Hindutva Fascism out to devour Indian Muslims

By IndianMuslims.info Staff

Despite the creation of three high-level commissions to uplift the condition of minorities particularly the Muslims and announcement of various sops like opening of Navyodya Vidhyalaya-type schools in 125 districts of Muslim concentration, the clouds of fear and suspicion continue to hover around Indian Muslims, thanks to the ultranationalists’ bid to turn the plural polity of India into a Hindu Rashtra under the spell of Hitler’s and Mussolini’s Fascism and Israel’s Zionism.

The Urdu vernacular Press is live to the occasion and, unlike TV channels and some mainstream newspapers, it has been presenting the real picture of the situation prevailing in the country.

The Rashtriya Sahara of August 5 carries a 4-column story Islam dushman taqatain musalman ko mitane ka kam kar rahi hain (Anti-Islam forces are out to wipe out Muslims) based on an exclusive interview with Deputy Patron of Anjuman Ittehad-e-Millat Qari Akhlaque Ahmad Nizami.

“Indian Muslims have been victim of deprivations, injustices and oppressions since the partition of the country. Communal forces not only always took with distrust the patriotism of Muslims but also made condemnable efforts to cover the great sacrifices made by our forefathers and elders for the freedom struggle….

“The Vishwa Hindu Parishad is poisoning the environment in the country by distributing anti-Muslim pamphlets in the name of countering Mumbai serial blasts. The VHP men are constant threat to peace in the country and hell bent upon practising aggression and fascism… This situation is not only unfortunate for the country but shameful as well. Qari Nizami said it is a matter of grave concern that despite the Congress-led alliance in power at the Centre, the Congress leaders are dead to the terrorist activities of Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal,� the story maintained.

The Urdu biweekly Dawat of August 7, in a 5-column story, writes that the bogey of terrorism is raised but no effort is made to define terrorism. Yet efforts are made to equate terrorism with Islam and Muslims.

The story contends, “Communal riot has not yet been brought to the purview of terrorism while the fact remains that it claims more loss of lives, limbs and properties than bomb blasts do and the entire community is made thereby to live in fear and horror and it is also known that who the perpetrators are and what their objective is. What great surprise it is that a riot is not terrorism while any reaction to it is! Whenever an anti-terrorism law is legislated, riot is kept outside its purview.�

The Qaumi Awaz of August 9 reports a new proof of communal mentality of the Modi administration of Gujarat. The Lok Sabha witnessed turmoil when RJD (Rashtriya Janta Dal) members came down heavily upon the Gujarat Government for putting questions related to demolition of Babri Masjid and Conversion, in Gujarat Public Service Commission examinations for Ayurvedic Medical Officers on August 6. RJD member Alok Kumar Mehta raised the issue during the zero hour on August 8. Some of the questions out of the 100-point question paper objected to are as follows:
1. Who said: ‘The Christians have right to convert others’? (A) Sonia Gandhi (B) Sister Nirmala (C) Pope Benedict (D) Father Prakash.
2. After whom Narendra Modi has named India’s biggest gas project in the Krishna Godavari valley? (A) Maharana Pratap (B) Dr. Hedgwar (C) Shyama Prasad Mukherjee (D) Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay.
3. Which day the minorities celebrate as Black Day and the R.S.S. as Victory Day? (A) September 11 (B) July 2 (C) January 26 (D) December 6.
Calling these questions quite objectionable and unconstitutional, Mr. Mehta and his party colleague Devendra Prasad Yadav said the Lok Sabha and the Centre cannot remain mute on such issues.

Editorially condemning this move of the Modi administration, the Hindustan Express of the same date expressed grave concern on the rising pace of Fascism in Gujarat.

“The highest palladium of justice in the country has put stamp on the naked communalism of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Courts of law have repeatedly averred that justice and humanity are being openly killed in the Modi administration… But it is a matter of concern that even the severest castigation by courts and commissions has left no impact on this epitome of Fascism and the Constitution and law of the land is still helpless before him. And the result is that Fascism is flourishing in Gujarat. The zeal and enthusiasm of fascist forces is ever rising.�

The Express editorial further said, “Such questions were put up till now in RSS sakhas, Saraswati Shishu Mandirs, Pathshalas and Gyan Bharti schools. Questions of communal nature have been set for certain examinations in U.P. and other States. But it is perhaps the first incident in which such communally charged questions were set for a State Public Service Commission examination… The tragedy is that no action is being taken against the ‘naked fascism’ of the Modi administration. Will the long arm of law never catch hold of Modi?�

Noor Jahan Tharwat, in her article Kiya meri sonch thi, kiya samne aaya merey (What I had been dreaming of and what is here before my eyes) published in the Inquilab of August 8 writes: “In different States of India terrorism raised its head in the past and even today in different parts of South India and Bihar terrorism is coming to the fore in the form of Senas and Naxals. When this terrorism born out of ill mentality raises its head in South India, it is not given any religious name due to political or journalistic compulsions; but the members of one single religion are cornered in the name of investigation.�

