Filtered Posts

The Porno Paradox THE CEO of Indian Ebay arm Bazee.com was granted bail by a court in Delhi today, but he`ll have to surrender his passport and stay in the country, the Indian press reports.
US citizen Anish Bajaj was arrested under the Information Technology Act of 2000, which makes it an offence to publish obscene material in electronic form.

Bazee.com had hosted sales of a home made video by a 17-year old Indian youth which allegedly contained pornographic material, but pulled the video as soon as it realised it was there.

Bajaj had travelled from Mumbai to Delhi voluntarily but was arrested by the cops last Friday and thrown into a no doubt extremely miserable Delhi jail, where he had to sleep on the floor with dozens of other suspects.

If convicted, Bajaj faces five years in jail or a fine of Rs 100,000 or both. The act itself is a wide-ranging piece of legislation which makes publishers responsible for content.

No one detects any irony in the fact that the Hindu civilisation was extremely tolerant of sexuality and gave birth not only to the beautiful statuary of Khajuraho but to a wealth of erotic literature in Sanskrit of which the Kama Sutra is only a a very pallid example.

These days the country is rather prudish in its attitude to the erotic - perhaps a legacy of the British raj, which went out of its way to ban practices such as temple prostitution, and in general regarded Hinduism as ``idolatry``, which it certainly is not.

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=20338

Hey JC, won’t you smile for me? http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/living/10443135.htm

New book offers Hindu perspective on Christ

BY TERESA WATANABE

Los Angeles Times


The Three Wise Men who came to worship the Christ child hailed from India and named him Isa, or ``Lord,`` in Sanskrit -- a name that became Jesus in the Bible.

The star they followed to find the infant Jesus was not a physical celestial body. It was the omniscient ``wisdom star of infinite perception`` in the spiritual eye, located between the eyebrows, which the wise men accessed through deep meditation.

Later, Jesus traveled to India, where he practiced yoga meditation with the great sages there sometime during his ``lost years`` from age 13 to 30, a time of his life scarcely mentioned in the New Testament.

As Christians immerse themselves in the Advent season to prepare for Christmas, such assertions might sound like blasphemy or pure fantasy. But they come from a renowned Indian guru, the late Paramahansa Yogananda, in a newly published work that is being praised as the first detailed interpretation of the four Gospels by a Hindu.

Compiled from decades of Yogananda`s speeches and writings, the book is being published by his Los Angeles-based Self-Realization Fellowship 52 years after his death.

``The Second Coming of Christ: The Resurrection of Christ Within You,`` offers startling ideas about the deeper meaning of Jesus` teachings and their essential unity with yoga, one of the world`s oldest and most systematic religious paths to achieving oneness with God.

According to fellowship senior editor Brother Chidananda, the book aims to recover what Yogananda believed were major teachings lost to institutional Christianity. Among them was the idea that every seeker can know God not through mere belief, but by direct experience via yoga meditation.

``This gives a way to enter the kingdom of heaven within through the science of meditation, and gives a vision of the oneness of religion,`` he said in an interview.

At two volumes and 1,642 pages of intricate discourse on various Gospel passages, the book (listed at $58 and available for about $41 at some major bookstores) is not expected to be a best seller. But it has been praised as a groundbreaking work by comparative-religion scholars.

Robert Ellwood, a University of Southern California professor emeritus and specialist in world religions, called it a ``rare bridge-building book`` that could change the way people see Jesus.

Arvind Sharma, a professor of comparative religion at McGill University in Montreal, said the book represented a ``path-breaking`` effort of a Hindu in claiming the right to interpret the Christian Gospels.

``What Yogananda was saying is that Jesus did not preach to Christians; he preached to humanity.``

Christopher Chappel, a professor of theological studies and an expert on the religious traditions of India at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, said many of Yogananda`s assertions would enhance Christian faith, because they affirm the resurrection and other accounts of Jesus` experiences.

But other assertions, such as Jesus` purported sojourn in India, are impossible to judge, Chappel said, because they have not been thoroughly researched in the West, even though a minority of people in certain Hindu and Muslim traditions have long claimed that Jesus traveled to India, Kashmir, Tibet and elsewhere.

Believers in the Bible`s literal truth, however, are certain to reject Yogananda`s explanations that many biblical stories are metaphorical and metaphysical, rather than actual fact -- beginning with the book`s title, ``The Second Coming of Christ.``

Hank Hanegraaff, president of the Christian Research Institute International in Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., criticized Yogananda`s belief in a unity between yoga and Christianity. He said the fellowship belief that God is present in all creation was pantheistic, while Christians were monotheists.

``The idea that a unifying theme underlies all religions is nice to say, but it makes little sense,`` he said.

Why Indo-Pak friendship is not possible? - 1

Mohammad Shehzad

The current India-Pak relations compel even the most pessimistic minds to raise a question i.e. are India and Pakistan really moving towards forging friendship with each other. The hawks on both sides believe that friendship between the two countries is not possible. The Pakistani hawks say it without mincing words-`a Hindu can never be your friend.` This sentence has been echoing in my minds since 1987 when I was a student of B Sc at Federal Government Degree College H-9. My Zoology professor Mr Waheed ud Din said to the class that we should be careful from the Hindus because `a Hindu can never be your friend.`


I never bought this argument and always maintained that friendship is beyond religion. As a matter of fact, my parents were saved by a Hindu family during the riots of 1947. My mother Raisa Fatima has passed away. My father Gulzar Ahmad is 62 now. He would often recall the partition. He was in Kalyana, near Dera Dhoon. He was only 5 at that time. On the morning of August 14, 1947, his Hindu neighbor told my grandfather (my father`s father) that Sikh rioters would attack Kalyana in the evening. The neighbor advised my grandfather that he should take refuge in his house along with the entire family. My grandfather did so. The Sikhs attacked Kalyana and massacred the entire population. My father tells me that the streets were full of Holy Koran`s torn papers.


A Muslim had five daughters. Sikha murdered all of them. My father saw their bodies mutilated with the cuts of swords. I would not have been writing this column had that Hindu neighbor not saved the life of my father, grandfather and the rest of the family. `How could we have thanked them?` asks my father from himself.


`The Sikhs had torched our house and destroyed all the property. My mother had brought her Singer`s sewing machine with her while moving to the house of the Hindu family. She gifted that machine to that Hindu family who had saved our life, while leaving their house,` says my father. That`s my father`s real story. Now I tell you my own story. When I got married, God blessed me with a beautiful son. He was only a few months old. All of a sudden he fell seriously ill. I took him to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences. He was in a life-threatening situation. You know who looked after him? A Hindu doctor! Dr Jai Krishan! Jai nursed him and saved Osaama-my son. He was out of danger.


In the last week of August, I visited India. On way back from Bhopal, I fell sick. I had high fever. I was not in my country. You know who nursed me? A Hindu woman! A married Hindu woman. She brought food and medicine for me. She fed me from her own hands. I recovered very quickly-with the help of medicines and her loving care. How could one say that a Hindu can never be a Muslim`s friend? So many Hindus were saved by the Muslims and vice versa during the partition.


It is the establishment that spearheads such propaganda which promotes hatred among the people of the two countries. Very recently, a professor of sociology at Allama Iqbal Open University was found defending the two-nation theory. We, the students had to give him our piece of mind. We told him that he should teach us sociology, not the two-nation theory. He then realized that we were not school going kids whom he could have brainwashed.


I am of the opinion that friendship between India and Pakistan is impossible not because of the absurd Hindu-Muslim philosophy but because of the indoctrination that we perpetuate to create hatred between the people. From textbooks to non-curriculum books, we have tons of material that preaches hatred against the Hindus and India. As long as we will not destroy such material, take steps to change the existing mindsets, and lay down a new foundation of friendship with India, things are not going to change.


