A warning to India

Neil Berry’s article, “Lifting the lid on UK’s Israel lobby” (Nov. 20) is yet another shocking disclosure about the extent of the Israeli/Zionist grip on the political parties in major countries around the world. It is like an octopus with powerful tentacles spread all over.

For all of their chest pounding about democracy and human rights vis-à-vis foreign countries, many Western governments are vassals of the worldwide Zionist lobby and cater only to the whims of that entity. The US has been known to be under the influence of that group for a long time and now the revelation about Britain has come to light. It is also present in France, Canada, Germany, Italy and some others.

Of late, Israelis are courting the Indians. India is an emerging power. It has an ongoing rift with Muslims over Kashmir. Added to this is the perceived decline in US power. It would not be surprising to see a new chapter (an Indian one) of the Israeli lobby taking roots, supported by their international financiers.

Well, if that happens I can only pity poor India, which like a new rich kid might fall prey to the international crooks on the loose and spend itself out of existence, like the US.

Rahmatoola Rujeedawa, By e-mail published 21 November 2009

A Saudia experience

Last week my father was supposed to travel to Lahore by a 4:50 a.m. Saudia flight. We were at the Riyadh airport at 1:45 a.m. My father had made the booking in July and the seat was confirmed. But the Saudia staff made us wait from 2 a.m. till 5 a.m. only to tell us that my father can’t travel because the flight was overbooked. 31 other passengers also had to return — dejected and disappointed.

Passengers being asked to pay the price for overbooking done by the airline or some travel agencies. What a good system!

Ehsan, By e-mail published 21 November 2009

What is our mistake?

Pakistan is facing instability and the enemies are taking advantage of the situation. More than 60 years after India and Pakistan parted ways, there is hardly a soul who is ready to forget the past and make the first move toward friendship. Both of them are finding ways to look down on each other. Until this goes on, no one can expect peace in the subcontinent. We will have to start a new beginning. Only this way we can achieve progress or else this “behind— the-back” war will go on and others will continue taking advantage of our mistakes and we will be left behind playing “blame games”.

Abeer Kamal, By e-mail published 21 November 2009

Lashing

This refers to Khalid Alnowaiser’s article, “Lashing in the 21st century” (Nov. 19).

Contrary to what Alnowaiser says, I think lashing is an appropriate punishment as it serves as a real deterrent. All the other punishments suggested by the author will be like joining a picnic party and will not instill fear in the minds of would-be offenders.

The international community favors prison terms, but it does not really help anyone. In fact they only make criminals more dangerous. Not only do they learn more tricks from like-minded individuals but also get an opportunity to network with them.

Mansoor Ansari, By e-mail published 21 November 2009

Lashing 2

How is lashing going to correct mistakes and help the criminals get back into society as good citizens? Look at Canada; they have mastered the art of correction and get even murderers back into society to live a good life. It is high time the Saudi judges took the challenge and encouraged probation, corrected the mistakes and put the criminals back into society. I think the criminals or offenders should be given another opportunity to live a decent life!

Riaz Wahid, Jersey City, US published 21 November 2009

Niqab and beauty

There has been an exchange of letters about niqab in these columns.

The Holy Qur’an tells us that a woman must cover her beauty, and as we all know, the face is 80 percent of a woman’s beauty! So if face is left uncovered, it can lead to many undesirable things.

Um Tamim Muhammad, By e-mail published 21 November 2009

Vande Mataram

I agree with Aijaz Zaka Syed’s stance on the Vande Mataram controversy (Nov. 13). The current furor created by some Islamic scholars at the Deoband by issuing a fatwa on Vande Mataram has only given an opportunity to some people and political parties in India to set yet another parameter for Indian Muslims to prove their patriotism. The fatwa, issued at the Deoband national convention meet, says that Muslims should not sing Vande Mataram as some verses of the song are against the tenets of Islam. Most of us are ignorant of the actual words of the song.

So vice president of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, Maulana Kalbe Sadiq, called for a debate among Hindi litterateurs to define the word “vande” used in the song which forms the basis on which it has been termed as being against Islam. Muslims shouldn’t have any objections to the lines that praise our motherland, but to the ones, which says to bow down to it. It is not only Muslims who have expressed themselves against some verses of the song.

The Shiromani Gurudwara Parbhandak Committee (SGPC) of Sikhs has expressed concern about imposing a song that is bound to hurt the sentiments of Muslims, Sikhs, Christians and other religious minorities. As far as the dictate issued by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) hard-liners are concerned, they only want to disrupt the social fabric of the nation by dividing people on the lines of language, religion, culture and color.

I think the Muslim scholars at Deoband missed a great opportunity by not pressuring the Indian home minister to go for the implementation of Sachar Committee recommendation to improve the conditions of Muslims and help them join the mainstream.

Mohammad Imran, Jeddah published 21 November 2009

Vande Mataram 2

Some people are using Vande Mataram as a podium to show an unacceptable facet of India, at a time when the country is about to become a superpower (military as well as economic).

Those who profess themselves to be the leaders of the people are still not aware that the Indian masses have come of age and cannot be fooled in the name of religion or politics. This is clearly evident from the fact that even Muslims have not supported this fatwa against Vande Mataram blindly, nor do the rest have made it a Hindu-Muslim issue.

At a time when the Indian electorate (remember India has a Hindu majority) has totally ousted the BJP (claiming to be the representatives of the Hindus) from the national scene, which means that the Hindus on the whole have shown their solidarity with the Christians and the Muslims when it comes to deciding the future of the country, the Muslim leaders should have displayed more caution and intelligence by rejecting the bait offered by the BJP-ruled states in the form of Vande Mataram, than by falling a prey to it and unnecessarily dragging the Muslim community for a confrontation with the majority on a issue of no importance.

M.J. Akbar in one of his columns rightly said that “Indian Muslims don’t need iftar parties from the government but jobs”. Similarly, Muslim leaders should work for the prosperity of the masses and not waste time trying to identify whether a song is Islamic or not.

Those who issued this fatwa would have done a commendable job had they shown the wisdom to educate the Muslims on this issue privately, and given them the option to sing or not to sing, thereby avoiding unnecessary controversy.

Noel Frank, Jeddah published 21 November 2009

Traffic accidents

According to some letters appearing in these columns, Saudi Arabia tops in the number of deaths from road accidents. One reader (Nov. 16) blamed young Saudis for the majority of accidents due to speeding and violation of rules. The Traffic Police Department is trying their best to control violation of traffic rules and minimize the number of accidents. There is regular road patrolling, they maintain control on traffic signals, and observe the flow of traffic in peak hours. Something more needs to be done.

No vehicle should be allowed to ignore signals. Overtaking and speeding should be controlled, especially on crowded roads. To avoid road accidents on highways as well as on city roads, Traffic Police Department should be stricter in implementing rules including issue of tickets to erring drivers.

Taskeen A. Siddiqui, Dammam published 21 November 2009