Date: Thursday 2 February 2006
Subj: Nigeria: The central government fiddles while the north burns.
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.
For decades after independence Nigeria was ruled by a succession of military dictators who were predominantly northern Muslims. In 1998 the death of dictator General Sani Abacha paved the way for democracy to be restored, and in February 1999 Olusegun Obasanjo was democratically elected President of Nigeria after winning 63 percent of the vote.
However, the election of the southern Christian inflamed many northern Muslim elites and former power-brokers. To regain their status, power and influence, northern governors exploited the poverty, hardship and ignorance of their constituents and re-invented themselves as religious reformers raising Islam and Sharia (Islamic Law) as banners of hope. (Note: these same "religious reformers" had not been concerned about Islam or Sharia while Nigeria was ruled by northern Muslims.) All across predominantly Muslim northern Nigeria, the flames of Islamic zeal were fanned. In the northern states of Kano and Kwara, moves were made to relocate and raze churches, while Zamfara, led by governor Alhaji Ahmad Sani, declared itself to be an Islamic state. In January 2000, Zamfara became the first Nigerian state to officially implement Sharia Law.
President Obasanjo and Nigeria's attorney general declared the implementation of Sharia Law "unconstitutional and illegal". But that did not prevent other norther states following in Zamfara's footsteps. The central (religious fault-line) belt of Nigeria tore apart as riots and conflicts erupted over Sharia and claimed thousands of lives. By August 2000, eight northern states had defied Nigeria's secular Constitution and implemented Sharia Law.
Today, in what is essentially a defiant act of secession, Nigeria's 12 northern states are all under Sharia. What's worse, the Sharia states are able to exploit and abuse their citizens and deny them their constitutional rights, without consequence, as the central government timidly acquiesces, surrendering religious liberty and Christian security in exchange for peace with northern Muslim elites.
Nigeria's central government needs to move decisively to protect the lives and restore the constitutional rights of Christians in the north, and bring the northern Muslim masses on side so that justice, equity and national unity can be restored with minimal bloodshed.
The following posting is a Compass Direct Flash News written by Obed Minchakpu in Nigeria. It is an excellent article and I am forwarding it in full. Minchakpu details some of the severe persecution faced by Christians in the northern state of Zamfara, including the systematic discrimination against them, the systematic demolition of their churches, and the suffering they caused by the imposition of Sharia Law which is enforced by the state's Hisbah Commission. This includes a moving testimony from one Christian convert from Islam.
Elizabeth Kendal
rl-research@crossnet.org.au
------------------------------------------------------
FLASH NEWS from COMPASS DIRECT
Global News from the Frontlines
Summary:
GUSAU, Nigeria, January 31 (Compass) – On October 10, 2003, the local Bakura town government gave notice to the pastor of St. Peter's Anglican Church in Zamfara state that his church would be demolished the following day. That marked the beginning of an assault by Islamic fundamentalists in Zamfara under the leadership of Gov. Alhaji Ahmed Sani through imposition of sharia (Islamic law). At present 14 churches have been marked for demolition in Gusau town alone. "We have been served with demolition notices and even then, there have been announcements over the radio and television on the churches to be demolished," said Rev. James Obi, secretary of the Zamfara chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria. "It is just a matter of time, and these churches will be no more."
**********
Nigerian Churches Marked for Demolition in Zamfara State
Draconian decrees – including killing "infidels" – come with sharia.
by Obed Minchakpu
GUSAU, Nigeria, January 31 (Compass) – "For your information, the state Governor, Alhaji Ahmed Sani, has ordered that your church should be demolished before his arrival in this town tomorrow. So, we shall carry out this directive tomorrow morning."
On October 10, 2003, the Rev. Seth Saleh, then pastor of St. Peter's Anglican Church in Bakura town in Zamfara state, received a Bakura town councilor as an unexpected guest in his house with the above message. The following day, the local government demolished St. Peter's Anglican Church.
The demolition of that church in Bakura marked the beginning of an assault by Islamic fundamentalists in Zamfara under the leadership of Gov. Sani through imposition of sharia (Islamic law). In Gusau town alone, 14 churches have been marked out for demolition.
Those 14 churches have already received demolition notices, according to Rev. James Obi, pastor of Channel of Blessings Church and secretary of the Zamfara state chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria. They include Eternal Life Bible Church, Christian Faith Bible Church, Chapel of Grace, Christian Evangelical Fellowship of Nigeria, National Evangelical Mission, Assemblies of God Church, Channel of Blessings and Living Faith Church.
Other Zamfara state churches earmarked for demolition are the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Christ Embassy, Church of Christ in Nigeria, Mountain of Fire and Miracles Church, Colgate Church and Deeper Life Bible Church.
The government demolished Rev. Obi's Channel of Blessings church in 1997, and it has marked his rebuilt church for destruction as well.
"We have been served with demolition notices and even then, there have been announcements over the radio and television on the churches to be demolished," Rev. Obi lamented. "It is just a matter of time, and these churches will be no more."
Champion of Jihad
John Garba Danbinta, Anglican bishop of Gusau, said the demolition of St. Peter's Anglican Church in Bakura came on Gov. Sani's orders.
"The governor is from Bakura, and because he is the champion of Islamic jihad in Nigeria, he felt it will be unwise for a church to be seen in his hometown," Bishop Dabinta said.
The bishop pointed out these arbitrary demolitions to refute those in Nigeria who declare Christians face no opposition from the state.
"The news outside Zamfara state is that everything is okay with Christians here," he said. "Some claim that the governor is good and treating Christians well, that Christians do not have problems – but this is false. The problem of persecution of Christians here is a reality. It is a major problem facing us today in Zamfara state."
St. Peter's Rev. Saleh, now pastor at St. John's Anglican Church in Kaura Namoda, recalled how officials often had promised that sharia would only be applied to Muslims. Sharia had long been in effect in civil matters, as in all of Nigeria, but its imposition in criminal matters in 12 northern states has thrown the country into a constitutional crisis.
"When sharia was introduced by the government of Zamfara state, we were told that it is meant to guide Muslims in their faith and that it has nothing to do with us Christians," Rev. Saleh said. "Surprisingly, sharia is now a weapon being used against the church in Zamfara state."
