The
Agony Of The Deprived
Indian Muslims
By Aleem Faizee
07 September, 2007
Countercurrents.org
“My
husband was in Phool Sawangi, hundreds of miles away from Malegaon when
the blasts took place in Malegaon a year before. The whole village is
witness to this fact. Tell me, how can he plant a bomb in Malegaon when
he was miles away?” asks Salma Bano, a resident of Phool Sawangi
near Nanded and wife of Zahid Akhter. Zahid is one of the accused in
Malegaon September Blasts case. With sheer helplessness written large
in her eyes and almost bewailed, she adds, “No way! But he is
still lingering into the jail.”
Ironically, this is not an
aberration in the country; the Muslims have been at the receiving end
from the Police Department and other Government officials in India ever
since the Independence. Whenever something happens in any part of the
country, finger of suspicions are immediately raised towards the Muslims
without taking into account the impact of such attitude on the community,
“This is nothing but a mental torture and it looks sort of state
sponsored pestering through the machinery”, says Altaf Ansari,
an activist. And once this is done, the Muslims are now lucky if they
can avoid indiscriminate detentions of their educated youngsters.
Very recently, the same thing
was observed after the Makkah Masjid Blasts in Hyderabad as well. Like
in Malegaon, as soon as the blasts took place, the speculations of the
Muslim involvement started circulating even before any investigation
actually took place.
God forbid saying, the State
Machinery is working on some pre-planned strategy to nab the Muslims.
However, a close study of the Sachar Committee Report confirms this
notion to some extent. It is worth recalling what the report says about
the trauma, to which the Muslims are subjected to, when such things
make rounds in the society.
Report Brief
The Prime Minster of India
constituted a High Level Committee led by Justice Rajendra Sachar for
assessing the Social, Economic and Educational Status of the Muslims
in India. After an extension of few months, the Committee ultimately
handed its report to the Prime Minister in November last.
And the report! It was as
if, someone has counted the bleeding wounds of an injured body! Beyond
doubt, first time after the independence, any report has succeeded in
addressing the actual grievances of a beleaguered community on official
level in such a comprehensive manner! The grievances, which were cleverly
kept hidden from the world till now!
As expected, it was a near
storm everywhere in the country when the report was made public. And
after the dust settled down, it became clearly known to everyone that
the Muslims in India are far behind, in almost every field, in comparison
with their fellow countrymen. Worst, they are forced to live under the
dilemma of being treated as Anti-National.
The burden (or price?) of
loyalty
Along with many other torments
the community is forced to live with, the report has highlighted ‘the
mental torture’ by the media and the agencies that keep on questioning
the loyalty of the Muslims towards the country. The Report has observed,
“They carry a double burden of being labeled as “anti-national”
and as being “appeased” at the same time. While Muslims
need to prove on a daily basis that they are not “anti-national”
and “terrorists”, it is not recognized that the alleged
“appeasement” has not resulted in the desired level of socio-economic
development of the Community.”
It further says, “Concern
was expressed over police highhandedness in dealing with Muslims. Muslims
live with an inferiority complex as ‘every bearded man is considered
an ISI agent’, ‘whenever any incident occurs Muslim boys
are picked up by the police’ and fake encounters are common. In
fact, people argued that police presence in Muslim localities is more
common than the presence of schools, industry, public hospitals and
banks.”
The report goes on to add,
“Communal tension or any untoward incident in any part of the
country is enough to make Muslims fear for their safety and security.
The lackadaisical attitude of the government and the political mileage
sought whenever communal riots occur has been very painful for the Community.”
Now the most awful act on
the part of the Government! The Muslims had expected from the Government
that it would have taken some immediate corrective measures at least
in this regard. However, very unfortunate to state that one really fails
to find anything the Government has done in this regard.
Is the Government really
serious over the Report?
Not a single day is passed
when a leader, however small or big, forgets to reiterate the Government’s
seriousness over the Sachar Committee Report and its concern for the
revival of the Muslim Community. Some even suggest, backdoor high-level
activities are underway and some thing good for the community will definitely
come out of it. They even advice to hold on for sometimes as the Government
policies take time for implementation.
True, the Government initiatives,
schemes and policies take time and if they are related to the Muslims,
they take even more time. However, the Muslims wish to know what steps
the Government has taken for easing out the “burden of suspected
loyalty” from the beleaguered community. What the Government has
done to counter the malicious propaganda against the Muslim community
and what it has done about the alleged atrocities against the Muslims.
Just in case you are listening dear Prime Minister
Lately, we have seen some
statements by the Prime Minister and other ministers urging the concerned
departments for restrain and when the Prime Minister said, he had not
slept for the whole night after watching the TV images of Glasgow accused’s
parents, it was really mother of all statements in this regard. Nonetheless,
one is sorry to say that the attitude of the officials and various departments
towards the Muslims remain the same and ceases to show any kind of reversal.
Otherwise my dear PM, why is Zahid still behind the bars when Haneef
is enjoying into the free air? Why is Salma still away when Firdous
Arshiya has found her love?
And it is here that the suspicion
comes into one’s mind about the sincerity of the Government over
the report. It is high time for the Government to realize at least now
that, more than bread and butter, what the Muslims in India need today
is a better peace of mind. Enough of the rhetoric, it is time for the
action now.
It is really interesting
to recall what Hasan Kamal, a senior journalist and activist had said
in a recent meeting on ‘Islam and terrorism’, “Give
us TEN years of peace, I just ask TEN years of peace for the Muslims,
then you would see, to what height we take this country to.”
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