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The Master General and the other friars stand inside Vatican square.
1) So, Fr Justin you are a Mercedarian Friar. Can you tell us about your apostolate in the Vicariate? How is this fulfilling your 4th vow?
I serve as Catholic chaplain of MetroHealth Medical Center, a large inner-city hospital in Cleveland, Ohio. MetroHealth is the "safety-net" hospital for Cuyahoga County, serving the needs of residents who otherwise lack access to healthcare. Serving as a chaplain in a healthcare setting allows me to live the fourth vow in a very concrete manner. Everyday I "visit" and seek to bring "redemption to those Christians who are in danger of losing their faith" because of their health problems.
2) What was the great experience that you have had over the past few weeks?
From 2 September to 22 September, I participated in the General Government's Continuing Formation Course. The course was held at the Istituto Maria Santissima Bambina right across St. Peter's Basilica. The course had 18 friars from about a dozen countries. Four language groups were represented.
3) What sort of programs/experiences did you have during your time in Rome?
I and the other friars explored Rome during our free time. We saw the sights of Rome. After the course was over, an Indian friar and I went to the Order's famous shrine on the island of Sardinia–Our Lady of Bonaria. We got to witness the universality of the Church by attending a Papal Audience. After the Papal Audience, people from around the world approached us to have their pictures taken with us.
Next Next post: Is there Any Greater Captivity than the Taking of Innocent Life?


text:
Prime Argument
My views on current affairs.
Sadhguru on Citizenship Amendment Act
Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev has given a lucid explanation on the noble motives of Citizenship Amendment Act in response to a question to him. He has urged the protesters to read and understand the act rather than fall for the malicious propaganda that has been going on over it.
His entire explanation can be seen here.
Unfortunately the same journalists who have been spreading misinformation on CAA have started questioning Sadhguru's statement as factually incorrect by nitpicking on irrelevant points rather than understanding the thrust of his argument.
I clear the air here and explain how Sadhguru is absolutely correct and those questioning him are engaging in dishonest journalism driven by prejudice and mala fide intent, which can also be gauged from the disrespectful tone and tenor of their statements against a respected religious figure like him.
1) The religion census of Pakistan was not released since 1998. There is no doubt that there has been drastic decline in percentage of Hindus in these Islamic countries. In West Pakistan the bulk of (>90%) Hindus reside on Sindh. Of which majority are in princely state of Amarkot which was a Hindu majority state which joined Pakistan after Independence. In rest of Pakistan Hindus have been nearly wiped out. Some people are nitpicking over the number of 23% as population of minorities in whole of Pakistan(East + West) at the time of independence, this figure may be accurate if one looks as pre- partition population before migration induced by partition. In fact in West Pakistan the percentage of Indian religions had reduced from 16% in 1901 to 1.68% in 1991. The thrust of Sadhguru's argument was correct that there is reduction due to persecution & violence.
2) Sadhguru cites an incident of his visit to Jwala Mata temple in Baku where he met a Hindu whose wife had been abducted, converted to Islam and married to someone else on same day. He mentioned in context of this incident that Pakistan did not recognize Hindu marriages which is why this man had no legal case to protect his wife. This was an incident in past not recent. In 2016 Sindh province passed a Hindu marriage act and in 2017 rest of the provinces got a Hindu marriage act. But this in no way changes what Sadhguru said. This is a clear case of persecution of Hindus in Pakistan. Even the current law of Pakistan is being criticized for its annulment clause which causes the marriage to be annulled if any spouse converts to Islam. This is a loophole that can be exploited to abduct and convert even married Hindu women. . There are several cases of abduction of Hindus girls reported from Pakistan.So Sadhguru's example of persecution of Hindus stands valid.
3) A propaganda is being spread that the Citizenship Amendment Act does not mention persecution hence it is not about religious persecution of minorities in Islamic countries in subcontinent. Fact is that in the statement of objects and reasons of the act it is clearly mentioned that religious persecution is the reason. There are associated government notifications on Passport Act and Foreigners Act of 2015 which clearly mention exemption based on religious persecution or fear of religious persecution. When there is overwhelming evidence of an obvious religious persecution based on state discrimination in these countries then such media propaganda is condemn able. Sadhguru in fact says that discrimination in these countries is state defined by law, because of the Islamic nature of these states. So he is again absolutely correct.
4) Sadhguru mentioned that police response has been relatively restrained compared to the kind of riots taking place. He is absolutely correct on this point. One need not go to far back in history just compare this with how 36 people were shot dead by Police after Baba Ram Rahim's followers rioted in Haryana in 2017. Now consider at the Police action in Jamia Milia Islamia university. Sadhguru mentioned that if students pelt stones then won't police enter the university to control the crowds. A lot of noise has been created in police action in Jamia Millia. It must be noted that even courts have not entertained such motivated arguments of police excesses. It is interesting to note that police has sought access to the CCTV footage from the University which has still not been provided to them. What's the justification for this denial? What is there to hide? Sadhguru is again correct in saying that police action was going to happen when there is rioting and even innocents will unfortunately get caught in this action.
5) Sadhguru is correct when he says that rumour are being spread that Muslims will lose their Citizenship because of CAA. This is a malicious propaganda that many people including students have fallen for. If they simply read the act they will know this is not the case. Thus act simply provides a faster path to citizenship to persecuted religious minorities from 3 Islamic states. Does not affect ant Indian citizen. Does not adversely affect anybody's case for seeking citizenship of India under existing process.
6) Sadhguru was asked about NRC so he responded with his views about it how every nation needs to know who its legal citizens are. It is obvious this is needed. He mentioned that for proving citizenship by birth several documents can be accepted. People are arguing they don't have documents. So he question who are these people who have no ID documents. How is it possible for people in this day and age to have no documentary proof. He further states that people who don't have documents can produce witnesses. The possible list of documents can clearly be deduced based in Assam NRC. Spokesperson of home ministry has recently tweeted that witnesses may be considered for illiterate people who don't have documents and a process around that be created. So Sadhguru's entire reply to the question on CAA-NRC is absolutely correct. Those trying to nitpick are dishonest and reflect the same kind or media propaganda journalism that has spread disinformation on CAA in the country.
at 14:43 No comments: Links to this post
Labels: Constitution, Democracy, Hinduism, India, Islam, Islamism, Justice, Laws, media, Political News, Religion, Secularism
Information War on Citizenship Act
In the past couple of weeks, the kind of reporting we have seen in Indian and in world media backed by several motivated academicians and politicians on the recent amendment to Indian's Citizenship Act, can only be described as an Information War, that has been unleashed on the Indian state. It is well known that the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party is seen as a right-wing nationalist party. In India it is seen as a party with primarily Hindu voter base. In international media it is often described as a Hindu nationalist party which in their eyes is a negative portrayal. The ideological opposition to BJP is well entrenched in the left leaning English media in India and also in similarly inclined western media. In general, western media has a negative view of India as a result of cold war dynamics of the past, but off late with the political rise of BJP in India, they have a particularly negative view about India under BJP government.
Various reasons can be attributed to this entrenched opinion. Political positions viewed as right wing are automatically disliked by self-described left liberal media. Influence of Christian evangelical organizations on western and even local Indian media is another factor, since these organizations see the BJP as a less conducive to their evangelical project in India. Similar motive can be attributed to media organizations under influence of Islamic evangelical organizations and Islamic countries. When such motivations are at play then its is almost impossible to expect reasonable analysis of events in India from these media organizations. Their criticism however is often cloaked in the language of liberalism, pluralism, women's rights, democratic values etc.
There is also a set of Indian urban population which has primarily grown cut off from the civilizational ethos of India under the influence of an education system that specializes in turning the mindset of people away from anything that is culturally Indian in general and Hindu in particular. There is a belief in this population that being less Indian, less Hindu is somehow being more modern. This population has long considered itself to be the guardian of "Indian secularism". A term which is as difficult to define if not more, than the term Hindutva or Hindu-ness which BJP espouses. In this scenario those who consider themselves anti-Hindutva also consider themselves to be the sole guardians of secularism in India. This group is most turned off by the "Hindu nationalist" image of BJP and views every action by BJP with suspicion. They are also most easily influenced by the western media being English speaking themselves. Many among them consider themselves global citizens who happen to hold an Indian passport.
