IMC-USA Weekly News Digest – May 17th, 2010

by iamcadmin on May 16, 2010

In this issue

Announcements

Communal Harmony

News Headlines

Opinions & Editorials

Announcements

IMC-USA Cautiously Optimistic at Makkah Masjid,
Hyderabad Blasts Investigation

Washington D.C.,
May 11, 2010

"Pleased" and "Optimistic" were the
words used by Rasheed Ahmed, President, Indian Muslim Council-USA
(IMC-USA – http://www.imc-usa.org),
while describing his feelings at the courageous demand made by Ms.
Brinda Karat, CPI-M leader, on the investigation into the tragic Makkah
Masjid bomb blast.

NDTV.com reports that, after three years
of investigation, the prestigious Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)
believes that radical Hindu groups carried out the 2007 bomb attacks on
Muslim holy places in Ajmer, and Hyderabad, that killed several people.
CBI’s conclusions are based on Rajasthan Anti-Terror Squad’s meticulous
investigation, resulting in the arrest of extremists – none of whom are
Muslims. The accused are believed to be associated with Abhinay Bharat,
a Hindu radical group that allegedly planned and executed the 2008
terror attack in Malegaon, Maharashtra, killing six and maiming over a
hundred people.

Rajasthan’s Home Minister Shanti Dhariwal
speaking to The Hindu newspaper on May 2nd, stated "Colonel Purohit,
arrested for Malegaon blast, has confessed that Sunil Joshi organized
the (Ajmer) Dargah operation with the help of Devendra Gupta."

CBI
says that identical explosives, and cell phone triggers were used in
both the Ajmer blasts, and Hyderabad blasts.

While these
terror attacks themselves were terribly frightening for all Indians, the
government and media’s hastened acceptance without due diligence,
wrongfully asserting that Muslims were responsible for it, surely
created a ghastly and unending nightmare for scores of innocent Muslims
and Muslim community at large. Young Muslims were falsely accused,
arrested, and tortured. Such treatment of citizenry by the Police
undermines the confidence in the professionalism and neutrality of the
law and order. Further, torture of any human being whether accused or
convicted does not suit a nation with aspirations to be a global leader.

Referring
to CBI’s conclusion, Ms. Karat demanded to know the rationale for the
pre-mature conclusions drawn by top ministers and officials, immediately
after the blasts.

"We applaud the excellent and unbiased
work by Rajasthan’s Anti-Terror Squad, and by the elite CBI. We join
Honorable Ms. Karat in demanding immediate financial reparations to the
innocent Muslims, falsely arrested in Hyderabad. Finally, we demand that
measures be immediately implemented, to prevent Law Enforcement
Agencies from rushing to similar hasty conclusions in the future." said
Mr. Ahmed of Indian Muslim Council-USA.

CONTACT:

Dr. Hyder Khan
phone/fax: 1-800-839-7270
email: info@imc-usa.org

RELATED LINKS:

The Rise Of Hindutva Terrorism
http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?265400
Hyderabad blast: More proof they were wrongly arrested
http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/mecca-ajmer-blasts-were-wrong-men-prosecuted-23177.php
BJP-Left clash over Ajmer, Hyderabad blasts
http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/newdelhi/BJP-Left-clash-over-Ajmer-Hyderabad-blasts/Article1-540108.aspx

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Minorities Thank the German Parliamentarians on
their Gujarat Stand

May 12, 2010

Earlier last month, two German
Parliamentarians – ruling Christian Democratic Union’s Ute Granold and
her colleague Pascal Kober from the Free Democratic Party – visited
Gujarat and justifying their denial of Germany’s visa to Chief Minister
Narendra Modi referred him as a "dictator". They also drew parallels
between Gujarat under Modi and Germany under Hitler.

A
furious Mr. Modi moved the Government of India and demanded an apology
from Germany contending their Parliamentarians have "tarnished the
image" of Gujarat and India.

