Articles

MOSCOW. (Alexey Isakov) - Although Russia and the United States have different histories, cultures and traditions, they also have much in common: vast territories and natural resources, human and scientific-technical potential. And the destinies of our two peoples have crossed many times. Two hundred years is a long time, and over the past two centuries Russian-American relations have undergone many changes, occasionally becoming seriously strained. But ever since regular contact began, Russians and Americans have felt respect and sympathy for each other.

By Fakir Hassen Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated last Thursday as she left a rally, had a unique bearing that made her stand out among many world leaders. I was fortunate to be one of very few journalists who got the opportunity to interview the then prime minister of Pakistan when she attended the inauguration of president Nelson Mandela in 1994 together with scores of other world leaders.

By Mayank Chhaya Now that the exultant and gushing tributes on Benazir Bhutto's martyrdom for the cause of democracy are subsiding, let's subject the world to some reality check. As we do so, let's be as poker faced as possible. For, democracy is but a great idea in Pakistan's feudal politics. There is no real danger of it becoming a reality there just yet. After all, it has only been 60 years since Mohammad Ali Jinnah founded the country.

By K. Subrahmanyam, IANS A leading national daily had articles on Benazir Bhutto's assassination under the headline "Chronicle of a death foretold". Both friends and her opponents had warned Benazir about the threats to her life if she returned to Pakistan. Being an exceptionally brave woman and committed to reintroduction of democracy in Pakistan, she accepted the risks and returned home.

By Shubha Singh, IANS The resignation of Mahanta Thakur, senior Nepali Congress minister, and other senior politicians from mainstream political parties earlier this month to set up a new political front has created an opportunity for the emergence of a mature leadership, which the Terai region requires.

Mexico, Dec 30 (Prensa Latina) US pressures on Felipe Calderon s administration to privatize Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) and other parts of the energy sector, as natural gas and power generation, are high on its agenda.

Who killed Benazir? By Murtaza Shibli, NAK

The death of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto is being mourned by millions of Pakistanis. She had a profound public base despite staying out of her country for nearly a decade and dogged by corruption and nepotism charges.

By Mike Ghouse

Much has been written about Benazir Bhutto, her death is a severe blow to democracy in Pakistan.

She threatened the extremists, a dare move perhaps calculated to win the support of majority of moderates in Pakistan who want to live a normal life. They got to her before she could get them.

By Mannika Chopra Never before has the Indian media community been so blessed. The number of media organisations is increasing and being filled by professionals whose salaries have improved vastly. But what has set this year apart is the presence of fake stings that exposed the media's fault lines and unspooled a much-needed bout of introspection. In late August Uma Khurana, then an unknown maths teacher at a government run school located in Daryaganj, was 'found' forcing her high school students to become part of a prostitution ring.

By Amulya Ganguli, IANS Narendra Modi's victory has been ascribed to two factors - an unsubtle exploitation of Hindu communal sentiments and an admirable record of economic development. While the first can be described as the standard defining characteristic of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the second reason is new in Indian politics. It is also all the more unusual because the growth has been the result of market-friendly policies, marking a sharp departure from the country's customary, if unrewarding, faith in "socialism".

By Rahul Bedi, IANS Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's assassination could not have come at a worse time for turbulent Pakistan and threatens to conflagrate a highly volatile security situation in a largely lawless country armed with nuclear weapons. Other than the prevailing political chaos ahead of next month's proposed general elections - exacerbated by Bhutto's killing - Pakistan is under siege by Islamists and suicide bombers who have the army in retreat.

By Asghar Ali Engineer Gujarat has made history. Gujarat is in news ever since the genocide of 2002. For every small or big development it remains in news. Gujarat carnage was unparalleled in the history of India and it will continue to be discussed for a long time to come. Like partition of our country it cannot be easily forgotten. Any election in Gujarat will draw into discussion Gujarat carnage. Modi, I maintain, could not have won 2002 election without organizing that carnage nor the 2007 election could he have won without it.

By Sreeram Chaulia, IANS The assassination of former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto by snipers and suicide bombers Dec 27 in Rawalpindi has left the world shell shocked. One could see it coming, though, as a predictable outcome of the tailspin into which Pakistan's polity and society have hurtled through incessant militarisation. Beyond the semantics about derailment of democracy, Benazir's violent end brings into sharp relief the inseparability of Pakistan's governance and social life from Kalashnikov and jehad culture.

By Manish Chand, IANS The first woman elected to head a Muslim nation, former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto was often seen as a beacon of democracy and moderation in a military dominated country and was poised to play a starring role in the changing political landscape of her country when the assassins brutally cut short her life.

