The Other Side

Mumbai Shock and awe

2008-12-07T07:15:00.000-08:00

The terror attacks of Mumbai have sent a shivering wave across the globe. Everyone has condemned it. The killers have killed Muslims, Hindus, Christians, jews just everyone, whoever came in their line. Pakistan got the blame when the attack was not even brought under control. No Investigation. Did Americans did after 9/11? So why should we do? Good.

Whatever the conspiracy behind it, there is no answer to how Mr.Hemant Karkare the Chief of ANTI TERRORIST SQUAD was killed at first as he was the one who was exposing the Indian army and Hindu extrimists for several bomb blasts in India. Secondly, it seems the only arrested Terrorist, Kasab is giving all the information very easily to the security agencies. As we have been told by the very same agencies and its media helpers that those Terrorists were highly trained like commondos with a speciality in marine warfare. They managed to fight for 3 days without eating and sleeping! My question is how come this arrested Kasab is talking like a popat (parakeet). What is the gurantee he is speaking the truth? He must have been trained to evade third degree introgations too as they have been trained to fight the Indian commondos non-stop.

Is there any way to get this human in disguise, Kasab to speak in public?

New political card 'Hindu Terrorism'

2008-11-12T01:06:00.000-08:00

Journalistic Fascism and Indian Muslims
http://indianmuslims.in/journalistic-fascism-and-indian-muslims

The Tehlka Magazine’s journalist Mr.Ajit shah has offered us much needed insight about Indian Media and it's apathy towards poor and minorities. His advice to Muslims to get more active for civil liberties is very realistic. Every citizen of India must know what his rights are as a citizen of India. We must be more fearless to ask questions about anything we feel wrong on the part of Police, Govt. and Media.

The recent arrests of a Sadhvi and some Military officers for bomb blasts in Maharashtra can be a political stunt. Home Minister Mr.Shivraj Patil’s proud declaration of being personally supervising the Batla house encounter has backfired, it is increasingly seen as a fake not only by Muslims but the entire intelligentsia does not believe in the police story despite of a Police officer was killed there. Sensing the fallout of batla house, the Congress party might be playing a 'Hindu Terrorist' card.

Muslims of India have suffered what the Supreme Court has termed 'Worst than terrorism' genocide. Not a single high level arrest has been made for several riots directed against Muslims in last decade. How come suddenly the police have discovered 'Hindu Terrorists'? The Malegaon bomb blast was not even highlighted in Media as the other bomb blasts in Delhi and somewhere else. Remember, the police that time had declared it an explosion from Gas cylinder! What is more interesting is that the arrested army officer Mr. Purohit was a invitee at a seminar on internal security organized by the ATS itself to deliver lectures!

‘Terrorism’ is not a Muslims monopoly. Several NGO’s were demanding actions against RSS and its other organizations which openly advocate genocide of Muslims. We have read at several places before, how the RSS has planted its people everywhere including the so called Secular Army of India. This open secret many knows since long time is being told by the Maharashtra police, now when the general elections are at the corner. Nothing may happen at the end to this poor sadhvi, who is simply a small fish in a big sea of hatred and conspiracies. May I suggest that, after the elections Media and the next Govt .(whoever may come to power) will resume their duties of demonizing and harassing Muslims with a new intensity. Now you won’t be able to question the police for targeting only Muslims, they will always point towards the arrest of a Sadhvi.

Arundhati Roy Interview on CNN-IBN

2008-10-28T08:50:00.000-07:00

CNN-IBN

Karan Thapar: Hello and welcome to Devil’s Advocate. Why is Arundhati Roy angry with the police and upset with the press? That’s the key issue I shall explore today. Arundhati Roy, let’s start with the recent encounter in Jamia Nagar in New Delhi. You’ve called for an independent judicial enquiry headed by a Supreme Court judge. Why do you involve yourself into this work? What’s your locus standi?

Arundhati Roy: Well, I am just one of those thousands of people who are asking some very serious questions of the police. The trouble is that you know, even if you wanted to believe this police version, you don’t know which police version to believe. Does one believe the Bombay police, the UP police, the Gujarat police or the Delhi police? All of them have different versions. There’s a blizzard of masterminds. The Additional Commissioner of Mumbai police, Rakesh Maria recently said that Tauqeer, who is the Delhi police’s mastermind of Indian Mujahideen, is a media creation. The point is who creates the media creations? Is it the media or the police or do they work together?

Karan Thapar: So, you are motivated by these contradictions. Is that the sole reason you need a judicial enquiry headed by a Supreme Court judge?

Arundhati Roy: Again, it is not just me. It was thousands of people who are saying one thing, you know. When the police have killed people, it ceases to be a neutral party. It cannot have an impartial investigation in its own actions. And there are so many serious questions about what happened at Batla House.

Karan Thapar: But before we come to those questions, let me point out what many people will be thinking at this moment. They are going to ask why do you think will an encounter, when a senior police officer like MC Sharma is killed and another injured would be fake. The police would not endanger themselves in a fake and fraudulent incident.

Arundhati Roy: Well, historically the police and security agencies the world over have done things like that. I am not saying it is fake. I am saying lets have an enquiry because this matter of MC Sharma, for instance would be cleared up if they would only produce the post-mortem report. Instead the post-mortem report is leaked in various ways and Mail Today says that he was shot from behind. Praveen Swami (of the daily The Hindu) says he was shot from two sides. The residents say that the police arrived and that there were drills and that they are making holes in the flat now. Why cannot all this be cleared up? If they would just produce the reports, which even the Magistrate asked for, and has put out a warrant for investigating officer and they still haven’t produced it.

Karan Thapar: As you speak, I get the impression that your whole premise is that you don’t trust the police. Millions of Indians do. Is it fitting and fair that you should question their veracity in this way when you know that it would not just demoralise them but it would seriously undermine their struggle to contain terror?

Arundhati Roy: Well. Millions of Indians do not trust the police. Is our choice not to question them because here we are talking about the communal profiling of a hundred and fifty million people, demoralising them, radicalising a whole generation and asking serious questions of a story that is told to us that is full of holes? Especially because such a senior police officer died in the incident, why should we not clear it up for the sake of police itself?

Karan Thapar: Let me for a moment play Devil’s Advocate and point out to you evidence that you are deliberately ignoring. AK-47s were found in Batla House, so were two pistols. Policemen were shot at, policemen were killed. Atif’s name appears in the Ahmedabad, Mumbai and UP police findings. Now, most recently, it transpires that Atif’s degree from Allahabad is a fake. Why aren’t you giving the police, as anyone else will, the benefit of the doubt? The evidence suggests that there is something suspicious, that there is a case. Why do you doubt it?

Arundhati Roy: Let enquiry clear it up. Even in the case of these recoveries, you know, there is a serious procedural lapse. When the police make recoveries at the scene of the crime, they should have independent witnesses corroborating it. They didn’t, like in the case of the Parliament attack.

Karan Thapar: Isn’t it possible that people are scared to come forth?

Arundhati Roy: No, but they have to get the seizure memo signed, right? And even the magistrate is asking for all these documents, for the FIR, the post mortem report, for the case diary not being produced. Now, let me ask some questions about Atif. The reports in the media given out by the police say that they have had him under surveillance since July 17. If so, then how was he allowed to plant these bombs in September? And even when they say that they had him under surveillance, they say that his number was called by a number, which was called by another number. I mean, c’mon, that’s a lead, not proof that someone is a terrorist.

Karan Thapar: Maybe the surveillance wasn’t effective. Maybe the police are exaggerating that they had him under surveillance. What about the other evidence that the police have brought into the public domain? It transpires that clips of the car that was used in the Ahmedabad bombings were found inside Atif’s mobile, it transpires that literature of al-Qaeda was found at Batla House. It seems that even Saif has been using an assumed name. He has been travelling under a false identity calling himself Rohan Sharma. He even had that gentleman’s voter identity card with him. None of these is suggestive or corroborated but you are dismissing it as otherwise.

Arundhati Roy: I am not dismissing it. If there is an enquiry, all this will also be a part of it. I am not dismissing they may be real terrorists. There are real terrorists, who are they? Are these boys the real ones? While the police are giving us evidence, there are also strange stories floating around. The police have been using the media to put out stories. All this is very disturbing and all this could be cleared out.

Karan Thapar: See, if I understand you correctly, there are two things you want clarified. One is that you want the questions and the inconsistencies in the police stories clarified because they suggest that the police hadn’t got a clear cut case. And the second thing is that you want to try and get at the proof that establishes that the police had good reason to suspicious of the people.

Arundhati Roy: Exactly! Even their own versions are contradicting each other. On the one hand they say that you know, we did not know that they were terrorists and that is why we went in, in this casual manner. But the minute something came up they come out and say that these were the masterminds. There are so many things, you know. They say that people were killed in the crossfire but the proof is that these two men were killed while they were kneeling with shots in their head.

Karan Thapar: That’s an assumption, I must point out!

Arundhati Roy: No, there are pictures.

Karan Thapar: Suggested. But we do not have the corroboration from the police.

Arundhati Roy: The police should show the post mortem report but we see it from the photographs.

Karan Thapar: You know what? Listening to you, people will say, and I am repeating what I have said to you earlier! They will say that her problem arises from the fact that she does not trust the police. Is it right that you should have such serious doubts about them?

Arundhati Roy: Not just rights, I think its our duty to have serious doubts and especially today, when we are sliding quickly into fascism and terrorism. It’s our business as members of civil society to ask hard questions.