Killing Infidels
Sharia as a weapon has been particularly sharp on Kabiru Lawal, a former Muslim who four months ago received Christ. The Hisbah Commission, Zamfara state's agency for the enforcement of the sharia, is gunning for his life.
In late December and early January, agents of Hisbah invaded the Lawal family's house three times looking for the 29-year-old man. Agents told family members that whenever Lawal is found, he should be prepared to pay the supreme price of abandoning Islam – death.
Each time the Hisbah arrived, Lawal was at the Federal Medical Centre in Gusau town due to illness.
He is now in hiding, no longer free to walk the streets of Gusau. His father, Mallam Lawal, comes from a family of Islamic clerics.
In 2002, Lawal read in the Quran about the second coming of Jesus into the world. Lawal, who holds a diploma in business administration from Kaduna Polytechnic in northern Nigeria, said his decision to investigate the life of Christ was informed by his desire to know whether "Jesus was coming as a Muslim or a Christian."
Tunde Adebayo, a relative, gave Lawal a pocket size New Testament in 2003, which he hungrily read.
Lawal said the Holy Spirit revealed to him that Jesus is coming back not as a Muslim, as Muslims believe, but to take those Christians who believe in Him. He began to attend church services. Last September 3, he went to the Evangelical Church of West Africa (ECWA) church in Gusau town and asked to receive Christ into his life.
"The Bible clearly presented who Jesus Christ is and provided answers as to why he will be coming back into the world," Lawal said. "The Spirit told me that unless I receive Christ into my heart, I will perish with other Muslims because they do not know the true God."
His family stiffly opposes his conversion, but Lawal said there is no returning to Islam.
"Nothing on earth will make me turn away from Christ," he said, "not even if I will be slaughtered like a ram."
Draconian Decrees
Since the introduction of the sharia in January 2000, Zamfara authorities have banned Christians from sharing their faith or building churches, said Anglican Bishop Danbinta.
Officials are keeping Christians from building churches, he said, by making it impossible for them to acquire land. "We cannot get land, because there is a deliberate government policy to deny Christians land to build churches," Bishop Danbinta said.
There are about 4,000 Anglicans in Zamfara, yet Bishop Danbinta said that in almost all parts of the state the government has refused to allow the church land to build places of worship.
"Sharia, it would seem, is being implemented to curtail Christianity, since it is only targeted at Christians," he said.
70 Mosques, 0 Churches
The Rev. Barnabas Sabo, pastor of the ECWA church in Gusau town, concurred that local governments are using sharia to deny churches land.
Towns denied lands for building churches include Mada, from which Rev. Sabo's church members have to trek more than 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) to Talata Mafara to attend worship services.
Other towns and villages where the ECWA church has been denied land are Kasuwa Daji, Dansadau, Tsibiri in Talata Mafara, and in the Bakura area.
"Gov. Sani, in six years of introducing sharia in the state, has used public funds to build well over 70 mosques," Rev. Sabo said. "Yet no single church has been built by this same government. How fair is this?"
Apart from denial of lands to churches in Zamfara state, Christians have encountered difficulties in other sectors, such as education, where discriminatory school fees have been forced on Christian students and pupils, and there is no teaching of what is known in Nigerian schools as Christian Religious Knowledge.
There is no employment for Christians in the public service, and a ban has been placed on Christian radio and television programs.
The imposition of sharia in criminal matters in 12 northern states has resulted in numerous conflicts bringing death to thousands of persons, most of them Christians.
"If there is anything anybody can do to hurt me, it is for such a person to stop me from serving God the way I want and to stop me from sharing my faith," Bishop Danbinta said. "This is precisely what we as Christians are experiencing in Zamfara state."
END
**********
Copyright 2006 Compass Direct
Compass Direct Flash News is distributed as available to raise awareness of Christians worldwide who are persecuted for their faith. Articles may be reprinted by active subscribers only.
For subscription information, contact:
Compass Direct
P.O. Box 27250
Santa Ana CA 92799-7250
USA
TEL: 949-862-0304
E-mail: info@compassdirect.org
www.compassdirect.org
Thursday, February 2, 2006
Thursday, January 26, 2006
India: The dictators of Hindutva aim for 'death blow' in Dangs
Date: Thursday 26 January 2006
Subj: India: The dictators of Hindutva aim for 'death blow' in Dangs
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.
Before entering into the details of what is about to take place in Dangs district, southern Gujarat, India, I will clearly define the main terms for the benefit of those not totally familiar with Indian religio-politics. I will also outline the socio-economic and religious situation in Dangs.
The "Citizen's Inquiry Committee" (CIC) report mentioned and used as a primary source throughout this posting is entitled, "The Untold Story of Hindukaran (Proselytisation) of Adivasis (Tribals) in Dangs, Gujarat". It was published on 8 January 2006 in the Milli
Gazette.
DEFINITIONS
OUTLINE OF DANGS
Dangs district is in southern Gujarat. Gujarat, northwest India, is a BJP stronghold.
Dangs has more than 90% rich forest cover.
While the Christian population of Gujarat is 0.05%, the Christian population of Dangs is around 5%. The total population of Dangs is 186,000; of whom around 8,000 are Christian. Ninety-two percent of Dangs residents are tribal (main tribes: Bhils, Kokanis, Warlis).
The CIC report comments, "The post-1947 political economy of Dangs presents a typical case of utter neglect, dispossession and non-development. Over the last fifty years the Dangi Adivasis have been systematically deprived of their traditional rights over forestland, forest and forest resources and left to fend for themselves. Neither agriculture nor industry has been developed as a source of secure employment and income. Wages and working conditions are strongly exploitative. The social sectors such as health and education are in a state of utter neglect and disarray."
The CIC report explains how Dangi Adivasis aiming to reclaim their traditional rights and freedoms are being driven to take recourse through resistance and struggle. The state is keen to scuttle this, and is doubtless willing to divide the Dangi Adivasis, polarise them along religious lines and set them against each other. The report describes the Sangh Parivar as having tentacles in every nook and corner of Dangs for the purpose of suppressing religious liberty and diverting Dangi Adivasi anger into Hindutva zeal and sectarian conflict.
