The special issue on Terrorism and Islam (Radiance Viewsweekly, 19-25 March 2000) reveals the dark side of the non-Muslims, who are flaunting their ignorance about Islam. At the same time it is painful to us. The best comments I can give regarding this subject vis-a-vis India is in these few lines, writes Mohammed Yacoob.
Mohammad Yacoob| Caravan Daily
IN September 1993, the conversation took a little turn towards seriousness, from casual to political to human rights abuses. Then the conversation moved to the demolition of the Babri Masjid, terrorism in Punjab, terrorism in Kashmir and even terrorism in Sri Lanka.
My friend made a comment, “Hey! We have Muslim Terrorists and there are no Hindu Terrorists.” Although I was not prepared for this sudden direct assault, I still managed to make a few points by saying, “Yes, there are no Hindu Terrorists in India. We have Shiv Sena Terrorists listening to their leader who said, ‘Go out and kill Muslims’. Even Maratha Policemen said, ‘If he is a Mia kill him.’
In Hyderabad, Telugu terrorists went to the house of a Muslim lawyer and said ‘As Salamu Aliakum’ and when he responded they stabbed and left him in a pool of blood. In UP, Rajput Terrorists stopped a train, read the names of Muslim passengers from the pasted reservation list, pulled them from the train and killed them.
Gujarati Terrorists killed, raped and burned alive Muslims. Yes, there are only “regional” terrorists in India. Yes, there are no Hindu Terrorists in India. Yes….Yes.” I just could not continue, I was choking, because I was speaking very fast.
This is what I was referring to:
“The riots began on January 6 after Shiv Sena, a local Hindu radical party, called for its followers to burn Muslim-owned homes, shops and property.”
“Rao (Prime Minister), who toured the city Friday, was widely criticized for failing to blame radical Hindu group for the rioting.” —From the Times Wire Services, Los Angeles Times, January 17, 1993.
“After the destruction of the mosque in Ayodhya, the Rao government did order a ban on some militant Hindu and Muslim organisations and arrested several leaders. But in Bombay, the authorities did not ban a virulently anti-Muslim organisation called Shiv Sena or arrest any of its members.
As the first wave of violence over the mosque subsided, Shiv Sena was apparently preparing a systematic campaign against the city’s one million Muslims. What it needed was an incident, real or fabricated, that might call forth mobs of Hindu street thugs to carry out the attacks.
Day after day after day, for nine days and nights beginning January 6, mobs of Hindus rampaged through the city, killing and burning people only because they were Muslims. No Muslim was safe — not in the slum, not in high-rise apartments, not in bustling offices — in an orgy of violence that left 600 people dead and 2000 injured.
Even in Bombay’s wealthiest residential area, neighbourhoods filled with the corporate barons of India, the violence penetrated. Shoba De, the author of several popular novels and the wife of a leading businessmen, said Shiv Sena mobs had searched apartment buildings for Muslims.
“They went door to door asking who is Muslim,” she said. “They would look on the name boards in the lobby and then go upstairs and throw the Muslim families out of their apartments and put padlocks on them.”
—Edward G. Gargan, The New York Times, February 7, 1993
Yes, there are Shiv Sena terrorists and Maratha terrorists.
“HYDERABAD-India — Ghulam Yazdani, a Muslim lawyer and social worker, was at his desk at home on a recent Saturday night discussing with a Hindu colleague ways to end the growing religious violence tearing apart this south India city when five Hindu youths quietly entered the room. They bowed respectfully, “Salam aleikim”, they said to Yazdani, mouthing in unison the traditional Islamic greeting for peace. Then, without warning, and with each taking his turn, the five methodically stabbed Yazdani 10 times, piercing both of his lungs, his head, his back and his legs. Then, without a word, they left him for dead in a river of blood.” —Mark Fineman, Times Staff Writer, Los Angeles Times, December 28, 1990
Yes, there are Telugu speaking terrorists; there are Andhra terrorists.
“In a new escalation of India’s turmoil, deadly religious riots spread to part of the nation’s capital Friday in an orgy of arson, bombings, stabbing and shootings.”
