Mr. Iqbal has listed all the facts starting from the birth of Pakistan to its demarcation and creation of Bangladesh.  One could not agree more than what the facts are.  However, I would like to blame the civilian and military authorities in Islamabad for all the troubles and turmoils Pakistanis are going through on a daily basis.  If the Pakistani leaders have followed the intent and purpose of what Mr. Jinnah had in mind before separating from India, Pakistan would have flourished internally and externally the same way India and now Bangladesh have been experiencing.  The intent was to create a secular state and not a state predicated on a contorted version of Islam which is what the military leaders have been practicing since the birth of Pakistan.  Unfortunately, the civil governments in Islamabad have no say in this matter.  Majority of Pakistani revenue and donations from external sources are being spent on the military and no consideration is given to educate the masses left them being the subservient to the military and landlords of Pakistan.  With this on-going ideology and spread of jihadi element in the country, one cann't see a better outcome for Pakistan in the long run.

The rift between Palestinians and Israelis, Hindus and Muslims on the Indian-Pakistan border, Sunis and Shias all over the world etc. seems like unsolvable problem precisely due to an ill-will and hatred built into the blood streams against each other.  Yes, lot of countries are trying their best to mediate to bring some type of sensible solution leading to a peaceful environment, but all in vain so far.  The reason it is becoming insurmountable task is because of their ideology, and hence, until that ideology of full of hate and ill-will is corrected, there is no possibility of seeing any improvement in the relationship of all these parties involved.  Unfortunately, there is another factor which is a big contributor to this on-going worldwide turmoil and that is the 'Petro-dollar'.  These Sheikhs instead of using their affluence for the uplift and betterment of human society, they invest their dollars in abetting, financing and training militants to spread anarchy in the world.  They do not want to spend their wealth to educate their subjects, instead they want them to remain uneducated, unaware of their rights and be subservient to the Sheikhs.  They dangle their dollars in front of these uneducated and brainwashed militants and use them to serve their own un-Islamic purpose.  These Sheikhs love these soldiers of Hamas, Hezbollas, LeT and JuM.  Even though the whole civilized western world has declared Hamas, LeT and JuM in Pakistan as terrorist organizations, still lot of 'Petro-dollars' are being funneled to these organizations by the Sheikhs.  These militant groups have sophisticated armaments, uniforms as well as other facilities which a normal army personnel need to operate.  Someone is buying this stuff for them - who else other than the Sheikhs.  The USA just sold $11 Billion of military equipment to Qatar - the prominent supporter of Hamas.  Where does one think it is going to end up with?  It is understandable that America wants to see its defense industry manufacturing operations running to keep up with the employment situation.  But is it not counter productive to maintaining peace in the world?  American diplomats have shuttle diplomacy between the warring nations to find solution to peace, but not analyzing the buyers of its military armament. Economy has precedence on peaceful environment - how sad.  In this writer's opinion, their are only two ways to bring peace to this world - one being a long range solution to change the ideology of fanatic Muslims ( which may or may not be achievable in our life time) and the other one is to forcefully occupy the source of 'Petro-dollars' and cut the financial outflow to these militants.  Right now these little battles are going on away from the borders of western nations, but if the civilized society does not wake up and remedy the situation, it will not be too far distant when you see the flares touching their borders also.  CHOICE IS YOURS.

The treatment Mr. Bhatkal is getting in the jail is very appropriate because every criminal needs to be treated predicated on his/her crime.  Mr. Bhatkal says his treatment is worse than the treatment provided to the animals.  He is right because that is what he deserves.  Mr. Bhatkal should know that animals do not kill innocent human beings, but by killing many innocent human beings through various heinous terrorists acts orchestrated by him, he has proven himself as an individual which is worse than animal.  Hence, his appropriate treatment in the jail.  His other complaint is that the jail authorities do not provide him food on a timely basis during his fast for Ramazan days.  Mr. Bhatkal ought to know that his faith in Allah is artificial.  Allah does not dictate anyone to kill innocent human beings.  Allah teaches dissemination of love and affection for all.  His fasting during Ramazan days is not going to please Allah due to his inhuamne acts in the society.  Therefore, this is not an excuse to get a better treatment in the jail.  Criminals are not needed in the society and tough punishment is the only way to eradicate these souls from this earth.  Mr. Bhatkal, you reap what you sow.

