Sachar Committee’s Rajinder Sachar admits soft spot for Pakistan and Muslims

One of the sessions was chaired by Mr Boothalingam, son of the illustrious ICS officer. A participant of the session was Mr Sachar. When questions were being answered, I asked Mr Sachar whether he had harboured a particularly soft corner in his heart for the Muslim community and whether the city of Lahore enjoyed his special affection. His answer to both the questions was, “Yes of course.” Which in turn led me to inquire as to why had he then come away from Lahore in 1947, never to go back. His forthright reply was that the Sachar family had no plans to leave Pakistan and, therefore, his father, Bhimsen Sachar, went to hear Mohammed Ali Jinnah address Pakistan’s Constituent Assembly on August 11, 1947. He had accompanied his father.

After attending the session, Mr Sachar expressed his deep desire to travel in an aeroplane, which he had not done before, to his father. Since there was no plane service then between Karachi and Lahore, father and son flew to Delhi. The next day, they called on Jawaharlal Nehru who told them that they must not return to Lahore as it was burning and insisted on their staying back in Delhi. They had no choice but to obey him and thus they stayed back in India, said Mr Sachar. The narrative, however, convinced only a few and amused everyone.

Via Link

If Osama Bin Laden Was Killed By Indian Security Forces

If Bin Laden was killed by Indian Security forces

Some brave outfit of our security forces locate the most wanted man in his
hide out near connought place. Director of the force contacts national
security adviser who in turn located cabinet secretary. PM as usual directs
a junior minister in PMO to handle and commissions Kapil Sibal and
Chidambaram to defend the slow response. Meanwhile the striking force
without waiting for the permission makes the final attempt and kill the
dreaded man.

1. PM apologises to the Muslim community and order an enquiry.
2. Teesta Setalwad files a petition in the supreme court calling for
institution of an SIT.
3. Justices Markendeya Katju and Sathasivam issues notice to the Director
of the security force.
4. The court appoints an SIT and directly supervises the investigation.
5. The brave soldiers involved are suspended by the government.
6. Sonia and Chidambaram expresses their deep regrets.
7. Compensation of one crore each is announced to the next of kin of
those killed.
8. Increased Reservation to Muslims announced in all India recruitments.
9. Kerala and West Bengal assemblies pass resolutions against barbaric
killing of a secular leader.
10. CPM and left parties protest against the action and calls for nation
wide harthals.

O Hindus, this is the present and true situation of today’s ‘Hindu majority’
India, where Muslim criminals are kept in luxurious ‘custody’ (for example
– Kasab) and Hindus (example – Sadhvi Pragya) are tortured brutally, even if
it has not been proved that they are criminals. Now there is no other option
to oust the Hindu-traitor politicians and come together to establish
‘Hindu-Nation’ !

Source: Haindava Keralam
http://www.haindavakeralam.com/HKPage.aspx?PageID=13759&SKIN=B

Justice Jan: Media guilty of spreading falsehood, inciting violence and Hindus for the Shopian rape-murder

Media misrepresented key facts on Shopian rape-murder

Praveen Swami

Journalists share responsibility for fanning south Kashmir violence, judge says

——————————————————————————–

For the most part, Justice Jan found, the media misrepresented forensic evidence

Blood on a victim’s forehead was “shamefully distorted and projected as a mark of sindoor”

——————————————————————————–

NEW DELHI: Ever since May, when the bodies of two women washed up near Shopian, journalists have chronicled the multiple failures of administration and policing that allowed the tragic deaths to spark off some of the worst street violence ever seen in Jammu and Kashmir.

Following the release of the findings of the Justice Muzaffar Jan Commission of Enquiry on Friday, the Jammu and Kashmir government has announced that it intends to prosecute four police officials for some of those failures.

But both journalists and the Jammu and Kashmir government have maintained a stoic silence on one institution blamed by Justice Jan for spreading falsehood and inciting violence: the media itself.

Stories fabricated?

Justice Jan’s report highlights disturbing evidence that some journalists may have fabricated elements of their stories.

Early in June, several Srinagar-based journalists reported that one victim’s husband had received a call from her at 7 p.m. on May 29. During the call, the accounts said, the victim reported that she was being chased by CRPF personnel.

In their testimony to the Jan Commission, though, the victim’s husband and her brother made it clear that she had never owned a mobile phone, a fact first reported in this newspaper. Jammu and Kashmir police investigators attached to the Commission studied 32,686 cellphone calls made in Shopian on May 29, and were able to establish that none was made to or from any phone that may have been in the victim’s possession.

