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| Syed Shahabuddin is a well known in the political and academic circles as well as in the mass media and does not need an introduction. In his many incarnations he has been a university teacher, a diplomat, who served as an ambassador and a government official who was at the time of his seeking pre-mature retirement, the Joint Secretary in charge of South East Asia, the Indian Ocean and the Pacific in the Ministry of External Affairs. He was a MP for three terms between 1979 and 1996 and made a mark as a Parliamentarian. He has edited Muslim India, the monthly journal of research, documentation and reference from 1983 to 2002 and again from July 2006. He has been a regular contributor on current affairs in the media and a familiar participant in seminars and TV discussions. He has been a member of many learned bodies and associated with several Muslim institutions and organizations. More... |
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Target Individuals, Not Communities, Nor Religions! More than three weeks after the 9 synchronised bomb blasts in Mumbai suburban railway, outraged the people of the country, the police is totally clueless about the identity of the culprits. Yet hundreds of Muslim youth, not only in Mumbai but in other parts of Maharashtra and those distantly connected with them in other parts of the country have been lifted from their houses, detained and interrogated though most of them were finally released. However, the police, the politicians and the mass media have combined to put the entire Muslim community in the dock. The name of ‘usual suspects’ have been repeated ad nauseam without any concrete evidence. All this exercise knowingly creates a miasma of suspicion and ill-will against the Community, communalizes the social environment and confirms the average Hindu in his attitude towards the Muslim Indians as Pakistani fifth-columnist, working hand-in-glow with Pakistan’s ISI and its militant organizations which have been seeking to extend their area of operation from J&K to the rest of the country. Terrorism is more than mass violence; the object and purpose of terrorism is to overawe the adversary, sometimes the State itself, or a social group. Since independence Muslims have been terrorized as targets of genocidal massacres, not to speak of petty discrimination and persistent vilification by the chauvinist forces, often with the support and collusion of the state machinery. Thus they have been subjected to State Terrorism of which, in the recent past, the Assam Massacre, 1983, the Hashimpura Massacre, 1987, the Bhagalpur Massacre of 1989, the Demolition, 1992, the Bombay Massacre, 1992-93, the Gujarat Massacre, 2002 are still fresh in our memory. Yet the Muslim Indians, to the surprise of the entire world, remained calm and peaceful, they never retaliated, not even by word of mouth. Perhaps they are helpless and they know it. Perhaps they also know that any prolongation of the cycle of violence will only add to their misery. Muslim Indians have played no role in the Kashmir insurgency which attracts ‘guest militants’ from many countries. No Muslim Indian ever joined Al-Qaida which elicited praise even from President Bush. Muslim youth have been enraged but they generally kept their cool. But a few individuals who suffered a deep psychic wound may have sought revenge and retaliation and become a ready catch for the ISI whose object is to destabilize the country and to sow disaffection among the Muslim youth. So no one has vouchsafe for any individual who loses his balance, gives way to impulses and even decides to sacrifice his life. But how many? Like the ISI and the Pakistan-based militants like Lashkar-e-Tayyiba and the Jaish-e-Mohammad, the name of the Students Islamic Movement of India is in the headlines. SIMI has been banned since 2001; it had its ideology and objective for which it was disowned by the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, it had its extremists and radicals but one wonders if it has produced any active terrorists. But some former associates of the SIMI might have received training and money and directions and worked with Pakistani militants. But the fact remains that ever since the SIMI was banned, its leaders have been on the run, facing hundreds of criminal cases. So far, not one SIMI activist has been convicted. But Pakistan, LeT, SIMI have been dinned by the police and by the media into the mind of the average citizen as a synonym of the Muslim community. No one objects if the investigation identifies some Muslims, of SIMI and otherwise, as culprits? But why target the entire community? They do it because, in the current environment, they can get away with making false allegations. They do not realize that they are playing a dangerous game; that they are pushing Muslim youth to the wall. How long shall the Muslim youth suffer the ignominy of being permanent suspects? Disaffection, alienation and harassment take their toll. Why do the media and the police engage in this witch-hunting? Simply, because of their incompetence and their bias. It is easy to impress the public and the bosses by coming up with ‘conclusions’ soon after the event. So the Muslim Indians become the sacrificial lamb. Incompetent investigation is followed by ineffective prosecution which means that the conviction rate in terms of cases as well as persons, is well-below 5%! Scarcely, hardly ever are the actual culprits taken alive; they are shot dead; very obligingly they leave diaries listing the addresses and contact numbers. Many a time, within hours of an event, suspects already in police custody become victims of custodial killing, to win plaudits and perhaps assuage the anger of the common Hindu. So this is the short cut, an easy way out, to give the dog a bad name and then hang him. But aren’t we living in a democracy, under a Constitution whose foundation is the Rule of Law? But we find utter lawlessness. Police complains that it is handicapped, it demands more powers. So more laws are enacted, Preventive Detention, is followed by MISA, TADA, POTA-I and POTA-II. They are all abused and misused. Most of the victims are Muslims. But do laws raise the level of conviction? No? They only add to the number of detainees. Something wrong with these laws? May be, they are not well-drafted. May be they deliberately have a loopholes so that even the deliberate and organized assassination of no less a person than Rajiv Gandhi is finally categorized by the Supreme Court as not an act of terrorism’! There is no point in adding to the pile of laws or to the powers of the police. Police, by and large, acts to please its political masters. Long years ago, it lost its conscience; then its soul; it is an automation dancing to the political tune of the day. What is needed to save the country as well as to save life and property of its people, to protect human rights and the constitutional rights of the usual targets is reorganization of the police as a composite force with equitable representation of all social groups; to train it as a professional force and then to liberate it from political control, to depoliticise it. What is also needed to deal effectively with Terrorism which shows us compassion towards human beings or even commitment to the principles of the religion it may professes, is to create a Federal Police Force which shall deal with all acts of mass violence, be it terrorism or atrocities against any social group or the vilification or demonization of any community defined as Crimes against the Nation, take charge of the investigation, identify and arrest the culprits and help prosecute them before Special Courts. Later the nation can set about looking for the roots of violence and creating a foundation of law and justice. No cause, howsoever secred, no grievance, howsoever real, no humiliation can justify terrorism or genocide. But target individuals, not communities. Mass hatred – suffered beyond endurance – can explode into another Gujarat. Can our reputation in the world, our economic progress, our dreams for the future sustain another Gujarat? A double Gujarat? A civil war? To begin with, please stop identifying Terrorism as Islamic or even Muslim. Terrorism has no religion. New Delhi, 1 August, 2006 ‘Muslim’, Hindu & State Terrorism Compared In essence & essentials, mob violence and terrorism both aim at terrorization of the target group. The state may or may not intervene to stop group violence, but the fact remains that such organized violence often enjoys administrative and police support and creates a reign of terror in the entire city or district. Subsequently state violence, regular and continuous, takes over police targets the locality, searches homes, damages property, detains suspects, tortures them to extract confession and prosecutes them without any other evidence, finally detains them for years without trial, sometimes kills them into false encounters. State violence also takes the form of brutal repression of lawful assemblies, firings on demonstrators and subsequent mass detentions as well as surveillance of their habitat. All this explains why the Muslims, who have repeatedly experienced both Hindu violence as well as state violence, live in a state of siege, not knowing whose turn will come next, where and when and are growing disillusioned with secular state. Always a Political Motive behind Terrorism The basic purpose of terrorism is to achieve a political goal. From this point of view, the obvious suspects are Hindu extremist and militant organizations operating under different labels in various areas, since they have a clear political objective to stigmatize Muslims, generate hatred and ill-will against them, consolidate Hindu vote-banks, control political power, on one hand, and demoralize and ghettoise the Muslims, on the other, soften them for eventual absorption and assimilation into the Hindu fold. Hindu terrorism thus has both a short term political goal and a long term civilisational goal for converting India into a Hindu Rashtra. There are no comparable short term or long term goal for Muslim Indians. No sensible Muslim thinks of turning India into a Muslim society/state in a democratic country in which they form only 13% of the population and that too widely dispersed. Official Presumptions behind Terrorism All official analysis of the phenomenon of terrorism is based on the double presumption of Muslim involvement and Hindu innocence. Hindu terrorism is the natural outcome of rabid Hindu communalism, the result of decades of indoctrination and training by Hindu organizations, in consonance with the gospel of Savarkar and Hedgewar, particularly the RSS ideology, which is taught in its Shakhas and educational institutions. Above all, they have the cumulative experience of fomenting and organizing communal violence in many places since 1947. All this has been consistently ignored by the authorities, while many Hindu extremist organizations sometimes under local names operate throughout the country, coordinate their activities, engage in communal violence, publicly flex their muscles in peace time and display their power to terrorise the Muslims. The support it receives from its allies within the government and political parties and NGO’s needs no elaboration. Advantages Enjoyed by Hindu Terrorism Thus Hindu militant and extremist organizations enjoy many advantages. They have first of all the advantage of numbers and free operational space. Secondly, they can draw upon the retired and serving members of the police and the army. When caught red-handed, they enjoy the sympathy of the police which dilutes the charges and more often it does not explore the leads as happened in Nanded, Malegaon, Kanpur and many other places. They enjoy much easier access to explosives. They have endless financial support including from NRI’s. Indoctrinated Hindu youth find it easy to enter the police and the army where anti-Muslim literature circulates freely without let or hindrance. Mass media generally adopts an anti-Muslim stand. Often they enjoy political support and official blessing. In-Built Restraints on ‘Muslim’ Terrorism If some Muslim youths have indeed become capable of ‘masterminding’ and manufacturing bombs and exploding them throughout the country, the question arises as to why they go only for soft targets and not for government offices, public buildings, cantonments, hotels, malls, exclusive residential localities, flyovers, airports and railway stations. If they can procure funds, arms and explosives as alleged, if they have mastered the technique of bomb making, why don’t they manufacture more sophisticated and powerful bombs? If they have become adept in placing bombs unobstrusively, they are indeed capable of setting the country on fire. Why hasn’t then ‘Muslim’ terrorism set the country on fire? This is due to in-built restraints. Even if we accept the police version, their impact on the political, economic and social life of the country has never been more than marginal. It serves no more than instilling a momentary sense of fear among the victims and some anger at large. State Terrorism against Muslims What has pained and alienated the community in state terrorism, in the aftermath of any communal violence or terrorist act the police points fingers at Muslims and targets them with bias and, what is worse, with rage. Double standards by the police and magistracy even in riot control have been the rule rather than the exception. But so far the Muslims looked upon such injustice, even cruelty by the police, as emanating from distorted minds and always appealed to the good sense of the political or permanent executive to discipline and reform the police and the magistracy and demanded equitable representation in the police force and the intelligence and the civil service. Over the years the unfulfilled government promises and continued official apathy have made it obvious that the State has deliberately ignored the Muslim grievances as well as accepted, if not encouraged, the prevailing communal mindset of the law and order machinery. Today, Muslim faith in neutrality of the state machinery lies shattered. They feel that the Government allows or at least ignores police atrocities as a matter of policy. One has only to recall the Moradabad Carnage in 1980, the Nellie Massacre in 1983, the Hashimpura Massacre of 1987, the Bhagalpur Massacre of 1989, the Gujarat Genocide of 2002 and the impunity enjoyed by the likes of Thackerays and Togadias. The state has failed to prosecute culprits and it has even dropped proceedings. In any case, it has not punished even one person for the Demolition of the Babri Masjid, 16 years ago! So, they conclude that through the State reiterates commitment to secularism it wishes to keep the Muslims on a tight leash. Origin of ‘Muslim’ Terrorism While there may have always been a few misguided Muslims, why has ‘Islamic’ or ‘Jihadi’ terrorism of indigenous origin suddenly exploded on the scene in 2006? One wonders, if it is related to relative inactivity of Pakistani outfits: SIMI, under ban since 2002, was first projected to fill up the gap. Then came Indian Mujahidin (IM). Many still take it to be a creation of the intelligence and the media. The IM may exist but a highly magnified picture is projected not only to accentuate fear in the Muslims and to justify wider surveillance, deeper penetration and more brutality. At one time the bomb blasts were said to be the handiwork of Pakistani agents operated by the ISI, then they were