There is to be a demonstration for calling for protection of the Pahari people and peace in Chittagong Hill Tracts on Sunday 28 February.
On Saturday 20th February, an outbreak of violence against the Jumma people of Khagrachari in Rangamati caused the deaths of 4 people, hundreds of homes torched, destruction of a temple and a church, and many dozens still missing.The random violence against the Pahari people has continued unabated.
The oppression of the Chakma and Pahari peoples has been going on for decades and incidents of this kind form part of a long-standing conflict.
We urge the end to the attacks and violence against the Paharis in Bangladesh.
Please come and show your support and solidarity for the Jumma people in Bangladesh.
now, i haven’t seen the “dispatches” programme yet, it’s on my sky+ box waiting to be viewed. however, i was quite amused to be warned by one naeem darr, who i understand is some sort of spokesman for our old friends the muslim safety forum, to have my complaint ready. helpfully, he then went on to provide me with a set of points to complain about to channel 4 and jim kirkpatrick mp. i reproduce his email in full – and include in bold the bits which he appears to know before broadcast:
Dispatches Islamophobic documentary
Channel 4’s Dispatches is due to broadcast a damaging and misleading programme on Monday 1st March at 8pm. For nearly a year the programme had undercover reporters attending events (including private meetings) of Islamic Forum of Europe (IFE) and passing themselves off as Muslims and friends, but acting as agents provocateurs to solicit replies to use against IFE.
Inayat Bunglawala’s IEngage organ, as ever, joins the MCB/ELM/IFE phalanx when it is called upon to do so. But the response offered is the same old pile of tired and over-used counter-accusations. No attempt whatsoever is made to address the body of allegations made in the Dispatches documentary, the factual research, the voices from the Bangladeshi community who bravely spoke out against the IFE – on camera. We’re treated to the old strategy of ‘defence by offence’. The offence here is made on the “usual offenders”:
1) “The Jews”
At a time when Israel is enlisting the help of friendly nations to improve its image abroad after its devastating assault on Gaza and the crippling blockade, and the Prime Minister, Foreign Secretary and Justice Secretary are being heavily lobbied by pro-Israel groups to change the war crimes legislation to protect suspected Israeli war criminals from arrest in the UK, one can see more clearly why the efforts of IFE, ELM/LMC and MCB to politically mobilise British Muslims might upset other quarters in British society.
The Islamic Forum Europe (IFE) is a Jamaat-e-Islami entryist organisation which is physically located in the East London Mosque (ELM) with which it is inextricably linked. The present chairman of the ELM is Dr Mohammed Abdul Bari, who is a former president of the IFE and is the current Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain. The director and imam of the East London Mosque are trustees of the group. Of 22 IFE trustees in recent years, only five have not also been trustees or officeholders of the ELM.
So given these incestuous relationships, it is not surprising that the Muslim Council of Britain, now comes rushing to the defence of its Jamaati brother-in-arms, the IFE, in response to yesterday’s Dispatches documentary
In a statement following the broadcast of a Channel 4 documentary on 1 March, media secretary of the Muslim Council of Britain, Tufael Ahmed said:
This is a cross-post of an article by Lucy Lips from Harry’s Place
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Here’s part of the Islamic Forum of Europe (IFE) fightback against what they call “media slurs”: a new Youtube channel. This is the first video.
Who is the portly man at 2:35?
Here he is on the right with Islamist preacher and Hitler fan Yusuf al Qaradawi and representatives of Neturei Karta, Islamists’ favourite Jewish fig leaves.
Here he is again from 0:45, telling off Egypt for not doing enough for jihad. His interviewer is Press TV ultra-loyalist Roshan Muhammed Salih.
He is Kamal Al Hilbawy, a Muslim Brotherhood leader whom Gene wrote about in 2008 when Helbawy had this to say to the BBC Arabic service:
Dr. Kamal Al-Hilbawi: I condemn the targeting of any civilian, but incidentally, I believe that every Israeli civilian is a future soldier.
