Joseph K was submitted to the motions
of due process of law and allowed to have his say before being snuffed
out with banal savagery in Franz Kafka's grimly prophetic The Trial. Reviving
memories of the communist leviathan since consigned to the dustbin of history,
Mr Arjun Singh's committee to review NCERT's new history textbooks has
surpassed that sham tribunal with its peremptory decision to recommend
scrapping of all textbooks commissioned by the NDA Government. .....
Recently, I wrote an op-ed article
pointing out the poor geographical knowledge of the Indian media. Unfortunately,
this ignorance is not limited to geography and the media; it often extends
to history and Government officials. .....
Now the truth is out sooner than
the `seculars' had thought. Even the media has confirmed that Irshat Jahan
was part of the terror module of Lashkar-e-Toiba. .....
Now that Manmohan Singh has become
India's prime minister, many in Pakistan want to own him. A leading columnist
of an English newspaper is elated that Mr Singh was born in Potohar, while
an Urdu columnist has proffered a feeble claim that he is actually from
Multan. .....
Sources said the BJP leadership
advised them not to follow the new regime's diktats because strong technical
and constitutional reasons favour their continuance in office and that
it would not be easy for the United Progressive Alliance Government to
remove them. .....
Frustrated by strengthening of
the Village Defence Committees (VDCs) and hoisting of tricolor at Hill
Kaka for first time in 15 years of militancy, a big group of militants
struck at village Teli Katha in upper reaches of Marha in Surankote tehsil
of Poonch district early today killing 11 civilians including three children
and two teen- agers and injuring 10 others. .....
I am from Mallapuram district of
Kerala and happen to know a thing or two about "secularism". This is the
district which EMS Namboodiripad gifted to the Moplahs or Malabar Muslims
in 1969 by splitting up the old Calicut and Palghat districts so that they
could have their own little Pakistan tucked deep inside south India. .....
A young college woman and three
men killed in an alleged shootout with police in Gujarat were linked to
a terrorist group but Indian intelligence had infiltrated their operation,
a report said Saturday. .....
The Sri Lankan Cabinet has granted
initial approval of a draft bill designed to prevent religious conversions,
according to a June 24 report by Compass Direct news service. .....
Mohammed Junaid Babar, a resident
of Queens and grandson of Pakistani immigrants, who was accused of aiding
a plot to blow up British pubs, train stations and restaurants faces a
sentence of 30 years to life in jail under an agreement with federal prosecutors
in Manhattan, a law enforcement official was quoted as saying by The New
York Times on June 17. .....
Ramesh Chandra Majumdar was born
in 1888 in East Bengal (present day Bangladesh) in the village of Khandarapara
of Faridapur District. His talent knew no bounds, like the Padma (Podda)
river that flows there. The story of this famous historian is also interesting.
In East Bengal, there are rivers, lakes, and streams everywhere, and children
grow up with water. .....
Swadhyaya is one of the most prominent
living phenomena of Indian culture in 21st century. We have read and heard
a lot about the Indian culture, well, here is Indian culture in action.
A role model for the entire world based on indigenous Indic concepts. Swadhyaya
Parivar is a global family of volunteers who follow Swadhyaya, a holistic
Vedic philosophy based on Gnaan (knowledge), Karma (Action) and Bhakti
(devotion). .....
Virendra Kashyap's family went
into a state of horror when an unruly mob of 600 people stone-pelted his
house, followed by gunshots. The family is yet to recover from the trauma.
.....
The infiltration along the Line
of Control (LoC) and International Border in Jammu and Kashmir has picked
up considerably this month with the figure recording three times the number
of 26 witnessed last month. .....
If former Prime Minister Atal Behari
Vajpayee is to be believed, then not removing Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra
Modi following the 2002 communal violence in the state was "a big mistake".
According to Vajpayee, the impact of the Gujarat riots was felt nation-wide,
it was unexpected "and hurt us badly". .....
City BJP on Tuesday charged the
Congress-NCP government in Maharashtra with "encouraging the scourge of
terrorism" by helping the family of a "terrorist." Reacting to reports
of NCP leader Vasant Davkhare donating Rs one lakh to the family of Ishrat
Jehan Sheikh .....
As the BJP tries to figure out
whether Atal Bihari Vajpayee's indictment of Narendra Modi and the Gujarat
riots was a diversionary tactic, a ''casual remark'' or an opening gambit
in an elaborate attempt at government (re)-formation, one conclusion is
inescapable. The party is today a confused mess. It is torn between second
guessing the leadership - and going by its own survival instincts. .....
There is a hierarchy of interests
invested with the power of interpreting the facts to conform to a particular
pattern. For West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, the unhesitating
admission that "conditions of starvation" existed in Amlashole, a village
in the tribal area of West Midnapore's Belpahari bloc, was possible because
he was distanced from the deaths. .....
Missing Pakistani nuclear scientists
may be staying in North Korea helping develop its uranium-based nuclear
weapons programme, reports said on Sunday. .....
In a show of the utter desperation
to gains Christian converts in India, missionaries have begun targeted
a new demographic segment - children and infants. Since last year over
900 stuffed animals have been distributed by the Christian Youth Service
Center (CYSC) center in the rural villages Eluru of Andhra Pradesh. .....
The BJP will not allow the Union
HRD minister Arjun Singh to "spread falsehood and push the future generation
onto the island of ignorance" in the name of "detoxification of school
education". Former HRD minister M M Joshi, whose education policy and subsequent
changes in textbooks have been termed "saffronisation of educational courses",
said he and his party would not let this happen. .....
I came in contact with the RSS
in 1939 through Arya Kumar Sabha, a youth branch of Arya Samaj, in Gwalior-then
a princely state which was not part of any province. I came from a strong
'sanatani' family. But I used to be at the weekly 'satsang' of Arya Kumar
Sabha. .....
Mumbaikar G.M. Banatwala never
spoke a word of Malayalam but was elected to the Lok Sabha on an Indian
Union Muslim League (IUML) ticket seven times from Ponnani in Kerala's
northern Malappuram district where the only language most people understand
is Malayalam. .....
The US Senate was used for a bizarre
ritual in which the Rev Sun Myung Moon, the head of the Unification church,
was "crowned" and declared himself the messiah in the presence of more
than a dozen Republican and Democratic members of Congress, it was reported
yesterday. .....
Sardhana, the renowned pilgrimage
situated 25- kms from Meerut in Uttar Pradesh, is lying bruised and battered.
The holy township, in the grip of communal hatred, has seen an exodus of
over 5000 people since the bloodbath began on Saturday afternoon. .....
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra
Modi has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about Pakistan government
publications showing Junagadh and Manavadar towns in the state as disputed
Pakistani territories. .....
Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray
on Tuesday came out strongly in support of beleaguered Gujarat Chief Minister
Narendra Modi and reminded the BJP that its defeat in the Lok Sabha polls
was due to the party giving up Hindutva line and going in for 'minority
appeasement'. .....