Efforts were also made by sections of the media to suggest that the local police may have sought to hush up the case on the orders of their superior. Journalists in particular turned on Constable Mohammad Yaseen, who was reported to have made several phone calls to superiors even as a search for the victims’ bodies was underway — evidence, it was argued, of the unusual interest of his bosses in the case.

In fact, the Commission found, Mr. Yaseen had made only four calls during the whole day and none between 10 p.m. on June 29, when the search for the victims began, until 6 a.m. on June 30, when the bodies were found.

Local resident Jamal-ud-Din Wani, claimed by the media to be an eyewitness to the killings, was alleged to have been abducted after the bodies were found. The Jan Commission found him living in a tent at the hamlet of Dehgam, close to Shopian, where he works as a watchman at a local seminary.

For the most part, Justice Jan found, the media misrepresented forensic evidence. Media accounts insisted that both women appeared to have been badly beaten and gang raped. However, the Jan Commission states, pathologists found no evidence to support the proposition of gang rape. Moreover, only one victim’s body was found to bear visible external injuries. Claims that one victim was pregnant at the time of her death, Justice Jan states, were also wrong.

Perhaps in order to buttress claims that the two women had been raped before they were killed, some journalists asserted that their clothes were torn. However, witnesses interviewed by the Jan Commission said that the women’s Feran and shalwar were intact.

Most disturbing, though, is Justice Jan’s finding that the media incited hatred by broadcasting communal propaganda.

Based on the accounts of individuals claiming to be eyewitnesses, newspapers said that one victim’s forehead had been smeared with sindoor — an allegation that suggested that the rapists were Hindus, and the rape itself macabre religion-driven hate crime. However, the Commission noted, the red marks on her forehead were in fact blood from a head wound. “The flow of blood,” the report states, “was shamefully distorted and projected as a mark of sindoor.”

Noting that this kind of reporting has fuelled violence in Jammu and Kashmir, Justice Jan has suggested that “firm guidelines are made to ensure that, before publication of any news, the authenticity of the news be verified.”

Media misrepresented key facts on Shopian rape-murder

Praveen Swami

Journalists share responsibility for fanning south Kashmir violence, judge says

——————————————————————————–

For the most part, Justice Jan found, the media misrepresented forensic evidence

Blood on a victim’s forehead was “shamefully distorted and projected as a mark of sindoor”

——————————————————————————–

NEW DELHI: Ever since May, when the bodies of two women washed up near Shopian, journalists have chronicled the multiple failures of administration and policing that allowed the tragic deaths to spark off some of the worst street violence ever seen in Jammu and Kashmir.

Following the release of the findings of the Justice Muzaffar Jan Commission of Enquiry on Friday, the Jammu and Kashmir government has announced that it intends to prosecute four police officials for some of those failures.

But both journalists and the Jammu and Kashmir government have maintained a stoic silence on one institution blamed by Justice Jan for spreading falsehood and inciting violence: the media itself.

Stories fabricated?

Justice Jan’s report highlights disturbing evidence that some journalists may have fabricated elements of their stories.

Early in June, several Srinagar-based journalists reported that one victim’s husband had received a call from her at 7 p.m. on May 29. During the call, the accounts said, the victim reported that she was being chased by CRPF personnel.

In their testimony to the Jan Commission, though, the victim’s husband and her brother made it clear that she had never owned a mobile phone, a fact first reported in this newspaper. Jammu and Kashmir police investigators attached to the Commission studied 32,686 cellphone calls made in Shopian on May 29, and were able to establish that none was made to or from any phone that may have been in the victim’s possession.

Efforts were also made by sections of the media to suggest that the local police may have sought to hush up the case on the orders of their superior. Journalists in particular turned on Constable Mohammad Yaseen, who was reported to have made several phone calls to superiors even as a search for the victims’ bodies was underway — evidence, it was argued, of the unusual interest of his bosses in the case.

In fact, the Commission found, Mr. Yaseen had made only four calls during the whole day and none between 10 p.m. on June 29, when the search for the victims began, until 6 a.m. on June 30, when the bodies were found.

Local resident Jamal-ud-Din Wani, claimed by the media to be an eyewitness to the killings, was alleged to have been abducted after the bodies were found. The Jan Commission found him living in a tent at the hamlet of Dehgam, close to Shopian, where he works as a watchman at a local seminary.

