Indian Muslim Observer

Economic growth in 2013 is forecast to accelerate to 4 percent according to the World Bank’s Turkey Regular Economic Brief issued January 2013, but prospects for sustained growth over the medium-term depend on accelerating structural reforms the international lender cautions. The brief analyzing of Turkey’s recent economic developments, prospects, and risks is highlighting significant improvement in external imbalances. On the flip side the current account deficit remains high.

In another word Turkey remains dependent on short-term financing. Turkey’s rapid growth and development over the last decade is one of the success stories of the global economy. Turkey’s GDP has tripled in US$ terms in that time. Today, Turkey is an upper-middle-income country with a population of 75 million and a gross domestic product of US$785 billion. It is the Government’s stated intention that Turkey becomes one of the world’s 10 largest economies by 2023, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Turkish Republic. While the economic outlook for 2013 has moderately improved, Turkey’s mediumterm challenge is to increase productivity and competitiveness and reduce the reliance on foreign savings to make growth less volatile and more sustainable.

Islamic financial system in Economic Outlook

The recent Ernst & Young’s report on the Islamic finance sector says Turkish participation banks have expanded every year at an average of 19 percent and their commercial volume reached $1.3 billion in 2011.

Currently, all of the banks in Turkey that offer interest-free services to their customers hold 5 percent of the total banking market at a size of $31 billion, and the report expects Turkey will increase the size of its participation banks to over $100 billion by 2023. This will be triple time more than now and the country could possibly have more potential in developing Islamic finance sector by offering more variety of new Islamic financial instruments to foreign demand. The main question is when the current account deficit of Turkey remains high and the country is dependent on short-term financing what is the role of Islamic financial instruments in this period? We could mention although the general outlook of the Islamic finance sector looks promising in turkey but in some experts look the country fails to reach its actual potential in the this sector. Improving the Islamic finance system ideally based on Islamic Economic philosophy might be possibly one the best way to reduce the risk in particular systemic risk among the financial institutions.

Turkey needs to find out the weight of Paper economy and real economy in the whole system and their contributions in recent economic developments. We believe although the economic outlook for 2013 is still promising, risk management of the core financial system, managing the trigger points in case of systemic failure, still remain as main challenges which development of Islamic financial system could be remain as remedies to part of these risks.

(Courtesy: Global Islamic Finance Magazine)

Kuching: The global Islamic banking and finance industry is on a strong growth path with worldwide assets in Shariah compliance growing four times from 0.5 per cent to two per cent of the world economy after the financial crisis.

Malaysia today is the world’s third largest market for Islamic banking, takaful and sukuk. The country’s Islamic capital market tripled in size to a value of RM1.05 over the past decade.
In comparison, other large Muslim countries are still at an early stage of growth.

According to intelligence group Inside Investors, global share of Islamic banking assets in Malaysia was expected to increase from eight per cent in 2009 to 13 per cent in 2020, and the global share of takaful contribution was expected to increase from 11 per cent to 20 per cent in 2020.

At least one Islamic financial institution in Malaysia should enter the global top ten by asset size list by 2020 noted Inside Investors.

The Malaysian government is also encouraging Developmental Financial Institutiuons (DFIs), which it has set up to drive the venture capital and private equity sector, to gradually shift towards ‘Islamic finance first’ whenever possible.

This policy will be implemented in a manner that will not prevent DFIs from fulfilling their developmental obligations.

As of November 2011, 89 per cent of the securities listed in Bursa Malaysia were Shariah compliant and represented around two thirds of Malaysia’s market capitalisation. A total of 839 out of 946 securities listed were syariah compliant, it explained.

Malaysia also aspires to become a centre of excellence for Islamic finance research, development and education.

The business intelligence group explained that several human capital development institution including the International Centre for Education in Islamic Finance, the International syariah Research Academy for Islamic Finance and the Asian Institute of Finance had already been established.

Investments into research and education on Islamic finance will be continued, with a focus on new product development, Islamic finance higher education institution and academies as well as award programmes.

(Courtesy: Borneo Post Online)

Its reporting of the circumstances surrounding activist Corrie’s death was not an honest mistake by a cub reporter, but a conscious decision by a supposedly reputable news organisation to suppress the truth

By Tariq A.Al Maeena

When it comes to editorial guidelines and impartiality, the BBC claims to follow a straight path in its standards. The BBC Trust claims that “ensuring the impartiality of the BBC is a key priority for the Trust; it is essential to its independence that the BBC retains the public’s trust as an impartial purveyor of news and programming”.

It goes on to claim that “the BBC is required to deliver duly impartial news by the Royal Charter and Agreement and to treat controversial subjects with due impartiality. The Trust is committed to making sure that the BBC fulfils this obligation”. The need to be “duly accurate” in reporting is also emphasised.

But does the BBC deliver what it claims? Not so, and specifically when it is in the area of reporting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. What really challenges the credibility of this news service is its consistent denial of the distortion and fabrication of facts in the face of hard evidence.

In repeated instances such bias interspersed in short news or video clips have often gone unchallenged, but blatant bias cannot always and easily be dismissed.

In a BBC Radio 4 World at One programme last year, following the judgment by the Israeli courts on the intentional killing of Rachel Corrie as being her own doing, the BBC radio reporter, in interviews with Corrie’s father and Mark Regev, the spokesman for the Israeli prime minister, manipulated facts and added untruths to support the Israeli court judgment.

Corrie, a US citizen who was born in 1979 in the state of Washington, had come to Rafah in the Gaza strip in early 2003 to witness first-hand the brutality of the Israeli occupation. In her last emails to her family, Corrie spoke of her brief experiences.

“I spent a lot of time writing about the disappointment of discovering, somewhat first-hand, the degree of evil of which we are still capable,” she wrote.

A peace activist, she was a witness to the calculated bulldozing of Palestinian homes to make way for illegal Israeli colonies. In speaking about the displaced Palestinians, she added, “I should at least mention that I am also discovering a degree of strength and of basic ability for humans to remain human in the direst of circumstances — which I also haven’t seen before. I think the word is dignity.

“I am just beginning to learn, about the ability of people to organise against all odds, and to resist against all odds.”

However, all that came to an end on March 16, 2003, when at the age of 23, she was run down and crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer as she stood before it in defiance of the Israeli intention to demolish more Palestinian homes.

In an investigation that took a few days to conclude — and did not take into account recorded statements of eyewitnesses — an Israeli court deemed her death as accidental, saying that “the death of Ms Corrie was not caused as a result of a direct action by the bulldozer or by its running her over, but rather by a hard object, most probably a slab of concrete which was moved or slid down while the mound of earth which she was standing behind was moved”.
Eyewitnesses rejected the judgment immediately. Nicholas Porter Durie, an activist who was at the scene, declared: “She slipped and fell to the ground in front of the bulldozer, which notwithstanding continued its steady pace.”

Eyewitness account

Joseph Carr, another westerner who witnessed the cold blooded killing, said: “The bulldozer driver and co-operator could clearly see her. Despite this, the driver continued forward, which caused her to fall back. He continued forward, and she tried to scoot back, but was quickly pulled underneath the bulldozer.”

In that Corrie died by an Israeli bulldozer is no denying. And in that she was actively trying to prevent the demolishing of Palestinian homes is another undeniable fact.

But getting back to the BBC. In diabolical spin doctoring, the radio reporter Martha Kierney tried to casually dismiss her death by commenting that, “Clearly, Rachel Corrie was one of the casualties of what happened that day, and I know Israeli soldiers died too”.

Fabricated information, period! There were no Israeli deaths that day. In fact, the opposite was true. Several Palestinians and the one American had lost their lives to Israeli forces on that particular day.

As Amena Saleem, a network watchdog active in keeping a close eye on the UK media’s coverage of Palestine stated, “The extent to which the BBC is prepared to misreport on the Israeli occupation has been made clear once again. A new ruling by the BBC Trust has defended the corporation’s coverage of the Rachel Corrie case, even though it falsely implied that the unarmed activist was in some way responsible for the deaths of Israeli soldiers.

In denial

“Kearney chose not to mention these Palestinian fatalities at all — instead, she decided to invent some Israeli army deaths. By doing so, she altered the actual reality and created a false impression for her audience that Corrie’s actions had resulted in the deaths of Israeli soldiers.”

This was not an honest mistake by an apprentice reporter from some poor underdeveloped country with meagre resources. This was something from a supposedly reputable news organisation, but yet they continued to justify the fabrication.

A statement released by the BBC stated that, “By referring in her question to the deaths of Israeli soldiers, Martha Kearney was trying to keep the interview focused on the central point of her question — the destruction of Palestinian homes rather than allow the interview to move on to the issue of wider violence”, was yet another attempt to brush off the telling of lies through the crafty manipulation of the truth.

