Swiss concerned with potential backlash in Muslim markets

Johann Schneider-Ammann

21 March 2012 / ABDULLAH BOZKURT , ANKARA

Switzerland’s economy minister said on Wednesday that the Swiss government is concerned with a possible boycott of Swiss products overseas because xenophobic tendencies have found more ground in the wealthy European country.

Answering Today’s Zaman’s question in a written interview before boarding a plane to Ankara for an official visit on Thursday, Johann Schneider-Ammann, the Swiss head of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, said: “This is a big concern for my government. The key to solving this issue is dialogue; dialogue with Muslim communities in Switzerland and, on the international level, dialogue with Muslim countries.”
Switzerland received criticism for its approval of a ban against the construction of new minarets in a plebiscite three years ago. Earlier this month, the country’s National Council rejected a motion to ban wearing burqas by the anti-minaret camp, the so-called Egerkinger Committee, who believe that the rejection ignores the majority of Swiss who are openly against the “Islamization” of Switzerland.
Schneider-Ammann emphasized the necessity of better dialogue between various communities living together in Switzerland. “This means explaining the situation and the policies adopted by the government, as well as supporting and promoting mutual understanding. Dialogue also allows for solutions to problems associated with living together. Coexistence among people from different cultural background always and everywhere causes problems,” he said. “I strongly believe that problems are not caused by xenophobic or Islamophobic attitudes of the people,” added Schneider-Ammann. The minister also noted that “foreigners are well-integrated in Switzerland. This is particularly true for the approximately 100,000 Turks living and working here.”
Turkey and Switzerland had a total trade volume of some $6.5 billion, but it is highly unbalanced since Swiss exports to Turkey account for slightly more than $5 billion of that. However, there is also a considerable level of Swiss investments in Turkey. Some 600 Swiss companies employ more than 15,000 people in the fields of machinery, pharmaceuticals, chemicals production and the financial sector in Turkey, Schneider-Ammann noted in the interview, adding that around 300,000 Swiss tourists visit Turkey every year.
The minister said there is a potential for the growth in commercial relations between the two countries. And he added that “Turkey, with its economic dynamism, has become a priority country for Swiss foreign economic policy.” The Turkish economy has grown by more than five percent on average each year for the past decade.

www.sundayszaman.com

UP 2012: An analysis of Muslim-led political parties

Before every Assembly or Parliamentry election in Uttar Pradesh, there are always lots of activities eyeing the all important “Muslim vote bank.” Whatever may be the reality of this vote bank but none of the Muslim-led political party had much success in UP in the past except of course Muslim Majlis of Dr. Faridi that was able to win some seats in 1960s and 1970s.
History has not prevented Muslims from trying their luck time and again. In the just-concluded UP election a number of political parties were in the fray that can be called as “Muslim-led” parties- Peace Party (PPI), Rashtriya Ulama Council (RUC), Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), and Welfare Party (WPI). Strong showing in the last Lok Sabha and by-elections by both PPI and RUC added to the excitement.
There were a number of political parties that can fall under the category of Muslim-led party, e.g. Ittehad-e-Millat Council (IMC) of Tauqeer Raza, Qaumi Ekta Dal of Afzal Ansari, National Loktantrik Party of Arshad Khan and old players like Muslim Majlis and three different flavors of Muslim Leauge -Indian Union Muslim (IUML), Muslim League Kerala State Committee, and Akhil Bharatiya Muslim League (Secular).
RUC candidate Bhupendra Singh came third in Didarganj constituency polling 34,174 votes. His was the best performance for the Council. [TCN Photo]


Peace Party won four seats; three of those returned Muslim candidates. Qaumi Ekta Dal won two seats and IMC won one seat in this election. Rashtriya Ulama Council (RUC) drew a blank with none of their 63 candidates with any fighting chance.

