The Two-faced Crusaders of Public Morality

The leaking out of the report indicting the Karnataka CM and his coterie in the mining scam and the resultant tamasha in the media has made me wary of the political class has a whole, though it has only confirmed my misgivings about the nature of our political animals and made believing in their words henceforth a case of immense leap in Faith.

Look at the BJP for instance.. .. after almost a year of crying hoarse over the corruption issue, which also included dancing in a 'mujra' sans 'Shoukins' at the tomb of the father-of-the-nation, today when it comes to the point of making a clear statement to the electorate by putting it's own house in order, the venerable leaders of the sham opposition have decided to choose the easy path, the Narsimha Rao path of silence.

Yedurappa will not go, Yedurappa cannot go... Electoral Mathematics will not allow it... and what's more Mr. Gadkari, has also gone all the way, stating that the electoral victory of the BJP in the recent bye-elections is enough proof of the fact that the populace does not think of him in bad light and so the topic is an non-issue! Well... if this be the case, then even the Congress has won the Assembly election in 3 out of 4 states and so the sword of Corruption that hangs over it's head should also be thrown aside.... Sadly for both you and your adversary, that's not the case and that cannot be the case

Corruption has to be rooted out and the dark faces of both the Congress and the BJP need to be scrubbed clean of it or both need to be thrown in the dustbin of history.

And now look at the Civil Society... the harbingers of  change, the all-in-white crusaders against a men-in-black government have suddenly decided to close ranks behind an imaginary wall rather than condemn the government of Karnataka.... where is the famous Anna and his righteous comment on the subject?

It only goes to show that the so called Crusaders need a generous wallop of Surf Excel to wash off their own clean linen that has now been exposed to be as dirty as the other ones......

"Power Corrupts and Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely" - Mahatma Gandhi

A Question

My continent has never been a single political entity in all the time it has been around.... Throughout History, it has repeatedly been parcelled into smaller units, each baying for the blood of the other, pillaging it, eying it's own sisters and daughters and raping them as if  they belonged to another.... never have we understood the fact that we were always one beneath all these exterior differences.... from Ashoka, to Akbar and onto Aurangzeb, we did try to build up an empire that would hold onto all of our lands, but the fact is, our own people often proved to be our enemies in this path.... and again today, we are at it.... what more catastrophe does it need to take place before we can shed our differences to see the similarities? How many more partitions have to take place before we see the value of defence in depth? How much more do we need to hate each other and want to destroy each other to understand that this is us, not the other?

I don't know what's it with us..... a White skin is so important to our consciousness that whether knowingly or subconsciously  we always gravitate to them .... the latest example being the inhuman, filthy and foolish display of  sycophancy; the almost disgusting of self in front of American interests..... we don't mind destroying our own people for the sake of those that come in those white wrappers....

Tan Se To Aazaad Hum Ho Gaye Hain, Mann Se Gayee Naa Ghulaami
Pardesi Bhasha Aur Bhess Ko Hi, Dete Hain Ab Tak Salaami
Bhool Kar Apna Rang, Sikhaen Auron Ka Dhang,
Apnepan Ka Chalan Humse Chhutta!

The tribe of Mir Sadique still thrives in this land..... and my continent still is far away from that dream, that vision of one united country, that thrives from Herat to Galle, from Hotan and Kashghar to Tennasarim, from Sistan to Thimpu and Tawang and from Indira Point bordering Aceh to Male, remains but a pipe dream .....

When shall this land be one? Will this land ever be one?

New Steps in a Old Direction

The 'War Against Terror' by the 'Coalition of the Willing' has created a major political and existential mess for the entire world but due to it's unique position as both victim and aggressor, witness and accused, prosecutor and defence, the Subcontinent is in deeper waters than any other region in this comedy of the absurd. Osama is dead, but he has left behind enough headaches for this region and I am sure this region will go through a bloodbath before even a thought of exorcism can be entertained. As long as our political disunity is a truth, peace is a myth.

Though it can be easily proved that the mess has been created and furthered by actors outside the Subcontinent, the actions of some of the political actors of the area such as Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh cannot escape scrutiny. There are very few political divisions that can say with a degree of certainty that they are in no way responsible or touched by this major concern, an example can be made of Bhutan and to some extent Maldives.Anyways, a lot of water has flown down the river since those days, when the ideology and the infrastructure of the philosophy was created, today my major concern is the immediate impact of the situation on the future.

