SAYED SUMAIYA pours out her pain and disgust on Afrazul’s broad day light murder in Rajasthan
I avoid watching videos of violence, be it something that has gone viral. However, yesterday I did watch the video in which a fellow ‘HUMAN BEING’ (yes that’s deliberate, not a ‘Muslim’, not an ‘Indian Muslim’) was killed in broad daylight in a way that is difficult to describe in mere words.
We all mourn, feel bad, comment or show our disgust at such acts on social networking platforms and then it fades away from our mind just like any other issue. That is how much we value ‘HUMAN LIFE’.
It is human nature that we become used to such things. Yes, “hum situation se ladhna nahi balki usse adjust karna seekh lete hai”.These things become NORMAL until another Junaid, Afrazul or Akhlaq is killed. The same story repeats. I ask the government of the day, yes, our Pradhan Sevak to you. The United Nations to you, yes the common man or woman reading this to you. How many lives would it take to end this??? Let’s not just EXIST but LIVE!
Will just boasting about ‘unity in diversity in India’ in every essay or speech be an answer towards all the wrong happening around us?
Will the family of Junaid and Afrazul just be shown mourning on TV screens for a few days claiming faith in judiciary?
Will wearing skull caps and keeping beards become history one day??
Let me tell you NO it won’t!
The murder of Afrazul in the name of ‘Love Jihad’ reminds me of another fellow HUMAN BEING of mine, a young medical intern Hadiya. Her only so called mistake was embracing the religion of her choice, choosing to practice it and choosing her life partner. (Note- all these are guaranteed to every citizen of India under Article 21and 25, of its constitution!) Those fighting for rights of Muslim women to enter masjids, a reminder to you to recognise this brave act and ponder over Real empowerment. Triple talaq could be an issue, but before talaq comes the Right to marry and the Right to live with dignity! I hope you would debate about the same too.
Meanwhile, we see Zaheer Khan, a famous cricketer marrying actress Sagarika Ghatge. This was also a marriage between two communities but it would not attract eyeballs of the so called Dharm rakshaks because it involved celebrities and yes celebrities are above common people!
There are innumerable examples of people changing religions for marriage in Bollywood and elsewhere but there are few who dare to change their religion out of real faith. Dear Hadiya, you are one of them. Very few people know that you embraced Islam two years before marriage.
When we speak of upliftment, let’s uplift women, allowing them the way they want to be and not making them feel that what they have done is actually isolating them from society.
I have never written so aggressively and with so much pains, but today I’m angered. I’m afraid that probably even I wouldn’t be spared one day. Probably because I also wear the Hijab, not by force but by my own choice and faith.
Still I write with hope that one day this world would stand for justice. Not only for Muslims not only for Hindus not only for women and men, but for HUMANS, anywhere in the world.
It’s appalling that I write about “being human” in a month when we celebrate world human rights day.
I visited the Chittorgarh fort as a young girl and was fascinated by the story of Rani Padmini and her beauty that is told to every tourist who visits that place. That land of bravery where the Queen jumped into fire as per the narrative is the same state of Rajasthan where a man is killed and burnt by the same fire for no crime of his! The audaciousness with which the whole action is filmed and shared by a young boy shows the level to which we all have fallen as Humans. No fear of law. No fear of punishment. But merely to spread fear psychosis as per communal agenda. It is not just the killer who has to be blamed, but the entire system, machinery and the people collecting donations to save this coward. I am more worried about the silence of the law makers and authorities. Both these individuals are mere pawns in hands of culprits sitting behind, filled with communal hatred and vice. These are the people who spread violence in the name of religion and claim to be protectors of their religion.
This leads me to another important incident that happened 25 years ago in this very month. The demolition of the Babri masjid. Another claimed act of bravery. The whole country is waiting for the judiciary to rise up and give punishment to all those who made mockery of Indian democracy on that day. Please show to the world that the Indian judiciary is the BRAVEST! By punishing the communal mentality responsible for it and the riots after that event. We can have a semblance of justice.
Regarding those who think life after death is a myth, I pray to God almighty that may every culprit responsible for planning, plotting, spreading communal hatred be made answerable, and may real justice be served in the highest court of law which is a reality.
If anyone killed a person not in retaliation of murder, or to spread mischief in the land – it would be as if he killed all mankind, and if anyone saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of all mankind.” – Quran 5:32