BaKhabar, June 2013, Page-5 [US: No Entry for Mr. Modi, by Ram Puniyani + Lauren Booth's response to 'The Hindu' article 'Seeking Allah in the Midlands']

US: No Entry for Mr. Modi

.... By Ram Puniyani*

Mr. Narendra Modi, for whom some countries are warming up to relate to him in Europe and in the East; the latest report from US must be very disheartening. Despite a strong lobby for pressurizing to grant him Visa, the United States Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), has called on the Obama administration to maintain a visa ban on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for his role in the pogrom of 2002 that claimed over 2,000 lives and displaced over 150,000 people, many of whom are still in makeshift houses.

The commission chairwoman Katrina Lantos Swett, of the US commission for international religious freedom (USCIRF) said that "There is significant evidence linking him (Modi, added) to the violence and the terrible events that took place in Gujarat and for this reason, a visa would not be appropriate," In recent times Modi seems to be the only person so disgraced by the Human rights watch body. John Kerry, the present Secretary of the state of United States, had similar position about Modi, when he was the senator. He had written to the State department to the effect that Visa should be denied to Modi on the grounds of his possible role in 2002 anti Muslim pogrom. The US Intentional Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (IRFA) bars entry of aliens ‘responsible for directly carried out, particularly severe violations of religious freedom’.

The US panel points out that there is a significant evidence linking Modi to the carnage. It is on this ground that Modi is on the Visa ban list from 2005 of US, and the recent efforts of pro-Modi lobbyists is not cutting any ice, in the face of the evidence against Modi. The report also takes cognizance of Muslim community’s suspicion that Maya Kodnani, who has been jailed, is a ‘fall guy’ for Modi, a ‘sacrificial lamb’ so to say. The Commission has also put India in tier two, as for as religious freedom is concerned. It also points out that the bringing in of ‘Freedom of religion’ bills in different states of India has increased the intimidation and atrocities against religious minorities in India. This trend of bringing in such bills is more in BJP ruled states, while few other states have fallen into this unconstitutional trap.

In India last three decades in particular have seen the rise of sectarian tendencies and intimidation of religious minorities. Sikhs in 1984 (Delhi), Christians in Dangs, Kandhamal and in various scattered acts of violence in Adivasi areas in particular, and Muslims in an ongoing manner in Meerath, Malyana, Bhagalpur, Mumbai, Gujarat, various places in UP etc. The intimidation is being orchestrated at social level as well. One example of this is the religious congregations like Shabri Kumbh, the ones’ held in Dangs and many other places, through which Hindus particularly the Adivasis are frightened. The sectarian violence against Muslims is leading to a situation where the whole community is being relegated to the status of second class citizenship. Various states have brought in ‘Freedom of Religion Bill” which in an Orwellian manner prevents the free choice of religions by the people, a right granted by the Indian Constitution. These laws cannot stand the test of the values of Indian Constitution. But they give a big handle to the communal forces in collusion with the section of communalized state apparatus to intimidate the hapless religious minorities. The underlying reason of these tactics is to polarize the communities along religious lines, to prepare the ground for the ascendance of Religious nationalism, the communal fascism.

The acts of violence against the minorities are changing their pattern. On one hand instead of big massive violence, a scattered sustained violence is being organized in different parts of the country. The target is the non BJP ruled states like UP and Maharashtra in particular. In these states in particular local city based communal violence is taking place and communalizing the society. This trend will inherently strengthen the diehard communal party, which is the electoral wing of the agenda of religious nationalism. While Modi has been too clever and has changed the paradigm of his speeches from the communal one’s to the one’s revolving around the development, which as such should rather be termed as ‘pseudo development’. Modi he has already consolidated his communal-social base, so now to win the electoral battle he has to lure other layers of Hindus and communities, so the total projection around development. Somehow, though law has not fully caught up with him, the blood on his hands is refusing to get washed off despite his shrewd attempts in that direction.

