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Why Arab's will be rooting for Spain?

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ALKHOBAR: An overwhelming majority of Saudi football fans will be rooting for Spain on Sunday night when it tangles with the Netherlands in the FIFA World Cup 2010 final at the Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg.

There are a variety of reasons — some predictable and some bizarre — as to why the men and women of this nation of 28 million people are supporting the men in red.

For Jasim M. Al-Yaqout, the Eastern Province general manager of the Ministry of Culture and Information, it is the happy memories of Spain and Spaniards that makes him back the Spanish team.

“They are a very friendly people. I know this firsthand having visited Spain four times. Once I spent nearly six months in Seville in connection with the Saudi Expo there. I was also there during the opening of the Islamic center in Madrid years ago. They are a lovely people. Tonight my prayers are with them,” said Al-Yaqout.

Riyadh-based columnist Suraya Al-Shehry is so excited about Spain that she thinks it will beat the Netherlands 3-1.

“I can even tell you who is going to score those three goals for Spain: David Villa, Sergio Ramos and Fernando Torres,” she said.

She described the Spanish footballers as musicians. “There is so much symphony and rhythm in the way they play. They are not just musicians — they are magicians. Their wizardry with the ball in their semifinal against the Germans was magnificent. The moment they have the ball … whirrrrrrr, they go.”

Such is her and her daughters’ passion for Spain that Al-Shehry has painted her TV lounge red to go with the Spanish team color. “Even the food that we will serve tonight will have a Spanish theme, and there will be strawberry juice to celebrate the color of our team.”

And if all that is not enough, Al-Shehry also has a vuvuzela. “We will blow this plastic horn every time Spanish players take control of the ball,” she said while laughing gregariously over the phone during the interview.

Abdul Aziz Arrubkan, the UN secretary-general’s special envoy for humanitarian affairs, told Arab News from New York that he also is rooting for Spain. “Football aficionados dutifully follow the Spanish leagues in Saudi Arabia. Barcelona, Real Madrid, to name just two Spanish clubs, are household names in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam. Therefore, there is a sense of familiarity toward Spain,” he explained.

Arrubkan also liked the shape 2010 World Cup has taken in the last four games. “Spain has never been in the finals. The Netherlands has been, but they’ve never won the cup. All this is good for the game. Nobody likes to see the same countries winning four years after four years. This is welcome relief.”

Jeddah-based businessman Muhammad Al-Adel is not much of a football fanatic, yet he will be in front of his large flat-screen home television tonight watching the game closely in the company of his friends and rooting for Spain. The reason? “One particular incident has changed my perception of the Dutch people forever. Once when I was traveling to Amsterdam, the Dutch woman at the airport had some kind of conniption when she looked at my Saudi passport. This was long before Sept. 11, 2001. She made faces and was very condescending. Ever since I have been with all those who are against that country,” said Al-Adel. “Tonight I will hopefully have my revenge.”

Former Saudi Aramco executive Bidah Mejdal Al-Gahtani will be in Barcelona tonight to watch the all-important game. Who is he supporting? “Spain,” comes the instant reply. “Because they have taken what we call the sporting spirit to a whole new level. This is the team that has got the least number of cards. You can check that out. They play a fair game. They enjoy their game, and they ensure that those who are watching them are enjoying, as well. It is so much fun watching them in action.”

Al-Gahtani said one big advantage for Spain is the lack of over-hyped and over-rated players. “This tournament has demonstrated that individuals do not matter. Look at how the top players have fallen by the wayside. It is all teamwork. Spain is the best example of that. Tonight will be their night.”

“Spain, Spain, Spain,” said Lina Almaeena, the Jeddah United executive director and captain of the Women’s Basketball Division. “There are many reasons why I am supporting Spain, but the most important of them is the cultural affinity that we share with Spain. This is the country that was under Muslim rule for 800 years. And because of that there are so many things that are common between us and the Spaniards. They have similar family values as we do. They are very protective of their families just as we are. We have known Spain as Al-Andalus. That word creates some kind of an aura in our minds … I know it is a bit philosophical, but that is the primary reason I am cheering for Spain.”

Most Saudis referred to what Lina Almaeena described as the aura of Al-Andalus.

“It is natural for Saudis to support Spain,” explained Riyadh-based historian Hatoon Al-Fassi, who herself is no fan of the game. “There is this nostalgia about Spain, and why should there not be? We have had 800 years of relationship with that country. We are historically and geographically closer to Spain than other European countries,” Al-Fassi said. “No wonder, we have streets, districts and towns named after Al-Andalus.”

According to her, when it comes to favoring one or the other country in such high-profile tournaments, the sense of history and current affairs do play a part in the choices people make. “Arabs and Muslims are politically conscious people. They will always try to find out who is on their side and who is not in the political arena. Then there is the Palestinian issue. People here are aware that most of the European countries are pro-Israel and that they indulge in promoting Islamophobia. For Spain, there is some kind of sympathy because its current government is seen as rational, balanced and Arab-friendly.”

Among the tiny minority that is supporting the Netherlands is Jubail-based chemical engineer Dhafir Al-Shehri. “Yes, I am supporting the Netherlands because they are very dedicated and have given their all in their quest for the Cup. They have come this far despite the fact that they do not have very many stars in their side.”

According to Al-Shehri’s reasoning, many Saudis are supporting Spain because Spain demolished Germany in the semi-final. “Ever since Germany defeated Saudi Arabia 8-0 in the 2002 World Cup, many Saudis have been baying for Germany’s defeat. Saudis were also very upset with Germany for eliminating their initial favorite Argentina from this tournament. When Spain defeated Germany in the semi-final there was a collective sigh of relief.”

While some have political reasons, some cultural, some historical, and some sporting abilities for supporting Spain, Jeddah-based medical doctor Zeid Alsharif has only this to say: “I am supporting Spain because Paul the octopus has picked it up as a favorite to win the final tonight. I am with the four-year-old tentacled tipster!” Saudi support for Spain is rooted in history By SIRAJ WAHAB | ARAB NEWS
Published: Jul 10, 2010 23:40 Updated: Jul 10, 2010 23:40

Why Arab's will be rooting for Spain?

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Brickbats continue to fly between BJP factions: RSS in search for icons?

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The fissures between the different factions of the BJP are being felt across the political landscape. The possible break of the BJP into harline and “not so hardline factions” may have long term implications on the politics of South Asia.

The Jaswant Singh episode shows that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is collapsing due to its “internal contradictions” following the Lok Sabha drubbing, the Congress said Saturday. Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari told IANS: “The whole episode of Jaswant Singh shows that after rejection by the people the BJP is collapsing now because of its internal contradictions.” “The way the party is going into the hands of hardliners will further reduce its base,” he said. BJP collapsing due to internal contradictions: Congress. Hindutan Times

Golwalker is the founder of the RSS facists: Critics that accused Golwalkar of fascism have often pointed to his extreme right-wing and Anti-Muslim bigotry. In his 1939 book, “We, Our Nationhood Defined”, Golwalkar expressed praise of Hitler, saying: To keep up the purity of the Race and its culture, Germany shocked the world by her purging the country of the semitic Races — the Jews. Race pride at its highest has been manifested here. Germany has also shown how well nigh impossible it is for Races and cultures, having differences going to the root, to be assimilated into one united whole, a good lesson for us in Hindusthan to learn and profit by.”

The RSS is one of the most virulently violent Hindu extremist organizations in South Asia. Under its leader Gowalkar, it was involved in the murder of Mohandas Gandhi. Sardar Patel a member of the Indian National Congress banned the RSS for its communal violence and its predatory tactics against the Muslims. Recently the infighting between the wings of the BJP are bringing out old wounds. The RSS was the fountainhead of the BJP. Both the BJP and the RSS are in search of heroes who could propagate the fascist vision of the party. The RSS is the spiritual icon for Narendar Modi who conducted the pogroms against the Muslims of Gujrat which led to the murder of more than 2000 Muslim in 2004. This article written by Neena Vyas in a liberal Bharati paper called “The Hindu” describes the infighting between the fundamentalist Hindus.

Mr. Lal Krishna Advani the great bigot of the BJP.

NEW DELHI: Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha L.K. Advani on Friday said the country’s first Home Minister, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, banned the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and arrested its leaders after the assassination of Mahatama Gandhi “under pressure from [Jawaharlal] Nehru.”

At a press conference in Shimla, where the BJP’s three-day ‘chintan baithak’ concluded, party leader Sushma Swaraj quoted Mr. Advani as having said this at a closed door meeting. This was in response to the remark of the expelled BJP leader, Jaswant Singh, questioning the appropriation of Sardar Patel by the Sangh and the BJP as its “icon.” He had pointed out that it was Patel who banned the RSS and put its leaders in jail.

