Author: Mr Francois Gautier
Publication: groups.yahoo.com
Date: April 16, 2001
The West seems to have suddenly
woken-up to Muslim fundamentalism in South Asia when the Taliban broke
down the Bamyan statues, in spite of frantic appeals from all over the
world. But there is a bit of hypocrisy in the outrage triggered by this
destruction.
Firstly, Islam is very clear about
statues: didn't the Prophet Mohamed break down himself the first stone
Gods ? Thereafter, it became a holy duty for all good Muslims. Firuz Shah
Tughlak (1351-1388) who has an avenue named after him in New Delhi, wrote:
"on the day of a Hindu festival, I went there myself, ordered the executions
of all the leaders and practitioners of this abomination; I destroyed their
idols and temples to build mosques in their places".
As Belgium historian Konraad Elst
points out, "Muslim fanatics are merely faithful executors of Quranic injunctions.
It is not the Muslims who are guilty, but Islam". Thus, the Taliban, who
want to restore the early purity of Islam, really thought they were performing
a righteous act by destroying the "heathen" Buddhist statues.
Secondly, does the West ever protest
when Hindu temples are destroyed periodically in Bangladesh and Pakistan?
The HRCBM, a Santa Clara-based organisation that investigates and exposes
human rights violations in Bangladesh, has recorded a few of the outrages
against Hindus in Bangladesh during the year 2000: On March 29, 2000, Malarani
Roy of Karagola village was abducted by Muslims. She was brutally beaten
up and gang-raped. The local police found her, but refused to register
a case.
On June 26, a group of Muslims directed
Smriti Rani Saha of Sirajganj town to migrate to India. When she refused,
she was abducted, gang-raped and brutally murdered. On May 28, Debasish
Saha of Poradaha was fatally shot by a Muslim gang. On June 4, Mayaram
Tripura of Balipara was shot dead by local Muslims. On October 6, 2000,
Muslim devotees, after offering namaaz at the Gajipur Jama Masjid, strolled
across to the Hindu Kali temple, destroyed the puja pandal, smashed the
idols, and looted nearby Hindu-owned shops.
Take a look at the figures of the
Hindu population of India's Muslims neighbours: in 1941, there were approximately
25% Hindus in Pakistan and 30% in Bangladesh; in 1948, only 17% in Pakistan
and 25% in Bangladesh; in 1991, a bare 1.5% remained in Pakistan and less
than 10% in Bangladesh.
==============added by LSK begin==================
__________________________________________________________
| year || % of hindus
in Pakistan || % of hindus in Bangladesh
||
|_____||____________________ ||___________________________||
| 1941 ||
25
||
30
||
| 1948 ||
17
||
25
||
| 1991 ||
1.5
||
<10
|| |________________________________________________________
||
=============added by LSK end
===================
Thirdly, the West has not yet realized
that for the Muslims of South Asia , Hindus are the Kafirs by excellence:
the Buddhists adore only Buddha, the Christians only Jesus, but Hindus
worship a million Gods and Goddesses; and that makes them - even today
- the number one enemy of Islam. This is why Kashmir is so important: it
is not about territory, it is about a Holy war against Hindu India that
has been going on for fifteen centuries and it is only the first step of
the encirclement of India by hostile Muslim neighbours: Pakistan, Afghanistan,
Bangladesh, with soft nations, like Nepal, often lending them a helping
hand.
Nothing symbolizes more the absoluteness
of Muslim belligerence towards Hindus than the Hindu Kush. Historically,
the passes across the Hindu Kush have been of great military significance,
providing access to the northern plains of India to foreign invaders, starting
from Alexander the Great in 327 BC, to Timur Lane in 1398 AD, and from
Mahmud of Ghazni, in 1001 AD, to Nader Shah in 1739 AD. As noted by Srinandan
Vyas in the Hindu.net website: " In Persian, the word 'Kush' is derived
from the verb Kushtar - to slaughter or carnage, because all Hindus living
there were slaughtered.
Encyclopaedia Americana says of
Hindu Kush: The name means literally 'Kills the Hindu', a reminder of the
days when Hindu slaves from Indian subcontinent died in harsh Afghan mountains
while being transported to Moslem courts of Central Asia. While Encyclopaedia
Britannica mentions "that the name Hindu Kush first appears in 1333 AD
in the writings of Ibn Battutah, the medireview Berber traveller, who said
the name meant 'Hindu Killer', a meaning still given by Afghan mountain
dwellers who are traditional enemies of Hindus".
"Unlike the Jewish holocaust, writes
again Vyas, the exact toll of the Hindu genocide suggested by the name
Hindu Kush is not available. However the number is easily likely to be
in millions". A few known historical figures can be used to justify this
estimate. Encyclopaedia Britannica recalls that in December 1398 AD, Timur
Lane ordered the execution of at least 50,000 captives before the battle
for Delhi; likewise, the number of captives butchered by Timur Lane's army
was about 100,000 .
Encyclopaedia Britannica again mentions
that Mughal emperor Akbar 'ordered the massacre of about 30,000 captured
Rajput Hindus on February 24, 1568 AD, after the battle for Chitod, a number
confirmed by Abul Fazl, Akbar's court historian. Afghan historian Khondamir
records that during one of the many repeated invasions on the city of Herat
in western Afghanistan, which used to be part of the Hindu Shahiya kingdoms
"1,500,000 residents perished".
Why does not the Government of India
tell Indian children about the Hindu Kush genocide? The horrors of the
Jewish holocaust are taught not only in schools in Israel and USA, but
also in Germany. Because both Germany and Israel consider the Jewish holocaust
a 'dark chapter' in the history. Yet, in 1982, the National Council of
Educational Research and Training issued a directive for the rewriting
of school texts.
Among other things it stipulated
that: 'Characterization of the medireview period as a time of conflict
between Hindus and Moslems is forbidden'. Thus denial of history, or Negationism,
has become India's official 'educational' policy.
It is high time that the West realizes
that India is fighting a lonely battle against Muslim fundamentalism in
Asia. The French for one, who have a definite problem with Muslim terrorism,
should support India more openly.
NOTE: The Indian Express refused
to carry this column by Gautier, clearly indicating a policy of censorship
being applied by the publication.
