India’s Communal Gamble

http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/cta/progs/panorama/latest.ram

Also, would like to know if the veiled beauty on the left is really as beautiful as she sounds.

shankar #99

``My own brahmin grandma was married to my grandpa at the age of 9.``

Was your grandps also 53 when he married your 9 years of would be grandma?

Re Zafarsaab #92

I had the same doubts as you about the author`s authenticity. However, googling shows that this guy is perhaps for real.

Regards

``However, I am interested in why Indians seem so concerned about religious extremism in Pakistan, but not too concerned about the changes in their own society (which will have far larger negative and violent consequences, in my opinion).”

zafarsaab:

*But we are. And also, what happens in Pakistan also affects India, so of course we`re concerned. *

how very interesting zafarsaab

RE: Reply #: 106 Asif Naqshbandi

``Welcome bhai :-) Assalamu alaykum! Such accounts of the Indian brethrens suffering in India really moves me and makes me sad.``

Instead of being a Muslim in India, you could be:

1) A Muslim in Egypt: if you speak against the government, they threaten you with raping your female relations (and do it if you do go ahead).

2) A Muslim in Syria: if you speak against the government, your whole village could be destroyed along with 30000 occupants.

3) A Muslim in Iraq: Just ask the Kurds what happens to them if they speak out against the Government.

4) A Muslim in the Land of the Pure: you are more likely to lose your life due to your religious belief than if you`re a Muslim in India.

Of course if in the following Muslim countries you are a:

a) non-Muslim in Saudi Arabia: you cannot worship your own deities (any representations you try to bring in are confiscated at the airport itself).

b) Jew in Iran: charged with sedition and face execution for things going on in Israel.

c) Christian in Sudan: sold as a slave if you don`t lose your life.

d) Afghanistan: have your deities used for target practice or blown up; have you wear distinctive markings.

e) the Land of the Pure: subject to separate electorates (read total disenfranchisement), blasphemy charges resulting in execution.

If the so called Muslim intelligentia indulges in a self-serving medieval mindset and siege mentality described in the rest of your article, is it any wonder that the Muslim world is raging against the modern world which has no place for them?

After reading many of the interacts i decided to read the article and i am at a loss to understand what the critics are questioning exactly.

Even Sadhana, who comes across as staunchly secular is hung up on a technical point - that the author cited the NYT instead of the srikrishna report. So frigging what? There are numerous committees and commissions operating in india at any given time with any positive outcome amounting to diddley squat. The srikrishna commission was a political necessity - it was a matter of one party trying to outmaneuver another - and the report has accomplished next to nothing.

While the author at times sounds paranoid to my hindu mind, his feelings must not be discounted. There is a grave threat to secularism in india and the constitution cannot help that if the government institutions are subverted one after another. Shahid Makhfi is right to be afraid..

What Rubbish!

Incredibly sad reading. ``Maangley abandons its Muslims``:

http://www.rediff.com/news/2001/oct/22spec.htm

stuka

Interesting - you mean there even more right wing politics? OK let`s say there is - why would they rely on class instead of caste? with caste they imprison the mind, the soul, with class, they just dispossess worldly wealth that is not really the higher purpose in society, anyway? Right ?, wrong or way off?

Asif #106 ``Such accounts of the Indian brethrens suffering in India really moves me and makes me sad.

How about your millions of Afghan brethren who had to leave their homes and run away to other countries to escape from the misrule of your mullah brethren (aka taliban)? Or about your Pakistani brethren who cant pray in a mosque without fear of being machine-gunned by your mullah brethren? One thing is ndeniable: muslims in India are living at least as free from threats by religious extremists as muslims in Pakistan, except in Kashmir where your mullah brethren are busy fomenting violence.

Spare me your hypocritical holiness.

soysauce #121
From the article:

``Worse still is the allegation that the police plays a partisan role in further annihilating Muslims. Some years back New York Times carried a special report highlighting extracts from transcripts of Bombay police radio conversation that clearly revealed police participation in arson against the Muslims. ``

soysauce mahashay, Author mahashay is still in the allegation stage.

I posted a link to the text of the report and mentioned the movie to show thats its more than an allegation, its common knowledge in India that policemen were guilty and that some guilty policemen have even been named.

Whats the point of bringing up the communalism question and talking of green tiles instead of protesting that no guilty policman has been arrested much less convicted for his role in the riots ? )There was a single arrest only last month, 8 years after the fact). Would a Sikh talking of communalism similarly refrain from protesting that no person `known` to be guilty has been convicted for the `84 riots?

IMO, Rip Van Winkles can never be effective as activists and I donot have to prove my `secular credentials` to you(who are you anyway?) or anyone by making a show of respect where it is not deserved.

Zafar Al-Talib #92

Apparently, this article was also published in Nov 2000 on another website, as were two other articles by the same author.

http://www.mediamonitors.net/shahid3.html

`googling` as MastRam says shows he writes on archeological matters, too.

Re sarwari

``I don`t wish to comment too much on Indian Muslims, and they are the least of my concerns.``

So, whatever happened to that ummah you have expresssed so much belief in your earlier posts across numerous boards? Are Indian muslims a step or two below other muslims say from chechyna or Sudan? Are they at least a step above Indian Hindus? And if Indian muslims are the least of your comments and that you did not wish to comment on them, why then a rambling reply from you?

I think that this is a very balanced article, and any Indian ignores it only at his own peril. To enshrine secularism in the constitution is not enough. We have to constantly ensure that it is maintained in practice. The US is one of the freest places in the world, and yet it has many institutions dedicated to being vigilant in the protection of these rights. Who protests when communities are targeted in India? There are a few articles by known leftists, a few newspaper articles and then all is forgotten, or atleast ignored. Surely all is not hunky-dory!

There has been a perceptible change in the public mood and (therefore) public policy in India. Both have become more rigid of late.

-narain

Re: Sarwari #116

``...This is the first time I have come across your post and have been reminded of how narrow Indian Muslim nationalist spirit...``

Ms. Sarwari, Mr. Nashqabandi is, ahem, ur.., Pakistani.

Sarware Behan,

Please don`t gift Asif Naqshbandi to India. He is a Pakistani product through and through and India doesn`t want anything to do with him.

Please keep your filth on your side of the border.