I am sorry, BBC. Your lame explanations simply do not wash. This is one viewer who will no longer tune in to your ‘impartial’ news services.

[Tariq A. Al Maeenais a Saudi socio-political commentator. He lives in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. You can follow him at www.twitter.com/@talmaeena]

(Courtesy: Gulf News)

By India Stoughton

Beirut: As everything gradually moves online – from reading and shopping to watching television and talking to friends and family – the art world is keeping in step.

While physical exhibitions, museums and art fairs still play a major role when it comes to visual art, other art forms are arguably more suited to online presentation, which allows access to a far wider audience than would ever have been thought possible two decades ago.

Launched last month in honor of International Women’s Day, “Muslima” is an online exhibition of fine art, photography and writing from women around the globe, exploring what it means to be a Muslim woman in today’s world.

Curated by California-based novelist, artist and activist Samina Ali and organized and hosted by the online International Museum of Women, “Muslima” aims to encourage cross-cultural dialogue about Muslim women, to break down barriers, to challenge stereotypes and to encourage understanding.

“All too often, Muslim women are held back by negative attitudes,” Ali explained in an email interview from the U.S. “In the West, those are negative stereotypes of Muslim women: they’re considered illiterate, backward, powerless.

“In some parts of Muslim-majority countries,” she continued, “Muslim women also suffer from negative attitudes that diminish them and limit their power: they aren’t allowed to drive, or they can’t pursue an education, or they are subjected to anti-women laws that are said to be based in Islam but have no basis whatsoever in Islam. The purpose of this exhibition is to show the realities of Muslim women’s lives. ... But – and this is very important – with complexity.”

The exhibition title, chosen by Ali, conveys the inclusive ethos behind the exhibition. “In Arabic, muslima is used to indicate a woman who believes in God and upholds God’s values,” she explains in her curator’s statement, “such as prayer, charity, fasting, kindness and mercy. In the way I’ve written muslima here, it’s singular: one female. This is intentional.

“In a world that’s grown accustomed to denying the rich diversity of Muslim women’s thoughts and contributions,” she continues, “of erasing their complex differences and reducing them into an easy stereotype of an oppressed group, into lesser human beings, this exhibition title highlights the singular form of muslima in order to celebrate the unique passions and accomplishments of each and every Muslim woman who contributes.”

Ali said that according to the Quran, which refers to prophets such as Jesus, Abraham and Moses as Muslims, the term muslima applied to “anyone who believes in a higher power and advances good in the world.”

Ali spent two years putting together the exhibition, contacting prominent Muslim women, most active in promoting women’s rights, to invite them to participate. “It’s been an all-consuming, at times overwhelming, process,” she says.

“There are so many different components to this exhibition: interviews of leading reformers like Dr. Shirin Ebadi and Sima Samar and Zainah Anwar. Then we feature art in all genres: fiction, poetry, essay, photography, painting, multimedia, film, documentary, song.”

The “Muslima” team is accepting submissions from artists around the world until April 15, whether male or female, Muslim or non-Muslim, as long as they tackle the topic of what being a Muslim woman means on an individual and societal level. Each submission must relate to one of eight topics – power, leadership, appearance, myths, generations, faith, change and connection.

To date, the online gallery includes work by Lebanese painter Helen Zughaib, Palestinian artist Laila Shawa, Iranian painter Samira Abbassy, Italian sculptor, video artist and photographer Maimouna Guerressi, among many others.

Alongside the artwork are essays by women who are more comfortable expressing themselves in words than images, as well as a series of Q&As Ali conducted with Muslim women who are pioneers in their fields.

“Most of the women I’ve interviewed are women who are not artists themselves,” says Ali.
“They can’t speak to their reality through their painting or photography or fiction. But these women are doing the hard, necessary work of reforming laws and countries and attitudes. ... I wanted to bring their voices into this exhibition, unfiltered.”

Among the women Ali interviewed are Shirin Ebadi, the Iranian lawyer who became the first Muslim woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, as well as Maria Bashir, currently Afghanistan’s only female prosecutor general, who has risked her life to educate local women and fight high levels of violence against women in Afghan society.

A democratic exhibition, in the sense that it is open to anybody – providing they have internet access – “Muslima” places work by newcomers alongside pieces by famous artists such as Shawa, who also discusses her “Walls of Gaza” series in an interview with Ali.

“This is not an exhibition for the elite,” Ali stresses. “Any woman, no matter her economic status, no matter where she lives, in a village in India or the heart of London, has an important story to share.

“By being virtual, the museum is providing a global platform where all women can engage in a dialogue across race, culture, religion, and economics. Only by fully engaging all women can we make a difference.”

You can visit “Muslima” online at http://muslima.imow.org.

(Courtesy: The Daily Star, Lebanon)

The founders of a campaign geared at preventing “Islamization” in America are pressing on, this week, with a court battle after their campaign trademark was rejected by U.S. authorities.

The group, named the Freedom of Defense Initiative (FDI), is partly headed by U.S anti-Islam campaigner Pamela Geller. The group was told that their “Stop Islamization of America” campaign makes no literal sense.

“‘Islamization’ means converting to Islam or ‘to make Islamic,’” the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office said in a statement rejecting the FDI’s application, as reported by the U.S.-based WND website on Tuesday.

The statement also refuted the group’s stated aim to stop the alleged process of ‘Islamization’ in the country.

“‘Stop’ would be understood to mean that action must be taken to cease, or put an end to, converting or making people in America conform to Islam,” and therefore the trademark would “disparage Muslims and links them to terrorism,” the ruling said.

The aim of the group’s campaign is to “foster and provide an understanding of how to prevent Shariah-based tyranny and Islamist terrorism,” according to the FDI.

Now, the American Freedom Law Center is appealing to the U.S. Court of Appeal, on behalf of Geller, after the trademark application was rejected.

Geller is known primarily for her criticism of Islam and opposition to Muslim activities and causes. She opposed the proposed construction of an Islamic community center near ground zero, the former site of the World Trade Center.

Last December, Geller unveiled her group’s latest anti-Islam subway ad, which included the phrase: “Soon shall We cast terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers,” quoting a snippet translated from the Koran, alongside an image of the World Trade Center twin towers burning on Sept. 11, 2001.

(Courtesy: Al Arabiya)

By Parwez Mohammad& Mohammad Aslam

Okhla (New Delhi): A group of senior alumni of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) based in Delhi region has demanded that the Ministry of Family Welfare and Human Resources Development Ministry, Government of India, take effective steps to set up a well equipped central hospital and two central schools in the most neglected Okhla minority cluster in the very backyard of corridor of power in Delhi.

The Okhla minority cluster has a dense population of more than 1 million, and is without any basic facilities of healthcare and good school education. This neglect despite the fact that healthcare and education are a very high priority sectors for the Government of India.

There are enough UP Government land available in their neighbourhood, and if the Govt. of India is sincere then both the ministry can write a letter to UP Govt to transfer this land for these vital services. Any available govt land in any neighbour of a population has a right to demand for the very basic services. These vast tracts of available land within the irrigation ministry of UP Govt have no use for any irrigation department purpose and this is matter of willingness for the Central Govt of Delhi to demand this land for their optimal use.

The Group of AMU has taken a responsibility to further pressurise the Govt of the day in UP to transfer to the both the ministry once the ministries will write a formal letter to the Govt of UP with full plan of utilization of lands for the purpose of creating health and education infrastructure. The majority of the population of this Okhla region is the lower middle class rural migrants from UP and there is no reason for denying this legitimate demands by the Central Govt in Delhi to provide these basic facilities for the migrants population of the UP.

This group of AMU Alumni is going to meet Health and Family Welfare Minister Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad and Minister of Human Resource Mr. M. M. Pallam Raju soon to place these formal demands with clear time-line for implementation and would like to invite both these minister to visit this region to understand the worst conditions of the people living without basic health and education infrastructure facilities.

This group of AMU Alumni has firm view that younger generation of Muslim Indians are only concerned about Modern Education, Health, Employment and Rule of Law and we are no way interested to invest all our energy in Babri Mosque, Personal Law, Triple Talaque and Urdu etc.

[Parwez MohammadandMohammad Aslamcan be contacted at parwez.mohammad@gmail.com]

Muslim organizations including Jamaat-e-Islami Hind protest against killings of Rohingya Muslims near Myanmar Embassy in Delhi

IMO News Service

New Delhi: Indian Muslim organizations and human rights bodies demonstrated near Myanmar Embassy in the capital on 9th April 2013 against the non- stop violation of human rights, atrocities and inhuman cruel activities meted out on Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.

