QeRN

What Happened to Canada?

admin — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 22:57:18 +0000

Chris Hedges writes on truth-out.org, on Monday 30 January 2012: What happened to Canada? It used to be the country we would flee to if life in the United States became unpalatable. No nuclear weapons. No huge military-industrial complex. Universal health care. Funding for the arts. A good record on the environment.

But that was the old Canada.

I was in Montreal on Friday and Saturday and saw the familiar and disturbing tentacles of the security and surveillance state.

Canada has withdrawn from the Kyoto Accords so it can dig up the Alberta tar sands in an orgy of environmental degradation.

It carried out the largest mass arrests of demonstrators in Canadian history at 2010’s G-8 and G-20 meetings, rounding up more than 1,000 people. It sends undercover police into indigenous communities and activist groups and is handing out stiff prison terms to dissenters.

And Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper is a diminished version of George W. Bush. He champions the rabid right wing in Israel, bows to the whims of global financiers and is a Christian fundamentalist. The voices of dissent sound like our own. And the forms of persecution are familiar. This is not an accident. We are fighting the same corporate leviathan. “I want to tell you that I was arrested because I am seen as a threat,” Canadian activist Leah Henderson wrote to fellow dissidents before being sent to Vanier prison in Milton, Ontario, to serve a 10-month sentence. “I want to tell you that you might be too. I want to tell you that this is something we need to prepare for. I want to tell you that the risk of incarceration alone should not determine our organizing.”

Militant Suppression of Speech:

Palestine House has become the latest target of federal minister Jason Kenney's ongoing attacks on free speech rights and Palestine solidarity in Canada. Last week, Palestine House was informed by the Department of Citizenship and Immigration, including its minister, Jason Kenney, that all funding for Palestine House's immigration settlement program had been cut. Before Kenney's announcement, department officials had praised Palestine House, a Palestinian cultural and educational organization based in Mississauga, for its highly successful settlement program. Kenney's decision to cut funding is entirely political, and part of a broader pattern of government-led censorship and intimidation of anyone who is critical of Canada's foreign policy, especially in relation to Israel and Palestine.

This is not the first time Kenney has targeted civil society groups in response to their political views. Other targets include:

The Canadian Arab Federation, whose funding was cut by Kenney in February 2009, in response to its criticism of Harper's support for Israel's war on Gaza
Former British MP George Galloway, who was banned from entering Canada by Kenney in March 2009, in response to his humanitarian aid convoy to Gaza.
Pathways to Peace, an academic conference at York University in June 2009, which had its funding threatened by an unprecedented intervention by a Conservative cabinet minister.
KAIROS, whose funding was cut by Bev Oda in November 2009 (Kenney later boasted to an audience in Jerusalem that the cut represented his government's "zero tolerance" policy on anti-Semitism).
Rights & Democracy, whose Conservative-appointed board members cut funding in January 2010 to Israeli and Palestinian NGOs that were critical of Israel's treatment of Palestinians.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), whose funding was cut by the Conservatives in January 2010 (UNRWA administers health and education programs to 59 Palestinian refugee camps)
Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, a Palestinian democracy activist and former presidential candidate, who was denied entry to Canada for a speaking tour in March 2010
Israeli Apartheid Week, an annual campus-based educational conference, which was attacked by Conservative MPs, who attempted to condemn it in Parliament in March 2011
Palestine solidarity in general, which the so-called Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Anti-Semitism (CPCCA) attempted to equate with anti-Semitism, in its report issued in July 2011

These attacks represent a serious threat to free speech in Canada. Kenney's attack on Palestine House also represents the loss of 22 jobs in the community, and all the services they provide. Kenney - and the rest of the Conservative caucus - must be held to account.

This approach threatens to dismantle the Canadian image as it used to be perceived. Michael Harris, an intrepid reporter, explains how this will set back the honest reputation of Canada for decades to come:

Canada

Muslim Identity in Britain: Sadiq Khan MP on British Museum Hajj Exhibition

admin — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 12:20:42 +0000

adapted from London Evening Standard, January 26, 2012

While the capital is home to an estimated 40 per cent of the UK's Muslim population, there are still many mysteries surrounding the faith that I follow. For I was born and raised a London Muslim.

I attended mosques and madrassas in Tooting and Balham, adding to the knowledge of Islam taught me by my family. From a young age we learned the importance of the five pillars of Islam; faith, prayer, charity, fasting - and Hajj, a pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, a journey every Muslim must try to make in their lifetime. So I was delighted to visit the British Museum's Hajj: Journey to the Heart of Islam.

Muslims have been performing this pilgrimage for centuries; non-Muslims are not allowed to enter this holy city. An estimated three million people from all over the globe do so every year: Chinese, Namibian, Azerbaijani and every other kind of Muslim, as well as the 25,000 British Muslims who travel each year to form this kaleidoscope of our planet.

We perform rituals that symbolise the lives of the Prophet Abraham and his wife Hagar. By completing these acts we develop a greater spiritual awareness, and share a sense of solidarity with other Muslims from across the world.