She further writes: “This irony of investigation (into the recent Mumbai serial blasts) is that in a bid to catch the perpetrators of the blasts police and other officials reach only the Muslim areas as if none but Muslims were responsible for terrorism. Muslims are being looked at with suspicion…. This is the misfortune of our country that the electronic media is creating such an environment by presenting news in a particular light that mental terrorism is bound to rise. Fascist and extremist organisations like Shiv Sena, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal came into being out of the womb of RSS as a result of this terrorism.�

Muhammad Aziz Sanabali in his letter in the Express (August 9) wonders why the justice-loving section of society is not raising its voice against this injustice against Muslims. He feels that an attempt is being made to silence the Urdu Press which has been writing against this oppression. The detention of Urdu Times journalist is an attempt to inculcate guilt consciousness in the Urdu journalistic fraternity. And the tragedy is that the well-wishers of those arrested on the basis of suspicion after 7/11 are running from pillar to post but no lawyer is willing to take up their cases.

“It is high time the community leaders came to one platform and provided expert lawyers for these oppressed persons so that they might present their pleas,� writes Mr. Sanabali.
In another letter in the same paper, Marghoob Husain Nasir of Najeebabad wonders whether being a Muslim is a crime.

“I felt pained to see a photograph in the Hindustan Express (August 7) in which a police official near the Red Fort is trying to find bomb under the cap of an old Muslim… Are all bearded Muslims terrorists in his eyes?�

9 August 2006

Indian Muslims continue to face harassment

Indian Muslims continue to face harassment
By Indianmuslims.info Staff

Muslims in India continue to live in constant fear of being harassed, humiliated and detained anytime anywhere as the police and intelligence agencies have been beating around the bush since the 11th July terror attack on a Mumbai suburb train. Though hundreds of Muslims detained on mere suspicion as part of investigation into the serial blasts have been released for lack of evidence against them, some are still in police custody or behind the bars, some new persons are being detained, and Muslims landing on Indian airports or those going abroad are being harassed as part of security measures. This unfortunate situation coupled with the ultranationalists’ bid to disturb communal harmony at some places paints a sordid picture of the plural society that India is. The Urdu vernacular Press has been live to the situation as it beats the mainstream English and Hindi dailies in presenting the real picture of the situation prevailing here.

On August 10 all Urdu dailies carried the UNI report of arrest of three SIMI (Students Islamic Movement, now banned) workers – Shakil Warsi Abdul Naseer (32), Shakir Ahmed Naseer (27) and Muhammad Rehan Khan Ataullah Khan (21) – from different parts of Nagpur for their alleged contact with the terrorist organisations that ripped Mumbai suburb train on July 11 and had earlier made unsuccessful attempt to attack RSS headquarters in the city. The police also claimed to have seized CDs and “provocative� literature from their custody.

The Rashtriya Sahara of August 15 reported the detention of two other SIMI workers –editor of a religious magazine Al-Sunnah and proprietor of Al-Sunnah Publications Najeeb Baquai alias Muhammad Najeeb Abdul Rasheed (41) from Mumbai and Irfan Anjum Ali Syed (24) from Santa Cruz under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

The Hindustan Express of August 10 covers the detaining of 13 foreign Muslim nationals from a mosque in Roorkie in the State of Uttaranchal. They were charged of working with Tablighi Jamaat here in India while on visit visa. Senior Superintendent of Police Abhimanu Kumar reportedly said that the victims’ passports have been red-marked that they have violated Indian law and their names have been included in the list of unwelcome persons. They were told to leave the country within a week or face the music.

The Express of August 13 ran a 5-column story Mumbai ka insadad-e-dahshatgardi dasta sanghi aaquaoan key isharey per aqliyaton ko badnam kar raha hai (Mumbai’s anti-terrorist squad is defaming minorities at the will of Sangh masters). Member of All India Congress Working Committee and former Union Minister for Railways C.K. Jafar Sharief said it seems R.S.S and its allied parties Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal and Shiv Sena, etc. have succeeded in their shameful attempt to turn our dear country into a “torture cell� for Muslims. Instead of arresting the real culprits of Mumbai bomb blasts and giving stringent punishment to them, the government machinery especially A.T.S. (Anti Terrorism Squad) of Mumbai Police, under the planning of their Sangh (Parivar) masters, has started to play the shameful game of slandering minorities and proving Muslims to be terrorists and anti-nationals. It is a serious threat to the solidarity and stability of the country.

In a press statement, the story maintained, he said that instead of uncovering the real culprits the government’s secret agencies are targeting Muslims without any investigation and without any proof. The achievement of A.T.S. is that it is standing today where it was on July 11. Yet it is detaining Muslims like goats and sheep and creating a situation of hatred and misunderstanding in the country. Its method (of dealing with the situation) smacks not only of communalism but of Fascism and Nazism as well, the veteran Congressman said in unambiguous terms.