By IANS "Life is very precious and gift of Allah. It should not and cannot be wasted. But when my country is in danger, when my countrymen are in danger, when there is no rule of law, when extremists are gaining ground, I am ready to risk my life." "I was asked not to come to the country as I may face murder attempts. Why don't they arrest these people? Why are they moving freely in the country? If they cannot arrest the extremists, if they do not have ability to curb the extremism, they should resign and go home."

By Abdul Hafiz Gandhi Religion has come to be used for pursuing personal agenda. This is not a new phenomenon. In the past also many divisive forces have used religion for their ulterior motives. The irony of the matter is that those who claim to be torch-bearer of faith are misusing it for monetary gains.

By Alok Bansal, IANS The assassination of former prime minister and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Benazir Bhutto is indicative of the rapid stride Pakistan has taken on the path of extremism under General Pervez Musharraf.

By P.S. Anantharaman, IANS In July 1972, Shimla, the summer capital of the British Raj and a tourist paradise after Independence, had few tourists. The reason was that the Himalayan resort had top officials of India and Pakistan arriving in droves to prepare for a summit meeting between then prime minister Indira Gandhi and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the then prime minister of Pakistan.

By Sarwar Kashani, IANS

Waving a green handkerchief, showing a piece of rock salt - both symbolic references to Pakistan - and questioning Jammu and Kashmir's accession to India, sometimes even openly. These have become potent tools for leaders, who otherwise claim to be secular, to exploit the religious leanings of gullible Kashmiris.

The politicians misuse these means in a Muslim-dominated society in exactly the same way that Hindu fanatics exploit the Ram temple issue to sway voters in the rest of India.

By Mike Ghouse

By Aleem Faizee The countdown has begun. Leaving behind dark memories of the renewed terror and trauma for the Muslims in India, it will be curtains for the year 2007 in few days from now. But apart from many other things, the year 2007 will always be remembered in the history of Independent India for two things.

By Amulya Ganguli, IANS

By Lee Salter, IANS Sri Lanka figures intermittently in the British news media, but the coverage does not really prepare first-time visitors to the country like me who usually get a different sort of information in universities and the media. A week travelling across the country recently brought to me the reality of Sri Lanka's conflict-ridden everyday life. As a white Westerner, I was immediately absorbed by the many Colombo-based NGO workers, or 'internationals', as they refer themselves.

By TwoCircles.net news desk

By Mayank Chhaya, IANS The assertive re-election of Narendra Modi as Gujarat chief minister should have been a foregone conclusion for anyone with a reasonable amount of intelligence about the state. Most outsiders do not seem to grasp the simple fact that a vast majority of Gujaratis sees Modi as a symbol of their regional identity. Everything else, his ideology, his religious zealotry, and even his personal abrasiveness is secondary.

By Subhash K. Jha, IANS The only thing in common between Ranbir Kapoor and Vinay Pathak is talent. A huge amount of screen presence makes them the most accomplished performers of 2007. While Ranbir just took over the screen in his debut vehicle "Saawariya" with his endearing transparency, Vinay Pathak, a rank-outsider from Bihar with no filmy connections, stood at the opposite end of the spectrum with his performance as the very filmy, very annoying and real joker at the dinner in "Bheja Fry".

By Ghulam Muhammed Today, this question will be on the minds of majority of people of India and even weighing heavily with international community. Can an emerging economic power like India should be available to a fascist political movement that may wreck the peace of the world? Modi's election victory should be analyzed through three dominant undercurrents: It pits the state of Gujarat against the Central Government. It pits Hindus against the Muslims. It pits lawlessness against the Laws of the land.

By Ram Puniyani

By TwoCircles.net news desk Since 1990s, researchers who specialize in peace and conflict studies have reported a downward trend in number of conflicts in the world. But the latest report by a Swedish university shows that this trend seems to be reversing and since 2002, number of conflicts is increasing.

By Mohammed Ayub Ali Khan

By Amulya Ganguli, IANS Prima facie, Narendra Modi can be said to have pulled off a famous victory in Gujarat. Apart from trouncing the Congress party, he has also defeated the detractors in his own party, including those in the supposedly all-powerful Sangh Parivar, as well as a patently hostile liberal English media, which has habitually painted him in the darkest of hues, especially after the 2002 anti-Muslim riots.

By Shyam Pandharipande, IANS Mumbai : Revenue Minister Narayan Rane has taken a calculated risk by upping the ante against the Congress in Maharashtra and at New Delhi a day before the announcement of the Gujarat election results. The maverick Shiv Sena rebel, who joined the Congress two years ago on the promise of being made the chief minister, has virtually served an ultimatum to the party to fulfil the promise or face early elections.

By Anand Philar, IANS After being at the receiving end last year when India failed even to reach the Asian Games semi-finals and finished at the bottom in the World Cup, 2007 saw the team picking itself up under a new coach with three podium finishes, including a grand win in the Asia Cup. The 2006 performance led to despondency and pessimism that would take a while to dissipate. Despite the fairly strong showing in 2007, there are still doubts whether the Indian team would be able to hold its own against the European and Australian teams.

