Mirza's Musings

Surya Namashkar 1-23-12

2012-01-23T08:06:00.000-08:00

From Sectarian to Multi-Religious Congregations

Mirza A. Beg

January 18, 2012

Indian Muslim Observer Jan. 23, 2012

http://www.indianmuslimobserver.com/2012/01/opinion-from-sectarian-to-multi.html

The article “Surya Namaskar, Fatwa and Muslims “, by my friend Mike Ghause (printed below- http://www.indianmuslimobserver.com/2012/01/latest-editorial-surya-namaskar-and.html) brought to my attention a rather juvenile endeavor by the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mr. Chauhan. He wants to congregate the largest assembly of worshipers, to garner a place in the Guinness book of world records, beating the record held by Kazakhstan. Mr. Chauhan has asked the schools to participate, perhaps because it is easy to assemble a large crowd by collecting obligated student.

Every one knows, certainly the Chief Minister of a state should know that a pluralistic society respects all religions equally. A call from the Chief Minister, the chief authority of the state with jurisdiction over the schools with multi-religious body of student is a form of coercion of students from other religions.

Apparently a respected Muslim Qadi (Legal Scholar) advised (Fatwa) that the bowing to any other entity except God is un-Islamic and the Muslim Students should abstain.

I substantially agree with Mike’s views in his article. I might add that the Indian democracy has come a long way, but has not matured enough. Often unnecessary small misunderstandings among different religious communities have been exploited by the sectarian interests to injure the cohesion of the communities. At times they deteriorate in riots and loss of innocent lives.

Press often unknowingly misconstrues the verbiage of religious leaders to mean what it does not. ‘Fatwa’ is one loaded word that evokes exaggerated sectarian passions. Unmitigated and ill-explained opinions even when right can sow unnecessary dissension.

As juvenile as the desire of the Chief Minister is to get into the Guinness book, it offers a teachable moment for our society particularly the youth. Some of the following is well known, but perhaps not fully understood in all its implications:

India is a Pluralistic Democratic Republic. It honors all creeds and their right to worship or not to worship. The government should not promote, impose or suppress any set of beliefs. Such a society works better when we as individuals also honor and respect the belief of others and try to understand them. And when religious scholars or jurists give their opinions on social issues they should be extremely careful in the nuances of their verbiage.

From my childhood my friends and I have worshiped in our own ways, but that did not stop us in participation in the religious festivals of others. It was that much more fun, it created deeper understanding of others and closer friendships.

I do not have Muslim, Hindu, Jain, Christian, Jewish, or friends with other prefixes, but have friends whom I value for who they are and for our unselfish bonds. They also happen to belong to many other religions and beliefs.

If he does hanker for a place in the Guinness book of world records, it would be a lot better if the Chief Minister Chauhan invites people of all religions to come together and offer prayers in their own traditions at the same place and the same time for the betterment and amity in the country and perhaps the world as Mike has suggested. What a grand spectacle and occasion of amity it would be. Guinness may even have to open another category for the Multi-religious congregation of worship.

Mirza A. Beg may be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com, His essays are available at http://mirzasmusings.blogspot.com/

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Friday, January 20, 2012

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LATEST EDITORIAL: Surya Namaskar and Muslim response

by IMO admin | January 20‚ 2012 at 2:55 PM 0 comments

Columnist Communalism Editorial Featured Interfaith Relations Issues Latest News Mike Ghouse Photo Gallery

By Mike Ghouse

The Surya Namaskar is a Hindu religious tradition, a beautiful act of bowing to the Sun and welcoming the first rays of dawn as an expression of gratitude to the energy it breathes in to life and everything about life.

India is a pluralistic society, where we have come to respect every which way one worships one, none or many representations of God. Even among Hinduism we have an amazing diversity of people who express their gratitude from no to an iconic to an abstract manifestation of that elusive creator.

The Chief Minister of the State of Madhya Pradesh, Mr. Shivraj Singh Chouhan called on the schools and the public to join him in the Surya Namaskar to beat the Guinness world record set by the Kazakhs who currently hold the world record in mass prayers. The intent of performing this act with a million people was not for spiritual need, but to get on the Guinness Book of World Records; a crazy passion of Indians.

At least Shivraj Singh Chouhan did better than Rick Perry, the governor of Texas who invited the evangelist exclusively to pray for the nation’s well being in a certain way to exclude all other Americans including Christians of different denominations. Indeed he duped the evangelicals in buying their support for his bid to the Presidency.

The Times of India reported that the city’s Chief Muslim cleric Qazi Abul Kalam Qasmi said, "Parents should take a call on sending kids to school, if there is apprehension that the child may be forced." The newly appointed Qazi maintained that Suryanamaskar, which involved 'bowing before the sun', was against Islamic tenets. "If a Muslim performs the 'suryanamaskar' the child and his parents would both be accountable in the act of felony." Qasmi maintained.

Indeed, the Qazi is right; it is not an Islamic practice to bow to any manifestation of God, but the God himself the non-visible energy. Everyone should have the freedom to pray or not pray in certain way and no one should compel or look down for not participating. That is our pluralistic ethos for over 5000 years and we need to be loyal to that heritage.

An alternate way to look at the opinion of the Qazi would have been to participate in the group act, but do it in a way that works from an Islamic point of view. This would have meant that we are all in this together for a better India and better place to live cohesively. However, no one should expect everyone to jump and do what they do. It would have been a good example of working together without compromising our faith.

Prophet Muhammad had led mass Prayers for rain and famine and for other goodness of the society. Two years ago, I was planning on going to Florida and witness a pastor burn the Quraan, if he was indeed burning, I was going to pray my two Rakat (unit) Nafeel Muslim prayers next door to his Church in an open space with prior permission from the City. We all would have prayed for his well being along with several fellow Muslims. Burning Quraan was not an act of bravery but stupidity and countering it with anger would have been greater stupidity. Unfortunately he postponed his act and I had a 9/11 Unity Day event the next day in Dallas as well.

There are examples set by Prophet Muhammad for situations like this. While he was travelling to Taif, a few miscreants pelted rocks at him causing him to bleed, his associates wanted to go get the boys, but Prophet stopped them and instead asked them and the Angel Gabriel to join him in prayers and pray for their well being. This is what Jesus meant when he said, turn the other cheek.

Prophet Muhammad was the ultimate peace maker, every act of his is a model for us to learn from, and he was the consummate conflict mitigater and goodwill nurturer.

When we attend weddings, some of us are strictly vegetarian and some eat variations of meat products from fish and poultry to beef. We wear different clothing’s and drink a variety of sodas to coffee with cream or black and same goes with the tea. Do we have a problem with that? Then we should not have the problem with this either as long as the Chief Minister is not getting his wish at the cost of public funds.

The right wingers among us need to honor Muslims, Christians, Jains, Sikhs and Hindus for their choices and each minority should not take this as an imposition in a free society. Nor any one should be negative if one does not participate.

May Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s dreams to solidify his political stand come true and those who are opposed to him politically can also hold a Chandra Namaskar to get what they want, but together, let Madhya Pradesh go on the Guinness book of world records. Bengal or any other state has a choice to out do it as well.

[Mike Ghouse is committed to building cohesive societies where no Indian has to live in anxieties, discomfort or fear of the other. He is a frequent guest at the TV, radio and print media offering pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. His work is indexed at www.MikeGhouse.net and his current articles at www.TheGhousediary.com. Mike Ghouse is now associated with IndianMuslimObserver.com as Foreign Editor. He can be contacted at MikeGhouse@aol.com]

Corruption - India 11-01-26

2011-08-26T09:44:00.000-07:00

Rooting-out Corruption is Good, but

Parallel Government is Injurious to Democracy

Mirza A. Beg

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Indian Express, Delhi, August 26, 2011

http://blogs.expressindia.com/showblogdetails.php?contentid=837637#

Milli Gazette, Delhi, August25, 2011

http://www.milligazette.com/news/2136-india-rooting-out-corruption-is-good-but-parallel-government-is-injurious-to-democracy

Anna Hazare has captured the imagination of the Indian body politic. His clarion-call to end the exponentially growing, endemic corruption in India has been reverberating and gathering supporters with each passing day. The news media in India has become his megaphone.

The corruption has been increasing over the decades in magnitude as well as pervasiveness. The developing economy, increasing disposable income of the middle class and much larger workforce provide more opportunities for bribes. At the top levels of the government the bribes have grown from thousands to tens of millions of Rupees.

On my visits to India, I enjoy asking probing social and political questions in conversations with a wide spectrum of very friendly and talkative fellow travelers. Everyone is against corruption as a simple nebulous principle. But the answers get clouded and muddled when it benefits their lives.

The Indian Government finally realized that the evil of corruption has reached the tipping point and drafted a legislation to create an independent office of Lokpal (ombudsmen) to watch over various agencies with independent, but limited authority. It would have the power to investigate. Based on evidence, it would recommend and direct the judicial system to take action. Obviously it would take time for such a system to mature and work. Unfortunately the judicial system is not beyond corruption either.

The office of Lokpal would be similar to the office of the Election Commissioner, which has worked rather well, notwithstanding all the ills of the society. Indian elections are by and large fair and have successfully changed the government many times.

Yet the corruption at all levels including the legislature has grown, because the most important driving force for voting for a candidate is not honesty, but sectarianism – a substantial majority votes based on religion, cast and regional advantages. Political parties put up candidates based on these considerations. Once elected, they distribute economic largess as well as jobs and contracts to their most important supporters and casts in their constituency. Ironically, it is not considered corruption by a large majority of the populace.

Anna Hazare and his companions proposed a much stronger and aggressive office of the Lokpal (ombudsman). They insist that all the branches of the government would be under its authority including the Prime Minister. It would have independent police and judicial powers. In effect, it would be akin to a parallel unelected government, and would have minimal check on its authority.

When aroused, people like simple and fast remedies. Anna Hazare’s remedy of cut ting the Gordian knot in one strike is simplistic and very appealing. To force his ideas on the government, he first threatened and then took up a fast unto death. It sounds enticing, especially coming from a person who has put his life on the line and has a long record of service to the poor and personal honesty.

Taking advantage of the situation, all sorts of people have jumped on his band wagon for their own purposes, while many opposed to him have unearthed records, where he appears to have supported unsavory ideas and people. Many in the minority community want to join him but are weary of some of the Anna’s unsavory backers. No one is perfect, and he has some explaining to do.

I applaud his taking a stand and galvanizing the placid electorate to demand reform. One needs to look at it not from sectarian perspective, but a long range national perspective. Means and ends should be carefully considered. They do matter. Democracy is not easy to nurture. A system that changes with the changing wind of public opinion does not last very long. An unaccountable parallel government is an idea fraught with danger. Impetuously designed laws with the best of intentions have unintended consequences. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

That is why most stable democracies have a bicameral legislature, so that a part of the legislature, called the upper house or senate --is protected from the immediacy of the impetuous public emotions.

Democracy by its very nature is inefficient. The system of checks and balances is an impediment to quick solutions of long festering social problems. Simplistic and draconian solutions against an evil are easy to understand and support. Anna Hazare has projected himself as a leader in the Gandhian tradition. But there is a difference.

Gandhi Ji agitated and fasted to give voice to the people, against an unelected imperial colonial government. Hazare is holding hostage, a legitimately elected government of the people. With his popularity growing by the day, the government is being held on ransom with a false choice of Hazare’s bill or widespread chaos.

In a democracy, the government is only as good as the people vote for. If the electorate really wanted honesty and integrity, they could have voted for them as beacons. But they did not, they vote for personal aggrandizement on the basis of cast etc. Impetuous quick solutions often bring unintended consequences. Thoughtful people should take time to bring in change without injuring the constitution and the essence of democracy. The start has been made to check corruption. Anna Hazare should compromise to get a good bill instead of throwing the country in to chaos.

Mirza A. beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com or mirzasmusings.blogspot.com

Bigotery in Election 11-6-20

2011-07-11T12:53:00.000-07:00

Republican Debate - Stealth Agenda of Gingrich and Cain

Mirza A. Beg

Saturday, June 20, 2011

Counter Currents June 23, 2011

http://www.countercurrents.org/beg230611.htm

Media Monitor Network, June 23, 2011

http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/87349

Tuscaloosa News, Sunday, June 26, 2011

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20110626/NEWS/110719975

OEN OpEdNews.com, June 28, 2011

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Republican-Debate--Stealt-by-Mirza-Beg-110624-554.html

The Republican debate of June 13^th moderated by John King of CNN was generally a collegial affair. It was essentially a “Knock Obama” rally, with understated minor differences among the candidates.

Except, when CNN moderator John King asked former Godfather Pizza magnate, Harman Cain, “You recently said you would not appoint a Muslim to your cabinet and you kind of backed off a little bit and said you would first want to know if they’re committed to the Constitution. You expressed concern that, quote, “a lot of Muslims are not totally dedicated to this country.” Are American-Muslims as a group less committed to the Constitution than, say, Christians or Jews?”

Cain backpedaled a bit and said,” I would not be comfortable because you have peaceful Muslims and then you have militant Muslims, those that are trying to kill us. And so, when I said I wouldn’t be comfortable, I was thinking about the ones that are trying to kill us, number one. Secondly, yes, I do not believe in Sharia law in American courts. I believe in American laws in American courts, period. There have been instances –“

John King turned to other candidates and asked their views on the subject. Some candidates were uncomfortable, but not former speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich.

Trying to resuscitate his dying campaign, stridently he said, “Now, I just want to go out on a limb here. I’m in favor of saying to people, if you’re not prepared to be loyal to the United States, you will not serve in my administration, period.” He added “We did this—we did this in dealing with the Nazis and we did this in dealing with the communists. And it was controversial both times, and both times we discovered after a while, you know, there are some genuinely bad people who would like to infiltrate our country. And we have got to have the guts to stand up and say no.”

For those who do not know, Gingrich was approvingly referring to the Red baiting campaign of early 1950s by the Republican senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin and his cohorts. It has been widely condemned as the most shameful period in modern US history. It lives in infamy as McCarthyism. As Gingrich says, there were “some genuinely bad people”- but it is opposite of the way he construes. The bad people were, Senator McCarthy and his minions, who maligned and tried to destroy decent Americans by innuendos, as Gingrich does.

Yes, a few Muslim citizens have engaged in terrorism against the US, but an overwhelming majority of Muslims are productive and loyal citizens. It is no secret that Muslim bashing is popular among some in the Republican Party. They conveniently forget that some of the plots were thwarted by Muslims contacting the police.

Sadly not one candidate on the podium admonished Cain and Gingrich, as they would have, if such a sweeping statement was made to malign other minorities such as Jews or Blacks. Even sadder yet, it did not elicit much comment in the popular media either.

Not too long ago some Republicans did stand up to challenge such remarks, but the party has changed.

In 2007 Republican debates, while others remained quiet, John McCain condemned Mitt Romney’s remark that he will not appoint any Muslim to his cabinet. McCain said, “I’m proud of the Muslims who are currently serving in the United States armed forces and my sense is that if they can serve in that manner, they can serve in any position of responsibility in America.”

In December 2002, an intemperate remark by Senator Trent Lott cost him the leadership of the Republican Party in the Senate. Celebrating the 100^th birthday of South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond, Senator Trent Lott, the Republican leader in the Senate said, “When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We’re proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn’t have had all these problems over the years, either.”

Those remarks were construed as racist, because in 1948 Strom Thurmond broke with the Democratic Party on the issue of enforcement of civil rights legislation and ran for the Presidency as a State’s Rights Party candidate.

The US Constitution is secular. Thankfully our laws are not based on religious preference. Although when not in conflict with the civil laws, in some jurisdictions it has accommodated people, who by mutual agreement wanted their personal disputes settled by arbitration by religious tribunal. Courts have enforced the result of such arbitration in case of Jewish, Mormon and other religions as in contract law.

The spurious injection of Sharia in the debate is a “Red Herring” to divert attention and garner cheap popularity from the considerable weight of the xenophobic wing of the Republican Party. There is no monolithic Sharia law. These laws were developed by different schools of thoughts in the 9^th century to check the creeping autocracy of the rulers. They are open to debate, and have evolved on diverse lines through the ages.

The irony is that most rightwing Republicans are opposed to the idea of separation of “Church and State” notwithstanding the first amendment. That is why Rev. Pat Robertson found so much traction in the Republican primaries in the 1980s. Rev. Charles Kimball writes in his book, “When Religion Becomes Lethal “ that Ralph Reed, the head of the Christian Coalition, famously referred to the practice of running “stealth candidates” where the radical agenda would be hidden from voters by focusing on hot button issues such as abortion or homosexuality. By the time the voters knew what victorious candidate really advocated, they would not know what hit them.

Some of the 2012 Republican aspirants are not much different. Some want the United States to be under the Biblical laws, while others in an effort to dupe them are stealthily raising a bogus threat from the Sharia laws. To protect all, multi-religious as well as irreligious citizens, would it not be better to, honestly adhere to the principle of “Separation of Church and State”, no lying, no ifs and no buts?

Instead of the loyalty test for ordinary law abiding citizens of any faith or no faith, the electorate should reject stealth candidates whose support for the US Constitution is dubious. If elected they would have to take the oath of office with fingers crossed.

Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com or at http://mirzasmusings.blogspot.com/

Egypt Uprising 11-2-2

2011-02-04T12:31:00.000-08:00

Uprising in Egypt – Country at the Cross Roads

Mirza A. Beg

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

The Tuscaloosa News Wednesday, February 2, 2011

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20110202/NEWS/110209918

The American Muslim, Wednesday, February 2, 2011

http://www.theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/uprising_in_egypt_country_at_a_cross_roads/0018368

Media Monitors Net, Wednesday, February 2, 2011

http://world.mediamonitors.net/Headlines/Uprising-in-Egypt-Country-at-the-Crossroads

Cross Currents, Wednesday, February 2, 2011

http://www.countercurrents.org/beg010211.htm

Inspired by the spontaneous revolution in Tunisia, thousands of young Egyptians took to the streets in Cairo on January 25^th 2011, congregating in Tehrir (Liberation) Square. A 20^th century dictatorship was overwhelmed by 21^st century technology. Facebook and Twitter facilitated instant communication to overcome the government censors. Their protest against poverty, unemployment and government corruption erupted as a peaceful revolt against the thirty years of autocratic rule of President Hosni Mubarak. In unison they demanded Mubarak to leave.

Eighty-two year old Mubarak, caught by surprise sent his family to England, shut off the Internet and imposed a curfew. He employed his usual means to suppress the peaceful protesters by sending the feared police and Special Forces. Police used water cannons, tear gas and rubber bullets, but to their surprise they could not intimidate as in the past. It was reported that about a dozen protesters were killed. This simply made the protesters even more determined and the crowd grew even larger and at places the police were overwhelmed and even beaten.

Out of fear, or as a matter of policy, the hated police were withdrawn on the third day and the army was called out. Some damage to the government buildings was reported, including the world famous Museum of Antiquities. Looting of richer neighborhoods by nefarious miscreants is widely believed to be the act of agent provocateurs and the police, to discredit the peaceful revolution.

The military is one of the most respected and egalitarian institutions in Egypt. People welcomed the soldiers in their tanks and armored carriers as protectors. They did not interfere with the peaceful protest. It was amazing to see protesters joyously riding on the tanks along with the soldiers.

Three days later Mubarak reconstituted his government, appointing a Vice President for the first time. Omar Sulaiman, the new Vice President is respected in some US circles, but the Egyptians know him as the former intelligence chief known for his role in torture of prisoners, particularly in the US extraordinary rendition-for-torture program. Mubarak also replaced the Prime Minister. and the police chief.

Though the spontaneous revolution started with the young, gradually men and women of all ages and people of all political leanings have joined in. On Tuesday the 1^st of February, millions of Egyptians marched throughout Egypt, demanding Mubarak’s resignation with sporadic anti US slogans for the long US support for Mubarak. The newly appointed Vice President Sulaiman has offered to meet the leaders of the revolution to discuss ways to proceed with the reforms.

The army has announced that it would patrol to protect people and property, but would not fire on peaceful protest, confirming that Mubarak’s weakening power.

Though the revolution was spontaneous and leaderless, gradually Egyptians from all shades of the political spectrum, including the Muslim Brotherhood and the Communists have coalesced behind an internationally respected figure, El Baradei, a 2005 Nobel Laureate and former Director General of International Atomic Energy Agency.

Western governments, especially the United States were also caught flatfooted. Secretary of State Clinton’s first statement was insipid, but by the second day the US administration could read the writing on the wall. Obama strongly urged Mubarak to respect people’s right to peaceful protest and asked for the restoration of the internet connections. He also diplomatically threatened Mubark to behave or jeopardize the annual largess of one and a half billion dollars.

The US has traditionally considered Egypt as one of the most important allies in the Middle East for four reasons. First - Egypt is by far the most populous Arab country. Second - The US considers it a bulwark of peace with Israel. It provides enormous leverage to Israel’s occupation and activities in the occupied Gaza and West Bank. Third - After 9/11, Egypt has toed the US line in the war on terrorism, to the extent that it was one of the most important destinations for torture of “extraordinary rendition prisoners” in the Bush administration. And fourth – Suez Canal is a strategic passage for oil and commerce for Europe.

The nervousness in the US is understandable. The Obama administration is very carefully playing its cards. The US realizes that the era of preaching democracy and supporting dictators in Latin America, Middle East and Asia is over. The much-maligned Wikileaks expose, though embarrassing, shows that the US did urge dictators like Mubarak to ease up on the draconian laws and move towards democracy. It has not gone un-noticed among the intelligentsia in the Middle East and it bodes well for the future of US standing among the people in the region and puts potentates on notice. But the average Egyptian does not consider the US to be a friend. Obama administration needs to be more proactive and on the right side of the unfolding history.

Israel is naturally terribly concerned and considers Mubarak to be a close ally. NPR has reported that it is strongly encouraging the US and others to fully support Mubarak.

Leaders of most of the important parties, especially El Baradei have emphasized that they would honor all treaty obligations, including the peace treaty with Israel. In a democratic Egypt the government would be answerable to its people and would not be pliant to the US policy towards the Palestinians, and would not support Israel’s strangulating blockade of Gaza as Mubarak has. This would bring greater urgency to the peaceful solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and give impetus to the US efforts.

Obviously a major change in the power equation cannot be fully predicted. It poses new challenges and new opportunities. No one doubts that democracy with all its problems and flaws has proven to be a better form of government. It takes time to take root and find its stride.

Some in the West are afraid that Egypt would follow the example of Iran. It is based on ignorance of history as well as geography. The Iranian revolution sprang against a tyrant that suppressed Islam. As it unfolded, instead of looking to the future, the US and Iranian policy makers became prisoners of their past, rooted in the1953 US interference in suppressing the budding democracy in Iran.

Egyptians have no such history. In 1956 Eisenhower forced the withdrawal of the tripartite invasion of Egypt by Britain, France and Israel. To its credit Obama administration has carefully supported the right to peaceful revolution. Though the death toll has reached more than hundred, a whole-sale suppression has not occurred because of a blunt US warning to Mubarak use of force on peaceful demonstrators will not be tolerated.

If handled with care democracy in Egypt is more likely to follow the Turkish model. The Muslim Brotherhood since 1960s has abjured force and has followed political means under an oppressive dictatorship. It is more akin to the Christian right in the US than the theocratic clergy in Iran. Though in a new democracy respect for constitution needs time to take root.

Democratic Egypt would be a positive force in bringing democracy to countries that have educated populations with large-scale unemployment and poverty, such as Syria, Algeria, Jordan, Yemen, and Sudan. The Gulf Countries and Saudi Arabia have small populations rich because of petro-dollars and would not follow the current wave of revolutions.

Egyptians are a proud people with a five thousand year of great history, and one of the best-educated young generations in the Middle East. Two years ago when I was in Cairo, I talked to Egyptians from a broad cross section of generational, educational and economic and religious background. They were friendly talkative and inquisitive. They talked about everything under the sun, but could not voice opinions on their government. Liberation is in the air and Egyptians have found their voice.

Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com and comments may be posted on mirzasmusings.blogspot.com

Islamic Center NY 10-9-10

2010-09-10T10:26:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,

Some of you have asked for my opinion on the contrived Islamic Center controversy. Thanks for asking, I dedicate it to your valuable friendship. If you find it worth reading please forward it to your friends, if you find flaws in it please educate me.

This essay reflects my deeply held views of the baser instincts in us that are prone to political exploitation of religions. An ignoble Florida pastor made to the front pages by his holding the US and all decent people, Christians and Muslims, hostage to the fear of repercussions of his action. I decided not to include him in the essay, because I do not want to add even a modicum to the publicity he seeks. Thanks and warm regards,

Mirza

_____________________________

Contrived Controversy - Islamic Center in New York

Mirza A. Beg

September 9, 2010

The Tuscaloosa News - Sunday, September 12, 2010

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20100912/NEWS/100919917

Media Monitor Network- Saturday, September 11, 2010

http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/78158

Two Circles Network – Saturday, September 11, 2010

http://twocircles.net/2010sep11/contrived_controversy_islamic_center_new_york.html

Indian Muslims – Monday, September 14, 2010

http://indianmuslims.in/contrived-controversy-islamic-center-in-new-york/

Almost everyone except a minuscule minority is born to their religion and adheres to the social traditions of their culture. Religions may preach unity to their flock but give-in to sectarianism. The sects roughly fall into two cerebral groups.

At the upper end a thoughtful and introspective minority that considers humility and service to humanity as the essence of their being and the calling of their religion. At the other end the narrow-minded who consider their creed to have been chosen by God for domination and use selected passages from their scripture in zealous pursuit of political power.

In the middle lives a large majority of usually kind and decent people too busy in the chores of living to think critically the morality of their social setting. They follow religious rituals and usually admire the first group, but succumb to the propaganda of the second in traumatic times.

In dictatorial or feudal regimes the first group is persecuted and the second latches on to power and thrives. In democracies, the first group may draw people to a higher vision, but suffers the onslaught of unethical propaganda by the second, especially during elections in stressful times.

After eight long years of mismanagement, two wars of hubris and a complete economic collapse, the US electorate in the elections of 2006 and 08 threw the Republicans out of power. In the last year and a half the economy has been stabilized, but the jobless rate is still very high, the electorate is not happy. With this backdrop and the trauma of 9/11, the drummed up controversy and misinformation about the Islamic community center two blocks from ground zero in New York follows this pattern.

