Letters to the Editor, February 29, 2004

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I have carried out extensive research with regards to illegal occupation of Palestine. I conclude the state of Israel is an illegal state and the Palestinians should reclaim their land and tell the Khazarian Zionists to leave Palestine. Israel was formed in 1948 and the Zionists did not adhere to International Law.

Recent stampede which killed 244 pilgrims unnecessarily in the Haj, Pilgrimage of 2004

I would request you to give critical publicity to this completely unnecessary stampede, which resulted in the death of 244 pilgrims, which could have been prevented had the authorities in charge taken preventive crowd control methods.

This is not something which happens occasionally. Year after year, for many years, people are just killed during Jamarat throwing and this can be prevented if proper crowd control measures are taken.

The Saudi authorities seem merely to pay lip service when questioned about this and that they have plans to improve the situation in the future but nothing concrete gets done. If they are unable to think for themselves about solutions, they should consult the western experts who are knowledgeable about crowd control.

During the summer Olympics in Australia, experts were engaged in crowd control to prevent any tragedies and this was successfully executed. Admittedly the crowds at Mena were huge but there was no visible attempt at crowd control. I happened to be in the stampede when this happened but was lucky to stay alive. We live in the 21st century; when people should take advantage of scientific progress in crowd control, instead of sticking to 'ancient' ways of doing things.

It's time the Saudi authorities to get help from the West to prevent such catastrophes. I noticed that there was an institution for Haj research; perhaps out side help is needed at this institute to make it really useful and helpful to the Hajjis.

I would like also to comment on the police, an effort should be made to make them more friendly. In Mena, it would be useful if more sign posts are erected informing the pilgrims about directions to their tents because many get lost returning to the tents after throwing Jamarat.

This was my first Haj, and I am thankful that I was able to fulfill the fifth pillar of Islam but I feel sad and angry that 244 pilgrims had to die unnecessarily.

Editor: Please send another copy of your letter to the Saudi Embassy in Canada so that your suggestion can be considered. But you shouldn't forget that the huge number of pilgrims, more than 2 millions of them, poses a logistical problem to the Saudi authorities no other country has ever faced. There's no way you can compare Australian Olympics with Haj, that is comparing how Australians handled tens of thousands of people with how Saudis handle millions of people. But we should always expect better performance.

Its good to read Ghulam Muhammed's items to keep up abreast on events in India. Having lived in India and travelled there umpteen times, I followed with horror the events that led up to the destruction of the ancient Babri Masji by Hindutva extremists.

So many Muslim, and Hindus have been savagely killed, properties destroyed, etc. etc. because of this Hindutva extremism I visited Gujarat 2 years ago, and heard the horrendous stories of carnage, the worst in India's History, against Muslims. And the BJP State government did nothing to stop it....it is the BJP that is in power in Delhi! And already it is playing yet another sordid side of politics to 'build a new Babri Masji' to cover over the horror of destruction of Babri Masjid..

That is outrageous, and Ghulam Muhammed is right on when he says that a Shaheed Qabrastan should be built within the Babri Masjid title area, where a Qabarastan already exists and let it be a monument to the thousands massacred by the Sangh Parivar’s storm troopers, both within Ayodhya and all across the length and breadth of India. This is the least that justice demands!

This refers to D. R. Nayak’s letter on ‘Hurriyat Moves’, (The Times of India, Mumbai, Feb 28, 2004), comparing the treatment to ‘secessionists’, meted out by India, Iraq and Turkey. All current boundaries of the three nations mentioned are drawn by the Western colonialist powers, with their own long-term geopolitical worldview, leaving options for divide and rule interventions of both armed as well as diplomatic kind. They do not necessarily reflect the natural or historical boundaries.

It is up to the liberated people to choose, whether any adjustments in nation-state boundaries are made through peaceful negotiations or armed impositions.

If India has lost a big chunk of its historical territory, it does have a choice to either start the long process of negotiations for reunion through imaginative cooperative steps or through armed adventures.

Armed impositions can only be temporary, just as the current boundaries cannot be treated as final and sacrosanct. Force will never bring peace.

Indian administration’s fifty-odd year ‘lenient treatment’ of its ‘own’ people in Kashmir, is either a big lie or an admission that it is holding the land by force of arms.

The time has come for serious steps to promote peaceful resolution of the conflict that has resulted in wars and continuous human tragedies, before outsiders step in to fish in the troubled waters. DPM Advani’s assurance that all such army excesses, in the nature of RR privileges, itself proves that people of India have not known or exposed to the horrors of the atrocities committed on innocent people of Jammu and Kashmir while over 500,000 Jawans had to be stationed to pacify the peaceful people and fight the armed militants.