India should fear the impact of the current situation. There are many in the political establishment who are gloating over the current impasse generated in Pakistan, busy in garnering brownies and gathering laughs but they fail to see that the so-called tight spot is an illusion.

I was saddened and shocked to hear the Army General speaking out of turn on the hot pursuit theory. Does the general, respected as he is, know the implications of such a scenario. Warmongers have been painting pictures of 1971 and 1999 but lot has changed since then....  Pakistan has the 4th largest Nuclear Arsenal that is rising consistently, an immense pool of non-state actors that it can use as a proxy, is not dependent on India in any aspect, has a support structure in form of China and is a 'neighbour'; however uncomfortable that may seem. Also, unlike India it has not agreed to 'No First Use' Clause and it can easily override India's No First-Use Clause by using non-state actors; all of them being on their tight leash..... Why would the respected Army General making such a silly statement?

America is not the saviour of Indian interests, nor is it anything more than a faithless lover who will throw off the yoke of your love, the moment it's realpolitik and economic interests dictate otherwise.... currently, there is no reason why America should dump it's bed-partner, Pakistan and make a love covenant with India- in short this bed is going to lie empty for some more time now!

America needs Pakistan in Afghanistan and let's be clear the Great Game that started with the Treaty of Gulistan in 1813 is still on, in fact it's more urgent, more important and more dangerous and for America that one need of being a player in the region will easily override all other aspects, even bankruptcy. Also the fact that Pakistan is the only reliable go-between America has in it's hand, in case China and America have a disagreement is a clincher; remember China holds the reins of more than a Trillion Dollars in Debt plus has a strong moderating influence on North Korea and is also the rising power, the one expected to throw America on the sidelines...... China publicly supporting a beleaguered Pakistan recently is proof of the geopolitical realities of our times.....

If India needs to fear the situation, Pakistan needs to be terrified of it.... It's open history that none of the dictators supported by America have come to any good in the long run; in the short-run, Pakistan will squeeze America by the balls and maybe even make them dance to the monkey tune but make no mistakes, it's not going to last.... Pakistan's importance in the American psyche is not derived from it's own position per se but because of it's power and reach in secondary and more important regions.... it's the gateway to Central Asia, the point of control for the Afghan heartland, a way to the Middle Kingdom and a watchdog to Iran and Russia; these parameters can change in a blink of an eye.

Secondly, it's foolish to ride a Lion, hoping that someday it will be a tame Lion .... the Mullahs, by history have always shown their desire and fascination for temporal power..... they cannot be controlled forever and one day will demand more than Shylock's pound of flesh... any religious fundamentalism has a way of consuming the one who creates the mess .... be wary and be cautious

Thirdly, the unity and integrity of Pakistan itself is under question.... Baluchistan may go the Bangladesh way if things do not improve, the only reason it has survived in the confederation so far is it's regional proximity to Iran on the extreme western border of the Sub-continent and Afghanistan which is itself in severe turmoil. Sind is restive while the NWFP still dreams of a united Pukhtoonkhwa.

Afghanistan, the northern-most boundary of our Continent also has a lot to fear. Americans need to show to it's local populace that the War on Terror is not Vietnam Part II and may insist on the division of the country in two parts with the Northern and the Southern parts divided .... Partition is a favourite weapon of the colonial and the imperialist powers. They have ruled the world on basis of Partitions and it's obvious that they will try it again...... but this would be very deadly and if America goes ahead with this plan, the backlash will be very dangerous and America will find to it's chagrin that the cure is worse than the disease

We are living in very dangerous times, I hope the people who are leading us can handle it well or our Continent will have nothing but tears and blood to show for our errors of omission and commision

On The Death of a Terrorist

Osama Bin Laden was killed on 2nd May 2011 in Abbotabad, Pakistan....... and the entire world let down a collective sigh of relief..... So what the hell am I doing, writing on a topic that's 17 days stale? Am I out of my mind? Am I gone cuckoo? Well... Maybe, you never know; to be frank, the mass hysteria that followed the assassination, the inglorious and indecent spectacle of jubilation that followed the assassination and almost converted a moment of unbridled victory into a moment of ignominious shame, in a way stopped me in my tracks.

