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How Indian are the Muslims?
| Thursday, December 11, 2008
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Every news paper dutifully carried pictures of Muslims wearing black bands on the occasion of Bakri Eid, to protest against the terror attacks in Mumbai. In the past few days, we have also seen interviews by Muslim film stars, Shah Rukh Khan in particular, about how the terrorists are anti-Islamic. A large demonstration was held in Mumbai to condemn terrorism. Last but not the least Muslim organisations have said they will not allow the nine terrorists to be buried in any Muslim cemetery. In short, there has been a fierce and robust reaction by Muslims, as a group and as individuals, to show that they are upset by the attacks and want to make it clear that there was nothing “Islamic” about their heinous act. This has met with the approval of many. Good for the Muslim community for finally standing up, is the general sentiment. I keep getting mail forwards about blogs and articles written by Muslims (the forwarders are usually non-Muslims) wherein they have questioned the claim of these terrorists and terrorists in general that they are fighting for Islam; where does Islam say you have to kill innocent people, ask these angry Muslims.
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The reaction of Muslims – assuming one can see them as a whole, discrete community – has been a sensitive one. But it is also defensive one. Somewhere there seems to be a realization that Muslims must shout that much more so that it becomes clear amidst the cacophony that they too are angry and upset, as much as anyone else. It is almost as if they are keen, even desperate to show they are Indians too. Why else would they perceive the need to take out a march or indeed wear black bands on the occasion of a religious festival? Or make a show of refusing burial rights to the nine killed men? Khalid Ansari recently wrote an article titled “What more do Indian Muslims have to do?” where he said that Muslims were ‘sick to their teeth’ to have their loyalty to India questioned all the time. Yes indeed. The terrorists killed in Mumbai have been identified as Pakistani. They in no way reflect on the vast numbers of Muslims who are Indian by birth and in every other way. So there should be no need to protest so much. Yet they do? This is a dilemma not only for them but for all of us to ponder over. Tailpiece After the outburst on television, where the actress Simi claimed that she had seen Pakistani flags in Muslim-occupied slums in Mumbai, one has to ask—have we all been worried about the wrong Simi being dangerous?
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By A. C. Vashishth Jan 31, 2009 I don't think there is anything wrong if our Muslim brothers preferred to be vociferous than keep silent on the 26/11 incidents. We must understand that silence may be golden but it, at times, is also misunderstood and taken as silent support or approval. We have, in the past, taken out marches on the roads on against many issues, political and social. Indeed, wearing black bands on the occasion of a religious festival is a show of solidarity as people do for other causes. Many will, perhaps, remember that about two years back people of Bodha Kalan (Haryana) refused to stand by their own youth who looted and killed innocent people. Making a show by refusing burial rights to the nine killed men was right too, because they were not "men" but foreign terrorists who had killed hundreds of innocent men, women, and children in Mumbai irrespective of their caste or creed. And as we all agree and Muslim clerics too have issued fatwas, terrorism is un-Islamic. Let us take the actions and sentiments of Muslims in right earnest.
By Hanif Murad, Dec 24, 2008 The tailpiece was excellent.
By Satish Gadiyar Dec 21, 2008 The average, uneducated Indian Muslim has allowed himself to be exploited in the name of religion by maulvis and politicians, hence paying a big price. The earlier the Muslims realise that maulvis and politicians cannot earn them their livelihood, the better it shall be for this and every other community. On our part as citizens, we must believe that Muslims are Indians first and must adopt every means to encourage them to be part of the national mainstream. Let every Indian keep his/her religious sentiments aside for some time at least. For the sake of mankind, please do not abuse any community.
Regarding the tailpiece, there are not one but many mini-Pakistans in India and they are the places were terrorism breeds.
Does the author think that the terrorists involved in 26/11 did not have any local support? My dear sir, this would not have been possible without local support. And who are these supporters if not Indian Muslims?