For the most part, Justice Jan found, the media misrepresented forensic evidence. Media accounts insisted that both women appeared to have been badly beaten and gang raped. However, the Jan Commission states, pathologists found no evidence to support the proposition of gang rape. Moreover, only one victim’s body was found to bear visible external injuries. Claims that one victim was pregnant at the time of her death, Justice Jan states, were also wrong.

Perhaps in order to buttress claims that the two women had been raped before they were killed, some journalists asserted that their clothes were torn. However, witnesses interviewed by the Jan Commission said that the women’s Feran and shalwar were intact.

Most disturbing, though, is Justice Jan’s finding that the media incited hatred by broadcasting communal propaganda.

Based on the accounts of individuals claiming to be eyewitnesses, newspapers said that one victim’s forehead had been smeared with sindoor — an allegation that suggested that the rapists were Hindus, and the rape itself macabre religion-driven hate crime. However, the Commission noted, the red marks on her forehead were in fact blood from a head wound. “The flow of blood,” the report states, “was shamefully distorted and projected as a mark of sindoor.”

Noting that this kind of reporting has fuelled violence in Jammu and Kashmir, Justice Jan has suggested that “firm guidelines are made to ensure that, before publication of any news, the authenticity of the news be verified.”

India denies visa to USCIRF, US religious freedom watchdogs

India denies visa to US religious freedom watchdogs

17 Jun 2009, 0037 hrs IST, Chidanand Rajghatta, TNN

WASHINGTON: The Manmohan Singh government has scuppered a proposed visit to India this week by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), a US Congress-mandated organization that monitors religious rights worldwide and gives independent policy recommendations to the US President and his administration.

A USCIRF team that was to leave for New Dehi on June 12 was not given visas in time, according to an associate at the commission, who said it was done with the obvious intent of blocking the trip. “They knew we
had tickets for June 12 and the visas are yet to be given, so the inference is obvious…they don’t want us to visit,” the associate told ToI.

The Indian Embassy in Washington, the issuing authority for the visa, referred all questions to New Delhi, while acknowledging that the USCIRF team had applied for visas and the applications had been forwarded to
New Delhi as is the standard practice for all such visits.

Sources in the government, without acknowledging that the visas were deliberately withheld, said it was not a proper time for such a visit. “We really don’t care about what they report,” an official who spoke on background said. “But a high profile visit seen as having government sanctions would have raised hackles in India.” The USCIRF has in its reports criticized violence against religious minorities in India.

The official said the visa denial was not linked to the criticism of the proposed visit by the Hindu pontiff, Shankaracharya Jayendra Sarawati, who earlier this week described the USCIRF as an “intrusive mechanism of a foreign government which is interfering with the internal affairs of India,” and said the team must not be allowed to enter the country.

The Obama administration too did not press for the visit, given that US Undersecretary of State William Burns was in New Delhi around the time of the proposed USCIRF visit, preparing ground for the visit to India by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sometime in July. Most “commissioners” and staff of the USCIRF are appointees of the previous Bush administration.

Although the United States acknowledges India’s rich religious and ethnic diversity and plurality, the USCIRF has in its annual reports criticized specific episodes involving violence against religious minority, like the ones in Gujarat and in Orissa.

“We understand India’s sensitivities about being criticized for religious discrimination given its democratic and secular credentials,” a commission associate said Wednesday. “But we are concerned that some of the
judicial processes with regards to the incidents in Gujarat and Orissa are not functioning properly and we only wanted to get them going.”

Indian hardliners, especially those on the extreme right, chafe at the idea that any US body would want to scrutinize the country’s religious freedom, given its secular credentials, when it dares not interfere in fundamentalist countries like Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, where minority rights are non-existent. Senior RSS functionaries had specifically inquired repeatedly about the proposed USCIRF visit.

Describing the proposed USCIRF visit to India as “incomprehensible,” the US branch of the Vishwa Hindu Parishat said as the “largest functioning democracy in the world with an independent judiciary, a statutorily constituted Human rights Commission, an independent press and other supporting organizations would appear to be quite capable of taking care of the religious freedoms and human rights of its citizens.”

“India not only offers freedom of religion under its constitution, but does not discriminate based on religion. Similar freedoms are not available in its neighboring countries,” the VHP said on a statement.

