What does Khap Panchayat want?

The Khap Panchayat of Haryana wants the Government to lower the age of marriage of boys and girls, and that when they (youth) reach the marriageable age, they should be allowed to get married legally. This move would help contain crimes against girls. The representative of Maha Panchayat, Sube Singh, in a statement at Rohtak, went to the extent of saying that films and TV serials, in which the teen-aged are presented in sexually enticing and fashionable dresses, are responsible to a great extent for sexual crimes and excesses against girls. This creates sensual sentiments in teen-aged boys and girls prematurely, and they experience it in their practical life. Besides, modern culture and lifestyle also is a great cause for the waywardness and sexual anarchy of the tender-aged. – (The Times of India, October 6) Earlier, leader of Jat Mahasabha of Haryana, Om Prakash Man had also made such a demand. The leader of Meham Chaubeesi Khap Panchayat, Randhir Singh also supports this demand. In the backdrop of these statements of Jat and Khap leaders are the incidents of sexual assaults on young girls that took place recently in Delhi and Haryana.

Government won’t do it

After a hue and cry raised by some quarters, certain Khap leaders and Khap panchayats rejected the said statement or proposal or kept themselves aloof. The leaders of Khap Maha Panchayat and Jat Maha Sabha seem to be educated, far-sighted and realistic. They should have stuck to their demand; however they should not have expected its approval from the government. For, this government has been practicing double standard. On the one hand it raises voice against social and sexual crimes and enacts stringent laws but on the other hand creates and promotes all those causes and grounds that serve as the source of these crimes; on the one hand it highlights the ill effects of wine with the help of big advertisements and hoardings and warns against the dangerous and fatal consequences of its consumption but on the other hand ever widens the network of government liquor shops and centers so that the government exchequer might be strengthened. Then this situation should also be seen in the backdrop of globalization and the aspirations of being the world power. The obscenity, nudity and waywardness which the Khap and Jat leaders are complaining against are being imported from the west. The government will not lower the age of marriage because it will stop the foreign aid received in the name of birth control.

Awake the society

The social disaster modern culture can create as pinpointed by the leaders of Haryana was also highlighted by the chief minister of West Bengal Mamta Banerjee in a function in Kolkata on October 15. These leaders must raise such issues with the government. But the real work is to revolutionize the society against these moral ills. (And for this) all those sections and religious groups, who are fed up by these issues, will have to be brought to one platform. As for Muslims, they agree hundred per cent with the Khap and Jat leaders in regard to sexual crimes. A representative conference of all these leaders should be convened in which a united, common course of action should be devised. First of all, attention will have to be paid to media which is the biggest source of promotion of obscenity, shamelessness, nudity and waywardness. And, why only sexual crimes? This media is also the source of promotion of social and religious injustice. If Khap, Jat and Muslim leaders do this work jointly, it would be a great service to the country. Every sensible person of every section of society will support them.

28/ 10/12 khabar-O-Nazar by Parwaaz Rahmani, sehrozaDAWAT, translated by: Abu Yusuf

Malala and Angelina

Angelina Jolie – This is a western lady who is reportedly a social ambassador of the United Nations. She is influenced by the story of the Pakistani girl Malala so much as she narrated it in detail to her six kids. Thereafter she wrote an article on this very subject in which she shared how she informed her kids about the attack on the 14-year-old Malala. According to a PTI report in The Times of India (October 18), “I felt compelled to share Malala's story with my children. It was difficult for them to comprehend a world where men would try to kill a child whose only crime was the desire that she and others like her be allowed to go to school.” This article of Angelina Jolie was published in Daily Beast in which she also hoped that “Malala will be in contention for a Nobel Peace Prize”. This report is one of the reports on Malala that are being published in continuity these days. Each of these reports further strengthens the idea that it was anti-Islam forces that got this attack on Malala perpetrated.

Long-term conspiracy

This is a long-term conspiracy – a conspiracy of the kind of “9/11” which was hatched to devastate some Muslim countries and defame the Muslim Ummah. It can be just imagined about what and in which manner Angelina would have taught her kids. The kids would have asked: “Mom, who are these people and why they don’t let children study?” Mom would have told them: “They are Muslims.” One kid would have asked: “Who are Muslims?” Mom: “Those who believe in Islam.” Kids: “What is Islam? What are its teachings?” Mom: “It gives only such teachings; it is they who had made an attack on New York towers.” – This is not figment of imagination or some raw thought, rather a fact. Anti-Islam communities thus inculcate poison against Islam and Muslims in the minds of their new generation right from their childhood. All such strategies are devised by the Jews. In our country also there is a wide network of pathshalas and institutions of higher classes in which all this is taught. Then its influence is felt on the general Indian life.

