Year 2010, bloodiest chapter in history of Ahmedi killings

Monday, March 21, 2011

Year 2010, bloodiest chapter in history of Ahmedi killings

By Afnan Khan

LAHORE: The year 2010 witnessed a series of intermittent persecutions of Ahmedis and can be labelled as the bloodiest chapter in the history of the minority’s killings in Pakistan with an unprecedented number of assassinations including a twin terrorist attack on their worship places in Lahore.

At least 98 people were gunned down for following Ahmedis’ religious beliefs, while 86 were brutally killed and 124 injured when terrorists attacked their worship places in the city last year on May 28. Separately, several others survived assassination bids during numerous incidents in different parts of the country.

Among the victims of the target killings was Professor Muhammad Yusuf, who was murdered by terrorists in his own locality.

Yusuf ran a small, charitable school at his house where he provided education to the poor and downtrodden children of Ferozwala area, irrespective of their colour, creed or caste. However, after Yusuf’s assassination, his own family was forced to flee to Sri Lanka in order to survive.

Separately, as per the annual report issued by the community’s information office, at least three Ahmedis were wrongfully booked under the blasphemy law and 67 others were unjustly charged with and dragged into religion-based cases.

The report also accused the civil judge Mirpur for sentencing three Ahmedis, namely Masood Ahmad Chandio, Abdul Razzaq and Abdul Ghani to three years of imprisonment in March 2010 under Ahmedi specific law. Meanwhile, three others, namely Muhammad Qasim, Mazahir Ahmad and Ahmad Yar, were arrested under PPC 298-C and 295-C on false accusation of preaching and blasphemy in Sargodha.

Other incidents involving injustices to Ahmedi citizens include handing over the control of an Ahmadiyya worship place in Ahmad Nagar to non-Ahmedis on January 14 last year as per the orders of the Chiniot District Co-ordination Officer and the denial of shelter and food to the flood affected Ahmedis in the ravaged areas of southern Punjab.

URL: www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\03\21\...pg13_5

TNR rally warns govt not to touch blasphemy law

Monday, January 10, 2011

TNR rally warns govt not to touch blasphemy law

*	Hundreds of thousands gather in Karachi to demand govt abolish committee set up to review law, withdraw bill from NA

Staff Report/Agencies

KARACHI: The Tehreek-e-Namoos-e-Risalat (TNR) and the All-Religious Parties Alliance held a massive rally on Sunday, 8demanding the government not touch the country’s blasphemy law, abolish the committee set up to review the law and withdraw the proposed blasphemy bill from the National Assembly.

Hundreds of thousands of people participated in the march from the Numaish Chowrangi to Tibat Centre. They raised placards and banners voicing their demands.

The size of the Karachi rally, which was large even by the standards of the city of 16 million, showed how bitter the argument is over the decades-old laws.

Tehreek-e-Namoos-e-Risalat convener and the chief of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan (JUP), Dr Abul Khair Muhammad Zubair, said it was a matter of regret that the present government had tabled a bill to amend the blasphemy law.

Dr Abul Khair gave a deadline of January 30 to the government to dissolve the committee that was formed to review blasphemy law. “Otherwise the next Tahafuz-e-Namoos Rislat March will be organised in Lahore on January 30,” he said.

Jamaat-e-Islami chief Munawar Hassan said the rulers intended to amend the blasphemy law at the direction of their Western idols. He said that he offers Altaf Hussain and Nawaz Sharif to come forward and take a stand in favour of the blasphemy law, as it was a matter of belief and religion for each Muslim. “They should come forward to make a statement on record in this regard, avoiding all minor or major differences,” he said.

Munawar demanded that Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani withdraw the bill, which was tabled “for the nefarious propose of amending the blasphemy law and the PM should give a policy statement on the floor of the assembly in this regard”.

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl Fazlur Rehman said the nation would not allow any one to amend or remove the blasphemy law. He vowed that the “Western agenda” would not be allowed in Pakistan, which “had come into being in the name of Allah and the holy Prophet (PBUH)”.

He alleged that the government was expressing extremism in its struggle against the blasphemy law. JI Karachi chief Muhammad Hussain Mehnti, JUI-F leader Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haidri, JUP member Shabir Abu Talib, PML-Q leader Muhammed Zubair Khan and Owais Pasha of the Tanzeem Islami also spoke on the occasion.

The blasphemy law has been the subject of much attention after a Christian woman, Aasia Bibi, was sentenced to death last year.

Although courts typically overturn blasphemy convictions and no executions have been carried out, rights activists say the laws are used to settle rivalries and persecute religious minorities.

While the Islamists do not win many seats in elections, they have the capacity to bring people out into the streets.

The rally followed a tumultuous week in Pakistani politics in which the Pakistan People’s Party government backtracked on reforms to stave off collapse.……

URL: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default..._pg7_15

Religious parties unite to protect Qadri

Thursday, January 6, 2010

Religious parties unite to protect Qadri

By Zeeshan

ISLAMABAD: Religious parties on Wednesday seemed united in protecting Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer’s assassin Malik Mumtaz Qadri.

Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), a Bralevi sect party, called a meeting for tomorrow (Friday), likely to be held in Rawalpindi to discuss the fallout of the assassination of the Punjab governor.

Senior SIC member Haji Hanif Tayeb told Daily Times by phone that Sahibzada Fazal Karim would chair the meeting and then it would be decided whether to support Qadri or otherwise. The Tahafuz-e-Namoos-e-Risalat Mahaz, a forum of Bralevi school of thought, also seemed determined to protect Qadri. Maulana Raghib Naeemi told Daily Times that anarchy would increase in society if some one tried to amend the blasphemy law. “It is a principled decision of the Mahaz to support Qadri,” Naeemi categorically stated. Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer, Syed Munawar Hassan, justified Qadri’s act, saying Salmaan Taseer himself had to be blamed for his fate.

In a press statement, he said Taseer’s views on the blasphemy law provoked Qadri into killing him. Badshahi Masjid Khateeb Maulana Abul Khabir Azad asked the government not to amend the blasphemy law, as it would hurt the sentiments of 180 million people of Pakistan.

Replying to a question, he denied that he refused to lead Taseer’s funeral prayers saying he was busy and could not spare time.

URL: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011/01/06/story_6-1-2011_pg7_14

An idea whose time has come

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

EDITORIAL: An idea whose time has come

If it were not so tragic, the case of a blasphemy-accused doctor would have made for comic reading. Reportedly, Dr Naushad Valiyani threw the business card of a medical representative “which had his full name, Muhammad Faizan”, in a dustbin. Mr Faizan then launched a blasphemy complaint against the doctor. The absurdity of the charges against Dr Valiyani exposes the nature of the draconian Blasphemy Law, which can be misused for any purpose under the sun. General Ziaul Haq left this country with a minefield in the shape of this law, which lends itself to abuse. The case of Dr Valiyani is just one of the many cases where the complainant is crossing all lines of common sense. ‘Muhammad’ is a popular name over the Muslim world. To say that the doctor committed blasphemy just because he threw a business card that had ‘Muhammad’ written on it is ridiculous. The issue was resolved between the parties when the doctor apologised, although not before Faizan and his friends had reportedly roughed up the doctor. However, the intervention of some clerics resulted in a blasphemy charge against the accused, who was then arrested.

Since we are so fond of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), why not invoke PPC 153 A in cases where false accusations are made? According to PPC 153 A (a), whoever “by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representations or otherwise, promotes or incites, or attempts to promote or incite, on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, caste or community or any other ground whatsoever, disharmony or feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will between different religious, racial, language or regional groups or castes or communities” shall be fined and punished with imprisonment for a term that may extend to five years. Thus, Muhammad Faizan should be charged with incitement against the innocent doctor.

