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Colon eNews (For Travel Professionals): Obtaining an Indian passport under the new system ...: Blog Post : 01 14th December 2014 , Mumbai :  The introduction of a new software has simplified the passport application process in th...

Aadhaar not mandatory to apply for passport.

BS Posted 126 by Mohammed Chand ShaikOnDecember 11, 2014

Having an Aadhaar card is not going to be a pre-requisite to applying for a passport, at least not in near future.

The government on Wednesday clarified that it was not considering making submission of Aadhaar cards mandatory for applying for passports. It also made it clear that no proposal was being considered for waiving of the requirement of police verification for issuance of passports.

“There is no proposal to discontinue police verification for issuing of passports by making submission of Aadhaar cards mandatory,” V K Singh, minister of state (external affairs), informed in his written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha.

The Bharatiya Janata Party earlier had reservation about the erstwhile United Progressive Alliance Government’s ambitious scheme to issue each citizen a unique identification number. But, after the Lok Sabha elections in April-May this year, the new BJP-led government, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, did not discontinue the scheme and rather gave a boost to it.

The new government moved ahead to implement the previous regime’s plan to link the Aadhaar card numbers with several schemes, including Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme and National Social Assistance Programme as well as for providing subsidy on cooking gas.

This triggered speculation about the NDA government’s imminent plan to waive the requirement of police verification for grant of passports by making it mandatory for all applicants to submit their Aadhaar cards. The speculations were followed by questions if the government was getting around the Supreme Court’s orders on Aadhaar cards.

Observing that Aadhaar cards should not be insisted upon to provide citizens benefits of the government schemes, the apex court had earlier asked the government to withdraw all orders issued earlier making it mandatory to have the unique IDs.

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/446887/aadhaar-not-mandatory-apply-passport.html

Kundu Committee Submits Post Sachchar Evaluation Report

BS Post: 125, Dated : 09 October 2014 / New Delhi.

The Post Sachar Evaluation Committee headed by Prof. Amitabh Kundu presented the final report to Dr. Najma A Heptulla, the Union Minister for Minorities Affairs here today. Thanking Prof. Kundu and other members of the committee for their efforts, Dr Najma Heptulla promised implement the recommendation after studying the report as early as possible. 

The Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India had constituted the Committee under the Chairmanship of Prof. Amitabh Kundu of Jawaharlal University, New Delhi and seven other eminent social scientists in September,2013. The mandate of the committee was to evaluate the process of implementation of Sachar Committee Report and the Prime Minister’s new 15 points programme. The committee was also asked to assess the outcome of the programmes implemented by Ministry of Minority Affairs and other Ministries and to recommend the corrective measures by September, 2014. As per mandate of the committee, it evaluated and assessed the implementation of the of the recommendations of the Sachar Committee and made suggestions for obtaining better outcome in its Final Report submitted to the Minister of Minority Affairs. 

Press Information Bureau - 09-October-2014

Passports for flood affected passport holders of J-K to be given without any fee.

BS Post: 124 , Dated : 08 October 2014.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Tuesday announced its decision to issue replacement passports with same particulars and remaining validity and waiver of fees to those whose passports have been lost or damaged in the recent Jammu and Kashmir floods.

An official release by the MEA stated that this waiver of fee would be one time exception for the passport holders whose earlier passport has been issued either from Passport Office, Jammu or from Passport Office, Srinagar.

The release further said that this scheme would be valid for next six months ,valid from the date of issue of Gazette notification in this regard.

US court issues summons to Modi in 2002 Gujarat riots case

BS Post: 123 , Dated : 26 September, 2014.

WASHINGTON: A day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's landmark visit to the US, a human rights group has obtained summons against him for his alleged role in the 2002 Gujarat riots as state chief minister. 

New York based American Justice Centre (AJC) obtained the summons from the US Federal Court for the Southern District of New York in a suit filed with two survivors of what it called the "horrific and organized violence of Gujarat 2002." 

Filed under the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA) and the Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA), the 28-page complaint charges Modi with "committing crimes against humanity, extra-judicial killings, torture and inflicting mental and physical trauma on the victims, mostly from the Muslim community." 

AJC said it is providing legal support and advice to the survivors in their effort to hold "Modi accountable for his complicity in the violence." 

The survivors are suing Modi for the loss of lives and trauma in their families, and caused emotional, financial and psychological devastation in their lives. 

"The Tort Case against Prime Minister Modi is an unequivocal message to human rights abusers everywhere," said John Bradley, an AJC director. 

"Time and place and the trappings of power will not be an impediment to justice." 

The Alien Tort Claims Act, also known as Alien Tort Statute (ATS), is a US federal law first adopted in 1789 that gives the federal courts jurisdiction to hear lawsuits filed by US residents for acts committed in violation of international law outside the US, AJC said. 

Sikhs for Justice, another human rights group, plans to hold a "Citizens' Court" in a park in front of the White House to try Modi for his alleged role in the 2002 Gujarat riots, when he is holding a summit meeting with President Barack Obama. 

