Peace and Justice Post

September 27, 2013

Editor’s Comment: In this article Dr Ishtiaq Ahmed continues to explore various political issues that led to the unfortunate partition of India whose consequences have proved to be only negative from the point of view of the common people on both sides of the border. The events leading to the partition and the role of Muslim and Hindu leaders are presented in a judicious manner, without the usual bravado we often meet in writers who surpass in embellishing their narratives with emotive rhetoric while consigning historical authenticity to some dark corner.

Some of the facts the author presents are known to old historians and observers but the younger generations in Pakistan and India are hardly aware of these historical facts. In a clear and methodical way, the author shows the true picture of the role of the Muslim League, the Congress and their leaders. In Pakistan it may also come as a surprise to some that what they have learnt in their history books was so different from what Dr Ahmed says!

Clearly our iconic figures do not seem to have been so far-sighted or great minds, whose concern was the interest of the masses and the downtrodden. They represented elitist classes and power politics that was to ensure the domination of feudal and propertied classes over the vast majority. And in the new land but with ancient historical and cultural roots, politics was to become a power game in the hands of a tiny minority, civil and military. And they all played the ‘Islam Card’ for their personal ends but pushed the country into the abyss of ignorance and darkness. That’s where we find us now.

Nasir Khan, Editor

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Splitting India II

By Dr Ishtiaq Ahmed, The Friday Times, Sept. 27 – Oct. 3, 2013 Issue

– See more at: http://www.thefridaytimes.com/beta3/tft/article.php?issue=20130927&page=24#sthash.X4tdiD2X.7PLvFZyY.dpuf

Nasir Khan, September 26, 2013

For the last two three decades the term ‘Islamist’ has commonly been used in political discourse. It stands for those misguided and indoctrinated ignorant Muslims whose aim is to impose their fanatical versions of Islam on others. But we should keep in mind that Islam as a world religion is followed by people with different world-outlooks who are divided into numerous sects. Furthermore, these followers have varying interpretations of the role of political power, about the leaders of the Islamic community (the Ummah), rights and obligations of the rulers and the ruled, etc. etc. These view of Islamic law, Sharia, cover civil and criminal law that again are subject to four main schools of jurisprudence within the Sunni jurisprudence while the Shias have their own jurisprudence. There is little chance of any unity of ideas amongst them.

What is most alarming about the Islamists’ general world-view is their negation of the universal dimension and inherent tolerance of this great religion. Instead they put forward a narrow and anti-social version that goes against all principles of democracy, respect for religious minorities and inculcate discrimination against the followers of other faiths. The whole process can be termed as creating mental and religious ghettos, absolutely closed to rational thought but hell-bent on myopic divisions. In such a suffocating universe there is no room for mutual accommodation, acceptance of secularism in a multi-religious and multi-cultural world in which we live in Europe and some parts of America. The Islamists misuse of Islam is a dangerous phenomenon for democracy and common social and political values of the present age.

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Nasir Khan, September 22, 2013

Yet another dastardly mass slaughter of 78 Pakistani Christians at the hands of Islamist criminals has shaken many of us. But this abominable crime is  not an isolated episode; it repeats a familiar pattern within Pakistan where Islamist suicide bombers target religious minorities.

Today they chose Christians and perpetrated one of the worst mass killings of these poor, marginalised and discriminated people within the so-called ‘Islamic’ (!!) Republic of Pakistan. The bombers struck when the worshippers went out of the church to get a free meal of rice. Had the bombers chosen the congregation within the church, the death toll could have been in hundreds.

Such killings and rampant violence against others such as Shias, Ahmadis, and also some Left-wing political activists, have been going on unabated for a long time in Pakistan. It is no secret that the people behind these actions are mostly religious extremists and fanatic rogues. However, we should bear in mind that the Christians of Pakistan fall in a special category. In a caste-ridden society that prevails Pakistan, they have been at the lowest level of social ladder. Most of them are discriminated and seen as a people with ‘low social status’. Traditionally, the jobs they have done for generations have been cleaning, sweeping and other menial jobs.