“Slandering Patel”

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel the worst politicians of the Indian National Congress who was a racist and a bigot

…that Mr. Advani’s reported remark amounted to “slandering Patel.”Kerala Chandra, Modern India historian, told The Hindu over phone from Bipan

He said: “To say he did something, only because Nehru asked him to, is slandering Patel, who was very independent-minded. Patel would not have done anything contrary to his conscience and his views.”

Irfan Habib, speaking from Aligarh, was equally categorical about Patel’s views on the RSS’ “violent politics.” “I have read the correspondence between [then RSS chief] Golwalkar and Patel. While he did not hold the RSS guilty of the assassination of Gandhiji, he held it squarely responsible for creating the communal atmosphere that led to the assassination. Patel’s stand against the violent politics of the RSS comes out sharply in his correspondence. Patel was the Home Minister of the country at a very difficult time.”

Professor Chandra also commented on the BJP’s attempt to “appropriate national heroes.”

Bhagat Singh: The RSS tried to make out as if Bhagat Singh was one of their heroes – the BJP used his photographs as they have used those of Gandhiji and B.R. Ambedkar. “But the RSS and the erstwhile Jana Sangh knew that he wrote, “Why I am an atheist.’ At that time they distanced themselves from his writing.

They tried to make out as if Bhagat Singh was one of their heroes – the BJP used his photographs as they have used those of Gandhiji and B.R. Ambedkar. “But the RSS and the erstwhile Jana Sangh knew that he wrote, “Why I am an atheist.’ At that time they distanced themselves from his writing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ponkvm6CWE

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Search for heroes

Let us bravely face unpleasant facts as they are. India cannot be assumed today to be a unitarian and homogeneous nation, but on the contrary these are two nations in the main, the Hindus and the Muslims in India.” Speaking at the Hindu Maha Sabha Session held at Ahmedabad in 1937, Mr. Savarkar. Quoted by Dr. Ambedkar in his book “Pakistan

Yet another historian, Mridula Mukherjee, alleged that the RSS and the BJP were “constantly searching for nationalist ancestors for they have none. That was why they attempted to build up Savarkar as a national hero during the National Democratic Alliance regime.”

At that time the party started a ‘yatra’ from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, where Savarkar was imprisoned and his portrait unveiled in Parliament during the NDA tenure.

“But if Sardar Patel is the BJP’s icon, as it had asserted he is and gave that as the reason for expelling Jaswant Singh, the party should ponder over this fact: On February 27, 1948, in response to a letter from Nehru, Patel wrote: ‘It clearly emerges that … the RSS was not involved at all [in Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination]. It was a fanatical wing of the Hindu Mahasabha directly under Savarkar that [hatched] the conspiracy and saw it through’.” Sardar Patel banned RSS under pressure from Nehru: Advani Neena Vyas

As listed above it is ironic that the Two Nation Theory originated as a result of the parochial writings of major Hindu leaders like Mr. Savarkar, Haldi Ram, Golwaker, Lal Lajpat Rai who were proclaiming that Hindus and Muslims were separate nations and the Muslims should be expunged from the land of the Hindus. When the Muslims saw that the Hindus were targeting them, the Muslims decided to act. The result was Pakistan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KXg0qOPUfk&feature=player_embedded

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KXg0qOPUfk&feature=player_embedded]

Jaswant Singh’s book may or may not be historically accurate. And there is also something very peculiar about why Jinnah remains the magnificent obsession of a party that was only born after Partition and the freedom struggle — or maybe that’s exactly why. Perhaps the BJP resents the fact that modern Indian history effectively ends up being the history of the Indian National Congress. That could explain the strange need for the party to claim the legacy of Sardar Patel — a devout Congressman — as its own. …

The BJP today has two problems. It is ideologically adrift and it doesn’t have a leader who can steer it towards clarity or consensus. When it tries to be different from the centrist politics of the Congress, it finds itself trapped by demons of the past. When it tries to be a more modern variation of itself, the party finds that it probably sounds too much like everyone else.

In the end, apart from looking intellectually intolerant, booting out Jaswant Singh hasn’t achieved much. It may have terminated Singh’s political career, but it won’t kickstart the flagging spirit of the BJP.

The tragedy of the Shimla ‘chintan baithak’ is that the party saved its alacrity of response for an issue that is entirely irrelevant. History may be complex, but the future is bleak. The BJP needs to see that before it loses the present. That Jinnah djinn. Barkha Dutt, Hindustan Times, August 21, 2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WELRa4_bO5g&feature=player_embedded

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WELRa4_bO5g&feature=player_embedded]

The reaction from Pakistan about the banning of Singh’s book has been equal and opposite o that of the BJP.

ISLAMABAD — Mushahid Hussain Sayed, Secretary-General of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) has flayed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s action to expel India’s former external affairs minister Jaswant Singh for praising Mohammed Ali Jinnah in his book.

“It reflects BJP’s parochial and obscurantist mindset and exposes the hollowness of its secular claims,” Mushahid said.

He said Jaswant has demonstrated intellectual honesty and integrity by absolving Jinnah of the responsibility for the division of India and rightly placed it on Nehru and Patel.

Prominent analyst Prof. Hasan Askari said while the BJP’s visceral hatred towards the founders of Pakistan has been proverbial its action against Jaswant fully exposes its claims of being a secular and democratic party.

Daily Dawn, in editorial comment, said the furore over the book, the ban imposed by the Gujarat state government and, not the least, Mr Singh’s expulsion will be received in some quarters in Pakistan as yet more evidence that India remains congenitally allergic to the idea of Pakistan and that sections of its political establishment have, and never will be able to, come to terms with this country’s existence. The corollary: peace with India is not possible.

The paper, however, compared the attitudes to historical truths in Pakistan and India. Pointing out that the BJP’s over-reaction has been widely flayed in India itself and that voices are being raised in favour of freedom of expression and the need to determine if sacrosanct ‘truths’ stand up to genuine scrutiny, the paper asked: “Can we imagine a similar statement about India’s independence leaders?

“Mr Singh has been treated shabbily, but the whole affair demonstrates that India, or parts thereof, is at least trying to come to terms with the ghosts of partition and assess it in a frank, honest manner. Kheleej Times

Brickbats continue to fly between BJP factions: RSS in search for icons?

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Thai occupation of the Patani Muslim Malay sultanate needs to end

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Islam’s Thai problem: Patani Muslim Malay sultanate occupied in 1902. The Muslims are primarily concentrated in Thailand’s five southern provinces which border Malaysia: Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat, Satun, and Songkhla

NEW YORK: June 6th, 2008-Rupee News: Three Thai Muslims killed in football fieldsYALA (Thailand), June 5: Three Muslim men have been killed in separate attacks on football fields in Thailand’s Muslim-majority south, where a separatist insurgency is raging, police said on Thursday.

A 30-year-old man was shot dead in Yala province on Wednesday evening as he played football with a group of friends, police in the region said.

The same evening in neighbouring Narathiwat province, three militants opened fire during half-time at a local game, killing a 40-year-old local government employee who was refereeing the match, and a 30-year-old player.

More than 3,300 people have been killed since separatist unrest broke out in January 2004 in the south, which was an autonomous Malay Muslim sultanate until mainly Buddhist Thailand annexed it in 1902, provoking decades of tension.-AFP

BACKGROUND:

Muslims comprise Thailand’s largest religious minority and are concentrated mainly in the southernmost provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani, Yala, and Satun. Islam is said to have been introduced to the Malay Peninsula by Arab traders and adventures during the 13th century. Most Thai Muslims are Malay descent, reflecting the common cultural heritage Thailand’s southernmost provinces share with Malaysia.

Ninety-nine percent Sunni and one percent Shi’ite Thai Muslims enjoy inspirational and finacial support from His Majesty the King, who provided money for translating the Koran into Thai. Each year the King or his representative also presides during celebration commemorating the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday. Moreover, His Majesty appoints a respected Muslim religious leader as Chularajamontri, or State Counselor for all Islamic affairs. The government also provides funds for building and renovating mosques.

In some southern provinces where the Muslim population is substantial, government-employed Muslims are allowed to leave for important Muslim festivals and allowed to work half-days on Friday, the Muslim holy day. In such provinces family and inheritance cases are judged according to Koranic with a Muslim religious judge, or “kadi”, sitting on the bench. In addition, one four months’ leave with full salary is also granted to allow an employee to make the Haj, the pilgrimage to Mecca.

There are approximately 2,000 mosques in Thailand, about 100 of which are in Bangkok. Some 200 Muslim schools offer secular as well as religious instruction. All in all, Thailand’s Muslims enjoy full state support and are free to teach and practice their religion according to their own tenets.

PATANI

Patani (Pattani) is known to have been part of the ancient Srivijayan kingdom. It then covered approximately the area of the modern Thai provinces of Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat and much of the northern part of modern Malaysia. The King of Patani is believed to have been converted to Islam some time during the 11th century.