Soon after retaining his unquestionable
political fiefdom in Siwan for the fourth consecutive time, controversial
Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Mohammad Shahabuddin had put it in a couplet form
in Delhi - Main dosto ko kabhi bhulta nahi, aur dushmano ko kahi chhota
nahi - and, now it appears, what the terror of Siwan says he really means
it. At least, the facts and his political opponents believe it so. .....
Amidst growing support for extending
the duration of the Amarnath yatra to two months, Shri Amarnath Shrine
Board (SASB) has expressed "profound" regret at the State Government's
summary rejection of its proposal for a two-month pilgrimage to the holy
cave and urged the Mufti Government to reconsider its decision. .....
Sonia Gandhi (nèe Antonia
Maino) married Rajiv Gandhi in 1968. At that time, he was but a junior
officer in Indian Airlines and appeared to have no interest in politics.
However, after the death of his younger brother Sanjay in 1980, Rajiv had
perforce to leave his job with Indian Airlines and take up the post of
general secretary of the Congress to aid his mother, who was then president
of the party and Prime Minister of the country. .....
Former US president Bill Clinton
had firmly rejected Pakistan's pleas to mediate on the Kashmir issue at
the height of the Kargil crisis because India objected to third party intervention.
.....
Undermining global efforts to combat
terrorism, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia helped set the stage for the September
11 attacks on the U.S. by cutting deals with the Taliban and Osama bin
Laden that allowed his Al- Qaeda terrorist network to flourish, a media
report has said. .....
Mohammad Anis Ahmed (15), a Muslim
student of Bharda New High School, an English language school in
Fort, wants to be allowed to grow a beard in deference to his religion.
.....
While our media was helped by A
B Vajpayee in Manali to raise the Gujarat ghost of 2002, Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh resurrected another, but forgotten, ghost: the anti-Sikh
riots of 1984. When he visited a gurdwara in Delhi the other day, he prayed
that the two events would never happen again. .....
Gujarat Police on Tuesday claimed
to have unearthed "substantial evidence" to prove the links of a college
girl killed last week in Ahmedabad to the Pakistan-backed Lashkar-e-Taiba
(LeT) terror group. .....
Javed Sheikh, one of the four alleged
Lashkar-e-Toiba operatives gunned down by the Ahmedabad police on June
15, lived in Mumbra for six years in the same neighbourhood as Ishrat Jahan
Sheikh, the girl killed in the encounter. He also knew Ishrat's father
Mohammad Shamin Sheikh and the family. .....
Border Security Force has lodged
a strong protest against the abduction of two of their officers by the
Bangladeshi miscreants who later handed over to the Indian authority today
morning. .....
''The four suspected terrorists,
including the 19-year-old girl Ishrat Jahan, who were shot dead are innocent
and have been brutally murdered by the fanatic Hindu state in Gujarat.''
.....
The Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana
(SNDP) Yogam general secretary, Vellappally Natesan, today said the minority
communities benefited most from the introduction of self-financing educational
institutions. .....
The Gujarat police claim to have
provided all 'necessary' information to their counteraparts in Thane to
establish Mumbra girl Ishrat Jahan Sheikh's links with the terrorist organisation
Lashkar-e-Toiba. .....
Gujarat police on Sunday claimed
to have "clinching" evidence to prove that Ishrat Jahan Sheikh and Javed
Sheikh, two of the four alleged LeT militants killed in an encounter on
June 15 in the city, were involved in terrorist activity. "We have
got absolute evidence that Ishrat was directly involved in terrorist activities,
even though this assignment might have been her first. .....
The Naroda-Patiya love story has
taken a new twist with the 22-year-old youth-who was accused of kidnapping
the girl he loves and has been in judicial custody for a month - getting
bail. But, the girl's still stuck in a shelter, they haven't been allowed
to meet and her family insists that she was kidnapped. .....
His critics may pan him for his
hardline policies in Punjab, but supercop K P S Gill has become a legend
by eliminating terrorism in the state. Encounters, he says, are sometimes
the only option. .....
They are all pointing the accused
fingers at him. It is convenient to do so. Andhra's Chandrababu Naidu is
blaming him for the defeat of his party - Telugu Desam. Mamata Banerjee
of the Trinamool Congress is also holding him responsible for the defeat
of her party in West Bengal. .....
In the burning desert north of
this ancient Iranian city, the Islamic republic's last followers of the
Zoroastrian religion are making their annual pilgrimage to the temple of
Chak-Chak. .....
Your blaming the unfortunate riots
in Gujarat for our defeat in the recent Lok Sabha elections is wrong. Your
remarks in Manali on June 13 and 14 have hurt every self-respecting Gujarati
because they damage the fair name of his state, which he considers to be
a crown jewel of Bharat Mata. When critics or opposite benches run down
Gujarat, it is unkind, but when our supreme leader criticises the state,
it's cruel. .....
"The state of Jammu & Kashmir
has been, is and shall be an integral part of India and any attempts to
separate it from the rest of the country will be resisted by all necessary
means; India has the will and capacity to firmly counter all designs against
its unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity; and demands that - Pakistan
must vacate the areas of the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir, which they
have occupied through aggression; and resolves that - all attempts to interfere
in the internal affairs of India will be met resolutely." .....
Pakistan, not Iraq, was a patron
of terrorism and had closer ties with Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda leading
up to the 9/11 attacks, members of the commission inquiring into the world's
biggest terrorist act have said. .....
What a colossal contradiction!
On one side, to save 5 infamous Ministers the entire Central Cabinet is
united while on another side, efforts are being made to punish a Chief
Minister for the crimes which he did not commit. This will have to be called
"Adharma" and not "Rajdharma". .....
While Pakistan's capital Islamabad
is often described as a city of "bureaucrats, bores and boulevards", the
vibrant port city of Karachi has always prided itself with possessing the
cosmopolitan ambience of Mumbai. And the posh suburb of Clifton, where
the residence of India's Consul General is located next to the luxurious
mansion of the Bhutto family, is regarded as the Malabar Hill of the city.
.....
When I wrote recently about how
Ronald Reagan's confrontation of Communism could and should serve as a
model for confronting today's global jihad, many pointed out that the man
himself had amassed a less than stellar track record in the 1980s against
the fathers and elder brothers of today's mujahedin. After all, they said,
he cut and run after the bombing of the Beirut barracks in 1983. .....
As you know, I usually provide
the scientific and technological "entertainment" in our meetings, but,
on this occasion, our Chairman suggested that I present my own personal
view on events in the part of the world from which I come. .....
Mr. Niranjan Das, a minority community
leader and a transport businessman was brutally killed on the evening
of June 4, 2004. A group of miscreants sprayed bullets on Niranjan
around 8:30pm Friday evening of June 4, 2004. .....
A term used for the first time
about 1846 by George Jacob Holyoake to denote "a form of opinion which
concerns itself only with questions, the issues of which can be tested
by the experience of this life" (English Secularism, 60). .....
Between the ire of CPM leaders
and the judiciary, police in North 24- Parganas feared the first more and
sat on a high court directive to initiate a "theft case" against a CPM
councillor. .....