Expressing his concern on the failure of police in identifying the real culprits of Mumbai blasts even after the passage of over one month, Khalid Sheikh in his article Dhamakon ke liye musalmanon ko hadaf banana chey ma’ni darad? (What it means to target Muslims for blasts?), published in the Inquilab (August 17), writes: “To deal with an extraordinary incident it is necessary to widen the scope of investigation, rising above the traditional methods and concepts so that no stone is left unturned… The police and A.T.S. did not do it. Their investigation is moving around Muslim areas. The police have taken it for granted that the perpetrators of the blasts could be none but Muslims while there are such forces operating in the country as have been found involved in such activities. And then there is a group of opportunists in our country who are well-versed in tarnishing the image of Muslims to serve their petty political ends in such a situation.�

Mr. Sheikh concludes his article thus: “Presenting these details aims at highlighting the conspiracy being hatched in a well-planned manner to keep Muslims away from the national mainstream – a conspiracy in which government agencies are hand in glove with anti-Muslim forces. Terrorists are friends to none. In the present context they have proved to be the greatest enemy of humanity, Islam and Muslims. The sooner the government, its administration and the police realise it the better it be for the stability and unity of the country. Targeting only Muslims for the blasts is hypocrisy. Muslims too need to be quite alert in this situation.�

This past week witnessed at least two communal flare-ups in North Indian State of Uttar Pradesh. In a 6-column news story the Express of August 10 reports communalists’ attack with lathis and iron rods on the Muslims of village Tehri in Saharanpur district of U.P., in which Shahid, 20, was killed, dozens of Muslims were injured, their shops looted and later set on fire. The police arrived at the site of incident only after the passage of two hours during which the Hindu extremists kept on playing the naked dance of death and destruction, loot and arson.

Another place that witnessed communal tension is Mau. The Sahara of August 15 reports the communalists’ bid to create communal violence in Mau once again. Though no casualty was reported, an attempt was made to ablaze a mosque situated in Neyaz Muhammad Pur Rauza under Kotwali police station by throwing from outside burning pieces of cloth into the mosque, burning prayer mats, etc. therein. People in large numbers came on the road and the situation soon turned tense.

Indian Muslims wonder why their democratically elected representatives are behaving like the Hitlers and the Nazis. Why don’t they realise the enormity of the situation? Don’t they think they will have to go back to the large segments of masses to beg for votes?

17 August 2006

Indian Muslims urge the government to stop harassment

By IndianMuslims.info Staff

Post-7/11 days have been proving really very hard rather the cruellest in over a decade to Indian Muslims. This warrants a just, unbiased and judicious study of the situation.
As the ground reality we have been experiencing on our pulse as well as the Urdu Press reporting in great detail during the last three weeks since seven serial blasts ripped a suburb train in Mumbai on July 11, Muslims continue to be harassed and detained by police and intelligence agencies, and projected as potential terrorists by a section of the mainstream print and electronic media as well as the RSS-VHP-BJP-Bajrang Dal conglomerate. This disquieting situation eventually puts the second largest majority, which forms the nucleus of minorities in the country, at the receiving end and thus in the defensive.

Urdu newspapers are replete with the protest and resentment lodged by the leaders, Ulema and concerned members of the community.

The Hindustan Express of July 29 made a front-page banner headline to record as many as 19 Muslim parliamentarians belonging to the various political parties calling on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to apprise him of the resentment rife in the rank and file of Muslims at the continued harassment of members of the community the country over.

The Muslim members of Parliament came together to demand an immediate end to the harassment of Muslims. They also drew the attention of Prime Minister towards the counting of Muslims and Christians in Maharashtra. The Prime Minister promised to talk to the Union Home Minister and Chief Minister of Maharashtra in this regard.

On erecting a bullet-proof steel cordon round the make-shift temple on the site of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, the Prime Minister promised not to take any step on the issue without taking them into confidence.

Muslim legislators also urged the Prime Minister to make concerted efforts to get the Israeli aggression on Lebanon and Palestine stopped. The Prime Minister said New Delhi would not strengthen its relations with Israel at the cost of Palestine. He assured them that the government will do whatever it can in this regard.

The paper reported that this is the first time since the demolition of over five centuries old Babri Masjid in December 1992 that Muslim parliamentarians cutting across party lines joined hands to raise the voice of the community.

The Rashtriya Sahara of July 30 reports Mirza Muhammad Usman, member All India Congress Committee appreciating the Muslim parliamentarians’ move, saying this straightforward stand records Muslim unity that is urgent need of the hour and sets good precedent for future.

The Inquilab of July 31 reports that Police Commissioner of Maharashtra D. Shivanandan assured Muslim leaders, who had called on him to complain against police excesses in late night searching of Muslim houses and arrest of Muslims in Bhiwandi, that the police would take action against only those about whom they would get solid proof and evidence and practise restraint in house searching and detention.

