SABHA - 4M Report Arvind Kumar, 18 Sep, 2004
Your regular dose of pseudosecularism
  1. Islamic 'scholar' solves Beslan case

    Ali Abdullah, an Islamic 'scholar' in Bahrain has solved the Beslan school massacre case and has identified the terrorists who took schoolchildren as hostages before killing hundreds of them. The 'scholar' stated,
    'I have no doubt that this is the work of the Israelis, who want to tarnish the image of Muslims.'


  2. Manmohan Singh is a puppet

    Former Minister Yashwant Sinha called Manmohan Singh a "puppet" Prime minister and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh called him a "pet" of Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

    Far-left TV channel, NDTV reported that Congress condemned the description by Sinha and demanded an apology from Sinha.

    Economist Jagdish Bhagwati who is considered a Nobel Prize contender certainly seems to think that Manmohan Singh is a puppet. In an article on Sep 13 that appeared in Wall Street Journal, the Columbia University Professor described India as India of Sonia Gandhi.

    There is no way that the mildly left-leaning India of Sonia Gandhi, and even the Brazil of Lula -- indisputably a more credible union man than any we produce -- will turn away from their longstanding objections and accept such restrictions, either in bilateral FTAs or at Doha.


  3. Gandhi's grandson gives half of Gandhi's message to Palestinians

    Arun Gandhi (qualification: grandson of Mohandas Gandhi) spread half the message of his grandfather in Palestine when he asked the Palestinians to pursue non-violent methods to fight Israel. He also contradicted his grandfather when rejected suicide as an option for Palestinians.
    "It is the safest and sanest alternative. Violence has not achieved anything. The Palestinians do not have the capacity and the ability to match the weapons of mass destruction that are available to Israel. So it is virtually suicide for them," says Arun Gandhi.
    When Hitler slaughtered the Jews, Mohandas Gandhi suggested that Jews commit suicide by jumping off cliffs into the sea. So here is the complete message to Palestinians, "Commit suicide if you want, but don't blow others up. Go jump into the Dead Sea or the Sea of Galilee."

    We also learn that war is peace and intifada with all its Mototov cocktails and rock-throwing lynch-mobs was actually a very peaceful movement!

    Non-violence is not alien to the Palestinian resistance, says Mohammed al-Atar, director, Palestinians for Peace and Democracy.
    "In the first intifada the Palestinian people called the shots and the occupation reacted to it," he says.


  4. US to deliver more soybeans instead of F-16s to Pakistan?

    The air force chief of Islamic Republic of Pakistan said that USA might sell F-16s to Pakistan.
    "There is a possibility that we will get more F-16s," he said. "This is not a rumour, it is from the American government."
    More F-16s? The last time round, Americans took the money promising to deliver F-16s and delivered soybeans instead. Excerpt from an interview with self-appointed President, Dictator Musharraf published in Christian Science Monitor:

    CSM: Is your view that those F-16s were in fact not repaid? Because there are those in the US government who say that that was actually repaid when they were not delivered.

    Musharraf: They were repaid after I don't know how many years and if I told you the whole story, I don't know if you'd believe it.

    CSM: Paid in soybeans?

    Musharraf: Yes, and wheat – and in the most expensive manner. The soybean that we got was much more expensive than we could have gotten from Malaysia, and elsewhere. The transportation cost was maybe double the cost.
    USA also tried squeezing "parking charges" for the F-16s.

  5. Christians demand suppression of free artistic expression

    Indian Catholics’ Secular Forum has demanded that Dan Brown's novel The Da Vinci Code be banned on the grounds that it challenged the authenticity of the Bible.
    The forum argues on seven counts, including how the book allegedly paints Jesus as a ‘‘mere mortal with basic instincts’’ and not as ‘‘god or son of god’’ and that the authenticity of the Bible has been challenged.
    The book is a piece of fiction. Intolerant Christians have already managed to get it banned in Lebanon.