Karan Thapar: In which case, what are you suspecting the police…or let me put me more strongly and bluntly. What are you accusing the police of, on this issue?

Arundhati Roy: Well, primarily of giving us a story that doesn’t hold together and insults our intelligence.

Karan Thapar: Why would they do this?

Arundhati Roy: I don’t know. That’s what we would like to know.

Karan Thapar: Is it not possible that they have got it right and you have doubts about them?

Arundhati Roy: Maybe! But an enquiry would show that, wouldn’t it? The more they block it, refuse to produce the post mortem. The more they subterfuge and obfuscate their way through this, the more people will get suspicious of them.

Karan Thapar: An enquiry at the end of the day, would be in their benefit as well! Is that what you are arguing?

Arundhati Roy: Absolutely!

Karan Thapar: What then do you say of people who argue that this is typical Arundhati Roy. She’s been against dams and developments; she’s in favour of secession of Kashmir. She’s attacked nuclear weapons and is now she is defending terrorists?

Arundhati Roy: Well, to being accused of being typically oneself is not an accusation. But if you are accusing me of having a world view that I do not believe in…I mean I do not believe in neo colonial military occupation, I don’t believe in nuclear weapons and I don’t believe in ecological destruction; then I am guilty as accused. Raising questions does not amount to supporting terrorism. I raised questions on the Parliament attack along with the people; we want to know who the terrorists are. We don’t know. Now, of the people we defended, two of the four ‘masterminds’ of the case were released. Afzal has been convicted by the Supreme Court which says that says that we have no evidence to prove that he is attached to any terrorist groups but in order to satisfy the collective conscience of society, he is being sentenced to death. Excuse me Karan, its my case that the collective conscience of society is also a part of media construct and a part of the judicial imagination constructed by these stories that being put out.

Karan Thapar: So, you are saying to me that as a citizen, as a conscientious democrat, it is your duty to question. And if the questions are awkward and unsettling, so be it and that they must be answered, none the less?

Arundhati Roy: Yes, absolutely!

Karan Thapar: Arundhati Roy, lets come to the wider issue about how the police treats the people it has arrested and it is holding in detention. You are extremely upset by the fact that India Today journalists were given an access to the young men arrested at Batla House so that interviews could be done. Why do you call this a terrible thing?

Arundhati Roy: Well, look this phenomenon of media confessions is becoming a standard operating procedure with the Special cell and the Delhi police. The point is that neither the courts nor any kind of international law allows you to say that people who are being held in police custody under torture.

Karan Thapar: How do you know that they are being held under torture?

Arundhati Roy: Well, the possibility of torture…maybe that day, they were not tortured. It was the first day.

Karan Thapar: You are saying that Human Rights laws and values do not permit people under detention to be interviewed when they are not willing to be interviewed?

Arundhati Roy: Yes! And even the courts do not accept these as confessions or evidence. But the reason these are done is because they have a propaganda value.

Karan Thapar: The assumption when you say that such incidences have propaganda value is that these are forced confessions…that the young men interviewed did not give the answers they did, willingly and voluntarily. How can you conclude that that’s the case?

Arundhati Roy: In this case it is very easy to be sure. Those young men, before they were caught, Zeeshan went to Headlines Today, Saquib went to Mail Today…both these (media units) are owned by the India Today, as you know. They were all people who came out in support of Atif and Saquib and said, look we know this guy. We know who he is.

Karan Thapar: Then how come you are calling those so called confessions when they are incriminating themselves and that when they went willingly to Mail Today or India Today, there are inconsistencies.

Arundhati Roy: Yes, so which version are we supposed to believe? The custodial one or the non-custodial one?

Karan Thapar: All the three men named by India Today and I will name them, Zia-ur-rehman, Saquib Insaar and Shakil admitted to planting bombs. You are denying or doubting the veracity of the so called confessions.

Arundhati Roy: Obviously! Its absurd not to, because they are in police custody. The same guys, Saquib went to Mail Today saying that I have known Atif for years. I got him this house. I mean it’s hardly the behaviour of terrorists.

Karan Thapar: I assume that the point you are making is that any interview that is granted in police custody is not a willing and voluntary one and therefore any confession made in that interview is a forced confession and not acceptable?

Arundhati Roy: Well, it is not admitted. Even in the Parliament case, the courts admonished the police for parading these people before the media and giving these media confessions. They didn’t do anything to the police which is why the same police; in fact Mohan Chand Sharma was a part of that cell, that same cell did it to theses people and it served the purpose. The propaganda value has been achieved.

Karan Thapar: You are saying that the Courts had admonished the police at the time the Parliament attack had happened for arranging such alleged false confessions and the police disregarded that admonishing and did the same thing again.

