In Search of the Moderate Muslim

sigalph #546 ``I think both of us realize that you are going way out of context here. The initial question was one of Bengalis vis-a-vis their religion. Your comment, as pointed as it is, would have been better suited to a gender-related discussion.``

When someone says that what he said in black and white is taken out of context, it is often an indication of that person being in denial. Your statement about kinship to other Bengalis regardless of religion indicated chauvinism of one kind (ethnic) even as you stated your being above chauvinism of another kind (religious). I was merely pointing that out. As for my example of the wife-beater, I clearly said this was an example to illustrte the point that there is low-life in all groups of people. I could just as well have used the example of, say, a robber or a murderer which would have nothing to do with gender.

Having read some of your other posts on chowk, I dont think you are a dyed-in-the-wool (or whatever the phrase is) ethnic chauvinist though. But we all have our slip-ups and best to recognize that rather than go into denial.

Prem #559 Agreed. Religion should be no more, and no less (!!), than a means for character building and for raising consciousness in the individual of a universe represented by a blade of grass and by the star-filled night. When it is converted into a means for gaining power or becoming wealthy or (in the worst case) to fuel hatreds and violence, religion becomes a parody of the truth. A fallen angel.

re fatimah

``If you need Islam ,take it or leave it.THERE IS NO COMPULSION IN RELIGION.``

And what is the penalty for apostasy (leaving Islam) in Islam?

re reply 557

Chowk editors,

I am not sure whose michief this is, but that post is not mine; please be kind enough to delete it and/or fix the obvious system problem that let this happen with MY username. Not to mention that the language employed should not have been allowed on the board per your own policy.

Re: Musharraf`s UN address

Guys,

I heard the address and thought Mushy did rather well. It is obvious that the Americans are impressed by his anti-Taliban stand. Mushy however was playing to his home gallery when he spoke harsh words about India, calling it a terrorist nation. Those are harsh words. He knows the world (especially US)needs him today and are willing to listen to his rhetoric, however stupid and unfounded they may be, only to humor him. His harsh words on India regarding Kashmir goes well with fudos in Pakistan who are not happy with him for siding with USA.

Following is Jim Hoagland`s article that says it all. URL:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59013-2001Nov7.html

``A Test of True Allies

By Jim Hoagland

Thursday, November 8, 2001; Page A31

The United States made many demands on allies and friends in launching military operations in Afghanistan. None has been more difficult to field than the request made to Israel and to India: Restrain your own wars against terror so we can get on with ours.

American diplomats are careful not to put the request that way. To do so would make it sound as if they attach a more urgent priority to American lives lost to terrorism than to those of Indians, Israelis and others targeted by suicide bombers and gunmen. That is inevitably true -- but politically unacceptable to say.

Nor do officials blurt out another reality: These U.S. appeals for restraint cater to Pakistani and Arab public opinion -- that is, they try to shore up shaky dictatorships that can provide help and political cover in the bombing of Afghanistan -- while leaving democratic governments in Jerusalem and New Delhi to fend for themselves.

Unfair? Certainly. But not surprising. War runs on expediency, not on logic or morality. The Pentagon needs bases to carry out the mission of destroying Osama bin Laden, his terror network and the Taliban.

But the outcome of the global campaign forced on the United States by bin Laden`s group will do much more than prove the prowess or incapacity of President Bush and his generals to use force abroad.

The way in which the campaign is conducted, and the long-term goals it serves, can establish new organizing principles and priorities for international relations for years or decades to come. The roles that democracies and dictatorships will be called on to play in the American agenda of the 21st century will be made clearer by this conflict.

Bush and his aides should keep that big picture in mind as they pursue the immediate demands of combat. Crises of this nature turn politicians into statesmen and reshape world politics -- if the big opportunities are seized.

India and Israel are the most vibrant democracies in a vast swath of countries from North Africa through the Himalayas that should now be seen as a single strategic region. Jerusalem and New Delhi are also end points of the U.S. campaign. If the struggles in Kashmir and the West Bank and Gaza are not reshaped and defused by America`s war on terrorism, those bitter conflicts will feed new waves of international terrorism for the future.

Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, due at the White House on Friday, is still open to the much closer strategic relationship that Bush promised on coming to office. But that drive has stalled as Bush has been urged by the bureaucracy to concentrate on the short-term advantages of a Faustian bargain with Pakistani ruler Pervez Musharraf.

Vajpayee arrives just as that bargain`s shortcomings become apparent. The promise by Pakistan`s intelligence services to foment uprisings in southern Afghanistan and to arrange defections from the Taliban and bin Laden`s network have fallen flat, even as Bush heaps more economic aid and political forgiveness on Musharraf.

This may not be simple incompetence. Olivier Roy, a French political scientist and Europe`s leading authority on Afghanistan, predicts that the Pakistanis will cooperate with the American effort to oust the Taliban just enough to be able to sabotage it when they choose.

``What Musharraf and the army care about are keeping their nuclear weapons and their ability to intervene in Kashmir, and having a friendly government in Afghanistan,`` Roy said at a Brookings Institution seminar here this week. To protect the first two goals, they will go through the motions of compromising on the makeup of a new regime in Afghanistan ``until the Americans leave. The calculation of every regime in the area is that they can all outlast an American presence that will be short-term.``

Vajpayee will not engage Bush directly on Pakistan`s current role, I am told. He will instead probe whether this White House seems ready to repeat one of the fundamental mistakes of the Cold War, which was to convert tactical relationships with dictators into ideological, strategic alliances.

Dictators snap the whip and seem to make things happen quickly. But they own only the moment. That is why they clutch the present so fiercely. The future belongs to democratic leaders, who can build and sustain consensus and commitment to ideas and values. They are Bush`s true allies, however difficult dealing with them can be at a moment of crisis.``.

So, i say, let Mushy boy savour his moment. Such moments are hard to come by for a dictator, especially one from a third world country on the verge of economic collapse. Let him say his bit. The world and US will listen to him and tolerate him as long as he ``plays ball`` the way they want it. The question is will Mushy be allowed to ``play ball`` by the fundamentalist elements in Pakistan and if he is indeed allowed, will he ``play ball`` fair and square.

Sridhar

WHILE JIZYAH MAY HAVE BEEN EXPLOITED MISSUSED & MISS APPLIED BY ORDINARY KINGS & EMPERRORS IN THERE 1000 YRS REIGN IN INDIA ITSELF,HINDUS HAVE NEVER UNDERSTOOD IT EITHER B/C OF COMMUNALISM ,HATRED & HATE MONGERING INCITED BY HINDU MAHASABHA FANATICS .

Below is a short extract on Jizyah and how it was applied to the tribe of

Taghlib.

:

``Fight against such of those who have been given the Scripture as believe

not in Allah, nor the Last Day; and forbid not that which Allah hath

forbidden by His Messenger, and follow not the religion of truth until they

pay the tribute (Jizyah) readily, being brought low. ``

[Surah at Tauba (9): verse 29]

It has been proved that the Prophet ordered to take Jizyah from the

Magians. Moreover, it has been reported that during the life?time of the

Prophet, Jizyah was realised at the rate of one dinar from every adult, free

or slave, male or female. Umar levied it on the dhimmis at the rate of four

dinars on every rich man, or forty dirhams, and did impose nothing on the

women and the slaves; and he levied on those who were not rich at the rate

of two dinars or twenty dirhams per head, and on those who were still less

wealthy at the rate of one dinar or ten dirhams in case they belonged to

`the people of silver` (ahl al?Waraq). To this rate he added bushels of

olive oil and entertainment (hospitality) of Muslims for three days.

Imam Malik and his followers, therefore, followed the practice of Umar and

interpret that his practice is not against the practice of the Prophet. Umar

deviated from the early practice as mentioned earlier only on account of the

wealth of these persons. So he levied on every individual according to his

capacity. Undoubtedly this was the interpretation of Umar. Malik and his

followers hold that nothing is to be increased upon what is prescribed by

Umar and I think they may be excused of entertainment that sometimes prove

too much for them.

Ibn Idris opines that no dinar is to be added to one dinar. Another group of

scholars holds that it is up to the Imam: If he thinks it proper to enhance

it on account of their abundant wealth, he can enhance it as Umar enhanced.

It has been reported that Banu Taghlib, who were Christians, disliked paying

Jizyah. Before it was levied on them, they offered to pay one fifth of their

harvest as well as that of the produce of the land, and accordingly an

agreement was concluded with them. Some of our authorities however refuse to

accept this from them comparing the case with that of Zakah because Zakah is

realised only from the Muslims to purify them, and Jizyah is realised from

the disbelievers to protect/subdue them.

This has been taken in the sense of a peace?treaty not in the sense of

Zakah. Had they been aware of the tradition mentioned above, would not have

surely opposed it, since, to conclude a peace?treaty on this term is

permissible.

