All the Indians in the House - Please Discuss

[Feroza_Banu]

^ i understnd that the army has to take all measures when in cross fire with the enemy but i have seen many news about rapes... i hardly imagine a woman is holding a grenade in hand to kill indian army... and even if in such case, the punishment of this act to be rape.

i am not talking about persecution of militants... iam talking about civilians.

[SinghIsKing]

Khalsawarrior, are Muslims equal Indians as sikhs or Hindus?

India is secular country then how come muslims will not be equal Indians. We are not like Pakistanis where Non-muslims are not equal citizens.
BTW I think the intention behind Your question is something related to economic condition of muslims in India. Please clarify what do you want to know?

[SinghIsKing]

^ i understnd that the army has to take all measures when in cross fire with the enemy but i have seen many news about rapes... i hardly imagine a woman is holding a grenade in hand to kill indian army... and even if in such case, the punishment of this act to be rape.

i am not talking about persecution of militants... iam talking about civilians.

When any army will live in civilian areas for a long time then some such incidents will happen but it is wrong to say that Indian Army use rape as a weapon to counter insurgency which Pakistan tries to portray to the world.

[drona]

Feroza,

The security personnel posted in J&K are human beings and not angels. Like every group they also have bad apples amongst them who commit heinous and criminal acts. But army certainly doesn't use rape as a systematic tool to punish Kashmiris , as these are our own people. A large number of HR violation cases are simply baseless as the separatists and their Pakistani financiers have an obvious agenda in inflating these figures. Moreover, whenever the army finds such aberrations, after a due process of investigation, they are severely punished. Please read this article:

J&K: 1,514 FIRs against Army, 97% cases false

Jammu: Over 100 Army men including 48 officers have faced punitive action in cases related to human right violations in Jammu and Kashmir over the last two decades, Army said Wednesday.

"As many as 1,514 FIRs have been registered against army personnel for alleged human rights violations in the last 20 years of militancy", Brigadier General Staff (BGS), Northern Command, Sanjay Verma said.

He said that out of these 1,508 cases have been investigated while probe is continuing in the remaining six cases.

"As many as 1,473 complaints - nearly 97 per cent of the cases-- were found false and baseless," Verma said.

However, 35 cases (2.3 per cent of total cases) were found true, he said, adding that 104 armymen including 48 officers have been punished for human rights violations in J&K.

"Our accountability is very strong. Our investigation and punishment in cases related to alleged human rights violations is very fast," the Brigadier said, underscoring that there "is no room for mistakes.

Army has alway maintained zero-tolerance to human rights violations," he said.

Army officials maintained that they were following certain strict edicts, including presence of police representative during operations and immediate handing over of detainees to police, while conducting counter-terrorism operations under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).


Army ensures that a police representative is present as part of the operational team though an exception could be made in remote areas where the strength of the police force may not be sufficient to be deployed in more than one operation going on simultaneously, they said.

All operations are conducted as joint operations with the police, [the police personnel are of Kashmiri origin] they said adding that recoveries made, detainees and bodies of those killed are immediately handed over to the local police.

"No unilateral arrests or searches are made. All actions are based on hard actionable intelligence," they said, adding that army has discontinued crowd control measures and has left the task to the state police.

"No women are searched until women police personnel are present during the operation," they said

Of course, Pakistnis will say that the Army is lying. But based on Pakistan government's record of lies and deception [ Kasab is not Pakistani, He is Pakistani; There was no Pak Army involvement in Kargil misadventure, there was army involvement; etc. etc. ]; I would rather trust the Indian government on this matter than the Pakistani officials or their proxies.

Regards,
Drona

[drona]

Approximate economic/educational status of various religious communities of India.

Zoroastrians>Jains>Sikhs>Christians>Hindus(U Castes)>Muslims(Shias)>Buddhists>Muslims(Sunnis)>H indus(Tribals)>Hindus(Lower Castes/Dalits)

I am not so sure where those who follow Baha'i faith ( their population is about 2.5 million) fit in. Perhaps between Jains and Sikhs.


~Drona

[SinghIsKing]

I am more interested about economic condition and general perception of a Muslim with a beard and kufi.

