples army)
that Allah, religion and morality ought to be viewed as mere mum-
mies in the museum of history.
Similarly, Gamal Abdul Nasser was declared as the last Arab
prophet, although he was responsible for the greatest Arab defeat
since the Crusades seized Jerusalem in 1099.
The reason for this historical background is to remind readers
that the current Arab regimes are mere extensions -in every
conceivable respect- of past regimes in Cairo and Damascus. For
example, Gen. Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, the mass murderer who
ordered his henchmen to open fire indiscriminately on peaceful
protesters at Rabaa, openly claims he is a political incarnation of
Nasser.
Similarly, Bashar el-Assad, the Hitler of Syria who didnt hes-
itate to exterminate his own people with deadly chemical
weapons, says he is following the footsteps of his father Hafez el-
Assad, the cursed tyrant who murdered tens of thousands of inno-
cent Syrians in Hama and who is widely believed to have ceded
the Golan Heights to Israel in 1967 when he was commander-in-
chief of the Syrian army.
Criminals par excellence
The secular Arab media, much of which is vehemently hostile to
Islam, keeps referring to Islamists and other free-minded individ-
uals taking part in the current revolutions in both Syria and Egypt
as terrorists.
However, a thorough examination of outstanding facts would
reveal that the true terrorists are the regimes, not their opponents.
In fact, there are numerous damn reasons justifying and even
necessitating revolution against these nefarious regimes from the
religious, moral, human and political perspectives.
In the following paragraphs, I will present some of the hard-
pressing reasons making revolution a must.
First, some of these regimes, such as in Syria, have been
shamelessly trying to change the religion of 90% of Syrians-from
Islam to Godless secularism or heretical Shiism (whereby Ali Bin
abi Taleb is worshipped as God incarnate).
Indeed, on every occasion, spokesmen and mouthpieces of
the Syrian regime boast of being the guardians of secularism in
the Arab world. By making the false claim, they hope to obtain a
certificate of good conduct from the West, especially in the after-
math of 9/11 events in the US, when west governments became
more allergic to anything Islamic.
Well, true secularism means freedom of religion, first and
foremost. It also implies, as in the U. S., protection of religion from
government interference. But in Syria and Egypt, this is not the
case as everyone working in the mosques and Islamic affairs min-
istries -from the lowest ranking employee to the cabinet Minister-
is appointed by the Intelligence apparatus. In Egypt, the Sheikh of
Azhar must be answerable to the tyrant ruling to the country. This
was amply evident in the absolute and unequivocal support and
backing of the Sheikh of Azhar to the bloody coup against the only
democratically-elected president in Egypts history.
This means that religion is manipulated by the government as
religious officials must always be loyal to the regime, not to Islam
or to God. This explains the fact the official religious establishment
in Egypt and Syria as well as other Arab countries are siding with
the manifestly evil and murderous regimes, although it is mani-
festly clear from the Islamic perspective that many of these
regimes are apostates.
Second, in Syria and Egypt, one has to be a member of an
atheistic or secular party in order to practice his political rights.
The new Egyptian Constitution, being prepared by secular fanatics
handpicked by the murderous military junta, allows for the forma-
tion of political parties based on atheism, secularism, even sexu-
al perversion but not on Islam. This happens in a country whose
constitution stipulates in its second article that Islam is state reli-
gion.
And in Syria, which also proclaims Islam as state religion,
anyone convicted of affiliation with an Islamist political party is
executed before a firing squad. But this doesnt prevent the regime
from claiming that Syria is the most democratic country under the
sun.
Third, the secular but fascist regimes legalize and encourage
every conceivable violation of the Islamic faith, including gam-
bling, prostitution, usury, media promiscuity and atheism. Indeed,
it is well known that while religious people are refused admission
into numerous jobs and occupations, atheists and unreligious
people are readily accepted into the army, air- force, intelligence
and other sensitive fields.
In fact, in Syria, and ever since the Baathist coupe of 1963,
only Alawites and non-Muslims are accepted in high-ranking jobs
in the security apparatuses. In some cases, Sunnis are accepted
as a cover-up. However these Sunnis are stripped of any real
authority or power.
One Syrian official intimated to this writer that even an
Alawhite janitor in any given ministry in Syria has more real power
than a Sunni cabinet minister.
Fourth, the ruling regimes in most Arab countries are decid-
edly anti-democratic. In fact, Arab regimes and democracy cannot
be used in the same sentence. They are an eternal oxymoron.
Indeed, the highest strategy of any Arab state is to keep the cur-
rent regime in power. Every other consideration is subservient to
that strategy.
Sometimes, some of these regimes are forced to organize
elections, mainly under foreign pressure. But before they embark
on holding the elections, they promulgate draconian laws
designed to maximize the chances of success for anti-Islam sec-
ular candidates and/or regime supporters, and minimize the
chances of the Islamists.
And in case the Islamists win despite all the odds and hurdles
as happened in Egypt in 2012, the regimes, or the deep state
apparatus ( e. g. the justice system), resort to canceling the elec-
tions altogether for technical or procedural reasons.
The reason the elections results are cancelled is simple.
These people are infinitely corrupt. They are big thieves to say the
very least. Hence, they are really worried that any clean govern-
ment which might arise as a result of the democratic process
would put them behind bars and recover the millions of dollars
that they have embezzled.
Hence, they follow the adage let us eat them for lunch before
they eat us for dinner.
Real Conflict
The real conflict in the Arab world is not between Islam and sec-
ularism, although secularism is not part of Islam as there is no
real separation between mosque and state.
The real conflict is actually between fascism, which often
dons a secular attire, and democracy. The problem for the fascists
is that they cant allow true democracy to take root in their coun-
tries for two main reasons.
First, a true democracy would overthrow the tyrants sooner or
later, forcing them to lose their grip on power and privileges, espe-
cially the huge thefts they amassed at the expense of the people.
Second, a true democracy would sooner or later bring the
Islamists to the fore.
Hence, the most reasonable option for these fascists is to
seek alliance with pseudo- liberals, leftists, and religious minori-
ties on the ground that the Islamists are their common enemy.
To conclude, the Islamists have every right under the sun to
revolt against these criminal and bankrupt regimes. Indeed, the
Islamists are damn correct in claiming that their very religion
(Islam) is at stake especially if these regimes are allowed to linger
unopposed and unchallenged.
Khalid Amayreh is an American-educated journalist living in
occupied Palestine
Overthrowing tyrannical regimes is a must for Muslims
18 The Milli Gazette, 16-31 December 2013 INTERNATIONAL www.milligazette.com
The real conflict is actually between fascism, which often dons a secular attire, and democ-
racy. The problem for the fascists is that they cant allow true democracy to take root in their
countries for two main reasons.
First, a true democracy would overthrow the tyrants sooner or later, forcing them to lose
their grip on power and privileges, especially the huge thefts they amassed at the expense of
the people.
Second, a true democracy would sooner or later bring the Islamists to the fore.
Yunus era ends in
Grameen bank: Nobel
winning bank brought
under Bangladesh Bank
NAVA THAKURIA
Guwahati: Amid international condemnation and domestic objec-
tions, the Bangladesh government has finally brought the award
winning Grameen Bank (of Bangladesh) under the purview of the
countrys central bank. The Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid
has recently signed the legislation bringing the world-famous
bank, created by Professor Muhammad Yunus, under the supervi-
sion of Bangladesh Bank. Earlier the Bangladesh Parliament
passed the bill on November 5, 2013.
The move came during deepening political chaos, with the
Bangladesh National Party-led 18 party opposition alliance, which
has opposed the plan to take over the bank, distracted by the
refusal of the government of Sheikh Hasinas Awami League to
dissolve itself in favor of a neutral caretaker government in prepa-
rations for national elections, which must be completed by
January 2014. The BNP, led by Hasinas bitter enemy, Khaleda Zia,
called a series of demonstrations including Hartals (general strike)
which resulted in the killing of many people and destroying of
properties. Few BNP leaders were also arrested by the authority
for allegedly hurling objects at police. The chaos continues with
hundreds being hurt, vehicles torched, and a string of arrests.
Grameens founder, Prof Yunus, who created the bank in
1983, condemned the governments action in the strongest pos-
sible language. Grameen Bank was created as a bank owned by
the poor women, and managed by the poor women, he said
recently.
Its legal structure did not allow any government interference
of any kind, except for regulatory oversights. The amendments
have fundamentally changed the character of the bank and the
government has opened the door for its ultimate destruction. What
a shame for the
nation, and the
whole world! Prof
added.
The new act
will allow the gov-
ernment to virtually
dominate the activ-
ities of Grameen
bank in all
aspects, said
K a m a l u d d i n
Ahmed, a Dhaka
based political ana-
lyst. The govern-
ment would have
three members in
the board of direc-
tors (out of 12), but it will also nominate the chairman. Moreover
in selection of the managing director too, the government would
have an indirect say.
Speaking to this writer from Dhaka, Ahmed added that by
increasing its share from 3 percent to 25 percent, the government
emerges as the single-most important shareholder in the bank. It
also empowers the government to take major decisions regarding
the bank.
Understanding the implications of the new Grameen act, one can
easily guess that it is the end of the Prof Yunus era in Grameen
bank, Ahmad said adding The act has specified a retirement age
of 60 for the managing director and Prof Yunus is already over 70.
So even if we bet for a different government in Dhaka after the
national election, he cannot return.
Bangladesh Finance Minister AMA Muhith however clarified
that the new law wont change the structure of the bank manage-
ment. Muhith said the law was merely a constitutional requirement
because the original ordinance that created the Grameen bank
during military rule must be ratified by the Parliament.
Since it was conceptualized by Prof Yunus in 1976, the bank
has grown into the worlds most effective anti-poverty institution,
making tiny loans to the poor, mostly women. It now has more
than 8 million members and earned Prof Yunus (jointly with the
institution) the Nobel Prize in 2006. More than 100 nations have
created similar programs - even wealthy ones including the United
States.
It apparently also earned Prof Yunus the eternal enmity of
Sheikh Hasina, partly because according to sources in Dhaka she
felt she should have won the 2006 Nobel Prize, for her role in
bringing peace to south Bangladeshs warring hill tribes during her
previous stint as the Prime Minister. She has also distrusted him
as a possible political force he made an abortive attempt to set up
a reform party in the wake of the 2007 state of emergency.
Prof Yunus was forcefully removed from his post by govern-
ment in 2011, alleging that at age 72 he had passed the legal age
to run the bank. The Bangladesh Supreme Court upheld the deci-
sion nonetheless. Finally the end as the managing director of
Grameen bank came for Prof Yunus with the new law, which
would have a definite impact on the activities of the unique bank
in the days to come.
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20 The Milli Gazette, 16-31 December 2013 ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVES www.milligazette.com
A. G. KHAN
Live-in relationships
Of various sex perversions which have destroyed the moral fabric
of society, live-in relationship has become a craze today. What start-
ed as a rare exception in a few families a few years ago in Gujarat
(among NRIs) has engulfed the entire nation to such an extent that
the Supreme Court had to declare that it was neither a sin nor a
crime. It has asked the Parliament to enact a law to ensure a fair
deal for women and children born out of such relationships.
Not only have celebrities like Rajesh Khanna and the late Jia
Khan been in such relationships, it has entrapped many students
and working women living in metros. While Advani is still contest-
ing her legal claim over Rajesh Khannas assets, Jia Khans fam-
ily is also involved in a legal battle against the Pancholis. Several
cases are pending in courts in which women have accused their
live-in partners of betrayal by breaking their promises and refus-
ing to marry and deserting them when they become pregnant.
One can very well understand the misery of the deserted
woman, especially when she has no source of income and a child
to take care of. However, the question arises: why did she take a
leap in the dark in the first place. Was she so nave as to believe
that the man would remain attached to her all her life?
