(Comments in Green by a commentator)

http://www.meforum.org/4931/muslims-must-save-islam-from-islamists

Muslims Must Save Islam from Islamists

Tarek Fatah

December 16, 2014

It seems there is no respite for the ordinary Muslim. Barely a day goes by when news of fresh atrocities by our coreligionists isn't in the headlines.

Most of the world's billion-plus Muslims wouldn't dream of killing in the name of Islam, 

​

(This is delusionary talk.) 

​

but enough do to form a critical mass that has put us on a collision course with the rest of humanity.

​ ​

The Sydney siege by an ISIS-inspired jihadist had barely ended when the horrific news of a Taliban massacre killing 140 children at a Pakistani school shocked the world.

It took place at an "Army Public School", inside a Pakistan cantonment on the edges of Peshawar. Many of the students who attended this elite school were the sons and daughters of Pakistan army officers.

Ironically, the Taliban barbarians who killed these children were a creation of the Pakistan military, aimed at controlling neighbouring Afghanistan as a satellite state.

Why did the Taliban strike at a military school? 

Could it be retaliation for the recent Pakistan army campaign to expel the Taliban out of Pakistan and into Afghanistan?

That may be one reason. 

​(If they cannot find kaffirs in their countries to kill they will rape and kill their brothers sis

ters, mothers and fathers.

​)​

 ​

But knowing the workings of the worldwide jihadist terror movement and the Islamists who sow its seeds in Islamic countries and the West, 

​

(Include India)

 ​

there is another: the Islamist's rejection of Western-style education systems.

​ (Include Eastern Education, and every other education in all countries.) ​

The school attacked had boys and girls attending classes in what is referred to as a co-educational "English-medium" school.

The boys, smartly dressed in green blazers, white shorts and green neckties, reflect everything the Islamists despise.

And to be in the company of teenaged girls being educated at the same school would be seen as the worst of sins by those who promote Islamism, not just in Islamic countries but in Canada.

​ 

(In Islamic aka Shariat countries their sons attend Girls schools - dressed in Burqahs. Suits Islam.)​

I suggest this is the "Boko Haramization" of the Pakistani jihadist movement that proclaims "western education is 'Haraam' (sinful)".

Not that the Taliban have any tolerance for educating girls —Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai being one their early victims — but this attack appears to have been aimed largely at teenaged boys.

Last month, Zahid Askani, an American-educated Baloch who ran a co-educational school, where boys and girls studied English and wore western-style jackets and neckties, was assassinated by suspected jihadist death squads with the reported backing of the military.

Massacres are not new to Pakistan, or its military. 

In the last few years Pakistan's army intelligence wing has reportedly abducted and killed hundreds of students in the Baloch Students Organization (BSO) in Balochistan who support an indigenous independence movement.

Just a day after an ISIS-sympathizer took hostages in Sydney, Australia, leading to his own death and that of two innocent civilians, the tragedy of Peshawar provides another opportunity for Muslims to recognize we have a serious problem that only we can correct.

​ 

(If kept strictly quarantined and left to themselves they would kill themselves off in no time).​

Muslims who claim the actions of the Taliban or ISIS are not Islamic 

​

​ (We can count less than five who wlll fall under this category, and they have publicly given up claiming to be muslims)

​

 must match this rhetoric by coming together and calling for a strict separation between Islam and politics. 

​​

They must renounce armed jihad as unfit for our age.

​

If they don't, we will all be tarred by the actions of those who kill in the name of Islam and Allah.

The hashtag on Twitter by an Australian woman expressing solidarity with Muslims, #Illridewithyou, may please us, but it will not save us from the proverbial Dante's Inferno.

Only we can do that, no one else.

Tarek Fatah is a founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress, a columnist at the Toronto Sun, host of a Sunday afternoon talk show on Toronto's NewsTalk1010 AM Radio, and a Robert J. and Abby B. Levine Fellow at the Middle East Forum. He is the author of two award-winning books:Chasing a Mirage: The Tragic Illusion of an Islamic State and The Jew is Not My Enemy: Unveiling the Myths that Fuel Muslim Anti-Semitism.

