http://www.weeklyholiday.net/front.html#01
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The people of Bangladesh have reasons to believe that it is primarily not the want of water on Indian's part that has been impeding successful negotiations. It is rather a negative mindset of the Indian policymakers that never allows the Indian authorities to forge positive negotiations with its neighbours, including Bangladesh, writes Nurul Kabir in a paper presented at the India-Bangladesh dialogues of journalists at the Bangladesh Enterprise Institute in 2004
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TipaiMukh: Indian propaganda rolls on from Bangladesh soil By Taslima Ref : http://www.newsfrombangladesh.net/view.php?hidRecord=275853 Mr Bijon Sarma pops up from time to time with his limited knowledge about Bangladesh related issues. He seems to be doing dirty Indian propaganda from the soil of Bangladesh, perhaps, without meaning to. He has tried to create religious controversy over an issue without a communal basis. This issue has to do with the national survival of the Bengali nation. All political parties and faith groups of our Bengali nation want a solution which doesn't damage our national interest. You will have seen how our Bangladesh government has been very measured in its demand. It is seeking co-operation and mutually beneficial solution. That has been the approach of every Bangladesh government. This nation doesn't have ill-will towards any of her neighbours. After all, it was Bangladesh which established SAARC.... India is a poor country with many, many problems. Forget what a few Parsis & Gujarati immigrants of Kenya, Uganda and London are doing making billions for mata Bharat. It's got nearly half of the poorest people in the world despite being free of British rule for 62 years. Forget the Hindu attacks on Muslims, Christians & Buddhists in India. Attacks & killings of the Untouchable Dalit Hindus is a daily thing too. And then there all the internal civil wars spead over vast areas of India. It's a land Western nations are tired of, even if America tries to use it as a base to make trouble for China in the Tibet region. Farakka is an example of India's bad faith. It has already ruined large part of our nation. Now this TipaiMukh will be the next episode in the same sage. Not only will it ruin beautiful Sylhet but also lay to waste all the adjoining regions over a period of 50 years. India is just not a normal nation but one that's distrusted throughout the region as mischief maker. None of it has anything to do with Hindu Muslim religion as Indian propagandists often like to crow. Just look at the miseries of Nepal and Sri Lanka where time after time India has poked her nose resulting in untold number of killings and violence. If Sarma were a patriot he would warn his Bangladesh not to be misled. He would join in a non-partisan forum to demand to see all the Indian plans to which China and Nepal are invited. That way a proper regional debate could take place, and solutions found for the benefit of the region and its teeming millions of needy people. Eventually, such an outcome could help dispel distrust between the nations. Bangladesh and India can be "brotherly" nations only when we overcome distrust. Otherwise, an international solution is needed in which Farakka and Tipai Mukh can be debated as a global crisis. By the way, Sarma should know that India is already panicking about an alleged Chinese move to divert common waters away resulting in horrors for India and beyond. For that reason alone India should stop behaving like a cowboy. http://newsfrombangladesh.net/view.php?hidRecord=276030 --- On Wed, 7/22/09, Isha Khan <bd_mailer@yahoo.com> wrote:
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--- In mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com, Akbar Hussain <akbar_50@...> wrote:
>
>
> The grim picture of the law and order situation in Bangladesh should be a matter of concern for every citizen in the country. Recently it has been reported that the international organized criminal gangs has established their bases in Bangladesh with the help of the local hardened criminals. In a politically corrupted climate containing criminals is a difficult task. But if the government is determined to root out corruption and criminality the situation can improve and citizens can feel secure. The lofty aim to establish rule of law can't be achieved if the administration does not realize the fact that they are duty bound morally and politically to its people to ensure a life based and safety and security. They have the burden of peoples trust to protect the good and destroy the evil. The history of Bangladesh's law and order situation is not a rosy one. In every administration some politicians pampered and protected the criminals for political and criminals reasons. They cried foul about the law order situation in the country against every incumbent administration whenever they were not in power. This has become a vicious circle and hypocritical too.