Rashtriya Ulama Council (RUC) with a clearly identifiable Muslim name and Muslim religious leadership and Peace Party of India (PPI) with an English name and headed by a famous surgeon and businessman Dr. Ayub present a contrasting image of a “Muslim party.” I decided to dig deep into the election results of these two parties not only because of their different entry points into politics but also because they put up a large number of candidates making a data analysis worthwhile exercise.
Candidates
RUC put up 63 candidates of which 26 (41%) were Muslims while 37 (59%) were non-Muslims. 61 (29%) of the 208 PPI candidates were Muslims while 147 non-Muslims candidates made up 71% of their candidates. It is quite surprising that even those parties that are labeled as “Muslim parties” have given majority of their tickets to non-Muslim candidates. In fact presence of non-Muslim candidates is common to almost all parties such as SDPI, WPI, IMC, and even Muslim League. This suggests that leaderships of these parties are aware of the political dynamics of India and that their growth is not possible by appealing to just Muslim voters. This is visible in their campaign as well, where the language is secular and political rather than Islamic or religious in nature even when appealing to Muslim voters.

Votes
Spectacular failure of the RUC resulted in their 63 candidates polling only 154884 votes which gives them 0.21% share of the total votes polled in UP 2012 elections. Peace Party put up three times more candidates than RUC which helped it poll 1784861 votes or 2.4% of the total votes, a respectable number.
But it is not just the increased number of candidates that helped PPI but rather their candidates performed much better than RUC. On an average they polled in over 8500 votes while RUC candidates could barely manage 2500 votes/candidate.
Another interesting revelation is that though 41% of RUC candidates were Muslims when it comes to votes polled, only 30% of total RUC votes went into their Muslim candidate accounts. Muslims, that were 29% of PPI candidates, polled 27.5% of total PPI votes.
Conclusion
“Muslim political parties” were Muslims only when it came to their top leadership otherwise their campaign, candidates, and strategy was no different than other parties though they may have issued more statements on Muslim-centric issues. They didn’t hesitate in giving tickets to non-Muslims and these candidates didn’t disappoint their parties either. Having a non-Muslim candidate added on average as much as 760 (for PPI) to 1140 votes (for RUC) per ticket. But if one considers position of the candidate in the final tally for each constituency then non-Muslim candidate didn’t perform any better than Muslim candidates. Frequency distribution plot of positions for Muslims and non-Muslim candidates follow similar path for both parties.
An election that returned 68 Muslims to the UP assembly, a record when it comes to Muslim political representation in the state, also showed a mixed result when it comes to the Muslim-political party experiment. The increase in the number of Muslim-led party clearly shows the disenchantment with the major political parties. If national and regional parties fail to take anything more than symbolic steps for Muslims then this experiment will continue to grow and may even yield results. 

Courtsey:-Two Circle Dot Com

Rs 2 lakh crore Wakf land scam surfaces in Karnataka

New Delhi: A scam that threatens to be bigger than the 2G scam has emerged from Karnataka, promising to bring more trouble for the Congress. The State Minorities Commission has found that over 22 thousand properties owned by the Wakf Board was illegally encroached and sold over the last decade.

The estimated loss to the exchequer is estimated to be around Rs 2 lakh crore.

The Chairperson of the State Minorities Commission, Anwar Manippady told CNN-IBN that a few top politicians were also involved in the scam. Sources say the Commission's report has named 38 Congress leaders.

The 7,500 page report was submitted to Chief Minister DV Sadananda Gowda on Monday. Reports say it may be tabled in the state Assembly in a day or two.

The report states that the Wakf Board functionaries helped transfer the land to private individuals and institutions over the last 11 years.

It also states that 85 per cent of Wakf board properties that were misused are in Bangalore alone.

