03-08-2006, 05:58 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Kalam condoles Maulana Asad Madani
Feb 09, 2006
NEW DELHI: President A.P.J.Abdul Kalam has condoled the passing away of Maulana Asad Madani, president of the Jamiat Ulema-I-Hind.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
JHUI president is dead and who is Mahmood A Madani?
Link
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Last year, Rehman missed becoming prime minister of Pakistan by one vote to Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali. Added to his political clout, the Maulana heads the network that controls most of the madrasas (Islamic religious schools) in Pakistan. Rehman has been elected thrice to the Pakistan National Assembly since 1988.
<b>His father Maulana Mufti Mahmoud was an Islamic scholar and politician who was chief minister of the North West Frontier Province in the 1970s. Mufti believed Partition was wrong and is remembered for his famous quip â which still haunts the JUI â after East Pakistan became Bangladesh: 'We were not a party to the crime of creating Pakistan.'</b>
Because of his pedigree, Rehman was welcomed in India. Moreover, he has rarely spewed rhetorical statements about Kashmir, something not missed by the Indians.
<b>His hosts in India were Maulana Asad Madani and his son, Maulvi Mehmood Madani. Asad is president and Mehmood, general secretary of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, which is based in Deoband, Uttar Pradesh. Asad's father, Maulana Hussain Ahmad Madani, was well known during the freedom struggle for his opposition to Mohammed Ali Jinnah and the latter's call for Pakistan. The JUH has since been a strong supporter of the Congress, though it is now believed that after the Gujarat riots, it is reconsidering its position.</b>
By inviting Rehman over to India a year before elections are due, it would appear that the JUH has done the Bharatiya Janata Party a favour. Around a month ago, the JUH had sought a green signal from the Vajpayee government to invite Rehman, Mehmood Madani told rediff.com
................................
<b>Rehman's host, Mehmood Madani, scoffed rumours of a hidden agenda. "He [Rehman] came to create peace between the two nations. He didn't come to talk to Muslims on Ayodhya but if VHP and RSS leaders are impressed by his peace message, Muslims of India will also get the right message."</b>
Madani accepted that to a certain extent, issues between India and Pakistan and disputes between Hindus and Muslims in India are inter-linked.
Not all in the VHP have welcomed Rehman. VHP leader Dr Pravin Togadia sees a hidden agenda concerning Ayodhya.<b> "The Muslim elite in India want to settle the Ayodhya issue. They want to get fundamentalist Muslims to agree to hand over the site to Hindus. Who can make the fundamentalist Indian Muslims settle the issue but a bigger fundamentalist?" </b>he said.
Madani dismisses Togadia's allegations as baseless.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Feb 09, 2006
NEW DELHI: President A.P.J.Abdul Kalam has condoled the passing away of Maulana Asad Madani, president of the Jamiat Ulema-I-Hind.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
JHUI president is dead and who is Mahmood A Madani?
Link
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Last year, Rehman missed becoming prime minister of Pakistan by one vote to Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali. Added to his political clout, the Maulana heads the network that controls most of the madrasas (Islamic religious schools) in Pakistan. Rehman has been elected thrice to the Pakistan National Assembly since 1988.
<b>His father Maulana Mufti Mahmoud was an Islamic scholar and politician who was chief minister of the North West Frontier Province in the 1970s. Mufti believed Partition was wrong and is remembered for his famous quip â which still haunts the JUI â after East Pakistan became Bangladesh: 'We were not a party to the crime of creating Pakistan.'</b>
Because of his pedigree, Rehman was welcomed in India. Moreover, he has rarely spewed rhetorical statements about Kashmir, something not missed by the Indians.
<b>His hosts in India were Maulana Asad Madani and his son, Maulvi Mehmood Madani. Asad is president and Mehmood, general secretary of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, which is based in Deoband, Uttar Pradesh. Asad's father, Maulana Hussain Ahmad Madani, was well known during the freedom struggle for his opposition to Mohammed Ali Jinnah and the latter's call for Pakistan. The JUH has since been a strong supporter of the Congress, though it is now believed that after the Gujarat riots, it is reconsidering its position.</b>
By inviting Rehman over to India a year before elections are due, it would appear that the JUH has done the Bharatiya Janata Party a favour. Around a month ago, the JUH had sought a green signal from the Vajpayee government to invite Rehman, Mehmood Madani told rediff.com
................................
<b>Rehman's host, Mehmood Madani, scoffed rumours of a hidden agenda. "He [Rehman] came to create peace between the two nations. He didn't come to talk to Muslims on Ayodhya but if VHP and RSS leaders are impressed by his peace message, Muslims of India will also get the right message."</b>
Madani accepted that to a certain extent, issues between India and Pakistan and disputes between Hindus and Muslims in India are inter-linked.
Not all in the VHP have welcomed Rehman. VHP leader Dr Pravin Togadia sees a hidden agenda concerning Ayodhya.<b> "The Muslim elite in India want to settle the Ayodhya issue. They want to get fundamentalist Muslims to agree to hand over the site to Hindus. Who can make the fundamentalist Indian Muslims settle the issue but a bigger fundamentalist?" </b>he said.
Madani dismisses Togadia's allegations as baseless.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->