The terror modules operating in India (which include Indian Muslims) are so many that they have different teams and backup modules to strike at will. All this is being supported by the Indian Muslims. (Not all, but many among them.) Look at the recent comments of Mr. Antulay. He wants Mr. Karkare's death to be probed and is not bothered about the 178 other people who died. He is not interested in finding out who all were involved in those terrorist attacks.
By coming on the roads and displaying placards against terrorism, who are these Muslims fooling? If they want to do anything they should help intelligence agencies and report the black sheep among their community.
Everywhere in democratic countries they have freedom and that too to such an extent that they are able to pressurise the people, the government, and get their way. And what is the situation in countries ruled by them?
Mr. Bhatia, the work of establishing the Islamic Republic of India is in progress and one can sense this by the way the media and politics are being manipulated by Muslims.
A genuine Indian worry of anti-indian sentiments is being mocked at. I would suggest that Mr. Bhatia go out of the office and spend some time in Bhendi Bazaar or the place in Bhiwandi were the Govt of Maharashtra has failed to put up a police station. That is the real face of the Indian Muslim.
I agree with Sushil. Please throw these anti-national elements to their own Islamic countries around the globe.
the trouble is that no community is a homogeneous whole. one cannot be so naive as to presume that the opinions of a few self-proclaimed 'leaders' can be taken as those of the entire community. how, then, do we explain the bursting of crackers in muslim localities when india loses a cricket match? and why do 'mourning' festivals like moharram end up being huge, noisy rallies with lakhs of people shouting slogans, some of them fanatically wielding swords? why is there only now a separate morcha of muslims (only) to condemn the attacks on mumbai? why have muslims this great need to justify their patriotism now?
let us not for a second forget that such a massive terror operation wasn't planned without help from 'inside'. it will be silly to believe that nobody from housekeeping went in those rooms in the taj and the oberoi where masssive ammunition stocks were being created as advance preparation. till now, i too believed that terrorism has no religion, but the atttacks on mumbai have left me shaken and baffled. suddenly terrorism has a very definite religion, a colour.
the people who participated in the all-muslim rally in mumbai really have to be responsible to work across the board within the community to make them understand the real meaning of islam, to bring the poverty-striken and ignorant muslims in the mainstream of education and put them on a path of awareness, responsibility, and prosperity.
are teesta setalvad, javed akhtar, mahesh bhatt, javed jaffrey, farooque sheikh, shaina nc listening? no, they are busy cutting ribbons, addressing the media, hosting and judging reality shows; in short, serving their own ends. and where were adnan sami, rahat fateh ali khan, wasim akram, imran khan, and such others who are otherwise here in mumbai at the drop of a hat, when the chaos was hitting us and tearing to shreds what we believed to be hindu-muslim unity? where are they now? is anyone really protesting? do these so-called muslim celebrity leaders really expect the rest of the country to believe the crocodile tears shed by them during the rally in mumbai?
an elderly punjabi lady who lives in my building had endless tears streaming down her cheeks while watching the terror attacks live on tv. she said, "when partition was announced, we left our haveli in karachi and fled to save our lives. my mother, aunts, and thousand of others were killed by frenzied mobs on the way to india. we came here as paupers and went through hell to keep the remaining family alive. we have worked extremely hard to come this far. and now these people come back to finish what they couldn't finish at that time. yeh keemat hum kab tak chukate rahenge?"
it is time for all of us to think hard about these issues, be honest to ourselves, and take action. otherwise my fear is that the coming generations will have to pay the price for our inertia.
You cannot believe the Muslims. These people belong to the Muslim nation alone. So these bastards should be sent to Muslim countries. We should not allow active involvement in India. Pressurise them to leave Inda at once or attack Pakistan with full force and then see how these people behave. Send them to the front to fight the Pakistanis.
I don't understand why Muslims need to justify their patriotism every now and then, when Hindu themselves are of the opinion that whatever terrorism is ravaging the country is the creation of monsters who don't have any religion. One of the most staunch examples of such belief among the Hindus can be seen from the fact that in spite of severe provocation from Hindu nationalist against Muslims, Hindus still respect and maintain cordial relationship with Muslims.
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