Declaration of Jehad

Don`t Let Our Friend

Pakistan Down

By LANNY J. DAVIS

Once again, Pakistan has stepped up to the line at the request of the U.S. — at great risk to itself. And once again, the question must be asked: Will the U.S. remember, not only at times of peril, as now, but during fair weather?

Based on history, the answer is, unfortunately, unclear. Perhaps this crisis will finally convince U.S. policymakers there are better ways to treat a friend, even one whose system of government is at times not entirely to our liking.

Make no mistake, the courageous decision of Pakistan`s leader, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, to support the U.S. campaign against Osama Bin Laden, including likely military action against Afghanistan`s Taliban, puts the nation itself — and the general personally — at great peril.

Since its founding more than a half-century ago, Pakistan has attempted to establish a pro-Western, moderate government that respects secular values, similar to Turkey`s model. But in recent years, especially after the fundamentalist takeover of Iran, Pakistan has been threatened by Islamic extremists seeking to exploit poverty and illiteracy as the fuel for anti-Western hatreds.

Now Pakistan is in a far weaker position to resist these extremists, who look to Bin Laden as their hero. Tragically, U.S. policies over more than a decade are arguably one of the chief factors.

These policies — harsh sanctions on economic and military assistance — were imposed after Pakistan developed nuclear weapons capability in 1990. Ironically, the sanctions kicked in shortly after Pakistan played a critical role, again to its peril, in helping the U.S. turn back Soviet aggression in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Among the legacies of that war for Pakistan: a rampant drug trade, the CIA-trained Bin Laden and, ultimately, the extremist Taliban on its borders.

In the wake of Sept. 11, sanctions against Pakistan (and those imposed as well on India for its nuclear weapons program) fortunately have been removed. It is late in the day, given the serious deterioration in the Pakistanis` economic condition, but perhaps it is not too late for them to recover — or for us to learn important lessons for the future.

First, economic and military sanctions should not be employed when there is no evidence they are achieving their goals — or, worse, evidence that they are producing results counter to U.S. long-term interests, and certainly not when they are doing injury to a loyal, reliable friend.

Second, the best incentive for Pakistan to return to democracy and civilian control is through broad economic and educational assistance and for the U.S. to show patience and understanding as Pakistan attempts to reconstruct a more enduring democracy free of corruption and autocratic rule.

Third, Kashmir, the festering source of tension on the subcontinent, must be the subject of greater U.S. involvement. Pakistan and India have made progress in recent months. The U.S. cannot afford to stand on the sidelines any longer.

Finally, and most importantly: We must learn to treat our friends as friends — and to remember their loyalty and support through the good times as well as the bad.

zeejah and others: Actually I noticed you got the five pillars wrong too - you replaced kalima with jehad!!!! jehad is NOT one of the pillars of islam, despite the equation of islam with violence that people like to make.

anyway, these are merely pillars (and not given any real importance in the Quran either compared to other things). What is the foundation of islam??

Stuka #10 Your chances of winning the lottery are indeed slim. However, just because two communities (arabs and israelis) have been fighting it out for 50 years doesnt mean this is something for all eternity. Human relations can go from one pole to another quite quickly. E.g. back in the 14th century, after the 500 hundred year rule of arabs in spain came to an end, jews were given a choice by the conquering christians to (a) convert to christianity, (b) leave spain for (muslim ruled) turkey or (c) face persecution in spain. tens of thousands of them chose to go to muslim ruled turkey. similarly, the Sebatai Zevi declared himself the jewish messiah in the 17th century and gained a mass following across europe, with people selling their belongings to go to Palestine. The ottoman empire had other thoughts, and - this is a historical fact - the jewish messiah embraced islam. interestingly, he did not disown his jewish heritage either, and contined to be visited by jewish followers while at the same time proclaiming he had no problem accepting both faiths.

long story, but the moral is: dont let current events hide the reality that human relations can blow hot and cold. it can be hindi-cheenee bhai bhai in 1961 and war between the two in 1962. the japanese and germans are eager to do what they can to be of help to the allies 50 years after a tooth and nail struggle with them.

this article doesnt offer any new insight into this whole it sounds like it was written by a non muslim.......anyway better luck next time

for a few green pieces of paper,

Pakistan was created as a homeland for the muslims of india. Many believed in this land of the pure, went there to create one.

