Here Come the Pious

A new Islamist body, the Popular Front of India, is causing alarm with its religious overdrive in the south. VK SHASHIKUMAR tells us why we should be worried


Click on Image to Enlarge
All ears A mammoth PFI gathering listens to Ebrahim Rasool, then adviser to the South African President, in their first political conference at Kozhikode (Kerala)

ENGINEERING STUDENT Rayana Khasi returned home to north Kerala from Chennai four months ago, charmed and unaware that she was carrying deadly arsenal in her baggage. She had just finished with a course in aeronautical engineering, and was considering a career in the civil services. From Chennai she brought a few of her favourite things. Dreams. Knickknacks. Jeans. In Kasargod, northern Kerala, where she lived, Rayana got the shock of her life. They hated her jeans. They called her at odd times, men she didn’t know, and told her what they would do with her if she didn’t dump the jeans and put on purdah. Each time Rayana stepped out, they stared and said horrible things.

Then, four months later, she wrote to the Women’s Commission asking that she be allowed to wear what she likes. The state posted constables to protect Rayana so she could sport denim. Now, they stalked her. One day Rayana was returning after meeting her lawyer in Ernakulam, a town near the middle of Kerala. The constable got off midway. A group tried to block the car Rayana was in. She drove off. They chased the car and attacked her with stones. She had to drive to a town nearby, where the locals lent a touch of security. All this, because they didn’t like what she wore. Because they thought she was impious.

Hindus and Christians are beginning to feel uncomfortable with this brand of assertive, militant religion-centred politics of the Popular Front of India

THEY SAID they were from the Popular Front of India. Initially it was teasing and harassment. But harassment is worse than a threat to life. The comments and staring each time I ventured out, as if I was a criminal, was intolerable. They wrote to me saying they want me to wear purdah. They said what I did was blasphemy. But I don’t think it is a problem of Islam. This is an issue of the right over one’s body. It is sad that everybody is making it out as a religious problem, even those who support me,” says Rayana. Soon after the stone attack, she met Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan and the DGP. “They promised me they would do their best.”

The Popular Front of India (PFI), with its headquarters in Kozhikode, Kerala, is throwing up a curious test for India’s secularism. In classified central government reports, the PFI is accused of introducing an extremist pan-Islamist movement to India. In submissions to the High Court, the Kerala police claim it is linked to the Al Qaeda. Achuthanandan suggested the PFI has a 20-year plan to Islamicise Kerala. And then, Keralites were jolted out of their secular somnambulism on the first Sunday of July when a bunch of PFI cadres chopped the right palm of a college teacher, TJ Joseph, for setting a question paper that allegedly insulted Prophet Mohammad.

Faux power SDPI’s Abubacker inspects the guard of honour at a ‘freedom parade’

Hindus and Christians are beginning to feel uncomfortable with this brand of assertive, militant religion-centred politics. “They are the Indian Taliban, but they cannot overcome the syncretic culture of Kerala,” says Raveendran, a building contractor in Thrissur. According to him, the PFI is a temporary fad funded by petrodollars from Saudi Arabia. Mathew Nethumpara, a lawyer in Ernakulam, says he is not surprised because “intolerance has been brewing for several years”. Rayana’s struggle is a graphic illustration of the holes in Kerala’s secular net. This young student from Cherkalam in Kasargod has already received two death threats from the PFI for refusing to wear the veil. “I will not succumb to their pressure,” she says.

The PFI is a four-year-old organisation that has thrived on the controversy it generates. It was formed in December 2006, when three organisations, the National Development Front (NDF) of Kerala, the Manitha Neethi Pasarai (MNP) of Tamil Nadu, and the Karnataka Forum for Dignity (KFD) merged to form the new entity. The NDFwas involved in the Marad Beach carnage, Kerala, in May 2003. Its cadres killed eight Hindu fishermen after a scuffle over drinking water at a public tap spiraled into a communal conflict. In 2009, a special court sentenced 65 NDF cadres to life imprisonment for this. The MNP is believed to be the new avatar of Al Umma, accused of attacking an office of the rightwing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in Chennai in November 1993. Eleven RSS cadres were killed here. The PFI considers the members of Hamas, Taliban, and Al Qaeda as freedom fighters. In one of its publications, it says: “We declare solidarity to the freedom fighters in Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq.”

The PFI is expanding because there is a feeling among Muslims, Dalits and Adivasis that they have been cheated, says chief Nasrudheen Elamaram

Confidential missives of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs and the Kerala Police accessed by TEHELKA suggest the PFI is the fastest-growing cadre-based Muslim organisation in India. It held its first political conference in 2009 in Kozhikode, where it came out with its influential Kozhikode Declaration. In it, the PFI said: “The War on Terror is a US agenda. It is a political tactic shaped by hegemonic forces bent upon world domination. The Muslims are the victims of the war on terror. The Indian government supports the WOT and makes available the county’s machinery for implementing the plan hatched by the US-Israel axis. It’s in the wake of this alliance that we witness the increase in bomb blasts in the country.

“The Muslims, on the other hand, have been pushed down by inferiority complex created by peculiar historic developments. They are under the wrong impression that any political move of their own is wrong. While the national secular parties are anxious to use the Muslim votes, they have been reluctant to take them in as equal partners. They have failed to secure the rights of the Muslims as citizens and refused to give even legal protection to them during communal riots which are a byword for collective anti-Muslim attacks. When the administration joined hands with anti-Muslim forces it created fear in Muslim minds. There is strong suspicion that plans are being hatched and implemented deliberately to break the Muslims economically and socially.

“The denial of basic needs and willful negligence of their just demands have imposed social slavery. No political party can shrug off responsibility for creating this situation. So it is imperative that Muslim organisations come to the forefront for the advancement of the community and to create awareness about their rights.”

It is impossible to judge whether the PFI has really sown the seeds of Talibanisation in India. For instance, Kerala’s Director General of Police Jacob Punnose says, “I realise the danger but I don’t want to exaggerate it.” Unnikrishnan, a well-known Malayalam filmmaker and culture critic says educated Muslim youth in Kerala cannot be seen in a monolithic context. “But we cannot deny that the consolidation of pan-Islamism can be seen in Kerala.” He considers the PFI’s militant retaliation for perceived injustices “a dangerously romantic imagery”. He says Muslim radicalisation in Kerala would have a big impact.