By Sahil Makkar, IANS Barely a few days ago, being a journalist and monitoring HIV/AIDS-related developments in the capital off and on, I had absolutely no doubt of my supreme knowledge over the subject until a visit to a small care and support centre in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh.

By Naima El Moussaoui Brazil, Ecuador, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Morocco are just a few countries where honour killings occur. Anja Wehler-Schöck has studied the phenomenon of honour killings using the example of Jordanian society. Naima El Moussaoui, a writer at Qantara.de, talked with the political scientist. What actually is honour killing?

By Qamar-ul Huda, Mohammed Abu-Nimer and Ayse Kadayifci In October 2007, we were part of a Muslim American delegation of peace and conflict resolution experts who went on a one-week trip to Iran to discuss ways in which various Iranian groups approach conflict prevention, resolution and dialogue. Our delegation met with peace-practitioners, lawyers, human rights experts, NGOs, scholars, religious leaders and students.

By Kareem Elbayar "O ye who believe! Stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses to God, though it may be against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin, and whether it be against rich or poor: for God can best protect both. Follow not the lusts of your hearts, lest ye swerve, and if ye distort justice or decline to do justice, verily God is well-acquainted with all that ye do." (Qur'an 4:135)

By Uma Nair, IANS The shooting of a schoolboy by two other boys at Euro International School in Gurgaon projects the prevalence of violence in schools, the need for parental-teacher intervention and above all the imperative focus on how to deal with both the bully and the victim in an atmosphere of social congeniality.

By Kul Bhushan, IANS Any NRI will be horrified to see a TV ad in which an Indian housemaid is slapped by her employer. But these shocking stories of NRI workers being exploited, abused or beaten keep appearing in the Indian and global media with sickening regularity. In most cases, these silent and suffering NRIs cannot get redress from their employers, employment agents, the local authorities or the Indian missions. Since they are not so well educated and lack information about their rights and how to get a fair deal, they suffer endless travails.

By Asghar Ali Engineer

Western pattern of democracy was evolved in mono-religious societies. Almost all European countries had mainly Christianity as the sole religion with sprinkling of Jews living in ghettoes having no franchise. Thus there were no challenges of living in multi-religious society. In India too, multi-religious society was not a problem for centuries and Indian society never saw any inter-religious tensions, let alone violence.

By M. Burhanuddin Qasmi

No person seems to have dominated Gujarat politics as much as Chief Minister Narendra Modi over the last one decade. In case he wins this 2007 election, where fifty-fifty chances appear after the voting on 11 and 16 December, what will be the ‘Modis’ effect on national politics viz-a-viz BJP and if he fails, how the Congress and BJP will turnaround their politicking in India; a debate every political analyst and media portal is genuinely trying to explore.

By C. Uday Bhaskar, IANS On Saturday, Dec 15, President Pervez Musharraf, now a retired general, dramatically announced the lifting of emergency rule imposed by him on Nov 3, when he was still the Pakistani chief of the army staff. In reality this was more an imposition of martial law with the constitution suspended and the judges of the Supreme Court sacked but the semantic charade of emergency continued.

By Devirupa Mitra, IANS (Attn Editors: Repeating Saturday's story for all needing)Bogotá, Dec 16 (IANS) Colombia will soon have a sophisticated software programme to prepare, implement and monitor its national budget, thanks to an Indian software company. From his office inside the finance ministry building opposite the Colombian Presidential Palace in Bogota, Subramanian Ravishankar is leading a global team of 350 Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) employees working exclusively on this major government project.

By Amulya Ganguli, IANS (Attn Editors: The following is the first of the year-enders for 2007 IANS is putting out as another year comes to a close. Other year-enders, on a variety of other subjects, will follow in the days to come.) The possibility of an early general election is very much in the air as 2007 draws to a close.

By K. Subrahmanyam, IANS The publication of the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on the Iranian nuclear weapons programme by the US intelligence community has taken the world by storm since that estimate contradicts the views of President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney and concludes that Iran stopped its nuclear weapons programme in the fall of 2003 and has not resumed it.

By Syed Shahabuddin

By Sushma Ramachandran, IANS The rupee has always been an also-ran on the global foreign exchange stage. Unlike strong currencies like the old deutsch mark or the pound sterling and now the euro, India's currency has over the years been consistently weakening against the dollar till it reached the mark of Rs.47 last year. But the tide then began to turn for the rupee since the beginning of this year.

By Amulya Ganguli, IANS

That the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would make the perennial No. 2 of GenPast its new No. 1 should cause no surprise. After all, for as long as one can remember, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L.K. Advani were the 'twin towers' (as a hawkish scribe derisively described them) of first the Jan Sangh and then the BJP. So, if one withdraws from the fray, the other has to step in almost automatically.