Were these the same people who had been calling themselves the paragons of morality and decency and berating the Other, just a day before the incident? So, to their shameful chagrin, even they were found to have feet of clay... How hard how the morals of the morality crowd fallen!

The only thing that made me feel a little better was a brilliant and humane response from the Vatican and the Lama and the fact that the Muslim world in general, notwithstanding the lunatic fringe, did not make the death of Osama into a matter of Islamic slight...... so somewhere, morality is still alive, and thank them for it!

So what are my views on the Subject?

Osama was a criminal, a terrorist, a man who hijacked a religion, a way of life from it's actuals, changed the rules of the game, and died for it. There is no sympathy for him, not even from a humane angle, he deserved what finally came to him, though I do accept that for being a puny man, he did succeed to keep the most powerful state on Earth in a state of flux for 10 long years - no mean achievement considering that worse dictators like Saddam and Idi Amin failed to do so, even with the entire state machinery behind them.

Still, it was but obvious that when you ride a lion, the lion's gonna get you sometime, the lion in this case being the evil of terrorism ..... I am happy that the man who was responsible for a lot of hate, the man who divided humanity against itself, the man who made a joke of humanity will finally captured..... a great physical victory has been won.

No! The Muslims cannot claim victory, for they failed to save their religion from the evil grasp of the Dajjal; on the contrary he became a hero for a foolish crowd of people who equated his anti-American tirade as a battle-cry against the enemies of Islam! The Muslims had enough chance to stand upto him but at every turn, they failed and in their silence lies their culpability for no law considers ignorance as a mitigating factor for sentence ..... Wake up, Muslims of the world..... your silence is not doing either you or your religion, any help..... Let it be a warning call, lest you be caught napping.....

Read the Quran for yourself - there is a reason why Islam does not have a priestly class, study it, interpret it, and rescue it from the marshes of Abu Jahl and his kin, today dressed up as the faithful ..... Do not forget, the martyrdom of Hussein or Hasan or Ali or Uthman was not at the hands of the so-called infidels, but at the hands of fellow Muslims...... You still have time, don't let it go astray

No! The Americans cannot claim victory, at most they can state that some parity was achieved for the truth remains that it was and is the Americans who created this monster that let loose a blood-bath that will be remembered for years to come..... on the top of it, the disgusting demonstrations that engulfed the cities in US, the rising trend of Islamophobia in the country, only takes away from them what should have been rightly a handsome victory.....

The behaviour of the Students and other personnel in America is in a way reminiscent of the filthy display of arrogance made by the Meccan Confederacy after their victory at the Battle of Uhud...... If this trend remains, this victory would only remain a highmark that would define the high point of their success and would only lead to more debilitating losses in the future..... Wake up Americans.... you still have time

That brings me to the State of Pakistan ..... it's foolishness for the world to talk of Pakistan as a failed state; I would say it's the most successful state on this Earth and no state can even touch base with it's shadow for the brilliance of realpolitik and public relations; it appears as if the Pakistani state is a past master of diplomacy.... nothing and I repeat nothing can break their resolve.....

Osama was obviously in Pakistan by the connivance of the Pakistani State and was finally expedited when the time was ripe, again in the interest of Pakistan.... everything was done to a plan, nothing missed out while America spent billions of dollars in a time of recession for the capture of Osama - money that could have saved many a middle-class American citizens and still, despite it's brazenness, it remains America's first ally on the War of Terror! I am impressed!

As a lasting shot, I would say... the celebrations are premature, Al-Qaeda is a force to reckon with and the announcement of Saif-al-Adil as the new chief of the terrorist outfits shows the depth in the enemy ranks.... A logical response would be to be cautious, and to make a distinction between Al-Qaeda and Islam, not only for the Al-Kaffir but also for the Al-Momin

Maybe then it indeed will be the Death of a Terrorist!

The Death of an Imposter

So God is dead? Isn't he? Finally? And the world is left an 'orphan'!

Strange are the ways of the world, when even God proves untrue to his promise and dies 10 years before his tenure was supposed to end..... Finally, we discover that even God is a weak astrologer or is it Karma? What exactly went wrong? Wasn't God, supposed to die at the age of 96?.... Oh! he must have forgotten .... so much on his head nowadays!