Forward march The parade, which was held in 2008 and 09, was banned this year

THE PFI’s Kerala head Nasrudheen Elamaram says his organisation is expanding because there is a feeling among Muslims, Dalits and Adivasis that they have been cheated. The PFI sees the State as the enemy. That there are visible signs of Islamisation is accepted by all. Unnikrishnan describes this as “hybrid Islamisation”. Suddenly, over the past decade, Kerala’s 26 percent Muslims appear to be twice their number. That’s because the dress code of Kerala Muslims has been made Arabic. All across Kerala most Muslim women wear head scarves or purdah or hijab. “It is fashionable to wear hijab,” says Salima, a student of BSc, Applied Statistics, in Kozhikode’s Ferook College. When first-generation educated Muslims went to the Gulf countries, they returned far more conservative than they might have been when they left India. This has been subsequently imbibed by friends, relatives and neighbours. While Elamaram admits “Gulf influence” is a factor, he adds, “Purdah is matter of faith. There is no compulsion.”

Sunil Kumar KK, is an administrator in Calicut University. He has been an anti-communalism activist working primarily among students. “In the past few years I have seen more women, and more educated women, for instance my neighbour who has a Phd, take to the hijab. There is radicalisation but that would be in small pockets. Also, one must not underestimate the role of the mafia in fuelling terror activities or easing recruitment. Go to a remote town and promise jobs or college admissions or just money. Tell people that ‘another community’ has lots of college seats and Muslims don’t. This seems to be what works for groups like the PFI,” he says.

PART OF the PFI’s growth is because it has a separate media company, the Inter Media Private Limited, held by the Thejas Publishing Charitable Trust. Thejas is the name of the PFI’s Malayalam daily that started publishing in January 2006. Since then the PFI has launched four news publications in Malayalam, Tamil and Kannada. It also has four book publishing ventures in the same languages. It has a website and a dedicated web team. It has set up an ‘Empower India Press’ to publish titles in English, Hindi and Urdu. Another organisation, called ‘Media Research and Development’ produces audiovisual products and documentaries. “We see the media as a vehicle for political empowerment,” says NP Chekkutty, Executive Editor of Thejas. “The PFI’s membership is only for Muslims because a cadre-based organisation is important for social mobilisation. So, it is not the Talibanisation or radicalisation in the sense of what is happening in Pakistan and Afghanistan,” he adds. Soon Thejas will start an edition in Saudi Arabia. So far, Thejas has employed more than 400 media professionals and is working on a Saudi Arabia edition.

All this has caught the Centre’s attention. A letter classified as secret issued by the union home ministry on 25 November 2009 states: “Thejas is part of a pan-Islamic publication network catering to the communal agenda of certain organisations. The publication invariably takes anti-establishment views on issues like plight of Muslims, Kashmir, and India’s relations with the US and Israel. Occasionally, it describes the government’s counter-militancy effort as state-sponsored terrorism, thereby endorsing the stance of militant elements. More importantly, contemporary developments and issues are invariably projected with a communal slant.” The Kerala Government took this seriously and withdrew all advertisements from Thejas on 14 May this year. “In the past financial year we got more than Rs 80 lakh as revenue from government advertisements. The decision to withdraw them from Thejas is a political decision aimed at destroying the newspaper,” says Chekkutty. But, in strange twist, the Centre’s Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity revived government advertisements in Thejas. The first one was an appeal by the central government to maintain calm and peace in the aftermath of the Allahabad High Court’s Babri Masjid verdict!

Black rage Activists of the NWF protest in Mysore against the Gaza blockade

In the period after the Babri Masjid verdict, the PFI is gearing up to bring all Muslim groups in India under its banner. At its Kozhikode conference, Zafaryab Jilani, the convener of the Babri Masjid Action Committee, articulated a long-cherished dream. “The Front should make sure that under its banner all the suppressed sections close ranks.” The Kozhikode Declaration also called for the unification and consolidation of Muslims, Dalits and Backwards as a ‘genuine Third Force’ in Indian politics.

The PFI has garnered rapid support within the Muslim community because it has been able to demonstrate its organisational capability. Its ‘Freedom Parade’ is the shining showpiece of its cadrestrength. On 15 August in the past two years, PFI cadres dressed in uniforms similar to paramilitary organisations staged a perfectly synchronised march in cities across Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Muslims in Kozhikode thronged the roads and packed into the city stadium to watch the march. In 2008, the PFI chose to stage the Freedom March in Mangalore, a town known for its Hindutva extremist groups like the Sri Ram Sene. PFI seniors take pains to explain the rationale of the Freedom Parade. “The Muslim community needs to show its strength for political mobilisation. A disciplined cadre-based organisation is necessary for the progress of the community,” says Elamaram.

Some Muslims admire the PFI for its educational, social and public health initiatives. But the biggest inducement for the youth to join the outfit is jobs

This year the Kerala Government banned the parade. Kerala police officers point to a few curious features of the PFI’s show of strength. It was always held in the afternoon or evening after the official Independence Day functions were over. No PFI senior has ever turned up for official I-Day functions. The PFI has consistently refused to furnish the list of names and contact details of its marching cadres to the police so their strength is not precisely known. Police officers claim the cadres have been trained by former police and army personnel. The police claim that within the PFI, there is an Ideology Wing, Intelligence Wing and an Action Group.

SOME SOUTH Indian Muslims admire the PFI for its educational, social and public health initiatives. It offers career counselling, distributes educational aids and study material, and runs motivational programmes like the ‘School Chalo’ campaign every summer. Its medical camps are also popular. But the biggest inducement for Muslim youth to join the PFI is jobs. “We have been fairly successful in building an organisation. There was a change because employment was given to Muslim girls, boys and Dalits,” says Elamaram. The police claim PFI goes beyond providing jobs. “All Muslim youth joining the PFI are given mobile phones, motorcycles and money. The organisation also assists in job recruitments in the Gulf,” says Vinson M Paul, ADGP, Crime.

The PFI says it tapped into the anger of the Indian Muslim community after the release of the Sachar Committee Report. The official admission by the government that the Muslim community is the most backward in India set the ground for the PFI’s spectacular growth. Its assertive, militant brand of politics aimed at acquiring political power at the national level appealed to Muslims who felt powerless. The PFI’s political rationale, that the Indian Muslim community’s absence in the corridors of power is the root cause for genocidal attacks on Muslims, has resonated deeply within the community. This powerlessness leads to systematic killings of Muslims in fake encounters and communal pogroms, the PFI holds.

The Babri Masjid demolition, the riots in its wake and the Gujarat genocide are often cited in PFI literature. The organisation believes the American war on terror and India’s new-found friendship with Israel has furthered weakened Muslim “servility”. They claim that India’s security and strategic establishment have been irreparably influenced by American and Israeli intelligence and security agencies. PFI claims that Indian Muslims are victimised by Hindus for eating beef. The media constantly questions their patriotism and unquestioningly accept the role of Muslims in terrorist activities.