The group has routinely obtained such summons against visiting Indian leaders, including former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress party president Sonia Gandhi. 

Yet another group, Alliance for Justice and Accountability (AJA) plans to show Modi black flags when he heads for the Indian-American community's public reception at the Madison Square Garden in mid-town Manhattan September 28.

Aadhaar: Is the Modi govt moving against the Supreme Court order?

BS Post: 122 , Dated : 24 September, 2014, Mumbai. 

Artical of Gopal Krishna a member of Citizens Forum for Civil Liberties (CFCL), which is campaigning against surveillance technologies since 2010.

The Supreme Court says Aadhaar is not mandatory for public services. Yet, like the Congress government, Modi too is forcing the biometric ID.

The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) is riding on 12-digit biometric Aadhaar number project, which itself is controversial, legally contested, disapproved by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance and found questionable by the judiciary.

There is a categorical order of the Supreme Court reiterated at least two occasions stating that Aadhaar cannot be made mandatory.

But the PMJDY brochure reads “Aadhaar number will be seeded to make account ready for (Direct Benefits Transfers) DBT payment”. It is meant to be “the single point for receipt” for all DBT.  Isn’t this against the Supreme Court Judgement? And what about Modi's own views on Aadhaar? According to a report from Hindustan Times, while addressing an election rally in Bengaluru, Modi had said, “Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) had 'failed to convince the Supreme Court' and thus the (Aadhaar) scheme failed.”

Even, Nirmala Sitharaman, the then spokeswoman for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), had told the newspaper that “Aadhaar was being pushed by the Union government through an executive order and as the chief minister of Gujarat, he (Modi) was expected to implement the programme in the state. But that does not mean he will not question it and underline what is wrong. If he had not implemented it in Gujarat, he would have been blamed for delaying it."

The Supreme Court has passed an interim order on 23 September 2013 stating that availing of no public services can be mandatorily be linked to Aadhaar. On 24 March 2014, the Court restrained the central government and the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) from sharing data with any third party or agency, while dealing with a case filed by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). However, the UIDAI has already shared all the data with foreign and Indian private companies like Accenture, L1 Identities Solution and Sagem Morpho of Safran Group and Ernst & Young among others, who can keep this data for at least seven years. 

Meanwhile, the New Indian Express has reported that a petition has been filed by VE Rahul Goutham, a Class-X student of Kendriya Vidyalaya, Pattam, Thiruvananthapuram before the Kerala High Court against the insistence by the authorities that the Aadhaar card number be included in the application form for the National Talent Search Examination, Stage-I. The petitioner has rightly cited Supreme Court’s order saying, “in the meanwhile, no person should suffer for not getting Aadhaar card, in spite of the fact that some authority had issued a circular making it mandatory. When a person applies for Aadhaar Card voluntarily, it may be checked whether that person is entitled for it under the law, and the card should not be given to any illegal immigrant” and has submitted that insistence on Aadhaar is a violation of the Court’s order.

In fact, following the direction issued to the Union of India and Union Territory of Chandigarh by Punjab and Haryana High Court in the matter of Civil Writ Petition 569 of 2013 filed in the High Court against Union of India and others, the Executive Order for making Unique Identification (UID)/Aadhaar mandatory has been withdrawn. In its order the bench of Chief Justice AK Sikri and Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain dated 19 February 2013 had noted that the petition “raises a pure question of law.” Since the Executive Order was withdrawn, the case too was disposed of 2 March 2013 with a two page order.  The Order observes, “In this writ petition filed as PIL, the petitioner has challenged the vires of notification issued by Union of India for making it compulsory to have UID Cards."

All the High Courts, which transferred the cases filed against Aadhaar to the Supreme Court did so before its orders of 23 September 2013 and 24 March 2014. Now, it is a question of enforcement of the apex court’s order, which is being violated with impunity setting a very unhealthy precedent.

Arguing in the Supreme Court, Senior advocate Shyam Divan stated that "there is no statute to back the project" and even if there were one, the statute would be violative of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution as the project enables surveillance of individuals and impinges upon right to human dignity. Maintaining that whenever state seeks to impinge upon fundamental rights, its action must be backed by statute and not mere executive fiat, the senior advocate said, "Here, the action under the impugned project of collecting personal biometric information without statutory backing is ultra vires even where anindividual voluntarily agrees to part with biometric information." But the silence of Justice KS Puttaswamy, retired judge of the Karnataka High Court as well as Divan and other petitioners appears intriguing after the new government took charge.

Why are citizens being made to seek Aadhaar, which is admittedly only a residence proof? How does absence of resident proof consequent into denial of citizen's entitlement. The students of law are routinely taught by their law professors that the Supreme Court’s order is the law of the land. Aadhaar matter seems to be demonstrating that it is no more the case.   

Is India an island where news from other nations does reach the ear drums of decision makers in India? It is such deafness that contributed to grant of permission for testing of war chemicals in Bhopal.

