Rise in Bangladesh female canings alarms rights groups

Rise in Bangladesh female canings alarms rights

Wednesday, 24 Jun, 2009 

 ‘Perhaps they are inspired by the kinds of courts used by the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan,’ a Bangladeshi lawyer said. — AFP World

DHAKA: The cuts on Rahima Begum’s legs are healing but the unmarried mother of one will carry the psychological scars from a public whipping for revealing the father of her child for a long time to come.

In conservative Muslim Bangladesh, having a child out of wedlock is taboo, and the elders in Rahima’s eastern village decided she should be taught a lesson after pointing the finger at a neighbour, who denied he was the father.

‘They called me before a makeshift court and ruled that I was a liar,’ the 22-year-old told AFP from her hospital bed.

Rahima’s punishment was to be caned 39 times in front of elders and Islamic clerics.

The case shocked many in Bangladesh, with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ordering Rahima to be moved from a small village hospital in Comilla to one of the best in the capital Dhaka.

There, she is receiving treatment, including counselling, a month after the beating.

‘Every time I close my eyes, I play the scene over and over in my head,’ she said.

Human rights groups say Rahima’s plight is becoming increasingly common in Bangladesh, with hardline clerics taking the law into their own hands and handing down harsh punishments, mostly to women, found guilty by village courts.

The so-called crimes heard by the courts — most common in rural areas, and not recognised as legitimate — range from adultery to being raped, and in one case a Muslim woman was whipped for talking to a Hindu man.

Women’s groups and human rights activists have protested the unexplained rise in caning cases in the past two months, and note that many such incidents of violence probably go unreported.

‘We’ve recorded 15 such incidents in May and June. We’ve never seen such a sharp rise in cases. It’s very worrying,’ said Ayesha Khanam, president of the women’s group Bangladesh Mahila Parishad.

‘There are undoubtedly many more than have gone unreported.’

In Rahima’s case, police arrested the men who whipped her, but campaigners say most get away with the beatings because the kangaroo courts have until recently largely been ignored by authorities.
Salma Ali, head of the Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association, said that while urban parts of the country were becoming more progressive in dealing with women’s rights, some rural areas were going the other way.

‘Conservative Muslim clerics are losing power in a country where women are increasingly holding more prominent positions,’ she said.

‘But some parts of the country are becoming more conservative.’

‘Perhaps they are inspired by the kinds of courts used by the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan.’

Rahima said the physical and mental suffering of being publicly whipped mean that her hospital bed in Dhaka, 80 kilometres away from her village home, is the safest place for her right now.

‘My legs are almost healed but I’m not ready to go back to the village. I don’t know whether I can ever go back,’ she said.

Al-Qaeda backed LeT to carry out 11/7 bombings

‘Al-Qaeda backed LeT to carry out 11/7 bombings’

Tushar Srivastava, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, July 03, 2009

The United States and the United Nations Security Council have said that Al-Qaeda provided support to the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) to carry out the July 2006 training bombings in Mumbai and the February 2007 Samjhauta Express blasts in Panipat.

If correct, this would be the first-ever confirmation that an international jihadi outfit like the Al-Qaeda was directly involved in aiding and abetting major terrorist attacks in India. If correct, this would be the first-ever confirmation that an international jihadi outfit like the Al-Qaeda was directly involved in aiding and abetting major terrorist attacks in India.

The revelation was made when the US and the UNSC proscribed four men, all residents of Pakistan and belonging to the LeT: Fazeel-A-Tul Shaykh Abu Mohammed Ameen Al-Peshawari, Arif Qasmani, Mohammed Yahya Mujahid and Nasir Javaid.

Qasmani, the US and the UN have said, is the chief coordinator for LeT dealings with outside organisations and has provided significant support for LeT terrorist operations.

BJP leader stabbed in Mysore, Muslim youth detained

Mysore still tense, BJP leader stabbed
Jul 03, 2009

Violence in Mysore continued on Friday with a BJP slum morcha leader Giridhar being stabbed in the N R Mohalla area when he was seated with a Muslim friend in a car. Though the police said the incident was connected to a financial dispute and was not part of the communal clashes witnessed in the neighboring Udayagiri suburb, tension prevailed in the locality.