The very idea of live-in relationship is based on the concept of
temporary relationship with no guarantee for duration it could
be a few months or a few years.
Those who advocate this kind of relationship plead that such
relationship gives them an opportunity to assess each other to
what extent they are reliable and temperamentally suitable to each
other. Marry in haste and repent at leisure has been the scare for
such people. Why not test each other before finally tieing the knot.
Like the slogan of a detergent powder pahle istimaal karen, phir
vishwaas karen, they enter into the vicious circle for experiment-
ing, forgetting that marital bed is not a game table to throw a dice
on. It has its sanctity which no religion allows to be defiled.
While entering such a relationship, they are dictated more by
lust than by a sense of responsibility. Since marriages have
become either a distant dream or a mirage, this understanding
becomes a tempting alternative. Marriage enjoins responsibilities
as well as restrictions; hence this novel arrangement seems to
be quite alluring. Marriages necessitate consent of parents who
are unwilling to yield and some of whom are even bent upon
indulging in honour-killing, the couple decides to maintain a rela-
tionship where there is no commitment of any kind.
Such arrangements last only a few days or months. Very soon
disputes begin to arise on sharing of expenses and duties.
Disillusionments follow soon. If there are greener pastures
around, both parties would like to get rid of each other so as to try
the newer prospect. Since such arrangements are, in most cases,
kept secret, parents, unknowingly, continue to search for eligible
spouses for their wards. When the partners learn about the
brighter prospects which the proposed marriage is likely to offer,
they decide to break the bond. If the man learns that his would-
be-bride is likely to fetch a rich dowry, he will soon desert his live-
in partner. Similarly, if the woman is apprised that her future hus-
band is a man of riches or has a brilliant career ahead, she might
decide to terminate the relationship.
For some time there may be smooth sailing in such relation-
ships. However, with pregnancy arise complications. One of the
two does not want the child to be born while the other, mostly
woman, wants to deliver the child. In case a child is born, it
becomes necessary for the man to acknowledge and accept his
role and duty. However, because of social and political considera-
tions, the man does not want to be recognised as father of such a
child. In Narayan Dutt Tiwari case, we see the reluctance because
he never wanted to get his political career destroyed and image
tarnished. The Cobrapost disclosures about the Saheb and IAS
officer Pradip Sharma claims are bound to tarnish the image of the
p.m.-in-waiting.
Islam strongly prohibits all such licenses and liberties. Pre-
marital sex or adultery is punishable under the Shariah. However,
the dowry system in our country, especially in the south, has
given rise to marriages of convenience because parents are
unable to bear the enormous cost of weddings. While in Bangalore
I heard the father of an MBBS doctor preferring his daughter opt-
ing for PG instead of becoming a bride because he felt that he
could never arrange the enormous sum bridegrooms were
demanding. Either the lady doctor will marry someone outside the
faith or enter into a live-in-relationship. It is time we wake up.
Love Marriages: Repurcussions
Hardly a single day passes when one does not come across a
report of suicide, wife-bashing or even bride killing. In many
cases, the marital happiness of the couple is as brief as six
months. Such incidents, whether within the community or out-
side, bring untold misery to both the families and totally shatter
the lives of the children.
Of course, one cannot guarantee with absolute certainty that
arranged marriages are permanent and blissful. In such cases life
remains a poignant tale of suffering. Just to keep the elders of the
families in good humour couple go through the trauma of bitter-
ness - life turns into hell. Yet, recent reports flooding the media
point out the fact that love-marriages have proved to be equally
disasterous.
The reasons behind such failures are not too difficult to find.
When the members of the opposite sex meet, specially during
adolescence, there begins love at first sight, unaware of the weak-
nesses of the individuals involved. They overlook the obvious and
ignore the advice offered by well-wishers. Having fallen head-long
in the mess, the only remedy for them is an instant marriage.
Considerations of economic, cultural or even social status are
ignored. Defying family restrictions, they prefer to elope, spend
some time at a distant place, and return repenting their hasty deci-
sion. While some manage to carry on the trauma just to make oth-
errs feel that they are a happy lot and theirs was not a wrong deci-
sion while in reality they quarrel every single day gnashing their
teeth like caged animals.
As soon as the honeymoon spell comes to an end, the two
begin noticing the personality shortcomings of each othe.
Egoistic, quarrelsome, rash, reckless and impulsive traits are dis-
covered. Sooner or later even moral weaknesses such as infideli-
ty, avarice, wine addiction are also noticed. In such situations of
no reconciliation, either they decide to divorce or to get rid of
each other through means fair or foul.
In which ways such marriages adversely destroy the social fab-
ric must be analysed. If it is an inter-caste or inter-religious mar-
riage, there are instant communal clashes and it becomes a law and
order problem. It boomerangs on their families in several ways. For
example, the family gets ostracised making marriages of remaining
children in the families difficult, forcing them to either remain
unmarried or to follow the precedent of their elder brother/sister.
In these days of groom/bride-hunting, in which choice of eli-
gible spouse is limited by several considerations, such marriages
outside of the community are at the cost of reducing the probabil-
ity of the remaining eligible ones. When one marries out of ones
community, he/she makes an eligible aspirants chances bleaker
day by day. If Muslim boys go on marrying Hindu girls what will
be the plight of Muslim unmarried girls? They too shall be forced
to seek matrimony outside the faith. The so-called Love Jehad
(which remains only in the minds of fanatic outfits) shall condemn
Muslim girls to remain unmarried. The plight of Muslim girls,
especially in Andhra and Karnataka, is pathetic. Dowry has
already caused havoc in the community, it will be further compli-
cated by marriages outside the faith.
An obvious repercussion of such marriages is the loss of cul-
tural /religious traditions. The new-comer being totally ignorant
about the cultural/religious traditions of the new home, either
imposes his/her traditions in the new family or totally ignores them.