I first performed Hajj in 2007: I was told I was the first Western minister ever to make the pilgrimage.

I am used to the different fragrances and languages of London's streets and to jammed Tubes and buses in rush hour - but nothing can prepare you for the Hajj. The sheer crush of people, the food and outdoor restaurants, the heat and the babble of languages spoken by pilgrims all form a cocktail of smells and sounds that are still memorable and fresh to me today.

It can be stressful. I will never forget the 15 minutes during the farewell circling of the Kaaba where I lost my mum, whom I had taken to perform Hajj. It wasn't possible to run or to deviate from the thousands circling. My mum didn't have her mobile with her and I was filled with panic as I prayed that I would find her. But Hajj is an amazing thing: I found her with a doctor from Birmingham whom she had befriended in tent city, gossiping away about their Hajj experience
I found the Hajj to be a great leveller of people: all male pilgrims wear the same two pieces of white cloth, share the same facilities, and live cheek by jowl for a number of days. You could be next to a pauper or a prince.

In between prayers, groups from different parts of the world gather and swap stories. I fondly recall meeting up with an aunt and uncle from Pakistan there. The mobile phone is a godsend in catching up with friends and family but it is still amazing how many friends you simply bump into.

But where the Hajj is strictly for followers of Islam, this exhibition is not. I toured it with a non-Muslim friend. He was as fascinated as I was to see how pilgrimages undertaken hundreds of years ago compare to those of today, where modernity and tradition meet, and the beauty of Islamic art, found in everything from milestones to water bottles.

This exhibition gives us a new window not just on to Islam, but on to modern London too.

Sadiq Khan is Labour MP for Tooting. Hajj: Journey to the Heart of Islam opens today and runs until April 15 (britishmuseum.org).

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Express Tribune Watch

admin — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 23:17:00 +0000

The Express Tribune is a new English-language newspaper and it has been engaged in some strange journalism lately. We present some false stories from the paper. It has been accused of being an agent of anti-Pakistani forces and it has denied it. It has been accused of manufacturing stories embarrassing Pakistan, Muslims and Islam. We will present proof of such a story.

On January 21st, 2012, it published the story Aasia Bibi’s case: Weighed down by guilt, blasphemy accuser mulls pulling back.

There is no author on the story, just 'Our Correspondent'. It mentions the son of someone in London opposing Aasia's release. As if on cue, a Qadiani Ahmadiyya blog picks this up and puts the story of a father and son of a KN organisation in London. What ET was not aware was that the KN organisation was already on the record on this issue (http://youtu.be/W_-zhMQLzEY):

This is the strongest proof we have so far that the ET has been hijacked by extremist elements who do not know what news is and what the truth is. Partisan Qadianis plant stories in such newspapers -- the ET in Pakistan and the Newsquest chain in the U.K. and then pick up these lies to further their agenda.

On January 29, 2012, it published this story: Protest against 'unconstitutional' practises becomes anti-Ahmadi rally. Look at the URL carefully: hundreds-gather-in-rawalpindi-against-land-encroachment-by-ahmadis. Yes, you read that right: 'Hundreds gather in Rawalpindi against land encroachment by Ahmadis'. Once again, caught red-handed. That was the original headline when the story was saved, yet our favourite editor changed it into this provocative and unrelated headline. Also, the article and the 'related' sidebar does not show this article from the same newspaper: http://tribune.com.pk/story/290063/ahmadis-fear-another-attack-after-intimidation/. This story shows the historical background of the case, and the newspaper omitted it. Caught again!

Next Follow-up:

http://tribune.com.pk/story/302105/29-graves-of-ahmadi-community-desecrated/

Pakistan

Niall Ferguson vs Pankaj Mishra

admin — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 23:00:52 +0000

by Ahmed Qerni

I have been meaning to write about this spat between two historians for a while but the holiday season took priority. First of all, let me make my position clear: scholars like Niall Ferguson are distinctly responsible for giving intellectual cover to all kinds of unsavoury ideologies that are creating problems for the rest of the world today. While their words may be walking a fine line, the images they conjure up in the minds of others lead to a two-tier world that is simply not acceptable to civilization as we know it.

In his book, 'Civilization: The Six Ways the West Beat the Rest' (I won't link to it), Ferguson describes the six 'killer apps' of the West that not only provided it deserved dominance, but seeks to justify an approach that may serve little more than a continued dominance at all costs.

The World is not a Corporation

Yes, the West has given a lot to mankind, and yes, it has been relatively careful about the way in which it has gone about its imperialism. However, the world is not a corporation where if you don't fit in, you can quit and go join another company. We all live here and we will continue to live here. The world is shared, and being an equal resident of this planet is the essence of being human. There dies Ferguson's 'killer apps' theory insofar as it seeks to instil an intrinsic superiority of Western humans over the rest of humanity. It may not spell it out as such, but that is exactly where it is heading.

