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| << July09, 2005 - [India Thinkers Net] Wounded London -Sukla Sen & Proton |
July10, 2005 - [India Thinkers Net]North-East news >> |
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From: Sukla Sen <suklasen@yahoo.com> Date: Sat Jul 9, 2005 Subject: The London Bombings: Why They Happened? http://www.counterpunch.org/tariq07082005.html Why They HappenedThe London Bombings By TARIQ ALI There was no public transport in London yesterdayafternoon. The underground system was closed and thepolice were advising people not to go near centralLondon. Casualties are in the hundreds and there aremany deaths. The first reaction to the rush-hour bombson the underground was to suggest they were caused byan electricity surge. Then a tourist bus blew up inRussell Square, in the vicinity of the British Museum.It was obvious that this was no 'electricity surge'but the return of terror attacks to London.During the last phase of 'the troubles', the IRA targeted mainland Britain: they came close to blowingup Margaret Thatcher and her Cabinet when they bombedthe Grand Hotel in Brighton during a ConservativeParty Conference. Several months later a missile wasfired at 10 Downing Street. London's financial quarterwas also targeted causing immense damage to property.(......................................... ................) The principalcause of this violence is the violence that is beinginflicted on the people of the Muslim world. Thebombing of innocent people is equally barbaric inBaghdad, Jenin, Kabul as it is in New York, Madrid orLondon. And unless this is recognized the horrors willcontinue.Tariq Ali is author of the recently released StreetFighting Years (new edition) and, with DavidBarsamian, Speaking of Empires & Resistance ---------- [2] From: Sukla Sen <suklasen@yahoo.com Date: Sun Jul 10, 2005 Subject: London Bombings: Two Views I. http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1425485,001301780003.htm? headline=Now~in~London,~skin~colour~matters Now in London, skin colour matters Dipankar De Sarkar (IANS) London, July 9, 2005 When terror strikes the West, it's best to batten down the hatches - especially if you are of the 'wrong' skin colour. So far I've considered Britain to be an exception in the West. But I maybe wrong. Times are changing, and when ruthless terrorists struck London on Thursday with four rush-hour bombs that left some 50 civilians dead, a number of leaders - led by Prime Minister Tony Blair - called upon the British public to ensure that there is no backlash against Muslims. Although no group had yet admitted setting off the blasts, Blair, who rushed to London from the G8 summit in Gleneagles, said: "The vast majority of Muslims here and abroad are decent and law abiding people who abhor these acts of terrorism every bit as much as we do." ...... .. .... ....... .... (Dipankar De Sarkar is the IANS correspondent in London) II. THE TERRIBLE HUMAN TRAGEDY IN LONDON HAS IMPORTANT LESSONS : --------------------------------------------------------------------- Organizer-London blasts Level the field now Sandhya Jain Per square kilometre of its small land surface, Great Britain has far more residential "guest" terrorists and unsavoury characters than any nation in the world. Far from being a source of concern, the host country has viewed their presence on its soil with equanimity, smugly confident that men sought by police in other countries would fulfill their subversive agendas from British territory without pointing their guns inwards. If that confidence was shaken by 9/11 in New York, Prime Minister Tony Blair's administration certainly did not let it show. There was virtually no crackdown on the growing lunatic elements in the country, and despite the fact that native citizens were increasingly being targetted by criminal elements professing a distinct affiliation, all crime was covered up under the generic label of "Asian." Now, the pigeons have come home to roost. Deeply embarrassed before the world community at the opening of the prestigious G- 8+India+China summit in Scotland, Mr. Tony Blair has called the 5 July 2005 serial blasts in London an attack upon the civilized world. He has expressed determination to defeat the terrorists' designs, and to their credit, British emergency services and ordinary citizens have shown exemplary ability to cope with the first serious homeland attack since the Second World War. But sadly for Mr. Blair, US President George Bush, his foremost ally, in whose support he even staked his political career, used the occasion to reiterate commitment to faulty policies in Iraq. This is hardly conducive to improving domestic security in Britain, and unless one has seriously underestimated the character of Islamic fundamentalists who have ensconced themselves there over decades, more attacks are on the cards. Scotland Yard will certainly go after the men involved in Thursday's blasts; reportedly a minimum of ten to twelve persons were involved in planting the devices. The coordinated nature of the explosions also gives credence to the claim that an Al-Qaeda group was behind the attacks. The presence of Al-Qaeda raises the question of the mindset behind the attacks, and the international community would do well to stop evading this issue. Although no country has suffered as constantly and severely as India, the network of terror has now embraced America, Britain, Indonesia, Kenya, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Spain. It is being said that Denmark and Italy are the next targets, and we can trust the terrorists to fulfill this grim promise. The fact that Saudi Arabia, fountainhead of the rigid Wahabi Islam that is intimately linked with Al-Qaeda and international Islamic extremism, has itself suffered terrorist violence, as have Saudi-Pakistan allies like America and Britain, is evidence that Islamic fundamentalism is not a genie that can be bottled at will. It is time, therefore, to call a spade a spade. A beginning must be made with the self-definitions of those perpetrating these acts of barbarism: if the terrorists say they are motivated by faith and are acting its defence, it is not for us to proclaim that terrorists have no religion. They do. This religious affiliation is recognized within the wider community; within hours of the explosions, UK Muslims were given a call to stay