ٹیپو سلطان کا سفر آخرت

وہ عالمِ تصور میں میسور کے شیر کو ایک خوفناک دھاڑ کے ساتھ اپنے پرحملہ آور ہوتا دیکھ کر چونک جاتا تھا‘ اسکی سپاہ سرنگا پٹم کے میدان میں جمع ہونے والے سپاہیان اسلام کی نعشوں میں میسور کے شیر کو تلاش کر رہے تھے

مسلمانوں کے ملک میں پرندے بھوک سے نا مر جائیں

زیر نظر تصویر ترکی کی ہے جہاں ایک بہت پرانی اسلامی روایت ابھی تک زندہ ہے کہ جب سردی کا عروج ہو اور پہاڑوں پر برف پڑ جائے تو یہ لوگ چوٹیوں پر چڑھ کر اس وقت تک دانہ پھیلاتے رہتے ہیں جب تک برفباری ہوتی رہے۔ اور یہ اس لیئے ہے کہ پرندے اس موسم میں کہیں بھوک سے نا مر جائیں۔

پاپا نے پادری بنانا چاہا ۔۔۔مگر۔۔۔؟

میں اپنے کسی کام کے سلسلہ میں ’’تیونس‘‘ گیا۔ میں اپنے یونیورسٹی کے دوستوں کے ساتھ یہاں کے ایک گاؤں میں تھا۔ وہاں ہم دوست اکٹھے کھا پی رہے تھے۔ گپ شپ لگا رہے تھے کہ اچانک اذان کی آواز بلند ہوئی اللہ اکبر اللہ اکبر۔۔۔

داستان ایک متکبر کی

سبحان الله ! یہ تھا اسلام کا انصاف

میں اپنا ثواب نہیں بیچوں گا

عموریہ کی جنگ میں پیش آنے والا ایک دلچسپ واقعہ

27 جولائی، 2010


Never listen with a predetermined notion

(words of Wisdom)

A teacher teaching Math's to seven-year-old Kazim asked him, "If I give you one apple and one apple and one apple, how many apples will you have?" Within a few seconds Kazim replied confidently, "Four!"

The dismayed teacher was expecting an effortless correct answer (three). She was disappointed. "Maybe the child did not listen properly," she thought. She repeated, "Kazim, listen carefully. If I give you one apple and one apple and one apple, how many apples will you have?"

Kazim had seen the disappointment on his teacher's face. He calculated again on his fingers. But within him he was also searching for the answer that will make the teacher happy. His search for the answer was not for the correct one, but the one that will make his teacher happy. This time hesitatingly he replied, "Four..."

The disappointment stayed on the teacher's face. She remembered that Kazim liked strawberries. She thought maybe he doesn't like apples and that is making him loose focus. This time with an exaggerated excitement and twinkling in her eyes she asked, "If I give you one strawberry and one strawberry and one strawberry, then how many you will have?"

Seeing the teacher happy, young Kazim calculated on his fingers again. There was no pressure on him, but a little on the teacher. She wanted her new approach to succeed. With a hesitating smile young Kazim enquired, "Three?"

The teacher now had a victorious smile. Her approach had succeeded. She wanted to congratulate herself. But one last thing remained. Once again she asked him, "Now if I give you one apple and one apple and one more apple how many will you have?"

Promptly Kazim answered, "Four!"

The teacher was aghast. "How Kazim, how?" she demanded in a little stern and irritated voice.

In a voice that was low and hesitating young Kazim replied, "Because I already have one apple in my bag."

Moral of the Story: "When someone gives you an answer that is different from what you expect don't think they are wrong. There maybe an angle that you have not understood at all. You will have to listen and understand, but never listen with a predetermined notion."

Lessons on life Don't be Judgemental, Dont judge too quickly


A young lady was waiting for her flight in the boarding room of a big airport. As she would need to wait many hours, she decided to buy a book to spend her time. She also bought a packet of cookies.

She sat down in an armchair, in the VIP room of the airport, to rest and read in peace. Beside the armchair where the packet of cookies lay, a man sat down in the next seat, opened his magazine and started reading.

When she took out the first cookie, the man took one also. She felt irritated but said nothing. She just thought: "What a nerve! If I was in the mood I would punch him for daring!"

For each cookie she took, the man took one too. This was infuriating her but she didn't want to cause a scene. When only one cookie remained, she thought: "ah... What this abusive man do now?" Then, the man, taking the last cookie, divided it into half, giving her one half.

Ah! That was too much! She was much too angry now! In a huff, she took her book, her things and stormed to the boarding place. When she sat down in her seat, inside the plane, she looked into her purse to take her eyeglasses, and to her surprise, her packet of cookies was there, untouched, unopened!

She felt so ashamed! She realized that she was wrong... She had forgotten that her cookies were kept in her purse. The man had divided his cookies with her, without feeling angered or bitter.

"While she had been very angry, thinking that she was dividing her cookies with him. And now there was no chance to explain herself, nor to apologize."

There are 4 things that you cannot recover:

The stone... after the throw!

The word... palaver...after it's said!

The occasion...after the loss!

The time...after it's gone!



Don't Judge a Book by its Cover! Dont judge too quickly


A lady in a faded gingham dress and her husband, dressed in a homespun threadbare suit, stepped off the train in Boston and walk timidly without an appointment into the Harvard University President's outer office.

The secretary could tell in a moment that such backwoods, country hicks had no business at Harvard University and probably didn't even deserve to be in Cambridge University.


"We want to see the president," the man said softly.

"He'll be busy all day," the secretary snapped.

"We'll wait," the lady replied.

For hours the secretary ignored them, hoping that the couple would finally become discouraged and go away. They didn't and the secretary grew frustrated and finally decided to disturb the president, even though it was a chore she always regretted.

"Maybe if you see them for a few minutes, they'll leave," she said to him.

He sighed in exasperation and nodded. Someone of his importance obviously didn't have the time to spend with them, but he detested gingham dresses and homespun suits cluttering up his outer office.

The president, stern faced and with dignity, strutted toward the couple.

The lady told him, "We had a son who attended Harvard University for one year. He loved Harvard University and he was happy here. But about a year ago, he was accidentally killed. My husband and I would like to erect a memorial to him, somewhere on campus."

The president wasn't touched.... He was shocked.

"Madam," he said, gruffly, "we can't put up a statue for every person who attended Harvard University and died. If we did, this place would look like a cemetery."

"Oh, no," the lady explained quickly. "We don't want to erect a statue. We thought we would like to give a building to Harvard University."

The president rolled his eyes. He glanced at the gingham dress and homespun suit, and then exclaimed, "A building! Do you have any earthly idea how much a building costs? We have over seven and a half million dollars in the physical buildings here at Harvard University."

For a moment the lady was silent.

The president was pleased. Maybe he could get rid of them now.

The lady turned to her husband and said quietly, "Is that all it costs to start a university? Why don't we just start our own?"

Her husband nodded.

The president's face wilted in confusion and bewilderment. Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford got up and walked away, traveling to Palo Alto, California where they established the University that bears their name, Stanford University, a memorial to a son that Harvard University no longer cared about.

You can easily judge the character of others by how they treat those who they think can do nothing.

Thomas Edison tried two thousand different materials in search of a filament for the light bulb. When none worked satisfactorily, his assistant complained, "All our work is in vain. We have learned nothing."

Thomas Edison replied very confidently, "Oh, we have come a long way and we have learned a lot. We now that there are two thousand elements which we cannot use to make a good light bulb."

Motivational Quote: "If you learn from your mistakes then you are intelligent. But if you learn from someone's mistakes, then you are a Genius."

Learn from Mistakes


Inspirational Quote: Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines practiced daily and failure is nothing more than a small few errors repeated daily.

How true, the above lines are! Success or failure takes root in our minds. When we don't practice discipline in life, we don't build enough confidence to attempt new and challenging tasks which are important and matters in life. Our confidence depends on what we think of ourselves and whether we believe in ourselves. We are all born with exceptional qualities but only a few really realize their true potentials and forge ahead in life and the others just lead an average life. Do you want to do exceptional?

Success is a fruit which every one wants to eat but it is not found everywhere and no one can achieve it without serious efforts.

Those who want to succeed will find a way, those who don't will find an excuse!

Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation there is sure to be failure.

When you are successful your well wishers know who you are? When you are unsuccessful you know who your well wishers are?



In life, there are enough times when we are disappointed, depressed and annoyed. We don't really have to go looking for them. We have a wonderful world that is full of beauty, light and promise. Why waste time in this world looking for the bad, disappointing or annoying when we can look around us, and see the wondrous things before us!

This can be read as "GOD IS NO WHERE" or as "GOD IS NOW HERE" everything depends on how you see it. So think positive always. Thinking positive is the key to your success. All successful people have one thing in common: Positive thinking and passion for what they are doing!

Norman Vincent Peale, the famous author of "The Power of Positive Thinking" once told this story.

A man once telephoned Norman Vincent Peale. He was despondent and told the reverend that he had nothing left to live for. Norman Vincent Peale invited the man over to his office. "Everything is gone, hopeless," the man told him. "I'm living in deepest darkness. In fact, I've lost heart for living altogether."

Norman Vincent Peale smiled sympathetically.

"Let's take a look at your situation," he said calmly. On a sheet of paper he drew a vertical line down the middle. He suggested that they list on the left side the things the man had lost, and on the right, the things he had left. "You won't need that column on the right side," said the man sadly. "I have nothing left, period."

Norman Vincent Peale asked, "When did your wife leave you?"

"What do you mean? She hasn't left me. My wife loves me!"

"That's great!" said Norman Vincent Peale enthusiastically. "Then that will be number one in the right-hand column - Wife hasn't left. Now, when were your children jailed?"

"That's silly. My children aren't in jail!"

"Good! That's number two in the right-hand column - Children not in jail," said Norman Vincent Peale, jotting it down.

After a few more questions in the same vein, the man finally got the point and smiled in spite of himself. "Funny, how things change when you think of them that way," he said.

Motivational Quote: "Be sure that you appreciate everything you've got; and be thankful for the little things in life that mean a lot."

Inspirational Quote: "It is not what you have but it is how you think has a profound effect on your life."

26 جولائی، 2010

Setting India on Fire





"It is a matter of deep humiliation to confess...
that we are a house divided against itself that we Hindus and Mussulmans are flying at one another. It is a matter of still deeper humiliation that we Hindus regard several million of our own kith and kin as too degraded even for our touch."

Prologue

Indian history of the past sixty years has been marred by religious, political and communal violences. An interesting trend to note is that only certain religious issues become prominent in politics; causing agitation and leading to communal riots. This essay attempts to ascertain the sociological, psychological, economic, and political explanations for incidents of communal violence, in Gujarat, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Bengal, Maharashtra, Orrissa and Delhi in India.

The first major riots that occurred in India between Hindus and Muslims after the bloodshed of partition in 1947 can be traced back to as long as 1961, in Jabalpur a central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. (sic) They were followed by riots in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh with periodic violence erupting elsewhere.