Indian Muslim organisations and civil society under the banner of an umbrella body of Muslim organisations All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat (AIMMM) today condemned the Burmese government in the strongest terms for its inaction and collaboration to stop violence against, and expulsion of, its minority Rohingya population in the Rakhine [Arakan] state.

The demonstration was planned in front of Myanmar Embassy in Chankyapuri Delhi but Delhi police stopped Muslim leaders and protesters at Teen Morti Marg, near Chankyapuri police station. Therefore, protesters were forced to express their protest merely in front of Chankyapuri police station near embassy, instead of Myanmar Embassy.

“We wanted to hold a symbolic protest outside Myanmar Embassy, but the Delhi Police which is infamous for its goondaism and its special cell which has earned global notoriety for fake killings and encounters, have forced us to protest here,” said Dr. Zafrul Islam Khan, president, All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat and condemned the Delhi Police for not allowing them to demonstrate outside the embassy.

“We want to tell the world that Muslims in India are not silent, they know how Rohingya Muslims are the most oppressed community of the world, their citizenship has been snatched through a law which asks Rohingya Muslims to prove their citizenship since 1832. I have written a letter to Myanmar Ambassador that if that law is applied to all communities in Myanmar, the entire country would be empty, as hardly anyone would prove their citizenship,” Dr. Khan, who is also Editor of English fortnightly The Milli Gazette.

“Roghinyas are stateless community, they can’t get education and job, and even passport, over five lakh Rohingya Muslims are living outside the country. Buddhist monks are leading killer mobs,” he said while addressing the demonstrators.

“The persecution of Rohingyas started way back in the 1960s. In 1982, under a strange “law” they were stripped of their Burmese citizenship unless they proved that their ancestors live in Burma way back in 1832. No such law exists anywhere in the world and most Burmese will lose their citizenship if is applied to all in Burma. Rohingyas have lived in that part of Burma continuously for around a thousand years and have ruled the area for centuries. As a result of this persecution and maintaining curfew-like situation in Rohingya towns and villages, close to a million have forces since to flee to the neighbouring countries especially Bangladesh. The current wave of persecution and ethnic cleansing spearheaded by Buddhist monks started in February last year when murder, destruction and torching of thousands of houses and community facilities and expulsion of Rohingyas from their villages started with the connivance of the Burmese government. An estimated 150,000 Rohingyas have since fled their country taking refuge in Bangladesh, India, Thailand and Malaysia where they are living in pitiful conditions. Many have died while attempting to flee in small boats.”

Jamaat-e-Islami Hind’s all India secretary Mohammad Ahmad said, “we find it highly disappointing that supporters of the on-going democracy process in Myanmar, led by the Nobel Laureate Ang San SuuKyi, have refused to stand for these hapless citizens of Burma. We condemn the inaction by the Myanmar government and ask upon our own government as well as the international organisations and governments of all freedom-loving nations to stand by the Rohingya people in their hour of need and pressurise the Mayanmar junta to mend its ways and apply to the Rohingyas same principles which are applicable to our citizens of Burma and hasten to repatriate the Rohingya refugees who have fled their villages and towns and compensate them adequately to enable them to start their lives once again with honour and dignity and punish the Buddhisht supremacists whose intolerance is turning Burma into a pariah state in the world.”

Addressing the gathering, SQR Ilyas, General Secretary of Welfare Party of India said Myanmar is becoming a Palestine for Rohingya Muslims. “As Palestinians have been removed from their homes and forced to migrate, Rohingya Muslims are also being uprooted, they are being killed and their homes demolished,” said Dr. Ilyas.

He expressed sorrow at the silence of Muslim nations over the plight of Rohingya Muslims. “It is really sad that 52 Muslim countries are not speaking on the issue, they are not pressing the United Nations to pass even resolutions.” He asked Indian Government to respond to the tragedy as the victims will ultimately migrate to India as it is neighboring country. “India should press Myanmar government to stop atrocities against Rohingya Muslims,” demanded Dr. Ilyas.
National Coordinator of Association for Protection of Civil Rights, Akhlaque Ahmed termed the violence in Myanmar as the worst case of human rights violation. He criticized world bodies of human rights for remaining tightlipped over the plight of Rohingya Muslims.

He also expressed anguish over the silent of Myanmar’s democratic activist Aung San Suu Kyi on this issue.

Markazi Jamiat-e-Ahle Hadees leader Shees Taimi also condemned and expressed support for suppressed Rohingya Muslim minority. Students Islamic Organisation of India all India secretary Khaliquz Zafar all expressed his views and condemned the so called champions of human rights who are silent over the violation.

By Pervez Bari

Bhopal: “Right to information Act is meant for the weaker sections of the society especially dalits, minorities and the backward classes of the country. It is very beneficial for them and due to this Act the poor and backward sections of the society are in a position to get more and more information and become aware of their status in the society”.

The above observation was made by chief guest Dr. Shakeel Samdani of Department Of Law, Aligarh Muslim University, while speaking in a workshop on Right to Information Act, 2005. The Workshop was organised by Aligarh College of Education and Aligarh College of Engineering and Management, Chherat, Aligarh, a Press release said.

Dr. Samdani reportedly said that India is a democratic country and in democracy every citizen has a right to know that how and where the public money is being spent by public representatives and government officers. Whether this money is being used properly or misused by them? By just spending Rs.10 a citizen can obtain information worth millions of rupees. This is a revolutionary Act of 21st century and it should be used and respected by everyone living in this country, he added.

He further said that due to this Act many scams are being unearthed and corrupt persons are being exposed. The days are not far off when the corrupt people will be exposed fully.
While discussing the weaknesses of the RTI Act, Dr. Samdani said that in addition to public authority the Act should cover private bodies also, because in the era of globalisation and privatisation the private sector is also playing a significant role in our country. He said that some dishonest and corrupt people are trying to misuse the provisions of RTI Act posing themselves as RTI activists and harassing and blackmailing dedicated and honest officers. This should be curbed by the concerned authorities. He explained in detail various provisions of the Act and their impact on public authorities. He appealed to the audience to use the provisions of this Act for needy persons and start undertaking social work.

Prof. M. Muqimuddin, the director of the college, said that in future also such type of activities will be organised by the college and he thanked Dr. Samdani for his brilliant and excellent lecture. The workshop was conducted by Syed Umair and Dr. Serajuddin welcomed the guests. Dr. Abida Ghaffar, the principal of Aligarh College of Education, proposed vote of thanks. Dr. M. S. Khan, Dr. Dharmendra Sharma, Dr. Chhabi, Naqvi, Sufiya Anjum, Pooja Gupta, Surendar Kumar, Wasim Ahmad, Mohammad Subhan, etc. participated, the release added.

[Pervez Bariis a senior Journalist based at Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. He is associated with IndianMuslimObserver.com as Bureau Chief (Madhya Pradesh). He can be contacted at pervezbari@eth.net]

By Abdul Hafiz Lakhani

Ahmedabad: With Narendra Modi emphasizing that the Gujarat model of development was a success because of empowerment of women at Ficci women wing at Delhi. Why did he not speak for Muslim women's plight? Is Zakia Jaffri not a woman and is she not fighting justice precisely because Narendra Modi is denying her justice. Is Kausar Bi not a woman, who was brutally murdered and whose killers were defended till the end by Narendra Modi and his government? Was Ishrat Jahan not a girl who deserved justice, but who was brutally killed in an encounter? And it was Narendra Modi and his government who defended those who were responsible for brutalising, maiming and killing helpless Muslims during 2002 riots.

In 2004, when Narendra Modi saw his state's female foeticide numbers based on the 2001 census, he got goose bumps. But Modi, who peppered his nationally televised address with references to "small initiatives" he had taken to help empower women, skipped the fact that Gujarat's sex ratio dropped further under him, from 918 in 2001 to 915 in 2011.

The four-time chief minister who is being seen as the face of the BJP ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections may have succeeded in making his state friendlier than most others for investment, and for private enterprise.

But by most parameters, women in the state have not had it easier than counterparts in the rest of India, suggesting that Modi's anecdotes of Jasuben the pizzeria owner who apparently gave Pizza Hut a run for its money and the women behind the Amul milk cooperative revolution, may be more exceptions than pointers to a deeper trend.

From their birth, through schooling and university, and even in the workforce and in leadership positions, women in Gujarat have not seen much -- if any -- improvement under Modi, even slipping on certain indicators during his tenure.