Arundhati Roy: That’s right.

Karan Thapar: In your eyes, is the police guilty of violating fundamental human rights by arranging what you call false confessions to be made in forced interviews? Is this a violation of basic human rights?

Arundhati Roy: It is a violation of all kinds of rights. I say it again, that in this atmosphere of communal profiling, this kind of propaganda is essential for them. It is the keystone to this whole enterprise. They have achieved what they set out to, regardless of what the court says.

Karan Thapar: The police have made a habit of this. It happened under circumstances, in the Arushi murder case, practically everyday. They hold press briefings, where half baked theories or at least unconfirmed details they are repeated and revealed to the press. The press then prints them as facts. The readers and the viewers of television then accept it as the truth. Are you disconcerted by this?

Arundhati Roy: I am utterly disconcerted by this because now it is the combination of the media and the police…you do not know which ends where and which begins where. In a situation where these encounter specialists are going out and summarily executing thirty people, calling them terrorists…No one asks questions once they are dead. We just accept it.

Karan Thapar: Just a moment ago, you spoke about the collusion between the media and the police. Are you saying that the press is itself in error when it accepts what is given by the police and publishes it without verifying or double checking it?

Arundhati Roy: It is not just an error. It is outrageous to do something like this.

Karan Thapar: So the press’ behaviour is outrageous?

Arundhati Roy: It is outrageous. There are statements like…and this man looked at me and he looked like a human bomb…I mean what kind of journalism is that?

Karan Thapar: So when as a result, like many people have said, this collusion between the police and the press leads to Jamia Nagar or to Azamgarh being thought as terrorist hubs or breeding grounds for terrorism, how unfortunate is that?

Arundhati Roy: It is not just unfortunate, its very dangerous. We now have a situation where a hundred and fifty Muslims and an equal number of Dalits and Adivasis in a different set of circumstances are being targeted in this way. Even if half a per cent of them decide to stop putting their heads down and decide to hit back, life as we knew it is over. A whole generation is radicalised and India becomes a threat to not just itself, but to the whole world.

Karan Thapar: This is something very important that you are saying. You mean that this behaviour of the police and the uncritical reporting by the press is going to end up in alienation and breeding the terrorism that we think we are controlling.

Arundhati Roy: Yes, that and also that this is a recipe for sliding into fascism. And we are bang in the middle of it now and this is how it works.

Karan Thapar: Why does the Indian middle class society that is so proud of calling itself a liberal democracy, accept this?

Arundhati Roy: Well, I don’t think we are anymore proud of this. We have increasingly accepted that we are a police state and there is a sort of sliding of the democracy into majority into fascism that is a real danger now.

Karan Thapar: So you are saying that the middle class no more stands up for the liberal values it believes in. It is actually in a sense accepting the horrible shortcuts and therefore colluding. It’s a very strong criticism, do you really mean it?

Arundhati Roy: I do. In fact, I feel that some day like the Nazis in Germany, we will be called upon to answer for what we have done and why we kept quiet while this was happening.

Karan Thapar: I get the feel that you are deeply disillusioned with the Indian middle classes.

Arundhati Roy: It is not just the middle classes, you know. It is the framework that we are putting into action these days. I have spent ten years writing about it. We are in a very serious situation. If we are to right it, all of us should ask ourselves very serious questions about when we chose to speak up and when we chose to stay quiet.

Karan Thapar: But in keeping quiet, as you say suggesting, Indians today are prepared to do, they are not just betraying essential values that they claim they believe in, they are actually betraying themselves and letting down their country. That’s the case you are making.

Arundhati Roy: I am making that case and I am saying that with these policies that we are persuing, today every ordinary Indian’s life is going to be at risk and we will pay very heavily for the consequences of what is going on now.

Karan Thapar: So it is virtually the last moment to stand up and be identified with the values that we claim to believe in otherwise those values are gone and with that our lives are gone.

Arundhati Roy: Absolutely!

Karan Thapar: And that’s not an exaggeration?

Arundhati Roy: Nope! Absolutely not!

Karan Thapar: Arundhati Roy, a pleasure talking to you on Devil’s Advocate

Chandrayaan : India's Moon Mission

2008-10-21T22:03:00.000-07:00

Today early morning one of my colleague, Mr.Saleem congratulated me. He was so happy to inform me that India's Moon rocket is a big success. I was cold to his excitement (as usual). "What change it will bring to my life?" my innocent question. The reply like a media headline "India ko fayda hai" (India will benefit).

What does it mean India will benefit? May I suggest, Rivers will start to flow. No more farmer commits suicide. Fields will be green forever. Warehouses will be full of grains. Hunger deaths will be over. Every one will have nice clothes. Orphans will get fathers. Helpless elders will find sons. Inflation may soon come down. Jobs may flood the cities. Power cuts (load shading) will be a story of past. Roads become like glass. No more mosquitoes. Stomach is full. Law & order prevails, no thefts no bribes. Prince gets a Princess... Happiness is everywhere.