The police claimed to have detained a Muslim youth in connection with the attack on Giridhar, who is said to be in a serious condition. “Two people came on a motorcycle and attacked a Hindu and a Muslim. It is connected to some other dispute. An investigation is on,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central Armed Reserve) B Shivanna.

After the violence of Thursday morning, two Hindus were stabbed late in the evening by a motorcyle borne duo in the Shanthinagar area. Much of Friday was peaceful, with people staying indoors. The Rapid Action Force carried out a peace march in the affected areas.

On Thursday, Junaid Pasha, a 14-year-old mechanic who was standing near his house, Mubarak, a 22-year-old lorry driver, and Tirupathy, a 42-year-old mason on his way to work, where killed as violence engulfed the area. While Pasha’s mother said her son died in the police firing, the police claim he was stabbed.

While the trigger for the violence on Thursday was the desecration of a disputed under-construction prayer hall in Kyathamaranahalli, there are reports of local Muslim leaders aggravating the violence in a battle of one upmanship. A lot of fingers are being pointed at the power tussle between Congress leaders — MLA Tanvir Sait and former Mayor Ayub Khan. “Many of the people involved in the rioting on Thursday were brought from outside. In the light of the communal clashes other scores are also being settled,” a Congress leader said. Party sources said Khan was trying to become the key Congress leader in the region.

Local Congress leader Mohammed Rehmatullah said the incident comes after the district administration allowing the entry of controversial Sri Rama Sene leader Pramod Muthalik into the area a few days ago. “It is natural that the ruling BJP will use the administration for its benefit and there will be discontentment among the minority community. But that is rarely reason enough for such violence,” a Congress leader said.

Clashes in Mysore as Muslims attempt to build mosque in disputed site

Muslim youth in connection with the attack on BJL leader Giridhar

“The clashes are reportedly over attempts to build a mosque on a disputed piece of land. In fact, two years ago a group had tried to build a mosque on this site but the Huliyamma temple trust had questioned it in court.

On Wednesday night, the mosque officials tried to resume construction but the carcass of a pig was found in the area inciting fresh violence. “

Clashes in Mysore over religious site, three dead
CNN-IBN
Jul 02, 2009
Mysore: Communal clashes have been reported to have occurred in Mysore and three people are believed to have died.

One of the dead reportedly includes a 15-year-old who was shot at. Curfew has been imposed in the Udayagiri and Mandi areas and the situation in surrounding areas too is said to be tense.

A large police presence is reported at the site of the incidence. Police fired in the air and lobbed tear gas shells to disperse crowds.

Police claim the situation is under control but Mahadevapura main road continues to be blocked by protestors.

The clashes are reportedly over attempts to build a mosque on a disputed piece of land. In fact, two years ago a group had tried to build a mosque on this site but the Huliyamma temple trust had questioned it in court.

On Wednesday night, the mosque officials tried to resume construction but the carcass of a pig was found in the area inciting fresh violence.

CNN-IBN contacted the Karnataka Chief Minister’s office. In a statement, the CM’s office said, “It was unexpected, it is now under control. The clashes started at 8.30 am today. School and Colleges have been closed in parts of Mysore. Media is prevented from entering troubled areas. Section 144 has been imposed.”

Muslim mob attacks Christians in Pakistan, hundreds flee

Christian families in Kasur hide from angry mobs

* Christians say blasphemy charges result of misunderstanding, argument between two boys
* DCO ‘apologises’ to Christians

By Ali Usman

LAHORE: At least 110 Christian families, almost 700 people, were forced on Tuesday night to flee Bahmniwala, a village in Kasur, after angry mobs attacked and threatened to burn their houses for allegedly committing blasphemy.

The families sought safety in the fields surrounding their village, even as local mosques urged the Muslims to unite and “teach a lesson” to the Christians, residents told Daily Times. However, locals told Daily Times the problem started when a Christian boy, Arif Mashi, was travelling on a tractor and asked a Muslim boy, Muhammad Riaz, to allow him to pass. When Riaz refused, the two quarrelled.