So Sri Sathya Sai Baba has died, proving his own prediction about his own death, wrong..... Does anyone have a case or should I rest mine....

Ajab Teri Duniya, Ajab Tere Khel
Chhachhoondur Ke Sar Par Chameli Ka Tel!

Jinhein Naaz Hai Hind Par Woh Kahaan Hai?

This is the True Story of someone ..... a fiesty, ambitious, 25 year old somone who could not suffer sloth and insincerity in work..... This is the story of a nurse who served patients to health but today lies confined to a bed in that same hospital, unable to move, unable to talk, unable to think ...... This is the story of a woman who was raped to her death and still survived to tell her tale, though none can hear it, none can understand it, none can appreciate it..... This is the story of Aruna Shanbaug, a poor lower-middle class nurse who lies comatose on a bed while time flows by, for the past 37 years while her rapist, Sohanlal was freed after spending 7 years in jails! 7 years of Jail for a crime that has cost a woman 37 years and counting!

Happy Woman's Day...... to all of you .... and I am sorry for the delay ... it seems I was unable to write in shame after reading about her yesterday.... To be frank I did not want to spoil your mood that was replete with colours of progress and what women have achieved, with grim stories of what the women have not achieved

Two days back, the case filed by Pinky Virani requesting Aruna to be administered Euthanasia was rejected by the learned Judiciary, though the Learned Judges did agree that Passive Euthanasia could be administered ..... A medical court will decide on the same... My Question is not about the merits and demerits of Euthanasia as a system, that shall be discussed some other time .... My question today is, how long will Rape continue to be the symbol of one's revenge? How long will Rape be the weapon of choice for humiliating and degrading women? How long will Society suffer silently this treatment of Womanhood and remain unaffected by it?

On the 27th of November, 1973, a young girl of 23 who was changing has dress was attacked by Sohanlal, a ward-boy, because he was tired of her berating him and warning him of dire consequences if he continued to be slack at work! Male Ego and Suppressed Sexual Anger could not take it any more and he attacked her in the dark of the night, with a dog chain ...... Since she was menstruating, he sodomized her and left her for dead.... She was not discovered till the next morning when the doctors found her lying on the floor, stripped of her clothes and dignity, cortically blind - the dog chain had asphyxiated her and she had lost all her sense and memory.

The Dean of the Hospital had Sohanlal arrested but he was arrested for 'robbery and attempted murder' .... the fact that she had been raped was not reported by the doctors for fear of stigma and that too anally.... had this been reported, Sohanlal would have received an immediate 10 years for unnatural sex (this law was in place till late 2008 and even consensual anal and oral sex could get you 10 years in prison, if reported) and 7 years for Rape..... But the curse of the 'moral stigma' stopped them in their tracks and this was never reported..... How much more longer are we going to remain silent and allow these acts of depravation to continue?

Sohanlal was found guilty and was sentenced to 7 years of rigorous imprisonment on two counts, with both continuing concurrently. Today Sohanlal is a free man, and it's learned that he is working as a ward-boy, under a new identity, in some other state...which brings us back to Aruna..... 37 years have passed by and she is still alive, surviving on the efforts of the nurses of the KEM Hospital where she worked once and was raped that night!

Clearly Justice has been denied to her.... Clearly, our country has failed her... If the murderers of Jessica Lal could be given life imprisonment for killing her, Aruna has been dying a death every second, every minute, every hour for the last 37 years ..... Why has Justice not been her saviour? Is it because she is not as connected as Sabrina Lall was or is it because we simply don't care......

Democratic India has to reply to this poor soul that could have done much more .... Who is responsible for her plight? And who will stand for her Right? It's easy to denounce the Taliban and the others .... and rightly too, for they are the shame of Humanity but how could we allow something of this sort to happen in our country and still remain silent about it?

The time is ticking..... Justice is Waiting... And Oh, Yes! Before I forget, once again 'Happy Woman's Day'

A beautiful song by Sahir.....

Madad Chaahti Hai Ye Hawwa Ki Beti
Yashodha Ki Hum-Jins, Radha Ki Beti
Mohammed Ki Ummah, Zulaikha Ki Beti
Jinhein Naaz Hai Hind Par Woh Kahaan Hai.....?

