RSS Marketing Illegal Mumbo Jumbo as Science for Making Superbabies

May 11, 2017

The RSS linked Arogya Bharati has been running programs for producing “fair, tall babies” with “high intelligence”; even if the parents are dark, short and with low intelligence.

The RSS linked Arogya Bharati has been running programs for producing “fair, tall babies” with “high intelligence”; even if the parents are dark, short and with low intelligence. All this according to Arogya Bharati “experts” can be done by following Garbhasanskar, claimed to be ancient Indian wisdom. They have even set up Garbhavigyan Anusandhan Kendra , a so-called research centre in Jamnagar, Gujrat. Garbhavigyan Anusandhan Kendra not only promises the parents of “getting the best progeny”, but also the “desired sex of offspring”. And all by regulating the “mental and physical status of the partners, time of copulation” and a host of such hocus pocus measures.

The press has already linked the desire for intelligent, tall and fair babies to Germany's eugenics program and Nazi Germany . Arogya Bharati's Garbhasanskar brings out the underlying racial beliefs in the RSS regarding colour and superiority. Remember Tarun Vijay's statement how “we” have been living in harmony with “them”, the dark skinned South Indians? It is this eugenics program for breeding a true “Aryan race” that not only killed an estimated 6 million Jews and half a million Roma (of Indian descent) in Hitler's gas chambers, but also led to the sterilisation of 400,000 “inferior” Germans .

Neither was the practice of forced sterilisation limited to Germany. The US sterilised about 60,000 women under its eugenic sterilisation laws, upheld by its Supreme Court, and repealed only in 1974 . Its immigration policy characterised the Irish, East Europeans Jews, Asians and Africans as the inferior races. Eugenics was far more widespread in the west than the west is willing to admit today.

It is obvious that the seeds of the eugenics ideology of superiors Aryan race was shared between Nazism, and the RSS. Munje, one of the ideologues of the RSS, had travelled to Italy and was deeply influenced by Mussolini's fascism and militarisation of politics via Black Shirts. Golwalkar writes approvingly of German racial pride . The passion with which the Hindutva ideologues identify India with the Aryans, cannot be understood without understanding its belief in racial superiority; hence the desire to produce tall and fair babies, very much in the mould of Nazi Germany's desire for blond and tall children.

The eugenic inspiration for Garbhasanskar has appeared widely in the press. What has not yet been examined is Arogya Bharati and its Garbhavigyan Kendra claims, and whether they fall foul of the law. While the Kolkata High Court's interim order restricts Arogya Bharati's exercise on May 6th and 7th in Kolkata only to a set of lectures, it has yet to pronounce on the legality of offering services such as “uttam santati” (super babies) and “desired sex of the offspring”.

There are two sets of laws that Arogya Bharati and Garbhavigyan Kendra violates. One is related to what is the The Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954. It is clear that the claims and practices under Garbhasanskar, are in clear violation of the Act. According to Hitesh Jani, the national convenor of Arogya Bharati and an “expert” on Garbhasanskar, genetic engineering can be also done in the womb by following Garbhasanskar. This is in violation of all genetics that we know today, and utter nonsense masquerading as ancient knowledge. Such claims are precisely the ones that the Magic Remedies Act bans.

The “corroborative evidence” the propagators of Garbhasanskar offer is equally ridiculous. Ashok Kumar Varshney, an RSS pracharak and the national organising secretary of Arogya Bharati, said to Indian Express (May 7th, 2017), that the project was inspired by what a senior RSS ideologue learned 40 years ago in Germany. Varsheny said, “He was told that it was due to a woman called ‘Mother of Germany’. When he met her…she told him, ‘you have come from India, have you not heard of Abhimanyu (the son of Arjuna in the epic Mahabharata)?’ She told him that the new generation in Germany was born through Garbh Sanskar and that is why the country is so developed.” Of course, neither the RSS ideologue nor the “Mother of Germany” are identified by Varsheny.

It is always interesting to find how the Hindutva ideologues invariably quote western figures for proving their claims. Whether it is the unknown German Mother, or a David Frawley, the proof of the validity of the Hindutva cocktail masquerading as “ancient wisdom” is always a western figure. All those who rail against Macauley, invariably bow to the superior wisdom of the west, as long as it supports their half-baked and crazy theories.

The Drugs and Magic Remedies Act is not the only one that the Arogya Bharati and its various affiliates violate. By offering to create babies with desired sex, they are also violating Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 1994 (PCPNDT Act). The main purpose of the PCPNDT Act is to prevent sex selection, and what Arogya Bharati claims Garbhasanskar can do by following its program.

The issue is not simply the violation of law. By claiming to be able to deliver a baby with a desired sex, the RSS is reinforcing the desire for male children in India, a desire that has seen female foeticide and steeply declining sex ratios. In some states such as Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat, the sex ratio of the girl child in the age group of 0-6 years is as low as 834, 888 and 890 per thousand respectively. Not only does RSS's Garbhasanskar reinforce racial stereotypes, but it also reinforces patriarchy.

Is Garbhasanskar ancient Indian science? If we look at the material that Arogya Bharati and Garbhavigyan Kendra has provided, there is nothing remotely connected to any serious ayurvedic text or ancient science. There is an air of authority regarding ancient texts and ayurveda, none of which are either referenced or quoted. What is offered instead, is finding right time for copulation, kind of diet that both parents should have, reciting various mantras and listening to devotional music, all offered as “ancient wisdom”.

