Another Silly Fatwa: 48 Mile Travel Limit For Muslim Women

Pardon me for being ignorant. I just learned that the Darul-Uloom of Deoband has a ‘Fatwa’ department. And here’s the latest fatwa from those who would like some people to go back to stone-age:

From TOI: Darul Uloom Deoband has issued a travel advisory for women. The latest fatwa by the Islamic seminary rules that a single woman must not venture beyond 48 miles unless escorted by a 'mehram' — defined as a close kin with whom marriage or sex would be considered incestuous. Apart from this, a husband also qualifies as 'mehram'. The fatwa has invited derision from activist Muslim groups. The edict was in response to a query to Darul-Ifta (Deoband's fatwa department): "Is a married woman permitted to travel to another country with her female sibling?" The response (511/308/d) posted on the Deoband website on March 2 said: "She cannot travel without a 'mehram'. It's mentioned in the Hadees that a woman should not travel for more than 48 miles except in the company of a 'mehram' relative.

While silly maulanas keep issuing ridiculous fatwas it is heartening to note that the objections and protests are now rising from the muslim community itself.

TOI Mobile: ".....The ruling, made public on the eve on International Women's day, has raised the heckles of activists here who have strongly condemned the attempts to "shackle womenfolk by insecure maulanas". The issue was discussed threadbare at the meeting of Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA) and each of the 253 participants vowed to ignore it completely. The bid to impose 1,400 years old restrictions, when people travelled in kafila, is simply ridiculous, says Naeesh Hasan, the founder president of AMMA "specially in an era when a woman pilot can take a planeload of men across 14,000 miles without her father or husband lurking in the cockpit". Beghaum Shahnaz Sidrat, president of Bazm-e-Khawateen, 76 years old well-known progressive outfit of women, wanted to know what happened to women who had no meharam. "I was a lone daughter of widowed mother and have been moving alone since the time I remember. The maulanas must think of better ways to make their presence felt," she said. This is yet another attempt to subjugate women, said president of All India Muslim Women Personal Law Board, Shaista Ambar. A woman cannot be expected to be tied to her husband or father forever. What do maulvis have to say about long distance relationship, she asked and said such rulings only bring disrepute to clerics".

Fatwa against even 'Emoticons' - How silly can you get?

The policies of appeasement have emboldened idiotic maulanas to almost run a parallel state within India. Only recently the SC had emphasised the need to bring Indians under a uniform civil code. It should be made clear to the mullahs that any fatwa that runs contrary to the basic freedoms of an individual under the Constitution is illegal. We need to go a step further and completely ban the ‘fatwa’ culture of the mullahs. The only ‘fatwas’ our country requires are those enshrined in the Constitution. And though this suggestion may sound extreme I would encourage fatwa-happy mullahs to leave India and go live in Iran, Libya or Saudi Arabia and join their counterparts in proclaiming more ridiculous fatwas. 

If there can be a fatwa against even ‘emoticons’ one can imagine how silly these mullahs can get. As for the fatwa itself, I had to pick up the news from a foreign newspaper and found it on the TOI mobile site. The rest of the media has decided to stay within the 48 mile limit.

Rahul Gandhi – Sukanya Case: Amazing Media Silence

You don’t need great imagination to wonder what the media would have done if any other politician, especially from the Opposition, was allegedly involved in a rape incident. Yes, they would have fallen over each other in ‘Breaking News’ and the story would have been headlines for 10 or even more days. So why is there a complete silence on the issue of Rahul Gandhi being allegedly involved in a some incident concerning a woman named Sukanya? The story is not new to many who have followed such reports on the net but now there is a court in Allahabad which has initiated some action in this strange and secretive case.

This from the Economic Times online on March 1: The Lucknow Bench of Allahabad High Court today issued notice to AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi on a petition alleging that a girl and her parents were illegally detained by him since 2007. Justice Shri Narayan Shukla passed the order, seeking Gandhi's reply, on a habeas corpus petition filed by Kishore Samrite, a former Samajwadi Party MLA from Madhya Pradesh, on behalf of Sukanya Devi, her father Balram Singh and mother Sumitra Devi. The petition alleged that the petitioners -- Sukanya Devi and her parents -- were in illegal detention of Rahul Gandhi since January 4, 2007. It has sought direction to command the Congress leader to produce the girl and her parents before the court and set them at liberty.

The petition doesn’t refer to rape but it refers to something just as sinister. ‘Illegal detention’! Now why would a court accept such a petition? We all know there many trigger happy petitioners wanting to file all kinds of cases against prominent people in society. This, however, is something that has been dragging since January 2007. The first story about the alleged case was carried by Hinduunity.Org on a website and this was followed by a supposed legal notice for defamation by Rahul’s lawyers. Intellibriefs still carries that story.