By Nasiruddin Haider Khan I have been to Gujarat for the third time this year for my studies and work. Every time I have returned with a new experience. New dimensions get added to my database which I have gathered by reading and talking to others.

Dr. Omar Khalidi is the author of well-researched book 'Muslims in Indian Economy.' This book is a study of conditions of Muslims at all...

By Sitaram Yechuri, MP [Text of speech given in Rajya Sabha on Nandigram issue]

Rajesh Solanki, Convenor of the Jati Nirmulan Committee (‘Caste Annihilation Committee’) is a noted Dalit leader from Ahmedabad, Gujarat. In this interview he talks with Yoginder Sikand about the Dalit movement in Gujarat, Dalit-Muslim relations and the challenge of Hindutva fascism. YS: How did you get involved in the Dalit movement?

By Veturi Srivatsa, IANS There is some inexplicable magnetic power in Virender Sehwag that seems to attract successive India captains to strongly plead for his inclusion in the India team. First, Sourav Ganguly not only fought for him to be included in the squad as a middle-order batsman but also created a place for him in the eleven by forcing him to open the innings on the 2002 England by dropping the regular opener Shiv Sundar Das. Sehwag justified his captain's confidence in him and poor Das' international career ended then and there.

By Rabbi Tirzah Firestone This past year I have had to face the underbelly of my love of Zion. Like so many American Jews, I had been raised with the unquestioned narrative about Israel's righteousness, its humane practices, and the moral high ground upon which its policies are based. The painful deconstruction of these beliefs began with a journey through the Occupied Territories, where I encountered the shocking effects of my people's fear.

By Daoud Kuttab As Palestinian and Israeli leaders were meeting at the Annapolis Naval Base last week for yet another attempt at peacemaking, I remembered how my journalistic career led me to cover the Madrid peace conference in 1991. I vividly remember how then-US Secretary of State James Baker had kept everyone in the dark about the location of the international meeting. Once he declared the site, many of us Palestinians felt a sense of jubilation at the looming discussions, even though the exact nature of the Palestinian delegation was still unknown until the last minute.

By Ram Puniyani

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Pyotr Goncharov) - Pakistan has announced that it successfully tested a cruise missile with a range of 700 km (435 miles) on Tuesday. Presumably the Hatf-VII (Babur) missile can carry both conventional and nuclear weapons. How should the international community react to this, especially as it has denounced Iran's nuclear program and approved sanctions against it?

By Sampathkumar Iyangar

Move over, Umajee and Mamatajee! We've discovered the true Draupadi who can successfully force a Mahabharat-style war to avenge the insult of defeat five centuries ago at the hands of Zahir ud-Din alias Babar. The 'refugee' is only too willing to be pawn in the great political gamble of Bharat!

By Farish A. Noor It has become ever so fashionable to talk about Islam and commerce of late. Yet a cursory look at the references to Islam and economics, business, banking, finance and made-for Muslims products and services on offer on the internet would point to the fact that Muslim commerce is booming, and what's more, has been doing so for the past two decades with scarcely anyone noticing.

By Nasiruddin Haider Khan Who is a Gujarati?

Valjibhai Patel, Director of the Ahmedabad-based Council for Social Justice, is a noted lawyer and Dalit activist. In this interview with Yoginder Sikand he talks about his work and the Dalit movement in Gujarat YS: As one of the pioneers of the Dalit movement in Gujarat and one of the few surviving leaders of the Gujarat Dalit Panthers, how do you account for the relative weakness of the movement in the state today?

By Asghar Ali Engineer Until recently it was monopoly of man to understand and interpret scripture and make laws according to their own understanding and man’s understanding was very much colored by patriarchal culture. Now it has been well-established fact that patriarchy has played very important role in understanding of scriptures. What was considered as ‘divine’ was also as much male-oriented. It appeared as if God spoke through man only and women were, at best secondary in divine scheme of things.

Hanif Lakdawala is the head of Sanchetna, an NGO-based in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, working primarily with Muslims and Dalits. In this interview he talks to Yoginder Sikand about Muslims and inter-communal relations in Gujarat today. This interview was taken in 2005. YS: Three years after the anti-Muslim pogrom in Gujarat, how do you see inter-communal relations in the state?

By Kul Bhushan, IANS The tourism promotion slogan 'Incredible India' can take a whole new meaning when NRIs land at Delhi or Mumbai this winter. Between Dec 10 and around Jan 15 each year, flights are badly affected by the dense fog in Delhi. As most flights from Europe and the US carrying full loads of NRIs and tourists arrive in the early morning when the fog is very dense they are sometimes diverted to other airports - as far away as Mumbai.