If we examine Garbhavigyan Kendra's website and claims, not as an ideological exercise, but as a purely money making venture using fake science, we get a completely different picture. There is a page on the site, which is supposed to detail success stories regarding infertility. Two pictures of babies, obviously not Indian (yes, they are fair!), named Kate White, The flu1 and Kate White, The flu 2, with details in Latin are presented as success stories. A casual visitor might believe that these two babies were the result of Garbhasanskar. The reality is that the web template used to create the website, has such gibberish Latin as a simple placeholder for text. These are not success stories.

The Kendra has made no attempt to provide any proof that its so-called cures work, presumably as it might open them to investigation and fraud.

The Kendra also has a video; yes this is the only video, I could find on its site. The video was intriguing as it carries nothing remotely resembling the mumbo jumbo of Garbhasanskar. The mystery becomes clear when we come to the last part of the video: it gives US toll free numbers, and websites to contact in Wisconsin for would-be-parents. It is a video ripped off the Internet, and uploaded on YouTube by a Barb Scot, who has nothing to do with Garbhasanskar!

There are other websites, one of which calls itself DivyaGarbhasanskar.com, which also market this claptrap. It is a much better website than Garbhavigyan Kendra, and openly a commercial venture. It is run by one Dr. Anand Dhingra, who claims to be a medical doctor. The organisation offers as a part of its team, a NS Parmar, who it claims has been living without food and water for the last 24 years. In other words, Dhingra is selling pseudo science using a medical degree. Not very different from what David Frawley, the darling of the RSS, does through his US website, vedanet.com.

Garbhasanskar is clearly a successful money making activity of Arogya Bharati. Gullible parents are duped by pseudo science and talk of ancient wisdom, throwing in Mother of Germany, Vivekanada and Abhimunya as examples, and then selling them “counselling”, “ayurvedic medicines”, CD's etc. There is clearly a market for this, not only in India, but also in the NRI community abroad. This is what possibly the RSS wants to tap. Apart from reinforcing racial stereotypes and patriarchy.

Courtesy: Newsclick

Centre, J&K governments suppressing all rights and liberties, deploying military to force Kashmiris into subjugation: Report

May 11, 2017

Photo credit: ssbcrack

A Citizens fact-finding report on the continuing violence in the Kashmir has concluded that “the BJP government at the Centre and the PDP-BJP government in J&K are engaged in actions that amount to a complete violation of universally accepted human and democratic rights and of the very Indian constitution they claim to want to impose in the Kashmir valley”.

The executive summary of the report titled ‘Why are people protesting in Kashmir?’ released to the media in Delhi today has held government actions amount to:

Violation of the right to life,
Criminal intimidation,
Violation of the principles of natural justice,
Handing out collective punishment,
Violation of every law and the international covenant that is aimed at protecting women from sexual and other forms of violence,
Actions against emergency relief workers and health professionals in violation of international covenants and India’s own commitment to UN treaties,
Violation of the right to freedom of religion,
Violation of the right to freedom of speech and internationally accepted norms of freedom of the press.

While deploring such gross violations of rights and liberties of citizens, the report adds, “We are also distressed by the fact that senior members of the BJP government have made, and continue to make, inflammatory and provocative statements against the peoples of Kashmir. Regrettably, the parliamentary Opposition has lacked the political courage and will to call upon the accountability of government actions.”

“We also conclude that the actions of the BJP government at the Centre and the PDP-BJP government in J&K are acts of vengeance at forcing the people of Kashmir into subjugation by using every possible force available to the government for breaking the peoples’ resolve for a democratic settlement to achieve their aspirations.”

“As representatives of diverse peoples’ movements, trade unions and other organizations in India, and as Indian citizens, we can say without hesitation that the actions of the Indian state in Kashmir amount to profound violation of democratic and human rights”.

The fact-finding citizens group has called upon the Indian government to undertake immediate remedial measures including the following remedial:

Recognise the Kashmir dispute and accept that its resolution can only come through a political solution, not through military intervention and a suppression of all human and democratic rights;
Withdraw the army and other paramilitary forces including the Central Reserve Police, Border Security Force and Indo-Tibetan Border Police from civilian areas of Jammu and Kashmir;
Repeal the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978 and the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act, 1990;
Release all political prisoners and, in particular, all prisoners arrested under the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978;
Grant access to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights for a UN fact-finding mission in Jammu and Kashmir;
Establish a judicial tribunal under the supervision of the Supreme Court to examine all cases of extra-judicial killings, including that of Burhan Wani;
Enter into an open and transparent dialogue, without preconditions, with all sections of Kashmiri peoples and their representatives in order to bring about a resolution of the Kashmir dispute that recognizes the aspirations of people to determine their own destiny through demonstrably democratic means.

The signatories to the report include, Amirtharaj Stephen (Photographer), Anuradha Bhasin (Pakistan India Forum for Peace and Democracy), Bilal Khan (Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan), Devisingh Tomar (Narmada Bachao Andolan), Gautam Mody (New Trade Union Initiative), Id Khajuria (Pakistan India Forum for Peace and Democracy), Jatin Desai (Pakistan India Forum for Peace and Democracy), Kavita Krishnan (All India Progressive Womens Association), Lakshmi Premkumar (Researcher), Madhuresh Kumar (National Alliance of Peoples Movements), Medha Patkar (Narmada Bachao Andolan), Mujahid Nafees (National Forum on Right to Education).

Read the full report.

Fluoride Contamination Cripples More Than 1,000 Children In Assam

May 11, 2017

Over a thousand children below the age of five have been crippled by fluorosis over the last six years in Hojai in the north-eastern state of Assam. The most pronounced symptoms are bent legs and crooked teeth.