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RELATED PLEASE :

Muslim 'Reformers' Are All Talk

Raymond Ibrahim

December 16, 2014

Due to its rarity, it's always notable whenever a top Islamic leader publicly acknowledges the threat of Islamic radicalism and terror. And yet, such denunciations never seem to go beyond words—and sometimes not even that.

http://www.meforum.org/4929/muslim-reformers-forever-talking-the-talk-never

http://www.firstpost.com/world/peshawar-attack-empathy-is-fine-but-will-pakistan-change-its-attitude-to-terror-1853669.html

Peshawar attack: Empathy is fine but will Pakistan change it's attitude to terror?

R. Jagannathan

17 December 2014

The cold-blooded mass murder of 132 children, among others, by the Pakistani Taliban has rightly drawn a huge wave of sympathy from Indians, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Pranab Mukherjee reaching out to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in his country’s hour of tragedy. 

But the sympathy has also brought forth the usual foolishness from peaceniks of every hue. 

On Twitter, #IndiaWithPakistan is, even now, trending just below #PeshawarAttack.

We should not mix up sentimentalism with substance. In terms of the larger India-Pakistan relationship,Peshawar does not change anything. 

Repeat, anything.

It is one thing to empathise with Pakistan’s civil society over this terrible human tragedy, quite another to believe that the deep Pakistani state is overnight going to change its anti-India colours or stop sending mass murderers across the border to kill our people. 

Even a few days ago, when the Pakistani army was busy prosecuting its fight against the Taliban in North Waziristan, jihadis groups were paying us a visit in Jammu & Kashmir.

For the Pakistani army, terrorists are those who fight them, not us. The Pakistani state has systematically nurtured terrorists on its territory both for use in Afghanistan and in India. Terrorism is a part of its security doctrine, and this doctrine is decided not by the civilian government, but by the army and the ISI independently of elected politicians.

A close look at what Nawaz Sharif said after the Peshawar attack (read here), and the statement put out by the Pakistani foreign office after the killings ended, should offer clues. Sharif said: "Operation Zarb-e-azab will continue until terrorism is completely wiped out from the country. We have had talks with Afghanistan about jointly fighting the menace of terrorism.”

Note: Sharif is offering to fight jointly terror with Afghanistan, not India.

Now, consider what the Pakistan Foreign Office said:“These terrorists are enemies of Pakistan, enemies of Islam and enemies of humanity. The Pakistani nation stands united in condemning this heinous crime and remains resolute in its commitment to eliminate terrorism from the soil of Pakistan.”

Note: The Foreign Office wants to fight “enemies of Islam”, not terrorism per se. It also wants to “eliminate terrorism from the soil of Pakistan”, not its neighbours, especially India.

Clearly, the Pakistani foreign policy of differentiating between “good terrorist” and “bad terrorist” is intact even after the Peshawar attack.

So anybody who thinks this is the psychological movement to push forward with their own woolly notions of "Aman ki Aasha" or for forward movement on contentious issues with Pakistan will be making a serious mistake. 

The history of Pakistan suggests that there is almost no room for optimism on this score. With every setback and every positive opening - after 1965, 1971 and 1999 - Pakistan has re-emerged with more hostility towards India, not less. So it will be after Peshawar.

As South Asian strategic affairs expert C Christine Fairnotes perceptively in her book, Fighting to the end: The Pakistani Army’s Way of War, Pakistan defines defeat very differently from normal countries. For Pakistan, defeat would be an inability to defy and fight India, not military or diplomatic defeat.

Writes Fair: “Pakistan's antagonism with respect to India cannot be reduced to the bilateral dispute over Kashmir... Pakistan's defence literature clearly maintains that Pakistan's army also aims to resist India's position of regional dominance and its slow but steady global ascent….” 

Further: “The likelihood that Pakistan's military or even civilian leadership will abandon the state's long-standing and expanding revisionist goals and prosecute a policy of normalisation with India is virtually nil.”

So, to believe a tragedy like Peshawar will change the Pakistani attitude to India is to believe something that has not happened in 67 years of antagonism will now miraculously happen.

On the other hand, consider how strengthened the Pakistani army would be after Peshawar. In the last one year, the army first neutered Nawaz Sharif by using Imran Khan and a Canada-based cleric to undermine Sharif's popular mandate so that he is forced to kowtow to the army.