Congratulations! India has sent something there on our moon!

MEDIA CIRCUS

2008-09-21T00:20:00.000-07:00

http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20080919&fname=delhi&sid=3
The original article can be read by clicking above link...
The author has tried to give us first hand information as he belongs to the same area. His intention is not to degrade the police officer killed over there. People have a tendency to believe what is said repeatedly however false it is. The author was simply trying to indicate that those who were staying in that block could be mafia criminals as there are in every other locality. He is objecting to media’s glorifying stories of police & branding the whole locality as sympathizers to the ‘Terrorists’

We should not forget DCP Vanjara of Gujarat who was praised for encounters of so called ‘Terrorists’ including an 18 year old Girl. Later we have seen how he was specialist of fake encounters. Same is true for Mr. Daya Nayak of Mumbai. He is suspended for having unaccounted assets. Encounters are itself Illegal in any democratic setup whether genuine or fake.

As I said earlier that this kind of encounter was much anticipated giving the media cry against the congress govt. After every so called ‘Terrorists’ attacks there were encounters and all the ‘Commanders’ & ‘Masterminds’ were killed yet police around the country continue there job of harassing people for being ‘Suspected’ Terrorists.

After 9/11 the terms like ‘Sleeper cells’, ‘Potential Terrorist’, ‘Sympathizers to Terrorists’ are coined by the CIA & FBI to target the Muslim community globally and our security agencies are simply copying them.

The Muslims community is loud and clear against Terrorism, Killing any innocent is a grave sin. The so called international community is yet to arrive at the definition of ‘Terrorism’. Hence Muslims need not to be more vocal in condemning these continued acts of Satanism as over reacting is causing more suspicion.

Intelligence failure.

2008-09-16T02:07:00.000-07:00

The columnist has tried his best to cover all the aspects but failed to satisfy the hate mongers, as one is asking to change A BOOK. (i.e.Qur’an). As long as America remains a super-power and Israel-India need America, this problem will reamain. The stupid ‘Indian Mujahideens’ are probably the tools in the hands of larger game plan by the super power.

Some one from Pakistan is trying to strike a wedge between differnt schools of Islam. I feel he needs to check the history records again, It was not Jinnah who wanted a separate pakistan, he was ready to share the power structure under cabinet mission plan, It was Nehru who was not interested in this plan. There was a provision of 10 years for federal rule for 03 parts of india, west, east & middle and after that one could choose to remain united or get separated. Nehru reportadely said, “once we become united we will see who gets separated”!, this was the reason why Jinnah too pulled out from the cabinet mission plan.

Leave history aside, what happened good/bad Allah knows. One must refrain himself from indulging in Sunni and other sects rhetoric. “It is not we, it is they” attitude will not save us
from the dangerous cycle of violence around the globe.

As far as India is concerned, Deoband is working hard to guide our people against Terrorism. Every sect is preaching that taking revange on innocent people is Haram. In India there is no sect problem when it comes to Terrorism or the attrocities committed on them by the RSS and its other gangs. Every Muslim be it barelvi, deobandi or any other group we all are united against this menanace called Terrorism. We reject it outrightly. Every Muslim feel it is haram, hence he smells the conspiracy, there is nothing wrong to demand “every angle must be investiagated unbiased. “

Terror Pattern

2008-07-28T06:29:00.000-07:00

Friday 25/7, Small intensity cycle blasts shook the IT hub of India. The Govt. told to us that they were 'Terrorists attack'!. As usual Red alert sounded across the major cities in India. Let's not waste our time in knowing what is this RED alert, how it sounds & who hears it! After that RED/HIGH alert, one more city named Ahmadabad bombed 16 times. So Red alert means another 16 bombs, be prepared to die.
Blasts in train, Blasts in Masjids, Blasts in Hyderabad, Blasts in Bangalore, Blasts in Ahmadabad all have same pattern, hence the Govt.'s response must be in same pattern. Media stories too are not so different after every bomb blasts. Culprits have never been changed in this high tech country. They are ready made, you have to add 'Islam', 'Jihad' or 'Mujaheddin' to any other noun. We get bombarded with SMS, phone calls, e-mails, Cd's etc.etc. SIMI activists (I thought they are in jails) from all corner of the country picked up, yet next bomb explodes. No one can predict. India is a vast country.
CM, PM, HM have to visit 'ground zero' site. Their trouble is, they have to visit every now & then on several grounds. "No one is allowed to disturb our communal Harmony" , " Terrorists have waged War on our country". A Small baby can tell you who is saying what and why.
Both, Hindus & Muslims are not sure when they are going to become next target of a mindless bomb-quake. But Muslims are sure of the aftershocks. A constant fear of their son/daughter being made the suspect. 'Terror' do not end with the blast, it just begins after every blast for them.
Everyone must learn how to live with bombs & its aftershocks. No matter how loudly you are going to demand for POTA,TADA, Maaro, Pito, Looto... no use. Believe me, no use. We have a multi party democracy, so this may be a price. We have seen how MPs can be bought with just 03 carores if not 25 carores. Can we forgive them? No. But wait! We are going to forgive all our NETAs simply because we don't have a 80 GB memory.