Under the new dispensation in New
Delhi, it pays to have a 10 Janpath connection. B. L. Joshi, a little
know promotee IPS officer living I quiet retirement in Jaipur, was made
the Lt Governor of Delhi owing to his old connections with the 10 Janpath
Parivar. Apparently as the security officer of the late Prime Minister
Indira Gandhi he had established a rapport with Sonia and her children,
which now stood him in good stead. .....
The U.S. bishops' conference issued
a rebuke to Catholic politicians who support abortion, and said that the
decision to deny them Communion is up to individual bishops. .....
For the past week, India's premier
Opposition party has conveyed all the impressions of being a headless chicken.
Following the unexpected remarks of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee
in Manali, the BJP has flapped about aimlessly, generating lots of noise
and hurtling from one direction to another. .....
The deluge of media reports affirming
that Ishrat Jahan Mohammed Shameem Raza, the 19-year-old Mumbai student
killed in an encounter between terrorists and Gujarat Police in Ahmedabad
on Tuesday morning, was a simple, nice, girl who attended college
regularly, seems to have swept away an important question: What was
such a girl doing in the company of terrorists so far away from home
at four in the morning when the encounter reportedly occured? .....
While as suspected militants have
decapitated a 55-year-old Gujjar and his son in Tral area and also gunned
down a restaurateur in the Capital city today, security forces have killed
a Pakistani militant in Aeshmuqam area of Anantnag district. .....
The famous Sai Baba shrine in Shirdi
town of Maharashtra is being brought under the State government's control
following complaints of mismanagement. The State government on Tuesday
sent the Shri Sai Baba Temple Trust (Shirdi) Bill to Governor Mohammed
Faizal for ratification. .....
Osama bin Laden running for high
office in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia? And winning a free election hands
down? A preposterous scenario, but one that was suggested by one of the
most important Saudi businessmen, speaking privately in a European capital
this week. .....
Jagannatha, literally the Lord
of the World, the presiding deity of the Srimandira of Puri embodies in
himself the collective aspiration not only of the Oriya race but of the
entire Indian nation. .....
In a move that went all but unnoticed
by the rest of the world, the People's Republic of China was accepted into
the Nuclear Suppliers Group at a meeting in Sweden at the end of May. The
NSG is an informal cartel made up of 40 nations that work together to coordinate
and control the trade of nuclear reactor technology and 'dual-use' materials.
.....
In 1857 Indians made the first
concerted attempt to shake off the British tyranny that had been imposed
on them since 1818 (following the defeat of the Peshwas and their lieutenants).
The British called this "Sepoy Mutiny" and it was triggered off by the
(purported) distribution of bovine-fat-smeared-cartridges that needed to
be bitten off before use. .....
If the results of the recently
held Lok Sabha elections have surprised the Indians and non-Indians
alike all over the world, the historic crash of stock markets and
the subsequent decision of the Congress president Sonia Gandhi not
to be the Prime Minister of India have left them baffled. .....
He is an "extraordinary casuist".
Unless stopped, his views will become a "dangerous phenomenon of present
day politics in India." His teachings can lead to "chaos and anarchy only".
His politics will lead to "mischievous consequences". .....
Fawaz Damra, the Palestinian-born
leader of Ohio's largest mosque, was convicted yesterday of lying about
his connections to terrorist organizations when he applied for U.S. citizenship.
As a result he may be sentenced to up to five years imprisonment, fined
$5,000, and face deportation. .....
Although Governor House in Srinagar
might have reconciled itself to the chief minister's decision to allow
the annual Amarnath pilgrimage for one month instead of two as earlier
announced by the Governor, the row over the issue is far from over. Things
have taken a new turn with a number of Hindu organisations threatening
a stir for not being allowed a two-month-long pilgrimage to the holy caves
in trouble-torn Kashmir. .....
Indians excel in sciences. Is not
information technology one of the factors behind giving a terrific shine
to India's image abroad? Unfortunately, the same probably cannot be said
about Indians' mastery of geography and history, at least as far as the
media is concerned. .....
In 1844, Karl Marx declared in
his essay 'Toward the Critique of the Hegelian Philosophy of Right' that
religion was the ''opium of the people''. Friends and foes alike are learning
that it can be a very hard habit to kick! .....
Forty years ago, India's first
prime minister passed into the ages. On his death anniversary, May 27,
Lieutenant General Eric A Vas (retd) commenced rediff.com's series to evaluate
Jawaharlal Nehru's legacy with a perspective of the premier's relationship
with the military. .....
U.S. lawmakers want to tighten
foreign aid laws to close loopholes that they say have allowed American
aid dollars to go to Palestinian groups working with or fostering terrorist-supporting
organizations. In one instance, about $410,000 in American aid helped finance
the new Salah Khalaf Recreation and Sports Center in the West Bank city
of Nablus. .....
Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong seems
to extol himself as an expert in handling Muslim affairs and is a leading
commentator in handling the Muslim population. Have his own Muslim citizens
excelled themselves to the extent that he can now advise others on how
to manage Muslims? Surely someone must have briefed him on the social ills
affecting his own Muslim community. If not, let me refresh his memory.
.....
In an act of honor, Ratu Epeli,
on behalf of the Great Council of Chiefs, publicly apologized for the events
of racial tension in 1987 and 2000 against Indian residents. Ratu Epeli
says, " I am not claiming perfection and unfailing wisdom in the administration
of the Great Council of Chiefs for the past 130 years or even today. .....
One hundred and ninety seven students,
all below the age of 18, were abducted from different schools in Udayapur
district in eastern Nepal, according to the government-owned daily newspaper,
Gorkhapatra. .....
When the US-led coalition invaded
Iraq in March 2003, few would have imagined that the move might lead to
the formation of an alliance between the radical Left and hard-line Islamists
in Western Europe. But this is precisely what happened. .....
"Three representatives of the Hindu
community of Fuengirola and Malaga delivered a donation of 3,000 euros
to the town hall of the city yesterday with the stipulation that the money
be used for social service of some kind. The money was part of the proceeds
collected at the Indian booth at the 'Día Internacional de los Pueblos'
fair. The rest of the profits of the India booth is destined for other
charitable ends." .....
Novelists Dominique Lapierre and
Larry Collins, authors of such bestsellers as City of Joy and Is Paris
burning?, have just written a new novel titled Is New York Burning? whose
plot involves al-Qaeda members, with help from a Pakistan army major, successfully
smuggling a Pakistani nuclear device into New York and then using it to
try to blackmail the United States into stopping support for Israel. .....
Buddhists in Thailand's Muslim-dominated
south gathered on Wednesday for a morale- boosting rally after the beheading
of a Buddhist man this week stoked fears of sectarian conflict in the restive
region. .....
The Chittagong police in a predawn
swoop uncovered a clandestine training camp of what is stated to be a Muslim
militant outfit, and arrested two persons with some accessories used in
the training programmes inside a deep forest area of Mulatali hill under
Hathazari upazila on Tuesday. .....
The northern Virginia-based Muslim
Students' Association (MSA) might easily be taken for a benign student
religious group. It promotes itself as a benevolent, non-political entity
devoted to the simple virtue of celebrating Islam and providing college
students a healthy venue to develop their faith and engage in philanthropy.
.....