In the last two months opposition politicians with the help of pundits on the anything, but “fair and balanced” FOX news and talk radio have kept up the drum beat of misinformation and half truths about the Islamic Center. Unsurprisingly, there has been a gradual rise in anti Islamic Center opinion along with anti Muslim feeling in the ephemeral public opinion polls. Many local right wing groups have latched on in opposing Islamic centers in many smaller communities as well.

The fear mongers have found a more potent propaganda, better than the perennial illegal immigration that simmers on the back burner to be resurrected in elections. Even better than the invented new twist of a few months ago, “the Anchor Babies”, implying that people come to US to deliver babies to cash in years later, the eventual right of citizenship under the US constitution.

Muslims should not be disheartened at this turn of events. Immigrants in the past have been subjected to much worse. It is part of the endemic struggle between the idea of the great democracy that the founding fathers envisioned and the drag of the baser human tendencies.

The United States of America came into being as a democracy drawing on the high ideals of enlightenment. Yet the full implementation of the ideals in the constitution took another two centuries to unfold. The genius of the US constitution is that it guides and allows progress, evolving with the needs of times.

The drag of the baser part of our history is well known, the massacre of Natives, the horrible legacy of slavery, the ethno-religious persecution of Jewish, Catholic - Irish and Italian immigrants, and the indigenous Mormon. The exploitation and persecution of imported Chinese and Japanese laborers in the 19^th century is also a part of the same exploitative fabric.

The nation gradually evolved to reject these, once accepted practices. In hard economic times and in times of war it often regresses, but eventually it re-discovers its moorings. It takes time, often a long time. Blacks were forced to immigrate in chains and were kept in political chains up to the 1960s, until the passage of the Civil Rights legislations. During the hysterical fear of the “new age religions” of 1970s and 80s, charlatan “deprogrammers” made a lot of money preying on the fears of the parents whose children opted to experiment with new trends in thoughts. The current anti Muslim propaganda too shall pass.

So the present anti Muslim propaganda is not surprising. What should be celebrated is that in the wake of 9/11 the administration arrested about 1,200 innocent Muslims; justice prevailed and none of them were found guilty. However in the last three years some Muslims have indulged in reprehensible acts and are legitimately being brought to justice. There have been many attacks on Islamic centers and Mosques by the cowardly religious miscreants, but the law is actively pursuing justice.

Though right wing propagandists have succeeded in corrupting the public mind to gain about sixty percent support, it is a great tribute to the US democracy that about thirty to forty percent have not succumbed to the knee jerk reaction. Many Pastors, Rabbis and most editorials in the newspapers and commentary sections have decried this assault on the first amendment. It is a very high index of sanity in difficult times in any country. The founding fathers took special care to check the tyranny of the insidious emotional gullible majority by requiring two thirds majority in the Senate and ratification by three-fourths of the states to change the constitution.

It is important to realize that bigots on all sides are equally reprehensible. Each side considers the nameless, faceless bigots on the other side to be despicable propaganda figures. While the bigots on their side to be human beings who love their children and are good neighbors, therefore are more easily swayed by their rhetoric. In wars of supremacy each side succumbs to those who misuse religion and yields leadership to the most despicable charlatans among them.

The soul of the US resides in its strong and just constitution. Those with baser attitudes are a blight that infects all societies. Unlike many other countries, the US democracy has weathered them for more than two centuries, and has consistently been on an upward humane trajectory, respecting and celebrating the diversity and aspirations of all its citizens. Muslims in the United States know it and they have a lot to learn and contribute to this great nation of immigrants. When things are going well it is easy to be good, the real test of character is to be just and balanced when one’s own ox is being gored.

Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com, or at his blog http://mirzasmusings.blogspot.com/

Comments:

___________________________________________________

Mirza,

The ground zero mosque debate can be boiled down to a single issue - compassion. If there are so many families affected by the 9-11 attacks and so many of them opposed to the location of the mosque, then isn't it simply the compassionate thing to do to move the mosque?Even if there are but a few families that had love ones die on 9-11 that wish for the site to be moved, isn't that alone reason enough? Regards,

Casey Sears

-----------------

Casey,

Thanks for your thoughtful note. It is easy to be for your sentiments, and I join you. If people, particularly those with power and resources, are really serious it can and should be achieved. I have heard different opinions from the loudest voices such as Bill Oreily to Newt Gingrich that it should be moved to at least 4 blocks to 10 blocks from ground zero.
As you would realize, it can be achieved if a similar property could be found as an almost even swap. I have not heard from any one a plausible proposal. If they really are honest in their expression, they should try to facilitate what they propose; this will put their criticism on solid ground and worth serious consideration. Thanks again,
Mirza

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Dr. Siras Suspended! 10-02-22

2010-03-02T10:43:00.000-08:00

The Suspension of Dr. Siras For Moral Turpitude
Misconstrued Collision Of Principles

By Mirza A. Beg

22 February, 2010
Countercurrents.org

http://www.countercurrents.org/beg220210.htm

Dr. Shrinivas Ramchandra Siras, reader and chairman of Modern Indian Languages at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) was suspended for the moral turpitude of consensual homosexuality within the privacy of his home.

From early reports, is seems that the suspension of Dr. Siras may be quite popular. Religions do not agree on all moral principles. That is the reason for adoption of a secular constitution in a pluralistic democracy. If popularity was the yardstick of morality, some of the minorities would have no place in states dominated by sectarian forces in India. The essential questions are, was Dr. Siras flouting his life-style; was the evidence procured by legal means, admissible in a court of law and if not, should the illegally obtained evidence of “sin” be prosecutable in secular courts?

There are many principles, religious and secular at stake here, and they are not in conflict.

1. In most religions homosexuality is considered to be a sin, condemned by the society. Though homosexuality has always existed in all societies, but by and large has been tolerated as a private matter, if not flouted.

2. Blind Puritanism is discouraged, because it leads to widespread intolerance and discord. Religions and societies choose equanimity in social discourse for stability and peace.

3. Islam enjoins believers to respect the inviolable privacy of home. Muslims are enjoined not to gossip or brazenly expose private failings of others. Muslims are exhorted to be introspective and tolerant with humility in the belief that God is the ultimate all knowing judge. Social responsibility is to condemn only lewd public behavior.

4. Democracy and civil society also follow this Islamic principle. Private behavior and public acts are separate realms. Violation of privacy of the home is against the law. Even the state may not search a home, without a warrant from a judge.

The idea of tolerance and personal space is not a western import, Indian and most eastern cultures have lived by these principles more harmoniously in the past than the West.

I remember an incident from my high school years. A teacher was rumored to be homosexual. My father overheard a remark from one of my visiting classmates. Later he asked me if that particular teacher was a good teacher. I said yes. He admonished me that knowledge is all I needed from the teacher. He emphasized that it was not only unseemly, but also un-Islamic to indulge in gossip.

The idea that democracy is good, and civil rights are essential for democracy to function, are easy to parrot, but forbearance is difficult to practice. If we do not protect the rights of the weakest members of the society, the rights naturally gravitate to accrue only to the powerful.

Tolerance of those with whom we disagree or dislike, protects minorities. Social mores change with time. There are hundreds of examples of what was considered abominable, has become acceptable and what was barely acceptable, has become popular. The most obvious example is the rise of stars in the film industry, from allegations of being little better than courtesans to the new royalty ruling the hearts of millions.

Changing mores are not necessarily good or right. The function of leaders is to lead, nurture and guide the society in the direction they deem to be healthy, through a civil dialogue to change the laws they disagree with. Violating the law to entrap or assault those who are on the margins of the society, religion or popular culture is injurious to the basic principles of a civil democracy.

The notion that in pursuit of “good” unlawful means are permissible, is irreligious and unethical, and leads only to evil. Societies and countries that take such short cuts pay a heavy price and often fall to sanctimonious dictatorships that bring only repression.

In almost all civil societies, evidence procured illegally by corrupt means is inadmissible in a court of law. Often ill-informed people rail against the inadmissibility of misbegotten evidence, because at times they let the criminal go free. But it is an important principle. It forces the law-enforcement agencies to be honest. It requires due diligence and proscribes the protectors of the law from becoming violators of the law. It is much more dangerous for power to be used by corrupt means than for a thief to go free.

The function of an institution of higher education is to educate students not only in their chosen subjects, but also in morality and ethics of citizenship and the boundaries on the use of power. It is shameful when the government or educators of young minds violate these bedrock principles, thoughtlessly to appease the majority.

Essentially what we know of the circumstances of the charges leveled against Dr. Siras and his consequent suspension by the AMU administration is troubling. I wonder what the professors in the AMU law faculty would say about its probity. Dr. Siras’ duty was to be a good teacher and respect the norms and traditions of an educational institution. His life style within the privacy of his home, even if “sinful” was no one’s business.

There are laws that protect the society from predators preying on minors, women and the weak. They are not always easy to enforce, that is the challenge and requirement for the sustenance of a civil society. Muslims ought to be sensitive towards the violation of the civil rights of a minority despised by many. They have suffered enough by the police and those in the positions of power, who despise them.

The religiosity, ethics and respect for the laws are strengthened, when we defend those with whom we may strongly disagree, but stand to uphold their civil and legal rights

Morality is when one adheres to principles, even when no one is watching; and courage is when one protects the rights of the weak and even despised, when it is widely unpopular. India and most functioning democracies, particularly the minorities in these countries owe a debt of gratitude to those who courageously adhere to this principle.

Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com or http://mirzasmusings.blogspot.com/

Shahid Azmi Murder 10-02-12

2010-03-02T10:38:00.000-08:00

Murder of Shahid Azmi,

Assault on the Heart of the Indian Democracy

Mirza A. Beg

February12, 2010

Counter Currents. February 14, 2010

http://www.countercurrents.org/beg140210.htm

Indian Muslims, February 12, 2010

http://indianmuslims.in/murder-of-shahid-azmi-assault-on-the-heart-of-the-indian-democracy/

Thirty-two years old, Shahid Azmi, the defense counsel to the accused, framed by the police in the Malgaon case in Maharashtra, was gunned down in his office by a five member assassination squad in broad daylight. In his very young career he became the voice of the downtrodden and defenseless, because he had suffered the heavy hand of the corrupt state police as a young boy of fifteen.

He reported to the police, many times, to no avail, about the threats he received from those who manipulate the justice system for sectarian purposes and kill those who get in the way.

Shahid Azmi, the defense attorney’s murder is more detrimental to the Indian democracy than many other terribly egregious murders that are in themselves the bane of Indian democracy and civil society.

All injustices, particularly murders are injurious to the functioning of a civil society. Even more detrimental to the functioning of democracy is state terrorism or the state turning a blind eye to the murder of citizens who try to keep the state honest. Injustices and mayhem perpetrated by the state against the minorities, as in Gujarat, under Chief Minister Mr. Modi, is almost universally known. There are many other states where political heavy weights run a parallel government through open intimidation, irrespective of the political party in power. Mr. Bal Thakery of Maharashtra is well known to wield such evil supra-state power.

The tribal people in Orissa and Chhattisgarh, Dalits in Bihar, Muslims and Christians in many states, particularly in Gujarat have suffered grievously. It has been well documented. The military and police have often been oppressive and brutal in states rife with long term ubiquitous rebellions. They end up feeding the cause that feeds the rebellion rather than being about a solution in states such as Kashmir, Nagaland and Mizoram as well the as the tribal belt of Central India.

Yet, with all these pitfalls and lamentable inadequacies, the Indian democracy has made great strides, because many brave and principled Indians have made great sacrifices to stand up and expose the corruption of power. Such efforts occasionally gather wider support and come to the notice of the Supreme Court of India. The Apex court occasionally feels obliged to intervene for the cause of justice, when the state government apparatus and the lower courts are completely overwhelmed by the sectarian attitudes, as in the case of Gujarat under Mr. Modi.

Indians owe a great debt of gratitude to these brave citizens, journalists and lawyers, the conscience keepers of the Indian democracy. They risk their safely to take up the cause and cases, to uphold the constitution of India that guarantees justice to the hapless accused, boxed in by the corrupt judicial system at the lower rungs of the justice system.

The murder of Shahid Azmi is not a murder of an individual only, it is a brazen effort to intimidate and ultimately obliterate the idea of justice and silence the voice of the Indian conscience. The central government of India should do its utmost to bring the murderers to justice, because it is an assault on the soul of the Indian constitution and state, much more grave than the terrorist that kills individuals or the thief that prowls in the darkness of night.

Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com or http://mirzasmusings.blogspot.com/

Eartquake in Haiti 10-01-13

2010-01-14T10:31:00.000-08:00

Earthquake in Haiti
Some Thoughts

Mirza A. Beg
Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Earthquake in Haiti
Tens of thousands dead
Perished without warning
Silencing thoughts and feeling
Mourned by dazed family and friends

Another human calamity
As in disasters before
Earthquakes and Tsunamis
Volcanoes and typhoons
In times and places before

A wrath of God, fury of nature
Or simply an occurrence
Powerful and amazing
As Galaxies colliding
Indifferent to humanity

An event predetermined in time
Propelled by the laws of nature
With no malice or blame
Ants crushed by a bulldozer
Insects under passing feet

Geologic plates moving, colliding
Directions determined eons ago
By forces of cosmic creation
Unconcerned by our feelings
Humbling the arrogant humanity

Inadvertently the Nature tests
Our own nature and values
Some condemn the victims
For inviting the wrath of God
Some don’t even notice and go on

But many find morality in piety
Helping the injured and destitute
Giving meaning to our lives
Compassion for fellow beings
Scripts the nobility of being

Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com or http://mirzasmusings.blogspot.com/

Book Review- 09-12-14

2010-01-11T14:58:00.000-08:00

An Example of Kafkaesque Justice under the “USA Patriot Act”
A Book Review

Mirza A. Beg
December 15, 2009

Muslim media Network (The Muslim Observer) December 17, 2009
http://muslimmedianetwork.com/mmn/?p=5543

Book: Rounded Up - Artificial Terrorists and Muslim Entrapment after 9/11
Author: Shamshad Ahmad, Ph.D; with a forward by Stephen Downs.
Publisher: The Troy Bookmakers, Troy N Y 12180, www.troybookmakers.com.
Year: 2009,
Pages: 267 pages
Sale price $17 (donated to the family of the victims of entrapment)
ISBN 978-1- 9345534-174

In the wake of 9/11, the Bush Justice Department arrested almost 1,200 Muslims throughout the United States. They were ordinary American immigrants, mostly of Arab origin. The evidence at best was flimsy based on someone’s vendetta or in some cases neighbor’s paranoia.

Within a week the Justice Department unveiled the infamous “USA Patriot Act”. Congress passed it in early October 2001 over the objection of many thoughtful Americans. The word USA PATRIOT is an acronym designed to pull at American heart strings. It stands for 'Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism'

None of the arrested were ever brought to trial; although a few were summarily deported at the slightest irregularity in their immigration documents. Many were tortured. Exactly how many were tortured and how badly is a secret under the aegis of the “Patriot act”. Perhaps some day it will come out.

Overnight Muslim organizations became suspect. FBI undercover operations were taken in stride by most Muslims as a part of the job of the FBI to protect the citizens. But what unfolded in many cases was incitement and entrapment by implanted agent Muslim provocateurs with shady pasts, in trouble with the law.

On August 5, 2004, the lead national news was that two Muslims associated with the Albany Mosque were arrested in a terrorist plot. There names were Yassin Muhiddin Aref and Mohammed Mosharref Hossain.

The book “Round Up” is written by Dr. Shamshad Ahmed, a professor of Physics, who established the Masjid As -Salam in 1980 and serves as its president. He knew the two victims of entrapment to be honest decent people. It is essentially a short account of Yassin Muhiddin Aref, an immigrant from the Kurdish part of Iraq and Mohammed Mosharref Hossain from Pakistan, their background and how were they entrapped by the FBI.

Why were they entrapped is best known to the government or perhaps it is not even known to them. It is just possible that because they could not convict any of the 1,200 arrested, they tried random entrapment under the “one percent Cheney doctrine”, that is if the law enforcement authorities suspected someone of having a1% chance of supporting terrorism, America would treat him as if he were 100% a terrorist. Once the process was in motion, the Justice Department did not back down because the conviction was under the Kafkaesque “Patriot Act”.

The chapters are generally arranged chronologically from the day of the FBI raid on the Mosque (Masjid) on the 5th of April 2004, with a few flash back chapters describing the establishment of the mosque and how the author met the two victims of the FBI sting.

Dr. Shamshad in this book exposes the “Catch 22” nature of the infamous “Patriot Act”. One would expect that by planting an informer, the FBI had a clear case. No, the case lasted three years, and all the delays were by the FBI asking extensions to prepare their case. The defense was kept in the dark even about the exact charges. Every piece of information had to be pried out after lengthy court petitions. Occasionally when they succeeded, the information was so redacted to be almost useless. Even the judges ruling, why the information was classified, was classified and the defendant was denied access. In essence the “Patriot Act” renders justice of a Kangaroo Court, so well described by Franz Kafka in his dark novel “The Trial”.

Parts of the transcribed taped evidence by the Pakistani informer that were procured after long court battles are in the Appendixes of the book. They clearly show, it was the informer who kept on badgering the victims to say and do things that could be construed as illegal. At times the victims objected to his proposals as immoral and un-Islamic. He persisted, and on occasions the victims appear to be humoring the informer. The case rested on Musharraf Hossain being induced to take a loan from the informant at very favorable terms. The fact that the informer could launder his money and perhaps buy Chinese made rockets Hussain did not condone. Though the informant wanted the loan to be unrecorded, Hossain insisted on the propriety of it being recorded .The only crime for which Yassin Aref was roped in at the time was that as a friend he acted as witness to that loan.

Aref's command of English was not very good. It often appears that he was not quite clear about the tenor of the conversation. The conversations with Hossain were often in Urdu and the FBI’s paid translator intentionally mistranslated taxes to terrorist. In 2005, a raid on a Kurdish camps in Iraq yielded a tape recording was unearthed, where someone seems to refer to Aref almost ten years earlier by a word in Kurdish that translates as elder brother. But if one wanted to stretch the meaning, it could be commander. Only this nebulous translation was presented to the jury to prove that he was a militant.

Dr. Shamshad Ahmad presents a very cogent account of the atmosphere in Albany during the publicity and the trial of the two defendants. On the one side the rightwing talk radio was in overdrive demonizing the Muslim and Arab community that we have become very familiar nationwide. The politicians such a Governor Pataki also took advantage of the situation. But the author also very lucidly portrays the support they got from the thoughtful American, including some in clergy in the best of American traditions. They not only joined the vigils in support of the defendants but gave material help and wrote petitions.

The balanced and thoughtful reporting of the Albany Times Union was exemplary. The author has included many of the incisive cartoons by John deRosier castigating the bizarre nature of the case. Those cartoons are indeed worth the proverbial thousand words.

The lawyers worked assiduously towards an impossible task of defending the accused where parts of the charges, the evidence and even the rationale judge’s rulings are reminiscent of a Kangaroo court without the clowns. Stephen Downs who voluntarily joined the case pro bono and has written the forward to this book especially worked hard in the best tradition of the American legal system.

In the introduction of the book Dr. Ahmad has described his own conservative education in a Madarsa where he learned his basic values of Islamic decency and caring. From his short narration of his background, it becomes clear that one can be conservative in the best sense of the words as well as a progressive with liberal values. He has dedicated this book to the peace and justice loving humanitarians, and the proceeds from this book go to help the victims of the justice system gone awry in the shadow of the unpatriotic, “Patriot Act”.

Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com or http://mirzasmusings.blogspot.com/

Hope for 2010, 09-12-31

2009-12-31T21:52:00.000-08:00

A Hope for the Year 2010

Mirza A. Beg
December 29, 2009

Counter Currents January 1, 2010
http://www.countercurrents.org/beg010110.htm

The American Muslim (TAM) December 31, 2009
http://www.theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/a_hope_for_the_year_2010/0017824

Media Monitors network, December 31, 2009
http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/70023

Indian Muslims, January 1, 2010
http://indianmuslims.in/a-hope-for-the-year-2010/

Al-Jazeerah: Cross-Cultural Understanding January 4, 2010
http://ccun.org/Opinion%20Editorials/2010/January/4%20o/A%20Hope%20for%20the%20Year%202010%20By%20Mirza%20A.htm

South Asian Outlook, January 2010

http://www.southasianoutlook.com/issues/2010/january/a_hope_for_the_year_2010.html

The year 2010 completes the first decade of the 21st Century. For the last nine years we have been in the new century, but the hoped for new millennium eludes us. The mindset of hubris still plagues. We hope that we are seeing the last dying flare-up of ethnic and religious wars from the overhang of the 20th Century.

The demise of the Soviet Union in the early 1990’s brought forth the hope of a new era of cooperation and international understanding. Unfortunately the new leaders of the US, the sole super power in the year 2000 interpreted it as unhindered hegemony.

The countries that had grievously suffered destruction as the battlefield of cold war were forgotten. Many new ethnic regional wars were allowed to flare up; such as in the balkanized former Yugoslavia, Sri Lanka and the sub Saharan Africa. These wars were initially ignored by the world until they became wholesale genocides. The old conflicts were allowed to fester; particularly the Israel-Palestinian conflict; even though the conflict has well known obvious solutions, but the Palestinians had none or a very weak constituency in the West, and thus ignored.

The people chafing under the dictatorial Middle-Eastern potentates supported by the West for mutual economic and geopolitical interests had looked up to Soviet Union as a balancing force. Disillusioned by the Soviets and corrupt dictatorships, some took refuge in the supremacist interpretation of Islam.

The rise of the supremacist religious doctrine found a symbiotic resonance in almost all religions. The Islamists in the Islamic countries, particularly in the Middle-East, the Christian right in the West, the Hindu supremacists (Hindutva) in India, The Likud in Israel and even the Buddhist in Sri Lanka and Thailand found sustenance in suppressing others.

The Islamists ideology rooted in the pre-modern world, took shape in Osama Bin Ladin’s attack on the United States on 9/11, for some real, but mostly transferred grievances of inadequacy of their own societies.

Those were confusing times, but with the distance of nine years, in retrospect, it is clear that in this struggle, the 17th Century ideology was able to drag the late 20th Century nation, to their level of thinking, albeit with the power of modern weapons. The religious right in the US took pride in the ignorance by painting the whole Islamic world in the same extreme colors as the Islamists painted the west.

The thoughtless wars aggression, torture and mindless bombings have left millions of innocent people dead and many millions homeless. It not only sustains the virus of hatred, but spreads it through the victims.

A calamitous corollary of unhindered wars, hubris and greed was the near collapse of the US and Western economies. By the end of 2008 the US and the Western economies were in free-fall with the specter of the 1929 great depression. 2009 has been totally devoted to digging out of a deep hole with a terribly imperfect understanding. Though, not very successful, it was successful enough to avoid the looming depression, with a hope of an anemic recovery.

There is a lesson in it. The countries not completely integrated in the western economies have done much better. China has done very well and has emerged as an economic colossus. India’s economy has flourished. The economies of Brazil, Turkey and some other Latin American countries have markedly improved.

Many prone to reflection know that the array of political forces in the world has changed. Others cling to the hackneyed myopic frame of mind of religious wars of supremacy. The fog has significantly cleared to reveal that the real enemy is our willingly cultivated ignorance, lost in trivia and half-truths on the airwaves feeding on our gullibility.

The world is not as different as is painted by the propagandists in delusional colors. Contrived collision of “us and them” has happened many times before. To fodder the flames of hatred our designated enemies are presented as caricatures. It is time to erase that fake line between them and us; it is an opportunity to face the outside world with strength, yes; but more importantly with understanding. Strength without introspective understanding is always misdirected. The realignment of powers and the fall of empires should have taught us that lesson.

All sides have legitimate grievances that have solutions. The United Nations was created to provide such a forum. But it has been sidelined by strong nations claiming exclusivity. In the mean-time the extremist ideologies flourish. Ideologies couched in religions shout down the voices of those who practice religion with humility and grace.

Though the first nine years of this century have been a continuation of the conflicts rooted in the mind set of the bloody 20th century, but the voices of reason and peace appear to be resurgent in all countries, especially in the United Sates. The internet has become an arena of struggle, where the progressive vices of peace are competing with the retrogressive voices of hate. For those who choose a better tomorrow, not only for themselves, but for all, this is the time for a momentous change. It is a time to raise our voice against the voices of hate within our own countries, societies and religions to usher the hoped for new millennium.

Mirza A. Beg may be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com.
His essays are available at http://mirzasmusings.blogspot.com/

Oman Snubs Modi 2009-10-27

2009-10-29T07:49:00.000-07:00

Oman Disinvites Modi - News Reverberates in India

Mirza A. Beg

Written Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Counter Currents, Wednesday, October 28, 2009
http://www.countercurrents.org/beg281009.htm

Media Monitor Network, Wednesday, October 28, 2009
http://world.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/67736

Some times good guys also win. It happens only once in a while, but when it does, it gives hope to many who struggle against the evil perpetrated by the powerful, the rich and the connected.

Such is the case when some decent ordinary people with the support of many other decent people were able convince the Government of Oman to deny Mr. Modi a visa. It thwarted, Gujarat’s Chief Minister Mr. Modi from falsely projecting himself as a world trotting statesman and camouflaging his evil deeds.

Mr. Modi was elected the Chief Minister of Gujarat State in the western part of India, on the platform of a fascistic leaning Indian Peoples Party (Hindi initials BJP). It came to power in late1990s. It got that chance because the Congress party that had governed India since independence from Britain in 1947, with only one break of four years, had become stale and the populace was tired. In that vacuum stepped in the rightwing BJP. It cashed in on its years of devious hard work, promoting sectarian riots and fear mongering in the well trodden footsteps of demagogues, albeit with an Indian patina. For years the BJP had engineered riots against the Muslim minorities, Christian evangelism and lower cast Indians. Finally it was able cash in on the fear it had planted among decent ordinary Hindus.

Mr. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat in February 2002, when a train carriage in which the BJP goons were travelling and harassing people on the railway station, was burnet at Godhra in Gujarat. To this day it has not been conclusively proven as to who did it. Instead of arresting those responsible for the event and bringing them to justice, he blamed Muslims, whom his party has been killing for years in contrived riots. The next day in the manner of Nazi “Krstallnacht” he unleashed a reign of terror and mayhem, by the goons of his party under the protection of his chosen police force, in the manner of Nazi SS.

As Chief Minister of Gujarat, Mr. Modi presided over and orchestrated widespread riots in which about 2000 hapless Muslims were massacred and more than 200,000 were rendered homeless. It was internationally reported as a pogrom against the Muslim minority in Gujarat.