Four looses life in Toulouse Jewish school attack in France

journalist Christopher Bockman says Toulouse is "in lockdown" as police hunt the gunmanContinue reading the main storyRelated StoriesFrance killings spark uniform banSoldiers shot dead in French townA gunman on a scooter has opened fire on a Jewish school in the French city of Toulouse, killing three children and an adult, police say.At least two people were also injured in the attack outside the Ozar Hatorah school in the north-east of the city.Police say there are similarities with the killings of three soldiers in two separate incidents the same part of France last week.All three - of North African origin - were shot by a man on a scooter.A paratrooper out of uniform was gunned down in a residential area of Toulouse just over a week ago, while two soldiers were killed and a third wounded as they used a cashpoint in the town of Montauban, some 29 miles (46km) away, on Thursday.President Nicolas Sarkozy, his education minister and interior minister are travelling to Toulouse, in south-west France, following the school attack.The grand rabbi of France, Gilles Bernheim, who is also on his way to the city, said he was "horrified" and "stunned" by what had happened.Israel also said it was horrified, adding that it trusted the French authorities "to shed full light on this tragedy and bring the perpetrators to justice".'Shot at everything'Monday's attack happened as children and their parents were arriving at the Ozar Hatorah school, in the Joliment area of the city, for the start of the school day.The Toulouse-based La Depeche newspaper said the shooting took place at the drop-off point for the nursery- and primary-age children of the school.It said the killer was armed with two weapons, one of which was the same calibre weapon as that fired in the attack on the paratroopers in Montauban."He shot at everything he could see, children and adults, and some children were chased into the school," local prosecutor Michel Valet told journalists, adding that three children were among four dead, with one seriously wounded.A school teacher is widely reported to have been killed. The AFP news agency says the dead children were aged 10, six and three.A freelance journalist in Toulouse, Christopher Bockman, told the BBC the city was in lockdown as police hunt the killer.Some 60 police officers, including anti-terrorist specialists, had already been drafted in to help investigate the attacks on the soldiers.They had been looking for a gunman who was targeting soldiers, the BBC's Christian Fraser in Paris says.But if the latest attack does prove to be linked, then it suggests the pattern has changed and, if so, police are looking for a dangerous serial killer, our correspondent adds.

Online Content That Government Requested to Remove From Internet

Politician Blasted for Support of Islamic Law

DPA

Muslims praying in a mosque in Berlin.

Does Sharia have a place in Germany? The interior minister of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate thinks it could, particularly in civil cases relating to marriage and divorce. But criticism of his comments has been fierce.

Most politicians in Germany have gotten the message: The quickest way to spark a career-damaging controversy is to make a facile comment about Nazis or the Holocaust. Media critics and political opponents are quick to pounce.

But that isn't the only way to attract unwanted attention, as Jochen Hartloff, the interior minister of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, found out this week. In an interview with the Berlin tabloid BZ, Hartloff said that Sharia law, in a "modern form," would be acceptable in Germany. In comments published on Friday in the center-left daily Süddeutsche Zeitung, he added that Islamic moral code "is certainly conceivable when it comes to questions pertaining to civil law."

Hartloff, a politician from the center-left Social Democrats, made clear that he was referring specifically to family law issues such as divorce settlements and alimony, but also certain instances of contract law in which devout Muslims seek to avoid paying interest. Applying Sharia rules, he said, could help avoid hostility in such cases.

Reaction, perhaps predictably, has not been entirely supportive. Jörg-Uwe Hahn, the justice minister in the state of Hesse, lambasted Hartloff, telling the mass-circulation tabloid Bild that "German courts are here responsible for the law. We don't need special Islamic courts."

Serving the Cause of Integration

He was seconded by Stephan Mayer, a parliamentarian for the Christian Social Union, the Bavarian sister party to Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats. Mayer, a legal expert, demanded Hartloff's resignation. "It is inconceivable that a justice minister fosters such ideas," he told Bild. "There is no room in Germany for Islamic law. The Sharia is barbarous and inhuman in all its forms."

Many Westerners associate Sharia law with the kinds of brutal punishments meted out to criminals in places like Saudi Arabia, such as stoning for adultery and chopping off the hands of thieves. But some elements of the Sharia are much less horrifying, regulating such mundane social conflicts as divorce cases and property disputes.

