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It sounds introverted, selfish but it's true. A human being is surrounded by many circles: Cosmos, Earth, Continent, Nation, Province, District, City, Town, Mohalla, Family, and finally the insular identity of self. To protect the interest and integrity of every circle you speak out. However, when it comes to your persona, never Complain; never Explain never complain; never explain. This pithy little maxim was first coined by the British politician and prime minister Benjamin Disraeli, and adopted as a motto by many other high-ranking Brits — from members of royalty to navy admirals, to fellow prime ministers Stanley Baldwin and Winston Churchill. Why? Because no one knows you better than yourself; no one could love you more than yourself. No one appreciates you for what you’re. All criteria of relationships are based on mutual links – biological or material principle of mutual benefits. You aren’t always responsible for what happens to you, but you are always for how you react towards it. Bad things happening, and some people acting naughty, are facts of life. You can either make the choice to be stuck negating that fact, by whining or move your energies towards something more proactive. Some choices are quite objective, like 1+1=2, but most decisions are a balance between conflicting priorities. So how you negotiate them is always coloured somehow by subjectivity, aka making a choice is opinionated in nature. This simple truth is something that many people struggle with. They resist the fact that the universe isn’t predictable and controllable, that it was never moulded for pleasing others. So appreciate those who love and care, with the full realization that nothing in life is permanent, and just ignore if you can’t forgive someone who had harmed you; just ignore with a full realization that nothing in life is permanent. Naim Naqvi

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The Nizamuddin Markaz

“Do not contribute to your destruction with your own hands, but do good, for God loves those who do good.” ……….Surat Al- Baqarah, Verse 195

The Tablighi Jamaat has done the Great Damage to the cause of Indian Muslims at this critical juncture. I feel that a big damage has already been done also to the fight against the Coronavirus Curse by the careless and negligent act of organizers of Tablighi Jamaat. Granted that the BJP had hastily imposed its rule in Madhya Pradesh and used crowds to enact that; it delayed the Parliament session to manipulate the vulnerable Congress MLAs; it's CM in UP kept on preparations for Ayodhya Fair and Ram Mandir; its CM of Karnataka was seen on TV attending the grandeur wedding and its new Dal Badlu Maharaj attended the gatherings in his welcome to BJP fold - all in contravention to the safety principles of Pandemic Prevention and control. The Saffron Brigade committed several other blunders that might have helped to spread of disease. But it makes no excuse for what has happened in Nizamuddin Markaz. The organizers there should have kept the premises out of reach for visiting new-recruits. The volunteers should have themselves moved in droves to the Nizamuddin Police station for help, for their safe movement, which was next to their premises. The country could have seen their efforts. The idiotic display of irresponsibility and ignorance rather recalcitrance by neo-Mullas have tarnished the image of Islam and destroyed all the good hard work that was done by Shaheen Bagh ladies.

 The Tablighi Jamaat is a unique movement in the history of Islam. It is ironic that it has got itself accepted around the Islamic world with the exception of Shia pockets.

It was founded in 1927 by one Muhammad Ilyas al-Kandhalawi of Mewat (now in Haryana, India). This religious outfit was began among the Meo peasants in educationally and economically backward Mewat. The Meo Muslims used to follow several Hindu traditions in past. They used to make 'pheras' during marriage, they believed in the gotra system, and celebrated Holi the same way as they celebrated Eid. The birth of Tablighi Jamaat is said to be motivated by a desire among some puritan Muslims to ensure that non-Muslim movements did not succeed in converting Muslims to deviant ideologies. Tablighi Jamaat is an offshoot of the Deobandi movement. Since its inception, it has expanded from a local to a national to an international movement. It has become "one of the most influential religious movements in 20th century.

 I didn’t know anything about them till Iv reached AMU Aligarh in late 1960's. In my fresher days at hostel, on every Sunday, we would have a knock at our door and a group of young students would visit us and ask us to accompany them. Few of them were to be from our hostel also. They would greet us wholeheartedly, and preach us about the virtues of Islam and how our evil deeds had corrupted our lives. And In order to cleanse the soiled spirits, we should join them at Zohar prayers in Hall's mosque, and listen to what some speakers have had to say about our enlightenment. A very senior hosteler who loved to sleep in that time of day was so irritated of their weekly visitations that one day he decided to teach them a lesson. As the time of knock was nearing, he removed all his clothes and appeared them stark naked when he opened the door for them.  They did never dare to come back to his room again.

These people are zealots who don’t believe in conversion but want the Muslims to bring a revival of faith that these Jamaati prescribe - of their tenets.

 I’ve seen the very smart and intelligent students and teachers perverting to become the super fundamentalists once they entered into the fold of this movement. This institution has no constitution, no formal registration and no election, which obviously means that no one knows who gets in or out of it.  

It has been accepted by most people as a religious proselytizing organization with no direct contribution to terror. However, what has been observed is that some people who were part of it have ended up in radical formations.

 It is an established fact that deep immersion in any religion, not only just Islam, can lead to radicalization. Since long, this organization had spread its tentacles in AMU Aligarh and Jamia Millia Islami and other Muslims Educational Institutions where the students are tempted to work hard for reward-after-death instead of concentrating upon their academic duties. Itt has hampered the progressive ideology of Muslims. Like the RSS for Hinduism, the Tablighi Jamaat is the theoretical brain wash-workshop of Muslims.

 The Tablighi Jamaat wants us to replicate the way Muslims lived in the time of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Tablighi Jamaat claims to be totally apolitical. But the best part is that no one knows how much money comes to its coffers and from where, if at all it does. Tablighi Jamaat says people donate whatever they want to but the figures are never huge. It is generally believed that Tablighi Jamaat doesn’t need to raise funds. Everyone has to pay for his or her own expenses. Jamaat asks you to spend your time and money only.

 In 1978, the 'World Muslim League', a Saudi sponsored body, had subsidized the building of the Tablighi mosque in Dewsbury, England, which has since become the headquarters of Tablighi Jamaat in all of Europe."

 Interestingly, the Islamic scholar Akhtarul Wasey has once said, “I always tell my students that when you meet a Life Insurance Corporation agent or a Tablighi Jamaat member, both will begin their conversation with the same line—start thinking about what will happen after you die."

 And today, death is looking straight into our eyes. Thanks Nizamudin Markaz! Thanks Tablighi Jamaat!

...............................................Naim Naqvi.