Given the fact that Supreme Court has not scheduled any specific three judge bench to hear the Aadhaar case filed by Justice Puttaswamy, relying on a letter of Justice Mandagadde Rama Jois, former Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, currently a Member of Parliament, the Kerala High Court has to rise the occasion and decide whether Supreme Court's order is supreme or an illegitimate order of the government is supreme. Besides Justice Puttaswamy, Major General SG Vombatkere, who retired as Additional Director General, Discipline and Vigilance in Army Headquarters, has also filed a petition against the identifier project branded ‘Aadhaar’.

Relying on the pre-existing orders of the Supreme Court, the report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, Kerala High Court has a historic opportunity to restrain the Centre, Planning Commission and the UIDAI from issuing biometric Aadhaar numbers by way of an executive notification of 28 January 2009. The decision can save Indians from the most dangerous transaction being entered into through the unfolding Data Grid.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s is visiting the US. It would be timely to recollect the visit of Barack Obama, President of US with a 200-strong business delegation during 6-9 November 2010 to expanding US exports and increase investments by US companies in India.

Some 20 business deals worth around $10 billion were on the horizon but notably almost $15 billion worth deals were signed as per the official statement from the White House.

Among these deals were “The Unique Identification Project: L-1 Identity Solutions, headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, and another US-headquartered company, lead two of the three vendor consortia, which have been pre-qualified by the Unique Identity Authority of India (UIDAI) for the first phase of an effort to register Indian residents with a 12-digit unique number using biometric identifiers. Unprecedented in scale, seeking to register 1.2 billion Indian residents, the UID program aims to enhance delivery of government services in India.”

Out of these two companies L1 has now been taken over by French conglomerate Safran Group.

The search for the real beneficial owner or controller of L1 can be quite revealing. As to the reference of “another US-headquartered company, lead two of the three vendor consortia” and its identity, the White House statement was silent.

Both Obama and Dr Manmohan Singh, the then Indian Prime Minister agreed that “in an increasingly interconnected world, it is vital to safeguard areas of the sea, air, and space beyond national jurisdiction to ensure the security and prosperity of nations”.Admittedly, the bio-metric Aadhaar database is being stored on a cloud, which is “beyond national jurisdiction”.  In fact,  it is under the US jurisdiction and beyond India’s jurisdiction.

The new government has seen similar merits in UID. However, questions that merits attention of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the National Security Advisor is:How many countries in West Asia have a biometric ID database like Aadhaar, National Population Register (NPR) and digital identity? What are its ramifications for nations’ sovereignty? Can’t friends become foes of super powers and vice versa? If the preventive steps are not taken before such situation emerges, the biometric database of all future leaders and officials of India can reach countries whose governments are commercial czars in real time. Human history has been testimony to the possibility of the latter becoming inimical to India’s over all interest to safeguard their supreme commercial interests. They say commerce is war by other means.

    

Remember, the French Government had to abandon biometric profiling of its citizens after the French Constitutional Council found the law proposing the introduction of a new biometric ID for French citizens as unconstitutional. Incidentally, a French conglomerate is facilitating something in India, which has been outlawed in France. In India, it is headquartered New Delhi. Likewise, the Supreme Court of the Philippines struck down a biometric-based national ID system as unconstitutional on grounds of invasion of privacy.

In his 2009-10 Budget Speech, Pranab Mukherjee as Finance Minister had announced, “The UIDAI will set up an online data base with identity and biometric details of Indian residents and provide enrollment and verification services across the country.” Like the previous government, the Modi government too is deluded into believing that “online data base” of residents of India (inclusive of citizens) it will safeguard the sovereignty of the Republic.

The Finance Ministry’s 108-page White Paper on Black Money under the title ‘Strategies for Curbing Generation of Black Money through Illegal or Criminal Activities’ reads: “While efforts such as UID and direct transfer of subsidies will stop leakages in some sectors, in other sectors the problem will have to be addressed differently”. What is not acknowledged is that leakages are not problems of verification of identity but problems of eligibility. The new government has failed to appreciate as well.

Besides this it is yet to be conclusively established as to whether or not biometric, surveillance, identification and security technology companies are involved in amassing Black Money as part of Black Economy-through electoral finance and other unrecorded means.

Under the chapter, ‘Creating an appropriate legislative framework’ the White Paper elaborates on the role of the Unique Identity (UID)-Aadhaar project. The relevant text of the White Paper at page 49 reads: “The Aadhaar platform will facilitate payments under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MG-NREGA); old age, widow and disability pensions; and scholarships to be made directly into beneficiary accounts in selected areas. This initiative will cut down corruption and the generation of black money in India.” It is ironical that Unique Identity (UID)-Aadhaar project is mentioned under the title ‘Creating an appropriate legislative framework’ because Aadhaar and its Centralised Identities Data Register (CIDR) is being prepared outside any ‘appropriate legislative framework’.  

