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Tuesday, November 10, 2009

[mukto-mona] New in Parabaas Tagore Section: Book review by Professor Tan Chung

Hi,

We are glad to bring out a review by Professor Tan Chung of the latest from The Oxford India Tagore Series: Selected Writings on Education and Nationalism (ed. Uma Das Gupta)-- "Jawaharlal Nehru described the difference in the development of modern China and India by one letter "r" --- China's "revolution" vis-à-vis India's "evolution". With or without the letter "r", both countries were moving in the right direction.."

http://parabaas.com/rabindranath/articles/brTanChung.html

Of course, you can access this and all the articles of Parabaas from its main page.
Visit us at http://www.parabaas.com and tell us what you think.

Please forward this to others you know who may be interested.

Thank you,

Samir Bhattacharya
Parabaas

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[mukto-mona] BSP sweeps UP, wins 9 of 11 seats



"Earlier, the BSP had only one seat out of the 11 seats for which elections were held in Uttar Pradesh"
BSP sweeps UP, wins 9 of 11 seats
 
Big wins for Congress, BSP, Trinamool; Left, SP decimated
The Congress, the Trinamool Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party emerged the main gainers from the by-elections to 30 assembly seats and one Lok Sabha seat held on November 7, whose results were announced on Tuesday.
M Hasan, Hindustan Times
Lucknow, November 11, 2009
The ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) swept the Assembly byelections in 11 constituencies of Uttar Pradesh by winning nine seats on Tuesday. With this the BSP's tally in the 403-member Assembly went up to 224.
 
The Congress registered a gain by defeating the BJP in Lucknow West while Independents won in two constituencies, leaving nothing for the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
 
In the lone Lok Sabha byelection, the Congress wrested the Firozabad seat from the Samajwadi Party (SP).
 
The seat was won by Raj Babbar, the film actor-turned politician, who contested the election on a Congress ticket from this town known for its glassware industry.
His victory came as a jolt to the SP, which had fielded party Dimple Yadav, wife of party president Akhilesh Yadav and daughter-in-law of SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Raj Babbar won by an overwhelming margin of more than 85,000 votes.
The SP had emerged as the single largest party from Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha with 23 seats. Its tally now goes down to 22.
 
The UP Assembly results announced on Tuesday must have come as a big setback for the SP, which failed to retain any of the five seats it had held before the byelections.
The party lost even in SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav's hometown Etawah, where the BSP walked away with the Bharthana and Etawah Sadar seats.
The BJP's defeat in Lucknow West was nothing less than stunning as the party had been winning the seat continuously for the past 20 years.
The BSP continued its winning spree, which had started in August when the party had won three of the four Assembly by-elections. One seat had gone to the Rashtriya Lok Dal.
 
The defeat of the Congress in Padrauna and Jhansi, seats vacated by Union Ministers R.P.N. Singh and Pradeep Jain Aditya after their election to the Lok Sabha — indicated the party's slide in the area. The BSP wrested both Padrauna and Jhansi this time.
The only successful Independent, Ajay Rai, won from Kolasala. He had left the BJP and resigned his Assembly seat to contest the Lok Sabha election from Varanasi as an SP candidate but had lost.

 
With Regards

Abi
 

"At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst"

- Aristotle




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[mukto-mona] Israeli Rabbi's Guide to Killing Causes concern



Israeli Rabbi's Guide to Killing Causes Firestorm
Written by Benjamin Joffe-Walt
Published Tuesday, November 10, 2009

An Israeli Rabbi living in a Jewish settlement in the West Bank has caused a firestorm in both Israeli and Palestinian media with a new book outlining a series of Jewish theological arguments for killing those who threaten Israel or demand Israeli land.

The 230-page book, "The King's Torah" was released over the weekend by Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira and gives theological backing to Jews killing those perceived to be violating Jewish commandments or threatening the Jewish nation. A theological treatise based on Rabbi Shapira's interpretation of passages from the Jewish bible, "The King's Torah" is an extensive guide to when it is permissible for Jews to kill non-Jews.

Rabbi Shapiro's book argues that Jewish law allows the killing of "non-Jews who demand the land for themselves", those from a nation which "helps a murderer of Jews," those spreading "hostile blasphemy" and "those who, by speech, weaken our sovereignty."

"Any case in which the life of the civilian endangers Israel," the book states, "it is allowed to kill a gentile."

"The permit also applies when the persecutor is threatening to kill indirectly rather than directly," Rabbi Shapiro's book reads. "If the civilian is aiding fighters it is permissible to kill... Any citizen who supports the war or the fighters or expresses satisfaction with their deeds - the killing is permitted."

Rabbi Shapira's book argues that revenge is a necessity under Jewish law.

"To defeat the wicked one should be vengeful, tit for tat," the book reads. "Revenge is a necessity... and sometimes doing savage things intended to create a true balance of terror."

The book further states that Jews are permitted to kill children "If it is clear they will grow up to harm us."

"If hurting an evil leader's children will pressure him to stop acting maliciously," Rabbi Shapira wrote, "you can hurt them."

The book discusses the laws regarding such killings in theological terms, never specifically mentioning Palestinians, Arabs or Israeli soldiers sent to remove Jewish settlements. Its release comes weeks after the arrest of Yaakov Teitel, a Jewish Israeli settler of American origin who is understood to have admitted to killing Palestinians and attacking progressive and messianic Jews.

Rabbi Shapira is head of the Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva, a religious school for Jewish boys based in the Yitzhar Jewish settlement a few miles southwest of the Palestinian city of Nablus. Rabbi Shapira's followers adhere to a radical form of Jewish religious nationalism and call for a Torah-based theocracy to replace the State of Israel, which they see as having abandoned core Jewish principals.

The school is best known for its former leader, American-born Rabbi Yitzhak Ginzburg, seen as the spiritual heir to the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, the American-Israeli founder of the extreme-right political party Kach, classified by both Israel and the U.S. as a terrorist organization. Rabbi Ginzburg was imprisoned for an article praising Baruch Goldstein, an American-born Israeli physician who killed dozens of Muslim worshipers in Hebron and injured 150 others in 1994.

Both Rabbi Ginzburg and Rabbi Ya'akov Yosef, another prominent leader of the radical Jewish religious nationalist movement, have recommended Rabbi Shapira's new book, which was first released over the weekend at a Jerusalem memorial for Rabbi Kahane.

Rabbi Hank Skirball, the chairperson of Hiddush, an Israeli organization dedicated to religious freedom and equality, said Rabbi Shapira's book represented only the far right fringe of religious Jews.

"It's a perversion of Jewish law and I don't think it's taken seriously by most," he told The Media Line. "It's giving people tremendous latitude to kill people they disagree with and opens itself up to violation of much more important prohibitions in Jewish law."

"In Israel we did not kill the murderer of Prime Minister Yitshak Rabin and we didn't kill any of the people who created sedition at the time," he said. "We have freedom of speech and its very difficult to know what is dangerous and what is not. Jewish law does not provide for us to go out and kill someone for what he's saying. You are only allowed to kill someone if it is very obvious that he's about to kill you and you have no other way to save your life other than by killing him."
Rabbi David Hartman, founder of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem and a philosopher of contemporary Judaism, said that the rabbis of the Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva were not taking into account the consequences of their teachings.

"Has the Jewish tradition ever created a distinction based on race, gender, etc? Of course, there is no doubt that there are serious Jewish sources that do not look at the non-Jew with full equality," he told The Media Line. "But they have lots of sources they could use, and which sources you choose to read and don't read is important."

"One of the interesting things about Jewish law is that perception is a part of the criteria," Rabbi Hartman said. "Jewish theologians aren't pure academics nor are they spokesmen, so they are not writing in a vacuum. The most serious Jewish theological figures are very careful about the implications or consequences of their writings."

Rabbi Hartman argued that while such books touched a cultural chord, they were mostly ignored in the mainstream Jewish theological community.

"I make a distinction between a cultural fringe and what is fringe in terms of Jewish theological thought," he told The Media Line. "On the one hand, this is not fringe, and you have mainstream kids talking this talk. But in terms of Jewish law, there is no significant Jewish theological movement to permit the blood of non-Jews. If you're looking at the major thinkers, nobody is talking with that language, whether they are ultra-orthodox, Sephardic or Ashkenazi, and these kinds of things are ignored."

"The problem is that if you ignore something it doesn't mean it doesn't have any influence over students," Rabbi Hartman said. "Beware of that which you ignore, what is a cultural phenomenon today may become acceptable to major Jewish thinkers tomorrow."

"For example, when it comes to Israel, our return to power and the desire to strengthen the claim to the land has created a push for a new Jewish theological creativity and a cultural phenomenon in which certain Jewish theological positions are given more significance than what the major Jewish theological authorities would allow."

"Forty years ago there were no major Jewish theological figures who said the land of Israel was more significant than Pikuach Nefesh, the concept of the saving of a life," he said, in reference to Jewish theological debates over exchanging land captured by Israel for peace. "Today in the religious Zionist community there are major theological figures for whom this is now a self evident truth."


Copyright © 2008 The Media Line. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=27051
 

Have comments? Email editor@themedialine.org.

Israel accused of being self-centred in religious matters
Birmingham Star
Sunday 8th November, 2009  


A new report from the US State Department has accused Israel of being intolerant toward minorities, denying fairness to ethnic groups, and showing little respect for the holy sites of other creeds.
A new report from the US State Department has accused Israel of being intolerant toward minorities, denying fairness to ethnic groups, and showing little respect for the holy sites of other creeds.

Despite boasting that it allows religious freedom and protection of all holy sites, Israel has been given a poor assessment by the State Department.

The comprehensive report, written by the State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, has said Israel discriminates against groups including Muslims, Jehovah's Witnesses, Reform Jews, Christians, women and Bedouin.

Non-Jewish holy sites do not enjoy legal protection under it because the government does not recognize them as official holy sites.

In the report, many Christian and Muslim sites were said to be at risk of exploitation by real estate entrepreneurs and local authorities who had purposely neglected them.

The report said the practices should be immediately corrected by the Israeli government.
 

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Poor Olive Harvest Oils Arab-Jewish Friction



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[ALOCHONA] Subir Bhoumik's book reviewed: India backed Shanti Bahini



Subir Bhoumik's book reviewed: India backed Shanti Bahini
 
BY Abid Bahar, Canada

The book Troubled Periphery:Crisis of India's Northeast by Subir Bhaumik exposing India and the Shanti Bahini operations is a new addition to what MBI Munshi's "India Doctrine" already exposes about Indian policy in the region that certain Indian leadership desires and it is active in keeping smaller countries of the region under its domination through creating chaos. Unfortunately through the Congress Party lense Hasina's Bangladesh AL government sees things differently in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.

Bhaumik's book particularly shows the mentality of the Congress Party, a self proclained progressive party, the latter claims it promotes Ghandi's non violence that is peace not war. In Reality however, the attitude of domination through starting a war or conflict has been prevailing from Nehru's time. It is evident in its occupation of smaller nations of South Asia. Such Indian Congress syndicate's mentality demonstrates as if Indan leadership is not happy keeping its vast delit majority under the much hated caste domination, and that Indian Congress's caste leadership needed to promote its caste philosophy in the regional level among nations and consequently poisoning the harmony among nations. Under the circumstances,to bring peace and harmony in the region the formation of a loosely comprised South Asian Federation with Sri Lanka, Meldivp, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Bhutan and Afganistan is much needed.



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[ALOCHONA] Himalayan Blunder: The Perils Of Denying Glacier Melting



Himalayan Blunder: The Perils Of Denying Glacier Melting 

 

By Devinder Sharma

 

Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh loves to challenge the dominant opinion (except in the case of Genetically Modified crops). Whether it is the stand India should take at the forthcoming Copenhagen conference or the melting of the Himalayan glaciers, he enjoys throwing a stone in the still waters and then sits back and enjoys watching the ripples it creates.

Jairam Ramesh loves to create unnecessary debate that can put him at the centrestage. At a time when newspapers and TV channels are dominated by film stars and cricketers, Jairam Ramesh has to find ways to stay in news. And I must acknowledge he has done fairly well. The PR agencies have a lot to learn from him.

I was therefore not even amused when Jairam Ramesh released on Monday a paper entitled Himalayan Glaciers by V K Raina, a former deputy director general of the Geological Survey of India. While the paper says that there is no conclusive evidence to prove that Himalayan glaciers are melting due to climate change, Mr Jairam Ramesh was quick to add that it is meant to "stimulate discussions".

I wonder what is the reason now for stimulating another discussion, after the recent leak of his letter to the Prime Minister asking him to take a u-turn in India's position on climate change to ostensibly show proximity to the United States. Well, I wouldn't be surprised if we learn subsequently that the paper was formally released to build up a case for river-linking. After all, billions of dollars are at stake and the lobby is still at work.

Neverthless, the simple reason why there is no "conclusive evidence" to show that the Himalayan glaciers are melting is because India had repeatedly turned down requests from the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), for an exhaustive study of the Himalayan glaciers

The Indian government, which treats glacier studies only for defence purposes, did not see any major threat from the melting of glaciers and the formation of the newly created lakes. Perhaps India is waiting for another disaster to strike before it acknowledges the threat. Jairam Ramesh should realise that deflecting attention from the urgent need to do something more meaningful for protecting the Himalayan glaciers will be disastrous for the country's environment and food security.

