NewTrendMag.org
News
#
1179
[
Click on NEWS for back issues
][
OUR BOOKS
]
Zulq'idah 2, 1428. November 12, 2007. #87
Thinking aloud by New Trend's editor:
The Hereafter is a constant theme in the Qur'an.
Everything is passing away. It is autumn. Notice the
leaves on the ground. The trees are blazing with color
because they are dying.
What's "out there"? The greatest human beings have tried to
help us understand but we don't pay attention. We are in this
world, "dunya," for a very limited time. The Hereafter is more
important and lasting. We don't pay attention beyond the
rhetoric of preachers.
This world, "dunya," is important precisely because our
existence in the Hereafter will be based on our doings [and
misdoings] in this world.
Try to make the going away easier, the farewell "softer." The
Prophet Muhammad, pbuh, left behind no property. In a world
of slaves, he left behind no servants or slaves. He was a
distributor, not an accumulator. His food was light too:
dates, water, grains, greens, a little honey or meat once in
a while. Hence he was "light" and did not get tormented with
sickness before leaving. The five daily prayers provide the
perfect framework for life.
I know it's very difficult. For many, it could be too late.
Still, it's good to know which way is the Sunnah so we can
get out of our servitude to corporate America [or at least
try].
Latest News:
80 Killed in Mogadishu, Somalia by Ethiopian
Occupation Forces
November 10, 2007: Ethiopian occupation forces fired tank
shells into a market in Mogadishu killing 80 civilians,
mostly women and children. [Reported first by Reuters, then
by Gulf News, but not by USA.] The attack began in an attempt
to crush Somali protests against the occupation. An Ethiopian
military patrol, which entered southern Mogadishu, stronghold
of the Islamic resistance, was ambushed. The population hates
the Ethiopian occupiers. Two Ethiopian troops killed in the
ambush were dragged through the streets by women and children.
The Ethiopian military is armed and funded by the U.S. and is
said to have occupied Somalia at the behest of the U.S.
[Readers may remember that during the U.S. occupation of
Somalia, thousands of Somalis, including large numbers of
women protestors, were killed by heavy weapons fire used at
random by the U.S. forces. U.S. reporting has focused on
Somali resistance, "Black Hawk down," and ignored the
suffering of Somali women at U.S. hands]
Taliban Attack U.S. Troops in Nuristan Province:
Classic Guerrilla Warfare
November 10, 2007: Six elite U.S. troops were killed and 8
wounded in a Taliban ambush. In addition 3 Afghan troops
working for the U.S. were killed and 8 wounded in the same
ambush. The audacious attack succeeded in spite of air
strikes and artillery used by the U.S. to repel the Islamic
fighters. RPGs were used by the mujahideen.
It's worrisome for the U.S. that the lightly armed Taliban
are willing to take on the military with the most devastating
firepower on the planet earth.
Pakistanis Live on U.S. Radio
Nukes and U.S. Moves against Pakistan versus Israeli
Arsenal. Should the U.S. Fear Islamic Militancy? Bhutto's
Return is Cover for Pak Generals.
November 10, 2007. Dr. Wilmer Leon, a political scientist
from Howard University, Washington, DC runs a progressive
radio program known as the "On with Leon" show which can be
heard LIVE across the country on XM Radio.
His guests this time were Dr. Kaukab Siddique, Associate
Professor of English from Lincoln University, Pennsylvania
and Bashir Syed, a distinguished Pakistani scientist and
political commentator from Houston, Texas. Dr. Leon asked
them some searching questions about the latest situation in
Pakistan. He especially wanted to know if there was danger
to America from the growing Islamic militancy in Pakistan.
These were some of the responses of the two guests.
Bashir Syed:
-
Pakistani nukes are not a threat to anyone. Pakistani
strategies are not based on nuclear aggression or threats
aimed at anyone. Pakistani nukes are a manifestation of its
independence and its concept of self-defense and
national integrity.
-
The concern about what has been dubbed the "Islamic bomb"
comes from the massive secret nuclear program developed by
Israel at Dimona.
-
Israel's strategy is to deny nuclear capability to Muslim
countries. In the process it works in defiance of
international law to intervene militarily in Muslim
countries. Israel has created a monopoly of nuclear terror
in the Mid-East.
-
Behind the moves in Pakistan, and the facade of
Musharraf-Benazir confrontation, lies the Israeli program to
intervene against Pakistani nukes and
Pakistan's independence.