The West did not invent the wheel. It built on millennia of human endeavour and discovery. It is humanity's shared legacy. Just as microprocessors doubling in speed every two years cannot claim to be greater innovators than the discoverers of mathematical principles that gave rise to logical processing, similarly the consumption-driven pace of change in the recent past cannot discount the trials and errors of millennia of human civilization. Trying to slot modernity for a certain nationality or race is eerily like Fukuyama's 'End of History'. Instead of contributing to human solidarity, it tends to isolate humans as 'the rest'. I refer to this as the 'Great Lie of the Cold War' which built the myth of a United-Nations-driven shared world, where people from all non-Communist countries collaborated -- only for them to be called 'the Rest' in the post-Communist era.

As any student of history can tell, such triumphalism does not survive for long. The West learnt from the mistakes of the 'rest', and if this triumphalism does not stop soon, the 'rest' are well advised to learn from this mistake of the West.

Global Ecosystem

Let us look at it from another angle. Who is more important and materially successful and thus -- by street wisdom -- entitled to dominance? The bottom of the food chain or the top? The shark or the plankton? The beggar or the tycoon? The villager or the urbanite? The farmer or the banker? These comparisons can be extended to absurdity but the inevitable question at the end would be: by what yardstick?

Pankaj Mishra, another historian, took Niall Ferguson to task and called his two-tier approach what it is. I had a chance to read the book, and I agree. Western success has been a product of liberal thought and equality before the law -- and so has the success of every dominant empire in history. Niall Ferguson's thesis goes against both.

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Second Annual QeRN Muslim Identity Award - 2011

admin — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 04:49:27 +0000

We are pleased to announce our second annual award which goes to an organisation instead of an individual. This organisation is composed of selfless individuals who work as a collective.

As with last year, we have chosen an event towards the later half of the year. The award goes to the Kirklees Imam and Mosque Advisory Board (KIMAB). This organisation shows remarkable unity and has a governance structure that promotes function, equality and stability over parochial interests. Like last year's winner, Hussein Rashid, we congratulate them for their measured and thoughtful response to various events in their area over the later part of the year.

It is only through selfless organisations such as these that Muslim identity is being presented and developed in the world today. We salute KIMAB for their courage and persistence in furtherance of Muslim Identity in the 21st Century.

(The Award consists of a commemorative plaque and a token gift)

Global
UK

Masroor's Attempts at Relevance are a Security Concern

ahmed — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 07:41:12 +0000

The Qadiani Ahmadiyya spent the last decade flirting with Islamophobes, supporting middle eastern wars, and vilifying Pakistan, Indonesia and other Muslim countries. Recently, Mirza Masroor Ahmad, the head of the Qadiani Ahmadiyya offshoot of Islam, appears to be attempting to gain some relevance as history passes him by. We decided to delve into this trend in some detail as his ham-handed attempts are creating security concerns for Muslims in Europe, U.K., Canada and the United States.

Paradoxically, the sympathy that the movement had managed to garner out of their ill-treatment and discrimination in Pakistan and elsewhere seems to be fast evaporating.

While these recent idiosyncratic statements appear to have been primarily targeted at the internal captive audience, eyebrows are being raised as the repercussions are affecting the Muslim community. Known more as a manager than a leader, Masroor has rarely taken a position on significant issues and has been content to work behind the scenes. When he has taken a position, it has invariably been a random page out of the U.S.-neocon anti-Islamic book.

The events about which these statements have been made may have been local but their impact is global. Thus, it needs a broader analysis.

History

Such positions are in line with the history of this politico-religious organisation. For over 120 years, the group has been shopping itself around to any takers as an 'alternate to Islam'. In the 19th century, there were the fervent but unrequited paeans of loyalty from its founder to Queen Victoria and his whispered complaints about 'fanatical' Muslims to the Viceroy. In the 20th century, it was an intense political desire to take over a Pakistani province or to 'somehow' reverse the partition of India. In the 1980s, London was chosen as their international headquarters, despite having functioning and bustling 'headquarters' – one each in India and Pakistan. There is also a Middle Eastern headquarters in Haifa, Israel. In the first decade of the 21^st century, observers can see the group join forces with think tanks such as the Hudson Institute in the United States and the ICSR in the U.K., with the presumptive goal of influencing the legislative processes in Islamic countries. The late-life conservative, Christopher Hitchens, was a friend of the Hudson Institute while his son, Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens, is a fellow at ICSR. The internal messaging has been 'Muslims are leaderless, dispersed and finished, you are the real Muslims' and the public theme has always been: 'Islam is dead, we are at your disposal'. All these verbal and political acrobatics are to just to justify these increasingly unjustifiable positions.

So, why this sudden turn of events that Masroor is forced to take a more belligerent position? Perhaps the winds have shifted. Let us take a deeper look and see why.

Reason: Arab Spring Backfired for Qadiani Ahmadiyya

With less than a thousand Arab adherents, the organisation funds a 24-hour Arabic satellite channel known as MTA-3. It ran round-the-clock Arabic programmes, including call-in shows, opposing the Arab Spring and calling it an act of treason and against 'Islamic' theology. As usual, the ostensible goal would be better relations with surviving dictators, as most real Islamist organisations were behind the popular uprisings.

