The Other Pakistanis, Books and Documents, NewAgeIslam.com

Books and Documents

The Other Pakistanis

AR Siddiqi has had an interesting journey. His experience through the turbulent times of Partition and the divided politics thereon within Pakistan makes for an interesting and poignant reading of the book Partition and the Making of the Mohajir Mindset. Well-versed in Urdu and Persian, Siddiqi obtained his masters degree from St Stephens in Delhi and worked as a journalist for the Dawn in Delhi and for the Civil and Military Gazette in Lahore, Peshawar and Rawalpindi. He then joined the Pakistan Army as a public relations officer in 1950 and served for 25 years. As the head of the Inter Services Public Relations during General Tikka’s regime, he experienced the nature and the dynamics of sectarian politics. Noted for his work on civil-military relations, Siddiqi’s latest book sketches the predicament of millions of Indian Muslims who migrated to Pakistan from Delhi, Lucknow, and other places in north India lured by Jinnah’s ‘two nation theory’ and the alluring idea of a separate homeland. Little did these beleaguered Urdu speaking migrants, called the Mohajirs, realise that they would be treated with contempt and regarded no more than refugees in the newly founded Pakistan for which they left their home and centuries old composite Hindu-Muslim culture.

The author, himself a Mohajir from Delhi, examines with rare sensitivity the plight of the Mohajirs, who to their disappointment discovered that Pakistan’s polity was dominated by the Punjabis in collusion with the Pathans. While the Sindhis, the Bengalis and the Baloch had strong territorial base which they could call as their homes, the Mohajirs had no place which they could claim as their own. A bulk of the Mohajirs chose to settle in Sindh, particularly in Karachi and Hyderabad bringing them in conflict with the local Sindhis. The conflict continues to this day and has claimed countless lives.

http://newageislam.com/the-other-pakistanis/books-and-documents/d/1798

Back To Congress Fold: Indian Muslims Shift Political Base,

Islam and Politics

Back To Congress Fold: Indian Muslims Shift Political Base

MUSLIMS in Delhi settled the dust over the controversy over their loyalties shifting to the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), as they rallied behind the Congress candidates in the three seats where their vote really mattered.

A chunk of Muslims, who form nearly 16 per cent of the city’s electorate, are concentrated in the Chandni Chowk, east Delhi and Northeast Delhi constituencies.

The Congress posted its top three victory margins in Delhi from these seats, with Sandeep Dikshit, Kapil Sibal and J.P. Aggarwal winning nearly two-thirds mandate in some pockets.

The BSP is perceived as a threat to the Muslim votebank of the Congress ever since it won nine per cent votes in the last municipal polls. It then bettered the share to 14 per cent and won two seats in the assembly elections last year.

In the Okhla assembly segment, where Muslims are angry with the Congress ever since the Batla House encounter, the resentment was evident. Congress’s Parvez Hashmi could just manage to scrape past the BSP candidate by a narrow margin of 543 votes last year. In this election though, Congress’s Sandeep Dikshit received a resounding two-thirds mandate from the same area.

“The message is clear. Muslims want security and they see the Congress as the only party capable of providing it. Whatever advances the BSP had made have been reversed in this election,” said a senior Congress leader.

http://newageislam.com/back-to-congress-fold--indian-muslims-shift-political-base--/islam-and-politics/d/1411

India’s Muslim Taliban join Hindu Taliban to oppose Valentine’s Day

India’s Muslim Taliban join Hindu Taliban to oppose Valentine’s Day

By Manoj C G

Feb 10, 2009

“Valentine’s Day promotes unethical male-female relations. The celebration of Valentine’s Day is nothing, but giving open license to the youth to indulge in immoral acts. We oppose it strongly. We believe that such activities will erode moral and family values,” SIO chief K K Suhail told The Indian Express.

He said that market forces were promoting Valentine’s Day to reap benefits. “Some state units will be organising solidarity and brotherhood days, wherein they will be raising issues like the Israel’s oppression of Palestinians in Gaza and strive to spread the message of universal brotherhood. We will basically try to raise awareness,” Suhail adds. In cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, the SIO plans to observe February 14 as anti-Valentine’s day.

http://www.newageislam.com/india%E2%80%99s-muslim-taliban-join-hindu-taliban-to-oppose-valentine%E2%80%99s-day--/islam-and-pluralism/d/1192

One Of A Kind: The distinctiveness of Indian Muslims is asserting itself again

One Of A Kind: The distinctiveness of Indian Muslims is asserting itself again

By Harbans Mukhia

20 Dec 2008

On the other hand, in the heartland of the Muslim empire Bihar, UP, Delhi, East Punjab for nearly six centuries the Muslims never exceeded around 15 per cent of the total population. Significantly, the massive conversions amounting to about a 50 per cent rise from about one in six to one in four of the population occurred between the second quarter of the 19th century and 1941, the last census before the partition, when the British ruled here. And overall, a fraction less than 25 per cent of the population had converted from the arrival of Islam in India to about the time of the partition.

http://www.newageislam.com/one-of-a-kind--the-distinctiveness-of-indian-muslims-is-asserting-itself-again/islamic-history/d/1067

Azamgarh: Den of terror or victim of backwardness?

Azamgarh: Den of terror or victim of backwardness?

Manjari Mishra & Binay Singh,TNN

23 Sep 2008, 0037 hrs IST,

"The entire drama in Delhi was stage managed," said Dr Iftikhar Ahmed, principal of Shibli College, once a noted centre for secular learning. Atif, who was killed in the encounter, was just out of high school. "Do you think a lad of 18-19, who barely stepped out of Azamgarh, would suddenly become such a dreaded terrorist within months of reaching Delhi?" he asked. The government, he said, was under "POTA pressure". "They are simply trying to prove that even without POTA they can achieve a lot, and these youngsters have become scapegoats in this murky politics," he argued.

http://www.newageislam.com/azamgarh--den-of-terror-or-victim-of-backwardness?/islam,terrorism-and-jihad/d/794