By Puneet Bedi, IANS

By Kashif-ul-Huda, TwoCircles.net

A Jesuit priest, Fr. Cedric Prakash is the official spokesperson of the Christian community in Gujarat and the Secretary for Social Communications of the Western Region Catholic Bishops Council. He is a noted human rights activist and is the head of Prashant, a social action-research institution in Ahmedabad. In this interview with Yoginder Sikand he talks about the challenges facing Dalits, Tribals, Muslims, Christians and other marginalised communities in Gujarat today. The interview was conducted in 2005.

By Yoginder Sikand, TwoCircles.net Madrasas serve an important range of functions in the lives of many Muslims, preserving, promoting and transmitting knowledge of the Islamic scripturalist tradition. For many Muslims from poor families, madrasas often provide the only available avenue for education for their children.

By Amulya Ganguli, IANS Kuala Lumpur's imaginative 'Malaysia truly Asia' campaign emphasising the country's multicultural society has taken a hit following the recent violence involving local Indians, many of whom are Tamil Hindus. Although the outbreak was brought under control fairly quickly, the fact that the agitation was spearheaded by the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) was a disturbing sign. Though small, such outfits can remain active for a long time if the grievances of its ethnic supporters are not adequately addressed.

By Sushma Ramachandran, IANS India's United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government seems determined to go ahead and gradually liberalise the retail sector despite continuing opposition from the Left parties.

By Yoginder Sikand, TwoCircles.net

By Kul Bhushan, IANS Most NRIs attending the annual Pravasi Bharatiya Divas conference in New Delhi have some grouse or the other. In the next event from Jan 7-9, 2008, some major changes should be visible.

Some controversies simply refuse to die down. In India, certain extremist Hindu groups every now and then rake up their allegation that the site of the Babri Masjid in the town of Ayodhya is really, Lord Ram’s birthplace (janam bhoomi).

By K. Subrahmanyam, IANS In the 60 years of its existence, Pakistan has been under military rule for 32 years in three spells under four generals - Gen. Ayub Khan, who made himself a Field Marshal, Gen. Yahya Khan, Gen. Zia-ul Haq and Gen. Pervez Musharraf. Each spell of military rule had its distinct flavour and characteristics. Ayub Khan experimented with basic democracy. Zia-ul Haq Islamised Pakistan. Musharraf coexisted with the assemblies elected in rigged polls and till he imposed emergency Nov 3, his military rule allowed full freedom to the media.

Afzal Memon is the Director of the Gujarat Sarvajanik Welfare Society, Ahmedabad, Gujarat. He is also a prominent activist of the Tablighi Jamaat, an Islamic reformist movement. In this interview with Yoginder Sikand in 2005, he talks about the changes taking place among Gujarat’s Muslims three years after the anti-Muslim genocidal attacks that took a toll of thousands of lives. Q: Do you think there is any major change in the situation in Gujarat now as far as inter-communal relations and the attitude of the state are concerned?

By Rupa Abdi, TwoCircles.net I read about her in a small article in the ‘Times of India’ and decide to visit her during my recent trip to Lucknow. I met her at her home in Choudhary Tola - a nondescript locality of Aliganj. . Afroz Jahan does not come across as some fire brand activist or a high society socialite working for the cause of down trodden. This mild mannered frail woman comes from a conservative Muslim family of a daily wage earner.

By Asghar Ali Engineer It will be no exaggeration if I say secularism is the very life breath of Indian politics. One can hardly conceive of Indian polity sans secularism. However, it also faces several problems in Indian context. We will throw light and discuss the problematic of secularism in India. Before we do so we must explain meaning and context of Indian secularism.

By Independent Citizens' Team Interim Report

By Ghulam Muhammad

By Shankar Gopalakrishnan Like a bad penny that never stops coming back, the issue of forest rights is in the news again. The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, has returned to the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Opponents slam it as the "most dangerous act of any Indian government since 1947", handing out "forest for votes" and "privatizing a national resource."

Ahmedabad-based trade unionist Mukul Sinha has been in the forefront of the struggle against fascism in Gujarat. Here he talks to Yoginder Sikand about his work. YS: What has been the role of the trade union movement in combating fascism in Gujarat?

By Kashif-ul-Huda, TwoCircles.net Taslima Nasrin has nothing to do with Nandigram, but for some illogical reason she was moved out of Kolkata as an answer to months of protest against the Nandigram violence in West Bengal. This is the latest in a long list of examples of politics of appeasement practiced in India since its independence.

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti economic commentator Oleg Mityayev) - At the end of the working week, on Friday November 23, the price of American WTI oil was $96-$97 per barrel. When it reached $99.29 per barrel on November 21, it seemed that this unprecedented psychological barrier - $100 per barrel - would be overcome this week. But operators of oil futures are still capable of surmounting it in the nearest future.

