Brampton teen's suicide tied to privacy law
Carleton staff prevented from contacting family of depressed teen
Apr 23, 2008 04:30 AM
Robyn Doolittle
Staff Reporter
Although the school was aware Nadia Kajouji had been suffering from depression, privacy laws prevented counsellors from contacting the girl's parents earlier, Carleton University officials told a news conference yesterday.
Nadia's family has been critical of the university for not telling them the teen had expressed suicidal thoughts and had been on antidepressants. The 18-year-old disappeared six weeks ago and only after she'd been gone three days did Mohamad Kajouji get a call from the school about his daughter's mental state. She had been seeing a counsellor and campus doctor and had been prescribed Cipralex, an antidepressant.
A body, which police believe is the Brampton teen, was found in the Rideau River on Sunday.
The tragedy has once again raised questions about a university's obligation to inform parents about their child's medical condition.
Her father says the doctors she was seeing knew she was feeling suicidal but didn't contact him until it was too late. Carleton would not comment on what information they had prior to Nadia's disappearance or what information was revealed to Kajouji.
"I can't comment directly on the Nadia case because of the legislation, but I can say that we do have protocol ... and, at Carleton, we feel that we had done everything we could for Nadia," said Suzanne Blanchard, associate vice-president for student services.
While legislation would protect confidentiality between Nadia and her doctor, the law also clearly states confidentiality can be broken if someone's life is in danger.
At Ryerson University, as at Carleton, senior student staff live on each floor in residence. These students are trained to detect signs of depression and, depending on the severity of the case, a range of procedures is carried out.
"There have been several cases (involving seriously depressed students) over the last few years where we have contacted somebody," said Glen Weppler, manager of student housing services at Ryerson. "We always tell the student that we will be contacting somebody and we ask, `who you would like us to contact?' Often it's a parent, but sometimes a sister, brother or, in at least one case, a teacher."
By all accounts, the Brampton teen had been a bright high school student with dreams of being a lawyer. But once she left for university, things changed. When the 18-year-old came home for Reading Week, her family noticed she seemed down. She'd recently split with a boyfriend and was having trouble in school.
Typical teenage stuff, her father thought.
During the investigation, police uncovered alarming online instant messenger conversations between Nadia and an American woman who encouraged the teen to kill herself in front of a web cam. Counselling someone to commit suicide is illegal in Canada.
Sgt. Uday Jaswal, who led the investigation, offered little comment on the online chats.
"That was provided to the family in confidence to them to help them understand the situation. We've taken the view that it's a personal family matter," he said.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Where is Aju Iroaga
This story caught my eye because of this
"Iroaga, on his second day on the job, had been ordered by his crew boss to replant a section of trees he had improperly planted the first day out and the block he'd planted that morning. Iroaga refused.
He threw down his shovel, his tree-planting bag, his high-visibility vest, hard hat and work boots, laced up his leather running shoes and walked away. "
http://www.ajuiroaga.com/
Family seeks probe of son's disappearance
Apr 24, 2008 04:30 AM
dale anne freed, staff reporter Toronto Star
Iroaga, on his second day on the job, had been ordered by his crew boss to replant a section of trees he had improperly planted the first day out and the block he'd planted that morning. Iroaga refused.
He threw down his shovel, his tree-planting bag, his high-visibility vest, hard hat and work boots, laced up his leather running shoes and walked away.
He was an experienced tree planter. It was his second summer planting black spruce and jack pine seedlings in the northern bush.
According to witnesses, Iroaga had been told to wait on a corner of a dirt logging road for pickup at the day's end. He agreed. He was about 70 kilometres from the town of White River on Highway 17.
But by 4:05 p.m., when the crew arrived, Iroaga was not there.
"No sign, vanished," wrote Iroaga's supervisor, John Ritter, in notes made at the time.
Iroaga was last seen at 3:45 p.m. on May 15, 2006, walking alone up a dusty logging road.
Nearly two years later, his family, frustrated by a seemingly stalled investigation, is suggesting foul play in the young man's disappearance.
"I'm calling on the Ministry of Labour to get involved. All these young people they recruit from universities to go tree planting, it's under their responsibility if they go missing. I also want the coroner's office to do an inquest following their investigation," said Iroaga's father Nwab Iroaga, 71, who teaches organizational behaviour at Seneca College.
Nwab, of Scarborough, and his older son Echere, 37, an electrical engineer from California, flew to the area the day after Aju's disappearance. They found his driver's licence, Nigerian and Canadian passports, phone card, social insurance card and phone calling card with his camp belongings.
Five hours later the police were called in, said OPP Det. Sgt. Jeff Bangma, who worked on the case. Two officers drove the roads honking their horns; one stayed all night calling Aju's name.
"If the canine units didn't find him, then somehow he must have been transported out of that place," said Aju's father. He believes the search was made in the wrong area.
Two weeks later, the Iroagas hired a private investigator who also turned up nothing. Nwab offered a $50,000 reward for anyone with clues to finding his son.
Now he wants the search restarted and its area widened.
