A Decision to Regret
SHAMMI
Lets see if i can tempt you with this .I have other ,dont worry,just let me know
The Destruction of WTC and the Pentagon
By M. Amir Ali
This author and the entire Muslim world, including the Taliban and Saddam Hussein, have condemned the destruction of lives and properties at the WTC, the Pentagon and four airplanes on September 11, 2001 and stand deeply in sorrow and in solidarity with the survivors of the victims. The actual criminals who committed the crimes are dead but their comrades are in hiding; they should be found and brought to justice. At the same time, make no mistake that it would be equally wrong and criminal to go into ventures of vendettas on mere suspicion without irrefutable evidence.
Who is behind the air crashes? The U.S. government`s case.
The U.S. government has declared that all roads lead to Osama bin Ladin and he is the prime suspect. The evidence given is that nineteen Arabic names were found in the airlines` manifests and some of them matched with those who attended pilot training schools. Additional evidence given is that a pilot`s manual in the Arabic language was found in a rented car in the airport parking lot. Also some of those Arabs were found in a tavern in Florida bragging about their operation. They were found dancing and womanizing despite the allegations that they were followers of Osama Binladin. These are contradictions because being ``followers of Islam`` and indulging in major sins like, killing innocent non-combatants, drinking liquor and womanizing yet expecting martyrdom (shahadah) for Islam do not mix. The U.S. government`s case is based on theory, which is rooted in prejudice, hate and fear of Islam and Muslims fuelled by anti-Islam bigots worldwide. The U.S. government has failed in providing a shred of irrefutable evidence in support of her theory. On the other hand, more and more evidence is being collected by the people in support of my and the Muslim world`s theory, joined by many thinking non-Muslim writers, that Israel and its Zionist friends were the perpetrators of the crime. It is the faulty psychology of many, includes some Muslims, that the government knows best and its theory is fact and all others are only bumbling talkers. I guess we have to live with gullible people. See my article on the gullibility index under ``Opinions`` at www.iiie.net. Gullibility has not contributed any advances but produced only flocks of sheep, whereas skepticism has given us scientific advances and brought us to the age of computers and rockets. Skepticism forces people to provide irrefutable evidence or back off and let others consider alternate theories. The same scientific principle should apply in finding who is responsible for the destruction of the WTC and the Pentagon and the murder of almost seven-thousand innocent people. The acceptance of the government`s theory without irrefutable evidence will cause the death of many more innocent lives, the destruction of a lot more property and the loss of taxpayer`s money on futile ventures. Convictions in the court of law do not constitute irrefutable evidence because a lot of people are convicted who have been shown to be innocent subsequently. The State of Illinois has suspended indefinitely capital punishment because the court convictions were found to be not reliable. Frequently, American convictions are based on ``plea bargaining`` not irrefutable evidence. I, personally had an experience with plea bargaining.
Plea Bargaining: Several years ago I was driving on I-80 East and at one stretch I speeded up to pass a slow moving semi-truck (a very long truck). I did not check the speedometer but I was sure that I did not exceed much beyond the speed limit. As soon as I passed the truck, a police car came behind me, stopped me and gave me a ticket for going over the speed limit by 11 miles per hour. I did not think that he could have checked my speed by radar because the truck was between him and me. I denied the charge of 11 miles over the speed limit. When I went to the court, the prosecutor offered me the alternatives of entering a guilty plea or a not guilty plea or plea bargaining. She told me that if I was found guilty by the judge I would have to pay $100.00 in fines, obtaining conviction points on my driving record and the risk of increasing my insurance premiums. The alternative was plea bargaining resulting in the payment of $50.00 and no points on my driving record. I asked her what was the plea she was offering. She said that she would charge me of not carrying my driver license with me. I told her that it would be a lie for I was not charged for that and that my driver license number was on the ticket. She said that it did not matter and she could fix it. I was convicted of the lesser charge (the lie concocted by the prosecutor), I paid $50.00 and got off the hook. Plea bargaining is not justice but provides a few advantages to the government. For example, convicting a person for something secretly worked out is politically correct, it reduces expenses of law suits, sometimes it generates money and the public is satisfied that somebody has been convicted and punished. A large number of convictions obtained by the government prosecutors are through plea bargaining by threats and intimidation. Many Muslims who were convicted of terrorism from the Kangaroo courts of New York City run by the Zionists are of this type. All terrorism cases involving Muslims and Arabs are tried in the Kangaroo Courts of New York City run by the Zionists because no other court in the land would find enough evidence to convict them. As long as Zionists are involved in the courts where Muslims and Arabs are tried, they have no chance of winning as not guilty because in the eyes of the Zionists, Muslims and Arabs are guilty for being what they are. I am not talking about the Jews but the Zionists which is a class by itself irrespective of religion. I believe that had Timothy McVeigh blown up a building in New York City, he would have gone scot-free and some Muslims or Arabs would have been executed or rotting in federal prisons.
Alternate Theory and Evidence:
I have already presented in my September 11 article that this crime was the work of Israel and her Zionist friends. After two weeks my case has become stronger because a lot of people have provided the evidence which the U.S. government refuses to look into. I present this evidence under two sub-topics, (a) logical conclusions, and (b) supportive evidence.
Logical Conclusions:
1. Instruction Manual in Arabic. Law enforcement official found pilot instructions in the Arabic language left behind in a rented car in a parking lot. Logically this was an attempt to frame Arabs because no criminal would leave behind such evidence. Besides, many of them were known to have been living in the U.S. for many years, attended institutions and colleges and knew English very well. Obviously, they did not need an instruction manual in the Arabic language. Those manuals appear to have been planted.
2. Fake Crew. Two Arabs appeared at an airport in the east with fake pilot licenses, which makes no sense because criminals would not provide anything that would arouse suspicion of them being criminals and get arrested even before boarding the airplane. This was a deliberate attempt to frame Arabs. Three Arab looking persons bringing their luggage marked ``crew`` while they were not crew members is another deliberate attempt to frame Arabs.
3. Forged Identities. Israel, reportedly, has a department for making forged documents of any country, such as, identity cards, passports, certificates, etc. and routinely forges them for infiltration of spies. Israeli spies have penetrated into every Muslim country and routinely collect information about the people. It is very easy for Israel to make fake documents for its own spies and saboteurs and infiltrate them as Arabs if it wants to frame Arabs in a crime. Israel is perfectly capable of developing track records of its own spies as Arabs, provide them documents as Arabs, implant them, commit crimes and frame Arabs. Read BY WAY OF DECEPTION by Victor Ostrovsky, St. Matins Press, New York, 1991. It is, therefore, important to track down every Arab name from birth to death, if that name is involved in a crime. To develop tracking records as Arabs, Israeli spies can have credit cards as Arabs, register at pilot schools as Arabs, rent apartments as Arabs, have families as Arabs and do everything necessary to frame Arabs in heinous crimes.
4. Infiltration and Coordination. The Zionists are in every field of activity in the U.S. which includes aviation, pilots, communication, FBI, CIA, airports, security, flight control towers, law enforcement, the media, the White House, the Congress and they are sitting in positions of power with the ability of coordinating activities with any one. Arabs and Muslims are not found in such positions to help in any criminal activity. Admittedly, the air crashes at the WTC and the Pentagon required a lot of coordination and inside help which no Muslim terrorist could have received.
5. Motivation and Benefit. The most important question in any criminal investigation raised is that of motivation and benefit. No one wants to give up their lives by committing suicide unless there are benefits for him and/or his people. The U.S. government has totally failed in providing a believable and convincing motivation for any Muslim group, including Osama Binladin. The most absurd claims are that the Muslims are jealous of the U.S. prosperity and life style, or they hate American liberty, or that they hate democracy and capitalism. Japan, Sweden, Denmark, Kuwait and many other countries are just as prosperous if not more and they have less crime than the U.S., therefore, those countries should be the targets. Osama Binladin came from a rich family and is personally rich. Why should he become an enemy of the U.S.? On the other hand, Israel has the motivation to commit the crime and frame the Muslims. The last two weeks have proven that Israel is the only beneficiary of the crime because Israel has improved its public image and Muslims have received a very bad image, both were the goals of the Israelis. The public opinion about Israel in the U.S. and the world was tarnishing due to Intifadah: eleven months of stones verses the tanks and machine guns. Israeli public image was dismal due to Israeli indiscriminate killing and shelling of villages and finally, their walkout of the UN Racism Conference in Durban. Israel has recovered her positive image and Arabs have been defeated in the public image. No one wants to fly in an airplane if there is an Arab or a Muslim in the same plane. Anti-Islam bigots led by Israel have won big time, therefore, it is concluded that Israel had every motivation to commit the crime and frame the Arabs and the Muslims. Muslims and Arabs have been the net losers in the public opinion worldwide and Israel is the net beneficiary.
6. Contradictions to Islam. Alcoholic drinking, womanizing, dancing and killing non-combatant civilians are not permitted in Islam. These are violations of the Qur`anic injunctions and the concept of Islamic martyrdom (shahadah) leading to paradise. Naturally, no Muslim would fall in to the deception of committing sins and hoping to go to Paradise.
7. Holes in the FBI Case. According to the list nineteen hijackers published by the FBI, United flights 93 and 175 had only one pilot each, American flight 77 had no pilots and American flight 11 had four pilots which makes no sense. A closer look at the case will show many other holes because the U.S. government theories are flawed.
Supportive Evidence:
1. David Stern Report (sternintel@hotmail.com). This report dated September 13, 2001, says that a U.S military intelligence memo points to the Israeli Mossad intelligence having links to the WTC and Pentagon attacks. This four-week-old intelligence memo ``described information that pointed to the threat of a covert Israeli operation on U.S. soil to turn mass public opinion against Palestinian Arabs via an apparent terrorist attack on US interests.`` Neither President Bush nor Donald Rumsfeld nor John Ashcroft have clearly denied the existence of the memo. Until and unless the US government denies it in clear terms, the Stern Report will be taken as true and Israel will remain a prime suspect in the eyes of the Muslims and neutral world.
2. The Famous 4000 Israelis. There is a persistent Internet report that was mentioned on ABC Nightline on September 25 that 4000 Israeli workers at the WTC Towers did not go to work on September 11. This raised speculation that the Israelis knew something that was not known to others. The U.S. authorities, including the State Department, are silent on this point. Unless the U.S. denies this rumor, in a convincing manner, it is going to persist and will be taken as true and will certainly implicate Israelis in the crime, that they saved their own 4,000 from certain death while allowing the other 7,000 to perish.
3. The List of Missing or Dead. Knowing that the Jews dominate financial institutions, their proportion as employees in finance and the markets is disproportionately high. I suspect that the Jews will be at least 25% in financial institutions, therefore among the 50,000 persons who worked in the Twin Towers, Jews were at least 12,000. 7,000 out of the 50,000 are dead which is 14% of the total. By interpolation, the death toll of the Jews may be about 1,700 and it is relevant to the investigation to find if the death toll of the Jews was much lower than that. This is not an ill wish for an ethnic group but an inquiry for the truth. According to President Bush 130 Jews died in the crash and the buildings, hmm! It is noteworthy that all Jews are not Zionists and non-Zionists receive no sympathy from the State of Israel.
4. Five Erratic Israelis. It is reported that from the top of a nearby building five Israelis were videotaping the air crashes, and of the buildings burning, smoking and falling and they were jubilant. Did they know ahead of time that the crash was going to take place? No answer is coming from the U.S. government. This is a very relevant question for the investigation. Why are the investigators silent on this question?
5. Cancelled Visit of Ariel Sharon. The murderer of Shabra and Shatila, who happens to be the Prime Minister of Israel, was scheduled to travel to the U.S. and appear at a pro-Israel rally in New York City on September 11, but this trip was cancelled by Shabak, an Israeli secret service agency. Does it mean that Shabak knew something which was not shared with the U.S. government? Or was Shabak the main perpetrator of planning and execution of those air crashes?
6. Living-Dead Pilot Terrorists. According to the U.S. government there were nineteen Arab terrorists in four airplanes which crashed on September 11 and among them at least seven have been identified as Saudi nationals. However, it is reported that Prince Naif, Interior Minister of Saudi Arabia announced that all seven were known and living well in their country. There are doubts about others, if they were real people or dead people`s name resurrected by the Israelis for the air crashes. At least one of them is known to have died a year earlier. Evidently, Israelis forged the identities of Arab pilots and engineers for framing the Muslims to achieve its goals of turning world public opinion in its favor and against the Muslims living in the West. On September 27 Nightline, ABC News produced a faceless ``Max`` who supposedly received training in a Binladin camp and recognized one of the 19 as a co-trainee; he gave a different name to this person from the one published by the FBI.
The story of Max had holes, giving clues to his fake story. This is a very familiar FBI technique when it wants to frame people in a crime. Sheikh Omar Abdur Rahman was framed by the use of a similar ``Max`` who turned out to be Imad Salim, an Egyptian crook, who perjured himself for one million dollars and a life under the witness protection program of the FBI. We can expect more of them coming out of the bushes, faceless people concocting stories for the FBI or CIA so that politically correct results are produced to satisfy naive American people.
7. Stock Market Aberrations. According to ABC News and the Chicago Tribune, during the week before the air crashes, the stocks of United Airlines, American Airlines and those companies whose offices were in the Twin Towers were very heavily traded. It was the worst case of insider trading and is being investigated. Evidently somebody knew about the forthcoming air crashes. Note that the stock market is heavily dominated by the Zionists. Muslims are almost absent in the stock market. The U.S. government and relevant agencies have a duty to report to the American people and the world explaining aberrations of the stock market.
8. A Happy Israeli. It has been reported that at least one or more Israelis were found to be celebrating when they heard about air crashes. Why were they so happy if they had nothing to gain from the death of almost 7,000 innocent people and the destruction of properties.
9. Were there Happy Palestinians? Pro-Israeli media, CNN, was ready with the 1991 video clips of happy Palestinians and showed it as a celebration on September 11. Why was it done if Israel had no interest in the air crashes and Israelis were mourning the dead? Naturally, Israel and her supporters were ready to make maximum damage to the Arab image worldwide and that was one of their goals in enacting air crashes and framing the Muslims and Arabs.
10. A Mole in the White House. There was a report that the Air Force One received a threat while in the air with President Bush. There are two unsolved mysteries, (a) how the terrorists found the phone number of the Air Force One and learned how to scramble the message? (b) The language used was a special White House code; how did the terrorists have those coded words? A logical conclusion is that there is a mole in the White House. No one is talking about this matter except in a cursory manner. There are no Muslims employed in the White House but there are numerous Zionists who have worked and continue to work there.
11. Airline Manifests. A partial list of airlines manifests has been published in Europe and it is available on the Internet which contains no Arabic names! Where did the Bush government obtained those 19 Arabic names? How was it discovered that the same people had taken flight training at private schools? Evidently, these were supplied by the perpetrators so that the Arabs are nailed down immediately before the government had any chance of suspecting the real criminals, that is, Shabak or some other Israeli sabotage agency.
Bush Declares War.
In his declaration of war Bush and company said two things, which are extremely important for the Muslims to ponder over: (a) he declared a Crusade, and (b) uttered the phrase ``dry up the swamp.`` These two phrases are of extreme importance to understand. Simultaneously, he declared that this was not a war on Islam or against the Muslims. We need to examine these declarations.
What is a Crusade? The Crusades were against Islam, that is, to destroy Islam and take over their lands, kill as many Muslims as possible and forcefully christianize those who survived. Bush contradicts himself when he declares his crusade and also says that it was not a war against Islam. Which part of his statement are we supposed to believe and which part was a deception?
What is drying up the swamp? The source of mosquitoes is a swamp. Just killing mosquitoes does not solve the problem because as long as there is a swamp to breed more mosquitoes, more of them will keep coming. It is, therefore, necessary to drain the water of the swamp and dry it to remove breeding place for the mosquitoes. According to the understanding of the West, Islamic schools (madarassahs) are the source of breeding Islamic scholars, teachers and some of the leaders. From such graduates of Islamic studies, some of them become radicals and may become terrorists. The West reasons that the source of terrorists is Islamic teachings, that is, the Qur`an, Sunnah, Seerah, Fiqh and Islamic history. If such teachings are removed that will be drying up the swamp. Naturally, the real campaign is against the teachings of Islam from the original sources. Mustafa Kamal destroyed Islamic teachings 85 years ago in Turkey and dried up the swamp thereby he became an ideal of all anti-Islam forces. Syria, Iraq, Libya, central Asian (Muslim) republics and other secularized anti-Islam states have adopted the same measures and removed real Islam from their countries. These countries allow only the teachings of Sufi Islam, which is essentially a secularized and christianized version of religion that was invented to survive under tyrannical rulers by dismembering politics and economics from the body of Islam. Pakistan, Egypt, Morocco, Tunis and a few other Muslim-majority countries are trying to adopt the ideals of Mustafa Kamal and his ``Islam`` as a model.
Understanding and attachment with the Qur`an and Sunnah gives rise to Islamic movements, such as, Ikhwan al-Muslimoon, Jamaat-e-Islami, FIS, HAMAS, Taliban, Tanzeem-e-Islami, Hizb ut-Tahrir, Tahrik-e-Khilafat and others who want to bring back total Islam to the lives of the people. The West hates these parties and their movements and they are swamps which breed activists and some of them become terrorists. Drying up the swamp means destroying these parties through sowing dissension and discord by infiltration and rumors. This is war on Islam whether Bush wants to say it or not but we understand. This is a war against the Qur`an and Sunnah of the Prophet and we understand.
What can the Muslim Americans do? What Muslim Americans can do, no other Muslims can do. This is a ``reach one and teach one`` movement or an ``one family a month`` movement. If one Muslim invites two persons a month to his home or apartment for a meal and talks to them or one family invites a non-Muslim family (two adults and one or more children) a month, they can reach and educate 24 to 40 persons a year. There are seven million Muslims in the U.S. and the total population is 280 million. Among 7 million Muslims, there are at least 2 million families and if each family invites and educates one family a month, we can reach and educate 24 million to 48 million people a year. This way we can reach the entire population of the U.S. in ten years. The net effect would be the removal of prejudice, hate and fear of Islam from this country. Ignorance is the mother of hate, fear and prejudice and education removes it. The success of this project will have profound effects on the whole world.
What the U.S. can do? A change in the policies of the West towards the Muslim world would stop the breeding of terrorists and will dry the swamp. There is no need of a crusade against Islam but a crusade against the ignorance of Islam is essential. Bush does not need any overt or covert operation abroad but he needs a very inexpensive education campaign within the U.S. for accepting a neutral policy towards the Muslim world and burying the hostility against Islam and Muslims. The U.S. must stop using a double yardstick, one for the Arabs and Muslims and the other for the Israelis. The solution of terrorism is at home, Mr. Bush. Please reform the U.S. foreign policy towards the Muslim world and Israel and stop meddling in the Muslim world affairs. What is good for the West, that is good for the Muslim world! Let the Muslim world choose their own systems and their own governments. Stop propping up puppets.
The Disease and the Symptoms. The U.S. government and the media are leading the people into the fury of suppressing the symptoms, that is, terrorism whether done by the Israelis or the Muslims. No one except a few thinkers outside the government is talking about etiology of the underlying disease. It is like a belly ache and liver cancer. Liver cancer is the disease and aches and pains are the symptoms. You may cut out the stomach but it will not cure the cancer of the liver. Similarly, terrorism is a symptom of underlying disease or diseases. The disease should be found and treated. If we see the disease in concentric rings, the center belongs to the U.S. ``meddling`` in the Muslim countries and denying them self rule according to their own wishes. The next closest ring belongs to the American unconditional support of the tyrannical and unjust policies of the State of Israel and consequences of this support. There are some other secondary diseases, such as, economic and military embargoes on Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Sudan, Pakistan and other Muslim countries. Also, the promotion of anti-Islam, anti-Muslim and anti-Arab bigotry worldwide by the governments, the Zionists and Fundamentalist Christians contribute heavily. There are still other diseases which I may write about in my future articles. Binladin and Israeli terrorism may be symptoms not the cause of the disease of hate of the U.S. The etiology of this disease is within the U.S.; this country has full control over it and ability to cure it. There is no need to send any forces abroad, covert or overt to cure the disease. There is no swamp that the U.S. is able to dry up. The talk of Crusades is totally ridiculous; Bush and company should be ashamed of themselves for using such hateful terms.