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Shaheen Bagh – where do we go from here? 16th March 2020

Speaking about the Covid -19 scare, a woman protesting at Shaheen Bagh said,”They (Center) don’t need to spread corona virus panic hoping that we will run away from here. We want to tell the Home Minister that don’t bother about us as we can take care of ourselves. You think about the people whose houses have been burnt and are left homeless. From where the Muslim women of India got the Inspiration to rise against the Injustice done by RSS guided regime? Undoubtedly, unwittingly, consciously or unconsciously, the inspiration comes from the persona of Hazrat Zainab bint Ali (as). These brave ladies of Shaeen Bagh who have landed on the Indian roads today, followed the path shown by her. They have learned from her sacrifices and courageous stand she took against the tyranny of Yezid bin Muawiyah. She carried forward the mission and message of her brother “Imam Hussain (as)” which advocate the idea of freedom, justice, humanity and virtue. Imam (as) had fought against despotism, with the realization of the sovereignty of Allah. Hadrat Zainab (as) was the shining sun in the history of Islam and of humanity. She was endowed with divine steadfastness and fortitude. Her character and life had the traits of sobriety and serenity of her grand-mother Umm-al-Mumineen Hazrat Khadija(as), in chastity and modesty she was the reflection of her holy mother Hazrat Fatima (sa) and in eloquence and wisdom, to her holy father Imam Ali(as). Her speech delivered at the court of Yazid still echoes through time and space: “By Allah (SWT), you cannot remove us from the minds (of people), and you cannot fade our message. You will never reach our glory and can never wash the stain of this crime from your hands. Your decisions will not be stable, your period of ruling will be short, and your population will scatter. In that day, a voice will shout: “Indeed may the curse of Allah (SWT) be upon the oppressors…” She was a model of defiance against oppression and injustice but she was also an epitome of patience and endurance. Her struggle reflects that there was no act of worship greater than continuing the rising and awakening the people who were misguided and deceived by poisonous propaganda of Yazid – the son of Muawiya. Hadrat Zainab (as) had showed how bold Muslim women could play a key role in consolidating against the tyranny and injustice. She has inspired the Shaheen Bagh Movement! The country witnessed that the women who had been hitherto sitting with in the four walls of their homes and passively observing for seventy years of destruction of their culture, traditions, language, economy and education as the pall of bleak future is enveloping over the coming generations of Muslim of India, they realized that it was the exact time to leave their kitchens, hand over their bangles to their men for the sake of their future; for truth and justice. In reality Indian Muslims have never been able to come out the dark pavilions erected by Hindu Mahasbha and Muslims league. We learn from history that from Jinnah to Soharwardy, from Liaqiat Ali to the last Indian Muslim who migrated to Pakistan, were caught into the trap of ‘grandeur of past glory,’ each one of them had pushed the tenets of a tolerant religion into a dark tunnel. Today, the dark fantasies that were seen by myopic leaders are coming back to haunt. Their cake is dough. The Muslim League was the brain child of Muslim landlords of north India and the educated middle class who betrayed the majority of Indian Muslims - the unwilling pawn of the game, who were scattered all over the Indian subcontinent. The fact of history is that in 1936 - 37 when the British decided to conduct elections to 11 provincial legislatures, the Muslim League polled less than 5 % of votes. Majority of Indian Muslims had never asked for any “Mamlakat-e-Khodadad” or Pakistan. Indian Muslims have never supported the insurgency in Muslim-majority Kashmir. Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan had always viewed the proposal to partition India as un-Islamic and “contrary to the history of Muslims in the subcontinent, who had for over a millennium considered India their homeland.” Whatever theological or ideological differences I’ve with Wahabiyat, I must confess that Deobandi Ulema had always criticized the idea of Pakistan as being the conspiracy of the colonial government to prevent the emergence of a strong united India. They have foreseen that that the economic development of Muslims would be hurt if India was partitioned. The stand taken by farsighted leaders like Moulana Abul Kalam Azad is as relevant today as it was in 1947. Allama Mashriqi of ‘Khaksar Movement’ had opposed the partition of India because he felt that if Muslims and Hindus had largely lived peacefully together in India for centuries, they could also do so in a free and united India. Allama Mashriqi had professed that the two-nation theory was a plot of the British to maintain control of the region more easily, if India was divided into two countries that were pitted against one another. He had reasoned that a division of India along religious lines would breed fundamentalism and extremism on both sides of the border. All that was feared and well documented by nationalist Muslim leadership of that time is proving true today. There is no need to go into the rise and reasons if Hindu fundamentalism in this article. Let us take up the issue of recent clashes between supporters of CAA - India’s new citizenship law and its opponents February 23. Many innocents have been killed and many more wounded in the ongoing violence. Videos and photos of the unrest show that those who were assigned the job to protect - the mermidians of law, behaved in some places like predators, the apparent sympathizers of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) is crafted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to allow the undocumented immigrants from three neighboring countries (Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan) to become Indian citizens provided they are Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Parsi, Buddhist or Christian. It has categorically excluded Muslims. Several secular and free minded citizens including Muslims are raising fears that it will be used to make many Muslims living in India stateless. No one could deny the fact that the National Register of Citizens (NRC), published in August 2019, excluded hundreds of thousands of Assamese Muslims. It is generally feared that these new acts are a signal that Muslims will be considered second-class citizens. For the last three months, thousands of Indians have been pouring into the streets to protest against the CAA. Ironically, the State Police and other arms of law have cracked down on protesters with unprecedented violence. At Jamia Millia Islamia University on December 15, 2020, scores of student protesters were brutally beaten and several of them sustained injuries. In that backdrop, the ongoing continuous sit-in peaceful protest began at Shaheen Bagh, Okhla, South Delhi that was led by women, Now 3 months have already passed. The protest inspired several similar demonstrations all over India and once for all, it lifted the pall of fear from the shoulders of Indians who were losing courage and hope against the tyranny of state. Credit goes to organizers of the Shaheen Bagh beacon that despite the worse of provocation and intimidation, it remained peaceful and democratic as well as syncretic. The government has been showing extraordinary insensitivity, indifference and arrogance and refuses to budge. At the same time, the protesters are also adamant and determined that without the repealing of these acts, they won’t give up. Things could gone and dragged for long but the bolt from the blue comes now that goes in favor of government. It is Corona Virus vector disease, an outbreak that has already killed more than 4,300 people and spread to more than 110 countries. In India, the number of positive coronavirus cases rose to 114 Monday after fresh cases were reported from Ladakh, Odisha, Jammu and Kashmir and Kerala. Meanwhile, in further travel restrictions, the government prohibited travel of passengers from EU countries, Turkey, UK to India from March 18. According to World Health Organization’s documents, Coronavirus disease (COVID – 19) is a new strain that was discovered in 2019 and has not been previously identified in humans. Coronaviruses are zoonotic, meaning they are transmitted between animals and people. Detailed investigations found that SARS-CoV was transmitted from civet cats to humans and MERS-CoV from dromedary camels to humans. Several known coronaviruses are circulating in animals that have not yet infected humans. Common signs of infection include respiratory symptoms, fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties. In more severe cases, infection can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure and even death. Standard recommendations to prevent infection spread include regular hand washing, covering mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing, thoroughly cooking meat and eggs. Avoid close contact with anyone showing symptoms of respiratory illness such as coughing and sneezing. Most of the sympathizers of Anti – CAA movement are advising that the protest should now transform itself into some other peaceful form. In solidarity with the nation and world, and keeping in view the dangers the humanity is facing, the Shaheen Bagh’s women should disband it. Their message has been well received by the Indians in particular and world in general. The Coronavirus Pandemic is a good reason for the protesting Muslim women at New Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh to end their 91-day sit-in. These women have already won their battle, More than 11 Indian states have passed the resolutions rejecting the new NPR format and the NRC exercise. It is no longer the time of poetry, impressive slogans, Facebook and Instagram posts, speeches and old rhetoric. The war of idealism is over in favor of their thoughts. The endgame is – Hum Kagaz naheen dikhayen ge. We will not show the documents. Amit Shah – the Home Minister has already promised on the Parliament Floor that there would be NO ‘D - mark” for any Indian citizen. And if he betrays the promise, you’re strong, resilient and smart enough to come back for another fight. I also don’t trust this government. We have no shortage of Scindias and gogois. There is galore of soul-vendors and little is left to be hoped for any positive outcome now at the ringing of bells at Jehangeery Tower. In these present set of circumstances, for the sake of health of all the citizens, the women of Shaheen Baghs must give a second thought to their next move. They can count their gains; they have already exposed the fault lines of Indian democracy. They have pulled the veneer away from the faces of fascists and they have already provided the platform for both the communities to come together and fight against the unjust rule. They are victors. The ball is in their court. Discretion is the better part of valor!……………………………………Naim Naqvi.

