Author: Satish Nandgaonkar (AP)
Publication: The Hindustan Times
Date: November 12, 2001
URL: http://www.hindustantimes.com/nonfram/121101/dLNAT33.asp
More than 2,000 Muslim doctors in
Mumbai and its suburbs would boycott medicines of American and British
companies in protest of the US-led strikes against Afghanistan, the Doctors'
Association said on Monday.
The Muslim Medico Association said
it has yet to draw up a list of the drugs that would be boycotted, but
the list would exclude some lifesaving drugs.
The doctors were joining the call
given by Muslim intellectuals and clerics worldwide to boycott American
and British products, said Dr. Y.A. Matcheswala, president of the newly
formed association.
"Islam does not permit the indiscriminate
killing of human beings... We strongly condemn the killing of innocent
people on Sept. 11, but the massacre in Afghanistan also cannot be justified
before any world court," he said.
There are more than 5,000 Muslims
doctors in Mumbai, and its suburbs, but the association could so far contact
only 2,000 of them, Matcheswala said.
The boycott would apply to medicines
and other products of all such companies that are American or British in
their ownership, said another official of the association.
The official named Pfizer, Johnson
and Johnson, Elli Lily as some of the companies on the top of the boycott
list.
The association said the boycott
call would not affect the patients.
"I can easily substitute an imported
drug with an Indian drug and Indian drugs are much more economical," said
Matcheswala, a practicing psychiatrist in Mumbai.
"We thought a boycott call was the
best way of peaceful protest," he said.
A few weeks ago, hundreds of Muslim
restaurant owners in Mumbai boycotted Coca-Cola and Pepsi. There have been
similar announcements from other Indian cities.
India has the second largest Muslim
population in the world, totalling about 140 million. There have been several
protests against the military action in Afghanistan, but none have turned
violent with few exceptions.
The government has backed the US-led
coalition against terrorism since the Sept. 11 terror attacks in New York
and Washington.
