This cost the government dear

The Union Government did create a “national hero” and “brave son of the soil” of Sarabjit Singh but now it has been facing consequences. The question being raised is: on which basis was he conferred this honour?: funeral with state honour, participation of great state and political personalities therein, financial aid to his kin, high-sounding condolence messages, why all this? While his kin say that when he was in the Pakistani jail, no sincere effort at any level was made to free him. And, had he been hanged there, there would not have been this much fuss. But, why this burst of sentiments of love and compassion when he was attacked by his jail inmates and succumbed to it? About all political parties and other social and media circles had come together to make a hero of him but the butt of criticism is the government in particular; for the government is constitutional and legal; its money is public money; it is accountable to the government. But above all, it is responsible for all the consequences and repercussions of its actions.

These are the consequences and repercussions

And it is these consequences and repercussions that are chasing the government. Some realities that had been unknown to the public are also coming to the fore. One of them is that the various security and intelligence agencies of the country recruit spies on their own, pay them monthly remuneration, convince them to do this work in the name of patriotism and service to the nation, and promises to look after their family members in case they are caught or get confronted with some incident abroad. In this regard a report was published in the English daily The Hindu on 5 May, according to which, after the Sarabjit incident, all those who had been sent abroad for espionage are raising voices for remuneration and rehabilitation. They were caught there and when returned home after undergoing long jail sentences they found their respective houses ruined and none to look after their family members. Some of them knocked the doors of courts of law but they were not accepted as spies there; even respondent government officials would refuse to acknowledge them.

On the wings of sentimental politics

According to the report, a Chandigarh based advocate Ranjan Lakhanpal has filed cases on behalf of forty such persons in the Punjab and Haryana High Court and fighting their cases for free. The biggest hurdle he has been facing is how to establish the status of the applicants. The court and the government do not accept them as spies. But after the Sarabjit incident they have got fresh breath and Advocate Lakhanpal is also in fresh mood. Although the government did not accept even Sarabjit as its spy, nor did any intelligence agency declare him as its “own man” – it was as if his status was yet to be established, yet there is a ray of hope for the former spies of Punjab and Jammu. In response to the question as to why the government made Sarabjit a hero, only one thing can be said: the politics of sentimental patriotism. Had it not done so, Saffron parties would have created a fresh headache for the government and the Congress. However, with the Sarabjit episode, one fact once again stands proved that besides having the desire to emerge as a wold power the ruling class here cannot go ahead without hollow patriotism and sensational issues.

13/05/2013 khabar-O-Nazar by Parwaaz Rahmani, sehrozaDAWAT, translated by: Abu Yusuf

“Why was India silent?”

The whole India did cry over the killing of Sarabjit Singh in the Kot Lakhpat jail of Lahore; both the Houses of Parliament rang with the cry; but why was India silent on the killing of a young man named Muhammad Qateel, who was killed in the same condition, in a Pune jail last year?” This question was raised by the Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid Delhi, Syed Ahmed Bukhari during his Friday sermon at Jama Masjid on 3 May. And this is the question which would have been haunting the mind of Indian Muslims as well as every other conscientious person who would have listened to in the evening of 8 June or read in newspapers on 9 June last year the news of brutal killing of 27-year old Qateel Siddiqui in Yerwada Jail of Pune. Qateel was charged of being a member of “Indian Mujahideen” and of having been involved in the blasts at Delhi, Bangalore and Pune; the charges were not proved till then as they were being heard. Two of his jail inmates slaughtered him brutally in the Pune jail in the morning of 8 June 2012; and he died then and there; there was no use of rushing him to hospital. Qateel was inhabitant of Darbhanga and father of a little girl. Delhi Police had handed him over to Maharashtra ATS.

This is the question of every justice-loving person
This question of Shahi Imam is in fact the question of every justice-loving person in the country. Further, this question is not to the government or any other institution but to the whole country. Shahi Imam has awakened the conscience of the nation by saying that “why was India that raised a mountain out of a molehill on the killing of Sarabjit silent on the killing of Qateel”. Sarabjit, who was a culprit in the eyes of our neighbouring country and the court of law over there, was a terrorist; a sentence was pronounced formally against him. It is yet not clear as to what Sarabjit was, who he was, whether he was a government man and was there on duty. But extending so much extraordinary sympathy to him that he was declared a national hero, his last rites were performed with state honour, great government and political personalities participated therein, wealth and bubbling compassion was showered upon his family members, is alright. We have no objection to this much sympathy shown to him. The fact remains that the way he was attacked in the jail is to us very unfortunate. We too have sympathy with his family members, particularly with his two daughters who have now been orphaned. But the question is why even the one-hundredth rather one-thousandth of this sympathy was not given to Qateel and his family?