Mr. Qureshi's comments like many other politicians in UP are disgusting for couple of reasons; one being that it shows that he has no respect for the honor of female community and has given up the efforts  to eradicate this menace from the society and secondly, underestimating the power of Almighty God.  Mr. Governor, for your information, God can do anything and anything in a split of second.  But he has assigned this job to the human beings who are in power, like yourself, to take care of these heinous crimes from the society.  All it takes is a strict application of anti-rape law - a law which will be applicable to all equally irrespective of the criminal's status in the society or affiliation with any party.  Once proven guilty, a criminal should be put behind bar for life without parole and, unfortunately if victim's life is involved, a criminal ought to be hanged in public square to teach future criminals who are intending to pursue a similar crime.  Yes, it sounds barbaric, but that is the only way to eradicate this inhuman and degrading act from the society.  Needless to say, safety and security of females is of utmost importance for the safely and welfare of any house - safer each house becomes an extension of safer society. This writer is wondering if Mr. Qureshi can work on the project in the UP Assembly to pass a strict anti-rape law predicated on the above guidelines instead of giving up on this very important topic by making irresponsible statement?  I also wonder whether Mr. Qureshi will be making a similar statement if any of the female member of his house gets affected by this societal menace.  Mr. Qureshi is supposed to be a role model due to his high official position in the UP state.  Instead of portraying himself as the protector of all human causes, he is posing himself as a very irresponsible, incompetent and ineffective official - I wouldn't call him a leader.

I could not agree more than what this article is saying to the whole world specially to the Indian Muslims to stand up against this 6th century ideology of Islam.  As the article said, the main culprit is the Saudi family preaching Wahbism which needs to be eradicated.  Saudi government with its pertro-dollars is creating a worldwide problem of terrorism by mesmerizing innocent illiterate Muslim population.  I would like to add just one thing to this article, a suggestion which is that the western nations better wake up and leash the Saudi government's activities  

about abetting and financing the terrorist groups worldwide.  May be the time has come to isolate Saudi Arabia and occupy their oil fields and put these sheikhs back on the camels and let them roam around like vagabonds - a memory of 6th century.  Instead of utilizing their windfall petro-dollars affluence to the betterment of humanity, they are creating ill will and hatred in the world.  They don't deserve to be what they have.

How shameful it is that the legal authorities in Pakistan are inviting and encouraging a known militant Mr. Hafiz Saeed to speak to them as a Chief Guest.  As we all know that there is no pressure or restriction on his movement in Pakistan from any authority whether it is Pakistan's military, ISI, judicial system or even the civilian government in Islamabad.  Though he has been proven to be the main culprit in orchestrating 26/11 incident in Mumbai and a declared terrorist by the USA government, he is moving around in Pakistan at his own free will.  Needless to say that he has full support of whatever he does or says from all the civilian and military authorities in Pakistan.  Under these circumstances, the Indian government should not expect any sincere initiative to be taken to improve relationship between India and Pakistan by the Pakistani government irrespective of what Mr. Nawaz Sharif thinks of this topic.  Mr. Modi's government ought not to display any eagerness and extend an olive branch to Pakistan at all unless a terrorism is eradicated from the Pakistani territory.

This is one of the best decisions taken by the Supreme Court of India.  There ought to be one law of the land which applies equally to all citizens of India irrespective to one's religious faith and following.  It does not make sense to have a parallel court or Sharia law prevailing in India along with a national law per the provisions of an Indian Constitution.  However, this writer is not very happy with the flexibility shown by the Supreme Court's decision for the Muslim individuals to accept or not to accept the Sharia law in their personal affairs. This leaves still lot of authority and domination of mullahs over an individual to threaten him to abide by the Sharia Law.  The court should have been very clear in its judgement not to accept the Sharia Law at all by anyone living in India, and if anyone is punished predicated on the Sharia Law, the person responsible for announcing that punishment ought to be put behind bars for a long time.  Muslims ought to follow the same law which non-Muslims are following which means - not keeping 4 wives at the same time, no divorce by just saying 'Talaak' three times and no hand-outs for their Haj pilgrimage etc.  It is about time that the nation is run on one single law of the land which applies equally to all. 