International human rights organizations, including the Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the National Human Rights Commission of India held Mr. Modi directly responsible for orchestrating that gory mob violence in which innocent Muslims were butchered, burnt alive and women gang raped.

Mr. Modi has also succeeded in corrupting and intimidating most of the judiciary in Gujarat. The criminals are protected by Mr. Modi’s police, while thousands of displaced Muslims are unable to return to their homes. The same gangsters also harass Christians and have burned their Churches.

The Supreme Court of India felt compelled to step in. It compared Mr. Modi with the infamous Roman Emperor Nero and ordered an especially constituted team from the Federal (Central) Government to investigate Mr. Modi’s crimes.

Though his party has lost national power in two successive national elections of 2004 and 2009; unfortunately in the federal structure of India, states have power over law and order, just as the federal US government was hampered in the American South of1960s. Mr. Modi has succeeded in polarizing the normally decent people of Gujarat and has won elections to remain the Chief Minister in Gujarat. And because as often happens, fascistic demagogues are efficient, Mr. Modi is indeed efficient and has brought businesses to Gujarat supported by some among the rich diaspora of Guajaratis from the US.

Now that his party is in decline in the rest of India, he has been trying mightily to project himself as a world class leader with an eye on gaining national leadership. With a well-deserved harvest of global condemnation haunting him, Mr. Modi is desperately courting foreign collaboration to mend his image to achieve political restitution in India.

Fortunately because of the efforts of those who value the Gandhian tradition of India, Indians from all religions and ethnic groups came together, petitioned and convinced the US State department to deny Mr. Modi the coveted visa, not only once but twice in three years.

Spurned by the US and some Western countries, he aimed at developing contacts with the rich Gulf Emirates. Mr. Modi nefariously planted stories of being invited by the Sultanate of Oman. Again some concerned people took it upon themselves to circulate a petition on line. Again many human rights organizations all over the world, but most importantly from India extended their full support. Many wrote personal letters to the Ambassador and the government of Oman.

In response, not only the Ambassador of Oman disinvited him, but took out an advertisement in a well respected national newspaper, Indian Express, stating that the Sultanate of Oman had not invited Mr. Modi to Oman.

To Mr. Modi’s discomfort the news is reverberating though the Indian press and has even been picked up by the international web based media. (It can easily be searched on Google, “Modi denied Visa to Oman”). It puts his efforts towards gaining coveted visas from Indonesia that he has been working on, and visa from many other countries in jeopardy.

Though it is only a small victory for decency, and not much help to those who perished in the Mayhem engineered by Mr. Modi in Gujarat, but it does give incentive to average people. They can make a difference. All they have to do is, try.

Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com or Mirzasmusings@blogspot.com

In search of Jesus 2009-10-15

2009-10-29T07:19:00.000-07:00

In search of Jesus

Mirza A. Beg
Written Oct 15, 2009

Voices in Wartime, October 27, 2009

This poem, allegorically laments the misuse of the name and the message of Jesus. With a few changed words and syntax it would be valid for any religion.
The age of Information is entwined with the age of misinformation. Thoughtful understanding requires hard work; propaganda only needs bumper stickers. Religious zealots from all sides symbiotically feed on propagandized fear. The internal struggle is between the heart of each religion serving with humility and the strong arm seeking supremacy through misconstrued words.

The paradox is – in all religions; those who claim universality of their brand of religion behave as exclusivist tribal supremacist and those who introspectively value personal responsibility enhance universal amity.

Son of Mary
Celebrated is your name
Your Hellenized name
Jesus!

You are a messenger
A pristine idea to a few
A God to some
And the Son of God

You are a friend to some
A seer of wisdom
A promise of justice
And salvation

A hope for tomorrow
A redeemer to fallen
A beacon to lost souls
A promise of peace

Some shout your name
From lavish pulpits
Peddling salvation
From fire and damnation

They amass power
To usher your kingdom
At the point of the sword
Or atom tipped bombs

While others
Walk a lonely road
Quietly, humbly
Serving the needy

They love their neighbors
Humbly serve the meek
The sick, the injured
And the bombed

Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at, mab64@yahoo.com, or http://mirzasmusings.blogspot.com/

Nobel Prize-Obama 09-10-08

2009-10-09T14:00:00.000-07:00

Nobel for Obama - Perhaps Premature, But Good

Mirza A. Beg

Friday, August 92009

The American Muslim, Friday October 9, 2009

http://www.theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/nobel_for_obama_perhaps_premature_but_good/0017596

Tuscaloosa News, Tuesday October 13, 2009

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20091013/NEWS/910139997/1007?Title=MY-TURN-Obama-deserves-prize-but-has-plenty-of-work-remaining

President Obama was awakened by his press secretary to an announcement from the Nobel committee that 2009 Peace Prize goes to President Obama. Perhaps no one was more surprised than the recipient. Those who have supported Mr. Obama’s ideas, ideals and style are also pleasantly surprised, but some wonder if the recognition is not a bit premature.

In the nine months he has been in office, Mr. Obama has put in motion a very ambitious and much needed plan of action to achieve not only the objectives, spelled out during the presidential campaign, but also had to save the economy from the abyss of depression. He knows that taking on one problem at a time, as the experts would have it, may be seasoned advice, but considering the gravity of challenges he does not have the luxury of putting any of the pressing problems on the back burner.

Perhaps no world leader had inherited so many problems on the first day in office. Even Franklin Roosevelt did not have to contend with what came to be known as the Second World War until late in his second term. President Roosevelt’s main problem on entering the office was the economic depression.

Mr. Obama had to contend with two wars of hubris that his predecessors unleashed and conducted them with such incompetence and ferocity that it has not only killed hundreds of thousands of innocent people, but has left the US bleeding in an expensive quagmire from which extrication appears to be elusive. It has weakened American power and prestige around the world and an impression has taken hold that United States knows only the language of bullying, not of cooperation.

Even before taking the office of the president Mr. Obama had to face a complete economic melt down of US economy, with the possibility of a world wide depression, because of decades of irresponsible deregulations allowing the Wall Street gurus to turn it into a gambling casino. He took swift actions that appear to have stemmed the looming tide of economic disaster, but the road to recovery will be long and full of pitfalls.

He has not yet been able to put forward a clear policy to bring peace to Afghanistan and extricate the United States with honor. The Iraq war is still simmering and Israel has cavalierly defied his very modest request to halt the settlement activity and to engage in honest dialogue with the Palestinians.

So none of the pressing problems have been solved yet, but by virtue of his stance and thoughtful policies, the world has again started to put faith in the words of an American President and has taken his extended hand of peace and friendship. The decades of war of words with North Korea and Iran, after an initial flare-up in early 2009, have simmered down leading to initial constructive dialogues.

The Nobel committee recognized this sea-change in American policies and the concurrent change in the attitudes of other countries to award the peace prize to President Obama.

The Nobel citation reads, “President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has attached special importance to Obama’s vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.

“Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. Thanks to Obama’s initiative, the United States is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened.”

Even if the Peace Prize is premature, Mr. Obama certainly deserves admiration and support for all he has accomplished so far, with much more heavy lifting to be done for the fruition of his efforts. We have yet to leave the wars and famines of the 20^th century behind to usher a new century of peace and justice. One can not but admire the way President Obama has conducted himself with elegance and grace in the rough and tumble of the political process.

Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at, mab64@yahoo.com and at mirzasmusings@blogspot.com

Iran at Cossroads 09-06-22

2009-06-24T09:28:00.000-07:00

Iran at the Cross Roads – What should the US Do

By
Mirza A. Beg
Written Monday, June 22, 2009

Part I -The Tuscaloosa News, Thursday, June 25, 2009
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20090625/NEWS/906249887
Part II -The Tuscaloosa News, Friday, June 26, 2009
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20090626/NEWS/906259938

Media Monitors. Network, Thursday, June 25, 2009
http://world.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/63766

Part – I, The American Muslim, June 25, 2009
http://www.theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/iran_at_the_cross_roads_what_should_the_us_do_part_1/0017427
Part – II, The American Muslim , June 25, 2009 http://www.theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/iran_at_the_cross_roads_what_should_the_us_do_part_2/0017428

Part I – Iran at the Cross Roads

The tenth presidential election in Iran was on the 12th of June. A few months ago, it was widely thought to be an easy win for President Ahmadinijad. Though his popularity had some what declined, because of the economic pressures on an average Iranian, but his very simple unostentatious life style and his strong stand against the tirade of the Bush administration were very popular. It was a matter of national pride. The very fact that Iran was able to withstand the massive American pressure, made Iran look strong and the US appear weak.

The most popular person to challenge President Ahmadinijad was the former two-term President Khatami, who was very popular when first-elected in 1997. Considered a reformer, but by the end of his second term his followers were disappointed. On the domestic front he failed to loosen the grip of the clergy on the levers of power. On the international front his friendly overtures to United States, including his offer of support against the Talibans in Afghanistan were rebuffed by the Bush administration. Instead of taking the hand of friendship, the Bush administration inanely branded Iran to be a part of the Axis of Evil. Mr. Ahmadinejad won the presidential elections of 2005, by painting the reformers as ineffective appeasers of the United States.

The dynamics of the presidential election changed when in March 2009 the former President Khatami, having problems even getting the approval of the Guardian Council to run, withdrew and threw his support to Mr Moussavi.

The other important factor was the end of the Bush era and the election of President Obama, along with the change in the US foreign policy from belligerency to diplomacy. Mr. Obama’s overtures for a civil dialogue with Iran left President Ahmadinejad without an easy mark to rail against. Mr. Moussavi, a loyal supporter of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, was approved by the clerical establishment. He started gathering the support of all who were dissatisfied with the status-quo. It included the intellectuals, liberals, young people asking for the easing of what they considered onerous regulations, but most of all, many average Iranians suffering the economic hardship because of the western embargo on Iran and fall in oil prices since last November.

In this contentious election, almost 40 million Iranians, eighty percent of the electorate voted. The pre-election polls indicated a very close race, with a chance of Mr. Moussavi winning. The election results started trickling in even before the polls closed. Surprisingly, President Ahmadinejad won by a thumping majority of 62% to Mr. Moussavi 33%. To the shock of many, Mr. Moussavi, as well as the other candidates lost by big margins even in their hometowns.

Those who had voted for Mr Moussavi, felt strongly that the election had been rigged. In Iran the system did not allow observers from the campaigns to monitor the voting and tabulation. It fed the dissatisfaction. The authorities refused to entertain any doubts. Within a week the dissatisfaction burgeoned to wide scale protests and civil demonstrations. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenie first rejected the demand for recount, then accepted a partial recount, again without the monitors.

In the mean time, the government arrested an untold number of people. Many well known names from the 1979 revolution, such as the daughter and some family members of Ayatollah Rafsanjani, and many others former ministers have been detained.

The strong arm suppression of hundreds of thousands of peaceful protesters was beamed the world over, including the beating and killing of silent marchers. According to the Iranian government 17 people have been killed, the opposition and other sources claim hundreds killed.

In this budding revolution, many supporters of the Iranian regime see the hand of the CIA, as it had overthrown Prime Minister Mosaaddeq in 1953 to restore the Shah to the throne. There concerns are legitimate, as the Bush administration had left no doubt that it would use any means to change the regime in Iran. It is quite possible that the Bush policies and spies in place in Iran may have a hand in stirring up the pot.

It is also possible that the election was very close and President Ahmadinejad may have won the election by a small margin, but it is becoming clearer by the day that there was wide scale rigging to ensure the results. On the 22nd of June, the 12 member Guardian Council, that oversees the election, accepted that three million votes may have been miscounted and there were 50 places, where the number of votes cast exceeded the eligible voters. Yet it declared the elections to be fair, allowing only a limited recount. Once people loose faith in the honesty of the process, they can not be satisfied by the promises of unsupervised rectification by the same people.

From the fast changing scene in the past twelve days, it is evident that the CIA may have had its designs, but this wide spread movement was neither planned, nor controlled by anyone including its reluctant leader Mr. Moussavi. The wide spread pent up frustration of a large populace has found an avenue to express itself. Mr. Moussavi finds himself at the head of a budding revolution that he did not plan. He is in no position to contain it without loosing face and his leadership.

Ayatollah Khamenie is in a precarious position. By taking a strong stand against a total and open recount, he missed a great opportunity to control the events peacefully and to co-opt the opposition. One great advantage of democracy is that it allows change to take place without tearing up the fabric of the society. It tolerates a certain level of corruption, nepotism, even small irregularities in vote counting. By taking a strong stand Ayatollah Khamenie is in danger of loosing control or suppressing and closing the country, harming Iran and the people of Iran, to retain power by the force of arms. Iran may lurch from a theocratic democracy to a dictatorship.

Iran is finding it difficult to run a system as part democracy. Half free responding to the will of the people, such as popularly elected president and the Assembly (Majlis) albeit allowing only the candidates approved by the Guardian Council, and half controlled by the Supreme leader, indirectly elected for life, by an elected Assembly of Experts.

When the fog of the fast moving events clears, Iran would have changed, no matter who wins. If the present structure of the government survives by closing the doors shut to the outside world, it would be detrimental to the Iranian people. If it incorporates the opposition, it will be a desirable change; otherwise it may turn out to be a bloody revolution that no Iranian wants.

The Iranian regime is trying to shut the news of demonstrations and repression, but inter-connective technology of the 21st century is proving to be an impediment. The cell phones are ubiquitous, more than 80 percent of the people, especially the young have it and can twitter the information and pictures world wide. The government cannot shut the technology portal to the rest of the world without severely wounding its own economy and communications.

One hopes that the rulers in Iran will remember that violent repression of the voice of the people exposes the bankruptcy of the government. The US may dislike and may have been helping elements opposed to the government within Iran, but the enormous uprising and peaceful demonstrations in support of the opposition is the voice of Iran and its future.

Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com and at mirzasmusings@blogspot.com

Iran at the Cross Roads – What Should the US Do

By
Mirza A. Beg
Written Monday, June 22, 2009

Part II - What should the United States do

Iran has been in turmoil since the election on June 12th. For the rest of the world, especially for the US, it is important to understand, it is about Iran and not about the United States. It is the 21st Century, not the 20th, when the super powers manipulated the events in the world with impunity.

Events in Iran are moving fast. Most of the popular punditry in the United States was initially flummoxed, interpreting events with the US-centric biases; particularly the Neo-Con infected Republican Party. In spite of all the horrible mistakes of the eight Bush years, miring the country in un-necessary and terribly mismanaged wars and driving the country to near bankruptcy, they have learned no lessons, certainly not humility. They are taking pot shots at President Obama to be more belligerent towards the Iranian government.

They do not understand that the history of US orchestration of the overthrow of the first democratically elected Iranian regime in 1953 is as fresh in the Iranian psyche as the hostage taking of Americans by Iran in 1979 is for the American mind. The US supported brutal war waged on Iran by Saddam Hussain during the Reagan administration in the1980s has not faded from Iranian memory. Iran lost about a million of its youth affecting most families in Iran. The countries that the Iranians mistrust the most are Great Britain and the United States.

The Neo-Con mindset argues, “The Mullahs in Iran accuse the US anyway, so why not support the opposition”. They do not understand an important distinction. It matters less what the government propaganda machine puts out, it matters enormously what the people believe. So far it appears that because of the election of President Obama and the change in course of the US foreign policy, the Iranian public opinion towards the US has changed from completely negative to largely favorable or ambivalent.

Obviously the killing of peaceful protestors and bystanders in Iran is of concern to all decent human beings. But it is in the interest of the Iranians, the US and the world, that the events in Iran should be handled by Iranians peacefully. If the situation deteriorates in chaos, it is the Iranians who will suffer the brunt. The Iranian opposition has asked for moral support not belligerency towards the Iranian regime.

The United States is, and has been a super power for the last seventy years with world wide interests. It has often supported corrupt dictatorships over democracy in Asia, Africa and Latin America, while paying lip service to the idea of democracy. Mr. Reagan’s opposition of the Soviets is often highlighted by the Neo-Cons, but they never acknowledge his support of the South African apartheid regime while branding Nelson Mandela a terrorist, the support of the murderous Contras in Nicaragua and a deafening silence after the rape and murder of five US nuns and the murder of the Archbishop by the government death squads in El Salvador.

It is important to understand the present crisis in Iran and the role of major players in historical context. The Islamic Republic of Iran was born thirty years ago in a people’s revolution against the corrupt and brutal regime of the Shah wedded solely to aggrandizement of his personal power helped by the western interests. Iran is not a dictatorship as some exaggerate, but a theocratic democracy, not to our liking.

Since the revolution in 1979, Iran has had ten presidential elections, and six presidents. Three of the presidents were elected for two terms each. All the previous elections were largely considered to be fair. The office of the President in Iran is not the highest office. It is more like the office of the chief executive officer, under the ultimate authority of the Supreme Leader (literally, the leader of the revolution).

The Supreme Leader is elected for a life time by the 86 members, Assembly of Experts. The Assembly of Experts is elected from a list of screened candidates by a direct election for an eight year term. That is how the theocracy controls the democracy. The former president Ayatollah Rafsanjani is the current chairman. He along with many in the religious establishment are supporting Mr. Moussavi.

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini who led the1979 revolution was unanimously elected as the first Supreme Leader. He held the office until his death in June 1989. The Assembly of Experts filled the vacancy by electing Seyyed Ali Khamenei (the president at the time) as the Supreme Leader by a two thirds majority. After twenty years he is still in power. He can only be replaced by impeachment. The reformers have unsucessfully tried to limit the term of the Supreme Leader.

The candidates for presidential election in contention are the children of the revolution and were strong supporters of Ayatollah Khomeini. Mr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the current president was seeking a second term. The challenger Mr. Mir Hossein Moussavi is a former foreign minister who became the prime minister, during the presidency of, no other than the present Supreme Leader Seyyed Ali Khameini from 1981 to 1989.

Many in the US, particularly in the Neo-Con circles are making the mistake of grouping the Moussavi followers to be an anti Islamic revolution. One of the most potent symbols used by the Moussavi supporters is the green color, popularly considered to be the color of Islam. This is an internal Iranian struggle for power in the Iranian context of freedom; the limit on the power of the state and for the bread and butter issues. Both the candidates are Iranian patriots who support the 1979 revolution and do not disagree with the ideas of constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran; though gradually it is evolving as a struggle for the check on the near absolute power of the Supreme Leader.

Their foreign policy is not likely to be substantially different. While Mr. Ahmadinijad was reactive to the belligerency of President Bush and finds it difficult to change, Mr. Moussavi will perhaps be more nuanced and soft spoken in the Obama mode, but will not yield Iranian interests to the Western pressure. President Obama is appropriately using the soft power words, rather than the bluster and empty threats of the Bush era.

Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com and at mirzasmusings@blogspot.com

Obama to Muslims 09-06-04

2009-06-06T06:12:00.000-07:00

A Critique of President Obama’s Speech in Cairo

Mirza A. Beg

Friday, June 5, 2009

Media Monitor Network, Friday June 5, 2009
http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/62997

Counter Currents, Saturday June 6, 2009
http://www.countercurrents.org/beg060609.htm

The American Muslim, Saturday, June 6, 2009
http://www.theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/a_critique_of_president_obamas_speech_in_cairo/0017369

Pine Magazine, Atlanta, Saturday, June 6, 2009
http://www.pinemagazine.com/site/article/2036

The Tuscaloosa News, Tuesday, June 9, 2009
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20090609/NEWS/906099997/1004/SPORTS?Title=Give-Obama-time-to-prove-himself

Al Jazeerah, Tuesday, June 9, 2009
http://ccun.org/Opinion%20Editorials/2009/June/9%20o/A%20Critique%20of%20President%20Obama's%20Speech%20in%20Cairo%20By%20Mirza%20A.htm

The speech by President Obama in Cairo, Egypt, on the 4th of June billed as, “An Address to the Muslim World” is indeed historic. It appears that the speech has been largely well received by his intended audience.

There are many critics of the speech. As usual the right wing critics in the US lament that he should not have accepted any mistakes in the past US policies. Most of the thoughtful criticism from the Muslims, his intended audience is about some of the things he said, but mostly what he did not say or did not say with more emphasis.

That includes me as well. While talking of violence by Palestinians, I wish he would have also commented on much worse violence inflicted on the Palestinians by Israelis, as is obvious by the death toll in many of the Israeli military operations. The toll of violence in Gaza last January was approximately1300 Palestinian killed, mostly civilians, to about 6 Israeli soldiers. How can one ignore it? Since it was billed as an address to the Muslim world and not only to the Arabs, I wish he would have also covered the conflicts in other parts of the world where Muslims are being persecuted.

Having said that, critics should keep in mind that President Obama has been in office for barely five months; he has inherited from his predecessor two wars, and an economy that was teetering on the precipice of depression. Deregulation by the successive US governments starting in 1980, become completely irresponsible in the last administration. It encouraged and lauded unbridled greed on Wall Street that left the American economy in shambles with the fear of possible depression, rippling through the world markets.

One should keep in mind that President Obama is a president of a Democratic Republic and not a dictator with unlimited powers. The American President is perceived to be the most powerful man in the world, but his power in the US is circumscribed and checked by the other two branches of the government. He can be powerful domestically only if he can convince the American electorate that his policies are in their self interest.

There is a difference in being an idealistic critic and an idealistic politician or even a statesman. As President Lincoln once equated the navigation of the ship of State to navigation through the Mississippi River; by necessity one has to follow the path of the river. Even though one may be traveling south, but when the river meanders to the north, one has to go along that short distance. It takes time and sustained effort by a visionary leader to gradually institute new policies while educating and carrying the people along. It is not easy to challenge wrong policies and the propaganda of decades. Those idealistic politicians who get too far ahead and do not take appropriate time to educate the people are overwhelmed by the entrenched opposition and court failure. The good policies and noble intents find a place on the dust heap of history.

It is unrealistic to expect that in a fifty-five minute speech President Obama could have covered all the nuances and details of the accumulated problems of many decades. As he acknowledged, “I do so recognizing that change cannot happen overnight. No single speech can eradicate years of mistrust, nor can I answer in the time that I have all the complex questions that brought us to this point.” He added, “Of course, recognizing our common humanity is only the beginning of our task. Words alone cannot meet the needs of our people. These needs will be met only if we act boldly in the years ahead; and if we understand that the challenges we face are shared, and our failure to meet them will hurt us all. “

Of course if he does not follow up with concrete policies, these lofty words and ideas, the critics would have been proven right, but one needs to give him some time.

Generally speaking, it appears from the myriad polls over the years that about 25 to 30 percent of Americans, (as voters in most other countries) belong to “my country right or wrong” group. They abhor the idea of acknowledging any mistakes. Mr. Bush’s intransigence was mistaken for strength. Their idea of patriotism is rooted in the supremacy of their religion and blind nationalism. They are adept at ignoring reality and confuse their interest with the universal morality.

Another 20 to 30 percent understand universal morality and do think of right and wrong in terms of “Do unto others, what one wants for himself”. The struggle is to convince the 40 percent or so apathetic voters who do not follow the news of international events closely. They are essentially concerned with the pocket book issues. They tend to follow the leader who can convincingly promise a better economy and hopefully deliver it.

One should keep these political realities in mind and that President Obama has inherited the most ominous problems from his predecessor, an economy that was in a free fall from October 2008 to March 2009, two wars spiraling towards endless quagmires and rotting infrastructure. He has not only made bold efforts to tackle them, it is remarkable that against the conventional wisdom that the president should not tackle more than one or two problems at a time, he considered the dialogue with the Muslim world and tackling the Palestine-Israel problem of such paramount importance that he made such a bold speech and has raised expectations.

Critics who find no difference between President George W. Bush’s rhetoric and President Obama’s speech have a very short memory. President Bush appointed right wing ideologues and known enemies of Islam, such as Elliot Abrams, Daniel Pipes and General Boykin to name just a few, to important positions and their rhetoric were incendiary. President Obama has shown by his action and many speeches that he does not skirt contentious issues, but speaks clearly and cogently to make people understand his thoughts and actions.

Thoughtful criticism of leaders is very important. That is how the leaders learn and try to meet the legitimate needs and aspirations of the people, but one should temper it with an understanding of the leader’s character and consideration of the facts on the ground.

Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.comOr read this at http://mirzasmusings.blogspot.com/

Dem. in Pakistan 09-03-18

2009-04-23T09:29:00.000-07:00

Civil Revolution may Usher a Constitutional Democracy in Pakistan

Mirza A. Beg

Written Wednesday March 18, 2009

Counter Currents, Saturday, March 21, 2009
http://www.countercurrents.org/beg210309.htm

The Tuscaloosa News, Sunday March 22, 2009

Indian Muslim, India, Saturday, March 21, 2009
http://indianmuslims.in/civil-revolution-pakistan-democracy/

Pakistan avoided yet another crisis. Although oscillating between corrupt civilian governments and military dictatorships, crises have been a way of life for Pakistan. But this crisis was different. It was not particularly for or against a leader. It was the third act of a grass-roots movement, led by the lawyers, in favor of the rule of law under a constitutional framework.

Pakistan appears to be on the verge of emerging as a functioning constitutional democracy, with primacy of laws and constitution that has eluded Pakistan for 61 years of its checkered history.

Three times in the span of two years the lawyers, men and women in their somber black coats defied the illegal edicts of the government and succeeded in forcing the government to back down.

The Current Crisis:
The current crisis precipitated when, presumably with the connivance of President Zardari the current Supreme Court (largely considered illegitimate) barred the leader of opposition Mr. Nawaz Sharif and his brother, Shabaz from contesting elections and holding offices. President Zardari recklessly dismissed the Shabaz led government of Panjab, the most populous province.

This brought out the Lawyers back on the streets for the third time with planned marches to the capital Islamabad, demanding the restoration of Supreme Court justices fired by the former President Musharraf, and as promised by Mr. Zardari in February 2008 elections. The leader of the opposition Mr. Nawaz Sharif’s joined in the protest.

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) of President Zardari, in the face of massive civil demonstrations averted its breakup when President Zardari yielded to the pressure from the senior leaders of the PPP led by the Prime Minister Gilani, the United States and the Military. Prime Minister Gilani diffused the crisis by announcing that the Supreme Court Judges and the former Chief Justice Iftekhar Chaudhry will resume offices following the resignation of the current justices (considered illegal) on the 21st of March. It led to widespread nation wide jubilation.

This was not a win for Mr. Sharif, though he is the beneficiary of it. Large sections of the population consider Mr. Zardari and Mr. Sharif as corrupt and there have been legal verdicts against them. It is the victory of a movement led by lawyers demanding respect for the constitution and the rule of law.

