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The aspiration of the Media Review Network is to dispel the myths and stereotypes about Islam and Muslims and to foster bridges of understanding among the diverse people of our country. The Media Review Network believes that Muslim perspectives on issues impacting on South Africans are a prerequisite to a better appreciation of Islam.

Mirwaiz urges ban ki moon to help settle Kashmir dispute

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In occupied Kashmir, the Chairman of All Parties Hurriyet Conference, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has urged the Secretary General of United Nations, Ban Ki Moon to compel India to initiate dialogue for permanent solution of the longstanding Kashmir dispute.

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq in a letter addressed to the Secretary General of United Nations, Ban Ki Moon wrote, “It is high time when the UN should adopt a proactive course of diplomatic manoeuvre to compel India , while taking genuine Kashmiri leadership on board, to initiate talks for the settlement of the conflict."

The letter was simultaneously submitted to the United Nations Military Observer Group offices in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan by Hurriyet representatives. Terming Jammu and Kashmir as a nuclear flashpoint, Mirwaiz stated that no peace could be guaranteed in South Asia unless the Kashmir dispute was amicably settled. Read More »Mirwaiz urges ban ki moon to help settle Kashmir dispute

Flotilla journalists to sue Isarael

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(source: Al Jazeera)

A group of journalists has announced that it plans to sue Israel over its deadly raid on a flotilla of aid ships bound for the Gaza Strip in May.Lawyers have already begun preparing lawsuits in several European countries, according to several of the journalists, who met in Istanbul on Wednesday. The group accused Israel of violating international law.

One of the nine people killed on board the Mavi Marmara, the main ship, was Cevdet Kulclar, a Turkish journalist.Reporters who were on board the ships say the Israeli government never returned their equipment or passports, and that Israeli soldiers later used their credit cards.

An Italian journalist, Manolo Luppichini, told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz in June that his credit card was used to make NIS250 ($65) worth of purchases in Israel.

In a statement released after their meeting, the journalists said they are demanding compensation for their losses, the return of their equipment, and an international inquiry into Israel’s treatment of the reporters on board the flotilla.

The group of more than 30 journalists includes reporters from Turkey, Spain, Germany, Lebanon, Egypt, the United Kingdom and the United States.Several of the journalist on board the ship were from Al Jazeera.

Read More »Flotilla journalists to sue Isarael

Not crushed merely ignored

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By Tariq Ali

(source: London Review of Books)

A Kashmiri lawyer rang me last week in an agitated state. Had I heard about the latest tragedies in Kashmir? I had not. He was stunned. So was I when he told me in detail what had been taking place there over the last three weeks. As far as I could see, none of the British daily papers or TV news bulletins had covered the story; after I met him I rescued two emails from Kashmir informing me of the horrors from my spam box. I was truly shamed. The next day I scoured the press again. Nothing. The only story in the Guardian from the paper’s Delhi correspondent – a full half-page – was headlined: ‘Model’s death brings new claims of dark side to India’s fashion industry’. Accompanying the story was a fetching photograph of the ill-fated woman. The deaths of (at that point) 11 young men between the ages of 15 and 27, shot by Indian security forces in Kashmir, weren’t mentioned.

Later I discovered that a short report had appeared in the New York Times on 28 June and one the day after in the Guardian; there has been no substantial follow-up. When it comes to reporting crimes committed by states considered friendly to the West, atrocity fatigue rapidly kicks in. A few facts have begun to percolate through, but they are likely to be read in Europe and the US as just another example of Muslims causing trouble, with the Indian security forces merely doing their duty, if in a high-handed fashion. The failure to report on the deaths in Kashmir contrasts strangely with the overheated coverage of even the most minor unrest in Tibet, leave alone Tehran. Read More »Not crushed merely ignored

A presidential tour guide to Isarael

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By Robert Bloom

(source: NYTimes)

“The reports about the demise of the special relationship aren’t just premature, they’re just flat wrong,” the [Israeli] prime minister said. He publicly invited Mr. Obama to visit Israel, and the president said, “I’m ready.”

Dear Mr. Obama,

When you travel to Israel (formerly known as Palestine), be sure to visit some of the great tourist sites in Israel (formerly Palestine):

*The countless checkpoints, where Palestinians are humiliated and mistreated every hour of every day (and don’t forget to ask to see the several locations where Palestinian women have lost their children and/or died in childbirth at these places because the Israelis wouldn’t process them through);

*The handsome and loving wall that keeps families apart and prevents Palestinians from getting to work. As an added benefit, this could be the model for the ever-expanding wall that many americans would like to see at the Mexican border;

Read More »A presidential tour guide to Isarael