Is Taslima treading a dangerous path in India by courting the Hindu fundamentalists? Vidya Bhushan Rawat

In an interview to the Indian Express, Delhi on November 24th, noted Bengali author Taslima Nasreen said, "Nothing happens to MF Hussain, who has done so many things, while everybody is after my life'. It is ironical that the statement comes from a person who has been 'wronged' by the Muslim clergy in Bangladesh and whose issue rocked Indian parliament as well as has exposed the hypocrisy of our society and so-called 'liberal' values.

The unfortunate events of Islamabad’s Lal Masjid have revived the clamour in India for change in madrasa curricula and a comprehensive reorientation of madrasa education as a whole. Such demands are not new and many of the people and groups making such demands and suggestions are not well-wishers of Muslims. The Sangh as a whole, and BJP in particular, have been at the forefront of such campaigns. The Sangh, inspired by malevolence, has also been consistently trying to give madrasas a bad name and get them shut down for ever.

Parliament in India is one of the most important pillars standing with an aim to achieve the goals of national reconstruction and nurturing the values of freedom , secularism and democracy. As a microcosm of the nation it has consistently reflected the feeling, hopes and aspiration and even weakness and frustrations of the people. It has been considered as the most vital political institution on whose working depends nation’s success. But all this is possible only if its members devote themselves whole-heartedly to meet the rising expectations of the teaming millions. A proper exercise of their duties and responsibility want certain liberties and immunities on their part so as to enable them to carry out their obligations unhindered by external force and internal pressure what we call them parliamentary privileges.

 Who is a woman and what is her role as a mother to her children?

Very often the topic claims priority. Though it is a rather hackneyed subject, it requires a fresh look at a time when women from the gentry are embracing Islam in the West.

When Allah the Almighty describes humans and human soul in the Qur’an, He does not make any difference on the basis of gender.

 

WASHINGTON - February 1 - Today European, international and United States legal and human rights groups issued an open letter warning of the illegality of any offensive military action by the United States against Iran. Signatories include the American Association of Jurists, Center for Constitutional Rights (U.S.), Droite Solidarite (France), European Association of Lawyers for Human Rights and Democracy, Italian Association of Democratic Lawyers, Haldane Society (United Kingdom), International Association of Democratic Lawyers, Indian Association of Lawyers, (India), Japanese Association of Lawyers for International Solidarity, (Japan), Lawyers Against War (Canada), National Lawyers Guild (U.S.), Progress Lawyers Network (Belgium).

Open Letter to All Members of Congress, the Bush Administration And the U.S. Armed Forces From Legal and Human Rights Groups

His Highness King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Riyadh, KSA

Your Highness,

Assalamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullah!

Hope this finds you well and in good Islamic spirits.

This is to share our deep concern with you over the growing impression in Arab and Muslim world that Islam’s internal differences are more important than its problems with the aggressors occupying Arab land from Iraq to Golan in Syria, Sheba Farms in Lebanon and West Bank-Ghaza in Palestine.

 

January 15, 2007

 Dr Manmohan Singh

The Prime Minister of India

NEW DELHI

Sir,

 This is to communicate some of our concerns to you as our beloved leader. Over the last few years we have been seeing a concerted Anglo-Saxon military and diplomatic campaign against the Muslim world, which forms a sizeable chunk of the Afro-Asian, post-colonial world.

January 15, 2007

President George W. Bush

White House

Washington, DC

The United States of America

 

Sir,

Hope this finds you well.

 
This is to share our misgivings with you on the continuing US policy of targetting the Muslim world for attacks without justification.

 

January 15, 2007

His Excellency Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

The President of Iran

TEHRAN

Your Excellency,

Assalamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullah!

Hope this finds you well and in good Islamic spirits.

 
This is about the slowly, but steadily growing divide between Muslims on sectarian lines. This is a divide, as we know (and you know better) that is ominous for the future of Islam.

 Harish Salve

WHEN WE SPEAK of International Bills of Rights, it has to be in a context.  These bills of rights are a solemn expression of hope by a group of wise people. These bills were born in were signed in 1948; the timing is significant. The United Nations itself is a product of a battle-weary, tired and wizened Europe. Bloodshed that began in the Ottoman Empire with the use of first generation weaponry ended with a nuclear bomb exploded by our friendly United States. It was that bomb that made men sit up, stop fighting and take stock of what we have been doing with each other in the last 50 years. That led to the formulation of the first, the parent, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but this declaration had a host of signatories and had different significance in different countries. 

PROF. FAIZAN MUSTAFA

What are minority’s rights? What is the origin of these rights? What is the jurisprudence of the philosophy of minority’s rights? What deliberations took place in the Constituent Assembly?  What constitutional provisions have been appearing on minority rights in India? Why special rights are needed in spite of right to equality under the Indian Constitution? How has judiciary over the years interpreted minority’s rights?