In another incident, three alleged blasphemers in Karachi — Syed Raheel Masood Wasti, Samreen Masood and Zafar Iqbal — denied desecrating the Holy Quran. As per their statement, they were not in the house when their illiterate maid accidentally threw out some pages of the Quran after cleaning the house. They have expressed fear for their lives and that they can be falsely persecuted under the Blasphemy Law. This is yet another example of the way the mullahs use this law. In almost all the cases under the Blasphemy Law, the accusations are mala fide. The accusations are based on personal vendetta, blackmail, settling scores, property disputes, etc. It is therefore beyond comprehension why the mullah brigade is threatening to launch a movement, Tehreek Namoos-e-Risalat (TNR), in case any amendments are made to the Blasphemy Law, except that it serves their political agenda of keeping the country hostage to their fulminations. This flawed law should be repealed in the first instance, and if that is not possible because our politicians have yet to find the courage to defy the blackmail of the religious groups, at least the amendment bill by Ms Sherry Rehman should be considered seriously. Islam is a religion of peace but the fundamentalists have hijacked our religion and given new interpretations to serve their vested interests. The religious right is committing the greatest blasphemy by distorting the name of Islam. When the British introduced the Blasphemy Law, it was done to maintain harmony between all religious communities in the Indian subcontinent. Ziaul Haq’s Blasphemy Law has done the exact opposite. It has made the religious minorities more insecure in this ‘land of the not-so-pure’. When a state legalises persecution of minorities, it is time to change the laws.

Pakistan can never progress if it chooses to espouse the values of the Dark Ages. Let us not be afraid to challenge the religious extremists just because they threaten us with ‘dire consequences’. We have been held hostage to their absurdities for decades. It is high time we rolled back Zia’s legacy and moved forward towards a progressive, secular and democratic Pakistan. *

URL: www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\12\14\story_14-12-2010_pg3_1

Clerics to launch campaign if blasphemy laws amended

Monday, December 13, 2010

Clerics to launch campaign if blasphemy laws amended

*	Six-member action committee formed to evolve future strategy

Staff Report

RAWALPINDI: All the religious parties of the country have announced to launch a movement, Tehreek Namoos-e-Risalat (TNR), against proposed amendments in the blasphemy laws, Markazi Jamaat Ahle Sunnat Ameer Pir Atiqur Rehman said on Sunday.

Talking to reporters after attending All Parties Namoos-e-Risalat conference, Pir Atiqur Rehman said that Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan (JUP) President Dr Abul Khair Muhammad Zubair had been nominated as the convener of the newly formed group.

The conference was attended by Syed Munawar Hassan, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Professor Sajid Mir, Allama Sajid Naqvi, Mufti Muneebur Rehman, Dr Abul Khair Zubair, Pir Atiqur Rehman, Hamidul Haq Haqqani, Liaqat Baloch, Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haidri, Abdul Rauf Farooqi, Sikandar Abbas Gillani and Maulana Muhammad Abbas.

He said a six-member action committee, comprising Liaqat Baloch, Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haidri, Abdul Rauf Farooqi, Sikandar Abbas Gillani and Maulana Muhammad Abbas, had been formed to evolve future strategy of the TNR.

“The purpose of the meeting was to convey a message to the government that the nation would not tolerate any type of amendment in the blasphemy law, especially in the article 295-C of the constitution,” Dr Zubair said.

“The future strategy will be evolved in a meeting to be held in Islamabad on December 15,” he said.

Dr Zubair further said that the heads of all the five Wafaqul Madaris (religious educational boards) had also ratified the outcome of the conference.

He warned the rulers that if they dared to touch the blasphemy law, their government would not continue further as an organised protest campaign would be initiated throughout the country.

URL: www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\12\13\story_13-12-2010_pg7_13

Govt slammed for ‘failure’ to protect religious minorities

Monday, December 13, 2010

Govt slammed for ‘failure’ to protect religious minorities

By Afnan Khan

LAHORE: Noted human rights activists and members of persecuted communities in Pakistan censured the government for its rights record and failure to stop violence against minorities.

They said government’s failure to amend the blasphemy law exposed the fact that extremists were still very strong in the country and that the government was failing to protect the persecuted communities. Political parties only used the issue to take political mileage, they complained.

A senior official of the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) Baseer Naweed told Daily Times that the commission has expressed deep concerns over the state of human rights in Pakistan in its annual report for 2010.

He said the report observed that the condition of human rights in Pakistan in 2010 remained grave. The AHRC has encountered cases and situations which indicated continued systematic abuse of human rights as well as areas critically affected by conflict and the absence of the rule of law, he added.

State actors, including police and judiciary, commonly perpetrate, permit and fail to punish egregious violations of human rights, especially against women and religious minorities. These violations include forced disappearances, torture, extra-judicial killings, disfiguring attacks on women, forced marriage and religious conversion, rape, domestic abuse, and other crimes.

However, the commission appreciated the government’s steps towards ending executions as not a single person was executed since November 2008 out of the approximately 7,500 prisoners on death row.

Minorities remain insecure and unprotected because of the misuse of blasphemy law and ineptness of the government and its authorities with regard to the actions of extremist groups. These groups enjoy impunity because of the government’s interest in political expediency and having supporters in powerful institutions like army and intelligence agencies, the report says.

It urged the government to withdraw all the reservations on the ICCPR and CAT and ratify it in its true spirit so that the law enforcement agencies are made accountable before the law. It also urged the government to stop the menace of torture in custody by any authority, whether it be police or army, and make torture a crime by law.

There is an urgent need of stopping the corruption at all levels while all forms of violence against women should carry proper punishments. It also demanded that journalists must be provided protection and those who attack, torture and kill them must be prosecuted.

Meanwhile, Jamaat Ahmadiyya spokesperson Saleemud Din told Daily Times that Ahmedi citizens were becoming worst victims of blasphemy law, and more than 3,500 criminal cases have been registered against Ahmedis throughout the country under various laws.

He said last year, 74 Ahmedis faced fresh charges while those who were charged under section 295-A have also been prosecuted in anti-terrorism courts. A total 98 Ahmedis were killed this year, while the number of total killings was 110 till 2009.

He said it was an alarming situation as a hate campaign against the community was in full swing right under the nose of government across the country while the extremists were building up their pressure and activities in Chenab Nagar and it could prove to be disastrous if no step was taken.

One of the victims of Gojra riots, Samson Suhail, and a rights activist, Nadeem Anthony, told Daily Times that minorities were feeling very disappointed as the government had failed to amend blasphemy law.

They said they were still determined to continue the struggle for their rights, as it was a matter of their survival. Grant of bail to those five people who were arrested after being shown in footage torching innocent Christians in Gojra has also discouraged the victims a lot, yet they were still determined to fight the case against extremists.

At least seven people, including women and children, were burnt alive by the extremist mobs in Gojra over the claims that some Christians in a nearby town of Korian had desecrated the holy Quran.

They said Almas Masih, who had lost his wife, brother and children, had to flee the country due to continuous death threats by the extremists for pursuing the case against them.

However, Pakistan People’s Party Minority Wing President Napoleon Qayoom told Daily Times that the government was keen to protect the rights of minorities.

He said President Asif Zardari himself ordered him to ensure justice to a Christian nurse who was allegedly raped by a doctor. The president also asked him to monitor distribution of relief goods among minorities after receiving news of discrimination by some local officials in Sukkur and nearby areas.

Napoleon admitted that government’s failure to amend the blasphemy law was a discouraging factor for minorities, yet he appreciated the fact that things were allowed to be openly discussed under the umbrella of the PPP government.