> The situation has reached such a stage that God and good both are crying foul. The Prime Minister being an experienced politician can't enjoy her thumping majority in the parliament without showing her prowess to reign on her naughty politicians. The criminals are not stronger than the arms of law. The need is to apply law in its fullest extent to defeat them. She must show her sincerity that she cares for her people who have given her the mandate to rule.
> She must act now not later.
>
> Akbar Hussain
>
>
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Create a cool, new character for your Windows Live™ Messenger.
> http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9656621
>
The practical scenario is very alarming indeed.I've been posted and indulged in BCL for the last 4 years.Politics has become the synonym of plundering and corruption.I dreamed about do some corrections in our campus.But as time went on,everything was clear to me.All the leaders are corrupted and they all do compromises for mercenary gains.Students freely entered from Chhatradal and Chatrashibir to BCL by bribing the senior leaders.And this is going on with the whole hierarchy.And these guys only want to gain from politics,not to serve people.Without the attitude of serving people and working for the comprehensive development of the country,our beloved country can never prosper.
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This attached article was a keynote paper in the seminar held on 21 July
2009 on 33rd death anniversary of Col Abu Taher. The seminar was organized
by Col Taher Sangsad.
http://mukto-mona.com/banga_blog/?p=1942
Pls read the article and send your comments.
Mushtuq
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Hello,
If you find this news letter useful, kindly forward it to your friends and encourage them to join this mailing list.
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In Solidarity
Binu
A Day In Gaza
By Viva Palestina Delegation
http://www.countercurrents.org/arabia240709.htm
The Viva Palestina delegation of solidarity activists from the U.S. was allowed to enter Gaza on July 15 with truckloads of desperately needed humanitarian supplies--but under the condition that the convoy leave again within 24 hours. This is a diary of the 24 hours in Gaza by Tom Arabia, Karen Burke, Ream Kidane, Brian Lenzo, Khury Peterson-Smith, Eric Ruder and Martin Smith
"Breaking The Silence:" Testimonies Of Israeli Soldiers
By Stephen Lendman
http://www.countercurrents.org/lendman240709.htm
"Breaking the Silence is an organization of veteran Israeli soldiers that collects anonymous testimonies of soldiers who served in the Occupied Territories during the Second Intifada." They recount experiences that deeply affected them, including abusing Palestinians, looting, destroying property, and other practices "excused as military necessities, or explained as extreme and unique cases." Its new booklet features 54 damning testimonies from 30 Israeli soldiers on their experiences in Operation Cast Lead. They recount what official media and government sources suppressed
Settler Attacks In Southern West Bank
Exact Heavily Toll
By Michael Galvin
http://www.countercurrents.org/galvin240709.htm
The Palestinian families who live in Beit Ommar have frequently been victim to settler expansion and harrassment over the last decades, attacks in the last few months have intensified as the settlement's inhabitants attempt to intimidate the Palestinians to give up their land for settlement use
Mainstream Media And The Propaganda Machine
By Ershad Abubacker
http://www.countercurrents.org/abybacker240709.htm
A careful observation would bring forth the fact that mainstream media, especially the American media plays a vital role in shaping the world public opinion. And it needs a detailed analysis into the complex relationship that defines the content of mainstream media today with respect to the factors that affect the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that dominates our news coverage of international issues. Given that this news coverage is world's main source of information, it becomes important to examine the story the news media are telling us and to ask the question; does this news coverage reflect the reality on the ground?
Face The 'Truth'!
By Bradhi
http://www.countercurrents.org/bradhi240709.htm
Narendra modi can face questions on Gujarat genocide and undergo a polygraph test. Sajjan Kumar can face a question on 1984. Manmohan Singh on what exactly is in the agreement between India and US. Pinarayi Vijayan on his role in SNC-Lavlin scam etc., If this will happen, the parlimanterians won't be shouting this is dangerous to indian culture. Instead it will be dangerous to the notion of India itself. Keerthan and Basu are very much aware of the above 'indian sensibilities'. Now let us ask, Do you have courage to take this task and face the Truth, Star Plus?
