Community Round-Up

A TADA court has put off the judgement date in the 1993 Mumbai blasts due to appeals pending in the High Court. Now, the court is expected to pronounce the judgement on September 12.


The court was all set to start dictation of its verdict last month in the presence of all the 123 accused, including Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt. But a last-minute petition from jailed underworld Don, Abu Salem made the court put off the date.


The trial of 1993 serial blast case began on June 19, 1995 and the same was concluded in 2003. The court may take more than a fortnight to deliver the entire verdict considering the testimony of 686 witnesses in over 14,000 pages of evidence tendered by them - a record of sorts in Indian legal history. The case involves a total of 123 accused of which 86 are out on bail, including cine star Sanjay Dutt and few members of the Memon family, who had allegedly masterminded the blast. Besides, 37 accused, including extradited gangster Abu Salem and Yakub Memon are in custody. Also, 23 accused in the case have been discharged including Samajwadi Party leader and Rajya Sabha MP, Abu Asim Azmi by the TADA court. The court also examined a defence witness, a retired hand-writing expert, who reportedly delivered evidence about the hand-writing of Yakub Memon which was later produced in the court as a vital piece of evidence.


It maybe recalled that a series of 13 bomb explosions had rocked Mumbai on March 12, 1993, in which 257 people died, about 700 were injured and property worth several crores was destroyed. According to the CBI, the perpetrators of the serial blasts intended to shatter the country’s economy as was indicative from the selection of blasts sites namely Bombay Stock Exchange, Air-India building, Hotel Sea Rock, Hotel Centaur Juhu, Hotel Centaur Airport and busy areas of Zaveri Bazaar, Katha Bazaar and Century Bazaar.

The Tata Consultancy Services has developed a 16-lesson software titled Urdu Taleem-e-Balighan (Adult Literacy Programme for Urdu). Available in a compact disc, it enables the adult learners to learn writing of Urdu words by joining of alphabets, use of diacritical marks, i.e., zabar, zer and pesh and creating simple words. Audio effects too help the process. The process is delightful and lucid and takes the learners from simple words such as baaja to a bit complex ones such as tandurusti and nemat. According to Maj. Gen. B.G.Shively, consulting advisor of the TCS, a 90-minute class, three to four times a week will make them read the language in 40-45 hours (about three months). However, only those learners who know how to speak Urdu will be able to learn the language.


The CDs could be requested from: Maj Gen B. G. Shively, AVSM (Retd) Consulting Advisor, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. 54-B, Hadapsar Industrial Estate Pune 411 013. Tel : 020-66086325 (direct), 66086333 (extn: 6325) Fax No. : 020-66086399. e-mail: b.shively@tcs.com

A Workshop on “Healthy Marriage and Child Development” was held on August 20 at the Maulana Azad Memorial Hall here. Issues surrounding marriage like, domestic violence, divorce, cultural diversity, financial problems and child-upbringing etc, are taking a heavy toll on Muslim families throughout the world. The foundation of Islamic society is crumbling. Muslims must find a way to stem this tide of the epidemic of divorce and marital discord in order to preserve a healthy future for the Muslim community. Keeping these values in mind, the Pune unit of Jamaat-e-islami Hind organised this one-day workshop of thoughtful and practical discussion on all issues regarding marriage. This comprehensive workshop discussed issues like, ‘The institution of Nikah in Islam’, ‘Correct marriage practices and spousal selection,’ ‘Rights and Duties of Spouses,’ ‘Nurturing relations with in-laws’, etc was covered in the light of the Quran and Sunnah.

Contrary to the general perceptions that Madarsas remain in the cocoon of tradition and fundamental belief, about 200 Madrasas in different parts of the country invited district magistrates and senior police officials to join the Independence Day celebrations on August 15, this year. The officials not only attended the flag-hoisting ceremony, but also joined in interactive sessions with teachers and students.


These Madrasas, mostly managed by the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind are situated in western Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Bengal and Maharashtra. “There is a misconception regarding the Madrasas. It is our duty to correct it,” said Jamiat secretary, Niaz Ahmed Farooqui.


Farooqui said the initiative was aimed at showing the officials that Madrasas are like any other educational institution.

Former Director of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Dr. M.Y Khan said it was possible to establish an Islamic Stock Exchange. He was delivering a lecture on how an Islamic Stock Exchange could be operated, once launched. The lecture was organised by the New Delhi-based research NGO, Institute of Objective Studies (IOS).


Dr Khan spoke at length on Islamic principles of economics while explaining two types of stock exchange. He opined an Islamic Stock Exchange would be able to promote equity investment and contain manipulations, inside trading, short selling and long buying.


Answering participants’ questions, Dr Khan said if they could launch 50 small investment companies, then it would be easy to launch a Stock Exchange.

The Computer lab set up by the AFMI-AIF under the digital equalisation programme was inaugurated here on August 10, at the Government Urdu High School in Bar Lane on T. C. M. Royan Road. Mr. Akram N. Syed, President, AFMI threw open the lab while Maulana Riyazur Rahman Rashadi of Jama Masjid switched on the computers. Under the partnership, the American Federation of Muslims of Indian Origin (AFMI) has provided the funds for infrastructure and the computer systems, while America-India Foundation (AIF) will implement the programme by training the teachers and providing software programmes. The AFMI has funded eight computer sets, printers and necessary furniture for the purpose. Mr. Chandan Nallal of AIF said his organisation was ready to help more Government Urdu schools to follow the digital equalisation programme provided more donors came forward to fund the infrastructure. He said the Digital Equalisation Programme had been launched to eliminate disparity in matters of computer literacy.


Government Urdu School at Bar Lane is one of the five Urdu high schools in Bangalore where Urdu medium schools are a new phenomenon. It produced 92 per cent passes during the last SSLC (10th class) examination held in March 2006.


One of the donors for the programme, Mr. Mohammad Moenuddin from Houston, Mr. Kaleemullah from Al-Ameen Education Society, educationist Dr. Sheik Ali, Al-Ameen Education Society, chairman, Sadaqath Peeran and Talent Promotion Trust Secretary, M. A. Siraj attended the programme.