'He is the only president, the only American politician, who had the guts to stand with Hindus.'
Queenie Hallegua, who passed away at 89 in August, was almost the last of the Sephardi Jews in Fort Kochi. Her son Dr David Hallegua reflects on his mother's death and of his life growing up in Kerala.
It's intriguing that the prime minister now wants his American partner to help protect the Hindu minority in Bangladesh. That's conceding to the Americans a pre-eminence India has always contested, resented and feared, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
... and there is no stopping its pan-Islamic agenda, cautions Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Obama has to recognise the reality: 90 percent of the world's 2.3 billion Muslims nurse varying shades of anti-Americanism. It cannot be a comfortable feeling that two fifths of the world population has a negative focus on a nation of which you are the leader, says Saeed Naqvi.
Abubaker Amry, who has lived in Cincinnati, Ohio for nearly four decades, said he and his neighbours do not interact much beyond a cordial "Hello," so the note someone left him, came as a surprise.
Toomey said he has personally witnessed the spirit of Sikhs and has come to better understand the Sikh tradition that is founded on equality, respect, and peace.
Five American Muslim youths arrested by Pakistani authorities on suspicion of terror links have shown no remorse about their plans to commit terrorist acts and one has even said they should be hanged so that they could become martyrs, a senior police official said on Monday.
In a sign of the growing political prominence of Hindus in America, the Trump and Biden campaigns are wooing this religious minority community like never before. Hinduism is the fourth largest faith in the US, representing approximately one per cent of the US population in 2016.
The five Americans told the court that they wanted human rights activist and former Inter-Services Intelligence agency official Khalid Khwaja's help in pursuing their case. Khwaja told PTI he would consult the families of the Americans and then approach the Lahore High Court. The youths Ramy Zamzam, 22, Waqar Hussain Khan, 22, Ahmed Abdullah Minni, 20, Iman Hasan Yemer, 17 and Omar Farooq, 24 were arrested.
The US is investigating the circumstances into how and why five of its young citizens from Virginia landed up in Pakistan, as these men are accused of being in touch with radicals for taking part in 'jihad'.
A Pakistani court on Monday directed the government not to deport five American Muslim youths, arrested on suspicion of terror links, to the United States or any other country. Chief Justice Khwaja Muhammad Sharif of the Lahore high court issued the order in response to a petition filed by former Inter Services Intelligence agency official Khalid Khwaja. In his petition, Khwaja said the five youths should be tried under Pakistani laws.
Five young American Muslims were indicted on Wednesday by a Pakistani anti-terrorism court for funding militants and plotting terror attacks in the country, a charge if proved could see them getting life-term.
A Pakistani court on Friday dismissed a petition seeking asylum in the name of 'holy war' for five American Muslim youths recently arrested in the country for allegedly planning terror attacks, saying that it was not the duty of the judiciary to define 'jihad'.
Pakistani authorities have registered a case under the stringent Anti-Terrorism Act against the five American Muslim youths, who were recently arrested in Sargodha in Punjab province on suspicion of links with terrorist groups.
Even a whiff of an incident like the violent 1989 shirt-ripping attack on Krishnamachari Srikkanth by a Karachi spectator would be ruinous. It would set back the ties further, derail an ongoing tournament, and harden Indian attitudes on playing Pakistan anywhere at all, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
'Five months after the elections in February 2024, the Pakistan army has not been able to break Imran Khan's resolve and break his political party.'
Asserting that there is no threat to Hinduism in India or anywhere else, Indian American supermodel and author Padma Lakshmi on Wednesday said people of all faiths should be able to live peacefully in 'this ancient, vast land'.
'What Kamala Harris' rise and rise underscores is that our old ways of identifying the Indian-American Diaspora need to change...' 'None of this detracts from her Indian-American identity, which makes us feel as if we are Americans too,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'Pakistan is a nuclear country.' 'With the kind of situation that is there in Pakistan today, America will help Pakistan stay afloat.'
Religion and economic barriers continue to define love in modern India, discovers Preshth Bhardwaj.
'Initially, I didn't think much of him. But when I walked alongside him, I realized he has what it takes.'
Several Sikh, Hindu and South Asian rights groups have asked the United States justice department to probe the "discriminatory" surveillance of Muslims by the New York police department, saying such religious profiling unfairly "stigmatises" the community members and "breeds distrust".
In days of smart, networked technology and no shame over collateral damage, what will blow up next -- cars, mobile phones, TV sets, refrigerators? And where?, asks Shyam G Menon.
An independent United States Congressional research report has alleged that the scope and scale of human rights abuses in India has increased under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
United States President Barack Obama last week appointed his Deputy Associate Counsel at the White House, Rashad Hussain, 30, to serve as his Special Envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference -- which comprise over 50 member states and is the second largest inter governmental organisation in the world.
'Israel is counting on the United States to enter the fray on their behalf and perform destructive strikes against these targets that are beyond Israel's conventional capabilities.' 'They may well get their way if they start a war, because the United States is still committed to Israel's security, and it won't matter whether it is Trump or Harris in the White House.'
The US Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) also recommended to the Congress to raise the issue of religious freedom during US-India bilateral meetings, and hold hearings on it.
Rushdie was attacked and stabbed in the neck on Friday while onstage in Chautauqua in Western New York, the New York police said.
'We will fight hatred with love, we will fight bigotry with inclusivity. And today I am a Muslim too.' New Yorkers by the thousand, representing myriad backgrounds and faiths, converged on Times Square, to let Muslims know their fellow Americans stood by them.
'The election results mean that the Opposition can no longer either be ignored or attacked in the way that it has been.' 'For this reason it will be interesting to see how it behaves from here on and whether there is any change in its behaviour,' notes Aakar Patel.
Former vice president Hamid Ansari and four US lawmakers have expressed concern over the current human rights situation in India. They were speaking at a virtual panel discussion organised by the Indian American Muslim Council on Wednesday.
In their comments, the Indian-American stand-up comedians said the arrest of Faruqui was incredibly unjust and against the freedom of expression.
The fundamental construct of India's neighbourhood policy still needs to be what Vajpayee postulated, Manmohan Singh embraced, and Modi energised. It's just that we need to junk domestic politics and excessive religiosity, while acquiring much humility and a renewed respectfulness towards our neighbours, recommends Shekhar Gupta.
Rejecting the criticism of the CAA, Jaishankar said, "There are people who publicly said on record that because of CAA, a million Muslims will lose their citizenship in this country."
If Pitroda's blunder cost him his office, what should the BJP's unrepentant attitude cost it?, asks Shyam G Menon.
India has repeatedly rejected criticism by foreign governments, lawmakers and human rights groups on allegations that civil liberties have eroded in the country.
Leading Muslim groups in Washington who attended the event under previous administrations said Trump's continued targeting of Islam and its followers made engagement with his administration a futile, if not impossible task.
A US based rights body and an Indian American Muslim advocacy group have expressed disappointment over India's decision of not accepting all the UN body recommendations on human rights, in particular not ratifying the convention against torture and cruelty.
Amid growing anti-Muslim rhetoric in the US poll campaign, President Barack Obama today made his first visit to a mosque as part of his effort to assure the religious minority of their safety and security and celebrate religious diversity of the country.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances