Jinnah was great, writes Jaswant Singh

New Delhi: Controversy has been sparked by Jaswant Singh's observation regarding partition in his book about India's independence struggle. Mr. Singh has, contrary to popular perception prevailing in India, glorified Jinnah who is often demonised in India, as an ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity.
Singh’s view of Jinnah is markedly different to the accepted Indian image. He sees him as a nationalist, even accepting that Jinnah was a great Indian.
Jaswant Singh also goes on to term Nehru as one of the principal architects of India's partition. He also writes that Jinnah did not win Pakistan, rather Nehru and Patel conceded Pakistan to Jinnah with help of the British.
The BJP leader supported his opinion saying that till 1945 Jinnah was seeking a solution to the problems between Hindus and Muslims. And consider it not as a communal problem but as the problem of a nation.
Earlier, Advani, senior leader of BJP also faced a lot of public and political scorn when he called Jinnah a great nationalist.
This book can evoke serious contempt from the leaders of RSS which has zero tolerance against the Pakistani leader and is likely to cause turmoil in Indian politics.

Iran's Ahmadinejad to name 3 women ministers

TEHRAN- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday he would propose at least three women ministers in his new cabinet following June's disputed election, an unprecedented move in the conservative Islamic state.
It would be the first time a woman would hold such a ministerial position in Iran since its 1979 Islamic revolution. One woman minister under the shah's government, Farrokhroo Parsa, was executed after the revolution in 1980.
Ahmadinejad has until Aug. 19 to present a cabinet to parliament for approval but may get a rough ride from the conservatives who dominate the assembly, as well as from his moderate foes who dispute his election victory.
"With the 10th presidential election, we have entered a new era ... conditions changed completely and the government (make-up) will see major changes," Ahmadinejad told state television.
He named two of his proposed female ministers and said at least one more would be added to the list.
The ones he named were Fatemeh Ajorlou, now a member of parliament, as social welfare minister and Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi as health minister.
"At least one more will be added," Ahmadinejad said.
He also said Heydar Moslehi, now an adviser to Ahmadinejad on clerical affairs, would be nominated as new intelligence minister.
Iranian media last month reported that Ahmadinejad had sacked Intelligence Minister Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei.
Economy Minister Shamseddin Hosseini would retain the post.

The wound of words is worse than the wound of swords.

French Muslim minister calls for total burka ban

Says ban will stem spread of "cancer" of radical Islam

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A ban on wearing the all covering burka in France would stem the spread of what French minister Fadela Amara called the "cancer" of radical Islam, a report quoted her as saying Saturday.The Muslim minister for urban regeneration told the Financial Times newspaper that the head-to-toe body covering and veil represented the "oppression of women, their enslavement, their humiliation."
Amara, who is of Algerian descent, said France was a beacon for an enlightened Islam at ease with modernity, so it was necessary to fight the "gangrene, the cancer of radical Islam which completely distorts the message of Islam.""The vast majority of Muslims are against the burka. It is obvious why," Amara told the newspaper."Those who have struggled for women's rights back home in their own countries -- I'm thinking particularly of Algeria -- we know what it represents and what the obscurantist political project is that lies behind it, to confiscate the most fundamental of liberties," she said.

Khan: detained for 2 hours at Newark Airport

NEW YORK: Indian actor Shah Rukh Khan detained for two hours at Newark Airport, New Jersey. He was in the US to celebrate India's Independence Day. He was released after Indian Embassy officials vouched for him.