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We need to be patient and careful in face of Coronavoice Pandemic

At this juncture please do not exasperate and infuriate me with all religious prescriptions and about falling stars and heavens. My problem is created by politicians who, like dogs, are over-protective about the territories they have inherited; the industrialist who had destroyed this globe through mining and defoliated and denuded the green cover Mother Nature had provided; the religious leader who had isolated and sequestered the humanity in sects and ghettos to show the supremacy and dominance of one religion over another; my problem is the doctor who had forgotten the basics of his / her noble profession and became a money spinning machine; a teacher whose greed for money has destroyed the education system; a father who had taught nothing about the moral values and a rebel without cause who wants to see himself / herself on TV; and a judge who had sold the Justice to find the cushy sponges; a mother who has more time to visit the beauty parlor and handed over a mobile to a small kid so that she could find free time to enjoy. My problem is not an individual criminal or sinner. My problem is man-created-ecological-imbalance and human biological misadventures. My God is the God of redemption. He doesn’t avenge or take revenge! I am a sinner but I’ve also done a lot of good things. My God is a loving God who is not punishing us. He is preparing us for something unknown, unseen and far better. My God I love you!………I don’t need these silly options that these idiots are imposing upon me. I’m not a fool.

………………………………………….Naim Naqvi

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Only for the Senior Citizens:

I’m not an island.

My initial tutelage of the Holy Koran was undertaken by an elderly sister of my maternal grandfather. She was a widow, a very strict disciplinarian and knowledgeable who was willing to impart her wisdom to anyone who was interested to learn.

I can vividly recall some of the points that she had inculcated in my mind 55 years ago. Yes, I can vividly recall her stiff eyebrows, her face, her style of preaching and even the flow of discourse. But before that, let me refer a pagra that I’d read in an article some time back:

“Even in countries that are known for relatively stronger family structures, the elderly are increasingly getting short shrift. According to HelpAge India, most elders are ill-treated by their own children, who have emerged as the the largest group of perpetrators at 47.3 per cent of all cases of abuse!”

My Koranic tutor had told me that we must show our respect for all elders in society.

The Holy Koran says: “Thy Lord hath decreed that ye worship none but Him, and that ye be kind to parents. Whether one or both of them attain old age in thy life, say not to them a word of contempt, nor repel them, but address them in terms of honor. And, out of kindness, lower to them the wing of humility, and say: “My Lord! bestow on them thy Mercy even as they cherished me in childhood.”………………. Al-Qur’an 17:23-24.

Islam emphasizes about kindness, compassion, respect and sense of responsibility towards the parents.

Unfortunately, my father died when I was a small boy. I have had no chance to show for him all the gestures that I’d learned. I did what I could do to serve my mother though I know I could have done better if I’d cared to walk the extra mile. Time can’t come back.

Then afterwards, my life was consumed by society, household chores and job dances. However, as I myself began to look the other side of the horizon and there was renewed interest internationally in the plight of the elderly, I got to know a lot that I’d never thought to learn – the bitter realities of aging, life cycles and human behavior. I learned that:

…….Of course, the elderly have contributed much to society during their prior working years. Other than raising their children in the lap of luxury, security and education, they have contributed to taxes and put in money towards social life of the country to stimulate the economy. So, it is the current generation’s responsibility to contribute towards the care of the previous one.

……I was told at difference discourses, symposiums and think-tank gatherings that the elderly are a burden on society. Financially they are a huge drain and they wander around clogging up the pavements whilst striking up mindless conversation with cash machines.

……..I learned that it’s difficult to understand how it can be justified spending huge amounts on keeping people those alive who don’t have a chance to get better.

So…….I told them that the elderly have been through it all, they’ve seen it all. I’ve survived the big problems in my life as well and I’ve given the society a lot of great service and advice to use in its next-day life. I’m that honorable and wise individual who has a right to demand care and respect from society when I’m older.

…….They say, “No Sir, you’re wrong .The elderly put an economic drain on society. Medical costs and a growing number of pensioners are creating an unsustainable system. They don’t understand that there are millions of young men and women who are hanging around for a chance to work. Where the new generation that you’ve created would go? Jupiter?

I closed the door of my shared room for a moment and looked into the mirror. I tried to find out the truth behind the truth in that old mirror that had seen better days.

Then last week it was Coronoavirus that hit the humanity with unprecedented virulence. Thousands of people are dying and the most vulnerable among them are the senior citizens.

And the speech of the Defense Minister has put awe and fear into my psyche - a chill through my spine.

He feels that the key to defeating the global pandemic of coronavirus is isolating the elderly population.

“The most important thing… is to separate old people from younger people. The single most lethal combination is when a grandma hugs her grandson,” the right-wing politician said. “What we need to over the following period of time is take care of grandma and grandpa, but from far away. Lots of Whatsapps and Skypes and you name it.” “Bring them food, clean the box before you leave and then they take it into their house, but do not enter the house, do not hug them because you’re risking them” Bennett specified. According to Bennett, the few following months will see the rest of the population contract the virus – and the majority of the infected won’t manifest any symptoms or be aware they carry the disease. This way, the majority of the population would develop immunity to the virus, ending the epidemic.