Women's safety is an exception. Gujarat is traditionally a safer state for women than most, and the rate of crimes against women has remained consistent at about 1.4% under Modi.Nationally, India's sex ratio rose just barely, from 933 to 940, between 2001 and 2011. But only Bihar and Jammu Kashmir, and the union territories of Daman and Diu, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli that abut Gujarat saw an actual decline in their sex ratio, apart from Gujarat.In school, girls in Gujarat have a poorer gender parity index in enrolment than the national average.

Nationally, 94 girls are enrolled in elementary and in secondary school, for every 100 boys. In Gujarat, the numbers drop to 88 girls in elementary classes, and 84 in secondary school.
University Grants Commission offers a post-graduate scholarship for the single girl child, open to all girls who meet a basic set of criteria.Only 18 eligible girls applied - and won the scholarship - from Gujarat in 2012 out of a national total of 2419, much less than other major states like Andhra Pradesh (161), Karnataka (143), Kerala (577), Tamil Nadu (456), Maharashtra (60) and West Bengal (706).Women in Gujarat do not have it easier at the workplace either.

Nationally, women constituted 19.9% of the organised workforce according to labour ministry data.In Gujarat, this fraction has persistently hovered between 13% and 15% over the past decade.In his speech to FICCI women on Monday, Modi also spoke about the absence of women in leadership roles, with the power to make decisions and affect policies.But the Gujarat chief minister's own council of ministers has 2 women out of 19 members.

That's a worse ratio than the already poor 9 women in 74 member council headed by a Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who Modi loves to mock as weak and ineffective.

Gujarat Congress president Arjun Modhwadia alleged that Chief Minister Narendra Modi was misleading the people on women's condition in the state where he has shown insensitivity towards the crime against women.

Commenting on Mr Modi's address before the ladies wing of FICCI in New Delhi \Mr Modhwadia said Mr Modi feigned emotions while referring to the female foeticide only to impress the women members of FICCI, but his own state has witnessed a rise in the instances of female foeticide.

He said the Chief Minister has shown crass insensitivity towards the crimes against women including a rape in Viramgam, mass suicide due to the harassment by BJP leaders in Rajkot. 'He has failed to utter a single word condemning the mass sucide or the crimes against women in the state,' Mr Modhwadia said.

He said the Chief Minister has also lied when he claimed that his government passed the bill providing for 50 per cent reservation to women in local self-government bodies in the state.
The bill was returned by the Governor because it also provides for the punishment to those who do not use their franchise in the elections of local bodies. Since the bill seeks to make voting compulsory has been mired in controversy, the state Congress had urged the Modi government to table a separate bill for women's reservation in local bodies.

[Abdul Hafiz Lakhaniis a senior Journalist based at Ahmedabad, Gujarat. He is associated with IndianMuslimObserver.com as Bureau Chief (Gujarat). He can be reached at lakhani63@yahoo.com or on his cell 09228746770]

By Tariq A. Al-Maeena

Some 160 million Indian Muslims live in that country. It is a significant number, one that boasts of being the third largest Muslim population in the world. They remain a minority though, making up 13.5 percent of the total population of 1.2 billion. For the most part, they have been living in harmony with Indians of other faiths, and protected by a somewhat fragile secular democracy.

But all has not been well lately. The Indian media is contributing to the polarization and marginalization of India’s Muslim population, and worst yet, "demonizing" them. That is the charge of a respected former chief minister who also was a chief justice and a state governor.

Currently heading the post of chairman of the Press Council of India, Markandey Katju, a pandit Hindu, last week flayed the Indian media for "demonizing the Muslim community through irresponsible journalism". At a symposium arranged by a statewide English daily on ‘Reporting Terror: How Sensitive is the media?’ Mr. Katju took the podium to express his explicit accusations.

“Whenever a bomb blast occurs or such incident takes place, within an hour or so many TV channels start showing that an email or SMS has come from the Indian Mujahideen, JeM or Harkatuljihad-e-Islam, or some Muslim name, claiming responsibility.

“An email or SMS can be sent by any mischievous person. But when your start screening this on TV and next day in print, the certain message you — the media — are sending is that all Muslims are terrorists and they have nothing to do except to throw bombs....You are demonizing the entire Muslim community and promoting communalism," he charged.

Continuing along the same theme, he said, “Is this the responsible behavior of the media? I think it is a totally irresponsible behavior which is promoting communalism in the country. I have raised voice against this, but they said I am suppressing the media.” Katju warned that the media should stick to ethics. “Do you have the freedom to spread communalism? You will be stopped from doing devilish things. I am a strong fighter for media's freedom but I will not allow you to do such devilish things. You will have to have responsibility in the national interest.” His charges stem from a growing belief that the feeling of injustice among Muslims is rapidly increasing within Indian society and that there is discrimination against them in many sectors because of their faith. “Unfortunately, Muslims are discriminated in getting jobs, banks loans and there is a sense of great injustice", Katju stated. “The cause of terrorism is injustice. Abolishment of poverty and discrimination will help in checking terrorism.”

Markandey Katju is known for his controversial views. But in the words of the former Assistant Solicitor General of India Amarendra Sharan who had nothing but praise for the man and who declared, “You can criticize his views, but you can't criticize the man. His integrity is unimpeachable.” A well-known jurist, Fali Nariman, added that Katju is “a person who doesn't merely pretend to support human rights but lives it every moment of his life.”

With such impeccable credentials his is a voice of reason and one to pay heed to. He had recently requested the Prime Minister to amend the Press Council Act. “The amendments were sought with regard to bringing the electronic media under the purview of media council and for providing some powers to take action,” he said, emphasizing that the regulations were meant to serve as a fair watchdog and not take control over media. “But in exceptional circumstances, definite action needs to be taken,” he admitted, plainly indicating that unsupported and biased reporting would be dealt with.

During the symposium, he also said that "an NGO which will work to secure justice for those unjustly languishing in jails, particularly from minority communities, will be launched in Delhi on April 15. The NGO — Court of Last Resort — will be headed by noted lawyer Fali S. Nariman with himself being its chief patron."

He concluded by adding that “Time has come...this organization is absolutely necessary. This forum will have branches in all districts. We need to have a large team of youths, students, lawyers...because injustice is meted out in large scale in this country."

As India moves to the polls, there will be growing attempts to continue polarizing the minorities for ballot gains. India’s secular frame may get damaged beyond recovery if those intent on this malicious path of division enjoy success. Divisive political parties such as the BJP will definitely bring such an India to harms way.

Responsible Indians must diligently heed Mr. Katju’s call and avoid being prejudiced by a biased and distorted media campaign against the Muslim minority, or be seduced in political rallies calling for the same. The road ahead will be fraught with danger for all Indians if such a message prevails.

[The writer can be contacted at talmaeena@aol.com. Follow him on Twitter @talmaeena.]

(Courtesy: Saudi Gazette)

By Abbas Kassar

Hyderabad: Despite applying article 61.62 and 63 of constitution of Pakistan the winning horses in election 2013 so far surfced on political scene belong to same family. It has remained political tradition of both India and Pakistan that the family rules once rules for ever. If in India the families that are elected to parliament always belong to Gandhis, Yadavs, Jaffers, Chowdhrys, Pandeys, Patels, Raos, Kamalnaths, Shaikhs, Tiwarys, Vermas, Shukla, Chatterjis and like, here in Pakistan members of same families are elected whenever polls take place.

Apart from Pakistan Peoples Party and Muslim League (Nawaz) even new parties like Tehrik Insaf of Imran Khan have given tickets to those who were members of past parliament like Shah Mahmood Qureshi (former PPP ) and Makhdoom Javed Hashmi (former ML(N). Tehrik Insaf and religious parties like Jamat Islami, Jamiat Ulema Islam, Jamiat Ulema Pakistan, Brelvis and Deobandis all are constesting elections, but seems they will have have little impression with few of seats they get here and there. Nawaz Sharif family has fielded 8 candidates including himself, his brother Shahbaz Sharif (past CM of Punjab), Begum Marium Nawaz Sharif, Hamza Sharif and Captain Safdar, son in law of Nawaz Shaif. Chowdhrys of Gujerat have also feilded half dozen of their family memers including Chowdhry Shaujat (prime minister in Gen. Mushrraf rule), Pervez Illahi along with his son Munis Illahi, Wajahet Hussain, Major Tahir Sadiq, Anwer Cheema.

Two former prime minsiters Yousuf Raza Gillani and Raja Pervez Ashraf have been disqualified, but their sons Moosa Gilani, Abdul Qadir Gilani and brother Ahmed Mujtaba Gilani are in the field. Former CM of Balochistan Aslam Raisani is again contesting with his brother Lashkari Raisani who is candidate of rival Nawaz League. In Sindh, the sword of disqualification is hanging on PPP president Makhdoom Amin Fahim, but he has fielded his two sons Makhdoom Jameel Zaman and Makdoom Khalil Zaman as well his brother Makhdoom Rafiq Zaman. Mehr family members always find their ways to power corridors. In 2008 elections, Mehr brothers were elected on Muslim League Quaid ticket and this time they have been given tickets by Pakistan Peoples Party in two districts of the province Shikarpur and Ghotki. In Nawabshsh members of Shah family, in Nosheroferoz district Jatois and in Thatta Shirazis are again in the electoral field.

The literacy rate in Pakistan, especially in Sindh, is too low as 10,000 schools remained closed during the whole ternure of past PPP govt and school buildings were used by these very parliamentarians as their animal barns and Otaqs (rest houses). With 70% people living in rural villages where 90% of them being illiterate and farm works employed by Waderas the politically influenced village chiefs, sardars and feudal lords, people have no option but to vote for candidates belonging to landlord family or to be ejected from villages and farmlands. The landlords in Sindh and Punjab maintain theri private armies and patronise crimes of kidnapping for ransom, murders, killing women and men under honor killing, extortion and land grabbing. In such a situation, a poor villager or small town deweller dare not to risk his and his family life by refusing vote to landlords Jakhranis, Khosos in Jaccobabad, Magsis and Chandios in Lakana and Tando Allahyar and Arbabs in Thar. The aim of all this discussion is that there might be no or very slight change in politics of Pakistan as the families who are ruling the country since creation are again tipped to find their ways to parliament.

However, there might be a slight change in big cities like Karachi, Lahore, Multan, Peshawar, Quetta and Faisalabad. The residents of these cities happen to be more educated than those in the villages. The religious parties have got influence in big cities and they may get some seats. The preformance of past ruling Pakistan Peoples Party Parliament is rated as poor during its 5 year term the only count where the party is doomed to fail in big cities as well in central Punjab which with 57% of population has more than half of parliamentary seats.

In Punjab, past provincial government of Shahbaz Sharif younger brother of Nawaz Sharif has spent much more on the development and welfare of citizens in comparison to PPP govt in Sindh which is accused of compromising interest of 40 million Sindhi speaking people by introducing dual local bodies system one for cities and the other for small towns, shutting eyes on target killings in Karachi where in last year more than 2000 people were made target of it. PPP headed by president Asif Ali Zardari is also accused of selling coastal islands along Karachi to US investors that has angered Sindhi people too much and all the nationalist parties of Sindh have formed 10 party alliance against PPP to fight elections one to one on every seat though the new alliance is headed by Pir Pagaro, the grandson of Pir, who had fought war of independence against English and was arrested and hanged in 1943, four years before the creation of Pakistan.

[Abbas Kassaris a Jounalist in Hyderabad, Pakistan and presently working as bureau chief of daily Messenger Karachi and Lahore Times ( online), a member of Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists and European Journalism Center. He can be reached at kassar_hyd@yahoo.com;kassarabbas@lycos.com and 92 3453585137]

By looking the other way, Rajapaksa’s government is giving radical Buddhist elements a free hand to terrorise minorities and increase racial tension

By Tariq A.Al Maeena

The undercurrent of racial tensions sweeping through Sri Lanka is gaining momentum. Unchecked and unrestrained by a government appearing to give in to their divisive demands, the terrorist Buddhist group, the Bodu Bala Sena (Buddhist Power Force), is threatening to turn the island into a bloody battlefield.

The Muslims targeted by this fanatical element are not the only minority being subjected to acts of violence. Christians on the island are also under attack. The authorities are turning a blind eye and the mainstream media chooses to ignore this rising peril. Recently, two churches were attacked by the radical elements of the BBS, and two others forced to shut down due to pressure from these fanatics.

On March 9 in Batticaloa, BBS rogues burned down a church in the middle of the night. On March 17, a mob led by Buddhist monks barged into the Brethren Church in Agalawatte and threatened them into stopping the services.

On the same day, in another part of the country, four monks along with a cameraman went to the Margaya Fellowship Church at Sevanapitiya in Polonnaruwa. They accused the pastor of converting Buddhists and ordered him to shut down the ministry. The police arrived not long after and ‘advised’ the pastor to pay heed to their demands.

At Suriyaweva in Ambilipitiya, monks entered a house church and demanded that the meetings be stopped as they were not registered with the local authorities. On the same day in Weeraketiya, a house church was ransacked.

On March 10, the Assembly of God Church at Kottawa was visited by monks and the police who ordered the pastor to stop the meetings as they had not obtained permission from the local authority. A few days later, the Pentecostal Assemblies Church at Kottawa was visited by a mob led by monks who told them to stop the meetings as they had not obtained permission from the local authority. Another Pentecostal church in Galle was subjected to similar demands and threats.

Subjugation

Last week, a BBS mob led by monks went to the Gethsemane Church in Hikkaduwa and threatened them to stop the meetings. A pastor working in Agnukolapallssa was also threatened with physical assault. The police simply asked him to stop the services. These are all facts gleaned from those who have been subjected to this racial tension in Sri Lanka. Buoyed by their success in the halal food certification issue, the radical Buddhist group seems intent on subjugating the island’s minorities into oblivion.

The Muslims, Tamils and Christians along with sensible Sinhalese Buddhists all have reasons to be alarmed. The government is playing politics by not reacting while the situation threatens to get out of hand. It will certainly not be a good thing for the country. So far, the minorities have been very restrained in reacting to these acts of personal transgression against their beliefs. The Muslims, in particular, are very disturbed by the attacks of these unruly Buddhists, who have been targeting their practices and beliefs.

Factual events of Buddhists chasing Muslim women and tearing off their clothes have been recorded and reported to the police. Their religion has been slurred and subjected to ridicule through crude drawings and posters. Their mosques have been attacked and burned. Their shops and business have been raided, and the BBS is warning off all customers from patronising their establishments.

Shocking rhetoric

As one Sri Lankan charged: “Disgraceful and distasteful anti-Muslim rhetoric is being ‘dished out’ by more than 25 anti-Muslim websites. The Sri Lanka government is fully aware of all these sites and the provocative and insulting posts ranging from insulting our Creator, our Prophet (PBUH), our Holy Book, etc but [it] just ‘looks the other way.”

Another Sri Lankan from whom I borrowed the title for my column had this to say: “I am an 83-year-old Muslim, and my physical condition is such as to make me unable to move or travel to Makkah. While all this is happening against the Muslims of my country, the Arabs are supplying oil, and also giving aid. If we do not get the support of the Arabs and Muslims, what are we going to say when we stand before Allah. My tears have not ceased since these attacks started in our country. I am old now, but what are we going to leave for the next generation of our fellow Sri Lankans? Your brother Ismaeel.”

The government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa is playing a dangerous game by not forcefully putting an end to this tide of racial tensions. Sri Lanka is becoming an unsafe place to visit for business or pleasure as any moment now, the island could become engulfed in another chapter of bloody racial violence.

Arab and Muslim countries must take decisive measures for the protection of all of the island’s minorities from these radical elements. It is increasingly apparent that the Sri Lankan government is unwilling to do so.

[Tariq A. Al Maeenais a Saudi socio-political commentator. He lives in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. You can follow him at www.twitter.com/@talmaeena]

(Courtesy: Gulf News)

To,

The representatives of the Political Parties of Pakistan,

We would like to offer our respect to you for your continuous efforts towards building a people's government in Pakistan. In fact, in spite of various tide and ebbs in the long span of time and in various sectors, internal and external, Pakistan with its government always stood and proved itself a nation that is truly based on courage and desires of people and for the welfare of people and coming generations.

In the wake of recent election campaigning, all of you must be occupied with delivering manifestos and speeches, provisions and promises to the people. Like India, Pakistan also has many political parties with specific agendas that try to represent the voice of the people. But there is one appeal that we wish to make to all of you.

We all know that Pakistan and India parted ways 65 years ago to move on separate paths promising peace and development to people. But the very beginning was a painful one. Sadly, we have all grown up hearing those stories of pain, hatred and inhumanity that accompanied the partition. We, who had not experienced them, also feels the "pain" because these stories were internalised and we all consider ourselves as "victims" and there is a competition on who was a bigger victim. But truth is that it was humanity devoid of any religion or faith that had succumbed to the madness and politics. However, what is more painful is that we have not learnt from our past. Infact, we tried to re-iterate them through more wars and hate speeches. This happened on both sides, who started it, it doesn't really matter anymore but the sad truth is, hatred remains.

Sadly, the recent election campaigning have also witnessed elements of ‘glorifying’ the hatred with India through various attempts by some political parties and its members. Though, ofcourse there are people and even parties who do not support this but they are not quite effective before media and probably none of them narrated anything positive about bilateral relationship.