The paper adds that Member of State Assembly Bashir Musa Patel and renowned Muslim leader and lawyer Abdul Majeed Memon told the presspersons: “We as a delegate called on the Police Commissioner this morning and complained to him against indiscriminate detention and harassment of Muslims. The Police Commissioner sent for all the four high police officials probing these matters (Mumbai blasts and afterwards) and directed them to practise restraint.�

The Munsif of August 1 reports that Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil, while replying to a question regarding Mumbai blasts in Rajya Sabha, said he would not declare any particular community responsible for the recent terror incidents occurred in Mumbai and other parts of the country.

Noor Jahan Tharwat, in her article “Jo bhi qatil hai, hamara hi tamannai hai� first published in the Inquilab on August 1 and reproduced in the Express the next day, writes: “This is the national tragedy of Indian Muslims that in this democratic and secular country their identity has always been doubtful and suspicious in one way or the other… For the last 30 years fascist organisations like Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Shiv Sena, Bajrang Dal and B.J.P. born out of the womb of R.S.S. are quite unwilling to bear the peaceful existence of Muslims. The Muslim genocide of Gujarat is the expression of this (phenomenon). Chief Minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi emerged as so great an enemy of the innocent and peace-loving community whose example can be found in none but Hitler. But how great a tragedy it is that a certain section is hell bent upon declaring the Muslim community rather than this greatest terrorist (Modi) for violence and terrorism in the country. It would not be wrong to say that the electronic media is playing an important role in this. It is projecting Muslims as terrorists. And the result is that today Indian Muslims are confronted with the circumstances of the Partition days.�

Participating in an anti-terrorism conference held in Bhopal, president Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind Maulana Arshad Madani said terrorism is a curse and equating it with a religion is not only wrong but also amounts to contempt to that religion. “Those who are swift to equate terrorism with Islam should tell us how many Muslims there are in L.T.T.E., the Bodos, Maoists and Naxalites who are all committing terror acts,� he challenged.

Though it was the then BJP-led NDA government that created the myth of madrasas being the breeding ground of terrorists, and the present Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil while addressing a seminar organised by Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadith recently in the Capital made it clear that madrasas are centres of education and have nothing to do with terrorism, the UPA government at the Centre seems not to have shed its concern on the issue. The Express and the Inquilab of August 1 front-paged the opening of an office of the country’s secret agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) for the first time in Lucknow, capital of the biggest North Indian State of Uttar Pradesh to keep an eye on Indo-Nepal border and especially the activities of madrasas running in the border areas of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Prior to this, the report includes, the agency had been active in these areas right on the instructions of its New Delhi headquarters.

In an article published in the Sahara of July 16 and later reproduced in the Urdu biweekly Dawat (July 25), Mudra Rakshas writes: “After all why it so happens that only in a country in which the President is a Muslim, Prime Minister a Sikh and the chairperson of U.P.A. a Christian, such terror acts take place and a haste is made to link them with Islamic organisations. Is it that all the three feel the dire necessity to prove themselves to be pro-Hindutva at all costs?�

2 August 2006

Muslims won’t be allowed to be harassed any more: PM

Urdu press roundup

By IndianMuslims.info Staff

This past week witnessed many developments in which Muslim Ulema, scholars, thinkers and social workers came forward to voice their resentment and concern over continued harassment and humiliation at the hands of police and security personnel in different parts of the country, and put their genuine grievances before the Government. They confirm what Indianmuslims.info has been reporting in this column for the last one month viz. people on the street feel the bitterness on their pulse that Muslims are being selectively targeted and discriminated against.

A close look at Urdu dailies of the past week shows that the Government now seems to be sincere in taking the situation under control.

On behalf of various madrasa managements, Muslim organisations and Ulema, Jamiat-ul-Ulema Hind Secretary-General Maulana Mahmood Madni and renowned social worker Kamal Farooqui jointly organised a 2-day conference on “Terrorism: Causes and Remedies� at Parliament Annexe on August 20 and 21. Almost all Urdu dailies covered it but with varying degrees of importance. In its front-page report under banner heading “Millat-e-Islamia aazmaishon se dochar, mardanawar muquabla zaroori,� the Hindustan Express (August 21) says: “The Muslim community is passing through a period of trials with regard to terrorism the country over. But the situation on the ground would not let us down; we would face it dauntlessly. This was the consensus that emerged on the first day of the conference.�

Sharing the view that “media terrorism� is unbearably agonising, Muslim scholars and Ulema urged the media persons not to tarnish the image of Muslims. They also warned the Government against playing in the hands of those who are hell bent upon destroying communal harmony in the country. They called upon the Government to take stock of how the situation is changing for the worse particularly after the Mumbai serial blasts.

“Terrorism and violence can never get support of the majority of followers of any religion; therefore the concerned sections of society should not let the country fall hostage to a handful of (anti-national) elements,� the report cited them as saying.

