THE RESPONSE DAILY MIRROR DIDN'T PUBLISH

UNPUBLISHED

Dear all,

I responded to an article in the Daily Mirror of the 15th of December, 2011. I felt the article needlessly brought in Islam into the argument of seeking changes into Sri Lanka law which prohibits the sale of liquor to women. The article was titled ‘Welcome to the Islamic Republic of Sri Lanka’ written by a certain Ameena Hussain.

Unfortunately the Daily Mirror has to still carry the response ten days after I sent it by email.

Hameed

Responding to ‘Welcome to the Islamic Republic of Sri Lanka’

Hameed Abdul Karim

So now we know. Women’s equality comes when they are allowed to buy a bottle of liquor at any public store according to Ms. Ameena Hussein (DM 15 Dec. 2011) and if that does not happen, along with other things less important we might ‘degenerate’ into an Islamic state. What inspiring logic!

Actually I am not surprised with what the writer has to say. What surprises me is the fact that the Daily Mirror thought it fit to carry this article with the provocative title ‘Welcome to the Islamic Republic of Sri Lanka’ along with a picture of Muslim women seated on the floor of some community centre somewhere in Sri Lanka probably waiting to be liberated with a shot of scotch on the rocks by already ‘liberated’ women.  

Some of us may not like it. But there is a thing called rules of culture that people abide by in any society. Not selling liquor to women is one such culture rule here in Sri Lanka. In some counties in the state of Austin in the U.S. sale and consumption of liquor are strictly prohibited based on the teachings of the Church. These are jokingly called ‘dry zones’. Nobody calls them ‘Islamic Republics’.

Having a Muslim name does not give one a license to revile Islam or Muslims. Islam has strictly forbidden the consumption of liquor and to Muslims that is final. No apologies there. A Muslim is required by his or her faith to stop or at least speak out against social evils like the consumption of liquor. Obviously Ms. Hussain does not take this aspect of her faith too seriously, that is assuming she is Muslim.

The little Buddhism I know tells me the consumption of liquor is prohibited and if the ‘Mathata Thitha’ programme of the President were to take hold among Buddhists, would Ms. Hussain then classify our country as the ‘Buddhist Republic of Sri Lanka’? Or would she have reservations on that score? I would be the first to welcome any foreigner to the Buddhist Republic of Sri Lanka with open arms if liquor (and gambling) is strictly prohibited in Sri Lanka. It will make Buddhist women happy with the knowledge that the money their husbands save will go to feed and educate their children, resulting in the general well being of society at large. Not to mention the elimination of crimes like child abuse and deaths on the road caused by drunk drivers. Am I being a Muslim fundamentalist? Well, never mind.

The writer must seek the views of the Mahanayaka prelates on this subject of allowing women to by liquor. Let’s see what they have to say, shall we?

Hameed Abdul Karim 

IS ISRAEL PAINTING ITSELF INTO A CORNER?

2222222       Follow us on the social networks Appeared in 'Ceylon Today' on 24 November 2011       Follow us on the social networks

Is Israel Painting Itself into a Corner?

Hameed Abdul Karim

No amount of spin the hasbara types in Israel put on the news can redeem the ‘Jewish’ state from international opprobrium. This was clearly evident in the UNESCO vote where no less than 107 countries voted in favour of Palestine‘s inclusion into the world body.  Even France, which is close ally of Israel, couldn’t help voting in favour of the Palestinians, much to the annoyance of Nobel Peace Laureate Barack Obama who castigated Prime Minister Nicolas Sarkozy at the G20 Summit for his insolence in towing a line the empire did not support. UK couldn’t summon the courage to defy the empire so it quietly abstained from voting as did a few other US satellite states.

NEVER TRUST AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Sunday 20 November, 2011

Never Trust an Autobiography

Hameed Abdul Karim

Years ago I read Jimmy Carter’s autobiography thinking I might find a few behind the scenes narratives that might interest me. I wanted to know, for example, why he had authorised covert CIA operations against the Sandinistas after they overthrew the American backed dictator Anastasio Somoza and also his rationale behind the letter he had written to him heaping praise on his ‘human rights initiatives’, which were non-existent. Something on that? Nothing. Any remorse?  None.