I recently came across a book on the Hindu religion. The book has been written by a rabid extremist-Amir Hamza, who is known among the jihadi circles as the intellectual supremo of Jamatud Dawa [JD], the defunct Lashkar-e-Taiba. The book came out in June 1998. From the excerpts, one could understand why friendship between the two countries is not possible and what are the problems in this effect.
The preface has been written by Hafiz Saeed, Amir, JD. Excerpts:


`There is no authentic book on Hinduism. It has been portrayed as a religion of philosophy. But in fact, Hinduism is a conundrum. The preachers of Hinduism will ask the people to just follow the Hinduism blindly without asking any question. That is why, in the Hinduism, people are asked to worship idols. They are taught to be afraid of fairies. They are taught to believe in superstitions. Amir Hamza has exposed the true face of Hinduism in this short book. Today, Lashkare Taiba is fighting jihad with the Hindus, therefore, we should link jihad with religion and in this effect target the Hinduism.` p3, 4


Introduction by Amir Hamza:
`Hinduism is the enemy of Islam. Hindus are the enemy of the Muslims. Whereas, Islam is the friend of its enemies. It extends hands of friendship to them but the friendship is impossible unless the enemy comes into the fold of Islam.` p8


`The Hindus are extremely jealous of the Muslims. Wherever they would see prosperous Muslims, they would destroy their shops, torch their property and occupy their business. This does not happen in Islam. The faith of the Muslims is whoever would work hard, will get the reward from Allah.` p12


`The Hindu confectioners would think that they would become polluted and defile if they would be touched by a Muslim. They would not take money from their own hand from the Muslim customers. They would use a wooden pot that would have a handle. They would ask the Muslim buyers to put the money in the pot. One day, my hand touched the hand of the Hindu confectioner. He became furious and starting abusing me. From that day on, I decided never to buy anything from any Hindu shopkeeper.` p13-14


`Whereas, our religion does not believe in such discriminations. It is extremely liberal and open and tolerant. Islam allows the Muslims to eat in the crockery of the non-Muslims in which they would cook pork and drink alcoholic beverages.`


`A shoodar [untouchable Hindu] would fetch honey with his own hands and the Hindus would not mind eating it but at the same time, they would not allow him to enter their house or share the dining table with him. In fact, the Hindus have been changing their religious books. Lord Krishan has been fighting against the injustice and social divide but Geeta [the religious book of the Hindus] endorses the class difference as part of religion.` p15


`The festival of Holi [the festival of colors] teaches the Hindus the lesson of oneness of Allah but the so-called preachers of Hinduism have distorted the true message of Holi. The festival of holi is celebrated to commemorate Pehlak who fought with a tyrant ruler Harnakash. The latter put Pehlak into fire but he remained safe. In fact, Pehlak in the Hindu mythology is the Prophet Ibrahim who was put into fire and he remained safe.`


`The Hindu celebrate Holi with the red color. In fact, they would like to celebrate Holi with the blood of the Muslims. They have been celebrating the Holi with the Muslims` blood since Pakistan`s creation. They massacre the Muslims in riots. They are massacring the Kashmiri Muslims in the Occupied Kashmir.`


`Now look at the difference of treatment to minorities in the two countries. In India, the Muslim minority is being slaughtered, whereas, in Pakistan the Hindu minority enjoy the full rights and freedom. In Sindh, I have several friends who are very rich businessmen. I eat with them and they tell me that Hinduism is a biased religion and the class difference is the mastermind of the so-called custodians of Hinduism.` p26


`The Hindus have been tampering with their religious book. Allah has sent a holy messenger with a holy book to every tribe. Allah also sent a messenger and a book to the Hindus but the so-called custodians of Hinduism tampered with it to further their vested interests. The Hindus hated their enemies and declared them shoodar [untouchable caste]. The holy book that Allah gave to the Hindus was Vaid which was badly tampered. It now has four versions! The then rulers bribed the religious figures and they changed the teachings of Vaid. The original Vaid discusses the Holy Prophet, oneness of Allah, etc. At the rulers` behest, the religious figures masterminded the class system in the Hinduism. Earlier, the Hinduism was just like Islam.` p30.

Khamosh Pani Crosses the Border Noisily Why Indo-Pak friendship is not possible? - 1

Mohammad Shehzad

The current India-Pak relations compel even the most pessimistic minds to raise a question i.e. are India and Pakistan really moving towards forging friendship with each other. The hawks on both sides believe that friendship between the two countries is not possible. The Pakistani hawks say it without mincing words-`a Hindu can never be your friend.` This sentence has been echoing in my minds since 1987 when I was a student of B Sc at Federal Government Degree College H-9. My Zoology professor Mr Waheed ud Din said to the class that we should be careful from the Hindus because `a Hindu can never be your friend.`


I never bought this argument and always maintained that friendship is beyond religion. As a matter of fact, my parents were saved by a Hindu family during the riots of 1947. My mother Raisa Fatima has passed away. My father Gulzar Ahmad is 62 now. He would often recall the partition. He was in Kalyana, near Dera Dhoon. He was only 5 at that time. On the morning of August 14, 1947, his Hindu neighbor told my grandfather (my father`s father) that Sikh rioters would attack Kalyana in the evening. The neighbor advised my grandfather that he should take refuge in his house along with the entire family. My grandfather did so. The Sikhs attacked Kalyana and massacred the entire population. My father tells me that the streets were full of Holy Koran`s torn papers.


A Muslim had five daughters. Sikha murdered all of them. My father saw their bodies mutilated with the cuts of swords. I would not have been writing this column had that Hindu neighbor not saved the life of my father, grandfather and the rest of the family. `How could we have thanked them?` asks my father from himself.


`The Sikhs had torched our house and destroyed all the property. My mother had brought her Singer`s sewing machine with her while moving to the house of the Hindu family. She gifted that machine to that Hindu family who had saved our life, while leaving their house,` says my father. That`s my father`s real story. Now I tell you my own story. When I got married, God blessed me with a beautiful son. He was only a few months old. All of a sudden he fell seriously ill. I took him to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences. He was in a life-threatening situation. You know who looked after him? A Hindu doctor! Dr Jai Krishan! Jai nursed him and saved Osaama-my son. He was out of danger.


In the last week of August, I visited India. On way back from Bhopal, I fell sick. I had high fever. I was not in my country. You know who nursed me? A Hindu woman! A married Hindu woman. She brought food and medicine for me. She fed me from her own hands. I recovered very quickly-with the help of medicines and her loving care. How could one say that a Hindu can never be a Muslim`s friend? So many Hindus were saved by the Muslims and vice versa during the partition.


It is the establishment that spearheads such propaganda which promotes hatred among the people of the two countries. Very recently, a professor of sociology at Allama Iqbal Open University was found defending the two-nation theory. We, the students had to give him our piece of mind. We told him that he should teach us sociology, not the two-nation theory. He then realized that we were not school going kids whom he could have brainwashed.


I am of the opinion that friendship between India and Pakistan is impossible not because of the absurd Hindu-Muslim philosophy but because of the indoctrination that we perpetuate to create hatred between the people. From textbooks to non-curriculum books, we have tons of material that preaches hatred against the Hindus and India. As long as we will not destroy such material, take steps to change the existing mindsets, and lay down a new foundation of friendship with India, things are not going to change.


