9/11: DOB of Islamophobia >>And now Muslims may also be wary of using cellphones

Yeah, you don`t use cellphones when you are told not to.

Otherwise, I think the Gentoos are trying hard to score one on us!

Why are Jews So Powerful? The entire basis of this article is twisted logic. Think about the following:

Why are Parsians so powerful? Because they inhabit a major cultural center of the West.

Why do religious castes and communities that believe in mass literacy and mutual help seem to do well? Why are Pakistan`s Ismailis so much better off than its Deobandis?

Postmortem of Israeli-Hezbollah War – What Next? Re: # 147
krishna_abcd- We need some kind of a criterion. Palestinians still have titles to their properties. Jews got compensated for their claims by Germany, etc. Sikhs, Hindus & Muslims leaving Pakistan or India got compensated on the basis of their titles.

So what makes thee growl so menacingly?

Postmortem of Israeli-Hezbollah War – What Next? Re: # 123

Tom Friedman was in his impressionable years at the time of the 1967 war & emerged a fanatic Zionist from it. His predicament provides a good argument of why the US needs to get over the Israel issue.

Just recognize the Palestinian`s right of return & compensate them for it. Do this while the window for doing so is still open. Otherwise, keep fanatacizing the Mideast.

I think that the situation between Pakistan & India offers hope as at least neither side has pending claims against the other`s _main_ territory. So the matter is nearly(!) resolved.

What say, Gentoos?

Postmortem of Israeli-Hezbollah War – What Next? Re: # 85

Interesting- There`s some structure to things.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/pakistan/story/2005/03/050228_baloch_story_16_nj.shtml

[Sorry to keep you frothing, obnoxious gentoos.]

The Clash of Samuel Huntington and Amartya Sen Re: # 27 Tunku appears to be aspiring toward neo-con notoreity. Don`t get him started on Pakistan...

Anyway, the WSJ has a long standing gripe against Sen, whose Nobel it condemned in a front page editorial.

The Clash of Samuel Huntington and Amartya Sen # 20 bbabu: A lot of Muslim luminaries were non Arabs, who wrote in Arabic.
Realizing this won`t necessarily put India or Hinduism in any danger.

Is the American Dream Dead? Can Asians Think? IMO, there is a layer on American that a lot of people find really hard to crack, and that is Protestant Guilt.

It results in a finicky, obsessive, self-improving culture that is particualrly good at examining itself for deficiencies (cf. Shining India).

A lot of the present hype regarding science & math is a part of the same phenomenon.

The US trains engineers far better than China or India. But its National Academies deliberately exaggerate figures to create a different impression.

Anyway, all of this does create a certain aura for us brown skins.

Global Warming and Hurricanes I think global warming can no longer be discounted. What is debatable is how much of that is attributable to greenhouse gases? The estimates vary according to how much you like Dubya.

My Nephew’s Martian Retreat Qibla AHC- Tell your bhateeja that hydrocarbons are not rare in space at all. Methane could be easily gotten from the gas giants in the solar system (or venus for that matter).

Turkey’s Ottoman: Era-Octopus Like Linkages A book and the aftermath
katatonik, 01/08/04/22:01:14- category: borderless confusion - permalink
``Angry Hindu activists ransacked India`s prestigious Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute on Monday, tearing pages out of rare Sanskrit manuscripts, breaking windows, and smashing equipment. The protesters attacked the institute because it had given research assistance to an American professor whose recent book questions the history of a revered 17th-century Hindu king.

According to the police in Pune, a city about 75 miles southeast of Bombay where the institute is located, more than 150 Hindu hardliners armed with chains and wooden bats pushed their way into the research center as its staff opened the doors on Monday morning. Witnesses said the assailants -- from the little-known ``Sambhaji Brigade,`` a group of religious extremists -- were yelling ``Victory to King Shivaji`` as they destroyed ancient writings on palm leaves and vandalized paintings of renowned Sanskrit scholars. During the rampage, a statue of Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of learning, was also smashed.

Saroja Bhate, the institute`s secretary, said the staff was still assessing the damage but knew that at least 25 ancient books had been stolen.

The institute, which was created in 1917 to care for 20,000 Sanskrit manuscripts, had been on the periphery of a dispute that began last January, after Oxford University Press published Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India, by James W. Laine. In the book`s preface, Mr. Laine, a professor of religious studies at Macalester College, in Minnesota, thanked several Sanskrit scholars affiliated with the institute for their assistance.