United front PFI leaders in a show of strength during the Kozhikode meeting

Much of this is true and a decision by Indian Muslims to consolidate themselves as a self-confident political force, partaking of democracy as equal players not second-class citizens dependent on “appeasements”, could have been a welcome move. Like the social churn Lalu Prasad and Mayawati brought in their wake, it could bring positive yield: more jobs, more education, more leverage. What makes the growth of the PFI and its associate organisations worrying though is its undertow of violence and Islamic fundamentalism.

Says Hameed Chennamangalur, former Calicut University professor and social commentator, “It’s not just the PFI. There are many other groups that share their Islamist ideology. They are like the Al Qaeda and similar groupings in Egypt, Pakistan or Bangladesh. They oppose America not because it is imperialist but because it is Christian imperialism and they see Islam as the only truth. The PFI, unlike older avatars, is extremely well funded and has been steadily building institutions — newspapers, publishing, schools.

The people who need to worry in Kerala are the liberal Muslims. Those who supported the professor who had his hand chopped off, the pro-Rushdie types...

“Mainstream Muslims in Kerala may not come out and applaud them when they do things like cutting the professor’s hand but they support them inwardly. They have supported them quietly earlier when, as the NDF, they conducted similar moral policing. The question paper incident was a small issue that they blew up because groups like them do not tolerate criticism or perceived criticism of Islam. Just like the Ram Sene or the Shiv Sena they are geared to blowing up tiny incidents.

A MUSLIM school in Kannur that took boys and girls out on a normal school excursion gets attacked. Their bus gets blocked because the NDF does not want boys or girls to mix. Or in Malapurram they tell Muslim owners of restaurants that they cannot open during Ramadan. Or decades ago in the same region the NDF burnt movie theatres they suspected were showing pornographic films. The people who need to worry in Kerala are liberal Muslims. The people who supported the professor who had his hand chopped off, pro-Rushdie people, pro-Taslima Nasreen people ... they are the ones who need to watch out. People like the Chekkanur Moulvi who was a progressive cleric who was kidnapped and killed in 1993 ... those are the kind of people who need to worry.”

There is evidently big following for the PFI even in states other than Kerala. In the past two years the PFI and its political wing, Social Democratic Party of India, have set up committees in 15 states and already have a significant following in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The PFI’s formulations of “total empowerment” for Muslims, Dalits, Adivasis and Backward Castes have connected with other Muslim political groups and parties. The Asom United Democratic Front (AUDF), led by perfume magnate Maulana Badruddin Ajmal, has declared solidarity with the PFI. The AUDF, with 11 MLAs in the 126-member Assam legislature, is a significant player in Assam politics. Political midgets like the Milli Ettehad Parishad in West Bengal and the Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhgam (TMMK) have joined the PFI-led national alliance of Muslim groups and parties. Much of this comes from the Kozhikode conference. There, Ebrahim Rasool, then advisor to the South African President, energised the PFI leadership with a simple proposition: “Muslims in South Africa account for 3 percent of its population, but have 15 percent representation in Parliament. If we can do it, why can’t the 13 percent Muslims in India do the same thing?”

Dress code Rayana Khasi has been hounded for wearing jeans in Kasargod

Stuff like this is raising an alarm in New Delhi and Thiruvananthapuram. Achuthanandan said the PFI was trying to make Kerala a “Muslim country.” “How can we convert all the people of Kerala to Islam in 20 years?” rebuts Elamaram. “If this is true, then Achuthanandan and his children too will have to change their religion.”

Taking a cue from the freedom guaranteed in the Indian Constitution to propagate religion, the PFI has set up religious propagation and education centres in Theni and Ervadi in Tamil Nadu. While Kerala police officials allege that these Arivagam centres for men and women are basically conversion centres, the PFI claims these are institutions for teaching the basic tenets of Islam over four months to those who voluntarily accept it as their religion. The course covers “reading Quran, performing salah, learning basic duas and hadiths and also conveys the message of Islam to the people. Accommodation, food and other basic requirements are given free for those who undergo these courses.” The ‘Q’ (intelligence) Branch of the Tamil Nadu Police has despatched several missives to the government alleging that the PFI is conducting a conversion campaign through its Arivagam centres.

The PFI also mobilised the Imams in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka to form the Imams Council “for unity among the ulema”. The eventual aim is to string together a National Imams Council “to undertake (Muslim) social causes more effectively. But this is being viewed suspiciously by central intelligence agencies and the Kerala police because one of the first acts of the Imam Council was to republish a controversial 55-page book, ‘Asavarnarkku Nallathu Islam’ (Islam is Good for Non-Savarnas).

This book was first published by the Thiyya Youth League of Kochi in 1936. It contained essays by well known Ezhava and Thiyya intellectuals like Sahodaran K. Ayyappan, K. Sukumaran, K.C. Vallon and AK Bhaskar. They advocated mass conversion to Islam because of stubborn denial of temple entry rights to backward castes by the rulers of Travancore. The Kerala Police claims that in the present circumstances this book is “highly inflammatory”. The police interrogated the President of the Imam Council, Abdul Rehman Bakhiq, on the grounds that the Council was promoting communal discord. “What I am seeing is not radicalisation in the traditional sense. We understand what we are doing here is very effective. We are giving voice to a segment of people who have been ignored. We are becoming assertive through reasoned argument,” says Chekkutty. “And keeping it within the limits of the Indian Constitution.”

One argument the PFI is making is the implementation of Sharia or Islamic Banking in India. In early September, a team of Islamic scholars assembled by the PFI met RBI officials to present their case on Islamic Banking. According to the PFI, banking in accordance with Sharia laws “is the answer to abolish economic inequality and discrimination”. But RBI officials have already informed the government that under the current banking laws and regulations, Islamic banking cannot be legally implemented. The World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) and the Muslim World League (MWL) or Rabitha, both funded by Saudi Arabia’s royal family are actively engaged in the propagation of Islam and Sharia banking in India.

Muslim politicians from Kerala, like Minister of State for Railways E. Ahmed and PV Wahab have been pushing the agenda of Islamic banking. WAMY’s representative Abdul Rahman and the MWL or Rabitha’s advisor Khalaf Bin Sulaiman Namary have also been in touch with Kerala Government and Muslim politicians for this. “The PFI is one of the beneficiaries of WAMY and Rabitha largesse,” says a police officer involved in investigating the PFI’s alleged terror linkages. For the sake of context, it is instructive to recall that American and European governments have severely curtailed the activities of WAMY and MWL on grounds of “terror financing”.