Radovan Karadzic

2008-07-22T23:17:00.000-07:00

Before -----------Aafter

Bosnian Serb Rodvan Karadzic's arrest was a total surprise. The first thing comes to mind is how the police or intelligence agencies got the suspicion on this man? His disguised make-up leaves no trace of his identity as Radovan Karadzic.

A few media stories I have read labeled Mr.Karadzic as Bin Laden of Europe. There is no comparison in their acts. However the question arise here is, can Mr.Bin laden live right under the nose of white house in disguise? He cant wear a beard like Mr.Karadzic as he is already having one.Bin laden might have become a clean shaved from head to chin and he must be giving lectures on Terror of War.

Bosnian Muslims must be rejoicing but I would like to remind them that mere capture is not sufficient. We have seen how Slobodan Milosevic's trail was long lasting and he died before the judgement. This man Mr. Karadzic had lived his life, for more than a decade right under the nose of Belgrade Govt.(surprise!) and probably he too may I say, will not face justice. Even he gets death punishment it cannot match the atrocities he committed on 1000's of Bosnian Muslims.

Nuclear Deal : How to fool people

2008-07-21T06:21:00.000-07:00

I was watching an Interview of a well known lawyer Mr. Ram Jethmalani on Sahara Samay, in a reply to a question he said “China, Pakistan and Al-Qaeda are against the nuclear deal between India and US"(!). While one can understand why China & Pakistan are against the deal, I am puzzled how Al-Qaeda can be against OR for the nuclear deal between India & America? Is there anyone who can make me understand?

Vada Pav

2008-05-18T08:17:00.000-07:00

During 90’s when I was in Mumbai, I used to eat Vada Pav. It was cheap. Two for Rs.2.00 with hot chutney. Other parts of Maharashtra do sale the same Vada pav minus the taste. Mumbai’s Vada pav was totally ‘alag’. A simple menu of boiled potato wrapped in gram flour and then fried and sandwiched in a pav(bread).

Now coming to the point, Mr. Udhav Thackeray, champion of Maratha cause, prefer to change this simple ‘Vada Pav’ to ‘Shiv Vada’. Please don’t ask me about the remaining pav. Keep it for the Goans. They may name it ‘Vasco Pav’. Mr.Udhav’s logic, if a beedi can be called “Sambhaji beedi” then why Vada-Pav cannot be renamed “Shiv vada”? My knowledge got a boom after this holy revelation. According to him ‘Shiv Vada’ should be named after Shivaji, the great Maratha warrior of 16th century. Though then there was no Vada pav but there was Aurangzeb. The Mughal emperor (he was great too ). Shivaji challenged Mughal expansionism, colonialism etc, etc. He had huge success in doing so. He used guerilla tactic. Sword was his weapon. After several wars he established Hindvi Sawrajjya. He became Chatrapati Shivaji Raje & continues to rule every Marathi-Non Marathi Heart till today.

Time passed quickly, in 21st century Mr. Balasaheb ( wo mere liye Adarniya & Pitasaman hain) established Shiv -Sena . There was no Aurangzeb then. There was ‘Loongi’ and ‘Beard’. He thundered ‘Loongi hatao’. He too had huge success in doing so. He used ‘ Marathi-Asmitaa’ as his tactic. Hate was his weapon. After Riots he Established Shiv-Rajjay, though for just 05 years. He became ‘Hindu Rhiday Samrat’ for few Marathas and few more non Marathas.

Opportunities pass even more quickly. Thackrey house was not ordinary house but it too got split like any other house. Balasaheb’s copy-cat is being brought in front by the same script writer who had helped Shiv-Sena to come in exist during 1977. That time the reasons were to check the communist, Muslims etc, etc. Time has changed, not the script. So here is MNS. This time North Indians are at the receiving end, God alone knows what the future plans are. Muslims might have learnt their lessons. Nephew & Son have turned their hate guns to each other. Money was never a problem. Power is the target. ‘Aamchi Mumbai’ and ‘Shiv-Vada’ are the weapons. No one knows what is going to be established. No one knows who is going to be a ‘Maratha Khan’ and how many years?

Partition : Once More!

