by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
PM Narendra Modi hands over a representational item to Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina as a symbol of India’s gift of 1.2 million COVID vaccine doses. (Image: Twitter/@MEAIndia)
By Haider Abbas
Before the external ramifications of politics on internal politics are to be understood it can be trailed to India’s PM Narendra Modi visit to Janki temple in Nepal on May 11, 2018 while the state assembly polls in Karnataka were underway and Modi through his televised visit campaigned for BJP despite the moral code of conduct in place. The same he did while on his two-days (March 26&27) tour to Bangladesh as he visited Kali temple while West Bengal and Assam blazed through their first phase of assembly elections. No wonder West Bengal CM Mamta Banerjee has sought for the cancellation of Modi’s Visa for indulging in vote-marketing.
It may be known that from quite prior to his proposed visit Bangladesh was on the boil as protests had broken to not to invite Modi for his anti-minorities ( read Muslims) politics in India with particular reference to the controversial CAA and NRC and four people died protesting Modi’s visit. But, Modi modeled himself on the dress code of the founding father of Bangladesh Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rehman i.e. in the traditional black waist-coat and white kurta-pyjamas, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Bangladesh where he gave a posthumous Gandhi Peace Price 2021 to Sheikh Sahab. What however disturbed the applecart is that as Modi spoke Pakistan PM Imran Khan invited Bangladesh PM Sheikh Haseena to Islamabad, according to Geo Tv, which obviously took the Indian establishment by surprise. Therefore, as Modi was busy lambasting Pakistan for its role in 1971 towards which Modi had even gone for a jail too an invitation to Sheikh Haseena from its once bête noir was in the offing. India and Bangladesh signed five MoU’s with nothing worthwhile to the vexed issue of Teesta waters.
It can be anyone guess that Mod’s strategy was to offer trade and sorting out border-issues with Bangladesh with ‘all kinds of perks’ in lieu of Bangladesh distancing itself from China and moving towards US. In fact the same package was the one offered by US to Pakistan to leave China-Pakistan Economic Corridor but for which Pakistan did not relent. Quite understandably Bangladesh does not seem to outweigh China in favour to India while also keeping its relations ‘well’ with Pakistan too, which no doubt is a consternation to New Delhi. It would be therefore be appropriate to mention that in the recent face-off between China and India Bangladesh had chosen not to side with India. Bangladesh is very soon slated to acquire two-submarines from China as well as nuclear power plants from Russia which surely is a message to India to no more consider Bangladesh as an easy walk.
Meanwhile, it is also learnt that while Modi was in Bangladesh the Indian army chief MM Naravane did acknowledge that there has been a de-escalation in the situation between India and China at LAC, yet there are images that China has started to built posts in Sikkim! Perhaps, it is China which is calling the shots as it first ‘lowered the scales’ on the Indian front, and which immediately led to Pakistan army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa calling for ‘peace with India’, prompting Modi to write to Imran Khan on the occasion of Pakistan-Day. May be very soon Modi may be visiting Pakistan too and both the countries might accede to General Musharraf formula and borders between both sides of Kashmir may become irrelevant and the issue of Kashmir may be buried forever.
How Bangladesh wants to capitalize with China instead of just ‘talk’ from India, is the boost Bangladesh is set to get from the 97% Bangladeshi products duty-free-access to China, and no doubt that Bangladesh’s highest imports are from China whereas Bangladesh still lags behind manifolds in terms of exporting goods to China, which is what China wants to improve. Such measures are however yet to find any resonance on the India-Bangladesh front.
Bangladesh is gravitating towards Pakistan at the behest of China and Bangladesh becoming a part of Chinese Belt of Road Initiative is now a foregone reality. Modi therefore chose to use diatribes against Pakistan while in Dhaka and in his address lauded the Indian army officials like Sam Manekshaw, General Arora etc to ridicule Pakistan but today Dhaka seem to steer clear of India vis-à-vis its relations with Islamabad. This is a clear knockout from Pakistan as an invitation to Sheikh Haseena while Modi was loathing Pakistan is sure to have upset the equations which New Delhi wanted to forge with Dhaka at the cost of Islamabad.