THE FUNDING requirements are channeled through these representatives, often through the hawala route. Union Home Secretary GK Pillai, during a recent visit to Kollam in Kerala, told journalists that “the funding (for Muslim organisations) seems to be more from outside than from locals.” These funds are then apportioned by WAMY and MWL’s local representatives to mosques and local Muslim community organisations for religious propagation, relief activities and education. More often than not these funds are used for religious indoctrination and radicalisation.

Taking a cue from the freedom guaranteed to propagate religion, the PFI has set up religious education centres in Theni and Ervadi in Tamil Nadu

Remittances to Kerala via legal channels show a 135 percent growth in the past five years. In 2003, remittance from the Gulf was $38 billion. In 2008 it was $90 billion. It is well known that funds transferred through hawala are 300 times the officially documented remittance. The Kerala Government has also come up with a curious nugget on land purchases. In several districts nearly 70 percent land ownership is held by Muslims, of which a considerable chunk is held by Muslim religious institutions and organisations through proxies. “We do not have a mechanism to monitor these activities. India will be taken by surprise,” says Dr Siby Mathew, ADGP Intelligence, Kerala Police. There are 25 lakh Malayali expatriates in the Gulf. More than half are Muslims. A significant amount of funding to fundamentalist and religious organisation is through their donation. A classified home ministry report alleges that rich Muslim businessmen in India and abroad fund PFI activities.

Also, the Internal Security Investigation Team (ISIT) of the Kerala Police is probing PFI activities. They claim to have seized Talibanic material, videos and “highly communal” and subversive literature, in raids conducted across Kerala. In an affidavit submitted to the Kerala High Court by R. Rajashekharan Nair, Deputy Secretary (Home), the government claimed the ISIT found CDs linked to the Al Qaeda. The court was also informed of the PFI’s alleged connections with the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT). The suspected PFI terror links were backed by revelations made the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad when it arrested LeT operatives Mirza Himayat Baig and Shaikh Lal Baba Mohammad Hussain Farid, alias Bilal, for carrying out the German Bakery blast in Pune. According to the Maharashtra ATS, Baig was an active PFI cadre and was involved in arranging recruits for the LeT. None of this has been proved, of course, and PFI leaders rubbish the investigations as a fallout of India’s proximity to the US.

The Indian government believes that Kerala is turning into a cauldron of competing religious and communal interests. “Kerala should be concerned about religious fundamentalism,” warned Home Secretary Pillai in the first week of September. Surely, Kerala’s citizenry are aware of their responsibility. Only they can goad their political representatives to find a power-sharing solution for its large-sized religious minorities. It might become a role model for rest of India.

(Read More inside ..)

More Poverty = More Religion

Religion has a surprisingly high correlation with poverty, according to a Gallup survey conducted in more than 100 countries. The more poverty a nation has, the higher the “religiosity” in that nation. In general, richer countries are less religious than poorer ones.

The biggest exception? The United States, which has the highest religiosity relative to its wealth on the planet.


Click on Image to Enlarge

graphic via NYT

>

Hat tip Flowing Data
>

Sources:
Religious Outlier
CHARLES M. BLOW
NYT, September 3, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/04/opinion/04blow.html

Religiosity Highest in World’s Poorest Nations
United States is among the rich countries that buck the trend
Steve Crabtree
Gallup, August 31, 2010
http://www.gallup.com/poll/142727/religiosity-highest-world-poorest-nations.aspx

(Read More inside ..)

Exposing The “Miracle” Of Blindfolded Sight- The Story of Ranjana Agarwal

This is the story of a little girl of fourteen and the ambitions of her mother whom we met at the studios of Live India TV channel on the evening of 18th June. The story begins on this date, when I received a call from the channel asking if I could visit their studios if I was in Delhi. When the call arrived, Shubrum, Rakshi and I were on our way over to their house, after a very important and successful meeting with the present director of Vigyana Prasar Network, Dr.Anuj Sinha. Since Shubrum had a meeting, Rakshi and I decided to go for the live broadcast to investigate the case of this girl, Ranjana. It was the claim of her family and some others that she had the unique power to see blindfolded. Some of these folks also accompanied her to the studio. It was claimed that she had been given a certificate by the Ministry of Human Resource Development that she had the power of seeing with a cloth tied over her eyes! That was supposed to be in recognition of her ‘unique talents’. It was quite clear that this girl who was from a village near Varanasi wanted to go places!

Ranjana Agarwal with her mother who was manipulating her

On the panel which went on air at 9 pm there was an astrologer, an ophthalmologist, Rakshi and myself. The discussions started with the so called “unique talents” of this girl, with some prerecorded footage of her showing her so called remarkable talents! Then the whole drama started. The opinions of the panel were asked.The ophthalmologist said that the phenomenon needed testing. The astrologer, as to be expected, said that it was a case of supernatural powers. Rakshi said that there was nothing supernatural and I promised that by the end of the program I would prove that she had no supernatural powers.

The tests started with a blindfold being tied round the girl’s eyes and a newspaper shown to her. She brought it down at such a low angle that she could read it through the gap between the blindfold and her nose! When I said this was something that anyone could do, the blind fold was tied around my eyes and I was asked to read something held higher. Obviously I could not do that. That was said to be my defeat in round no.1! The discussions continued and when it was Rakshi’s turn she said it was to be seen as to how this girl was doing it. The anchor kept on harping about the unique talents of this girl and how these were recognised by the govt of India, throughout the program!

Then we took a break and there was an argument between the anchor and Rakshi! When the show was off the air, heated discussions were going on. Though I tended to agree with Rakshi, I am a veteran of many such shows and decided to hold my peace in the larger interests of the movement. This was followed by more heated arguments and Rakshi went off the air. But the panel continued without her and so did the nonsense!

Two pieces of cotton were kept on the girl’s eyes and the blindfold put back on. Again she managed to ’see’ a paper held before her eyes, through the same gap. When I suggested that I would put the blindfold properly on her the anchor declined and said that I would get my chance later! That was never to come! In the meantime there were many other superfluous things going on, They were showing footage from Mahabharath, the part where Kunti put her unique powers into Duryodhan etc. The astrologer was harping on about the powers of Sanjay in the Mahabharath who could read written words from miles away! So, I pulled out a currency note from my pocket and challenged the girl to read its serial number from ten feet away. The astrologer backed out saying that the events he mentioned had happened in Threthayuga and it was Kaliyuga now!



Then came the denouncement! The next chance to prove the so called miraculous powers of the girl was another test. She was to have dough applied to her eyes and be asked to read the words. I said that I wanted to participate in this and went near her with two pieces of sticking plaster in my hands. I had observed where the gaps were between the blindfold and her cheeks and wanted to apply the dough to that area. When the ophthalmologist got ready with the dough, the girl complained that her eyes were hurting and that she was having problems seeing! I had anticipated this, as I could see the girls mother signaling to her, apparently out of the sight of all the others, that she should say no! The very sympathetic anchor said that she was a small girl and hence should not be subjected to more trauma! He who was keen up to that stage saying that we would conduct more and more tests to demonstrate these unique powers of the child, suddenly turned very sympathetic when the going got really tough.

