Der Delhi High Court hatte letztes Jahr entschieden, dass der Paragraph 377 des Indian Penal Code, der homosexuelle Handlungen verbietet, für ungültig erklärt. Zwar liegt Aligarh im Zuständigkeitsbereich des gleichrangigen Allahabad High Court, doch hat der Supreme Court mittlerweile den Antrag, den Beschluss des Delhi High Court für ungültig erklären zu lassen, zurückgewiesen. Somit liegt nahe, dass der Paragraph letztinstanzlich für ungültig erklärt werden wird. Nichtsdestotrotz war die Forderung, Siras zu entlassen, an der Universität wohl sehr populär:

Jasim Mohammed, who is pursuing his Ph.D., has started a “signature campaign” to sack Dr. Siras. Claiming that over 750 people had signed his memorandum, he said: “Dr. Siras’ services should be terminated for bringing disrepute to the university. This is a matter of Muslim culture and tradition. These are unnatural deeds.”

Bemerkenswert ist nicht zuletzt, dass unmittelbar nachdem Siras gefilmt worde war, drei Kollegen in seiner Wohnung erschienen. Gegen sie wird mittlerweile ermittelt:

They have been booked for wrongful confinement, assault and use of criminal force, trespass, criminal intimidation, and conspiracy.

1. Diese Universität ging 1920 aus dem 1875 von dem Reformer und pro-britischen Politiker Sayyid Ahmad Khan gegründeten Anglo-Muhammadan College hervor. ⇧

In most countries, a woman in her mid-20s is legally an adult. And in most countries, foreigners are free to leave when they like. In its flagrant rejection of these two principles, Saudi Arabia is unique, and that is a big problem for 24-year-old Nazia Quazi.
For more than two years Nazia, an IT specialist who graduated from the University of Ottawa and holds dual Canadian-Indian citizenship, has been trying to leave Riyadh and go home to Canada. Her troubles began on November 23, 2007, when she entered Saudi Arabia with her parents on a visitor’s visa. In Saudi Arabia, foreign visitors must have a sponsor, a local man who handles their paperwork. Nazia’s sponsor is her father, Quazi Malik Abdul Gaffar, an Indian citizen who has worked in Saudi Arabia for many years. At some point Nazia’s father clandestinely switched her visitor’s visa to a more permanent visa–one that requires that he, as her sponsor, approve her exit visa. This he refuses to do. No exit visa, no departure. Worse, Nazia says he has confiscated both her Indian and Canadian passports and all her identity documents–driver’s license, health card, credit cards and so on–and refuses to return them. She is trapped.

An ihrer Situation ist jedoch nicht allein ihre Familie und das saudische Rechtssystem schuld:

Nazia’s case offers the Canadian government a chance to redeem itself after its shocking refusal this past October to help Nathalie Morin, a Canadian living in Saudi Arabia whose husband refuses to let her and her children out of the country. Nazia’s case is easier, in a way, because she is single and no children are involved. But more than one person I’ve talked with has suggested that the fact that the Quazis are Muslim is relevant: the embassy in Riyadh doesn’t want to get involved in what it apparently views as a Muslim family dispute.
…
But that’s a problem for the Quazis. It’s not a reason for Canada to allow Nazia to be deprived of her rights. How far have women come if a democratic, secular country like Canada permits a father to imprison his adult daughter in the cage of Saudi laws?

Are we alone? Is the Earth unique? Does life or the intelligent one exist merely on this humble planet or it enjoys many more similar abodes across this amazing universe too?
These are some of the questions my first book Extraterrestrial Intelligence: Amazing New Insights from Qur’an in the Light of its Own True Nature attempts at answering them from a Qur’anic perspective.

It is one of the great tragedies of the secular experiment in India that the clerical class and their institutions are considered representative of one of the largest Muslim populations. In the process, we bestow legitimacy on the most conservative elements and are actually complicit in increasing the clerical grip on the community.
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Consider the state of the most well known institutions associated with the community. First, the Muslim Personal Law Board, made up of a collection of clerics from various schools of Islam (but dominated by Deobandis) who bury their head in the sand and resist any attempt to even rationalise personal law. They have actually served to ensure that in matters of divorce, maintenance and inheritance, the community is governed by laws and traditions that some Arab countries have rejected. Then there are wakf boards in every state that are meant to develop resources for the community but have simply sold off lands for a song and a fat bribe. There are also minority commissions and Haj committees, all manned by the same type of people, some of whom certainly cut underhand deals under the garb of Islam.
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Clearly, it’s clerics on top. The politicians, always so nervous about losing Muslim votes, are complicit in this process that only serves to reinforce the stereotype of Muslims as a community of unenlightened mullahs and fanatics.

Encounters between militants and security forces are a common feature in Jammu and Kashmir, but this encounter, which resulted in death of two militant commanders, is perhaps the most “unusual”. In a first of the kind, two top Hizbul Mujahideen commanders have been killed in an encounter with wild bear in Shopian district of the South Kashmir.
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The cave that the militants were using as a hideout seems to have been the den of the wild animal. The animal might have returned to the cave and attacked the duo.