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Dear Sir,
Please publish "the South Asian origin is the President of the "Western Ontario (Water lo) University in
CANADA:
http://www.thedailystar.net/magazine/2009/02/01/interview.htm
Thank you very much.
Yours sincerely
S. Barua.
Phone 416 269 1020, Toronto, Canada.
Statement on the NHRC report on the alleged encounter at Batla house
On 20th May, the Delhi High Court, acting on a petition filed by the People's union for democratic rights and Anhad, had asked the National Human rights commission to conduct their own inqury into the alleged Batla House encounter of September 2008 and give a report upon it. This order of the High Court was made after the High Court was shown reports of four independent organisations into the encounter, including the report of PUDR, the Delhi union of journalists, the Jamia Teachers Solidarity group, all of which seriously questioned the version of the Delhi police regarding the encounter. These reports and the petition filed by the PUDR had pointed out several specific problems with the version of the Delhi police. In particular, the following questions were raised about the version of the Delhi police.
1. If these boys were killed in a genuine encounter, how did the 17-year-old boy Sajid have four bullet holes on the top of his head, which could only happen if the boy was made to sit down and shot from above.
2. How is the skin peeled off from Atif's back? This was clearly visible in the photograph taken before his burial which is annexed to the PUDR petition. Obviously Atif had been tortured before being killed.
3. How are the other blunt injuries on the bodies of the boys explained by the police version of the encounter?
4. If the police knew in advance (as they claimed) that these boys in the flat were the terrorists involved in the Delhi and other bomb blasts, why did Inspector Sharma go in without a bullet proof vest?
5. How could 2 of the boys escape from the flat which had only one exit (two doors next to each other) and from a building which had only one exit?
It was expected that in these circumstances, the NHRC, would conduct its own investigation into the matter. The report dated 20th July 2009 of the NHRC given to the High Court on 22nd July, however shows that far from conducting any investigation into the matter, the NHRC has merely relied upon the Police reports for their report. They have not even examined or investigated the above questions which were squarely raised in the PUDR petition on which the High Court order was issued to the NHRC. They have not even examined Saif, the third boy picked up by the police from the flat, nor even any of the witnesses of the Batla house area who had deposed before the People's Tribunal. They have just swallowed the police version hook, line and sinker. And this is despite the fact that there has been no independant police investigation or even a Magisterial enquiry into the encounter as mandated by the NHRC's own guidelines.
It is extremely unfortunate that the premier Human Rights Body set up to investigate Human Rights violations is becoming a rubber stamp for the police. The same attitude of the NHRC was evident when the Supreme Court asked the NHRC to investigate allegations of Rape and Murder against the Salwa Judum. The NHRC send a team of essentially police officers who spoke mainly to the local police and other officials and gave a white washing report.
The time has come to seriously reexamine the manner of appointment of members of the NHRC and its powers. The present system of appointment by a committee of Prime Minister, Home Minister, Speaker and Leader of Opposition etc. is not working satisfactorily. All of them seem to want a toothless and tame body which will not question those in power.
Since the NHRC report does not address or answer the disquieting questions raised by the several independent fact finding reports about encounter, it is therefore essential that there be an investigation into the "encounter" by an SIT appointed by the Delhi HIgh Court.
Signed by:
Shabnam Hashmi (Anhad)
Moushumi Basu (Secretary, PUDR)
Dr. Anoop Saraya (Jan Hastakshep)
Harsh Mander (Director, Center for Equity Studies)
Sreerekha & Tanvir Fazar (Jamia Teachers Solidarity Group)
Colin Gonsalves (Director, Human Rights Law Network)
Arundhati Roy (Writer)
Kavita Krishnan (CPI ML Liberation)
Kamini Jaiswal (Advocate)
Mehtab Alam (Association for the protection of democratic rights)
Prashant Bhushan (Advocate)
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Muslim Women's Rights: Ijtihad in the Light of Maqasid al-Shariah
By Maulvi Waris Mazhari (Translated by Yoginder Sikand)
Prejudices against women are a universal phenomenon, found in almost every human society. When such prejudices are sought to be given religious sanction, it becomes much more difficult to do away with them. Lamentably, certain views and prescriptions contained in the corpus of traditional Muslim jurisprudence or fiqh do indeed militate against women, and even go against the spirit and teachings of Islam, a religion that stresses women's rights and equal status.