As a result, children born in such wedlock remain ignorant about the
traditions and rituals of their faith. An example would suffice. In the
family of a popular film star only the male members are Muslims as
all the sons and their father have non-Muslim wives. Hence the fam-
ily not only observes Eid but all the Hindu festivals, e.g., Ganesh
Utsav, Diwali and Christmas and this does not remain merely a fam-
ily affair but is telecast on channels to apprise people of the liber-
al atmosphere in the family. Children of such families know neither
the Quran nor Ahadith. Ganesh aarati telecast ensures them their
market credentials and, of course, blessings of Shiv Sainiks who
control each and every activity in Mumbai.
Those who intend to embark on such adventure must pause
and ponder what they are chasing. It is an infatuation that would
wreck their peace and happiness, throwing overboard the cultural
traditions and religious injunctions of their families. Is such infat-
uation worth the loss they are likely to suffer?
Live-in relationships and love marriages
For some time there may be
smooth sailing in such
relationships. However, with
pregnancy arise
complications. One of the two
does not want the child to be
born while the other, mostly
woman, wants to deliver the
child. In case a child is born,
it becomes necessary for the
man to acknowledge and
accept his role and duty.
However, because of social
and political considerations,
the man does not want to be
recognised as father of such
a child.
BOOKS The Milli Gazette, 16-31 December 2013 21 www.milligazette.com
Book; Qadam Qadam Tazeer: Urdu Afsaney (Awaiting Punishment
at Every Step - Urdu)
Author: Maqbool Sahil
Distributor: Meezan Publishers, Srinagar, Kashmir
Year of Publication: 2012
Pages: 308
Price: Rs 375
MUSHTAQ UL HAQ AHMAD SIKANDER
The genesis of the Kashmir Dispute goes back to the partition of
the Subcontinent which resulted in the independence of India and
creation of Pakistan in 1947. Since then the conflict has an over-
whelming impact on the lives of the inhabitants of disputed terri-
tory of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K). The tussle among those who
support maintaining the status quo and those who want a change
has been a decisive feature of this conflict. This tussle has wit-
nessed many phases and in future too it will continue to define the
character of the resistance and political struggle of J&K.
The dispute though being political in nature but its impact on
life, particularly on literature, cannot be sidelined. It is also a fact
that the peoples narrative and history hasnt been yet penned
down, neither the influence of the dispute on life and its various
dimensions has been recorded. No professional historian has
taken the burden of writing in black and white about the history of
Kashmir, and there has been no poet who could voice the con-
cerns of the bruised souls. There are writers who have been
expressing peoples agony through verses, but they remain con-
fined to local languages and lack the vibrant mechanism of trans-
lation. Hence they fail to reach out to the wider audiences.
The present collection of Urdu short stories by the seasoned
journalist, author and poet Maqbool Sahil, tries to relate the mis-
eries, problems, agonies, concerns and issues of people through
fictional stories. All these stories seem to be inspired by real life
events and political tinge and the impact of the conflict on com-
mon lives have been depicted judiciously by Sahil. These short
stories though belong to the fictional genre but we can term them
as Factual Fiction because it has been inspired by real life events
and the impact of conflict is evident in every line of these stories.
In his foreword, the noted short story writer, Noor Shah states
that These stories have been written behind the bars. They con-
tain and depict the agony and pain of Kashmiris. Sahil being a poet
too adds to his credentials as a short story writer. Shah surmis-
es that In future Sahils pen will deliver much more powerful,
enchanting and diverse stories.
Noted journalist of Kashmir, Shujaat Bukhari states that
Kashmiris have contributed a little to the short story genre of
Urdu or even Kashmiri language, but now new people are using
this genre to express themselves. He delves into the history and
habit of short story, both in Urdu and Kashmiri languages. Bukhari
further writes that These stories depict the change around the
author, but the political changes and its impact on Kashmiris
havent been yet depicted in the genre of short stories and Sahil
tries to do the same.
In his introduction to the collection, Maqbool Sahil brings out
the difference between a short story writer and a common man.
Both are affected by the surroundings but a writer tries to capture,
depict and address the changes. While depicting the qualities of a
short story writer, Sahil writes, One must always stand for truth
and a writer must be a mirror of his society. One should only
expect truth from a mirror No expectations or hopes must be
adhered to a writer nor should he be treated as a spokesperson
of a whole community.
.Also people must help a writer to be a writer only, not a
person from whom Fatwas of Morality can be expected.
These words resonate the immortal words uttered by the
famous short story writer of Urdu Saadat Hussain Manto when he
was asked in the court about his stories being pornographic and
depicting immorality. He replied that I write and depict what I wit-
ness in society. The court had to acquit him. Sahil appears to be
Manto incarnated in his stories though there are very few depic-
tions of intimate physical or illicit relations in his stories.
This collection contains 20 stories of Sahil and each story is
woven around a particular theme. They range from political con-
tours of Kashmir conflict, killings, unmarked graves, conditions of
the families of victims of violence, widows, orphans, militants,
military and violence which are evident from every word of the
stories. Then there are few general stories too where the relation-
ships and emotional expressions of love, hate and jealously are
expressed quite lucidly with economical use of prose. Sahil also
being a poet and it is generally a norm with poets that they depict
the feelings of love and relationships among couples. So Sahil too
depicts the same in few of the stories. Then there are stories that
are metaphorical, allegorical and transcendental in character. A
few can be noted as biographical. Also in some stories, those who
have read previous books of Sahil can find the influence of previ-
ously related actual incidents too.
The way in which the ongoing Kashmiri conflict has been depict-
ed in the stories and its various dimensions on the lives of common
people, is what keeps the reader glued to these stories. Add to it the
fact that these miseries and problems of the common people can in
no way find space even if a factual objective history of the dispute is
written. This is where the role of writers like Sahil becomes more
important in recording and writing about the various facets of lives of
voiceless people, who bear the brunt in any conflict but whose con-
tribution remains unaccounted and unrecorded.
Sahil has rendered a yeoman service by making the lives of
these voiceless people the plots of his stories.
