Alienation of Indian Muslims

Alienation of Indian Muslims
By Mushirul Hasan

[NOTE: It is very likely that the upsurge in neocon-style propaganda
appearing in India has to do with the recent US nuke deal. India's
Hindu fascist BJP party enjoys warm relations with Israel. -WVNS]

THE extent to which the Indian society is getting polarised along
religious lines is very disturbing. If this is the state of affairs
almost seven decades after independence, what might happen a few
decades later? This is not the time to attribute responsibility to
different parties or communities. This is a moment for self-
reflection and for finding out what gives rise to this mindless
violence.

The other very disquieting fact is how the electronic media and
sections of the Hindi print media have taken upon themselves the
responsibility of being the custodian of the nation's interest. The
arrogance and intolerance in their coverage reflects a very ominous
trend in the history of journalism. I have experienced this recently.
The Jamia encounter in New Delhi was not a big affair, it could have
been easily sorted out, but it was turned into a campaign against a
university. Students of the Jamia Millia Islamia University were
arrested without charge, they were denied access to lawyers and even
their parents could not meet them. On top of it the university was
blamed and its reputation was attacked. A student of the London
School of Economics (LSE) was nabbed very recently by the police —
does it mean that the LSE has become a hotbed of terrorism? This is
senseless.

The university's doors are open to non-Muslims; it's teachers are
drawn from all communities. Compare our record with that of other so-
called secular universities where Muslims have limited access —
Benaras Hindu University, Allahabad University and even Delhi
University — then what are we questioning?

I think we have to fight back. We have tolerated this nonsense for
far too long. We demonstrate to the people that the media are not
trustworthy and that they only sensationalize events. Jamia Millia is
a secular institution funded by the Central Government. The question
of legal aid is not being looked at from the perspective of a
teacher's responsibility to her students. As the head of the
institution, I feel I have an obligation towards my students and I am
not using the taxpayer's money for it. The real issue is of
principle. If this had happened to a non-Muslim student, I would have
done the same. I am also upholding the rule of law. Why have we
forgotten the principle that says that an accused is innocent until
proven guilty?

In the ultimate analysis, our society, which has gone through the
Khalistan movement and experienced terrorism in the Northeast, must
look at these incidents in a more cool-headed manner. You can't fight
it by reacting in a hysterical manner. Our police is becoming more
and more politicized and communalized. We haven't oriented them into
becoming the custodians of the secular values enshrined in our
constitution. Over the past 10 years, there has been a systematic
pattern — Deoband University, an institution with a glorious record,
has been targeted. So has Nadvat-ul-Ulema in Lucknow. Attacking the
Aligarh University is not new, despite it being a modern institution
with its doors open to students of all communities. Is there a
pattern in this madness? We need to reflect on these issues. The
alienation is very deep and it has to stop. Instead of supporting us,
which would also mean supporting an institution committed to secular
values, there are attempts to undermine our secular foundations.

We are dealing with a younger generation of Muslims. I believe in
liberal, eclectic and pluralist values, but I suspect this vision
will not be shared by those who feel insecure and excluded, socially
and culturally. Why have the guilty in Gujarat not been punished?
Why? Why? Why? Why is the VHP and Bajrang Dal not banned for killing
innocent Christians and desecrating their churches?

I regard myself, as do millions of others, as part of the edifice
that is called India. The idea of India is my idea. There is no India
without me and I will not let that change. We have already taken
certain steps to counter subversive ideas that might fracture our
secular society. I appeal to civil society and the media to let us
live in peace and get on with our simple and innocent job i.e.
pursuit of knowledge. There is a limit to what one can tolerate.
Nobody dare question our commitment to education, and our loyalty to
the Indian Constitution.


– Hasan is Vice-Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India

===

Media, Muslims and Mujahideen
By Mubasshir Mushtaq
http://www.mjakbar.org/columnist/mubasshir/index.htm


A bomb does not discriminate between a Hindu or a Muslim (File Photo)

Now that the Delhi Police has "cracked" the bomb blasts, I can make
my own confessions. Suspicion is not a fundamental right enshrined in
Indian Constitution but it is an unalienable right in a flourishing
democracy. Suspicion is the fundamental premise on which the edifice
of our intelligentsia stands. Therefore, intelligence agencies cannot
be denied the right to suspect. The same right to suspect cannot be
denied to ordinary Indians. Equality is the hallmark of a true
democracy.

The journalist in me has a problem when an official declaration, a
chronological monologue, is treated as the gospel. It is not the job
of a journalist to arrive at conclusions. The job of a journalist is
to stand outside the circle and communicate nuances and niceties
taking place inside the circle. When a journalist jumps into the
circle, he becomes part of the story. Proximity breeds bias. Bias
breeds bigotry. A true journalist can be anything but he can never be
a bigot.

