Kashmiri Pandits' Association, Mumbai, India

From the Press

 … Balbir K. Punj

Terror’s P-Company

 Every time the country is stalked by a terrorist strike, or a communal riot, the out-of-job 'secularists' see the tragedy as yet another opportunity to paint their favourite whipping boy, the Sangh Parivar, black. Following the recent Mumbai blasts which left over 40 people dead and more than 100 injured, they have been prompt enough to describe the incident as a retributive strike, with just a statutory warning in fine print that all terrorism is bad. Are they thus raising a red herring to allow a safe passage to the real culprits?

    It is not that they are never caught on the wrong foot. Some three years ago, they were prompt enough to label the bomb blasts outside some churches in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh as the handiwork of the Sangh Parivar. But when the role of an ISI outfir, Deendar-e-Anjuman, came to light, they immediately retreated in a huff without tendering an apology.

    Recently Mrs. Teesta Javed Setalvad of Communalism Combat (read, Civil Society Combat) went to resettle Qutubuddin Ansari of Ahmedabad in Kolkata. The scarred face of the unfortunate Ansari, during last year's  Ahmedabad riots had provided a photo opportunity for the 'secularists'. His 'rehabilitation' was no less an opportunity for them to hog the lime light. But, how many faces from the three lakh plus Kashmiri Pandits who have been displaced from the Kashmir valley, have ever been displayed. Has the West bengal government extended special admission to a single Kashmiri Hindu student in a college or a professional institute. Qutubuddin Ansari would probably be just one more tailor in the Metiabruz area of Kolkata. In fact he might leave Kolkata to return to Ahmedabad. After all, 'rightist' Ahmedabad's economy is booming and Marxist Kolkata's economy is depressing. But it will be interesting to find to what extent 'secularism' could be subsidised. Meanwhile, in the wake of Mumbai's twin blasts or the arrest of Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists, Teesta Javed Setalvad is nowhere to be seen.

    If 'secular' logic is applied, there will be no limit to the number of revenge attacks. It could be a fidayeen attack on Ahmedabad's Akshardham Temple, the two on Jammu's Raghunath Temple, the murder of Haren Pandya, the isolated detonation in Mumbai, the attacks on Vaishno Devi pilgrims, and now the twin blasts in Mumbai! By that logic, the bagful of explosives that were discovered at New Delhi railway station, and more remarkably, the cataclysmic blasts plotted around Connaught Place, the ones that were foiled by the timely intervention of the police - an act that involved the arrest of five jaish-e-Mohammed activists from Bulandshahar district of Uttar Pradesh - can also be justified as acts of revenge intended!

    The 'secularist' view suffers from multiple flaws. First they tend to absolve Pakistan of all responsibilities. So the establishment in Pakistan and a section of the Indian 'secularists' often end up speaking the same language. Both try to legitimise terror in India saying it's a result of the alienation experienced by Indian Muslims. Was it alienation that prompted Dawood Ibrahim to seek an entry in Mumbai's underworld where he marginalised other Muslims like Karim Lala but worked with Hindus like Chhota Rajan till the day they fell out over the Mumbai riots. Dawood masterminded the Mumbai serial blasts of 1993 and later flew to Karachi where he found a cosy nest in the Defence Officers' Housing Authority, two blocks away from Parvez Musharraf's residence. He then got a Pakistani citizenship under the name Iqbal Seth in January 2002. And how can one explain the fact that Haren Pandya's assasination was plotted by 'alienated Muslims', not in Ahmedabad but in Karachi. How can all acts of Islamic terrorism in the post-Gujrat riot phase be attributed to the 'original sin' of the Sangh Parivar? Is it not a fact that most terrorists are Muslims although most Muslims are not terrorists? In fact many Muslims are victims of terrorism unleashed by radical Islam. In India, while most Muslims prefer to live in peace with their fellow citizens, there are strands among them who are always in a battle gear against all those who do not share their world view. And this trait of intolerance provides a cementing bond between radical Islam and the Marxists who provide intellectual inputs to the 'secular' cabal in India.

    What the 'secularists' are trying to do is to legitimise well-plotted acts of revenge involving Kalashnikovs and RDX. According to intelligence agency estimates, nearly 5000 Indian Muslims have received trainings in the Jehadi camps of Pakistan and Afghanistan in recent times. The main recruiting grounds are the Hyderabad-region, western UP and Assam. They often are the perfect gloves for the Pakistan-hand in terrorism. All this has nothing to do with the Gujarat riots. Following the breaking away of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), Pakistan has been carrying out a relentless proxy war against India through ISI sponsored terrorism in Punjab (1980-92), Kashmir and elsewhere, with or without local help.