Following this incident, on Tuesday night, a mob attacked houses of the area’s Christian community with petrol-bombs, destroying their electricity meters and thrashing any Christians they found. On Wednesday, the Muslim community refused to communicate with the Christian community, boycotting their businesses. The Christians who returned to their homes found they had no electricity or drinking water the entire day. “Despite the presence of police, the mosques continued to urge a complete Christian boycott,” Sohail Johnson, chief coordinator of the Sharing Life Ministry, said.

Human Rights and Minority Affairs Minister Kamran Michael said he had asked officials of the Revenue Department to compile an estimate of the loss suffered by the Christian community. He said justice would be ensured, adding the government would investigate the people responsible for turning the incident into a religious issue.

A committee comprising Christian and Muslim elders of the area, led by Kasur District Coordination Officer (DCO) Abdul Jabbar Shaheen, was formed on Wednesday to look into the matter and negotiate a peace deal between the two groups. The committee has been given four days to settle the matter.

DCO: The DCO said Islam did not allow cruelties against minorities. In his capacity as the DCO, he apologised to the Christians for the treatment that was meted out to them. A fact-finding mission led by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), will travel to the area today (Thursday) to probe into the matter.

Muslims excluded from India’s intelligence agency

Muslims excluded from India’s spy agency – report
06 Nov 2006
Source: Reuters

By Simon Denyer

NEW DELHI, Nov 6 (Reuters) – There are scarcely any Muslims working in India’s 10,000-strong external intelligence agency, and neither Muslims nor Sikhs working as bodyguards for the country’s top leaders, according to officials and media reports.

Mainly Hindu but officially secular India has its first Sikh prime minister, Manmohan Singh, but his community is not trusted enough to guard him, according to Outlook magazine this week.

The magazine said India’s minority Muslims were not trusted by the security apparatus because of fears they could sympathise with the country’s mainly Muslim neighbour and long-time foe Pakistan.

It said none had been recruited by the country’s external spy agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), since 1969.

The domestic Intelligence Bureau (IB) had decided to recruit Muslims in the l990s, Outlook said, but the organisation still only had a “handful” of Muslim officers.

A government spokesman declined to comment on the report.

An intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Outlook was wrong to say there were no Muslims in RAW but right to say there were scarcely any.

Nor were there any working as bodyguards in the Special Protection Group (SPG) assigned to protecting current and former prime ministers and their families, he said.

“It is an unwritten rule in the SPG that they cannot recruit a Muslim or a Sikh,” he told Reuters.

A.S. Dulat, who served as RAW chief from 1999 to 2000, said he did not recall coming across any Muslims in the organisation but could not confirm the Outlook report.

“If we do not have any Muslims obviously this is a handicap,” he told Reuters. “If there are no Muslims, there must have been a reluctance to take them in. It is also not easy to find that many Muslims.”

“NEED FOR MUSLIMS ACUTE”

Sikhs have not been used as bodyguards since Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her personal Sikh bodyguards in 1984 at the height of a Sikh insurgency, Outlook said.

Dulat said Sikhs had come “under a cloud” following Gandhi’s murder, but found it hard to believe they would still be excluded from bodyguard duties today.

The status of India’s estimated 140 million minority Muslims is the subject of intense debate.

Leaked excerpts of a specially commissioned report, due to be published this month, have shown Muslims are significantly underrepresented in government jobs and in the judiciary but overrepresented in the prison populations in many Indian states.

There are just 29,000 Muslims in India’s 1.3-million strong armed forces, according to the defence ministry.

But Outlook magazine’s report will also raise concerns about whether India’s intelligence gathering will be effective without Muslim agents and officers.

“The need for Muslim officers in intelligence-gathering is acute,” another former RAW chief, Girish Chandra Saxena, was quoted as saying. “There are very few people who have knowledge of Urdu or Arabic. The issue has to be addressed.”

India is not alone in failing to recruit Muslims to the top levels of its security and intelligence apparatus.

America’s Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) are still reportedly struggling to recruit Arabic, Urdu and Farsi speakers five years after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

Sikhs constitute nearly two percent of India’s 1.1 billion population and the army is currently headed by General J.J. Singh, a  Sikh.