THE WESTERN MEDIA, ITS TACTICS, MOTIVES AND IMPACT ON PEOPLE'S MINDS

The Western Media its Tactics, Motive and Impact on People’s Minds

Paper presented by

Hameed Abdul Karim

At the Institute of Objectives Studies

At its Silver Jubilee Celebrations at Bangaluru on 14 October 2011

‘Oh you who believe, if a sinner comes to you with any news, ascertain the truth, lest you harm people unwittingly and afterwards become full of repentance for what you have done’

Qur’an 49:6

Most people associate media with TV, newspapers and radio. But when we were children we were not exposed to TV and didn’t have much to do with newspapers except the sports page. We were, however, exposed to comic books and we devoured every one of them we could lay our hands on. Our favourite ones were the Lone Ranger and Tarzan.

We did not know then that our minds were being ‘programmed’ or that we were being subjected to ‘Thought Control’ as one of the great intellectuals of our times Noam Chomsky put it in his book ‘Pirates and Emperors’.

The Lone Ranger brainwashed us to believe that the White man was superior because we found him riding a white horse and always solving the problems of the oppressed. Tonto, his side kick, was ‘red Indian’ and he rode a brown horse – no white horse for him. We started to believe the White man was superior and that a brown man was only good enough to do his bidding. It was around this time the supreme racist imperialist Rudyard Kipling wrote about the ‘White Man’s Burden’. (We were his victims) 

Tarzan brainwashed us to believe that the White man was superior in every aspect of life and that if something good had to be done it had to be done by the White man. We couldn’t imagine why Tarzan had to be White man in the thick of the Black African jungles. That’s how ‘Thought Control’ operated then and continues to operate up until today in a variety of ways. High tech toys have replaced comic books, but they carry the same message.

We were so awed by the goodness that America and the rest of the West represented that we began to despise our leaders and the heroes amongst us. Our heroes were Western leaders like Churchill or John Kennedy. Jawaharlal Nehru or Mohandas Gandhi – the half naked fakir according to Churchill – or Allama Iqbal, or Rabrinath Tagore or Omar Khayyam and countless others were to us backward and regressive with the evil intent to keep us forever backward. Instead we were brought up to read William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens. Here I must confess the latter two Englishmen were of high quality and their writings still echo in my mind. But I think Dickens and Shakespeare among others were too overvalued and the sole purpose in getting us to read their works in school was to keep us within the realms of ‘thinkable thoughts’ the additional motive was to keep us away from ‘our’ writers and thinkers.

GLOATING OVER GADDAFI'S GRUESOME MURDER

Sunday 06 November 2011

Gloating over Gaddafi’s Gruesome Murder

Hameed Abdul Karim

In days gone by we were taught to respect the dead even if they happened to be evil like Gaddafi was. Anyone’s death is supposed to remind us of our own inevitable end. But obviously in the post modern world that we are living in, with its materialism and failing economies, there is no space for such human values.

No Western leader exemplified this sad state of affairs more than US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton as they competed with one another for the best gloat over Gaddafi’s gruesome murder.   Clinton beat them all when she said over CBS TV ‘We came, we saw, he died’ in a pathetic attempt to paraphrase Julius Caesar whilst laughing away in jubilation over the  latest murder of yet another third world leader. Sickeningly, her host couldn’t hide her glee either as she too joined in the fun laughing away like a kid who had been given a box of candies by Santa Claus. And this on a TV network that brags about journalistic values and all the hogwash that goes along with such snow-white claims.  So much for an unbiased American media!  

But there was a slip. CBS was conducting a formal interview with Clinton when her aides interrupted the recording to convey the ‘breaking news’ of Gaddafi’s murder. As she, her aides and the TV crew joked about Gaddafi’s murder the reporter slipped in a question. ‘Did your recent surprise visit to Libya have anything to do with Gaddafi’s death?”  ‘No’ replied Clinton. Then she rolled her eyes adjusted her jacket and confessed ‘I am sure it did’.

