धर्मनिरपेक्षता
November 24, 2016
Image Courtesy: BBC
After 1,322 days in arbitrary detention, journalist Mr. Mahmudur Rahman has been finally released on bail late on Wednesday afternoon (November 23). The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (FIDH-OMCT) have welcomed his long-overdue release, and urge authorities to drop all pending charges against him.
Acting editor of the Daily Amar Desh, a...
November 21, 2016
Faraaz Ayaaz Hossain has been honoured with the Mother Teresa Memorial International Award for Social Justice 2016 on Sunday by Harmony Foundation at JW Marriott, Sahar, Mumbai.
Faraaz was recognised by the foundation for his heroic end during the Holey Artisan attack on July 1 this year– when he refused to leave his friends behind and was slain along with them by...
November 20, 2016
My religion is nobody else’s business, says CJI Thakur
PTI Reports:
The relationship between man and God is “very personal” and should be “nobody else’s business”, Chief Justice of India T S Thakur said today as he stressed on tolerance for peace in society.
More lives have been lost in religious wars than due to political ideologies,...
November 16, 2016
A revaluation of our institutions is in order
Photo Credit: Rajib Dhar/Dhaka Tribune
Let’s give it to the urban elite: We have yet again survived another crisis without having to resort to a much needed debate on democratic norms and institutions.
Some houses and temples have again been burned. People have again been victimised. It’s not a very surprising routine,...
November 16, 2016
Muslims in India should speak out against any act of violence on Hindus committed by members of the majority population in Islamic countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said on Tuesday.
He was a addressing a gathering in New Delhi at a seminar on — Role of Muslim Youth in Strengthening Democracy — organised by National Tricolour Association of...
November 14, 2016
The Jumm’ah (Friday prayer) gathering on November 11th was unusually quiet and everyone seemed to be deeply reflective. Unusually so. Even those who are usually chatty seemed quieter than normal. Given that we don’t have a mosque in the area where I live, we meet in a hotel room to pray, every Friday. The Imam there pointed out, like others throughout the country have, that there is...
November 12, 2016
Last week Iranian-born secularist and human rights activist, commentator, broadcaster and spokesperson for Iran Solidarity, One Law for All and the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain, Maryam Namazie received the prestigious Prix International de la Laïcité 2016 award in Paris from French Prime Minister Manuel Valls. We reproduce below the transcript of her acceptance speech....
November 12, 2016
The targeting of minorities by Islamists anywhere in the Muslim world must be denounced by religious and political leaders in our country
Image: Star/ Focus Bangla
Hundreds of people ransacked temples and vandalized homes of the Hindu minority in the Brahmanbairs district of eastern Bangladesh. Over 100 Hindu homes and 17 temples were vandalised and looted since October 30 in...
November 12, 2016
There is no one uniform tradition of Sufism, a fact that is little known today.
Image: Reuters
Sprouting from the concrete floor of a madrassa is the bark of the ancient Karir tree that has remained rooted to this spot as the world around it changed. The shade of this tree was the madrassa itself when Baba Farid Shakarganj, head of the Sufi tradition of Chistiya, moved here – a...
November 11, 2016
Today, November 11 is the 128th Birth Anniversary of Maulana Azad. In 1992 he was posthumously awarded India's highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna. He was 70 years when he passed away on February 22, 1958.
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was twice elected President of the Indian National Congress, in 1923 and again in 1940. This excerpt from his historic address made at...