I draw your attention to a Himalayan disaster in waiting. This is based on a detailed report prepared by ICIMOD sometimes back.

It happened on Aug 4, 1985. Dig Tsho glacial lake, situated close to the Mt Everest region at a height of 4,365 metres above sea level, suddenly burst. Within the next four hours, estimates show that nearly 8 million cubic metres of water had drained from the lake. The torrent moved forward rather slowly down-valley as a huge 'black' mass of water full of debris. The surge waters from what is called as 'Glacial Lake Outburst Floods' (GLOF), completely destroyed whatever came its way.

Within the next few hours, the GLOF had completely destroyed civil structures of Namche (Thame) Small Hydel Project (estimated cost of US $ 1.5 million), swept 14 bridges, long stretches of roads, trails, cultivated land and took a heavy toll of human and animal life.

Dig Tsho glacial lake was not the only of its kind in the Hindu Kush-Himalayan mountain range that passes through Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal and Bhutan. With the glaciers retreating in the face of accelerating global warming, the resulting melting of snow forms glacial lakes downstream. While the total number of glaciers in the region is still unknown, ICIMOD had for the first time documented 3,252 glaciers in Nepal spread over 5,324 square kilometres. More significantly, the number of glacial lakes has been computed at 2,323. Most of these, it is believed, have formed in the past 50 years or so.

ICIMOD had identified 20 glacial lakes to be potentially dangerous, including 17 that do not have any prior outburst history. These lakes are situated in very remote and higher reaches but the catastrophe that they cause can be devastating for the local communities and the country's economy. Take the case of Tsho Rolpha glacial lake. Situated in the Rolwaling Valley in Dolakha district, the lake is only 110 kms by a crow's flight from the Capital city of Kathmandu. With the lake volume rising every year, the area increasing from 0.23 sq kms in 1959 to 1.55 sq kms in in 1990, and the subsequent weakening of the damming moraines that hold the water, researchers term it as 'potentially dangerous'.

Not only in the Himalayas, glaciers are receding at a fast pace the world over. East Africa's Mount Kilmanjaro is expected not to have any snow cap by the year 2015, its snow cover having shrunk at an alarming 82 per cent between 1912 and 2000. The alpine glaciers have reduced by 40 per cent in area and more than 50 per cent in volume since 1850. Since 1963, the Peruvian glaciers have retreated at the rate of over 155 metres a year. The Himalayan glaciers, however, are considered to be extremely sensitive to climate change as these accumulate snow during monsoon and shed it in summers. Other high-altitude glaciers on the other hand accumulate snow during winters and cast it off in summers.

The UNEP estimates that the bursting of glacial lakes is likely to become a major problem globally, especially in countries South America, India and China. But unfortunately, both India and China have used glaciers only for defence purposes. Much of the snow bound areas in both the countries is under the control of the armed forces and forms the 'inner line of control'. No scientific access or public activity is allowed in these politically and strategically sensitive areas of high altitude. International pressure therefore has to be on both the giants to allow for scientific explorations and suitable remedial solutions to be put in place before the 'inner line of control' goes out of control.

While the world continues to debate over the dangerous implications of climate change on the glaciers, His Majesty's Government of Nepal, in collaboration with the Netherlands-Nepal friendship Association, has made a series of attempts to implement an early warning system, and at the same time launch efforts to mitigate the dangers of an outburst. Among the strategies adopted is to reduce the water level in the lake by three metres by way of a GLOF risk reduction system. Knowing that it is still not safe, the lake waters is planned to be further lowered by another 17 metres under the second phase, the Tsho Rolpha GLOF Permanent Remediation Project. This in itself is a remarkable initiative and needs to be replicated in the other countries faced with the fast receding but little understood phenomenon of the vanishing snow caps.

Three of the 20 potentially dangerous lakes (Nagma, Tam Pokhari and Dig Tsho) have past outburst records. There are six other glacial lakes that ICIMOD thinks have had a past outburst history but do not appear to be dangerous at present. Researchers opine that of the several possible methods of reducing the risk and probability of GLOF bursts, and that includes regular monitoring and early warning systems, the most important is to reduce the volume of water in the lake so as to cut down the peak surge discharge.