Aju's family is cranking up the pressure on authorities. They held a news conference at Queen's Park on Monday, the same day 30 friends and relatives sat in on the Legislature to urge the minister of community safety to re-open the case.
Progressive Conservative MPP Frank Klees rose in the Legislature to demand a probe on behalf of the family, saying that the OPP investigation was inconclusive. He also called for the Ministry of Labour to investigate. "Parents want to be assured, that (students are) being recruited to job sites that are safe."
NDP justice critic Peter Kormos blamed the OPP for what he termed "a botched investigation" and for not notifying the coroner's office. Minister of Community Safety Rick Bartolucci agreed to meet with the family at Queen's Park for half an hour and his deputy minister assured the Iroagas he'd report back in a month's time with updates.
"I'm very much encouraged. ... This is the first time somebody is really caring," said Nwab.
Last week, the office of the chief coroner launched an investigation into Aju's death and met with the OPP in Sudbury to get their assistance.
Aju was seen waiting by the logging road at least 10 times over the four hours after he quit. He gave a thumbs-up or wave to his supervisor as he drove by. A long-distance runner, Aju often sprinted close to 30 kilometres along the logging roads in the mornings before he left the Crocker Lake base camp at 7 a.m. for tree planting,
"I don't know how he got out (of the area). My impression is that he made it out. I assume the police investigation was that he got out since they called off the search," said Paul Thususka, a co-owner and general manager of A&M Reforestation, the company that hired Iroaga.
His parents say they need to know what happened. "I know for sure that my son is not alive," said his mother Nkechi, 59. But, "I need that closure so that my mind will rest."
http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/417768
"Iroaga, on his second day on the job, had been ordered by his crew boss to replant a section of trees he had improperly planted the first day out and the block he'd planted that morning. Iroaga refused.
He threw down his shovel, his tree-planting bag, his high-visibility vest, hard hat and work boots, laced up his leather running shoes and walked away. "
http://www.ajuiroaga.com/
Family seeks probe of son's disappearance
Apr 24, 2008 04:30 AM
dale anne freed, staff reporter Toronto Star
Iroaga, on his second day on the job, had been ordered by his crew boss to replant a section of trees he had improperly planted the first day out and the block he'd planted that morning. Iroaga refused.
He threw down his shovel, his tree-planting bag, his high-visibility vest, hard hat and work boots, laced up his leather running shoes and walked away.
He was an experienced tree planter. It was his second summer planting black spruce and jack pine seedlings in the northern bush.
According to witnesses, Iroaga had been told to wait on a corner of a dirt logging road for pickup at the day's end. He agreed. He was about 70 kilometres from the town of White River on Highway 17.
But by 4:05 p.m., when the crew arrived, Iroaga was not there.
"No sign, vanished," wrote Iroaga's supervisor, John Ritter, in notes made at the time.
Iroaga was last seen at 3:45 p.m. on May 15, 2006, walking alone up a dusty logging road.
Nearly two years later, his family, frustrated by a seemingly stalled investigation, is suggesting foul play in the young man's disappearance.
"I'm calling on the Ministry of Labour to get involved. All these young people they recruit from universities to go tree planting, it's under their responsibility if they go missing. I also want the coroner's office to do an inquest following their investigation," said Iroaga's father Nwab Iroaga, 71, who teaches organizational behaviour at Seneca College.
Nwab, of Scarborough, and his older son Echere, 37, an electrical engineer from California, flew to the area the day after Aju's disappearance. They found his driver's licence, Nigerian and Canadian passports, phone card, social insurance card and phone calling card with his camp belongings.
Five hours later the police were called in, said OPP Det. Sgt. Jeff Bangma, who worked on the case. Two officers drove the roads honking their horns; one stayed all night calling Aju's name.
"If the canine units didn't find him, then somehow he must have been transported out of that place," said Aju's father. He believes the search was made in the wrong area.
Two weeks later, the Iroagas hired a private investigator who also turned up nothing. Nwab offered a $50,000 reward for anyone with clues to finding his son.
Now he wants the search restarted and its area widened.
Aju's family is cranking up the pressure on authorities. They held a news conference at Queen's Park on Monday, the same day 30 friends and relatives sat in on the Legislature to urge the minister of community safety to re-open the case.
Progressive Conservative MPP Frank Klees rose in the Legislature to demand a probe on behalf of the family, saying that the OPP investigation was inconclusive. He also called for the Ministry of Labour to investigate. "Parents want to be assured, that (students are) being recruited to job sites that are safe."
NDP justice critic Peter Kormos blamed the OPP for what he termed "a botched investigation" and for not notifying the coroner's office. Minister of Community Safety Rick Bartolucci agreed to meet with the family at Queen's Park for half an hour and his deputy minister assured the Iroagas he'd report back in a month's time with updates.
"I'm very much encouraged. ... This is the first time somebody is really caring," said Nwab.
Last week, the office of the chief coroner launched an investigation into Aju's death and met with the OPP in Sudbury to get their assistance.
Aju was seen waiting by the logging road at least 10 times over the four hours after he quit. He gave a thumbs-up or wave to his supervisor as he drove by. A long-distance runner, Aju often sprinted close to 30 kilometres along the logging roads in the mornings before he left the Crocker Lake base camp at 7 a.m. for tree planting,
"I don't know how he got out (of the area). My impression is that he made it out. I assume the police investigation was that he got out since they called off the search," said Paul Thususka, a co-owner and general manager of A&M Reforestation, the company that hired Iroaga.
His parents say they need to know what happened. "I know for sure that my son is not alive," said his mother Nkechi, 59. But, "I need that closure so that my mind will rest."
http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/417768
Monday, April 14, 2008
Racism and the fractured Ummah
Saraji recently made two posts (here and here) about two issues which are actually related: first, the racism by which Muslims of "eastern" origin look down on Afro-American Muslims, and on people who attempt to demonstrate that "everything that we don't like in Islamic belief or practice is wrong":
http://www.blogistan.co.uk/blog/mt.php/2004/12/04/racism_and_the_fractured_ummah
http://www.blogistan.co.uk/blog/mt.php/2004/12/04/racism_and_the_fractured_ummah
The missing Muslims
Syed Nazakat, 14 April 2008, Monday
Ever since independence, Muslims have lagged behind in every possible field. Why is it that millions of Indian Muslims were left behind? Should the entire community be termed backward? Where lies the fault for this backwardness?
AS SAFINA, 46, widow and mother of five children swings her squealing young son into the air, her starchy white pinafore gleams against the blue sky. Every time she sends her son and daughters to school, brings a notebook and pencil for them, attaches a button or hem on their school uniform, she knows she is performing an act that will help to transform the fate of her family.
"The most important thing is education," said Safina, who lives in Nizamudin Basti in Delhi. She is selling cigarette and candies at her roadside shop. "I am sending my children to school despite the fact that I am so poor", she added while walking past the crowded and rubbish-strewn street leading to Hazrat Nizamuddin shrine. "Look, this is where I came from," she said while pointing towards slums (basti). "I want to get out from here. I want my children out from here."
An Indian Muslim, she embodies a simple answer to a grave situation the India’s 150 million Muslims are facing all across the country today. The high level Rajinder Sachar committee formed last year by the prime minister to measure social, economic and educational status of the Muslim community, has confirmed that Muslims are living in deplorable condition in the country. The report indicates rampant illiteracy, unemployment and poverty among Muslims. Former MP Syed Shahabuddin has compared the condition of the Indian Muslim to that of blacks in the US — an analogy once reserved only for Dalits.
Mohammed Hamid Ansari, chairman of the National Commission for Minorities and a distinguished diplomat who served as India’s ambassador to the United States, believes that mere reservation is not going to help Muslims. "I think education is the only way to improve the living condition of Muslims. It is long but reliable way-out," said Ansari. "The Ulema had great influence on the Muslims, but this did not result in the advancement of education. Education is the main challenge for Indian Muslims."
The social economic condition of Muslims in India, which is the home to more Muslims than any Muslim country in the world except Indonesia, has raised many disturbing questions. More importantly why Muslims are left behind in every field of life even after fifty years of partition? Though the reason is a mix of history, politics and apathy of system, but the question is, are the Muslims too not responsible for their under development?
"It would be wrong to generalise the whole situation. There are many reasons for backwardness of Muslims in the country. But the Ulemas and the Muslim community can’t shrug their shoulders," said Prof. Yoginder Sikan who has done considerable work on Indian Muslims and madrassas. "The Ulemas are still involved in unnecessary issues; they are not encouraging Muslims for modern education and the educated Muslims are not interested to work for their community, with the result Muslims are failing behind".
The Sachar committee has clearly mentioned that illiteracy is one of the main reasons behind the social and educational backwardness of Muslims. The pathetic educational levels of Muslims in the 20-30 age groups is an indicator to why the Indian Muslim is missing from the corridors of power, from the civil services, from the judiciary and from land ownership. According to findings of the committee 90 per cent of Muslims do not even reach 10th class. Then no wonder that only 2.2 per cent of IAS officers are Muslim and no Muslim is a secretary-level official in the Central government.
With no education, parents expect their sons to take over often low-paying jobs. That is why the community’s performance affects the nation’s growth: India’s 13.4 per cent Muslim population contributes only 6 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the country. Though the global issues concerning Muslims, whether Iraq and Middle East crises, the Afghanistan invasion, the Danish cartoons controversy or George Bush’s "war on terror," are relatively muffled in India, but there are incidents when Muslim leaders gave vent to their fury. As a result, politics dominates the religion - and the religion becomes a cover for rhetoric.
"Our Imams always issue fiery statement from Mosques. They talk about Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and other things. They never bother to see what is happening to their community in their own towns," said Ali Mohammad, 35, a riksha pullar, standing outside the grand Masjid where Shahi Imam, Syed Bukhari has just termed the Sachar report as a political bandwagon and proudly asked the government to give reservation to Muslims by defining the entire Muslim community as ’backward’.
