WRT: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mukto-mona/message/46474
Dr Irfani,
If anything my heart goes out to this little girl. AFter the laurels that she won for India, both the Hindu and Muslim fundamentalists have been harassing her in a manner that is disgraceful and unbecoming of anyone with any culture or common sense. At first a fundamentalist Deobandi group attacked her for playing tennis wearing a skirt and not wearing a burkha until they were shouted down by Liberal Muslims. Now, the Hindu fundamentalists have begun using doctored images of her alleging that she "showed disrespect to the national flag" by putting her feet beside it. Newspaper and photographic experts' analyses which have shown that it was the angle at which the pictures were taken have cut no ice with the Hindutvaites who have been looking for prominent Muslim targets to attack in order to build on the momentum of their victories in the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh elections. With a tight election coming up in Karnata (a Deccan state and the neighboring
state to Andhra Pradesh where Sania lives with her parents) they have made a scapegoat out of the poor girl and hammered away at her with malicious propaganda.
I personally think that this is a case of India exposing its ugly side. The Talibanist Indian approach to women has been seen before. A South Indian actress, Khushboo (whose second husband is a Tamil Hindu whom the Vanniar parties led by the Union Health Minister Dr Anbumani Ramdoss and his father Dr Ramdoss hate) was driven from pillar to post with frivolous lawssuits filed against her across the Southern state of Tamilnadu. The Indian judiciary happily played along with this massive fraud until international attention caused it to sit up and take a look. Now it is Sania's turn. Soon, any Indian Muslim woman achiever will have no choice but to leave the country if she wants to do anything, something that plays conveniently into the hands of both the Muslim fundamentalists and especially the Hindutvaites, each with their obscurantist mindsets.
Before anyone wishes to call India an example for the South Asian region, they would do well to reflect on what is happening in that country. It is far from being a liberal and tolerant democracy and is, in fact, in many ways (including how its judiciary behaves) a viciously recalcitrant and obscurantist nation. I should know. I lived there for a little more than thirty five years.
Mehul Kamdar
Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?
- The Riddle of Epicurus
*****************************************
Sign the Petition : Release the Arrested University Teachers Immediately : An Appeal to the Caretaker Government of Bangladesh
http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/university_teachers_arrest.htm
*****************************************
Daily Star publishes an interview with Mukto-Mona
http://www.mukto-mona.com/news/daily_star/daily_star_MM.pdf
*****************************************
MM site is blocked in Islamic countries such as UAE. Members of those theocratic states, kindly use any proxy (such as http://proxy.org/) to access mukto-mona.
*****************************************
Mukto-Mona Celebrates 5th Anniversary
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/5_yrs_anniv/index.htm
*****************************************
Mukto-Mona Celebrates Earth Day:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Earth_day2006/index.htm
*****************************************
Kansat Uprising : A Special Page from Mukto-Mona
http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/kansat2006/members/
*****************************************
MM Project : Grand assembly of local freedom fighters at Raumari
http://www.mukto-mona.com/project/Roumari/freedom_fighters_union300306.htm
*****************************************
German Bangla Radio Interviews Mukto-Mona Members:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/german_radio/
Mukto-Mona Celebrates Darwin Day:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/index.htm
*****************************************
Some FAQ's about Mukto-Mona:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/new_site/mukto-mona/faq_mm.htm
****************************************************
VISIT MUKTO-MONA WEB-SITE : http://www.mukto-mona.com/
****************************************************
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".
-Beatrice Hall [pseudonym: S.G. Tallentyre], 190
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mukto-mona/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mukto-mona/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:mukto-mona-digest@yahoogroups.com
mailto:mukto-mona-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
mukto-mona-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: