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[1] From: viji <viji123@yahoo.com> Date: Wed Aug 24, 2005 Subject: Pak syllabus: Hindus 'devious' Pak syllabus: Hindus 'devious' CHIDANAND RAJGHATTA TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ TUESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2005 02:04:41 PM ] http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1208153.cms WASHINGTON: Pakistan's state-sponsored bigotry and vilification of other religions has caught the attention of US policy makers following a raft of articles in the American media about the intolerance the country's formal education system is breeding. In an unusually tough statement recently, the US state department said reports of continu- Bijit Kundu ed teaching of prejudice in Pakistan was a matter of "serious concern'' and Washington was having "ongoing discussions'' with Islamabad on the issue. "We have engaged the Pakistani government on this, specifically on the issue of textbooks and language that, upon reading, was clearly unacceptable and inciteful or would cause people to perhaps lash out with violent actions,'' state department spokesman Sean McCormack said. The reaction followed reports in the media that highlighted the continued disparaging references to Hindus, Christians and Jews in the Pakistani school curriculum. Some of the material taught in Pakistani schools includes describing Jews as tightfisted moneylenders, Christians as vengeful conquerors, and Hindus as devious and cowardly people. Such passages remain in the textbooks despite the Musharraf regime's promise to clean up its act. Remarkably, the state-sponsored distortions are taught in Pakistan's westernised public schools and not in the much-reviled madrassas. ---------------------- [2] From: yogi sikand <ysikand@yahoo.com> Date: Wed Aug 24, 2005 Subject: Shariah Courts?? Controversy in India: Countering The Ulema's Argument Shariah Courts?? Controversy in India: Countering The Ulema's Argument Yoginder Sikand In response to a petition filed by one Vishwa Lochan Varma seeking the dissolution of all dar ul-qadhas or shariah courts in the country, the Supreme Court recently issued a notice to the Centre, eight states, the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) and the Deoband madrasa. Predictably, the notice was greeted with considerable alarm in Muslim circles, the petition being construed as a well-calculated move to undermine Muslim Personal Law (MPL). In his plea before the Supreme Court, the petitioner argued that shariah courts constitute a parallel legal system and, hence, pose a grave challenge to the country??s judiciary. He insisted that the fatwas issued by these courts have no legal standing and should not be allowed to interfere in judicial proceedings. Hindutva organisations have been quick to jump into the fray, using the petition to voice their own demand for the scrapping of MPL. For their part, Muslim clerics or ulema continue to press with their demand for shariah courts. The AIMPLB and the Jamiat ul-Ulama-I Hind, among the most influential Muslim organisations in the country, have recently come out with statements appealing to Muslims to settle their family disputes through such courts and to refrain, as far as possible, from approaching the civil courts. They have also suggested that the state give legal recognition to the shariah courts and to recognise their fatwas as binding. The ulema??s case for shariah courts reflects the deeply-rooted legalistic tradition associated with the madrasas where the ulema are trained. In the madrasas overwhelming focus is placed on the nitty-gritty of Muslim jurisprudence or fiqh, which the traditionalist ulema regard as synonymous with the divine Islamic law or shariah. Almost every conceivable matter is reduced to legalistic terms, from the rules governing personal deportment such as dress and bathing and even defecation to the conduct of international relations. Although the Qur??an is not a legal treatise, containing relatively few verses of direct legal import, the ulema have constructed an enormous edifice of law to govern almost every issue, claiming these formulations as sacrosanct and an integral part of the shariah, even if, as Muslim critics point out, they might well violate the Qur??anic principles of equity and justice. This explains, in part, the passion with which many ulema defend MPL, seeing it as divinely ordained and, therefore, as unchangeable, although many aspects of the MPL, as it exists in India today, are obviously unjust, and hence, as many dissenting Muslims argue, cannot be said to be in accordance with the Qur??an??s mandate of justice. As the ulema see it, Muslims must abide faithfully by every command of the shariah, which they reduce to the medieval tradition of fiqh, many aspects of which are clearly opposed to the intention of the Qur??an, as, for instance, in several matters related to