Inaugurated by Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman K. Rahman, the conference was graced with active participation by Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Priyaranjan Das Munshi, Maulana Asrarul Haq Qasmi, film director Mahesh Bhat, eminent social activist Teesta Setalvad and others.

In his keynote address, Jamiat president Maulana Arshad Madni underlined the need of practising social justice for countering terrorism.

The next day, August 22, the Express gave a brief front-page report of the second day of the conference, and scooped the other Urdu dailies by running the 6-point Delhi Declaration adopted at the end of the conference as well as the texts of the speeches made by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Union Human Resource Minister Arjun Singh and Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman K. Rahman.

The Prime Minister tried to convince the audience that the Government was sincere in making an end to the ill treatment being meted out to Muslims in the name of countering terrorism.

“If one is trying to defame Muslims by calling them terrorists, it is a mean conspiracy to provoke them…. Any action against terrorism should be taken only on the basis of solid proof and evidence. It should not be linked with any particular community, society or religion on the basis of mere rumours. We expect prudent measures in this regard on the part of State and Central Governments,� the Prime Minister said while calling upon the Ulema in particular to lead the Muslim community onto the path of progress and development.

The Prime Minister later called an urgent meeting of Muslim MPs on August 23. In a UNI news item Musalmanon ko harasan karne ki ijazat nahin the Rashtriya Sahara and the Express, on August 24 reported the Prime Minister assuring Muslim legislators that innocent people would not be allowed to be harassed at any cost in the investigation of Mumbai bomb blasts, and that he himself would talk to Chief Minister of Maharashtra Vilas Rao Deshmukh about targeting the members of one single community.

Rajya Sabha member Abu Asim Azmi, maintains the report, in a press statement later said as many as 35 members of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha cutting across party lines participated in the meeting.

Briefing the Prime Minister on what is happening on the ground, Mr. Azmi referred, as an example, to the cases of two Muslim youth, Faisal and Muzzammil, and said that the police not only tortured them but their ageing father as well and reportedly detained one of their female relations. He informed the PM that the police threatened the youth to disgrace other female members of their family if they did not confess the crime voluntarily.

The Prime Minister asked them to submit a written complaint to his office, and the latter did submit a written complaint to the PMO then and there.

In a 3-colum news Bomb dhamakon ke ba’d musalmanon ke khilaf karwai bund ki jaye, the Qaumi Awaz (August 23) reports All India Momin Conference staging a protest march at Jantar Mantar in the Capital against the ongoing harassment of Muslims following Mumbai serial blasts. Member Parliament and president of the organisation Furqan Ansari led the march.

The procession also addressed some other issues. It demanded cutting diplomatic ties with Israel forthwith, giving 5.8% reservation to Muslims from among the reservation given to backward classes, and increasing the number of Muslim employees in the various government departments.

The next day, on August 24, the Awam ran a photograph of Muslims marching under the banner of Momin Conference.

A delegation of All India Tanzeem Aimma-e-Masajid led by Maulana Muhammad Haroon on August 19 called on the UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and handed over a memorandum to her, asserting their 3-point demands. They demanded that the UPA government should allow the Muslims to say prayers in the ancient mosques now under Archaeological Survey of India and hand over those mosques to Muslims, fix the payment scale of Imams and Muazzins as per the decision of the Supreme Court, and establish national monuments in the names of the Ulema, who had laid down their lives for the freedom of the country, in different parts of the country, reports the Sahara of August 20.

The report maintains that later the members of the organisation held a convention on “The Role of Ulema in the Freedom Struggle of India� at Aiwan-e-Ghalib.

Addressing the convention as Chief Guest, senior Congress leader R.K. Anand lamented: “The victims of 1984 anti-Sikh riots were given Rs. 100 crore as compensation. Anti-Muslim riots have been taking place in India from 1952 till date but justice has not been done to them.�

Chairman of Delhi Waqf Board Choudhary Mateen Ahmed, participating in the discussion, lamented that Muslims are being dubbed terrorists today for following the commandments of God, guidance of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) and the Holy Qur’�n.

Many writers like Maulana Asrarul Haq Qasmi in his article Beqasoor Musalman nishane per kiyon? (the Dawat, August 22) and Noor Jahan Tharwat in her article Nazar mein dur talak tishnagi ka sehra hai (the Inquilab, August 22), and many in letters to the editors of various Urdu dailies, have addressed this disquieting situation prevailing in the country.

The Rahnuma-e-Deccan, in its editorial on August 18, complains that the Prime Minister’s Red Fort speech on the Independence Day was replete with beautiful words and poetic verses but there was nothing about the ground realities especially the sorry state of affairs Muslims have been subjected to.