ON QUINTIN FERNANDO'S REFERENCE TO ROHAN GUNARATNA

         

August 05 2005

On Quintin Fernando’s Reference to Rohan Gunaratna

Hameed Abdul Karim

Your columnist Quintin Fernando has gone to some lengths to commend Rohan Gunaratna in his column ‘From Down Under’ (DM 20 July 2005) describing him as a ‘terrorist expert’ and quite well versed with the machinations of Al-Qaida. He had written a book titled ‘Inside Al-Qaida’. The title suggests that he had risked his life by somehow creeping into the movement and finding out for himself the threat this outfit poses to the so-called ‘civilised world’. Quintin Fernando’s’ comments were symptomatic of the infamous Bushism that ‘those not with us are with them’ and therefore somehow uncivilized. But the fact of the matter is that Rohan Gunaratna had never been inside Al-Qaida. He had written his book ‘Inside Al-Qaida’ from outside!

Rohan Gunaratna shot to fame, or notoriety depending on which side of the fence one stands, the civilised or the uncivilised (ask Bush for the definition), with 9/11 and his book on Al-Qaida. Ever since then he has made himself available to promote Western interests with his vituperative invectives against what the western media and he call ‘Islamic terrorism’, never even pausing to catch their breaths to find out why there is such a thing as ‘Islamic terrorism’.

The irony is that it is his very book ‘Inside Al-Qaida’ that lays bare Gunaratna’s pseudo-intellectualism. For example he had cited an incident on how terrorists (Islamic, of course) planned to hijack a BA aircraft and crash it into the British parliament. The source of his information was an Indian by the name of Mohammed Afroz whom the Indian intelligence had arrested after 9/11 on suspicion of being an ‘Islamic terrorist’ (what else). But an Indian court released Afroz because it transpired, during the investigations carried out by Delhi police that the Mumbai police had forced the statement from Afroz and then sensationalised the story to gain some cheap international publicity in the glare of 9/11.  

Gunaratne had claimed that one Hannibal,the head of Jemah Islamiah intelligence outfit, along with others of the group had made many reconnaissance visits to Australia before the Bali bombing. But the truth is that they did no such thing according to Daryl Williams, Australia’s attorney general. Rohan Gunaratna stood exposed and could do nothing to defend himself!

In his book he claims he had been invited to address the United Nations, the US Congress and the Australian parliament in the wake of 9/11. He goes on to add that he is a Research Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at St. Andrew’s University in Scotland. Before all that we are informed that he was ‘principal investigator’ at the UN’s Terrorism Prevention Branch. And what’s more we are told, for good measure, that he served as a consultant on terrorism to several governments and institutions.

Unfortunately for him Australia’s The Sunday Age did a check on him and discovered that the UN had no such position as ‘Principal Investigator’ at its Terrorism Prevention Branch. He had done no such thing as addressing the UN, the US Congress or the Australian parliament. What he had done, in fact, was that he had addressed a group of people at a seminar organised by the Australian Parliamentary Library and given evidence to a congressional hearing on terrorism. His ‘address to the United Nations’ was in reality only a research paper he presented at a conference on terrorism organised by the UN’s Department for Disarmament.

‘Experts’ like Rohan Gunaratna serve the Western Axis’ agenda with the likes of Samuel Huntington’s and the Francis Fukayama’s   who, whenever the imperialists want to create what is called ‘democratic consent’ for their designs for world domination, quickly  jump on to the bandwagon and carry out their masters’ orders. Case in point is the myth of the WMD’s in Iraq that ‘media friendly experts’ on ‘Islamic terrorism’ mooted on the orders of their bosses in the White House and Downing Street. When these ‘experts’ do their masters’ bidding by creating a hoopla and hype about the imminent destruction of the civilised world by ‘Islamic terrorists’, they don’t realise that they leave behind a trail of death and destruction wantonly created by the Western Axis to steal the resources of the non-White world.

 

CONTROVERSY : KARIM'S REPLY TO ROHAN GUNARATNE

01 October 2006

Controversy:

Karim's reply to Rohan Gunaratne - an 

imperialist

Hameed Abdul Karim 

Every empire has had its hurrah boys singing for their supper. Dr. Rohan Gunaratne is one of those who fall into that category, as was made evident in his interview in the Sunday Observer of September 17, 2006 where he expressed his subjective views on terrorism with an unsympathetic twist to the ‘Muslim’ variety - toeing the line already laid down by the shamelessly embedded western media.