Reason: Protagonists and their Misguided Projects

The protagonist of this exercise against the Arab spring was a Palestinian named Sharif Odeh who had put together a coterie of Palestinian religious drifters. They had trouble managing the flowing but mis-matched Arab robes on TV that are so alien in the parts from where they hail. Just keep this in mind for now: these protagonists are the cause of the PR debacles as they hurtle, vision-less, from one botched scheme to another. This was around the time when our robed Mr. Odeh was embarrassed by a series of email leaks. At one point he had resorted to pursuing a leading Palestinian mufti towards the end of a one-year prayer duel, for which Masroor himself had asked all his followers for prayer 'ammunition'. The happy-go-lucky Muslim cleric lives and frustrated Mr. Odeh's plans for achieving a coup.

Similarly, Rafiq Hayat of the U.K. has been spending busloads of money on bus ad campaigns that try to sow the seeds of hatred against the Muslim community in the U.K. For almost two years, he has been scaring parliament and the police that 'suicide attacks' are going to happen in Britain and that violence against the Ahmadiyya is imminent. For a while, they were convinced, but the tide has turned. In the picture on the left, he was wading into the Florida pastor's controversy -- urging people to ignore such events -- and that will lead us to the story below about Quran exhibitions. This is why I write this today -- the tone of the past two years has changed, and the change is coming from none other than Masroor Ahmad himself.

In the United States, a much more sinister campaign is under way to beguile the American government to adopt the Ahmadiyya as the 'American-choice Islam' and all types of alliances are being attempted. We have it on the record that the State department reads out the Ahmadiyya briefing word-for-word during its human rights report on Pakistan. Similarly, the U.S. government has accepted 94 Ahmadi refugees without legal process into America. It will take a while, but Americans will smarten up. Their media campaign was horrifying: the slick Nasim Mahdi had been sent from Canada to parrot the following unbelievably Islamophobic phrase 'why are Muslims not condemning terrorism?' This campaign backfired with a bad showing on Fox -- who only wanted the bad stuff about Muslims and Mahdi was not willing to oblige them all the way -- and a watershed debate on Aljazeera in which Muslims were represented by the founder of this site. The blanet accusations on Muslims are mind-boggling and paradoxically -- childish and immature. Those in the know are aware of the anti-terrorism work of Muslim groups - therefore such propaganda is targeted at lay people and is shockingly Islamophobic. With a person appearing to be a Muslim, it comes across even stronger. We hope we have seen the back of this nasty campaign.

Reason: Ahmadiyya Awareness Movement

An unprecedented wave of dissenters and ex-members have used the Intermet to effectively combat the propaganda. The leadership of the Qadiani Ahmadiyya is still at a loss as to how to approach this phenomenon as it seeks to erode it from inside. Already, the number of active headcount in the U.K. has dropped below 10,000 which would be considered a critical mass from which to draw the finances and volunteer manpower required for the headquarters.

Ahmadiyya is too small to register much interest in the mainstream media, and large enough to cause serious problems for others. The Internet has given a platform at the right level to media and other organisations to track, analyse and report on this group.

Attempt: Quran Exhibitions - Macho Masroor is Dangerous

The Florida pastor incident led to this Quran exhibition project. One exhibition created a law and order situation in Delhi, and in another Indian city, Qadiani Ahmadis had to apologise to the local Muslims after calling them terrorists. The purpose of these Quran exhibitions seems to be to create local disturbance as they inevitably contain 'Muslims are terrorists' theme.

In the U.K., the EDL attacked an Ahmadiyya Quran exhibition in Cradley Heath. Did that prompt them to take a hard look at the costs and benefits? The Ahmadiyya arranged an exhibition in Dewsbury -- where they have virtually no presence and it is home to one of the most conservative Muslim populations in the U.K. Thankfully, the police asked the Ahmadiyya to not conduct such an event without co-operation with the local representative Muslim body (KIMAB) and inter-faith groups. The local Ahmadi organiser, thankfully, agreed. But, I could not believe my ears when I heard Masroor Ahmad say this on worldwide TV on 9th December, 2011:

"I say with sadness that here in the U.K. that an exhibition was being held in a town here. But because of the noise of the mullahs, the police requested our local organisers to not hold the exhibition. It should be a principle, that we should repel such requests with arguments, but the local organisers there agreed to what they said. And cancelled the exhibition. If here, in this country, or these European countries, where there is all kinds of freedom, and the government announces that it gives freedoms, if we let the mullahs sit on top of our heads, we would be encouraging extremism in this country also."

"It should be made very clear to the organisers and this exhibition should be held again. Some people say 'let us arrange it quietly'. What is the use of doing it quietly? On one hand, we claim that we are going to move the mission of the 'Champion of Allah' forward, and on the other hand, show hesitation in the field. As I said, there is the rule of law in this country. The government claims that there is rule of law here. Then say to the law - it is your job to implement it. And giving the right of each citisen and protecting him. And you should do it.

