“These Taliban-looking people”

The lady reporter of The Asian Age (9 May) has reported the presence of a group in Lakhimpur district of Eastern U.P. that associated itself with the Taliban and like them issues its dictates. According to these dictates, “marriage functions should be organised during daytime, not in the night; marriages should be solemnised with simplicity, extravagance and trivialities must be avoided.” According to the report, those violating this “dictate” will be punished with one hundred lashes. The lady reporter says that “this mission has caused great fear in the people of Palia and adjoining places. This place in Lakhimpur district is situated at the border of Nepal. There are certain influential persons behind the mission; so no one dares to speak against them. The police also know this but do not have courage to take any action.” The report says that the fearful families are either organising marriage functions during the day or leaving the place for other towns. The reporter has also mentioned the names of some such persons.

These are social reform measures

There is not much detail in the report. This report has been prepared in Lucknow. It can be imagined what the reality would have been. It is true that at such places in U.P. Muslims have taken such measures with a view to reform the society so that the society may be saved from extravagance and un-Islamic acts. The purpose of organising functions during daylight hours is that people gather in the day with simplicity and depart after performing necessary acts and customs. In case of marriage functions at night many wrong things happen; participants get involved in trivialities for the whole night; men and women get the opportunity of free mixing as a result of which unpleasant incidents often take place. – This social reform measure is taken not only by responsible Muslims but in other societies as well. In the marriages solemnised in non-Muslim societies the use of pap janani is inevitable part of the function – without which marriage cannot be imagined. This process goes on for the whole night as a result of which sometimes the situation takes a very serious turn. Pro-reform persons in the non-Muslims society are perturbed about it.

Double-sidedness of society

This must have been the reality of the report of Lakhimpur. But here what is worth considering is that the lady reporter has presented this social reform measure in wrong colour by dubbing it a “Talibani” move and in this regard made coercion its basis. If there is really force and coercion being used, it is condemnable. But, believe it, if the entire Muslim society of that place would have done this work with total consent and pleasure of all and no coercion would have been there, even then the media would have presented it as an evil. And this is a big proof of the double-sidedness of society including media. On the one hand, these people raise voice against sexual brutality and other moral crimes but on the other hand when a community or a section of citizens tries to bring the causes and promptings of crimes to an end, they oppose it in the name of freedom, enlightenment and likes and dislikes. – And this is a very easy way to defame Taliban. First they launched an international campaign to defame Taliban by dubbing their (Taliban’s) highly ethical acts as those of dark and middle ages. Then they ascribed to the Taliban those incidents of violence and terrorism for which in fact their enemies are responsible and now they are using the word Taliban as name-calling. 

22/05/2013 khabar-O-Nazar by Parwaaz Rahmani, sehrozaDAWAT, translated by: Abu Yusuf 

Whose SIM was it?

Do you know with whose SIM card the bomb blast near the BJP office in Bangalore on 17 April was operated? That SIM card belonged to an RSS leader who lives near the Karnataka-Kerala border. This has been revealed by the Bangalore police itself. But no, please do not form any opinion with this much information. Read the news that follows: “According to the police, this SIM card along with the mobile phone was stolen one day before the blast. And the burglar is a man named Kichan Buhari who committed the blast. Besides this SIM card, 15 more SIM cards were recovered from him which were all stolen.” Now the question is whether the Sangh leader registered with the police a case of the stealth of his mobile phone. The police did reach this leader, questioned him but having accepted his statement that his phone was stolen as gospel truth threw him out of the purview of suspicion. The police also refused to reveal the identity of that man. (The Hindu, 11 May) The police have detained many Muslims besides Buhari in this case.