August 24, 2006

Politicisation of Muslim harassment, ‘Vande Mataram’ add to Muslim woes

Urdu press roundup
By IndianMuslims.info Staff

As Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal and Punjab expected early next year are coming nigh, political parties have busied themselves in dishing out their poll planks, keeping eyes on the Muslim vote bank. Many political parties, including the Hindu ultranationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have now started politicising the ongoing harassment of Indian Muslims at home and abroad. Adding a not-so-new issue to Muslims’ woes, the BJP-ruled States of Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan have issued circulars to all educational institutions, including madrasas to ensure compulsory singing of Vande Mataram on September 7 to mark the centenary celebrations of this controversial song.

Urdu Press widely covered the details of mid-air detention of 12 Indian Muslims aboard an NWA flight, which was escorted back to Amsterdam for security checking, as well as the reaction of the Government of India to the extent of sending for the Dutch ambassador in New Delhi to lodge protest against the Dutch government’s action against 12 Indians. The victims – Suhail Abdul Aziz Nizami, Ayyoob Qadeer, Sajid Qadeer, Haji Yusuf Ghaffar Memon, Noor Muhammad Batliwala, Shakeel Osman Chotani, Ayyoob Khan, Ihsan Farooqui, Ghulam Mustafa, Muhammad Imran, Muhammad Yusuf, and Muhammad Iqbal Batliwala – all from Mumbai or its adjoining areas were kept in inhuman conditions for over two days before they were released on August 25. Four of them were sporting beard and wearing Muslim-looking clothes.

In its editorial entitled “Terrorism and Muslims� the Awam of August 26 wondered whether the war on terror can be won by disenchanting Muslims or by taking them into confidence.

Most ironically, the BJP – the party that lives on Muslim bashing – reacted positively on the incident. In a box item the Sahara of August 26 front-paged a report entitled Har dadhiwala Osama ki factory ka samaan nahin (Every bearded person is not the product of Osama’s factory). Strongly criticising the detention of 12 Indian Muslims at Amsterdam, the party’s vice president and Rajya Sabha member Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said Western countries should not take every person sporting beard and donning a cap as ‘the product of Osama’s factory’. He added that it is not a healthy sign as it would encourage only those who want to destroy peace and harmony.
Devil quotes the scripture, so goes the saying, isn’t it? The purblind BJP leader did condemn the Dutch authorities in so many words but did not spell even a single word on the ground situation back at home.

Another political leader who tried to exploit the ongoing Muslim harassment is Samajwadi Party General Secretary Amar Singh. In a front-page report in the Sahara of August 25, Mr. Singh shed crocodile tears on the harassment of Muslims in Mumbai. He said despite the assurances given by Prime Minister and Union Home Minister Muslims in Mumbai are paying the price of their being Muslim. This is ‘shameful’. Mr. Singh also called upon the PM and Home Minister to intervene in the matter to do justice to the victims.

Vande Mataram
Another issue which has made headlines in Urdu dailies is compulsory singing of Vande Mataram. Following an HRD Ministry circular to Chief Ministers to sing Vande Mataram in educational institutions on September 7 as part of its centenary celebrations, two BJP-ruled governments of Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan have issued circulars to all educational institutions, including madrasas to ensure compulsory singing of this song on September 7.

Union Human Resource Minister Arjun Singh had to face demands from BJP members to quit from his office for his statement that the singing of this song is optional and compulsory.

Muslim Ulema and leaders like Shahi Imam Jama Masjid Delhi Syed Ahmad Bukhari as well as Muslim organisations, including Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, Muslim Convention UP, All India Council for Imams of Mosques, Rashtriya Alpsankhayak Vikas Morcha, and Tanzeem Abna-e-Ashrafiya of Ahle Sunnat wal Jamaat have condemned the government’s move to raise this controversial issue once again as in their view the singing of Vande Mataram involves polytheism.

Some of the Muslim leaders have advised the community members not to send their wards to educational institutions on September 7. Some others fear this move on the part of BJP might cause communal tension in the country.

In a Sahara (August 31) report entitled Musalman Gujarat se sabaq sikhen Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Ashok Singhal made a provocative statement when he said refusing to sing Vande Mataram amounts to a rebellion against the nation, and called upon the Government to take serious action against those who refuse to sing this song.

Ongoing Harassment
A close study of the Urdu Press this past week also brings into light the fact that despite the assurances given by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Indian Muslims that they would not be allowed to be harassed any more; there are instances of detaining innocent Muslims at least in Maharashtra.

The Hindustan Express of August 29 reports the arrest of Maudood Madani, son of freedom fighter Maulana Asad Madani and younger brother of Jamiatul Ulema General Secretary Maulana Mahmood Madani, on his way to Dadar after landing at Mumbai domestic airport, at 10 a.m. on August 28, for no fault of his own except his sporting beard, donning a cap and wearing Muslim-looking clothes.

He was kept at Dadar police station and released only after 10 hours of undue detention followed by a written apology by the D.C.P. of Dadar Police.

