Founding Editor: Daya Varma (1929-2015)
Editors: Vinod Mubayi (New York) and Raza Mir (New Jersey).
Editorial Board: Ram Puniyani and Irfan Engineer (Mumbai); Pervez Hoodbhoy (Islamabad); Dolores Chew (Montreal); Vamsi Vakulabharanam (Amherst); Ajay Bhardwaj (Vancouver).
Circulation/website: Feroz Mehdi (On behalf of Alternatives, Montreal).
SOUTH ASIA AT A CRITICAL JUNCTURE FACING MULTIPLE CRISES
Vinod Mubayi and Daya Varma
South Asia finds itself at a critical juncture facing multiple crises in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka while India goes through a general election, which could bring the rabidly communal BJP to power.
TOWARDS THEOCRACY?
Pervez Amir Ali Hoodbhoy
Physicist Pervez Hoodbhoy traces the evolution of fundamentalist culture in Pakistan and its consequences to the very survival of his country.
PAKISTAN: THE LESSONS OF MARCH 15
I.A. Rehman
The events of March 15 underscored the reality that Pakistan has multiple centres of power and the nominal state is not the strongest of them. The writ of this state will run only to the extent it is not hindered by the parallel centres of power. This is the real drag on the government’s autonomy that no politician should lose sight of.
MOMENTOUS MARCH: NEW BEGINNINGS IN PAKISTANI POLITICS
Kiran Omar
March in much of Pakistan is about Basant (spring festival marked by kite-flying), flowering landscapes and fine weather. This past March in Pakistan, the Spring breezes brought more than flowers and fluttering kites, it was marked by three significant events, that brought Pakistan to a turning point in its turbulent political history.
[PAKISTAN] A SECOND LOOK
Sam Noumoff
The acceptance of Sharia in a region of Pakistan adjoining Afghanistan is likely to usher a new division in Pakistan society. This article analyzes its implications and will be included in the book “Maut ke Saudagar” (Merchants of Death) by “Rashani Publication” Hyderabad, Sindh, Pakistan, and edited by Khurshid Kaimkhani.
MADHYAMAM: A MUSLIM MEDIA SUCCESS STORY
Yoginder Sikand
Muslims constitute a significant proportion of Kerala’s population and are amongst the most literate Muslim community. Aside from their participation in different political formations, they produce numerous magazines, which unlike the Muslim publications in the North, deal with issues other than religion.
A MATCH ABANDONED OR A BATTLE LOST?
Jawed Naqvi
Referring to the disastrous British campaign against Afghanistan, the author analyzes the implications of the terrorist attack on the visiting Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore on Pakistan’s civil society as well as the complexity of the crisis facing Pakistan.
THE INDIAN CONSTITUTION IS MUSLIMS’ ARTICLE OF FAITH: DEOBAND SEMINARY CHIEF
Seema Chishti
Refuting implicit and explicit charges of the Hindu fundamentalist organizations that Muslims do not owe loyalty to India, the highest religious authority of Indian Muslims asserts, as others have done, the faith of Indian Muslims in the secular constitution of India.
WHY ‘HATE SPEECH’?
Ram Puniyani
Varun Gandhi is the son of Sanjay and Maneka Gandhi; Late Sanjay Gandhi was the son of Indira and Feroz Gandhi; Indira Gandhi was the only daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru. Birth defects are consistent with Darwinian theory of evolution but many of the magnitude revealed by Varun Gandhi are not in record. A Hindu boy born to a Sikh mother and Parsi father? In the article below, Varun Gandhi utters unutterable but then this most likely is the way members of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Singh (RSS) family think. Some say, other are too clever to openly say it.
PLEASING GODS WITH PUBLIC MONEY
Ram Puniyani
In an unprecedented move in Indian history, the BJP (Bhartiya Janata party ) government of Karnataka has allotted huge sums to Hindu temples in addition to its past acts of forcing pujas by temples.
WOMEN FOR SECULARISM: A FORUM FOR HARMONY, INCLUSION, JUSTICE, PEACE
This article deals with a novel initiative by women of India to defend and promote secularism.