The Pakistani army has always been popular with its people, but after Peshawar the people will back it more than ever, since it was armymen's kids who were killed in the Taliban attack. The army, for its part, has been taught that if they mess with the Taliban, they will get it where it hurts.

So what do you think will happen now?

Despite protestations to the contrary, the Pakistan will try and finish the Taliban, the probability is that “the army will ease off its operations in North Waziristan, where the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan has its strongest base. 

And, basking in public sympathy, it will focus on terrorism directed at India. 

The world will be told that all this terrorism exists because India will not talk to them on Kashmir,and our own "useful idiots" will parrot this mindlessly, undermining our strategic understanding of the situation and our collective will to fight Pakistan-based terror.

Sympathy for the victims should not blind us to the importance of strategy and national will.

While some people think we should not talk to Pakistan till it ends terror, I believe talking can never do harm. At best, cancelling the occasional schedule of talks is good for political messaging. Talking is good because it sends the world a message of reasonableness on our part. However, what we should not do is talk about giving concessions to Pakistan without clearly understanding what they are offering to give us. This time, they should put what they are offering on the table for forward movement in the relationship. We should not “give” without a lot of “take”.

Pakistan often scores by claiming to be the one always willing to talk while we are shown as whimsical people who don't want to even talk, abandoning dialogue on the slightest pretext (a 26/11 here, a decapitation of soldiers there). For Pakistan these are “minor” things.

We have to be smart, and talking endlessly and firmly without offering concessions is one way of being smart. 

It will force Pakistan to wonder what it is getting out of it, and if it calls off the talks instead of us, it will be shown up as the unreasonable state - which is really the case.

When it comes to Pakistan we can never lower our guard or listen to peaceniks. Our policies should be entirely guided by realism and long-term strategy. We have to play for the long haul - which has never been our strength. Time we changed that.

We cannot view Pakistan with rose-tinted spectacles ever. 

We need an iron fist in a velvet glove always.

--------------------------------------------------

EDITORIAL :

http://nation.com.pk/editorials/17-Dec-2014/for-our-children

For Our Children

17 December 2014

16 December 2014 is one of the worst days Pakistan has had to live through since its inception. This national tragedy, which has caused unimaginable grief and pain across the landscape, will not and must not be forgotten anytime soon. Muhammad Khorasani of Jamat-ul-Ahrar, also known as Omer Khorasani, of the Jamat-ul-Ahrar, a faction of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan led by Mullah Fazlullah, has accepted responsibility for the attack on the school. In his statement given to the media, the militant commander termed the attack as retaliation for the ongoing military operation in FATA.

Some say that at a time like this, it is not wise and appropriate to blame the government or state institutions. Such a tragedy calls for unity, and criticism doesn’t help to achieve that purpose. But no consensus can be built, no wrong can be corrected, no problem can be solved by deciding against speaking the truth. 

And the truth is this: Not just terrorists, but everyone, from the wider population to the civil and military leadership is responsible for the barbarity our children were subjected to.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, your government has contributed absolutely nothing towards building a narrative against extremism. Operation Zarb-e-Azbstarted without your permission, and it continues absent meaningful political ownership. You have refused to act against seminaries funded through Saudi money, which are poisoning the minds of our youth and turning them into zealots. Instead of putting them behind bars, the Punjab government protects sectarian elements as they return the favour by not attacking you and taking out rallies in your support.

Chairman Imran Khan, you are the most mainstream and consistent Taliban sympathiser in the country. Despite the murder of 132 children in the capital of the province where your party is in power, you couldn’t muster the courage to name the Taliban. You have done a great disservice to this nation by repeatedly justifying the murder of your fellow countrymen and pushing a toxic narrative based on factual inaccuracies and ignorance.

Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif, despite all that has happened, despite the many sacrifices of the brave soldiers who have died fighting terrorists, you refuse to employ a blanket policy against non-state actors. While the military conducts operations against bad Taliban in FATA, it continues to protect sectarian elements in Quetta, the Afghan Taliban and other ‘jihadi’ organisations such as Jamat-ud-Dawa. The country is reaping what it has sown over decades.

Citizens, you seek comfort in conspiracy theories to avoid facing the ugly truth. What will it take for you to unite against extremism unequivocally and without provisos?

The idea is not to berate or discourage, but to offer a reality check and prompt change of policy for the sake of our children, for the sake of our country’s future.Only the truth will set us free.

