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 untoward incident occurred at Saket in Kota district when Hindutva activists started stone pelting at police personnel who were trying to maintain law or order.

Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazgam (TNMMK), Tamil Nadu Tauheed Jamaat and Indian National League staged massive protests at Trichunapally demanding from the Central Government to build a mosque on the site of Babri Masjid forthwith, to dispose of all the cases related to the demolition of the mosque rapidly, and to hand over the Babri Masjid site in Ayodhya to Muslims. Tamil Nadu Tauheed Jamaat alone staged protests at 42 places all over the State, report Urdu dailies on December 7.

TNMMK vice-president Abdul Jameel, in a statement, also demanded ban on the activities of Vishwa Hindu Parishad.

Muslims gathered in large numbers under the banner of various organisations including Raza Academy at different places in Maharashtra, called congregational Azans, and submitted memorandums to district collectors, calling upon President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam to get the mosque rebuilt on its very site and to get the cases against the demolishers disposed of.

The Hindustan Express also carried public opinions on the issue. One respondent from Delhi alleged the Congress party of lingering the Babri Masjid issue keeping in view its Muslim vote bank politics.

“Every year December 6 is observed as Black Day but no Muslim leader took any effective step to get this issue on the agenda of his political party,� he said.

Urdu dailies gave wide coverage to the programmes held in Delhi. In one such programme hundreds of Muslims, including Ulema and dignitaries staged a sit-in at Jantar Mantar near Parliament.

Addressing the gathering, Maulana Mufti Muhammad Rizwan Alam Qasmi of Jamiatul Ulema Bihar said the demolition of Babri Masjid was a black spot on the face of Indian democracy that could be washed out only by rebuilding the mosque at its site.

He demanded from the government to annul the plan to provide a bullet proof cover for the make-shift temple on the Babri Masjid site, and withdraw a petition seeking permission from the Supreme Court in this regard. He urged the government to take stringent action against those who violate the law of the land, and to accelerate the legal process with a fresh notification to merge the cases pending before Baraily and Lucknow courts.

“In spite of the passage of 14 long years our courts of law could not prove the crime of those who demolished Babri Masjid, and in spite of spending 25 crore rupees on the functioning of Justice Liberhan Commission, the Commission could not prepare its report,� the Maulana lamented.

Urdu Development Organisation and United Muslims of India organised a joint public programme chaired by Maulana Muhammad Naseem Mazahri at Ashfaqullah Khan Park in New Delhi.

“Muslims are marking this day as Black Day and a very minuscule section of the society is celebrating it as Bravery Day. But we want to mark this day as Day of Accountability, for we want the government to take stock of the situation and decide whether it would let the criminals to rule or there would be rule of law in the country,� Maulana Mazahri said.
He also said the government should think why the demolishers of the mosque have not been brought to book even after 14 years since its demolition.

In another development the Communist Party of India (Marxist) alleged the then NDA government of misusing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and demanded that cases be filed against the Opposition leader L.K. Advani and BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi. It also urged the government not to further extend the period of Justice Liberhan Commission enquiring into the demolition of Babri Masjid.

CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechuri said that then Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani and the then Union Minister Murli Manohar Joshi got their names dropped from the CBI chargesheet by misusing their respective offices.

Yechuri told the presspersons that justice has not been done in the Babri Masjid demolition case due to snail pace of Liberhan Commission even after 14 years.

In his article, “Babri Masjid demolition: End of an Era� published in the Sahara of December 7, Javed Alam Kazmi proves that December 6, 1992 was the climax of Hindu communalism and just after it the Hindu Rashtra agenda started dying on its own.

One wonders how many more Black Days Babri Masjid needs to get justice.

December 10, 2006

Imarat Shari’ah Phulwari Sharif a ‘safe haven of terrorists’?

Urdu press roundup
By IndianMuslims.info Staff

At a time when the UPA government at the Centre is seriously considering the ways and means to improve the pitiable lot of Muslims by implementing the recommendations of Justice Sachar Committee report, and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh while speaking on Law and Development has categorically reiterated that terrorism knows no religion and does not represent any particular community, three Uttar Pradesh senior police officials called Muslims terrorists in their very sensitive reports and on of them dubbed the premier Muslim institution Imarat Shari’ah in Phulwari Sharif, Bihar a ‘safe haven of terrorists’.

Editorially appreciating Prime Minister’s stand on terrorism, the Qaumi Awaz (November 28) says: “There is no dearth of such people and political groups who mislead the people to achieve their political ends in the name of (combating) terrorism. The need is that our law and order and investigating agencies be true and honest in their intent and perform their duties in an unprejudiced manner, rather than defaming such a group which is strengthening the secular fabric of the country. Perhaps Manmohan Singh has given this message in his speech.�

On November 28 Urdu newspapers report senior police officials of Uttar Pradesh dubbing Muslims ‘terrorists’. “The intent of Mulayam Singh administration is not honest about Muslims and their organisations and institutions. ‘Yadavisation’ of police has been done and the police have become as communal as they had been during the Hinduwadi regime,� the Awaz report says.

Urdu press records that during a special programme held at Lucknow to mark Police Week, Additional Director General Police (Railways) V.K. Bhalla, in his report on Terror Scenario in India, termed the Imarat Shari’ah as the den of terrorists. It quoted Bhalla as saying: “The terrorists belonging to ISI, Lashkar-e-Taiba, SIMI and Bangladeshi terrorists come from Bangladesh and Pakistan and are recruited here. There are at least 200 terrorists of Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal and Bangladesh staying at Imarat Shari’ah, Phulwari Sharif.�

It further says that Inspector General (IG) of Special Task Force (STF) Jagmohan Prasad Yadav, in his report, claimed that ISI activities are rapidly increasing in U.P. besides Maharashtra, Delhi and North Indian States. He also said that at least 200 youth of U.P. have returned from Pakistan after getting terror training and now they are being trained to explode explosives.

The Awaz report also carries the condemnation of the senior police officials’ move to tarnish the image of Muslims by Maulana Khalid Rasheed Firangimahali, Naib Imam Eidgah and member All India Muslim Personal Law Board, who called the said police report “a bundle of lies�. “It is unfortunate that a responsible police officer is trying to defame a trustworthy institution of the stature of Imarat Shari’ah,� he said.

Maulana Khalid said that the police report has greatly hurt the sentiments of Muslims; so the said police officers should seek a public apology from Muslims.

The Express (November 28) front-paged this uncalled for development. “U.P. police has been looking at Darul Uloom Deoband and Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulema with jaundiced eyes and left no stone unturned to defame these two premier Muslim institutions in the State. Now its communalism made it defame a premier Muslim institution outside the State viz. in Bihar.�

On November 29 Urdu papers covered the sharp reaction to the said police report lodged by Ameer Shariat Imarat Shari’ah Bihar, Orissa and Jharkhand Maulana Syed Nizamuddin.

Maulana Nizamuddin said the said police report is from beginning to end baseless, very mischievous and part of the ongoing conspiracy to tarnish the image of Muslim organisations and institutions in the country.

Established in 1921 in a meeting presided by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Imarat Shari’ah has been visited by renowned dignitaries, including A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and Mulayam Singh, who have all seen its functioning and appreciated it. It is a clean and spotless institution known all over the country for its yeomen services of providing proper guidance for Muslims in their religious and social affairs, for its popularisation of education especially technical education, for running Maulana Sajjad Memorial Hospital at Phulwari Sharif. In these educational and humanitarian centres common people irrespective of their caste and creed are benefiting, Maulana Nizamuddin said.

The Maulana also called upon the Prime Minister, Union Home Minister and U.P. Chief Minister to look into the matter and take stringent action against the said police officers.
The Express (November 29) has editorially questioned the very source and proof of U.P. police calling Imarat Shari’ah a den of terrorism. “On which proofs and evidences the (said) police officer after all chose to write that Imarat Shari’ah is a haven of terrorists?�

The Express editorial notes: “Communal organisations have been pointing fingers to and defaming Muslim organisations and institutions. But the manner in which now in the changed scenario government departments have levelled baseless allegations against Muslim institutions cannot be traced in the past. It is a matter of utter surprise that these allegations have been levelled by the governments that stake claims to secularism and support to Muslims.�

The Imarat Shari’ah issue has not only earned wide criticism from different religious and political quarters but was also raised in Parliament for two consecutive days.

Waving a copy of the Express (November 28) in Parliament, RJD MP Devendra Yadav expressed his protest against the said police report, saying that it was a deliberate effort made by U.P. police to soil the fair name of Imarat Shari’ah. According to an Express report on November 30, he also proposed to stop proceedings in the House.

In another Express report on December 1, senior RJD member offered to tender his resignation from the membership of parliament if the allegation against Imarat Shari’ah about having links with terrorist organisations and Pakistan’s secret agency ISI is proved. It was perhaps right time for the founder of RJD and Union Railways Minister Lalu Prasad to follow suit. He not only praised Imarat Shari’ah for having total confidence of public and doing a great service since its inception but also offered to tender his resignation if the allegation is proved.

Lalu Prasad also clarified the position of Railways department when he said that Bhalla was an IPS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre and was working for Railways on deputation. He said it is up to the Uttar Pradesh government to take action against the erring police official.

Various Muslim organisations, including All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat and All India Taleemi wa Milli Foundation have criticised the Mulayam Singh administration for defaming Imarat Shari’ah and demanded action against the erring police officials.

AITMF president Maulana Asrarul Haque Qasmi termed the police move as very unfortunate and part of the conspiracy to tarnish the image of Muslims.

“The said police officials should be arrested forthwith. If Mulayam Singh administration fails to take due action against them, Muslims should present Mulayam Singh in the forthcoming (assembly) elections in the State as a communal and anti-Muslim leader,� he said.

A report published in the Express on December 2 reveals that the three erring police officials are known for enjoying the closeness of Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav. It also claims that efforts are being made to drag a Muslim IPS officer for allegedly leaking the police reports to the press.

The 4-column report also cites many examples to prove that this is not an isolated case rather the entire police set-up of the State has been Saffronised to make the image of Muslims doubtful and suspicious as per Hindutva agenda.

However, as a result of wide protest, criticism and condemnation of the three police officials, the Additional DGP (Railways) V.K. Bhalla now stands suspended. Bhalla is now reportedly knocking at the doors of the Ulema who are considered close to Mulayam Singh to get his suspension withdrawn. But the Mulayam Singh administration is yet to take action against the rest two erring police officials.

December 2, 2006

Link:

Imarat Shariah

Muslims need to pay attention to business and industry

Urdu press roundup
By IndianMuslims.info Staff

With Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s reiteration of his government’s commitment for taking effective measures to uplift the Muslim community as well as the Dalits, while inaugurating the 2-day Dalit-Minorities International conference organised by Lok Janshakti Party president Ram Vilas Paswan in New Delhi on December 27, the ongoing discussion on Justice Sachar Committee Report has taken a boost. The Prime Minister once again agreed with the Sachar Committee’s finding that Muslims have not been given their share in the fruits of development. He said it is the responsibility of the democratically elected government to remove this imbalance and inequality. “My government is committed to do so,� he said.

Welcoming the initiative made by the LJP leader and Union Minister for Chemicals and Steel, the Hindustan Express (December 28) editorial writes: “The said Minister has convened a Dalit-Muslim international conference at this juncture of history when the Sachar Committee finding that Muslims have been thrown to the more sorry state of affairs than that of Dalits during the 60 years of independence, is being discussed everywhere. This effort of his should not be taken only in political colour. His sincerity can be gauged with the fact that he has invited representatives of the minority community from dozens of countries the world over… and above all seasoned journalist Qurban Ali has been invited to deliver the keynote address on the backwardness of Muslims. All this shows the sincerity of the organisers, which should be encouraged at every level. We think the day when Dalits and Muslims get united will see the dawn of a new turn in the political firmament of the country. But it requires stronger will power, zeal and enthusiasm. Such kinds of efforts have fallen prey to the conspiracies of communal forces and even today these forces are dead against it with all their energies. Dalits and Muslims both need to beware of them.�

Addressing the conference, Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil advised the Muslims and other minorities to pay more attention to getting employment in business and industry than in the government sector. “There are only 3% government jobs in all employment opportunities available in the country. Whereas there are limitless job opportunities in business and industry sectors,� he said.

He assured the minorities that they would be provided with loans for running business and industries on soft conditions.

The Express (December 30) editorially knocks at the conscience of the government authorities to keep the promises made in public. “The Dalit-Minorities Conference was a great success in view of its tall promises and planning but its real success lies in keeping the promises made to the minorities and Dalits. It is a matter of concern that Muslims have been living only on promises since Independence… Now it is high time something was done for Muslims.�

Manipur, which is scheduled to go to polls on February 8, 15 and 23, 2007, declared 4% reservation for Muslims in government jobs. Making an announcement to this effect, Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh said although Muslims form 7% of the total population in the State, their percentage in Grade I and Grade II government jobs is mere 2.57, reports the Express on December 30.

Earlier, welcoming the Prime Minister’s suggestion: “We have to give up our ‘chalta hai’ (laid back) attitude,� the Express (December 26) writes: “This very ‘chalta hai’ attitude is behind the crisis the country is passing through today and the backwardness of minorities particularly Muslims. Had Muslims not been left on their own and planning for their (bright) future been made for them too, their condition would not have been that sorry… Let us hope not only Indian people but also our political leaders, policymakers and government officials will give up this attitude and realise their responsibilities and try to fulfil them.�

Year of promises

At the end of the year 2006 Urdu press carried an analysis of the year with regard to minorities, particularly Muslims. The analyst considers this year to be one of controversies, claims and promises.

“If we see 2006 in the perspective of minorities, we find that some positive steps have been taken in this regard. The problems of minorities and their requirements continued to be the centre of government’s attention throughout the year but major part of it covered controversies. Prime Minister’s 15-point programme, creation of a ministry for minority affairs and formation of Justice Sachar Committee to prepare a report on the socio-economic and educational condition of Muslims were some important decisions related to minorities,� a Hindustan Express report said on December 26.

The Akhbar-e-Mashriq (December 27) reports that the Muslim Education and Welfare Society Jharkhand, in a meeting on December 26, expressed concern over the educational backwardness of Muslims and announced the following three important decisions to contain it:

1. The 10 top students who have succeeded in the Matriculation examination in 2005-06 will be felicitated;
2. The students of Classes V to X will be invited to participate in a competition and the first 5 students qualifying the test in each class will be provided with scholarships; and
3. The students securing 85% marks in any grade will be provided with all their academic expenses for one year if their parents are below the poverty line.

In a related development Samajwadi Party MP Amir Ali Khan, while inaugurating a study centre of Maulana Azad National Urdu University at Falah-e-Darain al-Islamia in Bilaspur, UP, said: “Educational backwardness of Muslims is not only telling badly upon the progress and advancement of the community but is the biggest hurdle in the overall development of the country as well.�

He underlined the need of launching a well-planned campaign to effect educational awareness in the Muslim society, the Rashtriya Sahara reported on December 31.

