We are more than our name: A Gujarati Muslim ponders life under Narendra Modi

By Zahir Janmohamed

I kept waiting for the phone to ring during the Gujarat riots in 2002. The week before I left for India, my father invited his Gujarati Hindu colleague Rupa Aunty for dinner at our house in California. When I was a kid, I tied the rakhi brotherhood bracelet on her son. When my mom was diagnosed with cancer, Rupa Aunty was the first to spend the night with us at the hospital.

“If you need anything at all,” she told me just before I left for India, “my family is from Ahmedabad and we will be there for you.”

I grew up in California mispronouncing names of Gujarati dishes like thepla and my trip to Ahmedabad in 2002 was the first time anyone in my family had returned since my grandparents left Gujarat for Tanzania in the 1920s. This – my father kept reminding me – was my trip “home.”

Twelve days after I arrived as a service corps fellow with the America India Foundation, a train carrying Hindus was attacked in the Gujarat city of Godhra on February 27, 2002. The Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, who may well become India’s next prime minister, was quick to blame the attack on Muslims.

The next morning, a Hindu mob carrying swords, torches, and kerosene filled bottles walked on my all-Hindu street in Ahmedabad looking for Muslims – Muslims like me – to kill. They made us shout names of Hindu deities that my parents taught me to say with reverence. In the distance I could see a lone business, owned by a Muslim, up in flames. When the mob passed, I ducked into an internet café and passed the front desk, hoping I would not have to sign in with my unmistakably Muslim name. But a young man stopped me.

“Sir, your good name, please?” he said, handing me a clipboard.

“My name,” I told him, “is Sanjay.”

I closed the curtain in the internet booth and held back tears as I emailed my parents the lie I needed to tell them: yes mom and dad, I am safe.

My father, a devout Muslim whose fondness for Mahatma Gandhi and Hinduism prompted him to give up meat as a young man, kept calling me during the riots.

“Have my friends contacted you? Have they offered to help?”

I did not need to tell him the answer. He knew.

“Just come home,” my father pleaded. India was suddenly alien and would never again be called “home” by anyone in my family.

During the riots I worked in the relief camps of Ahmedabad where tens of thousands of displaced Muslims fought for space and food in spaces half the size of a soccer field. I will never forget 12 year old Sadiq who watched both of his parents burned alive. In my six months working in the relief camps, I never heard him say a word. No one did.

When I returned to the US, the Gandhi picture my dad gave me when I graduated from high school was no longer hanging in my childhood bedroom.

“Gandhi is dead,” my father said.

***

All I wanted do after the riots was to talk about the riots. I traveled across the US for a year giving lectures. Everywhere I went I carried a small yellow plastic bag filled with newspaper clippings and photos of the homes, mosques, and lives I saw destroyed. When people doubted me, I would open up my bag.

“Here, this is what I saw. It really happened.” But many chose not to listen.

I grew distant from my friends. I stopped watching basketball. I started taking anti-depressants. My smile, friends kept reminding me, disappeared.

I switched my career to human rights and spent nine years working in Washington DC, mostly at Amnesty International. But I kept wondering: what happened to all those children I met like Sadiq who saw so much? How do they – and how do I – move on?

In March 2011, I quit my job as a foreign policy aide in the US Congress and returned to Gujarat for the first time in nine years, against the advice of my psychiatrist.

When I arrived, Hindus would not rent an apartment to me because I am Muslim and Muslims – now more insecure after the riots – told me they did not trust me. I ended up staying with a Hindu friend of mine. But there was one condition: I could not use my real name in the apartment building. Sanjay was back.

I begun conducting interviews and when I explained to Muslims in Ahmedabad that I returned using my own funds to write about the riots – and that the riots filled me with a loneliness that has not yet disappeared – some laughed.

“You are writing about 2002? Write about 2011.”

They have a point. Muslims I interviewed say they want more than justice. They want an end to employment discrimination. They want paved roads. They point out that in the Muslim ghetto of Juhapura where over 350,000 live, there are only six high schools – none of them government run.

But above all, Muslims in Gujarat told me they desire to be treated and viewed by their fellow Indians as Indians.

Last year, I interviewed a man named Nadeem Saiyed who organized survivors of the Narodya Patiya massacre to bear testimony to what they saw. A few months after I interviewed him, he was fatally stabbed 28 times. When I learned of his death, I replayed the audio from our interview. One line continues to haunt me.

“I was born,” he kept saying, “in the Gujarat riots of 2002.”

***

I hear this all the time. I think this all the time. But sometimes the pressure to “move on” becomes too intense and I fail to say these words.

Yes, the riots are over but the wound continues. Narendra Modi, after all, is popular in Gujarat because of the riots – not – despite the riots.