ON THE SUBJECT OF ' GHAR VAPASI ' - DR. (MRS) HILDA RAJA

‘Opposition targets government on conversion in Agra ’…

 ‘Bid to impose Hindutva agenda”…

This and more we heard and saw in Parliament on ‘ghar wapsi’. 

According to Mayawati, ‘Secularism is part of the Constitution-they (read RSS) are violating the basic tenets, BJP has a hand in it’. 

It was all pandemonium let loose in both the Houses with members dashing into the well. It seems as though some new danger has been sighted by them some danger to the Constitution and to the secular fabric of India .

Suddenly the MPs have become sensitive to upholding the Constitution when they do not even uphold the oath they take to function without fear or favor…. 

It seems that at least occasionally the MPs are conscious that we have a Constitution. 

When the UPA government was in power the Constitution was eroded and every tenet of it dented and over ridden. 

But what I cannot understand is the fact that conversions have been always forced. This was the strategy from time immemorial. Not only in India but the world over

But let us focus on India alone now. 

It has been a continuous conversion business. 

The invaders who came to India did not just stop with plundering the country and becoming rulers but they brought along their missionaries and their churches. 

First it was the Dutch, then the Portuguese then the French and finally the English. 

All these indulged in ruthless conversion through force and whatever methods possible. 

The poor Indians had no other option but bend to the powerful.

This is relevant to realize that all Indians-have their ancestry in Hinduism. 

St Francis Xavier used every force-fraud and even the Inquisition to convert Hindus. Those who did not fall in line had to flee or were tortured and killed. History records his barbarism and  the brutality with which he dealt with the Hindus. Places of worship were raided-destroyed and his public punishment was chopping off the hand for those who followed any form of Hinduism. The pillar where these unfortunate ones were dragged and hand chopped off is called the Pillar –De- Amputation.This pillar even today exists in Old Goa . This is the reason why the victims of Francis Xavier oppose the public display of his corpse. But the Church has raised him as a saint .

That may be old history but what about the much revered Mother Theresa. Did she not use blackmail to convert? 

Innocent children who were dying-the old and the infirm were baptized all under the garb of caring for them. They were not even aware of what was happening to them. They were in pain and in utter misery. 

Today the church looks on innocently. 

So when one says there should be no forced conversions I am flabbergasted because all conversions have some sort of a force-be it physical, psychological or social. 

Allurements and enticements were used especially where there is starvation and disease and pain and hopelessness. 

How did the North East States become Christians-due to their volition? 

I know a Salesian priest who used to write to my husband to send money for conversion. He even revealed that ‘the priests do not go openly but through the catechist(a low level functionary of the Church) we  approach the tribal people and give them money and promise other benefits’ .

So for a loaf of bread for a few rotis and for a few rupees these unfortunate ones are ready to change their religion. 

Is this faith or force? 

Has this changed? 

Not one of the so called political leaders raised their voices against Mother Theresa’s blatant conversion business? 

Where was the Constitutional norm then? 

Where was secularism then? 

So it is only when the Hindus engage in ‘ghar wapsi’ that our political netas become aware of the Constitution and secularism and cry themselves hoarse-They then pose as great defenders and champions of secularism. This is a fraud and an injustice. This double standard is what they always resort to.

When I was working in a village project in the outskirts of Chennai-near Mahabalipuram many of the SC families told me that they were converted by the local parish priest. This they said was for their children to get admission in a minority run institution and or to get some employment. They did not mention cash .

I am fully aware that the tactics used in Tamilnadu and Andhra Pradesh (may be in other States also of which I do not have first hand knowledge) the priests tell them plainly to continue with their Hindu names and enter in their application forms as SCs so that they get all the benefits due to the SCs but in reality they are all Christians. 

So Varadan becomes Victor for the Church record but for government records he continues to be Varadan. 

Take the example of Andhra \Pradesh’s former Chief Minister Rajasekaran Reddy.Many thought he was a Hindu but his first name is Samuel. These are not exception cases but the normal rule-the double deception that the Christians used. The thousands of conversions that he affected through the evangelical church of his by giving them money and luring them with other promises is well known to those in AP

But a reading of the historical data on Church history will be an eye opener for those who today think that ‘ghar wapsi’ is against the Constitution and secularism. 