(Help is the request of Eve's Daugher

Yashoda's Gender, Radha's Daughter

Mohammed's Mother, Zulaikha's Daughter

Where are they who pride on India?)

 The Capital of India, Delhi is also known as the Rape Capital of India, it's said every 15 minutes a woman is raped in Delhi.... How long are we going to allow it to continue?

It's time to stand up for our women, it's time to make Rape a Capital Offence, it's time to stand against it... But is India listening?

A Letter to Those who Ru(i)n my Country on occasion of the National Budget

I wish we could also have a Budget Session wherein the Hon Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, the Chief Ministers of the various States alongwith the Leaders of the Opposition, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, the Speakers of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, the Chief Vigilance Commissioner, the Election Commissioner, All the Different Secretaries of the different Secretariats viz. Cabinet Secy, Home Secy, Finance Secy etc, all the Cabinet Ministers and the Representatives of the Parliament and the Rajya Sabha could gather alongwith all the top industrialists of the country, the media barons, the trustees of all the various Mandirs and Masjids, the heads of all denominations of all religions, all the so-called Civil Liberty Movement people, social workers and inform the Common People in simple terms, the following:

1. The no. of Scams we will have this year
2. The Amounts of hundreds or thousands of billion dollars that will be stolen from you
3. The No. of National Interest Instruments which will be sold for our own needs
4. And most importantly, how much tax we will pay to fund all of the above

I would really appreciate for a change, this honesty... I am a Common Man, I cannot stop you from doing what you will .... so why keep the farce, tell me and do it... please

As a wise man said, if you cannot stop Rape, at least enjoy it!

The Silly Case of Laal Chowk Flag Raising Ceremony

Kashmir is without any doubt an integral part of India and as I have always stated, one of my stated aims and objectives is the re-unification of the entire Indian Subcontinent from Afghanistan to Sri Lanka and from Baluchistan to Burma into one thread..... there is no question of my accepting hence any attempts at secession....

However, the recent Yatra undertaken by the BJP youth wing has completely flummoxed me by its time and tenor.... the wounds of the last intifida have not even died out, but the BJP has decided to engulf the country into one more conflagration.... there are already a thousands of issues that the current government is incapable of handling, on top of it, the main opposition, having abrogated it's position as the watchdog of democracy has decided to take part, and that too, gleefully in the rape of the country's prestige and authority...

I do not seem to really understand what is the problem with the BJP..... is it really as stupid as it tries to show itself? Does it not understand that it's chauvinistic attitude is impacting the nation more than the status quo attitude of the Congress and it's allies? Is it so foolish that it really thinks patriotism is a vocal chord match and all of us are back in ancient Sparta where issues were decided by the virtue of who would shout the loudest, by virtue of who could out-shout the competition?

Does it really think of the irreparable damage it is doing to the nation's fibre by it's insistence on a march that has no sense, no logic, no future thought, except to embarrass the ruling party? Does it even comprehend that by using vocal denunciation of the Congress at every available opportunity, it's actually playing into the hands of the Congress by proving itself as a distant number two? Why can't it pay more attention to the logics of the situation? Why does it have to always use the principle of the Shout as against the principle of the Debate?

Anybody who has lived in India of the 1990's knows of the irreparable damage Murli Manohar Joshi did by his Flag Yatra at Lal Chowk in 1992..... The premise was the same, that we need to prove ourselves by putting up the flag but in the process, MM Joshi managed to do the impossible... he actually got all the extremists to unite and put up a united front, lead to an increased spurt in violence and secessionist activities in the valley which took a decade to abate.... What did we gain from this show of patriotism? Nothing, except deaths of our valiant soldiers who fought and died for the sake of the unity and integrity of our India..... It could have been avoided. But then BJP is not exactly known for subtle diplomacy and statecraft.... and that too from the party, which when in power took Navin Jindal to court for his right to raise the Indian flag...

The BSF itself has clearly stated that there is no need to raise the flag at the Laal Chowk... it's also true that it has been raising the flag in the chowk every year and had stopped it since it has no more political significance.... Secondly, the Chief Minister of Kashmir would definitely be raising the flag in the senate as would all the Govt offices, army services etc... where then is the need for one more?