The recommendations of the Committee Headed by Chairman, Central Board for Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Black Money, at page 84 states: “The steps taken in recent years for simplifying and placing the administrative procedures concerning taxation, trade and tariffs and social transfers on UID based electronic interface, free of discretion and bureaucratic delays, are vital building blocks of the approach for tackling corruption and black money in our country.” Such claims manifest short term and long term vested interests in the UID-Aadhaar project aimed at creating ‘solutions architecture’ through linguistic corruption in the form of proposed National Information Utilities (NIUs) by Union Finance Ministry’s Technology Advisory Group on Unique projects. These NIUs are envisaged as private companies with public purpose and with profit making as the motive but not profit maximising. The construction of this sentence betrays the ulterior motives of these interests. It appears that words indeed have meaning, which the masters give to it as Lewis Carroll famously noted in her work Alice in Wonderland, a classic case of nominalism, a tendency of the ruling elite to decide on the meaning of a word.

Eight AEBAS systems provided by UIDAI have been installed at six gates of Venkaiah Naidu headed Urban Development Ministry. Was Naidu misleading the Parliament and the citizens of the country by contending that Aadhaar is “niraadhar” on the floor of the House? BJP was either misleading the country then or its doing so now.

The Planning Commission, whose expiry has been announced by Prime Minister Modi, is in the process of reviewing the state-wise and Union Territory wise progress of Aadhaar after Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) cleared phase-V of the UID scheme to undertake enrollments in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand on 10 September 2014. UIDAI has been given a target of ensuring enrollment of 100 crore Indian residents by the end of 2015 nay “at the earliest”.

In a country, governed by rule of law, when there is no ambiguity about the order of the apex court, how is it that Aadhaar related programs are being made mandatory? Is law still the king or the new kings-the Big Data companies- have usurped the state of affairs in the most non-violent coup imaginable?     

Now, Aadhaar link to passports.

BS Post: 121 , Dated : 19 September, 2014, Mumbai. 

The ambitious Aadhaar project received a boost on Friday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi telling ministries that passports be linked to Aadhaar data in order to prevent duplication of work and ensure maximum utilisation of the collected information.

According to the note from a meeting on Aadhaar, chaired by Modi on September 6, the PMO has said passports in the country should be linked to the Aadhaar number so as to utilise the biometric data collected under it. The Passport Authority of India falls within the Ministry of External Affairs.

Sources said the idea is to avoid “duplication of work”, given both Aadhaar and the Passport Authority of India currently collect biometric data. The practice of mandatory collection of biometrics before the issuance of a passport was started a few years ago. “Since Aadhaar already has biometric data of around 67 crore people, it does not make sense for the Passport Authority to do the same work again when someone applies for a passport.” said an official.

This will also ensure a better verification process since the biometrics through Aadhaar would help trace details about the person.

Currently, the biometrics collected during the issuance of a passport are not utilised further.

The cabinet recently set an Aadhaar enrolment target of 100 crore by the end of next year. The Indian Express had reported on July 7 that the government was looking into the possibility of linking passports with the Aadhaar number.

In another indication of the government’s intention to take Aadhaar and the Direct Benefit Transfer scheme further, the note  also says the PMO has directed the Planning Commission to conduct meetings with states and UTs to inform them of the findings of its review report on the current status of Aadhaar.

In July this year, the PMO had asked the plan panel to gather information about Aadhaar with respect to the beneficiaries of five key government schemes in 300 priority districts. The schemes are  MGNREGA, pensions, scholarships, Public Distribution System and LPG. The plan panel was also asked to assess the status of the number of beneficiaries enrolled under Aadhaar as well as those whose accounts are seeded with it and those who have been left out of the process.

At the September 6 meeting, the PM also directed the Home Ministry to enroll prisoners under Aadhaar.

The sarkari babu will have to make every minute count.

The Sarkari Babu will have to make every minute count.

BS Post: 120 , Dated : 30 August, 2014, Mumbai. 

A circular issued to all central government offices in the capital today has also asked employees, of all ranks, to submit their contact details (email ID, residential address, telephone and personal mobile phone numbers) to the department of personnel and training that is with the Prime Minister’s Office.

Delhi police are already building a databank containing the cellphone number, email ID, name, rank and “personal number” and of every city cop, from constable to commissioner, on the orders of the PMO. A letter from the home ministry on August 5 had asked for such a databank, which will also include the municipality in which the cop lives. “All the station house officers are on the job,” an officer said.

The circular issued today does not give a date from which the new attendance system will be implemented. It says “Aadhaar number is mandatory to register attendance”.

At least one state — Jharkhand — has begun implementing the AEBAS. But a central government order means the system will have to be adopted across the country.

The system will be implemented in the capital first and then in all central offices outside New Delhi. The order is binding on all employees, including those in the armed forces.

To implement the system, all offices will have to install fingerprint scanners with Wi-fi Internet. The objective of the system, sources said, is “to check absenteeism and measure the time an employee spends in office and the time he or she checks in and checks out”.

Similar systems have been implemented in many corporate offices, both in the private and the public sector, though they are not based on Aadhaar, the card issued to citizens by the Unique Identification Authority of India that was headed by Nandan Nilekani and created by the UPA II government of Manmohan Singh in 2009.