“The attack seems to have been so violent that both the militants got no chance to fire back at the wild animal” Col Brar added.

(Quelle)

In “Outlook” (Indien) tritt sie ebenfalls für die Naxaliten ein. Zwei Absätze aus diesem Artikel fehlen jedoch in den anderen beiden:

Who are the Maoists? They are members of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist)—CPI (Maoist)—one of the several descendants of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), which led the 1969 Naxalite uprising and was subsequently liquidated by the Indian government. The Maoists believe that the innate, structural inequality of Indian society can only be redressed by the violent overthrow of the Indian State. In its earlier avatars as the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) in Jharkhand and Bihar, and the People’s War Group (PWG) in Andhra Pradesh, the Maoists had tremendous popular support. (When the ban on them was briefly lifted in 2004, one-and-a-half million people attended their rally in Warangal.) But eventually their intercession in Andhra Pradesh ended badly. They left a violent legacy that turned some of their staunchest supporters into harsh critics. After a paroxysm of killing and counter-killing by the Andhra police as well as the Maoists, the PWG was decimated. Those who managed to survive fled Andhra Pradesh into neighbouring Chhattisgarh. There, deep in the heart of the forest, they joined colleagues who had already been working there for decades.

Die “Widerstandsbewegung” gegen den bösen Kapitalismus nahm also ihren Ursprung, als Indien noch fest planwirtschaftlich orientiert war. Und weiter:

Not many ‘outsiders’ have any first-hand experience of the real nature of the Maoist movement in the forest. A recent interview with one of its top leaders, Comrade Ganapathy, in Open magazine didn’t do much to change the minds of those who view the Maoists as a party with an unforgiving, totalitarian vision, which countenances no dissent whatsoever. Comrade Ganapathy said nothing that would persuade people that, were the Maoists ever to come to power, they would be equipped to properly address the almost insane diversity of India’s caste-ridden society. His casual approval of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) of Sri Lanka was enough to send a shiver down even the most sympathetic of spines, not just because of the brutal ways in which the LTTE chose to wage its war, but also because of the cataclysmic tragedy that has befallen the Tamil people of Sri Lanka, who it claimed to represent, and for whom it surely must take some responsibility.

Die Robin-Hood-Masche mag bei Guardianistas in Camden und schadenfrohen Pakistanis verfangen. Vor indischem Publikum würde Roy sich damit lächerlich machen.

Mehrere Artikel zu diesem Thema gibt es im indischen linken Magazin “Frontline”.

To get the bauxite out of the flat-topped hills, to get iron ore out from under the forest floor, to get 85% of India’s people off their land and into the cities (which is what Chidambaram says he’d like to see), India has to become a police state. The government has to militarise. To justify that militarisation, it needs an enemy. The Maoists are that enemy. They are to corporate fundamentalists what the Muslims are to Hindu fundamentalists.

Zur Information: 2001 betrug der Anteil der Stadtbevölkerung ohnehin bereits 27,78 %, und lägen unter dem gesamten “roten Korridor” Bodenschätze versteckt, wäre Indien wohl schon eine Wirtschaftsmacht von ganz andern Ausmaßen.
Interessant ist auch, wie sie erklärt, warum die Maoisten trotrz ihres vermeintlichen Massenanhangs nicht an Wahlen teilnehmen:

What is the provenance of the billions of dollars (several times more than India’s GDP) secretly stashed away by Indian citizens in Swiss bank accounts? Where did the $2bn spent on the last general elections come from? Where do the hundreds of millions of rupees that politicians and parties pay the media for the “high-end”, “low-end” and “live” pre-election “coverage packages” that P Sainath recently wrote about come from? (The next time you see a TV anchor haranguing a numb studio guest, shouting, “Why don’t the Maoists stand for elections? Why don’t they come in to the mainstream?”, do SMS the channel saying, “Because they can’t afford your rates.”)

Der Fernsehsender IBN berichtet:

A New Delhi-bound Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express was released from Maoist clutches by security forces on Tuesday evening, after rebels held it and its 667 passengers hostage for over four hours in West Midnapore district. All passengers are safe, the Union Government said.
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Chidambaram denied reports that there was any exchange of fire with the guerrillas.

In der pakistanischen Zeitung “Jang” schreibt Rahimullah Yusufzai nicht ohne Schadenfreude:

According to reports in the Indian media, more than 220 districts in 20 or so states are now affected by Maoist-linked violence. Indian intelligence agencies believe the movement has at its disposal 20,000 armed cadres and over 50,000 regular members. Apart from the rural poor, indigenous tribes such as the Girijans in Andhra Pradesh and Santhals in West Bengal have been flocking to the Naxalite movement. The movement has appeal for the dispossessed and the under-privileged. In the words of its present leader, Mupalla Laxman Rao, in hiding somewhere in eastern India and better known as Ganapathi, his party’s influence has grown stronger and it was now the only genuine alternative before the people of India.