We, a group of people from both sides of the border who dream of peace and friendship between India and Pakistan, request you to represent the true desire of people on both sides. The true desire is of peace, harmony and development. On both sides, all people want is bread, peace and land. We do not think that people on both sides desire for war. We do not think that they desire that the money of the Government to be spent on warfare than on development projects as both the countries have failed to cater to all sections of the society. We do not think that an average pakistani care more about hatred with India than about the social injustice in his country. This is the same for an Indian. We think that both have their own problems so why would they want a new and major issue? Also, if "we" really want hatred then why is there so much of respect for Saadat Hassan Manto, Mehdi Hasan, Gulzar sahab? Why do we all explicitly wish to travel to each other's country? Where is the hatred when there is a news that someone from India has come and everyone wants to have a glimpse and chat? Who really wants war? and more importantly, why?

Regardless of believers in Allah, Ishwar, God or in none, we are all human beings who are also entitled to a just and dignified life, a promise of the state. Though the elections (should) focus on internal agenda of Pakistan, it also states the relation with the neighboring country. We feel that developing and strengthening a healthy relationship with India is not only a moral obligation but also required in view of Geo politics. The two nations together can achieve more than individually. Both countries should focus more on bilateral relations. After all these 65 years of hatred, the political parties should become mature that friendship with India is not only important in view of desires of common people of both sides, but also in view of benefits of people of both sides and an important agenda in making a national government.

Aaghaz-e-Dosti requests you to recognize the freedom of hearts, desires of minds and light of future. We appeal to you to build the election strategy in view of better relations with India.

Aaghaz-e-Dosti
for Peace and Friendship between India and Pakistan
aaghazedosti@gmail.com
Visit http://aaghazedosti.wordpress.com
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/aaghazedosti/

[Email received on Monday, Aprilm15, 2013]

New Delhi: External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid Monday inaugurated a course on parliamentary processes and procedures to be attended by 14 officials from seven Arabic-speaking countries.

Officials from Algeria, Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia will attend the course, officials said.

"The Arab Spring had ushered in a fresh wave of democracy in the countries of the Middle-East, which has necessitated the process of institution-building and manpower training so as to effectively run the representative bodies in those countries," said Khurshid.

He hoped the programme would help the participants to understand the intricacies of practices and procedures of the Indian parliament.

Under an initiative taken by Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, the Special Training Programme is being organised by the Bureau for Parliamentary Studies and Training April 15 to 26.

(Courtesy: IANS, April 15, 2013)

By Pervez Bari

Bhopal: At a function Nikahs of 81 Muslim girls were solemnised at Nasrullahganj in Sehore district of Madhya Pradesh on Monday under the Madhya Pradesh Mukhyamantri Kanyadan (Nikah) Yojna. The Nikahs were solemnised by Qazi Amanullah Khan from Bhopal solemnised.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan blessed the newly wedded Muslim couples after the Nikah ceremony. Speaking on the occasion Chouhan said that objective of his life is to bring happiness in the eyes and smile on the face of every person.

Describing himself as maternal uncle of brides, Chief Minister Chouhan said that it is marriage ceremony of his nieces in which he extends heartiest and whole-hearted greetings to the guests. He said that Madhya Pradesh government is functioning with the spirit of respect to all religions. The government will leave no stone unturned to ensure welfare of minorities.

Blessing newly wed couples, Chouhan wished them a happy married life. He exhorted those present on the occasion not to discriminate between sons and daughters. He said that the government is committed to bring all sections of society to mainstream of development.

State Forest Development Corporation Chairman Guru Prasad Sharma, MARFED Chairman Ramakant Bhargava and other public representatives were present on the occasion.

[Pervez Bariis a senior Journalist based at Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. He is associated with IndianMuslimObserver.com as Bureau Chief (Madhya Pradesh). He can be contacted at pervezbari@eth.net]

By Manzar Imam

Our Special Correspondent

New Delhi: Human Chain, a newly-formed registered society has been growing in strength and making its worth felt. Although the present team of the society has been socially active for long, but that has been on individual front. Their collective effort began with forming of a pressure group to demand early land acquisition, fund allocation and establishment of a centre of Aligarh Muslim University at Kishanganj, Bihar under AMU Coordination Committee. The Committee, formed three years ago, still retains its name. However, an active group of the independent individuals with a vision to bring change in society and demand justice and equal treatment to the people of one of the highly marginalized regions of Bihar commonly referred to as Seemanchal, envisaged Human Chain.

This well-educated, technology-savvy group has tried to draw attention of the government authorities to some important issues confronting the people of the region.

Manzar Imam adressing the meet

It is in this backdrop that Human Chain convened a meeting of media persons on the topic of “The Role of journalists in development of society” here at the Scholar School auditorium at Abul Fazl Enclave, Jamia Nagar on Wednesday, 10 April, 2013. Over a dozen journalists associated with different newspapers and websites along with some people associated with radio and multi-media attended the symposium. Most of them largely commended Human Chain’s effort and spoke about the obstacles and duplicity of the government about AMU Kishanganj.

Mohammad Aslam Alig, chairman of the society lambasted the government for not taking the AMU Kishanganj issue seriously. As media has deep penetration in every sphere of society he termed the role of the media inevitable for raising the issue of AMU. He said that there was high politics involved and discriminatory treatment meted out to the people of Seemanchal.
Mumtaz Alam, national bureau chief of Muslimmirror.com stressed the need for more Muslim media professionals in the language press and said that media reports pressurize governments to take action. He lamented Muslim media’s negativity and said, “There are hardly any Muslim media that bring out stories of development”. Most of them write about emotional issues, added he.

Maulana Mutiur Rahman Madani, chairman of Kishanganj-based Tauheed Educational Trust spoke about the educational need of the Seemanchal region. Ali Raza Siddiqui, bureau chief of Urdu daily Qaumi Tanzeem appealed Muslim youngsters to join media as agents of social change.

Manzar Imam, Special Correspondent of the IndianMuslimObserver.com spoke about the need for collective struggle for AMU Kishanganj. Speaking about regional bias and governmental negligence to Seemanchal and especially the Purnea Commissionerate, Imam, who is also founder member of Banat Education & Welfare Society, Bhopal and Director, Public Relations, Anjuman Foundation, Gaya said that every Commissionerate of Bihar had at least one university, some even had more than two univerisities, whereas the Purnea Commissionerate did not have a single State or Central university. He further said that there were very less number of colleges in the entire Commissionerate and held both the State and Central Governments accountable for the poor literacy rate of the region. Journalists need to take into consideration the hopes, aspirations, needs and requirements of the society, he said adding that media’s role in that respect therefore must be positive.

Senior journalist Abid Anwar called journalism the medium of awareness and said that issues would not be resolved unless there was awareness about them. He called to develop internal strength of the society in order for the authorities to pay heed to its need. He also called in question the role of individuals for corrupt practices which made fairness a difficult task. He said that the Seemanchal area faced both economic and mental backwardness which was further exploited for lack of leadership.

Abdul Qadir Shams Qasmi of the Sahara group lauded the Human Chain for its efforts in highlighting some of the important issues faced by people of the region and said that there was need for more than one university in Seemanchal. Shams Ramzi of Hamara Samaj stressed the need for at least sectarian harmony among different Muslim groups as unity among them seems to be impossible.

Mumtaz Alam Rizwi, Delhi bureau chief of Urdu daily Inquilab spoke about the importance of belief, passion, courage and commitment that a journalist had to have while reporting.
Dr. Khalid Mubashshir of Human Chain had a crucial role to convene this journalists’ meeting which was coordinated by Mohammad Mudassir Alam, associated with the Times of India. Mohd Mujahid Akhter, Tarique Sufyan and others of Human Chain, Dr. Tauqir Rahi of NCPUL, Syed Zubair Ahmad, Editor of Muslimmirror.com, Nakshab Manwi of IBN.com, Khisal Mehdi of Inquilab, Iftikhar Uz Zaman of All India Radio, Mohammed Anas of the Sunday Guardian, Shah Jahan Azmi and others were present.

[Manzar Imam, a Delhi-based Journalist, is Special Correspondent of IndianMuslimObserver.com. He can be reached at manzarkhalil@gmail.com]

IMO News Service

Hyderabad: Mr. Shakir Ali, the Chairman of e-Merchant Academy and MD, eMerchant Digital Solutions has been facilitated with prestigious “Awards for Excellence” by Dr. GVG Krishnamurthy, former chief election commissioner.