Today I am back in Gujarat and I live just two blocks away from where Nadeem was stabbed. When I decided to return to Gujarat this year to conduct more research, I was determined to retire “Sanjay” because I am exhausted from inventing a Hindu family that I do not have so that I may live in Gujarat.

After I failed to find an apartment in a Hindu area using my real name, I was forced to live in Juhapura, an area, some say, is the largest ghetto of Muslims in all of India. Police line is the street that functions as the “border” that surrounds this area and many Hindu rickshaw drivers refuse to enter Juhapura because they are “afraid.” On my street, a rickshaw driver, a real estate tycoon, a judge, and a nationally known journalist live side by side. I hear all of them repeat the same thing: “We live here because we have no other choice.”

Today in Juhapura I do not have regular running water in my apartment and my electricity cuts out often – something unusual in most parts, in particular in Hindu-dominated sections of Ahmedabad. When I finally registered my apartment lease with the police, a very kind Hindu officer told me I should be careful.

“The area you are staying is called mini-Pakistan and there are a lot of Pakistan intelligence (ISI) agents in the interiors.”

But it is here, only in this Muslim ghetto, where I feel safe.

I received the keys to my apartment the day before the Muslim celebration of Eid-al-Adha. The next morning I wore a crisp white Muslim style kurta over a pair of pleatless khakis and carried a white prayer skullcap in my hand.

All the men in my building had gathered at the front entrance. One man in his late 70s held his hand out as I came downstairs.

“Young man, I have not heard your complete name.”

I smiled and said the words I had to conceal so many times in Gujarat to survive.

“My full name,” I told him as we walked towards the mosque, “is Zahir Sajad Janmohamed.

[Zahir Janmohamed is writing a book about the aftermath of the 2002 Gujarat riots. He previously served as a senior foreign policy aide in the US Congress and as the Advocacy Director for Amnesty International. Email: zahirj@gmail.com]

Exclusive Copyright: Cafe Dissensus & Zahir Janmohamed

Shared here with due consent of the writer!

The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : All the perfumes of Arabia

The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : All the perfumes of Arabia

Robbery Attempt in Barcelona, Spain!

Torre Agbar, Barcelona, Spain

Torre Agbar is a 38-story skyscraper / tower that marks the gateway to the new technological district of Barcelona.

On 7th February 2013, While I was roaming around this locality, an old man approached and asked me to look into a map he was holding on pretext of asking direction to reach a certain place. He said that he wanted to reach that destination and didn't know the route. He was pointing on map and insisting me to look into it. Till then I had no doubt on his motive but I was keeping myself at a well-measured distance. However I asked him the name of the place he actually wanted to go. He replied that he couldn't actually see it because he had left his glasses back at the hotel. This gave me a shock - I told him if you can't see it properly how are you so sure about the location you're pointing at. He skipped this and asked me where I was from. 

Suddenly another man, a bit well-dressed appeared (who happened to be an accomplice of the earlier one). He flashed an ID attached to his wallet and said « Policia, passaporte por favor!» addressing both of us. By the time I had realized the GAME. The earlier old man started explaining me in English that he's police and asking to show passport. Instead of listening to him, I asked the so-called policeman to show the ID and police badge again. This was an unexpected response to him. Without wasting any time further, both of them went away without saying anything to me.

«It was a robbery attempt!!!» Alhamdulillah, my instant conscience saved me!!!

I shared this just to let others know - Europe is a dream destination for many of us, but the common robbing methodology exists everywhere! Be Alert and Be Safe!

Muslims in India: Discriminated, Decepted and Terrorised

Noorus Saleheen

Faculty of Humanities, Coimbra University

ISLAM AND THE MUSLIMS IN INDIA

Islam is the second-most practiced religion in India. The Indian judicial courts have ruled that Shariah law for Muslims holds precedence over Indian civil law in matters related to marriage, inheritance and wakf properties. The matters of such jurisdiction are governed by All India Muslim Personal Law Board.

Historically, there has been significant integration between the cultures of Hindus and Muslims across India. Muslims have played a prominent role in India's overall development in terms of economic growth and cultural influence.

RELIGIOUS CONFLICT: MUSLIM-HINDU CONFLICT

The conflict between Hindus and Muslims in India has a complex history.

The aftermath of the Partition of India in 1947 saw a large-scale violence between sections of the Hindu and Muslim communities. Since its independence, India has always maintained a constitutional commitment to secularism.

BABRI MASJID DEMOLITION: A BLOT ON SECULARISM IN INDIA

The sense of communal harmony between Hindus and Muslims was compromised greatly by the demolition of the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya that took place in 1992 under the supportive banner of a prominent national political party Bharatiya Janata Party and its allied organizations like Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Shiv Sena, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal. This evil act ignited the religious sentiments countrywide and was followed by the communal riots and the 1993 series of bomb blasts in Mumbai.