We the free spirit, secularists,
and humanists Bangalees and other South Asians who belong to
Mukto-mona ( www.mukto-mona.com
), a cyber forum that promotes secular humanism throughout the world, are
unified to bring before you the news of an ominous development in Bangladesh.
.....
A Christian organization in New
Delhi representing Dalits or the socially underprivileged on Saturday questioned
the church leadership for demanding special treatment for them and accused
it of exploiting their economic and social backwardness. .....
When the Supreme Court recently
listened to debate about the words "under God" as they appear in the Pledge
of Allegiance, it heard arguments from those who think that the expression
endorses religion, and thus violates the "establishment" clause of the
First Amendment, and from those who believe that acknowledgment of the
Almighty is somehow beyond religion and/or no bad thing. .....
Shortly after he returned to Delhi
in 1982 following his term as Ambassador to Pakistan, Mr Natwar Singh remarked
that it was his ardent wish that India-Pakistan relations should be conducted
in a manner that ensured that Pakistan was not a regular feature in Indian
newspaper headlines. .....
Goaded by his communist friends,
Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh has formed a committee
of distinguished scholars to "review" the textbooks on history and the
social sciences published by NCERT. One wonders why redoubtable scholars
like Professors S Settar and Barun De accepted this assignment in the first
place because to any lay observer the intention of the Government was transparent.
.....
The above lines from The Song of
the Sannyasin composed by Swami Vivekananda bring out the essence of sannyasa
and the saffron robe which symbolises renunciation for the good of others.
"Those of you who are sannyasins," addressed Swami to the young initiates
in Belur Math on June 19, 1899, "must try to do good to others, for sannyasa
means that". .....
Nuradin M. Abdi, who was indicted
last week for plotting with al Qaeda to blow up an Ohio shopping mall,
flew here from Somalia and received bogus "refugee" status in 1999, according
to authorities. Prosecutors allege that Abdi then fraudulently obtained
a refugee travel document, which he used to fly to Ethiopia for jihad training.
.....
In 1996, Indrajit Gupta of the
CPI told the prime minister-designate that he wanted to be considered for
the office of Union home minister. Deve Gowda tried to dissuade him, pointing
out that the office had lost much of its lustre in the Narasimha Rao years,
with vital departments such as personnel reporting to the prime minister's
office. "You will have nothing better to do than to look after Centre-state
relations!" .....
An official report into the September
11, 2001 attacks said on Wednesday that Pakistan helped the Taliban regime
in Afghanistan to give a haven to al-Qaeda in the face of international
pressure. .....
An architectural historian at Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, 48-year-old Omar Khalidi 's passion is the future
of Indian Muslims. Hyderabad-born, Khalidi calls for Muslims to re-examine
their sorry condition from within, rather than look for scapegoats. .....
If all the 'forty' Muslim armies
unite and attack America or anyone in the West they will be collectively
defeated. Wars are not fought on the basis of principles or emotion of
self- sacrifice; they are fought on the basis of a calculus of strategic
and tactical superiority. .....
There is now a heated outcry -
it can't really be called a debate - by some "eminent historians" for desaffronizing
history textbooks written under the previous administration. Supposedly,
the NCERT texts written when Dr Murli Manohar Joshi was the HRD Minister
give an overly Hindu perspective on history. .....
Thoughts on issues of current interest
[my comments - as an Indian citizen - within square brackets], including
instances of some double standards of our public figures, especially in
the construction of Indian identity (all those Macaulayan myths, and the
hypocrisy that is Nehruvian secularism) .....
Unflinching faith in the leadership
of Sonia Gandhi is the lowest common denominator of the Congress party.
It is about as non-negotiable as formal adherence to Marxism-Leninism among
members of the CPI-M. .....
The BJP rank and file's seething
resentment against the nominations to the Rajya Sabha seems to have taken
the leadership by surprise. Still in denial mode about the causes of the
May 13 debacle, it sought to make amends with the half-hearted nomination
of former Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie as third candidate from Uttar
Pradesh. .....
Even as the UPA government has
initiated steps to reverse various decisions of former Human Resource Development
(HRD) Minister Murli Manohar Joshi in its efforts to "desaffronise" the
education, the Supreme Court in its important judgement on the study of
"jyotir vigyan" (astrology) has ruled that it can not be described as saffronisation.
.....
The leader of the Islamic mass
murderers who perpetrated the May 29 atrocities at Khobar was interviewed
for an Al Qaeda internet "journal." MEMRI's translation is a chilling look
at the religion-soaked brutality of these savages: Commander of the Khobar
Terrorist Squad Tells the Story of the Operation. .....
Following reports of starvation
deaths in Amlasole, NGOs and other welfare agencies flocked to the area
today with food packets for the residents. But the West Bengal government
continues to look the other way: no official can be seen in the village
despite Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya's admission of a 'starvation-like
situation' in the area. .....
The Lashker-e-Taiba, a powerful
Pakistan-based terror group active in Jammu and Kashmir , has raised a
"full-blown unit for suicide squad operations against Western forces" in
Iraq , a media report said on Sunday. .....
The Danish Lutheran minister who
proclaimed last year there was no God or afterlife was suspended for a
second time today for ignoring church orders not to repeat those beliefs
from the pulpit. .....
As United Nations Secretary-General
Kofi Annan's voice echoes over Tercentenary Theater during today's Commencement
address, protesters hope that many in the audience will sport bright green
ribbons to show their displeasure at his humanitarian record. .....
Victims of dictatorships from Chile
to Iraq, people fleeing violence in the Balkans or the Horn of Africa,
and rebels and separatists from Indonesia or Latin America have for decades
found refuge in neutral Sweden. But as even the most law- abiding corners
of the globe get dragged into the "war on terror", Sweden is taking a closer
look at some of its foreign guests. .....
Saint Francis Xavier wrote these
words to Saint Ignatius about the pagan religion of Hinduism. Francis Xavier,
writing from India at the time, merely restates the truth from the infallible
Sacred Scriptures: "The gods of the gentiles are devils". .....
Situated next to the beach of the
Pacific Ocean the planetarium is drawing much attention from the Peruvian
press and public. The 20 dome complex has the seven main temples of Vrindavan
incorporated. There is also a journey following the path of Gopa Kumar
in the Brihad Bhagavatamrita from his place in Prayag all the way to meet
with Lord Krishna. .....
In a recent column, prominent religion
professor Martin E. Marty says that scholars of Moses or Jesus haven't
had to "duck eggs or death threats" lately and asks why Hindu groups are
attacking U.S. professors of Hinduism. This unfortunately shows that people
in the academy are still talking past those in the Hindu community rather
than attempting to have a conversation. .....
Ravi Visvesvaraya Prasad wrote
on the EVM in the Hindustan Times issue of 5 May 2004. He had also later
written in Indian Express issue of 26 April, 2004. He has raised various
doubts about the fidelity and reliability of the EVMs. .....