Saddam’s Execution

On December 31 former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein’s execution made headlines in all Urdu papers. They carried statements of Muslim and Non-Muslim organisations and individuals and reports of protest marches at many places, condemning Saddam’s execution on the day of Eid al-Adha at the behest of US president George W. Bush, as well as the Iraqi leader’s profile depicting important events in his life and his photographs right from his childhood till the execution.

December 31, 2006

Muslims’ ‘first claim on national resources’ wins applause

Urdu press roundup
By IndianMuslims.info Staff

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s recent statement about minorities’ first claim on national resources has raised debates and discussions in the various sections of society. While some Muslim Ulema and leaders are eulogising the PM for making such a ‘sincere’ and ‘just’ statement and some others casting serious doubts on the implementation of the programme, the RSS and its political wing BJP are charging the PM of Muslim appeasement and of talking in the Jinnah-like tone, and thus asking him to make public apology for this.

Urdu dailies of the week are replete with views and opinions sought from different community leaders or statements released by them as well as reports and articles, comments and editorials on the subject.

On December 10 all Urdu dailies covered PM’s inaugural speech at the 52nd session of National Development Council held in the Capital to discuss the 11th 5-year plan. Dr. Singh said it is the government’s duty to provide the minorities, particularly Muslims, with the opportunities of development and advancement on preferential basis. His remarks were important in the sense that he was addressing a very important meeting attended by the members of the Planning Commission, many Union Ministers and Chief Ministers of all States.

RSS and BJP called these remarks another example of Muslim appeasement on the part of Congress, raised the issue in both Houses of Parliament and launched a massive countrywide protest from December 15 onwards.

On December 12 Urdu papers reported BJP-led Opposition in Parliament raising objections to and slogans against the PM’s remarks, which invited counter slogans and resulted in adjournments of proceedings thrice and finally till the next day – all at the cost of public exchequer. They demanded apology from the Prime Minister.

Taking serious note of BJP members’ objections, Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Priyaranjan Das Munshi said the entire House save and except BJP and Shiv Sena members is in support of the PM’s stand. Charging BJP of adopting divisive policy in the country, Munshi stressed that the PM would never seek apology for his remarks, neither inside Parliament nor outside thereof.

In its editorial entitled “Why hue and cry of PM’s statement?� the Hindustan Express of December 11 has come rather heavily down upon the RSS and its hate-Muslim agenda.

Calling their objections to the PM’s statement ‘unfortunate’, the Express editorial writes: “The fact is that for the partition of the country much more responsible than Jinnah are these narrow-minded, conservative, bigoted, blinkered and dogmatic elements whose leaders had imported the theory of renaissance from Germany. When these disciples of the Nazis did not hesitate in getting their hands stained with the blood of Mahatma Gandhi just to implement their unholy fascist designs, how can they bear Manmohan Singh’s speaking the truth?�

It further says: “The Chief Ministers who welcomed this statement of the Prime Minister did the right thing but Chief Minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi gave the proof of his being adverse (to progress) by calling this statement of the Prime Minister ‘unfortunate’. He says that poverty does not know religion but he should be asked that people are made victim to communal violence only on the basis of their religion. And what is his opinion about the oppressed persons who have been rendered homeless and hearth-less in the length and breadth of Gujarat since February 2002?

The Awam editorial of the same date is comparatively mild. Though it begins with heavy sarcasm: “To speak the truth is a sin! This seems to be the case with Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh,� it concludes with sincere advice to RSS and BJP: “Placing this truth under cover may please a few persons but it will cause a great damage to the country. For, the dream of including the country in the list of developed countries cannot be translated into reality while keeping a large chunk of population away from development. Therefore, the communal political leaders of the country should also accept the truth that Muslims too have the same right to national resources as others do.�

The Qaumi Awaz, in its editorial of December 12 issue writes: “No conscientious person and patriot should have objected to the strategy the Prime Minister emphasised to remove the political, social, educational and economic backwardness of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Muslims. But the BJP and Sangh Parivar, taking undue advantage of the wrong and objectionable interpretation made by the electronic media, raised such a provocative mischief that would have caused serious misapprehension about the intention of the government had the P.M.O. not clarified it. It cannot be ignored that in the BJP-ruled States minorities particularly Muslims and other backward classes are being neglected. The fact that a large chunk of population has been ignored due to the trends of bias and hatred in the name of religion and casteism prevalent even in the 21st century, can not be ignored. If the development and welfare schemes are implemented on the basis of bias and hatred in such a vast country like India where peoples belonging to the various faiths, languages and cultures live, not only the country will lose its internal power and self-confidence but the very feeling of deprivation will cut apart the communities from national mainstream.�

The Rashtriya Sahara (December 15) editorially questions: “Will our country emerge as a big power in a state when a big part of its population is backward and unemployed and is living a life of abject poverty? If not, then how long will such a game and drama in the name of (removing) their poverty and backwardness be played at every election time? Will a time ever come when our political parties and politicians rise above their personal and political interests and think of the good and welfare of this great country and all her citizens, and these unfortunate classes ever be able to feel that they too have claim on the resources and fruits of development of this great country?�

Lok Jan Shakti Party supremo and Union Minister for Steel Ram Vilas Paswan, while addressing a press conference at his residence in the Capital on December 12, said: “We not only support the Prime Minister’s remarks but also demand enactment of a law to implement this plan…. The Prime Minister has said nothing to be opposed. For, every citizen has claim on national resources and he/she must get it. Now if the socio- economic and educational condition of Dalit, backward classes, minorities and particularly the Muslim minority is alarming, then they cannot be uplifted without giving them special privilege. The Sachar Committee Report has pointed out the condition of Muslims as worse than Dalits. Then it is but natural that Muslims too should be given the same privileges that Dalits are enjoying.�

The Express of December 14 reports president All India Tanzeem Ulema-e-Hind Maulana Anzar Shah Kashmiri welcoming the PM’s said remarks.

“The positive attitude the PM has expressed towards the welfare of minorities particularly Muslims is befitting to his personality and position both. We believe that all the necessary measures will be taken forthwith to solve Muslim problems,� he said in a meeting of the organisation.

On December 15 Urdu papers report general secretary All India Milli Council Dr Manzoor Alam’s letter to the PM welcoming his remarks and demanding a comprehensive package for Muslims.

“The objections to PM’s remarks raised by communal parties are not unexpected; for, these parties represent such a class of society which does not want anyone else to share national resources. So the government should not care even a bit for their opposition (to welfare schemes for Muslims),� the letter said.

Other Muslim leaders who have welcomed the PM’s remarks include Ameer Jamaat-e-Islami Hind Dr. Abdul Haq Ansari, Imam Shahi Masjid Fatehpuri Mufti Mukarram Ahmed, Shahi Imam Jama Masjid Delhi Maulana Syed Ahmed Bukhari, general secretary Jamiat Ahle Hadith Hind Maulana Asghar Ali Imam Mahdi Salafi, general secretary Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind Maulana Fuzail Ahmed Qasmi and the Jamiat’s spokesperson Maulana Abdul Hameed Noamani.

December 17, 2006

[photo by aardvark]

Communal Violence or Police-Muslim Clash, Muslims Wait for Justice

Urdu press roundup : 10 July 2006
By IndianMuslims.info Staff

Whether it is a communal violence or police-Muslim clash, or for that matter destruction of a place of worship, Indian Muslims stand at the receiving end, wait rather endlessly for justice, and wonder at the political corridors where policies are hatched sometimes to appease Muslims and at others to please the Hindu majority, thanks to the vote-bank politics of a democracy that India is. This is what we see in the close reading of Urdu newspapers of this week.

The entire Urdu vernacular press on July 5 covered the Union Home Ministry’s bid to build a Rs. 7-crore steel cordon round the make-shift temple standing as a symbol of Saffron aggression on the debris of Babri Masjid for over 13 years. The Ministry has sought permission from the Supreme Court of India.

On following days the Urdu press reported countrywide condemnation of this malicious move of the government. The Muslim leadership severely condemned it as an attempt to institutionalise the Saffron onslaught on the Muslim heritage in the country, and demanded from the Government not to go ahead with the move as it stands in violation of the Supreme Court’s direction to the Union Government to maintain status quo in Ayodhya.

The General Secretary All India Muslim Personal Law Board Muhammad Abdur Rahim Qureshi said people had not expected of the United Progressive Alliance Government, which claims to be secular, to take such a pro-Hindu rightwing step. He further said that in this case the Union Government holds the position of a mere supervisor till the final disposal of the Babri Masjid property title suit.

A member of the Board and Imam of Lucknow Eidgah Maulana Khalid Rasheed Firangimahli said the Union Government is thereby acting upon the RSS agenda. Another member of the Board as well as of the Babri Masjid Committee Advocate Zafaryab Jeelani said a steel cordon around the make-shift temple would be considered equal to a permanent structure.

The spokesman and Acting General Secretary Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind Abdul Hameed Noamani said the Union Ministry’s bid would lend support to communal forces. While its Secretary-General and member of the Ministry’s Advisory Committee Maulana Mahmood Madani, in a telephonic communication with the press, said the move is “unwanted,� and is tantamount to lending permanency to the make-shift structure.

The Secretary-General Jamaat-e-Islami Hind Muhammad Jafar said the unlocking of Babri Masjid, its demolition, erecting a make-shift structure on its debris, and now providing steel protection for this structure, have all hurt the sentiments of Muslims and tarnished the image of the plural polity in the comity of nations.

Other leaders of the Muslim community in India, who expressed their grave concern on and condemned the Government’s move, include among others president All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat Syed Shahabuddin, General Secretary Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadith Maualana Asghar Ali Imam Mehdi, General Secretary Markazi Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind Maulana Fuzail Ahmad Qasmi, president Milli Foundation Maulana Asrarul Haque Qasmi, and Shahi Imam Masjid Fatehpuri Delhi Mufti Mukarram Ahmad.

In another development, as reported by the Hindustan Express on July 3, the Congress has charged Mulayam Singh Yadav of honouring the Saffron leaders accused in the Babri Masjid demolition case. The Congress leader Pramod Tiwari revealed that the Uttar Pradesh government is all set to honour the RSS and BJP leaders who had been leading the vandals who demolished the historic mosque on 6 December 1992 as Lok Tantrik Senani (pro-democracy fighters). He has called for a special session of the State Assembly wherein the Samajwadi Party leader should explain the matter and seek unconditional apology for this. Condemning the move, he said honouring RSS and BJP leader is disgrace to the freedom fighters.

Last week IndianMuslims.info demanded speedy justice delivery in Babri Masjid case. Almost in the same tone, the Rashtriya Sahara (July 6), in its editorial entitled “Speedy Justice to Riot Victims – Need of the Hour�, underlined the need to make an amendment in the existing laws regarding criminal procedure in order to ensure speedy and full justice to the oppressed and rehabilitation of riot victims.

The paper lamented that about 68 commissions have been constituted to enquire into the communal flare-ups since Independence; but none of them completed its task within the specified period. To make its point home the paper refers to a recommendation of National Integration Council, which calls upon the Government to limit the period of a commission enquiring into a communal violence for not more than one year.

Bhiwandi clashes

In yet another disquieting development for Indian Muslims, Bhiwandi, known as the “Manchester of Maharashtra� for its power loom industries, on July 5 witnessed a Gujarat-in-the-making when two persons were killed in indiscriminate police firing, two policemen were done to death by unknown persons, Windsor Patti police station was targeted and seven state transport buses were gutted. But the situation was saved from going to the Gujarat way, thanks to the concerted efforts made by peace-loving persons like Sa’eed Noori of Raza Academy and Abu Asim Azmi of Samajwadi Party.

The two victims of police firing were Malik Ahmed Abdul Khalique (50) and Asghar Ali (18). And the two policemen killed were Head Constable R.Y. Jagtap (Badge No. 933) and Constable B.R. Kangde (Badge No. 4220).

The police later detained over 100 Muslims for killing the cops, and filed cases for instigating violence against 2,500 Muslims of the city, where seven-lakh-strong Muslim majority still remembers the terrible experiences of 1970 and 1984 communal riots. But they have named only 15 accused, including president Raza Academy Shakeel Raza and the institution’s member Ghulam Nabi Ansari, and declared the rest as unknown.

But why this clash between Muslims and police? The papers reported the police constructing a new police station on a Wakf land known as Panch Peer Graveyard, where lies the dargah of Hazrat Pach Peer. This plot of land is also surrounded by three famous mosques of the city. The Muslims have questioned the establishment of two police stations in one locality of Muslim concentration. The police however maintain that the land belongs to the government and has been under police possession for the last 70 years.

The BJP and Shiv Sena members in the Assembly criticised the Democratic Front government in the state for discouraging the police with an eye on minority votes. The Opposition leader in the Assembly Ram Das Kadam demanded stringent action against Samajwadi Party MP Abu Asim Azmi for instigating violence. He also called upon the government to expel Baba Siddiqui and Anis Ahmed from the State Cabinet and Nasim Ahmed Khan from the Assembly. BJP leader Gopi Nath Munde questioned the issuance of permission to Muslims to stage a protest march. While CPM leader Narsia Adam demanded a judicial enquiry into the incident and questioned the permission given to build a police station on a Wakf land.

A 7-member delegation of Ulema Council took stock of the situation, appealed to the Muslims to maintain peace at any cost, and called on the Police Commissioner Shivanandan and advised him to help maintain peace and exercise utmost patience and fortitude.

All Urdu newspapers covered all these details, the Inquilab more minutely, from July 5 when it was first reported till July 8.

Education the only way to empowerment of Muslims

By IndianMuslims.info Staff

Education has been one of the most vital concerns of Indian Muslims, as the very first word revealed in the Holy Qur’�n is iqra (read) yet their educational backwardness, non-academic environment prevailing in premier educational institutions, gradual dropout rates from secondary to degree levels, and madrasas being dubbed the breeding-grounds of terrorism continue to haunt them.

Jamia Imbroglio
The most disquieting incident that kept on making headlines in the vernacular Urdu press all through the past week is the academic imbroglio prevailing in Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, where about 10,000 students are enrolled in different courses.

Though all the Urdu dailies covered the incident, some with relevant photographs, right from the closure of Jamia sine die followed by an altercation between students and the Jamia administration on July 19 [the Rashtriya Sahara and the Hindustan Express covered it on July 19 but the Qaumi Awaz and the Awam rose to the occasion on July 20], and the students’ ongoing and intensified hunger strike, beyond the reopening of the premier Muslim institution on July 24, some of them like the Sahara and the Awaz stood behind the Jamia administration while others like the Express and the Inquilab behind the students’ cause.

In an edit-page article in the Sahara (July 25), Firoz Bakht Ahmad laments the sorry plight of this institution. He is full of praise for the Jamia’s Vice-Chancellor Prof. Mushirul Hasan and puts all the developments, including opening of various courses and research centres, etc. made during the last two years to his credit. He has also appealed to the students to end their agitation and help solve the matters and restore the academic environment on the campus.

