Federal Autonomy in PAJK: An Idea That Binds, Current affairs, NewAageIslam.com

Current affairs

Federal Autonomy in PAJK: An Idea That Binds

By Luv Puri

19 January 2010

On February 28, 2007, Barkat Bi, 70, living in Jammu & Kashmir was united with her husband, Niaz Mohammad, 72, after a gap of 42 years. Her husband had crossed over to Pakistan-administered Jammu & Kashmir during the 1965 Indo-Pak war and could never return.

Notwithstanding the constraints that bind the policymaking elite in New Delhi and Islamabad, there had been tangible progress since 2004. The Line of Control (LoC) points were opened and a process initiated to end the pain of divided families living on both sides. Last year, trade began between the two sides creating an economic stake for the peace process.

The mistrust which developed between the two countries after the Mumbai attacks in 2008 reversed some of these gains. The number of passengers travelling through the various LoC points is consistently coming down. Traders are demanding flexible rules of engagement and calling for an end to the barter system.

Despite these setbacks, there are some recent significant political developments on both sides of the LoC, which if understood and facilitated can go a long way in evolving an amicable solution. A working group appointed by the Indian prime minister and headed by former Supreme Court justice Saghir Ahmed recently issued a report. The operative portion of the report was a suggestion to restore autonomy to J&K.

The report to address the political dimension of the issue was delayed owing to major differences within the group. The autonomy debate revolves around the July 24, 1952 Delhi agreement between Jawaharlal Nehru, then India's prime minister, and J&K prime minister Sheikh Abdullah which meant "the matters in the Union List not connected with the three subjects of Defence, External Affairs and Communications and/or Ancillary thereto but made applicable should be excluded from their application to the State".

http://newageislam.com/federal-autonomy-in-pajk--an-idea-that-binds/current-affairs/d/2472

Babri masjid dispute: Finding a solution, Islam and Politics

Islam and Politics

Babri masjid dispute: Finding a solution

Here We Go Ram Again

By Pratap Bhanu Mehta

Posted: Feb 09, 2009 at 1545 hrs IST

If Ayodhya is about religion, it is about religion in its most sordid sense. The Indian legal system has, for four decades, been unable to decisively lay the dispute to rest. In the process of adjudication and procrastination it has relied on so many legal non-sequitors that no one is sure what the grounds of any verdict are going to be. A political movement spearheaded by the BJP took the Ayodhya movement to new emotive heights, and often left its mark of violence on hundreds of innocent citizens. The Congress first opened up the issue to compensate for its own myopic interpretations of secularism and is still not sure where it stands. There is an assortment of groups, from the VHP to the Babri Masjid Action Committee, whose claims to represent their respective communities are, at best, dubious. Finally, there is the democratic voter at large. It is difficult to gauge the real depth of feeling on this issue, but one thing is clear: while a significant minority is passionate about building a Mandir, and a tiny minority passionate about stopping it, most are too fed up to care. "Let's get on with it," is probably the dominant political sentiment. With these protagonists can there be any real solution?

http://newageislam.com/babri-masjid-dispute--finding-a-solution/islam-and-politics/d/1185

Jihadism will continue to thrive in 2009 - Stratfor forecast, Islam,Terrorism and Jihad, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam,Terrorism and Jihad

Jihadism will continue to thrive in 2009 - Stratfor forecast

Jihadism in 2009: The Trends Continue

January 7, 2009

By Fred Burton and Scott Stewart

The Devolution of Al Qaeda

As a quick reminder, Stratfor views what most people refer to as “al Qaeda” as a global jihadist network rather than a monolithic entity. This network consists of three distinct entities. The first is a core vanguard, which we frequently refer to as al Qaeda prime, comprising Osama bin Laden and his trusted associates. The second is composed of al Qaeda franchise groups such as al Qaeda in Iraq, and the third comprises the grassroots jihadist movement inspired by al Qaeda prime and the franchise groups.

As indicated by the title of this forecast, we believe that the trends we have discussed in previous years will continue, and that al Qaeda prime has become marginalized on the physical battlefield to the extent that we have not even mentioned their name in the title. The regional jihadist franchises and grassroots operatives pose a much more significant threat in terms of security concerns, though it is important to note that those concerns will remain tactical and not rise to the level of a

http://newageislam.com/jihadism-will-continue-to-thrive-in-2009---stratfor-forecast--/islam,terrorism-and-jihad/d/1107

Indian Muslims’ maturity, deft govt. handling staves off a crisis: Time for the West to watch in awe India’s ‘unified response to terror’