Many Islamic scholars are saying that there is a need to reform the education system of Islamic madrassas in the country, which are considered a major source of radical influence on Muslims. There are over 50,000 madrassas in the country. "Indian madrassas are doing good work and they are there for years. But I think that there is a need of revival of education system. Madrassas have no formal education system, so the students who read there have no chance of getting jobs in government departments or public sector,” said Yoginder Sikand.
However Moulana Mohammed Farooq Qasmi of Dar ul Uloom Deoband, one of the biggest Islamic seminaries in the world said that they are not against reforms of madrassas but reforms should not become a political issue "There is a lot of confusion about madrassas. We are educating our youth about their religion, and I think there is no harm in it. Every religion does that, Farooq Qasmi said, while pointing out that only four per cent Muslim children study in madrassas (as Sachar committee states) and it indicated lack of basic education facilities to Muslims.
What is also striking is that the money generated by wakf (charitable) boards is not used for the education and development of Muslims. "Millions of rupees are collected by wakf boards every year. They are spending their money on shrines, mosques and graveyards. They have to utilise that money for establishing educational institutions and professional colleges," said Abusaleh Shariff, a member of the prime ministerial committee conducting a socio- economic survey of Indian Muslims.
There is another source of money – Zakat, which can be used for social and economic development of Muslims. "Islam has prohibited interest to help weaker sections of society. If interest free co-operative banks are established with the Zakat money to help small artisans and traders, it can be of tremendous help in uplifting the poor Muslims," said Dr. Jamul-ul-din who teaches at Calicut Univerity in Kerala.
This bleak statistical picture is rendered drearier still by new trends visible in many cities. Muslims are the first to be questioned, harassed and arrested by the police after terrorist attack anywhere in the country. That seems to be the reason that the only places where the Sachar committee found Muslims visible are prisons. Also in Gujrat, Muslim community leaders wrote a detailed letter to the Sachar committee that communal riots of 2002 has adversely affected the education of Muslim children and large areas of Muslims have been branded as "negative zones" by banks and credit card companies.
While the Muslim community is still struggling to understand, what does the Sachar committee’s finding actually mean for them, the report has become a hot political potato. The Congress leaders are talking about religion-based reservation and the BJP is claiming an obscurantist minority is being appeased and pampered. The winter session of Parliament, where the Sachar committee report will be tabled is all set for heated debate.
Far away from this political drama, Safina has figured out how to benefit for the apathy of society and system. "Once you understand that nobody is going to help you. You realise that you have to make your own future". As dusk gathers, Azan resounds from the mosque near Nizamuddin shrine. Safina is cleaning her house and asking her children to finish homework before going for Quranic classes. She has never thought of sending her children to school.
That her kids are now in school, learning and doing well is perhaps prophetic, a hopeful sign. Her self-help and resilience represents the leading edge of change. Now everybody including the government has to ensure that she and other people like her do not fail in their endeavor.
Sachar committee’s findings at a glance
· Muslims form 14.7 per cent of India’s 1.1 billion population.
· Across 12 states, with an average Muslim population of 15.4 per cent, only 6.4 per cent of government employees are Muslims.
· In 15 states where Muslims average 17 per cent of the population, they are 8 per cent of the lower judiciary.
· In eight states where they average 14.82 per cent of the population, they account for 23.4 per cent of prison inmates.
· Only 7.2 per cent of the number of school-leaving students each year are Muslims.
· Only 2.2 per cent of IAS officers are Muslims and no Muslim is a secretary-level official in the Central government.
· Out of 1.1million Indian soldiers only 29,000 are Muslims.
India ’s 13.4 per cent Muslims contribute just 6 per cent of the GDP
· There is no Muslim in RAW.
Ever since independence, Muslims have lagged behind in every possible field. Why is it that millions of Indian Muslims were left behind? Should the entire community be termed backward? Where lies the fault for this backwardness?
AS SAFINA, 46, widow and mother of five children swings her squealing young son into the air, her starchy white pinafore gleams against the blue sky. Every time she sends her son and daughters to school, brings a notebook and pencil for them, attaches a button or hem on their school uniform, she knows she is performing an act that will help to transform the fate of her family.
"The most important thing is education," said Safina, who lives in Nizamudin Basti in Delhi. She is selling cigarette and candies at her roadside shop. "I am sending my children to school despite the fact that I am so poor", she added while walking past the crowded and rubbish-strewn street leading to Hazrat Nizamuddin shrine. "Look, this is where I came from," she said while pointing towards slums (basti). "I want to get out from here. I want my children out from here."
An Indian Muslim, she embodies a simple answer to a grave situation the India’s 150 million Muslims are facing all across the country today. The high level Rajinder Sachar committee formed last year by the prime minister to measure social, economic and educational status of the Muslim community, has confirmed that Muslims are living in deplorable condition in the country. The report indicates rampant illiteracy, unemployment and poverty among Muslims. Former MP Syed Shahabuddin has compared the condition of the Indian Muslim to that of blacks in the US — an analogy once reserved only for Dalits.