What will therefore be the agenda from Pakistan when Sheikh Haseena is to visit Islamabad? China has already set the tempo for it. China will make Bangladesh join Pakistan at Gwadar port, towards which soon Bangladesh will shortly play a cricket match with Pakistan and China would also make Sri Lanka join the fray. May be soon a Pakistan-Bangladesh-Sri Lanka cricket tri-series is on the cards. A cricket match in the international stadium at Gwadar, which is as scenic as a La Newzealand will be a sure spectacle to watch. Gwadar port in the tail-end of CPEC from which Chinese goods are to reach Mediterranean, US and European markets. China is also laying a railway track worth 7.2 billion USD from its Kashgar province to Gwadar.
Bangladesh is now all set to become a part of CPEC and shed its inhibitions with its erstwhile counterpart as the world scenario has rapidly under changed in recent times. Soviet Union which was broken by Pakistan’s help to Afghans is today a friend of Pakistan and India which remained in Soviet Bloc for more than 50 years is in US bloc. How the politics is to groove on international scale is for the time to see but Modi did use Bangladesh to bolster his party campaign in the on-going elections in Assam and West Bengal where there is a sizeable Bengali speaking people who are facing the dread to be deported back, on his purported first foreign visit after the outbreak of the pandemic COVID-19.
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The writer is a former State Information Commissioner, India.
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Opinions
Dr Zafrul Islam Khan
By Zafarul-Islam Khan
No Muslim living today will deny that contemporary Muslims are hated, despised, and considered backward. Exceptions apart, this is the case of Muslims whether living as a majority or minority across the globe. It is not that we are poor or uneducated or because we lack political power. There are 58 countries which claim to be “Islamic” and thus qualify for membership of the Organisation of Islamic Conference. Yet they are unable to face a tiny country, Israel, to thwart one aggression after another against Muslim countries, or to force countries like Myanmar and China not to persecute their Muslim minorities.
The fact is that wealth at the disposal of millions of Muslim individuals, corporates and states today far exceeds what Muslims ever owned during the past fifteen centuries. There is an army of graduate, post-graduate and doctorate-holder Muslims. Yet, as people and communities, Muslims are not respected.
The only reason I can think of is that we have turned our Islam into rituals – our prayers, our fasts, our Haj, our ‘Umrah, our Zakat and sadaqahs have become lifeless rituals. Once outside mosques or on return from Makkah and Madinah, no difference is discerned in our character. Such visits hardly enthuse us to live Islam in our real lives in our homes, offices, workplaces, factories and on the street. We live carefree as if Islam poses no duties and obligations on us and as if there will be no Day of Judgment ever. Our lives hardly differ from those who do not believe in Islam, if not worse.
Turning a vibrant and revolutionary Islam into lifeless rituals is the direct result of our shunning the Qur’an. Today we read the Qur’an or listen to it for thawab (reward in the Hereafter), not as a source of guidance and inspiration, not as a guide in our daily individual or community lives. Even those who know Arabic prefer to listen to famous reciters of the Qur’an in order to enjoy the recital, not as a guide and source of inspiration and admonition. This is why our noble Prophet will complain to Allah on the Day of Judgement: “O my Lord! Truly my people deserted this Qur’ān” (25:30). What a severe indictment of our character – we have deserted the Book which taught us and made us how to be Muslims – a community which submits to Allah. It is the book which lifted the barefoot illiterate Arabs into guides and masters of the world within decades of its first revelation in 610 CE.
Today, we have in our midst, in this country, such wretched people who tell us not to read the Qur’an translation because, they claim, you will get misguided because without certain “sciences” (‘ulum) you cannot understand the Qur’an! How strange! These “sciences” did not exist in the time of the Prophet or the Companions or even during the time of those who succeeded them for the next few centuries. Ordinary Companions of the Prophet understood the Qur’an instantly without these so-called “sciences”. They lived it, propagated it and conquered most of the known world at the time fired by their faith and understanding of this divine message. Any part of “Islam” which was not known to the Prophet, his Companions and the immediately following generations (tabi’un, taba’ tabi’in) is not Islam of Muhammad.
Muslims in the Subcontinent are told today to read and are forced to listen to man-made books which are read out in mosques instead of the Qur’an.
It is a duty of every Muslim to read and understand the Qur’an in Arabic and if he does not know Arabic, he must read the Qur’an’s translation which is available in most languages of the world today. If you receive a letter from a government official, will you start doing its tilawat (reciting) again and again and assume that you have complied with its instructions? If you don’t know the letter’s language, you will rush to someone who knows it. But a majority of Muslims today are exactly doing this: making tilawat of the Quran, without knowing what it says.