Muhammad Jasimuddin Qasmi, Abdullah Adil and Irshad Alam, all students of the university, in a joint letter published in the Awaz (July 25), hold the Jamia administration particularly the V.C. responsible for the present imbroglio.

“With great pain and grief we say that Vice-Chancellor Prof. Mushirul Hasan… is the person who once (in 1992) proved his diabolic thinking and sick mentality by standing in support of Salman Rushdie (and his blasphemous remarks in The Satanic Verses). The students then launched a great agitation (against Prof. Hasan’s move). It is since then that he has been trying to plant the dagger of vengeance in the back of the students. And now his force and coercion as well as malicious attitude has crossed all limits,� runs the letter.

In his edit-page article in the Express (July 25), Noorullah Jawed Qasmi pays tribute to the Vice-Chancellor for his academic excellence and scholarship but criticises his autocratic attitude in dealing with the various issues.

“The way he dealt with the Jamia’s minority character, internal quota (in admission) and the present imbroglio shows that he is less an intellectual and more a dictator, and wants to run the university with a particular thinking and ideology,� he writes.

Mr. Qasmi also gives a glimpse of Prof. Hasan’s thinking: “While opening the Dental College he said the Jamia has nothing to do with Islam and Muslims rather it is simply an educational institution, the door of which is open for one and all. It is but natural for this statement to cause resentment among the student community. Also, this statement negates the historical fact that the Jamia was established as a result of the Khilafat Movement and the Non-cooperation Movement, and is the fruit of the joint efforts made by Shaikhul Hind Maulana Mahmoodul Hasan (1851-1920), Maulana Muhammad Ali Jauhar (1878-1931), Hakim Ajmal Khan (1863-1927), Dr. Mukhtar Ahmad Ansari (1880-1936), Abdul Hameed Khwaja and Dr. Zakir Hussain, etc… The only aim of these revered personages was to promote education among the Muslims. That is why the Jamia was named Jamia Millia Islamia that is the happy blending of both Millat and Islam.�

Mrs. Noor Jahan Tharwat, in her article published in the Inquilab on July 25, also blames the Vice-Chancellor for the present chaotic situation.

“How far sympathetic Prof. Mushirul Hasan and his supporters are towards the academic career of the students can be gauged with the fact that instead of solving the problem wisely and prudently they declared the closure of the university sine die and evacuation of the hostel,� she writes, calling the decision ‘childish’.

She also casts a glance on the mentality of Prof. Hasan: “The fact remains that Prof. Mushirul Hasan has been an undesirable person in the history of the Jamia. Prof. Hasan owes allegiance to the ideology of Left parties. And these parties have played a role in making him Vice-Chancellor of the university.�

Muslim Empowerment through Education
The Express (July 26) carried the keynote address of Justice A.M. Ahmedi to a convention on “Empowerment of Muslims through the Constitution of India� organised by All India Milli Council. In this speech the former Chief Justice of India dwelt in detail upon the various trends and currents that have told badly upon the progress and development of the community.

“I have always expressed concern over the fact that we have neglected half of the human resources viz. women and that we do not care for their participation in the affairs of the State. The dropout percentage of girls in schools is far greater than that of boys…. Please keep it in the mind that by not educating your girls you are putting obstacles in the way to empowerment. The number of Muslim boys who are getting education is also very minimal. After including Article 21A in the Constitution (through an amendment) it is the fundamental right of every citizen that he is imparted free education. Now there is no room for complaining of economic constrains. The way to education leads directly to empowerment. I think the more you educate your boys and girls the more you would march towards empowerment….�

“In this age of trials and tribulations a common Muslim finds himself in a checkmate; that is both modernism and blind traditionalism lure them. Put in other words, due to his lack of education he cannot face the challenges of the new age, and cannot think in the light of the God-given gift i.e. wisdom, and stand awe-struck at the developments of science and technology spread all around us. As a result of this he is unable to make use of the mind in solving the problems he is confronted with.�

Comprehensive Plan of Educational Uplift
As for educational uplift of Indian Muslims, the Express of July 13 reported the Union Government announcing a comprehensive programme for it. The Government has directed Jamia Millia Islamia, Aligarh Muslim University and Maulana Azad Urdu University to open Urdu teachers training academies in their premises; an estimated fund has been already allocated for it.

Another highlight of the programme is that the Government has recommended opening of Urdu medium senior secondary and secondary schools right on the pattern of Navodya schools in 125 districts of Muslim concentration. This project has been sent to the 11th Planning Commission for approval.

Yet another programme is opening of Kasturba Gandhi girls schools for Muslim girls in the Muslim concentration areas. The Union HRD Minister Arjun Singh said as the dropout rate of girls in Muslim-run schools is 5.54%, the Government is paying special attention to the education of Muslim girls.

It is only in due course of time that we would come to see whether these initiatives on the part of the Government are mere political gimmick or the Government is really sincere in intent. But one thing is certain that the members of the community particularly the voluntary organisations will have to rise and come forward for the community uplift and empowerment.

26 July 2006

Hindu extremists disguised as Muslims behind Mumbai blasts?

Urdu press roundup
By IndianMuslims.info Staff

Mumbai serial blasts have once again put Indian Muslims in the dock as the mainstream print and electronic media as well as the police was swift to name Muslim outfits – Lashkar-e-Taiba and SIMI (Students Islamic Movement of India) – for their alleged hands in this ghastly crime and cast aspersions on the loyalty, patriotism and peace-lovingness of common Muslims in the country. And the police, which has been more-often-than-not dubbed communal, biased and having hand in glove with Hindu extremists during communal flare-ups, started detaining Muslim youth without any proof or justification whatsoever soon after seven serial blasts rip a Mumbai suburb train on the Terrible Tuesday, July 11.

The entire Urdu vernacular press all through the week covered the ferocity of the blasts, editorially condemned and demanded stringent action against the perpetrators and planners of the crime, carried statements by Muslim organisations, and articles and letters, all condemning it in one voice and calling upon the Government to stop indiscriminate detention of Muslims in Maharashtra and some other places like Hyderabad before any investigation as there might be Hindu fascists belonging to the Sangh Parivar behind the blasts.

The Inquilab of July 13 reported that the Mumbai police was after two Lashkar activists Zebuddin Ansari and Zulfiqqar alias Fayyaz, but on July 15 the paper added the name of one SIMI activist Raheel to this list, for their alleged hands in the blasts.

The Siasat and the Munsif of July 19 reported that the Government of Andhra Pradesh categorically denied the involvement of any person in the state in the Mumbai incident.

In an edit-page article “Bomb Blasts do not Prove Muslims Terrorists� (the Rashtriya Sahara, July 18), journalist Zafar Agha has come down heavily on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for strangulating the voice of reason raised by Union Ministers Arjun Singh and A.R. Antulay. Citing Indian Express of July 13, he reveals that in a Cabinet meeting discussing Mumbai blasts these Ministers held the Hindu extremists, who want to defame Muslims, responsible for these blasts. The HRD Minister Arjun Singh based his argument on a report on the so-called attack on RSS headquarters submitted by a retired judge of Mumbai High Court who had come to the conclusion that the Sangh Parivar itself was behind this ‘attack’. While A.R. Antulay cited another report which showed Hindu extremists disguised as Muslims (to defame them) making bombs in Nanded in April.

Mr. Agha has questioned Prime Minister’s displeasure at this revelation and advised the Manmohan administration to initiate deep probe into the incident; for Hindu extremist organisations are most likely to be found involved therein.

“U.C. Bannerji Report has proved that Muslims had not set ablaze the Sabarmati Express at Godhra but Narendra Modi rather the entire Sangh Parivar not only blamed the Muslims for the fire but perpetrated genocide of Muslims in the whole Gujarat as well. With this case at hand, if Abdur Rahman Antulay and Arjun Singh pointed their accusing fingers towards the Sangh (for its involvement in Mumbai blasts), what sin was it after all?� writes the seasoned journalist.

The same issue of the Sahara editorially questions the temerity of the BJP to demand expulsion of Arjun Singh and A.R. Antulay from their posts in respective ministries for making “very irresponsible statements about Mumbai bomb blasts.� The paper says the party has left out one more name viz. that of Union Minister for Water Resources Saifuddin Soz; in fact these three Ministers had expressed the possibility of Hindu fascist organisations behind the blasts, in the said Cabinet meeting.

“The question is: what was the need to make such haste without any investigation and deep probe? How far is it proper and justified to declare without any investigation and probe that bomb blasts were exploded by Muslims? Was it not the duty of those who make utmost haste in holding Muslims responsible for everything bad and dreadful, to take notice of the news item published in The Telegraph and some other newspapers, in which it was reported that when the Bharat Suraksha Yatra of Shri L.K. Advani entered Maharashtra (on April 6, 2006), some young activists of Bajrang Dal were caught making bombs the same day, and meanwhile explosion of a bomb ripped apart the body of a BD activist Himanshu. This was the activist from whose house the police later seized the clothes (pathan suits) usually worn by Muslims, skull caps and many kinds of counterfeit beards. This they did with the idea to stage-manage bomb blasts and their Muslim-looking attire and make-up would lead the needle of suspicion to Muslims and they would eventually get only them (Muslims) arrested. It is very necessary to deal with the Nanded incident in its right perspective, and it is also necessary to know why the Mumbai blasts occurred only three months after it,� runs the Sahara editorial.

The Qaumi Awaz (July 18), in its editorial entitled “Need for Strict Measures� writes: “In extraordinary circumstances extraordinary measures have to be taken. This is the time the Government at the Centre crushed with an iron hand all those elements that are trying to break political unity and social cohesion. The stability and freedom of the country is at stake. In these circumstances it is necessary to take strict measures against the enemies within.�

The Sahara and the Hindustan Express covered Shahi Imam Jama Masjid Delhi Maulana Syed Ahmed Bukhari’s special address after Asr prayers on July 17. Maulana Bukhari said: “We severely condemn Mumbai blasts but the bid to accuse Muslims is unbearable.� Calling the naming of Lashkar and SIMI soon after the blasts “fantastic,� he pointed his accusing fingers towards Shiv Sena, Bajrang Dal, BJP and RSS. He further said that equating terrorism with Islam and Muslims is utter injustice.
“Today an environment is being created in which every Muslim sporting beard is looked at with doubt and suspicion,� he lamented.

The Express (July 18) front-paged a 5-column human interest story telling the readers the ordeal Rehan Ahmed Sheikh, his wife and two children had to face for 15 long hours at Mumbai airport. An accountant in the Moscow branch of an Andheri-based medical company, Rehan had rushed from Moscow to attend the funeral ceremony of his elder brother Ejaz, who was one of the victims of Mumbai blasts. He had been grilled for hours together about what look he had adopted, why he sported beard, which organisation he belonged to and what his activities were, etc.

In a letter to the editor of the Sahara (July 18), Muhammad Tariq Iqbal of Khanquah Faridiya, Kako, Bihar writes: “This is a deep conspiracy; efforts are being made to divert our attention somewhere else…. There seems to be involvement of some white-listed organisations behind this incident.�

The question is whether the Manmohan administration will gather courage and guts to order a crackdown on the Hindu fascist organisations if some really deep probe proves their hands in this heinous crime against humanity. Let’s wait and watch to know the answer.

Act Manmohan, act

Urdu press roundup
By IndianMuslims.info Staff

The revelations of Justice Sachar Committee Report presenting the educational and economic condition of Muslims are so alarming that social scientists, activists and leaders, Muslim and Non-Muslim, as well as the Union Government seem quite concerned about the situation the second largest chunk of Indian population has been pushed to as they are talking about the ways and means to uplift the community members. The suggestions include opening schools in Muslim concentration areas, granting scholarships to Muslims pupils, overcoming dropout rates and bringing the community within the purview of reservation in higher educational institutions and job opportunities in government and private sectors. Urdu newspapers this week presents this general trend with the sole exception of R.S.S. and its sister organisations that are bent upon opposing any government move to ease the life of Muslims.

Now when the much-talked-about report has been submitted to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the 25 crore strong Indian Muslims along with justice-loving humanity at large have to wait and watch how fast, how fair and how just the government implements the recommendations of the committee without beating about the bush.

The Urdu biweekly Dawat, in its column Jaiza published on November 16, presents the views of different distinguished personalities on “Sachar Committee Report: Realities and Possibilities�.

Talking to the biweekly from his sickbed at Apollo Hospital in the capital, former Prime Minister V.P. Singh said, “Whenever the government talks about the (welfare of) Muslims, the BJP men make so much hue and cry that the common man begins to think that the government is really going to give special privilege to Muslims while the reality is otherwise… The Government should exhibit strong will power to implement the (recommendations of) Sachar Committee. I am with this report. In my opinion Muslims should pressurise the government through democratic means to get their problems solved.�

Veteran journalist Kuldip Nayar also agrees that some people do not let the Muslims do better. Though he is against giving reservation to Muslims on the basis of community or religion, Mr Nayar believes that the government should “take immediate corrective measures and prepare a plan for educational, economic and social uplift of Muslims. Without the keen attention of the government it is not possible.�

Maulana Obaidullah Khan Azmi, M.P., calls upon the government to take just and unbiased measures with clear and express intent to ameliorate the situation.

“Now the time has come to give Muslims reservation in government jobs, educational institutions and in every other field of development. Not only this, reservation for Muslims in Parliament, Legislative Assemblies and Municipal Corporations is a must, for it is quite difficult to overcome the backwardness of Muslims without giving them reservation. As for anti-Muslim bureaucracy, if the rulers are honest and justice-loving and are adamant to do something, government directives can be implemented….

“In south India communalism and bias is comparatively less. So the situation is different there. Every work is not for the government to do; we too have to do something. We should join hands together at least on issues which are common…. All representative Muslim organisations should form a board coalition to work for educational, social and economic advancement of Muslims and thereby put pressure on the government for resolution of Muslim problems and issues,� he suggested.

A number of other social scientists, MPs, journalists and activists talking to the biweekly are of the opinion that the government should show its guts and grit to sail across the Hindutva opposition to implementing the Sachar Committee Report, and make up the loss Muslims have suffered for decades together by providing reservation for them. They also advise Muslim organisations to chalk out their own plan for the betterment of Muslims as well as form a pressure group to pressurise the government to act in this regard in the real sense of the term.

In its editorial “Indian Muslims� the Awam (November 13) writes: “Of course there is bias in providing job opportunities but this does not mean that we stay back from taking part in competitions. When the wind is wild, we may make more concerted efforts to march ahead. So if Muslims, like other communities, have to progress then they will have to restore their lost position in the field of education. When there is the light of education, darkness will disappear.�

The Qaumi Awaz (November 14) carries the Urdu translation of an article “If I were a Muslim� first published in the Hindi daily Rashtriya Sahara. The writer, Raj Kishore, portrays a very sordid picture of Indian intelligence agencies in which Muslims are looked down upon with doubt and suspicion.