By Sushma Ramachandran, IANS Global oil prices are literally going through the roof, and developing economies like India are groaning under the burden of expensive imports. The conventional wisdom seems to be that there is no escape from passing on these high prices to consumers. But a holistic, long-term energy strategy can help India cushion short-term oil shocks. The fact is international speculators are largely responsible for these high prices, and it does seem somewhat unfair that the unwary citizens of developing countries like India have to pay the price.

By Shinie Antony, IANS Book: "Black Tongue"; author: Anjana Basu; publisher: IndiaInk (Roli Books); price: Rs.295 Witch-hunting may be a rural pastime these days, but there are still wiccans all over India who can be recognised by the blackness of their tongue. Every single foul prediction of theirs apparently comes true, so beware! Author Anjana Basu's "Black Tongue" is an articulate depiction of domestic hysteria, of conjugal bliss soured by retching realities, of Eden erased.

By Yoginder Sikand Recent years have witnessed heated debates on the question of reforms in the system of madrasa education in South Asia. Spurred principally by a chain of political developments, governments, policy making institutions, think tanks, journalists, public intellectuals, social activists as well as the ulema of the madrasas themselves have been discussing the issue, often speaking past each other rather than seeking to engage in meaningful dialogue.

By Syed Ali Mujtaba The current episode of Taslima Nasreen once again has brought out the hypocritical attitude of many Indians. I am amused about the hullabaloos made by the BJP the Sangh Privar and some others for this Bangladeshi writer.

By Mike Ghouse When it comes to intolerance the people who understand their religion the least have the loudest voices. Their narrow minded fatwas and their recent harassment of Ms. Nasreen in Hyderabad have earned her sympathizers, some sincere, but many such as the BJP Party are out to make political capital out of it.

By Kul Bhushan, IANS Most NRIs travelling on Air India have horror stories to tell about their experiences. NRIs may well tolerate more hardships on other airlines but not on Air India, which they think is their own airline and so must treat them much better. The airline responds by saying that NRIs behave better on other airlines than while travelling with them.

By Ram Puniyani

By Rahul Bedi, IANS The suicide bomber attacks in Pakistan's garrison town of Rawalpindi at the weekend in which 35 people, mostly army and intelligence personnel, were killed, will no doubt energise the US into putting together its two-pronged strategy to contain the mounting military and psychological successes of the Al Qaeda and the Taliban. The US is concerned over the deteriorating security situation in Pakistan and the setbacks its army has suffered in countering the successes of the jedadi groups.

Ahmad Shaikh is the secretary of the Legal Cell of the Gujarat unit of the Jamiat ul-Ulama-i-Hind, a leading Muslim religious organisation, based in Ahmedabad. In this interview with Yoginder Sikand he talks about the communal situation in Gujarat today and on the Jamiat’s efforts to secure justice for the victims of the state sponsored genocide of Muslims in 2002 and on its efforts to promote communal harmony in the state. YS: Three years after the genocide in Gujarat how would you describe the communal situation in the state today?

By Mahendra Ved, IANS

The death toll in Hurricane Sidr that slammed Bangladesh's southern coast has remained at four digits, around 3,300, defying the initial alarm, thanks to improved disaster management by the authorities and a fast response from the world community.

By Sevanti Ninan, IANS

India is on an extraordinary media proliferation spree. Delhi just got its 14th morning daily in English, the tabloid Mail Today. New TV channels have been surfacing at the rate of two a month, and eight more are in the queue to make their debut in the next few months, we are told.

By Manish Chand, IANS

Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen has willy-nilly turned into an itinerant minstrel, hounded by commissars and fanatics alike, intoning her outcast song of angst against the lies of religion and the state. Kolkata, the famously liberal cosmopolitan city hospitable to the muse and its patrons, looked on as the apparatchiks decided to send the beleaguered writer to Rajasthan after violent protests by Muslim fundamentalists.

A report on Nandigram situation Return and rehabilitation of people to be asserted and supported The Complex political strategy tried by the CPI (M) Govt and the party in 'Operation Nandigram' is by now well known and exposed. Even when their declaring attainment of peace and appealing to the people who were compelled to run away from the villages to return back, it is obvious that the communities are far from retaining its nature, culture and habitats with livelihoods.

Need For a Paradigm Shift By Iqbal A. Ansari As the National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities has recommended, inter alia, reservation of seats and posts for religious minorities in education and public employment the bogey of its unconstitutionality and the slogan of ‘secularism in danger’ is bound to be raised by not only the Sangh Parivar but the secular intellectual and political class, and the judiciary.

By Amulya Ganguli, IANS

There was yet another twist to the Nandigram affair when a Muslim organisation engaged in running battles with Kolkata police over demands relating to the recent events in Nandigram also called for the expulsion of Taslima Nasreen from India.

This was the first time that the 'attack' by cadres of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) on opposition strongholds in Nandigram was mixed up with the stay of the controversial Bangladeshi writer in India.

