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2006-09-09 India-Pakistan

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Posted by john 2006-09-09 12:45|| || Front Page|| [11131 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 This town was created after the 1857 mutiny. Thousands of muslim families were deported by the British from their homes in UP and Bihar provinces as punishment for the role of their relatives in the mutiny.

Posted by john 2006-09-09 12:56|| 2006-09-09 12:56|| Front Page Top

#2 Why Malegaons flashpoints have always been Fridays

If there is one reason why the Centre rushed in forces to Malegaon just hours after the blasts, it is the textile towns history.

Five years ago, a month after 9/11, this predominantly Muslim town saw five days of riots. The toll at the end of it: 13, 12 of them Muslims, most killed in police firing.

Reasons for the riots, which periodically visited this textile town of about 7 lakh people, ranged from an India-Pak cricket match to a pamphlet.

Since three-quarters of the population is Muslim, Friday is when the powerlooms close for the weekly day off and the two lakh-odd workers go for the namaz. Hence, anyone interested in making an impact here waits for Fridays. Most public meetings are held on this day.

No surprise, then, that the town was torn by blasts on a Friday again. The last time the town witnessed communal riots was in October 2001 (on a Friday again) in which 13 were killed. The reason, as revealed by the state minorities commission later, was the desperation of an ageing local politician, Nihal Ahmed Maulavi Mohammed Usman, then 75, state leader of the Janata Dal (Secular).

On October 26, a policeman tried to snatch a pamphlet being distributed by a youth outside the towns Jama Masjid after the Friday namaz. The pamphlet was an appeal to boycott American and British goods to protest against the US attack on Afghanistan. But when the youth refused to let the policeman see what was on the paper, a scuffle ensued and flared up into a fight between the police and Muslims.

Angry youths threw stones, provoking the police to open fire. The incident also invited prompt retaliation in Hindu areas, giving it a communal turn.

The incident actually had roots in an agitation in the town exactly a week earlier. On October 19, Nihal Ahmed had taken out a morcha to protest against the US attack on Afghanistan. The protesters carried portraits of Osama bin Laden and shouted anti-US slogans. The town was very tense and needed just a spark.

Nihal Ahmeds gesture was a desperate attempt to consolidate his position in the town of which he was the only patriarch: He had been elected as MLA six times since 1967, but had to suffer defeat at the hands of his Congress rival Shaikh Rashid in 1999.

The riots spread to 133 villages on the outskirts of Malegaon and to towns like Deola, Satana and Kalwan, where Muslims were targeted by the Hindu majority.

Subsequently, the government upgraded the Malegaon municipal council controlled by Nihals party, with his wife Sajeda being the president to a corporation and the first elections were held in May 2002. The JD (S) emerged as the single largest party winning 35 of the 72 seats and Nihal became the towns first Mayor.

But his party broke up in the civic body the next year and, to make matters worse for him, he was again defeated in the 2004 Assembly polls by Rashid. Elections for the Malegaon Municipal Corporation (MMC) is scheduled in the next four months.

Posted by john 2006-09-09 13:02|| 2006-09-09 13:02|| Front Page Top

#3 The town...has been officially declared sensitive by the Maharashtra state police chief

Sensitive? Who the hell you callin' sensitive!
You call me sensitive again and you'll be a head shorter. HMMMPH. Sensitive! The very idea!

Posted by GK 2006-09-09 14:45|| 2006-09-09 14:45|| Front Page Top

#4 It's like a Mad Lib:

[Country, possessive] Muslim [Geographic Area] Seething With Anger

Insert any country, any size geographical area:

"Thai Muslim Province Seething With Anger"

"Detroit's Muslim Neighborhoods Seething With Anger"

Posted by Rob Crawford">Rob Crawford 2006-09-09 16:50|| http://www.kloognome.com/]">[http://www.kloognome.com/] 2006-09-09 16:50|| Front Page Top

#5 The dominant question being;

Will this spate of attacks inspire the Muslims of Malegaon to unify in vociferous opposition to all use of terrorism?

[crickets]

Then I say, "Carry on, Hindus of India."

Posted by Zenster 2006-09-09 19:09|| 2006-09-09 19:09|| Front Page Top

#6 "What goes around comes around," said a local police officer.

Shabash!

Posted by gromgoru 2006-09-09 19:57|| 2006-09-09 19:57|| Front Page Top

#7 Why Malegaons flashpoints have always been Fridays

Funny thing, when I was doing Intifada#1, we also had riots every Friday. I wonder, what Malegaon and Bethlehem have in common?

Posted by gromgoru 2006-09-09 19:59|| 2006-09-09 19:59|| Front Page Top

#8 "Why Malegaons flashpoints have always been Fridays"

Because they use Holy Hand Grenades and Explosives™ for their bombings?

Posted by Barbara Skolaut">Barbara Skolaut 2006-09-09 20:13|| http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/page/15bk1/Home_Page.html]">[http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/page/15bk1/Home_Page.html] 2006-09-09 20:13|| Front Page Top

#9 hehehe.... Barbara, consult the book of Armaments.

Posted by mcsegeek1 2006-09-09 21:11|| 2006-09-09 21:11|| Front Page Top

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