(Additional reporting by Y.P. Rajesh)

Army deserter Zafarullah who joined LeT shot dead

July 2, 2009

Army deserter who joined LeT shot dead

Mohit Kandhari | Jammu

An Army deserter identified as Zafarullah Khan Parray, who had reportedly joined ranks of Lashkar-e-Tayyeba, was killed by a joint team of security forces along with two other militants in a fierce gunfight in remote Kulhand area of Doda district on Wednesday.

However, the faces of the three slain militants were defaced beyond recognition during the intense gunfight. Local villagers identified one of them as Zaffarullah Khan Parray before claiming his body from the police, SSP Doda Prabhat Singh confirmed.

After completing the formalities, we handed over his body to the local villagers who claimed it, he further added. The two others had been identified as Abu Mohd Zulfi and Javed Mir, official sources said.

Zaffarullah, son of Ghulam Hassan Khan, resident of Beli Udrana, had deserted the Army camp of 8 Rashtriya rifles at Arnora on March 8 this year along with one Insas weapon and two AK rifles. The police and Army had launched massive man hunt to track him down but failed to do so.

Before deserting the Army, Zaffarullah had worked with the Territorial Army for as many as four years and no complaint was registered against his name.

Army deserter among 3 LeT militants gunned down in Doda

Jammu, July 01(NAK): Security forces claimed Wednesday evening to have gunned down three Lashkar militants including an army deserter in Bharat village of doda district of Jammu and Kashmir,this evening.

Reports revealed that after on specific information about the movement of LeT militants in Kulhand area of Doda district, a joint team of Police, CRPF and Army launched a search operation in the area.

The suspected area was cordoned off and during the search party established contact with the hiding ultras who were asked to surrender.

In return, they opened indiscriminate firing and lobbed grenades towards the troops thereby trigging a fierce encounter. The gun battle continued for several hours resulting in the death of three militants including a deserted Army Jawan.

Informed sources told News Agency of Kashmir that on specific information Jammu Kashmir police’s special operation group (SOG) in association with troops of 8 RR and 76 Battalion of CRPF launched a joint search operation in Bharat area of Kulhand village in Doda.

The slain militants have been identified as Bilal, Abu Zarar and Zafarullah who deserted territorial Battalion of army in Arnoda village of Doda few months back; however police identified the slain militants as Mushtaq Ahmed, Bilal Ahmed and Zafarullah.

Search operation was going on till last reports came in, huge quantity of army and ammunition have been recovered from the site of encounter details of which were not immediately available.

The operation was carried under direct supervision of SSP Doda Prabhat Singh and led by JKP’s Operation master Shiv Kumar.

The slain militants were responsible for numerous heinous and blatant acts of terrorism in the area.

The killing of the three militants is claimed to be the great success to the Police and Security forces, as it will give a severe blow to the outfit in the area.

Inspector General of Police Jammu, K.Rajendra Kumar has appreciated the work of operation team and said that they would continue such type of operations in future to frustrate the evil designs of anti national elements. (NAK)

Nicolas Sarkozy is a ‘tagdaa manoos’ (strong man), says Bal Thackeray of Shiv Sena

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Sarko-tagdaa-manoos-for-speaking-on-burqa/articleshow/4718254.cms

Sarko ‘tagdaa manoos’ for speaking on burqa

30 Jun 2009, 0410 hrs IST, Ambarish Mishra, TNN

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MUMBAI: Nicolas Sarkozy is a ‘tagdaa manoos’ (strong man), says Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray, because the French president spoke his mind on the burqa issue.

In a leader comment in Sena mouthpiece ‘Saamna’ on Monday, Thackeray, complimented Sarkozy for his “bold and courageous” comments that burqa was not a religious sign, but a sign of subservience. “It is heartening to note that Sarkozy has upheld his nation’s interests. He did not fall prey to the vote-bank politics,” said the Saamna editorial.

Thackeray said Sarkozy showed no consideration to the “regressive Muslim clergy” in his country. “He told the Muslim leaders in no uncertain terms that they will have to fully and completely adhere to the laws of France. India’s woes will end if we get someone like Sarkozy as our head.”

“Half of India’s leaders are in such poor health that we will have to look for proper space for their memorial,” the editorial said.

