TwoCircles.net - Indian Muslim news

Ready to talk to any group which shuns violence: PM
For Palestine, will history repeat itself?
Dhule police firing of May 6: Fact finding report
Bhopal gas verdict travesty of justice: environmental experts
Government deal with Union Carbide delayed trial: activists
IM ban ploy to harass Muslims: Ex-SIMI chief
Bihar ISc results: Firdaus Parween gets 5th rank in state
Balesar riot: Rajasthan Govt condemned for ‘punishing honest SP’
Bhopal gas tragedy verdict late: K.G. Balakrishnan
Eight held guilty for Bhopal gas tragedy, get two years in jail
Evidence against school principal in head-scarf row : court
Bhopal verdict a mockery of justice, say victims, activists
Shabnam resigns from NIC protesting Udhav’s entry
Bhopal Gas verdict: all 8 accused held guilty
Prohibitory orders ahead of Bhopal gas verdict Monday
Bhopal gas tragedy survivors await judgment with crossed fingers
Terrorism and Gandhian non-violence

Ready to talk to any group which shuns violence: PM

Posted: 07 Jun 2010 08:08 AM PDT

By TCN News,

New Delhi: In Kashmir, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh talked both local and national. If he talked about specific issues of Srinagar he also expressed his views on the bilateral relations between India and Pakistan. Today the PM was addressing the 5th Convocation ceremony of Sher-e-Kashmir University for Agriculture, Science and Technology in Srinagar.

For Palestine, will history repeat itself?

Posted: 07 Jun 2010 07:41 AM PDT

By M. Zajam, TwoCircles.net,

It is always stated that History repeats itself but we rarely get chance to see one. But boarding of Israeli commandos on Mavi Marmara full of peace activists bound for Gaza provided just that. In 1947, the ship SS Exodus carried Jewish emigrants, who had no legal immigration certificates, to Palestine. The British Royal Navy foiled this effort by boarding the vessel. This incident is considered very important in establishment of Jewish state.

Dhule police firing of May 6: Fact finding report

Posted: 07 Jun 2010 06:12 AM PDT

By TwoCircles.net Staff Correspondent,

The indiscriminate police firing on Muslims who were protesting against a poster depicting the image of Prophet Muhammad on May 6 in Dhule town of Maharashtra suggests that the police came with a pre-determined mind to 'teach a lesson' to Muslims. The community is still frightened as their members though appeared before the fact finding team requested anonymity.

Bhopal gas verdict travesty of justice: environmental experts

Posted: 07 Jun 2010 05:30 AM PDT

By IANS,

New Delhi : "Too little too late" and a "travesty/mockery of justice" is how environmentalists described the verdict in the Bhopal gas tragedy case announced Monday. The gas leak from the Union Carbide plant in 1984 had left 25,000 people dead.

A court in Bhopal Monday held eight accused guilty of criminal negligence in the world's worst industrial disaster and sentenced them to two years imprisonment.

Government deal with Union Carbide delayed trial: activists

Posted: 07 Jun 2010 05:28 AM PDT

By Rana Ajit, IANS,

New Delhi : A 1989 pact between the central government and Union Carbide, absolving the company of all criminal and civil liabilities of the December 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy, added to the delay in the trial in the case, said activists Monday.

IM ban ploy to harass Muslims: Ex-SIMI chief

Posted: 07 Jun 2010 04:34 AM PDT

By TwoCircles.net Staff Correspondent,

New Delhi: Since it was banned first time in September 2001, Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) has strongly contested every ban and its members the terror cases against them. As the government found its charges against SIMI very weak, a shadowy group called Indian Mujahideen has now been banned to continue harassment of Muslim youth, said ex-SIMI president Dr Shahid Badr.

Bihar ISc results: Firdaus Parween gets 5th rank in state

Posted: 07 Jun 2010 03:39 AM PDT

By TwoCircles.net Staff Correspondent,

Patna: Firdaus Parween from T P College in Madhepura is among top five rankers in the intermediate exam 2010 (science stream). The top five positions this year have been grabbed by girls with Shweta Rajani, a student of J D Women's College, Patna, securing the first position in the state with 425 aggregate marks.

Balesar riot: Rajasthan Govt condemned for ‘punishing honest SP’

Posted: 07 Jun 2010 03:19 AM PDT

By TCN News,

New Delhi: The Zakat Foundation of India has strongly reacted against the Rajasthan Government order whereby "an honest police superintendent has been called back to police headquarters for protecting Muslims from the rioters" in Balesar village of Jodhpur district. ZFI has sought intervention of Prime Minister and Home Minister.

Bhopal gas tragedy verdict late: K.G. Balakrishnan

Posted: 07 Jun 2010 02:46 AM PDT

By IANS,

New Delhi : The verdict on the Bhopal gas tragedy has "come late", National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) chairperson and former chief justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan said here Monday.