Appreciation. I am appreciative of the President Bush who, while talking to the Mayor and Governor of New York, he said that Arab-Americans and Muslim Americans should be respected and that they are not involved in any way in terrorism. Also, I am appreciative of Mayor Daley of Chicago and many other prominent politicians who have expressed similar concerns and voice in support the Muslim Americans. In the media, I am very appreciative of ABC News, particularly Peter Jennings and Ted Kopple for their neutrality and their voice in favor of finding the disease rather than suppressing the symptoms only. I condemn other TV networks, particularly, the Fox News who has championed anti-Islam and anti-Muslim bigotry.
Pressures on the Muslim world leaders. Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yasser Arafat and the Arab world are coming under pressure to cooperate in arresting and handing over Osama Binladin to the American government. This would be wrong to arrest a Muslim leader and hand him over to the enemies of Islam. First of all, the U.S. has a duty to produce hard evidence against Osama Binladin and a Muslim country should try him and convict him if there is evidence within the laws of Islam. If the Muslim leaders are not willing to learn from Islam then they need to learn from Israel. Israel refuses to hand over criminals to any country or any international tribunal. Even abductors and hijackers, whom it considers to be criminals, are tried and sentenced in Israel. Even the U.S. and other western governments have given in to the Israeli whims and failed in extraditing American criminals from Israel. Any international tribunal is run according to the laws of bigotry and hatred of Islam and Muslims and they cannot be the one`s to try Muslims except secularized ones who by their own option, give up Islam.
Conspiracy Theories. Some people have an allergy to conspiracy theories but they do not realize that all fact-finding missions begin with many alternative conspiracy theories. As the investigation progresses, weaker ones are dropped. The U.S. has no alternative theories but one, that is, Binladin, and this is the weakness of the investigation. The U.S. government her the mindset on Binladin and the Taliban and this is going to hurt interests of the U.S. and its people.
q
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Posted by
Bijli
Nov 1, 2001 09:31 am
#325SHAMMI
Lets see if i can tempt you with this .I have other ,dont worry,just let me know
The Destruction of WTC and the Pentagon
By M. Amir Ali
This author and the entire Muslim world, including the Taliban and Saddam Hussein, have condemned the destruction of lives and properties at the WTC, the Pentagon and four airplanes on September 11, 2001 and stand deeply in sorrow and in solidarity with the survivors of the victims. The actual criminals who committed the crimes are dead but their comrades are in hiding; they should be found and brought to justice. At the same time, make no mistake that it would be equally wrong and criminal to go into ventures of vendettas on mere suspicion without irrefutable evidence.
Who is behind the air crashes? The U.S. government`s case.
The U.S. government has declared that all roads lead to Osama bin Ladin and he is the prime suspect. The evidence given is that nineteen Arabic names were found in the airlines` manifests and some of them matched with those who attended pilot training schools. Additional evidence given is that a pilot`s manual in the Arabic language was found in a rented car in the airport parking lot. Also some of those Arabs were found in a tavern in Florida bragging about their operation. They were found dancing and womanizing despite the allegations that they were followers of Osama Binladin. These are contradictions because being ``followers of Islam`` and indulging in major sins like, killing innocent non-combatants, drinking liquor and womanizing yet expecting martyrdom (shahadah) for Islam do not mix. The U.S. government`s case is based on theory, which is rooted in prejudice, hate and fear of Islam and Muslims fuelled by anti-Islam bigots worldwide. The U.S. government has failed in providing a shred of irrefutable evidence in support of her theory. On the other hand, more and more evidence is being collected by the people in support of my and the Muslim world`s theory, joined by many thinking non-Muslim writers, that Israel and its Zionist friends were the perpetrators of the crime. It is the faulty psychology of many, includes some Muslims, that the government knows best and its theory is fact and all others are only bumbling talkers. I guess we have to live with gullible people. See my article on the gullibility index under ``Opinions`` at www.iiie.net. Gullibility has not contributed any advances but produced only flocks of sheep, whereas skepticism has given us scientific advances and brought us to the age of computers and rockets. Skepticism forces people to provide irrefutable evidence or back off and let others consider alternate theories. The same scientific principle should apply in finding who is responsible for the destruction of the WTC and the Pentagon and the murder of almost seven-thousand innocent people. The acceptance of the government`s theory without irrefutable evidence will cause the death of many more innocent lives, the destruction of a lot more property and the loss of taxpayer`s money on futile ventures. Convictions in the court of law do not constitute irrefutable evidence because a lot of people are convicted who have been shown to be innocent subsequently. The State of Illinois has suspended indefinitely capital punishment because the court convictions were found to be not reliable. Frequently, American convictions are based on ``plea bargaining`` not irrefutable evidence. I, personally had an experience with plea bargaining.
Plea Bargaining: Several years ago I was driving on I-80 East and at one stretch I speeded up to pass a slow moving semi-truck (a very long truck). I did not check the speedometer but I was sure that I did not exceed much beyond the speed limit. As soon as I passed the truck, a police car came behind me, stopped me and gave me a ticket for going over the speed limit by 11 miles per hour. I did not think that he could have checked my speed by radar because the truck was between him and me. I denied the charge of 11 miles over the speed limit. When I went to the court, the prosecutor offered me the alternatives of entering a guilty plea or a not guilty plea or plea bargaining. She told me that if I was found guilty by the judge I would have to pay $100.00 in fines, obtaining conviction points on my driving record and the risk of increasing my insurance premiums. The alternative was plea bargaining resulting in the payment of $50.00 and no points on my driving record. I asked her what was the plea she was offering. She said that she would charge me of not carrying my driver license with me. I told her that it would be a lie for I was not charged for that and that my driver license number was on the ticket. She said that it did not matter and she could fix it. I was convicted of the lesser charge (the lie concocted by the prosecutor), I paid $50.00 and got off the hook. Plea bargaining is not justice but provides a few advantages to the government. For example, convicting a person for something secretly worked out is politically correct, it reduces expenses of law suits, sometimes it generates money and the public is satisfied that somebody has been convicted and punished. A large number of convictions obtained by the government prosecutors are through plea bargaining by threats and intimidation. Many Muslims who were convicted of terrorism from the Kangaroo courts of New York City run by the Zionists are of this type. All terrorism cases involving Muslims and Arabs are tried in the Kangaroo Courts of New York City run by the Zionists because no other court in the land would find enough evidence to convict them. As long as Zionists are involved in the courts where Muslims and Arabs are tried, they have no chance of winning as not guilty because in the eyes of the Zionists, Muslims and Arabs are guilty for being what they are. I am not talking about the Jews but the Zionists which is a class by itself irrespective of religion. I believe that had Timothy McVeigh blown up a building in New York City, he would have gone scot-free and some Muslims or Arabs would have been executed or rotting in federal prisons.
Alternate Theory and Evidence:
I have already presented in my September 11 article that this crime was the work of Israel and her Zionist friends. After two weeks my case has become stronger because a lot of people have provided the evidence which the U.S. government refuses to look into. I present this evidence under two sub-topics, (a) logical conclusions, and (b) supportive evidence.
Logical Conclusions:
1. Instruction Manual in Arabic. Law enforcement official found pilot instructions in the Arabic language left behind in a rented car in a parking lot. Logically this was an attempt to frame Arabs because no criminal would leave behind such evidence. Besides, many of them were known to have been living in the U.S. for many years, attended institutions and colleges and knew English very well. Obviously, they did not need an instruction manual in the Arabic language. Those manuals appear to have been planted.
2. Fake Crew. Two Arabs appeared at an airport in the east with fake pilot licenses, which makes no sense because criminals would not provide anything that would arouse suspicion of them being criminals and get arrested even before boarding the airplane. This was a deliberate attempt to frame Arabs. Three Arab looking persons bringing their luggage marked ``crew`` while they were not crew members is another deliberate attempt to frame Arabs.
3. Forged Identities. Israel, reportedly, has a department for making forged documents of any country, such as, identity cards, passports, certificates, etc. and routinely forges them for infiltration of spies. Israeli spies have penetrated into every Muslim country and routinely collect information about the people. It is very easy for Israel to make fake documents for its own spies and saboteurs and infiltrate them as Arabs if it wants to frame Arabs in a crime. Israel is perfectly capable of developing track records of its own spies as Arabs, provide them documents as Arabs, implant them, commit crimes and frame Arabs. Read BY WAY OF DECEPTION by Victor Ostrovsky, St. Matins Press, New York, 1991. It is, therefore, important to track down every Arab name from birth to death, if that name is involved in a crime. To develop tracking records as Arabs, Israeli spies can have credit cards as Arabs, register at pilot schools as Arabs, rent apartments as Arabs, have families as Arabs and do everything necessary to frame Arabs in heinous crimes.
4. Infiltration and Coordination. The Zionists are in every field of activity in the U.S. which includes aviation, pilots, communication, FBI, CIA, airports, security, flight control towers, law enforcement, the media, the White House, the Congress and they are sitting in positions of power with the ability of coordinating activities with any one. Arabs and Muslims are not found in such positions to help in any criminal activity. Admittedly, the air crashes at the WTC and the Pentagon required a lot of coordination and inside help which no Muslim terrorist could have received.
5. Motivation and Benefit. The most important question in any criminal investigation raised is that of motivation and benefit. No one wants to give up their lives by committing suicide unless there are benefits for him and/or his people. The U.S. government has totally failed in providing a believable and convincing motivation for any Muslim group, including Osama Binladin. The most absurd claims are that the Muslims are jealous of the U.S. prosperity and life style, or they hate American liberty, or that they hate democracy and capitalism. Japan, Sweden, Denmark, Kuwait and many other countries are just as prosperous if not more and they have less crime than the U.S., therefore, those countries should be the targets. Osama Binladin came from a rich family and is personally rich. Why should he become an enemy of the U.S.? On the other hand, Israel has the motivation to commit the crime and frame the Muslims. The last two weeks have proven that Israel is the only beneficiary of the crime because Israel has improved its public image and Muslims have received a very bad image, both were the goals of the Israelis. The public opinion about Israel in the U.S. and the world was tarnishing due to Intifadah: eleven months of stones verses the tanks and machine guns. Israeli public image was dismal due to Israeli indiscriminate killing and shelling of villages and finally, their walkout of the UN Racism Conference in Durban. Israel has recovered her positive image and Arabs have been defeated in the public image. No one wants to fly in an airplane if there is an Arab or a Muslim in the same plane. Anti-Islam bigots led by Israel have won big time, therefore, it is concluded that Israel had every motivation to commit the crime and frame the Arabs and the Muslims. Muslims and Arabs have been the net losers in the public opinion worldwide and Israel is the net beneficiary.
6. Contradictions to Islam. Alcoholic drinking, womanizing, dancing and killing non-combatant civilians are not permitted in Islam. These are violations of the Qur`anic injunctions and the concept of Islamic martyrdom (shahadah) leading to paradise. Naturally, no Muslim would fall in to the deception of committing sins and hoping to go to Paradise.
7. Holes in the FBI Case. According to the list nineteen hijackers published by the FBI, United flights 93 and 175 had only one pilot each, American flight 77 had no pilots and American flight 11 had four pilots which makes no sense. A closer look at the case will show many other holes because the U.S. government theories are flawed.
Supportive Evidence:
1. David Stern Report (sternintel@hotmail.com). This report dated September 13, 2001, says that a U.S military intelligence memo points to the Israeli Mossad intelligence having links to the WTC and Pentagon attacks. This four-week-old intelligence memo ``described information that pointed to the threat of a covert Israeli operation on U.S. soil to turn mass public opinion against Palestinian Arabs via an apparent terrorist attack on US interests.`` Neither President Bush nor Donald Rumsfeld nor John Ashcroft have clearly denied the existence of the memo. Until and unless the US government denies it in clear terms, the Stern Report will be taken as true and Israel will remain a prime suspect in the eyes of the Muslims and neutral world.
2. The Famous 4000 Israelis. There is a persistent Internet report that was mentioned on ABC Nightline on September 25 that 4000 Israeli workers at the WTC Towers did not go to work on September 11. This raised speculation that the Israelis knew something that was not known to others. The U.S. authorities, including the State Department, are silent on this point. Unless the U.S. denies this rumor, in a convincing manner, it is going to persist and will be taken as true and will certainly implicate Israelis in the crime, that they saved their own 4,000 from certain death while allowing the other 7,000 to perish.
3. The List of Missing or Dead. Knowing that the Jews dominate financial institutions, their proportion as employees in finance and the markets is disproportionately high. I suspect that the Jews will be at least 25% in financial institutions, therefore among the 50,000 persons who worked in the Twin Towers, Jews were at least 12,000. 7,000 out of the 50,000 are dead which is 14% of the total. By interpolation, the death toll of the Jews may be about 1,700 and it is relevant to the investigation to find if the death toll of the Jews was much lower than that. This is not an ill wish for an ethnic group but an inquiry for the truth. According to President Bush 130 Jews died in the crash and the buildings, hmm! It is noteworthy that all Jews are not Zionists and non-Zionists receive no sympathy from the State of Israel.
4. Five Erratic Israelis. It is reported that from the top of a nearby building five Israelis were videotaping the air crashes, and of the buildings burning, smoking and falling and they were jubilant. Did they know ahead of time that the crash was going to take place? No answer is coming from the U.S. government. This is a very relevant question for the investigation. Why are the investigators silent on this question?
5. Cancelled Visit of Ariel Sharon. The murderer of Shabra and Shatila, who happens to be the Prime Minister of Israel, was scheduled to travel to the U.S. and appear at a pro-Israel rally in New York City on September 11, but this trip was cancelled by Shabak, an Israeli secret service agency. Does it mean that Shabak knew something which was not shared with the U.S. government? Or was Shabak the main perpetrator of planning and execution of those air crashes?
6. Living-Dead Pilot Terrorists. According to the U.S. government there were nineteen Arab terrorists in four airplanes which crashed on September 11 and among them at least seven have been identified as Saudi nationals. However, it is reported that Prince Naif, Interior Minister of Saudi Arabia announced that all seven were known and living well in their country. There are doubts about others, if they were real people or dead people`s name resurrected by the Israelis for the air crashes. At least one of them is known to have died a year earlier. Evidently, Israelis forged the identities of Arab pilots and engineers for framing the Muslims to achieve its goals of turning world public opinion in its favor and against the Muslims living in the West. On September 27 Nightline, ABC News produced a faceless ``Max`` who supposedly received training in a Binladin camp and recognized one of the 19 as a co-trainee; he gave a different name to this person from the one published by the FBI.
The story of Max had holes, giving clues to his fake story. This is a very familiar FBI technique when it wants to frame people in a crime. Sheikh Omar Abdur Rahman was framed by the use of a similar ``Max`` who turned out to be Imad Salim, an Egyptian crook, who perjured himself for one million dollars and a life under the witness protection program of the FBI. We can expect more of them coming out of the bushes, faceless people concocting stories for the FBI or CIA so that politically correct results are produced to satisfy naive American people.
7. Stock Market Aberrations. According to ABC News and the Chicago Tribune, during the week before the air crashes, the stocks of United Airlines, American Airlines and those companies whose offices were in the Twin Towers were very heavily traded. It was the worst case of insider trading and is being investigated. Evidently somebody knew about the forthcoming air crashes. Note that the stock market is heavily dominated by the Zionists. Muslims are almost absent in the stock market. The U.S. government and relevant agencies have a duty to report to the American people and the world explaining aberrations of the stock market.
8. A Happy Israeli. It has been reported that at least one or more Israelis were found to be celebrating when they heard about air crashes. Why were they so happy if they had nothing to gain from the death of almost 7,000 innocent people and the destruction of properties.
9. Were there Happy Palestinians? Pro-Israeli media, CNN, was ready with the 1991 video clips of happy Palestinians and showed it as a celebration on September 11. Why was it done if Israel had no interest in the air crashes and Israelis were mourning the dead? Naturally, Israel and her supporters were ready to make maximum damage to the Arab image worldwide and that was one of their goals in enacting air crashes and framing the Muslims and Arabs.
10. A Mole in the White House. There was a report that the Air Force One received a threat while in the air with President Bush. There are two unsolved mysteries, (a) how the terrorists found the phone number of the Air Force One and learned how to scramble the message? (b) The language used was a special White House code; how did the terrorists have those coded words? A logical conclusion is that there is a mole in the White House. No one is talking about this matter except in a cursory manner. There are no Muslims employed in the White House but there are numerous Zionists who have worked and continue to work there.
11. Airline Manifests. A partial list of airlines manifests has been published in Europe and it is available on the Internet which contains no Arabic names! Where did the Bush government obtained those 19 Arabic names? How was it discovered that the same people had taken flight training at private schools? Evidently, these were supplied by the perpetrators so that the Arabs are nailed down immediately before the government had any chance of suspecting the real criminals, that is, Shabak or some other Israeli sabotage agency.
Bush Declares War.
In his declaration of war Bush and company said two things, which are extremely important for the Muslims to ponder over: (a) he declared a Crusade, and (b) uttered the phrase ``dry up the swamp.`` These two phrases are of extreme importance to understand. Simultaneously, he declared that this was not a war on Islam or against the Muslims. We need to examine these declarations.
What is a Crusade? The Crusades were against Islam, that is, to destroy Islam and take over their lands, kill as many Muslims as possible and forcefully christianize those who survived. Bush contradicts himself when he declares his crusade and also says that it was not a war against Islam. Which part of his statement are we supposed to believe and which part was a deception?
What is drying up the swamp? The source of mosquitoes is a swamp. Just killing mosquitoes does not solve the problem because as long as there is a swamp to breed more mosquitoes, more of them will keep coming. It is, therefore, necessary to drain the water of the swamp and dry it to remove breeding place for the mosquitoes. According to the understanding of the West, Islamic schools (madarassahs) are the source of breeding Islamic scholars, teachers and some of the leaders. From such graduates of Islamic studies, some of them become radicals and may become terrorists. The West reasons that the source of terrorists is Islamic teachings, that is, the Qur`an, Sunnah, Seerah, Fiqh and Islamic history. If such teachings are removed that will be drying up the swamp. Naturally, the real campaign is against the teachings of Islam from the original sources. Mustafa Kamal destroyed Islamic teachings 85 years ago in Turkey and dried up the swamp thereby he became an ideal of all anti-Islam forces. Syria, Iraq, Libya, central Asian (Muslim) republics and other secularized anti-Islam states have adopted the same measures and removed real Islam from their countries. These countries allow only the teachings of Sufi Islam, which is essentially a secularized and christianized version of religion that was invented to survive under tyrannical rulers by dismembering politics and economics from the body of Islam. Pakistan, Egypt, Morocco, Tunis and a few other Muslim-majority countries are trying to adopt the ideals of Mustafa Kamal and his ``Islam`` as a model.
Understanding and attachment with the Qur`an and Sunnah gives rise to Islamic movements, such as, Ikhwan al-Muslimoon, Jamaat-e-Islami, FIS, HAMAS, Taliban, Tanzeem-e-Islami, Hizb ut-Tahrir, Tahrik-e-Khilafat and others who want to bring back total Islam to the lives of the people. The West hates these parties and their movements and they are swamps which breed activists and some of them become terrorists. Drying up the swamp means destroying these parties through sowing dissension and discord by infiltration and rumors. This is war on Islam whether Bush wants to say it or not but we understand. This is a war against the Qur`an and Sunnah of the Prophet and we understand.
What can the Muslim Americans do? What Muslim Americans can do, no other Muslims can do. This is a ``reach one and teach one`` movement or an ``one family a month`` movement. If one Muslim invites two persons a month to his home or apartment for a meal and talks to them or one family invites a non-Muslim family (two adults and one or more children) a month, they can reach and educate 24 to 40 persons a year. There are seven million Muslims in the U.S. and the total population is 280 million. Among 7 million Muslims, there are at least 2 million families and if each family invites and educates one family a month, we can reach and educate 24 million to 48 million people a year. This way we can reach the entire population of the U.S. in ten years. The net effect would be the removal of prejudice, hate and fear of Islam from this country. Ignorance is the mother of hate, fear and prejudice and education removes it. The success of this project will have profound effects on the whole world.
What the U.S. can do? A change in the policies of the West towards the Muslim world would stop the breeding of terrorists and will dry the swamp. There is no need of a crusade against Islam but a crusade against the ignorance of Islam is essential. Bush does not need any overt or covert operation abroad but he needs a very inexpensive education campaign within the U.S. for accepting a neutral policy towards the Muslim world and burying the hostility against Islam and Muslims. The U.S. must stop using a double yardstick, one for the Arabs and Muslims and the other for the Israelis. The solution of terrorism is at home, Mr. Bush. Please reform the U.S. foreign policy towards the Muslim world and Israel and stop meddling in the Muslim world affairs. What is good for the West, that is good for the Muslim world! Let the Muslim world choose their own systems and their own governments. Stop propping up puppets.
