India condemns beheading of Sikhs, urges strict action

Eye of the Storm II - My Last Page Blog 22/02/2010

India condemns beheading of Sikhs, urges strict action

India on Monday condemned the killing of two Sikhs by Taliban in North-West province of Pakistan and said such "barbaric acts" will take "us back to the medieval times."

Though the minister described these Sikhs as "Indian nationals", the reports from Pakistan have been maintaining that they were locals living in that area.
An estimated 10,000 Sikhs lived in the NWFP and in the tribal belt, particularly Aurakzai Agency, till the Taliban imposed 'jiziya' or religious tax on them last year. Most members of the community then fled to cities across Pakistan.

- It doesn't matter whether he is Indian or Pakistani.

Anoushka case: Court asks cops to expedite forensic report

The chief metropolitan magistrate, Ms Kaveri Baweja, also issued notice to the special cell of the Delhi Police to file its response on the forensic examination report of the seized laptop of accused Junaid Khan by July 30.

Khan, who was accused of sending e-mails to Anoushka demanding $1,22,000 in return for the private photographs obtained after hacking her mail IDs, has been granted bail by the court on November 19.

A senior Home Ministry official had shot off a letter to the Delhi Police on August 8 on a complaint forwarded to him by Pt Ravi Shankar stating his daughter was being harassed and blackmailed on the material stolen from her emails and laptop and being asked huge money in return for the pictures.

EYE OF THE STORM II

We are in this world pitted against each other in the name of religion not because of following Ten Commandments or other tenets handed down by the Prophets and religious fathers. It is precisely by ignoring it, neglecting it, interpreting the principles in a self serving manner and abusing the scriptures, the social unrest has been escalated continuously through the years. When the humanity is moving toward anarchy with more and more speed, doubts about the usefulness of religion to the humanity arises. But, the religious stalwarts are clever. They may come out with a theory stating that the world would have been extinct by now but for the religions! We do believe it!!

All the religious wars, crusades, Jihads, etc. were in the name of religion, but, nothing to do with the principles as enunciated in the scriptures as no religion encouraged violence or religious intolerance. Simply put, they were not fought on religious causes, and it was a question of domination. The religions need not be followed by large number for them to be superior. Compact societies such as Marwadis, Sikhs, Zoroastrians, etc. have their own religion without any friction among themselves or other religions and brought about peace and welfare. Probably more and more religions should have sprouted in the world, as the choices now available are limited considering the diversities in humanity in terms of languages, climates, cultures and so on.

The Smallest Religion in India

The 'Meivazhi' minority religion was established by a Muslim. Lot of followers from other religions joined it. They wear turban like Sikhs. Meivazhi has its own Holy Scriptures that runs over 7 volumes and has its own prayer system and spiritual festivals. Allowing membership regardless of creed, Meivazhi's disciples are thousands of people belonging once to 69 different castes of different religions being united as one family of Meivazhi Religion. The people belong to other religions are neither friendly nor hostile towards this religion, and they pursue their own path without being a nuisance to the society.

Basic Philosophy in Life

Religion or no religion, the basic philosophy in life is, ‘you can’t claim only your belief is right, and, it overrides all other beliefs’. After all, it is ‘belief’. If this principle is respected by all the religions, atheists and agnostics 90% of the problems faced by the world would vanish. Again the religion itself had been founded by an intelligent person with foresight to impose his beliefs on the society, for the orderly growth and development of the society. Another important thing is that one should be willing to make adjustments with the society, if it is realized that the expectations arising out of his beliefs should be restricted for the common good.

This is the real sacrifice.

All religions talk high of sacrifice. The society should not hesitate to restore their position when the restrictions are no longer meaningful. It is a continuous process. What is good to-day may not be good to-morrow. What is applicable to me to-day may be applicable to you to-morrow, for change is the essence of life, and constant review is necessary.

“I want to speak to another man as a ‘Man’ no matter what is his religion. My belief is important to me. But, it need not necessarily be important in social life for a society. I am willing to reduce my expectations to the level accepted by the society or the government.” This should be the guiding principle of a member of any society.

If you want to derive political power out of religion, remember eventually you will fall a prey to it. It is for politicians, not for religious leaders! (for religious leaders it is a profession) That is history.

“Growing and shaving is unnecessary if you detest what the public rejects” – Thirukkural. To put it in simple words, ‘You need not attach too much importance to religion, if you are humane.’

Pottanna