Even the Central Bureau of Investigation's
testimony in court that the Bajrang Dal had no links with any of the 18
accused in the Graham Staines murder in January 1999 hasn't satisfied the
media secularists. .....
by Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh
Minorities
Again minority girls persecuted
all of a single family within mere 8 months. Our police as usual inactive
and ineffective. This is a story of a downtrodden family residing in a
remote village in Bhola district. I would just go mad posting such horrifying
stories of victimized girls at the hands of a few social evils. Is there
no way out? - I cry in agony - Oh God save us ! .....
My mind is in a more chaotic state
than usual. It's the result of a periodic affliction, under which spells
I suffer greatly but emerge none the wiser. I'm wondering, could the current
virus lead me to new ideological plains? See, after the Kamala Das episode,
I had "words" with my Sardar. .....
In economic activities the greatest
of virtues is tolerance. All societies flourish mightily when tolerance
is the norm, and our age furnishes many examples of this. China began its
astounding commercial and industrial takeoff only when Mao Zedong's odiously
intolerant form of communism was scrapped in favor of what might be called
totalitarian laissez-faire. .....
He is Bangladesh's Mullah Omar,
intolerant, fanatical and, yes, charismatic. Like the erstwhile Taliban
supremo, his avowed goal is to establish a society based on the Islamic
model laid out in the Quran and the Hadith (tradition) of Prophet Mohammad.
.....
Thoughts on issues of current interest
[my comments - as an Indian citizen - within square brackets], including
instances of some double standards of our public figures, especially in
the construction of Indian identity (all those Macaulayan myths, and the
hypocrisy that is Nehruvian secularism) .....
A group of about 30 insurgents
of banned National Liberation Front of Tripura (Biswamohan group) kidnapped
37 persons, mostly small traders from Kampui-Bhandarima road in North Tripura
district from two vehicles in the early hours of Monday, the police said.
.....
Sanjib Sabhapandit makes no bones
about his intentions in his film The Self Triumphs (Juye Poora Xoon): His
work has a purpose, and the audience should know it. Assam and its inflammatory
problems are his concern but how to gather all of these in one fold? .....
The ruling by Sheik Omar Abdullah
Hassan al-Shehabi specifies two circumstances in which the desecration
of an infidel -- i.e., a non-Muslim -- is permitted. One is retaliation
-- "when the enemy is disfiguring Muslim corpses or when it otherwise serves
the Islamic nation." The other is when mutilation will "terrorize the enemy"
or "gladden the heart of a Muslim warrior." .....
Long before Marx, Lenin and Mao,
a historical figure in India fought against oppression, championed the
cause of the poor, denounced religious dogma and empty ritualism, and sought
to inspire a righteous and selfless attitude in society. .....
A minor boy is struggling for life
in a local hospital after he was severely beaten up by his teacher in a
religious school in Swabi district, a doctor informed Dawn. .....
Fifteen years later people are
still trying to divine the significance of the events that led to
the Chinese government's brutal crackdown in Tiananmen Square. As one of
the student leaders of that protest, I am frequently asked to recall those
days and speculate on what might have been. .....
Till now, we have had lists of
the best and worst dressed, the most popular and unpopular, the most beautiful
and not so beautiful, the do's and don'ts on the health front etc. .....
One does not expect Sonia Gandhi
to have time to read looks but whenever she finds it, she must manage to
read books life M.J. Akbar's Riot After riot, Pirata Venkateshwarlu's Red
Terrorism in India (remember she is getting the support of the leftist
parties) and now, the latest, R.N.P. Singh's Islam and Religious riots:
A Case Study. .....
If the results of the recently
held Lok Sabha elections have surprised the Indians and non-Indians
alike all over the world, the historic crash of stock markets and
the subsequent decision of the Congress president Sonia Gandhi not
to be the Prime Minister of India have left them baffled. .....
When military officers retire,
they move into what the armed forces euphemistically call 'civilian areas,'
where the likes of you and me live. But when Lieutenant General Kuldip
Singh Brar retired, he had to reside in the cantonment area of Mumbai,
in a bungalow guarded by a huge black gate, with army soldiers and policemen
on watch round the clock. .....
The Communist Party of India-Marxist
on Thursday defended the inclusion of 'tainted' ministers in the United
Progressive Alliance government saying keeping the Bharatiya Janata Party
'out of power' was more important. .....
General Pervez Musharraf has publicly
acknowledged what most informed Pakistanis have known all along. The attempts
on his life late last year involved junior members of Pakistan's armed
forces, some of whom apparently share the ideology of the global Jihadi
movement that General Musharraf says his military government is now committed
to rooting out. .....
The Philadelphia inquirer newspaper
is an unlikely place to encounter a dissertation on Siva Nataraja-especially
when it is written by the newspaper's editorial page editor and explains
why America would be better off if the country imbibed a bit more Hinduism
and the next president learned to "Dance with Siva." .....
Akali Dal members alongwith BJP
first timer Navjot Singh Sidhu on Thursday staged a walk out in the Lok
Sabha as Congress member Sajjan Kumar, alleged to be involved in the 1984
anti-Sikh riots, took oath. .....
It's not often that you meet a
rabbi whose command of the Hindi language surpasses his knowledge of, say,
Yiddish or Ladino. Or, for that matter, one whose academic training was
in the field of botany. .....
Politicians seek mandates and add
a spin to the result. If policies are to be based on the "mandate", then
we need to know what the people demanded in Election 2004... .....
To him being a king did not mean
ruling over the masses but serving the masses. Shivaji was born in the
fort of Shivneri during the years 1630. His father Shahaji was a minister
in the court of the Sultan of Bijapur. His mother Jija Bai was a brave
woman. .....
Religious differences fuel many
of the world's violent conflicts, detractors and supporters of organized
faith often lament in unison. Author Jonathan Kirsch would put a finer
point on the charge. He blames the leading monotheistic religions - Judaism,
Christianity and Islam - for much of history's bloodshed. .....
Three months after massive bomb
blasts in Madrid killed 190 people, officials in Europe say they believe
they are facing a growing number of terror operatives who are European
citizens, rather than foreign infiltrators, greatly complicating the ability
of investigators and police departments to track planned attacks on the
continent. .....
Comrades in New Delhi may hop around
TV studios lecturing the government on what it should do, should never
do or shouldn't dare to do but they should listen to Sanatan Shabbar. His
father died five days ago, with nothing to eat. His was one of the five
deaths in this village in West Bengal which has kept voting CPI(M) for
the Lok Sabha since 1977. .....
Less than three months after The
Hindu broke the news of the detention of a top Lashkar-e-Taiba commander
in Iraq, information is emerging that the Pakistan-based terrorist organisation
may have set up a full-blown unit for suicide squad operations against
Western forces. .....
So far, Christian misison-aries
have been instrumental in conversion. Now it seems this task has been passed
on to Christian heads of institutions. .....
One cannot hide from Indians on
Earth. Too many Indians are spread around the world. Except the authority
(and media) in India wanted to protect these run-aways. .....
Sudhakar Raje with painstaking
effort has culled into some 200 pages the pre-Islamic Hindu history of
the non- Muslim West Asia. He begins his book by saying that "icons, temples
and scriptures (along with the language in which they are written) are
evident, recognisable relics of the imprint Hindu influence has left on
the world." .....