«There are sharp stones there. The Ground has to be levelled.» These were the words of former Prime Minister of India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee on a day before Babri Mosque demolition in Lucknow on 5 December 1992.

GUJARAT RIOTS: A BLOT ON HUMANITY (2002)

According to the sources, there were approximately 2,000 Muslim deaths during Gujarat riots in 2002. The riots were in retaliation to the Godhra Train Burning. The Bannerjee commission declared that the fire was an accident.

In widespread communal violence that followed Muslim communities suffered a lot. In these riots, the role played by chief minister of Gujarat, and some of his ministers, police officers, and other right wing Hindu organizations has been criticized. The Chief Minister was even accused of genocide.

UNITED NATIONS COMMITTEE AND ITS FINDINGS (IHRR, DEC-OCT, 2010)

The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women considered the exceptional report of India at its 960th meeting, on 15 October 2010. The Committee noted with great concern that the dominating features in the communal violence which took place in 2002 were acts of violence, including torture, murder, gang rape, forced nudity, parading women naked, mutilation of breasts and other body parts, insertion of wooden and metal objects into genital parts and other forms of sexual violence specifically targeted women and girls.

Many Muslim children’s educational certificates were destroyed during the Gujarat riot attacks and the government has not replaced the certificates neither facilitated the resumption of the children’s education.

While noting that some information has been provided in the supplementary material on the State party’s resettlement measures in place, the Committee regrets the lack of disaggregated data on the approximately 5,000 Muslim families displaced by the violence in Gujarat. It also notes with great concern that eight years after the Gujarat violence, the displaced persons are still living in the temporary and makeshift colonies in remote and abandoned areas with poor access to livelihood and employment.

DISCRIMINATION AND EFFECT ON COMMUNITY

The discrimination carried out against Muslims is well-planned and is being carried out systematically, be it the case of recruitment even in government organizations. The after-effects of such practice have reached to such an extent that in a recent report published on 31^st October 2012, a renowned Australian journalist reported that Indian Muslims pose as Hindus to get jobs. The woman mentioned in the report is a Muslim woman, who adopts Hindu identities to avoid discrimination in the workplace. She says, "For the whole day I shall maintain this Hindu appearance. My name is Laxmi, you know it's also the name of the Hindu goddess.”

She tried unsuccessfully to find a job for many years before deciding to hide her Muslim identity. Posing as a Hindu woman, she got her current job as nursemaid in a private hospital.

SECRET RECRUITMENT POLICIES

Many recruitment agencies help Muslims find menial jobs in sectors where identity documents are not usually sought, by introducing them as Hindu. According to an agency manager, out of 95 percent of his clients who were Hindu seeking domestic helps, as much as 80 per cent of them informed that they would not employ any Muslims. He affirms that many placement agencies on mutual interest maintain secret policies to introduce Muslims as Hindus and help them get jobs.

ANTI-MUSLIM BIAS AND MUSLIMS AS UNTOUCHABLES

Despite Muslims making up 14-15 percent of India's population and country's largest minority, the community leaders have long alleged that an anti-Muslim bias exists in different levels of society. In 2005, the government-appointed Sachar Committee concluded in its report that the socioeconomic condition of most Muslims was worse than that of the 'untouchables' in Hindu caste system. According to a minority rights activist, it’s not just in the unorganized sector but even in the government sector where Muslim jobseekers face the hurdle of discrimination. For example, in the state of West Bengal where Muslims constitute 27 percent of the population, their representation in government jobs is as low as four percent.

According to a professor at the North Eastern Hill University in Meghalaya, many Hindus count Muslims as untouchables. He says that it is at the root of the anti-Muslim discrimination in India.

Although discriminating against Muslims is illegal, it is almost impossible for those affected to provide proof. Therefore, such Muslims are forced to bear with this repressive system- in many cases by disguising themselves as Hindus, in attempt to seek work and live as equals in the society.

Asian Centre for Human Rights is an organization dedicated to promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the Asian region.

In its quarterly journal June 2011, it observed that Minorities are continued to face discrimination. The chief economist at National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) Dr Abusaleh Shariff conducted a study on “Relative Development of Gujarat and Socio-Religious Differentials”. His study concluded that in Gujarat among high levels of hunger among its citizens, Muslims are the worst. Urban poverty among the Muslims is eight times more than high-caste Hindus. They also face high levels of discrimination and deprivation in jobs and were not even enrolled under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), which is an Indian job guarantee scheme, enacted by legislation on August 25, 2005.