Protection human, animal life and the infrastructure and property would largely depend on careful planning and co-ordination with the concerned agencies. More importantly, it is crucial to frame the disaster mitigation policies and activities. Nothing better illustrates the urgency with which a massive global programme to save the mountains from an impending apocalypse. The mountain areas are already reeling under abject poverty and the accompanying destruction of the fragile habitat. Ignoring the serious and real threat of climate change will surely be still more catastrophic

 

http://devinder-sharma.blogspot.com/2009/11/himalayan-blunder-perils-of-denying.html




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[mukto-mona] Indian Shias Seek a Voice of their Own



Indian Shias Seek a Voice of their Own

By Yoginder Sikand
Lucknow-based Maulana Mirza Mohammad Athar is President of All India Shia Personal Law Board (AISPLB). Born in 1936, he is the son of late Maulana Mirza Mohammad Tahir, a noted Shia Muslim scholar. He received a traditional Islamic education at the Sultan ul-Madaris in Lucknow, and then got a Bachelor's and Master's degree in Persian from Lucknow University. He served as Head of the Department of Persian, and, later as Principal, at the Shia Degree College, Lucknow. Yoginder Sikand of TwoCircles.net met him at the recently-held third annual convention of the AISPLB in New Delhi and interviewed him about the AISPLB and its activities.
The recently-held convention of the AISPLB hardly dealt with personal law issues at all, while the name of your organization suggests that Shia personal law should be its principal concern. Instead, the focus of the convention was on stressing a separate Shia identity, demands for reservation or representation of Shias in government services and legislative bodies and so on. This seems odd, doesn't it?
Actually, our Board's mandate is not limited only to personal law issues. It also deals with the social, educational, economic and political issues of the Shias of India. We are of the view that the 50 million Indian Shias have been heavily under-represented in all spheres of life, including even in Muslim organizations. We are a marginalized minority within another marginalized minority. Since at present Shia personal law is not a problem and faces no challenges, our convention focused mainly on other community-related issues. One such issue is that of lack of political representation of the Shias. There are hardly any Shias in the Lok Sabha, the Rajya Sabha and the state assemblies, because of which our voice does not receive any attention at all. The same is true for Shia representation in government services.


Maulana Mirza Mohammad Athar
Some critics argue that your Board is a ploy to divide Muslims. What do you have to say about this?
We certainly do not want to divide the Muslims. Those who claim that this is what we are doing do not give any space to the Shias in their own organisations.
I believe Shias and Sunnis (as well as all other Indians—Hindus and others)—must live peacefully together. They must have good social relations and close personal and social interaction. We are all for Muslim unity till this level. At the same time, we cannot deny that the Shias and Sunnis do have certain theological or doctrinal differences. It would be absolutely unrealistic, indeed impossible, to deny these differences or to seek to impose any artificial and unwanted homogenization, which will definitely not work.
You claim that the Indian Shias number 50 million. That sounds an exaggeration to me.
Not at all. I believe that the Muslim population of India must be around 250 million, but the figure has possibly been considerably under-estimated in the census reports, perhaps due to political reasons and communal biases. Of these 250 million Indian Muslims, Shias would number around a fifth—or around 50 million. These include the different groups of Shias—mainly the Imami Shias, followers of the twelve Imams, as well as others such as Khojahs and Bohras.
Do you see the AISPLB as a rival to the Sunni-dominated All-India Muslim Personal Law Board, which styles itself as a representative body of all the Muslims of India, and in which there are also some Shia representatives?
The AIMPLB certainly does not represent all the Indian Muslims. As far as I know, it was set up with the blessings of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who wanted to use it as a means to maintain her hold on her Muslim vote-bank. One of the leading members of the Board, Asad Madani, the head of the Deoband madrasa, was very close to Indira Gandhi. He was even a Congress Member of Parliament.
One reason why we decided to set up our own Shia Board was because the AIMPLB was heavily dominated by Wahhabis—Deobandis particularly—who are known for their visceral hatred of Shias. Qari Tayyeb, rector of the Deoband madrasa, served as the first President of the AIMPLB. Another Wahhabi, who was known for his anti-Shia views, who served as President of the AIMPLB was Ali Miyan Nadwi. However, it must be said that he also included a few Shia ulema as members of the Board.
All along we kept quiet, but, increasingly, some Shias grew restive about the lack of proper representation of Shias in the AIMLPB. Some years ago, the AIMPLB published a compendium of what it called Islamic personal laws, but; although the AIMPLB was meant to reflect all the schools of Muslim jurisprudence, the compendium was based on the views of the Hanafi Sunni school. Some of these Hanafi laws were plainly against women, and, incidentally, are quite in contrast to the prescriptions of the Shia Jafari school. The AIMPLB sought to present this compendium as reflecting the authoritative Islamic opinion, so, naturally, many Shias were upset. This dissatisfaction gathered further momentum because of the hue and cry about triple talaq on one sitting, which the Hanafis believe in but which the Shias oppose. According to Sunni law, a man can divorce his wife without any witnesses, but in our Shia law you need two witnesses for each time the word talaq is uttered, over a course of three iddat periods.
The AIMPLB continued to defend the patently anti-women practice of triple talaq in one sitting, presenting it as an 'Islamic' law, and the mass media gave this considerable publicity. Consequently, the general public began imagining that if Islam allowed such a practice it must be anti-women. We Shias do not support this practice at all, which we believe is un-Islamic, and so we wanted a forum from where we could stress that this practice had no sanction at all in our own school of Jafari Shia jurisprudence. In that way, others would know that the Shia position on this matter, as on several other issues, was quite different from that of other Muslims, and that, therefore, they should not confuse us with them.
Dissatisfaction with the AIMPLB mounted further after it began taking up issues that were strictly outside its purview, such as the Babri Masjid controversy, in which, I regret to say, it did not provide Muslims with proper leadership.


