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Author: Editorial
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: July 10, 2007
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has let it be known that he has been spending sleepless nights after watching the tearful parents of Kafeel and Sabeel Ahmed, involved in the terrorist plot to blow up Glasgow Airport and targets in London, on television. That's very touching, but it would have been convincing if the Prime Minister had demonstrated similar sentiments after watching television footage of mutilated bodies of victims of terrorism both at home and abroad. It would be in order to recall that the day terrorists blew up commuter train compartments in Mumbai last year, rather than commiserate with the families of 247 innocent victims and strongly denounce the criminals, he urged restraint and hoped the "spirit" of the city would prevail over the ghastly tragedy. In a similar vein, during a visit to Jammu & Kashmir he threatened security forces that his Government would adopt a policy of "zero tolerance" if they violated human rights; strangely, he did not find it fit to condemn the gross violation of human rights by terrorists or elaborate his Government's policy on dealing with such violations. And, in Havana, he declared that Pakistan was as much a victim of terrorism as India, thus giving a clean chit to those responsible for the grisly deaths of thousands of Indians. It would also be in order to point out that in the three years that he has been Prime Minister, Mr Singh has not had a single sleepless night over the plight of Kashmiri Pandits living in abysmal conditions after being thrown out of their home and hearth by Islamists in the Valley. Nor has the Prime Minister been so moved when terrorists struck in Delhi on the eve of Diwali and at Sankat Mochan temple on the eve of Holi. The imagined sorrow of some, it would seem, touches the Prime Minister more than the grief of those who have suffered on account of terrorism.
Ironically, as this morning's front page report informs the readers of this newspaper, both Kafeel and Sabeel had a role model at home: Their father. As a Jamaat-e-Islami activist, he practised and espoused fundamentalist Islam. The irony is further underscored by the fact that Mrs Indira Gandhi's Emergency regime did not take kindly to such radicals and their ideology. It would be easy to suggest that the Prime Minister was being no more than politically correct by expressing treacly concern and mouthing cliches like "terrorists have no religion". But that would be both unfair and incorrect: He was seeking to send out a soothing message to India's Muslims. And by doing so, he has done them a great disservice. Nothing can be farther from the truth than the assumption that the vast majority of India's Muslims can be made to feel happy by pandering to radical Islamism and its horrific manifestation. This is as deeply flawed as the assumption, often made by political parties, that by kow-towing to Pakistan, they can get Muslim votes. Mr Singh's shocking comments are not free of cynical motives, nor are they off-the-cuff remarks made by a person who is too naive to be aware of the consequences of the spoken word. He has once again shown that contrary to what his fans tend to believe, he can indulge in cynical politics, regardless of the consequences for the nation and its people.
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