The first and second civil disobedience movement of lawyers:
The first time the lawyers led the movement for the rule of law March 2007, when on irrelevant charges President, General Musharraf suspended Chief Justice Chaudhry for taking up the petition on behalf of hundreds of people missing, allegedly at secret detention centers accused of terrorism. Eventually he was exonerated and General Musharraf backed down.

The movement sprang up the second time in November 2007, when only days before the Supreme Court of Pakistan was to give its verdict on a petition challenging the constitutionality of President, General Musharraf’s re-election in October 2007, because he held on to the post of the chief of staff of the army simultaneously. President Musharraf suspended the constitution, jailed several justices of the Supreme Court, including the Chief Justice Iftekhar Chaudhry and appointed a new slate of judges who ruled in his favor. But under the intense pressure of the civil disobedience led by the legal profession, General Musharraf had to yield and gave up the post of the Army Chief of Staff, appointing General Kayani in his place.

The elections of 2008 and Mr. Zardari’s rise to power:
New Assembly elections were held in February 2008. The two main opposition parties, the PPP led by former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and the Faction of Pakistan Muslim League (PLM) led by the Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had one thing in common, the promise to reinstate the fired Chief Justice and other judges.

PPP leader Benazir Bhutto fell to an assassin’s bullet at an election rally on the 27th of December 2007. Her Husband and a reviled figure in Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari stepped into the vacuum and partly as a sympathy vote for popular Benazir Bhutto the PPP won the largest share of seats followed by PLM. Since no party won an outright majority, the two largest parties PPP and PLM formed a coalition government.

The coalition broke up when Mr. Zardari reneged on his promise to reinstate the ousted judges by the President Musharraf. In August 2008, President Musharraf resigned under a threat of impeachment and in September Mr. Zardari was elected the President of Pakistan. Since then Mr. Zardari has reneged on all the inconvenient promises and has tried to accrue power.

Pakistan has floundered rudderless in the crosscurrents of internal power struggle between the corrupt civilian governments and endemic coups by the military dictators; and external pressure from the United States to serve its foreign policy aims through the Pakistani military for the last fifty years. The result has been complete decimation of the Pakistani judiciary. The Supreme Court has become the handmaiden of who ever holds the reins of power. Chief Justices have been appointed and fired at the whims of the government in power many times.

The new opportunity for Pakistan:
Fortunately for Pakistan Mr. Zardari was thwarted by the third civil disobedience by the lawyers. The power equation has also changed. Unlike the past, the forces that traditionally supported those in power in Pakistan had to take other realities into consideration.

The American government is the main economic backer of Pakistan, but under President Obama, it realizes that the war on terrorism can not be won by propping corrupt oppressive regimes. President Obama conveyed his strong disapproval of Mr. Zardari’s grab for power. The army, the most important instrument of power in Pakistan had had enough under President, General Musharraf. The new Chief of Staff General Kayani told Mr. Zardari in no uncertain term that the Army will not intervene to support him. The top leadership of PPP including the Prime Minister Mr. Gilani, weary of Mr. Zardari’s leadership, let him know that they were not behind him. And finally the police that was supposed to stop the marchers refused to use force on the silent peaceful marchers, except at some places in Karachi the strong hold of PPP.

The change in circumstances will exert an enormous pressure on all concerned. The reinstated Chief Justice Chaudhry will feel the weight of responsibility to make the Supreme Court a true guardian of the constitution. The Army had had enough for the time being and will try to influence the government, but not as heavy handedly, and the politicians have learnt at least for the immediate future that they can not take people to be supine as before. The lawyers movement has shown no ulterior motive to form a competing center of power, it has disbanded after every success to pursue their private lives. Yet it has rejuvenated in the times of need.

The maturing of Pakistan as a constitutional democracy will strengthen the authority of the elected government and will obviously be good for Pakistan. It will also be beneficial to countries with interest in Pakistan. Though it will take time, but after eight years of floundering in Afghanistan the new Obama administration realizes that US efforts in combating the terrorism will succeed only if Pakistan is not a failed state. A constitutional democracy in Pakistan will also be better for India because the relations will not depend on the whims of individuals. It will lead to better cooperation and enhance the possibility of reconciliation between two democratically elected constitutional governments.
Mirza A. Beg may be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com or at http://mirzasmusings.blogspot.com/

Greetings for 2009 08-12-18

2008-12-18T13:39:00.000-08:00

A Wish for the Year 2009

Mirza A. Beg
December 18th, 2008

On December 31, the year 2008 will fade into history. Though January 1, 2009 will not be materially different, but the year 2009 can be, and I hope will be a harbinger of better tomorrows. Many will take stock of their hopes and desires for the future, but some will find refuge in this season of festivities and let desires negate hope and trump reality. The poor and dispossessed of the world will go on toiling towards dashed hopes and early deaths. The challenge is to bring changes to these lives and usher in a new millennium of peace and cooperation that is still waiting for the last eight years of the chronological millennium.

The year 2008 has been one of the most miserable years in more than half a century. Not only do the wars still rage in Iraq and Afghanistan, but no less devastating regional civil wars in Sri Lanka, Darfur, Congo and many other places go on unabated; Mr. Mugabe, in resource-rich Zimbabwe has led its citizens to unbelievable destitution, while the world can awkwardly condemns as a bystander. The terrorism of state and non-state actors in many regions is on the rise.

Dictators and oppressors persist and terrorist attacks come with the regularity of tides. We have only limited attention span, and are overwhelmed by so many crises. The crisis of the past month fades, replaced by a new crisis of the month or even the week. The Junta in Burma (Myanmar) perseveres in its horrible record of oppression. The world focused on it for a few weeks, then moved on.

All the crises have been dwarfed by the economic meltdown of 2008, which started with the subprime mortgage crisis in the United States. This was only the proverbial straw. If not this, some other unraveling of the economic pyramid scheme would have burst the bubble of unregulated greed of unscrupulous funds managers on Wall Street, who ran amok under a blind eye of a government that willfully dismantled the instruments of governmental regulatory responsibilities.

To dispel all doubts that we are living in a global economy, the US economic crisis has reverberated through the world economies, including the very poor countries that are dependent on the aid and charity of the wealthier nations. The governments of all major economies, including the United States, have come to realize that they can not manage it alone and have been forced to coordinate their efforts to dig themselves out of this self-made morass.

But the year 2008 has also been a watershed year. The situation became so bad that it may have woken us from a long slumber of complacent inattention.

In America, in the wake of the shock of 9/11 in 2001, fear took hold. Loud voices of the prophets of fear and greed found a fertile ground. Americans opted for erosion of their constitutional freedoms in exchange for a feeling of safety.

After eight years of utter mismanagement, Americans realized that their pocket-books are dwindling and even the substandard employment of eight years is about to turn in to unemployment and their future as a great nation has been jeopardized.

Against all odds, in contradiction of the conventional wisdom, Americans rose above their prejudices and voted Barack Obama as the president-elect of the United States. No one could have even ventured to predict that a black American could win the election in 2008.

This is of even greater significance because Mr. Obama avoided the mean and negative campaigning that has been the hall-mark of the past successful elections. A majority of Americans rejected the petty politics of fear and rose to vote for a future of hope and equity. Americans voted for Mr. Obama even though he did not take the bait of demonizing those who disagreed with American policies and offered dialogue to reach a better and equitable understanding instead of hubris.

The American Revolution was one of the most important engines for the flowering of democracies in the world. This change in American attitudes and government is a harbinger of a better tomorrow of dialogue and understanding among the peoples of the world. In this interconnected world of fast communications and global economy, no place is too far, or too insulated to escape the consequences of oppression of supposedly distant people. It is time to think of others empathetically to develop common platforms and aspirations.

Industrial revolution has conclusively proven that prosperity is not a zero-sum proposition. For some to be rich, many do not have to be poor. Human ingenuity can help produce more with less effort and invent new techniques and materials of comfort, for the betterment of all.

This is not a new idea; European prosperity rose from the ashes of the conflagration of two world wars on this concept. Leaders reflect our collective will and hopes. No leader, including Mr. Obama by himself can bring about the millennium of peace and cooperation, but with the help of all those who choose a better tomorrow, not only for themselves, but for all, this may be a time for that momentous change. Let us make the year 2009 the start. With best wishes,

Mirza A. Beg may be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com.
His essays are available at http://mirzasmusings.blogspot.com/

Mumbai Carnage 08-12-01

2008-12-04T13:50:00.000-08:00

Mumbai Carnage, Wish It Was The Last Horror!

Mirza A. Beg
Monday, December 1, 2008

Media Monitor Network, Wednesday, December 3, 2008
http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/57272

Counter Currents, Thursday, December 4, 2008
http://www.countercurrents.org/beg041208.htm

The American Muslim, Friday, December 5, 2008
http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/mumbai_carnage_wish_it_were_the_last_horror/

Pine magazine Friday, December 5, 2008
http://pine-magazine.com/content.php?id=1559

The coordinated attacks on the Taj-Mahal Hotel and nine other sites in Mumbai (formerly Bombay) have claimed about 190 innocent lives, with hundreds more injured. Distressed Indians and concerned people all over the world are looking for answers.

Quick preconceived answers demand immediate retaliation. To mollify the public, authorities arrest and torture a few easy targets and extract confessions. Over the years there have been dozens of well documented incidences of police summarily executing helpless people in what are euphemistically called encounters (fake gun battles). It only validates the terrorist propaganda.

Comprehensive answers take time. I hope the government of India will diligently take up the slow and painful task of investigation and prosecution of those involved, within India and with international help, those hiding in other countries.

With the globalization of commerce, unfortunately terrorism has also become globalized. The terrorist networks have become an international scourge. In the 1960s and 70s the Baader Meinhof Gang and the Red Army collaborated with disparate terrorists, such as the Irish Republican Army, the Shining Path Guerillas in Latin America and the Abu Nidal in the Middle-east. With greater sophistication and richer resources, Al Qaida is even more effective, mostly, but not exclusively in Muslim countries.

Initial reports based on the interrogation of the only surviving Mumbai attacker indicate that at least some of the terrorists were from Pakistan. Pakistan and India have a sad history of wars and animosity. But no nation has suffered the ravages of Islamist extremist terrorism more than Pakistan. Bombings in major cities of Pakistan are pervasive. The Marriott Hotel in Islamabad was bombed only a few months ago. From the statements of the President Zardari, it seems that the newly elected fledgling government of Pakistan realizes that the extremist ideology sown by the Zia regime in the1980s has come back as an evil whirl-wind to destroy the country.

There are segments of society in India and Pakistan with legitimate grievances.
Extremists exploit these grievances through carnage to achieve a greater polarization. Unfortunately many governments have done the same through their intelligence agencies to destabilize weaker countries. It behooves Pakistan and India to unshackle themselves from the sordid history of hatred and join forces to eradicate this scourge for mutual benefit.

After every major carnage, organizations, leaders and pretend leaders in India and around the world customarily condemn the outrage, and then go about their business as usual. Equating this carnage to 9/11 is spurious. Such outrages have been happening in India, Pakistan and many other countries with the regularity of tides. Unfortunately the Mumbai carnage is greater only in magnitude and daring, therefore more newsworthy. Such reprehensible carnage is lamentably not surprising. A series of bomb blasts tore through the busy markets in Delhi on the 13th of September, preceded by more than a dozen gory blasts in major cities in the last three years, including an earlier blast in Delhi and a train bombing in Mumbai in July 2006, claiming hundreds of lives. Today, merely four days after the Mumbai carnage, three people were killed in Assam (Eastern India) in yet another train bombing.

In the past few decades, thousands of innocent lives have been lost in sectarian violence all over India. Kashmir is a festering wound of competing claims of the two countries, left-over from the partition of the British colonial India. By now the average Kashmiri wants to be left alone. More than 80,000 Kasmiris, mostly civilians have died in the last twenty years. It is a major source of recent terrorism. Preliminary reports indicate that the Mumbai terrorists were connected to the Lashkar Taiba movement that was spawned in Kashmir with the help of the Zia regime in 1980s.

Imagine; one of our loved ones among the dead, and the tragedy hits home. Many loved ones regularly fall to endemic terrorism. In a wider sense they were us, mindless tits for the multiple tats and on it goes. Governments with impunity suppress and even kill weaker minorities to mollify the majority population, in the name of nationalism, in blatant violation of humane laws.
Some, otherwise ordinary people after years of victimization, blinded by anger take refuge and find justification in terrorism. Unable to penetrate the bastion of oppression, they attack easy defenseless targets. Terrorists become so callous in their anger multiplied by hate-filled ideologies that they lose all sense of decency, distinction and humanity, visiting carnage in distant lands on innocent people.
Growing up in India, only a few of my friends were Muslims, most were Hindus. We celebrate our friendship on my visits to India. Some of these friends are quite involved in helping down-trodden and forgotten masses. They hold no animosity towards Muslims. But the virulence of decades of violence and propaganda has polarized a few of them, especially their children. Similarly the polarized Muslims do not know my humane Hindu friends. With polarization, fewer Hindus and Muslims know each other personally. They tend to stereotype each-other as caricatures based on propaganda.

With each episode of sectarian riot the divide grows. The attack and demolition of a 16th century Mosque and ensuing loss of thousands of lives in December 1992, and the pogrom in Gujarat in February 2002, where 2,000 Muslims were killed and more than hundred thousand driven from their homes, have created a deep fissure. More recently the bomb blasts in markets, trains and now the Mumbai carnage are part of the downward spiral. The chasm is widening in spite of tireless work being done by enlightened and thoughtful people from all communities, especially Hindus. Unfortunately the sectarian propaganda is more powerful than thoughtful analysis.

A few weeks ago an educated Brahmin Gujarati friend wrote to me that he is supporting Mr. Modi’s Hindu (fascistic) party in the upcoming elections in Gujarat, because he wants a strong government that supports economic development. The sad part is that at least tacitly he had condemned the pogrom against Muslims by Mr. Modi in 2002, the worst crime a government can commit against its citizens. I reminded him, but he did not address my question.

People, honest in personal dealings; good neighbors, who would help the needy and feed the hungry, are taken in by the propaganda, driven by the partisans from the opposing sides, turning lies into truth and making enemies out of friends. Good people end up supporting horrible policies and even pray for the success of their leaders who spread misery in their name.

We will be at least morally culpable, if it happened in our neighborhoods and we closed our eyes. In this globalised information age, there is no place too far. Ignoring the plight of people we only see on television screens, is tacitly supporting the oppressor. It becomes our collective guilt.

An instructive example is Mr. Bush’s statement in the wake of 9/11, “Now they will taste the American justice”. The whole world supported our sentiment. Sadly, what they got was blind vengeance and indiscriminate incarceration of about 700 people at Guantanamo Bay, including many 12 to 14 year old minors, without trial for more than six years in violation of the Geneva Convention. It brought shame to America. In spite of strenuous objections of the Bush administration, some Americans petitioned the courts. Slowly the courts intervened. How we wish, it was the American justice that they faced.

Terrorism is a scourge. It should be eradicated through the implementation of humane civil laws. The vocabulary of war, such as “war on terrorism” sounds good but denigrates the civil society to lawlessness of war. It predisposes us to forsake our humanity and fall for the militaristic propaganda, where trigger happy excesses, bombings, and civilian deaths are justified as “collateral damage”, as if a neighbor’s wall was damaged by mistake, and will be made whole.

The first reaction to terrorism is to suppress it by brute force, such as in case of the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka. Brute force spirals into tit for tat. The situation only worsens. There are ways to defeat it, as in Northern Ireland in the1970s and 80s. The brute British force only exacerbated it, until the British government reached an equitable political settlement.

It is time for universal cooperation. The United Nations was created to be the instrument of the collective will of the world. It has worked very well in helping the poor and feeding the hungry. It has failed in implementation of the international law to protect the rights of the down-trodden minorities from the state terrorism in sovereign countries, and keeping stronger nations from attacking weaker nations. But the five permanent members of the Security Council have hindered its purpose.

The only effective way to remove the cancer of terrorism is to leave the hubris of the 20th century behind, ushering a new peaceful and just millennium by adhering to the International Charter of Human Rights and strengthening the United Nations. This requires the modification of the Security Council so that no country is above the international law.

Mirza A. Beg can be reached at mab64@yahoo.com. His writings are at http://mirzasmusings.blogspot.com/

Congrats Pres Obama 08-11-4

2008-11-04T13:24:00.001-08:00

Congratulation President-Elect Obama

Mirza A. Beg
Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Dear President-elect Obama,

Congratulations on a very well deserved victory. More importantly, it is a very convincing affirmation of the lofty ideal of the founding of the United States of America.

The ideals that led to the declaration of independence, later enshrined in the American constitution have often suffered on the shoals of populism constricted by deeply ingrained prejudices. It has been a protracted struggle for the United States as well as other democracies. It has taken America a long time to overcome many deep-rooted prejudices to elect you as the next president.

It is indeed a new dawn for our country. The world has looked up to the idea of America and the ideals of the American creed, but has been disappointed and rebuffed many times. Particularly the last eight years have been an antithesis of American Ideals.

This is a bitter sweet moment for you. The passing of your grandmother, a day before your well earned victory is indeed very sad. A modicum of satisfaction for you is that she knew you are what she had dreamed and hoped for you to be.

You are about to assume the leadership of a great country that suffered the indignity of being lead by a coterie of narrow-minded thugs who violated every principle this great country stood for. They were able to do it by fear mongering to exploit the tragedy of 9/11. The foreign policy is in shambles. In the name of fighting terrorism they abandoned all moral principles to the extant that the world sees us as a nation led by a rogue President. They handed the economy to the Kleptocrats on the Wall-street in the name of deregulation. These are very tough times for our country and the world.

The good news is that the world still is waiting for a sane and principled leadership. The greatest gift of our democracy is that every four years we get a chance to chart a new course. About four years ago in the last election Americans stirred from a nightmare but were frightened into closing their eyes to fall into a deeper nightmare. Finally we have been shaken up from our worst nightmare to reject the purveyors of fear.

This is our opportunity to pull back from the precipice of the misguided Bush doctrine of leading by brawn in the manner of a small-minded street fighter. A great leader leads by thoughtful principled analysis of problems. You have proven your capabilities in the last two years of grueling campaign.

You are starting with a national mandate and universal goodwill. The challenges are enormous and our resources are stretched very thin. You have no time to relax in the glow of this historic victory.

You have to devise an economic program that gives people hope, provides job, rewards hard work, curbs greed and punishes those who exploit our freedoms and the economic system.

You have to reassure the world that America values principles and respects all nations and peoples who want to live in peace and justice. You need to take strong steps to resolve the festering Israeli-Palestinian problem equitably. It is the key. It has not only hampered the American ability to solve many other problems, but has helped create many of the festering problems of the last few decades.

The wars are not always avoidable, but they should be the last resort, only when all else fails and the nation is in mortal danger. Unprincipled wars of supremacy are feudalistic and can not succeed in the age of instant communications. The Iraq war needs to end as you promised. The war in Afghanistan needs a very strong component of diplomacy and mercy towards those who can be drawn back from Taliban’s cruelty, so that we do not create more enemy as we have been doing by indiscriminate bombing of civilians almost on a monthly basis. It only weakens our cause and makes the enemy stronger. As you said we need to negotiate with our enemies on the basis of equity and not supremacist ultimatums.

We have supported you in the hope that you will govern with courage, thoughtfulness and justice. We will offer our constructive criticism as citizens of a great and free nation. We stood up against the intimidation of the last eight years to elect you. We intend to protect that precious right and will show dissent in the best and most valuable American tradition when warranted. With best wishes to you and our country, Mirza

Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com or through the blog http://mirzasmusings.blogspot.com/

McCain V/S McCain 08-10-27

2008-11-03T09:44:00.000-08:00

McCain Fighting Against Two Opponents

Mirza A. Beg
October 27, 2008

Tuscaloosa news, Friday, October 31, 2008
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20081031/NEWS/810312952

Birmingham News, Sunday, November2, 2008
http://www.al.com/opinion/birminghamnews/letters.ssf?/base/opinion/1225617405132400.xml&coll=2

One can not, but feel sad for McCain. He is fighting against two men with compelling biographies. Every one knows about Senator Barack Obama, who has run a principled and stoic campaign.

But the more formidable opponent is the maverick John McCain of the 2000. He has at least an equally compelling biography. He withstood torture in North Vietnamese prison. He suffered the subterranean slander by the Bush- Karl Rove machine in the primaries in 2000. He honorably castigated the agents of rightwing intolerance especially Pat Robertson and late Jerry Falwell. He opposed Bush tax cuts for the rich in 2002, and strongly opposed torture of detainees in Guantanamo bay Gulag. And he lost the Republican Primaries in 2000.

Then in 2007 he decided to run for the Presidency. To win the Republican nomination, he made a Faustian bargain with the rightwing of the Republican Party. He hired Bush-Rove protégés, who had slandered him in South Carolina Primary to slander Obama. He praised the right wing agents of intolerance, kissed and made up. He advocates making the Bush tax cuts permanent, and he even voted for the CIA’s ability to torture.

It is the Maverick McCain of the year 2000 that is defeating the McCain of 2008.

Delhi Blasts 08-09-15

2008-09-23T08:07:00.000-07:00

Delhi Blasts, Time to go Beyond Condemnations

Mirza A. Beg
Monday, September 15th 2008

The American Muslim, September 16, 2008
http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/india_delhi_blasts_time_to_go_beyond_condemnations/

A series of bomb blasts tore through the busy markets in Delhi on the 13th of September. They are reprehensible, but lamentably not surprising. There have been more than a dozen gory blasts in major cities, including Delhi in the last three years.

After each such episode, there are many customary statements of condemnation. But after so many times, condemnations sound stale and obligatory. It is time to shake our collective conscience and challenge our hackneyed thinking to develop thoughtful and just solutions.

With the exponential expansion of beneficial technology; the technology of mass killing has also made tremendous gains in the military research labs of the nation sates, ostensibly for defense. The unforeseen blow-back is that terrorists eventually get access to these technologies as well to enhance their ability to kill using remote-triggers and more lethal explosives.

India is home to almost all religions and ethnicities, and has more distinct languages and dialects among its vast multitude than any other country in the world.

The process of welding such diversity into a nation has not been easy. There were language riots in late fifties and early sixties, when the central government tried to impose Hindi as a national language. In spite of the pressure from the Hindi language chauvinists, the government wisely relented. More respect for regional languages and the go slow approach worked. Hindi is now accepted as the national link language. There have been endemic ethnic conflicts between local upper casts and lower casts. The police composed of only upper casts was often partial. The induction of lower casts in the police and administration has some what eased the problem.

Rise of sectarian parties to power:

With the increasing literacy, and dwindling secular education, Indians are getting more religiously polarized. This has resulted in the rise of religious-supremacist political parties. So much so that many states elected Hindu chauvinist parties (called Hindutva in Indian parlance) in late 1980s and by 1990s they took power at the central government. In a democracy minority sectarianism, though odious is not lethal. But the majority sectarianism because of the power of votes usually ends up in fascism and destruction of democracy.

Gradually under Hindutva (Hindu sectarianism) leadership the education system has become even more sectarian and the religious divide among the majority Hindus and minority Muslims has become more stark and lethal. A vast majority of Hindus and Muslims are decent law abiding citizens, who have lived with each other harmoniously. They are being polarized by endemic riots, usually engineered just before the elections using fear mongering to garner votes. This has lead to a vicious downward spiral.

Very small religious communities, not affected by sectarianism did not feel the contamination of the society by Hindutva’s incessant propaganda through the governmental agencies. Now even the small Christian community has been targeted by the Hindutva forces, especially in the backward tribal areas where because of evangelical activities many low-cast or castless tribal communities have accepted Christianity.

The birth of terrorism:

There were no terroristic bombings in India before 1993. Though the sectarian riots have been on the rise since 1960s, often the sectarian police being the main culprit, it was the demolition of the 16th Century Mosque (Babri Masjid) in December 1992 that lead to the new era of bombing crowded markets.

The demolition was preceded by a slow deliberate 1,000 miles march of Mr. Advani from Gujarat State in western India to the site of the mosque in sleepy little town Ayodhya in UP, a state in Northern Indian. Two months long slow march with fan-fare and speeches full of venom and misquotation of history whipped up Hindu passions that resulted in many local riots. The march was stopped by the secular Chief Minister of UP state. As a result he was defeated in the next election and the new Hindutva party Chief Minister allowed a frenzied mob to take down the large historic Mosque, brick by brick in the full glare of the television. The Indian Prime Minster of a supposed secular party sat in Delhi cloistered in his office offering inane excuses.

In the wake of the demolition of Babri Masjid there were riots in many parts of India. The riots in Mumbai (Bombay) were particularly gruesome because the Police carried out a massacre of Muslim localities. An inquiry commission under Justice Shri Krishna (a devout Hindu) found the local and national Hindutva parties guilty. Just as many other such commission reports, the Shri Krishna commission report was s also shelved and no cases were brought against the politically powerful culprits.

The heightened sectarianism brought the Hindutva party (BJP) to power at the center in Delhi and Mr. Advani, a criminal became the Deputy Prime Minister. “Ayodhya” episode was milked for a decade by whipping up hate through virulent sectarian grafting of feudalistic medieval history on democratic India to weaken and injure the basic democratic ethos. Threatening demolition of many other historic mosques, worked again and Hindutva party (BJP) won in many states including Gujarat.

The pogrom in Gujarat under the Chief Minister, Mr. Mody in which about 2,000 Muslims were by the mob under police protection throwing incendiary bombs from behind the police lines is well documented, and condemned all over the world and all secular Hindus.

Unfortunately as Muslim felt cornered and unprotected by the government, the Muslim polarization gave rise to underground fringe groups that took it upon them-selves to avenge the massacres. As always when small fringe groups take up arms to avenge, they only do more damage by killing other innocent citizens who had no part in violence and further polarize the populace.

After many such bombing, supposedly by the Muslim fringe groups, many Hindu groups attached to the Hindutva Parties have also sprung up. They have been caught at least on two occasions and couple of times the bombers have blown themselves up while constructing crude bombs.

After each set of bomb blast the police habitually accuse the commonly known Muslim fringe groups and arrest local Muslim youth, usually with no evidence. The police often torture them, but the cases are either not brought to the court or they are thrown out. It simply creates more hatred for the police and the government without any tangible positive result. The cycle goes on.