[Ref: Kitab al Amwal, al-Daudi (402 AH/ 1011 AD)]

Notes:

1. Jizyah: the root meaning is compensation. The derived meaning, which

became the technical meaning, was a poll-tax levied from those who did not

accept Islam, but were willing to live under the protection of Islam, and

were thus tacitly willing to submit to its ideals being enforced in the

Muslim State. There was no amount permanently fixed for it. It was in

acknowledgment that those whose religion was tolerated would in their turn

not interfere with the preaching and progress of Islam. Imam Shafi`i

suggests one dinar per year, which would be the Arabian gold dinar of the

Muslim States. The tax varied in amount, and there were exemptions for the

poor, for females and children (according to Abu Hanifa), for slaves, and

for monks and hermits. Being a tax on able-bodied males of military age, it

was in a sense a commutation for military service.

2. An-Yadin (literally, from the hand) has been variously interpreted. The

Jizya was thus partly symbolic and partly a commutation for military

service, but as the amount was insignificant and the exemptions numerous,

its symbolic character predominated.

3. Throughout history the Jizyah would apply to non-Muslims living under

Muslim rule; referred to as `dhimmis`. This income could NOT be spent on the

Muslims, rather it was spend on the non-Muslims e.g. building

infrastructure, developing education etc. At the same time, any tax which a

Muslim paid to the treasury, part of this would also be allocated to the non

Muslims.

4. Zakah: this is the `duty` which a Muslim must pay on his property /

income. The reservation above of not wishing to accept produce as Jizyah is

based on the similarity it bears to Zakah, and I suspect the scholars wished

to distinguish between Zakah and Jizyah.

5. A Dinar is a gold coin, a Dirham is a silver coin

DOWN GIRL FLEEING BANGLA BACKLASH



FROM PROBIR PRAMANIK



Siliguri, Nov. 10:

The policy muddle on telling between “infiltrators” and “refugees” lay stained in blood today as a 12-year-old girl fleeing persecutors in Bangladesh fell to BSF bullets after crossing over to India.

Daya Rani Khatri was killed and her 15-year-old brother, Shanto, injured when BSF soldiers, unable to ascertain whether they are intruders or refugees, opened fire.

A steady stream of Bangladeshis has been escaping to Bengal since a change of government in Dhaka triggered a violent backlash on minorities. However, in the absence of clear-cut government guidelines, officials in India have been unable to define a “refugee” and an “infiltrator”, a sensitive issue in power politics.

Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who is leaving for Delhi next week to attend an inter-state council meeting convened by the Prime Minister, is expected to raise the influx issue with the Centre .

The state government has sought a report from the district magistrate on the BSF firing.

The five-member Khatri family and two other families from Khanoga village in Thakurgaon had decided to sneak into Bengal under the cover of darkness on Friday.

The group of about 15 people crossed the porous border at Bashalgram under Haripur police station of Bangladesh and entered Baharbindol in Uttar Dinajpur on the Indian side without much trouble.

However, almost 200 metres inside Indian territory, the group was challenged by a BSF night patrol. “It was pitch-dark when we crossed over to the Indian side and some people opened fire. All I remember is being hit in the stomach and losing consciousness. I don’t know what happened to my father and elder brother, or where my mother is,” Shanto said.

The teenager, who was hit in the stomach, is now recuperating in the general ward of the Raigunj Sadar Hospital where the BSF rushed him last night. His father, Subash Khatri, and elder brother Satya, 18, are reported missing. The whereabouts of their mother Savitri is not known.

“Some people in this hospital told me that my sister, Daya, has been killed in the firing,” said Shanto between sobs.

The commandant of the 97th battalion posted at the Haripur-Bashalgram border, Raj Singh, said the border patrol had challenged the group well within Indian territory and asked it to halt before opening fire.

“The patrol warned the group to stop, but they did not heed. The jawans then opened fire. While a minor girl was killed, another boy was injured. We rushed him to the hospital with bullet injuries. The other members of the group managed to escape,” Singh said.

Singh did not clarify whether the fleeing Bangladeshis were “intruders or refugees”. “Anyone found entering Indian territory without valid documents is treated as an intruder by us,” he said.