Sabina has recovered from the effects of fluorosis after treatment. Sabina is one of more than 1,000 children in the district who have been crippled by fluorosis over the last six years. (Image courtesy: Dharani Saikia)

Water contaminated by the chemical flouride, a natural mineral, has been implicated in the poisonings, according to officials from the Assam Public Health Engineering Department (PHED), who first discovered the relationship between the contamination and medical effects in 1999. Fluoride levels in water above the permissible limit of 1 mg/litre have been found in 11 districts in the state–putting an estimated 356,000 people at risk, according to an official survey. Experts warned the numbers would rise if emergency measures were not taken.

“More than a thousand children below the age of five have been crippled because of fluoride contamination” in Hojai district a few years back, according to Najibuddin Ahmed, former additional chief engineer, Assam PHED.

The district’s main town, which goes by the same name, is 170 km southeast of Assam’s largest city, Guwahati.

Map courtesy: Dharani Saikia

The risk of fluoride contamination has increased in recent years as a result of the increase in groundwater usage–not just in Hojai but elsewhere also in the state.

“If one were to go back in history, people were mostly dependent on surface water resources for their daily needs,” Ahmed said. “Today, only about 15% of the population relies on surface water and 85% use groundwater as the main source. Since the water table has gone down, the concentration of minerals like fluoride has gone up in groundwater, thereby increasing the risk of fluoride contamination.”

“Fluoride is a natural mineral found in water but there are reasons why its concentration has risen,” according to Dharani Saikia, secretary, Environment Conservation Centre, a local non -government organisation that has been working on the issue for more than a decade. “One of them is the change in climatic patterns.”

Long dry spells have led to less rain water seeping into the ground and replenishing the groundwater table. Indiscriminate cutting of trees–for construction purposes and otherwise–has added to the problem. “With ample rainfall, the fluoride concentration in water remains normal but with less rain, the concentration goes up,” Saikia said.

Borewell pumps adding to problem

Another major reason, experts said, is the increase in drilling activity for hand pumps and borewell pumps. With the lowering of the water table, the drills are also going deeper, thereby closing in towards the granitic rocks that are rich in minerals such as fluoride. Therefore, fluoride is making inroads into the water pumped up.

“In Guwahati, for instance, earlier they would bore 150-200 feet for water,” Saikia said. “Now, with the mushrooming of flats and housing societies, the water demand has gone up. Since the water table has gone down, they bore up to 250-300 feet.”

Agricultural practices, which use phosphate and sulphate, further contribute to increase in fluoride concentration in water, Saikia added.

A B Paul, former chief engineer, Assam PHED, who is credited with the official detection of both fluoride and arsenic in water in the state, said his discovery was accidental. It was in 1999, during an official visit to Tekelanguin village in Karbi Anglong district–one of the worst-affected districts in the state–that he saw a girl with mottled teeth. “Many other people also showed symptoms of dental and skeletal fluorosis. On investigation, I found the fluoride content in the water varied from 5 to 23 mg/l when the World Health Organization permissible limit is 1 mg/l.”

Arsenic was also detected by Paul, which was followed up with a survey by the PHED and the United Nations Children’s Fund in 2004-05 that found 18 districts at risk.

The level of arsenic is not as high as fluoride, according to Nripen Sarma of Assam PHED. It takes three-four years for its effects to show, and the graveness of the issue is yet to be seen.

An unofficial survey, Saikia said, found that 50,000 children in 285 villages in Hojai district were affected by fluorosis–dental or skeletal. “A total of 485 villages in Nagaon and Hojai are afflicted with fluoride contamination,” he added.

Map courtesy: Dharani Saikia

Colour coding water sources

As part of the mitigation efforts, the PHED has marked water sources (such as tubewells) with beyond-permissible limits of fluoride with red colour so that people avoid it for drinking or cooking purposes.

Laboratory facilities for testing water samples have been upgraded in four districts (Karbi Anglong, Nagaon, Hojai, Kamrup), and ring wells have been constructed in Karbi Anglong, Nagaon and Kamrup districts for safer drinking water even as more are coming up.

Eleven village panchayats in Nagaon district that were sanctioned funds for tube wells have now been asked to make ring wells.

Saikia has been distributing medicines to treat the disease in Hojai, especially in the Akashiganga gaon panchayat (five villages under this panchayat are fluorosis-affected).

It is a challenge, as the guidelines of the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Fluorosis under the ministry of health and family welfare states that damage or change in skeletal system due to exposure to high levels of fluoride is irreversible.

“Even then, the simple combination of calcium, vitamin D, magnesium and zinc that I have been administering to children below the age of seven has shown positive results,” Saikia said.

“I started with 20 children in 2005; now there are 40–of which five have fully recovered from their symptoms, the bent legs, and the others are on the verge of full recovery.”

People initially did not believe in the medication, Saikia said, thinking it to be witchcraft but were finally convinced when they started getting relief. It takes years of administration of medicines before some of the effects are reversed.

Jakir, who was affected by fluorosis, was photographed over four years. It takes years of administration of medicines before some of the effects of fluorosis are reversed. (Image courtesy: Dharani Saikia)

Even doctors had initially confused the symptoms with polio or rickets, according to Paul, who first started the treatment with vitamin tablets in villages such as Tapatjuri in Hojai. It took him great efforts to convince them and the government.

“The ultimate solution to this problem, I believe, lies in going back to nature,” Saikia said. “We are choking water bodies for construction and agricultural purposes when surface water–after being treated–is the safest for consumption.”

(Rahman is a freelance journalist based in Assam. This story is courtesy thethirdpole.net, a website that tracks Asia’s water crisis.)