The BJP has put out an interesting statement that if the flag of Pakistan can be raised in Kashmir, why not the flag of India? I have two counter-questions to this:

Question No. 1: If this is true, what were they doing about it for the 6 years they ruled India? At that time, the NC of Omar Abdullah, which is in power in the state of J&K today, was a part of the NDA, the BJP-led coilition

Question No. 2: Can the BJP, which is used to a language of obfuscation provide documentary proof of when the local administration of J&K, including the office of the Chief Minister was guilty of raising the Pakistani Flag on the Republic Day?

Talking about secessionists raising the flag is stupid because they are secessionists and indeed if they raised the Indian flag, they would cease to be secessionists, of course they should not be tolerated but that does not mean that the state is guilty of the same ... what is important is to ask, if the local government did the same? And if it did, why did the Govt of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, one of the greatest leaders of recent time did not speak of it? Why did the Iron Man, L K Advani who speaks so much on the issue today, remain silent then? Or is it just a case of out-of-power syndrome?

The BJP, using it's policies of division and victim play has already created a rift between Jammu and Kashmir, when will it learn to start behaving like a responsible opposition? Does it really think, this is good for the state and the country in the long run?

An interesting anecdote of the time is that the great leader that MM Joshi is, he was not even aware of the colours of the Indian flag and managed to do the impossible task that even does not happen in Kindergarten - he hosted the flag upside down!

BJP..... we need you to become a responsible opposition - the time is running out.... is the will too?

A Call to Muslims

Salman Taseer was assasinated in Pakistan on January 4, 2011. His crime was that he spoke against the Blasphemy Law as contained in the Pakistani Constitution. His assassin, Malik Mumtaz Qadri assassinated him because he firmly believed that Salman was denigrating the state and humiliating the creed of Islam by such a contrarian stand on an issue that he considered as a matter of faith.

Today as I listen to both the parties on the issue, the charges and counter-charges, the points of discussion and rebuttals, I feel much more disillusioned on this entire issue then I ever was... Have we as humans, divorced ourselves so much from Reason that we even need to see the obvious - that Blasphemy Law is wrong, that the use of the gun to silence an opposition is wrong, that Human Intellect has a right to speak? Hence, Today as I speak on this issue, I shall speak not as an atheist which I am but as a Muslim for that is what I was  .... the reason being simple, Islam needs to free itself primarily from it's own custodians..... and if a Muslim won't speak, albeit an atheist, who will?

Jammat-E-Islami has tried to pretend that there is no issue, that this is an internal matter within the ranks of Islam, an issue for which the punishment has been decided long ago and hence there is no need for discussion, no need for introspection, no need to talk... for them, it's a closed issue!

But is it a closed issue? Is it really a crime to speak of such things as the law of blasphemy? Is it being-anti Islamic if one tries to reason out the tenets of the religion, or to ask questions, however uncomfortable, they may be? Was not ijtehad supposed to be the cornerstone of the Islamic fiqh as opposed to taqlid?

In a civilization and system that prides itself on it's inclusive nature, that first spoke of the Brotherhood of Men, when did the right to speak on behalf of one's brethren become a rallying-cry for the demise of Islam? Are these custodians of Islam doing Islam a duty by being contrarian to the very principles of Islam or are they plotting it's downfall by destroying the very essence of it's existence? Time will tell....

For the time being, the power of the Gun and the Fear inherent from it's barrels has cowed down the majority to silence.... For the time being, the tongues that should speak are tied down by their duties to their near and dear ones.... For the time being, the droning of the machine gun of the extremist has silenced the common man to a state of imprisonment, but the question is how long will it be able to contain the anger within his breast that shall not be silenced even by the explosion of a million atom bombs and it's these voices of silence, which when spoken will shake the edifice of Islam as it stands today ...... Islam has a lot to fear from it's custodians within it's boundaries than from it's enemies that are battling the religion from outside.

Since the time of the Prophet, the doctrine of ijtehad (analytical reasoning) was upheld and promulgated and taqlid (imitation), though accepted in matters of one's personal relations with God, was not given the same emphasis as Ijtehad, till finally the Sunni fiqh went ahead and closed the door to ijtehad in the 10th century. It's no major coincidence that the closing of doors on Ijtehad lead to hardening of stances within the community leading to major repercussions, as the Islamic world lost it's preeminence in worldly matters post the 15th century and turned insular and insecure.

