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Muslims Must Appeal to Al-Qaeda:
Stop Hurting and Threatening India
Posted on:
jamia_millia_alumni_directory@yahoogroups.com, on
February 11, 2009 by Yousuf Saeed (ysaeed7@yahoo.com)
Indian
Muslims (and everyone else) must appeal to Al-Qaeda and
its allies to stop their activities of terror and
violence in the world. Islam does not approve the
killing of innocent people. Peace-loving Muslims must
join hands to convince these extremist elements to
desist from their path of terror. Here is an appeal
(which is also available on facebook) that needs your
support:
Indian
Muslims Against Terrorism
Why only
Indian Muslims – everyone should be against terrorism.
Yes, true - but this group has a certain mandate that
related mostly to Indian Muslims (although all others
are welcome to join and participate in this forum). We
wish to focus on a few specific points that are
important to address the issue of regional terrorism.
There are two basic claims (made by some), which we want
to address here:
1. The claim that "Indian Muslims are persecuted by
Hindus, thus world's Muslims need to save them". No,
Thank you. We don't need the outside saviors.
2. The claim that "now there are home-bred Muslim
terrorists in India that need to be nabbed." Ok, if this
is true, then please involve sincere and peace-loving
Indian Muslims in the search for such extremist elements
in India's Muslim localities, instead of randomly
arresting and killing them in encounters.
The above two points are detailed here:
(1) There is an assumption or discourse coming out of
some Muslim countries (such as Pakistan, Afghanistan,
Saudi Arabia and others) that "Muslims in India are
being victimized and tortured by the Hindus (for example
in Gujarat, Kashmir, Ayodhya etc.), and since they are
in great danger and helpless in the hands of Hindu
extremists, it is the duty of Muslims all over the world
to go and save them, and revenge their killings and
persecution, by terrorizing the Hindus and damaging the
economic might of India." It has been reported that such
discourse is part of the training given to the
terrorists who allegedly carry out attacks in India.
While we don't know for sure if the "terrorists" are
given such propaganda, but we assume that many Muslims
outside India may certainly have such an impression
about India, as one can see in some of the media in the
Muslim world.
We agree that Muslims in India have been subjected to a
lot of violence, torture, prejudice and injustice at
various times, probably in the same way as other
minorities like dalits (low-caste Hindus), tribals, and
women etc. have been treated. But we wish to convey to
the "Islamic world" that WE DO NOT NEED THE HELP OF
SAVIOURS FROM OUTSIDE India to fight our struggles. (By
struggle, we don't mean violent revenge for the
injustice, but a simple struggle for survival, and
recourse to the law, which luckily is not hopeless in
India). Muslims have been living in India for last one
millennium, sometimes peacefully and sometimes in
conflict, but most of the times trying to carve out ways
to co-exist with fellow Indians, and make India a
progressive country. The contribution of Muslims to the
progress of India need not be repeated here. The
bottom-line is: They cannot go anywhere else – India is
their home, and they have to struggle here like everyone
else. So, please don't meddle into our affairs.
This plea is especially for those powerful institutions/
organizations in countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan
who deliberately support terrorism and violence against
India and Hindus. You don't realize that every time
there is a terrorist attack in India, although a lot of
non-Muslims get killed or affected, but the ultimate
loss is that of Indian Muslims. They are the ones who
are seen more and more as culprits and a subject of hate
and prejudice. It is our children (with Muslim names)
who are taunted in Indian schools as "Pakistanis" , and
it is we who cannot rent a house in a mainstream colony
because of our Muslim tag, all because of you. So, our
Islamic brothers, YOU ARE NOT HELPING US come out of our
suffering at all. You are actually pushing us further
into a furnace by carrying out the terrorist attacks on
"Hindus". We request and plead you to have mercy on this
beautiful country and the world, and stop your senseless
jihad. If you are told that you will to go to heaven
(and get houris) when you die for the cause of Islam,
you are highly mistaken and misled. You will surely burn
in hell for harming innocent people. This world is not
only for Muslims – it is for everyone; whatever religion
or culture they may follow. So, live and let live.
(2) The above message was meant for the "terrorists"
infiltrating from outside India and their supporters/sympathi
zers. And now for the "home-grown" breed of terrorists.
After the horrific 9/11 attacks, it was reported by many
that among the Muslim terrorists operating all over the
world, there are actually no Indian Muslims involved.
(Although Indian media and intelligence department had
been claiming since many years that Muslim madrasas are
the breeding grounds of terrorism, but not a single
Indian madrasa has so far been found to be involved in
such activity). Every one was happy and proud about the
news of India Muslims' non-involvement in terrorism. But
suddenly, after the 2002 Gujarat pogrom, it was reported
that Muslims residing in India are becoming terrorists
too, and many of them highly educated-ones (engineers,
doctors, IT professionals, etc.). They use new
technology of Internet, cell-phones and deadly explosive
material supplied by their counterparts from across the
border.