Pakistan created the taliban because the americans gave them a few green pieces of paper, no not really, the argument was that there is this strategic depth, which in simple language means that if india invades pakistan and occupies it, the mushy and company will move to afghansiatn to fight another day. Again, the taliban was the incarnation of jihad in the true form.

What has changed now, instead of supporting the creation, like any true parent, pakistan has turned against its own creation. Today mushy has declared that the days of taliban are numbeed. What happened to the muslim ummah.

Even Ummah can be sold for a few green pieces of paper. It must be a terible burden to be pakistani in these times. No wonder they keep coming up with the `desi` idea. It must be this terrible sense of disgrace that creates the jihadists, another form of suicide. May be the shrink, sankar can throw some darkness on this

Reply # 87 nasah

[``HE BETTER GET READY FOR A WAR WITH INDIA. IT`S COMING.``]

Reply # 442 Stuka

[``I would prefer a nucler holocaust in South Asia, the deaths of my parents, friends, myself, before allowing India to be partitioned again``]

Reply # 439 sadna

[``I hope India refuses to talk any further and seeks the right political moment to go and destroy the training camps in PoK.``]

Relax fellas. Whats this excitement about? What has gotten into your dhotis? Is it a bunch piranhas? or did a bee hive explode in there? haNh?

Let me try to answer all of you lunatic hate/war mongers, please.

Field Marshal Sadna, I hope you guys have a credible second strike capability before thinking of war. ``Make no mistake``, there are enough devices and missles to roast the WHOLE of India in the first strike. Till such time that Abul Kalam and other IIT geniuses can mount a missile on a submarine, I suggest you take some valium and enjoy the wet dreams about hot pursuit etc... like what advani has done since `98.

Wardboy, your CAPS LOCK key is stuck; maybe your Prozac laced drool is too sticky?

Khatri-Puttar, why do you love mother India more than your own mother?

Personally, I think Uncle Sam will save your cowardly arses. But somehow you guys had to demean yourselves by first prostituting your services from India.... no takers..... then send Bhadwant Singh to US.... no takers.... and finally Bagpipe writes ``jilted lover`` style letters to Bush.... still no takers... and now this anger and cries of WAR.

It is pathetic to see a nation of 1 billion cowards begging and pleading US to help them out. Kuch sharam hai to chullu bhar cow-urine mein doob maro.

Reply # 87 nasah

[``HE BETTER GET READY FOR A WAR WITH INDIA. IT`S COMING.``]

Reply # 442 Stuka

[``I would prefer a nucler holocaust in South Asia, the deaths of my parents, friends, myself, before allowing India to be partitioned again``]

Reply # 439 sadna

[``I hope India refuses to talk any further and seeks the right political moment to go and destroy the training camps in PoK.``]

Relax fellas. Whats this excitement about? What has gotten into your dhotis? Is it a bunch piranhas? or did a bee hive explode in there? haNh?

Let me try to answer all of you lunatic hate/war mongers, please.

Field Marshal Sadna, I hope you guys have a credible second strike capability before thinking of war. ``Make no mistake``, there are enough devices and missles to roast the WHOLE of India in the first strike. Till such time that Abul Kalam and other IIT geniuses can mount a missile on a submarine, I suggest you take some valium and enjoy the wet dreams about hot pursuit etc... like what advani has done since `98.

Wardboy, your CAPS LOCK key is stuck; maybe your Prozac laced drool is too sticky?

Khatri-Puttar, why do you love mother India more than your own mother?

Personally, I think Uncle Sam will save your cowardly arses. But somehow you guys had to demean yourselves by first prostituting your services from India.... no takers..... then send Bhadwant Singh to US.... no takers.... and finally Bagpipe writes ``jilted lover`` style letters to Bush.... still no takers... and now this anger and cries of WAR.

It is pathetic to see a nation of 1 billion cowards begging and pleading US to help them out. Kuch sharam hai to chullu bhar cow-urine mein doob maro.