He said President Asif Zardari won the hearts of the people by his recent statement in which he called on the influential people to stand up for the rights of women and minorities. He said that PPP leadership was aware of the fact that the miscreants misused blasphemy law to settle scores with their rivals and a great struggle was required to end these laws.

URL: www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\12\13\story_13-12-2010_pg13_6

VIEW: Shame on us

Monday, December 13, 2010

VIEW: Shame on us — Yasser Latif Hamdani

On the Blasphemy Law, the mullah knows he is on a weak footing both constitutionally and with reference to Islam. He knows that there is no moral sanction in Islam to deprive people of their freedom of thought and expression. He knows that, historically, Islamic civilisation has not only tolerated but protected dissent

After my article ‘Aasia Bibi and due process’ (Daily Times, December 6, 2010) last week, Muhammad Zubair of Business Plus invited me to speak on his show along with Dr Meraj-ul-Huda of the Jamaat-e-Islami on the issue of the Blasphemy Law.

The good doctor waxed eloquent about how those opposing the Blasphemy Law had no faith in the constitution and the courts. However, when I pointed out some of the grounds on which the law, in its current form, was entirely unconstitutional, he dropped nothing less than a bombshell as someone who claims to defend the constitution. The senior Jamaat-e-Islami leader claimed that parliament had no right anymore to amend the Blasphemy Law. This blatant denial of the rights of the elected representatives of Pakistan, rights that according to Jamaat-e-Islami vested in General Ziaul Haq, rubbishes all claims of Jamaat-e-Islami to be a party committed to a democratic polity.

As if that were not enough, Dr Huda proceeded to show me just how far people like him would go in lying through their teeth to prove their point. When I quoted Jinnah’s warning about the misuse of Article 295-A and how it might be used to silence academic freedom and bona fide criticism of religion, he claimed that Jinnah had only said that because there was mention of “Her Majesty” in that clause. Perhaps Dr Huda did not bother to research the issue before proving himself to be the poster boy for foot-in-the-mouth disease. Article 295-A deals strictly with scurrilous remarks about founders of various faiths and not Her Majesty. Article 295-A came out in response to the events in Lahore surrounding the Raj Pal controversy.

That Jamaat-e-Islami has a history of shamelessly distorting history is well known. Its sinister role against Pakistan and the people of Pakistan is also well documented in history. What I cannot believe is that, even after being exposed over and over again, the Meraj-ul-Hudas, the Professor Ghafoors, the Munawar Hasans and the Qazi Hussains still shamelessly appear on television to lie over and over again and that too in the name of Islam. Is there no shame at long last?

The truth is that our mullah — the true enemy of Islam — is now stubbornly standing in the way of the progress of this country towards a civilised and democratic state based on the rule of law. On the Blasphemy Law, the mullah knows he is on a weak footing both constitutionally and with reference to Islam. He knows that there is no moral sanction in Islam to deprive people of their freedom of thought and expression. He knows that, historically, Islamic civilisation has not only tolerated but protected dissent. The greatest Muslim scientists, celebrated far and wide, were committed atheists, many of whom would have also fallen foul of Pakistan’s draconian laws. In Islamic history, no caliphate or Muslim empire has ever instituted legally the death penalty for blasphemy, not even the heartless Aurangzeb. There was no such law under the much mourned Ottoman Empire either. Historically, there are some incidents, few and far between, where people were put to death for claiming to be divine. The chivalrous Salauddin was misled by sectarian fanatics into killing El-Suhrawardy. Before that, Nooruddin Zangi had arrived in Medina and killed two men after accusing them of being Jews and trying to defile, God forbid, the holy mosque.

A state does not legislate, however, on the basis of exception. If Islam is the higher law by which we are to conduct ourselves, we must investigate as to what the general rule in Islam is. One is reminded of an incident soon after the conquest of Egypt by Muslims. Amr bin Aas (RA) was appointed governor of the new province. In a city square where the governor resided was a statue of Jesus Christ held sacred by the Coptic Christians. One night, some Muslim soldier allegedly broke the nose off of the statue and then disappeared. The Copt leaders protested and lodged a complaint with the governor. They demanded, as restitution, the right to build and similarly defile a statue of the Holy Prophet (PBUH). Amr bin Aas (RA) politely told them their request was not possible as the Holy Prophet (PBUH) was the most sacred personage to him but he offered to have his own nose cut off instead as punishment. These were those fine traditions of tolerance and religious harmony, too fine for the philistines as it were, that made Islamic lands centres of excellence, learning and enlightenment while the entire world was in darkness. Today, what we have instead is the picture that our mullah is hell-bent on painting of Islam and of the Holy Prophet (PBUH). The mullah is the worst blasphemer and the biggest enemy of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) today.

Finally, above all else, Islam abhors hypocrisy. What else do you call it then when our clerical class shamelessly applies different standards to different situations? A non-Muslim cannot become the president of Pakistan because he is a non-Muslim but the Blasphemy Law applies to him or her equally. Shame on us.

The writer is a lawyer. He also blogs at http://pakteahouse.net and can be reached at yasser.hamdani@gmail.com

URL: www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\12\13\story_13-12-2010_pg3_5

Pakistan and the dehumanisation of minorities

Tuesday, December 07, 2010

ANALYSIS: Pakistan and the dehumanisation of minorities — Ishtiaq Ahmed

How do we explain that despite several Sufi shrines being targeted by suicide bombers, the Ahle Sunnat ulema are demanding that Aasia Bibi should be executed? How can the Ahle Sunnat ignore that fact that they themselves are on the hit list of extremists who consider them guilty of crimes no less serious than blasphemy?

Professor Brij Narain was a famous Lahore-born academic whose books on economics were on the required reading list of the curricula of pre-partition universities. Enamoured by Jinnah’s English lifestyle and mannerism and himself strongly secular and idealistic, Brij Narain underestimated the morbid impact of the rabidly anti-Hindu and anti-Sikh rhetoric of the 1945-46 election campaign in Punjab. He developed a strong set of arguments to prove that Pakistan was economically feasible and viable. When partition took place in mid-August 1947 and Lahore was burning, he continued to believe that Hindus like him could be Pakistanis like any other community. A mob arrived at his door and mercilessly killed him notwithstanding his pleas that he supported Pakistan.

Miss Ralia Ram was a Lahore-born Christian lady who wrote letter after letter to Quaid-e-Azam warning him about Congress machinations. She too believed in the righteousness of Pakistan. Her letters are easily accessible in the several volumes of the Jinnah Papers. Fortunately in 1947, Christians were not a target group. Many Hindus and Muslims saved their lives by faking a Christian identity. Both in Amritsar and in Kasur thousands of Muslim refugees received medical aid from Christian volunteers.

Even more interesting is the fact that the majority of Punjabi Christians supported the Muslim League’s case for Pakistan before the Punjab Boundary Commission. Their leader, S P Singha, argued that the Christians would rather have a united Punjab, but if Punjab were to be divided they could expect better treatment in Pakistan than in caste-ridden India. The leader of the Anglo-Indians Mr Gibbon informed the Punjab Boundary Commission that the Anglo-Indians were happy to be in Pakistan. They regarded Lahore and West Punjab as their homeland.

I have already mentioned in an earlier op-ed that the leadership of the Ahmediyya community was deeply worried about persecution in a sectarian Pakistan. However, just before the partition of India it was decided to support the Pakistan movement (Munir Report 1954: 196-7). Thereafter the Ahmedis put all their efforts behind the Muslim League’s campaign. Sir Muhammad Zafarullah Khan, a leading member of the Ahmediyya community, presented the Muslim League case before the Punjab Boundary Commission with sterling competence. The counsel for the Congress Party, Mr Setalvad, could not restrain himself from publicly paying compliments to Zafarullah during the proceedings. In 1947, the Ahmedis were still included in government statistics among Muslims, and that alone had inflated the Muslim percentage of the Gurdaspur district to a bare majority of 51 percent.

