Ban on cattle slaughter offends minorities: MPCC

IMPHAL | May 28: The Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) has termed Centre’s decision to ban the sale of cattle for slaughter as a show of contempt of the minority Muslim and tribal communities residing in the country. Addressing the media in this regards, Wabagai MLA Md Fajur Rahim, said India is a secular state, […]

IMPHAL | May 28: The Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) has termed Centre’s decision to ban the sale of cattle for slaughter as a show of contempt of the minority Muslim and tribal communities residing in the country. Addressing the media in this regards, Wabagai MLA Md Fajur Rahim, said India is a secular state, […]

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2017/05/ban-on-cattle-slaughter-offends-minorities-mpcc/

11 Lakh Bangladeshi Migrated to North-East India in 1971-83; Read 10 Shocking Revelations by CIA

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) recently declassified a report of 1983 which stated that 11 lakh Bangladeshi nationals migrated to Northeast India in the period: 1971 to 1983. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the United States (US) federal government, that is involve with congregation, processing and analysing national security […]

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) recently declassified a report of 1983 which stated that 11 lakh Bangladeshi nationals migrated to Northeast India in the period: 1971 to 1983. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the United States (US) federal government, that is involve with congregation, processing and analysing national security […]

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2017/03/11-lakh-bangladeshi-migrated-to-north-east-india-in-1971-83-read-10-shocking-revelations-by-cia/

Muslim bodies condemn

IMPHAL, Jul 14: Popular Front of India (PFI) and Pangal Students’ Organisation (PSO) have strongly condemned denying of 21 Muslim students to board an Indigo flight at Imphal airport.

The post Muslim bodies condemn appeared first on The Sangai Express.

IMPHAL, Jul 14: Popular Front of India (PFI) and Pangal Students’ Organisation (PSO) have strongly condemned denying of 21 Muslim students to board an Indigo flight at Imphal airport.

The post Muslim bodies condemn appeared first on The Sangai Express.

Read more / Original news source: http://www.thesangaiexpress.com/muslim-bodies-condemn/

Yellow Journalism: Hindus killed Muslim Headmaster over calf stealing & Communal tension in Manipur

Yellow Journalism: Hindus killed Muslim Headmaster over calf stealing & Communal tension in Manipur By Dr. Malem Ningthouja Campaign for Peace & Democracy (Manipur)   The brutal murder of a

Dead body of Hashmad Ali alias Babu (55) conspired and killed by Md. Matlib and his gang

Dead body of Hashmad Ali alias Babu (55) conspired and killed by Md. Matlib and his gang

Yellow Journalism: Hindus killed Muslim Headmaster over calf stealing & Communal tension in Manipur

By Dr. Malem Ningthouja
Campaign for Peace & Democracy (Manipur)

 

The brutal murder of a ‘Muslim’ headmaster Md. Hashmad Ali alias Babu (55) was confirmed in the wee hour, before the dawn of 2nd November, 2015. There was an initial distortion of the fact to cover up the crime and the criminals. Outside Manipur, there was a deliberate mapping of Manipur into the ongoing ‘communal intolerance’ prevalent in ‘mainland’ India. To cite two examples, the Hindustan Times, dated 4th November, 2015 carried a news under the title Headmaster Lynched for Stealing Cow; Shutdown Call in Manipur. The following day, the New York Times published a news under the title Indian Muslim, Accused of Stealing a Cow, is Beaten to Death by a Hindu Mob. These news depicted about an ‘antagonistic co-existence’ of communities or uneasily relation between majority Meeteis (Hindus) and minority Panggals (Muslims), as if marked by occasional clashes ever since a riot took place in 1993 and the emergence of Panggal based Islamic militant groups.

 

In these reports, the murder and the agitation for justice are being construed with communal overtones. These were being shown as continuity of community hatred and extension of the recent Hindu Muslim tensions centred on the ban on beef and protection of cow. The deliberate mapping of Manipur in the Hindu Muslim communal landscape and the enforced correlation of the murder with other ‘communalized events’ in India are illustrative. The Hindustan Times report incorporated a photo with the caption the murder of Muslim man in a UP village for allegedly eating beef had sparked national outrage. Similarly the New York Times incorporated a photo with the caption Kashmiri villagers shouted pro-freedom slogans last month while carrying the body of a Muslim driver attacked by far-right extremists angered by rumours of cow slaughter, an issue that stirs religious tensions in the Hindu-majority country. These news distorted the facts of agitation and conveyed manufactured news about an irate Muslim public helplessly fighting vis-à-vis the regime of the Hindu majority that have denied the former protection and justice. The blame was on the Meetei.