By Kashif-ul-Huda, TwoCircles.net Contrary to popular belief, Muslim leadership does exist in India. They make their presence known by street protests, writing articles in newspapers and lobbying ministers and government officials for local or national issues concerning the Muslims of India.

By Hamid Ansari Following is the text of the address of the Vice President of India Mohd. Hamid Ansari at the ‘International Conference on Emerging Security Concerns in West Asia’ in New Delhi on 21 Nov 2007:

By Veturi Srivatsa, IANS After the national selectors, it might be the turn of event management and sports management companies to take on the India cricket board. These companies could be hamstrung by the board's move to register and license them as the board is in the process of formulating guidelines and the anti-corruption agency may well be asked to keep tabs on the agencies.

By Ghulam Badiuddin, Urdu Times Achalpur was an ideal abode of Hindu- Muslim unity in the past. Here both communities participated in all local social, cultural, political, civil and even religious events together. Both communities shared equally in marriages, education, agriculture, sale and purchase of goods, floods and epidemics and helped each other. Males and females of both communities shared in every happiness and tragedies jointly.

By Rahul Bedi, IANS As Pakistan slips further into anarchy, it is its omnipotent 500,000-strong army that deserves attention as it remains the only institution, however imperfect, capable of providing a modicum of stability amidst grave turbulence. Events on the ground, however, indicate that like Pakistan's politics, its judiciary and civil society, disturbing cracks are also emerging in its nuclear-armed army that has directly or indirectly ruled the country for most of the country's 60 years.

By Amulya Ganguli, IANS West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya's proud boast that those who had earlier evicted his party's supporters from Nandigram had been paid back in their own coin recalls Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's recourse to Newtonian law - every action has an equal and opposite reaction - to explain the anti-Muslim pogrom in the state in 2002, which followed the burning of a train coach in which his party's kar sevaks were returning from Ayodhya.

By Ram Puniyani

By Siraj Mirza

In 1948 Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru called a conference of Asian countries in which 15 Asian countries participated. The conference emphasized the value of unity and friendship between Asian countries, opposition to war, colonialism and world peace. In this conference Maulana Azad openly favoured helping Palestinian cause and opposed friendship of India with Israel as well as advocated establishment of friendly relations with other countries.

By Sanjoy Hazarika, IANS

India's evolving political approach to events in Myanmar (Burma) is moving fairly rapidly: it now appears in conformity with a large section of international opinion, advocating internal dialogue, national reconciliation and accommodation as led by the United Nations in its effort through Ibrahim Gambari, the special envoy of the UN secretary general.

By Jasim Mohammad As a result of hectic campaign launched by a section of the AMU Biradari including this writer, the AMU court in its meeting portrayed its choice of an academician as the Vice-Chancellor of AMU, Prof. P.K. Abdul Azis, Vice-Chancellor of the Cochin Engg. & Technology University, Kerala secured 104 votes out of total 111 votes breaking the cycle of bureaucrats capturing the Vice-Chancellorship of the AMU. Prof. Azis took the charge on 11 June 2007 and at once embarked upon setting the things within the campus.

Prasad Mathew Chacko is the Regional Manager of Action Aid in Gujarat. He has been working with various peoples’ movements in Gujarat for almost two decades. In this interview with Yoginder Sikand he speaks about the challenge of Hindutva in Gujarat and about his views on how to counter it. Q: How did you get involved with different peoples’ struggles in Gujarat?

By Asghar Ali Engineer What is religion? It is simple but difficult question to answer. What is generally considered to be religion may be mixture of many things – superstitions, customs, traditions, cultural practices and so on. What is received generally by a believer is often blend of all this. For a believer all this is integral part of religion. Any violation of any of this is considered as violation of religion itself.

By Brig (retd) Arun Sahgal and Rahul Bedi, IANS What happens next politically and militarily in Pakistan as it slips further into chaos, becoming increasingly ungovernable, is of fundamental significance not only regionally but beyond as the Taliban-led offensive intensifies in neighbouring Afghanistan. Most analysts and governments concur that the apocalyptic future Pakistan in its current state presents is plainly frightening.

By Amulya Ganguli, IANS When regional parties began to appear in India following the first signs of the Congress' decline in the 1960s, they were hailed for two reasons. One was that they reflected local aspirations, which a 'national' party tended to overlook. And the other was that they were said to represent the subalterns or the marginalised sections that didn't have much of a say in a party like the Congress, which was dominated by the upper castes.

By Roswitha Joshi, IANS Recently a German nephew visited me in Delhi and after listening to a conversation between my Indian husband and myself was surprised that we switch effortlessly between three languages, namely English, German and Hindi. He then asked me whether we do it for any particular reason. And I spontaneously replied: "No. In fact, I had not even been aware of these switches. They have become so normal."