Mohammed Hamid Ansari, chairman of the National Commission for Minorities and a distinguished diplomat who served as India’s ambassador to the United States, believes that mere reservation is not going to help Muslims. "I think education is the only way to improve the living condition of Muslims. It is long but reliable way-out," said Ansari. "The Ulema had great influence on the Muslims, but this did not result in the advancement of education. Education is the main challenge for Indian Muslims."
The social economic condition of Muslims in India, which is the home to more Muslims than any Muslim country in the world except Indonesia, has raised many disturbing questions. More importantly why Muslims are left behind in every field of life even after fifty years of partition? Though the reason is a mix of history, politics and apathy of system, but the question is, are the Muslims too not responsible for their under development?
"It would be wrong to generalise the whole situation. There are many reasons for backwardness of Muslims in the country. But the Ulemas and the Muslim community can’t shrug their shoulders," said Prof. Yoginder Sikan who has done considerable work on Indian Muslims and madrassas. "The Ulemas are still involved in unnecessary issues; they are not encouraging Muslims for modern education and the educated Muslims are not interested to work for their community, with the result Muslims are failing behind".
The Sachar committee has clearly mentioned that illiteracy is one of the main reasons behind the social and educational backwardness of Muslims. The pathetic educational levels of Muslims in the 20-30 age groups is an indicator to why the Indian Muslim is missing from the corridors of power, from the civil services, from the judiciary and from land ownership. According to findings of the committee 90 per cent of Muslims do not even reach 10th class. Then no wonder that only 2.2 per cent of IAS officers are Muslim and no Muslim is a secretary-level official in the Central government.
With no education, parents expect their sons to take over often low-paying jobs. That is why the community’s performance affects the nation’s growth: India’s 13.4 per cent Muslim population contributes only 6 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the country. Though the global issues concerning Muslims, whether Iraq and Middle East crises, the Afghanistan invasion, the Danish cartoons controversy or George Bush’s "war on terror," are relatively muffled in India, but there are incidents when Muslim leaders gave vent to their fury. As a result, politics dominates the religion - and the religion becomes a cover for rhetoric.
"Our Imams always issue fiery statement from Mosques. They talk about Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and other things. They never bother to see what is happening to their community in their own towns," said Ali Mohammad, 35, a riksha pullar, standing outside the grand Masjid where Shahi Imam, Syed Bukhari has just termed the Sachar report as a political bandwagon and proudly asked the government to give reservation to Muslims by defining the entire Muslim community as ’backward’.
Many Islamic scholars are saying that there is a need to reform the education system of Islamic madrassas in the country, which are considered a major source of radical influence on Muslims. There are over 50,000 madrassas in the country. "Indian madrassas are doing good work and they are there for years. But I think that there is a need of revival of education system. Madrassas have no formal education system, so the students who read there have no chance of getting jobs in government departments or public sector,” said Yoginder Sikand.
However Moulana Mohammed Farooq Qasmi of Dar ul Uloom Deoband, one of the biggest Islamic seminaries in the world said that they are not against reforms of madrassas but reforms should not become a political issue "There is a lot of confusion about madrassas. We are educating our youth about their religion, and I think there is no harm in it. Every religion does that, Farooq Qasmi said, while pointing out that only four per cent Muslim children study in madrassas (as Sachar committee states) and it indicated lack of basic education facilities to Muslims.
What is also striking is that the money generated by wakf (charitable) boards is not used for the education and development of Muslims. "Millions of rupees are collected by wakf boards every year. They are spending their money on shrines, mosques and graveyards. They have to utilise that money for establishing educational institutions and professional colleges," said Abusaleh Shariff, a member of the prime ministerial committee conducting a socio- economic survey of Indian Muslims.
There is another source of money – Zakat, which can be used for social and economic development of Muslims. "Islam has prohibited interest to help weaker sections of society. If interest free co-operative banks are established with the Zakat money to help small artisans and traders, it can be of tremendous help in uplifting the poor Muslims," said Dr. Jamul-ul-din who teaches at Calicut Univerity in Kerala.
This bleak statistical picture is rendered drearier still by new trends visible in many cities. Muslims are the first to be questioned, harassed and arrested by the police after terrorist attack anywhere in the country. That seems to be the reason that the only places where the Sachar committee found Muslims visible are prisons. Also in Gujrat, Muslim community leaders wrote a detailed letter to the Sachar committee that communal riots of 2002 has adversely affected the education of Muslim children and large areas of Muslims have been branded as "negative zones" by banks and credit card companies.
While the Muslim community is still struggling to understand, what does the Sachar committee’s finding actually mean for them, the report has become a hot political potato. The Congress leaders are talking about religion-based reservation and the BJP is claiming an obscurantist minority is being appeased and pampered. The winter session of Parliament, where the Sachar committee report will be tabled is all set for heated debate.
Far away from this political drama, Safina has figured out how to benefit for the apathy of society and system. "Once you understand that nobody is going to help you. You realise that you have to make your own future". As dusk gathers, Azan resounds from the mosque near Nizamuddin shrine. Safina is cleaning her house and asking her children to finish homework before going for Quranic classes. She has never thought of sending her children to school.