But the Indian Left and the “secular” brigade in the US, including organizations representing minorities, argue that allowing such foreign bodies to visit India and examine its record and performance enhances the country’s reputation as an open, democratic nation that has nothing to hide or fear.

Praja Rajyam chief Chiranjeevi promises Muslims 1,000 crore if his party is voted to power

Newspaper: The Pioneer,  March 14, 2009 |

Chiru promises Rs 1,000 cr for Muslims

Praja Rajyam chief Chiranjeevi has promised Muslims in the State of bigger helping hand to boost their socio-economic progress and also assured them greater security if his party is voted to power.Chiranjeevi, who was addressing Muslims in the old city of Hyderabad for the first time, promised to increase the allocation for the State minorities financial corporation to a record Rs 1,000 crore from the present total minority budget of Rs 178 crore. “Even this is not enough, given the fact that the State budget is Rs one lakh crore and Muslims constitute 10% of the population. They are not getting even one per cent of the budget” he said. He also declared PRP’s support to four per cent reservations to the Muslims in Government jobs and education. “PRP will take all the necessary measures to implement the reservations”, he said.

On political front, he announced that PRP will give tickets to more Muslims. “We will field the Muslim candidates from those constituencies where they have chances of winning,” he said.

Anti Hindu film Slumdog Millionaire wins 8 Oscar

When will Danny Boyle make a movie on Hindus suffering at the hands of Islamofascists? Will he? Why will he not?  He will definitely not.  Because if he shows the Muslims as aggressors there is every chance he may have to confront violent Muslim mobs baying for his blood. It is far easier to target the gentle Hindu as the evil one.  Here is the fate of one courageous film maker who made a film critical of Islam

11/2/2004
Dutch filmmaker Vincent van Gogh, shot and stabbed by Muslim for making movie critical of Islam

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) — A filmmaker who was the great-grandnephew of the painter Vincent van Gogh was shot and stabbed to death on an Amsterdam street Tuesday after receiving death threats over a movie he made criticizing the treatment of women under Islam.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

‘Slumdog’ claims 8 Oscars

Slumdog Millionaire: Another Husain?

Here is a interesting comment in above article

With everyone singing hosannas to Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire, let me offer an alternative perspective. This film targets the easiest target: the placid Hindu. The hero is a Muslim in India, whose mother is burned to death by Hindu mobs. No need for subtlety in dialogue or depiction, the Hindu mob says: “They are Muslims. Let us hit them,” and the hapless Muslims cry as they flee in terror: “The Hindus are coming! The Hindus are coming.” To make sure his point about Hindu devilry is not missed, Boyle has a shot of a child dressed as Rama, one of Hinduism’s most cherished gods. Imagine the outcry if Boyle had reversed the above & shot a child dressed as Mohammed or Jesus as Muslims/Christians hurried off to persecute members of another faith! But Boyle seems well on his way to awards and accolades.
Vivek

Anti Hindu movie Slumdog source

A magnificent Mumbai slum, two Muslim brothers, a Hindu mob killing innocent Muslim women, criminally amputated children singing Surdas”s songs, Hindu policemen torturing an innocent Muslim boy and a diabolic Hindu game-show host who hands his Muslim contestant to his Hindu police which hates the Amnesty international, and voila, you have all the ingredients for a “secular” potboiler which is on the road to the Oscars! You might argue that it”s not realistic but only fantasy since there is greater probability of winning the jackpot on a lottery ticket without being abused by the police than winning the top prize on a quiz show with 15 unique questions.

But then you can be kidding with the graphic depiction of blood curdling anti Muslim riot in which a Hindu mob slits the children”s mother, the Indian policeman electrocuting the Muslim suspect or the gory scene of the amputation of the street children by the mafia who are then forced to sing Surdas”s bhajans. The book by Vikas Swarup has the main protagonist named as Ram Mohammad Thomas who was conveniently transformed into a Muslim boy, Jamal Malik who lost his mother to a Hindu mob to make it sound in the author”s own confession more “politically correct.”

When was the last time in Indian History when an unprovoked Hindu population took to violence? For the record the Mumbai riots were incited by fanatical Muslim mobs in the face of the Baburi Masjid demolition. Moreover, it beats me how the consequent Mumbai bomb blasts triggered by local Muslim gangs can be disassociated from the Mumbai riots? And the much maligned Bombay Police recently lost sixteen of its bravest men while defending the city”s freedom of speech and expression against Islamist zealots who wanted to replicate in India, a 7th century Arabia.