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Good Morning and Happy Jehad to all the Pakistanis !!!

APOLOGIES,

Yet another pathetic apologist. An idea so much `misinterpreted`, is it not possible to drop it, say that it is out of touch and irrelevant.

It is pathetic to see the educated pakistanis trying to salvage `jihad`, education is a jihad against ignorence, eating is a jihad against hunger, sh//i/tting is a jihad against constipation, all of the above are correct interpretations, except the killing, which the real jihadists are doing. It is time for the pakistanis to accept that they are fooling no one, people of all religions do except the last type of jihad, and we use different words.

Jihad means only one thing, and please dont make even the bodily functions into a jihad.

BOMBAY RIOTS







The December 6, 1992, demolition of Babri Masjid drove a wedge between India’s two principal communities that few are trying to bridge. The Uttar Pradesh government, which could have helped the CBI in initiating action against the BJP leaders who were ‘party to the demolition,’ has done its utmost to bail them out. Now the onus is on the Maharashtra government - Congress and NCP - to heal the scars that are still sore. The Bombay riots that claimed close to 1,000 lives changed the city’s landscape. And now it seems that the state government, which had promised action on the Srikrishna Commission report, has changed its mind. After arresting three small-time Shiv Sainiks last month, the Maharashtra government doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to implement Justice Srikrishna’s other, more unpleasant recommendations.

Eight Years On Justice Still Eludes Riot Victims

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

ANJALI CORDIERO

Bombay, July 5, 2001



Eight years ago, a 12-year-old in a little madarsa in the heart of Bombay city watched uncomprehendingly as the city he knew burned with communal passions. He watched his father being whisked away by the police, never to see him alive again. Those were the days when the distinction between right and wrong had turned into an indistinct blur, even to the guardians of the law.

Abdullah remembers hearing bullet shots and screams and though that was eight years ago, he has not forgotten. Eight years is a long time to grieve and when Abdullah Kasim speaks of the father he lost to the carnage that swallowed Bombay in the January of 1993, he is dry-eyed. The tears may long since have stopped, but the memories have been permanently etched on his mind. In Bombay, thousands like Abdullah are still struggling to live with the legacy of pain the riots left in their wake. The pain is compounded by the fact that they do not know if those guilty of snatching away their loved ones will ever be punished.

The agonizingly slow wheels of the bureaucracy and government have been practically at a standstill for close to a decade as far as the Srikrishna Commission is concerned. Now, eight years after Bombay burnt, the Democratic Front government seems to be waking up from a lethargic slumber and beginning to show some interest in implementing the report.



IT Cover Story

Tiger in Trouble



Edit

Danse Macabre



Commission Report

Full Text Of Srikrishna Report



Interview

Bal Thackeray:

``It will be a very costly mistake``

``If it wants, BJP can stop them``





Does the government have honorable intentions, or is the entire exercise mere eyewash? In the last one month alone the Special Task Force, appointed to implement the Srikrishna Commission report, filed an FIR against 16 police officers (including a former commissioner), filed formal charges against five Shiv Sainiks (including a former minister) and arrested three Sena activists. In short, a sudden flurry of interest and unprecedented activity from the government’s side in the riot cases. But will justice be truly served?

So far the government has a very poor track record in this regard and most social activists are skeptical about its determination to see the cases through. Many believe that the government is merely trying to make a point and pacify the Supreme Court, which (following a petition) has repeatedly demanded to know what the Maharashtra government has done on the issue. The implementation of the report was in its election manifesto and if nothing is done in this direction the government loses face.

Commission Of Inquiry

The Srikrishna Commission of Inquiry was set up on January 25, 1993, after close to 1,000 people were killed in the riots that followed nationwide communal tension after the December 6, 1992, demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. The commission held the Shiv Sena, including its chief Bal Thackeray responsible, saying that they whipped up a communal frenzy. It also found evidence of biased and indiscriminate firing by the police force. When, after five years of work, the commission’s report was tabled, the Sena which was then in power refused to accept or implement in. Then came the election where a self-righteous Congress and NCP promised to right all wrongs. The Congress and NCP did come to power, but they have yet to keep their word.