The US commission report gives the hope at deeper ethical and moral grounds. Our laws and legal mechanisms are such that the guilty of communal violence are getting away while the innocent are getting killed during the communal carnages. The demand for a law which can punish the guilty for their acts of omission and commission during the violence is very much overdue. One hopes that we don’t have to depend on International agencies to nab guilty of those people who let it happen under their nose, either in a proactive way or by looking the other way around.

The test of democracy lies in assessing as to how secure the minorities are, what the level of their dignity is. On that scale India is gradually sliding down, it’s a blemish on our democratic norms. It’s time that irrespective of our religion, caste and creed we come forward to press for protection of innocents, and for this the we must come forward with suitable legislation so that those in authority cannot get away after presiding over such inhuman acts and couch them in deceptive statements to escape the noose.

The supplementary observation is about the rising trend of restriction of religious freedoms in South Asia as a whole. In recent times we have painfully seen the persecution of Christians and Hindus in Pakistan, of Buddhists and Hindus in Bangle Desh, of Muslims in Burma and Srilanka. The health of democracy in South Asia is a worrying matter. We know that regions grow together. India has been a strong pillar of democracy while other South Asian countries are in a different stage of evolution towards democracy. Somewhere military Generals are hovering over the elected leaders; at other the fundamentalist outfits are having a lion’s share in shaping the course of the events of the country. Tragically India is witnessing the downward slope on the scale of democratic ethos. Need for us to revisit the values of Freedom movement and the norms of Indian Constitution..
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* Ram Puniyani (born 25 Aug 1945) was a professor in biomedical engineering at the IIT Bombay. He is involved with human rights activities, for communal harmony, has taken initiatives to oppose the rising tide of Fundamentalism in India. He is a pillar of secular and democratic initiatives like All India Secular Forum, Center for Study of Society and Secularism and ANHAD. His write-ups appear in reputed Indian newspapers, regularly. He can be contacted on ram.puniyani@gmail.com

Lauren Booth's response to 'The Hindu' article 'Seeking Allah in the Midlands'