2007-12-25T07:55:00.000-08:00

Recently on several discussion boards a lot of Indians are pulling their hair for a question of Separate State for Muslims of India.

Sometimes I do think that we should look for a separate state specially when I see Justice for a particular community is constantly being denied. Riots after riots takes place, lot of people openly support the killings & rapes of Muslim women and threaten to replicate the Gujarat model all over India, yet no action is taken against the guilty, instead the culprits exploit the so called democracy and achieve high places of power by successfully poisoning the minds of people. They have summarised all Muslims to one word 'Terrorists' specially in the state of Gujarat, people have been made to believe that Mr. Narendra Modi is 'The Saviour' and must be elected to save them from these Terrorists.

Violence against Muslims before and after the zealots erased Babri Masjid were common in India like Bhagalpur, Merrut, Bombay etc. But Post 9/11, India has seen a dramatic change of attitude in majority of people towards Muslims. I have failed to realise what this Bin Laden has got to do with India? Why our media, intellectuals are hell bent to connect even a Small cracker in air to Al Qaeda?

In my opinion any Govt may come in power, it will always try its best to keep the Muslims in check. Terrorism is a recent sharp tool for that purpose if anyhow it get blunt or rust then the old tools like Pakistan, dawood, appeasement cry from Hindu parities will prove effective. The Indian Muslim is in despair, directionless, leaderless. He does not to know to look at where & whom.

Famous journalist & thinker Mr. M.J. Akbar wrote in his byline "Older Muslims may be tired or resigned, but the young are angry and volatile. We have seen but a glimpse of this volatility in Calcutta or Nandigram. It is only the beginning of a process that could become a horror story."

The Million dollar question that hinders my small brain is - the anger of Muslims is directed against the Government or the whole Country? is it temporary or permanent? and what is the solution? A separate State!

Lets be very practical, asking a separate state & having it has a gap of earth & sky. Kashmiris are fighting since 60 years both peacefully & militarily, yet no results are on the scene. I personally feel that Kashmiris will have a better future in Indian union provided Self Rule.As far as Indian Muslims & their sorry state of affair are concerned, believe me a Separate state is neither the answer nor an easy option for immediate future.

India is a growing economy, we Muslims must ensure how we can get our slice in the big cake. Taking advantage of free & cheap education, our boys & girls must learn, unite & struggle. The age is of globalization & not of separatism. Furthermore look at the Muslims countries around the globe, where are they? believe me these countries are lagging far behind, India is far superior than them in terms of Technology, Economy, Education , Military and other social norms. Out of all We are the only Muslims in this world who enjoy benefits of Democracy like freedom of speech, right to propagate our Religion, Islam are few to mention. We can make best use of it to turn back from the corner and beat our marginalization in the society.

As Mr. MJ Akbar puts it "Muslims in Pakistan and Bangladesh have achieved independence, but they have not found the freedom that should have come with it. Their freedom has been patchy. They have been imprisoned not by foreigners but their own elites, and subjugated by their armed forces who have distorted patriotism to seize power and institutionalise dictatorship. Pakistani Muslims today thirst for a democracy that Indian Muslims take for granted"

Time has come to say loudly - "India is our country, it belongs to Muslims as much as it belongs to Hindus or any other community. We have EQUAL right, if not FIRST over her resources"

Gujrat : Modi back on burning Train

2007-12-24T07:36:00.001-08:00

No one is surprised by The Gujrat assembly elections results. Where women clap while other women (Muslim) get raped, what one can expect from such people. Modi is being projected as a effective Administrator without any stain of curruption for Gujrat. He is developing Gujrat minus Muslims. Now what Muslims of India should do? Voting for congress is useless, avoiding congress will bring back BJP at center, what a dilemma. Congress party is clue less to fight this communal frenzy, Cummunists too have failed to Muslim expectations.

Is democracy doing any good to Muslims of India? Justice is being constantly denied to them.
People like Modi are everywhere who are hell bent to keep Muslims in check. Muslims must wake up to this call. We must look alternate ways to make our concerns addressed.

Letter to Tavleen Singh : Express columnist

2007-12-22T07:21:00.000-08:00

Who is she?

Tavleen Singh regularly writes on Indian Express. She Always tries hard to connect Parvez andPakistan's policies to Islam. Her poor performance to link 'Deoband' with Taliban & Osama, confirms her enemity towards a Peaceful Religion & Its Followers. I am not a deobandi or for that matter a Tablighee but I am sure Deoband cannot be a Communal Institute, it Never propogate to Expel Hindus from this land, Never Threatened to replace a Mandir with Masjid, Never ask to commit Rapes & Mass murdering. Instead, teach High Morals to it's Students, provides security to Women by applying veil and by asking Men to Lower their Gaze. Deoband has played a key roll in expelling FIRANGI from this Land. Yes they Teach only Quran & Hadith unlike Shakhas of RSS where, instead of teachings Values & Good Moral behaviour, HATERD is being feed against Muslims.