Cynics point out that although half-a-dozen cases have been opened up in the last one month, lawmakers have been showing a lack of will in pursuing them. “The government is treating the accused with kid gloves and is using the Srikrishna Commission as a smokescreen,” says P.A. Sebastian, the advocate who is representing Abdullah Kasim in high court. “The government’s intentions are in question and we have no faith in them.” The case that he has taken up on behalf of Abdullah concerns the former Bombay Police Commissioner R.D. Tyagi who was, in May this year, charged with the murder of nine people in the famous Suleiman Bakery case. Tyagi had approached the courts for anticipatory bail, which has been rejected. Sebastian, on behalf of Abdullah, vehemently opposed the bail and begged the court in the interest of justice to deny the bail application.

“Tyagi has been named in a murder case. The government filed an FIR against Tyagi blaming him for the nine deaths at Suleiman Bakery, but made no attempt to arrest him. Does this mean that Tyagi is above the law? He applied for anticipatory bail and we were worried that he may get away. We have filed the case because we simply don’t trust the government to see it through,” Sebastian contends. STF officials, however, say that they could not arrest Tyagi because some aspects of the investigation are yet to be completed.

Tyagi has high political connections, advocate Sebastian says. Tyagi applied for a Shiv Sena ticket in the 1999 General Elections, and in 2000 he contested the Maharashtra legislative council election as an independent candidate. Will his clout protect him from any further action?

In March this year the STF began investigations into the role of nine policemen during the riots. According to the Srikrishna report, six of these police officials watched a mob hack a local Muslim thug to death but did nothing to stop them. Although the STF began work on these cases in March and seems to have completed most of the investigations, there has been no action against them. “They are government servants. We need to get the government’s permission to prosecute them and this permission has not yet come,” a senior official of the Special Task Force told TheNewspaperToday. This is just another example of the perfunctory action that the Democratic Front government seems to specialize in as far as the Srikrishna Commission is concerned.

In all, the Srikrishna Commission named 31 police offices for wrong doings during the riots of January 1993. Of these, the Special Task Force has filed FIRs against 17 (including former commissioner R.D. Tyagi), nine are being investigated and another 19 have departmental inquiries pending against them. Since the STF was formed last October, not a single police officer has been arrested for his role in the riots. The reasons are two fold -- getting necessary evidence so many years later, especially when even victims are not ready to stand witness, is not easy. And, the prosecution of a police official is always tinged with worries of effect on the morale of the force. Admits one STF official, “We are all in the same service. While prosecuting a fellow police officer I can’t help but think that it just as well might have been me.”

Justice Srikrishna in his report had also named around 102 persons affiliated with various political parties who were responsible for inciting violence. Since its inception, STF has arrested 11 such persons, most of them small time activists. Other, ‘bigger political personalities’ who incited the mobs, seem to have gone scoot free. STF officials explain this away saying that “many off these offences are not cognizable offences, since a span of eight years has passed.” It is true that on June 21 this year the STF arrested three Shiv Sainiks, but in common parlance they were only ‘small fry’. The STF has charged five other Sena leaders, including former minister Gajanan Kirtikar. But all are currently out on bail. No one knows what the final outcome of these cases will be.

Is that the Democratic Front’s modus operandi -- do just enough to silence critics, but stop just short of raising a stink or rocking any boats? Ask deputy chief minister Chhagan Bhujbhal and he is loath to discuss the issue.

Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied

Says Justice Hosbet Suresh, a former judge who in 1999 led a delegation to the Chief Minister demanding action on the riot report, “I feel that the action from the government is very slow, half-hearted and mere lip-service. I don’t have much faith. I met the Chief Minister as soon as he came to power, but nothing has been done till now. It has already been eight years; the case that has been filed will be in the courts for another five or six years. I don’t know if the victims will get justice.”

Meanwhile, even as activists and victims demand speedier and more aggressive action on the recommendations of Justice Srikrishna, the Shiv Sena is gearing for an onslaught. After three Shiv Sainiks were arrested in riots cases on June 21, party spokesperson Subhash Desai described the move as “an attempt to pacify the Muslims. The government is asking for trouble.”