Has the media played judge, jury and defendant and decided there is nothing in the case to report about? One can understand that. It is safe to assume that if there is truth in these allegations and the court gets into the process fully then it may well be the end of Rahul Gandhi. Now, that is what would hurt the media. An entire media industry, with the exception of some outfits, built around its servantile relationship with the Congress (I) would be doomed if these reports were proven to be true. And if indeed Sukanya and her family do exist, where are they? Why will nobody in the mainstream media even dare to talk about the whereabouts of this family?

This can no more be treated as a rumour or malicious campaign by someone, although it may well have started out as one. And it is time Rahul Gandhi spoke out and made a statement himself. Silence will only fuel more suspicions. Now that a court is involved the media silence once again proves how corrupt and crooked our mainstream media is. I can only repeat what I’ve said before. In this tech-age you have no place to hide. Neither Rahul Gandhi nor a crony media. If there is actually someone called Sukanya it may do well for both Rahul Gandhi and the media that she and her family be traced.

Supreme Court - The Last Truthful Media Standing

In yet another rap for the Central Government the Supreme Court has directly questioned its ‘secular’ credentials. A bench said the government has reformed only Hindu laws and failed to overhaul personal laws of minority communities. Effectively, as we have known for ages, secularism in India basically means being ‘Anti-Hindu’. Trample on Hindu culture, control Hindu temples and make a mockery of our Constitution which enshrines a ‘Uniform Civil Code’.

The wrong practices under ‘secularism’ in various democracies have directly led to the victimisation of or discrimination against the majority community. In the first place there shouldn’t have been laws like Hindu Marriage Act or Muslim Marriage Act or Sikh or Christian marriage Acts. There should have been one single Indian Marriage Act. That Act could well have recognised religious practices under which marriages are conducted but all other laws should have been uniform. That Act could have authorised Priests and Maulvis to authorise and register marriages with legal stipulations.

It is not fair to blame just the government alone. The ones who practice and encourage ‘minority-favouring’ secularism are all over the media. The communists, the pseudo-secularists and the anti-Hindu brigade. The NDTVs, the CNN-IBNs, the Times-NOWs, the Aaj-Taks, the Headline-Todays and many more. Is reform required in religions? Absolutely, yes! Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism, Sikhism and most religions have undergone reforms. It is only the one major religion of Islam that refuses to undergo reform. It is not for no reason that more and more European leaders are now waking up to the fact that ‘multiculturalism’ has failed miserably. It is important for any community to be tolerant, but simply a bad principle to tolerate the ‘intolerant’.

The Rahul Gandhis and Digvijay Singhs may equate Hindu outfits with terrorism and Nazism. The cost of perpetuating such twisted practices of ‘secularism’  by the Congress and the Communists is immense and will destroy the nation. If gutter-mouths in the Congress, the Communist parties and the media are able to frequently attack Hindus it is because, as the SC rightly observes, “the Hindu community has been tolerant to these statutory interventions”. The UK has seen the birth of the English Defence League (EDL). It may not be long before a ‘Hindu Defence League’ is born. India is not the same as UK, USA or other western countries where immigrants form the minority community. Indian minorities are people of Indian soil and origin. The difference ends there. The streak of ‘intolerance’ runs uniformly among some minority communities in the west as also in India. It is this intolerance that fuels pseudo-secular policies and laws.

True secularism is not about asking the majority community to be more tolerant. It is about ending ‘intolerance’ that exists in any form. If secularism can still survive in India it will most certainly be because of Hindus and not otherwise.

Corruption: First The Tears Of A Clown, Now The Puppet’s Tears...

They say public memory is short. It probably is. Ordinary citizens cannot spend time tracking the deeds of those in power. They trust the mainstream media to do that job. But the Indian msm has turned itself into a propaganda machine for the rulers and the corporate world. Those who use words like ‘truth’, ‘fair’, ‘fearless’ are some of the biggest crooks and liars amongst us. I must add, don’t expect the corrupt to expose the corrupt. Every newspaper and TV channel has screaming headlines that proclaim they were the ones to first break this or that scam. So when they are constantly caught up in this race of who was first, truth will always be the first victim. Haven’t we seen, say an Aamir Khan ‘Exclusive’ interview at the same time on three different channels? Or haven’t we seen gutter mouth Manishankar Aiyar ‘live’ on two different channels? They have even destroyed the very concept of ‘Breaking news’. How else can you explain ‘DMK chief meets Sonia Gandhi’ as breaking news? How else can one explain every news channel claiming credit for the exposures made by the CAG on various scams? Our mainstream media is utterly corrupt and that is the greatest danger to a democracy than any corrupt politician, individual or entity. And it is because the public has a short memory that journals and news channels are supposed to keep them reminded. They won’t!

After the Tears of the Clown Prince, it was the turn of the Puppet’s Tears on corruption. Rahul Gandhi’s sermons on corruption ended a few days ago and now we have the PM sermonising us about it. He should be the last man talking about corruption in this country. And our media faithfully reproduces the stupid utterances of these people without telling them the truth. Not a single editorial or opinion piece tells Rahul Gandhi or the PM to stop their ‘onion tears’ (crocodile tears are too easy!) Rahul and Manmohan sermonising on corruption is quite akin to a bunch of criminals in prison lecturing their jailors on ethics. Let’s first see some recent utterances of the PM.

 

“Corruption dents India’s image...It demeans us before our own people. Corruption strikes at the root of good governance... Along with legislation, the necessary revamp of administrative practises and procedures needs to be fast-tracked. A systemic response that reduces opportunities for corruption needs to be put in place”. These statements can be attributed to Moses, Jesus Christ, Krishna or any spiritual leader anytime you want. Even the honourable roadside cobbler will tell you all this. Only one thing’s wrong. It doesn’t ‘demean’ YOU or the officers you addressed Mr.PM, it demeans and insults the people of this nation. Innocent, honest people.

Like Rahul Gandhi, the PM sermonises as if he was some independent observer or a panelist at some TV discussion or a UN watchdog. All of it rings hollow. Under the cloak of ‘honest’ and ‘clean’ this PM has been a silent watcher of some major corrupt practices in this nation. The recent scams are not stray incidents; it is a pattern with Manmohan Singh.

To start with MMS should have called the lies in the media that he was the one to implement economic reforms in India. That is what propaganda does. Not once has the PM acknowledged he acted as instructed by Narasimha Rao and there were other compulsions for the reforms, including those by the IMF. We need to recall that he was the Finance Minister when Rao was involved in the JMM bribery scam to help his government survive. So what’s new with Manmohan Singh? If he were honest and had a clean conscience he should have quit that government following the JMM bribery case. He watched in silence!

In his own tenure as PM and for survival of his government in UPA-1 he watched money playing a role in the confidence vote following the nuclear deal fall out with the CPM.  He watched in silence! He survived! So why is it surprising to anyone that this man has consciously watched in silence the actions of the Rajas and the Kalmadis? In some parts probably was even a party to it. Suddenly, the black money issue is all over the media as if this was some great secret for ages. Yet, MMS seems to be unable to do anything about it.

The likes of MMS and Rahul Gandhi will talk to officials, students, media and everyone about corruption and related issues. Why aren’t they making statements in the parliament? Why is the Congress not agreeable to a JPC on scams? In an earliest post I had written that ‘Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi should be held criminally liable...” for all the scams. One sheds tears and the other comes up with silly five-point something programmes to tackle corruption. And our foolish media does the propaganda. No questions asked, no holding their feet to fire.

MMS takes self-righteous offence at being called a ‘weak’ prime minister or a ‘puppet’. Not once has he proved himself to be anything else. Therefore, this is his chance to shut up and stop sermonising and ‘act’. To use his own words, ‘fast-tracked’ action will do a lot more than repeated sermons. The recent cabinet reshuffle hardly showed any sign that he is acting on it. I am tempted to call MMS the ‘Raj Kapoor’ of politics. Mera Naam Joker,  the one that will fit anywhere in a (political) card game. Commenting on the continuance of one tainted minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh, in the cabinet the Supreme Court has frustratingly called it 'shameless'. So much for your tears on corruption, Mr. PM!

There is a bright side to everything. This will probably be the last term of MMS as prime minister. He will go down in history as having overseen the most corrupt government in the history of India. He can still act and alter that course, but that is seriously doubtful. The down side is the Puppet will go and they might send in the Clown. One way or the other, for the media, the circus will go on. MMS should remember ‘puppets’ don’t shed tears.

K. Subrahmanyam - Our Gratitude & RIP

Defence strategy Guru, K. Subrahmanyam passed away in Delhi on Thursday, February 3, 2011. 

Subrahmanyam, a prominent international strategic affairs analyst, journalist and a former Indian civil servant, headed the Kargil Review Committee and was the founding director of the security think-tank, Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses.

Our TV news channels, too occupied with the drama in Egypt, did not find a minute to report or mourn the loss of a man whose contribution to national security is immense. If one considers the days in which India was still a relatively new, free and independent nation, the man's contribution is phenomenal. An interesting article on him is available here at Rediff. 

The man who declined the Padma Bhushan award in 1999 is on record to have stated: "...that bureaucrats and journalists should not accept government awards". One hopes they learn. We owe Subrahmanyam our deepest gratitude. RIP