Balcony collapse kills 4

Four persons, including a child, died after the balcony of a temple on Strand Road, near Howrah Bridge, collapsed tonight. The victims were sleeping on the pavement under the balcony, which collapsed after a truck rammed into the pillars of the 125-year-old temple.

re. Asif N. #465

````It is a detailed science which needs years of study and there are books available (in Arabic mainly!) which you can read to discover the rules and details. It is a branch of the usool-e-tafseer sciences. I am a layperson and so not qualified to comment on individual verses. I find it a non-sequitur when people cannot grasp the idea that just as you have specialists in every branch of knowledge so you also have specialists in religious knowledge and to presume that one--being a layperson--somehow knows more than them based on a reading of one or two books or an english language translation of the qu`ran is, to me, the height of arrogance.``

Get one thing straight -- it is NOT a science! It is a philosophy, since even its basic premisses have not axiomatic acceptance (the reason, in fact, some of your scholars like Ibn Sina and Al-Ghazali were able to be declared heretics by vested interests -- i.e, they questioned some of the basic premisses).

There is no limit to the amount of BS that otherwise intelligent men can put out in the name of `philosophy` (usually in an attempt to lend intellectual credibility to biases they have imbibed on the laps of their mothers). The history of Western philosophy and theology is a testament to this fact if nothing else. (Just ask Farangi Kush or hamzad afaqui :) )

There is little reason why anyone should suppose the Islamic scholars, erudite as they might have been, to be any different in ultimate persuation!

rgds,

PM

Sigalph, sorry for hounding you. But, you are the only Bangladeshi gracing these boards.

Regarding calling you a majority I am convinced that you are of Muslim faith.

Sigalph, 15,000 people is more than enough to call it an exodus.

Every such incident is politically motivated. Even the partition was such an incident. So, let`s not dismiss this as something only politicians indulge in.

Every riot, every massacre is initiated by politicians who exploit the underlying currents of mistrust and hate (riots against sikhs in Delhi is one such case).

Bangladesh seems to have plenty of that at the moment.

Call it a trivial issue has what led to a decrease of minority population from 24% to the current 10%.

hoo0N tannae mail karsoo chhokrii..ayaaN badhee hell has broken loose and DO NOT TOUCH my pringles

likhsoo,

anNy

FartsAnna said [If we want to read blasphemous books, who is to stop us?]

Don`t tell me you have already forgotten who is to stop you.

Ayatollah the Asahollah, for one.

Rajiv Gandhi, who was so afraid that the Indian Muslims will take to the streets and riot and burn public property, and so banned `The Satanic Verses` in India.

Does any good doctor on Chowk (hey, Shrinker, this does NOT include you, Asahollah) know of any cure for selective amnesia?

We already know the CAUSES of selective amnesia.

It is all documented in articles such as `Let us destroy the Bamiyan Buddhas` and `Let us destroy the WTC Towers`.

Or, we can all read the interacts which express condemnation of such acts but with caveats such as `The Palestinians...`. `The Kashmiris.....`, `The Bosnians.....`.

Why not just come out and say, `The Muslims will do this because they are enjoined by their mullahs to do so and their mullahs quote the Quran in support and none of us ``moderate`` Muslims have the balls to tell the mullahs to shut up.`

You all want to be moderate when you want your green card so you can be a doctor in New Jersey, an engineer in Silicon Valley, or a stock broker on Wall Street and earn the big bucks and marry a girl young enough to be your daughter once you get tired of your wives.

If your mullahs preach hatred for the kaffirs and you don`t agree with it, why do you go to the mosque? Even better, why do you send your kids to the mosque?

So that, like that Pakistani from Long Island who has gone off to fight the Great Satan in Afghanistan side by side with Mullah Omar though his mother was rescued from the rubble of the WTC towers by infidels, you too can derive joy by creating one more automaton for Allah?

Pathetic!

Ref Fatuous-Ass #: 556

[If you need Islam ,take it or leave it.THERE IS NO COMPULSION IN RELIGION.]

Yes, there IS compulsion in Islam.

The punishment for apostasy is DEATH.

Only in Islam.

Not in Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism or any other religion.

But once you have recited the Kalima and become a Muslim, you and your descendants are condemned to be Muslims for ever and ever.

The only escape is to the liberal West where nobody bothers you and you can get a restraining order against the local Imam if he insists on visiting you to tell you that you should attend Friday prayers.

Don`t believe me? Try going to Friday prayers at a major mosque in Karachi and declaring that you are no longer a Muslim.

(http://salon.com/news/feature/2001/11/10/musharraf/index.html

a little on the gushy side but an interesting read, nevertheless

My crush on Musharraf

With his dogs, drinking, frameless glasses and Armani suits, he`s reviled by extremists

By Asra Q. Nomani