The Rashtriya Sahara covered the incident only the next day. In a front-page report under banner headline, the Express charged Mumbai police of practising Muslim phobia as it has been detaining almost every Muslim reaching the business capital of the country by air. It also sees Israeli secret agency Mossad-like treatment in Mumbai police’s dealing with Muslims in the State.

“The way even dignitaries are being subjected to police excesses shows that the objective of Mumbai police’s action has now become only the undue harassment and persecution of Muslims and nothing else. Reports have confirmed that Mumbai police, like Israeli secret agency Mossad, is busy in racial profiling of Muslims. They also say that it has become the daily routine of Mumbai police to gather information about Muslims from the list of passengers on Mumbai-bound flights and on its basis target Muslims,� the paper maintains.

In an open letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh published in the Express of August 27, General Secretary All India Milli Council Dr. Muhammad Manzoor Alam writes, “Drawing your attention, through this letter, towards the recent cases of harassment and persecution of Muslims in Mumbai at the hands of government agencies, I want to state that despite your assurances and public statements it is still going on….�

“For the last few years and particularly in the post-Mumbai blasts days, the method of secret agencies and special task forces coming to light resembles that of the secret agencies of Israel… In a democratic country like India where all the communities have been living together with their natural, historical and legal rights, this resemblance of administrative machinery is incomprehensible and precarious….�

Dr. Alam also urged the Prime Minister to initiate legal and departmental proceedings against the secret agencies, special squads or the police officers who have been involved in taking irresponsible measures (against Muslims), and to ensure entry in the proceeding books of each of the innocents detained and later released that ‘he was found innocent’ so that they may not be subjected to harassment again in future and his record may not be soiled.

August 30, 2006

Graves of Ashraf Ali Thanvi family demolished, desecrated

Urdu press roundup
By IndianMuslims.info Staff

One of the various problems Indian Muslims are faced with is the politics of hate and violence. And who earns dividends by playing this nasty game is an open secret. This not so hidden fact assumes added significance when one comes across an incident taking place as a result of this typical sort of politics selectively at a time when the UPA government at the Centre is taking at least some measures to better the socio-economic and educational condition of this neglected lot. December 17 witnessed one such incident in the northern Indian State of Uttar Pradesh when the graves of Late Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi and three others were levelled and desecrated – yes, the graves were literally dug, human waste thrown into them and the mud scattered. Add to it the BJP’s hardcore anti-Muslim stance reiterated during its 2-day national executive committee meeting held in Lucknow on December 22-23. The hate juggernaut is operating brazenly in the length and breath of the country despite law taking its own course as we find in the handing over of Nanded and Malegaon blasts probe to the CBI or the Babri Masjid demolition cases taking a new turn. Urdu press covered these developments all through the week with minute details.

On December 18 the Rashtriya Sahara and the Hindustan Express front-paged the levelling of the grave of Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi, popularly known as Hakim-ul-Ummat, and those of his wife, his brother Khan Bahadur Mazhar Ali and his friend Maulana Zahoorul Hasan in the dead of night at Thana Bhawan in Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh.

In its banner story the Express reports: “A few days ago some miscreants had pulled some bricks out of the (Maulana’s) grave. But the Mulayam administration remained a silent spectator. Goaded by the government (its silence) the miscreants at last razed the graves.�

The incident caused great panic in the entire area and the followers of Hakim-ul-Ummat started coming in large numbers to the Ashrafi graveyard in the private garden of the great Islamic scholar near Thana Bhawan railway station. Sensing the situation going out of control, the administration deployed PAC jawans in the area. The report alleges that the Mulayam administration wants to create communal tension prior to the Assembly elections in the State so that it might scare Muslim votes to vote for Samajwadi Party.

The renowned author of Bihishti Zewar has over one thousand books to his credit. He was a Fazil from Darul Uloom Deoband and an outstanding Alim of Khanqah Imdadiya. His direct disciples include Maulana Wasiullah Jalalabadi, Maulana Abdul Majid Dariyabadi and Hakimul Islam Qari Tayyab, etc., the report adds.

The Sahara, in its box story, says: “It was an unholy but desperate attempt to throw the entire country into the fire of communalism.�

The paper further says that all social and political groups as well as dignitaries including Maulana Muhammad Moosa, Mufti of Imam Sangathan Zulfiqar Ali, Hafiz Aftab of Tahreek Islah-e-Muashira, Gauhar Siddiqui of Secular Front, Shia Alim Maulana Asad Raza Qibla expressed their deep sense of agony on this mischievous conspiracy and appealed to the people to keep patience and fortitude.

In another report on page 4, the Sahara of the same date carries strong reaction to this ‘heart-rending’ incident expressed by renowned Ulema and Muslim leaders including All India Milli Council president Maulana Abdullah Mughisi, Tanzeem Ulema-e-Hind president Maulana Syed Anzar Shah Kashmiri, In-charge Darul Ifta Madrasa Mazahirul Uloom Saharanpur Maulana Mufti Habib Rumi, State general secretary Deeni Taalimi Council Maulana Riyaz Nadwi, and Maulana Nisar Ahmad Mazahiri of Milli Council. They termed it as a planned conspiracy against Muslims and demanded immediate investigation into it and stringent action against those responsible for it.