----------------------------------------------------------------
THE DICTATORS OF HINDUTVA AIM FOR "A DEATH BLOW" IN DANGS
----------------------------------------------------------------
The Sangh Parivar is moving its game to a whole new level. Having lost power in the centre, the dictators of Hindutva are sparing no effort to re-energise and advance Hindutva through an aggressive campaign to co-opt the tribals as BJP voters and VKP Hindutva militants.
Sangh Parivar strategy includes eradicating obstacles to Hindutva; the main obstacle being Christians who serve, empower and liberate India's impoverished, enslaved, sub-caste tribals. The Sangh is creating a whole new localised mythology and tradition with which to deceive, seduce, pressurise and Hinduise the tribals. If successful in Dangs, this strategy could be repeated all across the tribal belt of India.
Once again we are witnessing a battle between openness through liberty and literacy versus religious dictators who seek to enslave through false histories, lies, deceit, persecution, repression and the removal of liberty. The dictators of Hindutva, just like all religious dictators, are doing this not for the good of the people, but in an effort to shore up their own power and prosperity.
HINDUISING ANIMISM
In the 7th Century, Mohammad won the allegiance of the pagan Arabs of Mecca primarily by letting them keep the pre-Islamic pagan practices that sustained their economy and formed their tradition. Thus he redefined as Islamic and absorbed, the crescent moon, the kahba, the month of fasting, the pilgrimage to Mecca, and more into his religion of Islam, making it easier for the Arabs to accept.
A very similar process is gradually and quietly underway throughout the tribal belt of India. One of the main strategies used by the Sangh Parivar to win the allegiance of the tribals is the campaign to convince them that they are actually Hindus who are just practising local and maybe corrupted expressions of mainstream Hindu traditions. Slowly the animist practices are redefined as Hindu, given Hindu names, and gently refined to suit Brahmin sensitivities.
Part of this campaign is the renaming of the Adivasis (first inhabitants) as Vanvasis (forest dwellers). Upon this foundation the proponents of Hindutva then claim that the tribals and the
Indo-Aryans are all one people (there is no indigenous population and no Indo-Aryan invasion) and the "Vanvasis" are really historically Hindu. They use this lie as a basis to "re-convert", absorb, communalise and exploit the Adivasis.
CREATING NEW MYTHOLOGY
When the BJP first wanted to create sectarian tensions for the purpose of promoting Hindutva for electoral gains, they laid claim to the 16th Century Babri Mosque in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh. The Sangh Parivar alleged that the historic mosque was actually the very site where Ram, the main god of the high caste Brahmin, was born! In 1991 the BJP promised to demolish the historic mosque and replace it with a temple to Ram.
On 6 December 1992, after a year of communal sectarian tensions, the RSS led the demolition of the Babri Mosque in a violent rampage that cost many hundreds of lives. Following the destruction of the mosque, the BJP swept to power in the northern states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh on the strength of its Hindutva campaign.
A reverse, but similar process is being undertaken in Dangs, where the Sangh has recently declared that the goddess Shabri, a devotee of Ram, was a Bhil tribal who lived in Dangs and even met Ram there on the hill Chamak Dongar. According to the myth, Shabri washed Ram's feet and fed him berries (tasting them for him first, lest they be bitter). Shabri, a tribal woman who allegedly served and adored Ram, is being held up as the goddess and role model for the "Vanvasis".
In 2004 the Sangh built a huge temple at the alleged site of Shabri's meeting with Ram. A Dangi local was forced to "donate" more than 10 acres to the Assemanand and Kumbh Trust for the Temple site. The hot springs at Uni are now being said to have been created by Ram. A pond has been built on the Purna River at what is allegedly the very place where Shabri's guru used to bathe. The site is being developed to accommodate the 500,000 pilgrims (religious tourists) who will soon invade this densely forested, sparsely populated, environmentally sensitive area for a holy dip during the Sangh's Shabri Kumbh Mela. Protected forest is being felled and forty temporary villages (holding 5,000 people each) are being built. (Remember: the total population of Dangs is normally only 186,000.)
SHABRI KUMBH MELA
The Shabri Kumbh Mela will be held in Dangs from 11-13 February. This is not a traditional Kumbh Mela. It is the recent invention of Hindutva forces. It is a new tradition, built upon a new mythology created for the purpose of Hinduising the Dangi Adivasis. The main aims of this pseudo-Kumbh are:
A central slogan of the Sangh's message is, "Hindu Jago, Christio Bhagao" (Arise Hindus, throw out the Christians). According to the recent CIC report, "The intense hate propaganda against Christians has started resulting in the intimidation of [the] Christian community as a whole. We could see the fear writ on the face of most of the Christians we met."
Augustine Rajwade, a fourth generation Christian told the Citizens' Inquiry Committee that Christian missionaries have been working in this area from 1885. He said that some tribals become Christians because they are impressed by the spirit of service of the missionaries. In some cases one family member will become Christian and the others follow later. He said that the government does nothing to help the Dangis struggle to deal with sickness and death, while the service and prayer healing of some missionaries often works and relieves, leading to conversion. He said his elder brother converted through healing.
The CIC report notes that even though Christian missionaries had been active in Dangs for over a century, sectarian tensions did not rise against them until 1998. It was BJP power in north India, followed by the BJP gaining power in the centre in 1998 that gave the Sangh Parivar great power and freedom to propagate its Hindutva ideology and strategies. After losing power in the centre in 2004 the Sangh is striving to convert as many tribals as possible to its Hindutva version of Hinduism, thus creating votes and militant muscle against its "enemies" (those who threaten its power).
The CIC report says that the Sangh has prepared highly professional materials, including CDs, that propagate an ideology of feverish anti-Christian hate. Christianity is described as foreign and dangerous, a threat that must be destroyed in the same way that Ram killed the demon Ravana.
As the CIC report makes clear, "The core issue is that of Adivasi empowerment. Adivasi land has been as such grabbed by outsiders. The education process run by Christian missionaries is a threat to the designs of upper caste/ upper class. So Christian missions need to be thrown out from these areas."
The leading Hindutva ideologue behind the Shabri Kumbh Mela is Hindutva activist and VKP hard-liner Swami Aseemanand. According to the CIC report he maintains that the Shabri Kumbh Mela will be held every four years and will "...end missionary activity in Dangs and establish it as a key pilgrimage centre of India". This is the same Swami Aseemanand who a few years ago was quoted in the Times of India as saying, "Dangs cannot know peace so long as even a single tribal remains Christian." (11 Feb 1999, see link below)
The forthcoming Shabri Kumbh Mela is being prepared with the full knowledge, cooperation and assistance of the BJP state government of Gujarat, using funds meant for humanitarian development.