Approximate order by average economic conditions is well explained by Drona but due to terrorist activities normal urban Indians of metros fear to see any person with beard in any public place. I have seen these type of comments by mumbaikars and delhites in T.V program based on perception about bearded muslim. However in villages or small towns people don't fear to see bearded person because there is no fear of terrorist activities in those areas. The relation between Hindus and muslims is normal but there is a sense of victim-hood in some muslims and sense of betrayal in some hindu's mind.

[AmitRazdan]

Salamoona ..

I am particularly intereste in knowing how Hindus in India feel about Muslims.

1. I have heard of many riots against muslims and thousands of lives lost as a result of these riots... as expected out of a Hindu majority state, the casualties of muslims are much higher in these riots than indus. I would like to know the overall impression of Muslims in India.

2. I have also seen in bollywood movies that muslims are asked to go to pakistan, because india is not their country anymore... they should be migrating to pakistan. is this true?

3. and politics aside... how do normal Hindus preceive muslims. what impression do they have.

4. What do indians feel about Pashtoons and Afghans. Do they label them as terrorists and extremists just like shown in Media?

1. There are a few anti-muslim groups in India, but generally muslims live in harmony with the hindus. The only place where there is violence is Kashmir, where I am from. The is the only state in India with majority muslim population, but it has alot of history and most of the muslims there never consider themselves Indian, however the ruler at the time in 1947 was hindu and he gave accession of the state to India, hence it is legally a state of India, however Pakistan does not accept this and right now the whole region is disputed between India, Pak and China. Only 700 yrs ago the whole population was hindu and buddhist however millions of hindus, buddhist were converted during the advent of islam and now muslims represent 97 % of population in the kashmir valley.

2. Dont watch bollywood movies, so dont know abt this..

3. Apart from Kashmir, hindus and muslims in india live happily. they respect each other and are really are proud indians

4. In India, Afghan students come to study and we are happy to meet different people. infact many muslims come to study from islamic countries such as Somalia, indonesia. India and Afghanistan have a good relationship in general.

[AmitRazdan]

Amit you are Kashmiri? Is it true you want to unite with Pakistan and your being oppressed by India?

I am Kashmiri, however I am Hindu, and I definalty do not want Kashmir to unite with Pakistan. The Hindus and Muslims that have lived in Kashmir over the years have generally a good relationship, and there was so much respect and harmony, but since 1947 it has all been trouble, as Pakistani trained militants have entered kashmir and caused so much trouble for hindus and muslims. Because of this the Indian army had to take strict control of the area, that is why you see so much trouble in Kashmir today. These Militants are well funded and they have been known to disguise themselves in army clothing so kashmiris thiink they are indian, they disguise themselves by wearing burqas they do all sorts of stuff. The Indian army is there to do a job and flush all militants out. The land legally belongs to India, however one thing that india and pakistan agree on is that kashmir cannot be an independent country.
It depends which part of kashmir it is, there are parts where people are happy to be with india, there are parts where people are happy with pakistan and there are people who want independence, so its kind of a messy situation.

[Mina]

Even I have heard about very disturbing religious riots in India in many parts of the country, not just Kashmir. This is why I am so glad I don't live in a country where I have to see people slaying off eachother infront of my eyes.

[Feroza_Banu]

Ok my Indian friends... i have new set of questions about India...

1. How common is polygamy in India amongst Hindus.... has frequency changed over the last decades...

2. Does Hindu religion and Sikhism allow polygamy?

3. Does Indian law allow it?

4. Did Indian law ever allow it?

5. Do men marry a second time after their first wife's death? do women?

6. What does the religion say about number 5?

7. How common is divorce in India,

[Feroza_Banu]

waitingggg.........!

[N.E rocker]

i will answer ur questions with watevr knowledge i have
1]Their is not clear cut ri\ule in hinduism(i think so:P) regarding polygamy .It was practiced in ancient india.I thinak its more of a cultural thinh that religious.But contemporary Indians do not believe in polygamy.No idea baout sikhism.
2]Indain law does not recognise polygamy[muslims r exempted though.]
3]yes men and women both can remarry after death of their partners,no restriction by religion(hinduism)
4]Divorce rate in india is one of the lowest in world

Other Indian members can correct me as my knowledge on the subject is limited.