A politically powerful right-wing Hindu group, the Shiv Sena, charged that the book makes derogatory remarks about the much-admired king. Hindu activists in the group, which was responsible for violent campus protests in 2001 against the celebration of Valentine`s Day (The Chronicle, February 15, 2001), soon organized a campaign to ban the book. After a few months, and without explanation, Oxford University Press withdrew Shivaji from the Indian market.

The protesters, however, were not placated. Last month, Hindu activists from the Shiv Sena burst into the office of Shrikant Bahulkar, a senior member of the institute, and blackened his face with tar. The attackers were angry because Mr. Bahulkar was among those thanked in the book`s acknowledgments.

Speaking from his office in Minnesota, Mr. Laine said he was horrified when he learned of the assault on Mr. Bahulkar. Hoping to prevent attacks on other scholars mentioned in the acknowledgments, Mr. Laine quickly faxed a letter to the major Indian newspapers apologizing to all who had been offended by his book. In the letter, he also wrote that no one but himself was responsible for the book`s contents.

Mr. Laine said, however, that he stood by his work. He issued the public apology, he said, ``because it was not worth the violence.`` He added that his critics had misunderstood and misrepresented the book, which is not a history of Shivaji but a study of how the stories and myths surrounding him were constructed and became ``real.``

Mr. Laine said he believes that simply the suggestion of alternative explanations of history -- some possibly unflattering -- is what made the Hindu extremists so angry. ``With a great hero, there can be nothing associated with his life that besmirches him in any way,`` Mr. Laine said. ``What they are saying is that no one is allowed to criticize him.``

On Wednesday, an editorial in The Indian Express blasted the scare tactics of the right-wing Hindu groups. ``By vandalising the Bhandarkar institute, these cultural zealots were destroying their own history that an institution like this one had painstakingly endeavoured to preserve,`` the editorial said. ``This monkeying around with history for political dividends must be put an end to, once and for all, if India is to be taken seriously in the academic world.````

Martha Ann Overland: ``Vandals Attack Research Center in India in Retaliation for Help It Gave to American Scholar``, Chronicle of Higher Education, June 8, 2004.

pictures, more pictures (from ``Sakal``, a local Marathi newspaper in Pune), Times of India article, a review of the book at issue.

Punjabi Heroes that History Forgot >You have a point, but...is this bonhomie any more than skin deep?

You are using the wrong expression. Among these ``fraternal enemies`` (East & West Punjabis) there is still a strong recognition of commonality, which always amazes outsiders (like South Indians) when they see it first hand. [Likewise, I don`t think people from the former East & West Pakistans could ever easily laugh at each other`s jokes.]

Punjabi Heroes that History Forgot re sridhar #66

I find Indian Punjabis to be quite appreciative upon meeting people from Pakistani Punjab. Granted, as a southie chapraasi, you share a country with Indian Punjabis. But we share _nothing_ with you.

Kashmir from the Left arjun_m & co:

Why not attend an actual event such as the Kashmir Forum featured here?

If you`re in the bay area, check friendsofsouthasia.org for future events. There are similar organizations elsewhere. If you write to us for information, we`ll point you the right way.

Kashmir from the Left AlephNull:

The points you mentioned were all addressed, including the plight of persons forcibly displaced from Kashmir. It may dismay some that Pandits weren`t the _only_ ones mentioned. All speakers (& especially Dr. Hoodbhoy) were great at providing a balanced view, which seemingly engaged `mainstream` Indians and Pakistanis (& this gives me a lot of hope). The people who tried to pass off as Pandit mouthpieces were freely cavorting with other disruptive Non-Kashmiri Sanghis. I know as I talked to them at length afterward.

Now, when did you Bharat Mata/RSS NRIs ever give the slightest representation to alternative viewpoints at any of your forums?


#27 by AlephNull on September 28, 2003 8:37pm PT
Qusman1 #8

[A most revealing remark. Kashmiri Pandits of course need have no representation at this ‘progressive’ conference on Kashmir. Ditto with anyone from Jammu or Ladakh. I wonder if anyone (Professor Hoodbhoy, perhaps) referred to the unrest among Gilgit Shias, or to the Balwaristan national movement. Was it intentionally left off the agenda, or did Ras Siddiqui simply fail to report it?]

Kashmir from the Left What Ras Siddiqui left out was all that followed the speeches. A party of Kashmiri pandits (who`d picked up on GN Fai`s scent), Hindutva riff-raff and others had come with a determination to sabotage the event. However, they were handled very well by Angana.

She gave one leading honcho exactly two minutes to make an a$$ of himself. Someone else was allowed to ramble for less time.

Some more ` maintream` Indians and Pakistanis actually asked quite good questions and were on pretty good behavior. Hope their participation increases in future such events.