This urban Indian population especially students of humanities discipline in Indian universities have been under influence of certain ideological groups namely Ambedkarites, extreme Marxist, Islamists and to a lesser degree evangelical Christian groups. The influence of last of these is most subtle since it is not explicitly in Christian fundamentalist terms in most Indian universities but instead in the language of western universalism. This student population has seen BJP as antitheses of what they understand should be the future direction of India. With rise of BJP and loss of political space in electoral democracy to these ideologies they have chosen to combine forces in campus politics by projecting their most extreme form on impressionable college students who are easier to mould towards these ideologies due to a fertile ground created by absence of civilizational knowledge and cultural awareness. In short due to a lack of emic perspective in the humanities education in India these students are most prone to be turned towards these ideologies that are often described as breaking India forces (read Breaking India by Rajiv Malhotra, Aravindan Neelakandan) since they see the cultural underpinnings of India and the mainstream culture as oppressive and worthy of being thrown out.
Some of the recent political decisions by the BJP government like the law banning Muslim practice of triple divorce, curb on foreign funding of Indian NGOs which either work for evangelical purposes or influencing Indian political process, the revocation of article 370 which gave a separate constitution to the J&K state and the judicial decision on Ayodhya Ram temple case which went in the favour of Hindus, left these ideological groups completely shattered. It was unexpected by them that these important issues on which they had staked their entire existence had gone out of their hands completely. They were confident that no Indian government will be able to change the constitutional status of J&K, that their case on Ayodhya Ram temple was undefeatable and that no government will be able to touch the Muslim personal laws. They considered these issues to be the touchstone of Indian secularism and set back on these issues hurt their cause greatly.
Under this back drop one must see another issue that these forces see as important which is the status of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in India. Whether you look at the liberal left, or the Islamist both see that inaction by GOI in the problem of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants is the happy state of affairs. No government in past had been able to deal with this problem even when there was a widespread movement in Assam to deal with this problem of forced demographic change in north eastern states especially Assam. One of the reasons for this inaction was the difficulty of dealing with this problem without also affecting the Bangladeshi Hindu population which had come to Indian since the 1971 genocide of Bengali Hindus. It is now well known that 80% of the 10 million refugees of the Bangladesh war that came to India were Hindus so were the approximately 3 million victims who were killed in East Pakistan by the Pakistani army. It would not be wrong to say that it was genocide particularly of Bangladeshi Hindus which is easy to see if one compares the census figures of Bangladesh from the pre and post war periods.
The recent change to the citizenship act which was done by the BJP can be seen as an attempt to solve this conundrum. How to protect the population of religious minorities from Bangladesh living in India from any legal action for deportation back to Bangladesh, where they are vulnerable, but at the same time be able to act on the illegal economic migration from Bangladesh, which has changed the demographics in North eastern states in particular, but has also led to creation of settlements of Bangladeshi populations in several cities in rest of India? This law which provides a faster path to Indian citizenship to religious minorities from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh and prevents their deportation on grounds of illegal entry or lack of valid documents of entry is a safety net to protect this population for any future state action against illegal economic migrants living in India. A vast majority of such migrants are Bangladeshi.
This distinction between refugees escaping religious persecution a majority of whom happen to be Hindus and the illegal economic immigrants a majority of whom happen to be Muslims does not go down well for the self-described liberal secularists in India. Thus, the Citizenship Amendment Act and the expected national register for citizens which would follow was seen as the final nail in the coffin of secularism by them. They first argued that the CAA is not permitted in Indian constitution which is secular. When it is pointed out that the same constitution permits special consideration to religious minorities when its comes to freedom of operating their educational and religious institutions which Hindus don't get, or how it is permitted for the state to provide special scholarships and run state funded educational institutions which provide reservations based on religion, how it can run a special minorities affairs ministry and can tolerate separate personal laws, these inconvenient questions are completely avoided by them. The question of legality of this law has been challenged by them in the courts, which has for now refused to stay the act and given the central government one month to respond to the objections.
Without waiting for the court decision to arrive they immediately cried foul of the motive of the government in bringing the CAA in conjunction with yet to be announced pan India National Register for Citizens. While their concern is that with the difficulty of Bangladeshi Hindu refugees being resolved by CAA the illegal Bangladeshi economic migrants now become vulnerable to state action in any future NRC, they chose to project the CAA and NRC exercise being somehow against Indian Muslims. Their weird argument was that Hindus and other religions except Muslims are protected by CAA safety net in any future NRC. Which is completely wrong since CAA is for foreign refugees not for Indian citizens. No Indian will ever choose to apply for naturalization using the CAA route just because his or her name is missed in any future NRC due to lack of any required documents. Naturalization is a longer process and will require clearance by intelligence agencies etc. If such an application is rejected that this person will be left in the lurch despite being an Indian citizen for several generations. It would be utterly foolish for an Indian national to do this rather than produce a community certificate or witnesses from the community in lieu of government issued ID. This was also clarified by spokesperson of the home ministry.
On this rumour that NRC+CAA combine will disenfranchise Indian Muslims in particular they ran a nation-wide campaign against CAA. In this media war the central government of India was projected as being of fascist intent that wishes to put Muslims in detention camps also called in some circles as concentration camps. Such absurd claims and hijacking of the movement by radical Islamists lead to large scale rioting in several urban centers of the country with higher concentration of Muslims. The international media outlets have carried front page articles, editorials and oped criticizing the Citizenship Amendment Act as a "Muslim ban". When the reality is that it simply provides a faster path and easier process for naturalization to persecuted religious minorities from 3 Islamic countries in the subcontinent. It does not take away any opportunity for anyone no matter what their background on seeking Indian citizenship by naturalization etc by the existing process. What they have described as an action being taken by India for the first time is also not correct. While there was no law as such, it has been the policy of GOI to give special consideration to religious minorities from Pakistan in particular for providing then Indian citizenship by registration or naturalization. It has been seen a commitment by post partition India to provide a refuge to people escaping the Islamic state created in India after partition. This was provided specifically to the non-Muslim communities coming from Pakistan. One is not able to fathom how the executive action remains in the realm of secularism even if favours a particular religion but a legislative action is suddenly a threat to the secular principles of the state.
Given the level of misinformation that is being spread on this issue in India as well as world over, one is struck by the vulnerability of the Indian state to information war of this kind. No matter how many clarifications are given by several quarters, whether state institutions or private individuals, the rumour and the fear mongering around it refuses to die. Riots and protests by university students against the CAA continue unabated. Several lives have been lost, corers of rupees of public property has been damaged and India's reputation abroad is tarnished in the campaign which has flimsy factual grounds. While one would have understood the academic disagreement on the approach or the legal questions raised on the Law which could have been discussed and resolved in rational manner, the irrational public outrage at display has every marking of an information war that the Indian state needs to better prepare itself for and be able to pre-empt and counter in future, through appropriate communication strategy. The grip of combined breaking India forces on Indian universities is also a cause for worry and the long-term security risk for India that needs to be solved by introducing the emic perspective in Humanities education and making it the mainstream perspective rather than the fringe perspective it currently is. It is only though giving primacy to civilizational knowledge systems in humanities education can this be done. Which is of course another battle ground for the "secularists" who will resist it at every level in the name of it being Hindu.
Labels: Civilization, Constitution, Defence, Democracy, Education, Elections, Evangelism, Hindutva, India, Islamism, Justice, Laws, media, Nationalism, Pakistan, Political News, Religion, Secularism, Supreme Court
We have witnessed a sea change in the approach of National Democratic Alliance government since the 2019 election towards addressing issues that have been long in the election manifesto of BJP, compared to the previous five years. Many people were expecting that 2019 general elections will produce a much reduced mandate in the backdrop of the state assembly results in Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Rajasthan which were held just before the general elections. But the mandate received by the NDA was much bigger than last term. We have seen that not just in Lok Sabha but also in Rajya Sabha NDA has been able to muster a majority with the help of parties which are not in formal alliance with BJP, like Biju Janata Dal and AIADMK.
With this stronger mandate from the people of the country, BJP has found itself in a position to implement the long held promises in its manifesto. We have seen the long awaited scrapping of Article 370 which was seen as unexpected in terms of the swiftness with which it was executed. While the dust had not yet settled on Article 370, NDA went ahead and addressed another difficult problem of what to do about the crores of refugees from neighbouring states who have been living stateless in India for decades. Since partition of India in 1947 and the further splitting of Pakistan in 1971 after a mass genocide of East Pakistan population by Pakistani Army and its supporting militias, an overwhelming majority of whom were Hindus, there have been several waves of immigration of religious minorities from Pakistan into India.
There is almost daily news on the persecution that religious minorities face in the self declared Islamic countries of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. There are hardly any Sikh and Hindu citizens left in Afghanistan since the advent of Taliban. The Population of religious minorities has seen a steady decline in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Even in the population which was left after the initial population exchange at the time of partition, there has been reduction of more than 50% among the Hindus in these countries. It is no body's case that religious minorities enjoy any semblance of religious freedom in these three Islamic countries. Abduction of Hindu, Sikh and Christian minor girls and forced conversion after marriage is a common occurrence in Pakistan's Sindh province where majority of Hindu population of Pakistan lives. In Bangladesh also restrictions on Durga Puja, destruction of temples and forced occupation of property of Hindus is very common. All these of these countries are constitutionally Islamic states which discriminates against religious minorities by Law.
Religious minorities from these three countries in the subcontinent are estimated to be close to 2 crores and are living in India stateless for decades. India has given citizenship to such refugees in past via executive orders. Some of these instances have been cited during the parliamentary debate over the citizenship amendment bill. While the refugees from Pakistan have been absorbed as citizens in batches, the most contentious issue has been about the twin problem of refugees and illegal economic immigration from Bangladesh. It is no body's case that the majority Muslims from these countries can claim state oppression based on religion. The qualitative difference has to be understood that while some citizens who happen to be Muslims may face oppression because of political activism or other reason but the religious minorities face discrimination by state and by the community in large simply for "existing".
Government of India has an obligation towards its citizens to secure its borders and keep a check on illegal immigration. However it is well known fact that over the years GOI has been terribly lax in this effort. Out borders are porous and movement of people and smuggling of goods takes place with impunity. This is a result of a weak state with lopsided priorities. The primary function of the state is internal and external security, but India's spending on this is woefully low. While the socialist welfare state spends its resources and energy in running inefficient loss making public sector companies in areas where the state should simple not operate like running airlines. As a result of this lack of attention wilful or otherwise the borders have been left unsecured and a huge population of illegal migration primarily from Bangladesh has resulting in change of demographics primarily in the norther eastern states, but also in several other parts of the country.
This gordian knot which is as complex as or perhaps even more complex than article 370 had to be cut and it has been cut by the twin actions of Citizenship Amendment Act(CAA) and the Nation wide register of citizens. This nation wide NRC is already part of the Citizenship Act which was added to the act in 2003 in article 14A of the act but it has not been implemented yet. The CAA 2019 essentially provides a one time amnesty to the illegal migrants who have been persecuted in these three Islamic countries in the subcontinent on the bases of their religion and form a minority population their. As has already been mentioned before there isn't much data required to be presented to prove this the religious census in these countries clearly establishes the dwindling populations of religious minorities there, in contrast with flourishing population of religious minorities in India. In fact the population of Hindus is in steady declined in India under the twin pressures of relatively slower birth rate and mostly unethical targeted religious conversion which is directed primarily towards the Hindu population. In Bangladesh in particular there has been large scale targeted persecution of Hindus. It has been established by other sources which I cite here 80% of the 10 million refugees who came to India in 1971 and 80% of estimated 3 million killed in the genocide perpetrated by Pakistan army in then East Pakistan were Hindus.
Under this backdrop of 71 genocide and the partition of the country on religious lines which left a number of religious minority populations in these Islamic states it was and continues to the be responsibility of Indian state to provide refuge to these people who were stuck on the wrong side of the border for no fault of theirs. While it is not in the interest of the Indic civilization that Indic population goes extinct in these states which were once flourishing centers of the civilization. But at the same time India cannot turn its back on these populations who have sought refuge in India and are living here as stateless and send them back to their source countries. There has been recent news of how 500 Hindus who were deported from Rajasthan to Pakistan were en-masse converted to Islam.
In treatment by the Indian state in grant of citizenship or otherwise they should not be considered at par with the illegal economic migrants. While both have entered India illegally one group has entered under threat of persecution based on religious lines and the other for economic benefit. It has been reported in 2014 that as much as 6% of the GDP of Bangladesh is the amount of remittance that the Bangladeshi workers send back home from India. They prefer India because of ease of entry and low cost of migration since they don't need to procure "Passport" etc to come to India. This number is four times of the remittance they receive from Saudi Arabia. This clearly points to the enormity of the problem of illegal immigration from Bangladesh and loss of employment opportunity to own population in the low end labour market of India.
CAA makes this clear distinction by giving these refugees twin guarantee that they would not be deported if they belong to 6 religious minority population of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh as defined in the Act and by reducing the wait time for their naturalization from 12 years to 6 years of aggregate period of stay in India. This is all that the act does it gives a fast track process for application of citizenship of India by registration or naturalization by these refugees and protection against deportation. It does not take away any right from any one else whether Indian Citizen or a foreign national applying for the citizenship of India or seeking asylum on any grounds. It has to be understood that the refugees need to apply for citizenship. So it is possible that their application may be rejected and they may be denied citizenship. But my interpretation of the CAA 2019 is that they will still enjoy protection from deportation if they belong to religious minorities from these 3 countries as defined in CAA 2019.
Many arguments have been made that this act is against secular principles. Claims are being made that it is unconstitutional. The fundamental logic that such arguments don't answer is that if Indian state can give special rights to religious minorities in India,w can it not give special rights to the religious minorities of these countries in the process of seeking citizenship of India. How can one act be secular but other cannot be secular. The definition of word secular it self is not very well defined. Indian state regularly interfears in the matter of religious activities of Hindus who happen to be national majority but not necessarily regional majority in every state of India. So I do not quite understand how this act fails the secularism test. The individual Muslims from Af-Pak and Bangladesh can still apply for Indian citizenship via the normal process. That right has not been denied to them, only a certain section of population from these countries has been given easier process as against the usually more complex process of acquiring Indian citizenship. Various aspects of the legality of this act have been mentioned by lawyers like Harish Salve.
Some people have argued that a combination of CAA and nation wide NRC is discriminatory towards Muslim Indian citizens since compared to say a Hindu who is rejected in NRC and a Muslim who is rejected in NRC the Hindu will not be expelled but a Muslim would. This is far from the truth and stems from incorrect understanding of Citizenship act and the process of naturalization after CAA and the process of national ID both of which are part of the Citizenship act. As has been explained by home minister several time the NRC process will not look at religion of a person at all. CAA will look at religion only for foreign nationals who apply for naturalization under the new process because of religious persecution in these 3 countries. It would be a weird argument to make that a Hindu who gets excluded in NRC will not be expelled if found to be a foreigner. Only a foreigner from these three countries will logically apply for naturalization under CAA. Why would a Hindu Indian citizen whose several generations have lived in the territory of India claim to be Pakistani and then claim persecution for claiming naturalization? Why would he risk his application being rejected and ending up being truly stateless? This logic is beyond belief. But this is the main argument made by the people who oppose CAA and protest on streets.
People are rioting, op-eds are being written, placard wielding students including law student are protesting over this supposedly unequal treatment that Muslims will get since they cannot claim this illegal way of getting citizenship by naturalization and a hypothetical hair brained Hindu can. Any such attempt will only make the case weaker for such a person and the process more complicated since it will trigger more scrutiny by Intelligence Bureau and may result in a rejection of claim when a perfectly legal way of resolving this issue of lack of documents could be found if not via the executive branch of the government then by approaching judiciary. IB director had told the JPC on Citizenship Amendment Bill that the immediate beneficiary of this act will be around 31,000 refugees who have already applied for citizenship based on religious persecution. But any future claim while not disallowed will require enhanced enquiry by both Internal and External Intelligence agencies of India.
Now that some groups have challenged the act in court we await the judgement of the Supreme court of India to see whether the Act stays as is, parts of it are struck down or all of it is struck down. But the series of violent riots that have taken place across the country and the student protest in certain colleges where they have blocked normal functioning of the colleges shows that these people are not in line with the principles of constitutional democracy and the duty of a citizen to remain peaceful during public demonstrations etc. These actions also amount to putting pressure on the courts which are hearing this matter currently. Such activities should be avoided and court should be allowed to make a judgement on all aspects of this law.
