Post-Babri Masjid demolition riots: SC gives split verdict

By TwoCircles.net staff reporter

New Delhi: Two courts of different status, two cases related to the nation-wide communal riots following the demolition of Babri Masjid, and two different verdicts, but what is similar is the time the procedure took: full 15 years.

On 3rd May the Supreme Court of India gave a split verdict on confirming the conviction of five persons accused of murder during the communal riots of 1992-1993 in Assam. As the two-judge bench comprising Justices S.B. Sinha and H.S. Bedi had different opinions, the matter has now been placed before the Chief Justice of India. The Chief Justice will refer the case to a larger bench.

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Muslims court arrest to demand right to pray at Nawab Masjid

By Tarique Anwar, TwoCircles.net

Vellore (Tamilnadu): A sea of Muslims disciplined and peacefully descended on the famous Vellore Fort to demand their right to pray. Located within Vellore Fort, Muslims are not allowed to pray in 250 years old Nawab Masjid. Muslims of Tamilnadu have been demanding for a long time that the masjid be opened up for prayers. On Friday, about ten thousand Muslims under the banner of Tamilnadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam (TMMK) marched towards the fort to be allowed to pray. They were prevented from entering the fort, as a result they offered prayers outside the fort on the road. More than two thousands of them detained and later released.

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Fertility rate dips in Pakistan, contraceptive awareness rises

Submitted by Tarique on Sat, 09/22/2007 - 14:16.

By IANS

Islamabad : The fertility rate among women in Pakistan has dipped significantly from 5.6 percent in 1990-91 to 4.1 in 2004-06, a phenomenon attributed to rising but uneven use of contraceptives and its growing awareness.

But this trend is more in Punjab than in other provinces.

Women bear much of the brunt of controlling childbirth, either through sterilization or by phasing out conception, reveals Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey (PDHS) 2006-07, Daily Times reported Saturday.

According to the report, half of married women use contraceptive methods and few women know about the use of condoms by males. Female sterilisation is on the rise and 84 percent children are breastfed in the first year of birth, it adds.

The $2.75 million study of 95,000 households was done by the National Institute of Population Studies (NIPS), the research arm of the Population Welfare ministry, funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), to collect reliable estimates on maternal and child health, fertility and care for pregnant women and family planning usage.

The last such survey was done in 1990-91.