 

Many believe in these reports and some are confused. But most of the people on the ground who are involved in the agitation for justice are unaware of these distorted news. The leaders of the agitation are surprised, when informed about it. However, the misreporting had done the job. The ‘no-news’ have become a ‘news’ and the actual ‘news’ have been reduced into oblivion. The misinformation have achieved widespread publicity, continuously reverberated on uncensored social networks. In other words, the distortions of the facts and circumstances of the murder of 2nd November and the outburst for justice have covered up the nature of the crime and the criminals responsible for it. At the same time, the misinformation humiliates many, when everything was shown communal and the Meeteis are being objectified as Hindus hatching religious fundamentalism against minority Muslims. For instance, since I am a Meetei with some roles in academics and democratic activism, the ‘mainland’ progressive friends, who consumed the distorted news, are unhappy with me for being what they termed ‘a mute spectators’ when minority Muslims are being selectively targeted in Manipur. My teacher in South Africa, who has been a guide for more than a decade, have tagged me on a social network with a reasonable question; ‘I wonder what the local politics are here (Manipur)’.

 

One of the primary tasks to fight ‘communal intolerance’ is to fight distortions of facts and circumstances. The media has a big responsibility in it. However, when journalism is being misused by a vested section, it adds to the burden of the progressives to invest in labour and time to collate facts and undo the misinformation. Many are forced by the circumstances to involve in the struggle vis-à-vis the distortions, for better representation and information. Otherwise, the distortions, cited above, merely add to the communal propaganda of the chauvinist forces, whose agenda is to encourage hatred and bloodshed. In the context of the murder of Ali and denial of justice, information from the ground, provided by the relatives of the victim and other ‘Muslim’ friends, who are directly involved in the agitation for justice, can undo the distortions by the Hindustan Times and the New York Times. But, before placing the findings, there are at least three points that had to be briefly clarified. First, Meetei cannot be homogenously identified with Hindu or Hinduism. Two, the Muslims who have settled for centuries in Manipur are known as Meetei Panggal. They possess localized linguistic and cultural characters that mark them distinctively peculiar to non-Manipuri Muslims. Third, Meetei and Meetei Panggal are neither socially exclusive to one another nor they are compartmentalized into watertight antagonistic communal politics. To sum up, the anachronous depiction of these communities by the media needs to be reviewed.

 

To focus on the murder of 1st or 2nd November, it was plotted by Ali’s distant relative and immediate neighbour (a ‘Muslim’) to settle some personal grudges. In fact, Late Md. Hashmad Ali, a calm and respectable person in the locality, was the family head of a moderately well to do middle class background in a Panggal neighbourhood called Keirao Makting Awang Leikai, under Irilbung Police Station in Imphal East. He was the headmaster of an evening Keirao Primary Madrassa. His wife, Jamila, is the headmaster of the morning Keirao Litan Makhong Primary School, in the same locality. The eldest son, Riyas, owns a BPO outsource and lives with his family at Babupara in Greater Imphal. The next son, Malick, is the Managing Director in the BPO. The youngest son, Khaligue, is a computer operator and his wife works in a nursing institute.

 

On the unfortunate night of 1st November Ali was alone at the home. His wife, the youngest son and the daughter-in-law had gone out for some days to live with the relatives at Rahaman Hospital in Guwahati (Assam). Since Riyas lived at Babupara, Malick was taking care of Ali after his office hours. Usually, Malick worked in the night shift and returned home lately at around 10 p.m. That night, when Malick returned home, he could not find his father. He was worried as his father seldom went out at night. He searched, but, could not locate Ali. Being suspected he lodged a complaint of missing at the police station at around 2 a.m. At around 3 a.m., the police informed Malick about an abandoned dead body at a place called Kongba Uchekkon Thongkhong, which is located in Meetei neighbourhood area. In the morning, when Malick and others confirmed the ‘death’ of Ali, they were also being informed that Ali was caught while stealing a calf belonging to one Khumallambam Brojen, a Meetei, and that he was killed by a mob. When further enquiry had to be done, Brojen was found absconding and no one could belief the story.