    When deputy prime minister L.K.Advani visited the bomb blast site at Mumbai's Zaveri Bazaar, he spoke about the involvement of the Pakistan based Lashkar-e-Tayyaba in the attacks. He also appealed to Pakistan, if its intention of peace-making was honest, to hand over the terrorists mentioned in the 'Wanted 20' list, except Ejaz Pathan (involved in the 1993 blasts) who has been extradited to India by the UAE. It was quite a sane remark on the part of Advani to bail out the local Muslims, averting the possibility of a Hindu backlash. But the 'secularists' will have none of this. They absolved Pakistan, put the blame on Indian Muslims, who according to the 'secularists' have been forced to take to arms to avenge the Gujrat injustice perpetrated by the Sangh Parivar. The 'secularists' were obviously waiting for 'action-reaction'. Fortunately, people saw through their design, and the country remained peaceful, much to the discomfort of the 'secularists'.

    The Mumbai police has solved the Mumbai twin blasts case and also that of the Ghatkopar blast of July 26 with the arrest of four persons including two women from one family - Syed Mohammad Hanif, 42, his wife Syed Fahmida Mohammad Hanif, 36, and daughter Syed Farheen Mohammad Hanif, 18, as well as Arshad Shafique Mohammad Ansari, 27. Hanif who originally hailed from Mangalore (Karnataka) worked as an electrician in Hotel Hilton of Dubai where the entire plan for the blast was hatched. One Zahid Ahmed financed the entire project. The recurrence of Dubai in connection to terrorism, from Dawood Ibrahim to Aftab Ansari, may be more than coincidental. This also indicates the level at which the Islamic extremism conspiracy is going on in the Dubai-Mumbai-Karachi axis. It is too simple to attribute everything to Gujarat. It is like saying that had Gujarat not happened, these blasts would not have happened. These blasts are going to occur because the motive is larger.

    Secondly, the revenge arguement, not without its paradoxes, is a double edged weapon. If this string of violence could be ascribed to Gujarat, why shouldn't then Gujarat be ascribed to Godhra? But here the 'secular' double standard is quite egregious, which actually provoked the Gujarat riots last year. With fumes still bellowing out of the burnt coach of Sabarmati Express, the 'secularists' led by the Communists, instead of sympathising with the victims, started blaming them for their own fate. Even if the 'secularists' could not nurse their wounds, they need not have rubbed salt in them. Some leaped a step ahead by associating the Godhra carnage with the Ram Janambhoomi movement although the victims were innocent women and children.

    Will the 'secularists' explain what was the provocation for the Moplah riots in 1920 during the height of Khilafat and the Non-Cooperation Movements? What was the provocation for the Great Calcutta Killings of 1946? What was the provocation for Naoakhali or Multan? What were the provocations for 9/11 or Bali bombings? I'II give you the answer. There are Muslims of various hues, ranging from the Sufis to the Wahabis. Some Muslims abhor the very notion of living as equal with those who do not subscribe to their brand of Islam. They are indoctrinated to gladly embrace death while undertaking the holy duty of killing those who do not subscribe to their interpretation of Islam, both Muslims and non-Muslims. Militant Islam's war against the West and Israel is certainly more pronounced. India is seen as a Hindu country, the road-block towards the attainment of a pan-Islamic empire from the Middle East and Central Asia to South-East Asia. Hence the dance of death in India.

    Too much is being made of the fact that those involved in acts of terrorism in India, include clean shaven, professionally qualified, highly placed Muslims. This effectively puts to rest the 'secular' myth that terrorism flows out of poverty and educational backwardness. Had it been so, the 15 out of the 18 involved in the 9/11 hijackings, would have been from Ethopia and not opulent Saudu Arabia. Islamic terrorism is independent of the size of beard or education. Osama Bin Laden is a mechanical engineer, clean shaven Omar Sheikh attended the London School of Economics, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, the Hamas chief, is a paediatrician. And above all, we cannot forget the clean-shaven jihadi socialist Zulfikar Ali Bhutto who wanted a thousand year Jehad with India. It is a war against civil society and it is evident on which side the 'secularists' are.

[*From Asian Age of 16th September 2003]

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