It was not us who first thought of setting up a separate personal law board. Rather, it was a section of the Barelvis, who are Sunni Hanafis, led by Maulana Tauqir Raza Khan, who decided to set up their own board as they rightly felt that the AIMPLB was heavily Deobandi-dominated. Like the Shias, they regard the Deobandis as Wahhabis. The Wahhabis treat the Barelvis, like the Shias, as virtual heretics.
It was only after that that some young Shia ulema from Lucknow contacted me and demanded that we, too, should have our own body. Thereafter, Shias from various parts of India began contacting me, insisting that we have our own organization to voice Shia demands and concerns. This body came into being in 2005, and I was nominated as its President. I suggested that we call it the All-India Shia Personal Law and Welfare Board, to stress that Shia community issues, in addition to personal law affairs, were its concern, but many others opposed this, and insisted we call it simply as the All-India Shia Personal Law Board. Perhaps this was because they wanted to stress their distinct identity, as separate from the AIMPLB, which was wrongly projecting itself as the representative of all the Muslims of India.
What practical efforts has your Board undertaken to protect the rights of Shia women in accordance with Shia law?
I travel a lot, addressing Shia gatherings or majalis in different parts of India and abroad. During my travels people come to me to discuss their personal matters, particularly related to marriage and divorce. These interactions with people from a wide cross-section of Shia society made me realize that, very often, patriarchal culture and social influences, rather than religion as such, are responsible for much of the oppression that women are subjected to. Hence, to safeguards the rights of Shia women, in 2007 our Board came up with a model marriage-contract or nikahnamah, drafted by a seven-member committee of Shia ulema, which was approved of by Ayatollah Seistani, renowned the Iraq-based Shia scholar who commands a large following among the Indian Shias.
This nikahnamah specifically provides for numerous rights for wives. According to this nikahnamah, women have the right to delegated divorce or talaq-e tafwiz, and, if they use this right, they will not lose their mehr or dower. The spouses can also include in the nikahnamah any conditions that do not violate Quranic teachings. The nikahnamah specifies that in case of divorce the former husband has the duty to maintain his divorced wife even after the three-month iddat period has passed until she manages to secure a sustainable source of survival. The nikahnamah also provides for a system of arbitration before the divorce can be put into effect. Already, several marriages have been conducted using this nikahnamah.
A major issue stressed by numerous speakers at the recently-held convention of your Board was the Shias' opposition to terrorism, to terrorist groups like al-Qaeda and the Lashkar-e Tayyeba. Numerous speakers also repeatedly stressed the Shias' loyalty to, and love for, India. Why this need to prove one's patriotism?
We Shias love India and are patriotic Indians. When Imam Husain, the grandson of the Prophet, whom the Shias deeply revere, was at the battlefield in Karbala, he addressed the army of the tyrant Yazid saying that if they permitted him he wanted to leave for India. We are sons of this soil and are devoted to our country. However, as long as Hindu communal and fascist forces in India continue to claim that Muslims are anti-national we are forced to counter their poisonous propaganda by insisting that this is completely false. Sadly, Muslims in India will continue to feel forced to prove their patriotism till Hindu communalism remains.
As for the repeated denunciation at our convention of the terrorism of groups such as al-Qaeda, the Taliban, the Lashkar-e Tayyeba and so on, is concerned, it is our Islamic duty to speak out against them. We Shias believe that what they call 'Islam' is not Islam at all. Nor are their actions that of true Muslims. They are giving Islam a bad name. They are enemies of Islam. They are also viscerally opposed to Shias—they have been responsible for the deaths of thousands of Shias in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Those who were behind the terror attack on Bombay last year claimed to be Muslims, as did those who were responsible for so many other such attacks elsewhere. By denouncing their acts and their ideology we Shias want to stress that we are different, that we and our understanding of Islam, the Islam of the Prophet and the Imams, have nothing to do with such evil people. We want to tell the world that we Shias, who denounce terrorism as anti-Islamic, are Muslims, but are the opposite of those who claim to be Muslims but yet engage in such evil deeds, ironically in the name of Islam.
=========
Yoginder Sikand works with the Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Social Policy at the National Law School, Bangalore ...