Christian leaders are greatly concerned that the Shabri Kumbh Mela will trigger wide-scale anti-Christian violence. According to the All India Christian Council, the BJP government in Gujarat has been busy fixing flags to the homes of Dangi Christians so they will be identified. Indeed, the CIC report warns, "The openly partisan support of the state government for the dangerous sectarian objectives of the Sangh needs to be combated, and the safety of minorities secured, else the tribal regions of India, already dispossessed and pauperised, will flow with the blood of sectarian hatred."
- Elizabeth Kendal
-----------------------------------
IMPORTANT WEBSITE
-----------------------------------
The Shabri Kumbh Mela official website specifically states that the Shabri Kumbh Mela is "...for the defense of Hindu society in general and the vanavasi/tribal Hindus in particular... The sustained conversion activities carried out by Christian missionaries with the help of their foreign masters has altered the religious demography of large parts of our country. The tribal areas of our country are a special target of this missionary offensive. This has caused self-alienation among the tribals and fanned separatist and terrorist activities. The Shabarikumbh has been organized to deal a death blow to such anti-dharmic and anti-national activities..."
---------------------------------
IMPORTANT ARTICLES
---------------------------------
Times of India
Dangs Violence is A Story Foretold
by Arun Varghese, 11 Feb 1999
http://www.media-watch.org/articles/0299/182.html
NGOs accuse Sangh, Gujarat Govt. of converting Christian tribals in
Dangs. 11 Jan 2006 http://in.christiantoday.com/news/gen_631.htm
Rightwing Hindu militants target Christian aborigines
By Sankar Ray from Kolkata. 11 Jan 2006
http://www.asiantribune.com/show_news.php?id=16704
Hindu festival in Dangs region may stoke communal violence, fears
AICC. 12 Jan 2006 http://in.christiantoday.com/news/gen_633.htm
CSW's All Indian Christian Council Meets With Government to Prevent
Attacks. 21 January 2006
http://www.christiantoday.com/news/missions/csws.all.indian.christian.council.meets.with.government.to.prevent.attacks./592.htm
A Report by the Citizen's Inquiry Committee
"The Untold Story of Hindukaran (Proselytisation) of Adivasis
(Tribals) in Dangs, Gujarat". 8 January 2006
http://www.milligazette.com/dailyupdate/2006/20060108-Hindutva.htm
Subj: India: The dictators of Hindutva aim for 'death blow' in Dangs
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.
Before entering into the details of what is about to take place in Dangs district, southern Gujarat, India, I will clearly define the main terms for the benefit of those not totally familiar with Indian religio-politics. I will also outline the socio-economic and religious situation in Dangs.
The "Citizen's Inquiry Committee" (CIC) report mentioned and used as a primary source throughout this posting is entitled, "The Untold Story of Hindukaran (Proselytisation) of Adivasis (Tribals) in Dangs, Gujarat". It was published on 8 January 2006 in the Milli
Gazette.
DEFINITIONS
- Hindutva: the ideology of Hindu supremacy which has as its goal the creation of a Hindu nation.
- Sangh Parivar: the umbrella body dedicated to the advancement of Hindutva.
- RSS: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (National Volunteer Corps), the Sangh's paramilitary force.
- Bajrang Dal: the Sangh's ultra-violent Hindutva youth militia.
- VHP: Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council), the "cultural arm of the Sangh Parivar, committed to advancing Hinduism through"cultural" means.
- BJP: The Barantya Janata Party, the political wing of the Sangh Parivar.
- Adivasis: (literally: first inhabitants), the indigenous tribal people of India. Because Adivasis are considered to be outside/beneath the Hindu caste system they are massively and systematically discriminated against and exploited by Hindu Indo-Aryan society.
- Vanvasis: (literally: forest dwellers) the Sangh's hinduised name for Adivasis, whom the Sangh does not recognise as indigenous.
- VKP: Vanvasi Kalyan Parishad, an offshoot of the RSS comprising hinduised tribals.
- Kumbh Mela: a traditional Hindu pilgrimage/festival that takes place four times every twelve years and rotates across four set venues – Prayag (Uttar Pradesh), Haridwar (Uttar Pradesh), Ujjain (Madhya Pradesh) and Nasik (Maharashtra).
OUTLINE OF DANGS
Dangs district is in southern Gujarat. Gujarat, northwest India, is a BJP stronghold.
Dangs has more than 90% rich forest cover.
While the Christian population of Gujarat is 0.05%, the Christian population of Dangs is around 5%. The total population of Dangs is 186,000; of whom around 8,000 are Christian. Ninety-two percent of Dangs residents are tribal (main tribes: Bhils, Kokanis, Warlis).
The CIC report comments, "The post-1947 political economy of Dangs presents a typical case of utter neglect, dispossession and non-development. Over the last fifty years the Dangi Adivasis have been systematically deprived of their traditional rights over forestland, forest and forest resources and left to fend for themselves. Neither agriculture nor industry has been developed as a source of secure employment and income. Wages and working conditions are strongly exploitative. The social sectors such as health and education are in a state of utter neglect and disarray."
The CIC report explains how Dangi Adivasis aiming to reclaim their traditional rights and freedoms are being driven to take recourse through resistance and struggle. The state is keen to scuttle this, and is doubtless willing to divide the Dangi Adivasis, polarise them along religious lines and set them against each other. The report describes the Sangh Parivar as having tentacles in every nook and corner of Dangs for the purpose of suppressing religious liberty and diverting Dangi Adivasi anger into Hindutva zeal and sectarian conflict.
----------------------------------------------------------------
THE DICTATORS OF HINDUTVA AIM FOR "A DEATH BLOW" IN DANGS
----------------------------------------------------------------
The Sangh Parivar is moving its game to a whole new level. Having lost power in the centre, the dictators of Hindutva are sparing no effort to re-energise and advance Hindutva through an aggressive campaign to co-opt the tribals as BJP voters and VKP Hindutva militants.
