TwoCircles.net - Indian Muslim news

Massive Musim reservation conf, but no coverage in top Urdu dailies
Hyderabad reservation conf: Muslim leaders to launch national movement
Muslim MPs say reservation alone can help community
Spring brings blossoms and nostalgia in Kashmir
Over 32,000 widows, 97,000 orphans in Kashmir
Nawab Sikandar Begum's Hajj memoir
Congress opposes Kashmir bill curtailing women's rights
Bengal for equal rights for backward sections: Buddhadeb
No Oscar, but Pookutty still had a blast at awards

Massive Musim reservation conf, but no coverage in top Urdu dailies

Posted: 14 Mar 2010 08:10 AM PDT

By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net,

Hyderabad: Hatred, it seems, runs deeper than seen among Urdu dailies in Hyderabad. Yesterday there was a united conference on Muslim reservation attended by Muslim political and religious leaders of different views with several thousand people from several parts of Andhra Pradesh, but today there is no word about it in top Urdu dailies like Munsif and Siasat. MP Asaduddin Owaisi was the leading force behind the conference and he owns a growing Urdu daily Etemaad. But reasons may be many.

Hyderabad reservation conf: Muslim leaders to launch national movement

Posted: 14 Mar 2010 07:26 AM PDT

By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net,

Hyderabad: Yesterday evening witnessed history being written in Hyderabad when leaving behind political, sectarian and regional affiliations Muslim leaders as well as huge common masses assembled in the sprawling Darus Salaam compound to announce: We want reservation. Only this will undo injustice to us since Independence. It is our right. We will take it. At any cost. And we are united and one for it.

Muslim MPs say reservation alone can help community

Posted: 14 Mar 2010 03:12 AM PDT

By IANS,

Hyderabad : Four Muslim members of parliament have demanded 10 percent reservation for Muslims across the country as recommended by the Ranganath Mishra Commission and a sub-quota for Muslim women in the proposed 33 percent reservation for women in parliament and state assemblies.

The MPs, including three Rajya Sabha members who were suspended during the debate on the women's reservation bill, said reservation alone could improve the lot of Muslims and enable them to participate in the development process.

Spring brings blossoms and nostalgia in Kashmir

Posted: 14 Mar 2010 03:10 AM PDT

By F. Ahmed, IANS,

Srinagar : Spring brings memories flooding back in Kashmir, like it does the almond blossoms. In the heart of old Srinagar, Badamwari - the garden of almonds with its flowerladen trees - these days presents a mesmerising sight.

"I vividly remember the days when my father would take the family to Badamwari where music and mirth made you forget all your worries," said Ghulam Hassan Mir, 56, a local businessman.

Over 32,000 widows, 97,000 orphans in Kashmir

Posted: 13 Mar 2010 08:51 PM PST

By IANS,

Srinagar: There are over 32,000 widows and 97,000 orphaned children in violence-battered Jammu and Kashmir, a new study has found, suggesting that the unending conflict in the border state has only made things worse for the vulnerable sections of society.

"There were 32,400 widows and 97,200 orphans in 2008 in Kashmir and the number is growing. With the continuity and intensification of armed conflict, their life conditions have deteriorated to miserable sub-human levels," says the study conducted by valley-based known sociologist Bashir Ahmed Dabla.

Nawab Sikandar Begum's Hajj memoir

Posted: 13 Mar 2010 07:57 PM PST

Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam and for over fourteen hundred years a journey of a lifetime for millions of Muslims living in different corners of the world. These hajis returned to their homelands to tell a tale of physical and spiritual journey of extraordinary proportions. Hajj is obligatory for every Muslim man and woman who are able to undertake this journey. A large number of Muslim women from India made this pious trip but one of the first to write an account of her hajj journey was Nawab Sikandar Begum of Bhopal.

Congress opposes Kashmir bill curtailing women's rights

Posted: 13 Mar 2010 10:48 AM PST

By IANS,

Jammu: The Congress has decided to oppose a bill moved earlier this week in the upper house of the state legislature depriving women of their citizenship rights if they marry non-permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir.

"This piece of legislation will never be supported by the party within or outside of the legislature," said a senior Congress minister in the coalition government of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.

The Permanent Resident (Disqualification) Bill moved March 8 by Murtaza Khan of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Bengal for equal rights for backward sections: Buddhadeb

Posted: 13 Mar 2010 10:27 AM PST

By IANS,

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee Saturday said his government would work towards ensuring equal rights for the socially and economically backward sections - including Muslims - in the state.

"We can only progress if we can provide equal rights to the economically and socially backward sections of our society. We have to provide facilities so that the poor and minority communities can also come forward and get proper education," Bhattacherjee said while addressing a programme in Nadia district, more than 100 km north of Kolkata.

No Oscar, but Pookutty still had a blast at awards

Posted: 13 Mar 2010 10:07 AM PST

By Subhash K. Jha, IANS,

Mumbai: He wasn't nominated for the Oscars this time, but Academy Award winner Resul Pookutty struck a deal for his second major international film after "Slumdog Millionnaire" and met one of his idols, Quentin Tarantino, while he was in the US to attended the awards ceremony.