Other Urdu papers like the Qaumi Awaz rose to the occasion a day later, on December 19. The Awaz reports Shaikhul Hadith of Darul Uloom (Waqf) Deoband Maulana Anzar Shah Kashmiri and general secretary Jamiatul Ulema Hind Maulana Mahmood Madni urging the government to arrest the culprits and give them due punishment. Maulana Abdullah Mughisi asked the Commissioner of Saharanpur to take immediate action against the culprits.

In another report on page 6 the paper says that chairman Minority Cell of the Congress Imran Qidwai also voiced his deep concern over this mischievous act. Expressing his utter surprise on the indifference and inaction of the Mulayam administration, he said it should have deployed a police party when the miscreants had pulled some bricks out of the grave.

The Express is carrying its follow-ups almost daily and sometimes 5 or 6 stories on different pages. A close study of all these follow-up reports reveals that all Muslim organisations and institutions and Muslim Ulema and dignitaries irrespective of the schools of thought they belong to, have condemned this ‘cowardly’ and ‘mischievous’ act on the part of the hate-mongers and demanded stringent action against the culprits. Some of them like president of All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat Syed Shahabuddin termed it part of deep conspiracy and congratulated the Muslim community on keeping patience and maintaining peace in spite of the miscreants’ attempt to provoke them.

In one such story the Express (December 22) reports Jamaat-e-Islami Hind sending a delegation led by its assistant secretary-general Maulana Muhammad Rafeeq Qasmi to Thana Bhawan. At Khanqah Imdadiya the delegation was told that they have received wide condemnation of the act from all quarters of society and several government and political delegations have also visited them.

The Express of December 24 reports that the Muslims of the area staged a march at Meenakshi Chowk, Muzaffarnagar protesting the slow pace of investigation into the incident and also against MLAs Munawwar Hasan and Amir Alam Khan giving 15 days time to the administration to arrest the culprits. They raised slogans against the Mulayam administration as well as the MLAs and burnt their effigies. The police tried to disperse them. One police inspector took out his pistol and opened fire, as a result of which the protesters did disperse but a 45-year old woman Fatima w/o Muhammad Khalid Quraishi, who was standing on her roof, got injured and is now fighting for her life. However the District Collector Sudhir Kumar Srivastava and SSP Amrendra Kumar have promised to suspend the police inspector who had opened fire, and provide free treatment and adequate compensation for Fatima.

December 24, 2006

More on Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi

How many black days Babri Masjid needs to get justice?

Urdu press roundup
By IndianMuslims.info Staff

While Indian Muslims, in different parts of the country, remembered December 6 as a Black Day, kept their shutters down, staged protest marches and sit-ins, called congregational Azan, and submitted memorandums demanding the reconstruction of the demolished mosque and punishment for the perpetrators of the crime, the ultranationalists ‘celebrated’ this day as a Bravery Day and both Houses of Parliament witnessed pandemonium and repeated adjournments of proceedings.

Urdu dailies, through their special reports and articles as well as images, covered in great detail these developments that marked the 14th anniversary of the demolition of Babri Masjid.

The Rashtriya Sahara (December 7) reports minute details of the various Black Day or Bravery Day programmes held at Ayodhya, Saharanpur, Moradabad, Agra, Rampur, Sanbhal, Baraily, Mawana, Bijnore and other places in Uttar Pradesh and other States.

The Qaumi Awaz and the Akhbar-e-Mashriq report that the call of Vishwa Hindu Parishad and other Hindutva parties to mark December 6 as the Bravery Day did not get any considerable response.

“Hardly 150 persons could participate in their programme held at Karsevakpuram in Ayodhya. They did not fire any crackers nor did they distribute sweets as they used to do on this day. The common Hindus of Ayodhya were seen working as usual; they did not show they were even a bit happy with the demolition of Babri Masjid. This was despite the efforts made by BJP leaders to exploit the sentiments of Hindus,� the report said.

BJP leader Vinay Katiyar however said that there is no need for marking this day as either Black Day or Bravery Day; the need is to build the temple over there.

Addressing the party workers at Ayodhya on December 6, he tried to exploit Muslims’ gullibility when he said: “Muslims should come forward and cooperate in the construction of the temple. If Muslim brethren thus settle this dispute, it will set an example of brotherhood in the country.�

The Mulayam Singh administration, on its part, imposed Section 144 in Ayodhya district to keep law and order in the district under control. The police detained 17 activists of Hindu Maha Sabha who were marching towards the disputed site to do Ramjanmabhoomi prikarma.

In Rajasthan, Hindutva organisations celebrated the day as Bravery Day in all towns and cities, including the State capital, Jaipur. An untowar