I recently came across a book on the Hindu religion. The book has been written by a rabid extremist-Amir Hamza, who is known among the jihadi circles as the intellectual supremo of Jamatud Dawa [JD], the defunct Lashkar-e-Taiba. The book came out in June 1998. From the excerpts, one could understand why friendship between the two countries is not possible and what are the problems in this effect.
The preface has been written by Hafiz Saeed, Amir, JD. Excerpts:


`There is no authentic book on Hinduism. It has been portrayed as a religion of philosophy. But in fact, Hinduism is a conundrum. The preachers of Hinduism will ask the people to just follow the Hinduism blindly without asking any question. That is why, in the Hinduism, people are asked to worship idols. They are taught to be afraid of fairies. They are taught to believe in superstitions. Amir Hamza has exposed the true face of Hinduism in this short book. Today, Lashkare Taiba is fighting jihad with the Hindus, therefore, we should link jihad with religion and in this effect target the Hinduism.` p3, 4


Introduction by Amir Hamza:
`Hinduism is the enemy of Islam. Hindus are the enemy of the Muslims. Whereas, Islam is the friend of its enemies. It extends hands of friendship to them but the friendship is impossible unless the enemy comes into the fold of Islam.` p8


`The Hindus are extremely jealous of the Muslims. Wherever they would see prosperous Muslims, they would destroy their shops, torch their property and occupy their business. This does not happen in Islam. The faith of the Muslims is whoever would work hard, will get the reward from Allah.` p12


`The Hindu confectioners would think that they would become polluted and defile if they would be touched by a Muslim. They would not take money from their own hand from the Muslim customers. They would use a wooden pot that would have a handle. They would ask the Muslim buyers to put the money in the pot. One day, my hand touched the hand of the Hindu confectioner. He became furious and starting abusing me. From that day on, I decided never to buy anything from any Hindu shopkeeper.` p13-14


`Whereas, our religion does not believe in such discriminations. It is extremely liberal and open and tolerant. Islam allows the Muslims to eat in the crockery of the non-Muslims in which they would cook pork and drink alcoholic beverages.`


`A shoodar [untouchable Hindu] would fetch honey with his own hands and the Hindus would not mind eating it but at the same time, they would not allow him to enter their house or share the dining table with him. In fact, the Hindus have been changing their religious books. Lord Krishan has been fighting against the injustice and social divide but Geeta [the religious book of the Hindus] endorses the class difference as part of religion.` p15


`The festival of Holi [the festival of colors] teaches the Hindus the lesson of oneness of Allah but the so-called preachers of Hinduism have distorted the true message of Holi. The festival of holi is celebrated to commemorate Pehlak who fought with a tyrant ruler Harnakash. The latter put Pehlak into fire but he remained safe. In fact, Pehlak in the Hindu mythology is the Prophet Ibrahim who was put into fire and he remained safe.`


`The Hindu celebrate Holi with the red color. In fact, they would like to celebrate Holi with the blood of the Muslims. They have been celebrating the Holi with the Muslims` blood since Pakistan`s creation. They massacre the Muslims in riots. They are massacring the Kashmiri Muslims in the Occupied Kashmir.`


`Now look at the difference of treatment to minorities in the two countries. In India, the Muslim minority is being slaughtered, whereas, in Pakistan the Hindu minority enjoy the full rights and freedom. In Sindh, I have several friends who are very rich businessmen. I eat with them and they tell me that Hinduism is a biased religion and the class difference is the mastermind of the so-called custodians of Hinduism.` p26


`The Hindus have been tampering with their religious book. Allah has sent a holy messenger with a holy book to every tribe. Allah also sent a messenger and a book to the Hindus but the so-called custodians of Hinduism tampered with it to further their vested interests. The Hindus hated their enemies and declared them shoodar [untouchable caste]. The holy book that Allah gave to the Hindus was Vaid which was badly tampered. It now has four versions! The then rulers bribed the religious figures and they changed the teachings of Vaid. The original Vaid discusses the Holy Prophet, oneness of Allah, etc. At the rulers` behest, the religious figures masterminded the class system in the Hinduism. Earlier, the Hinduism was just like Islam.` p30.

Balkan Tragedy: A Re-enactment of the 1971 Genocide in Bangladesh http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/SOD.TAB8.2.GIF

Khamosh Pani Crosses the Border Noisily I would recommend a film which would touch all Indian and Pakistani hearts. It`s released in US last . It has good reviews from NY Times and Variety and is a strong Oscar contender. Check out this film with English subtitles

I have cut and pasted a Blog ....

Shwaas (Breath)



I had read a lot about this Marathi movie, Shwaas, which is India`s entry for the Oscars this year. Having a sketchy idea of the story, from the reviews, I felt that it would be a tear jerker, and did not wish to subject myself to such sentimental misery, and hence resisted seeing the movie for so long. However with the increasing publicity for the film, temptation overcame the resistance, and I went all the way to Regal cinema (after ages, I must add; after IMAX and other multiplexes have come to the suburbs, who wants to go all the way to town, and see movies in those old theatres!) to catch the one show a day of this film.

And I am glad that I did so.

For it was an experience to cherish. For me as for the 50 or so others, in the balcony for that show, including several foreigners, who must have come obviously out of curiosity about the Oscar entry movie. It helped, that the movie had English subtitles.

I do not much care for its Oscar prospects, and will not jump into celebrations were it to win the Oscar too, as I believe that seeing the movie and promoting it only because its India`s entry for the Oscars, is jingoistic patriotism, which has no place in this global and connected world. I mean, I may as well appreciate a Spanish or a French classic, if it were a great movie! Anyway, I digress.

Coming back to Shwaas, it does make you hold your breath.. or almost take your breath away.

An obviously low budget film, made in regional language (Marathi), shot for most parts in a village and in Pune, yet its made with an amazing sensitivity, where you, as a viewer, are drawn into and absorbed completely, into the story.

There is the character of the grandfather, who so loves his grandson, and would do anything for the young child. He is from a village and seems overwhelmed by the big city. Not as much by its buildings and vehicles as by the educated and literate citizens, in front of whom, he feels almost servile. And yet, for the sake of his grandchild, he opens up many times, conveying in no uncertain terms, what he feels is right for the child. His fearful, yet strong, scared yet caring emotions are brought out very well by the director and the actor portraying the role. To me, he is as much of an acting star in the film, as is the child.

Yes, the child. Acting the part of the innocent village kid, who comes to the city. Fascinated by the city scenes, by the people, yet fearful, because he knows that he has some big problem with his eyes. His tantrums when he `knows` he is headed for some trouble but does not know what, his fascination for simple city things that he has not seen in the village, his wide eyed swollen and silent face of helplessness, his embrace of his granfather, all appear so natural that its hard to believe that its a child actor who is `acting` the part!

There are many moments in the film, where for as much as 2-3 minutes, there is scarcely any dialogue at all. Just scenes from the past, scenes which tell their own story and which require no words at all. Beautifully picturised, captivating. Even one period of 2-3 minutes of random shots, can test an audience`s patience, and here the director has used several of these. But rather than becoming impatient, as the audience, you are caught into the web of the story through such scenes.

During the scenes at the hospital, before the surgery is to happen on the child, the emotion certainly grips you. In the midst of the movie, I got conscious of the fact that my knees had gone weak, and my hair was standing on my arms. That is indeed proof of the fact that the director has managed to get the audience thoroughly involved with him, inside the story.

Another thought that I was left with, from the film, was this. That when we have something or get something easily, how little value we attach to it. Yes, that can certainly be said about vision or sight that we have and take for granted. But I also refer to material things. When you see the obvious fascination of the child by simple things like a car seat belt, or a Mickey Mouse toy, you realise that for a village bred child, all these are new things, and its a whole new world. And then when I think of myself, or specifically my kids, I realise that even a new toy or a new video game or a new computer does not excite them half as much. Simply because of the fact that they have seen so much, and the newness of anything is only to a certain extent. I am not sure if that is good... maybe not.

Shwaas is a great film... it will stay with me, inside me, for a few days at least!

Sanjay Mehta




Here are some reviews from American press

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/story/260875p-223435c.html

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/variety/20041209/va_fi_re/breath_1

New York Times

http://movies2.nytimes.com/2004/12/...ies/10shwa.html

Balkan Tragedy: A Re-enactment of the 1971 Genocide in Bangladesh STATISTICS OF DEMOCIDE
Chapter 8
Statistics Of Pakistan`s Democide
Estimates, Calculations, And Sources*

By R.J. Rummel


http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/SOD.CHAP8.HTM

In 1971 the self-appointed President of Pakistan and Commander-in-Chief of the Army, General Agha Mohammed Yahya Khan and his top generals prepared a careful and systematic military, economic, and political operation in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). They also planned to murder its Bengali intellectual, cultural, and political elite. They also planned to indiscriminately murder hundreds of thousands of its Hindus and drive the rest into India. And they planned to destroy its economic base to insure that it would be subordinate to West Pakistan for at least a generation to come. This despicable and cutthroat plan was outright genocide.
After a well organized military buildup in East Pakistan the military launched its campaign. No more than 267 days later they had succeeded in killing perhaps 1,500,000 people, created 10,000,000 refugees who had fled to India, provoked a war with India, incited a counter-genocide of 150,000 non-Bengalis, and lost East Pakistan.