Der (nicht ganz zusammenhängende) “rote Korridor” von Distrikten, die von den Aktivitäten der maoistischen Terroristen (Naxaliten) betroffen sind, von der östlichen Gangesebene (West Begalen und Bihar) in den Dekkan (Andhra Pradesh). Von offizieller indischer Seite heißt es:

The Naxalites, who have become the gravest internal security threat forcing the Centre to plan an all-out offensive against them, have
killed more than 2,600 people, including civilians, in the last three years.

The highest number of incidents of violence has taken place in four worst-affected states — Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa — where 2,212 people lost their lives from January 2006 to August this year.

“We have witnessed more than 5,800 incidents of Naxal violence across the country during the period forcing the government to announce a new strategy to deal with the menace which is growing at an alarming pace in many states,” a home ministry official said.

Jüngst wurden mehrfach Polizisten entführt und ermordet, in West Bengalen wird die dort regierende, kommmunistisch dominierte Linksfront ideell und physisch attackiert, bei den letzten Landtagswahlen in Maharashtra musste der Urnengang in zwei Wahlkreisen wegen der Sicherheitslage wiederholt werden. Ansonsten haben die Maoisten Großes vor:

Kishenji says that by the time Bengal goes to its next state assembly elections in 2011, the Maoists will have expanded their influence in Bengal, even as far as Calcutta.

“We will have an armed movement going in Calcutta by 2011, that’s for sure,” said Kishenji.

Control over Calcutta has been a key objective for Indian Maoists since the beginning of the movement in the 1960s – so perhaps Lalgarh is the half-way house to Calcutta.

Ob der Erfolg der Naxaliten, wie Rahimullah Yusufzai suggeriert, auf “ppeal for the dispossessed and the under-privileged” basiert, darf bezweifelt werden. So berichtet das Asian Centre for Human Rights über das Verhältnis der Naxaliten zur Stammesbevölkerung (Adivasis):

Since the launch of Salwa Judum, an anti-Naxalite campaign, in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh in June 2005, the Adivasis, who constitute 78.51% of the total population of Dantewada, have become victims of the conflict between the Naxalites and the State government of Chhattisgarh. Though majority of the cadres of the Naxalites are Adivasis, they are not the decision makers. “Commander” Kosa, the secretary for the Naxals in Chhattisgarh hails from Andhra Pradesh. The apology by the Maoists for the killings of innocent Adivasis on 28 February 2006 at Darbhaguda was also issued from Andhra Pradesh . Similarly, the Salwa Judum campaign has been taken over by the State as a full-pledged counter-insurgency programme. The Adivasis are the pawns of both the parties of the conflict. They are also the perpetrators as well as the victims of the undeclared civil war.
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However, the Naxalites also came with the baggage associated with communist armed insurrections – execution of petty bourgeois amongst the most impoverished, extortion, and other harsh punishments. The Adivasis became victims of gross violations of human rights such as “violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture; taking of hostages; outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment; and passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples”, at the hands of the Naxalites. Some of those who were injured in the landmine blast on 28 February 2006 at Darbhaguda village were allegedly stabbed and clubbed to death by the Naxalites.

The policy of the Naxalites of forcibly recruiting one cadre from each Adivasi family compelled many families to give the female members to the Naxals. Hence, traditional Adivasi social taboos were challenged and destroyed by the Naxalites and resentment against the Naxalites grew. But, any rebellion against the rebels was quelled with brutality. In 1992-93, a rebellion against the Naxalites was silenced after the Naxals killed 70 Adivasis.
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Both the security forces and the Naxalites have been responsible for the recruitment and use of children in hostilities. ACHR interviewed 9 SPOs at Bangapal Relief Camp within the Bangapal Police Station who claimed that they were below 16 years.

Das hindert linke Robin-Hood Romantiker nicht daran, Petitionen gegen eine Offensive der Sicherheitskräfte zu unterzeichnen. Mit den Adivasis haben die Unterschriftsteller reichlich wenig zu tun, vielmehr lässt sich anhand der Liste trefflich in Erfahrung bringen, wie bengalische Brahmanen mit Nachnamen heißen, vorne dabei erwartungsgemäß Arundhati Roy.

Inwieweit die Naxaliten von der Regierung Obama Unterstützung zu erwarten haben, wird sich zeigen.

Two activists of a Hindu group were killed in Goa when explosives being ferried in their scooter went off in a traffic jam, police said Saturday. The group called the blasts “unfortunate”.
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Police said the scooter belonged to Nishad Bakhle, an alleged member of Sanathan Saunstha, a rightwing Hindu group headquartered in the temple town of Ramnathi.
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The truck was carrying nearly 40 people and was headed for a ‘narakasura’ competition where thousands were gathered to see several giant effigies set on fire as part of a popular Diwali tradition in Goa.

The Sanatan Saunstha, formed a quarter century ago, opposes the ‘narakasura’ festival. The right-wing group’s motto is: “Evil should be destroyed.”

Quelle