Muslims are misguided that merely saying the Kalimah or saying a few prayers or reading certain chapters of the Qur’an will suffice for their Salvation in the Hereafter. If we actually read the Qur’an, we will never make such claims. The Qur’an on every page exhorts us to believe in Allah and do righteous deeds. The two, belief and continuously doing righteous deeds, go hand-in-hand. Many think that without doing any righteous deed they will enter Paradise while Allah says in the Qur’an that mere saying good words is meaningless unless accompanied by good deeds (35:10).
The Qur’an says that Prayer (salat) “restrains from obscenity and abominable deeds” (29:45) but our prayer today fails to make any real impact on our lives or character. The Qur’an says that you should spend “Whatever is in excess of your needs” (2:219) while our majority does not pay even the meagre amounts of Zakat, yet millions of Muslims around the world spend lavishly on social occasions, buy costliest gadgets and compete to make ‘Umrah visits, one after the other, while their fellow Muslims starve in so many parts of the world. We are doing everything to earn Allah’s wrath and yet blame others! The only way for our salvation is to read the Qur’an, in translation if we do not know Arabic, and meticulously follow Allah’s commands in every part of our lives.
According to the Qur’an, this community is the best community raised for mankind. It enjoins good & forbids evil (3:110). This community has not been raised for itself. It has been entrusted with a mission to bear witness to the Truth before humanity. In order to carry out this mission, Muslim individuals and societies must first return to the straight path in their thought and conduct. It is only by living true Islam that they can bear testimony before the world.
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The author, an alumnus of Al-Azhar and Cairo universities with a PhD in Islamic Studies from Manchester University, has been attempting since 2010 at revising Abdullah Yusuf Ali’s English translation of the Holy Qur’an. It has now evolved into a wholly new, most accurate, translation of the holy book in simple and modern language, with new copious footnotes. It may be out before the end of this year.
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business
Internet Image
By Abdul Bari Masoud
New Delhi: In a bid to get the prospective Indian tourist acquainted with Malaysian cuisine, Tourism Malaysia has opened a restaurant at the Select City Walk (mall) in the Saket area of the national capital. The restaurant named as JomJom Malay was launched by Malaysia High Commissioner Dato’ Hidayat Abdul Hamid.
In anticipation of border reopening, Tourism Malaysia is conducting a Malaysian food promotion campaign with JomJom Malay restaurant in the city. In this two-month long campaign, the Tourism department expects that visitors to JomJom Malay can savour delicious Malaysian cuisine favourites such as Murtabak, Satay, Laksa Curry, Roti Canai, TehTarik (Malaysian tea) and much more.
During this period, those who dine at the JomJom Malay restaurant in Delhi can walk away with exciting gifts and souvenirs from Tourism Malaysia.
On the occasion of launch, Malaysian envoy Abdul Hamid said, “as Malaysia prepares to open its borders, this promotion after a prolonged period of uncertainty, will showcase the country’s delectable cuisine as well as spread optimism and increase awareness of Malaysia as an ideal holiday destination. He said this will give prospective tourists something to look forward to after this crisis is over.
Sulaiman Suip, Director of Tourism Malaysia (New Delhi) said, India has always been an important source market for us.
I invite Indian travelers to their ‘future holidays and adventures ’at palm-decorated coastlines, tranquil isles, turquoise ocean waters, white sands, and divine beach resorts of Malaysia, he added.
He also said the early bookings travelers will enjoy early bird discounts from the DMCs and product owners.
Anhad Singh Sethi, owner of JomJom Malay said Malaysia is an exciting place to be, it is a melting-pot of cultures where different races and many ethnic groups live together and this transfigures into their food, offering a diverse menu as well as some very unique blends of their multi-ethnic dishes making the country a gourmet’s paradise and are sure to delight your taste buds.
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Opinions, World
Asad Mirza
Promising the best and most realistic way to advance a new world order, the Global Concert promises peace and prosperity for every human being.
Well, the murmurs were already there in the pre-Covid era that the plans are afoot to change the present global governance and usher in a new world order. But now things have slowly started falling in place. Influential think tanks and world bodies are flush with new insights or analytical interpretation of the so-called new world order, which could usher in a new era of cooperation and economic and social prosperity for all nations, irrespective of their ideological base and past histories.