indoors to avoid a possible backlash from the citizenry. No doubt Mr. Blair's Government will take steps to contain any possible violence against minorities. But perhaps it is time the international community dispassionately examined why a growing network of terror across the globe links back to one faith. Can national and international laws governing freedom of religion declare that religious concepts that preach intolerance towards other faiths and their adherents are illegal? Can Islamic seminaries be persuaded to omit the concepts of Jihad and Ghazi while teaching the Koran to youngsters? Can churches be forbidden form calling other belief systems "false"? In India, secularists have become addicted to their pretty speeches, without regard for reality or the sufferings of those for whom they have little empathy (read the Hindu community). Those who watched the television news on Tuesday when the Ram Janmabhoomi was attacked, and again on Thursday when London was jolted, could not but be struck by the utter indifference of all news anchors towards the highest seat of Hindu reverence as opposed to their brimming concern for the former colonial State. Many channels prepared special clips on the Twin Towers tragedy in New York, but no one thought that this might be the time to ask why the world adopted different yardsticks when 100 pilgrims were gunned down in a single attack on the Amarnath yatra some years ago, why the Raghunath Temple, Akshardham, and the Ram Janmabhoomi were assaulted, why the victims of the Godhra inferno are largely unrecognized, not to mention the almost daily aggravations against citizens in Jammu & Kashmir. There could never be a more eloquent expose of the denationalization of the Indian media. Friday mornings' newspapers were hardly any better, primly reiterating their well- known pieties. The fact of the matter, however, is that the so-called communal divide exists in the minds that conceive and execute acts of violence towards others on the ground that they belong to a different faith; it exists in minds that acquiesce in these acts of barbarism and defend them on weak moral and intellectual grounds; and it exists above all in minds that work to ensure that there is no fallout for the aggressors. To accuse victims of communalizing a situation not created by them is disingenuous and dishonest; it is also now subject to diminishing returns. Were this not so, Congress president Sonia Gandhi would not have modified her statement on the Ayodhya attack while visiting Rai Bareilly on Thursday, in order to sound more sympathetic to the Hindu community. ---------------------------------- [3] From: Sukla Sen <suklasen@yahoo.com> Date: Sun Jul 10, 2005 Subject: The Continuing Imrana Debate: Women Speak Out I. http://www.indianexpress.com/archive_full_story.php?content_id=74020 Another Shah Bano? Unless more Muslim women speak out, Imrana??™s fate may be no different JYOTI PUNWANI It??™s the same old sickening Shah Bano scenario again. A poor Muslim woman in a terrible domestic crisis, being condemned to a worse fate by her community??™s male leaders citing the Quran; a cynical political establishment which knows that Muslim men control their women??™s votes; a media hysterical at the prospect of putting ???mullahs??™ in the dock; a gleeful BJP suddenly concerned about Muslim women, thinking the world will forget its silence when its cadres gang-raped them just three years ago; a few brave Muslim voices speaking out against the maulvis; and a deafening silence by the majority of Muslims, despite their belief that their faith does not sanction the outrage ordered by the Dar ul Ulum Deoband. No wonder Imrana, like Shah Bano, has accepted defeat and said she will submit to the inhuman fatwa. II. http://www.indianexpress.com/archive_full_story.php?content_id=73965 Women under one God How can Islam work best in favour of women? Leading women of the Muslim community comment on the Imrana case and argue for the correct interpretation of what they see as a humane system of law MEHBOOBA MUFTI Born and raised under the influence of a grandfather who lived Islam in its true essence, I am appalled at the way Islam is misinterpreted and misused by a handful of people who claim to be authorities on the Shariat. ..... .... ........ The writer is President of the PDP III. http://iecolumnists.expressindia.com/full_column.php?content_id=73851 How will Imrana??™s story end? Neerja Chowdhury The Imrana case, which has plunged the Muslim community into turmoil, throws up several issues. First is the question where rape is a crime or not. Or is it to be viewed only as an act of sex forced upon a woman? An act that defiles and dishonours the victim, and not the perpetrator of the crime?............. . ......... IV. http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=74028 Imrana and the Law How do we regard the security of women under Indian law, regardless of the community they belong to? SONA KHAN From the stories appearing in the media, I wonder if some forces would not like to see Imrana??™s case turned into a matter of Muslim personal law alone, rather than being treated as a matter of criminal law. If so, then there is cause for national concern. We should be worried for all women and for Muslim women, but also for Muslim law, and for the freedom of religion. Violence against women, both in the family and outside, has become something of an issue in public life. There seems to me to be an attempt from certain quarters of the Muslim leadership to keep the Muslim women of UP away from the benefits of the proposed Bill relating to Domestic Violence, which recently received the Cabinet??™s consent. I cannot understand the directionless political churning in Imrana??™s matter, where institutions, groups and individuals are eager to play an unnecessary and perhaps unintended role. --------------------------------- [4] http://dailypioneer.com/indexn12.aspmain_variable=EDITS&;file_name=edit3%2Etxt&c\ounter_img=3 9th July 2005 Between London & Ayodhya KPS Gill There can be no comparison between the magnitude and impact of the coordinated July 7 terrorist attacks in London and the failed fidayeen operation in Ayodhya on July 5, but it is useful to look at the political and media responses to these two incidents, which offer an edifying study in contrast. |
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