Delhi-based freelance journalist Shubhradeep Chakravorty is the director of ‘Godhra Tak’, a documentary film on the burning of the train coach in February 2002 at Godhra, that set of a wave of murderous attacks on Muslims in Gujarat. In this interview with Yoginder Sikand he talks about his film and the reactions that it has evoked. YS: What made you decide to make ‘Godhra Tak’?

By Rana Ajitn, IANS

Often seen as dancing to the tunes of the central government in politically sensitive cases, the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) impartiality has taken a fresh beating following its divergent stands before the Supreme Court in cases involving three politicians.

By TwoCircles.net staff reporter

By Faisal Hashmi Tehelka-Aaj Tak sting has not brought out anything that we did not know already. Its real worth lies in the clear confession by some of the major actors in the stage-managed massacre of Muslims in Gujarat in 2002. The latest sting operation by Tehelka lays out the horrors of Gujarat 2002 in all its gory, chilling detail. The major accused in the massacres – Babu Bajrangi, Haresh Bhatt, Madan Chawal, Dhimani Bhatt, Rajendra Vyas and others – boast how they cut Muslims into pieces and set them on fire.

By Kul Bhushan, IANS While celebrating Diwali, NRIs do not forget the less fortunate in their countries and in India. In every country they have settled, NRIs share the joy of their most important festival by donating to charities in cash and kind; and directly assisting the less fortunate through their organisations or as individuals to share the brightness and light of Diwali.

By Ram Puniyani Tehelka sting operation, Kalank, brought forward the truth of Godhra and Gujarat violence. This investigation reinforced the findings known earlier. Most of the reports by human rights activists had unearthed the same facts, the complicity of state with RSS combine to unleash a pogrom, to launch violence against Muslims, burning their properties and destroying their dargahas etc. What was new was that we all could see in live the perpetrators of the crime gloating over their shameful acts, from opening the womb of Kausar Bano to hacking to death of Ahsan Jaffri!

By Alok Bansal, IANS The inevitable has happened and Pakistan's military dictator, General Pervez Musharraf, has imposed an emergency to remain in power. In his address to the nation, which was also meant to give his message to the West, he claimed that he was forced to act by circumstances as the writ of the state was being challenged by the extremists across the length and breadth of Pakistan.

By Shubha Singh, IANS Several countries in Europe are finding it difficult to fill jobs that require highly skilled workers. The European Union (EU) does not have clear procedures for legal migration such as the migration channels that exist in the US, Canada and Australia. Business enterprises have to go through a cumbersome process to apply for work permits for their overseas employees.

By Asghar Ali Engineer

By Mike Ghouse Khuswant Singh, whom I have admired growing up, and have religiously read his Illustrated Weekly magazine, has now written a column "Why Muslims Lag behind". I am challenging his take on four issues he contends with. i) Polygamy - ii) Burqa, iii) Alcohol iv) Pork Polygamy:

By Amulya Ganguli, IANS Since Gujarat was advertised by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as a laboratory for its experiments with Hindutva, the ideology that accords primacy of place in Indian society to Hindus, an electoral outcome in the state has considerable importance for the party. While the BJP's success will show that the saffron agenda is alive and kicking, a setback will mean much more than a similar failure in any other state.

By Bhamy V. Shenoy, IANS

Since the mid-90s, oil experts have agreed upon one thing that no one has a perfect crystal ball to predict oil prices. Most forecasts made by experts and institutes like the International Energy Agency, the US Department of Energy and the World Bank for 2010 were in the narrow range of $20 to $30 per barrel. It looks like all of them are likely to be proven wrong.

However, now this range has widened to such a level that oil price forecasting with any degree of accuracy will be a hopeless task.

Dr. Juzar Bandukwala teaches physics at the University of Baroda in Gujarat. A well-known and widely-respected social activist and journalist, he has been in the forefront of the struggle for justice to the victims of the recent state-sponsored violence directed against the Muslims of Gujarat. In this interview he speaks to Yoginder Sikand about his work and about the situation in Gujarat today. Prof. Bandukwala along with Dr. Ram Puniyani is the winner of Indira Gandhi National Integration award for 2006.

Theft of antiquities is robbing India's history and heritage; even Tajmahal was under threat at one time. Read this article from Syed Ali Mujtaba. By Syed Ali Mujtaba, TwoCircles.net An ancient idol of Lord Sabranath was stolen from a Jain temple in Kurdi village of Baghpat district in UP. Unidentified men entered the temple and took away the idol. The idol was never recovered.

By K. Subrahmanyam, IANS Both in politics and in military strategy buying time by reaching a tactical agreement with the potential adversary is a standard procedure. India's governing United Progressive Alliance (UPA) move to assure the Left that the operationalisation of the nuclear deal - negotiating the safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) - has been held up falls in this category.