A recent article published by the influential Washington-based Centre for Foreign Relations (CFR), written by veteran diplomat and CFR’s president, Dr Richard Haass and Charles Kupchan, a senior fellow at CFR and professor of international affairs at Georgetown University in the Walsh School of Foreign Service, argues for a new international setup which will try to undo or overcome the fallacies of the past and instead try to setup a system which hears every voice and caters to the common well being.
In their article, Dr Haass and Kupchan asserts that most of the current world’s problems stems from the fact that the existing international governance architecture, which was framed soon after WW II, is outdated and not up to the task of preserving global stability. They regard the current global setup as too US-centric and term it as a club of democracies, which is poorly suited to fostering cooperation across ideological lines. Terming G-7 and G-20 as mere talk shops and the UNSC as grandstanding and responsible for a paralysis among veto-wielding permanent members, they urge for establishing a new world setup.
The Global Concert
The duo suggests forming a Global Concert (GC) of powers – which will be an informal steering group of the world’s most influential countries, and will be casted in the mould of the nineteenth-century’s Concert of Europe.It was a grouping of Britain, France, Russia, Prussia, and Austria formed in 1815,and successfully preserved peace for a half-century in the absence of a dominant power amid ideological diversity. Emerging after containing the bloody Napoleonic Wars, the grouping relied on a mutual commitment to conduct regular communications and the peaceful resolution of disputes to uphold the territorial settlements.
The blueprint for a new Global Concert,terms it as the best vehicle for managing a world notdominated by the US and the West. The proposed members would be China, the EU, India, Japan, Russia, and the US, giving it a geopolitical clout while protecting it from becoming an unwieldy talking shop, and collectively representing roughly 70% of world GDP and global military spending.
The GC will have a completely different and thin hierarchical system to ensure efficiency and ensure quick response and decision-making. The memberstates would send senior permanent representatives to a standing headquarters in a place determined through mutual agreement. Summits would occur on a regular basis and as needed to address crises. Although they would not be formal members, four regional organisations – the African Union, the Arab League, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and the Organisation of American States – would maintain permanent delegations at the concert’s headquarters. When discussing issues affecting these regions, concert members would invite delegates from these bodies and other relevant countries to join meetings.
The concert would not replace the United Nations but will leave the operational oversight to the UN and other existing bodies. Instead it would be a consultative, not a decision-making body, addressing emerging crises, fashioning new rules of the road, and building support for collective initiatives. It would would thus augment, not supplant, the current international architecture, by sitting atop it to speed up decisions that could then be taken and implemented elsewhere.
A contemporary concert, like its nineteenth-century forbearer, would enable sustained strategic dialogue. It would bring to the table the most influential states, regardless of their regime type, thereby separating ideological differences over domestic governance from matters requiring international cooperation. It would shun formal procedures and codified rules, instead relying on persuasion and compromise to build consensus.
The GC advocates further stress that the GC would also seek to generate collective responses to longer-term challenges, such as combating the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction as well as terrorist networks, promoting global health, forging norms in cyberspace, and combating climate change. As these important matters often fall between institutional cracks which the concert could fill.
The GC votaries further say that establishing a global concert would be no panacea, however. Convening the world’s heavyweights hardly ensures a consensus among them, and success would often mean managing, not eliminating, threats to regional and global order. The proposed steering group would accept both liberal and illiberal governments as legitimate and authoritative, implying abandonment of the West’s longstanding vision of a global order made in its image. And restricting membership to the most important and influential actors would sacrifice representation in favour of efficacy, reinforcing hierarchy and inequity in the international system.
Need for a new world order
The moot paramount question is why a new GC is being mooted now, particularly after the Covid-pandemic. Or in other words,as the conspiracy theorists say, was the pandemic created in order to test the tenacity and resilience and response of the global community to such a threatening scenario, which resulted in deaths of hundred of thousands of human beings. Or was it staged to analyse the response time and also hope of any camaraderie between different nations on an issue afflicting all of them, as the more demanding issue as compared to it but with less apparent results i.e. the Climate Change has been unable to solicit from them due to a hunger for profit and more luxuries?
In addition, the idea does not spell out how territorial issues would be resolved or how sovereignty would be implemented? It gives the member states the right to take unilateral action when they deem their vital interests to be at stake, though it the same breath it says that ideally, sustained strategic dialogue would make unilateral moves less frequent and destabilising.
However, the silver lining for us Indians is that the idea gives us a place at the top table, perhaps for the first time in history, and also due to the P5’s hesitancy to include India at the UNSC. But the move besides adding to India’s prestige would also make it responsible to work for the collective good and retain, nurture and strengthen those values, for which space has been shrinking recently in India.