Nov. 10, 2001 | KARACHI, Pakistan -- Uzma Asim, 35, is a modern Muslim woman, a vice president of operations of Anmar Associates, a garment exporter. Her office is replete with glass tables, leather sofas, just ordered-in Kentucky Fried Chicken and a quiet room for women to pray, with rugs folded neatly on the floor. She sweeps before me, a burst of energy in a modest white cotton shalwar kameeze with black block print.

A mane of curly, raven black hair descends upon her shoulders, a thin line of kajal flutters upon her upper eyelid and her eyes sparkle when she talks about her president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf.

Asim is an international globetrotter, touching down in London, Paris, Frankfurt and Dubai in her travels. Fine works by Pakistani artists hang on the walls and a Louis Vuitton bag sits open at her side as she taps at her keyboard. And who stares back at us from her screensaver? Musharraf.

She salutes him, flicking her hand against her forehead. Then she stands and opens a long closet door that conceals locker-like shelving. Musharraf is looking over his left shoulder, wearing a purple tie, white shirt and gray suit that falls well-sculptured on his shoulders. Asim has glued this photo of the general onto the inside of the door.

``Look at him,`` Asim says, punching her fist in the air. ``Confident. Certain. Determined.`` Her raves continue: ``He`s a magnetic person.``

``I love him,`` she gushes. Asim doesn`t want there to be any confusion. ``I`m happily married,`` she says. But as the rest of the world sees many of the furious turban-wearing fundamentalists burning Musharraf in effigy in the streets (they will likely be out in full force now with Musharraf out of the country, preparing to meet with President Bush and address the United Nations in New York) another part of the population feels quite differently.

There are no Gallup polls measuring public opinion here -- approval is best measured by silence in the streets, which for Pakistan has largely been the case, even since U.S.-led forces began bombing Afghanistan a month ago. And for modern Muslims here who eagerly seek to embrace a global culture, Musharraf incongruously manages to be a military dictator and yet also a symbol of modernity. He breaks taboos with his pet dogs and consumption of alcohol -- not to mention his penchant for Armani suits and golf.

Now, with his measured support of U.S. strikes on the neighboring Taliban -- a government he had supported up until Sept. 11 -- he has made a dramatic pro-West shift in his polices, most notably ditching hard-line elements from the country`s powerful intelligence agency. And his most avid followers are modern Muslims.

OK and fine, I`ll be honest. I was relieved to find Asim, because I, too, have developed a thing for Musharraf. When we realize our shared interest, we squeeze each other`s hands like soul sisters. I knew I couldn`t be the only one who watched him on television, playing host as a parade of world leaders took turns across from him while he sank into a nicely upholstered sofa, like a new Homecoming King. He is Muslim and a man of the world. At a time when the world sees images of crazed Muslims who not only want segregation from, but to decree violence on, nonbelievers, Musharraf is reassuring, inclusive and strong.

The photo that Asim has in her closet was shot from an unusual tour he took in July to India and the city of the Taj Mahal, where he and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee politically arm-wrestled over the disputed territory of Kashmir. It was on that tour that Musharraf won a special place in many a heart. He proved to be aggressive politically, personally sentimental and thoroughly hypnotizing. He ditched his usual military uniform to wear a cherwani, the trousers matched with a long coat and high collar that many have associated with the jacket popularized by Jawaharlal Nehru.

At the time, he made a side trip to visit his ancestral haveli (``big house``) in the Old Delhi neighborhood of Daryaganj where he was born. Early in his childhood, his family left it behind and called Pakistan their new home after India won independence from the British in 1947 and its north was sliced out to create a nation for Muslims. During the trip, he reached out to the people, Clinton-like, and hugged a very elderly woman servant who said she remembered him as a child. He showed none of the restraint of the most conservative of Muslim men, who try to avoid touching a woman unrelated to them, no matter what the age. ``He was so sympathetic to the old lady,`` remembers Asim fondly.

The love that dare not bark its name

Then, when he faced off with India`s journalists, they wanted to ask him questions about anything other than Kashmir, so they could at least get to know the man on friendlier terms. He responded that they could, but it wouldn`t make much of a friendship. He proceeded to answer each journalist`s questions so precisely, viewers back home were impressed. A critic in an Indian newspaper complained that India`s tough journalists had turned into ``salivating puppies and purring kittens.`` (Musharraf manages to turn up on TV quite frequently. When he does, Asim says, her husband calls her over with an eager shout: ``Your boyfriend is on TV!``)