I have something more to tell her..

Tavleen singh! you Dont like Congress policies so the Muslims. You can criticise Congress, but dont try to play with the sentiments of Muslims.You are taking Wrong Advantage of so called WAR ON TERROR.

Look at the comments posted in reply to your articles, in average they are more from Hindu brothers then Muslims. A close analysis by a sane person will tell you that almost all of the comments posted by Hindus are extreme in language, utter nonsense in nature and provoking using bad words & Insults to Islam and Muslims. At the other hand the average Muslim comments reflect their poor stand to defend their religion, and hardly Insult Hindus or their Gods. There may be some who tried to react angrily but those are exceptions.

Now come to your previous articles, honestly I find it very uneasy. I am not annoyed at all as what you write is not the truth but fiction. I feel sorry, you write about Imrana case, how Ingnorant you are! Again you manipulated a story to suit your Imagination of MULLAH'S brutality towards women. Your source for Imraana story was MEDIA reports which tries hard to snesationalise each & every story specially concerning Muslims, remember Gudiya ki Shaadi? No where Qura’n says to Marry the Rapist, instead Rapists are subjected to Death by stoning, but for this to happen you need TALIBAN. The so called FATWA was just an answer to a query & not related to Imraana and that too did not say anything about marrying the Rapist. You wrote several times about Madarssas that they preach TERRORISM and create Suicide Bombers. This time you have openly attacked MULLAHS (poor people). There will be very few takers from the Muslims community for this allegation. In India Mullahs can be Ignorant of their own Religion, Islam but for sure they don’t preach to become suicide bombers. Secondly Mullahs in Madarsas teach its students not to commit suicide as it is a great crime as per Shariyat To make a suicide is not a simple thing for anyone, just visit some psychiatrist, he will explain you this. Madarsaas were never breeding grounds for TERRORISM as far as India is concerned. The Indian Govt. is not foolish to let these Madarsaas run and after all BJP govt. was in power for 6 years why don’t they brought a white paper on Madarsaas?. These so called Mullahs are the Ideals for so many Muslims because we know what type of life they live, simple and peaceful. Yes there can be some Ignorant Mullahs, who for the sake of fame make nonsense rhetoric but they don’t form the Majority of opinion in Islam.

Madam, Islam & its Mullahs are there for centuries how come a sudden ‘TERRORISM’ in this century is directly related to this religion? Well, I am tired of the words ‘WE ARE NOT AGAINST ISLAM but TERRORISM’, ‘WE ARE NOT AGAINST MUSLIMS but MULLAHS’. Very frankly one cannot love Islam while hating its system of teaching.

Either you HATE ISLAM or you are poorly informed about its message which is in the HOLY QUR’AN, tell me by killing their own people what the Mullahs will achieve? Please, we all Muslims know what is being taught in the Madarsaas. How you reached to a conclusion that MULLAHS are responsible for the Suicide bombing which happens normally in PALESTINE and not in India, our country? More Recently this trend of Suicide bombing has started in Iraq, have you ever wonder why this happen more frequently in Palestine & Iraq and not in India?

but as far as India is concerned there are hardly any Madarssas which produce so called ‘TERRORIST’ Ok, even if we agree to your opinion, can we able to solve the problem of ‘TERRORISM’ by uprooting all the Mullahs from society & closing down all the Madarsaas? You always write on small problems projecting them sever, rather than the positive approch towards this phenomenon.. Believe me even what you say call problem is not the problem at all. Tell me If big Madarsaas & Good Mosques are there in India then what is your problem?

At Large : Bin Laden

2007-12-11T01:23:00.000-08:00

Long long ago, when Kings & Emperors used to rule the nations of geography, wars were the need of hour and used to establish & expand the rule of a particular state often strong, over the enemy state often weak. Wthout an Enemy-nation one could not Rule. History turned its pages, we read a different story in which Kings & emperors were replaced by Democratically elected Presidents, thirsty of new world order. Geographical empire is outdated instead consumers from east to west have been made a new nation, markets guided by 'Multinationals' ideology sees no border, welcome to the global village. Enemy-nation concept is no more. Wars between two countries are infrequent.

To rule over any democratic country, an enemy is required to scare the people and pretend to protect them from that enemy. The states around the world led by a TEXAS cow boy, have created a common enemy. It pays dividends to the ruling class when the particular enemy is not at all exist but its presence is made feel to masses through Media stories. And even if at all this type of enemy exists, it is made sure that the enemy remains alive & weak, so multinationals can flourish. Osama bin laden is a such type of enemy. He will remain a dangerous Terrorist hell bent to destroy the free world for a long time to come.