“If I were a Muslim, my blood would have boiled while going through the news that premier intelligence agencies in India do not consider Muslims trustworthy. A popular English weekly has revealed that there is not a single Muslim in the powerful intelligence agency working in foreign lands, RAW (Research and Analysis Wing). Like RAW, another powerful agency, National Technical Research Organisation also does not appoint a Muslim. In the aviation department of RAW, Aviation Research Centre, in 2000 a decision was almost taken to appoint the grandson of renowned scholar and freedom fighter Humayun Kabir but at the nick of time he was dropped out because he was a Muslim. There are about 10,000 officers working with RAW but there is not a single Muslim among them. That is, every Muslim is seen with doubt and suspicion that he might rebel against India. There are about 12,000 officers in Intelligence Branch (IB) but the number of Muslims among them is perhaps less than one per cent.

“If I were a Muslim, my blood would have also boiled to read that Muslims as well as Sikhs are not appointed in the two important agencies, Special Protection Group (SPG) and National Security Guard (NSG) which provide security for VIPs….

“Security agencies have been practising this policy of doubt and suspicion since 1969 (Sikhs have been included in this category since 1984)….

“On the basis of having been born in a Hindu family and having a particular association with the Hindu society, I feel more ashamed and sorry than any Muslim or Sikh to say that the mentality of Hindu society, which produced gems like Mahatma Gandhi, Bhagat Singh and Ambedkar, has fallen so sick that it does not consider about one-fourth population of the country trustworthy. Do we need to remind it that Gandhi was assassinated by a Hindu but it did not bring the entire Hindu society under doubt and suspicion? Only the people professing faith in a particular ideology were considered suspicious. But Muslims have been thrown into the valley of doubt and suspicion.�

In another development, the Inquilab (November 12) reports how the Hindu extremist organisation Shiv Sena is politicising an issue involving the police and Muslims in Bhiwandi. The report says that the question of building a police station on a waqf land near a mosque is an issue between Muslims and the police. But the Shiv Sena is trying to stoke communal fire in the town on the basis of this issue.

For details of the clash between the Muslims and police, see Urdu press roundup, July 12, 2006. This was also one of the issues raised by a delegation of 11 Muslim Members of Parliament during their meeting with Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Mr. Vilasrao Deshmukh on September 16 last (See
Urdu press roundup, September 20, 2006).

On November 11 the Shiv Sena staged a dharna at Wanjarpatti Naka (Jawaharlal Chowk) in the town to demand restart of the building of a police station on the waqf land. They threatened that if the government failed to restart the construction work the party would take up this work.

Though they could not gather more than 200 people for the dharna, they left no stone unturned to spread communal hatred through their provocative speeches and slogans. While the dharna was going on, the time for Zuhr prayer struck and the muezzin called the Adhan. The participants of the dharna tried to overcome the Adhan call by their wild slogans.

November 17, 2006

How to bail out Indian Muslims?

Urdu press roundup
By IndianMuslims.info Staff

Discussion on the Justice Sachar Committee Report is going on. Political parties and organisations as well as individuals – Muslim and Non-Muslim, secular and ultranationalists – are expressing their views on the alarming social, educational and economic backwardness of Muslims. Some of them are urging the government to take effective measures to remove this backwardness preferably by declaring reservation for Muslims in educational institutions as well as job opportunities. Some others think that Muslims can empower themselves by their own efforts alone. Yet some others apprehend government usual inaction on the recommendations of the committee. But Hindutva outfits like the RSS and BJP are hell bent upon criticising the report and even attacking the person of Justice (retd.) Rajender Sachar, who headed the 7-member high level government panel.

In an edit-page article on “Muslim backwardness and reservation� in the Hindustan Express (November 19), A.N. Shibli holds the anti-Muslim government policies and Muslims themselves responsible for the present pitiable condition of Muslims, and discusses the question whether reservation is the only solution to Muslims woes.

“Some people say that the condition of Muslims will not improve unless they themselves turn sincere about it. There are also a number of people who opine that reservation is the only means to better the condition of Muslims. But making reservation possible for Muslims is not that easy. The distinguished personalities who have talked about reservation for Muslims include senior Congress leader M Veerappa Moily and former prime minister HD Deve Gowda. They are of the view that Muslims’ backwardness cannot be overcome without the provision of reservation for them. Moily has gone to the extent of saying that Muslims should be included in the category of other backward sections so that they may be given the facility of reservation if reservation for Muslims is not possible for the time being.�

Shibli then raises the most vital questions: Is reservation the only means to remove the backwardness of Muslims? And even if this is the only means, is it easy to implement reservation for Muslims?

The writer also questions the sincerity of the government at the centre about the betterment of Muslims. “Gathering information about the condition of Muslims and talking about reservation for them may be a well planned drama. We must keep in mind that the party which is talking about improving the condition of Muslims has ruled over the country for a long period. Why didn’t it care for Muslims earlier?�

In his article “The pitiable condition of Muslims in independent India� published in the Etemaad (November 23), Syed Waseem Ahmed also believes that the government will not be able to implement the Sachar Committee recommendations.

The Express (November 19) carries another article “What can Muslims do?� by Dr M. Ejaz Ali, president All India United Muslim Morcha. Ali dishes out an entirely new idea, which deserves consideration. On the worse-than-Dalit backwardness of Muslims, he says, “Sometimes it seems the entire scenario has been created under a definite planning... With the partition on the basis of religion, where communal forces made Muslims leave the country, the secular forces objected to this move, thinking that there were some benefits of letting the Muslims stay in the country. For example, in the days to come they might be exploited as vote bank by creating fear psychosis in them, and the seats rendered vacant by Dalits (as a result of their progress and advancement) might be filled by Muslims. The effect of this planning can be seen now.�

Ali then raises a billion dollar question: “During the 60 years of independent India when every section of society is marching towards progress, why are Muslims compelled to do the jobs left out by Dalits and live a worst than Dalit life?�

Ali avers that the religious restriction on Section 341 of the Constitution has played the most vital role in implementing this plan. “Along with minority status Muslims were given right to equality and freedom of religion as well as other facilities. But they were excluded from the reservation guaranteed in Section 341 of the Constitution. After all, why?�

He traces the reply in the pre-partition history of Muslims in India: “Most of the Muslims belong to the Dalit ancestors and even today are known with the titles showing their professions. Owing to co-professional and co-titleholders, when provision for scheduled castes reservation was created in 1935 these professional Muslims were very much included in it. About 85% of Muslim population was thus entitled to reservation. In the beginning Muslims belonging to about 13 low castes in Maharashtra did benefit from it…. Muslim Dalits fell victim to injustice when it was included in paragraph 3 of the Presidential Declaration 1950 that the beneficiaries of reservation for Scheduled Caste must be a Hindu. This condition was inserted only to exclude backward Muslims from this category. For, Indian Christians were already excluded from it right from the beginning, the population of Buddhists was almost nil, and despite the condition of being Hindu the Dalit Sikhs continued to benefit from Scheduled Caste reservation. It was under the pressure built by Master Tara Singh that Sikhs were also formally included in 1956…. The irony is that with the issuance of a government order in 1959 another condition of converting to Hinduism in order to avail the reservation was imposed on already excluded backward Muslims. This condition is still continuing. The Presidential Declaration 1950 and the government order 1959 both stand in sharp contrast with the secular spirit of the Constitution of India. But when the planning is anti-Muslim then what can secularism, democracy or constitution do?�

Ali further reveals: “The matter of concern is that such a big conspiracy was hatched but the then Muslim leaders did not make it an issue while the Father of Constitution Dr (BR) Ambedkar raised his voice against this violation of right, and considering such an order ultra vires got a resolution adopted in a meeting of the Constitution Drafting Committee held on 23.04.1949 to remove paragraph 3 from the draft of Presidential Declaration 1950. But when on 26.01.1950 the Constitution was finally presented to the nation this paragraph 3 was found there in Section 341(2) of the Constitution. And no one knows how it could be included in the Constitution.�

The writer urges the Muslims to realise this deep conspiracy continuing right from 1950 and to get united on demanding an amendment in Section 341 leaving other issues aside so that the anti-Muslim forces may not achieve the ultimate end of this conspiracy.

In his article “Even our backwardness doesn’t suit (them)?� published in the Inquilab on November 23 and reproduced in the Express the very next day, Maulana Muhammad Asrarul Haque Qasmi presents how after the presentation of Sachar Committee Report, Justice Rajender Sachar has become a thorn in the flesh of Hindutva, contrasts the ill mentality of the Rashtrawadis with the patience and serenity Muslims have displayed even in the face of very unpleasant situations, and knocks at the conscience of the authorities concerned to make concerted efforts to uplift Muslims by giving them what is long overdue instead of shedding mere crocodile tears.

“Communal writers have relinquished even the Indian culture and civilization. They are calling Justice Sachar a favourite of Sonia Gandhi, the Jinnah of modern India, etc… this is a dangerous trend which can cause irreparable damage to the country. This is also tantamount to defamation of justice. Justice Sachar is a retired judge but his status and standing (in society) and his past services summon due respect to him in stead of having differences on his report, and his defamation should be taken as the defamation of justice itself,� Maulana Qasmi writes.

In an article in the RSS organ Panchjanya weekly, says the Maulana, Ishwaran Namboodri uses a very foul language while analysing the Sachar Committee Report: “Have some separatists prepared it (the report) or is it the manifesto of pre-partition Muslim League or the propaganda material of Pakistan television?�

The Maulana adds: “Calling the report baseless, dangerous and anti-nation, the writer says that the committee has exaggerated the mere stray cases.…�

Maulana Qasmi says “it is the responsibility of the government that it make the Sachar Committee Report public and then implement the recommendations of the committee without any waste of time.�

In a letter in the Rashtriya Sahara (November 24) Yusuf Rampuri raises apprehensions about the implementation of Sachar committee recommendations. He says: “After the revelations of Sachar Committee Report the question ‘what to do to bail out the Muslims from the present condition’ is being discussed. There is no way-out other than chalking out a comprehensive strategy and special schemes for Muslims and giving them reservation. But will all this be done easily? Will the government start working on war footing to emancipate Muslims? Will effective plans be devised for them? Will they be given reservation?�

Speaking on the Sachar Committee report, former chairman National Commission for Minorities Professor Tahir Mahmood said the real problem is that of “social insensitivity and government inaction� so far as Muslim problems are concerned, reports the Akhbar-e-Mashriq of November 19.

The Mashriq of the same date editorially challenges the government saying it is the real test for the government. “The Congress should get rid of exploiting Muslims as vote bank. It is undoubtedly a hard time for Congress chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Let us see how well they do in this test.�

November 26, 2006

[photo: Justice Rajindar presented the Report of the High Level Committee on Status of Muslims to the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on 17 November 2006. Between them can be seen Dr. Syed Zafar Mahmood, OSD and Joint Secretary to the Government of India]

Muslims give full vent to their feelings of deprivation

Urdu press roundup
By IndianMuslims.info Staff

Since the extracts of Justice Sachar Committee Report leaked through a TV channel and an English newspaper the other day, Urdu writers, journalists and editors have been giving full vent to their feelings of Muslims’ deprivation in education and job opportunities and willing suspension of equity and justice in dealing with Muslim affairs. These writings range right from mere complain against and criticism of government policies affecting the community to vibrant suggestions about how best to bail Muslims out of the quagmire they have been thrown.

The Rashtriya Sahara (November 5) editorially terms the prevailing Muslim predicament as the natural corollary of the jiggery-pokery being practised by political parties since independence. It laments that on one hand the constitutional privilege of reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes has yielded the desired result while on the other Muslims have been continuing as victims of educational and economic backwardness despite the efforts being made to better the situation for over half a century.

“What happens is that no sooner the government announces certain measures to be taken to overcome the educational and economic backwardness of Muslims than hardliner communal Hindu organisations like R.S.S., Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal and B.J.P. start raising much ado the country over about Muslims being appeased to score political ends…. As a result Muslims, who form the second largest chunk of population in the country, have been lying deep into the dark cavern of backwardness for the last 50 years.…�

“The row the communal parties would create on making Sachar Committee recommendations public is a matter of the days to come. But as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced in a meeting of State Minority Commissioners in New Delhi on Thursday that the minority commission would be granted constitutional status and its rights also be increased, these communal parties have become active once again and their intent and object is to put hurdles in the way of any measure being or to be taken by the government for the betterment of Muslims. Though Prime Minister has hoped that the Bill to make National Commission for Minorities a constitutional institution would be passed in the summer session of Parliament and those causing harm to welfare initiative be dealt with firmly yet the bitter experience tells us that the government will not only have to take a very firm stand but to deal with the destructive elements putting obstacles in this noble task with an iron hand so that the present efforts being made by the government may not go the way the efforts made earlier have gone.�

In the same issue of the Sahara Muhammad Nayyar Azam of Department of Islamic Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi informs the reading public that a delegation led by Muhammad Tahir Khan, Member Lok Sabha, recently submitted a memorandum demanding from the Government to shun dual policy while providing job opportunities for Muslims.

Shahidul Islam’s edit-page article entitled “Mr Manmohan! 25 crore Muslims owe a cogent reply� in the Hindustan Express of November 4 (later reproduced in the Inquilab) and Ahmad Javed’s edit-page article entitled “The doors of army closed for Muslims and Dalits?� in the Express of November 5 also present the same feelings of unrest and anger of Muslims on their continued deprivation and discrimination against them.

Unique protest in Malegaon

The Inquilab and the Express of November 11 report a unique protest lodged by Malegaon Muslims against the attitude of investigating agencies towards selective detention of Muslim youth for the Malegaon blasts. During the protest the protesters donned the same type of face cover as the police personnel make Muslim youth wear following their detention. They also tied black badges to their arms. The report says that perhaps they wanted to convey a message thereby to the administration that in the eyes of investigating agencies they all were terrorists. Following the Friday prayers on November 10 the Muslims staged a dharna at Hamidia Masjid and Bada Qabristan. They have also given a call of total strike in Malegaon on November 14.

In his edit-page article entitled “Maharashtra police is telling lies�, Hasan Kamal, in his celebrated column Muhasiba in the Sahara (November 4), reveals the white lies of Maharashtra police in investigating into the September 8 Malegaon blasts.

“Maharashtra police is leaving no stone unturned to prove by hook or by crook that the Malegaon blasts were carried out by Muslims. The police is telling white lies; but it is a surprise that now media is not advancing any arguments nor is ready to entertain any arguments as to how Muslims could explode the bombs as a result of which the majority of casualties is Muslim….