That her kids are now in school, learning and doing well is perhaps prophetic, a hopeful sign. Her self-help and resilience represents the leading edge of change. Now everybody including the government has to ensure that she and other people like her do not fail in their endeavor.
Sachar committee’s findings at a glance
· Muslims form 14.7 per cent of India’s 1.1 billion population.
· Across 12 states, with an average Muslim population of 15.4 per cent, only 6.4 per cent of government employees are Muslims.
· In 15 states where Muslims average 17 per cent of the population, they are 8 per cent of the lower judiciary.
· In eight states where they average 14.82 per cent of the population, they account for 23.4 per cent of prison inmates.
· Only 7.2 per cent of the number of school-leaving students each year are Muslims.
· Only 2.2 per cent of IAS officers are Muslims and no Muslim is a secretary-level official in the Central government.
· Out of 1.1million Indian soldiers only 29,000 are Muslims.
India ’s 13.4 per cent Muslims contribute just 6 per cent of the GDP
· There is no Muslim in RAW.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
WAR ON POVERTY: RISE OF THE MUSLIM GHETTO
For Muslim poor, a shameful admission
Apr 12, 2008 04:30 AM
Noor Javed
Staff Reporter
On the corner of Dundas and Chestnut Sts., Ahmed dumps a handful of pennies and quarters on the sidewalk, and begins counting his day's earnings.
"Asalamu alakum, can you spare some change?" he shyly asks two men as they rush past him and into Masjid Toronto, a downtown mosque.
A former teacher, Ahmed left war-torn Iraq five years ago for Canada. "I came here but couldn't find a job, couldn't make money," he said. "Now I am homeless. I live in a shelter."
The exact number of Muslims in Toronto who live below Statistics Canada's low-income cut-off, the country's unofficial poverty line, is difficult to determine, as socio-economic data is rarely gathered through the lens of religion.
But among those on the front lines in the Muslim community, those who work in mosques, community centres and the few charitable organizations, there is growing concern about the magnitude of poverty in the community, the lack of resources available to deal with the problem, and the reluctance – among all social classes – to admit the problem even exists.
For the Muslim poor, an admission of poverty is shameful. To the rich, the problem is invisible, or at least not so obvious when compared to the stark conditions of poverty they have seen back home.
"It is a cause for concern," said Uzma Shakir, former executive director of the South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario, and member of the Colour of Poverty campaign. "The repercussions of poverty and systemic poverty are not just economic but have serious social impacts as well," she said.
"Already we can see the formation of ghettos in some parts of the city," said Shakir, referring to neighbourhoods where overt race-based poverty is glaringly obvious, and where halal meat stores are in abundance.
The scant data available paints a troubling picture of a growing community of nearly 300,000 Muslims, which includes a mix of refugees, recent immigrants, and those who settled in Canada decades ago.
The four poorest of all ethno-racial groups, with more than 50 per cent of their members living below Statistics Canada's low-income cut-off, were Somalis, Afghans, Ethiopians and Bangladeshi populations – all from predominately Muslim countries. At least 30 per cent of Pakistanis and West Asians also qualified as poor, according to a study done by the Institute for Social Research at York University in 2006, which looked at the demographic and social profiles of ethno-racial groups in the city.
According to the low-income cut-offs, a family of four in Toronto with an annual income of $33,221 after taxes would be considered poor. Bangladeshi women earned the lowest median income of any group at just more than $15,000.
In 13 neighbourhoods deemed "at-risk" in Toronto by United Way, more than half have significant Muslim populations, including Flemingdon Park, Regent Park, Etobicoke North and Jane-Finch."Every year, we see more and more poor people coming to the mosque for help," said Omar Farouk, president of the International Muslims Organization, based in Etobicoke, which has opened a food bank and distributes food to shelters once a month. More than 200 people regularly access the food bank.
"People will work two or three jobs, and still not have enough money to make ends meet at the end of the month," said Atulya Sharman, a community legal worker with the South Asian legal clinic. "But nobody wants to admit they are poor, partly because of the stigma, and because they think it's just part of the settlement process."
That is where they are mistaken, said Mohamed Boudjenane, director of the Canadian Arab Federation, which is part of the Colour of Poverty campaign.
"The Muslim community is faced with tremendous barriers, like the issue of foreign credential recognition, and the issue of racism and stigmatization of simply being Muslim post 9-11," he said.
"It's not about settlement; it's about systemic barriers in the system. We are receiving well-educated people. They are ... engineers and doctors, but they are still doing dishes, or driving cabs."
But many don't even get those menial jobs. In a 2005 Canadian Labour Congress study on Racial Status and Employment Incomes, Arab and West-Asian visible minorities had the highest overall unemployment rate at 14 per cent.There are internal barriers within the community too. There is an obvious divide between the haves and have-nots, the second-generation Muslims and the new arrivals who have little interaction with each other outside of "Friday prayers at the mosque."