Like many of the small kingdoms in Southeast Asian history, Pattani broke away from an older ancient state. Most did not have their own written language, enjoyed only short periods of real independence and have long since disappeared.

The Patani United Liberation Organization (also spelled Pattani United Liberation Organisation) or PULO is one of the groups calling for a free and independent Patani. This group, along with others, is currently fighting for the independence of Thailand’s predominantly Malay Muslim south.

The Muslims are primarily concentrated in Thailand’s five southern provinces which border Malaysia: Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat, Satun, and Songkhla. There has been no significant group migration across the country’s regions since the early 1900s.

The Muslims are a religious minority in a country in which Buddhism, the religion of the majority Thai community, is the official state religion. The social customs of the Muslims differ from those of the Thais and although some Muslims speak Thai, some 80% are Malay-speakers. Group members who reside in the western Satun province speak Thai and they are fairly integrated into Thai society. Those concentrated in Pattani, which was once a semi-autonomous sultanate of Malaya, have maintained the use of the Malay language.

Beginning in the 1930s, successive Thai military regimes attempted to instill a common nationalism among the country’s population through measures such as a compulsory education program that utilized the Thai language and the celebration of national holidays. Malaysian independence in 1959 brought the attention of Thai authorities to the southern Muslim regions. This was partly due to Pattani’s former status as a Malayan sultanate which raised concerns about potential links between Malay kin in the two countries. Government programs in the south were implemented by Thais who often did not speak Malay and/or did not understand the population’s Islamic customs and beliefs. Further, the region remained economically underdeveloped in comparison to much of the country.

Muslim resentment against the government’s assimilation policies turned from localized resistance to broad support for the Pattani United Liberation Organization (PULO) by the early 1970s. The PULO rebellion began in the late 1960s with the most intense phase emerging in the early to mid 1970s . The separatist rebels were reported to have been aided by Libya. In the 1980s, the Thai government sought to address some Muslim demands through a combination of programs that promoted their political participation along with policies to further economic development and religious toleration.

Group members face significant demographic stresses. These include declining public health conditions in relation to other groups, high birth rates, environmental decline due to widespread flooding, and migration abroad for economic reasons. The Muslims are substantially underrepresented in the political and economic arenas due to historical neglect or restrictions, but public policies seek to improve the group’s status (POLDIS03 = 1; ECDIS03 = 1). While there were 25 Muslim politicians in the 1996 Parliament (around 600 seats), group members remain underrepresented at the local and provincial levels.

Most Muslims are seeking widespread autonomy for the southern provinces where they primarily reside (SEPX = 3). A small minority favors the creation of an independent state. Other group demands include greater political participation in all levels of decision-making, equal civil rights and status, and better economic opportunities including a larger share of public funds. In addition, the Muslims are concerned about protecting their cultural and religious beliefs.

Group members are primarily represented by militant organizations such as the PULO and the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) but also by conventional national political parties that represent broader interests. A minority is reported to support the activities of rebel organizations. While the Muslims are a factionalized group, there were no reported violent intragroup incidents during the years 1998 to 2003 (COHESX9 = 3). Also, there was no violence between the Muslims and other ethnic groups for the same time period.

The neighboring state of Malaysia has politically supported the goals of the Thai Muslims, but Kuala Lumpur does not appear to be actively supporting the separatist campaign. In 1999 and 2000, Malaysia sought to further economic development in the southern Thai regions by promoting education programs.

It appears that the separatist campaign lost much of its momentum in the 1980s. Although sporadic violent attacks were attributed to PULO and the BRN during the late 1990s, it is not clear if these rebel groups were responsible or whether the attacks were by bandit organizations. Beginning in 2000, violence has increased and become more frequent (REB00-03 = 4). Muslim actions in the form of demonstrations and strikes first began in the post-WWII period, and in recent years these protests have centered on issues such as the development of an oil pipeline project and political inclusion (PROT45X = 2; PROT00-01 = 3, PROT02 = 2, PROT03 = 4). Repression by state authorities eased during the 1998 to 2000 period although attacks were reported against armed rebels along with the use of widespread force against protestors.

References
Daipi, Hawazi, “Thai Muslims: A Community in Transition,” The Straits Times (Singapore), June 24, 1996.

Daipi, Hawazi, “Thai Muslims Take Steps to Preserve Malay Identity,” The Straits Times (Singapore), July 1, 1996.

The Europa Yearbook, Far East and Australasia 1993.

Far Eastern Economic Review, 1990-93.

Keesings Record of World Events, 1990-93.

Lexis-Nexis news reports, 1990-2003.

Phase I, Minorities at Risk, overview compiled by Monty G. Marshall, 07/89.

U.S. Dept. of State, Human Rights Report 1993, 1994, 2001-2003.

According to Wikipedia these are the rebel groups fighting for independence in Thailand.

Mujahideen Pattani Movement (BNP)
Pattani United Liberation Organization (PULO)
Pattani Islamic Mujahideen Movement (GMIP)
Mujahideen Islamic Pattani Group
National Revolution Front (BRN)
Pattani Liberation National Front (BNPP)
Jemaah Islamiyah (JI)
Runda Kumpulan Kecil (RKK)

 

Thai occupation of the Patani Muslim Malay sultanate needs to end

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Racist Paranoia about Eurabia debunked

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To listen to Europe’s far right, it would be easy to conclude that the continent is poised for another round of bitter conflict with a centuries-old adversary. “The first Islamic invasion of Europe was stopped at [the battle of] Poitiers in 732. The second was halted at the gates of Vienna in 1683. Now we have to stop the current stealth invasion,” argues Geert Wilders, the leader of the Dutch Party for Freedom, which claims that Islamic doctrine encourages terrorism.

It’s rabble-rousing stuff. But underlying Wilders’s polemic is an argument shared by many more mainstream right-leaning thinkers on both sides of the Atlantic. Europe, its will sapped by secularism and anything-goes tolerance, has allowed decades of mass immigration without serious challenge. Too feeble to defend their own values, governments have been ready to appease Muslim opinion and must expect the worst. The argument has been gaining ground for some time—fed by alarmist and highly speculative projections from writers like the Canadian Mark Steyn, author of the bestselling America Alone—that immigration and high birthrates could mean that Muslims will make up 40 percent of Europe’s population by 2025. Similar and very public warnings have come from American diplomat Timothy Savage, who claimed that forecasts of a Muslim majority in Western Europe by midcentury “may not be far off the mark” if present trends continue, which would heighten the risk of conflict. The British historian Niall Ferguson has written that “a youthful Muslim society to the south and east of the Mediterranean is poised to colonize—the term is not too strong—a sene-scent Europe.” And the American journalist Christopher Caldwell forecasts that an “anchored” and “confident” Islam looks likely to impose its will on an “insecure” and “relativistic” European culture. The gloomiest commentators, including Steyn and the conservative Ameri-can writer Tony Blankley, talk of an emerging “Eurabia” hostile to American interests and in thrall to Islam.

These warnings chime with public fears that Europe has already become an incubator for worldwide terrorism. After all, the September 11 hijackers plotted in Germany, and homegrown terrorists were involved in the Madrid and London attacks. Concern is growing that a swelling immigrant population resistant to assimilation or integration will steal jobs and strain public services. Last year a Pew poll found that about half of respondents in Spain and Germany held negative views of Muslims. In Spain the figure had climbed 15 points, to 52 percent, since 2004. In the June elections to the European Parliament, Wilders’s party won 17 percent of the national vote in the Netherlands. The anti-immigrant British National Party, which warned of the “creeping Islamification” of British society, won its first two seats. In Austria the right-wing Freedom Party almost doubled its share of the vote, at 13 percent.

Alert to the public mood, European governments, which are now almost entirely center-right, have been slamming doors to further immigration from Muslim countries and elsewhere, and have reinforced the message that Muslim Turkey is not welcome in the European Union. Italy is now in the process of approving a bill that will jail landlords for leasing properties to undocumented immigrants. Last month French President Nicolas Sarkozy declared the burqa to be “a sign of subservience” that “would not be welcome on the territory of the French Republic.”

But all this obscures a simple fact: the rise of a Eurabia is predicated on limited and dubious evidence. A much-cited 2004 study from the U.S. National Intelligence Council outlines a number of possible scenarios. Its most aggressive is that the number of Muslims in Europe could increase from roughly 20 million today—about 5 percent of the population—to 38 million by 2025. But that projection turns out to be attributed to “diplomatic and media reporting as well as government, academic, and other sources.” In other words, it’s all speculation based on speculation—and even if it’s accurate, it would still mean the number of Muslims will represent just 8 percent of the European population, estimated by the EU to be 470 million in 2025. Indeed, if there is a surge ahead, its scale looks overstated. “There is a quite deliberate exaggeration, as has often been pointed out—but the figures are still being cited,” says Jytte Klausen, an authority on Islam in Europe at Boston’s Brandeis University.