More disturbingly, you have the depiction of the blue bodied Rama whom Hindus consider as Maryada Puroshottam [the best among men] threatening to terminate the existence of the innocent Muslim children. To a question on with which weapons is Lord Rama depicted with in popular iconography, Jamal Malik the protagonist does not remember the grand Ram Lilas which happen across the country or Ram Kathas on televisions. Instead, a Hindu kid dressed like immaculately like Lord Rama stand in the mid of a slum in a threatening pose. And one cannot miss the hatred being portrayed in the face and looks of that young Hindu kid, younger than even Jamaal. Even a 5 year old Hindu kid is a communal bigot and Rama is responsible for all the communal crap. Muslims are seculars and victims by definition. And we need one white director to tell these things to the whole world. Not only this we have forcibly amputated children singing Surdas”s bhajan pining for a glimpse of illusory Krishna? This insensitive jaundiced anti Hindu view is reminiscent of Indian leftist cinema where Hindu male characters are black and Muslims white! Remember, Mr and Mrs Iyer where a Hindu mob was searching for circumcised dicks and didn”t even spare a Jew in true Nazi fashion! Never mind that in world history, Hindus are the only people who don”t carry an atom of anti-Semitism, but the director”s flight of “secularist” fancy won critical acclaim. Buddhadeb Bhattacharya in his film Uttara shows a band of Hindu goons burning a Christian church made in service of the lord”s lepers and raping an orphan girl in the process. Expectedly, this rather original gruesome way of story-telling won him the national awards! In the Tamil hit, Dasavathaaram, we find an anti-historical situation fantasizing Shaivite intolerance against Vaishnavs where Ramanujam”s disciple is shown fighting Kulothunga Chola. Based on a solitary description of Chola antagonism in Ramanujam”s writings, we discover the Chola fanatic stealing the idol of Vishnu from Srirangam, ironically the same temple complex which was plundered at least five times by Islamic armies. Similarly, Kamal Hassan in his movie “Anbe Sivam”, shows a pious Shiva devotee injuring the hero who is rescued by a group of benevolent Christian nuns. Previously, in the 70s when anti-Brahmana movement in Tamil Nadu was at its peak, we had Brahmana priests routinely paraded as rascals in Tamil movies.

“Islamic” sensitivities have extracted book bans from both British and Congress governments. Girja Kumar in his “Book on Trial” has reproduced dozens of cases where Hindu books critical of Islam or the Prophet were banned, and the authors faced arrest or were killed. Salman Rushdie”s flight and Taslima Nasrin”s plight is well known. Lajja almost faced a ban because she had exposed the genocide against Hindus in Bangladesh. Movies on the state of Kashmiri pundits, victims of Islamic genocide against Hindus of Bangladeshis, the Hindu victims of the North East against Christian separatism and also the historical crimes by the armies of Islam and inquisitory Christianity are taboo in a “secular country” They cannot see the light of the day because they are inimical to communal harmony and hurt minority sentiments.

This ostentatious display of anti Hindu sentiment is of course lost on the jingoists or those ABCDs who go gaga over such pernicious cinema. Sincere critics questioning the dumb plot where a slum boy grows up into a sophisticated leftist JNU product with a flawless English accent are censured by appealing to the authority of the Golden globe awards. They keenly forget the film was precisely designed for that, appeal to the racial sensitivities of those who really matter! Therefore, even the liberation of Jamal is not through out of any indigenous worth, but through an internationally funded poverty alleviation game show [Kaun Banega Crorepati recedes into its international avatar, Who wants to become a millionaire].

Saurav Basu

Slumdog is about defaming Hindus

Kanchan Gupta

Similarly, Danny Boyle has made a film that portrays every possible bias against India and structured it within the matrix of Western lib-left perceptions of the Indian ‘reality’ which have little or nothing in common with the real India in which we live.

Therefore, it is not surprising that Boyle’s film is about a slum where extreme social exclusion, political suppression and economic deprivation define the lives of its inhabitants. He has made every effort to shock and awe the film’s audience by taking recourse to graphic and gory portrayal of bloodthirsty Hindu mobs on the rampage — the idiom that defines India as it is imagined by the lib-left Western mind — laying to waste Muslim lives (a Hindu is shown slitting a Muslim woman’s throat in an almost frame-by-frame remake of the videotape that was released by the killers of Daniel Pearl) and property. There’s more that makes you want to throw up the last meal you had: Hindu policemen torturing Muslims by giving them ‘electric shock therapy’, street children being physically disfigured and then forced to beg, and such other scenes of a medieval society where rule of law does not exist and every Hindu is a rapacious monster eager to make a feast of helpless Muslims.