“This out and out biased dealing of police in Malegaon is causing unrest and resentment to the public… The people of Malegaon are feeling, and rightly so, that the police wants to prove anyhow that extremist Hindus can never be involved in these blasts or for that matter in any other destructive activities in the country. This assumption is entirely wrong…. The protest of Malegaon Muslims against these excesses is justified and the way the protest has been launched is very proper and suitable. The Muslims of Malegaon belonging to every section and every sect recently submitted a memorandum to the District Magistrate to express their vent and anger in a democratic manner. Now it is the duty of Maharashtra government to see to it that the undue harassment of Muslims is stopped forthwith. However one positive aspect of these circumstances is that owing at least to these disquieting things a sense of unity is taking roots in the rank and file of Muslims. The police lies have got them united. We take it in the right earnest.�

The Dawat (November 7) reports an Eid Milan programme organised by Jamaat-e-Islami Hind at its headquarters in which Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Christian and Dalit religious leaders as well as a number of dignitaries and diplomats of various countries participated. The report cites Jamaat Ameer Dr. M. Abdul Haq Ansari saying in his presidential speech: “On one hand the Prime Minister and the UPA Chairperson are consistently promising to adopt just and fair attitude towards Muslims and on the other deprivations of Muslims and injustices rather excesses against them are going on even in the States ruled by their own party or UPA. People are boggled at what hurdles are there for the government at the centre to issue directives at least to these States to effect the desired change in their attitude towards the Muslims.�

SC directive on Srikrishna Commission report

Urdu dailies of November 5 report the Supreme Court directive to Maharashtra government to file a statement on implementation of the recommendations of Srikrishna Commission Report on post-Babri Masjid demolition killings of innocent people, mostly Muslims, with some police personnel hand in glove with the rioters.

In a front-page story the Rashtriya Sahara reports: Following the Mumbai High Court indictment of Mumbai police in Khwaja Yunus case, the Supreme Court has told the Maharashtra government to submit its ATR (action taken report) on the biased police action in Sulaiman Osman Bakery, Hari Masjid and Pratibha Nagar areas, on implementation or otherwise of Srikrishna Commission Report, and on the action taken against 30 erring police officials and their present service status. The government has to submit its statement latest by December 5, 2006 when the court is to hear this case next.
The court issued this directive on a petition filed by Advocate Shakeel Ahmed on behalf of an NGO, Nirbhay Bano Andolan in 2002.

The Aurangabad Times, in a UNI report on the development, adds: While talking to presspersons after the apex court order, petitioner Shakeel Ahmed said instead of taking any action against the erring police officials the government has promoted them.

November 11, 2006

Muslims need to do well as few firsts greet them

Urdu press roundup
By IndianMuslims.info Staff

The extracts of Justice Sachar Committee findings that have made headlines in the Press have made Muslim writers and journalists as well as leaders and social activists sit up and plan to change the situation for the better. Opinion articles, news analyses and letters appearing in Urdu newspapers last week not only pointed out the various reasons of Muslims’ educational and economic backwardness, their lesser representation in public and private sectors than their presence behind the bars but also turned the searchlight inward.

Analysing the situation prevailing in Muslim society, the Urdu biweekly Dawat (November 1) editorially opines that Muslims have been gradually losing the very sense of backwardness and that this is a very dangerous trend. It further says that it is necessary to enliven this sense in order to march forward.

“Only economic and even educational uplift is not enough. Unless and until Muslims follow the universal principles of success, the much desired advancement of Muslims cannot be achieved,� it concludes.

The same issue of Dawat carries a thought-provoking article on “Educational Preferences of Indian Muslims� by Saiyid Hamid, renowned educationist, former Vice Chancellor Aligarh Muslim University and present Chancellor Jamia Hamdard.

Dr Hamid laments that Indian Muslims did not take education on preferential basis for over half a century. One major cause of it, he says, is that they had to pass through very critical times when their life and property, dignity and honour were all at stake. After Independence and Partition they stood deprived of what you can call either dil-i-zinda or zauq-i-hayat (zeal and enthusiasm to lead life with head held high). But the writer does not seem to accept it as a valid excuse for their near indifference to education, as he says:

“It is unfortunate that we did not take education seriously nor did we adopt the path of competition; no step we took to awake from deep slumber… we shut our eyes from the amazing changes taking place in the world…. As a result, despite the independence, democracy and secularism of India, the largest minority in the country became the centre of deprivations….

“The illiteracy of Muslims got spurred by the attitude the Government adopted towards them. The last census in the pre-independence days was conducted in 1941. Till then the census figures used to be published religion-wise. No sooner India got independence than this source of accountability and progress was abandoned. Muslims fell prey to the census negligence. Publication of religion-wise educational statistics was stopped and Muslims could not know how far backward they went educationally during the last 50 years. The irony is that the desired information was, and is even now, available in the office of Registrar General. This spell was broken in 2001 when religion-wise facts and figures were published. Thus the community was deprived of the golden opportunity of reform with which they would have benefited if the religion-wise information had been published. Who is after all responsible for this great loss?�

Dr. Hamid not only holds certain government policies responsible for the sorry state of Muslim affairs but criticises the Ummatic behaviour of Muslims: General suspension of will to make tireless strivings led Muslim students to abandon difficult subjects. They opted for Arabic, Persian, Urdu and arts subjects instead of science, mathematics and to some extent English as well.

He has drawn the attention of Muslims towards health as well as the various branches of learning, on which depends the progress of a community. He has also warned them against letting education go lopsided. That is, he stands for harmonious fusion of modern and religious education.

Another eye-opener is Seema Chishti’s edit-page article on “Indian Muslims: Fewer in Jobs than behind the Bars� published in the Hindustan Express of November 2. The article carries three tables showing Muslim representation in government jobs and judiciary and their presence in prisons in proportion to their population in the various states. The figures are based on Justice Sachar Committee findings.

One table presents the figures of 12 states: Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Delhi, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. Average Muslim population in these states together is 15.4 per cent. And their representation in government jobs is only 6.4 per cent.

Another table presents Muslim representation in judiciary in 15 states. In this table three states viz. Bihar, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu from the previous table are missing, and in their place six states viz. Jammu & Kashmir, Uttaranchal, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Chattisgarh are included. In these 15 states Muslim employees are only 8 per cent while District Sessions judges are only 2.7 per cent.

The third table presents the presence of Muslims in prisons in eight states: Assam, Kerala, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Delhi, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. In these eight states 23.4 per cent jail inmates are Muslims.

“These figures show that political parties entice Muslims only because they need their votes. These parties do talk of providing them with social protection but they stay back while providing them with jobs…

“Biased mentality can be gauged with the fact that in government jobs, public sector and different judicial services the presence of Muslims is very low but in jails their number is very high…. This is a fact that the biggest cause of the alarming number of Muslims in prisons is the biased role of police. Picking Muslim youth from their homes and throwing them behind the bars under false and concocted cases is nothing new.�

5 Muslims in Team India

The Etemaad of October 31 reports that it is first time in the 80-year history of Indian cricket that five Muslim players have been included in Team India. The newly elected Selection Committee of B.C.C.I headed by former test cricketer Dileep Wengsarkar on October 30 named a 16-member team for the scheduled South Africa one-day series. Fast bowlers Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan and Manaf Pathan and batsmen Muhammad Kaif and Waseem Jafar are on this team.

The 5-column report presents the details of the achievements made in the history of Indian cricket as yet by these Muslim bowlers and batsmen.

First Muslim woman judge in Patna HC

This Hyderabad-based Urdu daily on October 29 reports the appointment of first Muslim woman judge in Patna High Court. Nawabzadi Sheema Ali Khan belongs to the well-known Nawab family of Awadh and Patna. She is the granddaughter of Nawab Syed Muhammad Mehdi and daughter of Justice Syed Sarwar Ali, Acting Chief Justice (Retd.) of Patna High Court and Lok Ayukt (Retd.) Bihar. On his maternal side, she is the maternal granddaughter of H.H. Sir Syed Raza Ali Khan, Nawab Rampur, after whose name is running the famous Raza Library of Rampur. She is the wife of Nawabzada Safdar Ali Khan, Advocate, who had been chairman of Bihar Shia Waqf Board, Patna. After doing her M.A. in Psychology, Sheema Ali Khan did her law course from Patna, and later started practising as a lawyer under Tara Kant Jha, Advocate. She was declared Senior Advocate in 2005.

November 3, 2006

Afzal Guru’s capital punishment raises vital questions

Afzal Guru’s capital punishment raises vital questions
Urdu press roundup
By IndianMuslims.info Staff

Come October 20, and Muhammad Afzal Guru will be sent to gallows at 6.30 a.m. for masterminding the December 13, 2001 attack on Parliament. This seems to be writ on the wall despite mercy appeals being made to President A.P.J. Abul Kalam from various quarters. Whether or not the much-sought-after clemency is granted, there are some vital questions about capital punishment being discussed in the Urdu press, which has been covering the issue very extensively with charged human interest.

The fatal day for Afzal, October 20, coincides with Jumatul Wida or Last Friday of Ramadan, which holds utmost importance in the Muslim society.

The verdict to hang Afzal was pronounced about four years ago. Later Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court also put its stamp on the punishment. And now since the date and time of his hanging to death was announced, the Kashmir valley has been witnessing protest marches both for and against Afzal’s capital punishment. While Hindutva brigades especially in Jammu have been making a demand to hang Afzal, the Muslim majority of the valley has appealed to the President to grant clemency.

The separatist organisations of the valley were the first to raise voices in support of Afzal Guru as they say that Afzal is innocent and has fallen victim to the biased mentality of police and intelligence. “There is no dearth of people in Kashmir who say that those who had attacked Parliament are freedom fighters. But this is also a bitter truth that no organisation whatsoever has yet taken the responsibility of that attack,� says the Hindustan Express (October 3) in its editorial.

On the call given by Ali Shah Gilani of Hurriyat Conference and his supporters, strike and protests are going on in the valley.

State Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah and Peoples Democratic Front president Mahbooba Mufti are among those who stand for clemency. Ms. Mufti believes that at a time when India is making efforts to bring all the differences with Pakistan to an end and establish peaceful and friendly relations with Pakistan, it would be sheer foolishness to hang Afzal. She is of the view that all political parties in Jammu and Kashmir should jointly appeal to the President of India to grant clemency to Afzal and transform his capital punishment to life imprisonment.

Unlike Congress, P.D.P., C.P.I.(M) and other important parties of the valley, the Shiv Sena, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal and BJP are of the view that an attack on Parliament is in fact an attack on India; so in such a case there is the need for serious political response. The BJP has started accusing the ruling party that the latter has adopted the strategy of appeasing Muslims even at the cost of national stability.

The Akhbar-e-Mashriq (October 1) has editorially criticised the Congress’ dual policy. “In this entire episode the Congress stands in a to-do-or-not-to-do situation. Some Congressmen feel that when with the interference of Sonia Gandhi, the murderer of Rajiv Gandhi was given life imprisonment instead of hanging to death then why the same principle cannot be adopted in the case of Afzal Guru. While the Congress spokesman Abhishekh Sanghvi in a statement said he is neither supporting the proposal of Ghulam Nabi Azad nor rejecting it.�

The Akhbar-e-Mashriq editorial further said: “The problem with Congress is that whenever it comes across a difficult situation it turns the other way round while the need is that a decision is taken in time in the light of the Constitution and law of the land… the Congress spokesman should have clearly said that the party would respect law and the Constitution and if the court has pronounced the judgement only after due consideration then the party would not say anything.�

The Hindutva parties have however launched a movement against the supporters of Afzal. They have been protesting not only in Jammu and but in other parts of the country as well. They put the effigies of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and J&K Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on fire in Lucknow.

Commenting on the incident, the Express (October 3) editorially writes: “Let us ask those who are burning the effigies of Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh for their (so-called) support to Afzal as to what message they want to give to the world by doing so. Do they consider even the Prime Minister a ‘supporter of terrorists’? These self-styled patriots and nationalists in fact do not have any consideration for justice and humanity nor do they have any concern for the integrity of the country. These elements that are ever willing to go to any length to achieve their political ends have proved that they have not even a bit consideration for the Constitution and law of the land. Ghulam Nabi Azad is one of those patriotic leaders whose patriotism is beyond any doubt and suspicion. He is chief minister of the state and whatever he has said about seeking clemency for Afzal is within the parameters of the Constitution and law of the land. But communal organisations are out to strangulate justice. They are accusing him of supporting terrorism, and raising slogans that Azad has no right to be the chief minister. Everyone knows well how these champions of nationalism are promoting and abetting communalism and terrorism on a large scale in the country. But neither the Congress nor the government has guts to bridle them.�

The Express editorial concludes thus: “Those who are giving communal colour to the issue of hanging Afzal to death or those who are exploiting it for their political ends should feel that they are playing with the national integrity of India. Those who consider their political strategy dearer than integrity of the country and national interest cannot be truly faithful to India. Whether it is the issue of supporting or opposing Afzal’s capital punishment, it cannot be the real issue for a true Indian; the real issue is that justice and humanity is put to stake at any cost.�

Muhammad Sharafat Ali in his edit-page article in the Express (October 3) has made it clear that no one holds brief for terrorists but it is also equally true that in the process of combating terrorism innocent persons are framed and persecuted. “Targeting innocents in the name of combating terrorism is a matter of concern; a matter of more serious concern is that real terrorists are given clean chit in view of political expediency and some innocent person is sacrificed as a scapegoat,� he writes.

“Though the Apex Court has confirmed the capital punishment for Afzal, the issue demands a fresh and fair investigation as a majority of people believe that the real intent of the attackers was not to blow up Parliament. To them the details of the Parliament attack reveal that the attackers’ entry into Parliament and about half an hour battle with the security forces was the axis of some greater destructive act; but the nuances of the circumstances did not allow it to happen. Therefore it is the duty of the Government of India to get it probed afresh to ascertain the key players behind it and if the real intent of the attackers was not to blow up Parliament then what it was,� the writer continues.

In a front-paged report the Express of October 4 cites N.D. Pancholi, advocate for Afzal Guru, as saying that there is no proof to prove Afzal’s involvement in the Parliament attack conspiracy, and the Supreme Court itself has said in its judgement that ‘the capital punishment has been pronounced to satisfy the collective sentiments of the nation and society’. Mr. Pancholi said hanging Afzal Guru to death would be an injustice to him. Meanwhile, Advocate Nandita Haksar said that certain legal flaws have been made basis of the mercy appeal to the President. He said the very process of investigation was full of flaws. The Express report reminds the readers that Afzal was deprived of legal defence in the lower court, and the case was affected in the High Court.

According to the report Mr. Jagmohan Singh, grandson of active freedom fighter Bhagat Singh who was hanged to death in the British period, and renowned film producer Anand Patwardhan have appealed to the President to grant clemency to Afzal. In an open letter to the President they have argued against the very concept of punishment: “Maybe, today Afzal is a terrorist but he was not born as a terrorist and he should not die as a terrorist. Circumstances have made him what he is today. And the circumstances can again change him. But capital punishment cannot change anyone.�

The Express of October 2 has published the opinions of the family members, classmates and friends of Afzal Guru, which present Afzal as a man of education, art, poetry and extremism, and which confirm the idea that the circumstances to which he had been subjected to had made him what he is today.