The Disease and the Symptoms. The U.S. government and the media are leading the people into the fury of suppressing the symptoms, that is, terrorism whether done by the Israelis or the Muslims. No one except a few thinkers outside the government is talking about etiology of the underlying disease. It is like a belly ache and liver cancer. Liver cancer is the disease and aches and pains are the symptoms. You may cut out the stomach but it will not cure the cancer of the liver. Similarly, terrorism is a symptom of underlying disease or diseases. The disease should be found and treated. If we see the disease in concentric rings, the center belongs to the U.S. ``meddling`` in the Muslim countries and denying them self rule according to their own wishes. The next closest ring belongs to the American unconditional support of the tyrannical and unjust policies of the State of Israel and consequences of this support. There are some other secondary diseases, such as, economic and military embargoes on Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Sudan, Pakistan and other Muslim countries. Also, the promotion of anti-Islam, anti-Muslim and anti-Arab bigotry worldwide by the governments, the Zionists and Fundamentalist Christians contribute heavily. There are still other diseases which I may write about in my future articles. Binladin and Israeli terrorism may be symptoms not the cause of the disease of hate of the U.S. The etiology of this disease is within the U.S.; this country has full control over it and ability to cure it. There is no need to send any forces abroad, covert or overt to cure the disease. There is no swamp that the U.S. is able to dry up. The talk of Crusades is totally ridiculous; Bush and company should be ashamed of themselves for using such hateful terms.
Appreciation. I am appreciative of the President Bush who, while talking to the Mayor and Governor of New York, he said that Arab-Americans and Muslim Americans should be respected and that they are not involved in any way in terrorism. Also, I am appreciative of Mayor Daley of Chicago and many other prominent politicians who have expressed similar concerns and voice in support the Muslim Americans. In the media, I am very appreciative of ABC News, particularly Peter Jennings and Ted Kopple for their neutrality and their voice in favor of finding the disease rather than suppressing the symptoms only. I condemn other TV networks, particularly, the Fox News who has championed anti-Islam and anti-Muslim bigotry.
Pressures on the Muslim world leaders. Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yasser Arafat and the Arab world are coming under pressure to cooperate in arresting and handing over Osama Binladin to the American government. This would be wrong to arrest a Muslim leader and hand him over to the enemies of Islam. First of all, the U.S. has a duty to produce hard evidence against Osama Binladin and a Muslim country should try him and convict him if there is evidence within the laws of Islam. If the Muslim leaders are not willing to learn from Islam then they need to learn from Israel. Israel refuses to hand over criminals to any country or any international tribunal. Even abductors and hijackers, whom it considers to be criminals, are tried and sentenced in Israel. Even the U.S. and other western governments have given in to the Israeli whims and failed in extraditing American criminals from Israel. Any international tribunal is run according to the laws of bigotry and hatred of Islam and Muslims and they cannot be the one`s to try Muslims except secularized ones who by their own option, give up Islam.
Conspiracy Theories. Some people have an allergy to conspiracy theories but they do not realize that all fact-finding missions begin with many alternative conspiracy theories. As the investigation progresses, weaker ones are dropped. The U.S. has no alternative theories but one, that is, Binladin, and this is the weakness of the investigation. The U.S. government her the mindset on Binladin and the Taliban and this is going to hurt interests of the U.S. and its people.
q
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Right Burqa, Wrong Lips
Shame is forgetting your mother tongue & NOT being best at ENGLISH either
Few Pkistani women say ``ORNI,ORHNI,ORNI,ORHNI,ORHNI,ORHNI ....``,there is no such word in URDU.They think they speak urdu like creole think they speak English.
Illiteracy of few Pakistani muslims not only in wordly languages BUT NO IDEA WHAT KORAN is all about
Hijab
THE QUESTION OF HIJAB: SUPPRESSION OR LIBERATION?
``Why do Muslim women have to cover their heads?`` This question is one which is asked by Muslim and non-Muslim alike. For many women it is the truest test of being a Muslim.
The answer to the question is very simple - Muslim women observe HIJAB (covering the head and the body) because Allah has told them to do so.
``O Prophet, tell your wives and daughters and the believing women to draw their outer garments around them (when they go out or are among men). That is better in order that they may be known (to be Muslims) and not annoyed...`` (Qur`an 33:59)
Other secondary reasons include the requirement for modesty in both men and women. Both will then be evaluated for intelligence and skills instead of looks and sexuality. An Iranian school girl is quoted as saying, ``We want to stop men from treating us like sex objects, as they have always done. We want them to ignore our appearance and to be attentive to our personalities and mind. We want them to take us seriously and treat us as equals and not just chase us around for our bodies and physical looks.`` A Muslim woman who covers her head is making a statement about her identity. Anyone who sees her will know that she is a Muslim and has a good moral character. Many Muslim women who cover are filled with dignity and self esteem; they are pleased to be identified as a Muslim woman. As a chaste, modest, pure woman, she does not want her sexuality to enter into interactions with men in the smallest degree. A woman who covers herself is concealing her sexuality but allowing her femininity to be brought out.
The question of hijab for Muslim women has been a controversy for centuries and will probably continue for many more. Some learned people do not consider the subject open to discussion and consider that covering the face is required, while a majority are of the opinion that it is not required. A middle line position is taken by some who claim that the instructions are vague and open to individual discretion depending on the situation. The wives of the Prophet (S) were required to cover their faces so that men would not think of them in sexual terms since they were the ``Mothers of the Believers,`` but this requirement was not extended to other women.
The word ``hijab`` comes from the Arabic word ``hajaba`` meaning to hide from view or conceal. In the present time, the context of hijab is the modest covering of a Muslim woman. The question now is what is the extent of the covering? The Qur`an says:
``Say to the believing man that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that will make for greater purity for them; and Allah is well acquainted with all that they do. And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; and that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what must ordinarily appear thereof; that they should draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands...`` (Qur`an 24:30-31)
These verses from the Qur`an contain two main injunctions:
A woman should not show her beauty or adornments except what appears by uncontrolled factors such as the wind blowing her clothes, and
the head covers should be drawn so as to cover the hair, the neck and the bosom.
Islam has no fixed standard as to the style of dress or type of clothing that Muslims must wear. However, some requirements must be met. The first of these requirements is the parts of the body which must be covered. Islam has two sources for guidance and rulings: first, the Qur`an, the revealed word of Allah and secondly, the Hadith or the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad (S) who was chosen by Allah to be the role model for mankind. The following is a Tradition of the Prophet:
``Ayesha (R) reported that Asmaa the daughter of Abu Bakr (R) came to the Messenger of Allah (S) while wearing thin clothing. He approached her and said: `O Asmaa! When a girl reaches the menstrual age, it is not proper that anything should remain exposed except this and this. He pointed to the face and hands.`` (Abu Dawood)
The second requirement is looseness. The clothing must be loose enough so as not to describe the shape of the woman`s body. One desirable way to hide the shape of the body is to wear a cloak over other clothes. However, if the clothing is loose enough, an outer garment is not necessary. Thickness is the third requirement. The clothing must be thick enough so as not to show the color of the skin it covers or the shape of the body. The Prophet Muhammad (S) stated that in later generations of his ummah there would be ``women who would be dressed but naked and on top of their heads (what looks like) camel humps. Curse them for they are truly cursed.`` (Muslim) Another requirement is an over-all dignified appearance. The clothing should not attract men`s attention to the woman. It should not be shiny and flashy so that everyone notices the dress and the woman. In addition there are other requirements:
Women must not dress so as to appear as men.
``Ibn Abbas narrated: `The Prophet (S) cursed the men who appear like women and the women who appear like men.``` (Bukhari)
Women should not dress in a way similar to the unbelievers.
The clothing should be modest, not excessively fancy and also not excessively ragged to gain others admiration or sympathy.
Often forgotten is the fact that modern Western dress is a new invention. Looking at the clothing of women as recently as seventy years ago, we see clothing similar to hijab. These active and hard-working women of the West were not inhibited by their clothing which consisted of long, full dresses and various types of head covering. Muslim women who wear hijab do not find it impractical or interfering with their activities in all levels and walks of life. Hijab is not merely a covering dress but more importantly, it is behavior, manners, speech and appearance in public. Dress is only one facet of the total being. The basic requirement of the Muslim woman`s dress apply to the Muslim man`s clothing with the difference being mainly in degree. Modesty requires that the area between the navel and the knee be covered in front of all people except the wife. The clothing of men should not be like the dress of women, nor should it be tight or provocative. A Muslim should dress to show his identity as a Muslim. Men are not allowed to wear gold or silk. However, both are allowed for women.
For both men and women, clothing requirements are not meant to be a restriction but rather a way in which society will function in a proper, Islamic manner.
Mary C. Ali
Mary Ali is my Personal friend Whiter than any Paki girl,more beutiful face with blue eyes ..
Posted by
Bijli
Oct 29, 2001 01:32 am
Shame is forgetting your mother tongue & NOT being best at ENGLISH either
Few Pkistani women say ``ORNI,ORHNI,ORNI,ORHNI,ORHNI,ORHNI ....``,there is no such word in URDU.They think they speak urdu like creole think they speak English.
Illiteracy of few Pakistani muslims not only in wordly languages BUT NO IDEA WHAT KORAN is all about
Hijab
THE QUESTION OF HIJAB: SUPPRESSION OR LIBERATION?
``Why do Muslim women have to cover their heads?`` This question is one which is asked by Muslim and non-Muslim alike. For many women it is the truest test of being a Muslim.
The answer to the question is very simple - Muslim women observe HIJAB (covering the head and the body) because Allah has told them to do so.
``O Prophet, tell your wives and daughters and the believing women to draw their outer garments around them (when they go out or are among men). That is better in order that they may be known (to be Muslims) and not annoyed...`` (Qur`an 33:59)
Other secondary reasons include the requirement for modesty in both men and women. Both will then be evaluated for intelligence and skills instead of looks and sexuality. An Iranian school girl is quoted as saying, ``We want to stop men from treating us like sex objects, as they have always done. We want them to ignore our appearance and to be attentive to our personalities and mind. We want them to take us seriously and treat us as equals and not just chase us around for our bodies and physical looks.`` A Muslim woman who covers her head is making a statement about her identity. Anyone who sees her will know that she is a Muslim and has a good moral character. Many Muslim women who cover are filled with dignity and self esteem; they are pleased to be identified as a Muslim woman. As a chaste, modest, pure woman, she does not want her sexuality to enter into interactions with men in the smallest degree. A woman who covers herself is concealing her sexuality but allowing her femininity to be brought out.
The question of hijab for Muslim women has been a controversy for centuries and will probably continue for many more. Some learned people do not consider the subject open to discussion and consider that covering the face is required, while a majority are of the opinion that it is not required. A middle line position is taken by some who claim that the instructions are vague and open to individual discretion depending on the situation. The wives of the Prophet (S) were required to cover their faces so that men would not think of them in sexual terms since they were the ``Mothers of the Believers,`` but this requirement was not extended to other women.
The word ``hijab`` comes from the Arabic word ``hajaba`` meaning to hide from view or conceal. In the present time, the context of hijab is the modest covering of a Muslim woman. The question now is what is the extent of the covering? The Qur`an says:
``Say to the believing man that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that will make for greater purity for them; and Allah is well acquainted with all that they do. And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; and that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what must ordinarily appear thereof; that they should draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands...`` (Qur`an 24:30-31)
These verses from the Qur`an contain two main injunctions:
A woman should not show her beauty or adornments except what appears by uncontrolled factors such as the wind blowing her clothes, and
the head covers should be drawn so as to cover the hair, the neck and the bosom.
Islam has no fixed standard as to the style of dress or type of clothing that Muslims must wear. However, some requirements must be met. The first of these requirements is the parts of the body which must be covered. Islam has two sources for guidance and rulings: first, the Qur`an, the revealed word of Allah and secondly, the Hadith or the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad (S) who was chosen by Allah to be the role model for mankind. The following is a Tradition of the Prophet:
``Ayesha (R) reported that Asmaa the daughter of Abu Bakr (R) came to the Messenger of Allah (S) while wearing thin clothing. He approached her and said: `O Asmaa! When a girl reaches the menstrual age, it is not proper that anything should remain exposed except this and this. He pointed to the face and hands.`` (Abu Dawood)
The second requirement is looseness. The clothing must be loose enough so as not to describe the shape of the woman`s body. One desirable way to hide the shape of the body is to wear a cloak over other clothes. However, if the clothing is loose enough, an outer garment is not necessary. Thickness is the third requirement. The clothing must be thick enough so as not to show the color of the skin it covers or the shape of the body. The Prophet Muhammad (S) stated that in later generations of his ummah there would be ``women who would be dressed but naked and on top of their heads (what looks like) camel humps. Curse them for they are truly cursed.`` (Muslim) Another requirement is an over-all dignified appearance. The clothing should not attract men`s attention to the woman. It should not be shiny and flashy so that everyone notices the dress and the woman. In addition there are other requirements:
Women must not dress so as to appear as men.
``Ibn Abbas narrated: `The Prophet (S) cursed the men who appear like women and the women who appear like men.``` (Bukhari)
Women should not dress in a way similar to the unbelievers.
The clothing should be modest, not excessively fancy and also not excessively ragged to gain others admiration or sympathy.
Often forgotten is the fact that modern Western dress is a new invention. Looking at the clothing of women as recently as seventy years ago, we see clothing similar to hijab. These active and hard-working women of the West were not inhibited by their clothing which consisted of long, full dresses and various types of head covering. Muslim women who wear hijab do not find it impractical or interfering with their activities in all levels and walks of life. Hijab is not merely a covering dress but more importantly, it is behavior, manners, speech and appearance in public. Dress is only one facet of the total being. The basic requirement of the Muslim woman`s dress apply to the Muslim man`s clothing with the difference being mainly in degree. Modesty requires that the area between the navel and the knee be covered in front of all people except the wife. The clothing of men should not be like the dress of women, nor should it be tight or provocative. A Muslim should dress to show his identity as a Muslim. Men are not allowed to wear gold or silk. However, both are allowed for women.
For both men and women, clothing requirements are not meant to be a restriction but rather a way in which society will function in a proper, Islamic manner.
Mary C. Ali
Mary Ali is my Personal friend Whiter than any Paki girl,more beutiful face with blue eyes ..
India’s Communal Gamble
Right on pal. The rest of the `ummah` can learn a lot from Turkey.
You cant have your cake & eat it too.
If you like what Turkey is or Pakistan,Egypt,Syria,you must not base your constitution on British or American model.Both thses constitution ,guarantees ,freedom of religion,pursuit of hapiness ,liberty & life .Non intereference or minimal interference by the govt.in day to day life of its subjects.Such democracies ,requires HIGH degree of tolerence.Rascism,discrimination is CRIME here .
There is nothing wrong in liking dictator specially benevolent dictators.You dont guarantee ,endless ,total & bizzare freedom seen in the west .But make up your mind .like i said in the beginning dont delude yourself into liking Western constituion & still wanting to censure certain ppl. you Dont like or dont agree with.
Posted by
Bijli
Oct 28, 2001 12:49 pm
Sigalph343Right on pal. The rest of the `ummah` can learn a lot from Turkey.
You cant have your cake & eat it too.
If you like what Turkey is or Pakistan,Egypt,Syria,you must not base your constitution on British or American model.Both thses constitution ,guarantees ,freedom of religion,pursuit of hapiness ,liberty & life .Non intereference or minimal interference by the govt.in day to day life of its subjects.Such democracies ,requires HIGH degree of tolerence.Rascism,discrimination is CRIME here .
There is nothing wrong in liking dictator specially benevolent dictators.You dont guarantee ,endless ,total & bizzare freedom seen in the west .But make up your mind .like i said in the beginning dont delude yourself into liking Western constituion & still wanting to censure certain ppl. you Dont like or dont agree with.
In Search of the Moderate Muslim
Couldn`t have said it better myself ,You Rock !
Very logical,one of your best i have ever read ,including all Rediff & other placeses.
I only ask ,why not ask Shushmita Sen about Ayodhya issue or continue asking Kajol,Sri Devi,Hema malini ,Karishma,...till we find one who says ``whatever has been ,let by gones be bygones ,we should not Impose on exisisting structure spl. if it is aniother religions symbol``.Would that be enough of a mandate from a hindu woman to get apology from RSS,& uncovicted perpetretor of Rath Yatra Advani ?????
BTW ,what happened to conviction of Bal Thackerey in Mumbai riots case .I dont keep up with silly indian news papers .And while on it Also Advani`s conviction in Demolition of Mosque in dec1992 ???
Sexy Saniyasin -Haine .Starvation(sanyasin-deprived of all) renders everybody HUNGRY !
Posted by
Bijli
Oct 28, 2001 04:33 am
Farzana Varsey Bibi ,Couldn`t have said it better myself ,You Rock !
Very logical,one of your best i have ever read ,including all Rediff & other placeses.
I only ask ,why not ask Shushmita Sen about Ayodhya issue or continue asking Kajol,Sri Devi,Hema malini ,Karishma,...till we find one who says ``whatever has been ,let by gones be bygones ,we should not Impose on exisisting structure spl. if it is aniother religions symbol``.Would that be enough of a mandate from a hindu woman to get apology from RSS,& uncovicted perpetretor of Rath Yatra Advani ?????
BTW ,what happened to conviction of Bal Thackerey in Mumbai riots case .I dont keep up with silly indian news papers .And while on it Also Advani`s conviction in Demolition of Mosque in dec1992 ???
Sexy Saniyasin -Haine .Starvation(sanyasin-deprived of all) renders everybody HUNGRY !
Journalists or Americans?
SMP
``2. Indian intelligence ``
I like the best lol he he he he
Posted by
Bijli
Oct 28, 2001 04:33 am
#96SMP
``2. Indian intelligence ``
I like the best lol he he he he
A Letter Home
FARZANA VARSEY BIBI
Excuse me i decided to give yoyu a middle name :-))
Talking to our old Chowkie (in time here only ,NOT IN AGE)MaheshG you rightfully point to Indian Feudelism,Chauvinism & Lords in there own ways
``I also lodge a strong protest. How can India and Pak be clubbed together? There is no feudalism in India; we only have zamindaari, dadagiri, aiyyashi, where in the villages there is bonded labour, in the urban shanties slum lords extract money for every little thing, and the city slickers ram BMWs into innocents and are let off. We have no feudalism at all. Mahesh, aapke aur hamare khayalat kitne milte-julte hai, na?``
When i was in India 2 years ago Grand son of Deen Dayal Sharma ,in broad view of whole night club,shot in the point black a Jessica Lal who was christian beuty queen,model cum bar tender that night.27 months past ,the case is still being prolonged b/cone of the bearer poor eye witnesswho first gave report to police is BOUGHT out !!!
Posted by
Bijli
Oct 27, 2001 10:25 am
#86FARZANA VARSEY BIBI
Excuse me i decided to give yoyu a middle name :-))
Talking to our old Chowkie (in time here only ,NOT IN AGE)MaheshG you rightfully point to Indian Feudelism,Chauvinism & Lords in there own ways
``I also lodge a strong protest. How can India and Pak be clubbed together? There is no feudalism in India; we only have zamindaari, dadagiri, aiyyashi, where in the villages there is bonded labour, in the urban shanties slum lords extract money for every little thing, and the city slickers ram BMWs into innocents and are let off. We have no feudalism at all. Mahesh, aapke aur hamare khayalat kitne milte-julte hai, na?``
When i was in India 2 years ago Grand son of Deen Dayal Sharma ,in broad view of whole night club,shot in the point black a Jessica Lal who was christian beuty queen,model cum bar tender that night.27 months past ,the case is still being prolonged b/cone of the bearer poor eye witnesswho first gave report to police is BOUGHT out !!!
A Letter Home
Reply #: 59
scout
Well you can`t fight generalizations with generalizations of your own, and that was what your post #4 was about.
Let me show you what I mean, you say:
``As for our women continuing to “overindulge little tyrant boys”, in your country they do that with grown up boys too. What about Jack and Bill and now even Dubya?``
I agree to some extent BUT you have to realize, desi women are much softer and encouraging to male children. There is definitely a bigger gender bias in Pakistani culture than American culture.