All such stories sound unreal in the light of the Pakistan experience. The Hindus were naturally the first to flee from Pakistan. The next to exit were the Anglo-Indians. The Ahmedis started seeking refuge in the west in the 1980s. Only in Sindh a Hindu minority survived while in the rest of Pakistan mostly the poorest Christians stayed put because they had nowhere to go.

Ridiculing Sikhs as simpletons is a prejudice that still survives in Pakistani Punjab, but their leaders proved to be the most farsighted in anticipating the type of Pakistan that would emerge. In the second half of May 1947, the Sikh leaders met Jinnah in Delhi. Jinnah and Liaquat had come fully prepared to convince them to support the Pakistan demand. They told the Sikhs to write down whatever they wanted and it would be granted. The charm offensive, however, was too late in the day. Earlier, in March 1947, Sikh villages in the Rawalpindi, Attock and Jhelum districts had borne the brunt of mob attacks at the hands of Muslims. At least 2,000 Sikhs lost their lives.

No Muslim League leader, including Jinnah, issued a public statement condemning those attacks. I have looked in vain in the two main English-language newspapers of pre-partition Punjab, the Tribune and The Pakistan Times as well as in the Jinnah Papers for any evidence of the condemnation of that outrage. In the event, Hardit Sikh Malik, who acted as the spokesperson for the Sikhs told Jinnah that they could not risk their future on his promises; the day he is gone things would change. He was right.

I have always held the view that the anti-minority stance took birth at the time of the 1945-46-election campaign in the Muslim-majority provinces of north-western India. Once it was born, it assumed a life of its own. Only someone totally naive can believe that Jinnah’s August 11, 1947 speech was a magic mantra that could suffice to make it vanish. Already in early 1951, the ulema of all Sunni sub-sects — including the Barelvis — and the Ithna Ashari Shias had signed the 22-point Islamist agenda for an Islamic state prepared by Maulana Maududi. Gradually that agenda encroached on the constitutional and legal machinery, culminating in the Islamisation measures of General Ziaul Haq.

The mindset that such measures generated percolated all sections of society, with a few honourable exceptions. In the current situation, while President Zardari and Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer are willing to spare the life of the Christian woman, Aasia Bibi, who most certainly has been wrongly framed on charges of blasphemy, federal Law Minister Babar Awan has made theatrical pronouncements in support of the draconian Blasphemy Law, thus undermining his own government. The legal fraternity remains badly divided. While the Lahore High Court has issued a stay order against the reprieve granted by the president, the President of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), Ms Asma Jahangir has boldly criticised that decision. The confusion is absolute.

How do we explain that despite several Sufi shrines being targeted by suicide bombers the Ahle Sunnat ulema are demanding that Aasia Bibi should be executed? How can the Ahle Sunnat ignore that fact that they themselves are on the hit list of extremists who consider them guilty of crimes no less serious than blasphemy? The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) is considered a ‘democratic, parliamentary’ party by some western academics. I have seen with my own eyes a doctoral thesis passed by the reputable Gothenburg University of Sweden in support of JI’s democratic credentials. Its leader, Syed Munnawar Hassan, has also demanded that Aasia Bibi should be put to death. That is the type of democracy the JI actually represents.

Can one seriously believe that all these people who are crying for the blood of a poor Christian woman are doing this for their love for Prophet Mohammad (PBUH)? Perhaps, but what a love!

The writer is Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Stockholm University. He is also Honorary Senior Fellow of the Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore. He can be reached at billumian@gmail.com

URL: www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\12\07\story_7-12-2010_pg3_2

In the name of God

Sunday, December 05, 2010

VIEW: In the name of God — Andleeb Abbas

Religion has become license to categorise and exorcise personal vendettas. The Blasphemy Law, which itself is blasphemy against the legal system of Pakistan, is a shameful intention of maligned intentions and misrepresentation of Islamic law, letter and spirit

“For God’s sake” is the best license to deceive and decree anybody and everybody. From an ordinary beggar on the street to the big guns responsible for ‘religious affairs’ in Pakistan, all is holy and sanctimonious for religion and the Almighty. Hajj, which is the highest and purest of spiritual cleansing practices for a Muslim, has been turned into a filthy game of money guzzling and insatiable greed, completely degrading the spirit and soul of the occasion. The shameful treatment meted out to the pilgrims from Pakistan is now open news with all implicated busy trying to shrug the filth off their shoulders and pile it on whoever is trying to implicate them in this ruthless game of snatching other people’s money.

The government, deaf to the pleas of the suffering pilgrims, was finally forced into action when the Supreme Court received a letter by Saudi Prince Bandar Bin Khalid alleging corruption of billions by the local ministry of religious affairs, which was managing the travel and boarding facilities of the pilgrims. According to him, the accommodation he was offering was only 2 km from the Haram and was priced at Saudi Riyals 33.50 while the one chosen by the ministry was far away and was rented at the cost of Saudi Riyals 3,600. The living conditions were so bad that people had little access to proper tenting and basic water and toilet facilities. Imagine their focus on surviving the lack of facilities rather than getting closer to God. As the Pandora’s Box opens, whistle-blowing becomes a favourite pastime of the people involved. The Pakistani Ambassador in Saudi Arabia has blamed it on the minister of religious affairs who in turn has blamed and ordered the arrest of DG Hajj, Rao Shakeel. The prime minister has ordered his customary enquiry and has gladly accepted the generous offer of the Saudi government to give Saudi Riyals 250 per pilgrim as token compensation for the difficulties faced by them, caused by their own corrupt leaders.

Hajj is the single biggest religious congregation in the world and is a huge miracle of almost three million people bowing in front of the Almighty in submission of their flawed humanity. However, this ritual where the rich and poor, black and the not-so-black are supposed to stand equal and go through the tough rituals with due endurance has also become a marketing and money making religious tourism package industry. Various groups have introduced differentiated packages that include special early flights, customised training and education programmes, six-star facilities and a grouping of who is who to give the feeling of exclusivity to these privileged classes. How on earth such discrimination serves the purpose of Hajj, which is a symbol of humility, inclusivity and equality, God only knows. The exploitation of religion is not a new phenomenon but what is novel in today’s world is what a professional and organised industry it has become, which targets every single religious instinct anyone has to ensnare and entrap vulnerable minds, be it the ignorance and innocence of a suicide bomber, the guilt of middle-class morality or the pomp and religiosity of the elite of society.

Religion has become license to categorise and exorcise personal vendettas. The Blasphemy Law, which itself is blasphemy against the legal system of Pakistan, is a shameful intention of maligned intentions and misrepresentation of Islamic law, letter and spirit. Aasia Bibi’s case may have become the favourite topic of talk shows and a chance for the ruling and opposition party to procure the unfound, favourable limelight. However, the fact remains that this law itself is Tauheen-e-Risalat. The hallmark of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) was his magnanimity of heart and humility of action. His exemplary patience and abstinence from retaliation was what made him the greatest of the greats and converted the bitterest of his enemies into the most loyal of followers. The religious parties, including the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) and so many other groups of Islamic defaming factions, are busy condemning those who dare touch the ‘holy’ law of blasphemy and threatening hell on earth to all those who dare question the interpretation of Islamic laws other than the ones decreed by them. This arrogance and insecurity of the religious clergy has always brought about their downfall and will again reduce them to a meaningless and irritating political echo.