And such is the occasion
And such is the occasion whereon state discrimination between citizens and citizens comes to light. Whatever the union and state governments as well as political parties did is understandable because this was the requirement of their politics. All this is in accordance with the tradition of pseudo-nationalists. But what is a matter of concern is that none of the great commentators and those participating in discussions of TV channels made any mention of Qateel, not to say of making any comparison (between the two cases). And this fact also lends credence to the question raised by the Shahi Imam as to why (the conscience of) India was silent? – This question should be a moment of reckoning for the government and the ruling class. If a large chunk of the population in the country starts feeling discrimination, injustice and discriminatory behaviour, what will be its impact on the society? – As for making Sarabjit a national hero, some newspapers have raised question thereon. The Editor of the Indian Express in the 3 and 4 May issues of the paper has discussed this very question as to why Sarabjit was given this status. Although, the Express too has ignored any comparison of the case with Qateel’s, yet the question is vital and the Express wants the government to clarify it.

10/05/2013 khabar-O-Nazar by Parwaaz Rahmani, sehrozaDAWAT, translated by: Abu Yusuf

After the PIL

A social worker Kamlesh Vaswani, in a PIL, has demanded that viewing and showing obscene images and scenes on the internet should be banned and be declared as a non-bailable offence. But this plea of Vaswani did not sound good to those who are raising voices against sex crimes and barbarism against kids. They are against any such law in the name of social and sexual freedom. They say that it would violate individuals’ likes and dislikes and their right to view, read and hear (whatever they like). English journalist Vaishna Roy, in his analysis, having strongly defended the stand of Vaswani, rejected the arguments of those who are opposing the plea. He has written that sexual assaults, whether on grownup girls and women or on tender-aged girls, have certain stimulants, and viewing pornography on internet (computer, laptops and mobile phones) is a big stimulant (The Hindu, 29 April). Uploading pornographic scenes on the internet and then viewing them on a large scale is a very big stimulant of sexual assaults, total ban on which is essential so that the new generation might be saved from destruction.

The strange attitude

But some people do not agree to this analysis of Vaishna Roy. Two letter-writers in The Hindu (30 April) have refused to believe that pornography has anything to do with sexual assaults. These letter-writers do realize its evil consequences and want to save the new generation therefrom but do not see its role in sexual assaults. And it is this strange attitude of Indian civil society that comes to the fore on such occasions and which proves the fact that this society is not sincere in its efforts to bring the crimes to an end. This was the collective attitude of the civil society towards the discussion on the brutality perpetrated recently on a 23-old girl student. All were laying stress on subjecting the brutes to severest punishment and enacting stringent laws but none of them was willing to talk on causes and stimulants, particularly on the point that girls and young women should be careful about their dress and lifestyle. If someone said something like this during discussions on channels, they would hoot him out. They were of the view that sexual brutes are brutes; they do not consider dress, lifestyle or age.

In other issues too

And this attitude of the society is seen in other issues as well. When discussion is initiated after every incident of terrorism, then (1) focus is turned within no time and without any hesitation to the persons belonging to a particular religious community, and then (2) efforts are made to prove that these people do this without any rhyme or reason. If someone meekly submits that after all there must have been some cause, other participants of the discussion attack him. In a discussion someone said that earlier this was not the situation; this situation has been created after the demolition of Babari Masjid, other participants stood in anger and spoke in one voice: “You are justifying terrorism; a terrorist is only a terrorist; he does not need any cause. – However, this mentality cannot be dubbed as the mentality of the entire Indian society. This is the mentality of some particular sections; this makes it abundantly clear that they do not have any interest in bringing the moral crimes to an end nor do they want to know the reality of terrorism. This attitude further strengthens the belief that there had never been any role of any Muslim individual or group in any terror blast after 1993. This situation has been created just to defame Islam and make Muslims hapless. The reality would come to the fore only if there is an open debate on the issue.

07/05/2013 khabar-O-Nazar by Parwaaz Rahmani, sehrozaDAWAT, translated by: Abu Yusuf

This report of a conference

“New terror staging post…. The congregation of 5,00,000 people in a small town in Nepal has created fears of fresh attack on India… this ijtema in Krishnanagar town on Nepal's southern border with India in Uttar Pradesh, in which 5,00,000 people fromIndia, Nepal, the UK, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries participated, have taken everyone by surprise… particularly Mufti Dr Wasiullah Abbas of the Haramsharif in Makkah participated in it … this congregation was organised all of a sudden which took the Indian authorities by surprise…. terrorists from Pakistan can easily infiltrate such meets…. weapons, drugs and fake currency notes from Pakistan can be brought to India through Nepal…. A former officer of the Sashastra Seema Bal said, ‘Ever since Hindu Nepal declared itself a secular nation, we have been watching the rapid growth of Islamic religious activities in that country’… BJP MP Aditya Nath is also raising his voice against it… former member of Hizbul Mujahideen Liyaqat Shah also came to India through this route…. There is a long history of Islamic terrorists coming to India and then returning through Nepal…. RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) is keeping a close eye on it.”