Labels: Afghanistan, Civilization, Constitution, Democracy, Hinduism, India, Islam, Islamism, Justice, Laws, media, Nationalism, Pakistan, Religion, Secularism, Supreme Court
C K Raju responds to Amir Aczel's claims
I recently came across a book by mathematician Late Amir Aczel "Finding Zero". In a book promotion talk he started by mocking that Indians claim the number system comes from India and Zero came from India. In particular he attacks Indian Physicist and Mathematician Mr C K Raju. Mr Raju has authored several book in the history and philosophy of Maths. Including Cultural Foundations Mathematics, Euclid and Jesus and more.
I wrote to Mr Raju if he would like to respond to Amir Aczel's claims. Here is the conversation with his response:
Mr Raju,
I have followed some of your work on de-colonization of Maths. In many of your talks you have mention that, most of the time western academia has chosen to ignore you.
I recently came across a work by mathematician Late Amir Aczel "Finding Zero".
He seems to have met you personally twice. In this talk regarding his book he starts by mentioning those encounters and mostly dismissing your arguments as lacking facts.
He quite literally slanders you with his 'audience wanted to throw eggs at you' remark.
He seems to be suggesting in his work that the Indian numerals and zero seems to come from east of India, based on his finding of a 7th century temple inscription in Cambodia.
Of course it is easy to see that he is confusing glyps with numbers themselves & does not address the origin of the Saka calendar, nor the origin of the script of inscription in Combodia.
But since he has directly slandered you, could you please respond with your side of the story.
He says, Raju claims "every thing comes from India, Einstein did not invent relativity it came from India, the theorems of Euclid and the Pythagorean theorem, all these theorems come from India, audience was about to throw eggs at him. He pretty much smashed western civilization, he said everything came from India."
He also mentions meeting you in Delhi for an hour where he says you made all sorts of claims without showing any evidence.
Since this is a direct attack on your credibility, would you like to respond. I would also like to carry your response on my Blog with your permission.
His talk from 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=r2EceFSXKy8&feature=youtube_ gdata_player
Mr C K Raju responds:
Response 1:
The West hasn't exactly ignored me: after all, as you perhaps know, Michael Atiyah the top Western mathematician repeatedly plagiarised my critique of Einstein! Likewise two goons from Manchester and Exeter serially plagiarised my work on the transmission of calculus.
Amir Aczel gave me a copy of the book a couple of years ago in Harvard Square, Boston. It has a big photo of me and a couple of pages, some of it clearly false, some of it intended to show that he was informed about zeroism. (Thanks for the video link but I haven't had time to see it, since I am excessively busy right now.) Shortly after that he died.
May respond in due course, but not right now. Western historians have been telling absurd lies for the last 1700 years, glorifying themselves and denigrating others, and there are more important lies to be destroyed.
Saw the video. I didn't know he was such a hopeless liar. This is irresponsible even as a joke.
It is very clearly on record (in my books Time: Towards a Consistent Theory and Eleven Pictures of Time, that I said that Poincare invented the special theory of relativity, and gave the idea of general relativity, the equations for which Hilbert wrote down. Most recently, I stated this in my TGA acceptance speech posted on my blog, and in the article on Einstein on my website.
As someone who has written a book on Einstein, Amir Aczel should have been familiar not only with my claims but their validity.
Since the facts are so clearly on record, and so easily accessible this is an example of how thoroughly dishonest and untrustworthy Western historians are, even when they seem to be saying something in favour of the non-West. They feel that to establish their credibility they must say something bad against the non-West, even if they have to invent it ("C. K. Raju said relativity came from India"). If this is how freely they distort easily accessible facts, you can imagine what all nonsense they say when the facts are in the remote past and not easily accessible.
BTW when I met him in Delhi, I also met his wife who works in MIT. This naturally led me to mention Noam Chomsky who he and his wife promptly attacked calling him a "self-hating Jew", and anti-Semite. (Both husband and wife were dual citizens of US and Israel.) It is true I was late for the meeting, but that was because I came from Malaysia the same day and the flight was late. At that time he set up the meeting since he badly wanted me to take him to Gwalior and get the gates of the temple opened for him to be able to see the Gwalior inscription on zero.
Sad that he mixed up some trivial truths (about my being late) so freely with such grave falsehood (about Einstein), even given his ethnic sympathy for Einstein.
PS. The audience did not throw eggs, during my lecture in UNSW, Australia, at the pendulum conference, the only one he attended. That invited lecture was published in the conference proceedings and also as follows.
C. K. Raju, "Time: what is it that it can be measured?" Science and Education, 15(6) (2006) 537–551. http://ckraju.net/papers/ckr_pendu_1_paper.pdf.
In my second lecture (see abstract at http://ckraju.net/papers/ckr_pendu_2.pdf) I did make the point that the continuum was not needed for the calculus, as it developed in India, and I very much stick to that today. It is an important argument for decolonisation of math. He deliberately overlooked the philosophical argument, in order to caricature the related historical claim as chauvinistic. But the philosophical argument stands, irrespective of the history. I don't think he was such a dud that he just failed to understand it.
PPS. He wanted to visit me in Malaysia, when he was in Cambodia, and when his book was attacked, and people pointed out that the Maya too used something like zero, he asked for my help.
Labels: De-colonization, Education, Mathematics, Science
Patrick French on Hindutva
Recently Patrick French was invited to CNN-IBN coverage of Indian multi-state elections. During the course of the debate in which Mr French's contribution was scant he made these statements regarding the the Congress Party.
"The thing that the BJP does get, that the Congress does not get, is that India now has dynamic electoral politics. A lot if it has to do with the fact that the average Indian is only 26 years old. You have got young voters who are willing to shift around and back the BJP and I think the big problem that the Congress has made ... is the Idea that we are secular and we are saving India from Fascism, and I think until this recognition that most of the people that you spoke to in UP who are voting for the BJP were not doing it for reasons of Hindutva. They were doing for reasons entirely separate from that"
Mins 41- 42
https://youtu.be/HBMqsQFTavA
Anybody with any sense of comprehension will conclude that Patrick has used Fascism and Hindutva interchangeably.
Congress accuses BJP of 'X'. It does not recognise that people are not voting the BJP for 'Y'. If he is not saying that X is same as Y then what is he trying to say here.
On my pointing out this fact to Patrick that he considers Hindutva to be Fascist ideology, he accused me of Xenophbia which I think was nothing but an excuse to avoid scrutiny.
I pointed another of his writings to him. His article in BBC. Published on 6 Dec 2012.
Viewpoint: How India moved on from Ayodhya
In this article he says.
writing a few months after the events in Ayodhya, the historian Sarvepalli Gopal feared "secularism would be strangled and India would be heading for a fascist take-over… The siege to the basic concepts on which free India has striven to build herself has become more intense"
To this he said to me that he only quoted Sarvepalli Gopal and then went on in the article rebutting him. But even in this article he does no draw any distinction between Fascism and Hindutva. Instead after quoting Mr Gopal he immediately says this.
"In the year following the demolition, there were reasons for fear.
Across the nation several thousand people, most of them Muslim, were killed in riots; a series of bombs exploded in Bombay (now Mumbai), orchestrated by a Dubai-based crime and terror mafia; and minorities (including Hindus in far-away Karachi) became the target of persecution."
I don't see any rebuttal in this. Instead I see another linkage drawn between fascism attributed to Mr Gopal and Hindutva which Patrick mentions in the context of Hindu identity politics.
"Back in 1992, two political impulses appeared to be on the rise: self-assertion by disadvantaged castes and the use of Hindu identity as a mass rallying cry for voters."
"Hindutva has faded away as a significant electoral force. There will always be vociferous people who believe that Hindus are a voiceless majority facing insidious persecution from "pseudo-secularists" - but their influence is declining"
Then he says "Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) politicians who are strongly associated with Hindutva, such as Lal Krishna Advani and Narendra Modi, now spend much of their time trying not to look like extremists."
I don't think there can be a clearer link drawn in one statement between Hindutva and Extremism and if you can comprehend the larger context of the article then the linkage with Fascism.