While charity is a fundamental part of the Islamic faith, many established Muslims in the GTA are ignorant of the growing need within their own communities and instead see poverty in their countries of origin as a more worthy cause.
"The image that comes to mind when you think poverty is that beggar on the street in Pakistan. You don't think of a family in Scarborough," said Sadaf Parvaiz, a chartered accountant and second-generation Pakistani-Canadian.
Attitudes are slowly changing among some second-generation Muslims, who feel little connection to their parents' homeland. Parvaiz is organizing a walk for poverty in the summer with proceeds going to a local food bank.
The Muslim Welfare Centre, one of the few organizations addressing poverty, runs a halal food bank and emergency women's shelter, funded by donations from the community, said CEO Qaiser Naqvi.
In most neighbourhoods, mosques have become places of service as well as worship.
It is a concept that Waris Malik put to use three years ago, when he launched a weekly Hot Soup Day at the Islamic Foundation of Toronto, a mosque in Scarborough – the first to launch a project of this kind in the city. The initiative now serves and distributes 750 meals each week. Masjid Toronto will be starting a similar soup kitchen at downtown's Scadding Court at the end of this month.
"The mosque can't play all roles," said Boudjenane, of the Canadian Arab Federation, who believes Muslims need to shift their focus from building mosques to creating civic structures and social agencies.
"We have the foundations, what we need now is to start building the community."
http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/413881
Apr 12, 2008 04:30 AM
Noor Javed
Staff Reporter
On the corner of Dundas and Chestnut Sts., Ahmed dumps a handful of pennies and quarters on the sidewalk, and begins counting his day's earnings.
"Asalamu alakum, can you spare some change?" he shyly asks two men as they rush past him and into Masjid Toronto, a downtown mosque.
A former teacher, Ahmed left war-torn Iraq five years ago for Canada. "I came here but couldn't find a job, couldn't make money," he said. "Now I am homeless. I live in a shelter."
The exact number of Muslims in Toronto who live below Statistics Canada's low-income cut-off, the country's unofficial poverty line, is difficult to determine, as socio-economic data is rarely gathered through the lens of religion.
But among those on the front lines in the Muslim community, those who work in mosques, community centres and the few charitable organizations, there is growing concern about the magnitude of poverty in the community, the lack of resources available to deal with the problem, and the reluctance – among all social classes – to admit the problem even exists.
For the Muslim poor, an admission of poverty is shameful. To the rich, the problem is invisible, or at least not so obvious when compared to the stark conditions of poverty they have seen back home.
"It is a cause for concern," said Uzma Shakir, former executive director of the South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario, and member of the Colour of Poverty campaign. "The repercussions of poverty and systemic poverty are not just economic but have serious social impacts as well," she said.
"Already we can see the formation of ghettos in some parts of the city," said Shakir, referring to neighbourhoods where overt race-based poverty is glaringly obvious, and where halal meat stores are in abundance.
The scant data available paints a troubling picture of a growing community of nearly 300,000 Muslims, which includes a mix of refugees, recent immigrants, and those who settled in Canada decades ago.
The four poorest of all ethno-racial groups, with more than 50 per cent of their members living below Statistics Canada's low-income cut-off, were Somalis, Afghans, Ethiopians and Bangladeshi populations – all from predominately Muslim countries. At least 30 per cent of Pakistanis and West Asians also qualified as poor, according to a study done by the Institute for Social Research at York University in 2006, which looked at the demographic and social profiles of ethno-racial groups in the city.
According to the low-income cut-offs, a family of four in Toronto with an annual income of $33,221 after taxes would be considered poor. Bangladeshi women earned the lowest median income of any group at just more than $15,000.
In 13 neighbourhoods deemed "at-risk" in Toronto by United Way, more than half have significant Muslim populations, including Flemingdon Park, Regent Park, Etobicoke North and Jane-Finch."Every year, we see more and more poor people coming to the mosque for help," said Omar Farouk, president of the International Muslims Organization, based in Etobicoke, which has opened a food bank and distributes food to shelters once a month. More than 200 people regularly access the food bank.
"People will work two or three jobs, and still not have enough money to make ends meet at the end of the month," said Atulya Sharman, a community legal worker with the South Asian legal clinic. "But nobody wants to admit they are poor, partly because of the stigma, and because they think it's just part of the settlement process."
That is where they are mistaken, said Mohamed Boudjenane, director of the Canadian Arab Federation, which is part of the Colour of Poverty campaign.
"The Muslim community is faced with tremendous barriers, like the issue of foreign credential recognition, and the issue of racism and stigmatization of simply being Muslim post 9-11," he said.
"It's not about settlement; it's about systemic barriers in the system. We are receiving well-educated people. They are ... engineers and doctors, but they are still doing dishes, or driving cabs."
But many don't even get those menial jobs. In a 2005 Canadian Labour Congress study on Racial Status and Employment Incomes, Arab and West-Asian visible minorities had the highest overall unemployment rate at 14 per cent.There are internal barriers within the community too. There is an obvious divide between the haves and have-nots, the second-generation Muslims and the new arrivals who have little interaction with each other outside of "Friday prayers at the mosque."
