The Discourse On Terrorism
And The Missing Muslim VoiceBy Yoginder Sikand
29 September, 2006
Countercurrents.orgAddressing a recently-held conclave of Chief Ministers of Congress-ruled states, the Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, warned of a possible spurt in suicide attacks by terrorists targeting religious, economic and sensitive institutions in the country. He possibly had certain militant Islamist groups in mind, for he spoke in this context of 'fidayeen elements'. To prevent these possible attacks, Singh called for stricter and more efficient intelligence gathering, right from the Central and State levels down to the level of local police stations.
Singh's concern about 'fidayeen' terrorists is well taken, and he is right about the need for concerted efforts to counter them. And, although the 'mainstream' media may not highlight this, the average Indian Muslim would agree with Singh here for most Muslims realize that the 'fidayeen elements' are only making their position immeasurably more precarious and vulnerable. However, while on the subject of 'fidayeen elements' or Islamist militants, it is striking how general discourse on terrorism in India, as elsewhere as well, is now so heavily lopsided, focusing, as it does, largely on militant acts committed by some Muslims. Terrorism in India is now talked about almost wholly in the context of fringe Islamist or Muslim militant groups, whereas similar acts of terrorism by other actors, including the state or by Hindutva outfits, are rarely described as such in the 'mainstream' media or by politicians. Hindu mobs and Hindu extremist groups, in several cases in league with agencies of the state, have been responsible for the deaths of literally tens of thousands of Muslims in India since 1947, but, curiously, this does not seem to qualify as 'terrorism' for large sections of the 'mainstream' Indian media and the political class.
Indian newspapers are now awash with stories of the 1993 Mumbai blasts, the handiwork of some Muslims. The courts are delivering their judgments and meting out punishments to the accused, and this the media is giving considerable attention to. While justice in this instance, as in similar cases, ought to be swift and severe and should be prominently highlighted, why, one must ask, are the courts, the media and India's ruling class displaying nothing even remotely approximating such concern for the numerous Muslim victims of pogroms unleashed by Hindutva terrorists, in many cases instigated by agencies of the state, whose numbers no one seems to remember? While the victims of the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts certainly deserve justice as well as media coverage, do not the thousands of Muslim victims of violence in India, including those several hundred Muslims slaughtered by Hindu mobs abetted by the police in the orgy of violence that engulfed Mumbai immediately preceding the blasts, to avenge whose brutal murders the blasts were apparently set off, merit the same concern? And so, too, the innumerable Muslims slaughtered in cold blood in Nellie, Hyderabad, Jamshedpur, Ayodhya, Gujarat and so on? And, so, as well, the several thousand Sikhs slain in the pogroms of 1984 and the innumerable victims of periodic bouts of anti-Dalit violence in large parts of India? And, further, the Muslim victims of the recent Malegoan blasts, who have almost completely been consigned to oblivion by the media, having quickly slipped off from television screens and the pages of newspapers? Do these all not deserve similar justice and media attention?
The literally thousands of Muslims who have lost their lives and properties at the hands of Hindutva terrorists ever since 1947 have all been almost completely effaced from public memory. Hardly any of those responsible for these deaths have been given exemplary punishment. Numerous erring government officials and complicit politicians remain unpunished and the 'mainstream' media remains unfazed. Mass violence against Muslims rarely invites stern punishment for those who engage in it. This indifference to widespread anti-Muslim violence and its victims, it must be recognized, is breeding widespread fear and despair among Muslims. And the possible consequences of that can only be imagined.
Discontent and injustice, almost always, lie at the root of militancy, as the case of Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan so tragically suggest. But this basic fact the advocates of a simple law-and-order approach to countering militancy often appear to ignore. Hence, if the 'fidayeen elements' that Manmohan Singh warns rightly against are to be preempted, surely the burning issue of injustice to Muslims must also be seriously addressed, by the courts, the political class as well as the media. Tragically, however, there is little evidence to suggest that this is seriously happening on any noticeable scale. Islamophobia has today become a fashion in large circles and demands for justice to Muslims are quickly branded as 'communal' and 'anti-national' by those who mistakenly see 'Islamist terrorism' in a political vacuum, as mindless violence without any social, economic and political roots and causes. In such a climate, even genuine Muslim concerns and grievances are often brutally ignored.
Justice to Muslims means not only bringing to book and meting out exemplary punishment to all those involved in anti-Muslim violence, although this is most crucial. Justice demands that Hindutva militants be treated with the same severity as their Islamist counterparts. Justice also requires that the pathetic economic and educational conditions of the Indian Muslims in general, and the growing marginalization of large sections of the Muslim community, be treated with seriousness and urgency by the state. Besides instituting periodic commissions charged with the ostensible purpose of addressing Muslim marginalization, the state has, in actual fact, done precious little about the issue. Nor is the 'mainstream' media, by and large, at all concerned about the pathetic living conditions of most Indian Muslims and the discrimination that they face. How Muslims can be expected to be happy and secure and uncomplaining when the state and the wider society appear to be indifferent, if not hostile, to their overall lamentable conditions as well as to periodic instances of anti-Muslim violence is a question that, of course, requires no answer.
Muslim and Hindu militancy feed on each other, and the one cannot be tackled with tackling the other as well. This may appear obvious to anyone, but the Indian political class and the media, in general, seem quite oblivious of this basic truth. Furthermore, given that militancy is most often a result and an expression of despair, rooted in oppression and injustice, real or perceived, it can only be effectively countered in the long-run by addressing these concerns seriously. In the absence of this, a mere law-and-order approach, as is now being so forcefully advocated in influential circles, can result in tragic consequences for inter-community relations in India and for the overall welfare of the country and all the communities that constitute it. If the state and the 'mainstream' media are seriously concerned about tackling terrorism, surely all forms of terror, engaged in by Hindu, Muslim or other groups as well as the state, need to be countered with equal passion and determination. Further, the obvious fact of injustice and marginalization that most Muslims share with other similarly placed communities, such as Dalits and Adivasis, needs to be urgently addressed. Ignoring the genuine concerns of the Indian Muslims—150 million strong—is a sure recipe for national disaster.
The author works with the Centre for Jawaharlal Nehru Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia. He moderates an online discussion group called South Asian Leftists Dialoguing With Religion, which can be accessed on
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/saldwr/