OVER 3,000 STILL IN ORISSA CAMPS: UNWILLING TO BECOME HINDUS
Prafulla Das
Months have passed since Hindu fundamentalists launched their attack on poor Christians of Orissa forcing them to abandon their less than modest homes to seek shelter in camps. Some have returned by many cannot because to do so they have to avow Hinduism.
RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh) APPOINTS A NEW CHIEF
Unlike any other organization in India, RSS chiefs are appointed and not elected. A new chief has been appointed to replace Sudarshan. Given the absolute control that the RSS chief exercises over RSS and all its affiliates, this change of guards of a fascist organization is important.
DOES INDIA NEED A THIRD FRONT OR A DEMOCRATIC PROGRESSIVE FRONT?
Daya Varma and Vinod Mubayi
Both the Communist Party of India (CPI) and CPI (M) have joined hands to launch a Third Front to face the coming Lok Sabha (Parliament) election to be held next month. It is called a Third Front because the First and Second Fronts are, respectively, led by the Congress of Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of the Advani-Rajnath Singh-Narendra Modi triumvirate.
MALLIKA SARABHAI TO OPPOSE L.K. ADVANI IN PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS
Advani is the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate. To the delight of secular forces, he is challenged by Mallika Sarabhai. None could be more suitable an opponent of Advani than Mallika.
DESPERATE CPI(M) DISCOVERS NEW SECULAR ‘HERO’ IN NAVEEN (PATNAIK)
Naveen Patnaik was to Christians of Orissa what Narendra Modi was to Muslims of Gujarat. As is often the case, Indian elections disturb all other ideological and political equations for a seat or two in Indian Parliament. Here is a new development; if true, the glorious history of the Communist movement against communalism makes a drastic shift by including Naveen Patnaik in the conglomerate of secular formation.
LALU, MULAYAM , PASWAN FORM ‘SECULAR ALLIANCE’
The three parties (led by Lalu Yadav, Mulayam Singh and Ram Bilas Paswan) vowed to provide an ‘alternative’ in the fight against ‘communal forces’ in UP and Bihar. Since UP and Bihar provide the bulk of members in the Parliament, this alliance may determine who forms the next government.
TAKE LEGAL ACTION (against Varun Gandhi): NITISH (Kumar)
Nitish Kumar is the Chief Minister of populous Bihar province in alliance with Hindu fundamentalist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP). Since Varun Gandhi’s vitriolic hate speech against Muslims, Indian Election Commission has requested BJP not to field him as its candidate from Pilibhit (UP)
THE OBAMA PUZZLE
Daya Varma
Obama has been the President of the US only since January 2009. Normally this is too short a time to judge a new leader; yet given the impact of this change on world politics, it seems one has no choice but to judge him. How does the Indian left judge Obama? Immanuel Wallerstein, a leading figure of the US Left offers a clue.
INVESTIGATE THE ISRAELI MISSILE CONTRACT: COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MARXIST)
(Circulated by Vijay Prashad)
The advent of Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) as the ruling party in 1999 shifted India’s policy from being pro- Palestinian to pro-Israel. Although BJP was defeated in 2004 and a coalition led by Congress came to power, this pro-Israel policy has continued. Here is a case of a huge arms deal to purchase missiles, which can be made in India. What is behind this deal?
FREE, FREE BINAYAK SEN!: US SUPPORT FOR RAIPUR SATYAGRAH
Fifty international groups organize support in the USA for the Raipur Satyagraha in India Simultaneous protests held in 3 US cities.
US, CHINA AND THE WAR IN SRI LANKA
Peter Symonds
There are many ways to do the wrong thing. In the troubled world, big powers intervene not so much to address the suffering of the people but to derive advantage to their national strategic interest. In the end game between the government and Tamil Tigers (LTTE) in Sri Lanka, the plight of Tamil civilians is precarious. How do two powers, the US and China respond to this? The US talks about human rights and China defends Sri Lanka’s sovereignty. What a surprise?