If Germany were to introduce parts of Sharia law, it wouldn't be the first European country to do so. Sharia councils have long been operational in Britain, most often focusing on issues dealing with marriage and divorce. Such courts also exist in parts of Greece, much to the chagrin of conservative politicians in Athens.

Some politicians in Germany, however, are not opposed to at least considering Hartloff's proposal. Michael Frieser, expert on integration issues for conservatives in German parliament, said that Muslim justices of the peace could perhaps be used to prepare the groundwork for a civil law judgement. He told theSüddeutsche Zeitung that he has nothing against immigrants seeking judgements according to the legal systems they are used to. "That can ultimately serve the cause of integration," he said. 

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,813148,00.html#ref=rss 

Pakistani Islamic scholar's Gujarat remarks spark row

Hyderabad : Pakistani Islamic scholar Tahir-ul-Qadri's reported remarks advising Muslims to forget the Gujarat riots have sparked a row with some Muslim organisations opposing his ongoing visit to Hyderabad.

Police have stepped up security for Qadri, who arrived here Tuesday on a five-day trip amid criticism from Jamiat-ul-Ulema and others for his remarks during a visit to Gujarat last week.

The controversial Pakistani scholar, while addressing a meeting at Vadodara in Gujarat Feb 25, reportedly advised Indian Muslims to forget the post-Godhra carnage and move on.

He also thanked Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for providing him security.

Qadri, who faces threat to his life in Pakistan, mostly lives in the West. He is on a visit to India till March 18 and will address religious meetings in Ajmer, Mumbai, Raipur and Bangalore.

A section of Urdu newspapers here published statements by Moulana Naseeruddin and leaders of Jamiat-ul-Ulema condemning Qadri's remarks.

Large-scale security arrangements were made Wednesday night at Quli Qutub Shah Stadium in the old city of Hyderabad where thousands of Muslims turned out to hear Qadri. He has a considerable following among adherents of the Sufi and Barelvi schools of thought.

The Pakistani scholar addressed the gathering from behind a huge bullet-proof screen and was escorted by his personal security guards and city policemen.

Qadri, who is enjoying the status of a state guest, is moving around in the city with a 14-car escort. A Lincoln limousine has been arranged for his movements. Though he first checked in at state-owned Lakeview Guest House, he later moved to a five-star hotel.

Qadri, who will deliver daily lectures and talks on 'Ahadith' (traditions of the Prophet Mohammed), will also be the chief guest at the 54th anniversary celebrations of Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM), a political party that has a strong base in the old city.

The Urdu press stands divided on Qadri's visit. While the daily Etemaad, published by the Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM), is full of advertisements and statements welcoming Qadri, other newspapers carried statements criticising his visit.

Leaders of Jamiat-ul-Ulema, which has a huge following here, have accused Qadri of speaking the language of the West.

"By praising the killer of Muslims and calling Muslims terrorists, he is expressing the views of either America and Israel or the RSS and Bajrang Dal," said Moin Ahmed, a leader of the organisation.

Another leader accused Qadri of linking Muslims to terrorism to appease the West.

Moulana Naseeruddin, a leading cleric who was arrested and jailed by Gujarat Police, alleged that Qadri was adding insult to the injury of Muslims by asking them to forget the massacre.

Qadri has not reacted to the allegations so far and the attempts to contact him for his reaction yielded no results. 

Church role in Kudankulam protests merits wider probe

Venky Vembu 

Feb 29, 2012

The crackdown on four non-governmental organisations on the charge that they diverted foreign funds intended for social development activities to the anti-nuclear protests in Kudankulam has focussed the spotlight on the activities of church-based NGOs in southern Tamil Nadu.

On Tuesday, the Union Home Secretary announced that the bank accounts of four NGOs had been frozen after it was found that they had been diverting funds received from overseas donors to the anti-nuclear protests. Two of the cases have been registered by the CBI, and the two others by the Crime Branch of the Tamil Nadu police.

The crackdown comes barely days after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh went public with the charge that US non-governmental organisations were behind the agitation, which has stalled work on the nuclear plant in power-starved Tamil Nadu.