He then repeats the term Fascism. "Contrary to the fears expressed in 1992, the people of India show little sign of wanting either a religious state or a fascist take-over." Please note he says this again in the context of declining(in his view) political currency of Hindutva when he states "At the ballot box, Hindutva consistently plays badly."
So this is saying that Hindutva and Ramjanma bhoomi movement was a movement leading to religious state or fascist takeover.
So as I have shown Patrick french draws linkage between Hindutva and Fascism, never directly saying that Hindutva is Fascism in one sentence, but drawing a linkage with broad play of words, leaving no doubt in a readers mind that, Hindutva is an extremist ideology, is what Patrick is saying. Which of course, in his view has lost political currency, hence there is no fear of a fascist takeover any more.
The question is why have I gone through the trouble of explaining how Patrick makes these links. Whats wrong if he does and if that is his opinion? The reason why I went though the trouble of explaining this is because he denies that he draws any such linkage. He in fact claims that he has spoken against drawing such a linkage. When I point point out how he does he gets angry and accuses me of xenophbia and dishonesty. Well article from 2012 and the recent TV debate seems to suggest otherwise and readers will decide who is being dishonest and why.
If he says he never meant to draw a linkage then it is only fair to expect from him a clear statement on how Hindutva is different from Fascism. Is it still extremism in his view?
PS: Please be aware that I do not make any claim of knowing what Hindutva ideology is. I don't subscribe to it nor do I oppose it. But what I do understand about it is that it is clearly not fascism which is a supremacist ideology of exclusion of others. Hindutva as is being claimed by the proponent seems to be an ideology of assimilation. Is it by force is it by persuasion? I do not fully know hence I am so far neutral on it.
Also Ram Janma Bhoomi movement in my view was far more complex to be given a short thrift as 'hindu extremism'.
Labels: Hindutva, Patrick French
Mix with all other communities and not live in ghetto
Here I am publishing a recent interview I did with Yusuf Unjhawala (@yusufDFI). Yusuf is an out spoken critique of radicalization of youth in various Muslim communities in India, a voice of moderation and a proponent of equal rights for Muslim women. Yusuf is very active in social media. He has a large following of supporters and a long list of opponents too. Yusuf is also an influential voice in Indian social media on defence matters and is an administrator at www.defenceforumindia.com
In this interview I ask him some questions which were difficult in my view, but the ease with which he has answered them gives me confidence that these are not so difficult to be shied away from.
1) To start with, please share some background about you. We know that you are an editor at Defence Forum India and have also written for publications like Swarajya Magazine on defence matters. But your main occupation is your business. A family business I assume. How did India Defence Forum India happen? From where did your interest in defence matters begin?
Answer: First of all thank you for considering me worthy of an interview.
Yes I am a businessman by profession. Not surprising as I belong to the Dawoodi Bohra community which is a trading community. Although many have moved into professional courses. I myself am a Mechanical Engineer.
My interest in defence has been from school days. I wanted to join to armed forces but it was not to be. But interest in defence and strategic affairs always remained.
In 2009, the forum www.defenceforumindia.com was started as there was space for creating an outlet for young and old on issues of defence. Twitter and facebook had not caught on in a big way and forums were more structured and focused.
2) Commonly when people look at India they look at it in terms of its modern administrative units i.e. the states. Another way to define India is to look at it in terms of its various communities. These communities are spread across physical boundaries but may also consider a certain geography as the root of their sub-culture. You belong to one such community which has earned a lot of respect and good will in India. The Bohra Muslims. Could you tell us something about the community from your perspective? What has been the reason for the community having made such positive contribution to society and earned good will?
Answer: The Bohra community derives its theological doctrine from the Fatemids of Egypt. It belongs to the Shia sect and within Shiasm, its part of the Ismaili branch. Fatemid dynasty that ruled was a time when "Caliphate' and the political rule was one as per Ismailis. They ruled much of North Africa also known as Maghreb. From Egypt to Morocco and also parts of Middle East. At the end of the dynasty, the Imam went into seclusion and a post of vice-regent was established in Yemen called Dai commonly called Syedna.
They sent their missionaries to India and managed to convert people. So most Bohras are converts although normal migration and settlement would have happened from areas outside the current geography of India.
The Bohras got their name from Gujarati word vepaar meaning business. You will find Bohras all over the world. Bohras literacy rate is high both among boys and girls and that is probably why the Bohras stand out among other Muslim sects of India.
Bohras came into their own during the world wars especially the first. They supplied material for the British war effort and made a lot of money. Most of them had moved from their native villages in Gujarat to Bombay, Kolkata and later on to Chennai back then in search for their livelihood. Those who made this big money wanted to give back to the society and formed various trusts that ran schools, colleges, medical facilities etc. That they also got educated and the inherent docile nature of the Bohras have endeared them to everyone.
3) You have commented on some of the issues among the Bohra community. Like the issue of Female Genital Mutilation, recent influence of Arab culture and on the leadership of the community. What are some these issues that are subject of much debate and 'churn' in the community? What are your views on these?
Answer: Female Genital Mutilation or FGM has been prevalent in the Bohra community for centuries. One theory says that since the Bohras are a mercantile community with the men going on long tours in search of business opportunities, they got the women to undergo FGM to suppress their sexual desire. There hasn't been any debate within the community on this issue and years of what probably was a community or cultural practice acquired a religious color which has made sure that the topic will remain off the table of discussion. Also there was very little education on the subject for both the men and the women. The process is carried out by untrained elderly ladies of the community in utter secrecy on 6-7 year old girls. The girls have no clue as to what they have gone through.
All this has changed with the advent of social media which has exposed more people to the issue and there has been discussion within the community but its all hushed hushed. A few months back the Syedna cryptically announced that the process has divine sanction and must go on. This makes it difficult to even debate on the issue let alone get rid of it.
On the question of influence of Arab influence within the community, yes I have seen more use of Arabic words in sermons in the mosque. The Bohras are all Gujaratis and for a long time it was Gujarati which was the language of all communication. In the last few years, this has changed where a language called "Lisan-ud-Dawat' (Language of Missionary) has become widely used. It consists of Gujarati, Hindi, Persian and Arabic words but lot of Arabic words these days which common folks dont even understand. Bohras are told Arabic is the divine language as Gods revelations in Quran is in that language. Ordinary bohras don't know the language nor do they make any effort to learn it. It is only taught in the Bohra universities that trains the clergy. I must say that bohras still use Khuda Hafiz and not Allah Hafiz and Ramzan and not Ramadan which is finding traction among other Muslims in India.
About the churn, if you are hinting at the ongoing power struggle following the demise of the previous Syedna, then yes. It split the community. Most "seem" to be with the son of the previous Syedna, Mufaddal Saifuddin and has become the dominant faction and carries the Dawoodi Bohra tag. The other faction has been called the Qutbi bohras although its not they who have named themselves as such and still call themselves Dawoodi bohra and claim to be the successors of the previous Syedna. The case is in the court. A court order will not change allegiance of people as they stand today but its more to do with the enormous wealth that the ruling cleric commands which is at stake.
The dominant faction has been using all the tricks in the book to shore up or show numbers including use of smart cards to track attendance of community members on various occasions and events in the mosques and those who don't come are questioned.
4) You have actively commented on this phenomenon which is described as Islamism. How would you define it? What is this ideology and why is it a matter of concern?
Answer: In simple terms, Islamism is political Islam. The use of Islam for political goals which will result in worldwide Islamic rule or Caliphate. It's adherents espouse a puritanical way and want to live life as it existed during the Prophet's time. Non-muslims are called Kafirs and are expected to either convert or be dhimmis and pay protection money. This is what happened in the past and Islamists want to revive what they call the golden era of Islam when Muslims ruled large areas from Europe to India. It's a supremacist ideology which has no regard for other religions. They don't entertain any debate on their practices and can get very violent as we see in many parts of the world. They follow a very strict and extreme version of Sharia law and deny women equal rights. They conduct violent jihad against "Kafirs" and finding causes with the purpose to establish Islamic rule across the world.
It is a matter of concern as this has led to spiralling of terrorism. No country is safe. India off course has been at the receiving end of terror from Pakistan. Its a state sanctioned Jihad and Kashmir is only an excuse.
