From: bhat@ccad.uiowa.edu (Dinkar N. Bhat)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian
Subject: Re: Moslem Intolerance must be dealt with now.
Date: 16 Aug 92 21:50:58 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: CAD-Research, University of Iowa, Iowa City

In article <92226.103805DXA4@psuvm.psu.edu> <DXA4@psuvm.psu.edu> writes:
>Such incidents by individual-Muslims to issue contemptuous remarks about Hindu
>gods and beliefs are nothing in comparison of what goes on in some of the
>Islamic Republics, and nothing can be done about it because this is the law of
>the land of that particular Islamic Republic and any protest against such laws
>is considered interference with internal matters of the country. I would like
>to substantiate this fact by the following three examples all occurred in Soudi
>Arabia - a paragon leader of Umma (Islamic nation). These incidents originally
>were reported in Times of India, Indian Express, India To-day in the last 4-6
>years, the last incident is the latest (June 1990), I do not remember the exact
>dates of other two. Please note that these are just the reported incidents
>which manage to make the newspapers, there may be numerous other incidents in
>these and other Islamic republics which never come out of the countries due to
>press restrictions etc.
>
>1. One Aryasamaji Indian was in Riyad for a visit and staying in a Hotel. In
>the morning as his normal practice after taking his bath he was reading 'Satya-
>rth Prakash'. Somehow, the hotel management found it out when the attendent
>informed them. This poor man was arrested for possessing a religious book not
>belonging to Islam, and was sentenced for six months in prison. Since according
>to the local law it is a crime in Soudi Arabia for possessing any non-Islamic
>books or practice any non-Islamic religion even in your privacy.
>
>  The Arya Pritinidhi Sabha of Delhi met Rajiv Gandhi, PM at that time to inter
>vene in the matter and get this man out of the Saudi Arab's prison. He forward-
>ed the matter to the foreign ministry, who after making enquiry expressed their
>helplessness in the whole affair since it was the internal matter of a country.
>
>2. About four years ago one Indian diplomat was on an official visit to Saudi
>Arabia, he went with his wife. At the airport, while the custom officer check-
>ing the baggage and its contents, he spotted in the lady's bag a pocket size
>version of Gita and a small idol (saligram), and asked her what they were? And
>after realizing what they were, this custom officer tore the Gita, threw it in
>the waste basket and crushed the idol into piece under his foot. The poor south
>Indian lady, a deeply religious and simple woman, could not believe her eyes
>that there would be a human being in the world so insensitive to others' religi
>ous beliefs and symbols. The whole traumatic experience left this woman a
>psychological wreck for several months.
>
>3. The latest case is one of Mr. Sunil Vadehra, a Hindu mechanic who died of an
>accident in Saudi Arabia. His father went to the court for compensation. A
>Greek national was found guilty of negligence which resulted in Mr. Vadehra's
>death, and was asked to deposit 300,000 Riyals with the Saudi Officer concerned
>to pay to Mr. Vadehra's father. Six years later however, on June 2, 1990, the
>court ruled that since the deceased was a Hindu, a non-muslim, and hence his
>life is worth only 1/10th of that of a Muslim, so only 30,000 Riyals be paid to
>his father. Mr. Vadehra's father approached Indian officials in Delhi but as
>usual nothing could be done.
>
>Dinesh Agrawal....


Reading these incidents make my blood boil. Actually I am begining to
like the VHP and the BJP. How can the state impose such restrictions
on religious practices? Ridiculous! I really wonder how the f*** these
guys ask for rights in our country. I am becoming a Hindu fundamentalist
now.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian