Ismaili.NET - Heritage F.I.E.L.D.Copyright Lawsuit: Defenses Glorifying the Aga Khan filed in federal Court - 2010-04-29
In a surprisingly rapid twist of events, both Mr Tajdin and Mr Jiwa have filed their respective statements of Defense this 29th of April 2010. They affirm to being devoted followers who will unconditionally abide by the wishes of the Aga Khan, whom they glorify in their defense.
Mr Tajdin declares that:
He has not been served yet but the ethics imposed upon him by his faith demands that he should not keep in ignorance the public by being silent on the issue and should clarify all of the facts, pertaining to this lawsuit, of which he is aware.
He reaffirms his allegiance to the Aga Khan, is willing to submit to any of his wishes, and is ready to surrender himself and all his possessions to the Imam.
He has been printing Farman books since 1992 with approval and instructions from the Imam received on August 15, 1992 in Montreal.
He has not received any communication from the Imam from 1992 to 2009 instructing him to stop publication.
He cannot stop publication without instruction from the Imam as this would be a breach of his oath of allegiance to the Imam.
All Farman publications were financial deficit projects done as a volunteer service and large numbers of books were distributed free of charge.
Farman sharing is a historic Ismaili tradition which still continues today.
The current Ismaili Constitution does not restrict the right to publish Farmans
Mr Tajdin concludes that:
He has no choice but to await further direct instructions from the Imam.
He reaffirms his allegiance to the Aga Khan, is willing to submit to any of His wishes, and is ready to surrender himself and all his possessions to the Imam.
Mr Jiwa states that:
"This action does not appear to have been authorized personally by the Aga Khan .."
"In distributing Farman books obtained from Tajdin to other Ismailis, he has not violated either the Ismaili Constitution or any Farmans"
He has not violated the copyright act as "Tajdin was given express authority by the Imam" and regardless of the fact that "the limitations period provided for by the Copyright Act also bars this action as the books containing the Farmans were commenced publication in the year 1992", he will still do whatever the Imam tells him to do.
Mr Jiwa clarifies finances:
He "obtains these books for C$50.00 and sells them for C$50.00 or gives them free, without any profit.
"All monies received by him from the sale of (other) books after 2005 were delivered to the Jamatkhanas"
Mr Jiwa further states that:
"If the Imam edited the Farman before releasing to the Jamats, in effect he is superceding the Farman he made orally previously."
He "unconditionally reconfirms his oath of allegiance to his Imam" and "if the Imam does not desire his Farman books to be distributed to the Jamats (...) this defendant will submit to the instructions of His Imam without reservation whatsoever"
Replies From the Plaintiff are due within 10 days, and Affidavits of Documents are due 30 days later.
[Update from May 6: Ogilvy Renault, the law firm which launched the case has asked for an extension of 15 days to reply to the Defense. They claim delays due to breakdown of email servers, blackberry communication, travel of senior lawyer, time difference with Paris etc...The more delays in this file, the more damage it creates to the reputation of the Ismaili community, the Imam and the defendants. It is to the advantage of all parties that this case be withdrawn from the courts.]
[Update from June 22: Defendants have filed a Motion for summary Judgement to have the case dismissed.]
[Update from September 5:
Online Book that gathers court materials as well as articles that are currently available for the ongoing 2010 Lawsuit:
Copyright Lawsuit 2010: Online Book of All available Materials
News on cross-examinations:
Copyright Lawsuit: CROSS_EXAMINATIONS Table of Contents - 2010-09-04
Latest Development
Copyright Lawsuit: Imam Appears for Discovery and Ends the Case - 2010-10-15
As users are asking to read the letters from Nagib and Alnaz on the court docket, the latest have been attached on the following link:
A. Various Court Filings
Revised Factums have been posted Here:
2010-11-29 Summary Judgment : Plaintiffs Revised Combined Factums of Reply and of Motion
2010-11-29 Summary Judgment: Defendants' Revised Factums of Motion and of Reply
There has been proven fraud in the recent past in the Aga Khan's domain by the Aga Khan's agents:
Aga Khan Lawsuit: Fraud at Aga Khan Studs - 2000-02-22
2011-05-25: A Jamati Member who has never met the Defendants volunteered as his brotherly duty to pay the $30,000 that was demanded in the Plaintiff''s submissions and that was accordingly ordered by the judge.