His statement was a proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back to me. I asked my wife to make a decision to go our old home that’s still my property before the speech of Israel’s Defense Minister beckons justification for the new equations in our family. To die in rot alone is better than to die in humiliation while the crowd of indifferent humans looking through afar from the sterilized glass windows.

According to my wife, our children are brought up in a better way.

And I recalled my tutor who has enlightened me about a system of life that would disappear soon.

Is it already disappeared ???? ……………………Naim Naqvi

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Where the sirens or death are also transmuted into the music of Celebration.....

A day of ‘Show of insensitivity’….

Today’s 'Thali Bajao Celebration’ would be seen by the suffering Humanity all over the civilized world with pain, anguish, fear and surprise. There was absolute chaos as crowds were mingling on street; no heed to the looming dangers!

More than 15 security Jawans disappeared in Chattisgarh today. We’ve to mourn them also……………………and slave media channels are trumpeting the success of “Thali Bajao Event.”

How ironic, when the whole world was bellowing crying in pain afflicted by Coronavirus, the BJP was busy in toppling the functional government of Madhya Pradesh and the NDA juggernaut were organising celebratory gatherings.

No shame on you power hungry politicians! No shame for those who won adhering a secular ideology when they fought elections and cheated their mandates at the crucial moments.

No shame on facilitators and no shame on us who elect these characterless people to represent us…………..

Mother Earth, Mother India….I’m sorry! I’m helpless!…………Naim Naqvi

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Salutes to the Women Protesters of Shaheen Bagh !

It is a bitter reality that the Muslims of India have been put through the mill to show our “Desh Prem” for “Bharat Mata” since this RSS / BJP has captured power at the center, and states and there was nothing left in my intellectual treasure trove to recommend or tell to my new generation except work hard and hardest to excellence in every field they find themselves. Don’t waste time in non-productive pursuits. There is no substitute for EDUCATION. Knocking at other doors of country life would bring no fruits.

It was a stagnant life. Then all that drama of CAA to NRC snowballed and nation in its entirety was shrewdly made to forget the failures of leadership and hardship of daily life. The ultimate target of making India a “Hindu Rashtra” seemed very near to success.

And lo! Then appeared on the national scene a unique movement of Indian History since Independence:

The Sit-In Protest of Indian women at Shaheen Bagh.

Those who participated and endorsed this unique movement felt that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) made faith the basis for acquiring Indian nationality and it goes against the country's secular Constitution. They feel and fear that millions of Indians would be pushed to unknown and unforeseen hardships. And their apprehensions have a solid reason. A similar exercise in the north-eastern Indian state of Assam has resulted in exclusion of nearly two million people from the citizenship list (National Register of Citizens or NRC) last year.

While the BJP / NDA / RSS government says that the law does not discriminate against Muslims but is intended to help persecuted minorities from three neighbouring countries.

However, they have so far failed to respond to the charge that it blocks the naturalisation for Muslims when they would be unable to furnish the documents the state asks.

The protesters and their supporters of Shaheen Bagh were living on the road in a bitterly cold December, the coldest in over 100 years. They survived the the scorching heat and incessant rains and hailstorm. The temperature was dropping to as low as three degrees C, but people - many of them women accompanied by their young children - sat on carpets on the road all day, while men stood on the sides. They were calling:

"Save the Constitution. Save India." "Hum kyaa chaate hain?....AZADI."

Since this slogan that was raised at JNU sometime back it was heard again and became popular across the country. Of course, there were bold speeches and large murals, banners and posters denouncing the government and the law had filled the spaces around the protest venues. There were Indian flag everywhere, painted on people's faces, on street lights and in the hands of children and adults. The atmosphere was sullen but jovial also. There was no negativity. The protesters had unflinching faith in their act and even the brutal police crackdown on peaceful protesters at Jamia Millia Islamia students just a week earlier failed to dampen their spirits.

And the beauty of the movement was everyone to savor was that public and students from all faiths had been participating in it. There was a bubbling stream of intellectuals of India who were to register their presence at the dais. The fundamental idea was to stop the government from dividing people along religious lines.

On January 30, a gunman fired at a protest march near Jamia, injuring a student's arm. The attacker's Facebook profile showed he is a Hindu nationalist who supports the citizenship law. Just two days later, on February 1, another man opened fire at protesters in Shaheen Bagh, saying: "This country is not for everyone. It's only for Hindus." On Sunday night, two people on a motorcycle fired shots in the air in Jamia - the third such incident in four days. A week before, the Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs Anurag Thakur had condemned the Shaheen Bagh protests, leading chants of "shoot the traitors" at a BJP election rally in New Delhi.

Even earlier, Parvesh Varma, a BJP member of parliament from West Delhi, had told the people at Shaheen Bagh are "Muslims who want to take over India" and that they would rape and kill New Delhi residents. On Sunday, at least 100 government supporters gathered near Shaheen Bagh, chanting: "Shoot the traitors."

In Shaheen Bag, there was a tent offering free medical care. Hundreds of books were stacked up in tents serving as free book depositories.

It was all the answer that was emanating from Shaheen Bagh in response to hate speeches and "goli maaro" slogans. Friends of Shaheen Bagh, an informal collective, had put up bouquets of flowers near police barricade at Shaheen Bagh today.

In the air, there was an assurance of peace, a resolve and vision - "Everything can be resolved by dialogue."

A few yards away, a banner placed in the middle of the road, which connects New Delhi to the satellite city of Noida, read:

"Aao baithen, baat karen (come, let's talk)."

The government and the entire Right Wing of the India were nervous. They were failing to find a right response.

Then struck the Corona Virus. Section 144 was in place and the Arvind Kejriwal-led government announced a lockdown as a precautionary measure against coronavirus. Before this, a protest outside Jamia had been called off last week.

And today, the unique sit-in protest against the citizenship law, conducted mostly by women, had been on for more than 100 days has been shut.

DCP Southeast RP Meena said, “We had requested the protesters to leave in the morning due to the Coronavirus outbreak and the lockdown that has been imposed. They refused and action was taken. Violators have been detained and the site has been cleared.” Joint CP (southern range) Devesh Srivastava said that nine people, including six women, have been detained.

Shaheen Bagh Movement is disappearing from the road but its message would survive and Inspire for coming generations. It is leaving an indelible mark on the hearts and minds of unbiased Indians. It is another cultural movement that seemed to have threatened the established order. It has removed the fear of tyrants for ever. It was a dawn of pragmatism, a new philosophical school that followed the teachings of Mahatama Gandhi.