-
The scapegoating of Pak nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan was meant
to legitimize U.S. interference in Pakistan. His activities
were the natural sharing of scientific knowledge among
independent nations. He is being smeared in the U.S. as a
peddler of illicit nuclear configurations and resources.
-
The induction of Benazir has nothing to do with democracy.
Her regime was notorious for its corruption and undemocratic
ways and her husband was known as Mr. 10% for the kickbacks
he took on every major contract in the country.
Dr. Siddique made the following points:
-
The idea that America should fear the uprising of Islam in
Pakistan is nothing more than propaganda and disinformation.
-
The Qur'an sees Christians as friends of Muslims. There is
absolutely no scope for armed conflict between Muslims and
Christians in the holy texts of Islam.
-
The Islamic struggle has to do with the liberation of Muslim
lands, be it Iraq, Afghanistan, Kashmir and Chechnya or
Palestine. It is not aimed at America.
-
The recent Crescent and Cross conference in Orange County,
California affirmed that Muslims and Christians stand
together against Israeli aggression coming out of Israeli
control of the U.S.
-
As for Pakistani nukes, there is no functional delivery
system for them. The idea that a nuke or "dirty" bomb could
be used to hit an American city was injected into the
corporate media's propaganda by the Israelis. All Islamic
attacks have been carried out by self-sacrificing
individuals. There was no sign of sophisticated weaponry on
the Islamic side even at Fallujah. Hence the idea of a
nuclear threat to the U.S. is nothing more than
fear mongering.
-
There is a chance that Benazir Bhutto will be installed as a
co-ruler with General Musharraf or another general. However
she will be nothing more than a civilian cover for the
activities of Pakistani generals.
-
The current unrest in Pakistan is being dramatized by U.S.
media to legitimize Bhutto's U.S. backed moves. The U.S.
purpose is to deny the Pakistani people their right to
promulgate Islamic rule.
-
Bhutto represents the feudal lords and landed gentry of
Pakistan backed by the military. The Islamic movement
represents the people of Pakistan. The U.S. is trying to
deny Pakistanis their Islamic rights. Bhutto—far from
progressive—is opposed by revolutionary Islamic forces whose
women are much more activist and self-sacrificing than she.
[Re: Jamia Hafsa and the Red Mosque.]
-
Jamaat-e-Islami's demonstrations, though much larger, are not
publicized in the USA, while CNN is directly carrying
Bhutto's publicity campaign.
Letter: Benazir Bhutto Return Seems Stage Managed
Regarding Ms. Bhutto's "record", let us not forget that she
is second perhaps only to Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines
(my family lived there when this crony of Reagan was kicked
out in 1986) in terms of sheer "lootapa" of her nation's
treasury. This whole thing smacks of a stage-managed "Orange
Revolution" type situation. Needless to say, except in her
own mind and in the minds of those whose "loyalty" she has
bought, her return can already be termed an abject failure.
My eyes were opened early in life to the fact that the US,
and especially the Republican Party, will set up "leaders"
in poor countries who do nothing but rob their own people but
who are allowed to do as they please as long as they do
Washington's bidding like loyal khaansamas. It is
truly nauseating to see BB touted as the "hope of
'democracy' (whatever that means) in Pakistan".
--Jameel Rahman [Pennsylvania]
INDIA
Tehelka Expose - Gujarat Genocide: Mass Rape and Murder
was State-Sponsored: A Look Inside India's Evil Brahminism
by Joseph Alouni in India [Exclusive to New Trend.]
This article is in reference to the recent uncovering of the
Truth behind the Gujarat Genocide of Muslims in Feb-March
2002 in India.
When someone enunciates the word "genocide," we remember
Bosnia , Chechnya or the [alleged] genocide of Jews by
Hitler. Most of us forget that the most horrible genocide
of human history was enacted by Indian Hindus on Muslims
just five years back in Gujarat, West India . The targets
in this genocide were not shot (as in Bosnia ), nor bombed
(as in Chechnya ), nor subjected to poisonous gas (as
alleged in Hitler's Germany ). Rather Gujarat , the genocide
was enacted through rape, torture and slaughter.
By conservative estimate, 2,000 Muslims were killed in the
first two days of the genocide (unofficial reports put the
number at 6,000). Thousands of girls, women and even
grandmothers were raped simply because they were Muslims.
Muslim properties were looted, shops were burnt, families
were forced to become refugees. Five years after the
genocide, many Muslims continue to live in refugee camps in
the outskirts of the city they inhabited in 2002.