Nor is it surprising that Boyle should have cunningly changed the name of the film’s — as also the book’s — protagonist from Vikas Swarup’s Ram Mohammad Thomas (a sort of tribute to the Amar Akbar Antony brand of ‘secularism’ which was fashionable in the 1970s) to Jamal Malik. The name implies a Kashmiri connection, and we can’t put it beyond Boyle suggesting a link between Jamal’s travails — it is his mother whose throat is shown as being slit by a Hindu — and the imagined victimhood of Kashmir’s Muslims who, the lib-left intelligentsia in the West insists, are ‘persecuted by Hindu India’. Asked about the protagonist’s name being changed, Swarup is believed to have said that it was done to “make it sound more politically correct”. There is a second hidden message: The Hindu quizmaster on the ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire?’ show has doubts about Jamal, who gets all the questions right, not because he is a ‘slumdog’ but because he is a Muslim; so he sets India’s Hindu police on the hapless boy. Swarup did not quite put it that way in his book, but the film does so, and understandably the critics in Hollywood who sport Obama buttons are impressed.

The last time depravity was portrayed as the Indian ‘reality’ was when Roland Joffé did a cinematic version of Dominique Lapierre’s City of Joy. In that film, the Missionaries of Charity were shown as the saviours of an India trapped in filth, squalor, poverty and Hindu superstition. Some two decades later, Boyle has rediscovered Joffé’s India and made appropriate changes to fit his film into the Hindu-bad-Muslim-good mould so that it has a resonance in today’s America where it is now fashionable to look at the world through the eyes of Barack Hussein Obama.

In her review of the film, “Shocked by Slumdog’s poverty porn”, Alice Miles writes in The Times: “Like the bestselling novel by the Americanised Afghan Khaled Hosseini, A Thousand Splendid Suns, Slumdog Millionaire is not a million miles away from a form of pornographic voyeurism. Slumdog Millionaire is poverty porn.” Commenting on the BBFC’s decision to “place this work in the comedy genre”, she says, “Comedy? So maybe that’s it: I just didn’t get the joke.” It’s doubtful whether most Indians, Hindus and Muslims, would get it either if they were to watch Slumdog Millionaire.

kanchangupta@rocketmail.com

Kolkata Statesman newspaper apologizes as Muslim mob goes on a rampage over article

“Demonstrators threw stones, soda bottles and shoes injuring four cops. Some agitators later took shelter in a nearby mosque and threw stones, empty bottles and shoes targeting policemen.”

Once again Muslim bullies win. Free speech loses.  And pseudo secular Indian media has once again demonstrated how pusillanimous it really is. Moral: It pays to be violent and intolerant

The article in question is:

Why should I respect these oppressive religions? Johann Hari:
Whenever a religious belief is criticised, its adherents say they’re victims of ‘prejudice’

You can also read it all here

BBC report : Pair held for ‘offending Islam’
By Subir Bhaumik, BBC News, Calcutta
Wednesday, 11 February 2009

The editor and publisher of a top English-language Indian daily have been arrested on charges of “hurting the religious feelings” of Muslims.

The Statesman’s editor Ravindra Kumar and publisher Anand Sinha were detained in Calcutta after complaints.

Muslims said they were upset with the Statesman for reproducing an article from the UK’s Independent daily in its 5 February edition.

The article was entitled: “Why should I respect these oppressive religions?”

It concerns the erosion of the right to criticise religions.

In it, the author, Johann Hari, writes: “I don’t respect the idea that we should follow a ‘Prophet’ who at the age of 53 had sex with a nine-year old girl, and ordered the murder of whole villages of Jews because they wouldn’t follow him.”

Mr Kumar and Mr Sinha appeared in court on Wednesday and were granted bail.

Apology
Angry Muslims have been demonstrating in front of the offices of the Statesman since its republication of the article.

Police have broken up the demonstrations using baton charges several times this week.

Some Muslims close to the Jamiat-e-Ulema e Hind (The Organisation of Indian Scholars, a leading Islamic group in India) later filed a complaint with police alleging that the publication had “outraged their religious feelings”, which is an offence under Section 295 A of the Indian Penal Code.