 

Police took the calf into the custody and arrested Brojen at around the noon. Police interrogation revealed that Ali was killed by a group of ‘co-workers’ hired by Md. Matlib. It was unfolded that Ali was a distant relative of Matlib and they live together as adjacent neighbour. Their relation became strained because of land dispute. Some days ago there was an intensive altercation on this issue and Matlib had threatened to kill Ali. Since then, there has been a plot to kill. When Ali was alone at that particular night, Matlib hired three other ‘Muslim’ friends from the same locality and six Meetei co-workers from the Meetei neighbourhood known as the Kongba Makha Nandeibam Leikai. At around 8 p.m., Matlib sent two Meeteis to pick up Ali. They alarmed Ali that Malick had met with an accident on the way to home and that they were being sent there to drop him to the hospital. Ali believed in their story. When all of them met at the Nandeibam Leikai, they raised the alarm of cattle thief, fatally tortured Ali with iron rods, and abandoned the body on the road near a Meetei temple known as Lai Moriba Temple.

 

The news of the murder infuriated many. Nobody could buy the story of cattle thief by Ali, who is an economically sound and a respectable headmaster. The ‘Muslim’ neighbourhood immediately constituted a body christened as the Joint Action Committee against the Brutal Killing of Md. Hashmad Ali (JAC). The agenda of the JAC is to punish the culprits and compensate the victim family. When the fact and circumstances of the murder was socially revealed, the house of the prime accused Md Matlib was vandalised and finally burnt into ashes. However, all the accused other than Brojen were absconding. The JAC is disappointed with the police inaction. According to the JAC, “despite our best efforts to obtain justice of Mr. Hashmad Ali in a peaceful manner, no concrete steps have been taken by the authorities so far. The Irilbung Police Station where the FIR of the case is filed has not taken any step to investigate the case and arrest the culprits. .. This clearly points to complacency and connivance on the part of the authorities, including the Officer-in-Charge of Irilbing Police to the missing report filed by one of the sons of the deceased on the night of 1st November itself.’ Police are inactive, probably due to political pressure in favour of the ‘accused’ by the candidates who are contesting the Thongju Kendra bye-election to the Manipur State Assembly. On 5th November the JAC stormed the police station, which have led to repression and casualty of a dozen of agitators.

 

The rumour about cattle thief and mobbing, which were aimed at covering up the objective of murder and the crime, became redundant following the arrest of and revelation by Brojen. The accused are now socially known. However, the law enforcing agents are deviating from the prescribed course of delivering justice. On the other hand, if there was community mobbing, it was not when Ali was murdered by a hired gang. Mobbing occurred in the ‘Muslim’ locality when the house of the prime accused was burnt, which had badly affected other members of the family who might have not involved in the crime. Such tendency of mobbing as a form of vengeance and justice has become an undesirable trend in Manipur. Police irresponsiveness and inaction for justice have not only protected the criminals but also encouraged the aggrieved sections to take law into their hands. In all these, there is neither Hindu mobbing nor communal conflict. The JAC is seeking the support of peoples across communities and agitating for justice. It remains uncertain about the durability of the JAC and different tactical courses it may take, if those who are in power are deliberate to withhold justice. The media, particularly good reporting, can play a positively effective role in this.

 

JAC against killing of Hashmad Ali Memorandum to Govt of Manipur

Memorandum to Govt of Manipur by JAC against killing of Hashmad Ali

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/11/yellow-journalism-hindus-killed-muslim-headmaster-over-calf-stealing-communal-tension-in-manipur/

Manipur: 30 ASSAM RIFLES celebrates last day of the Holy Month of Ramadan

The post Manipur: 30 ASSAM RIFLES celebrates last day of the Holy Month of Ramadan appeared first on  KanglaOnline.com.30 ASSAM RIFLES CELEBRATES LAST DAY OF THE HOLY RAMADAN MONTH    Manipur, Imphal: 30 Assam Rifles of 9 Sector under HQ IGAR (S…

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30 ASSAM RIFLES CELEBRATES LAST DAY OF THE HOLY RAMADAN MONTH    Manipur, Imphal: 30 Assam Rifles of 9 Sector under HQ IGAR (S) organised an IFTAAR Party at Chingmeirong COB on 19 Aug 2012 celebrating the last day of … Continue reading

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Manipur Muslim Online Forum (MMOF) appeals to all Northeasterners to maintain peace and Communal harmony.