What then is the difference between those extremists who protest on the return of British soldiers' bodies and the Ahmadiyya? The local community does not want both there but they insist that it is a free country and the police should protect them. At least the political and media-attention motives of the extremists are not disguised as 'exhibitions'.

In this information age, when every format of Quran, and every translation, is available online and on smartphones and everywhere else, a bland town-hall presentation may do some good, but doe not break any ground. On the other hand, it may cause community issues with either nationalist groups or majority Muslim communities who feel voiceless. An exhibition is of something rare and unique -- such as manuscripts or specialty scripts. Even if it weremarginally beneficial, you can see from these pictures below that they are mostly Pakistani get-togethers and media photo opportunities -- and little more.

Mr. Masroor, your TV channel does not even broadcast complete round of sermons on the Quran in Ramadan. How can you stand up and say that Muslims, who have Quran schools by the dozen in the U.K., are not doing the work of the Quran and you are? The real matter is that those Muslims have to live in the community and work with one another and with local law enforcement while your group is just an opportunist troublemaker that will drive in, create tensions, and then drive off.

It is understandable that Masroor is in quite a bind these days. In our humble opinion, the way out for him is to stop vilifying Muslims and encourage his followers to build bridges with the wider Muslim community. Yes, Muslims will never come to love you, but a means of open understanding and honest dialogue can be developed. Ahmadiyya literature is replete with the notion that Ahmadis are to Muslims what Christians were to Jews. Since the Ahmadiyya faith is so used to drawing parallels, why not work on the same parallel and establish some level of communication based on a common heritage -- as Ahmadiyya is also an offshoot of Islam. The Mormons also reached the same conclusion with Christianity a while ago. When you get a brand-new rophet who comes with a great number of books, it is time to move on, mend fences and display your Messiah's books. Good for you. And we will be happy for you. Why -- oh why -- have we never seen an exhibition of the great works of the Messiah himself? I will let the reader guess. If you do arrange an exhibit of the books of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, your prophet and great-grand-father, I can assure you that Muslims will not only stay out of the way, they will help you to organise it.

Here is what a real Quran exhibition should look like -- something worth people travelling for and visiting. This was arranged by Muslims out of respect for their holy book, and not as some cheap media attention trick:

Attempt: Message to Pope - Masroor falsifies History

Remember Mr. Odeh, the Palestinian who dresses up in Gulf Arab robes. Well you can see him here wearing his robes when talking to members of his community, and then wearing Pakistani (Ahmadiyya ritual dress) when meeting the pope. He was among the representatives of each religion in the Holy Land who were invited by the pope. The Israeli religious ministry knows well (having given birth to Christianity) that Qadianis are a separate religion - and that is why they had their own representative in the delegation. Similarly, laws about Arab Muslims do not apply to Arab Qadianis in Israel.

Although on a different mission, Mr. Odeh tried to convey the message of Mirza Masroor Ahmad to the Pontiff -- perhaps trying to appease his master for not delivering on previous projects. Talking about this event, Mirza Masroor stated on 9th December that other Muslims only met such leaders to ask for money and no Muslim had ever given a message to the Pope. Now, this is a lie, and Mr. Odeh should know it. There have been delegations and good relations between the Roman Catholic Church and Islam throughout history. Very recently,'A Common Word' is the historic message from prominent Muslim religious leaders to the Pope and other Christian prelates -- a message that was received and answered. It was based on the Muslim identity and unity that came about as a result of the Amman Message. Either Mr. Odeh did not tell his master, Mirza Masroor, who can be presumed to be ignorant of this historic development -- a development that resulted in a change of policy in Europe and in the United States -- or Mr. Masroor believes that his flock is so ignorant that they will fall fo this. Here is Grand Mufti Imam Ceric with the Pope as part of the 'A Common Word' dialogue.

Either way, it would be foolishly laughable were the stakes not so high. Mirza Masroor even mentioned the same verse of the Quran that is the origin of 'a common word', but he blatantly refused to acknowledge any Muslim effort at all. In fact, he ridiculed Muslims as beggars. Bluntly, it is downright dangerous and noxiously Islamophobic. Not even an entry-level researcher at Fox News would miss this or take the story down this path. I still want to believe that the Qadianis are so inward-looking that they may actually not know about 'A Common Word.'

Attempt: Geert Wilders - A Day Late and Still Dangerous

In 2009, when Wilders produced his contemptible film, Masroor was silent while his subordinates were busy vilifying Muslims for their reaction to Wilders, thankfully of which there was little. After two years, and after feeling safe that the U.K. had banned Wilders and the ban was only overturned on appeal, Masroor Ahmad wades into the mess. In Holland, Wilders' home country, he threatens 'humiliation, annihiliation and destruction' upon Wilders. Wait a second -- he added that this destruction and annihilation will be through prayers! And then he went on to praise Queen Beatrix, who did not reciprocate.