Way back to sanity of civil and just society:

The road back to sanity after fanning the flames for decades is never easy. The essential glue that holds a nation together is the sense of belonging. Belonging means a common purpose, rooted in equal opportunity and justice for all. A simple concept, but it becomes exceedingly difficult after it has been violated for years.

Four steps are essential for return to democratic sanity.

1. The government has an essential obligation to bring the culprits of bombing to justice, irrespective of their affiliation or religion, not for the sake of revenge or to avenge the innocent, but for the essential concept of justice.

2. But selective justice is no justice at all. To restore the Muslims and the Christian victims of violence in Orrisa and Gujarat states, the investigative reports of the high powered commissions on the major riots, languishing in archives, should be brought back to the light. Those accused should be brought to the bar of justice, as it was done in the case of the massacre of Sikhs in 1984 in wake if the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

3. Teaching of secular values to the children is essential to nurture pluralistic democracy. Primary and secondary education in all schools should have a strong component of secular education. Indians are inheritors of an ancient multi religious civilization. The values from all religions and philosophies should be included as a positive re-enforcement of multi-religious, multi-cultural ethos. This is the most important aspect of raising a better generation.

4. To sustain the secular education and eventually eliminate sectarianism, the police force, the administration and the judiciary should have adequate representation of all religious and ethnic communities. The excuse that the employment is dependent upon the competitive qualifications is a rouge by sectarian forces. No great intellectual prowess is needed to be a policeman, a city clerk, or a low to mid level administrator. The government can not monitor each small office, but the presence of people of all communities integrated in an office setting impedes discrimination and helps assimilation of citizenry to weld a nation, as has been the proven by the assimilation of the lower casts in the power structure.

Mirza A. Beg can be reached at mab64@yahoo.com His writings are at http://mirzasmusings.blogspot.com/

Minority safety India 08-08-21

2008-08-25T13:54:00.000-07:00

Need for Equitable Representation of Minorities in the Administration of Indian Government
Mirza A. Beg
Thursday, August 21, 2008

Counter Currents, Monday, August 25, 2008
http://www.countercurrents.org/beg250808.htm

Indian Muslims Sunday, August 24, 2008
http://indianmuslims.in/need-for-equitable-representation-of-minorities-in-the-administration-of-indian-government/

Khabrein Info .com, Saturday August 23, 2008
http://www.khabrein.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16101&Itemid=58

The essential requirement of good governance in a country is the welfare of all its citizens. This is the paramount ideal of constitutional democracies. India is a constitutional republic based on a very good and robust constitution.

The first duty of the Indian government is to protect the life and liberty of all its citizens. Everything else pales in comparison. Endemic sectarian riots rob the beleaguered communities. It dehumanizes and polarizes the majority as well as the minority. India has been rocked by cyclical sectarian riots for decades with increasing partisanship of those in power. With the burgeoning information technology, India has unprecedented opportunity and is on an upward trajectory to find its rightful destiny. The endemic poverty of a majority of its citizens and the fear of life by many minorities is an enormous drag, impeding progress.

Many, weak secularist though lightly infected with sectarianism take shelter and find justification in a myopic view that India is better than many other countries. It is true India is a better democracy than many. India’s record is even better, considering the size and tremendous diversity of the population. But simply saying that we are better than others does not wish or wash away the problems. It certainly does not help the nation, particularly the suffering poor and the minorities at the receiving end of the stick.

Baser human instincts propel many, to smugly justify what is advantageous to them and find the reverse reprehensible, if advantage accrue to others. Societies and nations do better when this tendency is on the decline or enough people stand up for the downtrodden. India has a better record than many other countries. Many great souls, particularly from the majority community have sacrificed a lot to stand up for justice for those perceived to be “the others”. Sectarianism of the majority is much more injurious to the nation than the minority sectarianism, because in a democracy minorities do not have the power of numbers to drive the agenda.

Free press should be and is a boon, but it becomes a bane when ordinary decent citizen inundated with insidious propaganda absorbs sectarianism (communalism in Indian parlance) without realizing it. Half truths from anecdotal stories are circulated to fortify sectarianism. Democracy has a self corrective mechanism, when enough thoughtful people rise up to negate such misuse and help protect the minorities from the clutches of entrenched sectarian interests. Fortunately many from the majority community in India have taken up this necessary burden.

Sectarian forces use perceived anecdotal injustices to spread their propaganda. Systematic discrimination and oppression that creates a deprived underclass can only be determined by rigorous social scientific research. In India the constitution itself made special provisions for the long suffering down-trodden casts and tribes (Scheduled casts and tribes) to overcome the horrible disparities and systemic exploitation of millennia. When such constitutional remedies are used some very deserving individuals of upper casts have felt cheated. That is what happens when we think of people as groups.

The case of grouping Muslims and Hindus as groups has many pitfalls, because they do not form homogeneous groups. But in the last six decades, because of endemic sectarian riots a large proportion of Hindus and Muslims have polarized and coalesced into a sectarian consciousness.

In order to design a solution based on well researched statistical data from the government archives and dozens of judicial enquiry reports into cyclical sectarian riots the Government of India established a committee under Justice Sachar. An exhaustive and comprehensive “Sachar Committee Report” came out in December 2006. It deals with the consequences of the endemic sectarian riots, destruction of lives and property and systematic discriminations against a large minority of Muslims and recommends temporary reservations in government employment for Muslims to compensate for the decades of discrimination.

Many object to sectarian reservation, suggesting that help should be based on economics parameter, taking into account individual circumstances. Religion or cast based reservations are not a panacea and have built in resentment. I sympathize with this view, but experience has shown that individuals, especially those at the bottom of the ladder have no power to get redress from systematic discrimination. The only way though imperfect is to implement the policy for the discriminated groups. Larger numbers provide vigilance in implementation of a policy.

The solutions are not simple, but some redress is imperative otherwise, India will continue sliding down the spiral in the sectarian abyss. Fortunately there are two trends to the advantage of India at this juncture.

First is the fast expanding Indian economy due to the technological revolution and the globalization. In a limited economy, for some to get redress others loose, but in an expanding economy it is easier to share, except for those whose ideology is based on hatred of others.

Second. No government can or should try to micro engineer every facet of life on the basis of perfection in equality. It will fail under the enormous weight of bureaucracy. In the burgeoning fields of sciences, education and research meritocracy ought to rule and profit motivated fast expanding private sector can not afford not to employ the best and the brightest. It is in the realm of the governing power where some parity is needed. Inequality in governance, such as police powers, justice dispensation and licensing of industries is not only deleterious, but it has been lethal, as proven time and again in endemic sectarian riots. Based on the judicial inquiry reports and disproportionate number of victims from the minority communities the injustice becomes obvious.

Why the representation of Muslims in administration is pitiful? No great intellectual prowess or great qualification is needed to be a policeman, a city clerk, or a low to mid level administrator. The judiciary at the district level must have judges represented from all communities to avoid blatant miscarriage of justice. Experience has shown that these are the levels where the most damage is done to the impoverished powerless communities. If different communities have approximate parity in these jobs, sectarian riots will not occur, or if they do, they will be very short lived, because the culprits will have a much better probability of being brought to justice.

Fortunately the Supreme Court of India has been a beacon of responsibility and Justice. One reason could be that they are in the lime light. It was the Supreme Court, the court, the court of last resort that was able to put breaks on Mr. Modi’s pogroms in Gujarat. Though the sectarian influences have kept him in power, but his murderous ways have been checked. There are now documented evidences of the culpability of the Gujarat government under Modi using the state machinery of power. That is why the events in Gujarat have been classed as pogroms rather than riots by most non sectarian observers.

The essential responsibility of a government is to safeguard its people from the enemies. Foreign enemies are easy to recognize, it the domestic enemies who injure the constitution and the national fabric. They are more dangerous and pose an existential challenge to the nation. The sectarian rioters are the domestic enemies. They can be curbed if the government really wants. There are glaring examples within India. Bengal, particularly Calcutta was prone to communal rioting in the 1960s. Since the advent of the communist government in Bengal the sectarian riots have all but vanished.

Should there be limited reservations in above mentioned jobs? I feel uncomfortable with the idea. Besides religion and politics when they are directly connected, they make an explosive mix and it solidifies the identity separation. The government should make effort to bring about equity in essential services among many better defines smaller subgroups among all communities. It will avoid major cleavages based on religion. Many minor cleavages tend to cancel out each other. It is good for the people and it is good for the country.

If the government does not succeed soon in designing programs similar in spirit as the “Affirmative action” in USA, I am afraid the reservations, a much less desirable remedy until a reasonable approximation to parity is achieved will be needed by default. By limiting reservations to administration of justice, police, army and low level bureaucracy will leave the rest of the burgeoning private enterprise open to meritocracy.

A government that can not safeguard the lives of its citizens fails in its primary purpose.

Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com
Mirza’s essays and poems can be read at http://mirzasmusings.blogspot.com/

Surge, a Façade 08-07-23

2008-07-28T11:12:00.000-07:00

Surge, a Façade for Changing Disgraced Policy

Mirza A. Beg
Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Media Monitor Network Friday, July 25, 2008
http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/53190

The American Muslim Friday, July 25, 2008
http://www.theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/surge_a_facade_for_changing_disgraced_policy/0016446

Cross-Cultural Understanding, Tuesday, July 29, 2008
http://www.ccun.org/Opinion%20Editorials/2008/July/29%20o/Surge,%20a%20Facade%20for%20Changing%20Failing%20Bush%20Policy%20in%20Iraq%20By%20Mirza%20A.%20Beg.htm

After four years of obstinate refusal to increase troops, Bush takes credit for the surge. McCain, with some justification thumps his chest claiming fatherhood of the surge. Unfortunately most pundits in the media also parrot the bumper sticker chorus,” The surge is working.”

Yes, American casualties are down; even the Iraqi casualties are down, but there is more to it than the surge. Let us not follow the propaganda mill blindly again. Consider the reasons that are more important and relevant than the surge itself.

Bush policy from the start of the Iraq invasion in March 2003, up to the Republican defeat in the Congressional elections in November, 2006 was essentially as follows:

1- The level of troops in Iraq, about 130,000, is adequate. If the generals ask, more troops will be provided. The generals towed the line and did not question it publicly.

2. Insistence that the dismantling of the Iraqi military, as well as the civilian infrastructure, was the correct policy, after the fall of Saddam. New civilian infrastructure, police and military are being trained with selected loyal Iraqis.

3 - All the resistance in Iraq is by Al Qaida supporters on the Sunni side, and Iran is fomenting trouble on the Shia side. No recognition of nationalist sentiments.

4 - Never negotiate with the insurgents who have American blood on their hands.

Bush, Chaney and Rumsfeld stubbornly adhered to the above mantras while Iraq descended into chaos. American deaths rose to more that 100 per month, reaching 160 in some months. In the meantime, bombing of Iraqi government targets rose dramatically, claiming more than 1,000 Iraqi lives per month. This increased internal religious strife, sinking into civil war. Consequently, about 15% of Iraqi population is displaced. Two million Iraqis fled to neighboring countries and another two million are internally displaced - “ethnically-cleansed” to safer sectarian neighborhoods.

Sunnis and Shias who lived in mixed neighborhoods fled to the ghetto-like safety of walled segregated neighborhoods. The safety walls between the cleansed-sectarian neighborhoods were erected by the American occupation authority.

The American electorate stirred from slumber and defeated Bush cronies in the Congressional elections of November 2006. Bush was forced to fire Rumsfeld, “face of the Iraq war” as the Secretary of Defense. Robert Gates, the new secretary, took the job reluctantly, but found greater freedom with the backing of the new Congress. The long awaited bipartisan Baker–Hamilton report of December 2006, urbanely castigated the administration for doing everything wrong. Some of the important recommendations were that the administration should open a dialogue with the Iraqi resistance as well as the regional opposition and stop the torture and mistreatment of Iraqis.

Bush pretended to ignore the report, but quietly replaced the generals running the war in Iraq. Then with fanfare, he appointed General Petraeus, widely hailed for his humane and cooperative treatment of Kurds at the beginning of the war.

Reversing the largely discredited first three policies, the new policy, up front was to raise the troop strength from 130,000 to 165,000, popularly called the surge. But the violence remained unabated for the first few months of 2007, until General Petraeus, quietly reversed even the 4th bed-rock Bush policy of no quarter to those who killed Americans.

Petraeus recognized the obvious; the insurgency was not pro Al Qaida but nationalistic. He instituted a program, employing former insurgents fighting the Americans in the Sunni areas into provincial militia, particularly in the most dangerous Al Anbar province, west of Baghdad. The program pays $10 per day to about 100,000 of the militia, controlled by local sheiks, not the Shia-dominated Iraqi government. In the shattered economy of Iraq, $10 goes a long way. A total of $30 million per month is pittance compared to hemorrhaging of $12 billion per month.

Finally a sane use of 30 million dollars, in complete reversal of the Bush policy, because almost all the people in the militia supported the resistance against the US forces and undoubtedly quite a few have American blood on their hands. Some may say it is bribery; a surrender to the enemy by the unyielding Bush. But it is the main factor that brought down the violence drastically.

The second reason for the decline in violence is that cleansed sectarian neighborhoods separated by barriers are easy to patrol. It dampened the sectarian violence.

The third reason is patience. With Bush limping towards the end of his term, Iraqi Sunnis and Shias are waiting him out for the new government in the US. They feel that with his diminished power for misadventures it is better to wait than fight.

It is not the surge by itself that is working. The addition of 30,000 troops has marginally helped, but the real reason is the changed Sunni attitude, because of the reversal of the US policy from suppression to paying the Sunnis and supporting them in local autonomy against the central government of Prime Minister Maliki, whom Bush gave unquestioning support. No wonder Maliki now insists on a time-table for American withdrawal.

Bush and McCain keep repeating the simplistic deceit about the surge, and the media keeps reporting it. Occasionally voices are raised challenging it, but they do not make the front pages or the lead story on the network news.

The claim that the surge is working is akin to saying that sun rises because the rooster crows. Eight years ago, I would not have believed that a significant number of voters can be so duped, but after the two Bush terms I know they can be. We as a people were willingly duped at the start of the war. The question is, have we and the media learned the lesson of the duplicity of this administration or will we continue to be duped.

Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com and at http://mirzasmusings.blogspot.com/

Karadzic Arrested 08-07-22

2008-07-24T07:57:00.000-07:00

Karadzic, the Serbian Butcher of Bosnia, Arrested

Mirza A. Beg
Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Pine Magazine, Tuesday, July 22, 2008
http://www.pine-magazine.com/maincat.php?category_id=2
Media Monitors Network, Tuesday, July 22, 2008
http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/53127
The American Muslim, Tuesday, July 22, 2008
http://www.theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/karadzic_the_serbian_butcher_of_bosnia_arrested/0016437

The arrest of Radovan Karadzic, the leader and one of the main architects of Serbian atrocities and genocide against the Bosnian Muslims and Catholic Croats is not only good news, but much needed victory for the cause of justice. He, as the civilian leader, along with Ratko Mladic, the military leader of the Serb forces, was the main culprit in the civil war in Bosnia from 1991 to 1996. They rained death and destruction on Sarajevo and directed the genocide in Bosnia that killed more than 200,000 Bosnians and Croats. They were indicted for their crimes against humanity by the international court of justice at The Hague and have eluded arrest for the last thirteen years.

As children, we are taught and fortunately we believe that evil does not pay and justice triumphs in the end. It is an uplifting message to imbibe. It gives us an ideal to aspire for, rooted in the purity of innocence. Perhaps that early implant of idealism is what keeps the world from spinning completely out of control and falling irredeemably into chaos.

Unfortunately, as adults we come face to face with the reality, leading to disillusionment. We sadly come to realize that tyrants, exploiters and killers are only occasionally brought to justice to face deserved punishment. Most tyrants not only thrive, but are even celebrated; especially when they are supported by a sectarian populace. If they live long enough and mellow with age, their sectarian good deeds help cover up their terrible crimes.

The best known extreme examples are Hitler who came to a well deserved ignominious end, but Stalin was celebrated until his natural death by his beleaguered countrymen. History is full of such pairs. In modern times many horrible killers and dictators retired and found refuge in other countries to live and die in isolated luxury. Tyranny by stronger countries on weaker countries is often celebrated in the hallowed name of patriotism and nationalism by the strong.

Occasionally when tyrants, killers and genocide perpetrators are caught and brought to the bar of slow grinding sporadic justice, a modicum of humanity is reclaimed, a few tears are wiped and it rekindles hope.

Often tyrants are replaced by other tyrants, or even unintended tyranny of war of hubris, such as the fate of Saddam Hussein. Many dictators and evil systems fall to leaders full of promise who adapt the same methods, once in power, as in the case of Idi Amin of Uganda and Mugabe of Zimbabwe. Unfortunately most major countries have been guilty of selective violations of human rights of beleaguered minorities; there are many current examples of such ongoing conflicts.

After the unprecedented carnage of the WW II, the stunned world came to its senses to establish a world-wide organization, The United Nations (UN), to be a world assembly where a consensus could be reached, so that such carnages could be avoided for a better future.

Though the UN has been immensely successful through its many agencies in helping the poverty-stricken peoples of the word, unfortunately it has failed in its primary purpose of outlawing wars and carnage. The main impediments are the five major powers, the victors of the WW II; Great Britain, France, the United States, China and now Russia in place of the Soviet Union. They reserved for them-selves the power of veto, the right to individually kill any resolution in the Security Council, the executive arm for world peace in the UN. Thus many regional wars and even genocides have continued, in which either the powers them-selves were engaged or it involved their client states.

The UN also created the International Court of Justice, headquartered at The Hague in the Netherlands, to be the impartial arm of justice for those who had no other recourse. The most powerful country, the United States refused to join it. Therefore, the International Court of Justice works only when the less powerful tyrants are defeated and caught.

Nevertheless, the arrest of Radovan Karadzic after thirteen years of eluding half-hearted attempts by the Serbian and the UN peace-keepers is a small victory for the ideals that we were raised on, and it keeps the flickering flame of justice alive.

Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com .

Burmese disaster 08-05-12

2008-05-13T12:51:00.000-07:00

Junta Obstructs Aid While Burmese Die

Mirza A. Beg
Monday, May 12, 2008

The American Muslim Tuesday, May 13, 2008
http://www.theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/junta_obstructs_aid_while_burmese_die/0016218

The devastation caused by the forces of nature such as cyclones, tsunamis and earthquakes are well known. We have witnessed their fury many times, particularly in the last three years. What we have not witnessed is the intentional criminal neglect by the government of the country. The Burmese government has not only ignored the plight of the suffering masses, but has done all they can to reject and impede the help that the world is eager to provide.

The cyclone that hit Burma (Myanmar) on the third of May, 2008 devastated the heavily populated, rice farming delta region of the Irrawaddy River, including the largest city and, until recently, the capital Rangoon (Yangon).

People all over the world through their governments and through private charities are aching to help, but have been stymied, by the putative Burmese military junta masquerading as a government.

Unlike tsunamis or earthquakes, the cyclone system moves slowly. Modern weather predictions and satellite tracking allows time for governments to help populations prepare for the impending disaster, and where possible evacuation. There is no evidence that the Burmese junta cared to inform the people in the path of the cyclone. Cyclones are a natural phenomenon, neither good nor evil. The Burmese junta has proven to be not only depraved, but criminal, because it does not allow others to help either, transforming a tragedy into a catastrophe.

The United Nations estimates that as many as 120,000 people may be dead and millions are homeless, in dire need of food, shelter and clean water. With the experiences after the tsunami in Indonesia in December 2004, and the earthquake in Pakistan in October, 2005, the UN and international community learned valuable lessons in large scale disaster relief. The first few hours after a disaster are extremely important for the survival of people barely hanging on to the tenuous thread of life.

The response from the international community was immediate. Supplies were on the way, being stored in neighboring countries and relief ships the same day. All that the government of Burma had to do was, say yes. The relief supplies and equipments along with trained aid workers would have poured in.

The Burmese Junta said no. Later under universal condemnation modified it to “yes but”. They wanted the supplies to be given to them, and obstinately refused the influx of foreign aid workers. They are scared that aid workers would be carriers of humane ideas and democracy. The United Nations and the relief agencies know the modus operandi of the Burmese Junta. They are sure that the aid will be pilfered; diverted to the well-healed generals and the army. Most of it will not reach the hungry suffering victims in dire need.

Cruel military juntas are efficient in the use and mobilization of the army. The Burmese junta was very efficient in the misuse of the army in the brutal suppression of the peaceful demonstration by the monks in September- October 2007, but the army was nowhere to be seen in the devastated regions of the Irrawaddy delta in the wake of the this cyclone. Yet, the government was telling the UN that its army would help distribute the emergency supplies.

On the contrary, while the people in the Irrawaddy delta are dieing, the junta has spent its attention, meager resources, and man power in holding sham elections in the rest of the country to legitimize its rule. The only local organized help that the people have is from the Monks and the shelters in the monasteries.

UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon has expressed immense frustration that after nine days only a trickle of aid has reached the victims. He has not been able to contact the leader of the junta General Than Shwe in the last nine days. Obviously General Shwe does not care.

Unfortunately in this show down, the cruel dictators have had their way. This stand-off has already resulted in the death of thousands, who could have been saved in the immediate aftermath of the cyclone. If the food, water and medicine do not reach the survivors, they will die in large numbers because of malnutrition, diarrhea, malaria and other contagious diseases that can be avoided. Children are particularly vulnerable. The international community has reluctantly started to surrender the relief supplies to the Burmese junta.

How has such dastardly government survived for almost forty-five years? It is the same old story. While the democracies condemn the government and have even imposed sanctions in the last few years, they quietly and often illegally trade with it because of rich mineral wealth of Burma. Burmese rubies and sapphires are the best in the world. China is the biggest beneficiary of such trade. To compete with China, India and other south-east Asian countries have regular trade relations with Burma. The French and other oil companies are engaged in petroleum exploration and production, even the US while imposing trade sanctions quietly allowed Chevron Oil Company to trade freely with Burma up to the last November.

Democracies mostly pay lip service to the idea of democracy, while they surreptitiously support dictatorships for their interests, as in the case of Burma. It is time that the citizens of democracies should expose such nefarious deals. The world super-powers have consistently worked to weaken the UN for their own purposes, as we have seen in the case of the Iraq invasion. It is time to strengthen the UN and other international organizations, so that an above-board united action can be taken against the governments that kill and torture their own citizens and invade and torture others.

Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com
His writings are available at http://mirzasmusings.blogspot.com/

Passing of Nirmala 08-5-5

2008-05-05T13:24:00.000-07:00

The Passing of Nirmala Deshpande

Mirza A. Beg
Thursday, May 1, 2008

Counter Currents, Friday, May 2, 2008
http://www.countercurrents.org/beg020508.htm

The American Muslim, May4, 2008
http://www.theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/the_passing_of_nirmala_deshpande/0016195

Nirmala Deshpande, 79, a veteran Gandhian, died in her sleep at her home in Delhi, Thursday morning. It is natural to mourn the passing of a dear friend. Though I did not know her personally, I mourn her passing as if she was a close friend. We knew of her great sacrifice and struggle to keep the flame of humanity and justice alive against powerful winds of hatred and strife around the world, particularly in her homeland, India, the land of Gandhi.

Her being was a source of strength to many who saw and felt her piety. Many took sustenance from her selfless work for the downtrodden and marginalized in a fast changing society, where sectarianism has become entrenched in the halls of power. In that respect she became a dear friend to all who cared. To them she was popularly known as “Didi” (respected elder sister in Hindi).

Her passing is particularly sad, because she was a great soul. She was seventy-nine years old and no one has defied the law of nature to live forever. Her life was a beacon and her death should be a time of reflection. People like her are a gift to humanity by the providence. Fortunately humanity continues to produce people like her in every generation to carry the torch of humane concerns. Democracies, though imperfect, provide secular saints such as Nirmala Deshpande a modicum of sustenance to nudge the conscience of many to uphold the values we often preach, but do not practice.

All freedom and justice-loving Indians loved and respected her. Muslims, Christians and untouchables in India are especially indebted to this frail woman born in a Brahmin family, for her tireless efforts against discrimination and marginalization. Her fearless stand rallied many Indians against the pogrom carried out by the fascistic provincial government of Gujarat against Muslims in 2002, in which about 2,000 Muslims were brutally burned and massacred.

She saw the tyranny of governments cloaked in crass nationalism, used as an excuse to foster hatred. She tried to bring the peoples of India and Pakistan, former brothers, now contentious neighbors, towards understanding and amity. She knew that constitutional safeguards work only when the majority community considers it a duty to protect the minority rights. Therefore she took up the cause of marginalized minorities in India.

In her memory, Muslims all over the world, especially in India and Pakistan, owe it to Islam and humanity to convince the Muslim majorities in all countries to protect the rights of minorities. Thoughtful Muslims in Pakistan and Bangladesh have found their voices in Nirmala’s Gandhian tradition to speak up for Hindu and Christian minorities. Their rights have been violated by some out of visceral hatred or financial gains, especially resulting from seemingly good, though egregious blasphemy laws.

Protecting the minorities is a test of civilization. It protects the rights of all. Looking the other way or ignoring small violations of human rights leads to greater discrimination and injustice.

She adhered to the best of the creeds that humanity offers. Widely known as a Gandhian, she was able to carry the torch of Gandhi Ji’s ideals at a time when Gandhi Ji’s name is reviled by a large section of Indian polity or at best is used only for ceremonial purposes by those who profit from his name, but consider his ideology and humanity to be impractical or at best, quaint.

Of course the Gandhian path that Nirmala Deshpandey traveled is difficult to follow. Gandhi Ji did not live an easy or opulent life. It is certainly much more difficult than succumbing to self interest in the pursuit of wealth and political power to the detriment of the weaker sections of the society.

Humanity has innate potential to rise above its selfish baser instincts, but only a few harness it to help lead their people towards a better tomorrow. She lived in the tradition of the great conscience keepers of their nations.

Mirza A. Beg writings are available at http://mirzasmusings.blogspot.com/
Mirza can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com

An ode to spring 08-04-10

2008-04-14T14:19:00.000-07:00

An ode to spring

Mirza A. Beg

April 10, 2008

Spring is a time for renewal, particularly in the northern latitudes. After a long cold dormant winter, the Earth slowly reawakens. Sprigs of grass shoot up to provide fodder to the enfeebled starved animals. Amorous flowers bloom to fertilize and give birth to fruits, to form new seeds for the next generation. Most species of animals give birth to their young to feast on the bounties of spring. In effect mother Earth, Gaia, awakens from hibernation to cuddle and nurture her children.