Courtesy: India Spend

Arab world: Where atheism is equated with extremism

May 10, 2017

For Muslims who publicly abandon Islam the problem is even worse. In Mauritania, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen anyone convicted of apostasy faces the threat – at least in theory – of execution.

Freedom of thought needs an atmosphere of tolerance where people can speak their mind and no one is forced to accept the beliefs of others. In the Middle East, though, tolerance is in short supply and ideas that don't fit the expectations of society and governments are viewed as a threat.

Where religion is concerned, the "threat" can come from almost anyone with unorthodox ideas but especially from those who reject religion entirely.

Increasingly, atheists in Arab countries are characterised as dangerous extremists – to be feared no less than violent jihadists.

Persecuting atheists is the inevitable result of governments setting themselves up as guardians of faith. Among the 22 Arab League countries, Islam is "the religion of the state" in 16 of them: Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, the UAE and Yemen.

For most of them, this is more than just a token gesture; it also serves political purposes. Embracing religion and posing as guardians of morality is one way for regimes to acquire some legitimacy, and claiming a mandate from God can be useful if they don't have a mandate from the public.

State religions, in their most innocuous form, signal an official preference for one particular kind of faith and, by implication, a lesser status for others. But the effects become far more obtrusive when governments rely on state religion as an aid to legitimacy – in which case the state religion has to be actively supported and policed. That, in turn, de-legitimises other belief systems and legitimises intolerance and discrimination directed against them.

The policing of religion in Arab countries takes many forms, from governments appointing clerics and setting the theme for weekly sermons to the enforcement of fasting during Ramadan.

To shield the government-approved version of religion from criticism, a variety of mechanisms can be deployed. These include laws against "defaming" religion and proselytising by non-Muslims but general laws regarding public order, telecommunications and the media may also apply.

In Algeria, for instance, the law forbids making, storing, or distributing printed or audiovisual materials with the intention of "shaking the faith" of a Muslim. In Oman, using the internet in ways that "might prejudice public order or religious values" is an imprisonable offence.

For Muslims who publicly abandon Islam the problem is even worse. In Mauritania, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen anyone convicted of apostasy faces the threat – at least in theory – of execution.

Using a state religion as an aid to legitimacy turns the personal beliefs of individuals into a political issue, because disagreeing with the state's theological position also implies disloyalty to the state. Those who happen to disagree must either conform or risk becoming not only a religious dissident but a political one too.

Equating religious conformity with loyalty to the state allows Arab governments to label non-conformists not merely as dissidents but extremists. This in turn provides an excuse for suppressing them, as has been seen in Egypt with the Sisi regime's campaign against atheism and in Saudi Arabia where "promotion of atheist thought" became officially classified as terrorism.

Although Saudi Arabia's war on atheists stems from fundamentalist theology, in Egypt it's the opposite: the Sisi regime presents itself as a beacon of religious moderation. To describe the Sisi brand of Islam as moderate, though, is rather misleading. "Militantly mainstream" might be a better term. Theologically speaking it is middle-of the-road and relatively bland but also illiberal and authoritarian in character.

The result in Egypt is a kind of enforced centrism. While allowing some scope for tolerance – of other monotheistic religions, for example – the regime sets limits on discourse about religion in order to confine it to the middle ground. The main intention, obviously, was to place Islamist theology beyond the bounds of acceptability but at the other end of the spectrum it also means that atheism, scepticism and liberal interpretations of Islam have become forms of extremism.

Defining 'extremism'

Absurd as it might seem to place atheists in the same category as extremists such as terrorists and jihadists, the issue hinges on how "extremism" is defined: extreme in relation to what? Violent and intolerant extremism is a global phenomenon but confusion arises when governments try to define it by reference to national or culture-specific values.

Arab states are not the only offenders in this respect, though. They have been assisted by western governments defining "extremism" in a similar way – as rejection of a specific national culture rather than rejection of universal rights and international norms.

In its effort to prevent radicalisation of students, for example, the British government defined extremism as "vocal or active opposition to fundamental British values". Also in the context of eradicating extremism, the education minister talked about actively promoting "British values" in schools.

Approaching the problem in this way invites other countries to do likewise – even if their own national and cultural values would be considered extreme in relation to universal rights and international norms. Thus, Saudis can justifiably claim that atheism is contrary to fundamental Saudi values. Furthermore, the British minister's idea of instilling British values into British schoolchildren is not very different in principle from "instilling the Islamic faith" in young Saudis – which the kingdom's Basic Law stipulates as one of the main goals of education.

This article was first published on al-Bab.

“I do not believe in your wisdom and power anymore”: A Dawoodi Bohra woman’s missive to Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin

May 10, 2017

"I will not listen to your edicts about what I should wear, how I should educate my children, how I should live my life".

Representational image

With federal agents in the US recently nabbing a second doctor and his wife for conspiracy involving female genital mutilation (FGM), or female genital cutting (FGC) with the global head of the Dawoodi Bohra community coming under fire in the British Parliament, a sense of shame, frustration and anger is building up among Dawoodi Bohras worldwide over the alleged double-speak of Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin. Whatsapp messages are flowing thick and fast between community members worldwide, including a letter addressed to the Syedna by an American woman who prefers to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal. Sabrang India is publishing below the letter it has received from a member of the Bohra community along with some links.

To Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin,

We are the ones who showed up. We are the ones who wore the right thing, said the right thing, didn't ask too many questions. When you became our leader, we changed our license plates, our phone numbers to include the number 53. We came to you in our moments of deep grief and our moments of sweetest joy to ask for your permission to undertake life events.

We parted with our hard earned money in Dawoodi Bohra taxes. We kept photos of Syedna in our wallets and on our walls. We traveled to Texas, Nairobi, Mumbai. We prayed to you and for you. We did it because we needed to, because we believed in you.

We did this in the name of community. in the name of feeling supported by the ballast of history. We did this in the name of our financial wellbeing, our family's security. We believed in the sanctity of this community. We believed in your goodness, your wisdom. We believed that when we called to you for help, you would come.

Last year, on Syedna Taher Saifuddin's death anniversary – a day when you knew that people around the world were watching – you, Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin, spoke out about "keep[ing] our things strong, stay[ing] firm. Even the big sovereign states, whatever it is they say, if it makes any difference to our things, then we are not prepared to understand!…The act has to happen! If it is a man, then it is right, it can be openly done, but if it is a woman then it must be done discreetly, but then the act has to be done. Please understand what I am trying to talk about…"

We understood; we all knew what you were talking about. You were speaking about khatna, a globally reviled practice in which a part of a woman's clitoris is cut. You instructed us to continue carrying out khatna on our young girls regardless of what the “big sovereign states” (read: US law) had to say.

One month later, US-based jamaats published letters stating that community members should follow the law and not practice khatna in the US. You never said that it was inherently wrong; you just impliedly encouraged us to travel elsewhere for the procedure.

So here we are, April 2017. Jumana Nagarwala did an appalling thing in flagrant disobedience of her role as a healer and doctor. The issue has gone global – The New York Times, the BBC, UK Parliament (video) – are associating the Dawoodi Bohra community with this heinous act. They are not besmirching us – they are accurately reporting on a practice that expresses your attempt to denigrate women.

But we can’t place blame entirely on Jumana Nagarwala. She didn't come up with this idea. She did it for you, in your name, under your instruction. On Wednesday, a federal jury indicted her, Fakhruddin Attar and Farida Attar.

Your followers are in hot water now and what did you do? You washed your hands of them. Less than a year after your pronouncement that you were "not prepared to understand" what "big sovereign states" say, you did a 180.

You issued a statement saying that it was "unfortunate" that Dr. Nagarwala had not followed US law, that the Dawoodi Bohras do not support any violation of local, state or federal law. You threw Dr. Jumana under the bus and bailed.

So now we know. We know that even if we show up and wear what you want, say what you want, do what you want, you won’t show up for us when it matters.

It doesn’t matter how much we gave and prayed and observed. You will not take responsibility for your actions. You will not stand by your followers.

I will continue to go to the jamaat and pray alongside my fellow Bohra women. But I do this now only for the love of my family, for the peace that this brings them, for the Allah who sees everything we do (including you). I will not do it for you.

I do not believe in your wisdom and power anymore. I will not listen to your edicts about what I should wear, how I should educate my children, how I should live my life. You have lost that from me. I know now that when the reckoning comes, you will not stand by me, and so I will not stand by you anymore.

Ahmediya Imam battling for life in Bangladesh after attack for “preaching wrong Islam”

May 10, 2017

Assailant tells police he decided to kill the imam three weeks ago after learning how the latter had been leading the Muslims astray and converting them to the Ahmadiyya faith

Law enforcers have found that the three youths who hacked the imam of an Ahmadiyya mosque in Mymensingh Monday night in a suspected militant attack are classmates at a madrasa.

Abdul Ahad Mohammad Ullah, one of the attackers apprehended by locals after the attack, on Tuesday said they were students of Islampur Darus Sunnah Jafria Madrasa in Jamalpur.

Ahad identified the other attackers as Ilias Hossain and Jahirul Islam, reports Bangla Tribune.

Details about the other two attackers could not be known immediately.

Ahad is undergoing treatment at the Mymensingh Medical College Hospital (MMCH) under police custody.

The detainee insisted that they did not belong to any militant group and had attempted to kill the Ahmadiyya imam on their own volition as “he was preaching wrong Islam.”

All previous attacks on religious minorities in Bangladesh were claimed by militant and terrorist groups, mainly banned outfit Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).

Imam Mostafizur Rahman, 35, of Khanpur mosque in Ishwarganj was hacked by the three assailants indiscriminately with sharp weapons inside the mosque around 9 pm, after the end of Esha prayers.

The attackers tried to flee as locals came to his rescue. Ahad was caught at that time and handed over to the police.

The imam was first taken to the Upazila Health Complex and then shifted to the MMCH as his condition deteriorated. He was later shifted to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) in critical condition around 5 am on Tuesday.

Jasmine Nahar, resident surgeon of DMCH, said the condition of the imam had not improved as of last night. He was treated at the post-operative ward.

“The imam was hacked on the neck, back, abdomen and his left hand with sharp weapons,” she told the Dhaka Tribune.

Jasmine evaded a direct answer when asked if the attackers were trained.

Hailing from Kalmakanda of Netrokona, Ahad was studying at the madrasa for the last one and a half years. His father is the founder-principal of a female madrasa.

Ahad said he decided to kill the imam three weeks ago after learning how the latter had been leading the Muslims astray and converting them to the Ahmadiyya faith.

He and his friends collected sharp weapons and travelled to Ishwarganj three days ago to execute their plan.

Kalmakanda police on Tuesday morning detained his wife Lutfa Akhter and two brothers – Moin Uddin and Nizam Uddin – for questioning.

Imam Mostafizur hails from Dohanda village under Kahalu upazila in Dinajpur. He had been leading prayers at the Ahmadiyya mosque for the last two years and living with his wife at a nearby cottage.

Police Superintendent Syed Nurul Islam visited him at the hospital around 10:30 pm on Monday.

He hoped the two others would be arrested soon, but refused to say anything about the motive of the attack without investigation.