Realisation of veracity is a must

And the backdrop of “attack” on Malala is that America has a large-scale plan of army attack or bombardment on Waziristan and northern areas of Pakistan so that it might purge those areas of “extremist” Islamic elements, establish its armed occupation and thus control both Pakistan and Afghanistan. This objective is not being fulfilled with drone attacks. For a large operation, the excuse should also be large enough. Therefore a tender age girl, who somehow had got fame earlier, was shot at. And now that girl and the attack on her are being exploited to defame practising Muslims. And in this conspiracy the government of Pakistan is hands in glove because American slaves are at the helm of affairs in Pakistan nowadays. And it is they who are made to air the story of Malala. It is rather difficult for non-Muslim commentators and journalists to understand the reality of these incidents; so no complain against them. But the Muslim journalists and commentators who are looking at this incident from surface level and commenting on it accordingly are facilitating the work of conspiracies unconsciously.

25/ 10/12 khabar-O-Nazar by Parwaaz Rahmani, sehrozaDAWAT, translated by: Abu Yusuf

Malala of Pakistan

Malala Yousufzai – It is the name of a tender age girl of the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan, and nowadays has rent the air the world over with reference to Pakistan. Her age is said to be 14 years. There was a news report on 9^th October that she was shot at while she along with other girls was getting into a school van. The attackers are reportedly the people belonging to the Taliban movement of Pakistan. They have enmity with Malala because, as the media is reporting, she not only insists on continuing her education but has also launched a movement for the rights of girls. In 2009, when (according to media) she was just 11 years old, the Taliban bombed her school but she did not give up education. Then she got worldwide fame after her statement was telecast by BBC. This is why the entire world including Pakistan cried when a fatal attack was made on her on October 9. Praise and bouquets for her and condemnation for her attackers outpoured from all quarters. The government of Pakistan sprang up in action immediately. Malala was admitted to a military hospital, a special plane was kept ready to fly her outside the country if need be, and she was flown to London on October 15.

Behind the curtain of sympathy

A teenage girl was shot; it was wrong. Everyone is condemning it and rightly so. May Allah bless her with health and life! Malala and all girls like her should get modern education; no one can contradict it. Those who are condemning it are worth condemning. And if this condemnation is being made in the name of Islam, it is all the more unfortunate. But in this international outpouring of sympathy for Malala it is observed that Islam and Islamic groups are being targeted. Islamic groups are directly under attack. This is the way the world media including Indian media is reporting it. It is being projected that the Taliban are against the education of girls; they want girls to live within the four-walls of home, oppress women and this act of theirs is in accordance with Islamic teachings. Now the situation is that 14-year-old Malala is being projected in the world as the symbol of women’s liberty and the greatest champion of girls’ right to education. The impression is being given that Malala has revolted against “Islamic fundamentalists”. Now the government of Pakistan is to confer on her the greatest national award.

A few questions

In this regard there are some questions: (1) Whether the Taliban who attacked Malala are real or floated? The fact remains that many groups of floated Taliban are active in Pakistan; most of them are floated by America. The agents of CIA and Mossad are among them and it is they who are responsible for the acts of terrorism in Pakistan. (2) Why do the international media not take notice of dozens of Malalas killed in American drone attacks in the North-West Frontier regions? (3) Even the government of Pakistan is also raising the issue of attack on Malala Yousufzai with much vigour but it never raised the issue of the Malalas killed in American drone attacks. (4) While condemning the attack on Malala by the so-called Taliban, certain Muslim sections and journalists are speaking in the same terms as the anti-Islam forces want them to. Do they believe that the attack on Malala was made by practising Muslims? The fact remains that the innocent girl and the attack on her are being exploited for anti-Islam propaganda and for providing an excuse for army action in Waziristan. Two leaders of that country, Qazi Husain Ahmad and Imran Khan have also made this statement.

22/ 10/12 khabar-O-Nazar by Parwaaz Rahmani, sehrozaDAWAT, translated by: Abu Yusuf

When Gujarat was burning

Harish Khare is one of the few journalists who present honest comments on events and developments straightforwardly and courageously, is man-friendly and advocate of religious impartial values. In his recent article (The Hindu, 4^th October) he has presented his personal experience in context of the events of Gujarat 2002. ‘Two days after bloody riots erupted in Gujarat, I got a call late in the evening from an Ahmedabad-based officer of the Indian Police Service. The policeman simply said: “Sir, I am embarrassed to make this call. I am told that a local BJP legislator in Mehsana district is planning to undertake a massacre of Muslims tonight. And I am ashamed that there is no one here who will listen.” Hearing these details from the police officer, I rang up my friend Brajesh Mishra. He listened to me very attentively and said, “Let me see.” Next morning I got another call from the police officer, who was obviously relieved and said: “Sir, I do not know what you did or to whom you talked; within two hours, an army posse reached the spot, rowdies were made to stay put, and their bloody plans sabotaged. Over 100 lives were saved.’