Overall, the book is a welcome addition to the Factual Fiction
literature on the contemporary conflict of Kashmir. Sahil must be
congratulated and appreciated for his efforts as he is among the
rare writers of his generation who have made conflict and its vic-
tims a subject of their stories.
This book is a new addition to the conflict literature, and it
needs to be translated into English to make its reach wider. I hope
in future we will have more such stories delivered from the pen of
Sahil.
M.H.A. Sikander is Writer-Activist based in Srinagar, Kashmir
and can be reached at sikandarmushtaq@gmail.com
Punishment At Every Step: Urdu short stories from J&K
Godse ki aulaad
Bharat mein Bhagva dahshatgardi
First exhaustive work on Hindutva terror
Urdu translation of Godses Children
by Subhash Gatade
Pages: 388 Price: Rs 300
(English edition: 446 pages/ Rs360)
To order please see page 19 of this issue
It is a fact that the peoples narrative and
history hasnt been yet penned down,
neither the influence of the dispute on life
and its various dimensions has been
recorded. No professional historian has
taken the burden of writing in black and
white about the history of Kashmir, and
there has been no poet who could voice
the concerns of the bruised souls. There
are writers who have been expressing
peoples agony through verses, but they
remain confined to local languages and
lack the vibrant mechanism of translation.
Hence they fail to reach out to the wider
audiences.
The Destruction of
Hyderabad
Book: The Destruction of Hyderabad
Auhtor: A.G. Noorani
Year: 2013
Pages: 412/HB / Price: Rs 825
ISBN: 978-93-82381-24-2
Publisher: Tulika Book, New Delhi
Email: tulikadelhi@gmail.com
The story of the fall of Hyderabad State has
been told a good many times. It was told
mostly by the court historians of Indian
nationalism. This study seeks to revise the
official historical account of the so-called
Police Action which was actually an
invasion of the Indian army against the
forces and government of the Nizam of
Hyderabad.
The Destruction of Hyderabad provides a detailed record of
the diplomatic exchanges between the Government of India and the
Government of Hyderabad during the British Raj, and after partition
and independence in 1947. These are based on archival sources in
Hyderabad which remain largely unexplored by scholars.
The author has unearthed contemporary diplomatic corre-
spondence, the Sunderlal Committee report on the massacre of
Hyderabads Muslim population during and after the Police
Action (since suppressed by the Indian State), and a wealth of
memoirs and first-hand accounts of the clandestine workings of
territorial nationalism in its bleakest and most shameful hour.
The author brings to light the largely ignored and fateful inter-
vention of M. A. Jinnah in the destruction of Hyderabad, both while
he was President of the Muslim League and after he became
Governor General of Pakistan.
The celebrated author also addresses the communal leanings
of Sardar Patel and his hand-picked Agent-General K. M. Munshi,
a staunch Hindu nationalist, in shaping Hyderabads fate.
The book is dedicated to the
other Hyderabad: a culturally syn-
cretic state, a tolerant society with a
rich composite culture which com-
munal forces in India found alien.
Mr. Noorani refers to the incon-
gruity of the military operation being
styled as police action and says
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar
Patel differed on the military option.
While Nehru wanted military option
to be the last resort, Patel wanted it
to be the first. Mr. Noorani calls
Nehru an ardent Indian nationalist
and Patel a Hindu nationalist and
explains in depth their differences on many things, including the
Quit India movement. He further writes how Nehru had contempt
for the Nizams set-up, but bore no malice towards him personal-
ly, while Patel hated the Nizam personally and ideologically
opposed Hyderabads composite culture. Nehru wanted to avoid
Indias balkanisation by defeating Hyderabads secessionist ven-
ture. Patel wanted to go further. He wanted to destroy Hyderabad
and its culture completely, Mr. Noorani writes in this book.
The feudal order of the Nizam, Mr. Noorani says, deserved to
be discarded, but the violent change to democratic order made the
transition more painful with lasting consequences.
A. G. Noorani is an Advocate, Supreme Cour t of India, and
a leading constitutional exper t and political commentator. He is
a regular columnist for Frontline and the author of numerous
books, including The Kashmir Dispute 1947-2012, in two vol-
umes (2013); Islam, South Asia and the Cold War (2012);
Ar ticle 370: A Constitutional History of Jammu and Kashmir
(2011); Jinnah and Tilak: Comrades in the Freedom Struggle
(2010); India-China Boundary Problem 1846-1947: History
and Diplomacy (2010); Indian Political Trials 1775-1947
(2006); Constitutional Questions and Citizens Rights (2006);
The Muslims of India: A Documentary Record (editor, 2003);
Islam and Jihad: Prejudice versus Reality (2003); and The
Babri Masjid Question 1528-2003: A Matter of National
Honour, in two volumes (2003). A third volume of The Babri
Masjid Question is for thcoming.
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MG
Alhamdulillaah, Milli Gazette becomes more and more popular.
Ahmedabad daily Gujarat Today had published Gujarati translation of a
part of Syed Mujtabas article in November 2013. Maulana Habibur
Rahman Matadar, Editor, Anjuman Voice (Furja Rd., Bharuch-392001)
has started serialisation of Gujarati translation of Dr. Zafarul Islam Khans
article Jerusalem of Yesterday and Today from its current (December
2013) issue. S. Akhtar, Khanpur Deh - 392150
II
Awareness is good, Alhamdulillah MG Team.
S. K. Allauddin, P. O. Ketika Dist - Purulia , West Bengal
III
This issue is very informative. I got it today.