This democide is listed in Table 8.1 (lines 26 to 30), which gives an overview of Pakistan`s war-dead and democide from 1958 to 1987, the period over which Pakistan has had authoritarian rule, usually military governments. There have been periods without martial law, constitutions have been drawn up, and elections have been held. But these were hardly open and fair, democratic rights and liberties were still absent, and the military still largely controlled major policy from behind the scenes. In Table 8.2 I detail the sources and calculations for the 1971 West Pakistan genocide.

Table 8.1 lists several estimates of other democide during the period of military rule (lines 26-30). It also gives the population figures and final democide rates (lines 82 to 92). I calculate the latter for Pakistan as a whole (lines 84 to 85), East Pakistan (line 88), and for the Awami League in East Pakistan (line 91). Although it would be useful to calculate how the proportion of the different ethnic or religious groups were killed, such as the Hindus or Biharis, there is not enough information in the sources for me to determine a reasonably credible figure.

Turning now to Table 8.2, it begins with estimates of war-dead (lines 1 to 21). While the estimates for the largely military war-dead in the Indo-Pakistan War are reasonable, given the size of the forces and the rapidity of the Indian advance (the war was over in two-weeks), some of those for the civil war or military dead must include democide as well. The Mukti Bahini guerrilla forces numbered about 100,000, the Pakistan army about the same. Some estimates give the civil war or overall military death toll as equal to or even two times the combined armed forces involved (lines 14, 15, 19, and 20). This is not credible, even considering that many civilians were caught up in the war and guerrillas were rapidly replaced by volunteers when they were killed. Accordingly, I have consolidated the civil war estimates at a much more sensible level (line 16) and summed this (line 21) with that for those killed in the Indo-Pakistan War, ignoring the two overly inflated military dead estimates (lines 19 and 20).

In the table I next list a variety of democide estimates (lines 23 to 158). Some of these have to be read carefully. There were two major democides in East Pakistan, one of the Hindu and Moslem Bengalis by Pakistan; the other of the non-Bengalis (largely Urdu speaking Biharis) by the Bengalis. Estimates often do not indicate whether they cover both democides, although the source and context of an estimate may suggest that it is only for that by the Pakistan army. Moreover, some overall estimates may also include combat deaths. With this in mind, I have used various subclassifications for the estimates, including putting those that may include combat deaths under a war and democide heading (lines 170 to 178).

The sources give a number of estimates covering only part of the democide period (lines 47 to 55). I have proportionally projected these to the whole period of nine months [(9 x estimate)/(months covered by estimate)], except for two estimates that are for two months (lines 53 and 53a). Their result would have been 4,500,000 killed, obviously much too high. In any case, these I simply and conservatively tripled to cover the whole period. Regardless, the resulting low and high values (line 56) do not depend on them. The mid-value, however, is the average of all the projected estimates.

Malnutrition, disease, and exposure deaths among the refugees constituted democide. These deaths resulted directly from these pitiful people, largely Hindus, fleeing for their lives before the murderous Pakistan Army. In the table (lines 59 to 62) I give some clearly incomplete estimates of these deaths. They are low enough that I can assume they are included in the estimates of the overall democide.

Turning now to the overall estimates of the Pakistan democide (lines 65 to 79), there are two that are clearly excessively low or high (lines 65 and 79) and that I ignore in the consolidation (line 80). While any leader`s admission that his country killed 50,000 people is to confess to a terrible crime, some estimate this number were killed in the first two days of massacres in Dacca alone (line 31). Casting out the unique estimate of 8,000,000 dead hardly need be defended.

Beneath the consolidated overall toll I show my calculation from the partial estimates (line 81). These are rather close. Consolidating both ranges, I give a final estimate of Pakistan`s democide to be 300,000 to 3,000,000, or a prudent 1,500,000 (line 82).

Then there is Bengali massacres of non-Bengalis, primarily the Biharis (lines 84 to 158). How much of this was democide (intentional killing by government or its agents) is a question. In this part of the world there is a history of ethnic communal violence and massacres between Hindu and Moslems, and Biharis and Bengalis. However, for the reasons given in Death By Government[1] I will treat these massacres as democide.

The first set of estimates (line 86 to 93) cover only part of the period. And these cannot be projected to cover the whole period, since most of the killing took place in the first two months. Accordingly I simply consolidate them into a minimum of 50,000. Note that two of the lowest estimates are limited in place (lines 86 and 87) and to a body count (line 86).

Many of those who collaborated with the Pakistan Army were killed by the Awami League and its supporters during the civil war and after. Only one estimate is available of this number (line 97), which seems very low given the deep hatred on both sides and the pervasive killing. Accordingly, I give an estimated low of 5,000 murdered (line 99). This is probably very conservative, but I do not have enough information to estimate how much to increase it.

A number of estimates of specific massacres are listed by town, city, or district (lines 102 to 152). Most of these come directly from or are based on the reports of survivors. Some of these are from different sources apparently covering the same massacre (e.g., lines 105 and 106); the great difference in the estimated number of victims is a warning as to how seriously to take them. Since all are from two sources, I summed the estimates for each source (lines 153 and 154), and will use these sums below to derive an overall democide (lines 164 and 165).

There are two overall estimates (lines 157 and 158). One of 500,000 dead is an ``impression`` Aziz got from interviewing hundreds of repatriates who survived the massacres (line 157). This is my high for the two estimates (line 159).

I can now put together the various estimates of the Bengali--Awami League--democide (lines 162 to 166). Consolidating these, I get a range of 50,000 to 500,000 killed, more likely 150,000.

Finally we can turn to the overall results. First are those estimates in the sources that appear to be covering both war and democide dead (lines 171 to 178), which I consolidate (line 179). Then, we have the various subtotals arrived at previously, which I can now bring together (lines 182 to 184). From these I calculate the total democide (185) and the sum of this and the war-dead figures (186). Then for comparison I show the consolidated total previously determined from the estimates (line 187). The two are close enough such that I can take the sum total (line 186) as the final total (line 188) for this period. Note that its low is lower and its high higher than the estimated total (line 187). I cannot average the two mid-values or take the lower one from the estimate total, because then the subtotals (lines 182 to 184) would not add up to the final total. Were the mid-values radically different, I would have to readjust my previous consolidations and calculation (such as for lines 21 and 167), but the difference does not justify that here. 

---

NOTES
* From the pre-publisher edited manuscript of Chapter 8 in R.J. Rummel, Statistics of Democide, 1997. For full reference to Statistics of Democide, the list of its contents, figures, and tables, and the text of its preface, click book.
1. Rummel (1994, Chapter 13).

Balkan Tragedy: A Re-enactment of the 1971 Genocide in Bangladesh December 14, 1971

December 14 is the day of martyred intellectuals, who were brutally killed by the Pakistani occupation army and their cohorts. Sensing their imminent defeat in the Bangladesh`s liberation war, the Pakistani occupation forces and their local collaborators --Rajakar, Al-Badr and Al-Sham--kidnapped leading Bangalee intellectuals and professionals on December 14, 1971 and killed them only two days before victory at the end of a nine-month long War of Liberation. Renowned academics, doctors, engineers, journalists, teachers and other eminent personalities were dragged blind-folded out of their residences in the city and killed in cold blood to cripple the new-born nation intellectually. Their bodies were dumped at Rayerbazar, Mirpur and some other places on Dhaka city`s outskirts

Bangladeshi questions ``Islamic brotherhood``

http://www.khilafah.com/home/category.php?DocumentID=10520&TagID=1

Pakistani politics and `Islamic Brotherhood`

uploaded 14 Dec 2004


I am a Brit-Bengali Muslim and I (and most Muslims) totally disagree with your HT ideology, as evidenced on this website and your magazine. Your stress on purely Islamic bonds eg. ‘Islamic brotherhood’ and ‘Ummah,’ while foresaking those of race, nationality and language simply do not correspond to the ground reality of day to day Muslim life. In fact, these ideas contradict historical truth.