“The Seelampur district of northeast Delhi, a crowded middle-class community of Hindus and Muslims, was a war zone for most of the night and all day Friday as rampaging crowds of rock-throwing youths torched scores of homes and shops, burned at least one man and two children alive, hacked bothers with swords and fought police in pitched street battles. Residents said most of the victims were Muslims. Roaming gangs of Hindu youths still controlled the smoke and tear-gas filled alleys at nightfall – and fear – raged out of control.” —Bob Drogin, Times Staff Writer, Los Angeles Times, December 12, 1992
Yes, there are Rajput terrorists and Hindi speaking terrorists.
“Ahmed Qureshi wept as he told how he watched a screaming mob rush into his tenement block and drag his wife, his mother, his brother, his sister and his three year-old daughter on to the street.”
“The men beat them with sticks and in front of my eyes they poured kerosene over them and burned them to death’ sobbed Qureshi, who said he watched the scene July 12, 1986 from the balcony of his three story tenement.” How could they do this to women and children?
“On July 13, an angry crowd burned two young Moslem men alive at a hospital in Ahmedabad. Witnesses said the men, who were visiting a riot victim at the city civil hospital, were chased upstairs by 50 men who caught them, beat them unconscious and threw them from the second-floor window into a courtyard below. Another group of about 40 men then poured kerosene onto the victims and burned them alive as hundreds of patients and visitors watched in horror from windows surrounding the courtyard on three sides, the witnesses added.” —Reuters news item in India West, July 18, 1986, Emeryville, California 94608.
“Near Surat, in Gujarat state, 14 people were pulled from a train and hacked to death with knives and axes. A day before, 24 other people were burned to death by mobs in the trading and textile town. At least 200 people have died in Gujarat. In the North, Hindus killed Muslims near the Jaipur’s elegant palace, not far from the gleaming Taj Mahal, built as a tribute to love.’’—Bob Drogin, Times Staff Writer, Los Angeles Times, December 15, 1992
“SURAT, December 19. A 19 year-old rape victim with a shaven head is convalescing at a the Surat Civil Hospital. She was gang raped after being pulled out from the Bhusaval-bound train on December 10. Her brother who was accompanying her to Dhulia was stabbed and burnt alive in front of her. The 20-year-old wife of a religious leader was married just before 15 days. She had come from Assam to Surat with great hope and expectations. Her husband was slaughtered in front of her and she was also gang raped. She is struggling between life and death today at the Sarvajanik Hospital following an acid attack on her.”
A visit to the Marjaan Shaani hall where about 1,592 terror stricken people are taking shelter is a tragic sight. Many of the survivors have gory tales to tell. But what tops all if the eye witnesses are to be believed is the sadistic manner in which the killers have video recorded the incidents.
Why did they bring the video camera along with them and what was their intention to take their ‘inhuman acts’ on tape defies explanation because if by any chance if this tape falls in the hands of the police it may become a vital piece of evidence against the same killers.
“Perhaps the plight of Jamilabanu who is several months pregnant is the most tragic of all. Having seen her husband and three children being slaughtered in front of her own eyes and their bodies being hurled into a bonfire, she has lost her mental balance. She was amongst the several women who were brought to the camp in total naked condition, thanks to the help from a local leader. Lying in one of the corners of the camp office she has not opened her eyes since the last five days. Probably she is a lost case.”
“The tragedy that has befallen the family on Varachha Road is beyond words. The 23-year-old girl, a bright student had completed her M. Com./ and LL.B. Hailing from a police family, her father a retired police officer and her brother a police officer in Surat, she had made up her mind to join the civil service. “Only couple of days back, we had procured books worth over Rs. 5000 for her studies,” her aged mother says with a stolid face. The mob struck the house when the police officer brother was on duty and the parents along with two daughters were at their house at Santoshnagar Society on Varachha Road, while the parents along with the other sister somehow managed to escape through the back door, the girl could not succeed in fleeing and met the gory end. At the civil hospital only her head would be brought for the post mortem ritual as her body had been thrown into the bonfires which was lit by the crowd after pulling out all the belongings of the family.”
The Times of India, Ahmedabad, Sunday, December 20, 1992
Yes, there are Gujarati speaking terrorists living in cities and villages of Gujarat.
India is full of Regional Terrorists.
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The writer is former Chairman, Consultative Committee of Indian Muslims in US & Canada. Views are personal.