The first question most people
ask the tall, blond, blue-eyed Hindu swami from Texas, almost everywhere
he goes on his traveling lectures, is how did he get to be a Hindu swami.
.....
The all-India secretary of the
Viswa Hindu Parishad (VHP), G. Raghavulu, has demanded constitution of
autonomous `dharmic councils' to ensure spending of income belonging to
Hindu religious institutions only for a specific purpose. .....
The fear that Natwar Singh's ideas
about foreign policy are driven not by realism but by idee fixes derived
from the Nehru era is reinforced by reports that he is making external
affairs babus turn into Nehru swots, asking them to bone up on his "classical"
foreign policy. .....
Natwar Singh should never have
been made the Foreign Minister in the first place. In less than a week,
the self-opinionated Natwar has come close to undoing the good work done
by the Vajpayee Government in the field of foreign relations. The former
career diplomat has shown a remarkable lack of tact and responsibility
in handling his new job. .....
A ruling party lawmaker surrendered
to police yesterday to face treason charges in connection with a deadly
raid on a military arsenal in January that marked a resurgence of separatist
violence in Thailand's Muslim south. .....
Lieutenant General (retired) Kuldip
Singh Brar commanded Operation Bluestar 20 years ago, when the Indian Army
entered the Golden Temple to remove the terrorists who had turned the Sikhs'
holiest shrine into a private bunker. It was one of the Indian Army's most
difficult operations, and undoubtedly the most controversial. .....
Foreign employers in India fear
an affirmative action employment plan contained in the new government's
economic agenda could hit productivity and competitiveness. .....
The influx of Kashmiris into Mumbai's
Kherwadi and Bandra areas for the past few years reveals that Kashmiri
youth from well-to-do families, who are educated but have no job, life
security and peace in the Valley, are forced to come to cities like Mumbai
to earn a livelihood. .....
A unique stone sculpture dating
back to the third century has been unearthed from the banks of Chambal
river in Rajasthan's Kota district throwing new light on the cultural history
of the state, a research scholar today said. .....
For a decade now, Christian missionary
groups have been flocking to the conflicted province of Kashmir, bringing
medicine, school books, and self-help programs. .....
Within the religious fanaticism
you will find a basic lack of understanding of other religions. A comprehensive
study of various religions would support the broader view that one supreme
and caring Intelligence has expressed itself to different people at different
time and in different ways. .....
A ministership purports to serve
the people. However, if it is perceived as a means to derive pleasure or
prestige, it will only infest society with corruption, stymie growth, and
lead to moral degradation. Fear and insecurity will grip society, inhibiting
humanness. .....
Mauritius appeared ambiguously,
as distant islands often do. It might have been an island. It might have
been the shadow of a great bank of cloud. I would have voted shadow, I
think, except that there was no corresponding bank of cloud to cast it,
just scattered trade wind cumuli. And then my plane was over the island.
.....
The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister's
sudden decision to revoke the State's anti-conversion law has brought the
spotlight on the morality, if not legality, of religious conversions. Amidst
a general consensus that Ms. Jayalalitha has backtracked due to loss of
political nerve, there are growing fears in the Hindu community that missionaries
will pursue their conversion agenda with renewed vigour. .....
Ruby Namia, 59, vividly remembers
the dates on which her three brothers and mother left Kerala to settle
down in Israel. They may have been heartbreaking moments, but for Ruby,
her textile businessman husband Abraham and their three daughters, the
pull of God's Own Country has been stronger than that of the Promised Land.
.....
If the first session of the 14th
Parliament was any indication of the shape of things to come, we are in
for some very rude shocks. For the fourth day running, the two Houses of
Parliament conducted no business. On Thursday, Parliament was adjourned
sine die with the Lok Sabha passing with a voice vote amidst unprecedented
scenes of bedlam a motion of thanks to the President on his address to
the joint session of Parliament. .....
The one outstanding characteristic
of The Hindu is that it publishes in full such documents as are relevant
for the information and education of its readers. It is, for example, the
only paper to publish in full the text of the United Progressive Alliance's
(UPA's) Common Minimum Programme. In that sense The Hindu is about the
only reader-friendly newspaper in India and one can't thank it enough.
.....
For over 40 years, Pakistan has
been trying to wrest its 'stability' back from the apocalypse, but each
passing year paints the previous one with a rosier brush. So we get from
bad to worse to worst and it hangs there. .....
On May 26 in Naivasha, Kenya, the
Arab-Islamic government of Khartoum signed a peace agreement with Christian
and animist separatists from southern Sudan, ending twenty years of civil
war. .....
Unny's cartoon of June 7 (showing
a smiling Buddhadev Bhattacharya with the caption: "A Muslim President,
a Sikh PM... want a Buddhist FM?") takes a much-needed dig at the way large
swathes of commentators view our nation's leaders in terms of their religious
affinities. .....
Those, according to the Agence
France Press, were the last words Frank Gardner spoke before collapsing
in the street Sunday in Riyadh, the Saudi capital. .....
In what is viewed as a part of
far reaching anti-Indian game plan, a campaign has recently been launched
in Bangladesh accusing the DG Tripura police Ghanashyam Murari Srivastava
and two Indian intelligence services Raw and Sib of masterminding large
scale violence in the neighbouring country. .....
A Christian organization plans
to set up 3-thousand schools around India's capital New Dehli amid hopes
among mission organizations that the first ever non-Hindu Indian Prime
Minister, Manmohan Singh, the gentlemanly Oxford-educated economist who
took office this month, will bring about a "wind of change", Mission Network
News (MNN) reported Monday, May 31. .....
Asked during a previous stint in
the External Affairs ministry whether he was a hawk or a dove, India's
foreign minister Natwar Singh was famously quoted as saying he ran a foreign
policy, not a bird sanctuary. .....
The subject of 'India' and 'Hinduism',
and their relationship is one of hot debate between the so-called Hindu
Nationalists on the one hand and the pseudo-seculars and other opponents
of Hindu Nationalism on the other. This article aims at making a realistic
assesment of the relationship between the two enities 'India' and 'Hinduism',
from a nationalist's perspective. .....
Rahul Gandhi's statements in Amethi
about UP affairs amount to a Congress policy decision. Shorn of rhetoric
and equivocation, Rahul Gandhi has issued a warning to Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Unless he mends the law and order situation, improves power supply and
goes all out on development, the Congress will be compelled to act in the
interests of the people. .....
Law Minister H R Bharadwaj's remarks
that Sonia Gandhi could access Government files have provided ammunition
to the Opposition NDA to target 'Mr Clean' Manmohan Singh and the Congress
president for what it calls denigrating the office of the Prime Minister.
.....
The stand off involving some militants
holed up inside a mosque in Anantnag district of south Kashmir further
deepened on Thursday when the ultras shifted to a nearby shrine and continued
firing on the troops surrounding them. .....
It came as a surprise when Abdurahman
Alamoudi, an American Islamist leader, was arrested in September 2003 and
accused of engaging in some James Bond- style activities. Here is an excerpt
from the nearly eight-thousand word "affidavit in support of criminal complaint"
.....