The Shaheen Bagh Movement has shown the way to discuss the national grievance in a peaceful atmosphere – without fear. Its message would echo in the historical and pragmatic schools around the globe.

Now, along with the CAA crisis, and in the event of victory of Coronavirus Pandemic, it is to be expected that the generous gestures will be made by the government and all this new threatening laws would be withdrawn and put to rest. Salutes to the protesters of Shaheen Bagh!

“In Kali sadiyon ke sir se jab raat ka anchal chalkey ga, Jab dukh ke badal pighlen ge, Jan amber jhoom ken ache ga, Jab Dharti naghmey gayegi, Who Subeh kabhi to ayeegee. .....................................................Naim Naqvi

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(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=av5tO3jPEOk)

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The fall of Indian Rupee against the US Dollar. Was it expected?

On 10th June, 2013 Chetan Bhagat, a well-known pen-pusher and Narendra Modi’s admirer had twitted:

“The rupee is collapsing and neither the economist PM nor the first family has anything to say about it.” 

On 21st March 2014 Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has twitted:

“It is refreshing to know that the rupee will get stronger at Rs.40/- per dollar if Modi comes to power.” 

There were other stars from RSS / BJP galaxy who were extremely distressed about the worsening economic situation in India as the rupee was falling against the US dollar. They were leaving no opportunity to take a dig at the Manmohan Singh government for not being able to check the ‘free fall’ of rupee against the dollar.

Shri Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, known for his creative one-liners, had said, “dollar ke DOLY pr rupaye ki rukhsati.—-Bharat NIRMAN bna dollar NIRMAN ”

All these minions aside, the new tribune of the party Shri Naredra Damodardas Modi himself had gone to extra lengths to embarrass Manmohan Singh on rupee’s devaluation. Some blistering barbs Modi had lobbed at the Manmohan Singh government in the run-up to 2014 when the currency had fallen.

One, Modi had said on June 12, 2012:

"The country wants to know, Prime Minister, what is the reason that the Indian rupee alone has been falling and falling against the dollar? I have clearly said this is not just for economic reasons, but your corrupt politics that has started from Delhi, that has a big role in this. I am making the allegation very seriously."

He had not stopped short of hitting the Prime Minister on personal level. The other statement by Modi was made in July 2013, when he wondered whether the falling rupee was approaching the age of Manmohan, who was 80 then.

Today, 1 US dollar is equal to 70.49 Indian rupees and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is learning the hard way that neither a spent arrow nor a spoken word can be taken back. He might have been a great harangue master-in-chief or great communicator but he has failed to manage the economy. The Indian rupee fell to an all-time low against the U.S. dollar amid worries that Turkey's growing financial crisis could spread to other developing-world economies. Indian Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chander Garg told reporters that there was "nothing at this stage to worry" about after the rupee reached 70.49 to the dollar earlier in the day. He said the dip resulted from "external factors." The rupee has lost about 8 percent of its value this year.

Let us recall the good old days when one Indian rupee was equal to 1 US dollar on 15th, August 1947. In 1966 when the rupee was devalued and pegged to the U.S. dollar at a rate of 7.5 rupees equal to 1 dollar. This value lasted until the U.S. dollar devalued in 1971.

 We all know that the word rupee comes from rupiya or “rūpaa”, a Sanskrit word which means silver coin or wrought silver. The rupee was first issued by Sultan Sher Shah Suri in the 16th century. And later this currency was continued by the Mughal Empire, Maratha era as well as in British India. Bank of Hindostan (1770–1832), the General Bank of Bengal and Bihar (1773–75, established by Warren Hastings), and the Bengal Bank (1784–91) issued the earliest versions of paper rupees in the Indian subcontinent. The rupee was subdivided into 16 annas when the British were ruling India and also during the first 10 years of independence. Each anna was subdivided into either 4 paisas or 12 pies. So one rupee was equal to 16 annas, 64 paises of 192 pies. In 1957, decimalisation occurred and the rupee was divided into 100 naye paise (Hindi/Urdu for new paisas). After a few years, the initial “naye” was dropped.

 The Indian rupee was the official currency of several areas which were governed or controlled by the British from India. These areas included East Africa, Southern Arabia, and the Persian Gulf. The Indian rupee was the official currency for a major part of the early and mid 2oth century.

As of January 9, 2008 1 US dollar was equal to 39.3 Indian rupees and as of January 9, 2013 1 US dollar was equal to 54.78 Indian rupees. (which is very close to new India favourite number 56).

The rupee is on a downslide and touched the 70.49 mark!

It doesn’t augur well for Indian economy. The poor Indian economy was recovering from the twin disruptions caused by demonetisation and hasty implementation of the GST. The Indian currency has already breached the 70.4 to a dollar-mark, which is a 15-month low. It is feared that the rupee will further weaken, depending on the northward movement of international oil prices, expected rise in the US interest rate next month and further deterioration in the geopolitical situation.

 Normally, the falling rupee should have propelled exports because of a significant price advantage to Indian manufacturers in the international markets. But, India is caught unprepared. It does not have either qualitative or quantitative edge over its competitors, particularly China. Therefore, only miniscule manufacturers like software and pharmaceutical industries would reap the benefits of the weak rupee. The jewellery exports would be the net losers as value additions mostly take place in imported inputs. This exposes the limitations of the “Make in India” slogan, which needs to be revisited with all seriousness. 

Our dreams of achche din could wait for some more time!

[naimnaqvi-blog]

