Author: Tarun Vijay
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: Oct 14, 2001
URL: http://www.indian-express.com/ie20011014/op2.html#
Why is that none of the Muslim scholars,
the real ones, are speaking out against what we are being told, are 'un-Islamic'
acts? asks TARUN VIJAY
The psyche war began the day President
Bush addressed the senate. And now the bombings. Does it gladden our hearts?
To some extent yes, but enveloped in anxieties. True that Taliban days
are numbered and if Afghans get King Zahir Shah, a squirming Pakistan notwithstanding,
a smile on our faces can be seen. But how will that help us in Kashmir?
Will that mean an end to Kashmir blasts and ISI operations in India? Rather,
fattened on the US and UK support, Pakistan may turn more arrogant to us.
We are much bigger than Pakistan and much independent to negotiate each
curve in response to US actions.
But terrorism is being explained
in terms of 11 September as if it didn't exist before. They seem to have
forgotten the jihad India has been facing all these years. No mention has
Ghallugharas or the bloody holocausts played by invading jihadis. The government
too has not come out with the publicity material on jihad in India. Even
post-independence jihad related incidents are not collected and presented.
Such is the impact of foreign conquests that we feel afraid to remember
our ancestors killed barbarically by the invading jihadis for the fear
of losing Muslim votes.
Seeing the whole affair either in
terms of Pakistan-gains or as a balancing act between Hindus and Muslims
in India is myopic. That Pakistan has been 'used' to the much chagrin of
it's people and the general had to swallow a very bitter pill, is a bigger
factor than lamenting the attention it is getting in the West. We should
be happy that as a sovereign nation, we have been destined to make our
own decisions.
Pakistan has lost what is known
as national-izzat and has almost become the invisible 52nd state on the
star and stripes. That should not make us jealous but caution is needed
to ensure a strengthened and re-enforced Pakistan is not permitted to strike
us. We must remember, first it was a war against the Soviet occupation
and 'Pakistan had to be helped to help the West'. It meant creating Taliban
and an Osama.
Unfortunately September 11 happened
in their very courtyard, which was unexceptionable. So again Pakistan is
to be equipped and strengthened. Repayments of loans are to be waived off
or delayed. New loans are sanctioned. Sanctions removed. It's a war. The
Great War on 'Anti-US terrorism'. And so, a year after it, the arms and
the money pumped into Pakistan, may again be used to attack us Hindus.
Our children, womenfolk and parents would get the midnight knocks on their
doors so that the 'courageous' jihadis may kill them in the name of Islam.
A few more statements would come from English speaking shy Muslims - 'no,
this is not Islamic Jihad. True jihad means opening more and more adult
education centres, making pen-friends and preaching compassion'. This should
not happen. It needs a firm national solidarity and consensus against terrorism.
And here is a problem.
So far Vajpayee's reaction to the
situation has been balanced and appropriate. He spoke straight to Tony,
put Pakistan in the right bracket and committed his government to end terrorism
here. Only the support he should have got to forge a national solidarity
is missing. We have yet to learn from the American national character.
Vajpayee's firm resolves to eliminate anti-national outfits are met with
a self-defeating secular firewalls. When an anti-national outfit is banned,
the secular gang demands a ban on a Hindu organisation too. Why? To show
the law is just? Or to please Muslims? A dangerous game indeed. Do they
believe Muslims are pleased when a Hindu outfit is banned and are angry
when an outfit, working in the name of Islam is banned, even if proved
anti-national? What conclusions are we trying to draw? The war is against
terrorism and every one believing in human values, belonging to any religion
should come forward to eliminate this curse. This provides a great chance
of forging multi-religious solidarity against a common enemy too.
RSS says it is not a war against
any religion (read Islam) and has called Muslims to come forward to fight
the menace of terrorism with it. And the most vocal exponents of Islam
and Koran we see today have non-Muslim names. Everybody is busy to defend
Islam and declare it as a compassionate, non-violent religion. The suggestions
are well taken. But where are the Maulanas of Deoband and Nadwa? Why, pray,
none of the Muslim scholars, the real ones, are speaking out against what
we are being told, are 'un-Islamic' acts? Every now and then, they declare
a community or a person as un-Islamic (Ahemadiyas and Rushdie) and issue
fatwas. Now if the whole world is standing against the barbarism of jihad
and reasonable Muslims are at pains to say 'this is not Islam', is it not
the duty of Islamic scholars to declare that such barbarism has no sanction
in Islam and these terrorists are indulging in un-Islamic acts? Why don't
they issue a fatwa against these un-holy jihadis? Are non-Muslims obliged
to present a humane face of Islam and defend it or the Islamists?
Uncle Sam knows the language what
we should have learnt by heart having fought jihad since centuries. We
have the capacity to win the war against terrorism on our soil. Like Prithviraj
Chauhan, we just fall short of pushing the right point at the right time.
(Vijay is editor, Panchjanya)