It is good to know that finally the Pakistani government and its military authorities have decided to eliminate, as the army chief said, all terrorists from Pakistan.  Press reports also are referring to many of the cases where these Taliban soldiers are shaving their beard to disguise themselves in order to either flee or merged in a civilian crowd.  One wonders how the army personnel will find them to kill them to meet their objectives.  Also, this writer is curious to know when the Pakistani Army Chief refers to Taliban, is he also referring to other non-state actors like members of LeT and JuD etc.?  There are hundreds of militants groups in Pakistan with their training camps all over who are propping up future suicide bombers in Pakistan.  How is Pakistani army going to treat them and their on-going operations?  Pakistan might be thinking that these non-state organizations like LeT and JuD etc. will help them fight a religious and political war against India, but this writer has an opinion that the Pakistani establishments are operating on a wrong notion. They will never be successful in their mission.  India is a big country and killing a few Indians here and there is not going to wipe out India.  God forbid, if there is another scene like what happened in November 2008 in Mumbai, Pakistan is going to pay a very heavy price.  To avoid any untoward incident between India and Pakistan, it is prudent for the government in Islamabad and the military/ISI establishment to work towards forging amicable relationship instead of relying on the non-state actors like LeT and JuD to win a war against India.

dharambahl • a day ago

Chinese government is tightening the screws in the western province Xijiang on the Muslim community. Under the pretext of security, the government is telling the locals not to participate in their Ramadan fasting. How far they will be successful, only the time will tell, but the mere fact that such restrictions are being enforced is in violation of Muslims' religious rights. However, an astonishing fact is that there is no opposition shown by any of the Muslim countries especially in the Middle East. Are they afraid of China or just don't care of what happens to the Muslims in that part of the world? For whatever reasons may be, their silence on this issue leads one to believe that these Muslim leaders have a dual face when it comes to treatment of Muslims in the world. Just think of a reaction from the Muslim community if the USA had promulgated this prohibition and restriction for the Muslims not to participate in the Ramadan fasting. One could witness never ending anti-USA demonstration, destruction of property as well as anti-USA diplomatic maneuvering in the world. This writer wonders what the fundamentalist of Pakistan are thinking and what their reaction is about China's anti-Muslim policy. Are they really concerned or don't care for what happens to Muslim in China?

This new jihadi force of ISIS is an enigma in the Middle East.  When one looks at the type of arsenal and equipment these rebels use to fight the Iraqi forces, one wonders who is behind these jihadis financing their operations.  I have read and heard a few countries - kuwait, Qatar etc., a Sunis set of Muslim countries - abetting these jihadis.  If that is true, is there anything the western nations can do - diplomatically, economically and militarily - to put pressure on these financiers to stop these operations, because failing which will have a very dire consequences for the western nations.  Just imagine, if an Islamic State, as jihadis planned to declare, is born, where this wave of caliphate is going to end.  First of all, the world will witness a complete massacre of Shia community and then they will turn to the non-Muslims - Christians, Jews and Hindus etc.  Yes, it is true it will not happen overnight, but then it may become very costly - financially, economically as well as in the shape of innocent human lives - to overcome.  Is that what the western world is waiting for.  The best solution for Iraq is to establish a government in Baghdad which will have Sunis and other minorities included in the government with the understanding that these ISIS members will stop their operation and work together to run their lives.  If this is not doable at all for whatever reason, then this writer holds an opinion of decimating these jihadis from the roots once and for all.  IS THE WESTERN WORLD READY TO INITIATE AN ACTION NOW OR WAIT TO PAY A HIGHER PRICE LATER ON WHICH MAY BE TOO LATE AND TOO EXPENSIVE.