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Zizi Holdings SdnBhd’s Group Chief Executive Officer Mr Danial Zulkifli
PENANG, MALAYSIA: (Press Release) A new commercial project located in the buffer zone of the George Town UNESCO World Heritage Site at Pengkalan Weld is set to become a bustling arts and culture hub for the inner city.
The Weld Heritage Square, located adjacent to the heritage clan jetties, is spread out over 2.1 acres of land along Lebuhraya Merdeka off Pengkalan Weld.
The project, which is expected to complete by the end of 2021, is jointly developed by Adat Makmur SdnBhd and KoperasiGabungan Negeri Pulau Pinang.
Adat Makmur is a residential and commercial property developer and a subsidiary of Zizi Holdings Sdn Bhd.
Zizi Holdings’ Chief Marketing Officer Ms Zahidah Zeid
This strata-titled project has a Gross Development Value (GDV) of RM160 million and it consists of three and four storeys shop units.
Boasting a design that enhances its rich cultural heritage surroundings, The Weld Heritage Square is set to be a choice location for art galleries, restaurants, boutique hotels, offices and small businesses.
Zizi Holdings SdnBhd’s Group Chief Executive Officer Mr Danial Zulkifli said the commercial centre was designed specifically to meet strict UNESCO World Heritage Site guidelines.
“It is located in the heritage buffer zone so we face the challenge of building a commercial centre that has to adhere to the strict building height limit of below four- storeys,”
“We are committed to complete this project and deliver a Penang experience in a commercial centre,”
“The project was delayed due to various reasons including court cases as there were settlers on this land and also due to my late father Datuk Dr Haji Zulkifli Ismail’s poor health. He was managing the project at that time but unfortunately passed away last year,” he said.
The development company, now under Danial’s leadership, resumed the project recently and the project is now nearing completion.
The Weld Heritage Square is designed with generous parking space and large driveways. In between two rows of the shop units, an open space is set aside specifically to host cultural activities and street bazaars. The spacious open space is decorated with colourful murals depicting the lifestyle of the clan jetties and its surrounding areas.
The Weld Heritage Square
“We want this space to become an arts and cultural hub and the open space is perfect for art events and festivals,” Danial said.
He said the proposed Penang Art District development is located nearby so The Weld Heritage Square will be able to complement and cultivate a new art scene in the area.
Zizi Holdings’ Chief Marketing Officer Ms Zahidah Zeid said the commercial centre will add colour and more activities to the busy area.
“We want this area to become an arts and cultural commercial area and we hope to attract other local businesses as well,” she said.
“We look forward to filling this place with activities and to attract businesses from all sectors to be based here to serve the local residents and at the same time, serve as a landmark for tourists who are visiting the heritage clan jetties,” she added.
Raine & Horne International Zaki + Partners SdnBhd Senior Partner Sr. Michael Geh said the team behind the project is very committed in completing the project.
“I believe this place, which is near the clan jetties and the Hean Boo Thean Guan Yin Temple, is a unique development and it can become a tourism hub and stimulate economic activities,” he said.
He noted that the area recorded high foot traffic as visitors and tourists would walk along the road to head towards the clan jetties and the Hean Boo Thean Guan Yin Temple, a temple jutting out in the sea.
He said the project will do well as a location for existing businesses in the area looking for new shop units.
Raine & Horne International Zaki + Partners SdnBhd is the …marketing agent for the project.
The soft launch of The Weld Heritage Square today (March 27) was graced by Pengkalan Kota State Assemblyman YB Daniel Gooi.
In his speech, YB Daniel said the development project will contribute greatly towards the local economy, as well as to support the state of Penang in its journey towards the recovery process post-pandemic.
“Situated at a strategic location, The Weld Heritage Square will serve as an important landmark linking the UNESCO World Heritage site, especially with its close vicinity to the world famous Clan Jetties area and the greater George Town area,” he said.
“With the upcoming infrastructure and transportation development planning, including the Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP) as well as the Bayan Lepas Light Rail Transit (LRT) that will be linking KOMTAR all the way towards the Penang South Island, I am convinced that all these will contribute significantly towards the overall rejuvenation of George Town as the state capital, as well as enhanced value to the city that we love,” he added.
The Weld Heritage Square is now at its final stages of completion and is expected to obtain its Certificate of Completion and Compliance (CCC) in the first half of 2022.