Rewind to 1898 when the British made Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, great-grandfather of Masroor, sign an affidavit to stop his 'prayer destruction and killing' advertisements. They tolerated him for 15 years and then put a stop to it. The Qadiani prophet, messiah, mahdi, avatar, guru (am not making these up) complied and dutifully obeyed the law for the rest of his living days. I would strongly advise Masroor from trying this out in this day and age -- the result will be the same.

Wilders picked up on this provocation and went and asked questions of the Dutch parliament. Parliament sheepishly replied 'yes, there is nothing violent in it, only prayers.' The European Islamophobic site 'Gates of Vienna' opined best: So which Islamic heresy will denounce Geert Wilders next? The Baha’is?

Such sabre-rattling, even with prayers, is still dangerous. How will Mr. Masroor feel if these words were used for him and his group?

Attempt: Third World War - Downright Kooky

Every time the Ahmadiyya have an internal problem, they bring up the Third World War. I have been hearing it for last 40 years at least. It doesn't matter what the geo-political situation is, a Third World War is enough to keep poor cult-like Ahmadis cowering in fear and seeking refuge with their fearless and dear leader.

This week, Masroor Ahmad brought up the Third World War in an address to adherents in India, of all places. Enough said. Again, it would be hilarious were it not so dangerous. And very dangerous: on that evening, I received an email from concerned Ahmadis in United Kingdom that local Qadiani Ahmadiyya organisers were urging people to stock up on food, as Britain was about to be engulfed in a war.

Maybe it is advance warning of another Gulf War received via Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (an Ahmadi peer). Most likely, it is the Qadiani Ahmadiyya taking on another dangerous cult-like turn -- a turn it never fails to take at least once every ten to twelve years, counting upon the short memory of their detractors. The last two such belligerent phases were in 1988-1992 and then in 1999 to 2001.

Conclusion

We strongly urge Mirza Masroor Ahmad and the Qadiani Ahmadiyya leadership to back away from these belligerent tactics as they are causing a gulf between communities in the West and Muslims. His little group will light a match and run away -- and other Islamophobes cannot distinguish between these pseudo-Muslims and real Muslims.

Dear Mirza Masroor Ahmad, this postponed exhibition in Dewsbury may or may not go ahead -- but one thing is sure -- it is not going to work out as you expected. It will definitely backfire in due course.

(Updated for clarity on Decemeber 31st, 2011)

Robert Fisk: Bankers are the dictators of the West

admin — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 12:34:36 +0000

Robert Fisk, Saturday, 10 December 2011

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-bankers-are-the-dictators-of-the-west-6275084.html#

Writing from the very region that produces more clichés per square foot than any other "story" – the Middle East – I should perhaps pause before I say I have never read so much garbage, so much utter drivel, as I have about the world financial crisis.

But I will not hold my fire. It seems to me that the reporting of the collapse of capitalism has reached a new low which even the Middle East cannot surpass for sheer unadulterated obedience to the very institutions and Harvard "experts" who have helped to bring about the whole criminal disaster.

Let's kick off with the "Arab Spring" – in itself a grotesque verbal distortion of the great Arab/Muslim awakening which is shaking the Middle East – and the trashy parallels with the social protests in Western capitals. We've been deluged with reports of how the poor or the disadvantaged in the West have "taken a leaf" out of the "Arab spring" book, how demonstrators in America, Canada, Britain, Spain and Greece have been "inspired" by the huge demonstrations that brought down the regimes in Egypt, Tunisia and – up to a point – Libya. But this is nonsense.

The real comparison, needless to say, has been dodged by Western reporters, so keen to extol the anti-dictator rebellions of the Arabs, so anxious to ignore protests against "democratic" Western governments, so desperate to disparage these demonstrations, to suggest that they are merely picking up on the latest fad in the Arab world. The truth is somewhat different. What drove the Arabs in their tens of thousands and then their millions on to the streets of Middle East capitals was a demand for dignity and a refusal to accept that the local family-ruled dictators actually owned their countries. The Mubaraks and the Ben Alis and the Gaddafis and the kings and emirs of the Gulf (and Jordan) and the Assads all believed that they had property rights to their entire nations. Egypt belonged to Mubarak Inc, Tunisia to Ben Ali Inc (and the Traboulsi family), Libya to Gaddafi Inc. And so on. The Arab martyrs against dictatorship died to prove that their countries belonged to their own people.

And that is the true parallel in the West. The protest movements are indeed against Big Business – a perfectly justified cause – and against "governments". What they have really divined, however, albeit a bit late in the day, is that they have for decades bought into a fraudulent democracy: they dutifully vote for political parties – which then hand their democratic mandate and people's power to the banks and the derivative traders and the rating agencies, all three backed up by the slovenly and dishonest coterie of "experts" from America's top universities and "think tanks", who maintain the fiction that this is a crisis of globalisation rather than a massive financial con trick foisted on the voters.