Earlier, members of a new faction of JMB carried out a suicide attack on an Ahmadiyya mosque in Rajshahi’s Baghmara on December 25, 2015. Ten devotees were injured in the bomb attack. International terrorist group Islamic State claimed responsibility.

The suicide bomber, Md Tarek Aziz alias Musa, was killed in the explosion while Jamal Uddin, who helped Aziz to carry the bomb inside the mosque, was killed in a shoot-out at Godagari of Rajshahi on June 7, 2016, a day after his arrest.

New JMB has carried out most of its attacks with the help of three-man teams.

The Ahmadiyya community people are labelled as anti-Islamic by local Islamist groups including Jamaat-e-Islami, Islami Oikyo Jote and Hefazat-e-Islam. Hefazat urged the government to ban Ahmadiyyas in its 13-point demands placed in 2013.

Ahmadiyya supporters and mosques have come under violent attacks in different places across the country over the last few decades.

Thousands of Ahmadiyyas have been killed in Pakistan since a campaign began in 1953 by Jamaat founder Syed Abul A’la Maudoodi, who was later sentenced to death for instigating communal attacks on them.

In Pakistan, Ahmadiyyas were banned in 1974 from calling themselves Muslims and building their mosques in the Islamic Republic. Their places of worship were shut down or desecrated by Islamists.

“It was a well-planned attack aimed at killing Mostafizur,” said Ahmadiyya community’s central leader Ahmed Tafsir Chowdhury.

“Those who cannot stand us have carried out the attack,” he added.

Muezzin of the mosque Aiyub Ali said the imam was an introvert and amicable person. “He used to invite Muslims to join sermons at the mosque.

“But several madrasa teachers and their students of a Dhaka-based madrasa came to the area around two months back, and announced that they will not let the Ahmadiyyas run the mosque,” Aiyub said.

Republished with permission from Dhaka Tribune.

Shedding crocodile tears for his “Muslim sisters”: Modi’s latest jumlaa

May 10, 2017

But let no one, least of all the PM and the ruling party, seek to gain political mileage for their anti-minority, majoritarian campaign from such a progressive step against triple talaq.

There is a distressing irony in the recent statements of the Prime Minister expressing deep concern over the status of his “Muslim sisters”. His advice, much publicized in the print and electronic media, to the leadership of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) and maulanas on the one hand, and to secular political parties and forces on the other, to resist the temptation of `appeasing’ the minority `vote-bank’ and join the RSS-BJP in taking a common stand against `triple talaq’, is both alarming and intimidating.

Modi was the Gujarat Chief Minister holding the home portfolio in 2002. To date, he has not uttered one word of remorse or sympathy for the unprecedented brutality visited on his “Muslim sisters” during the genocidal pogrom carried out under his watch.

Even common decency was sacrificed when he mockingly `justified’ his government’s refusal to provide relief to the victims by referring to the camps set up, funded and managed by the beleaguered community itself as `factories for producing babies’. The coarseness of the slogans, e.g. `Hum do, Humare pachees’ (A Hindutva canard alleging that Muslim men marry four women, and the five together produce 20 children per family) which routinely peppered his public speeches was certainly not reflective of gender sensitivity or concern.

Have the responsibilities of the high office which he now occupies, drawing both national and international attention, finally tempered his patriarchal Hindutva mindset? This would be a welcome and sobering shift if indeed it had been so. But again, reality rudely intervenes.

Are the widows of Mohammed Akhlaq and Pehlu Khan, killed by murderous mobs, and the mother of Najeeb Ahmed, the still `missing’ JNU student, excluded from the category of “Muslim sisters” deserving of the PM and the nation’s respect, consideration and compassion? Why is the PM silent on their suffering?

Why has even the occasional, perfunctory rap on the knuckles for the Sangh Parivar’s vigilante lynch mobs, the infamous gau rakshaks striking terror within the minority and Dalit communities with impunity, come so late from a PM who’s Twitter responses even on the most trivial issues are being constantly updated? And all this is happening now, when we have apparently “moved on” from Gujarat 2002.

Led by the PM himself, with senior ministers following suit, the present central government is politicizing an issue- the outrageous practice of `triple talaq’- which is already before the Supreme Court in the form of a petition by aggrieved Muslim women. The hearings are scheduled to beginon May 11, 2017.

The Sangh Parivar has always projected the constitutional recognition granted to the personal laws of minority communities in a completely partisan manner.

Promoting the Hindutva conception of a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) which is based on imposing the dominant pattern of behavior and social practice of the majority Hindu community on all citizens, this seeks to deny minorities and ‘lowered castes’ their constitutional right to observe their own `personal law’ in matters of customary and even dietary practices.

The constitutional provision is intended to protect the diversity and autonomy of socio-religious conventions but not at the expense of the constitutional rights granted to all citizens. Individuals can and do, as in the case of the present petition, appeal to the courts for redressing their grievances.

The landmark Supreme Court judgment granting maintenance to the divorced Shah Bano (1986), asserting the supremacy of her constitutional right and refuting the interpretation of Muslim personal law by the maulanas, was ill-advisedly overturned by the central government during Rajiv Gandhi’s tenure as PM in a partisan political manoeuvre of unconcealed opportunism.

A similar manoeuvre, having strong communal overtones, is now being provoked by the Hindutva forces. The Muslim community, already demonized and targeted on the issue of cow protection, is now sought to be isolated and made the scapegoat for all gender oppression. The sub-text of this stratagem is the forcible codification of a `uniform’civil code.