Will the 1977 repeat itself in 2018 (as it appeared in Merinews - Oct7, 2017. We are being given to understand that four most important pillars of democracy work independently. However, the other day, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India told us that there are no pro-government judges and we took a sigh of relief. But the cluttering of allegations against these august bodies like CBI and CAG etc sends a shiver through the spine of the observant Indian. Even before the baseless allegation against the Election Commission about the glitches in EVM machines performance, we were used to take the words of EC in high esteem. In Focus On the following Wednesday, the Election Commission launched a web-based application, Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) network, aimed at efficient conduct of elections and said it would be "logistically equipped" by September 2018 to hold simultaneous polls for Lok Sabha and assemblies. The announcement by the poll panel came days after it issued a formal direction that VVPAT or paper trail machines will be used at polling stations in all future elections where polls are held using EVMs. "The Election Commission was asked by the Centre as what it would require for becoming capable of holding the parliamentary and assembly polls together. And that statement has set the alarm bell ringing for and early elections. They say – see rather smell how the wind blows! Pradhan Sevak, as he calls himself, Shri Naredra Modi is passing through a toughest period of this 3 point something political honeymoon as nothing except empty slogans seem to going his way. Most of the much tom-tomes schemes of NDA are coming as cropper. The hard liner CM of Uttar Pradesh is hell bent to highlight crude depictions of erotica of Khajraho as Indian culture and ignore the subtle and scented message of love that reverberates from the Taj Mahal. UP is stinking in crimes and corruption as never before. Girls are molested at the hostel of BHU in Varanasi. Children are dying in government hospitals. Even the smaller promise of covering the puddles and pot-holes of roads in UP have met the miserable flop. In Kerala, Amit Shah ran away with an excuse of PM's call as he found the crowd thinning for BJP is the most advanced and highly educated state of India. It seems the old RSS tricks are not yet gaining ground there. Out of desperation or a political gamble, as the situation is turning from bad to worse, early Lok Sabha election might be gifted or imposed upon the election-prone nation. And that reminds me of year 1977 when the magic of Indira Gandhi was dissolving in thin air. Bangladesh liberation war of December 1971 had become the part of history and a well-coordinated coalition of disgruntled anti-Indira elements had come together. An overconfident Indira Gandhi had declared emergency after her election to Rae Bareli had been challenged in court. As the tide turned against her, sycophants such as D K Baruah, who coined the phrase "India is Indira and Indira is India", made matters worse. J P's cry for Sampoorna Kranti or total revolution was gaining ground. A student and middle-class revolt in Gujarat combined with events in the north belt. All those events had dimmed the after-war glow and led to Indira losing control. On 23 March 1977, one of the greatest architects of modern India has lost decisively and historically. Mrs Gandhi had tendered her resignation today after acknowledging her defeat at the polls and declared that "the collective judgment of the electorate must be respected." The acting President, Mr B D Jatti, asked her to continue as caretaker Prime Minister until Thursday. Her son Sanjay who shared defeat with his mother in their home constituencies publicly apologised for his role in the electoral overthrow of the Congress' government. After resigning Mrs Gandhi entertained her official aides to tea. She had recorded a message to All-India Radio saying that "winning or losing of the election is less important than strengthening the country. "My colleagues and I accept the people's verdict unreservedly and in a spirit of humility." Sanjay Gandhi told reporters he was sorry if "what I did in my personal capacity has recoiled on my mother, whose life has been spent in selfless service." My readers must be well aware what Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shouri, the old guards of BJP have told the Indians about the present political scenario of the country. In UP, instead of building the better utility facilities for suffering masses they are planning to build a grand temple to aggrandize Naredra Modi. Only time will tell what sort of speeches Shri Modi ji, Shri Amit Shah ji or Shri Arun Jaitley ji (if he survives politically the cloud bursts of demonetisation and GST) would be making in 2018, if the election eventually falls in 2018.

[naimnaqvi-blog]

Emperor Babur - the Great Indian

DR N S Rajaram is a noted writer, who has published several books on topics related to ancient Indian history and Indian archeology. He has always felt the presence of Eurocentric biased undercurrents in mainstream Indology and the way history is taken in Independent India. According to him, “Its creators were driven mainly by European colonial and Christian missionary interests."  Further reference of the readers: ‘The Baburnama: Memoirs of Babur, Prince and Emperor’. Translated, edited and annotated by Wheeler M Thacktson, 1996. Oxford University Press: New York and London; 472 pages. Even Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru has said that the greatness of Babur lay not in capturing India but in capturing the hearts of Indians. Those who remember those stormy euphoric days before the destruction of Babri Masjid, they could still vividly recollect the funny provocative slogan- “Tel laga ke Dabur ka, nam mita do Babur Ka”. I don’t remember if the company that manufactures this oil raised any objection. That is the tragedy of India today that people, who don’t have time to read history and have the guts to connect Dabur with Babur judge the larger-than-life characters like Babur for us. Instead of enjoying his many adventures and achievements of his short (47 years only) life, people are misled into one belief that he was a mere iconoclast. In fact, amongst the rulers of Central Asia and India, Babur was one of the most colourful personalities.  Western historians and intellectuals, who usually have a stiff eyebrow over the snobbish corridors of history have spoken highly of him. He was an expert in the art of warfare and conquest and he was a noted literary genius, a writer of Uzbeki prose. He was ardent lover and admirer of poetry and fine arts. He wrote several books on prosody, music and the art of war. He is the inventor of a calligraphic writing even today known as Khat-i-Babri. Babur was born on February 14, 1483, in the town Andejan situated in the Farghana Valley. He was sixth in the line of Amir Taimur’s descendent, while his mother belonged to the family of the Mongol, Changez Khan. Babur’s mother was the pillar of Babur’s character and education. She was well versed with the literature of Turkish, Arabic and Persian and she could play lullaby for the future emperor form the folk songs. Babur was only 11 years old when his father died and he was declared his successor and ruler of the Farghana Valley. As a child he faced several challengers to the throne but successfully surmounted all of them. Babar’s education ended with his initial years of life as he found no second chance at it. Interestingly, he was least impressed with his childhood teachers. From the slew of resources I can sum up the history as follows: Mir Baqi, a nobleman of Babur's court built the mosque at Ayodhya in 1528. It was the custom of the time that most of the nobles used to implement things in the name of their king. The only source for these credits are the inscriptions on the mosque. In Babur's autobiography there is no mention of this. In Babur's memoirs he had been forthright where he mentions that he ordered the mutilation of the nude idols in Urwah Valley near Gwalior on the grounds of obscenity. Babur would not have failed to mention or hide the demolition of a temple had it been done on the grounds of religious conviction. There are doubts about his visit to Ayodhya itself. There are no contemporary accounts about this episode and one has to draw inferences from the fact that there is no mention of the demolition of any temple in any of the sources at that time. A medieval Persian chronicle, Ain-i-Akbari, written in the 17th century by Abul Fazl refers to Ayodhya as 'one of the holiest of places of antiquity'. It doesn’t mention any demolition and replacement of a temple by a mosque. Even Tulsidas, one of the greatest Ram bhakts of all time could not have missed this. He lived just a quarter of a century after Babur and it is totally unlike him not to have mentioned this had it taken place just 25 to 50 years before his time.