Similarly, thousands of Sikhs were murdered in Delhi in 1984. The assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi at the hands of two Sikh bodyguards triggered that violence; a response from Sikhs at the killing of innocent worshippers at the holy shrine when the Indian Army stormed into the temple with full force under her orders. But the roots of present day violence can be best traced to the 1980''s.



Sikhs burnt alive in the streets of Delhi. (1980)
Gujarat riots of 2002 were another horror story where thousands of Muslims were burnt alive, raped and slaughtered by Hindu fascists in the first genocide of 21st century. The recent anti-Christian violence in India is being viewed by the world with concern as it is a sign of how quickly such violence can spiral out of control. The last thing the world want is another incident similar to the Gujarat riots of 2002 or the destruction of Babri Masjid of 1992, which gave way to months of fierce unrest.


Following the demolition of Babri masjid in 1992, some 2000 people were killed in communal riots in Ayodhya, Bombay and beyond. Hindu hardliner parties, including the Vishwa Hindu Prashad (VHP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) - used Ayodhya as a rallying call to Hindus throughout India. They said the 16th century mosque at the site was located on the birthplace of the Hindu Lord Rama and that a temple had to be built there. The temple till date has not come up but the memories of the destruction of the mosque still haunt the minorities in India.

Some analysts blame the Hindu-Muslim rioting in India on the Muslim movement for an independent Pakistan which sharpened the divisions on religious lines and saw millions of Muslims slaughtered in 1947 by Hindu fascists. But deeper analysis prove this hypothesis wrong as Hindu religious intolerance has not remained confined to Muslims only. Other minorities including Christians, Sikhs and lower caste Hindus, otherwise known as dalits, have also borne the brunt of the fascist Hindu ideology that fuels this violence.

The problem is much bigger than what is taken to be in explaining these disturbing tendencies. In all the above mentioned incidents what remains consistent is the fact that the aggressors are always fundamentalist Hindus, who seek justification of their horrendous sins in divine rulings. Thus this mindset can be best made sense of with an understanding of Hinduism itself.

Inequality is the soul of Hinduism, wrote Ambedkar. He characterized the oppressive caste system as the tyranny of Hinduism. After spending a lifetime in a crusade against the oppressive Hinduism, Ambedkar finally renounced Hinduism, and converted to Buddhism and exhorted his followers to do the same. It is an irony that BJP and other Sangh Parivar outfits are now trying to prove him right by their fascist violence against Indian minorities.

Some claim that India was a country that preached non-violence ever since the Vedic period. This also sounds ironic especially when today''s India has become a conundrum of violence with BJP-led Saffron Brigade trying to create a Hindu Rashtra.

This has resulted in terrible and outrageous violence against the minorities living in India, which in actuality expose and challenge the secular credentials of India.

The new wave of attacks against Christians was triggered by the killing of a Hindu leader, Swami Laxanananda Saraswati, along with five other people at Tumudibandh, Kandhamal District, in Orissa on 23 August 2008.

The rebellious Maoist Naxalite groups prominent in this region have claimed responsibility for the murder of Swami and his followers. In addition, the state police authorities have stated that the killing was carried out by the Maoists. However, leaders of certain fundamentalist Hindu organizations like the Bajrang Dal and Durga Vahini blamed Christians for these killings. Despite the condemnation expressed by Christian groups and churches at the killing of the Swami and his associates and their demand for the culprits to be caught and punished, in retaliation, the extremist Hindu organizations have engaged in a series of attacks against Christians throughout the Sate of Orissa.

The minority Christians in Orissa have been experiencing various forms of atrocities in recent weeks including looting, destruction of churches and church-run institutions, brutal attacks against priests, rape of nuns, church workers and other members of the Christian community, most of whom are Dalits and Adivasis (tribals).

Reports from various sources confirmed that at least fifty thousand Christians in Orissa have been displaced; hundreds of Christians have fled their homes and taken refuge in forests; many others are living in as many as eighteen relief camps, which offer them only so much relief in the wake of the mayhem that has wrecked their lives.

The plight of the victims and survivors of this communal carnage, the fear and trauma they are experiencing, the poor and unhygienic facilities in the government-run relief camps, the inefficiency of government machinery in tackling the violence, continue to be a serious concern.

The upsurge of religious extremism in Orissa in recent weeks has left many Christians in Orissa virtually defenseless


(House belonging to Christian family burnt to ashes. Thousands of houses of Christians were burnt by Fanatic Hindus during recent violence in Orissa and other states of India).

Insight into the communal violence in India

Though Hindutva ideologues often try and confuse matters by claiming that India is already a Hindu Rashtra, which translated in English means a "Hindu nation", they know that their model of Indian society, if it is to come about, requires the prior establishment of a Hindu state under Sangh control, which in coordination with the RSS, alone can dramatically reshape the Indian society/polity demanded by a proper Hindu Rashtra. But there are only two routes to achieving such radicals strong state power through an electorate to secure an absolute or near-absolute majority for the BJP in Parliament; or bypassing altogether the constitutional-electoral route and carrying out an authoritarian coup either of a military-police kind, or a civilian unconstitutional coup of the Emergency-type. Through this a dominant but minority party comes to power in a coalition through elections but then overthrows all democratic-electoral restraints and establishes its authoritarian state. Fascism in Germany and Italy combined the electoral and unconstitutional processes and attained central control in this manner.

Gujrat is being used as a rallying point by BJP, RSS, Bajrang Dal, Durga Vahini, Balidani Dasta of Bajrang Dal, Shiv Sena and Vishav Hindu Parishad. Taking it to be the starting point, they wish to take their malicious agenda forward to Orissa and beyond.