Journalistic bigotry is dangerous for it plays a vital role in
shaping public opinion. Each such story leaves an imprint on public
consciousness. In each blast, media, the fourth estate, behaves like
fourth mistake. The needle of suspicion automatically swings towards
Muslims whether it is Mecca Masjid blast or Malegaon blasts in which
devout Muslims were specifically targeted inside their mosques. Every
time there is a blast, Muslims find themselves in the no man's land.
They are caught in the crossfire between intelligence agencies and
terrorists. Neither of them will trust Muslims. The day-today Muslim
problem is bread and butter rather than the bomb.

Each blast is viewed from the green lens of Islam although saffron
lens is equally making India red. One of the reasons for these blasts
is to put the entire Muslim community in the defensive mode by
systematically manipulating Islam. The trick is like a psychological
warfare before the beginning of actual war.

It is true that a minuscule minority among Muslims has become
radical. It is equally true that a minuscule minority among Hindus
has gone on the extreme. SIMI, RSS and Bajrang Dal, are competing
identities, each one claiming to represent their respective
community. It is competitive extremism at work which can be summed up
in one-line: My version of extremism is better than yours! Media
plays safe when RSS and Bajrang Dal are involved in bomb blasts while
it indulges in triumphant journalism when SIMI comes under the
scanner. The reason for this differential approach is commercial: No
businessman would want to antagonize the majority Hindu readers.
Media, therefore, claims to be nationalistic but it only practices
majoritarian nationalism.

From a journalistic point of view, I have a problem when Police
changes the names of 'alleged' (it is one adjective which we in the
media have abused and used at will) masterminds overnight. First it
was Abdus Subhan Qureishi (alias Tauqeer), now it is Atif,
the "terrorist" who has been gunned down.

The journalist in me finds it hard to digest that Mufti Abul Bashar,
the alleged mastermind of Ahmedabad blasts, is linked to Delhi
blasts. If Bashar is really connected to Delhi blasts, the bomb
blasts should never have taken place since he was in police custody
when the blasts took place. How can Bashar, a poor madrasa-educated
person mastermind Ahmedabad blast with such precision? When did
Indian Madrasas start producing tech-savvy Muslims? Indian government
would love that to happen! There won't be any need for Central
madrasa board for modernization then!

Police says that the educated Muslims are involved in the blasts yet
they arrest who will not be termed 'educated' by worldly standards.
Mufti Bashar is just one example. A section of the mainstream media
is extremely behaving like the nautch girl of Indian intelligent
agencies. Instead of investigating the police claims, media is
promoting self-contradictory journalism.

The journalist in me has a problem when a TV correspondent spits out
the intelligence feed that there was a meeting of SIMI in 2001 where
200 youth were recruited to wreak havoc across India. What was our
intelligence agency doing for the last 8 years?

Muslim accused are being branded as terrorists before the proper
investigation and filing of the chargesheet. The actual trial by a
court of law is yet to begin but the trial by media has already
passed its judgement. Sample this:

"Mohammed Saif, the terrorist (emphasis added) who was arrested after
Friday's encounter, even possessed a fake voter card." (TOI,
September 21, page 1, Delhi edition)

Isn't it a perfect example of Judgemental journalism?

Meanwhile Muslims live under siege and fear. State, said Mahatma
Gandhi, is nothing but organized violence. Friday's encounter of
Jamia Nagar in Delhi raises some disturbing questions. Local Muslims
have termed it as "dubious." They have reasons to believe so. As a
Delhi friend put it, "No one saw cross firing yesterday. Only the
police claim it happened. Did you read in any report that anyone
actually saw cross-firing?" She added, "How come the two so-called
terrorists managed to flee? There was only one exit." She asked, "If
they knew they were going for a possible encounter, why wasn't the
building or the area properly covered by the police?"

Her conclusion was chilling and disturbed me:

"But the point is that they can kill anyone anywhere. Tomorrow my
brother might be the target and on flimsiest of grounds with no
chance of proving the innocence. You are guilty just because they say
so."

"It makes me bloody angry."

Indian Muslims live with fear, security, discrimination and terror
tag. A bunch of the so-called 'Muslims' have hijacked their Faith. I
detest when somebody says those who planted the bombs were Muslims.
Indian Mujahideen, a faceless body, has launched a faceless jihad for
the sake of Indian Muslims. A true jihad can never be faceless. If
one peers through Islamic history, he will come to know that a jihad
is a battle which is fought under the banner of recognition and not
anonymity.

I see a problem when a country of more than one billion people can't
arrest a loose bunch of murderers who want to convert India into a
slaughterhouse.

Indian intelligence agencies have some much input yet they produce
zero output.

India's 160 million Muslims have a problem: fear. And nobody is
willing to even listen to them. They are the in-betweens of India's
fight against terrorism. They want to be part of the solution and not
part of the problem. India needs to integrate them. A Muslim friend
put it bluntly, "Rabindranath Tagore's poem 'Where the mind is
without fear' no longer adorns my wall."