Abdul Rasheed Mohammad, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh
The USP of Kejriwal: effective challenge to Congress/BJP cartel
As the Delhi assembly elections are nearing, both Congress and BJP have
gone into an overdrive to attempt and wipe out the first effective challenge
to their hegemonic cartelization of Indian politics, by filing complaints after
complaints with the Election Commission, in a desperate attempt to debar
Kejriwal and his AAP party from the election itself. Though the Election
Commission is an independent body, the pressure on it to go strictly by the
rules, in the case of AAP shows how discriminatory Indian system could
be when high stakes for ruling class is involved. In this context, the
Muslims are still undecided if they can hazard their votes on AAP or go the
traditional way of blindly voting in Congress. However, in wider perspec-
tive of this development of an alternative, that has dared to challenge the
two corrupt national parties, should not be missed by them, to teach a
lesson to Congress, that they too can deal with Congress the way it deals
with them. This is a golden chance for Muslim voters of Delhi, to break the
logjam of political monopolization by these two Brahminical formulations,
that have no regard, no respect for the people of India and are in the busi-
ness of politicking merely to amass their illgotten wealth by robbing the
national assets without any fear of accountability. Both parties are com-
mitted to Corporates, who are funding them openly and reserve their quid
pro quo in award of opportunities to them through illegal means. For
Muslims, the antecedent of Kejriwal may not be clear; whether he is a RSS
man, or Congress proxy, or foreign agent and they are not willing to junk
Congress. However, as long as Kejriwal with all his ambiguities and
alleged warts, is giving the two giants a run for their money; he should be
wholeheartedly supported. If Muslims want to be liberated from Congress
stranglehold, this is their golden chance to pull Congress down to a level,
that it may have to beg Muslim support for the coming Lok Sabha election
and should be forced to earn their votes. There does not have to be free
lunch for Congress now on. As portents are clear that Kejriwal will be
made to suffer through dramatic intervention by Election Commission, nei-
ther Kejriwal nor Muslim voters of Delhi will be able to gauze their electoral
strength through the polls. But if he survives, Muslim should not miss a
chance to humble Congress in its den.
Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai
ghulammuhammed3@gmail.com
Tejpals Tej?
Had Tarun no real Tej or light? Am I the only fool who was dead sure that
what had happened in Goa was absolutely impossible even though even a
child knows that a spark is inevitable if a candle comes close to petrol. Are
not both in the lift blame-worthy? Does not the devil remain to be the third
even if the two are closest family members? I have come to know through
Milli Gazette papers that a professor in Manipal University is the learned
son of the broad-minded, large-hearted and far-sighted poetess lady
Kamla Suraiya. I have also reads somewhere that Nalapat had acquain-
tance with Tejpal. How nice if the former advises the latter to study the
Quran which being the latest edition of the Divine Books asks us all never
to go near adultery and also to shun wine
S. A. U. Patel, Khanpur Deh - 392150
Palestine: One state Solution
Apropos of Zafarul-Islam Khans article in the previous issue, the two-
state solution, advocated tirelessly by mediocre politicians who lack his-
torical vision, is unrealistic, unworkable and dangerous. Unrealistic and
unworkable because one cant unscramble an egg, and dangerous
because genuine grievances cant be suppressed permanently by short-
sighted political decisions. Moreover, Jews, Muslims, Christians and oth-
ers would be perfectly free to practice their religious beliefs and, unlike the
current situation, would enjoy unfettered access to their respective holy
places. And all would be treated equally before the law as citizens.
Furthermore, every citizen would be free to live wherever he or she likes in
accordance with the law. For example, a Jew would be free to settle any-
where in Israel/Palestine. A Palestinian would be accorded the same right.
Nonetheless, the two communities must realize by now that that they have
to reform and amend their old, anachronistic ways and especially their
views of each other. Palestinians will have to discard, once and for all, their
dreams of cleansing Palestine of Ashkenazi and other Jews who arrived in
the country following WWII. Likewise, Jews must come to terms with the
fact that Palestinians have at least an equal right to this land of
Israel/Palestine. This vision of one-state for all, where Jews and
Palestinians live equally and peacefully in a unitary, democratic, civil state
is not too idealistic to be practical. It happened in South Africa; and it is
practiced in many countries all over the globe.
PA Mohamed Ameen (via email)
Patna Serial Blast-other side
Bihar cabinet minister Mr Ramai Ram while inaugurating Sonepur Mela on
16-11-13 asked why bomb exploded in Narendra Modis rally? This sim-
ple question made saffron-minded people angry. Bihar agriculture minister
Mr Narendra Modi Singh explained that Narendra Modi is biggest terrorist
and BJP was having close links with Patna serial terrorists and to gather
public sympathy, BJP created hue and cry. He said in Patna serial blast
benefits to the BJP was hidden. BJP has slapped a case against Congress
for fake propaganda in election campaign in MP but BJP is silent and just
rebutting and not ready to drag Narendra Singh in court. Why? (Jagran 18
11-13)
S. Haque/Patna
Muharram
I am a permanent subscriber to The Milli Gazette. Not only that but I have
made so many subscribers to this magazine. We have a regard for this
magazine because of the fact that you have treated all the sects of the
Muslim community whether Sunni or Shia as Muslim Ummah and always
raised their problems as Muslim Ummahs problems. Till date this maga-
zine was far from Shia-Sunni controversy but now it is not so. I have
before me the issue no. 332 (16-30 November 2013) which has an arti-
cle by Abida Rahmani under the heading Celebrating the Muslim New
Year under Islamic Perspective column. In her article she has raised a
controversial issue claiming that holding lamentation and mourning cere-
monies in the memory of the martyrdom of Sayyidna Husain has been for-
bidden by the Prophet for any person and the authentic jurists are unani-
mous that the mourning of this type is not permissible. Abida Rahmani is
free to her views because she has a very limited knowledge but my ques-
tion is whether you have changed your policy of desisting from controver-
sial issues and whether you will allow series of debate over this controver-
sial issue and annoy your readers who do not like to see controversial
issues in our esteemed magazine. The decision will be yours. Please
inform me about your policy whether you want to continue with this con-
troversial issue and if so, please allow me to give proper reply to Abida
Rahmani in next issues but then your magazine will be a battle-field of con-
troversial issues which will yield no result rather than defame the maga-
zine.