The banks and the rating agencies have become the dictators of the West. Like the Mubaraks and Ben Alis, the banks believed – and still believe – they are owners of their countries. The elections which give them power have – through the gutlessness and collusion of governments – become as false as the polls to which the Arabs were forced to troop decade after decade to anoint their own national property owners. Goldman Sachs and the Royal Bank of Scotland became the Mubaraks and Ben Alis of the US and the UK, each gobbling up the people's wealth in bogus rewards and bonuses for their vicious bosses on a scale infinitely more rapacious than their greedy Arab dictator-brothers could imagine.

I didn't need Charles Ferguson's Inside Job on BBC2 this week – though it helped – to teach me that the ratings agencies and the US banks are interchangeable, that their personnel move seamlessly between agency, bank and US government. The ratings lads (almost always lads, of course) who AAA-rated sub-prime loans and derivatives in America are now – via their poisonous influence on the markets – clawing down the people of Europe by threatening to lower or withdraw the very same ratings from European nations which they lavished upon criminals before the financial crash in the US. I believe that understatement tends to win arguments. But, forgive me, who are these creatures whose ratings agencies now put more fear into the French than Rommel did in 1940?

Why don't my journalist mates in Wall Street tell me? How come the BBC and CNN and – oh, dear, even al-Jazeera – treat these criminal communities as unquestionable institutions of power? Why no investigations – Inside Job started along the path – into these scandalous double-dealers? It reminds me so much of the equally craven way that so many American reporters cover the Middle East, eerily avoiding any direct criticism of Israel, abetted by an army of pro-Likud lobbyists to explain to viewers why American "peacemaking" in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can be trusted, why the good guys are "moderates", the bad guys "terrorists".

The Arabs have at least begun to shrug off this nonsense. But when the Wall Street protesters do the same, they become "anarchists", the social "terrorists" of American streets who dare to demand that the Bernankes and Geithners should face the same kind of trial as Hosni Mubarak. We in the West – our governments – have created our dictators. But, unlike the Arabs, we can't touch them.

The Irish Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, solemnly informed his people this week that they were not responsible for the crisis in which they found themselves. They already knew that, of course. What he did not tell them was who was to blame. Isn't it time he and his fellow EU prime ministers did tell us? And our reporters, too?

Global
West

Israeli Desperation in Courting European Far-right

admin — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 00:34:28 +0000

Diplomats don't make many mistakes. Certainly not mistakes like attending a reception for 20 minutes and posing for pictures and also giving positive comments.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz is keeping them honest. But what is afoot here? Let us take a look.

Marine Le Pen had invited about 100 diplomats to a luncheon earlier this month during a visit to UN Headquarters in New York. But only four accepted: the envoys from Trinidad-Tobago, Armenia and Uruguay — who obviously are of no concern to her at all — and the fourth guest, Israeli UN Ambassador Ron Prosor.

No official American representative had agreed to meet with Le Pen. Neither did any leader of the Jewish community. She also failed in her attempt to stage a photo op at the Holocaust Museum. The French ambassador to the UN sent a sharp message that she is persona non grata in the United Nations building. But the Israeli envoy? He shook her hand and spoke of the importance that must be accorded to a wide variety of opinions. “We flourish on the diversity of ideas,” Prosor said. “We talked about Europe, about other issues and I enjoyed the conversation very much.”

For those who do not know, the party founded by Le Pen's father is one of the most anti-Semitic and ultra-nationalist parties in Europe. What Israel hopes to gain from this is beyond comprehension. Or is it so desperate to counter Palestinian gains in public opinion in Europe?

Haaretz continues:

Le Pen herself was quoted by French news agencies on Saturday, saying that the Israeli ambassador’s presence at the event “was not an error.” According to Le Pen, “Please, no one actually imagines that the ambassador burst through the wrong door.”

The National Front leader added, “It is impossible to converse with Marine Le Pen for 20 minutes without knowing who she is.” According to Le Pen, “There was nothing unclear or ambiguous about our meeting.”

Israel Foreign Ministry spokesperson Yigal Palmor said that the meeting with Le Pen was “a fundamental mistake and does not reflect a change in Israeli policy towards the National Front.” According to Palmor, “[Prosor’s] arrival at the event was the result of a misunderstanding, and everything that occurred afterwards was the result of an unintended mistake in judgment.”

However, sources in the Foreign Ministry noted that it was a highly embarrassing incident. “By comparison, Congo’s Ambassador to the UN, who also came to the event, realized at the door what kind of event it was, and immediately turned around and left,” the sources said. “It was a serious error.”

Region:

Topic:

Pakistan Turns the Corner without War or Revolution

akber — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 12:09:47 +0000

Pakistanis are a hardy and pragmatic people. Recently, exhibiting some signs of a true democracy, they have probably averted some of the worse outcomes being discussed only a few months ago. We'll discuss some of the recent events here:

These are the tree observations that lead us to believe that the U.S. will abandon its hostile attitude in order to exit Afghanistan in an orderly manner:

Drone attacks on Pakistan are becoming a political liability both in Pakistan and the West
Grudging respect for Pakistani military among Western defense thinkers
Internal political stability that can withstand major shocks

Protesting Drone Attacks is NOT Supporting Terrorists

It took a long while to get to this stage. Initially, the drone attacks had started in the aftermath of Pakistani military actions against militants. In that context, no politician wanted to openly criticise this act of low-intensity war against a sovereign country. In the bi-polar black-white dichotomy reminiscent of 'either you are with us or against us', the U.S. was trying to create an atmosphere of false identities and fear, and succeeding at it.