Today’s barbarous crime is a major tragedy for all those people in and outside Pakistan with a human conscience who want to see an end to such bestial actions and have respect towards all human beings  and security of human life in this country. We side with our Christian fellow citizens at this time and condemn what the criminals have done. But the real danger is that such crimes will be committed again. Such inhuman crimes have become so common in Pakistan that people take them as a matter of routine and say such was the ‘Will of God’.

After every such crime, political leaders and government officials offer a ritualistic condemnation and express their sadness but no concrete actions are taken to address the root cause of the Islamist terrorism in Pakistan. Unless there is a clear policy how to deal with this threat on a long-term basis leading to a general mobilisation to cope with the Islamist threat that is destroying the social fabric of this unfortunate country, nothing is going to change. Sadly, our anger and grief will not change the facts on the ground. Because the Islamist rogues are free to strike whenever they want or whoever they choose as their next target.

Editor’s note: This is a timely analysis of American exceptionalism by an eminent historian that  may attract the attention of  many  writers and journalists. I think, Professor Weisberger could have explained a bit more about the present role of American imperialism and its unbridled militarism – evidenced in the killing of millions of people in Vietnam and more recently in Iraq – because American military power serves only the interests of arms producers and their elitist beneficiaries; it has become a great threat to the weak nations and countries, which American rulers perceive as obstacles to American hegemony and domination.

Nasir Khan, Editor

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President Barack Obama addresses the nation in a live televised speech from the East Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2013. President Obama blended the threat of military action with the hope of a diplomatic solution as he works to strip Syria of its chemical weapons. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, Pool)

In the speech last week that put on hold his request to Congress to authorize the bombing of Syria’s chemical weapons sites, President Obama — no mean orator himself — faced a familiar orator’s problem. How would he end on a strong and upbeat note while announcing what was in fact a sensible retreat from his “red line” pledge dictated by clear and overwhelming evidence that both Congress and the public at large had no appetite for any more Middle Eastern interventions? How could he still defend America’s assertion of its role as the enforcer of the “civilized world’s” conscience even as he stepped back from the brink?

Continues >>

• 
• • George Monbiot, The Guardian, Monday 9 September 2013

US troops fire a white phosphorous mortar towards a Taliban position on 3 April 2009 in Helmand province, Afghanistan. Photograph: John Moore/Getty

You could almost pity these people. For 67 years successive US governments have resisted calls to reform the UN security council. They’ve defended a system which grants five nations a veto over world affairs, reducing all others to impotent spectators. They have abused the powers and trust with which they have been vested. They have collaborated with the other four permanent members (the UK, Russia, China and France) in a colonial carve-up, through which these nations can pursue their own corrupt interests at the expense of peace and global justice.

Continues >>

The obama regime’s lies are so transparent and blatant that the cautious, diplomatic President Putin of Russia lost his patience and stated the fact that we all already know: John Kerry is a liar. Putin said: “This was very unpleasant and surprising for me. We talk to them [the Americans], and we assume they are decent people, but he [Kerry] is lying and he knows that he is lying. This is sad.”

When Secretary of State Colin Powell was sent by the criminal bush regime to lie to the UN, Powell and his chief of staff claim that Powell did not know he was lying. It did not occur to the Secretary of State that the White House would send him to the UN to start a war that killed, maimed, and dispossessed millions of Iraqis on the basis of total lies.

Continues >>

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This madam Sonia ji—

She full of subsidy.

She not consider the difficulty

Of the rich and also famous;

She encourage the riff raff to tame us.

Really, subsidy  so much shame us

Among  Amreekan  diaspora

Which make us so proudy

At  antarrashtriya fora.

This Sonia of Italy desh think

All  india must have food;

What is she knowing about fasting

Which for health is so good?

Or about  karma which it is for sure

Makes god’s beloved rich

And all others poor?

Does she know vyavastha is meant

To serve those that have vaibhav,

Not to be wasted on dol, gavaar,

Shudra, pashu, naari,

Who are all, what does she know,

Only  taadan kei adhikaari?

This  Christianism plus Socialism—

It  very ghaatak for country;

Here  pandit and maulvi  they

Have no entry.

Now, land too not grabbable,

So  how  multiplex will spread?

Or  Mall and  Big Bazaar come up

When   kisaan  is well fed?