"You can contain violence by fighting
violence, but if you really want to get rid of violence you have to get
to the root of the violence and that root is the alienation of the people."
No, that isn't Pakistan's Pervez Musharraf holding forth on the "root causes"
of violence (read terrorism). That's PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti talking,
in a BBC Hard Talk interview in 2002. .....
Gunmen have opened fire on the
convoy of a senior Pakistani general in the troubled port of Karachi, killing
10 members of the security forces and a bystander but missing the targeted
officer. .....
I wonder how many in GenNow would
recall this humourous number that used to be a Vividh Bharati regular in
my student days. The song became popular because schoolchildren dreaded
history since the only apparent way to score in the paper was to commit
names and dates to memory. .....
Devi Lal, the Haryana stalwart
and former deputy prime minister under V.P. Singh, had a very earthy wisdom.
Confronted by an abstruse exercise in ideological hair-splitting before
the 1989 election, he asked: "Who reads manifestoes?" It's a piece of political
advice that many Indians are hoping that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
will heed during his tenure. .....
The ruckus in the Lok Sabha on
the very first day of its normal sitting on Friday provided a foretaste
of the things to come. The Leader of the Opposition, L. K. Advani, as expected,
raised the issue of the `tainted' ministers in the Manmohan Singh Government.
.....
It helps to acknowledge new realities.
Even six weeks ago, no one, apart from the hapless citizens of Kerala and
West Bengal and members of the Indian History Congress, gave a damn for
Communists. They were harmless bores who counted for very little outside
the drinking area of the local Press Club. .....
A Hindu organisation in the US
has condemned reported discrimination against a Dalit student who was allegedly
victimised for offering prayers in a Hindu temple in India's Andhra Pradesh
state. .....
Our media analysts seem to be as
eager to be seen on the bandwagon of success as the political figures.
Only last December, these analysts were praising the 'spin doctors' of
the BJP, more specifically Arun Jaitley and Pramod Mahajan to the skies,
attributing the sweeping victory of the party in the Assembly elections
in three out of four major states to their 'brilliant' strategy, their
data banks and their computer-based analysis of every constituency, almost
streetwise. .....
Former Union HRD Minister, Dr Murli
Manohar Joshi has said if the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government
tries to reverse the changes that he had brought about in school curriculum,
the people of India and the world would laugh at them. .....
Are you as confused about who rules
India as I am? Puzzled that although Santa Sonia, our Lady of Renunciation,
so graciously handed the reins of power to her chosen subordinate, we still
see much more of her than we see of him. Since the new government took
office we have had two foreign ministers visit Delhi and where did they
head? Number 10 Janpath. .....
Apprehension aired by the Defence
authorities before giving green signal for starting cellular services in
this border State is proving right as terrorist outfits are now utilising
mobile services, instead of wireless system, to strengthen their communication
network. .....
India's general elections as I
expressed my fears in our previous issue, have ended in a hung parliament;
and consequently the outcome has made it an exercise in futility. A fractured
verdict shows the confused mind of the electorate. Although the slight
increase in number of seats for the Congress party is being hailed as a
great breakthrough; it surely is not the dawn of a new era. .....
The main conspirator of the terrorist
attack on Akshardham temple in Gandhinagar, Abu Hamza, was arrested in
a pre-dawn raid by the Scotland Yard in London on Thursday. .....
The April 1992 issue of the Russian
newspaper Argumenty i Fakty printed excerpts from a KGB document on funding
of active measures operations in India, one of the areas in which the KGB
was most active, particularly in the active measures realm. .....
In the recent parliamentary elections
in India, the stunning victory of the Congress Party over its archrival,
the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), and the refusal of its leader, Sonia Gandhi,
to accept the reins of the largest democracy on Earth, were not the only
surprises. .....
The Indian Railways seems to have
become the Rashtriya Janata Dal's private property ever since Laloo Prasad
Yadav took charge of the Railway Ministry, believe many. Not just the sattu-driven-down-your-throat
change in on-board cuisine, even reservation lists are being altered at
will by Laloo's men, much to the chagrin of the Railway staff. .....
The BJP on Wednesday took strong
exception to the reported statement of Law Minister H R Bharadwaj that
all government files can be shown to Congress president Sonia Gandhi as
she has Cabinet status being chairperson of National Advisory Council.
.....
The United Progressive Alliance
government seems determined to make the most of its weakness. For the amnesiac,
or those who may have just come in from Mars, Union Law Minister H.R. Bharadwaj
has served up a pointed reminder of the way things are in his government.
.....
Vandals have severely damaged rock
carvings at a historic Buddhist temple in Kazakhstan that marked the ancient
Silk Road between Europe and Asia, archaeologists in this former Soviet
republic said on Wednesday. .....
The opposition National Democratic
Alliance (NDA) on Wednesday objected to the Government's decision giving
Congress President Sonia Gandhi access to its files. .....
The Indian bishops' conference
have received no reply from the Saudi Arabian Embassy here regarding an
Indian citizen being tortured and imprisoned in the Mideast kingdom for
his faith. .....
An Indian-run school was attacked
in Nepal in renewed violence by Maoist rebels who have kept schools closed
for four days in a nationwide strike, officials said Wednesday. .....
Indian media was today cautioned
against blowing events out of proportion as Pakistan was taking advantage
of unsubstantiated reportage involving the armed forces, to achieve its
own ends, an Army official said. .....
Mr Ayaz Amir in his column "Triumph
of pragmatism" (May 21) states that "after the attack on the Indian parliament
in December 2001 - India blamed Pakistan without a shred of evidence -
..." .....
A recommendation by the Minority
Commission in Jharkhand to accord second language status to Bengali has
provoked a sharp reaction from other minority communities in the state,
particularly Muslims. .....
Fed up with the violence and atrocities
being committed by the so-called Mujahideens, local population of the twin
border districts of Poonch and Rajouri has been coming forward in a big
way to provide vital information to the security forces regarding presence
of terrorists. .....
They're not quite at the bra-burning
stage just yet, but Britain's half-a-million strong Hindu community has
begun a determined protest against the launch of designer swimwear and
lingerie emblazoned with Hindu deities at strategic places. .....
Even though the unrest in West
Asia seems to be nobody's case any more, the Left taking umbrage to Monday's
presidential address singling out Israel for a "mutually beneficial" relationship
is being seen as "tokenism". Two patriarchs of the CPI(M) have been part
of the Left's unusual bonhomie with Tel Aviv. .....
The prime minister of India heads
the largest democracy in the world. He has a huge responsibility and a
high level of public accountability. Amongst his foremost prerogatives
is to choose his council of ministers. If the minister does not enjoy his
confidence or public perception about him does not inspire confidence,
it is incumbent upon the PM to get rid of him. .....
Congress President Sonia Gandhi,
who has been appointed as the UPA Chairperson, will have the powers to
call for files from any Ministry, now that she has been given the status
of a Cabinet rank. .....
Was it a mere coincidence? The
day the new Government assumed power in Delhi, Beijing issued a White Paper,
"Regional Ethnic Autonomy in Tibet". This is not the first time that Beijing
has tried to convince its detractors of the good the Chinese regime has
brought to the Tibetans. .....