Alim Husain, Shivala, Varanasi - 221001
MG: We apologise if we have hurt your sentiments. Abida Rahmani has
expressed her views in a civilised manner and you too are welcome to
do the same. As for the MG, we steadfastly stand by our policy of pro-
moting the unity of the Ummah and we discourage controversial issues
raised with a view to widen the gulf. MG will lose its raison detre if we
stray from this considered policy. We will rather shut down MG than
make is a vehicle of disunity among the Ummah (Zafarul-Islam Khan).
Combat communalism and fascism
Aggressive communalism is the biggest challenge before India. It is the
greatest threat to the communal harmony, national unity, peace and
progress of our motherland, India is a multi-religious, multi-cultural, multi-
lingual country. The ideology of Hindutva is based on ideology is detri-
mental to the peace, prosperity, unity and integrity of India. We should
learn a lesson from history. Hitlers anti-jews Nazism had destroyed Nazi
party and Nazi Germany. Recently worlds second super power Soviet
Union, due to its colonialism, totalitarinsm and dictatorial undemocratic
ideology was disintegrated into 15 independent states. We are not super
power. Rampant HImalyan corruption has weakened our country. If we fail
to see the reality, God forbid, Indias disintegration will be faster. More over,
todays second super poer is aggressive Maoist China Maos slogan is
political power emerges out of the barrel of the gun. Chinese dragon had
swallowed entire Tibet. IN 1962 it had invaded India and had occupied our
vast lands, Kailash and Mansarvar are in Chinas possession. It show
Arunachal Pradesh as Chinas territory in official map. Maoist Naxalites are
waging a war in Indias 89 districts of 9 states. In such a situation com-
munal harmony and national unity is the need of the hour.
G. Hasnain Kaif, Nagpur - 13
Elections
The Delhi Assembly election has now given birth to a new political party
called Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) which offers an all together new platform
to the masses to opt for alternative politics. The impressive debut of AAP
display that the common man (aam aadmi) of India is now more interest-
ed to put their trust on Gen-X politics. Arvind Kejriwal the AAP chief, not
only defeated CM Shiela Dikshit in her own constituency wherein she has
won the election battle for three consecutive years, but his party was just
less than BJP tally in terms of popular votes and seats. This is indeed a
rarest of rare feat that too achieved in not less than a year, something that
has never seen or heard in the last three decades. An amateur party, which
is barely one year old in political domain, has accomplished this incredi-
ble feat facing two Indian political bigwigs from parties like Congress and
BJP. The same assembly polls results also displays that the AAP vote has
cut across different sections of societies where most of its candidates
have consistently won from middle class colonies as well as from upper
class elites. The success of this newbie party goes beyond the simple
count of votes and seats. The real significance of its rise simply lies in the
challenge that it has put forward against the most powerful political outfits
in the country. Anti-corruption movement being its root cause of coming
into the main political scenario, AAP has turned this into a battle against
the corrupt political system. The party put forward a systemic alternative
by the way of fundamental political decentralization. Not just this, the cam-
paign of AAPs election showcases a feature for financial and political
transparency. For the first time in the Indian history, a political party col-
lected white and ethical money for politics, made full revelation of all forms
of donations received, and refused to take any more donations once they
met the target that it had set.
Farzana Z Khan, Jafar Nagar, Nagpur -440013
farzanazkhan@gmail.com
II
Come election time and you see politicians and political parties taking
unfair means to prosper in the elections results. Today, when we live in
Social Media Era, we see these people misusing these platforms for their
own vested interests. As per the recent sting operation called Blue Virus
carried by an online media company disclosed how Politicians especially
from the BJP have been hiring IT companies to malign the image of their
rival politicians. As per the investigations carried out by the news portal
called Cobrapost a majority of IT companies caught posting defamatory
content using IP addresses of others by hacking into them point out to
none other than Narendra Modi. These companies are seen dealing with
reputation management service over a number of social media platforms
by offering these politicians fake number of fans. More than two dozen
companies have been reported by the sting operation who has been work-
ing for Narendra Modi and his party to build his image and ruin their com-
petitors in different election constituencies in the country. A couple of
years ago a British company too revealed the same story about so-called
development Messiah - Modi for having more than 60 percent of total fol-
lowers over Twitter as fake. Ironically a man aspiring to become the PM of
this country seems to be using all unfair means to boost his image in the
nation by maligning others. Can we really afford to see such a man to be
our next Prime Minister, think again?
Mohd Zeyaullah Khan, Jafar Nagar, Nagpur - 440012
writeziya@gmail.com
India ranking third in black money outflow
It refers to shocking report published by the international watchdog Global
Financial Integrity (GFI) that black money outflow from India increased in
the 20111 by 24-percent of the previous year when it was estimated to be
rupees 4 lakh crores accounting for one-third of Indias total budget-spend
with India ranking at number three in the global world only after Russia and
China. This is despite the fact that Lokpal movement was at its peak in the
year 2011 exhibiting our over-courageous black-money earners affording
to do so even more vigorously in an atmosphere charged with public-
anger against corruption. UPA government with only a few months left in
its tenure should try to regain public- confidence by brining a white-paper
on the crucial aspect and expose some biggest Indian names involved in
the menace by proper and effective utilisation of our intelligence authori-
ties which if utilised properly can do the desired job in a few weeks only.
Even GFI can be requested to further assist in giving such biggest Indian
names making black money outflow from India. Such people needs to be
ashamed by public disclosure of their names unlike hiding their names
under excuses like often given in case of Indians having secret accounts
in foreign banks.