Parliamentarians Ute Granold
and Pascal Kober, however, were not wrong in their observation. They had
learnt first-hand what millions of others, including the heads of all
states, governments, judiciary, and many international bodies know about
Mr. Modi, his ideology of hate, his acts of omissions and commissions
in the Gujarat genocide of 2002, and his strategy of projecting well
planned genocide as a spontaneous communal riot to hoodwink the legal
system of Gujarat, India and the world.

In fact BBC (UK) in
April 2002 said, "far from being spontaneous, it [the riot] was
planned, possibly months in advance, carried out by an extremist Hindu
organization with the support of the state government."

Mr.
Modi’s strong anti minority bias is also evident from his actions of
the last eight years. He continues to deny justice to the victims of
Gujarat massacre, he has locked up hundreds of innocent Muslims in
Gujarat prisons under draconian Prevention Of Terrorist Acts (POTA)
ordinance for years without any charge, several innocent Muslims have
been killed in fake police encounters.

Under his watch
perpetrators of the massacre roam free and continue terrorizing
minorities in Gujarat, minorities are forced to live in ghettos, Mr.
Modi refuses to support minority educational institutions and lets
minority localities (such as Juhapura and Shah Alam in Ahmedabad)
deteriorate with lack of road maintenance, garbage pickup, or provision
of necessary civic facilities in the guise of limited resources, better
utilization of time, or prevention of terrorism. Parliamentarians Ute
Granold and Pascal Kober have only stated what they actually saw in
Gujarat, which is nothing but the truth.

Over these eight
years, Mr. Modi has succeeded not only in hoodwinking India’s legal
system and escaping accountability, but has utilized the genocide to
increase his popularity and power base in Gujarat. Most unbiased
observers agree with Parliamentarians Ute Granold and Pascal Kober,
exception being the few supporters of fascism or those who seek favors
from Mr. Modi.

One such exception is the Muslim
industrialist Mr. Zafar Sareshwala who has condemned the two
Parliamentarians for criticizing Mr. Modi. Sareshwala’s defense of Modi
is out of his own selfish interest which has long been exposed. He is a
well to do businessman with business interests in Gujarat that Mr Modi
had threatened in the 2002 pogrom. To save his business interests Mr
Sareshwala has chosen to become a collaborator with Mr Modi and support
his fascist policies.

In the aftermath of the Gujarat
massacre, Mr. Modi’s supporters had touted Gujarat as the successful
"Hindutva Laboratory" and pledged to replicate "Gujarat Experiment" all
over India. It is to the credit of the Indian people, majority of whom
are Hindus, that they did not succeed. Although the wheel of Indian
justice has not stopped moving on Mr. Modi’s crimes, outside help can
ensure it will not. Nor the gaps in it would let Mr. Modi escape as he
had planned. That clever Modi-plan must be superseded with an
Intelligent-plan without borders that ensures justice to all.

Parliamentarians
Ute Granold and Pascal Kober have taken the bold step towards that
intelligent plan. We admire them and ask others to follow their lead in
order to bring Mr. Modi to justice.

CONTACT:

Dr. Najid Hussain
38 Orchid Drive
Bear, DE 19701
U.S.A.
(302) 834-5426

 

REFERENCES:

1. http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5489410,00.html
2. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/German-team-s-remark–Modi-writes-to-PM–seeks-apology/602730
3. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1951471.stm
4. http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?264873
5. http://www.sacw.net/Gujarat2002/Dube_Jowher15August2004.html
6. http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?lang=e&id=C9A603A14687BAE380256DD300630979
7. http://ibnlive.in.com/news/the-politics-of-a-fake-encounter/39854-3-p2.html
8. http://www.tehelka.com/home/20071103/
9. http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0705/p07s02-wosc.html
10. http://www.milligazette.com/Archives/01052002/0105200219.htm
11. http://www.frontline.in/fl2020/stories/20031010003303900.htm
12. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8011615.stm
13. http://www.milligazette.com/dailyupdate/2003/20030823.htm
14. http://www.countercurrents.org/guj-rajagopal260703.htm