But what has been the impact of codifying laws which ban child marriage, dowry, honour killings, khap panchayat impositions of brutal punishment and social disgrace, caste oppression and exploitation? Marital rape is not even acknowledged because Hindu marriage it is claimed is a sacred bond!

From the PM down to the last constable, from the opinion-building media to community and caste organizations, and political leaderships across the board, everyone either looks the other way when partisan interests are involved or supports majoritarian prejudice when a political backlash threatens access to power and influence.

Until this nexus is broken, the constitutional rights of the oppressed and the marginalized across castes, gender and religions, will remain vulnerable. Unless patriarchal mindsets and practices are firmly resisted and eradicated no amount of crocodile tears shed for “Muslim sisters” will change the humiliating conditions of oppression in which all Indian women are faced with a denial of their fundamental rights.

Let the Supreme Court uphold the constitutional rights of the petitioners against ‘triple talaq’. All enlightened opinion supports them. But let no one, least of all this PM and the ruling party, seek to gain political mileage for their anti-minority, majoritarian campaign from such a progressive step.

The writer is Member Presidium, All India Forum for Right to Education.

Jamiat’s Mahmood Madani group meets PM Modi, breaks Muslim ranks

May 10, 2017

'The PM heard us passionately and agreed with our concerns' says the delegation of Jamiat Ulama-e Hind (Mahmood Madani group) which met Modi today at his official residence

A delegation of Jamiat Ulama-e Hind (Mahmood Madani group) met the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday (May 9) at the Prime Minister's official residence. The large delegation included some persons from outside Jamiat also like Prof. Akhtarul Wasey (VC, Maulana Azad University, Jodhpur), Dr. Zahir I Kazi (President of Anjuman-i-Islam, Mumbai and PA Inamdar (Chairman, Azam Campus, Pune).

According to a press release issued by the Jamiat, the meeting lasted for about two hours. Later, talking to media, Mahmood Madani, General Secretary of his group of Jamiat, described the meeting as "satisfactory and positive". He said, "the PM heard us passionately and agreed with our concerns."

Madani further said, "Our meeting with the PM was mainly for opening the door of mutual communication and closer understanding that would lead to further opportunities and all of us will be able to play our role in the development of our country." Madani added that he asked the Prime Minister to create a mechanism for further dialogue between the PM and the Indian Muslim community.

This was the first such high-level meeting of leaders of the Indian Muslim community with Prime Minister Narendra Modi who came to power three years ago but was shunned until now by the Muslim community. A few days earlier Mahmood Madani group had said that it has asked for time to meet the PM.

Soon after Modi's coming to power, at least three high-level meetings were held by Muslim community leaders including one called by Maulana Mahmood Madani himself in his Masjid Abdun Nabi office in Delhi, in which it was decided unanimously that no Muslim group will meet Modi who was held responsible not only for Gujarat 2002 riots, fake encounters but also for creating in the country an atmosphere of hate against the Muslim community.

The leaders had decided that should a need arise to meet the PM, it should be a joint delegation that will go to meet him. Today’s delegation did not include any leader of leading Indian Muslim organizations like Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat, Jamaat-e Islami Hind and Markazi Jamiat Ahl-e Hadees or institutions like Muslim Personal Law Board or Darul Uloom Deoband.

By meeting the PM today with only a Jamiat delegation, Mahmood Madani group has broken the Muslim ranks.

Maulana Madni and others who met PM speak to the media

Following is the full unedited text of the press release issued Jamiat Ulama-e Hind after this meeting:

New Delhi, May 09

Mr. Narendra Modi

Hon’ble Prime Minister of India

PMO, New Delhi

Delegation of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind consisting of a galaxy of religious scholars, Educationists and Social leaders led by Maulana Qari Mohammad Usman Mansurpuri, President Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind met Prime Minister Narender Modi today at his residence in New Delhi. The delegation discussed with the PM several issues including the current communal situation of the country.

Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind president Maulana Qari Usman and its general secretary Maulana Mahmood Madani while speaking to the media after conclusion of the meeting that continued for about two hours, said that the meeting was satisfactory and positive. Maulana Mahmood Madani said the PM heard us passionately and agreed with our concerns. He said, PM also appreciated our stand that the divorce was internal issue of the Muslim community and the community itself should take reformative steps.

Our meeting with the PM was mainly for opening the door of mutual communication and closer understanding that would lead to further opportunities and all of us will be able to play our role in the development of our country. We requested from Honorable PM to create mechanism for access to him or his appointee for continuing dialogue and closer understanding so that Muslim community is assured of its role and share in the development of our country. Maulana Madani
said PM was apprehensive about growing hatred in the name of cow protection and he assured us that he would not let this trend prosper.

On this occasion, the delegation submitted a memorandum which text is hereunder.

To the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India

We are very grateful to you that you granted this opportunity to the delegation of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind consisting of a galaxy of religious scholars, educationists and social leaders led by Maulana Qari Mohammad Usman Mansurpuri, President Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind to meet their Prime Minister.

The basic objective of the meeting is to establish closer interaction between the government and the Muslim community on issues of larger national interest which has been highlighted by the Honorable Prime Minister himself through the slogans like “Sab ka Sath Sab ka Vikas and Meri Sarkar Sabki Sarkar’’. We are of the opinion that most important national issues can be solved through mutual dialogue.

Supremacy of Rule of Law is must for the security, integrity and development of our country. No one is above the law. It must be administered with total impartiality and equality. Your recent reprimand to private groups taking law in their hands and launching murderous attacks for salvaging cows has sent the correct message but much has to be done by law enforcing agencies and the state administration.