Organized violence against Christians in India

This new wave of organized violence against Christians, which started in Orissa, has now spread to other States such as Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala.

Attacks launched by Hindu extremist groups against the Christians are considered as a well thought-out plot and just one link in a long chain of events that have continued to strain communal harmony and inter-religious relations in the country. Although the attacks against Christians are interpreted as religious violence, in most circumstances the under current is based on socio-economic factors. Christians in the country have been repeatedly accused of encouraging conversion to Christianity. Various Churches have been unequivocal in their official documents and statements and have insisted that conversion to Christianity by force or fraudulent means is strictly prohibited.


Churches being vandalized in Delhi

3. What the constitution of India says?

Contrary to what the Indian constitution states in terms of protecting minority rights, Hindu militant groups are trying to replicate the example of Bajrang Dal. The Bajrang Dal was set up in 1984 as the youth arm of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Mr Prakash Sharma was made its Kanpur unit convener. At that time, it was active only in a few districts of Uttar Pradesh. Today it has some 1.3 million activists spread across most of the States and the aim is to cover every district of the country. The Bajrang Dal leader denied that his organization was involved in the violence against Christians in Kandhamal district of Orissa or in Mangalore and elsewhere in Karnataka, although the Karnataka unit chief Mahendra Kumar, had issued a statement accepting its role. Mr. Sharma listed the tasks before the Dal as seva service of the people) and suraksha (protection). Its volunteers were given tough physical training to help them protect themselves and the people. He insisted that they were not trained in firearms, and were trained only in aiming with air guns for which we run regular camps.
Mr. Sharma very openly and nonchalantly admitted that the minorities can only live in a Hindu Rashtra if they stop preaching their religion. We do not say do not go to mosques or churches. But conversion must be stopped. We have re-converted to Hinduism through the Ghar Vapasi (home-coming) programme about 10,000-15,000 people since I became Bajrang Dal convener in 2002.

Here is another chilling reality that somehow is escaping the Government of India. The violence and threats against the Christians/minorities of India is an assault on the Constitution of India. The Indian Constitution declares India to be a sovereign socialist secular democratic republic which secures to all citizens justice; liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship; and equality of status and opportunity. Under articles 14, 15 and 16 of the Indian Constitution, discrimination based on religion is prohibited. Article 25 guarantees the right to freely practice and propagate religion. In addition to these constitutional guarantees at the domestic level, India is also party to several international treaties that stipulate human rights obligations. Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights establishes the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. Article 26 bar discrimination on the grounds of religion while Article 27 stipulates that in those states in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities exist, persons belonging to such minorities shall not be denied the right, in community with the other members of their group, to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practice their own religion....

India now has seven states, which have legislation banning religious conversions. The seven Indian states with anti-conversion legislation (known as the Freedom of Religion Acts), include Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Arunachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. Hindu extremists commonly use anti-conversion legislation to falsely accuse Christians of converting people through force or allurement; thus justifying subsequent attacks on Christians. They also deflect prosecution away from themselves by pressing charges of forcible conversion without any evidence.

The response of the church in India

Atrocities committed against Christians are horrendous and their unspeakable state is no less than a nightmare. In August 2008, a crowd of up to 4,000 Hindu militants attacked the Brethren in Christ Girls Hostel at Nuagoan, one of nine such facilities funded through the Scholarship Program for International Children's Education (SPICE). The mob set the hostel and church ablaze, destroyed its water tank, and demolished the campus. Ten policemen who were on guard at the hostel fled when they saw the approaching crowd. Staff, girls, and local believers, some of whom were beaten, managed to flee. The Cuttack-based offices of the Brethren in Christ Church in India were also a target, and several pastors and church planters lost all their belongings when their homes were looted and burned. People, including pastors, who had to take refuge in forests, lost everything. They are without food and clothes and at risk of snake bites and malaria.

The Churches and Christian leaders in India have been making persistent efforts for appealing to people to strive for peace and reconciliation. The call given by the Untied Christian Forum comprised of the National Council of Churches in India, the Catholic Bishops Conference of India and the Evangelical Fellowship of India to observe a Day of Prayer and Fasting for Peace and Reconciliation was very well received by Christians all over the country. People at large have appreciated the efforts by various churches to promote and restore trust and goodwill among people of all religions and communities. The Church leaders in India appealed to all members of Christian community in the country to work for the welfare of all sections of people in society in spite of such horrific experiences of violence and death of some members of the community.

The World Council of Churches is deeply disturbed by these developments of religious violence in Orissa and has expressed its concern in a letter by the General Secretary addressed to the Prime Minister of India. A pastoral letter from WCC General Secretary expressing sympathy and solidarity to suffering Christians in Orissa was sent to WCC member churches in India and the National Council of Churches in India.

India, Secular?

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh strongly defended India''s secular credentials when the European Union conveyed its serious concerns over attacks on Christians in India. We are a secular state. We are a multi-religious, multi-cultural nation, Manmohan Singh said emphatically. The Constitution guarantees all citizens of India the right to profess and propagate a religion of their choice, he said. Manmohan Singh admitted there have been sporadic attacks on Christian shrines but underlined he had already condemned these incidents as acts of national shame. An ''act of national shame,'' indeed it was. But such gruesome violations of human rights demand a more stern response than this. The Indian Prime Minister was covering it up cosmetically since he had to do it. But the ground realities are absolutely different. As the growing religious extremism and increasing violence against religious minorities in India is putting the secular credibility of India at risk.