associated with the SIMI. But now with many cases against SIMI resulting in acquittal and particularly after the Tribunal’s refusal to extend ban it has receded into the background. It is only after the investigations are completed, the accused are arraigned for trial and the charge sheets are filed, sequence of events in the blasts and the shootouts (some call it fake encounters) is unearthed, that the truth about IM and SIMI will emerge. Targets of ‘Muslim’ Terrorism To categorise the terrorist operations attributed to the Muslims, one category is the Muslim places of worship; the Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad, the Dargah Sharif in Ajmer, the Masjid in Malegaon and the Jama Masjid in Delhi etc. In this category, practically all victims are Muslims. The first Malegaon blast was said to have resulted from sectarian differences between the Deobandis and the Barelvis but there is no hint of such violence elsewhere in the country. Even the ever quarreling Shias and Sunnis of Lucknow have made peace. Why should ‘Muslim’ terrorists attack Muslim places of worship and aim to kill only Muslims? Do they hope to incite local. Muslims to launch a mini-jihad locally? The second category of targets is public places in which the vast majority of the victims are non-Muslims with a sprinkling of Muslims, all innocent. Irrespective of their religious affiliation, they were all common people and do not include any known policemen or politicians or officials reputed for their anti-Muslim conduct. Do the Muslim terrorists plan for Hindu retaliation? Surmises on Motive behind ‘Muslim’ Terrorism There have been several surmises on the motive behind ‘Muslim’ terrorism. Some attribute it to pathological anti-Hindu hatred. No personal reason has ever been cited. Revenge for the Gujarat Genocide have been mentioned but why should it come 6 years late? Some analysts sense pan-Islamic solidarity in expression of appreciation for Osama Bin Laden. But how can a bomb blast in India help Osama or his pan-Islamic cause of reviving Khilafat? It has also been said that the motivation lies in India’s growing strategic alignment with the USA but so far no US target like hotel or corporation has been attacked. Way back in 2001, there was a solitary attack on US Information Centre in Kolkata. Some experts opine that the motive is to de-establise India politically, to stop India’s economic growth and thus to help Pakistan but surely any one with a modicum of intelligence will see that never has terror affected the even flow of political life or the economic rhythm, even in major cities like Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Delhi. And can they harm the Indian economy? Why should Muslim Indians have sympathy for Pakistan? Moreover, despite injustice, they will get a bigger slice of the cake, if India prospers. Our experts, including the Ministry of Home Affairs, finally come to the ever green but absurd explanation that the real motive behind ‘Muslim’ terrorism is to provoke communal violence. Blasts as projected may indeed give rise to Hindu retaliation in the form of more genocide but surely the conspirators realize that in any communal conflict the Muslims will always be the losers, as they have been since independence. In any case, one can hear the Hindu growl but there is no sign of any organized retaliation, although one does not rule out such acts by Hindu Terrorism. A retired member of the IAS has come out with his own theory. He sees the motive of the IM to ‘save Pakistan from ethnic disintegration by reviving the Two Nation Theory’. The Two Nation Theory died on 11 August, 47 in Jinnah’s inaugural address to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan and in October 1947 when Kashmiris of all religions rose to defend their land against the Pathan raiders. It was laid to rest in November, 1971 when Bangladesh was liberated. Every Muslim majority state has non-Muslim minorities; perhaps, Pakistan has the lowest proportion of non-Muslims but if Muslim ethnicities in Pakistan are headed towards a showdown, can a few bomb blasts in India resulting in Hindu-Muslim clashes serve to make them change course and stick together? The noted historian Amaresh Mishra has added an international dimension and points out that the US CIA, the Israeli Mossad and the Hindu Right in India (read Hindutva forces), have joined hands to erode secularism and to set up a fascist regime. The Indian corporate sector, according to him, is also acting hands in glove with them. His theory is that they aim to create conditions in which the secular forces may not freely canvass and vote others in 2009. The modus operandi is to terrorise the Muslims, target their localities and restrain them from voting. Then, they would blame the Muslim community for the acts of terrorism, incite communal passion in minds of the Hindus, take on Muslims and raise Hindu turn-out. Large scale communal violence may not occur because of the inherent good sense and secular beliefs of the Hindu masses but this scenario shall automatically shift the balance towards the RSS- supported BJP candidates. In their various ‘manifestoes’, the IM has referred to its objective to