FEELING BETRAYED - A NOTE TO ALJAZEERA-ENGLISH

Feeling Betrayed

A Note to Al-Jazeera

Hameed Abdul Karim

During the past few days there has been a paradigm shift in Al-Jazeera's (English) news telecasts.

The news about the Libyan revolution was top on the list for months, but today (27 September 2011)  it was about the fifth on the 'agenda' despite the fact that the 'rebels' had entered Sirte once again.

About a couple of days ago news on Turkey's expulsion of the Israeli ambassador, which was unprecedented, went to the 4th slot. 

CONSOLIDATING HYPOCRISY

Consolidating Hypocrisy

September 13, 2011

By Hameed Abdul Karim

US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton’s comments on Syrian President Bashar al Asad’s, though true and relevant, smacked of unbridled hypocrisy. Her statement that it was wrong for Asad to kill his own people should have been extended to say ‘that it is America’s job to do the killing of civilians’. Her country has done a terrific job of killing civilians in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan and continues to just that every day. Her government’s support for killing civilians in Palestine is another ‘cap in the feather’ of her nation – which has been at war with one nation or another every day for the past one hundred years.

THE UNANSWERED QUESTION OVER THE COLLAPSE OF BUILDING 7 ON SEPT 11

This article appeared in the Sunday Times 11 September 2011 but due to space constraints certain sections were omitted. I am including those sections and have lighted them in yellow. Please spread this around. Thanks. 

Sunday 11 September, 2011

]

The Unanswered Question over the Collapse of Building 7 on Sept. 11

Hameed Abdul Karim

Most of those who believe the official 9-11 version do not know there was another building that collapsed on that fateful day. This is Building no 7 or the Salomon Brothers Building. On the very afternoon of 9-11 this 47 storey skyscraper came tumbling down like a pack of cards in just 7 seconds.

Under public pressure the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) came out with a version that claimed the building collapsed due to heat generation which supposedly melted the steel structures. Later they changed the version and agreed with family members of those who died on 9-11 that the building had collapsed in a free fall which is more in line with claims of more than 1300 engineers and architects who believe the collapse of Building No.7 was due to a controlled demolition job. But there is one flaw in this report. The NIST did not attempt to explain how Building 7’s free fall descent could have occurred.

PUTTING IN A NICE WORD FOR ISRAEL

18 September 2011


Putting in a Nice Word for Israel

Hameed Abdul Karim

Over the past few months the local (Sri Lanka) English media, including the government owned ones, have been dropping in a nice word for Israel every now and then whilst shunning any news that might be even mildly negative of Israel.

This began when the Israeli ambassador accredited to Sri Lanka and residing in New Delhi came over on a visit to Sri Lanka some months ago. During his sojourn he visited many newspaper offices giving rosy little speeches about Israel, ignoring the apartheid system according to Archbishop Desmond Tutu that his government has enforced in occupied Palestine. No Sri Lankan journalist had the spunk to question him on Israel’s vicious occupation of Palestine.

CAUSES AND LESSONS FROM THE BRITISH RIOTS

Appeared in
The Island

Monday August 15, 2011.

http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=32444

By Hameed Abdul Karim

Riot policeman stand guard in Tottenham, north London, late Saturday, Aug. 6, 2011, after two patrol cars were attacked by members of a community where a young man was shot dead by police on Thursday took to the streets to demand "justice." Officers had been attempting to carry out an arrest under the Trident operational command unit, which deals with gun crime in the black community, according to the Independent Police Complaints Commission. (AP)
Long years ago I talked with a British educationist and asked him why it cost so much for a foreign student in the UK and so little to a British citizen and whether it wouldn’t be a good idea to increase fees for them and correspondingly reduce the fees for a foreign student. What he told me had remained in my head ever since. He said if the government were to do that there would be a revolution in England.

Well, it looks like that’s exactly what happening in England right now. No it’s not a revolution but certainly the resentment has now hit the streets and it’s such a shame to see the quaint old buildings go up in flames. But on the other hand Imagine how a youth would feel when he hears his helpless father bemoaning the cuts in social spending and how much more it’s going to cost him to put food on the table and to educate his children.