war on terror

There's a line in one of the greatest "Bollywood" classics, written by the scions of a couple of the greatest South Asian literary families--sons of Urdu poets, to be precise--and delivered by a minor but unforgettable character, "Surma Bhopali" that goes "Yahaan hamaaree kya zaroorath hai; yahaan tho waisay hee aap kay naam ka warrant nikla huwa hai." [Who needs me? There's already a warrant out for your arrest.]

And that's the thought that's being going through my head as South Asia spirals downwards, some folks caution against jumping to conclusions, and others rally for peace. And I include the arguments over "Islamists did it. No, wait! Let's not jump to conclusions; it could be home grown!..." in that

I apologise for the hit-and-run post, and though I have great respect for the man, I am not a Gandhian. But following everything over the weekend, I am left with a thought this morning that channels Gandhi; A War on Terror would be a great idea--if either the West or Muslims choose to take up the idea.

Technorati tags applicable to this post: War on Terror

Apparently academic freedom is a thing of the past, if you happen to be a Muslim.

<

blockquote>

May 14 2008. A postgraduate international relations student at the University of Nottingham and a principle administrator in the modern languages department (also a former postgraduate student at the university), Rizwaan Sabir and Hicham Yezza, were arrested under section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000. I type this sentence, and despite everything, I still find it difficult to comprehend the arrests. We were detained for six days, unable to see our family or friends on suspicion of being involved in the "commission, preparation, or instigation" of an act of terrorism. Our homes were raided and my terrified family evicted from their home...

The case against Clevinger was open and shut. The only thing missing was something to charge him with.
                                                                                                               - Joseph Heller, Catch-22

           After a failed trial whose verdict was declared by Time Magazine to be “one of the Justice Department's most embarrassing legal setbacks since 9/11,” the American government has been resorting to legal ruses and an outright manipulation of the judicial system to keep the high-profile Palestinian-American professor Sami Al-Arian imprisoned indefinitely. Now, after five years of imprisonment under conditions condemned by Amnesty International as “gratuitously punitive,” Dr. Al-Arian could be sentenced any day to at least five more years. His case has been powerfully presented in this gripping YouTube video.

Nothing is more fun than listening to the US government try to deflect our attention away from the Saudis towards Iran as if Iran were the source of all that is scary.  Not that the Saudis are the source of all that is scary, but dagnabit if they don't give it all they got!  Those wacky Saudis.  Watch this exquistely painful interview with the head of a British Muslim school that uses books saying that all other religions are worthless, etc....  

There was a report being circulated via email in some circles titled "Reports from Muslim Women attacked by Hindu Terrorists".

The phrases "Hindu Terrorists" and "Hindu Terrorism" should not be any more acceptable to us than "Islamic Terrorist" or "Islamic Terrorism". These people are, very like our own right wing extremists, the product of a neo-conservative movement within Hinduism that, also like our own, has been formed and has grown in the last century or more. This is not all Hindus. One of the most interesting statistics, if you want to talk about Gujarat--and I have worked in and with organizations active on the issue of the Gujarat massacares, and that's what they were: massacares, not riots--is how many districts (counties we call them in this country) in Gujarat had genocide happen in them, and how many did not.

INTERNATIONAL 08.27.2006 Sunday - ISTANBUL 17:04
Retired Lt. Col. Suggests Middle East Map Dividing Turkey
By Foreign News Desk
Saturday, July 08, 2006
zaman.com

An article in the Armed Forces Journal, published in the United States, has suggested the Middle East map should be redrawn “according to the situation of the ethnic minorities.”

New map proposes changes in Pakistan, Middle East

By Anwar Iqbal
WASHINGTON, Aug 26: The US State Department has rejected suggestions that Washington is planning to redraft the boundaries of the greater Middle East, including Pakistan, along ethnic and religious lines.

The purported plan appeared recently in the US Armed Forces Journal along with two maps showing the new boundaries.

The article, by Ralph Peters, was the work of an individual and did not reflect the views of the US government, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

This photo was taken in 2004, near the Afghan-Tajik border.

I don't like flying very much. I have an overactive imagination, so I have a tendency to imagine nasty things happening: colliding with another plane during take-off or landing, the wings inexplicably falling off in mid-flight, the oxygen supply in the cabin failing, fire....

There was a time when I used to deal with my anxiety by Quran-reading. I'd take a small, pocket-sized Quran on board with me in my carry-on luggage, and quietly recite it during take-off and landing. That kept my mind busy, and calmed me down sufficiently to actually enjoy the flight, once we were actually airborne.

I found praying was calming too. I'd wait until most neighbouring passengers were asleep, if possible, so that it would be unlikely that someone else in the row would be wanting to get up for some reason.

That was then, but this is now.

Nowadays, praying can have you kicked off a plane---if you're a Muslim, that is.