October 5, 2006

Indian Muslims lag behind SCs and STs: Sachar Committee findings

Urdu press roundup
By IndianMuslims.info Staff

The high level Justice Sachar Committee, making a survey of the social, economic and educational condition of Muslims in India, is scheduled to submit it report on October 31. On October 24 Urdu dailies carried a UNI report shocking the Muslims that the yet-to-be-released Sachar Committee Report shows their educational status worse than that of Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs). The findings are based on the statistics of the number of boys and girls admitted to schools in villages, towns and cities during 1965 and 2001.

For instance, in 1965 the number of SC/ST girls admitted to schools in towns and cities was 40%, and it came at 83% in 2001. While the number of Muslim girls of this category in 1965 was 52% which rose only to 80% in 2001. These figures show that in 1965 Muslim girls were 12% ahead of SC/ST girls while in 2001 they were lagging 3% behind their SC/ST counterparts.

The percentage of Muslim boys admitted to schools in towns and cities in 1965 was 72, almost equivalent to that of SC/ST boys. But 2001 witnessed a difference of 10% between the two.

The findings show that save and except child mortality and sex ratio Muslims are lagging behind Hindus and even SCs and STs in all other social and health related fields.

The report also mentions that this is not the first time that the Government of India has taken initiatives to know the status of its largest minority. Late Indira Gandhi had also constituted a high level committee headed by Gopal Singh. Unlike the Sachar Committee, the Gopal Singh Committee had submitted its report of only 80 districts out of the then 500 districts in the country while the Sachar Committee has covered all the districts.

International Urdu Day

The Akhbar-e-Mashriq of October 21 reports that International Urdu Day will be organised in Jaipur on November 9. An announcement to this effect was made in a joint meeting of Urdu Development Organisation and United Muslim of India with seasoned Urdu journalist Mahfoozur Rahman in the chair.

Renowned Urdu litterateurs and journalists will be presented with awards and honours by the Governor of Rajasthan Pratibha Patil. Those who will receive awards and honours include (1) Suhail Anjum (Delhi-based journalist) – Maulana Osman Faqualeet Award for Investigative Journalism (2) V. Kumar – Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Award for National Integration (3) Habeeb Baig Paras (Poet and litterateur of Jaipur) – Qamar Wahdi Award for Poetry (4) Lokesh Kumar – Qazi Adeel Abbasi Award for Social Service (5) Muhammad Arif Iqbal (Editor Urdu Book Review) – Maulana Muhammad Muslim Award for Constructive Journalism (6) Salik Dhampuri (Delhi based journalist) – Dr. Abdul Jaleel Faridi Award for Community Journalism (7) Shakeel Akhtar (Special Correspondent Nav Bharat Times) – Munshi Premchand Award for Journalism (8) Saroj Khan (Social Worker, Jaipur) – Rafeeq-e-Adab (9) Dr Rashidullah Khan (Member CCIM, New Delhi) – Rafeeq-e-Tib (10) Dr Lal Bahadur Mauriya – Rafeeq-e-Urdu (11) Saeed Ahmed Khan (Former Director Department of Information and Broadcasting, Rajasthan) – Rafeeq-e-Sahafat (12) Bright Flowers Secondary School – Allama Iqbal Trophy.

Pitiable plight of Anjuman Taraqqi-e-Urdu Bihar

In a letter published in the Rashtriya Sahara (October 23), M. Qamar Alam, former president Students Union Aligarh Muslim University, laments the sad plight of Anjuman Taraqqi-e-Urdu Bihar. He categorically blames General Secretary Anjuman Taraqqi-e-Urdu Hind Dr. Khaleeque Anjum for complicating the situation of indiscipline prevailing in Anjuman Taraqqi-e-Urdu Bihar and charges him of embezzlement of funds.

Following the sad demise of the then president of Anjuman Taraqqi-e-Urdu Bihar Prof. Abdul Mughni on September 5, the Executive Committee of Anjuman Taraqqi-e-Urdu Hind held its meeting in Patna on September 17 in which Prof. M.O. Siddiqui, Head of the Department of Botany, Patna University, was elected president of Anjuman Taraqqi-e-Urdu Bihar for the rest of the term. But Dr. Khaleeque Anjum recently issued an order nominating Haroon Rasheed as president and Abdul Qayyoom Ansari as Secretary of Anjuman Taraqqi-e-Urdu Bihar despite the fact that Haroon Rasheed had tendered his resignation as member of the Executive Committee in its meeting held on July 30, 2006 and Abdul Qayyoom Ansari had been first suspended and then expelled on charges of embezzlement.

The letter writer has advised the functionaries of Anjuman Taraqqi-e-Urdu Bihar not to pay heed to the directives of Dr. Khaleeque Anjum. “Urdu-speaking public is behind the Anjuman. They (the functionaries) should work along with them, and organise a conference in Delhi to present before the Urdu lovers all the realities.�

Haj Committee Draft Scandal

The same issue of Sahara front-paged the sensational draft scandal in the office of Central Haj Committee. According to the report some unknown persons sent a CD to the high officials of Central Haj Committee, revealing the draft scandal which involved crores of rupees. As a result of the action taken on the CD revelation a staff member of the Haj Committee was caught red-handed and suspended. And the Superintendent of the Haj Committee has been appointed Enquiry Officer to investigate into the case.

Talking to the daily, Executive Officer of the Central Haj Committee Muhammad Owais affirmed that one of his staff members, Ejaz Khwaja was caught red-handed and there is a prima-facie case against him; so he has been suspended so that unprejudiced investigation may be conducted.
The Sahara report says that the suspended staff member of Haj Committee Ejaz Khwaja had been involved in the scandal for the past ten years, and he was appointed as an employee of the Committee only recently. It alleges that about 10 to 15 old and experienced employees of the Committee are also involved in the scandal. “The present revelation is only a tip of the iceberg while a CBI enquiry into the scandal is a must to uncover the entire scandal,� it said.

October 25, 2006

[photo : jaipal singh bandral]

Police ‘major breakthrough’ in July 11 blasts proves a sham

Urdu press roundup
By IndianMuslims.info Staff

As the Kashmir valley and elsewhere in the country has been raging about the capital punishment of Parliament attack ‘mastermind’ Afzal Guru, the Indian Muslims experienced last week injustice and biased treatment meted out to them in the various other cases. Whether communal riots or terror attacks, selective detention on baseless and fabricated charges and unfair investigation seems to have been the fate of Indian Muslims. And the irony of ironies that can be gathered with the study of the Urdu press is that this has been the situation in the secular, Congress-ruled States.

Urdu dailies have been covering new developments in and carrying articles and editorials on the disquieting aspects of the investigations into the 1993 and 2006 Mumbai blasts, which are now being politicised even at international fora.

Tahseen Osmani in his edit-page article in the Hindustan Express (October 7) writes: “The cases of unfair treatment with Muslims in Maharashtra at the hands of police personnel are not new but the kind of violence and torture and mental agony the Muslims have been subjected to in the changed scenario is difficult to be traced on the pages of history….�

Mr. Osmani presents a brief description of how the members of the Muslim community were killed and how police personnel persecuted them in the post-Babri Masjid demolition riots in December 1992, following which serial blasts shook Mumbai in 1993. He also refers to Srikrishna Commission report, which holds Shiv Sena and Bajrang Dal activists responsible for the 1992 riots and also points fingers at the role of police and administration in them.

“Mumbai is in news headlines nowadays for its two serial blasts. On the one hand the accused of 1993 serial blasts are being declared guilty while on the other claims are being made with charged fervour to reveal the ‘real culprits’ behind the July 11, 2006 train blasts…. The way the police has drawn the conclusion shows that the anti-Muslim campaign the police had launched after July 11 train blasts was part of its communal mentality, and those targeted by the police were innocent….�

“One thing that should be taken for granted is that dual policy of doing justice should at no cost be adopted. The government’s bid to counter terrorism in the State is well and good but how nice it would be if the accused in the 1992 communal riots are also brought to book along with those responsible for 1993 blasts. How nice it would have been if the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) investigating into the train blasts also probed into the blasts in Nanded, Parbhani and Malegaon with the same seriousness. The treatment meted out to Muslims in the State is not unknown to the State government. The Congress bore in past the consequences of its dual policy but it seems it is not willing to take any lesson from its past wrong-doings,� Mr. Osmani concludes.

The ATS had claimed that it had achieved a major breakthrough in the investigations into the July 11 Mumbai train blasts. But this claim shattered like a pack of cards when the seven accused in the case denied ever having made ‘confession’ of the crime.

The Express (October 11) editorialised the issue thus: “The story presented in a joint press conference by Police Commissioner A.N. Roy and ATS chief P.K. Raghuvanshi was that the July 11 serial blasts were blown up by 15 terrorists, of which 11 had come to Mumbai from Pakistan…. Pakistan’s secret agency ISI was behind it. Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) carried it out in collaboration with certain SIMI activists and a few newly recruited terrorists, who had been trained in terror training camps in Pak-occupied Kashmir. This mission of LeT was supported and funded by Al-Qaeda. This entire story of the police was based on the so-called ‘confessed’ statements…. Our Government and investigating agencies gave so much importance to this story that they staked on it Indo-Pak relations, the ongoing bilateral talks to resolve mutual conflicts, and peace efforts…. Now as our Government was preparing to present the proof of Pak hand in the July 11 blasts not only before Pakistan but also America and Britain, the very basis of the much trumpeted story was shaken in the court of law. In the court of Special Judge M.R Bhatkar, the accused – Faisal Shaikh, Muzzammil Shaikh, Dr. Tanweer Ahmed, Kamal Ansari, Ihtesham Siddiqui, Suhai Shaikh and Zameer Ansari – submitted that the police had got their signatures on plain papers under duress and had not taken them (as required) either to a magistrate or a police deputy commissioner to get their statements recorded. Censuring the police in strongest terms, the court sent the accused to judicial custody – an action which is not only a severe blow to the appellant but also a matter of shame for the Government of India; for this issue is now under discussion at international level and proof is being sought from us.�

In a report in the Etemaad and Akhbar-e-Mashriq (October 12) renowned social activist Javed Akhtar said that the biggest proof of the anti-Muslim stance of Congress-NCP alliance government in Maharashtra is that this government protected the erring police officials censured by Srikrishna Commission. He made this statement while addressing a seminar on Malegaon Blasts: “Who is Responsible�.

“Why is our civilized society and Government not ready to consider the causes of terrorism?� he wondered.

Another speaker, Teesta Setalvad said that the gap between police and public has widened. She added that peace without justice is impossible. “Social and economic justice, and institutionalised prejudice against Muslim concentration mohallas are the issues which must be addressed in order to root out terrorism from society,� she suggested.

Ms. Setalvad questioned: “While you can take action against SIMI, why can’t you act against V.H.P., Bajrang Dal and such other organisations�

The Inquilab of October 6 reports the communalists’ bid to disturb the communal harmony in Kurla. In Kurla there is an open ground between the 20-year old Sunni Muhammadiya Masjid and the dargah of Ghazi Baba; people of different communities used to hold their programmes on this plot of land. But during the Navratri programme some miscreants installed a board of Jagdamba Sewa Mandal, causing communal tension in the area. The president of the said mosque committee Badr Alam alias Wazeer Bhai said that in 1998 too an illegal temple structure was erected on the same plot.

Last week witnessed communal riots in Mangalore in Karnataka, and in Nizamabad, Bodhan, Kamareddy and Banswada in Andhra Pradesh.

Editorially commenting on the Andhra incident, the Etemaad (October 6) writes: “The incidents that occurred in Nizamabad, Bodhan, Kamareddy and Banswada during the last three days bear witness to the utter failure of administration and intelligence machinery. They also proved that the communal forces in Andhra Pradesh are strong enough to do whatever and whenever they want irrespective of the party in power. The natural corollary of whatever happened near the Jama Masjid of Bodhan in the night of Tuesday and the manner the police encouraged the rioters, was seen in Nizamabad, Kamareddy and Banswada the next day. The police personnel’s desecration of the Bodhan Jama Masjid and cruel treatment with the fasting worshippers (in the mosque) reminds one of the BJP government in Gujarat.�

In a news item datelined Bodhan, October 10, the Etemaad reports that in an attempt to provoke Muslims the rioters once again pelted stones on Achanpalli mosque in Bodhan on their way to immerse Durga idol and while returning they selectively targeted the Muslim passers-by near R.K. Engineering College. Azan was not called and the siren not put on in the mosque for Iftar-time declaration in the mosque that day. However Police Superintendent Mahesh Chand Laddha praised the Muslims for keeping patience and fortitude, and said that the culprits who had pelted stones on the mosque have been recorded in camera and assured that action will be taken against them.

October 12, 2006

Police seizes a haul of explosives in Maharashtra

Urdu press roundup
By IndianMuslims.info Staff

As Tihar jail authorities are making arrangements to send Parliament attack ‘mastermind’ Muhammad Afzal Guru to gallows, the Gujarat High Court on October 13 set aside the constitution of the Justice U.C. Bannerjee Committee by Railway Ministry to probe into the burning of Coach 6 of Sabarmati Express at Godhra on February 27, 2002 which followed Muslim genocide in the State, calling it ‘unconstitutional, illegal and null and void’ and rejected its recommendations. The Justice D.N. Patel bench of the high court also restrained the Centre from tabling the committee report in Parliament or taking any further action on it.

One more disquieting development, once again from Maharashtra, is the seizure of a haul of explosives on October 16. In a front-paged news item on October 17 the Inquilab reports the arrest of Dinkar Suryabhan, who is Sarpanch of Aadgaon in Aurangabad district. On October 14 the police during a raid on his residence seized 430 kilos ammonium nitrate, 186 gelatine sticks, 566 detonators and 80 safety tubes. Before the police raided his residence, Suryabhan had succeeded in getting an escape route while two of his servants Kachru Mali and Bharat Mali were arrested. On his being arrested on October 16 Suryabhan told the police that the explosive materials seized from his residence were used in digging wells and that he had been trading in explosives for quite some time. The report mentioned that he had no licence to deal in explosives. He however did not give any satisfactory reply to the vital question: wherefrom he used to get the explosives?

The report alleged that the police and the Marathi media were trying to hush up the case by admitting Suryabhan’s plea that the explosives were solely for the purpose of digging wells. However Muslim organisations of the town put a question mark on the failure of the police system in detecting the illegal business in explosives on such a large scale, and demanded a CBI enquiry into all possibilities of the matter.

The district organiser of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind Ilyas Falahi and local ameer Abdul Hameed Khan, in a joint press statement, said a CBI enquiry into the matter is necessary to unearth the hidden network of organised and planned terrorism. They demanded that a case be filed against the accused under Makoka. They alleged that this network of terrorism might be linked with Parbhani, Malegaon and Mumbai blasts.

“Those responsible for bomb blasts in Parbhani, Purna, Jalna and Malegaon having been out of the purview of police investigating process (in these blasts) have accelerated their terror activities. There is need to make unprejudiced investigations into the matter seriously and sincerely so that the common people suffering from the consequences of such blasts might take a sigh of relief and the Muslims facing allegations of terror acts might also be freed,� they said.