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[mukto-mona] Emailing: re1.htm--Interview of Sudanese Presential advisor with al-ahram weekly



 
 

Al-Ahram Weekly Online   5 - 11 November 2009
Issue No. 971
Region
 
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875
  
 

Whither Sudan?

Sudanese Presidential Adviser Mustafa Othman Ismail speaks to Al-Ahram Weekly about the spectre of secession. The following interview was conducted by Asmaa El-Husseini and El-Azab El-Tayeb

Mustafa Othman Ismail

What is your reaction to the statements made by First Vice-President Salva Kiir, in which he called on the southerners to vote in favour of secession at the referendum scheduled for 2011?

My only comment is that the peace agreement signed by the National Congress Party (NCP) and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) calls on both partners to move towards the option of unity. It is true that there are problems facing the implementation of the agreement, but the current efforts focus on implementing it through the existing partnership in the government of national unity. Therefore, both partners have a duty to comply with the provisions of the agreement and work hard for the option of unity.

The SPLM has accused the NCP and the central government of making unity unattractive by failing to implement development projects in the south. How do you react to that?

Let me call your attention to something that many do not know. According to the Naivasha Agreement, the share of south Sudan in wealth goes entirely to the SPLM. Therefore, the lack of implementation of any project is something for which only the SPLM and the southern government are to blame. As you know, the budget of the state is divided between the north and the south. The peace agreement has resolved this matter from the beginning. It allocated specific sums to south Sudan to make unity attractive.

Are you telling me that the central government is not responsible for implementing projects in southern Sudan?

You're right. The government is not responsible for implementing any projects in the south.

Are you prepared in the north to accept the option of secession without fuss?

We certainly hope that the southerners would opt for unity. And on our side, we will keep working towards this goal for a number of reasons. One is that the Naivasha Agreement makes it our duty to make unity the primary option. Another is that we are convinced that secession would be as harmful to the south as it is to the north, and bad news for the entire region. Secession will not lead to security and stability between north and south, but will be a regional precedent and the start of a period of tensions and disturbances. A third reason is that Sudan is a country with enough room for everyone, due to the cultural, ethnic, and religious pluralism which we have been promoting over the past four years. A fourth reason is that the southerners are in full charge of the south right now. The southerners have seats in the administration of all the northern governorates and in the federal government as well. They can rule the entire country too, for the current constitution allows for the president to be a southerner. This being the case, why secede? What are the reasons for secession? If I were a southerner I would work hard for unity, for it would enable me to rule Sudan. I therefore find no reason for the recent calls for secession in the south. Personally, I doubt the accuracy of the remarks attributed to Salva Kiir, for he has repeatedly spoken in support of unity.

Do you believe that there are regional powers, perhaps even international powers, pushing for the secession of the south? After all, Salva Kiir's recent remarks coincided with a decision by the US administration to renew sanctions on Sudan for another year.

One can distinguish between two types of international positions in this regard. Some people, thinking of their own interests, encourage the secession of the south. Others care for the interests of Sudan and Africa and try to maintain the unity of Sudan, because unity is essential for those interests. I agree with you that there are parties trying to promote their own interests by encouraging the south to secede.

There is a near consensus that the option of secession will not end the problems of the south, but trigger worse problems, for it may lead to a civil war. Already, there are signs of conflict among southern tribes and factions.