If Islam needs to re-invent itself, it's time for Islam to go back to the early days of it's existence not in terms of the external forms or observances as the orthodox may point out, but in terms of the openness of thought and reason that gave it the vitality to stand back in times of it's adversity.....  What were those parameters? If one needs to know them, one needs to travel back in history and understand why Islam could strike out on it's own, while others failed.....

Islam took roots in the human subconsciousness in the 7th century due to it's simple creed and methods of  connecting the human with the humane and divine. Historical evidences abound that speak for the humaneness that was the cornerstone of the Islamic creed. Equality of Men before God irrespective of colour, creed or station; Right of Women to property and life as opposed to being subjected to feminine infanticide as was the norm in Arabia, No place for Racism in the context of human differences, Absence of a priestly class and many more such reasons that were a revolutionary thought in those days of human endeavour, of course today the world is much more enlightened and better off than those days, but when  we compare a particular ideology to others, we need to look into the times to understand and decipher it ...... The gun was never the choice weapon of Islam even in the days when the existence of Islam was threatened by such powerful enemies as the Meccan Confederacy and even though Islam fought three wars in it's early days of existence, the gun was always secondary to the olive palm... so then today when Islam is in a strong position worldwide with more than a billion adherents and many Islamic nations, what place does the gun have in the normal discourse?

Why can't the champions of Islamic jurisprudence come out and speak out on this issue in an open debate? Why does the gun have to answer for every query that's put to Islam? That was not the way of the Prophet, why is that the way of the follower? What Islam are you following when you put up such conditions as can destroy the spirit of Islam?

Prophet Muhammed allowed the Christians and the Jews to reside peacefully in the nation of Islam and even forgave those hands that fought against him, including the one we know as Hind, the one who mutilated the body of his favourite uncle, Humza and ate his liver raw on the battlefield.... If you declare that you follow the principles as stated by him, what wrong did Salman do to pay with his blood?

An Anti-Blasphemy Law, as a law, goes against the creed of Islam; it was introduced in the Christian countries to prevent one sect speaking against the other, what place does it have in a Islamic society?.... The Quran explicitly states that the Muslims are not allowed to abuse the religion of the other for the reason that it may give unto the other the right and the opportunity to abuse Islam... the action of Malik has ensured that today, even those who would not speak against Islam have spoken.... aren't you, the leaders of Islam, then responsible for this repercussion? By what right do you dare to call yourself, the defenders of the faith them....?

And coming to the main point, what exactly does the law of Blasphemy achieve? How does this law ensure a better place to those living in your society? Can you force people to change their views about your religion by forcing them under threat of life and property or can you try and reach out to them via dialogue? The biggest massacres in Islam were not perpetrated by the foreign element unto the followers of Islam but by those who called themselves Muslims... examples can be made of Yezid and later the Abbasids .... are you the next link in the names of those who mouth Islam and kill it by actions?

So if you want to know who killed Salman, it's not Malik who killed him.... it's you who killed him ... you, the men and women of Islam who dared not speak against those who hijacked our religion for their purpose.... it's you, the men and women of Islam, who suffered silently when Islam was being chained by traitors within .... it's you, the men and women of Islam, who gave away the key of your religion to those who transfigured it and destroyed it beyond recognition .... and it's you, the men and women of Islam... who forced rational men and women out of Islam to wherever they found the right to be themselves  ..... Think why Islam which gave Avicenna to the world has given nothing in an entire millennium and you will know what I talk about.... Silence is a good thing, but not when your life is being threatened with extinction....


A lot has gone down the plains of Mount Arafat since those days and today, the religion that taught of enlightenment is a refugee of it's own thoughts and a prisoner of it's own conscience. Today, in times when the doctrine of Islam is in mortal threat from the world at large, Islam is not doing good by itself by being a ready supporter of it's demise by the ways of it's followers.... It's time for Ijtehad, it's time for a new reasoning.... It's time for a new Jihad... against those who claim to speak for your religion but take it away from your grasp.....

There is a Cat among the Doves, remove it from the doves or there shall be no more doves.... and conversely once there are no doves, there shall be no Cat either.... so act quick.... and remove the Cat before any more innocent doves face death from him....