I had got ready with the plaster, but there was no question of applying it now as the girl was shedding copious quantities of tears. The whole drama had been planned and carried out in such a way that the girl would be let off when it came to the crunch. She was to be ready to cheat when the criteria were not rigorous, and when really tough tests were to be applied such a drama would be enacted to get her off the hook! But, I was not willing to be a party to this. I was very vehement that the whole thing was a drama and asked why the rigorous criteria of applying dough to her eyes was not done in the first trial. I also wanted to know why I was not allowed to access the girl the first time! There was no need to go on for an hour when the so called miraculous powers could have been exposed in a few minutes.

The whole thing is about TRPs. They wanted to sacrifice a child at the altar just to improve their viewership. It was obvious that the driving force behind the whole farce was her mother who wanted to bask in the glory of her daughter’s unique “talents”. The whole exercise was fueled by the ambitions of the TV channels to improve their ratings. In fact before it went on air I was requested to wait for some time before I expose this girl, as the whole show was to go on for an hour or so.

Those in on this plan wanted the so called special powers of this girl to be certified by us, which is why I had been invited. This invitation led to their exposure and downfall. In the process, the child was hurt and had to undergo humiliation in public. But the very relevant issue here is that the child was put up to this sort of exploitation. The anchor had been talking all that time about a ‘testimonial’ awarded by the Ministry of HRD, govt. of India. I was wondering, on what grounds did the government issue this “testimonial”? How could have this department verified that this girl had the ability to ’see’ with her eyes blindfolded, before issuing the testimonial? The anchor was also bragging about the ‘certificates’ issued by some local govt. medical officers. Who had given them the authority to certify this so called miraculous power?

Edit: On further checking this certification has been verified to be genuine. The target now includes the ministry of HRD, the government of India, which has so carelessly declared that this girl has the ability to see blindfolded.

While the child’s alleged miraculous powers were exposed on the show, what was the gullibility level of those who certified her? Did none of them have any sense as to see how she was reading blindfolded? My conclusion was that Rakshi had been right from the beginning. It was not about the exposure of so called ‘miraculous’ power, but about a greater exposure of how a publicity-hungry parent, TRP-crazy media and gullible public joined to make a celebrity out of an ordinary myopic girl who was peeking at things held under her nose through the gap between the blindfold and her cheeks. The case needs a more thorough investigation by some agency looking out for children’s welfare, because Ranjana Agarwal is only fourteen years old and legally still a child.

(Read More inside ..)

Hindus denounce Pope for being offensive to atheists

Nevada (US), Sept 17 (ANI): Hindus have criticized His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI for rough handling of atheists in his speech at Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh (United Kingdom) on September 16, where he appeared to associate atheism with the Nazis.



Eminent Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that as Catholics and Hindus and others had freedom of their belief systems and were respected for their respective choices, and so should be the atheists. A religious leader of Pope’s stature should have been more inclusive.

Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, further said that although Pope frequently talked about right to religious freedom, cooperation of the human family, truly universal human community, etc., but in this speech, he apparently condemned the beliefs of a considerable chunk of world population called atheists. Who were we as human beings to judge publicly that other humans’ beliefs different than us were wrong?

Rajan Zed stressed that Pope should get rid of his obsession against atheism and show some maturity and inclusiveness. Frankly, it was the fault of us religious leaders (which included Pope also) and organizations that atheism was growing in the world. We (including Pope) needed to do a better job to make religion more vibrant, attractive and engaging to keep people in God’s fold.

In his Edinburgh speech, Pope talked about Nazi tyranny that wished to eradicate God from society. He further reportedly said: As we reflect on the sobering lessons of the atheist extremism of the twentieth century, let us never forget how the exclusion of God, religion and virtue from public life leads ultimately to a truncated vision of man and of society and thus to a reductive vision of the person and his destiny.

In his encyclical “Caritas in Veritate” (Charity in Truth) issued in Rome last year, Pope was also highly critical of atheists and humanists: “…ideological rejection of God and an atheism of indifference, oblivious to the Creator and at risk of becoming equally oblivious to human values, constitute some of the chief obstacles to development today. A humanism which excludes God is an inhuman humanism.” This encyclical letter is considered the highest form of papal teaching.

Atheism is disbelief in the existence of God and atheists argue that there is little or no real evidence for the existence of God. Pope Benedict heads the Roman Catholic Church, which is the largest of the Christian denominations. Hinduism, oldest and third largest religion of the world, has about one billion adherents and moksh (liberation) is its ultimate goal. (ANI)

(Read More inside ..)

Atheist lawyer burns Koran and Bible

An Australian lawyer is courting controversy after posting a video of himself on YouTube burning the Bible and the Koran.

The Courier-Mail reports that in the video, Alex Stewart from Brisbane tears pages from both books and rolls them up like a marijuana joint, appearing to smoke them.

Mr Stewart says they're just books, and if people are getting so upset over a book then they're taking life way too seriously.

(Read More inside ..)

Sex and the Swami

There are only two things of real interest to man: the breasts of a beautiful young woman and the forest (for renunciation, enlightenment etc). - Kalidasa


Siddhi vs Nirvana
Siddhi in layman terms means some kind of spiritual super power – like levitation, reading other peoples minds, greater physical endurance etc. If you practice yoga over a period of time you definitely have the potential to attain some siddhi. But this is not nirvana which is the final goal of yoga. Patanjali himself warns yoga aspirants to not be seduced by siddhis but to focus on the ultimate goal of spiritual liberation.


So Nityananda who obviously practiced yoga for considerable time probably developed some siddhis. But whether he is ‘enlightened’ is another matter altogether. The ancient shaastraas lay down a singular quality of the enlightened : lack of desire. So it is for those who know him to say whether he lacked desire or not.

When people busy in our industrial world, go to a guru and even if he teaches them breathing exercises which will show them psycho/physical benefits even in the short term, they can be impressed with the guru – whether he really be enlightened or not. So if you have a few siddhis people are going to be even more impressed. So it is quite possibly the reason that the swami became so popular.

Sex and spirituality
There is an argument that spirituality through sex is a valid practice in Indian traditions.

But this is not really true. Indian spirituality is about seeking the spirit within the psycho/physical faculties. Though almost anything related to the psycho-physical faculties can be used as a gateway to access the spirit, still sex is considered very dangerous to mix with spirituality.