The reality check India should go in for

Secularism is a term employed most rashly by the Indian National Congress. The Chief Minister of South Indian state, Tamil Nadu made his mind clear regarding this and launched a scathing attack on the Prime Minister.

Questioning the secular credentials of India, Karunanidhi alleged that the Congress was neither a true secular party nor a force that was interested in the country''s integration. Referring to the killings of Sikhs in the north in the wake of assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, he wondered whether the Congress could be called a secular party. Secularism was not a term to which the Congress alone could claim ownership; he said asking "have the people given patta (title deed) to the Congress to use the term?"

Karuna Nidhi had carefully chosen his target when attacking the Congress for he was aware that India has not been able to free itself of communalism even after more than sixty years of independence, however much it tries to deny it. If anything, it has been getting worse year after year. There has not been a single year in post-independence period, which has been free of communal violence though number of incidents may vary.

Indian talks of pluralism, secularism and a great tradition, are made to seem nothing more than a mockery by the Hinduvta dream of carving out a ˜Hindu Rashtra''.

Now there are few incidents that would stun the readers:

In the year 2002 the first reported riot took place in Kozhikode (Calicut), Kerala on 3rd January. In the clashes between two communities (Hindus and Muslims) five persons were killed. The clashes occurred on the question of eve teasing. The whole region came in the grip of violence. More than twenty persons were injured including five women. Properties worth lakhs of rupees were destroyed. The police had to be heavily deployed to bring the situation under control. Kerala in India is generally thought to be free of communal violence, experiencing only occasional frenzy and bout of communal violence. But this time a vicious terror campaign overtook it, aimed at its Christian community.

Gujarat was next to come under the stretch of communal carnage. Nowhere in history can there be found an example of the violence of this kind in India except at the time of partition. The communal carnage in Gujarat shook the entire world. It was difficult to believe such intense communal frenzy could be incited by the BJP for its political gains. More than 2000 Muslims were killed most cruelly in this carnage according to very reliable sources even though Government records show dead to number no more than 1000. What is worse the Chief Mister Narendra Modi justified such frenzy and described it as reaction to action in Godhra. And all this happened with full complicity of the police and bureaucracy. The honest officers who did not allow carnage in their areas were instantly transferred by the Modi Government.

Some ministers who led the mobs have been named in FIRs. Many mosques and mausoleums were demolished and ground was leveled. Some accounts maintain about 700 such religious structures were brought down or severely damaged. Ahmedabad, Baroda, Mehsana and Panchmahal districts were the worst affected districts covering entire north and central Gujarat. Properties worth more than 10,000 crores were looted or burnt, though these figures are disputed. The business loss due to closures and migration of labor is several times this figure. Hundreds of Muslim families were totally uprooted. The carnage continued for more than five months

On 17th March communal incidents took place in Loharu in Bhivani district of Haryana. Loharu was once under a Muslim ruler and was know as Nawwaab of Loharu, which explains the considerable number of Muslims residing in that town. A mob of three hundred incited by the rumor of cow slaughter attacked two mosques and at least 15 shops and houses belonging to the Muslim minority community were set ablaze.

According to a UNI report quoting the police sources said that a mob of 300 Shiv Sainiks set fire to another mosque near the railway station also including many shops in Purana Bazar. And in this area all 15-20 shops and houses belonging to minority were burnt down. The palace of Nawwab of Loharu was also surrounded by a mob but additional reinforcements were requisitioned from other places which were thus saved from being damaged.

Next incidents of communal violence took place in three places in Rajasthan in which three persons were killed on 25th March on the occasion of Muharram. The immediate provocation was the holding of poornahuti yagnas (a Hindu religious ritual) and Kirtans (devotional songs) for Rama at various temples on the route of Tazia processions. Curfew had to be clamped in the town of Gangapur, 80 kms from Sawai Madhopur, in central Rajasthan where 3 people were killed and 15 injured in police firing.

According to the police violence broke out when activists of the VHP, BJP and Bajrang Dal collected at an ancient Hanumanji Mandir for a Yagna and Kirtan. The police asked them not to gather but they defied police orders and began to shout provocative slogans when the Tazia procession came closer to the temple. The police was compelled to open fire when teargassing and cane charge had no effect.

The Gangapur city has 25% Muslim population and earlier was considered to be the stronghold of SIMI (Students Islamic Movement of India) in Rajasthan. It has always been prone to minor communal irritations although this is the first time that violence has erupted on such a large scale. In different parts of Southern Rajasthan where the Sangh Parivar has strong presence communal tension was simmering. But the situation was kept under control.

Christians massacre starts again:


The recent wave of the communal violence in Orissa''s Kandhamal district was an ''unprecedented'' attack on the Christian community in India, according to a rights group in its fact-finding report. ''We are saddened to acknowledge that the violence in Orissa, which left at least four killed and 730 houses and 95 churches burnt, will go into the history books as an unprecedented attack on Christians in India,'' said Joseph D''Souza, president of the All India Christian Council (AICC). ''The tragedy is deepened by the fact that the violence was avoidable if the authorities had enforced the rule of law


Bajrang Dal activists have been involved in bomb blasts often blaming it on Muslims, so as to prove their stance on Muslims being responsible for the terror activities in India. Today spokesmen of the Congress led UPA Government in India are asking for a ban on Bajrang Dal. The faster it is done the better it would be for India as a country as there is every reason to believe that it may just implode from within as political parties like BJP have undertaken a mad, mad cannonball run.