Sangh Parivar strategy includes eradicating obstacles to Hindutva; the main obstacle being Christians who serve, empower and liberate India's impoverished, enslaved, sub-caste tribals. The Sangh is creating a whole new localised mythology and tradition with which to deceive, seduce, pressurise and Hinduise the tribals. If successful in Dangs, this strategy could be repeated all across the tribal belt of India.
Once again we are witnessing a battle between openness through liberty and literacy versus religious dictators who seek to enslave through false histories, lies, deceit, persecution, repression and the removal of liberty. The dictators of Hindutva, just like all religious dictators, are doing this not for the good of the people, but in an effort to shore up their own power and prosperity.
HINDUISING ANIMISM
In the 7th Century, Mohammad won the allegiance of the pagan Arabs of Mecca primarily by letting them keep the pre-Islamic pagan practices that sustained their economy and formed their tradition. Thus he redefined as Islamic and absorbed, the crescent moon, the kahba, the month of fasting, the pilgrimage to Mecca, and more into his religion of Islam, making it easier for the Arabs to accept.
A very similar process is gradually and quietly underway throughout the tribal belt of India. One of the main strategies used by the Sangh Parivar to win the allegiance of the tribals is the campaign to convince them that they are actually Hindus who are just practising local and maybe corrupted expressions of mainstream Hindu traditions. Slowly the animist practices are redefined as Hindu, given Hindu names, and gently refined to suit Brahmin sensitivities.
Part of this campaign is the renaming of the Adivasis (first inhabitants) as Vanvasis (forest dwellers). Upon this foundation the proponents of Hindutva then claim that the tribals and the
Indo-Aryans are all one people (there is no indigenous population and no Indo-Aryan invasion) and the "Vanvasis" are really historically Hindu. They use this lie as a basis to "re-convert", absorb, communalise and exploit the Adivasis.
CREATING NEW MYTHOLOGY
When the BJP first wanted to create sectarian tensions for the purpose of promoting Hindutva for electoral gains, they laid claim to the 16th Century Babri Mosque in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh. The Sangh Parivar alleged that the historic mosque was actually the very site where Ram, the main god of the high caste Brahmin, was born! In 1991 the BJP promised to demolish the historic mosque and replace it with a temple to Ram.
On 6 December 1992, after a year of communal sectarian tensions, the RSS led the demolition of the Babri Mosque in a violent rampage that cost many hundreds of lives. Following the destruction of the mosque, the BJP swept to power in the northern states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh on the strength of its Hindutva campaign.
A reverse, but similar process is being undertaken in Dangs, where the Sangh has recently declared that the goddess Shabri, a devotee of Ram, was a Bhil tribal who lived in Dangs and even met Ram there on the hill Chamak Dongar. According to the myth, Shabri washed Ram's feet and fed him berries (tasting them for him first, lest they be bitter). Shabri, a tribal woman who allegedly served and adored Ram, is being held up as the goddess and role model for the "Vanvasis".
In 2004 the Sangh built a huge temple at the alleged site of Shabri's meeting with Ram. A Dangi local was forced to "donate" more than 10 acres to the Assemanand and Kumbh Trust for the Temple site. The hot springs at Uni are now being said to have been created by Ram. A pond has been built on the Purna River at what is allegedly the very place where Shabri's guru used to bathe. The site is being developed to accommodate the 500,000 pilgrims (religious tourists) who will soon invade this densely forested, sparsely populated, environmentally sensitive area for a holy dip during the Sangh's Shabri Kumbh Mela. Protected forest is being felled and forty temporary villages (holding 5,000 people each) are being built. (Remember: the total population of Dangs is normally only 186,000.)
SHABRI KUMBH MELA
The Shabri Kumbh Mela will be held in Dangs from 11-13 February. This is not a traditional Kumbh Mela. It is the recent invention of Hindutva forces. It is a new tradition, built upon a new mythology created for the purpose of Hinduising the Dangi Adivasis. The main aims of this pseudo-Kumbh are:
- to bring the tribals into the "mainstream" (ie. Hinduise and communalise them) for the purpose of increasing electoral gains and militant strength;
- to stir up hatred against Christians whose welfare and education ministries threaten the Sangh's ability to enslave the tribals into the future. In fact the Shabri Kumbh Mela official website declares that the event is designed specifically to "...deal a death blow to such anti-dharmic and anti-national activities" as Christian missions (see link below);
- to shatter Adivasi solidarity (and maybe even reduce the Adivasi population) by polarising the Adivasis along religious lines and setting them against each other.
A central slogan of the Sangh's message is, "Hindu Jago, Christio Bhagao" (Arise Hindus, throw out the Christians). According to the recent CIC report, "The intense hate propaganda against Christians has started resulting in the intimidation of [the] Christian community as a whole. We could see the fear writ on the face of most of the Christians we met."
Augustine Rajwade, a fourth generation Christian told the Citizens' Inquiry Committee that Christian missionaries have been working in this area from 1885. He said that some tribals become Christians because they are impressed by the spirit of service of the missionaries. In some cases one family member will become Christian and the others follow later. He said that the government does nothing to help the Dangis struggle to deal with sickness and death, while the service and prayer healing of some missionaries often works and relieves, leading to conversion. He said his elder brother converted through healing.
The CIC report notes that even though Christian missionaries had been active in Dangs for over a century, sectarian tensions did not rise against them until 1998. It was BJP power in north India, followed by the BJP gaining power in the centre in 1998 that gave the Sangh Parivar great power and freedom to propagate its Hindutva ideology and strategies. After losing power in the centre in 2004 the Sangh is striving to convert as many tribals as possible to its Hindutva version of Hinduism, thus creating votes and militant muscle against its "enemies" (those who threaten its power).
The CIC report says that the Sangh has prepared highly professional materials, including CDs, that propagate an ideology of feverish anti-Christian hate. Christianity is described as foreign and dangerous, a threat that must be destroyed in the same way that Ram killed the demon Ravana.
As the CIC report makes clear, "The core issue is that of Adivasi empowerment. Adivasi land has been as such grabbed by outsiders. The education process run by Christian missionaries is a threat to the designs of upper caste/ upper class. So Christian missions need to be thrown out from these areas."