The other issue that India faces is radicalization of its own Muslim population due to the extensive use of social media by the extremists in propagating their ideology. We have seen many Muslim kids to to Syria and join ISIS. there is a rise in the extremist wahabi ideology which is funded by Saudi Arabia. The home ministry is cognizant of the fact that money has come into India to fund mosques and madarsas with preachers from outside coming in propagating an extreme version of Islam. That is why a few months back Prime Minister Modi called on Indian Muslims to fall back on the Sufi ways that has always flourished in India over the centuries.
5) By and large the Muslim communities in India have escaped this ideology and most people reject it. But one knows that there is active influence being exerted by some sections/forces. Who are these forces? How can the various Muslim communities escape this? What do they need to do to keep the young generation on a positive path of prosperity and positive contribution to society?
Answer: Muslim community in India has escaped it by and large as they are Indic in origin and followers of sufi ways. But like I mentioned earlier, there is a wahabi influence these days. Add to this vested political interests are making matters worse.How can we address this is one question, will we be allowed to address this is another considering the politics that's played around.
One thing that is certain is that Muslims need to get educated. Get into public schools and study in multi-cultural environment. It's not that it will stop radicalization as we have seen doctors and engineers conduct terror attacks but it will to a large extent get them out of the narrow world that they live in guided by their faith and be more aware, respectful and considerate of other faiths and cultures. It will take them away from the narrow minded clerics who shape their worldview and motivate them to question and demand answers regarding practices and issues within the community and in fact get onto the path of reforms within the community.
But will it be allowed to be addressed? History has shown that clerics and politicians will not allow reforms. Prominent example is the Shah Bano case in which Muslims forced PM Rajiv Gandhi to legislate against Supreme Court order that went in favor of Shah Bano for maintenance after her husband divorced her. Or take the ongoing debate on triple talaq where again a Muslim woman has sought a ban on the practice which doesn't exist even in Islamic countries but strongly backed by clerics and Muslim politicians in India. The problem is they quickly declare any attempts to correct the wrongs as a war on Islam. Makes it difficult to reform both by the courts or by the reform minded members of the community.
The government has to figure out a way to clip the wings of clerics from the personal lives of ordinary Muslims. Engage with the intellectuals and common Muslims alike and delegitimize the role of self appointed and self serving thekedars of Indian Muslims like the All India Muslim Personal Law Board. The supreme court has already called the issuance of fatwas as unconstitutional. We can go a bit further and legislate a limited role for clerics in the lives of Muslims to just leading the prayers.
Another thing that the government will have to take measures to stop provocative and radicalizing content that proliferates on social media.
6) Why do the influential people from various Muslim communities push Islamism under the carpet? Some don't like to use the term since it seems to in their view portray Islam itself in negative light.
Answer: I think the violent nature of Islamists prevents people from speaking up. We have seen what has happened to writers in Bangladesh who have been murdered. Then there is the use of blasphemy laws in Islamic countries which prevents people from speaking freely. In India too there are similar forces which scares people from raising their voices.
7) What do non-Muslims need to know about Islamism? How to single out this Ideology and separate it from wider Muslim religious traditions? How can non-Muslims positively address this?
Answer: I have already described what Islamism is all about. Thanks to internet and social media, there is awareness about it today.
I would also say that there are two parts to the issue. One that happens outside India and one that's within. There are different socio-political dynamics, i might add geo-political in the larger context.
In many cases what happens outside is applied to Indian Muslims which probably is not right. The situation in Europe for example is different & cannot be applied to India. Indian Muslims are ethnic of the country whereas there is a migratory,multi ethnic and multi cultural Muslim population in Europe & it has its own problems today with regards to integration with the rest. Indian Muslims are integrated into the larger population being of same ethnicity, language & Indic culture.
So there should not be any broad brushing of ordinary Indian Muslims who are culturally Hindustanis.
Then there is a geopolitical angle to Islamism in which the wahabi ideology is trying to penetrate across the world and use it to influence native policies. There is also a Shia-Sunni rivalry primarily stemming from Saudi-Iran power struggle. This led to propping and support of very violent groups of people in trying to achieve dominance.
Coming to Indian context, you have a few self styled Muslim leaders with political objectives indulging in competitive Islamism. Trying to push common Muslim population further into a more hardened form of Islam. This will only lead to further isolation of Muslims from the mainstream. Muslims as it is are at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder in the country. Isolation will only worsen the situation leading to more inward looking and greater chance of radicalization.
What the larger non Muslim community can do is to push Muslims into introspection by taking up various issues. The issue of Triple Talaq for instance or FGM has found support from wider population who agree that the practice is wrong and that rights of women need to be protected. This will emboldened Muslims to rise against such practices and break the wall or barrier that exists in not questioning.
8) Recently there have been some developments. Long after Shah Bano case now the case of triple talaq is in supreme court. There is also the case of entry of women in Haji Ali dargah sanctum. How are these being seen in the community? I would like to understand not just your view but that of the various Muslim communities.
Answer: Being from the Bohra community, I cannot speak on behalf of the larger Muslim community. But in this regards, Bohras are much better off. Women are allowed to pray in mosques & can go to any dargahs of Bohra saints or past Syednas and pray albeit there is clear separation of men and women within the premises. Also within the Bohra community there is no instant Talaq. It's difficult to get a divorce as all efforts are made to reconcile first.
But going by the reports and statements of clerics & some Muslim politicians, it's clear that they don't want to give women equal rights or their dues or give them a life of dignity. Recently Haji Ali dargah agreed to allow women in. So that is a welcome development. That there was a move to block women was surprising as women have been prominent in the spread of Sufism.
On the triple talaq issue, we now have comments from the Allahabad High Court which has observed that triple talaq is against the right of Muslim women and is unconstitutional. Justice Mushtaq in the Kerala High Court just a few days back said that justice has become elusive for Muslim women and the remedy lies in the codification of the divorce law. Justice Mushtaq went on to say that fear that uniform code on marriage will offend Sharia is a myth. The matter on triple talaq is also pending with the Supreme Court. The usual suspects who claim to represent Muslims are not expected to reform and keep harping on the keeping personal laws intact in the garb of right to religion. So it will need outside intervention by either the courts or the parliament to uphold individual rights which are violated in the name of religion.
9) What is the role of All India Muslim Personal Law board in Muslim life. How do people look at it? Who do they represent? What have been their positive contribution or otherwise?
Ans: the AIMPLB is an NGO which has assumed the role of being representative of all Muslims in India. Successive government indulgence and patronage has made it assume that. I don't know how many common folks even know about it. This has to stop. In this regard, the Allahabad HC comment comes at good time where it observed that "No personal law board is above constitution".
10) There is view among some Indians that India is an artificial creation, that became a nation due to British occupation and they unified India. There is another view, that sees India as a civilization state. Some would say constitution makes India some others would say it is the civilization that has made the state and the constitution. Some fear that using such a formulation excludes people who do not consider themselves to be part of the civilization. How do you think an average Muslim looks at this? Do they not find themselves from the same civilization? Do they find such an Idea threatening?
Ans: LOL. India or Bharatvarsh has existed for thousands of years. This idea that India was born in 1947 is false. Anyways that's a topic in its own.
But since you refer to what an average Muslim looks at it, let me state India known as Hind has been mentioned by the prophet in a positive manner. It's another matter that Pakis concocted a ghazwa hadith.
The Muslims of India as people are no different from any other citizen. They are converts to Islam but that doesn't mean they become unrooted from what they are.
But in recent years thanks to competitive Islamism & influx of radical version of Islam, the need to be different has come up. So women who till a few years back who wore saris, salwar kameez, are now wearing burqas. Men are growing long beards, wearing topi. Words that were very native to India are now being discarded in favor of Arabic.
Pakistanis who detached themselves from Indian roots in search for Arabic, Turkic identity, got into an identity crisis. Indian Muslims should guard against that. The clerics again play an important role in this regard as they are the ones who preach in mosques & teach in Madarasas.
11) What are your views on education for Muslim youth? Is modern education alone a solution to radicalization? After all Jinnah was educated in the west and he belonged to a community of Muslims who had a very composite culture. His mother's name was Mithibai. His Grandfather had converted to Khoja Islam and his family was a prosperous merchant family. All parameters and conditions seem to suggest the so called composite culture of India, yet we see an Islamist in him. What else could an intelligent man have seen except the current state of Islamism in Pakistan when he asked for it? Similar story exists for Iqbal.