Mr Kumar has said he has already issued a public apology for reproducing the article.

“I admit it was an editorial misjudgement but it was never intentional,” Mr Kumar told the BBC in an interview.

20 HURT as protestors clash with police

Statesman News Service

KOLKATA, Feb. 9: More than 20 people, including four policemen, were injured in a clash that broke out when police tried to clear Lenin Sarani where Muslim agitators had put up a road block for four hours in protest against an article published in The Statesman a few days ago. Forty-four people were later arrested in connection with the attack on police and blocking traffic, said Mr Pradip Chattopadhyay, joint CP (administration).

According to police, trouble broke out around noon when the agitators tried to block CR Avenue in protest against an article ~ a comment piece ~ from The Independent that was published in The Statesman in its 5 February edition. Police chased away the mob and arrested seven people.

The agitators regrouped and blocked Lenin Sarani throwing traffic out of gear. They demonstrated in front of Statesman House and damaged a taxi, two private buses, and a tram. Commuters complained of being severely inconvenienced due to the roadblock. Some protestors forced local traders to shut down their shops and join the agitation. Long queues of vehicles were seen on either side of CR Avenue, Dorina Crossing, SN Banerjee Road due to suspension of traffic on Lenin Sarani.

Senior police officers, led by additional commissioner (I) Mr Ranjit Kumar Pachnanda, rushed to the spot and appealed to the agitators time and again to withdraw the blockade.

After agitators refused to call off the blockade, additional forces were deployed in the area. Later DC DD (I), Mr Jawed Shamim, DC (Central) Mrs Damayanti Sen, DC (Traffic) Mr Dilip Banerjee, Joint CP (Traffic) Mr Ranvir Kumar reached the spot and urged agitators to call off the blockade.

After all their pleas fell on deaf ears, leaders from some Muslim organisations and even imams of Shahi Tipu Sultan Mosque came to the spot and tried to pacify the mob. Meanwhile, Rapid Action Force and Armed Police jawans were deployed to prevent any further violence.

After several requests of police officers and religious leaders to call off the blockade went unheeded, police chased away the mob and resorted to a mild lathi-charge to clear Lenin Sarani. Demonstrators threw stones, soda bottles and shoes injuring four cops. Some agitators later took shelter in a nearby mosque and threw stones, empty bottles and shoes targeting policemen. These people later left the mosque.

The situation came under control around 5 p.m. A police picket was posted near the mosque. Later in the evening, a group of people belonging to some Muslim outfits blocked AJC Bose Road near Rajabazar for one-and-a-half hours on the same issue. The blockade was later withdrawn. In a Press release, the Indian Union Muslim Leage (West Bengal) condemned the lathi-charge on protestors and accused The Statesman of “obstinacy” with regard to issuing an apology for carrying the comment piece by Johann Hari. (In fact, The Statesman has, already expressed its deep regret if the publication of the article had caused hurt to any community or religion.)

Pamphlets call for agitation
Later in the evening, unsigned pamphlets and posters were being distributed in the Esplanade area urging members of a particular community to “continue the agitation” and stating that the “protests were not against the state government or police administration”. The pamphlets also demanded that The Statesman be “banned” and that its editor be “arrested”.

Urdu writer arrested for writing book questioning islamic tennets. Wanted Muslims to be true Indian

January 21, 2009

Urdu writer arrested for teaching Muslims “to be true Indian”
Anoop Mishra – January 15, 2009

Patna : The author of a book that reportedly questioned Islamic tenets has been arrested and charged with hurting the sentiments of the Muslim community, police said Thursday.

Mohammed Yasin Ahmad, author of the Urdu book “Islami Surah Ya Beimani Ka Panchnama”, surrendered at the Pirbahore police station Wednesday night.

Ahmad was charged hurting the sentiments of the Muslim community after he raised certain queries in his book that he felt his fellow Muslims needed to address as true Indians.

Ahmad’s 154-page book stirred a controversy by questioning the 10 tenets of Islam and the functioning of the Khalifas.

On Monday, Maulana Kari Abdullah Bukhari, chief cleric of the Jama Masjid in Munger district, had complained about Ahmad and his wife Nilofer Yasin, who is the publisher of the book.

“The complainant told the police that there are objectionable references to Islam in the book,” Patna Superintendent of Police Anwar Hussain said.

Based on the complaint, police Wednesday arrested a bookseller and detained and interrogated Niofer Yasin.