Sure it exists here as well, but women are fighting it and having the opportunity to win the battle. In the subcontinent, the process of equality is much MUCH slower and painful.
THERE WILL NEVER BE WESTERN VALUE SYSTEM IN ASIA EVER.IF YOU LIVE IN AMERICA ,YOU CAN BRING YOUR DAUGHTER THE WAY YOU THINK ,BUT WHEN THE ELDER SON WONT BE THERE AT THE PREMATURE DEATH OF YOUR LOVE MARRIED NUCLEAR FAMILY HUSBAND LIVE THE LONLEY LIFE OF AMERICAN SYTEM ,GOOD LUCK
``After Jefferson took that kid slave girl as his mistress, you have been binding women – as
Erin Brockovich getting ahead in life because of her cleavage or the Barbie doll who symbolizes your version of feminine truth or the Material Girl, who is diva and dominatrix but is yet expected to cower down to motherhood and her personal trainer.``
SO IF BY CHOICE I BECOME SEXUALLY PROMISCUOUS,ALCOHOLIC,ITS ALRIGHT BECAUSE IT IS MY CHOICE.90 % WHEN THE CHOOSE TO HAVE SEX,DRUG,ALCOHOL & GAMBLE LACK THE FULL KNOWLEDGE REQUIRED TO MAKE THAT DISCISION.WE WILL NEVER LEAVE ASIA IN THE HAND OF IMMATURE BRAIN MAKING DISCISION WHO CANT EVEN EARN A LIVING.
``
The fault within your arguments is what I have stated before. Can`t generalize and argue against generalization. You`re doing the same thing this writer has done.
WE WANT TO SLAM LIKE THE AGRESSIVE AMERICANS ,WHY SHY FROM USING MY AMERICAN TRAINING THIS TIME
Check into world history. I`m sure people of other religions said the same thing when Islamic rulers were in power. So the US is the superpower of the world now, and is acting accordingly, right or wrong. It`s the way of the world, of history repeating itself. I`m not saying I agree with everything the US does, but I look at it`s actions under different lights.
DONT TALK ABOUT WHEN ISLAMIC RULERS IN POWERS WHEN YOU DONT DEMONSTRATE ANY INKLING OF HISTORICAL KNOWLEDGE OF OMER FAROUK,ABUBAQR SIDDIQUE,OSMAN & aLI (R.A.)WHEN IT COMES TO AMERICAS FAULT ,YOU DEFEND IT NOT BY REASONING BUT ``SOFTNESS`` YOU CAN LIKE AMERICA 100% WITHOUT APOLOGISING FOR BEING FROM A MUSLIM HOME BUT DONT GIVE YOUR EVIL AMERICANISM TO ALL MUSLIMS.
``You are right: America has no culture.``
I used to say the same thing when I was younger, until I got to college and I realized that in the long run, individuality is more than any other country in the world. And if to you that means, America has no culture, then I think you need to re-evaluate this misconception.
I DONT KNOW WHOSE CULTURE IS GREATER ITS LIKE SAYING WHOSE RELIGION,LANGUAGE ,LITERATURE IS BETTER.i THINK AMERICA HAS BOUGHT ALL THE CULTURES OF ALL THE WORLD WITH MONEY LIKE A RICH MAN COLLECTING ART .BUT ART & LITERATRURE IS JUST AS MUCH APPRECIATED BY THE POOR AS THE RICH MAN .THAT IS NOT SOMTHING THAT MONEY CAN BUY.AMERICA HAS BIGGEST CULTURE ,I LL GLADLY GIVE YOU .
Posted by
Bijli
Oct 26, 2001 09:27 am
Hi farzana ,I liked your post ,I know the first one was emotional ,but whats wrong with Passion in your reply it shows YOU CARE ,thankyou for men & women of NON white Anglo Saxon Protestent Reply #: 59
scout
Well you can`t fight generalizations with generalizations of your own, and that was what your post #4 was about.
Let me show you what I mean, you say:
``As for our women continuing to “overindulge little tyrant boys”, in your country they do that with grown up boys too. What about Jack and Bill and now even Dubya?``
I agree to some extent BUT you have to realize, desi women are much softer and encouraging to male children. There is definitely a bigger gender bias in Pakistani culture than American culture.
Sure it exists here as well, but women are fighting it and having the opportunity to win the battle. In the subcontinent, the process of equality is much MUCH slower and painful.
THERE WILL NEVER BE WESTERN VALUE SYSTEM IN ASIA EVER.IF YOU LIVE IN AMERICA ,YOU CAN BRING YOUR DAUGHTER THE WAY YOU THINK ,BUT WHEN THE ELDER SON WONT BE THERE AT THE PREMATURE DEATH OF YOUR LOVE MARRIED NUCLEAR FAMILY HUSBAND LIVE THE LONLEY LIFE OF AMERICAN SYTEM ,GOOD LUCK
``After Jefferson took that kid slave girl as his mistress, you have been binding women – as
Erin Brockovich getting ahead in life because of her cleavage or the Barbie doll who symbolizes your version of feminine truth or the Material Girl, who is diva and dominatrix but is yet expected to cower down to motherhood and her personal trainer.``
SO IF BY CHOICE I BECOME SEXUALLY PROMISCUOUS,ALCOHOLIC,ITS ALRIGHT BECAUSE IT IS MY CHOICE.90 % WHEN THE CHOOSE TO HAVE SEX,DRUG,ALCOHOL & GAMBLE LACK THE FULL KNOWLEDGE REQUIRED TO MAKE THAT DISCISION.WE WILL NEVER LEAVE ASIA IN THE HAND OF IMMATURE BRAIN MAKING DISCISION WHO CANT EVEN EARN A LIVING.
``
The fault within your arguments is what I have stated before. Can`t generalize and argue against generalization. You`re doing the same thing this writer has done.
WE WANT TO SLAM LIKE THE AGRESSIVE AMERICANS ,WHY SHY FROM USING MY AMERICAN TRAINING THIS TIME
Check into world history. I`m sure people of other religions said the same thing when Islamic rulers were in power. So the US is the superpower of the world now, and is acting accordingly, right or wrong. It`s the way of the world, of history repeating itself. I`m not saying I agree with everything the US does, but I look at it`s actions under different lights.
DONT TALK ABOUT WHEN ISLAMIC RULERS IN POWERS WHEN YOU DONT DEMONSTRATE ANY INKLING OF HISTORICAL KNOWLEDGE OF OMER FAROUK,ABUBAQR SIDDIQUE,OSMAN & aLI (R.A.)WHEN IT COMES TO AMERICAS FAULT ,YOU DEFEND IT NOT BY REASONING BUT ``SOFTNESS`` YOU CAN LIKE AMERICA 100% WITHOUT APOLOGISING FOR BEING FROM A MUSLIM HOME BUT DONT GIVE YOUR EVIL AMERICANISM TO ALL MUSLIMS.
``You are right: America has no culture.``
I used to say the same thing when I was younger, until I got to college and I realized that in the long run, individuality is more than any other country in the world. And if to you that means, America has no culture, then I think you need to re-evaluate this misconception.
I DONT KNOW WHOSE CULTURE IS GREATER ITS LIKE SAYING WHOSE RELIGION,LANGUAGE ,LITERATURE IS BETTER.i THINK AMERICA HAS BOUGHT ALL THE CULTURES OF ALL THE WORLD WITH MONEY LIKE A RICH MAN COLLECTING ART .BUT ART & LITERATRURE IS JUST AS MUCH APPRECIATED BY THE POOR AS THE RICH MAN .THAT IS NOT SOMTHING THAT MONEY CAN BUY.AMERICA HAS BIGGEST CULTURE ,I LL GLADLY GIVE YOU .
Reporting on Afghanistan
Gobar,Jay,Harimou,MaheshG,RDesikan,RSaxsena,Zafar Bharti,
My dissertation topic for D.Phil & ph.D at Delhi University .Just to put to shame the rahmins who has been vilifying shariat & Islam
http://www.rediff.com/news/2001/oct/24spec.htm
Born To Die ....Indian FEMALES
Gita Aravamud
]I lay on my bed weak after childbirth. My mother-in-law picked up the baby and started feeding her milk. I knew what she was doing. I cried and tried to stop her. But she had already given her milk laced with yerakkam paal [the poisonous juice of the oleander plant]. Within minutes, the baby turned blue and died,`` Karuppayee says matter-of-factly. It was my very first face-to-face encounter with female infanticide. My first instinct was disbelief. Could a woman really speak so dispassionately about the murder of her own child? A life she had carried in her womb for nine months... I didn`t realise then how little control she had over her own life, let alone her womb. Now, almost 10 years later, I hear the alarm bells again. According to the latest census figures, female infanticide, foeticide and every other form of female infant genocide seems to be alive and kicking. The national female-male sex ratio has dipped to an all-time low of 933/1000. In some states, the situation is dire. Haryana, for example, has 861 females to 1,000 males. Chandigarh has 773. Daman and Diu, 709. Punjab, 874. The sex ratio of children in the 0-6 age group is no better. While the all-India figure is 927/1000, it is 793 in both Punjab and Haryana. Tamil Nadu is the small, lone light at the end of the tunnel with its figure of 986/1000, which is marginally higher than the corresponding national one. [] To go back to my story, I met Karuppayee outside a tiny hovel in Alligundam village, in Usilampatti taluk [block] of Tamil Nadu`s Madurai district. The year was 1993, nearly a decade after a leading national magazine had broken the story on female infanticide in Usilampatti. A stinking open drain gurgled past us. Karuppayee had just come in from the fields. Barely 25, she carried her two-year-old son on her hip while her four-year-old daughter clung to her faded cotton sari. Abject poverty could not get more abysmal. The child who had been killed was her third one... If it had been a boy, he would have been allowed to live. Penn sisu kolai, as female infanticide is known in local parlance, is a widespread and socially accepted phenomenon in this area. Talking about it to an outsider is, however, taboo. Finally, I zeroed in on Alligundam village with the help of Jayanti, who was working for the Indian Council for Child Welfare at Usilampatti. Though the focus of the ICCW project was on gathering statistics, the women working there also tried to prevent infanticide by convincing expectant mothers to deliver their children in hospitals, where they had a chance of rescuing the infant if it was a girl. [] The ICCW also had a small orphanage, where a cradle was set outside for unwanted babies. This was the famous `cradle baby` scheme initiated by then chief minister J Jayalalithaa, who appealed to mothers to leave their babies in the cradles instead of killing them. The scheme, however, did not generate much response. In one year, only seven girl babies were left in the crib whereas over 700 `disappeared` shortly after birth. Jayanti described the hostile situations her team faced in the villages every day. The male-centric Thevar and Kallar communities were resentful of these pottachinga (contemptuous term for women) who came and corrupted their women with evil ideas. [] On the way to Alligundam, Jayanti told me about two of her colleagues who, just a few days ago, had been keeping a close watch on Lakshmi, a woman who was due to deliver her third child. Though Lakshmi was in the high-risk group because she had already borne two girls, she had refused to go to hospital for her delivery. The two social workers who stood outside her house waiting for the child to be born put up with the jeers and name-calling for a couple of hours. But when a couple of men, bearing their trademark aruvaals (choppers), appeared threateningly on the scene, the young women got intimidated and moved away. By the time they returned, Lakshmi`s girl child had been born, killed and buried. They had even placed a stone on the burial spot to avoid detection. The social workers did not dare ask any questions. Traditionally, unwanted girl children are fed milk laced with either yerakkam paal or paddy husk as soon as they are born. The husk method is more cruel; it slits the tender gullet with its sharp sides as it slides down the tiny throat. The more `modern` families use pesticides or sleeping pills. Sometimes, they just suffocate the infant with a pillow. Alligundam was an eye-opener in many ways. The families there were aggressively protective of their right to eliminate their female children. An elderly Thevar, after giving me a long lecture on the need for female infanticide, suddenly shouted angrily, ``Who told you we kill penn sisus (female infants) in this village? Go and see... you will find at least one girl child in every house.`` What he omitted to say was that the next... and the next... and the next would be eliminated. The families believed that one girl was needed to ``light the lamp`` in each home; the others were intrusions who just had to go. They wanted more boys, so family planning was not an option. Karuppayee told me, ``It is better they die than live like me.`` [] I also met 60-year-old Kanchamma, a village midwife who had witnessed the killing of many female infants. Her job, she said, was only to deliver the baby. What they did with it was a family decision. On rare occasions, though, she was able to persuade the family to give a girl child away for adoption. Kanchamma, with her native wisdom, had a perfect explanation as to why more girl babies were getting killed every year. ``The value of a girl goes down every time the value of gold goes up,`` she said. In 1993, of the 800 female births registered in the Usilampatti hospital, 600 had `disappeared`. No one even spoke of the unregistered births like the one Jayanti had described. There was no proper documentation. No real figures. Five years later, I visited Salem and Dharmapuri districts on the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border. In the intervening years, penn sisu kolai had become a political issue, forcing the Tamil Nadu government to take concrete steps to identify the problem and educate the people. The female infanticide belt had been identified. It stretched through the districts of Salem, Dharmapuri, North Arcot, Periyar, Dindigul and Madurai. Hardcore regions like north Salem, south Dharmapuri, south Dindigul and west Madurai accounted for practically 70 per cent of all female infanticide in the state. It also became clear that female infanticide knew no caste, community or socio-economic barriers. The popular conception that female infanticide was confined to the Kallar and Thevar communities in Madurai and the Gounders in Salem was wrong. It was also prevalent among communities like the Vanniars, Pariyars and Pallars in other areas. In one village, the panchayat [council] head had just eliminated his third daughter. In another, the richest and most powerful landlord had killed off his fourth. In Dharmapuri, one of the worst affected areas, an average of 105 baby girls were killed every month in 1997. Evidence supporting this was collected from the records of the primary health centres operating in these areas. Of these, 260 deaths occurred in Pennagaram, where female literacy was just 31.3 per cent, well below the state average of 41.8 per cent. Between 1994 and 1997, almost 3,000 baby girls died here as soon as they were born. Which meant three female infants were killed each day in that area alone. Sheela Rani Chungat, a rather dynamic IAS officer, was then the Tamil Nadu commissioner for maternal and child health and welfare. She launched an aggressive campaign to tackle the problem and managed to put together an authentic picture of the problem in Tamil Nadu, using data collected from PHCs. Unlike states like Rajasthan where the issue is pushed under the carpet, the Tamil Nadu government had brought it out into the open and was attempting to tackle it by organising special education programmes. But in infanticide heartland, female infants were still being killed. At Nalampalli village near Salem, Palaniamma spoke of how her mother-in-law had just killed her sister-in-law`s third daughter. ``My husband`s mother wrapped the newborn girl in a wet towel. She threw it on the ground and pushed it with her toe. `Who wants this?` she said and went out of the room. All of us stood there, afraid to pick the baby up. My sister-in-law, who was weak after the delivery, just wept. A few hours later, the child died. They got a doctor`s certificate to say it had pneumonia.`` The year was 1999. They had discovered new and `better` methods of killing. Five years ago, in Usilampatti, the villagers were defiant and impervious to the opinion of city folk. Now, they were cautious and more secretive. Some parents had been arrested on charges of murder. And so the practice had gone underground. From a quick and relatively painless procedure, it had turned into a prolonged and torturous one. ``Now they are afraid of detection,`` said Alphonso Mary, a public health nurse who worked in the area. ``If someone registers a case of suspected infanticide and the body is exhumed, the `old` methods of killing can be detected.`` As a result, modern methods had evolved. The newborn was deliberately weakened and dehydrated by its own parents. They did this by wrapping it in a wet towel or dipping it in cold water soon after delivery or as soon as it came home from hospital. If it was still alive after a few hours, it was taken to a doctor who diagnosed pneumonia and prescribed medicines. The prescription was carefully preserved, but the medicines were never bought. When the child finally died, the parents had a medical certificate to prove pneumonia. Sometimes, the infant was fed a drop of alcohol to create diarrhoea. Another certifiable `disease`. The villagers also learnt to cremate the little bodies. Once upon a time they would bury the killed infants in shallow graves in the fields, just putting a stone over the spot so that animals wouldn`t get at them. Now it was different. Even modern methods of killing didn`t help anymore. Muniamma and Krishnan were agricultural labourers eking out a living in Kolasinahalli. The panchayat vice-president and the president of the local Nehru Yuvak Kendra registered a case of female infanticide against them when their third daughter died in suspicious circumstances a few hours after her birth. A post-mortem examination of the body, which was exhumed, revealed that the baby had been given a sedative, a benign but detectable method of murder. Avoiding detection, therefore, had become as important as the killing itself, especially as even cremation aroused suspicion, burial being the usual practice. Unfortunately, the ubiquitous scan which is responsible for the mass massacre of female foetuses in Punjab and Haryana has also found its way into this area. A sex determination scan can cost anything from Rs 300 upwards. The whole package, including abortion of the female foetus, costs about Rs 7,000. But many of the women I spoke to frankly admitted they couldn`t afford the ``luxury``. It was cheaper to kill the infant after it was born. At Krishnagiri, I tried to talk to a doctor. Most of the women had told me she was offering sex-selective abortion. One of the women I met, Padma, even showed me her scan result with a tiny F scribbled in the corner. She could not afford the abortion. Fortunately, the village nurse had persuaded her to keep her third daughter, who was now four months old. This gynaecologist ran a flourishing clinic and was politically well connected. Obviously, she was unwilling to talk. Especially since she was already facing a court case filed against her by a man who had lost his wife during one such illegal procedure. The moment my journalist colleague and I presented her our cards, she got her husband on the phone and he started threatening us before we could even ask a question! Village women call sex determination scans a city procedure, which has the same end result. They know now that penn sisu kolai is illegal. But so is sex determination scanning. So why should poor, illiterate villagers be arrested while rich city doctors go scot-free? Female infanticide is prevalent in several parts of the country, though it is perhaps best documented in Tamil Nadu. In parts of Gujarat, mothers have been known to drown newborn infant girls in milk. In Rajasthan, there are entire villages where no girl has been born for decades. As for female foeticide, it is so widespread that in some interior villages of Punjab and Haryana, they say the mobile scan is more easily available than water supply! In Andhra Pradesh, tribal women have been selling their baby girls to unscrupulous agents. The list is endless. But just when you are beginning to sink into depression, along come the bright spots. []In 1993, I met Chinnathayye, a simple village woman who saved her 15-year-old daughter Janaki`s twin girls after listening to ICCW social workers. The penniless widow faced stiff opposition from the girl`s in-laws who refused to take Janaki back if she kept her babies. Yet, she refused to budge. After Janaki`s delivery in hospital, Chinnathayee brought the babies to her hut by bus, carrying them in a cloth market bag. She raised them till Janaki`s in-laws gave in and took her back. In Salem, Chungat took me to the house of Vijaya, a petty shopkeeper, who kept her fourth daughter after watching a street play on the evils of infanticide. At the Dharmapuri guesthouse where we were staying, many women came to proudly display the girl babies they had kept after seeing the plays organised under a Danida project. I also met Sarojini, a nurse who had saved hundreds of children in the villages where she had worked for over 15
Posted by
Bijli
Oct 26, 2001 12:10 am
Ask Shabana to have a baby & feel the motherhood.By not having her own baby ,she is endorsing abortion first then abortion of female foetus SECOND(next).What message does a female get from Shabana .You are worth 2nd HAND Widower HUSBAND only,You are not worth having your own baby ,& FEMALE WOMEN IS 2nd CLASS in INDIA ,NOT TO SPEAK OF FEMALE FOETUS which is like ``SARA HUA ANDA`` TO BE THROWN AWAY FOR h2S LOUSY SMELL`` --Tauba tauba !!!!!Gobar,Jay,Harimou,MaheshG,RDesikan,RSaxsena,Zafar Bharti,
My dissertation topic for D.Phil & ph.D at Delhi University .Just to put to shame the rahmins who has been vilifying shariat & Islam
http://www.rediff.com/news/2001/oct/24spec.htm
Born To Die ....Indian FEMALES
Gita Aravamud
