Don’t forget British zeal to divide India, Debate, NewAgeIslam.com

Debate

Don’t forget British zeal to divide India

By P.C. Alexander

Sept.09, 2009

The question as to who was responsible for India’s Partition into two independent countries has been dominating media headlines for the past few weeks. Some writers and political parties have taken the stand that Muhammad Ali Jinnah was mainly responsible for India’s Partition, while some others have tried to pin the responsibility on Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. A surprising feature of these comments is that most of them are based on the assumption that the British only had a marginal role in the Partition when it happened in 1947 and that the main responsibility lay with India’s leaders.

It is true that after the assumption of power by the Labour Party in Britain in 1945, Britain had been genuine in its intention to quit India without destroying the unity of the country. But this change in the attitude of the British government towards India’s demand for Independence was a post-World War II development — Britain had been left too weak and debilitated to continue its role of imperial domination over India by use of force.

After the revolt of 1857, the British government had appointed a commission to examine what exactly went wrong in their assessment of the situation in India and what should be done to tighten their hold over the country. Lord Elphinstone, governor of Bombay in a note dated May 14, 1858, to the Governor-General had unabashedly advocated the policy of "divide and rule". He stated: "Divide et impera was the old Roman motto and it should be ours". Sir John Wood, another ardent colonialist, in a letter to Governor-General Elgin had said in plain words, "We have maintained our power by playing off one party against the other and we must continue to do so".

http://newageislam.com/dont-forget-british-zeal-to-divide-india/debate/d/1764

Bigamy against true Islamic law, says Indian law panel, Islamic World News, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic World News

Bigamy against true Islamic law, says law panel

New Delhi: Taking on a potentially explosive issue, the Law Commission has said that bigamy conflicts with ‘‘true Islamic law in letter and spirit’’ and added that the popular perception that Muslim law in India allowed men to take four wives was faulty.

‘‘We fully agree that traditional understanding of Muslim law on bigamy is gravely faulty and conflicts with true Islamic law in letter and spirit,’’ the commission said in its 227th report to the government, reflecting the unanimous view of chairman Justice A R Lakshmanan and members Tahir Mahmood and B A Agrawal.

The panel stopped short of suggesting a change in Muslim law as it feared this could stir ‘‘unhealthy controversy’’ as religious leaders were not prepared for legislative reform.

Case Studies

Bigamy is completely outlawed in Turkey and Tunisia

Subjected to administrative or judicial control in Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Yemen, Morocco, Pakistan and Bangladesh

In India, several HCs have held that bigamy amounts to cruelty. In another case, the SC criticized the practice and said there was no difference between a second wife and a concubine ‘Bigamy abolished in most Muslim countries’

New Delhi: The Law Commission on Thursday stopped short of suggesting a change in Muslim law as it feared this could stir ‘‘unhealthy controversy’’.

‘‘It is generally believed that under Muslim law, a husband has an unfettered right to marry again even where his earlier marriage is continuing. On a closer examination of the relevant provisions of the Quran and other sources of Islamic law, this does not seem to be true,’’ it said.

To buttress its argument, the commission said bigamy had been abolished or restricted by law in most Muslim countries. ‘‘Turkey and Tunisia have completely outlawed it while in Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Yemen, Morocco, Pakistan and Bangladesh, it has been subjected to administrative or judicial control,’’ it said.

http://newageislam.com/bigamy-against-true-islamic-law,-says-indian-law-panel/islamic-world-news/d/1612

Silence Meets Despair of Afghan Women, Radical Islamism and Jihad, NewAgeIslam.com

Radical Islamism and Jihad

Silence Meets Despair of Afghan Women

By Marie Cocco

Posted on Apr 2, 2009

It was only a few years ago that Laura Bush, who normally shied from causes that could be considered controversial, took up their banner. “The brutal oppression of women is a central goal of the terrorists,” the first lady said in a radio address shortly after President Bush launched the U.S-led invasion to overthrow the Taliban following the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. “The plight of women and children in Afghanistan is a matter of deliberate human cruelty, carried out by those who seek to intimidate and control.”

That was then. This is now: Afghan President Hamid Karzai has just signed a law that forces women to obey their husbands’ sexual demands, keeps women from leaving the house—even for work or school—without a husband’s permission, automatically grants child custody rights to fathers and grandfathers before mothers, and favors men in inheritance disputes and other legal matters. In short, the law again consigns Afghan women to lives of brutal repression.

“This is really, really dangerous for everybody in Afghanistan,” Soraya Sobhrang of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission said in a telephone interview from Kabul. Noting that violence against women already is rampant, Sobhrang said the new law effectively “legalizes all violence against women in Afghanistan.”

http://newageislam.com/silence-meets-despair-of-afghan-women--/radical-islamism-and-jihad/d/1295

Afghan editor arrested for alleged blasphemy

Afghan editor arrested for alleged blasphemy

The aim is to challenge the view that Muslim women conform to a stereotype. The commission also wants to encourage mentoring and networking among Muslim women to help people fulfil their potential.

A recent survey of Pakistani and Bangladeshi women aged up to 35 by the commission found that they had the same aspirations as their non-Muslim counterparts - to balance a career with having a family - and that their families largely supported them in realising those goals.

http://www.newageislam.com/-afghan-editor-arrested-for-alleged-blasphemy----/islamic-world-news/d/1122