In the tropics and further south the summers are very hot and dry. Rainy season followed by mild winter are the time for planting cereal and vegetable crops that are harvested, during a short fall season, followed by a short spring and a long hot dry summer. Spring is a happy season when mother Earth, “Dharti” (in Hindi), provides replenishment of empty granaries to survive the hot dry season.

That is why in most ancient cultures New Year starts in spring. Odes in celebration of spring have been written in almost every language. The following poem is my rendition of a very popular Bengali Song, an ode to spring, an ode to New Year, an ode to life.

May the Joy of Spring Infect You

Mirza A. Beg

All Bangala homes are filled with rhythms of spring
Every Bangala soul sways intoxicated with melody

Sorrows of the old year surrender to a bright new dawn
Gift baskets, offerings brimming with melody of songs

Horizon is afire with blossoms of Shimul and Polash
It is Boishakh, Spring of the New Year beckons

Musings of Mirza A. Beg can be read on http://mirzasmusings.blogspot.com/
Contact Mirza at mab64@yahoo.com

Midnight Thoughts 08-04-03

2008-04-04T14:16:00.000-07:00

Elusive thoughts at Midnight

Mirza A. Beg
April 3rd, 2008

Middle of the night
Is never perfectly dark
The restful dark
Of deep slumber

Stray eerie light seeps in
From the streets of the
Smoldering day, from the
Tormented world beyond

Eyelids quiver with twilight
Of wakeful concerns of the day,
Of wars, real and imagined
Of inhumanity and lost friends

Inducing an amorphous ache
From myriad hazy sources
Flooding the heart and mind
And engulfing the soul

With countless Images
Of tortured bodies
Of hungry faces
Of loss and injustice

Of slings and arrows
Of lost opportunities
Of what could have been
Should have been, but is not

In the name of
Egotistic power
Misbegotten ideology
And misused religion

In the deathly stillness
Of a body, dormant
The restless mind soars
To resonate with the spirit

Inspiring visions
Of possibilities of peace
Just and humane
Clear and concise

To capture lost opportunities
Transcending arrogance and pride
To mend the frayed fabric
And make shattered souls, whole

Slowly the sleep returns
To cloud the vision
Clarity dissolves in a mist
Leaving only a few kernels

Morning is melancholy
I stare at a blank page
Failing to capture that
Fleeting flawless vision

Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com
His Essays and Poems are available at http://mirzasmusings.blogspot.com/

Soldiers & Generals 08-3-12

2008-03-14T09:55:00.000-07:00

When Brave Soldiers were led by Timid Generals

Mirza A. Beg
Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Counter Currents, Tuesday, March 18, 2008
http://www.countercurrents.org/beg180308.htm

Cross Cultural Understanding march 17, 2008
http://www.ccun.org/Opinion%20Editorials/2008/March/17%20o/When%20Brave%20Soldiers%20Were%20Led%20by%20Timid%20Generals%20By%20Mirza%20A.%20Beg.htm

The American Muslim March 14, 2008
http://www.theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/when_brave_soldiers_were_led_by _timid_generals/0015929

Pine Magazine March 24, 2008
http://pine-magazine.com/content.php?id=1234

Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced on March 11th that Admiral William J. Fallon's request for early retirement had been granted regretfully. The 63-year-old admiral was appointed with great fanfare as the head of the U S Central Command only about a year ago, after serving as head of US Pacific Command. He became the commander of the US forces in the Middle East, responsible for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq (as General Petraeus’ boss). And if Bush had his way in engineering a war with Iran, Admiral Fallon would have been saddled with this third war as well, while still being mired in Iraq and Afghanistan.

A fall out of the Republicans losing control of the Congress in the November 2006 elections was the resignation of Defense Secretary Rumsfeld. Bush was forced to appoint people like Secretary Gates, Admiral Fallon and General Petraeus, because the traditional yes-men could not be confirmed by a Democratic Congress.

Admiral Fallon’s frank testimony before the Congress and occasional pronouncements emphasizing diplomacy over war in dealing with Iran, were regular irritants to Bush and his cohorts. His backing of further troop withdrawals from Iraq to boost the forces in Afghanistan reversing the long trend of neglect of Afghanistan brought to focus the open secret that Afghanistan was spiraling out of control.

An article in Esquire magazine describing Admiral Fallon standing between the Bush administration and the war with Iran was the final straw. It became too obvious that unlike many of his predecessors, Admiral Fallon would not be a toady to the brazen, ill-conceived Bush follies. The public spat of Secretary Gates with the Europeans about more forces for Afghanistan, while the US is mired in Iraq and Bush is craving for a war with Iran, did not help either.

So the Admiral had to be fired, and he was.

Young soldiers in their teens and early twenties follow orders and serve on nebulous front lines in Iraq and Afghanistan as a patriotic duty. They bravely put their lives on the line in the mistaken belief that they are being led by a sane and caring policy executed by their officers who care for them as surrogate parents.

Generals seldom die in wars. How many generals have died or been maimed in Iraq? What bravery, courage and sacrifice are expected from the generals?

The bravery expected from the generals is that they speak “truth to power”. The courage expected is to be ready to resign, if they consider the policies of the administration to be injurious to the country they love and the constitution they have sworn to defend. The sacrifice expected is to give up lucrative careers for the sake of the soldiers under their command; the soldiers whose sacrifice and bravery they swear by; the soldiers who put their lives on the line for the generals.

General Shinseki was fired in 2003 before the Iraq war. His sin was, an honest testimony before the congress contradicting the contrived rosy and gross underestimates of troops required for the Iraq war by Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz. It drove the point home to many generals that expression of honest opinion was inimical to their careers. The Staff officers bold enough to express their opinions with courage and tenacity were shunted to obscure positions or were cashiered. The message was loud and clear, generals who fell in line were rewarded with promotions. Rumsfeld and Bush chose only those generals who lived by the “lofty ideals” of spineless subservience.

Dozens of retired generals have been very critical of the Bush policies and the contrived war in Iraq from the beginning. Some of the well known names are General Wesley Clark, former commander of NATO and General Anthony Zinni, the former commander of the Central Command, one of the predecessors of Admiral Fallon. Lately even some of the generals, who danced to the Bush-Rumsfeld tune, have discovered spine after retirement and have become critics of the policies and the conduct of the Iraq war.

It is customary to say that we oppose the war, but support the brave troops. It is an inherently thoughtless and contradictory position. Politicians afraid of the backlash from a misinformed public take this position to hedge their bets. Most soldiers indeed are brave, but to support them is to bring them home away from this misbegotten war. It is craven lip service to keep the soldiers in harms way, to use a hackneyed phrase. To keep funding the war means that soldiers will keep dieing and killing, in an immoral war based on proven lies and deceit.

By resigning, Admiral Fallon has really served the country and has risen to the moral high ground of supporting the constitutional supremacy of the civilian authority of the elected officials over the military. He has come to the conclusion that the President’s policies are indefensible and are doing tremendous harm to the constitution and the country he loves. It is time for him to speak bravely and clearly to tell the nation and his peers in the services about his struggle to serve his country above and beyond the lure of promotions.

Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com and http://mirzasmusings.blogspot.com/

Free speech & U. A. 08-3-3

2008-03-05T12:34:00.000-08:00

Right of Free Speech At Univ. of Alabama

Mirza A. Beg

Written Monday, March 3, 2008

Tuscaloosa News, Wednesday, March 5, 2008
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20080305/NEWS/803050315/1005

Counter Currents, march 7, 2008
http://www.countercurrents.org/beg070308.htm

Cross- Cultural Understanding, March 8, 2008
http://ccun.org/Opinion%20Editorials/2008/March/8%20o/Arresting%20Anti-War%20Protesters%20in%20the%20University%20of%20Alabama%20Trashing%20the%20First%20Amendment%20By%20Mirza%20A.%20Beg.htm

Unlike past wars in our nation's history, in the absence of the draft, the Iraq war is being waged primarily on the backs of less well-off and less educated soldiers. The military has reluctantly admitted that unable find enough volunteers, it has lowered its standards for recruitment.

Though the administration claims that it is an existential struggle for our survival, it has worked hard to insulate the American people from feeling the effects of war and the sacrifice of our soldiers. The news media has tried to inform about the nature and cost of war, but compared to previous wars, very few lives have been directly affected, particularly on the college campuses. The educational life and the partying go on. The death and destruction of a whole people and a country resulting from our blunder, does not penetrate the concerns of daily lives on the campuses.

Fortunately some students rise above their mundane concerns and take the promise of America and their moral responsibility seriously. They have imbibed values educational institutions aspire to teach. One hopes that most educators would take pride in nurturing better and well-informed human beings rather than robots that follow authority and discredited leaders; even after the lies have been fully exposed.

A few such students on the University of Alabama campus tried to raise the consciousness that Iraqi lives also matter; because all lives matter. The blatant killings and mistreatment of Iraqis by some of our soldiers and contractors under the immoral policies of the Bush administration are reprehensible. They are not only shameful for all decent human beings, but they sully the name and reputation of our country and us as a moral people.

In the five years since the invasion of Iraq, about 4,000 American soldiers have lost their lives. About 30,000 have been severely injured. Paradoxically, the purported beneficiary of our largess, the Iraqis have lost more than a million lives, many more millions injured and more than four million, about one sixth of the population have been rendered refugees.

The students had invited to the University of Alabama, Jason Hurd, from the Asheville, NC chapter of “Iraq Veterans against the War” (IVAW), to speak about his experiences during his tour of duty in Iraq, at 6:15 PM on Friday the 29th of February.

To raise awareness about the plight of Iraqis, the two guests from North Carolina and a few students from the University of Alabama followed the well-respected tradition of impromptu “Street-theater” at the Student Center, as Jason Hurd has done on many other campuses. Four students dressed as Iraqis were lounging, when the two guests and two University students dressed in military fatigues feigned to arrest them in a rough manner. It appears the impromptu play had more than desired effect. Someone called the campus police. By the time the campus police arrived, Jason was in the process of explaining the point of the street theater the students had just witnessed.

The campus police took the two UA students and the two guests from North Carolina into custody for questioning. After about four hours of questioning without legal representation, they were taken to the county jail and booked on the charges of disturbance of the peace, a misdemeanor. After an ordeal of about nine hours the arrestees were released on bail at about 10 p.m.

The University Police Chief, Steve Tucker was kind enough to call me at my request and explained the situation. It was clear that in the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings a few months ago and the shootings at the Northern Illinois University about a week ago, sensitivities are heightened and the campus police responded quite responsibly and with alacrity.

What is not clear is why the students were charged with misdemeanor, after it was obvious that the students’ intentions were completely peaceful. No harm was intended nor done, and no weapons were found. The irony is the students were protesting the evils of contrived war, misuse of authority and violence in our name.

Perhaps it would have been better had the students put up a placard indicating that a “street-play” was being performed. The worst they can be accused of is behaving in a sophomoric fashion. Well, they are young students. Some of them may even be sophomores.

Conscientious students tried to bring the issues of our involvement in destroying innocent Iraqi lives to our attention on Friday, February the 29th.The University Police should be commended for a quick response. The dean of students issued a statement, "The University of Alabama strongly supports the right to free speech and welcomes expressions of opinion; however, we cannot condone and will not tolerate behavior that mimics a true emergency on our campus."

The students could have been admonished for the inadvertent mimicking of actual emergency that stretched campus police resources. But throwing them in county jail and charging them with misdemeanor is completely contradictory to protecting the first amendment rights of free speech.

I hope better sense will prevail, the first amendment will really be upheld and the administration will drop the misdemeanor charges against the students.

Mirza A. Beg invite comments at mab64@yahoo.com

A List of writings by date (yy/mm/dd)

2008-01-08T06:33:00.000-08:00

Chronological list of my writings – Newest to oldest

2011

Corruption - India 11-01-26

Bigotry in Election 11-6-20

Egypt Uprising 11-2-2
2010
Islamic Center NY 10-9-10
Dr. Siras Suspended! 10-02-22
Shahid Azmi Murder 10-02-12
Eartquake in Haiti 10-01-13
Book Review- 09-12-14

2009
Hope for 2010, 09-12-31
Oman Snubs Modi 2009-10-27
In search of Jesus 2009-10-15
Nobel Prize-Obama 09-10-08
Iran at Cossroads 09-06-22
Obama to Muslims 09-06-04
Dem. in Pakistan 09-03-18

2008
Greetings for 2009 08-12-18
Mumbai Carnage 08-12-01
Congrats Pres Obama 08-11-4
McCain V/S McCain 08-10-27
Delhi Blasts 08-09-15
Minority safety India 08-08-21
Surge, a Façade 08-07-23
Karadzic Arrested 08-07-22
Burmese disaster o8-05-12
Passing of Nirmala 08-5-5
An ode to spring 08-04-10
Midnight Thoughts 08-04-03
Soldiers & Generals 08-3-12
Free speech & U. A. 08-3-3

2007
Benazir Bhutto Killed 07-12-27
Justice & Gujarat 07-12-10
Sudanese Justice 07-11-30
Pakistan - Coup 07-11-5
India genocide expose 071031
Eid & Moon Sighting 07-10-12
AMU Paralyzed again 07-09-17
India-Lanka Strait 07-09-14
The Unity Day USA 07-09-10
India's 60th B'day 07-0815
Islam v/s Gangsters 070810
Moderate Muslims 07-07-18
Cindy Sheehan 07-05-31
Freedom and Muslim 07-05-10
Abortion Non-debate 07-04-17
Trouble at AMU 07-04-12
Audacity to Speak 07-04-10
Firing US Attorneys 07-03-25
Republic Day- India 07-01-26
Book- Denish Cart. 07-01-02

2006
Greetings for 2007 06-12-15
Way out of Iraq 06-11-09
Sir Syed & Muslims 06-11-03
Lessons of History 06-10-30
Nobel for Yunus 06-10-13
Science and Religion 06-09-12
London Bombing 06-08-13
Islamic Civilization 06-07-26
Vitims of Bombing 06-07-12
Taj Mahal 06-07-08
Bush Needs Ethics 06-06-13
Evil- Good Men do 06-05-17
PM, India - Gujarat 06-05-03
Satire- letter- Bush 06-04-20
Courage - Poem 06-04-07
Memories 06-04-07
Letter to Indian PM 06-04-03
Muslims Injure Islam 06-03-30
Introspection - 06-03-29
Offensive Cartoons 06-02-15
Freedom & Decency 06-02-09
Danish Cartoons 06-01-31
Greetings -Eid 06-01-10

2005
Greetings for 2006 05-12-30
Science and God 05-11-16
Against War/Terror 05-11-13
Poverty - Poem 05-11-01
AMU Status 0510-16
Iraq, drains America 05-09-19
Beseiged Am Soldier 05-09-18
Iraq,drains the USA 05-09-11
Bush sank N Orleans 05-09-03
Dest. Hist.Mecca 05-08-18
Letter to Indian PM 05-08-15
Elegy for Sayeed Beg 05-05-07
Advani's New Avatar 05-06-08
Pope J-P II Passes 05-04-05
Women lead Prayer 05-03-25
Silence - Poem 05-03-19
Silence - Poem 05-03-19
Eternity -Sufi view 05-03-12
Religion and Culture 05-03-08
Destr.-Iraqi Museum 05-02-16
Tsunami-Nature-God05-01-22
Response -Tsunami 05-01-22 A
A Dream 05-01-06

2004
Greetings for 2005 04-12-14
Education, a view 04-10-15
Iraq, Victory -Defeat 04-10-07
When Wrong is Right04-09-15
Birmingham Pledge 04-09-12
Musl. Leaders Accnt 04-09-03
Darfur's Agony 04-07-12
Quagmire in Iraq 04-04-28
Peter Dix - Memory 04-03-18
Practice Tolerance 04-03-10
Right wing bigots 04-02-13

2003
Greetings for 2004 03-12-09
Key to Peace - Iraq 03-11-07
Press Failed-Iraq 03-09-23
Patriot Act Illegal 03-09-18
Babri Masjid India 03-08-24
Men Cruel and Kind 03-08-15
Agony of Liberia 03-07-22
Am Muslims India 03-07-15
United Nations 03-05-18
Destrust of Bush 03-05-09
Not with Us - Bush 03-04-04
Triple Taxation 03-03-16
Ind Muslims-Atlanta 03-02-06
Need Islamic Inst. 03-01-31
Felonious Friends 03-01-12
Pining for Caliph 03-01-10
Cyclic Polit. Morality 03-01-08

2002
The Will of God 02-12-18
Greetings for 2003 02-12-15
Economic Justice 02-11-24
Power of Ind.Voter 02-11-15
Nobel Prize -Carter 02-10-20
War on Terrorism 02-09-29
America the Noble 02-09-23
Attack on Iraq? 02-09-06
Dr. M. Anwer Beg 02-09-02
Struggle in Islam 02-08-24
Abel & Cain-Allegory 02-07-17
India- Pak 55th Ann 02-08-16
Vote - not vote 02-06-25
Dissent in India 02-06-14
American Talibans 02-05-17
To the Indian Gov.02-04-14
Genocide in Gujarat 02-03-18
Daniel pearl 02-03-05
Do They hate US 02-02-15
Ghaffar Khan- Peace 02-01-27

2001
Greetings for 2003 02-12-15
Israel & Paleatine 01-12-10
9/11 Need to reason 01-18-18
Rightwing Christian 01-11-21
Is Religion a Prison? 01-11-11
9/11 - The pain 01-09-23

East Timor -Help 99-09-09
Bosnia - US Policy 95-06-17

Benazir Bhutto Killed 07-12-27

2007-12-28T11:55:00.000-08:00

Benazir Bhutto faced death with courage

Mirza A. Beg
Thursday, December 27, 2007

Counter Currents, Saturday, December 29, 2007
http://www.countercurrents.org/beg291207.htm

Indian Muslims, Friday, December 28, 2007
http://indianmuslims.in/obituary-benazir-bhutto-faced-death-with-courage/#more-481

Khabrein Info. India, Friday, December 28, 2007
http://www.khabrein.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10399&Itemid=88

My News India, Sunday, December 30, 2007
http://www.mynews.in/fullstory.aspx?storyid=1600

Pine Magazine, Atlanta, Wednesday, January 2, 2008
http://pine-magazine.com/content.php?id=1098

The Tuscaloosa News, Thursday, January 3, 2008
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20080103/NEWS/801030301

Banazir Bhutto, fell victim to the politics of endemic violence in Pakistan. She called herself “the Daughter of Destiny” in her autobiography and often styled herself as the daughter of Pakistan. She had more upheavals in one life time than most can imagine. In her untimely death, she followed her slain father and two brothers.

She was the daughter of former President, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, appointed under emergency rule when former dictator Yahya Khan abdicated in the wake of civil war of 1971. The war was brought on by hubris of Yahya Khan and Zulfiqar Bhutto, resulting in East Pakistan breaking away to form Bangladesh. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto later became the Prime Minister under a parliamentary constitution designed by him. He rigged the next election and was overthrown in a military coup in 1977 by General Zia ul Haq, who hanged him in 1979 for the murder of a political opponent.

With courage and perseverance, twenty-six year old Oxford and Harvard educated Benazir Bhutto became the undisputed leader of her father's Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). The PPP was hounded by General Zia, an ally of the US in the war against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. After the death of dictator-President Zia ul Haq in a plane crash, she returned from exile to lead PPP to victory twice to become the Prime Minister in 1988 and again in 1993. And twice she was dismissed from office under a cloud of corruption and nepotism in 1990 and 1996 by the ceremonial president.

In 1999, General Parvez Musharraf overthrew the government of her political rival Nawaz Sharif. General Musharraf has ruled Pakistan through some very difficult times in the wake of 9/11 and the US war on Al Qaeda and the Talibans in neighboring Afghanistan.

After eight years of dictatorship, and close cooperation with the United States, Musharraf has not been able to contain the virulent Talibanist ideology that has spilled over among the kith and kin of Afghan Pashtuns in the very porous frontier areas of Pakistan. With regular indiscriminate bombings of Pashtun villages in Afghanistan by the US lead forces and occasional stealth bombings in Pakistan, claiming hundreds perhaps thousands of innocent lives, the Pashtuns have become much more anti-American and anti-Pakistan government than ever before, resulting in Iraq style suicide bombings in civilian areas of Pakistan.

Unable to defeat the Talibanist ideology and unable to safeguard the civilian population in the heartland of Pakistan, Musharraf has become quite unpopular. He found his power slipping and made the mistake of firing the Chief Justice of the Pakistan Supreme Court in March 2007. Unexpected widespread protest followed and Musharraf was forced to reinstate the Chief Justice. It weakened him further.

Over the summer of 2007, the United States brokered a power sharing deal between General Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto to provide a gradual shift in power. Musharraf dropped the pending corruption charges against her and allowed her return to Pakistan after a decade of self exile. She was a candidate for Prime Minister again in the upcoming election on January 8, 2008. On again, off again political maneuvering by General Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto further weakened Musharraf who declared emergency in early November, but was forced to relinquish his military dictator’s uniform to become a newly minted civilian president.

Whatever the veracity of behind the scene deal may have been, Bush took credit for it, trying to shore his sagging popularity in the United States. To the Pakistanis the very idea of Bush meddling and controlling the two top political figures, made Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto appear to be stooges of Bush, who while preaching democracy has a record of supporting dictatorships and bullying other countries. An average Pakistani does not support the Talibanist ideology and feels caught between the devil and the deep sea, unable to decide which is which.

Benazir Bhutto was a polarizing figure in a country that had aspirations of nationhood, but keeps loosing to the vested interests based on many conflicting ethnic, linguistic and economic fissures held together or perhaps suppressed together by the domineering presence of the military. For sixty years, its leaders have gone for quick fixes of military dictatorships rather than let the imperfect civilian institutions grow and mature.

As polarizing leaders often are, she was intensely loved by many and was hated by many others. In the past Benazir Bhutto had political opponents, but this time she had deadly enemies. The bullets of an assassin and the suicide bomber not only killed Benazir Bhutto, but have set Pakistan further back, denying another possible chance for an imperfect democracy to take root.

I was not an admirer of Benazir Bhutto’s political compromises and considered her father to be one of the architects of the dismemberment of Pakistan when Bangladesh broke away in 1971. But criticism aside one has to admire her courage and persistence. She tried to bring sanity to Pakistan's many-sided murky politics choked with a strangle-hold of military on all the intermittent civilian governments, including hers.

Finally she went down fighting courageously trying to do some good for her beleaguered country. She was less than what critics like me would have liked her to be, but then critics have the luxury of not being in the rough and tumble of politics. They do not have to swallow principles and make calculated imperfect or at times far from perfect compromises. As Theodore Roosevelt said,

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again ... who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly."

Banazir Bhutto knew the dangers she faced. About 150 people died in an attempt on her life when she arrived in Pakistan from exile in mid-October this year. She was not intimidated but pursued on with vigor. She died valiantly fighting for her and Pakistan's future as she saw it. She was cut down in her prime by those who have a very narrow jaundiced view of their religion and no vision of the future. They court death, killing innocent bystanders in ignorance of the ideals of religion and nobility of human spirit.

After six years of war, death and destruction the US should realize that bombing wins battles and destroys some enemies while creating many more, resulting in a heavy blowback price to pay. War of ideas is won by convincing the enemy of a better future. Instead of supporting military dictatorships the United States should invest in better schools, universities, hospitals and infrastructure to help Pakistan alleviate poverty and build a more equitable society.

Pakistan is again at fateful cross roads. It is sixty years late, but not too late, because what else can a people or a nation do, but to take up the fallen standard and persevere. Pakistanis can reject the politics of fear imposed by the quick-fix promises of military dictatorships. They should take up the difficult long journey of slowly building civil institutions of imperfect political give and take to reach an internal cohesion and become a nation at peace with itself and its neighbors.

Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com or read at http://mirzasmusings.blogspot.com/

Thoughts for 2008, 07-12-20

2007-12-22T06:21:00.000-08:00

Will the year 2008 be Different?

Mirza A. Beg
Tuesday, December 20, 2007

Counter Currents, Wednesday, December21, 2007
http://www.countercurrents.org/beg211207.htm

The American Muslim, Tuesday, December 20, 2007
http://www.theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/will_the_year_2008_be_different/0015294

Media Monitors Network, Monday, December 24, 2007
http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/48396

My News India, Sunday, December 30, 2007
http://www.mynews.in/fullstory.aspx?storyid=1601

Asia Peace, Article of the month, December 2007
http://www.asiapeace.org/article_of_month.htm

January 1, of the year 2008 of the Julian-Gregorian calendar will be just another day in the steady flow of time. Some will celebrate because it is customary, while others will rejoice in the ever present hope of renewal, but most of the teaming poor and dispossessed of the world will not notice it. The wars will go on as legalized murder. It will be yet another day of misery and deprivation.

Most people, across the globe, at least wish for peace on Earth and equity and justice for all. They are kind and considerate as individuals. But as a group, “us versus them”, we conveniently forget that it requires treating the distant “others” as we, the “us” would like to be treated. It is easy to find tortuous reasons to justify selfish interests, resulting in wars based on the worst of lies, the self serving lies that we tell ourselves. They propel us to support the politicians who lie most convincingly that killing neighbors or a people in far off lands is necessary to preserve our way of life.

Religions become the most convenient hand maiden of the propagandists, and we willingly with enthusiasm profane what we purport to hold sacred.

Eventually all wars do end, often with the exhaustion of all sides. In the past two centuries, the quantum growth in modern technology has provided unimaginable material conveniences. It has brought prosperity, but sadly there is even a greater growth in weapons to feed the wars; weapons that can be used without any danger to the user; impersonalized weapons.

In my name, with my taxes, a neighborhood full of people with similar dreams as mine, in a far off place, will be destroyed by a rocket delivered by a remote controlled plane, while I am celebrating the New Year festivities and talking of peace and goodwill. If confronted by the deception, the trite explanation will be “collateral damage”, or at best an oft repeated hackneyed phrase “Oops, a mistake for which we are extremely sorry.”

Ours is an age of information and instant communication. No technology can be secret for very long. Every weapon invented by an established government to oppress others in the name of crass nationalism will eventually leak out or are sold to those fighting the oppression, who after gaining power, in turn become oppressors.

The wars can not be fought or sustained unless the populace is duped into believing that the “ungodly other” or “beastly other” is trying to destroy them. The propaganda is self-sustaining and it grows until we are jolted after falling off the precipice.