As a Muslim of Bangladeshi origin, I well remember that our Muslim Pakistani ‘brothers’ paid no heed to the fact we Bangali’s were Muslims when they murdered, raped and pillaged from our people in 1971, the year secular Bengali nationalists fought for our freedom. Meanwhile, the ultra religious types turned traitor and collaborated with their Pakistani ‘brothers’.

The birth of Bangladesh shows us quite clearly the folly of creating a nation, any nation, under the banner of a mere common faith.

And lest we forget, our wonderful ‘brother Muslims’ didn’t lift a finger to ease our peoples suffering. It was Hindu India and the Atheist Soviet Union who aided us in our Liberation War. Those are historical facts.

I don’t expect HT members to understand. After all, HT is a heavily Pakistani party, as indicated by all the articles devoted to Pakistan. Thankfully, most Bangladeshi’s aren’t as politically active in the Universities, where your HT party has it’s presence.

Now let’s see you print my letter!!!

Iram Ahmed

Proud to be a Pakistani? December 14, 1971

December 14 is the day of martyred intellectuals, who were brutally killed by the Pakistani occupation army and their cohorts. Sensing their imminent defeat in the Bangladesh`s liberation war, the Pakistani occupation forces and their local collaborators --Rajakar, Al-Badr and Al-Sham--kidnapped leading Bangalee intellectuals and professionals on December 14, 1971 and killed them only two days before victory at the end of a nine-month long War of Liberation. Renowned academics, doctors, engineers, journalists, teachers and other eminent personalities were dragged blind-folded out of their residences in the city and killed in cold blood to cripple the new-born nation intellectually. Their bodies were dumped at Rayerbazar, Mirpur and some other places on Dhaka city`s outskirts

Bangladeshi questions ``Islamic brotherhood``

http://www.khilafah.com/home/category.php?DocumentID=10520&TagID=1

Pakistani politics and `Islamic Brotherhood`

uploaded 14 Dec 2004


I am a Brit-Bengali Muslim and I (and most Muslims) totally disagree with your HT ideology, as evidenced on this website and your magazine. Your stress on purely Islamic bonds eg. ‘Islamic brotherhood’ and ‘Ummah,’ while foresaking those of race, nationality and language simply do not correspond to the ground reality of day to day Muslim life. In fact, these ideas contradict historical truth.

As a Muslim of Bangladeshi origin, I well remember that our Muslim Pakistani ‘brothers’ paid no heed to the fact we Bangali’s were Muslims when they murdered, raped and pillaged from our people in 1971, the year secular Bengali nationalists fought for our freedom. Meanwhile, the ultra religious types turned traitor and collaborated with their Pakistani ‘brothers’.

The birth of Bangladesh shows us quite clearly the folly of creating a nation, any nation, under the banner of a mere common faith.

And lest we forget, our wonderful ‘brother Muslims’ didn’t lift a finger to ease our peoples suffering. It was Hindu India and the Atheist Soviet Union who aided us in our Liberation War. Those are historical facts.

I don’t expect HT members to understand. After all, HT is a heavily Pakistani party, as indicated by all the articles devoted to Pakistan. Thankfully, most Bangladeshi’s aren’t as politically active in the Universities, where your HT party has it’s presence.

Now let’s see you print my letter!!!

Iram Ahmed

Remembering Maqbool Butt Pak runs camps in Muzzafarabad, says PoK leader
PTI

http://www.navhindtimes.com/stories.php?part=news&Story_ID=121136

Muzzafarabad (PoK) Dec 10: Despite assurance to India that it will not allow its soil to be used by terrorists, Pakistan continues to maintain militant camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Gilgit and Baltistan, says Ms Shazia Ghulam Din, daughter-in-law of the Jammu and Kashmir National Liberation Front founder, Maqbool Bhatt.

“The Pakistani establishment has merged several of these camps and moved them away in the periphery of Muzzafarabad and other areas in PoK,” she told PTI here during a visit of Indian journalists to this part of Kashmir.

Ms Shazia’s husband, Mr Showkat Bhat, who heads the All Parties National Alliance in PoK, and the leaders of this group were kept away from the Indian scribes because of their open opposition to Pakistan’s policies in PoK.

“Had you people been allowed to move without any hindrance, you could have spotted some of the camps though some of them had been shifted to Gilgit and Baltistan areas and no Kashmiri or ordinary Pakistani has the right to visit these places,” said Ms Shazia, who had to struggle to make her entry into the hotel where Indian scribes were lodged.

She said the presence of foreign mercenaries in PoK had created major social problems for the locals and the world community will come to know about the real situation once the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service is launched.

The Kashmiri culture and secular ethos had suffered “constant degradation” because of these foreign mercenaries.

The outspoken woman hailing from PoK charged “life in PoK is worse than death and there is continued repression of people living here”.

“We are hounded by agency people (ISI) especially as we have a consistent stand of independent Kashmir,” she said.

The JKNLF leader criticised JKLF factions, including that headed by Amanullah Khan, alleging they had sabotaged the cause of “freedom of Kashmir and were dancing to the tunes of their master’s either in Islamabad or New Delhi”.

She claimed that the Inter-Services Intelligence had a handful of militant leaders who were kept alive and kicking while hundreds of Kashmiris who had come here to join the armed struggle were rotting on the streets of Muzzafarabad.

Ms Shazia, who was in India earlier this year, said even if there was an anti-New Delhi group in Kashmir, their voice was not throttled by the police or security agencies as was the case in PoK.

“People are fed up with Pakistan but none will be willing to say this as they are scared,” Ms Shazia, while caressing her seven-year-old child, said.

She also confirmed the meeting of Indian scribes with the APNA was cancelled after the group had refused to oblige Pakistani masters.

“Ahead of your visit (Indian scribes), we were called by deputy commissioner of Muzzafarabad and directed by him to project a rosy picture... We did not oblige and that is why there is security around the venue... not for you but to prevent us from talking to you,” she said.

Proud to be a Pakistani? Look what Altaf is complaining about ...............

‘Punjabis run Pakistan’

Altaf Hussain, the supremo of Pakistan`s Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), speaks to Sanjay Kapoor on the fate of Mohajirs post-Partition, the establishment’s constant suspicion of non-Punjabis and hopes for peace


http://www.hardnewsmedia.com/dec2004/pstory5.php

Proud to be a Pakistani? More and more Pakistani articles are having similar views.

Countering or coexisting with India

http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/dec2004-daily/05-12-2004/oped/o6.htm


Iqbal Mustafa

The writer is a former member of the Central Board,

State Bank of Pakistan and CEO of SMEDA

Mustafa@hujra.com

Quo Vadis, whither are you going?

Pakistan is poised at a fork of history — there are only two roads ahead — one leads towards the model of Malaysian progress and the other towards being marginalised in the community of nations like Ethiopia or Afghanistan by becoming a basket case. Unfortunately there is no middle path any more. In a fiercely competitive world all benchmarks are external — either you are gaining or you are loosing to others. No longer can a country afford to set benchmarks against its own historical trends alone. The luxury of maintaining a status quo is no more there either.

Within this larger perspective, we can begin by focussing on the shadow that India casts on Pakistan. Historical and geographical context locks Pakistan with India like Siamese twins who cannot live with each other and cannot live without either. Partition created two siblings with harsh political differences. Ideological divisions and ragged edges of partition gave birth to mutual suspicions that hardened to irreconcilable acrimony over time as events lead both nations down warpaths many times, beginning with Kashmir that has remained till this day the cornerstone of conflict. The issue evokes the fundamental strong sentiments of partition. Time has not healed old wounds and Kashmir is a sore issue that keeps creating fresh ones. It is as if the solution of Kashmir will validate the ideological position on partition for the winning side: So neither side will concede an inch since the psychological stakes are higher than merely Kashmir’s geographical and political fate.