There is also indifference in compensating the 2002 riots affected victims. On 3 March 2011, Gujarat’s Revenue Minister (Anandiben Patel) informed the State Assembly that out of Rs 507.69 crore received from the Centre to be distributed as compensation to the kin of the 2002 riots victims, the state government disbursed only Rs 409.61 crore and the remaining Rs 98 crore was yet to be disbursed.

The Narendra Modi government allegedly even refused to provide scholarships to the Muslims under Centrally sponsored pre-matric and post-matric minority scholarships. As a result, more than 52,000 students belonging to Muslim, Christian, Parsi, Sikh and Buddhist communities have been deprived of minority scholarships.

According to the report by Sachar Committee (which was setup by the UPA government on March 9th, 2005 to study the Socio-Economic and Educational status of the Muslims), it is estimated that as of 2006 the Muslim population in India must have crossed 150 Million.

(The committee was headed by Justice Rajender Sachar and had six other members (Shri Sayyid Hamid, Dr T.K. Ooman, Shri M.A. Basith, Dr Akhtar Majeed, Dr Abu Saleh Shariff and Dr Rakesh Basant.)

The community has the most favourable child sex ratio among all Socio-religious communities in the country with an average of 986 females to every 1000 males as compared to 927/1000 for the general population. The majority of the Muslims in India are living in four states UP, Bihar, West Bengal and Maharashtra which had at least ten million Muslims each.

The muslim share in government employment is 4.9% (against a population of 14%); among India’s Security Agencies (viz., CRPF, CISF, BSF, SSB etc.) muslim representation is 3.2%;

Muslims represent only 4 per cent in the total armed forces in India, out of which 96 per cent belong to lower level jobs. Just 2.7% are placed among District Judges.

Interestingly, if muslims do outnumber majority hindus in any statistics, it is predictably as a proportion of the prison population, much like the blacks in America.

Noting that Muslim participation in electoral bodies is known to be small, the Sachar Committee report tabled in Lok Sabha in November 2006, said of the 543 Lok Sabha members, only 33 were Muslims. The panel made out a strong case to put mechanisms in place to enable Muslims to engage in democratic processes and governance.

It also noted that the minorities do not have the necessary influence or the opportunity to either change or even influence events, which could enable their meaningful and active participation in development process.

Referring to educational opportunities for Muslims, the committee recommended mechanisms where madrasa can be linked with a higher secondary school board so that students wanting to shift to a regular/mainstream education can do so after having passed from a madrasa.

MUSLIM YOUTH AND TERRORISM

The attitude of police, administration and judiciary towards Muslim youth, arrested in connection with terror cases, shows the double standard in the dispensation of justice. Every year, in the name of terror, hundreds of Muslim youths had been arrested for past some time but the trend got momentum soon after the blasts in courts in Uttar Pradesh in 2007, and it is still going on. Some independent investigations by NGOs and other private organizations of the cases show that the police and administration have deliberately implicated Muslim youth in scores of cases. In addition to that the unwanted delay in disposal of court cases, it is more likely that they perhaps will never be released.

BIASED POLICE INVESTIGATION

The way in which police investigates terror cases involving Muslims is also questionable. The process of arrest of Muslim youths implicating involvement in terror cases also gives the impression that it is all part of a big conspiracy. In most of the disposed cases implicating such false involvement of Muslim youth, they have been acquitted by the court as the police could not prove charges.

CONTRADICTION AMONG INVESTIGATING AGENCIES

Mumbai Crime Branch made a 38-year old mechanical engineer Sadiq Sheikh as main conspirator of all blasts in recent past. There are 54 cases against Sheikh in Ahmedabad, Surat, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai. He has also been accused, along with his nine friends, for 11 July 2006 Mumbai local train bombings. After being accused of alleged forced confession, the Mumbai Crime Branch handed over the case to Maharashtra ATS. The ATS gave clean chit to Sadiq Sheikh and told MCOCA court that he had no role in the July 2006 train bombings.

Another Muslim youth, 23-year old Saif, was doing MA in History in Delhi. He was also doing courses in English speaking and computer application. After the controversial Batla House encounter in New Delhi, the police arrested Saif from that flat. He is accused in 45 cases in Delhi, Jaipur, Ahmedabad and Surat with charges of planting bombs in these cities. Interestingly, UP police has claimed his involvement in UP court blasts also. Then they took him in their custody in connection with the blasts at Sankat Mochan Mandir and railway station in Varanasi but so far they could not file a chargesheet against him.

Mansoor Asghar Peerbhoy of Pune was arrested for sending mail in the name of Indian Mujahideen before the blasts. Just one month before arrest, Peerbhoy had joined Yahoo as principal engineer on an annual salary package of Rs 19 lakh (1.9 Million). More than 40 cases have been slapped against him in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Surat, Delhi and Hyderabad to blast conspiracy under cyber crime.