Read the full details of the $30,000 payment directly to H.H. The Aga Khan.
2011-06-16: The Appeal Memorandum of Fact and Law against the Summary Judgment has been filed in court by the defendants on June 16th, 2011.
Read the Full Appeal Memorandum of Fact and Law
Link to Court Docket Case T-514-10
Link to Court Docket Appeal A-60-11
Link to Court Docket Appeal A-59-11
Link to Court Docket Appeal A-156-13
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Tajdin Defence Apr 29.10.pdf | 491.02 KB |
| Jiwa AK Defence Apr 29.10.pdf | 543.82 KB |
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Comments
Homeless and helpless
Shocking but sadly true - How many more Cases and which countries ?
Quote
Thank you Layla. Farida arranged a cooker herself. What you have offered and what Farida did, shows your Love, for Hazar Imam, and for your brothers and sisters and for the ethics of our faith.
Hazar Imam says in Farmans “in serving the Jamat, you are serving your Imam” Therefore if anyone is disrespecting the Jamat, they are also disrespecting Hazar Imam. And if they disrespect Farmans, they are showing no respect for Hazar Imam, or for the Jamat.
What also touched me deeply is the generosity of Mohammed and Rubbina who offered their Microwave for Roshan & disabled mother. Mohammed and Rubina have very little, and are living in a Van in UK . Thank you both.
I am pleased to confirm President Mawji has arranged for UK Council to pay the deposit/advance rent for Mohammed and Rubbina. They are now looking for accommodation. Their Mukhi has also spoken to them, and offered support.
President has also assured me that Ismailies who are homeless, helpless or vulnerable will be given assistance and support by our institution. Therefore I hope, all Mukhis, Welfare Boards, and EPB will immediately be given new directions, not to say to any Ismaili , that there are no funds to help Ismailies who are homeless, helpless or vulnerable.
Mahebub
From: Rajani Layla [mailto:layla1936@gmail.com]
Sent: 24 March 2013 01:26
To: M Chatur. Farida Keshavjee
Subject: Re: Another Ismaili Disabled mother - No cooker and helpless ! What happened !
Dear Maheboob and Farida
In this case I am ready to help this lady and buy a cooker for her
Layla Rajani
On Sat, Mar 23, 2013 at 4:40 AM, M Chatur wrote:
Dear Farida
Thank you . I am also concerned why in your case our institution did not help a very poor family with a disabled mother to get second hand cooker in London. Knowing they were desperate. Knowing you are an ex Mukhiani.
We are right to be very concerned. Hazar Imam wishes us to give feed back, critique, and to seek and share. That should be embraced and welcomed by all Leaders. I hope you like others will not get told off, and marginalized.
There is no reason why in your case our institutions refused to help. Shiraz Kabani agreed they should. But then he did not bother to do anything about it otherwise Mohammed and Hima would not be sleeping in a small Van in UK ! We know there are budgets and resources. These are for the Jamat not Leaders ! Right Shiraz ?
Farida, they could if they really wanted to , and if they did what Hazar Imam is telling them to do. They are sadly not.
Maybe in your case down the line the committee were told to say there are no funds , when in fact there are. Maybe President or Vice President was not told or not told the truth. Like in the case of Mohammed and Rubbina. They need to investigate what happened, and those responsible must apologise or Resign.
The root cause is that the committees, the Jamat and even Mukhis are not aware and not informed. Even Farmans are not only not explained but they are told not to explain them. The Jamat is beginning to realise and is waking up.