The recent incidents of manslaughter on the pretext of cow slaughter have sent shock waves of terror and fear through Muslim, Dalit and the weakest sections of the society. We are afraid that the fear and despondence if unchecked could prove highly counterproductive.

There is no doubt that terrorism, fueled and perpetuated by enemy forces tops our agenda with reference to our national security, peace and stability. There have been attempts to communalise even this issue. We have always condemned such attempt and consistently campaigned at the national level in cooperation with all communities against terrorism as well as religious bigotry and extremism.

We are happy to note that in the context of tarnishing the image of Islam and Muslim globally you made the Indian Muslim communities hold their head high by projecting Indian Muslim community’s ideology of peaceful Islam with reference to India’s tradition of Islamic Sufism and their aversion to extremist ideology.

We appreciate this on your part and on our part reiterate our commitment to enable India lead counter terrorism campaign by example. However, for controlling the menace of terrorism, the law must be enforced effectively with total impartiality. Every caution should be exercised to ensure that no innocent person is victimized.

Muslim community has issues and grievances just like any other community which have to be dealt with as per the exigency but this shouldn't undermine their aspiration to be equal stake holder. These issues should be deliberated upon and solved amicably so that none of the communities have a feeling of discrimination on the basis of religion and they feel their duty and share in the country’s development equally which tallies with identity of our beloved country.

The delegation requests the Honorable PM to create mechanism for access to him or his appointee for continuing dialogue and closer understanding so that Muslim community is assured of its role and share in the development of our country.

We once again, thank you and hope that door of mutual communication and closer understanding that has been opened today, will lead to further opportunities and all of us will be able to play our role in the development of our country.

With highest regards

Yours sincerely

Mohammad Usman Mansoorpuri

President

The delegation includes

	Maulana Qari Syed Mohammad Usman Mansurpuri	President of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind.
	Maulana Mahmood Asad Madani	General Secretary, Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind
	Dr. Zahir I. Kazi	President of Anjuman-i-Islam, Mumbai
	P. A. Inamdar	Founder of Azam campus educational society, Pune
	Professor Akhtrul Wasey	VC, Maulana Azad University, Jodhpur
	Mohammad Atique	O.S.D. (Officer on Special Duty) Maulana Azad University, Jodhpur.
	Maulana Mufti Mohammad Salman Mansoorpuri	General Secretary of Religious Educational Board, Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind
	Maulana Hasib Siddiqi	Treasurer, Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind.
	Maulana Mohammad Qasim	President, Jamiat Ulama-i-Bihar
	Maulana Hafiz Nadeem Siddiqi	President, Jamiat Ulama Maharashtra
	Mufti Iftikhar Ahmad Qasmi	President of Jamiat Ulama Karnataka
	Maulana Hafiz peer Shabbir	President of Jamiat Ulama Andhra Pradesh & Telangana
	Mufti Shamsuddin Bajli	General Secretary of Jamiat Ulama Karnataka
	Maulana Badruddin Ajmal	President of Jamiat Ulama Assam
	Maulana Matinul Haq Usama	President of Jamiat Ulama Uttar Pradesh
	Mufti Ahmad Deola	Vice President of Jamiat Ulama Gujarat
	Shakeel Ahmad Syed Advocate	Advocate Supreme Court, Member of National Executive of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind
	Maulana Niaz Ahmad Farooqui	Member of National Executive of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind
	Maulana Abdul Wahid Khatri	General Secretary of Jamiat Ulama Rajasthan
	Maulana Mohammad Yahya Karimi	President of Jamiat Ulama Haryana, Punjab & HP
	Maulana Ali Hassan Mazahiri	General Secretary of Jamiat Ulama Haryana, Punjab & HP
	Maulana Muizuddin Ahmad	Member of National Executive Committee of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind
	Maulana Qari Shoukat Ali	Member of National Executive Committee of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind
	Haji Syed Wahid Hussain Chishti Angarah Shah	Secretary, Anjuman Khuddam Khawja Sahab, Syed Zadgarn, Darghah Sharif Ajmer.
	Maulana Hakimuddin Qasmi	Secretary of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind Courtesy: Milli Gazeete

1...2,1142,1152,116...2,697 Page 2,115 of 2,697

RSS Marketing Illegal Mumbo Jumbo as Science for Making Superbabies

The RSS linked Arogya Bharati has been running programs for producing “fair, tall babies” with “high intelligence”; even if the parents are dark, short and with low intelligence.

Centre, J&K governments suppressing all rights and liberties, deploying military to force Kashmiris into subjugation: Report

Fluoride Contamination Cripples More Than 1,000 Children In Assam

Arab world: Where atheism is equated with extremism

For Muslims who publicly abandon Islam the problem is even worse. In Mauritania, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen anyone convicted of apostasy faces the threat – at least in theory – of execution.

Defining 'extremism'

“I do not believe in your wisdom and power anymore”: A Dawoodi Bohra woman’s missive to Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin

"I will not listen to your edicts about what I should wear, how I should educate my children, how I should live my life".

Ahmediya Imam battling for life in Bangladesh after attack for “preaching wrong Islam”

Assailant tells police he decided to kill the imam three weeks ago after learning how the latter had been leading the Muslims astray and converting them to the Ahmadiyya faith

Shedding crocodile tears for his “Muslim sisters”: Modi’s latest jumlaa

But let no one, least of all the PM and the ruling party, seek to gain political mileage for their anti-minority, majoritarian campaign from such a progressive step against triple talaq.

Jamiat’s Mahmood Madani group meets PM Modi, breaks Muslim ranks

To the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India

The delegation includes

JOIN OUR MAILING LIST

JOIN OUR MAILING LIST

Important Links

Other Links

CONNECT