The genocide started on February 27, 2002 as a result of hate
propaganda spread by members of Rashtriya SwayamSevak Sangh
(RSS), a militant Hindu organisation, after a train in
Gujarat had an accident. One Muslim girl and 58 Hindu
pilgrims burned to death in the incident. Minutes after the
accident, the pro-Hindutva newspapers and television labeled
it a pre-planned murder of Hindus by Muslims. At first, the
Gujarat media claimed ISI (Pakistan Intelligence Agency) was
responsible; later it was blamed on the local Muslim dwellers
of Godhra (the rail station at which the accident occurred).
In 2006, the Sachar Committee's investigation found that
scientific and forensic evidence pointed to the fact that the
fire which caused the deaths was started by fuel inside the
compartment where the incident occurred, and that there was
no evidence of Muslim complicity.
Since the India-Pakistan Partition, RSS's right wing
propaganda has stated that Muslims have no right to live in
India . The Secretary General of the radical Hindu
organization stated in a public speech that Muslims have two
choices: 1. Pakistan , or 2. Kabarstan (graveyard). This man
was neither arrested nor condemned by the Indian government.
Gujarat genocide is not the only genocide against Muslims.
While unofficial estimates of the Gujarat genocide number
number around 20,000 (official figures place the number at
3,000), casualties of the anti-Muslim riots in Assam (1984),
Bihar (1989), and Bombay (1992) numbered at least 10,000.
These genocides are often neglected by the Indian media,
which is a communalized one. Neither the government nor the
media considered it a serious issue.
RSS has approximately 82 subordinate organizations, of which
the Baarathiya Janatha Party (BJP), Vishwa Hindu Parishad
(VHP), Shiv Sena, and Bajrang Dal are most well-known. While
BJP is the political wing of RSS, VHP and Bajrang Dal are the
spiritual and the militant wing respectively. Agila Baarthiya
Vidyaarthi Parishad (ABVP) is the student's wing while Durga
Waahini is the women's wing. In each of the subordinate
organizations, anti-Muslim hatred is the common ground which
draws members together. The very purpose of the origination
of RSS in 1925 by Dr.Hedgewar was to make India as a Nation
for Hindus alone and to capture the post-Independent India
from the Muslim freedom fighters who equally took part in the
freedom fighting. The anti-Muslim feeling of the Hindutva RSS
has its origination right from the Brahmins(Aryans). During
the freedom struggle against the British, Brahminised society
of India had some fear that India would again fall in the
hands of Muslim leaders (like it was from 1200 AD to 1857 AD).
The Muslim-hatred propaganda started well during the time of
freedom struggle. The nation's leader, Mahatma Gandhi was
killed by an RSS member Mr.Nathuram Godse in 1948 for
Gandhi's alleged soft corner on Muslims and Pakistan and for
acknowledging Muslims as the citizen of India . Though Godse
was arrested and RSS was banned a couple of time during the
1950s, the Indian Congress government's soft corner on
Hindutva allowed Mr.Savarkar, then leader of RSS, to rebuild
the organization and take it toward a single goal: "India is
only for Hindus".
The riots and aggressions against the Muslims were routine in
the l and of India from the origin of an anti-Muslim
Brahminical society. The lack of influence of Indian
Government on the fascist Hindutva forces led to the
destruction of Babri Masjid in 1992, followed by the
Bombay riots. While all the riots are assumed to be a
spontaneous over reaction of Hindus on Muslims (as claimed
by some Indian media), we can notice that almost every riot
against the Muslims was pre-planned and executed with the
support of Indian Police themselves. The situation lead
various Human Rights organization to question the Indian
Government for its soft corner of Hindutva.
Aashish Kehtan is one among the few journalists who dared to
convey the truth and raise his voice against the Hindutva.
TEHELKA, the Weekly Magazine media which is reputed for its
Spy Camera revelations of corruption and other evil
happenings of India and Indian politics, this time, after five
years, took a step forward to uncover the truth behind the
pre-planned state-sponsored terrorism of the Hinduised
government of Gujarat over the Muslims in 2002.
Aashish Kehtan, the journalist of Tehelka, dared to execute
this spying operation in the disguise of a Member of VHP (a
subordinate ally of RSS). This time, Aashish Kehtan has
brought the truth behind the Gujarat Massacre in the words
of the very men who did it: Hindu politicians, Hindu business
men, Hindu tea vendors, Hindu taxi men. No one is barred:
every Hindu participated in the genocide against the Muslims,
killed Muslims and considered ‘raping and killing of Muslims'
as their right and duty.