These religious factions, no matter how irritating, are loud and obvious. The more worrying fact is the rise of the educated and sophisticated religious resellers who are subtle and devious in their apparently modern enlightenment version of Islam. These cosmetically well read Islamic exhibitors, at the peak of their life, claim to have done a deep study of Islam, which has transformed them into humble orators who can quote a Quranic verse at will to support any western quotation they may have uttered earlier on. It is this new breed of pseudo-reformed Islamists, having perfected the art of religious hypocrisy, who present the most dangerous trend in ‘Godly’ exploitation in the present times. They are dangerous because they have a higher credibility and following than the mullahs and thus actually disturb and disarm young minds more than the screaming imam with his predictable pre-Friday prayer condemnations.

Humanity is a universal religion and only its true followers and practitioners have the right to be called Muslim or Christian or any other title. God never believed in names only and He, through His prophets, gave the message of how a human gets the right of being, of existing, of elevating himself to the highest of cadres by respecting the differences in other people, by forgiving other people’s misdeeds and by concentrating on developing in oneself values of integrity, patience and tolerance. It is the flagrant devaluation of these principles that has, today, made the brand name Muslim such a dubious and distrustful trademark, which is associated with terror, intolerance and violence. It is thus not only for God’s sake but for the sake of the revival of the human race’s supremacy over all other species that we need to understand that religion without humanity and compassion is itself the biggest blasphemy, turning ‘mankind’ into ‘mancruel’.

The writer is a consultant and can be reached at andleeb@franklincoveysouthasia.com

URL: www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\12\05\story_5-12-2010_pg3_3

COMMENT: The blasphemer must not be pardoned

Friday, December 03, 2010

COMMENT: The blasphemer must not be pardoned — Abbas Zaidi

Allah has very, very explicitly said in the very beginning of the Quran that whosoever kills one human being is guilty of killing the entire humanity. Thus, by wanting to kill humans in the name of the Prophet (PBUH), these mullahs, in letter and spirit, want to launch an insane jihad against Allah

Hundreds of mullahs have taken to the streets to warn against the possible pardon President Zardari might grant Aasia Bibi, who allegedly blasphemed against Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). They say that if Aasia Bibi, the Christian blasphemer, is pardoned, they will launch a jihad against the government and the entire world and kill all the blasphemers. Aasia Bibi must not be pardoned. Otherwise, the lives of around five billion humans might be jeopardised. And now the Lahore High Court has also passed an order on the petition of a private citizen that the president cannot pardon Aasia Bibi because the case is sub judice. Why do mullahs so fanatically react to each case of perceived or alleged blasphemy?

The logic is very simple. Non-Muslims have, roughly speaking, two views of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH): (1) they (for instance, Christians and Jews) do not consider him to be a prophet at all, and (2) they (Hindus, Buddhists, and the rest) are not bothered about the issue at all. Now this is not acceptable as far as our furious mullahs are concerned. They demand that the world positively accept him to be the last prophet. Which effectively means that non-Muslims either convert or be ready for the sword.

Was Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) the last prophet of Islam or the world? This is a tricky issue, which the mullahs are not prepared to deal with. If he were the last prophet of Islam, then it would be unfair on our part to force non-Muslims to accept him as the last prophet of Islam. If prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was the last prophet of humankind, then we must look for guidance in the Holy Quran. And if the Holy Quran says that he was the last prophet of humanity, then we must seek guidance from the Book of Allah and see if Allah instructs us Muslims to wage a jihad against those who deny Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) prophetic finality. If Allah gives no such an instruction, then we Muslims must fear His wrath because Allah has very, very explicitly said in the very beginning of the Quran that whosoever kills one human being is guilt of killing the entire humanity. Thus, by wanting to kill humans in the name of the Prophet (PBUH), these mullahs, in letter and spirit, want to launch an insane jihad against Allah.

But my plea that Aasia Bibi must not be pardoned is based upon a different logic. If Aasia Bibi is pardoned, it would establish her guilt. The president of Pakistan has a constitutional privilege to pardon anyone who has been punished for some offence. Now this implies that the person pardoned is indeed guilty. Thus, it would mean that Aasia Bibi did, in fact, commit a crime of immensely heinous nature, which resulted in the death penalty verdict against her.

In 1992, the Pakistan government formulated the blasphemy law whose fruit Aasia Bibi is made to taste today. At that time, I wrote against the law saying that it would be misused by criminals and criminal-minded people to settle personal scores and commit acts of robbery and snatching people’s possessions. Many people resented my argument and blamed me for being a Jewish agent. Three mullahs came over to ‘see’ me in the newspaper office where I worked. Those were different times. Now I may be dealt with in a different manner. However, certain things never change. In 1992, I wrote that the stature of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was not so weak as to need, of all the people, Pakistanis for protection. I say the same thing today: the great Prophet (PBUH) needs no protection from a country which, year after year, is a contender for the top slot on the international list of the most corrupt countries. The Prophet (PBUH) does not need to be protected by the fascists who commit the ultimate blasphemy against Allah by killing people, His creation, in His prophet’s name.

The writer is a researcher with a PhD in sociolinguistics. He can be reached at hellozaidi@gmail.coma

URL: www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\12\03\story_3-12-2010_pg3_6

Indonesian Ahmadiyah Members Mark Fifth Ramadan in Limbo

Indonesia

Indonesian Ahmadiyah Members Mark Fifth Ramadan in Limbo

Tangguh | August 08, 2010

Ahmadiyah members, whose homes were razed by angry villagers in 2006, at the Transito temporary camp in Mataram. JG Photo/Tangguh

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Lombok. For four years and five months, 33 Ahmadiyah families have been staying at the Transito shelter in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara, after having been driven from their homes.

The families ended up here in February 2006 after their neighbors in Lingsar Barat village, West Lombok district, turned on them during the height of the anti-Ahmadiyah sentiment that was sweeping the country at the time. The families’ homes were razed.

Most mainstream Muslims oppose the Ahmadiyah sect because its members believe that its founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, was a prophet.

“We just want to go back home,” a spokesman for the group, Dzulkhair Mujip, tells the Jakarta Globe. “No matter how nice a place is, it’s still not home.”

The group has several times announced its plan to return to its home village. Each time, it has been stayed by the Ministry of Religious Affairs and the police, who claim such a move would threaten the peace that the families’ expulsion has brought to their village.

Like other Indonesian Muslims, these Ahmadiyah members are looking forward to Ramadan, which begins on Wednesday.

Unlike most Muslims, however, the 137 people here will be forced to spend the holy month at this “temporary” refuge for a fifth straight year.

Despite everything, Dzulkhair says, the Ahmadiyah will not let the situation sully their Ramadan, which they cherish as a chance to get closer to God.

There is not much they can do to prepare, he points out, except figure out how to accommodate everyone in the tiny local mosque for the obligatory evening prayers during the holy month.

The group has also been without electricity for the past six months after failing to pay the bill for the shelter, which the government is supposed to be managing for them.

Dzulkhair says that during the refugees’ stay in Mataram, they have been treated as second-class citizens. They are denied ID cards that are obligatory for all Indonesian citizens.

“None of us here has a driver’s license, because to get one you have to have an ID card, which we don’t have,” Dzulkhair says.

He adds that this problem extends to other civic documents, such as marriage licenses and birth certificates.

Couples from the community who want to marry must do so without official state permission, which several Islamic organizations frown upon. This perpetuates a vicious circle of animosity directed at the Ahmadiyah members.

For the first two years of their stay in Mataram, the group members received a stipend of rice and cash from the Social Welfare Ministry. However, that aid dried up in mid-2008 when the ministry said they were no longer eligible for it, without explaining why.

Dzulkhair says he and several other Ahmadiyah representatives have repeatedly tried to get the West Lombok administration to clarify their legal status, but to no avail.