The post Manipur Muslim Online Forum (MMOF) appeals to all Northeasterners to maintain peace and Communal harmony. appeared first on  KanglaOnline.com.Manipur Muslim Online Forum (MMOF) appeals to all Northeasterners, in general, and Manipuris, in par…

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Manipur Muslim Online Forum (MMOF) appeals to all Northeasterners, in general, and Manipuris, in particular, to maintain peace and communal harmony. Some vested interests have been mongering rumour of attacks on migrant workers and students from Northeast in South India, … Continue reading

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Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/08/manipur-muslim-online-forum-mmof-appeals-to-all-northeasterners-to-maintain-peace-and-communal-harmony/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=manipur-muslim-online-forum-mmof-appeals-to-all-northeasterners-to-maintain-peace-and-communal-harmony

Ramadhan: A Meaning of this Holy Month

By: Abdul Ghaffar “Ramadhan is the month in which was sent down the Qur’an, as a guide to mankind, also clear signs for guidance and judgment between right and wrong…. Read more »

By: Abdul Ghaffar

“Ramadhan is the month in which was sent down the Qur’an, as a guide to mankind, also clear signs for guidance and judgment between right and wrong. So every one of you who is present at his home during that month should spend it in fasting, but, if anyone is ill, or on a journey, the prescribed period should be made up by days later. God intends every facility for you; He does not want to put you to difficulties. He wants you to complete the prescribed period and to glorify Him in that He has guided you; and perchance ye shall be grateful”
(Holy Qur’an 2:185).
Once again we welcome it, once again it welcomes us. Ramadhan-a month of obligatory daily fasting in Islam is the ninth in the Islamic lunar calendar. For the entire month, Muslims fast from dawn to dusk, an act that brings joy and contentment to every Muslim who experiences the practice. But fasting as such is a human phenomenon, which is noticeable in all religions. Allah says in Qur’an:
?”O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may become pious” (Holy Quran 2:183).

Ramadhan is not only to abstain from food, drink, smoking, and marital sex (up to sunset) but also to abstain from arguing, lying, backbiting, cursing, fighting, obscenity and all kinds of immoral acts. This is a month of return, introspection, mediation, brotherhood and love. This month provides an opportunity for the creature (Human) to get closer to his Creator (God). This is a month of when a Muslim tries to: see not what displeases God, speak no evil, hear no evil, do no evil, look to God with fear and hope. Ramadhan is supposed to be a time of giving and giving up, a time to feel closer-physically closer by fasting-to the tribulations and hunger that the poor feel all the year. It is a time to deny oneself, for one’s own good and the good of others. It is a time of deeper prayer and reflection.
The Prophet Mohammad (blessings and peace be upon him) said,
“If, during Ramadhan, someone does not refrain from backbiting, lying, slandering, arguing, or fighting with someone, the Allah is not interested in his keeping himself hungry and thirsty. And be certain that a Muslim is one from whose hand and tongue other people are safe (Hakim 2003).