Global events have created forces pushing both sides towards a detente. The heat of external pressures has softened the hard stand on both sides and a process of composite dialogue has begun that includes Kashmir as a key issue. As the two sides have begun to feel one another like two wranglers in an arena, it seems as if Pakistan is more keen for a breakthrough in the five decade old deadlock, while India is content with a power play of status quo in the hope of wearing the opponent down to submission. In this perspective, a key question that we, as Pakistanis, must be asking ourselves is to what extend should we be prepared to concede for arriving at a solution? Or, putting it another way, what will be the cost of not resolving the Kashmir issue, and whether 150 million Pakistanis ought to be made to pay this cost for 6.5 odd million Kashmiris in Indian held Jammu and Kashmir? Another question follows from this. If India fails to correspond for an acceptable solution of Kashmir, should Pakistan then continue with normalisation in other areas or draw back to the same old position that it has held for the past 50 years?

The answers to all these critical questions relate to an objective and empirical analysis of India’s strength and potential. In the past Pakistan’s foreign policy towards India has operated on three features: National security perceptions have resided in narrow confines of territorial safety for which three-to-one parity was maintained militarily although India is six times the size of Pakistan. Conflict was engaged through immediate tactical manoeuvres based on threats and opportunities as they appeared from time to time — without a long-term vision and a consistent political philosophy to guide, monitor and evaluate actions. In diplomatic and economic ranking, the relative parity that existed for 50 years was assumed a constant.

None of these features or perceptions holds any bearing to contemporary realities. Pakistan’s security threats are not territorial only; post 9/11 developments have added new dimensions to external threats and pressures including those from India. The one-to-three parity is not sustainable anymore. Even with the current trends of Pakistan spending twice as much as India on defence as percentage of GDP, the military parity will drop to one-to-five within five years. And India’s defence budget will equal Pakistan’s total GDP in fifteen years time. Tactical manoeuvres without political planning have caused more damage and undone whatever gains were made diplomatically — Kargil adventure, for example. Lastly, India’s growing economic strength with commensurate diplomatic advantage is shattering Pakistan’s illusions of parity that were.

Peter Drucker, the management guru has stated that, ``India is becoming a power house very fast. The Medical School in New Delhi is now perhaps the best in the world. And technology graduates of the Indian Institute of Information Technology in Bangalore are as good as any in the world. So India is becoming a knowledge centre.`` Out of the fortune 500 companies, 100 have set-up their R&D facilities in India. Many of the leading state of art new technology products are being designed and developed in India by likes of GE, Monsanto, Daimler, Chrysler, HP and Aston Martin.

India’s country profile is impressive today: Home to nearly 1 billion people and large, growing consumer class estimated at 200 million people with English as main language. It has an adequate pool of scientists, engineers, managers and labour force available at competitive costs; it has well developed basic R & D infrastructure, technical and marketing services. It has a mature financial sector and capital market with over 8500 listed companies and market capitalisation of 2 trillion US dollars. Last year, foreign investment of 4.7 billion dollars flowed into India. Its foreign exchange reserves stand at 120 billion dollars (ten times that of Pakistan), exports are growing at 20 percent with a diverse range of products in high tech categories. Indian economy has taken off already on a high-rise curve. It is the 5th largest economy in the world with a GDP of 2.6 trillion dollars, growing at a rate of around 6 percent since 1991 and projected to grow at 8 percent in coming years. Many economists estimate that Indian economy will equal US economy by year 2050. (Pakistan’s GDP is ranked 27th at 311 billion dollars, which is roughly 12 percent of India’s. With slower growth rate in Pakistan, the gap is likely to widen. Econometric models indicate that by 2010 Pakistan’s economy will be 9 percent of India’s.)

Its obvious that time is on India’s side. Pakistan has a rapidly closing window of opportunity, despite the false sense of nuclear security, to resolve conflicts with India. In Volume 19 of the selected works of Jawaharlal Nehru printed in 1996, he is quoted as writing to Sheikh Abdullah, ``We are superior to Pakistan in military and industrial power. But that superiority is not so great as to produce results quickly in war or by fear of war. Therefore, our national interest demands that we should adopt a peaceful policy towards Pakistan and, at the same time, add to our strength. Strength ultimately comes not from defence forces, but the industrial and economic background behind them. As we grow in strength, and we are likely to do so, Pakistan will feel less and less inclined to threaten or harass us, and a time will come when, through sheer force of circumstances, it will be in a mood to accept a settlement which we consider fair, whether in Kashmir or elsewhere.``

Perhaps that time has come, as Pakistan seems eager to resolve the Kashmir conflict. The key question is whether we intend to resolve the historical conflict with India on a tactical level or a primary conceptual level. In my humble opinion the tactical approach is bound to fail, as in the past. We have to seek conceptual solutions from within our own mindset and from Indian cooperation. In place of seeking a strategy to counter Indian power — as our conditioned responses dictate — I suggest we re-align our security perceptions to co-exist with Indian Power. We should have learned the cardinal lesson from the collapse of the Russian empire — a third world economy cannot sustain a military super power.

PS. India’s perception of a ‘fair settlement’ is a variable that will constantly change in accord with its economic and military power with time. What India is prepared to offer today may not be deemed ‘fair’ a few years down the line. While it is prepared to concede parts of Kashmir and Northern areas today, it may not tomorrow.

Desi: The False Ideology Hindu Mythbusters

Meet Hindus who debunk Western misconceptions about caste, cows, karma and more.

By Lavina Melwani


http://www.beliefnet.com/story/155/story_15543_4.html

Adapted with permission of Hinduism Today and the author.

Do Hindus eat monkey brains? You would think so if you saw the film ``Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.`` Though some western viewers might have taken this Hollywood excess with a pinch of salt, many still have misperceptions about Hinduism--from the horrors of caste to the burning of widows. Yes, and don’t forget rat worship, arranged child marriages, female infanticide, dowry and the killing of young brides.
As always, sensational aspects are magnified, and a deeply complex religion is seen as some sort of a primitive idol-worshipping cult.

So who will set the record straight in the West? After all, here in America, Hinduism is not organized religion with a huge PR machine and official spokespeople. It is simply a way of life, a philosophy of living practiced by individuals in whichever way they choose, each working toward salvation.

Enter the Interpreters of Dharma, the Mythbusters.

They are ordinary people--students, housewives, physicians, retirees, academics and engineers--often asked by curious Westerners about the faith. Some have studied Hinduism in-depth; others have learnt the faith simply by living it. They speak to non-Hindus in schools, churches, colleges and social settings and answer the neverending questions.

``Naturally, I tend to get what I call `the 3 Ks` on a regular basis: Kaste, Kows & Karma,`` says Fred Stella, 49, an actor and yoga instructor who lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is president of the Interfaith Dialogue Association and has received training in the Self Realization Fellowship and the local Vedanta Society ashram.

Stella, who started attending a Hindu temple when he was 15, was still being educated in the Catholic school system, and so “developed the ability to speak about Hinduism to those with a Christian mind set.”

He adds, ``The other misconceptions are that Hindus don’t acknowledge one absolute source of the universe or God, and that karma is fatalism. They also assume that the cruel tradition of caste bigotry is blessed by our scriptures and that we are somehow related to Islam. They even confuse `tamasic` with turmeric!``

Stella points out that the only exposure many church groups have to Hinduism is through missionary films which show images of destitute villages in India and say ``Well, this is what you get when you practice bad religion.``


Beth Kulkarni of Texas came to Hinduism through marriage and has become an evocative interpreter of the faith for non-Hindus. She has spoken at church religious classes, religion classes at schools and universities. She also takes non-Hindus on tours of Sri Meenakshi Temple, where she is an Advisory Council member.
``One of the most frequent misconceptions is that Hindus are polytheistic,`` she says. ``I reply that we believe in an `Ultimate Reality` that is simultaneously both with form and without form, and that this Ultimate Reality is both transcendent and imminent, both personal and non-personal. I give the example that I, Beth, am a wife, mother, grandmother, friend, community worker, with different functions and relationships due to these various roles, but am still the same `Beth.` How, I ask, could God, therefore, not have different roles, functions, and relationships?”

