Opinion The Ayodhya tangle
Jamaat-e-Islamis official bi-weekly Dawaat,in an op-ed commentary,describes the judgment on the title suit at Ayodhya as a great trial for the country.
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Jamaat-e-Islamis official bi-weekly Dawaat,in an op-ed commentary,describes the judgment on the title suit at Ayodhya as a great trial for the country. It says: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that he would prevent the situation from being disturbed. But,here,the issue is not merely of disturbance,but of honestly implementing the courts decision,and ensuring the triumph of secularism,democracy and the rule of the Constitution,the tenets on which a question mark was put on December 6,1992. Now,once again,there is going to be a trial of the country.
Sahafat,published from Delhi,Mumbai,Lucknow and Dehradun,in its report on September 6,had created a stir by writing that some Muslim members of Parliament and a couple of editors of Urdu papers were trying to incorrectly advise and mislead not only Ahmed Patel but the Congress. The paper had said that Minister for Minority Affairs Salman Khurshid and an MP,Mohammad Adeeb,were at the forefront of this move. It had said that led by these two,a campaign was on to persuade the ulema for an agreement on giving up the site of the Babri Masjid for a Ram temple. According to Sahafat (September 9),Adeeb,who is also a member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board,had spoken about the campaign and said he had talked to Ahmed Patel in this regard. The report went on to say that because of these moves,the Congress party is trying to move towards the objectives of the RSS and the VHP. And if it happens,the results would be the rudest shock for the Congress in its 125-year-long history.
Reacting to this report,Patel,political adviser to Congress President Sonia Gandhi,has been quoted as saying: The Babri Masjid issue is very sensitive and the judgment on the case is yet to come. Therefore,it is useless to say anything on this matter before the courts judgment. The report that there has been any talk by me with anyone on this is absolutely baseless.
Meanwhile,Adeeb too has,in a press release on September 13,denied Sahafats claims and stated that his stand on the Babri Masjid is completely in conformity with the stand of the AIMPLB. Adeeb also said that he had complained to the police and intelligence agencies about the false reports published by the paper.
Text in context
According to a report from UNIs Urdu service,published prominently in many newspapers on September 15,the residents of Ayodhya were determined to maintain communal harmony in the town irrespective of the verdict. According to UNI,an SMS doing the rounds in Ayodhya carried recitations from the Koran as well the Gita. Another widely circulated SMS says: Chehrey naheen,insaan parhey jaatey hein,mazhab naheen,imaan parhey jaatey hein,Bharat hi aisa desh hai jahaan ek sath; Gita aur Koran parhey jatey hain (human beings,not faces are read; honesty,not religions are read; India is the only country where simultaneously,the Gita and Koran are read).
Such text messages,put out before the ban on bulk SMS and MMS,are very common in Faizabad these days,according to the agency report.
The All Party Initiative on Kashmir
Welcoming the visit of the all-party delegation of members of Parliament to Jammu and Kashmir,Hyderabad-based daily Siasat carried an editorial on September 22,saying: There will be no immediate positive results of the delegations meeting with hardline leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani,moderate leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and JKLF leader Yasin Malik. But important members of the delegation have tried to give a good signal by meeting separatist leaders. It provided an opportunity to understand the present situation in the Valley and rally and sentiments of the people.
The paper adds: The reservations expressed by some members on the all-party delegation meeting with separatist leaders are regrettable. This delegation started from Delhi with completely sympathetic sentiments,but on reaching the Kashmir Valley,some members did not have even the least hesitation in expressing their prejudice. The Central government would regret the fact that it aborted its own efforts by including such leaders in the delegation.
In an editorial on September 21,Rashtriya Sahara argued: The visit to Geelanis house by some members of the delegation and their meeting him can be described as an important step. But this visit to his house by only five of the 39-member delegation and the home ministers non-inclusion (in this group) not only reduces the importance of this meeting but it also weakens the positive message that could have gone from this meeting with Geelani. That no responsible person of the government,not even P. Chidambaram himself,went there has sent a message that the Central government does not give much importance to this group in the process of finding a solution to the Kashmir problem.
Delhi-based daily,Hindustan Express,in its editorial on September 20 says: Geelani saying that no one put their finger on the real problem,of Kashmirs azadi,indicates he harbours a distorted view,that India and leaders of Indian political parties can be cowed down due to the recent violence in Kashmir. If he thinks that the Indian government would bow down on its knees and present Kashmir to him on a platter,he should forget about it. The time for an obsession with azadi is over. India cant talk to him while going out of the framework of the Constitution.
Compiled by Seema Chishti
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