Where did this notion of secularism go when thousands of years conversion was only through force? 

In recent times too it is covertly done. Whether some netas like it or not how does one account for the millions of other religious followers. Does it mean that on their own accord through faith and belief and enlightenment they all got converted?

Did the Muslims not convert through the sword? 

Is there no love jihadi?

It is common for the Muslim/Christian to marry a Hindu and then later convert the partner to the Muslim /Christian religion. 

But as far as I know the Hindus did not go in for conversion. 

Today one talks of ‘ghar wapsi’-I fail to understand why this full throated Opposition.Where did this opposition go when conversions were taking place in India earlier and now only through some form of force.

 The Constitution has paved the way for this business by granting Minority Rights to the Minorities. Hence right from a tender age children are segregated in Christian institutions and in Madrassas-and groomed to think that they are different from others on the basis of religion. 

So we Christians think and proclaim that we have the ONE true God…Children brainwashed thus are subjected to forced-an intellectual force- where by they think in terms of differences and grow up thus in ghettos. 

We have Catholic doctrine for the Catholics, Bible classes for the Christians and Ethics for the Hindus. 

All this in Minority institutions which is run on government money. I do not know if other education Institutions also follows the same. 

Is this secularism? 

As though the Catholics and the Christians and the Muslims do not need ethics!!!

Why is it when one says that India is a Hindu country there is so much of opposition and anger-but then one says that Pakistan is a Muslim country and so are other Middle East countriesthere is no adverse reaction. 

If in conversation one terms the UK/US and other European countries as Christian countries there is no objection. 

Why this allergy to call India a Hindu country? 

That does not mean others cannot live here and that does not mean that secularism is thrown out. It simply means that Hinduism was in India as far as memory goes-it is as old as this country. Hinduism sprung from the soil of this country and did not come from any other shores-unlike other religions. So what is the problem in calling a spade a spade? 

Similarly when one talks of Hindutva the so called secularists see red. 

Is it wrong or against secularism to be nationalist and a patriot? 

I think it a weakness and a phobia of the so called ‘secularists’. 

After all let us be honest when Jinnah wanted Pakistan the reason he gave was that the Muslims will not be able to coexist with the Hindus.So he wanted the country to be partition which was done. 

Now can the Hindus not have their own ethos and their own religion and their own perception of nationalism? 

What is the problem in accepting this simple truth that this in no way destroys secularism.

 For that matter it is the politicians who are hell bend in destroying secularism. Why even the demand of reservation on the basis of religion is anti-secular. For the sake of vote bank politics the political leaders divide the people. We have other religious leaders even threatening the Hindus. The political leaders simply looked the other way when conversions in large numbers were taking place.

But now that the Hindus have started the ‘ghar wapsi’ they pretend to be shocked that secularism is being destroyed. 

I remember some years ago in Trichirapally in Tamilnadu one of the pastors baptized even those who were not present because their names were on the list but were unable to attend the service. 

It is well known that evangelical churches look for numbers and even poach on other churches members. 

Foreign funds flow in depending on numbers. One has to watch a couple of channels in the TV to realize this. 

The psychological blackmail that these pastors indulge in is a fraud and vulnerable people fall a prey to it. 

The testimonies of cures-the revelations etc are all a fraud inflicted on a vulnerable already affected and afflicted populace. 

The political netas are not worried about this. 

As long as it is not Hinduism they simply look the other way. 

It seems to be a sin or an aberration if one is a devote Hindu but if one is a devote Christian /Muslim then it is not frowned upon. 

And that the devotedness of being a Christian/Muslim mean…even when it comes to following  the anti-secular dictates of their religion like the ‘fatwa.

It is no secret that Muslim scholars keep on repeating that Islam is a peace loving religion. Is that what the world experience –see in the Islamic countries. Even another Islamic sect is not tolerated. 

The World Human Rights forums do not raise their voices against the persecution, the killings the beheadings and above all the terrorism unleashed by religion. 

It is only when the Hindus raise their voices and reconvert then hackles are raised that it is unconstitutional and against secularism. 

This is not only a double standard but an injustice and a display of a warped perception.

