To expect decency from a communist government that killed its own people in Singur and Nandigram is to expect a miracle. As for the UPA government in Delhi, the less said the better.

However, that is no reason to ask for support of gangs on people having extra-terrestrial loyalties to Rome, Mecca and Beijing. Expose the real loyalties of these Anti-National groups [Not just anti-Hindu]. Rahul Gandhi is a grand son of a Muslim and is a Christian, dating a foreigner - Christian. Priyanka is a Christian married to a Christian and Sonia is a Catholic - will they come out to declare openly that they are Hindus or will they declare openly their religious faith or declare that they are Atheists and ask for our votes. Yes, we should not raise the religion and caste in elections but this rule should apply to every one. Will Muslim League admit any Hindu in their party. How come only BJP is a communal party and not Congress which is the one which plays the communal - religion - jaathi card in elections. Tell every one that BJP is the only national party. Communists play workers against management, DMKs plays upper caste against lower
castes; then there are a whole group of parties blatantly named after castes and religion and these are the real communal parties. Congress waits for directions from Rome, Communists wait for approval of Beijing, DMKs oppose only Hindu Gods when they say they are non-belivers but perhaps their Muslims and Christians do not pray to the real God!! Sections of the media have a strange idea of news

http://indiasecular.wordpress.com/ The Sharia court headed by you has passed strictures against alleged missionary activity in the Valley. What was the provocation?
Yes. We want the three Christian priests, MC Khanna, Jim Borst and Gayoor Messah, who have been involved in conversions, to leave the Valley immediately. We are still investigating the case against the principal of Tyndale Biscoe School, Parvez Samuel Koul, and we will soon announce the judgment on him.

The Sharia court has also decreed that the state government involve itself in the management of the missionary schools. Besides, we also want a prayer written by Sir Muhammad Iqbal to be read in these schools and a class allotted for Islamic studies.

You say that missionaries are forcibly converting people. What is the proof?
They use methods that force people to convert. There are several missionary agencies charged with harvesting souls for Christianity. People are deployed outside schools to lure students. They usually start with impressionable children or vulnerable people with problems and offer solutions. We also have reports that during the 2005 earthquake, Christian missionaries built houses worth Rs 7.5 crore and they were given to people who were willing to convert. Our Sharia court is still investigating the matter.

But will the Sharia court be able to execute its decisions?
Yes, if there has to be communal harmony in Kashmir, then the decisions of the Sharia court have to be implemented. Kashmir is a very sensitive state. We already have problems of our own, of a very complicated kind at that. So we hope the government will carry out the court judgment. It would be for the good of the state.

Is there any way the Sharia court can ensure that its orders are implemented?
If the state government doesn’t fulfil its obligation, then the people of the state will do it for themselves. In fact, the people are waiting to see what the government does. And if it fails to act, then the people will act.

What will you do if there is violence?
That is why we are warning the government in advance. In case the government fails to do its duty, things can go out of our hand. Violence is but natural under the circumstances. We are not for violence and want it averted. So, in the interest of peace and communal harmony in the state, we feel the missionary activities need to be stopped forthwith.

What is the number of converts in the Valley?
In the course of our investigation, Khanna said that 10 people have converted. He would have revealed more but he was arrested soon. We questioned many persons who had first converted and then returned to the Islamic faith. In fact, it is their account that has helped us understand the full scope of missionary activity in the Valley. We learnt that the persons who convert are given money, all their needs are met, they are taken to California, provided accommodation and jobs and settled there.

How will you deal with those who have converted and won’t return to their original faith?
I call upon them to return and revive their faith in Islam. And if they don’t, then we will respond in the light of what Islam says on apostasy.

Weekly Organiser

What constitutes news to our secular English-language press? When the police in Chennai behave like rowdies, it hardly makes news. Think of this: French journalist Francois Gautier's Foundation Against Continuing Terrorism (FACT) had painstakingly put together a collection of 40 miniatures that told the story of Aurangzeb's rule. The collection was called Aurangzeb As He Was According to Mughal Records.

Among the 40 miniatures were two that seemed to have enraged the bogus Nawab of Arcot in Chennai. Of the two, one depicted Aurangzeb's army destroying the Somnath Temple and another the destruction of the Keshava Rai temple in Mathura, also by Aurangzeb's gangsters.