And he further said, “there are many a Muslim man or woman who obtains nothing from Ramadhan except an empty belly and a dry mouth” (Hakim 2003), meaning the whole point of fasting was missed. In other words, there is a great difference between fasting and merely keeping oneself hungry- something essential to understand.
A Meaning of this Month
The month of Ramadhan is the ‘month of the Meaning.’ It is a quest for finding a meaning in our own self and the world. Why this life? What about God in my life? What about my mother and my father, still alive or already gone? What about my children? My family? My community? Why this universe and this humanity? What meaning have I given to my daily life? What meaning am I able to be consistent with?
The Prophet of Islam (peace be upon him) had warned, ‘Some people only gain from their fast the fact that they are hungry and thirsty.’ He was speaking of those who fast as mechanically as they eat. They deprive themselves from eating with the same unawareness and the same thoughtlessness as they are used to eating and drinking. In fact, they transform it into a cultural tradition, a fashionable celebration, even a month of banquets and ‘Ramadhan nights.’ This is fast of extreme alienation and counter-meaning. As this month invites us towards the deep horizons of introspection and meaning, it reminds us of the importance of detail, precision and discipline in our practice. The precise starting day of Ramadhan that must be rigorously found; the precise hour before dawn on which one must stop eating; the prayers to be performed ‘at determined moments,’ the exact time of breaking the fast. At the very time of our profound meditation with God and in our own self, one could have thought that it was possible to immerse oneself into one’s feelings because this quest for meaning is so deep that it should be allowed to bypass the details of rules and schedules. But the actual experience of Ramadhan teaches us the opposite: no profound spirituality, no true quest of meaning without discipline and rigor as to the management of rules to be respected and time to be mastered.
An Invitation to Self-Transformation
The abrupt change implied by the fast is an invitation to a transformation and a profound reform of oneself and one’s life that can only occur through a rigorous intellectual introspection (muhasaba). To achieve the ultimate goal of the fast our faith requires a demanding, lucid, sincere, and honest mind capable of sane self-criticism. Everyone should be able to that for oneself, before God, within one’s solitude. The month of Ramadhan calls Muslim to their dignity as well as to their responsibilities. It is imperative that they make it a rule for themselves to be rigorous and upright in the assessment of their conduct, individuality and collectively: self-criticism and collective introspection are of the essence at every step, to achieve a true transformation within Muslim communities and societies.
Instead of blaming ‘those who dominate,’ ‘the other,’ ‘the West,’ etc. it is necessary to make ourselves follow the teaching of the month of Ramadhan: you are indeed what you do of yourself. What are we doing of ourselves today? What are our contributions within the fields of education, social justice and liberty? What are we doing to promote the dignity of women and children or to protect the rights of the poor and marginalized people in our societies?
What kind of models of profound, intelligent and active spirituality do we offer today to the people around us? What have we done with our universal message of justice and peace? What have we done our message of individual responsibility, of human brotherhood and love? All these questions are in our hearts and minds and there is only one response inspired by the Qur’an and nurtured by the month of Ramadhan: God will change nothing for the good if you change nothing. The objective of Ramadhan is to attain Taqwa.
“O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may attain Taqwa” (Holy Qur’an 2:183).
What is Taqwa?
Hazrat ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) said, “A person with the quality of Taqwa is like a person walking withn caution on a thorny road. The way he would take care to save his clothes from getting entangled in the thorns, so is a person with Taqwa conscious of every action he does (for fear of falling into wrong)” (IECRC 2005).
Taqwa is a way of living where God is always invoked and on one’s mind where one thinks twice before doing any wrong because one knows that He is watching, though no one else may be in sight; and where one develops such a strong will-power that acts of goodness flow from one’s hands as second-nature impulses, where the overflowing of hearts is greater than the deliberation and rationalization of intellects. The Prophet Mohammad (blessings and peace be upon him), it is said, was usually very generous and in Ramadhan was “more generous than the blowing wind,” a common Arab saying.
Ramadhan, in this sense, helps to develop character traits such as patience, gratitude, contentment, humility, generosity, heightened consciousness, purity, and other qualities. By the end of Ramadhan, a Muslims should be a better human, and that much closer to what is possible of human production, if such a thing can be imagined. Suffice it to say that Ramadhan is meant to train one to realize that ideal in one’s day-to-day life.
Few Suggestions
It is not a time to get fat and sleep the day away. That is a travesty of the spirit of the Holy Month.
Here are a few suggestions that we can look into:
Let us invite our friends and neighbours to join us in the breaking of our fasts (Iftar).
Let us donate generously to the Masjid, Islamic causes, worthy causes and everywhere people are in need. ‘This is a month of sharing!’
Let us initiate a project to promote or revive a ‘forgotten’ social cause in the community: fight against communalism, racism, social evils, obscenity, drugs, smoking…etc.
Let us seek the rare and oft-neglected rewards of ‘the night better than a thousand months,’ Laylatur-Qadr.
Let us weep in private for the forgiveness of our sins: It is the month of forgiveness and Allah’s Mercy! It’s never too late.
Let us learn to control our tongue and lower our gaze. Remember the Prophet’s warning that lying, backbiting, and a lustful gaze all violate the fast! Abandon foul language forever.
Let us experience the joy of Tahajjud prayers late at night and devote ourselves purely and fully to Allah in the I’tikaf retreat during the last 10 days of Ramadhan.
Let us encourage our younger ones to offer taraweeh prayers with us at the mosque.
Let us ensure that we mend our relations with everyone regardless of the mistakes on the part of others.
Let us ensure that we offer Zakat ul Fitr ahead of Eid prayers so that the poor and the needy can make use of it in an appropriate manner.
Each of us can develop an individual plan to benefit from and we all can do something to earn some additional grace from God, the Almighty. May this Ramadhan be a time of true fasting, of deeper prayer and real identity with the poor whose plight will not change when the day of Eid comes. To conclude, the Prophet Mohammad (blessings and peace be upon him) reported whoever fasts in Ramadhan with faith and seeking pleasure of Allah, his past sins are forgiven.

Abdul Ghaffar is a researcher in Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and have presented and published many articles on national and international issues including about Manipur in national journals.

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Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2011/08/ramadhan-a-meaning-of-this-holy-month/