Mufti Abul Bashar was arrested jointly by Gujarat Police and UP ATS from his Beenapara village in Azamgarh on August 14, 2008 but police claimed he was arrested from Charbagh Railway Station in Lucknow. He was declared as the mastermind of Ahmedabad blasts and chief of Indian Mujahideen. He is facing 40 cases in Ahmedabad, Surat, Hyderabad and Belgam.

STRATEGIC PLAN FOR LIFETIME CONFINEMENT

The 38-year-old Arif Badruddin Sheik of Asroli village in Azamgarh, according to Mumbai police, is an expert of bomb making. Father of 3, Sheikh has been accused of almost all terror blasts since 2005.  Arif's father, mentally challenged, passed away a couple of months after the arrest of his son. His mother is blind and is living with her daughter-in-law in a dilapidated house in the village. Atif is also facing 41 cases in Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad and Surat.

Saifur Rahman was arrested by Madhya Pradesh ATS from Jabalpur in April 2009 when he was taking his sister from Azamgarh to her in-laws in Mumbai. They were travelling in Godan Express. ATS kept his sister also in custody for 12 hours. Saifur Rahman has been accused of blasts in Jaipur and Ahmedabad. He confessed his involvement in the blasts before the Magistrate in Bhopal but retracted before the Jaipur magistrate saying he was under pressure from Madhya Pradesh ATS. He told the Jaipur magistrate that ATS tortured him and threatened to rape her sister who was in their custody. Then Jaipur ATS requested the Jaipur court for narco test on Saifur Rahman but the court declined.

There was a dramatic turn in the Jaipur blast case when an accused Shahbaz Hussain pleaded the court to order narco and other test on him so that he could be proved innocent. This was the first instance in the history of the country that an accused himself was demanding narco test on him. Prosecution opposed the demand and thus the court rejected Hussain's appeal.

According to Manisha Sethi, who teaches comparative study of religions at Central University in New Delhi Jamia Millia Islamia, “imported concept of War on Terror is being encouraged and it is being used as a weapon against the Muslims."

The ATS officials were also accused of torturing the accused of the May 2008 serial blasts in Jaipur, Rajasthan. In April 2010, a five-member delegation of Muslim groups met Otta Ram Rohin, Superintendent of Central Jail Jaipur, Rajasthan to register protest against the ill-treatment being meted out to the blast accused even though their alleged role in the blasts could not be established and forced to make fresh confession despite the completion of investigation. One of the accused of the serial blasts complained that the Anti-Terrorism Squad officials, being given access to the inmates in the jail, were forcing them to put signatures on plain papers. Further, the accused were being kept at the Central Jail without basic amenities.

*(Torture in India 2011, Asian Centre for Human Rights)

Families and relatives of the accused are speechless seeing the gravity and number of cases. The police have also broken records in filing charge sheets. The police have filed 60,000-page chargesheets in 35 cases of Ahmedabad and Surat. Mumbai Crime Branch has filed 1800-page chargesheet. Similarly Jaipur has filed 12,000-page chargesheet in 8 cases. All charge sheets are in Hindi, Gujarati or Marathi. If case reaches Supreme Court, translation of these charge sheets will be another expensive and time taking job.

Advocate Shahid Azmi says charge of conspiracy is a weapon that police uses to implicate anyone in any case. Talking to Afkar-e-Milli he revealed: "Afzal Muttalib Usmani whose arrest was shown in Mumbai on September 24, 2009 was actually arrested on August 27 from Lok Manya Tilak Terminus. Advocates admit that no trial in these cases will take place within two years. It will be much longer as several individuals are accused in different cases at different places.

*****

A MAJORITY OF THE POLICE FORCE IS BIASED

The police investigations into the Ajmer and Mecca Masjid blast (2007) cases have floundered. The investigation went in one direction blaming the Harkat-ul-Jihadi for two years and now it is going in another direction where the right-wing Hindu organizations Abhinav Bharat and the Sanathan Sanstha are being blamed. Several persons have often wondered why the police bungled this probe so badly that the courts had to release all those who were arrested initially and in some cases even ordered the state to pay compensation.

S R Darapuri, a retired Inspector General of Police (1972 batch IPS), has been fighting for several innocents picked up and tortured by the police in several cases of terrorism, including the Ajmer case. The former top cop says, "Being a part of the establishment for 25 years, I fail to understand how the police can go so horribly wrong. The problem is that a majority of the force has a communal bias towards the minorities."