RSS/VHP/Bajrang Dal and its activities

The RSS was founded in 1925 by Keshav Baliram Hegdewar is the ideological fountainhead of the modern Hindutva movement. Organized around the concept of Shakas, a local cell formation where young men would gather for physical and ideological training, under the tutelage of a brother or dada, the RSS ideology as espousing the national cause was articulated over the next decade or more. Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar, who was appointed the head of RSS shortly before his death by Hegdewar, clarified the idea of the nation in his treatise:

"We, or Our Nationhood Defined": We believe that our notions today about the Nation are erroneous... It is but proper therefore, at this stage, to understand what the Western Scholars state as the Universal Nation idea and correct ourselves.

Based on a racial idea of Nation, Golwalkar in praise of Hitler says: To keep up the purity of the Race and its culture, Germany shocked the world by her purging the country of the Semitic Races - the Jews... Germany has also shown how well nigh impossible it is for Races and cultures, having differences going to the root, to be assimilated into one united whole, a good lesson for us in Hindustan to learn and profit by

These Hindu extremist organizations are also imparting military training to Hindu youth for taking on non-Hindus. The formal training is now underway to ensure the spread of a militant ideology. The Shiv Sena chief has condoned the arms training of the Bajrang Dal. He also mentioned that the Indian army is ill-prepared for war and that his political party, the Shiv Sena also will be arming their cadre.

http://news.indya.com/india2006sena.html

At the Sarojini Nagar Camp of Lucknow this is what was released to media: The number of people being trained in the Sarojini Nagar camp at present is 100. But according to the convener of UP branch of Bajrang Dal, Avadh Bihari Mishra, the objective of this camp is to prepare a group of two thousand trained and active young men who could train a million youth in martial arts and handling of arms in camps at various places. In addition to this, the objective is also to create such atmosphere and mentality which was seen in the country at the time of demolition of Babri Masjid.

Women branch of RSS/Bajrang Dal armed militants

Among the Sangh Parivar's affiliate organizations actively participating in giving training in martial arts are the RSS's women's branch (Rashtriya Sevika Samiti), the Bajrang Dal and the Bajrang Dal's women's branch (Durga Vahini). Though training camps and trainings are not new for these organizations (they have been imparting training in lathi wielding and riot mongering for a long time), they have now started arming their volunteers in a military pattern.http://www.milligazette.com/Archives/01092001/31.htm

Though the current training exercises are being carried out with air-guns, the Bajrang Dal state chief Ved Prakash Sachan said he plans to give volunteers a feel of real guns. This is the induction stage. Later we will train our boys with proper guns and rifles, he admitted over the telephone, while claiming, This is part of our drill to ensure protection of Hindus. Sachan is personally supervising the camp, which was not the first of its kind in the state. According to him, similar camps have been held in Varanasi, Mathura and Meerut.

http://www.rediff.com/news/2000/jun/25bd.htm

(Females activists of Durga Vahini, the women wing of Bajrang Dal are being imparted weapons and sword training at its camps for taking part in future activities against minorities.)

Chronology of terrorist activities by Bajrang Dal, RSS

Aug 25, 2008 : Two die in Kanpur when a bomb explodes. It transpires these were Bajrang Dal activists who were making explosives.
*
Aug-Sept 2008: Spate of attacks on Christians in Orissa and Karnataka. Karnataka unit head Mahendra Kumar arrested. Home ministry says Bajrang Dal is behind the attacks
*
April 2006: Two Bajrang Dal activists die in Nanded while making bombs. Of them included a suspect of the 2003 Parbhani mosque blasts
*
Jan 1999 : Dal mob led by its local leader, Dara Singh, burnt alive a Christian priest Graham Stains and his two little sons in Orissa

And the list continues as the saffron assault brigade takes charge of turning India into a Hindu Rashtra. The Bajrang Dal is said to have been at the forefront of murderous gangs that killed Muslims and burnt their homes in Gujarat in 2002. On several occasions, Dal activists have acted as moral police, catching unmarried couples on Valentine''s Day and forcing them to apply sindoor or tie rakhi against their wishes. The record of Bajrang Dal''s lawlessness is endless. And now the Dal, the 24-year-old sword-arm of the Hindutva brigade, is in the news again as almost always, for wrong reasons. A number of political leaders have been demanding its ban.

In the middle of September, anti-church violence erupted in Mangalore where prayer halls of the evangelist New Life order were attacked. Soon violence enveloped other denominations, and then churches in the new economy city of Bangalore were vandalized. A month earlier similar anti-Christian attacks rocked Orissa and trouble is still simmering there.

In the middle of the violence that broke out in Mangalore was the figure of Mahendra Kumar, Bajrang Dal "convener" for the state, who claimed responsibility for some of the attacks, said they were a "spontaneous Hindu upsurge". While the Dal said it was inflamed by New Life''s "conversion activities", prayer halls were not the only targets. The Adoration monastery, where nuns live a cloistered life, dedicated to prayer, was not spared either, its windows broken and crucifix vandalized. Saffron groups and Christian organizations have clashed over conversions and re-conversions as they jostle for influence from remote tribal homelands of Rajasthan''s Banswara to the north-east.

Human Rights report of violence against Christains/Minorities in India by saffron parties

Christians are the new scapegoat in India''s political battles. Without immediate and decisive action by the government, communal tensions will continue to be exploited for political and economic ends
says Smita Narula Researcher, Asia Division of Human Rights Watch

The problem is that poverty is eating into India and the people are finding Christianity a lucrative option with many NGO's working overnight for conversions. Conversions are not forced upon yet they number highly due to the desperate living conditions in India which have been worsened by the food shortages. An escape from death in return of a faith that has only served them humiliation is considered a fair deal by many downtrodden Indians. It is basically in Northeast of India that includes states like interiors of Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur and Tripura where conversions have been high. Down South it is Orrissa, Kerala, Karnataka where Christain NGO's have gone overboard with the conversions. And that is irking the saffron parties since they are seeing this to their own dream of Hindu Rashtra and that is where the problem begins.