Coming up with a reasonable estimate for the percentage of Muslims now living in Europe, let alone making projections for the future, is a virtually impossible task. The number of illegal immigrants is unknown and, in a sign of the sensitivity of the issue, many countries including France and Germany do not even tally census data on the religion of legal residents. It is true that the Muslim minority is destined to grow steadily in Europe, especially given the youthful profile of today’s immigrants. Fertility rates remain higher among Muslim immigrants than among other Europeans, and Muslims may continue to arrive in Europe in large numbers. But the alarmists assume that past patterns are sure to hold. “The worst of the scaremongering is based on the assumption that current behavior will continue,” says Grace Davie, an expert on Europe and Islam at the University of Exeter in Britain.

For the number of Muslims to outnumber non-Muslims by midcentury, it would require either breeding on a scale rarely seen in history or for immigration to continue at a pace that’s now politically unacceptable. More likely, new controls will slow Muslim immigration. The birthrate for Muslim immigrants is also likely to continue to decline, as it has tended to do, with greater affluence and better health care. There is no Europewide data available, but one study says fertility rates among Turkish-born women in the Netherlands fell from 3.2 in 1990 to 1.9 in 2005, barely above the figure for native-born Dutch. Over the same period, the equivalent figure for Moroccan-born women in the Netherlands dropped from 4.9 to 2.9. Also, fertility rates are edging upward in some Northern European countries, which would offset some of the Muslim growth. Bottom line: given the number of variables, demographers are loath to make predictions about the number of Muslims in Europe in the years to come. “You would almost have to make it up,” says Carl Haub, the senior demographer at the Population Reference Bureau in Washington. And the idea of a Muslim majority any time soon? “Absolutely absurd.”

Moreover, the myth of Eurabia implies the existence of a united Islam, a bloc capable of collective and potentially dangerous action. The truth is that there are no powerful Muslim political movements in Europe, either continentwide or at the national level, and the divisions that separate Muslims worldwide, most obviously between Sunnis and Shiites, are apparent in Europe as well. Each major nation in Europe has drawn Muslim immigrants from distinct regions of the Islamic world, often former colonies, with different traditions and outlooks. A British Muslim from Pakistan would struggle to communicate with a French Muslim from Algeria. A second-generation Muslim from Turkey living in Germany will have little in common with a newly arrived Moroccan across the border in Belgium. Sharp differences exist even within national frontiers. In Germany, more than one in 10 Muslims are Alawites, who aren’t even recognized as coreligionists by the more orthodox.

In areas of personal morality, attitudes vary markedly, too. One recent Gallup poll found that more than 30 percent of French Muslims were ready to accept homosexuality, compared with zero in Britain. Almost half of French Muslims believed sex between unmarried people was morally acceptable, compared with 27 percent of German Muslims. And violent zealotry is for the tiny minority: polls repeatedly reaffirm that Muslims overwhelmingly disapprove of terrorism. In some countries, the mood is broadly secular. “The majority of Muslims in France are, in fact, decoupled from their religion. They just blend into an amorphous mass of brown or black people,” says Ali Allawi, the former Iraqi defense minister and author of the The Crisis of Islamic Civilization. Jochen Hippler, a German political scientist at the University of Duisburg-Essen, says he has had young Turks come up to him to ask what Islam is all about. “They have lost any connection with the religion of their parents and grandparents,” he says. A recent government survey showed that 40 percent of Iranians living in Germany identified themselves as having no religion, as did 23 percent of North Africans. In the Netherlands, the proportion of Muslims who regularly attend the mosque—27 percent—is lower than the proportion of Protestants who go to church.

For that matter, there’s little evidence that Muslims themselves see any contradiction between allegiance to the state and their religious faith. An overwhelming majority of Muslims in France and Germany told Gallup’s pollsters that they believed Muslims were loyal to their country. British and German Muslims were more likely than their countrymen to say they were confident of the judicial system and financial institutions and the honesty of elections. It seems that if Europe is in the throes of revolution, many of the supposed combatants appear strangely content with the established order. Newsweek. Why Fears Of A Muslim Takeover Are All Wrong

Analyzing the forecasts of an emerging ‘Eurabia,’ hostile to America and western values. By William Underhill | NEWSWEEK, Published Jul 11, 2009, From the magazine issue dated Jul 20, 2009

Racist Paranoia about Eurabia debunked

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Why Barack Obama can talk tough to Israel and Netanyahu?

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Some had considered the tough love message from President Obama to Prime Minister Bebe Netanyahu as a suicide mission which would confirm him as a one term lame duck president. It now seems like President Obama’s White House team had done its homework. There is little support for Israeli settlements among American Jews, and little support for the settlers in Israel. So Rahm Emnanuel earned his paycheck and navigated Mr. Obama through the troubled waters avoiding the mines of a Jewish  backlash against him. The poll reported by the JTA which bills itself as “a global news service of the Jewish people” tells part of the story. Various polling organizations are reporting that American support for Israel has dropped dramatically in the past few months. Some reports seem to suggest that the support has dropped as much as 20%. Analysts say that the support may have dropped more precipitously than it is being reported.

The cataclysmic event that led to the decline of support for Israel seems to be Gaza. It is notable that the US media did not show the atrocities and the invasion in living color to the Americans. In fact the Gaza war was hardly reported on the Murdock media and even the New York Times and the Washington Post reported it with lenses that filtered out anything against Israel. So where did the Americans get their news from? They got it from the internet. They got it from Al Jazeera, and they got it directly from Palestinian sources. And yes they got it from Muslim Americans who now make up an important part of the population.

The decline is continuing and all the spin doctors in the world have been unable to arrest the numbers. So what is going in?

The justification of war has turned out to be hollow. The reasons for asphyxiating democracy at home have been rejected. The three trillion wars not only bankrupted the treasury, it has severely impacted the spending patterns of America as a whole. Many have done a deep introspection that has not been witnessed since the great depression. Thousands of American have returned home in coffins and tens of thousands are in rehab. No US community remains untouched by war.  American Jews have traditionally been one of the most liberal segments of US society–except for Israel and the war on Iraq. Now they feel betrayed. Jews have lost more money in the past decade than anyone else. New York tells the story. Those who elected Barack Obama, Jews, Gentiles, Muslims and Hindus did not want more war. They waned less war. Shrinking budgets force many to think.  Many questions have been asked and answered. The lust for blood and revenge may be coming to an end. Before the Anti-Semites break open the bottles of champagnes and begin dancing in the streets, this pheromones has to be analyzed more deeply.

This is not a cause for Muslim celebration. More than fifty percent of Americans also have a bad perception of Islam and Muslim countries. However that number has come down too. Less people have a negative impression of Islam than before.

JERUSALEM (JTA) — American voters’ support for Israel has dropped 20 percent in the past nine months, a new survey found. Some 49 percent of American voters call themselves supporters of Israel, down from 69 percent last September, according to the poll conducted for The Israel Project.

The number of voters who called themselves undecided rose during that same period, and the number of Palestinian supporters remained steady at 7 percent. The number of Israel supporters hit a low of 38 percent immediately following the 2005 disengagement from Gaza, with an equal rise in undecided voters.

The poll was conducted among 800 registered voters on June 2 and 3 by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research. It has not been officially released by The Israel Project, but was leaked to the media by someone who received the numbers the day after the poll was completed on Thursday.  Poll: American voters’ support of Israel drops June 15, 2009

African Americans are about 33%-$40% Muslims. Black society in America is culturally aware of Islam and Muslims. They have a soft corner for it. This is evident in hip hop music and African American homes and mosques. Latinos are not Anti-Muslim either. Some of them understand the immigrant experience and hear voices from Venezuela and Cuba and Mexico. The Latins hear the venom against them from the same bigots that spew vitriol against Muslims and Islam. They have put tow and two together.

The election of the current president, and his recent reach out to Islam has impacted all Americans. How could all Muslims be evil when the president’s grandmother and half brothers and half sisters are Muslim. Edward Said, a Christian used to say he he culturally Muslim. Barack Obama, a Christian has not voiced the same sentiment but it is true. The USA is truly becoming a multicultural melting pot. Barack Husein Obama is a just the first manifestation of this Jewish-Christian-Muslim-Hindu identity. There will be many more.

It seems that the American psyche in its attempt to be fair is now looking at the picture and saying that the old  prism of “the only good Muslim is a dead Muslim” doesn’t accurately paint a correct picture. Just like the even older prism of “gas the Jews” was a bad lens. It seems that Americans are able to see bad guys on the Jewish side too, and good guys on the Muslim side. This is a good sign.

According to the poll, some 44 percent of voters believe the United States should support Israel, down from 69 percent a year ago. Some 5 percent of voters believe the United States should support the Palestinians, with 32 percent undecided.

Some 23 percent of voters believed that Israel should return all lands captured in 1967, with 57 percent saying some should be retained for security.