Subsequently, hundreds of young boys from Muslim
localities have been arrested and tortured by the Indian
police, some even killed in encounters. But most of them
so far have only been accused and almost none ultimately
convicted or punished for an act of terrorism, due to a
lack of substantial evidence against them. Most Muslims
and some human rights activists argue that those
arrested or killed Muslim boys have nothing to do with
terrorist activities and have been framed wrongly. After
seeing the adverse role of the police in recent
incidents such as an encounter at Batla House (Delhi) in
September 2008 where 2 such accused (and a police
inspector) were killed, the Muslim community has lost
all faith in the police and intelligence agencies,
fearing that due to their prejudice they could arrest
and kill any Muslim at will in their war against terror.
Their investigations are not transparent, their proofs
are not convincing, and their encounters with terrorists
look stage-managed.
However, such a reaction from Muslims is also considered
by some as a "denial mode", and it is suggested
(especially by the mainstream media) that Muslims
need to come out of this mode and accept the reality
that home-bred terrorists do exist in the community,
especially since those who carried out the recent blasts
(in 2008) did claim that they are "home-bred"
terrorists. If the internal Muslims are truly involved
in such activities, and if we are serious about nabbing
and punishing them, it would be good for the
peace-loving Muslims themselves to come forward and make
a strategy to help eradicate this menace, rather than to
leave it only to the state-forces. Here is some advices
worth considering:
It is accepted by the media and the police that all
Muslims are not terrorists, but some Muslims do resort
to extremism and violence, and that the peace-loving
intelligentsia among the Muslim community should take
responsibility to root out the bad elements. This is
often repeated on every news channel and newspaper after
every attack:
Secular and
elite Muslims need to sift out the extremist elements in
their community. Well, no right thinking Muslim can deny
this responsibility and there are many who are eagerly
ready to play that role. But terrorism or extremist
elements of the society cannot be eradicated by only
their efforts, if the govt. and the police themselves
have been unable to do so. They need the same logistical
support and resources to bring out any change in the
community, which the authorities use. In fact, a more
practical idea today would be an active coordination
between the intelligence agencies, the police, the
judiciary and the responsible people in the Muslim
community. But for that to happen, the first and
foremost requirement is for the officials to TRUST THE
MUSLIM COMMUNITY. It is a widely known fact that the
number and ratio of Muslims in Indian security forces,
police, intelligence, ministries and other important
institutions is very abysmal – at least not
proportionate to their population.
Moreover, in
the war against the terror, the authorities never talk
to the responsible people from the community leave aside
involving them actively. A specific recent case
that can serve as an example:
Take the case of the recent police-terrorist encounter
at Jamia Nagar, Delhi. The Delhi Police (and its Special
Cell) not only did not inform any of the local
citizens of the area before or during the operation
(while they gave prior information to the media), but
also made no effort to communicate to the
frightened local residents afterwards (even during their
further arrests of youngsters from the locality), while
the theories of the encounter being fake were spreading
in the locality. Their encounter of 19th September 2008
was like a very specialized surgical operation done on
the body without giving it anesthesia or stitching it
back, or allowing it to heal. This simply shows that
they either look at the entire community with prejudice
and suspicion (of harbouring the terror within), or they
are not genuinely interested in uprooting the nuisance
of terror, and only want to continue showing to the
world that Muslim terrorists exist. They further
infuriated many Muslims the next day by showcasing the
three arrested suspects to the media by covering their
faces/heads in the stereotypical pink Arab scarves,
which is a clichéd symbol of orthodox Muslims or
Palestinian extremists.
If the authorities start trusting the community and
seriously involve them in uprooting the internal
terrorism, it may show better results than secret raids
and encounters. Some residents of Batla House gathered
outside the encounter site the next day said "even if
there were terrorists holed up in the flat, with
weapons, there was a way to peacefully flush them out.
After all they were not holding any hostages. The police
knew their location in advance. It could have taken some
neighbours into confidence, emptied the entire
neighbourhood, blocked all exit paths from the flat, and
then waited (even if for days) until the boys got fed up
or famished, and surrendered. There were lots of
possibilities, if there was a will." What is required
today is a confidence building between the police and
the people, and some kind citizen's initiatives or
neighbourhood- watch schemes, (which already exist in
some of the posh areas of Indian towns).
The smaller towns (such as Azamgarh) or ghettoized
localities (such as Batla House) in the cities, where
such initiatives are required more, are unfortunately
left to rot by our civic authorities. They could be the
breeding grounds of a lot of anti-social elements, but
the authorities are equally responsible for their sorry
state. Thus, a long-term solution to the mushrooming of
internal terror is possible only with a multi-pronged
approach, the first requirement of which is to eradicate
the corruption and communal bias in the police
department, and make them people-friendly. They need to
involve senior and serious citizens of a locality to nab
the likely culprits of terror in their area. But this
effort should not mean vigilance and security measures
so strict that they affect the privacy and trust between
people in a locality.
__________________________________
Kindly support our appeal by sending the message across
to many friends so that a better sense prevails in this
world (original news):
http://economictime s.indiatimes. com/News/
PoliticsNation/ Al_Qaeda_ threatens_ to_attack_
India_for_ the_first_ time/articleshow /4109243. cms
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Yousuf
Mass Comm
Jamia Millia Islamia
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