Evidences of the Prosecution

MMXI is here .... and we are all watching it with a lot of hopes and expectations, but will anything change... I guess not, for one thing that I have really learned in life is this: the more things change, the more they remain constant ..... and maybe that's the reason why it's stated that those who fail to study their History tend to become History....

I will still continue speaking on Dr. Binayak Sen's curious case .... the last blog was all about why sedition should not be anymore a cause of treason for any person in any of the civilized or should I say, democratized nations of the world... Had it been treason, I would have understood and accepted the conviction - but the very nature of the case makes it difficult for me to suggest any reason why it even was fought - it should have been thrown out of the judicial window, considering the flimsiness of the case....

I took time off to post the second part of the blog because of the many threats and admonitions I received for my last blog.... It was not fear that stopped in my tracks but a feeling that the shriller the voices that condemn, the calmer should be the response....

Prima facie, the entire case is a stack of cards that cannot stand scrutiny even by the worst standards that can be applied .... Here is a guy, a pediatrician of repute from one of the best institutions of India, who has been working selflessly for the downtrodden, going where even the might of the state machinery fails..... a guy who has openly spoken against the Maoists and their tactics, has deplored the methods of warfare and criticized it's leadership.... It's indeed strange that this man has been singled out to be a Maoist....and on grounds that are as shaky as the plains of the Sunderbans after a cyclone.....

If tomorrow, one of my friends asks me to carry a letter to his friend who happens to be in another city, do I by the virtue of having carried a letter become a suspect in the eye of the law? When did an act of genuine humanitarian effort become a barometer of crime by guilt of association? If this be taken as the proof of wrong-doing, I do not know how many of us can avoid falling into this trap at one time or the other?

My critics would point out to the fact that these letters spoke of rebellion and unrest in the country.... that's a plea that's as irrational as it can be.... Going by the attestations of the police manning the jail, there was not a single instance wherein Dr. Binayak met the Maoist leader alone.... they must have been real masters of subterfuge and hypnosis if they were able to carry out such a brilliant piece of planning, all by themselves, in a cell, separated by irons and in presence of officers who kept on looking ... What were the officers discussing while the planning took place - the last Shahrukh Khan movie or the rising price of foodstuffs?

To the best of my knowledge, not a single officer has been accused of dereliction of duty... so it transpires that they were alert and brave soldiers of the motherland - so how could two individuals, who have neither been trained in subterfuge and camouflage carry out such a brilliant operation, not once but many times....

The jailor has also attested that all letters carried the official seal of the prison - in other words was pretty harmless - maybe the good jailor was not trained in the art of cryptology and the Chattisgarh government should make it compulsory on the incumbent and the ones that follow that he should have an advanced knowledge of the subject in the future to save such embarrassments .....

Another major point of contention for the security agencies is that, in one of the letters Dr. Sen was addressed as the Comrade, thus making him a Maoist! I am surprised by the gall of the prosecuting attorney, the stupidity of the defense and the irrationality of the Bench that such an interesting observation was allowed to go unchallenged in the court of Law!

Thank God, the leter did not have such terms as 'Saala' or else, we would have had a more powerful alliance - I mean Dr. Sen and his 'comrade' friend could have been brothers-in-law, we should really thank God, for small mercies..... I am thinking though, going by this particular logic, how many girls have I been married to and how many guys have become my brothers-in-arm.... I  hope none of them is a terrorist or else I am on my way to the prison, thanks to this brilliant piece of art.....

Mahatma Gandhi had once, when asked of the keystone of Indian legal system commented that he preferred a system wherein, even if a thousand guilty could be saved from their just punishments, even one single person should not be punished for the crime he did not commit.

Dr. Binayak Sen may or may not be a Maoist... I am no one to hold a brief for him but I do state that as a concerned citizen of this nation, that the charges framed on him should not seem framed and the evidence brought against him should be found lacking and flimsy.... Neither of the above contentions hold water in an intense cross-examination of the facts.... It's high time Judiciary redeems itself from the clutches of 'guilty by prosecution' syndrome....

Its time we thought deeply about the entire issue. And before I start getting threats again, let me reiterate, I am not a Maoist but I am not a Quisling either ....