Things, however, are beginning to change today. Some Muslim scholars, based in certain Arab countries and in the West, are developing a contextually-relevant fiqh for women, or what is called fiqh al-nisa. One of the leading scholars in this regard is the well-known Allamah Yusuf al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian alim who is now based in Qatar. He has issued numerous fatwas related to women's issues that depart, in significant ways, from traditional fiqh prescriptions. For instance, he argues that it is not prohibited for a man to shake a woman's hand as a customary greeting, for a woman to take up employment outside the home and even to become the head of state of a country. He engages in contextual ijtihad or personal reasoning based on the principal sources of the Islamic tradition—the Quran and Hadith—to come up with such novel views.
Let me clarify his interesting way of reasoning with the help of an example. It is reported that, in the context of the death of the Emperor of Persia, who was succeeded by his daughter, the Prophet mentioned that a people who were ruled by a woman would not succeed. This hadith report has been taken by most ulema to imply that a woman should never become the head of state of a country.
Allamah al-Qaradawi engages in a contextual analysis of this report to come out with a fiqh prescription that is precisely the opposite of what most traditionalist ulema uphold. He argues that this report has to be understood in the backdrop of the context that the Prophet was addressing. That was a time when many countries, such as Persia, were ruled by male monarchs, some of whom claimed to be divinely-appointed. They enjoyed dictatorial powers, and could do just as they pleased. There was no concept of democracy then. That was the context in which the Prophet had made his remark. Today, Allamah al-Qaradawi argues, the political context is totally different. Most countries today are, at least in theory, no longer ruled by dictatorial monarchs, and pay at least lip-service to democracy. Today, a single person cannot decide the fate of an entire country. Rather, governance has now become a vastly complicated affair. There is a whole system or apparatus for this, a set of formal rules, a massive bureaucracy, parliaments, courts and so on. Hence, Allamah al-Qaradawi argues, in today's context it is indeed permissible for women to become the head of state. He backs this conclusion by pointing to the reference in the Muslim tradition to Bilquis, Queen of Sheba, who was permitted to rule by the Prophet Sulaiman or Solomon. Since Muslims believe that Solomon was a divinely-appointed Prophet and that all prophets must be respected and their example followed, obviously the practice of Solomon in allowing Bilquis to rule cannot be considered to be un-Islamic.
Personally, I agree with Allamah Qaradawi's reasoning and conclusion. If you see the countries that have had women heads of state, such as India, Bangladesh, Ireland, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, you will have to admit that these women did not rule any worse than their male counterparts before or after them. These countries did not decline just because they had female rulers.
Sadly, we have few ulema of the calibre of Allamah al-Qaradawi in South Asia who are seeking to evolve contextually-relevant understandings of women with regard to fiqh-related issues. Take, for instance, the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board, which sees itself as the apex body of the Indian ulema with regard to Muslim personal law issues, including, and especially, those related to women and family matters. The vast majority of the members of the Board are very traditionalist-minded. I personally feel that the Board must include more ulema, as well as Muslim social activists, who are better aware of the contemporary social context and demands, including the many problems faced by Muslim women, and who are able to engage in ijtihad with regard to a number of problematic issues. Sadly, there are very few such ulema in the Board, and their views are silenced by the conservatives, who are averse to ijtihad and insist on taqid or blindly following the prescriptions of the medieval ulema of the different maslaks or schools of Muslim jurisprudence.