‘Saamna’ condemned Indian Muslim leaders for raising a bogey of ‘Islam khatre mein hai’ (Islam is in danger) every time the government makes an attempt to reform the Islamic laws. “Indian Muslim leaders will say that their religion is in danger even if Ajmal Kasab is sent to the gallows.”

Sarko ‘tagdaa manoos’ for speaking on burqa

30 Jun 2009, 0410 hrs IST, Ambarish Mishra, TNN

MUMBAI: Nicolas Sarkozy is a ‘tagdaa manoos’ (strong man), says Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray, because the French president spoke his mind on the burqa issue.

In a leader comment in Sena mouthpiece ‘Saamna’ on Monday, Thackeray, complimented Sarkozy for his “bold and courageous” comments that burqa was not a religious sign, but a sign of subservience. “It is heartening to note that Sarkozy has upheld his nation’s interests. He did not fall prey to the vote-bank politics,” said the Saamna editorial.

Thackeray said Sarkozy showed no consideration to the “regressive Muslim clergy” in his country. “He told the Muslim leaders in no uncertain terms that they will have to fully and completely adhere to the laws of France. India’s woes will end if we get someone like Sarkozy as our head.”

“Half of India’s leaders are in such poor health that we will have to look for proper space for their memorial,” the editorial said.

‘Saamna’ condemned Indian Muslim leaders for raising a bogey of ‘Islam khatre mein hai’ (Islam is in danger) every time the government makes an attempt to reform the Islamic laws. “Indian Muslim leaders will say that their religion is in danger even if Ajmal Kasab is sent to the gallows.”

No sane, free person would choose to wear a burka

No sane, free person would choose to wear a burka

By Licia Corbella, Calgary Herald, June 27, 2009

A while back I was asked to give a talk at my kids’ school about my December 2003 trip to Afghanistan.

As I waited to be introduced, I hid in an auditorium storage room wearing a burka I bought in that war-ravaged country, thinking I’d be out in a minute, maybe two. But the introduction took a lot longer than I had anticipated and by the time I came out to greet all those shining faces, I was very nearly hyperventilating from the oppression of it. I didn’t time my self-imposed confinement to the burka, but I probably wore the suffocating tent-like garment with mesh over my eyes for no more than 10 minutes. I told the kids I felt like I was buried alive.

I also told them that while in Afghanistan, I asked all of the many women I met there whether they liked wearing a burka. Not one said yes. In fact, they all said they hated it almost as much as they hated the Taliban.

It’s no wonder. The burka’s toll on these women was harsh. Many had lost most of their teeth and hair as a result of not having enough vitamin D, which comes from the sun. During the time of Taliban rule–from September 1996 to November 2001 –no portion of their skin, save their hands, was ever allowed to be exposed to sunlight. Think about the horror of that. The Taliban insisted that homes with women in them had to blacken their windows, lest a man pollute his delicate sensibilities by gazing upon the uncovered face of a woman behind the glass.

On Monday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy stated during the first presidential address to a joint session of France’s two legislative houses of Parliament in 136 years, that the burka was “not welcome” in France.

“We cannot accept to have in our country women who are prisoners behind netting, cut off from all social life, deprived of identity,” said Sarkozy.

He’s right. Women in burkas don’t seem human. After just a short while in Afghanistan, women in their blue burkas seem like ghostly apparitions devoid of a face, individuality or humanity.

At first, when my translators would tap me on the shoulder and suggest I “take a picture of that burka over there,” I would gently correct them by saying, “you mean, that WOMAN in the burka?” In a couple of days, however, I too was referring to them as simply burkas.

In France–where it’s already illegal to wear any conspicuous religious symbol in state schools including a head scarf–a parliamentary committee is studying the issue of whether or not to allow women to cover their faces for supposedly religious reasons. As Sarkozy said, the burka is “not a sign of religion, it is a sign of subservience.” The Muslim Canadian Congress agrees and urged Canada’s government to ban the burka.

“The decision to wear the burka is by no means a reflection of the genuine choices of Muslim women,” said MCC president, Sohail Raza in a news release. “The argument that Muslim women opt to wear the burka does not withstand scrutiny when considering the repressive nature of orthodox Muslim society in general.”