Musharraf made an impression on me in an interview last spring when he admitted that he had trouble with an expanding waistline since taking office (just like Clinton), a sweet tooth (ditto) and with security detail -- because he appreciates spontaneity. He said: ``I think my natural self is the best. I just behave normally, what I like, I like. Whatever I don`t like, I don`t like.``



He said he didn`t really like pop bands (``I find them very stupid and silly``), but admitted liking Sufi music and ghazals, poetic Muslim songs (like the ones my mother used to hum at the kitchen sink when I was growing up) and a band called Junoon. What? I first saw Junoon, a Pakistani rock band inspired by Sufism, in a Central Park concert a few years back when very cute and hip teenage Pakistani-American boys from New Jersey moshed in Tommy Hilfiger shirts to the band`s Urdu chants of ``Allahu, Allahu, Allahu`` -- belief in only one Allah.

And when Musharraf made his tour through India, I had just returned from visiting India and staying in my ancestral haveli, a sweeping white palace of a home called Latif Manzil in the village of Jaigahan in Jaunpur District in Uttar Pradesh. To be in your ancestral home is to feel the pulse of ancestors who seem very much alive, if only in the clouds that pass overhead from the courtyards. Maybe it seems, in the West, typical, perhaps calculated, for him to travel to his ancestral haveli during his short diplomatic mission. But to me and others at the time, it seemed to speak wonders about his soul.

He is a Rudy Guliani figure whose fans fear will leave office at some point (no problem there -- as a military dictator, he could be dislodged only by a junta, although he has promised an election that many of his fans wish wouldn`t happen). While he hasn`t quite reached the sex symbol status of the shaggy-haired prime minister of Japan, he has become a bit of a fashion icon. A retired senior army officer recalled running into him at the Islamabad Marriott before the war and admiring his Armani suit. (Though it`s not so rare here, or even imported from Italy; Armani suits that get stitched here for export, like Bally shoes, are very inexpensive.) And, like some Western pols, he`s followed by rumors in higher society circles linking him with starlets and other ladies.

Musharraf is known among the younger set as a gentle uncle figure, tapping his daughter`s friends with a gentle touch on the shoulder. Years ago, Musharraf, his wife and two children used to visit his very progressive mother, who lived in the upper-middle-class neighborhood of F-7/1 in Islamabad, and was known to neighborhood children as mother dado, (a play off dadi, grandmother), who played traditional Indian subcontinent music with harmoniums and tabla instruments while Musharraf`s daughter bicycled around the neighborhood free as a kite. By listening to music, and caring for a pet dog inside her house, she openly violated taboos on two things that the strictest of Muslims abhor: music and dogs.

The dog issue, in fact, seems to hound Musharraf. In India, a columnist refers to Musharraf as ``a dog-loving nattily uniformed general.`` Musharraf boldly posed holding his two dogs for his photo-op after taking over the country. Go figure. The man knew that many Muslims go running when a dog starts approaching them, even with its tail wagging, especially with its slobbery pink tongue hanging out of its mouth. We have to do something called wuzu, a ritual washing, before doing namaz. We`re taught that touching a dog makes you dirty for namaz, so that you shouldn`t keep a dog in the house. Others interpret what is said in the Quran more liberally, though.

Daring to go where few -- including Bhutto -- have gone before

I had Pluto, the Majumdars` Pekinese, to initiate me; when I was 11, the Majumdars, who practiced Hinduism, gave me something like $5 a week to walk him in Morgantown, W.V., when they were on vacation. My mother was trained early as a Muslim girl to distrust dogs (she claims because they were wild in India). She refused to get near Pluto, backing away from the reach of his chain when he would scamper toward us when he visited for dinners with Majumdar Aunty and Majumdar Uncle. Then there was Nikita, a beautiful Samoyed with soft white fur that moved in across the street, leaping whenever he could on Denise Pickle and me, both of us thrilled by his eager soft self. But my Athar Chacha, my father`s brother, here in Karachi goes running even when a little dachshund approaches him. Among Muslims here, that`s quite common.

Not surprisingly, Musharraf`s dog antics don`t play well with many people. But they do play well with moderate Pakistanis. One liberal woman repeated with glee seeing Musharraf allowing one of his furry companions seats at the breakfast table. They`re tired of the hypocrisy in a nation where people hide behind a veil of piety. They see it with the mullahs, who are often uneducated religious leaders who rally those in the lower class to despise modernity.

To understand how Musharraf fits into Pakistan is to understand the disenfranchisement of middle-class families from mullahs and political leaders. Many Pakistanis have gotten only false promises from political leaders who somehow manage to build their wealth and bank accounts.

This is the history as they tell it: Musharraf joined the Pakistan Military Academy in 1961 and was commissioned in an elite artillery regiment in 1964 while Ayub Khan was in power. The Pakistani armed forces were modeled after the British military, and Pakistani military culture had with the same values of dancing, drinking and dating found in its Western counterpart.