women and non-Muslims. They regularly invoke the Qur??an to argue that Muslims who refuse to settle their disputes in accordance with the shariah are apostates and grievous sinners. In an ideal Islamic state, they argue, it is the duty of the ruler to appoint judges or qazis to settle disputes in accordance with Islamic laws. In a country like India, however, where Muslims are in a minority and are not the rulers, it is imperative, they stress, for Muslims to appoint, through a representative body, qazis who would settle their disputes among Muslims according to the shariah. Ideally, in such a situation, the qazi would settle all disputes, both criminal as well as civil. The ulama, by and large, are pragmatic enough to realise the impossibility of imposing shariah-based criminal laws in India as long as Muslims remain a minority in the country. However, this does not stop them from offering shariah-based criminal laws as the perfect antidote to present-day social ills or, as in the case of a fringe minority, from even going to the extent of suggesting that such laws be imposed in India to punish Muslim criminals. Aware of the mounting criticism of their shariah courts campaign, the ulema and Islamist ideologues have sought to defend their stance, not just in Islamic terms, but also by using secular arguments in order to make their case appear more acceptable, presenting their case for such courts in terms of efficiency and speedy and relatively low-cost justice. This argument informs, for instance, a series of articles that appears in a recent issue (7-13 August, 2005) of the Jamaat-i Islami??s weekly organ, ???Radiance Viewsweekly??, whose cover story is revealingly titled, ??? Shariah Panchayat: Let It Work As Muslim Family Court at District Level???. The lead article, titled ???Need to Strengthen Dar ul Qadha??, argues that Muslims are duty-bound to lead their lives in accordance with the shariah. Hence the need for shariah courts to be set up all over the country, staffed by the ulama. Besides using this religious argument the article also seeks to meet any criticism of the proposal by claiming that it is in line with the Indian Constitution, rather than being tantamount to establishing a parallel legal system. It insists that such courts, if given legal sanction by the state, will help relieve the load of the already heavily burdened judicial system. In this regard it refers to a statement by the Chief Justice of India claiming that the number of cases pending in the Indian courts has reached the staggering figure of 34 million. It claims that settling these cases would take around 300 years at the rate the Indian courts function. In this context, it says, shariah courts, if approved by the state as an ???alternative dispute resolution mechanism??, like Lok Adalats, Family Courts, and Labour and other tribunals, would relieve the civil courts of their heavy burden and ensure quick and relatively inexpensive justice to Muslim litigants. In other words, it argues, legal recognition of shariah courts and their fatwas would be in the interests of the state rather than, as its critics argue, constituting a challenge to it. The same argument is made by another writer, a certain Shahid Ahmad, in his piece titled ???Recognition of Darul Qadha: Need of the Hour??. The establishment of shariah courts, he would have us believe, ???is a welcome step towards democratisation and decentralisation of the justice delivery system??. It would, in effect, he assures us, constitute a ???helping hand to the government??. All that is required, another contributor to the debate, Mushtaq Ahmad, adds, is a simple amendment of the Qazi Act of 1880, restoring legal powers to the qazis, acknowledging their fatwas as binding on Muslims in civil matters. In effect the proposal for legal recognition of shariah courts and their fatwas by the state is tantamount to a plea for legal apartheid. The ulema protagonists of the project, are, however, unmoved by any criticism, which they readily denounce as an ???anti-Muslim?? conspiracy to destroy MPL and Muslim identity. Nor do they recognise the obvious fact that their demand can only play into the hands of anti-Muslim Hindutva chauvinists. Indeed, in that sense, their demand can well be said to be ???anti-Muslim??, since it is bound to goad Hindutva chauvinists to further stoke the flames of anti-Muslim passion. Never known to have taken any interest in the manifold social and economic problems of the Muslim masses, the conservative ulema seem unfazed in the face of the Supreme Court??s recent notice on the shariah courts?? issue and the considerable opposition to their demand on the part of a number of Muslim social activists. ------------------------------- [3] From: "dn.rath" <dn.rath@gmail.com> Date: Tue Aug 23, 2005 Subject: A DEBATE ON SUPREME COURT'S JUDGEMENT ON PRIVATE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS- MEETING