In this interview with an online web-journal rediff.com, Darapauri explained how the police force is beset with bias and what needs to be done to tackle it. For him, it looked like a complete frame up from the start. The Ajmer, Mecca Masjid, Malegaon and Goa blasts are all interlinked. He strongly suspected the role of Abhinav Bharat and the Sanathan Sanstha in these incidents, thanking (former Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad chief) Hemant Karkare who blew the lid off this phenomenon. The police were under the impression that it was the Muslims who were involved in all cases of terrorism. However Mr. Karkare exposed them. He agreed that there was a communal bias in the police department as majority of the officers had a communal bias towards the minorities.

Moreover there was no action against those police personnel who booked innocent people in wrong cases. In Hyderabad case, many people were let off by the court. He believes that RSS has been infiltrating the force and also the administration for a long time. Through this infiltration, they pretty much control a large part of the system.

*****

There are many instances where Police first arrests a Muslim youth and then tries to implicate him in some terror related cases. Affirming this trend, SR Darapuri made some sensational revelations that Script to entrap Muslim youths is written first and then the arrest comes into effect!

(Excerpts from an article from an Urdu daily newspaper INQUILAB published from Mumbai and New Delhi on 21 June 2012)

During a convention organized on the topic based on continuous arrests and harassments of Muslim youths in the name of Terrorism “Communalism and Terrorism of Security Agencies” (20.06.2012), he said that be it IB or ATS, STF and Special Branch, all follow the same methodology – first the script is written and then innocent people are fitted in accordingly. A serious concern was raised against the harassment of Muslim community by Security Agencies as ATS and STF people harass the Muslim families for months in the name of interrogation and suddenly they pick one of them in the manner of abduction. Later on, several charges of non-bailable offences are imposed on them so that they cannot get bail throughout their entire life.

Being a police officer, he himself had seen how atrocities were carried out. He said that whatever was done by police or security agencies had the consent of the government. Senior journalist Siddharth Kalhans said that media publishes and broadcasts news received by police and agencies without verifying the facts at its own level. He named this trend as “Cataract of Media” and appealed that the verification of such news is necessary considering the fact that most of the time police personnel frame false allegations against the arrested person in order to justify their act.

Another retired IPS officer S.M. Naseem said that STF, ATS, and other agency people are allegedly involved in the business of extortion and when they fail to get the money, they frame false charges against innocents. He said that the people from intelligence write the script of the entire story and get applause from the government. There is no control of the government over the police harassing innocent people. Shadab Ahmad, father of arrested youth Mohammad Saif during Batla House encounter, said that when a non-Muslim is caught they say him to be mentally unstable whereas when a Muslim is caught, he is declared as a mastermind. He alleged that agency people themselves manage to arrange RDX and AK-47 and RSS people are helping them openly. He said that at one hand ATS declared Mohammad Taqi and Mohammad Naqi to be their informers; on the other hand IB framed charges against them.

CONCLUSION

India is very proud to declare that it is one of the leading developing countries in the world and capable of emerging as the most developed country after twenty years, surpassing the USA, Japan etc. But how is it possible when some sections of its population are lagging behind in all spheres. There is no doubt about the role of government. At the same time the Sangh Parivar is more responsible for the worst condition of the Muslims. Indian Muslims are vulnerable to Sangh Parivar ideology of Hindutwa, which mainly intends to capture power. As a result, they let loose reign of terror in different parts of India to suppress the Muslims with an eye on majority Hindu votes. Hence the Muslims were denied justice and were isolated from the mainstream of Indian polity. There has been no attempt on the part of government to look after the condition of the Muslims. They were branded as communalists and terrorists. Those who supported the Muslim’s cause were termed as appeasing the minority.

Some remarked that the Muslims became backward due to the backwardness of their religion. Then in the whole world, Muslims would have been the poor and backward. Islam as a religion promotes all types of modern development. However, Islam was treated as a religion promoting violence. It is utter nonsense, as there is no such wording in Quaran. Even the Jihad was misinterpreted. Jihad was used only as a last resort for protecting one’s belief. But there is a tendency among some Muslim groups to preach Jihad for promoting their political interest. It has nothing to do with Islamic faith. Moreover, many so called Islamic terrorists have no affiliation towards following the principles of Islam such as, to offer pray five times a day, to observe fast during the month of Ramdan and pay Zakah to poor. According to Islam, an Islamic name does not accord the status of Muslim unless and until one should follow all the norms of Islam. Hence, those who follow these norms cannot use violence since there is no religious sanction behind it.

Whether we are secular or religious, theist or atheist or anywhere in between, we are all impacted by what happens in one tiny corner of the world as every incidental impact now reverberates globally. We must come forward and act, beyond making any stereotypes, beyond coming to snap judgments, beyond considering beard and headscarf as the symbols of terror.

Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act aka «RTE Act 2010»

RTE Act can be beneficial in spreading education throughout the country. However, once this Act alongwith corresponding governmental directives is completely implemented across the country, our educational excellence will get damaged in the worst manner. The reasons would be:

A)

1) In coming years, students will have a formal appearance in any examination for the first time to pass the +2 Examination. There won’t be any evaluation or test of such level before +2 Examination that could determine his/her failure. Every student will have the right to get promoted irrespective of their performance every year till he/she reaches Class 12^th.

2) Under the purview of this Act, a teacher cannot pursue a student for being absent from the class, for not doing homework or for participating in any non-educational activities; and if he does so, the student can show his teacher the way to jail under RTE Act!

3) In RTE Act, for a neighborhood school, there is a legal provision of admitting 25% students from neighboring area. There is no apparent clarification of either a neighborhood school or neighboring area.

If 25% students under such category are compulsorily allowed admission into our institutions of excellence like Navodaya Vidyalaya, Central School, Army School and other such schools of state or central government or similar non-governmental schools (having proven track record of educational excellence) for which one has to go through tough competitive examinations, it will deteriorate the performing excellence of existing 75% also and these 25% will adversely affect entire educational environment of the school.

B) This RTE Act contradicts with Article 30, the fundamental right of minority educational institutions and seizes the right of minorities to establish and run institutions of their choice. The HRD ministry released a Guideline on RTE Act in the month of November 2010 and announced that the fundamental right given to the minorities has been safeguarded. Nevertheless, there is direct contradiction between Article (instruction) 4 and 5 of the given Guideline. Article 4 states that minority institutions come under RTE Act. In Article 5, the authorities have been given instructions to protect the fundamental right of such institutions which are running under Article 30 of the Constitution of India. Once they fall under RTE Act, the administration, managing committee, students’ admission & assessment, teachers’ selection, employment & dismissal – everything will be carried out as per RTE Act. Hence, Article 5 of the Guideline is insignificant and local authorities will interpret the Act on their own way and avail a legal chance to harass the minorities.

C) The Guideline gives an assurance to protect Madrasas, which is not satisfactory. Mr. Kapil Sibal has announced that Islamic Madrasas do not come under RTE Act – perhaps he himself has fallen prey to a misunderstanding.

In reality, RTE Act is meant for those children of ages 6 to 14 years who are studying or want to study in schools – and studying the syllabus selected and prepared by the government is their right. In such a condition, if any planted student of a Madrasa writes an application mentioning that he is not getting elementary education in that Madrasa as he is supposed to get as per RTE Act, then it will lead the teachers and the administration of that Madrasa to prison and Madrasa will have to pay the fine.

The assurance given by the cabinet minister (be it in the form of article published in a newspaper or his statement in the parliament) has no legal validity until it becomes the part of the RTE Act. The Madrasas and other institutions running under Article 30 of the Constitution of India must get protection in the RTE Act in a comprehensible manner – this is an obligation towards justice and the Constitution of India.

The Guideline released by the Ministry is tricky and complicated and it seems that it has been prepared either without using any brain or with deliberate bureaucratic cunningness.

Courtesy: an Urdu Press Release by Hazrat Maulana Mohammad Wali Rahmani, Khanqah Rahmani, Munger (Formerly Dy. Chairman, Bihar Legislative Council)

Funeral Customs of Muslims

Death is the end of the present life, but a Muslim believes in the life hereafter. Death is considered to be Allah's will. For Muslims, death is not the final end, but a temporary separation of soul from the body which will be brought back to life on the Day of Judgment. When a Muslim learns the news of a person's death, he says:

"Inna Lillahi wa Inna Ilaihi Raje'oun." (Verily, unto Allah do we belong and verily, unto Him shall we return--Quran 2:156).

Relatives and friends gather at the home of the deceased person, give comfort to the immediate family members, recite the Qur'an and pray for Allah's forgiveness and mercy for the dead.

It is the funeral and religious custom of Muslims to bury the body as soon as possible; cremation and routine autopsies are forbidden. The burial is the top priority after a person dies and must take place as soon as arrangements can be made.

No formalities or waiting for anybody should delay the burial. Therefore, friends and relatives expedite the process and complete the burial. For burial, the body is washed (a man by men and a woman by women).

Burial should take place in the most sober and dignified manner and the resources should be saved for the survivors rather than wasting them on an exorbitant burial.

The face showing is not in the culture of lslam, though close relatives may do so.

In the event of a male death, his widow must observe a waiting period of about four lunar months. She may get married after that period. This is necessary in order to determine her probable pregnancy with the deceased husband, and therefore the distribution of his bequest to his children.