“The regional administration keeps telling us to take it up with the provincial government, and the provincial administration passes us back off to the West Lombok administration,” he says.

“We’re being tossed around like a bunch of playthings, and there’s nothing we can do about it.”

Dzulkhair also tells of persistent threats group members have received from local Islamic hard-liners, although the shows of aggression are not as vicious or public as they used to be.

Yet Dzulkhair adds that despite these challenges, the group is still trying to lead a normal life.

Most of the adults are employed as manual laborers, farmhands and vendors — anything that helps put food on the table and keeps the children in school, Dzulkhair says.

Hafiz Kidratullah, 12, says he had to repeat a whole year at school because of the disruption to his studies caused by the move to the Mataram shelter.

His father, Hairuddin, ekes out a living selling plastic bags at a local market.

Another parent, Yunus, says he sells tapes at Mataram’s Pangesangan Market. He makes around Rp 30,000 ($3) a day.

“At least I have a job, that’s what really matters,” he says.

What these Ahmadiyah members want more than ever, Dzulkhair and the others say, is for the government to tell them where they stand, especially in relation to their home village.

The Ahmadiyah members say they are willing to make a permanent home at the Transito shelter, but only if the government allows them basic civic rights like the right to get an ID card, Dzulkhair says.

He adds the group has lost all faith in the district and provincial administrations, and has now pinned all its hopes on the government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

“Our last hope is the central government, is the president himself,” he says.

“Hopefully amid his important duties managing the nation’s problems, he can spare a thought for us out here in Transito.”

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe

URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/indone...adan-in-limbo/390177

Islam Defenders mutating into splinter cells for hire

National Fri, 07/16/2010 12:21 PM

Islam Defenders mutating into splinter cells for hire

Indications are rife that the vigilante group the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) is degenerating into an unchained organization, allowing various vested interests to use the group’s revolting elites to instill the threat of violence in regions where they see fit. The Jakarta Post’s Rendi Akhmad Witular and Hans David Tampubolon explored how the FPI is mutating into a new kind of threat.

Upon entering Jl. Petamburan 3, the main road heading to the FPI headquarters-cum residence of FPI chairman Habib Rizieq, in Central Jakarta, a string of cautious eyes greet unknown visitors.

A couple of men guarding and working on the renovation of Rizieq’s modest residence question the purpose of any visit to the site.

“Habib is currently sick and cannot meet anyone for the time being. He is very tired,” said Amat, one of the guards.

After being released from prison in July last year, Rizieq’s health has been deteriorating.

Rizieq was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment for instigating the FPI’s bloody attack on members of the Alliance for the Freedom of Religion and Faith in the National Monument park, Central Jakarta, on June 1, 2008.

The firebrand cleric, who earned his degree in Saudi Arabia, now spends most of his time resting in bed or preaching at the FPI’s mosque every Thursday night.

While Rizieq stays low, other FPI elites, mostly from regional chapters, have been busy becoming political mercenaries without consent from FPI’s headquarters.

The elites have used the FPI franchise to form splinter groups to support political parties and regional leaders.

In his statement on Monday, Rizieq said the recent raid of a meeting attended by legislators from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) in Banyuwangi, East Java, in late June was not authorized by headquarters.

“The FPI Banyuwangi chapter has been frozen since late April due to an internal dispute. Thus, any activities representing the FPI are forbidden. But somehow they happen,” he said.

FPI leaders in Banyuwangi have been marred by conflagrations for supporting certain political parties.

Aside from the Banyuwangi raids, Rizieq also highlighted several illegitimate raids in Bekasi and Depok in West Java, and Singkawang in West Kalimantan.

He claimed the Bekasi raid, in which the Tiga Mojang (Three Ladies) statue was torn down because it was deemed to represent the Christian Trinity, was actually conducted by proxies of the Bekasi mayor.

Several FPI members, who requested anonymity for safety reasons, said that while Rizieq remained the group’s patron, he no longer had a firm grip on consolidating the personal interests of the FPI elites, who were now competing with each other to replace him at the 2013 congress.

Retired intelligence officer Soeripto said he believed Rizieq had gradually lost control of the organization, which was very prone to being used by intelligence community and law enforcers to serve the interests of the ruling elite.

“It seems now the FPI has a different patron and backing,” said Soeripto, who is among the patrons of the Islamic-based Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).

“The Banyuwangi incident has shown how Rizieq can no longer maintain a grip on his followers and how the FPI is prone to being infiltrated by the intelligence community either for national or foreign interests.”

However, FPI secretary-general Ahmad Sobri Lubis denied the suggestion that Rizieq was unfit to lead the organization.

“Habib is still in control of the situation. But the regional chapters have full autonomy to act.”

Over the past three years, raids and street rallies carried out by the FPI have mostly been organized by its regional chapters, notably those in Banten, West Java and East Java.

Analysts believe the FPI will eventually break apart into several autonomous splinter cells similar to those of the Pancasila Youth organization, which no longer holds allegiance to their original patron Japto Soerjosoemarno.

The organization is now breaking up into smaller groups widely associated with thugs, operating independently from each other.

“If the FPI is mutating into smaller independent factions, it will be more difficult for the authorities to shut them down as there will be numerous leaders claiming to be operating under the FPI brand,” said Soeripto.

Chairman of the Indonesian Muslim Movement (GUII), Abdurrahman Assegaf, said the FPI would not mutate into smaller factions as long as Habib Rizieq remained in power.

“Habib is still functioning as a kind of moral figure that at some level still unites the FPI elites. He is so instrumental in keeping the group intact,” said Abdurrahman, who has joined forces with the FPI in clamping down on Ahmadiyah - a religious sect considered blasphemous to Islam because it does not recognize Muhammad as the last prophet.

Abdurrahman said the FPI was unlikely to be dissolved as long as law enforcers were not cooperative in complying with demands from the Muslim community to eradicate activities deemed to threaten Islamic teachings.

“There’s always demand for a vigilante group like the FPI because of the law enforcement vacuum, coupled with abundant uneducated Muslims who are prone to be lured into committing violence.”

The FPI is a splinter group of the Pamswakarsa civil guard formed by the military to support the Habibie regime.

The group has been marred by acts of violence allegedly ordered by political parties or businessmen.

Unlike any other hard-line group, the FPI’s struggle is aimed at crushing activities deemed unfit according to Islam, such as prostitution, gambling, drinking and atheism.

The group’s use of ultra violence, which has triumphed over the rule of law in secular Indonesia, is still less potent than that of Jamaah Al Islamiyah, the terrorist group involved in a string of bombings, or Laskar Jihad (Jihad Troops), which incited a sectarian conflict in Maluku.

Sobri Lubis said it was not unusual for the FPI to receive orders from the police to raid establishment deemed to violate Islamic teachings.

Police have repeatedly denied such allegations. National Police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri told activists Wednesday that all violence “had to be eradicated” in the country.

According to FPI Consultative Assembly secretary Misbahul Anam, then TNI territorial chief Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono *now the President* asked for the group’s assistance in dealing with insurgencies in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam.

In July 1999, FPI leaders met high-ranking military generals, including Yudhoyono, at the TNI headquarters in Cilangkap, East Jakarta, to discuss solutions for the insurgencies in Aceh, according to media reports at the time.

The administration of President Yudhoyono has thus far proven unable to crack down on the organization, which has regularly committed violence freely under the noses of law enforcers.

Presidential spokesman Julian Aldrin Pasha said he was not aware of the cooperation between Yudhoyono and FPI leaders.

He said the President had shown strong commitment to bring to justice any criminal groups without prejudice.

He said the FPI may now become a tool in a turf war between governing elites with authority for policy-making.