The system will also seek to ensure that employees cannot backdate attendance or mark attendance for someone else.

On July 1, Nilekani had met Modi and finance and defence minister Arun Jaitley and given a presentation on the Aadhaar scheme that impressed the new regime.

Police clueless

Delhi police have been left befuddled by the message from the PMO asking for the databank.

“This is unprecedented. We are not clear about the objective behind it,” a senior officer said in private.

“It seems the PMO is going to be the new control room for everything: it will keep a tab on all government officials including the police,” conjectured an IPS official posted in the home ministry.

The Delhi police, who claim to be the world’s largest metropolitan force with their 80,000 personnel including nearly 50,000 constables, have thrown themselves into the massive exercise.

Delhi’s is the only police force in the country that is under the Union home ministry’s direct control. Police sources said the directive came in the form of a ministry letter dated August 5.

Additional deputy commissioner Mahesh Batra then wrote to all the zonal deputy commissioners to help prepare the databank.

“May kindly direct the concerned to collect the same from every employee under your control and feed the information by August 13,” says the letter, dated August 11, of which The Telegraph has a copy.

“There will not be an extension of this date, being time-bound requirement by Prime Minister’s Office….”

Not surprisingly, the deadline has been missed. A senior officer said the task would be completed by the end of this month.

Source: The Telegraph

Pradhanmantri Jan Dhan Yojana : “Mera Khata – Bhagya Vidhaata”

Pradhanmantri Jan Dhan Yojana : “Mera Khata – Bhagya Vidhaata”

BS Post: 119 , Dated : 26 August, 2014, Mumbai. 

The primary aim of the Jan Dhan Yojana is to bring poor financially excluded people into the banking system by providing them bank accounts and debit cards.

The scheme will cover both urban and rural areas of India and all bank accounts opened will be linked to a debit card which would be issued under the Ru-Pay scheme. ( Rupay is India’s own unique domestic card network owned by National Payments Corporation of India and has been created as an alternative to Visa and Mastercard.)

 Every individual who opens a bank account becomes eligible to receive an accident insurance cover of up-to Rs 1 Lakh for his entire family.

 The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana has set an ambitious target of bringing in more than 7.5 crore un-banked families into India’s banking system by opening more than 15 Crore bank accounts at the rate of two bank accounts per household.

 Once the bank account has been active for 6 months and has been linked to account holders Aadhar identity , they would become eligible for an overdraft of up to Rs 2,500 , which would further be enhanced by the bank to Rs 5000 over time.

 The Jan Dhan Yojana also seeks to provide incentives to business and banking correspondents who serve as link for the last mile between savings account holders and the bank by fixing a minimum monthly remuneration of Rs 5000.

 The long term vision of the Jan Dhan Yojana is to lay the foundation of a cashless economy and is complementary to the Digital India Scheme.

 The Jan Dhan Yojana is expected to be launched formally on the 28th August 2014, when the finer details are expected to made public at a function to be presided by the Prime Minister and his Cabinet Ministers in New Delhi.

        Documents requried to open a Bank Account

• If One has Aadhaar Number no other document is requried. If address has changed. then a self certification of the current address is requried.
• If some one don’t have an Aadhaar Card, then Voter ID Card, Ration Card, Driving Licence, Letter from a recognized Public Authority or Public Servent or Sarpanch will do.
• Otherwise any one of these [ as Identity proof ] Identity Card of any Accrrdited Institution, Job Cardissued by NREGA and any one of these [ as address proof ] Electricity or Telephone Bill, Birth or Marriage Certificate.

Mohammed Chand Shaikh 

(Rabia Memorial Trust) 

Chairman

Indian Muslims unequivocally condemn brutal atrocities of ISIS

   BS Post: 118 , Dated : 20 August, 2014, Mumbai. 

Muslim intellectuals and activists issued a joint statement denouncing religious intolerance, persecution and violence in the name of Islam.

Over 80 Indian Muslims, including activists, intellectuals, community and religious leaders, scholars and academics, representing very many organizations from across India released a joint statement at a press conference held simultaneously in New Delhi and Mumbai at 3.0 PM today, condemning the brutal atrocities of ISIS on minorities and denouncing persecution and violence in the name of Islam.

Navaid Hamid, Shabnam Hashmi, John Dayal and Safdar Khan addressed the media in Delhi while in Mumbai Dr. Zeenat Shaukat Ali, Irfan Engineer, Noorjehan Safia Niaz, Javed Anand, Fr. Frazer Mascarenhas and Dolphy D’Souza were present.

Press Conference in Delhi.

The speakers unequivocally condemned the brutal Atrocities by ISIS against minorities in Iraq and Syria and denounced their religious intolerance, persecution and violence in the name of Islam.

Later they issued a joint-statement signed by 83 Muslim personalities from various fields, including Shabana Azmi, Prof. Abusaleh Shariff, Professor Mushirul Hasan, Prof Zoya Hassan, Syeda Hameed, Sohail Hashmi and Juzar Bandukwala, among others.