The British government has issued
a travel warning about a state in India, saying that a Muslim cleric had
criticised Britain and two other countries. .....
After an Islamist rampage in the
Saudi town of Khobar on May 29 and 30 that ended in the deaths of 22 people,
survivors of that atrocity have recounted how the terrorists went to great
lengths to ensure that they would kill only non-Muslims. Their actions
raise a delicate but urgent issue: how might non-Muslims best protect themselves
if caught in such a situation? .....
I have lived for 35 years in India.
I can say without boasting that I am one of the few Western journalists
who believe in India, believe in the greatness of this country, believe
that India is on the way to becoming a superpower, industrial, economic,
social, military, and above all spiritual. .....
Opinion is divided in Mumbai's
Muslim community over the validity of Sheikh Sharu's 'divorce' from
his wife, Najma, after he uttered 'talaq' thrice in an inebriated
state in Bhadrak, Orissa. .....
You know what? I'm having a little
problem with my inner voice. People who are experts on the subject (over
night!!), tell me I'm not paying enough attention to my conscience or my
children's sage advice. Maybe, they're right. This inner voice thing
is a little new to me. I guess it's a little new to all of us, in India.
Maybe, it's different in Italy. .....
Union Minister Mohammad Ali Ashraf
Fatimi has made loud proclamations before television cameras that leave
aside a chargesheet, even if there was a case of slapping an individual
registered against him or anybody in his family, he would quit. Well- said
Minister! .....
America has launched a secret war
against Islamic terrorists across the southern Sahara after it discovered
that a group linked to al-Qaeda bought heavy weapons using the proceeds
of a ransom deal with the German government. .....
Autorickshaw driver Biju is paying
a heavy price for having come to the support of a young deserted girl from
a different community in his neighbourhood, in Gudallai, near here. .....
Malaysia is sending moderate Islamic
preachers to the restive, Muslim-dominated south of Thailand, at Bangkok's
request, to spread a message of peace and progress in hopes of curbing
the region's wave of violence. .....
Kuala Lumpur- Mr. Zabidi Mohamed
is an author and a former court magistrate. But he was previously better
known as the man who was a fanatical senior leader of a religious cult
for 18 years. .....
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister
Mufti Mohammad Sayeed's decision to curtail the annual Amarnath Yatra to
one month has triggered a major controversy with the Governor S.K.Sinha
writing a "protest letter" about this "interference" in Shri Amarnath Shrine
Board (SANSB), reports PTI. .....
When it was a victory, the Cavalier
claimed it outright, the Gunner boasted of his prowess, the Signalman publicised
his worth but the Infantryman remained silent with victory at his feet.
.....
According to reports, on Diwali
day two young white men intruded into a Ram temple in Ealing Road, London,
and shook the idol of Ram, breaking an arm and the bow when a number of
women had congregated there for satsangh. .....
Israeli anti-terror efforts function
through a two-stage process: In stage one, the IDF acts -- e.g. entering
Jenin, building the security fence, or targeting Gaza terrorist cells.
In stage two, the terrorism abates -- enabling Israelis to proceed with
normal civilian life, fostering positive reform among Palestinians, and
creating a broader hope for reconciliation. .....
The Manmohan Singh government has
given Cabinet rank to Sonia Gandhi in her role as the head of the coordination
committee which is to look after the implementation of the UPA's common
minimum programme. .....
Let it be said rightaway without
mixing words: the Manmohan Singh Government which, in fact, is a Sonia
Gandhi government is a minority government and it has no mandate to rule.
It is entirely at the mercy of its so-called allies who will have no compunction
in making impossible demands and for all one knows the time will come sooner
or later when the Prime Minister will find it impossible to govern. .....
The recent general election threw
up some interesting aspects of major political parties' approach to the
situation in West Asia. For over four decades, virtually all political
parties except the BJP (that took a contrary pro-Israeli line), routinely
condemned Israel for its alleged acts of omission and commission. But neither
the NDA nor the Congress party followed this practice during the recent
election campaigns. .....
In March this year I had commented
in these columns that "if the general election for any political party
becomes an occasion to merely maintain status quo, then it shows the party
in poor light". .....
Tom Mc Tigue of Hawai'i Kai works
in the high-stress world of finance. For years he kept stress at bay by
open-ocean racing in his kayak. He even completed the treacherous Moloka'i-
to-O'ahu race 15 times. .....
In defending his " tainted ministerial
colleagues from the RJD, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a leader of unchallenged
integrity, could be setting double standard. Many of his own partymen are
now wondering whether the Congress was re-defining the high moral norms
it "preached" and even practised to an extent in the past. .....
Police in Gujarat will initiate
extradition proceedings to bring back Abu Hamza, who allegedly financed
the terrorist attack on the Akshardham temple near here last year and has
been recently arrested in London. .....
Abdul Sami lived in Gandhi Nagar,
Bhopal till last week, had a driving licence and a job as a data entry
operator at a multi-national bank franchisee. .....
The water rich State with an average
annual precipitation of more than 3000 mm, was reeling under water scarcity
conditions till recently. Many parts of this "God's own country" were facing
drought and the situation was getting further grim with falling groundwater
levels, shrinking wet lands, rivers running dry and frustrated farmers
committing suicide to escape debt traps. .....
Under the midday sun, an old man
climbs slowly to the roof of his centuries-old Silk Road mosque. Then,
standing beside a minaret, he calls the faithful to prayer. .....
Hidden a few kilometres down a
remote country lane in the heart of Thailand's troubled deep south, where
a Muslim separatist uprising has so far this year left more than 200 dead,
is the brand new, multimillion-dollar new campus of Yala Islamic College.
.....
Add Africa to the list of dangerous
arenas where Christianity and Islam are clashing. Anyone charting global
hot spots may know as much, but viewers of "Battle for Souls," on the Discovery
Times Channel tonight, can get a lesson in compounded pain. .....
Sam Manekshaw, the first field
marshal in the Indian army, was at the ringside of events when Independent
India was being formed. Then a colonel, he was chosen to accompany V P
Menon on his historic mission to Kashmir. This is his version of that journey
and its aftermath, as recorded in an interview with Prem Shankar Jha. .....
With due respect I wish to submit
few lines for your kind perusal. I request you some Clarification regarding
affiliation of a school with University of Cambridge. Recently a person
declared in her affidavit that she did a Certificate course at “Lennox
Cook School”, University of Cambridge in 1967. .....
One of the most disturbing developments
in the just concluded parliamentary elections is major political parties'
flirtation with the outlawed Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) to
garner Muslim votes. This phenomenon was more prominent in West Bengal
where Muslims constitute around 25 per cent of the total electorate and
can tilt the balance in at least 10 of 42 parliamentary constituencies
and on about 70 Assembly seats. .....
For obvious reasons, the flavour
of the coming month is going to be prescriptions. The new government is
in place and most of us would like to offer unsolicited advice on what
it should be doing aware that those in the decision-making loop perhaps
know more of the subject than we do. The problem is that frequently the
impulse to offer advice is irresistible. .....