The leading Hindutva ideologue behind the Shabri Kumbh Mela is Hindutva activist and VKP hard-liner Swami Aseemanand. According to the CIC report he maintains that the Shabri Kumbh Mela will be held every four years and will "...end missionary activity in Dangs and establish it as a key pilgrimage centre of India". This is the same Swami Aseemanand who a few years ago was quoted in the Times of India as saying, "Dangs cannot know peace so long as even a single tribal remains Christian." (11 Feb 1999, see link below)
The forthcoming Shabri Kumbh Mela is being prepared with the full knowledge, cooperation and assistance of the BJP state government of Gujarat, using funds meant for humanitarian development.
Christian leaders are greatly concerned that the Shabri Kumbh Mela will trigger wide-scale anti-Christian violence. According to the All India Christian Council, the BJP government in Gujarat has been busy fixing flags to the homes of Dangi Christians so they will be identified. Indeed, the CIC report warns, "The openly partisan support of the state government for the dangerous sectarian objectives of the Sangh needs to be combated, and the safety of minorities secured, else the tribal regions of India, already dispossessed and pauperised, will flow with the blood of sectarian hatred."
- Elizabeth Kendal
-----------------------------------
IMPORTANT WEBSITE
-----------------------------------
The Shabri Kumbh Mela official website specifically states that the Shabri Kumbh Mela is "...for the defense of Hindu society in general and the vanavasi/tribal Hindus in particular... The sustained conversion activities carried out by Christian missionaries with the help of their foreign masters has altered the religious demography of large parts of our country. The tribal areas of our country are a special target of this missionary offensive. This has caused self-alienation among the tribals and fanned separatist and terrorist activities. The Shabarikumbh has been organized to deal a death blow to such anti-dharmic and anti-national activities..."
---------------------------------
IMPORTANT ARTICLES
---------------------------------
Times of India
Dangs Violence is A Story Foretold
by Arun Varghese, 11 Feb 1999
http://www.media-watch.org/articles/0299/182.html
NGOs accuse Sangh, Gujarat Govt. of converting Christian tribals in
Dangs. 11 Jan 2006 http://in.christiantoday.com/news/gen_631.htm
Rightwing Hindu militants target Christian aborigines
By Sankar Ray from Kolkata. 11 Jan 2006
http://www.asiantribune.com/show_news.php?id=16704
Hindu festival in Dangs region may stoke communal violence, fears
AICC. 12 Jan 2006 http://in.christiantoday.com/news/gen_633.htm
CSW's All Indian Christian Council Meets With Government to Prevent
Attacks. 21 January 2006
http://www.christiantoday.com/news/missions/csws.all.indian.christian.council.meets.with.government.to.prevent.attacks./592.htm
A Report by the Citizen's Inquiry Committee
"The Untold Story of Hindukaran (Proselytisation) of Adivasis
(Tribals) in Dangs, Gujarat". 8 January 2006
http://www.milligazette.com/dailyupdate/2006/20060108-Hindutva.htm
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Iran: Old Guards Return.
Date: Wednesday 14 December 2005
Subj: Iran: Old Guards Return.
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.
-------------------------------
IRAN: OLD GUARDS RETURN
-------------------------------
Iran's Revolutionary Guards and Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), two groups whose names are synonymous with Iranian repression and terror, are making a comeback under President Ahmadinejad.
As noted in the WEA RLC News & Analysis report entitled "The Islamic Revolution is now complete" (29 August 2005), "Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has flooded the Majlis (parliament) with former Revolutionary Guards while Ayatollah Khamenei has made key changes in security structures and strategies to entrench the Revolutionary Guards' hegemony over all law enforcement agencies."
Now Iran's MPs are purging their domains of Khatami-era officials and replacing them with heavy-handed hardliners, including many former senior secret police from the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) who were complicit in the serial murders of dissidents and intellectuals that took place in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s. President Khatami's sensitivity to international relations led to these murderers being removed from positions of public authority, but now under President Ahmadinejad they are making a comeback. For this regime, a proved track record in brutality, assassination and inflexible hard-line Islamic ideology makes an ideal prerequisite for a government job. In fact, having hands that are stained with the blood of Christian martyrs appears to be a perfect prerequisite for a senior position in the Ministry of Interior.
---------------------------------------------------------------
PERSECUTION ESCALATES DRAMATICALLY
On 22 November, Pastor Ghorban Dordi Tourani (53) was kidnapped from his home and stabbed to death, allegedly by an unnamed group of fanatical Muslims. His body was later dumped back at his home. Pastor Tourani, a convert from Islam, was pastoring an independent fellowship of convert Christians in Gonbad-e-Kavus, northeastern Iran. He is survived by his widow and four children aged between 3 and 23yrs.
Compass Direct reports, "Within hours of the November 22 murder, local secret police arrived at the martyred pastor's home, searching for Bibles and other banned Christian books in the Farsi language. By the end of the following day, the secret police had also raided the houses of all other known Christian believers in the city.
"According to one informed Iranian source, during the past eight days representatives of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) have arrested and severely tortured 10 other Christians in several cities, including Tehran. All the detainees have since been released.
"In addition, MOIS officials have visited known Christian leaders since Tourani's murder and have instructed them to warn acquaintances in the unofficial, Protestant house fellowships that 'the government knows what you are doing, and we will come for you soon'." (CD, 28 Nov 2005)
OLD GUARD MOIS RETURNS: TO THE INTERIOR MINISTRY...
Hojjatoleslam Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi, a Shiite cleric who was the Deputy Minister of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) for some 13 years during the late 80s and throughout the 90s has been appointed as Iran's Interior Minister. Iran Focus reports, "Critics charge that Pour-Mohammadi is replacing Interior Ministry officials with former colleagues from the secret police, thus creating another security apparatus." (Link 1)
Two of Pour-Mohammadi's appointments to senior positions in the Interior Ministry are: Mahmoud Saeedi, the former director of MOIS in Isfahan province, who has been appointed as Director General of the Interior Ministry; and Shahab Goodarzi, the former deputy director of MOIS in Isfahan, who has been appointed as Director of Security in the Interior Ministry.
It is of great concern that Iran's Interior Ministry, a ministry that has control of the security forces and is responsible for preserving political stability, is to be run by men who were senior MOIS officials during Iran's dark and bloody days of the serial murders of dissidents and intellectuals. Iranian Christians may feel an especially cold chill, as Saeedi comes into the Interior Ministry with the blood of Christian martyrs on his hands.