“Indian Muslims are shocked and pained by the brutality and atrocities being perpetrated by the ISIS (Islamic State of Syria and Iraq) against Christians, Shias, Kurds, Yazidis and other minorities in the regions now under their control,” they said, adding, “We strongly condemn such barbarism which is against the teachings of Islam.”

While the ISIS must be held fully responsible for its unconscionable acts, the United States, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait etc. cannot escape their share of the blame in fueling the flames, they further said, while urging the United Nations to intervene.

Full Statement:

Indian Muslims Condemn the Brutal Atrocities by ISIS against Minorities in Iraq and Syria; denounce religious intolerance, persecution and violence in the name of Islam

Indian Muslims are shocked and pained by the brutality and atrocities being perpetrated by the ISIS (Islamic State of Syria and Iraq) against Christians, Shias, Kurds, Yazidis and other minorities in the regions now under their control. We strongly condemn such barbarism which is against the teachings of Islam. We express our heart-felt sympathies and solidarity with the survivors of those whose near and dear ones have been mercilessly butchered, and the tens of thousands of Iraq’s minorities who have been dispossessed, forced to flee their homes and are now living in extremely difficult circumstances.

The barbaric conduct of the ISIS is all the more reprehensible because its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, proclaims to be the ‘Caliph’ of the entire Muslim world and his armed group are supposedly acting in the name of Islam. We welcome the fact that most religious leaders and Islamic scholars from across the world, including India, have debunked al-Baghdadi’s claim of being a Caliph.

Alongside the ongoing tormenting of common citizens and persecution of religious and ethnic minorities in areas under their control, the ISIS has been enforcing its own intolerant, extremist, violent, distorted interpretation of Islam on Muslims who are also Sunnis. This too deserves to be condemned in the strongest possible words. We call upon Muslim religious leaders in India and elsewhere to add their voice to that of Muslim organisations and individuals who have already denounced al-Baghdadi and his ISIS for distorting Islam’s message for peace and for their barbaric conduct.

The unspeakable atrocities and mass crimes against Iraq’s minorities are nothing short of ‘crimes against humanity’, ‘religious/ethnic cleansing’. We appeal to the United Nations to urgently intervene, create the circumstances where those forced to flee feel secure enough to return to their homes and cities with full honour and dignity, and hold the ISIS accountable for its heinous acts.

While the ISIS must be held fully responsible for its unconscionable acts, the United States, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait etc. cannot escape their share of the blame in fuelling the flames. The worsening plight of Iraq’s Christians is but a legacy of America’s illegal, unwarranted and criminal invasion of Iraq in 2003 and its subsequent engineering of sectarian strife to divide the Iraqi resistance to the occupation.

Dictator Saddam Hussain was no angel but under him the country’s 1.4 million Christians were free to practice their faith. Many occupied high government posts. It is ironic that the US is now bombing the very ISIS to which it had earlier provided training, arms and ammunition in an attempt to dislodge Syria's authoritarian President, Bashar al-Assad. For their own myopic ends, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait etc have been backing an array of radical Islamist outfits of which the ISIS -- a monster now seemingly out of control -- was an integral part.

We urge a global condemnation of the ISIS and all its allies, overt or covert.

Press conference in Mumbai.