In this Internet age, sometimes the best way to answer questions is in cyberspace, because you can reach so many more people. M. Menon, 63, who is an industrial design consultant, has been in the U.S. since the 1980s. During his college years he studied all the works of Swami Vivekananda and says, ``India, Hinduism and Sanathana Dharma are my passions.``

``Most Indians are asked questions about India and Hinduism and very little support is available,`` he adds. ``Over the past 5 years I have put together an informative Q&A online and have also been a participant in Internet discussion groups on Hinduism.``

One question he often gets is whether idols are Gods. He replies, “Idols are mere representations of God. They represent various aspects or attributes of a single spiritual reality. Consider for example, the IBM logo representing a company. Logo is not the real company. Icons are essential for focused attention. Much like a logo, the religious icons are full of symbolism.”

On the other side of the Atlantic, Jay Lakhani is also doing his share to interpret Hinduism for the British. The Gujarat-born physicist, now living in London, says, ``I took early retirement to focus on what I love best: studying and promoting Hinduism.``

Although he received no formal education in Hinduism, Lakhani has been inspired by the life and teachings of Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda. He has become a popular speaker in the London school system, speaking with young people from all faiths and no faith.

He has fielded many questions from non-Hindus, but he finds that they are most attracted by the idea of the divinity of man: ``When talking to youngsters of the Abrahamic faiths, this idea of the essential nature of everyone as `divine` - equating it to God - grabs them and makes them run after me, asking me excitedly again and again: `Is this really Hinduism?```


Lakhani is also faced often with the C-word, and works hard to demolish the idea of hereditary caste system as being part of Hinduism. He says, ``I term this as `Atrocity in the name of religion’ and not religion. This is a very important distinction that sometimes gets overlooked in the way Hinduism is presented in the West. This does serious damage to the more important and vibrant aspect of Hinduism promoting `Divinity of man.```
In a small town in rural Pennsylvania, yet another Hindu is debunking myths for non-Hindus. Dr. Jeffery D. Long is an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Elizabethtown College and received his PhD in comparative religious studies at the University of Chicago, focusing on Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. Long, who is 34, has been involved with informal study of Hinduism since his childhood and ultimately embraced it.

Ask him about the questions he encounters from non-Hindus, and he says, “Where to begin? The most common questions are about karma and rebirth and the mechanism of rebirth. I usually treat this in some detail, making analogies between karma and the laws of physics (such as Newton`s third law of motion), and citing the Gita, emphasizing that the body is the vehicle for the soul`s growth and experience and that our true identity is ultimately not physical but divine.``


The most common misconception of Hinduism that he has encountered has to do with cows and Gods: “There is a commonly held view that if people in India ate their cows, their hunger problem would vanish. This is, of course, absurd.” He explains to these skeptics the symbolic importance of the cow in Hinduism, as well as the fact that respect for the cow is really emblematic of respect for all life. As for the perception that Hindus are idol-worshippers, Long explains the symbolism involved in murtipuja and the respects in which the many Gods are simultaneously One God.

“Since my audience is usually Christian, I typically make an analogy with the Christian ideal of the trinity, saying something like, ‘Imagine the trinity extended to an infinity, and you get the basic concept of God in Hinduism’”, he says. ``I also distinguish between the high Gods - Vishnu/Shiva/Shakti conceived as supreme manifestations of Saguna Brahman - and the many other devtas, which are liberated or advanced souls, which I compare to angels and saints when I speak with Christian groups.”

Knowledge of different religions becomes imperative in talking to non-Hindus. Michael W. Smith, 61, of St. Francis, Minnesota, has been teaching high schoolers, college students and adults about Hinduism for 30 years. Smith, who acquired knowledge through reading and from his gurus, says: “Christians generally think of Hinduism in terms of idol-worship, a belief in false gods rather than a single God, cults, devil worship, primitive superstitions and the abuses of the caste system and ill-treatment of women.


With Christians, I like to use Plato`s Cave Parable as a starting point, one of the most famous parables East or West, and from there, show how both Eastern and Western religions related to it, and then to each other.``
Coming from very different walks of life, all these people have devoted considerable time and energy to explaining the finer points of Hinduism, combating the misconceptions. What satisfaction do they get from being the Interpreters of Dharma? Says Lakhani, ``The truth of the matter is I have no choice but to carry on like this. If a little bit of Vivekananda gets into one`s bloodstream--one has no choice in such matters!”

He believes that many Hindus living abroad are adopting the worst of both the East and the West: “This cocktail has produced a very grotesque scenario for modern India and for Hindus everywhere. Concepts like brahmacharya, or respecting and looking after the elderly, are considered old-fashioned and [are] abandoned, while promiscuous lifestyles and chasing after mammon are considered to be cool.``

For Sidhaye, excitement comes from conveying that Hinduism is the only religion not out to convert people: ``Because we believe each individual has the freedom of thought to achieve salvation--I use the word ‘salvation’ because non-Hindus are familiar with it. In fact, I tell them that you will not even find a process for somebody to become a Hindu; I ask them to show me any place where Hindus have gone and done mass conversions. I make ‘freedom of thought’ as the basis of my presentations.``

Kulkarni, who has become a part of the Indian-American community and has raised her two children in that environment, finds it even more imperative to change the perceptions people may have of Hinduism. She says, “So many Americans know very little about Hindu traditions and I tell them ‘It’s not like 40 or 50 years ago, when Hinduism was the religion of people on the other side of the globe. Today they are your doctors, they are the motel owners down the street, they are your neighbors.```

She adds, ``Hindus are part of the community and we have to know something about the traditions of each other. It’s extremely satisfying when I explain reincarnation or karma, and non-Hindus realize that they are not such strange notions after all because they do make sense.``

Caste and the City Hindu Mythbusters

Meet Hindus who debunk Western misconceptions about caste, cows, karma and more.

By Lavina Melwani


http://www.beliefnet.com/story/155/story_15543_4.html

Adapted with permission of Hinduism Today and the author.

Do Hindus eat monkey brains? You would think so if you saw the film ``Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.`` Though some western viewers might have taken this Hollywood excess with a pinch of salt, many still have misperceptions about Hinduism--from the horrors of caste to the burning of widows. Yes, and don’t forget rat worship, arranged child marriages, female infanticide, dowry and the killing of young brides.
As always, sensational aspects are magnified, and a deeply complex religion is seen as some sort of a primitive idol-worshipping cult.

So who will set the record straight in the West? After all, here in America, Hinduism is not organized religion with a huge PR machine and official spokespeople. It is simply a way of life, a philosophy of living practiced by individuals in whichever way they choose, each working toward salvation.

Enter the Interpreters of Dharma, the Mythbusters.

They are ordinary people--students, housewives, physicians, retirees, academics and engineers--often asked by curious Westerners about the faith. Some have studied Hinduism in-depth; others have learnt the faith simply by living it. They speak to non-Hindus in schools, churches, colleges and social settings and answer the neverending questions.

``Naturally, I tend to get what I call `the 3 Ks` on a regular basis: Kaste, Kows & Karma,`` says Fred Stella, 49, an actor and yoga instructor who lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is president of the Interfaith Dialogue Association and has received training in the Self Realization Fellowship and the local Vedanta Society ashram.

Stella, who started attending a Hindu temple when he was 15, was still being educated in the Catholic school system, and so “developed the ability to speak about Hinduism to those with a Christian mind set.”

He adds, ``The other misconceptions are that Hindus don’t acknowledge one absolute source of the universe or God, and that karma is fatalism. They also assume that the cruel tradition of caste bigotry is blessed by our scriptures and that we are somehow related to Islam. They even confuse `tamasic` with turmeric!``

Stella points out that the only exposure many church groups have to Hinduism is through missionary films which show images of destitute villages in India and say ``Well, this is what you get when you practice bad religion.``


Beth Kulkarni of Texas came to Hinduism through marriage and has become an evocative interpreter of the faith for non-Hindus. She has spoken at church religious classes, religion classes at schools and universities. She also takes non-Hindus on tours of Sri Meenakshi Temple, where she is an Advisory Council member.
``One of the most frequent misconceptions is that Hindus are polytheistic,`` she says. ``I reply that we believe in an `Ultimate Reality` that is simultaneously both with form and without form, and that this Ultimate Reality is both transcendent and imminent, both personal and non-personal. I give the example that I, Beth, am a wife, mother, grandmother, friend, community worker, with different functions and relationships due to these various roles, but am still the same `Beth.` How, I ask, could God, therefore, not have different roles, functions, and relationships?”