Iran Focus reports, "A former senior official in Iran's dreaded secret police, the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), who personally oversaw the gruesome murders of two Christian bishops and a priest in Iran in the 1990s, has been appointed as the new Director General of the country's Interior Ministry.
"Mahmoud Saeedi, who formerly headed the MOIS department in Isfahan Province, was removed from his position in 1999 under mounting pressure on the Iranian government after it became clear that his agents had carried out the brutal murder of three Anglican Church figures in Iran."
Investigations by dissident investigative journalist Akbar Ganji (now imprisoned) revealed that MOIS was responsible for the serial killings of dissidents and intellectuals that took place through the 1990s, and that the murders of Bishop Haik Hovsepian Mehr, Bishop Tateos Michaelian, and Reverend Mehdi Dibaj were ordered by Deputy Intelligence Minister Saeed Emami and carried out by a team under the command of Mahmoud Saeedi.
According to Iran Focus, after Mahmoud Saeedi was removed from MOIS, he went to work with other former senior MOIS officials in the Special Security Office of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran Focus reports that Saeedi's boss in Khamenei's Special Security Office "was Hojjatoleslam Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi".
So Iran's Interior Ministry, which is responsible for maintaining internal stability and security, is now being led by old guard MOIS officials who have already demonstrated their willingness to persecute and assassinate dissidents, intellectuals and Christian leaders.
.. AND TO THE MINISTRY OF CULTURE AND ISLAMIC GUIDANCE
Former Revolutionary Guard, Mohammad Hossein Saffar Harandi, Iran's new Minister for Culture and Islamic Guidance, is also purging his subordinates. He is determined that books, journalism, visual arts, film, music and all cultural pursuits must conform to and re-enforce Iran's Islamic ideology and the strictest of Islamic values.
Most interestingly, the Iran Press Service reports, "Masha'allah Shamsolva'ezin, spokesman for the Tehran-based Association for Advocating Freedom of Press, said that state pressure on journalists has increased since [President] Ahmadi Nezhad took office. According to Shamsolvaezin, the culture ministry, in cooperation with intelligence and security forces, has in recent weeks called in many journalists for questioning without apparent reasons. The goal clearly is to intimidate them. Many of those pressing journalists are former employees of the Ministry of Intelligence [MOIS] who were fired under Khatami for their involvement in killing intellectuals and political activists." (Link 2)
The article at link 2, entitled, "Tehran renews war on culture" gives details of measures to control, police and further Islamise journalism, book publishing, musical performances, women's dress, and universities. This Islamic "war" against Persian culture will doubtless continue until Persians decide they want their Persian culture back.
MOTIVATIONS
President Ahmadinejad is committed to preparing Iran for what he firmly believes is the inevitable, even immanent return of the "hidden 12th Imam". I (EK) have to confess that I am not exactly sure what is required to hasten the Imam's return, but I think it might be a pure Islamic Iran surrounded by a world in chaos. If Ahmadinejad is pursuing this scenario, then that is disturbing on several fronts.
A few interesting articles on the religious motivations of President Ahmadinejad can be found at link 3. This is a subject that deserves closer attention, because Ahmadinejad's faith in and expectation of a messiah-style immanently returning 12th Imam reduces his devotion to the Guardian Council, expunges his interest in international opinion, but increases his zeal for an uncompromising, aggressive and authoritative Revolutionary Guard and MOIS to help usher in his apocalypse.
Links
1) Iran appoints murderer of Christian bishops to key position.
22 Nov 2005
http://www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=4532
2) Tehran renews war on culture
By Mahdi Khalaji, 26 November 2005
http://www.iran-press-service.com/ips/articles-2005/november-2005/culture_crackdown_261105.shtml
3) Iran president paves the way for Arabs' imam return
By Paul Hughes, Reuters,17 Nov 2005
http://www.iranian.ws/iran_news/publish/article_10945.shtml
Second coming for imam is first concern for Iranian president
By Najmeh Bozorgmehr and Gareth Smyth.
Financial Times. 9 November 2005
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1519153/posts
Shi'ite supremacists emerge from Iran's shadows
Asia Times On-line. 9 Sept 2005
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GI09Ak01.html
Religion Versus Reality
By Richard Ernsberger Jr. Newsweek International. 12 Dec 2005
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10313618/site/newsweek/
President of Iran: Hallucinations of a psychopath. 3 Dec 2005
By Bahman Aghai Diba, PhD International Law - Persian Journal
http://www.iranian.ws/iran_news/publish/article_11240.shtml
Subj: Iran: Old Guards Return.
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.
-------------------------------
IRAN: OLD GUARDS RETURN
-------------------------------
Iran's Revolutionary Guards and Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), two groups whose names are synonymous with Iranian repression and terror, are making a comeback under President Ahmadinejad.
As noted in the WEA RLC News & Analysis report entitled "The Islamic Revolution is now complete" (29 August 2005), "Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has flooded the Majlis (parliament) with former Revolutionary Guards while Ayatollah Khamenei has made key changes in security structures and strategies to entrench the Revolutionary Guards' hegemony over all law enforcement agencies."
Now Iran's MPs are purging their domains of Khatami-era officials and replacing them with heavy-handed hardliners, including many former senior secret police from the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) who were complicit in the serial murders of dissidents and intellectuals that took place in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s. President Khatami's sensitivity to international relations led to these murderers being removed from positions of public authority, but now under President Ahmadinejad they are making a comeback. For this regime, a proved track record in brutality, assassination and inflexible hard-line Islamic ideology makes an ideal prerequisite for a government job. In fact, having hands that are stained with the blood of Christian martyrs appears to be a perfect prerequisite for a senior position in the Ministry of Interior.
---------------------------------------------------------------
PERSECUTION ESCALATES DRAMATICALLY
On 22 November, Pastor Ghorban Dordi Tourani (53) was kidnapped from his home and stabbed to death, allegedly by an unnamed group of fanatical Muslims. His body was later dumped back at his home. Pastor Tourani, a convert from Islam, was pastoring an independent fellowship of convert Christians in Gonbad-e-Kavus, northeastern Iran. He is survived by his widow and four children aged between 3 and 23yrs.