The Buddha asks his disciples to turn away at the sight of a woman. Shankarachaarya warns disciples of dire consequences if they do not control their bodily lusts and still try to intuit the inner self.

Though it is true that historically a branch of Tantra (the so called ‘left hand’/vamachara tantra) did teach spirituality though sex, still it is to be noted that it was not accepted by tradition. But rather existed in the shadows – scorned and condemned by tradition. The orthodoxy historically hounded out this practice as being dangerous to spiritual practice and society.

So to claim that Nityananda was trying to teach spirituality through sex is a dubious claim – especially the argument that such practice has the support of tradition.

The Razor’s edge
The Kathaa Upanishad equates the spiritual path to the walking on the edge of a razor. To be one with the spirit is literally to turn away from each and every small pleasure that we enjoy in this world – for all pleasures are linked to our psycho physical faculties. It is indeed an arduous path which only one in a million can really succeed.

Tradition has always relied on mentors to groom spiritual aspirants. A junior shankarachaarya is groomed by his older counterpart and guided through the arduous path till he is capable of living by the sanyaasa dharma. Likewise the relationship between a guru and a sishya in almost any parampara.

However talented or intuitive one might be in the spiritual sense, it is very easy to fall prey to the pleasures of the world. The Vivekachoodaamani bearing this in mind warns spiritual aspirants that even if they have actually intuited reality, they should diligently practice austerity for it is very easy to succumb to one’s desires.

In orthodox traditions sanyaasis seldom meet women alone. Or even if they interact with them it is always in the presence of others but never alone.


Public hypocrisy
But public hypocrisy regarding such issues has always surprised me.

Today in India morality and ethics have zero relevance especially encouraged by our so called ‘establishment’ for which only material prosperity seems to be the sole important criterion of ‘development’. Thieves and murderers and rapists are our political ‘leaders’ today and rule our country. Corruption is endemic in our public sphere. Bollywood sluts and pimps are being graced with Bharat Ratnas. No less than our ‘chief justice’ supports sex outside of wedlock. That is the condition of our society today.

Good is primarily defined as service in the interest of somebody else – where our personal interest is not involved. How many of us do a single ‘good’ in a day?

These we know about Nityananda :

that he was spiritually talented and aspired for something higher.

that he taught meditation etc to people's benefit.

that his organization did help out the society with charities and public works.

When our day to day life is primarily aimed every second at getting us closer to one or the other desire of ours, on what basis can we condemn somebody who lives the greater part of their lives for the greater good?

Yes Nityananda might have committed wrong by indulging in sex with women when he claimed brahmachaarya. But our selfish public have little moral/ethical ground to condemn him. It is this very same public that for its selfish ends has reduced the society to what it is today.

Nityananda is pretty much the sign of the times in the degenerate Indian society of today with its filmdom exerting an all pervasive negative influence. As a sharp old lady once told me : "In yesteryears if they asked 'who is the important person in the society', they would say this thinker or that social worker. But today they say 'Kushboo' etc". So little wonder that while the ancient Tamil society produced Thiruvalluvar, the Bhakti saints etc, today it can only produce the likes of Nityananda.

And all the usual suspects in the media which condemn him : the ‘porn’ Times of India, NDTV, political party run TV channels etc, all of which subvert traditional culture and promote western hedonism - it is not as if they are paragons of morality and honour. When they themselves in so many ways encourage much of what Nityananda is condemned for, so what is their grouch against him - that a Hindu aspired for something higher especially in the traditional way? Their tirade against Nityananda is like the glee of pigs in the gutter when a calf falls in the muck.

Dubious reactions
When the Nityananda scandal broke out there were reports of violence. Apparently a bunch of people attacked and destroyed stuff in his ashram. Nityananda was mainly an urban guru catering mainly to the middle class working class. People who go to him are those who seek peace in their life and hardly have experienced any violence in life. And we are to believe that these are the people who reacted with violence against Nityananda’s ashram?

The kind of mass violence that we saw speaks of organized orchestration and not spontaneous reaction of spiritual aspirants.

So who orchestrated it?

Our ‘political leaders’ have a long history of seeking a share of wealth of anybody who acquires it on our society – be it successful industrialists or swamis.

The church also has a long history of subverting swamis who grow popular – especially using the ‘honey trap’. And often they are in cahoots with our political leaders.

So one can only wonder which was involved in the ‘violent reaction’ against Nityananda.

Spirituality for sale
When did we last hear of Veda Vyasa or Shankara or Buddha or Ramana Maharishi teaching brahma vidhya for money? But modern day 'gurus' - from Mahesh Yogi to Nityananda charge money to teach meditation etc - especially to foreign spiritual aspirants (I think Nityananda charged like $6000 for a 3 month course!). I have heard the argument from some worthies from such organizations that it was meant to make the aspirant to take the teaching more seriously - yeah right!
All those meditational sciences were developed by our ancient rishis and is a part of our civilizational heritage and so cannot be put on sale by modern pretenders. This attempt to put spirituality on the market for sale should be stauchly opposed - by tradition and law.
There is an argument that Nityananda was supportive of defending the dharma from the attacks of anti-hindu forces and so is deserving of sympathy etc. Apart from the fact that that doesn't justify his sexual misconduct, also we do not want dharmic traditions to be reduced to the concept of world domination through organized religion of the Semitic streams. That would atbest only be yielding to the same evil which is controlled by Hindus instead.

(Read More inside ..)

Fire should be fought with water, not with more fire

"Interpol, the international police agency, has warned of an increased risk of terror attacks if the planned burning of the Qur'an by extremist US pastor Terry Jones takes place on Saturday.

"If the burning goes ahead as planned there is a strong likelihood that violent attacks on innocent people would follow," Interpol, acting partly on a request from Pakistan, said in a statement.

The warning came as Jones, a pentecostal preacher from Gainseville, Florida, hinted he might be prepared to call off the burning – planned to mark the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks – if he was contacted directly by Barack Obama, the state department or the Pentagon.

"That would cause us to definitely think it over," Jones told USA Today. "That's what we're doing now. I don't think a call from them is something we would ignore." But he said that as things stood he was "not convinced that backing down is the right thing".

The White House confirmed it was discussing whether to contact Jones – whose church, The Dove World Outreach Centre, has a congregation of about 50 – to ask him to call off his plans. Pentagon spokesman Geoffrey Morrell said: "That possibility is currently under discussion within the administration. I don't believe they've come to any resolution yet."

Barack Obama earlier joined mounting worldwide condemnation of the plan, saying the event would be a "recruitment bonanza for al-Qaida".

