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Will India-Pak peace bring peace to  the beleaguered

Indian Muslims?

By Aleem Faizee

"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. In general, Muslims complained that they are constantly looked upon with a great degree of suspicion not only by certain sections of society but also by public institutions and governance structures. This has a depressing effect on their psyche."

-Excerpts from Sachar Committee Report

While the peace process through minister and secretary level talks between India and Pakistan are regularly taking place, the way Muslims are being targeted regularly in their homeland, is making Indian Muslims more anxious, tense and worried for their future in the country by every passing day.

This is no secret that it was their forefathers who had sacrificed their lives for India at the time when other Indians were not even aware of the difference between sovereignty and subjugation. These were the sacred Muslim souls who had set the path for the freedom struggle when other Indians were busy in selling their own homelands.

Ultimately India became a sovereign nation but the same people are being treated as traitors, that too at the hands of those who had very dubious records during and after the freedom movement. It seems, the traitors had become freedom fighters and nationalists, and freedom fighters and nationalists have become TERRORISTS?

Since independence, communal riots became common in India  and were used, very cleverly,  as a tool to lower the moral of Indian Muslims . Records show, on one hand they were killed in police firings and on the other, their belongings were looted during the curfew under police protections. Ironically, it was also Muslims only who were arrested by the police after the riots. These were the scenes observed during most of the communal riots and the already deprived Muslim community became poorer day by day.

And now it seems, bomb blasts have replaced the riots for harassing and targeting the people belonging to Muslim community. The investigations that are being carried out after Mumbai and Malegaon blasts and the consequent arrests are only making Muslims more restless. Although top ATS-Anti Terrorism Squad officials claimed they have admissible proof against those arrested, people are not ready to believe their theory.

What is worrying them most is that Muslims are being blamed for any untoward incidence, taking place anywhere in the country. Once the blame has been put on the Muslims, the police, it seems, can now pick up any Muslim from anywhere for interrogations. Even respected citizens, just because they had traveled abroad, were reportedly called for interrogations. In one such instance a Muslim, who was part of a team that went to Dubai for shooting of a film, was called for interrogations.

Earlier, they used to be the Muslims with some kind of suspicious activities and criminal records, who had been detained and arrested by the police and the community had never bothered about these arrests. But now what is more disturbing for them is, the series of the arrests made recently by the police, are of those educated and respected community members, who do not have any kind of previous criminal records. They are being harassed and tortured in the custody, some even died in the police custody. Many of them are in their teens and as described by their relatives, are innocents.

Muzzammil was very simple, religious and caring person, his father said. He was working as a mechanical engineer in a firm in Mumbai. Belonging to now poor but very respectable family, was the only hope for his parents, totally downtrodden economically. The Mumbai police detained him shattering the dreams of his poor parents. With the shattered dreams and tears in eyes, they are now wandering the sizzling Mumbai streets, begging for help and pleading for justice. His is not the only story of this sort.

The trauma does not stop here. Muslims are being denied of their basic civil rights. The police department is creating hurdles during the police clearance. They had even retained the existing passports of some Muslims, who were working in the Gulf since decades and had come to India for vacations. What’s more, grand son of a great son of India denied his posting at RAW just because he was a Muslim.

Tired of the harassment, trauma and shock, the Muslims in India are now banking on the success of Indo-Pak peace initiatives. But the question that remains to be answered is, will India-Pak peace bring peace to the beleaguered Indian Muslims as well?

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This article itself is a height of stupidity. Indo-pak peace has nothing
to do with muslim living peacefully in india. This must not be mentioned
any person whether they are muslim or hindus. However in reality there
is never going to a peace with neither islamci fundamentalist taliban
pakistan and india or for that matter bangalesh What we have to do is to
learn to live peacefully for development rather than getting into
internal communal strife. further it would have been nice if this site
could have covered the islamic fundamentalist attack all over the
country. Remember one word, if you encourage silently or actively one
type of fundamentalism the other risese automatically. If as a hindu i
encourage hindu fundamentalism, actually, i am equally encourage islamic
fundamentalism and vice versa. Hope this is first understood, assimilate
among the muslim intellegentia before it perculates to the masses. 

satwa.gunam@gmail.com

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