Friends, The Supreme Court's judgement on private educational institutions have raised many questions.Now the Chief Justice of the Syuprem Court had expressed his displeasure on the reactions expressed by the Govt. and political parties.Clash of judiciary with the executives and the legislative surfaces often in our country. Legitimacy and legality and vice-versa demands a fresh debate. Keeping this in mind the Movement for Secular Democracy(MSD) is going to hold a discussion. Renowened lawer, human right activist will discuss on Judiciary- Legislative and the People centering round the the Supreme court's judgement on the private institutions. THE PROGRAMME DISCUSSION . TOPIC - A DEBATE ON SUPREME COURT'S JUDGEMENT ON PRIVATE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS DATE- 25-8-05 DAY- THURSDAY TIME- 6 P.M SPEAKER- SRI GIRISH BHAI PATEL PLACE- NARMAD- MEGHANI LIBRARY, MEETHAKHALI, OPP. NATRAJ RAILWAY CROSSING, AHMEDABAD PH.No- 079 26404418 ------------------------------------ [4] From: yogi sikand <ysikand@yahoo.com> Date: Wed Aug 24, 2005 Subject: Inter-Communal Relations in Gujarat: Interview With Sophia Khan Sophia Khan works with SAFAR (Social Action Forum Against Oppression), an NGO based in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. She is a trained lawyer and earlier worked with the Vikas Adhyayan Kendra and the Ahmedabad Women??s Action Group. In this interview with Yoginder Sikand she talks about her work in trying to promote justice and communal harmony in Ahmedabad. Q: What sort of work is SAFAR engaged in? A: SAFAR is a relatively new organisation, set up in 2002 with an aim to promote Peace, Gender justice and Human rights to co-exist with Harmony. We worked in the relief camps, helping rehabilitate the victims of the state-sponsored violence, providing trauma counselling and so on. That??s when we decided to set up SAFAR to work particularly on issues related to gender equality and peace building. We began by organizing Muslim youths. We have also started a non-formal education programme among Muslim children in Vatva, an impoverished area on the outskirts of Ahmedabad. Our aim was to promote a political understanding of communalism and fascism, and to interrogate the notion, stressed by some religious groups, that the sufferings that the Muslims had to go through was simply because they were not pious enough or not regular in saying their prayers or keeping their fasts. These youth we have been interacting with are now setting up their own group, called Ummeed or ???Hope??, a symbolically powerful name in a context where many Muslim youth (socio-economically and politically depressed) feel that there is simply no hope for justice in Gujarat because the forces of Hindutva fascism are so strongly entrenched here now. We are also engaged in capacity building of Muslim and Tribal women in terms of addressing Gender issues. Q: How do you see your working among Muslim youth impacting on the nature of Muslim leadership in Gujarat? A: I think it is really crucial for Muslims here, and elsewhere too, to develop a leadership that seriously engages in civil society issues, in bread-and-butter concerns, instead of simply narrowly understood religious issues. And for that to happen we have to work among the youth. We in SAFAR are trying to do this in our own small way. For instance, we arranged for a seven-day youth awareness camp conducted by Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer of the Centre for the Study of Society and Secularism, Mumbai, where we discussed a number of issues related to communalism, trying to dispel myths and combat stereotypes. We are trying to get the young Muslims we work with to engage with NGOs that are taking up a range of social issues, from gender oppression and poverty to environmental degradation, human rights issues and so on. Unfortunately, few NGOs in Gujarat and elsewhere have specifically sought to work with Muslims. In terms of marginalized communities they have focussed mainly on Dalits and Tribals, not on Muslims. And in their work among Dalits they have paid little or no attention to the large number of Dalit Muslim communities. Partly because of the indifference of most NGOs, many Muslim youth have only 0religious groups to turn for leadership, having few or no contacts with wider civil society groups. SAFAR is also working among women in some villages in the Sabarkantha district, among Tribals as well as Muslims. We try and weave the issue of communalism and the urgent need for communal harmony in our interactions and programmes with the women groups, although for now our primary concern is domestic violence. Q: How do you account for the fact that few NGOs have sought to work among Muslims in Gujarat even after the 2002 genocide? A: I really don??t know. Few organizations had taken up projects on communal harmony or regarding some income generation activities. It is a sad fact that very few organizations have come forward to talk about justice to the victims. Perhaps they feel that if they work on the subject their permits to get foreign funding would be seized or that the government would stop funding their projects. Unfortunately, whenever the Muslim issue is raised, even in many NGO circles, it is generally in religious terms, not in social, economic or political terms. Hence, the solutions that are sought to be provided are also framed in religious terms, not in terms of concrete socio-political or economic factors. So, we need to change the terms in which we relate to and understand the Muslims if we want to work for a plural society. For instance, rather than looking at Muslim women??s concerns simply in terms of polygamy and triple talaq in one sitting, that is in terms of Islamic law, we need to talk about the concrete educational, social,economic and political marginalisation of Muslim women. I think one fallout of the genocide has been a growing willingness on the part of some NGOs and Islamic organisations in Gujarat to work together, and that is certainly a good thing. It would help NGOs take Muslim concerns more seriously, while at the same time it might help Islamic groups to see issues in a more realistic and socially engaged, and less ideologically programmed, way. And this is happening now at a certain level, with even Islamic religious groups now talking about the need for modern education. I am not sure if this represents a change of heart or is only a pragmatic strategy occasioned by the force of circumstance, but it is significant all the same. I think there is a growing realisation among the Muslims that modern education is essential for the community??s empowerment and for them to resist their systematic marginalisation. They seem to now realize that staying aloof from modern education will continue to leave Muslims hapless and helpless, which is something that the Hindutva forces and the present government actually want. I really think there is a need to develop an alternate Muslim leadership that does not frame Muslim issues simply in religious terms, and perhaps the involvement of some NGOs with Muslims will lead to a new class of young Muslim leaders emerging who are more concerned with the concrete social problems afflicting the community and are ready to enter into alliances with wider civil society groups. We have to appreciate the context in which we live, as citizens of a multi-religious society. Not every problem should be reduced to a religious issue, as some religious groups, both Hindu and Muslim, seek to. It is obvious that Hindutva or communalism more generally is not a religious issue, but, rather, a political question. Hence, it demands political, and not just religious, answers. I am convinced that if sensitively approached Muslim youth will be willing to join wider struggles for social justice and communal harmony, rather than simply remain tied to religious organisations for want of any other alternative. They are not religious bigots that they would refuse to consider allying with others. I think if civil society organisations, NGOs and peoples?? movements make a serious effort many young Muslims will readily join them. This would, in turn, reduce the influence of conservative religious leaders who have a vested interest in keeping Muslims aloof from wider struggles. Of course, work needs to be done among others as well, among other marginalised groups such as Dalits, Backward Castes and Tribals, to form a joint struggle against fascism. Q: Do you see any such struggle beginning to emerge in Gujarat today? A: I fear that little is being done in this regard. There is little or no expression of remorse for the killings of three thousand Muslims. If you were to stand in the middle of the street and shout out against what had happened, you can be sure that most people would say that the Muslims ???deserved?? what happened to them. In such a context, when there is little or no remorse or confession of guilt, how can one talk of reconciliation and justice? It is an uphill struggle, I must admit. One really cannot rule out a replication of 2002 in the future since Hindutva as an ideology has penetrated deeply among many Gujarati Hindus and even Dalits and Tribals. Further, the Congress is almost as saffronised as the BJP, and there is no third force to challenge these two parties. If the BJP has lost in some local elections to the Congress it does not mean a decline in support for Hindutva, but, rather, represents a negative vote, a symbolic protest against the BJP??s non-performance. Sophia Khan can be contacted on sophiakhan@... |
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| << August24, 2005 - [India Thinkers Net]Re-Sex workers autobiography & Sukla post |
August24, 2005 - [India Thinkers Net]Terrorism,deporting Blair,RKM Univ etc >> |
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