Dr Mrs Hilda Raja,

Vadodara, Gujarat

COMMENT : Dr. Mrs. Hilda Raja is an octogenarian. She was, while in service, the Head of the Department of Social Sciences, Stella Maris College, Chennai. Her husband was a professor at the Loyola College, Chennai. Advancing age made them translocate to Vadodra, Gujarat, to be with their children. A wonderful Christian couple that I was privileged to have known. I cherish my meetings with them.

Bala

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RELATED PLEASE :

http://www.sanghparivar.org/rss-for-reconversion-if-conversion-continues?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+SanghParivar+%28Sangh+Parivar+-+Vasudhaiva+Kutumbhkam%29

RSS for re-conversion if conversion continues 

16 Feb 2011

With curtains finally drawn on RSS’ three-day mega conclave at Mandla in Madhya Pradesh, the mouthpiece of the outfit has hit out at those who have been opposing re-conversion of converted tribals. 

The editorial in the latest issue of Sangh’s mouthpiece, Organiser, said it must be made clear for once and all that as long as conversion takes place, anti-conversion and reconversion efforts will be made by Hindus.

 

“It is the duty of every Hindu to work towards protecting the religion, in order to safeguard the national unity and integrity. For, forces inimical to our country are working towards balkanising it,” it said.

 

Christian Missionaries had raised objection to RSS’ Narmada Mahakumbh in Mandla saying it was an effort to reconvert tribal, a claim that was vehemently refuted by the Sangh.

 

The mouthpiece wrote there was absolutely no reason for the Christian leaders to express fear over the Kumbh andwent on to say their fear only goes to prove that Christian leaders have been indulging in coercive and aggressive conversions unchallenged and any faint sign of resistance was giving them jitters.

 

Organiser wrote, “If the Christians and Muslims have a right to carry on conversion, using means foul and unethical, the Hindus have double the right to bring the converts back to their original faith.”

 

Maintaining that rising religious conversions were tearing into the cultural and social matrix of the country, the Organiser wrote centuries old rituals, customs and practice that helped bind the communities were being forced to be abandoned.

 

“The indigenous knowledge and system are being demolished to pave way for imported, western models of life, thoroughly unsuited for Indian conditions,” the edit said, adding, “While it is a fact that decades of development has bypassed these communities living in the interior rural India, coerced religious conversion are not bringing them any closed to the advantages of development”.

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http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=385&page=4

Narmada Kumbh and the manufactured evangelical protest

Editorial

February 20, 2011

The Narmada Samajik Kumbh, a purely cultural event is being politicised and demonised so much that it makes one feel as though the Hindus cannot even gather for a legitimate cause. The unwarranted protest of some Christian leaders over the Kumbh and the instant support of the Congress Party to them only confirm the long-held suspicion, that the Congress party and the UPA government are actively abetting religious conversion of tribals and adivasis. 

Narmada Samajik Kumbh is the second such event being organised by the Hindu organisations, with an objective of promoting the values of our heritage and culture. In a growing atmosphere of terrorism, Maoist bloody campaign and the increasing economic, political and social inequalities, these Kumbh are organised as anchors for strengthening the fabric of the society and nationalism.

The first such Kumbh, held in 2006 in Dangs district in Gujarat was a major success, with eight lakh people affirming their commitment to the larger national cause. In this Narmada Kumbh, 10 lakh people are participating from the entire Central India region. The venue for the event from February 10-12 is Mandla, in Madhya Pradesh, along the banks of the river Narmada. 

There is absolutely no reason for the Christian leaders to express ‘fear’ over this Samajik Kumbh. They have said that the Kumbh is an event for reconversion of tribals from Christianity back to the Hindu fold. Their ‘fear’ only goes to prove that they have been indulging in coercive and aggressive conversions unchallenged and any faint sign of resistance is giving them the jitters. 

The point is, the Kumbh’s objective is not reconversion. 

And even if it is, what right does any community have to protest? If the Christians and Muslims have a right to carry on conversions, using means foul and unethical, the Hindus have double the right to bring the converts back to their original faith. 

It must be made clear once and for all that as long as conversions take place, anti-conversion and reconversion efforts will be made by the Hindus. 

It is the duty of every Hindu to work towards protecting the religion, in order to safeguard the national unity and integrity. For, forces inimical to our country are working towards balkanising it. 

A recently brought out book Breaking India: Western Interventions in Dravidian and Dalit Faultlines has exposed the well-entrenched network of foreign funds, NGOs and the Church, which is working overtime to divide the Hindu society vertically, horizontally and diagonally, and to create disaffection between people and lead to a Africa-like scenario, where civil war and inter-clan and inter-community clashes have reduced the continent to puzzle board pieces. 

The book, a result of five years of research has used the data collected from various western embassies on the funding and the destination of these funds. While it has been known that both the West and Islamic forces have been pumping money through various channels into India for disruptive activities, this book nails the sources and the end recipients. 

Under this sponsored cacophony, it has become near-impossible to hear the voices of nationalism and sanity. 

Under the UPA, the situation has worsened like never before. While terrorists are given safe passage and invited for talks as state guests, the few Hindu organizations are being targeted systematically to create a fear psychosis. 

Government appointments are all being made on only one criterion - that the appointees should have a minority background, bloodline or identity. The media has been completely taken over, toeing the government line or echoing the babble of the leaders of the anti-Hindu bandwagon. 

For instance, Britain has always claimed to be the melting pot of cultural identities and in the name of freedom of the individual encouraged sections to operate from within that country against the interest of others, like India. 

Now, in a speech delivered at the Munich Security Conference last week, British Prime Minister David Cameron said, "Multiculturalism is doomed to fail; societies need a national identity." 

He bemoaned the fact that the British society had become mute and meek and did not stand up to the elements that were wrecking the national character. This situation is precisely what is developing in India, only here, it is the state that is sponsoring efforts to weaken and dilute the core identity of the nation, in the name of pluralism and diversity. 

The rising religious conversions are tearing into the cultural and social matrix. The centuries old rituals, customs and practices that helped bind the communities are being forced to be abandoned. 

The indigenous knowledge and system are being demolished to pave way for imported, western models of life, thoroughly unsuited for Indian conditions. The new religions spread disaffection towards the state and try to instill apathy to the political system, which would eventually isolate them from the mainstream of national politics and governance. While it is a fact that decades of development has bypassed these communities living in the interior rural India, coerced religious conversions are not bringing them any closer to the advantages of development. On the other hand, the purpose is just the opposite. 

It is in this context that events like Narmada Samajik Kumbh reinforce the faith of the people in the nation, in the community and in their culture and heritage, all issues intrinsically related to the Hindu religion. These events are social pilgrimages that would go a long way in strengthening the people-to-people bonding.

The sordid politics of religious conversions

http://www.dailypioneer.com/columnists/edit/the-sordid-politics-of-religious-conversions.html

The sordid politics of religious conversions

Rajesh Singh

17 December 2014

[Parliament had two early occasions, in 1955 and again in 1960, to pass Bills that would have banned conversions through mala fide means. But Nehru struck them down. He was, after all, a ‘liberal’]

The outrage in and outside Parliament over reports of ‘forced’ conversion of  Muslims to Hinduism in Agra (Sangh parivar activists called it “home-coming”, as they claimed the converted had only returned to their original faith) would not have happened if the country had had an anti-conversion law which dealt with religious conversions done through fraud, coercion or inducement. 

Barring a handful, — and this number is insignificant, — conversions have been necessarily accompanied by either the threat of force or shining promises which eventually were or were not met. 

An anti-conversion law would have separated genuine conversions from the dubious ones. Interestingly, the current furore is directed at the ‘inducements’ such as BPL cards and the like that the Sangh activists supposedly lured the potential converts with. It is precisely these kinds of tactics that an anti-conversion legislation would have effectively tackled.

One would have thought that ‘secularists’ who have been in the forefront against the use of allurement and threat would welcome an anti-conversion Act that bans these methods. 

But they are the ones most opposed to it, on the ground that such a law would go against the ‘right’ of persons to choose and practise their faith. 

They either fail to appreciate or do not want to acknowledge that a legislation of this sort would not criminalise conversions per se; it would only hold as illegal, conversions that take place in a fraudulent manner. 

By howling against conversions by one group but justifying them by another, and not questioning equally the methods of both, they have exposed themselves to be what they are: Pseudo-secularists. 

In the process, they, many of them being self-confessed Gandhians, forgot what the Mahatma had said about proselytisation (religious conversion by another name): “It is the deadliest poison which ever sapped the fountain of truth”. 