 

Organizational Endorsements:

1. Ahsan Jafri
Foundation
2. Association of Indian Muslims of America
3. Indian Muslim Council – USA

 

Individual
Endorsements:

1. Najid Hussain
2. Kaleem Kawaja
3. Rasheed Ahmed
4. Omar Khalidi
5. Khalid Azam
6. Nishrin Hussain
7. Usman Baki
8. Yakub Patel
9. Firoz Vohra
10. Zuber Jafri
11. Tauseef Hussain
12. Zafar Iqbal
13. Mirza Beg
14. Mustafa Haji
15. Mubasshir Khumushi
16. Arif
17. Safdar
18. Tanveer Jafri
19. Muhammad Imran
20. Fatema Jafri
21. Gurbinder Singh
22. Nisar Ahmad
23. Arun Lodha
24. Tariq Farooqi
25. Nasir Chipaa
26. M.S. Munshi
27. Yasin Munshi
28. Anwar Munshi
29. Syed Ashraf
30. Shakeel Ahmad
31. Tahoora Kawaja
32. Asad Khwaja
33. Jamila Khumushi
34. Fatema Husain
35. Naresh Chandra
36. Safdar Ankleshwaria
37. Surayya Ankleshwaria
38. Abid Ali
39. Sakina Kubbewala
40. Murtuza Kubbewala
41. Yawar Husain
42. Hakimuddin
43. Mubareka Haji
44. Kamala Tripathi

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Communal Harmony

For communal harmony, empower NIC: Punchhi panel
(May 11, 2010, Indian Express)

The Justice Punchhi Commission report has opined that the National
Integration Council (NIC) is an ineffective entity that must be
empowered in order to strengthen the secular fabric of the country. A
suggestion to give the NIC constitutional status, however, has been
rejected by the Punchhi Commission on the grounds that the Council would
become prone to politicisation and would not end up including members
from various walks of life.

The Commission has recommended
several steps to institutionalise the workings of the NIC which has met
merely 14 times in the past 46 years. It met 12 times between 1962 and
1992, the 13th meeting was held after a gap of 13 years in August 2005
and the last one held in October 2008.

Besides suggesting that it
be included in the Council’s charter that it meet at least once a year,
preferably twice, the Commission has advised that a committee of
eminent persons be set up to prepare a report on whether the NIC has
been able to fulfill its objectives. Instead of being used as a forum to
settle political scores, the body should be used to reach a consensus
on comprehensive strategy to fight communal conflicts in society, it
says.

The Commission has proposed that the Union Home Minister be
made ex officio deputy chairperson of the NIC as the Prime Minister,
the ex office chairperson is unable to devote enough time to it. The NIC
was set up by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1961 to find ways and
means to "combat social evils and to formulate definite conclusions in
order to give a lead to the country".

The Commission has advised
that a Standing Committee of state Home Ministers from six regions be
set up with the MoS in the Ministry of Home as convenor. Membership of
the committee, which should meet quarterly, should be on a rotational
basis.

http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/617164/

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News Headlines

Muthaliks mantra: Money for rioting (May 14, 2010,
Express Buzz)

What does it take to stoke a riot in Bangalore? Not a lot, for if you
are willing to spend then Pramod Muthalik’s Sri Ram Sene will do the
job. This was the essence of the six-weeks long joint investigation by
the news channel, Headlines Today, and Tehelka magazine, which was aired
on Thursday. Muthalik – whose claim to notoriety is the Mangalore pub
attack of 2009 – has been caught on a hidden camera saying that a
communal riot can be ‘organised’ in Bangalore or Mangalore. "Mangalore
main kar sakte hain

Related posts:

  1. IMC-USA Weekly News Digest – August 17th, 2009
  2. IAMC Weekly News Digest – January 17th, 2011
  3. IMC-USA Weekly News Digest – March 15th, 2010
  4. IMC-USA Weekly News Digest – March 29th, 2010
  5. IMC-USA Weekly News Digest – April 19th, 2010

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