The US president told ABC News: "If he's listening, I hope he understands that what he's proposing to do is completely contrary to our values as Americans," Obama said.

Obama said the event was a stunt that would boost support for terrorism. "This could increase the recruitment of individuals who would be willing to blow themselves up in American cities or European cities," Obama said.

The president repeated a warning by General David Petraeus, the commander of US and Nato forces in Afghanistan, that the burning would endanger US troops.

"And as a very practical matter I just want him [Jones] to understand that this stunt could greatly endanger our young men and women who are in uniform," Obama said.

David Cameron's spokesman said earlier that the prime minister strongly opposed any attempt to offend members of a religious group.

Religious leaders of all faiths have warned against the event, with statements of protest coming from both the Vatican and the Archbishop of Canterbury.

This week protests took place in the Afghanistan capital of Kabul where effigies of Jones were burned alongside the American flag.

Anjem Choudary, the former leader of the banned Islamist organisation Islam4UK, told Reuters he was calling on radical Muslim groups around the world to burn American flags outside US embassies in retaliation.

Today about 200 lawyers and civilians marched and burned a US flag in the central Pakistani city of Multan, demanding that Washington prevent the book burning.

The foreign ministries of Pakistan and Bahrain issued some of the first official denunciations in the Muslim world, with the latter calling it a "shameful act which is incompatible with the principles of tolerance and co-existence".

The president of Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, has written to Obama asking him to stop the bonfire. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told Obama that images of the Qur'an in flames could "threaten world peace", according to his special adviser Heru Lelono.

India's home office has asked its country's media to exercise restraint in reporting on the planned burning.

The rightwing US presidential hopeful Sarah Palin urged Jones and his supporters to reconsider. Writing on her Facebook page she said: "People have a constitutional right to burn a Qur'an if they want to but doing so is insensitive and an unnecessary provocation – much like building a mosque at Ground Zero."

In a statement on his faith foundation website, Britain's former prime minister Tony Blair, said: "Rather than burn the Qur'an I would encourage people to read it"."

(Read More inside ..)

Islam Is… (continued)

(Read More inside ..)

Top Islamic body: Yoga is not for Muslims

Malaysia’s top Islamic body on Saturday ruled against Muslims practicing yoga, saying it had elements of other religions that could corrupt Muslims.

The National Fatwa Council’s non-binding edict said yoga involves not just physical exercise but also includes Hindu spiritual elements, chanting and worship.

“It is inappropriate. It can destroy the faith of a Muslim,” Council chairman Abdul Shukor Husin told reporters.

He noted that clerics in Egypt issued a similar edict in 2004 that called the practice of yoga “an aberration.”

Though the council’s decisions are not legally binding on Malaysia’s Muslim population, many abide by the edicts out of deference, and the council does have the authority to ostracize an offending Muslim from society.

The Malaysia fatwa reflects the growing strain of conservatism in Malaysia, which has always taken pride in its multi-ethnic population. About 25 percent of Malaysians are ethnic Chinese and 8 percent ethnic Indians, mostly Hindus.

Recently, the council issued an edict banning tomboys, ruling that girls who act like boys violate the tenets of Islam.

The Fatwa Council took up the yoga issue after an Islamic scholar last month expressed an opinion at a seminar that it was un-Islamic.

But yoga teacher Suleiha Merican, who has been practicing yoga for 40 years, called yoga “a great health science” and said there is no religion involved.

“We don’t do chanting and meditation. There is no conflict because yoga is not religion based,” Merican, 56, told The Associated Press.

There are no figures for how many Muslims practice yoga, but many yoga classes have a sprinkling of Muslims attending.

Putri Rahim, a housewife, said she was no less a Muslim after practicing yoga for 10 years.

“I am mad! Maybe they have it in mind that Islam is under threat. To come out with a fatwa is an insult to intelligent Muslims. It’s an insult to my belief,” Putri said.

In a recent blog posting, social activist Marina Mahathir criticized the council for even considering a yoga ban, calling it “a classic case of reacting out of fear and ignorance.”

(Read More inside ..)

Hindus plan cow urine drink to rival Western sodas

A hardline Hindu organisation, known for its opposition to “corrupting” Western food imports, is planning to launch a new soft drink made from cow’s urine, often seen as sacred in parts of India.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), or National Volunteer Corps, said the bovine beverage is undergoing laboratory tests for the next 2 to 3 months but did not give a specific date for its commercial release.

The flavour is not yet known, but the RSS said the liquid produced by Hinduism’s revered holy cows is being mixed with products such as aloe vera and gooseberry to fight diseases such as diabetes and cancer.

Many Hindus consider cow urine to have medicinal properties and it is often drunk in religious festivals.

The organisation, which aims to transform India’s secular society and establish the supremacy of a Hindu majority, said it had not decided on a name or a price for the drink.

“Cow urine offers a cure for around 70 to 80 incurable diseases like diabetes. All are curable by cow urine,” Om Prakash, the head of the RSS Cow Protection Department, told Reuters by phone.

Prakash, who is based in Hardwar, one of four holy Hindu cities on the river Ganges where the world’s largest religious gathering takes place, said the product will be sold nationwide but did not rule out international success.

“It is useful for the whole country and the world as well. It will be done through shops and through corporates,” he said. (Read More inside ..)

Baby ’starved to death’ because he did not say Amen

For more than a week, Ria Ramkissoon watched passively as her one-year-old son wasted away, denied food and water because the older woman she lived with said it was God’s will.

Javon Thompson was possessed by an evil spirit, Ramkissoon was told, because he didn’t say “Amen” during a mealtime prayer. Javon didn’t talk much, given his age, but he had said “Amen” before, Ramkissoon testified in a US court in Baltimore.

On the day Javon died, Ramkissoon was told to “nurture him back to life”. She mashed up some carrots and tried to feed the boy, but he was no longer able to swallow. Ramkissoon put her hands on his chest to confirm that his heart had stopped beating.

Ramkissoon and several other people knelt down and prayed that he would rise from the dead. For weeks afterward, Ramkissoon spent much of her time in a room with her son’s emaciated body — talking to him, dancing, even giving him water. She thought she could bring him back.

Ramkissoon told the tale of her son’s excruciating death from the witness stand on Wednesday, at the trial of the woman she says told her not to feed the boy. Queen Antoinette was the leader of a small religious cult, according to police and prosecutors, and she faces murder charges alongside her daughter, Trevia Williams, and another follower, Marcus A. Cobbs.

The three are acting as their own attorneys.

Javon died in either December 2006 or January 2007; Ramkissoon isn’t sure of the exact date. His body was hidden in a suitcase for more than a year and has since been buried. But even now, she maintains her faith in his resurrection.

