Rethinking Islam with Sultan Shahin

Islam and the Media

06 Jan 2011, NewAgeIslam.Com

Indian Urdu media ignores growing radicalization of Islam in the wake of Taseer assassination: New Age Islam Edit Desk

Today the Indian Urdu newspapers made Digvijay Singh’s phone records and its political implications, the forthcoming assembly elections in UP and the maneuverings of the political parties to woo Muslim votes and the political crisis in Pakistan following the withdrawal of support by MQM subjects of their editorials. It was shocking that the assassination of the governor of Punjab in Pakistan Salman Taseer by a fanatic defender of the anti-Islamic blasphemy laws was completely ignored by the Urdu press in India. Clearly, introspection of any kind is far from the minds of Urdu journalists. -- New Age Islam Edit Desk

Indian Urdu media ignores growing radicalization of Islam in the wake of Taseer assassination: New Age Islam Edit Desk

By New Age Islam Edit Desk Today the Indian Urdu newspapers made Digvijay Singh’s phone records and its political implications, the forthcoming assembly elections in UP and the maneuverings of the political parties to woo Muslim votes and the political crisis in Pakistan following the withdrawal of support by MQM subjects of their editorials. It was a little shocking that the assassination of the governor of Punjab in Pakistan Salman Taseer by a fanatic defender of the anti-Islamic blasphemy laws was completely ignored by the Urdu press in India. Clearly, introspection of any kind is far from the minds of Urdu journalists. --New Age Islam Edit Desk The editorial in Hamara Samaj deals with Digvijay Singh’s production of the records of his telephonic coversation with the slain ATS Chief Hemant Karkare during the Mumbai attack. It writes: “On the question of Digvijay Singh’s conversation with Hemant Karkare who exposed the forces behind the bomb blasts in the country, he had apparently become on the defensive but the availability of the phone records exposed the truth vindicating his stand. The importance of Mr Singh’s conversation with Mr Karkare is undeniable but the way the Sangh lobby launched an all-out attack against him to prove him a liar, showed that it is a Herculean task even to prove a truth. Mr Singh must have been very disappointed because of the flurry of attacks by the Sangh and the BJP and all the more when his party Congress also steered clear of the controversy. Digvijay Singh is undoubtedly a senior Congressman and is the General Secretary of Congress. His party is ruling at the centre and also in power in Maharashtra. But the moment he made the disclosures, the life was made tough for him. It provides a point to ponder if Digvijay Singh can land in such a trouble by disclosing a fact, one can gauge the troubles faced by Hemant Karkare who had exposed the brains behind the blasts.” The editorial also asks the Congress to put its weight behind Mr Digvijay Sing as he has proved that Karkare had indeed talked to him before his assassination. The Hindustan Express’s editorial Is based on the forthcoming elections in Uttar Pradesh where all the political parties have started campaigns to woo Muslim votes with the traditional emotional slogans and issues. It says that Uttar Pradesh has always been important from the point of view of Muslims of the country as almost all the important issues of the Muslims in the country have roots in this state. So the political upheavals in the state concern the Muslims generally. The editorial says: “Today as the world is changing, the national politics is changing rapidly, and the way of thinking of the Muslims too is bound to change. But unfortunately, the traditional mindset of the politicians towards them has not changed. They are taking advantage of the same emotional slogans and strategies even today as they used to do in the past. Religious hatred and the communalism of communal parties are their biggest weapons with which they are fighting the battle of the ballots even today. The recently concluded Bihar elections have showed a new way to the country. The people of the state have promoted the politics of development instead of getting entangled in the age old issues of caste and religion. But the politicians in Uttar Pradesh have not learnt any lessons from this. By attacking the RSS, the Congress hopes that it will conquer UP; Samajwadi Party thinks that by exposing Congress’s Muslim-appeasement, it will strengthen its vote bank and the BSP Supremo Mayawati is trying to bring the ulema and Muslim leaders closer to the party in the hope that they will help the party at a critical juncture. And there is the BJP who on the one hand has put people like J K Jain known to be close to Muslim ulema in order to neutralize their opposition to the party and on the other hand has allowed Vinay Katiyar, Yogi Aditya Nath and other VHP leaders to spew venom against the Muslims.” In the end the editorial tells Muslims that as long as they do not form their own agenda for development and as long as they do not take their own decisions, they would continue to be used for electoral gains by the opportunistic parties. The Urdu daily Rashtriya Sahara has made the political uncertainty in Pakistan the topic of its editorial. Recently Pakistan People Party-led government became a minority with the withdrawal of support of MQM which led to an atmosphere of instability in the country. The talks of the possibility of a military coup started doing the rounds. In this situation, Nawaz Sharif led party PML-N came forward with its support to save the Gilani government. Mr Nawaz Sharif knows that at a time when the military has again grown more powerful than the democratic establishment, if Gilani government falls, the military will overtake taking advantage of the uncertainty. So it will be in the interests of his party and his own political career to extend support to the Gilani government as he has already tasted the exile forced on him by the former military dictator Pervez Musharraf. The editorial in Rashtriya Sahara thus appreciates Nawaz Sharif’s decision in its editorial: “The decision of Nawaz Sharif led PML-N to indirectly support Yousuf Reza Gilani led PPP government in Pakistan to avoid the political crisis should be considered a positive step towards democracy in Pakistan. The Gilani led PPP government has heaved a sigh of relief at PML-N’s decision to this effect. After Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s party Jamiat Ulema Pakistan had withdrawn support from the government, the MQM also withdrew its support creating a political crisis in Pakistan as the government had become a minority one but the Prime Minister Yousuf Reza Gilani had expressed his belief that there was no threat to his government. The PML-N’s stand is that it will not hasten the government’s fall by bringing a No Confidence Motion against it as it will create instability in the country. The Law Minister of Punjab and an important leader of the party Rana Sanaullah said that the democratic process would not be allowed to be derailed through any illegal and unconstitutional step. The PPP and the PML-N have both suffered the ill consequences of political infightings. They realise the fact that at the moment the roots of democracy are not so deep in the country that any political party can benefit from the ouster of the other from power. The beneficiary will be the army who has always taken advantage of such crises and played with democracy by capturing power.” However, according to the editorial, the political crisis seems to have been averted for the time being as PML-N has provided the necessary support and the Prime Minister is trying to win the support of other smaller parties of the country. URL: http://www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamMuslimMedia_1.aspx?ArticleID=3890