What do you think Muslim families need to do and what should their non-Muslim neighbours do, so that youth do not turn to this ideology?
And: Yes Jinnah was a suited booted, pork eating, wine drinking Islamist who was seeking legacy. I mentioned earlier that some of the big terror attacks were carried out by doctors & engineers. So yes education alone doesn't guarantee move away from radical Islam.
But in general, education in math, science, social science, history etc in public schools is required for Muslims to be at par with other citizens of the country which will help them secure jobs and better lives for themselves. Mix with all other communities & not live in ghettos, indulge in exchange of ideas that broaden horizons which allows them to question ills within the community, break myths etc.
What non Muslims can do? Continue to be themselves as their ancestors were in being accommodating. All 180 million Muslims are not extremists or terrorists. Once you base everything on the presumption that all Muslims are potential terrorists, it will make it difficult to fight radical Islam.
The fight against radical Islam is not going to be easy. It's going to take generations to reform. Educating current & future generations of Muslims in secular schools, regulating what's taught in mosques & Madarasas will help develop the minds of Muslims away from radical ideas.
Labels: India, Islam, Islamism, Terrorism, Women
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Prime Argument is a blog about the most important current affairs issues in India and the world at large. In this blog I analyze the events and their impact on our lives. I present a point of view and try to make a compelling argument about how to interpret the events, an argument which I call Prime Argument.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


They put together the suspension trainer we will be installing in the Dojo. Some of you have already trained using this equipment and can vouch for its effectiveness and flexibility. Talk about portable!


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Five best app test tools, according to Info-Tech
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Published: July 21st, 2009
Info-Tech Research Group Ltd. has unveiled its top five automated performance testing tools with HP Inc. and IBM. Corp. leading the way.
For large enterprises, HP's newly released LoadRunner 9.5 can be considered a market leader, according to Howard Kiewe, senior research analyst with the London, Ont.-based consultancy. The product scored high marks for its solid integration with HP's Web-based load testing and monitoring application Performance Center, as well as its strong support for Web 2.0, rich Internet applications, Flex, and AJAX.
"HP is pretty much best of breed in this space, but it's the most costly solution," he said, noting that HP does not publicize its pricing details and has a reputation for being very expensive. Kiewe added that LoadRunner is Windows-dependent for test scripting, which is not advantageous for IT shops that work with other operating environments.
But while enterprises with less complex QA requirements might want to avoid the hefty price tag, the HP offering is the most comprehensive app testing tool on the market, according to Info-Tech.
IBM's enterprise level tool also ranks as a market leader, Kiewe said, especially as the need for automated Web and network-driven application performance testing tools grows. The company's IBM Rational Performance Tester 8 is based on the IBM Jazz platform and supports fully Web-based testing.
"That's going to be good for a shop doing Java-based development, because of its close ties to the Eclipse IDE (integrated development environment)," Kiewe said, adding that IBM's offering comes at a lower price point than the HP solution.
Other strengths include support for a variety of Web protocols and application types such as HTTP, SAP, Oracle and Citrix, as well as compatibility with Windows, Linux and z/OS. On the downside, Kiewe said, the tool is heavily focused on load testing, meaning QA shops might have to purchase additional tools to address other test types.
Rounding out Info-Tech's top five are Borland Software Corp.'s SilkPerformer, Micro Focus Ltd.'s QALoad, and Microsoft Corp.'s Visual Studio Team System 2008 Test Edition and Test Load Agent.
Despite its compatibility with platforms such as .NET and Java, integration with other vendor tools and useful tiered pricing option, the Borland offering is hindered by a cloud of uncertainty, Kiewe said.
"They are in the middle of acquisition talks with Micro Focus and another undisclosed company," he said. "They've also been bleeding money for years. Not because they've had bad products, but they've just had some difficulty executing at a business level."
Micro Focus, which acquired Compuware Corp.'s automated software testing business this year, received top marks from Info-Tech for its compatibility with multiple operating environments and a variety of Web and network-driven applications.
But, according to Info-Tech, it's involvement in the Borland deal probably means that IT shops should hold off on choosing either solution for a few months until the acquisition details become clear.
Microsoft's offering rounds out the top five, with high marks being given out for its strong integration with other Microsoft-based projects and its per-CPU virtual user licensing model.
"Microsoft is the most different offering in the batch in that it's really only worth considering if you're a Microsoft shop and you're already using Visual Studio," Kiewe said. "The level of integration that you get with the Visual Studio software development kit is one of the things that really make it standout for those people."
For organizations doing Web or Java development, the tool will probably not be as effective as the other offerings in the top five, he added.
But despite the vendor scorecard, Info-Tech advised organizations to establish their internal quality assurance processes before going on a shopping spree. Kiewe said that organizations often underestimate the complexity required to setup a performance testing program.
"There's a kind of overly optimistic desire that you just buy the tool and it's going to solve your performance problems," he said. "A tool is a way to facilitate a different type of work flow in development that will eventually lead to a faster and more stable piece of software."
Kiewe added that companies must first develop a clear QA strategy that focuses on defining your test processes and having the right people in place to lead those initiatives. This includes deciding on the right Software Development LifeCycle model and the primary application languages and platforms you want to develop on.
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A single contact person manages all of your project.
He is thus responsible for the implementation of the project team and strict monitoring of your clinical trial.
Design and drafting of documents of the study.
Review of monitoring visit reports.
Financial management of fees, the additional costs of investigating centers.
Distribution control of study and documentation material.
Contract preparation, negotiation of additional costs.


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Q: Java EJB @Asynchronous loop - How to know when all the calls are complete before moving on? I have this code in an ejb
for (PayrollEntry pe : payroll.getEntries()) {
    recalculatePayrollEntry(pe);
}

CalculateTotals(payroll);

which calls this async method
@Asynchronous
public void recalculatePayrollEntry(PayrollEntry pe) {
    // Calculate Payroll Entry;
    pe.setEarningsEntries(newEarnings);
}

What is the best way to wait until all those recalculations execute before calling CalcuateTotals?

A: I believe you can have your method return an AsyncResult which is a Future. The return type of the method should be Future
Collect all futures in a list, and then call .get() on each.

A: Instead of having your async method as void, return a Future (which represent an asynchronous calculation). Start up the jobs, collect all the futures, and then await their completion:
Future<?> recalculatePayrollEntry(PayrollEntry pe) {
    // Calculate Payroll Entry;
    pe.setEarningsEntries(newEarnings);
    return new AsyncResult<Object>(null); // just something symbolic
}

// Usage:
List<Future<?>> results = new ArrayList<>();
for (PayrollEntry pe : payroll.getEntries()) {
    results.add(recalculatePayrollEntry(pe));
}
for (Future<?> result : results){
    result.get(); // await completion
}

CalculateTotals(payroll);

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Army Medic Turned Murderer
Posted by terres on February 21, 2009
US soldier guilty of Iraq murder
BBC UK – Friday, 20 February 2009
A US soldier has been convicted of murder for his involvement in the killing of four Iraqis who were shot and dumped in a Baghdad canal in 2007.
Sgt Michael Leahy Jr had confessed to investigators that he shot an Iraqi in the back of the head from close range.
His lawyers argued that the stress of being in a conflict zone for so long meant he was unable to reason properly.
But a panel at a court martial in Vilseck, Germany, dismissed the claims and will decide Leahy's sentence later.
The 28-year-old army medic, from Lockport, Illinois, faces a maximum life term in jail and a dishonourable discharge from the army.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (July 5, 2007) – Commander of Multi-National Force – Iraq Gen. David Petraeus, U.S. Army, re-enlists more than 500 U.S. service members during a reenlistment, naturalization and Independence Day ceremony at the Al Faw palace in Baghdad, Iraq, on July 4, 2007. Photo by Staff Sgt. Jon Soucy, U.S. Army. [Photo not included in the BBC report.]
'Fear and madness'
The victims were a group of Iraqis who were detained briefly and questioned over an attack on a Baghdad military base.
Leahy was one of a group of soldiers who took detainees away after it was decided there was not enough evidence to charge them.
Blindfolded and gagged, the four were then shot and dumped in a canal.