Some 66 percent of those polled do not believe that Israeli support of a two-state solution — including establishing an independent Palestinian state and stopping the expansion of settlements — will bring lasting peace to the region, with 22 percent saying it will. In addition, 48 percent believe the Israeli support would not end Palestinian terrorism; 39 percent said it would.

Some 85 percent of respondents believe that Iran is a serious threat to Israel, with only 7 percent saying it is not — figures that have remained virtually unchanged over the past year. JTA. Poll: American voters’ support of Israel drops June 15, 2009

War is a strange thing. In order to make war it is necessary to demonize the “enemy’. It is easier to kill “barbarians” and terrorists”. However war also puts the soldiers in touch with the ‘enemy”. Flesh and blood clash and death is shared. The enemy becomes part of opponent. Long after the empire was dead, Britain uses spices, foods and words from Asia and Africa. Curry dishes are part and parcel of London cuisine. US GIs returning from Vietnam brought back the food and culture of South East Asia. Similarly soldiers returning from Iraq, the abomination of Abu Ghraib, the atrocities at Gitmo, and the recognition that Iraq was a war of choice are only some of the factors which have shattered the paradigm of the American public. the US election was one big referendum between the ultra religious right and the moderate center. The Ultra Right had its sway in the White House for about a decade. Now the pendulum is swinging the other way. When the policies of the Bush Administration are being repudiated, then people look to the other side and ask questions.

Apparently the questions have been asked and answered.

More than half the US population questions the 911 story. The battle for America is on. The Jewish lobby will surely try to reverse the figures. The Muslims will try to improve their image. A spectacular terror attack may take things back for either party. The decline in the support for Isreal is not a zero sum game. In fact a little reduced support may bring about the much needed peace in the Middle East. Jews, Muslims and Christian lived in harmony from 711 to 1492 in Andulusia Spain. The US offers them the same opportunity to build bridges of harmony

Why Barack Obama can talk tough to Israel and Netanyahu?

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Book Reviews: The House of Wisdom; Science & Islam

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The Times has prodigiously published books reviews of two effulgent books on the West’s debt to Islam in science and technology. Inundated with negatives images of a demonized population, to many in the West this is news. To many in the East this is not news. Muslims have grown up with the knowledge that the stars have Arab names, the instruments of navigation used by Columbus and other sailors were Islamic in origin. The Muslims of South Asia know that the Britishers destroyed all local manufacturing in Bengal and Bihar and make way for cheap cotton imports from Manchester and Bradford.

Islamic map of the world by Idris (1154). South is at the top

Last November, scientists using the Hubble space telescope reported the first sighting with visible light of a planet circling a star other than our own sun. It orbits 25 light years away around one of the brightest stars in the sky, called Fomalhaut.

Isn’t that a curious name for a star? Not obviously mythological, it sounds as if it derives from some forgotten French astronomer. Not so; it is, in fact, from the Arabic fum u’l haut, meaning “mouth of the fish”. And Fomalhaut is not alone in having an Arabic derivation – there are well over 100 others, including Betelgeuse, Aldebaran and Deneb. How did the Arabs get to name stars?

10th Century Islamic map of the the world showing America as Ard e Majhoola or (Unknown Area). This map and maps like this one from Arab sources was used by Columbus centuries later when he sailed from Spain (which had been Muslim Andulusia 'till the 15th cnetury)

The answer, as these two revealing books make clear, is that they once led the world in astronomy. Muslim scientists were mapping the heavens, and pondering our place in them, while Europeans were still gazing at the night sky with baffled awe. To judge from some scientific narratives, the baton of knowledge about astronomy passed directly from the Greek Ptolemy in the 2nd century AD to Copernicus in the Renaissance. In fact, just about everything that the western world knew of the celestial sphere in the 16th century had come to it via the Arabs, who translated and refined Ptolemy’s works between the 9th and the 13th centuries. And they didn’t just read Ptolemy; they added to and challenged him, with data gathered at observatories such as the one established in the 820s in Baghdad by the greatest of the “scientific” rulers, al-Mamun of the Abbasid caliphate.

"The Cappella Palatina, at Palermo, Saracen Arches. the most wonderful of Roger's churches, with Norman doors, Saracenic arches, Byzantine dome, and roof adorned with Arabic scripts, is perhaps the most striking product of the brilliant and mixed civilization over which the grandson of the Norman Trancred ruled" (EB1911).

Astronomy is just one example of the enormous debt that the West owes to the achievements of Islamic science during the periods we still insist on calling the Dark and Middle Ages. While Europeans struggled until at least the 12th century with the mere rudiments of mathematics and natural philosophy, the Abbasid caliphs of the 8th to 13th centuries were promoting a rationalistic vision of Islam within which it was a sacred duty to inquire into the workings of the world. This programme was founded on the remnants of Roman and Hellenic culture, to which the Muslims had direct access in centres such as Alexandria. They prepared Arabic versions of the works of Aristotle, Euclid, Ptolemy and Archimedes, and set up schools and libraries such as the House of Wisdom in Baghdad. The Sunday Times review by Philip Ball

One of the most tolerant societies on the planet was brought to end end in Cordoba not because it lacked plurality or assimilation–it was brought to end by the force or arms by barbarians who killed and deported every jew and Muslim in the land.

Mao Zedung said it best “Political Power grows out the barrell of the gun“. Lord Clive did not conquer South Asia because there were a dearth of art, literature, music, science and technology in South Asia. The “British East India Company” conquered South Asia by craftly using cunning and wicked and ruthless application of power.

The Muslim world represeented by the Organization of Islamic Countries the OIC; The OIC condemned the violence on Kashmir

As well as preserving classical scholarship, Muslim thinkers also innovated in many fields: astronomy, optics, cartography and medicine. The camera obscura, for instance, a kind of pinhole camera in which an outside scene is projected onto a wall in a darkened chamber as light enters through a small hole, was first studied experimentally by Hassan ibn al-Haitham (Alhazen) in the 11th century. Roger Bacon later used the device to study solar eclipses, and old masters from Van Eyck to Vermeer may have employed the projection method to achieve their micro-realist detail.

Islamic mapmakers, meanwhile, were drawing recognisable outlines of Europe, the Gulf and the Indian subcontinent while westerners were still dividing a disc world into absurdly stylised quadrants. (It was a Muslim map that guided Vasco da Gama beyond the Cape of Good Hope to India at the end of the 15th century.) And in chemistry the Arabs went far beyond the tentative efforts of the classical world, bequeathing us words such as alkali and alcohol, alembic, elixir and alchemy. The standard theory of the alchemical transmutation of metals was laid out in the writings ascribed to the 8th-century Persian Jabir ibn-Hayyan, in which nitric, hydrochloric and sulphuric acids – central to practical chemistry then and now – made their debut.

The Muslims also benefited from contact with China, from where they learnt how to make paper, and India, from where they got the “Arabic” numerals that were far superior to the cumbersome Roman system for arithmetic calculations, along with the concept of zero (the word itself is Arabic). These and other discoveries were passed on to the West in due course. The Sunday Times review by Philip Ball. Science & Islam by Ehsan Masood, Icon £14.99 pp256, The House of Wisdom by Jonathan Lyons, Bloomsbury £20 pp272. From The Sunday Times,February 1, 2009, Science & Islam: A History by Ehsan Masood plus The House of Wisdom: How the Arabs Transformed Western Civilisation by Jonathan Lyons

Burmese Muslims a forgotten minority
———————————— Thai Occupied Muslim Sultanate of Patani”
———————————— Muslims in Latin America before Columbus
———————————– Muslims before Columbus in the Caribbean
———————————– Muslims in Suriname and Guyana before Columbus
Moorish Marronage Muslims of Jamaica
Linguistic heritage of Pre-Columbus Muslims
Cherokee Muslims in the USA before Columbus
Current day Muslims in Germany

Islamic Sicily fed the Christian Renaissance
Melungeon Muslims in America escaping the Spanish Inquisition

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• The House of Wisdom: How the Arabs Transformed Western Civilization by Jonathan Lyons

• Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire

• Muhammad: Prophet for Our Time by Karen Armstrong

While there is huge discussion of the Gutenberg press, there is no discussion of the fact that way past the decline of the Ottomans, the Mughals took the torch in Hindustan and kept science and technology alive in civil engineering, construction of bridges, roads, and building.

The fruits of the golden age of Islamic science are summarised briskly and engagingly in Ehsan Masood’s Science & Islam, which was written to accompany a recent BBC television series. Both he and Jonathan Lyons in The House of Wisdom are keen to dismantle the myth that Islam is fundamentally opposed to science, and both show that the words of Muhammad can be read as obliging rational inquiry.