Those who see injustice and keep quiet, end up being silent supporters of oppression. The "innocent" bystanders are no longer as innocent as they want to believe, especially in a democracy. If we do not object to our own government's misdeeds at home and abroad, we are guilty, because in a democracy we are the government.

Many of us were not taken in by the lies of warmongers. We foresaw and wrote about the quagmire and destruction that the war would bring, but being right before a majority realizes the folly is perceived as a greater political folly. The strength of ethical principles and intellect is branded as weakness of brawn by the glib power seekers who keep trying to deceive the electorate by appealing to the baser instincts.

We need to speak in louder and clearer voices to inject backbones in politicians who want to be with the winning side. We also need to convince the popular media that people do want to hear the other side as well. It is not economically injurious. They do not need to imitate Fox news. Unless we do it in greater numbers, the malfeasances of the Bush administration in domestic policy and endless indiscriminate wars in the name of peace will continue to create more terrorists and wider wars.

The warmongers had their run. They have sown terrible death and destruction. They have the power of the latest weapons, but they suffer a great disadvantage. They have to be against others to be hegemonic. They thrive on hatred, pitting “us” against “them”.

The ideals of peace and of consideration of others as human beings may appear to be powerless, but they have one great advantage. They can unite across the false divide created by forces of ignorance and war. They extend a hand of friendship across the artificial rift. They can erase the dishonest division.

Let us make the year 2008 a watershed, when the 21st century emerges from the deathly clutches of the wars of the 20th century to claim its much needed place to unfold an era of peace in the flow of time.

Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com and at http://mirzasmusings.blogspot.com/

Justice & Gujarat 07-12-10

2007-12-11T12:40:00.000-08:00

Justice for the Victims of Gujarat Pogrom

Mirza A. Beg

December 10, 2007

Counter Currents, Tuesday December 11, 2007
http://www.countercurrents.org/beg111207.htm

Dear Mr. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and
The Congress President Mrs. Sonia Gandhi.

At this important juncture, the helm of the ship of state, the Republic of India is primarily in your hands. The agenda of the executive and political power has been entrusted to your judgment by the people of India, in the hope that you will leave an ethical and proud legacy for the generations to come. Unfortunately the nightmare of the BJP misrule persists in many parts of the Republic and the constitutionally guaranteed rights of minorities are still being violated with impunity.

The perpetrators, the victims and the average Indians know that Narendra Modi's government engineered the riots in Gujarat resulting in the death of 2000 innocent people and injuring hundreds of thousands more in 2002. The justice to the victims is being denied because the BJP controlled governments in Gujarat and at the Center concealed the evidence, precluding a citizen’s ability to seek redress in the courts of law. Therefore, it was not a spontaneous riot, but a planned Pogrom.

The fig-leaf of lack of legal evidence of Modi government's direct involvement is believed only by the morally bankrupt. Even the American and European governments, though well disposed towards India, know enough to repeatedly deny the coveted diplomatic visa to Modi.

Over the years sectarians within the Congress party stealthily looked the other way while the Hindutva (Hindu sectarians) engineered cyclical riots, too numerous to list, often supported by the police. It culminated in the orchestrated destruction of the Babri Masjid in 1992 while the then Congress Prime Minister Narsimha Rao, feigned helpless surprise for six long hours. The loss of faith among the secular electorate, and the minorities resulted in Congress's defeat in the successive general elections.

After being in wilderness for eight years, the Congress led coalition under your new and vigorous leadership was elected as a repudiation of the fascistic and sectarian agenda of the BJP. Indian electorate gave the Congress another chance in the hope that the party has learned a lesson and returned to its founding secular and humane principles.

The dead and the dispossessed are still waiting for justice after five long years. Some may find them a political inconvenience, but they cannot be wished away.

We understand that political disputes in a democracy are decided by elections; and the division of power between the Central and the Provincial governments are well established in the constitution. But the constitution clearly provides mechanisms to punish provincial governments guilty of blatant criminality. Many times in the past provincial governments have been dismissed by the President for much less.

The brave reporters and editors of the Tahelka News magazine took enormous risks to record irrefutable evidence from the culprits, exposing the hand of Modi and the Gujarat government. They did what the government should have done.

I know the elections in Gujarat are around the corner; some wedded to politics of unprincipled power, afraid of political muscle of the Hindutva forces, want to cajole them. This will be a grave mistake. Instead of more placebos of toothless inquiry commissions, the Central government should protect the Tahelka reporters and promptly bring charges against Modi and his cohorts in the court of law. A five year delay is not too soon. Failure to act will fortify the assessment that the Congress has forsaken the ethos of the Indian Constitution to succumb to the destructive lure of power. It will confirm the perception of Congress as enablers of riots by stealth sectarianism.

Both of you understand the economics of dispossession and personal loss. Steadfastly you have overcome great impediments to reach your present coveted positions, not in search of power, but in pursuit of ideals. Great leaders courageously navigate the country to uphold the Constitution and establish principles that the succeeding generations will be proud to follow. It is time to use the irrefutable evidence provided by the Tahelka reporters to bring the powerful nefarious sectarian forces to justice and set the Indian Republic on the firm footing as a nation of laws.

Mirza A. Beg can be reached at mab64@yahoo.com or http://mirzasmusings.blogspot.com/

Sudanese Justice 07-11-30

2007-11-30T14:24:00.000-08:00

Travesty of Justice - Sudanese Caricature of the Islamic Law

Mirza A. Beg

Friday, November 30, 2007

Indian Muslims, Friday, November 30, 2007
http://indianmuslims.in/travesty-of-justice-sudanese-caricature-of-the-islamic-law/

American Muslims, Friday, November 30, 2007
http://www.theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/travesty_of_justice_sudanese_caricature_of_the_islamic_law/0015056

Counter Currents. Org, Sunday, December 2, 2007
http://www.countercurrents.org/beg021207.htm

Sadly a majority of people practice double standards. They tend to judge others more harshly, but find excuses for their own failings. Collectively, other races, countries and religions are judged harshly, while we turn a blind eye to whatever we construe as our own.

I suffer from a reverse malady. I am sad at injustice to anyone anywhere, but it offends much more when it is done in the name of my country, society or religion. That is why abjuring popular sentiments, I am more critical of injustices done in the name of Islam, the United States and India.

When others condemn, some times genuinely, and some times maliciously, the knee-jerk reaction is to criticize the critic that they are equally bad or worse. I hear this often, when I write about the immoral war in Iraq, based on lies; the Pogrom by the state government of Gujarat in India or the horrible things that the Talibanist mentality has done in the name of Islam.

Recently, a woman in Saudi Arabia was gang-raped. She was seen in a car with a person not of her family. She was also found guilty along with the rapists and recommended punishment under the Saudi Law. That is bad enough, but to call it Islamic is travesty of truth and reason.

In Sudan, a British teacher was arrested for the “sin” of helping her class of seven year olds to name a cuddly teddy bear, Muhammad. Yesterday, after a court trial, she was sentenced to 15 days in jail, and it is reported that a crowd was clamoring for a death sentence. In a closed dictatorial country a crowd does not gather, it is allowed or urged to gather.

The problem springs from a misunderstanding of cultural norms. In the West people often name their pets after the people they love, including their parents, friends, and even prophets. In the East people give their pets loving precious names, but not the names of people they love and respect. It is considered an insult, akin to calling one’s best friend or a prophet a dog or a cat.

All Muslims consider Islam to be a just and humane religion. The most popular stories that children grow up with are about the kindness, humanity and mercy of the Prophet.

One of the most popular stories is that the Prophet was reviled and cursed by many Meccans, just after his call to Islam. There was a woman who routinely threw garbage on him, when he passed through her street. For a couple of days she did not. He inquired and learned that she had been sick. His reaction was to go to her house to console her.

A well recorded fact of history is that after conquering Mecca he forgave all, including some who had said and done vile things, including a woman, Hinda, who desecrated the corpse of the Prophet’s uncle. There are many other such stories and recorded historical events.

An average person may be forgiven for being impetuous, emotional and blinded by the love for the Prophet, but the Sudanese judge and the government ought to know better. This is complete ignorance and disregard of the primary sources of Islamic jurisprudence. It is an insult to Islam, humanity and justice.

All Islamic scholars would agree that the Islamic laws are based on four principles, in the following order of importance, with a strong caveat that the act is punishable based on intent, and when in doubt mercy over-rides the blind word of the law.

1. The edicts of Quran.
2. Not finding in Quran, the actions or sayings of the Prophet, compiled as sets of Hadeeth by a few scholars about 150 years after his passing.
3. Qiyas – analogy from similar rulings emanating from the first two.
4. Ijma – the consensus of the scholars.

In view of the above, as reported, the British teacher was in Sudan serving the populace. 1-Though the Quran condemns harming or insulting the Prophet, it does not recommend a temporal punishment. 2- The Prophet was the best interpreter of Quran. The life history of the Prophet illustrate that he was kind to even those who insulted or injured him. 3-The teacher was clearly serving the people and her intent was not to insult. 4 - Most scholars in the Islamic world would be at variance with the Saudi and Sudanese interpretation, because not only they violate the intent and mercy clause, but also the 2nd principle.

As children we laughed at a collection of jokes under the loosely translated ditty:
Strange land - Stupid ruler - they sell - Cow for a dollar - Hay for a dollar.
One of the jokes was - a very fat man was condemned to hang. The rope was not strong enough for his weight. So they found a thin man and hanged him, to satisfy the letter of the law.

That was a joke, but this is an insult to all sense of justice, Islam and humanity.

Mirza A, Beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com or http://mirzasmusings.blogspot.com/
_________________________

Response to critics of my article,
“Travesty of Justice - Sudanese Caricature of the Islamic Law”.

Mirza A. Beg
December 3, 2007

Dear Friends

ASAK

There have been lots of responses to my article “Travesty of Justice - Sudanese Caricature of the Islamic Law”. Most have been positive, but a few have been critical, of those all have been civil, but a couple have been abusive. Thanks to all of you, because I did ask for your response. It is perfectly legitimate to criticize the critic. I had hoped that while criticizing people will try to keep three points in mind, but mostly they have not.

1. I had stated in the first paragraph that “others are as bad or worse” is not a legitimate argument in favor of right, decency, justice or the grandeur of one’s own religion or philosophy. At best it is an argument in favor of tit for tat. But some have spent a lot of time blaming the West for many offences. While they are true, they do not help if the evil is done in revenge in the name of Islam.

2. In my article we are not talking of politics, we are talking of law and justice for an individual. There are flaws in many national laws, in the West as well. Bush administration has misused the laws of US to prosecute many Muslims and their institutions. The wheels of Justice grind slowly, but in most cases the administration has been proven wrong in the judgments of the courts. Yet the justice has not always prevailed. Those are temporal national laws and are often criticized by many. I have written strongly critical articles about them such as my article about the “Patriot Act”. In case of Sudan and Saudi Arabia we are talking about laws that are proclaimed to be Islamic and are instituted in the name of Islam. That is where my ire resides.

3. Now talking of Islamic laws. This one needs a bit longer explanation. Please keep in mind that according to Muslim creed, the Quran is God’s word and the Rasool was the best interpreter of Quran.

Obviously the Quran is not very easy to interpret, such was God’s design and will. If it were easy, there would not have been so many sects in Islam and so many interpretations by good, honest and pious people.

Sunnah and the sayings of the Prophet collected as Hadeeth by many hard working meticulous scholars. Some of the best known are Bukhari, Muslim and Tirmidhi. There are a few narrations in these that are considered spurious, many of them of are considered weak in lineage and many are on general same topic, but in different situations.

It is very important to keep in mind the veracity of Hadeeth and the situation under which the action was taken or the word spoken. It is even more important when they are being used as a part of Judicial proceedings. The judge needs to and has a duty to explain them in great detail for the parties to respect the decision.

I had given the most popular two examples that almost every one knows. Those who claim that the Rasool did condemn a person to death for the crime of insult to Islam or his person should educate us by telling us the antecedents of the action. When, where and under what circumstances.

Please be aware that I am not saying that it did not happen. I am saying that I do not know about it and would appreciate to be educated by those who know. The preponderance of the Hadeeth and the character of the Rasool as it emerges from the well known biographies (Seerat) and the Hadeeth is that of a very logical, thoughtful, kind and just person. If he did some thing that seems to be different than his usual practice, I hope you will agree; it needs much closer examination and understanding.

My general observation is that Quran lends itself to harsher as well as more merciful interpretation. The detractors of Islam selectively and at times only partly quote ayahs to castigate Islam. We resent it, but often without thinking, indulge in similar interpretations when it suites us. I think that is much more egregious. This is even truer of the quoting and interpretation of Hadeeth. It very much depends upon our own propensities. It speaks much more about our own values than the veracity of Hadeeth.

Some are quick to blame those who seek more humane interpretation to be stooges of the West. This is particularly sad, because Islam gave us the freedom to think and not blindly follow our own baser instinct, our dictatorial leaders or the West. At the time of the early Caliphs (Khulefa Rashedun) people used to strongly question, even criticize them. They encouraged it in truth and humility and took pains to answer and explain. We lost that early ethos and became subservient to the power of the rulers, and blind obedience. We do not need to learn this independence of character and courage from the West, we should learn it from our own early history.

I find it amazing that when there are many more instances of Rasool forgiving those who had insulted and injured him and Islam grievously, some may give a greater weight to a single incidence of dubious antecedents. One person even wants to name a dog (Bitch according to him) after me. All I can say, in the foot steps of my Rasool; please do, if it assuages your misplaced anger, and enhances your character and understanding of Islam.

Thanks again. A decent give and take in dialogue makes us think introspectively and critically about our own beliefs, values and helps us grow and be better. Warm regards,

Mirza

Pakistan - Coup 07-11-5

2007-11-06T10:20:00.000-08:00

Pakistan - Back to the Past Again

Mirza A. Beg
Monday, November 5, 2007

Media Monitor Network, Tuesday, November 6, 2007
http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/47234

Indian Muslims, India Tuesday, November 6, 2007
http://indianmuslims.in/author/mbeg/
http://indianmuslims.in/pakistan-back-to-the-past-again/#more-414

Counter Currents, Wednesday, November 7, 2007
http://www.countercurrents.org/beg071107.htm

Tuscaloosa News, Thursday, November 8, 2007
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20071108/NEWS/711080304

My News India, Thursday, November 8, 2007
http://www.mynews.in/fullstory.aspx?storyid=1131#

Cross Cultural Understanding, Thursday, November 8, 2007
http://ccun.org/Opinion%20Editorials/2007/November/8%20o/Pakistan%20Back%20to%20the%20Past%20Again%20By%20Mirza%20A.%20Beg.htm

Indian Express, Delhi, India, Thursday, November8, 2007
http://www.indianexpress.com/story/237126.html

Pine magazine November 12, 2007
http://www.pine-magazine.com/content.php?id=1014

Will the future ever arrive in Pakistan? It is back to the past again. Technically, President Musharraf has declared an emergency, but in reality, it is a coup against the democracy creeping in; which he reluctantly promised eight years ago. This time General Musharraf overthrew the government of the other infernal co-resident in his body, President Musharraf.

Those familiar with the 1885 opera, The Mikado by Gilbert and Sullivan may take a cue; the General is everything and everywhere; all the institutions of power reside in him. To Pakistanis, this is not an opera. It is deadly serious to the lives of one hundred and sixty million, caught in the vise of external forces and internal instability exacerbated by an unrepresentative government.

General Musharraf came to power in a coup against the civilian government of Nawaz Sharif on October 12, 1999, with the promise of election within months. In January 2000 as the Chief Executive of Pakistan, he ordered all the judges to take a fresh oath of office swearing allegiance to the military rule. In effect the judges were barred from making any decisions against his rule.

The Judiciary did not play dead. Thirteen judges of the Supreme Court, including the Chief Justice refused. They were summarily dismissed and replaced by pliant judges. In June 2001 Musharraf appointed himself as the President, replacing the constitutional president.

On September 11, 2001 Al-Qaida attacked the United States. That changed the dynamics of power. To the US, Pakistan became an indispensable ally to be courted, cajoled, threatened and controlled in pursuit of the war against the Talibans and Al-Qaida. This aggravated the fissures in a fissiparous Pakistani society that experienced the wrenching away of Bangladesh in 1971.

To attain legitimacy, General Musharraf won a carefully worded, widely boycotted referendum in April 2002, with a promise to hold the elections for National Assembly in October 2002. In that election, a party co-opted for the purpose, won a plurality and gave legitimacy to the government for a five year term ending in October 2007. To quell the rebellion in the National Assembly, in December 2003, Musharraf made a deal, that he will leave the Army and be a full time President by December 2004 which he later reneged.

Musharraf knows; the military has had a strangle-hold on Pakistani governments for about fifty years. As the French saying goes, “A mistress should never become a wife; it leaves the most important office of the mistress to be filled.” The General may masquerade as a president, but if he relinquishes the most important office of the Commanding General, his days will be numbered.

Most observers acknowledge that in very precarious post 9/11times, Musharraf was successful in navigating the ship-of-state. On one side was the US pressure to go after the Taliban, rooted in Afghan-Pashtun tribes that straddle the highly porous, artificial Afghan-Pakistan border (the Durand line). It is a relic of British imperialism imposed on the Pashtunes more than a century ago. On the other side, the Pashtun tribes in NW Pakistan, used to complete internal autonomy through the centuries, deeply resent the new heavy hand of the Pakistan government. The Afghan Taliban are hiding with their tribal kith and kin in the North West Frontier area of Pakistan, with the bedrock belief that “Blood is thicker than water”: or in the present context, artificial borders, nations, money or even a superpower.

With the US invasion of Iraq on trumped-up charges in March 2003, more and more Pakistanis became anti-American. Frequent bombings of Pashtunes by the US air power in south-west Afghanistan, tyrannically killing large number of civilians, has made the situation explosive. The Americans see it in false, stark colors of their nebulous all-encompassing war; and the tribal Pashtunes see it in equally false, reverse colors, as attacks on their families and tribes. They perceive Musharraf to be an American stooge.

Gradually Musharraf has found himself losing his grip. Tribesmen accuse him of killing his own people and have adapted suicide bombings, a deadly new import to Pakistan. The secular Pakistanis chafing under dictatorship accuse him of failing to protect Pakistan from the growing reactionary extremism within Pakistan.

Considering the dire situation in which Pakistan finds itself, Musharraf was reluctantly and tepidly supported by the Pakistani intelligentsia, in the hope that he will put the country on a sound footing and return it to democracy. He initially made some headway maintaining a deft balance, but as always, unable to deliver the promised panacea, dictators overstay their welcome.

In March of this year, the specter of the promised elections of 2007 looming, a lawsuit was filed in the Pakistani Supreme Court that the General can not contest the election to Presidency unless he resigns the all-powerful position of the General of the Army. Miffed that the court even entertained such a case, he fired the Chief Justice on trumped up charges. The legal profession could bear no more. The lawyers boycotted the courts and took to the streets. In spite of harsh measures and police firings the situation was getting out of control, so he backed down, re-instated the Chief Justice and promised again that he would contest the election as a civilian.

The US finds itself exposed again by supporting dictatorship while paying lip service to the propagation of democracy. Quietly the US pressurized the General through the summer of 2007, not to mount a coup. The US strung together a formula of Musharraf sharing power with the former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, becoming the Prime Minister again. The General reluctantly went along.

Just before the elections in October 2007, a new challenge to the constitutionality of Musharraf's candidacy to the Presidency was filed in the Supreme Court as he still held on to the Generalship. The Supreme Court was supposed to render a verdict this week. It is widely perceived that Musharraf believed that the verdict will go against him. He could wait no more. Defying the US pressure, he declared a state of emergency; suspending the Constitution and thus the opinions of the Supreme Court.
.
The clock has come full circle. General Musharraf has decided that the uniform is more important and has mounted a coup with a promise, yet again, to hold elections for the National Assembly soon. The Judges that do not take a new oath to the new realities are being fired. Eleven of the seventeen judges refused again. The US has tepidly criticized the coup and has urged the General to reconsider.

There are no quick and easy solutions. Dictators offer quick perfect solutions that always fail; democracy offers a difficult, imperfect, winding road to consensual nation-building. Pakistanis have to decide to trudge through on that rocky road full of pitfalls as all democracies do.

Considering the quagmire in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Bush routinely threatening to bomb Iran every week, the General knows that the US is stuck. It cannot cut off aid to the Pakistani military to keep them in his camp or else Bush’s cow-boyish dare of the third World War would be closer. The past is haunting Pakistan’s future, and Bush’s march of folly has landed the US foreign policy in the worst fiasco America has ever experienced.

My Pakistani friends find a modicum of relief in the sardonic humor, "Other countries have an Army. In Pakistan the Army has a country.

Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com or read this at http://mirzasmusings.blogspot.com/

India genocide expose 071031

2007-11-02T15:49:00.000-07:00

Tehelka, Journalists Lead Indians to Redeem their Values

Mirza A. Beg

Tuesday, October 31, 2007

Countercurrents, Friday, November 2, 2007
http://www.countercurrents.org/beg021107.htm

My News India, Friday, November 2, 2007
http://www.mynews.in/fullstory.aspx?storyid=1090

Khabrein, Friday, November 2, 2007
http://www.khabrein.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8054&Itemid=88

Indian Muslims; Saturday, November 3, 2007
http://indianmuslims.in/tehelka-journalists-lead-indians-to-redeem-their-values/

Pine magazine, Saturday, November 3, 2007
http://pine-magazine.com/content.php?id=996

Tahelka, the intrepid news magazine did what the Indian government should have done in the past five years. The nation owes a debt of gratitude to the editor of Tahelka, Tarun Tejpal and reporter Ashish Khetan who took enormous risk to procure evidence on video tapes about the planning of the genocide perpetrated by the fascistic Gujarat state government in February – March 2002. The tapes also record admissions of suppression of evidence and bribery by the public prosecutors to protect the guilty.

The culpable Gujarat state government (still in power), got away with it, because at the time their party (BJP) was also in power at the center in Delhi. In 2004 elections for the central Parliament, the Indian electorate exhibited maturity by defeating the fascistic coalition in favor of a secular coalition dominated by the Congress party. However the Congress has been reticent to bring the Gujarat government to the bar of justice. It is afraid of being falsely tarred by the fascists, as anti–Hindu.

That may not come to pass. In the past, when the Congress party was a large undefeatable behemoth, many in its cadre were extremist sectarians who had joined in pursuit of power and weakened the secularist principles from within. To the extent that in early 1990s, Narsimha Rao became the Congress Prime Minister, who by his calculated inaction allowed the demolition of the Babari Masjid, unleashing the demon of naked violence, aided and abated by the guardians of law and order.

Those chauvinists have left the Congress and joined the BJP. The Congress after a long time is again a secularist party and has garnered the votes in 2004 based on secularist values. There is always political danger in taking a principled stand. With the strong evidence provided by the Tahelka reporters, there is more political danger in not following the principles.

Indian newspapers have reported for years that minorities, Muslims and Christians have been harassed in Gujarat since the BJP – a fascistic party came to power. What was not well known is that BJP and its allies were prepared to unleash a state supported pogrom of death, burning and looting on the Muslims. They just needed an excuse. The burning of a train carriage at Godhra on February 28, 2002 provided the pretext. Local Godhra Muslims were accused of setting the carriage afire from outside.

Instead of taking time to bring the culprits to justice, Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister of Gujarat gave verbal license of unrestrained pogrom for three days. It has been known for years, the Tahelka reporter have provided the corroboration on the video tape.
In 2003 a forensic report from the Capital of Gujarat, Ahmadabad came to the conclusion that the fire was set from inside the carriage. In March 2006, a commission appointed by the Ministry of Railways, under the chairmanship of retired Supreme Court Justice Banerjee came to the same conclusion.

The Gujarat state Police and judiciary under pressure from the Modi government have stymied the investigation for years; so much so that the Supreme Court of India passed strong strictures and ordered a proper investigation in the only case filed, because the government could not stop it.

The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, V. N. Khare, referring to the Best Bakery Burning case, wrote on September 13, 2003, “Your rajdharma (governing principle) is to punish offenders and bring the guilty to book. If you can’t, you quit.

In the final judgment, the Justices Raju Doraiswamy and Arijit Pasayat, April 12, 2004 wrote,” The modern day “Neros” were looking elsewhere when Best Bakery and innocent children and women were burning, and were probably deliberating how the perpetrators of the crime can be saved or protected.”

The Supreme Court can only pass strictures on the cases brought before the court. The court has provided the strongest directive to the government of India to take the rights of the oppressed minorities with utmost seriousness.

It is the duty of the state government to follow. In this case the state government is the chief culprit. This puts the onus on the Union (Central) government. The constitution provides for the Union government to intervene when the state government is the oppressor and the state police and judiciary are badly compromised.

The investigations that the Gujarat government suppressed and the Central Bureau of Investigation should have carried out long time ago, were done by Ashish Khetan of the Tahelka magazine at enormous risk. Now the evidence is on the tape and can not be ignored.

For the editorials and articles in the Tahelka Magazine go to-
http://www.tehelka.com/story_main35.asp?filename=Ne031107Tarunspiece.asp
For the Spy-cam video of the culprits boasting of their heinous deeds go to. http://www.tehelka.com/story_main35.asp?filename=Ne031107spycam_videos.asp

Independent observers have widely reported the brutal killing of about 2000 Muslims and the burning and looting of more than 100,000 Muslim homes .The government is the culprit so its figures are suspect. Many of the looters were photographed while the police were looking on. Many social workers, most of them from the Hindu community have taken enormous risk in helping the helpless in preparation of cases and have become voices of the voiceless.

This is not a struggle among the Hindus and Muslims as the bigots would like to propagandize. It is a struggle of decent humane Hindus and Muslims against the oppressive wing of the religion gone astray within Hinduism and Islam.

The greatness of the progressive Indian democracy is evident in that Muslims have done better in India than in many Muslim countries. The struggle against the state sponsored pogroms by the Gujarat government controlled by a fascistic Hindu party is led overwhelmingly by the secularist as well as deeply religious humane citizens, rooted in the Hindu ethos. The Supreme Court Judges, the brave community activists such as Tista Setalvad, Ram Punyani, V. K. Tripathi, and thousands others come from the Hindu tradition. Editor and brave reporters of the Tahelka Magazine and many other national publications such as “The Hindu” have an overwhelmingly Hindu staff.

While India is making great strides, some sectarian criminals in the provincial legislators have become an impediment to peace. Bal Thakary in the name of Hinduism has held the whole state of Maharashtra and its great city Mumbai hostage as his fiefdom. He has engineered riots where hundreds of people have been killed. Narendra Modi is still the chief minister of Gujarat and has used the levers of power to kill and deprive minorities of their constitutional rights.