In this Internet age, sometimes the best way to answer questions is in cyberspace, because you can reach so many more people. M. Menon, 63, who is an industrial design consultant, has been in the U.S. since the 1980s. During his college years he studied all the works of Swami Vivekananda and says, ``India, Hinduism and Sanathana Dharma are my passions.``

``Most Indians are asked questions about India and Hinduism and very little support is available,`` he adds. ``Over the past 5 years I have put together an informative Q&A online and have also been a participant in Internet discussion groups on Hinduism.``

One question he often gets is whether idols are Gods. He replies, “Idols are mere representations of God. They represent various aspects or attributes of a single spiritual reality. Consider for example, the IBM logo representing a company. Logo is not the real company. Icons are essential for focused attention. Much like a logo, the religious icons are full of symbolism.”

On the other side of the Atlantic, Jay Lakhani is also doing his share to interpret Hinduism for the British. The Gujarat-born physicist, now living in London, says, ``I took early retirement to focus on what I love best: studying and promoting Hinduism.``

Although he received no formal education in Hinduism, Lakhani has been inspired by the life and teachings of Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda. He has become a popular speaker in the London school system, speaking with young people from all faiths and no faith.

He has fielded many questions from non-Hindus, but he finds that they are most attracted by the idea of the divinity of man: ``When talking to youngsters of the Abrahamic faiths, this idea of the essential nature of everyone as `divine` - equating it to God - grabs them and makes them run after me, asking me excitedly again and again: `Is this really Hinduism?```


Lakhani is also faced often with the C-word, and works hard to demolish the idea of hereditary caste system as being part of Hinduism. He says, ``I term this as `Atrocity in the name of religion’ and not religion. This is a very important distinction that sometimes gets overlooked in the way Hinduism is presented in the West. This does serious damage to the more important and vibrant aspect of Hinduism promoting `Divinity of man.```
In a small town in rural Pennsylvania, yet another Hindu is debunking myths for non-Hindus. Dr. Jeffery D. Long is an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Elizabethtown College and received his PhD in comparative religious studies at the University of Chicago, focusing on Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. Long, who is 34, has been involved with informal study of Hinduism since his childhood and ultimately embraced it.

Ask him about the questions he encounters from non-Hindus, and he says, “Where to begin? The most common questions are about karma and rebirth and the mechanism of rebirth. I usually treat this in some detail, making analogies between karma and the laws of physics (such as Newton`s third law of motion), and citing the Gita, emphasizing that the body is the vehicle for the soul`s growth and experience and that our true identity is ultimately not physical but divine.``


The most common misconception of Hinduism that he has encountered has to do with cows and Gods: “There is a commonly held view that if people in India ate their cows, their hunger problem would vanish. This is, of course, absurd.” He explains to these skeptics the symbolic importance of the cow in Hinduism, as well as the fact that respect for the cow is really emblematic of respect for all life. As for the perception that Hindus are idol-worshippers, Long explains the symbolism involved in murtipuja and the respects in which the many Gods are simultaneously One God.

“Since my audience is usually Christian, I typically make an analogy with the Christian ideal of the trinity, saying something like, ‘Imagine the trinity extended to an infinity, and you get the basic concept of God in Hinduism’”, he says. ``I also distinguish between the high Gods - Vishnu/Shiva/Shakti conceived as supreme manifestations of Saguna Brahman - and the many other devtas, which are liberated or advanced souls, which I compare to angels and saints when I speak with Christian groups.”

Knowledge of different religions becomes imperative in talking to non-Hindus. Michael W. Smith, 61, of St. Francis, Minnesota, has been teaching high schoolers, college students and adults about Hinduism for 30 years. Smith, who acquired knowledge through reading and from his gurus, says: “Christians generally think of Hinduism in terms of idol-worship, a belief in false gods rather than a single God, cults, devil worship, primitive superstitions and the abuses of the caste system and ill-treatment of women.


With Christians, I like to use Plato`s Cave Parable as a starting point, one of the most famous parables East or West, and from there, show how both Eastern and Western religions related to it, and then to each other.``
Coming from very different walks of life, all these people have devoted considerable time and energy to explaining the finer points of Hinduism, combating the misconceptions. What satisfaction do they get from being the Interpreters of Dharma? Says Lakhani, ``The truth of the matter is I have no choice but to carry on like this. If a little bit of Vivekananda gets into one`s bloodstream--one has no choice in such matters!”

He believes that many Hindus living abroad are adopting the worst of both the East and the West: “This cocktail has produced a very grotesque scenario for modern India and for Hindus everywhere. Concepts like brahmacharya, or respecting and looking after the elderly, are considered old-fashioned and [are] abandoned, while promiscuous lifestyles and chasing after mammon are considered to be cool.``

For Sidhaye, excitement comes from conveying that Hinduism is the only religion not out to convert people: ``Because we believe each individual has the freedom of thought to achieve salvation--I use the word ‘salvation’ because non-Hindus are familiar with it. In fact, I tell them that you will not even find a process for somebody to become a Hindu; I ask them to show me any place where Hindus have gone and done mass conversions. I make ‘freedom of thought’ as the basis of my presentations.``

Kulkarni, who has become a part of the Indian-American community and has raised her two children in that environment, finds it even more imperative to change the perceptions people may have of Hinduism. She says, “So many Americans know very little about Hindu traditions and I tell them ‘It’s not like 40 or 50 years ago, when Hinduism was the religion of people on the other side of the globe. Today they are your doctors, they are the motel owners down the street, they are your neighbors.```

She adds, ``Hindus are part of the community and we have to know something about the traditions of each other. It’s extremely satisfying when I explain reincarnation or karma, and non-Hindus realize that they are not such strange notions after all because they do make sense.``

Fake Degrees for the Big Boys in Pakistan The mushrooming of fake universities has been worrying the government regulators of education in India, a hotbed of the Internet revolution. After pursuing scores of fake learning institutes, the state has just passed an Act which gives the right to confer or grant `degree` only to a university, established or incorporated by state law: ``No institution, whether a corporate body or not, other than a University established or incorporated by or under a Central Act, a Provincial Act or a State Act shall be entitled to have the word ``University`` associated with its name in any manner whatsoever``, the law reads.

Medical body detects 200 fake docs
CH SUSHIL RAO

HYDERABAD: The Medical Council of India (MCI) has detected 200 doctors with false medical degrees or Intermediate marks memos in the last four years.


At least 15 of these fake doctors, each sporting the `MD Physician` tag, are from Andhra Pradesh. The MCI has filed FIRs against them for submitting fake degree certificates.

To register with the MCI, doctors have to submit their certificates for verification.

Though the council gives provisional registration, it sends the certificates for verification to the authorities concerned. In many cases, the fake medical degrees have been secured from Russia and other East European countries.

Verification of these certificates was carried out with the help of Indian embassies in those countries. In some of these cases, the medical degree is genuine but the Intermediate marks memo is fake.

Foreign medical degree holders are required to take a qualification test conducted by the MCI.

``Those who have fake degrees naturally fail the test,`` MCI member Amrith Lal Waghray told The Times of India.

For example, one Kunche Srivijay had produced a `MD physician` degree from Kiev but when the certificate was sent to the institute for verification, it turned out to be fake.

In quite a few cases, the Intermediate marks memos supposedly issued by the Board of Intermediate Education, Hyderabad, were found to have been forged on verification.

Similarly, marksheets issued by the equivalent board authorities in Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, West Bengal, and Rajasthan were also found to be fake.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/879334.cms

Fake Degrees for the Big Boys in Pakistan In India too, many students especially from the state of Andhra Pradesh had fake degrees, applied for H1 visas with fake job letters. US embassy in Chennai was alarmed by the number of fake requests made. Most of the fake degrees were from AP.