Rahul Gandhi to motivate Aligarh Muslim University students to pursue higher education, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic World News

Rahul Gandhi to motivate Aligarh Muslim University students to pursue higher education

HAATHRAS: AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi will interact with the students of Aligarh Muslim University, during his two-day visit to Uttar Pradesh starting December 7.

"Rahul, who has been invited by vice-chancellor P K Abdul Azis, will address students at Kennedy hall of the university on December 7," AMU spokesman Rahat Abrar said here.

This will be Gandhi's first visit to AMU. Around 800 students selected from various faculties, residential halls and schools affiliated with the AMU will also attend the event.

"Rahul will motivate students to pursue higher education," Abrar said.

The Congress leader will also visit Jama Masjid and pay tributes to Sir Syed Ahmad, founder of the AMU.

On the second day of his visit, Gandhi will attend a convention of PCC representatives to be held at UPCC headquarters in Lucknow on December 8 where the party's membership campaign would be discussed.

Later in the day, the Congress leader will also attend programmes to be organised in Ambedkar Nagar and Kanpur.

"Rahul Gandhi, who will be on a two-day visit to Uttar Pradesh, will attend various programmes to be organised in Sitapur, Bahraich, Aligarh, Aliganj (Etah) and Hardoi district on December 7," party spokesman Dwijendra Tripathi said in Lucknow.

AMU revokes suspension of 18 students

The Aligarh Muslim University administration on Thursday revoked the suspension of 18 students, who were charged with misconduct and indiscipline.

"These 18 students were suspended on November 4 for their involvemet in vitiating the academic functioning of the university leading to its closure last month," an official said here.

The suspension was revoked on a condition that each student would provide a written undertaking for maintaining good behaviour in future, he said.

http://newageislam.com/rahul-gandhi-to-motivate-aligarh-muslim-university-students-to-pursue-higher-education/islamic-world-news/d/2187

Hope in Malaysia: New PM halts Islamisation drive, Islam and Human Rights, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam and Human Rights

Hope in Malaysia: New PM halts Islamisation drive

Malaysia bans secret conversion of minors

The Pioneer Edit Desk

Thu, Apr 30, 2009

Although the Malaysian Cabinet’s decision to ban the conversion of minors without the consent of both parents and to make it law to raise children according to the common faith of the couple at the time of marriage, even if one of them later converts, is a welcome move towards empowering minorities in this multi-religious, multi-cultural country, optimism over the news needs to be tempered with caution.

The decision was taken after the widely publicised case of Ms M Indira Gandhi was brought to the notice of the Malaysian Government. Ms Gandhi — an ethnic Indian Hindu — has been fighting a legal battle against her husband who recently embraced Islam and converted their three children to the religion— all minors — without her consent. The husband is said to have gone into hiding with the youngest of the three, baby Prasanna, aged one.

But in the wake of the Cabinet decision the Ipoh High Court granted Ms Gandhi custody of all her children. She is now battling to be reunited with her infant child and see to it that all her children remain Hindus as the country’s Sharia’h Department has already taken note of their conversion. Ms Gandhi’s case is one of many reflecting the underlying social tensions plaguing this Muslim-dominated country.

For long minority communities such as the ethnic Tamil Hindus and the Chinese Buddhists have claimed unequal treatment and opportunities vis-à-vis the majority Muslim Malay community. And more than anything else it is in the practice of religion that these discrepancies have been most visible. Malaysia has a two-tier judicial structure comprising Islamic sharia’h courts and secular civil courts. The former are supposed to govern matters relating to Islamic personal law whereas the latter are supposed to look after civil disputes of a non-Islamic nature. But in practice the sharia’h courts exercise much greater influence than the civil courts. In fact, it is the absence of any clear demarcation of jurisdiction between the two that often creates confusion and reaffirms the feeling of discrimination among the minorities.

http://newageislam.com/hope-in-malaysia--new-pm-halts-islamisation-drive---/islam-and-human-rights/d/1375

Indian Elections: Congress should thank the Muslim voters who keep this country secular,

Islam and Politics

Indian Elections: Congress should thank the Muslim voters who keep this country secular

Cong also needs to thank Mulayam, Varun & Buddha

By Bharat Bhushan

CONGRESSMEN have been waiting to proclaim Rahul Gandhi a hero. This election has given them a reason to do so. The vote in UP is being seen as crucial to understanding the 2009 verdict.

Political pundits are proclaiming the end of identity politics, and heralding a long awaited dawn of a national politics based on pan- Indian issues.

Rahul’s agenda for the Congress for 2014, some say, should be to go it alone in all states. Before committing itself to what is being called the “ Rahul doctrine” the Congress party should take a long hard look at the electoral results.

A cursory analysis of the election results in UP, Bihar and West Bengal shows two things that question these early conclusions about future Congress strategy: One, the Congress in UP, and perhaps in other states, has been voted in by Muslims who en masse shifted allegiance to it; and two, that caste- based voters stayed loyal to caste- based parties.

http://newageislam.com/indian-elections--congress-should-thank-the-muslim-voters-who-keep-this-country-secular--/islam-and-politics/d/1417