I totally agree. Secession will not lead to stability in the south, as its supporters imagine, and may even destabilise the south and the entire region. Therefore, our first priority at present should be to focus on the unity of Sudan.

There are groups in the north that are in favour of secession. What can you do to neutralise their impact?

All political groups, and this goes for those with close links to the SPLM or other factions, have a duty to maintain unity and make it attractive.

What's happening with the talks in Doha about Darfur? Is there hope of a breakthrough?

The talks in Doha are scheduled to resume in mid-November. There is a consensus, regionally and internationally, that the coming phase needs to be decisive. But the main obstacle facing us is the discord and divisions in the ranks of the insurgent movements in Darfur. We are hoping that efforts to unify the position of those groups would bear fruit.

Qatar, Egypt and Libya are all trying to resolve that crisis for example. Do you think that it would be better for such countries to work in tandem?

It is our hope that all efforts would contribute to finding a solution to the Darfur problem and to making the talks in Doha a success. If there is enough goodwill, all the current efforts would help bring a successful conclusion to the talks in Doha.

Is the Doha dialogue the only ongoing mechanism to containing the crisis in Darfur?

At least for us in Sudan, it is the main mechanism.

Do you see a contradiction between the mediation roles of Egypt and Qatar?

Let me answer this by repeating what Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit said, which is that the Egyptian role is geared towards bringing a successful conclusion to the talks in Doha.

US Envoy Scot Gration has recently been making efforts to unify the factions in Darfur. Is he helping bring the crisis to an end?

It all depends on the goals and intentions involved. If Gration's aim is to find a comprehensive solution to the crisis, then he is helping. But if his goal is to make the factions unite in undermining the talks with the government, then he is not helping.

How does the Sudanese government see Gration's efforts in this regard?

So far we generally believe that the intentions of the US envoy are good, despite all the pressures he is facing inside the US administration. We hope to see his intentions turn into actions.

Don't you think that declaring Halayeb a voting constituency may undermine Egyptian- Sudanese relations? Wouldn't it have been better for the Sudanese authorities to refrain from such a move?

Let me tell you that the declaration of Halayeb as a voting constituency was not a decision made by the Sudanese government. It was a decision made by the elections commission in response to requests by Sudanese citizens living in the area. So let's not be too hard on the commission. It did not consult the Sudanese government before making its decision, but simply looked into the facts and recognised the need of citizens to participate in the elections. This is why it acted this way. When it comes to Sudanese-Egyptian relations, what we need is to find a comprehensive way to resolve that issue. It is my belief that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak took a step in the right direction during my meeting with him last Sunday. He issued prompt instructions for joint Egyptian-Sudanese companies to begin investment and to start laying down infrastructure in the area. This is a very positive step in my opinion.

Has the declaration of Halayeb as a voting constituency affected relations between Cairo and Khartoum, as some say?

I haven't noticed that at all. In fact, the matter was not on the agenda of my meeting with President Mubarak. President Omar Al-Bashir visited Cairo recently. There may have been some negative coverage in the media, but I don't think this has affected the course of bilateral relations.

The Committee of African Wisemen has suggested mixed tribunals to try war criminals in Darfur. You don't seem to have taken a clear position on it. How would you respond to this idea? And would it affect the work of the International Criminal Court (ICC)?

We have generally approved the committee's report. As for the formation of mixed tribunals, we have asserted our commitment to justice. We want anyone who committed crimes in Darfur to be brought to justice, regardless of his position. Our only condition is that this be done in a fair and transparent manner. What we want is for the new mechanism to comply with the principle of the independence of the judiciary. This is not the first time this idea comes up. It was suggested during the visit by the Arab League secretary- general to Khartoum after the ICC issued an arrest warrant on President Al-Bashir. Now that the idea is floated again, those who want to implement it must start a dialogue with the Sudanese judiciary. In principle, we are for any mechanism or effort leading to justice, reassurance, and transparency while maintaining the independence of the national judiciary.

If such a mechanism is introduced, would it supersede the ICC arrest warrant on President Al-Bashir?

We have rejected the warrant to start with. So there is no room for cooperation with the ICC. Therefore, we oppose the trial of any Sudanese outside Sudan. But we have agreed to cooperate with African forums on various directions and levels. This made us accept the suggestions contained in the report of the Committee of African Wisemen. If the African mechanism becomes a substitute for the ICC, then it would offer a way out for those who sponsored Al-Bashir's arrest warrant. But if those who issued the warrant keep pushing for it, then the confrontation between the ICC and the Sudanese government would continue.

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