]I lay on my bed weak after childbirth. My mother-in-law picked up the baby and started feeding her milk. I knew what she was doing. I cried and tried to stop her. But she had already given her milk laced with yerakkam paal [the poisonous juice of the oleander plant]. Within minutes, the baby turned blue and died,`` Karuppayee says matter-of-factly. It was my very first face-to-face encounter with female infanticide. My first instinct was disbelief. Could a woman really speak so dispassionately about the murder of her own child? A life she had carried in her womb for nine months... I didn`t realise then how little control she had over her own life, let alone her womb. Now, almost 10 years later, I hear the alarm bells again. According to the latest census figures, female infanticide, foeticide and every other form of female infant genocide seems to be alive and kicking. The national female-male sex ratio has dipped to an all-time low of 933/1000. In some states, the situation is dire. Haryana, for example, has 861 females to 1,000 males. Chandigarh has 773. Daman and Diu, 709. Punjab, 874. The sex ratio of children in the 0-6 age group is no better. While the all-India figure is 927/1000, it is 793 in both Punjab and Haryana. Tamil Nadu is the small, lone light at the end of the tunnel with its figure of 986/1000, which is marginally higher than the corresponding national one. [] To go back to my story, I met Karuppayee outside a tiny hovel in Alligundam village, in Usilampatti taluk [block] of Tamil Nadu`s Madurai district. The year was 1993, nearly a decade after a leading national magazine had broken the story on female infanticide in Usilampatti. A stinking open drain gurgled past us. Karuppayee had just come in from the fields. Barely 25, she carried her two-year-old son on her hip while her four-year-old daughter clung to her faded cotton sari. Abject poverty could not get more abysmal. The child who had been killed was her third one... If it had been a boy, he would have been allowed to live. Penn sisu kolai, as female infanticide is known in local parlance, is a widespread and socially accepted phenomenon in this area. Talking about it to an outsider is, however, taboo. Finally, I zeroed in on Alligundam village with the help of Jayanti, who was working for the Indian Council for Child Welfare at Usilampatti. Though the focus of the ICCW project was on gathering statistics, the women working there also tried to prevent infanticide by convincing expectant mothers to deliver their children in hospitals, where they had a chance of rescuing the infant if it was a girl. [] The ICCW also had a small orphanage, where a cradle was set outside for unwanted babies. This was the famous `cradle baby` scheme initiated by then chief minister J Jayalalithaa, who appealed to mothers to leave their babies in the cradles instead of killing them. The scheme, however, did not generate much response. In one year, only seven girl babies were left in the crib whereas over 700 `disappeared` shortly after birth. Jayanti described the hostile situations her team faced in the villages every day. The male-centric Thevar and Kallar communities were resentful of these pottachinga (contemptuous term for women) who came and corrupted their women with evil ideas. [] On the way to Alligundam, Jayanti told me about two of her colleagues who, just a few days ago, had been keeping a close watch on Lakshmi, a woman who was due to deliver her third child. Though Lakshmi was in the high-risk group because she had already borne two girls, she had refused to go to hospital for her delivery. The two social workers who stood outside her house waiting for the child to be born put up with the jeers and name-calling for a couple of hours. But when a couple of men, bearing their trademark aruvaals (choppers), appeared threateningly on the scene, the young women got intimidated and moved away. By the time they returned, Lakshmi`s girl child had been born, killed and buried. They had even placed a stone on the burial spot to avoid detection. The social workers did not dare ask any questions. Traditionally, unwanted girl children are fed milk laced with either yerakkam paal or paddy husk as soon as they are born. The husk method is more cruel; it slits the tender gullet with its sharp sides as it slides down the tiny throat. The more `modern` families use pesticides or sleeping pills. Sometimes, they just suffocate the infant with a pillow. Alligundam was an eye-opener in many ways. The families there were aggressively protective of their right to eliminate their female children. An elderly Thevar, after giving me a long lecture on the need for female infanticide, suddenly shouted angrily, ``Who told you we kill penn sisus (female infants) in this village? Go and see... you will find at least one girl child in every house.`` What he omitted to say was that the next... and the next... and the next would be eliminated. The families believed that one girl was needed to ``light the lamp`` in each home; the others were intrusions who just had to go. They wanted more boys, so family planning was not an option. Karuppayee told me, ``It is better they die than live like me.`` [] I also met 60-year-old Kanchamma, a village midwife who had witnessed the killing of many female infants. Her job, she said, was only to deliver the baby. What they did with it was a family decision. On rare occasions, though, she was able to persuade the family to give a girl child away for adoption. Kanchamma, with her native wisdom, had a perfect explanation as to why more girl babies were getting killed every year. ``The value of a girl goes down every time the value of gold goes up,`` she said. In 1993, of the 800 female births registered in the Usilampatti hospital, 600 had `disappeared`. No one even spoke of the unregistered births like the one Jayanti had described. There was no proper documentation. No real figures. Five years later, I visited Salem and Dharmapuri districts on the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border. In the intervening years, penn sisu kolai had become a political issue, forcing the Tamil Nadu government to take concrete steps to identify the problem and educate the people. The female infanticide belt had been identified. It stretched through the districts of Salem, Dharmapuri, North Arcot, Periyar, Dindigul and Madurai. Hardcore regions like north Salem, south Dharmapuri, south Dindigul and west Madurai accounted for practically 70 per cent of all female infanticide in the state. It also became clear that female infanticide knew no caste, community or socio-economic barriers. The popular conception that female infanticide was confined to the Kallar and Thevar communities in Madurai and the Gounders in Salem was wrong. It was also prevalent among communities like the Vanniars, Pariyars and Pallars in other areas. In one village, the panchayat [council] head had just eliminated his third daughter. In another, the richest and most powerful landlord had killed off his fourth. In Dharmapuri, one of the worst affected areas, an average of 105 baby girls were killed every month in 1997. Evidence supporting this was collected from the records of the primary health centres operating in these areas. Of these, 260 deaths occurred in Pennagaram, where female literacy was just 31.3 per cent, well below the state average of 41.8 per cent. Between 1994 and 1997, almost 3,000 baby girls died here as soon as they were born. Which meant three female infants were killed each day in that area alone. Sheela Rani Chungat, a rather dynamic IAS officer, was then the Tamil Nadu commissioner for maternal and child health and welfare. She launched an aggressive campaign to tackle the problem and managed to put together an authentic picture of the problem in Tamil Nadu, using data collected from PHCs. Unlike states like Rajasthan where the issue is pushed under the carpet, the Tamil Nadu government had brought it out into the open and was attempting to tackle it by organising special education programmes. But in infanticide heartland, female infants were still being killed. At Nalampalli village near Salem, Palaniamma spoke of how her mother-in-law had just killed her sister-in-law`s third daughter. ``My husband`s mother wrapped the newborn girl in a wet towel. She threw it on the ground and pushed it with her toe. `Who wants this?` she said and went out of the room. All of us stood there, afraid to pick the baby up. My sister-in-law, who was weak after the delivery, just wept. A few hours later, the child died. They got a doctor`s certificate to say it had pneumonia.`` The year was 1999. They had discovered new and `better` methods of killing. Five years ago, in Usilampatti, the villagers were defiant and impervious to the opinion of city folk. Now, they were cautious and more secretive. Some parents had been arrested on charges of murder. And so the practice had gone underground. From a quick and relatively painless procedure, it had turned into a prolonged and torturous one. ``Now they are afraid of detection,`` said Alphonso Mary, a public health nurse who worked in the area. ``If someone registers a case of suspected infanticide and the body is exhumed, the `old` methods of killing can be detected.`` As a result, modern methods had evolved. The newborn was deliberately weakened and dehydrated by its own parents. They did this by wrapping it in a wet towel or dipping it in cold water soon after delivery or as soon as it came home from hospital. If it was still alive after a few hours, it was taken to a doctor who diagnosed pneumonia and prescribed medicines. The prescription was carefully preserved, but the medicines were never bought. When the child finally died, the parents had a medical certificate to prove pneumonia. Sometimes, the infant was fed a drop of alcohol to create diarrhoea. Another certifiable `disease`. The villagers also learnt to cremate the little bodies. Once upon a time they would bury the killed infants in shallow graves in the fields, just putting a stone over the spot so that animals wouldn`t get at them. Now it was different. Even modern methods of killing didn`t help anymore. Muniamma and Krishnan were agricultural labourers eking out a living in Kolasinahalli. The panchayat vice-president and the president of the local Nehru Yuvak Kendra registered a case of female infanticide against them when their third daughter died in suspicious circumstances a few hours after her birth. A post-mortem examination of the body, which was exhumed, revealed that the baby had been given a sedative, a benign but detectable method of murder. Avoiding detection, therefore, had become as important as the killing itself, especially as even cremation aroused suspicion, burial being the usual practice. Unfortunately, the ubiquitous scan which is responsible for the mass massacre of female foetuses in Punjab and Haryana has also found its way into this area. A sex determination scan can cost anything from Rs 300 upwards. The whole package, including abortion of the female foetus, costs about Rs 7,000. But many of the women I spoke to frankly admitted they couldn`t afford the ``luxury``. It was cheaper to kill the infant after it was born. At Krishnagiri, I tried to talk to a doctor. Most of the women had told me she was offering sex-selective abortion. One of the women I met, Padma, even showed me her scan result with a tiny F scribbled in the corner. She could not afford the abortion. Fortunately, the village nurse had persuaded her to keep her third daughter, who was now four months old. This gynaecologist ran a flourishing clinic and was politically well connected. Obviously, she was unwilling to talk. Especially since she was already facing a court case filed against her by a man who had lost his wife during one such illegal procedure. The moment my journalist colleague and I presented her our cards, she got her husband on the phone and he started threatening us before we could even ask a question! Village women call sex determination scans a city procedure, which has the same end result. They know now that penn sisu kolai is illegal. But so is sex determination scanning. So why should poor, illiterate villagers be arrested while rich city doctors go scot-free? Female infanticide is prevalent in several parts of the country, though it is perhaps best documented in Tamil Nadu. In parts of Gujarat, mothers have been known to drown newborn infant girls in milk. In Rajasthan, there are entire villages where no girl has been born for decades. As for female foeticide, it is so widespread that in some interior villages of Punjab and Haryana, they say the mobile scan is more easily available than water supply! In Andhra Pradesh, tribal women have been selling their baby girls to unscrupulous agents. The list is endless. But just when you are beginning to sink into depression, along come the bright spots. []In 1993, I met Chinnathayye, a simple village woman who saved her 15-year-old daughter Janaki`s twin girls after listening to ICCW social workers. The penniless widow faced stiff opposition from the girl`s in-laws who refused to take Janaki back if she kept her babies. Yet, she refused to budge. After Janaki`s delivery in hospital, Chinnathayee brought the babies to her hut by bus, carrying them in a cloth market bag. She raised them till Janaki`s in-laws gave in and took her back. In Salem, Chungat took me to the house of Vijaya, a petty shopkeeper, who kept her fourth daughter after watching a street play on the evils of infanticide. At the Dharmapuri guesthouse where we were staying, many women came to proudly display the girl babies they had kept after seeing the plays organised under a Danida project. I also met Sarojini, a nurse who had saved hundreds of children in the villages where she had worked for over 15
Reporting on Afghanistan
Gobar,Jay,Harimou,MaheshG,RDesikan,RSaxsena,Zafar Bharti,
My dissertation topic for D.Phil & ph.D at Delhi University .Just to put to shame the rahmins who has been vilifying shariat & Islam
http://www.rediff.com/news/2001/oct/24spec.htm
Born To Die ....Indian FEMALES
Gita Aravamud
]I lay on my bed weak after childbirth. My mother-in-law picked up the baby and started feeding her milk. I knew what she was doing. I cried and tried to stop her. But she had already given her milk laced with yerakkam paal [the poisonous juice of the oleander plant]. Within minutes, the baby turned blue and died,`` Karuppayee says matter-of-factly. It was my very first face-to-face encounter with female infanticide. My first instinct was disbelief. Could a woman really speak so dispassionately about the murder of her own child? A life she had carried in her womb for nine months... I didn`t realise then how little control she had over her own life, let alone her womb. Now, almost 10 years later, I hear the alarm bells again. According to the latest census figures, female infanticide, foeticide and every other form of female infant genocide seems to be alive and kicking. The national female-male sex ratio has dipped to an all-time low of 933/1000. In some states, the situation is dire. Haryana, for example, has 861 females to 1,000 males. Chandigarh has 773. Daman and Diu, 709. Punjab, 874. The sex ratio of children in the 0-6 age group is no better. While the all-India figure is 927/1000, it is 793 in both Punjab and Haryana. Tamil Nadu is the small, lone light at the end of the tunnel with its figure of 986/1000, which is marginally higher than the corresponding national one. [] To go back to my story, I met Karuppayee outside a tiny hovel in Alligundam village, in Usilampatti taluk [block] of Tamil Nadu`s Madurai district. The year was 1993, nearly a decade after a leading national magazine had broken the story on female infanticide in Usilampatti. A stinking open drain gurgled past us. Karuppayee had just come in from the fields. Barely 25, she carried her two-year-old son on her hip while her four-year-old daughter clung to her faded cotton sari. Abject poverty could not get more abysmal. The child who had been killed was her third one... If it had been a boy, he would have been allowed to live. Penn sisu kolai, as female infanticide is known in local parlance, is a widespread and socially accepted phenomenon in this area. Talking about it to an outsider is, however, taboo. Finally, I zeroed in on Alligundam village with the help of Jayanti, who was working for the Indian Council for Child Welfare at Usilampatti. Though the focus of the ICCW project was on gathering statistics, the women working there also tried to prevent infanticide by convincing expectant mothers to deliver their children in hospitals, where they had a chance of rescuing the infant if it was a girl. [] The ICCW also had a small orphanage, where a cradle was set outside for unwanted babies. This was the famous `cradle baby` scheme initiated by then chief minister J Jayalalithaa, who appealed to mothers to leave their babies in the cradles instead of killing them. The scheme, however, did not generate much response. In one year, only seven girl babies were left in the crib whereas over 700 `disappeared` shortly after birth. Jayanti described the hostile situations her team faced in the villages every day. The male-centric Thevar and Kallar communities were resentful of these pottachinga (contemptuous term for women) who came and corrupted their women with evil ideas. [] On the way to Alligundam, Jayanti told me about two of her colleagues who, just a few days ago, had been keeping a close watch on Lakshmi, a woman who was due to deliver her third child. Though Lakshmi was in the high-risk group because she had already borne two girls, she had refused to go to hospital for her delivery. The two social workers who stood outside her house waiting for the child to be born put up with the jeers and name-calling for a couple of hours. But when a couple of men, bearing their trademark aruvaals (choppers), appeared threateningly on the scene, the young women got intimidated and moved away. By the time they returned, Lakshmi`s girl child had been born, killed and buried. They had even placed a stone on the burial spot to avoid detection. The social workers did not dare ask any questions. Traditionally, unwanted girl children are fed milk laced with either yerakkam paal or paddy husk as soon as they are born. The husk method is more cruel; it slits the tender gullet with its sharp sides as it slides down the tiny throat. The more `modern` families use pesticides or sleeping pills. Sometimes, they just suffocate the infant with a pillow. Alligundam was an eye-opener in many ways. The families there were aggressively protective of their right to eliminate their female children. An elderly Thevar, after giving me a long lecture on the need for female infanticide, suddenly shouted angrily, ``Who told you we kill penn sisus (female infants) in this village? Go and see... you will find at least one girl child in every house.`` What he omitted to say was that the next... and the next... and the next would be eliminated. The families believed that one girl was needed to ``light the lamp`` in each home; the others were intrusions who just had to go. They wanted more boys, so family planning was not an option. Karuppayee told me, ``It is better they die than live like me.`` [] I also met 60-year-old Kanchamma, a village midwife who had witnessed the killing of many female infants. Her job, she said, was only to deliver the baby. What they did with it was a family decision. On rare occasions, though, she was able to persuade the family to give a girl child away for adoption. Kanchamma, with her native wisdom, had a perfect explanation as to why more girl babies were getting killed every year. ``The value of a girl goes down every time the value of gold goes up,`` she said. In 1993, of the 800 female births registered in the Usilampatti hospital, 600 had `disappeared`. No one even spoke of the unregistered births like the one Jayanti had described. There was no proper documentation. No real figures. Five years later, I visited Salem and Dharmapuri districts on the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border. In the intervening years, penn sisu kolai had become a political issue, forcing the Tamil Nadu government to take concrete steps to identify the problem and educate the people. The female infanticide belt had been identified. It stretched through the districts of Salem, Dharmapuri, North Arcot, Periyar, Dindigul and Madurai. Hardcore regions like north Salem, south Dharmapuri, south Dindigul and west Madurai accounted for practically 70 per cent of all female infanticide in the state. It also became clear that female infanticide knew no caste, community or socio-economic barriers. The popular conception that female infanticide was confined to the Kallar and Thevar communities in Madurai and the Gounders in Salem was wrong. It was also prevalent among communities like the Vanniars, Pariyars and Pallars in other areas. In one village, the panchayat [council] head had just eliminated his third daughter. In another, the richest and most powerful landlord had killed off his fourth. In Dharmapuri, one of the worst affected areas, an average of 105 baby girls were killed every month in 1997. Evidence supporting this was collected from the records of the primary health centres operating in these areas. Of these, 260 deaths occurred in Pennagaram, where female literacy was just 31.3 per cent, well below the state average of 41.8 per cent. Between 1994 and 1997, almost 3,000 baby girls died here as soon as they were born. Which meant three female infants were killed each day in that area alone. Sheela Rani Chungat, a rather dynamic IAS officer, was then the Tamil Nadu commissioner for maternal and child health and welfare. She launched an aggressive campaign to tackle the problem and managed to put together an authentic picture of the problem in Tamil Nadu, using data collected from PHCs. Unlike states like Rajasthan where the issue is pushed under the carpet, the Tamil Nadu government had brought it out into the open and was attempting to tackle it by organising special education programmes. But in infanticide heartland, female infants were still being killed. At Nalampalli village near Salem, Palaniamma spoke of how her mother-in-law had just killed her sister-in-law`s third daughter. ``My husband`s mother wrapped the newborn girl in a wet towel. She threw it on the ground and pushed it with her toe. `Who wants this?` she said and went out of the room. All of us stood there, afraid to pick the baby up. My sister-in-law, who was weak after the delivery, just wept. A few hours later, the child died. They got a doctor`s certificate to say it had pneumonia.`` The year was 1999. They had discovered new and `better` methods of killing. Five years ago, in Usilampatti, the villagers were defiant and impervious to the opinion of city folk. Now, they were cautious and more secretive. Some parents had been arrested on charges of murder. And so the practice had gone underground. From a quick and relatively painless procedure, it had turned into a prolonged and torturous one. ``Now they are afraid of detection,`` said Alphonso Mary, a public health nurse who worked in the area. ``If someone registers a case of suspected infanticide and the body is exhumed, the `old` methods of killing can be detected.`` As a result, modern methods had evolved. The newborn was deliberately weakened and dehydrated by its own parents. They did this by wrapping it in a wet towel or dipping it in cold water soon after delivery or as soon as it came home from hospital. If it was still alive after a few hours, it was taken to a doctor who diagnosed pneumonia and prescribed medicines. The prescription was carefully preserved, but the medicines were never bought. When the child finally died, the parents had a medical certificate to prove pneumonia. Sometimes, the infant was fed a drop of alcohol to create diarrhoea. Another certifiable `disease`. The villagers also learnt to cremate the little bodies. Once upon a time they would bury the killed infants in shallow graves in the fields, just putting a stone over the spot so that animals wouldn`t get at them. Now it was different. Even modern methods of killing didn`t help anymore. Muniamma and Krishnan were agricultural labourers eking out a living in Kolasinahalli. The panchayat vice-president and the president of the local Nehru Yuvak Kendra registered a case of female infanticide against them when their third daughter died in suspicious circumstances a few hours after her birth. A post-mortem examination of the body, which was exhumed, revealed that the baby had been given a sedative, a benign but detectable method of murder. Avoiding detection, therefore, had become as important as the killing itself, especially as even cremation aroused suspicion, burial being the usual practice. Unfortunately, the ubiquitous scan which is responsible for the mass massacre of female foetuses in Punjab and Haryana has also found its way into this area. A sex determination scan can cost anything from Rs 300 upwards. The whole package, including abortion of the female foetus, costs about Rs 7,000. But many of the women I spoke to frankly admitted they couldn`t afford the ``luxury``. It was cheaper to kill the infant after it was born. At Krishnagiri, I tried to talk to a doctor. Most of the women had told me she was offering sex-selective abortion. One of the women I met, Padma, even showed me her scan result with a tiny F scribbled in the corner. She could not afford the abortion. Fortunately, the village nurse had persuaded her to keep her third daughter, who was now four months old. This gynaecologist ran a flourishing clinic and was politically well connected. Obviously, she was unwilling to talk. Especially since she was already facing a court case filed against her by a man who had lost his wife during one such illegal procedure. The moment my journalist colleague and I presented her our cards, she got her husband on the phone and he started threatening us before we could even ask a question! Village women call sex determination scans a city procedure, which has the same end result. They know now that penn sisu kolai is illegal. But so is sex determination scanning. So why should poor, illiterate villagers be arrested while rich city doctors go scot-free? Female infanticide is prevalent in several parts of the country, though it is perhaps best documented in Tamil Nadu. In parts of Gujarat, mothers have been known to drown newborn infant girls in milk. In Rajasthan, there are entire villages where no girl has been born for decades. As for female foeticide, it is so widespread that in some interior villages of Punjab and Haryana, they say the mobile scan is more easily available than water supply! In Andhra Pradesh, tribal women have been selling their baby girls to unscrupulous agents. The list is endless. But just when you are beginning to sink into depression, along come the bright spots. []In 1993, I met Chinnathayye, a simple village woman who saved her 15-year-old daughter Janaki`s twin girls after listening to ICCW social workers. The penniless widow faced stiff opposition from the girl`s in-laws who refused to take Janaki back if she kept her babies. Yet, she refused to budge. After Janaki`s delivery in hospital, Chinnathayee brought the babies to her hut by bus, carrying them in a cloth market bag. She raised them till Janaki`s in-laws gave in and took her back. In Salem, Chungat took me to the house of Vijaya, a petty shopkeeper, who kept her fourth daughter after watching a street play on the evils of infanticide. At the Dharmapuri guesthouse where we were staying, many women came to proudly display the girl babies they had kept after seeing the plays organised under a Danida project. I also met Sarojini, a nurse who had saved hundreds of children in the villages where she had worked for over 15