In 1965, Pakistan went to war with India. That war marked a turning point; the military became more conservative as more religious generals came into power. But Musharraf was part of the more liberal earlier graduating class. The very liberal Zulfiqar Bhutto came to power after Pakistan fought another war with India in 1971. Pakistanis remember his proud declaration that he drank alcohol at a public meeting as the natural end to an exhausting day. Society turned more conservative with the 1977 coup d`état of General Muhammad Zia-ul Haq, who presented himself as a religious man, shutting down nightclubs and raiding parties where alcohol flowed.

With Zia`s death in a mysterious plane crash, the liberal Benazir Bhutto came to power after elections in 1989, loosely drawing a dupatta over her head to appease conservative Muslims though it wasn`t the liberal image of her days studying in the West. To this day, I remember a friend of mine, an aide in the U.S. Congress, shocked at how U.S. congressmen and senators fell over themselves in front of the seductive image of this woman with a dupatta. But she left many in the middle class of Pakistan disenfranchised after growing evidence of corruption drove her from office. She was eventually followed by Nawaz Sharif, another leader hounded out of office amid findings of corruption, this time in the coup that blasted Musharraf to power.

In this highly polarized country where immigrants from India have formed a political party to demand more immigrant (mohajir) rights, it`s a coup of sorts for this group that Musharraf, himself a mohajir, has risen to power. Even Musharraf`s wife, Sehba, is nothing like a mullah`s wife. Unlike Bhutto, she doesn`t feel the need to drape a dupatta over her head, wearing it over her shoulders instead in elegant outfits. She is considered loyal and devoted -- and the woman behind this man`s success. Even bolder, he`s known to prefer Johnny Walker Black Label scotch.

By all accounts, the Musharrafs lived a modest life, not filled with fancy upholstered sofas. At one time, according to a family friend, their furniture included a simple padded low wooden platform with a red fabric over it and big pillows upon which to rest. Their furniture often had ``MES`` printed on the back, standing for government-issued stock from the Military Engineering Services. His eldest daughter, Ayla, pursued an unconventional field in Pakistan for women -- architecture -- going to National College of Art in Lahore. There, she was courted by a man she eventually wed in a ``love`` marriage, as opposed to an arranged one, also not the norm in this culture. Even more surprising: The Musharrafs are Sunnis, and their daughter married a Shiite. By accepting the marriage, they also transcended many of the hangups of families who don`t allow their children to marry out of their specific group.

Another ``protest,`` another Musharraf victory

Friday`s much-hyped ``strike,`` organized by religious extremists against Musharraf`s alliance with America, was all about those who take issue with Musharraf`s modern lifestyle. I hopped behind my cousin Ali on his beat-up Honda CD-70 and sped off to the protests. This is what I noted: A young man tossed a ball menacingly in his hand as he crossed the street before us. Would he throw it at us? Not quite. No, he was crossing the street to get to the park where hundreds of young men and boys already had converged. My cousin brother Ali explained: ``Today is a nice day. No school. No work.`` It was a national holiday, the first in years, for Pakistan`s great poet Allama Iqbal.

Flatbed trucks passed us with flags unfurled. A truck full of police followed quickly behind. A juice walla stood at the roadside spinning sugar-cane juice. The windows of a Subway sandwich shop on I.I. Chandigar Street were covered with black fabric, a trick businesses use to somehow disguise their windows from rocks flung by mobs. As if they wouldn`t just aim at the sheets instead. We glided through the empty streets at Fresco Chowk Roundabout, known for the famous Fresco food store a few stores down from the corner. A boy was picking his nose.

Ali surveys the crowd. He knows what most Pakistanis know. The crowd is mostly filled with Afghan refugees, Pathans (the Pashto speakers, many of them with relatives across the border in Afghanistan) and boys driven in from the madrasas of the religious right that supports the Taliban. The voice over the loudspeaker trashes Musharraf, and welcomes a leader from one of the madrasas outside Karachi.

I`m the only woman there. I chose to keep my dupatta off my head today so I draw plenty of stares, though I spread it modestly over my tunic-like kurta. There is Taj Mohammad, a white-haired elderly man. He`s carrying a big plastic bag filled with smaller plastic bags of salty snacks, and reminds me of the peanut vendor at a Yankees game. A young man with bleary eyes comes toward us as we take pictures and tries to act menacing, saying someone is following us. Whatever. Ultimately, it`s a less than menacing turnout, even though images on TV will look frightening.