The turf war includes clandestine battles between the military and the police, between Islamic organizations and liberal wings, between pro-democracy and antidemocracy, and between political elites over the Bank Century bailout scandal.

“The FPI has been nurtured for almost 12 years as a tool for state terrorism. It can be used to discredit Islam, or to sideline the police or certain political parties, or even to divert public attention from certain high-profile scandals involving policy makers,” he said.

Since its birth in 1998, the FPI has been involved in at least 50 incidents.

The FPI’s most infamous incidents
1998 Nov. 22:	Ketapang incident in Central Jakarta.
1999 September:	Raids on prostitution and gambling dens in Jakarta
2000 Dec. 14:	Raids on prostitution den in Subang for allegedly harboring thugs involved in the attack on the residence of an FPI senior member.
2001 Oct. 15:	Jakarta police deploy around 1,000 officers to storm FPI headquarters. The raid ends in a clash between the police and FPI members.
2002 March 15:	A string of massive FPI raids on several clubs in Jakarta.
June 26:	The FPI raids several pubs along tourist-packed Jl. Jaksa in Jakarta
2003 April 20:	Habib Rizieq is detained by Jakarta police for slandering the force.
Aug. 20:	The court sentences Rizieq to 7 months in prison.
2004 Oct. 3:	Raids on Catholic school Sang Timur, demanding the shutting down of the school.
Oct. 22:	The FPI raids clubs in Kemang, Jakarta
2005 Aug. 5:	Raids on the headquarters of the Liberal Islamic Network in Jakarta.
Sept. 19:	The FPI raids an Ahmadiyah residential compound in Cianjur, West Java.
2006 April 12:	Raids on the office of Playboy Indonesia magazine.
2007 March 29:	Attacks on women’s movement group Papernas
2008 June 1:	Attacks on members of the Alliance for the Freedom of Religion and Faith in the National Monument park, Central Jakarta
Oct. 30:	Rizieq and the commander of the Islam Defender Troops (LPI) were sentenced for 18 months for inciting violence.
2010 March 26:	FPI members forced their way into a hotel in Surabaya, East Java, demanding that foreign participants of the 4th regional Lesbian, Gay, Transgender and Intersex Association conference.
May 4:	FPI members storm a government-backed human rights workshop for transgender individuals in Depok, West Java.
June 24:	A raid on a meeting of legislators from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) in Banyuwangi, East Java.

URL: www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/07/16/islam-defenders-m...cells-hire.html

Complaint paves way for court review of bylaws

HEADLINES Wed, 07/07/2010 9:32 AM

Complaint paves way for court review of bylaws

 

Arghea Desafti Hapsari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

An authority to adjudicate constitutional complaints will open the Constitutional Court’s door for those wanting to contest rights-breaching regulations, including discriminative bylaws adopted in regions, an expert says.

A constitutional complaint is generally defined as a request made by citizens to the court for adjudication on violation of their constitutional rights due to the exercise of public power or state action.

On Tuesday, Constitutional Court chief justice Mahfud M.D. said it was time for the court to be granted the authority to pass rulings on constitutional complaints.

Constitutional law expert Irman Putra Sidin told The Jakarta Post that discriminative bylaws, such as those regulating curfews for women, could be contested at the court should it welcome constitutional complaints.

“In fact, the court will be able to review all kinds of regulations that are deemed to violate the constitutional rights of any citizen,” he said.

In Indonesia, the authority to review bylaws and other products of law falls under the Supreme Court.

The court uses existing laws as a touchstone.

Irman said, should the country provide for constitutional complaint within its legal system, the Constitutional Court would be able to review bylaws using the Constitution as a reference point.

Mahfud said, “If the Supreme Court’s ruling turned out to be wrong… the way [to fix it] is through a constitutional complaint.”

Most democracies have provided a mechanism for constitutional complaints in their legal systems, including Germany, South Africa and South Korea.

The call for the provision of constitutional complaint in Indonesia mounted especially in 2008 after repeated violence levelled against members of the Ahmadiyah religious sect. Many have argued that the state had allowed for such incidents to occur by taking limited and even no action against those responsible.

Constitutional Court justice Akil Mochtar said the authority to adjudicate constitutional complaints should be granted through the Constitution because “it stipulates all of the court’s authorities”.

“But amending the Constitution is not easy to do. Therefore, the authority [to rule on constitutional complaint] can be granted to the court through a law,” he added.

Irman said the court did not need to wait for a law to be deliberated to regulate its authority to pass judgments on constitutional complaints.

“The Constitutional Court is the interpreter of the Constitution. It can decide for its own authority through its rulings. But one question remains; is the country’s political condition ready to accept the fact that the court will be able to review virtually every regulation?” he added.

URL: www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/07/07/complaint...-bylaws.html

Legislator: FPI has the military backing

National Wed, 06/30/2010 9:23 AM

Legislator: FPI has the military backing

Hans David Tampubolon and Bagus BT Saragih, The Jakarta Post, Mataram

The police are reluctant to get tough with the hard-line Islam Defenders Front (FPI) group because of its ties to the Indonesian Military (TNI), a legislator says.

“There is information saying the FPI is a pet of the TNI, and the police hesitate to deal face-to-face with the military, because police consider the armed forces their elder brother,” said Eva Kusuma Sundari, an Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician.

She added the FPI was originally established to accommodate the interests of hard-line Muslim groups that had suffered from oppression by the government during the New Order era.

“The organization is now part of the conflict management strategy the TNI exercises to maintain its power. The FPI serves as a stepping stone for the military to re-enter politics,” she said.

It was a blatant accusation of the military’s role in supporting the FPI, which is known for anti-vice raids executed under the pretext of enforcing of Islamic law. Most recently, FPI members raided and dissolved a discussion on a health bill in the East Java town of Banyuwangi last Thursday between PDI-P members of the House of Representatives’ Commission IX on people’s welfare.

Commission head Ribka Tjiptaning, also from the PDI-P, filed a report with National Police against the FPI on Monday and demanded the group’s dissolution and a probe of the Banyuwangi police chief’s decision to allow hard-liners to break up the event.

Defense Ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. I Wayan Midhio said Tuesday that the accusation was groundless and denied a link between the TNI and the FPI.

“TNI does not have a pet. TNI is a group of professional soldiers who obey the law. Since the reform era, TNI has focused on professionalism,” he said.

On Monday, a caucus consisting House legislators from various parties said that the government, TNI and Home Affairs Ministry were responsible for the birth of the FPI and demanded President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to exercise his authority and dissolve the group.

Eva said government favoritism of the FPI was evident in a lack of follow-up actions against the group, despite its acts of violence.

“In 2008, [Yudhoyono] looked as if he had enough of the FPI and called for a coordination meeting between several institutions, such as the TNI, police, and Home Affairs Ministry. However, the meeting failed to generate a significant outcome,” Eva said. Yudhoyono’s decision came in response to an attack by members of FPI and other hard-line Muslim groups on freedom of religion supporters who rallied in defense of Ahmadiyah followers at the National Monument in Central Jakarta on June 1, 2008, she added.

“After the meeting, the Home Ministry said the FPI could not be dissolved because it had never been listed with the ministry. However, I found out the FPI was indeed on the list. This means the ministry also has blood on their hands,” she added.

Eva said the FPI was registered under Home Ministry Decree No. 69/ D111.3/VIII/2006.

Home Ministry spokesman Saut Situmorang said that the FPI had been listed as a mass organization and that there were procedures that must be followed to dissolve an organization.

“We need to secure the Supreme Court’s approval to disband a mass organization,” he told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Edward Aritonang said Tuesday the police do not have the authority to dissolve a mass organization such as the FPI.