Roger II himself spoke Arabic perfectly and was fond of Arabian culture.[11] He used Arab troops and siege engines in his campaigns in southern Italy. He mobilized Arab architects to build monuments in the Arab-Norman style. The various agricultural and industrial techniques which had been introduced by Arabs into Sicily over the two preceding years were kept and developed, allowing for the remarkable prosperity of the Island”]

Roger II of Sicily, who had Islamic soldiers, poets and scientists at his court.[10

Lyons’s more specific focus is on the story of how this knowledge opened western eyes in the 12th century, a period now regarded as a kind of medieval renaissance. The hero of his book is an Englishman, Adelard of Bath, one of the few Europeans open-minded enough to see that they had much to learn from the “heathens”. Too often dismissed as a mere translator, Adelard not only gave the West its first view of Euclid’s Elements and the astronomy and algebra of the Baghdad mathematician al-Khwarizmi (whose name is preserved now in the word algorithm), but was also an original thinker who helped introduce medieval Europe to the Islamic vision of a universe governed by the rational design of a hands-off God.

Last Arab attack on Rome in 849 painting by Raphael

One can’t read these two lucid accounts without becoming acutely aware of the contrast between the former Islamic supremacy in science and its parlous state today. This contrast brings to mind the “Needham question”, which the English biochemist Joseph Needham posed in the parallel case of ancient China’s technological and scientific superiority. Why is the West, not the East, now at the heart of science?

The answer is complex, but must partly lie in the more doctrinaire Ottoman theocracy that eventually succeeded the Abbasids at the end of the 13th century. The Ottoman sultans frowned on printing and forbade clocks because the muezzins were the keepers of sacred time. As Lyons shows, the irony is that the Arabs were once leaders in both astronomical and technological time-keeping, precisely because of the importance of prayer times.

In any event, by the mid-19th century the tables had turned. Instead of westerners marvelling at eastern learning, it was Ottoman ambassadors to Europe who were reporting back on western technological wonders to a country that had few roads and no trains or telephones. Many worried, too, that an acceptance of the western approach to science would mean abandoning Islamic principles. The result is that there have been only two Nobel laureates from Islamic countries, and, as Masood says, the scientific performance today of the members of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference – many of them wealthy oil states – “is not far off that of some of the poorest countries of the world”. This won’t be changed by luring foreign scientists with oil money; as in Africa, grassroots education is the only way. The Sunday Times review by Philip Ball. Science & Islam by Ehsan Masood, Icon £14.99 pp256, The House of Wisdom by Jonathan Lyons, Bloomsbury £20 pp272. From The Sunday Times,February 1, 2009, Science & Islam: A History by Ehsan Masood plus The House of Wisdom: How the Arabs Transformed Western Civilisation by Jonathan Lyons

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Obama adviser Weinbaum gives deep insights into new Afghan policy

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Right wing Hindu terrorist admits to Hubli bombing previously blamed on Muslims

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A Karnataka dacoit with links to a radical Hindu rightwing group has confessed to having carried out the Hubli district court bombing of May10, 2008.

The blast took place as the first phase of polling for the Karnataka Assembly elections was on – in a magistrate’s courtroom where cases against top SIMI leaders including Safdar Nagori were scheduled to be heard two days later.

- Dacoit with Hindu Outfit links behind Hubli blast, Indian Express, January 13, 2009)

Does anybody remember the bomb blasts in Hubli (Karnataka, May 2008) courts last year when preparations were on for the coming state assembly elections ? These blasts which took place on a holiday did not witness any casuality although they extensively damaged the court premises. But the most important part played by these blasts was the atmosphere it created in favour of the BJP.

As it always happens after any such mysterious sounding blasts, many innocents belonging to minority community were illegally detained and quite a few among them also were booked for their ‘role’ in the blasts. The police had promptly claimed that ‘sleeper cells belonging to LeT and SIMI’ had executed the blasts.

One still remembers the manner in which Sangh Parivar had tried to exploit the bomb blasts in its favour. The former Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, had even used the bomb blasts case to attack the Congress led UPA government at the centre for ‘soft-pedalling the issue concerning terror’ and accusing it of responsibility’ for the increase in terrorist activities in the country’.
The Hubli bar association had followed many other bar associations in different parts of the country to immediately pass a ‘unanimous’ resolution that they would not defend any ‘terrorists’ supposed to be involved in the blasts. And when a conscientous lawyer named Ibrahim Jalagir tried to file bail application on behalf of the detained he came under organised attack. His office was vandalised and he alongwith his colleague were badly beaten up by these hoodlums.

Now when the BJP government is firmly in the saddle and the accused in the bomb blasts case have already spent months together behind jails, has come a news which is definitely not soothing to the ears of the the saffron commanders.The IGP of North Karnataka Ragavendera Auradhkar recently addressed a press conference telling the media that the mysterious bomb blasts which had struck the Hubli courts last year were the handiwork of a criminal gang led by one Nagraj Jambagi .

According to the IGP it was the same team which had planted a bomb on the Belgaum-Hubli highway last year.However, this bomb failed to explode as it was raining heavily. After high drama, the bomb squad had finally retrieved the bomb.In fact Nagraj had led the gang which was also involved in seven murder cases in North Karnataka and several cases of abduction also. Interestingly the police had stumbled upon this gang while investigating the murder of a Bagalkot businessman.
Reporting about the incident, Mailtoday writes (13 Jan 2009)

Hindutva terror has struck Karnataka. The Karnataka police arrested nine persons with Sangh Parivar links for allegedly setting off a bomb in the court of the junior first class magistrate in Hubli May 2008. They were also accused of planting a live bomb on the Dharwad-Belgaum road. This points to the presence of Hindutva terror suspects in the state.

The police had initially blamed SIMI for both the Hubli court blast and the planting ofthe live bomb.
Police have also seized live bombs, gun powder, lethal weapons, Rs 11.08 lakh in cash, gold, silver and two motorbikes from them. Apart from Nagaraj Jambagi (24), a resident of Heggur Plot in Bilagi taluk; the arrested persons include Ramesh Pawar (24), Basavaraj Diggi (22), Manjunath Binjawadagi (19), Deepak Govindakar (28), Lingaraj Jalgar (24) – all from Bagalkot; Basavaraj Rugi (20) of Honakuppi village in Gokak taluk; Hanamanth Sainasakali (22), and Channabasappa Hunasagi (35) of Indi taluk in Bijapur.

Ofcourse although the police do not seem to be forthcoming on divulging the political connections of the group and sharing the important information about its alleged Sri Ram Sena connections anyone familiar with the Hubli-Dharwad region would have many other details about the gang of criminals, their political affiliations and their other deeds.

Many residents of Bagalkot have been witness to the Trishul Deekshe ceremony in the area wherein many of the arrested had wholeheartedly participated. For the uninitiated it may be told that VHP international secretary Praveen Togadia had popularised this trident-wielding programme as part of mobilising Hindus. Nagaraj Hollbasappa Jambagi, the gang’s leader has also been closely associated with Sri Ram Sene,(SRS) a ‘saffron front’.

A social worker from Hubli told ‘Mailtoday’ (Jan 13, 2009) that the ‘[b]ombings were part of an effort to set up a militant Hindutva organisation.’ “Jambagi is the right hand man of SRS chief Pramod Mutalik (known as Karnataka’s Togadia), who is setting up a Rashtra Raksha Army. He does not believe in the police or the armed forces. His people are given weapon’s training. There are several such groups here. They had a five-day training camp in Koodala Sangama recently.”

It may be known that Pramod Mutalik happened to be the former Convener of the South India Unit of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and of the Bajrang Dal. He was dismissed 2005-06 following inflammatory speeches made by him on the Baba Budan Giri issue and is presently the founder and National President of the Rashtriya Hindu Sena and of the Shreerama Sene, active in Karnataka. Mutalik had recently affiliated with the Shiv Sena of Bal Thackeray.
Few months back when Karnataka witnessed anti-Christian violence.Shreerama Sene had publicly claimed credit for the attacks and desecrations of Christian churches, schools and convents and thereafter for the attacks on protesting Christian youth, women and children by invading Christian properties.This open violence had forced Christians taking to blocking the streets in protest against police complicity and inaction against the fanatics.

The fact that the Karnataka happens to be a BJP ruled state where the police allegedly face political pressure and were unwilling to go on record about the Sangh Parivar links of the accused, the establishment would not be too willing to expose the real connections of the criminal-terrorists. Taking into consideration this dilly-dallying on part of the government organisations who had been fighting for communal harmony have raised a strong demand ‘to arrest the National President of SRS Pramod Mutalik’.(Hubli court blast: Demand to arrest Shri Ram Sena chief, S.O. News service, Tuesday, 13 January 2009)
Koppal: There was a strong demand in Koppal by All Progressive confederation (Pragati Sanghatana) demanding the state to arrest the National president of Shri Ram Sena Pramod Mutalik immediately whose organisation is responsible for the blasts carried out in Hubli court.
Speaking on the occasion, the State president of Karnataka Sauharda Vedike Basavraj Suli bhavi said that Pramod Mutalik is responsible for creating an atmosphere of disharmony and hatred in the state. He is a liability in a peaceful and his organization can cause a lot of harm in the society. His organization is involved in Hubli court blast and a failed attempt to blast the NH Bridge in Dharward. It is very much possible that the Shri Ram sena is positively involved in this. ..