Endorsed by:
1. A.J. Jawad, Advocate, Chennai
2. Aamir Edresy, President, Association of Muslim Professionals, Mumbai
3. Abbas Shamael Rizvi, Cinematographer & Photographer, Delhi
4. Abdul Mannan Prof, Gauhati University, Assam
5. Abdul Salam Prof, President , Justice and Equity Demand Samiti, Assam
6. Abusaleh Shariff Dr., Executive Director, US-India Policy Institute, Washington DC
7. Akhtar Husain Akhtar Gen. Secretary, All India Momin Conference, Kanpur
8. Amir Rizvi, Communication Designer, Mumbai
9. Amjad Ali Dr., Assistant Professor, Jaunpur
10. Arshad Ajmal, Social Activist, Patna
11. Asad Ashraf, Social Activist, Delhi
12. Asad Zaidi, Writer and Publisher, Delhi
13. Asif Iqbal, Director, Dhanak, Delhi
14. Asif Naqvi Professor, Aligarh
15. Bader Sayeed, Advocate & Former Member Legislative Assembly Tamil Nadu
16. Faizur Rehman, Islamic Forum for Promotion of Moderate Thought, Chennai
17. Farhat Amin, BIRD Trust, Cuttack
18. Farrukh Warris Dr., Educationist, Mumbai.
19. Fazlur Rahman Dr, Principal, Govt Degree College, Moradabad
20. Feroze Mithiborwala, Muslim Intellectual Forum, Mumbai.
21. Hanif Lakdawala, Executive Director, Sanchetna, Ahmedabad
22. Hasina Khan, Women Activist, Bombay
23. Imanul Haque, Prof, Kolkata
24. Iqbal Ahmad Niazi, Retired Professor Emeritus of Zoology, University of Rajasthan
25. Irfan Engineer, Director, Centre for Study of Society and Secularism, Mumbai
26. Ishaq Dr, Social Activist, Azamgarh
27. Jameela Nishat, Shaheen Women's Resource Centre, Hyderabad.
28. Javed Anand, Muslims for Secular Democracy, Mumbai
29. Javed Malick Dr, Retired Academic, Delhi University, Delhi
30. Juzar Bandukwala Dr., Retired Professor, Vadodara
31. K.K. Mohammad, Senior Archaeologist, Hyderabad
32. Kamal Faruqi, Former Chairman, Delhi Minority Commission
33. Kamal Siddiqui, Businessman, Khushinagar, UP
34. Kasim Sait, Businessman & Social Activist, Chennai
35. Mairajuddin Ahmed Dr. , Former Cabinet Minister, UP
36. Mazher Hassain, Social Activist, COVA, Hyderabad
37. Md. Aftab Alam Dr., Assistant Professor, Delhi
38. Mike Ghouse, President, World Muslim Congress, Dallas, Texas
39. Mohd Aamir, Human Rights Activist, ANHAD., Delhi
40. Mohammad Arif Dr,, Chairman, Centre for Harmony and Peace, Varanasi
41. Mujataba Farooque, President, Welfare Party of India
42. Mujib Kidwai, Marketing Management, Jeddah
43. Mushirul Hasan, Prof. , Former Vice Chancellor, Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi
44. Nasiruddin Haider Khan, Journalist, Delhi
45. Navaid Hamid, Movement for Empowerment of Muslim Indians (MOEMIN), Delhi
46. Noorjehan Safia Niaz, Bhartiya Muslim Mahila Andolan, Mumbai
47. Ovais Sultan Khan, Social Work Professional, Delhi
48. Qurban Ali, Journalist, Delhi
49. R Jeibunnisa, Manitham Trust, Tamil Nadu
50. Rahima Khatun, NSKK, Kolkata
51. Rubina Parveen, Social Activist, Varanasi
52. S. Akhtar Ehtisham Dr, Academic, Delhi
53. SM Hilal, Social Activist, Kanpur
54. S Irfan Habib, Prof, Maulana Azad Chair, National University of Educational Planning and Administration, Delhi
55. Safdar Khan, Former Chairman, Delhi State Minorities Commission, Delhi
56. Sahir Raza, Independent Cinematographer, Mumbai
57. Salar M.Khan, Lawyer, New Delhi
58. Sania Hashmi, Director, Anhad Films, Delhi
59. Sarah Hashmi, Actor, Mumbai
60. Semeen Ali, PhD student, University of Delhi, New Delhi
61. Shabana Azmi, Actor, Mumbai
62. Shabnam Hashmi, Social Activist, ANHAD, Delhi
63. Shahin Ansari, Social Activist, Saharanpur
64. SMS Firdausi, Advocate, High Court, Allahabad
65. Sohail Hashmi, Filmmaker, Delhi
66. Syed Mohammad Raghib, PhD Student Delhi
67. Syed Shahid Mahdi, Former Vice Chancellor, Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi
68. Syeda Hameed, Former Member, Planning Commission, Delhi
69. Tanweer Fazal, Academic, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi
70. Tanveer Nasreen Prof, Academic, Bardman, WB
71. Tariq Ashraf Dr, Academic, Delhi
72. Wahad Ahmad, Social Activist, Bijnaur
73. Waris Mazhari Dr., Department of Islamic Studies, Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad
74. Wizarat Rizvi, Academic, Delhi
75. Zafarul-Islam Khan Dr., Delhi
76. Zaheer Ahmad, Social Activist, Varanasi
77. Zaheer Ahmed Sayeed Dr., Neurologist, Chennai
78. Zaheeruddin Ali Khan, Editor, Siasat, Hyderabad
79. Zahid S Kamal, Retired Govt Officer, Delhi
80. Zakia Soman, Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan, Gujarat
81. Zamser Ali, Journalist, Gauhati, Assam, President, BTAD Citizen Rights Forum, General Secretary, Centre for Minority Studies, Research and Development, Assam
82. Zeenat Shaukat Ali Dr. , Director General, The Wisdom Foundation (World Institute of Islamic Studies for Dialogue, Mediation, Gender-Justice and Peace), Mumbai
83. Zoya Hasan Prof. , Former Member, National Minorities Commission, Delhi

Mohammed Chand Shaikh

It Turns Out Hamas Didn’t Kidnap and Kill the 3 Israeli Teens After All.

               BS Post: 117 , Dated :  July 26, 2014 

By Dell Cameron (Google+) on July 25, 2014

The recent explosion of violence in Gaza may have been initially sparked by false or inaccurate claims, according to Israeli police.

The ongoing conflict began last month when three Israeli teenagers were kidnapped from a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank. Their bodies were later discovered in a field outside the city of Hebron. Before police were able to determine who was responsible, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu placed blame for the tragic deaths squarely on Hamas, Gaza’s elected political leadership—an accusation that may prove to be false.