[naimnaqvi-blog]

Tuzkoy - the Cancer village of Turkey

TURKEY IS located at the crossroads of Europe and Asia which makes it a country of significant geo-strategic importance. Modern Turkey has a rich past. Today, it encompasses bustling cosmopolitan centers, pastoral farming villages, barren wastelands, peaceful Aegean coastlines and steep mountain regions. Its landscape is dotted with battlegrounds, ruined castles and the palaces of great empires.  This is the land where Alexander the Great slashed the Gordian Knot, where Achilles battled the Trojans in Homer’s Iliad, and where the Ottoman Empire fought battles that would shape the world. Tourists are mesmerised with its caves, rock houses and fantastical stone formations and fabulous history. More than 70 per cent of Turkey's population lives in urban areas that juxtapose Western lifestyles with more traditional ways of life. However, this beautiful country has an underbelly where the earth is believed to deliver death rather than riots of exotic flowers, orange blossoms and grapes. The people in Tuzkoy, a famous tourist spot, are dying or suffering from Mesothelioma - a cancer of the lining of the chest or abdomen. Nearly half of the deaths in this impoverished village are from this rare cancer. According to the experts the affliction is caused by a mineral that is found in abundance in the area. It is dubbed as ‘cancer village’. The number of cases of Mesothelioma in Tuzkoy has been about 600 to 800 times higher than world standards. The situation is so alarming that a relocation of all residents is under way. There is a plan to demolish the old village, bury it in 1-1/2 meters of earth and plant over it.The Turkish government hasn’t yet made a final decision on whether to bury Tuzkoy under dirt, pave over it with asphalt, or just try to keep people away. Tuzkoy’s inhabitants are believed to have inhaled fibers of the mineral erionite in stones and paints they used to build homes as well as in roads and fields. This mineral is found in volcanic rock and classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency on Cancer Research, the cancer arm of the World Health Organisation. The other carcinogens in that group include asbestos, arsenic and tobacco. Erionite is found in various parts of the world, including in the US state of Nevada but the cancerous material there is generally found far deep underground. Unfortunately it is very close to the surface in Turkey. People use the rocks which have erionite and build houses with them. However, people are also blaming to the lifestyle: “The people ... spend all day in smoke-filled coffeehouses,” said farmer Muharrem Sevim, a 44-year-old father of three. It sounds strange but there is only one doctor, one nurse and one midwife at Tuzkoy. There are two cemeteries in the village and both are full. They are now opening a third cemetery. Villagers make a living mainly from agriculture, livestock, and from a nearby salt mine.

[naimnaqvi-blog]

Freedom of Expression

LET US look at some simple facts about Kashmir history and thus will emerge some unanswered questions.  Before August 15, 1947, the Republic of India did not exist. Maharaja Hari Singh signed the instrument of accession on Oct 26, 1947. Why it took so long for the Maharaja to sign it? What was cooking in his mind? Was there no war of independence going against his dynastic rule in Kashmir when the rest of India was fighting for independence from the British Rule?  Why are the knowledgeable writers or speakers are ignoring the history of struggle of Kashmiri people against the Maharaja? And what is significance of this ten letter word plebiscitein our political jargon involving Kashmir? What did Atal Bihari Vajpayee promise while taking the initiative on Kashmir problem?  The problems in Kashmir are not law and order problems but political. We can’t wish away a problem in the name of patriotism. Those who support the maverick thinker-writer Arundhati Roy believe that muzzling the voice of reason can push the problem under the carpet. The demand of Azadi is a political challenge.  The term Azadi would become sedition if it’s accompanied by armed insurrection. On the other hand, if the demand is made peacefully, it can’t be called sedition. Arundhati Roy is echoing what many in the streets of Kashmir are saying for decades.  How many individuals are we going to incarcerate if they do not agree with the concept which, we feel correct that is of Azadi? To silence the peaceful voice of dissent is to suffocate the freedom of expression. There is a huge difference between sensible democracy and autocracy. We have to fight the slogan of Azadi with ideas and reason and not with brute power.  People like Arundhati Roy are safety valves for the Indian democracy and not the enemy of the nation. They have as much at stake as anyone else. We do not support the demand of Azadi as secession but we support the freedom of expression with peaceful means.

[naimnaqvi-blog]

What a fall IIT Roorkee

IIT ROORKEE is acknowledged as one of the best technological institutions across the globe. The need for a technological institution in the country was initiated by Sir James Thomason in 1847 as Roorkee College. Earlier in 1854, it was christened as Thomason College of Engineering until it was granted a University status by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru vide [Act No. IX of 1948 of the United Province (Uttar Pradesh)].  He presented the Charter in November 1949 elevating it to the first Engineering University. The University of Roorkee was converted to Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IIT-R) in 2001. Thus IIT Roorkee carries almost 150 years of history with it. The Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee is a trend setter in the field of teaching and research of modern sciences and technologies.  However, recently the students of IIT have taken creativity in fashion to sublime heights. As we know creativity is the process of producing something new, innovative and unique and the brilliant students have decided to take the help of ubiquitous LIPSTICK to discover the new frontiers of creative art ala-eroticism. They were competing with each other in the aesthetic art of make-up with the real lips of fair sex and with their explicit and implicit consent.  The argument is - as long as we are comfortable with the act what the elders or society has to do with it. World has gone too fast and the talk of traditions, culture or SANSKRITI is all moonshine. We are the harbingers of modernism and can’t carry on the extra load of anachronistic ideas.  According to Father of Indian Nation M.K. Gandhi "If wealth is lost nothing is lost. If health is lost something is lost. If character is lost everything is lost." Undoubtedly, creativity demands freedom and for real and radical creativity we need freedom; freedom to stretch their wings, explore, and experiment with new and innovative ideas. I would love to hear what the VC and Professors of this prestigious institution have to say to say in this experiment. We saw on TV screen the boys with lipstick dangling deftly between their lips and girls pleasantly enjoying the coloring of their lips within breathing distance. These smarties have given the real proud moments for their parents, their society and their country.  This is the knowledge they are gaining there. Finally we have arrived. There has been a revolutionary change in the field of values in our society due to many factors like influence of modern culture, industrialisation, modernisation, urbanisation, globalisation and multinationals. However, we can’t forget that our values are the guiding principles in our day to day behaviors as also in critical life situations. Values are a set of principles or standards of behavior.  Values are regarded desirable, important and held in high esteem by a particular society in which a person lives. Every action and thought of ours leaves an impression in our mind. These impressions determine our behavior at a given moment and our responses to a given situation. The sum total of all our impressions is what determines our character. Someone had said: 

"If there is righteousness in the heart there will be beauty in character. If there is beauty in character there will be harmony in the home. When there is harmony in the home, there will be order in the nation When there is order in the nation There will be peace in the world."