During interrogation in January 2008, Leahy told military investigators he had shot an Iraqi in the back of the head with a pistol.
The Associated Press reported that a video of the questioning was played at his court-martial hearing in the US army's Rose Barracks earlier this week.
"The detainee I shot fell back on me," he was heard to say in the videotape.
His lawyer, Frank Spinner, argued that Leahy went along with the killings because he was dazed from a lack of sleep.
"The tragedy resulted not so much by design but rather the working of fear, danger and madness attendant on many combat operations," Mr Spinner said in his closing arguments.
But prosecuting lawyer Cpt Derrick Grace said the soldiers could not be allowed to claim that they were protecting themselves "from future harm".
Leahy was found guilty of murder and conspiracy to commit murder by the nine-person panel.
Several other soldiers also face charges for involvement in the same incident. Copyright BBC. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7902599.stm
"In October, another US soldier, Specialist Steven Ribordy, was sentenced to eight months in prison for his role in the killings as part of a plea deal." AFP said.
This entry was posted on February 21, 2009 at 2:39 am	and is filed under Army Medic, Cpt Derrick Grace, murder of Iraqis, Rose Barracks, U.S. Army. Tagged: Army Medic, Gen. David Petraeus, Michael Leahy Jr, plea bargain, Specialist Steven Ribordy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
2 Responses to "Army Medic Turned Murderer"
richard mensah said
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From Dubai said
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Sitting pretty in the much loved Ruskin Park House development, but moments from Denmark Hill Station, Ruskin Park and the amenities of Camberwell, you'll just love this super studio pad. Enjoying a sizeable studio room with beautiful bay window, separate kitchen, generous bathroom and cute private balcony, the property comes in good condition and enjoys plenty of storage too. The grounds are noted for their lush, leafy and wonderfully maintained communal areas. From your flat you can be on the platforms of Denmark Hill Station in 4 minutes for swift services to Victoria, London Bridge, Blackfriars, Shoreditch, Clapham and more.
Your shared entrance has a telephone entry system. The flat sits to the rear of the building with a peaceful aspect. Once inside you find a well arranged kitchen with side aspect Crittal window, breakfast bar, granite counters and a double ceramic sink. The bathroom invites you to the right to find a super roll top bath, loo, storage and large wash hand basin atop marble counter and further storage. We're loving the brass swan mixer tap! Your studio room stretches into the signature bow shaped bay window and has plenty of space for slumber, lounging and dining. A wall of fitted wardrobes on the left wall will hide all your whatnot. An original frosted Crittal framed door opens to the balcony from whence you can enjoy the long summer's evenings.
The location is a high point (in all senses) - a rather nice pocket of south Camberwell on the borders of East Dulwich. Denmark Hill station (Zone 2), in addition to London Overground services, will whisk you to London Bridge and Victoria and is within a 5 minute stroll. Ruskin Park House has a lovely community feel, with regular get-togethers for neighbours as well as a safe and quiet living environment. Ruskin Park is a 2 minute walk and Kings College and The Maudsley hospitals are walkable in under 10. You can get the weekly shop done in the Sainsbury's superstore on Dog Kennel Hill, just a minute away in the car. Or head down to Lordship Lane for more interesting shops and some fantastic foodie outlets. If you don't want to cook, you have the a multitude of cracking nearby pubs. The ever growing list of social and culinary pursuits of Camberwell are but a short ramble. We love the Camberwell Arms, The Hermit's Cave and The Crooked Well.


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Are you prepared for the IELTS? Then the first step is to register for the test.
Register by post / courier.
Print out or downloaded copy of the application form.
Two passport-sized photographs, less than six months old, and sign the back of each.
Photocopy of your current passport – this must be valid and not expired. (Some centers will accept a national identity card.).
Register for IELTS, before your college admission deadline. You can also see the cost of the test at your nearest centre in local currency on the IELTS website.
Check your requirement to appear for academic or general training test.
Read carefully the information, terms and conditions before submitting.
Make sure you have a valid postal address and use the same name as on your passport.
If you want your results to be sent automatically to a university or educational institution, include the correct details in the section on the IELTS Application Form.
IELTS application must be taken to your IELTS test centre along with the fees.
If you are sending the application by mail consent should be taken with your centre about the mode of payment.
On the day of the test- must bring in the original passport or national identity card that you mentioned as identity proof on the IELTS application form.
Online Registration: some of the centers provide online test registration facility for the candidates. Refer to the test centres section of the IELTS website for further information.
Once you have registered, the test center will confirm your IELTS test date, time and venue. Note: the speaking test can be taken up to 7 days before or after the test date.
Candidates in the USA can register here.


Thank goodness, one more day and we close the door to August. For me personally, it has been the roughest of months this whole year. However, as I look back on all the months this year, for the majority of them, I was glad to see them go. What a biologically rough year!! I suppose tho, thru the snot and the hacking, it has been equally illuminating.
I know that we don't usually look at this time of year in relationship to New Years, but it really does have the feel of New Years, maybe, New Life period is a better term. But, before we look ahead, lets look back and see what all brought us to here.
The last quarter of 2012, we were in the choice of choices of all collective lifetimes. We could stay back and play in the mundane world as it was or we could take a blind leap of faith and be the creators of Heaven on earth, more plainly stated, continue the acceleration of the ascension process.
This choice was given to every human on the planet, whether they realized how important a choice they were making, or not. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to look out the window into the vast landscape of life to see who made what choice, at least, as far as the public figures go.
2013 presented us with even more choices, as well leapt from one vibrational world to the other, what were we willing to let go of? Spirit showed us so many of the perks, but they are so pesky, when it comes to the hazards, they can really pull the curtains down on our knowing.
This letting go process was so huge, we had well over a year and a half to get it done. Letting go of old concepts, old relationships, old worn out feelings of unworthiness and the like. Many people experience life changing events, moves to new landscapes, new jobs, new loves, new abilities within themselves. And even all the new that arrived in 2013, we are being asked to thin out our garden once again. Make room for the new.
As 2013 picked up steam and we put a lot of new energy into our lives, new thoughts, new ways of being in life, the avalanche of new, never before energy on this earth plane started to be release with the last quarter of 2013. The acceleration began in earnest. Our bodies appeared to pay the highest price of these new energies as the cellular structure was forced into change. With each new release of energy, the stakes got higher. More thinning of lifes garden, more discarding of the old thought and ideas about life washing out from the brain, and god bless our bodies, even more heightened cellular change.
For me personally, 2013 thru this present moment felt more like hell inside the body than any version of heaven I might have held.
Thru it all, there have been the miracles we have created, the opportunities to really live life large, sudden onsets of spiritual abilities, more ways of focusing on the heart center instead of the outside window of chaos.
This two year period, from the last quarter of 2012 to this very moment, has the been largest, fastest acceleration of Life this plane of existence ever knew. And we survived it all!! Do not ever, not for a single moment, think you are weak. If you are walking and talking at this moment, you are stronger than you have ever given yourself credit for. Throw yourself a flippin party!! Cuz YOU MADE IT!! There is no turning back now. OK, maybe that is not the best phrase to use. There are some who are stepping back into a perceivable new life to tidy up old energy. Don't dilly dally there, it doesn't have to be a lifetime event, unless you choose it that way.
Then there are those, so stripped of everything that was/is their life and standing at the edge of the cliff, one foot off and jumping at opportunities that suddenly and even, seemingly out of the blue, are being presented.
I want to make clear as well, there is no ahead or behind in any of these scenarios. If you look at it as a wave of energy, you are in the position of this fast moving wave that you need to be in.
These three super moons we have lived thru, were truly pressure cookers on every level. Bringing up every last debris we had to release, some new ones we collected along the way, and prepared us with out new shiny and silky clothes.
We get one last look around thru September, then we solidify the choices (or non choices) and either move onto the next earth, much higher frequency than this current one, or hang out here until May of next year, when one of the cycles within cycles completes itself and new doorways open.
I am so excited to see what we have all produced together as we journey into September, and thank you dear god, on the other side of this last super moon.
I love you all so much, your rock my world on every conceivable level. Thank you for allowing me to understand and change myself, because of your desire to understand and change yourself!! We really are ONE!!
(((((((((((HUGZ)))))))))))))))) of new adventures and absolute bliss to ALL!!