Last week the Indian government awarded a well deserved national integration award to Professors Punyani and Banduklwala for giving voices to the oppressed. These well deserved awards are not a substitute for justice.

The appointments of judicial inquiry commissions are used as sop. The retired judges do a meticulous job. The inquiry takes a few years to complete. In time passions cool and the national memories fade. The government ignores the recommendations. The guilty not only go free, but also find encouragement to become even more brazen and bold in their evil deeds. It is time to bring cases before the courts to be pursued assiduously against all culprits, particularly those who have used power to spread mayhem and injustice.

Decent citizens of all religions and creeds should raise their voices against the terrorism by misguided individuals. The struggle for the soul of the nation becomes the highest duty when the state itself engages in planned terrorism, in our collective name. The religion we hold dear is besmirched when it is used to justify heinous atrocities. To raise our collective voices to bring the culprits in power to justice becomes imperative and the utmost duty. Those who keep quiet, or find excuses become supporters of the tyranny.

Brave reporters of the Tahelka Magazine have blown the lid off a very well known secret. They have provided the evidence. If the government does not follow through, it will be terribly injurious to the foundational values of Indian democracy.

Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com, Read his articles at http://mirzasmusings.blogspot.com/

Eid & Moon Sighting 07-10-12

2007-10-14T05:08:00.000-07:00

The joy of Eid and the Problems of Moon Sighting

Mirza A. Beg
Friday, October 12, 2007

Indian Muslims, info news. October 13, 2007 http://www.indianmuslims.info/news/2007/oct/13/joy_eid_and_problems_moon_sighting.html

My News.In, Tuesday, October 17, 2007
http://www.mynews.in/fullstory.aspx?storyid=926

Eid ka Chand (The crescent moon of Eid)) evokes precious childhood memories. We used to gather at our Grandfather's sprawling patriarchal house on Eid. The uncertainty of moon sighting on the 29 th day of the lunar month gave a special urgency to the evening. The excitement of gazing into the sky not dark enough to make the moon sighting easy was exhilarating. As soon as it was sighted the faces became radiant with joy. Children got new outfits and some cash from all the elders in the extended large family, to spend the following Eid morning. We sweet-talked them to give more.

The next morning, Eid prayers were held at a large open courtyard like Mosque called Eidgah. By the time I was 10 years old, I was in charge of the younger siblings and cousins. After the Eid prayers, under the watchful eyes of elders, we gave alms to the supplicants lined out side the Eidgah gates. Then came the fun part, I supervised the buying of toys from the street vendors lined outside Eidgah. The girls usually bought dolls the boys invariably gravitated towards the horns and drums. The house was a pandemonium for couple of hours, a bunch of excited children running around with un-orchestral noises, while a stream of guests arrived to meet and greet, and partake of special Eid sweet dishes. The saving grace for the adults was that most of the cheap noisemakers were broken in couple of hours. That was the uncontroversial side, at least in those days.

In busy modern life when people travel long distances to be home for Eid, the uncertainty of the traditional moon sighting at times causes chaos. I remember one year my father missed Eid altogether. At Fatehpur, the town where he was posted, it was declared that the Eid will be the next day, so he took the night train to Jaunpur to join us at our grandfathers house, where the Eid was celebrated the previous day.

As a young enthusiastic scientist, when I knew a lot more than I know now, or so I thought, I was a vociferous advocate of well established astronomically calculated date for the Lunar months, especially the sighting of the new moon of Eid. Arguing how easy and scientific it was, and all the advantages that accrue from it. Of course it can be done with great demonstrated accuracy, but a vast majority of traditionalists does not agree. They insist of doing it, the way it has always been done. Though in the Islamic countries they do send airplanes above the clouds to check on the moon, a modern facility, not available in the real old days.

It took a few gray hairs to realize that social traditions have a dynamics of their own. Reasoned, they almost never are! Reason only gets in the way of feelings. I have accepted it as a quaint tradition. I did not throw in the towel in the sense of the phrase that "if you can't lick em join em". I realized that people feel very strongly about traditions. So unless the traditions are doing a great harm, let them be, and chalk it to the freedom of belief and choice. That is what brings color to the cultures; things are because they are. Let people have their say and celebrate Eid on whatever day and be grown up enough to tolerate others feelings. Or perhaps have it both days, the more the merrier.

We had Eid on Friday. Prayers in the morning, and a family Eid feast this evening. I am inviting different sets of friends for the next two days. In the US we tend to go for convenience and celebrate many things on the weekends. To achieve long weekends, congress had passed a law of Monday holidays where many of the holidays related to birthdays such as Presidents day, Martin Luther King's birthday and some others are celebrated on Mondays closest to the real day, in order to have a three-day weekend. I some times jest that this year the Good Friday is on Monday. Warm regards and Eid Mubarak (greetings) to all.

Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com, or mirsasmusings.blogspot.com

AMU Paralyzed again 07-09-17

2007-09-20T08:26:00.000-07:00

Aligarh Muslim University Paralyzed Again

Mirza A. Beg

Monday, September 17, 2007

TwoCircles.net Tuesday, September 18, 2007
http://www.twocircles.net/2007sep18/aligarh_muslim_university_paralyzed_again.html

Indian Muslims.info, Tuesday, September 18, 2007
http://www.indianmuslims.info/news/2007/sep/18/aligarh_muslim_university_paralyzed_again.html

Khabrein.info, Wednesday, September 19, 2007
http://www.khabrein.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6410&Itemid=88

Counter Currents.Org, Wednesday, September19, 2007
http://www.countercurrents.org/beg190907.htm

Indian Express, Thursday, September 20, 2007
http://www.indianexpress.com./story/218755.html

About five month ago Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) was in turmoil. Two students had been killed and the administration was moribund. The Vice Chancellor, Mr. Naseem quietly abdicated or felt forced to abdicate and skipped town through the back door. Alumni and well-wishers of AMU were abuzz with righteous hand winging and heartfelt advice. I expressed my views in an article, on the vicious cycle at the AMU. http://www.countercurrents.org/beg200407.htm,
http://www.indianmuslims.info/news/2007/april/12/articles/the_vicious_circle_at_aligarh_muslim_university.html

A month later a new vice Chancellor was ushered in with fanfare. He made much needed changes in the administrative staff. Most, who claim to be in the know, seemed to have approved.

Suddenly on the 12th of September the news of rape of a student in the Abdullah Girls Collage hit the news. On September 16th another student was murdered in the heart of the campus by unknown assailants. These two events are unspeakably horrible. All efforts should be made to bring the culprits to the bar of justice. Instead, they trigger a mass violent protest and the university is closed for indefinite period (Sine die). Slide back to nightmarish yesterday again.

It is a vicious cycle indeed. If we keep repeating our nightmarish yesterdays, the bright mornings of hope will for ever elude us and be beyond our reach.

Terrible things happen from time to time. How do we react and conduct ourselves is the measure of civilization, decency and courage. It appears that we always fall short, and keep repeating the same mistakes, as if we are locked on a treadmill, condemned to tread the same strip over and over again. The obligatory condemnations pour in from all quarters and we feel ever so slightly better.

Rape and murder are criminal offences of exceedingly grave nature, and a purview of the police investigation. They are not, and can not be construed as an internal disciplinary matter of the university.

There are mechanisms in place to handle such cases in the penal code, albeit the wheels of bureaucracy and justice grind slowly. That is where the clout of the university administration and the political leverage of the students and the community could have been brought to bare to move the process as fast as judiciously possible.

It appears that the administration does not know how to take immediate action to let the students and their parents know that they are not asleep at the switch.

The students or at least many of them have no idea of the purpose of the university and the importance of their being on the campus. It appears that they wait for a provocation and go on a rampage destroying and burning the very structures of the hallowed institution that is supposed to show them the path to success, so that they can be responsible for their own and the community’s destinies, so that such events do not happen.

Instead of pillaging the students could have given a little time to the administration to gather its wits and take action. Granted, the past administrations from time to time have been corrupt or at the very least inept. They could have kept a close watch on the progress of the investigations. They could have written, and in time deluged the relevant offices with petitions. In the absence of proper response, carried out large peaceful and quite vigils every day at a certain appointed times, and not disrupted their own and others education.

Islam teaches us self-control and relentless pursuit of justice with the right means, avoiding injury to innocent others. In the land of Mahatma Gandhi the lessons and effectiveness of peaceful protests are engraved in our history. They have been successful and are part of the unread pages of the history books. They ought to be engraved in our hearts, but sadly they are obscure even in the institutions of learning.

An institution dedicated to intellectual development and pursuit of the betterment through learning can ill afford a lock of reoccurring yesterdays on our psyche to blind us to the waiting tomorrows.

There are many good students and very good faculty members, but they are effectively prisoners of impetuous few who would rather destroy and burn the halls of learning. Until the students realize that they are at AMU to get the best education they can and stop listening to those who preach otherwise; the members of faculty realize that they are there to intellectually serve the institution the best they can and shun the deleterious groups; and most of all the community demands that of its children to behave, no one can be found to govern an institution where education is treated as incidental. Most intellectuals will tend to shy away from such an impossible task.

I have written this before, “This is a microcosm of the Muslim community as well. Great Leaders are born occasionally, their appearance can not be willed. They are exceptions not a norm. Individuals make a Community; we as individuals need to take up the challenge to improve. Most societies improve with individual responsibilities not with slogans shouted behind a time serving leader.”

The first responsibility of the administration is to bring the rapist and murderers to justice. The second responsibility is to take much needed steps to make the campus safe. And the third responsibility is to punish those students who destroy and burn the university property and disrupt the education by force.

Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com, or http://mirzasmusings.blogspot.com/

India-Lanka Strait 07-09-14

2007-09-17T12:43:00.000-07:00

Setusamudram Channel- Good Project, Bad Politics

Mirza A. Beg

September 14, 2007

Counter Currents. Org, Friday September 15, 2007
http://www.countercurrents.org/beg150907.htm

TwoCircles.Net, Saturday, September16, 2007
http://www.twocircles.net/2007sep16/setusamudram_canal_good_project_bad_politics.htm

Daily News, Sri Lanka, Monday, September 18, 2007
http://www.dailynews.lk/2001/pix/PrintPage.asp?REF=/2007/09/17/fea01.asp

Setusamudram, a shipping canal completely within Indian territorial waters in the Palk Strait, the sallow continental shelf between India and Sri Lanka is likely to become a new cause-celebre for the sectarian forces. The canal would shorten the shipping distance between the east and the west coast of India by about 500 miles. The project has been challenged by the rightwing Hindu groups and has landed in the Supreme Court for adjudication. They claim that it will destroy the mythical bridge constructed by Lord Rama (an Incarnation of Vishnu) with the help of the Monkey brigade under the Monkey god Hanuman in prehistoric times. This is a problem that should not have been, but for the crass political calculations of the BJP (A right wing Hindu Party) and the inept handling by the government of India. But that is the nature of electoral politics.

Though the medieval feudalistic systems are on their way out and are being replaced by the democratic, secular pluralistic systems, but the attitudes take a very long time to change. One of the problems endemic to all democratic secular pluralistic societies is how to navigate policies in the interest of progress and public interest through the shoals of religious and cultural beliefs rooted in perceived glorious pasts. Without exception, all who wear religion on their sleeves, read history not with the critical scientific attitude, but with reverence rooted in belief and its glorification. The evolution versus creationism contest falls in this category as well.

In the most pristine form these beliefs are spiritual, personal and beyond question, because by definition belief in supernatural stands above and beyond reason. Democracy has no problem with that, but inevitably for political supremacy they are almost always used to rile up the populace, which without realizing the motives falls for it.

Geologically speaking the Indian Subcontinent and the Island of Sri Lanka are a part of the Indian plate (Plate tectonics). The Palk Strait is a very shallow sea on the contiguous continental shelf that is the real geological boundary of the Indian Plate. India and Sri Lanka have been separated by the rise in the sea level, flooding the low land between India and Sri Lanka forming the Palk Strait. Just as many large tracts in coastal parts of India as well as all over the world would become large Islands, if all the glaciers melt raising the sea level further by about two to three hundred feet.

The mistake the UPA government has made is playing in the hands of the Hindutva forces in its briefs filed before the Supreme Court. The government had no business, commenting on the historical validity of the existence of Lord Rama. That was not germane to the court pleadings and is not the purview of a secular government. Secular government ought to steer clear of references to or questioning any religious belief unless absolutely necessary.

The argument should have been very narrowly focused based on the overwhelming evidence from the findings by the Geological Survey of India and the Archaeological Survey of India, two very old and prestigious scientific organizations.

Geologically it is normal for sand bars to form, connecting two islands or a string of islands in the high energy environment, where sands derived from nearby rivers or degrading coral reefs are deposited by breaking ocean waves. They are called Tombolos, derived from the Latin word tumulus.

Archaeologically no artifacts have been found by the Archaeological Survey of India, indicating human or in this case Monkey activity.

Unfortunately by unnecessarily questioning the historical veracity of Lord Rama the government and the politics is being battered on the shoals and Monkey business of religious exploitation by the feudalistic pseudo democratic parties.

Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com or http://mirzasmusings.blogspot.com/

The Unity Day USA 07-09-10

2007-09-06T13:11:00.000-07:00

Celebration of the “Unity Day”

Mirza A. Beg
September 6, 2007

Media Monitor Network, Sunday, September 9, 2007
http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/45914

When nations suffer a collective trauma, particularly the trauma of an unexpected attack, it is injurious to national psyche and pride. People rally behind a leader to draw on the collective strength to face the enemy. The attack on 9/11 was such a trauma.

In the fog of the immediate aftermath of the event, the reaction is swift, without much time for understanding and discussion of a cogent thoughtful policy. The nuances and sensibilities do not have much chance to be considered. Phrases such as, “Those not with us, are against us”, appeal to the raw injured nerves. The common retort to all thoughtful introspective analyses become, 9/11 changed every thing. This led to many ill considered impetuous policies that have come back to haunt us, causing many more wars, deaths, injuries and much destruction in far off places.

Though the world has not been a peaceful place ever, and the 20th century was particularly bloody. Compared to post Sept 11th, the world of September 10th looks rosy. The emotion to build a grand monument to the September 11th is quite natural, and the effort to build a majestic and meaningful structure in the chasm like wound left by the fall of the twin towers is laudable.

Instead of longing for a past that is always more fanciful than real, a greater and more meaningful monument to the spirit of the national resilience will be to create new realities, to overcome the fear rooted in prejudice, voices of derision tearing the fabric of national ethos and policies skirting the constitutional guarantees.

The United States was created to advance and serve a pristine idea of equality of all human beings and their inalienable right to, life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. That ideal should not be abandoned or interrupted, because that will be a real defeat. We need to go forward and build harmony based on understanding and respect for all, by sharing our thoughts and visions.

The United States of America has passed through some very trying times through its history, overcoming the inhumanity of slavery on a group of its citizens and civil war, to evolve into a multi racial, multi ethnic, multi religious, and multi cultural society, a welcoming microcosm of all the peoples of the world. A richly woven fabric of ideas and culture rooted in its cherished constitution.

The real strength of the United States is in the freedom to think and act with intellectual and political diversity under the guidance and parameters of the constitution; a freedom to pursue a dream of excellence. A deep understanding and celebration of this idea will indeed be a more productive and lasting monument to the idea and purpose of the United States of America.

A very good friend of mine, Mike Ghouse from Dallas Texas has been championing the Unity day on September 10th for last two years with very good results. People and civic leaders from all religions as well as nonreligious ideologies and cultures join on a common platform to raise their individual and collective voices for the shared stream of respect and love for humanity. They celebrate the freedom of thought and action the US constitution provides to each of us, irrespective of color, creed, or national origin.

The celebration of the “Unity Day” with understanding of its cherished constitution is indeed a potent and a grand monument to the spirit of the national purpose of The United States of America.

Mirza A. Beg can be reached at mab64@yahoo.com or http://mirzasmusings.blogspot.com/

India's 60th B'day 07-0815

2007-08-15T10:54:00.000-07:00

The 60th Birthday of India

Mirza A. Beg

Written, Wednesday, August 15, 2007

The American Muslim, Monday, August 15, 2007
http://www.theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/the_60th_birthday_of_india/0014418

Cross-Cultural Understanding, Friday, 17, 2007
http://ccun.org/Opinion%20Editorials/2007/August/17%20o/On%20the%2060th%20birthday%20of%20India%20By%20Mirza%20A.%20Beg.htm

The Tuscaloosa News, Tuesday, August 21, 2007 http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20070821/NEWS/708210323/1013/TL06

Indo-Canada Outlook, September 2007, Vol. 2, Number 2 http://www.indocanadaoutlook.com/the_sixtieth_birthday_of_india_by_mirza_a_beg.html

The 60th Independence Day of India is a happy occasion for not only India, but those who value democracy. Birth anniversary of a nation is important. The concept of Nation and Country often cohabitate and become one, but it requires effort. Country is a geographical expression of the boundaries within which people decide to sublimate their future as one. They do not give up their individuality, but aspire to contribute their gifts for the benefit of all. It is not an allegiance to the majority, who are some times wrong, but an allegiance to the constitution that embodies and gives substance to the idea of the nation.

There have been times that this concept has been severely tested, and the nation came up askance. The anniversary was still important but leaden with sadness. Riots and sectarian conflicts, often ignited by the political parties for electoral gains, even pogroms against weaker sections by the fascistic parties in power were not punished. The essence of a nation is how it treats its entire population, particularly the weaker sections.

The heart of the nation is the Judiciary; the guardian of the justice system, justice for all, irrespective of power in money or numbers. The executive often takes short cuts for maintenance of power and tends to harm the idea of the nation and does end up harming the nation when the judiciary fails.

India at 60 has matured. The higher judiciary has always asserted itself; the political system is trying harder to be a government and guardians of the rights of all the citizens. Lower rungs of judiciary have a long way to go. A limited economic pie pits interests of some against the others and a system burdened with caste considerations tends to fray.

Though the visionary first Prime minister of India, Nehru is not appreciated as much for his vision these days, it was he with his colleagues who laid the foundation of infrastructure of industry and great educational institutions. It took time for it to mature and yield results. Thanks to that vision, India has arrived. With a booming expanding economy better educated people are finding more and better jobs. The distribution of educational opportunities is stilted and needs to be better spread. Efforts are under way, as the government as well as the deprived communities have realized the benefits of education.

Even in the dark days, India has consistently nurtured its great conscience keepers who do not fall prey to crass nationalism but beckon their fellow citizens to the pristine idea that gave birth to the nation. The nation is listening and growing and moving towards a better tomorrow for all. So it is a happy birthday indeed. In accordance with the sentiments of Nehru, it is indeed a tryst with destiny, and we have not yet given our full measure, though Indians have some times deviated and succumbed to the baser forces, with the present government, we are back on the right course again.

Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com or http://mirzasmusings.blogspot.com/

Islam v/s Gangsters 070810

2007-08-10T13:32:00.001-07:00

Islam does not Condone Gangsters

Mirza A. Beg

Friday, August 10, 2007

The American Muslim, Monday, August 13, 2007
http://www.theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/islam_does_not_condone_gangsters/0014407

Pine Magazine, Wednesday, August 15, 2007
http://pine-magazine.com/content.php?id=910

The attack of Tasleema Nasreen in Haydrabad, India and threatening her life is one more example of the impotent rage by religious bigots, because they find themselves incapable of living the ideals of their religion, and meeting the intellectual challenges.

I have not read the writings of Tasleema Nasreen, a citizen who has been chased from her native Bangladesh, currently living in India. Therefore I have no opinion on her writings. For the sake of discussion let us assume that what her detractors say is correct about her writing. It should not be difficult to prove her wrong by writing rebuttals, most of all by living the humane tenets of Islam. They do not seem to have faith in their own capabilities, or the greatness and grandeur of Islam to with stand small pin-pricks.

They find the low road of violence easy to take. It is uncivilized and un-Islamic, behavior, of brawn over brain. Intimidation and extortion are the only values they understand and practice. They neither read nor understand the humane attitude of the Prophet Muhammad, who did not attack those who insulted him, and there were many in Mecca at the time, who did. He returned the insults with visits to the sick with kind words. When he returned triumphant to Mecca, he did not punish any one who had not been guilty of cruel violence.

They obviously are in violation of the Indian penal code for attack on Ms. Nasreen and threatening her life, but emotionally they have insulted Islam much more than the detractors of Islam or Ms. Nasreen ever could, because they sully the name of Islam by acting in its name.

It is unfortunate that while India is making great strides towards modernity, many in the provincial legislators are criminals or support criminal behavior. Bal Thakary in the name of Hinduism has held the whole state of Maharashtra and its great city Mumbai (Bombay) hostage as his fiefdom and has engineered riots where hundreds of people have been killed. Modi, who is still the chief minister of Gujarat has used the levers of power to kill and deprive minorities of their constitutionally guaranteed rights.

With this backdrop when three Muslim legislators from Hydrabad condone threats on the life of a woman whom they accuses of insulting Islam or Yaqub Qureshi from UP feign to put up a bounty for the killing of Danish editorial Cartoonist, the Indian government and the legal system finds itself hamstrung and fears accusations of the persecution of minorities.

These people are not only insult to their own religions they are an insult to the rule of law under the elegantly designed Indian constitution. They exploit the raw baser emotions of the populace for self aggrandizement. Tolerance of opinions is the hallmark of civilization and great religions. By not bringing such criminals to the bar of justice, not only the religions are insulted, but most of all it injures the Indian Republic and the rule of law. The country as a whole and the weaker sections of the society eventually pay grim price.

I urge the Government of India and the state governments to bring the legislators from Hydrabad and all others who indulge in patently illegal and unconstitutional activities to the bar of justice.

Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com and http://mirzasmusings.blogspot.com/

Moderate Muslims 07-07-18

2007-07-26T13:49:00.000-07:00

Looking for Moderates in the Wrong Places

Mirza A. Beg
Written, Wednesday July 18, 2007

The American Muslim, Thursday July 19, 2007
http://www.theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/looking_for_muslim_moderates_in_the_wrong_places/0014270

Pine Magazine, Tuesday July 23, 2007
http://pine-magazine.com/content.php?id=880

Milli Gazette, August 2007

Moderate! It used to be a very nice word. Essentially it described a person who considers all sides of issues to makes a thoughtful, balanced, informed and humane judgment - as opposed to an extremist.

In the current political climate in the United States, the word moderate has been corrupted to become a propaganda buzz word of the right wing extremists and pseudo-moderates, the solid base of the Bush administration. Pretending their own moderation, they use it to smear Islam, as in “they are looking for moderate Muslims to speak up.”

A pastor of a large church, I have known briefly, vehemently used the word moderate in a discussion recently. He went on to longingly preach the imminent Armageddon and the crucial need of expulsion of the Palestinians from the Holy Land, to make it happen. I gingerly asked about the fate of the Jews of Israel in the aftermath of the second coming? He side stepped the question and veered into the inevitability of the Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists; in short order, all non Christians (avoiding to name Jews), going to hell.

He preached fire and brimstone from the book of revelation, and the necessity to support Bush. It did not matter to him if millions of innocent Iraqis are killed; after all it is war of annihilation. After a while I asked, what do the Gospels, the essence of Jesus’ message have to say about this theology. He again changed the subject.

While painting this dire scenario, this paragon of religious virtue asked the question often asked by the talking heads on the FOX news network or Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), “Why don’t moderate Muslims speak out against extremism?”

This phrase is hurled as a truism, supposedly a winning volley. I drew his attention to the huge university library and the city libraries housing thousands of books on Islam, most written by Western scholars, and scores written by and about the moderate Muslims. He rejected the suggestion with a curt remark, “He has the real truth. He does not need to read books about fake religions.”

No wonder, people like him, who draw information exclusively from FOX or CBN news or from the propaganda web-sites on the internet can not find moderate Muslims.

Fortunately I have many Christian friends, including many very contemplative pastors, with whom I have had hours of introspective discussions. Though he does not represent Christianity to me, sadly he does represent the views of about 25 to 30%, rightwing Armageddon-seeking (war mongering) Christians, a solid base of the Bush presidency. They are a huge chunk of the American polity with loud voices. They are heard loud and clear among their counterparts in the Muslim world, who just like this pastor can not find a moderate Christian.

A combination of titillating news about the latest sex scandal and the hard-core Bush doctrinal agenda has helped the FOX News to the top of the viewer share, yielding rich economic dividends. Chasing the almighty viewer-share ratings, other major cable outlets such as CNN and CNBC have been trying hard to emulate FOX.

The failure of the popular media to inform the electorate has injured the political process. Although most Americans have belatedly realized the horrible folly of the immoral invasion of Iraq based on lies by the Bush Administration. They are unable to force a change of course towards sanity. A strong minority of the 25 to 30% Armageddon-seeking Christians, helped by an apathetic titillation-seeking polity, aided the Republican Party to win majorities in the Congress for the first six years of Bush administration. Republicans in congress acted as a rubber stamp for the Bush follies. Though the Democrats won last November with a slim majority in the Congress, with the threat of veto from Bush, the Republicans have blocked all efforts towards a change in course.

Those really looking for moderate Muslims or moderate anything have no problem finding them. Most Americans, including religious Christians do not have a problem finding moderate Muslims. MENSA (International Organization of highly intelligent people with IQs in 98 percentile) at its annual gathering at Birmingham, Alabama, in July had no problem finding moderate Muslim speakers. Many Churches, Public Radio or Public Broadcasting Network have had no problem finding moderate Muslims from all walks of life.

It is the popular cable networks and extremists Christian columnists who just can not locate them. They are not looking for Muslims who strongly disagree with the extremists, such as Talibans and the Al Qaida; they are looking for those who should support the Bush doctrine of supremacy, invasion of countries without any restraint in an endless war, as in the Presidents words, ”Those not with us are against us.”

The extremists are indeed a threat to the world peace. They preach exactly the same ideologies from the opposite sides. Armed with half-truths they use the other side as an effective tool to recruit followers. They have a symbiotic relationship – Right-wing Christians obsessed with Armageddon trying to control the most powerful state, against the Taliban-style Muslims pining for a misperceived caliphate looking for a state.

Both sides are an insult to the religions they supposedly hold dear and in whose name they advance their murderous agenda. It indeed is a failure of the moderates on all sides if they do not join hands and redouble their efforts in defeating the murderous supremacist ideologies within their own religions.

Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com