Reached at his Calgary home, Mahfooz Kanwar, Mount Royal College professor emeritus of sociology and criminology, says many well-meaning Canadians believe it is “tolerant” to allow Muslim women the “choice” of wearing the burka.

“There is no choice involved in this, and allowing it will lead to intolerance,” said Kanwar.

“Some people say banning the burka would be a slippery slope and would lead to the banning of wearing a scarf over your mouth in the winter while outside,” said Kanwar. “But the real slippery slope can be seen in some Islamist ghettos in Paris or in Denmark, where non-Muslim women are harassed for not covering their hair to the point where they have been forced to start doing so to prevent verbal and physical attacks by semi-literate Muslim men. That’s the real slippery slope.”

Kanwar, a Muslim who has written eight books, including one on the sociology of Islam, echoes Sarkozy’s comments. “The burka is not mandated by Islam or the Qur’an and is therefore not religious and protected under the Charter. In Canada, gender equality is one of our core values and faces are important identifying tools and should not be covered. Period,” added Kanwar, who is also a director with the MCC.

Many French politicians are on the side of a burka ban including some prominent Muslim politicians like Fadela Amara, France’s cities minister. Amara has called the burka “a coffin that kills individual liberties,” and a sign of the “political exploitation of Islam.”

Funny, but “coffin” was a word several women I met in Afghanistan used to describe their burka. Consider the words of Massooda, a 36-year-old widow, who looked more like 60 as a result of her harsh life. “I will never wear a burka again,” she said defiantly. “They will have to put me in a coffin before I walk around in one again.”

That’s choice. No sane, free person would ever “choose” the burka.

lcorbella@theherald. canwest.com
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

Indian Muslim leaders rage against legalising homosexuality, say it is against Islamic law

After Deoband, other Muslim leaders condemn homosexuality
1 Jul 2009,PTI

NEW DELHI: Amid government moves for a re-look at criminalising homosexuality, several Muslim leaders have said any attempt to legally permit  unnatural sex is an attack on religious and moral values.

“Legalisation of homosexuality is an attack on Indian religious and moral values,” over a dozen prominent Muslim religious leaders said in a statement.

The statement has been endorsed by Maulana Jalaluddin Omari, President of the Jamaat-e Islami Hind, Maulana Muhammad Salim Qasimi, Rector of Darul Uloom Waqf, Deoband, Maulana Mufti Mukarram Ahmad, Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid Fatehpuri, among others.

“We are shocked to see reports in the media that the Union government is considering the repeal of Section 377 of the IPC, which means making homosexuality legal,” the statement said on Tuesday.

It said that homosexuality is a sin and a social evil which will only lead to societal disintegration and break-up of the family.

Appealing to the government not to be influenced by the “decadent trends of the Western culture” and not to give in to the demands of a minuscule minority, the statement said the government should not test the patience of the silent vast majority of the country which abhors such behaviour.

A prominent body of Muslim community Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind had earlier hit out at the government’s proposed move, saying the repeal of the section would create “sexual anarchy” in the society.

“The section should stay as its repealing would result in sexual anarchy in the society. Those opposing the section are influenced by Western culture. Those who argue for independence do not realise that independence should have its limits,” Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind spokesperson Abdul Hameed Noamani said.

Leading Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband had earlier also opposed the Centre’s move to repeal a controversial section, saying unnatural sex is against the tenets of Islam.

“Homosexuality is offence under Shariat Law and haram (prohibited) in Islam,” Deputy Vice Chancellor of the Darul Uloom Deoband Maulana Abdul Khalik Madrasi has said.

The reaction came after reports that Centre was likely to convene a meeting soon to evolve a consensus on repealing a controversial section of the Indian Penal Code which criminalises homosexuality.

Gay sex against tenets of Islam: Deoband
29 Jun 2009, 1353 hrs IST, PTI

MUZAFFARNAGAR, UP: A leading Islamic seminary on Monday opposed Centre’s move to repeal a controversial section of the penal law which criminalises  homosexuality saying unnatural sex is against the tenets of Islam.