.... By Lauren Booth, sister-in-law of Tony Blair*

The Hindu newspaper on 24th May 2013 published a very biased article by the name 'Seeking Allah in the Midlands' mentioning about Lauren Booth (sister-in-law of former PM of UK Tony Blair). The article is based on poor and improper research.
Sister Lauren Booth responded 'The Hindu' through her note and blog asking the Editor for many of the inaccuracies the article mentions.
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Dear Editor of The Hindu,
In the Name of Allah the Most Beneficient the Most Merciful,
As a Muslim convert featured in your article (http://bit.ly/10oqxIS) I would like to request an explanation for several statements which appeared alongside my photo;
In your editorial, on UK converts to Islam, you claimed that ; 'Most converts were particularly critical of the concept of Sharia Council or courts operating in Britain, seeing them as a threat to women’s rights.'
In response, I refer you to the following substantive report issued in 2011 by Faith Matters.
The first section of the Faith Matters report clearly states; 'The majority of converts feel that there is no natural conflict between being a devour Muslim and living in the UK'. Also, 'The vast majority of women changed their appearance after conversion with a significant majority adopting the hijab (either straight away or after some time)'. These findings are at odds with your spurious claim that 'we', as converts to Islam, fear our new faith and reject Sharia-based concepts. I have never met a convert to Islam to state any repudiation or rejection of basic Islamic jurisprudence (Sharia) and would be very interested to know on what you base such a statement.
At the start of your article you also make this claim ;
..'the fact is that Muslim women are more vulnerable to misogyny and cultural prejudices of their menfolk than women of any other faith. The more “Islamic” a society, the fewer individual freedoms its women enjoy'.
The Quran remains the only scripture to categorically and comprehensively assert a wide ranging and comprehensive series of protections for women in relation to property, inheritance, marriage and divorce.
In the area of economic rights, we have to remember that in Europe until the 19th century, women did not have the right to own their own property. When they were married, either it would transfer to the husband or she would not be able to dispense of it without permission of her husband. More than 1300 years earlier, that right was clearly established in Islamic law.
"Whatever men earn, they have a share of that and whatever women earn, they have a share in that." [Noble Quran 4:32]
Please note the word 'earn' here clearly denoting a woman's right to employment.
By definition, in a truly Islamic society, there must be women physicians, women nurses, women teachers.
At the time of marriage, it is the duty of the husband, not the bride's family, to pay for a marital gift. The Quran called it a gift, and it is exclusively the right of the woman. Any property owned by a woman prior to marriage, she retains after marriage. I would be interested to know if this right is the same in Hinduism?
As far as treatment of daughters is concerned, Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "Anyone who has two daughters, and did not bury them, did not insult them and brought them up properly, he and I will be like this," holding his two fingers close together. Another version adds, "And also did not favor his sons over daughters."
For many more Quranic examples of women's rights please follow the link below from Islamswomen.com which is the site I used for this letter as it is simple to understand and well laid out.
It is necessary, as you have chose to falsely assert that Muslim women suffer more misogyny 'than women of any other faith' to point out a series of online reports into Hinduism.
Lipika Sharma states in her academic piece; 'Since time immemorial the framing of all laws (Hinduism) have been exclusively for the benefit of man, and woman has been treated as subservient. the Hindo Succession Act of 1956 is one of the living examples of the fact that laws are Patriarchal in nature.'
Whilst, the following research article of 2012 which appeared in the New England Journal of International and Comparative Law found;
'The status of women in India is both poignant and paradoxical. There exists a wide chasm between the de facto and de jure position of women. From cradle to grave, the violence, abuse, and exploitation that girls and women encounter, both in the private and public realms, remain unparalleled and largely unaddressed. The reasons are multifaceted. The age old feudalistic and patriarchal underpinnings of the Indian societal, communal, and familial life have been the primordial causes for this subordinate and secondary status, as women within this framework are viewed as property of men'.
In an especially disturbing article a young, female, Indian writer goes into detail about traditional Brahmic and Hindu teachings about such horrors as 'wife burning' 'bride burning' and the slaughter of baby girls.
'BRIDE-BURNING
...The extent of bride-burning is astonishing. "Government figures show that at least 7300 women were killed by their in-laws in the first nine months of 1995 for bringing inadequate dowries." This custom of dowry has divine sanction, since the Ramayana explicitly mentions that Sita brought a huge dowry for Rama. Worse still is the custom of consuming the flesh of the burnt brides according to the Vedic `purushamedha'. After the helpless brides are burnt alive, their bodies are cooked as if they were some animal and their flesh consumed by the pious Hindu family of the bridegroom. In addition to destroying evidence of any crime, the pious Hindus also `gain merit' by performing the `holy' Vedic purushamedha (human sacrifice). This custom, more than any other, reveals the beastly nature of the Hindu male'.
Now I wish to state very clearly that the articles I relate to here are merely part of a brief minute online search into Hinduism. I should also state that much more - and more damning- material exists.
However, my brief search should in no way be viewed as a comprehensive summary of the role - or status- enjoined by Hindu teachings relating to women. I put them here merely to show how simple it is provide unknowing readers a limited - or even misleading - view of a faith.
Thus, your assertion sir, that Islam does not provide women with either protection or rights when compared with other faiths can only be based either or poor research or a deliberate attempt to present a false and negative image of Islam to your readers. I wonder at your agenda for printing such a piece of ill-researched propoganda.
I would like my photo removed from the said article. In the interests of good journalism I suggest you either remove or rewrite the incorrect article.
If you need help in your research into Islam, I will be happy to put you in touch with several renowned scholars to assist you.
I ask Allah to forgive any errors I have made in this and all matters and All Praise is for Him alone.
Yours Sincerely,
Lauren Booth
Journalist and Broadcaster
http://bit.ly/SIFXkG
http://bit.ly/ezQM1f
http://bit.ly/11bZtJj
http://bit.ly/11GZmKI