[naimnaqvi-blog]

Don't stop dreaming

THE RENOWNED Urdu poet Parveen Shakir has said: “Neend jab khwabon se pyaari ho to aaise waqt mein, Khwab dekhe koun aur khwabon ko de tabeer koun? (in times when we love to sleep, who would care to dream and give the sound interpretations).  I couldn’t agree less with her as I also believe that our gigantic and insurmountable problems of today are the product of our inability to dream. We have become too much of realist and we have stopped dreaming. Dreams serve purposes -sometimes known and often unknown. Religious authorities do have their own parochial style to describe and explain dreams while gnostic dream experts focus on the scientific approach of what causes dreams.  According to the famous dream analyst and author Craig Webb, "Usually we define a dream as an experience remembered upon awakening that comes through nonphysical channels. Basically, it is an altered experience we have when we are sleeping and that we remember when we wake. However, there are lots of other variations on the definition. Some people define dreams as life’s goals and wishes for the future. This is another way we use the word. There is actually a pretty direct link between the two because often we dream of great wishes and future hopes in our sleep. Dreams can be a pleasurable experience for many. In other cases, dreams can take on a horrifying manifestation in the mind. Whether you have a bad or good dream, both cause the body to recycle itself in a way.” Without going in to the complex psychological pedantics, let us consider the simple dream. It often acts as a leveler. In dreams we meet the people we hate; we feel the people we love - those who have been too far or too near but out of reach; we reach the places we have never seen; we solve the problems of real Mathematics and Physics. The panorama changes before we bat the eyelid. There is no charge on dreams. And when the things go bad to worst we see the hallucinations. Dream is the sum total where we integrate things we have consciously or unconsciously learn and experience during the day. Good dreamers are usually sound in health and a good dream improves the quality of our life. People often claim to meet the deities and get guidance through super-natural encounters. Unfortunately, the author has no such claims to make. Dreaming is must for a happy life. For that we have to construct a collage of our hopes and aspirations which lead us to the quality of life we want to live and kind of individual we want to become. Paint that collage with the ideals you want to follow and final shape of a useful human being you want to become. It is template for real life and there is no limit to your imagination. Aim as high as you want. Cut and paste from the lives of others. You are not at a cross with anyone here. Trust yourself, trust in your own goodness and be positive. Dreams become reality one day.

[naimnaqvi-blog]

President Obama Yes you can !

“Yes, we can !” ‘No, you can’t !” It’s a reminder of pathos we face every day. People love to abandon when we are in adversity. It doesn’t matter if it is of our own making or circumstances have heaped upon us. The difference between an ordinary man / woman and a statesman is the way we react. A great statesman would never allow himself to be the victim of circumstances for too long. He would gather his strengths and turn the direction of winds. Prez Obama is a victim of his own rhetoric and nefarious machinations of Zionists and Right Wingers of US politics.  Today Obama is a very lonely man. He is not shorn of all incumbent powers of a President but his admirers are abandoning his sinking ship in hordes. Even his closest admirers are saying: “This president feels flat — and somehow not quite genuine.” What is happening to this great of Twenty First Century ? Is he under a spell or caught in a deadly political slumber ?Whatever happened to his electrifying magic ? Today it brings an instant smirk on everyone’s face at the mention of Obama. His admirers are wondering and  feel let down and betrayed by their hero. Republicans, Neocons and recently burgeoned Tea Partiers who have been for his skin since he entered the White House from front door are rejoicing at his misfortunes. They do not hesitate even to call him dyed-in-the-wool Muslim. In fact they’ve  put him in the dock for their own sins. The corporations and big banks and vultures of the Wall Street are turning against him - the worst show of  rank ingratitude. Today they are cursing the same man who had bailed them out with the hundreds of billions of tax payers’ money. There is no love lost between Obama and the Muslim world wither. They are disillusioned with his message of hope and promise of change. Once he had fascinated and endeared himself to the Arabs and Muslims in his inaugural address in Ankara and Cairo with his idea of new relationship. He talked about the permanent stop of illegal Israeli settlement on Palestinian Lands. His abject failure to push Israel toward peace despite his ostensibly sincere efforts has brought frustration, cynicism and despair in Muslim masses. He is failing on Iraq and Afghanistan fronts.  He could have stepped back from the mess left behind by Bushes and Republicans to make a fresh start. He can still stand up and fight for the ideals and values he once championed. It is not too late and all is not lost. His ‘health-care reforms’ offering medical insurance to tens of millions of poor Americans  has great promise for every optimists. He can ask for a revisit by his countrymen at his stimulus package that has saved the US economy from a total free fall. Americans would we willing to reconsider that the mess on economic front is a result of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan also. Call back the American Forces from Middle East and save the tax-payers money. Oil would be available even from Iran if American Foreign Policy follows a more humanitarian approach. Dear President, we believe your heart is in the right place. Show courage to follow your convictions. There is nothing to fear !

[naimnaqvi-blog]

Fiddlers on the Knesset

IT COULD have been the case of ‘left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing’ if it didn’t involve Benjamin Netanyahu and his most powerful Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. "A final agreement between Israel and the Palestinians has to be based on a programme of exchange of territory and populations," Lieberman told the United Nations General Assembly in New York. And a quick repartee from the Prime Minister's Office "Lieberman's address was not coordinated with the prime minister," adding that "Netanyahu is the one handling the negotiations on Israel's behalf. The various issues surrounding a peace agreement will be discussed and decided only at the negotiating table, and nowhere else."  The Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman gives the impression that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is spreading illusions and silly talk about peace. There is no chance for a permanent settlement for a generation. According to FM ‘exchange’ populated areas and adjust the state to its correct size which means that the Arab citizens of Israel must be expelled to the Palestinian side of the border. He suggested ceding parts of Israel with large Arab populations to a future Palestinian state in exchange for Israel keeping large settlement blocs in the West Bank, a proposal which has been part of his party's platform. He said he expected the process ‘could take a few decades’.  Defenders or protégés of Prime Minister say, "Every time Foreign Minister Lieberman voices his skepticism about achieving peace, he undermines Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's credibility."  But the irony is that Netanyahu had never considered the views of Lieberman views as illegitimate and he didn’t chastise his foreign minister for the speech.  Does it not reflect that Israel is a country which doesn’t have a responsible coherent foreign policy?  For few weeks Netanyahu had been investing or pretending to do so with gusto to convince the leaders of the world that he is serious about peace with the Palestinians. He had asked them to ignore the resumption of settlement construction, and tried to convince Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas not to quit the negotiations.  Settlement have started and dozers and dumpers are trampling the land of helpless Palestenians. Israel is least worried about the legitimacy or world opinion.  Now the most senior diplomat of PM tells the world that it is all crap that Netanyahu is faking. Even worse: the foreign minister is implying that Netanyahu's demand that the Palestinians recognise Israel as a Jewish state is merely cover for the expulsion of Arab citizens. The foreign minister made it clear on Tuesday (September 28) that his political partnership with Netanyahu is coming to an end. Lieberman will not back the peace process, which he considers unnecessary and damaging. Those, who know the reality were never in doubt about the expected performance of power game and political circus of Israel. While President Obama is trying to show going for his image, the poor Palestinians continue to suffer under the yoke of cruel and belligerent occupiers. That proves the adage - Might is Right!