Founding Editor: Daya Varma (1929-2015)
Editors: Vinod Mubayi (New York) and Raza Mir (New Jersey).
Editorial Board: Ram Puniyani and Irfan Engineer (Mumbai); Pervez Hoodbhoy (Islamabad); Dolores Chew (Montreal); Vamsi Vakulabharanam (Amherst); Ajay Bhardwaj (Vancouver).
Circulation/website: Feroz Mehdi (On behalf of Alternatives, Montreal).
LAL MASJID, IMPERIALISM, AND ISLAM
Vinod Mubayi
Over the last year, the maulavis controlling the Lal Masjid, located in a posh area of Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, and the students of its various Jamias and madrasas had begun to act as a private religious police force enforcing their own brand of sharia law in the capital. Many of their actions were ignored or tolerated by the Pakistan government, which was itself facing considerable public protest over a completely different issue – the removal of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Iftikhar Chaudhry, on the orders of President Musharraf.
THE DARK SIDE OF INDIA: DO WE CARE?
Daya Varma
Below we are producing two stories – first the attack on ANHAD by Sangh Parivar goons and the second on disappearing girls.
RAMPAGE BY SANGH PARIVAR – STATEMENT BY ANHAD
A statement by Shabnam Hashmi of ANHAD on the attack by the Sangh Parivar on July 6, 2007 at St Xavier’s Social Service Society in Ahmedabad, Gujarat (slightly abridged).
DISAPPEARING DAUGHTERS, A BOOK BY GITA ARAVAMUDAN
A news item in Agence France-Presse by Parul Gupta says: “India’s unwanted girls have been drowned in milk, burned alive in sealed mud pots or fed milk laced with poisonous seeds, but these days it is much easier to kill them in the womb.” Aravamudan’s book describes stories of women forced to endure successive pregnancies to produce male children, and of others forced to have up to four abortions in five years.
AMARTYA SEN FAVORS LAND ACQUISITION FOR INDUSTRIALIZATION
Below is an interview of Nobel laureate Amartya Sen by Sambit Saha of The Telegraph on land acquisition for industrialization
INCLUSIVE EDUCATION – TEACH HOW YOU PREACH
Pramod Dhakal
The word “inclusion” was not in the Nepali language’s vocabulary when I left my village of Sarkuwa in Baglung District, Nepal, some three decade ago. This time around, however, I found my village to be a different place. People are much more conscious of their rights compared to ever before, and inclusion has become a buzzword among the literates. Marginalized groups want to be included in the mainstream. Yet, as I tried to look beneath the surface, I feared that my villagers are not any nearer to an inclusive society today than they were three decades ago. In fact, all indicators seem to say that the New Nepal may very well be founded on the principles of the most profound of exclusions while inclusion buzzwords are ringing on the slogans of the political parties.
MUSLIM KINGS UTILIZED HINDU FESTIVAL OF HOLI TO PROMOTE HINDU-MUSLIM FRIENDSHIP
Kaleem Kawaja
The last Moghul Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar allowed his Hindu ministers to smear his forehead with gulal on Holi every year. He believed that his religion would not be affected by this social ritual and was sure that God would redeem him for he had not broken the heart of his subjects. That, in fact, is the true spirit of Islam that one should not hurt the feelings of the followers of other faiths.
NEWS BRIEFS
- PRATIBHA PATIL, INDIA’S FIRST WOMAN PRESIDENT
- VITHAL RAJAN: LITERATURE THAT FLOWS FROM LIFE
- MOHAMMAD HAMID ANSARI LIKELY TO BE THE NEXT VICE-PRESIDENT
- COMMUNISTS TO ADDRESS CASTE ISSUE
- ANDHRA GOVERNMENT FOR RESERVATION FOR DALIT CHRISTIANS
- AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN AGAINST TORTURE IN INDIA
- DON’T STEREOTYPE INDIANS, SAYS INDIAN PRIME MINISTER Read more…
OBITUARY: C.R. ASLAM (1915-2007)
Veteran Communist leader and a life-long campaigner for the rights of the workers, peasants and other downtrodden sections of society, C R Aslam expired on July 10, 2007 in Lahore after a prolonged illness. He was 92. His funeral was scheduled on July 11at 5.00 pm at his residence, Temple Road, Park Lane, Lahore.
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