The Impact of Final Allegation

With the blood-spattered birth of Pakistan, the Muslims who had chosen to remain in India were labelled as “fundamentalists”. It was the socio-political objective of the people who wanted to get Muslims cornered, aloof, detached and marginalised in order to capture the political, financial and social seats of free India. They were not ready to afford the Muslim minority share in new and free governance of the country.

The term ‘fundamentalist’ worked but only a little as a very small number of majority people used to ask Muslims, “You have got your part as Pakistan; so why are you here in India now?” This was a question with a lot of sufficient answers. So, nothing happened significantly because the majority was convinced that fundamentalism is not a threat to the multi-religious society of new India. They considered fundamentalism to be “traditionalism” that supports established customs, beliefs and rituals only, and has nothing to do with others’ faiths and practices. So, this icy response from secular India disappointed the torchbearers of “Hindutva”, who had decided to split India deeply at every level.

So, the merchants of fanaticism introduced a new term, “extremism” and started calling Muslims “extremists”. It yielded a little more result than the term “fundamentalists” had done.

It was pre-9/11, and the country was still not ready to accept this perception which was not going to affect the way they lived. They witnessed active participation of Muslims in India’s development and saw a valid reason to reject the poisonous idea of real extremists. This refusal at a large level disheartened the hate-mongers once again, and despite many bloody riots between two communities, India remained undivided, calm and peaceful as the secular Muslims and Hindus stood united against rioters.

The series of communal riots jeopardised Indian Muslims socially, physically and financially.  Some riots are considered to be state-sponsored and worst of its kind. They not only made Muslims ashen-faced, visibly shaken and shocked but also left India ashamed, embarrassed and unanswered in the comity of nations. Questions were raised on India’ democratic system.

Still, Muslims had a larger portion of politics, civil society and media in their favour. Undoubtedly, they condemned the acts of rioters and their supporters. They awakened the mass of people against real culprits and supported the system in bringing back peace and stability. Whenever and wherever a communal flare-up erupted, the city was placed under curfew, and the military and other paramilitary forces were deployed to control the situation, Muslims felt protected and safe staying inside at large. Almost all of India stood united, hatred could not be spread widely and the majority of people rejected fascism. Thus, this was the second failure for fascists; they failed once again and could not achieve what had they had intended to. 

And finally, 9/11 happened. The then president of America put the blame squarely on the Muslim community as whole. Islam was labelled as the religion of terrorism and Muslims were taken as ‘terrorists’ widely. The third and final term “terrorist” was used on a massive scale as the international media has been carrying it ever since. And then, a so-called ‘war on terror’ started against the Asian countries in particular. In the name of dismantling WMDs (weapons of mass destructions) Iraq was flattened by heavy artillery bombardments killing millions of innocents, and in the name of capturing Osama bin Laden, Afghanistan has been brought to the level of almost total destruction.

In India, where the world’s largest Muslim minority lives, Muslims have been targeted selectively for blasts – to introduce the ‘danger’ of terrorism in the country. Many ‘terror’ attacks took place but most of them are still unanswered and real culprits untraced. The arrest and detention of Muslim youth in the name of curbing terrorism helped the fascists a lot to convince the majority of India that ‘Islam is the only threat’.

This third and final allegation against Islam and its followers worked very well. This allegation was not verbal and theoretical only but resulted in a series of bomb blasts and bloody attacks on innocent citizens of the country. Bombing everywhere and gunfire here and there, claiming many innocent lives and rendering many others injured; cry harsh and loud coupled with anger, frustration and voices for revenge paint a sordid picture. Everyone is eyewitness but no one has the courage to deny the ‘black truth’ about Muslims?

And the situation is worsening day by day. Our Non-Muslim brothers are not ready to realise the truth. In their eyes, the arrested accused is a confirmed ‘cobra’ that must be killed and finished without giving any second thought. Adept in filing concocted reports, the mainstream media has crossed all the limitations. In a case of terror attack, people do believe what the media presents. With only few exemptions, the media played a role that caused Muslims a lot of sufferings. This is all about the impact of media portrayal of Muslims that, although, none of the arrested men have been found guilty till now, yet most of our brethren belonging to the majority community are made to take for granted these accused as ‘terrorists’.

After the arrest of a seasoned PIB-accredited journalist Syed Mohammad Kazmi, the mainstream media has become silent now. No debate on such topics in studios and no columns in national magazines at all. Illegal arrest of Muslims by government agencies has made their life a hell. They are unsafe everywhere, whether they are on road, in train, aboard flight, at workplace or home. Anytime and anywhere they could be arrested and charged with terror crimes based on false evidences. No one summons courage to speak even a single word in support of them. Muslim NGOs, lawyers, journalists, social activists and Ulema are finding themselves helpless; their humble efforts seem to have been going in vain.

Consequently, the illegal and unethical arrest of Muslim youth is continuing, the persecution of their families is growing, and their voices have gone unheard and unnoticed. And the Muslim leadership is thunderstruck while the majority brethren generally relax perhaps thinking that it is not ‘their’ issue. This is why we can say this third and final allegation has worked a lot.

Yawer.rahman@gmail.com