The valedictory function was organized by a globally recognized voluntary organization “Friendship Forum of India” and the award function was a part of national level seminar on “Economic Growth and National Unity” held on 7th April 2013 at Indian International Center, C.D. Deshmukh Memorial Auditorium in New Delhi.

The function was attended by union ministers, state ministers, intellectuals, and industrialists from all over the country where selected prominent VIPs and entities were facilitated with Gold Medal and certificate of Excellence for their contribution in social, cultural, and economic domains on the national level.

Mr.Shakir Ali has been awarded certificate and gold medal for “BHARAT EXCELLENCE AWARD” and “RAJIV GANDHI ARCH FOR EXCELLENCE AWARD” for his special contribution in digital media marketing in Andhra Pradesh and achieving greater excellence in service industry that enhances Indian image in different ways. The drive of eMerchant Academy to train and equip small and medium scale industries for economic growth and business expansion has been recognized as an effort for national cause which is enriching digital India and taking it to the next level. The decision has been made by the selection committee of Friendship Forum of India after detailed and systematic analysis of all the nominations under given criteria. It truly comes as an exciting moment for Mr. Shakir Ali who feels greatly honored for his contributions in the industry and its recognition on a national platform.

This Award for Excellence aims at recognizing, promoting, and sharing professional, educational, industrial, and personal achievements of people of Indian origin and brings them to a common platform where they can exchange their views and move towards national and international friendship. The forum organizes conferences, seminars, and exhibitions and enjoys active involvement of Indian experts from diverse fields like economists, journalists, socialists, industrialists, scholars, engineering experts, member of parliaments, and retired judges as well. The awards are meant to inspire the next wave of national contributors and innovators who can add value to society and empower others to create a better future.

Coining Mr. Shakir Ali for the award bestows much deserved honor to him for bringing qualitative impact, new opportunities, engagement into continuous innovations, and a high degree of accountability in his work area. With a great history of awards and honors in different fields, finally Mr. Shakir has proved himself a man of stuff who is bringing a difference in digital world through his continuous innovative endeavors. Enriching digital marketing industry with an out-of-the-box approach and enabling corporate houses and SMEs run their own digital marketing campaigns, Mr. Shakir has added a new dimension to the IT service industry where quality of service runs ahead of profitability. This award is a true value for the struggle and hardship he has endured and the gradual achievements he has harvested over a long time.

On this touching moment, Mr. Shakir feels exhilarated as well as motivated to serve the industry and country with more such acts that really brings a difference at social and economic level. He really appreciates and expresses his gratitude towards the initiative of Friendship Forum of India in his words--“Being a part of this Seminar really evokes the Indian out of us and makes us mingle with each other to share ideas and inspirations and bring more creative and progressive changes in the field we are working.” Getting a laudable name and honor on such a high level is really a commendable achievement on part of Mr. Shakir Ali.

For more information visit www.emerchantdigital.com or call Jeevan at +91-9550980199/ 9849256286

By Rushdi Siddiqui

Social marketing eliminates the middlemen, providing brands the unique opportunity to have a direct relationship with their customers. — Bryan Weiner.

Today, it seems Islamic finance is still stuck at a hard-copy of stage communication (faxes) when the financial world has moved on to Facebook, Twitter, blogging, etc.

Many Islamic financial institutions have Web sites, but how often is it updated beyond awards won? How many Islamic banks, takaful operators, Shariah consulting firms, industry bodies, etc, are on Facebook? Yet, the youth — its future clients — in many Muslim countries with Islamic finance are on Facebook.

What about the cross-sell of Islamic finance to non-Muslims as an ethical alternative? These potential customers are an important cluster of social media and they are continuously looking for offerings aligned with their values.

Several Islamic financial institutions have Twitter accounts, unsure how many of their (retail) clients are on Twitter. Do these institutions believe SMS, Internet and mobile banking is the “social media” connection to their clients?

Maybe the culture of social media is lacking in, say, the GCC. But we saw how effectively social media was utilised during the Arab Spring.

Fear

Is there a fear of technology among Islamic financial institutions? The fear of hackers stealing from customer accounts and identity theft? They have heard about horror stories on hacking from US- and EU-based banks with allegedly better (read, more expensive) firewalls.
Is there fear that social media connectivity will raise the level of transparency to conventional benchmarks standards and with accountability to follow? Put differently, will social media result in enhanced governance? It is not a bad thing in this post-credit crisis environment where companies are rewarded via a stable stock price and rave reviews for transparency and governance.

Is there fear that “bad news” concerning Islamic financial institutions will spread like wildfire if (deeply) connected to social media? It will spread anyway as news organisation coverage is supplemented by bloggers and tweeters in real time.

Resources

Is it a lack of resource issue in having, say, a “chief social media officer”? It would appear that Islamic financial institutions have not looked at public relations and outreach as an investment in their brand, but, rather, a cost of doing business.

Brand-building goes towards commitment to not only clients and staff, but long-term growth of the institution, including eventual cross-border expansion and future clients. Furthermore, during challenging market cycles, the message to the community, whose attention has become shorter, is the confidence inspiring “business as usual”.

Guidance

The Thomson Reuters Islamic Finance Gateway, or IFG, may just provide a guidance for Islamic financial institutions on understanding about the benefits of social media connectivity. It comes down to market intelligence, and the market place is the best source of “knowledge that powers” market movements. The community connectivity function of the IFG comes down to insights by industry experts making sense of the information overload, communicating about important sign posts on the road ahead and allowing community to interface with experts on a secure platform.

LinkedIn, Twitter

At the behest of colleagues, I joined LinkedIn about a year ago to connect with like-minded colleagues globally to share ideas and articles. Outside of unsolicited endorsement of people I have connected with, but, not worked with, it has been a pleasant experience, especially reading leadership articles.

Furthermore, I started tweeting a few months ago, initially on Islamic finance and the halal industry, but have expanded to issues related to Muslims, Islam, Muslim countries, etc. It has been a fulfilling experience and I should have joined much earlier. Why?

1. Tweeting forces one to convey their message in 140 characters, becomes very important in today’s world of short-attention span and information overload. Islamic financial institutions should be able to convey thought leadership within these constraints.

2. Twitter brings news in real time from multiple eyes, hence, it’s a multiple “op-ed” of the market place on the subject matter. The raw news provides more colour than polished sound-bites.

3. Twitter has allowed me to follow the likes of global leaders like His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and his comments in real time. He first tweeted about Dubai being a hub for an Islamic economy a few months ago.

Conclusion

Shaikh Mohammed’s tweets, at the time of writing this, on the performance of UAE government standards should encourage Islamic financial institutions to engage and embrace the social media to not only connect, but also to report developments.

[Rushdi Siddiquiis co-founder and managing director of Azka Capital, a private equity advisory firm focused on halal industry initiatives, and an advisor to Thomson Reuters on Islamic finance and the halal industry.]

(Courtesy: Khaleej Times)

The efficacy of inter-faith dialogue truly lies in the way we reach out to our immediate neighbours — as the likes of Reverend Poobalan have shown

By Tariq A. Al Maeena

There are many today who are critical of the highly-acclaimed inter-faith dialogue forums being sponsored at the state level in various parts of the world. Critics argue that these forums have simply become a gathering place for representatives of various religions and faiths who meet, nod their heads or indulge in yawning during long sessions and then return to their homes without anything of substance being achieved that would help foster better understanding between the faiths. A lot of money and publicity is spent on these symposiums and yet the cycle of suspicion and mistrust continues in many parts of the world. While the original concept of bringing people from various faiths to a discussion table was a good one, detractors charge that what is talked about and agreed to at such events is hardly ever put into action.

There are individuals, on the other hand, not encumbered by the heralded inter-faith forums, who actually make a difference. In Aberdeen, Scotland, one such recent show of reverence to other faiths should have made people sit up and take note that such good things can indeed happen — and not necessarily through forums or symposiums.

A Christian church became the first of its kind in the UK to share its premises with people of a different faith. St John’s Episcopal Church opened its doors to Muslims. It now welcomes hundreds of Muslims who perform their obligatory prayers five times a day inside the church building as the nearby mosque is too small to handle the congregation, forcing many to pray outside often in extreme elements.

Rev. Isaac Poobalan, who is the minister of St Johns Church, offered a part of the church hall to the Imam of Shah Mustafa Jam’i Masjid mosque, who soon led his Muslim congregation to prayers in the main chapel.

In explaining his decision, Rev. Poobalan said he would not be a true and faithful Christian if he did not offer to help his neighbouring worshippers with their lack of space for worship. He said: “Praying is never wrong. My job is to encourage people to pray. The mosque was so full at times, there would be people outside in the wind and rain praying. I knew I couldn’t just let this happen — because I would be abandoning what the Bible teaches us about how we should treat our neighbours.”