Posted by
Bijli
Oct 26, 2001 12:10 am
Ask Shabana to have a baby & feel the motherhood.By not having her own baby ,she is endorsing abortion first then abortion of female foetus SECOND(next).What message does a female get from Shabana .You are worth 2nd HAND Widower HUSBAND only,You are not worth having your own baby ,& FEMALE WOMEN IS 2nd CLASS in INDIA ,NOT TO SPEAK OF FEMALE FOETUS which is like ``SARA HUA ANDA`` TO BE THROWN AWAY FOR h2S LOUSY SMELL`` --Tauba tauba !!!!!Gobar,Jay,Harimou,MaheshG,RDesikan,RSaxsena,Zafar Bharti,
My dissertation topic for D.Phil & ph.D at Delhi University .Just to put to shame the rahmins who has been vilifying shariat & Islam
http://www.rediff.com/news/2001/oct/24spec.htm
Born To Die ....Indian FEMALES
Gita Aravamud
]I lay on my bed weak after childbirth. My mother-in-law picked up the baby and started feeding her milk. I knew what she was doing. I cried and tried to stop her. But she had already given her milk laced with yerakkam paal [the poisonous juice of the oleander plant]. Within minutes, the baby turned blue and died,`` Karuppayee says matter-of-factly. It was my very first face-to-face encounter with female infanticide. My first instinct was disbelief. Could a woman really speak so dispassionately about the murder of her own child? A life she had carried in her womb for nine months... I didn`t realise then how little control she had over her own life, let alone her womb. Now, almost 10 years later, I hear the alarm bells again. According to the latest census figures, female infanticide, foeticide and every other form of female infant genocide seems to be alive and kicking. The national female-male sex ratio has dipped to an all-time low of 933/1000. In some states, the situation is dire. Haryana, for example, has 861 females to 1,000 males. Chandigarh has 773. Daman and Diu, 709. Punjab, 874. The sex ratio of children in the 0-6 age group is no better. While the all-India figure is 927/1000, it is 793 in both Punjab and Haryana. Tamil Nadu is the small, lone light at the end of the tunnel with its figure of 986/1000, which is marginally higher than the corresponding national one. [] To go back to my story, I met Karuppayee outside a tiny hovel in Alligundam village, in Usilampatti taluk [block] of Tamil Nadu`s Madurai district. The year was 1993, nearly a decade after a leading national magazine had broken the story on female infanticide in Usilampatti. A stinking open drain gurgled past us. Karuppayee had just come in from the fields. Barely 25, she carried her two-year-old son on her hip while her four-year-old daughter clung to her faded cotton sari. Abject poverty could not get more abysmal. The child who had been killed was her third one... If it had been a boy, he would have been allowed to live. Penn sisu kolai, as female infanticide is known in local parlance, is a widespread and socially accepted phenomenon in this area. Talking about it to an outsider is, however, taboo. Finally, I zeroed in on Alligundam village with the help of Jayanti, who was working for the Indian Council for Child Welfare at Usilampatti. Though the focus of the ICCW project was on gathering statistics, the women working there also tried to prevent infanticide by convincing expectant mothers to deliver their children in hospitals, where they had a chance of rescuing the infant if it was a girl. [] The ICCW also had a small orphanage, where a cradle was set outside for unwanted babies. This was the famous `cradle baby` scheme initiated by then chief minister J Jayalalithaa, who appealed to mothers to leave their babies in the cradles instead of killing them. The scheme, however, did not generate much response. In one year, only seven girl babies were left in the crib whereas over 700 `disappeared` shortly after birth. Jayanti described the hostile situations her team faced in the villages every day. The male-centric Thevar and Kallar communities were resentful of these pottachinga (contemptuous term for women) who came and corrupted their women with evil ideas. [] On the way to Alligundam, Jayanti told me about two of her colleagues who, just a few days ago, had been keeping a close watch on Lakshmi, a woman who was due to deliver her third child. Though Lakshmi was in the high-risk group because she had already borne two girls, she had refused to go to hospital for her delivery. The two social workers who stood outside her house waiting for the child to be born put up with the jeers and name-calling for a couple of hours. But when a couple of men, bearing their trademark aruvaals (choppers), appeared threateningly on the scene, the young women got intimidated and moved away. By the time they returned, Lakshmi`s girl child had been born, killed and buried. They had even placed a stone on the burial spot to avoid detection. The social workers did not dare ask any questions. Traditionally, unwanted girl children are fed milk laced with either yerakkam paal or paddy husk as soon as they are born. The husk method is more cruel; it slits the tender gullet with its sharp sides as it slides down the tiny throat. The more `modern` families use pesticides or sleeping pills. Sometimes, they just suffocate the infant with a pillow. Alligundam was an eye-opener in many ways. The families there were aggressively protective of their right to eliminate their female children. An elderly Thevar, after giving me a long lecture on the need for female infanticide, suddenly shouted angrily, ``Who told you we kill penn sisus (female infants) in this village? Go and see... you will find at least one girl child in every house.`` What he omitted to say was that the next... and the next... and the next would be eliminated. The families believed that one girl was needed to ``light the lamp`` in each home; the others were intrusions who just had to go. They wanted more boys, so family planning was not an option. Karuppayee told me, ``It is better they die than live like me.`` [] I also met 60-year-old Kanchamma, a village midwife who had witnessed the killing of many female infants. Her job, she said, was only to deliver the baby. What they did with it was a family decision. On rare occasions, though, she was able to persuade the family to give a girl child away for adoption. Kanchamma, with her native wisdom, had a perfect explanation as to why more girl babies were getting killed every year. ``The value of a girl goes down every time the value of gold goes up,`` she said. In 1993, of the 800 female births registered in the Usilampatti hospital, 600 had `disappeared`. No one even spoke of the unregistered births like the one Jayanti had described. There was no proper documentation. No real figures. Five years later, I visited Salem and Dharmapuri districts on the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border. In the intervening years, penn sisu kolai had become a political issue, forcing the Tamil Nadu government to take concrete steps to identify the problem and educate the people. The female infanticide belt had been identified. It stretched through the districts of Salem, Dharmapuri, North Arcot, Periyar, Dindigul and Madurai. Hardcore regions like north Salem, south Dharmapuri, south Dindigul and west Madurai accounted for practically 70 per cent of all female infanticide in the state. It also became clear that female infanticide knew no caste, community or socio-economic barriers. The popular conception that female infanticide was confined to the Kallar and Thevar communities in Madurai and the Gounders in Salem was wrong. It was also prevalent among communities like the Vanniars, Pariyars and Pallars in other areas. In one village, the panchayat [council] head had just eliminated his third daughter. In another, the richest and most powerful landlord had killed off his fourth. In Dharmapuri, one of the worst affected areas, an average of 105 baby girls were killed every month in 1997. Evidence supporting this was collected from the records of the primary health centres operating in these areas. Of these, 260 deaths occurred in Pennagaram, where female literacy was just 31.3 per cent, well below the state average of 41.8 per cent. Between 1994 and 1997, almost 3,000 baby girls died here as soon as they were born. Which meant three female infants were killed each day in that area alone. Sheela Rani Chungat, a rather dynamic IAS officer, was then the Tamil Nadu commissioner for maternal and child health and welfare. She launched an aggressive campaign to tackle the problem and managed to put together an authentic picture of the problem in Tamil Nadu, using data collected from PHCs. Unlike states like Rajasthan where the issue is pushed under the carpet, the Tamil Nadu government had brought it out into the open and was attempting to tackle it by organising special education programmes. But in infanticide heartland, female infants were still being killed. At Nalampalli village near Salem, Palaniamma spoke of how her mother-in-law had just killed her sister-in-law`s third daughter. ``My husband`s mother wrapped the newborn girl in a wet towel. She threw it on the ground and pushed it with her toe. `Who wants this?` she said and went out of the room. All of us stood there, afraid to pick the baby up. My sister-in-law, who was weak after the delivery, just wept. A few hours later, the child died. They got a doctor`s certificate to say it had pneumonia.`` The year was 1999. They had discovered new and `better` methods of killing. Five years ago, in Usilampatti, the villagers were defiant and impervious to the opinion of city folk. Now, they were cautious and more secretive. Some parents had been arrested on charges of murder. And so the practice had gone underground. From a quick and relatively painless procedure, it had turned into a prolonged and torturous one. ``Now they are afraid of detection,`` said Alphonso Mary, a public health nurse who worked in the area. ``If someone registers a case of suspected infanticide and the body is exhumed, the `old` methods of killing can be detected.`` As a result, modern methods had evolved. The newborn was deliberately weakened and dehydrated by its own parents. They did this by wrapping it in a wet towel or dipping it in cold water soon after delivery or as soon as it came home from hospital. If it was still alive after a few hours, it was taken to a doctor who diagnosed pneumonia and prescribed medicines. The prescription was carefully preserved, but the medicines were never bought. When the child finally died, the parents had a medical certificate to prove pneumonia. Sometimes, the infant was fed a drop of alcohol to create diarrhoea. Another certifiable `disease`. The villagers also learnt to cremate the little bodies. Once upon a time they would bury the killed infants in shallow graves in the fields, just putting a stone over the spot so that animals wouldn`t get at them. Now it was different. Even modern methods of killing didn`t help anymore. Muniamma and Krishnan were agricultural labourers eking out a living in Kolasinahalli. The panchayat vice-president and the president of the local Nehru Yuvak Kendra registered a case of female infanticide against them when their third daughter died in suspicious circumstances a few hours after her birth. A post-mortem examination of the body, which was exhumed, revealed that the baby had been given a sedative, a benign but detectable method of murder. Avoiding detection, therefore, had become as important as the killing itself, especially as even cremation aroused suspicion, burial being the usual practice. Unfortunately, the ubiquitous scan which is responsible for the mass massacre of female foetuses in Punjab and Haryana has also found its way into this area. A sex determination scan can cost anything from Rs 300 upwards. The whole package, including abortion of the female foetus, costs about Rs 7,000. But many of the women I spoke to frankly admitted they couldn`t afford the ``luxury``. It was cheaper to kill the infant after it was born. At Krishnagiri, I tried to talk to a doctor. Most of the women had told me she was offering sex-selective abortion. One of the women I met, Padma, even showed me her scan result with a tiny F scribbled in the corner. She could not afford the abortion. Fortunately, the village nurse had persuaded her to keep her third daughter, who was now four months old. This gynaecologist ran a flourishing clinic and was politically well connected. Obviously, she was unwilling to talk. Especially since she was already facing a court case filed against her by a man who had lost his wife during one such illegal procedure. The moment my journalist colleague and I presented her our cards, she got her husband on the phone and he started threatening us before we could even ask a question! Village women call sex determination scans a city procedure, which has the same end result. They know now that penn sisu kolai is illegal. But so is sex determination scanning. So why should poor, illiterate villagers be arrested while rich city doctors go scot-free? Female infanticide is prevalent in several parts of the country, though it is perhaps best documented in Tamil Nadu. In parts of Gujarat, mothers have been known to drown newborn infant girls in milk. In Rajasthan, there are entire villages where no girl has been born for decades. As for female foeticide, it is so widespread that in some interior villages of Punjab and Haryana, they say the mobile scan is more easily available than water supply! In Andhra Pradesh, tribal women have been selling their baby girls to unscrupulous agents. The list is endless. But just when you are beginning to sink into depression, along come the bright spots. []In 1993, I met Chinnathayye, a simple village woman who saved her 15-year-old daughter Janaki`s twin girls after listening to ICCW social workers. The penniless widow faced stiff opposition from the girl`s in-laws who refused to take Janaki back if she kept her babies. Yet, she refused to budge. After Janaki`s delivery in hospital, Chinnathayee brought the babies to her hut by bus, carrying them in a cloth market bag. She raised them till Janaki`s in-laws gave in and took her back. In Salem, Chungat took me to the house of Vijaya, a petty shopkeeper, who kept her fourth daughter after watching a street play on the evils of infanticide. At the Dharmapuri guesthouse where we were staying, many women came to proudly display the girl babies they had kept after seeing the plays organised under a Danida project. I also met Sarojini, a nurse who had saved hundreds of children in the villages where she had worked for over 15
Journalists or Americans?
Gobar,Jay,Harimou,MaheshG,RDesikan,RSaxsena,Zafar Bharti,
My dissertation topic for D.Phil & ph.D at Delhi University .Just to put to shame the rahmins who has been vilifying shariat & Islam
http://www.rediff.com/news/2001/oct/24spec.htm
Born To Die ....Indian FEMALES
Gita Aravamud
]I lay on my bed weak after childbirth. My mother-in-law picked up the baby and started feeding her milk. I knew what she was doing. I cried and tried to stop her. But she had already given her milk laced with yerakkam paal [the poisonous juice of the oleander plant]. Within minutes, the baby turned blue and died,`` Karuppayee says matter-of-factly. It was my very first face-to-face encounter with female infanticide. My first instinct was disbelief. Could a woman really speak so dispassionately about the murder of her own child? A life she had carried in her womb for nine months... I didn`t realise then how little control she had over her own life, let alone her womb. Now, almost 10 years later, I hear the alarm bells again. According to the latest census figures, female infanticide, foeticide and every other form of female infant genocide seems to be alive and kicking. The national female-male sex ratio has dipped to an all-time low of 933/1000. In some states, the situation is dire. Haryana, for example, has 861 females to 1,000 males. Chandigarh has 773. Daman and Diu, 709. Punjab, 874. The sex ratio of children in the 0-6 age group is no better. While the all-India figure is 927/1000, it is 793 in both Punjab and Haryana. Tamil Nadu is the small, lone light at the end of the tunnel with its figure of 986/1000, which is marginally higher than the corresponding national one. [] To go back to my story, I met Karuppayee outside a tiny hovel in Alligundam village, in Usilampatti taluk [block] of Tamil Nadu`s Madurai district. The year was 1993, nearly a decade after a leading national magazine had broken the story on female infanticide in Usilampatti. A stinking open drain gurgled past us. Karuppayee had just come in from the fields. Barely 25, she carried her two-year-old son on her hip while her four-year-old daughter clung to her faded cotton sari. Abject poverty could not get more abysmal. The child who had been killed was her third one... If it had been a boy, he would have been allowed to live. Penn sisu kolai, as female infanticide is known in local parlance, is a widespread and socially accepted phenomenon in this area. Talking about it to an outsider is, however, taboo. Finally, I zeroed in on Alligundam village with the help of Jayanti, who was working for the Indian Council for Child Welfare at Usilampatti. Though the focus of the ICCW project was on gathering statistics, the women working there also tried to prevent infanticide by convincing expectant mothers to deliver their children in hospitals, where they had a chance of rescuing the infant if it was a girl. [] The ICCW also had a small orphanage, where a cradle was set outside for unwanted babies. This was the famous `cradle baby` scheme initiated by then chief minister J Jayalalithaa, who appealed to mothers to leave their babies in the cradles instead of killing them. The scheme, however, did not generate much response. In one year, only seven girl babies were left in the crib whereas over 700 `disappeared` shortly after birth. Jayanti described the hostile situations her team faced in the villages every day. The male-centric Thevar and Kallar communities were resentful of these pottachinga (contemptuous term for women) who came and corrupted their women with evil ideas. [] On the way to Alligundam, Jayanti told me about two of her colleagues who, just a few days ago, had been keeping a close watch on Lakshmi, a woman who was due to deliver her third child. Though Lakshmi was in the high-risk group because she had already borne two girls, she had refused to go to hospital for her delivery. The two social workers who stood outside her house waiting for the child to be born put up with the jeers and name-calling for a couple of hours. But when a couple of men, bearing their trademark aruvaals (choppers), appeared threateningly on the scene, the young women got intimidated and moved away. By the time they returned, Lakshmi`s girl child had been born, killed and buried. They had even placed a stone on the burial spot to avoid detection. The social workers did not dare ask any questions. Traditionally, unwanted girl children are fed milk laced with either yerakkam paal or paddy husk as soon as they are born. The husk method is more cruel; it slits the tender gullet with its sharp sides as it slides down the tiny throat. The more `modern` families use pesticides or sleeping pills. Sometimes, they just suffocate the infant with a pillow. Alligundam was an eye-opener in many ways. The families there were aggressively protective of their right to eliminate their female children. An elderly Thevar, after giving me a long lecture on the need for female infanticide, suddenly shouted angrily, ``Who told you we kill penn sisus (female infants) in this village? Go and see... you will find at least one girl child in every house.`` What he omitted to say was that the next... and the next... and the next would be eliminated. The families believed that one girl was needed to ``light the lamp`` in each home; the others were intrusions who just had to go. They wanted more boys, so family planning was not an option. Karuppayee told me, ``It is better they die than live like me.`` [] I also met 60-year-old Kanchamma, a village midwife who had witnessed the killing of many female infants. Her job, she said, was only to deliver the baby. What they did with it was a family decision. On rare occasions, though, she was able to persuade the family to give a girl child away for adoption. Kanchamma, with her native wisdom, had a perfect explanation as to why more girl babies were getting killed every year. ``The value of a girl goes down every time the value of gold goes up,`` she said. In 1993, of the 800 female births registered in the Usilampatti hospital, 600 had `disappeared`. No one even spoke of the unregistered births like the one Jayanti had described. There was no proper documentation. No real figures. Five years later, I visited Salem and Dharmapuri districts on the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border. In the intervening years, penn sisu kolai had become a political issue, forcing the Tamil Nadu government to take concrete steps to identify the problem and educate the people. The female infanticide belt had been identified. It stretched through the districts of Salem, Dharmapuri, North Arcot, Periyar, Dindigul and Madurai. Hardcore regions like north Salem, south Dharmapuri, south Dindigul and west Madurai accounted for practically 70 per cent of all female infanticide in the state. It also became clear that female infanticide knew no caste, community or socio-economic barriers. The popular conception that female infanticide was confined to the Kallar and Thevar communities in Madurai and the Gounders in Salem was wrong. It was also prevalent among communities like the Vanniars, Pariyars and Pallars in other areas. In one village, the panchayat [council] head had just eliminated his third daughter. In another, the richest and most powerful landlord had killed off his fourth. In Dharmapuri, one of the worst affected areas, an average of 105 baby girls were killed every month in 1997. Evidence supporting this was collected from the records of the primary health centres operating in these areas. Of these, 260 deaths occurred in Pennagaram, where female literacy was just 31.3 per cent, well below the state average of 41.8 per cent. Between 1994 and 1997, almost 3,000 baby girls died here as soon as they were born. Which meant three female infants were killed each day in that area alone. Sheela Rani Chungat, a rather dynamic IAS officer, was then the Tamil Nadu commissioner for maternal and child health and welfare. She launched an aggressive campaign to tackle the problem and managed to put together an authentic picture of the problem in Tamil Nadu, using data collected from PHCs. Unlike states like Rajasthan where the issue is pushed under the carpet, the Tamil Nadu government had brought it out into the open and was attempting to tackle it by organising special education programmes. But in infanticide heartland, female infants were still being killed. At Nalampalli village near Salem, Palaniamma spoke of how her mother-in-law had just killed her sister-in-law`s third daughter. ``My husband`s mother wrapped the newborn girl in a wet towel. She threw it on the ground and pushed it with her toe. `Who wants this?` she said and went out of the room. All of us stood there, afraid to pick the baby up. My sister-in-law, who was weak after the delivery, just wept. A few hours later, the child died. They got a doctor`s certificate to say it had pneumonia.