It was Imran Khan who stuck to his guns and deplored these attacks and slowly opinion began to turn around. Even organisations like Reprieve now have campaigns against these drone attacks.

The domestic rise in the popularity of Imran Khan is also a sign of a maturing democracy: non-ethnic, non-religious and non-feudal political leadership -- based on ideas and goals.

Grudging Respect in the Atlantic

When the U.S. wants to attack, it dehumanises. Who the U.S. cannot attack any more, it treats like an evil genius. This otherwise alarmist article in the Atlantic really showed that the opinion-formers of the United States have given up on the sabre-rattling. Sound-bites may ensue but the general consensus is that Pakistan is too wily for a military confrontation.

The United States must, for its own security, keep watch over Pakistan’s nuclear program—and that’s more easily done if we remain engaged with the Pakistani government. The U.S. must also be able to receive information from the ISI about al-Qaeda, even if such information is provided sporadically. And the U.S. will simply not find a way out of Afghanistan if Pakistan becomes an open enemy. Pakistan, for its part, can afford to lose neither America’s direct financial support, nor the help America provides with international lending agencies. Nor can Pakistan’s military afford to lose its access to American weapons systems, and to the trainers attached to them. Economically, Pakistan cannot afford to be isolated by America in the way the U.S. isolates countries it considers sponsors of terrorism. Its neighbor Iran is an object lesson in this regard. For all these reasons, Pakistan and America remain locked in a hostile embrace.

MemoGate

The revelation of an alleged panic memo by the Pakistani civilian government to the U.S. military has caused a major stir. Like the Wikileaks cables, it is nothing unanticipated -- such appeals from civilian governments to the U.S. to rein in the Pakistan military are routine, and usually unfounded. Despite its reputation for coups, the military has not acted unless politicians were heading towards constitutional paralysis.

Like the exaggerated premises of the memo, the fallout of its revelation has also failed to ignite desperate and nuclear measures by hostile political forces. Also, despite the lack of a mlitary-backed president, it appears that Parliament will complete its term. Both politicians and the military have learnt to bide their time and plan long-term, and voters are leaning towards ideas and not politics based on identities of region and religion.

Compared to Italy and Greece, it appears that Pakistan is a healthy and evolving democracy, in some ways ahead of Italy and Greece.

Region:

Pakistan
US

Topic:

Co-incidence? Ahmadism and Mormonism

ahmed — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 04:36:21 +0000

This is the United States of America -- where Christians are being asked by Rick Perry supporters to not vote for Romney and Huntsman:

"The view that Mormons are not Christians is the widely and strongly held view among Protestant pastors. That does not mean they do not respect Mormons as persons, share their values on family and have much in common. Yet, they simply view Mormonism as a distinct religion outside of basic teachings of Christianity. Many of these pastors may know Mormons who consider themselves Christians, but Protestant pastors overwhelmingly do not consider them such," said Stetzer. "I know this is an unpleasant question to many, and one that some will use as a hammer on evangelicals."

Mormons differ from most Protestants in how they view the Trinity. They also have scripture in addition to the Bible, such as the Book of Mormon, and believe in prophets such as Joseph Smith, Jr., who founded the Latter Day Saint movement. (Stetzer, Lifeway Research Study 2010)

And when Muslims say that they respect Ahmadis (Qadianis) as persons but can never accept them as Muslim as they diverge on a principle as fundamental as the trinity and have new prophets, they are considered 'narrow-minded' and 'extremist'.

The major difference between the social situation of the two is that the Mormons generally keep to themselves and do not criticize the Christians or the society of the country (United States) in which they have long felt alienated -- they accept it as the cost of being 'chosen'. The Ahmadis, however, have never uttered a single sentence in favor of Pakistan, boycotted elections and taken every opportunity to vilify and denigrate Pakistan and Muslims wherever they can -- with a Western-backed 'in-your-face' attitude that raises heckles of conservatives. And nor do the Mormons feel that it is their constitutional duty to preach on every street corner, and for this reason alone -- they are better tolerated than the Jehovah's Witnesses.

As I am fond of saying, Muslims in India and Pakistan and elsewhere would leave the Ahmadi religion alone if they were to stick to their beliefs and not trample on Muslims' right with the 'in-your-face' of 'real Islam' and their hyper-evangelical proselytization.

Dear Ahmadis, take a page from the Mormon Book. There might be some alienation, but a lot less discrimination. Not convinced? What are the chances of a Jehovah's Witness running for President in the United States.

Dear U.S. State Department, think about this next time you copy/paste Amjad Khan's submission into your Pakistan country report on human rights.