Unfortunately, the Parliament has become a platform to debate on mundane matters which have nothing to do with nation building.Vande Mataramhad definitely played a major role by arousing patriotic fervour in the freedom struggle as did many other national songs. But Muslims who believe in monotheism find the song objectionable as one of its stanzas equates the land to God.
A situation is being stirred up by the treasury benches, to label anyone who refuses to sing the song as unpatriotic. This may give electoral dividends to the BJP in the upcoming elections in West Bengal by igniting communal feelings, but it is a matter of great concern as it affects the already tattering secular fabric.
Syed Sultan Mohiddin
Kadapa (A.P)
Nathuram or Nathu Ram?
I stood horrified when I came across “Nathuram’s Tribute to the Prophet…” in the latest issue of your magazine. I kept wondering for a while if this magazine had done a service to Islam by publishing Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin’s tribute to the Prophet ﷺ.
However, when I started reading the article, I came to know that the person in question was not Gandhi’s killer, but an intellectual from Punjab. In fact, a discrepancy between the ways the name of the intellectual found mention in the headline and throughout the article led to the egregious confusion. The headline mentioned him as “Nathuram” (the way Gandhi’s assassin used to write his name), while throughout the write-up the name was “Nathu Ram”.
I think the editor could have skipped the first name of the intellectual in the first place in order to avoid ambiguity. And even if he had mentioned it, he should have seen to it that the name appeared correctly.
Faisal Hashmi
Via Email
Threat Kills the Process of Justice
Karim Khan,British chief prosecutor of International Criminal Court (ICC), has accused a ‘senior British government official’ of threatening to withdraw the UK’s funding and support for the court if he pursued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant.
Though Khan has not mentioned the name of the ‘senior UK official’, the Middle East Eye, in its report, said it“understands the official to be the then foreign secretary and former prime minister David Cameron”.
The MEE report adds that “the allegation is contained in a statement submitted by Khan to the court which describes details of an alleged campaign of threats faced by the prosecutor in the leadup to his office” requesting warrants against Israeli officials in May 2024 over alleged war crimes in Gaza.
Khan’s statement, submitted on December 10 to the ICC’s appeal chamber in response to an Israeli request for Khan to be removed from the investigation and for the warrants to be dropped, appears to corroborate the reports which “uncovered many details of efforts to undermine Khan, including Cameron’s explosive phone call to the prosecutor,” claims the MEE.
In March 2024, Khan said, the ICC had unanimously concluded that his office had gathered sufficient material to request warrants and that the process had been “fair, rigorous and independent”. As the preparation of warrants continued, Khan said his office came under increasing diplomatic pressure from a number of states urging him to delay or abandon applications against Israeli officials. This included a 19 April call from a senior US official warning of “disastrous consequences” if the warrants were pursued, which Khan says he rejected, citing a lack of meaningful cooperation from Israel and no change in its conduct of hostilities in Gaza.
The fact remains that such threats hamper the very process of justice. Nobody, however high in position, should be exempted from accountability.
- Kabir
Trichy, Kerala