The Inquilab report adds that earlier such (explosive) materials were seized from a jeep on Nasik Road in Thane. Besides, the police seized truckloads of these materials in Parbhani. After the Malegaon bomb blasts (September 8) the seizure of 195 kilograms of RDX from the residence of one Shalke has not faded from people’s memory. The Secretary General of Muslims Representative Council has demanded from the Government a high level enquiry in all these cases.

He said: “The seizure of these materials (at regular intervals) proves the fact that dealing in illegal weapons and explosive materials is going on in Maharashtra without any check. Neither the Government nor secret agencies keeps an eye on it, and the result is that incidents like those in Nanded, Parbhani, Purna and Jalna occur and if some deep probe is done the same network may be found in Mumbai and Malegaon blasts as well.

The Muslims Representative Council has also hinted at launching a public movement against the organised conspiracies against Muslims for the last few months, the report maintained.

Gujarat HC on Bannerjee Committee

The Hindustan Express and the Akhbar-e-Mashriq on October 14 gave front page treatment to the Gujarat High Court judgement on the constitution of Justice U.C. Bannerjee Committee and its recommendations.

The court criticised the Railway Ministry for constituting the committee without having any power. It said the very formation of the committee is in contravention with Sections 113, 114, 115, 116 and 119 of the Indian Railway Laws. It added that even if any enquiry is done under Railway Accident Laws, its report should be kept in strict secrecy. The court maintained that much against the Railway laws the interim report of Bannerjee Committee was released just two days before Bihar Assembly elections in 2005.

The appellant, Mr. Bhatia, who claims he had been saved from the fire in Coach 6 of Sabarmati Express at Godhra, had challenged the very formation of Bannerjee Committee saying that the Railways need not forming any enquiry committee while there was already Justice Nanavati Shah Commission doing the job.

The Express report mentions the findings of Justice Bannerjee Committee interim report that the fire in the Sabarmati Coach was “accidental� and not lit from outside the coach. The court has avoided commenting on this finding of the committee.

The Mashriq report entitled “Gujarat High Court pleased Narendra Modi� begins with the comment: Gujarat High Court today pleased Hindu extremists.

In an edit-page article on the issue published in the Express (October 15) Ahmed Javed has thrown light on the politicisation of Gujarat genocide 2002. He concludes his article with a sharp comment on the seriousness or otherwise of the Union Government in bringing those responsible for the genocide to book: “The Government at the Centre is not only neglecting the crimes of Narendra Modi but also blessing him with all sorts of support so much so that recently Rajiv Gandhi Foundation declared the performance of Modi government as the best in those of other States all over the country. In response to it Modi has suspended his long time attack on Sonia Gandhi (and her foreign origin). Whatever the realities, there is no denying the fact that the Centre has turned its eyes completely from the victims of Gujarat. Now if this Government is saying that it will challenge the high court order against Justice U.C. Bannerjee report in the Supreme Court, what does it mean? Just politics or determination to do justice with the victims?�

Afzal Guru’s hanging

As the date of Muhammad Afzal Guru’s hanging to death is coming night and the Government has not issued any stay order in view of Afzal’s family members’ mercy appeal pending before the President, the Hindutva outfits are hell bent upon to politicise the issue.

The Express (October 18) reports the BJP and its sister organisations intensifying its campaign to get the mercy appeal rejected while human rights organisations, social activists and scholars are continuing their protests against the scheduled hanging of Afzal Guru. BJP threatened the Government to remove it if Muhammad Afzal is not hanged to death.

Other papers, including the Inquilab report V.H.P and Shiv Sena making statements to hang one lakh effigies of Afzal Guru all over the country.

October 19, 2006

Muslim MPs meet Maharashtra CM as police tries to wipe out proof of blasts

Urdu press roundup
By IndianMuslims.info Staff

The Hindustan Express, the Inquilab and the Etemaad (September 17) reported an 11-member delegation of Muslim Members of Parliament calling on Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Mr. Vilasrao Deshmukh to air their grievances against the police and administration for the harassment of Muslim youth after July 11 Mumbai train blasts, the efforts being made to wipe out the proofs of September 8 Malegaon blasts, shelving the Srikrishna Commission Report on the post-Babri Masjid demolition riots and the plan to build a police station on a waqf land in Bhiwandi. The delegation submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister demanding C.B.I. enquiry into the recent bomb blasts in Nanded, Malegaon and other parts of the State and police harassment of Muslim youth.

In over an hour meeting the Muslim parliamentarians told the CM that the prevailing situation reminded them of the pre-Independence chaos and anarchy and that the situation meted out to Muslims in a secular government was unbearable. They said the present attitude of the government would help spread instead of rooting out terrorism.
Director General Police Maharashtra, Commissioner Mumbai, Commissioner Police Thane, Chief of Anti-Terrorist Squad and other high officials were also present in the meeting.

Muslim MPs also produced some victims of police atrocities in Mumbai, Bhiwandi and Malegaon before the Chief Minister.

One such victim was Irfan Ahmed who was being pressurised by the police to confess the crime of planting bombs at Hamidia mosque and Bada Qabristan in Malegaon. In a written submission Irfan said on oath that the Malegaon police detained him, beat him and even offered Rupees five lakh for making a statement before the Press confessing that it was he who had planted the bombs. On outright rejecting the offer, Irfan was beaten mercilessly.
On September 18 the Rashtriya Sahara front-paged the “hair-raising� complaints of inhuman treatment narrated by some other victims.

In one such revelation, Muhammad Hanif of Kurla alleged that A.T.S. summoned him to appear in their office in Kurla. He said when he reached there they thrust a slipper into his mouth threatening that they would dip that slipper into human waste and again thrust it into his mouth if it fell down. He was later beaten mercilessly. Hanif said the police was torturing him thus just to divulge with them the address of some of his friends.

In another revelation, Ataur Rahman, father of Muhammad Faisal and Muzzammil who had been accused in the Mumbai train blast case, said he was sent for by the A.T.S. the second day of his sons’ arrest, and was allowed to go after four hours of questioning. He was once again sent for the next day and was kept under detention for seven days. During the detention he was once totally undressed and then threatened that all the female members of his family would be subjected to the same treatment if his sons would fail to confess the crime. He further alleged that his nephew No’man was also undressed and an injunction was given to his anus. His daughter-in-law Rafah Sheikh also complained that her hijab was snatched and trampled under feet when she refused to put it off during questioning.

In yet another revelation Haji Osman Quraishi said he was summoned to appear in A.T.S. office on July 25 and was then presented before A.T.S. chief Raghuvanshi who asked him about the whereabouts of his younger son, who had been associated with SIMI. He alleged that A.T.S. officers Narainkar and Khadar crossed all limits of ill-treating his daughter. He said he was then compelled to think that death was preferable to such a life of disgrace.

Muslim MPs included Asaduddin Owaisi, Abu Asim Azmi, Shahid Siddiqui, Maulana Mahmood Madani, Muhammad Shahid Akhlaque, Muhammad Tahir Khan, Maulana Obaidullah Khan Azmi, Maulana Abdus Samad Samdani and Abdul Wahab.
The Chief Minister assured the Muslim parliamentarians that the Government would take action against the guilt police officers.

Talking to the presspersons soon after the meeting, Muslim leaders cutting across party lines announced that if the Government of Maharashtra failed to address their grievances they would launch a peaceful people’s movement and start courting arrest.

The Sahara (September 18) editorially appreciated the move of Muslim legislators. “In the history of India this was perhaps the first ever Muslim delegation which told a Chief Minister that they would raise an agitation if justice was not done to Muslims… This move of the parliamentarians not to dilly-dally in raising the voice of truth and justice even under the cloud of darkness is worth praising. More important is the fact that they are giving proof of Muslim unity raising themselves above their respective party politics. Indeed this unity of Muslims will be felt in long way in the general political circles of the country.�

While discussing bomb blasts at different places in Maharashtra, Muslim leaders, writers and political analysts have repeatedly pointed fingers to Bajrang Dal and other Hindutva extremists who are working under the guidance of Israeli secret agency Mossad, now operating in Maharashtra. They also write that Maharashtra police and A.T.S. is trying to shield Hindutva extremists.

Senior Muslim leader and Member of Parliament Ilyas Azmi, in an UNI news item published in the Sahara of September 14, alleged that everyone including Maharashtra police knows for certain that all the incidents that happened in Nanded, Mumbai, Malegaon and Nasik are being perpetrated under the guidance of Mossad. “But, out of enmity with Islam, those who have seated Mossad in Mumbai and Worli will not crackdown on Mossad until and unless the country falls prey to slavery once again,� he said.

In an edit-page article entitled “Why This Terrorism After All?� in the Qaumi Awaz (September 18) Adil Siddiqui alleged that all the problem is prevailing only because our administrative machinery itself is not clean rather has fallen prey to communalism.

“The situation is that there are a number of such elements in the majority community who take interest in such nefarious activities to achieve their political ends. In April this year two persons were killed when they were busy making bombs in the house of a Bajrang Dal office bearer. In the light of police investigations (now shelved) the people belonging to the same group were found in the bomb attack on a mosque in Parbhani in 2003 and blasts in Purna and Jalna in August 2004… Experts opine that the influence of Massad has been gaining roots in India now,� he wrote.

In another edit-page article entitled “After Nanded, Jalna, Parbhani and Mumbai, It is Now Malegaon: Who are the terrorists?� in the Sahara (September 14) Farman Chaudhary opines that if ground realities are taken into consideration without any bias and prejudice then it is easily understandable that these blasts were perpetrated by only those who want to harm Muslims and can go to any extent to seek their goal.

“In the house of Bajrang Dal activist in Nanded where a bomb went off on April 6 this year the police had seized the names, addresses, maps indicating location of those mosques, as well as Muslim clothing and fake beards. But under the mounting pressure of terrorist organisations like R.S.S. and Bajrang Dal the police did not pay attention to it. Had those addresses of the mosques been made public then and there and due action been taken against the terrorists, Malegaon-like tragedy would not have occurred,� he wrote.

In a 5-column news story, “Police Shelved the Truth of Nanded Blasts� the Sahara of September 20 laments that 16 activists of Bajrang Dal were detained during investigations into bomb attacks on mosques in Jalna, Parbhani and Purna but no follow-up was made and the culprits are roaming free.

The story cites the claim of NDTV of having the details of wireless talk between police officials and the channel’s control room. According to the channel’s claim, it is also in possession of a copy of the narco-analysis report of two accused for making bombs in Nanded, in which they had confessed their role in Jalna and Parbhani attacks.

The story adds that questions are now being raised on the police’s bid to complicate the case in order to protect Bajrang Dal terrorists. Some peace groups have knocked at the door of the court of law in this regard.

In another story the same issue of the Sahara has covered some stunning revelations of Maulana Abdul Qayyum, Secretary Jamiat Ulema Malegaon, which can help the investigating agencies in nabbing the real culprits.

It is perhaps because of this ever-mounting telling evidence of Hindutva extremists in anti-social, nefarious activities that Majid Raman in an edit-page article entitled “Ban on RSS and Its Sister Organisations A Must� in the Sahara (September 17) argues at length why it is the high time the Government ordered a crackdown on Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh and its sister organisations that have been making hell of life in India for decades together.

September 20, 2006

PM’s pronouncement mere eyewash

Urdu press roundup
By IndianMuslims.info Staff

In the seventh Congress Chief Ministers conclave held at Nainital on September 23 Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress chairperson Sonia Gandhi once again expressed their concern over the harassment of Muslims in the process of anti-terrorism measures. This is the fourth time in two months that Prime Minister has addressed the issue.

While the Qaumi Awaz (September 24 and 25) confined itself to eulogising the conclave, and the Awam to simply covering UNI release on the issue without any comment whatsoever, a Hindustan Express story on September 24 laments that the Congress leaders’ concern contradicts the treatment meted out to Muslims in Congress-ruled States like Uttaranchal. The story alleged that Muslims are being selectively targeted under the direct stance of Chief Minister Narain Dutt Tiwari, who is dreaming of enjoying greener pastures in the Rashtrapati Bhawan.

The Express story refers to two cases of Muslim harassment and torture in the State. One, in the immediate aftermath of Mumbai train blasts a group of foreign Muslim preachers associated with Tablighi Jamaat was harassed, detained and asked to go back forthwith. And the other, Maulana Masood Madani, who had been a Minister in the Tiwari cabinet till a few days ago when he tendered his resignation in protest against the injustices being done to the minorities, was on September 6 arrested, beaten and tortured by no less than the D.M. and S.S.P. of Dehradun. (Attempts were made to pull out three of his nails and as a result of the torture his eardrum was broken and his teeth went on bleeding for days together, and his body sustained several black patches.) The crime of Maulana Masood was that while addressing a gathering in the city he raised a voice against the issues confronting the Muslims in the State.

“In a State where talking of Muslim issues is too great a crime to invite police beating and where the bones and ribs of those raising voice against the atrocities are broken, Congress chairperson’s saying that no particular community was harassed in the name of combating terrorism gives way to a grotesque situation,� the story writes.

The Express on September 25 editorialised the Congress leaders’ shedding crocodile tears. It suggests: “In view of internal security the Government should launch an honest campaign to bring an end to the menace of terrorism…. But all the efforts made in this regard should be honest. But what has come to the fore as yet is that the Congress leaders, including the Prime Minister are only shedding crocodile tears. If it is not so then why despite the assurances made by the Prime Minister only Muslim youth have been detained in the process of investigations into the recent Mumbai and Malegaon blasts. Why after all no progress is being made in the investigations into the fake beard case? Doesn’t it prove that the Government and its various departments have taken for granted that only Muslims can carry out terrorist acts and that there is no role of Bajrang Dal and Shiv Sena in them?�

On September 24 the Express, in an exclusive story, reports that Bajrang Dal activist Sanjay Choudhary, who had been arrested in the Parbhani blast case, was subjected to brain-mapping and narco-analysis, in which he confessed his hand both in the attack on Muhammadia mosque in Parbhani and in making bombs in the house of a retired engineer Raj Kondwar in Nanded. This accused was injured in the April 6 Nanded blasts. Other three persons injured in the Nanded blasts – Maruti Keshwagh, Yulesh Deshpandey and Gururaj Pandey – have been also subjected to brain-mapping and narco-analysis. According to Assistant Police Commissioner of Maharashtra, these accused told the A.T.S. that 15 days before their attack on Muhammadia mosque in the Rahmat Nagar area of Parbhani, they had gone there to take stock of the situation. They had stayed in the house of the maternal aunt of Gururaj near the mosque. And then on November 21, 2003 they threw bombs on the mosque right at the time of Jumatul Wida prayers, killing one person named Abdus Samad and rendering 36 Muslim worshippers in the mosque injured. Then they succeeded in fleeing on motorcycles. The report adds that the Police will detain Gururaj’s maternal aunt, who is a school teacher in Parbhani, for questioning.

Another issue that made headlines in Urdu newspapers last week is academic polarisation of society. In view of the forthcoming Assembly elections, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Mulayam Singh Yadav announced the decision to open medical, engineering and other technical colleges in the recently launched Maulana Muhammad Ali Jauhar University. On the other hand Minister of Culture Madhya Pradesh announced a plan to open two universities, reports the Express on September 27. Panchli Sanskrit University will be established in Ujjain while Sangeet University in Gawalior.

In a front-paged news item in the Akhbar-e-Mashriq (September 23) Uttar Pradesh Urdu Development Organisation sought clarification from Chief Minister Mulayam Singh and Minister for Urban Development Azam Khan whether the medium of instruction in the technical colleges to be opened in Maulana Muhammad Ali Jauhar University will be like that in Osmania University Hyderabad. The organisation expressed concern over the omission of the word ‘Urdu’ from the name of Jauhar University established to promote Urdu, Arabic and Persian. If the medium of instruction in medical, engineering, law, dental and IT colleges in the university is Urdu only then it will prove a milestone on the path of education and development of minorities.

On September 26 Urdu newspapers covered BJP vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqwi dubbing Maulana Muhammad Ali Jauhar “anti-national�. “By establishing a university in the name of the greatest enemy of Vande Mataram, Mulayam Singh Yadav has given way to separatism,� Mr. Naqwi alleged, adding that Rampur stands in need of factories and not a university.

The Express (September 26) editorially criticised the temerity of Mr. Naqwi to call Maulana Jauhar “anti-national�.

Leaving the issue of punishment for disgracing and levelling allegation on freedom fighters to the judiciary, the Express editorial writes: “Unfortunately Mukhtar Abbas Naqwi belongs to a party which had nothing to do with the independence of the country… The sacrifice of Ali Brothers for the independence of India is unforgettable. Every patriot is aware of the trials and tribulations the two brothers, Maulana Muhammad Ali and Maulana Shaukat Ali had to bear behind the bars for the independence of the country. Now if Mukhtar Abbas Naqwi is not in know of it then it is not his fault because he is associated with such a party which has dexterity in rewriting history and educating this fabricated history to the new generation. But if our new generation begins to call a towering leader like Maulana Muhammad Ali Jauhar “anti-national� it is the height of meanness… It is the urgent need of the hour to declare as rebel those who call freedom fighters ‘anti-national’.�

In a news item in the Inquilab (September 23) Janta Dal Secular supreme and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda sought public apology for the controversial statement made by the Minister for Education D.H. Shankrmurthi, a BJP man, who had called great freedom fighter Tipu Sultan an enemy of the Kannada language.

September 27, 2006

Police shielding Hindutva fascists in Malegaon blast case?

Urdu press roundup
By IndianMuslims.info Staff

The September 8 Malegaon serial blasts, which claimed at least 31 innocent lives, rendered about 300 injured and proved once again the failure of Maharashtra police in maintaining law and order, have been making headlines in all Urdu newspapers. Muslim and Non-Muslim leaders, peace activists and editors not only severely condemned this heinous crime against humanity and called upon the people to keep patience and maintain peace and harmony but also have been demanding fair probe into the incident by CBI or a special investigation team.

Urdu Press ran stories and images of the tragedy as well as pointed fingers towards Hindutva extremists behind the blasts and charged the Government of Maharashtra of trying to keep the Hindutva organisations away from the process of investigations despite there being solid proof against them.

The Qaumi Awaz (September 11) editorially came heavily down upon TV channels for willingly or unwillingly beating about the bush in covering such incidents that eventually add fuel to the fire.

The editorial “Shadow of Death over Malegaon� says: “No television channel reminded people of the fact that in April 2006 two activists of Bajrang Dal, Naresh (Rajkondwar) and Himanshu (Phanse) were killed when they were making bombs with three other accomplices. It is a tragedy that every political party, government administration as well as electronic and print media are so much afraid of (the presence of) Shiv Sena, Bajrang Dal and such other fascist organisations in Maharashtra that they do not dare to expose their activities.�

The Urdu Press has raised one of the most vital questions related to the tragic incident: Why ATS (Anti-Terrorists Squad) is trying to give a new turn to the investigations into Malegaon blasts?

The question assumes significance because soon after the blasts the idea of RDX used in the bombs was categorically rejected as the police had declared that the bombs were crude ones, remote-controlled by a timer. But after the fast spreading revelation that the particles used in these blasts were the same as had been found in the findings of the investigations into Parbhani and Nanded blasts, it was crystal clear that the forces behind the Malegaon blasts were the same communal organisations which were found responsible for Parbhani and Nanded blasts.

The Hindustan Express (September 13) editorially explores answer to this question: “The police had solid proof of the hand of Bajrang Dal and Shiv Sena activists in Nanded blasts. It is another matter that out of sheer bias and prejudice ATS is trying to give clean chit to the 11 persons belonging to Bajrang Dal and Shiv Sena found guilty of exploding these bombs. Now finding the direction of investigations into Malegaon blasts once again taking the course towards the same organisations, the ATS was in a fix; therefore in order to give a new direction to the investigations and anyhow link the cord of the blasts to Muslims, it floated the mischievous idea that RDX was used in bombs and it is beyond the reach of Bajrang Dal.�

The Express editorial expresses apprehension that the investigations into Malegaon blasts have fallen prey to the prejudice of ATS. “Whereas proofs are there on the ground; if ATS works on their basis, it can easily catch hold of the culprits. Police has come to know about the shop wherefrom the bicycles used in the blasts were purchased. The sketch of one person present at the site resembles one who had purchased the bicycle. Besides, fake beard found on the face of a dead body, and a Bajrang Dal activist seen touring the blast site (only minutes before the blasts) are such proofs as are enough to tell the sad saga of Malegaon blasts. But, ignoring these vital proofs, ATS wants to link the cord of these blasts with international terrorism. This effort on the part of ATS shows its ill intention but despite repeated demands the Government of Maharashtra does not appear to get these blasts investigated by CBI.�

The paper advises ATS to proceed in an unbiased manner on the basis of the proofs that are there instead of making the case complicated. “If ATS fails in this task then it is the duty of the Central and State governments, without making any delay, to hand over the task of investigation to CBI so that Maharashtra may be saved from falling prey to further blasts,� the paper adds.

The Awam (September 9) also editorially advises the security agencies to effect a change in its way to act, and to give up the idea of investigation by presupposing the hand of a particular community (in terror acts).

Candle light vigil in Varanasi, Photo published in Etemaad Urdu daily on September 10th

Seasoned journalist Zafar Agha in his edit-page article in the Rashtriya Sahara (September 12) is all praise for Malegaon Muslims for raising their voice against Hindutva organisations like Bajrang Dal and police atrocities, and injustices meted out to them on the administration’s part as well as for outright turning down the compensation cheques given to them by no less than UPA chairperson and Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

The Akhbar-e-Mashriq (September 11) also praises Malegaon Muslims for keeping patience and raising voice against injustices.

Mr. Agha however puts some very potent questions: “And for how long Muslims should keep silence and why shouldn’t they call Sangh Parivar terrorist! Who had after all got the Babri Masjid demolished? Which organisations had massacred thousands of innocents in the Mumbai riots? Whose hand was there behind the Muslim genocide in Gujarat? Who had shot down the armless Muslims in Maliana and Moradabad? Every riot and Ayodhya-like terrorism in India bear evidence that if anyone is responsible for (the spread of) terrorism in India, it is the Sangh and the organisations associated with it and the Indian police machinery.�

He also calls upon Muslims to fight for their right to live with dignity. “The message of Malegaon is that Indian Muslims of the 21st century will now not live sobbing and wailing. Yes, break the siege of fear and stand up against every injustice without thinking what police would do against you. Police will as usual target you; but if you stand united to demand for justice, police will also be afraid of you. So exercise your Constitutional and democratic rights and raise your voice against oppressions in a peaceful manner… Your struggle will be successful only when you get united and also take the Hindus in your fight against injustice. There are lakhs of Teesta Setalvads who will stand up in support of you. The only condition is that your struggle is Constitutional and peaceful and that you stand fearless.�

In a 4-column front-page news story entitled “Is it anti-terrorist squad or anti-Muslim squad?� the Sahara of September 12 questions why the Bajrang Dal accused in Nanded blast and attack on a mosque in Parbhani were not subjected to brain mapping, narco-analysis and lie detector test.

The story records Muslims’ concern over handing over the task of investigation into Malegaon blasts to the same ATS which has on one hand shown criminal negligence and irresponsibility in the investigations of Nanded and Ghatkopar blasts and on the other started detaining and harassing Muslim youth in Aurangabad, Malegaon, Beed, Jalgaon and Mumbai, etc. after recovery of hand grenade, AK 47 and RDX in Aurangabad and Manmad in May 2006. There is mounting distress and concern over ATS investigating into Malegaon blasts, for in the recent few years ATS has proved that it is anti-terrorist squad but some of its officials are hell bent upon making it anti-Muslim squad. So this is the general Muslim feeling that the enquiry into Malegaon blasts should be transferred from the hands of ATS and Maharashtra police to those of CBI or a special investigation team led by senior IPS officers who hold the confidence of peace and justice-loving Indian populace.

September 13, 2006

Vande Mataram haunts Indian Muslims

Urdu Press Roundup
By Indianmuslims.info Staff

The one issue that made headlines of news items, commentaries, editorials, letters to editors and various other columns in Urdu newspapers all through the past week is the singing of Vande Mataram on September 7 to mark the centenary celebrations of this song.

A number of Muslim leaders and organisations have criticised the Government for raising once again the controversial issue of Vande Mataram and advised the community to realise the political jiggery-pokery behind this issue, and not to sing this song at any cost as its singing involves polytheism and stands in sharp contrast with the very basics of Muslim faith.

In its front-page lead story the Dawat Sehroza (September 4) wonders how a controversial song can be regarded as a national song in a secular country where all communities enjoy the freedom of practising their respective religions.

“When the song has been optional right from the beginning, wherefrom has the necessity come to make it mandatory?� the story said.

“Equating Vande Mataram with patriotism is an expression of narrow-mindedness and mean thinking. The purpose of raising such an issue is no other than involving Muslims in a controversy on one hand and taking political mileage of division of the society on communal grounds on the other. Such an issue raised by the B.J.P. and other Hindutva forces has been part of their age-old policy. It is a matter of concern that such an opportunity is provided by Congress and its governments, which boast of secularism,� the paper added.

In its initially signed front-page column Khabr-o-Nazar by the Editor, Mr. Parwaz Rehmani, the same issue of the Dawat cited Rabindranath Tagore’s concern over the politicisation of this basically Bengali song.

“The very spirit of the song Vande Mataram is the praise of the goddess Durga. And this reality is so explicit that it needs no argument. Towards the end of the song Bankim has linked Durga with Bengal to the extent of its being inseparable. But no Muslim can be expected of worshipping this goddess with ten hands considering it to be the motherland… The novel Anand Math is a literary piece and this song does suit it therein whereas Parliament is the union of all religious groups; this song is quite improper over there. When Muslims express their anger and frenzy (over any issue), we call it unbearable. But when we too make improper demands, it is tantamount to self-defeat,� Tagore wrote to Subhas Chandra Bose in 1937 (translated from Urdu Dawat).

The same issue of Dawat editorially holds the Congress responsible for exploiting history for its petty political ends and provides solid arguments that this song has nothing to do with September 7 as it was never adopted as a national song.

“The issue of Vande Mataram is the issue of exploiting history for one’s own ends. Congress governments have been exploiting history for its own ends. It (the Congress) has once again repeated the same old mistake posing history as something sacred. But by doing so it has provided proof of its unawareness with history….

“It has not been said anywhere (in history) that the Congress had adopted it as a national song, nor has there been any reference to any discussion on it in the Constitution Assembly… thus it has no close or distant relation with September 7, nor does it hold any historical importance. The Congress has tried to exploit history for its petty ends in the past for which it had to pay a very heavy price. It is trying once again to play this dangerous game. It should take lessons from history, which would be beneficial to it as well as to the citizens of the country,� the editorial wrote.

Muslim men marching with Indian flag in Rajasthan

The Hindustan Express of August 31 reports that the People’s Democratic Front (PDF) has demanded from the Central Government to direct the Chhattisgarh Government to withdraw its directive issued to all educational institutions including madrasas to sing Vande Mataram or dissolve the State Government.

Addressing a Press meet in Lucknow, PDF General Secretary and Chairman of All India Muslim Forum Nehaluddin claimed that this directive of Chhattisgarh Government is against Article 25 of the Constitution.

The paper also reports General Secretary Samajwadi Party and member Rajya Sabha Shahid Siddiqui alleged that some political parties are hell bent upon disturbing communal harmony in the country by raising the issue of singing of Vande Mataram.

Singing of Sare Jahan se Achcha Hindustan Hamara

In another development the United Muslim of India on August 30 organised a programme in the Capital to celebrate the passage of one hundred one years of Allama Iqbal’s national song Sare Jahan se Achcha Hindustan Hamara, reports the same issue of the Express.

Chaired by Maulana Muhammad Furqan Qasmi, the programme unanimously adopted a resolution calling upon the Government not to force any community to sing the religious song of another community as India has been a secular country where every religion enjoys equal rights according to the Constitution.

Prime Minister’s Assurance

On September 6 Urdu Press covered widely and in great detail Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s address to the Chief Ministers, calling upon them to ensure the nation that Muslims en masse should not be treated as terrorists as the prevailing sense of insecurity among the minorities especially Muslims would tell badly upon the social structure of the country.

“It is unfortunate that certain sections of our populace are being targeted as a result of terrorism. This has resulted in creating a wrong impression that the entire Muslim community has turned violent,� the Prime Minister said adding, “It is our duty to bring this situation to an end.�

He said the minorities should not be harassed while dealing with terrorism. “If some mistake occurs in this process, immediate corrective measures should be taken with immediate effect,� he added.

The Prime Minister underlined the need for immediately devising a policy whereby to ensure that the image of the entire community might not be affected by the action of a few persons, and that the feeling of insecurity might be removed from the minds of minorities.

The Hyderabad-based Urdu daily Etemaad, in its editorial Hai Yeh Bechare Musalman, on September 6, paints a very pathetic picture of the situation confronting the Muslims in Maharashtra and elsewhere in India by presenting certain specific cases of the atrocities perpetrated on them.

Reminding the readers of Prime Minister’s assurance, given in the Ulema conference held in the Capital two weeks ago, that Muslims would not be harassed any more, the editorial laments that the method the Mumbai police has adopted aims more at anti-Muslim measures than at finding any clue of the real culprits of Mumbai serial blasts.

The Etemaad editorial expects of the Prime Minister, in the right earnest, to present the real picture of the oppression meted out to Muslims and take stringent action against the erring officials.

“Otherwise it will be understood that the apprehensions expressed during the Ulema conference are real and the attitude adopted towards the Muslims will continue,� the editorial maintains.

September 6, 2006

[photo: Fiona]