On Friday, Chief Inspector Micky Rosenfeld, foreign press spokesman for the Israel Police, reportedly told BBC journalist Jon Donnisonhe that the men responsible for murders were not acting on orders of Hamas leadership. Instead, he said, they are part of a “lone cell.” Further, Inspector Rosenfeld told Donnison that if Hamas’ leadership had ordered the kidnapping, “they'd have known about it in advance.”

Naftali Fraenkel, 16, Gilad Shaer, 16, and Eyal Yifrah, 19, were kidnapped on June 12 from Gush Etzion, an Israeli settlement south of Jerusalem. After an exhaustive search that lasted over two weeks, security forces discovered the boys’ bodies in a field just north of Hebron, close to where they were abducted. The night of their disappearance, one of the boys called a police hotline and whispered, “They kidnapped me.” Police speculate that he may have been caught, leading the perpetrators to kill the teenage boys.

Husam Dofsh, a former member of Hamas, was arrested on suspicion of his involvement on July 5. After learning that he was a suspect, Dofsh called the Times of Israel and insisted he’d taken no part in the kidnapping. “I saw online, and people also told me, that I was tied to the mess, but I did not kidnap and didn’t do anything. I just want to continue my life,” Dofsh told reporters.

During the course of Israel’s investigation, some 400 Palestinians were arrested and up to 10 others were killed. Among those detained were Aziz Duwaik, the speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council and West Bank-based member of Hamas; and Mahmoud al-Khatib, a Hamas legislator was also reportedly abducted by the IDF during a dawn raid in the city of Bethlehem.

Israel's crackdown in Gaza instigated Hamas to begin firing rockets into Israel—a move that quickly escalated the conflict.

In early July, several members or activists connected to Hamas were killed, including a 14-year-old boy, which led the group to intensified their rocket attacks. Although there were no resulting deaths, the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) began successive airstrikes on the Gaza Strip.

“Hamas is responsible, and Hamas will pay,” Netanyahu said in reference to the kidnapping. However, Inspector Rosenfeld’s statements, along with a number of reports concerning the identities of known police suspects, seem to indicate that Hamas leadership was not involvement in the vicious crime.

The two more-likely suspects are Amer Abu Aysha and Marwan Kawasme, who have been missing from their homes since the night of the kidnapping. Police found cellphones and prepared food caches in their homes. Both had recently opened bank accounts in their wive's names. Palestinian security forces reported that Abu Aysha and Kawasme were missing to the Israelis the day after the kidnapping occurred, according to Al Monitor.

“That was the first clue in the investigation and the reason why Israel pointed an accusatory finger at the Hamas infrastructure in Hebron,” wrote Shlomi Eldar, a veteran journalist who has covered the Palestinian Authority for the past two decades.

Abu Aysha and Kawasme are known members of the Qawasameh tribe, according to Palestinian security forces. While members of Hebron-based Qawasameh clan identify with Hamas, they have a history of undermining its efforts to end violent conflicts with Israel. In 2003, for instance, the family sent two suicide bombers to blow up a bus in Jerusalem after a tahadiyeh (ceasefire) had been successfully negotiated between Israeli and Palestinian fighters, which was endorsed by Hamas founder Ahmed Yassin.

At the time of writing, a reported 848 Palestinians and 35 Israelis have been killed, including 208 children in Gaza, since July 8 when Israel launched Operation Protective Edge.

A number of Middle East journalists have written articles accusing the Israeli government of politicide—launching Israel into renewed conflict with Hamas in order to sabotage the formation of the unified Palestinian government that it so adamantly opposed. Vanetia Rainey, a Lebanon-based correspondent for The Week, wrote: “Israel must have known that [the] Palestinian Authority would not want to be seen to condone violence and would have to cooperate with the campaign of raids, something Hamas has been sharply critical of, calling it ‘harmful to Palestinian reconciliation’.”

This week, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas backed Hamas’ conditions for a ceasefire.

"The Gaza demands of stopping the aggression and lifting the blockade in all its forms are the demands of the entire Palestinian people and they represent the goal that the Palestinian leadership has dedicated all its power to achieve," he said.

The killing of 15 women and children by the Israel Defense Force at a UN elementary school in Beit Hanoun appears to be unifying Palestinians, but not through a shared interest in diplomacy. Roughly 10,000 protesters in the West Bank marched on Jerusalem Thursday after the school bombing. Two were killed and hundreds injured when the march clashed with Israeli police near the Qalandiya refugee camp. 

On Friday, Hamas called for a third intifada and Abbas called for a “Day of Rage” marked with increased protests. “This is your opportunity,” a Hamas spokesperson said in response to the protests.

If the reported findings of the Israeli Police hold up and Hamas is officially cleared of any wrongdoing in the case of the three kidnapped Israeli teens, Netanyahu and the Israeli government may have to explain why a massive military operation, with an 80 percent rate of civilian casualties, was instigated under a false premise. And if violence in the West Bank continues to spread, the IDF may find itself divided on two fronts.