The Indian government has failed to prevent increasing violence against Christians and is exploiting communal tensions for political ends, Human Rights Watch charged in a report released this month. The 37-page report, Politics by Other Means: Attacks Against Christians in India, details of violence against Christians in the months ahead of the country''s national parliamentary elections in September and October 1999, and in the months following electoral victory by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (Indian People''s Party, known as the BJP) in the state of Gujarat.

Attacks against Christians throughout the country have increased significantly since the BJP began its rule in mid of March 1998. They include the killings of priests, the raping of nuns, and the physical destruction of Christian institutions, schools, churches, colleges, and cemeteries. Thousands of Christians have also been forced to convert to Hinduism.

The report concludes that as with attacks against Muslims in 1992 and 1993, attacks against Christians are part of a concerted campaign of right-wing Hindu organizations, collectively called the Sangh Parivar, to promote and exploit communal clashes to increase their political power-base. The movement is supported at the local level by militant groups who operate with impunity.

Conclusion:

When Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, a charismatic Hindu priest fond of violence against Christian missionaries, was shot dead in the eastern state of Orissa in August, police blamed axalite Maoists. But hardliner Hindu groups decided Christians were responsible. In an ensuing rampage, dozens of churches were burned, tens of thousands of Christians fled their homes, and at least 20 people died. By this week the violence had touched four more states. In Karnataka in the south, 20 churches have been desecrated in a few days.

Indi's Hindu majority and its tiny Christian minority mostly rub along peacefully. But since the early 1990s, the rise of ideological Hindutva (Hinduness) and of the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), now the main opposition, has seen intermittent outbreaks of sometimes vicious agitation against Christian missionaries. They are accused of forcibly converting poor Hindus. Gauri Prasad Rath, general secretary of the Vishnu Hindu Parishad, or World Hindu Council, in Orissa, says that the thuggery was caused by, “the fraudulent conversions Christians are doing. They burned their own churches.

However the claims of VHP are mere accusations as all the funds Christian organizations get from abroad are thoroughly monitored by government in India, as opposed to the huge funds Hindu extremist organizations like VHP, RSS and Bajrand Dal spending on different terrorist activities which have never been audited.

It is true that missionaries are busy in much of India, especially the tribal belt that runs through Orissa. Here, traditionally nature-worshipping forest dwellers, among India's poorest people, have found institutional Christianity, with its free schools and health care, especially attractive. Indeed many church leaders believe that the proportion of Indian Christians is a couple of percentage points higher than the census reckoning of 2.3%. In six of the 12 states ruled by the BJP, either on its own or in coalition, laws designed to discourage Hindus from switching faiths by banning forced conversions have been introduced. Convictions, however, are rare. Muhammed Shafi Qureshi, chairman of the government-appointed National Commission for Minorities, says on inquiring as to how many people had been convicted under the state's 1967 law; the answer was none.

Tensions have been exacerbated by a row over reservations, the affirmative-action benefits, such as privileged access to government jobs and education, afforded to low-caste Hindus.

Most Hindu converts to Christianity come from the lower castes but lose these benefits when they switch faiths. Their calls for inclusion in the system have infuriated many Hindus.

With general elections due by next May, such issues have proved effective rallying cries for Hindu groups aligned with the BJP. Mr Qureshi points out that Karnataka, scene of some of the worst violence, this year voted in its first BJP government. The party is also part of the ruling coalition in Orissa. “This madness, he says, œis political.

Every conflict can be explained in more than one way, but historians know that one way of sifting out bad explanations is to look for plausibility.

Here, were being asked to believe that the thousands of extremely poor people who make up the populations of these relief camps are self-arsonists running a compensation scam. This is not just a bad explanation; it's an explanation made in bad faith. What were seeing in Orissa is the attempt to replicate Gujarats success and Golwalkars object on a smaller scale. Thus, Christians are driven out of their homes to live in limbo as destitute, vagrant wards of the State in camps, or else allowed to return to their villages as neo-Hindus purged of an alien possession. This is, or should be, unacceptable. The use of murder, rape and arson against civilian communities to achieve a political object (in this case ethnic cleansing) is a form of terror, and this republics government needs to treat it as such.

As the violence spreads to many districts of India against Christians after Orissa episode, other minorities including Muslism are also being targetted. Just today (October 12, 2008, Sunday) six Muslims of a family including 3 children were burnt to death at Watoli village Andhra Pardesh district when their house was set on fire. The village is 13 km far from the communal violence-hit Bhainsa town. Three bodies were charred beyond recognition, the rest were burnt partially, police said.

Keeping in view the numerous incidents of violence and massacre of minorities at the hands of extremist Hindus in India, the credentials of being a Secular country are highly questionable.

The slogan of being biggest democracy and a secular country seems only a rhetoric and catchy phrase to bluff the world.

Though recently US and UN have expressed concern over massacre of Christians by Hindu fanatics in India but there is a need for more strong a measure to be taken by the international community in this regard.

The world should take notice of the brutalities being meted to minorities including Christians and Muslims and low cast Dalits by Hindu extremists in India; the matter should be taken for debate in the United Nations by the world so that these oppressed people of India can get some justice.


courtesy-- Brasstacks

My dearest Pakistan,

By: Noushah Arshad

My dearest Pakistan,


I am one of your children who have been enjoying your lovely seasons and eye catching scenes through out my life. You are the one who brought me up and taught me to see the world and understand it. I learned to crawl on your sweet scented soil when I was of few months. When I saw the first rainfall, it was your independence day. Your blue skies and chirping birds have always been a source of inspiration me.