Subhash Chandra Agrawal, Chandni Chowk, Delhi 110006
subhashmadhu@sify.com
Lal Batti
Welcome initiative from Supreme Court on red-light beacons on car-tops:
Other reformative decisions necessary: What about cars with Supreme
Court stickers violating traffic-rules (see also attachment) It refers to wel-
come Supreme Court verdict on stricter and most restrictive use of red-
light beacons on car-tops, an aspect mostly misused by politicians. In
most of the states, even street-level politicians not only use red-light car-
beacons on car-tops but even run these without number-plates or with
fancy number-plates. But practicability of Supreme Court verdict will
remain doubtful in states where political community thinks itself to be
masters above all without caring for verdicts even from countrys highest
court. Chief Justice of India should ensure fast decisions on other such
important matters involving malpractices of political rulers, especially
towards complete ban on photo-publicity of political rulers and other living
personalities in advertisements and materials at public- expense both in
centre and in states. Presently an unhealthy race has developed amongst
Chief Ministers of different states for giving multi-page advertisements in
newspapers and extra- long advertisement-films on TV channels. Only
recently Delhi Lokayukt had sent a hard-hitting report on photos of Chief
Minister and another minister of Delhi on application forms. Such nuisance
in public life can only be corrected by reformative Supreme Court verdicts
like the one restricting use of red-light beacons on car-tops. But at the
same time, it is also noted that cars with Supreme Court stickers are seen
parked in No-Tolerance-Zone in various parts of the capital city where
rupees 600 rather than rupees 100 is the fine for parking cars. Such a car-
number DL8CBG-0009 with a Supreme Court sticker was parked outside
jewellery-market Dariba around 2 pm on 16.10.2013 (on government-
holiday of Eid) with Delhi Traffic Police not clamping tyres of the car like is
done for other cars parked at Chandni Chowk.
Subhash Chandra Agrawal, Chandni Chowk Delhi 110006
subhashmadhu@sify.com
Governments are unable to reign RSS
Rumour speeding society in concise form RSS hold spread shortage of
salt supply rumour in Bihar created panic among people and Salt Shortage
rumour led low and order problem but Bihar government immediately
could not control. As rumour reached in remote villages where salt sold at
150 to 200 per KG. In UP fake afghan video uploaded in net and riot erupt-
ed in which at least 65 innocent lives lost and government was mere mute
spectator rumour spreading society had shown its strength in 1948 just
after independence of India when saffron brigade placed idol in historical
Babri Masjid in winter night by breaking door (FIR) and spread rumour that
Ram Lila appeared and Indian society (Administration, Publics and
Judiciary) silently appreciated the rumour spreading society misdeed.
Now the RSS has gone out of Hand and ever governments are unable to
control it.
S. Haque, Patna
Indirect support for Islamic Law
Inconsequence of infamous rape committed against para-medical girl in a
moving bus by the gang of anti-social elements at New Delhi some time
back a tremulous effected situation engulfed the whole country which
forced people in lacs to be on roads in each and every corner of the coun-
try, voicing for reconsideration of suitability of the present Law to deal with
such barbaric hooliganism against fair sex. All top to bottom leaders of
BJP joining hands with different cadres of Hindutva forces got panicky of
the accident by grapping the matter by way of allround agitations across
the country with common slogans and demands for hanging the culprits
at the earliest possible time as any delay may be beneficial for the wrong
doers. Mrs. Sushma Swaraj of BJP, the opposition leader in Lok Sabha
kept the thread tight almost all the occasions while condemning the acci-
dent and kept on pleading that the culprits must be dealt with iron hands
(handing) with punishment awarded vigorously. The demand for hanging
of accused was not restricted with BJP only but all the political parties as
well as social and public organisations too joined hands with the same
platform as far as quantum of punishment for the rapists was concerned
which glared that though not admitting directly but indirectly every one of
them admitted the suitability, veracity and righteousness of Islamic Code
of Criminal Law for dealing quite satisfactorily with the heinous and bar-
baric crimes against humanity.
Faheemuddin, Nagpur - 440013
Supreme Court And The Divine Laws
It is a good news that the Supreme Court if India has banned homosexu-
ality .But on the on the other hand earlier the high court has permitted
homo sexuality .Here the question arises the judges are able and efficient
persons but on what basis they can defer on the same subject .If it could
be vice versa also .In such case the people of the country would have been
in dilemma. The other aspect of the problem is God has created men and
women .with deferent anatomy and physiology, psychology and anatomy
.The natural and scientific intercourse is possible and both the partners
can enjoy each other no adverse inferences took place .The family can get
the offsprings out of this union .This legal contact can be achieved by
marriage The marriage system is in practice since centauries together
,There are some men and women may seen perverted and gone astray
due to psychological reasons or abnormal sexual organs .such men and
women may be one in one lakh. They can be treated medically and surgi-
cally and make them to the normal form .But they should get attention and
mercy of the society. But if they are neglected by the society they can
knock the door of the high court or supreme court.
Dr AH Maqdoomi, Hyderabad
AAP must form the govt
The Congress party has suffered a humiliating defeat in Delhi. It is reduced
to 8 seats in the house of 70. Its best interest now lies in convincing the
Aam Aadmi Party to form a government in Delhi pledging an uncondition-
al support from outside. A mute and unflinching support for five years with
full freedom to the AAP to carry out its programme. The Aam Aadmi party
also should be pragmatic and give up its obstinacy of not accepting any
support because here without compromising any of its principle it is offer-
ing Delhi a stable government. Kejriwal should not forget that his MLAs will
be happier sitting on the treasury benches and his party will be more effec-
tive in carrying out its programme. From Congresss point of view it is best
not to let BJP use Delhi assembly a launching pad for parliament.
Dr Mookhi Amir Ali, Santacruz West, Mumbai 400054
Urdu Media lacks courage?
When we find reports like wireless House could be completed in five
years or After so much amount a road is not complete etc. But Urdu
Media could not dare to write After 12 years minority hosted could not be
completed or After 17 years Maulana Mazharul Haque University could
not get its own building or After 7 years AMU Campus could not be
established and just before election UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi is
going to lay foundation without fund allocation etc. Is Urdu lacks courage
or dont have sensitiveness of Ummatis seal positive issues?
S. Haque/Patna
REJOINDERS/OPINION/LETTERS The Milli Gazette, 16-31 December 2013 23 www.milligazette.com
The Milli Gazette, P.O. Box 9701, Jamia Nagar, New Delhi 110025 Email: letters@milligazette.com Read more letters on MG website
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