When I come back to my hotel I see Musharraf on TV, and admire his stylish frameless glasses, such a departure from the OSHA-approved-style safety glasses more common with men his age. I wonder what he should do with his hair. And I know that in a living room in the other side of Karachi, a husband is saying to his wife, ``Your boyfriend is on TV.``

Shima,is this the incident in Bangladesh you were talking about .

http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?sid=1&fname=Bangla+Refugees+%28F%29&fodname=20011119&secname=International





BANGLADESHI REFUGEES

The Damned And The Forgotten

With attention focused on the war westwards, there`s none to heed the plight of Hindus fleeing the excesses of BNP rule

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ASHIS K. BISWAS



Hounded out of his property by an armed mob in Bangladesh on October 8 and facing imminent arrest as an illegal alien in West Bengal, Bidhubhusan Das (45) is not even a statistical entity today. Cowering in a dark hideout somewhere in Habra in North 24 Parganas, Das and his faceless associates are a shattered lot. ``Only days ago, I owned a merchandise store in the Bhola area of Barisal district, employing 15 men. This morning, I am cutting grass here as a daily wage labourer! Even my shirt is borrowed; I`ve been feeding off the locals. I just about managed to escape hiding in the fields during the day, walking endlessly during the night with the other escapees.``

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It began with provocative slogans; the floodgates opened soon after a BNP win looked certain.

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Bidhu`s account is typical of the horror tales told to the local media by most of the estimated 15,000 people who have fled here illegally from Bangladesh in the last one month. Their experience is indicative of the kind of existence the





minority Hindus can expect in a BNP-ruled Bangladesh. Ever since Khaleda Zia came to power in October, the minority communities, particularly Hindus, have had to face the wrath of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Jamaati activists who have gone on a rampage against them. Fearing for their lives, Hindus are fleeing Bangladesh in the thousands.

It was all planned prior to the October 1 polls. Consider the BNP/Jamaat election slogan critical of `Hindu-friendly` Sheikh Hasina: Hare Krishna hare Ram, Hasinar baper naam; Hindu jodi bachte chao, Bangla chere Bharat jao (Hasina`s father is Hare Krishna, Hare Ram, if you want to survive, Hindus leave Bangladesh and go to India). The supposedly neutral caretaker regime did not take the slightest notice of the deteriorating communal situation and rising tension despite repeated complaints. Recalls refugee Rubel Das: ``We used to cower every time a procession went past our houses, shouting these slogans, with the hotheads rattling our doors or shattering our window panes.``

Das recalls his experience on voting day. ``I was initially scared to vote but curiosity prevailed and I went to the booth. I saw local policemen driving out bunches of Hindu women in the queue, twice at least, so they could not vote. On the other hand, a batch of burqa-clad ladies cast their vote several times, voting and rejoining the queue at the head, no ink being applied to their fingers. It was a mockery of elections, the crudest form of rigging.``

The floodgates opened the next day onwards, as a BNP win looked certain. Communal violence erupted with reports coming in from at least 40 out of 64 districts. The police, alleges refugee Sunil De, turned a blind eye. The newly-elected BNP and Jamaat MPs began issuing diktats. In Barisal, two BNP MPs announced that no sale of property or bank transaction would be conducted sans their approval. ``The Hindus have no right here,`` declared a Bhola MP, urging the police not to be too harsh with ``young boys having a bit of fun``!

Swapan Das, member of the Bangladesh Udbastu Unnayan Sangstha (BUUS), the only group that looks after the refugees, points to Shefali Das, 40: ``She is a rape victim.`` The woman who crossed over with two girls (aged 10 and 8) and a boy (6), stares vacantly and answers questions vaguely. Yes, she`d seen some women raped, often by their neighbours. ``Even in normal times, Muslims, even young kids, openly abuse and taunt us.`` Their house, in Padmamansa village in Barisal, was attacked on October 3.

Das and Bimal Majumdar, another BUUS office-bearer, refugees themselves, are expectedly angry over official apathy for the new refugees``.



contd.i lost the link due to crash plz try the url there is page 2

re: Godot # 550

Godot, I am unaware of your religious affiliation but we hold identical views on this matter. Islam`s simplicity is its great strength. That simplicity, and the very sound principle of human equality is what set the religion apart when it appeared in Arabia. Yet by surrendering their God-given right to think for themselves according to the need of the times, people have turned this Islamic simplicity into its great weakness. What could be a potent source of human liberation has been turned into justification for widespread conformity, inbuilt hostility to progress, and blind suspicion toward everything supposedly ``nonIslamic.`` Were Muhammad alive today, he would be hard put to recognize his religion.

P.S. You are right about the nature of Eastern philosophies - some of these can be very taxing for even intellectually gifted people.