Views on the News 29/5/09
- Published in News & Comment
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BBC is ready to broadcast a gay love affair involving Muslims
In a further effort by the British establishment to raise the bar for Muslims to prove their loyalty to Britain, the BBC will use its flagship programme EastEnders to tackle a storyline which will feature a Muslim man embarking upon a gay affair. The Muslim character Syed Masood, played by Marc Elliott, will fall for openly gay man Christian Clarke (John Partridge) and the pair will share an on-screen kiss. "I think EastEnders would be doing the programme a disservice if they didn't give a voice to various communities," Elliot told the BBC Asian Network. The plot is expected to hit TV screens from next month.
One in three Muslims feel discriminated in Europe
About 31 percent of Muslims in the European Union feel they were discriminated against in 2008, according to an EU survey of 23,500 members of ethnic minorities and migrant communities published on Thursday. Ten percent of Muslims who experienced prejudice believed this was solely due to their religious beliefs, while over half felt that their ethnic origin was the grounds for the discrimination, according to the survey by the EU's Fundamental Rights Agency. The report, which collates the opinions of Muslims living in 14 European countries and minorities in general from the 27 EU member states, found that up to 81 percent of interviewees did not report discriminatory acts they suffered. A fifth of Muslim victims were concerned about possible negative consequences if they reported the discriminatory acts. Anti-foreigner and anti-Muslim rhetoric and in some cases violence has increased in several countries in the run up to the European elections and some analysts are forecasting a swing to the xenophobic right in European parliamentary elections from June 4-7.
UAE establishes a French military base on its soil
This week the ruler of the UAE along with Nicolas Sarkozy the president of France inaugurated a French military base in the UAE. The base will host 500 personnel from the French navy, the army, and the air force. It will be able to simultaneously accommodate two frigates of the French fleet operating in the region. Speaking to Gulf News, Riad Kahwaji, head of the Dubai-based Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis, said France and the UAE signed a reciprocal defence accord in 1995 that paved the way for further cooperation in a number of projects including the base. He said the French base is the first of its kind in the Arabian Gulf. "The US has a number of military, air and maritime bases in Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain. The Abu Dhabi French Maritime Base is the first foreign military base for a friendly army in the UAE," Kahwaji said.
He further said, "The decision to host the French base was taken by the UAE government to allow a country like France to take part in ensuring the security of oil supplies from the region in the case of a hostile action against oil carriers by terrorist groups, pirate gangs or even by a hostile government." The reality is that the UAE has again ceded its sovereignty to a colonialist power. This is clearly forbidden by Islam.
Allah سبحانه وتعالى says:
وَلَن يَجْعَلَ اللّهُ لِلْكَافِرِينَ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ سَبِيلاً
"Allah will not allow the disbelievers to have an authority over the believers." [An-Nisaa, 4:141]
After the bomb blast in Lahore, Taliban warn of more attacks on Pakistan
This week Hakimullah Mehsud, a young Taliban commander and lieutenant of Baitullah Mehsud, the chief of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, told the Pakistani newspaper Dawn that more attacks would follow the one in Lahore. Hakimullah Mehsud, who spoke from an undisclosed location, claimed responsibility for the Lahore bombing. "We want the people of Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Multan to leave those cities, as we plan major attacks against government facilities in coming days and weeks," he said in a phone call to Reuters. He said that the Lahore attack was a response to Pakistan's recent military campaign against the Taliban in Swat, an area north of the capital, which was overrun by militants earlier this year. "We have been looking for a target from the day the military launched the operation in Swat," Mr. Mehsud said.
After eight years of fighting in the wilderness and on the verge of a cataclysmic defeat, America has once more managed to divert the attention of the Taliban to fight the Pakistani army. Rather than fighting each other, both the Taliban and the Pakistani army should unite to expel America from the region- the real enemy of Muslims and Islam.
North Korea shows Pakistan how to deal with the US
Once again North Korea has defied international pressure and tested a nuclear bomb, as well as several missiles. Once again America's weakness has been exposed in its futile response to pressurize North Korea to desist from such actions. If a minnow state like North Korea can take successive bold steps over the past few years to thwart American primacy in the region, then it beggars disbelief as to why a country like Pakistan with far greater nuclear weapons and missiles, and a larger professional army cannot take a similar stand against America. Instead the leadership of Pakistan has capitulated and has turned on its own people like a savage dog- all in a desperate bid to please their American master. In the ensuing mayhem thousands of innocent civilians have been killed and over 2 million have been made homeless. Whilst the nuclear weapons designed to defend the life and honour of the Pakistani people remain a military museum gathering dust.