These sights prompted him to act, although there was some resistance from a few of the churchgoers. “When I spoke to people at the church about the situation, someone actually said to me this was not our problem, but I had seen it with my own eyes, so it was a problem. They were out there praying and the snow came on for the first time in the winter. It was really hard to watch. When they were praying, they had their hands and feet exposed and they were sitting on the pavement, which is very rough. You could even see them breathing because it was so cold and I think when I saw that, the visual impact was such that I just couldn’t walk past.”

The Reverend continued: “It felt wrong, mainly because the church is next door, it’s a big building and it remains empty on a Friday at lunchtime, which is when they need the place the most as that’s when they are at their busiest. We had something we could offer and they were just standing out in the cold and I said to my congregation — we need to do something!”

Reverend Poobalan was also keen to foster better understanding between Christians and Muslims in the neighbourhood. He said: “It’s a move that is so basic and fundamental. It has nothing to do with religion — it’s all based on human need. The religious divide shouldn’t divide us as people. However, I anticipated there would be some opposition as it was strange and new and there was some natural anxiety in the beginning. But once people realised that there was more commonality between us, their anxiety slowly dissipated.”

He concludes: “I certainly hope, wish and pray that this will help relations between the two religions. When I spoke to the Imam, there was some hesitation on their part too, because this had never been done before. But they took us up on the offer and it has been a positive relationship.”

The Imam of the mosque, Shaikh Ahmad Magharbi said: “What happens here is special and there should be no problem repeating this across the country. The relationship is friendly and respectful.”

The Bishop of Aberdeen and Orkney, Dr Robert Gillies, added: “It would be good to think we can change the world. Most of us most of the time feel we can’t so don’t bother. But sometimes, someone has a vision we can do something of global significance on a local scale. This is what is happening between St John’s and the mosque in its grounds. Everyone can do something locally and if more were to do so then something big might just begin to happen globally.”
It was such a brave individual step in a Scottish city and devoid of much of the fanfare that accompanies state-sponsored inter-faith forums! It is such acts by persons of various faiths that will most certainly help heal the rift widened by misunderstanding and suspicion. God bless Reverend Isaac Poobalan.

[Tariq A. Al Maeenais a Saudi socio-political commentator. He lives in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. You can follow him at www.twitter.com/@talmaeena]

(Courtesy: Gulf News)

IMO News Service

'Halal Opportunities Fund' to secure integrity of halal food supply chain as global sales, including pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, hits US$2.1 trillion annually

Dubai: Former Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi today revealed plans for a US$500 million private equity fund focused on global opportunities in the halal industry.

The fund is expected to be raised in stages and the aim, through a "roll-up" strategy, is to acquire, convert (non-halal companies) and grow companies in the food and agri-business sectors so as to have global reach as well as offer a diverse range of high quality quick service restaurant (QSR) products and services.

"There have been global developments in halal awareness, standard and certification, manufacturing and trade in the last decade. It is now time to create strong investment opportunities to enable more participation in this important halal sector," said Badawi at the launch of Azka Capital at the eighth World Halal Forum in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Rushdi Siddiqui, Co-Founder and Managing Director Azka Capital

Azka Capital is a private equity advisory firm focused on halal industry initiatives. It has assembled a team which has a thorough understanding of the global halal food landscape including working with certifying industry bodies from 55 countries through its strategic partnership with the International Halal Integrity Alliance.

"Azka is advised by world-class practitioners from the halal food sector, and Shariah advisory services from Dar Al Shariah and Amanie Advisors and Mr Badawi is Chairman of its Advisory Board," said Rushdi Siddiqui, Co-Founder and Managing Director Azka Capital.
The highly fragmented nature of the industry would benefit from a consolidated strategy while Azka's proprietary access to deal flow makes it uniquely positioned to capitalise upon this opportunity," he added.

Siddiqui went on to explain that food security has become an integral part of national security policy in part because many Muslim countries are net importers of food and generally do not control the supply chains and, hence, the integrity of their food.

Dr. Abdullah Badawi

"The recent scandals including horsemeat in Europe and, more alarmingly, the evidence of pork DNA in halal beef by the very multinational companies responsible for halal integrity should be unacceptable to all halal stakeholders. Paying lip service to food security is wholly inadequate. The Halal Opportunities Fund is the first opportunity for investors and policymakers to take concrete steps toward securing the integrity of their food supply," he concluded.

Currently the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) nations' food imports exceed US$40 billion annually, an overwhelming majority of their consumption. That figure will doubtless increase substantially with current estimates forecasting that the global Muslim population is expected to increase from 1.6 billion at present to 2.2 billion by 2030.

Commenting on Shari'a compliance, Dr Nasser Saidi, Member of Azka Advsiory Board, Founder and President of Nasser Saidi & Associates and former Chief Economist of Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC) said: "Ethical, Shari'a compliant investors have typically relied on various 'filters' to weed out non-compliant publicly available investment opportunities. But these filters are not always reliable and cannot keep up with new opportunities and are typically limited to developed markets. There is a better way: direct equity investing in vetted industries and activities on an international basis. That is what is being offered to investors through the Halal Fund. This is major innovation in the ethical investment space."

About Azka Capital

The Azka Capital team has assembled an experienced and multi-functional team who have a thorough understanding of the global halal food landscape including working with certifying industry bodies from 55 countries through its strategic partnership with the International Halal Integrity Alliance. The team has vast experience with the halal sector combined with several billion dollars in executed deals, access to proprietary deal flow, and structuring transactions with Islamic modes of financing and investing. Azka's strategy is focused on acquiring, integrating, incubating, growing and exiting companies. Please visit at www.azkacapital.com

About Dar Al Sharia

Dar Al Sharia (DAS) is a Dubai-based subsidiary of Dubai Islamic Bank, the world's first Islamic bank. Over a period of 9 years, DAS developed the reputation as authentic and one-stop solution centre for all Islamic finance advisory and consultancy needs. It specializes in Sharia-compliant structuring and documentation for all types of Sukuk, Syndication and Funds, besides product development, restructuring, R&D for innovative products, Sharia audit and training, conversion of conventional financial institutions into Islamic ones, and the other allied services. It has a well-qualified team of Sharia scholars, lawyers, Sharia researchers, financial analysts, capital market specialists, accountants, bankers and other professionals working under the guidance of Dr. Hussain Hamed Hassan, a highly learned Sharia scholar and head of several Sharia boards in the region.

Amanie Advisors Sdn Bhd

Amanie Advisors Sdn Bhd (''Amanie'') is a Shariah advisory, consultancy, training and research and development boutique for institutional and corporate clientele focusing on Islamic financial services. It has been established with the aim of addressing the global needs for experts' and Shariah scholars' pro-active input. This will ultimately allow the players in the industry to manage and achieve their business and financial goals in accordance with the Shariah Principles.

Amanie is guided by its international Shariah Supervisory Board consisting of four globally renowned Shariah scholars namely;
i) Dr Mohamed Ali Elgari (Chairman) (Saudi Arabia)
ii) Dr Muhammad Amin Al Qattan (Qatar)
iii) Dr Mohd Daud Bakar (Malaysia)
iv) Dr Osama Al Dereai (Kuwait)

About KasehDia

KasehDia is a communication and consulting firm focused on the application of Islamic values in a universal and contemporary setting. Established in 1999 KasehDia has provided high level consultations for businesses and governments and created game changing global forums and content. KasehDia became the world pioneer in concept-based (halal) communication and developmental systems.

In 2003 it launched an integrated global initiative on the 'halal industry', a term it coined. It involves strategic projects in media, consultancy, training, business forums and lobby efforts on the global scale. Its key halal initiatives include The Halal Journal, Halal Food Guide Series, Muslim Travel Guide Series, the World Halal Forum, Global Halal Lead Auditor Training and lead consultation for the Government of Malaysia for the Halal Chapter in Malaysia's 3rd Industrial Master Plan (2006-2020). Due to its proliﬁc and cutting edge ideas, KasehDia and its initiatives have been featured on the cover of TIME magazine, The New York Times, Asia Wall Street Journal, International Herald Tribune, Forbes, Guardian UK and Bloomberg.

About Nova Capital

Nova Capital Global Markets LLC is a leading middle market global investment bank. Nova offers a full range of investment banking services to middle market companies, and specializes in facilitating transactions in emerging markets. Nova provides clients with access to all forms of equity, senior debt, subordinated debt, convertible debt, and mezzanine financing. For more information about Nova please visit: www.novacapitalglobal.com.

For more information, contact:

Darhim Hasim,
Managing Principal,
darhim.hashim@azkacapital.com or info@azkacapital.com

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