It is obviously bothering Hizb ut-Tahrir that they have not been addressed in the Dispatches show or the Telegraph article. Understandably this is annoying for them. Perhaps the journalists concluded that the task of exposing an organisation that so obvious rejects democracy and human rights in all its forms would be like shooting fish in a barrel.
Still, let’s have a look at Hizb ut Tahrir’s press release, defending the Islamic Forum Europe:
1. This article and its allegations will likely fuel anti-Muslim prejudice in Britain. The article portrays the group, Islamic Forum Europe (IFE), as some kind of sinister threat to Britain, quoting Jim Fitzpatrick MP, who says the Labour party has been infiltrated by the Muslim group. It uses language designed to scaremonger, calling the group ‘fundamentalist’ and saying it ‘believes in jihad and sharia law, and wants to turn Britain and Europe into an Islamic state’ – ‘promoting Islamic social and political order’. It is worth remembering that Fitzpatrick, Gilligan and Dispatches ‘have form’ on these issues.
This is a cross-post from Harry’s Place of an article by Imran
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Maqbool Fida (‘MF’) Husain is a 95-year old Indian artist, often referred to as the Picasso of India. Following a celebrated career spanning seven decades, Husain became embroiled in controversy in 1996, following the publication of an article about nude images of Hindu gods he had painted in the 1970s. He has reportedly been the subject of death threats ever since, and lives in exile between London and Dubai. Husain is still the subject of numerous pending lawsuits in India on the grounds of offending the sensibilities of religious Hindus with his risqué images.
The other day it emerged that the Gulf state of Qatar (home of Al-Jazeera) has offered Husain Qatari citizenship. If this is in fact true, this is a real turnaround. In 2006, at the height of the Danish cartoon fiasco, Qatar’s Al-Watan newspaper (which is owned by the country’s royal family) had this to say about the matter:
George Galloway claimed the IFE played a “decisive role” in his election victory to become MP for Bow and Bethnal Green. Yesterday the Sunday Telegraph reported Galloway had used IFE influence in the area to consolidate his victory:
George Galloway, a London MP, admitted in recordings obtained by this newspaper that his surprise victory in the 2005 election owed more to the IFE “than it would be wise – for them – for me to say, adding that they played a “decisive role” in his triumph at the polls.
Mr Galloway now says they were one of many groups which supported his anti-war stance and had never sought to influence him.
Indeed he does. Galloway has now sprung to his own defence, as he does, and in a quick and dirty entry in his blog, distanced himself from the IFE and now pleads ignorance of their brand of sectarian, supremacist politics.
A short video of the “Stop the Violence Against Paharis” demo held at Altab Ali Park, yesterday.
This was the statement which was read out at the meeting:
Honourable Prime Minister,
We, the Bengali and Jumma people living in the United Kingdom (UK), express our deepest concern about the recent attacks and acts of violence against the Indigenous peoples in Baghaichari, Rangamati and Khagrachori districts in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), that occurred between 19-23 February 2010.
The Sunday Telegraph is full of stories about the Islamic Forum of Europe’s (IFE) growing influence in East London. It says the group has effectively infiltrated the local Labour Party and brought extraordinary pressure to bear on the local council, Tower Hamlets, where a number of the IFE’s members and supporters have been installed in key positions.
Undercover filming captured, Abjol Miah, an IFE activist and Tower Hamlets councillor, telling reporters:
“We’ve consolidated ourselves now. We’ve got a lot of influence and power in the council, councillors, politicians.”
Abu Talha, an IFE member, was also filmed saying:
“Our brothers have gone into positions of influence, council positions.”
The IFE has, of course, flatly denied all the allegations.
That makes Inayat Bunglawala’s email (sent today at 1830) to members of the Islamic Society of Britain and Young Muslims group on Yahoo particularly interesting.