While charity is a fundamental part of the Islamic faith, many established Muslims in the GTA are ignorant of the growing need within their own communities and instead see poverty in their countries of origin as a more worthy cause.
"The image that comes to mind when you think poverty is that beggar on the street in Pakistan. You don't think of a family in Scarborough," said Sadaf Parvaiz, a chartered accountant and second-generation Pakistani-Canadian.
Attitudes are slowly changing among some second-generation Muslims, who feel little connection to their parents' homeland. Parvaiz is organizing a walk for poverty in the summer with proceeds going to a local food bank.
The Muslim Welfare Centre, one of the few organizations addressing poverty, runs a halal food bank and emergency women's shelter, funded by donations from the community, said CEO Qaiser Naqvi.
In most neighbourhoods, mosques have become places of service as well as worship.
It is a concept that Waris Malik put to use three years ago, when he launched a weekly Hot Soup Day at the Islamic Foundation of Toronto, a mosque in Scarborough – the first to launch a project of this kind in the city. The initiative now serves and distributes 750 meals each week. Masjid Toronto will be starting a similar soup kitchen at downtown's Scadding Court at the end of this month.
"The mosque can't play all roles," said Boudjenane, of the Canadian Arab Federation, who believes Muslims need to shift their focus from building mosques to creating civic structures and social agencies.
"We have the foundations, what we need now is to start building the community."
http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/413881
Friday, April 4, 2008
The God Delusion
A debate between Richard Dawkins and Francis Collins.
Richard Dawkins - Author of "The God Delusion"attacks faith philosophically and historically as well as scientifically, but leans heavily on Darwinian theory.
Francis Collins - Author of the "The Language of God" . Collins' devotion to genetics is, if possible, greater than Dawkins'. Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute since 1993, he headed a multinational 2,400-scientist team that co-mapped the 3 billion biochemical letters of our genetic blueprint. He is also a forthright Christian who converted from atheism at age 27 and now finds time to advise young evangelical scientists on how to declare their faith in science's largely agnostic upper reaches
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1555132-1,00.html
Richard Dawkins - Author of "The God Delusion"attacks faith philosophically and historically as well as scientifically, but leans heavily on Darwinian theory.
Francis Collins - Author of the "The Language of God" . Collins' devotion to genetics is, if possible, greater than Dawkins'. Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute since 1993, he headed a multinational 2,400-scientist team that co-mapped the 3 billion biochemical letters of our genetic blueprint. He is also a forthright Christian who converted from atheism at age 27 and now finds time to advise young evangelical scientists on how to declare their faith in science's largely agnostic upper reaches
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1555132-1,00.html
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Khuda Kay Liye (In The Name of God)
Khuda Kay Liye (In The Name of God)
Tony Tharakan.Reuters
New Delhi, February 26, 2008
First Published: 13:26 IST(26/2/2008)
Last Updated: 15:50 IST(26/2/2008)
New Delhi, February 26, 2008
First Published: 13:26 IST(26/2/2008)
Last Updated: 15:50 IST(26/2/2008)
Pakistani film on Islam in a rare India screening
A Pakistani film about Muslims in a post 9/11 world is slated to open in India next month, a rare event considering political rivalry has limited cultural interaction between the two nuclear-armed rivals.
Khuda Kay Liye (In The Name of God) deals with the rift between radical and liberal Islam, an issue that confronts India's 140 million Muslims as well while they fight charges that the community provides recruits for militant groups.
Director Shoaib Mansoor hopes the Urdu film will engage audiences in Hindu-majority India when it opens in theatres on March 28.
"It is the first Pakistani film (in India) after several decades so people should have a natural interest in it," the Lahore-based filmmaker told Reuters in an email interview.
"India has a very big Muslim population which should naturally be interested. And the non-Muslims (would want) to know what real Islam is."
Khuda Kay Liye weaves together three stories -- of a pop singer who comes under the influence of Islamic extremists, a Briton of Pakistani origin who is forcibly married to her cousin and a man illegally detained in the US after the Sept 11 attacks.
The film also features Indian actor Naseeruddin Shah in a cameo as a Muslim scholar clarifying the tenets of Islam during a court case.
Pakistan's film industry has been starved of a natural audience in India due to political differences and the dominance of Bollywood.
But the success of Khuda Kay Liye since its release in Pakistan in July last year may be a sign Pakistani cinema is finally emerging from the doldrums.
The film that opened to a standing ovation at the International Film Festival of India last year has premieres planned in New Delhi and Mumbai.
"After many years, Khuda Kay Liye saw packed theatres in Pakistan," said filmmaker Mehreen Jabbar, whose film Ramchand Pakistani was screened at the Berlin Film Festival this month.
"It got people talking about the revival of cinema (in Pakistan) and opened doors to other filmmakers to start thinking again about the possibility of making quality feature films."
"It got people talking about the revival of cinema (in Pakistan) and opened doors to other filmmakers to start thinking again about the possibility of making quality feature films."
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