Brajesh Mishra

Mr. Khare in fact wrote this article to pay a tribute to Brajesh Mishra who had died on 28^th September at the age of 84. At that time he (Brajesh Mishra) was Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and also National Security Advisor. Harish Khare writes: ‘A few days later, when I went over to the Prime Minister’s Office to have my weekly tea with Mishra,… he observed: “Those of us who have the good fortune to work in this office for the Prime Minister of India can never become indifferent to the obligation of social harmony.”’ (The Hindu, 4^th October) Harish writes that Brajesh Mishra was a far-sighted, open-minded, broad-minded and a patriotic person in the true sense. His standpoint was that the progress and stability of the country is not possible without inner security, and inner security is not possible without impartiality between all groups and sections and without total religious neutrality. He considered the activities of Advani, Modi and the Sangh Parivar detrimental to the country, and was in support of developing better relations with Pakistan for the progress and stability of the country. In this regard, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee was his co-believer. These two were sad and concerned over the policy following which Modi and his cohorts came to power once again in 2002.

Three characters of the story

With this article three positive characters come before us: (1) The responsible but helpless police officer who was concerned about the planning of rioters in the village Mehsana; (2) Harish Khare, who was a journalist and political commentator but also wanted to fulfil his responsibility as a responsible citizen which he did well; (3) Brajesh Mishra who was a high and powerful officer in the office of the Prime Minister and he did exploit his powers rightly and at the right time. – The case is about ten years old. During this period many changes took place in politics and government. In Gujarat those who were the killers of humanity got strengthened while at the Centre the standpoint of Brajesh Mishra and Vajpayee got weakened. But ten years later when Harish Khare, while writing on Brajesh Mishra, is stressing the same standpoint, same thinking and same farsightedness, it clearly means that the Indian society is not lacking in right-thinking and principled commentators. Harish was also appointed as Press Advisor to the present Prime Minister Manmohan Singh but later got separated on some principled ground. Anyhow, every responsible citizen will welcome the views of this responsible journalist.

16/ 10/12 khabar-O-Nazar by Parwaaz Rahmani, sehrozaDAWAT, translated by: Abu Yusuf

After Tehelka report

After the publication of Ashish Khetan’s article in the September 8 issue of Tehelka, detailing how he had exposed the killers and mischief-mongers of Gujarat 2002 one-sided riots through his investigative report in October 2007 and how he made them record on camera the details of their crimes, the readers of Tehelka wrote many letters published in the later issues of Tehelka, praising the courage and honesty of Ashish. In his report Ashish in fact had complained that the countrymen had not reacted to his report which had been prepared with extraordinary struggle and striving in the manner he and his colleagues had expected. In these letters the complain of Ashish was considered right. In the September 8 article of Tehelka the biased attitude of judges and high government officials was also dealt with in detail. The letter writers also welcomed this daring. Some letters of this sort are included in the October 6, 2012 issue of Tehelka. One of them has something extraordinary to say and it is this something extraordinary that is the subject of discussion here.

That extraordinary point

And that something extraordinary has been written by Dibya Mohapatra in her email. After writing that Ashish Khetan has “done a great service to mankind and specially to the people of India”, she has written, “We have made our people no more than animals and the animals in our country have no sympathy at all.” The letter writer has not explained her point of view but the context in which it has been said can be understood. The incidents of Gujarat 2002 are in backdrop, where man-looking beasts exhibited their extraordinary bestiality. Whatever might have been in the mind of the letter writer while writing that ‘we have made our people no more than animals’, it does reveal a fact that in this country there is a group which strives to affect the morality of citizens in a formal, organised and programmed manner. It teaches them how to tell lies, how to spread lies and how to believe in lies; it makes them unjust, and creates hatred and anger in their hearts and minds against the sections that fall from the pale of its oppressive social system.

Sources of animal-making

This work of making animals out of humans has been going on for a pretty long time with the help of textbooks and literature, by metamorphosing historical facts, with provocative slogans and speeches, through campaigns and rallies, and by exploiting media. The range of this campaign spreads right from labourers working in fields, farms and factories to high government officers, police personnel, policymakers, traders, industrialists and judges. In this situation generation after generation is prepared. When they step into the practical life, they display such kind of mentality. Gujarat was made the laboratory of this mentality. This is why when a train was set on fire at Godhra station in February 2002, and on this basis riots were flared up then the animals prepared in this laboratory did their work. Perhaps India is the only land of its kind in the comity of nations where a group having claims of patriotism strives for destruction of morality rather than construction of morality, as a result of which men become animals and according to Dibya Mohapatra animals have no sympathy with anyone. We don’t know how those who are talking of making this country a world power look at this situation.

13/ 10/12 khabar-O-Nazar by Parwaaz Rahmani, sehrozaDAWAT, translated by: Abu Yusuf