reestablish Muslim rule in India. But can a small minority under a democratic system become decisive and even politically dominant? The primary condition is a Muslim majority. Will sporadic bomb blasts terrorise the Hindu majority to embrace Islam? If Muslim rule or Khilafat is to be revived, the beginning has to be made in a major Muslim majority state like Saudi Arabia or Pakistan, not in India. Thus, none of the above theories on motive stands the test of reason. No doubt, the twisted mind of a fanatic with its perverse logic is difficult to fathom. But, surely the IM realizes that a few bomb blasts cannot destabilize India or disrupt its economy nor can they force the Government of India to change its foreign policy. Far less, can they make the USA quit Iraq or Afghanistan or change its long term policy of total support to Israel? Impact of Terrorism attributed to Muslim Indeed, what these blasts and the media blow-up achieve is to harden the attitude of the Hindus towards the Muslims and communalise the social environment. They now look upon every Muslim with suspicion, tinged with hatred. All common citizens, Hindus and Muslims, share fear and anxiety and nurse similar perceptions. The blasts have widened the communal divide. A phenomenal rise in communal consciousness is bound ultimately to promote political consolidation of the Hindu community and increase the pressure for transformation of secular India into Hindu India. One must ask whom such a scenario benefits, the secular or the anti-secular forces, the BJP or the Congress? The Intelligence may well be helping the BJP to come to power, which will mean more authority for the intelligence and the police to play their games with tougher anti-terror laws to enact more genocides and line their pockets, place more restrictions on Madrasas and Masjids, control access of Muslim youth to professional education and public employment, discriminate against Muslim localities in building infrastructure. There shall be more action against the Valley, more brutal denial of human rights and of rule of law to Muslims under detention or arrest, stigmatization will lead to systematic profiling as in the USA and the UK. They will be, increasingly demoralized, to take shelter in its ghettos and become ready fodder for assimilation and indoctrination. This is what both the Hindu fanatics and the intelligence have been aiming at for years. The question is why the central government, well aware that such things are happening does not take any action against the Hindu extremist organizations. There are two alternative theories to explain it. First, UPA today stands shaken to the point that it dare not touch the Bajrang Dal or institute a judicial enquiry in the Batla House shoot-out or appoint a judicial commission to find out the truth about indigenous terrorism. The government does not even dare table the Justice Mishra Commission Report in the Parliament, because it will be forced to take a position on the question of reservation, or take any concrete steps to implement the Sachar Report. In fact, it is not anxious to mollify the community; it wants Hindus onboard. The next electoral battle shall be crucial with communalism and communal tension having reached the highest point since 1947. Today nine States are burning in communal fire. Which shall be the next and how many more states shall be plunged into fire by the time of general election? Far from being the subject, the Indian people have become the object of politics. Playing the politics of numbers, the political parties, in the final analysis, bank on Hindu communalism. Even within the Congress, there are fifth columnists who may not shed their mask and work for BJP’s victory. The BJP has already taken to chanting its favourite song of ‘national government’. This is a manoeuvre to shackle the secular forces and gain an opportunity to implement the Hindu agenda from inside, if it fails to form government. The second theory has been propounded by Santosh Bharti, well known journalist. The real strategy of the Congress in the coming general election is to lose it, so that the BJP and its allies come to power and face the economic crisis which is looming on the horizon and shows no signs of abatement. The Congress expects that the BJP will not be able to handle it and resign in 2010 and in the mid-term poll Congress will return to power. Its present strategy, therefore, is to adopt a soft approach towards Hindu terrorism, give it the freedom of the land and not make any effort to win Muslim support. Its indifference has already assumed pathological proportions. While some Muslim votes in any case may fall in its lap, its real anxiety is to ensure that the Hindu vote-bank is strengthened so as to ensure the victory of the Sangh Parivar. One wonders, if the UPA is blind to this game being played before its eyes, oblivious of the consequences and, why even top Hindu society has maintained scrupulous silence. Both the UPA and the Society at large should recall the role that the Intelligence played in persuading Indira Gandhi to lift the Emergency and hold general elections in 1979. Is History going to repeat itself? New Delhi 1 November, 2008 |
