Hindu pilgrims pray at a mosque in Kerala, Islamic World News, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic World News

Hindu pilgrims pray at a mosque in Kerala

Kerala: Cutting across the religious barriers, thousands of Hindu pilgrims held prayers at a mosque on their way to the famous hilltop Sabarimala temple in Kerala.

Devotees on their way to the Sabarimala temple held special prayers, at the shrine dedicated to saint Vavar or Babar, also known as Vavaraswami, a Muslim saint who became a devotee of Lord Ayyappan.

"We visit the Sabarimala temple every year. We make offerings to Lord Ayyapan, only after paying offerings to Vavaraswami. They bless our body, mind and souls," said Sethu Raman, a Hindu devotee.

The gates of the mosque are thrown open to Hindu pilgrims during the daylong ceremony. Some devotees take a round of the mosque riding on elephants.

Muslims greet Hindu devotees by smearing their faces with ash and sandal paste while the pilgrims offer coconuts at the shrine.

"Erumeli has a special place in the history of the world, because this is an epitome of communal harmony. People believe that Vavaraswami also visits the Sabarimala temple with the devotees," said Mohammad Yousuf, a Muslim devotee.

Legend has it that Vavar was a warrior who reached the shore of Kerala as a pirate in a ship to loot and plunder. During his encounter with Lord Ayyappan, he was defeated and subdued by the Lord, and since then he became a close associate of the Lord.

Vavar later settled down at Erumeli and breathed his last there. A shrine was later constructed at his tomb.

http://newageislam.com/hindu-pilgrims-pray-at-a-mosque-in-kerala/islamic-world-news/d/2371

Secret imprisonment often leads to grave violations of human rights - Physicians for Human Rights, War on Terror, NewAgeIslam.com

War on Terror

Secret imprisonment often leads to grave violations of human rights - Physicians for Human Rights

Dark history

August 03, 2008

The demand by the Boston-based Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) that the US Congress and British Parliament investigate a report in a leading US magazine that the CIA was maintaining a secret detention centre on the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia, where a key US base is located, once more highlights US abuses of basic rights. The PHR, which has documented torture for 21 years, warns that 'secret' imprisonment often leads to grave violations of human rights. The PHR, since 2005, has also spearheaded US civil society efforts against the use of torture at Guantanamo Bay and other detention centres. In its reports, it has detailed use of psychological terror and other 'sophisticated' techniques the CIA is said to employ. The suspicion that 'ghost' prisoners are being held at Diego Garcia is a disturbing one. Certainly, the fact that such prisoners exist is known. The harrowing accounts given recently of an unidentified Pakistani woman, apparently being held at Bagram for years on end, helped underscore this ugly reality. There is also a suspicion that the young scientist and mother, Dr Afia Siddiqui, who disappeared from Karachi in 2003 with her three small children, may have ended up at such a detention centre. All of us need to support the international effort to speak up for these people. No matter what their crime – if indeed they are involved in one – no one deserves to be shut up for years, in secret jails, without access to family, lawyers and a trial process. It is unclear how many Pakistanis may have met with such a fate, but certainly there are accusations a number of them were handed over to the US, possibly in exchange for 'head money'. Some may indeed have ended up at places like Diego Garcia. As the PHR has demanded, international humanitarian groups must be allowed access to prisons there.

http://newageislam.com/secret-imprisonment-often-leads-to-grave-violations-of-human-rights---physicians-for-human-rights-/war-on-terror/d/410