The 'hand of God' is intervening in the Kudankulam project. IBN-Live screengrab

Although Singh did not mention the faith-based affiliation of these NGOs, it is an open secret that church groups based in the coastal districts of Tamil Nadu, which receive crores of rupees in donations from overseas, have been active in backing the anti-nuclear protest.

The NGOs that are at the centre of the latest action haven't been named, but they are believed to be those associated with Bishop Yvon Ambroise, the Tuticorin church leader, who has been active in mobilising popular support for the protests at Kudankulam.

Two of the NGOs associated with Ambroise – the Tuticorin Diocese Association (TDA) and the Tuticorin Multipurpose Social Service Society (TMSSS) – have been working in the area of fishermen's livelihood, and their support for the anti-nuclear agitation draws on the fears to the fisherfolks' livelihood from the nuclear power plant.

The church-based NGOs along the southern coast of Tamil Nadu have done exemplary work to restore the livelihood of fishermen in the wake of the December 2004 tsunami, which devastated large areas of South East Asia and southern India.

But even there, their attempts to "harvest souls" and proselytise aid beneficiaries at a time of supreme grief came in for criticism.

And although similar attempts at proselytisation of tsunami victims in Indonesia drew protests from the government there, the church groups received no such pushback from Indian authorities.

In fact, even in Kudankulam, although the protest against the nuclear project began as a secular movement intended to raise awareness about the hazards of nuclear plants, the agitation has in recent months been appropriated by the church.

The role of the church in the Dravidian politics of southern India has been clinically analysed by Rajiv Malhotra and Aravida Neelakandan in their book Breaking India: Western Interventions in Dravidian and Dalit Faultlines.

Malhotra, an IT entrepreneur and founder of the Infitinity Foundation, and Neelakandan, a social science researcher who has worked with an NGO in Tamil Nadu, argue that US and European churches, in particular, are working actively to foster separatist tendencies among the Dravidian and Dalit communities on the basis of identity.

The authors trace the money trail from Western churches and their affiliates – which are on the surface well-intended, being offered for "education" and "empowerment" and "leadership training". But they effectively go to fund programmes that are intended to instigate a sense of anomie that persuades the youth, in particular, to renounce their Indian identity.

The Dravidian-Christian project, the authors argue, is founded on the misappropriation and misrepresentation of Tamil culture and literature in order to create an 'identity vacuum' that can then be filled by the Christian missionary agenda.One part of that agenda is to implicate India in human rights abuses and to line it up in front of international forums as an offender.

The Dravidian identity, writes Malhotra, is now being increasingly Christianised. "A new religion called 'Dravidian Christianity' has been invented through a sudden upsurge of writings designed to 'discover' the existence of quasi-Christianity in Tamil history prior to the coming of the 'Aryan' Brahmins. The project is to co-opt Tamil culture, language and literature and systematically cleanse them of Hinduism. Christian interpretations and substitutes are being injected into the most cherished symbols, artifacts and literary works of Tamil Hindu culture."

The notion of 'Dravidian Christianity', Malhotra points out, has penetrated high places. For instance, Marvin Olasky, an adviser to President George W. Bush, declared that "the two major denominations of Hinduism — Vishnu-followers and Shiva-followers — arose not from early Hinduism but from early Christian churches probably planted by the apostle Thomas in India from AD 52 to 68." Olasky goes on to explain to his American readers how Christianity brought many key notions into Hinduism.

For far too long, politicians in Tamil Nadu have been wary of speaking out against the activities of church groups in the State for fear of losing out on a well-entrenched voter base. To the extent that the church's encroachment in the arena of the politics of nuclear energy has compelled even Manmohan Singh to speak out, it opens up the space for a broader investigation of the church's activities in southern Tamil Nadu (and indeed elsewhere in India).

#Church #Kudankulam nuclear plant #Manmohan Singh #Tamil Nadu #TheLongView #Tuticorin Diocese Association #Yvon Ambroise