“I still believe that my son is coming back,” Ramkissoon said. “I have no problem saying what really happened because I believe he’s coming back.

“Queen said God told her he would come back. I believe it. I choose to believe it,” she said. “Even now, despite everything, I choose to believe it for my reasons.”

Later, she acknowledged that her faith makes her sound crazy. “I don’t have a problem sounding crazy in court,” she said.

Ramkissoon, 23, was born in Trinidad and moved to Baltimore at age seven. She stands 5 feet (1.52 metres) tall and weighs about 100 pounds (45.4 kilograms).

She wore a white sweater and blue jeans and was calm throughout her testimony, speaking in a clear and even voice. She appeared mildly agitated at certain questions but otherwise showed little emotion, even as she described how her starving son lost weight, became lethargic and lost his voice.

She was led to the courtroom in handcuffs. She pleaded guilty last year to child abuse resulting in death, agreeing to the deal only under the condition that if Javon is resurrected, the plea will be vacated. Prosecutors and a judge accepted that extraordinary condition, specifying that only a “Jesus-like resurrection” would suffice.

Because Antoinette is representing herself, she was able to cross-examine the young woman who lived with her for two years, much of that time after her son’s death.

Antoinette asked whether her statement about not feeding Javon was an order or a “suggestion”.

Ramkissoon said she has consistently told prosecutors and her attorney that she was not forced to starve her son, but she made clear the idea was Antoinette’s.

“When I was about to feed him,” Ramkissoon said to Antoinette, “you said, ‘You shouldn’t feed him anything’, and then you told me why. … I believed you.”

Williams and Cobbs also lived in the home, along with Antoinette’s three other children and a childhood friend of Ramkissoon’s. No one challenged Antoinette’s statement that the boy should not be fed, Ramkissoon said.

Ramkissoon detailed how the group relocated to Philadelphia and brought Javon’s body in a suitcase. She described how Javon was packed with sheets and blankets and how she sprayed his body with disinfectant and stuffed the suitcase with fabric softener sheets to mask the odour.

The suitcase was hidden in a shed in Philadelphia for more than a year before it was discovered by police, according to testimony.

Members of Antoinette’s household were told to wear only white, blue and khaki. They left the home only in pairs, and they avoided doctors or hospitals. They destroyed identification cards and had little contact with their families.

Ramkissoon said she often questioned Antoinette’s rules and orders but never disobeyed her because she believed her to be “a godly woman”.

“Looking back now,” Ramkissoon told Antoinette, “I won’t say that everything you thought was right, was right.”

(Read More inside ..)

Forging the sword of jihad

Consider the following :

1. France bans the burqa – there are protests in the streets of Pakistan against this.

2. Pakistan loses to India in cricket match – Pakistan captain apologizes to the muslim world for the loss.

3. Muslims in (alleged) trouble in any part of the world – say Kashmir, Palestine, Chechnya, Xinjiang, Iraq – there are Pakistanis or those trained by Pakistan, fighting for the rights of the muslims there.

Is there a pattern to all this?

Yes, there is.

Pakistan is slowly shaping itself up as the protector/representative of the muslims worldwide – atleast in its own perception.

The blueprint for this was ofcourse drawn by Saudi Arabia which wants to re-establish the Caliphate and the Umma (global Islamic community), with itself at the head - which saw in Afghanistan how jihad could bring even a superpower like the Soviet Union to its knees and so manipulated a pliant but ambitious leader like Zia Ul Haq to radicalize Pakistan to suit its own ends to superpowerdom. Pakistan was the right ingredient in the mix with certain unique qualities no other Islamic nation possesses : an elite which considered itself the inheritors of the Mughal empire, still dispossesed of the lands they once ruled, a people with no known history of being a nation artificially bound together in the name of religion, a land riven with fuedal/regional animosities, a substantial population poor and illiterate with little prospects of betterment, an elite totally uncaring of that social responsibility and their insecurity with their giant neighbour which had already sundered them into two - using these complexes, Saudi Arabia has manipulated the situation in Pakistan to establish Madraassas all over the country and spread radical Wahaabi Islamism with the ultimate goal of shaping the Pakistani masses as a sword for the re-establishment of the Caliphate.

Historically every marauder who ravaged the world did one main thing : he unfied peoples/tribes under a single banner using a goal/ideology before unleashing them on the world to wreck havoc - Pakistan was the perfect fit for this with its critical mass population of two hundred plus million with an identity crisis whose only unifying factor lay in religion. Poverty and strife are the necessary conditions in which people would turn to radical Islam to be brainwashed with hate against the unbeliever - so no surprise that the Pakistani establishment has no interest in developing the country or improving the conditions of the people. Due to this steady indoctrination over the years, Pakistanis believe themselves to be the true muslims who will take the sword in the cause of Islam and Muslims (anywhere) - a war-cry which will find little support in most other Islamic societies. At a higher level for those who orchestrate this jihad, this is not really about Islam or religion as a human rights activist from one of the dominant familes in Pakistan affirmed in an an interview with Rediff sometime back - this is only about what all politically inspired violence and wars are always about : wealth and power.

Al Queda is probably hand in glove with the Saudi establishment as the end goal of both is the same. Al Queda needs the resources of the Saudi establishment to wage its jihad, while the latter wants the former to be the spearhead which keeps jihad alive in the minds of Muslims in Pakistan and the world.

The dependence of the USA on Saudi Arabia for oil, has forced the Americans to keep this truth under wraps. The USA is in reality also covering up Saudi involvement in the many instances where they apparently seem to be covering up for Pakistan in its various entanglements with radical Islamists.

China has cleverly exploited the situation and subtly redirected this jihadi sword against India which it considers as its future rival. And Pakistan inturn has exploited the insecurity of the Chinese viz the Indians, to secure missile and nuclear technology - which one day could be turned against the Chinese themselves.

The most dangerous thing in Pakistan is not its nuclear weapons, but rather poison of the ideology of hate against the unbeliever which has slowly and steadily been pushed into the hearts and minds of the populace. Saudi Arabia is the strategist and controller while Pakistan is the hatchet man doing the dirty work. When the time is ripe the covert jihad of today will become overt.

(Read More inside ..)

Village 'witches' beaten in India

Five women were paraded naked, beaten and forced to eat human excrement by villagers after being branded as witches in India's Jharkhand state.

Video footage of the above mentioned incident.


Local police said the victims were Muslim widows who had been labelled as witches by a local cleric.

The incident occurred on Sunday in a remote village in Deoghar district.

Correspondents say the abuse of women who are branded as witches is common, but rare footage of the incident has caused outrage across India.

Police went to Pattharghatia village after being informed about the incident by a group of villagers.

(Read More inside ..)