Compass Direct reports, "Within hours of the November 22 murder, local secret police arrived at the martyred pastor's home, searching for Bibles and other banned Christian books in the Farsi language. By the end of the following day, the secret police had also raided the houses of all other known Christian believers in the city.
"According to one informed Iranian source, during the past eight days representatives of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) have arrested and severely tortured 10 other Christians in several cities, including Tehran. All the detainees have since been released.
"In addition, MOIS officials have visited known Christian leaders since Tourani's murder and have instructed them to warn acquaintances in the unofficial, Protestant house fellowships that 'the government knows what you are doing, and we will come for you soon'." (CD, 28 Nov 2005)
OLD GUARD MOIS RETURNS: TO THE INTERIOR MINISTRY...
Hojjatoleslam Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi, a Shiite cleric who was the Deputy Minister of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) for some 13 years during the late 80s and throughout the 90s has been appointed as Iran's Interior Minister. Iran Focus reports, "Critics charge that Pour-Mohammadi is replacing Interior Ministry officials with former colleagues from the secret police, thus creating another security apparatus." (Link 1)
Two of Pour-Mohammadi's appointments to senior positions in the Interior Ministry are: Mahmoud Saeedi, the former director of MOIS in Isfahan province, who has been appointed as Director General of the Interior Ministry; and Shahab Goodarzi, the former deputy director of MOIS in Isfahan, who has been appointed as Director of Security in the Interior Ministry.
It is of great concern that Iran's Interior Ministry, a ministry that has control of the security forces and is responsible for preserving political stability, is to be run by men who were senior MOIS officials during Iran's dark and bloody days of the serial murders of dissidents and intellectuals. Iranian Christians may feel an especially cold chill, as Saeedi comes into the Interior Ministry with the blood of Christian martyrs on his hands.
Iran Focus reports, "A former senior official in Iran's dreaded secret police, the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), who personally oversaw the gruesome murders of two Christian bishops and a priest in Iran in the 1990s, has been appointed as the new Director General of the country's Interior Ministry.
"Mahmoud Saeedi, who formerly headed the MOIS department in Isfahan Province, was removed from his position in 1999 under mounting pressure on the Iranian government after it became clear that his agents had carried out the brutal murder of three Anglican Church figures in Iran."
Investigations by dissident investigative journalist Akbar Ganji (now imprisoned) revealed that MOIS was responsible for the serial killings of dissidents and intellectuals that took place through the 1990s, and that the murders of Bishop Haik Hovsepian Mehr, Bishop Tateos Michaelian, and Reverend Mehdi Dibaj were ordered by Deputy Intelligence Minister Saeed Emami and carried out by a team under the command of Mahmoud Saeedi.
According to Iran Focus, after Mahmoud Saeedi was removed from MOIS, he went to work with other former senior MOIS officials in the Special Security Office of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran Focus reports that Saeedi's boss in Khamenei's Special Security Office "was Hojjatoleslam Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi".
So Iran's Interior Ministry, which is responsible for maintaining internal stability and security, is now being led by old guard MOIS officials who have already demonstrated their willingness to persecute and assassinate dissidents, intellectuals and Christian leaders.
.. AND TO THE MINISTRY OF CULTURE AND ISLAMIC GUIDANCE
Former Revolutionary Guard, Mohammad Hossein Saffar Harandi, Iran's new Minister for Culture and Islamic Guidance, is also purging his subordinates. He is determined that books, journalism, visual arts, film, music and all cultural pursuits must conform to and re-enforce Iran's Islamic ideology and the strictest of Islamic values.
Most interestingly, the Iran Press Service reports, "Masha'allah Shamsolva'ezin, spokesman for the Tehran-based Association for Advocating Freedom of Press, said that state pressure on journalists has increased since [President] Ahmadi Nezhad took office. According to Shamsolvaezin, the culture ministry, in cooperation with intelligence and security forces, has in recent weeks called in many journalists for questioning without apparent reasons. The goal clearly is to intimidate them. Many of those pressing journalists are former employees of the Ministry of Intelligence [MOIS] who were fired under Khatami for their involvement in killing intellectuals and political activists." (Link 2)
The article at link 2, entitled, "Tehran renews war on culture" gives details of measures to control, police and further Islamise journalism, book publishing, musical performances, women's dress, and universities. This Islamic "war" against Persian culture will doubtless continue until Persians decide they want their Persian culture back.
MOTIVATIONS
President Ahmadinejad is committed to preparing Iran for what he firmly believes is the inevitable, even immanent return of the "hidden 12th Imam". I (EK) have to confess that I am not exactly sure what is required to hasten the Imam's return, but I think it might be a pure Islamic Iran surrounded by a world in chaos. If Ahmadinejad is pursuing this scenario, then that is disturbing on several fronts.
A few interesting articles on the religious motivations of President Ahmadinejad can be found at link 3. This is a subject that deserves closer attention, because Ahmadinejad's faith in and expectation of a messiah-style immanently returning 12th Imam reduces his devotion to the Guardian Council, expunges his interest in international opinion, but increases his zeal for an uncompromising, aggressive and authoritative Revolutionary Guard and MOIS to help usher in his apocalypse.
Links
1) Iran appoints murderer of Christian bishops to key position.
22 Nov 2005
http://www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=4532
2) Tehran renews war on culture
By Mahdi Khalaji, 26 November 2005
http://www.iran-press-service.com/ips/articles-2005/november-2005/culture_crackdown_261105.shtml
3) Iran president paves the way for Arabs' imam return
By Paul Hughes, Reuters,17 Nov 2005
http://www.iranian.ws/iran_news/publish/article_10945.shtml
Second coming for imam is first concern for Iranian president
By Najmeh Bozorgmehr and Gareth Smyth.
Financial Times. 9 November 2005
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1519153/posts
Shi'ite supremacists emerge from Iran's shadows
Asia Times On-line. 9 Sept 2005
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GI09Ak01.html
Religion Versus Reality
By Richard Ernsberger Jr. Newsweek International. 12 Dec 2005
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10313618/site/newsweek/
President of Iran: Hallucinations of a psychopath. 3 Dec 2005
By Bahman Aghai Diba, PhD International Law - Persian Journal
http://www.iranian.ws/iran_news/publish/article_11240.shtml