When I first saw your mountains, it was the beautiful view of Margalla hills. I was of 9 years old then. Early in the morning my mom woke me up and said, “come on , get up, you can see the mountains right through the window.” I hurried and what I saw was a huge, dark giant in front of my eyes. For a moment I stood watching it silently and thinking that how beautiful my Pakistan is. Then how can I forget my visit to Sawat and Kashmir. It was as if I was brought to heavens in my life. It was amazing……. My words can never be enough to tell what I felt when I was in Kalaam , Mengora, Shugraan, Abottabad, and Kashmir. I still miss your heavens, Pakistan! I wish I could go back and relive those moments.

 
Time is sometimes very cruel to us. Many years have passed in a second. I know you need us now more than ever. My heart weeps and my soul is senseless. What has happened to you, my Pakistan? How can I go to Sawat now? How can I visit Peshawar now? Will I be able to meet those sweet Pakistanis who live there? Will I ever get a chance to be with those birds and butterflies again? Me and my other countrymen never wished to see you like this. The day I hear about a bomb blast in any of your part, it seems as if a part of my soul has been injured. I can’t bear the deaths of those innocent people in these blasts. Those who survive, most of them are crippled for their lives. And the latest blast in Islamabad, in Ramzaan and at the time of Iftaar. Oh! What is going on? Who has done this to you? People who were unable to come out of that hellfire were roasted. No one can imagine such a horrible death in one’s nightmare even. And when I saw those little pretty fish on the floor of Marriot, taking there last breaths, things went unbearable for me. I know it’s unbearable for you too.
 
I wish I could do something for you. I wish I had a magic stick to save you and your children. You are our motherland, and we are nothing without you. Pakistan ! May ALLAH bless you. May HE give us the strength to bring a miraculous revolution . May HE give us the strength to save you from the clutches of evil, Ameen .
 
I am never going to lose hope. I am hopeful that one day I will see the happy and contented faces of your people. Surely a day will come when your heaven will be a real heaven to live in for every one. I just wish that I could live to see that day and May ALLAH give me strength to make my contribution no matter how little it is, I will be happy even if I plant a single tree and it brings shelter for my countrymen. It doesn’t matter how much we contribute towards prosperity of our motherland, what matters the most is what we contribute. But remember our country needs much more from us right now.
“I will not die an unlived life.

I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire.


I choose to inhabit my days,


to allow my living to open me,


to make me less afraid, more accessible,


to loosen my heart until it becomes a wing, a torch, a 


promise.

I choose to risk my significance;


to live so that which comes to me as seed


goes to the next as blossom and


that which comes to me as blossom, goes on as fruit.”

Qadam Qadam Pay Juda Ho Gaya Koi Na Koi



 Qadam Qadam Pay Juda Ho Gaya Koi Na Koi

 

One of the hardest times of life is to lose a loved one … have you ever felt the pain of such loss? In the course of life we lose our friends, parents and siblings … its part of life and something that is meant to happen … but what if some one makes it happen for u? If you are forced to lose someone so close to you? Will you accept it as the will of God or will you try to stop that someone who is forcing you to lose your relations? Have you ever thought about it? What happens when you lose some one close to you? You might have seen people around you who stop living when they lose their parents, siblings or friends … it seems as if their soul has flown away with their loved ones … they are just the minds working in bodies without any feeling or emotion.

Does these words seem familiar to you? Don’t you think this is what’s happening all around us now a days. ‘Someone’ is killing our loved ones, ‘Someone’ is destroying our families, ruining our lives, torturing our motherland … we are losing our mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, children and much much more … every second day when I turn on a news channel, I learn about a bomb blast killing and injuring my bothers, and sisters.

All of us just get more and more frustrated day by day, we feel helpless as we don’t find that ‘someone’, we don’t find strength in us to fight against that ‘someone’, we don’t feel like getting united and standing up against a cause …. Because we have our own duties in life, we have to earn money, raise a family, we have to finish projects and after all we have to live a healthy life full of peace and happiness … but have you ever thought that what will be the meaning of your life if God-forbids you lose your loved one in any of these blasts. Will you still be the same for the rest of your life?

This is what’s happening wth Pakistan … ‘Someone’ is converting us into bodies without soul … Machines that are tuned to work and raise our families by fulfilling their needs. We are thinking about it all the time. We can never think of anything else because nothing else is tuned in us.
We are losing people close to us and with them we are losing a part of our selves … there are tears in eyes of every Pakistani, we are crying and bleeding from pain but no one can hear our cries, no one can see our bleeding souls. Why is there darkness all around us? Why can’t we see the light coming through? May be we need to get united to find the light of hope … to find the path that will take us away from this darkness. We can not get back the souls that are lost in these blasts but why can’t we save others.

Today in this hour of darkness, I pray to ALLAH to give us strength and unity. O ALLAH! Please forgive us, please help us and guide us to the right path. Our country needs your blessings today. We are nothing without your guiding light. Please, show us the light. We don’t want to lose our dear ones like this. We can’t see the pain inflicted to their bodies and souls. Please help us, we need Your rehmat and fazal, You are the only one we turn to and You are the only one who can guide us and bless us . . . Ameen.

Main Kis Ko Poochne Nikloon Kise Talash Karun
Qadam Qadam Pay Juda Ho Gaya Koi Na Koi