So far, though, the Sena has been unusually restrained in its reaction and says that it will fight the government “through legal channels.” To this end a legal cell has been formed by the party high command. The party simply cannot afford to ignore any kind of action on the commission’s report. Sena chief Bal Thackeray, who wrote inflammatory articles during the riots, is one of those held culpable by Justice Srikrishna in the report.

Last year (even before the Special Task Force was appointed) when Bal Thackeray was arrested for inflammatory writings during the riots, he walked away a free man in less than two hours. However, the Sena can never be entirely certain about how far the government is willing to go. According to senior sources in the STF, Bal Thackeray’s case, like all others, has been examined. “The government has not yet taken a decision on the Sena supremo’s case,” sources in the STF told TheNewspaperToday. “It is not so simple to arrest or take action against a big political leader. You have to be doubly certain that you have enough evidence to back you in court, evidence that could stand up in the Supreme Court if necessary. After all, eight years have passed…it is hard to come by such evidence.”





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Zeejah

Obscuritanism is the exact opposite of Islam, even as it proclaims itself as the champion of Islam.

The experience of Islam, of being a Muslim is not possible, not possible, without Education, without Liberty, and without Reason, without the understanding of pluralism of religions and of the tolerance born of it.

To understand the responsibility of being a Muslim, is to struggle to be conscious, to continuously reexamine scriptures and Taffsir by applying the knowledge of religious and extra religious sciences to give meaning and relevance to teachings and to guide thinking and behaviour.

In principle to disagree with the Taliban and other such obscuritanist movements is one thing, to suggest that to extinguish sucha movement by international conspiracy and force of arms is to equate one`s behaviour with that of the obscuritanist Taliban movement.

How then can the Taliban movement be challenged? By a combination of both Islamic intellectual arguement, to create an awareness of the shallowness of their understanding of Islam and the impropriety of solutions for statecraft and governance they have proposed. The second way of challengeing the Taliban movement of Afghanistan is to engage them and to bind them in obligations by virtue of the engagement.

Sadly none of this occur.

A question: The sudden glorification of osama and seeing his picture being held aloft by his followers qualifies as idol worship, doesn`t it?

Re the author`s invitation for the world to wage jehad on the principles of the taliban is still quite short of what is required. It requires a jehad on the fellows who write the checks for the taliban, the saudis. The only difference between them and the afghans are that they lucked out on oil. Otherwise, they would be just another basket case with revenues from dates and camel dung.

And while you`re at the Taliban`s case, how different are they in practice from jaish or the other loony paki-sponsored groups? the problem is you can`t deplore the taliban on one hand as terrorists and then applaud the violent terrorist groups in Kashmir as freedom fighters. And even in the remote case India washes off its hands from Kashmir, do you think it is going to evolve into the gem of Pakistan? Chances are that you`ve made such a devil`s deal with the jehadis, they will not settle for anything less than the talibanization of Kashmir as well as the rest of Pakistan.

Of course some will bring up the case of extreme Hindu groups. These nuts are crazy all right, but not as violent as your nuts. They do not go around hijacking planes and ramming them into buildings, killing people by the thousands in the name of religion, nor do they export their violence to other countries. How much can you achieve with dandas and airguns after all?

Re: Sarwari #14

Did you know that more Muslims are killed each year in sectarian violence in Pakistan than in religious riots in India? I was certainly surprised to learn this (it was The News a few days ago, in an editorial). If you consider that India`s population is about 8 times larger, one cannot but come to the horrible conclusion that the death RATE due to sectarian violence is about EIGHT times higher in Pakistan!! Shocking, isn`t it?

Re: Stuka

``Yes, and maybe UrsTruly will be smoking pot and philosophizing at a beach shack in Goa``

Please, the thought of that jehadi in Goa makes me cringe.

The northies have damaged Goa enough - gawking at tourists in bikinis, leaving garbage on the beaches, trying to jump into the water in silk saris and polyester pants, stealing, making noise during siesta time, and attempting to commercialize every corner.