The friends and relatives are obliged to keep the grieved family relieved of the burden of preparing meals for three days.

As part of the funeral and religious customs of Muslims, the recitation of the holy Qur'an is recommended by the bedside of a person about to die to facilitate the remembrance of Allah. The funeral prayer (service) is an obligation of Muslims. It should be observed by at least some, but not necessarily all.

Visiting the mourners during the first three days after the death is highly recommended.

Given lslam's emphasis on moderation and simplicity, gifts of flowers and candy are not suitable. Non-Muslim friends can show their sympathy and love in so many other ways, such as by being present at the funeral services or by paying a visit to the mourning family. Non-Muslim friends may express their sympathy to the bereaved family by saying that Allah show His Mercy to the deceased and forgive him/her.

Chicken Halal

An ugly incident aboard an airline shows that old prejudices are alive & kicking

By A Son Of India (Ref.: TOI, New Delhi, 22/07/2009)

April 15, 2009. I am sitting on board the IC 854 on the way back to New Delhi from Bangkok and Im itching to tell this story. It all started with a group of eight Sardarjis at the check-in counter. Now, I want to make one thing very clear: this is in no way, shape or form meant to make fun of Sardarjis. Some of my closest friends are Sardarjis. Some of the kindest, humblest, most intelligent and polished people I have met in Delhi are Sardarjis, and I have the utmost respect for them. The only reason I am specifying the community here is in context of the story I am about to tell.

On boarding the flight, I had across the aisle and behind me, this very group, who within the first hour, had already guzzled four mini-bottles of Ballantines each, mixed with warm Tiger beer. Hey, dont judge me for staring, Im just Indian! I downed a Ballantines with soda myself, but what was astonishing was the rate at which my dear friends seemed to be drinking. With every drink, their voices got louder, and their language more boisterous. I am from New Delhi, and this is nothing new. I come from a city where you could get shot for cutting someone off in a traffic jam. Anyway, let me get back to my story. I was travelling with my mother and sister. In the seat in front of us, there sat a young, quiet man, with a long beard, a typical Muslim cap, and white salwar.

On the second round of drinks, my mother asked for tomato juice and got half a glass. I asked her why, she said they had just run out. The Muslim gent, too, was denied his request for tomato juice. No, we are all out! Take a Pepsi, thats what you had before, said the air-hostess . What we found strange was that two passengers down sat a White man who also requested tomato juice. Much to our surprise, the hostess reached down and out came a full carton. Our jaws dropped as she served the man politely. I shook my head, tuttutted , dozed off and forgot about this little incident . I woke up again in time for the food. Veg or Non-Veg Our Muslim friend who was so rudely denied a tomato juice had to make a decision between chicken and paneer. Chicken halal he asked. The same air-hostess who had refused him his juice then did something which I could not simply tut-tut at, overlook or ignore. Chicken halal Voh kuch savaal hota hai kya You should say Chicken halal hai Vhat am I meant to know vhat that means Chicken halal Chicken halal Kya pooch rahey ho?

She did not stop there. You need to say Chicken halal hai Chicken halal hai By this time, her voice was raised and she was looking around for approval. Of course, the first to jump to her aid were my good friends, the Sardarjis, who nodded and supported her. This little incident went on for a good three minutes by which time the last five rows of the airplane had joined in. Kya matlab hai Chicken halal Hahaha. Bolna bhi nahi aata. Hahaha! Eventually, after the air-hostess had enjoyed her audience, she said, Haan, halal hai, yeh leh! and rudely handed over the non-veg meal to the man in front.

By this point, I was furious. All the poor man was doing was making sure that the meal was something that he could eat. My mother sensed my mood and nudged me to stay quiet. She knows that if I ever witness any kind of discrimination, I jump in and get involved. I have lived all over the world and have faced discrimination from Whites, Blacks, Asians, Arabs, you name it.
To get back, the food was upon us and everything seemed to have died down until I heard one member of the group yell, This is Indian Airlines, not Muslim Airlines! I could not hold back any longer. I turned to them and said as politely as I could, Sir, please let me inform you that India is a huge nation. We have millions of Muslims. In fact, we have more Muslims than Pakistan. I am a Hindu and I really do not appreciate this kind of talk. At this point they all shut up and nodded.

We wonder why terrorism happens. We wonder what we have done to deserve the Mumbai attacks . I say we should all look to ourselves. We are the largest democracy in the world. We are well on our way to becoming the next superpower. But we are so divided that we just cant make it work. The Europeans did it right, divide and conquer . We were great and rich once upon a time, and we are still the same now. England may have stolen our jewels, but they could never steal our minds and our souls. Let us all join hands and say Jai ho! Lets make India into the great nation I know it can be.