`` The year was 1999. They had discovered new and `better` methods of killing. Five years ago, in Usilampatti, the villagers were defiant and impervious to the opinion of city folk. Now, they were cautious and more secretive. Some parents had been arrested on charges of murder. And so the practice had gone underground. From a quick and relatively painless procedure, it had turned into a prolonged and torturous one. ``Now they are afraid of detection,`` said Alphonso Mary, a public health nurse who worked in the area. ``If someone registers a case of suspected infanticide and the body is exhumed, the `old` methods of killing can be detected.`` As a result, modern methods had evolved. The newborn was deliberately weakened and dehydrated by its own parents. They did this by wrapping it in a wet towel or dipping it in cold water soon after delivery or as soon as it came home from hospital. If it was still alive after a few hours, it was taken to a doctor who diagnosed pneumonia and prescribed medicines. The prescription was carefully preserved, but the medicines were never bought. When the child finally died, the parents had a medical certificate to prove pneumonia. Sometimes, the infant was fed a drop of alcohol to create diarrhoea. Another certifiable `disease`. The villagers also learnt to cremate the little bodies. Once upon a time they would bury the killed infants in shallow graves in the fields, just putting a stone over the spot so that animals wouldn`t get at them. Now it was different. Even modern methods of killing didn`t help anymore. Muniamma and Krishnan were agricultural labourers eking out a living in Kolasinahalli. The panchayat vice-president and the president of the local Nehru Yuvak Kendra registered a case of female infanticide against them when their third daughter died in suspicious circumstances a few hours after her birth. A post-mortem examination of the body, which was exhumed, revealed that the baby had been given a sedative, a benign but detectable method of murder. Avoiding detection, therefore, had become as important as the killing itself, especially as even cremation aroused suspicion, burial being the usual practice. Unfortunately, the ubiquitous scan which is responsible for the mass massacre of female foetuses in Punjab and Haryana has also found its way into this area. A sex determination scan can cost anything from Rs 300 upwards. The whole package, including abortion of the female foetus, costs about Rs 7,000. But many of the women I spoke to frankly admitted they couldn`t afford the ``luxury``. It was cheaper to kill the infant after it was born. At Krishnagiri, I tried to talk to a doctor. Most of the women had told me she was offering sex-selective abortion. One of the women I met, Padma, even showed me her scan result with a tiny F scribbled in the corner. She could not afford the abortion. Fortunately, the village nurse had persuaded her to keep her third daughter, who was now four months old. This gynaecologist ran a flourishing clinic and was politically well connected. Obviously, she was unwilling to talk. Especially since she was already facing a court case filed against her by a man who had lost his wife during one such illegal procedure. The moment my journalist colleague and I presented her our cards, she got her husband on the phone and he started threatening us before we could even ask a question! Village women call sex determination scans a city procedure, which has the same end result. They know now that penn sisu kolai is illegal. But so is sex determination scanning. So why should poor, illiterate villagers be arrested while rich city doctors go scot-free? Female infanticide is prevalent in several parts of the country, though it is perhaps best documented in Tamil Nadu. In parts of Gujarat, mothers have been known to drown newborn infant girls in milk. In Rajasthan, there are entire villages where no girl has been born for decades. As for female foeticide, it is so widespread that in some interior villages of Punjab and Haryana, they say the mobile scan is more easily available than water supply! In Andhra Pradesh, tribal women have been selling their baby girls to unscrupulous agents. The list is endless. But just when you are beginning to sink into depression, along come the bright spots. []In 1993, I met Chinnathayye, a simple village woman who saved her 15-year-old daughter Janaki`s twin girls after listening to ICCW social workers. The penniless widow faced stiff opposition from the girl`s in-laws who refused to take Janaki back if she kept her babies. Yet, she refused to budge. After Janaki`s delivery in hospital, Chinnathayee brought the babies to her hut by bus, carrying them in a cloth market bag. She raised them till Janaki`s in-laws gave in and took her back. In Salem, Chungat took me to the house of Vijaya, a petty shopkeeper, who kept her fourth daughter after watching a street play on the evils of infanticide. At the Dharmapuri guesthouse where we were staying, many women came to proudly display the girl babies they had kept after seeing the plays organised under a Danida project. I also met Sarojini, a nurse who had saved hundreds of children in the villages where she had worked for over 15
Posted by
Bijli
Oct 25, 2001 01:18 am
Gobar,Jay,Harimou,MaheshG,RDesikan,RSaxsena,Zafar Bharti,
My dissertation topic for D.Phil & ph.D at Delhi University .Just to put to shame the rahmins who has been vilifying shariat & Islam
http://www.rediff.com/news/2001/oct/24spec.htm
Born To Die ....Indian FEMALES
Gita Aravamud
]I lay on my bed weak after childbirth. My mother-in-law picked up the baby and started feeding her milk. I knew what she was doing. I cried and tried to stop her. But she had already given her milk laced with yerakkam paal [the poisonous juice of the oleander plant]. Within minutes, the baby turned blue and died,`` Karuppayee says matter-of-factly. It was my very first face-to-face encounter with female infanticide. My first instinct was disbelief. Could a woman really speak so dispassionately about the murder of her own child? A life she had carried in her womb for nine months... I didn`t realise then how little control she had over her own life, let alone her womb. Now, almost 10 years later, I hear the alarm bells again. According to the latest census figures, female infanticide, foeticide and every other form of female infant genocide seems to be alive and kicking. The national female-male sex ratio has dipped to an all-time low of 933/1000. In some states, the situation is dire. Haryana, for example, has 861 females to 1,000 males. Chandigarh has 773. Daman and Diu, 709. Punjab, 874. The sex ratio of children in the 0-6 age group is no better. While the all-India figure is 927/1000, it is 793 in both Punjab and Haryana. Tamil Nadu is the small, lone light at the end of the tunnel with its figure of 986/1000, which is marginally higher than the corresponding national one. [] To go back to my story, I met Karuppayee outside a tiny hovel in Alligundam village, in Usilampatti taluk [block] of Tamil Nadu`s Madurai district. The year was 1993, nearly a decade after a leading national magazine had broken the story on female infanticide in Usilampatti. A stinking open drain gurgled past us. Karuppayee had just come in from the fields. Barely 25, she carried her two-year-old son on her hip while her four-year-old daughter clung to her faded cotton sari. Abject poverty could not get more abysmal. The child who had been killed was her third one... If it had been a boy, he would have been allowed to live. Penn sisu kolai, as female infanticide is known in local parlance, is a widespread and socially accepted phenomenon in this area. Talking about it to an outsider is, however, taboo. Finally, I zeroed in on Alligundam village with the help of Jayanti, who was working for the Indian Council for Child Welfare at Usilampatti. Though the focus of the ICCW project was on gathering statistics, the women working there also tried to prevent infanticide by convincing expectant mothers to deliver their children in hospitals, where they had a chance of rescuing the infant if it was a girl. [] The ICCW also had a small orphanage, where a cradle was set outside for unwanted babies. This was the famous `cradle baby` scheme initiated by then chief minister J Jayalalithaa, who appealed to mothers to leave their babies in the cradles instead of killing them. The scheme, however, did not generate much response. In one year, only seven girl babies were left in the crib whereas over 700 `disappeared` shortly after birth. Jayanti described the hostile situations her team faced in the villages every day. The male-centric Thevar and Kallar communities were resentful of these pottachinga (contemptuous term for women) who came and corrupted their women with evil ideas. [] On the way to Alligundam, Jayanti told me about two of her colleagues who, just a few days ago, had been keeping a close watch on Lakshmi, a woman who was due to deliver her third child. Though Lakshmi was in the high-risk group because she had already borne two girls, she had refused to go to hospital for her delivery. The two social workers who stood outside her house waiting for the child to be born put up with the jeers and name-calling for a couple of hours. But when a couple of men, bearing their trademark aruvaals (choppers), appeared threateningly on the scene, the young women got intimidated and moved away. By the time they returned, Lakshmi`s girl child had been born, killed and buried. They had even placed a stone on the burial spot to avoid detection. The social workers did not dare ask any questions. Traditionally, unwanted girl children are fed milk laced with either yerakkam paal or paddy husk as soon as they are born. The husk method is more cruel; it slits the tender gullet with its sharp sides as it slides down the tiny throat. The more `modern` families use pesticides or sleeping pills. Sometimes, they just suffocate the infant with a pillow. Alligundam was an eye-opener in many ways. The families there were aggressively protective of their right to eliminate their female children. An elderly Thevar, after giving me a long lecture on the need for female infanticide, suddenly shouted angrily, ``Who told you we kill penn sisus (female infants) in this village? Go and see... you will find at least one girl child in every house.`` What he omitted to say was that the next... and the next... and the next would be eliminated. The families believed that one girl was needed to ``light the lamp`` in each home; the others were intrusions who just had to go. They wanted more boys, so family planning was not an option. Karuppayee told me, ``It is better they die than live like me.`` [] I also met 60-year-old Kanchamma, a village midwife who had witnessed the killing of many female infants. Her job, she said, was only to deliver the baby. What they did with it was a family decision. On rare occasions, though, she was able to persuade the family to give a girl child away for adoption. Kanchamma, with her native wisdom, had a perfect explanation as to why more girl babies were getting killed every year. ``The value of a girl goes down every time the value of gold goes up,`` she said. In 1993, of the 800 female births registered in the Usilampatti hospital, 600 had `disappeared`. No one even spoke of the unregistered births like the one Jayanti had described. There was no proper documentation. No real figures. Five years later, I visited Salem and Dharmapuri districts on the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border. In the intervening years, penn sisu kolai had become a political issue, forcing the Tamil Nadu government to take concrete steps to identify the problem and educate the people. The female infanticide belt had been identified. It stretched through the districts of Salem, Dharmapuri, North Arcot, Periyar, Dindigul and Madurai. Hardcore regions like north Salem, south Dharmapuri, south Dindigul and west Madurai accounted for practically 70 per cent of all female infanticide in the state. It also became clear that female infanticide knew no caste, community or socio-economic barriers. The popular conception that female infanticide was confined to the Kallar and Thevar communities in Madurai and the Gounders in Salem was wrong. It was also prevalent among communities like the Vanniars, Pariyars and Pallars in other areas. In one village, the panchayat [council] head had just eliminated his third daughter. In another, the richest and most powerful landlord had killed off his fourth. In Dharmapuri, one of the worst affected areas, an average of 105 baby girls were killed every month in 1997. Evidence supporting this was collected from the records of the primary health centres operating in these areas. Of these, 260 deaths occurred in Pennagaram, where female literacy was just 31.3 per cent, well below the state average of 41.8 per cent. Between 1994 and 1997, almost 3,000 baby girls died here as soon as they were born. Which meant three female infants were killed each day in that area alone. Sheela Rani Chungat, a rather dynamic IAS officer, was then the Tamil Nadu commissioner for maternal and child health and welfare. She launched an aggressive campaign to tackle the problem and managed to put together an authentic picture of the problem in Tamil Nadu, using data collected from PHCs. Unlike states like Rajasthan where the issue is pushed under the carpet, the Tamil Nadu government had brought it out into the open and was attempting to tackle it by organising special education programmes. But in infanticide heartland, female infants were still being killed. At Nalampalli village near Salem, Palaniamma spoke of how her mother-in-law had just killed her sister-in-law`s third daughter. ``My husband`s mother wrapped the newborn girl in a wet towel. She threw it on the ground and pushed it with her toe. `Who wants this?` she said and went out of the room. All of us stood there, afraid to pick the baby up. My sister-in-law, who was weak after the delivery, just wept. A few hours later, the child died. They got a doctor`s certificate to say it had pneumonia.`` The year was 1999. They had discovered new and `better` methods of killing. Five years ago, in Usilampatti, the villagers were defiant and impervious to the opinion of city folk. Now, they were cautious and more secretive. Some parents had been arrested on charges of murder. And so the practice had gone underground. From a quick and relatively painless procedure, it had turned into a prolonged and torturous one. ``Now they are afraid of detection,`` said Alphonso Mary, a public health nurse who worked in the area. ``If someone registers a case of suspected infanticide and the body is exhumed, the `old` methods of killing can be detected.`` As a result, modern methods had evolved. The newborn was deliberately weakened and dehydrated by its own parents. They did this by wrapping it in a wet towel or dipping it in cold water soon after delivery or as soon as it came home from hospital. If it was still alive after a few hours, it was taken to a doctor who diagnosed pneumonia and prescribed medicines. The prescription was carefully preserved, but the medicines were never bought. When the child finally died, the parents had a medical certificate to prove pneumonia. Sometimes, the infant was fed a drop of alcohol to create diarrhoea. Another certifiable `disease`. The villagers also learnt to cremate the little bodies. Once upon a time they would bury the killed infants in shallow graves in the fields, just putting a stone over the spot so that animals wouldn`t get at them. Now it was different. Even modern methods of killing didn`t help anymore. Muniamma and Krishnan were agricultural labourers eking out a living in Kolasinahalli. The panchayat vice-president and the president of the local Nehru Yuvak Kendra registered a case of female infanticide against them when their third daughter died in suspicious circumstances a few hours after her birth. A post-mortem examination of the body, which was exhumed, revealed that the baby had been given a sedative, a benign but detectable method of murder. Avoiding detection, therefore, had become as important as the killing itself, especially as even cremation aroused suspicion, burial being the usual practice. Unfortunately, the ubiquitous scan which is responsible for the mass massacre of female foetuses in Punjab and Haryana has also found its way into this area. A sex determination scan can cost anything from Rs 300 upwards. The whole package, including abortion of the female foetus, costs about Rs 7,000. But many of the women I spoke to frankly admitted they couldn`t afford the ``luxury``. It was cheaper to kill the infant after it was born. At Krishnagiri, I tried to talk to a doctor. Most of the women had told me she was offering sex-selective abortion. One of the women I met, Padma, even showed me her scan result with a tiny F scribbled in the corner. She could not afford the abortion. Fortunately, the village nurse had persuaded her to keep her third daughter, who was now four months old. This gynaecologist ran a flourishing clinic and was politically well connected. Obviously, she was unwilling to talk. Especially since she was already facing a court case filed against her by a man who had lost his wife during one such illegal procedure. The moment my journalist colleague and I presented her our cards, she got her husband on the phone and he started threatening us before we could even ask a question! Village women call sex determination scans a city procedure, which has the same end result. They know now that penn sisu kolai is illegal. But so is sex determination scanning. So why should poor, illiterate villagers be arrested while rich city doctors go scot-free? Female infanticide is prevalent in several parts of the country, though it is perhaps best documented in Tamil Nadu. In parts of Gujarat, mothers have been known to drown newborn infant girls in milk. In Rajasthan, there are entire villages where no girl has been born for decades. As for female foeticide, it is so widespread that in some interior villages of Punjab and Haryana, they say the mobile scan is more easily available than water supply! In Andhra Pradesh, tribal women have been selling their baby girls to unscrupulous agents. The list is endless. But just when you are beginning to sink into depression, along come the bright spots. []In 1993, I met Chinnathayye, a simple village woman who saved her 15-year-old daughter Janaki`s twin girls after listening to ICCW social workers. The penniless widow faced stiff opposition from the girl`s in-laws who refused to take Janaki back if she kept her babies. Yet, she refused to budge. After Janaki`s delivery in hospital, Chinnathayee brought the babies to her hut by bus, carrying them in a cloth market bag. She raised them till Janaki`s in-laws gave in and took her back. In Salem, Chungat took me to the house of Vijaya, a petty shopkeeper, who kept her fourth daughter after watching a street play on the evils of infanticide. At the Dharmapuri guesthouse where we were staying, many women came to proudly display the girl babies they had kept after seeing the plays organised under a Danida project. I also met Sarojini, a nurse who had saved hundreds of children in the villages where she had worked for over 15
Reporting on Afghanistan
October 23, 2001
Links: Terror in America
India helping Northern Alliance: Taleban
Muhammad Najeeb in Islamabad
The Taleban has for the first time charged India with helping the Northern Alliance in its fight against the ruling militia, saying senior members of the alliance had recently visited New Delhi for consultations.
``There is a nexus of Russia, India and Northern Alliance against the government,`` Taleban ambassador to Pakistan Abdul Salam Zaeef told a press conference in Islamabad.
The ambassador said that there was evidence that India was collaborating against the Taleban regime. ``Yes, we have strong evidence in this regard,`` he said.
Later talking to Indo Asian News Service, Zaeef said the Taleban had reports that senior members of the Northern Alliance had recently visited New Delhi for talks with the Indian leadership.
He said that The Indians were helping the Northern Alliance through the Central Asian republics of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Zaeef said that an Indian official was also present at the meeting held on Monday in Tajikistan`s capital Dushanbe between Russian President Vladimir Putin and ousted Afghan president Burhanddin Rabbani.
``Not only India, but an Iranian envoy also participated in that meeting,`` Zaeef said.
He said that the Taleban authorities were `fully aware of such designs and we would never allow them to succeed`.
The United States has hinted at an important role for the Northern Alliance in the post-Taleban scenario in Afghanistan. Added to this, the meetings in Dushanbe have created a stir among the Pakistani officials.
In a flurry of statements issued over the last few days the United States, Russia and many other countries have rejected any role for Taleban in any future government in Afghanistan. This has left Pakistan as the only nation that has been pleading for a role for what it terms the moderate Taleban in Afghanistan.
The concept of a moderate Taliban has been widely dismissed as an oxymoron.
Meanwhile, reports from the battlefield say that the military resilience showed by the Taleban in defending the city of Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan has surprised both Pakistani and US military officials.
Pakistani officials said that the fall of Mazar-i-Sharif to the Northern Alliance would allow Russia and other anti-Taleban forces to reopen the Termez bridge over the Ommo river. This strategically important bridge provides a crucial link for military and other supplies from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Indo-Asian News Service
Posted by
Bijli
Oct 23, 2001 03:14 pm
Is there any surprise why Shabana is supported by Hindians to speak against Taleban.October 23, 2001
Links: Terror in America
India helping Northern Alliance: Taleban
Muhammad Najeeb in Islamabad
The Taleban has for the first time charged India with helping the Northern Alliance in its fight against the ruling militia, saying senior members of the alliance had recently visited New Delhi for consultations.
``There is a nexus of Russia, India and Northern Alliance against the government,`` Taleban ambassador to Pakistan Abdul Salam Zaeef told a press conference in Islamabad.
The ambassador said that there was evidence that India was collaborating against the Taleban regime. ``Yes, we have strong evidence in this regard,`` he said.
Later talking to Indo Asian News Service, Zaeef said the Taleban had reports that senior members of the Northern Alliance had recently visited New Delhi for talks with the Indian leadership.
He said that The Indians were helping the Northern Alliance through the Central Asian republics of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Zaeef said that an Indian official was also present at the meeting held on Monday in Tajikistan`s capital Dushanbe between Russian President Vladimir Putin and ousted Afghan president Burhanddin Rabbani.
``Not only India, but an Iranian envoy also participated in that meeting,`` Zaeef said.
He said that the Taleban authorities were `fully aware of such designs and we would never allow them to succeed`.
The United States has hinted at an important role for the Northern Alliance in the post-Taleban scenario in Afghanistan. Added to this, the meetings in Dushanbe have created a stir among the Pakistani officials.
In a flurry of statements issued over the last few days the United States, Russia and many other countries have rejected any role for Taleban in any future government in Afghanistan. This has left Pakistan as the only nation that has been pleading for a role for what it terms the moderate Taleban in Afghanistan.
The concept of a moderate Taliban has been widely dismissed as an oxymoron.