Also, safely assuming that these ‘secularists’ have deep regard for the Dalai Lama too, they have overlooked what the Buddhist spiritual leader had to say on the subject: “I do not like conversions because they have a negative impact. The two parties, that of the converted and the community abandoned by him, begin to fight.”

But we are not even discussing religious conversions in general terms; let us grant, against the wishes of the Mahatma and the Dalai Lama, that such conversions should be allowed because the freedom to convert reflects on the Indian citizens’ Fundamental Rights. What must be discussed, debated and deliberated upon is whether such freedom must be unfettered or subjected to a test that renders itbona fide. It is here that we must turn to the pages of recent history.

In 1955, a Bill came up before Parliament with provisions to strictly regulate (though not ban) conversions. The background to that Bill was the increasing complaints that were made to lawmakers and people’s representatives from activists and marginalised citizens, especially from socially and economically backward areas of the country, that they were the targets of proselytisation attempts by Christian missionaries working in those regions. 

Just a year ago, the Madhya Pradesh Government had set up an MB Niyogi-led panel, 'The Christian Missionary Activities Enquiry Committee', to probe complaints of large-scale conversions of “illiterate aboriginals and other backward people” by Christian missionaries, “either forcibly or through fraud or temptations of monetary gains”. 

The Bill was a golden opportunity for the Government of Jawaharlal Nehru to nip the problem in the bud. Had it done so, the country would not have witnessed the sporadic incidents of conversion-related tension and violence over the decades. 

But Nehru was, after all, a secularist and a brown sahib under his Gandhi cap. There was no way he could offend the missionaries and ruin his image in the West. 

He, therefore, declared, “I fear that this Bill will not help very much in suppressing evil methods… We should deal with those evils on a different plane, in other ways…” 

What those ‘other ways’ and ‘different plane’ were to be, he never explained. It was also never his intention to implement them, since he had achieved the purpose of sabotaging the Bill.

Yet another Bill was introduced in Parliament in 1960 to protect the vulnerable Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes “from change of religion forced on them on grounds other than religious convictions”. 

Felix Alfred Plattner, author of The Catholic Church in India: Yesterday and Today (1964) and Jesuits Go East, noted that this Bill met with a fate similar to the one  of five years ago, because of Nehru’s steadfast refusal to recognise the missionaries’ negative propaganda. 

He wrote, “Nehru had remained true to his British upbringing.” He added that after Nehru’s backing, the Church faced its next formidable task: That of the conversion of the masses of India.

Church leaders today dismiss the anti-campaign as Rightist propaganda, saying that even if a part of that were to be true, there would have been many more Christians in the country. 

They forget to take into account the failures they faced in converting as many as they would have liked through force or inducement or imaginary threats of hell fire, largely due to the resilience of the masses and pressure from the social system — regardless of Nehru’s munificence. Nehru had even gone to the extent of declaring that Christianity in India was “2000 years old” — something that was not even established — and certified the conduct of the missionaries as excellent. 

With such blanket support, regardless of the worrisome findings of the Niyogi panel report,which was submitted to the Madhya Pradesh Government in April 1956, the missionaries got away with the past and plunged enthusiastically into the future to reap the harvest.

Given this background, it was amazing to hear from a prominent Christian cleric on a television news channel recently that the Church or Christian missionaries had never indulged in conversions in the country through inducements or force or by threats. 

The anchor, who was visibly agitated over the Agra re-conversion incident and kept sternly pulling up a panelist who had the misfortune to represent a Right-wing organisation, neither batted an eyelid nor did he confront the good Father, who had spoken untruth with a poker-face,with the findings of the Niyogi panel report. [ Please see below ]

It is needless to add that the Niyogi findings were given a quiet burial. They had far too many inconvenient truths for secular politicians of the Nehru kind to digest — though the report was by no means biased, given that it had hailed the missionaries for spreading education and health facilities in the deep interiors of India. 

The problem was: Those schools and medicines, and the horrors of burning in hell as a non-Believer, were used as magnets and threats to draw the gullible and poor populace to conversion.

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RELATED PLEASE :

VINDICATED BY TIME

'The Niyogi Committee Report  

On Christian Missionary Activities'

Introduction by

Sita Ram Goel 
 

Voice of India, New Delhi

http://voiceofdharma.org/books/ncr/