This is the practice of police

I don’t know how many Muslim leaders paid attention to this mischief of Karnataka police. It is palpably clear that the police want to protect the real culprits who got this blast committed in order to benefit the BJP in the assembly elections. And this is not the first specimen of this act of Indian police. Rather it is its regular practice. When a bomb blast shook a riverbank in Varanasi a few years ago, the police did catch the two persons who had claimed the responsibility of the crime; they were caught at a place in Maharashtra; they were not Muslims. They made the statement that their computer was hacked. And the police accepted their statement as truth without any argument and let them go. In 2008 some persons were killed while making bombs in a house in Kanpur; they were not Muslims. When the high police official was asked whether anyone was arrested from that place, the reply was: “When no one is taking the responsibility, how can we arrest anyone?” Earlier, the same happened in a house in Nanded and the attitude of the police was the same there too. Many reports have to say that the police do reach the real culprits but having let them free go in search of their pet prey.

 And this worry of the Muslim leadership

It is heard that Muslim leaders are worried about the arrests of innocent Muslim youth and implicating them in concocted cases, and very much concerned about the police actions. Processions, conferences and high-sounding statements confirm this. But this worry is surface-level. No solid action is in sight. Had the Muslim leadership been conscious.

19/05/2013 khabar-O-Nazar by Parwaaz Rahmani, sehrozaDAWAT, translated by: Abu Yusuf 

Sexual brutality – an aspect

Famous Dalit scholar Kancha Ilaiah is of the view that it is not mere sexual lust or mental disorder but also some social phenomena that gives way to sexual brutality on women, young and little girls. In an article in The Asian Age on 10 May he writes: “In the Indian society woman has always been considered inferior. Her status has never been more than a maidservant and dutiful being. Man always behaves with her thus considering her inferior and dissolute. And this behavior is in accordance with the ancient religion and culture and has roots in the acts of great personalities of ancient mythology. We have Lord Krishna who stole the clothes of women while they were bathing in river Yamuna. He did so to tease them and for the pleasure of watching the beauty of their naked bodies…. We have Lakshman, the brother of Ramchandraji, who cut the nose and ear lobes of a woman who approached him professing her love…. And there is Ramchandraji who left his dutiful wife on the random outburst of a dhobi so much so that she commits suicide. And there is Shivji, who insisted on meeting Parvati and did so by eliminating a child who was keeping guard at the open door….”

Doings of mental upbringing
According to Prof. Ilaiah, it is these gods and goddesses whose images are installed in homes with much reverence. Rather the images of those acts of theirs the reference of which has been mentioned above are decorated in homes. Children grow up seeing these images. He has also criticized Gautam Buddha, who is considered a god of Dalit sections, about how he abandoned his dutiful wife with an infant child. Besides this history, Prof. Ilaiah has also thrown light on the character of great political personalities who never behaved equally with their women. He has mentioned among them Gandhiji, Pandit Nehru and Dr. Radhakrishnan. While dealing with other phenomena, he has analyzed films. He has written that the film industry has made the exhibition of beauty and physical shapes of women the source of its income right from the beginning. In short, to Kancha Ilaiah, behind sexual assault lie historical realities and the mental upbringing and habits of the inhabitants here.

Consider these aspects as well
Kancha Ilaiah is director, Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy, Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad. As a Dalit scholar, he severely criticises social system and the behaviour of so-called high castes here; he looks at every evil found in the country from the same angle. Maybe, there is exaggeration in his presentations but he presents his submission with arguments. Perhaps due to paucity of time he did not mention the sculptural specimens in the caves of Elora and Ajanta that speak of the ancient history of sexual promptings here and serve as prompters of the sexual act. In his future commentaries the Professor must analyse the double standard of this society that they have adopted in ignoring the causes and promptings of sexual brutality. This society does not talk of imposing ban on alcohol and other intoxicants. It also does not believe in moralising women and young girls. It goes out of proportion with the mention of hijab, purdah and modesty. If Professor Ilaiah discusses these aspects too, his writings will be more effective.

16/05/2013 khabar-O-Nazar by Parwaaz Rahmani, sehrozaDAWAT, translated by: Abu Yusuf

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