"The verdict on the Bhopal gas tragedy has come late," Balakrishnan, who took charge as NHRC head Monday, said at a press meet.

"I can't comment on the quantum of punishment. Inadequacy of a sentence is a ground for appeal and the aggrieved parties can appeal on the same ground," he added.

Eight held guilty for Bhopal gas tragedy, get two years in jail

Posted: 07 Jun 2010 02:45 AM PDT

By IANS,

Bhopal : More than 25 years after a gas leak from a Union Carbide plant killed an estimated 25,000 people here, a court Monday held eight accused guilty of criminal negligence in the world's worst industrial disaster and sentenced them to two years imprisonment.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs.100,000 on the eight, including Keshub Mahindra, who then headed the Union Carbide India Ltd (UCIL) from whose pesticide plant tonnes of lethal gas leaked on the night of Dec 2-3, 1984, killing thousands instantly and many more later.

Evidence against school principal in head-scarf row : court

Posted: 07 Jun 2010 02:23 AM PDT

By TwoCircles.net Staff Correspondent,

Alappuzha: The Alappuzha Chief Judicial Magistrate Court has found prime facie evidence against the school principal in the head-scarf row, according to reports. The court has ordered that a summons be sent to Mary Jaseenta, principal of the Believers Church English School, asking to be present in the court on July 31. The court was directly handling the case on the petition filed by the father of the Muslim girl who was thrown out of school for wearing a head-scarf.

Bhopal verdict a mockery of justice, say victims, activists

Posted: 07 Jun 2010 02:12 AM PDT

By IANS,

Bhopal : Victims and activists were Monday furious that eight officials of Union Carbide had been convicted for the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster only for criminal negligence, which is punishable with a maximum of two years jail, despite the enormity of the tragedy.

"Today's verdict is a disaster... they've made it look like a traffic accident," said Satinath Sarangi of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action, an NGO representing the survivors and an activist who has been involved with the victims since the 1984 disaster.

Shabnam resigns from NIC protesting Udhav’s entry

Posted: 07 Jun 2010 12:38 AM PDT

By TCN News,

New Delhi: Eminent civil rights activist and Member, National Integration Council (NIC), Shabnam Hashmi has resigned from the NIC protesting against the entry into the council of Shiv Sena leader and son of Bal Thackerary, Udhav Thackeray. Hashmi, who heads ANHAD NGO, has called Udhav's entry into NIC as "a cruel oxymoron."

In a her resignation letter to the Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram, Hashmi expresses surprise over the inclusion by the Prime Minister of a person whose whole life is based on "divisive and hate politics."

Bhopal Gas verdict: all 8 accused held guilty

Posted: 07 Jun 2010 12:03 AM PDT

By TwoCircles.net Staff Correspondent,

Bhopal: All 8 accused in the 1984 Bhopal Gas tragedy have been found guilty by a local court today, 25 years after the incident killed several thousand people, wounded thousands of others. The guilty include Warren Anderson, then Executive Chairman, Union Carbide USA.

The accused found guilty of criminal negligence by the court include top executives of Union Carbide, India including senior Indian businessman Keshub Mahindra, who was the chairman of the company when the incident happened.

Prohibitory orders ahead of Bhopal gas verdict Monday

Posted: 06 Jun 2010 10:03 PM PDT

By IANS,

Bhopal : Orders prohibiting gathering of four or more people have been clamped around the premises of the Bhopal district court, which will pronounce judgment in the Bhopal gas tragedy case Monday, officials said Sunday.

"The prohibitory orders - restricting gathering of more than four people at a place - would be in force from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday in a one kilometre radius around the district court to avoid

any untoward incident," Bhopal's Additional District Magistrate (ADM) Rajneesh Shrivastava told IANS.

Bhopal gas tragedy survivors await judgment with crossed fingers

Posted: 06 Jun 2010 09:54 PM PDT

By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net,

Bhopal: Over 25 years since the Bhopal gas tragedy, world's worst industrial disaster, the survivors along with NGOs working for them are sitting with fingers crossed on the eve of the court judgment announcement in the criminal case against the top officials of the Union Carbide from whose pesticide plant here tones of lethal gas leaked on the night of December 2-3, 1984, killing thousands instantly and thousands others over the years while maiming several thousand others.

Terrorism and Gandhian non-violence

Posted: 06 Jun 2010 09:51 PM PDT

By Asghar Ali Engineer,

The extreme violence the world is experiencing in 21st century is of bit different type – what world now calls it terrorist violence in the post-9/11 situation. In a way violence is violence by whatever name we call it. Wars until twentieth century were representative of aggressive invasions by some countries against the other, or some nations against other nations. However, terrorist violence has two characteristics: one, it is not frontal war (but not guerilla war either) and two, it is more of a reactive violence.