Islam,Terrorism and Jihad

Indian Muslims’ maturity, deft govt. handling staves off a crisis: Time for the West to watch in awe India’s ‘unified response to terror’

By Sultan Shahin

As the news spread of another deadly Pakistan-sponsored terror attack on India, the West started harbouring fears of India-Pakistan going to blows and this is something that doesn’t suit the West at all at this moment – it wants to continue to use Pakistani soldiers in its losing war against the Taliban and does not want Pakistan to divert its forces to its eastern borders with India following tensions generated by this terror attack. Hence the attempt to put the blame on India’s internal problems with what was sought to be projected as a Muslim community in crisis. While we are not sure at his point in time at what level the attack was Pakistan-sponsored but it has already become clear, and a fact practically accepted by Pakistan that Pakistanis supported by elements within the military establishment were involved. However, the Muslim response was so spontaneously in sync with the national mood, and the government handling of the likely fallout so deft that fellow countrymen realised this was nothing more than the latest Pakistani attempt to destabilise India and the answer to this lay in nothing except national unity and greater display of Indian secularism.

While the Indian Muslims were not in crisis as claimed by an article in the Time magazine, the terror attack was designed to and could have led to a crisis for Muslims. The timing was significant - just before the Eid al-Azha celebrations which are known to have acted as flashpoints in the past for communal violence. Had the government allowed the terror attack to arouse communal passions as the Pakistani enemies of Indian Muslims wanted, this Eid could have turned into a Moharram, which is clearly what the attackers wanted.

http://newageislam.com/indian-muslims%E2%80%99-maturity,-deft-govt.-handling-staves-off-a-crisis--time-for-the-west-to-watch-in-awe-india%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%98unified-response-to-terror%E2%80%99/islam,terrorism-and-jihad/d/1044

Senegal’s Quranic schools: a horror story, Islamic Society, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic Society

Senegal’s Quranic schools: a horror story

Associated Press

August 18, 2008

But what is most significant is that the boy’s father — a poor farmer who sold part of his harvest to pay for the bus fare to the hospital — filed the charges against the teacher himself. In doing so, this man with cracked lips and bloodshot eyes braved the wrath of his entire village, including his own father, who considers all teachers in Senegal’s Islamic schools to be holy.

In hundreds of these schools in the mostly Muslim West African country, children are made to beg in the streets and are beaten if they don’t bring back enough money. One 10-year-old was beaten to death with his hands tied behind his back and his mouth stuffed with rocks. Despite laws passed to protect children, the courts have convicted only a handful of Quranic teachers and quickly cave in the face of powerful clerics.

The biggest obstacle to justice is the families themselves, who are unwilling to speak out against the teachers. Government officials say they cannot think of another case where the family has brought charges.

http://newageislam.com/senegal%E2%80%99s-quranic-schools--a-horror-story/islamic-society/d/589

Hanged for trying to bridge the gap between Islam and Hinduism, Islamic Personalities, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic Personalities

Hanged for trying to bridge the gap between Islam and Hinduism: Remembering Dara Shikoh, a Sufi-prince, scholar and translator, on his 350th death anniversary

By MINI KRISHNAN

What is significant for us today is not that there was a war for kingship — in itself nothing unusual — but that one of the chief charges Aurangzeb brought against the rightful heir was that in publishing the Majma-‘ul-Bahrain (The Mingling of the Two Oceans) Dara had openly committed to the truth in Hinduism. Like his great-grandfather, Dara tried to bridge the gap between Hinduism and Islam. The Emperor Akbar had strongly believed that his Mughal nobles needed to understand their Hindu subjects and had set up a translation bureau to render the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Bhagavata into Persian. Prince Dara Shikoh went much further.

Dara Shikoh, whose name means “the glory of Darius”, was born to Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal in 1615. He was the heir apparent and his father’s favourite son. As he grew up, and began to display very special qualities of scholarship and a deep interest in mysticism, which he researched relentlessly, it became clear that he was no ordinary man. In 1640 he was introduced to Lahore’s famous Qadri Sufi saint, Hazrat Mian Mir who had urged both Jehangir and Shah Jahan to be kind to all their subjects. In the same year, Dara published his first book, Sakinatul Auliya, a collection of biographical sketches of Muslim saints. His interests took a steep turn when he met Baba Lal Bairagi, a Hindu gnostic, conversations with whom he recorded in a little book entitled Mukalama Baba Lal wa Dara Shikoh.

http://newageislam.com/hanged-for-trying-to-bridge-the-gap-between-islam-and-hinduism--remembering-dara-shikoh,-a-sufi-prince,-scholar-and-translator,-on-his-350th-death-anniversary--/islamic-personalities/d/678