The Report was prepared in Lucknow

This is a summary of the report; the original report is much more horrible. At the first stance, this report seems to be of the “Organiser” weekly, which is the organ of R.S.S and publishes writings of this kind regularly to which no one other than the Sangh readers pay attention. But this report has been published in a big mainstream English daily The Hindustan Times on 22 April; its lady reporter has prepared it while sitting in Lucknow. This is a very irresponsible and misleading report. This conference of Nepal was in fact an international conference on Dawah and education organised by Jamia Sirajul Uloom Salfia, which is a renowned educational institution of Ahle-Hadees sect in Jhandanagar, Nepal. The Hindustan Times report has expressed aspersion that people belonging to “hardline Ahle-Hadees sect” participated in this conference. The maximum number of participants would have been fifty thousand but the reporter has mentioned it as five lakh. A separate session was held in the conference for non-Muslims, in which they expressed their views and put questions as well. The lady reporter has tried to mislead her readers on this also.

Part of a well-hatched campaign

This report of The Hindustan Times is a masterpiece of lies and malice, in which efforts have been made to instigate and mislead people. It is part of the move that has been on for a long time to defame Islam, Muslims and their institutions. There is no scope here of nurturing the excuse that the lady reporter might have written all this due to ignorance; this is part of a well-hatched campaign to spread misapprehensions about Islam and Muslims and to demonize them. And this is the same malice about which the renowned English commentator Sagarika Ghose lamented in the 13 March issue of this very newspaper. Ms Ghose must have read this report as well which must have consolidated her view that media is formally running a move to demonize Muslims. Sagarika Ghose is an anchor, commentator and analyst, not a political or social activist. So the practical measures to make the situation better cannot be expected of her. But she can at least tell the news editor of The Hindustan Times to check such reports prior to publishing them just for the sake of the image of the newspaper. 

01/05/2013 khabar-O-Nazar by Parwaaz Rahmani, sehrozaDAWAT, translated by: Abu Yusuf

That family of Chechnya

In the international media there are long sensational stories on the two Muslim brothers captured for Boston bombings. According to them, they were Chechen Americans and believed in “jihadi Islam”. Their parents too are Muslims of hardline beliefs and live in Russia. The elder brother, 26-year old Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who according to the police was the “mastermind” of the attacks, was killed. (There are three different theories of his having been killed.) He was a budding boxer but had been taking interest in Islamic “jihadi” ideologies for quite some time. And his mother Zubaida threw him on this line. Tamerlan married an American girl namedKatherine Russell and made her also a follower of strict Islamic commandments. The younger brother, 19-year old Dzhokhar Tsarnev is a student and was injured and is now in a hospital under police custody. His elder brother Tamerlan trained him in Islamic jihad and destructive activities. (The Times of India, 22, 23, 24 April; The Hindu 22 April). The story of Dzhokhar having been injured is also different. Now American agencies are trying to discover whether the two brothers made these attacks as part of some big conspiracy. Zubaida and her daughter-in-law Katherine are also being suspected.

What the analysis says

If one makes an unbiased analysis of the information on this Chechen family provided by the international media itself, the picture coming to light is that this is a practising family having true faith. Zubaida and Katherine are followers of hijab, saum and salat and other Shari’ah commandments. The character of Tamerlan and Dzhokhar was also the same. And it was this character that was the biggest crime of the Chechen family to the American agencies. This is why the American agencies had been keeping the two brothers under surveillance so that they might be implicated through concocted evidences. The thinking of Zubaida which further provoked American agencies and the media is the news that she takes the 9 September attacks as the conspiracy of American agencies themselves and that she has many theories in this regard. This was revealed to the media by a woman who had visited Zubaida. Besides, the statement of the father of the two brothers (husband of Zubaida) Anzor Tsarnaev that the planning for the 15 April bomb blasts at Boston Marathon was made by F.B.I also aggravated the anger of the agencies.

Jihad is the real target

Like every story of those nurturing “war on terrorism”, the Boston story is also absurd as it has many aspects. But if, for the time being, the basic target is considered, it is the word ‘jihad’. It has been said that both the young men and their parents have belief in jihadi teachings; that is, they do something very wrong. And jihad is the Islamic term which had been always the target of anti-Islam forces. At one time efforts were made to abrogate the injunction for jihad through its Islamic interpretation itself. In the near past the Qadianis were exploited for this purpose. And today it is being equated with terrorism and destructive activities. Indian media and the agencies here are also parroting the same. The Maharashtra police recently tried to terrorise people by calling the activities of G.I.O, an organisation of Muslim girl students, jihadi activities. The propaganda of defaming the word ‘jihad’ is so strong that certain Muslims too have started taking it in this meaning. Therefore, sometimes, after the arrest of a Muslim youth, his father is heard saying ‘my son is not jihadi’. And thus liars and conspirators are getting success in their mission but the efforts of the truthful to bring the truth in the limelight are not that organised

. 

28/04/13 khabar-O-Nazar by Parwaaz Rahmani, sehrozaDAWAT, translated by: Abu Yusuf