URL: www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/06/30/legislator-fpi-has-military-backing.html

A ‘difficult marriage’: Sharia and civil law in Indonesia

---The Jakarta Post, Indonesia

Opinion | Fri, 05/21/2010 11:09 AM

A ‘difficult marriage’: Sharia and civil law in Indonesia

Muhamad Ali, Riverside, California

Why do the state and civil society find it so difficult to negotiate whether to implement the sharia or civil law in modern pluralistic Indonesia?

The state continues to function as the legitimate power to produce laws in which the sharia contributes and must adjust to in the Muslim majority, yet pluralistic, nation.

The tensions and negotiations result from a long history of encounters between global and local cultures in the Indonesian archipelago.

During the late colonial era, the world’s economy and capitalism led to the emergence of socialist, nationalist and Islamic organizations.

Pan-Arabism, and pan-Islamism tried to penetrate the Indonesian market of ideas through returning students, teachers and books, but they were unsuccessful. Instead, localized, Java-based organizations were established – with Islam as their spirit and ethic rather than political ideology.

The Republic of Indonesia adopted and adapted centuries of such different types of influences in making laws. The government and the people’s representatives continued to regulate differences based on various and changing communal markers, particularly ethnicity, class and religion.

With the end of the Caliphate system in 1924, Muslims and non-Muslim minorities endorsed the modern nation-state. The earliest debate was about whether or not Islam would become the Constitution.

Thus, the controversy of the Jakarta Chapter emerged about whether or not the Constitution includes the obligation of Muslims following sharia.

Indonesians see law as both the principle and mechanism to managing pluralism and ensuring order, but at the same time, law becomes a site of contentious discourse involving the governments and civil society.

Law and order are closely intertwined, but disorder and sometimes violence have also become part of legal discourse and struggle.

Indonesia’s legal pluralism is manifested primarily from three schools: The Roman Dutch colonial law (although the Dutch later subscribed to French civil law), orally passed down cultural law (adat, customary law), and Islam – predominantly Sunni and Shafi’i. Because Islam does not provide detailed legal procedures, the Dutch derived civil law has become the main source for such procedures.

Sharia at first dealt primarily with some domestic matters, such as marriage, divorce, and inheritance.

Gradually, sharia-minded Muslims sought to incorporate more into the Islamic legal system, including the sharia court (parallel with the civil court), the zakat form of tax collection and distribution, pilgrimage and interest-free banking.

Decentralization – after 32 years of central government control, has lead some regencies to enact Islamic-based bylaws, concerning dress codes, gambling, drugs, and moral issues.

The debates on the formalization of Islamic law at the national and local levels reflect ever increasing influences of global ideas, including with the Iranian revolution, the global movement of caliphate, global Islamic movement for anti-neo-imperialism and neo-liberalism, and more recently the global sentiments of anti-American colonialism in the Middle East.

However, the manifestation of such global ideas remains within the local and national constraints. In the autonomous province of Aceh, for example, due to its unique history, the central government has allowed it to pursue the formalization of Islamic Law.

They have regional law dealing with various aspects of private and public lives of Muslims, excluding non-Muslims.

The sharia council and morality police oversee and restrict people’s prayers, fasting, gambling and sexual relations. The codification of the local law, Qanun, which deals with the Islamic court includes appropriates types of punishments and fines for each infringement.

The Qanun stipulates that non-Muslims, although not subject to Islamic law, shall respect the implementation of the Islamic Law in Aceh.

The Acehnese local rules dealing with heresy, blasphemy and apostasy indicate the increased influence of the religious authority in con-trolling the faith of the people, in the hope for religious conservatism and social order, but without necessarily considering the rights of minorities and the Indonesian Constitution.

The classical and medieval concept of the dhimmi (non-Muslims living in a sharia state but experience restricted rights) has been revived by some, but the idea is seen not realistic.

There are some Islamic movements who see the Constitution of Medina as the model for a pluralistic, tolerant state. That being said, the histories of prophet Muhammad and Indonesian Muslims are different.

Others point to Islamic medieval Spain when talking about coexistence of Muslims, Christians and Jews, but the still unresolved Israeli-Palestinian conflicts and local interfaith tensions overshadow the spirit of harmony.

The persistence of the State Ideology of Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution, which up until this day show how world ideologies (monotheism, humanism, nationalism, democracy and socialism) have their strengths and are relevant to nation building.

The Constitution, which guarantees religious freedom (despite its definition and limits having been contested), provides Indonesians with a basis for justifying their actions toward one another.

In the courts, political speeches, scholarly statements, leaders and people attempt a balancing act: Indonesia being neither an Islamic state, nor a purely Western type secular state; is instead a state of Pancasila, which guarantees freedom of religion, but supports religious development of the population.

The Council of Islamic Scholars, for example, have issued fatwas on minority group, which are not legally binding but are often heard by many.

The Council has, for example, issued fatwas condemning religious pluralism, liberalism and secularism by their very definitions (pluralists believe all religions are equal, liberals use reason over revelation and secularists separate the worldly from the religious).

They also condemned the Jamaah Ahmadiyah sect as heretical, sparking tension and violence against its followers in different parts of Indonesia.

The Constitutional Court’s recent rejection of a judicial review of the 1965 Blasphemy Law, reveals the the persistent mentality that religious differences may still have the power to cause social disorder.

Religious interpretations are subject to law, offering a sense of security. Some say, however, that Indonesia is neither an Arab nor a Western country. Tensions remain between outright Arabization, Westernization, and Indonesianization.

For most, the formalization of Islamic law is against Pancasila and the Constitution. Others argue the Koran has substance and ethics, not details about the kind of governance.

Others suggest that categorizing Muslims as the majority and others as minorities will lead to a lack of diversity among Muslims themselves.

Religion, nationalism and globalization often experience tensions in ways that prophet Muhammad himself and Muslim caliphs never anticipated.

The writer is an assistant professor at the School of Religious Studies, University of California, Riverside.

URL: www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/05/21/a-%...aw-indonesia.html

No haj for Ahmadiyah followers

---Kompas Cyber Media, Indonesia

Tuesday, 25 August 2009 | 10:44 PM

Image Caption in English: Sticker containing the confirmation of Non-Ahmadiyah Muslims stuck in people’s homes - Parakansalak, Kabupten Sukabumi - which is not Ahmadi Indonesia (JAI) members. The JAI worry, pasting stickers by strangers could be a provocation.

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---The Jakarta Post, Indonesia

National Tue, 08/25/2009 10:22 PM

No haj for Ahmadiyah followers

Panca Nugraha, The Jakarta Post, Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara

Followers of the Ahmadiyah Islamic sect in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) claim to have been prevented by local authorities from going on the haj.

The unofficial ban had in place for some time, Ahmadiyah provincial chapter head Jauzi Djafar said.

“NTB provincial administration imposed the ban a long time ago, but not openly. Usually, employees of religious offices at district levels would make things difficult for Ahmadiyah members trying to make arrangements for haj permits,” he said.

Whether or not the government had imposed a ban was irrelevant to Ahmadis in NTB, Jauzi said.

“Even if we were encouraged to go on the haj, our members would definitely have to think very hard about it because where would they get the money for it? We face enough difficulties just putting food on the able, let alone to perform the haj. Perhaps if they were capable financially then they could think about doing the haj,” Jauzi said.

NTB Religious Affairs Office head Suhaimi Ismi denied the existence of a ban.

“There is no law banning Ahmadiyah members from performing the haj. Had the Saudi Arabian government banned them it would be another matter. We certainly did not issue such a ban,” he said Tuesday.

URL: www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/08/25/no-haj-ahmadiyah-followers.html