He also expressed his anger that only the activists are arrested and not the chief of the Shri Ram Sena. It should be noted that Pramod Mutalik was an active activist of Bajarang dal earlier, later he left that organisation to form Shri Ram Sena. He also had declared that he will form a suicide bomber for which he already has enrolled many of them.

With pressure building up for his arrest, Pramod Mutalik has flatly denied any knowledge of Jambagi and his gang. Much on the lines of his Sangh veterans who were put on the defensive when their links with Sadhvi Pragya and others in the Malegaon bomb blast case became apparent, he declared that they do not hold SRS membership, although he promised legal aid to the accused.

It is a different matter that none from the Sangh Parivar network maintains any membership register which suits them in dissociating the ‘parent organisation’ from any wrongdoing of its associates. Inadvertently or so Pramod Mutalik was imitating his other Sangh Parivar veterans especially BJP leadership which had denied any knowledge of the Malegaon accused but had readily agreed to defend them.He was even ready to ‘start an agitation to defend them.’

Indian Express (13 Jan 2009) further adds that according to IGP Auradkar Jambagi had procured the bombs from one Hanumant Sainsakali. a 22 year old technical diploma student from Indi on the Maharashtra border. It is worth noting that investigations in the aftermath of the bomb blasts in the Hubli courts had shown that the bomb was similar to the one used in the May 18, 2007 blast at Hyderabad’s Mecca Masjid.

One needs to remember that when the Malegaon investigations had started involvement of Hindutva terrorists in similar incidents had also come under scanner. The Mecca Masjid blasts as well as blasts in Samjhauta Express which had remaind unsolved were further investigated. Although initially the ATS Maharashtra had not deciphered any connection with Karnataka with the Malegaon blasts as of now there seems to be a qualitative change in the picture.Karnataka connection to the Malegaon blast is also being explored.

As we go to the press a team from ATS, Maharashtra is camping in Karnataka to hunt for one Pravin Mutalik. A report filed by a reporter of the Times of India tells us that ( TOI, Jan 18, 2009, ATS team in K’taka to nab suspect) Mutalik could be ‘one of the three bomb planters in the Malegaon case.’ “As per our investigation Mutalik was very much present in Malegaon alongwith wanted accused Ramji Kalangasara and Sandeep Dange.’ Mutalik has been termed as a technical expert.

There is no denying the fact that Hubli, which happens to be a small town situated 425 km northwest of Bangalore, and which had remained more famous for many stalwarts of Hindustani and Karnataka classical music living in its environs, is a pale image of itself today. No lover of classical music would have ever imagined in their wildest dreams that a day would arise when it would be witness to a music of a different kind.

But as things stand today Huballi (Hubli’s new name, the name Hubballi literally means “Hu” – flower and “Balli” – creeper in Kannada.) seems to be metamorphosing into ‘birthplace’ of Hindutva terror in Karnataka and a strong link in the emerging pan Indian network of Hindutva terror.’Malegaon’ in Hubli Subhash Gatade

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Right wing Hindu terrorist admits to Hubli bombing previously blamed on Muslims

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India: Interaction of Hindus in power with Muslims

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Noticias de Rupia | Nouvelles de Roupie | Rupiennachrichten | ??????? ????? | ???? | Roepienieuws | Rupi Nyheter | ??????? | Notizie di Rupia | PAKISTAN LEDGER | ???????? ????? | RUPEE NEWS | November 24th, 2008 | Moin Ansari | ???? ??????? | ????? ????? | This article was submitted to Rupee News by one of the brave souls who has managed to survive the hardships in India. Here is his interview with Kavita Srivastava

Hindus in power have little personal engagement with Muslims: Kavita Srivastava By Yoginder Sikand, TwoCircles.net,

Based in Jaipur, Kavita Srivastava is the President of the Rajasthan chapter of the Peoples’ Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL). She and her comrades have been consistently working in Rajasthan for the cause of human rights, particularly for the state’s Muslims, Christians, Adivasis and Dalits, and have taken up the issue of targeting of Muslims by agencies of the state and the media in a major way. She discusses this and more in this interview with Yoginder Sikand.

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• India: Interaction of Hindus in power with Muslims

Q: How do you see the way in which the state in Rajasthan is responding to acts of terror that have rocked the state in recent years, most particularly in the aftermath of the deadly blasts that shook Jaipur earlier this year?

Kavita Srivastava

A: The situation is indeed grim. Muslims are being readily branded as terrorists, and this is how many government officials view them. So, soon after the blasts large numbers of innocent Muslims were wrongly suspected or branded as terrorists. They were arrested and interrogated by the police, and many of them were subjected to cruel torture. The police somehow automatically assumed that Muslims were responsible for the blasts, without having any proof. Almost a fourth of those who died in the Jaipur blasts were Muslims, although Muslims account for just about a tenth of the city’s population. But still the dominant view was that Muslims had killed Hindus in the blasts, without, as I said, this being proved at all.

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Anti-Muslim bias in agencies of the state is mounting today. Just one instance of this is how some of the Muslims picked up by the police were treated. They were asked if they believe in the Quran or in the Indian Constitution, this ridiculous question reflecting the entirely erroneous notion that a religious and observant Muslim somehow is a traitor or a potential traitor to India. Then, of course, were the large numbers of Muslims who were picked up and thrown out of their homes in Jaipur, accused of being Bangladeshis, their miserable hutments being bulldozed over. All this suggests that there are powerful forces at work that seek to push Muslims to the wall.

And then there is the media. They simply parrot the police version of any Muslim whom it picks up as a terrorist, and when it is found that this person is innocent and is subsequently let off, the media chooses not to say anything about it. So, in this way, the image of large numbers of Muslims is being deliberately tarnished. Many of them have lost their jobs because of this, and are tainted in society for the rest of their lives although they have nothing to do with terrorism. I could cite several instances of this, people whose cases we have taken up. This is really a very worrying development.

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Q: Why is it that the media, the police and the investigating agencies often jump to the conclusion that blasts must be the handiwork of Muslims soon after these occur even before any investigation has been conducted?

A: Unfortunately, that seems to be the case in large parts of country, including Rajasthan. Obviously, it is possible that some terror attacks might have been done by some Muslim elements, just as it is possible that they might be the handiwork of, say, Hindu extremists. But surely the agencies of the state and the media should not rush into concluding anything before a detailed investigation. Sadly, that does not seem to happen in most cases. So, they generally begin with the premise that any blast must be the handiwork of Muslims, and that obviously influences or determines the conclusions that they reach. They start with this premise probably, or at least in part, because there seems to be this widely-held, though erroneous, image in society of Muslims as somehow inherently and congenitally programmed to be prone to violence and terror. And so Muslims and their behavior come to be seen in an essentially criminalized way, not just by the police or media but also in the wider public domain.

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Q: And why do you think this sort of image of Muslims is so deeply-rooted?

A: One major reason is that most Hindus, especially those in positions of power, have little, if any, personal engagement with Muslims. So, being unable to relate to them as real, flesh-and-blood people, they tend to see them in the form of sinister stereotypes and cruel caricatures. The only source of information about Muslims they might get is from the media, large sections of which, of course, are communalized and are getting increasingly more so.

Take television, for instance. You won’t find a single programme set in a Muslim household. It’s almost always set in an ‘upper’ caste, upper or middle-class Hindu family. Hindi cinema-or Hindustani cinema actually-once had considerable space for Muslims, although they were generally presented in stereotypical terms, as decadent feudal lords luxuriating in comfort, or as burkha-clad women or singing, paan-chewing qawwals or whatever, not as ‘normal’ human beings. But even that space has vanished, and now numerous Bollywood films clearly and explicitly demonise Muslims in a very carefully planned manner. In addition to all this is the poisonous anti-Muslim propaganda of the Hindutva forces. So, all this combines to colour the public domain and the public perception of Muslims in an increasingly negative light. As members of the wider society, it is not surprising that many people in the police, the courts and the media are also influenced by this way of thinking.

That said, let me also say here that the Rajasthan police must be distinguished from its Gujarati counterpart, which is far more anti-Muslim. At the same time, the Rajasthan police seem to be acting on the same premise as the Gujarat police does when it comes to Muslims, often regarding them as behind each and every terror attack and ignoring the possibility that some non-Muslim elements-say radical Hindutva groups-might be behind terror acts.

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Q: There are now demands being voiced to make anti-terror laws even stricter as a means to counter terrorism. How do you see this demand?