The Tehelka revelation has bought a deep investigative
journalism of what actually happened in Feb-Mar 2002. Gujarat
is being ruled by BJP (the political wing of RSS) government.
Mr. Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister of the Gujarat State ,
who actively took part in propagating the anti-Muslim hatred
of Gujarat , is now freely carrying out his work for the
assembly election scheduled in December, to form the next
Hinduised government in the state. Though evidence is clear
that Narendra Modi is a sponsor of Hindu-terror, and that he
is a sympathizer of RSS, he is not arrested by the government.
Not only he, but all the RSS murderers, rapists and rioters
remain free on the streets of India, bragging about their
rapes and killings of Muslims
Letter: Taking Exception: New Trend Should Note Struggle
of Pakistan's Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudry
I think your coverage about Pakistan is little bit one-sided.
Please allow me to put the other side of the events now
taking place.
What has happened is that the fig leaf that General Musharraf was wearing has
been taken off. The emergency imposed indicate that there is an Army rule
in Pakistan. Of this, there is no doubt. Previous to the imposition of emergency,
some were under the false impression that assemblies and Ministers were running the country.
Even General Musharraf said: " They [the Army] can't go back to the barracks, as
they have never left it.." We have local assemblies and a civilian government, I am the
only soldier involved in the government. It's only me" interview with William Dalrymple
Published in Sunday Times [August 12, 2007].
There is now a Martial law in Pakistan. General Musharraf wrongly calls it Emergency –
even though the emergency was imposed in the name of Chief of the Army.
There is complete black out as far TV Channels are concerned. Even CNN
and BBC cannot be seen in Pakistan. The whole country is up in arms. The
demand is for restoration of constitution and end of emergency and reinstatement
of independent judiciary and holding of free election. Even now demonstrations
are taking place in the whole of Pakistan by students, lawyers, journalists
and political parties. These demonstrations cannot be put down and it will
continue until the Army rule comes to an end.
This has come about because of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry who started
addressing the issues faced by common man. First he stopped the sale of steel mill
which was being sold to benefit Army generals. and then he started to hear the
cases of people being kidnapped by agencies. There were cases of people
disappearing and no trace of them could be found because intelligence
agencies had kidnapped them. General Musharraf got fed up of Chief Justice
and called him to the Army House and in the presence of Heads of ISI and
others he asked Chief Justice to resign. Chief Justice refused. The Chief Justice
was held incommunicado in his own house. He was manhandled by Police.
Some lawyers in Karachi were killed. Registrar of Supreme court was murdered.
As a result the whole country was up in arms against the dismissal of Chief Justice.
With the reinstatement of Chief Justice, the judiciary for the first time in the history
of Pakistan was sticking to the supremacy of law and the constitution. The case
of General Musharraf's election was also being heard by the judiciary. The judges were
about to announce the judgment in the case against General Musharraf's reelection
as President when the emergency was announced.
You are right that America is interested in BB. But the people in Pakistan are up
in arms and they will not accept any American stooge. The lawyers, students are
now on the vanguard of the movement and political parties will follow and follow they must.
We are witnessing a slow but sure sign of awakening of Pakistani people to the fact
that Army generals have occupied the country and this struggle is for the freedom
of the country from the clutches of Army generals. Success of people power
is inevitable.
Shaikh Mohommad [London, England]
Editor's note: We published Br. Mohommad's entire letter but
we have a problem with its main point. The Supreme Court and
its Chief Justice existed during all these years when
Musharraf was mortgaging Pakistan to the U.S. Remember the
assault on Afghanistan, the bombing during Ramadan, the
Islamic charitable workers in their hundreds handed over to
the U.S. and sent to the Gitmo hell hole? The timing of the
Supreme Court's moves seems to fit into the U.S. plan for
"change" in Pakistan. Just a coincidence? Maybe we are wrong.
Weber Speaks on the Israel Lobby at the University of Oregon
Institute for Historical Review
http://www.ihr.org/news/0711_eugenemeeting.ht ml
In spite of protests, media smears and a delay caused by a
flight cancellation, Mark Weber addressed a spirited meeting
at the University of Oregon in Eugene on Saturday afternoon,
Nov. 3. He had been invited by the Pacifica Forum, a campus
public affairs discussion group, which also organized the
meeting. Weber's appearance generated wide media attention,
and prompted a protest demonstration. In his address, entitled
"The Israel Lobby: How Powerful is It?," Weber said that
awareness of the role and impact of the Israel lobby is
growing everywhere.
2007-11-12 Mon 17:51:58 cst
NewTrendMag.org