Hazar Imam himself informed us in London GJ - but that famous sentence was deleted from the Farman, and sadly laughed off. Most Leaders and the Jamat did not realise. They believed the Leaders like Shafik Sachedina, Zauhar Meghji, Mahmood Poonja. Mohammed Keshavjee, and of course Azim Lakhani. They said Imam was thinking in French , and or tired, and or did not mean what Imam said and Azim said yo me it was in a different context - I asked him why choose to delete and not explain the context ? He had no answer - Right Azim ? Where are Imams annotations on that Farman ?
Hazar Imam gives all the funds back to our institutions to spend for the benefit of the Jamat and has given priority to the Jamat and especially for the poor, disabled, old and vulnerable ISMAILIES.
Azim Lakhani has been controlling substantial GJ budgets given for the Jamats. He should understand, because he has a disabled daughter, but sadly he too is only interested in himself, his family and his inner circle of Top and very rich Leaders. Right Azim ?
Our (the Jamats) total institutional-constitutional budgets run into billions of Pounds. The UK Jurisdiction Jamats budgets, and assets of all our constitutional bodies and companies runs into over many hundreds of millions of pounds (excluding the kings cross development at about £500 million!.
And yet, they don't want to give even £200 as a loan to that Ismaili family woth a fisabled mother, to buy a second hand cooker to cook food for them? How shameful! This is equivalent to a dinner for them. I hope President, and Mukhi's will not allow this to happen to other Ismaili Families in the future.
All Mukhis, Kamadias, Warzeens, IIS , ITREBS, and Jamat must be given the following. Hazar Imam wishes us to have and to know. Read the attached if you have any doubts.
1 The local budgets
2 The National budgets
3 The Global budgets
4 All the full Farmans with the Imams annotations
5 The full constitution and all the related rules and Farmans
6 All the Ginans, qaseedas , and all material available on them globally
7 All material books and information on all our rites & practices, available and hidden or blocked and not shared.
8 Annual and tri- annual national reports and budgets, prepared and submitted to DJI for the Jamats.
Everyone needs to reflect and also read the attached reasons and Farmans. Then they must take the next important step , and do what Imam says not what the Leaders concerned are saying.
Hazar Imam wishes us all to share and to seek and to also expect information and support from our institutions, including accountability, humility, transparency, answerably competence and generosity. Where is any of this ?
Leaders from the very top to the bottom need to share and implement the Famans and wishes of Hazar. Especially to support our brothers and sisters who are very poor, homeless, helpless, very old, handicapped and or vulnerable.
Thank you again for sharing, caring and offering to help. Let us all ask ourselves, have I done what Hazar Imam has asked me to do ? and if not , from now I will do what Imam has asked me to do- (from a Farman).
Ya Ali Madad
Mahebub
From: Farida Keshavjee [mailto:faridakaye@hotmail.co.uk]
Sent: 22 March 2013 13:15
To: Mahebub Chatur; Amawji@uk.ey.com; Vice President Alwaez Shiraz Kabani; 'Liakat Hasham'; Zul Hassam; Zulfikar Hassam; Noordin Nanji Chairman ICAB; Salima Bhatia; Nazmin Kassam Chairman NCAB UK; Qahir Manji; Vazir Azim Lakhani EX Chair LIF; Mohammed Keshavjee
Cc: 'Mukhi Salim Janmohamed'; firozachatur@hotmail.com; 'Rubbina Shaheen'; 'Aniza meghani'; mohamood.jumani@blueyonder.co.uk
Subject: RE: Will you HELP ? RE: Homeless Ismaili couple living in a small van UK
Dear Mahebub
Thank you for copying this email and feel sad for the plight Mahmood and Rubina are experiencing today.
I would also like to mention that recently I was involved in a case whereby an Ismaili family (with a disabled mother) needed help of £200 to purchase a cooker. I approached a member of the AKSWB (Social and Welfare Board), and was told that they do not have any funds and that I should approach an Umedwar! Needless to say that I was very disappointed by this response and feel that for such an enlightened Community we don't really help people financially who have fallen on hard times!
If I can be of any assistance please let me know.
Farida