“Homosexuality is an offence under Shariat Law and haram (prohibited) in Islam,” deputy vice chancellor of the Darul Uloom Deoband Maulana Abdul Khalik Madrasi said.

Madrasi also asked the government not to repeal section 377 of IPC which criminalises homosexuality.

His objection came a day after law minister Veerappa Moily said a decision on repealing the section would be taken only after considering concerns of all sections of the society, including religious groups like the church.

Terming gay activities as crime, Maulana Salim Kasmi, vice-president of the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), said homosexuality is punishable under Islamic law and section 377 of IPC should not be tampered.

Maulana Mohd Sufiyan Kasmi, an AIMPLB member, and Mufti Zulfikar, president of Uttar Pradesh Imam Organisation have also expressed similar views on the issue.

Kasmi said it would be harmful for the society to legalise gay sex.

Buoyed by the news that the Centre is considering repealing the controversial section of the IPC, members of the gay community on Sunday held parades in several cities.

Ancient India didn’t think homosexuality was against nature
27 Jun 2009, 0018 hrs IST, Manoj Mitta, TNN

NEW DELHI: Was Indian society tolerant of homosexuality before the colonial administration proscribed it in 1860? The government has taken
conflicting positions on this within the country and outside.

On a petition pending before the Delhi high court seeking to decriminalize homosexuality, the government said in its counter affidavit that that there were “no convincing reports to indicate that homosexuality or other offences against the order of nature mentioned in Section 377 IPC were acceptable in the Indian society prior to colonial rule.”

But when it was being reviewed by the UN Human Rights Council last year for the first time ever, India distanced itself from that provision when Sweden, arguably the most gay-friendly country in the world, questioned its record in ensuring equality irrespective of a person’s sexual orientation.

This is how Goolam Vahanvati, who was then solicitor-general and is now attorney-general, tried to save India’s face before the council as part of its official delegation. “Around the early 19th Century, you probably know that in England they frowned on homosexuality, and therefore there are historical reports that various people came to India to take advantage of its more liberal atmosphere with regard to different kinds of sexual conduct.

“As a result, in 1860 when we got the Indian Penal Code, which was drafted by Lord Macaulay, they inserted Section 377 which brought in the concept of ‘sexual offences against the order of nature’.

Now in India we didn’t have this concept of something being ‘against the order of nature’. It was essentially a Western concept, which has remained over the years. Now homosexuality as such is not defined in the IPC, and it will be a matter of great argument whether it is ‘against the order of nature’.”

Vahanvati’s admission on the international forum that the ban on homosexuality was a western import and its relevance was debatable flies in the face of the government’s unabashed efforts before the Delhi high court to retain Section 377, complete with its colonial baggage and archaic notion of unnatural offences.

Whatever the politics behind this glaring contradiction, there is ample evidence placed before the high court by petitioner Naz Foundation substantiating in effect Vahanvati’s view that in the centuries prior to the enactment of section 377, India was rather accommodating of homosexuals.

While the penalty imposed by Section 377 goes up to life sentence, there is nothing close to it in Manusmriti, the most popular Hindu law book of medieval and ancient India. “If a man has shed his semen in non-human females, in a man, in a menstruating woman, in something other than a vagina, or in water, he should carry out the ‘painful heating’ vow.” Thus, this peculiar vow, involving application of cow’s urine and dung, was meant not only for homosexuals but also errant heterosexuals.

The penalty is even milder if the homosexual belongs to an upper caste. As Manusmriti puts it, “If a twice-born man unites sexually with a man or a woman in a cart pulled by a cow, or in water, or by day, he should bathe with his clothes on.’’

Since Manusmriti was written at a time when bath generally meant taking a dip in a river or a lake with other members of the same gender, the penalty of making a homosexual bathe without taking off his clothes was probably designed to avoid the embarrassment of his being sexually aroused in public.

In another indicator of the liberal Hindu heritage, Kama Sutra, a classic written in the first millennium by Sage Vatsyayana, devotes a whole chapter to homosexual sex saying “it is to be engaged in and enjoyed for its own sake as one of the arts.” Besides providing a detailed description of oral sex between men, Kama Sutra categorizes men who desire other men as “third nature” and refers to long-term unions between men.