Next may come the  Vendor Bill,

Then daridra will rule  the street;

And  not one   kambakht  at hand

Whom  the kothi vaalaas might beat.

New shastra she is writing,

And  all voting with her;

Yeh kya ho raha hai,

Nahi hai kissi ko darr

Ki  bharat mei aayegi samta

Jo  nahi chaahatei Ishwar?

—Badri Raina,  Sep. 1, 2013

Professor Richard Falk, August 31, 2013

The U.S. Government rains drone missiles on civilian human targets anywhere in the world, continues to operate Guantanamo in the face of universal condemnation, whitewashed Abu Ghraib, Bagram, and the torture memos, committed aggression against Iraq and Afghanistan, and invests billions to sustain its unlawful global surveillance capabilities. Still, it has the audacity to lecture the world about ‘norm enforcement’  in the wake of the chemical weapons attack in the Ghouta suburb of Damascus. Someone should remind President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry that credibility with respect to international law begins at home and ends at the United Nations. Sadly, the American government loses out at both ends of this normative spectrum, and the days of Washington being able to deliver pious messages on the importance of international law are over. No one is listening, and that’s a relief, although it does provide material for those teams of writers working up material for the likes of Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, and the many standups at Comedy Central. Yet, of course, this geopolitical TV series is no laughing matter for the long ordeal of the Syrian people.

Continues >>

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Editor’s remarks: The  two articles by  Rob Prince and Dr Ibrahim Kazerooni provide some good information and a clear perspective on the situation in Syria. The real objectives of President Obama if he chooses to use cruise missile attacks on Syria are not the same which he declares openly. His administration has far more sinister aims in sight to pacify the American War Mafia, Israeli leaders and Arab reactionary regimes such as Saudi Arabia. Now another big danger the world faces in case of such military aggression lies in the shape of unforeseen consequences for the region and possibly the world.

In fact, the pre-war scenario of the 1914 is in place and very easily American imperialism can ignite the flames of world war. We see a real danger of this because of the reckless militarism of American ruling class. The first thing any warmonger has to do is to prepare the domestic and world public opinion, a task not difficult to perform given the enormous propaganda it uses with the help of the hawkish media to support its efforts to resolve the conflict in Syria by all means. We who stand for peace should use all  our resources to counter American war plans and its deceptive propaganda.

Nasir Khan, Editor

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by Rob Prince and Ibrahim Kazerooni

“Now we sit and wait while the Washington regime makes its next lethal move. Let us lift our voices in unison to prevent it. “

“Before another rush to judgment and “punishment” based on a presumption of guilt, as in Iraq, this time, let the UN inspectors do their job: We still don’t know who used chemical weapons in Syria — regime or rebels. Without UN Security Council’s approval, any military action by US and its NATO or even Arab allies will itself be illegal, an international war crime itself. Such an attack will not protect innocent civilians, but hurt them. US attacks will backfire, trigger a retaliatory response, escalate the civil war into region or world war.”

– the comments of friends on Facebook – 

This is the second time in six months that the United States has accused the Syrian government of using chemical weapons. The first time, Washington was forced to eat its words as international organizations, including Human Rights Watch, claimed that it was the rebels and not the government forces which had employed them.

Despite calls from all over the world, not to proceed, it appears that the Obama Administration is heading towards a major air attack on Syria. France, UK and Israel will be involved in some measure, either in preparing targets or in the actual bombing. Syria has both insisted that it was not the Assad government which used nerve gas in a Damascus suburb that might have killed as many as 1300 people but U.S. and Saudi backed Islamic militants who have hijacked the opposition movement, much in the same way similar elements did likewise in both Libya and Mali.

The claim that it was the Syrian government that gassed its own people is wearing thin. Although the Obama Administration continues to again accuse the Assad regime of using serin gas on its opponents, to date there is no evidence – none whatsoever – that the Assad government has used chemical weapons. The Obama Administration appears to be racing against time. The more time the attack is delayed the more its justification is undermined by both the facts and worldwide opposition to it.

Continues >>

Part  2:  http://imamkazerooniblog.wordpress.com/2013/08/28/no-to-u-s-led-attack-on-syriaobama-playing-with-fire-part-2/