The collection was first exhibited to critical acclaim at the Habitat Centre in New Delhi. It next travelled to Pune where one lakh people visited the show. It was equally well received in Bangalore where the popular Gallery G hosted the exhibition. But when it was taken to Chennai, under the auspices of the Lalit Kala Akademi and shown there, it elicited objection, by the so-called Nawab of Arcot who managed to get Karunanidhi's government to stop the exhibition and had the cooperation of the Assistant Commissioner of Police, one K.N. Murali. Murali even had one of the miniatures taken off the wall and thrown on the ground.

Nobody covered the event. Gautier wrote an article which, fortunately, was published by The Indian Express on its edit page and must have attracted the attention of a large number of readers. The only other paper to publish the news was Sunday Pioneer (March 9). The Pioneer used the news as front-page lead.

One doesn't expect justice from Karunanidhi's government.

It was Karunanidhi who called Sri Ram "a drunkard". The miniatures were not anti-Islam. They merely showed the strong anti-Hindu sentiment of Aurangzeb and were factually accurate.

 But there was not a word in the majority of the English language papers. One doesn't even know whether the desecration of the Chennai exhibition was covered by the news agencies. What are they afraid of? What sort of sickness prevails in the English media?

Or take the murderous behaviour of CPM goons in Kannur, a district in North Kerala where in just the first week of March, CPM goons 'hacked' to death five RSS workers. Isn't that news?

Such was the ghastly killing that the Kerala High Court was moved to criticise the Leftist-led state government for its failure to protect life and property in Kannur district. Justice Ramkumar had specifically asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe a political murder in which a CPM activist is an accused.

That news, too, was suppressed by most papers. The Free Press Journal (March 13) was the only paper to publish it.

George Fernandes, often addressed as the stormy petrel of Indian politics, is back again in the news for reason other than politics. Years ago he had started a monthly journal called The Other Side which propagated his party's views. Publishing a monthly magazine is not a joke. It calls for a lot of financial investment. To the best of one's knowledge it had to close down at two different times. It has now been resurrected and is presently edited by Jaya Jaitley. Priced at Rs 25, it describes itself as "Journal of Socialist Thought and Action". Socialism in India is dead as a dodo but George is not one to easily give in. A strong Lohiaite, his resurrected journal provides some excellent fare.

The January issue, incidentally, carries the text of His Holiness the Dalai Lama's address during the Congressional Gold Medal Award ceremony held in Washington on October 17, 2007. It is most relevant in the context of recent events in Lhasa. India, as can well be expected, has maintained its distance from events in Tibet, no doubt on the grounds of political propriety.

The Chinese Ambassador in Delhi is quoted as saying at a press conference that Tibet is an internal matter for China and other nations should keep their hands off. Some one should tell Beijing that Arunachal Pradesh is an internal matter for India and China is well advised to keep its hands off what is plainly Indian territory.

Whether it was wise on the part of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to use Indian territory to criticise China is another matter. It would have been wise on the part of American diplomat to keep her mouth shut and let the spokesman of the State Department in Washington announce US policy in the matter of the recent disturbances, in Lhasa where the Chinese have let loose an orgy of violence against the Tibetan people.

 Using Indian territory to ciriticise another country is just not permissible. One may agree with her thoughts, but there is such a thing as protocol.

Then there is the case of Taslima Nasreen who has left Indian shores to go to Scandinavia to take up refugee residence there. According to Deccan Herald (March 22) Taslima's exist from India "has diminished India's stature as a pluralist, secular democracy".

India, said the paper "has had a long and proud tradition of providing sanctuary to those fleeing oppression" and that "this tradition now lies in tatters".

According to the Herald "Taslima's exit is a serious blow to Indian secularism as it will embolden fundamentalists further" and that "by failing to protect the individual's right to freedom of speech and expression, the government has dealt a blow to democracy as well".

This issue can be discussed later. Meanwhile The Indian Express (March 21) spoke for Taslima when it wrote that "she has been more then willing to retract a few lines" in her work that had offended Muslims and that "one did expect better from India that has always valued free expression and has made common cause with those who were victims of authoritarian regimes and fanatical forces".

The paper said that the Left Front government in West Bengal should have stood up for her, and that "the persons issuing threats to her life should have been identified and arrested". Big words.

To expect decency from a communist government that killed its own people in Singur and Nandigram is to expect a miracle. As for the UPA government in Delhi, the less said the better.

From the times of Rajiv Gandhi the Congress has sought Muslim fundamentalist support, instead of taking a firm stand. And what happened to Taslima is part of Congress tradition of gutlessness.

But that apart, has anyone really made a study of the writings of Taslima? Is anyone aware of the kind of things she said about the Prophet that, with the best of intentions, cannot be repeated here? Freedom of expression does not mean that one can indulge in abuse of any individual. But more on this, some other time.