A: What some people, such as the Hindutva right-wing, some police officers and pro-establishment media persons, are so forcefully advocating today is for a change in the law or a new law so that statements given by the arrested before the police can be counted as evidence against them. Now, we all know that this would lead to the further hounding of innocent people picked up by the police, who might torture them to make false ‘confessions’, which would be used as ‘evidence’ to falsely implicate them in cases for which they were not involved in, and which would let the real culprits go free. This would be a major assault on democracy.

Under the proposed draconian ‘anti-terror’ laws that some right-wing hawks are proposing, even human rights groups taking up the case of people wrongly accused of being terrorists could be arrested. Anyone who criticizes the wrong role of the police, the judiciary or any other branch of the state could then be easily branded as a criminal or terrorist sympathizer or abettor.

In other words, if such a draconian law comes into place, if you even think differently from the state you could be booked. Anyone who even talks of state terrorism could be labeled as a ‘terrorist’ or ‘anti-national’. If you take up the rights of oppressed people who are being suppressed by the state, as is happening with human rights activists working with Adivasis in Chhatisgarh, for instance, you could be branded as an enemy of the state and thrown into jail. Or, as is happening in Orissa, activists protesting against multi-nationals grabbing Adivasi lands, backed by the state, can be arrested, but no action will be taken against the Hindu mobs, backed by Hindutva fascist outfits, which have left tens of thousands of Christians in the state homeless.

And now there is talk of the need for a new ‘anti-terror’ law according to which any person can be arrested if he or she even simply intends to support any banned group. In that case, how would the government presume that it can judge anyone’s intentions? Obviously, this would make a complete mockery of any claims to democracy.

In other words, with these sorts of new laws that are being put into place or are being so vociferously advocated day in and day out, I fear India may be moving in the direction of a ‘police state’ run by intelligence agencies so that the state and the ruling classes can do whatever they want without any opposition whatsoever. These represent the sinister agenda of forces that are bent on destroying whatever little democracy we already enjoy.

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Q: What, then, do you see as the way ahead?

A: This is a political issue, and for this we need a political struggle. It concerns not just Muslims, who might be among the worst targeted by such draconian laws, but all oppressed and marginalized social groups, communities and classes. It is a major threat to democracy, and so all democratic forces need to come together to stiffly oppose these draconian laws.

Kavita Srivastava can be contacted on kavisriv@gmail.com
–
Sukhia Sab Sansar Khaye Aur Soye
Dukhia Sahib Kabir Jagey Aur Roye

The world is ‘happy’, eating and sleeping
The forlorn Kabir Sahib is awake and weeping

Check out my blogs: www.madrasareforms.blogspot.com
www.islampeaceandjustice.blogspot.com

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India: Interaction of Hindus in power with Muslims

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Can an "Indian Obama" build a coalition of the minorities?

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Noticias de Rupia | Nouvelles de Roupie | Rupiennachrichten | ??????? ????? | ????  | Roepienieuws | Rupi Nyheter | ???????  | Notizie di Rupia |  PAKISTAN LEDGER | ???????? ????? | Moin Ansari | ???? ??????? | DefensebriefsIntellibriefs Translate to: RSS feed: | RUPEE NEWS | October 28th, 2008 | Moin Ansari |  ???? ??????? | ????? ?????  |  Save/Share

There were many visionaries in the Subcontinent who saw he dangers of majoritarianism. A few had the foresight who actually came up with plans to resolve the rights of the minorities in the Subcontinent. His Cabinet Mission Plan was a stroke of genious and would have bridged the gap between Hindu and Muslim, Sikh and Dalit. It was torpedoed by the right wing of the Indian National Congress which shunned not only Jinnah but also Ambedkar and Bose. Thus began the politics of race, religion and creed. Bose’s War of Liberation led to the demise of the British Empire in South Asia

“The Indian society does not consist of individuals. It consists of innumerable collection of castes, which are exclusive in their life and have no common experience to share and have no bond of sympathy. The existence of caste system is a standing denial of the existence of those ideals of society and therefore of democracy. An Indian cannot eat or marry with an Indian simply because he or she does not belong to his or her caste. An Indian simply can not touch an Indian because he or she does belong to his or her caste.” Ambedkar

Can the current leaders of Jamat Islami Hind, the Indian Union Muslim League, the communist party of India and the Dalits resurrect the Jinnah-Ambadekar-Bose dream of crating a center left coalition among all the minorities in India today. Jinnah came close to building the powerful coalition . Today Mayawati is busy as a beaver building this new coalition which is working to defeat the BJP-VHP in the next elections.

Dr Ambedkar when pressed for separate electorate for the depressed classes, feared that in the Parliamentary form of government, the voices of dissent would always be decried. It is a majority vote but majority can not always be right. Secondly, he feared that those who will represent the oppressed community might not be the ‘well-wishers’ of the community as they will be more bothered about getting votes of other communities, particularly if they are fighting from so called reserve constituencies, their worry would be more on focusing on other communities rather than their own. This will only create a leadership which would be corrupt and could easily be co-opted. Hence there was upper caste leadership of a majority of parties giving the Dalits ‘symbolic’ presence in their parties A no confidence in current form of Parliamentary  democracy Vidya Bhushan Rawat
vbrawat@gmail.com

NEW DELHI: The Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH), which had fought against the communist forces during the Cold War, is joining hands with its old foes in India to teach a lesson to both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for ignoring Muslims. Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Sitaram Yechuri and Communist Party of India-National leader AB Bardan recently sought blessings of JIH chief Maulana Jalaluddin Umri for the next Lok Sabha elections.

In 2006, the JIH had helped the left alliance to return to power in the southern most state of Kerala, trouncing the Congress party and its ally Indian Union Muslim League (IUML). But, Maulana Umri said, the options are still open at the national level.
The largest Indian Muslim organisation also announced on Monday that it would launch a political party in the near future. Maulana Umri told a press conference that his organisation was seriously considering launching a political party to participate in the electoral process. By Iftikhar Gilani Dawn. JI Hind, Indian communist parties to jointly teach lesson to BJP, Congress

If this new political reality emerges it will be a seminal moment in Indian history. For the first time in hundreds of years in Indian history the disenfranchised and the downtrodden would challenge the forts of power ensconced in caste and bigotry. If Maulana Jalaluddin Umri, Sitaram Yechuri and ms. Mayawati can build a new party they will revolutionize not only India but the entire Subcontinent. Relations with Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka would improve precipitously. 
The JIH chief, however, emphasised that his political party would not be an all-Muslim party. “All downtrodden, oppressed, outcastes, tribals and those believing in peace and justice would be allowed entry into this party,” he said.
Maulana Umri said such experiments in Hyderabad and Kerala had borne fruits where the Majlis-e-Ittehadul-Muslimeen and the Indian Union Muslim League respectively had proved forces to reckon with. But, these parties lack national character, he said, stressing that there was a need to consolidate Muslims and other minorities, who comprise 40 percent of the Indian population.
He said Muslims were getting disenchanted with the country’s political system and there was a need to restore their faith in the system.

Maulana Umari said if the plans to float the party did not materialise before the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, he would advise Muslims to vote for the Congress in constituencies where it was engaged in a direct fight with the BJP and to choose other secular parties where the Congress is weak. He said while the BJP was implicitly anti-Muslim, the Congress had also failed to address the community’s concerns.

According to Maulana Umari, other parties have also only paid lip service to the community, using it as a vote bank. “It’s time to change,” he added. Iftikhar Gilani Dawn. JI Hind, Indian communist parties to jointly teach lesson to BJP, Congress

Their propagandistic deception begins with the simple use of the word democracy. ..country qualifies as a constitutional republic, let alone a true democracy. Rife with election fraud, Corporatism, gross wealth disparities, militarism, belligerent expansionism, toxic nationalism, and a laundry list of traits characterizing a fascist state, the United States could easily qualify as one of democracy’s greatest foes. India does not lag far behind.

Hype and spin aside, determined investigation and fastidious scholarship by people like Bangladeshi barrister M.B.I. Munshi, researcher Isha Khan, and many others reveal the ugly realities behind India’s corporate media façade. India and the United States do share a number of commonalities, but few of them relate to “democracy”, “liberty”, or “solid moral foundations”.

 While it is true that both nations were founded by noble people who wrested themselves free of the yoke of Great Britain’s imperial oppression, like degenerate trust fund children, the heirs of liberty have defecated on their family’s reputation and squandered their fortune.

As Munshi’s exhaustive research demonstrates, India’s policies, attitudes, and actions toward its neighbors are quite analogous to the machinations of the United States throughout Central and South America. Replete with its own version of the Monroe Doctrine (Akhand Bharat) and an intelligence agency called RAW (their version of the CIA), India has a long-term commitment to wielding undue power and influence throughout the subcontinent. Accelerating Humanity’s Demise By Jason Miller

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Can an "Indian Obama" build a coalition of the minorities?

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