“A bookseller, Sarfaraz, was arrested. Nilofer was interrogated. All three have been charged with hurting the sentiments of the Muslim community,” Hussain said.

Official sources said Bukhari had informed Chief Minister Nitish Kumar about the book and demanded immediate action.

Nitish Kumar directed Home Secretary Afzal Amanullah, the state minority commission chairman Naushad Ahmad and Patna Senior Superintendent of Police Amit Kumar to look into the matter.
Author of book questioning Islamic tenets arrested in Bihar

Bajrang camp empowers people to fight off Muslim terror

This is a timely step in the right direction. The Indian Government is more into protecting terrorists and their apologists and providing security to hopeless politicians. As the Mumbai massacre shows, we cannot rely on the Muslim appeasing government any more. It is time the man on the street equips himself intellectually and physically to fight off jihadis.

Bajrang camp teaches people to fight jihad
By Dippy Vankani

Mumbai

Dec. 28: The Hindu right-wing organisation Bajrang Dal held a three-day training camp for anti-terror alertness on a four-acre plot at Sion Koliwada that concluded on Sunday.

Youngsters were taught the art of wielding lathis, swords and air rifles and they also indulged in discussions on how Islamic jihad is responsible for the recent terror raids. Bajrang Dal officials told this newspaper that they had not taken permission from the police, as is their usual practice.

Youth aged between 18-35 years were enrolled for the camp that the outfit refers to as “Shaurya Prashikshan Varg”. The camp was attended by 110 youth from across Mumbai.

“We hold this ‘varg’ for three days in Diwali and in December and for seven days during the summer vacation. Our aim is to train the youth in self-defence and give them an insight on religious conversion and other issues that are important to the Nation,” said Umesh Gaikwad, convenor from the Mumbai division of the Bajrang Dal.

According to Mr Gaikwad, the youth are trained in wielding lathis, swords and air rifles.

“We train them with weapons those are allowed under the law. We also train them in the skills of aiming and gripping air rifles. Apart from the weapons, we also teach karate to youth, to equip them to face any kind of uncertain attack,” Mr Gaikwad said.

They are taught tactics that would be of use when defending themselves if they are attacked by five or six people at a time.

When asked whether the outfit seeks permission from the authorities for organising such camps, Mr Gaikwad said, “The four-acre plot at Hanuman Tekri in Sion Koliwada belongs to the Dal. So, why should we take permission for training at that place? We have never taken permission before and will never take in the future either.”

According to him, the so-called secular government is not bringing out the real reason for the November terror raids. “The terror raids were carried out by Islamic jihadis but the government never brings it out in the open. We discuss these issues here with the youngsters,” added Mr Gaikwad.

Muslim MPs from BSP, SP and JD(U) support AR Antulay

The loyalty of Indian Muslim is generally first towards Islam, Islamic countries, Islamic Ummah and then only India. The enemy within is 1000 times more dangerous than the external enemies and more often will help out the enemies and the homegrown Islamic terrorists so often prove. Antulay or Mumbai butcher Kasab, two faces of the same coin. The sooner Indian people realize this the better. Conversely a Muslim who supports India is less of a Muslim and more of a Hindu (Bollywood Muslim actors fit this definition)
December 20, 2008
Muslim MPs from BSP, SP and JD(U) support AR Antulay
http://www.breakingnewsonline.net/
Breaking News! While Union Minority Affairs Minister AR Antulay remained defiant on his remarks on the death of former Mumbai ATS chief Hemant Karkare, Muslim MPs from Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and JD(U) came out in open supporting Antulay over this issue.

SP MP Rashid Masood and BSP MP Ilyas Azmi supported Antulay’s demand for a separate probe into Karkare’s death. JD(U) MP Ejaz Ali had also supported Antulay. Knowingly or unknowingly, AR Antulay divided both common people and political establishments of the county into two groups on the basis of religion. This is the most disturbing trend, which may only bolster the fundamentalist forces.

In addition, Antulay, who is hailed in Pakistan media and among their people as a “hero”, strengthened Pakistan’s case on the global arena and brought further embarrassment to the Indian government and Congress Party. If that was not enough, Antulay told CNN-IBN that he made India proud by his remarks!!!

Even though the Congress Party does not subscribe to Antulay’s views, they may not afford to take strong action against the veteran Muslim leader, who is the most popular minority figure in the party. The vote bank politics may win the day yet again, while the national cause will be left behind forever.

(Content © Breaking News Online)