Meanwhile, reports from the battlefield say that the military resilience showed by the Taleban in defending the city of Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan has surprised both Pakistani and US military officials.
Pakistani officials said that the fall of Mazar-i-Sharif to the Northern Alliance would allow Russia and other anti-Taleban forces to reopen the Termez bridge over the Ommo river. This strategically important bridge provides a crucial link for military and other supplies from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Indo-Asian News Service
Right Burqa, Wrong Lips
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/21/magazine/21WOMEN.html
October 21, 2001
Jihad`s Women
By LYNSEY ADDARIO
n some of the larger cities in Pakistan, like Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi, many women work, go to the movies, eat at McDonald`s, wear pants and otherwise live a modern, Western-influenced life. But in certain areas, particularly in the Northwest Frontier Province, which abuts Afghanistan, many girls and young women spend much of their time in one of the more than 100 religious schools, or madrassahs, for women. (There are about 10,000 madrassahs for boys and men throughout Pakistan.) Here they are steeped in Islamic fundamentalism -- reading and reciting the Koran many hours a day and learning Arabic grammar and pronunciation. At some of these madrassahs, like Jamia Khadijatul-Kubra-Lil-Binat, immersion is complete; students, who tend to come from poor or lower-middle-class families, board during the week and leave only on weekends to visit their homes. These madrassahs instill a religious ideology that is at the heart of the jihad now being waged against the United States. Girls as young as 5 and women as old as 65 attend madrassah. But generally, when a student turns 15 or 16, she weds in an arranged marriage and leaves school to start having babies. She spends almost all her time inside the home taking care of her children, praying and reading the Koran. If she leaves the house, she must do so fully covered. These photographs were taken in and around two madrassahs in Peshawar in the Northwest Frontier Province, just before the United States began bombing Afghanistan.
Lynsey Addario is a photographer based in Mexico City.
Rehima, 35, kissing her son Osama. Rehima, the wife of a powerful member of Jamaat-i-Islami, one of the most prominent fundamentalist groups in Pakistan, is a supervisor at Jamia Khadijatul-Kubra-Lil-Binat madrassah. Most of the students and teachers at this religious boarding school are the children and wives of Jamaat-i-Islami members. This photo was taken in Rehima`s home, across the street from the school in Peshawar. ``I named my son Osama because I want to make him a mujahid. Right now there is war, but he is a child. When he is a young man, there might be war again, and I will prepare him for that war. In the name of God, I will sacrifice my son, and I don`t care if he is my most beloved thing. For all of my six sons, I wanted them to be mujahedeen. If they get killed it is nothing. This world is very short. I myself want to be a mujahid. What will I do in this world? I could be in heaven, have a weekly meeting with God.
``Jihad is when you are attacked, you attack back. This is God`s wish. We are not afraid. I am already asking my husband if I can go to Kashmir and train to fight. I will suicide bomb. If there are 20 to 30 non-Muslims, there I will commit martyrdom. If America attacks, we will put our hands on the throats of Americans and kill them.``
Mehreen Zair, 9, far left in white, during a Koran-reading session at the Mohamadia Mujadadia Izhar-ul-Koran madrassah, a day school. ``If America attacks, we will do jihad. I don`t know how, but we will do it together.``
Shafia Salaam, 16 (in black), at a celebration for a 13-year-old girl, at right, who has memorized the Koran at Jamia Khadijatul-Kubra-Lil-Binat madrassah. Shafia is an Afghan refugee who has been living in Pakistan for more than a decade. ``I have seen images in the newspapers of what happened in America, and I feel it was not good. But perhaps God punished America for the wrongs she is doing in other countries, like Palestine and Kashmir. If the Americans attack us, we will fight. Non-Muslims are our enemy according to the Koran, so Americans are our enemy. We hate America. ``I believe in jihad. I will do whatever I can do. If I am provided the opportunity to get weapons, I will use them.``
Shumailia Kiran, 12, center, learning the first five chapters of the Koran at the Mohamadia Mujadadia Izhar-ul-Koran madrassah. ``Osama is not involved because he is a Muslim, and Muslims are not capable of such a terrorist act. He is a mujahid and is supposed to fight on the path of God.``
Munaza Kanwam, 10, at her Koran ceremony at the Mohamadia Mujadadia Izhar-ul-Koran madrassah. ``I am very happy. I feel like a bride. My father gave me a 20-gram gold set, my grandmother has sewn my clothes and my hair band, and my mother has sewn me two new suits. I have received a lot of gifts. I think Osama is a great man, and he is fighting America.``
Home | Back to Magazine | Search | Help Back to Top
Posted by
Bijli
Oct 23, 2001 02:57 am
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/21/magazine/21WOMEN.html
October 21, 2001
Jihad`s Women
By LYNSEY ADDARIO
n some of the larger cities in Pakistan, like Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi, many women work, go to the movies, eat at McDonald`s, wear pants and otherwise live a modern, Western-influenced life. But in certain areas, particularly in the Northwest Frontier Province, which abuts Afghanistan, many girls and young women spend much of their time in one of the more than 100 religious schools, or madrassahs, for women. (There are about 10,000 madrassahs for boys and men throughout Pakistan.) Here they are steeped in Islamic fundamentalism -- reading and reciting the Koran many hours a day and learning Arabic grammar and pronunciation. At some of these madrassahs, like Jamia Khadijatul-Kubra-Lil-Binat, immersion is complete; students, who tend to come from poor or lower-middle-class families, board during the week and leave only on weekends to visit their homes. These madrassahs instill a religious ideology that is at the heart of the jihad now being waged against the United States. Girls as young as 5 and women as old as 65 attend madrassah. But generally, when a student turns 15 or 16, she weds in an arranged marriage and leaves school to start having babies. She spends almost all her time inside the home taking care of her children, praying and reading the Koran. If she leaves the house, she must do so fully covered. These photographs were taken in and around two madrassahs in Peshawar in the Northwest Frontier Province, just before the United States began bombing Afghanistan.
Lynsey Addario is a photographer based in Mexico City.
Rehima, 35, kissing her son Osama. Rehima, the wife of a powerful member of Jamaat-i-Islami, one of the most prominent fundamentalist groups in Pakistan, is a supervisor at Jamia Khadijatul-Kubra-Lil-Binat madrassah. Most of the students and teachers at this religious boarding school are the children and wives of Jamaat-i-Islami members. This photo was taken in Rehima`s home, across the street from the school in Peshawar. ``I named my son Osama because I want to make him a mujahid. Right now there is war, but he is a child. When he is a young man, there might be war again, and I will prepare him for that war. In the name of God, I will sacrifice my son, and I don`t care if he is my most beloved thing. For all of my six sons, I wanted them to be mujahedeen. If they get killed it is nothing. This world is very short. I myself want to be a mujahid. What will I do in this world? I could be in heaven, have a weekly meeting with God.
``Jihad is when you are attacked, you attack back. This is God`s wish. We are not afraid. I am already asking my husband if I can go to Kashmir and train to fight. I will suicide bomb. If there are 20 to 30 non-Muslims, there I will commit martyrdom. If America attacks, we will put our hands on the throats of Americans and kill them.``
Mehreen Zair, 9, far left in white, during a Koran-reading session at the Mohamadia Mujadadia Izhar-ul-Koran madrassah, a day school. ``If America attacks, we will do jihad. I don`t know how, but we will do it together.``
Shafia Salaam, 16 (in black), at a celebration for a 13-year-old girl, at right, who has memorized the Koran at Jamia Khadijatul-Kubra-Lil-Binat madrassah. Shafia is an Afghan refugee who has been living in Pakistan for more than a decade. ``I have seen images in the newspapers of what happened in America, and I feel it was not good. But perhaps God punished America for the wrongs she is doing in other countries, like Palestine and Kashmir. If the Americans attack us, we will fight. Non-Muslims are our enemy according to the Koran, so Americans are our enemy. We hate America. ``I believe in jihad. I will do whatever I can do. If I am provided the opportunity to get weapons, I will use them.``
Shumailia Kiran, 12, center, learning the first five chapters of the Koran at the Mohamadia Mujadadia Izhar-ul-Koran madrassah. ``Osama is not involved because he is a Muslim, and Muslims are not capable of such a terrorist act. He is a mujahid and is supposed to fight on the path of God.``
Munaza Kanwam, 10, at her Koran ceremony at the Mohamadia Mujadadia Izhar-ul-Koran madrassah. ``I am very happy. I feel like a bride. My father gave me a 20-gram gold set, my grandmother has sewn my clothes and my hair band, and my mother has sewn me two new suits. I have received a lot of gifts. I think Osama is a great man, and he is fighting America.``
Home | Back to Magazine | Search | Help Back to Top
Reporting on Afghanistan
macgupta
What you have there as 8 american per 1000 is natural course of death.Which in Afghanistan,considering much lower health 7 Medical care must be higher.than 8.7 for American
Although it is not specified ,by common sense ,i am sure they mean ``UNatural death`` which would mostly include children ,young adult men & women who below the normal life span for Afghani which may be 40 or so yrs.die as war casualty ,or war related causes.
Posted by
Bijli
Oct 23, 2001 02:57 am
#: 18 macgupta
What you have there as 8 american per 1000 is natural course of death.Which in Afghanistan,considering much lower health 7 Medical care must be higher.than 8.7 for American
Although it is not specified ,by common sense ,i am sure they mean ``UNatural death`` which would mostly include children ,young adult men & women who below the normal life span for Afghani which may be 40 or so yrs.die as war casualty ,or war related causes.
India’s Communal Gamble
Bhilwara: In yet another incident of religious sacrilege in Rajasthan, a mazar (mausoleum) has been desecrated at Jahazpur by unidentified miscreants.
Sudhanshu, the collector, who visited the mazar of Adamali Shah, said that additional police force had been deployed there. The mazar was repaired, he added.
In the last two months, there have been as many as six incidents of sacrilege in the State, including the demolition of an old Qalandari mosque situated at Swai Bhoj temple complex at Asind and desecration of another mosque and burning of a holy book at Pander.
This was one of the four mazars in the town at an old fort, at a height of 450 feet, where two constables had been maintaining round-the-clock vigil since August 15, the collector said. He did not explain as to how the desecration happened despite the vigil.
Posted by
Bijli
Oct 21, 2001 01:04 pm
Mazar desecrated in JahazpurBhilwara: In yet another incident of religious sacrilege in Rajasthan, a mazar (mausoleum) has been desecrated at Jahazpur by unidentified miscreants.
Sudhanshu, the collector, who visited the mazar of Adamali Shah, said that additional police force had been deployed there. The mazar was repaired, he added.
In the last two months, there have been as many as six incidents of sacrilege in the State, including the demolition of an old Qalandari mosque situated at Swai Bhoj temple complex at Asind and desecration of another mosque and burning of a holy book at Pander.
This was one of the four mazars in the town at an old fort, at a height of 450 feet, where two constables had been maintaining round-the-clock vigil since August 15, the collector said. He did not explain as to how the desecration happened despite the vigil.
India’s Communal Gamble
By MH Lakdawala
Mumbai: The granting of bail to former police commissioner RD Tyagi proves beyond doubt that state government is not serious in implementing Srikrishna commission report or punishing those indicted by the Commission.
The ex-police commissioner was granted bail mainly on the grounds of parity: since his co-accused are out on bail, why not he? Since those who went inside Suleman Bakery and actually fired spent not an hour in custody, while the man who claims to have waited outside had to surrender? The defense argued. But the state did not put its case strongly to counter this argument.
The simple reason is that the Maharashtra state did not want them inside either. In the normal course of things, Tyagi,and 16 co accused, should have been arrested as soon as the FIR was filed u/sec 302 and 34 IPC on May 25.
How serious was the State government and STF can be gauged by the fact that they did not appealed against the bail granted to Tyagi’s 16 co-accused. During the hearing of Tyagi`s bail plea Judge Thipsay repeatedly asked the special public prosecutor (PP) whether the State had appealed against the bail granted to his co-accused.
In his order too, he pointed out that the granting of bail to them did not aggrieve the state. How could it be aggrieved when it had not opposed even their anticipatory bail application? The order makes it obvious. The order granting them anticipatory bail clearly states that the investigating agency, i.e., the Special Task Force (STF), did not even press for custodial interrogation. ``The very fact that the investigating agency did not find it necessary to take them into custody indicates that there is no apprehension of the applicants tampering with the evidence or absconding...``
In his brilliant arguments opposing Tyagi`s anticipatory bail application in the high court, Special Public Prosecutor P R Vakil had declared that thanks to the cover-up by Tyagi and his department, there was no evidence left to tamper with.
He had pointed out the complete lack of evidence to support the version put forward by Tyagi and his Special Operations Squad (SOS). He had even displayed the kind of arms with which the alleged terrorists were supposed to have escaped while surrounded by the STF, to show how absurd this claim was.
All these arguments applied equally to Tyagi`s co-accused. There was no question then of greater responsibility or lesser. Why then weren`t the same arguments made in the anticipatory bail application of the co-accused? Because Home Minister Chagan Bhujbal and Police Commissioner M N Singh didn`t want them to lose their jobs and then be left with a sullen police force to deal with?
Vakil had concluded his high court arguments by pointing out that there was enough evidence to necessitate custodial interrogation of Tyagi. He had to be asked what happened to the victims` clothes and the bullets embedded in two bodies. Normally, murder accused are interrogated in custody. If this accused is dealt with separately, it would be an injustice, he had said.
Despite this, the STF chose, just a few hours before Justice A B Palkar was to pass his order, to finish off Tyagi`s interrogation in their office.
Special Public Prosecutor Vakil has been an unenviable task. How can any PP forcefully oppose anticipatory bail or bail when his client doesn`t want the accused in custody? If Vakil fought with all his might against Tyagi`s anticipatory bail application, it was because public pressure forced the government to let him do so.
Even while hearing in magistrate`s court. STF fails to produce Tyagi. Reprimanded by magistrate for making no written application. Tyagi`s counsel insists that shifting Tyagi either to Arthur Road Jail or J J Hospital will be life-threatening. Though there`s no medical report saying this, PP keeps silent. He does not ask court to order medical examination of Tyagi by panel of government doctors.
Thus apparently state government projects itself as implementing the Srikrishna Commission report and committed to bring to justice those indicted by the Commission. But its deeds convey the fact that it is only interested in scoring political points even at the cost of Justice. q
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Posted by
Bijli
Oct 21, 2001 01:04 pm
Suleman Bakery-accused Tyagi gets bailBy MH Lakdawala
Mumbai: The granting of bail to former police commissioner RD Tyagi proves beyond doubt that state government is not serious in implementing Srikrishna commission report or punishing those indicted by the Commission.
The ex-police commissioner was granted bail mainly on the grounds of parity: since his co-accused are out on bail, why not he? Since those who went inside Suleman Bakery and actually fired spent not an hour in custody, while the man who claims to have waited outside had to surrender? The defense argued. But the state did not put its case strongly to counter this argument.
The simple reason is that the Maharashtra state did not want them inside either. In the normal course of things, Tyagi,and 16 co accused, should have been arrested as soon as the FIR was filed u/sec 302 and 34 IPC on May 25.
How serious was the State government and STF can be gauged by the fact that they did not appealed against the bail granted to Tyagi’s 16 co-accused. During the hearing of Tyagi`s bail plea Judge Thipsay repeatedly asked the special public prosecutor (PP) whether the State had appealed against the bail granted to his co-accused.
In his order too, he pointed out that the granting of bail to them did not aggrieve the state. How could it be aggrieved when it had not opposed even their anticipatory bail application? The order makes it obvious. The order granting them anticipatory bail clearly states that the investigating agency, i.e., the Special Task Force (STF), did not even press for custodial interrogation. ``The very fact that the investigating agency did not find it necessary to take them into custody indicates that there is no apprehension of the applicants tampering with the evidence or absconding...``
In his brilliant arguments opposing Tyagi`s anticipatory bail application in the high court, Special Public Prosecutor P R Vakil had declared that thanks to the cover-up by Tyagi and his department, there was no evidence left to tamper with.
He had pointed out the complete lack of evidence to support the version put forward by Tyagi and his Special Operations Squad (SOS). He had even displayed the kind of arms with which the alleged terrorists were supposed to have escaped while surrounded by the STF, to show how absurd this claim was.
All these arguments applied equally to Tyagi`s co-accused. There was no question then of greater responsibility or lesser. Why then weren`t the same arguments made in the anticipatory bail application of the co-accused? Because Home Minister Chagan Bhujbal and Police Commissioner M N Singh didn`t want them to lose their jobs and then be left with a sullen police force to deal with?
Vakil had concluded his high court arguments by pointing out that there was enough evidence to necessitate custodial interrogation of Tyagi. He had to be asked what happened to the victims` clothes and the bullets embedded in two bodies. Normally, murder accused are interrogated in custody. If this accused is dealt with separately, it would be an injustice, he had said.
Despite this, the STF chose, just a few hours before Justice A B Palkar was to pass his order, to finish off Tyagi`s interrogation in their office.
Special Public Prosecutor Vakil has been an unenviable task. How can any PP forcefully oppose anticipatory bail or bail when his client doesn`t want the accused in custody? If Vakil fought with all his might against Tyagi`s anticipatory bail application, it was because public pressure forced the government to let him do so.
Even while hearing in magistrate`s court. STF fails to produce Tyagi. Reprimanded by magistrate for making no written application. Tyagi`s counsel insists that shifting Tyagi either to Arthur Road Jail or J J Hospital will be life-threatening. Though there`s no medical report saying this, PP keeps silent. He does not ask court to order medical examination of Tyagi by panel of government doctors.
Thus apparently state government projects itself as implementing the Srikrishna Commission report and committed to bring to justice those indicted by the Commission. But its deeds convey the fact that it is only interested in scoring political points even at the cost of Justice. q
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India’s Communal Gamble
Hate-mongers active
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Sang Parivar spreading hate against uslims in
Colleges!!
I`m a student of Bundelkhand Institute of Engg. & Technology, Jhansi. Recently an untoward event took place on our campus.
It is a matter of grave concern that Sangh Parivar has started arousing anti Muslim feelings in the ordinary citizens more vigorously in the wake of attack on US. They are trying to communalise the atmosphere.
In this regard now RSS personnel have started mobilsing masses by going to different institutions. And our college is one of them. I was shocked to know that on 18 September RSS men came with some teachers in one hostel (Vrindavan) of college and asked all the students to gather in the common room. There they blatantly incited the students by educating them about the ``evils`` of Muslims and false facts about Babri Masjid etc. and urged them to join the RSS. They even said that any Masjid or religious place of Muslims is a symbol of ``Ghulami`` (slavery) and they all will remain ghulam until they erase these symbols.
However, some students resisted their ideas but clearly such students were in minority and their views were overwhelmingly refuted by the majority of the people present. This clearly shows how the Sangh Parivar is growing rapidly and enlarging its working area and how they are inciting even those peoples who normally don`t want to indulge in any anti-Muslim activity. But at this moment what concerns me most is: how did our director allow RSS to hold a meeting in the institute?
(Name and address of correspondent provided)
BIET, Jhansi. q
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Posted by
Bijli
Oct 21, 2001 01:04 pm
Dateline Jhansi: Hate-mongers active
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Sang Parivar spreading hate against uslims in
Colleges!!
I`m a student of Bundelkhand Institute of Engg. & Technology, Jhansi. Recently an untoward event took place on our campus.
It is a matter of grave concern that Sangh Parivar has started arousing anti Muslim feelings in the ordinary citizens more vigorously in the wake of attack on US. They are trying to communalise the atmosphere.
In this regard now RSS personnel have started mobilsing masses by going to different institutions. And our college is one of them. I was shocked to know that on 18 September RSS men came with some teachers in one hostel (Vrindavan) of college and asked all the students to gather in the common room. There they blatantly incited the students by educating them about the ``evils`` of Muslims and false facts about Babri Masjid etc. and urged them to join the RSS. They even said that any Masjid or religious place of Muslims is a symbol of ``Ghulami`` (slavery) and they all will remain ghulam until they erase these symbols.
However, some students resisted their ideas but clearly such students were in minority and their views were overwhelmingly refuted by the majority of the people present. This clearly shows how the Sangh Parivar is growing rapidly and enlarging its working area and how they are inciting even those peoples who normally don`t want to indulge in any anti-Muslim activity. But at this moment what concerns me most is: how did our director allow RSS to hold a meeting in the institute?
(Name and address of correspondent provided)
BIET, Jhansi. q
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