Take the case, for instance, the issue of three talaqs in one sitting, which the Board has yet to resolve. This practice has led to literally thousands of Muslim women being arbitrarily divorced by their husbands. Most traditional jurists are of the view that three talaqs in one sitting constitute an irrevocable and final divorce. But, there are others today, as well as in the past, such as Ibn Taimiyah, Ibn al-Qaiyyim, Allamah Showkani and so on, and the ulema of the Ahl-e Hadith and Shia Jafari schools, who take this as one, revocable talaq. There are also statements of the Prophet to back their argument. The traditionalists refuse to listen to their claims, however, because they are wedded to the doctrine of taqlid. I think that one way to win them over is to consider the issue in the backdrop of the spirit or aims of the shariah, whose basic thrust is establishing justice. When the matter is understood in this way, and if the ulema can be convinced that the practice of triple talaq in one sitting is resulting in a gross violation of justice, the fundamental principle of the shariah, by causing such great suffering to divorced women and their children, it might make them change their views or cause them to allow for talfiq, or resorting to the opinions of other schools of Muslim jurisprudence, in such matters. I think there is a desperate need for our Indian ulema, including those associated with the Board, to expand their thinking about these issues, and to give particular attention to social realities, needs and problems, rather than advocating rigid taqlid.
In such matters, taqlid can amount to ignoring the aims of the shariah (maqasid al-shariah). Sadly, the issue of maqasid al-shariah is not given much attention to in the madrasas where our ulema are trained. This is a reflection of the fact that our madrasas, and traditional Islamic thought more generally, have remained stuck in a narrow framework defined by medieval fiqh. Today, however, some Muslim scholars, in Egypt and America, for instance, are trying to revive the tradition of articulating fiqh prescriptions in the light of maqasid al-shariah, and this is also reflected in some of their fatwas on women-related issues. Some of them resort to, and freely take from, other schools of Muslim jurisprudence, not being bound by the opinions of just one school that they might find too strict or inappropriate as regards issues related to women, for instance. Others advocate what is called fiqh us-sunnah, that is approaching the Quran and the genuine Hadith directly, instead of being bound by the prescriptions of the established schools of fiqh. In other words, and this is an approach I personally agree with, they take what they find useful in the established fiqh but abandon what they might feel is against the Quran and Prophetic Sunnah. In this way, they have been able to open up new spaces and opportunities for Muslim women and to uphold their rights, as given in the Quran, which may have been overshadowed, neglected or suppressed in the traditional corpus of fiqh.
This approach is in accord with the established principle in usul al-fiqh, the principles of Muslim jurisprudence, that changing conditions and times might necessitate changes in some ahkamat or juridical rules. This principle validates new solutions to new social contexts and social problems, and is related to the wider issue of ijtihad. The noted eighteenth century South Asian Muslim scholar, Shah Waliullah Dehlawi, advocated the same sort of approach. He critiqued taqlid and argued that only those prescriptions of the corpus of medieval fiqh should be accepted that were in accordance with the Quran and the genuine Hadith. He was also open to the idea of ulema of one maslak borrowing from other maslaks where the need so arose.
Ironically, although all the major Sunni traditions in South Asia, including the Deobandis, Barelvis and Ahl-e Hadith, claim to follow in the tradition of Shah Waliullah, they have not shown the same broadmindedness as he in the matter of ijtihad and fiqh. The Deobandis and Barelvis still insist on rigid taqlid of Hanafi jurisprudence, some aspects of which clearly militate against women's rights, even those that are granted to them by the Quran. In this context, I would appeal to our ulema to learn from the example of Shah Waliullah, whom they hold in high esteem, and to adopt a less rigid and more expansive approach to the question of taqlid versus ijtihad, including on some very problematic issues concerning women.
A graduate of the Deoband madrasa, Delhi-based Maulana Waris Mazhari is the editor of the monthly Tarjuman Dar ul-Ulum, the official organ of the Deoband Madrasa's Old Boys' Association. He can be contacted on ws_mazhari@yahoo.com
Yoginder Sikand works with the Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Social Policy at the National Law School, Bangalore |